Skin
by Usagi Squared
Summary: Jonouchi Katsuya will always look out for his friends, no matter how weird things get. That means he will keep on fighting, whether facing maniacs with freaky powers, monsters from a childrens game, or the fact Kaiba's a girl. Wait, what? Warnings inside
1. Prologue

_**AN:**__ Edit! The first twenty chapters have recently gone through a secondary grammar and spell check... Inaccurate points that were scattered about them have been changed as well, so for those who are already familiar with the fanfic, you might want to give it another read! Now then..._

Note that from now on, the AN will be at the _bottom_ of the fanfic; this is just a quick note here for those coming in. This is the only part of the fanfic from this point of view, or rather, from a first person point of view. It's also one of the only times I ever have so... We'll see how that works.

On a more important note, for those who didn't see in the profile, this FanFic is AU, in that one character has been genderswapped. You can probably guess who by the end of this, but don't expect that to change too much on their personality. Trust me on that. Further 'warnings' for cursing, future puppyshipping (There will be fluff, but that is my limit.), and a hefty dose of 'Character on a Bus' syndrome due to the timing of this fanfic. As it's based heavily on the manga (Seeing how it starts off where only the Manga exists, unless you swear by the Toei animation), I'm sticking with Japanese names here. A 'legend' of sorts will be at the bottom of chapter one.

With that, I leave you to your reading.

* * *

**If Things Were Slightly Different**

* * *

I remember the day my mom died. I was 4 years old, almost 5, and for a while I didn't understand what it meant. I would ask my dad where she was, and why she wasn't there to see the baby brother I had.

It took a long time, but I learned what it meant. My mom was gone, and I would never see her again. I was upset about that of course- it meant an emptiness, a void in certain activities and things that I had never been without. But it was ok, in a strange way, because in her place, there was Mokuba.

After mom died, my dad took her place. Even though he had work, he did a good job raising us. I don't think he ever quite got over it though- he didn't really know how to raise Mokuba, since all he knew was what mom had occasionally taught him raising me. He could only do so much really, but in the end dad really was an incredible person, right up until his final moments.

I remember the day my dad died. I was eight years old. And it was my fault.

It was Christmas. They were putting up a giant tree in the middle of the city, made of plastic and metal and decorated with hundreds of thousands of electric lights and ornaments. Mokuba was excited. He still didn't completely know what 'Christmas' was, and to be frank, neither did I. But it was a happy holiday, and a loud one where we lived, so we looked forward to it.

We were separated from our dad. Lost. When I saw him, I thought of nothing but getting back to him with my brother. We didn't see the truck. We didn't hear the horn. But I felt my dad's arms as he charged at us, shielding my brother and I from harm. I heard him tell me, beg me, to look after him as he succumbed to the injuries received. Mokuba had a few bruises. I had road rash on my back. My dad however, had his spine and ribs shattered by the force of the truck and the tires that ran across his lower half when he pushed us out of the way.

I remember the day they cremated my dad's body. We were dressed as formally as possible, and Mokuba didn't stop asking questions. He didn't know why dad was 'sleeping'. He didn't know why he was being put in the room across us, and why they were setting him on fire. Didn't know how he'd get out. He didn't know what 'dead' meant yet.

We never knew our aunt. My dad's sister was british, as he had been. She lived in Japan as a housewife to a businessman like most women did at the time, like most were thought to do. My cousins were a lot like her. And my uncle was a lot like my cousins.

And none of them liked us, in any way. I was too quiet, and called a 'suck up' when I attempted to keep my brother out of trouble. Mokuba was called a 'queer' for his long hair, even though he didn't know what the word meant. We were ignored in that house, but not because they didn't know what to do. They simply didn't care.

It took six months for them to sort out the inheritance from my dad. Between that time, the most eventful thing that happened was being scolded for cutting my hair and giving Mokuba a piece of gum without permission. He'd tried to blow a bubble- and it had gotten stuck. So I cut it out, along with the rest of my hair. That way it wouldn't look like a mess when my aunt and uncle took us to the orphanage the next day.

It was probably lucky that I did that, in the end. Because that night, I found out how that place worked. How easy it would be to lose each other. How easy it would be to never see each other again. So when we were left there, I did everything possible to keep them from separating us as well. It was a last request I made to them. It was the only request they granted me.

I never saw them again.

I remember a movie I saw with my dad before mom died. We weren't supposed to watch it, but we did anyways. In it, a character said 'The first day is the hardest.' I don't know if it was true or not, but I told Mokuba this on the first day as well. I told him he needed to be strong, but not to worry, because I would protect him.

Mokuba asked what mom looked like. I told him I didn't remember, but I thought he had her eyes. He asked me if she was nice, and what she would have done now. I didn't know, I told him, but that was ok. Because even though mom and dad were gone, I would be 'the father', I told him.

He told me that 'dads' had to be big strong men, and stuck his tongue out at me. I didn't have the heart to tell him at the time. I think that it was for the best though, that he didn't say anything after that.

It made things easier when I turned ten. When the CEO of KaibaCorp came into the orphanage. I had already made my promise then- a theme park, where kids like us would never have to pay money to go in.

So I approached him, Gozaburo Kaiba. And I made that bet to give us a real home. I cheated to win. And I think he knew that. But for some reason, he didn't care. He took us both in, as I asked. And I made a plan to tell him the truth, to tell him everything later that year. I would tell him, my 'father', anything he wanted to know about my brother and I. And everything he didn't know, and everything that the orphanage didn't know.

But Gozaburo didn't want to know about us. He wanted to know if I was smart. If I could handle the 'stresses' of work, and if I was good enough to succeed him in the company. It didn't take long before I realized I wouldn't be able to tell him. He didn't want the truth, or at least what the truth would be. He wanted someone who would grow into a man capable of handling anything thrown at him.

I was strong though. Maybe stronger than he thought. Too strong, I think sometimes- maybe if I had been 'weak', like Mokuba, I would have been able to do things differently. I wasn't though. I was stubborn, like the rapids in my name, both of my names.

I remember when I finally began going through puberty. I refused to talk to Gozaburo about anything that happened, mostly out of spite. The maids he hired, however, did notice. They pulled me aside late one night to question me.

That was when I learned about making connections, really learned. That was the first time I truly went behind my 'father's back, by promising each of the hired help involved a 'bonus' when I finally took hold of the company.

Right before I turned fourteen, my Father pulled me aside after another 16 hour tutoring session to question me on my 'growth'. It was the closest thing to 'caring' he'd ever come to, I thought, and I had been glad to hear, from the context of the conversation, that no one had told him anything. My voice wasn't deep. It would never be deep, and I knew that. But Gozaburo didn't.

He told me he'd been doing 'research'. That apparently, in rare cases, 'boys my age' would end up developing wrong, ending up with a condition called 'puberphonia'. I was growing tall, but as I expected, I was slim. I would always be slim, I knew this. There would be no 'bulk up', and there would be no 'deep voice'. Not even a crack.

There was nothing 'wrong' with me. However Gozaburo would have none of it, regardless of the fact that I had never said a thing on the matter. So he did the unthinkable, and had me take a day off being tutored. He had the tutors focus on their curriculum for the next few weeks, and I was pulled out to study something else. Something that would hide my voice, hide everything. For weeks, that was all I worked on. But I didn't fail- after all, if I failed, then I would have no use.

Even my 'father' knew not to force me to speak right after that. Though I was still required to prove I was still practicing, he wasn't so cruel to 'threaten' my health like that. Instead, he gave me a challenge. A challenge to design something new, something completely useful. So I invented a program, a virtual reality software for games. But my 'Father' wanted to use it for the wrong things. I knew, of course, that his company dealt in arms. I wanted to change it, and a part of me wonders if that is all I have left of my old life. That, and my little brother. He wouldn't listen when I told him not to use it. So I hid it instead. When he confronted me, I refused to tell him the whereabouts of the program. He sent me out of his sight, and for the next week 'lessons' doubled. That day was the last day I called him Father. And the first day I decided I wouldn't wait for things to change, for an opportunity to tell him everything.

After passing Gozaburo's test on my 15th birthday, I created a plan. I contacted the board of directors, the 'Big Five' in the company and offered them a deal. And while still at the age of 15, the cards were played perfectly. So perfectly that in the end, it was almost a shock...

When the man I had overthrown jumped out of the top floor of our building, I didn't know what to say. His last words had been about 'one last lesson', that 'this was what happened to losers'. Suicide. Death. Something along those lines, I was sure.

I didn't attend the funeral though. Because as Mokuba convinced us to register into public school for a 'normal' life, there was only one thing we knew. Gozaburo was dead, which meant he was gone forever.

We would never see him again. And neither he, nor the rest of the world would ever know...

Just what the truth was.


	2. Chapter 1

**The Assignment**

* * *

_SMACK!_

The ball flew over the net in the school yard, those on the other side merely watching as it sailed past the boundary as they groaned. "Mannnn," one of the students, a clearly 'foreign' blond whined. "Again?" The others turned as the tall, if not currently the tall_est_ student on the field merely smirked, having defeated the opposing team yet again with that same move.

One of the other students scowled at the cold and impersonal smirk, gritting their teeth. "How the hell do we beat someone half a foot taller than us, I mean, look at his reach..." The student he was talking about merely rolled his eyes as the opposite team continued to complain. After all, the teen appeared to think to himself, it wasn't as though they had been outmatched- the game had been tied for most of the class, and it was that single move that had won each game it seemed.

Nonetheless as the bell rang said student found himself heading to the change room with another smug smirk on his face, leaving the sour expressions of a majority of his classmates to fester. 'Seto Kaiba' always got the last word after all, be it in a meeting or simply the school's gym class. Team sports, as much as he quite obviously loathed them, were not exception. However it appeared that he was still surprised when, moments afterward, the same blond that had cried out during the class approached him with a slightly forced look of cheer. The shorter one beside him Seto noted, had a genuine expression of positivity in contrast to his friend's forced grin, and for a brief moment the teen wondered just what was running through their heads. For a few seconds, the two merely stood there, coming dangerously close to receiving an aggravated _'move_' from the teen_._ Eventually, however, it was the shorter (What was his name... 'Mutou'? Something like that) who spoke first. "That was a good game," he said with a smile, looking up from his almost two-feet-shorter position. "Do you have any tips? It's a new unit, but you seemed really good at it!"

The blond nodded, smile seeming somewhat less forced now that his friend had spoken up. "Yea, I mean... You killed us out there!" Hnn... Yes... Who was this one again? Right. 'Jonouchi'. The delinquent that managed to never miss a class. However that worked.

Seto scoffed, going back to grabbing his clothes. "If you want to succeed in something as menial as a gym class game," he said rather bluntly, "I suggest either doing something other than playing around inside all the time, or just facing up to the fact that midgets don't do well in sports like volleyball." The boy he addressed froze, looking slightly taken aback for a moment before watching the teen shove past. "If you excuse me, I'd rather not change in a room full of sore losers." Regardless of if that was the reason, a majority of the boys in the room were indeed sending glares at Kaiba from afar... Though it was questionable that this had anything to do with the fact that they lost, as even the people who had been on _Kaiba's_ team were sending him those looks.

As the teen left Yugi looked down at the floor with an odd look on his face, looking decidedly upset about the blunt rejection before his friend patted him on the shoulder. "Ahhh don' worry about it Yug'. We should've figured that he'd be a jerk in person if he was a jerk in class." While the taller appeared to get over it well enough however his friend merely sighed, shaking his head.

"Yea... I guess..." That would be the first time they spoke to Seto Kaiba. It would be two days later that they would meet again, in the game shop Yugi's grandfather owned. There, where they would find out about Kaiba's large interest in Duel Monsters cards, along with the fact that yes, outside of school, he was still a jerk. And shortly after that...

Kaiba wouldn't be seen in class for two days, a rare occurrence that for once had even the teachers confused.

He supposed that it was then, when Kaiba returned only to retain 'neutral' actions rather than acting like the usual jackass he was. It was then, that he acknowledged his curiosity on the teen. Though he decided it had a bit to do with the project he'd been assigned in Japanese for missing those few days of class before as well.

Katsuya, not that anyone called him by his given name, balked at the paper he was given before looking at the teacher over the pages. "Awww... Are you serious?"

The man merely frowned, crossing his arms with a stern nod. "Quite frankly Jonouchi-kun, you should be glad I haven't simply taken the marks off. This make-up assignment is only because you attended all my classes." His frown became more of an unimpressed, blank and half-lidded stare however as his student groaned, and he continued. "Though I do often wonder how much you pay attention, so if you're really so intent on throwing this assignment away..."

Katsuya quickly paled, clutching the papers and rubric close with a shout. "Ah! 'M fine! Really, I'll get it done!"

"Good," the teacher said with a nod. He then moved to show different points of the assignment to his student, gesturing over each point on the rubric. "Now then, this shouldn't be too difficult, but it's enough that you'll certainly need to do more than a single night's work... Which," he added with another half-lidded stare, "I know you have more than enough time to handle, regardless of your part-time jobs..." Katsuya laughed nervously, before listening to what else the teacher had to say with a swallow. "What I'm asking you to do is pick a person in your life, other than yourself, and write an 'analysis' on them. A study of sorts, if you will, before forming it into the style of a research article. This article will be from _your_ point of view, dealing with _your_views on that person; there will be no influence from other students or parents."

The blond blinked, digesting the information for a moment. "Ah... 'N article," he repeated.

The teacher nodded. "Precisely. I expect it to be at least two pages, though if you write it well enough I'll accept one and a half." He then smiled, stepping aside as the teen continued looking over the papers in confusion. "Good luck- I expect it within a month."

Katsuya jumped at that, looking back to the teacher with wide eyes. "A- A month? I though' th's was f'r those two days I miss'd!"

The outburst gained a laugh from the teacher, and he shook his head. "Consider it a large amount of preparation time given your experience with free-range projects in the past... Also," he added dryly, "I would rather it not get in the way of future assignments..."

"Hey, hey," the blond muttered, "I'm not tha' bad..." The teacher appeared to pointedly ignore him, waving him off with a smile.

"Yes yes... Get moving now," his teacher sighed, "You have work I imagine." At this, Katsuya blinked before tensing considerably as he caught sight of the clock. That was right! If he didn't hurry, he was...

"AAAH! See yah sensei," he shouted in panic, running out of the room to leave a laughing teacher behind. This. This right here... Was probably why his teacher put up with everything.

* * *

He didn't want to do his report on Yugi, because that would probably be a little invasive. And doing it on his relatives was either too hard or too... Well... _Hard_, to tell the truth. And the further he went down the list, the more he was dreading this stupid report. Katsuya frowned, sitting at his desk at lunch that next day as he tried to figure out who to do his paper on. So far, he managed to cross off about everyone he knew, much to his distaste. "Ahhhhh damn it..." He grabbed his head, before standing up with grit teeth. "I gotta figure this out..."

Katsuya left the room, heading into the washrooms with a scowl. He needed to think of _someone_, anyone, but damn it, he had nothing! Honda had just as many (Well, _almost_ as many) issues as he did, Yugi was too close of a friend, Shizuka too far away, his dad too private a subject (In terms of his own problems), and Anzu was... Well Anzu was a girl, and that'd be _weird_ given the blatant crush his best friend had on the woman. Plus, everyone was kinda recovering from that hellish, twisted night at that American professor's house...

Zombies. Yikes.

Splashing his face with a bunch of water from the sink as these thoughts ran through his head, he groaned. "Mannnn what 'm I gonna do..."

"What you could do Jonouchi," a voice from the room said, "Is listen to what I say, right now." Katsuya jumped, pulling back from the sink as Kaiba's voice floated out from one of the stalls. "Got it?"

He blinked, before frowning. "Hehh? What the heck are you talkin' about?" Besides how creepy the request sounded in any context... "What do you want with me, I thought you were done after Yug' showed you that card before!" Come to think, he never found out what happened after that, though when Kaiba hadn't shown up the next day for school, Yugi looked a little worried. Not that he'd said anything but... Well, there _had _been rumors of screaming in the classroom that evening.

There was a scoffing noise, which seemed to be laced with either disgust (more likely) or possibly fear (not likely in any way). "Please... As if I sought _you_ out, you mutt," the teen said, Katsuya growling at the 'mutt' comment. "Just listen, and maybe if you're lucky you'll get a treat."

"Ngggg... Why the hell would I listen to you yah ass?" And what was with the dog comments, he added mentally, he didn't even have anything to do with dogs!

To Katsuya's surprise, Kaiba fell silent for a short moment. Actually, it was a little creepy... What the hell was going on in that stall that was so important? "Just. Do it. Mutt."

He tensed, but, curiosity aroused, scowled and agreed nonetheless. "Yea yea, I'll do what yah want... But it better not have anythin' to do with my friends!"

Another scoff, and Katsuya imagined that the teen was currently rolling his eyes. "Hn! As if I want anything to do with them..! Just grab my bag and send it under the door, alright?"

The blond raised a suspicious eyebrow at that, before blinking a few times. "Your... Bag? Wait, you mean that briefcase you carry around," he asked, shaking his head. "What, don't have it on you?"

"Just get it Jonouchi!" He jumped as Kaiba's typically high temper came into play, a snarl echoing through the largely empty room for a few seconds following. It seemed a little more extreme this time around; but then again, the jerk was probably paranoid about something in the bathroom. Or something. (What the hell was he worrying about..?)

Katsuya smirked at the thought of whatever it was the teen needed, chuckling quietly to himself for a moment. Yeaaaaa... There was probably all _sorts_ of stuff in there... "Alright, alright," he decided with a shrug. It wasn't like anyone was in the classroom right now anyways, what with it being sunny for once that month; everyone was on the roof... That or in the schoolyard. "I'll get your stupid briefcase, sheesh..."

He was answered with silence, and the teen shrugged before walking out of the room to do as requested when it seemed there would be no snarky response. Ordinarily he wouldn't do this but... A thought entered his head as he grabbed the case in the room, before grinning. "Nyhhhhh... Wonder what's in here that he wants so bad..." Looking around the classroom, he turned back to the briefcase, a somewhat crafty grin still on his face. It looked simple enough... And of course, it was also _locked_. "...Hrnnnn..." He could pick locks... Katsuya looked up at the clock, idly weighing his options. Lets see... There was possibly getting caught by another classmate (Easy enough to handle), a teacher (Not so much), and then likely facing Kaiba's wrath in whatever form that would be... And... Um...

In the end, he ended up sliding it under the door as requested, completely untouched otherwise, and leaning against the stall as Kaiba managed to turn an act of gratitude into yet another insult. "I guess you can teach even the stupidest of mutts tricks," he said, ignoring the sputtering from Katsuya that he received in response. "Now then," he continued as he left the stall, giving the other teen a curt nod. "I keep my word Jonouchi. And something tells me that this 'reward' won't be refused." Aha- Wait what? What kind of reward... Eh...

Apparently despite the offer given, Kaiba didn't expect it to be taken... As his expression didn't change one bit when Katsuya snorted and moved to leave the room. "Feh, keep whatever yer 'reward is', I don't need it..." The emphasis on 'reward' was a little too chilling for his tastes.

"Hn." As the teen left the room, Kaiba smirked. "You'll regret that someday mutt. As it is," he said as he crossed his arms, "Stop by my mansion someday if you change your mind."

Yea yea yea, whate- Hang on _mansion_? For a brief moment, Katsuya found himself looking back, eyes narrowed with suspicion and confusion before he finally moved to return to the classroom. "Whatever," he muttered to himself. Kaiba was just an asshole anyways... And he'd have plenty of time to vent at him, or at least attempt to, during gym next class. Mansions and 'rewards' were really... Nothing he should be thinking about right now.

* * *

**AN:** Welcome to the first chapter of Skin- it can only get worse from here!

So... You've gained Katsuya's curiosity... What should you do? To clarify on that, at this moment not much was known about Kaiba; in fact, you don't find out until much later that Seto Kaiba is indeed the 'Kaiba' of 'KaibaCorp'. So essentially, he was just 'that jerk in the back of the room'.

And for those wondering specifically what 'timeline' this is right now, if you haven't guessed from the chapter, this exact moment of reading is just a little bit after the 'Man from Egypt' arc. The one where Shadi appears... And messes with people's heads.

_Zommmmmmbieeeeees~_

On another note, as promised, I have a 'legend' for the names that were changed in the dub... At least for the names of people showing up thus far.

Katsuya Jonouchi (As it would appear written the 'western' way) - Joey Wheeler. There's some irony in this name that you'll catch much much later in this fanfic.

Hiroto Honda - Tristan Taylor. Oddly enough, much cooler before Duelist Arc... At which point he slowly faded into cheerleader-dom... Hopefully the style of this fanfic brings more people to the spotlight though.

Anzu Mazaki - Tea Gardner. A lot cooler in Japanese than English; let me tell you that. Oddly enough, I actually support Peachshipping for that reason...

Shizuka Kawai – Serenity Wheeler. That's right! Shizuka took her mother's name in the original!

Annnnnnd that's it for now. What with Seto and Yugi's names remaining unchanged... Mostly. (Yugi's last name is 'Mutou' rather than 'Muto') See you in the next chapter.


	3. Chapter 2

**Rewards**

* * *

When he thought about it, going home and telling his dad he'd gotten fired from his part-time job _probably_ wasn't the best plan he'd ever come up with. Particularly since he was not only still tired out from gym the last period, but also because his father drunk at the time. Drunk, and pissed after having just received a notice asking for the payment for the school he was going to. And even the crappiest of schools had large price tags in Japan.

Which was why he was now sitting in a hospital room, sighing as he listened to the doctor go on about taking it easy with his right arm. "It's been severely fractured," he said, Katsuya wondering what the hell that was supposed to mean other than 'It HURTS'. "If you look here on the x-ray," the doctor continued, "You can see multiple compact injuries. In fact," he added as he gave the teen a worried look, "I'm surprised your arm isn't completely useless now, not to mention curious as to whether or not it won't be in the future. You said you fell down the stairs?"

Katsuya nodded, still frowning as he held his right arm. "Yea, I go up a flight t' get in my house," he said as he bit his tongue, leaving out the reason why he'd fallen down the stairs in the first place. He needed to keep his old man out of this as much as possible, or he was completely screwed... "They get slippery so..." Besides, once the money wasn't gone and the bottles were missing things were relatively fine...

Whenever _that_ was.

Still, tripping on a bottle after being chased out of the apartment... That was pathetic damn it.

The doctor looked at him sceptically as his patient seemed to disappear into his thoughts, but nonetheless did nothing but shake his head. "Very well then..." He wrote a few things on a clip board, before standing from his chair. "You're going to need surgery to re-set the bones in your arm. It isn't too much," he continued as he put the pen down, "But we should probably contact one of your relatives to-"

"No!" The doctor froze as Katsuya shouted at the idea, the blond looking notably tensed before calming down and shaking his head. "Er... Naw, 's ok doc... How much is it," he added, "I'll take care of it..."

The doctor blinked, before handing him the price and watching the teen nod and look over it. "As I said, not much," he repeated in slight confusion, "But the process itself will likely be just as painful as breaking the bone itself. We will then fit it into a cast, which you should keep on for around two months for the arm to heal." Technically the time was six weeks of course, but with the extent of the injury, it was best to over-estimate... Or something. He could guess given the number of other times he'd come in here really (though that wasn't _too_ often now he didn't think...). Waking over to the door to set up the surgery, the doctor looked back at Katsuya with a frown, pulling his patient from his thoughts. "If you're so sure about going about this alone, I'll see how fast we can get you in... Though you really should consider contacting a relative." Yea no.

Katsuya simply grinned, wincing as an attempt to give him a thumbs up reminded the teen why he was there. No mention to dad, no mention to anyone... Hah! "Thanks doc!" After the man left however the grin quickly faded, and he sighed. "Man... Now I won't be able t' write anythin'..." Not that he did much writing before but... Well, this was still his best arm. And he _had_ kind of been trying to get his marks up a fraction in the last bit. Though that probably wouldn't last long, see how school was... Boring. To say the least.

He thought back to his report for Japanese, sighing again as he leaned back against the wall of the doctor's examination room. On the one hand, he'd finally figured out who to do it on; between the fact that he cared less about what happened to Seto Kaiba as a result, and the fact that the whole situation in the washroom before had him just plain confused, it was an obvious choice. However, now that he'd finally started...

The teen groaned once again, head smacking back on the wall yet again as he idly kicked the bench he sat on. "Hnggg... I should've just taken whatever deal he gave me and left it at that..." Probably find out more with _that_. And now that he thought about it, what the hell did Kaiba have that _he_ wanted? The only thing he'd ever even asked for anything was back at the game shop when...

He...

"Pbffffft... He's kiddn'," he muttered to himself with a slight laugh. "No way that's what he thought for a 'reward'."

* * *

There was no way Katsuya told himself for what seemed to be the umpteenth time later that day, that Kaiba had seriously considered playing against him in duel monsters. Particularly since all of his own interest in playing against the guy had vanished with the '_come back when you have 10,000 cards_' comment he'd made after being asked about perhaps playing a round with him. Still, he thought as the doctors affixed a cast around his still blindingly painful arm, he supposed it was worth a shot.

Which was probably why, during Gym class the next day, he found himself watching Kaiba rather than his actual friends as he sat out with a frown. He had to admit- for all of the guy's asshole-ish-ness (Hell, the guy was the very definition of the word 'ass'), he was fairly good in the class. He'd have thought, Katsuya told himself as he looked up from his messy, left-hand-written homework, that someone who spent their time out of class with card games would be a fairly weak guy. Heck he mentally added, look at Yugi.

No offense to the kid. But he was a twig.

Lo and behold however, as Kaiba sent another ball over the net Katsuya noted that not only was the teen definitely not performing moves that he could sneeze at now that he was on the sidelines rather than actually playing against him, but... He mentally groaned, almost snapping his pencil in half as he grit his teeth. Well damn it, he was really good! He didn't even know a guy's body could bend that way over a net! Of course... When he thought back, Kaiba _had_ been the one to tell Yugi off about sitting inside during break... Regardless of the fact that he was doing the same thing, with an English book of sorts. What was it... Nitch? Nietch? Something.

He flushed as the teen looked over at him with narrowed eyes, before returning to his work red-faced. Shit, getting caught staring would not be a good thing to add to his day... Considering how pissed Karita was when he told the teacher that he'd have to sit out of gym class for what would pretty much amount to two months. Katsuya looked over his work with those thoughts, scowling at the messy hiragana and kanji meeting his eyes. Alright. Regardless of how well he normally did in class, even he knew this was bullshit. "Damn it..." The bell rang, and he stuffed the papers back in his bag with a scowl. On the bright side, he told himself as he made his way to the school entrance now that class was over, he could at least start the second part of his project.

Namely following Kaiba back to his house. _And_, he thought to himself with a grin, he could easily just say that the guy had told him to come over when Kaiba decided to question his presence. Seeing how he'd actually told him to stop by his house if he changed his mind. He grinned, before a voice from behind made him jump and knock his injured arm into a wall. "Achk!" Oh god... Pain... Ow...

"Hey Jonouch- Ahh! Shoot!" Yugi panicked as he watched his friend tense up, hands on his head for a few seconds before he calmed down slightly. "Err... Are you alright..?"

Katsuya blinked, before putting up a smile to hide the throbbing pain his arm was now in. "Y-Yea, it's no big deal!" Ow ow ow ow... Continuing to grin he watched as Anzu and Honda appeared behind Yugi, before adjusting the bag strap on his shoulder with a free arm. "So," the boy asked, "What's goin on?"

The blond shrugged before Anzu stepped in, gesturing to the side. "Well, we were planning on going to Burger World for a bit, just to talk you know?" She had a hidden look that said '_I have work, and if I have to live with the fact that you guys know, you can sit there with me... Or else_'. "You've been pretty quiet lately, so..." The girl trailed off, leaving the statement hanging as the others nodded in agreement.

The teen looked at the three, before shaking his head. Much as he wanted too... He kinda needed to get as much a head start on this stupid assignment as possible now that his damn arm was in pieces. "Nah, I can't guys. Gotta finish my homework for once..."

Honda laughed, adjusting his back as he grinned. "Never thought I'd hear that!" Shaking his head, he turned to the others and continued. "Come on- we can go to burger world another time right?" At the nods of the others he took off, Anzu following behind while Yugi paused to turn to Katsuya. For a moment, he merely stared. This quickly broke off into a large smile however.

"See you later, Jonouchi!" Katsuya nodded as the diminutive teen walked off, before watching as Kaiba left the building as well. Alright. Time to put the plan into action...

Getting outside, he quickly realized how hard that would be. "Awwwww crap..." Particularly since Kaiba was pretty much one of the only students who took a freaking _car_ home. Let alone the fact that it was a fairly noticeable rolls royce. "Crap crap crap crap crap..." Didn't this just put a stick in his plans...

As he muttered this to himself however it seemed that for once Kaiba's arrogance was going to come in handy. In fact, the car pulled back to stop beside him only a few seconds after it pulled away from the building. Watching with a slight frown as the window rolled down before him he held back an insult, narrowing his eyes as Kaiba smirked from the inside of the vehicle. "You look fairly pathetic with that arm Mutt," he said, leaning back against the seat before raising an eyebrow. "But not pathetic enough to forget which way your house is. Any particular reason why you're suddenly going the opposite direction?"

He bit his lip, before frowning. Ok, play it off... Because if Kaiba realized he was stalking him there would likely be blood. And snark. But mostly blood. Yea. "Tch- Since when was it any of yer business rich-boy? Nothin' wrong with going tah catch up with my friends!" In all actuality, he had no clue how much money Kaiba had though, thinking back to that 'rich boy' comment. But given the look of the car he had, and earlier mentions of 'mansion', it was probably a lot. Plus the name Kaiba, and KaibaCorp... (Though he couldn't possibly OWN that company right?)

The teen rolled his eyes at the 'insult', before looking back at the blond with a momentary frown. "Excepting that I saw them leaving in the other direction..." A smirk came back on his face, and his eyes narrowed with slight mirth. "...Hnhnhnhnhn... I don't suppose that you got tired of being their 'pet' and decided to take the offer I gave you before," he asked, turning his attention to the blond even further.

Katsuya tensed, gritting his teeth. "I ain't anyone's pet Kaiba, and the only reason why I'm ev'n headin' this way is because I have nuthin' better to do!" There was a sarcastic laugh from inside the car, before the teen moved to the other side of the vehicle and popped the door open. ...Ah... What?

"Please," he said with a smirk. "Come on in; no doubt you're curious about my earlier offer after all..." E-EH! Seriously. What. What the hell... What the hell was he planning? Telling him to 'get in', what?

The blond stood there a moment, as though weighing his options. Yes, this would get him closer to Kaiba, therefore getting him more stuff to put in his 'article'. On the other hand, for all he knew the freak was going to stab him and dump his body in an alley or something or... He mentally shook himself off, before hopping in and swinging the bag to his side. Bah, he could handle himself, even with a broken arm! Watching as the door shut automatically (Fancy, he thought to himself idly), he refused to meet Kaiba's gaze, instead looking to the side with a frown and crossing his arms. "Only 'cause I'm curious," he said tensely, ignoring the seatbelt to his side. "Nothin' else."

Kaiba snorted, before crossing his own arms and leaning forwards slightly with a small smirk. "Of course," he said, before turning his attention to the front. "Take us to the house, and no pit stops."

The chauffeur nodded. "Of course, Kaiba-sama." The car took off down the streets, Katsuya not even realizing that Yugi had seen the entire thing after coming back to return a borrowed textbook.

It wasn't until they arrived at the 'house' that Katsuya quickly realized just how rich the 'rich boy' really was in reality. "Holy shit," he shouted, Kaiba rolling his eyes at the reaction to the enormous building. "Th's place 's huge! How loaded are y', money-bags?"

Kaiba scoffed, the gate to the house opening as the car pulled in to enter the drive way. Rather than answering himself, it was the chauffeur who clarified for the teen. "'Loaded' being the most crude of terms," he said with a well meaning chuckle, "I can effectively say that he has more than you could ever dream, being the CEO of Kaiba Corporation."

"Hehhh!" Katsuya turned to the teen, eyes wide with either partial awe, or maybe even respect. "You OWN KaibaCorp?" Sheesh, no wonder he was so uptight about gaming. His entire career was built on it. Though... He was pretty sure KaibaCorp was really new to the whole gaming deal and- Wait. He frowned, though surprise was still fairly evident on his face as he shook his head and turned to the side. "Wait wait wait... Yer still in high school, so how..."

The teen rolled his eyes, hopping out of the car as he waited for Katsuya to do the same. "None of your business mutt- and if you plan on making it past my front door," he continued almost warningly, "I suggest you drop any questions on the subject."

Katsuya blinked, swallowing nervously as he stepped out of the car to watch it leave for the garage. "Er... Al... Alright..." Whatever he said then... He turned, watching as Kaiba headed for the front door and opened it to let the blond follow behind. "_Soooooooo_..."

"Nee-sama!" The teen jumped as what looked to be a black blur came and charged towards Kaiba, before clearing up to be what was apparently a young boy. He quickly pulled back from his brother (Though Katsuya could swear he heard 'sister', not 'brother'), looking at the blond before staring back up at Kaiba. "Er... Nii-sama," he said semi-nervously, bringing his voice down a notch. "Welcome home! Who's-"

The boy was pushed aside, his brother not even looking down as he moved past. "Not now Mokuba, I'm busy..." Katsuya followed after the teen somewhat, the door hanging somewhat open behind him as he gave the boy a glance.

Said boy, Mokuba, scowled as the two passed, shutting the door with an angry slam before walking off behind them. It was more than evident that he felt hurt. Feeling slightly sorry for the kid, Katsuya turned back and stopped following the boy's brother with a scowl. "Oii... Kaiba," he called out, stowing his free hand in his pocket. "You can't be too busy t' spend time with him if you've got me over can yah?" He frowned, while Kaiba merely turned with a glare. "I mean heck," the blond continued with a snarl, "You should always have time for family!" He'd give anything if he could see his sister after all- what gave the rich-boy the right to just ignore his little brother? Though in hindsight he realized as Kaiba turned back, _maybe_ he shouldn't be biting the hand that was giving him something.

Whatever that something was, of course.

While Mokuba gave the blond a slightly hopeful, if not surprised glance, Kaiba merely frowned. "You know Mutt, I was going to offer you a chance to face me in a duel monster's game," he began, before smirking and giving a small look toward his brother. "But now that I think about it, I'll let my brother decide on a 'reward' instead. It'll give me more time to work," the teen continued, "And I'll have two less distractions to deal with." Two-

Katsuya tensed, looking at the fallen expression on Mokuba's face before going red. Oh come on..! "What th' hell's wrong with you," he growled, ignoring the fact that Kaiba could likely kick him out any time he wanted. "Isn' this y'r brother? An' aren't you th' one who invited me here in the first place?"

The teen merely continued walking toward a nearby door, snorting. "Take it or leave it mutt- but for now, I'll be in my room." With that he left, the blond clenching his left fist until the nails began digging into his skin. Well wasn't that just _great_. Jerk at school, in public, and even to his own family.

What an absolutely _cheery _place to stay in. It took a few moments before Mokuba's voice pulled him from his thoughts of just how much of a jackass the kid's brother was, a light tugging accompanying the sound. 'Hey'... 'Hey'... "_**HEY**_," he finally shouted, accidentally tugging at the teen's injured arm while he was at it.

"Ackh!" The blond flinched, the boy doing the same as they drew back from each other.

"Er... Whoops?" They fell into an awkward silence, before the boy spoke up again. "Um... I can get something to eat if you want," he said with a small shrug. "...You don't look like you get much decent food." Eh? Food? Despite being related to such an asshole, Mokuba was being surprisingly... Civil about this. "No offense or anything," the added somewhat hastily as Katsuya stared- though it sounded kind of like he actually did mean some form of offense in a way with the suspicious look he was receiving.

He supposed that came from being told to give him a 'reward' of sorts though. Katsuya inwardly seethed at that thought, still frowning- what, the great Seto Kaiba wasn't good enough to just say thank you and be done with? At least he had something else to put on his paper- Not only was Kaiba a billion dollar CEO, he also had a kid brother.

Who he apparently treated like shit just as much as he would any other person. And well... Food sounded good. "Sure," he finally said, shrugging slightly. "An' heck, don't sweat it about the food... Somethin' tells me anythin' here is better than what I get at home." He sighed, before frowning as Mokuba pulled a butler over to get some food made. "What was that all about anyways? I mean... He isn't the nicest guy on the planet," Try he's the 'worst', he added mentally, "But even I'd figure he'd be a lil' better towards..."

Mokuba shook his head. "It's fine... Nii-sama gets like that every once in a while..." He had a sad smile on his face, and slowly led Katsuya over to a coat room of sorts. "I'm used to it now..." He gestured over to the hangers in the room. "Hang your stuff up here," he told the blond. "You don't wanna carry a backpack around with your arm like that right?"

"Er..." No. No he didn't. "...Thanks..." Sheesh, he didn't expect this kinda treatment... Putting his bag on the side with a little difficulty, he ended up doing the same with his uniform jacket, hanging it on the closet door knob despite Mokuba's raised eyebrow- putting it on was just a little hard with the cast in the way, so he'd opted to wear it on only one arm for the moment. And hanging it up was just as difficult really. Turning back to look at Mokuba, he blinked. "So... Er... How old are yah anyways kid?"

The boy huffed, crossing his arms. "It's 'Mokuba', not 'kid' to you," he said, reminding Katsuya of the kid's older brother almost instantly. "...And I'm 10," he continued with a grin. "11 in July! I start middle school next year!" Ah- Middle school huh...

Katsuya blinked, momentarily distracted by the immensity of the building yet again before smiling somewhat ridiculously as he looked back to the kid. "Ten huh... That's great!" Hahaha... A ten year old was Yugi's height. That... That figured, it really did...

Mokuba nodded as they continued down the hall, the grin on his face slowly becoming more honest. "Hehehe... Yep- I'm also the VP of KaibaCorp," he said with casual pride, leading Katsuya over to the kitchen.

Vice President huh... Wow. "That's pretty cool- _WAAAAIIIIT_..." He shook himself, looking down at the boy incredulously as he stopped walking. "Did... Didn' you just say you were still in grade school..?" What what WHAT. How. HOW, he asked himself mentally, just. Augh.

_HOW? _The kid smirked, bringing Katsuya over to a rather large looking dining room. "Haha! That's cause I got tired of tutors all the time! Seriously, I was locked in my room all day..." That sounded... Fun. The boy took a seat, his grin still in place as he gestured about the room. "Seriously, look around! What do you see?"

Katsuya stared for a moment, before blinking. "Nyhh... Honestly?" There was a nod, and he grinned. "This place is huge! It's like a castle," the blond laughed, eyes shining somewhat. "I mean hell, you've got servants an' maids an'... An'... _Maaaaaaaan_..." He trailed off, before noting that Mokuba's expression had faded slightly and dropping his grin.

"Yea- it's great right?" That didn't sound... "It's lonely though," Mokuba added seriously, crossing his arms as he looked down. "You saw nii-sama out there; that's him on a good day! I never even see him smile now, and if it wasn't for school," he continued almost miserably, "I wouldn't get to see anyone my age!" He paused, before scowling. "Even then, the kids I hang around with are too scared to really be 'friends'..." Though there was a look there that said 'yay lackies'. Or at least, that's what it looked like to him.

An awkward silence fell over the table, food coming in but remaining untouched as servants left the pair alone in the room once more. Why... "Why are yah tellin' me this," he asked, eyes dimming somewhat. It was really, _really _unnerving to tell the truth. Especially since he had just met the kid. Not to mention the servants and food and... ...And the time...

Shit his dad was going to kill him- he was supposed to go job hunting after school. Mokuba apparently didn't notice the discomfort that Katsuya suddenly felt however, instead giving him a sad smile and shrug. "Honestly? Your the first person my big brother's ever brought home for something other than a 'death match'," he said with quotes. "The only other person he ever talks about is some guy named 'Mutou Yugi' from his school- and that's just because he lost a game to him..." He scowled again, before sighing and forcing a bit of food into his mouth. "I'm tempted to thank him for it," he said between mouthfuls and swallows, "But after today..." The sentence didn't need to be finished really. But...

"Wait, wait..." Katsuya shook his head, ignoring the grumbling his stomach was sounding off with to give Mokuba a wide eyed stare. "_Yugi_? He ended up playin' a game with your brother any way?" No names, he told himself as a warning- Calling that guy 'Kaiba' in front of someone with the same last name would be weird... But Yugi playing a game of duel monsters with him? What? "He never said anything like that..." Which was weird, because... Well. Yugi told him a lot of things. At least a lot more than he himself would be comfortable sharing.

Nonetheless the boy shrugged, sticking to what he'd said. "Whatever... Point is, things have gotten hectic since then... He's getting a lot less sleep..." He sighed, poking his plate of food. "I'm kinda worried actually..."

Katsuya frowned slightly, before taking a fork to eat his own dish. Looking down on it now actually, it took all he could not to instantly go pale with shock. This was _steak_. As in pay-through-your-nose-for-a-gram AAA meat! Yet for some reason he didn't feel that hungry right now. "...Hey," he said, using a tone that he'd once used as a kid with his little sister, "It'll be fine alrigh'? I mean..." The blond poked his food a little, silently hoping that what he said wouldn't be used against him (Like how he was using all of this in his report for Japanese. Damn, now he felt like an ass...). "You've still got each other righ'? Me, I don' even get to see _my_ sibling," he half whispered. Mentioning siblings when he otherwise wouldn't would be something to do for the steak. Because... Damn. Steak. Also to ease his feelings of asshole-ish-ness, which were likely being inflicted by the boy sitting across from him. The _fiend!_

Worse than Yugi damn it, and Yugi didn't even do that on purpose! "Huh?" Mokuba frowned, blinking a few times as Katsuya was pulled from his thoughts. "What do you mean?" He raised an eyebrow, wondering what the teen was getting at as the blond blinked.

Katsuya shrugged, a fake smile in place as he attempted to cut some of the steak. "Mom split when I was 8," he began, voice a little quiet. "Shizuka-chan was 6. Haven't seen her since." He didn't blame them though he decided as he struggled to cut the steak with one hand. Hell, it was probably for the best that they got out of there before the real damage started. As to anything more on that subject... Well, he wouldn't be saying anything.

Simple as that. Across from him, Mokuba seemed to stare for a few moments before going to his food again in silence. "...Sorry," he finally said, not looking back up. "Must be hard..." Hard..? Well...

"Nah," he said, silently cursing the steak as it moved around on the plate under the knife. "It's fine... I get letters sometimes..." A loud screech pierced the air as the knife scraped against the plate, Katsuya finally giving in with a scowl. Stupid, fucking...

Mokuba moved around the table, lightly shoving the teen aside in an attempt to take his place. "Here," he said, sounding slightly annoyed after the ear-splitting noise. "I'll cut it."

He moved back, attempting to take the knife back from the boy. "It's _fine_," he said, also feeling agitated at the moment- he could cut meat himself, sheesh... "I'll manage, alrigh'?"

The boy would apparently have none of it however, and managed to steal the plate away to the other side with a grin as Katsuya reached out with his bad arm only to hiss. ACK- Not good, not- "HAH." Cutting the steak into pieces as Katsuya seethed on the other end, he smirked, rolling his eyes. "Sheesh, you're worse than Seto-niisama when it comes to pride... It's just steak." Steak that was being cut for him like it would for a baby! As the teen growled slightly, Mokuba's grin grew, a chuckle meeting the air. "Hahaha, no wonder nii-sama calls you a mutt, you even sound like one!"

"Rggg..." This probably wasn't helping. He rubbed his head, scowling as he looked across the table. "Where the heck did that name even come from!" Stupid Kaiba and his stu- Wait... A frown came over his face, the blond turning to Mokuba with a more confused expression. "Oiiii, hang on... Since when was I a topic tha' you two shared," he asked. "I thought y' said Yugi was th' only one y' did tha' with."

He shrugged, a rather neutral expression in place. "Eh... For some reason, for the past few days he's mentioned you a few times. Mostly, he called you Mutt," he added with a smirk, chuckling somewhat before pushing the plate back toward Katsuya. "Though I can't say I fault him for it- You sure do look the part," the boy added humorously, ignoring the growl he received in response. Abruptly, the expression died, and Katsuya suddenly regretted wearing a t-shirt. He had been using his cast and to block Mokuba's view of his good arm but now that he was trying to eat... "Holy crap... Where did you even get those bruises?"

Katsuya blinked, inwardly wincing. Right... His other arm was almost as injured as his 'good one'. "Er... Same reason I broke my arm," he said with a cough, shaking his head. "'S nothin' really." He put his fork down, bringing the fairly swollen and blue-black arm beneath the table. Out of sight out of mind right?

Apparently however, Mokuba wasn't ready to drop the subject. He walked past, ignoring Katsuya's protests and poked his head out the door. "Hey, Hobson! Come here for a second!" What..? There was a muttering from the other side of the door, and for a moment, the blond found himself frowning at the silent conversation going on. Finally however he heard Mokuba say something, the boy moving back from the door as he added one last shout. "Make sure nii-sama doesn't know!" He would if he kept shouting..! There was another mutter, and the boy turned back with a fairly conspiratory grin.

"O-oi," he muttered, "What w's tha' about?" Watching as Mokuba merely continued to grin the blond's scowl deepened. "An' what's with the look!" With those very words he found himself grabbed from behind by one of the guards that he'd seen in the house on the way to the room, face growing red as he turned back in protest. "Gh! What th'... OI, what's th' big idea!"

Mokuba rolled his eyes, before smirking as he laughed. "Oh _please_, stop whining or I actually WILL call you a dog..." Hoping on the chair that Katsuya had now effectively abandoned, he pulled the boy's good arm forwards and stared at it, ignoring the blond's wince. "Neh, Saruwatari," he said with a frown. "These caused by a fall?"

Sheesh, there was no way that these guys would know his old man did this by just loo- His eyes widened as the muscled, well dressed guard shook his head, the man having removed his sunglasses to get a better look at the arm. "Not at all; the way these are distributed, these came from a variety of things. A pan perhaps, or a bottle... They look bad," he added, "But in reality it wouldn't have taken much force to create these." GH- Oh come on..! That look seemed fairly pleased about revealing this fact. That or disgusted about holding him, Katsuya thought with a growl. Quite honestly, he wanted out of the grip himself, and if it wasn't for the fact that he kinda/sorta liked Mokuba for the moment, he'd have attempted to fight his way out by now.

That and the fact that his arms hurt like hell. "OII!" Nonetheless ignoring the pain he squirmed slightly, still attempting to move out of the guard's grip. "Since when did you care 'bout how I got 'n a hospital?" Seriously, they met _today!_ What the hell... Differences between big-brother/little-brother were just a little frightening right now. Maybe more than that actually.

The boy before him scoffed, before letting Saruwatari drop the teen back to his feet with a swift gesture. "Since you're the first person who I've ever seen to actually talk your way out of a 'reward' from my older brother, that's what," he answered bluntly. "Ignoring the fact that you're probably a moron for it..." _Gee,_ thanks... The boy crossed his arms, sitting on the chair with an odd look of respect in his eyes even as he stared at the ground. "I've never... _NEVER_ seen anyone, no matter what age, bother rejecting any kind of offer when they were already here. Never," he repeated, looking back up at the blond before him. "The fact you did that just because he pushed me aside is..." He covered an expression of surprise with a smirk, before shaking his head. "Anyways, I'm sure he'll tell me off about this later," he went on, "But I mind as well take advantage of the lack of restrictions he put on your reward. So," the boy shouted with a grin. "Consider yourself the guest for the night!"

Katsuya blinked. And then blinked again. Mokuba thankfully had the sense to plug his ears before the realization really set in. (Saruwatari on the other hand, visibly winced.) "_WHAT_!" He stared at the boy, shaking his head. Nooooo... No fucking way, that was... "Are y'... Are y' crazy? I can' stay here!" This place was waaaayyy to ritzy, way way way too ritzy, and there was noooo way he'd keep this quiet... Well, maybe he _would_ keep it quiet, but holy shit...

Mokuba shrugged, unphased by the reaction. "If you're worried about your dad, we could always call him and-" UH, NO.

"Er, that's fine!" Mokuba blinked at the sudden defense, before the teen coughed and shook himself with a sigh. "'S fine... But... Why are you offerin' me to stay the night? At all," he added, expression growing fairly serious. Hell, if he wasn't so sure that Kaiba might actually kill him for it, he'd probably be ok. Heck, any night outside of his own house was great at the moment but... Still. Seriously. Right... Right out of the blue...

Another shrug, and one of Mokuba and Kaiba's maids came into the room. "Something just tells me that if I do this," he said with a smirk, "The bruises will disappear faster. Consider this your reward for... Well. What ever it is you did for my brother, alright," he continued, hands behind his back as he smiled. It looked, for a moment, like Mokuba had been about to say something else. In the end however, he hadn't... So Katsuya was left standing there with a sigh, wondering what it was. Seriously, what had been so damn important?

He rubbed his head with his good hand, groaning. "I don' s'ppose I could jus' r'fuse it..." There was a grin from Mokuba, and the boy shook his head.

"Nope! Already had your things confiscated- and I'm willing to bet that's your only uniform right?" The scowl from Katsuya told him that was a yes, and he continued grinning. "Alright! In the meantime," the boy shouted as he hopped from the chair, "You get to play games with me!" Wait wh-

Katsuya frowned, mouth open with disbelief. "Hang on what? How'd I end up wi' that?" He wasn't here to babysit! (That was what the guys in suits were there for right?)

The boy frowned as well, crossing his arms. "Well if you don't, I'll make sure Nii-sama thinks that you were a complete pain, and whatever I bug him with will affect his treatment towards you." Before Katsuya could respond to that, Mokuba's eyes narrowed. "And trust me, it CAN get worse."

He gulped, silently picturing the worst. So far it was... Kaiba. With a steak knife. For some reason there was a shower as well, wasn't sure why... "Alrigh'... Alrigh'," he muttered with a sigh. "Let's go..." The sigh was given again when Mokuba's reaction was to jump up and cheer, before grabbing him by his good arm to pull him away through the door, turning to the maid standing at the side for a moment.

"Just make sure to be ready to show him his room for the night later, ok?" The maid nodded, gaining another groan from Katsuya as he was pulled down to another room. Oh _come ON_...

"So," the boy began, releasing Katsuya's arm before pulling a board from the side of the room with a grin. "Ever play CapMon?"

The next few hours would effectively be the weirdest few he'd ever had in his life. Which was saying something, given what had happened in the past few days of it.

* * *

**AN:** Ahhh CapMon. That which was reduced to a really, really weird and equally short spin off series during the YuGiOh anime. It was, oddly enough, introduced in the Manga by none other than Mokuba, who later seeks revenge for Kaiba's earlier game using it. Among other things that you'll have to read the manga for.

Mokuba is likely a tad OOC here; I can't be too sure, since the only time we see him this early on is around Yugi... Who has effectively invoked the brat's bad side by that point. For that same reason, Mokuba is little more than an annoying, bratty little twit who one would likely enjoy shooting in the head.

I don't know if it's my psychology class, but for some reason, no matter how many times I look at those bratty days of his, I can't hate the kid!

Seto may or may not be as well... But before anyone even mentions '_SETO WOULDN'T DO THAT TO MOKUBA_', I will point you to the manga; because before Yugi did his mind-crush thing (Handily placed in the first episode of the Anime, which skips over the manga completely. Unless you swear by Toei as well. And green hair.)... Kaiba was a BIGGER jerk. Hard to imagine, true... But imagine how he treats just about everyone in the anime _INITIALLY_... Multiply it a few times... And then aim that at his _brother_. The man was HEARTLESS. Hence the actual minimal level of shock in the above chapter on little 'Mokie's part.

On another note... Those of you who know Japanese, or at least enough to survive on FF with the weeaboos around (a group I'm likely included in), will have already guessed just where this is going. If you didn't with the prologue at least. You'll definitely get it soon enough though.

On still another note; half way through editing this, I already have a review! Thank you very much, and to all others reading, I hope you enjoy what comes next! Happy reading~


	4. Chapter 3

**Injuries to Add to the Injuries**

* * *

Getting to school the next day was a very, very interesting event to say the least. First, Katsuya had woken up and almost punched the poor maid who came in to do so for him in the face, which sent the woman screaming off. Then, after Mokuba came in and asked what the hell happened, it finally registered what had happened the night before, and he began panicking about school. Completely. Ignoring the kid's question.

Mokuba had rolled his eyes and said that he had it covered, a butler coming in with breakfast and watching as their guest stared at for no less than fifteen minutes before finally wolfing it down. Much to the boy and the butler's amusement both it seemed.

The plan was this: Apparently he was going to have one of the servants drive him until he was two blocks away on _his_ side of the city from the school, where he would be let off in some discrete area and no one would be any the wiser. All in all, a really cool morning, given his normal ones- he probably pinched himself five times wondering if it had been a dream, and was still doing it as he walked down the road towards the school.

An amazing morning, with a flawless plan... And for a moment, Katsuya had thought it had really worked. At least until he ran into Yugi in the entry way. "Jonouchi-kun," the boy cried, Katsuya turning to blink as his friend attempted to regain his breath. "Jonouchi-kun, are you alright," he finally managed to get out. "I saw you get in that car with Kaiba-kun yesterday, and... Well, I couldn't really go to your house to check..." No. No he couldn't and awww _fuck_. Alright... Alright, time to fix this. Somehow.

He blinked, swallowing for a moment as a frown briefly came over his face. Wait, hadn't Yugi been gone by that point he asked himself. How did he see that? ...AUGH. Whatever. "Nhh... I'm fine," he muttered, quickly replacing the expression with a somewhat forced smile. "'S nothing-"

Yugi shook his head, frowning slightly. "Jonouchi-kun... I know he doesn't seem bad but last time we spoke, he stole Grandpa's card. I can't remember what happened after that but..."

Another blink, this time a head shake. Wait, so the reason why Yugi ended up facing Kaiba was... Because he stole that blue eyes card? Wasn't that thing worth lots and lots of money and so freakishly rare/powerful that people literally killed for it? (According to 'Grandpa', at least.) Oh b- Wait, how did he not remember... "You can't remember," he said with a slightly worried look. "Whadya mean Yug', you've got a better memory than half the people I know!"

He gave the teen a wry smile, before sighing. "No...Nothing... It's probably nothing..." Katsuya frowned- something told him it wasn't 'nothing', but at the same time, he didn't want to flat out accuse his best friend of lying; hell, it couldn't be that bad if Yugi wasn't telling him right? They trusted each other! Momentarily, his mind blanked out to a conversation he'd had with Mokuba the night before, which had ended up centering on Yugi. Likely for the reason that it was the only thing they had 'in common' at the time. That conversation...

'_Nii-sama is always going on about how, right before he was challenged to the duel, Yugi 'changed'._' Katsuya had of course, asked what the hell that meant, which got nothing more than a head shake from the boy. '_I don't know- all he said was that he was suddenly colder, more confident... I don't know exactly what happened after that, but something changed that day. Not much, but a little._' Weird... Katsuya drifted off into thought, wondering what Mokuba had been talking about. A different Yugi? How was that even possible..?

He was snapped back to reality by Yugi's shouts, blinking as he looked down. "Eh? What was that Yug'?" He paused, before grinning embarrassingly. "Err... Must've spaced out huh..." Yea. That tended to happen.

Yugi shook his head, smiling. "Shouldn't you at least wait until class for that Jonouchi-kun? I said the bell rang. Come on, or we'll be late!"

"Right!" As Yugi ran ahead of him, the teen turned to follow, shaking his head. Right. He had to focus, the teen reminded himself. After what he'd spent half the night talking about, he had a bunch more things to add to his report, and even more things he'd need to actually research.

Ugh... Sitting in class, he mentally shuddered at the thought. At the same time though, he really needed that mark. If he didn't get this done, he'd probably end up flunking the class. And that _definitely_wouldn't fly too well with his dad.

He sighed as he tried to keep himself from falling asleep, mentally recalling the only scrap of information he had at something on Kaiba he could research. They'd been talking about the whole situation of being in charge of a company while being in school. Mokuba had admitted to convincing his brother to enroll himself as well as the boy into school, at their exact age level, for a chance at a 'normal life'... To which, Katsuya mentally wondered what Kaiba wanted with one. Because he certainly wasn't getting one. Granted, once his classmates heard the name Kaiba and linked it to KaibaCorp, everything had gone down the drain in that aspect but... All problems aside, when Katsuya had asked what they did about school before hand, only one name had come up.

Apparently, it was the name of a tutor that Kaiba had had directly before coming into full possession of the company; said tutor was now volunteering at a university library, as the money earned from the job had been more then enough to retire in peace once Kaiba had let the man off. It wasn't much to go on, Katsuya told himself. However, even his teacher would have to admit that it was something of a leap for him in terms of getting class work done.

"Jonouchi-kun!" A ruler snapped on his desk, and the English teacher, 'Chono-sensei' quickly narrowed her eyes at him. "What is it that you're grinning about right now," she said with a sickeningly sweet and definitely not healthy smile. "Would you like to share with the class? Hnn..?" Shiiiiiiiit that tone was never good with the crazy 'expulsion teacher'. Though she hadn't been doing that much as of late, maybe he'd be let o-

He blinked, briefly tensing up under the woman's gaze before frowning slightly. "Er... Your face is..." The teen coughed, nervously leaning back as it appeared to flake off into puzzle pieces. "Breaking..." And anything underneath did not look good. Those bags were hideous. And. What was with her skin!

The woman froze, jerking up and running up to the front instantly. "On second thought, I'm sure that it was nothing," she said in a fairly loud, if not higher than normal tone. She hurriedly went back to the front, replacing the ruler on the desk as she covered her face. "I'll be right back!" As the door slammed behind the woman, about half the class had to wonder if this was what happened before, with that puzzle thing...

Though weird as that was, the rest of the day passed so uneventfully, that quite frankly, Katsuya couldn't help but wish he'd fallen asleep for once.

* * *

Domino, in terms of 'fame' was generally known for two things. Games, and for some reason, museums. A strange duo, but it seemed to go hand in hand. So really, it was no surprise that the university that this 'Tanaka-san' worked at was all the way in the next district. Katsuya groaned at the thought, mentally recalling the address. Damn it...

He opted not to voice his complaints, instead biting his lip as he trudged on. The fact was, he couldn't even afford the subway right now, things were so tight- he had no clue how much money his old man was going to end up loosing in his next gamble, or on alcohol, and the fact was, no one was hiring a person with a broken arm. As it was. He'd be waiting for the guy to fall asleep before re-entering his house for the next bit, unless he wanted to play a game of 'dodge x number of whatever he was holding when the door opened'. And of course, for that same reason, until the end of at least the next two months he was stuck scrounging up any penny he could find. All while praying that his dad didn't end up throwing it away.

Katsuya sighed, rubbing his head with his free hand before shaking it. "Maaan... Why couldn't this guy work closer," he muttered to himself as he finally made it to the university grounds, pushing the door to the library open with a sigh. A rush of air hit him from the air conditioner, and he winced- now that it was spring, he'd been getting used to the absolutely insane humidity that had, as of late, been arriving earlier and earlier in the year. Entering a room so well air conditioned was almost as much a shock as it had been at Kaiba's mansion however... At least there, he'd been too nervous and distracted to notice. Though this place admittedly, was pretty big too.

Wandering a little ways in, he looked for the main library desk to find Tanaka so that he could get out of there; before the cold air made the outside that much more unbearable, preferably. Spotting the man at a desk with (thankfully) at sign bearing his name, he walked over with a relatively confident smile. "Oi," he said as he came to the desk, the man looking up with a jolt. "You Tanaka-san?"

The man blinked, putting down a book he'd been reading to nod. "That is correct," he said with slight hesitancy. "...Are you looking for something in particular," he asked the teen, giving him a skeptical look. "You don't seem to be a student..." At least he wasn't looking at him like he was trash. That was a relief.

Quite frankly anyone could tell he wasn't a university student though; _that_, he was pretty sure of. "That's 'cause I'm not," he said as he shook his head, before continuing. "I was wonderin'... I was talking to a friend named Mokuba, he said yah taught his older brother at one point?" There was some visible recognition at that name, and he grinned. "Name's Seto, 'm I right?"

He raised an eyebrow, before looking around. "That depends," he said before swallowing, getting up out of his chair to look at the boy. "What is it that you want to know?"

Katsuya blinked. "Errr..." Shit, not that line! That meant-

The man continued, crossing his arms. "And for how much?" The blond continued to shift nervously as the second half of the dreaded question came up.

"Eh... W-Wait a sec here, I never said..." Man, there went that plan...

The gaze continued, Katsuya momentarily wondering if he should get the hell out of there, before the librarian abruptly burst into a fit of laughter. "Oh dear me, I'm pulling your leg! Possibly your arm too, but from what I can tell you need it," he said with a wink. What. What... Ignoring the intensely confused look he was now getting from the blond, Tanaka gave a chuckling sigh before putting an arm around Katsuya's back. "Over here- no doubt that if you know Kaiba-san, you came from Domino, and given your current state, it's fairly evident that you walked." The elderly man shook his head, an expression of evident shock and disbelief on his face. "Though god knows what possessed you to do that!" Thanks? What the hell kind of guy pulled that kind of joke?

They took a seat, Katsuya looking around the room with wide eyes. For a small university, this place had a really, really tall ceiling. And a lot of books. More than he'd ever seen, that was for sure. It was a little similar to Kaiba's mansion honestly... But with a lot more people and furniture. Just as quiet though, which made sense he supposed. A cough from Tanaka pulled him from his thoughts, and he jerked his head back around to face the man.

Tanaka chuckled, shaking his head. "Easily distracted are we?" Ignoring the scowl on Katsuya's face at the comment, he continued speaking. "No wonder you came all the way out here just so see me... You realize," he said with a slightly raised eyebrow, "That while I did indeed tutor Kaiba-san for a majority of his time in the Kaiba house, it's still only four years of experience... And I can hardly say I know the boy from teaching him English!"

He blinked, frowning. Ignoring the fact that Tanaka had just said he was wasting his time... "Four years? But Kaiba's sixteen, how's '4' a majority of 'is time?" At least he _assumed_ he was sixteen. Because... He doubted he was any younger than that. That would be one hell of a growth spurt.

The old man shook his head, smiling. "Ahhh, so Mokuba-kun didn't tell you then?" It was interesting, Katsuya noted, how as soon as Mokuba was mentioned among adults that knew him (Or at least among the maids and butlers at his house when neither were in the area), the reference was fairly informal, if not 'normal' but once his older brother came into the picture... Huh. Another point he supposed. "You see..." He paused, frowning. "Oh my, I never got your name..." No, no he didn't.

"Ah... Jonouchi Katsuya," he said, rubbing his head. "Nice ta meetcha I guess." Mind as well be polite about this. (This was polite right?)

He smiled. "Nice to meet you indeed," Tanaka said with another chuckle. "As I was saying now, you see Jonouchi-kun, Mokuba-kun and his older brother were adopted six years ago by the late owner of Kaiba Corporation, Gozaburo Kaiba-san. He is the one who hired me to tutor the boy in English," he continued, frowning slightly. "Now that I think about it, it was one of the few classes that he bothered to have a tutor present for... From what I recall, Gozaburo was responsible for almost all of the boy's schooling."

Katsuya nodded slightly, a little taken aback by the revelation that 'money-bags' didn't start out that way. But how did that factor into being such an ass? Though maybe that was this 'Gozaburo' guy's fault... Probably rubbed him the wrong way, or just convinced him that other people weren't worth his time or some crap like that. "Hnnn... Well. Tha's somethin' new. Uh..." Blinking, he tried to think of something to ask Tanaka about that wouldn't sound too strange. Or stalkerish. Or... Well anything that wasn't newspaper fodder really. Even though that was kinda what he needed. "Say, what was he like back then, Kaiba I mean?" A jerk? He'd bet he was!

"Well," Tanaka began, silent for a moment before answering. "Before I answer that Jonouchi-kun," the elderly man said with a quizzical expression. "How exactly do you know Mokuba-kun? You seem to be far closer to Kaiba-san's age from what I can tell..." That was always a good point. He guessed. (Wasn't that weird was it?)

He blinked. "Er... Kaiba invited me over f'r somethin," he began, attempting to keep it as vague as possible, "And I ended up shoutin' at him for ignorin' his brother... So I ended up spending th' afternoon with Mokuba instead..." Now that he said it out loud, it sounded kind of pathetic.

Rather than the expected frown, this instead elicited another laugh from Tanaka.

"Oi," he said with a growl, "What's so funny about that?"

He shook his head, quickly calming himself. "Oh nothing, nothing... The very image of Kaiba-san rejecting his brother like that..." He fell silent, smile vanishing all too quickly. "Though I suppose that given his behavior after those few weeks... I can't say I have much else to compare it to after all..." What was he muttering about..?

Katsuya frowned slightly. "Heh..." Idly, he glanced at a clock that was on the wall behind Tanaka, inwardly wincing as he realized he would have to leave in only a few minutes. "What 'few weeks'? What, was Kaiba not always a jerk 'r somethin?" Blasphemy! Lies! It was against the laws of nature! (Wasn't it?)

Tanaka blinked, before responding. "Or 'something'... You see Jonouchi-kun," he said seriously, "When I first met the Kaiba brothers, they were very close. Extremely close actually... One would not be seen without the other outside of classes; to be frank, one could say that not even two peas in a pod were closer than they. Though time outside of classes was considerably rare, so I suppose that could have been a factor in their relationship... Nonetheless," he continued, "There was always something hidden there, something incredibly private that I could never hope to grasp. Not in all my years of teaching." Before he explained more, he sighed. "How does Kaiba-san sound? He's doing well I presume?" Er... How was he supposed to know? (Wait, he was talking about him, of course.)

Mentally shrugging that off, he snorted. "Feh! Aside from an apparent lack of sleep?" Not that he noticed earlier, not until Mokuba mentioned it. Though now that he thought about it, it _did_ explain the sudden silence. "As high-n-mighty as ever. Acts like he rules the world, jerk," he said with a scowl, not caring at the moment if Tanaka's opinions matched his own. (Though the man seemed to be giving a humored smile if that was any consolation) Now that he thought about it though... Eh, whatever. "Even when he isn't actin' like it, he still sounds like a smug creep!" It was really, really hard not to swear in front of this guy, at least with Kaiba on the brain.

The old man smiled wryly, shaking his head. "I see... To tell the truth, he used to sound completely different." At Katsuya's 'nyeh?' expression, he clarified. "These 'few weeks' that I'm speaking of... I'm sharing this with you only because I trust you not to share it with anyone else, understand?" Um. Ok. He hadn't gotten that kind of trust before, not outside of Yugi but... Ok. Tanaka waited for the teen to nod silently, before nodding in return. "When Kaiba-san was 14 you see, rather, right before it, he sounded quite young. In fact," he said with a nostalgic chuckle, "One could almost say his voice was 'feminine'. It didn't even give a crack, which was apparently, given what happened, a fact that annoyed his father to no end... Regardless of the standard path a voice would take around that time." As Katsuya continued to listen in confused silence (Voices... Kaiba with a lady voice... Uh...), the man went on. "On Kaiba-san's birthday, I was given a notice to take the next number of weeks off. It was the first time I had ever been told such a thing, so needless to say, I was shocked. Particularly when, after all that time, I was given notice not to allow him to partake in any oral activities for the next two weeks. Apparently," he muttered, "His voice had been strained by some sort of activity, and it was now healing."

He frowned. What the hell was this old man getting at... What, did Kaiba randomly have a shouting match or something? (He both could and couldn't see that actually. Huh. Weird.)

Tanaka continued, giving an almost regretful sigh. "During this time, the brothers were close as ever of course. Occasionally, Mokuba-kun would slip into the class as I taught his older brother; sometimes, I wonder if that was the only time they ever got with each other..." He drifted off, before shaking his head. "However, during that time, I didn't see what it was that Kaiba-san had completely bandaged around his throat. So as you can likely guess," he said as he rubbed his head, "It was a complete surprise when two weeks later, the bandages came off- and my student, who had given absolutely no signs of any vocal progression, was suddenly speaking with the voice of a young adult male. No cracks, no stumbling... It was flawless, as though he had sounded like this all his life. Classes continued as usual of course, but I couldn't help but notice that in the place of the bandages he wore a collared shirt, or a turtleneck. It was almost as though," Tanaka slowly said, the teen across from him wondering if he was talking to himself or not, "As though he was hiding something..."

"Wait..." Katsuya shook his head, eyebrows furrowed in his continuing confusion. Hiding something on his neck... Wasn't there something on the TV he passed to get to school about that? Some kind of operation a guy had gone through because of voice issues? "You're sayin that Kaiba's voice... 'S from a surgery?" That... That couldn't... That couldn't be possible right? He swallowed, unconsciously grabbing at his throat at the thought. "His dad had his voice changed just cause it hadn' broken yet..? Tha' what yer sayin'?" Heck, disappearing for a few weeks to come back with a bandaged throat, that had to say something right? At least, when it was completely hidden, right?

He nodded, sighing again. "Indeed. Though... I can't be completely certain... After all, I'm hardly sure that's legal but... That day, I noticed for the first time that when Mokuba came in, he was instantly turned away. You should have seen the poor child's face," Tanaka said as he shook his head. "As though someone had murdered his brother right in front of him. Mokuba-kun never came into the room during classes again after that, and from what I could tell, something had snapped in his brother; something small, but just enough so that it affected... Well, to be perfectly blunt... Everything," he said with almost a whisper.

As Tanaka fell silent, Katsuya found himself looking at the clock again and standing up. "Er... Th-Thanks for yer time, Tanaka-san..." He bowed slightly, turning away. "I gotta go so..." The teen gave one last look at the professor, a clearly forced smile in place. "I'll keep this b'tween us, alrigh'?" Us and the paper, he added mentally, a knot forming in his stomach with the thought. Them, the paper, and the teacher reading it. Maybe he should nix that last part of the 'interview'.

Leaving the library, Katsuya wondered what kind of events he'd set in motion by talking to the old man- he seemed almost... Haunted after that. Like the corpse of someone he'd killed had been pulled up before him and the man had been forced to fess up to what he'd done. And now it was his problem.

Walking home, Katsuya had never felt so cold in the middle of April ever before in his life.

* * *

As Katsuya sat a block away from Kaiba's house, he wondered what possessed him to go there. He had enough, more than enough, for his assignment to be finished. In fact, he thought with a frown, he'd actually handed it in already, and had come to the conclusion that he was still going to fail Japanese. Namely because, in the end, all he'd really succeeded in doing was revealing a few facts that most people probably knew anyways (He never really did pay attention to pop-culture after all), and likely raise a few really fucking weird questions. Not to mention his guilty conscience had eventually convinced him to hold back half of the information he'd gathered to begin with.

And yet, he thought idly, he was still standing here. In the now setting sun. Outside of Kaiba's mansion. The fact was though, he really wanted to know what that briefcase thing was all about. Another sigh, and he dropped his bag and jacket in a bush along the fence before rubbing his arm. When was the last time he'd broken into a place, one year, two years? He didn't think he'd done anything since Hirutani's gang but you never knew. He gulped, looking around nervously as he slipped into the alley created between the fence and the street itself. Fence being a loose term- more like wall really.

Nonetheless, the blond thought as he scaled it with considerable difficulty to land behind a tree in the mansion's yard, he hoped he wasn't out of practice. Especially since he would have to do all of this with one still broken arm. Not that he couldn't, given the bet he'd taken years before to climb a tree with one arm and leg. That was hard. However back then, he'd still had two good arms... If he hit anything, he was in for a world of serious hurt.

Now then, he thought to himself as he looked around the tree. It sucked that he'd lied to Yugi about what he was doing, but the fact was, this whole Kaiba thing was really, really starting to bug him. Not to mention, he added mentally as he watched a guard to his round through the yard before hopping into a nearby bush, the guy had been returning his drifting stares during gym with a really, really, REAAAAALLY scary look that wasn't smug, or angry or... Damn it, he didn't know what it was, but it reminded him of all the wrong things to say the least. Like... Like confusion or... Well, some kind of emotion that he was pretty sure Kaiba didn't feel. (Actually, he was beginning to wonder if the jerk _had_ emotions.)

He pushed a few leaves aside from his face, looking at the cameras installed along the house. Sheesh, Katsuya thought as he ducked back into the bush. This place was a damned fortress. How the hell was he supposed to make it to one of those open second story windows? He waited for the motion sensing camera to hone on the watchman as he walked past, before quickly and (Hopefully) silently making it to the next bush. Right, he thought as he scaled the tree beside it, taking cover in the leaves. So. Ground obviously wasn't gonna work with all the camera's and guards but- He froze, looking past the trees in the fading light as he spotted one near a window.

And of course, all of the windows on the upper floor save like... Three, were open. He grinned, hardly believing his luck. Yes, he thought as he slowly fell back down to 'bush hop' between camera rounds to that same tree. Yes! Now he could just hop in and with luck, find something to explain all this weird crap! All he'd have to do was make it to that tree without getting caught!

As to what he expected to find, he wasn't sure but eh. It wasn't like it wouldn't be good, whatever it was. Well, he added mentally as he waited for the guard to distract the camera again before scaling the tree. It couldn't be mind crushingly horrific at least... Right?

Fairly glad for the fact that said tree had branches that just about touched the ground, he quietly made his way up through the branches. His cheer however, was cut rather short. Katsuya pushed the leaves of the tree aside, scowling as he was met with glass. "Damn it," he hissed under his breath, wincing as he accidentally hit a branch with his cast. Ow. Ow fuck that hurt. For a moment, he heard whispering below, and he tensed. Shit shit shit shit shit if he was caught he was so screwed..! He watched as flashlights began heading his way, screwing his eyes shut until the sounds vanished. Instead, he realized with a frown, the shouts had... Increased. What... He frowned, shaking his head. Whatever, he thought. It couldn't mean anything right..?

He turned to look at the window again, sighing. Man. This meant he'd need to find something e- He froze as sounds came from in the room, a light suddenly pouring into what he could now identify as a bedroom. S-Shit, he realized, this was Kaiba's fucking bathroom! No wonder the window was shut! Katsuya froze where he sat, completely tense as Kaiba's figure came out into the room. Well, he thought with a sigh, at least this meant he'd probably get to see something in the room that cleared things... Up? The blond's eyes widened as a robe fell to the ground. Oh. Fuck.

Katsuya couldn't contain his shouts, falling out of the tree as the light from the other room illuminated more than enough to confuse the teen thoroughly. Shouts came from below as he fell to the ground with a sick, loud thud noise, the window he'd been looking into opening as well. The last thing he saw as his vision spun was a series of guards appearing to hold guns to his face. Thankfully... Not shooting, he idly told his throbbing head as he began to black out. The last thing he heard was, from above in the window, Kaiba's usual insulting voice telling them not to shoot, seeing as how they were obviously too late as it was. Thanks Kaiba, he appreciated being kept alive.

His last thoughts however, once Kaiba's voice had come over again, were more concerned with what he'd seen when Kaiba dropped the robe to likely set up a shower.

Namely a pair of small, but very much natural breasts, and a lack of anything male below what had been visibly curved and (he hated to admit it) very... Hot... hips. Actually, everything was... Pretty... Hot. Damn it... Those words should not be entering his mind right now... And definitely _not_ about that person. Definitely not.

And yet, he thought as he finally welcomed whatever sleep he was getting through the hazed pain, there was no doubt about it.

Seto Kaiba was... A girl.

And he was so glad he'd already handed that report in now, even if he wasn't likely to see what he got on it.

* * *

The first thing he saw when he woke up was a blinding, mind numbing light. This cleared quickly however as he blinked, attempting to move only to find himself in more pain. Katsuya winced, recalling his fall from the tree. Fuck, where was he anywa-

Shit. The tree. The tree that had been in Seto Fucking Kaiba's yard and oh yea, 'he' was a 'she'. Screwing his eyes shut, he wondered if he could possibly just die right there, before a clicking noise drew his attention to the side.

He probably shouldn't have turned, now that he thought about it. "Hi-HIHHH!" Katsuya jerked back, the barrel of a gun held almost directly against his face. Talk about answering to his thoughts really quickly! As he attempted to regain his breath, he looked at the one who was holding it.

It was Kaiba. The woman was wearing pajamas now but... Ohhhh god, he thought as his face flushed red again, why was it that now that there were boobs there everything made so much sense... He should stop thinking of the boobs. Now.

Seto's voice (Which sounded so very, very wrong now. Not to mention less 'manly' and more 'hoarse woman's voice tired of fucking speaking'. Wait... So it wasn't a surgery? That made things better actually.) snapped the blond from his thoughts, as did his... Rather her glare. "It took you long enough, Mutt." Kaiba's voice was filled with more loathing than he had ever thought possible, with a hefty dose of I WILL KILL YOU in it. It was actually almost as frightening as... Well... When he thought that professor guy he and Honda spent the night being chased by was a zombie.

Now that was fucking scary. He swallowed, looking around the empty room in an attempt to look at something other than the barrel of a gun. "Ehe... Heh... Y-Yah know," he said nervously, having a feeling that attempting to argue with Kaiba for the moment would get a bullet through his skull for his efforts, "You look... A lot different than I expected. And... Sound different too..." He had a feeling that was the wrong thing to say, given that the gun was suddenly right against his temple. "Oh god..." Well shit, regardless of the fact that he wasn't one for 'I don't hit girls', he was just to beat for all this crap!

"Just. Shut. Up. MUTT." As Katsuya gulped audibly, he slowly turned to listen as Kaiba continued speaking. "Normally, I wouldn't hesitate to pull this trigger now, but lucky for you," she said with a sneer, "Not only do I know enough about you that I can make sure you won't say anything, but I'm actually wondering how the hell you made it to my bedroom window undetected with a broken arm!" She drew back, the gun held less-than-threateningly at the ceiling now as she narrowed her eyes. "So speak, or did your 'masters' not even teach you that trick?"

The blond sat up, growling. Alright, the dog joke had done it. Come on, Kaiba couldn't get away with murder, and he could take hi- her out with even one arm! YEA. "Kaiba... Gk!" The gun was quickly pointed back, and he swallowed again. Scratch that thought. Scratch all those thoughts. Right. Now. "Alrigh, alrigh'! I'll talk but... All I did was jump the fence and hide in the bushes..." Kinda pathetic actually.

Her eyes continued to narrow, the scowl a seemingly permanent fixture on the woman's face. "I have cameras, and guards Mutt. How did you do it?" Yes, how _did _he do that?

Katsuya tensed, drawing back against the headboard of the bed he was in. Idly wondering if this was how all 'prisoners of war' were treated by Kaiba, he frowned. "I told yah! The only other thing I did was wait for th' cameras to follow the guards! After that I was just looking for a way in!" Wait, he probably shouldn't have said that.

"And what for," she said with a snarl. "Besides the little unintentional peep show you found at my window? For which, just so you know, you WILL be punished for..."

Oh shit oh shit oh shit... Another swallow, before he muttered something under his breath.

Kaiba crossed her arms, body-contrasting voice giving off a low and unimpressed growl. "What was that, _dog_? I didn't hear you over the barking."

"I said I was wonderin' what the heck the briefcase thing was about alrigh'!" Fucking dog comments... He silently prayed that Kaiba didn't go too much deeper into this; if she found out that this all started with a makeup assignment for Japanese, he was not only royally FUCKED, but so was his teacher. And... Well, he kinda liked that teacher. "It was buggin' me..." Thankfully, this much was true at least.

The woman scoffed, crossing her legs. "Of course a mongrel like you would do something so stupid over that." She rolled her eyes, before re-aiming the gun at Katsuya's head. "Now then, seeing how that's over-"

"Nee-sama!" A panicked, half-ear piercing shout came through the air, a thunder of footsteps interrupting the woman. "Nee-" The pair turned as Mokuba ran in, a few maids running behind the boy worriedly. Katsuya had to blink a few times before he realized it was him- the boy was haggard, and looked as though he hadn't gotten any sleep for at least a week. Not to mention the tear-stains on his face. As the boy came in to look at the two, he frowned. "I mean," he said with a cough. "Nii-sama, what's going on here..?"

Another scoff, and she waved the maids off with a hand. The women appeared to freeze for a moment, before scurrying off to leave their employer with her business. "Just 'work' Mokuba," she said dismissively, before turning back to Katsuya. Her expression was cold, and almost so emotionless that for a brief moment, the blond thought his captor to be robotic. "Nothing more." Well fuck, he wasn't seriously going to die was he!

Mokuba looked between the two with an open mouth, as though about to say something. Katsuya however, decided to speak first, plucking up a small bit of courage with the boy's presence. "'S alright Mokuba," he said with a pained shrug. "I know about th' whole sister thing..." While the younger of the Kaiba's fixed the blond with a surprised, if not possibly impressed stare, his older sister's gaze merely hardened. He coughed awkwardly, before looking at Mokuba again. "Nyh... What happened to you though?" It felt much better to speak to the boy as if Kaiba wasn't there. Even if it likely increased his death sentence. A lot.

The boy was silent for a moment, looking at the ground. "...Yugi... He..." Before he could deign Katsuya's expression of shock and disbelieving horror with a response, he placed himself between Kaiba's gun and the blond. Frowning, the boy managed a false look of courage and determination. "But that's not the problem," he said tensely. "What I want to know is what's going on!" This kid... Had balls. Facing an armed Kaiba in his condition. (Granted, they were related but... Did that... Actually register with this guy, ER, girl's mind?)

For a moment, Katsuya wondered what the hell had happened that made it so that not seeing each other for a week wasn't more important than 'interrogating him'. For the moment however, not being shot in the face was a little higher on the priorities list though, so the blond decided to press the matter later. When the kid's older sister wasn't there. And... When he'd had some sleep, because his entire body was really sore now that he thought about it. Kaiba scoffed as Mokuba stood firm between them, but nonetheless put the gun down. "Hnp," she said with a scowl, evidently willing to humor the boy this time. "This MUTT managed to get past our clearly incompetent cameras and guards to make it to my bathroom window." The gaze intensified, Kaiba crossing her arms and clutching them in her fists tightly. "He then managed to get caught by falling out of the tree once he spotted me inside..."

She wasn't mentioning that he saw her naked. That was always good. Um, Mostly. At least. Bathroom still kind of implied something. Mokuba turned to look at Katsuya again, before turning back. "He made it past the cameras AND the guards?" At the disgruntled frown he received in response, he shrunk slightly. "Right... Well..." He turned to look at the bed-ridden teen, crossing his arms. "Even I have to admit that's pretty impressive..." Well. He did have a broken arm, so it was either 'impressive' or... Security was seriously worth crap here.

"Impressive isn't my word for it Mokuba," the boy's sister said curtly. Aha! They had the same thoughts- Wait, that wasn't good.

Mokuba appeared to ignore his sister for once, shrugging to the woman's surprise. "Maybe so, but doesn't that say something about what a professional could do? We need to up our security Nee-sama! I told you that!" There was some grumbling, and Katsuya raised an eyebrow at the exchange. He turned back, smirking. "Hey, Jonouchi," he said with an odd look in his eyes. "You're the school's exception to the 'no jobs rule' right?"

"Yea, tha's ri-" He tensed up, scowling. "Hey, how th' hell did you know that!" After all, that was probably _not _a common subject that these two shared.

Behind the boy, Seto rolled her eyes. "Please Mutt, you can tell just looking at you." Ignoring the questioning shout about his appearance, Mokuba rolled his own eyes.

"Oh come on," he said with a groan. "Just listen! Now then, Jonouchi," he continued, smirking again. "What would you say to working with the security cameras during the after school hours of the week? Maybe even an evening on the weekend?" ...What.

As Katsuya's eyes practically broke out of their sockets (He was being offered a job at KAIBA'S? Because he unintentionally peeped on her? Who he didn't even know was a 'her' until now?), Seto snarled. "Excuse me," she said as she stood up from the chair. "You're offering this moron to WORK here?" Yessss. Yes Mokuba was, and he was very very happy about it. ...Or he would be, if he didn't die soon.

Mokuba shrugged again, turning to his sister. "Of course... Besides maybe getting things done with the security, it might help with 'other things'," he said. Katsuya idly noticed that the boy had purposely placed emphasis on those last two words... But he couldn't tell what that really meant. It didn't sound good but...

It must have been something though, for at that moment the woman smirked. Although when he thought again, anything that got that reaction from Kaiba wasn't likely good for him, "Alright then," she said, walking over to the door. "Do what you want..." As she left the room, she sent a narrowed glare to Katsuya before continuing. "But keep in mind that dogs who can't learn to obey their masters will find themselves on the streets without a home. And as for you," she said as she turned to her brother. "We'll talk about where you've been later." With that, the woman left, presumably to continue to her bed, The chilling tone she'd used still hung in the air however, leaving a cold room in its place.

As the woman left, Katsuya turned to watch Mokuba climb onto the bed with a miserable expression. "Hey," the blond said hesitantly. "That job... Are yah..." He choked, attempting to prop himself up on his left arm before continuing. "Are yah serious?" Hell, he couldn't be right?

He nodded. "Course," he said with a detached shrug. Damn, that was awesome. "Keeps you alive doesn't it? Now that Nee-sama has leverage over Yu... You after all." He leaned back in the chair, giving a shudder. Leverage over 'Yu'? He was going to pray that didn't mean Yugi and just nod.

"Hey kid," the teen said as he got closer to the boy. "You alrigh'? I mean..." He swallowed, before continuing. "If you've been gone for a week... How did... I mean, yah said _Yugi_. What did he..." Was Yugi even capable of anything? Seriously? Because... Mokuba looked broken to say the least. And while he didn't even hesitate in the thought that Yugi wouldn't hurt a speck of dust... That look was genuine. You could _not _fake that, not matter how hard you tried.

The boy sighed, shaking his head. "I wanted to... Prove to her that I could be strong too..." He sniffed, wiping his eyes as his listener frowned. "I wanted her to look at me and smile like we used too back then. So I thought, if I won a game against Yugi..." A choking noise, and Mokuba curled in on himself with wide and distant eyes. "It.. It was so dark... I couldn't see anyone, or hear anyone, and no one was coming for me... I called for my big sister," he said as he cried, shaking at the memories of the last week. "I called for someone, anyone, but no one came..! No one could come..! No one..."

Mokuba tensed as he was pulled over by one healthy arm and one relatively uninjured one. "Hey," Katsuya said, using comforting 'big brother' tones that he hadn't used since he was younger than 10. "I's alrigh, ok? Everythin's alrigh... Whatever happened, 's over now..." Damn it, Katsuya thought as the boy clung to him, acting the age he should have been if not possibly younger. Everything was so messed up now. Yugi forgetting things, Yugi's forgetting what was happening during a supposed match with Seto, that match spurring Mokuba to create one, said end result doing... This to Mokuba. Seto being a girl, him seeing Seto NAKED, him getting a JOB for seeing Seto naked... (Kaiba was showing up an awful lot in these messed up memories... And he was not liking where his thoughts were going.)

As he held the boy close, Katsuya felt himself stare off to the wall, unsure of what to do. All he could think of really, was that he regretted ever wishing for more excitement in his life.

* * *

**AN: **If you give a Katsuya an assignment... He'll probably do a lot of weird shit to get it done if he really gets into it enough. Thankfully however, he won't ask for anything further than that, not like that greedy little rat you gave a cookie the other day. We all know how THAT went down.

Before anyone goes 'I thought there was a surgery?'... Well, aside from that being REALLY AWKWARD. (That would be akin to making Kaiba transgendered; while I'm sure there are headcanons out there and similar, this isn't the place for it, and it would probably be insulting to a lot of people if I tried it.) It's as Tanaka said. ILLEGAL. No matter how much money Gozaburo has, no doctor in the world will do this. Too dangerous, too pricey, and most of all it involves a child. Not to mention, Gozaburo's going with the cheaper solution here, and the one that is much much much easier to hide.

It's also conveniently the one that I _don't _need Gozaburo to re-read Seto's medical records for. Because quite frankly, if he actually bothered to do digging (Which he didn't, or so the fanfic says right now), he'd find out (very quickly) that son is not son. Son is _daughter_.

There's a limit to protecting/watching over your brother at an orphanage Seto! You've crossed it! (Even though that's my fault. Ohoho~)

And to clarify the end here; Mokuba just got out of the penalty game _he _was subjected to in the manga. I always wonder what kind of therapy these people need... Because quite frankly, you never find out how long the punishment lasts, and if the Kaiba brothers are any sign, those penalty games don't always work. They make things WORSE. Needless to say, subjecting a young child to that... Well shit. The ends really justify the means for early Yami Yugi, don't they!


	5. Chapter 4

**My Home is Yours**

* * *

In the aftermath of that evening, a lot had changed for Katsuya. Granted, he thought idly as he put his shoes in the box at the school building with a frown, a lot had changed recently thanks to that 'one night', but really he decided, sighing as Kaiba walked past with a warning glare, that was beside the point. Repressing a shudder, Katsuya grabbed his bag and repressed an aggravated groan. Damn it, why did things have to be this way? Confusing, confusing... His faith wasn't wavering, but because of that things seemed to have gotten even worse! He knew that it would get better in the end- hell, he certainly _hoped_ it would get better. But in the end... Well...

After calming Mokuba down, two things had happened really. One, he'd been shown the security room he'd work in, along with being handed a few things he'd need for the job. Essentially, he was going to be paid 1000 Yen, 250 more than the average pay, per hour to sit at a desk and make sure no one weird came on the camera screen. Which quite honestly, as a really big jump from his usual work. Granted, Mokuba had said once his arm healed he'd be switching for grounds-duty occasionally... But whatever; nothing he couldn't handle after all. He had a job again, he was getting paid, and maybe after he had all of his dad's debts paid off they could actually be a family again.

Speaking of healing, he thought as he headed for class. The kid had managed to pull a fast one on him with some sort of hidden slip in the form he'd signed; namely that if he was severely injured (a category including broken arms), he was essentially forced to stay at Kaiba's house. At first, he figured this was just another way of keeping him quiet... However, he decided as he sat down in the class room, it could also just be Mokuba being weird, like he had the day they met. It meant sneaking into his house once the arm was healed but... Well the paycheck would probably distract his old man long enough.

Until then, he tried not to think about why the hell Mokuba wanted him to stay at the house so bad.

Leaning back on his chair, he jumped slightly as Yugi came over. "Good Morning, Jonouchi-kun," he said in his usual cheery tone. For a brief, very brief moment he hadn't answered. He'd just stood there, frozen, looking at the kid that was his best friend and remembered what Mokuba had cried out during his emotional breakdown. Which brought him to fact number two. '_Dark_', he'd said, Katsuya not knowing what the hell he was talking about. '_So dark... Dark.._.'. It wasn't until he'd asked about the kid's favorite game, CapMon, that he'd _really_ figured out what dark meant though.

Trapped in a CapMon capsule... How the hell was that even possible? For a week especially; apparently it'd been as easy as handing him the food 'through' the wall, which no one else had seen, but even so. Mokuba had completely believed he was stuck in a tiny egg-shaped capsule for all that time, and he had believed on top of this that there was no way for him to escape. The boy would probably not be touching that game for a while... Not at all. As Katsuya stared at his friend however he blinked, before shaking it off with a small laugh and smile. No way... No damn way Yugi could do something like that. It sounded so impossible, so god-damned bizarre that it had to be a nightmare, and yet... And yet there was something in that kid's voice that just couldn't convince him he was lying either. It was just so... So...

"Mornin' Yugi," he said with his usual, slang filled accent, smile widening despite current worries gathering in the back of his mind. "How are yah?" Hopefully his voice didn't completely betray his feelings right now. Because that would be really bad.

The boy beamed, apparently missing the depressive mood his friend had briefly held. "I'm great Jonouchi-kun!" For a moment however, Yugi looked slightly saddened despite this- And for a brief few seconds, Katsuya wondered if he'd caught the pause in his words. In the end however.. No. "It was kinda boring with out you yesterday," the boy began. "Honda-kun kept on staring at passing girls, so Anzu-chan spent most of the night hitting him on the back of the head... I ended up just watching it over and over again, aha..." Oh alright. So it was just that then. Yugi blinked, before looking back from the ground to Katsuya. "That reminds me," he said with an encouraging smile. "How did the job interview go?"

"Er..." He blinked, completely caught off guard for a moment. Job interview? He didn't even know he'd have one that d- Ohhhh yea. He'd told Yugi he was goin' for a job interview that evening. And... Ironically that kinda, sorta happened. Boy... Fate had a hell of a way with things didn't it? Well, he figured with a laugh, no time like the present. "It was great! You'll never guess where I'm workin'!"

A voice from behind Yugi appeared, and Katsuya turned as Anzu showed up. "Hn? You got a job Jonouchi-kun..?"

Honda as well came over, rubbing his head. "About time man... But who the hell hired you with that thing," he asked, pointing at the cast on Katsuya's arm with a raised eyebrow. "Seriously, I thought you were only getting hired for labor work."

He laughed slightly, grin still in place. Yeaaaaa... Labor work. Well! Regardless of location, it was still pretty decent pay; compared to the usual costs, he might stand a chance at salvaging the bills now, not to mention stave off the lone-sharks. "Got a job on a security team," he said with a grin, though it was partially forced as he continued. "At rich-boy's mansion..." Shortly after he said 'rich boy', he tensed slightly, as though having been smacked over the head. Right he told himself, not a boy not a- wait, he was supposed to pretend she was a boy anyways, so '_still a boy, still a boy_'... Er. Shit. This was hard. This would probably be even weirder once the lady pulled her weird voice changing act. Damn it. And she was in the classroom too so...

He chose not to even think of that for the moment, instead watching the reactions of his friends.

The three balked, Yugi blinking a few times as the other two took over in terms of shocked responses. "Wait... What?" Honda was first, scowling. "You got a job with _him_? That asshole?" Katsuya ducked slightly, as his friend's voice had almost certainly reached Kaiba's ears- in fact, given Yugi's worried glance, said teen was currently looking over at him now. And the look was probably not something he would want to see; actually, it was probably best he not turn around for the entire day if he valued his life in the end.

Granted, since Mokuba had hired him he couldn't really get fired for this, as Kaiba wasn't about to fire his brother and replace him with someone that might actually argue about worse things... And Mokuba wasn't budging on this job offer, something that appeared to actually disturb the elder of the siblings to no end. Still. The silver lining on the cloud was really tempting right now, given that his next option was returning to paper delivery. "H-Hey," he said, rubbing his head with a nervous laugh. "I know he's pretty out there but... Could y' try not t' dis my boss when he's right there?"

Anzu blinked, looking over at Kaiba a moment before turning back. "HE hired you? I thought you two hated each other Jonouchi. Not to mention," she added with a narrow-eyed frown, "How is he the one who hired you if he's in class?" YES. That question! Aha. Well. If he could answer that properly without getting everyone shot, he probably would.

For the moment however, he just shrugged it off, shaking his head as though it were nothing at all. "Long story, trust me," Katsuya said with a slight yawn. Damn it, he hadn't gotten any sleep last night, he muttered in the back of his mind. Oh well. "Anyways," Katsuya continued to mutter, "He technically isn't the one that hired me, but he's still my boss in a way..." As the others shrugged, the blond looked down at Yugi a moment. "Oh hey, tha' reminds me... Kaiba's kid brother, Mokuba... He mentioned you at one point Yug, what was that about?" Please please _please_ don't say anything about forgetting...

His friend jumped slightly, eyes wide as if remembering something rather horrific before frowning. "I'm not actually sure," he finally said after a short bout of silence. "He'd forced me into playing CapMon with him but..." the boy paused a second, before continuing. "We never did..." Looking at Yugi's eyes, there was no trace of any deception. Hell, Katsuya told himself as the teacher came in to begin the class, there was never any trace in those eyes. Yugi was innocent, childlike. He just wasn't _capable_ of harm. Yet the 'magic memory jump before a game' still held true. Damn it. Yugi wasn't lying, that was for sure...

And yet, he thought with a shudder, Mokuba's reaction was... Far too haunting, far too real to be a lie as well. It was so confusing... The thoughts ended up transferring even as he left the others at school's end to head off to Kaiba's mansion for his first night at work, leaving his friends with a slightly false smile.

He really liked his friends, and saw them as nothing else but... Why did it feel like something was going to go terribly wrong sooner or later? To the point where things like Hirutani became a laughing matter?

* * *

Work was pretty cool, he thought to himself a few days later. In fact, he decided with a grin as he left the doctor's office, it was _really_ cool. Mostly because he had his cast off... Not that this had anything to do with his job.

Katsuya flexed his right arm with a grin, intending to take his first day off with his healed arm to every advantage possible. "Alrigh'!" He cheered as he ran beside Yugi, the boy grinning as he ran slightly to keep up with him. "Finally rid of that thing!" He would never ever see it again! Never! Which was good because he'd been getting a little tired of the invisible glares he got at Kaiba's house; actually seeing the woman when she was pissed was one thing after all. But for the entire time he was there it felt almost like she was just leering at him from behind the last corner he turned or something.

Not that he was letting that bring him down when he'd just gotten out of course. "This is great," Yugi said as he ran beside his friend. "You can finally start writing things properly, and play duel monsters again!" The amount of time the pair had for gaming had decreased considerably since the broken arm, and at the moment, the friendship was feeling considerably renewed with the cast's removal. Though he wasn't so sure about Duel Monsters at the moment...

He nodded, before turning to his friend and holding his completely honest grin in place. As days had passed during his short, albeit forced stay at Kaiba's, the topic of Yugi had faded fairly quickly. It seemed almost as though Mokuba was attempting to distract him with something else whenever he got off work even, the boy pulling him off for some kind of game until it was time for the younger of the pair to turn in. Amidst all this however, it was almost as though he was planning something, something that continued pushing against the more paranoid areas of the back of his mind from just a year and a bit prior... In the end though, he hadn't bothered acting on those theories. Mostly because the fact was, the kid truly believed that his best friend had somehow trapped him in the equivalent of a giant egg. So he could understand why the topic should probably be dropped, along with why there would be looks just shy of what could be called loathing when the topic returned. "Hey," he decided, continuing the conversation he had with Yugi as he shook the thoughts from mind. "You wanna go to the arcade? Yah know, t' celebrate?"

The boy beamed, immediately nodding in response. "Hah! Do I ever!"

As they approached the place, Katsuya flexed his right arm a few times more before pushing the door open to let them both in. "Heheheee... Now that my right arm's in workin' order again, I'll have a clean shot at beating 'KAI's records!"

Yugi blinked. "Kai..?" The unsaid question was a little obvious really. 'Who was Kai..?' "Are those the initials on the machines..?"

He put his hands in his pockets, nodding. "Yea- an' he holds a complete monopoly over the arcade th' jerk!" Katsuya gestured over to a nearby shooting game, where 'KAI's high score was currently flashing to an annoyed player. "An' since all these are connected throughout th' country wirelessly, this KAI guy is the best gamer in all Japan! Racin', fightin', you name it!" He grinned, moving over to one of the fighting games and continuing. "So... If I beat 'm, that'll make me the best gamer in Japan!" And then people would be complaining about 'JOU'! Or something along those lines.

A pair of kids burst into a fit of laughter as they passed, catching the last few words of the conversation. "Seriously," one of them said, eyebrows raised high in amusement. "You think you can beat Kaiba-sama at these games?"

The shorter of the teens blinked, while Katsuya reeled back. Oh come on... "Kaiba," Yugi began in obvious surprise. "As in Seto Kaiba-kun," he asked politely. Katsuya in the meantime was inwardly groaning; it was _her, _he told himself as he winced. He would have to beat HER. Damn it damn it _damn it,_ she would have the top scores in all of Japan, wouldn't she? Obsessive bitch.

The boys nodded, ignoring Katsuya's grimace and mutterings as they answered Yugi's question. "That's right," they began eagerly. "The older of the Kaiba brother's is a gaming GENIUS!" The one beside the first grinned, continuing to mutter away with praise as Katsuya frowned. Huh. Kaiba was oddly famed among small children, wasn't she...

"Kaiba-sama's our hero," the first of the children was cheering, face red with what was likely childish adoration and awe. "Although," he said, trailing off as he shared a glance with his friend. "Recently, he's stopped playing the games here..."

The other one shrugged. "Probably because it's so boring... There's no opponent worthy of Kaiba-sama after all!"

The first boy smirked, nodding. "Got that right," he said as he looked up at Katsuya. "If you plan to beat any of these scores, you'll be here forever! Though if you're interested," he added with a somewhat thoughtful expression. "I heard a rumor recently..."

The teens blinked, sharing a glance. A rumor..? "What kinda rumor," Katsuya finally asked, voice as loud as ever. "C'mon, spit it out!" Damn it, he'd only heard the word 'rumor' and he was latching on! What was he a girl?

_Don't_ think of that.

The boy's grins widened, short laughter coming from both. "Supposedly," the second began, "Kaiba-sama has been working on 'The Ultimate Game'..! Something the world has never seen ever before..!" 'Never before seen' eh..? As the pair suddenly turned to see something and run off, Katsuya blinked, briefly staring up at the ceiling in thought. Hn.

"Ultimate game..?" And boy, didn't those kids leave at a convenient time! Now this would be bugging him for the next month... And he had just gotten out from under Kaiba's roof! Not that he would be attempting to ask the woman anyway... And he doubted Mokuba had a clue, given how much time the boy had with his sister to talk about _anything _to put it lightly.

Yugi looked up at him, blinking as well. "You know anything about that Jonouchi-kun? I mean, you do work for him..."

He snorted, shaking his head. "Yea I work for 'm, but I only report to his kid brother remember? I don't have a clue what those two were goin' on about..." Katsuya growled as he turned to one of the games, before cracking his knuckles. "I'll show those twerps," he said with a scowl, before grinning. "C'mon Yug', lets play some games!" Linking 'KAI' to Kaiba just had him more determined!

The shorter one nodded, smiling. "Yea!"

* * *

It really figured he thought as he trudged home, that he didn't come close to beating ANY of the scores. "Maaaaan," he said with a groan, kicking a can as he came up to the house. "What's with that lady an' being the so called King-a-everythin' anyways?" He adjusted his grip on his bag, before looking up the stairs to his apartment with a gulp. Here it went... It'd been a week and two days since he'd been home, his dad would be livid. With luck, he'd be asleep... There was a crunch of cans from inside, and Katsuya winced. Nope. Not asleep.

Maybe he should stay out for- He shook his head, steeling himself. What would come would come, he'd just take it like a man, as he always had. Sides, he told himself as he walked up the steps, keeping a careful eye out for his old man, the worst that had happened in the past had just healed over right? Couldn't get any worse than that! He'd just have to dodge the bottles and whatever else was in the way and get into his room as fast as possible. Nothing. Would happen.

As he walked into the room, he didn't know how wrong he was. "There yeh are," the drunk slur of his father stated from around the corner, Katsuya hurriedly ducking as a bottle flew his way. Holy _shit_ that was fast..! "Where th' hell have yah been these past days," his father moaned, half hanging off the kitchen counter across him. Well. Earning money for the bills mostly. But... "I try an' cook... Try an' cook, so tha' _you_ c'n eat," he continued to slur, pointing the frying pan he held almost accusingly forward. "An' instead yer gone f'r a week... An... An..."

He thought he'd defended himself pretty well in terms of excuses; very well actually, given the brief moment his father stumbled forward in his ramble about how worried he was. But then the frying pan ended up flying out of the man's hands... And as he fell over the railing to the stairway of his house, a faded scream coming through his ears as the blow that the pan left on his stomach pushed him back, Katsuya didn't know how damn lucky he was that he'd forgotten his textbooks with Yugi again. Or that the neighbors had thrown out their futons, leaving them piled at the bottom of the stairs. And it was especially lucky that he'd only been semi-conscious falling down... Apparently he clipped his head on the railing as he went, rendering him unable to hear anything but dull white noise for a few moments as he keeled backward. Nonetheless, he had to idly thank whoever sent the sirens as he swam in and out of consciousness, the worried cries of realization from his father only dully acknowledged by his currently stunned brain. Either way... Whether it was Yugi borrowing a cellphone or a moment of sobriety from his depressed dad, he was glad to pass out knowing that he wouldn't end up sleeping there.

Something told him that if they hadn't, getting to work on time the next day would have been the least of his issues.

* * *

White light. Katsuya squinted as he blinked against the harshness of it, idly wondering how many times he'd wake up to this before he could just sleep and get up in his normal, tiny-ass bedroom for once. But _no_.

He had to be _here_. In a fucking _hospital bed_. He blearily looked around, before frowning. Hang on what? Hospital? Who called him in? His dad might have if he'd gotten sobered up but he was more likely to pull him back into the apartment and lay him on the couch to recover or something in the end; so that couldn't be right. Then again...

That's right he thought to himself with a frown, he'd heard someone shout as he fell. So then... Yugi? The teen shot up at the thought, before instantly regretting it as he grabbed his middle. GH-! "Achkkk..." Oh god... Oh god his stomach... It was on _fire._..

"Yea," came a familiar voice beside the bed, sounding notably annoyed. "I wouldn't try sitting if I were you." Katsuya turned, frowning as he recognized Mokuba's usual mop of hair. Him..? Why was he here though? He opened his mouth to speak, before noting that the boy was currently the only one in the room. Alright. That was even weirder he thought to himself. Yugi was the one that called an ambulance for him wasn't he? So why was Mokuba here then? He was pulled from his thoughts as the boy began speaking again, a thick scowl set over his face. "You know," he growled darkly, "Generally when you have something fixed, you don't break it the day it's fully repaired!" Oh come on, not his fault... The boy sighed as Katsuya again winced, before continuing on. "Jonouchi... Do you know how close to dead you were? Two words, Jonouchi," the boy stated with a frown. "Internal. Bleeding. What hit you, a truck?" Close?

He grunted, wincing as he tried to move again before giving up and laying back on the bed. "Ehh... Ground I think..." And a crappy futon, from three floors up. Which in hindsight, probably saved his ass. ...Wow, he really had some fucked up luck didn't he? And besides that, what was it that Mokuba just said? Internal bleeding? He didn't break anything, but he managed that?

Mokuba rolled his eyes at the 'smart' remark, shaking his head. "Tch. Well, whatever I guess. I had my guys get your stuff from that place and move them to mine," he told him with a grin, watching Katsuya's face shift into an expression of horror.

"H-HEH?" He stared at the boy, shaking his head. What- "Are... What the hell are yah sayin," he protested, eyes wide. "I can't move out! I gotta pay off the bills first, get th' loan sharks off my Dad's case-" He froze, noticing that Mokuba's look was becoming increasingly murderous as he spoke and drawing back. "Nyhhh..." That look was way too familiar to a certain other relative of this kid...

But come on, wasn't this just a _little _bit overkill..! This would only make things worse, not better, his dad was worried damn it! Nonetheless his only answer was a furious scowl, the boy grinding his teeth in more than obvious rage. "Tch... I don't care," he said, shaking his head. "Do you ever even think about what's in that place?" Not really... But evidently Mokuba had decided that the bottles on the floor along with the sorry state of most of their furniture made for a reason to pull him out, regardless of what he thought. The boy's tone, however, was serving as more than enough of a barrier for complaint. "I... I don't care what my 'brother' says this time," he hissed, shaking as he spoke. "No one should live in a place like that! No one!"

Katsuya blinked, unable to find something to say. Something in his voice... Something deadly familiar in his voice seemed to be preventing him from making a complaint, but why? "Mokuba," he finally said, looking up from his flat position on the hospital bed. "Why are you..." Why was he so set on this..?

A silence fell over the pair, before the boy got off the chair with a huff. "Hn! Whatever," he said. "No arguments! From now on, you live at my house, understand," he said 'commandingly'. As Katsuya groaned from the pillow in response his employer turned to leave the room, continuing on. "I... I take care of my employees," he told the teen, back turned to him as he bowed his head. What..? The blond frowned, turning somewhat to look at where the boy stood. Shaking... He was shaking, but why was that? "I take care of them... Just like my big s... My big brother told me to before he... Before..." His fists clenched, and he turned to look at Katsuya with a fierce stare. "Get better, alright," he shouted, eyes wide. "Promise me, Jonouchi!"

Silence again, Katsuya too shocked to speak for a moment. Obviously something had this kid set on this... And in the end, he'd probably be stuck in this bed a while before he could settle things. Finally, he nodded, lips curling up in a weak smile. "Yea," he said with a short nod. "Promise." Whatever happened... He could at least honor this kid's word he supposed.

* * *

Katsuya didn't know which was worse of the three things that happened when he finally got out of the hospital. 'Finally' of course being a loose term here. Though internal bleeding was severe, and he now had one hell of a bruise on his stomach, he'd apparently been semi-conscious enough that nothing had been broken. Because of that all they'd really had to do was stop the bleeding, replace his lost blood, and give him two days to recover.

There went _his _weekend. Still; his dumb luck sure had a habit of coming at the weirdest of times.

So that was issue one; it was Monday, his homework wasn't done, and school was otherwise as crappy as ever. Not that he ever... Really finished his homework, but damn it he'd been close this time! He was going to do it!

Someday.

Issue two on the other hand was more the fact that as soon as he entered, he was tackled by Yugi. And as much as he liked the guy, being tackled around the waist, which was bruised enough as it was, hurt like hell... So he'd spent the rest of the day constantly being asked if there was something he, rather Yugi, could do to solve matters. Which resulted in constantly reassuring Yugi that no, it was fine. He'd... Just be sitting out of gym class again.

Karita was going to have a _fit _damn it.

Of course, following this there was issue three, which didn't completely take effect until _after_ school. Bad enough that Kaiba had been giving Katsuya the strongest equivalent to a death glare he had ever been at the other end of... A statement that was certainly saying something, considering the crap that he'd been used to before meeting Yugi. Not to mention the stare he'd gotten _before_, when he'd already been staying at the woman's house. Evidently the worse had yet to come as the gaze had only increased in intensity when, as he said good bye to the others and began to walk off, Kaiba's car pulled up beside him with the back window rolled down. "Get in." That was about all the woman said as she sat in the passenger seat, back door opening forward while she leered in the shadows. "_Now._" She'd also said that, he supposed. There was also that.

"Nyhh..." He opted against walking, deciding to humor the possibly murderous woman for the moment. Swallowing nervously before hopping in, the drive proceeded with relative silence until they got to the mansion.

As soon as they got out, Kaiba motioned for the blond to follow, Katsuya frowning in response. Ok, now that couldn't be good... Why did this feel kind of like when he was 5 and his mom was about to ream him out for- Ok bad thoughts, bad thoughts! Don't compare Kaiba to a mother, ever! As he followed the teen to another room however, he quickly went pale. Alarm bells were ringing in his mind as Seto closed the door behind them, Katsuya quickly flushing as the 'death glare' was fixed on him again. "What did you tell him," the woman stated bluntly, dropping the disguised voice and replacing it with her usual hoarse one.

He blinked. "W-Wait what?" Ok... He wasn't dead. Just... Just calm down and...

Seto grabbed the nearest chair, sliding it over to Katsuya before taking a seat herself. "My brother, you moron. What. Did you do."

The teen frowned. Oh, so that was what it was about eh? In that case, everything was fine. FINE. "Nothin' that you shouldn't have Kaiba," he shouted with a scowl. "Ain't my fault your kid brother saw fit tah pull me into your life some more!" Honestly, you couldn't just toss someone a cake and then tell them off for eating it! ...Wait that made Mokuba the cake, he should re-think that.

She scoffed, rolling her eyes before fixing her target with the 'look' again. "Shut up for a minute Mutt, and let me explain. Seeing how it's clearly so complex, your brain can't wrap around it at all." Crossing her legs and arms, the teen continued. "What I want to know is why my little brother is so enamored with you Mutt- just what it is that suddenly has him so obsessively clinging to someone like YOU, who essentially came off the streets!"

Katsuya growled, clenching his fists. Oh so this was it then? Tch! "Yea yea yea, so I'm a 'back alley mutt'... I got it!" Ignoring the large number of relatively identical insults tossed at him, he huffed before slouching back on his chair. "Sheesh, I don' know why he's doin' it! That's your job ain't it?" At Kaiba's still increasing glare, he silently pondered that random quote Anzu had mentioned from an English text of hers. What was it again, 'Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned'? He was probably seeing it right now. Or something at least a little close in any case. "Look Kaiba," he finally said after scratching a bit of hair out of his face. "I don' know what's wrong with yah, and quite honestly, I don' think that I'd care normally. But why the heck does someone who doesn't even care about their little brother suddenly jump up when that little brother says he's bringing a friend home?" Yes, please tell him... Because that was bugging him as well. What was it, some sort of possession deal?

...That would just be weird.

The woman's knuckles were white, her fingers digging into her arms before she stood. "Because," she said with a scowl, "That _'someone'_ just happens to be a no good stray who can't keep his nose out of someone else's business!" She walked forwards, grabbing the arms of Katsuya's chair and leaning in to look the blond in the eye. "My brother is MY brother, MUTT. You'll do well to remember your place as his employee, and not some pathetic friend to drag him back from what matters." Was that care, or just the 'CEO' talking again? And- Oh hey, she was really close, he noted with an awkward cough. Really close right now.

For a brief moment, Katsuya couldn't stop looking down; sure, whatever should have been there was still bound tight against Kaiba's skin but... By all definitions, Seto's boobs were in his face. And it was starting to turn him on, which he really wished wouldn't happen, because it made things really, really, _really_ awkward. Really. Awkward. Um.

He swallowed, turning to look back up at the woman's face with a glare. Alright. He'd probably sign his own death certificate for this, but whatever. "Yea, I'll r'member," he said with a snarl. "Just so long as you remember your place as his older sister..." He paused, before smirking. He was living here now, mind as well get his kicks before Kaiba killed him of. "...Seto-chan~." First name AND degrading honorific. Take that! Oh shit...

Kaiba's face went red with rage as she stepped back, fists clenched. Okay, he'd hit the 'scorned' part, Katsuya thought in the back of his mind, that much was true. Maaaaybe he shouldn't have called her... Eh, whatever. The jerk could use a downsize by at least ten thousand pegs. The woman stood there, silent for a moment before finding the words to say. "If you weren't already recovering from the injuries your suicidal leap off the stairs gave you, I'd have half a mind to throttle you right now Mutt..." She clenched her teeth, whirling to leave the room. "As it is, savor the moment, for the next time you even think of referring to me by that name, you'll find out just what someone of my position can do, Mutt." The door slammed behind her, leaving Katsuya in the room alone.

Briefly, he kept silent, before shaking his head. Ok. Heart was still beating, stomach still hurt like hell but that was expected... Shit. Kaiba had let him live after all! "Man... That was creepy." Yea. Not doing that again.

* * *

**AN: **Holy shit guys! So many hits and it's only two days in~ This chapter is shorter because many many things happened that just did not mesh well HERE. AHAHAHA. It's one of the things that actually bugs me a little. Oh well. From now on, I'm going to put a tiny summary of manga related business here for those anime-only people, as well as responses to Anonymous Reviews. I know that before I got an account, it bugged me when I couldn't review something I liked, and now that I leave it open, it bugs me that I can't respond as easily as I can to people logged in... I should rephrase that. I just don't want to feel like I'm favoring people with accounts when I answer reviews. With that, I answer to the two anonymous reviews I got from a short bit before. Order will be this! Comment, Reviews, Manga Guide!

Which means you have to dig through my rambling... Or maybe not. Some of you might notice that Mokuba has already latched on to Jonouchi really really tightly; there's a good reason for this, and it's touched on a lot more later... So I'll leave you guys to think on it for now. On another note, I'm currently looking for a 'real world' example for Seto's 'fem' voice. It can't be too high of course; but at the same time, Kaiba is no Dike! (-shudder-) It's more one of those voices that really... Really gets under your skin, in both ways depending on the tone.

Needless to say as someone who spends all their days listening to Vocaloids... I am completely stuck. Oh ho ho~ This is what I get~

**Review Responses**

The first review holds true to the 'anonymous' in 'anonymous reviews'; there's no name! But that's ok~ Thank's for the review anyways my unnamed reviewer, I hope that my writting continues to impress you!

For our second review today, we have 'Iona'. Thanks very much for the compliment on my writing style! I always find myself self-conscious about it, mostly because I know my grammar is atrocious, and it if wasn't for spellcheck, my spelling would be too... As for manga details, I like to pride myself on that- though I sometimes wonder if all the research I do is just a little obsessive... (I remember trying to figure out something on Shizuka's eyes, only to find that her condition and surgery are both impossibly written. NOOOOOOOOOOOO. Needless to say... I'm ignoring that for the sake of keeping things 'correct' to manga. Also to prevent heart attacks. AHAHA.) I'll try not to keep you waiting!

* * *

Now that those are over, a few manga points from this chapter and the last ones. (Mostly this one)

Yugi, for one, is completely un-aware of his 'other self', 'Yami Yugi'. In fact, it's eerily similar to DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder) how this is played up, to the point that later on when someone actually HAS DID (Namely Malik), a lot of people believe 'Yami Malik' to be a separate entity... When it's literally another part of Malik's persona. In any case, because of this unaware existence, Yugi has blackouts whenever Yami Yugi takes over... Something he keeps secret.

Mokuba's 'Penalty Game' is as stated above; after losing to Yami at Capsule Monster Chess, Yami makes him believe that he's trapped in a capsule; even more frightening about this forced solitary confinement is that while Mokuba's stuck there, _everyone else can see and hear him._ So while Mokuba's screaming in this tight egg, he's the only one aware of it; everyone else is just watching, unable to help at all. Talk about your Nightmare Fuel.

Some of you might have caught the 'chapter within a chapter' up there if you're really familiar with the manga; occurring directly before the next major arc in the manga, you just saw the skip-over of 'The One Inch Terror'... While that chapter technically led directly into the next arc, I opted to skip over that for the sake of the scene you see above. Because trust me when I say, those familiar with the manga (I feel like I'm catering to you guys.) will know _exactly_ how little time Jonouchi has to speak with Kaiba before then.

Until then, see you next time!


	6. Chapter 5

**Dishes Best Served Cold**

* * *

It had only been a few days since Katsuya had moved into the Kaiba mansion, though it was only semi-official so to speak. Tension had risen between the two teens in the house, though most of it was in the form of one glaring at the other while the other attempted to keep hold of a semblance of normalcy in the home. Waking up in room that his old bedroom could have fit in four times, regardless of the fact that he was 'paying rent' for it, just _was not normal_. Particularly since he was fairly sure that 'paying rent' was just another way to keep Mokuba's older sister from kicking him out; after all, if he had to pay rent, then he obviously still needed a job, regardless of the fact he was in school. Right? Or... Something.

Honestly, now he was confusing himself.

It was shortly after those few days however, just when things had settled into a decent routine, that his (and possibly Yugi's) luck managed to kick it into gear once again. At the moment, he'd just gotten over his previous injuries- something told him that given Kaiba's recent disappearance from school though, things were going to pick up. That tended to be how things worked after all. So really, not just 'pick up', but 'pick up really soon'.

As in, he thought as Yugi chatted to him about the fluctuating rumors on the 'Ultimate Game' Kaiba was supposedly making, things-are-going-to-pick-up-faster-than-a-cheetah soon. "So," Yugi was saying, pulling the teen from his thoughts. "What do you think the ultimate game is?"

He scratched his head, frowning. "Psh, knowing he-him? Probably somethin' teh inflate his giant head!" Katsuya snorted, hands in his pockets as they walked back from another go at the arcade. It'd become a sort of tradition, going there on his day off work. "Anyways, don' worry about it Yug... If anythin', I think I should be the one worried, seein' how I work at the guy's house..." He shuddered, while Yugi gave a light laugh in response. Very worried actually. Watch, it would flip completely, and he'd be the only one spared from a death ray or... Or something. Honestly, he had no clue.

Before the boy said anything more however a rolls pulled up beside them, one of Kaiba's chauffeurs stepping out. The teens froze, blinking as the chauffeur gave Katsuya an odd look. "Interesting seeing you here, Jonouchi-kun," the middle aged man stated, his usual impassive tone sending a few chills down Katsuya's spine. "I had no idea you were well acquainted with Mutou Yugi."

Yugi blinked. "Er... Me?"

Yea, because one sentence in and there wasn't already bullshit seeping from the guy. "Nyhhhh... What's this about, you know full well I'm best buds with this guy!" As the chauffeur chuckled lightly, he scowled. Something was up, what the hell was it...

Suspicions aside as the man gestured towards the car, back doors opening, he said nothing more on that at all. "Please," he told them, "Step in; I was sent by Seto Kaiba-sama to retrieve Mutou-san, but I see no harm in transporting an employee as well." Of course he didn't. Because hey, not like he had to know the people working at the house as it was, being on security right?

The teens shared a glance, Yugi merely blinking again. "Kaiba-kun..." They stepped in the car, Katsuya leaning back in the seat as they took off. "Why would Kaiba call us though," the boy asked, apparently forgetting the fact that Katsuya was only there because... Well, he had been there. "I mean, I know he hasn't been at school lately but..."

The chauffeur focused on his driving, taking a turn before speaking. "That is understandable," he said with a seemingly detached tone. "Seto-sama has been very busy with important work as of late. And of course, he IS the CEO of Kaiba Corporation at this moment, so needless to say the workload can get rather intense..." Was that sarcasm in there?

Katsuya frowned lightly, looking at the front a moment. "I guess that makes sense but... He's balanced everything so far right?" At this point, Yugi tapped his shoulder, and he turned. "Eh, what is it Yug'?"

"Well," he said with a shrug. "I was just wondering what exactly it was that KaibaCorp does; I know it's a large company, but no ones ever told me what it DOES..." That's right, he never told him... Granted, he'd kinda assumed Yugi knew but all the same.

A voice from the front interrupted them, and Katsuya jumped at the tone that Mokuba was using. It was oddly... Cynical, the voice. Though he didn't think any of it was directed at him if Yugi's current discomfort was any sign, it was still fairly intense to just be sitting there as the boy gained a look oddly similar to his older sister. Rather, similar to his older sister when she had that 'I'm about to completely beat the shit out of you with my MONEY' look on her face. "'Large' doesn't even begin to cover OUR company, Yugi!" He turned back to the front, the mirror moving to make him visible in it as they continued to drive. "KaibaCorp is the top entertainment company in the world; nothing beats us in games and leisure! And speaking of games..." He gave a dark smirk, Yugi visibly shrinking back with unease. "We had fun last time neh?" If by 'fun' he meant TRAUMATIZED. Seriously. What... What was he doing? "But no worries... You guys are my special guests, and the first to hear the good news!" Katsuya swallowed as the boy continued, an odd smile coming over Mokuba's face. "To tell you the truth, the big project that my older brother's been working on is finally complete- tomorrow is the Grand Opening!"

At this, Katsuya blinked. Grand Opening? He hadn't heard anything about that. "Grand Opening," he repeated with a slight frown. "For what?" Though after saying that, he had an idea...

"Well," Mokuba said with a grin, "My brother's really thoughtful! He wanted his friends," (Katsuya held back a scoff at this, catching too many fallacies in the statement already) "To have a great time... So you're invited to the 'Night Before' party Yugi, along with any friends you've brought along!" For a brief moment, Katsuya tensed. The look Mokuba had given him through the mirror wasn't the same as the one he'd given Yugi, but there was something... Something dark there, laced with a determination he rarely ever saw mixed with such an expression. And quite frankly, it was beginning to scare the shit out of him.

Yugi's voice interrupted his thoughts, the boy gulping before he nervously questioned Mokuba on the events. "Kaiba-kun," he said, addressing Mokuba by his last name as well. "What sort of project was this..?" That was a good question. A very good question. Mokuba would probably not answer it.

The boy shrugged, the car pulling up towards the house now. "It's a secret," he said, smirking. "A surprise, you understand what I mean right? I can't tell you!" As Yugi nodded in response, Katsuya frowned. Something did not seem right. At all. He had no time to voice this however, as the Chauffeur stated they had arrived. Huh. Time moved quickly when you were in a car...

And why Yugi, why were you so trusting of this, he screamed in his mind. Hell Mokuba was his employer and he was feeling off!

"WOAH," Yugi shouted as they looked through the windows. "IT'S HUGE!" They exited the car, Mokuba grinning as he gestured to the now open front door.

"Come on in," he said, a crowd of maids and butlers standing in the foyer to greet them.

While Katsuya continued to look around semi-suspiciously, his friend looked around with wide-eyed amazement. "Wow! It's like a royal palace here!" He turned, watching as the crowd of servants bowed down before them. Weird, the blond thought as Mokuba bragged to them about the crowd being his servants. He'd never seen this kind of welcome before- what was with the heavy attempts at intimidation? ...Wait scratch that, it was already blatantly obvious that Mokuba _hated_ Yugi... (He should probably say something...) Even so, what the hell was going on?

At that moment the butler at the front who Katsuya recognized as the old butler from his first trip here, 'Hobson', stepped forwards to greet the pair. "You're Yugi-sama, correct," he said with his usual, even tone. The honorific visibly caught Yugi off guard, and Katsuya found himself looking over Hobson with a raised eyebrow. Since when was Hobson sent to greet people..? Wasn't he like, Kaiba's private butler or something? Hell, the only reason why he'd met the guy was because of his involvement in his first time there. "I have orders from Seto-sama to see to your every comfort this evening. You need only ask, and I will do my best to aid you." He rubbed his hands as he said this, while Mokuba turned to the servant with an odd look. As in the 'Mokuba still had his sister's eyes' look. Seriously it was scary...

"Neh," he said, tone oddly calm. "Hobson, where's my brother?" Katsuya's frown ceased to ease up as the butler told him that Seto had gone to lay down, having worked for days without rest. The expression Mokuba had... Maybe it wasn't the same as it usually was when being told something like this because Yugi was there, but it seemed as though he'd known the answer before hand. Possibly even... Planned it like that. Mentally, he beat himself over the head, teeth grinding as he shook it. Stop being so paranoid!

Mokuba shrugged, turning to the others. "Bad news, Yugi-kun, Jonouchi-kun..." (Jonouchi-_kun_?) "It looks like my brother won't be partying with us tonight after all. So it looks like you really are MY guests tonight!" They weren't already?

And since when did Seto Kaiba 'party'? The woman had emotions of solid _iron_.

As Yugi nodded, the statement somewhat calming him down, Hobson spoke again. "For now, shall we prepare dinner Mokuba-sama?"

"Oh yea!" Katsuya instantly brightened, knowing full well what kind of meals the house tended to have. Probably one of the major pluses of staying here... Even if Mokuba rarely convinced his sister to let him in anything more than the staff kitchens where the ramen was kept. "That'd be great, I'm starvin'!" Maybe it was that soup from last night... Though he had to wonder where all the leftovers went from the sibling's meals. Not to mention why the entire household had such a penchant for 'western' food. Either way, hey, food time! As in 'Kaiba family' food time and not 'raid the staff kitchen for supper'; he couldn't feel nervous about that!

His employer grinned, an honest smile that calmed him down a little more coming over the boy's face. "Huh? Why didn't you say so before then," he said as he led them to another room. "In that case, prepare to eat some of the best food in the world!"

The blond grinned, ignoring the fact that the room they were heading into wasn't anywhere near the kitchen. "An' when he says 'Best in the World'," he said to Yugi with a grin, "He really means it!"

Yugi beamed. "It really is like being in a royal palace!" Damn straight.

"Hey," Mokuba shouted to Hobson as they moved, "Prepare the appetizers!" Yes yes yes!

Hobson nodded. "Yes sir," he said with an odd look that once again disagreed with Katsuya's stomach, "I will prepare them at once..." Suddenly, he wasn't quite as hungry...

As he stared at Mokuba with a regained expression of suspicion, he could have sworn he heard the boy say '_Looking forward to it..._'. Yugi in the meantime, remained oblivious, cheering loudly as they were brought to sit at a round table. Huh. This wasn't the dining room.

The blond visibly drew back as he looked at the food on the red and black round table with a look of confusion and shock. "Time to eat," Mokuba said with a cheer, the others not saying anything as they stared. "Well," the boy said, a look of mirth on his face at the pair's reactions. Ok. What was with this..? "Dig in! Eat as much as you like," he said, before the expression became eerily malicious again. "Is what I'm supposed to say... But that would be boring! Instead, we're going to play a game!" WHAT. Oh come on...

"A game," Yugi said with a blink, Katsuya frowning as he looked over the food in silence. A kiddy meal, spaghetti, pancakes... Burger, pizza, and a parfait. Besides the fact that this food was very very different from what was usually served... Mokuba hated this kind of food! Well, aside from the parfait at least, but why would he play a game with these? Nonetheless he remained silent, watching as Mokuba nodded and continued to 'smile'.

He spun the table slightly, before clarifying. "See this table," he began. "You usually find them in Chinese restaurants. The three of us will take turns spinning... When it stops," he continued, "You have to eat the dish in front of you." Like a roulette wheel. Ahaha, and it was black and red too. Still. This food.

Katsuya frowned lightly, before attempting to put a bit of humor into the conversation with a forced smirk. "Oi Mokuba," he said with a slight grin. "You didn't poison anything did you? I just finished recovering from last time!" Not that this would actually happen of course- he was pretty sure Mokuba would sooner do that to himself than someone he'd hired.

As Yugi appeared to briefly consider the possibility of that actually being the case, Mokuba laughed loudly at the false accusation. "Hahaha! My guests don't have to worry about anything like that," he told them. "In all actuality, there's a treasure hidden in one of the meals." Mokuba leaned back on his chair, smirking. "The one who finds it wins, and then we can eat our REAL supper!"

He grinned. Ok! So REAL supper would be the initiative for him in this case. "In that case, lets eat!" As Mokuba motioned for him to go first, he grabbed the table and flung it. "Here I go! HIYAH!" The table spun rapidly, colours blurring. Eventually however, individual shapes could be made out again before slowing down to stop with the kid's meal in front of him. Complete with Mount Fuji shaped rice pile, and a little Japan flag. Ick. "Awwww rats!" And he had to eat it on top of the motion sickness that spinning had given him!

Mokuba smirked, idly playing with the syrup bottle at the side. "Jonouchi-kun, if you don't eat it all, you're out... It's the rules," he said with an odd smile on his face. "Besides," he added, tone oddly cold. "Maybe you'll get the prize..."

"Yea yea," he said dismissively, grabbing the plate and starting. A few bites in, he blinked. "Huh," he said, before continuing. "Not bad... ...Hn..." He frowned, looking around the table as his vision abruptly began to swim. "What th' hell..." Woah... Um... Colours... Swirling everywhere... Wow that was trippy... Was... Was this what drugs did?

...Wait, shit, he shouldn't be taking drugs...

Yugi jumped, grabbing his friend as the blond began to tilt off the chair. "J-Jonouchi-kun! Jonouchi-kun, what's wrong!" Nothing man... Woah... Yugi's hair was really weird when it spiraled... Though now it was all beginning to fade rather than spiral. Woaaaaaaahh...

...What the hell was in that food...

Laughter came from the side of the table as Katsuya slumped at the end of the table, the last words he heard being something along the lines of 'grand prize' before he finally fell to sleep.

* * *

As Katsuya slipped into a blissful state of unconsciousness, Mokuba laughed almost maniacally, Yugi looking at him in shock. "What luck," he said, knowing full well that luck had nothing to do with the dose of desflurane he'd spiked Katsuya with. "Jonouchi-kun won the grand prize!" He grinned madly, going on with the comfort that the anesthesia would keep Katsuya unconscious while the game continued. After all; Yugi and Katsuya were best friends! If Katsuya saw what he was going to do to Yugi... He mentally shook it off, instead drinking in the complete shock on his opponent's face.

"W-What... What did you..." Yugi stood frozen, Mokuba merely laughing coldly from his seat.

"I poisoned that meal," he said, continuing with his slightly white lie. "Along with one other on this table! This game is 'Russian Roulette Dinner'," the boy continued with a grin. "And that poison will take its full effect in just 30 minutes!" A lie of course he thought as he looked down at Katsuya's sleeping form. In reality, 30 minutes would be when the teen woke up. He'd explain everything then. Everything, and then everything would be fine! And Yugi...

Yugi stood stiff at the end of the table, the usual tenseness that Mokuba recognized from before he saw the 'Other Yugi' occurring. "You want to help Jonouchi-kun, right," he said with a smirk. Any second now... Any second and 'he' would appear. "Beat me, and I'll give you the antidote!" There was no way he'd lose this time, he told himself as the boy across from him gritted his teeth. No way, this time, he would beat the other Yugi, and he'd make his sister proud and everything would be fixed and-

"MOKUBA," Yugi suddenly roared, the change clearly having taken place. "Doing this to not only my friend but to someone who considered you as a friend as well... I'll never forgive you for this!" Of course he wouldn't! That wouldn't matter though! Because in the end...

He merely smirked, pointing at the wheel as he continued fingering his syrup bottle switch. "Yea yea," he said with a grin. "But as we talk, Jonouchi-kun is coming closer and closer to the light at the end of the tunnel..." The boy chuckled darkly, watching as Yugi continued to seethe. "There's still five dishes left, Yugi-kun... And it's your turn!" Should he play this out? Or just get it over with?

The teen appeared to stare at him blankly in his rage a moment, before spinning the wheel before him. Mokuba opted not to use the 'switch' this time; it'd be better to simply let Yugi bring his own demise for now he decided, watching as it landed on the spaghetti. "Go on," he said with a grin. "Eat!" Yugi glared, before eating the small plate in silence and finishing it off easily. Mokuba's grin grew, the boy laughing. "Safe," he called, leaning forwards in his seat. "That one wasn't poisoned!" As the teen continued to glare at him, he decided to taunt Yugi further, grinning. "Was it good Yugi," he said with a sneer, continuing. "It's like a life or death feast, isn't it? If you don't die after eating the food, be happy... Because the next one could be your last!" In fact, with luck, the next one would!

Yugi merely glared, growling as the boy fingered the syrup bottle and spun the wheel. "My turn next," he said with a grin. Watching the table spin, Mokuba lightly tapped the syrup bottle to stop the wheel, watching as it landed on the chocolate parfait. No way he was eating anything else. Besides, it was always fun to eat dessert before a meal! "YEA!" His opponent watched with suspicion as the boy took the ice cream, grinning. "My _favorite_!" He continued to grin, before digging in eagerly. The boy froze however, as the teen pointed to his bottle with a frown.

"Mokuba," he said, eyes narrowed. "What's in that bottle?"

Choking slightly on the last bits of his parfait, he turned to look at the teen. "It's a syrup bottle of course! For the pancakes!" Shit! No way he'd guessed what it was there for already!

The teen raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms. "It's empty..." Of- Of course it was! But ahhhhhh what did he do now?

He put up a poker-face smirk, inwardly panicking. What to say what to say... Darn it! He laughed, before coming up with a quick cover story. "That's because it's been used already! Didn't you notice the pancakes were already covered?" Mokuba watched as Yugi looked at the table, grunting slightly as he noted the pancakes were indeed covered with thick syrup. There. That fixed it. "When you eat the poisoned dish," he continued with a grin, "This bottle will fill; you know what they say right? The misfortune of others is like sweet syrup! Ahahaha..." Ok, maybe he shouldn't have added that part... (But it sounded so cool...) This was bad, he thought as Yugi continued to watch him skeptically. Really bad, he needed to finish this soon..! Katsuya would understand when he woke up right? Yugi had to go, he just _had_ to..! Why, with Yugi gone, Seto would finally... Finally... "Now, your turn Yugi!" That's right, he told himself. He'd end it now, making Yugi eat the poisoned burger. After all, so long as the switch was here...

"Mokuba," the teen suddenly said, pulling him from his thoughts. "This next move will end the game... At the same time, we'll both eat what's in front of us, understand?"

The boy nodded. That wouldn't be a problem... He could easily finish this before Katsuya woke up! Besidse, he had planned to sabotage Yugi's meal already! There were only five minutes left, but he could do it. Though he didn't want to think of what would happen if they couldn't get rid of the body fast enough... "Alright then," he said with a smirk. "That sounds good..." Yugi apparently realized how short his time was however, spinning the table with a nod.

"Let's go then!" As the wheel spun, Mokuba froze- a loud cracking noise was heard, and he looked down as something 'gold' flew past to smash through the switch. No... He looked up, watching as Yugi smirked, his puzzle no longer around his neck. No no no no no, this wasn't happening! The colours blurred, but a faint 'gold' line could be seen around the wheel, before the puzzle dragged it to a slower pace. No... No!

The wheel stopped, no longer controlled by anything other than fate as the hamburger dish stopped in front of him. Impossible... This was impossible..! Not again, he couldn't, not again..! "I got... I got..!" He stared in shock at the pyramid shaped gold puzzle attached to the table, looking across to Yugi in shock.

"What's the matter," he said with a smirk, crossing his arms. "I've already finished my meal- I suppose it wasn't poisoned... Now then," he said, expression becoming incredibly dark as Mokuba shrank back in fear. No... No not again...

So dark so dark _so dark_, he wasn't there again, he wasn't he wasn't... _Dark_... Nothing but darkness, so cold...

_So cold..!_

"_Why haven't you cleaned your plate?_"

He swallowed. The poison, the fatal poison that would send a person writhing in pain for an hour before killing them off. Yes, the poison had had an antidote, being one that could seep through the skin as easily as it could be ingested but... Not again... _Not again_! "Alright... Alright," he said shouted, reaching for the hamburger in fear. Anything but that week of silence and darkness he'd had before, anything... "But first," he said, pointing at Yugi with a crazed grin. "Don't think you've won... Death-T begins tomorrow... And when Katsuya wakes up, I'll make sure he knows just who you really are!" And nothing else! The truth... The truth would be revealed, and then... And then...

Yugi merely glared as the boy grabbed the burger, before taking a solid, determined bite from it and freezing in pain. A few maids who had been standing at the side of the room ran in as he fell to the floor, screaming. Hurried whispers were passed between the two before Mokuba was dragged out- And the vial of 'antidote' was left harmlessly on the table, and as the teen picked it up and replaced the puzzle around his neck, he frowned. "Water..." It was nothing but water... And...

Had he called Jonouchi 'Katsuya'..?

"Hnnng..." He jumped as Katsuya began moving, slowly getting up with his back turned on the teen. "God my head feels like I shoved it in a blender 'r somethin..." And then baked in an oven, before whoever did it realized that it didn't work that way. So they put it through a garbage disposal.

_What are you planning, Kaiba_, 'Yugi' thought to himself with a frown, before turning to face Katsuya. Mokuba... Why had Mokuba lied about the poisoning? He said 'in half an hour, he'll be dead', and instead Katsuya was waking up. He said, 'this is the antidote', and instead the maids ignored it completely to pull the boy away. And this 'Death-T'... He continued to frown, placing the antidote back on the table and narrowing his eyes. Whatever. For now...

The energy in the room seemed to shift, and a few seconds later the teen was looking around in confusion. "Jonouchi-kun," came the 'real' Yugi's worried cry, and he tackled the blond just as he stood up. "Jonouchi-kun! You're alright!"

"Ack... Sheesh, gimme a sec, I'm still seein' spots..." Katsuya shook his head, looking at the now mostly empty table surrounded by broken glass. "What the hell happened anyways..?" Half the food was gone... And, um. Mokuba was gone.

He shook his head, eyes wide with worry. "I don't know... Mokuba said he'd poisoned you and..." Yugi shook, grabbing his head in a panic. What happened? He'd blacked out _again_, what _HAPPENED_? "I... I just don't know what happened after that!" The blond looked down at him, frowning lightly. Poisoned... He'd just been joking, why would Mokuba... _Poison_ him?

At that moment, Hobson came in, his odd expression on his face again. "I've come to escort you to another wing of the building," he said stiffly, eyes fixed almost entirely on Yugi. "Due to the... Events... Of this evening," he said with a well hidden sneer, "The 'party' has been cut short." His frown deepened. Events, what events? Nothing had happened! "Also, Jonouchi-kun," the man said, turning to the boy with a considerably lighter gaze. "Mokuba-sama would like to speak to you later on..." Yea, so would he actually... The teen frowned; he had a lot to ask now. A hell of a lot.

He nodded. "Yea, alrigh'... Jus' let me talk t' Yugi for a moment." Hobson nodded stiffly, muttering a '5 minutes only' as he left while the teen turned to Yugi with a blank stare. "So... You don' have a clue what happened either huh..." Well didn't that just _suck_. All he knew was that he'd been poisoned somehow and... Looking at the clock he was missing a good half-hour of his life. Wonderful.

For a moment, a guilty look flashed over Yugi's face, but he shook his head. "Not a clue... But, Jonouchi-kun..." He looked up with a pale expression, gulping audibly. "Jonouchi-kun, are you sure it's alright to stay, I mean..."

Katsuya nodded, though his expression was just as unsure as his friend's statement. "Yea... Heck, he didn' so much as poison me as knock me out right? Which means he obviously wanted me alive but unconscious for some reason..." For _some_ reason. He frowned, watching as Hobson came back. "I'll see yah in th' mornin', alrigh?"

The boy blinked, before nodding. "H-Hn!" At that, he let Hobson lead him away to whatever wing he was going to be stuck in. Alright... Now then. Katsuya turned as one of the maids motioned for him to follow, a scowl set on his face.

As Seto would say; it was time to talk 'business'.

* * *

**AN:** NONE SHALL BE SPARED. 'Desflurane' (Desflorane? Man, I spelled it perfectly up there, what's wrong with me now?)... Actually used in hospitals for handy things like this. Is it just me, or are Mokuba and Seto's 'smiles' in early manga the absolutely shining example of the 'Stepford Smile'. You know... The one that is really fake, and really creepy? The one where it's like 'Please stop smiling... NOW.'

Some may wonder when Jonouchi got so paranoid. I'm pretty sure it happened around day two of security duty; also, living in the same house as Kaiba has the effect of dragging his paranoid-brain to the front kicking and screaming... An act that makes him considerably more perceptive. Sadly, his normal brain keeps kicking his paranoid thoughts to the side, causing things like that dinner to happen anyways. D'OH.

AHHHHH internal bleeding~ Apparently it gets you a house. Those in the manga-know will realize what's coming next... And likely be grinning madly. I know I am. (Or maybe that's just me...) Also... Jonouchi on drugs.

_Woah man... Yer hair does weird things when it's spiralling..._

**Usagi's Handy Manga Guide/Corner!**

So incredible _it gets its own section_.

* * *

First off, a lot of dialogue from Mokuba's end (And ESPECIALLY from Yugi's) is actually from the Manga. This chapter is completely (Well, almost completely) built around the manga chapter titled 'Russian Roulette Dinner'. Or... Or something like that. Originally, Jonouchi is technically conscious the entire time; just... In a heck of a lot of pain from a hefty dose of fatal poison, so he probably isn't paying any attention to Yugi/Yami Yugi switching AT ALL. As it is, even this early on in the fan fic, Mokuba's obviously got a soft spot for Jonouchi sooooo...

Fatal? Fatal you say? Well, let's assume you don't like the guy and go with it! - Yami Yugi folks. Always assuming the worst, OHHHHHH.

* * *

Hobson, who you may recognize from an earlier chapter by name only, is a butler who appears to essentially be 'the guy' that Kaiba has for butler-y things... For the sake of 'accuracy', I haven't changed that. So many people who utterly detest this guy (People who also... Probably read the manga) will notice that I am trying very very hard to keep him in a neutral position; because we're going to be seeing more of him than the manga shows. (Mostly because it's Kaiba's house. WHOOOO.)

* * *

Oddly enough, most of what Yugi says early in the chapter (About the house I mean), was supposed to be Jonouchi's dialogue in the manga. At the same time though, both of their mouths are open, so it's kinda implied that both are speaking... So really, all I did was shut the mutt up. They're also apparently kept there overnight in the manga, which made sense after a few pages of the chapter, but not so much to start. It's one of those things where you think 'Hey, why did Yugi actually stay there..?' (In FanFic-Land, the reason is that he's not completely sure Mokuba's heart was into poisoning... Thus proving that yet again, Yugi's positive nature can lead to his DOWNFALL... Helps that he can't remember Mokuba's burger actually being poisoned.)

See you next time!


	7. Chapter 6

**Behind The Mask**

* * *

Mokuba was lying on his bed, drinking slowly from a glass of water when he'd come in. The boy had looked at him with shadowed eyes, before turning his gaze to a chair beside him. _'Sit down'_, the unheard message was. So he took it, pulling a chair over as the maid left the room to leave them alone. Katsuya decided, regardless of how pale the boy looked, to get right to the point. It'd probably be easier. "Why'd you poison me," he said, his voice quieter than usual but still rather harsh.

The boy put the cup down, taking a few quick and audible breaths as he attempted to calm himself. Though he'd gotten the antidote quickly, he was still in pain... But it was nothing compared to what could happen if he didn't warn Katsuya of what was going to happen the next day. He knew this was against what his sister had planned for the evening... Even though Yugi would be guided to a separate wing of the mansion to stay the night as requested, he was determined to keep Katsuya from facing the same fate. He couldn't die... He wouldn't let... Slowly, he allowed himself to speak. "The party... It was meant to weaken Yugi before tomorrow's events..."

"What..?" He glared, fists clenching. 'Weaken' his ass, if anything was going to happen it would have killed him! "Whadya mean, 'weaken'? Why'd you poison me!"

He shook, trembling as he sat in his bed. Ever since the end of the 'meal', all he'd been seeing was dark, dark dark, only hearing those last words...

'_**PENALTY GAME**_!'.

"Nee-sama... Nee-sama planned a tower of games, five games to test Yugi and his friends," he said, voice cracking quietly under the emotion. "They... Seto-nee is going to kill them! She has a device set up there, a 'penalty' game'..." He left out the fact that it was on his floor as well, shaking his head. "Nee-sama is... She wanted you to be there... With Yugi. But the first three levels were made to kill anyone with him... And I... I..."

Katsuya froze as Mokuba said this, the boy before him shaking horribly while he looked to him with a wide and panicked gaze. "Kill," he finally choked out, pulling back with almost as wide eyes. "She's gonna... Kill Yugi... Over a loss?" That was extreme even for her! Hell... To actually _kill_ someone over a game? Security was one thing, same with that big secret he was somehow still alive after discovering but-

"I... I don't want you to die!" What-? He jumped at the outburst, watching as tears began streaming down Mokuba's face. "You're nice," the boy forced out, shaking his head as he wept. "And... And you don't care about money, or about what Nee-sama says! I don't want you to die... Even... Even if it means my big sister will never love me again! Even if... Even..." No...

The blond stared, rendered silent by the words. No way... No way, that couldn't be... No way he meant_ THAT FUCKING MUCH_! '_Never again_'... Katsuya grit his teeth, shaking his head almost in disgust. He didn't have the right to even replace someone's sibling like that, no matter how far from the word Kaiba was. He had no right, not at all. He steeled himself, scowl thickening as he focused on the reasoning behind what he was saying to begin with. "An' what about Yugi," he asked bitterly. "What, does he deserve death? You want him t' die instead! Is it really worth tha' much, huh, _Mokuba_?"

Mokuba shook his head, breathing haggardly as he stared at the blond. He didn't know, he didn't know... "N... Nnn... It... Dark..." Dark? "It was... You..." The boy continued to shake, clutching his blanket and curling into a ball. "You don't know what it was like... How it felt..." He sniffed, looking to the teen for a comfort he hadn't been able to get from his sister, his flesh and blood relative for far too long. For the comfort he didn't want to leave, that he didn't want to ever leave again like it already had and- "He did that... He did that, not... Not me," he tried to rationalize, "That was him... Not..." Just make it go away... Pull him close like before, make it go away...

The blond stood up, still scowling. "I oughta quit," he said, voice tense. "But th' fact is, losin' my job means losin' my only home thanks tah what you did earlier. Not only tha', but you'd probably find a way t' bounce my resignation back anyway." His apartment wasn't even his and his father's any more, he'd have no way to pay for _anything... _His nails dug into his palms, and he moved to leave the room. "Thanks but no thanks for the warnin' Mokuba," the teen muttered coldly. "I'll see yah tomorrow."

For a moment, he heard nothing but a soft 'no'. That was all the boy was saying as he left, just 'no'. It soon increased in volume, and in speed, almost a mantra as he left, a constant and rumbling mantra. "No... no... no No NO NO! _**No**_! Don't go," he screamed, voice echoing through the halls. "I don't want you to die! DON'T GO!" He ignored it, shutting the door behind him as he found the nearest maid. "K... JONOUCHI! DON'T GO!"

"Where'd y' take Yugi," he said coldly, ignoring the screams inside. The woman stood there, blinking for a moment before pointing to the left in shocked silence. "Thanks." As he took off, he could still hear Mokuba's screams.

"DON'T GO! JONOUCHI! DON'T GO, SHE'LL KILL YOU!"

Sorry kid, he told himself as he moved off to the building they'd stuck Yugi in. But he didn't abandon his friends... No matter what the cost was.

* * *

'_How did I lose,_' she'd said that night. '_HOW COULD I LOSE AT DUEL MONSTERS!_' And all she saw in response was a cold stare as what she had thought to be the shortest, most harmless kid in class pointed at her and shouted...

'_**PENALTY GAME**__! THE ILLUSION OF DEATH!_'

No... Monsters formed from the shadows of the cards, ripping her apart with their claws and teeth, tearing the flesh of her bones as she screeched in pain. No.. No.. NO... She didn't care that she wasn't using her 'voice' for this... She didn't care if anyone was listening, she was good as dead anyways..! Trying to hold back the screams would be useless, useless, useless-!

_Losers die_, she heard Gozaburo call out, cackling through the air. _Losers __**DIE**_, she heard through the roars of the beasts that clamped their teeth on her bones, drank her blood as it poured freely from her form, ripped skin and muscle from her skeleton even as her body refused to simply _die_. No...

NO NO _NO __**NO**_! Stop! STOP! _STO_-

"Hah!" Seto opened her eyes, breathing heavily as she looked around the room. "Hah... hah... hah..." She swallowed, attempting to regain her breath. That nightmare... That nightmare again... She stepped out of her bed, looking out the window as Hobson came in to help prepare for the day.

The butler bowed low, before greeting her politely. Just... Just a dream, she reminded herself again. Just that stupid, endless dream... "Good morning, Seto-sama," he began as the woman moved to check a few things prepared the night before in the room. "As you requested, Yugi stayed here, in the mansion overnight. Also," he stated with a slightly forced smile. "It would appear that regardless of interference, his friend will indeed be present at the Opening Ceremonies."

Kaiba nodded. Well, at least _something_ had gone right. Though knowing her brother, he'd tried something stupid again. "Good," she said as she moved to the wardrobe in the room to grab her clothes. "I invited them here as planned, but it seems I fell asleep," she muttered to herself, before sighing. Really... How stupid. Hobson watched as she moved to the attached washroom to change, still talking. "All my life," she said with a slightly less cold tone, "I've had restless nights when I couldn't wait for the morning..." The butler listened as she continued, wondering if it was a bout of self-conversation or if he was meant to answer. "Isn't it ironic, that I had that nightmare..."

There was no answer, and as she walked out fully dressed, the woman narrowed her eyes. No more, she thought to herself as she left the room. No more would she have that nightmare. For today, she would have her revenge... And wouldn't it be absolutely wonderful, she thought to herself with a wicked smirk, when Yugi was suffering from the same nightmares in a hospital bed, everyone he knew _gone_. Until then... She walked down the hall, still smirking. Well, she could handle the acting she'd have to do for now.

* * *

"Jonouchi-kun," Katsuya jumped as he turned in his seat at the table to face Yugi. He'd been spacing out for the last number of minutes, vanishing into worried thought... "Jonouchi-kun," the boy repeated worriedly. "Are you sure you're alright?"

He nodded, attempting to laugh the situation off somewhat. "H-Hah... Of course! All I needed was a good night's sleep!" At the moment, he was only as pale as he was because Yugi kept insisting that while Kaiba WAS a jerk, last night clearly proved that whatever was in store wasn't fatal, and Kaiba wasn't really trying to kill them.

For the moment, he kind of wished Mokuba had actually dosed him with the poison. At least then Yugi would have a solid idea that yes, Seto was _really going to kill them_. Damn it!

"I just don' like this," he said with a scowl. "S- He's got me completely reliant, if I say anythin' I end up broke on the streets while you end up caught some other way, but if I don't..." He growled. "I'm telling yah Yug', Mokuba wasn' joking when he said the guy's trying t' kill you!" So please, _LISTEN_!

Yugi frowned, shaking his head. "I can't believe it! You said yourself that it's a tower right? He can't just kill people in a tower of games, that's illegal and too public to ignore!" Unless you're a billionaire, Katsuya added mentally, frowning as Yugi went on. Because then you could apparently hide EVERYTHING. ..._EVERY_. THING. "Hnnn.. Grandpa must be really worried now... I didn't tell him I'd be out all night..."

He rolled his eyes. "Somethin' tells me tha's the least of our worries seein' what kind a ceremony we've been invited to..." For all they knew, Gramps was in this too. Stuck in some room, for a captive to use against them in case they butted out.

"It does make me nervous," the boy admitted, ignoring Katsuya's comment on that being an understatement. "I think I've been watched this whole time, even while I slept... It's like we're prisoners here, they've even locked us in..." Even while he- Wow, either Seto was into interesting things, no offense to Yugi or anything, or... Actually, it probably _was_ just Kaiba being overly obsessive. ...Bitch.

Locking them in here... Hell, he'd been trying to tell Yugi that this was Kaiba's plan for the last hour! Before the blond could repeat anything on the matter however, a voice came from behind them. "Sorry to keep you waiting," Hobson said as he appeared. "Seto-sama has awoken. He will see you now." Oooooh well wasn't that just lovely? Bring her over, so he could kick her in the face damn it.

As the butler said this Kaiba's voice came from up the stairs in the room, Katsuya instantly greeting the false smile on the woman's face with a glare. "Good morning, Jonouchi-kun, Yugi-kun," she said, the smile and 'familiarities' making Katsuya sick to his stomach. True he'd gotten used to hearing the voice change over. But that smile... He'd never get used to just how WRONG a smile looked on her face right now. "I've been looking forward to seeing you again," she told them. Yea... Bullshit he thought, gripping the chair-back. Bullshit, bullshit, _bullshit_!

He growled, Yugi merely looking up in surprise as he continued to scowl in response to the greeting. "Yea I bet," he muttered under his breath as Seto came down the stairs, continuing.

"What's wrong," she asked, smirking. "Lighten up, celebrate!" NO. And stop talking like that!

Katsuya stood up, slamming his hand on the table as he turned to face the woman. "Kaiba... We didn't want to come to 'celebrate' anything! We just finished getting out of a game where your brother tried to kill us, don't think we're going to say 'Good Morning' and be done with it!"

The teen merely smirked, shrugging. "Mokuba... Oh yes, him. Such a cheeky kid, though you should watch what you say about your boss..." Cheeky... Yes, that was the word. The smirk grew into an odd, insulting grin, eyes narrowing in a way that reminded him of a fox. "And since when were you so upset over a children's game?"

"Since that 'children's game' almost KILLED US," he bit out, before Yugi interrupted.

"Neh, Kaiba-kun," he said as he turned to look up at the teen with slight unease. "Where are we going today anyways?"

There was a silence as the woman smirked, before giving the boy another of her false smiles. Inwardly, he wondered how much more he could take before he puked. Or at least threw the chair he was sitting on. After that question though, time had practically sped up ten-fold. '_A dream like place_', she said, rushing them out the door. '_I can't wait to show you_,' she continued as Katsuya likened 'dream' to 'nightmare. '_Hurry_' she said, and as they left to enter the car Katsuya could barely make out Mokuba's worried and panicked face from the side of the hall.

'_Hurry..!_'

Damn it. Damn it, damn it... He growled as Kaiba continued speaking, listening only partially as he attempted to figure out how to convince Yugi to just not go along with the 'event'. They were already in the car, what the hell was he supposed to say? Pull over, I don't feel like I'm in the mood to die? "As you know," she was saying, "I'm the current CEO of KaibaCorp, having taken over shortly before my 'Father' Gozaburo died almost a year ago..." That made sense, he thought to himself idly. After all, that was about when Kaiba actually showed up at the school. And all that aside, why was she talking... Really? _Why_? Why was she talking... "Since that time," she was saying with a still false smile, "I've been working on a 'dream project' or sorts. I'm sure you'll love it... Look," the woman said as she gestured to the window. "You can see it from here- a dream tower, from which you can see all of the Domino District!" Stop saying 'dream', he thought to himself, it keeps coming out as 'nightmare'.

They approached the tower, both himself and Yugi staring in shock, regardless of the former's thoughts on the matter.. "Woaaaaaah," the shorter was saying, hands pressed against the car window as he looked at the enormous building. "Kaiba-kun built all of that!" Well. Regardless of all that was likely inside, that was impressive he guessed.

They stepped out of the car, Katsuya snorting as he saw what it was called. "Kaiba-Land... Figures he'd do that..." Ignoring the conversations of it being an indoor amusement park, they watched as a horde of small children gathered around the building, cheering as Kaiba approached with an oddly genuine smile.

"Welcome," she said, waving to the kids before moving on to the door. "To the KaibaLand Opening Ceremonies!" All around cheers were given, some calling her a hero, others calling her a 'gaming genius'. All along the pair had to simply stare, Katsuya briefly wondering how such an ass could be so popular with kids. "Yugi-kun," she said as she turned, facing the boy. "Kaiba Land doesn't really open for another three days, but for today a number of people have been invited to come and play for free." Inwardly, Katsuya wondered why Mokuba had said 'and his friends' the day before then. He wondered... Where were the others if... "I want you two to have fun as well, understand?" He frowned as Kaiba said this, arms crossed with skepticism as Yugi scratched his cheek in confusion. As Kaiba announced the building open to the public, loudly stating to Yugi that her dream was to give kids everywhere a 'place like this', Katsuya sighed.

In the end, nothing had really happened so far. And Yugi's earlier point on publicity made sense he supposed. He turned to Yugi with a grin, his friend mirroring the expression. "You heard 'm," he said with a shout. "Come on, let's go!" Paranoid thoughts were for work- at this rate, all he was doing was ruining Yugi's day! Maybe... Just maybe Mokuba had been wrong about Kaiba, just for today. Creepy as the smile was, it had to be for show right? ...Ignoring the fact that they'd been invited for some reason despite obvious hatred...

Yugi nodded. "Yeah! Let's go!" Just as they were about to take off and actually relax a little however, a rather haggard man shouted after them. Really, was... Was Kaiba's security _that bad_?

"HEY, SETO!" They turned, the man angrily pointing at the woman with a snarl. "Monster..." He shook his head, eyes bloodshot as he pointed forwards. "You're a monster, you know that? You _killed_ the company president," he shouted, Katsuya and Yugi frowning as Kaiba turned to the man with a neutral gaze. "You took over KaibaCorp and forced your own _father_ out of business! So he killed himself! MONSTER!"

As the man shouted this, Seto pulled one of the guards to the side. "Get him out of here," she muttered, the guard pulling another one over before dragging the screaming man off the property. People around them seemed to otherwise ignore the scene, though Yugi and Katsuya were both eying Kaiba oddly. "Psh," she said with a cold stare. "Unemployed trash... It's amazing what my father had hired in life..." She crossed her arms, apparently addressing the others now. "He appears to be spreading false rumors in his anger... My father's death was sad, but I had nothing to do with it... If anything," the woman added with a cold smile, "I'd like to think he died in peace, knowing I was his heir..."

Briefly, Katsuya wondered if Yugi had seen what he had. The complete change in expression, the reversion back to what he himself knew as 'the real Kaiba'. Something that was just creepy enough to pull the earlier thoughts of paranoia back to the front of his brain. '_This might be a bad idea_', his head kept shouting. _'A bad bad BAD idea!'_ He frowned as Seto uncrossed her arms, before walking ahead of them. "Come on, Yugi-kun," she said with the sickeningly false smile back in place. "I'll show you around the Park, a grand tour if you will..."

He had a bad feeling about this... But as they were shown ride after ride, Katsuya felt the feeling drop like a stone. From standard arcade games to intense 3D illusions on a roller-coaster, all Seto was doing was proving that she WASN'T going to kill them. In fact, aside from the nagging point that Kaiba was seemingly bored the entire time, not taking part in anything, and overall just watching... ...Which was Yugi's defense when he brought the point up, thereby making it even _harder_ to convince him that they were possibly about to be killed. Well. Aside from all _that..._ Things were going rather well to say the least. The blond hid his dying suspicions, watching as Yugi clearly enjoyed himself before caving. Maybe Mokuba was being paranoid. Maybe, just maybe, the woman was being truly nice for once. Hell, even Kaiba had to have a 'nice' moment for once right? After all... Well, if she didn't, she'd be completely screwed over in the afterlife!

She had to believe in at least that right? ...Or maybe not. She... Did act like she was a god half the time it seemed to him.

"There's still more," Kaiba said later on as she led them over the park on a long and clear bridge of sorts. "It's time to see today's 'special' attraction, something I've prepared just for you, Yugi-kun!"

Katsuya froze, his suspicions coming back to him all at once while conflicting with emotions he'd been feeling earlier. Hadn't he been paranoid enough, he thought as Yugi commented on that being far too much for someone like him. Hadn't he already essentially ruined the day for himself by keeping a look out for some sort of sniper the entire time? They approached a pair of double doors, Kaiba stepping to the side with an out of place grin. "It's on the other side of this door," she said as Yugi and Katsuya both walked forwards. "Let's go, you have a front row seat..!" Ahahaha, yea, because hey. That couldn't possibly mean anything bad right?

They entered the room, a large crowd meeting their ears and eyes as the looked towards the glass box in the middle. It was almost coliseum-like actually, the way the crowd circled the box. Idly, he wondered if the results would be any similar. For now though, he opted to see what was inside first. A pair of chairs, a table, and locked within...

"Grandpa!" Yugi ran forwards, his grandfather pounding against the glass with a clear expression of worry on his face. "Grandpa," he shouted, before being moved aside by one of the guards. "Hey! What are you doing!"

Katsuya swallowed as he moved to stand by Yugi, watching Seto move towards the box with a cold smirk. The crowd cheered wildly as she walked, briefcase of cards in hand as the other two frowned. "What the hell is he planning!" the blond shouted partially to himself, listening as Kaiba addressed the crowd. Suddenly, Mokuba's haunting words were coming back to him all too clearly. '_She's going to kill you,' _he was screaming in his mind. '_She'll KILL YOU!' _Damn it... Why the hell were his earlier suspicions true? Seriously? What the fuck was fate doing to him! He clenched his fists, bodyguards pushing them back with an all to hidden gun as Yugi's grandfather gave up on trying to warn them of the inevitable.

As the crowd roared, Kaiba merely smirked, turning as she gestured to the box in the center of the arena. "I've been challenged," she stated clearly and loudly with her well disguised voice, "By an elderly gentleman who claims to be an undefeated master of Duel Monsters!" She said the last few words with a harsh, sarcastic tone, a majority of the crowd already laughing at that comment. After all- who would dare challenge 'Kaiba-sama'?

Katsuya swallowed, while Yugi merely grew pale. "Duel monsters... Grandpa is facing Kaiba-kun in.. Duel Monsters?" Yea, something told him the challenge wasn't issued by Sugoroku. The blond growled as the crowd began to poke fun at the old man, Kaiba stepping into the box to begin the match.

They couldn't hear anything that happened. But they sure could see. As Kaiba placed a card down, he jumped as the image of the same monster appeared from the walls. Yugi as well stood, shocked as his grandfather just about had a heart attack from the sight. He appeared to calm down however, though Seto's cold smile at the sight was all too happy about the event. The battle moved on, the winner seemingly undetermined for a majority of the match. And then, Katsuya thought with wide eyes, the bitch summoned three of the same dragons he'd heard Yugi and his Grandfather call the most powerful in existence. 'Only four of its kind', he was told. Watching as Kaiba all too cheerily tore the old man's own edition in two, Katsuya very quickly realized why Mokuba had been so set on not wanting him to come. Most of the match had been spoken not shouted. Speakers were located around the crowd, but for some reason in their little 'niche' of the arena, he and Yugi had been unable to hear a damn thing. But the next part...

Even from outside the seemingly sound proof box, they could hear the screams. The could hear Kaiba's laugh as she called out with a wide and manic grin, "PENALTY GAME!" Illusionary monsters surrounded Yugi's grandfather, Kaiba walking out to pass the two teens. Clouds of 'smoke' filled the room, blocking the view of the old man from the crowd, and as Kaiba came close one could make out an all too smug look on her face.

"You asshole..." Katsuya was blocked by Yugi, who pushed forwards to look at the teen with wide and unforgiving eyes.

"You-"

Kaiba chuckled as the boy stood there, Yugi apparently unable to speak for a moment. "Hnhnhn.. We've tested this simulation on many people," the woman said coldly, chuckling as she turned to the glass box. Her smile, no doubt real this time, was menacing and unforgiving as she continued. "A normal human will go insane after a mere ten minutes. If it isn't stopped soon, he'll be crippled for life..." At those words, her eyes flashed back to her self-claimed rival, narrowing dangerously in mirth.

"Kaiba!" He shook, fists clenched as he listened to his grandfather's screams. "Kaiba! Let my Grandpa out! Right now!" His face grew red in panic, and the crowd seemed to laugh even at this, much to Katsuya's disgust.

The woman merely chuckled at Yugi's frightened expression, her rival trembling as she spoke. "If you want me to stop this simulator," she said quietly, "You'll have to agree to participate in Kaiba Land's secret attraction, 'DEATH-T'; the Death Theme-park I've constructed as my revenge for that duel we had weeks ago..!" As she finished, her voice seemed to raise to an almost crazed tone, the woman clearly certain that she would succeed this time around. As though nothing would stop her... Nothing..!

Death T... Katsuya froze, knuckles cracking as he stood there. '**Death **_**T**__heme'_. Damn it all... Damn it! Nothing. He could do nothing here, and if he'd just pushed Yugi to not go it could have been solved... Or could it? Knowing Kaiba she'd have just called and told them that Yugi's grandfather was officially insane and it was their fault.

The screams picked up, Yugi's eyes wide as he nodded furiously. "What ever it takes," he shouted. "Just turn it off!"

Kaiba smirked. "A wise decision." She turned to the nearest bodyguard, giving him a curt nod. "Stop the simulation, now!"

"Yes sir!" The guard walked off after giving a salute of sorts, disappearing into a well hidden door on the side. For a few moments, nothing happened. However, there was a loud hissing noise, and Katsuya blinked as the doors abruptly clicked open. The screams died down, holograms fizzling out into nothingness as Yugi rushed inside to comfort his grandfather.

Katsuya, in the meantime, turned to Kaiba with gritted teeth. "You're a real BITCH," he hissed under his breath, just low enough for only the woman to hear. "You know that? Using an old man against him... I hope you burn in fucking hell..."

The woman merely scoffed, before smirking again. "How harsh, _Mutt,_" she said with a low chuckle. "Didn't you know? In business," the woman continued, walking past the teen, "You do anything you need to succeed." He tensed, watching her stop beside Yugi for a moment and then disappear into the same door her guard had walked into. Katsuya looked back at the room, gritting his teeth. Damn it... He looked to the side, spotting an emergency phone. Damn it damn it damn it..! First thing was first! He rushed over to the device, picking it up and quickly calling for an ambulance. A few seconds later, he called another of Yugi's friends to help them out with keeping tabs on the guy, before walking over to his friend.

"Yug'," he said, frowning as he watched the teen hold his grandfather's deck of cards close. Kaiba had stayed beside the kid far too long for comfort... _Far_ too long. They'd been talking about... Something, he thought with a grimace, and quite frankly he didn't want to know what it was. But even so. "I'm comin' with yah, got it?"

The boy looked up, eyes wide. "You're coming... But... Jonouchi-kun!" He shook his head, pale. "You can't... You can't do that! You even tried to warn me before, you'll die if you come!"

He snorted, shaking his head. Honestly, he'd likely die regardless. "Whatever... The fact is, I want nothing more than to punch Kaiba's pasty face in right now, but it'd be pointless with all these stupid bodyguards of his..." He looked down at his friend, gritting his teeth a moment before continuing. "But I know you'll beat him- An' I know that no matter what, we'll figure somethin' out, got it? And until then, I'll help yah!" And maybe after Yugi won he'd go and punch the bitch in the face anyways. While she was caught of guard, and while everyone else was too shocked to really pay attention. The plan was flawless!

"Jonouchi..." He looked down at the kid, smiling. Besides, they were friends!

A voice from behind them interrupted, Katsuya paling as he saw Honda appear. 'Yugi and his friends'... Damn it, this really was rigged! How the hell did they convince Honda to come to a place called 'KaibaLand'! "Hey," the teen said, smirking. "You forget someone?"

As Yugi grinned with the appearance of another of his friends, Katsuya frowned. "Nyh, Honda? Who's the brat on your back?"

As the toddler currently strapped to Honda's back scowled at the insult, the teen shrugged. "This guy? My big sister's kid... Kept whining about going to Kaiba land, so I ended up stuck with him for the day while she's at work... Anyways." He turned back, expression serious. "I'm glad I came now; saw the entire thing from the stands. Something tells me you guys will need me... So count me in too!"

At that moment, the kid began to cheer about Kaiba or something, and Honda proceeded to yell at the kid. Said kid did not take it well, what with him likely being about 3. "Oi oi! Honda, don't make the kid cry!" Come on seriously, there was enough going on as it was!

"SHUT UP! THIS KID IS A ROYAL PAIN IN TH-"

The baby screamed, pounding on his uncle's back. "That hurt! Hiroto-oji! I'm gonna tell Mama!" Wow. Oddly well versed for a three year old.

"Shut up!"

At this moment, one of the guards arrived and coughed, pulling the attention of the three boys to him. "The gate to Death-T is open," he said curtly, gesturing to the door with a blank expression. "You three may pass through now."

The three nodded, stepping through the gate as it shut behind him. "Great," Katsuya said nervously. "Cause that ain't creepy at all right?" Bad enough that it was completely dark in here...

Honda snorted, adjusting the weight of his nephew before turning to the blond. "Oh come on, we just got here and you're panicking?" They walked down the hall, looking around in the dark. "Damn," he said after a while. "Where does this passage even lead? I thought this was supposed to bring us to some sort of special event!" Oh that's right, 'Death-T' was just a special event to the crowd

He swallowed, hands in his pockets as he looked around with a paranoid stare. "Trust me Honda, I think that 'special' is puttin' it really lightly at this point..." The word 'Death' came to mind. English as the term was... Even he knew what 'Death' meant. As he said this, they came to a door labeled 'Death-T 1', the boys blinking. "Well, here we are..." The door opened, releasing a hissing noise as steam hit their faces.

-**EMERGENCY**- "What?" Yugi blinked as sirens began sounding, the steam blocking their vision as it clouded up in front of them. -**EMERGENCY**- "What's going on?"

The hall around them was built similarly to the one they'd left, cold metal with the occasional wire visible as they moved. "H-Help! Help me!" A woman's voice cried from the end of the hall, drawing closer in the darkness as the three paled. "Somebody, help me!" A figure could be made out through the steam, and the boys squinted at the sight.

"What the, someone's-" The stopped as the source of the voice came close, the three now recognizing its owner clearly.

Katsuya stared, before shouting as Anzu came from the hall. "WHAT?" ANZU?

The woman blinked, before pointing at the three with a frown. "What the... What are you three doing here?" She was wearing a really weird outfit to say the least... All spacey and metallic. Huh.

He shook his head, still shouting. "Gh... I think that's our question, Anzu!" Seriously, was _everyone_ here?

She shrugged, before leaning against the wall. "Today's the first day of work here for me," she explained. "I got fired from my Burger World job for knocking out a customer after he grabbed my ass..." Yea, he could see that. Anzu sighed, shrugging again before she smiled. "So I came here and ended up hired as a guide for this attraction. Didn't think I'd see you guys here though!"

The others blinked, before Katsuya frowned. "Kay... Why were yah shoutin' for help..?" Idly, he found himself looking around Anzu with those thoughts. He didn't _see_ any axe-murderers...

Anzu blinked again, before grinning. "Oh that! That's my line! Part of the attraction," she said as she crossed her arms. "After that, there's another line I say to the guest, like this..." She resumed her panicked pose, continuing in the same frightened voice she'd used before. "The space station is being destroyed by an enemy raid! You're the only ones here who can save us! Please put on these cybervests and laser guns, and defeat them!" She paused, gauging their reactions before smiling. "See?" Actually, that was pretty lame. But back on topic now.

The blond groaned. "Anzu you are one careless twit yah know that..?"

She scowled. "Sheesh, my acting couldn't be that bad! I've been practicing for hours..."

Katsuya shook his head. "Moron! You don't even know what this theme-park is really about, do you!"

At the questioning frown he got in response, Honda merely shrugged. "Ignorance is bliss I guess... Just think Jonouchi, another time, this could've been you..."

He scowled. "Yea, cause I'd definitely be th' one screamin' down the halls for help right?" The look deepened as Honda gained a '_welllll_' sort of look. "Why you... What th' hell is that supposed to mean!"

"Nothing, Nothing," he said with a smirk. "Anyways, this outta be easy! Looks like this first stage is a shooting battle!" Oh yea, didn't he like... Take out someone with a BB-Gun once? From some impossible distance..? (He hadn't been there to watch that day, so...)

Yugi nodded, grabbing a vest from the side and slipping it on. "There's vests and guns over here," he muttered, ignoring Katsuya's mumblings of '_real bright, reaaaal bright'_ to Anzu. He grabbed another of the odd looking vests, passing it to the blond. "Lets put them on!"

A few seconds later, the boys stood there in the vests with fairly neutral expressions to cover the distaste for the fairly nerdy looking vests and 'lasers'. "They look good on you," Anzu said with a smile, clearly holding back a laugh. "Really, they do!" Still holding the laugh back, she shook her head and typed a few things into the panel by the door. "Alright! Now this is a three-on-three shooting battle guys." She pointed over to the door, smiling. "The battle will take place inside that room, in an electric field understand?" Electric field? Huh?

As Anzu went on to explain the rules of the game (Aim at the sensor above the heart on the opponent's chest, and if you're hit there, you're eliminated), Katsuya frowned. It couldn't be this easy, he told himself. From what Mokuba had been saying, this was going to be fatal some how. Yea, Anzu said a 'light shock', but something told him that wouldn't be the case for now.

As they headed into the next room, Honda turned to hand his nephew to Anzu. "Hey Anzu," he said bluntly. "Watch this brat until we get back, alrigh'?"

She blinked. "Er, ok..." She held him, smiling a moment before the kid suddenly burried his head in her breasts. "W-What the!" So the child was both oddly well spoken and a pervert... What kind of things were going on at Honda's seriously?

"Alright! Lets go," Honda said as he ran up to join the others. "Time to shoot some enemy raids!"

The three left through the door, Anzu nervously shouting a 'Good Luck!' as they left.

Well. Here went nothing. As the steam blew in their faces, the three walked inside.

* * *

As Kaiba watched the cameras in the building, she scowled. "Who hired that girl," she finally shouted to one of the employees in the room. "She's one of their friends, didn't I say to do a complete background check on any employees?" Honestly, why was it that everyone she hired...

The man bowed his head in apology. "My mistake, Sir..."

"Tch," the woman shrugged, crossing her legs as she leaned back in the chair. "It's fine... They're entering the field of Death-T 1 'Shooting Stardust'," she said calmly, before continuing on. "Is everything ready?"

He nodded, a set of three profiles appearing on the screen. "Of course three opponents have been arranged, each one professionals as requested."

Seto chuckled as she read over the notes on the three, before grinning maliciously. "Heheheh..." 'Yugi,' she thought to herself with a cold smirk. 'You and your friends are armed with little more than malfunctioning toys... But of one of the others shoot you, it'll send a shock of almost a million volts through your bodies!'

'_I have the front row seat to your deaths_,' she thought with a grin. '_I hope this will be as fun for you as it is me!_'

"Hahaha... AHAHAHA!"

* * *

**AN:** Cue WTF-ery. Granted even AFTER the mind-crush incident there are still some moments of complete _spazz_ for Kaiba... Can you say 'Star Power'? (ORE NO CAADO! -bricked-)

In any case. Watch, watch as the overkill seeps into your every being through this arc... Because that is how I felt when reading it in the manga... ('Seriously Kaiba? A MILLION VOLTS? Are you sure they're alive Kaiba? Are you? ARE YOU?') This chapter is filled with moments where in the manga, everyone wonders what is wrong with Jonouchi and Yugi. ('Yugi... Yugi Kaiba hates you. He HATES YOUUUUUUUU. Why... WHY are you going along- Why. WHYYYYY.') Granted, it's likely they'd have been forced in regardless. But still.

On a more 'original' note! As you can see, Mokuba has latched and latched HARD. Because up until that 'few weeks' in Tanaka's story, Kaiba was still doing his... Rather... 'Her' protection deal. Given that his sister was so afraid of them both being tossed back to the orphanage if Gozaburo found out 'Oh hey. My apparent son lied about gender of all things during adoption. MORON.' Silly silly young teen brain... For all the knowledge in the world, humans can be morons when fear is thrown in; hell I'm technically certified to save ALL OF YOU, but when it comes down to it, I'll still think of stupid things when someone starts choking. Mostly 'OMFG. ARE THEY CHOKING?' - Heeeeere's your sign.

Needless to say, being cut off from that is a BIG CHANGE for poor Mokuba... So when someone offers that kind of comfort again, he turns into a little black-haired leech. And he does _not_ want that comfort to go away again. You'll see just how far this goes later... Trust me when I say, you haven't seen the 'worst' of it yet!

**Usagi's Manga Guide/Corner!**

The section so amazing it's spotlighted in bold!

* * *

When Katsuya makes a call to one of Yugi's friends, he's calling a young boy from their class named 'Hanasaki'. He shows up a few times in the early manga, one of those times being a game all to himself (Rather, Yami playing a game against a bunch of jerks who beat the shit out of the poor kid)... This happened earlier too, though Yugi was also on the beaten end, so one could argue that it was Yami getting revenge for wrong-doings against his 'other self' that time. Hanasaki doesn't appear anymore after you see him watching over Yugi's grandpa in the hospital though... So sad... (He's a really likable kid to tell the truth.)

* * *

As with most chapters 'ripped' from the manga, this script is... Well, mostly from the manga! Some of the lines that Kaiba says in public are just a little shocking, though at least he didn't add 'THE ILLUSION OF DEATH' to the end of her sentence! (I'm refering to Kaiba as a 'she' in the AN's of this fanfic. Mostly because if I say 'he' in a fanfic where Kaiba is genderbent, I will confuse not only other people but also myself.) By the way, Kaiba's laugh... Think of Higurashi, and be very, very afraid.

* * *

Ahhh Anzu... Such a badass in the manga! Or at least to start. The job she references was actually one of the earliest 'games' in the manga; and one of the deadlier ones. It involves her getting a job against the permission of the school rules (No Part-Time Jobs unless otherwise specified), at 'Burger World'. When the others find out, she goes so far as to write threatening messages on their burgers with heaps of ketchup... In any case, that game ended with her being blindfolded and held hostage, and Yami Yugi setting a person on _fire_. Talk about your super-powered evil halves there! And you thought Bakura was bad, sealing people's souls in things... (And killing/maiming Pegasus depending on manga VS anime issues, but that's besides the point. You name any number of people Bakura and Malik killed, I will give you TWO from Yugi's side. SCARY SCARY.)

* * *

That ends this chapter! On to the next one!


	8. Chapter 7

**Amusement Park of Horrors**

* * *

Death-T 1, as expected, was completely set up. When Kaiba's smug face appeared on a screen in the room, it took all he had not to just point and say '_Hey guys, did you know that BITCH is female? YEA_'. Mostly because not only would no one believe him, but something told him it would likely make things worse. They'd just have to push through this 'Death-T' thing and stay alive through it. After all... They could handle anything right?

... Right?

As it turned out, pure luck saved their ass when in an attempt to hop the obstacles in the room, Katsuya came across one of their three opponents. It'd been easy enough to spot him from above... Considering the look on the guy's face when he did it. Apparently, one of them had decided to go ahead in an attempt to sneak up on them. Deciding against his crappy aim, he'd proceeded to jump on the man's face, easily knocking him out before fleeing for his life from the two other opponents they had. Running was cowardly...

...Except when the other team had lasers that sent high voltage shocks through the vests. Something that had become rather evident when not only did the shots that brushed against their shoulders hurt like fucking hell, but when they'd started bad-mouthing Kaiba in front of Johji again_ oh boy_. Honda's nephew was not one to mess with, if the quick draw he'd made on them was any sign. While they avoided being shot by the kid, the vest on the wall wasn't so lucky; even as a melted mass of metal, it was still cracking with electricity. It seemed that as luck would have it, the gun Anzu had was the same as their opponents... So, they ended up taking out the two others using that one gun, using a plan of Honda's. Anzu in the meantime, proceeded to rip off her uniform with a scowl, quitting angrily as they proceeded to the next stage. Of course, he ended up being questioned if _he_ had quit his own job, but he pointedly decided to bring the woman's attention to what could possibly await them in the next challenge rather than go into the fact that he didn't even have time to say that.

Let alone deal with anything Mokuba tried to do to prevent it.

The others were already discussing how potentially dangerous the last one had been- and knowing Kaiba, the coward's sick idea of a 'game' had a lot more in store for them. It ranged from rabid dogs to really far-fetched ones like 'Death-Rays'. Though he didn't put that one past her either to tell the truth. Nonetheless, none of them were right, and as they came to Death-T 2, things only got worse.

Why, he asked himself yet again,_ oh why_, did it have to be _this_. When Mokuba had almost slipped in saying Kaiba would have leverage over him, he wasn't kidding. As he sat stiff on the roller coaster, he bit his tongue to keep from screaming in fear. This 'game', he thought as he paled, was completely centered on the supernatural. Even Honda admitted that a chill was running up his spine- and the fact was, if there was anything that he didn't like... It was this.

Katsuya shuddered as he and the others took a seat on the coaster, Hobson taking a seat at the very back. They were seated in chairs of metal, and as a helmet and straps locked around everyone's wrists and head, he gulped. "Oh God..." He couldn't move even an inch! Trapped like a tiny tiny rat in a... Something. "You..." He swallowed, attempting to turn to the butler with a glare. "What the hell are you planning?" If the last room had been any sign, he had a feeling he knew what these chairs were...

"The game of death has begun," the currently cloaked man said chillingly. Oh dear god why did that bitch hire Hobson to do this... "The place this ride will take you, 'Death-T 2', is called 'Murder Mansion'," he began, face unseen by the others as he spoke from the back of the cart. "It is a place soaked through and through with terror..." He didn't say! "And as for this place... This is the Grim Reaper's Chair Ride." He chuckled darkly, before continuing. "Given who's in it, it's doubtful you'll even make it to the mansion..."

He swallowed, the others rendered silent as he attempted to find the strength to speak. "What the hell do yah mean... 'Grim Reaper's Chair'?" And thanks, thanks so much for the reference to his greatest fear! Nice to see someone _cared_, really!

(_He was so fucked.._.)

Hobson chuckled again. "Well, as you've likely realized, you're currently sitting in electric chairs, devices that have sent countless criminals to meet with death..." Another chuckle, and he continued. "During the ride, all sorts of things will play through the dark... And if you scream even once, that microphone will pick up on it, and activate the chair!" Well... Shit.

Katsuya swallowed as the others tensed. Shit... Shit shit_ shit_, he was never good with ghosts and zombies and crap! The ride began, and as the carts moved a single silent mantra entered everyone's minds.

Nobody... Nobody make a sound!

* * *

Shit shit shit shit shit.

The cart rolled in the darkness, nothing happening for a while.

Shit shit shit shit shit shit shit.

Abruptly, a horde of monsters and mummies and all sorts of typical haunted house type devices fell from the ceiling, Katsuya still biting his tongue as they went. Screams echoed along the chamber, blood practically oozing out of the walls and loosely mummified skeletons reached out from afar.

SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT.

An axe narrowly missed slicing the 'car' clean in two, and a few bones clattered to the ground in their place.

'_Oh god oh god oh god.._.' He could do this. He could handle th- Wait what the hell was blowing behind him! He bit his tongue, and in just a few seconds...

...

He didn't wake up until the end of the ride. Apparently, he'd passed out... Although the moment he _did_ wake up, the scream he'd been holding back was released very, very loudly.

"HAAAAA! AAAAH! AHHHHHH HOLY SHIT GET AWAY!"

"J-Jonouchi-kun," Yugi said as he undid the helmet covering his friend's head. "The ride is over..." Oh. He looked around, coughing. ...So it was.

The teen blinked, before standing up. "Er... Right... So where..." His eyes widened as he looked at the large 'haunted mansion' type set up the cart had taken them too, staring in shocked silence. "Shit..." He could practically hear Kaiba laughing in the background. 'Welcome to Murder Mansion', she was saying with that smug voice. "This place is just as creepy as the last one!" If not more! And yet there they were, walking towards the entrance. Idly, he noted that Hobson had gotten himself nicely fried up, though if his muttering was any consolation, he'd apparently managed to avoid death. Somehow.

Probably rigged the machine actually. Though he _was_ apparently a torture expert so... That might have had something to do with it.

That mansion, he decided, taught him a fair amount of weird crap. Actually if it was divided into points it was only three, but still. One, apparently cards could be used as a way to tell if your grandfather was dying... Well, if the way Yugi was talking about them was anything, he was pretty sure that was it anyways. Wasn't sure how it worked... But it wasn't the kind of thing to look at oddly when you knew the kid long enough to say the least.

Two. You could fit a lot of stuff in a skyscraper. This included replica houses and full size yards. And finally three... Kaiba was way, way, way more twisted than he had ever thought, even after what he'd seen in the 'arena' with Sugoroku.

The door forward had to be opened by a switch. All four of them were required to put their hands through the handholds that covered the switches, which made Katsuya wonder how Kaiba had been so sure that there would be four people instead of three. In all honesty, it gave him the chills. Then again, so did everything about this place really.

Murder Mansion, as it was called, was dark, musky, and more than fit its name. Using a vague clue of the misspelled, English word 'blood' (It had a second 'l' ), Yugi had barely managed to figure out what switch would open the door. And just in time; the other three switches would release a guillotine to cut off all of their hands. And if they hadn't hit any switches, it'd have fallen anyways. And that was with the clue... What would have happened if Yugi _hadn't_ grabbed that piece of paper from the floor! Or if one of them hadn't known enough about English to even notice?

He shuddered however, as he faced down the namesake for that place. Because quite honestly, all that happened before had nothing on this, not by a long shot. "Damn it Kaiba," he said as he stood, chained to a pillar with none other than the famed sociopath 'Chopper Man'. "You're so gettin' it when I find yah..." There was no second floor to this 'building', despite all illusions. Instead, they'd traveled down into a hole in the floor after listening to a chilling tale from the woman who 'invited' them there. He didn't know which was worse. The fact that Kaiba had actually _hired_ the subject of the story... Or the fact that the story was real to begin with.

It had happened last summer, by the lake that the district bordered on. One night, ten boy scouts camping in the area were slaughtered, cut completely into pieces with an axe. Not a single person could piece the boys bodies back together. Not a single one... It was even questioned as to whether or not there were any survivors for a while, before DNA testing showed that there were indeed at least ten bodies in the ground hacked mess. The killer was aptly named for his skills of course, and in the end, no one had found him; hell, they hadn't even had a trace.

Until now. Katsuya swallowed as he stared the killer down, watching Honda's nephew squirm with fear under the man's gaze. Chess pieces, Kaiba had said when she greeted them at this challenge. Each of them were players on a giant board that Kaiba had set them on, and they were in her domain. But damn it... To search out and _hire_ a sociopathic murderer? To actually _hire_ a man who had killed and completely destroyed the bodies of all those kids..?

He was the only one in the room besides the murderer and Johji. Only one person was allowed after all... And hell if he was letting anyone else get into this kind of danger. Street-smarts or not, he and Honda could only go so far... And while he knew for a fact that he could hold his own against even the worst he hadn't felt so grateful for the 'mandatory training' Kaiba's security team went through before in his life. Katsuya glared at the screen that had blipped out in 'Chopper's arms, drawing back from the mans horrific appearance. What to do... What to do... The entire floor was covered with tar, and weapons of all sorts lined the walls. The only light they had was candles, and if those fell on the ground they were screwed. "Gh..." At the moment, he was doing the best he could to avoid Chopper while still being chained to the freak, but... "GYAH-GH!" The chainsaw nicked his shoulder as he dodged, the teen holding back a series of curses to focus on the fight. Blood... Damn that thing hurt!

"JONOUCHI-KUN!" Shouts filled the air from the other side of the door, all three of the teens attempting to see through the tiny window they'd been given. "JONOUCHI!"

The teen shouted as he ducked yet another strike from 'Chopper's chainsaw, attempting to run on the tar floor without falling on his face. "Not helpin' guys!" The door was locked of course. They couldn't get in, he and the brat couldn't get out. Not fun really. "Damn it..." He watched as his opponent attempted to get the chainsaw out of the center pillar, where it had become stuck. At least that weapon was out of the way now, but even with that... He looked at the chain on his wrist, scowling. This didn't help matters at all, and he was going to forever hate this kid for it; regardless of the fact that Chopper had been threatening him to do it.

Abruptly, Yugi pointed his arm through the bars on the door towards the candle. "Jonouchi-kun! There! Hurry!"

Candle st- He rushed over, tugging the weakly affixed candle holder from the wall and ripping the candle off. Of course... There was a point to hold the candle in place, he could use this..! He got to work immediately, praying that he got this over with before 'Chopper' got his chainsaw free.

After all, they had a plan now. A plan that had Kaiba turning the screen on Chopper Man's chest back on and shouting through it in shock. "I don't believe it," she said with wide eyes. "You unlocked the handcuffs..." Ohoho, that and much more...

He smirked, moving to the side as the chain was revealed to be firmly affixed to the very door separating the group. Chopper's strength was more than enough to rip it from its hinges, allowing Katsuya and the kid to escape. But that wasn't all they'd done. "It's called," Katsuya said with a dark laugh as the candle fell off the door seemingly in slow motion. "'Using your opponents strength against yah." He smirked darkly as Chopper Man stared at the candle, horrified as it fell into the tar to set it ablaze. "I might not be a genius Kaiba, but that fire and tar ain't gonna mix that well..." He quickly took refuge on the small strip of concrete around the room, the others following after him as they continued through the second doorway there.

Kaiba's voice was cut off as the screen fizzled out, destroyed in the flames. And as he and everyone else escaped through the second door in the room, howls of pained screams pierced the air, the smell of smoking flesh stinging their nostrils. The 'Chopper Man' was burning to dust in a pool of tar, and no one was going to miss him.

'_We're comin' for yah, Kaiba_,' the blond thought with a determined frown. '_An' you'll get what's coming!_'

Time to move on to Death-T 3.

* * *

If there was ever a time. That Anzu's obsession with dancing. Could help so much.

He sure as hell hadn't expected it to be _here_. But even then, it did them no good at the end. '_Don't give up!_', he'd told Yugi. Don't give up, even though we've just been locked in a tiled room, the door over 10 meters up the wall, and blocks are falling from the sky. Blocks that managed to hold a rhythm of sorts that Anzu followed and directed them through until the blocks all led them to the hole in the room. Suddenly, he was very very appreciative of her impossible dream of taking dance in New York. Because damn it, dancing saved _lives_ here.

Don't give up, even though your Grandpa is probably dead thanks to the heart pressure that 'illusion of death crap' put him through earlier. Don't give up even though the so called games up to this point have all been rigged, and have made it fairly clear that Seto Fucking Kaiba is either a psychopath or a seriously twisted fucking bitch. ...Most likely both.

Don't give up, he thought, pounding his fists into the cube that now separated them from Honda in the room of falling blocks they'd climbed to this door. Even when Honda tells you to move on as his jacket becomes wedged between two of the falling blocks... And yet another one separates you from him before you can even tell him to shut up.

'_Don't give up Yugi_', he thought, tears running down his face, '_When you're the reason why I bother doing things any more_.' A kid who believed in 'good' in everyone...

He'd thought that was stupid, when he first met Yugi. Completely moronic, and useless. After all; he'd been a useless bully, with a useless father in a useless world... And for some reason, that kid bothered to stick up for him after all the crap he put him through. And because of it, suddenly that useless world wasn't so useless... And maybe, just maybe, he wasn't so useless either. Don't give up, never give up...

Because regardless of all the crap that he'd heard and gone through lately, he was never giving up on that kid. He and Honda both.

And now, one of those people that Yugi had stood up for... Was gone. "_HONDA!_" He shouted at the brick pointlessly, pounding at the wall until he felt his knuckles bleed. "HONDA! WE'LL WAIT FOR YOU!" He breathed heavily, shouting again. "DON'T DIE YOU MORON! WE'RE WAITING FOR YOU! SO YOU... YOU USE THE GUTS I KNOW YOU HAVE, AND GET OUT OF THIS SITUATION!"

There was a permanent marker face on his hand, or part of one at least. They'd waited a long time before blocks had begun to fall in that room after all, and during that time Anzu had drawn the face so that, any time they looked at their hand, they'd remember the things they did together. They'd remember the good days at Burger World, or the arcade. The fucking _weird_ days, like at that professor's house, or the museum, or at school with that puzzle letter. They'd remember the bad days...

'_This is as far as I go,_' he'd said.

And suddenly, he was gone. "Anzu," Katsuya began, breathing harshly as he clenched his fists. "Yugi," he continued, turning slowly as he wiped whatever tears had come from his eyes. "Let's go!"

"Wait," Anzu said, Katsuya blinking as she looked down at Yugi. The boy was curled in on himself, face screwed up in some sort of pain as though attempting to fight something off. "Yugi looks... Yugi doesn't look so good..."

Katsuya had merely stared, frozen as a dark feeling came over him. Oh fuck not now...

'_You don't know,_' Mokuba kept saying. You don't know... '_He became a different person_'.

Something told him that they were going to meet that 'Other Yugi' really soon... And all he could do was pray to anything listening that this 'Other Yugi' wasn't as bad as Mokuba had made him out to be.

* * *

This game, Seto told herself as she laughed darkly at her 'rival's misery, was like chess. If she thought about the game like that, each player had a corresponding piece.

Yugi, of course, was the king. Anzu Mazaki, the player she hadn't even considered until the end of Death-T 1, was the bishop. In her mind, Yugi had no 'Queen', _deserved_ no Queen. No, the most powerful of pieces had long since been reserved... Seto smirked, knocking one of the pieces over on the board. If Jonouchi was Yugi's knight, his 'right hand' then Honda was the rook, the 'castle' that held it all together. "And now," she said aloud, arms crossed with a smirk. "I've taken his rook... And soon, it will be 'Check Mate'." And with one piece down, the rest would be soon to follow.

"Those guys are stubborn, aren't they Nee-sama?" Seto didn't turn as Mokuba's voice came into the room, the boy holding a serious and quite possibly angered expression on his face. Mokuba... Now what was he doing up here, when he was due for 'T-4', which he'd spent all week convincing the woman to have him participate in? Trying to wheedle his way into her 'good graces' again..? "The end of the game is coming to a close," the boy said with a frown, balling his fists. "You remember our bet?" The boy's fists clenched, and he continued. "Before we created Death-T... You and I, we made a bet.. On the stage where Yugi would lose!" His voice sounded pathetically pleading, Seto thought to herself as she continued to watch the screens. He was trying too hard, far too hard, to get on her good side in the middle of 'work'. Nonetheless, her brother continued. "And you, you bet that he would make it to Death-T 5! Isn't that right, Seto-neesama!"

She nodded, still looking ahead. "That's right... And you, of course, bet that he would only reach Death-T 4..."

Mokuba went red, gritting his teeth. "You... Nee-sama... You not only let MY employees get involved, but Death-T 4... That was my battle!"

"Yes yes," she said with a dismissive tone, still focused on the screens. "And my bet, Death-T 5, is my duel monster's match against him. I'm honestly curious as to why you're so upset about this."

The boy growled, shouting at his older sister in rage. "You're betting on my losing to Yugi! Of course I'm 'upset'!"

She scoffed. "And I stand by that bet as well, Mokuba." The woman turned slightly to look at her brother, before continuing. "You can't beat Yugi... And from the start, I was opposed to you being involved at all."

He tensed, scarcely able to respond. "You... You..."

The woman continued, uncaring. "Mokuba... You challenged Yugi to a game behind my back..." Seto turned back to the screens, ignoring the expression on Mokuba's face as the boy was reminded of the horrific experience. "I don't know the result," she said coldly. "But given your 'week long leave', I can take a guess!"

Dark dark dark, he wasn't there, he wasn't there... Mokuba swallowed, shrinking back a fair amount under the force of those words. "That... That..." He gulped, shaking his head. "I just wanted... I... I just wanted your approval... Just once..."

"GET A CLUE," she shouted, voice sounding through the room as a cruel reminder to the day that she'd begun to treat her brother like this. "In the world of business, there's no room for affection!" She continued shouting, turning on her brother with a cold snarl. "And until you know that Mokuba, you'll never be anything more than a LOSER!"

He stood there, frozen for a few moments as tears ran down his face. "You..." He choked, before shouting back at his sister before leaving the room. "JUST WATCH, '_NII-SAMA_'," he said with spite. "I'LL WIN THIS MATCH!" Ha! A joke at best, Seto thought, ignoring the boy as he left.

Mokuba stormed out of the room, slamming the door behind him rather loudly. He turned to the body guards with wide and crazed eyes, chocking for a few moments before he could finally speak. "Is Death-T 4 prepared?"

They nodded, seemingly oblivious to both the tears and the incensed look on the boy's face. "Yes sir!"

He turned, storming down the hall to the stage he'd set up for the event. "Good! Let's go!" Just watch, he thought, wiping the tears of his face with a scowl. Just watch... Seto would see his battle... See his true strength, and then she'd be happy, and smile, and play with him and everyone else he liked and everyone would be happy... Everyone...

Like it should have been...

The gates opened, and he entered the stage, waiting for his opponent to arrive with an absolutely murderous expression of determination. He learned from the best after all.

* * *

**AN:** IT'S TIME TO DUEL, _BITCHES_. Ok. That was a little harsh, I take that back. Anyways! Oh manga chapters... For the most part, I didn't want to extend this by essentially copying _every single page_ of the manga, sooooo... I skimmed it here. Which effectively tells you all just why this chapter is so freaking _short_ compared to the others. Obviously the details will be covered beloooow~ But an interesting thing to note, once we hit 'Duelist Kingdom', I don't... Really do this when it involves Jonouchi or Kaiba. At all.

Well isn't Kaiba (To quote the amazing reviewer Iona) a crazy crazy bitch? I swear, the guy she hired is the trope namer for 'Axe Crazy', though I can't be sure, since he apparently prefers Chainsaws... Seriously though. Things got REAL. Ever wonder how the others would have reacted to 'Yami Yugi' if they knew about him _before_ Yugi spilled the beans? (A point of time where Yami conveniently toned down his shadow games in terms of lethality... Or so it seemed until Duelist Kingdom. *checks* YEP. HE'S STILL AT IT FOLKS.)

AND NOW IT'S TIME FOR...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Only one was sent without an account, but that's ok! (Because quite frankly, it was so amazing it counts for two... Or more.)

To the amazing Iona, first off... THANKYOUTHANKYOUTHANKYOU. It is reviews like this that allow me to _breaaaaathe_. And don't you just love knowing what will happen next without feeling like 'Eh... I know what'll happen next. I'll just skip this chapter annnnnnd...'? (I know I do when I read fanfics like this, and I'm personally honored that you would think the same for this fanfic here!) As for all those points... I can't tell if it's my inner TV-Troper or if it's my inner Psych nerd. I like to think it's both. (Not to mention obsessive research...) Trust me when I say, the further we get into this fanfic, the more 'diverse' the changes to the storyline are... And yet aren't. Most of the changes will especially be apparent during 'in between times'... After all, when Kaiba comes back in Duelist and asks how long it's been, they say _almost a year_. And I'm actually shortening that...

In any case, thanks again! I hope to continue making this worth the read!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga Guide/Corner!**

The section so cool it... Uh... Can't think of anything to say.

* * *

Does anyone doubt how absolutely INSANE Kaiba is? Because that entire scene with Chopperman is completely ripped from the manga, save one point; namely Jonouchi's mention of 'training'. This is actually a reference to a much later point in the Duelist Arc, where (Spoooooilers~) Kaiba holds a gun to his(her? I DON'T KNOW ANYMORE!) former bodyguard... Who was apparently also a spy. Kaiba mentions a training regime that he puts all members of his security staff through, along with the fact that... Well... There's a reason why he instilled that requirement. Something tells me that Jonouchi isn't an exception, which makes for an interesting image... Although he hasn't 'shown up' in uniform yet, can you say... 'Jonouchi Katsuya in a suit?' Or perhaps 'Cool shades'?

* * *

Another example of ripped dialogue (As if most of the chapter isn't...), is the very last scene. Besides what isn't in brackets on Mokuba's part, nearly the entire thing is manga-original. Even the 'GET A CLUE' (Which effectively translates too... IHATEYOU. Oh Kaiba... OHHHHH Kaiba...)part. An interesting point however, is that when Kaiba does the whole 'Chess comparison', he leaves Anzu out completely; she isn't even mentioned by him, and it's one of those things that make you wonder... Did... Did Kaiba randomly forget Anzu? Even though Anzu just blew away Kaiba's 'clearly this challenge will destroy Yugi's friendship' monologue? (A monologue I did not mention, but it DID happen..) Needless to say, I have a feeling that Kaiba wouldn't see Anzu as the 'Queen'... Particularly not a _female_ Kaiba, as the 'Queen' is pretty much the most powerful piece in the entire game. And we all know how power hungry Kaiba gets...

* * *

Some might think I copped out on the 'Grim Reaper's Chair Ride' (Which had a much lamer name of 'The Chair Ride of Death' in the manga... Though your mileage may vary.)... But Jonouchi really did pass out early on. It was actually hard not to skip that scene all together, like I did with 'Death-T 3'. Death-T 3 for those wondering, is the home of the oh-so-famous 'Friendship speech' Anzu makes. A speech that makes much more sense in timing, and sounds MUCH better as well; as she looks around, she mentions that had they been alone, all they would have written was their names (Solitary Confinement anyone?), but as a group, the amount of things they could put there would be endless, like a 'blank canvas'. (Cue amazing smiley face...) An interesting note is that from the end of Chopperman's death onward, Honda's nephew is asleep... Clearly all the 'fun' he had on Anzu's lap has him tired out by now.

* * *

From this point on, things will be getting longer again (As in, don't expect the next two 'Death T's to go so fast. There's 5 by the way, if you didn't get that from above.), so I hope you enjoy!

See you next chapter!


	9. Chapter 8

**The Illusion of Death**

* * *

In the hall to Death-T 4, Yugi was breathing heavily, sweating profusely as he shook. "Yugi," Katsuya said, grabbing the boy's shoulders. "Yug', are you alright?" Please say yes, please say yes, _please_...

"There's something inside me..." The blond froze as his friend said this, eyes wide as the boy shook his head. "I can't control it..." Ahhhhh..! Not only was that _not_ what he wanted to hear but that sounded very, _very_ creepy...

Anzu watched nervously, looking down and shaking her head. "Yugi... I'm sure... You're just tired from all the strain," she said, as though reassuring herself as well. "It's ok Yugi... It's alright..."

Yugi shook his head, stumbling slightly; it wasn't alright, not at all... "N... There's... Something I haven't told you..." No. No no no no _no,_ there was no way all the horror stories that Mokuba had shared those nights after Kaiba's 'secret' was completely busted were true. They had to... They had to just be nightmares, nightmares that conveniently happened with blackouts Yugi had, each one... "I think," Yugi said, Katsuya realizing just now that each one happened right before a 'game', having pressed the boy for some information on the blackouts days before. "Inside me... There's another me," he said before wincing, holding his head in pain. "I don't know him... I don't know him at all though.."

Damn it... Mokuba's voice had a bad habit of entering his mind with all this crap didn't it? '_The other Yugi... He did... He did..._' A really, really bad habit...

He gulped, shaking his head. "Another Yugi... That can't..." That couldn't be possible...

And yet... "Ever since I solved the millennium puzzle," Yugi began, slowly regaining his breath as he stood, "I've had black outs... I... I told you about those Jonouchi-kun... But what I didn't tell you was..." The boy choked, shaking his head as tears began to develop in his eyes. "I was so scared," he said quietly, swallowing as he attempted to right his breathing. "You'd just become my friends... And I thought, if you found out about this other me, that you would leave!" He held his puzzle, almost like a security blanket. "That's why, that's why I was so scared! That's why..."

The boy froze as he felt Katsuya's hand on his shoulder, looking up at the blond. "Yugi," he said, deciding that regardless of truths in this entire mess, whatever he said would never change. "I swear, even if there's another 'Yugi' inside you..." Even if that other Yugi had apparently done some serious crap to Mokuba... Though from what he could tell, that was in self defense. ...Hopefully. "We'll still always be friends, understand?" At Yugi's expression of disbelief, he turned to look at the far end of the hall. "Always!"

Anzu as well nodded, smiling. "Really Yugi... Did you think we'd just up and leave you for something like that..?" Apparently so... Though Katsuya had a feeling that had it been anyone else, the situation wouldn't have quite been the same; really, Yugi probably had a good reason when he thought about it.

Nonetheless, as they ran down the hall, sounds of cheering came over them. And further ahead, a bright light visible at what was probably the exit. "There it is," Katsuya found himself shouting. "The next stage! Lets do this!"

They froze as the three walked out onto the rail-less bridge, looking forwards as a familiar voice greeted them. Katsuya froze- Mokuba was more of a part of this than he'd guessed... "Th... This is..." Well. Shit.

"Death-T 4!" Mokuba laughed as he finished Katsuya's statement for him, walking towards the clear box in the center of the room with a smirk. The box was almost identical in appearance to that of the one Kaiba had faced Yugi's Grandpa in. And if Kaiba's last events had been any clue... "Welcome to _my_ stage, Yugi!" The doors to the cube opened, and he motioned inside. "It's time for us to go head-to-head! Enter the battle box alone, understand!" There wasn't room for more than two anyways... And would Yugi have really needed someone to help win?

Yugi tensed, biting his lip before nodding. Katsuya, in the meantime, clenched his fists with a scowl. Of course it had to be alone... "Yug'," he said as the boy began moving forwards. "I'll be watchin' from outside alrigh'?" It was the best he could do really...

The boy nodded. "Yea... I won't be a coward anymore." Coward- He didn't think he was a coward! Hell if anything he was the coward, the way he'd dragged everyone into this even with fair-warning. Yugi however had taken all of it and, until Honda got stuck back there, held a fairly optimistic view on things. If that was 'cowardice', he'd eat his uniform! "I'm not really alone after all, right," he continued. "I've got you guys!" The blond stood there, before smiling and nodding in response. "All of you," Yugi said as he turned to look at his friend with a smile. "Anzu, Honda-kun, Jonouchi-kun... You all showed me... So now, I have true courage! This time... I won't be afraid!"

The teen blinked, before nodding yet again. "Yea!"

And then, Katsuya thought to himself as the boy began to shake slightly, he realized what he'd meant by being a 'coward'. "I," he said as he turned to face the box. "I'm not afraid... Of my other self any more..."

It was as though there was an invisible flash of light, a storm of sorts at that instance alone. "Yu...Yugi..!" His appearance became sharper somehow, more dramatic and fierce. A few strands of his blond hair rose to cling with the rest of his mysteriously gravity-defiant hair, and his eyes gained a regal tone to them. This was...

This was _him_.

"Jonouchi," the 'other' Yugi said, turning with a fierce and determined stare. "Anzu... I'll definitely win!" As 'Yugi' walked over to face Mokuba in the cube, Katsuya couldn't even think of the kid being wrong. Yea, he got what Mokuba had meant by 'change'. And oh what a change that had been! Really though, he couldn't feel too worried about how Yugi would do from that point on.

The game began. Again, they couldn't hear anything, but as Katsuya moved to get closer, he found himself held back by one of the theme park guards. "Gh! What the..."

The guard behind him smirked, holding a gun rather close to the back of his skull. "How's it goin', newb?" Oh just fine, sitting here with a gun at the back of his head... Yea, he was _great_.

While Anzu settled for glaring at the guards, Katsuya opted to go with the theory that the glass was only soundproofed on one end. He turned his attention back to the box, where his friend was currently turned towards them with a worried expression. "Yugi," he shouted loudly. "Don' worry about us! Just kick his ass!" While Mokuba visibly deflated a small bit at the comment, Yugi merely nodded, before turning to face Mokuba again. "Now then..." He looked at the guard's through the corner of his eye, coughing nervously. "Soooo... How's it crackin? Think I'll be able t' talk to my boss once this is over?" Or would he get shot in the head for his troubles?

The guard snorted, before shrugging. "Be our guest- we're only here to make sure you twits don't interrupt the match." The other one nodded.

"What he said; like we care what happens after... Provided you make it to the next match when he loses." Such _faith_ they had in their boss. Who had hired these guys again?

Katsuya nodded, before watching the two in the room for an idea of what was going on. Abruptly however, his attention was drawn to the large 'CapMon' board below. "Sheesh," he muttered to himself as monsters appeared on it. It figured that this would be a CapMon battle... As he looked back at the glass, he frowned. Whatever Mokuba had said had Yugi on edge; something told him it had to do with the conditions of 'after the match'.

He swallowed, using all he had to look at the two in the cube rather than the board below. Over the speakers, an announcer called the match start. "CAPSULE MONSTER CHESS," he called, the crowd cheering. "AND THE LOSER WILL GET A PENALTY GAME, '_THE SENSATION OF DEATH'_!" The blond gaped as the announcer said this, blood draining from his face. Shit... They seriously announced that kind of thing in front of crowds of kids? At least the other crap was 'private showing', but this..? In front of adults it would have even been bad, right now there were nothing but children in the stands!

Monsters appeared on the board below, Katsuya visibly wincing as he took a quick glance at Yugi's. He didn't know much about the game, but from what Mokuba was always going on about... Those monsters were not a fair match up in the least. Nonetheless, he shouted after his friend, cheering him on with as much faith and confidence as he had for him thus far. "Yug'," he called out, unable to cup his hands for the moment. "Y' gotta win alright! For Honda, and Gramps!" Not to mention for the 'real' Yugi's sake. He swallowed, realizing just what would happen when the match ended. Monsters would appear and just as before the victim would be left to fall into insanity... Maybe, just maybe, while Yugi advanced to face Kaiba, he could break Mokuba out. Break in through the doors, pull him out before it was too late...

He watched as Yugi crossed his arms, the monsters remaining completely immobile as Mokuba's advanced further. Damn it... What was he thinking, his team was a sitting duck.. Level 1s and 2s against an entire team of 5s! All he was doing was greeting death with wide arms... The blond winced as Mokuba's monster took out two of Yugi's five, before continuing to watch. What the hell was he thinking... There had to be something else here! Anything!

And suddenly, things were even. The crowd froze for a second before shouting with surprise, Katsuya unable to keep a grin off his face at the turnaround. "Yeah! Keep goin' Yugi!" As Yugi's 'mole' fooled Mokuba's monsters into killing each other off, the teen sent one of his after another one of Mokuba's. For a moment, it seemed pointless; it was level 2 against level 5 after all. However, with a loud sound of explosion, both teams were down one monster yet again. "Woah..." Remind him to never ever ever play Capmon with Yugi. Seriously...

The game continued. Yugi's level two monster gained access to an 'evolution' square, becoming a level '5' before striking down the fourth of Mokuba's team. Only one remained; now Yugi had the advantage. Where he and his opponent had been evenly matched, it was now two to one.

It was the final move. It had to be, given that the pair's monsters were now facing each other. For a brief moment, Mokuba's was the one still standing, charging towards Yugi's tiny little 'mole' with a wicked smirk. The moth that Yugi had owned fell to bits behind it, unable to move. However...

'Bigfoot', as Mokuba's last monster was called, crumbled into pieces, Yugi's mole looking around with shock. He'd won. Katsuya turned as the crowd roared, looking up at the guards quickly. "Oi," he said, the guard turning with a blink. "You said when the match was over; if I move, you gonna take back those words an' shoot me?"

The only answer from the guard was a shocked 'Mokuba-sama', as the guns were momentarily brought down. The crowd cheered, questioning loudly who the 'pointy-headed guy' was as Katsuya turned to shout at them on the way to the box. "Morons! He's not 'That Pointy-Headed Guy'... He's my friend, Yugi!" Honestly, show the guy some respect! He turned his attention back to the box, before freezing, the smile dropping cold. Just as Yugi left the box, doors opening for any to enter, Kaiba's face appeared on the screen... And while Mokuba couldn't see it, the game box being underneath the device, it was easy to tell that he was afraid. "K-Kaiba!" He growled, watching as the teen merely smirked in response.

"It took you long enough, Yugi..." The woman continued, both the boy and Katsuya turning a glare to the screen. "I'm sick of waiting... And I'm bored of watching these sideshows..." She laughed, before seemingly fixing Yugi with a cold stare. "Now, take that elevator to the final stage... I'm expecting you."

Yugi nodded, walking towards the elevator as Katsuya continued to watch. The blond shook with rage as for a moment, Kaiba's eyes drifted over him with a flash of cold mirth. Inside the box, Mokuba was shivering, and just now he realized that there was still another screen aimed just so that the kid could see how... _Disappointed_... His older sister really was. And likely only that. "S-Seto-niisama," he said, somehow managing to cling to the facade of 'brothers' even under all of the pressure. Honestly, Katsuya had to wonder how he did it; if it'd been him, he had a feeling he'd have broken _long_ ago.

She merely turned, eyes looking down on the boy from afar with a cold dead stare to them. "Those pathetic, lingering eyes... Like a dog's," she said, briefly looking at Katsuya again before snorting. "I've felt them on my back for years..." The woman turned her face still further from the boy, continuing. "I've always told you Mokuba... Play with fire, and you'll get burned." Nice lessons to teach an eleven year old really.

All three of them, Katsuya, Yugi, and Mokuba tensed at those words. "Seto-niisama," the boy cried, shaking his head. "Seto-niisama, no, don't..." Oh god... He knew the woman was a bitch but was she actually going to...

"Remember Mokuba? Only the winner can leave the box. The loser faces a penalty game, that's the law of Death-T!" There was a clicking noise as Seto said this, tone cold and dismissive as holograms began to fill the room. Smoke blurred the boy from sight, and the crowd only seemed to cheer at that fact.

The boy shook, and within seconds his screams filled the room. "NO! NO! NOOOO!" Fuck no. Katsuya's grew wider, the teen shaking his head as he stood frozen on the spot for a second. Fuck. NO.

Yugi turned just as the screams started. "Mokuba!" As he did this, he watched Katsuya charge the box, ignoring the shouts of the guards as they drew their weapons. "Tch... Jonouchi!"

His ears were numb to everything. "HELP ME! HELP ME!" Eyes narrowed as he charged forwards, the crowd becoming a dull roar as everything else seemed to move in slow motion. Nothing but screams filled the air as Katsuya ducked through the holographic fog, the sound of a bullet cracking against the glass wall the least of his concerns. "NEE-SAMA! SOMEONE! HELP!" He coughed, making his way through the dense and synthetic fog. 'Solid Vision' right? Same thing from the roller-coaster they were on before this crap happened right? Yea... Kaiba wasn't lying when she said 'solid'. Entering the room, Katsuya saw very soon, just why Mokuba was so afraid.

It was dark. Pitch black in there to create the illusion of endless space and yet, though all of that, he could still make out a gleam of 'light' on an imaginary monster's bloodied teeth. They reached for the boy, who already had another clamping down on his arm with a roar before Katsuya snapped himself out of it. The table was flung aside, and arms wrapped around the screaming, flailing child as he shut his eyes. Mokuba buried his face in the teen's shirt, and the blond did his best to protect him from what never existed. "It'll be alright kid... It'll be alright, hang on!" Shit... He turned, biting his lip as the 'monsters' began to turn on him, their objective now hidden by another being. He couldn't see anything in here, where the hell was the door! "Gh!" Solid vision... Really... Really hurt... "Gh..." Don't scream... Don't scream..! "It... It'll be alrigh' Mokuba jus' hang on..." Damn it, where was that door!

"Jonouchi! Mokuba!" He turned, giving a sigh of relief as a hand came through the 'fog'. "Grab my hand!" Not about to refuse, he did just that, being pulled through and stumbling to the floor of the third 'bridge' with a gasp of air. Idly, he noted that his arm was bleeding; sheesh... Either something was messed up with those holograms, or that thing in science about the brain doing everything was true... Either way he was paying more attention in class from now on damn it.

He looked at Yugi, watching as Mokuba momentarily drew back from the teen and further into his uniform jacket. "Wh-Why.." The boy coughed, shaking with a cold sweat as he looked up at Yugi with wide eyes. "Why did you do that... Why did both of you..." That was the question wasn't it... Not too hard to answer though.

Yugi smiled, turning from where he was about to continue to the elevator. "Mokuba," he said, the confident tone still throwing Katsuya off even now. "I was able to beat you because my friends helped me, each in their own way. I'll leave you to those thoughts..." He turned, before Katsuya stopped him.

The teen had an look of cold determination on his face, looking at Yugi a moment before speaking. "Yug'... You trash he- him, alrigh?" Before the teen could respond, he continued, smirking. "An jus' for me, make a comment on 'is '_estrogen_' levels... I'm pretty sure that's the one that'll get a rise from 'm." He needed to pay attention to that science teacher though, he really did.

His friend blinked, raising an eyebrow before nodding regardless of understanding or not. "Alright," he decided. "I'll see you later, Jonouchi." With that, he left, Mokuba staring after him before turning up to Katsuya.

"Y-You... You too... Even though I told you... Even though you knew I was going to..." He shook, face screwed up in confusion as he cried. "I don't get it! Why! Why did you do that!"

The blond shrugged, smiling as he ruffled the kid's hair. "Cause you're a good kid, an' even though you did some extreme shit, yah didn't really know any better..." And if he did, he knew not to do that _ever again_. Or else. Katsuya sighed, letting the boy wipe his face on his sleeve before continuing. "You were scared righ'? An' yah didn' know who to hate." His voice was soft, knowing- a tone that he'd never used before, save back in 'Death-T 3'. "Somethin' tells me that, if I never met Yug', I'd have done a lot of the same thing's you did... Hell," he added with a harsh laugh, "I pretty much did tha' already!" Save the amusement park of horrors thing. All that aside though...

Mokuba looked up at him in disbelief, before turning away with a bit lip. "But... I tried to kill him..."

"But ya didn', right? An' yah won't do it again, not when y' really know what those words mean now..." At those words, Mokuba fell silent. How could he be so forgiving... How could he even say those things after all that had happened. "'Sides," he said with a soft smirk. "We live in the same house, it'd be pretty bad if I never forgave yah... You're like th' brother I never had right now, yah know? Plus..." He grinned. "Someone's gonna have tah knock some sense intah yer so-called 'brother' when Yug's done with 'm." A lot of sense. And it would involve one or two right hooks to the face.

The boy stared, unsure of what to say. Should he laugh..? Should he cry..? A piece of paper caught his eye, and with a jolt, he realized he'd dropped the picture he carried around since his sister's 'extra lessons'. "Oh..."

Katsuya looked at the image, blinking at the scene of Mokuba and his older sister playing chess at the orphanage. An honest, innocent smile was on the girl's face. One that betrayed any actions that she'd done that day, any resentment she'd developed. It... It couldn't be _Kaiba_ though, right? "Is that..."

He nodded, looking over as Yugi entered the elevator and disappeared behind the doors. "K-Katsuya," he said, the teen jumping slightly as the boy used his first name. "Do you think... Yugi can..." He swallowed, still shivering from the events inside the box. "Even though the last time we played, he..." Locked you in a CapMon capsule? Well...

The blond nodded, standing up as he helped Mokuba to do the same. "Definitely," he said, leaving the unasked question answered in the same way. "If any one can," he continued with a determined gaze. "He will."

As they came to this conclusion, Katsuya pulled out a phone, one of the guards he'd left behind suddenly checking himself over with shock. "What the," he said from across the pair. "My phone's gone!" Yea, and so was their security pass. Take that.

Katsuya began dialing the hospital, pausing a moment before he looked down to Mokuba. "Listen... Anzu an' I are gonna watch Yugi, make sure he does alright... But..."

He blinked, before his eyes widened in realization. "Death-T 3..." He nodded, frowning lightly before answering the silent question. "He's fine; the blocks stop falling after the door is sealed off. I'll go get him, understand!" Taking the nod from the teen as a 'yes', he fled, disappearing into the very elevator he'd entered the room in. Wow... He'd say it again, the kids had balls. A few_seconds_ after his own sister tried killing/maiming him, and he was already working at fixing things.

Now then, he thought as one of the guards came over to pull he and Anzu back up to Death-T 5. To find out how Yugi's grandpa is doing...

"Hanasaki," he said as the phone picked up, the young friend of Yugi's answering the hospital phone. "Any change?"

* * *

No matter how he looked at it from the crowds at the fifth level, the boy's answer from the other end was anything but good. Katsuya clicked the phone off in agitation, roughly handing it back to the guard he'd taken it from. This was not good... Not good at all.

Anzu looked at Katsuya worriedly. "How is he," she asked, still holding Tristan's now snoring baby nephew. "Will he... Will he be alright..?" No. No he wouldn't. His surgery was going to be hell, and so far the man showed no signs of improving.

He shook his head, frowning. Better not give out _those_ specifics though. "I don't know," he lied, head bowed. "I tried Honda's cell too, but there's no answer... So I'll have to hope that Mokuba was right about the blocks..." As Anzu looked at him in confusion, he growled. "Damn it... We can't do anything more than watch Yugi's fight for now..."

The woman nodded, turning as the elevator doors opened and they stepped out to a space just behind the crowd. "Right..." Quick to accept that. Granted, there were guns against their backs again so really that was understandable. Maybe he should have asked Mokuba to do something about that before the kid left; but really, Honda took priority there.

Shouts filled the stadium, Katsuya watching as Kaiba and Yugi both walked into what appeared to be a domed arena. And a few seconds later, as the crowd went truly wild...

The final match had begun.

* * *

**AN:** Solid Vision! NOW FOR USE IN TORTURE CHAMBERS.

You know, for a guy who didn't want anything to do with military devices, Kaiba did an awful good job at making something that could easily be turned into one. Because when they say solid vision... THEY MEAN IT. And it's possible too; you use light in the right way, it actually _will_ become solid. Granted... We are years and years away from THIS kind of solid tech... But hey, one word.

Lasers.

And to think, this crap all happened because Kaiba lost _once_. Talk about driving the future.

I feel like I killed the end of this chapter. ... Oh well. As a side note, in addition to my earlier (unanswered) challenge of 'Seto's Real Girl Voice' (In which I challenge you to find a song that you could picture the fem-Kaiba of this story singing. Not by lyrics, because really, Kaiba singing ANYTHING is OOC. But just the voice pitch.), I have a _second_ question. After the last chapter, I wondered if I should have written out the scenes I skipped over in full. So now, I ask you guys this question:

'Should I write out those scenes and post them in a separate place _just_ for scenes I should have written the first time around, but for some reason never did?'

This wouldn't just go for any scene either; it'd be the scene you wanted me to type, or the scene you were looking forward to that just... 'Never happened'.

EDIT: Hey guys; it's Usagi here for the Re-Edit! This contest is all closed up. Obviously the notes won't be changed from here on though, so you get to see how the process went with the fanfic... BUT...

For those wondering, the voice was decided on all the way ahead around chapter 70. It's the voice of **Nana Osaki** from the anime '**Nana**'. Keep in mind that 'Nana' has _two_ characters by the name 'nana' though; the one you're listening for has black hair.

And now...

**Anonymous Review Response**

From Iona again! (Between you and Jadej, I have some very very faithful readers... And it makes me so happy... ;;w;; ) Between you and me Iona, that amazing roller-coaster scene had the best way to win a game out of anything in terms of 'funny'. Ohhhh Hobson... There are times I wonder why you were hired...

I... I invoke emotions? (Yes! YES! I succeeded!) Poor Mokuba indeed. He get's better though... (Sadly his sister will miss just about everything that does it. Oh well...) ...Mostly. In my experience, Mokuba's behavior is actually not that unbelievable; snotty yes, but the fact that I can take it and make it believable to other people... It makes me feel really good about my writing, it really does. (But yea... Mokuba's behavior = Any 12 year old in his situation with cash. Seriously... O_O )

Thank you again for the incredible review Iona!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga Guide/Corner**

The section so incredible, that when Usagi couldn't think of a decent line last chapter it had Taffy saying 'WHAT HAPPENED'? To the point where in the Re-Edit, USAGI EDITED IT OUT! (Horrors of horrors!)

* * *

Holy inspiration batman! As stated above, all of the holographic technologies that Kaiba built were inspired by the first loss he genuinely had against Yugi; his punishment was being sealed in the realm of the cards for an unknown amount of time, during which they effectively tore the guy to bits. Yikes... If this is what happens when you steal, I'm becoming a nun.

* * *

When Yugi does his 'switch' in front of the others for the first time, his friends freeze up momentarily, but otherwise don't seem to really notice much difference; this is lampshaded a few times however... First one comes after the end of the last Death-T match, so I won't reveal that one. The second one however is far more apparent, taking place in Duelist Kingdom; after 'Yami' spends a good amount of time in control, he switches back to Yugi, with Jonouchi in particular finding himself a little unnerved by the extreme difference between the two. The 'lack of real notice' could be attributed to the situation though... At this point in Death-T, nothing really seems surprising anymore. You say holograms do real things? AMAZING. (Oddly enough, though I have to check again, I'm pretty sure that when the brain is that convinced someone is under attack, the body actually takes the injuries resulting... Hence Jonouchi bleeding. If not then... I'm wrong. Shoot.)

* * *

To be specific about the phone scene, Hanasaki states that Yugi's grandpa has 'gone into surgery', but they aren't sure if he'll live, as not only is he under enough pressure as it is, but the surgery itself is a highly risky process. Ahhh heart surgery...

Until next time guys!


	10. Chapter 9

**Cards With Teeth**

* * *

Vengeance. As Seto walked out of the elevator doors and onto the bridge leading to the dome in the center of the room, it was the only thought on her mind. How incredibly sweet it would be, when she dosed Yugi with the same punishment he'd given her all those months ago she thought to herself with a cold smile. How very, very, sweet. Standing on the bridge, the woman watched as Yugi began to come forwards from his own side."Welcome," she began, smirking as the teen looked at her with a red-faced glare. "To the final stage of Death-T."

"Kaiba," the boy hissed, fists clenched tightly as they entered the dome. They would sit close, directly across from the other for this. Though the table itself seemed standard, the room would still be able to pick up on the images and spells played. She blinked as an odd, possibly confused look came over his face. "For some reason," the teen began, eyes still narrowed with rage, "Jonouchi asked me to relay a message to you."

The woman smirked, before pulling out her deck. "Really now," she said, shuffling the cards before humoring her rival. "And what did your 'pet' tell you then?" She'd consider it a 'last few words' before he died.

Yugi's expression of loathing increased, before he continued. "I believe he asked me to comment on your apparently high level of estrogen... If that means anything to you."

Apparently it did, though Seto hid it amazingly well. Regardless of the fact that Yugi seemed to have missed the meaning completely, this did nothing to improve her mood. "Well," she said through gritted teeth. So the mutt had fangs did he? She would deal with him later, she supposed. After all, there were bigger fish to fry for the moment. "Talking is pointless. Let's get on with deciding our fates..." Rather, deciding how badly to inflict his. She slammed her deck on the table, continuing. "Show me your cards, Yugi!"

"Gladly, Kaiba!" He as well placed his cards on the table, before frowning as Kaiba switched them.

Looking at the confused expression on Yugi's face, she explained. "Before the game," she began, shuffling the deck before passing it back. "We shuffle and cut each other's decks. That way things are... Fair," she said with a smirk, watching as Yugi did as said with her own deck before passing it back. Not like she wanted any of the useless cards in his deck anyways.

She had to hand it to the kid though, for crawling this far. Past trap after trap after trap, he'd managed to somehow make it with even his so-called posse intact. '_But now_,' she thought with a cold smile that refused to budge, '_You've hit a dead end. Because this, Yugi... Is where you die.._.' After all; she had the strongest monsters, the Blue Eyes White Dragons in her deck. And no card in the world could even _hope_ to defeat them! So let him come with anything... "Let the duel begin," she said with a smirk. As Yugi nodded, they drew their cards. 2000 life points each, 40 cards per deck. There was no way she would lose this time. No way whatsoever.

"Fortress Guardian," Yugi stated as he summoned a card. Not showing any hesitancy whatsoever as the monster fogged into existence, he pointed it forwards. "Attack!"

The woman nodded, before summoning her own card. It wasn't as powerful of course, but it was more than enough to take the brunt of the damage for her. "I'll accept that challenge," she stated before placing the card. "I'll play 'Cyclops'!"

The dragon attacked, crushing the cyclops as it screamed out of existence. Her life points dropped by 200 thanks to the difference in attack power, but no matter, she thought as Yugi crossed his arms. After all, give it another draw or so...

And this match would be hers. "Hmp," she said with a slight snort. "It didn't even itch..." Yes, she thought, drawing a card. He won the first 'battle', but she still had her blue-eyes after all. And once she drew those cards, it would all be over. As Yugi stared at her from across the table, she continued to smirk. He was visibly waiting, breath baited as she drew her card. Would it be the dragon, she imagined him thinking. Was he dead already? Hnhnhnhn... "Yugi... Everytime I draw a card," she said with a cold grin, "I can hear your heart race..." Seto watched as the teen visibly flinched, likely more from the statement itself rather than the drawing of the actual card. "Because when I pull the Blue Eyes White Dragon from my deck, you're as good as dead..." She played a card, snorting. "But lucky for you, the card I drew was Degenerating Worm Beast... Or is it unlucky?," Seto continued with a chuckle. "After all," she said as she sent the monster into battle with Yugi's dragon, "It beats your Fortress Guardian in level and matches it in attack! Now, fight!"

Yugi frowned, his dragon coming to the defense. "With pleasure," he called, before continuing. "While your Worm Beast is more powerful, my own monster has a special ability!" Of course it did; it seemed to be his specialty, pulling 'abilities' out of a hat.

She scoffed, continuing nonetheless. "Worm Beast attacks with Poison Spray, a venom attack that will melt the very flesh of an enemy's body!" And with the pain tied to each player in this room of hologram technology, she couldn't wait to see the results. However.

The boy smirked. "Fortress Guardian uses its special ability, 'Aviation'! Giving it a 35% chance of dodging the attack!" Much to Kaiba's displeasure, the dragon did just that, causing Yugi's smirk to grow as she growled. 35% and it succeeded... Honestly. "Success... And now, the dragon attacks!"

A small explosion occurred, the worm beast disintegrating as her points remained where they were. "Hm..." Thanks to the identical levels of attack, she didn't lose any life points... So this was alright. For now at least.. "I'm not about to end my turn without a monster on the field," she said with a condescending tone. Hn... Which one to play... Aha. This one had a fairly high defense, he would work. "I'll place this card in defense," she began, watching as 'Sagi the Dark Clown' appeared for her temporary 'wall'. "And end my turn..." Thanks to the rules of play, Yugi wouldn't be able to tell who it was however; even that small fact would likely cause her opponent to freeze slightly.

Yugi frowned for a moment, drawing a card before nodding. "Hn... In that case, I'll lay this monster in defense as well, ending my own turn."

"Hmp," she muttered with a grin. "Putting up meat shields for when Blue Eyes appears..." The woman chuckled darkly, before continuing. "But it's no use... Even without them, I can still defeat you easily. I'll show you!" Now that she had this card in her hand, she could switch back to the offensive again! She moved her clown, smirking. "Sagi the Dark Clown moves into attack mode," she began, watching as Yugi merely stared in silence. "Of course," she continued, "Right now its attack points are too low. So I'll play this card, 'Dark Energy'," she said with a grin, "And triple it's attack points!" She laughed darkly as Yugi's expression became one of shock and possible rage, Sagi's attack increasing to 400 points more than his own dragon. "Now then Sagi, attack the Fortress Guardian with Dark Glide!"

The dragon roared as a wave of black energy hit him, Yugi's life points dropping to 1600. She continued chuckling, leaning back in her chair as she put herself back in the lead. "Your dragon is history... Such is the power of Sagi and his 'Dark Energy..." And even that was nothing in comparison to her dragon's attacks.

Yugi drew a card, visibly scowling at the result. Good, she thought as she studied the teen's expression. This was getting closer and closer to a quick win... "I'll play a monster in defense mode," he finally said with a frown, "And wait for your attack!"

She laughed coldly, grinning in response. "And I'll simply crush them one-by-one!" The crowd cheered as Seto struck down the first of Yugi's defensive monsters, bringing the teen's lifepoint count down another 200 points thanks to its negative effect. Defense, defense defense... And eventually, he'd have no where to run! "Hn hn hn... Feeling scared yet," she asked with a smirk. She could practically see the boy's excuses for 'friends', calling him now as they watched from the edge of their seats. Watching as their pathetic 'trump card' failed them..! "Yugi, Yugi, Yugi," she 'sighed', watching as Sagi destroyed yet another defense position monster. "I'm disappointed in you..! I might not even get to use my Blue Eyes in this duel!" The teen responded with silence, so she continued with a harsh laugh. "And to top that off, you're using the same deck that half-dead old man left behind!" Her grin grew as Yugi's scowl deepened, and she continued. "I can almost hear the cards now, gasping and trying not to die!"

"Kaiba," the boy said, eliciting a blank look from the woman. "Do you believe in your cards," he continued, causing her to freeze slightly in shock.

She frowned, narrowing her eyes. "Excuse me..?" Did he _really_ just ask her something like that? Something that stupid and childish? Honestly, Yugi was short, but she at least expected someone her age to act it! ...Though certain mongrels proved her wrong despite this...

Yugi drew a card from his deck, still talking. "Because I believe in these! And I play the Dark Knight Gaia!" She reeled back slightly in shock, watching as Yugi summoned the strongest 'Knight Class' card in the deck. Shit. With 2300 attack power, this card could easily slash through her clown! Damn it! "Attack the Dark Clown, Gaia! With Spiral Shaver!" The knight charged, leaving Sagi comically cleaved into pieces as its owner nodded. "Destroyed!" Really, he didn't say?

As if she didn't know that already! Kaiba's points dropped to 1300 hundred, the crowd roaring yet again. "Hmp," she said as she regained her cold, blank stare. "A trump card..." Not a bad one either. For a runt at least.

He sighed. "You still don't get it," he said as he shook his head. "And you likely won't, until the very end..."

The woman scoffed as it came to her turn. Pathetic. "Please, don't start speaking as though you've won... The end to this match was decided long ago!" By _her. _She drew a card, looking at it before grinning wickedly. "How convenient... I drew the Blue Eyes White Dragon!" She summoned the card, relishing in Yugi's shocked expression as the shimmering beast appeared at his side. "It seems your trump card was worth nothing in the end," she said with a laugh. As the crowd around cheered at the card's summoning, she pointed it forwards. "Blue Eyes attacks! With Burst Destruction Beam!" A shock-wave emitted through the dome, Gaia giving a harsh cry as the dragon's blast easily disintegrated him. A wind of sorts even resulted from the strike, blowing back a few strands of Yugi's hair and threatening to bring a few cards off the table. She laughed madly, feeling the battle draw still closer to her goal of vengeance. "And to think," she said as she laughed, Yugi's expression becoming more and more horrified as the teen's points plummeted to 700. "I still have two more Blue Eyes White Dragons in my deck! You're already dead!"

Losers died. A harsh lesson, but one she'd learned very quickly all those months ago. She'd held out to the point where her entire being was an act, a ploy to keep everyone eating out of her hand as the company traveled in whatever direction she wished. She was a winner. She would always be a winner. And she was not letting some midget with starfish hair change that!

Because her life depended on it. "Now then," she said with a smirk. "Draw a card Yugi... After all, Blue Eyes needs another monster to kick around..!" Seto watched as the teen drew a card, playing the 'Imp' in defense mode with a scowl. "Hnhnhnhn... Attack!" The dragon did as commanded, a grin playing on its owner's face as Yugi flinched. "A crushing death, an honorable death," she said with the grin fading into a smirk. "An explosive death... Really Yugi, you're disappointing me!" As her dragon returned to her side, she crossed her arms and leaned back. "If you keep summoning defense position monsters, I can't get to your lifepoints..." Her eyes narrowed, and she continued. "Of course... Either way, you won't be able to hold out very long, Yugi..." Kaiba watched as Yugi scowled, an almost sadistic smile playing on her face. "Now then, summon another monster! After all, it doesn't matter which one!"

"Rgg..." Her smirk grew as the boy grumbled, before summoning still another defense position monster. Of course. After all, with defense, he wouldn't take damage.

Kaiba drew another card, smirking. "And now, Attack- Or perhaps not..." Her eyes narrowed with sick amusement, adding the card to her hand. "I don't think I'll attack just yet... Instead, why don't you summon another pathetic monster, so that my Blue Eyes has a few more toys to play with..." Vengeance was hers, she told herself as Yugi's eyes widened with shock. He knew full well what would happen when she summoned her second Blue Eyes after all. He couldn't summon more than one monster each turn, and two to one was an obvious match up. And speaking of Blue Eyes... She grinned. "And would you look at this... The Goddess of Victory is smiling down on me today..." The look of dismay on her opponents face was absolutely _beautiful_, she thought to herself. Just... _Beautiful_... "I summon Blue Eyes!" Seto chuckled, crossing her arms as she rubbed the sting of upcoming defeat further into Yugi's being. "And on my next turn, they'll both attack..." '_I win_', she thought to herself. After all of this, she would finally be able to go home and have a full night's sleep, knowing that her opponent was having the same nightmares she'd been plagued with since that fateful battle. She'd wake up the next morning and read some Nietzsche, and maybe even pull herself out of highschool. She was a CEO after all; what the hell did she need classes for?

And yet... "I draw a card," the teen said, voice filled with a somehow renewed confidence. "And I play the magic card Swords of Revealing Light!" For the love of- The _one _card that would stall her!

"What!" She scowled, the swords appearing to trap her two blue-eyes. Seto's expression of cruel humor switched completely to one of seething rage, her eyes narrowing as she stared Yugi down. "You... To use such a cheap card..." The anger vanished however, and she replaced her cold smile before speaking."Well... All you're doing is delaying the inevitable I suppose..." Her smile grew into a smirk, expression darkening as Yugi frowned. "The Blue Eyes White Dragons will be released in three turns after all, and what can you possibly do in that amount of time?" Just three turns. Nothing more than that, only three turns. Nothing would happen. _Nothing._ This game was still _hers_. Watching her opponent scowl at the statement, she drew another card with a blank expression. "Hn... I play this monster in attack position... But the Blue Eyes will still be the ones to destroy you," Kaiba stated with a small smirk. "Go ahead and envision the finale... You have three turns after all." The smile darkened as it grew, her eyes narrowing until they were essentially slits. "Draw your cards... They'll be your last."

Yugi fell silent as she said this, staring at his deck for what seemed like ages. The crowd screamed for action, Seto as well becoming fairly impatient. "Yugi," she shouted, not caring if her rival jumped or simply continued with his move. "I'm in no mood for delay! Now draw a card!" The silence persisted, and as her fists tightened around her crossed arms she growled. "You've had more than enough time to beg for your life..! Draw a card!"

The teen snapped to attention, eyes narrowed as he did as requested. "Of course," he said, before looking at his hand with a smile. Odd... Her own smile vanished slightly, pondering the sudden change of her opponent's heart. She had him backed completely into a corner, there was no changing that. So why was he suddenly acting as though there was a way to win? Why... "My turn," she muttered, drawing a card before mentally shrugging. "Well," Kaiba said as she placed the card 'Judge Man' on the field. "To pass the time, I think I'll play this monster to destroy your defenses..." Even with her dragons trapped, she could still corner her prey after all. And with an attack of 2200, it would easily destroy anything he summoned up for defense. Not to mention, she added mentally, his current ones. "Heh..."

"I summon the Dark Magician," her opponent said with a glare, the sorcerer appearing to the teen's side. Tch... Useless, useless struggling... "Attack the Judge Man, with Black Magic!" Her points dropped to 1000, and she snorted as the boy continued to speak. "Until the very end Kaiba," he said clearly, "I won't give up. No matter how grim it looks... I know that there's a way to beat you!" Really. Keep thinking that. It would make the end result so much more worth the wait.

She scoffed, mentally dreaming of how wonderful it would be when she didn't have to hear that voice shouting in her head again. "Ah yes... Of course," she said with a sarcastic smile. "But at last, it's the final turn, and your chances have disappeared!" Kaiba drew a card, before a manic grin appeared on her face once more. "The final card... The third Blue Eyes White Dragon! Now," she cried, holding back her laughter as Yugi froze. "Attack the Dark Magician!" In the resulting blast, her opponent shook slightly as his points dropped to 200. "Hahahahaha!" So close, she was so close now... "Now, draw your last card Yugi... Because regardless of what it is, you're still going to die!" The crowd continued to cheer, the swords of light vanishing from around her two other dragons. "And now that your cheap little magic card is gone, my dragons are free to attack next turn... I can't wait..!" She couldn't help but let out another fit of laughter, Yugi merely glaring back at her as he took his turn.

Let him hope, she thought, Gozaburo's suicidal leap months before coming to mind as she grinned menacingly. No matter what, in the end she won... No matter what. "Hurry up and draw Yugi," she said with a sneer. "You can't stall the inevitable forever..!" No matter what he drew, she would destroy it... No matter what it was! What a relief he would feel once it was finally over with... The knowledge of upcoming death would finally over take him and it would _all _be over...

And she would stand at the top again... She smirked as the teen's face twisted with fear, only for the expression to drop. Yugi's face... It had suddenly calmed, and an almost 'at peace' smile had replaced it. What was this..? A pathetic cover for his fear, a still clinging hope that refused to die? What was it? The boy continued to smile, shaking his head. "You're wrong, Kaiba," he said as he placed the card in his hand. "I've found my hope." What was this... Why did she feel cold again, like she had the last time, when he'd destroyed her monsters and won the duel they'd played. What was this feeling... This endless feeling of dread she was getting again... "I drew... Exodia, the Sealed One!"

Her already faded smirk vanished instantly. Impossible. Impossible impossible _impossible,_ there was no way this brat had managed Exodia, no way he'd bothered keeping the normally useless cards in his hand this long! And yet...

And _yet..!_

"Now," Yugi said with a calm and commanding grin. "I join all five cards!"

Seto's eyes widened with shock as the hologram of a pentacle appeared, Exodia's limbs and head exiting each point with an eerie grin. No... No no no, it wasn't possible, to summon Exodia, it wasn't..! "You..." She couldn't speak, she couldn't move... Exodia's effect was unstoppable after all, even by her now hissing Blue Eyes White Dragons. "You... You..." The monster chuckled darkly, flexing his muscles as he was freed from his chains by the summoning.

And across from her, Yugi merely stared down with narrowed eyes. "Attack," he called out, Exodia gladly following the orders. "Raging Hellfire; _**Exode Flame**_!"

Exodia's attack was infinite. It was impossible to avoid his attack. As the dome became engulfed with light, Kaiba almost screamed at the loss of her dragons, her life points... Everything...

'_This is what happens to people who lose Seto!_' Gozaburo was laughing in her mind, and all she could do was stare at Yugi with wide eyes as the voice grated against her ears and her thoughts. '_Remember that! REMEMBER THAT!'_ "You... You..." _'Losers die...'_ "My Blue Eyes... Annihilated..."

_'LOSERS DIE!'_

And he dared, even now, to give him a speech..? Dared to look across the table and bring some stupid, moronically philosophical meaning from this match? "Of course," Yugi began, Kaiba staring at him with crazed and hate filled eyes. "The Blue Eyes could easily destroy one lone piece of Exodia... However," he continued, "Even though each individual part is weak, when united, they form an invincible whole!"

"You... You can't..." It was impossible... It would take a miracle... Yet it had happened. Beyond anything it happened and now... Now..! Her eyes continued to widen with horror as she realized just what was coming next, sweat already gathering across her neck as the blood drained from her face. Now...

Now came 'death'. Yugi's frown remained set, and as he stood from his seat the boy narrowed his eyes. "I win Kaiba..." He continued to scowl, before placing his cards on the table and looking to his opponent's own end of it. "And now, as the rules state... The loser must face a penalty game!" No. No no no no no she screamed in her mind, god damn it why! _**WHY!**_ "An instant of atonement Kaiba," the teen snarled as he pointed toward the woman. "_**PENALTY GAME**_! MIND CRUSH!"

That was all she heard before falling limp, before falling into darkness. All she saw, as she felt herself fragment into pieces, collapsing in on herself almost... She couldn't move, she couldn't scream, she couldn't feel...

All she could see...

...

...

...

...

...

It was dark. Seto looked around, frowning. Where was this? What was going on... She couldn't remember anything, anything at all. Nothing except...

The girl looked herself over, her form the same that she'd held years ago at an orphanage divided clean in two among genders. A simple t-shirt, pants... Her hair was cut short, hanging loosely around her eyes. "Where..." There was no answer. "...Who..." Still, no answer. Just emptiness...

She wandered the darkness, clutching her arms for warmth. It felt as though she'd been trapped somewhere, somewhere dark but... The girl frowned. Well, she was still stuck wasn't she? There was no one here, and although she didn't know what had happened (Or who she was for that matter; that was never good), she had a feeling that his meant she was still 'stuck'. The girl stumbled slightly as she tripped over something metal.

-_Clink_.- Seto turned to look down, blinking. What was that..? The girl knelt down, reaching out to grab what looked to be a gold coloured block of sorts. "...A puzzle piece..."

-_Clink. Clink_.- She turned, blinking as a pile of pieces appeared before her eyes. A puzzle... Seto walked over, picking up another piece and feeling it over before putting it back in the pile. These pieces... They felt important somehow, life-changing even. The girl stared at the puzzle in silence, before coming to a single conclusion. After all, she supposed, digging through to try and put the pile together. There was nothing else to do here...

So she mind as well fix this mess of a heart that she apparently had.

* * *

**AN:** Because hey, not like ancient Egyptian Pharaoh's knew what estrogen was. AHAHAHAAAA. A high HIGH warning for OOC Seto from this point until a little later in; a fair amount of personality has to do with circumstance and memory after all and... Well. InnerSeto doesn't have either of those right now, so she'll be considerably less bad-ass than the Kaiba we all know and love.

Consider it her punishment for being such a bitch... Still. By far my favorite line typing this chapter: '_For some reason, Jonouchi asked me to say something about Estrogen. Don't know why_'. - As Seto SEEEEEETHES.

Special thanks to those who actually added this story to their _favorites_ list. I hope that this chapter doesn't take away from that honor!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga Guide/Corner**

The section that while amazing, did not avoid having little to talk about last chapter. D'OH. Sadly this one too... Or maybe I need to pay more attention.

* * *

Bonus points go to those who noticed that this chapter title is the same as the very first manga chapter we see Kaiba in; both that chapter and the second chapter (That 'game' being the first to span more than one chapter even) were called 'Cards With Teeth'... Which served as an eerie form of irony at the penalty. Oddly enough, there's an even _later_ chapter in the manga that draws from this... But I won't say which one, as that would spoil things.

* * *

Oh boy is it hard to type a card game and make it interesting! And yet the manga manages to do just that... Most likely because the holograms bring out all sorts of silly things that would otherwise never happen. You say your dragon being airborne gives you an advantage? SHOW ME, THEY'RE CARDS. And yet, thanks to this... It's perfectly possible. Heck, it gets worse later on, when Yami's 'moon' card gives his opponent an advantage by pulling the tide in... And as soon as the sea monsters are all over on his side of the field, he _destroys the moon_, beaching them all before frying them up rather nicely with a dragon. Mmmmm FISH.

* * *

It's kind of interesting for Kaiba of all people to mention fate given what happens later in Battle City... ('SCREW FATE!' You don't say...)

* * *

Fun fact; Yugi's hair is often likened to a starfish in Japanese. Add the fact that Judai from GX is compared to a Jellyfish while Yusei from 5Ds is compared to a crab, and you have the perfect invertebrate trio. Awwww. (Gets better with Yuma the 'shrimp', from Zexal... Though many others disagree and say either 'spider' or 'lion fish'.)

* * *

On an Anime note, those huge fields with cool raising stands on them did not ever exist in the manga; instead, it's literally just a table that spits out holograms. The closest we get is actually Mokuba's CapMon battle, during which the holograms appear on a large field below rather than the table; most likely due to the fact that CapMon is played with figurines, so it gets a little weird otherwise. (As opposed to cards, which are flat.)

Until the next chapter! I'll see you~


	11. Chapter 10

**Family First (Or Was That Close Friends)

* * *

**

"YEA!" As the crowd roared at the shock of Kaiba losing, Katsuya grinned. "Good going Yugi!" Idly, he wondered what Yugi had done to the CEO; she wasn't moving... At all. In fact, if he wasn't so worried about the fact that Kaiba's 'guards' were refusing to move their guns away now (something about pickpocketing), he'd be pretty creeped out. In the end however, it was Kaiba... She'd recover in the end. (Right?)

But all the same... "...Tch..." They managed to get out of that situation, but they still needed to actually leave the building... How the hell were they going to convince these morons to drop their weapons when their boss wasn't moving? ...Although Kaiba moving around probably wouldn't help matters anyways, given her general treatment so far. Damn it. He couldn't do anything while Anzu was held hostage as well, and there was no way he could take them both on his...

Own... He frowned as an odd feeling came over him, the blond slowly turning backwards as the sound of cracking knuckles met his ears. A loud crack sounded as the first guard went down, a fist having pounded against the back of his skull. "Yo," the attacker said with a smirk. It couldn't be... And yet...

"Honda," he shouted, ignoring the guard's turning around as he smacked him towards his friend. "Yah made it!" He was alive!

The teen snorted, before socking the guard in the face. "Well no shit! What, you thought I'd get squashed by some blocks?"

He shrugged. "Eh, maybe!" Mind as well have some fun now that things were relatively over right?

"Why you-!" Anzu laughed at the exchange, the pair throwing one last punch at the guard with a grin. "What's that supposed to mean? Maybe yah _should_ have been dead!"

"Heh," Honda said with a grin. "We can't die yet! There's too many guys we haven't beaten!"

Katsuya nodded at the comeback, grinning as well. "Yea, I hear yah!" Alright, both guys down, Yugi was coming back... Should someone call an ambulance for Kaiba? Eh, someone probably did already...

"You need more practice, _newbie_."

A voice from behind cut his mood short, Honda's blow to the guard's neck apparently not being enough to take him out. "Tch!" A gun barrel was pressed firmly against his back, jacket held tight in the man's grip. Well wasn't that

"Don't move," the guard said with a snarl. "Or the kid dies!" Hey since when was he a 'kid'?

He scowled, unable to really say much on the matter. It really really figured, that after all of this, he'd still get stuck with this kind of crap.

Another voice entered the conversation however, and he brightened. "That's enough," Mokuba barked, arms held firmly at his side. "Let him go!" The guard protested, but the boy merely leveled a stern and seemingly neutral gaze at him. "The game is over," he stated with a frown. "Leave." YES! Saved!

For a moment, the guard stood there. Most likely, he was weighing the chances of keeping his job should he shoot the blond and say 'sorry'. However, as Katsuya shoved him off with a loud '_outta my way!_', he got the picture and moved aside. "Hey," Honda asked, looking at Mokuba. "Is that kid Kaiba's..." The question was left unfinished, but it was fairly obvious what the question was.

Katsuya nodded. "Yea, he- his little brother, same guy who hired me!" He smirked, Mokuba crossing his arms and turning away under Honda's stare. Either he was a little sore about being outted as the bad-guy's sibling, or he was just playing tough...

"This kid opened the exit for me but..." He frowned. "You're Kaiba's kid brother? Why the hell..."

He snorted. "Keh! I was just paying off my debt to Yugi... That's all." Ok. Playing it tough. Not a problem then. The boy turned as that same teen appeared, blinking. Oh, speak of the devil... He was back!

The blond grinned, as did most of the others. "Yugi!" He laughed as the teen came forward, a confident smile playing on his face. "Yah did great man!"

Congratulations floated around, Yugi of course brightening considerably when he spotted Honda. "Hey," the teen said as he turned to Katsuya with a raised brow, "Does Yugi seem... Different to you?" Well... About that.

He'd explain later, he decided as he laughed. "Yugi is Yugi right?" And nothing else! (Though the differences were apparent even now...)

As Honda shrugged it off, they turned- Yugi was speaking... And somehow, when Yugi spoke, you couldn't help but listen. "Everyone," he said calmly, looking up at them with intense gratitude. "You came to my rescue back there... Thank you." Rescue? If cheering from the sidelines was rescuing, then hey, whatever worked!

He grinned, nodding in response to that. "Heh... No prob! It's what we're here for right?" The blond watched from the corner of his eye as Mokuba smiled at the group, before turning to leave. Anzu however, had spotted him as well.

"Mokuba-kun," she said hesitantly, the boy turning to look at her oddly. "Can you tell us... Why did Kaiba-kun want revenge this badly?" If she had to ask...

As the boy looked away for a moment, Katsuya swallowed. "This... This goes before th' day Tanaka mentioned... Doesn' it..." As the other three looked at him in confusion, Mokuba nodded. So... _Before_ the 'great rejection'? Yikes... That... That was a fairly lengthy grudge among siblings. Not to mention a fairly interesting amount of time to develop severe gaming obsessions.

Still facing away, he began to speak. No secrets other than what was important... Not anymore. "It all started that day... He was playing chess..." His breath hitched, hesitating, but he nonetheless continued. "When Seto-niisama was 10, and I was 5, it was just the two of us. We had no parents." Katsuya frowned lightly as the familiar story began, with more details than Mokuba had ever given him before. "Our mother died when I was born," he said quietly, "And dad died in an accident when I was three." The truck accident.

Mokuba bit his lip, continuing. "And while our relatives ate up our inheritance, Seto-niisama and I were put into an orphanage!" He quivered with anger for a moment, before sighing. '_Don't cry_', his sister had said that day. Even though their relatives had been so lazy that they'd essentially pawned off their son's hand-me-downs to her and effectively told her that if she didn't keep the truth hidden after that insane request she'd made, it would be Mokuba's head. That request... Just to make sure no one hurt him at any time while there... '_Don't cry, Mokuba! I'll make sure that someday, we have a good life_!' Because he'd been scared... Just because he'd been scared, she threw away everything to make sure nothing happened when the 'monsters under the bed' came. And if she'd just forced him to face up to those childish fears he'd had at such a young age, none of this would have happened...

They were really trapped in that place, weren't they. He didn't really feel it... But her nee-sama did. After convincing her aunt to effectively commit a serious identity related crime by stating that the girl was 'male' instead, it was all she could do really. The fact that she'd managed it was frightening enough... Still, she never revealed herself though, dreading the prospect of a check up from the doctor... Maybe that was why she'd fought for adoption. And why after the 'vocal training', and the strict command to never let it falter... '_Don't let your guard down_,' she'd said. '_If you show them weakness, it's all over_!' Were those words for him, he wondered now? Or for her..? "Even so, regardless of what happened, I still liked living at the orphanage!" The others blinked with minute confusion as the boy continued, eyes screwed shut as the deeply hidden story was retold. "Seto-niisama taught me to play chess there... We spent all our days playing it..."

Behind him, Katsuya's eyes widened slightly. Mokuba's favorite game was CapMon... Capsule Monster CHESS. His expression softened as the boy continued to speak, shaking slightly. "But that day... That day was the last time I ever saw Seto-niisama smile..." Even back then..? The blond swallowed, keeping silent nonetheless as he listened.

"That day, a man named Kaiba Gozaburo came to the orphanage to adopt a son..." He remembered him clearly from that day, the middle aged man dressed in a far too expensive suit and smoking equally high priced cigars. They'd looked from afar, and then his sister had told him to wait at the table; she had an idea. An incredible idea, one that would not only get them out of that place but make all of their dreams a reality! "He was the President of Kaiba Corporation, and a World Chess champion. Seto-niisama approached him before he left, and they made a bet..." He could hear Gozaburo's harsh laugh as Seto made the offer, the man only taking it after his sister claimed he was too afraid to play against a 'little boy'. "If nii-sama beat Gozaburo in a game of chess, he had said... Then Gozaburo had to adopt us both." _'Interesting child_,' Gozaburo had said... _Interesting_, he'd said, even after he was defeated. Yet in the end... "My brother won," he said bluntly.

And the entire game was a set up, Katsuya added mentally. The tone said that much, though how that got by Gozaburo was the question really. Nonetheless, this was Mokuba's story to tell; he could hide the details if he wanted. "Our surname was changed to 'Kaiba'... And our new life was nothing like we had ever even dreamed of! But that man... That man did something we never expected..." Never in a million years had they expected it.

"He drove Seto-niisama into session upon session of languages, sociology, tactics, management..." He swallowed, shaking his head as he remembered the sole break that his sister ever really got, that one class in English, that one hour he was allowed to see her... And the marks on her back from the switch... The collar that left rough scratches from the fabric on her throat... "Day after day after day... Each one was like constant torture... And then, using what he learned, six years later..."

What Gozaburo didn't realize, Mokuba thought as he bit his lip, was that he was turning his successor into his greatest possible enemy. And after he'd gone so far as to rip a part of Seto's body from her control, forcing her to comply simply because of fear... Regardless of how suddenly, after that, the treatment was less harsh and more 'You will be an _incredible_ asset', she had made her decision. "A meeting of the board of directors was called," the boy said numbly. "Nii-sama announced that he'd taken 51 percent of the company, making it his." A part that even he himself had played in, when Gozaburo had given him a small two percent to keep the tides from shifting. He didn't know the price of things back then. He just knew that his sister needed him... Even if it was the last time she ever did. After all, with that, Gozaburo lost his company to the one he'd trained up to take it over.

That had to be a kick in the face, Katsuya thought with a frown. Having the company taken with the very tactics you'd taught. Still... He clenched his fists. That man... To think that one man alone could turn the person he'd seen actually SMILE in a picture into... Into someone who could put together all of _this_... "Niisama told me that before he jumped off the building, he gave him a final message. He said, 'You've won this game'... 'And in every game, the loser's fate is unavoidable'..." Loss meant death. It was a lesson that Mokuba wished Gozaburo never had the time to teach. A lesson that he so badly wished had never been taught. "And then... Gozaburo jumped through the window..."

Katsuya watched as the boy stood there, shaking. Tears were now dropping to the ground, and, ignoring the looks from the others, he went over. "Hey..." Jesus... No wonder everything was so messed up... People dying over games and companies and all kinds of crap that kids shouldn't be dealing with... "Hey, 's all righ'..." The blond put a hand on Mokuba's shoulder, crouching down to get closer to eye-level with the boy. "Come on... 'S over... It'll be alrigh'..."

The boy stood there, not saying anything. All he could see in his mind was that one day that changed everything. What would have happened? What would have happened if the game hadn't been set up? If they hadn't even bothered with the facade of masculinity? Would they still be together? Would they have been adopted by a real family, one where they could have lived happily and smiled every day, where the truth was already known..? "Mokuba," a voice called, and he shifted as Yugi came up behind him as well. "Right now, Kaiba is somewhere in the dark, gathering the shattered pieces of his heart..." Ah... What? That's what he did now? (Was that healthy?)

They looked up, both Katsuya and Mokuba looking over at Seto's frozen and unresponsive body. Her eyes were still held in shock, glazed over with an eerie feeling of soullessness. They both stared, listening as Yugi continued. "Piece by piece," he said as he followed their gaze, "He will put his heart back together again. This time, he'll have to rely on himself to do it right." She better do it right... If Kaiba came back _worse_...

"...Yugi," Mokuba said, the three looking out at the body. Momentarily, Katsuya didn't know if he should shudder or what... But instead he opted to pay attention to the conversation. "He'll come back right? He... He'll get better right?"

Yugi nodded. "Yes. Someday, when he's solved the puzzle... He'll wake up again."

The others stood there, before watching as the boy nodded. "Ok... Then, I'll wait! As long as it takes..." He'd wait for her to wake up...

* * *

One of the guards came back with the phone Katsuya had used earlier; Hanasaki had called back, and while incredibly confused at who answered, the guard had decided to relay the message passed to him in hopes of not getting on Mokuba's bad side. Yugi's grandfather... Was fine. The operation he'd been in was a success, and as they left the building Yugi reverted to his normal self. An interesting change (That they had to explain to Honda more than a few times as they walked), but nonetheless... It brought back a small sense of normalcy.

In the end however, Katsuya had been a little torn for a moment- Yea, Mokuba and Seto both had tried to kill himself, his friends, and even one of the aforementioned siblings themselves, but at the same time...

That kid, Mokuba... Was really hurting. Really, really hurting. And as much as he tried to forget that part, standing outside with the others, cheering for the success of the surgery, the match... Everything really, it still didn't help him when Yugi finally grabbed his attention. "Jonouchi-kun..."

"Hn?" He turned, blinking. All this stuff going on... He looked down at his friend's usual wide-eyed stare of 'what's wrong', finding himself drifting into thought. That reminded him... From the way Yugi was acting, he seemed to remember everything from the battle with Kaiba. Though he couldn't be sure unless-

He coughed, a look of confusion on his face. "Earlier... You told the other me to mention 'estrogen'... What's that again?"

Honda's eyes went wide as a look of stunned shock came over before being replaced with a grin. "You're kidding me..." He laughed, his nephew waking up with a scowl as the teen continued to howl. "Oh my god... You actually compared Kaiba's bastardized behavior to PMS?" Well... He wouldn't quite say _compare_...

From beside the teen, Anzu growled, fists clenching. "Oh yea. REAL mature morons!" Honda continued to roar with laughter, Yugi looking as though he wasn't sure if he should laugh or not. "Yea, because I would SO hire a trio of assassins if you ticked me off! Let alone a mass murderer!"

"Awww calm down Anzu," Honda said between his laughs. "It's all in good fun! Not like we couldn't use a laugh right?" Hear hear!

She growled, shaking her head. "Pigs," she said, crossing her arms. "I hang out with pigs!" Anzu looked down at Yugi, who still looked like his face was caught in a mousetrap as he attempted not to laugh. "Oh come on, you aren't seriously..."

He finally let the laughs loose. "I... I'm sorry but... I can still remember the look on Kaiba's face when it was brought up!" Well, if he didn't think the guy remembered anything before..! The laughter continued, before an ambulance pulled to the front of the building.

The laughter died rather fast after that. As Katsuya stared at the paramedics rushing into the building, Yugi tapped him on the shoulder. "Eh? Yug'..?"

Both he and the two others smiled, the shorter speaking first. "Well... You became friends with Mokuba right? And you're worried about Kaiba too..."

The others nodded. "Yea," Honda said, hands in his pockets as he ignored his nephew's fussing. "I mean... I don't get how you can stand them after all of this, but anyone can tell that you're getting worked up about it!" At least they weren't insisting he break things off with the kid... (That... That would probably just sign the kid's death certificate.)

"Yea," Anzu added with a serious nod. "Go on, Jonouchi; we'll tell you about Yugi's grandfather in the morning. For now though," she said as people began to rush out of the building, "You should probably make sure that Mokuba-kun's alright as well."

Katsuya frowned lightly, looking at the three. "But... What about..." He looked at Yugi, who shook his head.

"We're fine," he said with a smile. "After all, even when we're not here, we're still together, right?" He held up the hand that Anzu had drawn on while they were waiting at Death-T 3, smiling. Hah... The smile...

He stood there a moment, before doing the same. "Yea..." Katsuya nodded, reassuring himself in the decision. "That's right..." The blond turned, nodding yet again to the others before he left. "Thanks guys! Oi, Mokuba!" As he ran towards the ambulance, the black haired boy jumped. "Mokuba.. Ah... Hey."

The boy blinked, looking past his part-time employee at Yugi and the others. "Weren't you going to go see if Yugi's grandpa..." He trailed off, looking fairly miserable about the entire situation before Katsuya shook his head. It _was_ partially his fault after all. (Or so he apparently believed.)

"Old man's fine, no worries there... Got outta surgery great..." As it was, he was in better condition than the one who orchestrated this entire event. He looked over at the ambulance, before turning back to the boy. "Nah... I jus' thought you'd need a friend righ' now..." Probably an older sibling too, but that would be short of a miracle.

Mokuba looked up, silent, before turning to the ambulance to watch his older sister get carried inside. "I..." He swallowed, before nodding. Best not to look a gift horse in the mouth really... And Katsuya was right. "Thank you..."

He smiled. "No problem kid," the teen said as he ruffled Mokuba's hair. "Now come on... Somethin' tells me yah need to explain a few things t' them when we get there right?"

The boy simply nodded, and after a few words, they were carried off alongside Seto's comatose form to the hospital. Yea... There would be... Lots of things to explain. As for when the teen would wake up, hopefully for the better...

Who knew.

* * *

In the endless darkness, she didn't know much about what was happening. Idly, she felt a shift in the temperature around her, but aside from that... She knew nothing more than the darkness and the pieces of gold before her. Distantly, when she picked up a piece of the puzzle, she could hear a voice... But she couldn't tell what it meant, or who it belonged to. Couldn't even tell where or when it was.

She held her first piece tight, frowning. "What does this one mean," she wondered aloud, voice contrasting the one she used in more recent times considerably. Young and childish, suiting her current size and state. Not at all like the commanding voice of 'Seto Kaiba' that she had taken in recent years; the voice that at this moment, Seto couldn't even recall using. As she held it, she heard sirens... A screech of tires, and a pleading voice. "Who is it..?" Screams... Many screams... But for some reason, she still couldn't turn her attention away from the pleading and faded voice in the background. The voice that she couldn't even make out.

The girl looked to the pile of pieces, feeling compelled to grab one of the others. It was in the middle of the pile; a piece that she hadn't seen until now. Grabbing it however, she felt a warmth of sorts.

The sirens were still there. Yet even though they made her feel scared, and even cold, there were voices... Soft voices, thoughts even... Too soft to be spoken after all. '_Nee-sama_,' she heard. '_Nee-sama, I believe Yugi was right.._.' It was strange, this voice. Unlike the ones in the pieces, it seemed to come from around her... Seto looked up, frowning. 'Nee-sama'... Meant sister, didn't it? Was she a sister..?

And Yugi..? Who was Yugi..?

'_Oi, Seto-chan.._.' Her name wasn't... That wasn't her name, Seto thought with a scowl. Granted, she didn't actually know that, but she had a feeling that wasn't her name. It bugged her too much to be her name. '_Seto-chan, you need to wake up, so you can yell at me for calling you this._' The owner of this voice was kind of annoying she decided rather quickly. Yappy, like a small dog.

She'd call this voice 'Mutt' for now.

'_Seto-chan_,' the voice continued, '_Until you can hear me call you this, and until you can throw a punch at my face for this, I'm going to keep calling you this. Understand? Seto-chaaaaaaaannnn~_' It was oddly cheery, and she noted that there were no sirens when she heard the voice. In fact, the sounds from the piece she held had vanished. She picked up another piece, listening with a frown as the voice continued. '_Seto-chan~ Se-To-Chaaaaaaann~~' 'Stop calling my nee-sama 'chan'.'_ She had to agree with that last one there.

"Hmp! Someone needs to teach this mutt to shut up!" She scowled, looking at the two pieces in her hands before fixing them together. "Ah..." A perfect fit. Yes, there were still many other pieces left but... She'd managed to put them together nonetheless.

Seto looked at the pile. It seemed endlessly large, a mountain of gold that almost threatened her presence there. And yet, regardless of how many pieces were left, she still had to smile.

* * *

AN: If I hear anyone say 'awwww', I'll remind you who that kid at the end is. And then say 'awwww' as well. Man, for someone so horribly OOC, I can't hate Kaiba here... O_O Also, if you're wondering why Jonouchi is saying 'seto-chan' endlessly, it's more as an insult than a friendly way of saying her name; after all, she was visibly ticked when he said it in person... Soooo he figures if he says it enough that she'll wake up. THIS IS NOT TRUE. (Sadly.)

I feel almost like I copped out on this chapter... And yet whenever I look at it, there... Really isn't much more I can add 'between timing' here. Ahhhh oh well.

**Usagi's Manga Guide/Corner**

The section so incredible, it can sit here even when the chapter has little to do with the manga! (You wait until later...)

For the scenes that _were_ from the Manga (Honda reappearing, Yami telling Mokuba that Kaiba was doing some puzzle things), I actually _added_ dialogue. This happened earlier as well, right before 'Death-T 1' began. I think I did it more for humor... But who knows really.

Here's an interesting if not frightening fact; later on, when Bakura appears, his own darker half seals the souls of numerous people into figurines, which sends the victims into Comas. When a person is comatose, not only are they unaware of anything around them, but... Well, contrary to the belief that comas, upon waking up, are easy to get over, they are _not_. It takes days, even weeks to recover from being in a coma. Oddly enough, Kaiba's in a similar state here... But it'll 'lighten up' for the sake of the manga, at which point I'll explain what the heck I'm talking about. ;)

And so we end this chapter... And I pray that I didn't do so badly with the next one. See you all!


	12. Chapter 11

**And It's Still Not Summer, Is It?

* * *

**

Summer had finally come for real in Japan, rather than arriving as a heat wave in the middle of spring. Weather studios all over were still going on about that actually... Winters were getting colder and summers were getting hotter; it was all a little disturbing. Like the weather was just sort of saying 'screw it! Hot is hot and cold is cold! I can't be bothered to find a happy medium!'

Nonetheless, regardless of the season, there were still classes to attend for the moment. Just two weeks before the summer holidays began, and to 'celebrate' that coming, the Aptitude Test Rankings had been posted that very week. And he had come in 392nd. Out of 400. And Mokuba wouldn't shut the hell up as he groaned, the boy instead relaying the story to a still comatose Kaiba. "Nyhhhh..." He grabbed his head, scowling. "Can Seto-chan even hear us! I mean seriously?" Because if she could, that just made things worse in his opinion.

The hospital room was well guarded, what with its sole occupant being the billionaire President of KaibaCorp. Mokuba, for the most part, had been dealing with the entire incident of both his sister's coma and the issues with the company fairly well, having temporarily taken the reigns of the company with the aid of Kaiba's current adviser, Isono. Incredibly well actually, given how fast he'd done it... It almost made him wonder if Mokuba wasn't hiding anything, but really, he was done with paranoia for now.

For the time being however, the hospital was essentially the only break Mokuba was getting from the job outside of school; so really, this was about as much time as they had to speak, regardless of living in the same house. At least it was sound proofed... And surveillance free... Granted, when the doctors had realized their patient was female, it took a fair amount of explaining to keep their mouths shut. Not to mention cash. Given certain glaring legalities. Not to mention the fact that Kaiba apparently had a _private_ doctor, who _knew_ all of this, and had still handed over the papers with the male gender written on them. Well... When one had money he supposed...

As Katsuya continued to grumble about his marks and the pointlessness of speaking to a coma-victim (Saying 'corpse' would be _bad_.), Mokuba shook his head. It hadn't been long since 'Death-T'... Only a week in fact, and it was fairly alarming that the school had only just given the go-ahead to ditch the jackets for uniform t-shirts. More alarming however was Mokuba's 'recovery' rate from the shock of his sister going under, though Katsuya had the nagging feeling that he had a hand in that for some reason. "I already told you," he said from his sister's side with a frown. "Of course she can! People in a coma always recover faster it you treat them like they're awake after all!" Whatever worked for him really... The boy paused, before frowning. "And stop calling Nee-sama 'Seto-chan'... Otherwise, you'll get so much into the habit, that I won't be able to keep you out of the hospital for more than an hour at best..."

He groaned, rubbing his head. "Nyhh... Whatever. I say that what I'm doin' is jus' proving you wrong on the hearin' thing but..." The blond smiled, looking at the siblings. "Whatever helps I guess, I mean, I'm just a moron righ'?" Hell, even Honda beat him out... He expected Yugi to do that, but _Honda_?

Mokuba blinked, before rolling his eyes. "If this is still about your test score..." It was really pathetic... Really pathetic actually. Seriously, he knew that Katsuya didn't do well in school, but to think he was THAT BAD? Maybe he should call up Tanaka or someone...

The blond scowled. "No! ... Yes." He turned away, still frowning. Stupid stupid school...

"H-Hey... They've still improved though right?" Katsuya raised an eyebrow at that, but nonetheless said nothing as the kid had a point. He WAS getting a little better in school... Possibly because he wasn't holding 4 or 5 part-time jobs in an effort to pay the bills for his old man. Not to mention that an attention for detail on the job helped with 'detail in the class'; provided he paid attention of course. Speaking of his dad...

The man was now currently jail-ridden for tax fraud and theft. God... Damn it... It really figured didn't it... "Yea well... At least I got t' play a game out of it..."

He blinked. "A game... What kind of game could you get out of exams?"

Katsuya grinned. "'Aptitude Test Bingo!' It was great until Tsuroka-sensei started harpin' at us about our grades though... Lousy bastard..." His muttering suddenly turned into a laugh however, as he remembered the frantic plea the teacher had made to keep his baldness secret. That... That was gold... Across from him, Mokuba merely sighed and hung his head, deciding to let the blond live in his memories for a moment. Reality however, was not so ready to do that; there was a knock on the door at that moment, and he blinked. "Heh? Visitin' hours aren't over already are they?"

"No," the boy said as he shook his head, moving to answer the door. "Not for another half hour... Hang on." He opened the door, before returning with a letter. "ZTV Broadcasting..?" Mokuba raised an eyebrow, looking over at Katsuya. "Katsuya," he said, having gotten used to calling the teen by his first name rather quickly. "It's for you..."

He blinked. ZTV... Wait... No way! The boy grinned, jumping as he went over to take the envelope from Mokuba's shocked hands before opening it. "Yes... YES! This is GREAT!"

Mokuba shook his head, frowning as he watched. "Hey... Isn't ZTV that game show channel?" His friend appeared to ignore him, instead hopping around the room with shouts of excitement. "Katsuya, you... Do realize that those are normally scams right?" The teen appeared to ignore him, and he tapped his side. "Hey! I'm serious about this!"

Again, Katsuya ignored him. "Man... I'll finally be able tah pay off those debts!"

He rolled his eyes. "Katsuya, you don't have to pay off your Dad's gambling debts... We fixed that remember?"

Oh yea... Well, regardless of that. The blond shook his head. "I don't care! I'll feel bad if I jus' let you handle everything in my life!" Crossing his arms and taking a seat in the chair as he read over the details in the letter, he continued. "I mean... Ever since that one day with the 'reward' and stuff, you've pretty much snapped a leash around my neck and butted intah everything I do! I mean, no offense kid," he said as Mokuba scowled at the 'leash' comment. "But I can fix my own problems. Besides," he added. "If I win... I have a shot at visiting my sister again..." Oh yea, didn't she live in like... Osaka right now? Talk about getting as far away from their father as possible...

"Hnn..." Well, now that he thought about it, it wouldn't hurt now that he'd gotten in. "Alright... But seriously, when did you even send that thing?" That 'thing' which was coloured in various neon colours and quite frankly had the risk of possibly blinding people...

Katsuya blinked, before looking at the ceiling in thought. "Now that I think about it... I hadn' even met you an' Seto-chan at the time..." Weird. That was like... Three months and counting. Did it get lost in the mail maybe? As he pondered this and continued over the letter, he pointedly ignored Mokuba's exasperated cry of '_Don't call nee-sama that!_'. "Hey," he said idly, as they sat there in silence. "You wanna watch?"

The boy's amused smirk was enough of a response for him.

* * *

School the next day was fairly interesting. Given that after being questioned on his wider-than-normal grin (Given his poor grades), he flashed the envelope for ZTV rather proudly. "Woah!" Yugi stared with wide eyes as they ate their lunch, blinking. "You're gonna be on TV Jonouchi-kun!" Katsuya grinned as he and the others sat at their desks, break having started a few minutes before.

Honda turned from where he was opening the bento his sister made for looking after his nephew, eyes wide. "Hang on, what? Seriously?"

He grinned. "Haha, yep! On the 'Get the Million Yen' show! If I can clear all the games," he continued, grin widening more and more with each word, "I win a million!" And then he was heading for Osaka... Like, right away.

The looks on the others faces clearly said what they thought of this, before Honda raised an eyebrow. "Wait, I thought you were over entering these things... Didn't Mokuba pay off your old man's debts to keep the loan sharks off your tail?"

The blond shrugged, crossing his arms. "Yea, but I don' like feelin' like I'm relying on 'm for this kind of thing... I know he's doing it 'cause he wants to, but still!" He grinned again, thinking of the contest. "Now that I'm in, not only can I return the favor, but I could probably visit my sister for the first time in years!"

"Hey," Honda said as he shook his head. "You haven't even won the money yet..." He appeared to realize just what Katsuya had said however, and turned back to the blond with wide eyes. "Wait, you have a sister!"

Katsuya smirked. "Yea yea... Either way, I'll definitely win!" He chose not to mention the fact that his letter had somehow been postponed three months, instead silently thanking whoever had pulled the application from the back. Whoever did it had to be a GOD... He was also ignoring Honda, really really obviously. "Anyways, you'll all be watchin' right?"

Yugi nodded. "Of course!" As the others joined in with a quick '_yea! definitely!_', (And an added '_Seriously? A sister!_') Katsuya sank back into his seat with the same grin on his face.

A million yen...

"Dude! You could at least tell me what she looks like!" No. No he 'couldn't'.

So stop asking.

* * *

Saturday had come really, really fast Katsuya decided. It was two weeks from before school cut out for the summer, but in the back area of the stage for the show, it felt more like a blizzard. "Hihhh... What's with the AC in this place..." Nervously, he poked his head around the wall as the announcer began the show, looking out at the crowd. Lesse... Yugi, Anzu, Honda (Who was still asking him about his sister damn it), Mokuba...

Oh hey! Mokuba made i- "Now," the announcer cried, snapping his attention back to the moment. "Here's tonight's challenger!" He walked out on the stage, willing the butterflies in his stomach to stop jumping around so he could focus on the events. "From Domino District," the announcer continued, "Our 16 year old guest, Jonouchi Katsuya-kun!" Haha! YEA!

The crowd cheered, and he quickly grinned. "Yug, Mokuba!" He waved at the four in the crowd, his friends eagerly waving back as the youngest of the group merely shook his head and grinned. As shouts of good luck came his way, Katsuya turned to follow where the announcer was now pointing.

"For the first challenge," he said, the blond quickly realizing he'd missed the summary of just how many challenges there were (It was supposed to be 3, right?), "The prize is one hundred thousand yen!" Katsuya watched as two rather sultry looking 'bunny girls' pulled out a large dart-board wheel. "The rules are simple," the announcer continued with a smile. "If you can hit the 'Hundred Thousand' area with a dart, you pass to the next stage!

He looked at the wheel, grinning; aside from a small sliver labeled 'lose', pretty much the entire board was labeled '100,000'. This would be simple! "Alright! Leave it to me!" Taking up the dart, he watched as the wheel began to spin at top speed before tossing it. "EASY!" There was a 'thunk' noise, and the teen paled. "H-Hihhh..." It was like... What, half a centimeter away from 'lose'? "That was... That was really close," he muttered under his breath. Like really really close. Shit.

The crowd in the meantime (Yugi and the others in particular he hoped) cheered, as the announcer smiled. "PASS," he shouted, as the same 'bunny-girls' wheeled the dart board out. "And now, the next game, for the prize of 500,000 yen!" As the back walls moved to the side to reveal a small wire maze filled with steps and ramps, the announcer continued. "Now, Jonouchi-kun has a choice to either leave with 100,000 yen, or take this next challenge! Here are the rules!"

As a rather idiotic looking helmet (It looked like... A plunger, in his opinion) was placed on his head, he listened to the announcer as he continued. "If, before the time limit runs out, Jonouchi-kun can reach the goal without hitting the wires on the helmet, he passes! However," he added, motioning for Katsuya to move forwards, "If he fails, and touches the sides, he'll be given a shock, and he'll lose not only the 500,000 yen prize, but also his current 100,000!" He turned, looking at Katsuya with the same, somewhat plastic wide smile he'd held the entire time. "So, what do you say?"

Katsuya nodded. "I'll do it!"

* * *

As Yugi and the others sat down, they did not expect for the seat beside them to be occupied by Katsuya's employer. "M-Mokuba-kun?" The boy merely grinned at the reactions, the teens taking seats as the show prepared to begin. "What are you doing here," Yugi continued, blinking.

He shrugged. "Well... I heard that Jonouchi," the boy said, keeping the relationship 'professional' as he spoke (They didn't need to know that he was like... The only person who called him by his first name.), "Was in a contest of some sorts on one of his work days... I figured if I was giving him the day off, I mind as well come to watch." That and he was just a little worried about the possible results.

The others blinked, before nodding. "That's pretty good of you kid," Honda said as he leaned forwards to see from the opposite end of their seats. "I'm... Actually kinda surprised..." In fact, Honda looked as though he was going to drop the subject he'd been holding with Yugi up to that point; namely about what Katsuya's sister likely looked like.

Anzu rolled her eyes. "Of course your surprised," she said with an annoyed stare. "You were surprised when you found out he kept the job too." Actually, so was she but... It was kind of Katsuya's decision. Not to mention, things were probably _improving_ as a result. "I think the fact that he did that after what happened before is enough reason to give him a day off."

As the two began to bicker again, the topic of Katsuya's sister officially vanishing, Yugi groaned. Not again... Mokuba in the meantime, merely laughed, before elbowing the short teen beside him. "Ah," he said as he pointed to the front. "It's starting!"

So it was. Cheers filled the room as filming began, Mokuba wincing as Yugi and the others shouted particularly loud. Dear lord... His ears felt like they were in a furnace now... "Hnn..." Maybe he should have just watched this on TV... Looking at Katsuya as the teen waved after them however, he had to grin despite the earache he was getting. Ack, what the heck. It was probably better he was here.

Watching as the first task passed rather easily (which was expected, he mentally thought, given the fact that sour luck on a game show equated to bad ratings,) he watched as a timer for 3 minutes appeared on a screen above the stage. "Hn..." The three beside him fell silent as the rules of the second stage were explained, watching as a few seconds later the teen took off into the wire maze.

It was kinda weird actually, watching him run through it... The helmet on his head looked way too much like a plunger, or a joystick. Watching as the timer hit ten seconds, he cheered as Katsuya crossed the finish line with relative ease. "Hah! There's only one more challenge now!" His smile faded however, as he remembered the second point of game show ratings.

Fatal losses at the last possible moment. He swallowed, turning to glance at the others as a commercial break started. Most likely, this last one would be rigged... Mokuba watched as Yugi left for the washroom, before turning his attention back to the stage. Man... Maybe he really shouldn't have come... If Katsuya's work was just going to be crushed like that...

Time passed, and the announcer came back on stage as another wheel was brought on the stage from behind a wall. Mokuba frowned, looking at the others. "Hey, when's Yugi getting back..? Don't tell me he got lost..."

The other two blinked, before frowning. "Actually," Honda said before shrugging, "That probably happened.."

Greaaat... He turned as the announcer spoke, starting the show up again. Final challenge, 1,000,000 yen, and damn it Katsuya, even though you probably won't listen just take your 500,000 and go.

Of course, as the announcer pointed out the wheel (Which had a small enough chance of winning as it was), Katsuya cheerfully exclaimed '_I'll do it!_' "Aughhh..."

"Go for it, Jonouchi," Anzu called out, Honda's shouts mirroring hers for the most part. "You can do it!"

He sighed. "Yea, provided it isn't rigged," he muttered under his breath. Which it likely was. The wheel began spinning, the announcer telling Katsuya to yell 'stop' when he thought it would land on the right part of the wheel. The blond stood there, silent for a fairly large amount of time, his arms crossed as he studied the wheel. Ordinarily this would be hard enough as it was... It was a 1:6 chance he'd win, so Katsuya would have to wait for the exact right moment for it to stop on '1,000,000'. But if there was additional 'help' involved...

Man, this ruined his entire day... There went asking Katsuya to play CapMon with him that evening. "STOP!" The blond's voice filled the room, the wheel slowing to a stop as Katsuya and Mokuba both shut their eyes. And then...

"It's..." The announcer's smile widened, eyes filled with both cheer and disbelief. "IT'S THE MILLION YEN!"

Mokuba opened his eyes, shaking his head in shock. What? He actually... The boy grinned, laughing. Only he could possibly take those odds and win with them... Really... As the crowd erupted into an applause, he had to laugh. Amazing. Only this guy could do that... Really..

'_Somebody get him away from the cameras!_' Mokuba frowned as shouts started, applause cutting off just as quick. '_Stop filming!_' He blinked, both himself and all others in the room turning as what looked to be the company director began shouting at the camera. His eyes were wide and crazed in appearance, staring out into space as he shouted. '_Give me all your money! All of it! AHAHAHA!_'

"What the..?" He raised an eyebrow, before Isono (Who was currently acting as legal guardian) tapped his shoulder. "Ah, Isono..."

He coughed. "I think it would be best to leave right now, Mokuba-sama." At least before the swarm to get out began.

As he took a glance at the incredulous and confused stares from the others around him, he nodded. "Y-Yea... That's probably a good idea."

* * *

Needless to say, several days later when the ZTV company went bankrupt, Katsuya could be seen slamming his head against the wall of Kaiba's hospital room multiple times. "Damn it!" Of all the things to happen! It'd take at least another year to earn Damn it damn it damn it!"

Mokuba rolled his eyes, arms crossed. "You know, from what Yugi said later Katsuya-n..." He paused, as though about to say something else before continuing. "From what he said Katsuya, the game was rigged as it was..."

He scowled, sitting at the chair. "Nyhhh... But if he hadn't 've done that weird penalty game thing..." What was that game supposed to do, seriously..?

"What, you would have gotten the money?" The boy snorted, turning back to look at Seto from his chair. "Please, companies have _loads_ of ways to avoid actually dishing out the prize money. They could have easily called you out for some fake trick and gotten away with it... Yea, there are a few that Besides," he added with a frown, "Didn't the company that bought them out give you compensation?"

Katsuya blinked. "Compensation..?" Wait, that existed for people who weren't employed..?

The boy rolled his eyes. "Yea, compensation. They're supposed to pay you something since you went through all that trouble for nothing. Obviously not a million yen, but hey..." He grinned. "It'll probably be enough for a trip to Osaka, right?" Well... Barely enough, but it'd be something. At the suddenly cheery look on Katsuya's face, he laughed. Now that was more like the guy... He blinked however, when he spotted something in the teen's bag. "By the way... Is that a Monster Fighter?"

He blinked, before looking at the toy he'd brought in and grinning. "Heh, yep! Got it from Yug's game shop! It's pretty fun!" The blond grabbed his, the scaled monster he'd bought hanging from it rather precariously as he turned to Mokuba. "Hey, you have one?"

"Yea," he said, simply looking at Katsuya's blankly. "But I didn't think they were that popular at high school... I don't have mine here either..."

The blond shrugged, putting his back down. "Eh, probably better that way..." He grinned, chuckling as he leaned back on his chair. "You'd thump me neh, 'Vice President-san'?"

Mokuba scoffed, gaining a 'Kaiba' face before attempting to imitate his older sister's voice. "Hmp! Of course I would, I'm heading the biggest game company in the world!" The voice was of course, not at all a good impression in terms of tone, and highly exaggerated, so all the boy got in response was laughter. "Hey," he shouted, returning to his usual one. "Stop laughing, I spent all night practicing that!"

"Ahaha! What ever you do Mokuba," he said between breaths, "Make sure that's the first thing Seto-chan hears when she wakes up, alrigh? I wanna see her face... Gahaha!"

"Oi! Stop calling my sister 'chan'!"

The rest of the evening passed as it usually did after that, Katsuya later (as expected) being sorely beaten in a game of Monster Fighter with Mokuba. Personally, Katsuya didn't know what was worse; being beaten by an eleven year old, or being beaten by a monster that looked like a tiny little griffin.

* * *

It was now the last week of school before summer came, and things had gotten really tense, really fast. For one, Monster Fighter had taken off quicker than fire and oil. So fast in fact, that essentially every store in not only Domino, but all nearby districts even, were out of stock for anything related to the game. Yugi's game-store had of course gained an incredible amount of profit as a result, but one could tell he was getting tired of telling people that the store was still out of stock. (That or just nervous.)

As it was, having gotten one early on, Katsuya was thankfully able to simply spend his time trying to get used to the thing. For the moment, school had finished- Yugi had gone upstairs to the roof, to play against some other kid from out of the school. Katsuya wasn't sure who exactly this Kouji guy was... But if the classmates reaction to him was anything, he had an awfully bad feeling about it.

Of course, it was shortly after Honda cleared up who he was for him that Yugi came through the door resembling a kicked puppy. 'Monster Fighter Hunter'. That was what Kouji Nagumo was, and what it essentially meant was that he stole other kid's sets to sell on their own. Including, as fate would have, Yugi's.

And Yugi had, in the end, borrowed his own Monster Fighter to let his 'other' self face him. However that worked. He didn't really get how they switched... Nonetheless, Mokuba's amused expression when he showed up (as usual) at the Hospital without his Monster Fighter, it took a bit of self control to not just shake the living crap out of him.

Hell, with luck, that probably would have woken up Seto... Maybe. Or not.

"Sheesh, it's not like I expected for Yugi to end up losing the first time!" He grumbled from his chair, before shrugging. "On the bright side, with the other Yugi's record, I'll probably have it back tomorrow..." Honestly, by this point, Yugi's 'penalty games' were just normal.

Mokuba laughed, shaking his head. "Either way- It figures that the one day I remember mine, you end up coming without yours!"

He rolled his eyes. "Yea yea, rub it in twerp..." Idly, Katsuya looked over to Kaiba, frowning. "Hey, Mokuba... Whadya think your sister would think of all this Monster Fighter buisness?"

For a moment, he looked at the ceiling in thought. "Well... Monster Fighter technologies aren't licensed by KaibaCorp... Actually it's one of the few really popular 'high tech' games that aren't..." He shrugged, smirking. "Anyways, given that fact, it'd probably be something like '_Hmp! This is just a phase... Duel Monsters will always be the better game!_' I think." He sighed, shrugging again. "It really sucks actually... Though I2's cards are really getting popular, CapMon is just not popular anymore..."

"I2? That's..." He frowned, trying to remember what that company was; it was kinda sad that he knew the names and info behind gaming companies, but completely fell short when it came to actual school work. "Industrial Illusions right?"

He nodded. "Yep; KaibaCorp is more a tech building company. The cards themselves come from I2." The boy then shook his head, laughing. "If Duel Monsters takes off as much as I think it will though, the company will end up focusing on the game completely, haha!" Provided KaibaCorp wasn't completely hijacked by Pegasus at that point, he added mentally. The man had been hounding him enough as it was, if things didn't let up soon... Hell, regardless of the issues they had with the 'Big Five'.

Katsuya snorted, shaking his head as well. "An entire company based on holograms for Duel Monsters... That's pretty obsessive..." He rolled his eyes from where he was slumped on his chair. "Knowing her that's exactly what's gonna happen... Auuuugh..." He grinned, laughing. "Watch, the entire world will be built around card games or something crazy like that!"

"Hahaha! I doubt it's that bad!" Mokuba smiled sadly, turning his head to watch the steady 'in out' breathing of his comatose sister. "But yea... Who knows, it might happen... When she wakes up anyways..." It'd been long enough already... Doctors were saying that if this kept up, she'd never wake up. As Katsuya turned away awkwardly, Mokuba bit his lip. He hadn't said it but... The fact was, he and Isono had lost control of the company. The top five members of the Board of Directors ousted him easily, and while he still held his position as 'VP'... They were losing power fast. "...Katsuya-nii," he finally said, the blond blinking at the honorific attached. Mokuba slowly looked back at him, before finally forcing the words out. "...When will she wake up, you think?"

"I..." The teen froze, before turning his eyes to the floor. The room quickly fell silent after that. After all... Just what did you say in that situation?

What did you say when your best friend was the one that did it?

"I don't know..."

* * *

The puzzle was a complex series of interlocking pieces. Each one meshed together just right, and you could never force a set into the other. Sometimes, it took hours to find the ones that interlocked properly. Other times, mere seconds. Right now, Seto decided, she was half way through this puzzle... And it showed no signs of holding a steady building pace.

Even half way through however, one couldn't see what a puzzle would look like in the end. Seto held her puzzle, resembling little more than a mess of pieces built around each other with a look of confusion, still more pieces surrounding it. "...Hnp," she said with a frown, idly spinning the puzzle as she worked.

Right now, all of the things she knew from this puzzle were a jumbled mess. Lots of things, things she didn't care about that somehow made her feel for them anyways were in this puzzle. And, the girl thought with a scowl, something told her that until it was complete, she wouldn't know exactly what any of those things meant.

She knew a few things. But not enough. She knew the boy's name was Mokuba, and that they were very close. She did not, however, know why, and it was something that was annoying her to no end. She knew that 'Mutt' also had a name, 'Jonouchi Katsuya', but she also knew that calling him Mutt would be much more amusing.

And she knew, from the beginning, that the Mutt would be receiving a crotch shot as soon as she found him in person, because she really, really, didn't like being called 'Seto-chan'. **At all.**

Seto also knew that she liked games. Chess was her favorite at one point, but she felt closer to cards now. Three in particular, a trio of blue eyed white dragons... She didn't know why though. She just... Did. They were powerful, majestic creatures though, from what she could tell. Beautiful, and pure...

So many things from this puzzle that had yet to really stick. Little things, tiny things; for example, she didn't like snow much, but then she hated summer as well, possibly more so. It was hot and muggy, and there was a third reason but she couldn't recall that one either. Spring was her favorite- the reason was a secret, and unknown even to her. Fall was nice too, an in-between season... Winter came with oden at one point, a dish she knew she disliked considerably, but also hadn't had for a long time she felt. Not like beef fillet... (Which she could recall liking considerably.)

She knew... Lots of things. Good things, things that made her smile... Things like her cards, silence... And also bad things, terrible things that she could remember doing if she could just recall to whom and why! She felt sick... Nauseated by those things she did...

The girl moved the puzzle in her hands, looking for a happier memory overcome her. It was an odd memory. Not the one she wanted to see, she thought with a frown. It was one of the Mutt... He was on a bed, unconscious. Not hearing him speak was strange, almost frightening... All she'd done in that memory was stare at him blankly, with some underlying feeling of rage. And she didn't know why.

'_When do you think she'll wake up?_' Seto blinked, looking up into the empty darkness around her. She felt as if it'd thinned out somewhat lately... Like instead of being at the bottom of a hole, she was somewhere in the middle of it. She couldn't be too sure though.

There was a silence after Mokuba spoke, and for some reason, it tore at her heart when she heard him say that. What hurt even more though, was when the Mutt answered. '_I don't know._' Wake up... They were talking about her. She knew that much. It was always 'her' that they were talking about after all. After the Mutt answered Mokuba, things got quiet again. It wasn't right, she thought, the Mutt wasn't supposed to be quiet. He was supposed to yap-yap-yap, and occasionally bark and growl like the dog he was.

Numbly, she grabbed another piece of the puzzle. It felt warm in her hands, like the ones that took place in either long past times or recent days. At least, she thought as she put the rest of the puzzle down the examine the piece, she thought it was like that.

This was a school memory. She didn't understand most of those... Though she never heard any names, or recognized too many faces, there seemed to be a constant theme to these ones. Namely the 'wrong' feeling. The feeling that something wasn't right, that she wasn't in the right place. Or maybe she just disliked school all together; it certainly seemed pointless enough.

Gym class, the memory told her. Volleyball. The Mutt was sitting at the side. He had a broken arm... She felt like she should know why, but she didn't. "...Stop looking at me," she found herself saying out loud, following the memory of playing volleyball. "...Stop it, right now."

And yet, instead of stopping, she stared back for a few seconds. 'Mutt' as well stared back, before hurriedly turning back to his papers with a look of partial fear and confusion. And then the moment was gone. Seto held the piece in her hands, looking back at the the puzzle before picking it up and putting it in. It locked in beside the last piece she'd touched before, the one of the Mutt on the bed.

Looking at the puzzle in silence, she frowned. "Who are you..." There was of course no answer, but in this place, she couldn't help but voice some of her thoughts. "...Why do I care that you exist?" It was a blunt question, and probably not one she would normally ask out loud.

However, Seto thought to herself, it was also a rather good one for the moment.

* * *

AN: Duel monsters deciding the fate of the world? IMPOSSIBLE. *shot in the face by both GX and 5D's* - Seriously, screw immense magic powers, GX effectively said that the entire balance of the UNIVERSE sits on these things. OHHH LAWD. THAT AIN'T GOOD. Ooooohh it's so fun to just lampshade future anime arcs here...

We just skipped over two manga games! You know why? Cause Jonouchi had like... Nothing to do with the second one. (Seriously he shows up at the beginning in the one, then again in a two page conversation on Kouji... During which Yugi comes in all growly saying 'I need to ask a _favor_...' - If you thought this kid was all innocent, THINK AGAIN. The apple doesn't fall too far from the tree neh? (Regardless of the fact that the only 'relation' is resemblance.)

The questions from before are still open to those who _want_ to answer! (It's not required...) Number one asks if there's a 'voice' you see specifically for Kaiba (The fanfic one)... Number two is if there's a scene missing so far that you want typed out.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Again from Iona! I have to agree; Seto is probably one of the most extreme cases of sore-loser I have ever seen. And the only reason why he _isn't_ is because I read murder mystery manga's half the time... (Which means that _those_ sore losers succeeded.) Such a prick... It's a good thing he gets better...

And oh my- You answered the questions.. *w* You didn't even have to but you did... *w* Thanks for saying even what you said; regardless of not having any preferences or ideas on those questions, your reviews are always appreciated! (All reviews are really..)

And another review from Iona! (Because I got it RIGHT as I finished typing this AN. xD) Ahhh... So nice when people get what's coming... And YEP. Estrogen. I think I like it even more when the others show their own reaction to the joke... Ahhhh... 'Ignorance is bliss' neh? -bricked-

Ohhh I had LOTS of fun doing SuperBitch!Kaiba. Lots and LOTS of fun, I can tell you that. I don't know if that makes me a closet bitch myself or not though... Hurhmmm..

**Usagi's Manga Guide/Corner**

The section so incredible, that for some reason there's more to type in an original chapter than a fully manga-stolen one! ...Wait what?

The 'timeline' for the manga is fairly loose, given that no real dates are specified; however, using uniform changes as well as general outfit usage, I was able to figure one out. Given the change from long sleeves to short, as well as exam results, I was able to place them fairly late in the first half of the year (Japan's school year starts in April.)- In fact, right after the Monster Fighter chapters, we get Yugi and Anzu's 'date', which quite clearly happens during the summer. (As it was, temperature changes happened because of an earlier fluke I made when writing the chapter involving Jonouchi's trek to the library; originally, he did this in June. Had I left it like that however, there wouldn't have been time for anything that happened afterward. WHOOPS!)

The original inspiration for Jonouchi entering into the 'Get the Million Game' was as he said; to pay off his father's debts. This obviously went out the window after being pulled into Kaiba's house... But all the same, I didn't want to just scrap a good chapter from the manga like that. In the manga, Jonouchi's entry was accepted specifically because of his background- in fact, when he appears on screen, the Director has a caption added, which specifically states that he's there to pay off his drunk father's bills. As Mokuba decided to keep the specifics on Jonouchi's living spaces at his house quiet, this would have been changed to something more along the lines of needing money to pay rent due to his father being in jail. Which is both better or worse depending on how you look at things. (In the end, the real inspiration for continuing through is to see Jonouchi's sister. Which brings us too...)

Shizuka, or 'Serenity' as she called in the dub, doesn't really have a specific living place in the manga or the anime; though Jonouchi states that she lives far away, she's later in a hospital that's... Fairly close to Domino, given the relative ease Honda and Otogi (Duke Devlin) have in getting there. For the sake of distance, I ended up assuming; which means that the reason for Shizuka and her mother being in Domino during the Battle City arc is now 'surgery occurred in Tokyo', similar to how people are often transferred across the country to a different hospital if that hospital specifies in that particular practice of medicine. As it is, Jonouchi would need 200 dollars, or around 20,000 Yen to get an economy class, four hour train ride to and from Osaka.

Seto's 'likes and dislikes' are more than just ramble! In a guidebook on the characters, Kaiba's favorite and least favorite foods are given respectively; his favorite is 'beef fillet', more commonly known as beef tenderloin... Essentially steak. In a country with as little land as Japan, steak is a very big deal! Due to the amount of space they have for cattle, the price for beef tends to skyrocket... It costs hundreds for a closed-palm size amount of steak... Seto's least favorite food on the other hand is Oden, a dish commonly cooked up during the winter time in Japan. You _could_ compare it to Sukiyaki. But you shouldn't. To be specific, Oden is a boiled dish of eggs, konjac, radish, and fish cakes... But there are many many many other things that go into it. So really, Kaiba saying he doesn't like Oden is like saying he doesn't like boiled eggs, fish and vegetables... And also like saying he just has expensive tastes and prefers 'western' food.

Ironically enough, on another note, when Mokuba says 'My _favorite_' in regards to the chocolate parfait from 'Russian Roulette Dinner', he's not lying; it really _is_ his favorite food... His least favorite is just as childish; celery. Jonouchi, on the other hand, doesn't really have a 'least favorite', and his favorites are a tie between steak with shrimp (Where did he get the steak? Probably Battle City, if the foods available to the competitors on the blimp were any sign. Though in _this_ fanfic...), and the oh-so-simple curry rice.

Speaking of Jonouchi- many have likely noticed that while I'm sticking to Japanese names and terms, Jonouchi is still using the dub 'accent' of Brooklyn. This is to further emphasize his speech pattern from the anime, which is generally an informal, rude if not borderline insulting form of speech.


	13. Chapter 12

**Meganekko

* * *

**

With the beginning of summer came a lot of new things. For the most part, it came with a sort of division between himself and the others due to events planned for the month of July. Mokuba had been right about the 'compensation'; sure enough, about a day after school finished and his 'part-time' job moved to 'full time', a check came in the mail.

"Haaah! 20,000 yen!" It was of course, rather far cry from the million he'd won before, but it was as Mokuba had predicted... Namely enough to get a train ticket to and from Osaka to visit his sister. It was the economy trip of course, but hey- he'd expected no less, and he had a feeling the same would be for his sister. "Shizuka-chan, here I come~"

At that moment, Mokuba poked his head in the kitchen, rubbing his eyes. Come to think of it, he thought for a moment, Mokuba didn't seem to be doing the work for KaibaCorp anymore... At least, no more than the nearly figure-head styled works that he'd done before hand. A form of work that had Katsuya wondering if the only reason he _had_ the position was so that his sister could effectively monopolize more of the company. Yay? "Hn... Katsuya-nii, what are you talking about..?"

That was another change, the blond idly added to his mental list as he ate his cereal. Since that day in the hospital, Mokuba had taken to adding the 'nii' from 'Ani' to his name. It was kinda weird actually, though he wondered what kind of reaction Seto would have if she woke up and heard the kid say that. "Eh..." He held out the check, Mokuba looking over it blankly for a few moments. "Came in this mornin'. I was thinkin' of askin' my mom if I could visit her for the month..." He coughed, remembering his job... Which was supposed to grow into a full-time position now that school was out. "Er... If that's alright with yah..."

For a moment, Mokuba said nothing, before grinning. "Hah, no problem," he said as he passed it back. "On one condition!"

"Er... What's that?" Mokuba had also been acting a lot more loose around him... If the 'nii' wasn't any sign at least. Though now that he thought about it, everyone acted loose around him. He didn't think it was possible for anyone (Save a certain comatose bitc- Er... CEO)to act 'tight' around him really... But this was kinda pushing it. Just a little.

The boy smirked. "I get to come to."

Ok. He wasn't expecting that. Katsuya blinked, shaking his head a few times. He wasn't expecting that one at all. "Nyhhh... Say again?"

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "I. WANT. TO. COME. Should I break it up into letters instead," he asked as he crossed his arms. "I haven't been able to have a decent vacation in _ages_, if you're going, I wanna come too!" Why did the claim that would normally be obviously exaggerated if made by anyone else seem so pathetically _honest_ in this situation?

He scratched his ear, frowning. "Hnnn..." Sheesh, much as he liked this kid... Mokuba could really be a brat sometimes. And the worst part was, the kid could technically fire him and kick him to the curb if he didn't like his answer. He didn't think he'd do that of course... "Yea but..." He continued to frown, finishing off the rest of his breakfast. "What about..." The statement was left unfinished, Katsuya turning away awkwardly.

That brought him to the third 'new thing'. After the hospital had essentially flat out stated that there was nothing more they could do for Kaiba, Mokuba had pretty well flipped out and gone completely overkill on their asses. Instantly, everything was moved over and paid for, a few doctors made to check in on a few things and otherwise but out. Not that Katsuya minded overkill... Hell, in the end, they'd still gotten everything they needed for the maids to cover what was needed from that point on.

It was just... Eerie. To walk past the open bedroom door and see Kaiba's still unmoving body 'sleeping' in the bed with a tube in her nose that led to the stomach for food. Machines bought out from the hospital sat at the bedside, monitoring Seto's vitals. Occasionally, Seto just wouldn't be there, having been moved to the washroom to be cleaned up, a thought that disturbed him just as much as the bed issue. It was worse during the afternoon though. When the maids would carefully lift the woman's body into a wheelchair and sit her by the window, as though hoping, praying, that somehow the light pouring through would wake her up. Regardless of the fact that it obviously wasn't.

The creepier part? Seto wasn't comatose anymore. She'd entered what the doctors had called a 'vegetative state', a 'semi-aware coma'. Mokuba was ecstatic at the hospital when they said it. The prospect of his sister even showing the slightest sign of recovery was incredible, and the kid had practically been bouncing off the walls. Or he was... Until he was told that when a vegetative state progressed too long, there was a high risk of it becoming permanent. Which essentially meant that even though, when sitting at the woman's bedside, Kaiba occasionally opened her eyes, she wasn't actually looking. Her eyes were still blank, soulless, staring at the ceiling or wall or whatever the hell her head was turned towards... And it wasn't likely to change any time soon.

It was like a zombie. Except that zombie was silent as the grave and paler than a ghost, simply existing in the room.

Now that Katsuya thought about it, that was probably why Mokuba needed some time away from the house. Anything to just _forget_ about the shell of a woman they were living with right now. "Yah know what," he said with a false smile, cutting himself off. "Sure. I'll call my mom... BUT," he added as he moved for the phone, turning to point accusingly at Mokuba. "I pay for my own train ticket, alrigh'? An' we're goin economy class!"

Something seemed to flash through Mokuba's face for a moment as his friend said this, but in the end, he grinned. "Great! I'll pack my things!" As he left the room, he turned for a moment. "What kind of things can we do in Osaka? Like... I heard that they're known for food..."

The teen froze, having just finished dialing the number. "Er... I... I dunno..."

"Oh." Mokuba left the room, his voice still audible as he went down the hall. "Let me know so I can pack everything right!"

He nodded. "Will do!"

Little did he know just how much his sister would tell him in those few minutes over the phone as a result. Because if he had... _Any_ doubt about the stereotype with girls and phones.

_He did not doubt it now._

* * *

"Sheesh," Katsuya said for the umpteenth time as he and Mokuba boarded the train and took their seats. "This list is huge..."

Mokuba nodded, looking down the list of activities that the blond's younger sister, 'Shizuka', had apparently decided for them. "Yea... Can she and your mom even afford all of this?"

He shook his head, still staring at the list with wide eyes. "I don't know... But I'm glad we had it while we packed..." Lest they end up incurring the wrath of the two women... He could hear them now; '_We gave you a list! Why aren't you ready!_'

There was a lot more to Osaka than food, Katsuya had quickly decided when his sister picked up the phone the other day. Shizuka had been surprised of course; he rarely called, what with long distance and not wanting to take advantage of Mokuba's cash and all (Given the fact that, as the boy admitted shortly after the call was made, he was officially a 'figure head' once more). She was more than glad though, to hear his voice. Even more so that he'd be coming to _visit_ for once... And from what Mokuba could tell from asking, this would be the first time Katsuya saw the girl in person since he was _ten_.

So after finally getting it through to the girl's head that yes, he could afford to come, and no, his dad was not involved, she'd proceeded to call her mom over and (To his horror) go over a long list of events for them to do over the summer. They'd been so into it, that it took him about fifteen minutes before he could finally tell them about Mokuba... By which point the boy had given up waiting and was standing beside Katsuya with a suitcase.

Shizuka clung to the fact that Mokuba would be coming instantly for reasons completely beyond Katsuya's knowledge(He'd thought they would disagree for the first bit really). Apparently, as was revealed earlier, she was gushing over the idea of having a young boy at the house that she could talk with when Katsuya started acting like a prat. Now that he thought about it though, she was just joking about that. Right?

Right?

None the less.. "Lesse... There's the Kaiyukan Aquarium..."

Mokuba nodded. "Yea," he said with a smile. "It's second largest aquarium in the world,"

Beside him, Katsuya scowled. "Lemme finish..!" As the boy fell silent (albeit with a smirk), he continued. "Anyways, the Tempozan ferris wheel, which is beside it... Shin-Umeda City... Er..." He frowned, turning to Mokuba. "What's that?"

The boy grinned. "Oh! I heard it's really cool... It's got a floating garden, an underground mall, a-" Well sheesh, what did they need a list for?

"Alright alright, I got it!" He watched as Mokuba pouted about being cut off, before shaking his head. "I'll jus' wait till we're there... Er, lesse now..." He continued down the list, shaking his head. "Osaka castle, the Sumiyoshi Taisha temple, the Tamatsukuri Inari Shrine.." He paused frowning. "Why are we visitin' a fox shrine..?"

He shrugged. "I dunno, but I'm leaving something there when we go; Inari's supposed to be the god of industry you know..." The boy leaned back on his seat, the train beginning to move. "And I could sure use some of his help right now..." Oh yea... Business problems.

Katsuya nodded. "Yea... I hear yah..." He frowned, looking at the boy. "Hey, is it alright..? You comin out here with me an' no one else?"

Another grin. "'Course! What, you think I'd come here if I was liable to be shot or something?" He laughed, Katsuya going red; those _had_ been his thoughts actually... "Sheesh Katsuya-nii... I cleared things up with Isono, it's fine! Besides," he added with a smirk, "I should be fine with someone _I_ hired for security!"

The blond scowled, clutching his list. "Yea yea yea, cause hey, not like I have to face your sister when she wakes up if somethin' happens to yah..." He was assuming that when she woke up she'd be different of course. Then again, the other Yugi's 'penalty games' had to have some sort of affect... He thought so at least. "Lesse... Lastly we've got the Tennouji Zoo, Tsuutenkaku tower, the city itself, a beach trip and..." He gaped, reaching the bottom. Shit, by this point he'd just written down whatever he heard, he didn't actually expect... "Holy shit... They're taking us tah Universal Studios!" As if all the other stuff wasn't expensive enough!

The boy jumped, his thoughts mirroring Katsuya's. "Seriously? With everything else they have on that list?" Mokuba's jaw dropped, and he snatched the list from the teen's hands. "Lemme see that..." Sure, he could easily afford all of this (Actually, he'd kinda told Katsuya to make sure they knew he'd be paying for himself), but... Holy shit... "What did your mom do, win a lottery Katsuya-nii?" He could see the zeroes floating around in his head...

Katsuya merely shook his head, wondering himself. "I... I don't know... I mean..." He frowned lightly, taking the list back and pocketing it. "I thought they were tryin' tah save up for her operation..."

"Operation..?" Mokuba blinked. What operation..? He hadn't heard anything about... Wait, he didn't hear about Shizuka 'ever' let alone a surgery, of course he didn't.

The blond sighed, leaning back on his seat. "Yea... Shizuka-chan's got a condition," he began, rubbing his head. "Her eyesight's deterioratin', disappearin' day by day... Th' doctor's don' know when it'll really be gone for good, so for now it's jus a matter of glasses an' a helping hand when it blacks out but..." Katsuya bit his lip, before continuing. "There's a surgery they could do... It's only a 50% shot, but it's the best they've got. Only problem is..."

Mokuba blinked, knowing what Katsuya was saying. "The cost... Then," he said with a frown, "If you knew all this, why didn't you say anything?"

He snorted. "Seriously? Yah already gave me a job and a place to stay, regardless of what happened at 'Death-T'." Katsuya's voice became rather stiff, while Mokuba flinched at the mention. "I mean... Yer s... Yer brother," he corrected as he noted that a few people on the train were listening in now. "He's sleepin an' he hasn' woken up... And then there's everythin' else yah mentioned..." The blond sighed, shaking his head. "I can't ask that. Not for th' price it is..."

The boy blinked, turning away awkwardly. He couldn't fault him for that... But this wasn't... This wasn't Katsuya's fault! This wasn't-

"Hey," the blond said, a hand on his shoulder. "You still mad at 'im? Yug' I mean?"

He nodded. "Of course," he said somewhat curtly. "I mean... Because of him, n-niisama is..." The boy sighed, holding his bag close. "At the same time though... Even with all that's happening, I know that..." Mokuba swallowed, turning to Katsuya with a frown of sorts. "Niisama will wake up! I know it... I just wish..."

That she could be there with them.

While Katsuya didn't think that Seto would have necessarily come along if she had been awake at that point, the thought was still there as the train headed for its destination.

* * *

Four hour train trips sucked hard, but when he thought about it, it'd still been fun. After the awkward silence had been broken by the free drink that came with their ticket, Mokuba had spent a majority of the ride peering around his friend to look out of the window.

Judging his reaction, he had't really left Tokyo... Ever. "Woah," he said as he stared out the window, sipping his drink. "We get four hours of this?" Well, maybe not four hours of Mount Fuji but...

Katsuya shrugged, grinning. "Nyh... 3 and a half actually. Should probably sleep teh tell you the truth..." He winced, before yawning. Truth be told, the train they'd taken was an early one... While the sun was up already, it was actually about 5 in the morning... Sunrise was 4:30 AM, and they'd boarded the train at that exact moment.

As for when they woke up to get there... Ick. Mokuba laughed as the blond yawned again, shaking his head. "I'm not tired... I told you to go to bed early didn't I?"

He scowled. "Yea, but yah seem to forget that my job is night shift!" Meaning he'd been awake the entire time! As he attempted to get into a comfortable enough position to sleep in, he yawned again. "I mean... 'S great that yah didn' fire me when yah got those other guards in..." He paused, before adding with a short smile, "Yah know, the qualified ones?"

"Yea... Well you have to admit, people have been looking through the gate a little too much lately..." He sighed, before yawning. Aggggg... Now he was tired too, this was his fault! Ignoring that for the sake of conversation, he tried to adjust his own seat. "Besides; I need someone other than the maids to make sure that niisama isn't attacked or something in the middle of the night..." Though with all the extra staff the 'Big 5' kept requesting... It was hard to filter through.

They fell silent, Katsuya turning away with a nod. "...If that's th' case, then why-"

Mokuba cut him off. "Why come? I've got someone there, don't worry. Hobson might not look like much, but in his younger years, he was a soldier. And that's without mentioning Isono." He curled up in the seat, using his duffel bag as a pillow. "Trust me; if anything happens, he'll be there."

Right. Hobson. Hihhhhhh. He still hadn't gotten over that guy's involvement in 'Death-T'. Deciding not to mention that for the moment, he fingered a picture he'd taken out of his wallet for the drive. How different would she look... Probably not much, it was a recent picture.

Beside him, Mokuba looked over at it briefly before blinking. "Oh hey..." He moved, leaning over the blond's arm to look at it. "That your sister?"

"Yep- She's 14, last year of middle school now." He held it out, showing Mokuba the image of the young girl in a standard school's sailor fuku. "Don' tell my other friends though," the blond added with a scowl. "I don' wanna have to pry Honda off my sister." Bad enough that the guy knew he had one...

Mokuba snickered, returning to his spot. "No worries, I won't..."

Katsuya frowned. "I don' like th' sound of that..." It was the sound of a _lie_... Or at least the sound of a fake lie.

He didn't get an answer however, as the boy seemed to 'magically' fall asleep once he said that. Little brat... ...Though he supposed he had it coming, with all the good that was going on.

* * *

There were pieces missing in the puzzle.

Seto sat by the now tiny pile, where four pieces sat, before looking at the mess of a puzzle she held in her hands. Too many pieces were missing than there were in the pile. And for now, it seemed that none of the ones there would match up at the moment. As to where the other pieces would come from, she didn't know; and that was what disturbed her.

She sighed, putting the puzzle down. As the pieces had come together, she'd felt herself grow. Not like she did in the memories though. More like... How she should have grown. It was hard to describe... A difficulty that she resented. Her hair was still short; she liked it that way, off her back and out of her eyes. Easy to deal with and keep out of the way.

Or maybe that was from becoming too used to the_ disguise_ she appeared to take in the memories. She wasn't sure why she was hiding in them... Covering up the way she did. After all, she was a strong woman wasn't she? She could have easily stood her ground and simply cast the disguise aside, setting things right.

Yet something stopped her in those memories, and now she felt that it was too late. Far too late, to make that change. Seto held the puzzle close, frowning. Her name... She still didn't know what it was. She assumed it was 'Seto' for the moment; 'Mokuba' called her 'Seto-neesama', and the Mutt would call her 'Seto-chan'. (She hated that mutt... so much right now...)

She wasn't sure though. There was something else in the back of her mind that was arguing against it, and though she couldn't hear it, it was enough to bring doubt to her mind. The girl sighed, picking up one of the pieces before looking into the distance at a faded image of what looked to be a ceiling. She felt like she could run at that. Just stop the puzzle and 'wake up', but for some reason she knew that wouldn't work. Somehow, she just knew that doing that would be 'cheating', and would only leave her worse off than before.

Besides, all she could see was either a wall, or occasionally a faded image of a sunny sky. Nothing more. And then the 'window' would close, and it would be dark again. "Hmp," she said with a scowl, turning her back at the oddly muggy feeling she got from the 'heat' in the 'window'. "It would probably just be boring anyways!" Besides, it was summer wasn't it? She'd just wait until autumn instead.

The 'window' warmth, the warmth from the sun, it wasn't the same as the heat she got when the Mutt and Mokuba were talking. It was like she was actually there, and even though she felt like they wouldn't have done this if she was awake... She almost liked it. Almost.

Right now though... The window shut, and she shivered. "...Cold..."

They were gone...

* * *

When the train pulled into Shin-Osaka station, the boys had been awake for about half an hour. And half an hour was more than enough time for the cheer of vacation to build up. "OSAKAAAA!" Katsuya was (as usual) loudly sharing his excitement to anyone who cared, backpack and suitcase on hand with Mokuba's own bags in his other. "OOOOOSAKAAAAAA!"

Mokuba rubbed his ears, ducking his head down slightly. "Katsuya-nii! Pipe down!" As the blond turned to him, he huffed. "Really... And you wonder why Niisama calls you a 'mutt'..."

"Nyhhh... What's that supposed to mean!" As Mokuba simply laughed in response, the teen continued to fume. "I ain't anything like a mutt!"

Before Mokuba could continue his pestering (Because he had lots and lots of comments for that last one), a pair of voices from the entrance of the station caught their attention. "Katsuya-niisan," one said, the source running forwards to tackle her baggage laden brother. "You came!"

From behind the girl, a middle aged woman with curled brown hair chuckled. Though she was dressed fairly well, it was evident that time had not been easy on her. All the same, Mokuba thought as he looked at 'Ms. Kawai', Katsuya's mother, she appeared to have taken it in stride, and most of her wrinkles were signs of a woman who smiled often rather than frowned. "Katsuya..." As the younger of the two released her brother from her hold, Ms. Kawai moved forwards to pull the teen close in a warm embrace. "Oh it's been so long... To think you would come all this way when your father..." Was in jail? ...Yea...

The teen flushed, coughing awkwardly. "Aw... It... It's fine Mom, jus... Anyways, er, 'D like tah introduce you to my friend..." And employer, he added mentally. As his mother released the hug to look down at Mokuba, he coughed and continued. "This 's Kaiba Mokuba... He's th' one who's given me a place tah stay lately.." Not to mention a job... Though they decided not to mention anything concerning KaibaCorp to the woman.

The women turned to him, Mokuba smiling in response. "Nice to meet you!" As he said this however, he quickly found himself in a bone crushing hug. "ACK!" Wh-Wh-What!

The hug was soon released, as Ms. Kawai gushed. "I couldn't help it... You're so cute, you reminded me of when Katsuya was a little younger than you..."

Really... "Mom, I'm right here..." The woman appeared to ignore this, instead continuing her conversation with Mokuba.

Who looked like he wanted nothing more than to hide in a plant pot after that hug. Flushing completely red, he attempted to listen to what Ms. Kawai was saying. It took a few moments before he realized that she had asked him how old he was. "Ah... Ah... I turn 12 on the seventh..."

Blinking, the girl (Shizuka right?) turned to face Mokuba. "The seventh? That's only in three days isn't it..?" As her mother nodded, she smiled. "Then, we should do something for it, neh?"

As Mokuba blinked, looking slightly flustered (He'd come to _avoid_ attention after all, not get more), Katsuya grinned. "Hah, yea! That's a great idea!" At that moment, his stomach grumbled, and he groaned. No breakfast... Ehhhhh. "Ny... Can we get some food first..?"

A louder grumble came through, Mokuba blushing as he looked down at his stomach in question. "Er... Yea... If that's alright with you Ms. Kawai..." It was kinda weird, not being the one in charge for once. Though he kinda liked it; made him feel a little more 'normal'.

She nodded. "Of course; follow us, we can go over the summer plans in the car, it's a long trip back to the house."

The boys nodded, before following them in. They had... No idea what kind of horrors would be in store.

Leaving two women alone to plan for even a day could be catastrophic! But sadly, Katsuya didn't know this since most of his friends were male... And as Seto had pretty much been brought up as a boy in her later years, to the point where she had become some kind of industry running _machine_, looking at how Seto got when she planned things (A process oddly similar actually) wasn't enough to warn them.

Needless to say, it was only the prospect of breakfast that eased their confused and addled brains as they left the car half an hour later.

* * *

The next two weeks could scarcely be described with words. If anything, words could only describe the beginning of each one 'event' that took place, while the rest of the day (in Mokuba's opinion) could be matched only in snap-shots they had.

The words however, were generally something along the lines of...

"KAIYUKAAAAAAAN!" "Katsuya-nii, please stop yelling!" "Nii-san..." Shortly after which they would end up watching a whale shark in an immense tank.

And...

"TEMPOZAAAAAAN!" "KATSUYA-NII!" "Really, Niisan, you're too loud..." This was particularly annoying given that they were at the top of a ferris wheel.

And...

"TENNOUJ- GACK!" Katsuya doubled over as his sister finally sacked him between the legs to shut the boy up.

As the blond keeled over with a wheezing '_itain.._.', Mokuba stared at the woman with a mix of fear and shock, as did most of the creatures around them at the zoo. "Next time," she said with a frown, pushing the glasses she was wearing back up her face. "Listen to what we say, Niisan..." ...Women were scary... Not just Seto... It was all women...

There had been a muffled '_hai_', and the three continued on their way through Osaka. So far, the summer had been... Amazing. The first day had been dampened slightly when their suspicions on the amount of summer activities they were having were affirmed of course... Shizuka was indeed going blind, and the doctors had told them the amount of time left. With the time they'd been given, operation costs would be impossible to amass; the current trip was effectively a 'blow it all away' event, a great big 'party' before the wall hit them.

However, Shizuka quickly calmed her brother down by simply telling him how glad she was that the boy had come. How proud she and her mother were, that he had continued to go to school rather than simply getting a low-class job out of Middle School. And, more importantly, the fact that even if she wouldn't see anymore, she would always be able to see that summer in her mind... And it was likely that last fact that mattered the most to Katsuya.

So far, Mokuba thought as they sat on the steps of the Tamatsukuri shrine at the end of the day, this was an incredible summer. That day in particular had been spent traveling just about everywhere, as Shizuka showed them around the enormous city of Osaka and dragged them around to store after store.

And in that one store he'd come across... Mokuba looked down at the two lockets he'd bought, each styled like the back of a duel monster's card. He'd spotted them while Shizuka was pulling Katsuya out of a game store. Looking at them... He couldn't help but feel like they would be good for his older sister. After all... Even if she wasn't 'really' there, the fact that she was now opening her eyes was proof that she was closer right? So then maybe, if they gave her some more pieces to the puzzle by being there... By finding things to add to it for her...

Mokuba watched as the sun set before them, Katsuya and Shizuka sitting at the steps further up to share stories on what they'd missed with each other. He wished... He wished he hadn't taken those days at the orphanage for granted. So badly, he wished now... Listening to the chatter behind him, unable to make out the words, he wondered what would have happened if they had never seen Gozaburo.

Would they have still ended up in Domino? Would they have never been adopted? Or would things be completely different? He fingered the lockets he'd bought, idly thinking back to his birthday. That day... He and Katsuya had no idea what Shizuka and 'Akie' (Katsuya's mom) were planning, but they'd been pulled out of the house and separated fairly quick. Shizuka left with Katsuya for something or other, and Akie dragged him off for a 'drive' to pick up food from the grocery store. Apparently he needed to 'experience grocery shopping', as well as help an 'old woman' when her own children weren't. (He had decided not to mention that Akie was the one who sent the two out of the house.) And so he was pulled off through the aisles, being handed wrapped packages and things.

With strict instructions to not look in any of the bags. At all. They'd driven back, Mokuba confusedly carrying half the groceries from the car before walking into an oddly dark house. Eeriely dark in fact. For a second, as he put the bags on the table and looked for the light, he'd thought the worst; that Pegasus had gone to the next level and hired someone to take him out only to find no one but Shizuka and Katsuya in the house. And that the someone had decided to take them out instead.

As soon as he turned on the light though, he was quickly proven wrong. "**SURPRISE**!" "Happy birthday!"

"Hwah!" Mokuba had jumped, eyes wide as Katsuya, Shizuka, and Akie (Who had gone in first... So really, it figured.) leaped out from behind the table, decorations strung around the room. It was... Unexpected. Really unexpected, though at the same time, he probably should have guessed... Yet...

Birthday's at Gozaburo's were generally a fancy dinner, reminders of expectations, and maybe a book. They didn't have big parties with thickly iced cakes and colourfully wrapped presents, like what was sitting on the table. Gozaburo didn't believe in games after all; they didn't 'rule' companies. Sadly those words had only incensed Seto, driving her to prove the dead man wrong... And that year, after Seto drove Gozaburo into suicide, there hadn't even been a 'dinner'.

This year however... Was different. There was Shizuka and Akie didn't know what to give him of course, so what they did do was pester Katsuya the day before on likes and dislikes, to find out that he'd never been to a street festival. So his present wasn't so much something to play with, as something to appreciate A LOT, as the women had, at the last minute, ordered in a yukata his size.

Sadly, he had found himself sorely confused, as since any conversations he had never even touched on yukata's and festivals, he had no clue why he was being handed something that looked like a bathrobe. He'd only been 6 when he and Seto had been adopted after all; so any memories of festivals were really... Faded. Almost non-existent actually.

So after an awkward question of '_what is it..?_', he'd quickly gotten a loud '_HEH, YOU DON'T KNOW?_' from Katsuya. He then watched as Shizuka smacked her older brother over the head for shouting in the house again, and ended up pulled aside by Akie to explain that later in the month they'd be going to a festival, and a yukata was what you wore at those events during the summer. Apparently.

Katsuya's present had come after that, though the teen had had much more time to figure out what to get. In the end, he was quite surprised; he knew that Katsuya's position on security gave him access to all film on the cameras both inside and out, but he never figured he'd have taken advantage of it. (No offense to the blond's intelligence or anything but... Well... 392 out of 400 was all he was saying.)

Somehow, by playing his cards just right at a rare time when he, Mokuba, and Seto herself sat at the table to eat at the same time, he'd managed to make the woman smile... And catch it on the camera by setting it up 'just' so for that one moment. It was a heavy gamble; Mokuba recalled reaming Katsuya out himself for moving the camera from where it was supposed to be, telling the teen that it was his 'last chance' before he considered laying him off. (Though he admitted to lying about that later when they were playing CapMon for secrets, and Katsuya managed to win. For once.)

Even more of a gamble was getting the picture just so that it looked like they were all smiling _at the screen_. Technically, the smile was more of a smirk; he remembered the day clearly actually... Seto was making that face because Katsuya had said something stupid, Seto had countered, and the blond had (supposedly) scowled in response.

He of course had smiled as well, watching the exchange between the two. It was kinda like watching a married couple on a TV drama, though he'd never tell them that. In that instant though, Katsuya quickly switched from his scowl to a smile as well. And since they'd each been sitting beside each other in a row, they were all facing the same direction...

The quality wasn't the best. That was expected, it was a security camera. But it was framed in a carefully, if not well made clay frame that the blond had likely made with his sister's help. A picture with all three of them... Smiling...

As the sun set, Mokuba's thoughts were pulled back to the present, his eyes watching the colours bleed across the sky. He wanted it to be real... He wanted it to be more than a set up image, a trick of timing. He wanted to go to parks and zoos with her, and not just Katsuya, to see her laugh and smile like when they were little, to comfort him when he needed her there... He wanted... He wanted...

As the other two came up beside him and told him it was time to head back, he put up a smile and nodded.

He wanted his sister to wake up.

* * *

Sometimes, Mokuba thought to himself, he didn't know if Shizuka's name was a form of irony or not. 'Shizuka' of course, meant quiet. He knew that much. And her last name, 'Kawai' was just a standard last name of course, but it _did_ sound like 'kawaii'... Which meant cute...

Watching as she proceeded to ream out her older brother for yelling again (This time it was '_MATSURIIIII_!'), he laughed nervously. Would they have acted differently towards each other if Shizuka had gone blind already? Or if they simply saw each other later in the year? In any case... "Niisan," she was yelling, crossing her arms after replacing the wooden fan she'd used to silence him. "Stop yelling all the time!"

As Katsuya rubbed his head, looking remarkably different in a yukata (Apparently, Mokuba wasn't the only one the women had shopped for. It was frightening.), he scowled. "Nyhhh... Come on Shizuka-chan.. I haven't been to a festival in ages!" Not to mention, they had made him wear something that looked just a little awkward on him. Particularly with the slight tan all the time outside had given him. "Lighten up!"

Mokuba had to grin at that, though it faltered slightly as the wind passed under his own yukata. Not wearing pants was... Weird... "Katsuya-nii has a point! This is my first time too... BUT," he said, before the blond could blow a raspberry at his sister. "You're still too loud!"

"Awww come on..."

At that moment, Akie came around in her own, rather dark coloured yukata with a smile. "Keep close everyone," she warned as people swarmed about the area. "It's easy to get separated in these places, and I have more than one to look out for now, neh?"

Shizuka nodded, while Katsuya merely shrugged. "Yea yea... Oh, Mokuba!" The boy turned abruptly as his arm was grabbed by Katsuya. "Come on, I wanna show you something..."

Akie's shouts could be heard as he was pulled off, Mokuba barely making out the words '_Make sure you're at the docks by 4!_' "Neh, Katsuya-nii," Mokuba said as he was pulled away. "What happens at 4?"

"Hnn..." He blinked, crossing his arms in thought. Lets see.. There were the stands, which they would visit now... And... "Oh yea! There's a giant parade that takes place for th' entire day... At around 5, they enter boats and the parade goes down th' river!" He turned, the bridge and docks clearly visible in the distance. "Mom probably wants tah get there before the crowd really sets in, so we can get on th' boats for that part."

He followed Katsuya's gaze, before turning. "What's so important about the last part of the parade though..?"

The teen scratched his head, trying to remember. "Er... I think it has somethin' tah do with sunset... Can't really remember though..." Gee, that was helpful... "Anyways, hey look! Goldfish stand!" He pulled the boy off to the side, grinning. "Maaaan, I thought these were only around at like... Tiny street festivals!"

Those who were running the stand laughed, before the man closest shook his head. "Just because everyone's busy watching the parade, does not mean that we can't have some other forms of entertainment!" He smiled, gesturing to the multi-coloured goldfish in the shallow pool in front of him. "Why don't you have a go, see if you can take home a friend for your little brother," the man continued, looking at Katsuya.

"Er, actually," he said as he coughed, a little red at the fact that they'd actually been mistaken for siblings. They didn't even look anything alike, how... "Actually, he's not-"

He was cut off as Mokuba searched around the small cloth wallet he had been given earlier for some change. "I'll try," he said with a grin, looking at the price. 200 yen right?" As the man nodded, his grin grew. "Then tell me what to do!"

The man nodded. "A first timer ahh..? Well, all you have to do," he said as he took the money, handing Mokuba a bowl and paper-net, "Is use that 'pon' there to catch as many goldfish as you can." He leaned back, before continuing. "You can continue until the paper in the 'pon' is gone, or if you have enough fish that you want to stop."

Clearly, this game had him by the teeth. Mokuba nodded, before looking into the pool of fish. Ok... Go! The net went in lightening fast, a pair of fish caught on the surface. "Haha!" He carried it over to his bowl, grinning. "Eas- Eh?" The boy's eyes widened as the net fell through completely, the fish falling back into the bucket with a shocked splash. "What?"

Behind him, Katsuya chuckled before he fished out 200 yen himself and grabbed another pon. "Yah gotta go slow wi' these," he said as he rolled his eyes. "I mean, I know th' firs' time I did this, I did th' same thing you did... But paper is paper! It's gonna break in water!" Even he knew that! ...Wait he should rephrase that...

He scowled, going slightly red at the mistake. "Yea yea... Hn?" He blinked as Katsuya put his hand around his, the 'pon' in his grip. "What..?"

"C'mon," he said with a smile. "Les get some fish for yer real 'brother', alrigh?" As Mokuba looked up with wide eyes a moment before nodding, Katsuya guided the boy's hand to the pool. "Alright! Lets try this again..." As the net hovered above the water, he gently tilted Mokuba's hand to the side before dipping the net in just before the paper. Mokuba's face was tight with concentration, while the blond was flashing back to 8 years ago.

'_Niisan_,' Shizuka was crying, the pair standing in front of a small goldfish stand. '_Niisan, I can't catch them! They're moving too fast!_'

He'd looked over at the fish he had just failed to catch moments and walked back with her then, taking her hand like he was Mokuba's and doing this same thing. Took a few tries... But he'd done it for some reason. "And now... When th' right fish passes..."

'_...And it gets just close enough..._'

_Splash_! A pair of fish, one black one gold were quickly scooped out, both falling into the bowl before the net was returned to the water. "It..." Mokuba grinned, turning up to Katsuya a moment before looking back. "It's still intact!"

'_It didn't break!_', she'd cried loudly. Katsuya mentally shook himself, before grinning down at the boy and pushing back past memories. "Yep! What'd I tell yah? Wanna try for a third?"

He nodded. "Definitely!" The net stayed where it was, and he looked towards one of the fish in particular. "That one!"

Katsuya blinked; the one Mokuba pointed at was completely white, almost like... Holding back a laugh at how a dragon was being compared to a goldfish right now, he nodded. "Alright! Let's move the net over... And..." Three... Two... One... "Gotcha!" There was a splash, and the fish fell into the bowl just as the net broke.

"YEA!" As Katsuya handed the bowl over to get the fish bagged, Mokuba grinned. For a moment however, it faltered. He felt... He felt like he was... Abandoning his sister... Doing this. Calling Katsuya 'brother', spending the first half of the summer with him... He stood there, grin falling as his friend turned with the three fish.

The blond looked at Mokuba a few moments, frowning. "Hey," he said, leading the boy off to the side. "You alright?"

He remained silent, the locket he'd bought almost two weeks ago hanging around his neck. The week before, he'd convinced Shizuka to help split his picture from the orphanage in two; the half with Seto's picture was in the one around his neck now. Eventually, Mokuba nodded. "Yea," he said, putting up a smile. "I'm fine..."

The other snorted, shaking his head. No... No he wasn't alright, and he'd be damned if he let anything kill the happy mood he had. "Yea righ'; cause you sound like a kicked puppy ALL th' time..." As Mokuba merely turned his head down, the blond sighed. "...This... This ain't abou..."

Mokuba nodded. "Do you think it's bad," he asked honestly, slowly turning to look up at Katsuya. "That I can feel happy while Seto is sleeping like that?" He took a breath, before continuing quietly. "Does that... Does that make me a bad person..?" Heck... With everything else he'd done before... He was already messed up enough right?

There was a small silence between the two, and for a moment, Mokuba wondered if that meant he was. But instead, Katsuya balanced the bag with the fish in it in one arm before pulling the boy close. "No... No it doesn'. Cause when it comes down to it," he said with that same caring, 'big brother' tone that he'd come to know again, "Th' fact that you're here an' wishin' for that one person t' be here, or t' even jus' know your here, shows that yah care that much... So if anythin', it makes you a better person than ever b'fore."

Another bout of silence. And then... "Thank you... Katsuya-nii. ...Do you think... If Seto-niisama was awake," he said, careful to avoid female honorifics in the crowd, "That he'd have come along..?"

"...Yea," he said, wondering how he could believe what came out of his mouth. "I do." It would likely take an army, but yea...

A few minutes and dollars later, the two were eating lunch and talking about better things as if nothing happened... But somehow, Mokuba decided, he felt a lot better now that everything was off his chest.

* * *

Sounds of drums filled the boats as they set off, the sun idling in the sky as they floated down the river. "Stay together," Akie was saying, arms laden with souvinirs from the day. Shizuka herself had a few packages, making Katsuya and Mokuba feel considerably less guilty about buying the mask and fans they each had in addition to the goldfish. Not to mention all the food they'd eaten; apparently, Mokuba had never had takoyaki... Or even melon bread.

Needless to say, this was a large shock for Katsuya, and he proceeded to load the poor kid with so much food that Mokuba was surprised he didn't explode. Not to mention the promise of getting a nabe to cook sukiyaki and oden in when they got home. Now however, they were on the boats for the final procession of the festival, watching as an old style play was put together before them. As to what this had to do with the festival _or_ the parade, they didn't know.

Shizuka and Akie loved it though, apparently. The boys however, did not, and had so far been hit over the head multiple times for sneaking their monster fighters along, or in the current case, playing with a yo-yo that Katsuya had bought. "OW!" The blond rubbed his head as Shizuka hit him again, and he scowled. "Come on, we aren't th' only ones doin this! We can't be, this play is just..." He cut off with a cough when his mom sent him a 'look', and he turned back to Shizuka. "Why are you so violent..." What happened to his quiet and shy little sister...

She frowned. "Because you aren't paying any attention! Do you even know what this play is about?" The girl turned to Mokuba as her older brother shrugged. "Either of you?"

"Er..." He shook his head, laughing nervously. Quite honestly... He didn't really like plays. At all. So he'd taken Katsuya up on his offer to play monster fighter instead... "No..."

The girl huffed, shaking her head. "Really..." She smiled, turning to the stage with the odd look that Katsuya had seen Anzu get when she talked about 'love'. Oh... Shit... Not that tone! "It's the tale of Botan Dourou... A widowed man sees a beautiful woman with a small girl on obon, and falls in love... So, he approaches her, and vows to always be faithful, and they begin seeing each other at night!" As the boys began listening (It was more interesting when summed up), Shizuka continued. "But then one day, the man falls ill, and cannot see his love for a long time... And when he gets better, he is told that she has died..."

Katsuya blinked, frowning. "That kinda sucks..."

Beside him, Mokuba rolled his eyes. "'Sucks' isn't the word Katsuya-nii..."

They were both rapped on the head with a fan. "OW!" "ITAI!"

"Hnnn... I'm not done yet!" As the pair rubbed their heads, Shizuka resumed her story. "As I was saying... Later, he sees them again, and the woman tells him that she is still alive... They continue to see each other, but," she said, turning a moment as the stage cleared, "One night, the man's servants peer through a hole in his bedroom wall.. And to his horror, the man is making love to a skeleton, with a smaller skeleton sitting at the side!" As Katsuya instantly tensed at the mention of the undead, Mokuba grew considerably pale. "The servant goes to a priest, who places ofuda on the house to prevent the dead from entering... However, as time passes, the servants grow worried that their love sick master will die anyways.. So, they remove the ofuda, and allow the women entry once more. And in the next morning..." Shizuka leaned in, the boys visibly drawing back as she finished the tale. "They find him dead, entwined with the corpse with a radiant expression in his face!"

As Mokuba hurriedly threw his head over the edge of the boat, Katsuya attempted (badly) to stop shuddering. "Nhhhh! You know I don' like horror stories!"

His sister scoffed, crossing her arms. "Sheesh, it's not a horror, it's a romance!" How the fuck was that romantic! She scowled, turning to face the stage again. "Honestly! And you could at least pay attention to the plays after the money Mom paid to get us here!"

Katsuya froze. "Th... It cost a lot t' get on th' boat..?" The look he got told him all he needed to know, and as Mokuba came back the blond quickly snapped his attention to the second play that was beginning.

"Hey," Mokuba said, whispering so that he didn't end up a victim of Shizuka's fan. "I thought we were going to watch the lights as they came on..." Though the sun had set, it still wasn't dark; oranges and reds bled across the sky, and until then, none of the lights strung on the boats would light up.

He nervously leaned over slightly to whisper his answer. "Did'ya know that it cost my mom a lot t' get us here?" Without waiting for an answer, he continued. "Cause I didn'. And now, I feel really, really crappy for not watchin' the first one..." Regardless of how much he hated these things damn it!

The boy shook his head. "That's what you say now, but if you had you'd probably have fainted as it was..." There was a '_shh_' from beside Mokuba, and he jumped. "...Ffff, I mind as well watch as well..." Who knew, maybe it'd actualy be ok.

The actors came on the stage, introducing the name of the play; 'Motomezuka', the sought-for grave.

The story, though supernaturally based, didn't quite get the same 'hihh!' response from Katsuya that Mokuba had expected. Heck, he didn't react to it the way he expected. Leaning forwards to rest his head on his hands, he watched...

* * *

She could remember watching a play...

No pieces had appeared since the others left. It had grown cold, so cold, for so long... Seto didn't know how much time had passed since she came to that place. She didn't know how long it had been since 'Mutt' and 'Mokuba' had gone. Even the warmth from the sun wasn't reaching her anymore, and besides her 'window', the darkness had become almost as dense and endless as it had when she first arrived.

It was scaring her. And she didn't like that. "AAAAAUUUR!" She threw the puzzle as far into the darkness as possible, falling to her knees in frustration. She felt small... Like a child, like she had before even entering the orphanage, like she had in the memory of the snow and the truck and the voice... '_Se...ri..._' That voice... '_Se...'_ "Gh..."

Seto clenched her fists, her body now even smaller than it had been when she first came to the room. She had made it so far... Why was it that once those voices were gone, she felt powerless? Why did she need those two to live in here? To feel? As she stared off into the distance where she threw the puzzle, she touched her face, confused. "...Why," she asked, frowning at the sound of her younger self's voice and the appearance of her now tiny, childish hands. "Why am I crying..?" The girl looked over herself, still frowning as the salty tears clung to her face. She didn't cry... She never cried! So why...

...

It was lonely here...

...

She looked over at where she'd thrown the mess of a puzzle, still frowning.

...

Where were they..?

The girl continued to stare towards where she threw the puzzle, eventually gathering the pieces beside her and walking off to find it. She shouldn't have done that... That puzzle was... Important. She didn't know why. But it was, it was very, very important. Enough so that it was her only ticket out of here, her only way of knowing just what the hell was going on, just who she was...

The small glow of the puzzle appeared in the distance, but she still felt as cold as she had for the past and seemingly infinite amounts of time. Placing the pieces she had beside it, she picked the puzzle back up in her hands and sighed.

One of the pieces... Seto rolled the puzzle around in her hands, looking for a happy memory. It would be pointless of course... No matter how many thoughts she drowned herself in, she never understood in the end, never connected, and to make matters worse found herself feeling worse when she got out of it. She couldn't really tell where she fit in them after all; she was always '_not there_'.

And yet, she wanted nothing more than to see this one at the moment. She didn't see how it was happy; she was young at the time... Too young to understand anything going on, and honestly she was surprised she 'remembered' something from that time. There was no 'Mokuba', no 'Mutt'... She was with two people at a play of sorts. It was... A festival, she decided, as she fingered the puzzle-locked piece. She didn't know what festival it was, or what it was for... And honestly, she didn't really remember much more about it at all.

But she remembered the play. It had started with... A priest.

* * *

A priest was traveling to Kyoto, and stopped with his companions in the isolated village of Ikuta. It was known as, from what Mokuba could get from the context, the 'Field of Life'.

They met with a group of village girls, plucking shoots from the snow. '_Excuse us_,' they said, approaching them curiously. '_We heard that this was the town of the 'Sought-For-Grave'. Could you show us the location?_' One of the girls agreed to do so, and did just that. After bringing them to the grave however, she begins to tell the tale of 'Unai'.

Two men, Sasada and Chinu, declared their love for Unai in letters. They were recieved at the exact moment, and both men were equally appealing to the family as future husbands. Unai, unwilling to bring jealousy by favoring one or the other, refused to pick between them. Instead, her parents had them compete for her hand.

However, no matter what contest they put together, they were equally matched. Swords, arts, cooking, hunting, fishing, fist-fighting... Nothing could be anything more than a draw, and in her torment, Unai flung herself into the Ikuta river.

At her funeral however, the two men were inconsolable. They had loved Unai deeply, and though they held no resentment for the other, had vowed to gain her love before the other. Now however, she was dead. In the end, they took each other's daggers, and in a deal, slit each others throats to join her in the afterlife.

However, because she was the source of the men's grief, Unai's soul bore the responsibility of their deaths. And so, she was trapped, and remained trapped, in the mortal world.

At the story's end, the priest and his companions prayed for her soul. Unai listened, but they had no affect. She was unable to let go of her grief, and unable to escape both the mortal plane and the Eight Great Hells...

And so, she would remain forever tormented by the demons of her past life...

It was a sad, grim, and almost eerie story, that was for sure. As Mokuba turned away from the stage to look at the now dark sky and river waters, he was joined by an equally morose Katsuya. The pair looked out at the lit boats in silence for a moment, unsure of what to say. "...That story," the blond eventually said, not moving his eyes from the water. "...Did it seem... Did it remind yah of anythin'?" Not waiting for Mokuba's response, Katsuya looked down, frowning. "Cause... I got a really weird feelin'..."

The boy nodded. "Yea... Me too..." He didn't understand what that meant though, really... How did anything they knew about have anything to do with that story at all? Looking out at the ocean, Mokuba felt his stomach grow cold. Maybe... It was a sign. Like an omen... Seto wasn't waking up yet... And the way the Big Five was talking to Pegasus was scaring him... Everyday in the house, it felt like someone more similar to Gozaburo was watching him rather than the familiar, calm staff he'd hired before.

It scared him. A lot. And if anyone found out that he held the key to where his sister had hidden the most important information on the company... If anyone of those fighting over it actually claimed their goal... He turned to Katsuya, mentally steeling himself. "Katsuya-nii," he said after a few minutes, before pulling something out of his yukata. "I want to give you something."

He blinked, turning to the boy. "Nh... You wanna what?" He raised an eyebrow, before shaking his head. "I don' need it, whatever it is... Sides, I've probably caused enough problems for yah as is." Presents were not something he deserved after all that.

Mokuba shook his head, grabbing his friend's hand and placing something in it before whispering. "I didn't ask, Katsuya-nii," he said in a tone oddly reminiscent of his older sister. "I said I '_want_' to. And I will. Take it, and make sure no one sees you with it... Because this is really important to me, ok?"

The teen stared, fist clenched around the metallic object. "...What..." He swallowed, before tightening his hold on it and nodding. "Alrigh'. I'll keep it then... I don' know what's so important about it but..." Katsuya nodded, before slipping the item into his wallet without looking at it. Whatever it was... "I'll do it."

"Thank you..." The boy sighed with relief, as though having rid himself of a great burden. "Really... Thank you, Katsuya-nii." He smiled, before turning with a jump as a loud crack came through the air. "Ah... Fireworks!" The people on the boat turned, following the boys gaze as the empty boats ahead of them were set ablaze to join the sight of the fireworks on the river. "Woaaaaa..."

It'd been a long time, since he'd seen fireworks like this. Mokuba's reaction told him it'd been longer for him. Their eyes grew wide as they watched, a grin appearing on Katsuya's face despite the depressing mood from the last play. Flare upon flare entered the sky, some falling in a golden rain, and others spiraling in a twisted shower of glittering sparks.

Mokuba as well gained an expression of awe, as a particularly 'excited' shot of white light spiraled up into the sky before exploding into a rain equally as bright. "It's..." He stood, gripping the rail on the boat as he watched. "It's amazing! This is great!" Neesama would love...

He bit his lip. Neesama would love this... So then... Instead of moping about neesama missing this...

He watched the show, a now relieved and confident smile on his face as he and Katsuya's family watched the show.

Instead of moping, and crying about things... He would make sure that next year, Neesama saw this..!

* * *

AN: And as you two are having a blast, Seto's sitting in her soul wondering how the hell she's getting out. _I hope you two morons are proud_. Regardless of how OOC Seto is right now. Some key changes to the 'AN' section of the fanfic... Namely that my 'manga' corner is effectively turning into a guide on Japan as well. AHAHAHA. Whoops.

And in the meantime... I'm gonna pull an Jonouchi and say 'REVIEWWWWWWWWWWWWS~!'

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hello again Iona~ Glad to see my use of adaption had this effect~ (Honestly, I always wondered how long it would take to get used to Yugi doing that... Or even for Yugi to get used to remembering that. YUGI DID YOU JUST KILL SOMEONE? ... YEP.) - This happens at least twice with him remembering it. And yet the only time he freaks out is when Kaiba is involved.. Ahhh...

Building up to events is something I find important for this, since technically it was going on while Yugi was having a blast all summer... The fact that you think I'm doing well with it reassures me on it though, so thank you!

And now...

**Usagi's Manga and Japan Guide/Corner**

The section so talented, it gained another specialty. Ooooooh~

From the title itself! 'Meganekko' (Megane (Glasses) + ko... Which uses the kanji for daughter, 'musume' ) is a manga term for a 'glasses girl'... See... It's never really clear just how Shizuka's vision is deteriorating; one one hand, she'd need glasses. On the other hand, it'd just be randomly copping out on her as it slowly tunnels in, and there isn't even a cure for that one. I opted to go with the glasses one, no matter how 'wrong' it is that her vision is still accessible enough for glasses to do anything when it's going to completely deteriorate in like... three months. I mixed it with glaucoma too~ But you can't cure glaucoma. At all. Oooooooh... Oh well.

All of the locations mentioned in this chapter are real, save (of course) Domino; Osaka is home to many many amazing things... Regardless of being known as a giant kitchen.

On Kaiba's condition; Mokuba says he's in a coma, but smart people can look at his condition in the manga and shout, with an angry point 'LIES'. A true coma would make it impossible for those eyes to be held open (Not healthily anyways), not to mention actually eat properly... And given that there's no sign of any equipment, they were doing just that, which means Kaiba's in a 'Vegetative State'. Personally, I wonder how the heck Mokuba lived with that for so long... Though it would explain his general attitude later. (Still a prick.) In any case; I decided to actually grab this and take advantage of it; as Kaiba's puzzle comes closer, and Kaiba her/himself comes closer to waking up, you'll see it!

Inari is, to be specific, the Shinto god of fertility, rice, agriculture, foxes, and _industry_. For that reason, many businesses will have a small gate on their roof dedicated to Inari to bring in luck and success. (Kaiba of course, does not, being a giant skeptic.)

Did you spot it? Did you spot the scene that happened _early_? When Jonouchi asks Mokuba if he 'hates Yugi', he's having the same conversation that Anzu has with him in the manga... During the Duelist Kingdom Arc. Needless to say, Mokuba's at least slightly more mean about his response in Duelist Kingdom.

I probably got both the plays I mentioned in this chapter wrong; I already know that they wouldn't actually be played out in the parade of all things. Nonetheless, see if you can find any of the significance in the plays being there...

Jonouchi's magically gained camera proficiency! This tends to happen when you work with cameras and tapes and things all day/night. Actually, you'll see the fruits of his amazing camera skills later on...

If guessed that Mokuba just literally gave Jonouchi the 'key' to KaibaCorp, congratulations! Oddly enough, as much as this change, it also _doesn't_ change things... You'll see what that means later on.

Jonouchi and Shizuka's mom is never given a name in the manga. It was difficult, but I ended up giving her a name that will either seem to come from just the right moment in time for her, or a name that seems older than she is. (If that's the case then I am very sorry...) As a side note, on Shizuka's behavior... She's less shy and such mostly because of her brother coming to her _before_ she announces that 'uh... I'm out of time'. The result is that she feels a lot more happy about the meeting oddly enough, and a lot less 'mousy'... That or I just killed Shizuka's character and I am very, _very_ sorry about that...

Until next time everyone!


	14. Chapter 13

**Conversations With Unai  


* * *

**

By the end of July, Mokuba was feeling guiltily torn about leaving Osaka. Boarding the train with their bags (Not to mention three goldfish), he froze slightly as Akie and Shizuka both insisted on giving the boy a hug before he left. The awkward embrace was released after a few seconds, the boy fleeing for the train as the women moved on to Katsuya.

"Mom..." The blond sighed, unable to really move with Mokuba's bags under his arm. "Mom I'm 16, I really don' think a hug 's nessec- Un!" He was cut off as the woman pulled him close, shaking slightly.

"You've grown so much..." Katsuya didn't know what to say, feeling a little awkward as his mother spoke. "And you've made good friends, and I'm so proud..." She stepped back, motioning over to Mokuba slightly. "I don't know who he is, or how you two met, but what you're doing is good... That boy... He looks much better than when you came Katsuya. So keep doing it, alright?"

He stared, trying to keep his confusion from his face. "Mom... I..." There was a shout from the train, where Mokuba was standing. "Shit! I gotta go.. Uh..." He looked at his mom a moment, giving a quick hug to Shizuka before running for the train. "Love yah mom! Shizuka-chan! I'll see you again!"

Boarding the train, and taking his seats, he found himself watching them until the vehicle pulled out and they disappeared from sight completely. His mom was... Proud of him. He didn't even know why though... He didn't even know what he was doing that was 'good', all he'd done was take Mokuba along for a summer trip... And that couldn't be it. Hell that had to be far from it, so then what was it?

Leaning back on the seat as the boy beside him stared out the window with wide eyes again, he had to smile nonetheless. Well... If there was anything he had learned...

Seto was lucky to have a little brother like this. And when she woke up, Katsuya thought, he'd probably miss filling in for her. But it'd be worth the smile all the same.

* * *

It came as a bit of a shock, to say the least, when Katsuya came back to Tokyo to find that Honda as well was gone for the summer. Though this would make things easier in terms of keeping the topic of Shizuka out of Honda's ears. Anzu had apparently stayed however, and had spent a good deal of her time with Yugi (Though the boy expressed his worries about Anzu's love for his 'other half' when sharing stories of their trip to an amusement park.). Though she was apparently going to spend the rest of it with a summer job. Personally, Katsuya wondered why she was so intent on getting a job when she wasn't even allowed to have one...

As of now, Katsuya spent most of his days asleep thanks to his 'night shift' duty; his sleep cycle would be completely screwed over by the time summer was over, but in the end he didn't seem to mind much. Heck, sleeping in until 1 in the afternoon was weird, and half the time he was still in the chair he used to keep watch over Kaiba, but it still gave him an afternoon of time with friends. Not to mention he would likely have the patience of a frigging tortoise by the time this was over. (Those things could wait for hours...)

For now though, it was time to enjoy one of his afternoons... In this case, by taking a trip to the school's pool, which was open to the public for the summer. Katsuya shook a few persistent droplets of water from his hair, stretching as he left the school with Yugi. The kid had disappeared into the building for sometime after they stopped swimming; it was weird, but he came back looking as happy as ever, so it was alright. Walking down the street to Burger World, he grinned as he looked down at his friend. "Pbbbttt... Man Yugi, I think you could go tah Okinawa and still avoid tanning!"

His friend pouted, crossing his arms. "It's not my fault," he said rather stubbornly as they entered the restaurant. "I just don't tan well!" That was an understatement.

He continued laughing, grabbing a booth near the window with a grin. "Whatever yah say Yug! I'm jus' saying, it's pretty hard teh stay outside tha' long without getting at least a lil' dark!"

"Psh! You were outside for an entire month though, your tan doesn't count!" As the boy grabbed a menu and flipped through, he turned to glance at Katsuya a few times. "Which reminds me... Where were you Jonouchi-kun?"

The teen blinked, grabbing a menu as well. He'd tanned 'slightly' since the trip to Osaka... It'd probably vanish in a few weeks though. "Nh, visitin' my mom an' sis... Nothin' big."

Apparently, it was very big. "You have a sister," Yugi asked with a look of curiosity. "That's right! You mentioned her before! How old is she?" Oh, so now that Honda wasn't here he was all ears? Eh...

Katsuya frowned. "Fourteen, an' I'm only tellin' yah cause I know you're goin' after Anzu." And _that_ was because of their earlier conversation on Anzu specifically. His scowl deepened, and he quickly added, "Don' tell Honda, or I'll have teh take up kendo an' buy a sword." Or maybe he could just skip to beating the crap out of him...

The boy laughed, shaking his head. "Alright, I won't tell... Hey, Jonouchi-kun..." Katsuya blinked, turning as Yugi continued. "What's that around your neck?"

He looked down, before picking up the small pendant-box he'd bought in Osaka. He spotted it at the train station... Supposedly, whatever you put inside it would end up stuck on the sides, and create a pattern on the box itself. He didn't know how it worked, but it was still interesting to see the outline of the key that Mokuba had given him appear on the plastic just faintly. Even if it took a few hours in the sun. "Oh this? Jus' somethin' I found in Osaka... Nothin' big." Katsuya turned as a waitress arrived, before grinning. "I'll take th' double cheese burger wi' iced tea!"

Yugi raised an eyebrow, before turning to the waitress. "The same for me, but milk instead ok?" As the waitress left (Laughing as she muttered something about milk and height), he turned back to look at Katsuya. Or rather, Katsuya's 'key-box'. "Hn... It looks cool. Anyways... Hey, Jonouchi-kun?"

The teen blinked, having been staring at the pendant for a short bit. "Hn? Yea Yug'?"

He fidgeted slightly, before speaking. "Well... I... I'm not really sure but..." The boy fingered his puzzle for a moment, before making an odd expression. "I think the other me wants to talk to you..." At Katsuya's confused expression, he shrugged. "Don't ask me how it works! I've never even met him, I'm just going by what I feel!"

"I didn't say..." Though he had definitely been thinking it. He shrugged, shaking his head with a grin. "Eh, what th' heck. Go for it!" Apparently this was all the 'other Yugi' needed, as the moment Yugi closed his eyes, the boy visibly changed. For a brief moment, he blinked, before coughing. "Er... Hey Yug'! Other Yug... Uh..." Huh. Now that he thought about it, what did you call him if...

'Yugi' smirked, laughing. "It's our body isn't it? Just 'Yugi' is fine." As Katsuya nodded, his smirk dropped. "Actually, I had a question... I'm surprised the other me knew that."

The blond shrugged, watching as their food arrived before taking a sip of his iced tea. "Nhhh... Yug's like that. You're like... Ahh never mind. So what was it?" Honestly, he wasn't even going to try anymore.

He crossed his arms, leaning back in the seat. "You see... I was hoping to ask about Kaiba." As Katsuya tensed, he continued. "His condition... The other me didn't see him in the hospital, and is quite worried..." Ohhhh that's right... They never told Yugi and the others about that...

"Ah..." Katsuya nodded, understanding. "That..." Coughing, he took another sip of his drink before continuing. "Y' see, he kinda got outta th' coma... But technically, h's still sleepin', so we took 'm to th' house teh look after 'm there."

The teen nodded, eyes shut with thought before he smiled. "Thank you, Jonouchi. That's all I wanted to ask," he said as Katsuya sighed, before continuing. "On the topic of Kaiba at least." It figured... Then again, switching out for two seconds to ask a question would be kinda silly. "Can I ask you something, Jonouchi?"

Katsuya blinked, swallowing nervously. "Er..." Coughing again, he nodded and grinned. "Sure! Ask whatever yeh want!" No time like the present... Or something.

Yugi also smiled, before continuing. "The other, original Yugi has been noticing a few things about you... However, he didn't want to say anything." At Katsuya's raised eyebrow, he went on. "Specifically, he's wondering if there's someone you like... Because you haven't been yourself lately." Idly taking a small sip of Yugi's milk before deciding to leave it be, his expression became more serious. "Personally, I have to agree, though I'm not completely sure about the reasoning. Is something wrong, Jonouchi?"

At the mention of 'someone he liked', Katsuya found himself going slightly red. Someone he liked... Someone... Damn it, the only girls he knew 'closely' were either Anzu (no), related (NO), and... Kaiba. (NOOOOOOO.) Regardless, he almost chocked on his burger. "N- K! Y-You wanna know if I've got a crush on someone?" He drew back, shaking his head. "W-What th' heck kinda question is that..."

"Ahahaha! Apparently a relevant one, Jonouchi-kun. And no... I asked if something was 'wrong'." Yugi smirked, before shaking his head. "I think I'll let the 'real' Yugi take things from here though..." The boy opened his eyes, revealed as the 'original' once more. While Katsuya stared slightly as he chewed his food, the boy smiled. "So..." He grabbed his milk, taking a sip before continuing. "IS there someone?" Stop contradicting yourself... Your other self... Aw screw it.

Katsuya scowled, angrily taking a sip from his iced tea. "Nhhhh... How'm I supposed tah know, I don' even get what yah meant by 'actin' different'! An'... An' stop switchin'," he added lamely, before going back to his burger.

The boy tilted his head slightly, before smiling. "That's the first time I've tried that Jonouchi-kun... Anyways." He grinned, taking a sip of his milk before answering. "Well... You seem more 'alert'... More aware. Like..." Yugi paused, looking for the right words. "Well, less headstrong and more, I don't know... More like an adult."

He frowned. "What th' heck is that even s'pposed tah mean..." More 'aware' and less 'headstrong'? What was wrong with charging in and getting things done! ...Then again... When was the last time he'd legitimately done that? (He felt rusty now...)

"I don't know, it's hard to explain now that I'm actually putting it in words!" As Yugi panicked for a moment, he quickly regained his composure to frown. "And you aren't getting out of my question on a girlfriend that easy!" He smiled, leaning forwards slightly. "Go on, tell me! Whoever it is, I'll be happy for you!" Of course he would, but there wasn't anyone worth mentioning... ...Well... Mostly...

The blond continued scowling, finishing off his burger before speaking. "I'm tellin' yah, I don't have a crush on anyone!" At Yugi's unimpressed and disbelieving stare, he grumbled. "Hnnng... Man, I dunno... Probably isn't even interested in anything outside herself..." He still didn't have a crush on her though. That would be silly, and likely suicidal. ...She was, however, hot. He was never saying that to her face though, as that would also be suicidal...

As Katsuya muttered this under his breath, Yugi beamed. "Aha! So there is someone! What is she like? And what's her name?" What the- What kind of hearing did he have?

He tensed, scowling. Damn it, he'd fallen right into the little guy's trap! "Hn! A lot like someone else we know, that's for sure..." Shit... No escaping this now, but what to say... Now that he thought, he didn't know what Seto's original name was. So he couldn't use that as a cover... Unless... "An we never met personally, so I don' really know her name well... Yah won't believe what kanji it uses though," he added with a grin. Mind as well have fun with this.

Yugi also grinned, leaning in further. "What? What ones?"

"The very same ones as a certain ice cold CEO, tha's who!" Katsuya quickly regretted mentioning Kaiba again, as Yugi's face fell for a moment. Oh.. Right... Yugi did the mind crush thing on Kaiba and... Ahhhhhh he wasn't doing well was he.

However, the boy quickly regained a more cheery look as he drifted into thought. "'Se' and 'Hito'... There aren't many readings for that that could be considered feminine. I can only think of two myself..." As he pondered this, he looked back up at Katsuya. "Does she go to our school?" At the blond's 'no' ('Sorry Yug, can't tell yah the truth there' he thought), he frowned. "Well there goes that option... The only two choices really are 'Sen' and 'Seri'..." Honestly, it was amazing that the guy even knew that. Then again, Yugi always knew about weird things...

Sen and Seri huh... Oh well. He shrugged. "Well, not like it's a crush in any case... I honestly can't stand anythin' that reminds me of Kaiba myself..." He scowled, crossing his arms. "Can't believe he's related t' Mokuba, how can such an asshole have Mokuba for a brother..."

Yugi appeared to be fighting not to remind Katsuya that Mokuba had tried to kill him, and instead sighed. "Well, you're sure acting like it at least..." Since when was he the expert on this?

He rolled his eyes. "What are yah Yug', a girl? I don' know this lady, I don' know what she likes! ...And I don' like_ her,_" the blond added with a smirk, getting up to pull out his money for the meal. "I'll figure it out myself alrigh? Let yah know how it turns out, 'k?"

The boy nodded, pulling out his own money before turning to look at Katsuya as he left. "Hey, try asking her out ok?"

At those words, he did nothing but grin, nod, and hold back a laugh with all he could. Yea... Ask Seto Kaiba on a date. (What was this, he didn't even have a crush...)

Cause that would work well even without the damned _coma_ in the way, right?

* * *

A few days had passed since that conversation at burger world. Katsuya idly hung up his things and took a seat in Kaiba's room, stretching slightly. Work time again, he thought with a yawn. And as usual... Nothing. Was happening. It really figured with night shift and all, and really, he wasn't going to wish for excitement... Not after what happened the last time he did that. Katsuya leaned back on the chair he had in the room, idly staring at the gun Mokuba had given him with a raised eyebrow. Seriously, he barely knew how to fire this thing, even with all the training he was being force-fed; if anything happened, he was definitely using his fists dammit...

Katsuya looked around the empty (Well, mostly empty) room, silently glad that there was no audio on the cameras. In fact, there was no audio surveillance in Kaiba's room at all... The only reason there was surveillance in the bedroom portion was for the fact that he was currently comatose (kinda). As it was, the washroom didn't have any surveillance for fairly good reasons. After all, as Mokuba had mentioned later in private, there would be a chance of the footage of Kaiba's body being used against the woman, given the situation with barely any of the staff being trustworthy. As it was, her breasts were barely concealed by either a large plush blanket, or the general openness of her pajama shirt.

"Things have gotten real complex, huh Seto-chan..." The blond kept his face turned away from the camera, focusing on Seto herself. Oddly enough, by doing this he would probably keep more information private... But honestly, he just felt awkward saying anything without looking at the target. Idly, he played with something he'd worked on earlier with clay. After leaving burger world, he'd gotten an idea... And seeing how Seto wasn't likely going to be the type to take presents (Let alone from him), it was better now than never. Even if her birthday wasn't until October. "Never thought I'd find myself caught up in a company conspiracy..."

He snorted, looking over the clay sculpture he'd somehow managed to make. It still shocked him really... But somehow, he'd managed to not make the clay 'Blue Eyes' look like mush. In fact, he thought as he looked it over again, he didn't do half bad!

Katsuya looked the dragon over, thinking over what Yugi had said earlier. A crush... He didn't seriously have a crush did he? "Nah," he found himself muttering out loud. "Though yeh are pretty hot..." He looked up from the dragon, leaning back in his chair as he looked at Seto's slumbering form. "Course now that that's been said, this is kinda awkward..." He laughed, before quickly quieting down as he remembered that the guards would come in if they heard even that. "You do know tha' though, right," he continued, quietly speaking to the non-responsive body. "It might've only been for a moment, but th' you that I saw..." Ok, stop thinking of that...

The blond sighed, before smiling wryly. "It ain't fair," he muttered, placing the dragon on the side table lest his fiddling break a wing off. "Because of some kinda issue in th' past, no one can see that side 'f you... I don' even know if you'd wanna show that side now." Certainly didn't seem like that. Idly, he shook himself mentally. He was good as talking to a corpse right now, damn it. Good as falling in love with a-

Ok, there was no way it was going that far... He wasn't 'in love' with anyone here, and _definitely_ not _Kaiba_. ...Right? "Yah know, Yug' questioned me about crushes t'day," the teen said idly, eyes shifting to the ceiling. "Come t' think, my sister said the same thing while we were in Osaka..." He fiddled with his 'key' pendant, before looking over at Seto again. "'S where your brother got that pendant you know. You're lucky t' have someone like that." Was he more adult? Would he say this kind of stuff if he never met Mokuba, never got this job? "Like, REALLY lucky," he added with a quiet laugh. "Seriously, I don' think anyone else would've held out this long with the facade you're pullin'."

Why was he still talking? "Can you ev'n hear me, Seto-chan?" There was no sarcasm in the CEO's name this time, no sign of Katsuya even forcing himself to say 'chan' just to annoy the woman should she hear him. "'M I talkin to a corpse here..?" Katsuya sighed, adjusting his seat in the chair. "...I don' know if yah knew we were gone... If yah knew where we were... But if yer in there, shoutin' at me right now, go ahead." He gave a wry smirk, before continuing in the seemingly one sided conversation. "Prolly deserve it righ' now... But yah know, if yah aren't awake by th' time we go next year, we're draggin' yah in the wheel chair, got it?" Katsuya laughed slightly, before sighing.

He tried to laugh, only for it die as fast as he brought it up. "Hey, Seto-chan," he said quietly, looking out the window from the corner of his eyes. "Did yah know? Talkin' teh Yug' earlier, and he thinks I'm different... Like... 'More adult' different. Hah!" Again, the laughter died quickly, and he continued playing around with the key-box in his hand. "I can't be tha' different right? Still stupid enough teh talk to someone who can't hear me after all..." Katsuya looked at Seto's face, an odd look seemingly mixed with guilt and worry on his face.

"You're really beautiful, you know that," he finally whispered, flushing red as he realized what he said. Ohhhh god what was he doing... It was supposed to be girls that did this, not guys on a security shift. Then again, with all the weird shit going on in his life this year, it was likely inevitable. Coughing, he nonetheless continued, fairly confident that no one could hear him right now as it was. After all... He mind as well finish what he started right? Or something like that... "Really... Heck," he said with a harsh and half-hearted laugh, "I bet if you didn' end up with Gozaburo you'd 'ave had yer pick! ...Not that yeh probably don' already..." Still red, he turned away slightly, coughing again. "I... I mean... Yah obviously don' want someone like me, given yer usual comments..." Course, Kaiba was a bitch to everyone, so really...

Katsuya sighed, shaking his head. '_Ask her out'_, Yugi had said. Yea. Yea that would go well. 'Hey Kaiba, wanna go out? Regardless of the fact that the public will definitly think you're gay and the press would swarm and ruin everything and your company would probably drain because of just about everything else?' Yeaaaa... Nonetheless. "Yah know," he said, somewhat distantly, "We should go out sometime... Like... Not 'out' out obviously, but more like..." He waved his hand trying to find the words. "Like... Watch a movie here 'r somethin'. I dunno..."

Rubbing his head, he finally just snorted. "Yah know what, ferget it. It's prolly better that yah can't hear me," he muttered, still a rather brilliant shade of crimson. "Means yah can't call me an' idiot and kick me outta th' room..." The blond looked over at the clock, sighing. Time for shifts to switch. "Probably an' idiot for fallin' for yah," he continued under his breath, grabbing the gun he'd placed on the ground to put it back in the holster. "Given tha' yah hate me enough as it is. Don' have a clue why I DON'T, tha's for sure..." Idly, he attempted to find something else to talk about, eyes falling on the dragon he'd sculpted.

"...Yah know," he said, dropping his pendant for the moment. "I don' actually know anything about yah... Prolly not surprisin, but it makes it hard teh get yah an early birthday present." Katsuya smirked, giving another laugh. "Pretty sure yah ain't inta yo-yos... Not like I am at least. They got pretty popular lately, so I've been trying my hand at some tricks myself..." There was another laugh, and he rolled his eyes as he imagined Seto's sarcastic laugh at the next comment. "Course... Th' only one I know is th' dog walk righ' now..." He scowled, answering to an unheard retort from the woman. "But don' think that means anythin' to yer 'mutt' comments! I ain't a dog, got it!"

Another sigh. "Anyways," he said, leaning forward in his chair. "I guess what with all I don' know, it figures I'd end up making one of your stupid dragons..." Katsuya snorted, shaking his head. "Least no one died f'r this one."

There was a knock on the door, signaling the shift change. Katsuya looked over at the clock- Six AM... Talking sure did pass the time rather fast. Given that he felt as though he'd only been here for about an hour.

He turned to the door, giving one last look to Seto. "...G'night, Seto-chan..." And with that he walked over, switching places with the next guard to get some sleep. "See yah later."

As he left the room, he could have sworn he heard someone say thank-you...

But that voice was... Kaiba's normal one... Wasn't it?

* * *

The warmth was back. And so were the voices. '_Nee-sama_,' Mokuba was saying. _'I'm so sorry nee-sama, that we were gone for so long..._'

He was back... That was all that mattered wasn't it? He and the other one, the Mutt. Katsuya. Seto tensed slightly, as her 'window' opened again. It was still blurred... Fogged over for a seemingly indefinite amount of time. However, even through the fog, she could see the source of 'Mokuba's voice. "You..." She frowned, sighing. All it was was a blur of black and peach. "I can't see you..." Nothing... She couldn't see anything...

'_Nee-sama... I'm going to give you this. A piece of the puzzle for your heart, and something to always remember me by if I leave again_.' A small light appeared as the boy said this, and the woman tensed. What was... She frowned. How did he even know that she was in here, putting a puzzle together? That she was missing pieces..? In the distance, something appeared to be 'falling', and she walked over to see what it was.

"A necklace..." There was a clattering sound as a small pendant fell, clasped shut. It bore the same image of the back of a Duel Monster's card, though the pendant itself was a little smaller. Seto reached forwards, clicking it open before gasping. "This is..." A small boy with... Black hair and blue eyes. This was..

'_It's from the orphanage_,' Mokuba continued. '_I have the side with you in it on mine. Wake up soon, nee-sama... I miss you_.'

This was Mokuba... She held it close, smiling. This was what he looked like. And she would never forget that, not like when she had seen him in the puzzle. "..Ah..." The pendant glowed, and a piece of the puzzle appeared. "This is..." The form the girl held at the moment was still small. The form she had in the memory of the festival to be specific. Yet as she held the piece in one hand however, and put it into place in the puzzle, she thought something changed...

She had no time to ponder this though, as she was distracted by the memories she had that were now becoming linked together. "Mokuba..." Her eyes widened, as fogged faces became clear, names became more than jumbled kanji, and sights and places gained a time and date. Situations were cleared, and the small shadow she saw in those memories became a visible person. Seto dropped the puzzle piece, ignoring the clattering noise it gave off as it hit the ground. "Otouto..."

The message from the first memory... The cold one, with the truck...

She could hear it now... '_Se...Ri... Protect... Mokuba..._

_Protect... Your brother..._'

Tears streamed down her face as she gripped her puzzle, sincerely glad that no one could hear her cries. Mokuba... Mokuba Mokuba Mokuba _Mokuba_..! How could she have done those things? How could she have led her brother to do those things? How could she have done those things to **_HIM_**?

"I'm sorry..." She shook, holding the puzzle close as her 'window' finally closed up. "I'm so sorry... So sorry..."

She muttered this over and over... Each time fading into silence. She felt the warmth of the sun disappear, soft hands bringing her beneath the warmth of a blanket. It was a distant touch- more of a side effect of the temperatures. But she felt it.

Seto stood up to look herself over, regaining her composure. The woman quickly frowned however, as she continued to examine the form her 'heart' had chosen. "I've never looked like this," she muttered to herself, now restored to the 'age' she was before. Unlike then however, where her outfit matched the age, she was still wearing the same yukata her younger self had. "Hmp..." She glared at the puzzle, eyes narrowed. "What are you up to..." The cluster of gold gave off an odd sheen, as though laughing at her in response.

'_Hey,_' a voice said, Seto turning as she recognized it. Hn... So it was 'that time' again; the 'Mutt' had a set schedule it seemed really. '_Evenin' Seto-chan~_'

The woman growled, answering regardless of the knowledge that she would remain unheard. "Stop calling me that mutt..." The voice ignored her of course, continuing. She ignored most of what he said of course. It was fairly easy, given that he was keeping himself occupied with something most of the times he was there. Seto imagined that a lot of time must have been passing... But for some reason, it appeared to pass much quicker for her, when she was in 'this place'.

Abruptly however, she jumped as she caught the tail end of what the Mutt was saying. '_...Though yeh are pretty hot..._' She blushed, before scowling. "That Mutt..." 'Hot'? Was that supposed to be a compliment? From what she could tell from the memories, she wasn't supposed to look 'hot', she was supposed to look male! Moron...

Looking down over herself, she had to sneer. "Though I certainly can't fault the comment right now..." The fact was, the yukata from younger years didn't help her image at all. Ignoring the comment on a memory she had yet to reclaim (A memory she was not looking forward to regaining), she frowned. Katsuya was still speaking- it could almost be called rambling even. Now what was he talking about... A 'side' she had hidden?

What side? This side? The one that seemed to be refusing to leave from her past in this place, which she buried safe away for the sake of her brother? Seto froze, eyes wide. How did she know that..? How did she know that she 'hid' because of Mokuba? Before she could delve further into those thoughts, Katsuya's voice continued to sound around her.

'_Yah know, Yug' questioned me about crushes t'day..._' She rolled her eyes. Oh please, the Mutt couldn't possibly have... '_Come t' think_,' the voice continued, '_My sister said th' same thing while we were in Osaka..._' Lovely. "Tch," she muttered, crossing her arms as she turned 'away' from the voice. "You 'would' fall in love with someone who wasn't speaking to you I bet." Even if she didn't remember who he specifically was, it seemed to fit... The Mutt was enough of an idiot from what she could tell.

'_S where your brother got that pendant you know_.' Was it now? Well... That was new... The voice continued on, oblivious to her listening as usual. '_You're lucky t' have someone like that,_' Katsuya was saying, voice kept quiet as it usually was in recent times. He didn't sound as earbleedingly annoying when it wasn't loud actually... She liked it. Far more tolerable this way. '_Like REALLY lucky_.' Hmp!

"...I know that." She did now at least. She wished she'd known sooner quite frankly... Still, Seto thought as she turned back around to look at the remaining pieces of her puzzle, she knew that something was missing. 'Seri'... The man in her memory had called her that, but she heard nothing but 'Seto' all day. What was her name... What _was_ it? Her memories were fragmented, and all she had to grasp were straws... Even when they were literally presented before her she couldn't find the answer, and it was just so... The woman scowled, biting her lip.

If they could just give her her NAME! '_Can you ev'n hear me, Seto-chan?_' "Of course I can you _moron_," she muttered, glaring at nothing in particular. '_M I talkin to a corpse here..?_' Seto snapped, turning 'towards' the voice with a snarl. "Don't even _begin_ to think of me as something so pathetic, Mutt!"

To her surprise, the next response seemed oddly like an answer... Or at least an honest attempt to change the subject. '_I don' know if yah knew we were gone..._' Of course she did... '_If yah knew where we were.._.' Of course she didn't, they never told her... '_But if yer in there, shoutin' at me right now, go ahead_.' "I'm not shouting," she muttered under her breath, looking down at her puzzle again. '_Prolly deserve it righ' now.._.' "I'm not..." '_But yah know_,' "...Shouting..." '_If yah aren't awake by th' time we go next year, we're draggin yah in th' wheelchair, got it!_'

"I'M **AWAKE**!" Seto's cries echoed around the room, her face livid as she shouted at the voice, the mutt. All these hours, days, weeks in this place, this terrible place where time didn't even pass... Listening as people spoke around her, begging for her to do something that she couldn't do, no matter how hard she wanted to..! "I'M **HERE**! AND I'M **LISTENING**!" No response. Nothing... "SAY **SOMETHING**! **ANYTHING**!" Just talk to her as though she was there and listening instead of as a bucket to spill someones soul in... There was room for only one soul in here after all damn it... The woman shook, falling to her knees. Degrading degrading, so degrading and she didn't even care anymore... No one was listening, no one could hear her scream... It wasn't like in the memories where she could simply say something and it was done, or say something and bottle up her rage...

Chuckling echoed around the room; but Katsuya's laughter was forced, and she knew it. '_Hey, Seto-chan_,' he was saying, still quiet. '_Did yah know? Talkin' teh Yug' earlier, and he thinks I'm different. ...Like... 'More adult' different. Hah!_' As another bout of forced laughter echoed around her, she scoffed, turning her head down. "You are 'different', moron... But not 'adult' different, that's for sure..." Or was he? It was hard to picture the Mutt as even more immature than her memories of him.

'_I can't be tha' different right?_' Had... Had he heard her? She looked up again, eyes wide. Was it possible that... Somehow... Seto's expression of shock quickly died to be replaced with disappointment, followed by annoyance as the voice continued. '_Still stupid enough teh talk to someone who can't hear me after all.._.' No no no no NO! God damn it! She was not a wall! "WILL YOU **LISTEN**," she finally roared, fists clenched as the pent up frustrations of her current prison finally caved in around her. "LISTEN! STOP CALLING ME A **CORPSE**! STOP CALLING ME DEAD! I'M STILL HERE," she shouted, face red as she raged to nothing but darkness. "**I'M STILL ALIVE**!"

Always alive... Always.. Alive... Nothing would change that... She wouldn't let anything change that, she wouldn't die in here...

'_You're really beautiful, you know that?_' What..? Seto's anger filled expression softened, her eyes wide with confusion at the statement. Beautiful... No one ever called her that, no one ever even approached her, disguise or not, to say that. Then again, a small voice in the back of her mind, the same one that had constantly told her she could easily just hop through the 'window' to escape, told her. Then again, you never let them near, did you? Beautiful... She didn't know what to make of that... It was one of those words that she could easily ignore, toss aside... And yet... It was one of those words she never, never heard, she knew that much. Not when her facade was that of a male, certainly not... Particularly not when..

Seto turned her gaze downwards again, staring at the puzzle with a faded stare. She'd done terrible things... Unforgivable things... "No I'm not..." Regardless of physical being, she deserved no compliments. '_Really... Heck, I bet if you didn' end up with Gozaburo you'd 'ave had yer pick!_' A sad frown, and she continued shaking her head. "No I'm not... I wouldn't..." '_Not that ye probably don' already... I... I mean... Yah obviously don' want someone like me, given your usual comments..._'

The woman growled. "And you're right Mutt... So why don't you just leave me **ALONE**!" She wanted him gone, she wanted him to stop talking to just stop stop _stop_ reminding her of the unfinished puzzle and the memories she didn't have! To stop reminding her of this _pit_ she was locked in, and just let her get on with things! Silence... For a split second at least.

'_Yah know,_' the Mutt continued, ignoring her unheard voice yet again, '_We should go out sometime... Like... Not out out obviously, but more like.._.' She raised an eyebrow, looking up at where the 'window' would normally be with a confused frown. Was he seriously... Was he...

"What the hell are you saying, Mutt..." She listened as he continued, eyes narrowing. '_Like... Watch a movie here 'r somethin'. I dunno.._.' "Gh... Hnhn..." She smirked, eyes narrowing in slightly sadistic mirth. "Ahahaha! Oddly courageous tonight Mutt... First you call me 'beautiful' and now you're asking me out..! If I didn't know better, I'd say you really _did_ fall for someone ignoring you! AHAHAHA!" She continued laughing, only for the sounds to fade and eventually cut off with a sad frown. Why... Why did she feel worse for laughing at that fact than she did before..? That wasn't like her at all, was it?

As she pondered these thoughts, something 'white' appeared in front of her. She frowned, only slightly listening to Katsuya now as she reached for it. '_Yah know_,' he was saying. '_I don' actually know anything about yah.._.' It felt hard, the object in the light. Cold, like rock. "Of course you don't know..." No one is supposed to know. Not even her own brother... But...

Know what? She didn't even know what she was talking about, memory after memory affecting her mind... The voice continued. '_Prolly not surprisin, but it makes it hard teh get yah an early birthday present_.' Her birthday? When was that... She knew, from her mind, that it was somewhere in the fall... But the voices and the faces and the words all blurred together in those memories... The only clear form in them now was her brother, and aside from that... "Of course..." Of course he didn't know...

'_Pretty sure yah ain't inta yo-yos..._' She snorted, pulling the object in her hands close as the blinding light refused to die down. "Got that right Mutt," she muttered as he continued, going on about the only trick he knew. 'Walk the Dog' huh... "Hmp! It figures you'd only know that one, when you seem to refuse to let anyone else walk you!" '_I ain't a dog, got it!_' "Whatever you say, Mutt," she said softly, having effectively given up on making her voice heard by now. Pointless... Completely pointless...

And still, he was talking. Pathetic, moronic _dog_... '_Anyways... I guess what with all I don' know, it figures_,' he said, Seto staring at the object in her hands as the light finally dimmed. Her eyes widened as a few details came through, a slight shocked frown coming over her face. "This is.." '_I'd end up makin' one of your stupid dragons.._.' She bit her lip, holding the clay dragon close. It was perfect... In everyway... "Moron! The Blue Eyes White Dragon is the **Ultimate** monster," she forced out, voice low. "Nothing defeats it! It's not stupid, like you are!" White and majestic and flawless in every way...

'_Least no one died f'r this one_.' She stared at the dragon, falling silent as she returned to her puzzle. That's right... Her three dragons... Someone died didn't they? In her memory... She'd hounded one of the owners until...

The warmth was disappearing. So then, it was time for him to leave again. She snorted, turning away from the 'voice' again. Good riddance! Maybe next time he'd have the sense to keep his mouth shut! And then...

'_G'night, Seto-chan... See yah later_.'

"Gh... Gn..." Why... Why was she crying! The dragon in her lap glowed, shifting into another puzzle piece as she cried. What was this? She never cried, never! Not for anything, or anyone! "Ka...Katsuya..." She didn't know any other name for him... It was the only thing she heard from Mokuba, and Mokuba was the only one she could believe besides the Mutt, and given the latter's stupidity and annoyance... "Katsuya," she said, holding her puzzle as she put the piece in with an honest smile. At first glance, it seemed nothing had changed. But the tears vanished, and an aura of calm filled the darkness as she took in a calm and steady breath. "..."

"...Thank-you."

For some reason...

She had no doubts that she was heard that time...

* * *

AN: And then world _exploded_, because Kaiba was being nice. Is she being nice? Man, it's hard to tell, but compared to her completely horrific attitude earlier... OOCSeto is like a... A butterfly. Or something. I feel like I either tried too hard to make Kaiba a girl (Which insults myself at the same time since... _I'm_ a girl...), or that I just flew off on a completely bizarre tangent and didn't bother to fix it. And then... I end up wondering 'But _did_ I?' and things kinda sorta fix themselves. Almost.

You'll tell me if I've pulled a 'stupid' right?

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Corner/Guide**

The title, if you haven't guessed, is a reference to the main female role of the play 'The Sought For Grave', which showed up in the last chapter. Even though it's a really, really long stretch to compare anyone to her, the reference is still there; mostly because Unai is obviously a ghost, and Jonouchi is essentially speaking to a corpse right now. (Regardless of what Kaiba insists right now.)

Honda not being around is a reference to the fact that... Well, he really wasn't around at this time. At all. Doesn't show up in both the 'Clock Solitaire' chapter (Which is Yugi and Anzu's 'date' at the amusement park...) _or_ the next one. Speaking of those games... When Yugi is talking to Jonouchi about being worried about Anzu's crush, he references that Clock Solitaire chapter; essentially, Anzu spent a fair amount of it trying to get the 'Other Yugi' to appear... And managed to get herself stuck on a rigged ferris wheel with a recent terrorist. (The terrorist was caught after Yami Yugi successfully won the game by gathering four Kings within the time limit... While the corresponding gondola on the wheel failed to explode.)

The second 'game' occurs when another kid actually steals Yugi's puzzle, in order to force him to play a game that... Quite literally costs lives. It's a dragon card game; the looser gets his soul sucked into the jar. Yugi actually looses the first time, and _barely_ gets his hand on the puzzle in time for Yami Yugi to take host of the body and win Yugi's soul back... As the jar only has room for one soul. Ohhhh and might I just say that Yugi actually _leaves_ the soulless body behind? Wowwww... Wonder how that went down... ('Hey, did you play a game with anyone yesterday? Cause _apparently_ they found a body and...' '... -whistles-' )

The birthdates are, much like the favorite and least favorite foods, completely accurate. To be specific, Mokuba's birthday as mentioned last chapter is July Seventh, his brother/sister's birthday is October 25... On another note, Jonouchi's birthday is _January_ 25. Had he and the others been American, this would mean that, if he and Kaiba were in the same grade, he would be older than Kaiba by a good few months. However, since the Japanese school year begins in _April_ , it might actually the reverse case; if enrollment in Japan goes by the 'If your birthday is after the School Year begins, it counts' rule (In that people who were born after school begins would be the oldest, people before the youngest), then Kaiba is actually _older_ than Katsuya by a few months. If the rules go with the standard year however (January would be oldest, December youngest), then this isn't the case.

Speaking of schools; in the last chapter, Akie and Shizuka mention (In passing), that they're glad Jonouchi is still in school. This may come off as a shock, but High School isn't actually mandatory... Oddly enough, while students have to pay to attend highschool though, 90% of teens in Japan still go. It helps that education is so important there though. (At least you know why Kaiba can get away with simply not going to school later on though.)

Yugi's conversation with Jonouchi at burger world is another reference to a conversation that hasn't happened yet; specifically, during the very beginnings of the Duelist Kingdom, he mentions knowing what his 'other self' is feeling, even though neither he nor 'Yami' can actually speak to each other until much later.

See how I bolded 'ultimate' up there? AHAHAHHAA (Ok, that foreshadowing wasn't funny, I apologize. ... AHAHAHAH...)

Well, that's this chapter... Expect some _real_ progress next chapter everyone! See you!


	15. Chapter 14

**Meaning... What, Exactly?  


* * *

**

Summer was over at last, it seemed. Though it was still hot as ever, August had essentially melted away before Katsuya's eyes, and he was more than a little upset that it was over. He still had his job of course... His work schedule had been worked through so that the school still allowed his part-time activities, while making sure that he didn't end up falling asleep in the middle of classes. He was, yet again, working Friday nights and weekends. Nonetheless, as he walked to school on what was now a lonely trip given the opposite direction from his friends, he couldn't quite remember the last time he wanted summer to last forever... At least, for more than just the fact that school was going to happen at the end of it.

So far, a few weeks had passed with nothing of note. Mokuba had stressed secrecy in the house for reasons beyond him, though he listened nonetheless. Very few people were permitted to Seto's care as well, particularly after the Board of Directors _insisted_ on another 'sweep' of the staff. It had taken just about everything Mokuba and Isono still had to keep Katsuya on the security team; so far, the only reason he was there was because the 'Big Five' had realized they didn't have to pay him nearly as much as the rest of the security team... As it was, the only other person outside those two and himself that Mokuba audibly trusted was one of the maids. Not surprising though; the young woman was probably only two years older than he was, and likely wouldn't know a conspiracy if it hit her in the face. (Oddly enough, she resembled Anzu in a weird way...)

Aside from that, things were moving along fairly well. School was as boring as it always was, he didn't understand a damn thing, and lunch was something he was considering a bit of a gift from the gods. Things were going wonderfully... In fact, he never felt better.

"A 'Super Yo-yo'?" Katsuya grinned as he and Yugi showed the toys off, holding his own in his hand. Currently, Honda was looking at the toy with a raised eyebrow, as if to say 'you're fucking kidding me... Right?' (No, no he wasn't.)

It was obviously different from the wooden one he'd gotten in Osaka... In the end though, he liked this one better; the Osaka yo-yo was more something cool to look at really. "Yep," he told Honda with a grin, the other students in the class watching if only out of 'before class boredom'. "It's the latest thing now, these yo-yos!"

One of the boys in the class frowned, crossing his arms. "Is something that old fashioned really 'cool'..?" Of course it was! Honestly.

Ignoring the boy's skepticism, Yugi nodded. "Yea, they really are!" See? Yugi knew what he was talking about... The boy spun his own yo-yo idly, continuing as it emitted an odd hum noise. "These yo-yos are designed to have a better rolling system! See?"

"I'll demonstrate my yo-yo technique," Katsuya said from beside the boy, dropping the yo-yo as he spoke. "First, you have the basics, like the 'Dragger'; that allows you to spin your yo-yo in place!" He pulled his hand up, the yo-yo spinning a few inches off the ground as he grinned. "And... Long dragger!"

The classmates stared, their interest caught. "Ohhhh.. It's hanging in the air and still spinning!" Yes. Yes it was. And now...

He continued grinning, dropping his hand. "And... If I let the lurking yo-yo touch the ground," he said as it started rolling. "I 'let the dog out'!" It sounded cooler than 'walk the dog' in his opinion.

Apparently though, the class didn't think so. "What," they said with a laugh, "That's just 'Walk the Dog from the old days!" "Just because you give it your own name doesn't mean it's suddenly cool you know!" Tch! Well wasn't that just _great_.

"Eh... s...shit..." He scowled, pulling the yo-yo back with a red face. "Then... I'll have to show you an even cooler move!" Granted, he'd never pulled it off before (He'd actually been pushed out into Kaiba's backyard when he tried this one inside...)... Nonetheless, he dropped the yo-yo and began swinging it the best he could. Maybe, just maybe... This time he could get it to work? "LOOP THE LOOP!"

The students ducked, Yugi shouting as the yo-yo just about clipped his head. In the end, Katsuya was still grumbling as his yo-yo wrapped itself around his neck and face. Sheesh... Now how would he get out of _this_ one. Attempting to untangle himself, he turned as one of the other students growled, shouting at him. "Stop acting like morons!" A what?

He raised an eyebrow, while Yugi followed his gaze to the rather mousy looking boy in the corner of the room. Small eyes, large ears... "Nezumi," he said with wide eyes. Huh, his name even _meant_ mouse. Oddly appropriate. ...Hair was a fairly interesting style too. Was it leaning to the left, or the right... His thoughts were interrupted as 'Nezumi' continued to grumble.

"Honestly, the boy muttered with a scowl. "I can't see how you stand those things... I hate yo-yos!"

Uh... O...Kay... "Sheesh, what's wrong with you Nezumi," he said with a still raised brow. "What kinda person doesn't like yo-yos?" Besides certain cross-dressing girls he wouldn't mention at this moment. Because he had a feeling that she didn't like much of anything, if the books on her shelf were any sign. (Nietzsche? Seriously!) This however, was one weird guy... And given that he was weird enough before (He even had whisker marks, what was with that), that was saying something.

Yugi smiled, holding his out for the boy. "It can't be that bad," he said with his usual tone of innocence. "I'm sure if you give it a try you'll end up liking it!"

The teen snorted, gesturing to the gauze on his face. Now that he thought about it, Nezumi didn't look too good... At all. The kid's eye was completely black, his nose was red and swollen, and it looked as though one of his teeth were even missing. Damn... "Psh," Nezumi scowled, before crossing his arms. "You guys see this," he said, not waiting for Yugi's usual 'what happened?'. "I got this from a Yo-yo!"

Wait what? He shook his head, frowning. "Hang on, say again?" A yo-yo? Seriously? Hell, they _were_ solid plastic, so they'd probably hurt like hell but... He was beaten with a _yo-yo_?

Nezumi rolled his eyes, before explaining. "There's a school gang that extorts people with Yo-yos... A couple days ago, I was walking around at night alone... And suddenly, I was surrounded by these three guys demanding my money! I refused of course," he said with a scowl, turning away. "But when I tried to escape, they started beating me with their yo-yos..."

"What..." Katsuya growled, clenching his fists. Ok... That was just too damned messed up to ignore! "Usin' yo-yos t' steal money from other kids... This is completely unforgivable!"

Beside him, Yugi was shaking his head. "I don't believe this, yo-yos weren't created to hurt people!"

A fourth voice came into the conversation, the others turning as Honda shrugged. "When you think about it, it's solid enough to count as a blunt weapon... So in the right hands, it's pretty dangerous." This was true... The question was more 'what kind of people use yo-yos for weapons'! Granted, it wasn't likely that they'd be confiscated...

"Please," Nezumi cried, now looking at the three. "I'm begging you! Make them pay for what they've done!" Hang on, he was being asked right outta the blue... What was this about? "I think I know where you can find them," the boy continued, Katsuya momentarily wondering if he should trust a kid whose name essentially meant rat... Who was also suddenly begging them for help after telling them off. "They're probably hanging around in the district they attacked me in.."

Ah what the hell. He didn't work tonight anyways. "Alright," he said, clenching his fists. It had to be hard right, going back to the last place you wanted to go... Rat or not, the kid had his respect for that. "Leave it to us Nezumi! You'll get your vengeance!"

Honda nodded. "I'll come along too then," he began to say, before Katsuya cut him off.

"Nahhh, I'll be fine. There's only three guys after all." Yo-yos or no yo-yos, he could take three guys down easily. Honda snorted, muttering something about bragging before walking off.

The blond turned however, when Nezumi spoke up nervously again. "Ah... Maybe Yugi should come to.. If someone like Yugi's there, I'll feel more at ease..." He swallowed, before continuing. "Fighting makes me uncomfortable so..." If fighting made him so uncomfortable, why was he asking them to fight? ...Then again, vengeance was a natural feeling to have when you got the crap beaten out of you by a toy.

The boy nodded. "Alright," he said, eyes becoming serious. "I'll come too then!"

Katsuya clenched his fists, blood boiling. He hadn't had a fight in ages... He was really getting into this! "I'll teach 'em a lesson they'll never forget," he started off, heading for his seat. "He who abuses people with yo-yos will be punished by yo-yos!" Or something like that... (Why was Yugi coming... Eh, if it made Nezumi feel better...) And now that he'd said that..!

Actually it sounded really stupid now that it was actually out there. Honda continued to shake his head as he took his own seat, obviously a little miffed about being shaken off. "Whatever the fuck that's supposed to mean..." Similar thoughts... Why was it that now that he realized this, he was mentally beating himself over the head as well...

As he turned to make a comment on that, the bell rang, and the teacher came in. Ackkk whatever, the blond decided as he waved the thought off. He'd continue the verbal battle with Honda later. Katsuya turned to look back at the front, briefly frowning as he caught an odd look on Nezumi's face. Now what... What was that about...

* * *

"It was in an alley a little further up," Nezumi said as the three walked, Yugi looking around with wide eyes. "We aren't far now." Rickety old buildings stood around them, clearly out of use and out of date. Rusted wire fences blocked a few paths, some bent in the middle where people couldn't have been bothered to find a way around, and broken glass from the windows above littered the cracked pavement.

Katsuya was well was looking around, though considerably more 'on edge' at this point. This area was giving him the creeps... It seemed all to familiar, and he was getting a nasty feeling that they were walking into something worse than expected. "There's not a lot of people around," Yugi was muttering, clearly on edge as well. "A terrible atmosphere..." Terrible indeed; it didn't help that they hadn't seen a single person so far, but the route they had taken to this particular area was really weird. Almost disorienting even, and if it hadn't been for his surroundings, he wouldn't have had an inkling of where they were.

He nodded, turning to Nezumi. "By th' way Nezumi..." He continued to keep an eye out as they looked around, the negative feeling only increasing. "You said they used yo-yos as weapons right?" Shouldn't be.._. Too_ hard to combat that...

The boy gave another nod, before answering. "Yes... It's a pretty frightening technique... They surround their target, and if you even try to move, you end up pelted by them constantly!"

He growled, cracking his knuckles. "Well that's got me convinced... I'll teach 'm a lesson they won't forget anytime soon!" As they approached the 'destination' however, he quickly lost his scowl to give a confused frown. '_we're here_', Nezumi was saying. '_this is the place_'. He looked over the abandoned factory with narrowed eyes, shaking his head a few times. "This place... I've been here b'fore..." And if he'd been here before, in this area... Then that meant...

They entered the building, and the memories flooded back. "I... I remember now," Yugi shouted, growing pale. "This is..." Not. Good. He tensed as he remembered it now, from when he'd been too beaten up to pay attention. This was Hirutani's headquarters... The same place where that bastard had him strung up on a line with tasers in an attempt to get him back into the gang... An event that Yugi of all people had saved him from. (Though now that he thought, it was probably the other one that did it...)

The room remained silent, save for their footsteps. The hanging hook in the middle of the room creaked as a light wind passed through the building, and the entire building seemed to shudder with it. They needed to get out of there right now... Abruptly, Katsuya turned, a noise sounding from behind him. "Ngh!" The bag was thrown to the floor instantly. Around them, a horde of people jumped to the floor, each one carrying a yo-yo. And why oh why did that seem more ominous than amusing now that he thought of it... "Yugi," he shouted, taking a protective stance in front of his friend. That little rat... This was a set up! "Stay back!" Damn it Nezumi...

He looked around at the crowd, watching as the gang members spun their yo-yos threateningly. 'Three guys' his ass, this was an entire gang here... Fuck fuck fuck... AGH!

"_SURROUND THEM_," a voice called out, the yo-yos begining to strike against his arms.

Katsuya turned to look back at the other two, arms held defensively. "Yugi, Nezumi! Get out of here, now!" As Yugi protested, the blond watched Nezumi pull him through the mess of strings, before turning back to the crowd. "Hnnnng..." Damn it... This attack was way to well prepared... They KNEW they were coming! "Damn it all..." Nezumi that rat... Hopefully he'd actually take Yugi out of there now that these assholes had him here... After all, he WAS the target right? Then again, he never told Nezumi to grab Yugi... The fact that he had...

A hauntingly familiar voice came through, and the teen held back a growl. "Trapped like a _rat_, aren't you Jonouchi..." Rat, Nezumi... Oh haha, that was just so... He turned as Hirutani appeared, gritting his teeth. He was right then... Damn it... Damn it! "One wrong move," the man continued with a smirk, "And one of those yo-yos could hit you in a very vulnerable place. Tsk tsk tsk..." He shook his head, hands in his pockets as he looked back. "Jonouchi... You should have known I wouldn't give up on you so easily... No one leaves this gang, and I'll do anything to prevent that rule from being broken..." Again he meant? Because he'd already left, long ago... Katsuya clenched his fists, eyes drifting around at the yo-yos surrounding him as he attempted to find a way out. Nothing... Damn it... "Don't worry," Hirutani was continuing. "You won't be a low ranking member, oh no... You're much too good for that Jonouchi. Number 2," he said with a laugh, cold smirk still playing on his face. "I'll make you my right hand... Just like things used to be!"

"And what the hell makes you think I'll do that, jackass," he shouted with a snarl. "'Cause you have a lot tah learn about makin' deals, I can tell yah that!"

Hirutani merely chuckled, and Katsuya instantly regretted speaking as though the others had escaped. "Well... I don't think you want me to be your enemy just yet," he said, looking past the blond. "After all, just look over there."

Shit. He turned, eyes wide as he watched Yugi struggle against the hold of another gang member beneath the hanging ceiling hook. That damned rat Nezumi was standing right there, doing nothing... "Yugi!" He heard Hirutani shout to one of his lackeys; '_do it!_' he cried. The hook was pulled down, latched through the string on the kid's puzzle and then pulled back up. "YUGI!" The boy hung there, gasping for breah as the cord dug against his throat. Hands and feet both twitched slightly as the boy's eyes widened, struggling to breathe. Katsuya's eyes filled with rage, and he turned to look at Hirutani. "You BASTARD!" He didn't even spare Nezumi a glance as the boy looked over guiltily, Hirutani idly congratulating him on the plan. "Just how fucked up are you!"

"Escaping is impossible, Jonouchi," Hirutani stated calmly, smirking. "Either swear you'll join my gang... Or watch your friend die!"

Damn it... Damn it... He clenched his fists, looking over at Yugi for a moment before growling. "Tch... Hirutani... You said there's no way out of this?" Mokuba was going to murder him for this... Provided he still lived..." At the look of shock on the gang leader's face, he gritted his teeth. Time to go... Now! He charged, the yo-yos pounding against his body as he headed towards where Yugi was hanging.

"He... He's moving," the blond heard one person say. "Does he WANT to be beaten to death?" Ignore it... He pushed forwards, stumbling slightly as his kneecap was cracked by a rather well placed strike. Ignore it... Ignore it... Hang in there, Yugi, he thought as he pushed through, arms blocking his face and chest from harm best he could. Hang in there... He was coming..!

The yo-yos continued to pound at him, even as he reached the hook. It was creating an rather steady, if not frightening rhythm of thumping, but even so he continued at his task. He wasn't letting a friend die... Not before he gave his own! "J...Jonouchi," Yugi wheezed, as Katsuya finally pulled the boy down by the hook. The weight of his body no longer pressed against the cord on his puzzle, and he was able to breathe again.

"Hang in there," he said, lifting the boy up slightly so that the hook could be pulled off. "I'll get us outta here..." _Hit him harder_, Hirutani was shouting. _Hit him harder, so he'll stop_! Heheheh... Scared, Hirutani..? So was he, to tell the truth... So was he...

Katsuya bit his lip as he attempted to think of a plan. Shit... He needed a counter attack, but what... "Hirutani," he shouted, shielding Yugi's body with his own against the onslaught of yo-yos. "The pain I'm feeling in this body... It wouldn't even compare to the pain of betraying a friend, not even multiplied a thousand-fold!" Something, anything... Any- There was a flash of light against Yugi's puzzle, and he stared at it for a moment. Of course... This would work, he thought, as he came up with something. Now that Yugi was safe, this would work! "Hirutani," he said again, gasping as the yo-yos pounded against his protesting ribs. "Prepare yourself, because I'm going to go all out against you with my counter attack! An' if I wasn' PISSED b'fore, I sure as hell am now!"

Hirutani merely laughed, standing behind his 'wall' of thugs with a smirk. "Talking big are we? Take a look at where you are! Even you should realize that this is a no-win situation!" And yet as he said that, the man still had a slight expression of doubt.

The attackers grinned, nodding in agreement with that same expression. "Heheheee..." "We're gonna 'walk the dog' all over your dead bodies Jonouchi..." Oh were they now..?

"Jonouchi," Hirutani continued, the boys glaring at him from behind the onslaught. "I'm going to give you one more chance. Swear to join my gang, and I'll let you live!" Bullshit.

Before he could even come up with a comeback, Yugi shouted from behind. "Hirutani! Jonouchi will NEVER join you again!" The blond looked at him with surprise for a brief moment, listening as his friend continued. It was weak, and hoarse after the strain against the hook and cord earlier... But even through that, his voice managed to ring about the room for all to hear. "He doesn't care how much you threaten him! He'll never do it!"

Katsuya grinned. "Heh, That's right! Hear that 'boss monkey'," he shouted, voice rasping from the pressure against his back. "That's what a _REAL_ friend would say!"

Apparently, this was the last straw; Hirutani scowled at them, before waving his hand. "KILL THEM!" Hn, not even an 'I gave you a chance'? Well, obviously he didn't really want him as badly as they thought.

Now then. "Yugi," Katsuya shouted, his friend crying as the blond took the brunt of the damage headed their way. "I need tah borrow th' puzzle!"

"Hu-Huh?" Yugi stood there a moment, before pulling it off with a curt nod. "Okay, it's yours!" Though confusion was evident in his face, he didn't even hesitate as the blond took it.

He smirked. "This is just what I need tah turn th' tables..." He grabbed it by the end of the string, facing the others. "Come and get me, yah chimps," he shouted as the puzzle began spinning rapidly in a circle. The attackers frowned, still sending the yo-yos forward as the puzzle was spun in a makeshift shield before freezing.

"W-What the.."

Katsuya grinned. Perfect! He could feel the force of the strings being pulled around the puzzle now, and continued to spin it for good measure. "Nice try bozos," he said with a laugh. "You think I'm swingin' this f'r fun?" As the gang members stared in horror, his grin grew. "Don'tcha see it yet? Your yo-yo's ain't commin' back..." He stopped the spinning, pulling the puzzle back as the strings at the end of the gang-members' fingers pulled tight. "Cause now, I've got 'em!" As Yugi beamed at the successfully played plan, he unwrapped the yo-yo strings from the puzzle before tying them around the hook. "An' now, I can do this!" He pulled down on the hook before releasing, hook takingk off for the ceiling. The gang lackey's shouted with mixed annoyance and pain as their fingers just about popped under the force, dangling a few feet above the ground by their outstretched arms. "AHAHAAA! 'Human Hanging Yo-Yo'!" He continued to grin as Hirutani shouted in shock, tossing the puzzle back to his friend. "Thanks Yug'! Here's th' puzzle back!" He blinked as the one who caught it looked back at him with confident eyes, shaking his head. "Y...Yug'!" That... That was a fast switch..!

The other Yugi smirked, replacing the puzzle around his neck. "Jonouchi," he began, the smirk still in place. "It's payback time!"

For a brief moment, he stared, before his grin returned into place. Hey! Payback with the other Yugi, this would be interesting... (Not to mention very fulfilling given all the crap Hirutani put them through.) "A'right," he said, the two breaking into a run as they headed up the stairs.

"You take Hirutani," 'Yugi' shouted, taking a separate door to the outside. "I'll handle the rest!" As the crowd followed after the teen, he nodded. That sounded like a plan... Normally he'd argue about that, but quite frankly, doubting him now would be an incredibly large insult to 'Yugi's skills right now.

"Will do!" Though they all ended up on the roof, each one of the boys ended up on opposite ends. He turned, watching as the crowd that followed Yugi moved to attempt to corner him on the roof with their yo-yos before their boss came after them. "Hirutani," he said, leaning against the broken glass windows of the factory. "Let's settle this once and for all!"

As Hirutani turned, Katsuya found himself thinking back to the days when they were in middle school... Where all of this started. When he and Honda just picked fights with pretty much anyone in the area. When the man he was facing now wasn't quite as 'insane'. To put it mildly. "Heh heh heh heh heh..." The man chuckled as he moved to face Katsuya, smirking. "I've heard you say that before... Back in middle school, at the start of our _beautiful_ friendship..." He continued chuckling, speaking with an almost nostalgic tone. "Remember how we used to fight," he said, still smirking. "How we'd go on until both of us were on the ground, tied?" Yes he did... But that was back then. This, however...

He snorted, shaking his head. "Hn! That was b'fore you were so fucked up in th' head," he said with a scowl, taking up a loose fighting stance. "Today, I ain't holdin' back!" As the man continued to chuckle, he charged. "LET'S GO!"

Hirutani also moved, throwing a punch past his face that he easily dodged. "Hah!" As the man froze, realizing he'd missed only after a moment, Katsuya smirked. "URAAAAAAAHH!" There was a loud crack as his right fist broke the gang leader's nose, Hirutani stumbling back with a snarl. "What's th' matter Hirutani," he said with a laugh, resisting the urge to shake his fist- that nose was harder than he thought. "You've gotten pretty flabby! Must be pretty easy at th' top of 'Monkey Mountain'!"

The man merely snarled, before looking at the window beside him and smirking. He frowned, eyes narrowing as he held his stance. Now what was he up to... Katsuya tensed as Hirutani grabbed a shard of glass from the window, shattering it in his hands, before throwing them at the blond's face. "TAKE THIS," he shouted, his target cursing as the glass got in his eyes.

FUCK! FUCK! Great, now he couldn't open his eyes, FUCK! "**FUCK**!" How the hell did he _not_ realize that was what he was doing!

Hirutani laughed, charging him again. "Hehehehehe... Unlike you Jonouchi, I've gotten smarter," he shouted, fists clenched. The blond ignored him for the moment, standing there as he held his bleeding head and stumbling slightly. "Now you DIE!" Katsuya grunted as the man's fist slammed into his face, before struggling to his hands and knees as blood dripped from his face.

Crap... Crap he couldn't see... He rubbed at his eyes before pulling his hands back in pain, turning his head in an attempt to hear his opponent. Quiet... Too quiet... He sat still waiting for a sound, anything, as Hirutani snuck up behind him. Where was he... He had to end this fast, get these god damned shards of glass out of his eyes..

_Crack_.

"Hahahahaha..." He chuckled, the laughter slowly increasing in volume. "You _idiot_," he said with a laugh, eyes still closed as he turned to the sound. "The glass you tossed is tellin' me where you are! RAAAAAAAHH!" Before Hirutani could react, Katsuya's punch sent him flying down the end of the roof, the teen having whirled around to face him within a split second. The man shouted, gripping the side of the roof as Katsuya moved to face him. "Ow... ah..." He attempted to open his eyes, managing to force his right one open. Hurt like hell... Constant throbbing... "Eyes 'r all watery..." Red too... Nothing but a red curtain covering his slightly doubled and watered vision. Dully, he could see Hirutani's single hand gripping the edge, the man looking up with wide eyes. "Well, Hirutani," he said as he pulled out his yo-yo, a dark smirk on his face. "Wanna see my yo-yo technique, since y'r there?" The yo-yo hit the ground rolling forwards as the smirk grew. "Parade the Pooch! Hahah... Y'know... Walk th' dog!"

The yo-yo rolled over Hirutani's fingers, the man shouting as he released the roof. "Ow..!" The fingers cracked, and Hirutani pulled them back instinctively. All to late, he realized the price for that. "Ah... AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGHH!" The scream lasted only a second before a sick thud echoed through the room. As the man's body hit the ground, and Katsuya sighed.

Now that he thought about it, that name was stupid too. Maybe he should stop trying to re-name it really... "I gotta confess," he said, partially to himself. "That's the only trick I know. Still practcin' th' others..."

"Jonouchi," Yugi's voice called from beside him, and Katsuya turned to face him as he shut his eyes again. "You're alright!" Somehow, he supposed.

He grinned, nodding. "Haha, as I'll ever be!" As Yugi helped him back down the stairs, he continued grinning. "Hey, where'd that rat, Nezumi go?"

'Yugi' merely shrugged, grabbing Katsuya's bag as they left. "Good question..." He apparently didn't care much at the moment... Now that he thought about it, with Nezumi's injuries as honest as they were, the moron was probably put up to it. Either way though...

The blond scowled, making a fist as he winced in pain again. "When I find him I'm gonna kick his ass!" As Yugi laughed beside him, they continued on their way back from the warehouse, he sighed. All this crap... It was probably over now, if the thuds and screams he'd heard were any clue at least. "Yug'... 'M sorry, getting yah caught up in my problems again..."

The teen merely looked up, regardless of the fact that Katsuya couldn't see at the moment. "Your problems are my problems, Jonouchi-kun." That...

He smiled. That really meant a lot actually...

* * *

"I can't believe you!" Katsuya winced as Mokuba, unseen thanks to the eye-patches the doctor had put on him, continued reaming him out on the way back from the hospital. "I thought you were completely through with insane injuries! Do you have any idea how much pain you're going to be in when those painkillers wear off?"

He winced again, pausing as they passed Kaiba's room before entering it. It was pretty awkward, being led around by Mokuba, but he figured it'd be alright... Though now he'd have to miss a week of school for his eyes to heal. 'Corneal scaring'. He was gonna have scars on his EYES.

_That was really really cool_. (Actually it hurt a lot even with the pain killers, this was going to be hell...) "Er..." He swallowed, grunting as he was forced into a chair. "A lot?" Understatement, but really, what else was there to say?

Mokuba rolled his eyes as his friend scratched his cheek nervously, before scowling. "That's an understatement Katsuya-nii! You're lucky nothing's broken!" Tell him something he didn't know... As the blond merely gave a nervous smile in response, he sighed. "Whatever... I'm gonna get some ice... Katsuya-nii, make sure you don't do anything like this again, understand?"

At the severeness of Mokuba's tone, his smile quickly vanished. "...Yea," he finally said, turning to where he heard Mokuba's voice. "Promise." There was a sound of footsteps, and he left the room, Katsuya turning back to the bed. The chair hadn't been moved from what he could tell, so... He should be facing Kaiba now. "...I bet y'r laughing your ass off in there, aren'tcha Seto-chan..." He smirked, leaning back in his chair. "Man... Not bein' able t' see sucks... It makes me afraid for my sister ev'n more..."

Katsuya 'looked' back at the woman, sighing. "I ever tell yah abou' my sister," he began, propping his head on one hand. "Mind as well tell yah now if I hav'n't..."

As the blond began to speak, Kaiba's eyes opened slightly... He couldn't see it however. For a moment, though he couldn't remember later on, he thought he 'saw' her stand there, even through the eye patches and his eyelids themselves. He couldn't see her face, but almost clear enough to be beside him, he could swear he heard Kaiba's voice...

'_I'm listening... Mutt._'

* * *

"...But don't take too long," Seto muttered, sitting with her arms around her legs and scowling. "Or your voice will be next." She had ways... Granted with her luck, she'd forget as soon as she 'woke up' or whatever it was she was going to do when the puzzle was finished. '_My sister's got a condition_,' Katsuya began, the woman not moving as he spoke.

'_Her eyesight's deterioratin'. An' since she can't afford th' surgery, she's gonna be completely blind in a few months_.' Well, didn't that just _suck_. She had to feel a slight bit of pity though, looking through the 'window'. After all... Even with the small bit of 'sight' she got, she knew that it was nothing compared to reality. Not even close... For that to be ripped away without warning would be absolutely horrifying. So really, while she wasn't saying it outloud... She could empathize. '_I'm only gonna be blind for a few days_,' the teen continued sadly. '_Can't ev'n compare it t' f'rever.._.'

She snorted, crossing her arms. Of course he couldn't- even if he was blind for that long, she doubted his mind would wrap around that fact. "You're the one who blinded yourself though, moron! Who lets someone throw glass in their face, seriously!" Regardless of how she knew that was how he was injured, she continued listening numbly. There was really nothing else to do here... The puzzle pieces wouldn't fit together, and when she put in the one that appeared a while before all she got was another scene of staring.

Class time. She must have been angry with him about something, but then when wasn't she? She'd been in a washroom stall... Yelling at the Mutt to get something for her. She never found out what was so important about it though; the memory cut off, so she couldn't find out what it was she wanted. She'd obviously gotten it though, given the case that had been thrown into the stall. '_Hey, Seto-chan_,' Katsuya said, the woman still staring off into the darkness that was apparently her heart. '_What's it like in there..? Where ever yah are? Th' other Yugi said tha' you were puttin' a puzzle t'gether... But where?_'

"...Where..." Somehow, she didn't know. It was dark, and that was all... Other than that though, she had no clue. Someone more sentimental and 'flighty' would probably say something stupid like 'my soul', or 'my heart'. Those things were absolutely moronic though. Besides... If this was her 'soul' or anything even connected to it, then that just said far too many things about her situation. "Don't ask things like that, moron. Not when you won't listen to me." It would be pointless to answer really... Like speaking to a rock. "Just leave..."

And of course, Katsuya continued on without hearing her. '_...Must be lon'ly_,' the teen said, Seto narrowing her eyes further in response. '_Where ever yah are I mean... 'S been a long time after all._.' A long time... That was one way of putting it.

She snorted, shaking her head. As if she'd admit to being 'lonely' in this place. "Please Mutt," she said with a scoff, ignoring the fact that she would remain unheard. "It's not nearly as bad as you think." It's worse, the voice in her head said. Much worse than that. So why didn't she just leave...

There was a silence, and Katsuya sighed. '_Well... All th' better teh get out then, righ'?_' "Tch... What do you think, MORON!" But she couldn't leave yet. Seto scowled, turning away from the still open 'window' that showed nothing but a blurred view of the ceiling. "I've been trying since I woke up here!" Not yet though... She couldn't leave yet. "Stop reminding me!"

And of course... '_Hey, Seto-chan_,' She was being ignored... '._..No need tah.. Hwaaah... Tah yell.._.' The woman jumped, turning to her 'window' in shock as the teen's yawning voice echoed around her. Katsuya sounded sleepy, almost half-gone as he spoke. He was probably about to knock himself out right now... Yet somehow... Somehow...

"How.." She stared up, standing with wide eyes. "My own brother can't even hear my voice... How..." Why was this MUTT, who she didn't even like in any way... This MORON who got himself injured beyond anything for reasons she had yet to know of, who continued to call her 'chan', who continued to speak as though she was dead..! Who dared to speak to her as though when she woke up, it would all disappear..! "HOW CAN YOU HEAR ME, WHEN MY _BROTHER_ CAN'T!"

There was no answer, save for the sound of snoring. She stared, eyes wide with mixed rage and confusion as she shook. Idly, she noted that her cheeks were wet... Huh! So she was crying again... Really, why was it that this place was so insistent on throwing everything out into the open... Her fists shook, and she continued to stare upwards with the thoughts on the 'Mutt' still on her mind. "How..."

'_G-night... Seto-chan.._.'

* * *

AN: IRONY: Yo-yo's were originally hunting tools. In the Philippines, yo-yo's made out of cord and rock were used to strike animals from above in trees. And then were pulled back when they either failed or came down. So... Sorry to break it to you Yugi, BUT YOU'RE WRONG. D'OH. Even better; the modern Yo-Yo didn't really hit until a _Filippino_ American began a company making them. Ahaha... Ohhhhh heritage...

In any case... Not sure how bad glass to the face would be in terms of corneal scarring, but he'll have minimal amounts. Otherwise, scar tissue would cloud his vision, and then HE would need eye surgery. UHHHH WHOOPS. You know what comes next? Do you? DO YOU?

It's something that makes me very excited, and manga people will know why. 3 I'll give people who don't know a clue though; white hair.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Two more from Iona! I'm going to respond in one shot!

Will getting the key cause problems? Hmm, good question! You'll see later, but your suspicions are very much correct in that it makes things a little worse for him than they would have otherwise. Much worse actually. :D On Shizuka... Thanks for letting me know! I'll be able to know for when she shows up again at least... (*phew*) I'll leave the chapter she's in 'as is' for now though... Chalk that behavior up to extreme exasperation (And my idiocy. Yaaaaay~ xD) Hahahha, I know that kind of vacation was fun for my family! Sadly, we hadn't been saving up money for that, so we're still paying off the debt... D'OH.

On the second review... Trust me when I say, the embarrassment is only just beginning... *cackle* You're right to say Kaiba won't be too good about it, but on the bright side, saying anything _directly_ on the topic means bad things for her as well... So Jonouchi is at least spared there I suppose. xD I actually had a bit of trouble getting Yugi to spit out those questions... I'm personally surprised I pulled it off, but you probably have a point about the ancient spirit and questioning ability thing. I'm not saying anything more on Yugi in terms of Kaiba's secret though. Absolutely. Nothing. ... Nothinnnnnnnng...

*forces self to change the subject*

Oh wow... I... You think I'm doing a good job with this genderbend? Thank you... That really really really means a lot to me actually... That's one of the biggest holes I was afraid of falling in. On another note... Hahahah... Ohhhh Duel Academy... There's a part of me that's tempted to write a one shot after this fic. is over involving the small time we saw Kaiba in GX... xD

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The only section in this fanfic that allows Usagi to ramble to her heart's content! ...Wait that's not good...

I'm probably the only one, but the maid that finds Kaiba waking up in the manga (Who has randomly become the one maid that constantly shows up in this fanfic) somewhat resembles Anzu... Or at least early manga Anzu. Probably just me though.

Hirutani shows up earlier in the manga as a character from Jonouchi's past; he threatens to hurt his friends if he doesn't join his gang. Jonouchi in the end agrees, but after one of the members knocks Yugi to the ground when the kid spots them (And thereby runs after him), he ends up turning on that member later on... Which ends up getting him in the warehouse, hanging by his arms as the gang beats the shit out of him with fists and tasers. Yami Yugi ends up coming, tricking the gang into electrocuting themselves... He and Jonouchi then escape. But apparently they lived! ...Not any more though.

I left the dialogue Jonouchi uses in the manga intact the entire way through as well; including silly things like 'parade the pooch'. (OHHHH Jonouchi..)

Till next chapter!


	16. Chapter 15

**The Boy with White Hair

* * *

**

True to the doctor's word, the eyepatches had come off within a week. Also true to the doctor's word, the area around his eyes still hurt like hell, and he wanted nothing more than some relief for them. "Achhhhh..." Katsuya winced, rubbing his eyes before having his hand smacked by a flyswatter. "Ow! Mokuba, what's yer problem!" They hurt! And... So did that!

The boy frowned, before going back to his breakfast. "The doctor said not to touch your eyes Katsuya-nii! And besides, there was a fly there." A fly! Watching as the blond squirmed and searched his hand for the fly, he laughed. "AHAHA! Anyways... Katsuya-nii, I'm gonna come by the school today, since my class gets let out early today alright?" Oh really? That was cool.

Katsuya blinked, looking at Mokuba a few moments before nodding. "Alrigh', see yah then! Wait..." He frowned. Mokuba was driven to school... Since when... "Yer walkin?"

He shrugged, smiling. "Eh... Thought I'd try something different... Besides," he said as he grinned. "You walk all the time, so it can't be that hard right?" Yes, but that was because he was used to doing things like that. Things like running late for class. And somehow surviving being beaten by yo-yos. (And those bruises _still_ hurt...)

"Er... Alright..." He winced as the boy pulled on his still fairly tender arm, tugging him off the chair. "Ow ow ow! Hey, easy on the arm!"

"Yea yea," the boy said dismissively, letting go. He seemed fairly excited today, for some reason. "Come on, we'll be late for school!" Oh yea, walking took about half an hour huh...

He nodded, waving his hand before grabbing his bag. "Yea yea, I'm goin..." With those words said, they left the house and moved their separate ways. Probably for the best that their schools were essentially angled from the house in a 'triangle' formation, Katsuya thought to himself. He had a lot to think about... And Mokuba was obviously in more of a talking mood than a 'let Katsuya be quiet for a rare moment' mood. As to what he was thinking about...

Mostly, as much as it made him frown, it was about Kaiba. That voice... The woman's voice he heard when he was talking out loud to her. There was no way it could be her, could it? If she'd been speaking, she wouldn't be saying those things... And besides, Seto normally had a sort of 'undertone' to her words, that chillingly cruel and selfish tone that made her voice almost seem permanently hoarse. Not to mention the whole 'vegetative state' deal. The doctor said that in some cases there was a grunt noise. Not a full blown sentence.

And yet... '_How can you hear me?_' He'd heard that much before falling asleep that night, but since then, he hadn't heard anything. What he had heard was faint though... Slightly louder than the 'thank you' he thought he heard before. It was just enough to bug him really, without giving him a clue as to what the hell was going on. "Ehhhh," he muttered as he came to the school grounds. "Probably jus' th' pain killers..." That had to be it... Hallucinations explained everything right? Coming into the classroom, he grunted as a familiar, tri-color haired kid tackled him.

"Jonouchi-kun! You're back!" And still injured!

He groaned, holding his stomach. "Yug... 'M still bruised..." As the boy quickly panicked, Katsuya managed a light laugh. "'S fine! Jus' try goin' easy on th' tackles huh?" At this, a stampede of footsteps came their way, the teens moving to the side to avoid being run over by few of the girls from the class. One in particular looked fairly excited, running right to a gathering of most of the others in the room.

As she shouted, the others turned, blinking. "Big news," she was saying, grinning madly. "There's going to be a new guy in our class!" At the mention of a 'new boy', about half the female students in the room jumped up, Katsuya and Yugi barely avoiding the stampede to get to their seats. _Really_, they were saying, '_what kind of guy_', they were asking... Yeesh... This didn't happen when Kaiba enrolled! (Then again, Kaiba probably scared off the welcoming committee, thereby destroying the problem at its roots.)

Katsuya rolled his eyes, before watching as the Japanese teacher came in. "Everyone," he said, leading in a white haired, pale looking teen to the classroom. Ah... So this was him. "Today we have a new student." He turned to the boy, still smiling. "If you could introduce yourself."

The teen nodded, smiling nervously. "My name is Bakura Ryou," he said, bowing. "Pleased to meet you." Bakura huh... He jumped as the teacher told him to take a seat beside him, grinning. Alright! He got to sit by the new guy! (It was like elementary school all over again! ...That wasn't good was it.)

Nonetheless, he continued to grin and wave the teen over "Over here! I'm over here!"

As he shouted, Anzu turned to Bakura with a worried look on her face. "Bakura, you have to be careful, Jonouchi is the worst in class!"

He growled, turning on Anzu instantly. "Nhhh! What'd you say!"

Katsuya's thoughts were cut rather quickly as Bakura sat down, turning to him with a smile. "Nice to meet you, Jonouchi." Oh hey, he was really... Polite.

"Heh," he said with a grin. "Same here! We're gonna get along fine I bet!" He turned to look at the others a moment, before continuing. He had time... Yea, there was time before the bell rang. "Hey Bakura, lemme introduce yah to my buddies," he said, Honda and Yugi both coming over from their desks. "Tha's Honda," he said as he pointed to the teen, "An she's Anzu..."

Yugi smiled as he looked at Bakura, introducing himself. "I'm Yugi!" Well, about time someone beat him to the introductions he supposed.

The albino again bowed his head, smiling. "Pleased to meet all of you," he said, before turning to Yugi with a curious smile. "Yugi... Ah, does your family run a game shop at all?" As Bakura and Yugi started up a conversation, Katsuya leaned back on his chair. Eh, figured that Bakura would catch the word 'game' in Yugi's name. Those two hit it off right off the bat it seemed. He blinked when the name 'Monster World' came up, turning to his friend.

"Monster World... What kinda game is that?" Sounded like some sort of video game... Maybe something Mokuba would play.

Yugi smiled, before explaining. "Monster World is a mix between a board game and an RPG," he began, before going on. "A player goes on the DM, or 'Dark Master's side, and the others create a team of adventurers to explore the playing field. One team goes out with the goal of beating the others," he continued, "But there's more! The interesting thing is that you can add more pieces to the board, like a village or a forest, so the game can be different each round!"

"Hoh..." As Bakura commented on Yugi's knowledge of games, he grinned. "Sound's pretty cool! I bet even Mokuba would like it!" He'd have to ask later after school, see what he thought. Sounded pretty fun to him at least! "Hey Bakura, think we could play Monster World tomorrow after school? If it's alright with you?" Tomorrow _was_ Thursday after all... So they'd have plenty of time, given that Katsuya didn't have work.

Surprisingly, Bakura didn't answer for a moment, instead gaining an oddly nervous look on his face. It didn't help that his voice was so quiet... As he spoke with Yugi about the puzzle, he had to hold back a frown. Bakura didn't look too good now... Hell, if it was possible, he was paler than he had been when he came in. Maybe he was getting a bad case of nerves from all the attention? Heck, he didn't seem like much of a talker...

In the end however, the screeches of... Well... Half the female class distracted him from his thoughts. "Oi! Jonouchi!"

"Heh?"

As he turned, they glared at him before pulling Bakura up. "Give Bakura back to us, BAKA!" W-What? He never took him! As they left, he heard them talk about already starting a fan club and giving him a class tour.

He shook his head, eyes blank. "Sheesh... Bakura's the kind of guy that attracts ladies like flies..." He briefly had the image of Kaiba chasing after the teen, almost laughing at the thought. Kaiba chasing after a guy... That would be the day. It was still an amusing image to play through his head, before he heard Anzu mutter '_unlike a certain someone.._.'. Niiiice. Just because anyone he asked last year turned him down completely...

"Bakura's a really nice person, huh Jonouchi-kun." He turned to Yugi, nodding in agreement as the topic was turned to more positive things.

"Yea," he said with a nod, before leaning back in his seat. "We can definitely be good friends..." There were no 'bad vibes', no negative rumors... He seemed like a pretty cool guy, Katsuya decided, leaning back in his chair. A little later, just before the bell rang, Bakura returned to the class alone, looking a little nervous but otherwise alright. Making a mental note to ask if he was ok later on, Katsuya turned his attention back to the class itself. Now that school was going on... He sighed mentally as he tried to make sense of the teacher. It was one thing when his dad hadn't given a damn about his grades...

But Mokuba was sending his mom updates... And his mom was sending back comments. Many. Comments. Damn it... "Jonouchi-kun," the teacher called, snapping his thoughts in two. "How about you read from the text book next?"

Gulping, he nodded a little stiffly. S-Shit, he'd gotten lost in thought again... "Er... O-Ok!"

* * *

"Katsuya-nii!"

As Mokuba charged into the school grounds, Katsuya found himself scratching his cheek nervously. No one he knew appeared to have really heard that (Though a few girls had giggled at the sight of him being tackled by a small child)... Nonetheless, he didn't really feel like explaining the names and honorifics and such being thrown his way from Kaiba's kid brother at the moment. "Hey..!" He coughed, turning as Bakura and the others came towards him; evidently, this was the direction the albino lived in, and Yugi was trying to keep the conversation alive as they walked. "Nice tah see yah Mokuba! Er.." He looked at Bakura, who had finally stopped at about the third '_Bakura-kun!_' that Yugi had shouted. Mokuba as well looked up, blinking at the teen. "Mokuba, this is Bakura..."

Mokuba grinned, waving at the teen. "Hi!"

The other merely smiled nervously, bowing. "Nice to meet you.. Ah..." He turned to Yugi, who had been patiently waiting for the introductions to pass. By this point, Anzu and Honda as well had shown up, the group appearing to almost surround the guy. "You guys..."

Yugi nodded, smiling. "Hey, Bakura... If you're free tomorrow, we'd like to play Monster World..." Straight to the point! Well, made sense that Yugi wanted to play as well of course.. "Though if it's a problem, we could play at my house instead..." As Bakura stared at the boy in silence a moment, Mokuba turned to Katsuya with a raised eyebrow.

"Monster World..? You're going to go play monster world?" As Katsuya shrugged, he continued to stare. Monster World was the sort of game that people played with a group of close friends over a span of days... Normally nerds... He didn't really see Katsuya playing it... Then again, it could just be one of those things he didn't know about. Like sushi- he'd never had some, and when Katsuya had told him it was raw fish... Well, it was an interesting night. Nonetheless, it wasn't as bad as he'd thought, so he supposed he could give this a chance too. "Ummm... Can I come too?"

This seemed to further increase the look of discomfort on Bakura's face, and Katsuya almost frowned before Yugi beat him to the punch. "Er... You don't seem to like the game much..." Not much seemed to be an understatement. Either Bakura was coming down with something real bad, or... Well. Something.

Bakura quickly shook his head, eyes wide. "Oh no... Not at all, that's not it! I really would love to play with all of you, it's just..." He fell silent, the boys sharing nervous glances before listening. "Well... At my old school, I played this game with my friends... But every time I played, everyone else would lose consciousness..." Uh.. What? Katsuya tensed, blinking furiously as Mokuba gulped audibly. Er... That was a little creepy... They weren't in- "They're still in a coma at the hospital," Bakura continued, looking at the ground. "I understand if you don't believe me, but it's the truth... People avoid me because of these stories, so I transferred schools... I've isolated myself from my family to make sure that nothing happened to them either, so I live alone..." The albino gripped his bag, giving the group a sad frown. "I really want to be friends with everyone, and I would love to play with you... But I don't want to lose anyone else," he said, turning away to run off. "So I won't play! Good bye!"

"Ah," Yugi blinked, before calling after the boy. "Bakura!"

The thoughts in pretty much everyone's heads going home could be summed up to one thing; '_it's not possible for people to go into comas by playing a game... Right?_' It couldn't be possible to just randomly collapse in the middle of something like that! Yet there was one glaring point that went against those thoughts. After all...

Wasn't that the last thing Kaiba did before ending up comatose?

* * *

Thursday, Mokuba's decision to follow Katsuya to Bakura's was quite surprising. Mostly because, out of everyone who had been present the day before, he'd been the most affected by the prospect of comatose game players. It was a little too similar to Seto's condition than comfortable, and personally, Katsuya told himself, if it wasn't for the fact that Bakura hadn't been in school that day, he wouldn't even be there knocking on his apartment door. Either way... After all that the kid had ended up questioning him about the day before, it was a little alarming to have him standing there with him.

Mokuba stood nervously beside the group, occasionally sending a glance to Katsuya as the teen knocked. "Here it is," he said, taking a deep breath. Nothing was wrong, nothing... Was wrong... He swallowed, attempting to calm himself down after thoughts of the day before came to mind. Comas... No way that was actually happening! "Time to prove that those comas were nothing but freak accidents!" Though in the back of his mind, he somehow felt like he wasn't so sure they were... Nonetheless, they all smiled when Bakura answered the door.

"Yugi! Everyone... You guys..." The albino held the door almost shut, peering through with a pale and nervous expression. He certainly looked like he had seen better days...

So... He was probably coming down with a cold or something... Maybe he should just head back, so that he wouldn't get reamed out by a random butler for giving Mokuba anything contagious. Just get them out of there-

The boy beat him too it however, instead looking up with a somewhat nervous grin. A silent note of '_it's fine_' was passed along, his face almost forced into a smile. '_I'm fine_,' he seemed to silently say, and with that the blond put a smile on his face as well. Nothing to worry about... "Hey!" The smile grew into a grin as he gave a small wave, attempting to bring more positivity into the situation. "We were worried about yah at school, thought maybe we scared yah off 'r somethin'," Or something... "So... We came to play with you Bakura!" A normal game. Would be nice.

"Yea," Yugi added, grinning. "Lets play Monster World!" Someone had his mind on something... Then again, he was looking forward to that as well.

Bakura instantly reeled back, shaking his head. "You can't," he shouted, sounding almost as though simply mentioning the game had doomed them all. "You guy's shouldn't have-" He cut off, expression changing completely as Katsuya narrowed his eyes. Ok... That wasn't normal. That wasn't normal in any way, and he couldn't have been the only one to notice. Bakura's hair almost stood on end with that 'cut', his expression going completely blank for a brief second. "Welcome," he said, eyes seemingly sharper than before as he smiled. "I'm so happy you came, come in!" That smile...

He shook his head, shaking it off. Stop being paranoid, he told himself as the others cheered. This was nothing... Besides, Yugi was the one with weird personality switches. ...Right? "In that case," he said with a wider than normal grin. "We're coming in!" Nothing was wrong! Maybe being on security for Kaiba was screwing with his head... He'd have never had these thoughts before right? The teen walked inside, taking off his shoes before following Bakura further into the home.

The others followed behind, Mokuba looking around the apartment with evident interest. It was small, but for someone like Bakura, who lived alone, it was more than enough space to live in. "Woaaaah... It'd be cool to live here alone..." As Katsuya laughed at that, they followed Bakura to a separate room in the apartment, listening to the albino as he spoke.

"I had a feeling you guys would come," he said with an eerily dark smile. "Because we're friends..." Ok, how did Bakura manage to make that sound so damn scary? "Actually," he added, moving to the side to let the others in, "I already set the game up!" Wait, why did he do that if he was so intent on them _NOT PLAYING_ before? Katsuya quickly smacked his paranoid side back again (Regardless of it normally being right), instead following the others into the room.

Katsuya and the others stared at the enormous board set up, eyes wide. "Woaah! Sweet!" A village, a forest, and was that a castle way at the back? He was beginning to look forward to this, he thought, looking down to see a similar expression on Mokuba's face. And apparently, so was he. Grins spread on both their faces as they moved in to inspect the multicoloured, plastic table, before they turned to look at Bakura.

Bakura moved to the other side of the table, five chairs on their own end. "Come, take a seat!" The teen chuckled lightly, pulling out some materials from the side of the table. "Let's play a game of Monster World," he said with that same eerie smile. Katsuya's grin faded slightly as they were handed character sheets, Yugi shouting another cheer while they took their seats. Even with all the positivity and optimism he had for the game... That smile was way to creepy...

"Hey, Mokuba," he whispered, the boy turning as Bakura grabbed figurines from the shelf. "You're sure you're alrigh' with this... Righ'?"

The boy rolled his eyes, frowning. Clearly years of living with his older sister had rendered him immune to the effects of a 'yangire smile'. Something that Bakura could probably emulate to a 'tee' knowing his luck. Damn it. "Sheesh Katsuya-nii, it sounds more like you're scared..." His voice was kept to a whisper, like Katsuya's had been, and he turned back to the sheet he was looking over.

He raised his hands in 'defeat', shrugging. "Jus' askin..." It just... Set him off really. That smile was giving him the creeps... It wasn't a 'Bakura' smile at all, and every time he saw it he got a feeling eerily similar to directly before 'Death-T'... But at the same time, now that Mokuba was so set on this, he couldn't just 'leave'... Not without likely doing something that would prove just what that smile meant at least.

"Well," Bakura said, handing the five pencils. "Are you ready to start playing?"

A loud chorus of '_YEA!_' sounded through the room, Katsuya nodding with a somewhat nervous grin. Mind as well try getting back into the mood he decided, grabbing his pencil. Alright! "Let's go!" As his grin faltered yet again, he found himself watching Bakura with narrowed eyes. For a brief moment, he thought the teen was staring at Yugi's puzzle...

The moment was lost however, as Bakura moved back to the other side of the room, leaning back in his chair before opening a laptop up. "Let me explain the rules," he began, still smiling. "The players are split into two groups; the DM, Dark Master, controls the monsters and evil creatures that lurk throughout the Monster World. As the DM, who I will of course be playing," a mental '_of course_' being repeated by the paranoid half of Katsuya's brain, "My goal will be to stop the adventurers with the best of my ability. You five, the adventurers," Bakura continued, gesturing to the five, "Work as a team. Each of you will pick your character's race, class, and ability scores to defeat the DM! If all of you are defeated, I win... However, if you five manage to defeat the 'Boss Monster', YOU win." Why was it that no matter what, outside of his own interests in the game, he really... Really... Didn't want Bakura to win.

From the back, Honda muttered something about getting to kill things before Anzu elbowed him. Yugi laughed at the scene, nodding before turning to the others and explain the game further. "Monster World combines a board game with an RPG; him being the 'Dark Master' is like the 'Game Master' from older RPGs..." Dark Master, Game Master... Huh.

Anzu blinked, turning to the boy as Mokuba fussed over his character sheet. "Role Playing Game... You mean like the ones online," she asked with a blank look.

"I guess... I mean, video games are more common now, " Yugi began, propping his head on his hands. "But the original ones were played around a table."

From the other side, Bakura nodded. "That's right! And do you know the meaning of Role Play," the teen asked, looking towards the five with a dark grin. Katsuya had to narrow his eyes at the question; of course they did, they weren't idiots... Hell, if anything, just knowing Kaiba increased the meaning of the word ten-fold. But that look he was getting... Hihhhh... "Playing a role," Bakura continued. "You have to _become_ the character! By getting inside the mind of the character and acting our your part, the players can enter an imaginary world! It's the original virtual reality," he said with a smile, not helping Katsuya's suspicions in anyway. "That, is the _true_ beauty of this game!"

Mokuba turned to Katsuya, frowning. "Neh, Katsuya-nii, does Bakura seem different to you," he asked, keeping his voice down lest the others hear the 'nii' part.

He frowned slightly. "I've been trying tah say that for a while now..." And different was putting it very, _very_ lightly in his opinion.

They were interupted by Bakura again, who was now typing in the laptop. "Before we can play, you need to create your characters; I'll input the data into this laptop when you're done." He tossed down a list of races and classes, the five looking over them.

"See," Yugi was saying, showing Katsuya and the others the lists. "We each choose a race from the list, determining our abilities!" Alright, that sounded easy enough...

As Mokuba looked at the list and began working on his character sheet again, Katsuya smirked. "Ooooh Honda! You should be a fairy," he said with a grin, not noticing the jump that Mokuba gave from behind the two.

Honda scowled, snatching the pencil that Katsuya had almost used to write 'fairy' on his sheet with back. "You're the fairy you moron," he shouted back, while Yugi was looking at the chart muttering to himself. ('_Maybe I'll be a half elf_', he was saying as he tugged his ears)

He laughed, shaking his head. "No way man, that race is made for you! It's girly, with tutus an' everything!" As he did this, he frowned, Honda having grown extremely pale as he looked behind the blond. "Oi... Honda?" Now what was with that face-

"KATSUYA-NII!" There was a loud smack noise, and the blond rubbed his head as Mokuba slammed a pile of books on it.

"OW!"

"Did he just say.." As the others turned amongst themselves to discuss the use of 'nii' in Katsuya's name (Not to mention the use of the first name in general), the teen turned to glare at Mokuba.

Said boy was working on his character sheet furiously, apparently doing all he could to ignore him. It was about that moment that Katsuya realized Mokuba had picked 'fairy' for a race, and just about slammed his face into the table for being a moron. Screw the pain, at least he knew why the brat did it... "M-Mokuba, I didn' mean.."

"Shut up, Katsuya-nii!" Idly, the blond heard the others mutter something about '_again_,' '_why is he calling him big brother.._.' '_weeeeeeird.._.' Yea yea, get over it...

Bakura merely watched them with a smirk, cutting the conversations short. "Once you've decided on your race," he said as he typed at the laptop, "You need to choose your class."

While Mokuba marked off 'rogue' for his, Katsuya grinned. "Definitely pickin' warrior for this!" Sword and shield, all the way!

Beside him, Honda nodded. "A magic gunman doesn't sound too bad either!"

He looked down the list of weapons, still grinning. "I'm gonna use this one, and this one..." That sword... That dagger looked pretty powerful too...

"Katsuya-nii, you don't have enough money to start with that!" Nhhhh whatever.

While Bakura gave them an odd smile, recording the data as they rolled character scores, Anzu turned to Mokuba with an odd look. "Mokuba-kun.. I've been wondering..."

She was interrupted by Honda, who leaned in as well. "Since when did you call Jonouchi by his first name?"

Anzu rolled her eyes. "_Actually_, I was more wondering why you said Katsuya_-nii_." From the side, Katsuya blinked. What was he going to tell them about...

The boy frowned, turning away. "Like I want to tell any of you..." That was Mokuba for yah.

As the woman huffed, Katsuya merely rubbed his head. "Errr... Right... Hey Bakura! We're done here!" The albino took the sheets, looking them over as he typed the rest of the information into the computer.

"Very good... You rolled fairly decent ability scores as well..." He looked up, Katsuya holding back a shudder as that odd smile came back. "Okay then," he said, grabbing the five figurines he'd set to the side. "Let me put the final touches on your miniatures!"

He waved them over to look at the screen, taking a snap-shot of each of them to go with the small character profiles. Katsuya watched as they appeared on the screen, the others staring for a moment while Bakura worked on the miniatures.

Yugi's came first; he had indeed chosen a half-elf Katsuya noted, and had stuck with his real name before taking the 'Beast Tamer Class' and playing with no weapons as a result.

His own character was second- "'Joey'," Mokuba said with a raised eyebrow. "You named your character '_Joey_'?" He merely shrugged (He liked the name at least.), as the human and decently armed warrior came on screen a moment before switching over to Anzu.

Anzu as well opted to go with her own name, though she'd picked elf for a race. The character was armed with a staff, a magician, and notably had the lowest hitpoint count of all the characters there. To contrast that however, she had the highest 'magic point' count... Which made sense he supposed.

Fourth was Honda's; he'd named his 'Hiroto', his given name. Like Katsuya's character, it was human, and the teen had apparently picked 'Magic Gunman' after all... Wielding, of course, a 'magic gun'. Which just sounded silly right now, but then again so did 'Magic Gunman'.

Lastly, appearing on the screen just as Bakura came back with the miniatures, was Mokuba's fairy rogue. By far the quickest of the groups, it was also, as they realized when they were handed the palm-sized figurines, the shortest. "WOW," Katsuya said as he looked his own warrior figure over. "You made these look just like us!" Like... _Exactly_ like them. Wow.

He quickly regretted saying this as Bakura gave them that 'smile' again, the blond tuning out the shouts of agreement from the others. "Yes," Bakura said, Katsuya resisting the urge to shudder, grab Mokuba, and get the fuck out of there now. "I pride myself on my attention to _detail_ in games... Now then," he said as the others returned to their seats, placing the figures at the 'start' positon. "Now that all of the data is in, these numbers will make all the difference in a life or death fight. As the DM, I make the critical rolls after all..." He continued smiling, Katsuya wondering if he was seriously the only one freaking out about that look. He... He couldn't be right? He was the guy who _didn't_ catch these sorts of things wasn't he? "Alright... It's all ready! Let the adventure begin! GAME START!"

Katsuya looked over the board as they placed their pieces, frowning. "Heyyyy wait a minute... Where are th' other pieces," he said with a scowl. "There's not a single enemy monster in sight!"

Beside him, Mokuba shook his head and sighed. "Katsuya-nii," he explained as he leaned over the table, "The monsters appear depending on what you're doing; we haven't done anything yet!"

"Come to think of it," Honda said as he crossed his arms and leaned back, "We don't know much about this 'world' at all..."

Katsuya nodded in agreement, frowning. "Yea, like who's th' enemy or what's th' point of th' game!" Come to think, he probably should have figured that part out first. Whoops.

Across from the boys, Anzu snapped her fingers. "The town," she shouted, before pointing at it. "You go to a town to get information in an RPG don't you?"

Beside the woman, Yugi nodded. "Anzu's right! Let's go to the town first!"

"Good idea," Mokuba said, turning as Bakura nodded.

The teen typed something into the computer, motioning for Mokuba to remove the 'top' of the village to the side. "Very good," he said as he regained the eerie smile from before. "You take five turns to enter the village..."

The group moved their pieces forwards, the village being 'removed' to reveal a bar and inn of sorts. "WOW," Yugi shouted, leaning in with wide eyes. "You take off the village model and there are people inside!"

Mokuba and Katsuya also leaned in, staring with equally shocked expressions. "Look at the detail," the boy said, shaking his head slightly. "How much time did these take to build..."

"Ok," Katsuya shouted as he moved his piece forwards. "Lets pull up to the bar and get some news!" As he moved it over to an old man, the others brought their pieces close as well. "Hey, you! Old man," he shouted, the bar figuring turning as soon as he said this. Ok... That was weird. Mentally shaking it off, he continued. "As you can see, we're _HIGHLY SKILLED ADVENTURERS_! Any way for us to make some dough?"

As Mokuba shook his head in his hands, Honda looked at Katsuya with a deadpan expression. "You start with _money_... We know nothing and you start with MONEY!" Hey, money did lots of things! Like... Buy better weapons. And stuff.

Ignoring the group, Bakura resumed his role as the DM. "At those words," he began, turning his attention to the village figurines, "The villager sends a glance your way, and sighs as he speaks." Katsuya almost jumped as the old man seemed to actually do that, before settling back into character at his words.

"If money could solve our problems," the figure said rather morosely, "I'd give you all I've got... But before you could claim your reward you'd be dead!"

The voice switched back over to Bakura, and Katsuya mentally shook himself over as the albino continued. "With that, the old man moves away from the bar..." Wait wait wait, that didn't tell him anything! And he wanted to figure out of he was hearing things or not!

"Hey hold on there old timer," Katsuya shouted, moving his piece towards the old man with a clack-clack-clack. "Sounds like you got a story! We're all ears!"

Mokuba looked up at his friend with a nervous stare. "Katsuya-nii, you're really into it..." As Honda nodded, Katsuya froze yet again; shortly after Bakura spoke, the figurine moved again. Come to think, it looked like it was moving on its own the entire time. Yikes... Maybe it _wasn't_ something he ate...

It turned to face Katsuya's figurine, the blond in question staring at it oddly. "Until a few years ago," the 'old man' began, "This village was peaceful... But then the Dark Lord Zorc assassinated the king, and changed the castle into a den of evil!" Katsuya almost jerked back as the figurine's expression even seemed to change, before quietly telling himself it was a trick of the light. "After that, monsters began appearing in our peaceful valley... And many of my fellow villagers have fallen prey to them." TERRIBLE. Er... For figurine-land he supposed.

"WHAT?" Mokuba jumped as Katsuya leaned in, shouting. "They can't get away with that! ALRIGHT! We'll take care of Zorc! So..." He continued leaning in, lowering his voice. "Let's see some gold pieces! Cough 'em up!"

Mokuba shook his head, groaning and face-palming again as Anzu balked. "How mean!" It wasn't mean! It was payment! Payment!

Honda as well shook his head, frowning. "Sheesh Jonouchi, this game really brings out your bad side..." No it didn't!

As he turned to answer to that with a frown, he tensed, listening as Anzu voiced his earlier suspicions. "Hey, Yugi," she asked, pointing to the village. "Is there a speaker in there? It sounds like the old man's really talking..." Anzu, it both looked _and_ sounded like a lot more than a speaker.

Yugi merely shrugged, having apparently not noticed that himself. "In a tabletop RPG, characters other than the adventurers are acted out by the Game Master," he explained, looking back at the board. "They're called NPCs..."

She nodded, while Katsuya turned to look at Bakura with an odd expression. "Then Bakura must be throwing his voice," she said, looking back at the board.

"I guess," Mokuba said as he followed their gaze with a shrug. Yea... That was it... Because that creepy ass grin was telling him otherwise! (Not to mention the 'old man's expression right now.) He turned as the old man continued, finding it a little more difficult to really get into the game now.

"Hear me adventurers," the figure cried from behind the miniature bar table. "Before you start on your journey, you should speak with the man in the corner... He can tell you of the safest route to Zorc's mansion!"

The group looked at the figure in question, moving the pieces over to 'talk' to him. "Hey," Katsuya said as he moved it over, watching as the figure appeared to turn to face him with a questioning look. Hey, that looked like... Like... "AHAHAA!" He laughed, Honda following his gaze before joining in.

As Mokuba looked at the two confused, Honda wiped a few tears from his eyes. "Oh god... Oh god the figure looks exactly like Karita..." The gym teacher... It looked exactly like-

The figurines words were probably what told him just what kind of mess they were in, particularly as he recalled Anzu's words earlier. '_Did you hear_,' she'd said, voice filled with worry.

'_Karita-sensei is in a coma_'. "It's you," the figurine shouted, Katsuya finding himself frozen in shock. "Jonouchi! Honda!" Oh dear god...

"Hey, Katsuya-nii," Mokuba said with a frown. "Did someone just call you?" Great... So that wasn't him then? Just... _Great_...

The others as well began looking down at the figurine, confused. "Save me you guys," 'Karita' was calling. "He turned me into a figurine!"

As the others continued muttering, Katsuya stared in silent shock as Bakura seemed to give a deathly cold glare to the figurine in question. 'Karita' turned briefly, shaking considerably for a moment as he continued to mutter '_help, please_' before finally caving. The figurine turned back to face the corner, seemingly in fear as he spoke again. "Z-Zorc castle," he muttered, Katsuya gulping as he connected the dots in his mind, "Is to the north outside the village... Stay out of the forest," he added, the figurine Karita shaking with fear, "It's full of monsters..."

"Got it," Katsuya said, voice fairly stiff compared to before. This was not good... Not good. If... Bakura was going to seal everyone in figurines... "Okay," he continued with a fairly nervous tone that had Mokuba looking at him with worried eyes. "Let's skip town and start hackin'! Lets... Lets head for Zorc Castle!" It was really hard to keep excited about this game now... Really hard actually. Sure he hated Karita but... Fact was, for all the guy's harshness, he was actually really fair about that class. Which meant he did alright in it, since Gym wasn't something he really had to pay much attention in. This was not good...

Not good at all, he thought as the group moved forwards, thoughts rendering him uncharacteristically silent. But if he said anything now, he could almost be certain that Bakura would just do whatever it was he'd planned to do anyways... Damn it... Damn it... "Alright," Bakura said as they entered the 'field'. "You've just entered an area where there's a danger of random monster encounter... From now on," he continued, grabbing something from beside the laptop, "There's a judgment roll every turn, to determine if monsters will appear. We will use these, 10-sided dice!"

Mokuba blinked, looking at the dice from his seat. "Ten sided dice huh..."

Beside him, Honda raised an eyebrow. "Never seen dice like that before..." He had though; when Mokuba was showing him a crap load of dice games a few days before. (The kid had magic dice hands, really. _Magic._)

The group turned as Bakura continued, eerie smile back on his face once more. "The area you're in right now has a monster encounter of 30%," he stated, before gesturing to the die. "The roll will be made with those two dice. The white die represents the single digit. The red die, however, represents the 'tens' digit... Giving you a number between 00 and 99. If," he continued, "The outcome is between 31 and 99, you will have avoided running into any monsters." He rattled the dice in his hands. "As the DM, I make the roll." The dice clattered to the ground, and Bakura continued. "The judgment roll is 21... A monster appears; level 3 goblin!"

Mokuba grinned as a figure appeared seemingly out of no where on the board. "Ah! A monster appeared!" The dice were handed to him, and he grinned; being the fastest character, he was the first to move.

"I was getting bored," Honda said with a grin. "Now the game really starts! _Dog pile_!"

As Bakura explained the rules of attack, Mokuba shook the dice and dropped them. "The rogue rolls," he shouted, before looking at the dice. "13!"

Bakura nodded, typing a few things into the laptop. "Based on the speed and strength of the rogue, taking into account flight, a roll of 40 or less kills the goblin..." He typed a few more things in as Mokuba grinned, his piece seemingly rushing through the board to take out the goblin. Even Honda seemed to be fairly excited about it, regardless of the fact that he didn't get to make an attack. "Alright! The goblin is defeated!" He looked at the others as they cheered, Katsuya attempting to lighten up even with the prospect of loosing their souls/bodies/whatever it was Bakura would take on the line. "The closer the roll to double zero," he began, "The more damage you do to an enemy. If you roll a 99 however," Bakura said darkly, "You have to take a penalty..."

A penalty..? Katsuya gulped, and the group of figurines continued forwards. Why did he have a feeling he knew what that penalty was... A really bad feeling..."Suddenly, you stop," Bakura stated with his DM voice, motioning to a figurine lying in the center of the field. "As up ahead, you see someone lying across your path." So they did. A cloaked, heavily robed figure just lying there in rags.

Mokuba leaned forwards, blinking. "Ah... He's passed out..." He turned as Bakura continued, listening.

"Without coming closer, you can't tell much about the prostrate figure lying before you. Is he alive? Is he dead? You can find out... Or you can move on without helping him. What do you do?"

Anzu frowned. "I feel sorry for him... Let's help!" She pointedly ignored Mokuba's statement of '_you can't help if he's dead..._', turning to the others.

Beside her, Yugi frowned. "It's kind of weird... It _could_ be a trap.."

Scratching his head, Katsuya sighed. Trap or no trap. Well, only one way to find out really... "Right! Leave this to me then," he said, mentally gulping. If he allowed himself to be scared, then what would happen when they really did lose their lives? Besides... If Bakura saw that he was afraid, it could make things worse. "First," he said as he moved the figure close, "I'll poke him with my sword!" Maybe if it was an enemy in disguise he'd blind him or something. Hopefully. Eh, who knew.

"The warrior prods the strange person with his sword," Bakura said calmly, the figure moving to do as he said. "Oh," he continued, a feigned tone of surprise in his voice. "He moves slightly. It appears to be a young man... He looks at you, and seems very afraid." Ok, not enemy then.

Katsuya frowned, looking down at the figurine. Probably another actual person... Damn it, how was this even possible? And what kind of sick game was this anyways? "Hey you," he shouted down at it. "We're not y'r enemy! Nothin' t' be scared of!" Message with double meaning; he _would_ get these guys out of there. ...Somehow.

The figurine looked down for a moment, before turning to the 'group'. "Please help me," he cried, before continuing as per the script. "A monster attacked me in the forest and stole my treasure!"

Honda smirked as the 'stranger' said this, looking over at Katsuya. "Treasure huh? Well, that should make you happy..." Ignoring the fact that Katsuya wasn't responding to that, he turned as the figurine spoke again.

"I was on my way to give it to the hero of the village," he said with wide worried eyes. "I had a treasure, a holy sword, the only thing that can truly defeat Zorc!"

That statement got a few people's attention, and Mokuba leaned over the table with wide eyes. "A sword that can beat Zorc?"

"Please," the figurine continued. "I beg you! Get back the treasure!" The others turned to Bakura, waiting for him to continue. "Do you respond to the young man's request," he asked, not taking his eyes off the figurines.

Anzu frowned, looking over at the others. "I don't know... That villager told us to stay _away_ from the forest..." Oh.. Yea, that was right... At the same time though... Aaaaaah damn it, he wasn't good at this kind of crap!

The youngest of the group nodded, while Honda raised an eyebrow. "Yea, but we're talking the 'only thing' that can beat Zorc here!"

Yugi frowned, looking to the others nervously. "I don't know... Can it really be that easy to find a key weapon to defeat Zorc..?" Pausing for a moment, he looked at the others before turning back to Bakura. "Alright," he said. "Take us to the forest!" Wait, he didn't even say anything- ...Oh well, too late now. Hadn't it been three against two though? Or was it a tie? He should probably be paying more attention to the 'game' than to Bakura now that he thought about it.

The figurine nodded. "Thank you very much! I'll come with you," he said, Bakura continuing from there as the pieces were moved towards a shadowed forest area. "Okay... You heed the young man's plea and head for the forest!" As the board flipped to reveal an even darker form of the woods in the place of a flurry of trees, he continued. "The shadowy green leaves rise around you, blocking the sun. This area has a monster encounter rate of 80%!" The albino ignored Yugi's incredulous shout of '_80%?_', rolling the dice. "Judgment roll! 5!" He turned to the others, shaking his head in false worry. "Not a good roll for you! The closer to 0, the stronger the monsters that appear! Five monsters emerge from the trees," he cried, the figurines appearing from the board with a snarl. "The players attack first!" Well at least something went right.

"Let's get them," Mokuba cried, shaking the dice as they were handed to him. He quickly frowned however, wincing. "Ack... 74..."

Bakura logged the numbers in, before speaking. "The rogue flies behind the first monster, only to be caught and forced to flee! Next!" The dice were handed to Katsuya, and the blond shook them.

Come on come on... Low numbers... "Alright... Second swing! I throw the 10-sided dice... _GO_!" They clattered the ground, and he groaned as well. Why was his luck so crappy! "82!"

In front of them, Bakura seemed to show no other reaction than his usual stare. "Bad luck," he shouted. "'Joey' needed a roll of 30 or less to hit Beega! Not only does he miss," he stated, Katsuya scowling as his figurine charged the beetle-like-monster, "He trips and falls, rendering him unable to fight next turn!" Stupid stupid... What kind of a name was '_BEEGA_', honestly...

"Ooooh," Honda said as Yugi and Mokuba looked up at the teen. "That sucks... Right," he continued as he took the dice. "Let me handle this one!" The dice clattered to the ground, and he watched the figurines expectantly.

To the group's slight surprise, Honda's figure blasted right through one of the monsters; "21," Bakura said as the struck monster vanished completely. "Very good, one monster is down!" Well hey! That wasn't too bad at all! Ignoring the fact that these figurines were clearly moving on their own now...

Yugi grinned, watching as the figure of 'Hiroto' holstered his gun with a smirk. "You did it!" He grabbed the dice, nodding partially to himself as he rolled. "My turn now!"

The dice clattered to the ground, and Bakura inputted the numbers once more. "25! The beast tamer can touch one monster with spell hands," he began, a pair of hands appearing on the board as he spoke, "And make him into an ally... The hand power has a success rate of 50%," he continued, inputting another number before continuing. "You succeed!"

He grinned, pointing at a round, sheep like monster on the board. "Okay! I choose you!" The other monsters reeled back as the 'hands' wrapped around their ally, before they cleared to reveal a much cheerier looking creature.

"The evil has disappeared from Poki," Bakura stated as the monster moved to stand by the Beast Tamer's side. "He is now your ally!" For a brief moment, Katsuya had to raise an eyebrow as the monster let out a small '_Poki_!' Ok... He wasn't going to even think about how the monsters had 'souls' too... And what was this thing a pokemon?

The others looked at the field, Mokuba frowning slightly. "There's still three monsters left though..."

Anzu nodded, grabbing the dice. "I'll take it from here!" As Yugi shouted a '_go for it!_', she dropped the die only for Bakura to stare in surprise. Hell everyone was staring he figured.

"00," he shouted, before inputting the data. "Amazing! A super critical hit! This means that Anzu is able to use a top level spell regardless of apprentice status!"

As he said this, Anzu's figurine raised its arms in the air, a large explosion appearing on the board as the remaining monsters vanished. That was astonishingly realistic. The reaction could only be summed up with one thing really- "Wowww," Yugi cried. "You blew away three monsters! You did it Anzu!"

Mokuba as well stared, Honda and Katsuya merely blinking. "Hehhh... So that's what a super critical hit can do... Well," he said as he leaned over the board. "Let's keep going..!" He frowned however, as the 'stranger' began to laugh. What... As Mokuba cut himself off, Katsuya had to frown slightly. Alright... Why was their party member suddenly cackling villainously...

The group reeled back as the figurine began to physically shift, laughing. "So you are the five heroes who would defy me," he said, Katsuya growing pale as Bakura's expression grew dark and smug. "You fell for my trap and entered the forest of death," the figurine continued with a cackle. "This will be your grave!" As the others stared, Bakura continued, the frightening smirk never leaving his face. "What's this," he said, the five figurines watching in apparent horror. Bakura's voice held a false image of shock, along with an almost mocking tone. "The young man's form changes and grows before your very eyes... For he is none other than..." Fuck. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck, Katsuya thought. Don't finish that- "The Dark Master Zorc!" AUUUUGHH.

Damn it! "Zorc!" Mokuba and Yugi's jaws dropped, as did the others. They ran into the boss already! The characters were level one, how were they supposed to beat that! Katsuya watched in horror as the Zorc figurine, a good five times larger than their own, continued to laugh madly.

"Before you die," he cackled, grotesque face shifting into an unreadable expression. "There's one thing you should know! There is no sword in the world that can defeat _ME_!" Well wasn't that just _wonderful_. As Zorc continued laughing, Bakura looked at the others with narrowed eyes, before he grabbed the dice. "The players," he began, smirking, "Completely decieved by his lies, are caught with their defenses down! Therefore, Zorc takes the first attack... And his success is determined by this roll!" The dice fell. The feeling from before came back all to violently, and briefly he wondered if he was going to be sick. Something was going to go wrong... Right now, something was...

As the dice clattered to the ground, spinning, Katsuya felt that cold feeling in his stomach increase to just about every part of his body. "Mokuba," he whispered, the boy looking up at him with a frown. "We need to leave..." Screw their chances; those chances had just jumped out of the window like Gozaburo on a bad day. "...Now."

The boy's frown deepened, and he looked back at the table a moment. "Now," he asked, still frowning as the dice continued to spin, "What... What do you mean, Katsuya-n-" He turned as the dice finished rolling, the rest of the group staring in shock. Shit... No... Shit not those numbers! While the others were merely groaning Katsuya wondered if all the blood had drained from his face just yet. Not this-

"00," Bakura shouted, turning to the players with a wicked grin. "Super Critical hit! Zorc's shadow power assaults the players, and his target is _YOU_," he cried, pointing directly at the one in the middle. "**MOKUBA**!" The boy blinked with shock, watching as Bakura continued to grin maliciously.

No... SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT! "**_MIND DOLL_**!" Katsuya watched with horror as Mokuba's body went tense a moment. For a brief second, it was as though he'd been shocked still; his eyes widened, hair stood on end... And just as quickly, those same eyes lost their colour and the boy's body keeled to the ground, Katsuya grabbing for him as he fell. No... This was almost exactly what Kaiba was like, no... NO!

Katsuya turned to Bakura, eyes wide with rage... "YOU BASTARD!" The others jumped at the outburst, staring at him in shock. "WHAT DID YOU DO!"

"Sheesh Jonouchi, calm down," Honda said as he stared at his friend with fairly wide eyes. "We'll call a hospital, he probably just fainted..."

The blond turned on Honda, snarling. "You call that _FAINTING_? His eyes are **OPEN** you moron! LOOK AT HIM!" Before anyone could respond to that, a tiny, scared voice came from the table, the others turning with shock.

"K-Katsuya-nii..." Katsuya froze, turning to look at the table with horror as the small, lead figurine form of Mokuba's fairy character looked back at him. "Katsuya-nii! W... What... What happened! Why is everything..." He stared, slowly blinking before he moved his gaze back from the table to the albino across the table.

Seto was going to slaughter him when she woke up, Katsuya thought to himself as he turned to Bakura with wide and rage filled eyes. Cut him into tiny pieces that no one would ever find, if he was lucky.

But he was going to put the white haired bastard before him through **HELL** before that happened.

* * *

AN: Don't you just hate it when you're playing a game, minding your own business and _HOLY SHIT YOUR SOUL GOT STOLEN_. Worst. Luck. Ever. For a while, I wasn't gonna do this... But the image of Mokuba the figurine was to adorable to pass up. Interesting story on that actually; I got the race from a friend (BlackRockTaffy), after giving her the list the manga provides... She had originally picked the exact same combination that Miho Nosaka from the first series anime picked. Which, of course, had me saying '_Taffy, I don't want Mokuba to be a Miho. I want Mokuba to be cool._' (No offense to Miho or anything but... Yea. Cute and cool are two different things.) In her defense, she hadn't seen the first series anime... Anyways, in the end I picked a rogue. Cause they're small and speedy. (Or rather, speedy and good for the smaller races.)

Oddly enough, right after this, I ended up drawing a bunch of Seto figurines as well, even though Kaiba goes nowhere near the game... Hnnn...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

We have two reviewers today!

First, from the very avid reader and reviewer Iona - I think I'll go with 'fluffy'. I like the way it rolls of my tongue. Fluffy. _Fluffyyyyyy_. -stabbed by Bakura- Anyways. Jonouchi WAS pretty spaztic about the Monster World game wasn't he? Even after getting his soul sucked in he was gung-ho about it! I just hope I didn't kill it with his paranoia... Though now that it's in the open from _this_ chapter, he doesn't really bother hiding those thoughts in the next ones. Because it's fairly out in the open what's going on, so really, it's all just hack and slash from there. It will never get boring for these people... Never never never. xD

Oh wow! I had actually forgotten that he put that thing together... (The pop-up-pirate mock up I mean.) It's been a while since I read the early-early chapters... Huh... I had figured he was good with things like that, but I can't believe I forgot that it was a canon fact... (He actually says, flat out 'I'm good with my hands', as he apparently puts together a lot of 'garage kits'.) Also, this review had me re-read the Zombire chapters. ZOMMMMMMBIREEEEEEEE! (There's a card for him too. oAo ) Suddenly I feel unworthy of this compliment... I try to put in the little things, but I forgot completely about this... o-o;

Second review! Please welcome Lurkerella! Good to hear you like the fanfic! As for Seto being a girl's name... Wow. I... Did not know that. Most of my reasoning behind the name difference is in the kanji rather than the name actually... See if you can find out what their names mean! I know that Seto Kaiba's name uses the kanji for 'rapids' (Which shows up in both girls and boys names), and the kanji for 'person', or 'hito'. Specifically, that last kanji is read as 'To', and is a common suffix for boys names in Japan. For girls, it isn't quite as common... At least, it wasn't last I checked. Names tend to be 'upgraded' a fair amount of times in Japan from what I can tell, so you never know, it could be very unisex now. Thanks for bringing that up though, it's a neat fact! (Also wow. TWO girls you know named 'Seto'? That's crazy.)

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Corner/Guide**

The section that appears more and more to be running out of catchphrases! It didn't even compliment itself, see?

'Yangire', a term that Jonouchi mentions mentally, is similar to a 'Yandere', which is derived from the words 'yan' for mental/emotional illness and 'dere' which is effectively 'to show affection' (Or along those lines)... Except where the Yandere is all sweet on the outside, and snaps into a crazed _something_ when the target of their affections is taken (Bringing 'she'll do anything for love' to the VERY NEXT LEVEL), the 'Yangire' doesn't even have the love part. A Yangire looks and acts extremely innocent and calm... And then just goes completely batshit crazy. 'Higurashi' is loaded with this at _certain points_; specifically, outside of each character's individual personality, just about anyone who completely looses it in that show is Yangire. Needless to say, if you don't count the fact that Bakura and 'Yami Bakura' are two completely different people, you can see where the comparison comes into place.

Jonouchi's mention of a 'yangire smile' refers to the absolutely crazy grin a yangire tends to have... Quite unlike the 'stepford smile' mentioned much earlier in the fanfic to describe Kaiba's false one; the 'Stepford Smile' references the book and movie 'The Stepford Wives' (Creepy 'perfect wife' movie. Hihhhh.), and has three categories. One obviously centers on the book's theme, and doesn't match Kaiba in any way whatsoever; perfect smile, submissive 'housewife' (The smile hides a sad, weakened person. Second one hides a shallow, or even 'soulless' one.). The category that Kaiba fits in however is very very different, and also very blunt. To quote TV Tropes on the subject - 'This smile hides a _very unstable _and _crazy_ person.' - Fits pre-mind crush Kaiba to a _tee_... if you think of the 'smile' as Kaiba's job. (Stepford smilers in this category and the second one are very... Very... Obsessive about whatever it is their life is meant to revolve around. _VERY. OBSESSIVE_.) Oddly enough, this category is also home to Bakura and Malik...

Some of the dialogue that Mokuba uses in the later half of this chapter comes from what Jonouchi was supposed to say. Speaking of Jonouchi, he should probably start listening to his paranoid side, shouldn't he? He really DOES get into the game though. REALLY. It was actually a little hard to get him to do that for obvious reasons... On a side note, anyone else see the 'pokemon' similarities with 'Poki' saying... 'Poki'? Good thing nothing else does that. Oh wait... Scratch that. Look at when Kaiba first uses duel disks; after winning with Blue Eyes, he says 'RETURN, BLUE EYES!', at which point the duel disk releases an enormous beam of light, 'pulling' the dragon back into the disk. Or at least that's what it looks like in the manga.

An interesting note, but 'Zorc's human disguise closely resembles a Bakura (The good one) in the manga, at least in facial expressions. Another interesting note is that, much like Bakura's hair when he's 'Yami Bakura', when Zorc sheds his human disguise, the hair pokes up like large horns before making the transition. On the topic of Zorc... Yes. It's a reference to _that_ Zorc. Thankfully however, there is no suggestive (Bit more than suggestive really) snake there. There is only pants.

From above, when mentioning Miho; she originally appeared once in the manga (Specifically chapter nine... Where Chono-sensei appears and gets puzzle shadow game-ed.), as a crush of Honda's. He asked Jonouchi for help in gaining her attention, and Jonouchi ended up going to Yugi... Afterward, Miho politely said she wasn't interested, and from that point on, Honda was on the 'main cast'. On a side note, the Miho in the manga was quiet, as well as the school's assistant librarian. In the first series anime however, she was added as another 'main character', and very... Well.. Different. Namely in that she was suddenly a ditz that spoke in third person. (She _did_ have good points though.) During the 'Monster World' episode of the anime, she picks fairy for her race, and 'merchant' for her class. (Her excuse later is that she thought she could get lots of money that way.)

For those wondering, the races in the Monster World game are Human, Elf, Half-Elf, Hobbit(Lord of the Rings anyone?), Dwarf, Pixie-Fairy (A race that has a flight advantage), and 'Birdtail' (Another race with flight capabilities.). The classes however, were Warrior, Magician, Priest, Martial Artist (Fairly certain that one translates to 'Monk' for DnD), Magic Gunman, Merchant, Beast Tamer, Bard, Enchanter, Diabolist, Illusionist (I keep wondering why these last three aren't grouped together.), annnnd Thief... Which I translated into 'rogue'. You'll notice later that I add 'Ranger' as a class. Because... Well, I had a feeling that Magic Gunman replaced it, but all the same, _magic gunman_. Only Honda could pull that off and do alright.

This arc isn't just any arc guys- get ready for some serious business! (And such.) See you next time!


	17. Chapter 16

**One Inch Terror

* * *

**

He was pretty sure that the shit hit the fan when Bakura pointed at them and yelled 'Mind Doll'. He didn't know what it meant obviously, but given that Mokuba's reaction was to collapse in a state not unlike his older sister's, and adding to the fact that 'mind doll' sounded a little like '_mind crush_', which was apparently what Yugi had said when putting Kaiba in that state... The state of 'soullessness', the coma-like state that Bakura had said just the other day was what his friends had all entered. The state that Mokuba was in right now.

The others were shaking his body, trying to wake him up. Katsuya was just staring Bakura down with horror and rage as the albino chuckled. "You bastard... What did you **DO**!"

Bakura merely chuckled as the others turned to follow his gaze, smirking. "What did I do..? I'm just the DM... I just followed the rules to keep the game going..." He growled in response, gritting his teeth before continuing his verbal attack.

"**BULLSHIT**! WHAT DID YOU DO!" He ignored the nervous tug that Yugi was giving him, the almost frightened stares of shock the others were giving him. Instead, he continued to keep his eyes set forward, watching as Bakura continued to smirk.

The teen looked down at the board almost daring the others to follow. And for a good frew moments, Katsuya was hesitant to follow his gaze. "Well... I suppose I should tell you that this game you're playing," Bakura added, "Is the _ultimate_ role playing game..." His grin grew, Katsuya clenching his fists as he shook. "I told you didn't I? In role-playing games, you have to _become_ the characters! You transcend reality to become the people of an imaginary world and live the adventure that unfolds!"

Katsuya gripped the sides of the table, ignoring the gasps of the others. "_TELL ME_! What did you DO to Mokuba!" He should have just refused to come in, done something, anything to keep everyone from coming in the room... And instead...

Laughter filled the room from Bakura's side, and he looked back at the table. "Don't worry," he said, tone far to pleased than could be healthy. "Mokuba is alive and well! ...In Monster World..." The moment he said that, the entire group could do nothing but look down. And conveniently enough, at that exact moment, if you listened carefully, you could hear someone...

"K-Katsuya-nii..?" The blond's eyes widened as he looked to the forest area of the board, Mokuba's figurine slowly turning around. Oh god... The figurine looked around, as though confused. "What is this... Where is everyone..." The figure looked up, its eyes widening as the others stood shocked into silence. "Why..." He stumbled backwards, looking up in terror as those around the table drew back in horror. "Why is everyone so... So... ...Gn... YAAAAAAAHH!"

Anzu and Yugi leaned over the table, staring down in shock as the tiny, whispering scream sounded over the table. "I wasn't hearing things..!" Yugi nodded in agreement as the woman continued. "The rogue figurine just screamed..." Beside them, Katsuya grit his teeth, eyes caught half way between a frown and an expression of horrified worry.

"Mokuba!" Katsuya leaned past the others as the figure of the boy shouted up for help, his eyes wide with panic. "Mokuba you hang in there! I'm gonna get you out!"

As he said this, Bakura's laughter became louder. That rat... That pasty, white haired rat... "It's like I said," the albino began, grinning. "In this game, the player's fate is entirely decided by the roll of the dice... When Dark Master Zorc's attack is the super critical 00," he began, the group watching as 'Mokuba' shrank back under the Boss Monster's gaze, "Or if the player rolls a fumble of 99, the player's soul will be sealed into their figurine by the power of darkness!" More laughter, and he continued to smirk. "The only way to retrieve his soul is to defeat the Dark Master Zorc..."

The dice were snatched up, Bakura looking at Katsuya with a raised eyebrow. "You filthy, lying bastard..." His eyes narrowed as he looked towards the 'Boss', and he continued. "I'm gonna take him out now! Go!" The others were shouting... All he could hear was a dull roar as he tossed them to the ground however, thoughts clinging to getting everyone as far away as possible. As the dice clattered to the ground however, he only just realized what it was that the others were shouting at him about.

"Jonouchi! Jonouchi-kun," Yugi shouted as Bakura turned to face the blond with a wicked grin.

He found out fairly quick what the panic was about. "Now Jonouchi... It wasn't your turn to attack!," the teen began, Katsuya tensing. Not his turn? But he was supposed to go right after- His eyes widened as Bakura continued, the teen across from them continuing to grin madly. "Remember? Your last move had you out of play this turn! Let me show you what happens when you break the rules of the game!" Shit... Bakura's finger was aimed towards him. Shit... "_MIND DOLL_!" Shit... He closed his eyes, bracing himself for the inevitable only to frown. Nothing... Nothing happened... Instead, he heard shouts.

"ANZU!" What? Katsuya looked at Anzu's fallen body in shock, turning back to the front where Bakura was scowling. Anzu had... He watched as Yugi caught the woman shouting before turning to the board. "Anzu! ANZU!" Yugi screamed in a panic before turning to Bakura with wide eyes, Katsuya clenching his fists. "Nn..."

Bakura snorted, watching as the dice continued to spin and the magician's figurine moved to attempt to comfort Mokuba. "It seems your friend decided to take the blow for you... But all for nothing I'm afraid!" They looked down at the dice, Katsuya inwardly groaning. 99... FUCK... Of all the rolls he could get, he got a FUMBLE! "Not only is your gaming etiquette absolutely atrocious Jonouchi, your roll is the worst possible!" He grinned madly, pointing to the blond. "PREPARE YOURSELF FOR THE SAME FATE AS YOUR FRIENDS! Mind Doll!" This time, there was nothing to take the brunt of the attack for him...

For a brief moment, everything went black. He felt weak, felt himself slip away... And then, as he heard Yugi shout his name, everything abruptly came back. Trees made of plastic towered around them, Zorc's figurine standing even taller than that and suddenly, the ceiling looked a lot farther away than it had before. "W-WHAT THE!" He looked himself over, finger-less hands still gripping a sword and shield. Wide eyes, no nose (Erk.)... His 'shoes' and 'clothes' were his body and feet... He continued to stare at himself, before watching as Mokuba and Anzu turned towards him.

Anzu held her head, unable to move as Mokuba could with her legs glued in position. "Oh Jonouchi," She cried, shaking her head. "Not you too!"

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba shouted as he ran over, the figurine's ability of flight allowing him to move around even now it seemed. The boy looked up at him, still a good 'head' shorter than the others even as a figurine. Painted eyes left little room for hidden emotions, and it looked as though the boy was doing all he could to not just break down right there. "Katsuya-nii..! What do we do!"

He winced, arms somewhat holding the boy close as Mokuba cried. Scared... This entire thing had just sprung up on him and it was probably now just as bad as the 'CapMon' prison all those months ago. The 'power of darkness'... "I don't know... I don't..." He bit his lip, only to find that the form of the figurine had no teeth. Damn it... Damn it! "I'm sorry..." If he'd said something... Anything instead of pushing those thoughts back, or wondering when it would be too late... "So sorry..." And now that it really was...

Anzu looked up at Yugi as he shouted down at them, eyes wide with fear. "Yugi... Yugi... What do we do!" If only he could answer that...

They looked up, watching as the small teen steeled himself and turned to Bakura. "Bakura..." Yugi's face was red with anger, and one could only guess where this was going to go. Bakura, however, did not seem one bit affected by this.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Think before you act Yugi," the albino said with a smile. "If you and Honda become figurines as well, there won't be anyone left to roll the dice..." The grin grew as the others tensed, and Bakura continued. "If that happens, then the game is automatically over! And you five will be trapped in this world forever..." As Mokuba drew closer to Katsuya, the blond repressed a shudder. Not good... Not good... "Until the next time I use you in a game of course..." Like hell he wanted that!

He bit his lip again, before looking upwards. "There's no choice... We have to fight!" Anzu nodded, and he looked down at Mokuba. The boy was staring at the ground, silent. They had to do something... Anything... "C'mon kid... We gotta do this..." They _had_ to! "You gotta make it out, even if we don', so you can see Kaiba alright?" Though they were sure as hell trying for a 'perfect score' in escaping.

Mokuba looked up at Katsuya a moment, before nodding hesitantly and drawing back to take his place on the board. "...O... Okay, Katsuya-nii..." He was still obviously scared (Hell he was scared), but nonetheless... If the past was any sign, he'd be strong. Enough to pull through this for the sake of anyone else he knew... Something that he needed to do as well.

"Yug'," the blond shouted as he looked up. Nothing else to do... Nothing but this! And they'd do it! "Roll the dice in our place!"

As the teen nodded, Bakura continued laughing. "Very good," he cheered, giving a false applause. "Continue the game! The Magic Gunman can attack Zorc this turn!" Honda gritted his teeth, taking the dice as the albino continued. "Though I should warn you... On any turn this battle, you might be frozen in fear by Zorc's powerful aura!" Wait what? They didn't have to deal with that! What was Bakura doing, pulling rules out of a hat? "For that," he continued, watching as Honda shook the dice with a scowl. "We have to check the gunman's courage score. Roll the dice; if you roll less than 70%, then you can conquer your fear and move first... But," he said with a dark grin, chuckling as he spoke. "If you fail, Zorc makes the first move... Now, roll! Let the dice fall where they will!"

Honda gripped the dice firmly, scowling. "You gotta be kidding! _Me_," he shouted, his shaking fist giving him away. "Afraid! I'm not afraid of you," he continued, finally dropping the dice. "My hand is shaking with _anger_ Bakura!" Ohhh Honda... Great guy but that was not the best way to throw dice at all...

The DM merely smirked. "That's for the dice to say," he said as they spun.

"Go for it Honda," Yugi shouted as the dice clattered around on the table before coming to a stop. "You can do it!" He better, or-

Apparently however, the dice had another idea. "94!" Shit, it was a missed turn then! Honda reeled back from the table, fists clenched tight. "This is **BULLSHIT**! I'm not scared of a damn figurine!" They knew that, but regardless...

Bakura simply laughed, smirking as he took the dice. "Hahaha... There is no '_You_', Honda," he said with a grin, "There is only your _character_! The Magic Gundman is frozen in fear," the teen continued with a laugh, grabbing his dice. "He curses himself for his cowardice!"

"_You dirty fucking_-"

"Zorc winds the initiative," Bakura continued, laughing. "Shadow Power! Attack Roll!" The dice clattered to the ground, and Yugi and Honda both stared in shock. Impossible! This was impossible!

Katsuya had a feeling he knew what those looks meant... "**WHAT**," Yugi shouted, turning on Bakura angrily. "**TWO** super criticals! Bakura," he roared, sounding just a shy bit less like his 'dark self'. "What did you do to the dice!" Probably nothing good, Katsuya thought, as the albino simply laughed. If everything else going on was any sign.

Turning his hand on Honda, they watched powerlessly as the next 'player' was killed. "The dice don't lie," Bakura said with a smirk, before Honda's body fell to the floor. "Only one left! HAHAHAHAHA!"

"Honda!" The others turned as the 'Gunman's figure jerked to life, a 'shiver' running through it a moment. Abruptly however, it began tensing with anger, Honda curling on himself as he curse himself.

"Damn it... Damn it," he shouted, shaking his head. "Believe me! I wasn't afraid! Not a bit!"

Anzu sighed, looking over from where she stood. "We know Honda... We'll get out of this somehow though, alright?" The others nodded, mostly keeping quiet as they attempted to calm down. All this crap going on... Katsuya shook slightly with anger again, attempting to ease the situation by mentally picturing him beating Bakura to a pulp when this was over. Provided Yugi let him he supposed... After all, he dealt with Kaiba rather soundly. (Enough that he wouldn't be able to stomach punching the woman right now god damn it...) Speaking of the guy...

Above in the 'real world', Yugi was livid. "HONDA," he shouted, leaning over the table before turning to Bakura again. "You..."

"Well Yugi," Bakura said as he folded his hands over. "You're the only one left... Now you must roll the dice and move the pieces all on their own..." A dark smile came over him, and he looked the boy in the eye. "And before I forget..." Yea, because Bakura forgot anything... "If the character's hit points reach 0, they WILL die! Not just in game... But in the real world!" FUCK. This was complete and utter... AUGH... Zero hitpoints and they were _dead_? He watched as Mokuba drew back at that, before turning to look up at their 'opponent' with a hard gaze. They had between 12 and 25 points for that right? In that case, they'd just have to fight as hard as they could! Above him, the conversation continued, and had the figurines been made with teeth he'd likely be grinding them right now. "Be careful with the lives of your friends... Hnhnhnhnhn..."

Katsuya looked up as Yugi grabbed the dice, the boy's eyes filled with worry. The lives of everyone were literally in his hands... He swallowed, facing his friend with a confident stare. "You can do it Yug," he shouted, the other three nodding as they followed his gaze. "We know you can!"

"YEA! Kill him," Honda was shouting, Anzu sending up her own encouragements as Mokuba watched silently.

They watched as Yugi's eyes widened, before he nodded. The DM in the meantime, merely continued with that same eerie smile that got them into the mess. "The battle continues," he stated, "The magic gunman gets one more chance to attack Zorc. Throw the dice Yugi!"

Katsuya looked up as Yugi nodded, before the teen said something that had everyone staring in shock. "Before that Bakura," Yugi shouted, holding his puzzle. "Transfer my soul to the miniature as well!" WHAT?

The albino as well stared, caught completely off guard by the request. "Wha... What! What did you just say," he shouted as he jerked back against his chair. "You _WANT_ to become a miniature!" For this one time, it looked like they were having the same reaction. W... What? What was Yugi doing?

"Yugi!" Mokuba looked up with wide and confused eyes, the others mimicking the expression. Why... Why was he doing this, if they were all there... "What are you doing!"

Yugi nodded, ignoring the cries of himself and the others. "I'll fight together with my friends on the board! If they're putting their lives on the line, then so will I!" Yea, but who was going to roll the dice! Unless... Hang on, that's right, there were two... But that couldn't be it. Katsuya looked at the puzzle, frowning. He knew there were two Yugi's, but that couldn't possibly work with souls could it... If it did...

From across the table, Bakura studied his opponent's face a moment before shrugging. "Well... It would be easy to grant that wish... But if you, the last player becomes a miniature, who will throw the dice?" At the silence he got in response, he laughed. "Ah well... The DM is supposed to be of service to the players... In that case," he shouted, holding his hand out to Yugi. "I'll do as you say! And with this, it's **GAME OVER**!"

A gust of non-existent wind, and the group turned to watch as Yugi's figurine began looking around in confusion. Ignoring the absence of a 'thud' from Yugi's body, Katsuya turned to face his friend with a worried expression. "Aw Yug'... Yah didn' have to do that..."

Mokuba nodded, looking at the teen with wide eyes. "Yea... Who..." He choked, looking over to the slightly taller figurine and frowning. "Who'll roll the dice now..?"

Before he could answer, they found themselves looking up at Bakura with angry stares. "AHAHAHAA! All the players have been turned into lead figurines," the albino shouted, looking down at them before moving to clean up the game. "A perfect victory for the dark mast-" He froze as the sound of chuckling came from the other side, the group below turning to look at Yugi's still moving body with wide eyes.

Holy shit.. Holy fucking shit... There really were two souls... The other Yugi crossed his arms, dice held between his fingers. "We were in the middle of a battle weren't we," he said with a smirk, clearly relishing the look on Bakura's face. As he received nothing but silence in response, the smirk grew. "Well, I'm rolling... The Magic Gunman attacks Zorc!" They really were two souls but...

What the hell did that mean then? The dice clattered to the ground, Honda somehow knowing just what he rolled as he turned on Zorc with a grin. "I hit! '03'!" Drawing the gun from his holster, he shot at Zorc with a shout. "**THUNDER GRENADE**!" From the barrel of the gun came a solid beam of energy, burning a path forwards with no sign of stopping. The demon hissed as his left hand was blasted off, grabbing his wrist with a roar of pain as the others cheered.

"ALRIGHT! Nice shootin' tex!" The others grinned, Mokuba looking over at the fallen hand as it began to smoke into non-existence.

He laughed, shaking his head with disbelief. After all... The other Yugi never lost, so they were in the clear right? He never lost, even against his older sister, so clearly against this guy..! "You hit him dead on," the boy said with a grin, the combined events going on around them becoming almost too much to really handle properly. "You _BLASTED HIS HAND CLEAN OFF_!" It was like a bizarre, twisted dream... Everything was just too unreal to actually be happening, everything was just...

Katsuya turned to the 'other Yugi', the real one following his gaze in silence. '_Two masters_?,' the monster Yugi had tamed was muttering, and he grinned. Yea. Two. "Hey Yugi," he shouted up, the teen looking back down in question. "Our lives are in your hands, got it? You gotta defeat Zorc!" He had to... It was all they had now!

The teen nodded, face stern as he looked them over. "I will! Now then," he said as he turned to Bakura. "Let's get on with the game!"

As the two 'real people' continued on with the game, Katsuya found himself shuddering with the reminder of 'death'. "Hihhh..." He couldn't die here! He had to get Mokuba out first at least, so that if Kaiba ended up dying she didn't hunt him down as a ghost or something... (Though he wouldn't mind seeing her again in person...) He couldn't die, and neither could the others!

Some of whom were voicing those thoughts. "I can't die looking like this," Honda was muttering, 'shirtless', caped figurine looking himself over in distaste. Yugi laughed nervously, he and Mokuba shaking their heads in response. Really, that wasn't the main problem...

Anzu as well rolled her eyes, crossing her arms at the statement. "Come on guys... We have to believe in Yugi... Other Yugi... Er..." She looked over at the 'small' Yugi, who merely laughed in response. "Oh whatever," she finished with a huff, Yugi continuing to laugh in response. They turned their attention back to the conversation above, listening as Bakura spoke with that same 'higher than thou' tone that was grating on just about everyone's nerves.

As Bakura finished speaking however, they quickly found themselves looking at Zorc's disembodied hand with shock and disgust. It seemed nothing was as easy as it should have been really... "Zorc's hand.." Mokuba drew back, kicking the hand that landed next to him away in question as it mutated and divided into piles of mush. "It's doing something!"

Katsuya swallowed as a pair of monsters appeared from the piles, shifting and changing until there was a large eyeball and some sort of dragon. He scowled, taking up a fighting stance of sorts as the monsters hissed angrily at them. "Yea it's doin' somethin' alright, it just turned inteh mosnters!"

Zorc laughed, the two monsters hissing with him. "Any piece of flesh cut from my body transforms into a monster under _my_ command! AHAHAHAAA!"

"Shoot," Yugi said with a frown, 'Poki' floating up beside him with a worried look. "That's not fair at all..!"

The little guy appeared to cross his arms, turning to his 'team' sadly. "Pokii! Zorc is the source of all darkness," he began, soft voice barely audible behind the 'poki' noises he was making. "He'll continue to spawn them until you finish him once and for all!" Well wasn't that convenient...

As if to support this statement, the two monsters cackled and turned on them. "GWahahaa! Leave them to us Master Zorc," the dragon shouted, Katsuya grimacing in response. Talking monsters... That was... That was pretty weird given it used to be Zorc's hand. On the bright side, it was probably for the best, as the demon nodded and crossed his arms. "Very well! Kill them!" Dammmmn it...

"Running away Zorc," Yugi said with a frown, Mokuba nodding in agreement.

As Zorc turned to loom briefly over the group, the 'fairy' gulped. Zorc was closest to him... But... But he couldn't be scared, he reminded himself. Not if he was going to make it out of this! "Y-Yea! Fight us right here!"

The demon merely laughed, his toothy grin putting fear into each of their hearts. "I have a special place prepared for our fight," he said, voice scraping on their ears. "Make your way to my castle while the fires of hatred still burn in you heart! If you CAN that is... AHAHAHAHA!" With that he vanished from sight completely, as though he had never even existed.

"Ghh... ASSHOLE," Katsuya shouted, Honda joining in the cursing as Anzu made to cover a fussing Mokuba's ears. "WE'LL GET TO YAH, NO MATTER WHAT IT TAKES!"

Honda nodded, scowling. "YOU'RE GOING DOWN ZORC! YOU HEAR THAT? DOWN!"

The voice of the DM came over, and Mokuba jumped as his turn arrived. Gulping again, he fingered the twin daggers his figurine was armed with, before turning to the 'Other Yugi' with semi-trusting eyes. This was the first time... The first time he'd ever been on Yugi's side of the board instead of his own. This time... He swallowed, turning back to Zorc. This time, they were on the same side... It was scary but... At the same time, he had this feeling... The dice rolled, and even without looking at the number, Mokuba found himself grinning maliciously. In an instant, his figurine vanished from sight, the others jumping at the act while 'Yugi' smirked. "SUPER CRITICAL!" A rush of energy hit him, wings taking him off into the air as the monsters looked around for their opponent. No one could see him... No one would know where he was, not until it was too late..!

"Mokuba!" Katsuya also looked around as the boy's light giggles sounded around him, eyes wide. Where was he..? He turned to look at 'Yugi', blinking as the teen explained. Of course, that wasn't the only thing he heard, and soon his attention was drawn back to their opponent.

There was a piercing scream as the first of the two monsters was cut in four, seemingly from no where. The giant eyeball seemed to comically divide almost like a watermelon before disappearing, 'Yugi' still smirking as the act was made. "As a rogue, Mokuba has the ability to vanish completely from sight to sneak up on his opponents... He attacks with both speed and stealth!" At those words, the monster vanished from sight, Mokuba appearing in his place with the two daggers still in hand. "And he defeats your monster!"

Katsuya grinned, cheering. "Alright! Another critical hit!" He watched as Mokuba shook with excitement, still grinning from the energy rush.

"T-That was amazing!" He bounced on the spot, the one remaining monster scowling as it looked at the boy. "Amazing!" Oh boy, if this was anything like giving the kid sugar and caffeine...

The group watched as Bakura seemed to stumble a bit, before Katsuya snapped him out of it. After all... If they couldn't have a break, neither could he! "Hey, get movin' jack ass!" He ignored Anzu's comment of '_Will you watch your language around the kid!_', and continued. "Mokuba killed 'm right? So go on," he added with a smirk. "What happens next?"

Another pause, before Bakura began typing things into the laptop. "Tch... Seeing his companion slain by the rogue so unexpectedly, the dragon hesitates and looses his next turn!" He didn't seem too pleased about that at all, now did he? About time! "The Beast Tamer, being closest to the dragon, takes the next turn," Bakura finished, still glaring at the group.

Yugi nodded as he looked the dragon over, crossing his arms. "This monster is pretty strong," he said to himself as Anzu nodded in agreement. "It'd be great to have him on our side!" Hey, that wasn't such a bad idea...

"Poki," the monster he already had on hand said. "I'll hold him down then!"

Another nod. "Ok! I'm capturing you!" Yugi's turn then!

Above, Bakura nodded before smirking. "The Beast Tamer's hands glow with magic," he began, his grin becoming more menacing. "But until a few moments ago, the 'Zorc Arm Dragon' was a part of Zorc himself! The potential to tame him is low, only 10%!" Ok, Katsuya thought as the dice clattered to the ground. He didn't know much math, but he was pretty sure that meant that Yugi needed a roll of 10 or LESS. Shit... His annoyance increased as Bakura's smirk grew. Damn it... All these damn rules were pretty much just being created to mess with their heads, he knew it! The smirk suddenly faded... Katsuya blinked, watching as the dice clattered around the arena. Now why was... Ah!

"One of the many ways of cheating with dice," 'Yugi' stated with a smirk, the dice hitting each other as though they were battle tops. "The double hit! The same form of your 'run of criticals' Bakura!" True to his words, the dice clattered to the ground and Yugi nodded as the 'score' became 'set'. The roll had been made; and there was no way it wasn't good.

The large 'hands' appeared around the dragon, and he smiled. "Another critical," Yugi shouted, the dragon squirming as it was enveloped completely by the pair of hands. "That means I can capture him! Come forth!" The hands vanished as the dragon, now far less menacing in appearance, floated over alongside 'Poki' to start a conversation with him. Alright! That was both monsters gone then! And to top that off... "Okay," Yugi said with a grin. "Now I've got a new monster!" And all because of some handy tricks with- Wait...

Katsuya scowled, looking back up at 'Yugi'. If 'Yugi' was actually cheating, that had to mean only one thing... 'Yugi' would never cheat, unless... "Tch... So that rat Bakura was cheating!" Ignoring Mokuba as the boy rolled his eyes with a '_no duh!_', he continued. "Hey Yug'! Is it true that you can control the dice rolls?" Just to make sure now... Since... 'Yugi' also had insane luck aside from just skill.

The answer was a blunt '_Yes_', the teen currently glaring at Bakura across the table. He then explained however, smiling. "These ten-sided dice are shaped like five petaled flowers on both the top and bottom," he began, crossing his arms as he leaned back. "They're split into an even side and an odd side- but the important thing in a double hit technique is to spin the dice like a top, with the even side facing upwards!"

The group nodded, understanding. "Alright," Yugi said with wide eyes. "That way it can't stop on an odd number! And the chance of rolling a 0 is one in five!" Bringing a one in ten chance down by half! Haha!

The other Yugi nodded again, smirking. "Furthermore, when you throw the dice, you put a strong spin on the white one; the dice with the weaker spin will stop first, but if it stops on something other than 0, the stronger die can change the number by hitting it!" Which meant they could get the roll they wanted... Alright then... Wait...

Anzu frowned, crossing her arms. "But how do you get them to hit each other when you want them to..?" What she said.

Instead of Yugi explaining, Mokuba decided to take over. "You can control the path of the spinning by vibrating the surface," he said with a smirk, nodding his head. "Shaking the table with your knee works for example... And with that technique, you can change the number on the die as many times as you like!" Hey, should they be talking about cheating so loudly..? Sure Bakura was doing it too but... Still... And hang on! If Mokuba knew that then...

"Waaaait," Katsuya said as he turned to the boy. "So you're sayin' that las' night when we were playin' those dice games..." Thankfully, before the blond could make a response to Mokuba's fairly cheeky looking grin, the conversation 'above' continued. Thankfully for Mokuba at least...

At Bakura's glare, 'Yugi's smirk had only grown. "Too bad for you Bakura... If you can cheat, I can as well!"

"Yea! Bakura," Katsuya shouted up, scowling, "Next time you cheat you outta turn into a miniature too!"

The albino huffed, taking the dice and letting them slide off his hands in a 'demonstration'. "Fine," he said with narrowed eyes. "From now on, this is how we roll the dice! Spinning is prohibited!" Yea, he said that now that he was _caught_... Lousy rat...

Across the table, Yugi nodded, obviously having no qualms with that. "Now then," Bakura continued. "On with the game! After taking care of Zorc's servants, the adventurers move onwards... To the gates of Zorc Castle!" Well hey, that was some fast traveling- wasn't that castle Zorc's lair?

Katsuya gulped as they approached the gate, Yugi leading them foward with a cheery '_Let's go guys!_'. Beside him, Mokuba bit his lip, sharing a glance with the older one for a brief moment. It was a silent exchange, but nonetheless put a bit of hope in their heart. They'd live through this. No matter what, they'd live through this. They had Yugi and everyone else at their sides- they_ could not_ lose. "Right... This is it," he said as he looked at the boy. The final battle... It was now or never. "You ready?"

The boy nodded, the others preparing their own weapons. Alright then... He steeled himself, nodding. If the others were ready, then so was he! Katsuya shook his arms slightly as the drawbridge to the castle was let down, turning to briefly look over at 'Yugi'. "Alright! No matter what's waitin, we've got Yugi on our side!" As Mokuba gave a weak smile in response to that, the blond turned to him again. The kid was ready... But all the same, not completely. Katsuya pulled him over, ignoring the mutters of disgruntlement as he gave him an attempted noogie... Attempted being the key word given their 'hair' was currently solid pieces of carved metal. "No worries alright?" He released the boy, smirking as Mokuba looked up at him. "He's a friend we can trust!"

"Hn..." Mokuba stared, before nodding with regained confidence. "Right! Let's go, Katsuya-nii!" With that, the two turned back to face the castle, the group holding their weapons at the ready as the bridge before them locked in place.

Bakura was talking of course... Still doing his 'duty' as a DM, narrating their entry. He ignored the teen however, instead jumping back as the castle unfolded into a board. "H- WHAT! This castle's a diorama too!"

"You've come to the last stage of your quest," Bakura said with a smirk as the group entered the main room of the castle hesitantly. "Somewhere in this castle waits Zorc! Can the group of heroes find him... And slay the demon?" They would if they had anything to say about it!

Looking around the room with a scowl, Katsuya took a few steps forwards. Nothing around so far... He narrowed his eyes, frown deepening before he turned to fact the throne up ahead. "HEY ZORC," he shouted, waving his sword. "WHERE'R YAH HIDIN?"

Honda nodded, also joining in with a scowl. "YEA, COME OUT AND FIGHT US, YOU LIMP-DICK MONSTER!"

Zorc didn't seem to be appearing... As the shouts continued, Mokuba turned to look at a tower to the side, ignoring Anzu's cries of '_WE ARE IN FRONT OF A **CHILD**!_'. Examining it as he took a few steps over, he frowned. "Hey guys... That tower looks a little suspicious..." As the others walked in, Katsuya looked at the pedestal with a frown.

"Nhh... Some kinda weird markings on it..." Looked kinda like half 'o's, a pair of them. The pedestal itself was a little above where their legs ended in height. Hn...

Beside him, Honda shrugged. "Probably just a stupid carving," he muttered, the others following in to examine it. Yea... Stupid carving. Heck, looking up they sure didn't see anything- He quickly regretted thinking this as they turned to hear 'Yugi' shouting at them.

"WAIT," he cried, leaning over the table. "Everyone, don't go in the tower!" Wh-Wh-What? _Don't_ go in?

Mokuba gulped, as Katsuya gave a nervous smile. "N-Nhhh... But we're already..." Awwww shit not good! There was a loud rumbling as Mokuba fled the room with a shout, the others looking up as their pieces refused to move. Mokuba didn't have to stay in one spot, he had wings that allowed him to at least gain a centimeter of ground in order to run. But for the figurines, who were glued to tiny platforms... "T-THE CEILING!" A mess of spikes fell, a pedestal in the middle as it clattered down. '_NO!_', he heard the other Yugi cry. '_KATSUYA-NII!_', he heard Mokuba shout. "SHIT!" There was a crunching noise, and the blond winced as the ceiling hit their heads only to stop.

Their legs quivered as Bakura smugly announced they'd fallen for a trap. Of course... Of course they had, _it was just a little obvious right now_. "We're gonna be smushed," Honda shouted with a wince, the others in just as much pain. "Cracked in half..!" Stop talking Honda, please. Just stop reminding him. It was an eerie feeling, the metal spikes lodged in their heads- there obviously wasn't anything in there, what with their bodies being metal now, but it was unnerving. A feeling of 'wrongness', having something stuck where it shouldn't have been.

"We can't move," Anzu cried as the spikes dug further into their heads. "Do something!"

Katsuya scowled as a few crack noises came around the room. "Accck... This thing ain't just spiked, it's fucking heavy too..!" He bit his lip, struggling for the air he didn't need as he attempted to keep from buckling under the pressure. Shit... Shit... He didn't know where these cracks were coming from, but he had a feeling that he'd find out if they didn't hurry!

Outside of the tower, they could hear the two 'real' people arguing. "BAKURA," 'Yugi' was shouting. "YOU PLAYER KILLING SCUMBAG!" Yea, real powerful Yug. He was quaking in his boots. Someone needed to remind him to teach Yugi to cuss. Or something.

Bakura merely chuckled, hands folded in front of him again. "I know the breaking point of my lead figurines," he said with an evil laugh, smirk growing. "They won't hold out much longer... Three turns Yugi! You have three rolls of the dice! And if you fail," he added menacingly, "All but one of your friends will die!" As he said this, Mokuba winced, Yugi's two monsters standing at his side as they watched helplessly. It looked as though the boy was feeling more than a little guilty about running out of there... But hey, at least he'd live if something went wrong, right? "This is a puzzle," the albino continued. "To save your friends, you must create the column to support the ceiling. However," he added, "To do that, you must roll a certain number on the dice!"

At this, Mokuba turned to look over at 'Yugi' with wide eyes. "Yugi! Roll a critical! Hurry!"

The teen nodded, dropping the dice. "Yes," he shouted, "A critical!" That sounded good!

Instead of the expected result however, the ceiling continued to shake, Mokuba looking back at the room with shock. Nothing was happening... Why wasn't anything happening! "It... _It didn't work_!"

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Too bad! You did roll a critical number," Bakura said with a smirk, "But I said you needed a '_certain_' number. Here's a hint," he added with a grin, clearly confident in the fact that they wouldn't get the result. "You need to roll doubles!" Doubles? And they'd have to be specific too he bet...

Mokuba scowled at those words, before looking back into the room. Thanks to the others, he could easily walk in and out... The carving had to be key, it had to! He ran over, looking at the carving with narrowed eyes. 'Yugi' likely couldn't see the carving... But he could! So maybe, if he found something... "Nh- Mokuba," Katsuya said with a frown. "What'r yah doin' in here!"

Yugi nodded, the other two located to far into the room to really see the boy. "Mokuba-kun, you need to get out of here! If this falls..."

The boy scowled, shaking his head. Honestly, just because he was a kid didn't mean he was made of glass! (Technically, he was made of metal right now but really...) "Not now, I'm trying to think!" The piece of pillar attached to the roof had two inverted 'u' shapes on it, much like the bottom... Something needed to appear in the middle right... His eyes narrowed in thought, Mokuba ignoring the words of the others as they attempted to convince him to leave.

"Which reminds me," Bakura continued from outside. "It's time for a monster encounter roll to see if Zorc appears..." He chuckled darkly, 'Yugi' visibly paling at the mention. From inside, Mokuba and the others also tensed, the former turning to look outside the tower as Bakura continued speaking. "There's a 30% chance that he shows up," the albino stated, the groups eyes widening still. "JUDGMENT ROLL!" The dice clattered to the ground, and Bakura's grin grew. "28! The worst possible number for the adventurers," he continued, as the demonic figure of Zorc appeared just outside.

"A...Ahhh!" Mokuba paled, drawing back against the pillar as the demon appeared, cackling.

Yugi's monsters also turned with shock, the demon flexing his single hand threateningly. "You feel straight into my trap, foolish children!" He continued laughing, Mokuba swallowing nervously as he drew further back against the pillar. "Prepare yourselves! I'll cut you to shreds while the trap holds your corpses in place!" Ohhhhh shit...

Katsuya scowled, looking down at Mokuba a moment. They might be there... But Mokuba could escape at least. In that case..! He looked back up, before shouting at the demon. "You bastard! That's fucking low! FIGHT FAIR!" Or at least target him so that the others wouldn't take much force!

"Katsuya-nii, something tells me he's not listening..." Outside, they heard the dice roll again before crunching sounds continued through the figurines of the four tallest. "Gnn... Yugi," He shouted. "HURRY UP! They can't last much longer!" Doubles... Doubles, but what number..? He looked at the pillar again, swallowing. What number!

Another dice roll. "Zorc attacks," Bakura said as the dice clattered to the ground. "And since he has his targets cornered, his success rate is 95%!" The dice clattered to the ground, and Bakura snorted. "41," he called out, Mokuba hurriedly ducking as Zorc slashed at the group. "Not the best number, but it's a good start for a slow and painful death! Zorc strikes the immobile Warrior and Beast Tamer, while the Rogue is rendered unable to attack next turn!"

The teens tensed as the slash passed through them, feeling their health drain from the hit. Regardless of the fact that 'nothing' had technically hit them, that felt like getting a good blow to the stomach with a guys fist..! "U-Gnh..." As Mokuba looked over worriedly, Katsuya put up a small smile. Nothing... This was nothing! "S... It's fine kid, jus' a flesh wound yeh know?"

Mokuba bit his lip, screwing his face into a scowl as he attempted to keep calm. He didn't want to die... But he didn't want the others to die either... Damn it! "Gh... I'm never letting you watch Monty Python again!"

As Katsuya merely laughed weakly in response, Mokuba steeled himself and poked his head out of the tower. That pillar... Something needed to join the two sides together, he knew what Bakura meant by doubles now! He had the answer... He knew what the carving meant! "YUGI," he shouted, the teen looking at him. Not much time, there was only one turn left! "0, 3, 6, 8, 9! They're the only ones you can roll! Hurry!"

The teen jumped, before nodding. "Alright then!" He dropped the dice, watching carefully. "Dice," he called partially to himself. "Don't fail us now!" This was the last chance... Mokuba watched as Katsuya began buckling over in weakness, the last attack combined with the stress of the ceiling beginning to take their toll. Dice clattered to the ground, and everyone bit their lip as they stopped. "33," the other Yugi shouted, looking over at the pillar expectantly. 33... Doubles, and 3s at that... And now...

Was it... Was it the right one..? "I can't..." Katsuya shook, more cracking noises sounding through the air. "I can't keep it up... I can't do this any more!" Was it the right number or not? Bakura wasn't laughing, so obviously something had- Mokuba's eyes widened, and a grin came over his face. The shaking had stopped, the roof raising a few centimeters as the pillar appeared. "It... YEA!" The the numbers '33' appeared prominently on the carving, the others shocked into a relieved silence. It... It had worked... It worked!

"You found the solution, true," Bakura said with evident distaste, before dropping the dice. "But in that same instant, Zorc gets another attack! 12," he shouted, the dice clattering to the ground as he smirked. "Zorc strikes the adventurers!" As the demon cackled, slashing through the tower, 'Yugi' chuckled. Dust filled the air, and the still 'living' players looked at each other across the table.

"You forget," the teen said with a smirk, "That the player characters have much higher speed! Once the puzzle was solved," he continued, the dust from the attack clearing, "They succeeded in escaping! Which means they're alive and well, and behind your back!" As Zorc turned with shock, the 'adventurers' standing rather confidently behind him. Not a single one of them looked happy at all, at least not with Zorc. 'Yugi' grabbed the dice, still continuing. "And while Mokuba may be unable to strike this turn, the others still catch him by surprise! I roll!"

15! Katsuya grinned as he gripped his sword, charging the demon. His turn, and this time no one was there to tell him otherwise! Didn't even know how to use a sword, but as he struck it through the middle he could do nothing but laugh in response. No wonder Mokuba had been so cheery during his own turn! This was incredible! "AWRIGHT! You ready Zorc," he shouted as the others stared the demon down. "Cause there's plenty more where that came from!"

Bakura seethed as he typed in the data, staring Yugi down with a seemingly impassive stare. "Tch... Very well... On this turn, the adventurers snuck up behind Zorc," he stated with a growl. No shit Bakura- they'd done so well he'd already made his move! The albino seemed to glare through his opponent, before continuing. "Therefore, they get extra attacks. Roll the dice!" A little mad? Just a little? Katsuya smirked. Good!

Above and behind them, Yugi nodded, grabbing the dice as it came to Honda's turn. "Alright," he called, watching as the 'gunman' gripped his weapon with a scowl.

"Alright... It's pay back time," he shouted to the demon, aiming his gun carefully. "I'll put a hole through your brain Zorc!" And with Honda's aim, it wasn't likely to miss.

Yugi nodded; "Hear that Bakura? My hand channels their anger into these dice!" He tossed them to the ground, watching them clatter to as stop. "Dice roll! ... 09!"

Honda smirked, shooting the demon Zorc within a split second. The familiar beam of light blasted out of the muzzle of the gun, Zorc barely dodging the blast aimed at his head. "THUNDER GRENADE!" Idly, Katsuya wondered if this was bad or good... While Honda missed Zorc's head, there was now a very prominent hole in Zorc's left shoulder.

And that wasn't it... "In addition," Yugi continued, "The magician and Beast Tamer also get a free attack!" The dice rolled again, and Anzu pointed her staff with a frown. "13!"

A flame appeared at the end of the staff, Anzu's gaze sharpening. Gripping the weapon as she held it forward, the flare increased in intensity before blasting off to meet with Zorc's torso. "APPRENTICE DEATH BLAZE!" The demon howled with rage, midsection in flames before the dice were rolled yet again.

Clattering to the ground, Yugi confidently pointed his two monsters forwards. "And now the final blow, critical! 08!" The dragon and the 'sheep' charged forwards, blasts of fire and wind striking the demon down. The two blasts powered each other up considerably before surrounding the opponent, a large dust cloud resulting. "BEAST ATTACK!" Clouds of smoke filled the area of the table, Zorc completely hidden by the blow.

Bakura reeled back, Mokuba smirking as he looked at the albino's face. They were winning... They could do this! "Scared, Bakura," he said with a grin, feeling considerably more confident than before now that they had the upper hand. "Didn't we tell you?"

Beside him, Katsuya nodded, also grinning. "Our souls are channeled into 'Yugi's dice," the blond shouted, the others nodding behind him. "And when we get mad... The dice get even angrier!" They froze as Bakura's frown vanished, the teen chuckling as the smoke from the blast cleared. "Wait..." The monster as well was cackling darkly, the enormous form of Zorc continuing to tower before them. From what they could tell... He'd only been wounded minimally. "W-WHAT!" Now way... How..!

"After all those attacks..." Mokuba stared, eyes wide with shock. "After all those attacks, he didn't take any damage!"

The DM continued to laugh, leering down at the five figures with a grin. "Fools," he shouted with a laugh, Zorc mirroring his actions. It was almost as though they were the same person, their voices practically overlapping as both spoke at the same time. "You're all still apprentices, level one adventurers! You don't have nearly enough experience to defeat ZORC!"

Honda balked, the others looking up at the monster as he prepared his next attack. "But that's..." He shook his head in disbelief, hands shaking. "After all those critical attacks..." How...

"Then..." Yugi frowned, clenching his fists as his monsters growled in response. "Then there wasn't any way for us to win from the start!"

The laughing continued, Katsuya glaring up at Bakura's face and wishing to do nothing more than rip it from his skull. "Are you calling me unfair?" Yes, they were... "Cowardly perhaps," He continued, laughing with a mad grin. "As the Dark Master, I made _everything_ in this Game World! I am the _rules_," he shouted, the players on the board shrinking back, "I am the _monsters_... I am the **GOD**!" He continued to laugh, grabbing a pair of dice from beneath the table. "Now, continue the battle," Bakura cried, the figurines below gulping audibly. "So that you can at least act out your deaths with grace!"

There was only a few words for the situation at hand, Katsuya thought to himself. In fact, he could essentially sum it up with only one.

**FUCK**.

* * *

AN: God damn it Bakura. GOD. DAMN IT. I swear though, he gets some of the best lines... 'I AM **THE** GOD!' Not 'I AM GOD' guys. He is _the_ God. Hot damn! And all that aside... I'm putting together a 'time line' of sorts. Why? Because in a fanfic like this, even with everything going on, there are still going to be some 'original' story lines. (Think 'Jonouchi and Mokuba's Summer In Osaka')

So here's my goal. Take the Manga and Anime both, FILLER ARCS INCLUDED (So... Legendary Heroes (Which is like... 3 episodes anyways so not really an arc.), The Virtual World, Doma, and Grand Championship...), along with Yu-Gi-Oh R. Problem is, though I know that 'R' takes place after Battle City, I need to figure out where it would go in respects to Doma and the Grand Championship... What with... R involving Kaiba Corp kinda being taken over and all that. (Damn it.)

Conveniently enough, _three_ of the filler arcs are effectively centered on... Kaiba. And if you don't consider Legendary Heroes as an arc, that still makes 2 out of three. (Virtual World for obvious reasons and Grand Championship for... More... Obvious reasons.) AHAHAHAHAAAA. Wonderful...

Suddenly I can't wait until the Grand Championship. Because that will be pure, solid gold, even after the Virtual World. SIEGFRIEEEEEEEED! Personally, I'm going to have fun with that just because of how camp the guy looks, when the Kaiba of this fanfic is legitimately female. Heheheheheeee...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Well hi there Iona! And yes... Yes Joey SHOULD listen to his guts more often... But alas... Sad thing is, I think he has a fair number of moments like this in the _manga_ too. Ohhhh Joey... (At least that makes him ignoring his paranoid brain a legitimate character trait. A bad one. But one that is 'canon' nonetheless.)

And as Fluffy goes on his rampage, I'm now wondering the same thing you are about that snake. Hnnnn... Must look into this... *I can find anything if I try! ...Most of the time...*

Hot pockets... cooking... *I should eat...*

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section so awesome it... It... Shoot, there's nothing to describe it!**  
**

As many have likely guessed, dialogue that was ripped from these chapters has been altered slightly; either the cursing is more intense (Given that... I'm fairly certain that if Joey yells 'fuck' in an earlier chapter, he's not going to be taking it lightly when his SOUL has been taken.), or Mokuba stole some of the lines. Hell, Mokuba just stole Yugi's brain for a moment! That scene with the pillar; Yami Yugi thought of that in the manga. But I was sitting here thinking... 'Mokuba isn't doing anything even though he can't get stuck by the spikes, since he's too short... So I gave him something to do.

There isn't much else to say here actually, as this chapter effectively is all... Action. Except this point here... Fun Fact: The dragon that Yugi 'tames' resembles 'Winged Dragon Guardian of the Fortress'... Which is also the first card he used in the duel against Kaiba during the Death-T match. On another note involving manga points, as said above, there were certain parts of dialogue that seemed 'dumbed down'... And yet Honda's fairly explicit line at Zorc's castle wasn't. And then we have Yugi... 'YOU PLAYER KILLING SCUMBAG!' Seriously Yugi? You could have done better. In fact, I know you can... Because I've seen you do better. (I'll see if I can find the line for you...)

Enough complaining from me! The title of this chapter is the same as the title for the manga 'game' that I mentioned a looooong time ago. I figured it suited this chapter however, given that everyone has been reduced to a short, though not one-inch-tall status. And they're all terrified. Whoooo!

Expect the finale of the Monster World Arc to go out with a bang guys!

Until then!


	18. Chapter 17

**The Red String of Fate

* * *

**

It was the end.

The air on the gameboard was tense and thick, not that anyone was really breathing. That was the thing about being a figurine. They were still breathing somehow, but technically they didn't actually have to. It was weird. Horrifying in fact. Not as horrific however, as the sight of Zorc cackling while Bakura dropped the dice to the ground. "You've had your turn," he shouted wickedly, the figurines standing frozen in fear as the sound of clattering dice sounded about the table. "Now Zorc gets his... He turns his full wrath on the adventurers!"

Katsuya's breathing hitched, the dice clattering to the ground. Not critical, not critical... Anything but that, if he got one solid hit in they were-

"SUPER CRITICAL! Zorc's Black Magic, **DARK CATASTROPHE**!" As Bakura cackled, the entire field when black. Katsuya found himself blown completely back with a wave of immense pain, darkness over taking him... No... Yugi's monsters roared in agony as the others were thrown back just as mercilessly. NO... He heard the dull clatter of metal against the board, the figurine forms of the others falling lifelessly to the ground... NO! "HAHAHAHAHAAA!" In the fading darkness, he could make out Bakura's blurred, grinning face. "Zorc's magical attack has the power to kill characters with more than 50 hit points in an instant!" No shit... Katsuya slowly began to shut his eyes, feeling his 'body' grow heavy. This was the end... He'd failed Mokuba... Kaiba was probably going to wake up to an empty house now, if the woman ever woke up... "All of the player characters are DEAD..." He didn't say?

Fire fire fire, his entire body was on fire... Even through blurred vision and numbed, non-existent nerves the feeling was just as blinding. Burning... Burning... Burning... He was burning, but he didn't have the strength to do anything, even scream... Tired, he thought as he finally gave up trying to move.

So tired... The blond closed his eyes, welcoming the inevitable. So tired... If he could just...

Sleep...

...

...

...

And suddenly, he wasn't sleeping any more. Katsuya's eyes flung open as a feeling of 'free falling' came over him, the 'landing' jolting his body. "Huh!" He coughed, somehow still standing as he gripped his knees for support before looking around. "W-Where... Where am I..." He slowly stood back up, taking in the vast and empty expanse before him. Darkness...

This place was so dark... There was nothing, absolutely nothing around him, or even, as he realized with a gulp, beneath him. As he looked down however, he frowned, staring. His clothes... They weren't the ones he was wearing when he lost his soul, that was true but... Leather shoes, breeches, a tunic... The blond quickly felt behind him, eyes widening. A god damned sword and shield strapped to his- This was what his figurine was wearing! At those thoughts, he looked up again, eyes wide. The figurines... Abruptly, Katsuya found himself looking over his hands and arms, almost laughing from the shock. He wasn't a figurine..! This was incredible, he wasn't- The teen frowned, looking out into the darkness with another thought. "Shit..." Mokuba, Yugi, Honda, Anzu... The others weren't... He took a few steps forwards, frowning. "Where the hell are they..?" It... This wasn't death right? He wasn't waiting for some creepy ghost to take him to Enma was he! Katsuya's eyes widened as he grew pale, the thoughts hammering in his mind. S-Still.. If he was the only one here, that had to mean that the others lived right? R-Right!

Holding his head in his hands, he groaned. Ohhhhh god... Dead... He was really done in wasn't he, this was- "Eh..?" He blinked, frowning slightly as he pushed back those thoughts a moment. Something on his hands... Something small, hair-thin in fact... He held up his hand, squinting in the darkness as he tried to make it out. It was almost like the only source of light was himself really, but that wasn't it... "What the hell is this..?" The frown deepened as he found what looked to be a string around his thumb, giving a light tug at it only to watch as the other end vanished into the darkness. "Where..."

He could hear the 'clink-clink-clink' sounds of metal connecting as he walked forwards. The darkness there was endless, pressuring, and he briefly wondered how much time had even passed. Then again, he was dead wasn't he..? So really, time probably didn't exist any more. The clinking continued, before stopping. Katsuya froze, staring off into the distance for a moment. Something felt off... As though in a few seconds, something would happen... The blond stared as, from the same direction of the string, a partially formed 'ball' came tumbling forwards. It bounced a few times, as though thrown, before rolling to a stop about a foot away from him. Katsuya blinked, staring at it before leaning down to pick it up. "What is this," he muttered, tossing it a few times in one hand. "A puzzle..?"

"Y-You..!" He stopped, turning as a young, childish voice pierced the darkness. A... A little girl... A small, probably no older than 5 little girl wearing a yukata stood there, her hands clutched tightly to the sides of her head in pain. The girl's face was twisted in a mix of emotions; confusion, fear, torment... Yet there was an oddly 'adult' tone to those eyes, he noted with a frown. A tone that made it seem as though this pain, though intense, had been experienced in a similar fashion before...

As the girl buckled over in pain, he found himself standing on the spot, unable to move. He felt weak... Like something was sapping away at his energy... But that couldn't be right, he was dead... Wasn't he..? "Where is this place," he muttered, eyes narrowed. "Who... Who are you..?" His vision was fading... Did this mean he wasn't dead? That he'd be waking up..? Or was he just in some kind of strange limbo, and the real death had yet to come? Maybe this 'girl' was another of Bakura's figurines, and he'd just randomly run into- As he held a hand out with the puzzle, he froze. The string... The string, it was attached to...He studied the girl's face, the child still looking at him in shock. This kid... She looked almost like...

"Seto-chan..?" As he said this, the teen tensed, a shudder passing through his body that very moment. The puzzle fell to the ground with a crash of metal, Katsuya suddenly finding it difficult to breath. He clutched his stomach, choking as a wave of intense pain ran through his body. What... What was this..? Eyes widened as he watched something drip from his body, before his vision was blocked by a wave of reds, golds, and yellows. "Ah... AHHHH!" Burning... Burning... Fire! He was on fire! The teen reached forwards, shouts lost as he felt himself drift away. Dead... He was...

* * *

For the past few hours, she'd been feeling immeasurably cold. The warmth that she held with her as she worked on her puzzle, the intensity of the emotions flowing through each piece, in one instant, had been snatched out of her grasp. In one instant, she was reminded by that 'voice', head pounding as wave after wave of thoughts ran through her head only to be pulled forever more from her grasp, one instant... The ones closest from her seemed to have been torn from her life completely. Seto's eyes widened as she bit back a scream, body practically shrinking as pieces of her puzzle vanished into thin air. And as the pieces of memory she'd worked so hard to connect were ripped from her mind, she'd once again found herself restritcted to the tiny, childish form of past memories. "AUAAAAHHH!" No! NO! Her fingers dug into her head, before finally releasing to grab the puzzle before her and hurl it out of sight. Gone gone, everything! **GONE**!

The pain intensified, as though rebounding with the puzzle missing. "RAAAAAAAHHH!" Her body tensed, face twisted with a mix of rage and pain. Everything, everything she knew... How old was she again? When was she born again? Where was this place again? What was that sound she'd finally heard in the puzzle again? The girl's eyes grew wide as each thought vanished, expression becoming more fearful with each one. No... No she couldn't forget, she couldn't..! Blindly, the girl ran off in the direction of the puzzle, stumbling and tripping over her own feet as she went.

And then, as she came to a stop, the pain only just slightly easing, she spotted something else. Eyes still wide, she looked up only to see a face that she somehow still remembered. "Y-You!" As she said this, another wave struck her, and she forced herself not to react. 'Who are you,' he said, and for a moment, she found herself staring at him in shock. "K-Katsu-" She jerked back, face shifting to that of a horror far surpassing the pain she felt when the teen before her abruptly burst into flames. His screams sounded through the air, before being drowned by the roaring flames and with a jolt she realized that the fires were not only there. She batted at the flames that had seemingly followed an invisible line to her hand, eyes wide. Out! Out! Get- The flames halted, and a string of sorts became reduced to ashes from her pinky finger. Briefly the pain vanished, and she looked at the empty space where the blond had stood with wide eyes.

He'd reached out for only a moment... Nothing more. He was dressed really... Really weird, when she thought about it. Leather armor, a shield and sword... Like a game... "Seto-chan," he asked, almost whispering. For a moment, she'd been about to yell at him, tell him off about calling her by that name... That name that she couldn't recall... And then...

The girl stood, regaining her older form. Katsuya... That was his name. He was hired by... By Mokuba to... To... She grimaced, struggling to keep hold of herself yet again. Something was happening... The pieces vanishing, the memories disappearing, what happened just now... "Un... Argh..." Seto gripped her head, stumbling with wide, open eyes. Disappearing... Vanishing... The darkness was closing in with each vanishing piece, her memory becoming nothing but empty holes. "What... What's happening..."

Who... Who was doing this! A voice came from in the distance, and she looked forwards with a glare as what looked to be text appeared in mid-air. '_My name is Bakura Ryou..._' The kanji and kana hovered directly above where Katsuya had stood, and through the veil of pain hitting her even now, she was still able to stare at them with narrowed eyes. Bakura Ryou..?

Seto winced again, clutching her head. This... Pain... She snarled, lashing at the text that had apparently appeared from the smoke of the earlier flames. "Why should I care who you are! Get out of my head!"

There was no answer for a moment, and then the text flashed, changing. '_My friends are in danger._' Just get out! She didn't care about these 'friends', let alone this 'person' even! Leave! '_Your brother and friend are there_... _Please listen..._'

"WHAT?" Her brother... Her brother was- Thoughts were torn once more, an image flashing before it vanished from her memory permanently. "Auuuugh!" She continued holding her head, watching as a 'screen' appeared. Five 'figurines' with portraits were visible on the screen, two of them appearing slightly familiar. One had black hair, and was probably just a child... The other... Hang on... "Mokuba..." That's right... His name was Mokuba, he was... "And... And the..." The mutt? The one from before, his name was... Was... Each portrait held beneath it the words 'HP 1'. Hp... Hp, what was that... A number so close to zero... If she could just remember these two, she knew they were important but- "What do you expect me to do," she snarled, wincing in pain again as another piece vanished from the puzzle. "WHO ARE YOU!"

'_I helped them this time_,' the text began. '_And I want to help them again. This time, I will fight_.' The text continued appearing, causing Seto's frown to deepen. 'I cannot stop the next attack. Help.'

She snorted. "And how! I'm stuck here..." The woman gritted her teeth, staring at the ground. Stuck, trapped... "I'd do anything for my brother, but so far all I can see is darkness!" Darkness and a puzzle ball full of holes in the memory where those two sat. Two? One... They were fading away... Fading...

The 'screen' paused, as though contemplating this. '_Please,_' the text seemed to have a begging tone to it as it went, hovering in place. '_Please just say you will._'

"Tell me what you'll do first!" She glared at the text, still gripping her head in pain. "SPIT IT OUT!"

Another pause, and a smoking, ghostly figure with no face or discernible body appeared from a small burst of flame. It stood in the exact position Katsuya had, but it was... Different. Misting, completely white... There were no clear features, form, anything to identify it... Save one thing, and one thing only, and that was a left hand. "... ..." It had no voice. It had nothing... Just that pale, just as white human hand with which it reached forward.

Seto jerked back, the puzzle pieces she had yet to place scattering across the floor. They clattered against her fallen puzzle, and the 'ghost' paused in his approach before bending down to grab one. "You... Don't touch those!" For a moment, the figure paused, before continuing as it ignored her protests. Slowly, it stood straight again, holding the piece in both hands before covering it with them. "Give that back," Seto hissed, the ghost continuing. "You have not right.. Gh!" She clutched her head again, closing one eye as the ghost continued its work. Slowly, it moved its hands, pulling the piece in 'two'- one piece remained identical to the first, unchanged as the ghost dropped it to the ground with a '_clink_'. The second however... "Tch... You..." The woman stood, frozen as the figure continued in silence before handing her the second. It was completely different from the other, the only similarities being the shining golden colour it held. "What the hell is this..." She felt the 'new piece' over, frowning before text appeared behind the 'ghost' again. "What are you doing..?"

'_Please help_,' the ghost appeared to beg, gesturing with that same left hand. '_Just a little. Please help_.'

"Gh..." 'Just a little' it said? What did that even meant! The cold feeling in her body increased, the puzzle continuing to vanish as her head throbbed. Mokuba... Katsuya... What did they look like... Hang on... Who were those two anyways, why were they so important..? Brother..? Did she have... That's right, she had... "N..." Why couldn't she remember anything all of a sudden! Why were her thoughts disappearing! Mokuba... She knew he was dying... But that same dark voice in the back of her head kept telling her not to bother... "N..." And yet she knew, just knew that if that were to happen..!

Clutching the piece in her hand, she continued to grip her head with her other hand. Seto stared deliberately at the ghost, gritting her teeth before nodding. "What ever it takes..." The pain increased again, and even with the puzzle piece in her hand she brought it to her head with a wince. "I'll do it..!" The voice in the back of her mind pleaded, told her that if she lost she would die... But she was still here wasn't she! And there would be hell before _she_ died... But if she didn't do anything, then her brother would die instead... Katsuya would...

Why did she care...

"What ever it takes," she repeated, the ghost standing there a moment...

Silence filled the room, and he nodded. The ghost seemed to mist away, before charging towards her. Before she could even say a word, it passed through her body, the woman's eyes widening with shock. As her eyes slowly closed over, she felt the holes in her memory repair... Her head stopped throbbing, and the piece she held tightly in her hand clattered to the ground, her body following it.

_Ah,_ she thought as her vision finally blacked out. _It felt... Warmer now...

* * *

_

He could hear shouting. Bakura's angered cries as the other Yugi rolled a pair of dice. '_But HOW_,' he was shouting, voice shaking with rage. '_I never programed that NPC!_'

He felt someone picking him up, and slowly, Katsuya opened his eyes. Light... The ceiling... Even without a nose he could still smell the smoke on the air. He blinked a few times, before realization hit him. Hang on... The ceiling, the board, the voices...

They were alive! And oh... It hurt to be alive really... He groaned, holding his head as he turned to the one who had helped him up. "Ung... Mokuba.. Are you... You alrigh..?" The 'fairy' nodded, body fairly singed, but otherwise ok. "Man... I thought we were dead..." Really really thought he was dead...

Mokuba nodded again, looking over the others worriedly. "I... I think we were... But..." The blond followed his gaze to Bakura, who was still shaking. "I don't know what happened, but I think that somehow, that attack didn't work the way it was supposed to..."

The teen nodded, looking towards the others. The attack didn't work? Huh... So... Someone pulled them back then..? He swallowed, pulling himself to his feet. "You alright guys?" There were weak nods, a few mumbled '_yea, I'm good_'s before Yugi's voice interrupted them. The teen was still facing Bakura from what they could get from the opponent's expression, and he sounded more than confident in whatever had turned the tides. "True Bakura, the others are still to weak to strike back..." Wait they were? He winced, clutching his 'stomach' in pain. Ok... Yea, they were. Still feeling the strike from Zorc it looked like. "But it seems that some other force is on their side!" Wait what? At those words, he and the others turned to look around the board for this 'other force' that 'Yugi' was talking about, finding nothing. Nothing on the ground... Where was it, the air? As Yugi continued, he found himself turning back to look at Zorc with narrowed eyes. "I'll say it once more Bakura! It's not over yet!" The sound of dice clattering to the ground came, followed by a 'swish' sound. Zorc screeched in pain, Katsuya noting that for the same eye that had been gouged with an arrow, Bakura was closing his.

Katsuya turned to follow the path the arrow had come, before widening his eyes. When he thought 'in the air'... He hadn't been serious! "Who th' heck..?" 'Birdtail', as the race was called, was an aptly named group, given what the character sheet had said. Clawed feet, a long feathered tail, and almost avian eyes... But the special part about them was the ability to fly, with the angel like wings on their back... In the end however, their lack of decent weaponry for any of the classes he'd wanted had thrown the idea of a flying race off however. Looking at how this NPC character had just slammed Zorc in the face however... "Who is that..?"

The others followed his gaze, before Honda grinned. "I don't know man, but whoever she is, she just took out Zorc's left eye like it was nothing!" Yes. Yes she did, but who was she..? He couldn't see her face really, eyesight from a figurine's perspective was just a little faulty really... "I like her!"

Beside him, Anzu nodded in agreement, while Mokuba stared up at the sixth player character with narrowed eyes. Ignoring the stare, the woman watched as whoever had shot the arrow came towards them from the sky, giggling. "I bet that one hurt..!" At those words, the archer landed, apparently wearing a simple leather tunic with a quiver. Her hair was a little longer than Anzu's, and trailed back down between her wings from what they could tell. The more interesting part however, now that she was close enough to see...

"Huh..." Yugi blinked as the archer turned to glance at him, before turning back to face Zorc in silence. "Those eyes... The almost remind me of Kaiba..." An angel Kaiba. Hahaha. If it wasn't such an impossible wish, he'd be doing what Honda was doing.

This being, of course, laughing, wincing, and laughing again as the archer seemingly ignored him. "Oh man... If Kaiba wasn't in a coma..." Honda quickly stopped at Mokuba's incredibly intense glare, coughing nervously as the others looked at Bakura with smirks. "Er... Anyways..."

Bakura in question was wincing, holding his left eye shut as he gritted his teeth. "Yugi..." As the albino said this, Katsuya found himself looking at the otherwise silent archer with a raised eyebrow, before continuing to listen to the conversation above. This 'Kaiba' look-alike was actually creeping him out a little... Completely into the NPC role... "You've really pissed me off now..." At that moment, the teen looked down at his laptop before tensing with shock. What the hell... Now what could be on that screen that scared him so much... "If I do this," Bakura muttered to himself with a grin, "And place the computer where my left hand can't reach, you're powerless!" What the heck was he muttering about? Did... Did he lose it just now?

As Bakura continued into quiet, if not somewhat insane laughter, the others approached the 'Archer' somewhat hesitantly. What with her having saved all their asses without a word, it seemed like the right thing to do."So," Anzu began, the other woman turning with her same blank stare. "What's your name..?"

She gave no answer, merely blinking as she looked Anzu over. It was as though she _couldn't_ answer really- like all she was there for was literally just to save them and help them out for the home stretch. Honda raised an eyebrow, crossing his arms with a frown. "Hey, the lady asked you a question... Er... Lady..." Shrugging off his lame request, he tapped the archer's shoulder, before drawing back from the equally blank and uncaring stare he received for his efforts. "Er... On second thought... I'll leave you alone..."

"S- Seri," Mokuba said, the others turning as he coughed. "Er... I mean..." He flushed, before laughing nervously. "The... The armor she's wearing looks like parsley, doesn't it? So we can call her 'Seri' for now! Ahaha.." He gave Katsuya a look, as if to say '_PLEASE HELP_'.

Catching on fairly quickly (Given that it looked like the boy would stab his toe if he didn't hurry), he nodded. "Yea! 'S not like she's sayin' anything! Hahaha..." The others gave him a fairly disbelieving look, and he coughed. Staring a few moments, the others eventually shrugged before turning upwards as Bakura continued speaking. Quietly, Katsuya turned to Mokuba with a confused glance. "H-Hey kid... That isn't..."

He shrugged, eyes wide as 'Seri' merely stood motionless in wait for her 'turn'. "I don't know... I mean... It looks like her but... That's impossible right..? She... She's at home, I mean..." The boy was answered with silence, Katsuya staring at the woman oddly before being slapped. "Hey," Mokuba hissed angrily. "Stop ogling my sister!" He wasn't! Well... Maybe... Agggghhh, they were figurines, he shouldn't be doing that... ...But still...

"What, you didn't think of that when I was hired for security!" Ok, not his best defense, lets try... "And it's not really her, it just looks like her!" If it was actually Kaiba, he'd eat Zorc. And... Right now he didn't want to go anywhere near Zorc.

The boy scowled, whispering back. "I have cameras to tell me if you're doing anything like that, so I know you're not, moron!" Crossing his arms, he focused on Katsuya's other attempted defense. "And just because it's not her, doesn't mean! You said it yourself, _she looks like her_." Katsuya appeared to ignore this, still staring at the figurine before gaining another smack. "Stop ogling her, Katsuya-nii!"

Before he could respond to that, the boys turned, a pair of dice clattering to the ground again. A wave of energy passed over them, and the blond blinked. "H-Huh, what..?" He looked himself over, eyes wide as the burn marks and injuries began to repair themselves.

From behind, Anzu giggled. "I won out with initiative," she stated, twirling her staff. "I might have more experience attacking, but I can also heal!" The injuries continued to vanish, Mokuba flexing his 'fingers' for a few moments, as Katsuya stretched.

"Hah! I feel great!" The others cheered, Anzu beaming with pride as she glanced at 'Seri'. Katsuya also looked over, but the archer remained otherwise motionless... It was all a little creepy actually, and it felt as though the figurine wasn't even... There.

Above, Bakura seethed for a few moments before smirking. "Alright then..." He said with a laugh, gripping the dice in his hands. "You're completely healed! But compared to Zorc, you're still nothing more than micro-organisms.. And having a level 5 archer at your side will do nothing for it!" He continued to laugh, the figurines bracing themselves as Zorc moved to prepare a strike. "Even at your maximum hitpoints you'll be blown to dust on Zorc's next turn! Get ready," he shouted, raising his right hand in preparation to drop the dice. "Because Zorc hits on an 80 or less... And if he hits, then all of you will take damage! HERE I-"

Katsuya frowned as the albino's left hand moved on it's own accord, dropping a pair of dice to the ground. Bakura's own face contorted with shock and rage as they toppled, while 'Yugi' merely grinned. "99," the teen called out, Katsuya swearing he heard someone else speaking. Was there someone else there..? Anyone..? "A fumble!"

'_I won't let you control me anymore!_' Who was saying that? It sounded so familiar, almost as if it was... As the voice sounded, Seri appeared to be the only one aware of it, eyes turning towards the left hand but still holding the blank gaze. '_I won't let you control me!_' Who was that? That voice that he was hearing, it sounded almost identical to- The blond watched as Zorc prepared his blast only to have it explode in his face, grinning. About time the enemy got a bad roll! "A'RIGHT! He fumbled!"

Yugi also grinned, watching as Zorc hissed in rage. "He blew himself up! We have a chance after all!"

"AAAAAUGGH!" Bakura's shout took their attention, a majority of the group turning with wide eyes as the DM gripped his left wrist. "This..." The hand shook, as though struggling, and Bakura continued to stare at it with his one open eye. As though fighting against himself... What was he doing, what- "THIS BLASTED LEFT HAND!" Their eyes widened, and there was a disgusting 'squelch' as the teen brought his hand down on the sharpest thing in sight. Mokuba looked as though he'd be sick as drops of blood landed mere centimeters from their places, accompanied by a few flecks of skin and muscle tissue that had been knocked off by the force. Bakura had... _Impaled_ his own left hand on the sharp point of one of the castle towers, fingers twitching as the teen pushed firmly on it. The castle top was bathed in red, fragments of bone jutting from the hand as the tendons attached pulled back in on themselves. And through all of that, the albino wasn't showing the teeniest bit of pain. "AHAHAHAHAHAAA!" Katsuya stared with wide and disgusted eyes as the teen cackled, hand giving a pathetic twitch. He turned as the archer as well made a sound, wincing as she stumbled on her feet. What the hell... Why was she reacting to this... "HOW DO YOU LIKE THAT, **BAKURA RYOU**!" Bakura? But this was Bakura, wasn't it! What the hell was going on, was he possessed or something! "How does the durable poly-resin feel? _AHAHAHAHAHAA_!"

Anzu gulped, looking at Bakura's twisted expression with mixed fear and confusion. "L-Look at Bakura's expression... What's going on with him?"

He as well gulped, before looking at 'Seri'. For a brief moment, he was almost sorry about the fumble but... "That... That ain't Bakura," he shouted, the hand finally giving one last twitch as 'Seri' collapsed to her knees. "This can't be him!" They'd been bad mouthing him the entire time, but it never occurred... That maybe, just maybe, when Bakura had mentioned those comas the day before, that he was genuinely afraid... That there really was something else doing this... And if Bakura was only just now fighting back...

"Yea," Honda shouted, the others nodding in agreement. "This guy can't possibly be him!" Bakura was the good guy... He wasn't sure what the hell happened, but the fact was...

'_Don't come in!_' He'd tried to warn them as well... Katsuya winced at the memory, biting his lip. He'd tried everything... Separating himself from everyone, even skipping school that day for their sake he bet... And instead they'd dropped their beliefs in him like a hot potato, focusing on 'Bakura the Bad' instead of 'Bakura the Probably _Possessed_'. And hell, with everything else that went on around here...

Was it that surprising? "Heheheheheheee..." Bakura looked up from his hand with a wicked grin, typing a few things into the laptop as he spoke. "Next is the Beast Tamer... Your turn, Yugi!"

As 'Yugi' took the dice, Katsuya found himself looking from 'Seri' to the teen with an odd look. The figurine was shaking, just slightly. As though her life literally was tied to that one hand. ...That hand... Zorc was missing a hand right? Finally, he turned to Yugi with a determined look. "Yug'..." The 'tamer' turned to him, blinking. "You know what tah do, right?"

He nodded, smiling. "Yea!" As he said this, the other Yugi turned to stare down Bakura with a severe glare. They all knew what needed to be done now!

"Game Master," he shouted, obviously refusing to refer to him as Bakura now that they'd decided he simply _wasn't_, "The Beast Tamer will try his power on Zorc, the Lord of Darkness!"

'Bakura' jumped, single eye widening with shock. "What? Do you honestly think that the 'Taming' power will work on Zorc?" As the albino said this, the figurines merely nodded. It wouldn't work completely, Katsuya thought to himself. But if Bakura was trapped in there somewhere, they'd get him out! "Hehehehe... A useless effort," Bakura said with a smirk. "Zorc wouldn't become your ally even if it meant the end of the world!"

Across from him, the other Yugi merely huffed. "I'm trying it anyways," he said with a shout, dropping the dice. "Here's my roll!"

As they clattered to the ground, Yugi braced himself, sending his 'hands' over towards Zorc. "Don' forget," Katsuya muttered as Yugi did this. "Aim f'r the hand!"

"Got it!" It was '05', a critical hit... Zorc cackled as the hands moved around to his wrist, the demon looming over them with a menacing grin.

"Fools," he shouted, ignoring the looks of determination that his victims held. As the hands moved to 'tug' at it, he continued to cackle. "You'll have to raise your level to a MILLION before you can think of making **ME** an ally! AHAHAHAAA! You- ...WHAT!"

They stared, Anzu pointing as a white mist began to escape from Zorc's arm. At the same time, 'Seri' appeared to regain her strength, coughing slightly as she looked forwards in genuine curiosity. "L-Look," Anzu shouted, the mist slowly taking the form of a white-haired figure in white. This was... "Zorc's arm!"

Yugi smiled as the figure reached forwards, ignoring the screams of rage that Zorc was giving. "Here," he cried, the large 'taming hands' reaching towards the figure. "Take my hand!" The figure did just that, appearing exhausted as he did so before being pulled down.

As the figure collapsed to the ground before them, Mokuba nervously floated over to the robed figure, tapping his shoulder. "You..." The figure slowly stood, and he frowned slightly. "You're Bakura... Aren't you..?" He couldn't be sure... But it certainly looked like him.

The wizard smiled, brushing some dust from his robes as the archer joined his side. "Thank you, everyone," he said quietly. "For saving me..." He cleared his 'throat', before continuing. "I am the White Wizard Bakura," he began, before gesturing to 'Seri', "And this is the Archer, 'Kai'." At this, 'Kai' bowed her head slightly, eagle-like eyes appearing to fill with life now. Kai... That was Seto's gaming name... But she'd never even gone near 'Monster World', right? (And if she had, he had a feeling that the player would not be female. Or low in level.) "We're NPCs, non-player characters created by Ryou Bakura," the wizard continued, gripping his staff. "Please, allow us to join your party!"

"Of course," Katsuya shouted, the others nodding in agreement. Hey, he'd thought they already had really... "Why th' heck would we say no?"

Honda grinned as the two new party members joined their side, pumping his fists. "YEA! Let's show Zorc a new level of pain!"

'Bakura' hissed, before grudgingly continuing to narrate. "It's still your turn," he bit out, Mokuba's figurine blowing a raspberry at him. "The magic gunman goes next!"

Across from him, 'Yugi' nodded. "The gunman attacks," he shouted, rolling the dice. "He shoots Zorc... 15!" A blast from Honda's gun shot through Zorc's midsection, the others gaping.

"Holy shit," Katsuya shouted, grinning as a large hole appeared where the bullet had gone through. "That never happened before!"

Beside him, Bakura laughed, smiling softly. "As an NPC," he began, the others watching as 'Kai' began to shoot a volley of arrows behind Honda's shot outside of 'Yugi's control. "Kai and I obey the will of the other game master, Bakura Ryou." As 'Kai's turn also ended, a fair number of arrows stuck to the side of Zorc's face, his smile grew. He adjusted the grip of his staff, which glowed slightly before returning to normal. "I thought it might help, if I lowered Zorc's defenses slightly with my white magic..."

The groups grins grew as Zorc's hitpoints plummeted, the demon snarling in pain. "Ahahahaaa! YES," Katsuya shouted, Mokuba grinning as well. White Wizards... 'Diabolists'! With Bakura on their side, things were looking up a lot, and it seemed they just might make it through!

Bakura continued to smile softly, shaking his head. "This is the least I can do," he said, Kai standing beside the group silently again. "You saved me from the darkness of Zorc's heart, and my partner from a similar fate... This time, I will fight together with you!" A similar fate..? For a brief moment, Mokuba and Katsuya both had to frown. If 'Kai' had been created by Bakura, he'd say the same right? At the same time, Bakura had never met Kaiba, whom the figurine resembled... So... What did he mean by a 'similar' fate..?

At these words, the 'fake' Bakura growled, gritting his teeth. The expression of anger was more than evident on his face, and Katsuya found himself grimly appreciating that fact. Served him right, sealing them all in these lead figurines... The blond found himself quickly drawing back however, as the expression changed to a grin. Zorc gave a loud roar of some sort, body twisting and mutating as they all drew back. "Oh no," Bakura shouted, holding his staff out protectively. "No, that's-" Whatever it was, it wasn't good!

As the beast writhed it gave a final loud roar before releasing a blast of energy, the group caught completely off guard. "NO," the other Yugi shouted, the board vanishing into clouds of smoke as the 'other' Bakura cackled. The growls could still be heard through the fog, and the figurines below squinted as they attempted to see through to their opponent. And what they saw... Katsuya swallowed, eyes growing wide as the mutated creature slowly revealed itself before them.

"This is Zorc's final form," Bakura shouted loudly, the wave of energy pressing on the group. "His attack and defense both level up, and now, it's **HIS** turn! DICE ROLL!" Wait, that attack wasn't even- It shouldn't have been his turn as it was and- The dice clattered to the ground, Bakura still cackling. "SUPERCRITICAL!" A panel of sorts opened on the 'final' form's chest, a large blast of energy shooting forwards. Shit... Shit..! He couldn't move... Neither could the others... The pressure pushing down on them, whatever it was, held them firmly in place. He closed his eyes, biting his lip as he waited for the attack. Shit... Shit...

Nothing was happening.

He watch numbly as both Kai and Bakura jumped forwards, the wizard acting first as he stood beside the blond. "WHITE MAGIC," the albino shouted, "Shining Shield level 13!" Even as the shield appeared, the heat from the blast felt worse than anything before. Even as Kai stood directly in front of them, back turned to Zorc as she held her head down in pain, he idly wondered if this was how oven-made pizzas felt.

"WHITE WIZARD," the other Bakura cackled, the energy still bearing down. "How long can your magic stand against Zorc's flames!"

The wizard winced, and as the others told him to hang in there, that he was doing alright, Katsuya found himself looking at Kai's smiling face. "Smile..." He swallowed, voice low and barely audible as he stared at the archer in shock. White feathers were misting away into nothing but solid, unmoving lead, unlike the seemingly 'living' forms they held. And as drops of what the blast was hot enough to melt dripped down to the ground, she was still smiling. "Why are you..."

And to his surprise, he heard her voice again. "The last... Piece..." What? She continued to mist away, still smiling. Her arms and legs were becoming rigid, glued to her side as most of the figurines had been created. And even through that... "The last piece... For _her_ sake..." What the hell was she saying? Last piece? Last piece for what!" With those words, she vanished into nothing but a solid lead figure, clattering to the ground lifelessly. And still he could hear... '_Don't die, both of you_.'

The dust cleared, Bakura collapsing to the ground as Honda looked over at the others. "The attack is over," he said, breathing heavily. "Is everyone ok..?" Even the ground was about destroyed by the attack, black ash marks mucking up the ground before them. In the midst of it, 'Kai's figurine lay on it's side, staring blankly upwards and completely devoid of life.

Katsuya grimaced as he took in the scene, numbly pulling himself to his feet. "Kai... She didn't..."

Beside him, Mokuba nodded sadly. "We've all taken a lot of damage..."

The others turned to Bakura, Anzu running over to his size in worry. "Oh Bakura... Just wait, I'll use my healing magic next turn and-"

The wizard shook his head, weakly pulling himself up. "No... I... I'm fine," he said, wheezing. "Anzu... If you have enough magic to heal, please, use it to attack Zorc!" As the others looked at him in shock, Bakura's expression hardened. "I don't have enough power to protect everyone again... And the only reason I could is because Kai took the brunt of the attack... If we don't finish it on this turn," he continued, bracing himself with his staff, "We'll all be destroyed!"

They fell into silence, before Mokuba and Katsuya both shared a glance and nodded. "We got ya Bakura," the blond said as he took up a stance with his sword. "If we gotta die, we'll do it together!"

"Yea," Honda added, spinning his gun before taking aim. "Time to hack and slash!" And shoot! Looking forwards, he smirked. "And it looks like that attack has one good point too!"

Yugi nodded, as his other self pointed towards a rather prominent eye that appeared beneath the 'panel' from the attack. "Look," the 'tamer' shouted. "His weak point!"

The other Yugi grabbed the dice, nodding. "The muzzle of Zorc's death weapon... Hit the eye!"

As he said this however, Mokuba balked. "Ah! The hole," he cried, the panel slowly closing in an aperture. "It's closing up!"

"No good," Anzu cried, shaking her head. "It's too late! It'll seal up before we can strike back!"

Katsuya winced at that realization, growling as 'Bakura' gained a smug expression at the fact. Damn bastard, of course the one weak point would be covering itself. 'Bakura's grin quickly vanished however, as one of Yugi's monsters charged forwards to jam itself into the hole. "Poki!" They shouted out to the small 'sheep', the monster merely bracing itself in the round aperture hole. "This is your chance," he shouted at them, the 'poki' sounds echoing around the board. "Blow me away, along with him... Do it now, quickly!"

The blond stared, before shaking his head. "Thanks... Poki..." He resumed his stance, before frowning. "But we ain't sacrificing a friend we've fought alongside!" Even if that friend was technically a falsely created being... But hey, for all he knew, that 'falsely created being' was another offshoot of Bakura's soul! (Though what did that make Kai...) "An evil soul ain't worth an ounce of the life of a friend!" He stepped back, allowing Yugi to come forwards and gain the 'initiative' to move first. Yugi's move... He could fix this!

"Let's go," 'Yugi' shouted, dropping the dice. "The beast tamer attacks! 02!"

Below, Yugi nodded, hands stretched out in determination. Poki might not be able to get out alone, but perhaps with Yugi's help... "TRAINING HAND! **JET STREAM PUNCH**!" A large fist appeared, blasting clear through the weak point and catching Poki in its safe grip. While flaps of skin were all that was left of Zorc's weak spot, Poki was completely unharmed.

The others grinned, watching as Zorc wretched in pain. Above, the other Bakura clutched his stomach as well, growling. "Alright!" Katsuya grinned, watching as Zorc slowly pulled himself back up. He hit the weak point dead on... They had a chance!

The dice rolled again, Mokuba twirling his daggers. Now that it was down to the group, all of them standing in a 'line' of sorts, speed was determining the turn-set. "Now for the rogue! Dice roll!" They clattered to the ground, the 'fairy' vanishing from sight to charge forwards and slice the monster's bottom legs clean off from the body. "04!"

Giggling echoed through the air again, before the boy reappeared on the other side of the monster. "**Shadow Tag Strike**!" As Mokuba smirked, Zorc still continued to roar in pain, fumbling around with his single hand.

This is the final blow, Katsuya thought to himself as 'Yugi' grabbed the dice again. This was it... "The warrior's turn!" The dice clattered to the ground, and he narrowed his eyes as he charged forwards. "01!" Last hit! They couldn't waste this!

Explosive Energetic Slash! Zorc screeched as his entire torso was cut through, bottom half separated from the top cleanly by the blade. Katsuya turned, watching as the demon collapsed to the ground to clear a path for the others to grin at them. "We did it," Honda cried, the 'gunman' watching as Katsuya and Mokuba both gave each other a high-five. "We beat Zorc!" It was over! He and Mokuba ran between the two halves, joining the others with equally wide grins. They'd won! They... Wait...

Just as they began celebrating with the others however, Katsuya found himself turning back to look at Zorc's corpse. Something didn't feel right about this... He reeled back with a shout as Zorc continued to hiss in pain, slowly pushing himself up as clouds of shadow seeped from his mouth. "No way..." The demon struggled to stand on one hand, Katsuya's eyes being drawn to 'Bakura' with horror. "Zorc isn't dead yet!" That expression... That twisted expression on 'Bakura's face, that contorted grin... Identical to the monster before them...

"Hahahahahahaaa... The fact that you didn't finish Zorc on this turn will be your down fall," the teen said with a low, grim chuckle. His breathing was weak, haggard, and still he continued, as though on his death bed. "On the next turn, Zorc and the adventurers must roll for initiative again! YUGI," he shouted, finding the strength to pull himself up in the chair. "We roll at the same time! The winner goes first!"

As Katsuya turned to look over at 'Yugi', he repressed a nervous swallow. '_I'll take you on_', he was saying. '_This roll means life or death_', he was saying... The other Yugi clenched the dice tightly, while 'Bakura' continued. Last chance... All or nothing with this one move...

If it was possible, that frighteningly inhuman grin had grown. "This roll," he began with a crazed laugh, "Will also determine the success of the attack! Not only will it determine who goes first, it will determine who kills who!" As the group of figurines and 'Yugi' both sent ice cold glares to the teen, he continued. "The instant my roll beats yours, Zorc will self destruct," he shouted with a laugh. "By destroying all of you, I will be victorious... And if we roll the same number," he said darkly, "We both die! I blow up the same moment you attack me! Either way, I win! AHAHAHAHA!"

He frowned at those words. Alright, so the roll had to beat his but... 'Other' Bakura had said 'I'. He didn't say 'Zorc', he said 'I'... "What th' fuck..." They had to win this... Katsuya, along with all the others, turned to look up at 'Yugi' with determined frowns. Bakura of course was going on about how he'd win no matter what... But they had faith... They had faith in this roll! It _would_ win!

"Lets go," 'Bakura' shouted, grinning madly. Death just wasn't even phasing this guy... Right to the end, he was going through with his plans. "THE ROLL OF LIFE OR DEATH!"

The dice flew into the air, Katsuya and hte others watching as they slowly sailed downwards. Please... They needed this number... Please... "00," he shouted, looking across at Bakura.

Katsuya's eyes widened with relief as the others grinned. Supercritica! The lowest possible roll! They were in the clear! "How do you like them apples," he shouted, turning towards 'Bakura'. "Super Critical!" His face fell however as the albino continued to grin, simply watching as his own dice clattered to the ground. "No..." The dice clattered to the ground, and 'Bakura' began cackling madly. No way... No fucking way, the chances of getting a tie of those numbers were just... "Super..."

The albino's grin widened even more, his closed eye giving the appearance of a cruel wink. "AHAHAHAHAHAAAA! What a cruel strike for you," he laughed, pointing across to Yugi. "At the moment you were sure of victory, to fall into the jaws of defeat!" As the other Yugi leveled a silent and angered gaze at the teen, his laughter increased. "This was **GREAT**! This was the best game I've ever played! Two sets of double zeroes... The most dramatic ending, everyone dies!" He grinned, moving to type something into the laptop. "Just as you leap forwards," he narrated, the figurines below glaring daggers larger than themselves, "Zorc explodes, taking you wit-" He froze, eyes wide as the dice cracked. "It's YOU!"

Katsuya turned, eyes wide as the others watched the dice, confused. "What's going on," Anzu was saying. "How are the dice doing that?"

"They're cracking," Yugi was saying, eyes wide. "They're just... Crumbling!" What did they mean 'just crumbling', couldn't they see?

He was right there..!

'_I don't want to lose any more friends!_' Ryou Bakura hovered above the dice, staring his other self down. '_Even if it means my soul should shatter!_' No... Katsuya's eyes grew even wider with realization as the dice continued to shatter, mouth hanging open. No... Bakura was going to.. If the dice were tied to him the way he thought, then that meant.. The spirit turned to the other Yugi, whose eyes widened as the dice continued to break. "Yugi... Everyone..." His voice grew loud, clearly heard across the table. The gasps of the others around him told the blond that they could see him as well... Maybe it was because he was talking to them all, but then how was it that earlier... "Thank you for believing in me..."

"**BAKURA**!"

An explosion resounded about the room, the dice bursting into pieces. The 'other' Bakura reeled back in shock, the others on the table rendered silent for the moment. 'Yugi's eyes narrowed as he stared the albino down, clutching the edge of the table. Finally, he spoke."So you rolled a super critical," 'Yugi' asked with a glare. "I don't see one! No dice, no roll," he added. "WE ATTACK! Prepare yourself Zorc, for Anzu's magic!"

The magician nodded, wand at the ready as she aimed at the enormous, hideous beast. "Lets do it," she shouted, a blast of energy forming at the end of the staff for a moment. "GO!" The blast launched off the weapon, encompassing Zorc's broken body completely. "FINAL BIG BANG!" The entire area in front of them was hidden in the light of the explosion, which managed to keep below the top of the table. Zorc's figurine vanished from sight completely, his silhouette slowly fading away into dust. Before they could contemplate this however, the group's attention was pulled to another source.

"HRAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!" Katsuya jumped as 'Bakura' gave a scream, eyes wide as the outline of a ring of sorts appeared through the 'DM's shirt. While the light from the blast enveloped the demon's almost destroyed body, Bakura toppled over with an expression of fatal pain. Zorc was dead. The 'fake' Bakura was dead... But what about..!

Sh-Shit! "BAKURA!" The other Yugi rushed over, lightly checking for a pulse on the albino. The figurines stared upwards, eyes wide. "Yug', how's he-"

The teen shook his head, looking down at the still miniature forms of his friends. "It's no good... He's dead..." No... Bakura... Sacrificed his soul... To save all of them. After they'd given up on him for the first half of the game... He'd done that...

"No," the White Wizard behind them said quietly, the others turning to look at him in shock. That's right... This 'Bakura' was created by the real one, wasn't he? But then, what was 'Kai'..? Nonetheless, he could do something, right? "Ryou Bakura's soul is still alive," he said sadly, gesturing to himself. "Inside of me..." So then... "The master created me into this world, and through his adventures made me grow," the wizard continued with a smile. "Over time, I became a level 13 white wizard... And now, I can pay my master back."

The group stood, rendered silent by the words. After a few seconds, Honda muttered a '_whoah_', but otherwise listened as the NPC continued. "Since I'm level 13, my healing magic should be strong enough to transfer my soul back to the master... But I'm a lead figurine in a game world," he cried, turning to the still 'real' Yugi. "I can't move without the will of a game master, or a player... So Yugi," he continued, eyes wide and pleading. "Throw the dice for me! Make the roll to do my magic!"

Picking up the dice, 'Yugi' nodded, eyes soft as he smiled. "I will! And don't worry," he added, the others looking up at him as well. "I'll be sure to roll a critical!"

The white wizard turned to the others, smiling sadly. "The next time we meet in this world," Ahahaha, if they played this game ever again... "I too will be a level one apprentice in my class, without any experience.." Well... That didn't sound too bad...

Honda balked, eyes wide. "N-No xp? But, Bakura!" Experience wasn't really the problem here! Sheesh!

"Farewell, everyone..." With that, the dice were thrown, double zeroes landing on the board as expected. "Healing Magic," the wizard cried, body glowing with light as he began to 'vanish' in the same way 'Kai' did earlier. "Luonazun!" Holding the staff up high, the same familiar 'change' happening to his body from the bottom up. Legs grew rigid, arms here held taught at the sides... And finally, the figurine clattered to the ground, silent.

It was a strange feeling. One moment, he and the others were holding White Wizard Bakura's motionless and stiff body, the blond shouting as his expression froze in a gentle smile... And the next, he was being woken up by Mokuba. "Katsuya-nii!" He groaned, rubbing his head. Ach... It hurt like hell damn it... "Katsuya-nii, wake up! We're back to normal!"

He blinked, sitting up as he looked at Mokuba. "We're..." The look of shock was quickly replaced by cheer, and he pulled the kid close into a hug. As the boy in question squawked in response to this, he grinned, completely lost in the moment. "Oh man! We're done! We did it! Yer' still alright! We WON! YES!"

"Ano... Katsuya-nii..." The boy pointed beyond Katsuya's shoulder, coughing.

Katsuya blinked, looking around as the others gave him an odd, raised eyebrow stare. The hug was released with a nervous laugh and cough, Mokuba rolling his eyes. "Er... We did it~ Now yer si- Yer brother won't completely slaughter me when he gets up, ahaha..." As the others merely laughed in response, he turned back to Mokuba. They'd made it...

They returned to normal... As the others smiled back at him, Bakura thanking the others heavily for what they'd done (Not to mention apologizing even more), he had to silently thank whatever gods were watching them for getting out of that alive. He knew he wasn't going anywhere near this game for a while... A... LONG... While. As they left, Bakura gave each of them the figurines they'd had, the blond idly noting that they seemed to be smiling. As the others turned to leave however, he found himself picking up the 'Kai' figurine and turning to Bakura. "Hey," he said quietly, the albino turning with a blink as Mokuba also followed him. "That 'archer' figurine..."

"Ah, that one..." Bakura picked it up, the figurines large white wings gleaming in the light of the room. It was somehow still intact after all that had gone on after her 'death'... An impressive feat really. "I can't remember making a birdtail... Particularly not a female archer," he added with a small smile, handing it to Katsuya. "I'm not sure why," he continued, before smiling, "But I feel as though this is important to you two though," the albino said as he looked down at Mokuba a moment. "I think I'll give it to you."

Katsuya stood, silent for a moment as Mokuba looked up at the figurine. It was the boy who spoke first in the end, after the silence that came over after saying their good-byes and leaving the apartment. They were alone by this point, everyone having gone their separate ways by now. "Katsuya-nii," he said, the pair walking home in the partial darkness of the evening. "That figurine... That smile..."

He nodded, pulling it carefully out of his bag. The palm sized figurine sat cold on his hand, Remaining light washing half of the features of the figure. "Yea... I wouldn't know myself but..." The blond sighed, looking at the oddly uncharacteristic smile on the 'archer's face, before turning to Mokuba. "Hey Mokuba," he asked, eyes soft. "What yah said back there... When we were tryin' teh figure out 'Kai's name..." 'Seri' he'd said... One of the offered 'possibilities' that Yugi had given... And undoubtedly noticed if Yugi's own reaction was any sign.

The boy merely 'hnn-ed', staring ahead. "It was nothing," he said, a little faster than normal maybe. "I really meant it... If you look at the shirt the figurine is wearing, it looks like parsley." The teen looked back at it, blinking. Well, he had to admit, it _did_ look similar but... He doubted that was it really.

Katsuya sighed, but decided to leave it as it was. Honestly, they'd dealt with enough that day... Probably best to leave things be. Instead, turning his attention to the road below, he changed the subject to something else. "Do yah think," he said, somewhat hesitantly as the boy beside him looked up. "Do you think that it was... Her?" As impossible as the question seemed, the boy's answer told him it had been on both their minds.

"...I..." Mokuba fell silent, before nodding, wiping a few stray tears at the thought of 'seeing' his sister again. "I don't think it was all of her but..."

He smiled, the pair falling partially silent as they continued off. The answer didn't need to be said after all. Regardless of the fact that it had obviously not been Kaiba, it had also been at least... A small part. "Yea... Me too..."

A small piece of the puzzle...

* * *

AN: I swear it, Bakura gets the BEST LINES EVER.

HOW DOES THAT FEEL BAKURA?

HOW DOES THAT _DURABLE POLY-RESIN_ FEEEEEEEL?

You can probably tell that I had far too much fun making up attack names.

You can also likely tell that I was feeling far to romance-y for this chapter, and I will forever be trying to figure out how I got Bakura's soul to Jonouchi's soul, and Jonouchi's soul _INSIDE_ Kaiba's soul. Especially since Kaiba is like... Miles away in the house at this time. UUUUUH... I... I don't know... (-coughredstringscough-) But heeeeey Kaiba gets a puzzle piece out of it. (To be specific, what Bakura did was take one of the pieces and use it for a figurine. In return, he not only left behind what he'd used to make that figurine, but also another piece for the puzzle created from those experiences. Though Kaiba won't remember a damn thing concerning that.) Anyways... Uh...

I'lllll just move on now...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hi there Iona! Glad to see you like Mokuba's involvement! I was wondering how that would be taken... Hopefully, I can keep it up!

As for Yu-Gi-Oh R... I'm wondering about that myself. Mostly, I'm building on two things, which will largely affect how I do this. The first thing is obviously timing, which I'll probably decide as things begin shaping up. The second however, is an interesting point but... In Yu-Gi-Oh R, when Yakou Tenma comes to see Pegasus, you see the bloodied table but... There's no _body_. He's got the company but where did the body GO? (It scares me, it really does...) In any case... We'll see what happens.

To answer your question, I don't think it's so much that everyone wants his company, so much that Kaiba just makes waaaay too many enemies. Pegasus wanted it for a realistic reason (KaibaCorp has the machines, he has the cards), the Big Five for a more obvious reason (They kinda were already a big part of the company), Gozaburo and Noa in Virtual World for another reason... Siegfried's was built COMPLETELY on revenge however- he was upset about Kaiba using an idea that they had... Pretty much both come up with at the same time, and getting to Pegasus with it first. (Irony is, Kaiba was 'inspired' to create SolidVision by a Shadow Game against Yugi, whereas Siegfried legitimately came up with the idea on his own. D'OH.) As for Tenma...

Not completely sure, but it either has to do with Pegasus' goals, with his need for Solid Vision to get 'revenge' on the falsely accused Yugi (But Fluffy gets his, yes he does...), or... Quite possibly both. Helps that he's somehow being possessed by the evil counterparts of the God Cards.

That or Kaiba just attracts people like magnets by being a jerk and owning what is (If not what WILL be in the future given the spinoffs...) possibly the most influential company in his field... Possibly the world in a few decades. WOWWWWWW KAIBA. WOW.

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section so mind-blanking-ly incredible it... It... Shoot, I can't remember... ._.

Not actually much to say here in terms of the manga, save for perhaps... This. The dice that Yami Bakura uses have a soul trapped in them, much like the figurines. It's how he got insane rolls even later in the game. To be specific, he pulled them out _right before_ the hit that SHOULD have killed everyone. Bakura however, retook control of his left hand after it was blasted off of the Zorc figurine, and used some handy keyboard typing to save everyone's rears. (Hence why Yami begins muttering to himself and moving the laptop to the side.) Actually, a small bit of what Bakura 'says' to Kaiba (Who he ironically doesn't even know... Or even meet until Battle City. Actually no, he does _see_ Kaiba in Duelist Kingdom, never mind.) is what he types out on the laptop as a message to Bakura. Needless to say, Yami Bakura wasn't happy... Particularly after he finds out his left hand was hiding the soul-possessed dice as well. (This would be about where he stabbed his own hand. Yay?)

Bakura got back at him though, as when Yami Bakura attempted to stick a piece of his soul in the dice to ensure a perfect roll. Instead of succeeding, Bakura snuck into them... And self-destructed. Hihhhhh... You never do find out if he remembers this... But it's heavily implied that he _does_. Possibly even stated. (Yikes.)

Some of you are probably wondering why I threw the god-damned 'Red String of Fate' in here. To answer your question, I'm a hopeless romantic. On a more 'guide' type of note, the original tales of the red string are not tied to the pinky of both people involved; instead, it's tied to the pinky of the woman, and the thumb of the man. Hnnnn... Guess tying it to the pinky on both ends is just simpler nowadays.

As a last note, you're probably wondering what the hell happened to Jonouchi during that twisted, hellish scene. Well... To be frank, all of the injuries he got as a figurine rebounded on him and... He ended up pulled back into Monster World. The two biggest ones that show up are Zorc's attack at the tower (A nice slash to the midsection, which would likely cause a bit of bloody vomit on his part... Ick.), and Zorc's attack shortly after that. The super critical one. The one that set him on fire. Ouch. Then again, at least it went faster than Kaiba's memory purge induced OOC-ness. That one had to suck _a lot_.

See you next time guys~ Duelist Kingdom is coming faster than you think! And then you'll actually have to wait for me to type the chapters, rather than simply _edit_ them. Because all of the fanfic to a certain point was typed _before_ I uploaded the prologue... I've just been editing after that.

Off we go!


	19. Chapter 18

**Botan Dorou**

* * *

When she woke up, her window was open.

Seto lay on the ground of the dark room, which was now mostly a faded grey. Light from above shone from her 'window', the woman merely staring upwards, blankly. She didn't know how much time was passing... She was just... Lying there. The sun was shining through her 'window', and now that it was late September, it was calming rather than harsh. "...My memories..." Had returned. She knew... Almost knew who she was again. She could remember everything she'd lost... From the puzzle at least. And with her memories repaired, so was the golden, almost spherical device beside her.

The woman managed to pull herself to her knees, staring at the 'new piece' with a frown. This piece... She grabbed it, the frown deepening. A fleeting memory of some sort of... Explosion? Was that what it was? And two faces... She could see two faces in the fogged memory, almost similar to the Mutt and her brother. And yet it couldn't be them... The faces were too simple, too wrong. Enormous eyes painted onto a surface that literally shined in the light, these were just figurines, mock ups of their appearance. Nothing existed that could change her mind. Besides, she thought with a snort. She certainly didn't have whatever it was she saw in her shadow. Seto placed the piece into her puzzle, numbly standing up as she held it in her grip. As she stood there, she could hear Katsuya and Mokuba speaking... She couldn't find the strength to respond though, and even if she could, it wasn't as though they could hear her right? Each day it felt more and more like there was no point... Time was passing, and the pieces were few and far between. And yet...

The room was lighter... The puzzle was almost done... Seto blinked, looking up as something drifted through the 'window'. '_Thank you_', they were saying. Over and over again, they were saying it. Why were they thanking her? She didn't do anything, honestly... All she'd done for the past immeasurable amount of time was lay there in the darkness... Sleeping, suffocating... As she watched whatever it was being sent in drift forward, she found herself thinking of the 'ghost'. The white, smoking figure that appeared in this place... The woman narrowed her eyes as she recalled the 'conversation', if it could be called that.

'_Please. Help me.._.' "Tch... In the end, he knocked me out..." Typical... She didn't even know who it was, just how had that _thing_ made it in here? Seto snorted, watching as whatever had come through landed with a clatter to the ground. A figurine... She picked it up, looking it over with a blank expression. Hn! Like the things she saw for a brief moment in her memory... Her eyes narrowed as she took in the details on the figurine's face, frowning. "Psh," she said with a scoff, holding the winged miniature in one hand as she crossed her arms. "As if I would be caught dead with that smile..."

Nonetheless however, her face softened as Katsuya continued to speak 'outside'. Really... This place made her 'soft'... '_Seto-chan... I don't know if you were really there but... Yah saved my life an' Mokuba's both_.' Seto frowned, looking upwards. "What did I say about calling me that..." Whatever... He wasn't listening anyways. She'd just have to make sure she remembered to get him back for everything he said while she was here when she 'got out'. Idly, she looked back at the figurine. Saved them? She'd be more than willing to do that for her brother, but for the Mutt... Eh, maybe if she wasn't doing anything else. '_Heck, prolly e'ryone's life... Thanks... F'r everythin'.._.' Everyone? Now _that_ was pushing it.

"...Moron," she said with half closed eyes as she allowed a small smile to creep on her face. The woman took a seat, still looking at the figure in her hands as she spoke. "You shouldn't need saving if you're on security." The figurine glowed a few moments, before becoming a puzzle piece as well. "...Hn..." Seemed to be a trend really... They'd 'give her' something and it'd be some piece with a menial if not possibly pointless memory in it. So far the only real exception to that had been her pendant... (Though she did like that dragon. A lot.)

And as she placed it in, she found her smile remained on her face longer than she would have ever expected... Far longer actually, even if the memory was nothing but an open view of her backyard in the middle of the night.

"...Hmp... Am I losing myself here," she wondered aloud, spinning the puzzle in her hands as the memory ended. "Or have I simply lost myself for too long..."

There was no answer, as usual. But then, she didn't expect one this time.

* * *

In the end, things fell back to normal within a few days. Bakura's friends all over Tokyo regained consciousness, their souls freed of their prisons. Even the damn gym teacher Karita-sensei was freed, though he appeared to have no memories of the event- hell, he came back the next _day_, which certainly said something about his drive as a teacher. '_You four_,' he'd shouted that morning, the teens rushing for the classroom. '_You're late! You want a detention!_' Sheesh, after getting his body back too... He wasn't even that good as villager 'D'... Well, at least they'd been let off the hook in terms of that detention. Nothing like a bit of a break to calm things down.

Bakura in the meantime, ended up waiting for an ambulance at his house. Technically, they'd all been there. The story was that they'd gotten so excited over the game that Bakura had slammed his hand down... On the tower instead of the table. It seemed just a little too far-fetched of course, but really, with so many 'witnesses', the doctors bought it, and within just a few days the white haired teen was back in school, left hand bandaged up more than a mummy. Thankfully, he was right handed... Though Katsuya wished he'd had that option before. Either way, regardless of how fast discharge had been, he wouldn't be using the hand for a while. But from what they could tell, he found it a perfectly fine 'price' after what had happened the nights before.

Nonetheless, the day had gone as expected... Mostly. Weeks had passed, even months, with the events in between essentially blurring together no matter what the event. Though Katsuya did have to admit... Health and Sports day had been a little more interesting with Mokuba around- particularly with the three-legged race. By the end of that particular day, they'd even managed to win one of the events... Resulting in Mokuba going home with a booster pack of duel monster cards. In the end, the boy had... Absolutely no clue what to do with them though, and he'd opted to give it, as well as a few other things, to his still 'sleeping' older sister once the 25th rolled around.

Times were flying... And Kaiba slept through it all. The amount of time that had really passed hadn't hit Katsuya for a while though... At least not until Bakura had come in, his hand completely healed at last. Though a large, slowly healing scab could still be seen within the boundaries of what would be an _intense _scar, the fact that two months had already passed was... Incredible. Had it really gone so fast? Katsuya had shaken his head at that moment, instead watching as the teen carried in with him a clear box of sorts. '_There's something I want to show you,_' he'd said, before uncovering the box. '_I made it last night._'

It was a large diorama, a castle scene... And a very well made one at that. The figures of the entire party they'd had in the Monster World, 'Kai' and 'Bakura' included were all reaching upwards with smiles on their faces. Briefly, Katsuya held back a laugh at the small smile that 'Kai' had. It wasn't a large grin like the others of course, as that would be a bit_ too_ much but... Well, seeing the expression on 'Kaiba's face was interesting. Even the other Yugi was there, holding a ten-sided die in his well detailed hand... With a small smirk on his face as well. All together, it was fairly well made... '_This diorama is a memento of that adventure_,' Bakura had said, smiling. _'A symbol of our friendship when we fought together against the monsters! Let's play again someday..._'

Much as he wanted to say '_HEEEEEELLL NO_', he ended up nodding and smiling anyways. It was the better thing to do really, what with Bakura being Bakura. Quieter than Yugi, possibly just as 'innocent'. Definitely more polite than all of them put together! Besides, the other Bakura was gone now right... Dead and gone, and he wasn't ever coming back. Though the similarities of '_Egyptian Artifact with Other Self Inside_' was a little creepy, when comparing that ring with the puzzle.

Mokuba had taken a bit to calm down after that day; he was just a little jumpy around the house, almost screaming when he'd come from behind to go into the kitchen. The last few weeks however, he seemed to finally be over it, calming down to his regular persona. In fact, he'd asked him the next week if he could pick him up from school and walk with him rather than go by car. Apparently, the boy was becoming rather fond of the walks, given how often he'd been taking them... Katsuya supposed they were alright too, what with the silence of his own trips to school being somewhat broken on the way back now. It was more than a little upsetting after all, when security had been 'heightened' to the point that anyone else they knew couldn't enter the house. Hell, they were lucky they weren't on house arrest from what he could tell! Walking down the street however, his mind was turned to other things.

To be specific, he was looking through his duel monster cards, scowling. The game had recently picked up considerably in popularity, and at the moment it wasn't at all uncommon for most of the class to duel during breaks at school. However... "Augggghh..." Mokuba looked up as the teen grumbled over his cards, the pair taking a break from the walk back home to sit down. As to where they were really, who knew. All he knew was it was some wall that was low enough for even the shorter of the two to hop up on for a seat. "I jus' don' get what I'm doin' wrong here!"

The boy blinked, peeking over his arm at the cards before grinning. "Pbbbbbtt... I think I can guess!" As Katsuya leveled a fairly unimpressed stare at him, he continued laughing. "Your entire deck is made of monsters! You can't work with that!" Oddly enough, Yugi had said the same thing... But he had to turn down the offer to invite him over to rebuild his deck thanks to his shift for work... Damn it.

He huffed, folding the cards back up before turning to Mokuba. "Alright then smart guy, then what exactly _should_ I be workin' with?" Lets compare answers here... And maybe he'd have enough spare change to actually move on it.

"Well, it's a _strategy_ game! You're supposed to combine monsters with spell and trap cards Katsuya-nii!" He rolled his eyes, still snickering as the teen muttered something about being told twice. "Otherwise, your opponent can easily dodge all the monsters!" Even though they're cards... Granted he did tend to lose to spells and traps all the time.

Katsuya stared, visibly frowning at the words. He... He and Yugi had a really good point didn't he... "Nhhhh... I need tah figure out some decent strategies huh..."

The boy grinned, nodding his head as they continued walking again. "Yep! You know," he said with a grin, "You could probably get some ideas watching the duel monsters finals tomorrow... I'm not good at the game myself, not like n-" He cut himself off, sighing. "Not like 'her'..." Mokuba turned to the ground, the good mood fading. It was the week before December after all... And if Kaiba had slept through her birthday, there was a good chance of it persisting into Christmas.

He winced, before ruffling the boy's hair a bit. "Hey... She'll wake up soon, alrigh? Guarantee it." It seemed that since 'Kai's appearance in the Monster World, Mokuba had been getting more and more depressed about the 'zoned out' woman. The vegetative state had refused to let up, and if things kept going the way they were... Christmas and New Years were the least of their worries. "I promise yah." Didn't know how to fix it, but it was a promise he would keep. No matter how pointless it seemed...

It was about as gloomy as his own sister's condition; she could still see, but give it a few weeks... Well, she was due to loose all sight by February according to his mother- Shizuka herself had refused to say. Mokuba looked up at the blond, nodding. "Y-Yea... Hey," the boy said, giving a nervous smile. "Yugi's Grandpa owns a game shop right?" Without waiting for a response, he continued. "Why don't we go there tomorrow to watch the finals? You could get some cards at the same time!" Mokuba at Yugi's house? That was new.

"Hnn..." He blinked, before nodding with a smile. "Yea! That sounds good teh me!" Well, at least Mokuba's dislike for Yugi seemed to have decreased with the 'Monster World' fiasco... If anything, the boy was completely fine with him now. Well. Mostly. Mentioning Kaiba seemed to gain about the same effect around Yugi as it did Mokuba, albeit the former was completely drenched in guilt on the topic. "I'll meetcha there, alr- Wait," Katsuya muttered with a frown, turning back to the kid. "I thought I had work..."

They continued walking back, Mokuba now smiling a little more genuinely. "Eh, consider it a day off! I'll have Hobson cover for you!" As Katsuya nodded in response to that ('_Alright, sounds good...'_), the boy scratched his head, frowning "...Though... I might be a little late, alright? I kinda got a detention..." He flushed, rubbing his head. "Pretty stupid..." If not for the fact that it wasn't something to be proud of, he'd probably say he was. At last, Mokuba doing something that was on the scale of normal kids getting in trouble! (Unlike Death-T... Hihhh...) Wait, how did Mokuba...

Another blink, before Katsuya smirked. Well, no better time to ask really! "A detention? Whad'ya do?"

The boy snorted, crossing his arms. "Nothing... Just ran late for class..." Late for class. Yea, he could see that. Made sense too, Mokuba wasn't the type to go around being a delinquent. (That was his job. And he'd lightened up.) Doesn't matter really..." He trailed off, before grinning. Home stretch to the house now, and in the currently glaring sun they could see the walls of Kaiba Mansion. "Come on, we're going to miss supper, alright?"

"Nyh, what?" He watched as Mokuba already disappeared a few meters ahead, running full tilt. "Oi! Get back here!" He charged after the boy, soon catching up as a somewhat 'rigged' game of tag came about. "Oi!"

As they ran, Katsuya couldn't help but welcome the wave of normalcy that had settled over them. Things were finally set in place, no crazy mummies, no homicidal penalty game rumors... And while it was hard waiting, Kaiba seemed to be getting better day by day; the feeding tube was removed, and the woman seemed to have longer and longer periods of 'wakefulness' (Regardless of the fact that her eyes were clearly _dead_)... In fact, she'd kept her eyes open almost a full day once. (Though that was creepy...) Personally, Katsuya figured it'd be about a week before she woke up... Though he didn't want to say anything only to bring Mokuba's hopes up. After all... Given what happened when she'd first hit the vegetative state...

And now even Mokuba was getting along with Yugi, to the point where _he_ had recommended spending an evening at the kid's house... Well, he'd find out just how 'well' that was going tomorrow really, but still. Things were looking up! Really looking up, and if the boy's behavior was any sign, Mokuba was feeling better as well!

At least... He'd thought that...

But the next day, sitting outside Yugi's house, Mokuba never showed up. In the end, Sugoroku had called him inside for some food, telling him that the duels were already on screen. He'd called shortly before the finals began, already sitting with Anzu, Yugi and grandfather. He'd called in only to be told by one of the newer maids that Mokuba had come home an hour ago and was working on homework. And when he asked to speak to him... '_Forgive me Jonouchi-kun, but Mokuba-sama is just too busy to come to the phone! They really loaded him with work today... I recommend you enjoy the rest of your evening off instead, things will be better tomorrow._' And then she'd hung up, Katsuya standing there with a dead line.

It kinda hurt... Yea the kid had homework, he got that, but it was Friday! He had the entire weekend, he knew that... Couldn't he have called or something, rather than having a maid tell him, a maid that he had to _call_? In the back of his mind, he wondered if something had gone wrong. If Mokuba's greatest fears had come true, whatever they might have been. That this was all a set up, that if he didn't hurry back to the house... However, as Anzu shushed everyone, the show beginning, he ended up just taking one of the cookies beside him and munching it idly. Nothing was wrong... Nothing, things were too calm to go wrong. "This is kinda exciting," Anzu was saying, drinking a can of chilled tea. "I never thought watching card games would get me this hyped up!"

Yugi nodded, currently holding a package he'd received in the mail earlier. The box itself was about half the size of the boy, making an interesting image. "Of course! This decides the number one player in Japan after all!" Number one huh... He knew someone who would (probably could) argue that.

At this, Katsuya blinked and turned to the boy. "Hey Yug," he asked, swallowing a bite of his cookie. "How come you didn' enter? I mean, you could'a gone all th' way!" Like _all_ the way. As in championship title.

"Yea," he said, looking down sadly. "But I made a decision," the boy continued, smiling weakly. "When I enter a tournament again, it'll be to fight '_him_'..."

Katsuya blinked, before nodding. "Kaiba..." It took a second before 'him' registered as 'Kaiba'... He'd kinda gotten used to saying 'she' in his mind, though if he wasn't careful he'd probably pay for that soon. It was probably just him, but it felt almost like Yugi had hesitated with the word as well.

The boy nodded, grinning. "Yea! This time, fair and square; that's my dream!" He turned to Katsuya, the smile disappearing. "That reminds me... I hear Kaiba's still..." He coughed, shifting awkwardly. Right... Kaiba had become a 'forbidden' topic of sorts really, so it was no surprise that only now... "I mean, ever since he was moved from the hospital, I haven't been able to visit..."

"Yea," the blond said, nodding. Honestly, Yugi deserved to know in his opinion; after all, his other self had been the one to do it right? So he should know how the lady was doing. "He's still sittin' at a 'vegetative state' or whatever it's called..." Honestly, he surprised himself with how much he knew about the state of being just by working at that house. "So yea," he added, looking at the ground a moment. "...There's no change..."

There was an awkward silence, and Anzu seemed to stare off with distant eyes. "That man..." She screwed her eyes shut, shaking her head. "Even if he comes back, I still can't trust him..." The others turned, Katsuya blinking. A few months ago... He'd think the roles would be reversed. Anzu was the trusting one. The one with unending faith that was only topped by Yugi's... "I'll never be able to trust him!" Felt almost like he'd been thrown into the twilight zone or whatever it was called just now... He and Yugi swallowed nervously, each of them turning back to face the screen.

The silence returned for a good few minutes, only broken by a cheering crowd from the Duel Monster finals on screen. "For the thousands of duel monsters fans across the country," An announcer stated cheerily, Katsuya glad for something to distract him. "It all comes down to **THIS** moment!"

The final round had begun..! He grinned, leaning back on his hands as he watched. Here it went..!

And just as quickly as it started, it was over. 'Dinosaur Ryuuzaki' played a 'Two-headed Rex', 'Insector Haga' played a trap, and attacked directly. Haga won, and Katsuya had to mentally groan as he caught the point Mokuba had been making about using spells and traps. Damn it... He was taken from his thoughts however when he heard the name 'Maximillion J. Pegasus' on screen. "Hn..." The CEO of I2 made mention of another tournament (visibly making Haga wonder why he'd bothered with _this_ one), Katsuya narrowing his eyes at the mention. Pegasus... Regardless of what he saw of the guy, the way that he was hounding Mokuba and the rest of KaibaCorp just had him on edge... Who would have guessed he'd even be this worked up about 'company warfare'... He had to admit though, it was his first time seeing the man. And ohhhh boy. That guy was the very definition of 'camp'... He was pulled from those thoughts as the show hit the credits, conversation starting up behind them.

"Insector Haga eh," Yugi's grandfather was saying, hand to his chin. "Can't say I'm surprised..."

Yugi grinned, nodding. "Me neither! But it sure was a great duel!" If only it lasted more than two turns... He knew that cards were coming out with better attack power and such, but seriously, _two turns_?

Regardless, he found himself grinning as well, nodding. "Yea! It was like Osaka VS Tokyo!" Well... Shizuka had bragged earlier about Ryuuzaki being from Osaka... And Haga WAS from Tokyo... There. No one could make fun of what he had just said.

The boy laughed, shaking his head. "See what Mokuba and I were saying? Even the strongest monster can't stand against a good combo!" Yea yea, he got it!

He continued grinning, nodding. Mokuba had missed the battle... Probably buried to his nose in class work... While it was really upsetting that he wasn't there right now, he mind as well enjoy the night off that he'd been given for the event (Rather, for the duelist finals). "Yea! Yug', you think you could help me out with my deck?" That was kind of the reason he'd come there right? Besides all the other obvious things.

"Of course!" As Yugi moved to get a few cards to show the blond some tips, he was stopped by his grandfather.

The man coughed, pointing over to the box that Yugi had been holding. "Before you do that Yugi," he began, placing a pair of scissors on the box. "I'd like to know what's in this package... The lack of return address is making me rather nervous!" Well, it was a big package... Really though, was it just him, or did everything make Sugoroku nervous? (Then again, even with how long it had been since Death-T, that made sense really.)

Katsuya blinked as the boy nodded, scratching his head. "Well, we can play after this," he said as he cut the tape, slowly opening the box. "Heh... W-What the..?"

The blond stared, eyebrow raised. A tape, two star-shaped chips and... A glove that the two chips could easily fit into. All surrounded completely by packaging peanuts. And lots of them. The tape itself was rather small... An 8 millimeter tape, meant for video cameras. As to whether or not anyone had anything to play it with... "Hnn..." He picked the tape up, looking over at Yugi. "We'll probably get th' explanation from this tape... Oi, Yugi," he said with a neutral gaze. "You have an 8MM player?" The boy nodded, moving to connect it to the TV. "Alright... Let's see what we get..." Figured that Yugi would have one of these. Granted, so did Kaiba, but that was just for the camera feed... So it made sense.

The tape went in, and he reeled back in shock as Pegasus appeared on screen. "Hello~," the silver haired man called, Katsuya blinking as the video played. "At last we meet, Yugi-boy~ It's a pleasure!" If.. Meeting could be called video messaging...

"T-That's..." As the others stared in shock, he shook his head. "What th' hell... Why th' heck is Pegasus contactin' yah?" Not only was it really... Weird that he'd do that but... Pegasus was raring after a company right now, not a single duelist..! Granted, he was holding a tournament in a small bit, so really it probably figured...

Pegasus shook his head, smiling. "No no, don't be so surprised," he said, before folding his hands together. "I just wanted to send a video letter to the esteemed Yugi-boy, the _real_ champion!" Katsuya found himself narrowing his eyes at the tape as the others watched. Video letter... Now why bother with that.. Though he had to hand it to Pegasus for pointing Yugi out as that 'champion'. "I understand you are _extremely_ skilled at Duel Monsters," the man continued, grinning. "After all... You defeated Kaiba-boy! Good job, well done.. **Wonderful**," he shouted, the blond tensing at the mention of Kaiba. And of course... There was always _that_ link... Pegasus and Kaiba worked side by side for the hologram technology, they had to; one had the tech, the other had the cards.

And now that Kaiba was comatose...

"Now then, lets get down to business, alright Yugi-boy? I want to test your skills right here and now!" And he was going to do that how..? (What was with the constant use of 'boy'..? Weird Americans...) "I challenge you to face this video recording of me at duel monsters!" Again. _how_ was he going to do that? The statement was voiced by the boy's grandfather, before Pegasus picked up a card deck and continued. Then again, it was a tape, so that couldn't be taken as ignoring him. Right? "Alright..? Build your deck in front of the monitor, and we'll begin in five minutes."

Yugi nodded, moving forwards with the cards he'd pulled out to play Katsuya with. "Okay," he said with a nod, pulling his deck together. "I'll take this challenge!" Katsuya blinked as the boy moved forwards to face the screen, mentally shaking his head. Well... On one hand, if this worked that would be insanely cool... On the other, he decided as he moved to the side to watch...

Why did he have the nasty feeling that this could only end badly?

* * *

Sometimes, he really hated his luck. Not to mention the paranoid thoughts that had gotten the bad habit of tugging at his mind for almost the past year. The match between Yugi and Pegasus... It had worked...

And it ended _badly_. Though about half way through he'd mentally wondered if he should get himself a dragon capture jar if it became available before Kaiba woke up... Provided he had the funds of course. (He wouldn't.)

It was an... _Interesting_ bet. Lose, and take place in the tournament, which didn't sound too bad at first (Granted it was also completely asshole-ish when combined with Yugi's earlier promise to Kaiba)... Key words being 'at first'. Apparently, as he found out after Pegasus used a time limit to 'win', lose also translated to '_have the soul of someone close taken_' as well. Did he say interesting? He meant shitty.

Yea, they could still talk to him. He was sealed in the tape, and as they found out interestingly enough, said tape could be carried around in a video camera for continuous communication. So really, aside from the initial creepy factor and the ambulance that took the old man's body away, he was 'alright'... The prospect of sealed souls however had only served as a grim reminder of Seto's condition and the earlier events of the 'Monster World' as he walked through the mansion gates that night however.

Katsuya entered the house, only an hour having passed since the end of the tournament battle; it was 9:30 when he got in, the sky completely black and most of the lights in the house already turned off. Mokuba was probably in bed by now if he was listening to Isono... So really, he mind as well just head to his own room and attempt to get some homework out of the way to play with him in the morning. Speaking of Mokuba... He didn't want to think that the maid he'd spoken with was wrong, but the first thing he did after putting his stuff up in the coat room was find a maid he actually KNEW...

He didn't have to look far however, as the moment he'd turned down a hall to look for the woman (What was her name, 'Kyouko'?) he was hurriedly pulled into a closet by said maid. "Nye- What?" Ignoring the fact that whoever was watching the cameras was having a good laugh right now... What was Kyouko doing?

The maid held a finger to her lips, a panicked expression on her face. "Shh! Keep quiet please... It took all I could to find a room without surveillance please listen!"

The blond blinked, a few times in fact, before frowning. "No surveil... What th' hell do yah mean?"

She bit her lip, taking a few deep breaths. "Jonouchi-kun," she began slowly, still attempting to regain her breath. It was quite obvious that she was flustered, and from the expression on her face something really, really bad had- "Mokuba-sama never returned from school today..." Happened.

Waitwaitwait... WHAT? "What... What th' hell do you mean," he hissed, barely keeping his voice down. "I called earlier t'day an' they told me he was here, doin' homework!" Told by one of the maids that the _BOARD_ had hired..! God damn it why was _hindsight_ the one that was perfect! "He.. He's here," he muttered, shaking his head. "He has to be.."

"No..." She shook her head, still breathing heavily. "That isn't what happened at all... I don't know why no one else has made a move to call in authorities, or at least try and search but..." The maid chocked, before slowly regaining her composure. "Jonouchi-kun... These new staffing arrangements," she whispered with a pale face, as though realizing just now what had everyone so worried. "I don't think it had anything to do with getting _rid_ of moles... I mean..." Kyouko continued to shake, holding her head. "I knew that there had to be some reason why Mokuba-sama gave me those papers but... I..."

As the woman cut off, Katsuya just about felt everything shatter. No... Oh god no... Stumbling out of the closet to head for his room, Kasuya grew immeasurably pale, gripping the doorknob to his room tightly. Who cared if Seto was going to slaughter him... He'd slaughter himself, the teen told himself as he slid down the side of the door with his head in his hands. He could have easily gone to get him from school, told the principal to '_screw the detention, Kaiba has money_' but- His eyes widened, fists clenching with realization.

The detention... Mokuba said he'd been late for class but... Oh fucking hell...

As Katsuya lay back on his bed, he couldn't find the will to sleep. Mokuba was kidnapped... And he'd brushed it off thinking everything was fine. He'd actually believed that the kid he'd spent most of the year getting close to had just dumped him for homework, when he hadn't done that _once_ since school started up again. Not once... He should have known... He should have...

Was this what Seto felt like, he wondered as he rolled over to his side in the bed. Before Gozaburo had done whatever it was that made her what she was before the coma? Was this what she felt like when Mokuba was in danger..? He didn't know... He'd only been a kid when he and Shizuka were separated, so he didn't know... The closest thing he could think was when Yugi had been strung up like a hanged man back in September... But while it was the same on some levels, on others it simply didn't even compare...

This feeling... He wanted it to stop so bad...

* * *

The tape he got in the mail the next morning didn't help matters. If anything, it made things a thousand times worse, simply strengthening his fears. Besides the fact that it came with the same glove Yugi's did... With _no_ starchips, he noted... Katsuya swallowed as he sat in the security feed room, plugging in the 8MM player with relative ease. He was alone... And hopefully it'd stay that way. But honestly, he doubted that if no one close to him was in the room any souls would be stolen. ...It was sad how normal that seemed really. "Alrigh... Here goes nothin..." He popped the tape in, locking the door as he dulled the volume slightly on the other video screens. Yea, he could get fired for this but... Something told him that the conscious people remaining didn't really give a damn about Kaiba's security right now.

The first few seconds of snow kicked in... And his eyes widened. "Nii-san," Shizuka said as she waved on the screen. Her glasses were gone now, vision having deteriorated too much for them to really do a thing. Most likely... All she could see was haze. "How are you doing? I decided to send you a video letter! You don't have an e-mail, so I can't use a webcam... It's not quite the same, but even this will work right?" Sh-Shizuka... Pegasus had intercepted a mail from Shizuka and... Katsuya grew pale as his sister smiled, the girl leaning forward to adjust the camera slightly. "Katsuya-niisan... This summer was so fun... Spending time with you, and Mokuba-kun..." She sniffed, a few tears developing. "It was good to see you, at least one last time!" As the blond watched, frozen, the girl in the tape continued. "Nii-san... Thank you, for everything... Even though I won't see it again... I'll always remember your face! ...That's all... Take care of yourself, nii-san!"

The camera filled with static again, before slowly fading to another image. He'd intercepted it and... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." Katsuya's eyes widened as he stared at the screen in horror, chuckling filling the room. He gritted his teeth as Pegasus' image appeared on the television, almost turning the video off right then. "An interesting thing," the man said with a 'charming' laugh, eye narrowed. "As I looked for a reason to coerce _dear_ Yugi-boy into my competition, perhaps even Kaiba-boy as well when he woke up, I found out just where my little Key Holder vanished off to during the summer..." As the man continued chuckling, Katsuya grew pale. The key... Mokuba had given him a key that summer... Mokuba had _insisted_ on giving him the key, during the vacation he'd _insisted_ they go alone on, without letting anyone other than Isono know of his whereabouts... He'd _insisted_, with the same determined, semi-angered semi-frightened voice he'd heard from the boy's sister months before from behind a bathroom stall... The voice that he had, of course, passed off in anger rather than the latter. Still did in Seto's case actually... "Well... Who knows where he's gone now," he said with a narrowed eye and an eerie smile. Who knew... He had a feeling he _knew_ alright... "But it seems to me that you've been given something important to me..." The blond's eyes widened, and he kicked the counter to push his wheeled-chair as far back from the screen as possible. This guy read minds? Well! He'd make sure that he didn't have the chance! Gripping the support pillar at the back of the room, he watched as the Pegasus on screen gave a false pout. Come on... Please let this have worked...

Pegasus sighed, shaking his head. "Ahh... And it seems you've moved out of my range..." Thank. God. He smiled, eye narrowing again. "Not that it matters... I might not know where, Doggy-boy," Hang on what? DOGS AGAIN? "But I know you have it... So I'm going to make you a little proposition..." His eye narrowed further, seemingly looking towards the box and glove on the ground. "All competitors receive a glove and two starchips," the man explained, folding his hands. "However '_Doggy-boy_', you were not meant to be a member of the competition... Not really at least." He smirked, and continued on, unable to now see the glare Katsuya sent back at the 'dog' comment. "I've sent you a glove... But only the 'real' competitors receive the chips and cards required for entry!" Tch... He gritted his teeth, still clutching the support pillar tightly. What was he trying to pull! "It's up to you," Pegasus stated, cruel smile in place. "Beg your dear friend Yugi-boy for half of his entrance, cheating your way into the competition for the possible prize that could save your darling sister and... 'friend'... Or," he added with an even more menacing smile. "Leave it, and wait for someone to find your rusting key holder... Either way," he said as the image faded out to static once more. "I'm waiting..."

The tape was ejected from the screen, and Katsuya sat there, frozen. Slowly, he reached under his shirt, pulling out the key he had in the pendant box. He knew... He _knew_ he had this... Maybe not where, but the fact remained...

The blond gripped it in his hands, biting his lip. Yugi... He had to talk to him... Damn it, he didn't want to drag him into all this and yet...

This was his only hope... Mokuba's only hope, even Shizuka's only hope... And as an offshoot of Mokuba, it was Seto's chance too- this was her company after all... And _her_ brother. This key... He didn't know what it lead to, but whatever it was had to hold some sort of importance. So many people... Riding on... Him. _Him_ of all people! Since when had he been the go-to-guy for _anything_! Why...

Why... If he'd never met Mokuba, never taken Kaiba up on that 'reward'... He couldn't even comprehend the paths he would have taken instead of the one he was on. Regardless of what could have been however, there was only one thing to do. He stood up from the chair, ejecting the tape and tossing it back in the box he'd been sent. One thing... And only one.

The papers were filled. He knew that it'd be troublesome in the end, at least when he got back, but he could afford a 'week' off. He only worked for a few days of it after all, weekend included. Hobson was filled in, as was Isono, and Kyouko. Not on everything of course... Hell, if he said everything there was a chance that things would end up that much worse. He left it at one thing... He was going to be gone for a while, and that was that. They seemed to get the hint anyways, allowing him the next weekend off provided he finish off this one without an argument. They were on the same side, right? So why ask..? His cards were prepared, box stowed away under his bed... All that was left was...

This. He stood there, 'uniform' on as he took his last shift. Here... Seto's room. One full day had gone by, and there were minutes before the night shift began. He would sleep through that, and leave for school in the morning... This was the end of his 'last shift'. Katsuya faced the woman, whose eyes were shut as she lay on the bed in her usual eerie silence. The room hadn't changed much really. It was still mostly made up of elaborate furnishings, closet to one side bathroom to the other. Bookshelf in the corner filled with English titles he more or less didn't understand, and not a single picture or 'toy' in sight...

Save for the sidetable. It sat beside the bed, on the far corner of the room. He didn't know when it had started accumulating things... Maybe it was after the trip to Osaka, when he and Mokuba bought an extra mask and fan. _'Hey_,' he'd said, grabbing one from the stands. '_A fox mask! How do I look?_' '_Like a dog_,' Mokuba had said, laughing. The boy had gotten his own mask, a tiger of sorts... And then spotted a dragon one. Or maybe it was when he had saved up enough for a camera, and started going crazy with it, taking shots of Mokuba and his friends whenever he could. '_Katsuya-nii,_' he could remember the kid saying, '_Make sure at least one of these goes in Nii-sama's room, ok? I don't think she has any pictures of anyone really.._!' Perhaps it went to the day he'd made that clay dragon, who knew..!

The mask was put on the table, with the promise to bring the woman to the festival next time around. The pictures were framed and set up with promises of spending time at all the places in them, and with all the people (regardless of what she said about those people). There was also the clay statue of blue-eyes he'd made, followed by a level 5 'cap mon' Mokuba found that happened to look similar to the dragon, accompanied by promise after promise after promise...

Pictures the pictures were of more than Mokuba of course. Most were of course, but there were a few of Katsuya himself, and even Yugi and the others (Though Katsuya didn't think Seto would leave it there when she woke up)... And finally standing at the side was the 'Kai' figurine from the Monster World game. He couldn't recall a 'promise' being attached to that one... Just a thank-you, and a pile of wishes.

Katsuya turned from the table as those thoughts faded out, looking at the woman with sad eyes. "Seto-chan," he said softly, refusing to take a seat. He'd stood there the entire day really... He wasn't sure how, but he had. He hadn't said a word either. But now, even as the camera picked up on his moving lips and morose position, he needed to say his good-byes. "...I know... You'll probably do everything in your power to slaughter me when yah wake up..." He paused, biting his lip. "But I'm only lettin' yah do that after I've done that myself..." And only then, he decided with a sigh. "Mokuba's gone... Snatched off from school with out me ev'n noticin'..." He swallowed, shaking his head. "But I know who did it," he added, clenching his fists. "An' I'm goin' after him with all I've got... But for 'is sake, I want you tah get better! I want yah teh wake up for him, even if he ain't here, got it? Cause he needs yah, Seto-chan... More than anythin', he needs yah..."

Another chocked sigh, and the blond got down on his knees. Rubbing his face, his arms eventually came to rest on the side of the bed as he continued to speak. "'M gonna get 'im out... Ev'n if it kills me, understand... '_Seri-chan_'?" He gave a sad smile, shaking his head. "I don' know if that's what your name was, b'fore all that orphanage, crossdressin' buisness... Thought I'd take a guess, see how it sounded," the blond said idly. "...Y'know," he continued. "E'en though it's a girl's name an all, it doesn't suit ya... In th' end, I like Seto-chan alot more..." He gave a quiet laugh, before looking over the woman's still unmoving face. Quiet... And calm. So different from when she was 'awake'... "Sometimes, I gotta wonder... All this magic an' soul-stealin' crap goin' on... Makes me wonder if those stories like 'Sleepin' Beauty' an' 'Snow White' were based on real things..."

He stood, blushing slightly as he looked at the woman. Sleeping Beauty and Snow White... They were in a 'deep sleep', almost coma-like, broken because of a kiss... right? He coughed, rolling the thoughts in his head as the blush deepened.

'_The last piece_,' the figurine counterpart had said. '_For her sake..._'

"N-Nyyyh..." Katsuya scratched his cheek, a cherry red as he continued to stare at the woman. It... Couldn't mean him though right? In the end, the figurine had also said '_don't die, **both** of you_'... And that had to mean something. Yet... "I wonder..." He leaned over the bed slowly, swallowing nervously. His heartbeat sounded akin to a jack-hammer in his mind, and idly he wondered what would happen. Hell... He knew she wasn't dead but... Well... Damn it, that 'Botan Dourou' play was seeming more and more relevant to his life... "...Please don' kill me f'r this..."

He bent over, swallowing again... And lightly, nervously, the teen's lips brushed over the girl's own cold lifeless ones. They were held there only a second, his eyes closed. And then he pulled back just slightly, opening his eyes to look at the face that would otherwise have seemed to belong a peaceful, sleeping young woman. Rather than a victim of a coma that lasted over half a year. It was a sad kiss... His first kiss really, and part of him wondered if this would count as a 'real one' anyways. Then again, he wouldn't likely get one otherwise... Katsuya stood there a few moments, before slowly pulling back, completely red. "I..." He coughed, looking at the clock as his 'shift' ended. Maybe it was for the best... That she not remember all of this. It felt better to talk to her but really, would she bother with him when this was over? "I gotta go... ...Seto-chan," he said, as he headed for the door, looking back one last time. "...No matter what... I'll get 'm back! It's a promise!" Sunday's shift was over and done... This would be the last time he came in without Mokuba.

Katsuya didn't know what he'd expected when he left the room... If he wanted Kaiba to wake up, or if it was better she sleep now. If he'd deluded himself with thoughts of the past few months into thinking that maybe, like in western fairy tales things would turn out 'happy' at the end. But all that aside...

He would keep his promise, no matter what.

* * *

AN: ... ... ... Finally, the fluff BEGINS. *mad giggling* And now you won't get any for a long time. Bawwwww...

Fun fact- it's really really _really_ hard to figure out the heal time for an impaled hand on the internet. In the end, I ended up estimating; got the discharge time from how long a few people who were impaled in closer-to-fatal places... Though technically, it would have been possible for Bakura to literally buy all he needed and patch it himself. One guy in real life actually had to do it after his doctors didn't do a thing- look up 'how to patch up an impaled hand' on youtube, you should find him. (And have an idea of what Bakura's hand looks like for a while.) As for the rest of the time, that came from actual heal time for a broken hand... Which, technically, he has. You just need to throw in a lot of scabbing fun after that. All in all, they just skipped over all of October as a result... Not to mention November!

Think of it this way- Bakura arrived (Due to Fanfic Time) at the last week of September. It 'supposedly' took 8 weeks total for his hand to heal (His hand will definitely have a scar, and at this point it still won't look too pretty.), or two months. That means it's actually DECEMBER at the end of this chapter. To be specific, the first week of December. Total events I have skipped over as a result... Are listed below in their usual place.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey there Iona! Doing alright? Yugi's definitly connecting those dots, but for Bakura I can't quite say... What with Kaiba's soul being silly with the outfit changes (You can hear her mouthing me off about yukata's right now I bet...), not to mention the situation he saw her, it's hard to tell if he'll be able to connect the two... We'll just have to see really.

Interesting point you bring up (Covered above and below), but Bakura's hand did indeed get the attention needed; sort of. It's wrapped up fairly quickly on the last few pages of the Monster World Arc, when Jonouchi asks Bakura if he 'got the bandage off his left hand'... To which Bakura says 'yes'. Personally, I find the lack of scar just a little creepy... But at least he got that looked at.

And if he didn't someone on Youtube has a how-to for impaled hands, so he can always look there... Or something.

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that after a somewhat blank period now has things to talk about! (And you thought you escaped...)

Events skipped over include Health and Sports Day, which is the second Monday of October in Japan... And is when most of the schools have their field day... Generally involves the school being split in two, though from what I've seen doing my research, people outside of the school can join in as well. The other event, outside of Kaiba's birthday on the 25th, Culture Day on the third of November, and _Labour Thanksgiving Day_ on the 23rd... Which started off years and years ago as a the Rice Harvest Festival and celebrates the years hard work.

True to the Manga, Karita magically recovered within a few days of waking up... _Not_ true to the manga however, the detention-speech is far before Bakura comes in with the diorama. This is because an impaled hand _would not heal that fast._ Ever. Reasoning is described above. On the Diorama's note, the only thing I changed about it is the appearance of the 'Kai' and Mokuba figurines... And apparently 'Kai' was taken rather well, which makes me feel rather good about this.

Another Manga point is that originally, (for obvious reasons), Yugi's the one who tells Jonouchi about deck building. Another change is that this happens the day _of_ the finals, not the day before. On the match itself, there's actually a dialogue switch, which is not only lampshaded by Jonouchi himself in this fanfic, but probably obvious... As you can guess, the Duelist Kingdom may or may not be filled with dialogue switching... Mostly on the extreme insult towards Kaiba part when referencing Death-T. (Don't worry though, they'll be back to the regular chew-toy bickering we know and love soon enough after Kaiba wakes up.)

The duel between Ryuusaki (Rex Raptor) and Haga (Weevil) really _did_ take two turns only. It was a little upsetting. And to all you anime people... If you thought Pegasus looked feminine in the anime... Ohhh... OHOHOH... First time I saw his face in the manga, I did a double take.

In the manga and anime both, a lot of the tape business happens differently, for obvious reasons. The more obvious one of course, is that Jonouchi doesn't have an 8mm player, so he goes to Yugi the next day (As the above events didn't take place on a Friday then) to watch it there. In addition, this is how everyone finds out that Jonouchi has a sister, what with Shizuka appearing on it. However, nothing else happens outside the video message and his friends finding out 'hey... Jonouchi's sister is going blind.' Rather, Jonouchi mentions the prize, and Yugi gives him a star chip and a card (Specifically the one representing the prize money) as a way to enter the tournament for a chance to save his sister's vision. His glove is later stolen off of Haga...

Another big change between anime and manga is that while in the Anime, Sugoroku (Yugi's grandpa if you haven't guessed) is sealed into a card in Pegasus' possession, in the manga he's sealed into the tape. So yea, you see the creepy 'Yuuuuuuugiiiiiii' on the screen... Only to find that he can literally be carried around in a camera like some sort of Metal Gear-MKII. (Only not as cool.)

Fun Fact: 'Kyouko' (Like Kyoko. With more 'oh'.) uses the same kanji as 'Anzu'... It's just read differently. Anzu's name has the kanji for child, which is occasionally pronounced 'su' at the end of her name, but it doesn't seem to actually be pronounced... If it has, the pronunciation has been changed from 'su' to 'zu', but that kanji is more commonly read as 'ko'. The first kanji however, which means 'apricot', as the readings of 'an', 'anzu', and 'kyou'... Though the latter is less than common. Basically, it's me constantly taking the un-named maid who shows up in the manga like... once... And linking her to Anzu's appearance. (By the way, this means her name reads 'apricot child'. Huh, where'd they get that now...) Ignore me~

Also, a reference to a later point in the manga is seen when Kyouko is speaking; when Kaiba wakes up, he's got a folder with him on the helicopter he takes... Inside are all the papers on what was happening with the company from the day he went comatose. Supposedly, Mokuba gave these papers to the 'only servant he trusted'. In the end I handed them to a maid, for the sole reason that she's seen running after Kaiba in the manga. Granted, she's doing this because he literally just woke up out of a coma... Which means his body should not be able to move without possible narcoleptic fits. (For those who don't know what that means... It essentially says that Kaiba should have pretty much gone right back to sleep after waking up. BUT THERE WERE THINGS TO BE DONE...) Ohhhh well... Also, Isono's more of an advisor than a servant, while Hobson is one of the first obvious choices to search, thereby making both of the men good decoys while Kyouko actually holds the information. Whoo!

Till next time guys... See you then!


	20. Chapter 19

**Voyage to the Kingdom

* * *

**

In the depths of her soul, Seto Kaiba was a brilliant shade of red. It was a situation she had never been in, something that had caught her completely off guard... Much to her distaste. "G-Gh!" The woman was (for once) completely shocked still, a multitude of information hitting her all at once. Earlier that week... She'd wondered where Mokuba had gone really. He hadn't visited her for a longer period of time than would usually pass, a slight chill falling over her. That same day, before the chill set in, she had heard rustling noises. '_Find it_,' someone had been saying. '_Find it!_' Find what... What were they looking for? And besides all of that... The woman narrowed her eyes, frowning. Her brother was missing now, 'kidnapped'... And Katsuya would pay dearly for it when she got out of there, she was certain. But for now...

Wh-What... What did he just do! Her window had been closed of course, so she couldn't see... As it was, nothing from her window was every really clear of course, no matter how much more she had been able to see as the days passed. But something had brushed against her lips... Something warm, and it smelled like... The woman brought her fingers to her mouth for a moment, before shaking it off. Whatever! That wasn't the point right now! "M...Moron! Get back here!" That bastard! Calling her 'Seto-chan' all the time, convincing himself that he can just run off and get both himself and her brother killed..! ...Though if he died, she told herself, she wouldn't mind, so long as her brother came back. Still, the way he was acting, none of them would come back! "Use your brain for once, **MUTT**!"

Seto scowled, answered with silence just as she expected. Her blush died down, fists clenched as she gritted her teeth. Moron... Moron..! She turned back to her puzzle, blinking as a light from the remaining three pieces caught her eye. "...What..?" She knelt down, picking them up. The last three left... It was fairly obvious now, that there was at least one piece missing. A 'base' for these three pieces, something that would connect all of the 'dots' so to speak. Though when she looked at the larger of the three, it looked as though that 'base' might not be needed for it. Whatever it would look like, it'd be big though; the puzzle resembled an orb with one eighth of the sphere cut out, and the pieces were absolutely minuscule in comparison to the chunk missing.

She looked it over, frowning. "This piece..." 'Se' and 'Hito'... She knew this piece. It was the first one she'd found when she'd come here all that time before. Back when she hadn't remembered anything of herself. Seto snorted, fingering the piece as she thought back to that time. "Hn..." She was rather pathetic back then, wasn't she, going through the puzzle for no real reason. Then again... What was she doing now..? Idly, she looked over the kanji on the piece again, eyes narrowed slightly. 'Rapids', 'Shallows', or even, in some context, 'chance'. It was coupled with the kanji for 'person'... And there were a few different ways to read that. The first kanji had only one, almost reflecting its stubborn nature; 'Se'. For the others however, there were many. 'To', 'Ri', 'Jin', 'Nin', 'Tari', and lastly the most common, 'Hito'. For the most part, she had heard 'to', the common end to a boy's name. But today... '_Seri-chan_', he had said. The same name from the cold memory... The one that she could now hear in her earliest memories holding this. '_In the end, 'Seto' suits you more_'. What was that supposed to mean..? That was a boy's name wasn't it? Besides! They had the same meaning, didn't they? The same kanji? 'Seto'... That was what everyone from age 8 memories and up called her. Half of her life to one name, half to the other... "My name..." She stared at the puzzle piece, before nodding, expression serious. "My name..." Could it be..? Seto smirked, before closing her eyes in relief. "I think... I know what it is." Without looking at the puzzle, which developed a small hole in the side, she clicked the piece into place. It stood tall, creating a division of sorts in the remaining space of the puzzle, leaving naught but a small 'divet' to connect whatever pieces were yet to come. Looking over her puzzle and remaining two pieces, she turned towards her 'window', watching as it opened. "Hurry up, Mutt," she muttered as she sat in her soul, wondering where the last piece would be. "I'll be waiting..."

Somehow, she had no doubts whatsoever that both of them would come back.

* * *

It was Monday at last. He'd left for school feeling more than depressed, but in the end, simply walking had picked him up enough to appear at least somewhat 'normal' by the time he got to school. And now that school was on, Katsuya and the others sat around Yugi's desk, staring at the video camera that the 'soul tape' was inside. Apparently, Yugi had spent the weekend fishing the camera out so that he didn't have to just leave the old man in his television... As it was, they were all keeping a close eye on that camera. The image of Yugi's grandfather was on the screen, the man still attempting to tell the others that he felt fine and wasn't going to disappear anytime soon. And of course, he had to add fire to the situation when Yugi had asked about Mokuba... Who he explained was missing after that particular fact... And that didn't help the situation at all. Katsuya hadn't even asked Yugi about the starchips yet... And really, without that question, the prospect of Mokuba being gone was frightening enough.

They turned as the only one out of the loop on this came in, smiling widely. Ahhh... Ignorance was bliss indeed. This was going to suck... "Good morning everybody," he called out, Honda muttering a '_hey_'. As the teen blinked at the response, Anzu managed to force out a more 'cheery' '_good morning._.', Katsuya and Yugi not even really bothering. The albino stood there, confused as the general feeling of gloom sat around them. "Erm... What's wrong... What's the matter you guys?" He looked around, the others merely turning to look at the video camera. The teen walked over, still attempting to instill at least a bit of cheer into the otherwise uncharacteristic depression. "Hnn?" Bakura leaned over, looking at the screen. "What are you watching Yugi?"

"Hohoooo!" Katsuya could see Yugi's grandfather look up from inside the screen, bowing slightly. "You're Bakura aren't you? Good morning!"

Needless to say, watching the teen reel back in shock was mildly amusing... Almost enough to make him lighten up a bit as the boy asked if it was a video phone (to which Yugi bluntly stated no, his grandfather really WAS stuck). Almost. Really, no amount of cheer could successfully bring their moods up at the moment... That much was clear. "I know it's hard t' believe," he said as he followed Bakura's gaze to the camera again, "But Yugi lost a game 'f duel monsters t' a video recording made by th' creator of th' game..." Pegasus... Though now that he thought about it, this guy had to use subliminal messages, mind reading, and a time limit to beat him... Which was really rather pathetic to tell the truth. "Dude had a millennium item and... 'E used 'is power t' put 's grandpa's soul in this video tape..."

Yugi sighed, staring at the tape as the feeling of gloom settled over the group again. Silence fell in the room, and even as the classroom filled that silence persisted. "I don't know what to do," he finally muttered, his grandfather turning to him. "What happens if he can't get back to normal..."

"Hey hey," The old man shouted, voice sounding slightly distorted by the camera. "Don't talk about me as though I'm not here now," he continued, the others jumping at the words. "I'm doing just fine in here! Don't you be getting all depressed now!"

Hahaha, the one in the most danger was giving them a pep-talk... Not a very good pep-talk, but all the same he was the only one doing it. Nonetheless, he thought to himself... "Gramps is right," he said as he cracked his knuckles. Man had a point- if they didn't focus, then nothing would get fixed, right? "Gettin' depressed isn't gonna solve anything! Got it?" Besides. Things didn't get done when they were depressed... And... Well, if they ever needed SOMETHING to get done...

Yugi nodded, smiling slightly. "Right!" The smile widened, before dropping to a near non-existent state. "...I guess _I'm_ alright," he continued, before looking at the puzzle sadly. As the class continued to fill, he made to put the camera in his back, hurriedly apologizing to his grandfather as the old man told him it was fine. Zipping the bag back up, he fingered the puzzle and resumed his stare at the object. "But the other me..."

Behind him, Anzu blinked. "Heh..? You've learned to talk to your alter ego?" Alter ego... That was a new one, but hey, sounded better than 'other Yugi'...

The boy laughed, shaking his head. "It's not like that! I can't speak to him with words... But," he continued, closing his eyes and unconsciously putting a hand over the pendant, "If I close my eyes, I can sense what he's feeling..." So... That was how it worked then... As he drifted into thought on that, the others nodded.

"So he's depressed then," Honda said, crossing his arms as he sat on one of the desks.

He nodded again. "Yea... I think he feels bad about losing to Pegasus..." That would probably be an understatement... Speaking of feeling though.

Katsuya stared, before briefly wondering how the 'other Yugi' heard any of this. What was it, he _was_ the puzzle now? Could he just hear things from inside there, hell, he _was_ a soul... Maybe... He grabbed a notebook from the desk, rolling it up into a makeshift megaphone and aiming it at the puzzle. "OI OTHER YUG'! CAN YA HEAR ME? CHEER UP!"

"H-HAH!" Yugi jumped, before laughing at the action as his friend merely smirked. The others as well snickered at the action, though Bakura merely gave a soft smile and shook his head. "J-Jonouchi-kun, I don't think it works like that..."

Eh, it was worth a shot. He shrugged, putting the notebook down before his expression grew more serious. "That aside... If yah wanna save your Grandad, it looks like we've gotta get back at Pegasus..." And he would do it with his fists. And his foot. Possibly both. All. At once. (However that would work.)

The boy nodded in response. "Yea... That's what he said, '_Come to my Kingdom_'..." As Bakura and Honda both raised their eyebrows at the statement, neither of them having been there to see the tape, he continued. "He said that's where they're going to crown the 'King of Duel Monsters'..."

Anzu nodded, frowning slightly. "The Duelist Kingdom... The only problem with all of this is that we have no idea where it is..."

As the table fell silent again, Bakura blinked, turning to Katsuya. "You said Pegasus has a Millennium Item, didn't you..?" Hn?

He snorted. "Not just _has_... He dug out his **EYE** to put it in!" The teen visibly looked a little paler at that, and it took Katsuya a moment to steel his thoughts. Hihhh... Sticking an old gold eye in a spot where there was already a real one... That was just something that would fuel his nightmares for weeks to come it was... As to what that had to do with the 'where' in all of this... Unless he was hinting at Egypt. Because that could be a bit of a problem.

The boy nodded. "So then... Perhaps, if you go to this kingdom, you'll find out the secret of the Millennium items..." He grabbed his bag, unzipping it before pulling something out. "Like my ring..." As he pulled it out, Katsuya jerked back with a loud shout.

"HRAAH! You still have that thing!" What the hell! That thing was dangerous! There was no way they could be safe even within a few hundred feet of it, they were good as DEAD with that thing here! The others as well had a similar reaction, jerking back with wide eyes. "T-That thing ain't safe!"

The albino stared, frowning slightly. "It's okay..! As long as I'm not wearing it, it's just a piece of jewelry..." As the others continued to keep a good distance from it, they let him continue. "My father bought this from an antique shop in Egypt... But as you know, there's another personality within it, like Yugi's puzzle..." He zipped the ring back in his bag, frowning a little more. "What I want to do most is find out the secrets of those items... '_Who made them_', '_how do they work_', '_what are they for_'?" He turned to the others, the questions briefly grabbing Katsuya's curiousity as well. "I'm almost certain that Pegasus knows the answer!" Hnn... That... Made sense actually... The man did know his way around the eye... Not to mention he created Duel Monsters.

At that exact moment, Yugi stood from his desk, the others blinking. He had a fairly neutral expression in place, stepping around from his chair and pushing it in before moving past the others. Anzu frowned slightly, watching as he headed off leave the room. "Ah... What are you doing, Yugi?"

The boy turned, blinking. "Sorry... I'd like to be alone for a while..." He coughed, shaking his head. "Well, not me, I mean... The other me..." He left, Katsuya watching with a raised eyebrow. What a mess... One side wants one, one wants the other, what was going to happen if they ever got in some kind of weird argument? Or even a 'not so weird' one? Like what if it was serious or-

A few moments later, he sighed. Now that he thought about it, this was probably the best time to ask about the Pegasus issue... Class would start soon, so seeing how no one else would be there... He headed out as well, the others blinking. "Jonouchi-kun," Anzu said with a frown. "You too?"

He nodded. "Yea... Jus' need tah think..." With that he left the classroom, the others shrugging and leaving it as it was. Yugi would definitely help... He just wished he didn't have to ask.

Walking through the school, it wasn't hard to find the 'Other Yugi'; at least not nearly as hard as he expected. Particularly since he was pretty sure anyone within ten feet of the roof heard him. "PEGASUS!" Katsuya made his way upstairs, opening the door to the roof and keeping back for a few moments. 'Yugi' gripped the fence tightly as he stood there, head lowered slightly in anger and misery both. One could practically feel the wind swirling around the teen in response to his mood at the moment; it was actually a little frightening to say the least, and as someone who fought as much as he did... That was really saying something.

As 'Yugi' turned around to go back to the roof, Katsuya scratched his head and moved out from the door. "Hey... Yug'... I know yeh wanted t' be alone but.."

The teen blinked, looking over his friend a moment before nodding. He'd pulled back a slight expression of calm, or at least calm for him. "It's fine... I was about to return to class anyways..." As 'Yugi' moved to leave the roof however, he frowned; Katsuya was blocking his way, looking rather hesitant about something. "Jonouchi-kun?"

"I..." He pulled out both the glove that Pegasus had sent him and a video camera he'd snatched from security back at the mansion. He'd had them in his hands for a while actually... Only put them down to try the notebook-megaphone thing before. The teen bit his lip, before finally speaking. "I need yer help..."

For a moment, his friend stared at the things, silent. One could practically hear the thoughts of 'both Yugi's, contemplating what this meant. The stare continued with narrowed eyes, before 'Yugi' nodded. "Pegasus... He did the same thing to you then?" The same- Ah... The soul-tape deal...

Katsuya shook his head. "Nah... Hate t' say it but..." The teen paused, opening the side of the camera up so that Yugi could see the screen. "I almost wish he did..." He turned the camera on, allowing the tape to play though the message and the static both. As Yugi watched in silence, frowning as it cut off to nothing but grey, buzzing 'snow' after Shizuka's message, the blond continued. "After her message, _he_ came on th' screen... Pokin' fun about Shizuka's condition, an' about..." He looked, biting his lip. 'Key bearer' he'd said... They probably took him with the thought that he had the key... But if Pegasus knew that was false now...

While he thought of this, 'Yugi's eyes widened with realization, the teen clenching his fists. "Mokuba... That's where he is, isn't he?" Got it in one...

He sighed, taking a seat. "I don' know for sure, but it's th' best shot I've got... Damn it..." The blond scowled, turning the camera off. "Takin' advantage of my sister's blindness... An takin' Mokuba as well... An' it's my fault..." At Yugi's confused and narrowed stare, he reached into his shirt to pull out the pendant. The plastic box gleamed in the sun, faded outline of the key clearly visible to his friend. "Pegasus... I don' know why, but he wants this key... I didn' know what it was, but Mokuba obviously found it important... An' given tha' Pegasus thinks th' same..." He opened the box, pulling the key out and handing it to his friend. Pegasus knew he had it... But he wouldn't know Yugi had it! "Yug... Yah gotta help me! Pegasus all but said he'd kill 'm if I didn' show, but I can't let 'm get this key! I don' know why, but I jus get this feeling... That no matter what happens, I can't let 'm find it!"

'Yugi' stared at Katsuya for a few moments, frowning. A key... He took the small metal object, twirling in his fingers for a few seconds before pocketing it. "...I understand Jonouchi," he said, before looking up to the blond with his stern gaze. "I won't let it happen!"

The teen smiled, sighing with relief. That took a load off... "Thanks man..." As Yugi moved to go downstairs, the blond moving to the side this time, he grabbed his shoulder. Right... Couldn't forget this part either... "Ah... One more thing..."

He turned, blinking. "Hn? What is it?"

The blond rubbed his head, before stowing his glove in his bag. "Those star-chips... Competitors need at least one t' participate..." Hell, they probably wouldn't let him on otherwise... "...I... I don' wanna lower yer chances in the tournament but..." Katsuya blinked as 'Yugi' handed him one of the chips with no complaint, smiling. He was carrying them with him? ...Wait... He was just giving it to him! "Yug'..."

"We're both in this," The teen stated seriously. "And the fact is, neither of us entered with the goal of winning for the sake of winning." That was true... As Katsuya took the chip and pocketed it, 'Yugi' continued. "Which ever one of us moves forward in this tournament will put an end to this; if it's you, I know you'll free my grandfather's soul... And if it's me, you can count on my aid in getting both the money for Shizuka's surgery and in getting Mokuba out of there." Alright then!

Katsuya stood there for a few seconds, before nodding. They were both in this... No enemies among them! "Yea! It's a deal!"

Little did he know that this wouldn't be the only deal he had to make...

* * *

"Fucking pains in the asses... 'yer only livin' here t' work', I pay rent outta my paycheck anyways, since when did this matter!" Katsuya grumbled, carrying a suitcase of clothes down the street as he continued cursing the 'new management' over the hired help.

_Apparently_, (Most likely due to Mokuba's absence) he wasn't allowed to stay in the house unless he was working his required days. At least, that was what the current member of KaibaCorp running the house, 'Daimon Kogoro' (Who had managed to hold a position as assistant to Kaiba even when the woman hired Isono instead), had told him when he tried to enter the house. 'Don't worry, everything will be right here where you left it- after all, you're only taking vacation for a week right?' Lousy pain in the ass 'big 5'. 'Big' was right, described the stick in each of their pasty little pie holes!

The teen continued to grit his teeth as he moved down the street, seething. He just _knew_ that his stuff was searched through... They'd jumped all too quick at the opportunity to pack his stuff up while he was at school... And with that excuse out of the way, anything he left at the house would have been inaccessible. It made him considerably relieved that he'd given the key to Yugi really... Who knew what would have happened otherwise. Katsuya sighed again, scratching his head as he made his way towards Yugi's house. Hopefully he wouldn't mind him coming over... Heck, worse case scenario, Honda's sister (Honda's parents had died a few years ago, so his sister took up care) had told him he was 'welcome anytime'... Actually, he'd have gone over there if not for the fact that he felt like he could talk about a few more things with Yugi than Honda.

Mostly because all of them centered around this entire key and tournament issue, but nonetheless. At least the game shop was in sight now... "Hey Yug," he shouted, making it down the road just as the boy was opening his door. The boy turned, blinking. "Yugi! Hang on a sec!"

"Jonouchi-kun..." He looked over the bags, frowning. "Jonouchi-kun, what happened..?"

He shrugged, giving a false smile. "'S nothin'... Bastards that got hold 'f Kaiba's company gave me the boot for th' week, sayin' that since I wasn' working right now I wasn' allowed t' stay at th' house." The blond snorted, before looking at the boy. "If it's alright with yah... C'n I stay here th' week? I'll pay yah back, I swear! It's jus'..."

Yugi smiled, nodding. "Of course you can stay! I'll have to ask my mom, but until then, consider it done!" Best friend ever... _Everrrrrr_. He turned to the door, opening it. "Come on in, I want to show you something." Show him something? He blinked, before nodding. Alright then...

As they walked in, Katsuya leaving his stuff by the door, Yugi led the blond into the kitchen. Taking a seat at the table, Katsuya watched as his friend pulled out five cards from an envelope. Come to think, he'd been looking at an envelope when he'd arrived... "Eh..?" The cards were spread out, and he frowned. "What are these..?"

"From what I can tell, these are the invitation cards," Yugi began, looking at each one carefully. "They were delivered today... Look." He held them out before Katsuya, before continuing. "Each one tells you a little bit about the Duelist Kingdom. First," he began, holding out the card 'Voyage to the Kingdom'. The card had a month, a date, a time, and a location on it... Beneath the image of a ship. "This one tells us when and where to board the boat to take us there..."

Katsuya nodding, getting what it meant. "Right... So end of this week, 9:30 at th' pier." Wow... That was cutting it close... He didn't think that it was literally 'a week'.

Yugi nodded, grabbing the next card. "Next is the Duelist Kingdom card... There's an island on it, so this is probably the location we'll be at!" The island itself seemed fairly diverse, and had various labels as well... Beach, mountain, wasteland, forest, 'ocean'... And... Wait, was that a volcano! (What was with this island!)

As the boy put the card down, Katsuya grabbed the next one. "Duelist's Glove..." He frowned as he read the information on it. "All duelists must have at least one star chip on their wrist band at all times..." He snorted, while his friend pulled out the glove and single star chip he had. Figured... Though at least none of these said anything about not bringing people outside the competition; from what Honda was saying earlier that day, he'd have tried stowing away in a crate if he had to.

"These chips must be proof of your status as duelist," he said as he put them back in the box, the chip clipping into the slot on the glove. Better to store them there, where it wasn't likely to be lost really... "We'll probably bet these chips on our duels... And for the last ones.."

Katsuya looked them over, nodding. "Th' Honor of th' King's right, and th' Honor of th' King's left..." The first was labeled simply as 'great wealth', the image of immense riches there. From what he could tell, that would definitely cover Shizuka's eyes; not a bad bonus in addition to busting Mokuba out. The second card however... Was completely blank. Nothing but question marks beneath it.

He nodded. "The Honor of the King's right is probably the prize money... But this other one..." The boy frowned, pulling a face. "Some secret honor that the 'King of Games' can only get... I think..." With Pegasus, it was hard to tell really; for all they knew, it was some sort of trick card.

The blond leaned back on his chair, sighing. "Man... What a mess..." Rubbing his head, he attempted to get some sort of positive feeling about all of this. "Right. One week till we leave..." Katsuya turned to Yugi, gaining a more severe look. "We're gonna need to go at this with all we've got! Let's spend this week trainin' for th' tournament!" Or... At least train him... Yugi was the master at this really...

Yugi nodded. "Yea! Here, I'll help you with your deck!" Aha, see, he knew it too! The boys herded up the cards on the table, before setting things up for the eventing. Honestly... If it hadn't been for the situation that got him there, Katsuya would have said that that night went pretty well.

* * *

Regardless of whether or not thoughts through the week were positive or negative, the time until departure passed quicker than expected. Tuesday through Friday, the blond had spent any free time he had working with those cards, attempting to learn his way around as many spells and traps as possible. In his opinion, he wasn't doing too bad... Then again, that could just be him. Walking to the pier, Katsuya and Yugi were followed by Anzu, Bakura, and Honda as well, the three looking around in the silence with frowns. "It's awfully quiet," Bakura said hesitantly as he looked around. "...Is there really supposed to be a ship out here..?"

His friend nodded, Yugi pulling out his 'voyage' card to double check. "The date on the ticket card is tonight... There's no mistaking it!" Besides, they hadn't hit the ocean yet... So really...

Katsuya nodded, before turning around the next building and freezing. "Nh! There it is!" Coming into view just now, the immense ship floated before them, its hull towering over the group of people waiting at its side. "Th' ship..." And what a group it was... There were at least 40 people there!

"Wow..." They walked forwards into the crowd, watching as people all about them compared cards and chatted away. "All these people..!" Oddly enough, most looked to be around their age too. And a lot of them looked like they wouldn't hold in a fist fight. Talk about stereotyping... Most of the duelists there were male too, wonder what Kaiba would say to that... (Probably nothing.)

Bakura blinked as they walked through, noting the cards that a majority were holding at the moment. "They've got the same cards we have..."

Beside him, Yugi nodded. "They've been invited too," he said with a smile. "They're duelists like us!" Briefly, Katsuya looked at the boy incredulously. In other words 'rival's... Not exactly friendship material if they were going to be fighting to get to the end! "Look," he cried, snapping him from his thoughts. The boy pointed towards a few faces in the crowd, eyes wide "Over there!"

Katsuya stared, shaking his head. "That insect dude who won th' last tournament..!" Insector Haga... The bespectacled boy looked over their way, glasses gleaming oddly in the moonlight before he vanished behind a group of people. He looked through the crowd as another 'familiar face' appeared, swallowing. "And th' runner up.." Also in the crowd stood Dinosaur Ryuuzaki, the teen currently looking around with a fairly calm if not expectant gaze. The blond gulped. "Man, tough crowd..." Again, his attention was taken as up on the ship, a man that Katsuya recognized with a chilled feeling of dread, appeared up on the top..

"Attention Duelists," he shouted, Katsuya clenching his fists as the man Kaiba had previously hired for his security stood on the ship. "Industrial Illusions welcomes you to this event! We researched your tournament records, and even unofficial duels," Saruwatari continued, Katsuya mentally snorting at the hidden message in 'unofficial', "And handpicked the best duelists of Japan! The star named GLORY shines above your heads, and any one of you could reach it!" Man was either given a prepared speech, or damn good with his words. "Now is the time duelists," he continued to shout. "Come across the seas and reach for that light! To the Duelist Kingdom!"

As the crowd cheered, a young blond woman standing next to them laughed loudly, Katsuya idly noting that each of her breasts were about the size of his head. Wow... Huge would almost be an insult... "AHAHAHAA!" She continued to laugh, those around her looking with confusion. That or lust, it was hard to tell. (Personally, he was confused.) "It's like a pep rally for little kids," she said with a smirk, before narrowing her eyes in mirth. "Then again, most of the people here _are_ children! Ahahahaaa~ Pity... I haven't seen any _real_ competition yet..."

Honda and Yugi both stared with wide eyes, Katsuya blinking a few times as he did a double take. "What a **BABE**," Honda shouted with a red-faced stare.

"S-She's a duelist too," Yugi asked with a thick blush, Katsuya merely staring. Maybe it was because it'd been a while since he and Yugi had exchanged tapes or something but... Man... This was weird... He swore that a year ago he'd have the same reaction but...

Was it just him or were large breasts suddenly a complete turn off for him? Mentally, he wondered if that had anything to do with a certain 'other' woman he knew... As he disappeared into thought, the blond completely missed whatever the woman said as she left. Was it because of that? Hell... There was no comparing Kaiba to this lady, that was for sure... He continued pondering this, only snapping out of his thoughts when being elbowed by Honda. "Dude! Did you see the size of those?"

Katsuya blinked, before putting up a fake grin. If Honda thought there was someone who'd caught his eye already he'd never hear the end of it damn it... "HAha... Yea! 'Bout th' size 'f my head!" As he pretended to laugh, he watched the woman continue to disappear.

"My name is Kujaku Mai," she said with a flirtatious tone, giving them a wink before turning again. "I'll see you later... _Boys_~"

As Honda and Yugi both continued inhaling the perfume scent left behind with dreamy expressions on his faces, he shook his head. "Man... What a woman..."

Anzu appeared to have far more negative thoughts on this however, glaring at the boys. "You **MORONS**," she shouted, crossing her arms. Ignoring the expressions Yugi and Honda both had, she'd probably completely missed what he meant by 'what a woman'. It wasn't a good thing... "I swear, you all hit on anything with breasts!"

Hey, why was she grouping him with those guys... "Ahehehe... C'mon Anzu..." Katsuya shook his head, before turning to the ship. Change the subject, change the subject... "Let's get on board, alrigh'?" Just please don't yell at them...

Beside him, Yugi nodded, having snapped out of his perfume induced haze. "Yea! Let's go!" They hurried onto the ship, climbing up the boardwalk and soon coming to rest along the main railing at the side. With all the people heading inside right now, it'd be best to wait a little before doing so themselves really- as it was, they were lucky to have been allowed 'guests', though why they were so lenient about that was a good question. The rest of the crowd also waited along the deck, a majority of the doors within apparently sealed off. Quiet chatter filled the deck, and few moments later the sound of the ship's horn was released, loud and blaring as it took off into the sea at a relatively decent pace. It was late in the evening now... The darkness was endless... Katsuya stared out, those around him following his gaze in silence. Completely endless, save for the slowly disappearing lights of Tokyo on the shore.

'_Mokuba..._' His eyes grew distant as he leaned against the railing. A year ago, if he'd never met that kid... He'd be the same but not really, he supposed. Maybe Yugi was right about him being 'different'. Sure he didn't know how but... Well, had it been just him, if he'd gotten that tape, he'd probably just be here for the money to pay for Shizuka's eyes... Hell, he wouldn't have even been able to spend the summer, so who knew what that would have changed about the video! '_Wait for me... I'll put my life on the line... And I'll not only save my sister's eyes, but I'll save you! Even if I don't win, I guarantee it! So wait for me..._' Just stay alive, just a little longer...

"Attention everyone," came a voice from behind the crowd. Katsuya turned with a blank stare as Saruwatari addressed them, idly wondering if he'd be disqualified for punching him through the skull. ...He probably would. "I will now show you to your rooms; please, follow me!" Well, that was at least one good thing about tonight... Ship this big, the rooms had to be at least decent... He followed along in the crowd, before staring at the large matted floor they were brought to. Hang on what?

No way... No fucking way! "You gotta be kiddin' me," he shouted, looking at the room with a glare. "Whatdya mean, we're all sleepin' here!"

Honda nodded from behind, glaring. "Yea, come on! Don't we at least get beds?" Or futon's even? Sleeping bags perhaps, rather than a cold matted floor? Sheesh, didn't Pegasus care about his competitors getting there _alive_?

The guard stood there, coughing slightly. "Only the finalists from the last tournament have been given private rooms," he began, Katsuya opting to ignore him as he rolled his eyes and went to put his things to the side of the room. God damn it... He didn't even have a sleeping bag on him, what the hell... Well, he could probably use his bag for a pillow he supposed.

He looked around the room, fingering his deck before blinking. Hang on... The teen's eyes widened as he scanned his future competition, blinking. Everyone in the room was trading cards... And if he could get a few trades in himself... Katsuya grinned, weaving his way through the crowd as he pulled out his deck. Approaching one of the duelists, the person in question turning as he came near, his grin grew even larger. "Hey... What cards yah got? Wanna trade?"

Maybe this night would be better than he thought, he decided a number of minutes later. Got a few new cards, sorted out his deck... Heck, like Yugi was saying as they took up 'residence' in a corner of the room, this was like a sleepover! "Ahhh..." They walked back out on deck, giving Yugi some time to talk to his grandfather through the camera. After all... Wouldn't want _that_ particular weakness to come out right? "Feel that cool ocean air!~"

As he leaned against the railing, a voice from the side caught his attention. "...Hn..?" It was that bug guy, what was his name... 'Haga', right? Insector Haga, what was he doing here instead of inside? Hell, they had their own rooms (Not. Fair.) from what he'd heard from the others. He tensed as Yugi handed the boy his five exodia cards to show, biting his lip. Please don't do what he thought was going to happen, please please please- AUUUUUUUGH. Watching with wide eyes as they were thrown over the side of the ship, he tossed his jacket to the ground with narrowed eyes. "Shit!" He jumped off, growling. Damn it... Those were Yugi's trump cards... The cards that could well mean his grandpa's life, Mokuba's life, Shizuka's eyes... _They could. Not. Lose. Those. Cards! _"I'll get those cards Yugi, no worries!"

He could hear the shouts from the others as he hit the water, swimming to the surface with a cough. The blond turned through the water, grabbing wildly as he attempted to look around for the cards in the darkness. Where were they... The water was identical in colour to the sky, and it was pure luck really that the cards floated. One... He heard shouts above to grab rescue equipment, the blond continuing to search fruitlessly. The water was frigid and rough, tossing him about more than the volley ball or even his opponents during judo in Gym class. Two... Maybe they were underwater... He dove down, squinting as he ignored the sting of the ocean water on his eyes. Where... Where... As the ring landed, he looked around and surfaced, gasping for breath. Two... He could only find two... Grabbing the ring, Katsuya allowed himself to be reeled in, scowling darkly. There were five cards meant to complete Exodia, and he'd only found _two_. He continued to cough as he clambered back on the deck, taking the towel that was handed to him while sending a narrowed glare to Haga. Bastard... He'd be first to go in the tournament, guarantee...

Getting to sleep that night wasn't easy, knowing there were thieves like that brat on board... But even as he rolled over, he convinced himself to do it anyways. After all... Tomorrow was day one of the tournament- and after that, it was only a matter of time before they came across Pegasus. They needed all the sleep they could get...

Lives depended on it.

* * *

AN: Suddenly that 'childrens card game' ain't so kid friendly eh? As for the above, don't worry Kaiba! You'll forget alllllll about it. Guarantee. Bakura's reaction coming into the classroom makes me laugh to this day... 'HI EVERYONE! ... Why are you sad? D: ' I guess that's just not the reaction he normally gets... In any case, be happy, for the infamous Mai has appeared! YESSSSSSSSSSSSS.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey there Iona! Dead dog indeed- though he may or may not be upset when Kaiba wakes up and he finds that he was 'right' about her 'not hearing anything'. (Forgetting important things tends to suck.) If it's not one person it's another... This arc will be fun, I can tell you that... And trust me when I say, as the plot goes, that won't be the only leverage he has against Jonouchi. _Not by a long shot._ I'll leave it at that, and tell you I agree on the averted kick to the crotch... Though in Yugi (rather Yami Yugi's)'s defense, he tends to go through a relatively fair battle before beating the shit out of his victims... Particularly in the anime, where people _didn't_ die because of him during that arc. From what I can tell at least. It's hard, when all you see is 'glass shattering' and then the victims going 'AUUUUUGH'. And then nothing. NOTHING. Eh, oh well, ahahaha~

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that for once, might not actually have anything to do with the chapter! (...Lies.) It will also separate each topic with a line.

* * *

Interesting point while on the topic of Kaiba, but while reading the fairly handy, fan-made 'Yu-Gi-Oh Wiki', a part of Kaiba's description caught my eye... And I quote:

_'Throughout the series he is shown, deep down beneath his stony, ice-cold exterior, to be incredibly lonely, and wishes to be more open with people, but is unable to do so because of his belief that everyone is alone. At various points during the series he opens up momentarily, but only to people he respects, (particularly Yugi though usually when no-one else is around and always shutting down again when other people arrive) and these occurrences increase in frequency towards the later series- indeed the last episode he is visibly hurt when Joey accuses him of having no friends_.'

Note the use of dub names... But really, the entire wiki tends to stick to them. In any case, time to bring up why I stuck that here... Compare that to the below, which is the description of a Tsundere character, on the ever-so-handy TV Tropes page... Rather, on the 'Defrosting Ice Queen' page, as Tsundere now more commonly means someone who acts both harsh and sweet. (Kaiba doesn't do the latter. At all.) Remove the spaces to get to that page, as fanfiction doesn't support links... http: / tvtropes. org /pmwiki /pmwiki. php/ Main/ DefrostingIceQueen ... Keep in mind that there would be no complete defrost. That would be **silly**.You could also compare to the 'Kuudere' (Which should link out from that page), which... May or may not be closer depending... But given the more audible emotions we see Kaiba having, I'd think it best to compare FemKaiba to the Ice Queen rather than the Kuudere.

Can you see any similarities perhaps? (Or maybe it's just me with rose coloured glasses.) Because if you can, you will _never look at Kaiba the same ever again._

* * *

An interesting note that I recently dug up (also has nothing to do with this chapter), which answers to an earlier comment made on Zorc's design... You wonder what Takahashi was on when he designed him? Meds. He had a stomach ulcer during that time, and was rather groggy and stressed out during that time... Hence why, in the Bunkoban (Re-printed version with a few changes), the snake is made to swirl around Zorc rather than stick out where it is... Like a certain part of a man's anatomy.

* * *

Interesting thing to note, but in the manga, Ryuuzaki isn't... Actually that bad. In fact, if he showed up more often it's more likely he'd be an ally than an ally judging by his later actions... As it is, what with many fillers soon being involved, you might notice a few personality tweaking on his part to closely match that... A jerk he may be, but not a jerk_ass_.

* * *

Daimon Kogoro is the Japanese name of the Big 5 member 'Lector', was the assistant to Gozaburo before the man's death. According to the anime, he was also assistant to Kaiba... Though given Isono(Roland)'s own status as assistant, I'm fairly certain that Daimon's title is in name only, seeing how Kaiba reduced the entire Board of Directors to a figurehead status. (Something they quite eagerly took back after Kaiba went comatose... What with that betrayal losing money on their part and all.)

Other corresponding names are...

Ootaki Shuuzou - Crump. The penguin guy, I mean... -cough- Former company accountant. Figurehead-ed, and upset.

Ota Soichiro - Nesbitt, the Technical Expert. Upon Seto's take over, he was ordered to destroy all equipment involved with weapons manufacture and tasked with replacing it with game related things instead. This did not make him too happy, as one can likely guess. (Mostly because, in his mind, all of his amazing 'amazing' equipment is... Not being used properly. LIES.)

Ooka Chikuzen - Johnson, the company's Legal Advisor... He's very good at lying. (As apparently, he convinced a jury that a water phobic man stole a boat. W-..What?) Like the others, Johnson was effectively reduced to a figurehead state. Which he did not like.

Oshita Konosuke - Gansley, VP of Business Strategy. Before any of you say 'VP? VP But Mokuba's the VP!', let me tell you this. There's more than one VP in a company... Sort of like how there are multiple managers for different sections of a company. Generally, when there's a large group, the two 'highest ranking' will be 'Executive VP' and 'Senior VP' respectively. Something tells me Mokuba effectively fills both roles though... Anyways, Gansley, of course, ended up figure-headed...

A point on Mokuba now, in addition to being the VP of... Probably everything given that Kaiba prefers dealing with everything himself... (Though it's likely that there's more than one VP.)...Is apparently also KaibaCorp's representative. Huhhh? Ok Kaiba, if that's what you wanna do... Then again, a kid representing a game company makes a fair amount of sense.

* * *

'Kujaku Mai', (Mai Valentine if you hadn't guessed. I really hope you did though.) oddly enough, is only an inch shorter than Jonouchi. Jonouchi is 5'8, while Mai herself is 5'7... Which isn't bad for a woman really, given that the average height is 5'3.8, which is just shy 5'4, for a woman. (Huh. I'm average height...) Kaiba of course far surpasses 'average lady height', but that's because I didn't change the height between genders for the sake of... Well, both humor and general accuracy. To put it in perspective of heights, I'll list the rest of the main cast. Yugi is 5 feet dead on _at the end of the series_ (In otherwords, during GX, but not early on in the manga and anime. Otherwise, those would be some serious size issues between him and the others.). Anzu however, is the average height of 5'4... Honda however, is 5'9, almost two inches taller than Bakura (Who is 5 feet, 7 and a half inches.)

As for Kaiba... (Brace yourselves...) Kaiba's almost 6'2''... That is half a foot taller than Bakura and Jonouchi, almost a full foot taller than Anzu (just those two inches standing in the way...).

* * *

I altered a fair amount of Jonouchi's dialogue in the latter half of the chapter; notably, opinions on Mai change considerably... This isn't actually written in an attempt to make a love monopoly, believe it or not, but rather... Just... altered tastes. (Also humor, but more later) Is Mai hot? Yes, very much so. Jonouchi would be out of character to say otherwise. So why is he not drooling over her here? Because he's gotten so damn attached to the one in a coma that Mai's other assets just don't _click_. At all. Now obviously this affects a good deal of story line here, given a few choice sections of Yu-Gi-Oh that focus on that 'unofficial' pairing, sooo... You'll see how I handled that later on. ;)

* * *

Do duel monster cards float? Well, they will for a few minutes at least, being flat. Sadly, their dark brown and black backing makes for a hard target on the seas, _doesn't it Jonouchi_.

That's all for now! Until next chapter!


	21. Chapter 20

**On Your Mark...

* * *

**

"Ahh... Ahh... A-CHEH!" Katsuya sniffed as the walkway from the ship was lowered on the island, rubbing his nose for what felt like the hundredth time. Thanks to the lack of blankets and general heat the night before, his still slightly damp being ended up leaving him with a cold... And as he and the others walked off the ship, his friends giving him slightly worried glances, he really, _really_ wished it hadn't happened like that. His head hurt, and he couldn't breath through his nose, and.. And... Auuuughhh he was still having the shivers damn it!

Yugi, currently the 'other Yugi', turned to him worriedly. For some reason, the two had switched out the moment the boat arrived on the island. He wasn't going to question it though... Really, it probably saved them the trouble of going back and forth between games, given the absolute look of vengeance 'Yugi' had on the school roof the week before. Thankfully, that wasn't the look he had right _now_. "I'm sorry Jonouchi," the teen said with slightly narrowed eyes, turning to look at his friend. "Because you went after my cards, you're-"

The blond quickly shook him off, wiping his nose before grinning. "Aww this? This is nothin'! After a year 'f broken arms an' ribs, this is great!" Now that he thought about it, there were bigger issues at hand. Much bigger really... Besides, it wasn't so much of a cold that he'd gotten so much as a stuffed nose. So really, no big deal, it'd likely disappear in a few hours. Hopefully. As he said this, his expression shifted to a glare again, having spotted Haga somewhere in the crowd. "What really ticks me off," he continued, "Is th' asshole who threw yer best cards in th' ocean in the first place!"

At those words, Yugi appeared to look off into the crowd, the two watching as Haga gave them an odd look and vanished back into the horde of people. "All duelists head towards the castle for an important announcement," Saruwatari shouted from the front, the group turning back to face him as they were led from the docks to the castle itself. The island itself was probably only a few kilometers wide... Not much of a big deal. What _was_ a big deal however, was the building that was coming up in their sights right now.

From behind, Honda and Anzu stared in shock, the rest of the group apparently unfazed by the image of an enormous western style castle up ahead. "It's really a castle," Honda was muttering as he scratched his head. The castle stood tall and proud before them, and they stared with wide eyes. "Man... Pegasus has some strange tastes..." The man looked like a woman, and only now they were questioning his tastes! ...He should not be talking about guys that looked like women. Not at all.

"Upon arriving, place wait in front of the gates," Saruwatari's voice continued as they came near. "We will now explain the rules!" A balcony sat almost directly above and in front of them, and within a few moments, Pegasus stood before them.

Tch... That man... He looked down at them all, smiling from behind the curtain of silver hair he had. "Welcome everyone," Pegasus said over the crowd's mutterings. "Welcome, to Duelist Kingdom!" As Katsuya glared upwards, the man continued, still holding that genuine smile that got on his every nerve. "Allow me to explain the rules of this **VERY SPECIAL** tournament," he shouted, the blond below snorting. 'Special'. That was one way to put it. 'Lets kidnap those closest to the people we really, _really _want in this tournament and use them as blackmail... That way we're bound to win!' Well Yugi would show them! (And so would he. But while Yugi had the cards, he had his knuckles.) "The duels will take place with official duel monsters cards only, of course!" Of course... Because hey, the name 'duel monsters' didn't say that right? Besides, why would someone bother with fake cards...? "I hope you brought your most powerful decks! Of course, if you're not completely confident, you _are_ allowed to trade with one another..." They'd already been doing that though... What would have happened if they couldn't? (And how would they know..?) He chuckled, holding out a glove and a starchip. "Each of you should have already recieved a duel glove and two starchips, correct?" That or a duel glove and _no_ starchips... "At this time, please put the glove on your right hand!" There was the noise of a few shuffles, the crowd rumaging through their bags for the items. Katsuya himself pulled his on before turning back up to listen with narrowed eyes, his only star chip already clicked into place on the side.

"On the glove," Pegasus continued, seeming to look over Katsuya and Yugi a brief moment. "You should find ten crevices where you can place star chips. Please, insert your two star chips into them now." Another shuffle as a series of clicks were heard. Yugi and Katsuya both sent each other a look, having both done that before arriving. Saying nothing in the end, they ended up looking over the crowd again before continuing to listen. "These stars are essentially your life as a duelist! Whenever you duel in this tournament, you must stake one or more chips on the outcome!" As there was more muttering around them, Katsuya clenched his fist. Alright then... All or nothing- they absolutely had to win their first duel, or everything would be for naught! "The duels can take place anytime, anywhere, throughout the kingdom," Pegasus continued, the blond's attention turned forwards. "The first duelists to win ten starchips will win the honors of entering the castle! Only _they_ will have a chance at the prize! The duels will begin in exactly one hour," he stated as he crossed his arms. "The time limit for the event is 48 hours! One the time limit runs out, those with less than ten star chips will be eliminated," He declared, expression growing a little more frightening and a little less welcoming. "They will be declared losers and deported from the island **IMMEDIATELY**!" Errr... Wasn't there only one boat? How was that going to work..? "Now duelists! I pray for your success!"

With that, Pegasus left, Katsuya holding back another snort at those last words. People were already beginning to file out of the area to explore the island as he stood there, frowning. Yea... He was _praying_ alright... Probably for Yugi and himself to lose horribly. Now then... Anytime, anywhere right? So that made the entire island fair game, for a full two days... A lot of time to go from one end to the other really. Briefly, Katsuya thought back to what he'd heard earlier about 'new rules'... Aside from that, Pegasus hadn't actually said anything, leaving both himself and everyone else in the unknown. They couldn't be that different though, not really though, could they? Those thoughts continued to sit on the back of his mind, even an hour later as they wandered the grounds... At which point one loud and long '**LET THE DUELING BEGIN**' could be heard around the island.

It was time.

* * *

"Okay," Honda was saying as they wandered the island quietly. "Let's check this place out!" The island itself seemed to be filled with... Everything really, at least in terms of land. Volcano, beach, lake, forest... It was an interesting mix of land really, and they looked, they could see a fair number of people using their 'Island' card as a map. As to the actual dueling... There wasn't any just yet. Katsuya had a feeling that Yugi had a particular person in mind really, not that he or the others minded. If anything, this was a nice break from school.

Bakura looked around calmly, turning to the others as he came to those thoughts. "This island is so peaceful," he said quietly, a soft smile on his face. Peaceful... That was one word for it he supposed. More like eerily quiet; heck, what was going to happen to this place after the tournament was over anyways?. "It hardly seems to be the place to play duel monsters." Hear hear, and yet...

Beside him, Anzu nodded. "Yea..." As she spoke, the woman frowned, crossing her arms. "And those people aren't playing either," she said as she looked towards a small group aimlessly looking around the island. So far it looked like a lot of people were doing that really, just wandering around like the rest of them. "I guess we're not the only ones who don't know what to do."

At that moment, Katsuya spotted a sign post, blinking. Oh... At least they had those. "Ah- look, over there!" They approached the sign, the blond crossing his arms. "Forest to th' left... An' th' lake to th' right..." Forest or lake, forest or lake... Looking at the signs, he frowned. Which way... The others came up behind him, also staring before there was an answer.

"Let's go to the forest," Yugi stated calmly, with a hint of vengeance in his tone. "I saw Haga go this way." Haga? 'First to go' indeed he supposed... In fact, Yugi was already heading that way with those words.

He shrugged as they walked off in that direction, sneezing again. Ehhhhck... Sooner this cold was gone the better, seriously. There was a sniff, and he picked up a pace beside his friend. "Okay then..." Hey, if it got them some star chips and _him_ off the island... He looked around, the sunlight scarcely making its way through the trees as the sounds of anything living inside could be heard. The trees in the area almost reminded him of the plastic forest from Bakura's 'Monster World' set; thick, cold, and surrounding. "...Creepy..."

"Hey, **YUGI**!" The group jumped, turning as Haga's voice broke the silence. The bug user smirked wickedly as he leaned across from them on a tree, hands in his pockets.

Yugi snorted as the bespectacled boy held out his deck, glaring at him. "Hn hn hn... At least you have the 'courage' to face me!" Courage... Interesting choice of words. Granted, that expression Yugi had was a little scary to be honest... He was fairly glad that he wouldn't be on the receiving end. Nonetheless though.

His soon to be opponent grinned in response, laughing. "Of course Yugi! After all, if I can beat you first, the rest will be easy!" Yea, the key word was 'IF' buddy. And Yugi never lost. "I challenge you to a duel, right here right now," he shouted, Yugi instantly agreeing to the conditions. As they followed the boy deeper into the forest ('there's a place to duel right here' he had said), Katsuya stared.

"Hey! It's one of those battle box things!" While he was fairly certain that it wouldn't have that 'penalty' game add on (He'd found that out watching the finals of the tournament on the T.V...), it seemed just a little out of place... What with it being a giant glass box in the middle of the forest with a table and two chairs. Katsuya watched as the two walked in, the box blocking out any sound from the inside. Just like last time... Hahaha... Well, he mind as well cheer him on! "Smash this guy Yug'," he shouted as they began, the pair glaring at each other as they shuffled their decks. "GO FOR IT!"

Haga of course... Was using bugs. It figured. From what he could tell, the field gave them a bonus too, which pretty much sucked for Yugi; nothing he couldn't handle though, hell, he'd beaten Kaiba easily enough hadn't he? True to his word, about half way through the duel, Yugi did a complete turn around; where a few moments before, Haga had been swarming the field with more and more insects, now it was completely clear of monsters. **BOY **was that satisfying. It was about that moment as well that another spectator came to the match... "Hn hn hn hn hn..." The group turned as a familiar woman appeared, the busty blond leaning against a tree with a smirk on her face. Now what was she doing here..? Stalking Yugi? "That was a smooth play he made there... But Yugi-chan's only taken a small lead..." Yugi-chan? What'd she think the guy was, 10? As Honda stared with wide, lustful eyes, the blond scratched his cheek. Mai Kujaku... And why wasn't he completely flipping out over her again? (She was hot... Maybe it was something he ate... Last night...) "A duel monsters game can go from victory to defeat in a single turn," she said with a smile, turning her attention to the match with a renewed expression of severity. "It's too early to get cocky!"

Anzu appeared to share his idea on the 'chan' comment, the woman turning to glare at Mai with a red face. "What are you doing, calling Yugi 'chan'! He's not a kid!" Yea! Seriously, regardless of the fact that this lady was how old..? (20, 25 maybe... Eh, whatever.) Eh, it was probably Anzu just being pissed about the reaction the others had about her... Seriously, the lady could have been in any one of the tapes he and Yugi had... _Any_ of them.

The woman snorted, shaking her head. "Listen... Insector Haga is the Japanese Champion! He's a master planner with several winning strategies. The _real_ duel, " she continued with a frown, "Is just beginning." Anzu seemed to continue growling at that, muttering a few choice curses about the woman. Mai in question rolled her eyes- this apparently wasn't new to her. Nonetheless...

The lady had a point there; regardless of Ryuusaki's passing comment of '_I just let him win_', the fact was that Haga _was_ currently considered the top duelist in Japan. Sure, he knew otherwise... But this still wouldn't be as easy as the matches they had for fun back home he decided with a nod. "I gotta agree with her there Anzu," he said, Honda nodding in the background with a blush. Ignoring Anzu's glare in response, not to mention the apparent comment on 'lust' again (God damn it, that wasn't why he was agreeing!) he went on to explain. "I mean, Yug's gonna win of course... But that doesn't mean he can let his guard down!" Of course he would win! God, why would he doubt _that_? It was just going to be 'difficult', as Mai was saying.

Come to think, what was this lady even **DOING **here? Had she been following them or something..? She _had _shown a fair amount of interest in Yugi; the match between he and Kaiba had effectively been spread through Tokyo within a day, it wasn't surprising that the news caught to the rest of the country afterward. Those thoughts lingering on his mind, he decided to focus on the match again, crossing his arms. The duel progressed. There was one tight spot, just one... This stupid cocoon sitting on the field. He and the others were shouting attempts to help him out of the situation, though in hindsight just about all their comments had the same effect... Save a choice few it would seem. Apparently, him telling Yugi to burn the whole forest down to take out the damn cocoon helped a lot, as a few minutes later (Regardless of Mai's snort at their 'cheerleading')...

There was a burst of flames, a clear path of ground heading towards it. Yugi's knight was able to cut clear through the insect on the other side, the cocoon's weakness becoming his strength. As the pair collided, there was a pause, the group staring with crossed fingers as they waited. Come on... Come on... And yes! The cocoon broke! Yes! Annnnnd there was a pretty big moth in there still. Well shit, that was a bit of an issue... "Damn it!" Katsuya scowled as Haga gained the upper hand yet again, before continuing to cheer his friend on. There was a way to counter this, there was always a way... He didn't really know what it would be, but if Yugi's expression was anything he obviously had something in mind... Ah! He watched as Yugi electrocuted the moth to submission, shutting down Haga's lifepoints completely. "HAHAAA! Yea! He won! How'dyah like that, M-" He turned, frowning as he was met with empty space where Mai Kujaku once stood. "Oi, where'd she go..."

Anzu snorted, while Yugi stepped out of the box. "Away from here is good enough for me..!" Not helpful!

Alright... So now Yugi only needed seven star chips and... He looked at his glove, eye twitching slightly. That's right... This was the first duel in, so of course... "I only have one..." Shaking it off, he pumped his fist in the air and marched forwards. Not the time to complain! Really, he needed to get a duel going for himself, then he'd be just as far! "Whatever... Time tah get outta this forest!" Briefly, he thought he heard the others muttering about him as he left but... Hey, they knew he'd do just as good as Yugi right? ...Right..?

Heck, he had an _amazing_ deck now! They couldn't be talking about him losing already right..? As they left the forest, his eyes widened, sunlight bathing the group as they exited the trees. "Whoah..." The blond grinned, running out into the field they'd come onto. This place was... Incredible! Compared to the beaten paths they'd taken to enter the forest, the scenery was just... Indescribable! "YEA!" His grin grew as he charged off, backpack thumping behind him as he held one of the straps. "I bet the view is great from that hill over there! Lets go!"

"Geez," he heard Anzu shout as he ran, "This isn't a field trip!" It was still a good view though!

Katsuya ignored her, looking over the field and island with distant eyes. Incredible... Regardless of all the people on the island, it was almost like some uninhabited realm they'd come across. Obviously any wildlife there were avoiding them but... In the field to the distance, he could still see a few blurs that were far from human quietly making their way through. Birds called in the distance, and beyond the line of trees he could get a clear view of the ocean. The view was more than great... So much more... He clenched his fists. He wanted to show Shizuka this someday... Show Mokuba and his older sister this as well, regardless of what that stick in the mud of a woman said about it... They could just sit here, enjoy the sun for as long as they liked... Not for the limited time that he and the others had right now. The blond gritted his teeth as the others came up behind him, pointing out the various duel boxes that duelists were finally frequenting. Promise... It was a promise, he'd get through this..! A promise... "Alright," he said as he nodded to himself. "Next time, I'm gonna duel!"

He decided to ignore the '_you better pick a weak one first!_' from behind him, instead turning as Yugi looked at him. Come to think, 'Other Yugi' seemed to pretty much be dominating the body for the moment... Wonder what that meant? Maybe it was an unspoken agreement; after all, 'this' Yugi felt completely at fault for the loss of Sugoroku. Maybe he was going to stay like this until he 'fixed' the problem. Speaking of Sugoroku, the camera had been in the backpack for just about the entire time there as well... Though that was probably because no one wanted to explain the 'two Yugi's situation again. "Be careful when you choose the site for your duel Jonouchi," the teen said as he turned to him, expression somewhat blank.

The blond nodded. "Yea..." he looked through the field again, before pulling out his deck. "Based on the field my monsters could get a bonus here... No worries," he added, grinning again. "I got it Yug'!"

Yugi smiled, nodding as well. "Right... Keep in mind, other duelists have likely figured out the rules of the island by now," the teen added, crossing his arms. "They'll stake out the areas that put their monsters at an advantage, and wait for a duelist to come by!" Like hunting. Except with people. ...Those thoughts sounded weird together, try something else... Uh...

As his friend said this, Bakura looked over Katsuya's shoulder at the blond's cards. "What field works best with your monster cards Jonouchi..?" He just said! Though he should probably double check that actually...

He blinked, looking over his cards. Volcano, Mountain, Plains, Wasteland, Forest, Lake, Ocean... A few of them seemed pretty obvious really but he should probably think it through- heck, someone's life was on the line wasn't it? Folding the cards back up, he bit his lip. Most battles in terms of swordplay happened in places that were clear and easy to traverse so... "Well... I have a lot 'f warrior an' beast warrior cards, so my best guess would be 'Sogen'... Th' plains."

Honda looked around, nodding. "So I guess right about here would be Jonouchi's territory... Mountains to the left and sea to the right..." He nodded again, the others agreeing. "You should probably sit tight, where you've got the advantage." That was a good plan, but he'd kinda figured that out!

As he was about to turn and tell the teen he wasn't an idiot, a rather familiar voice shouted over the plains. Wait wait wait... Again? Her _again_? "We're done," Mai shouted, a few clicks being heard over her laughter. "Give me your star chips and _leave_!" Who knew how many it was, but she was obviously feeling rather happy about the win... Unlike her opponent.

"T-That voice," Bakura said with a nervous laugh, as they turned to look at the nearby duel box. Yea. 'That voice'. There she was... In all her large-breasted, hot-yet-apparently-not (He would never get that) glory. At the moment, she was gathering her cards, having finished placing in the chips she'd won.

Mai continued to laugh as her last opponent left the box, the woman smirking. The expression "Run home to your mommy, 'little boy'... Hnhnhn!" Said 'little boy' actually did look a little younger than most of the competition... Though it seemed that age was not a question in getting suckered, as his face, while obviously torn with grief over losing, was a beet red.

Honda stared with the same wide lustful eyes again, face just as red as the kid's was. "K-Kujaku Mai!" Kujaku Mai was right, what was she, a magnet? Seriously forty people all on an island, how did they manage to encounter her three times already? How! Speaking of how...

For his part, Katsuya was staring at the woman's wrist rather than her chest... Probably a near impossible feat for most men around at the moment. "She's already got four star chips!" Then again... If it hadn't been for him, Yugi would have four as well... So... Er... Maybe he should rephrase that statement...

The woman skipped over by them, looking at the group before stopping. She skimmed over the group, hand on her hip as she pocketed her deck again. "Hnhnhn! Ah..." She smiled rather falsely, looking at Yugi. "And how are your duels going Yugi..?"

The boy stared, not really showing any reaction to the question before answering. Hah, so he wasn't the only one 'unaffected' by the boobs? ...Or maybe that was just the side effects of being a super-powered, game playing 'other self'. The original got all the sex drive. "Not bad," he muttered, arms crossed. He was gaining this look on his face that essentially said 'come on... Come on, fight me!' For a moment, it seemed that the situation would end at an obvious note, and in favor of that expression. Mai was clearly raring for a battle, having gotten hyped up by the last one... And it was only obvious she'd challenge Yu-

"Alright," she said with a smile, standing straight again. "I've decided! I want to have a duel..." The woman trailed off, before turning to Katsuya. Hang on, him? She was looking at _him_? Mai appeared to be drawing out her decision, and it didn't help that he was right beside Yugi. Within a few seconds however, the fact that she was looking across rather than down gave it away. Oh shit. "I challenge you, Jonouchi!"

He paled, jumping slightly. God, even when he sort of kind of saw it coming it was a shock! "H-HUH? What?" This was more surprising than when Mokuba had hired him for security! More surprising than when Seto turned out to be a she- ...Actually no, no it wasn't. "Me!" The others voiced their surprise as well, rather loudly in fact, while Katsuya himself turned slightly to see their own takes on this. Gee Yugi, thanks for the look of confidence... Was that a raised eyebrow of little faith there, thanks man... Thanks soooo much... Not that he blamed him really but... Augh... Continuing to laugh a little nervously, Mai merely smirked. Not a good expression...

"You won't run away will you... Little boy?" Ooooooooh that was... He narrowed his eyes, while Mai continued. "As a duelist, of course I want to fight Yugi..." Of course... But he was not going to let being called a 'little boy' just slip by! "But with the rules of this island, that's not a good strategy. After all, look what happened to Insector Haga!" ...This was true. The woman smiled, turning away slightly. "First, I need to crush the _weaklings_ and collect my star chips... I'll fight Yugi _after_ that..."

Weakling? For the love of... He'd show her weak! He might not be as good as someone like Yugi, or Kaiba, but he certainly wasn't 'weak'! "Jonouchi, you can't beat that woman," Anzu shouted, the blond turning to her with raised eyebrows. "Don't accept her challenge!" Thanks Anzu... Thanks so much for the vote of confidence...

He quickly found himself looking at the others as well, who were also speaking. "Jonouchi," Honda called out. "If you lose man, it's all over! Don't do it!" Thanks... So much... This really wasn't helping his mood! Or his drive! Katsuya shook slightly, before he heard Bakura as well. Him too?

"You should have Yugi accept the challenge for you..." Aaaaaauughh! Why was everyone so insistent on him not playing! So what if he was barely in this (Not to mention the fact that he hadn't been considered for the sign ups as it was...)... Damn it! Show a little faith! ...Please?

"Tell him, Yugi," Anzu was saying after the teen told him this, Katsuya still shaking. Come on guys, not one bit of faith in his ability? Seriously..? Yugi wouldn't say that... No way he'd say that right... Hell he was his best friend...

His best friend stood there, silent for a moment. The teen's expression was notably neutral as he stared at the ground, before turning to look at the blond. "Jonouchi," he finally said. "Do your best!"

The blond beamed. "Y-Yea!" He nodded, ignoring the protests from the others. Really, he'd show them..! "I knew you'd say that!" He knew it... He just knew it! There was no way Yugi would have a lack of faith! Even if it was the 'other one', he considered both of them his friends! Key word being both, they were very clearly two different people from what he'd seen... Though recently it'd been debatable. "If I run away here," he muttered, looking up at the sky. "Then whenever I look up at the sky from now on... Or when I look at anything... All I'd remember was my cowardice..." All he would be able to think of was him standing at the side feeling sorry for himself when Mokuba was taken... He steeled himself, turning back to look at the others. "An' I don' wanna be a wimp! I might be scared... But if there's anyone I'm gonna end up being in th' future, I want that someone t' be strong!"

Honda blinked, scratching his cheek as he took in the fairly over-the-top words. "I... I get it dude, sorry I told you to back out..." As the others muttered behind him, Katsuya turned to face Mai with a smirk. Alright... He was ready!

"Kujaku Mai," he said with a shout, grabbing his deck. "I accept your challenge!"

Let the **REAL** games begin... Now!

* * *

Okay, actually sitting in the box now, his fear of dropping out of the tournament completely was really, _really_ catching up to him. His heart thumped loudly against his chest, the shouts from the others managing to shake him from his paralyzed stance as the decks were cut and shuffled. Oh god, oh god what had he gotten himself into... "You only have one star chip, don't you," Mai said with a slightly pouting tone. "Well, then I'll bet one too, alright?" Yesssss such a feat for her wasn't it...

He nodded, pulling out another chip as he looked at the board. "Sheesh, what's with this field," he muttered, visibly drawing back. Small 'block' mountains rose up on the woman's side of the field, and he frowned. This wasn't like the board that Yugi and Haga had played with... Back there, the trees had fairly obviously been holographic. Here however... "It's 3D..." It was weirder than Mokuba's CapMon boards... Well, maybe not weirdER but... Still.

Mai ignored him, instead looking down at the board. "Well now... This 'field' we're playing on is 40% mountains and grassland, and 20% wasteland... If that answers your question hun," she said with a slightly sultry tone. Katsuya didn't know if she was trying to hit on him (Which he doubted... Wasn't working in any case), or... If she was just trying to psych him out.

Well... It was psyching him out... At least he had the grassland side though, giving him an advantage... "Hey, Kujaku," he said, the woman fixing him with a confused look as he spoke. "B'fore we begin... I wanna ask yah... Why did you come to this island?" Before the woman answered, he continued. "For honor? F'r money?"

She smirked. "BOTH!" Giving a playful wink, she leaned back in her chair and continued. "Really, what else~? If I win the money, I can travel the world... No... I could live in Paris for the rest of my life, and buy all the chanel and vutton I want!" Chanel..? Was that a perfume, he was pretty sure it was a perfume at least.

He snorted. "Heh... That's..." He shook his head, giving her a slightly amused and pitied look. "That's a pretty weak reason t' be here." Perfume, hotels, and France... Yea... Just a little bit shallow really.

"How** DARE YOU**," she shouted, practically turning into a monster at the words. Woah... Lady! Don't start shouting at him about it, sheesh! (He was pretty sure he was right..!) "Well, if my reasons are so _petty_ then," the woman spat out with a glare, "How about you explain why _you're_ here?"

Katsuya stared at her, looking her in the eye for a few moments. Alright... Let's just make sure she wouldn't rip off his head and eat it or something first... He closed his eyes, gaining a slightly distant look before answering her. "I'm here... T' save a life." As Mai stared at him in silence, possibly confusion for a moment, he continued. "Three, act'lly... Jus' don' tell any 'f them I said it w's that many..." He snorted, shaking his head. "They'd probably tell me off for adding a person..." But he had no doubt that the number was 'three'.

The woman stared at him oddly a few moments, frowning. Eventually, she snorted, forcing a smirk into place. "As if I would care about that... Whatever... Duel start!"

He nodded, drawing his cards and placing them in his hand. Alright... Some decent monsters right off the bat, that was alright... As he turned to face Mai, he found the smile drop rather quickly, staring at his opponent in shock. What the fuck... The woman had drawn each card face down, and, without looking at them, placed them in the same position on the table before her. "What the hell..." He shook his head, staring at her incredulously. What the fuck was she doing, she wasn't even blinking, or shaking... Not a single sign of a bluff! "Why the hell aren't you looking at your cards!"

She smirked, clearly enjoying his reaction. "It's simple, isn't it?" No, no it really wasn't... They were all face down damn it! "I already know my hand!" The blond's eyes narrowed, and he shook his head just slightly from the denial. No way... That was impossible, unless she had some kind of trippy, 'millennium item' thing going on as well, that was impossible... ...Now that he thought about it, there was obviously more than one item out there so that could be possible. Normally though, they were pretty obvious.

Why did the entire room reek of perfume... He passed it off, holding back a slight urge to puke at the scent instead. Probably whatever she was wearing... She _did_ list perfume on her list of things to buy with prize money... (Dear lord it smelled terrible... Like a melting pot of flowers...)

The woman smiled, continuing. "My turn," she stated calmly, grabbing one of the cards. "For my first card..." A monster was flipped and placed on the mountains, Mai smirking. "The Harpy lady! Gaining a power boost from the mountains!"

He faltered, before shaking it off. Whatever... So she could tell what her cards were, big deal right! Hell, he still had his own cards, and that was all that mattered right? "I play Tiger Axe," he called, placing the card on the field. A small 'shimmer' told him that their earlier hunch about 'field bonuses' was right, and he grinned. "He gets a power boost from the plains! **ATTACK**!" Yea their attack was the same now, but still... At least they'd knock each other out! (...Sorry Tiger Axe...)

Wait, why was everyone drawing his attention to the fact that the monster he was fighting had wings? "Ohohoho~ **Scratch Clash**," Mai shouted with a grin, her monster avoiding his tiger's axe with ease as it dipped around in the air. Wait, it was able to do that! Sheesh, no wonder Pegasus hadn't actually gone through the new rules, they were pretty much being created as the game went! The Harpy continued to tease his monster, before destroying it with a well placed slash. "The Tiger Axe is killed instantly!"

Shit... Shiiiiit... His life points dropped slightly, the tiger's advantage having vanished when taken from the air by the harpy. That was just fucking great now wasn't it... _Two_ bonuses at once, just lovely... "Hn hn hn..." The woman smirked as he looked at her with a glare, merely chuckling in response to it. "No 'newbie' can beat me, _little boy_!"

Little boy... Again with that comment... He was probably taller than this lady too, not that he could tell with the heels! He listened as the shouts from the others (Save Yugi, who was merely watching with narrowed eyes) came through the glass. Great... Just... Great... They were already doubting- FFFFF. Why. WHY. He wasn't _that_ bad was he? Heck... He'd come close at least a few times right..? Why, he'd even come in eighth for the regionals, that was all of Tokyo! Which meant that before the finals, he was eighth to Haga! ...That wasn't a good thing damn it. He tensed, his turn coming around. How... How did she do that, read the cards when they were face down? It was unnerving... Each time she drew a card, she did the same thing too, place it on the table edge with her others. "Okay," he shouted, shaking it off. "My next card is Demon Hunter Kojikocy, and he gets a power up from the plains!" There... This monster beat out the harpy lady easily, there was no way that it'd beat him even with the flight advantage... He'd have to make it attack him though, lest he be taken out by the same flight-maneuvers from befo-

"Hnhn hn..." He frowned as the woman chuckled, listening as she continued. "Then I'll play this," Mai began, flipping over a spell card and equiping it to her harpy. "Electro whip! Harpy Lady's attack goes up by 300 points!" Shit! The monster charged his demon hunter, whip cracking as it ensnared it. The sounds of his own monster groaning as the whip burned into his skin was blotted from existence as it vanished from the field. "Hahaha! Prepare to die _boy_, because you're next! The demon hunter is destroyed!"

Katsuya grimaced as his lifepoints decreased yet again, eyes narrowed. Again... She knew what the card was before she flipped it over again! Granted this was only the second card, but still... It was creeping him out! He drew a card, continuing grit his teeth as the woman laughed. "Hnhnhn... You won't be able to beat my Harpy Lady with a card like that," she said smugly, only serving to tick the blond off even more. "Each turn, she becomes more beautiful, more elegant... And most of all, stronger!"

Beautiful? HAHHHHH. "Beautiful," he said with a snort, shaking his head. A creepy looking bird lady with a fairly suggestive whip? Yeaa... "If that's what yer into..." Ignoring the indignant glare sent his way with those comments, he looked at his card, placing it on the board. "Take this! Warrior of Gardna!"

The woman merely smirked at the challenge, though there was a slight 'twitch' in the expression. Most likely, he decided later, it was because she still had the obvious advantage. "With pleasure! I play Cyber bondage," she called, Katsuya watching as the metal armor with spikes in all the _wrong_ places appeared over the woman. Dear god... It was even called bondage... What was this deck, a porn nightmare! "Harpy Lady's attack and defense get even better!" How did this make it better! The monster screeched with glee as the armor was applied, before its owner continued. "Cyber lightening whip! Destroy the warrior!" The bird charged forwards, his monster shouting in pain as the whip cracked across his back. A few seconds later he was reduced to nothing, and as the points decreased yet again to leave him with 810, the blond winced. "Ahahahaha! Have you learned your lesson," Mai said with a wink, before giving a coy smirk. "You're nothing but _prey_ to me!" He was just going to ignore that last line and somehow focus on the game...

Somehow... Tch... How how how how how! How the hell was she reading her cards face down? What was this, ESP? A creepy psychic act? Or... A really really _really _successful bluff even! This was bugging him so much right now, like with Kaiba's briefcase from before, seriously... Damn it... He gritted his teeth. If creepy powers and shit was what it took to win this... He couldn't do this... There was just no way that if he was expected to face against that sort of thing... He couldn't... As Anzu fruitlessly shouted at him in encouragement, he tensed. Yea... Now he was getting support, but for what point? Slowly, he watched as Mai smirked and turned to the woman outside the box to respond to the cheers.

"Hey, you out there," she shouted with a point, voice almost a roar so that those outside would at least hear a whisper. "What was it you said? '_If you shout, the duelist will hear your 'feelings_', and you'll help him win?" ...Right... That's what Anzu had said earlier when Mai commented on their 'cheerleading' at Yugi's match... The woman continued to smirk cruely as Anzu faltered, visibly drawing back from the box. Yea... _She_ knew what was coming. "Then make this wimp win! He needs all the 'feelings' you've got!" Tch...! The woman laughed at her target's fallen expression, Katsuya wondering if he'd be disqualified for punching the bitch in the face. This. Was. Not. Fun. At all! Clenching his fists as the woman continued, he held back. For Mokuba and Shizuka... And for 'Seto-chan' as well, he had to hold out... (...Since when did he mentally refer to Kaiba as... Aw screw it, like it mattered right now.) "Well... Do you see now? That kind of things useless! And for you," Mai continued, turning to the blond in front of her, "Some more free advice 'boy'... You can't become a true duelist and play with your friends at the same time! Today's friends are tomorrows enemies! That's what it means to be a duelist!" As Katsuya gritted his teeth, clenching his fists even tighter with rage, the woman still went on. "Duelists can't trust anyone but themselves... Take that to heart from todays defeat!" So she was knocking down his friends now was she? Crazy fucking...

As Anzu growled in anger, a shout from outside took the blond's attention. "In that case, I'll make Jonouchi win," came the other Yugi's voice from outside the glass, both Mai and Katsuya turning in response. Yugi... "With just one word!" Huh... One word- "Jonouchi... This is a riddle!" A riddle? Seriously, was now really the time for... And that wasn't one word! "Answer it," the teen continued, expression serious. "What's something that you can show, but you can't see!"

Something you can show but can't s- He looked at Yugi with wide eyes as Mai laughed in the background, howling with mirth at the seemingly pointless message. He knew the answer to that... He knew... But even that couldn't do it... Katsuya's eyes fell, and he turned to look at the table again. 'Friendship'... That was the answer he'd given Yugi those months and months ago, in that same cheesy, corny line he'd used. But 'Friendship'... No matter how he looked at it... '_Sorry Yug_', he thought to himself. '_I'm too dumb to figure out what you mean..._' He rubbed his face, with one hand in an attempt to calm down, eyes shut. Damn it... Damn it... He couldn't help Shizuka, he couldn't help Mokuba... Couldn't help anyone... "What would you say now, Seto-chan," he muttered under his breath, holding back a few tears. It wasn't as though anyone outside would hear him, and if Mai did she'd probably just ignore it completely. "What would you say..."

He could swear he got a response actually... '_Try thinking outside the game for a moment, **moron**._' Hahaha... He almost felt like he could hear her for a moment there... Like she was standing behind him, glaring at his back. She wouldn't care if he lost really... So all in all, this voice was probably just him being stupid... Katsuya took a deep breath, the others watching in silence as he leaned back against his chair. His turn... Now why couldn't he have ESP or something, instead of the ability to hear voices that didn't exist... '_I said, think **outside** the game, **MORON**._' Just shut up already, he thought as he held his hands over his eyes. For an invisible and non-existant voice, this was really loud... And not helping his cold, though it had died down mostly...

The blond sneezed at that moment, sniffing with a frown. Key word being most- Wait... Katsuya sniffed, frowning. Over the course of the game, his nose had cleared up somewhat... That smell from earlier... It was stronger now. _Think **outside** the game... Something you can show but can't see..._ Both of those clues were... His eyes widened as he leaned forwards with a jolt, looking over at the cards. He thought she was just wearing a crap load of perfume but... This was too much. These were all really intense, and really, _REALLY_ varied perfumes!

As he continued to stare, nose twitching slightly as he took in the scents, he idly heard his opponent speaking. "Come on," Mai was saying as he went over this, the woman scowling. "It's your turn! I haven't got all day!" He knew... He knew how she was doing it now!

The blond merely laughed in response, grinning. Esp... Hah! In the end it was complete bullshit! She was no better than he was! "I got it... I know your card trick," he shouted with a laugh, grin widening. At the woman's shocked frown, his grin grew even more, before shrinking to a smirk. "By putting different perfumes on all the cards in advance... You can tell which cards are in your hand by scent!" He continued to laugh, before adding in a little extra. "You can show the cards," he added with a glance to a winking Yugi, "But yah can't see the smell!" As Mai continued to reel back, clearly shocked at her plan being found out he continued smirking. "Heh.. Man... That was close! That stuff weired me out so much I couldn't pay attention to the battle at all..." He chuckled as cheers sounded from outside, and he rubbed his head. "I thought it was some weird creepy occult powers or somethin', you really scared the crap outta me! But now..." He drew a card, smirking again. He could do this now... "I'm onto your game you faker! Get ready!"

Mai seethed, face growing red. "Oh yea," she screeched, Katsuya mentally wincing. "So you saw through my trick then? Big deal! You won't be able to beat me in a hundred years!" A hundred years huh...? He could vaguely recall something about a hundred years in a conversation with Yugi, but what was it about...

He shook his head, smiling as he crossed his arms. "Hehehe... It's strange," he said as the woman continued to glare at him. "Just havin' my friends here watchin'... Just knowin' that you aren't all you made out t' be... Makes me feel like you ain't so tough after all." He looked over his card, already forming a loose stratedgy of sorts. If he got the right draw, he could do this... Alright! "Here I go! I play the Baby Dragon in defense mode!" This card... Yugi gave it to him. And he wasn't going to waste this card!

Across from him, Mai snickered, before bursing into laughter. Oh sure, laugh at his little dragon... Jerk. "AHAHAAA! Good choice, a card for babies!" Why that... He watched the woman wipe a tear from her eye, before smirking. "Well, at least you were smart enough to put it in defense mode so you won't take damage when I _KILL IT_!" Oh shit! That's right, he needed two cards... Acccckkk... As she continued to laugh, she grabbed another card and shook her head. "That very thing has saved you from an attack this turn; instead of attacking, I'll play this! Kaleidoscope, the Splendid Mirror Image!" Oh..? A card that needed her to skip an attack to play..? Wait... What was it doing! He watched as the card was played, the first upgraded harpy lady suddenly splitting into two others. Oh come on! "Now I have three harpy ladies," she said with a grin, the three bird-women cackling.

"Wha..!" Katsuya gritted his teeth. "What! There's more now!" Great, he avoided an attack but what about next turn? He couldn't get enough monsters out to defend with three out there!

The woman continued to smirk. "I can't attack on the turn I play Kaleidoscope..." And thank god for that, or he'd be a goner... "So go on boy... _It's your move_~" That should not sound the way she was making it sound. Ever. ...Why was his brain picturing Kaiba saying- OK! Stop thinking _now_!

His turn, his turn... He needed to focus, or he wouldn't make it through... Gh... Katsuya drew a card, frowning. Not the one he needed... But at least it would help him out a bit. "I play Garoozis," he called, the monster getting a bonus to his already decently high attack power. "He gets a 30% power up from the plains!" Which made for _almost_... A successful shield.

Mai grinned. "Ohoho! Prey! Go my Harpies," she cried with narrowed eyes. Garoozis was in attack mode... It was the only real way to keep his dragon on the field, he was sure. At least this way Mai would pick the seemingly 'worse' target. (This was gonna hurt though...) "Whip Garoozis! _Punish him_!" Ah wait wait what? Punish? As in... _That_... Punish..?

The blond shuddered slightly, trying to banish the images taking place on the table from his mind. "I don' wanna even ask what yer preferences are..." They were probably a little... Erm... Questionable. His point count dropped to 120, along with his spirits as Mai continued to cackle. Harpy Lady's 10 hit combo, she was saying... Damn it, he didn't have a card that could beat three harpies! Yea he was counting on that dragon Yugi had mentioned with the one on the field, but right now his back was literally against a wall! If he didn't get this card soon...

Across from him, Mai continued to laugh, shaking her head at the comment he'd made with narrowed eyes. "My 'preferences' have nothing to do with this, 'boy'... Why, looking for a 'date'?" The woman leaned in, lowering her voice to a whisper. "Maybe if you win," she said with a husky grin, "I'll consider it..."

"Hihhh!" He shook his head, pulling back. Alright... Given the images currently in his skull at that moment, he was already very very far from being turned on at the moment! Very. Far. "Trust me lady, that's th' last thing on my mind!"

She blinked, apparently genuinely surprised by the comment. Nonetheless, though it took a few seconds before the woman did this, she merely smirked. "Well," she muttered, shaking it off rather quickly. "Not that you could win anyways..."

Yea... Got that right... 'Something you can show but you can't see'... He'd said friendship, and at the moment he thought it applied to the perfumes... Was there something more..? Something else...

'_I thought I told you_,' he heard, the blond frowning as Seto's voice continued to pound at the back of his skull. '**_Think outside the game, MORON!_**' He jumped as the last part practically shouted in his ear, before thinking again. Where did that riddle come from again..? Yugi had been the first to say it, before he'd put together the puzzle-.

Something you can show... His eyes widened as he stared at his deck, realization hitting him abruptly. The box. The riddle was carved on the side of the **BOX**, the same one that Yugi had originally held the pieces of his puzzle in! He remembered that day... He could remember it clearly now, when the guy was helping him put a deck together..! Yugi used the box to store his important cards now, and he'd pulled out a few to give him. '_Here, Jonouchi_,' he'd said with a smile. '_Let me give you this card before I forget!_' That card... He'd given it to him with 'Baby Dragon', it was the card he was waiting for! _'It can do lots of things... If you use it with Baby Dragon, it can fast forward 100 years and turn the dragon into an adult! It's an incredibly reliable card, here, take it!_'

Shaking hands went over to the deck. Think outside of the game... So that he could think _of_ the game... He held back a smirk, thinking of Seto for the moment. If he wasn't so sure that this voice was just his head being weird, he'd want to thank the lady... As it was, he'd probably get sacked between the legs for his efforts. Katsuya nervously moved to draw a card from his deck, ignoring the taunts from Mai as he moved. One chance, he told himself. Just one...

"Come on," Mai shouted as he took a breath, hand placed on the deck and grabbing a card right that moment. "You've got one turn to live! Why don't you just give up and give me your cards right now?" He didn't have the Time Wizard in his hand at the moment... His only chance... Was this draw right here...

Here goes... For a moment, he thought he saw a flash from Yugi's millenium puzzle... It was only a moment though, one brief second that he passed off to the back of his mind. Nervous eyes looked over the card, and as he got over the shock of what he'd gotten he grinned. "YES!" He summoned the card, watching as Mai looked at it confused. Of course she didn't know, she was too focused on her weird feathered porn rejects! "This is the time wizard!" Looking over at Mai's still confused stare, Katsuya continued to grin. He had her now... He had her! "Don't you know? Th' Time Wizard can speed time up! It zooms forward 100 years an' turns th' Baby Dragon into an adult!" The smirk grew, and he watched as the small time wizard raised his wand. "Go! Time Magic! Baby Dragon becomes the Thousand Dragon!" The wheel on the wizard's staff swirled, and for a moment an odd wave of light passed over the table.

Mai snorted as the infantile dragon grew into an aged adult, before scowling. Thousand-Year Dragon... Well damn it, it's attack woudn't beat the Harpies... "So what," she cried. "That senile dragon is nothing! My harpies attack is still stronger!" Yes, he knew that. Shit... And this was probably his strongest monster too god damn it! As he thought this however, he found himself staring at the board with wide eyes, ignoring Mai's next words of '_Kill it, Harpy Lady sisters!_' Mai as well looked down at them, frowning as their attack plummeted... Along with something else. "W-What... WHAT?" The ladies groaned, the sound of joints cracking sounding about the air. Their hair became dull and grey, feathers loosing their luster as a few fell out. Their once loud and ear-splitting screeches had even changed, growing hoarse and dull. All together... Another bit of fuel for his nightmares really.

Across from her, Katsuya continued to stare with wide and fairly horrified eyes. "H-Hhhhhh..." S-Scary... This was... Um... The harpies were suddenly all old and wrinkly... That was just a bit unsettling. "Uh... If it's any cons'lation," the teen said with a cough, blinking. "I'm s'prised to... Uh... Didn' know it could do that..." He shook it off, noting that Yugi appeared to be giving him a knowing smirk. Well obviously _someone_ knew about that ability... "Alright!" Time to win this! "Now that that's settled, go, Thousand Dragon!" The dragon roared, the Harpy Ladies card effects tying them together for the same attack three times. "**Thousand nose breath**!" And no matter how silly that attack sounded, that move would forever be considered amazing in his mind. _Always_.

As the dragon blew away the entire field, Mai's points dropped to zero, the woman going red in embarassment. "I... I don't believe it..." She better! "I... I lost..."

Katsuya gave a thumbs up to Yugi, before turning to Mai with a blank stare. Ignoring the shouts from outside ('_It's a miracle_', Bakura was saying. THANKS... so much...), he smiled. "Kujaku Mai," he said quietly, the woman not looking up from her cards. Almost like she'd lost her friends... Interesting thought given her speech on not needing any earlier. "I may not be a 'true duelist' by your definition... But let me tell you this," he continued as he gathered his own deck, pocketing it. "There's one thing that doesn't change, even over 100 years..."

The woman turned, eyes slightly wide from the shock of her loss. She swallowed, a light frown developing across her face. "W-What," she said, sounding almost slightly desperate over the defeat. "What is it..?"

The smile grew into a grin, and he said one last thing before leaving the box. "Something you can show... But you can't see!"

There was no answer to that statement as he left with his friends, the group simply leaving Mai to stare at her cards with that message in mind.

* * *

AN: This riddle has many answers it seems. SEE IF YOU CAN GUESS THEM ALL.

Is Kaiba's voice in Jonouchi's head real? Or has his conscience taken a turn for the worst? Even I don't know...

On another note, current 'challenges' are still in place. In addition, after the next chapter, I'll be putting up a poll... And in this one, the question for that very poll, along with another one. In order of age, youngest to oldest!

First: Recently, my art has been invaded by this fanfic; currently, it hasn't gotten further than uncoloured pencil-line art, what with my tablet pen being out of commision, but let me know if you're interested in even that, and if that's the case, I'll add a section just for it at the very bottom!

Second: After the Duelist Kingdom, as well as the 'Legendary Heroes/Dungeon Dice Monsters' arc, we're going to be seeing the oh-so-famous tablet depicting Priest Set and the Pharaoh. (I'm not giving the Pharaoh's name yet, in case there are those who don't know what it is.) So here's the question that will be put into a poll in a bit, handily laid out in an underline: Should Fem-Kaiba's past incarnation, Priest Set be male, as in the canon... Or _female_?

Third: Not a question or a challenge so much as a reminder; if there's a scene I've 'skipped', or something just chronologically relevant that I've skipped over in your opinion (IE, Seto's birthday, Health and Sports Day, Death-T, etc.), and you want to see it written, let me know! I'll write it up in a one shot.

Last: The 'Kaiba's Voice' challenge; if you're listening to music, be it any language, and you hear a voice that you think suits Fem-Kaiba's 'real voice', send it over in a review, or a message! I'll list any results I get here in the Author's Note, as well as thank you a lot... Because all I listen to all day is Vocaloids and Nico Nico covers of said Vocaloids, so my own music isn't the best resource.

Speaking of music, I've essentially been listening to the same five Nico Nico covers over and over again while drawing; this is because my MP3 player sucks, and divides everything into folders. In any case... For the sheer sake of showing you just what kind of soundtrack this fanfic is being written to, I'll list those five songs right now... Just remember that they're _covers_; specifically, they're a 'Nico Nico Chorus', a mix of various different covers from Nico Nico for one song. (The results are often incredible.) I'm listening to...

Bad Apple (Done by Touhou, not Nico Nico.)

World's End Dancehall (Which, for some reason, immediately results in the image of each and every 'main' Yu-Gi-Oh character singing in it. _NO EXCEPTIONS._)

Nisoku Hokou (This one I'm just listening to... It's one of the ones that I will occasionally skip, even though there's only six songs in the folder.

Ura-Omote Lovers ('Two Faced Lovers'. AHAHAHHAHA. Has nothing to do with this fanfic, honest... You'll know why it has nothing to do with it if you look at the lyrics though. O/O )

And 'Rolling Girl'. Which actually _does_ serve some signifigance to the fanfic, regardless of the fact that the only reason is because I keep comparing the girl in the song to Mokuba... In that the girl is trying to get the guy's attention... Obviously they aren't doing it for the same reason (Mokuba going after Kaiba's attention), but nonetheless. The Nico Nico cover is very, VERY good... You'll know it when you hear it, trust me.

And with that...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

We have two today! First, from Iona. Yea... I was kinda hoping it _was_ the Hot Pockets. CURSES.

I think I've missed what you mean by see... Unless you're talking about my silly 'Ice Queen/Tsundere' comparison, in which case that's fine. Most people don't think with my brain... That would be bad, and likely cause worldwide insanity. (Ahaha~ -cough-)

Oh mah! Kaiba the super model, that's going right in the sketch book... Super tall is right though; though looking at Japan, a fair amount of the cast is actually rather tall. Jonouchi could probably call 'foreigner' given that he's blond (Oddly enough, if the cover for one of the Bunkoban versions of the manga is any sign, so is Shizuka. Shocking!), so it's fairly likely... (But then there's Yugi's hair, which KILLS IT.) But Honda has no excuse! Or does he? We don't really know anything about the families of the main cast now that I think about it... It's nice to see that Kaiba's height is a plus rather than a minus though, and I hope I keep you entertained with the Mai - Jonouchi scenes!

Now, to Lukerella! Sorry to break this to you, but the reason why I'm updating so quickly is because all of these chapters were written _before hand_... Which means that in about two, three chapters, it'll probably be two-three days between each one. And that's only until I get a job, which should happen sometime in either late October and Early November. You've been warned! (So if I'm suddenly slow, that's not me on hiatus, that's me at **WORK**... No worries!)

No worries about the name thing! From what I can tell, the use among genders varies heavily among the Asian countries... In any case, wow...! These compliments on the fanfic are... Amazing... -loves them- I hope I don't fail these expectations!

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section so bold, it's not afraid to say things like 'sex'. Wait, you aren't either?

Some might wonder why Yugi's acting perverted. I assure you, this is cannon; in fact, ninth page into the first chapter and he's already fantasizing about what's underneath Anzu's skirt... OUR HERO FOLKS. There are actually a number of chapters where Jonouchi and Yugi are talking about porn (What else would they be squinting at the 'pixels' for?), or talking about trading porn tapes... All the way into the Millennium World arc, where Jonouchi mentions that he's gotten his player fixed and wants to borrow a few. Ooooooh boy... Boys... Anyways.

* * *

Fun fact, but 'Kujaku' from Mai's name means 'Peahen'... You know... The female counterpart to the peacock? Fitting. Jonouchi's comment on perfumes early on is technically manga based; he mentions smelling the perfumes earlier, and thinking them as a collective... However, near the end of the duel, he realizes that this is obviously false. Now that his head isn't completely in the 'Mai's Breasts Are As Big As Me' clouds, he's also being a little more snarky about things... Like... 'Cyber Bondage'. And... 'PUNISH HIM~'. I'm sorry but... Just... Yea. Obviously not much in the direction of what will be different from the manga and anime relationship, but that's mostly because this is effectively where both of them got started... To be completely blunt, it was actually _Mai_ who made the first clear move in the manga (not sure about the anime, but I'm fairly sure) in terms of thought towards Jonouchi; noted by the blush and the immediate notice of his presence later on... Jonouchi's blush is in the category of Honda's; it's because Mai's 'hot'. But Mai's is completely 'red string' based.

* * *

Can anyone else see the blatant Sado-Masochism references in the Harpy Ladies' 'Ten Hit Combo'? _Because I can_. And it hurts my eyes when combined with all the innuendos that Mai uses, it really does... Seriously. Whips, spiked armor (As in, spiked on the breasts guys. You Dub-Anime watchers got lucky and had those censored out.), 'PUNISH HIM~'. Haaaaaaaggghhhhhh I'm gonna have nightmares.

* * *

An interesting form of lampshade-hanging is seen in this chapter, when Jonouchi is wondering if Mai has a millennium item... What with them having weird mind-soul related abilities and all, and no one in the group knowing just how many there are just yet. (Save 'Yami Bakura', but... He's not really 'in the group'.) The fact is, when someone with a millennium item shows up, you tend to be able to tell... Really quickly... Where it is. Scales, Tauk, Ring (Arguably the easiest to hide, those last two), frigging ROD/STAFF/SPEAR THING... EYE... And of course, the puzzle, which can't be hidden in anyway if you're actively using it.

* * *

In the anime, rather, the Japanese anime, Jonouchi is mentioned to have entered the nation-wide tournament that Haga and Ryuusaki faced off in; specifically, he made eighth place in the regional matches, which would cover the Tokyo area... To be specific, there are 47 regions (Rather, 'Prefectures') in Japan. Given the total population of the one that Jonouchi is in however, eighth place isn't too shabby; remember, this is Tokyo we're talking about. To put it into perspective for you, the _entire population of British Columbia_ (Where I live... It's a province in Canada for those who don't know, and larger than Japan.) would be less than **HALF **the same number of people in _Tokyo alone_. That's crazy; BC has a population of around 4.5 million... Tokyo however, has almost THIRTEEN MILLION people. Now add in the fact that it's fairly likely that Jonouchi would have had to fight his way through a city-wide tournament before entering the regionals, which would have, as a result, gathered people from at least 30-40 different areas of Tokyo as is, his ranking is nothing to sneeze at. There's a reason why he makes it as far as he does later on after all.

* * *

Duels are obviously accurate to the manga, and so is (as usual) most of the dialogue. This includes 'With just one word!'. Though I added dialogue in some areas, that wasn't one of the things I added... Nor was 'This is a riddle!'. Really Yugi, you should know what 'one word' is... That isn't it, even in Japanese!

Well, that's all for now! See you soon!


	22. Chapter 21

**The Messenger from Hell**

* * *

Today was not a bad day at all, he decided for the moment. Yes, Mokuba was kidnapped... Yes... He'd effectively been blackmailed into this tournament just so that Pegasus could (presumably) get a hold of KaibaCorp... But all that aside, he'd won his first match, and it would take a lot to take the wind out of his sails now. "Heheheeeee..." As in a _lot_ a lot. Katsuya stared at his two chips, a grin on his face as he continued to giggle fairly moronically. He'd been at it for about thirty minutes... Ever since he and Yugi had agreed to set off and win the next match actually...

As they walked however, his mood was indeed stopped. Specifically by a gurgling sound from his stomach. "Nh..." He looked down, grabbing his middle in question with a frown. "Hnn... I'm getting hungry..." He laughed nervously, turning to the others. They... They had food... Right? They had to have food, they were going to be there for two days..! "When are we havin' lunch exactly..?"

Honda frowned, snorting. Ok that wasn't a good sign... "What do you mean lunch, we didn't bring any food!"

The reaction was imminent. "**WHAT**!" The teen's eyes went wide as he turned on the others, stomach growling along with his shouts as if to echo. "WE DON'T HAVE _ANYTHING_!" Noooooo!

Beside him, Bakura nodded, ignoring the groans and grumbles from beside him. "We ate all the snacks on the boat..." Of course they did... "And there's no restaurants on this island..." God damn... There wasn't much of anything on this island, a restaurant would really be pushing it...

Not that he would have minded magically finding one. At the thought of such a thing, Katsuya groaned, rubbing his aching stomach. "Aww man..." No food... For two days... This was going to be hell... They'd be lucky to be alive by the time they got to the castle at this rate! (Maybe that was the plan all along?)

Yugi also nodded, frowning. "That _is_ a problem... This game lasts two whole days, we can't just not eat or drink for 48 hours!" Damn straight Yugi... Damn... Straight...

As the teen said this, the others had turned on Anzu, who had otherwise remained silent. "Mannnn how come you couldn't at least think of somethin', aren't girls s'pposed tah know about these things?" And he wasn't taking this back, even with Kaiba in mind! ...Because she'd have probably gotten a backup plan for if that happened... Probably involving a cellphone and a helicopter. (Apparently, she could pilot one. So could Mokuba, according to the kid, and that was pretty incredible in his opinion.)

The girl scowled, crossing her arms. "Yea, because that's not sexist at all!" Oh shit, he didn't mean it like... (Ok maybe he did...) ...Shit! She continued to hold this foul mood as Honda rummaged around in his bag for something, muttering. "Honestly, you'd think the person who brought us here would feed us! Cheap long haired foreigner..." Something told him 'cheap' didn't have anything to do with it... Hell, anything was easy when your opponent had an empty stomach right?

Beside them, Honda finally pulled out what he was looking for; specifically, a large book entitled 'Wilderness Survival'. Wait, so he brought that and not food? WHY. "Oh well," the teen said with a dismissive sigh. "If it comes down to it, this book can tell us what plants and mushrooms are edible..."

Katsuya pulled a face, reeling back. "Ehhhh! No way man, I'm not eatin' no mushrooms!" He hated mushrooms, hate hate hated mushrooms..! As the group continued walking, the grumbles got progressively louder. Man... If they didn't find anything soon, he might actually consider taking Honda up on his mushroom idea... Ew... About half way into those thoughts, he blinked, sniffing the air a few moments before moving forwards. Now what was that... "Heey... Something smells good..." As the others looked at him with raised eyebrows, he grinned. Something smelled _really_ good actually... Whatever it was was fresh and edible, that was for sure! "It's comin' from th' ocean! C'mon guys, lets go!" Ocean, smell of cooking food... Fish! That had to be it!

He charged off, leaving the others to frown. "Smell," Anzu was muttering as the group followed, their own expressions just as doubting. "What smell..?"

"Just like when he fought Mai... His sense of smell is like a dogs..." Oh just drop the dog comments already! ...Hopefully, this wasn't his nose pulling tricks on him.

As it turned out however, he was right; the smell was indeed genuine, and in a few moments they were lead to an ocean side cliff. Katsuya looked over the rocks, grinning at the sight of a fire pit and roasting seafood propped up along side it. "Look at that," he said with a grin. "I found food!" And boy did it look _good_.

The others came up from behind, blinking. "H-He's right," Honda shouted, turning to the others. "Fresh roasted fish!"

The blond hopped over the rocks, running towards the fire in question. "And no body's here either," he said with a grin. "The foods our's for th' taking!

"H-Hey!" Anzu frowned, calling after the teen. "Jonouchi! You... Stop that, those aren't yours!" There was more than enough for everyone, it didn't matter!

He turned, grinning. "Au-contraire Anzu! Th' law of th' island is whoever steals th' star chips wins! So stealin' food's jus' as good! It's all part of th' game of life!" Besides, people shouldn't leave fish cooking there, it was a fire hazard. No one would mind if he was preserving nearby wildlife after all... Even though the fire pit was surrounded by bare rocks and was therefore completely harmless. He continued forwards, ignoring those thoughts as Anzu continuing to growl.

"I am never playing a game with you," she muttered, crossing her arms with a huff. "You're worse than a kid, honestly..." The woman continued to curse under her breath, watching as Honda jumped over the rocks to follow. "Ah-" Anzu stared, groaning. "Not you too!"

Honda merely grinned in response, giving a mock shrug as he followed after Katsuya. "Hey, foods food!" And it would do no good outside of their stomachs, so it would be best to eat it now.

As the two continued towards the fish, Yugi rolled his eyes with a smirk. "Ohhhh boy..."

The closer they got to the fish, the better it looked and smelled really- he didn't know who was catching these, but whoever did had a good eye for seafood. "Oh maaaannn these look good," Katsuya said as he grabbed one, practically drooling on the spot. These looked like they were just ready for eating too, he decided, opening his mouth wide.

"Smells good too," Honda said with a grin, grabbing another one. Though the fish were obviously still red-hot, the sticks were oddly cool; they'd probably been soaked in water before being put there really."Let's dig in!"

And of course someone had to ruin it. There was a shout from behind, along with the sound of splashing water. "W-WHAT THE-" The group, who had all taken a seat around the fire by this point, turned as a tanned young man came out from the water, clearly displeased. Still holding a harpoon with a wobbling fish attached to it, he growled. "Why you... You... STOP EATIN' MY FISH YOU THIEVES!" The group blinked as said man fell back into the water, only serving to tick him off even more. Well... That was anticlimactic... And ohhhh shit, he was coming their way now. The teen charged over, pointing the harpoon at them. "ALRIGHT," he shouted, the point directly aimed at Katsuya's throat. Sheesh, that guy moved fast! He'd barely gotten the chance to stand up and he was cornered! (Good thing he wasn't on yard patrol at Kaiba's...) "Lowlifes, eating someone else's fish! You're not getting out of here alive!"

Katsuya growled, waving the fish in the teen's face. "Hey hey, wait a minute! We haven't even eat'n anything yet! Don't go pointin' yer spear at me!" Even though he had literally been about to stuff the thing in his mouth... Tch!

This apparently didn't help either, as the harpoon wasn't moved at all for a small bit. "Then give it back," he roared, the others doing just, replacing all the fish by the fire. The teen in the meantime, quickly snatched his fish from Katsuya with a still set scowl across his face.

Katsuya in question narrowly avoided being scratched by the harpoon as it was swung away from his throat, the blond rubbing his neck and shaking his head with nervous and wide eyes. "S-Sheesh! What are you anyways, you can't be a duelist!"

"So what if I am," he shouted, before Katsuya frowned.

Ok... Yea he was wearing a glove but... Shit, the guy was wearing nothing but shorts and a swim mask outside of that... Not to mention he was harpoon fishing. Though with no food, that was probably underst- Wait. His original thoughts still stood, the man had a harpoon. "No way... You're like.. A castaway right..?" No way he got that harpoon on the ship... No way...

Apparently he had. "WHO ARE YOU CALLING A **CASTAWAY**!" This was also apparently an insult! Yikes! The teen held his harpoon, pointing to himself with that still unchanging scowl. "My name is Kajiki Ryota! Duelist of the Sea! Now, I'm just going to assume that you're-" He frowned as Katsuya began pointing at his head, coughing with a smirk. "What the hell are you looking at..."

He struggled not to laugh, Honda joining in with him. The serious expression coupled with this... "Gh... Octopus... G..." The octopus in question, about palm sized, was currently stuck to Ryota's swim mask... And made the entire situation completely ridiculous, and over all just too hard to really pay attention to seriously. At all.

The fisherman looked up, reaching around his head before growling. "Hhhhhr..." Ryota quickly snatched the small octopus from his head, tossing it back into the sea with a shout. "SMALL FRY!"

"WAIT!" The two teens reached out as it sailed off into the sea, groaning. No... The food... "Auuuughhh We could've eaten that..." They could have stuck it on a stick and just roasted and toasted it...

They sighed, taking a seat on the ground again. There went the food... "Our octopus..."

Ryota snorted, shaking his head at the attitudes over the octopus before looking towards the group again. "As I was saying... So you guys are duelists too eh..?" Before they answered, Katsuya watched as the teen's eyes were drawn towards Yugi. Oh great... His look of pure **RAGE** had just changed to a big fat grin. Because that always ended well... Probably thinking about challenging him right now. Ryota appeared to shake it off however, grabbing one of his fish. "Whatever.. Now then, these look like they're about done..." As he was about to put it in his mouth however, the teen looked back at the group. Katsuya, for his part, was looking rather pathetic, staring at the fish... Because quite frankly, he was hungry, and now this guy was going to eat _right in front of them_. How could he not expect them to stare? "Alright, alright," he finally said, rolling his eyes. "You can eat too!"

The blond beamed, and he and Honda charged forwards to grab some fish. "Alright! Thank's man!" Food... FOOD! Stick in each hand, he quickly began mowing down on the skewered and roasted meal, momentarily forgetting why he was even there in his haste. Behind him, the others laughed and joined in, grabbing fish as well.

"Hey, leave some for us!" "Hahaha!"

* * *

A little while later, they'd ended up getting along surprisingly well with Ryota. As in, really well, the blond decided as Ryota put his harpoon to the side in lieu of conversation. "So, Kajiki," Katsuya said later, as they sat along the dying embers of the fire. "You enter this tournament for th' money too?" So far it seemed everyone was going after that prize in particular, though that was understandable really. The card _did_ say 'Great Riches'.

He nodded in response to that, arms crossed. "You bet," he said with a grin. "I'm gonna spend the prize money on a boat, so that my dad and I can fish again!" The teen continued to grin, laughing as he turned to look at the ocean for the moment. "I hear the prize is **HUGE**! I'm gonna get the latest sonar equipment and everything... I'll get a big catch, every day!"

The group laughed as he said this, grinning. Hey, live on the seas... Better than perfume and France in his opinion, and from what he could tell this was a family business he was funding here. "Cool way t' live man! Go for it!"

At those words, Ryota nodded and continued. "I grew up watching the sea from the day I was born," he began, Katsuya listening intently. "It's like a person to me... I can tell when it laughs, and I can tell when it cries." Ok, that one was a little weirder than his family business theory but... Well, whatever worked he supposed. "But it works both ways," he said with a shout, turning to the group as they jumped slightly. "The ocean watches us too!" A what? He turned back to the sea, drifting off with a fairly blank stare. "A couple years ago, I was out fishing with my dad, like we always did... The ocean was in a good mood..." He'd take that to mean the ocean was calm... From how Ryota sounded about all this at least. "But then," Ryota said with a frown. "It's mood 'changed'." Ok what? Like storm change maybe? Sheesh, translating Ryota's ocean-speak was harder than it seemed... "The sea rose up and swallowed our boat! My dad and I were saved by a passing ship... We were lucky... But our boat was gone, and we couldn't fish anymore!" He gritted his teeth as the group watched in silence, before continuing. "It could be a coincidence... But not long before our boat sank, there was an oil spill not far from it." The man's fists clenched, and Katsuya found himself wondering if that _wasn't_ a coincidence. It... _Was _just a little bit convenient for the two to happen around the same time... "Those idiots angered the sea," he shouted, grabbing his now clean harpoon from the ground and gripping it tight. "_They_ did it, with their pollution..." He turned, blinking as he noted the somewhat blank and nervous glances he was getting. The man was coming off as just a few screws loose really... "Well, anyway," he said with a cough. "Sorry to bore you with all that... Just forget about me..."

Katsuya laughed nervously, he and the others getting up. "Hahaha... Yea.. Er.. Well, we better be goin!" Before crazy harpoon wielding fisherman decides they ticked off the sea. "Thanks for th' fish," he added honestly, while Ryota blinked. The teen stood, frowning slightly as the others made to take off as well.

"Yea? No problem... Hey wait, you're leaving?" As they nodded and continued off, the teen snorted. "Hey hold on a second there... I don't have time for small fry but..." He adjusted his grip on the harpoon, before tossing it. "You're not getting away! Hold on there Yugi!" The harpoon landed a few centimeters from the teen's foot, the others turning abruptly. Did... Did he just throw a fucking _harpoon_ at them! What the fuck! The teen chuckled, crossing his arms. Ok... Don't move... The man was clearly out of his mind... "Hahaha... Yugi... I'm not dumb enough to let a fish get away after eating my bait!" Katsuya frowned at those words, linking them to the earlier comment of 'small fry'. Ok... Using Ryota's 'ocean-speak'... Wait wait bait? Those fish were there on- Now that he thought about it, there _had_ been more than enough for about six people... Damn it. "More so if it's a big catch like you!" Ryota continued grinning, while the others turned with frowns. "This place is my turf," he said with a grin. "So I left bait for hungry duelists like you! This way, you come to me... On the beach, where the fight is in my favor!"

The blond tensed, clenching his fists. "So we're jus' stupid fish then, that what yer sayin'!" Great... They'd been suckered into a duel with a crazy harpoon throwing guy. What was with their luck, seriously!

And of course... Yugi couldn't well say no when a game was involved... (He'd noticed that really...)

So a few seconds later they were cheering the teen on from the outside of a duel box. The battle went fairly quick actually, regardless of the fact that Ryota had very, very quickly proven himself to be more than some wanna-be-fisherman; he'd quickly swarmed the field with his sea monsters, hiding them in the watery field from any of Yugi's attacks. Once Yugi dried up the ocean that Ryota's monsters relied on using a trick with the tide however, they'd easily been fried up by the his 'Curse of Dragon'. (Too bad they weren't real fish, because they sure smelled like it...)

The duel had ended with that very mood in fact, but even after that they were still on good terms. Yugi left the box with 5 chips, half the required amount, and Ryota with only one, but regardless of that the teen was still grinning at the match they'd had and promising a rematch some time soon. So with that, they were leaving the beach again, each with grins on their faces. "Good luck to you guys," Ryota shouted, the others smiling in response. As they moved down the path, they could catch a glimpse of the teen diving back down into the sea, likely to do some more fishing while he waited for his next opponent.

"Man..." Katsuya smiled, shaking his head as they moved towards a more wooded area of the mountain. "What a guy... There's somethin' about him you just can't hate!" Granted, in a competition with so much, it was always good to find someone who was a good sport about losing really. Heck, one more loss and Ryota would be done for, but he was still cheerfully going on about it as though it were nothing... Even with a job on the line.

The others nodded in agreement, Anzu smiling. "I guess all the duelists on the island are here with their own hopes and dreams..." Them included! Though... It was more desperate measures than hopes and dreams he'd admit...

Still smiling, Katsuya moved to the front, heading the group. "Alright," he shouted, moving forwards. He still only had two chips, there was a lot to be done! "Let's go to th' next place!" There was a resounding 'Yea!', and with that, they continued off.

* * *

Morning.

Mokuba lay back on the bed in the castle, staring at the ceiling with a frown. Breakfast had come and gone about an hour ago, from what his watch said. That meant he had four hours before 'Crocketts' came back with lunch... And that the tournament had since started half an hour before. The boy's frown deepened, and he sat up. Alright... He had with him his school bag, which had his gym clothes, books, and the hat that came with his gym uniform. In addition, he had his clothes, and the sheets in the room on the bed... Which he'd been gathering over the week by claiming that the food stained them... Before magically loosing them as well... That was about it really. The boy pulled out his locket, frown easing up slightly as he looked over his older sister's photo. "Nee-sama," he whispered, before closing it over with a nod. Alright... Given the lack of people outside the door, the tournament had started that day. Which meant Yugi was on the island somewhere, already playing into Pegasus' plan without knowing.

He bit his lip, crossing his arms. He needed to get out of here... The room he was in was three stories off the ground though, something he'd noticed when he first looked out the open castle window before. A lack of security meant nothing next to being stuck on an island in a tower really. The boy stood up, frowning again. But he had to get out of here, and get Yugi out of the competition... If he willingly forfeited or lost all of his starchips (at least from what he could tell from the speech earlier), he'd 'lose to Pegasus'... And then nothing would stand in his way on the path to KaibaCorp! They'd taken him here, that much was true... Eagerly waiting for him to call for a bathroom break too, he mentally added with a smirk. Now that the tournament had started however, he needed to move!

The boy turned to the bed, putting a plan together. He had just enough to cover himself up... And without cameras, Pegasus wouldn't know what he was doing... Mokuba pulled his bag out from under the bed, along with the sheet's he'd gathered. He had about four in total by this point, having played it safe with the sheet stealing. Add that to the two on his bed, and the blanket, that was seven pieces of 'rope' all together. "Alright," he muttered, pulling out his gym clothes. Now then... What with these being a white t-shirt and standard shorts, he wouldn't stand out as much... In fact, it wasn't likely too many would recognize him at all! He pulled his scarf over his face, stuffing as much of his hair into his hat as possible before turning to the pile of sheets. He had to move quickly in order for this to work... The blanket would be the last part of the rope, being the more likely to be a 'weak link' he decided, going over the ends as quick as possible. Just tie this end to the bed and... There!

He gave an experimental tug on the 'rope', before smirking behind his scarf. Alright! Now to get out of there! Poking his head out the window, Mokuba's eyes narrowed into slits as he looked around for any one watching. After all, there were supposed to be 40 people on this island... One for every two prefecture's of Japan plus the finalists of the World Tournament... And Mutou Yugi. Standing on the edge of the window, Mokuba looked down, swallowing. Y-Yikes... It was really high up... Maybe he should have thought of a different way, or gotten a few more sheets...

Mokuba screwed his eyes shut, shaking the feeling of fear off. He couldn't... He couldn't do that! Not when the fate of his sister's company was literally riding on this... Katsuya might have had the key, but that would only keep the most specific and secret of designs safe; other than that, the company itself was 'easy pickings', with the papers a large asset that would merely ensure its new owner didn't go bankrupt. He had to do this... The boy grabbed the rope of sheets, steeling himself. Now or never! One hop down, and he was half a sheet off the window and two feet from its sill. Another hop, and he was six feet down, his hands clutching the sheet for dear life. He could do this... These knots were strong, they wouldn't fall apart!

Three hops... Four hops... Five sheets... Six... Nothing but the blanket now, he realized with a nervous gulp, looking down behind him. Even with all those sheets, after the knots had been made the rope wasn't as long as he'd like... At the end of the blanket, he'd still be two stories up, and even with bushes below that would hurt. Clutching the blanket tight, he frowned. Something felt off... Was he... "A-Ahhh!-!" He paled as the knot around the blanket began to slip, the stuffing inside rearranging to move through the hole the knot made. "N-No... Ack!" The blanket slipped out completely, and he felt himself fall back. It took all he could not to scream as he attempted to go limp, eyes wide as he stared at the sky. Oh god... Oh god he was... -_crash_- "UNG!"

The boy coughed as he rubbed a few leaves from his eyes, crawling out of the bush with a frown. Ow ow ow... That hurt a lot... Rubbing his back, he shook it off, frowning. Still... Bruises weren't great and all, but it wouldn't be long before someone saw that rope of sheets. He needed to leave, and fast...

With that the boy vanished into the bushes, not a single guard realizing he was missing until a good three hours after he'd made off.

* * *

It was about 5 hours into that first day that the cheer was cut off rather quickly. "Ack! Let go of me," someone shouted, the group turning as they saw someone get dragged away. "S-Somebody, help me!"

"What the..." Katsuya narrowed his eyes as the familiar form of Saruwatari appeared in the distance. Currently, he held one of the competitors in a headlock, glaring at the captive as he continued to shout. They were still a fair distance away, but nonetheless the shouts had them running fairly quickly, not a single one of the group thinking that this could be anything but bad news.

Apparently ignorant to the boy's attempts to kick him, the 'suit' holding him merely smirked. "That's enough kid," he stated roughly, growling. "Now pipe down!" Grabbing the kid's glove arm, he held it up with false pity, shaking his head. "Ohhh... Tough luck! Your glove's empty," he said with a grin, holding the boy's neck tighter. As he continued to struggle, Saruwatari's grin grew. "Now that you've lost all of your star chips, you have to leave the island!"

The boy panicked, shaking his head. "N-No! That's not it! This weird kid stole them from me," he cried, flailing against the man's iron grip. Clearly not wanting to be called a liar for his efforts, he continued with the defense. "He took my cards too! You can search me now, just please listen!"

Saruwatari snorted, unfazed. "I don't care how you lost them! The rules are that if you run out, you have to leave! Now give up!" At this moment, the others had finally reached them, and on Katsuya and Honda's part it was taking all they could to not attempt to throttle the guard right there. Hell, they'd done it before at Death-T, wouldn't be hard to do it again! As it was however, they were blocking the path to the docks, meaning that regardless of a fight they'd be at least passing by...

Though 'passing by', he thought with a frown, was far from what they wanted to do at this particular moment. The scowl deepened, and he moved forwards to catch a glimpse of the duelist's panicked and pale face. While Saruwatari wasn't necessarily cutting off the kid's oxygen, he definitely wasn't going easy on him either... And ignorance of alibi's aside, well that... That wasn't playing fair at all really! "Hey Saruwatari," he shouted, the others blinking at the use of the man's name. Saruwatari as well turned, showing just a little surprise at Katsuya's presence. "Let'm go, you heard th' kid! He got his chips stolen, that ain't th' same as losin' a match! Cut 'm some slack!" Regardless of what he'd said earlier about stealing food... This was different; the chips actually affected something. For fish, there was plenty more in the ocean.

Besides, he had a bone to pick with Saruwatari. Who was doing a fairly good job of keeping his past out of his work, given the 'blind eye' he was turning to him. Not that he minded really- it just gave him more incentive to punch the 'monkey herder' in the face. "Hmp! Other participants," he said, seemingly emphasizing that word as his captive muttered cries for help, "Are forbidden to interfere... Unless," he added with a grin, "You want to be disqualified too!"

Definitely not! The blond snorted, turning to the kid. "Hey, you," he said, the boy blinking. "What'd the guy who stole yer stuff look like? I'll go catch'm for yah." Probably wouldn't be too hard... I _was _an isltand after all, and if they were booting the disqualified people off the island there were probably a few gone from the original group as it was.

He blinked, swallowing nervously. "W-Well," the boy began, still struggling against Saruwatari's hold, "I couldn't see his face... He wore scarf around his neck, and a covered his head with a red cap... He challenged me to a duel, so I passed it off, but the moment I put down my cards and star chips he took them and ran off!"

Great... That wasn't much but... Katsuya looked around, before nodding. Then again, someone attempting to hide like that stood out a lot more than someone who _wasn't_, so really, regardless of the fact that they only had 'scarf and red cap' to go on it was probably ok. "Alrigh'... Which way did he go?" The boy managed to wrench an arm around his captor's grip, pointing off towards the woods. Alright then... So back where they started then. He nodded before turning to Saruwatari with a glare. "Alright... I'm gonna go catch that thief Saruwatari; so don't go kickin' this kid off th' island!"

Saruwatari smirked, still holding the boy tight. "Eh... I'll think about it.." Translation being 'I refuse to listen to you'. God damn it...

Katsuya frowned, moving to walk away before turning back with a point. "Don't ferget! I promise you, as a man! Star chips are like a Duelists life... I can't forgive anyone f'r stealin' them like that! I'll beat th' crap out of this guy!" As he continued off, he paused, before quickly turning back. "Oh! Almost forgot..." He turned to the boy, grinning. "By th' way... I catch this thief, I'm takin' half your star chips as payment."

"E-Eh..?"

At the boy's confused look, he took off in the direction he'd pointed, Honda shaking his head behind him. "Man... You're a terrible altruist..." Psh, it wasn't a problem!

Katsuya merely ignored that, grinning as he charged forwards. If he got this done, he'd have at least one more star chip, and there would be one less problem on the island. Not to mention it'd be a kick to Saruwatari's face, hehehe... "Lets go!"

As they continued down the path, not a single one of them noticed they were being watched, narrowed eyes peering at them from the bushes.

* * *

A full hour later, and still no sign of even a red cap let alone someone with a scarf and a red cap. "Rats," Katsuya grumbled, arms crossed. The sun hung low in the sky, beating down on their backs as they took a rest along the shore of the island. "No matter how much we look we can't find that kid!" Man... This sucked...

"Maybe we should give up," Anzu said with a frown. "I mean... It's been this long..." Only an hour... Not... That long... (Augh...)

The teen scowled, standing up with a clenched fist. "Rggh... No way! If I find that kid, I can get my hands on half th' star chips!" Which would get him that much closer to getting Mokuba back! And who knew how far the guy had been in the tournament!

As he thought of this, Yugi suddenly turned their attention to the ocean, shouting. "Look," he cried. "Over there..! A boat of duelists leaving the island!" Wait what? They left already?

The group looked over, blinking. "Hey," Katsuya said with a growl, looking over the people on the row boat with a glare. It was hard to tell, but given that the guy they saw earlier had a pink shirt and a green vest of all things (The boy looked like a damned watermelon. Terrible terrible...)... He was easy to spot. "The kid whose chips were stolen is on there!" Damn it! "That bastard... I knew Saruwatari would do that! AUGH!" There went half his star chips... "Man this sucks..." At that moment, there was a rustling noise, Katsuya turning abruptly with a partially defensive stance. "Nh!"

"YUGI," a hoarse, poorly disguised voice shouted, a boy stepping out from the bushes. That voice... Sounded almost like Mokuba when he was trying to imitate his sister... But that couldn't be it..! They turned, Katsuya finding himself both elated that the thief was there and confused. This kid... Seemed oddly familiar... He could see why all they had to go on was 'Scarf and Red cap' though; other than that, it was just a white shirt and navy blue pants, effectively the standard gym uniform nation wide! No wonder he didn't bother saying anything, it was basically like saying 'a Japanese kid'! The boy stood there, eyes drifting over Katsuya a moment before turning on Yugi.

Yugi turned, frowning for a moment before smirking. "Hn... It looks like he's after me," he muttered, eying the kid with an odd look. Said kid seemed to have caught Katsuya's narrowed, suspicious glare, and opted to keep silent. For some reason... "Alright," he said, arms crossed. "You want to duel with me?" There was a nod in response, and Yugi moved to walk towards a nearby duel-box. "Ok then... Come with me!" Weird... They had the thief right here and yet...

The kid followed them in, the others standing outside. "Yugi... He agreed t' fight him just like that..." They could have taken him in right there but... This kid... He had to be about Mokuba's age really... He watched as Yugi muttered something, the kid holding out a hand in response. '5'. Probably meant 5 starchips then... "This ain't right... He's gotta know that kid's th' thief, an' yet he's already agreeing t'..." Katsuya shook his head, narrowing his eyes. Twice in a row however, the kid attempted to fight with fairly weak monsters. "This kid really sucks too..." He was no match for Yugi... Hell, Mokuba could probably beat him and he couldn't even-

The door was opened, the kid grabbing the star chips and attempting to make a break for it. "N-Nnn!" Three things happened in that instant; first, Katsuya moved to the door instantly, blocking the kid's exit. Not that hard really, and for a moment as he caught a glimpse of the boys eyes he faltered. Blue... Second, Yugi grabbed his arm, pulling him back easily. The boy struggled, both under the glares of the two teens and against Yugi's apparently _iron_ grip. And third... "AUUUUGH," the boy shouted, still pulling. "Let me go! Let me go," he cried, Katsuya's eyes widening. That voice was-

"I knew it," Yugi said, snatching the hat off as his captive groaned. "It's you!"

As the long black hair was revealed, Mokuba's bandanna fell to his neck, revealing a frightened and tear-stained face. Even Yugi appeared to be surprised however, and as he let go of Mokuba's arm, Katsuya frowned. "Mokuba... I thought you were..." At... Pegasus' castle. Ok, not really a good way to say 'you shouldn't be here' really, lets try something else.

The boy shouted with annoyance as they moved outside, eventually sitting down before the others and staring at the ground. "G-Gnnn..." While the boy wiped his face, scarf hanging around his neck again, Honda leveled a particularly stern glare at him.

"Alright you little weasel," he said with a glare, using a tone similar to when he had spoken to his nephew a few weeks prior. "Come on, fork over the chips you stole! I know you've got them!" Really, why the hell was he stealing starchips anyways!

He shook his head, clenching his fists. "No! I won't!" The boy tensed as Katsuya moved to sit beside him, refusing to look him in the eye.

"Come on man... It's bad enough we've been worried sick about yah, you could at least give 'm back..." He sighed as the boy continued to clench his fists. "Jus' do it Mokuba... Come on..."

Anzu in the meantime, also leaned down, hands on her knees as she addressed the boy. "Mokuba," she said softly. "We were worried... Are... Are you ok..?" Wellll that was a stupid question... Lets see kidnapping, escaping after a week... Whatever else had gone on that he didn't know about...

And apparently, he thought so to, fixing a glare at the ground while he responded. "O-Of course I am! I'm fine! I just..." He gritted his teeth, wiping his eyes. "All of this... Pegasus sticking his nose in while I'm just trying to wait for my n.. My nii-sama to wake up..! Trying to take what's h... His!" Before anyone could say anything on that (After all, Mokuba had been getting along with Yugi fine lately, so he could have just said something really), he continued. "But that's not the reason I'm doing this... It's not!" He should hope not!

As he said this, Anzu looked over to Katsuya. "Then... Kaiba's still..."

Mokuba was pulled into Katsuya's arms, the blond gaining his more 'calm', 'big brother' attitude as he nodded. "Yea... Vegetative state, 24 hour care... You thought that'd change in just a week," the teen added, frowning. He watched as the boy winced at those words, before continuing with a sigh. "...Greatest doctors in th' world looked at 'im, and they still say s- he'll spend th' rest of life like that..."

As the others tensed, turning away awkwardly with that comment, Mokuba continued to clench his fists. "Feh... You guys think you're so smart," he muttered, addressing the others it seemed. As they frowned in response, the boy continued, face torn between worry and anger. "You don't even know why Pegasus bothered holding this tournament, do you! I don't blame you Yugi, for coming... But Katsuya-nii, I even told you about Pegasus..! You could have at least assumed..."

He blinked, before giving a wry smirk. "Why do yeh think I'm here..? I assumed th' worst... Heck, that's the reason why the tournament's on right? T' kidnap you an' pull us in to get at the company right?" That... Was it right?

The boy smiled wryly, while the others looked at Katsuya with dull surprise. That was an oddly smart guess... And from the kid's expression, he'd at least touched the reason. "Close! I'll tell you why... Yea, Pegasus wants to gain control of KaibaCorp... But to do that, Pegasus has to beat you first," he shouted, turning to Yugi as the teen blinked.

"Wait..." Katsuya frowned, narrowing his eyes. "Why would Pegasus have t' beat Yugi in order t' gain control of th' company..?" That made no sense, what so ever...

The others nodded, though they were considerably more out of the loop given that Mokuba hadn't shared this sort of information with them. "Yea," Anzu said, frowning. "And why would Pegasus want-"

He snorted. "Morons..." Mokuba smiled sadly, wiping his eyes. "Pegasus created Duel Monsters, but it wasn't enough to get the game really going... He needed KaibaCorp to really take off, something he did with the 'Duel-Boxes'... The ones that Nii-sama designed. But after he lost to you, Yugi," he said with a frown, "Well... He was president after all... And without a president, the stock plummeted! So of course, Pegasus took advantage of this! After all, with Nii-sama's machines, his cards were becoming a best sell; if he controlled both halves, he'd effectively gain billions! So when he set up a meeting with the Board of Directors," the boy continued, staring at the ground. "Well... They're the top five stock holders after all..." As the others listened, Katsuya frowned, shaking his head.

So when Mokuba said 'Big Five', that meant... "Th' 'Big Five'... Wait, don't tell me that..."

Mokuba nodded, the others considerably unaware of what was going on. "He did... He made an offer to them, and since they now hold the most control over the company, it was an easy deal... There was only one condition, one thing! KaibaCorp relied on a 'Kaiba' holding the position as 'number one'... When you beat him Yugi, that image crumbled." His frown deepened, and the boy turned to face the teen. "Their condition is that Pegasus beat you, in a game of duel monsters, in order to 'restore' that image!"

As the boy stared at him, Yugi chuckled, smirking. "I see... So Pegasus is really looking forward to beating me then, isn't he..." And it looked like Yugi was looking forward to beating the shit out of

"Gh... Don't laugh Yugi," Mokuba shouted, the one sitting with him rubbing his ears. "Not even you can defeat him, not even you..." He gritted his teeth, eyes wide with fear. "N... Nobody in the world can beat him... Even my nii-sama told me that he was invincible... That's why," he said, Katsuya looking down with a slightly confused frown, "That's why I came up with this plan after escaping... If I could steal all of your star chips Yugi, you'd be disqualified before fighting Pegasus... You wouldn't have lost a real match, so the agreement between Pegasus and the Big Five would be void!"

Honda frowned, crossing his arms. "Wait... So that's why you came to the island? You little snot, you had Jonouchi worried sick! You know how weird that was, having him actually worry about something!" Uh thanks?

The boy shook his head, growling. "Moron! That's not it either! They brought me here," he said with a frown, "The big five! Because I have the key..." As the boy grinned, Katsuya and Yugi shared a glance. Um... No he didn't. But hey, for the sake of covering things up really...

"You... Have the key..." Honda shook his head, before continuing. "The key to what?"

Mokuba continued grinning, before answering. "Hehehe... A little while ago, the Big Five decided to snatch me out of school and search my house... They were going to steal all the documents from Nii-sama's safe, in order to complete the deal with Pegasus... But I'd already hidden the key," he said with a laugh, eyes briefly passing over Katsuya. "And I made a replica out of foil... So when they held me before that safe, and I swallowed the copy in front of them..." He continued to laugh, Katsuya shaking his head with a groan.

"So they brought you here thinkin' it was in yer stomach... Ev'n though it'll probably be mush by th' time it comes out th' other end... Euuuughhh..." He and Honda held fairly disgusted stares as Mokuba continued laughing, shaking his head with a grin. God, what was it with kids and toilet humor... Did he do this crap when he was twelve?

"Haha! Yep! Every time I went to the bathroom, those morons would come running to see if it came out! Heheheeee!" Abruptly, the expression grew serious, and he looked back at the ground. "But I won't let them have Kaiba Corp... Even if they rip open my insides looking for nothing! Katsuya-nii," he said, turning to the blond. "Do you... Do you still have..."

To the others surprise, the blond pulled out the key box and nodded. While Yugi momentarily stared at it blankly, the others instead turned to look at Mokuba. "Yea; didn' know it was that important, but I kept it... You know tha' Pegasus knows yah don' have it though right..? Hell... It's th' reason I knew you were here!"

While Mokuba stared with wide and possibly disheartened eyes, Honda frowned. The others stared at Katsuya as well, their own expressions a fair bit shocked. "Dude... You were in on this too?" Apparently being kept out of the loop was upsetting.

He snorted. "Psh, not this part! All I knew was that I was handed a key, sheesh! Which reminds me..." The blond looked at Mokuba, frowning. "Why didn' yah jus' come t' us once y' escaped in th' first place? Instead 'f you know... Stealin' half th' islan's star chips!" Would have solved a lot of-

Ow! Mokuba quickly smacked the still sitting blond over the head, before standing up. "Moron! Didn't being part of the security team teach you anything?" As the others stared, he snorted, continuing. "If I did that, they'd probably guess who the 'thief' was right off the bat! And just showing up would bring attention to myself as well, doing the same thing! That's why!" Well at least he knew now..!

Moving aside from Katsuya, the teen also getting to his feet, he continued. "In any case... If Pegasus hasn't made a move on you for the key, he's probably up to something... At least I know you've still got it though... Listen, everyone," he said with a determined stare. "I know you probably don't believe me but... While he made Death-T to get revenge, that was never my Nii-sama's real dream..." He swallowed, staring up at everyone with a more honest stare than most of them had ever had the chance to see. "Nii-sama... Nii-sama made a promise, many years ago... To build amusement parks everywhere that poor children could go to free of charge! So that everyone could have fun!" Hey... That was... Wow, that was really noble actually. Why didn't he tell him this before? Mokuba continued, the others staring. "That's why he dedicated his life to KaibaCorp," he said with wide eyes. "And that's why I'll give my life to keep it safe! So that when he wakes up, he can finish his dream, just like he promised!"

The group stood in silence, Katsuya looking down with a nod. Alright... It sounded a little off for Seto but... "...I believe yah, Mokuba!" A few of the others blinked, a little surprised that he had said this so quickly; after all, he had a habit of clearly voicing his hate for Kaiba... Though the blond didn't doubt that they noticed the sudden decline in this 'voicing of hatred' over the past few months really. He leveled an intense stare at him, continuing. "But yah gotta believe in Yug' too, understand?" At Mokuba's frown, he sighed, scratching his head. Alright... Plan 'B'... "Listen... Didn' yah think abou' _how_ he got us here in th' first place? F'r me, it's a lil more obvious, I got that... But f'r Yugi..."

Mokuba frowned, turning to the teen. "What do you mean..."

"Yugi's grandfather," Anzu began, arms wrapped around herself as she looked away briefly. "He... Had his soul taken by Pegasus. We know his tricks... He can read minds, that's why he seems 'invincible'... But if Yugi doesn't fight, his grandfather will never wake up..." As the woman turned to look down at Mokuba again, she gave him a pleading look. "So please... If you could give them back, those starchips... We need every bit of help we can get!"

The boy stared, seeming to hesitate before Yugi nodded in agreement. "I promise you Mokuba," he said, looking down the the stern eyes that could do nothing but speak the truth. "I _will_ defeat Pegasus! You have my word!"

Katsuya looked down at the boy, waiting for his response. After a few seconds, Mokuba looked up at him, and eventually he gave the teen a nod. "...Ok..." He reached out his hand, Yugi waiting to take the star chips. "I... I believe you, Yugi!"

Before the exchange was made however, there was a shout from the side. "**STOP RIGHT THERE**," Saruwatari stated, standing to the side with authority as the others froze. He held his arms behind his back with a fairly smug look across his face, the light causing a blinding glare to bounce from his sunglasses. "Exchanging star chips outside a duel is a violation of the rules!" Of course it was, bastard... At least Yugi still had three starchips; Mokuba had failed to successfully snatch all of them from the table in his mad-dash it seemed. "One more move," the man said with a smirk, "And you're disqualified!" He chuckled, moving towards them as Katsuya moved to shield the boy. "I finally found you Mokuba... You sure led me on a wild goose chase!" Yea, and like hell he was letting him by...

Saruwatari glared as Katsuya stood between him and the boy, eyes narrowed. "Now then, move aside before I have you disqualified for aiding the thief!"

"Like hell I'm gonna-" He paused as Mokuba shoved past him, giving him an odd look. "What..." '_Don't do it_,' he seemed to be saying. '_You'll do more in the tournament than out and off the island, so don't do it!_'. And when he thought about it... Damn it, he was right..! But to just stand here while Mokuba was taken... "G- ... Damn it... Two of those star chips are Yugi's! Give 'm back!" As Saruwatari snorted, grabbing Mokuba by the arm rather painfully as the boy moved from behind Katsuya, he snarled. "An' let Mokuba go too! He's already gone t' yah willingly, you don' have t' manhandle him while you're at it! Unless yah dropped yer morals when ye switched companies!"

"Hn!" Ignoring the blond, Saruwatari placed a firm grip on Mokuba, smirking. If anything, he moved the boy into a choke hold, something that had the others move to possibly hold Jonouchi back. "How many times are you going to make me say it? The only way to get star chips is to duel for them, so the answer is 'no'!"

At this, Yugi frowned, stepping forwards with crossed arms. "In that case," he began, eyes narrowing as he pulled out his deck. "I challenge you to a duel!"

Saruwatari merely chuckled, shaking his head. "Hahaha... Sorry, but I don't play games... So I won't be playing you." Which also meant he couldn't release Mokuba If you insist however, I'll arrange for a 'special opponent'!" Ok, that didn't sound good...

Ignoring that, Katsuya moved to attack Saruwatari and get Mokuba out of there; so what if he'd be disqualified! He'd have what he come for, namely Mokuba! He might not particularly agree, but the fact was if they did just that then Pegasus couldn't touch them! And while it would be one last shot at Shizuka's eyes that suffered for it... Even she would tell him that the boy's life topped her vision any day! In the end however, he froze, watching Saruwatari pressed a gun firmly against the boy's skull. "You... You fucking bastard..." He stood there, gritting his teeth. A gun... All he had were his fists, and in a hostage situation... Damn it, why did security training have to come to mind _now_, when all it did was tell him he couldn't do anything!

He grinned. "Now then... If I were you Jonouchi, I would pay close attention to that duel box, where your friend's opponent is sitting!" The blond gritted his teeth, doing as he was told. No matter how you looked at it, getting Mokuba out of that situation was effectively impossible... By the time he moved... "And please realize this... If you try to make a move for the boy again, I _**will**_ pull this trigger!" He didn't doubt it either... Damn it... Damn it! He wasn't even allowed to turn around..! "Now then... Yugi," he continued, the teen narrowing his eyes. "Take a look at your opponent!"

The others turned as well, Saruwatari facing them with the same 'or else' stare that he'd leveled with Katsuya. The looked into the duel box, squinting through the oddly thick haze of holographic fog before jumping. "W-When the hell..." There was a shadow in there... And in front of the larger one was...

"Th-That's-" "It can't be, Jonouchi just said..." "But then who-"

Kaiba... That looked like Kaiba, like before at Death-T but... He frowned. No... "Nii-sama," Mokuba said, the boy as well being given a clear view. The fog began to clear, and they squinted as they attempted to make out the details of the person. "Or... Someone who looks like..."

His eyes narrowed, the fog finally clearing to reveal who was in there. "No," he shouted, gritting his teeth. "Look closer!" He clenched his fists, shaking as he looked at the one inside the box. A wooden, clearly false mock-up of Kaiba's form, smaller than the woman's real self sat on the lap of another, wizened old man. The man's mouth was covered with a gag of sorts, a hat lowered over his face to prevent anyone from seeing just who he was. Hands gripped the back and arms of the puppet, and Katsuya found himself shaking as he stared into the box. "It's a puppet tha' looks like 'im," the blond said, holding back a growl as the puppet gave a wave. "An some kinda ventriloquist..."

The puppet continued to 'grin', seeming to leer at Yugi through the box with rage. That bastard... Making fun of her like that... Katsuya looked over at Yugi, who was also shaking with anger at the puppet's mockery. No matter what, after all that had happened... Even not counting the events going on a the house now... This was a new low! "That's your opponent Yugi," Saruwatari said with a laugh, apparently oblivious to the waves of anger emanating off the two teens. "The ghost of Seto Kaiba! Get in the battle box!"

Ghost? What the hell were they trying to pull! She wasn't dead! "YOU **JERKS**," Mokuba shouted, struggling against Saruwatari's hold. "THAT'S NOT MY BROTHER! That's not him," he roared, tears visibly building in his eyes again. "My brother's at home, YOU HEAR ME! YUGI," he cried, choking as Saruwatari roughly pulled back on the boy's body. "YUGI! BEAT HIM! **BEAT HIM TO A PULP**! **YUGI**!" The shouts persisted, the teens moods only becoming more incensed. Did they have... _Any_ shame... Any honor at all... Doing this when the original sat on a bed, unmoving, unresponsive...

As Yugi moved to pass Katsuya to do just that with enraged eyes, the blond stopped him for a moment. As the teen looked up at his friend, Katsuya stood there, whispering as he shook. "Yugi," he muttered, voice clearly forced to the low volume that it was. It was done barely however, and if he wasn't careful anyone would have been able to hear him at the moment. "Yugi... Slaughter this guy... And leave nothing left..."

His friend looked at him oddly, staring at him with wide eyes before nodding. An odd request from the one who would ordinarily just be content with watching and shouting from the sidelines... The phrase 'beware the silent' seemed oddly fitting here even. "I will," he muttered, turning back to the box. With not a word more he walked into the box, speakers built on the top leaving nothing that occurred within to the audience's imagination.

Behind the group, Saruwatari laughed, grinning cruelly before speaking again. "By the way... Mokuba... I've noticed that you haven't even said hello to me; don't you remember me at all?" It would be a cold day in hell before they forgot him.

The boy growled, glaring up at the man. "Why should I even acknowledge you," he spat, eyes red and cold. "You've obviously handed in your resignation, Saruwatari!"

He chuckled still more, grinning. "Heh heheh... Well, at least I have the honor of being remembered... But did you know," he said with a laugh, the others growing pale. "Even back then, I was still acting as a spy, working for Industrial Illusions!" WHAT? So even back then, when he'd first been pulled into the house... Katsuya tensed, barely keeping himself from turning around. It was only the threat of the gun that prevented it as Mokuba voiced that same surprise. "That's right," Saruwatari said with a chuckle. "While I was 'babysitting' you, I reported all of KaibaCorps confidential information to Pegasus-san, every last thing, right down to all the things I overheard in your 'conversations' with your brother..." It was a damn good thing that gender wasn't mentioned in those conversations then... "And that's not all I stole Mokuba," he added with a grim laugh, Katsuya swallowing as he forced himself to continue looking at the box. "Just watch this duel... And you'll see just how well the Ventriloquist of the Dead does his job!"

Of the Dead..! Again with the ghosts... With... No... Kaiba... Seto wasn't dead! She was alive, he knew it, it'd only been a week after all, and she'd been so close to recovering and possibly beating the shit out of him! She had to be... She... She was alive..!

...Wasn't she?

* * *

AN: Dannnnng Pegasus, you know how to make enemies! And here we thought that was Seto Kaiba's forte! All that aside, as one can probably guess, we're incredibly close to the 'wake up date'. Oddly enough, the next chapter is the last completed one that I have on hand, which means that after that it'll take about a day or so to push out the next one... Depending on my muses and moods, not to mention everything else that goes on. To give you an idea, when I started this, I was pushing out one chapter per day, the exception being the first three, which I popped out in one. So that effectively means it took almost a month to get to this point... Not bad. So just keep that in mind while you wait for the chapter after the next, alright?

There's links out to some art for this fan-fic below; not coloured, being in pencil, but I'm working on it!

And before I hit reviews, I have a poll set up on my profile page concerning later plot, specifically 'FemPriest' or 'CanonPriest'. In agreement with one of my reviewer's, Iona, here is what your choices essentially boil down to:

Leave Priest Set as is (Namely Male): This gives our female Kaiba more reason to doubt the past, or simply appear to. It also means that that part of the fanfic follows quite flawlessly, the canon of the anime, leaving Kisara and the Priest's interactions as is... Save for the main cast, who would obviously (On the part of those who are 'in the know' on Seto's secret) be caught slightly off guard when they actually see the legitimately male counterpart.

Make Priest Set female, and throw in CrossDressing: In this case, I'd need to find a reason other than 'Mokuba' (for obvious reasons), but so far it boils down to career choices; after all, this is Ancient Egypt guys. People like Isis and Mana were likely born into their positions, but it's clearly stated in the manga and anime both that Priest Set literally has to start from dirt to get to that position. If the Priest was female (Priestess... Oooh.), this would make a bigger reason for cross-dressing; it's much more likely in this time period to make it as a man rather than a woman, given the education required to make that position. The problem however, is Kisara; unless 'Priestess' Set is randomly into girls, the relationship would have to be reworked a bit here... Possibly a sisterly bond, or something along those lines.

Make Priest Set female, and obviously so: If there are members of the main cast that _don't_ know Seto's female by this point, they'll be even more shocked here. This one is a little more difficult however, as in addition to the already mentioned difficulties with Kisara, unless a woman was _directly related_ to the previous Pharaoh, in other words their daughter, it was otherwise impossible for a woman to take the thrown... Unless, of course, they married and outlived their husband, while giving birth to no male children. Scary thing is, 'Cousin on Cousin' isn't frowned upon at this time... Hell, 'Step-sibling on Step-sibling' isn't frowned upon, which means that if this is the case, Akunadin's likely to pull some sort of twisted marriage contract deal in his drive to put a female Set on the throne... Yikes.

Up to you! So go look at the poll on the profile page!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Two more! Hi Hi there Iona! I'm gonna have to respond to this in pieces too... (Wowwwww... You answer everything... *w* ) The dub anime people got off lucky in a way, since the spikes and lines were censored out.

_They say it's for children, even the manga, and yet things like people impaling their hands on durable poly-resin happens. HOW DOES IT FEEEEEEEEL._

Anyways. As I said... Understandable if you didn't get it given that my mind tends to do weird things. On the other hand, check out that same website's 'Ice Queen', without the defrost. Now _there_ you'll find some comparison between the trope and a female Kaiba. (As the page says, 'males are just jerkasses'.) On the other points... I've got my poll set up, and art below! Enjoy!

And hello, 'D'! You're right in saying that we're close to Kaiba waking up... And trust me when I say the ventriloquist is the very definition of creepy. (He will forever haunt me...)

Sad part is, whereas Kaiba lost against Yugi, if the ventriloquist wasn't on the bad end of some 'divine intervention', he would have beaten Yugi. This is with a deck that he hasn't had any practice with whatsoever; yikes.

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's running out of catchphrases really quick! OH NO!

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The duel between Ryota (Otherwise known to Dubber's as 'Mako Tsunami' )and Yugi was solved in a show of 'New Rules as the Plot Demands', which Pegasus pretty much has going through this entire tournament. Half of the field, specifically Ryota's half, was made of water, allowing his monsters to hide in it. Later, when Yugi used the card 'Full Moon' to power up his wolf, it pulled the ocean in... Leaving him with a tiny bit of land to take refuge on for the match, while Ryota's monsters swam up to surround that bit of land. Because of this however, when Yugi actually had his card _destroy the moon_, the monsters were left beached on his side of the field, due to the tide returning to its original position. Mmmmm fried fish. Ryota's a fairly good sport about these things actually...

* * *

Fun fact: Two stories is the height that a human being can easily survive a fall at. Young children tend to get a way with this more though... Oddly enough. On the topic of Mokuba's 'great escape' (Which was written using only that tiny tiny scene we get from the anime), I changed a few things for very good reasons... First, I didn't know the height of the tower, but I'm fairly certain it was more than three stories... Which would be very very bad for Mokuba, so I wrote that down a bit. (The sheets make a shorter rope because of the length it takes for a good strong knot.) As for his clothes, there's a good reason for this. Most of it is the fact that Katsuya, what with him living in the same house as Mokuba, would know exactly what clothes the kid had the day he went missing. Which means that he'd be recognized instantly when he showed up before the group, and I personally didn't want that... What with my slight amusement at the 'duel' between Mokuba and Yugi. So instead, I took advantage of Japan's schooling system; in elementary school, there actually is a bit of uniform in the learning, and that's in the form of gym clothes (Which is fairly common around here as well really), and in some cases, the school has a uniform in the same way that high schools and middle schools over there do. These generally consist of shorts and a t-shirt... Not very common though, hence why it says 'gym clothes' up there. As a side note, the gym clothes of course have pants/long sleeve equivalents...

Nowadays, the 'uniform' for elementary school students is essentially just a hat/umbrella that they absolutely have to use walking to and from school... It's bright yellow, and used to help motorists spot them. While this is generally done only with the really, really young students now from what I can tell, Mokuba's still wearing a brightly coloured hat rather than a toque; oddly enough, this will actually make it more difficult to tell him from some other kid because, well... Aside from the scarf around his neck, it's about the same wardrobe of every other small kid his age. In fact, as there's also a hat (red) in many gym uniforms as well... Making it even harder to really tell whose clothes they are. (To bad it didn't last.) As another Japan related note, the colour of backpacks is sometimes regulated as well, since the bag itself is fairly uniform and specific for school purposes. There's a lot (And I mean A LOT) of other information on schools in Japan on this page here... Same as usual, remove the spaces!

http: /hararie- japan- tokyo- tokyo. com/ japanese_ culture/ temporary- category- a/ japanese- school- uniform /

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Another 'Fun Fact', but 'Saruwatari's name literally means 'Monkey Herder'. Given that his job tends to involve rounding up kids and shoving them off on boats when we see him, this makes sense. By the way, Saruwatari is known as 'Kemo' in the dub, and is the guy who says 'ATTENTION DUELISTS!' all the time. 'Crocketts' on the other hand is Pegasus'

* * *

The title of this chapter, 'The Messenger from Hell', is the same as the title of the manga chapter that takes place in the last section of this current one; specifically, it's when Mokuba's talking to Yugi about his older brother's condition. I thought it oddly appropriate.

* * *

Mokuba's words to Yugi and the others have been altered heavily, in lieu of the fact that A) he's already getting along at least _slightly_ well (This happens when your life literally ends up in the other's hand.)... And B) the original scripted conversation was already used in an earlier chapter. As it is, he's still a slight bit snippy at first, mostly for the reason that his plan has just been _shattered_. There's also a small bit of dialogue switching, in a one-sided format; one of Anzu's lines was pawned off to Jonouchi.

Another thing that was changed (obviously) is the handling of Mokuba's hostage situation. There was obviously no gun, and no backup in the manga, but the fact is, it's a little interesting how _four people_ missed him being dragged off during that duel. I mean, seriously, why didn't a single one of them keep an eye on the kid! It was fairly obvious that the intent behind the choke hold was less than good. Annnnnd yet... We're in that situation...

And now for a new section...

**FanArt and Self-Made Art**

The part of the fanfic where Usagi either attempts to get people to draw her stories, or she just wastes time drawing them herself.

Warning: These images are very, VERY BIG. I'm putting these on PhotoBucket for now, as I tend to prefer putting finished art on my DeviantArt account... For now however, there are four finished pencils, soon to be joined by a fifth. In this section, I put my inspiration, the title, the link, and the scene that I'm depciting in the image... Whether it happened, will happen, isn't happening... Notes on any text contained on it... Also stated down below~. Remember, remove the spaces for your link... Each image is separated with a line. And with that, here we go!

'If Noa Was Less Godly' - http: /i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO%20Fanfic%20- %20Skin/ Tasha. jpg - Title pending! It's of a scene that will not happen, unless, of course, you want it to... Let me know if that's the case, because it'd be easy to work in. Inspired by the fact that although Noa (Obviously... 'Noah' from the Virtual World.) technically _is_ the 'God' of his little virtual world... But he never really takes advantage of that outside of his duels and being 'all knowing'. At all. Heck, if he wanted, he could turn all of those guys into _ants_, and when you think about it, you have to respect him for not doing that. Asshole that he was near the end about Mokuba's body, he _did_ turn around after all... And he's a better 'person' for it. - Text featured in this picture... There's a lot. It's essentially the following, as my scanner didn't pick up on it well. By the way, if it's in brackets, it's not text that's on the paper. It's me talking to you.

Anzu, Otogi, Shizuka, Honda - 'F-Female!'

Jonouchi, Yugi - 'We knew this...'

Seto - Na-Nani! (Actually, shown here is the hiragana character 'na', and the kanji character 'nani', or 'what'. Effectively 'Wh-What!' )

Noa: I decided to leave the shoes as is, if that's ok with you.

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'The Red String of Fate' - http: / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO%20Fanfic%20- %20Skin/ Tasha1. jpg - Title taken from the fact that the scene it depicts is from that corresponding chapter. It's basically what the picture shows; the figurine Kai, with a very not-Kaiba expression (Which was purposefully emphasized), and a very 'confused' Jonouchi.

* * *

'THIS IS MY SECURITY TEAM' - http: / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO%20Fanfic%20- %20Skin/ Tasha2. jpg - In which I completely fail at making Isono look good. In any way at all. So many things wrong with his pose that I will have to fix... Oh well! Depicts a scene that happens (obviously) after the Duelist Kingdom Arc; specifically, this is around the time that Kaiba's going to the museum to meet with Ishizu. What with the Big Five having taken over a majority of her hired help, Kaiba's stuck with using the only people she actually knows aren't working for I2 or some other competitor for 'bodyguards'. Guess who took 'second best'. One can practically see the conversation between these three before hand too...

'Wait, I'm your bodyguard?' 'Until I finish flushing through the _other_ ones... You're the best one I have.' 'SWEET.' 'That wasn't a compliment, Mutt.' '...GH. YOU-!'

Sucks to be Kaiba I guess. (Seriously, her 'bodyguard' is shorter than her now. By half a foot. Not to mention, we've seen quite clearly that Kaiba is more than capable of beating the shit out of any moron that comes his/her way.)

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'Meganekko' - http: / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO%20Fanfic%20- %20Skin/ Tasha3. jpg - Also taken from the chapter it's from, this scene happened... But I never wrote it. It was originally intended to be the lunch scene during the summer in Osaka, with Jonouchi and Mokuba at the festival on the bridge. For some reason, Mokuba ended up too tall. Nonetheless, I liked how he came out, so I left it in the sketch... After all, with a computer, I can just scale the sketch down and draw it out properly.

And that's all for now... Until the next chapter everyone!


	23. Chapter 22

**Cards Bare Their Teeth

* * *

**He could hear their shouts as he entered the box. However, as he walked towards his seat, that was the least of his worries. '_Beat that creep_', they were shouting. '_That puppet's messed up_', Honda was adding in the background. And among it all he could hear Mokuba's broken cries at the imitation of his brother, while the one who would ordinarily the the loudest of the group held a morose and fearful silence. 'Yugi', 'Other Yugi', or 'Dark Yugi' as he was known (He didn't even know himself after all) glared at the puppet and its controller as he sat down. '_Slaughter him_,' he had said as he entered. '_Leave nothing left_.' He would do just that.

"Today is the day," the puppet said in a broken tone of Kaiba's voice. Wooden limbs moved in an oddly slim fashion as it placed a deck of cards on the table, still 'grinning' back at 'his' opponent. "The day I k-k-k-kill you! Kyakyakyakya~~" Tch... A faltering stutter as the ventriloquist attempted to perfectly emulate a voice that was already fairly unique... The man failed terribly at it, Yugi noted with narrowed eyes. In fact, he doubted anyone could create a duplicate of the particular tones that Kaiba used; the fact that this man was still attempting to do so...

He growled at the puppet's voice, gripping the table. This scum... Humiliating Kaiba's memory and form, degrading the name of a fellow classmate he'd considered a 'true duelist'... Yes, he'd done things against himself, his friends, and his family that most would consider unforgivable. But that was the point of the penalty game he'd imposed... The chance to redeem himself. And he knew that Kaiba would over come that! Even in the duel at Death-T, he'd shown that, playing a completely fair game during their final match! And he wasn't the only one... If even Jonouchi could find faith in Kaiba, then he would hold firm in those beliefs!

The puppet held up three fingers, before placing three star chips on the table with a 'clack'. Pulling the hand back under, it looked back towards its opponent with a broken chuckle. "Y-Y-Yugi... We'll each bet th-th-three star chips..! Hee heh hee..."

Yugi tensed at the grating chuckles, pulling out his remaining three with a nod. "Fine... All of my star chips then!" If he won this, he'd have six rather than five... A fine 'bonus' for taking out scum such as this. He watched as the puppet drew five cards, grabbing his own with a snarl. "**Duel**!"

'Kaiba', though he refused to believe that this was somehow him in any way shape or form, placed one card on the field and continued to laugh. "I p-p-p-play B-Battle Ox!" The monster appeared, Yugi tensing; that card... The minotaur card! He watched as the armored ox-man snorted, stomping the ground and giving an experimental swing with his ax. This card was one of Kaiba's... So he was playing with a duplicate deck? Tch... Just how far had these people fallen...

He looked over his hand, before leveling a stare to his opponent and moving a card to the field. "Then I'll fight you with this," he said with a frown, watching as the familiar, violet robed sorcerer appeared on the field. "The Dark Magician!" The monster appeared, its attack power easily dwarfing that of the ox. He pointed the wizard forwards, still frowning. "Black Magic!"

The puppet cried as its life points dropped to 1200, reeling back slightly. Tch.. This ventriloquist... Too just what extent was he going to insult Kaiba's existence? He listened to the shouts outside, swallowing. They were all wondering the same thing he was, no doubt. It was only one card, but what else of Kaiba's did this scum have in his position... It should be impossible to recreate the deck completely, but why... Why, even when he had already gained a lead on his opponent, he was so nervous...

The fact was, even without the deck this ventriloquist really did have him on edge. A 'vegetative state', that was what Jonouchi had said Kaiba was in at that moment. He didn't know the details but... According to the 'real' Yugi's memories, his 'other self', a coma could be induced, as could vegetation, by means of chemicals and machinery. The body could be kept alive even when the soul had given in... What happened... If Kaiba truly _had _failed... If he had given into his darkness and died, his body kept breathing only through the machines? Leaving nothing but a shell and a dying hope for Mokuba..? "And now," the puppet said calmly, drawing a card with a few cracks of wood. "F-f-for my next card... Keh heh heh!" Yugi frowned as the puppet began to laugh, narrowing his eyes. What was he up to... It continued to laugh, gaining a mad grin as its controller altered the shape of its eyes. "Th d-d-dragon of r-r-revenge has risen from hell!" The puppet cackled, placing the card on the table. "Are you r-r-ready Yugi!"

"What..!" Impossible... As shouts resounded from outside however, he watched in horror as the card materialized. Bright light filled the spot, a loud roar piercing the air. White scales shimmered into existence as the dragon reared on its legs, flexing its wings with a 'grin' of sorts.

The damned puppet continued to laugh as Kaiba's monster appeared, roaring loudly as it glowed. Regardless of the seeming hesitation of the card... It was there. It was... Impossible! "Come forth! Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" Impossible..! Kaiba's blue eyes white dragon card... It was just not possible, there were only three in existence and the only one with those was-

A shout came from outside, and he turned. "Be careful Yugi," Mokuba was shouting, Katsuya doing the same. He watched as the boy squirmed in Saruwatari's grip, while Katsuya fixed a wide eyed glare at his opponent. "Industrial Illusions sent a spy to steal Kaiba's cards! He's using them now!" A spy-! He turned back, the boy continuing to shout for him to win. Tch... To think he'd stoop that low... Stealing these cards... And if he stole the entire deck, that meant-

"Heh heh heh heh..." The puppet continued to chuckle, smirking darkly. Just how many different ways could wood be bent into these expressions... How many expressions would this piece of _filth_ try and fail to emulate? "It's really m-me Yugi," the doll began, with the same clacking chuckle he'd started with. As Yugi grit his teeth, it continued to speak, a glint appearing in the ventriloquist's eyes. "I am b-b-borrowing the b-b-body of this doll... To g-g-get my revenge..." It continued to laugh, the teen tensing under it's 'gaze'. "Be prepared... Heh heh heh heh heh..!"

Had he died, he briefly wondered, gaze lowering somewhat. Had he really gone, failing the challenge imposed upon him to succumb to a permanent darkness? Even with the amount of faith that Mokuba, even Jonouchi had had in the teen? He could tell that there was something connecting those two to him somehow, someway... If... Kaiba had been unable to repair those connections however... He shook, expression sinking deeper into a mix of anger and thought. An undying part of Kaiba's soul... Filled with an endless grudge and a thirst for vengeance... had it really come out from that penalty game, to inhabit this doll? '_Kaiba_', he thought to himself bitterly. The challenge that he'd imposed, that he had likely failed... And even in death, with this scum and filth insulting his mere memory... '_Will you always be my arch-rival_!' He continued to shake, before a shout from outside stopped him. "Calm down Yug," Katsuya shouted, the teen blinking. His friend's expression had softened only slightly, and it was likely for the mere fact that he was currently looking at someone other than the opponent. "It's just th' ventriloquist throwin' his voice! This thing's got nothin' t' do with the real Se- Kaiba! Believe me on that!" Yugi frowned slightly, as though about to say something. In the end, he simply stared, thoughts running rampant in his mind. Odd... Now why had he stumbled over Kaiba's name... In fact, it sounded almost as though he was about to refer to the teen by his given one rather than his last...

He turned, facing the puppet of Kaiba with a glare. Not the time... He needed to focus on this duel, and win. The glare deepened as it continued to speak, cackling in a manner quite unlike the real Kaiba. "L-L-Let's place more cards," he said with a laugh, grinning. Its eyes stared blankly at Yugi from across the table, unblinking and frozen in one direction. "I w-w-won't attack with Blue Eyes White Dragon yet... Because by f-f-forfeiting my attack this turn," the puppet continued, "I can p-play this card face down instead..." He chuckled, grinning darkly. "Soon your m-m-monsters will have nowhere to run!"

That card... He looked at it with narrowed eyes, frowning. Was it a spell, or a trap... If it had a cost, it was not likely to be good... He'd need to be cautious, particularly with that Blue Eyes on the field. "It's my turn," he muttered, drawing a card. There weren't any monsters powerful enough to challenge Blue-Eyes in his deck... Not with normal attacks in any case... "Dark Magician goes into defense mode," he said, shifting the card as the magician did just that. "And I'll also play Curse of Dragon in defense mode as well..." He'd need to find some sort of spell... A trap... Anything.

Yugi's eyes narrowed as the puppet began to laugh again. "I kn-kn-knew you'd do that," he said, grinning." Of course it did... After all, defense mode monsters didn't cause damage when destroyed... And there wasn't much else he could do other than that. "But it w-won't save you," it continued, causing the teen to narrow his eyes further. "Th-That's because I'm playing this! I activate my trap," the puppet shouted, revealing the card stop defense. What! He watched with horror as the monsters switched modes, the puppet cackling. "Now all your monsters are in attack mode," the puppet cried, Yugi frowing pale. Because of that... "Keh heh heh heh... That's it," the puppet continued. "There's nowhere to hide! Go, Blue-Eyes White Dragon! Burst Stream! Annihilate the enemy dragon!" Curse of Dragon was eliminated on the spot in a blast of blazing white fire, Yugi's eyes widening briefly. This confident voice... No matter how hard the ventriloquist tried it wasn't the same... But the echoing undertone that succeeded was haunting the entire room. He watched as his life points were halved, the others shouting as he clenched his fists.

No... How was he supposed to win against that! For him to draw Blue Eyes as his first card was the worst possible luck..! The cackling continued, mirrored by the bodyguard, 'Saruwatari's laugh outside. "AHAHAHHAAA," he was shouting, causing the teen to tense more. Amid the shouts from outside, he could pick out the suit's words clearly, as though he were right beside him. "I bet Kaiba's happy," he was saying with a shout, still laughing. "If he's watching from heaven!"

More resounding shouts... Katsuya turning to yell angrily at the man only to be thrown back by the threat of a gun. Anzu and Honda holding him back, while Bakura attempted and failed to calm him... Mokuba's loud wails of misery and denial... "**HE'S NOT DEAD**," he cried, voice faltering at the volume it was shouted at. "**HE'S NOT**!"

"Listen to 'm Yug'," Katsuya was shouting. "**HE AIN'T DEAD**!" The blond was turned back to the box now, expression almost causing even he to take a second look. It was a face he had never seen save once, through his other self's eyes... And even then, this expression seemed different from what he saw in the warehouse two months prior. "HE'S ALIVE!"

Mokuba as well continued to scream, soon overpowering even Katsuya's voice. "**MY NII-SAMA ISN'T DEAD**," he cried, tears streaming down his face. "YUGI... **YUGI**! You told me... **YOU PROMISED**! THAT MY NII-SAMA WILL COME BACK! AND I BELIEVED YOU! I BELIEVED YOU! AND I'M STILL WAITING," he wailed, Yugi gritting his teeth at the shouts. "I'M WAITING AND WAITING, BECAUSE I STILL BELIEVE WHAT YOU TOLD ME!"

Mokuba... Yugi turned, watching as Katsuya shook from the inability to comfort the boy, as Mokuba shook and caved under the pressures of everything going on... He was right... Both of them... They believed in Kaiba... And so did he..! He had to..! He believed in Kaiba! No matter what! Kaiba... Kaiba was still alive, and still coming closer and closer to waking up, closer to solving the puzzle of his soul! "I never lose," he spat out, drawing a card. His strength was renewed... And he would not falter! If he played the right cards, even the dragons would fall! "And I won't change that even now!" The teen looked over his card, before smirking. Now this would work for now... "Magical Hats," he shouted, playing the card as four hats appeared. "And I play it on the Dark Magician!" The magician was covered completely, and the four hats merged into one before dividing. They then revolved around the table at high speed, switching and moving through the others before coming to a stop in a solid line. Yugi smirked at the ventriloquist's confusion, the man's expression further supporting what the others had been saying. This wasn't 'real'... There was no necromancy, or spirit channeling at work. Now then...

The puppet frowned, before sneering as he drew a card. "I'll take out your hats one at a time," he said with a snarl, voice faltering slightly as he pointed the dragon forwards. The dragon in turn roared, charging a beam of white lightening within its mouth. "**BURST STREAM**!" As one of the hats disintegrated, the puppet scowled; obviously, he'd missed his target. All that was left in its place as it vanished into smoke was a blank space on the playing field. "No Dark Magician... Hmp..."

Yugi chuckled, drawing another card. "Too bad," he said with a smirk. The first card was to stall; this one would shut down at least the first of Kaiba's dragons if he was lucky enough. "My turn... And I play this card," he said with a grin, the card vanishing into the hat he placed it in. Three hats... And one with a trap. His smirk grew as the puppet stared in confusion, and the teen explained. "Hnhnhnn.. Three top hats... If you choose the right one," he began, taunting the opponent now that he was confident in his playing. "You destroy the Dark Magician, and I loose 500 life points... But if you destroy the wrong hat," he said, grinning darkly. "You'll activate the trap card I just played..." And when that happened...

The table fell silent for a moment, before the puppet scowled, the eyes of its controller narrowing as well. "I know," he said with a shout. He continued to frown, before pointing. "There! The middle one! BURST STREAM!" Middle eh..? Well, he thought with a chuckle. Middle it was... White flames and lightning struck the hat, fabric burning away to nothingness as the ventriloquist stared expectantly.

Watching his opponent, Yugi continued chuckling as a card was revealed in the smoke of the flaming hat. "Hnhnhn... Good choice," he began, watching as the puppet and ventriloquist's faces both fell instantly. They saw what it was... And what it was was a trap. "For me that is!" The spellbinding circle appeared on the field, lowering Blue-Eyes attack as it locked it into position. Blue-Eyes howled with rage as the circle tightened on him, rendering him completely immobile. "Now Dark Magician," he shouted, the monster in question hopping out of his hat. Without a reason to exist, the other hats vanished completely from existence, leaving the Dark Magician alone on the field. "Attack the Blue Eyes White Dragon! **BLACK MAGIC**!" The Magician nodded, aiming his staff forwards before firing a large blast of dark energy forwards. The energy surrounded Blue-Eyes completely, the dragon howling as it disappeared. His turn ended, the others cheering as he did so. Now that the dragon was gone, he could focus on attacking this impostor... The cheer however, quickly vanished, as the smoke clearing to reveal what the ventriloquist had done for his own turn. Yugi looked forwards in shock, hardly believing what he saw. "No..!" To have drawn that very monster again..! Right when he needed it..!

The second Blue-Eyes roared in anger, charging an attack before avenging its fallen partner. "**BURST STREAM**," came the puppet's mad cackle, and as the magician was blown away Yugi was left with 500 life points. How... How! "Keh heh heh... What's the m-matter Yugi," he said with a grin. The dragon seemed to only partially share in his mood, giving a quite growl as it sat on the opponent's side of the field. "I just played the s-s-second Blue Eyes White Dragon!" He continued cackling, and Yugi's face fell considerably. "Have you forgotten," the puppet began, grinning in response to the fallen expression on his opponent's face, "That I have th-three blue eyes white dragons..? Now p-play your next card," it continued, laughter cutting the air with a screech louder than nails across a chalkboard. "So the d-dragon can turn it to a-ashes! Keh hehehehee!" The second dragon... Yugi winced, gritting his teeth. He hadn't anticipated the dragons to be drawn so close together...

He didn't have a card... Yugi's eyes lowered as his final hope vanished, body shaking considerably. He didn't have a single card in his deck that could beat the blue eyes white dragon... He'd used his only change against the last one, and now that the second was already out on the board, while his own field was empty... He closed his eyes, mentally cursing himself. He...

He lost...

* * *

It was almost light in there. So light in fact, that unlike when she would need a window to see around her slightly, she could see the entire room she sat in. Well... Almost. Seto looked up from where she sat, face rather blank as she took in her surroundings. The sun was shining... Though the edges of her vision were clouded from existence, she could see her backyard. Most trees had lost their leaves, but in her yard there were a few stubbornly clinging to their own. Not many remained on the branches of course... But it was enough that there was a small series of gold and red specks across her trees. Her lawn of course was cleared of the leaves, leaving it the same green colour. But from the sky, she could see a few flakes of snow begin to fall. Ah... It was snowing. Though she didn't much care for it, it didn't seem to bug her much. All together, the scene was actually fairly calming and yet... She stood, frowning as she held her puzzle close. Something was wrong, she thought, staring at the hole in her puzzle. She wanted to attach this last piece... That one piece which would join the now three stationary 'prongs' in her puzzle, the three tiny pieces that just needed something to join them to the rest of the sphere. Yet she couldn't find it, no matter how hard she tried... She knew almost everything now, from beginning to end about her life, but something what was it... What was it she was missing? She'd managed to connect the last two to each other, attaching it to the 'base' she'd found before, but without the piece that was missing she wouldn't be able to finish the puzzle!

In the distance, she could hear a roar... A flash of white lightening, and a shout... She looked down, a small window of sorts opening in the same way it did ages and ages ago. Like that time, it was nothing but a foggy, hazed curtain of grey there, but why... Why did she feel... Why did she feel almost like she was needed somewhere... It was a nagging, pressuring feeling that made it seem as though, if she didn't act soon, it would be pointless, but why?

A dizzying shudder passed through her as the larger window she had, the one to what she decided was 'reality' closed up. She clutched her puzzle, frowning as another cold shudder passed. Though her memories were otherwise unaffected now, the feelings were nonetheless giving her the chills. Why did she feel weak, feel small... Why did she feel afraid? She was... According to her memories, not someone who was afraid. Never afraid, she couldn't be afraid! Not from what she saw... She hid, yes, but not because she was afraid, right? It was because of something else, because of something she had to protect... Her fingers dug into the puzzle, and her eyes narrowed. Scared... The woman, a girl again really, gritted her teeth. Her puzzle was almost complete... She was close, so close... Why did she feel like everything was riding on that piece though! Why did it feel like everything up to this point would be for naught if she didn't get that piece soon!

She looked through the window at her feet, frowning. Where was it... Where was it... Abruptly, something golden appeared before her from the window, and she held it in her hands. "...This piece..." There was nothing but despair in it... No memories, no visions... Just despair, like what she felt now. Fear, pain, hopelessness... All the emotions she wanted to have nothing to do with, all the emotions she wanted to see nothing more of, to hear nothing more of, to feel nothing of... She clenched the piece, gritting her teeth. "...You... You want me to acknowledge that..?" The piece merely shined innocently, as though to agree. Tch... This wasn't the piece she needed either... It fit into the side yes, but it was only half of the base, half of what she wanted right now! Seto sneered, staring at it in disgust. "Hn! I don't do 'fear'..." Nonetheless, she stared at it for a few moments with narrowed eyes, holding silent. Fear... Her eyes narrowed further, before she nodded. Accept the fear... She placed the piece on the side, before finally clicking it into place. Accept the fear in order to conquer it completely... The other small pieces locked in around the one she placed in, leaving nothing but a small sliver left to fill. An odd shaped hole that would join those same three pieces from before.

Feeling over the mostly completely puzzle however, she dropped it in shock, reeling back as she fell on the floor. Something different... The girl clutched her head, eyes wide as a rush of memories came to her. Something was happening... Below, she watched as the window cleared to a scene that wasn't anywhere near where she stood now. "What is this," she hissed, looking below at the window that floated below her. Two people sitting at a table... Playing "What the hell is this!" This vision... Light, sunny... A 'duel box', at least she was sure that was what it was called... The vision honed in further however, and the sunlight vanished. Within the cube there was nothing but haze and holographic fog, along with the monsters on the table. And to each side... She shook, glaring at the teen in the 'window' with wide eyes. "WHAT IS THIS?"

Yugi, that was the boy's name right? She recognized him from her more... Dark memories. However, she also recognized him from school, from that store... She frowned, gathering all she knew on the teen. Mutou Yugi... The one with two sides, the one who defeated her not once but twice... While the first was a joke, a battle that even she hadn't bothered to deal with properly, the second... She smirked at the memory, eyes closing briefly. If she could fight him again... Just beat him properly... Seto frowned again as she looked down through the window, looking closer at her would-be-rival. He had his head lowered in defeat... Something she wanted nothing more than to see just once, but not like this. She gritted her teeth, biting back a growl. She would be the one to defeat him... And only her! She would reclaim the top as she had before, becoming the 'king' in his place... And this time, she would do it properly. Looking at the expression on Yugi's face, her eyes narrowed. Just what had him bearing such a disgusting face... What had him hanging his head in shame like a child, or a disciplined animal even? It was pathetic... It disturbed her, and though she tried to convince herself that it was only because she wasn't on the other side of the table she felt as though there was something else... She looked across from him, towards the shadowed puppeteer who was covered by a hat. He held something... Something bathed completely in shadows that refused to reveal itself to her. What the man held however, was the least of her concerns as she spotted the monster on his side of the field. She knew that monster... That monster was... The girl snarled, nails digging into her head. "That... That is _my_ dragon," she shouted, voice seemingly reaching no one. Her eyes grew wider than they had been before, face twisted with rage as she shook. "How dare they... How _DARE_ they!"

Shaking with rage, she was thrown off focus by another wave of memories she had apparently not regained, the girl clutching her head again. "Gh... Hh..." She winced again as she studied the dragon below, attempting to figure out how it came to be there before crying in pain. The memories continued to flood her mind, forcing Seto to her knees as she gritted her teeth. What was this.. What was this? High school classes passed her by, followed by tutor sessions, vocal lessons, 'Kaiba' replacing her name, games, Mokuba, the orphanage, her father, the crash, Christmas... All these memories, all these times that she already knew, passing her by until-

Kaiba froze as the memories grinded to a halt, stopping at one moment and one only. Mokuba's birth... Eyes staring off into space as she held her head, the girl stumbled slightly. The day her brother was born... And at the same moment she realized, unwanted tears developing yet again, this was the moment that... She... "...Okaa-san..."

She remembered her mother.

She never knew her name of course... She was only 5 when she died after all but nonetheless, she could remember what she looked like on that operating table. Contractions came too early; she knew what those words meant now. She knew why it was that when they'd pulled Mokuba out from her mother's shivering form that she died. She remembered, with a horrified expression of now available knowledge, that the pale, cold woman she'd seen on the table wasn't asleep... Merely drained of most of her blood and long gone...

She remembered when she'd told Mokuba he had her eyes. She hadn't remembered their mother at that time, and she wasn't sure she was right...

But she was. Somehow, she wasn't sure why, she was right. Beautiful, wide blue eyes that stared with nothing but kindness... Identical to her little brother's... But unlike Mokuba, the rest of the woman wasn't tanned with black hair, regardless of the resemblance between them otherwise. No... Their mother had been special. A slight defect in her genes had given her something else, something that was rarely ever seen. While her skin was of average, peach complexion, long, pure white hair cascaded down the woman's back... Giving the appearance of an angel... Or perhaps, she noted as the memories superimposed over her view of the duel table below, something else...

"Mother..." She watched the image play in her mind, the woman standing there. Blue eyes, set on a pale face with white hair... She missed her... She didn't want to say it out loud, didn't want anyone to know this weakness... But she missed her so much... She bit her lip, hands moving down from her head to pick up the puzzle she'd dropped. It had begun to 'sink' into the window below, and took a little more strength than usual to pull out. The girl stared at it sadly, the memory of that calm, smiling woman still blurring into her vision. The puzzle wasn't done... Seto looked down an image of the woman that essentially personified her dragons looking down at her with a calm and reassuring nod. It wasn't done, still missing that one piece but...

Somehow, she knew that if nothing else happened, that piece would never come to her. That all of her work would be for naught, and she'd be trapped here indefinitely. Seto clutched the puzzle close, frowning. What if... She could take it with her..? If the piece was something she had to find, rather than wait for? She had a feeling... That this time, while the window was there, she wasn't meant to pass it by. The 'voice' that had yelled and shouted for her to ignore the others... That voice that she'd ignored... It was gone, nonexistent. This time... With her puzzle in hand... What if...

She gritted her teeth... And with the puzzle still clutched tight in her arms, jumped through the window below.

* * *

'_HOW DARE THEY_!' Yugi dismissed the ghostly voice, which barely hit his ears as a whisper. He lost... There was no hope for him now, and as he drew a card and played a monster on the field, he winced and waited for the end. Stop defense was still in play... The voice continued to ring through his ears, but the teen shook it off. He was probably hearing things anyways... At this moment, nothing else could possibly make sense other than that. "Good," the puppet was saying with a cackle. "Good... You p-p-played your final card, yes?" As he merely waited for the blast, he found himself weakly glaring at the puppet that called itself 'Kaiba's Ghost'. A pathetic, horrific imitation that did no justice at all... And yet, where the original could not, it had managed to beat him. "WHAHAHAHA! THEN THIS IS THE END! Go Dragon, **DESTROY YUGI**!" Pathetic... A horrific joke of god one could say even... He screwed his eyes shut, waiting for the familiar heat of the dragon's white flames...

And then something remarkable happened... He frowned, feeling nothing as the same voice continued to whisper in his ears. Yugi opened his eyes, looking across the table only to stare with wide and confused eyes. It wasn't attacking... In fact, it's mouth was clamped firmly shut, its head raised and turned to the side. The whispering voice returned, a faint, almost childlike chuckle echoing in his ears. And as he heard this, the dragon continued to stare at what was apparently an empty space in the room. What was this... He looked at the spot, frowning as something began to shimmer into existence there. "What's wrong," the ventriloquist shouted, not bothering to use the puppet as he moved to stand. Wood clattered to the floor as the image became clearer, the old, gagged man apparently completely unaware of the sight that both Yugi and 'the dragon' were looking at just now. "Why isn't it attacking!" He ignored the wrinkled ventriloquist, instead continuing to gape at the now complete image at the side.

A... A little girl... Wearing a yukata... His still wide eyes only grew larger as the girl gave a smile, her body glowing dimly as it began to 'age' and shift before him. The teen stared, silent as the dragon continued its silent vigil, before giving a small cry as the girl slowly became a 'woman'. Clothes changed... From a yukata to a pair of pants and a flowered shirt with hair that dropped past the shoulders. Then to a messily cut hairstyle he slightly recognized, coupled with a pair of boy's pants and a casual shirt. Hold on... That face, he realized as the hair neatened out, the 'child' turning toward him. He knew this face... The spirit continued to shift, growing taller as a white, militaristic outfit came to replace the clothes she'd held before. As this finaly change occurred, she turned to him, finally looking down at the teen with a seemingly cold and uncaring expression. Yugi's eyes widened with shock, face frozen as the crystal clear image of Seto Kaiba appeared before him appearance identical to that of when 'he' had been at Death-T. He... Or if this 'spirit' wasn't a bad case of hallucination... '_Hmp_,' Seto said, her voice clearly that of a woman- any doubts that Yugi held would just have to vanish for now really. '_Using **my** dragons... No one does that and gets away with it..._' The voice as well shifted, becoming the one that he was far more familiar with as the dragon itself began to vanish into nothingness with a silent nod. '_..Yugi_,' She continued with a frown, the teen swallowing in response as the commanding and deep tones of the CEO rang throughout the room for only him to hear. '_You know what to do... I'm giving you permission only this once_.' And then she was gone... '_Only this once_,' she'd said... While destroying her own dragon... Somehow, he knew just what she meant...

"The dragon's vanishing," the ventriloquist was muttering, Yugi merely staring as the spirit as well did this. As Kaiba faded, so did the dragon, and before long both of them were vanished from the room without a trace... As though neither had been there to begin with. "But why.." The puppet clattered to the ground, and the man shook his head. "NO!" Wood clacked across the floor as the old man stood, shaking his head. "**NO**!"

Kaiba... A woman... Who would have thought, he mentally whispered to himself. To think that of all people... In the back of his mind, he couldn't help but laugh as that conversation with Katsuya all those weeks before made sense now. '_She has the same kanji_', he had said, when asked about a name that he likely had been unable to give for now obvious reasons. 'She's ice cold though'. Oh boy... Ooooh boy... Either... Something had been in that fish or... The teen shook his head and smirked, before it softened into a calm and relieved smile. No... Kaiba... Somehow, he knew just then, that the puzzle the woman was putting together... While perhaps not all done, there was no doubt.

Seto Kaiba had woken up.

* * *

Miles away, a young woman took a shaky step out from the wheelchair she'd spent immeasurable amounts of time in. The woman held her head, wincing slightly before staring out the window. "...I..." She frowned, eyes narrowing. Arms moved down to her sides as she took in the partially dead yard, breath misting on the glass of the window. Strange... Though she clearly remembered losing to Yugi, something felt... Different... There were numb memories of voices in her mind, and as her eyes drifted to the side table by her bed, she frowned. "What is this..." Her voice was of course the same, hoarse voice she had thanks to years of covering it with acting... And she certainly didn't see any other changes to herself. But why did she feel... Different? There was a voice from one of her maids, the door opening before a gasp of shock resounded through the hall behind her. Dishes clattered to the ground as the woman ran out of the halls, her voice numbly reaching Seto's ears.

"Oh my," she had said, shaking. "Seto-sama.." Footsteps sounded through the house, Kaiba ignoring them as she continued to stare at the table. "Seto-sama is awake!"

Yes she was awake... But why did it still feel like something was missing..? She walked over to the table, idly picking up what looked to be a Blue-Eyes figurine from it. Hn... Not bad... Her thoughts turned back to her apparent sleep, the woman frowning. She'd been at KaibaLand last she remembered. Facing Yugi in a game of Duel Monsters... Yugi... He'd done something... That much was obvious given that it was clearly late fall rather than late spring as it had been before. Not to mention she'd woken up here, in her home... In a wheel chair. But that wasn't what was bugging her now...

Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the things on the table, still holding the dragon in his hand. The door creaked open as she heard someone step in, and she continued frowning. "Who put those there," she said hoarsely, her voice having been out of use for far too long. The woman turned to level a stare at the maid who had come in, the woman bowing her head slightly.

There was a bit of silence, before the nervous maid answered. She was young... This was one of her 'rare' hires, where the person had come not because they figured serving a billionaire would earn more money but because they needed a job. Now what was her name... Kyoko? Kyouko... Ah. Seto's eyes remained in the partially narrowed stare they were at as the maid before her answered, the woman wringing her hands from the nerves. "I... Jonouchi-kun did, Seto-sama..." She coughed, before bowing her head again and continuing. "H-He and Mokuba-sama believed you would want them there... He was assigned your security during your time out of the hospital O-Ojou ...O-Obochama..." Hn! She'd almost slipped, hadn't she. Nonetheless...

There was no response. Jonouchi... She turned, frowning as she replaced the dragon on the table. So many pictures on the table... Most had her brother in them. Idly, she noted that the boy had placed, for some reason, a picture of him with the very people she preferred to avoid there. And the blond in the photo... "Where's Mokuba," she said bluntly, ignoring the numb feeling of emptiness she still had. She could question his identity later- if she was right, it'd been at least half a year since she'd faced Yugi in Duel Monsters, and she wanted to see her brother. There was nervous silence from the maid, and her eyes narrowed as the CEO turned back on her employee. "Did you hear me," she spat out, fists clenched. The calendar on the wall said 'Saturday'; there was no school, no events that would mean her brother was out of the house, and the maid before her would either know the location or know someone who did. "I said, where is my **BROTHER**?"

"W-Well," the maid said nervously, gulping audibly. "About that..." The woman coughed, shaking on the spot as she lowered her head. "Fo-Forgive me, Seto-sama... But at the moment, Mokuba-sama is... M...Missing.."

She didn't care if she couldn't remember who this 'Jonouchi Katsuya' was, Seto decided as her eyes widened. "WHAT..." Her eyes quickly narrowed again, and she charged past the wheelchair towards her closet. "Explain everything _now_," she snarled, grabbing her clothes and moving to her washroom. As far as she knew, this unknown person was dead (Though she got an odd feeling of dread with that thought...)to her, and it mattered not who or where he was. But if her brother was missing... "And be quick!" Missing, she had said...

Kyouko nodded, following after Seto with an audible gasp of nervousness. "Y-Yes... Jonouchi-kun claimed he had a clue as to the boy's location," she began, attempting to keep her voice professional rather than stuttering. "H-He mentioned someone named Pegasus... I... I think you know-" She was cut off as a pair of pajama's flew past the door, Seto still scowling as the maid watched her wrap a roll of binding around her chest in record time. "S-Seto-sama..?"

"You're dismissed," the woman forced through gritted teeth, the maid bowing quickly. "Gather the rest of the staff in the foyer," she added as the maid left the room. No one messed with her brother... No one...

She might not have treated him well in the past... But now that she was awake and there to change things... Seto gritted her teeth as she pulled on her clothes, simple shirt and pants being added on with a long and flowing coat. No time... No time, she told herself, grabbing her briefcase from the side of the bed and charging out the room. She didn't know how, but the amount of time she would have to get to her brother was slim... And Pegasus... No doubt that whoever this 'Jonouchi' was, he wouldn't be able to find Pegasus' private island. It wasn't marked on a map after all, and she only knew it's location from a previous visit. No time... There was no time to save her brother, no time to hold him close as she should have all those times before... But she would make up for that now, she told herself as she stormed through the hall.

Even if she died trying, she would get him back and safe at home. After all... She'd promised at least that much to him, hadn't she?

* * *

Back on the island and outside the Duel Box, the reaction to Blue-Eye's unannounced and unreasoned disappearance was almost unanimous. "YEEEEA!" There was a resounding shout from the others, fists and cheers thrown into the air. For his part however, Katsuya seemed very much unlike himself as he stared through the glass of the duel-box in confusion. Ordinarily... He'd have gone with his beliefs on the card doing that, it having its own will... He'd be shouting loudly with the others, cheering; because hell, he was more than happy about the fact that it had done that!

But he could have sworn, that for an instant... To the side of the table, just across from him... "YOU GO YUGI," Mokuba shouted from behind them, grinning. The shouts pulled Katsuya from his thoughts, and he joined in with his own cheers as Mokuba still shouted loudly. "YOU SHOW HIM!"

Saruwatari in the meantime balked, eyes wide as he managed to keep his hold on the boy. "What..." He shook his head, gritting his teeth. "There must have been a bug in the battle box... It must have..." Hahaha... Bullshit.

Mokuba grinned, still loudly proclaiming his excitement over the matter. "Dumb ass," he shouted as he looked up at his former guard, grin growing. While there wasn't much else to describe the reasoning behind what had happened, he had an idea... Spending all this time with Yugi and Katsuya's friends tended to have that effect. "KaibaCorp's duel-box wouldn't go on the fritz like that so easily!" He turned his attention back to the box, eyes narrowed with mirth. "Heheheh! My nii-sama's cards aren't going to listen to that guy! It serves you right! **YUGI**," he called out, managing to cup his hands to his face from the awkward position he was held in. "BEAT THE CRAP OUTTA THAT VENTRILOQUIST!"

"What he said Yug'," Katsuya added with a shout, ignoring Anzu's warning words of 'remember that there are childre-' "YOU SLAUGHTER THIS ASSHOLE!"

"WHAT DID I SAY ABOUT SWEARING IN FRONT OF KIDS!" He rolled his eyes as Anzu glared at him, instead focusing on what was inside the box for the next few moments.

Inside, there was a nod from his friend as Yugi turned back to his opponent. The second dragon was gone, and there was only one more... But they had a clear shot at the ventriloquist now... Time to continue the game!

* * *

700 points... As he looked over his hand, blinking, he idly wished that Blue-Eyes' disappearance had happened during the battle phase rather than before. But the fact was, either way still gave him a clear shot at winning this match... 700 points... That was the number of lifepoints his opponent had at the moment, and that was the number he would need to blast through. Yugi stared forwards, now certain that he could win this battle. "It's your move," he said calmly, pointing to the field. "If I were you, I'd summon a monster."

The ventriloquist nodded, eyes narrowed. "Hn... I summon Grapplar in defense position..." Of course it was defense...

And really, it figured... He was probably going to summon defense monsters until he drew Blue Eyes, regardless of whether or not he drew a monster more powerful than his own. "My turn then," the teen muttered, grabbing a card. Stop Defense was still in play... So anything he placed would be forced into attack mode. If the third Blue Eyes was drawn, it was likely he was finished... But with this card, he thought with narrowed eyes. With this card, he had a chance. "I set one card face down," he said calmly, before placing yet another on the field. "And I summon the Elf Swordsman in Attack Position! Now, attack Grapplar!" The elf charged forwards, slicing Grapplar cleanly in two with his blade before shouldering the weapon and returning to his side of the field. "Grapplar has been killed!" And of course his life points...

The ventriloquist merely chuckled, leering at the teen as they remained as is. "Fu fu fu... My life points still won't go down," he said with a hidden smirk, chuckling. "My turn!" He drew a card, visibly narrowing his eyes before making his move. "I set a monster in defense position," he began, before removing the card from his hand, "And then I set one card face down."

Tch... He set another card... A magic card or a trap... Deciding not to worry about it too much, he instead pulled another card from his deck to go on with his turn. "I'll set another face down card as well," he decided after looking over his hand. Grabbing another card and playing it on the field, he turned his attention back from the table to his opponent once more. "And I summon the Holy Elf!" The woman appeared on the table, head bowed with her hands folded in front of her as she began to chant. Low, almost musical muttering filled the room, and somehow it put him at a little more ease than before. The duel was getting tense... The air was thick, and the pressures were high... But no matter what, he wouldn't lose.

"My turn," the ventriloquist muttered, before grinning as he drew a card. Tch... He knew what that meant... "I drew the Blue Eyes White Dragon," the man cackled, said dragon appearing on the table with a roar and a burst of light. Damn it... Well, here went his plan... "Attack the holy elf," the ventriloquist continued, still cackling madly. "**Burst stream of destruction**!" Crazed laughter continued to fill the room, the teen across from him merely crossing his arms with narrowed eyes in response. "THIS IS THE END!"

The end was it? He smirked, listening as the elf continued her chanting. Well... Not quite. Yugi flipped over one of his two cards, the smirk still in place. He had a feeling that would happen after all... And with this, the other dragon would be destroyed! "Activate trap," he shouted, a large dome of light appearing around his elf. "Sacred Barrier, Mirror Force! The barrier will reflect the attack," he added, watching as the white lightening struck the shield only to be bounced back towards the dragon. However, that was only the beginning it seemed;Yugi frowned as his opponent also flipped a card over, watching as the ventriloquist continued to chuckle. Tch... It figured it would be a trap...

"Trap card activate," he said with a grin. "Attack Nullification! The attack aiming for Blue Eyes is negated!" The lightening was sucked into an aperture like hole, before vanishing from existence. Tch... As expected, he saw through it... "Fu fu fu... Your trump card was wasted in vain," the ventriloquist said with a smirk, beginning to cackle again. "I've already made you use up your best strategies!" As shouts continued from the outside, Yugi merely smirked. Best strategies? Please... He had much more where that came from... "Come Yugi," the man said with a laugh, "It's your last turn, and you're still out of options..."

The smirk grew, and he moved his hand towards the set card on the field. Now that the traps set before were out of the way, his path was clear... "Really," he began, the smirk growing. "I still have my trump card," the teen added, relishing in the fear and horror that was now washing off of his opponent. "I activate the card 'Dead One's Revival!" As though reading the ventriloquist's mind, the old man's eyes widening, he continued to grin. '_Only this once_'... That was what Kaiba had said, and he would respect his... Rather 'her' wishes. "You're wrong," he shouted, eyes narrowed rather cruelly. To think this scum would still consider stolen property his... Tch! "It's not your card I want to ressurect... It's Kaiba's card!" The Blue Eyes White Dragon from before roared behind him as it appeared, the two dragons hissing as they stared each other down. At the moment their attacks were equal of course but... He smirked as the Ventriloquist continued to pale, gesturing to his second monster. "No... I won't attack now... Not until _she_'s finished..." At the ventriloquist's pale stare, he continued. "Ever since she came into play, the Holy Elf has been chanting a spell... A support spell, combining her attack with any monster on the field! **PREPARE YOURSELF**," he shouted, as the Blue-Eyes' attack jumped to 3800. The elf's chants quieted, the table filling with silence as Yugi pointed the dragon forward. "**THIS IS KAIBA'S RAGE**! Here I come..." The dragon reared its head, charging its attack before blasting down on both the one on his opponent's side and on the last life points of the opponent. "**HOLY BURST STREAM**!"

Fires lept at the ventriloquist before swirling into nonexistence, the cards blowing from the table in the force. "E-EYAAAAAA!" The ventriloquist tensed, jerking back in his chair as he lost. "Hih... Hih... I... I lost... I..."

Yugi stood, a wave of anger washing over him once more. He felt a rush of 'power' flow through him, and as a sourceless wind rushed around him, he looked down at the man with disgust. "Bastard... Scum... Don't think that it's over with just that," he stated, voice echoing throughout the room with a commanding and frightening tone. "My rage hasn't been satisfied just yet!" As the ventriloquist looked up in horror, he continued to stare, eyes wide with a murderous emotion that he hadn't felt since possibly the first time he'd come to his 'other self's defense. "You stole Kaiba's cards, fooled around with a worthless puppet and called it he- His '**heart**'... And for that," he roared, not caring that the others were watching him now, "I WILL NEVER FORGIVE YOU!" He pointed forwards, the 'wind' gusting forwards as he shouted. This was it. "**PENALTY GAME**!" From the puppet below came an apparent copy of the ventriloquist himself, silently clacking upwards as it moved from its own will. It clambered up onto the man's lap, reaching out towards the shaking puppeteer's face before widening its mouth in a scream mimicking that of it's 'original'.

A mirror image... As the ventriloquists screams filled the room, the man attempting to flee that which was only visible to him, Yugi smirked. "Hn hn hn..." Chuckling, he moved to gather his cards as the smirk grew. "Stay in that illusion with that 'cute doll' of yours..."

Grabbing Kaiba's deck and placing the star-chips on his wrist, he thought back to what had effectively turned the battle around. Kaiba... That appearance... The spirit that appeared on the side to give him that message... It couldn't have been a hallucination. That was definitely a woman that had appeared, no doubt about it but... What did that mean exactly, if Kaiba actively hid such a thing?

Turning to leave the box, he sighed. He would just have to find out he supposed... After all, both he and his partner had their own methods to go about these things, and it wasn't like they didn't have time. They'd simply have to pray that it wasn't anything too life-threatening really...

* * *

As Yugi had finished the battle off, Katsuya and the group had, in fact, not been watching the teen inflict the penalty game as Yugi had assumed. Much as they'd have loved to, there was something a little more important going on really. To be specific, they'd been distracted by the argument Saruwatari and the blond were having at that moment, all firearms ignored. "Let 'm go 'Saru'," he shouted, the teen deciding to just go with calling him an ape. Besides, 'Saruwatari' was too long for the moment in his opinion. "You an' I both know that Pegasus is gonna want 'm alive, so LET HIM GO!" Please don't know about the key being fake, please please please...

The 'suit' scoffed, moving farther backwards as he continued to hold the gun against Mokuba's head. "And are you willing to take that risk," he asked the blond, smirking. As Katsuya clenched his fists, Saruwatari continued to smirk, before laughing wickedly. "Face it Jonouchi! Even with the same combat training, which, might I add, I offered to teach, this is a situation you just can't win!" Damn it... As the others stood feeling considerably confused, Mokuba gave him a desperate look. Did he want him to stop..? Or did he want him to get him out of here? It was hard to tell, but no matter what...

"Tch... Just let 'm go already!" He froze as there was a click sound, and slowly turned as another hired suit came over. "Gh..." This gun wasn't held at Mokuba...

It was aimed at Bakura's back, the teen having been the furthest away. Laughter filled the area, and Saruwatari's smirk grew. "Good... My backup is here." As Bakura grew slightly more pale than what should have been humanly possible, he addressed the entire group. "Don't move, either one of you... Or it could cost your friends their lives!" The teens fell silent, and Katsuya gritted his teeth in frustration. No... He was right there! Damn it..!

Mokuba continued to struggle against his hold, before finally addressing Katsuya as he was dragged off. Nothing else to do... There was nothing else..! "Katsuya-nii! Whatever you do, make sure Yugi wins!" His eyes widened, and Mokuba continued to fight fruitlessly against Saruwatari's arm as he was pulled away. "No matter what!" The blond watched, eyes wide as the boy vanished into the foliage. "**PROMISE**!" He... He would...

The other 'suit' laughed, safety of his gun clicking off as he as well backed away. Now, the gun could easily be turned on either one of them before there was a chance at disarming him. Shit... "Now then," he said. "I want you all to turn around and count to thirty..." The gun was aimed rather carefully at the group, and they slowly did so, hands raised. Backs turned to the man, Katsuya swallowed nervously as the numbers mentally came through his mind. "Count nice and slow..." Damn it... "One... Two..." Damn it! He was right there, right there... Who knew what they were going to do to Mokuba now, when it was so clear to Pegasus that the key wasn't there..! "Five... Six..." Numbers faded out in sound, and before he knew it there was a click from the door as Yugi came out. And not a single sound from the other 'hired help'.

He looked around, frowning as he took in a relatively empty section of field. Tch... The other guy had left as well then... Which meant that they were good as gone now. Nonetheless, he turned back to Yugi, paying no particular attention to the ventriloquist whimpering in the corner of the box. Quite frankly, he could care less about the 'penalty games' right now... And really, good on Yugi for doing it. The others were currently congratulating Yugi on his win, the teen holding a second deck of cards in his hand. He got his star chips back, Kaiba's cards were ready to return to their rightful owner... Yugi frowned however, as he looked around at everyone, noticing rather quickly that there was someone missing. "...Where's Mokuba?"

Katsuya clenched his fists, the others shifted awkwardly as he stared at the ground. "That bastard Saruwatari..." He swallowed, eyes narrowed as he thought about the first thing he'd do once he was in Pegasus' castle. "One of his buddies arrived with another gun, forcing us to turn our backs..." He gritted his teeth, turning to look at Yugi in an attempt to calm down. "Dragged Mokuba off and I couldn't do a damn thing!"

As the others fell silent in response to that, Yugi stared off into the direction that Saruwatari had apparently disappeared into. His expression seemed slightly distant, even with the narrowed, well recognised look of '_they will fucking pay_' on his face. It looked as though he had wanted to say something but... In light of recent events...

It also looked like he believed it could wait.

* * *

As requested, everyone was gathered along the sides of the foyer, watching as their employer stormed down the stairs with clear rage across her face. "**MORONS**," she shouted, storming through the halls to the main entrance. The group merely bowed their heads, saying nothing as the woman continued with her disguised voice. "**ALL OF YOU**!" As her so-called security bowed in appology, her maid chased after, a worried expression on her face. It looked as though Kyouko was carrying something but really... She could care less right now. "I can't believe you **bastards** let Mokuba get taken away while I was gone!"

The people merely stood there, staring at the ground. "Yes... Terribly sorry..." "We're all terribly sorry Seto-sama..." Same thing over and over and over...

Behind her, the maid finally caught up, voice clearly panicked. "O-Obochama! Where are you going," she cried, Seto not even bothering to turn. "You can't go, your body isn't-"

She snorted, having already made plans within the first few minutes of discovering her brother was gone. Amid all this, her servants were still attempting to get by with simply 'terribly sorry', 'so very sorry'... Really... Just... "Oh just SHUT UP," she finally shouted as she turned, the employees falling silent. Kyouko in the meantime visibly cringed, shrinking back before continuing anyways. Honestly, what was it that couldn't wait just a damn moment...

"Obochama! PLEASE," she shouted, running forwards with a folder held tightly against her chest. "I swore to Mokuba-sama that I would-" Seto turned to her, eyes narrowed as the woman stopped in place. Swore what... She watched as the maid swallowed nervously, before handing the file over. Now what was this... "I... I promised him... '_If Seto-sama were to wake up_', I was told, give this to him..! Please, take it..!"

Seto took the file, eyes still narrowing as she turned back, opening the door with a scowl. "I see... Maybe you can do this next task as well then," she began, still frowning. "Unlike the rest of these morons..." As the maid stood silently on the spot, Seto continued, stepping through the doorway. "Bring me my helicopter," she called through gritted teeth. "I'm flying to Pegasus' Island!"

Only a few minutes later there was a roar of spinning blades and they were off, taking to the skies as directions to the island were given to the pilot. A quick take off... Perhaps she should give that maid a raise. Seto looked out of the window, eyes narrowing as she thought about what she might find on that island. Mokuba... She pulled the pendant from around her neck, thinking back to the things on her side table. She'd noticed this fairly quickly of course, finding it around her neck as she changed... But she hadn't really looked at it until now... Staring at the image of Mokuba from those long past years, her usually hard gaze softened. How long had she been 'sleeping', she wondered as the pendant was closed over with a 'click'. How long... The memories she had seemed faded, like a half remembered dream... Seto stared at the window, mentally going over what had been there. For some reason with each item there she could recall a message... A small conversation from her brother's side that she had been unable to answer to. A dragon mask... She could remember Mokuba talking about going to a festival with that same 'Katsuya Jonouchi'. A figurine... Again, Mokuba had spoken of this 'Jonouchi', claiming that he had sacrificed himself to join him in a game of sorts... And somehow, according to her brother she had... Saved them somehow? Seto held back a snort at that, instead giving a sarcastic smirk as she stared out the window. Yea... That was bullshit right there really.

The woman's eyes narrowed as she continued to think, recalling each item that had been there. The dragon sculpture, a CapMon figurine (From Mokuba no doubt)... Briefly her thoughts drew back to the figurine she saw, the woman frowning as she recalled its appearance. Whoever made it was dead, creating such a thing in her image without her knowing... What was it, some sort of role-play toy? Honestly... Nonetheless, she felt some sort of attachment to it, along with everything else on that table.

Like the pictures... Documenting the time since she'd been asleep, her brother had continued to fill her in on his day, without fail when he was there. But why... She gritted her teeth, a frown appearing even as she sat in thought. Why couldn't she remember who this blond _idiot_ that they called 'Jonouchi' was? Those pictures... 'The' picture that connected the name to the face really, it showed a summer evening... Her brother was dressed in a yukata that she didn't even know the boy had, grinning widely as he sat underneath a night sky. Beside him was a young woman, probably 13 or 14, an older woman who was likely the girl's mother, and lastly...

That blond... The one who seemed to have been hovering over Mokuba with a sense security, protection... While she felt a pang of jealousy almost, having not been the one to spend this time with her brother, she also had to feel relieved really. Whoever he was after all, he'd obviously kept the boy sane while she slept. This did nothing for her mood however. Seto clenched her fists, still frowning. 'Jonouchi Katsuya', who had supposedly gone off to find her brother as she was doing now. And where was he now? **WHO** was he? It disturbed her, that after waking up there was still a hole in her memory, a hole she felt shouldn't have been there at all... As though a small part of her had been taken as payment to wake up from whatever it is she'd been in.

Tch... Tightening her grip on her briefcase, she pushed it from her mind. What ever... She wouldn't let this bug her. She didn't let anything bug her, she couldn't. For her brother's sake, she couldn't let anything like that happen again... Not now that she had a clear mind...

She had something to protect; and she would damn well do just that, no matter what the costs.

* * *

AN: WELL. DAMN. Talk about your tithes. I can hear you all going 'WHY DID KAIBA FORGET ABOUT HIM WRAAAAAAAGGG IT MAKES NO SENSE.'

Actually, you're probably not saying this at all. You're probably just wondering why the hell I did that, and what this means for future interactions. I will spoil it slightly by saying this:

One, reactions will still be 'as Canon', with some added flair. Actually, it's Katsuya's 'added flair' that causes the reactions to continue as Canon.

Two, she'll remember by the end of the arc... Those who read the manga will know why. (Even though Katsuya actually has very little to do with the final piece.)

NOW THEN!

News on the Poll... One person voted for CrossDressing, but the others are blank; this poll is going to go on until I reveal that tablet... Kinda. If a majority are for both male and crossdressing, I'll hold another one until we actually _see_ a vision of the Priest; due to the fact that it's doubtful the tablet would really be questionable in gender if there was crossdressing involved. In addition, Iona brings up an interesting fact involving the Priest's right of passage in terms of Ancient Egypt...

It's public circumcision. I mention this not because I'm writing it (That would be very awkward, and very off track.), but because it affects the cross-dressing option.. A lot. For obvious reasons. ANYWAYS.

Another question, outside the ones in earlier chapters... So far one person mentioned being interested in the scene from one of my pictures (Specifically the Noa one) actually happening; if no one voices a dislike for this, I'll probably do it... (So if you don't like it, say so, really fast!)

Last note here, but this marks the end of the fully prepared chapters; from this point on, things will update much slower than before, as each chapter will have to be typed out and _then_ edited... And given the fact that it takes a good chunk of my day to edit these, along with the fact that I finally got my online schooling started, you can count on it taking more than one to pop out the next chapter.

Also, art~ I was trying to hold off until it was inked, but I have the sketch below in the art section for you.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey again Iona! As you said, I can twist fiction with history here if I must... In the end, I don't think I'll go with cross-dressing though, I keep rolling it through my head and for some reason it doesn't appeal... I guess when the poll results come in, I'll see which one wins and work with it really!

And yes. Yes he is.

I assume this means you caught my 'screw the rules Kaiba has money' twist on 'Screw the rules, I have money' joke? (Referencing Abridged in here is so so fun...)

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that has more to talk about each day! ...Except this one.

From near the end, 'Ojou-sama' (Which is what Kyouko was about to say) is the term used for a wealthy young woman/girl... Generally used by maids and such towards the daughters of very very rich people. What she ends up actually saying however is 'Obochama', which is the male counterpart. What with only a choice few of the staff being in on Kaiba's secret here, it's generally that last one that's used rather than 'ojou-sama'. (Fun Fact: The maids actually do refer to Seto as 'obochama' in the manga.)

* * *

The title of this chapter, 'Cards Bare their Teeth' is the same as the very chapter from which Kaiba woke up in. It's me being all symbolic again. Ooooooh~

* * *

Script has again been ripped, for most of this chapter obviously, outside the clearly original scenes and Kyouko the Maid giving Kaiba all the papers Mokuba hid away. Major changes that happened however, at least when compared to what we see in the anime/manga are (Aside from what was just mentioned) mostly made up of Jonouchi's reaction to everything (Throw in a life and things get pretty serious really)... And of course Kaiba actually showing up before Yugi as the dragon vanished.

You wanted a big reveal? WELL THERE'S A START.

Also, I took some creative liberties with a 'Kisara Comparison'. Now _obviously_ this isn't going to translate like that in the past... That would be silly, and make Kisara rather old. Not to mention that Kaiba's 'Mom', going by this fanfic, looks more like a bleached Mokuba. Rather I was feeling all mushy watching certain episodes of Yu-Gi-Oh... This will in fact come into play later on however, when Kaiba has that trippy vision of Kisara and Priest Set on the blimp; very much so in fact.

* * *

The puppet _really does_ stutter constantly in the manga. It drives me INSANE. Another manga-accurate point is Saruwatari being... Well, Saruwatari. Unlike the manga however, Mokuba recognized the man right off the bat; I figured that it was one of those things that he wouldn't take a few seconds to realize, what with Jonouchi actively calling him by name.

* * *

Another manga _difference_ here is obviously the hired help arriving with another gun; after all, once it hits them that Mokuba is needed alive, that gun isn't as much a big deal. But when there's a _second gun,_ pointed at the people who obviously don't matter to Pegasus... Well, shit really hits the fan and they're stuck. It makes more sense though really, for them to have been forced to lay off rather than magically missing the fact that a fairly large guy in a suit dragged Mokuba off really. (How did they do that again? Oh yea. Duel Monsters. Really, priorities...)

* * *

I hope you enjoyed the treat I gave you guys~ Because I DID.

I swear, doing something from Yami Yugi's point of view has never been so exhilarating... Save maybe the time I did first chapter Yugi in a role-play challenge, but that's not the point.

_ENJOY YOUR PENALTY GAME GUYS_.

On a side note concerning Yugi... Yes 'both' of them know now. However, it won't 'really' be brought up for a while, not until the others aren't in the same room so-to-speak. On another note, if you see anything that suggests.. 'something' between he and Kaiba don't worry. Neither of them are feeling anything of the sort. (It likely just 'came out wrong' so to speak.) Unless you see that sort of thing... But... Personally, I myself do not.

**Fan-Art and Art Section**

One picture for you guys; I was hoping to have it all inked by the end of this chapter (Hence why it took so long to finish editing), but in the end it isn't... So I'm giving you the sketch.

'Matryoshka' - http: / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO%20 Fanfic%20- %20Skin/ Tasha2-1. jpg - Title comes from two things in this case; the first is the vocaloid/Nico Nico cover I was listening to; look up 'Matryoshka' with the key words 'Nico Nico Chorus', and find the one uploaded by 'AnotherNicoUploader'. It's pretty catchy. In any case, once I found out that they were saying 'Matryoska', which is, by the way, the term for 'Nesting Doll' in it's language of origin, I ended up drawing a pair of them... And suddenly THESE TWO popped out of them. And then I was looking at the background, lamenting how empty it was. ... So the pharaoh ended up there. D'OH. Nonetheless, look what's on the nesting dolls, and see if you can figure out why Jonouchi even _has_ something on his.

With that, I'll see you next chapter... Which is hopefully sooner rather than later!


	24. Chapter 23

**The One Who Came With The Night**

* * *

The 'trip' back to the castle was anything but fun, he decided fairly quickly. Saruwatari had not appreciated the fact that Yugi won at all, and given the condition of his neck right now that was more than apparent. He realized all to quickly however, that the room they were taking him to was not the same tower that he'd been in before. Instead they moved down, down down, into the depths of a dank torch-lit hall with a pounded dirt floor. The boy watched as a cell door was opened, before he was roughly tossed to the other end. "Gn!" Mokuba grunted as he fell to the ground of a basement cell, pulling himself up slowly with a cough. Ow... Ow... In addition to the bruises from earlier this was... He frowned as he heard a 'clink' noise, turning to find that there was now a chain around one of his wrists. They... They'd locked him in a dungeon cell! "Gh... You... Let me out! Right now!"

Saruwatari merely smirked, shaking his head. Now that the chain and cuff was attached, he moved back from the boy to watch as Mokuba fruitlessly tugged at the chain. "And why would I do that," he 'asked', arms crossed as footsteps echoed down the hall. It was dark in this place... So dark... The sun had already begun to set, and through the barred window above him there was nothing but a dull ray of light that illuminated nothing. All he could see was a dull gleam of light against Saruwatari's sunglasses, and along the bars of the cell door behind the man. "It took me ages to find you after all, and thanks to that mess with your 'friends'," the man added with a sneer. He shook his head mockingly as he cut off, before continuing. "Tsk tsk tsk... After all that Pegasus did for you, looking after you even when you refused to give up the information we needed..." Did for him? He locked him in a tower room with nothing but a bed and his belongings! He kidnapped him from his own house, searched the entire place...

As Mokuba merely smirked darkly in response to that (After all, it would be impossible to get the information from him), a voice came from out of the cell. A voice that caused a shiver to run violently down his spine, a familiar shadow appearing on the floor as the steps grew louder. "That's enough I think," said the chillingly familiar voice. "You're dismissed, Saruwatari..." The suit nodded, moving to the side as his employer stepped in. "I want to speak to _dear_ Mokuba-boy in person..." H-Hihhhh...

The suit left, and Mokuba drew back as the red suited CEO of I2 walked in. Pegasus waited silently, arms behind his back until the footsteps echoed down the hall and out of existence. The boy swallowed nervously, tensing as the man drew back his hair to reveal a golden eye before stepping forwards. That eye... The others had called it the 'Millennium Eye'... He'd looked at him with it on his arrival to the island, stared at him and somehow known everything..! And it gave him the chills, even before the man actually spoke. Staring at nothing, a dull shine passing over it. Nonetheless, as he remembered why he was there, and managed to muster up at least a fraction of courage for the moment. After all... He stood between the company and Pegasus didn't he? So long as Pegasus focused on him... "Gh... Why do you need to talk," he bit out with a snarl. "You can read minds can't you?" That's what Anzu had said at least... Along with everyone else.

And apparently, he was right about that. Pegasus chuckled, shaking his head with a mock sigh. "Dear _dear_ me! You mustn't think of such things," he 'whined', bringing a hand to his head rather dramatically. This man was not setting a good image for Americans... At all... "It would be rude if I just pried through your head and left after all... Really..." His eye narrowed, and he looked down at the small boy before him. The man's expression shifted from the look of mock despair to a fairly frightening smile, and Mokuba shivered in response. "But I have to say... Why is it that once you were found by Saruwatari you gave in so easily... You could have attempted to run, or even have your canine-security defend you..."

The boy continued to press himself against the wall as Pegasus stared down. He stared at the ground, refusing to make eye contact with the man lest his thoughts be pulled from his mind. He couldn't let anything out... He couldn't reveal anything, even think of anything... "W-Why would you care," he asked nervously, head turned deliberately away from the man. "I... I have your precious key after all! So you should be happy I'm here!"

"Yes... I was wondering about that," he said, stooping down and roughly grabbing Mokuba's chin. Ignoring the grunt of pain he received in response, he jerked the boy's head up and towards him. And still, Pegasus noted with a cruel smile, the boy was attempting and failing to avert his gaze, only to finally lock on to the Millennium Eye. It had that effect... Drawing the attention of all who were near, leaving their minds as easy prey... "When I looked into your thoughts, it appeared you weren't lying about the 'key'... After all," he stated, eye narrowed slightly, "All you had to do was admit to swallowing 'a key'... But it occurred to me, my dear Mokuba-boy, that I never asked _which key_..." The smile grew dark, his eye narrowing further. That look... It wasn't good... "Now why don't you tell me again, exactly what key it was you were given..?"

He swallowed, squeezing his eyes shut. He couldn't tell him... He couldn't think about it, not about the key, not about the replica that was long-since dissolved... Not about the key Katsuya had, not about his nee-sama's secrets, about- He froze as chuckling came from the man holding his face, and his breath hitched. Nee-sama... No... He'd let the thoughts run through his head... Even though he'd been so sure he could hold them off...

The man's smile grew as he dropped Mokuba's head, pulling something from his pocket. As the boy below slowly looked upwards in horror, Pegasus chuckled just lightly. "Such an interesting mind you have Mokuba-boy," he said with a laugh. So very very interesting, the thoughts that ran through the panicked mind... "Don't worry... I already knew that you didn't have the key... I just thought I'd check." He held a card out, still smiling as he looked over the blank canvas it depicted. "But my my! To think that Kaiba-boy was... Well," he said as the boy's eyes widened in response, thoughts supporting his suspicions. "I suppose that 'boy' would be... _inaccurate_... now wouldn't it..."

"Y-You..." As Pegasus continued to chuckle, Mokuba grit his teeth, lunging at the man. The chain clanked angrily against the wall, and Mokuba struggled as he attempted to throw a fairly terrible punch. "YOU BASTARD! **BASTAAAAAARD**!" As the man raised an eyebrow at language he'd likely picked up from Katsuya, he continued shouting, eyes filled with rage. These were his thoughts... His secrets, and the secrets others had trusted with him..! He had no right... No right..! "GET OUT OF MY HEAD! GET OUT! YOU... YOU DON'T HAVE A RIGHT TO KNOW THAT! ONLY NEE-SAMA, ONLY KATSUYA-NII-" He chocked, still struggling against his restraints as he looked forwards. How dare he... How _dare_ he...

Pegasus merely smiled as he stepped back, the chain holding Mokuba in place as he laughed. "So close to your employee's Mokuba-boy... You shouldn't think those things..." His eye narrowed with cruel mirth, and he continued. "You don't know what sorts of things could happen as a result..."

Didn't know... He knew what could happen, but his thoughts weren't normally available for broadcast! The boy merely growled, tugging fruitlessly at his chain as he reached forwards with his free arm. Just... If he could just do something, anything..! "HGGGN! You stay away from them! You can't touch them," he shouted, eyes narrowed as the man before him merely held that same card with a frightening smile. "S-STAY AWAY!" As he continued to struggle, he suddenly found himself growing abnormally cold, eyes going wide as the sensation of immense weight passed over his body. "Hng..!" He stopped struggling, taking a few steps back as he slowly looked up at Pegasus with wide and terrified eyes. This feeling was increasing... He was having trouble moving, and it felt as though he'd finished running for days on end. "What... What is this..."

Chuckling continued to fill the room, and Pegasus held a card out for him to hold, dropping it on the ground. It landed face down... His vision swam, and he blinked in a failed attempt to clear his blurred sight. A card... He didn't want to see what it was, and yet... Hesitantly, Mokuba moved forwards, slowly picking it up and flipping it over to look at it's image. 'Soul Prison', it said, with faded katakana slowly appearing on the bottom. He squinted at it, watching as an outlined image of a person slowly faded into it. He felt weak... Dizzy... The boy groaned as he held his head, biting his lip. "What are you doing," he forced out, falling to his knees as his hand refused to drop the card. "Why... Why are you..."

"Shhhhh..." Pegasus' golden eye gleamed in what little light filled the room, the captive below watching with dulled vision as the man gave him a frightening smile. "I don't plan on doing anything more than _this_, Mokuba-boy... Just sleep... _Sleep_," he said, the boy below attempting to do just the opposite. "It's all you need to do..." Such a calm voice... Smooth and convincing, but he couldn't listen... If he listened, who knew what would happen, who knew what would await him..!

Frightened eyes dully made their way to the hand holding the card, unable to widen as colours began to appear on it. The hand shook slightly as he collapsed forwards, falling to his side to stare at the image. Black hair... White shirt... Blue eyes... He gave a shiver as the image slowly began to clear, practically crying for his body to just hold on, to just hang in there. This person... This face appearing on the card... It was... He couldn't... He couldn't give in to this, it had to be a trick, a hallucination, anything but this... He wanted to see his big sister again, to see Katsuya again, to see everyone...

_Sleep_, whispered a voice somewhere as he shook. Who was that... Who was speaking... _Just sleep_...

_Sleeep..._

As he closed his eyes, finally giving in, the card slipped slightly in his hand. Pegasus chuckled as the boy finally caved, image on the card now complete. It was the first time he'd tried to only gradually seal a soul... An interesting result really, he _had_ wondered what sort of effect on the body it would have. The man leaned over, grabbing the card still tightly clutched in Mokuba's hand before looking over the image of the frightened and trapped young boy with a cruel smile. The boy's hands gripped the bars of his prison, eyes wide and fearful as his expression locked in a silent cry of terror. "Good... You listened... Things go _so_ much better when you do after all, and I _do_ hope you don't mind these... _Terrible_ living conditions," Pegasus muttered as he turned from the soulless body on the ground. "But I'm afraid you've given me no choice," he said with a sigh, moving to leave the cell without even bothering to shut the gate behind him. "After all... Soul's can't run, can they Mokuba-boy..? So it's not as though you'll be any trouble for me now..."

There was no answer, save for a slight shiver on the image of the card as it was placed into the depths of a breast pocket.

Cards couldn't scream after all.

* * *

Meanwhile in the woods of the island, Katsuya and the others were searching rather fruitlessly for Mokuba. "It's no use," Honda shouted loudly as they leaned against a cluster of trees. They'd stopped going after duels the moment they realized Mokuba was gone, but for all the time they'd spent looking they were having no luck whatsoever. "That kid isn't anywhere!" Yea no shit Honda, Katsuya thought as he clenched his fists. No shit... Damn it...

It was nine hours into the first day now- for the past few hours, they'd been searching high and low for Saruwatari's hide, but to no avail. At the moment, all they'd succeeded in doing was souring the mood further and exhausting themselves. "Tch... Mokuba was probably taken t' Pegasus' castle," Katsuya growled, spitting at the ground as he collapsed. "F'r us to have an incentive t' go in an' get him back..."

Yugi nodded, looking over at the distant building in question. "We can't get into Pegasus' castle unless we have 10 starchips," he began, frowning. It made sense really, now that he thought about it; the door to the castle was literally locked with a dial meant for ten chips. Without the chips, it was effectively a fortress... And since Mokuba had still been carrying all the chips he stole...

Another nod from Katsuya, the blond moving from the side of the tree with a determined expression. "Right!" Ten starchips... They got a hold of those, and they'd be set to 'storm the gates' so to speak. He frowned however, as he turned to look down at his wrist. Ten chips... That was all easy for Yugi to say... He had 6, only four more and the guy would be there. As for himself... Well... Shit, he only had two! He'd only dueled once the entire time and the sun was already setting! Damn it damn it damn it... Alright! He clenched his fist, the decision being made. "Time t' find me an opponent..." As the others shrugged, standing up to follow him as he stalked off, he cracked his knuckles. Time to get moving!

This was apparently much easier said than done however... As an hour later, he still had two star chips. He'd probably asked at least half the island to face him, and... He still had... Two star chips...

"Hey you," he shouted, grinning as he found another duelist. Maybe this guy would fight him! Just about everyone else had flat out bolted for some reason... "You wanna duel me?"

The boy turned for a moment, blinking. "Duel? S-" He tensed, growing pale as he looked at the group. "T-That's... Mutou Yugi behind you... Isn't it?" As a matter of fact, yes it was... And he had better not be staring from behind h- Damn it. The boy shook his head, laughing nervously. "N-No thanks... Yugi would just wipe the floor with me after!" No.. No he wouldn't... Because he wouldn't be fighting! Daaaaaaamn it...

As the boy ran off, Katsuya groaned. "Auuuuugh... Man that's th' fourth one!" He rubbed his face, sighing as he ran his fingers through his hair. "Shit... Isn' there any other way I mean... Hell, every time they spot Yug' they run off... No will power at all..." Just what kind of tournament was this if no one was fighting them? Rigged maybe..? Or... Something..? (Did Yugi's 'loss' count if they just didn't manage 10 chips before someone else did? Because if everyone was running...)

Bakura laughed lightly from behind, shaking his head. "I think they see Jonouchi-kun as a tough enemy... Since he's hanging around Yugi-kun..." Oh? Hey, that wasn't bad- wait, was he implying that he wasn't good at all? Was he..?

Beside him, Honda nodded before sighing. "They probably feel his aura of _RAGE_..." Rage?

Katsuya's response did nothing to help the image in any way, his face going rather red. "NHHHH! IT'S NOT MY FAULT," he bit out with a growl, crossing his arms. Honestly..! He wouldn't feel so pissed if Pegasus wasn't being such an ass about everything going on! As he turned to continue searching for an opponent, about to say something to Yugi, he was interrupted by a familiar laughing voice. The group froze, and he mentally groaned. Ohhhhh shit not her...

He turned, wincing as Mai appeared with a smirk. "We meet again, Jonouchi!" Wait, so... She was stalking him now? And what was she even _doing_ here? She smirked, crossing her arms. "You look the same as ever... A bunch of kids klutzing around..." The woman chuckled, shaking her head as the others continued to sputter at her insults. "What, did you all turn into ducks?" A what!

Katsuya seethed, reeling back at the comment. "D-Ducks! What the-" Scowling, he made to respond to that only to freeze as he caught sight of the woman's wrist. Hang on, she had _eight_ star chips... That was four times more than he had, damn it... He bit his tongue as he went over the difference in chips, watching as the woman turned to Yugi.

"Yugi... Doesn't it annoy you," she said in her sickeningly sweet tone, crossing her arms as she sighed. "Every time you're 'alone', they're just following you around..." Wait, what was with that comment? Just following around, well what did she think, that they'd just abandon him? Or... That he'd abandon them? Seriously, what the hell was she doing.. He tensed as the woman abruptly turned to point at him, shouting. "JONOUCHI!" Wah! What what? What, she was turning on him now! Stop switching! "Last time you got flowers and sparkles, but this time my manservant will beat you!" Flowers and sparkles? If that was flowers and sparkles, he'd be stocking up in brain bleach for months... And hang on...

He did a double take, blinking a few times as the word 'manservant' registered in his mind. "Er... Wait what? Manservant..? What..?" Blinking again, he managed a smirk. "Finally get someone t' stay after yer creepy card playin' then?"

Mai tensed momentarily at that, before grinning in response. "You could say that," she said as she stood to the side, gesturing to the space behind her. "TA-daaah!"

From behind the tree, a familiar face appeared, its owner smirking as he gave a wave to them. Though familiar was a fairly loose term, given that it was more 'familiar to all those who had a TV'... Not to mention, this was the same guy who poked fun at their sleeping arrangements on the boat... Only to show up later in that same room. Hahahahaa... Now that he thought about it, Mai hadn't been in that room that evening... So if you thought about the reason behind the switch, this was probably just her using the guy instead of dating. (Otherwise it wasn't really working in his head.) "Heh heh heh... Been a while Yugi, Jonouchi!" Dinosaur Ryuzaki...

Wait, Katsuya thought as realization finally thumped him in the head. He was facing the runner up for the tournament? He swallowed, before remembering Mai's 'duck comment'. Damn it! Who cared if this was probably part of some weird vengeance plan! He could do this... And he would do it! For Mokuba and Shizuka both! "Alright," he shouted, gritting his teeth. "I'LL TAKE YOU ON!"

"J-Jonouchi, I really doubt-" Hang on what was Honda saying!

"I AM NOT A GOD-DAMNED DUCK!" As Honda drew back, he shook his head. Honestly... God! Turning back to face his opponent, he nodded again. Alright... "I'll do it!"

Ryuzaki nodded as well, moving from the tree he'd been leaning on with a smirk. "We'll duel in that box over there," he said, before walking off with another wave. "I'm going ahead, alright?"

He nodded as well. "Right!" As he said this, Mai moved to join the teen, Yugi coming up beside him at that moment.

"Jonouchi," the teen said, his friend looking down at the moment in thought. He almost seemed to be lost in whatever he was thinking about, before Yugi turned to look up at him. "I need to ask you something about earlier, during the duel with the ventriloquist..." The ventriloquist..? Why would he be asking about that?

Katsuya blinked, before nodding. Well... Not like it couldn't wait just a little more right? "Got it... We can talk after this then... Listen, Yug'," he said, the teen giving him his attention. "I need t' ask ya a favor." If he was going to do this for Mokuba and everyone else, he mind as well go all out... As the others turned to listen, he continued, mentally kicking himself. "I don't want yah t' give me any advice during this duel! None at all, alrigh'?" That way it would all be 'him'- and he'd be able to tell himself that when he got to the other side. Granted... Yugi's advice was pretty good... And also fairly helpful...

Damn it... Why'd he say that? What the hell did he just- ACK. Never mind... He wasn't going back on his words, and it wasn't like he could turn back time anyways! Though the others seemed to be having thoughts fairly similar to his doubts right now... "What are you saying Jonouchi," Anzu shouted, the others nodding in agreement.

"Dude, that's crazy!" That would be Honda...

"You can't beat him on your own Jonouchi-kun!" And Bakura...

He smirked, shaking his head. Well... Regardless of what they thought (And what _he_ thought...), he shrugged. "Yea yea... I know..." The blond gave a sad smile, continuing. "Inside my head, I'm tellin' myself th' same thing... '_what th' hell did you jus' say, damn idiot!_'... That's what I'm hearing!" Katsuya held up his glove, looking at the starchips. The two that sat there gleamed in the setting sun, and as he looked over them he found himself nodding to himself yet again. "I'm gonna bet all my starchips on this duel... An' if I lose, it's all over..." He swallowed, clenching his fists. "And it'll mean I can't save Mokuba..." It would mean he couldn't save anyone... "But... I'm gonna win by myself," he said, smirking as he turned towards the duel box. "An' by winning... I'll be winnin' for th' others too, doing it on my own! That's how I feel!"

Yugi stared at him a few moments, before nodding. He got it... Abruptly, he seemed to 'drop', almost collapse... And before they knew it... "Yugi!"

The blond stared, before grinning as Yugi looked around with wide eyes. The few strands of blond hair that stood on end as the 'Other Yugi' flopped back over his face, and the boy shook himself for a few seconds. "Hah! The normal Yugi came back!" Now that he thought about it, for all the similarities he had a fair number of differences from his 'other self' in terms of appearance...

His friend blinked as the others stared at him, before grinning. "Hahaha! Yep!" As the others made to cheer Katsuya on, the boy continued to grin, chasing after his friend as they headed toward the duel box. "Jonouchi-kun, good luck!"

He nodded, turning around and shaking his head with wide eyes. Hoooooly shit. Having gotten so used to hanging around the 'other Yugi'... The overall cheer and almost childish attitude that the 'original' had was pretty damn weird. '_Yugi_,' Anzu was shouting in the back ground, '_Let's cheer for Jonouchi!_' '_Yea_,' was the loud, cheery response, and Katsuya resisted the urge to shake himself off. Sooooo different... If this sort of thing happened often, he'd probably have to carry around a bucket of water or something. That or his arm would be completely red from all the pinching he was doing. Nonetheless...

A few seconds later, he was staring Ryuzaki down across the duel table, decks cut and shuffled as cheers came for both sides from around the box. "Heh..." Ryuzaki turned, snorting. "The peanut gallery sure seems lively..." For all the sting of the comment, it actually sounded pretty calm; maybe the duel wouldn't be to bad! "By the way," he added, turning to his opponent. "How many Star Chips you betting?"

Katsuya tossed his two chips on the table, frowning slightly. His only chance... Regardless of how his opponent acted, he couldn't slip up even once! "Two!"

The teen nodded, pulling two off from his own glove. "Gotcha! I'll bet two as well then; I have the mountain field, and you have the grassland," he began, placing his deck in position on the field. " And the mountain field gives my dinosaurs a power up," he added with a smirk. "Get ready!"

Another nod. Alright... Ryuzaki was runner up in the tournament finals... His dinosaur cards were strong, but if he could pull out the two card combo he used to beat Mai... Baby Dragon and Time Wizard would finish this off easily!

"Let's go," Ryuzaki shouted, pulling the blond from his thoughts. "Duel!"

They drew their cards, Ryuzaki Katsuya grinning. "Lucky..." First hand and he already had Baby Dragon and Time Wizard! He smirked, already confident in himself. He could win this... He could definitely win this! "Let's go! I summon Baby Dragon in Defense mode!" He definitely wasn't putting him in attack mode. That would be silly.

For a moment, Ryuzaki appeared to be staring at the monster incredulously; after all... It had what, a few hundred points to defend with. He soon shook it off, playing his card with a smirk. "Alright then! This is my card; Two Headed King Rex!" Ehh... Shit... He probably should have remembered to put a card to keep the first half of his combo alive huh... Not that he had one really... He winced as Ryuzaki sent it forward, groaning as the dinosaur squished Baby Dragon beneath its fat clawed toes. "AHAHAHAA!" Ryuzaki laughed at the expression on Katsuya's face, shaking his head. "What are you, stupid? You can't just put down random cards, use your head a little!" As the teen rapped on his own head, smirk still in place, Katsuya grimaced. Sheesh! He had been! ...Kinda. Alright, so...

Why was Mokuba's taunting voice of '_you can't win with just monsters_' in his mind... Damn it... Ugh... At the thought of Mokuba and the boy's current likely position, his mood soured even more. Shit... Toning out the shouts from outside, he looked at the dinosaur with partial disgust, idly looking at the attack power it held with a frown. Shit... There went his trump card... And his stratedgy... He scowled as Mai shouted that particular part out loud. Yea yea, rub it in why don't you... So he couldn't use Baby Dragon with Time Wizard now, he'd just have to pull out something else! He had at least one card that would work in here...

"C'mon," his opponent said, snapping Katsuya from his thoughts. Ryuzaki had a frown on his face, arms crossed in impatience. "Play your next card!"

He nodded. "Right..." God damn Mai mouthing him off outside... Seriously, what did she have against him anyways, just because he was mouthing off on her cards... ...They had it coming. Ryuzaki had a fairly strong monster on the field, that was true, but he had a good one in his hand as well thanks to this draw! Gritting his teeth, he played a card on the field. That Rex's attack should be below his monster's so... "Let's go, Demonic Ox-Man! Attack!"

Ryuzaki grinned, laughing loudly as most of the others outside groaned. Shit. He'd missed something again, hadn't he. "HAHAHA! You really are a moron! Did you seriously just forget about the field effect?" And AAAAAAWWW SHIT. Yes. Yes he did, and FUUUUUUUUUUUU- "DINOSAUR FOOT STOMP!" The Rex charged at his ox-man, and though his own monster managed to force the foot off of him for a few moments, he soon joined Baby Dragon in a pile of mush on the field.

Aggguuuhh.. "Damn it..." His points dropped by a few hundred, and he winced. Great... He took the first hit. Idly, he heard Yugi say '_Don't rush_!' from outside, and he nodded. Alright... Alright calm down, don't rush... Don't rush... Wait... Didn't he tell Yugi not to give him advice? Then again, 'don't rush' was pretty standard... Ok. Ryuzaki got a bonus from the wastelands... But two could play at that game! His field was grassland after all... And grassland powered up swordsmen and warrior monsters. "Alright... This is my card then," he shouted, playing one on the field. "Axe Raider! And he gets the grassland field bonus!" As the axe raider stood, gaining enough to surpass the twin rex, he nodded. Don't rush... He wouldn't attack this turn. "I'll set him here and end my turn!"

His opponent nodded, drawing a card. "My turn," he said, apparently glad that Katsuya was actually being an 'opponent' now rather than just playing cards left and right. "Ok! This is my card, also gaining a bonus! Sword Dragon!" The stegosaurus like monster appeared on the field with a roar, attack just barely surpassing Katsuya's own. SHIT. That wasn't good! "DRAGON TAIL SWORD! Axe Raider's gotten what was coming to him!"

"Gh!" He watched as the monster charged the field to slam his tail down on the Axe Raider. Katsuya winced, watching as the monster was cut cleanly in two while the stegosaurus meandered back to his own side of the field. Shit... Even more attack points...

"HAHAHA! It's no good," Ryuzaki said with a smirk, before grinning. "If you think you can beat my dinosaurs, you'd be better off living in the ice age!" Yea, whatever the FUCK that meant! God!

He looked down at the table, eyes closing as he rubbed his head. Damn it... If this was Ryuzaki's beat down strategy he was done for... Man... He knew he couldn't... Briefly, he found himself turning to look at Yugi, before quickly smacking himself in the head. Fuck! He had to pull himself together, god... What was wrong with him, falling into that kind of gloom so easily. Yes, Mokuba was gone and there was no telling what happened to him... But he couldn't let that, or anything else bug him... He had to win! He _had_ to! With his own power..! "My turn," he finally said, drawing a card. Alright... He didn't have any cards to match his dinosaur... Katsuya looked over the 'Time Wizard', biting his lip. Well... Maybe it had some other power...

He set it face down, watching as Mai began whispering through the glass to Ryuzaki. Obviously he wasn't able to hear what the woman was saying... And Ryuzaki himself didn't say much in response. Something about '_not having a clue about how to use it_' really, but the only thing he could think of that he would be talking about was the card... But... How the hell could they know what he set? He mentally shrugged, before grabbing another card from his hand. It was probably a fluke... Damn it...

"Anyways," he muttered, putting the card on the field. Better keep Time Wizard safe, not to mention his lifepoints... "For my turn, I'm putting Ogre Rock in defense position..."

Across from him, Ryuzaki smirked. "A monster like that ain't gonna beat this one! Wasteland power up! I summon Megasaurier!" The teen laughed, the triceratops-like monster appearing on the field and preparing to charge. It pawed the ground, snorting before it took off to gore the ogre on Katsuya's side of the field. "Megasaurier's charging attack! And Ogre Rock bites the dust!"

He winced again, playing another monster in attack mode with a grimacing attempt at a smile. "How about this then..." This monster gained a bonus too; if he was lucky, it would-

There was merely another laugh in response, Ryuzaki drawing a card and pointing his triceratops forwards yet again."HA! That one's just a snack for my dinosaurs!" Shit, their bonus still topped his!

Katsuya scowled as his points went down, biting his lip again as shouts rang out outside and mutters began yet again. Come on, come on..! He drew his next card, steeling himself. He could do this! For himself, for the others... Besides... He gritted his teeth as he smirked. If he lost now, Seto would probably use his hide for a carpet or something. Not even that... More likely just throw him in a meat grinder. But that wouldn't happen... Katsuya looked over his card, mentally nodding to himself. It couldn't happen..! "My turn," he stated, now confident once more. "And this is my card, the Flame Swordsman! He gets a field power up!"

His opponent blinked, grinning as the robed warrior appeared on the field. "Ohoo... You finally brought out a serious card!" As if to agree with this, the swordsman held his blade out in an attack stance, the weapon glowing with heat as its owner frowned.

He nodded, pointing the monster forwards. Damn straight he did; but none of his monsters _weren't_ serious... He picked them for a reason, and so did Yugi after all! "Let's go! ATTACK!" Flame Swordsman and Megasauriler's attack power was equal, that was true; he didn't need Ryuzaki to tell him that. However, that wasn't all that was working in his favor... "**BLAZING SPIRIT SWORD**," he began, the swordsman charging forwards to cut through the dinosaur in a flurry of flames. "Megasauriler is annihilated!" Fire trumped all dinosaur cards, _all_ of them! And since the entirety of Ryuzaki's deck was based on them, there was no way he could lose now! As his opponent reeled back in shock as he took a hit to his life points as a result of the attack, Katsuya smirked. Just watch... He'd win with his own strength... And he'd fix this mess! He'd get Mokuba back, while giving Shizuka the chance to see without glasses, without a blurred veil of nothingness..! "HAH! Take that dino-freak," he said with a grin, Ryuzaki scowling at the 'dino-freak' comment. "This guy is my best of the best... And you can kiss all your dinosaurs good bye," he added, watching as Ryuzaki tensed, "Cause I'm gonna beat the crap outta all of them!" '_Keep on at it_', they shouted outside, the blond nodding. No problem... He would do just that! "It's your turn, 'dino-freak'!"

Ryuzaki visibly glared at the jibe at his deck, drawing a card. The look on his face quite clearly said he wasn't able to counter... The teen put a card in defense on the table, still scowling. "I'll put wild raptor on the field and end my turn!"

HAH! Now _he_ was running! Nice to see the tables had turned! "Ok, my turn," he shouted, grinning. Lets get rid of the next attack mode dinosaur! "Flame Swordsman, attack!" The swordsman rushed forwards with his blade yet again, cleaving through the twin headed rex and making Ryuzaki's points drop even more. "TAKE THAT!" As the cheers continued from outside, he had to smirk; at the moment, it looked like Mai was reaming Ryuzaki out for beginning to lose. Ryuzaki himself didn't seem to pleased with her, muttering something about busty blonds always being bitches.

Somehow, he couldn't help but agree... (Mai certainly didn't.) But there were bigger jerks (And fish, to quote Ryota) in the world... And one of them was comatose. He watched as Ryuzaki again drew a card, frowning and setting it in defense. Huh... He'd have to get through that 'wall' first then... Nonetheless.

"CUT IT IN HALF," he shouted again, Flame Swordsman slicing through the last of Ryuzaki's attack mode monsters. From outside, he heard Mai say something about not dueling the teen if he lost, and he had to laugh. So _that_ was why he was here? She probably set him up to duel him as a precaution... Knock him out, and know to watch your step. And with the reverse, it was one less problem to deal with! Well, explained the 'manservant' deal at least, he noted with a mental sigh... Back to the battle though, he had to smirk as Ryuzaki stared at the board with a frown. "Heh heh.. What's wrong dino-freak? Run outta cards?"

The teen scowled, drawing a card. "Oh just shut your trap already," he muttered, before his expression abruptly changed. Oh... Oh fuck, that was never a good thing... Hell that was the look he had when he drew his swordsman he bet... "HAHAHA! Red Eyes Black Dragon!" The monster appeared on the field, Katsuya gaping.

Oh fuck... That... That was a really strong card...

Ryuzaki continued to laugh, grinning. "Heh heh heh! Not so cheery now are yah?" No... No he really wasn't, Katsuya decided as the black, skeletal dragon flexed his wings with a feral growl. "I got the legendary Red Eyes Black Dragon as a tournament prize; it's an ultra rare card! Red Eyes is a dark attribute, so it won't get a power up... But it's still more powerful than your swordsman! GET READY!" He directed his monster forwards, the dragon rearing its head. "Black Fire Bullet! Destroy Flame Swordsman!"

FUCK! He watched as his card smoked out of existence, his points dropping to 65. Fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck! It got his swordsman... FUCK! That was the best card in his deck... He looked down at the table, gritting his teeth. This was it... "Shit," he muttered, ignoring Ryuzaki as the teen laughed. 65 points, you didn't come back from that kind of move... Not unless you had insane luck like a certain friend of his..! He was gonna loose... Drawing his next card, his mood not improving at all, the teen grit his teeth. Shit.. Mokuba... Shizuka... Everyone... The meat grinder was actually looking fairly comfortable now...

He looked up blankly as Ryuzaki started shouting at him, frowning slightly. "Jonouchi," he was calling, voice seeming further away than it actually was. What was it..? He was about to win, what was it..? "This is a trading card game.. So lets make a bet! The winner gets one of the loser's cards!" What..? Why was he making that bet now..? It wasn't like his Flame Swordsman would do any good in a dinosaur deck right..? And yet... "So if I win," he continued, Katsuya's frown deepening, "I want your Time Wizard!" Time Wizard? The blond looked down at where he placed the card. Oh yea, he'd forgotten-

Wait, why did Ryuzaki want that card? Hell, how did Ryuzaki even know he _had _that card! It'd been face down the entire time!

"And if I lose," the teen was continuing, "You get my Red Eyes Black Dragon! It's a premium card, worth over a hundred thousand yen!" HUNDRED THOUSAND! He watched blankly as Mai began shouting at Ryuzaki about the trading rule, a determined expression coming over his face. A hundred thousand yen card... Not only would he be one step closer to Mokuba if he won, but when he finally got there and Yugi freed everyone... He'd be that much closer to Shizuka's eyes... And if he didn't get the prize when he saved Mokuba, that card could very well pay for her eyes as it was!

He nodded, clenching his fist. "I'll do it," he shouted, watching as the two continued to bicker. Alright... Think, think! He didn't have any other cards he could use, but they obviously wanted it for some reason. It was a special card... A card that he put a lot of trust into; Yugi gave it to him for a reason and not just for a trump with Baby Dragon! He didn't know what would happen... But he didn't have anything left... And if he lost this bet, and this game, he wouldn't have another chance... Right! The blond stared at the table, mentally nodding. He'd take this gamble! "I'll put this card face up," he shouted, the ones across from him not noticing for the moment. "I'm using Time Wizard!" Ryuzaki and Mai instantly turned from their argument, looking over with raised eyebrows. Ah... That got their attention! Ok then... Thinking back to what Ryuzaki had muttered earlier, there was some sort of trick to this card, Katsuya decided with a slight frown. How did this card- Ah! He looked at the top of the staff blinking. On the staff... It looked like... He narrowed his eyes. A roulette wheel? The skulls were probably bad... But there was a 2-4 shot of getting a crown, which would probably do _something_, given the odds against it... So... "ALRIGHT," he shouted, smirking. "TIME ROULETTE! When the roulette spinner stops... Success will mean 'Time Magic'..." Or... Or something. Whatever it was, it probably had something to do with time... Not like he'd be dinged for saying it wrong right? "And failure will result in self-destruction!"

The needle spun rapidly, Katsuya biting his lip. Come on, come on... Odds were against him, but he needed a miracle! Across from him, Ryuzaki and Mai were both watching with wide eyes, as were everyone else... Come on... The needle began to slow... Come on... And it landed on... The crown. "

"SUCCESS," he shouted with a grin, the familiar wave of light appearing over the field. "TIME MAGIC!" He watched as the monsters on the table rapidly aged, Ryuzaki tensing as his monsters degraded into almost nothing. "A million years in the future," he shouted with a grin, "Your dinosaurs have become fossils! ALL OF THEM ARE **DEAD**!" Ryuzaki's points plummeted to zero as his dinosaurs and dragon both died, face pale. The duel was over... Gathering his cards, Katsuya idly smirked as Mai joined in the chorus of cheers. The others had noticed as well, giving her a fairly confused stare as the woman coughed in an attempt to cover it up. Hahaha, she just didn't want to be on the other end of that card... Given that even on its own there was a fair shot of clearing the field, _he_ didn't want to either. Still... Crazy blond twit... (Wait, he was blond... Uh... Lets rephrase that...)

Ryuzaki handed him the Red Eyes card, honoring their agreement as two starchips were also added to his wrist. The teen still had at least one chip left it looked like really; so for all that had happened (including losing such a rare and powerful card), he seemed pretty cool about things. Mai, on the other hand, had since vanished... Most likely to get her remaining two chips. "Hahaaa!" Katsuya had to grin as he left the duel box to the shouts of his friends. He had struggled in there but in the end... It really felt fulfilling, winning on his own. Hell... Not only had he done that, he got his own rare card too! He bet even 'Seto-chan' wouldn't sneeze at that one... Pocketing the Red Eyes Black Dragon with the rest of his deck, the grin grew still wider. Four chips down, six to go... One step closer to Mokuba, one step closer to Shizuka's eyes, one step closer to Yugi's grandpa...

They could do this!

* * *

The sun was already setting, Seto noted as she stared out the window. The sound of chopping helicopter blades filled the air, visible waves rocking through the ocean below as they passed. A majority of the trip had been held in silence, not that she minded really. Both the guard at her side and the pilot were two unknown employees, and she would much rather not speak with them... Not while she was looking over her papers or simply staring at the sky that at the moment, felt rather foreign to her. Somehow, while she couldn't remember anything past 'falling asleep' at Death-T, it seemed as though she'd missed seeing it. All the same, she decided as she turned from the window, grabbing her case from the ground. The silence was beginning to grate at even her nerves, and one could only stare at the setting sun for so long.

The case was opened, the woman idly taking a glance through the window again. Nothing in all directions could be seen now that they were 'half way there'. Just an endless expanse of water, with no way of telling just where they were. Briefly, she wondered how long they'd been flying; she didn't know the time after all, and there was no clock in the helicopter that she could see from her seat. It made it rather easy to hide things from her actually... Her eyes narrowed, but she held her tongue; now wasn't the time to bother with such things. Instead, she would go over the other things she'd brought with her. Seto grabbed a few of the cards from her briefcase, eyes lingering on the proto-type 'duel disk' she'd made those months ago. Now that she thought about it... While these would be able to bypass Pegasus' mind-scan, however it worked, it wasn't a very 'user friendly' system. Spitting cards to the side after use, the constant throwing and recalling... Hn. She would have to do some redesigning after this was all over... But really, when they'd first been designed, she'd had a few other things on her mind.

Such as _him_... "Death-T," she found herself muttering, the guard beside her turning. Thankfully, she knew better than to foolishly mutter things without using her false voice... It would cause problems if she didn't after all... Seto flipped through some of the cards, eyes growing distant as she continued to speak. "...How long has it been since then," she whispered with a frown, eyes almost closed as she stared at the cards. She assumed it was almost winter... But she still didn't know exactly what month or day it was... She'd missed Mokuba's birthday, that was for sure... Not to mention every other day between then and now.

Beside her, the guard coughed, as though caught off guard by the question. "Yes... Well..." Seto raised an eyebrow, her face still turned away from the guard as the man spoke. "It's been approximately half a year Seto-sama..."

She looked at the guard from the corner of her eye before snorting. Regardless of the fact that she wasn't speaking to him, she had to mentally shake her head at that. Half a year... She'd been gone for half a year... "What a year indeed," she found herself muttering again, going over a few of the cards she'd grabbed from the case. "I think I've forgotten how the cards felt..." She knew it was at least that really, so the answer wasn't helpful at all. For now however, she had at least one question she wanted to have answered... And while she doubted the answer would be honest, she still wanted one.

"We... Have all been waiting for your recovery Seto-sama," the guard continued, Seto idly noting that his expression said otherwise. In fact, the tone did as well...

Well, regardless of that... She held the cards with one hand, grabbing the folder Kyouko had handed her with the other. "I should hope so," she said, eyes narrowed slightly. "After all... You work for me, correct?" There was a hidden meaning in that, and she continued to stoke the flames that burned it. "All the events that occurred involving KaibaCorp, and even those outside the company," she began, eyes still narrowed, "Are in this report... Mokuba gave this to the only maid he trusted," the woman continued, placing the file down on her case. And there had _only _been one, given the crowd of new faces she'd seen in that foyer. "Now why is that..."

The guard coughed, expression unreadable as he gave his response. "We are worried about Mokuba-sama as well, Seto-sama. Believe us when we say, we will get him back."

"Of course we will," she stated rather bluntly, finding herself staring at her case. Mokuba... She would not wast this chance! "You sound as though you have doubts... ...'Okami'," the woman continued, the guard nodding as she addressed him. Honestly, she was surprised she'd bothered herself with remembering his name... But really, it would probably help for this small moment. "Just how is it that not a single member of my staff were able to prevent my brother from going missing..?" As she asked this, Seto pulled the papers from the folder to go over them, having only made it half way through before turning her attention to the deck. Once she'd found out that the Board of Directors had taken control, she'd just about had it with the papers... There would be a number of changes being made when she got back, mark her words...

As she placed the cards down to look through the remaining papers the guard beside her, Okami, coughed yet again. "T-That is..." He frowned slightly before continuing, Seto practically watching the cover-story being written right then. "We have a theory, Seto-sama... We believe that it may have been an inside job..." Of course it was...

She showed no visible reaction, instead skimming the papers at a fairly quick pace. Most of the information was to be expected... The board of course wasn't stupid enough to refurbish the newly established Game Technologies company as an Arms manufacturer again; that would cost far too much, and besides that they would need to get into her safe to find anything that would make it possible. There was something at the end of these papers that she absolutely needed to get to though... Something important that Mokuba, or perhaps someone else had left behind... "An inside job," she said, not looking from the papers. As the guard beside her nodded in response, she flipped through another form to look at the next. "Go on then," the woman continued. "Just who is it that you believed kidnapped Mokuba?" Who was it that you were planning on blaming, who was it that this man wanted fired more than anything... It was already fairly clear that this 'guard' would more likely attempt to attack her than protect her- however, at the moment it did more to simply hold her tongue. She could deal with the trash when she arrived at Pegasus' island. For now, she needed to go through these papers, and find out if those she had been told she could trust could legitimately be trusted...

Okami grew silent for a moment, as though hesitating. "It was one of his personal employees, Seto-sama; to be specific, a young part-time member of the security force by the name of Jonouchi Katsuya." She paused just slightly, before returning to her papers. Interesting, how it had changed from 'suspected' to 'it was'. But Jonouchi... It was that name again, the one that she kept hearing since she woke up. So they wanted her to believe that he was to blame then? And yet Kyouko, who had given her these papers had insisted that this same Jonouchi was the one who went after Mokuba... All the same, that would make a good cover given the obvious reality; but for what reasons could she possibly trust this man, she decided as she continued to listen. "As he disappeared shortly after the boy went missing, we believe that he is the one responsible for his kidnapping..." The guard seemed to grow more nervous as she went through the papers, coughing again. She had no reasons to trust anyone at the moment really, not outside those she herself had hired... However... If Mokuba himself had hired this 'Jonouchi'... Seto remained silent as she shuffled through the papers, now coming to the last few. As she grabbed the last form however, a wide eyed frown visibly appeared on her face. There was a note attached... Eyes skimmed it over before the papers were replaced inside the folder, the frown still set across her face. Okami looked over at the woman, coughing yet again. "...S... Seto-sama..?"

The woman took up her cards again, ignoring the guard for a brief moment. Those last two papers... Aside from the note, there had been a form detailing a single week of vacation for that same 'Jonouchi Katsuya'. Signed by her personal assistant himself, and dated the very evening after Mokuba had supposedly gone missing according to Kyouko. So it was two people now that she trusted completely who also trusted this person... Her thoughts led to the note as she continued to frown, staring out of the window again while gripping her cards. It was messily written, and not at all professional; but even so, she somehow felt it was enough to increase her suspicions on the guard beside her, possibly more so than the guard's own words against Isono's and her brother's apparent ones had been.

'_I won't break my promise_,' it said in messy kanji and kana, the woman frowning. A promise... If she could recall even meeting this person, she would be wondering what it was. But the words after made it fairly clear that it was not something she would remember. '_I'll bring him back_,' the second half said. Aside from that, there wasn't even a signature.

Even so, she had a feeling she knew who wrote that... "Hnp..." She grit her teeth, eyes narrowing with rage as she idly shuffled the deck of cards in her hands. "To think the Board of Directors would even think of making a deal with Pegasus..." It had been detailed quite clearly in the folder really... If Pegasus defeated Yugi, who had beaten her at Death-T, then they would hand the company over without question. A deal that would easily win those five money and Pegasus even more, and it disgusted her completely. "Making such an exchange behind my back, and taking Mokuba as well..." Okami visibly tensed at these words, and she continued to mutter to herself. "He will pay dearly for this..." With her hands... She would end this scum that dared to mess with her internal affairs.

There was a nervous cough again, and she mentally wondered what sort of excuses the guard beside her would come up with now. He was making himself terribly obvious... "One thing Seto-sama," he began, regaining his 'neutral' tone of voice. "There is, after all, another enemy on the island we are approaching. Do not forget about the boy who started this entire mess to begin with." She kept silent, replacing the deck she'd gone through to look through the next one in her briefcase. The boy... 'Yugi'? She highly doubted that he would stand in between her brother and herself... "Exacting revenge on him," the guard continued, seeming to stare at the deck of cards that Seto was now shuffling through, "Is the short cut to reviving your former reputation, Seto-sama!"

"...Revenge..." Somehow, she didn't feel as though revenge was what was driving her for the moment; particularly with Mokuba's life on the line. Nonetheless, she remembered the duel clearly... The shock of the final summoning of Exoida, the look in his eyes... '_An instant of atonement Kaiba_,' the teen had shouted as he pointed at her that day. Atonement... She stopped shuffling through the deck, smirking. "His battling was splendid," she muttered, partially to herself. Seto turned to look out the window, eyes growing distant as she stared out at the night sky. Slowly, she watched as the moon appeared from behind the clouds, continuing her mutterings with little regard for those listening. "Just as the last time I fought him..." Still staring at the ocean, she ignored the stare that Okami was now giving her; what use was the opinions of someone she would likely need dead in a few moments anyways? "I don't care if my heart seethes with feelings of revenge or not," she stated aloud, a small smirk appearing on her face. "I want to fight with _him_ again..." And again and again until she won... With feelings that were focused entirely on the duel rather than another purpose.

Abruptly, Seto tensed, eyes narrowing as the clouds in the sky cleared completely. Still holding the cards in her hands, she stared at the moon, watching closely as it slowly drifted towards the left. How strange, she thought as she fixed a narrowed stare at the sky. Slowly but surely the moon disappeared from the side of the window, increasing her suspicion. The moon was moving in the opposite direction of the place they were heading...

She frowned, eyes drifting to the other window and watching as the moon slowly began to appear in view. Circles... Her gaze shifted back to her case, a growl caught in her throat. The helicopter was moving in circles, the most childish and idiotic way to keep her from reaching her destination and it had _worked_. And given that she already had her suspicions, she had a fairly clear idea of why... There was a click beside her, and the woman turned her attention to the so called guard Okami.

"Tch," the man muttered, gun held at the ready and aimed directly for her head. Quick to draw... She hadn't said anything, and yet her well guarded body language had still managed to set him off. "It seems you've noticed already, Kaiba Seto..." He smirked, chuckling slightly as the gun gleamed in the light of the helicopter. "I was beginning to wonder how long I would have to hold out... The silence was killing me... But then maybe you thought that yourself, with all the muttering you've been doing lately..." Tch.. Morons.. She gave a mock sigh, fingering the cards in her hand as the guard continued. Honestly... She had no time for this _garbage_... "You're going to become a snack for the sharks 'Seto-sama'," the guard stated with a gratingly annoying tone. "They've been getting rather hungry..." Were they now..?

The woman scoffed, placing a card in her right hand before returning the rest to her other. Not as though this moron would realize what she was doing now... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." She chuckled, before resuming her frown. "It would figure that such small time employees would betray me as well..." She fixed a narrowed glare through the corners of her eyes, continuing. "Tell me, how long was it before my brother saw through your facade Okami?"

Okami merely smirked wickedly, still holding the gun. "Who knows," he said finger slowly pressing on the trigger. "Maybe if you're lucky you can find him in the other world and ask him yourself!" Mokuba-! He dared to even _imply_ that he was dead..! "Get ready... Hi hi hi hih..."

Her eyes narrowed dangerously, before a false expression of calm came over her face. No... She raised her hands above her head, eyes closed as she silently reminded herself that Mokuba was alive... He had to be alive... He had to... There was no reason for Pegasus to kill him, no reason... He was alive... "Before you shoot," she began, holding the card above the gun at a somewhat odd angle. "I'd rather not get blood on my cards..." She closed the case in front of her with her other hand, setting it on the ground before bringing it above her head as well. "Let me put my hands above my head first..."

"Hi hi hi hi hih..." The 'guard' continued to chuckle, before nodding. Good... He hadn't realized she could have put the card in the case... "Alright... Not a problem... Words worthy of the 'Prince of Cards," he added, seemingly emphasizing the title. Prince... Tch! She was far more than some 'Prince', she guaranteed that! As Seto's glare increased, the man's expression twisted into a frown. "Now then! DIE, SETO!"

A flick of the wrist was all it took. The card was dropped swiftly, and rather than a loud bang there was merely a light 'clack' noise as the gun failed to fire. Okami stared in shock as the gun locked, hand shaking as a guard sat between the trigger and the gun barrel. Gyakuten no Megami... The 'Goddess of Change'... Seto's eyes narrowed further, teeth grinding in anger as the man before her continued to stare at the gun in shock. "You..." He turned to her with wide eyes, expression barely visible from behind the black shades. A thick dent was visible on the card, but the trigger was still unable to connect with the rest of the gun. Stilll... That dent "Thanks to you," she hissed, grabbing the barrel of the gun tightly with a snarl, "A rare card has been ruined!" There was a sickening crack in the room of the helicopter, followed by a wailing and piercing scream as she snapped the guard's grip backwards. Seto pulled the gun into her hand in one smooth motion from Okami's now useless finger, taking the card with her other hand and aiming the gun at Okami with a cold glare.

The man continued to scream, clutching his finger in pain. Quickly however, he noticed the weapon that was now being pointed at him, drawing back from the gun with a choked scream. Seto smirked darkly, not even bothering to stand as she held the gun towards Okami's head. "If you're going to kill me," she stated, the smirk vanishing. "Do it with cards, or not at all! Now," she shouted, ignoring the man's mutterings of 'how... how..' "Open the door!"

Okami did just that, drawing it out as much as he could get away with while pleading for his life. In response, he received nothing but a cold, uncaring stare. Pathetic... One single turn around and the opponent was groveling for their life... "Hn! ... You, Pilot," she shouted, the man turning with a swallow. Yes... She certainly hadn't forgotten him... "Both of you are leaving this helicopter one way or another, get out!"

The pilot froze, stuttering as the gun was turned on him. "B-B-But s-sir... You can't possibly pilot this craft without me... R-R-Right..!" Ahh, and there was that defense as well...

Of course, given her skills in vehicle handling, it was a pointless shield. "Hnhnhnhn..." She smirked, moving from her seat to stand. "Oh don't worry... I know how to pilot a helicopter..." The woman moved over, grabbing her briefcase and holding it tightly. With the grip she held, it would be easy to crack it over either one of the men's heads... And if she had to, she would do it without question. "Even if I break open your skull in that seat, I can still get to the island easily..." The pilot gulped, knowing full well what she had grabbed the case for.

"U-U-Understood!" The man struggled to calm his breath, shakily standing with his hands raised. "Just please, don't... Don't kill me..!" Oh please, just get out already... The pilot moved from his seat up front, joining Okami at the open door with wide eyes. "Please..." Don't kill them..? It was tempting.

The muttering and begging was really getting on her nerves... Nonetheless, she could stand it for this single moment, being the one with the gun in this situation. Only for this moment however... "Hnhnhn... I could care less what you scum want... Now," she shouted, taking a small step forward as the two men clung to the sides of the helicopter. Wind whipped through her hair, knocking the pilot's hat from his head and vanishing into the darkness. Her stare remained unchanged and cold, the two men frozen as she raised her briefcase. "Disappear into the ocean, both of you!" A swing of the case, and the men released the sides of the door in a panic. Their eyes widened as they realized their fatal mistake, falling into the depths of the sea with a bloodcurdling scream of terror that was drowned out by the helicopter above them. Seto merely laughed loudly as she shut the door behind them, watching the men surface below. Taking a seat in the front as she took hold of the controls, she grinned. "Filthy animals," she laughed, turning the vehicle towards the island. "I hope you become the food for the very sharks you spoke of earlier! HAHAHAHAHAHAAA!"

As the clouds began to appear and surround the moon again, laughter filled the air, accompanied by only the dull crackling static of the radio beside her. Now then, she thought with narrowed eyes. To Pegasus' island!

* * *

AN: Pegasus you creepy creepy man... Why did I write that scene, why the hell did I write it... *shudder* Also, spastic Mokuba makes sense if you think about all the crap flying his way right now. And about Jonouchi. Heheee...

Speaking of Jonouchi, at last! Red Eyes is obtained! Love that dragon. Normally, I would mention the other 'challenges' I set up for this fanfic, but really, they've been mentioned a few times in earlier chapters... So I'll just give you the poll results on Priest Set's gender thus far.

So far, female seems to be favored, with it being a tie between a clearly female 'Priestess Set', and a cross-dressing Priest, the scores being 1 - 1. This is probably because if it was male Set, all you people participating in the poll would be wondering how reincarnation fucked up like that.

Male becomes female? _USAGI YOU NUT BAR_.

This chapter came up fairly quick neh? Look below for the reasoning.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey there Iona! Yea... The 'Gay Clown' would have been just as amusing to kill, but somehow I liked the 'Ventriloquist of the Dead' bit better. Maybe it's his name. Seriously! Imagine someone walking up to you and being all 'I'm the Ventriloquist of the Dead'. YESSSS.

Thanks for the compliment on Saruwatari's 'not so great escape'! Also, yes... Kaiba is indeed kicking but. Very hard too. We'll see how she reacts to Jonouchi... Ironically, since she can't remember him at the moment (She certainly recalls everything by the end of Duelist Kingdom though, so no worries), she's actually not that bitter about him... He dooms himself by extending the 'PMS' joke from Death-T though, throwing any budding respect she had for him out the window. D'OH.

As for Yami/Yugi's interrogation... Hehehehe... In time... In time... (I hope I don't disappoint you with it!) No breaks for Jonouchi at all.. :'3

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that, unlike Kaiba, loves Oden to bits!

And in other news, when Jonouchi is yelling at Honda, it's because of the original Japanese lines; it's a pun. In Japanese, Honda was about to say 'Karugaro', which... Is what he said up there really. However, in Japanese, the word for duck is 'Karuga_mo_'; given that Jonouchi cuts Honda off, it's likely that he heard 'Karuga' and completely flipped out.

* * *

Interesting fact, but unlike in the anime, Ryuzaki is actually pretty cool about dueling at this point in the manga. I don't know about later on (Aside from one shot of him asking Jonouchi in Battle City about how his dragon card is doing... And yelling at him for losing it. xD), but he's not that bad. At all. As I said early on... If not for the fact that he ordinarily lives in Osaka, and therefore doesn't really see the others that often at all, he'd be far more likely to end up on friendly terms with the main cast than a bespectacled snot like Haga.

* * *

TIME ROULETTE! GOOOOOO. There is nothing more godly than that card, I swear. There is also nothing more blunt than this: '_ALL YOUR MONSTERS ARE **DEAD**_.' - If I heard that, I would probably cry. But that's because I suck. In any case, one has to wonder what happened to the elemental bonuses later on in the manga... They just... Vanish... (Then again, at this point, the rules of the game still weren't established. As seen with Yugi's 'Catapult Turtle Flying Castle Gambit'. (Look up 'New Rules as the Plot Demands' on TVTropes... There's an _entire section_ dedicated to YuGiOh.)

Specifically (And I'm explaining this because we won't see that duel; Jonouchi wasn't there after all.), what Yugi did was send his dragon knight at the thing holding a castle in the air with his catapult turtle. Now, Yugi had previously set Swords of Revealing Light, preventing the guy's monsters from hiding in the darkness the castle brought, so what his opponent did was shield all the monsters under it... As the castle had a barrier that blocked attacks. However, when the swords vanished on the turn Yugi did this, the castle fell, as it had then only been supported by the swords' effect of freezing time... And... Well, all of the monsters were underneath the castle, so they were squished.

But the entire duel is essentially only possible with the holograms involved. Hence, 'New Rules As The Plot Demands'.

* * *

You might notice that, in terms of the manga, the scene at the end with Kaiba has happened _early_. This is for a very good reason; the duel after Jonouchi and Ryuzaki's is Yugi's and that... Night guy's duel. And the only time we see Jonouchi during that is at the times directly before it, when Mai shows up with food and such... So my plan is to tie that in with what we see _after_ the Kaiba scene; namely, the aftermath of Yugi's duel.

It makes sense when you think about it; it takes a full evening for the ship to travel from Tokyo to Pegasus' isle, so if it takes just as long for the helicopter, then Kaiba's 'half way point' would have happened before Yugi's duel. Speaking of the duel, the chapter that it starts up in is titled 'The Man Who Came With The Night'... I tweaked it slightly for this chapter, as I thought it, again, rather appropriate. (Oddly enough, the chapter with Kaiba's scene doesn't happen until four after it, and is called 'A Storm In The Kingdom'.

Aside from that, there is not much more to speak of in this chapter... Though that's probably my tired rushed brain at work. This chapter was mostly written already; I only had to add two scenes, and it was done! (Hence the quick update.)

With that, I will see you next chapter!


	25. Chapter 24

**Twelve Hours And Counting  
**

* * *

-_grnnnnn_- "Man..." Katsuya leaned against the tree with a groan as the last rays of sun left the sky. Regardless of all the fish they'd eaten earlier, it had still been a number of hours since that time; it was getting late... And his stomach was protesting considerably. "I'm hungry..." He knocked his head back against the tree, the others merely sighing in response. The fact was, without breakfast the most they'd had was a few cooked fish with Ryota; and even with that...

"Maybe we can find Ryota again tomorrow," Honda was muttering, arms crossed as he leaned against the tree as well. "Get some more fish..." That sounded great, if only they could do that right _now_... "He what time is it anyways?" Katsuya blinked, turning to the others at the question. Well, he didn't have a watch... So... One of them had to at least.

Bakura that one person, he pulled his sleeve back and clicked on the built-in light to look at the time. "Just around eight o clock..." As he looked up from the watch to turn to the others, Yugi stared at the sky. By this point, the stars were already visible... In fact, it was almost pitch black on the island, the only light in the area being Bakura's wrist watch.

"Wow..." He blinked a few times, pulling his legs in for warmth as he sat down with the others. "It got dark and quiet really fast here..!"

There was a nod from the tree, Honda sighing. "Yea... Haven't seen any other duelists for a while..." Try a few hours really... The air was fairly cool, not a breeze around them as the feeling of solitude came over. As it was, one would think that rather than forty (Or however many were left, he wouldn't know) people it was just the five of them. In addition to Pegasus and Mokuba in the castle of course.

He sighed, staring at the sky before another growl came through the air. -_grunnnnn_- Damn it not again. The blond attempted to ignore his protesting stomach, instead moving to get comfortable on the tree. Come on, come on... He had to hold off for at least tonight, there wasn't anything in the area at all! "There isn't any one the island that's stupid enough t' duel when it's dark out..!" Another grumble, and he kicked at the ground before sitting up. "Nnnnnn, and I'm still hungry!"

Beside him, Honda shrugged. "Don't look at us! None of us have anything other than books and starchips..!"

Books and god damned starchips- _'Your life depends on them_', not! Bullshit... Stupid american... "Shit man..." He groaned, rubbing his head before looking up with a growl. "Damn it! Screw starchips, I want some fucking food!" Even a mushroom would be good right now... He slumped forwards, groaning as the others sighed.

"I'd like some potato chips instead of starchips," Yugi was muttering from his own spot, giving a similar groan to Katsuya's. They were all hungry really...

Anzu as well was muttering something, and Katsuya continued to scratch at his head with a scowl. Had to be something around here they could eat, something... Didn't Honda mention mushrooms and edible plants earlier? Oh hey... He moved over to one of the trees at the side, blinking as he looked at something white at the base. Now what was this..? Plucking it up, he narrowed his eyes before wincing. Shit... "Heh... A... A mushroom!" He continued to stare at it, stomach growling yet again at the prospect of something even remotely edible. Man... He hated these things... Completely, but at the same time... The others behind him as well turned, following his gaze before the blond nodded. Right! Food was food! This would just be fuel for tomorrow! "I'm gonna eat it..!"

"AH! Don't do it Jonouchi!" The others jumped, grabbing him as the mushroom fell to the ground. He growled, struggling against their hold as they continued. "You don't know if it's poisonous or not!"

"Yea, what happens if you start tripping out!"

"DAMN IT," he shouted, finally pulling himself from their grip. It was a giant white mushroom, there wouldn't be a problem! "MY STOMACH'S GROWLING!"

There was rustling from the side, and they turned as the voice of the same woman who had seemingly been following them around all day came into the clearing. "Jeeeze what a crowd," she muttered, smirking with raised eyebrows. "All of you seem so hungry..!"

He groaned, turning as Honda stared with a red face again. Great... "Ackkk... Not you again..." His expression quickly changed however, when he noted that she wasn't talking any more... Instead, she was eating something. Something that suddenly appeared very, very appetizing despite being nothing more than a chocolate bar. "A-Ahhh..." The others followed his gaze, staring at the chocolate bar before he shook it off. Whatever! Like he wanted her food..! "Tch! Kujaku Mai," he said with a scowl, crossing his arms. "What the hell are you doing here anyways!"

The woman seemed to ignore her, still eating the chocolate. "Mmm... This choco-nuts bar is really, really good," she said as she chewed, holding the remainder out. "How about it Jonouchi, I'll trade you my bar for your starchips..!"

Katsuya snorted, gritting his teeth. Starchips for chocolate, what did she take him for! Regardless of what he said earlier... "Like hell I'd do that," he shouted, hair bristling slightly in annoyance. "These starchips are worth lives! I'm not trading them for anything!"

"Hnhnhn!" Mai chuckled, shaking her head with a wink. "Really, I'm just joking... If I was that much of a lowlife, I wouldn't have made you guys my enemies in the first place!" Tch... Don't fuck with him, seriously... Just what the hell did she want... As he continued to growl, the woman's smirk grew. "Don't give me that look... I almost feel like you're going to eat me!"

Another snort, regardless of what his grumbling stomach had to say about it. "Hah! Who would wanna do that, smart-ass bitch..."

Again, she winked at them, taking the bag off her shoulder as she spoke. "Well... Perhaps you don't see things that way, but how about this?" He blinked, raising an eyebrow while she addressed them all. "Why don't we call a truce for tonight," the woman began, Katsuya still frowning in response. "All of us are duelists right? We need to take it easy once in a while..!" Heh... Now what was that about... He narrowed his eyes, still frowning. He didn't trust this lady... Following them around all day, as if she was staking them out... What happened if two of their chips were missing in the morning, or worse? (Though he admitted that would not likely happen...)

Yugi however, was quick to jump on the offer. "That's true," he said with a grin, nodding at the offer. The boy waved her over, still grinning. "We're all tired from dueling all day... So sure! Come sit with us!"

"Ahhh, thank you~!" She walked over, opening the drawstring on her bag before dumping the contents on the ground. Cans and packets of various instant foods clattered out, along with a few bagged vegetables that looked as though they were drying out. "Now then... You guys want something to eat right," the woman began, Katsuya's stomach being all she needed for an answer. She chuckled, before pulling the drawstring back tight and taking a seat. "Well I have all sorts of stuff! If we get a fire going, we could cook up enough food for everyone!"

They stared as the contents fell to the ground, gasping. "Hah! This is..." Yugi gaped at the pile, shaking his head. "Food, tent, lantern... She has everything!" That tent was small, they weren't using it. Either way though...

Katsuya gaped at the pile, unable to keep a smile of his face. All this stuff..! Alright... So maybe she wasn't _that_ bad. "Sheesh... This is incredible..." He still didn't trust her though. Not one bit. ... He leaned forwards, grabbing a few things and inspecting them. Still, this was a lot of stuff...

As they continued to rummage through the pile, Anzu turned to Mai with a raised eyebrow. "So how come you brought all this stuff with you..?" That was a good question... He blinked, turning slightly as Anzu continued to wait for her answer. No one else really knew that the tournament would be on some island that wouldn't have food and a decent shelter, so why had Mai come so prepared?

The woman merely shrugged, shaking her head. "Well," she began, before crossing her arms. "You can't really trust too many people in a tournament like this..." Why did she look at _them_ when she said that? "So really, it only makes sense to prepare... Now then," she said with a smirk, turning on the others. "Boys! Time to start cooking; Anzu-chan and I will wait for you~!" Wait what? Why couldn't they do it!

He growled slightly at that, while Yugi merely nodded and grinned. "Got it," he said, turning to the others. "Lets get going!" Awww man, he couldn't argue when Yugi was already so gung-ho about this...

Beside them, Bakura had already grabbed a few additional packages from the pile, taking a few more from Anzu and grabbing a pot. "You can leave the cooking to me," he stated with a smile, Yugi grabbing a pile of wood from the side to build a fire. "I'm used to cooking for myself, so I'm pretty good at it..." That made sense...

As the two moved off muttering about how, in Yugi's words, '_it's just like camping!_', Mai turned on both Katsuya and Honda to toss them a second pot and bucket. "And you two," she shouted with a grin, Katsuya catching the pot with a scowl, "Can get some water!" Oh great, they were camels...

Still grumbling, he handed the bucket over to Honda. "Man, why the hell do I have to take orders from you..." He found his hand shooting up on reflex as something else was tossed his way, looking at the back with a raised eyebrow. "'Shower'.. Wait, yer gettin' a shower set up too?" The blond shook his head, turning away. Leave it to someone with 'Peahen' for a last name... "Sheesh, why don't you get the water... Ow!"

He was quickly elbowed by Honda, who still had a bright red blush across his face. Well obviously someone was thinking... Of something irrelevant. "Dumbass! We're getting food out of it!" Oh come on, like she'd take away the food if he badmouthed her! ...Actually that was likely to happen. Shit. Maybe he really was thinking straight right now... At Katsuya's set scowl in response to that, the teen pulled him off through the woods on the way to find some water. "Just suck it up Jonouchi!"

Katsuya was still frowning, but he nonetheless held his tongue for a few seconds. Suck it up, suck it up... It was probably just until morning anyways... "Yea yea..." He then grinned, chuckling as he noted that even as they were meters away from the woman, his friend was still red. "Least I know where my limits are... You c'n kiss yer chances goodbye if you think this'll get you in her good books!" His friend aimed a fist towards his head, and he dodged it fairly easily. "Heheheee!"

"Come on man," Honda was saying, adjusting his hold on the bucket that he had. Though he held a scowl initially, it quickly changed to a grin. "It's not like you didn't notice her either!"

Actually... Not... Really. Hell she was hot but she didn't really do it for him. Not a clue why but... Just didn't work. It was probably all the stuff from the duel... That or he was just verbally masochistic and preferred Seto's endless insults over Mai's breasts... (They were both still hot though) "Eh," he ended up muttering as they came to a stream, dunking the bucket and pot both under water. "She's alright... I guess..."

Shit, he shouldn't say that. That was effectively blasphemy in Honda's eyes... "_Alright_," his friend said with a raised eyebrow. "She's '_alright'_? Dude..." He brought up his hands, each one around his shoulder as he turned to the blond. "Her boobs," he began, enunciating his words, "Are _THIS BIG_. How can that not get you going?"

"Sheesh..." He scratched the back of his head, a half-smile on his face. "Don't ask me how my head works! I'm just worried about Mokuba alright!"

This was apparently enough to call the topic 'over' for Honda, as the teen raised an eyebrow before snorting in response. "Yea... I got yah- you get really weird when that happens, you know that?"

He snorted. Weird? Please, that wasn't weird! (Was it?) "Psh, not as weird as you were earlier today! Since when did you call 'im a 'weasel'!"

"It works with Johji!"

"Yer nephew's three Honda! _THREE_."

"You and I both know he acts a hell of a lot older than three!"

Needless to say, the topic very quickly vanished from that of the busty blond at their 'campsite' into something else entirely after that.

* * *

Getting back to the campsite had been fairly easy compared to finding the stream; it probably helped that Yugi and Bakura had gotten a fire going however, and the light was fairly apparent. A warm glow was visible even through the thick trees and bushes of the forest, and it was more than a welcoming sight. At the moment, Mai was turned to some sort of curtain; obviously she'd already set up the shower using a portable change-room of sorts, and only needed one thing. Namely what he had in his hands. As Honda moved over to the fire to give Bakura the pot and bucket of water, Katsuya handed Mai the shower bag.

The woman took it, smirking as she looked the bag over. "I'm almost surprised," she began, before moving to hook the bag up to a pole above the curtain. From inside, Anzu's hand could be seen grabbing for it, Mai turning back to face Katsuya as she continued. "For a moment I thought you would have poked a hole in it just to spite me!" As Katsuya merely snorted and took a seat on the side, she caught a look from where Honda was sitting. Namely the slight stare that he seemed to continuously be sending over towards the curtain. "Don't you even think about it," she shouted, Yugi as well blushing and ducking down to pay attention to the meal Bakura was preparing. "I see anyone even glance this way they're not eating a thing tonight, got it?"

Katsuya leaned back against the tree he was by, rolling his eyes. Yea yea, like he wanted to spy on Anzu anyways... She'd probably kick his ass for it in the end, regardless of a fight! She didn't look it, but she had a mean right hook... There was a reason why he and Honda used to call her 'Mazaki'. As Mai continued to level a look to him, he averted his gaze. Suck it up, suck it up... God this was annoying, he thought with a growl.

It didn't really help when Mai moved to take a seat beside him, resulting in a raised eyebrow on his part. "Nh? What're you doin', weren't you helpin' Anzu with the shower?" Or at least somewhere away from him? Maybe?

She laughed, shaking her head. "Anzu-chan knows how to use it, trust me... And I'm more than capable of making sure she gets to shower in peace from here," she added with narrowed eyes. The woman seemed rather surprised at the dismissive shrug she got in response however, and frowned before leaning in to him. "I don't get you at all," she finally said with crossed arms, watching as the blond gave her a look that said '_Oh really now?_' while attempting to edge away. She continued to frown, leaning against the tree before speaking again. "Loud moron like you, I would think you'd be ogling anything with breasts!" Hey, he took offense... (...Though as soon as he could, he was getting some porn tapes when he got back.) "Instead," the woman continued, snapping him from his thoughts. "You're acting almost as though you're handcuffed to a completely different person..." Her voice had been kept low as she spoke, preventing anyone else from hearing. It helped of course, that the water from the shower-bag was pouring on the ground now though... Either way.

Katsuya coughed, before turning on the woman. "Ah wait... You're questioning _my_ love life," he asked with a laugh. "What, creepin' me out with yer cards wasn't enough?" Stop following him please..?

"Well," she said with a smirk. "You certainly don't give the reaction I would normally expect from someone your age..." Someone his age..? Granted she probably had a point there. Few months ago and... Well... Idly, Katsuya fingered the empty key-box around his neck as he thought back to a certain someone comatose on a bed. What was wrong with him, honestly... Even he knew that wouldn't go anywhere, coma or not! He blinked as he realized Mai was looking at his key-box, frowning as the woman continued to stare. "Oh," she said, an innocent tone of curiosity in her voice as she pointed at the object, "Now what's that..?"

He coughed, looking at the pendant before answering the woman with a shrug. Not like she needed to know about his private life... "Eh... Jus' a box I got... Nothin' in it, if that's what you're after..." He narrowed his eyes, while Mai merely snorted in response.

"Please," the woman said, shaking her head. "I don't need a key that doesn't exist." How did she know it was- Right. Outline on the box. Looking at it even in the light of the campfire, the shape of a key was fairly prominently visible. Mai's expression softened, and she looked up at the sky with what seemed to be a pout. "Besides... It was just a question! No need to get so defensive about it! Unless..." She smirked, before looking in with an odd stare in her eyes. "Hnnn..." The stare continued, beginning to give Katsuya a _very_ nervous feeling. "Maybe you really _are_ chained up, neh, 'little boy'! Hnhnhnhnhn!" Ignoring the growl she was receiving in response to that, she continued to smirk and gave Katsuya a suggestive wink. "Anything to do with this 'Seto-chan' you mentioned in our duel perhaps..?" Hang on what!

He froze, sputtering slightly slightly as he turned a minor shade of pink. Screw everything else she said, how did she know... He didn't remember saying anything during the duel about her, except when he was... Shit... Ahhh hell, what kind of hearing did she have! "W-Where..." He shook his head, frowning. No he knew where... At the duel box, when he'd been muttering to himself..! "Y' heard that!" For a brief moment, Bakura turned from where he was tossing in chopped carrots to the stew he was making. Ack- Had he heard the last part..? Katsuya bit his tongue, watching the teen turned away before he continued. Well... Not like she knew who 'Seto-chan' was... Mind as well play it cool, keep her from mentioning the name again... "Tch... She might be on my list of people t' get starchips for, but that certainly ain't the reason, I can tell yah that!" Besides, as soon as she woke up, all of those ideas would fly out the window, because the chances of dating someone with her attitude were less than an ice-cube in a volcano. Or perhaps the sun.

Mai chuckled, shaking her head. "Whatever..." She stood up, the water in the shower having stopped for the moment. Looked like Anzu was done then... "I'm going to take a shower now..." The woman gave him a wink, and he frowned as Mai continued. Hihhhh... She was really getting a kick out of this wasn't she! "Given your 'apparent' lack of interest in anyone else, I think I can trust you not to look... But if you do," she added with a glare, crossing her arms again. "You can kiss your food good-bye!"

Tch! Suck it up, suck it up... He waved her off, shaking his head. "Yea yea, whatever..." Don't look... Sheesh! He was going to make sure he was as far away from that shower as possible! Walking back over to the others at the fire, he blinked as Yugi stood up to move towards him. "Eh, Yugi..?"

The boy smiled, looking up at him with a fairly questioning stare as he came over. "I was wondering," he said quietly, stopping about a foot away from the blond. "Earlier, the other me asked to talk to you about the duel with the ventriloquist..." The ventriloquist... Ah, that was right! He'd forgotten about that... After his duel with Rex, he'd been so completely lost in the cheer of getting the card and star-chips that they'd ended up moving on to look for more duelists. Yugi had probably just been polite and not said anything... "Actually," he continued, pulling the teen from his thoughts. "I was wondering if I could talk to you instead... It's bugging me too, and really, we both have the same question so..."

He blinked, before nodding with a smile. Hey if it was the same question than there were no problems with that now were there? "Well sure! What is it Yug'?" The boy shook his head, and he frowned. "Hn?" What did he mean 'no'..?

"Not here," Yugi said, smiling nervously. For the moment, Bakura and Honda were thankfully too distracted by the cooking stew to pay attention to what he was saying, and after looking at the ground a moment, he turned to the woods. "Over there- is that ok with you, Jonouchi-kun?"

Err... He scratched his cheek, before nodding. "Yea... 'S fine... But why do we have t' go somewhere else?" And why the woods? At night? Seriously, he was getting shivers down his spine already...

The boy smiled, rubbing the back of his head. "Erm... You'll see!" Er... He'd see? Man, whatever it was he was keeping it under wraps... Yugi turned to walk off into the woods, Katsuya following behind with his hands in his pockets. For a few moments, he found himself distracted by the rest of the woods. It was pretty damn creepy in here... If it was dark before, at 9 in the morning during Yugi's duel against Haga, it was pitch black at this point. Any light that made it through the trees did little more than add a ghostly silhouette to any reflective surfaces in the area, creating a particularly haunting appearance for Yugi in his opinion.

He looked around, swallowing before regaining his composure. Right... Not like there were any axe-murderers around after all. "So... Yug!" He turned to his friend, smiling despite the overall atmosphere of the area. "Yah wanted t' ask somethin?"

Yugi nodded, taking a seat on a log and watching as Katsuya did the same. "Yea... Um..." He frowned, fingering his puzzle as they fell silent. Whatever he wanted to say didn't appear to be coming out that easily... Just what was it he wanted to talk about anyways? "I was wondering... Earlier, when you mentioned the girl with the 'Se' and 'Hito' kanji for her name..."

"Nyh?" The blond blinked, staring at his friend a moment. "You mean Set... Seri-chan?" Seri really didn't sound right... Though he'd decided it a while before, it was better to keep the 'better name' under-wraps really. Besides, it _was_ one of the options Yugi had come up with.

The boy blinked, raising an eyebrow. "Oh... You... Found out her name then?" He coughed, nodding as he stared awkwardly at the ground. Weird, almost like he knew the name didn't fit either... "Erm... In the duel box," he began, frowning slightly as he shuffled his feet, "When the other me was fighting against the ventriloquist... I heard... Rather... I saw someone." Before Katsuya could do anything more than frown with slightly wider than normal eyes, the boy continued. "When the Blue-Eyes White Dragon disappeared, I saw a little girl..." A.. Wait, a little girl? What the hell did that have to do with Blue Eyes? Briefly, he recalled the bizarre 'near death experience' he'd had during Bakura's hellish 'Monster World' game; back then, around that time he too had seen someone...

'_You!'_ That time...

Katsuya swallowed, before speaking. It couldn't be... "A lil' girl?" He coughed, attempting to laugh a bit. It sounded rather fake, but nonetheless. "Haha! Ha! Must've been the fish... Heck, I'm th' only one with a sister, an she's a lil bit old t' be called 'little'! Y' must have been seein' things!" He had to!

His faltering laugh was cut off as Yugi turned to him, expression fairly severe. "Jonouchi-kun," he began, hands still on his puzzle. The boy looked up with non-faltering eyes, and he continued. "It's true we didn't know her when she was small but... For the next few seconds after she appeared, she changed..." Changed..? His frown increased, mouth held partially open as he hesitated to say something. What did he mean change..? "Jonouchi-kun," Yugi continued, placing his hands on the log beside him. "The little girl... In the end, she looked exactly like Kaiba-kun did... During out Death-T match."

He drew back, eyes wide. What... Briefly, he recalled that moment in the duel. The split second where for a moment, he swore that he'd seen Kaiba standing right in front of him with a legitimate smile on her face. He'd passed it off... It was a split second after all, and just as quick as he'd seen her she was gone... But... "You... Y' saw S... Y' saw _Kaiba_..?" He turned away, rather pale for the moment. Shit... What did he say..? His best friend had more or less said 'I know what you know,' but left it up to him to either cover it up or admit the truth..! "I..."

"Jonouchi-kun... ...I... I know you're probably not supposed to say anything," the boy said as he kicked at the ground and turned his head away nervously. "But I have to ask... You said all those things before, about a girl who acted like Kaiba-kun, and had the same written name..." He turned back, hesitating slightly before continuing on. "So I have to ask Jonouchi-kun, if this girl and Kaiba-kun are maybe... Well..." Yugi coughed, smiling nervously. "Are they maybe... The same person..?"

Katsuya blinked, staring with the same frozen expression he had when Yugi had mentioned Kaiba's name. His friend continued to stare, faltering just slightly when it looked like he wouldn't answer. Yugi... There was no way that seeing Kaiba in there was a fluke of indigestion right? Not in that way... And... The disappearance of Blue-Eyes and all that... He closed his still open mouth, mentally nodding to himself. He couldn't just say 'no' after that... They'd both know it was a lie, and he wouldn't live with lying over something like this. Besides, he decided as he mentally nodded. If she herself had really been there, for some reason or another... Then maybe that meant, even on an unspoken level, that just maybe she had a bit of trust in Yugi. "...Yea," he said finally, slightly pink in the face as he turned to look at a tree in front of him. "Yea... S...She is..." He rubbed the back of his head, before coughing slightly. "It... It's a long story but... 'S kinda why I got hired actually," he said with a slight laugh before drawing off. Erm... This was kinda awkward... Kaiba was already a rough subject for Yugi really, so he wasn't sure what to say... Not to mention, what he could and couldn't say after the secret was out... "So... ah..."

They fell silent again, neither of them really sure what should be said next. In the end however, it was Yugi who spoke first, turning to his friend with a wide smile. "Well... Either way, what I said at Burger World doesn't change!" What he said at- Katsuya blinked, remembering the boy's words back then. '_Whoever it is_,' "I'm happy for you, Jonouchi-kun! I don't really know how this will work," he continued nervously, laughing quietly. "But... I'm still happy."

He laughed, unable to keep a grin on his face. "Ahahahah! That would come t' mind f'r you after this kind of secret comes up, wouldn' it!" Honestly, he didn't know how this would work out himself... Probably fail horribly in the end, because of something stupid he did. He'd sure as hell try anything he could think of first though! (Not sure if that would help but...) Still grinning, the expression faded just slightly as he turned to stare at the trees again. "Yug'..." The teen swallowed nervously, looking back at him worriedly. "Lis'n... I... I know tha' Se-... Kaiba did all that stuff t' your Grandpa and everyone else..." Hell, him included, looking at the original battle plan for Death-T! "But..." He gave a wry smile, unsure of what his friend was going to say on it all. He said he was happy for him, and he didn't doubt it but... Well, the short-lived rivalry had ended on a more than sour note. "I dunno if it's 'cause I haven't actually seen how much of a bitch she can be for th' past few months or what, but I can't really hate her right now..." He just couldn't... Not after spending all that time with Mokuba, listening to the kid talk about all the good things he knew... He couldn't...

The boy stared, before nodding with a smile. "It's fine," he said, grinning. "The other me's penalty game won't fail! She'll wake up better than ever, ok? What's done is done," Yugi continued with a nod. "When Kaiba-ku... Ah... Kaiba-san," he corrected, Katsuya snorting at the quick change over, "Gets up... It won't matter, ok?" Well... If he said so! "Until then, we'll both keep this secret!"

"Right!" Nodding, the two stood up as chatter began cropping out from outside of the woods. It was more or less difficult to really tell what they were saying, but it sounded along the lines of '_smells good.._.' and '_is it ready yet..?_' Katsuya turned, blinking at the sounds before smirking. "Well," he began, grinning again as Yugi made for the clearing. "She better not be too much 'better', or I'll have t' apologize t' Mokuba for givin' him a new sister!" The pair laughed simultaneously at that comment, before Katsuya softened the grin to a more serious smile and continued. "Hey Yug'," he said, watching his friend turn back for a moment. He could have easily said something to the others... But that wasn't him. That wasn't his friend... This kind of secret... Even though he'd failed to keep it, accidentally dropping hints and all, he knew that it was still completely safe. Their secret... And Mokuba's too, once they got him out! "...Thanks." For all that hadn't been said, there wasn't anything else to say really... In the end, despite things, he felt a lot better than he had before they had that talk. "...F'r everything."

A large smile was all he got in response before a shout came from the clearing. "_IT'S READY_," Bakura was shouting, Katsuya's stomach giving a fairly loud growl in response to that. Come to think, he smelled something really good... "TIME TO EAT!" _Really_ good...

The two came through the trees, Katsuya practically drooling as he spotted the food being dished out among the group. "Woaaahhhh..." He grinned, charging forwards to grab a bowl on the side and take a seat. "It looks great!" Turnip, chicken, onions... Ohhh it smelled delicious...

Bakura merely smiled calmly, pouring some of the stew into Yugi's bowl before moving on to Katsuya. So far, Anzu and the others already had bowls, the woman watching with a frown as Honda essentially drowned himself in his own meal. "Thank you," the teen said quietly, before dishing himself a bowl. "But really, it isn't much..."

As Anzu grabbed a spoon with a '_bon appetit_!', Yugi shook his head. He'd already taken a spoon himself to taste the dish, and given the wide smile, the smells were no lie. "No really! It's amazing Bakura! You did a good job!" A really good job, Katsuya noted as he took a bite of his own. Mmmmm...

From the side, Mai smiled at the conversation cropping up. Grabbing herself a spoon, she turned to the boys with a wink and sat down again. "Better eat up," she began, crossing her legs as she started on her own bowl. "You'll need it for when the duels start up again in the morning~!"

Honda instantly gave a salute, a red-faced grin set in place. Despite the fact that he'd obviously already moved on those words(His bowl was half full), he nodded. "Hah! Yes Ma'am!"

Beside him, Katsuya looked at him incredulously. "What the hell Honda, you aren't even a duelist!" He'd better not ask for seconds, he was starving!

"I can still eat!"

"That ain't the point!"

As the pair began bickering yet again, laughter surrounded the clearing. All in all, the evening was taking a turn to the positive side, if not the loud one. It took a bit to quiet down of course... But given the state of hunger everyone was in, it didn't take long for silence to settle once again, replaced by slurps and clattering dishes. In the end, when Bakura was handing out seconds, Yugi ended up turning to Mai with a light smile. "That reminds me Mai," he said, the woman blinking as she was addressed. He looked at her glove for a split second, before continuing. "You already have 8 star chips don't you?" The others turned, noting that the number around her wrist had in fact not changed one bit. Looked as though she'd had just as much luck as they in finding more duelists. "You might be the first to reach the castle tomorrow!" Hoh... That was right... Not bad actually. (Though he wished it was one of them instead...)

The woman merely smirked, before nodding. "Ah, maybe... But Yugi," she added, turning to him with a fierce stare. The boy seemed to jump under it, listening as Mai continued. "Eventually, I'll fight you as well, understand?"

An awkward silence fell over the group, and Anzu laughed. "Ah... Hey, can we forget the dueling for now..?" As Bakura nodded in agreement to that, Mai shrugged and shook her head.

"No," she said rather bluntly, before eating some more of her stew. "We might have called a truce for now," the woman continued, looking up from her bowl. "But in the morning, everyone's an enemy! That's what it means to be a duelist!"

Katsuya and Yugi found themselves staring at the woman in silence as she downed the rest of the stew and got up to turn to Bakura. "Thank's for cooking the food," she said, before grabbing her bag and turning away to a tent she'd set up before. "I'm heading back to my tent now though. Anzu-chan, if you want, you can bunk with me~." As Anzu in question blinked at the offer, Mai merely winked. "You never know what could happen with all these guys around!"

As she said that, Katsuya bristled. "OI! What was that!" Mai merely chuckled in response, disappearing into tent a fair distance off. "Jeez..." He shook his head, before downing the last bit of his own food to help Bakura clean up. "What an annoying woman, honestly..." 'You never know what could happen', they weren't going to do anything! ...Well... He couldn't actually speak for Honda really but still... He wasn't stupid enough to try it...

Cleaning things up didn't take too long; soon enough, everything was packed up to the side while the boys essentially collapsed on the ground by a tree. Bakura looked at his watch as they set up their own 'camp', the ground thankfully being dry enough that sleeping without a tent or sleeping bag wouldn't be an issue. "Hn... Ten o'clock," he muttered, before pulling a sweater from his bag to use as a pillow. Ten eh? Not bad... Back home, he'd be going to sleep in half an hour or so. Though he'd be in a bed at the time... Thankfully for them, thanks to the temperature differences between the island (WARM) and Tokyo (December meant cold really), they still had their jackets and things to lay on. The teen turned to them all as they attempted to get comfortable, a faded light from the tent visible in the distance. "We should probably get to sleep now..."

Katsuya nodded, yawning loudly as he collapsed on his back against the tree. "Hwaa! Got that right... I'm so stuffed that I could sleep for days..." That would be bad though, so he'd just trust in the others to wake him up in the morning really... As it was, thanks to the combination of the food and temperature, sleeping out under the stars was more a bonus than a pain. Giving another yawn, he watched as Yugi pulled out the camera from his bag to move away from the group. "Ah... Yugi?"

The boy turned, before smiling. "Just going to talk to Grandpa a bit," he whispered, looking over at the tent briefly. "I don't want too many people to know... I trust Mai, but it's just... I don't want this affecting any duels we have against each other..." Ahhh... Well, no worries in that case. Deciding not to do more than nod, Katsuya leaned back against the tree and stretched. Yugi's grandpa... He and Mokuba both had their lives literally on the line at the moment... The teen frowned, chewing his lip as he thought over the events of the day. Mokuba... He'd been right within his reach, and he hadn't been able to get him back. And now, he was reliant on Pegasus' tournament once again. Four starchips... If he lost even once tomorrow, there was a good chance he wouldn't gather the remaining needed to fill his glove in time. And when that happened...

Mokuba... His frown deepened, the thoughts continuing to stab at his brain. If he didn't make it there... What would Pegasus do to him..? Hell, what would he do to him for running off, there was a lot that could happen, and he wouldn't know a thing... It scared him... The same as when Yugi had been strung up on a hook like a gutted fish by Hirutani's gang, left to gasp for air with wide and almost hopeless eyes. It scared him... But at the same time, he couldn't do more about it. What would happen, he thought with a wide-eyed and nervous frown, if he didn't make it? If his last few duels had been won on chance, and nothing more? He shook his head, growling. He couldn't think like this... He couldn't! Yes, Mokuba's life was on the line... But if he just worried about it and didn't do anything, then he'd just end up making things worse! He gave yawn, rolling over. He needed to sleep... Just forget about it and focus on the positive... Sleep... All that food had him drowsy anyways, and in the morning he'd definitely win the star chips he needed. For now though... "Hwaaaaah..."

...So sleepy...

... ...

...

* * *

It felt as though he'd only had his eyes closed for a second, but for the moment, he had never felt a stronger urge to open them than ever before. Opening his eyes and staring upwards, Katsuya quickly pulled himself to his feet with wide eyes. Where... Where was this place..? He looked around the thick fog with a frown, coughing as a few wisps of smoke blew past his face. Weird place... A mix of purples and blacks... Last he checked he was on the island, resting up to go after some more duels... Not to mention Pegasus. Not here...

This place... He continued to frown, shivering slightly as the mist continued to wrap around him. It was so dark here... An endless expanse of fog and clouds that created a mostly impenetrable curtain surrounding him. Almost as though there was nothing in existence. Hell, he decided as he rubbed his arms absently, shivering from the cold, it was even worse than when he was in the 'Monster World', on his death bed. At least then, it was just dark. Even without the floor, just dark... There had been warmth, and despite the silence and the fear he'd had at the time, he had at least been able to feel a small bit positive for a moment. But here...

He looked down at the almost violet dirt ground, and then back and around at the endless black sky. It was like he'd been thrown into some nightmare plain, or a field in a horror movie... And it gave him shivers beyond even Shizuka's rendition of 'Botan Dourou', or any other zombie movie he'd seen in his life time.

-_Grrrrrrnnn.._.- "Hn..?" Katsuya blinked, turning slightly as a dull growl was heard behind him. There was nothing around him... Just swirling fog, endless and black. "What was that..." The teen whirled at the sound of another growl as what appeared to be a shadow arose through the fog. What the hell was that... He squinted as he attempted to make it out, leaning forwards slightly with a frown. Growling... He heard nothing but growling, but why...

"Grrrrr... **RRAOOOOOOOOOOO**!" He froze as the shadow began to clear, the fog and clouds moving out of the way as an enormous white dragon charged through. While still a fair distance away, its size was still rather evident, and Katsuya found himself looking towards it with stiff horror. "**RAAAAAAOOO**!" It hovered across him, blue eyes staring down with a menacing glint before snarling again. "**RRRROOOOOOOOO**!" Oh fuck... OH FUCK...

Oh god... Oh god oh god this couldn't possibly be happening... The dragon came closer, lowering it's mighty head and snapping its jaws at the teen. With a startled shout that snapped him from his paralyzed fear, Katsuya leaped out of the way, eyes wide and face pale. "H-Hah!" He rolled to the side, watching in horror as the dragon turned its head towards him yet again. It landed, taking a step towards him and baring its teeth threateningly. "Shit..." Scrambling to his feet, he felt the heat of the 'burst stream' singe the ground behind him, only instilling more fear into him as he ran. "SHIT!"

Katsuya's feet scuffed across the ground as he ran, eyes wide and face pale as the dragon continued to roar. He could practically feel its breath on his back, the rumbling behind him sounding almost like a taunt as he panicked. "**RAOOOOOOHHH**!" Fuck fuck fuck! How the hell was this real! Monsters didn't exist like this, and the only exception was on Bakura's weird-ass game board! And those were normal now!

"Fuuuuck! Get away!" He stumbled as he ran, squeezing his eyes shut in his fear. Just go away... Go away... "Get away from me!" He charged blindly through the fog, swinging his arms as he ran. "Ghh... HAHH!" Teeth snapped at his heels, and Katsuya felt his feet catch something on the ground. "Gack!" The ground came up to him at full force, dirt and grit grinding painfully into his face and hands. Blue Eyes came up before him to give another growl, and as the teen pulled himself up to sit and turn toward the beast, he found himself looking up with wide eyes. Was this it... Was this really it..? This had to be a dream... He couldn't die here... He didn't even know where the hell 'here' was, or if this crap was even real! And it couldn't be real... It couldn't! After all, why would Blue-Eyes of all things be attacking him? This was... It was... "G...Ghn... D-Damn it..." The dragon lowered itself to the ground, taking a step forwards as a low growl filled the air. "Damn it..!" He shuffled back in a pathetic attempt to distance himself from the beast, only to tense as his back thumped against something. "What..?"

Katsuya turned, frowning as he was met with a 'curtain' of fabric. Hang on... What was this doing here... A curtain..? But there had been something solid beneath it, so that couldn't be it... He slowly looked up, before jumping back in shock as the clouds above cleared. "S-S..." The teen's eyes widened further as he looked upwards, neck strained under the pressure. "Seto-chan!" Above him, the leering form of Seto Kaiba could be seen, wearing the same pyjama's he'd last seen her in. The woman had her arms crossed, face partially hidden in the shadows of the sky and her hair both. Even with this however, it was more than easy to tell she wasn't pleased, her eyes appearing to narrow further than they already had been after he shouted. "Gh... How did you... How are you..?" It had to be a dream... It had to be, there was no way all of this was possible..!

The woman continued to leer down, her dragon also staring down without a 'word'. Finally, she turned on him, lowering her arms to her sides with clenched fists. "You..." Her eyes narrowed, and she gritted her teeth. "Pathetic..." What...?

"Tch... Who are you calling pathetic," he barked, standing up with a scowl. It had to be a dream... And if that was the case, nothing could really hurt him here right? And besides, just what was she even comparing to him right now? The dragon? There wasn't anything else here, and he'd be damned if he let that happen! "Lets see you face off against your dragons, see how you fare!" Though given this was 'Giant!' Kaiba... She could probably pick up the dragon in one hand...

The woman scowled, eyes staring down at the teen with nothing but loathing. "You honestly think that's the reason for your weakness, **_MUTT_**?" At that last word he winced, gritting his teeth.

He quickly recovered however, instead continuing to shout out at the woman. "Well," he spat out, clenching his fists with a glare. "It's hard t' tell when y' beat around th' bush like that, '_SERI_'!" The teen growled, watching as Kaiba's enormous form merely narrowed her eyes further.

"Fool... M**ORON**!" She crossed her arms, the shadows appearing to almost revolve around her. "My brother put his trust in **YOUR** care," she roared, Katsuya visibly growing pale at this. "He relied on YOU for protection, a mere hound!" The blond continued to shrink back at those words, while Seto in the meantime visibly became more enraged. "You're lower than just trash, **_MUTT_**... Even a loser like you should realize that!"

Katsuya continued to stare upwards as she said this, gritting his teeth. That... To bring that up... "I did... The best I could... To get Mokuba..." His jaw clenched, and the teen shook as he attempted to hold the glare. "I did all I could... I tried my best! And I'm still trying! Gh-" He cringed as the dragon behind him snarled loudly at his feeble excuse, falling silent when Seto

The dragon roared loudly at the feeble excuse, causing Katsuya to cringe yet again under Seto's shouts. "The '_Best you can do_'? Don't make me laugh! If that's the 'best you can do', then maybe you really are just a failure of a dog without a home! Because while you whine here _mutt_," the woman spat with a snarl, "You **FAILED** my brother! My **BROTHER**, who gave you **EVERYTHING**! Who entrusted you with the **KEY**, who gave you a **JOB**, and **HOME**! And while you sit here, sleeping peacefully as though nothing is wrong, he could very well be dead! You are NOTHING," Seto continued. "Nothing but a mongrel who does nothing but beg at the side of the streets! A failure by even the standards of a stray!" '_Make-inu_!', she shouted at him, the words fading into the shadows. '_Make-inu_'... '_Make-inu_!'

The shouts continued to whirl around him, and as he looked down at his hands he watched his jacket shift into a brown, furred costume. '_Make-inu_!', Seto continued to shout, pointing at him accusingly. '_MAKE-INU!'_ He tried... Damn it, he tried... "I'm sorry," he whispered out, fingers digging into the ground as he bowed his head. Mokuba was snatched off, but it was that or possible everyone there would have died..! He... There was no other way... There wasn't... "I'm so sorry..." Tears began to stream down his cheeks, the hood of the costume he was in falling over his eyes. "But please believe me," he forced out through his coughs, receiving no answer in response, head bowed even further down. "Believe me, when I tell you... That I will _die_... Before I let that happen to him..." Slowly, the blond lifted his head to look up at Seto, face red and hair stuck awkwardly to the sides of his cheeks. "You understand," he forced out, raising his volume. He slowly pulled himself up to his knees, eyes shining with determination through the tears. "I know he's still alive... I know it! And no matter what, I hold by my promise..! I may be a '_make-inu_'... A failure even by a dog's standards..." he bit out, stumbling to his feet even in the ridiculous costume he wore, "But at least this '**MUTT'** knows what matters!" As he said this, Seto merely glared down, eyes narrowed before she snorted. "Got that, '**SERI**'?"

"Hn! This dog still hasn't been trained," she muttered, arms still crossed as she glared down. "Even when disciplined, he still dares to bite back..." Abruptly, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon behind him vanished from sight, and as Katsuya turned to notice its absence with a wide eyed frown, the woman continued. "Jonouchi," she said loudly, tone both commanding and questioning at the same time. He turned as she spoke, looking up at the woman's still leering face. "Know this... When you feel true fear, you become so much of a loser that you don't even have the right to stand on two legs!" Katsuya gritted his teeth as the woman said this, only to frown when she continued. Wait... There was more..? "However..." However? That didn't sound like Kaiba... The woman above turned her back to him, speaking again. "Despite this fear, I will remember the promise you made, **MUTT**." The promise... "So I expect you, even when you cannot stand, to fullfil it! Until your last breath!"

As Seto turned her narrowed gaze back to him, he nodded. Alright... He got what she was saying now... "Yea..." Regardless of how much of a bitch the woman was about this, she was right. He didn't like saying it... But she was! Maybe this was some fucked up way for his conscience to say '_Get a grip you moron! You can do this!_' Or hell, maybe this was some weird spiritual plane and this was where Kaiba's soul was. (That would really suck.) But either way..! "...I'll keep my promise! Don't sweat it!"

The woman snorted, and the shadows clouded around his vision to bring everything to blackness. "Tch..."

'_I wasn't going to, Mutt..._'

As the shadows continued to surround him, he thought he heard a shout of terror, and someone speaking...

* * *

"**PENALTY GAME!**" A wait wait... What was that!

Katsuya shot up as the loud shout came through the air, looking around as Honda and Bakura as well moved from where they'd been sleeping. "Hnn... What the hell..?" Did he just hear the other Yugi shouting..? Why would he have switched out in the middle of the night..? He turned to Bakura, frowning. "Man what time is it..?"

The teen rubbed his eyes with a yawn, looking down at his wrist. "Ah... Hwaaa... It's... It's only 11..." Beside him, Honda stood up and stretched with a frown.

"Great.. Well something obviously happened..." He as well yawned, before looking towards where the shout had come from with dull eyes. Wasn't that far away... Probably the next clearing over really, Katsuya thought as Honda continued. "Mind as well go check it out right..?"

He nodded, stretching as well before heading off. "Yea, I guess... Wonder why Yug's duelin' this late though... Not to mention who, I mean... There's no one else up this late, an' Mai called a truce..." Though if she broke it, then good on Yugi for beating her. Not that she probably did that... Regardless of how much he trusted her, she seemed pretty honest about that truce... Plus, he doubted that she'd have pulled something bad enough for the other Yugi to set a penalty on her; he seemed to be reserving those for the 'real' assholes lately.

They came into another clearing, watching as Yugi handed something to the woman only for her to walk off. '_It was nice meeting you guys_,' she was saying, walking off with a sad expression. Weird... Why would she try to leave without all her stuff...? He frowned, watching as Yugi called after the woman right when they joined up with him. Anzu in the meantime, turned to them with wide eyes.

"Ah... Jonouchi," the woman began, blinking. "Honda, Bakura... What are you three doing here..?" That would be the question...

The teen frowned, scratching his head with a yawn as he attempted to shake off the drowsiness. "Tch... Woke up after yer loud talking..." Or more specifically, Yugi's dramatic shout. Maybe it was some sort of requirement for the penalty, like it wouldn't work or something...

Mai stared at them all, looking at the ground with a small smile. "Hnhnhn... Again," she began quietly. Again? What did she mean again? "Why is it that you guys always have to gather up just like that..." She looked up at them all, and from behind the others, Honda coughed.

"Bakura," he began, his blush rather quickly ridding him of any sleepiness he had. "It's just about 11 right?" At the nod he got in response, he smirked. "Then for one more hour," he continued, looking back at Mai, "You're our friend!" As the woman gave him a blank 'eh..?' look, he winked. "While we were eating, you said '_We're enemies tomorrow_', didn't you?" That was true, she did... And it figured that Honda would be the one to take advantage of that, not that he blamed him. Honda chuckled, hands in his pockets as he continued. "Well, it's not tomorrow for another hour! which means that right now, we're not enemies... We're friends, got that?"

The woman blinked, staring at them all with wide eyes while the others nodded. "Mai," Yugi began, Katsuya idly noting that it was the 'other Yugi'; given the dead/soulless looking guy in the duel box, he had a feeling he knew what he heard earlier... (Was that a noose attached to his wrist?) "We duelists are here on this island to fight fair and square... But there are people here who are trying to prevent us from doing that!" There were..? "Pegasus' 'Player Killers'!" At this, Katsuya looked back at the duel box with somewhat wide eyes. Oh... Uh... That explained it he guessed. He briefly thought back to the ventriloquist, wondering if he had been another of those 'player killers'. Huh... "I don't recognize those men as duelists," Yugi continued, Mai merely looking at him with a slightly confused frown. "I don't want them to ruin our battle... So I want you to take these star chips," he shouted, handing over a handful. "And allow the events of tomorrow to decide who is the strongest duelist!" Eight star chips...

"Mai," Anzu was saying, Katsuya looking at the woman's empty duel glove. Mai had lost again... "Didn't you say that your dream was to fight Yugi..?"

The woman shook slightly, still frowning. "I... ...That is..." She stared at the star chips, turning her head away. "...I..."

Katsuya stared, frowning slightly. Shallow reasoning or not, seeing Mai like this was bugging even him! Shaking his head, he sighed. Alright... There was one sure-fire way to fix this..! (And if it didn't work, he wouldn't have to worry about tomorrow at all.) "MAN," he shouted loudly, the others turning to him with raised eyebrows. "We aren't getting anywhere with this!" He smirked, crossing his arms. "So... I have the perfect solution!"

Beside him, Anzu blinked. "A solution..." As Katsuya laughed quietly with a grin, she frowned. "...Jonouchi," she said with narrowed eyes. "What is it..."

He grinned, moving over to Yugi. "That's easy," he said, his friend raising an eyebrow before jumping as the blond snatched the pile of starchips from him. "Neither of you want 'em, so I'll take them instead! AHAHAH! Everything's fixed!" He beamed, fist tightly clenched around the starchips. Yugi stared at him incredulously, and the blond continued to laugh. "YES~ Now I have ten starchips! I get to be the first one to go t' Pegasus' castle!"

As he continued to laugh (Completely forgetting the initial reasoning behind the plan in lieu of possibly getting Mokuba out), Mai began to seethe across from him. "Y-You... _NOW WAIT JUST A MINUTE_," she screeched, the laughter halting instantly. Right... This was supposed to be a bluff... Uh..! ...Well, he was still bluffing, wasn't he? "You're doing no such thing Jonouchi!" At the smirk she got in response, she continued to growl. "Hand them over, right now! You m-" She blinked as the teen held out his hand, waiting for Mai to do the same. "A-Ah..?"

"Sheesh," he muttered, rolling his eyes with a smirk. "There you go, all of them!" Katsuya dropped the chips in her hand, continuing to smile as Mai stared. "If your pride is too much to allow you to play with those starchips," he began, putting his hands back in his pockets while the woman held her starchips. "Then throw them into the sea for all I care!" As the woman continued to stare, along with the others, he continued. "It's your choice after all... But as for myself, I won't throw them away! Not the starchips... Nor my dream!" His promise... Watching as the woman continued to frown rather oddly (Almost as though fighting off a pang of jealousy rather than rage oddly enough), he shrugged. Whatever... Up to her really, but he knew he wouldn't have stomached just taking those star chips... If Mai left the island in the morning, then throwing them into the ocean would be as good as what would happen. He moved to return to the clearing with a wave, yawning again as he remembered just how late it was. "Anyways... So long, Kujaku Mai," the teen shouted as he disappeared through the bushes. "I'm going to sleep!"

And personally, that was probably all he wanted right at that moment, aside from the obvious, he told himself as he lay back down against the tree. Just a good long night's sleep, so he could make it through another day of dueling with no hard feelings by the end of it. Just needed to sleep...

Eyes fluttering shut, he gave one last loud yawn before doing so.

* * *

AN: HEY YUGI. HEY HEY YUGI. DID YOU KILL SOMEONE?

...HEEEEEELL YEA!

Ohhhh penalty games how I love you... Hooray for new chapters eh? I recently put up a forum for where the challenges will go... Technically there's only one 'real' challenge (as everything else was just an invite for people to make requests on fanfic chapters and such), but it's there if you're curious.

Speaking of the 'challenge', Iona recently sent in her own opinion on what Kaiba's 'fem voice' would be; she picked the voice of Princess Ursa (AKA Zuko's Mom) from Avatar, due to the mature and adult tones. If you don't let the personalities clash, it does indeed fit rather well... If you think otherwise, than more inspiration to find 'the right one' for you I suppose, but let me know what you think that 'right one' is then!

Also, the current poll results...

WOW. Cross dressing really appeals to you guys! So far, the only change from last chapter is a 50% bonus in votes for 'Female, Crossdressing' Priest Set; as of now, it's 3:1 in the cross-dressing favor, while the original male version sits with no votes at all.

In other news, I'm looking at the hit vs visitor count, and I've come to the conclusion that I have about 52 regular readers, 3-4 of which review on a regular basis. I say '4' because I don't know if one of them is a recent reader... Given their own comment though, I'm gonna go with three, since they're like me in terms of reviewing only when something REALLY matters.

And now... For the usual things!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

I have two again! (I feel so loved~) First off, from Fire-Ant! ...Has anyone ever told you that you're _amazing_? Unfortunately for this amazing theory of yours (Which appeals to me, it really does), given how the polls are going, it's very likely that Priest Set will end up female. If things make a turn around however, you never know... I might just imply a few reincarnation related things... (I'm a sucker for them, I really am.) It'll probably not end up like that, and be more of the intended result of 'this is why Kaiba likes Blue-Eyes. A lot.'

And from Iona... Yessss Pegasus is indeed a creepy creepy creeper... A creepy creepy creeper who may or may not get what's coming depending on how I work out the Doma and 'R' sections into things... As it is, while it took me a bit to get around personality differences (This is actually why I recommend going after singing voices.), I have to say, you have _good_ ears. Personally, this voice fits rather well, and you chose wisely... Not to mention for all the right reasons! (I find it slightly ironic that it's the voice of a royal. Heheheee...)

And yay~ I was wondering how Ryuzaki's depiction would be taken... Particularly since, when I double checked in the manga, not only do we literally only see him after Duelist Kingdom during that once scene where he asks Jonouchi how his Red Eyes card is doing, but that... Well... You never even see the thief in the manga for the Millennium World, it's just a random thief that Bakura corners; no Ryuzaki or Haga to be found. (Though I wouldn't put it past Haga...)

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that has more on the manga than on Japan this time around! Who would have thought?

* * *

When Jonouchi mentions calling Anzu 'Mazaki', he references the first chapter. He and Honda were chased off from bullying Yugi by a mere word from the woman, and as they ran off they called her 'Mazaki'; regardless of the fact that this stems from not knowing her, this also references her more 'boyish' attitude... Normally, if a guy is unfamiliar with a girl around their age in Japan, they'll refer to them by their given name with the honorific 'San' (IE, 'Anzu-san'.). The last name basis tends to just be an informal way of referring to another _male_ that a guy knows; note that while Yugi attaches 'kun' to the end of the names he uses (Showing politeness), much like Bakura, his other self _does not_. Another interesting note that will affect later chapters is this; from this moment on, Yugi uses the 'san' honorific rather than the 'kun' honorific with Kaiba, as while using 'kun' would be considered rude when used with a woman (It's a 'male only' honorific, the exception being elderly folk with small children.), simply calling her 'Kaiba' would be even worse! So 'san' is the proper term to use, as 'chan' would only be used with a woman he was extremely close with... And given that he isn't that particularly close to Kaiba...

Oddly enough, this implies a good deal of respect as well, which will obviously confuse the crap out of anyone who doesn't know about Kaiba's secret. Which makes things even _more_ amusing.

* * *

Interesting note; but while Honda is continuously 'going after' Mai throughout the 'Man Who Came With Night' series, Jonouchi _isn't_. If anything, he's voicing a deep hatred for the woman, which is interesting to spot. Particularly later in the Duelist Kingdom arc, when it's plainly obvious that Mai is fighting off a crush for the teen, while Jonouchi is blatantly wonder what the hell she's doing.

* * *

For some reason, when Mai leaves to go to her tent, she says 'thanks for the food'. Most likely this stemmed from 'Gochiso-sama-deshita' (Pronounced 'Gochso-sama-deshta'), which is the proper way of thanking someone for giving you food that _they prepared_. This is where 'Itadakimasu', or 'I will recieve!' comes into place as well; contrary to popular belief, it isn't used before _every_ meal in Japan... Just the ones that someone at the table actually bothered to make for you. You won't see it used in a fancy restaraunt or a fast food place. (That would be silly.)

* * *

Mai really does appear to be stalking these guys; in the manga, her thoughts make it seem as though the reason is because of partial curiosity... Specifically, she can't figure out what ties the entire group together, and she actually feels quite lonely... Hence why she's following them around and treasuring the offered friendship A LOT. Later on, you also get a glimpse of her implied crush on Jonouchi... Which has taken an awkward turn here. (You tell me which you prefer; Mai attempting to pull the attention of Jonouchi away from Kaiba when the latter could care less, or Mai taking a more 'big sister' role. It makes sense for both really... Given that she's over 20, and the others are all 16-17. Erk?)

* * *

Tiny minor change here, but in the manga, Jonouchi says 'what an annoying _girl_.' rather than woman. I'd normally not mention it, but it hints at a bit of character development/difference between fanfic Jou and manga Jou... Because as anyone can see, they're obviously there.

Another change is Yugi's conversation with his grandfather. Originally, he didn't move from his spot beside Jonouchi and the others to do so, but I realized that with the tent so close by, he probably would have wanted to prevent Mai from finding out about that particular issue... In the end, it also means that Jonouchi, who probably isn't as deep a sleeper thanks to security issues (Not to mention his constant complaints of being woken by _talking_ (Not screaming guys. _Talking_.) from _how_ far away? And in the manga, it was the sounds of conversation _before_ the duel, that or it's implied as such!), didn't hear Mai ask Yugi to wait on the hill for Anzu later.

Because really, when you think about it, if Jonouchi wakes up because of Mai talking, and doesn't make it to the spot until _after_ Yugi's duel, that probably implies a sensitive sleeper. A _really_ sensitive sleeper.

* * *

You can bet that when Jonouchi recalls mini-Seto saying 'YOU!', that 'you' translates into Japanese as 'ONORE!' Onore is the term that Kaiba uses most of the time when saying 'you'. It's a rude way to refer to another person, similar to 'teme' (Which is essentially synonymous with 'bastard' and is used a few times by Jonouchi and Yami both), as well as Jonouchi's use of the word 'omae'... Though 'omae' is more 'informal' than rude in comparison, particularly when lined up alongside something like 'teme

'.

* * *

One might think I'm beating on Honda here from Jonouchi's point of view... Don't get me wrong, Honda's pretty awesome in my opinion. But the thing is, he's also the only one that Jonouchi knows would actually try peeping on anyone; Bakura's wayyyy too polite to try it, and Yugi's too modest, given his attitude in earlier chapters about following Anzu around. And here's some food for thought; his nephew had to get the perverted attitude from someone... So it's not that I'm bashing him, in fact, far from it. It's just that thanks to Jonouchi's current ignorance towards Mai's assets, he's now the only one really voicing his interest...

* * *

The 'dream scene', if it wasn't already obvious, was taken from that of the anime... It never happened in the manga. My reasoning for this? Aside from the fact that I wanted to keep the scene with Jonouchi in that ridiculous kigurumi in? While Kaiba _is_ going to completely trounce Jonouchi in a duel next chapter, it's not going to break him that much. The reason is more because the duel itself doesn't start for the same reasons; after all, in the manga, Jonouchi goes after him because he's still incensed over Death-T (Keep in mind, that in the manga this is a _year_ after those events. Way to hold a grudge! Not that I blame him given what happened...)... And Kaiba decides to humor his challenge in order to test the Duel Disk. In the anime, he's just pissed because Kaiba's acting like... Well Kaiba, as the guy essentially comes in, blows Yugi off (Yugi asks him to join them. Who the hell knows why...), insults Jonouchi (Understandable.), and then moves to leave. (Jonouchi doesn't take this well, and gets physically trounced by Kaiba before the duel.)

Combining what with the fact that Manga!Kaiba has a legitimate look of _approval_ (As in '_Ohh... Not bad_.' A rare moment needless to say.)when Jonouchi summons Red Eyes Black Dragon... There's no reason for him to have that '_I lost, oh noes!_' dream after the fact... At all. Provided he notices the expression at least.

More on the dream, I based it on the Japanese rather than the Dub. Mostly because while I absolutely love the dub for it's suggestiveness in that scene... Kaiba kept cutting Jonouchi off, and I couldn't really have that for this one.

Much as I would have loved to have 'her' shouting '_SIT AT YOUR MASTER'S FEET_', while Jonouchi bows his head in shame. (Not that this will ever happen of course. But it's an amusing image nontheless.)

* * *

...Also, interesting point on that particular dream... In the original version (It's obviously erased from the dub.), the kanji 'Ma' is on the back of Jonouchi's dog costume. This is the first part of 'Makeru', or 'to lose'. (The 'ke' in 'make' (Ru is just a character at the end of each verb. Think of it as a 'root word' term.) is written in hiragana. It's weird, but not uncommon... For example, in 'tabe', from the verb 'taberu', or 'to eat', the 'be' is also written in hiragana.) However, 'make-inu', which is often translated out to 'loser dog' (Due to Inu being dog) is actually only meant to mean _loser_, without the addition of the term 'dog'. Obviously the dog suit was playing on the 'inu' part anyways (Japan loves puns guys. _Loves_ them.), but it's similar to calling someone say... A bitch. You aren't calling them a dog. You're calling them a _bitch_. (And if you didn't know that 'bitch' is the breeding term for a female dog, _you do now_.)

* * *

While I called it a 'costume' in the chapter, I used the word 'kigurumi' in this section here. What's a kigurumi you ask? Look it up on google images, but they tend to essentially resemble over-sized sleepers for adults and children as opposed to infants, generally made to resemble animals; the hood, of course, is the head. (Some hoods have faces, others just ears.) They're rather popular actually, particularly among (of course), young women and children. In any case, the dog costume that Jonouchi wears in the anime (First during the dream, then later after losing to Otogi, AKA 'Duke Devlin') is a kigurumi.

* * *

Jonouchi's being surprisingly introspective isn't he? He tends to do that alot in this fanfic however, as it seems to have come with his 'character development'. Some might consider his 'introspection' as out of character, but it _actually isn't_. If you look in the manga and anime both, (at least _outside_ of the dub), he has a good deal of scenes where he's surprisingly _deep_. Take for example the '_toss them into the sea_' part of this chapter. Alllll manga guys... Though that isn't exactly a strong example... (I should look harder.)

* * *

Did you catch the change in Mai's attitude? Probably not, as it's fairly difficult to tell until a little later; you'll definitly notice then though... Also, before anyone goes '_wait, she left her stuff behind...!_' noooo. No she didn't. She's still there at the 'campsite' with everyone... Just that Jonouchi goes back to sleep before everyone gets back to him. (She returns with everyone else.)

* * *

To be specific about Yami's penalty game... Due to the fact that he's betting less than he'll win, his life is also offered up. However, he doesn't say this, and instead, 'Panik' as he's called in the dub (In Japanese, he's 'The Player Killer of Darkness'. Rather, 'Yami no Player Killer', with the latter being in katakana and obviously harder to read than I made it out to be.) actually latches a _noose_ around his neck. And before anyone says, '_why did he let him do that?_', it was _fired_ at him. As in 'spring loaded'.

He even implies that he's already physically_ killed_ a number of duelists on the island with this tactic, stating that once Yami loses, he'll strangle him to death. (Mai got off lucky it seems. Also, in the anime, this is replaced with fire. As strapping Yugi to a noose at one of those stages would be rather silly.) In the end, Yami plays mind-games with him, increasing his fear throughout the duel by saying '_in 5 turns, I will win_', and that '_each turn is a step closer to the gallows_', after first asking the guy if he can feel the '_noose tightening around his neck_' (And of course, Yami's using illusions to actually instill that feeling on the guy). Creeepyyyyy. In the end, his penalty game is the illusion of being hung, and, well... His neck kinda snapped as a result, so he's dead. (WhooooH! Hey Yugi, did you just kill a guy? HEEEEELL YEA.)

* * *

If Kaiba seems OOC in the dream, that's probably because it's 'DreamKaiba'. As in, Jonouchi's thoughts forming a Kaiba before his eyes.

Though if you wanna get spiritual I guess you can pretend it's the part of Kaiba that decided to not wake up with the woman... (The part that remembers Jonouchi.) But I'm fairly sure that isn't the case, given that the dream was originally supposed to stay a nightmare rather than some twisted pep-talk. I don't even know if it can be called that actually...

ANYWAYS.

Until next chapter folks! See you next time, with _KAIBA VS JONOUCHI_.


	26. Chapter 25

**A Storm in the Kingdom  
**

* * *

Many hours now had passed since the announcement of the tournament start. Though those remaining did not know the specific number of duelists remaining in the competition, there were certainly those who did. And those 'certain people' currently stood, or in one of the cases, sat, inside the lavish castle at that very moment. It was an odd scene; to those first coming in, one would think that Pegasus was entertaining a sole guest, a young boy with a meal, or at least a 'midnight snack'. However, upon closer a closer look, one could see that this was not the case. There was only one person eating at the moment, and that was the middle-aged man sitting at the end of the table. He held a wine glass lightly with one hand, the other flipping pages to a comic book as he laughed. "Ahahahhaaa! Ohhh, my _dear _Funny Rabbit," he cried, apparently to himself. The boy to the side gave no answer after all, merely staring listlessly at the wall across from him. Pegasus placed his wine glass on the table, wiping his eyes slightly. "Oh... How droll and witty can you be?"

Still no answer, and yet this seemed to have little effect on the man. He took a sip of the wine, leaning back on his chair with a content sigh. "The finest Amarone wine... Well-aged Gorgonzola cheese..." The man continued to chuckle, taking another light sip of his wine as footsteps as he spoke. "And the worlds best comic from my homeland, 'Funny Rabbit!' Truly I am blessed among men... Wouldn't you say Crocketts," he added, turning as his assistant coughed from behind.

"Indeed Pegasus-sama," he said curtly. From behind the shades, it was impossible to see what he was looking at; with the Millennium Eye however, Pegasus could tell that he was taking glances at the boy beside him. It was unnerving, or so the aged man thought behind that impassive and 'professional' expression. That a young boy who by all definitions seemed so 'dead' after the trouble from earlier.

Pegasus turned back to his book, taking a small bite of cheese before he spoke. "I'm glad that you agree... But I must ask, why do you feel the need to interrupt such a peaceful moment for me?" The book was placed on the table, and he continued. "These moments are rather personal, or have you forgotten that?" The tone of his voice at the last comment seemed cold, almost unforgiving. In response to it, Crocketts visibly paled, bowing his head.

"Of course, Pegasus-sama... Please, forgive me."

The man smiled, shaking his head. "It's fine..." He stood, turning to the assistant with a slight smile. "Now, just what is the problem?"

Although he was able to tell a split second before the man told him, the words were still rather upsetting. "We received a message from the Kaiba residence," Crocketts began nervously. "From the maid we had posted in the building. Though she was unable to get too far into the circle of employees to dabble in Seto Kaiba's more... Personal affairs," he continued, hesitating slightly for just a moment, "She was close enough to feed us information from those who were however. She sent us a message a few hours ago, Pegasus-sama..."

He frowned, still holding his glass of wine and swirling it absently. "Then the reports are true..."

A nod. "Correct. Seto Kaiba it would seem, has woken up... He is coming to this island as we speak."

"Oh no!~~" The glass was placed on the table, Pegasus putting a hand to his forehead dramatically. "It can't be..!" He turned to him, eye narrowed slightly. "And what of his transport? We've done something about that haven't we..?"

They had. Crocketts gave a stiff nod, but it was in vain. A simple glance at his thoughts told him that there was still a chance... "We have two men 'accompanying' him by helicopter. However," the man continued with a nervous cough, "We lost contact a few minutes ago... Currently, as a storm was reported not far from their location, we are safely able to come to the conclusion that we're merely running into interference over the radios... However, the men found it prudent to bring this to your attention."

Interference... Pegasus nodded, turning back to the table for his wine. "I see... And what of the tournament," he asked with a more calm tone, taking his seat again to resume reading his comics. "What is the status of the duels?"

Crocketts pulled out a remote of sorts, activating a hidden projection board in the ceiling. The screen rolled down, before a map of the island came into view. "Currently," he began, text appearing on the screen, "It has been just over 14 hours since tournament start." A chart of sorts appeared at the side, and he continued. "Out of the 40 total participants, only 12 remain... However," he added, a slight expression of discomfort on his face, "Two of the 'Player Killers' hired, 'Darkness' and 'Death', have both been found dead."

Pegasus' eyebrows raised, but the man did not turn from where he sat. "Killed," he asked, voice devoid of the usual camp and playful tone it ordinarily held. "How so?"

"Both player killers were last challenged by competitor Mutou Yugi," Crocketts stated, clicking a button on the remote. "The first to be found, 'Death', was alive for two hours after defeat. He was taken back to the castle to await medical attention. However," he continued, grimacing despite himself. "Regardless of any anesthetics given, heart rate continued to increase, eventually dropping to a complete stop." He had been there when it happened, from what Pegasus' eye could tell him. And even this chilled him; the image of the Ventriloquist's screams came into his mind, the man clearly horrified as he attempted to escape something... His heart rate had jacked up to impossible numbers before finally giving in, flat-lining and giving the man the escape he needed.

That was the first then... And if his suspicions were correct, it meant that the host of the Millennium Puzzle, that 'dear' Yugi-boy, had far more control over its power than he thought. "And what of 'Darkness'," he asked, head turned so that his golden eye might pick up on any thoughts hidden from him.

His assistant stared, swallowing nervously before continuing. "His body was found ten minutes ago in the second of the Forest Duel-Boxes- His neck was snapped, however, according to medics on staff this was not the cause of death. Rather," he stated, forcing himself to keep professional about things, "After the neck was snapped he suffocated for reasons currently unavailable to us."

The CEO's eye narrowed, and he nodded before turning away. "I see... Such a pity..." There was more that his assistant had not said however- thoughts that the man hoped to bring up in the morning, after a good night's rest. A pity indeed, that he would find out that five of his tournament participants had lost their lives from strangulation as well, each of them having dueled against the player killer, a now literal term it would seem, before hand. "...What is the status of our dear 'Yugi-boy'," Pegasus finally said after a few moments of silence. "He simply _must_ make it to the finals so he can get to my castle after all!"

There was another click from the remote behind him, the teen's photo and personal information appearing. The information scrolled across the side of the screen, Crocketts speaking as it moved. "Mutou Yugi has so far collected six starchips," he stated, regaining his professional composure. "He is currently still located in the Forest-Lake area, along with two other participating people and three others accompanying him."

Six starchips... He smiled. "Ahhh! Wonderful!" The news clearly cheered Pegasus, and as the American took another sip of wine, he smiled. "Be sure to keep a close eye on him, at all times, understand~ We need to make sure he makes it to this castle!" The smile grew, and Pegasus took another bite of cheese. "The participants accompanying him..." He turned back slightly to Crocketts, continuing. "Is one of them 'Jonouchi Katsuya' by any chance..?"

Upon the screen, Yugi's information vanished to be replaced with an employee file from KaibaCorp; Yugi's information had come from the highschool, and the photos had been slightly out-dated... The file however, was updated regularly, and had proven to be more informational than that of Jonouchi's school records. The image of the blond in partial 'uniform' for the security staff appeared, along with another scrolling wall of informational text. Ahh... And here was his 'key bearer'... The suit didn't quite fit him properly, Pegasus decided. Nonetheless. "Jonouchi Katsuya," Crocketts stated, "Has collected 4 starchips, having dueled twice so far."

"Only four?" Pegasus gave a false pout, shaking his head. "Oohhh... Terrible... If he isn't careful, he won't make it here..." The man smiled again, a dangerous glint appearing in his narrowed eye as he looked toward the soulless shell of Mokuba at his side. "Why, if he doesn't make it, just what will happen to Mokuba-boy..?" There was no answer, and from behind, Crocketts moved to send the projector back into the ceiling. "Oh well," Pegasus sighed. "I suppose that if that happens, we'll just have to find some other reason to keep him here..."

No sooner were these words spoken than a buzzing came through the air. Pegasus stood up, watching as a 'loading' screen came before him on the board to herald a web-cam call. "Crocketts," he stated dismissively, standing up yet again to greet whoever was calling. "I believe it's time to take Mokuba to his room, wouldn't you say..?" The man gave a nervous nod, and Pegasus smiled. "Wonderful! Mokuba-boy," he stated, turning his eye on the soulless body. To Crocketts silent shock, the boy answered, turning his head with the same blank and empty stare. "Follow Crocketts and do as he says, understand..?" The boy merely stared, before moving from his chair to walk towards Crocketts. Pegasus looked to his assistant as the words 'Establishing Connection' appeared behind him on the screen. "Make sure he gets right to bed, understand~ Tomorrow is a special day after all..." His tone grew rather dangerous at the end again, and Crocketts nodded. As the two left rather quickly, the image of five men, all seated at a single table appeared in the background. "Now then," Pegasus stated, swirling his wine glass again before turning to face KaibaCorp's board of directors.

"Pegasus-san," the one in the center stated, the CEO recognizing him as the late Gozaburo's assistant Daimon. "Good to see we didn't have to wake you up."

Beside him, another of the board frowned, expression mirrored by those around the table. "I assume you heard about Seto Kaiba's recovery," Ootaki stated roughly, watching as Pegasus returned the statement with a narrowed eye.

"I have," Pegasus answered, watching as the board muttered amongst themselves.

"If this recovery is truly not a hoax," Ooka was muttering, "Then the plan will need to be revised..."

Across from him, Oshita shook his head. "No," he stated with a scowl. "There is no turning back now... We've dug ourselves in too deep to even think of fooling that insolent child..."

The fifth of the group, Ota, crossed his arms as his scowl deepened. "Shit," he muttered under his breath. "That Seto just won't die..!"

"Gentlemen~," Pegasus stated calmly, interrupting the group's mutterings. "'Big 5'... There is absolutely nothing to worry about!" At the questioning stares from the board, he continued. "There won't be any problems... After all, the second I defeat Yugi, our contract will be fulfilled... Kaiba Corporation will become 'ours'," the man stated with a smile. "After all... He will never make it to this island... Something has already been done about that!"

As Pegasus chuckled, the board members stared. Eventually, Daimon also began to join the man in his laugh, before speaking. "Heh eh heh... I see," he muttered, nodding. "You had better succeed with whatever it is being done Pegasus-san! After all," he began, the others gaining grim expressions in response. "So long as that boy lives our lives are at risk... All of us," he added, emphasizing the 'all'. Watching as Pegasus merely stared at the screen, he continued. "We will speak with you again Pegasus-san..." With that, the screen blacked out, leaving the CEO to frown.

"Hn..." Seto Kaiba... Alive, really... The man walked out to one of the many balconies in his castle, still sipping his wine. "Seto Kaiba," he muttered, eyes narrowed. "Go back to Hell where you belong..."

* * *

"AAAAUUGGH!"

Katsuya jumped as a scream pierced the air beside him, rubbing his head with a growl. "Agggghh..." The sky of course, was just as black and empty as before, save the millions of stars twinkling above. Such a view would never be visible from the homes in Tokyo... But right now, he just wasn't in the mood to think of that. He turned on the source of the scream, who was currently shouting with enough volume to wake up the dead... Or possibly the comatose. "Damn it Honda!" He scowled as the others woke up as well, a bleary '_It's only 11:30.._.' coming from Bakura. "What's wrong with you!" With luck, the girls wouldn't wake up either...

The teen in question was currently shuffling as far away from a serpentine looking object on the ground, his face pale as he shouted. "Hihhh! S-S-SNAKE!"

Beside the him, Yugi jumped as well. "E-EH! Snake!" Oh come on, were they honestly that...

Honda gave a shuddered nod, clutching the trunk of one of the trees near by. It was kind of weird, seeing Honda like this... This was really the first time he'd seen him so worked up about something normal as opposed to completely bizarre. Like say being turned into a figurine (He thought that would count.). Instead... "Hahhhh...!" He gave another shudder, while Yugi and Katsuya both moved over to see the long object on the ground. "I hate snakes... And reptiles... And anything else with slippery skin!" Remind him not to take the guy to an aquarium then... That or bring him there blindfolded and drop him in the whale-shark tank.

Picking up the object in question, Yugi raised an eyebrow. "Erm... Honda-kun," he began, holding the vine in the teen's face. "Is this the snake you're talking about?"

"Sheesh..." Katsuya snorted, moving back to where he'd been laying down. Honestly, getting all worked up for nothing... He'd be rubbing this in his face tomorrow, that was for sure... "It's just a vine from a tree, what's th' matter with you..."

Honda blinked, turning to Yugi with a blank expression on his face. "...Eh... a vine..?" As he was reassured by Yugi that yes, it was indeed a vine, Katsuya growled.

Man, he'd just gotten to sleep and everything... "Agggghh... Wimp, screaming just because of a vine, honestly..." He leaned back against his jacket, grumbling as he made himself comfortable... Rolling over with the scowl still set in place, he gave a mock wave. "NIGHT!" Who cared if that came out in a way that put Seto to shame, he wanted sleep! ...Needed sleep too!

And sleep he did... For about half an hour at least. "W-WUAAAAH!"

"AAAAUGH!" He jumped up, Yugi blinking in shock from beside him as Honda grumbled. "WHAT IS IT THIS TIME!"

Ignoring the more volatile emotions running through his friend right now, Honda merely yawned and turned to the source of the scream; namely Bakura. "What's wrong Bakura," he asked, watching as the teen turned his head from his bag.

"W-Well," he began, turning towards them, bag in hand as he coughed. "It's my ring, it's-"

"AAAAUUGH!"

"THE MILLENNIUM RING!" The three jumped back, ignoring Bakura's blank and slightly worried stare. "Why th' hell did you bring it to th' island," Katsuya shouted, eyes wide. That thing! He brought that thing _here_!

Bakura blinked, still holding the device in one hand. Apparently the fact that he was holding a lethal weapon of soul-stealing destruction in his hands wasn't disturbing him. "Ah... It was still in my bag so..." He coughed, frowning slightly. "That isn't the point..." Looking back at the ring, the others followed his gaze with a blank stares. Oh... One of the needles was... Wait, how was it doing that?

"Ah..." Yugi blinked as he realized the prong in the middle held itself up on its own, pointing outward. Now that he thought about it, there was a slight glow there as well... Though he had a feeling the others didn't see it. "The needle is..."

There was a nod from Bakura, and the air seemed to become tense. Thick, heavy almost, as though the sky was silently rumbling in displeasure with them all. Katsuya swallowed as they stared at the ring, before its owner finally spoke, putting the grumbling noises he heard in the back of his mind. "I wonder what this means," he muttered, frowning just slightly. "I had a nervous feeling... So I looked into the bag to check on it." He swallowed, looking towards where it was pointing. "And then it did this... For some reason, it's pointing at Pegasus' castle..."

The three leaned over to look closer at the ring, Katsuya frowning. Now that was interesting... And creepy. More the latter really... "Huh... It is..." He looked over at the castle in question, before turning back to Bakura as the teen continued.

"That's not all," he stated with the same light frown from before. The ring seemed to shake slightly in his grip, the teen ignoring the odd 'behavior' for the moment. "This isn't the first time it's done this. It happened once before," Bakura continued, turning to Yugi. "The day I transferred to Domino High, when I saw the puzzle!" Alright. That was just a little weird. Hang on, if it was doing that, why didn't they notice it at school...

Yugi blinked at that, while Katsuya frowned, pushing the thoughts back. There were five needles so... Really, one of them should still be pointing if it did it before... "Nh... But it ain't doing anything right now..."

He laughed lightly, nodding. "Well, it doesn't react any more..." Oh. Well that made sense he guessed.

"Hnn..." Yugi frowned crossing his arms at that with a sigh. "Then maybe... The millennium ring is like a dowsing rod..." A dowsing rod eh... Well, if it was meant to point out the unknown location of things...

Katsuya continued to stare, scratching his head with a sigh. "Man," he muttered under his breath. "Things get weirder an' weirder..."

"I don't get it," Honda was muttering with a frown. No one really cared to answer that however, and instead Bakura nodded in response to Yugi's statement.

"I think it's reacting to Pegasus' eye," he began with a slight frown. "But I can't be sure myself... Listen, Yugi," he stated, the boy blinking in response. "I came to this island to help you and Jonouchi, but I had another reason as well." Katsuya stared, watching as the teen continued. "Somewhere on this island," he stated, a glint of determination clearly visible in his eyes, "Are clues to the mystery of the Millennium Items... Pegasus must know the secret! He has the millennium eye after all!"

They stared, Yugi muttering something under his breath as their stares moved towards the castle in the distance. It was just barely visible, thanks to the light of the full moon. Even at the distance they were at, it was a sight to behold with wonder and possibly fear. Not to mention hate _a lot_.

In the end, Yugi ended up turning to Bakura with a worried smile. "Well... In any case, whatever you do, don't put that ring on, ok?" Bakura nodded in response, stowing the ring back in his bag.

"Don't worry," he said with a smile. "I won't; it would be dangerous otherwise!" Katsuya scratched his head as the conversation continued, moving to go back to sleep.

Sheeesh... This occult stuff was giving him the creeps, how the hell was he going to sleep with that ring here? He'd thought it was back in Bakura's house, or (He wished) maybe in a trash can. "Umm..." He attempted to shake this off in order to calm down, visibly put off by the eeriness of seeing the ring again. I'm gonna go back t' sleep now..." Somehow at least... Maybe he could just pretend the conversation never happened (Good luck with that...)

From beside Bakura, Yugi nodded. "Right," he said with a smile. "We all need to rest up for tomorrow, even if we don't duel!" Or end up possibly soul-snatched by whatever was in that ring. Again. As Bakura said this, Honda looked over to spot the rather unnerved expression on Katsuya's face.

And apparently, revenge was a sweet drink after the issue of the 'vine-snake'. "Heheheee..." Honda smirked as his friend tried to get comfortable behind a tree, as far from Bakura's bag as possible. "Oi, Jonouchi... Want me to tell you a horror story before you sleep..? Or will you get nightmares?"

As his friend laughed, Katsuya merely growled and went red. "Tch... Shut up! I ain't scared!" Mostly.

Honda merely continued to laugh, before collapsing back on the ground. "What ever you say..."

"I'm serious! Honda!" He growled at the teen, before something hit him in the head from behind. "OW! What the-"

He turned, frowning as he picked up what looked to be a box labeled 'Unicharm'. Err what..? He frowned, trying to remember where he'd seen this before. Unicharm... It was next to the shampoo in the drug store, wasn't that like... Something girls used or... Or... Oh... He flushed, dropping the box. Ohhhhh shit. Looking at where it came from, he paled, Anzu clearly visible and not pleased. Fuck.

"I don't know about you guys," she began with a growl, Mai looking just as happy, "But we're **TRYING** to sleep over here!" As Mai gave them all a look and returned to the tent, the woman continued. "So pipe down, honestly!" Oh boy... At least the 'harpy' hadn't shouted either...

Sheesh... He rubbed his head as the girls vanished back to their tent, before frowning. Not his fault, he wanted to sleep too... Though after all that, it took a bit. Particularly with the glare-battle going on between he and Honda for a short bit. In the end however, they were both just too tired to keep the 'battle' going, caving and rolling over in a 'tie'. Katsuya leaned back on the ground, blearily staring at the sky before yawning. The box had been wrapped up in his jacket, what with its contents adding to a 'slightly less than rock hard pillow feel'... He'd give it back in the morning he guessed. Not like they were using it if they threw it at him. Ah well... Regardless of what was going on, if the ring was zipped up in that bag it couldn't actually do anything right..? Though... You never knew really... (That ring. Was Satan in gold form.)

He closed his eyes, sighing contentedly. So nice and peaceful... Just sleep... Everything would be alright, if he just got some sleep... "Hwaaaahh..." Sleep...

-_whp whp whp whp_- Ignore the sounds of what was probably a bug... And sleep...

-_**whp whp whp whp whp**_- His eye twitched, a slight frown coming over his face. Alright, that bug was getting a bit loud, but nothing he couldn't ignore right? Kinda rumbly too... Had the wind picked up? Whatever, he decided as he shuffled to the side. Sleeeeep... Sleep. Just... Ignore the noise and-

-**_WHP WHP WHP WHP WHP_**- GOD DAMN IT! "AAAAUGGH!" Katsuya jumped up, eyes wide and expression livid as he jammed his fingers in his ears. "WHOEVER'S MAKING THAT NOISE CUT IT OUT! **AAAUGH**!" As the noise persisted, increasing in volume if that was possible, he continued to growl. To the side, the girls had woken up again, though without the rage from before as they looked up at the sky. "**WHAT THE HELL IS THAT**!"

Yugi in the meantime was staring upwards, eyes wide. "A-Ahh! It... It's a helicopter!"

He didn't care what it was, it was loud! "JUST MAKE THE NOISE STOP," he shouted, looking around in the sky to see the vehicle as it flew over head. Helicopters... Arrrrrgh! It was too dark to see a logo or anything to discern where the copter came from at the moment; as it was, the only reason they could see it was because it was a rather bright shade of white against the black sky, not to mention the spotlight from underneath it. Either way... As the helicopter began to lower itself a short distance away, he was still shouting at it, face bright red. "HEY! **YOU**," he shouted as they began heading towards the spot. "**WHAT TIME DO YOU THINK IT IS, ASSHOLE**!"

As they moved through the woods, coming to a fairly large clearing, Katsuya finally tore the fingers from his ears. No sense covering what was already blindingly loud! Sheesh! "There," Yugi was shouting over the sound of the blades, wind pushing them back as the helicopter landed. "But why is it landing here!"

"The hell if I know," Katsuya found himself growling rather loudly. Three times. _THREE TIMES_ he'd been woken up, not counting the weird nightmare he'd been jostled out of before! What the hell was wrong with this island! And whoever was in the copter! "I swear it, whoever 's in there is getting a punch in the fucking face!" As he clenched his fist, bundled jacket gripped in his other arm, he continued to scowl. "Damn it... We gotta duel tomorrow, who the hell comes to an island like this in the middle of the night!"

As if to answer their questions, the whipping sounds of the helicopter died, blades slowing to a stop while the vehicle came to a perfect landing. The windows were tinted, so they couldn't tell who was inside... But as Katsuya stared at the side of the helicopter door, he found himself staring with wide eyes. 'KC'... That was... That was the logo for...

The door clicked open, and within a few seconds, they knew exactly why a helicopter had bothered landing in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the night.

"S-Seto-ch..." He shook himself off, glad that the shock of the situation had everyone else paying more attention to Kaiba (who was now fixing them all with a blank if not narrowed stare), rather than what he was saying. He didn't catch the frown from Mai behind him of course. Nor the slight, wry smile that Yugi gave for just a moment, instead staring forward as the woman came into clear view. Though there was no longer any wind, the coat seemed to billow just slightly as she moved, and for a brief moment, he remembered his earlier predictions on when she was to wake up. Haha... He was a week off... "...Kaiba..."

She was awake... She was... Back.

And as the dream from last night came to mind, he realized now just what kind of hell he was going to be paying up to the woman.

* * *

Landing a helicopter was never too difficult, in her opinion. After all, she certainly knew how to take off and fly one.

Finding a place within decent range of the castle to land however, was not nearly as easy. The area had to be clear of trees, people, and relatively flat... Something that Pegasus seemed to have purposely avoided when building his castle, given he surrounded it with mountain's, a volcano, and a forest. (Really, a _volcano_? Please...) She'd managed of course though; nothing was stopping her from getting to her brother and the assholes holding him, and if she had to she'd have landed beside the damned volcano. As it was however, it took a small bit of self control not to react, when upon killing the engine of the copter she saw _him_ of all people. "Hn..." Seto narrowed her eyes as she stepped out of the seat, grabbing her briefcase from the ground and stowing the gun away in her coat. Yugi... "Figures I'd still be tied to _you_," she muttered under her breath, flicking off the lights in the vehicle with a slight scowl. And of course the rest of his 'crew' was there... There were two she didn't recognise however, and another which had her frowning. 'Kujaku Mai'... She was one of the regional champions last she checked. Granted, in half a year who knew what had happened, but all things aside, what was she doing with them?

And the white haired teen... There was an odd feeling there, like they'd met at least in passing, if only just for one moment. It was only that however. She moved to the door, frowning as she pushed the thoughts back. So she didn't know who he was either, big deal; it was obvious they hadn't met, after all, she had no memories of him! The blond however... 'Jonouchi', as he was apparently called. And even then, she had no way of telling that this was his actual name. Well, she decided, opening the door of the helicopter. She supposed that he hadn't done too bad a job at chasing after her brother's captors after all, if he was here. Perhaps he was worth giving a slight bit of respect but... Nonetheless, she decided as she stepped out, ignoring the shouts from a fair number of the group. She wasn't going to simply place her trust blindly in his arms. No... After all, regardless of what Mokuba had apparently decided while she was 'gone', there was always a risk... Always.

'_Is that who I think it is..?_' She turned her head as the gasps filled the air, looking over the crowd with a dull stare. '_It's Kaiba,_' they were saying, '_He came out of his coma_!' Hn! So they knew about that then... Well, after so long, she supposed it figured. Not to mention that they had, for the most part, witnessed that final battle between herself and Yugi. That was probably where it happened really... Nonetheless. Across from her, Yugi seemed slightly frozen, as did the blond beside him. They both stared a few moments, before the shorter of the two broke into a grin and spoke. "Kaiba-san!" She blinked, raising her eyebrows just slightly as Yugi charged forwards. The others around him also seemed surprised, save for the blond it would appear... Said blond appeared to be staying put, instead staring from a distance with a numb and almost blank look on his face.

Seto waited for the boy to stop a few feet away, before giving a slight nod in response. 'San'? Now why had he used that honorific? From what she recalled, he always used the honorific 'kun'... Now what brought this change? Well... Regardless, it was more confusing that he'd run over... "...We meet again, Yugi," she said with a fairly neutral tone, confusion kept within her mind as she held her equally blank expression in place.

The boy nodded in response to the comment, before reaching into his pockets for something. The sound of rustling cloth filled the air in addition to his muttering, and she watched as Yugi pulled out a deck of cards. Cards? She blinked as she recalled the 'dust shadow' she'd seen on the table beside her. There had obviously been a deck there, and given that Mokuba knew which cards she used... These were probably... "Here," Yugi said, holding them out. "There was a guy who had your cards," he continued, Seto picking them up with a blank expression. "I got them back for you."

Her cards... She nodded, placing them in the breast pocket of her jacket. So Pegasus had stolen these as well... Well, hopefully if Yugi's actions at her own matches against him were any consideration, the one who had dared to use her cards was dealt a similar if not worse fate. "In that case, I'll thank you for now," Seto said calmly, before moving to turn. It was a genuine 'thank you'... But outside of that, outside of her grudging respect for this teen, there would be no peace between them. Not for a while... "Don't be mistaken however... I'm not the kind of man who'll lose a fight and walk away with my tail between my legs." She leveled a light glare at the boy, before continuing. "I'll defeat you, sooner or later..." Preferably sooner...

Yugi scratched his head, laughing nervously at the comment. He had probably been expecting it... Good. "Ahaha... Anyways... Kaiba-san... You're here because of Mokuba-kun right?" She blinked, eyes widening just barely. Mokuba... So then Yugi knew as well! Now that she thought about it, there had been a picture with Mokuba and Yugi there... Not to mention the rest of his 'posse'... "I was thinking... Since we're all trying to get to Pegasus, maybe we could team-" No.

She frowned, clenching her fists as she cut the boy off. 'Team up'? Not likely! "Don't bother finishing that sentence," she said coldly, Yugi visibly tensing slightly at the words. "It's me who will defeat Pegasus... And I don't need the help of you, nor anyone else to do so," she added, eyes briefly going over the blond across from her. His expression seemed just a little odd... Confused perhaps? Or something else? Seto threw the thoughts from her mind, turning around and looking toward the castle in the distance. That castle... That was where her brother was... "I'll to protect my company and my brother with my own hands, understand?"

There was silence as she began to walk away, nothing but the wind and the sound of muttering. Good... No complaints or angered retorts, not that she would have listened. Abruptly however, a single voice cut through the air that had her stop. A voice she didn't know, that seemed familiar somehow, enough that she was frowning in response. The blond... "Oi, Se... Kaiba," the teen shouted, Seto's eyes narrowing slightly at the presumed slip between names. She wasn't on a first name basis with anyone outside of her brother, home-based employees not included. So why was this person... She turned, watching the blond step forwards for a moment, something in his hands. Now what was this about... If she could remember who this person was, it would at least make her feel more comfortable about knowing that this person as well as supposedly fighting to go after Mokuba. Even so... "Looking pretty good for a coma-victim," the teen continued, Seto's eyes narrowing slightly. Well wasn't that a 'nice' compliment? Hn! What was he up to now? "Let's see your reflexes! _CATCH_!" He tossed something, the woman paying no mind to it as she grabbed it from the air with ease.

"Hn!" An easy toss to catch; it was more reflex that had her bother really. She looked over the crowd, frowning slightly as she noted the rather horrified expressions on all but the blond's faces. Odd... The woman brought her arm down, turning the box over. Now why were they- She tensed, looking at the box that he'd thrown. Thi.. This was! A visible glint of anger entered her eyes, the woman dropping the box the moment she caught the 'Unicharm' label on it. He'd thrown a box of _these_ at him! "Gh..." What a moron... He dared to even joke at a time like this! It had to be a joke after all... Those who knew of her identity were made to keep it strictly under-wraps, and regardless of all she didn't know this moron would have nothing to gain by attempting to spoil such a secret! "You..." Tch... Screw what Mokuba thought of this moron, the first thing she was doing when she got the boy back was making sure this idiot went through hell! Starting with a meat grinder... And his scrotum! "Of all times..."

'Jonouchi' merely smirked, watching as Seto sent a glare worthy of death itself in the blond's direction. Apparently this blond had a death wish... Even the people behind him knew that!"Heh... No way I'm lettin' yah go just yet... Heck, one week ago you weren't movin' an inch! How do I know you won't keel over any second?"

Tch! She gripped her briefcase, jaw clenched before she answered. After all, she might have felt a little drowsy, but that could wait... This moron looked as though he'd been hit by a truck. He had nothing on her... Regardless of any medical knowledge that would say otherwise. "Hn! Interesting words coming from someone who resembles a flea-bitten mutt."

Oh... That hit a nerve, she thought with a slight smirk, watching as the 'Mutt' visibly growled for a moment. Good... Maybe he would shut up. At that same instant, it looked as though Yugi and one of the others (Honda was it?) would attempt to hold him back... However, she noted with a light look of confusion, the blond didn't move an inch. Instead he dropped the scowl for a smirk, almost laughing. Hn... Now what was that about... "You don' change yer insults that often, do yah s... Kaiba?" Again with the pause... Interesting... As her eyes narrowed with minor suspicion, the teen continued. "'Mutt', 'Mutt', 'Mutt'... Be creative already!" At these words, those behind him seemed to frown, the reaction apparently coming off as a surprise to them. Hn...

Seto snorted, her smirk remaining in place. She wasn't about to fall behind in this 'verbal battle'... "Try being something other than a dog then, 'Mutt'." As a few of the others in the clearing rolled their eyes at this, she continued to leave a narrowed stare at Jonouchi. Who was this idiot... He was most definitely the one who was with Mokuba in those photos, but how did such a complete moron even manage that? To gain her brother's trust, the trust of her other employees, and still be... _This_? Mokuba... The smirk vanished, and she moved to turn again. "If you excuse me," she muttered, a frown once more in place as the reason she had come came back to the front of her mind, "I'll be on my way..."

"How long you been awake anyways, s-'Kaiba'?" She paused again, turning her head to level an annoyed stare at Jonouchi. Honestly, why was he bothering with all of these questions! It didn't matter to him, and it certainly didn't matter to anyone else in the area just what kind of condition she was in! "Can't be that long right? Yah sure didn't look like you'd be getting up when I left, I can tell yah that!" Hn! As if she cared about that... Besides, how was she to know when he'd last seen her? "Why don' we make a bet?" Her eyebrows raised, and she turned her full attention to the blond. A 'bet'? Her brother was in danger, he knew this, and he wanted to make a bet? "It's like Yugi said after all, we're after th' same thing right?"

She frowned suspiciously, the smirk and frown both now gone. She had no time for bets, nor games... "Regardless of the reason you're here 'Mutt', I can guarantee that what you consider the 'same thing' and what I consider as such are two very different things..." The blond's expression didn't change, and she momentarily thought of turning around again. At least until she spotted the box around the mutt's neck...

As Seto's eyes widened just slightly at the image of her private safe key on the box, Jonouchi spoke one more. "Don't act like you know what it is I'm talking about," he said as the smirk faded, crossing his arms. "You know damn well that we're here for th' same thing! I'm askin' you t' give me one shot at this, got it?" She stared, listening as the now frowning blond continued to speak. "You an' me Se-.. Kaiba! Duel! If I win, you have t' stick with us!" At those words, Honda and a few of the others frowned, looking at the teen incredulously. Seto herself found herself looking at him with narrowed eyes as well, jaw clenched tightly in her annoyance. What the hell was he up to..? A duel? Hah! If his cards were anything like his appearance, this would be a joke...

So why was it that this look seemed familiar only now... The woman scoffed, a smirk coming to her face. "A duel..? I don't think you even realize what you're saying," the woman asked with a dismissive stare. Hnn... She needed to test her duel disk at some point really; who knew what the months had done to it, even from inside a locked case. One shot... Seto stared at the teen across from her before nodding curtly. "Very well then," she continued with a smirk, watching as Jonouchi's expression of oddly calm anger shifted into a smirk. It was her only shot at getting around whatever tricks Pegasus would have set up after all... So what better way to test it than to get out of here? "Someone needs to show you your proper place after all... However," she continued, watching as Yugi turned from where he was trying to convince his friend not to duel, "When I win, I'm leaving, with no questions asked. If a single one of you even attempts to stall me, you _will_ pay."

While the others drew back slightly at this, Jonouchi merely nodded. Hn... Interesting... This 'mutt' wasn't backing down either; obviously more than just a pathetic bluff. Perhaps this would be more than a test for the duel-disks, she decided with a frown. Mokuba had picked this moron for a reason after all... So perhaps he would prove himself at least slightly competent in this duel, enough that she wouldn't have too many doubts about why this moron had been hired. Strategy was applied to more than just cards after all. "Alright then," he said with a nod, moving off to the side. Hn? Now where was he going? "Come with me! There's a duel box over here!" Ah, that was where...

"No," she said with a neutral tone, watching as the blond turned with a frown. "Let's fight right here..." Jonouchi appeared to fix her with an almost incredulous stare, and she placed her briefcase on the ground. Watching the teen's neutral expression as she opened the case, she smirked. Here it was... She pulled the round devices out, tossing one over to Jonouchi with a blank stare. "Put this on," she told him, just a slight commanding tone to her voice. "It's a 'Duel Disk'... A new piece of hardware I developed around the same time as 'Death-T'," she continued, watching as her current opponent clicked the deck holder around his wrist with slight difficulty. "This is a prototype... But it's a good opportunity to test it I would think..." As Jonouchi turned to face her with an almost joking smirk, she gritted her teeth. What the hell was with that expression..? How was it that he could turn all of this into such a joke! Nonetheless, she focused on explaining. "The rules are 'mostly' the standard... However, the concept of the field is a little different," Seto explained, attaching the second duel disk to her own wrist before grabbing her deck. "I'll leave it at that... It shouldn't be too difficult, even for a dog like you, to figure things out. Put your cards in the deck holder," she stated, inwardly smirking at the slight twitch she got from the blond at the 'dog' comment. Interesting... They seemed to really get to him... She would enjoy this.

Seto stepped back a fair number of feet, gripping the disk in her left hand as she continued on. "Before we start, we need to be at least five meters apart," the woman stated with an again neutral expression. Lest she end up beaned in the head by this _idiot_... She watched as Jonouchi put his cards in the holder, gripping his own deck and staring her down with a smile. Tch... Don't take her lightly... If the others She narrowed her eyes, shaking it off for the moment. "Alright... If you're ready, then it's 'Game Start'! I'll go first," she began, drawing her cards. "Draw five cards from the deck," the woman continued, "And place your monster in one of the spaces on the disk... And when you've made your move," she continued, "Throw it into the field!"

The disk was tossed almost like a frisbee, device buzzing as it shot towards the half-way point on the field between herself and Jonouchi. The blond tensed as the device glowed, and Seto smirked widely. "W-What the," the teen was muttering, watching as wisps of light swirled from the device. "A monster's comin' out of th' disk!" Well, at least his reaction was partially amusing...

She chuckled, more than glad to see that there were no problems with the device thus far. "The graphic data in the card is processed at high speed using the hyper-3D engine built into the disk," Seto explained with a grin, eyes narrowed in her mirth. She doubted that the blond had a clue what she was saying, but nonetheless... Maybe if he was still able to stand after his loss, his 'friends' could explain it to him. "It creates a 'solid vision' of the monster, using the same emulator utilized in my Duel Boxes!" Still grinning, she watched as those around them stared at the devices with wide eyes. It had been a while since she'd dueled... Her grin shrank back into a smirk, and she watched as her opponent made his move. It was almost invigorating... Just the thing to get her warmed up for Pegasus.

* * *

Well, she hadn't fallen over yet... That was always good. Katsuya blinked at the monster before him, briefly wondering if maybe the doctors had been wrong. Heck, given how fast she'd gotten here, it was obvious that the woman had woken up recently... They'd said she'd be out for more than just a few hours after waking up, possibly a few weeks even... But how the heck was she still standing then!

Nonetheless, he'd taken this bet, and he intended to win it. Regardless of the fact that Seto had her old cards back in hand. Cards in a spinning disk... Sheesh, it was like 'fighting-instant-cup-ramen! Watching as the woman before him smirked, he nodded to himself. Alright... He could do this... And if he didn't then maybe it would be better for Mokuba in the end. Hell, not like he was really going to accomplish much until the morning, so if Kaiba managed to- Agh! He mentally shook himself, looking at his deck. God, he needed to focus! Draw five cards, pick a monster and... Lesse, it looked like the duel disks focused on some kind of weird one-on-one battle system... And...

He bit his lip, frowning. Bad draw, bad bad draw... He didn't have any monsters that could take the attack of the Battle Ox Seto just summoned! He grabbed one of his monsters, looking across. Alright... He didn't know how the defense mode really worked on this thing... All the panels were were large squares that the cards clicked into really. Battle Ox fought with an axe though... So maybe if he was lucky... "Alright," he shouted, putting his monster on the disk. "I'll play this card!" He tossed the disk, watching as the light burst from the middle to reveal a tall, almost skeletal 'lizard' of sorts. The humanoid lizard screeched, and Katsuya grinned. "Don't let me down Armored Lizard," he shouted, watching as the monster growled at his opponent. "LET'S GO!"

* * *

Armored Lizard? She snorted as Jonouchi leveled a determined stare towards her. 200 points below her Battle Ox... Seto ignored the shouts from the 'peanut gallery' to the side, instead smirking as she looked over the monster. And intentionally summoned too it looked like... If he'd set a trap or spell she might have been a slight bit worried, but as she could clearly see that wasn't the case. Pathetic... "Hnhnhnhnhn... You don't have a clue what you're doing, do you 'Mutt'?" Watching as the blond grit his teeth at that, she merely continued to smirk. This duel disk... So far it was working alright, which was good for her; monsters were summoned perfectly, and If Pegasus could truly 'read minds' as it would seem, then there was only one way to counter it; stay out of range with this machine!

She watched as Jonouchi frowned, shrugging slightly. "Trust me," he said with narrowed eyes. "I got a clue... Get him Armored Lizard," he shouted, the metallic beast charging forward with a screech. If he had a clue, why did he bother sending out a weaker monster?

"Hnhnhnhn..." Seto merely smirked as the lizard came forwards, before gesturing her snorting battle ox forward. "Battle Ox," she shouted, the monster heaving his weapon up on his shoulder with a growl. "_DISEMBOWEL HIM_!" The axe swung into the monster's neck with a thunk, becoming stuck half way. "**AXE CRUSHER**!"

Across from her, Jonouchi grinned. "Alright! It got hit, but it's still alive!" The teen smirked, Kaiba idly wondering just how long it would take for the Battle Ox to force the axe through. "You can't cut through the armor scales," he was continuing, both watching as the Lizard attempted to pull the axe from its neck. "Your axe won't work!"

Please... So that was it then? He was comparing the rules of the duel-disk to Pegasus' bastardized tournament 'advantages'... Somehow under the impression that armor would beat the axe! "Hmph!" The woman snorted, arms crossed. She wouldn't be pulling back the disk any time soon... After all, if these were the tactics he was using, she wouldn't be replacing the oxe anytime soon. "Fool! Things like that don't matter when the Battle Ox has more attack points!" Her grin shifted slightly, Seto watching as Battle Ox slammed the lizard to the ground. "TAKE HIM DOWN," she commanded, and with those very words the axe cut clean through Armored Lizard's neck.

There was a loud 'thunk' through the air, and Jonouchi tensed as the monster dissolved into nothingness. Now then...

What would he do next, she wondered idly...

* * *

Shit... There went that option. Katsuya gritted his teeth as his lifepoints went down, looking at the deck holder on his wrist as the numbers beeped at him. From two thousand to eighteen hundred... "Aww man... My lizard..." Still... It was only 200 points, so he had a fair shot yet..

As the monster's image dissolved, Yugi watched worriedly from behind him. "Ah... Jonouchi-kun," he shouted, the blond jumping as he followed his friend's gaze. "Look!" As he said this, the card he'd placed on the disk was violently spat off to the side, Katsuya paling. Shit! He'd paid a fair amount of money for that...

"Ack! My card!" It vanished into the woods, blending in with the rest of the foliage rather easily in the darkness. Ack...

Before he moved to chase after it ('_Pick it up later Jonouchi-kun_,' Yugi was shouting.) Seto's voice caught his attention again, the teen turning to pay attention. "When the monster loses," she was saying, gesturing to her deck holder. "And your card is lost, pull the wire of the duel disk toward yourself and pull back!" Well, that was straight forward...

He frowned slightly, before nodding. Alright then... "Like this," he asked, giving the cord a tug. He jumped as the disk abruptly snapped up, shooting towards him with enough force to make him stumble. "WOAH!" Not expected! He shook slightly, regaining his balance. Yikes... This disk... He held it with a frown, before mentally nodding. Alright then... This thing was essentially a giant yo-yo... Not bad taste, he told himself. Not bad at all. He was good with yo-yos...

Across from him, Seto was still grinning. Well, at least someone was happy... Though that was debatable at times really, given her reasons for smiling in most of those cases. "Now," she shouted, Katsuya looking forwards. "It's your turn; set a new card and throw the disk!"

He nodded, grinning. "Alright then," he said, drawing. Lets see what he got... Katsuya looked down at the card, smirking. Battle Ox had 1700 points? Well this card had 1800! Heh... A good start in his opinion! "Okay," he shouted, placing his card on the disk. It locked with a click, a small light glowing behind it in response. "Here's my next one! The Flame Swordsman!" Battle Ox was going down! "_TAKE THIS_!" He tossed the disk, smirking. '_Jonouchi_,' they were saying, Honda grinning to the side. '_Yes... That could win.._!' Pointing the warrior forward, he continued to grin. "Alright... This match is mine! **_Toki En Zan Ken_**!" The sword clased against the Ox's axe, the weapons scrapping against each other and sparking fiercely but nonetheless holding firm. He smirked, before frowning. Hang on... Something wasn't right, wasn't there something about the Battle Ox and..

"J-Jonouchi-kun," Yugi shouted, Katsuya's thoughts hitting him rather quickly at his next words. Ohhhh shit, why did this come to mind just now? "Battle Ox has a resistance to fire!" God fucking _damn it_.

Seto merely smirked in response to his groan, the woman's arms crossed. "Iron Arm Axe," she shouted, her monster's weapon throwing Flame Swordsman off balance. Battle Ox grinned madly before cutting him clean in two with the blade, returning to its master's side with a chuckling growl. "The swordsman is killed!"

Gh...! He watched his points drop another two hundred points, wincing. Not a good start... The blond mentally groaned as Honda loudly wondered if there was any way he would win, rubbing his head. Not helping...

"Hnhnhnhnhn... The world's _worst_ duelist, I presume," Seto said from across him, the blond growling in response. Eggh... He knew she'd probably be just as smug as before, but he really needed to better prepare himself for this kind of thing... Because if she kept it up, he was going to have to apologize to her brother for punching Seto in the face. (Provided he got over there before she bolted.) "This duel is almost like an exhibition match," the woman continued, smirk growing. "And if you still think there's a chance of turning this around 'Mutt', think again! I'll shatter your glass confidence until nothing remains!"

Glass! He grit his teeth, frowning as he looked at the woman's face. Something about the way she was looking him over... It was freaking him out, like something was wrong... And what was with all the dog comments? He'd think that she'd call him by his name at least once! And yet...

He clenched his fist, steeling himself. He'd figure this out... He'd get through this and figure it out, one way or another!

It was really beginning to bug her, the woman decided. Watching as the 'mutt' growled at her, she strained her thoughts in an attempt to place at least one memory to the face only to find nothing. Tch... It figured... She didn't let her annoyance show however, instead continuing the duel. She had to admit, Flame Swordsman wasn't that bad... Nor would the earlier planning have been a problem if the rules Pegasus had made were in place. However, Seto mentally continued, it was still on par with an amateur play. Not to mention Pegasus' rules were completely ridiculous at the moment. "Hnhnhnhnhn..." She chuckled, pulling her duel disk back after drawing a card. Looking over it, she knew just what she could do to make this go quicker... It would test the spell-card compatibility as well... "This is getting boring," she said dismissively, gripping the disk as she grabbed two of her cards. "I'll play two new cards this turn; and by powering up the Battle Ox, I'll show you just how great the difference in skill is between us!"

Across from her, Jonouchi said nothing in response. Instead, he merely stared forwards with narrowed and determined eyes. Well... At least he was keeping somewhat quiet then... Though it seemed rather out of place for some reason. She studied the teens face a few more moments, before continuing. "They're both from Greek Myths after all," she muttered, placing 'Polymerization' on one slot and 'Mystic Horseman' on the other. "So if I combine a minotaur with a centaur," she shouted, tossing the wheel forward, "I get this! Rabid Horseman!" A... Mino-centaur? Good thing she hadn't said _that_ out loud...

The light swirled around her Battle ox, hiding it from form. It became blinding almost, Seto squinting in the glare before it cleared to reveal it's new fused form. The body of a horse, the torso and arms of a man, and the head of an ox... The beast pawed at the ground, and Seto crossed her arms. Of course, as a fusion monster, she couldn't have it attack on the first turn... Nonetheless... '_Lets see how you counter this, Mutt..._' Perhaps he would prove himself slightly competent in creating a defense against it.

* * *

Shiiiiiiit... He swallowed, frowning slightly as he pulled the duel disk back to his arm. "Tch... Damn it..." This wasn't good... He continued to stare at the woman, as if doing so long enough would tell him what was going on. All the same though...

She definitely wasn't collapsing anytime soon! He drew a card, frowning again. Nothing with a decent amount of attack power... And he still couldn't figure out how the damn defense mode would work! God, this was complete bullshit! "So you got a new monster," he grit out, going slightly red as he attempted to focus on the duel. He'd noticed just now but... This was the first time he'd seen the woman without something on her neck. Even her pajamas's had the collar done up to the top, but at the moment...

Well, he was wondering how she made it so that the binding wasn't visible, seriously, with that shirt... Left partially unbuttoned, he could rather clearly see the woman's slim neck and- he coughed, before tossing the duel disk back out with his next monster. He'd put it out sideways, hoping it would at least pull out a defense position as in the standard table-top duels... If it didn't work of course, it obviously wasn't enough to face the Horseman. As it was though, it was better than a direct strike! "That doesn't mean I'll stop fighting!" The blinding light erupted from the duel disk, Kastuya idly wondering if there were any other duelists on the island watching at the moment. Well, if they were...

He sure as hell hoped he didn't end up making a fool out of himself... "Swamp Battle Guard!"

* * *

Seto smirked slightly as the monster came to the field. Well... At least he wasn't so pathetic that he would give up the instant he was about to lose... Though pretty soon she'd have to ask if the moron knew the meaning of the words 'defense mode'. Constantly putting out attack mode monsters with low attack power... True, she was winning, and would certainly continue _to_ win. However, this was getting rather tedious! Not to mention repetitive. "Hmph," she muttered with a snort, barely giving the summoned monster notice. An easy kill! "Go, Rabid Horseman!"

A piercing wail sounded through the air as the horseman charged, axe cutting through Jonouchi's monster easily. The blond across from her visibly faltered slightly, and as he made his next move he appeared to grimace. Hn... Not joking much now, was he? "Ghn..." The teen placed a card in, clearly not pleased with whatever move he made. Tossing the wheel out, he nonetheless forced a determined frown on his face. "Then how about this! AXE RAIDER!"

She kept a partially disappointed frown from her face, outward expression appearing as nothing more than a smirk. Tch... This one was stronger than the last, but only by 100 points! What was this moron playing at..? Another attack mode monster to whittle away at the teen's lifepoints! "As if that will do you any good, moron!" Seto smirked as her monster pawed the ground, turn coming to hers. At least he had the sense to not attack with these monsters... However why was he bothering then? She banished the thoughts from her mind, instead focusing on winning the match. "You can't even scratch my monsters if these are the only cards you have!" Again, Rabid Horseman charged, Jonouchi's points dropping yet again. Lets see... After the last few attacks that brought him to 1100 didn't it? Hn! And she hadn't even taken a scratch, and he was only a hundred points from half dead!

The woman watched, eyes narrowed as her opponent stumbled again only to look up with those same determined eyes. Tch... Now what was he up to..? Didn't he know he'd lost yet? "Scratch," he said, pulling the disk in. "We'll see about that, y' overgrown Sea Horse!" Wait... What!

She blinked, watching as the teen summoned yet another weaker-than-needed monster and shook it off. How was that even an insult? ...Why did it bug her if it _wasn't_ a good insult! Either way... If he was going to try a verbal battle, he would be a loser on all fronts! "Hah!" Seto smirked as 'Battle Steer' appeared, a monster that while another 100 points more powerful was still not enough to handle the Rabid Horseman. "If you're going to spout insults, try coming up with something more creative Mutt- not to mention less pathetic! Rabid Horseman," she shouted, the mino-centaur snorting in response to her command. "Cut him to pieces!"

Rabid Horseman did so with mindless pleasure, axe plowing through the bovine opponent not once but twice before it vanished into the light. The monster's squeals were lost to the air, and the card was flicked off to join the others on the side. "Tch..." Again, Jonouchi winced, drawing his next card and speaking. "Heh! Says th' one who's been calling me nothin' but 'Mutt' all night," he countered, tossing the ring out as a monster equal in power to the last appeared. "Why don't you practice what y' preach?"

Seto snorted, watching as the monster known as 'Garoozis' stood before her. "Quite honestly /Mutt/," she emphasized, "All other insults would probably be lost on you." In all actuality, she just didn't know enough about the moron to say anything else... Either way. "Tell me, do you even know what the word 'defense mode' means? Because this became boring a long time ago," she finished with a growl. "Rabid Horseman! Go!"

Again, the axe was swung, another 200 lifepoints dropping from Jonouchi's counter. The blond however, still didn't falter; if anything, he was looking at the woman with a fairly grim scowl. "Hn! Regardless 'f how stupid y' think I am se- Kaiba," he began, Seto's eyes narrowing slightly as she caught the slip yet again. "I know damn well how to play Duel Monsters! It's yer own fault that defense mode isn't workin on th' thing!" As he said this, he tossed out another monster, Seto looking down at it before raising her eyebrows. Defense mode wasn't working? She wouldn't know going through attack the entire time, but she was fairly sure that the button to turn on that mode was obvious... "RUDE KAISER!"

Sideways... Each monster he'd been sending out had been set sideways, in the proper position for a defense mode monster. However, she noted, he also wasn't pushing the button. She smirked, before fixing a blank stare at her opponent. Honestly, it wasn't that hard to figure out... "Did you try pushing the button on the side, _Mutt_, or are you blind too? RABID HORSEMAN," she shouted, her monster having not even bothered to leave the center of the field. The beast nodded, raising his weapon with a large and wicked grin.

As the axe swung down through the next monster, Jonouchi visibly went pale. Regardless of the now pitiful number of lifepoints he had however, he managed to keep a blank face as he continued. "Pfh... Thanks f'r tellin' me on my last leg jerk!" Regardless of the comment however, the blond managed to smirk. It seemed a little fake... Not hiding anger she noted with narrowed eyes, but possible sadness... Now that was odd... "Right," he shouted, pulling the disk back and drawing a card. "Ogre Rock in defense mode then!" The disk was thrown to the field again, large stone golem appearing in a protective position. "Just wait s- Kaiba," the teen continued, faltering yet again Seto noted with a blank stare. "I'll do a lot more than just give you a scratch!"

More than a scratch? Seto snorted, putting up a smirk despite her annoyances. Well... She would see about that... She would see...

* * *

AN: Whew! _BUT WAIT THERE'S MORE_. It's hard for me to tell if Kaiba is OOC or not with the interactions she's having with Jonouchi...

See... First she was possibly respecting him for going after her brother (It's her brother, while she's not voicing the respect she's thinking it.), then there was just the anger... And and... Anyways, let me know if there's even something a _slight_ bit off here, as I'm going off a literal 'first impressions' deal; Kaiba at the moment remembers nothing of Jonouchi after all... So anything he says and does is completely new to her. (Which is why I'm so nervous.)

You may have noticed that I split the chapter in two, even though there wasn't much left to Jonouchi and Kaiba's duel.

That's because of the word count. In any case, here's a question to you; those who know what happens know that there isn't much more to the duel after this, but there _is_ a fair amount of explaination... Flashback... Stuff. (IE, Kaiba's memory of the duel that wasn't really a duel because Pegasus screwed Bandit Keith over. AHAHA.)  
So here's the question; do you think that'll be PLENTY to handle for the next chapter? Or do you want me to draw out the duel just a little more for optimal 'Married Couple' arguing fun?

(Believe me when I tell you, _one of the women is already on to connecting the names here because of it_.)

As it is, the details of the duel (as you can see) have been altered slightly... Details below.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey again Iona! Trippy dreams indeed... I would almost whip out a book to describe what the dreams mean but I think I'll leave that as an 'If you want me to' sort of thing.

And... And... ... I can't say enough how much I love your reviews Iona... Really, these words mean a lot to me..! (I just wish I could express it with as many words as you do...) As for Mai... Well... Lets just say one more person will be in on things by the end of Duelist Kingdom. I wonder if I shouldn't have her actually question Jonouchi on that second assumption though... I can see it now...

'Are you gay?' 'WHAT?' 'You heard me.' '...WHAT?'

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's so hard working, it's gathered over a thousand words for you to talk about! ...Wait, what do you mean it's been doing that for a while?**

* * *

**Yes, I did just take the two Pegasus scenes, cram them into one, and make them a million times more creepy by tossing Mokuba in there. But honestly, what's the kid going to do without a soul? Besides; it's stated rather clearly by the big five that they want that kid _alive_. Why?

Because 'Kaiba'Corp implies that a 'Kaiba' is running it; and while they've obviously kissed their chances with the elder goodbye, given that she entered a coma, they still want a figurehead. And Mokuba, being (To them at least) a 'young and impressionable child' fits the bill... Fact is, even if Pegasus bought the company out, I wouldn't put it past him- to the outside world, had the elder of the Kaiba's been dead, it would be seen as some weird adoption practice, and possibly boost sales.

* * *

Pegasus effectively infiltrated most of Kaiba's staff... But if he got maids right into that circle, I'm pretty sure something would have slipped into the headlines. Something... _Scandalous_. Ohohohoho~ Right, anyways. Given the obvious bad result that would bring, you can guess why that comment on being unable to get right in there was made. EVERYTHING IS FINE... Not really.

* * *

As a more factual note that has little to do with the manga or Japan, the wine and cheese that Pegasus is eating/drinking here is a legitimate 'pair'. (There are certain cheeses and wines that you serve together.) In the manga, he never names the wine, but he mentions he's eating Gorgonzola cheese. Amarone is a wine that is meant to be served with Gorgonzola among others. The other wine that works well with this cheese is 'Port'. Amarone seems more 'Pegasus'; it's an Italian wine made of partially dried grapes. Port, on the other hand, is a Portugal wine that is more of a 'dessert' drink.

* * *

I just killed the ventriloquist ('Death', if you didn't guess. From 'The Ventriloquist of Death'), but that was mostly because, as I was typing the scene, I realized that the ventriloquist was... Old. Like really, /really/ old. How long do you honestly expect him to hold out against that illusion Yami set on him!

Also, I decided to be a jerk to 'Darkness' (Player Killer of Darkness ohohoho~)... And went all out on the illusion of a hanging. Including strangulation... Mehehehehe...

Also, two words. Gratuitous. English.  
_WANDAFUOOOO_~~ (What Pegasus says when he tries to say Wonderful in the Japanese version. It's more amusing when you couple that with his adding 'DES' ('Desu'. It acts as a spoken 'period' at the end of most sentences, and the 'u' in it is often silent. Some people don't even bother with the 'des'. Pegasus REALLY emphasizes it though...) to the end of most his sentences, and the fact that he's supposed to be American. AHAHA.)

* * *

Honda's afraid of reptiles it seems. Possibly worms too, given that he says anything with 'slippery skin'. Not to mention fish... And in other news, For some reason it takes a bit for the _fully awake_ Yugi to notice that Bakura's holding his ring. Or at least, long enough that they have to ask what's going on. (When there's a glowing ring to be seen, it tends to make the situation rather obvious, or at least upsetting enough to disregard questions and shout loudly.)

* * *

Whale-sharks, mentioned by Katsuya in a reference to the aquarium he and Mokuba (And Shizuka) saw a while off, are the largest fish in the world, but, as their name implies... They don't eat anything that big. Rather, they only eat plankton. In fact, there's an attraction somewhere in the world where you can _ride a whale shark_. Wow. (I'm completely serious. ...I wanna do this... )

* * *

When Bakura mentions that the Millennium Ring pointed to the Puzzle at one point, I had to frown... There's a slight plot hole here, as the ring didn't do anything like this from what we _saw_. Maybe it was doing that outside? But Bakura had the ring hidden under his uniform the entire time, so it would have stretched the fabric, or even punctured it! In fact, we don't see the ring until he goes to the washroom, takes it out and mutters how similar the ring looks to Yugi's puzzle. This is obviously for dramatic effect but... Still!

* * *

The dialogue for the Millennium Ring scene has been 'switched' slightly. Not from character to character as would normally happen though; rather this time, it's the order. Originally, after being asked why he brought the ring to the island, Bakura simply jumps right into his 'I wonder what this means..?' speech, with Yugi noticing just after that that one of the needles is pointing upwards. Apparently, everyone has delayed reactions to that device... *points up*

* * *

'Unicharm' is the _only_ company in Japan that makes tampons at the moment (Japan seems to prefer pads); they're also called 'charm'. You can bet that Mai has some on hand though. ...Yes, Jonouchi used the box of tampons as part of a pillow. It's a point towards his somewhat lazy side; why bother returning the box when he's been woken up three times already and wants to sleep? (Shouldn't have thrown it at Kaiba though. That was a big NO.)

* * *

When Kaiba's helicopter lands, the words '_there it is_' are repeated about... Five times between conversation. As in, someone says something else, and _then_ another says 'There it is!' Guys, you can all see it, you don't need to say that... On another note of 'silly people', when Kaiba steps out, someone says '_But why is he here!_' ...Well. I know he didn't treat his brother well last time you saw, but... It IS his brother, and you **SAW** him getting kidnapped... Soooo...Yea. You should have guessed.

* * *

Kaiba in the fanfic = Woman scorned. In fact, he's labeled as a 'Papa Wolf' due to his intense protection of Mokuba. (Papa Bear would be the opposite of protection, as those guys are known for infantcide to get the Mama sexually active. Meaning that after Mama has babies, the dad will EAT THE CHILDREN. Not a good comparison for obvious reasons.) When you throw in the reputation that angry women get to the mix however, Mama Bear can seem a thousand times more frightening... Heck, even though I originally wrote the volcano comment as a joke, I'm _still_ not sure that she wouldn't have done it! (Kaiba is certainly cool enough to get away with it...)

* * *

When Kaiba says '_it figures I'd still be tied to you_', she references an actual line her Season 0 (Otherwise known as the first Yugioh series) counterpart; Yugi gets hit by one of the CEO's employee's cars, and for some reason, while he's unharmed, the employee ends up hospitalized... Upon seeing Yugi in the hospital as he visits his employee, Kaiba says this:

'_Looks like we really are connected by the thread of destiny. Try to cut it, but it cannot be broken...A thread that entangles us._'

...Red string of fate? Oh my.

* * *

The conversation in this scene is both very different and not different at all. Obviously things like _'I'm not the kind of man who_' were taking by-script, and unchanged for appearances sake. After all, Kaiba _is_ pretending to be a guy, has been for a few years, and is therefore more than comfortable about saying anything that refers to herself as male. In any case, here's a comparison of events for the Jou VS Kaiba duel.

In the dub, which is obviously quite different from the manga and original version, Yugi gives Kaiba his deck and then asks if he'll join them, what with them all going after Pegasus. Kaiba of course says 'no', stating that he'll get his brother himself, but what with Kaiba being a complete jerk about it, Jonouchi grabs him by the front of the shirt and demands he apologize, as '_he's not the only one with something to fight for_'. Kaiba simply grabs Jonouchi and throws him to the ground after this, at which point the duel challenge is issued.

Original Japanese anime and the manga are both rather similar. In the anime, the only real difference is that rather than Jonouchi chasing after Kaiba because of his grudge over 'Death-T', he's simply pissed off about Kaiba's attitude. Also, rather than being thumped physically by Kaiba, Jonouchi is instead pulled back by Honda and Yugi both, saving him the pain of getting flipped over by his arm. (Trust me when I say, that hurts.)

In this case however... Well, obviously Jonouchi knows just what Kaiba's after, and he kinda figured that Kaiba would be a jerk about it. The thing that really stands out however, is that unlike in the manga where he didn't know Kaiba at all, he's spent the last few months getting attached to her. (Though he's having trouble not lashing out with his words by the end, if it wasn't clear. Granted, it isn't really lashing but... Whatever. Get's more 'normal' as we go!) Most of all however, is that he knows what Kaiba _should_ be doing right now. Namely sleeping. See... Coma victims and Vegetative State victims both don't really just wake up and end up 'all better'. The fact is, you're lucky if they're awake for a full hour when that happens, because they're completely exhausted at the time. Speaking in real-world terms, Kaiba should be bed-ridden for at least a week more, catching some natural sleep as opposed to 'soul-crushed' induced variants. Though for all we know, that's part of the reason why she's awake and doing fine right now... After all, 'Mind Crush' is hardly a medical problem now is it?

* * *

If you don't know what a scrotum is, and haven't guessed from the fact that Kaiba is female in the fanfic and isn't above doing terrible things to her opponents, it's part of the male anatomy. Not the testicles mind, but... It's still in that area. Hey, the lady isn't above killing, she's gonna have these kind of thoughts when someone appears to be messing around with the knowledge of certain things at a time like this. (Ironically, he was probably just throwing the closest thing in an attempt to grab her attention. D'OH)

* * *

Why did Jonouchi, having beaten Mai and Ryuzaki suddenly fail_ SO BADLY_ against Kaiba? In both the manga and anime! It's like '_Jou! GET A HOLD OF YOURSELF_.'. I took a guess by taking advantage of the fact that Kaiba didn't explain which 'slight changes' in the rules existed. He never really says how you're supposed to put the cards in defense mode (Keep in mind that it's not exactly labeled.), not to mention the fact that from a first glance, it really looks like you're only allowed to use one monster at a time... And nothing else. In fact, until Kaiba uses 'polymerization',_ I_ was wondering how it worked. It doesn't really help that the number of magic cards in Jonouchi's deck at the time isn't that large compared to his monsters... (Not to mention that very little in his deck would help him at the end of it.) Either way, the way he was spitting out monsters, he was either pissed (Canon), or... He just did not realize that the damn thing would let him take the defensive.

Or one could pretend he didn't care, but that certainly isn't it. (Though it certainly looks that way to Kaiba with all the smirks he was giving as he lost...)

Further defense on this lack of knowledge is that aside from the middle, the four ports around that spot only hold the cards in _one position_. Not only that, but it looks as though it's where the spell cards go, as Kaiba only puts Mystic Horseman in one of those ports to fuse it with Battle Ox. BAWWWW.

And yet Yugi can magically use it perfectly well when it comes to his turn. HUH.

* * *

Kaiba explains the background of the duel disk... Twice in the manga. Understandable given that this is once in one chapter and once again in a sort of re-cap, but nonetheless. Why twice..?

* * *

'Toki En Zan Ken' is translated out to 'Fighting Spirit Flame Slash Sword' going by literal definition. It sounds cool in Japanese really. So does 'Mino-Centaur', as for Japan, anything foreign sounds cool really.

* * *

Lots and lots of switching from Jonouchi's point of view to Kaiba's up there, sorry about that. The fact was, it was originally only supposed to be from one or the other's point of view... However, in the end, it became both, as both people had scenes and thoughts that I wanted broadcasted. And I wasn't about to just do one chapter for one person and one the other! The reason why each part is divided is because while normally one can tell who's thinking by the dialogue, there were entire paragraphs dedicated to thought. Which meant that there would have to be some other way of telling the paragraphs apart without having to read, double take, and then say 'Ohhhh it's Jonouchi now...'

* * *

Somehow, a majority of this chapter turned into a giant test from _both sides_. Which is amusing, but nonetheless had me re-reading this through my edit going 'Wait what!' Had Kaiba retained memories of Jonouchi, this would obviously be silly, as Kaiba would already assume 'Jou is a moron, I will beat him and leave. And insult him. Many times. ' but... At the moment, she hasn't. So all she really has to go on is the fact that for _some_ reason (Can't possibly fathom why!), Mokuba and her two most trusted employees put their trust in the guy.

So she of course wants to know why, given that he's already killed the initial 'meeting' by throwing tampons at her. (Smooth...) So... While she's trying to figure out if he's even capable of getting to the castle after she leaves (In the off chance she fails. Her key word is 'off'. Mostly, she wants to make sure there's someone left if it comes to that.), Katsuya's just making sure she's not going to end up temporarily narcoleptic.

Narcolepsy is a condition that involves you randomly falling asleep by the way. There's no control over it at all, not without meds. (It's a chronic sleep disorder.)

* * *

Interesting fact; a lot of people always mention how Kaiba always covers up... Everything (Neck and arms in particular). They seem to magically forget that for the entirety of the Duelist Kingdom arc, he wears a dress shirt with a raised and _open _collar. And the buttons aren't all done up either; he's left the upper ones open, which allows you to see about five inches past his collarbone. Obviously I did up a few of those buttons in the fanfic's case (It's only two for femKaiba), given that the binding would be clearly visible otherwise, but either way. Kaiba! Kaiba if you're not careful, they'll notice you don't have an adam's apple!

Or at least they would if not for this interesting note: what with the 'Adam's Apple' being the cartilage protecting the thyroid area of the throat, if one has a skinny enough neck, then someone without one can appear to have one. How do I know this?

It happens to me... Though it certainly doesn't help that I wear a t-shirt and jeans most of the time. I look like a guy until I actually bother speaking or wearing something non-unisex! Either way, given that Kaiba's actually cross-dressing, she can probably get away with the 'fake apple' here being skinny as she is. Not to mention, whose gonna get close enough to inspect her neck? ... Bad thoughts.

* * *

Sea Horse! **_SEA HORSE_**! Usagi where did that come from! Well... 'Kaiba' means sea horse guys. In fact, it was most assuredly intentional when Kaiba was designed from what I can tell, as in Japan, the sea horse is considered a juvenile dragon. To be specific 'Kai' is how the Japanese word for ocean is pronoucned when 'compounded'. (In otherwords, combined with another word.) Otherwise it's pronounced Umi. 'Ba', of course, is the compounded form of 'Uma', or horse.

Interesting fact though; 'Baka' is used with 'Ba' from horse and 'Ka' from deer. So 'Baka' taken literally could be misread by an absent minded person as 'Horse-Deer'. WOW. HMMM... Anyways. You can bet that when 'Sea horse' came out of Jonouchi's mouth, it was pronounced awkwardly enough to emphasize the fact that it was meant to be an insult.  


* * *

There's a flaw in the battle the anime depicts! After Jonouchi's Garoozis is destroyed, his life points come down to 700. However, before he pulls out 'Rude Kaiser' to lose 200 more (Bringing him to the 500 he has when summoning Red-Eyes), he summons 'Rock Ogre Grotto'... In attack mode. It only has 800 attack.

Rabid Horseman has 2000 attack points; that would mean Jonouchi should have taken _1200 points of damage_. More than enough to kill him. So why did they bother putting the monster in..? Probably to emphasize him being trumped. In the end, I using it as his first defense monster on the damn disk. It should have been Rude Kaiser. But the above speaks for itself.

In any case, that's all for today guys!

See you next chapter!


	27. Chapter 26

**The Terror That Is Pegasus  
**

* * *

Stars filled the night sky only to be blotted out by the light of a solid hologram. What was a quiet peaceful evening had been broken by the growls and snarls of monsters that for all appearances could have been as real as the people behind him at that moment. Katsuya swallowed as he held the cards in his hand, attempting to steel himself. Now that he saw the button here, he felt pretty moronic to tell the truth. Hell, with the way Seto had been talking it felt more like when he was doing homework and had to ask Mokuba of all people for help. Only this time instead of '_did you try 'insert apparently obvious answer here_', it was '_Did you try hitting the BUTTON_'? No. No he didn't and oh for fuck's sake... Was it really as obvious as she was making it out to be? Nonetheless, with a fairly easy click, he had himself a temporary wall. And thankfully, what with his hand being full of monsters, he would probably be able to put off another strike until he thought of some way around that Rabid Horseman...

Nonetheless, when he had summoned said monster and watched it bite the dust, he had to clench his jaw. There went wall number one... And... Here went number two... While it felt a little like the insults had died down, something seemed terribly off. Yea, she was still calling him '_mutt_' and '_moron_'... But it felt weird. Like there was a larger gap between the two than even before, if that was even possible; he sure as hell didn't think it was until now. But something was missing... Forgotten even, or at least it felt that way. But that couldn't be right, he told himself with a mental smack to the back of the head. It couldn't... Could it?

Across from him, Seto was laughing. A loud and deep laugh that was coming through a voice she'd been practicing for years. And to accompany the laugh, there was a smile. It was a twisted grin on her face, only 'half true'; yea, she was obviously enjoying the fact that she was winning... By a long shot. There was something else though. Something in there that had him narrowing his eyes in response."AHAHA... AHAHAHA!" Her laugh was loud and almost mocking really- it was hard to remember, after spending half a year in silence with the woman, that she never actually used her real voice. Never spoke with the voice that he'd been mentally hearing through those months. The laugh was different than what he had heard at Death-T though. Very different... Katsuya couldn't tell if it was real or fake though; couldn't tell if anything was real or fake, it wasn't like Seto had ever even thought for a second to do that! She'd never given an honest laugh... Never honestly smiled from what he had seen, not even to her brother in the more recent moments... Though maybe now, he decided, that would change. "You might have a wall there mutt," the woman was saying with a smirk. "But at the rate you're going you mind as well give up!" Again with the mutt... He grit his teeth, before steeling himself. Come on... He could do this... Give up? Pah!

Might not win... But he was sure as hell trying! '_Don't give up_,' they were shouting behind him. His 'Glassman' was scattered to the winds across his face after being dealt the same fate as Ogre Rock, and the blond fell to his knees against the blast. Sheesh... For a hologram, he decided as shouts blurred into a single 'voice', these were pretty damn painful... '_Hang in there_!' He grunted, pulling himself back to his feet and ignoring the slight sting of the 'road rash'. '_Come on, Jonouchi-kun_,' Yugi was shouting in the background, before his voice as well. Katsuya took a few ragged breaths, wiping his face before pulling the wheel back. "Heh... You think I'm gonna give up Set... Kaiba?" Stop stumbling, he told himself as he bit his tongue. Stop stumbling over the name... He drew a card, still frowning. Shoot... Also not good. Placing it in defense and clicking the button, he tossed the wheel out. "Think again!"

Light shot from the wheel again, the monster appearing in its defensive stance. Even in that position however, it appeared to shuffle back from its opponent. Across from him, Kaiba seemed to still be looking down at him with the same degrading glare as from the moment she'd left the helicopter. Maybe there was suspicion there... He didn't know. Right now he didn't know if he cared really... The woman remained silent for only a split second before snorting in response to his last words however. "I don't think I will... The faster this 'joke' is over, the faster I can leave!" Joke? Figured she'd call it that... "Rabid Horseman, attack!"

Again he was blown back, the force of the strike being surprisingly realistic. Huh... Just... Just a little tiring wasn't it! Katsuya continued to bite his tongue as he attempted to pull himself up, only for the disk to respond to his moving arm. There was a snap of wire, and before he knew it- "Goh!" The disk slammed into his stomach, falling to the ground with a thud and knocking him down once more. "Ah..Ow..." Shit... He groaned again, not moving much more outside of that. That was gonna bruise... A lot...

Behind him, he could hear the shouts of the others again. For some reason, he noted as he lay there, wincing in pain, there was an added one. "JONOUCHI," came Mai's screeching voice, eliciting another wince from the teen. Damn it what did she want right now? She'd been watching, didn't she think that maybe this wasn't the time..? "Didn't you say you weren't done!" Yes... Yes he did, and right now his head was pounding... "Then stand up and **_FIGHT_**! You said there were lives on the line, didn't you," the woman continued. Katsuya found himself frowning as she spoke, before biting his lip. Yea... Yea he had... "Then pull yourself together and fight for them!"

Alright... He groaned, ignoring the light frown and raised eyebrow Mai got from Kaiba. Yea, she'd be wondering for a while just what the other was talking about... But for now... "Tch..." Pulling himself up and drawing a card, he scowled. His back was burning right now... Right now was really not the best time to be telling him to suck it up... "Shut up," he shouted with a glare, rubbing his stomach for a second before continuing. "I don't need t' get that from you, Kujaku Mai!" The teen grabbed his disk from the ground, shaking himself off with another hoarse breath. Man... This was a real pain, that was for sure... "'S gonna take more than getting beaned in the stomach t' stop me," he added with a growl, watching as Seto merely stood there and watched. Katsuya drew his card, still looking across. This time... This would finish it. "Battle ain't over yet! And for my next card..."

This was it. He set the card on the disk, tossing it out with a glare that was far more determined than angered at the moment. "IS THIS!"

* * *

"_RED EYES BLACK DRAGON_!" A thundering roar came through the air, and the light burst from the disk in an eruption of flames. Red eyes glowed as the dragon appeared, black scales shimmering in the moonlight. The dragon flexed its wings as it came to rest on the battle field, her own monster stepping back under it's stare. In response to the visible fear of it's opponent, Red-Eyes snorted, rearing back on its skeletal legs to its full height. It was an impressive sight... Not _the_ most impressive of course, but nonetheless.

The black dragon..? Seto's eyes widened just slightly at the sight of it, and for a brief moment she had to lighten her gaze on her opponent. "Ah..." For someone who looked like they had come off the street, that wasn't too bad... In fact, she thought as the 'peanut gallery' continued their shouts of encouragement, it wasn't bad at all... It wasn't nearly as good as her Blue-Eyes, true, but even so... To think he would have a card of that rarity in his deck was fairly astounding to say the least.

"Here I come," the mutt was shouting, dragon screeching in agreement. "Attack! **BLACK FIRE BULLET**!" Flames gathered in the black dragon's maw, licking the sides of its scales before finally being released with an earsplitting roar. In a wave of heat the blast was shot, fires encompassing the Rabid Horseman completely. Across from her, Jonouchi was grinning, his dragon appearing to share in the cheer just as much. "Take that, you ox-centaur thing!" Alright... That comment was a little on the pathetic side, that was for sure, but nonetheless. She gave a small smile, mentally chuckling even as her life points dropped by four hundred. Well... That counted as a 'scratch' she supposed... A well placed hit even.

The crowd continued to cheer, though for a moment she wondered if Jonouchi had seen that smile. The blond was looking at her with a blank look of surprise, and she quickly replaced the smile with an equally blank stare. "Hnn..." It would do no good whatsoever to have this moron think that she was easing up on him... Let alone possibly supporting the move. He'd probably seen it already though...

Though if he had, he wasn't showing it. In fact, Jonouchi appeared to hide his own confusion just as fast as she had caught it, crossing his arms with a grin. "How do y' like that Kaiba," he was shouting. His dragon seemed to nod in response to that, head bowed in a mock chuckle. "Not bad for a 'stray dog', wouldn't y' say?"

She smirked, pulling the duel disk back. "Hmph!" A good move, that was true... However, it was only one. In his words, not bad for a 'stray dog'... For now however, there was no place for such thoughts. "So happy that you won a single battle this turn... If that's all it takes to make you happy then you really _are_ the world's weakest duelist!" Time to finish this, Seto decided with a smirk. The battle had been drawn on long enough... She'd 'reward' this dog with the sight of her re-claimed dragons. He had worked hard enough after all... And it was time for her to leave. As Jonouchi merely stared back with a frown, her smirk grew. "I've been saving a card that could beat yours anytime," the woman began, placing the card in the slot. "The card your friend Yugi got back for me!"

And the expressions of all those in front of her dropped _instantly_. Wonderful how that worked out... She chuckled as her opponent tensed, before throwing the wheel out to the field. "Prepare yourself, 'Mutt'! For Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" In a blinding stream of light it appeared, the majestic white dragon whose scales contrasted that of Red-Eyes' completely. Blue-Eyes appeared to look down at the other in disappointment, as though Red-Eyes had 'failed' at some unseen task. Much like his monster, the blond before her drew back slightly, eyes wide as a ball of energy began to build in blue-eyes' mouth. That's right... And with only 500 life points left, this would finish it. "GO! **_BURST STREAM OF DESTRUCTION_**!" The blast filled the entire area with light, Jonouchi's shout of shock and pain barely audible in the blast. Red Eyes was eradicated completely, along with the rest of the teen's lifepoints... Squinting into the light, she could see Jonouchi being thrown back violently by the attack, skidding rather painfully against the ground as the light faded. Watching as the mutt's friend's gathered around Jonouchi's fallen form, she snorted. A few mutterings from the blond told her that the moron was fine really, so at the moment she could care less how he felt... 'Jonouchi', they were shouting, 'jonouchi jonouchi', well at least she knew the dog's name.

Not that she'd use it if she didn't have to really. "Crap," Jonouchi was muttering from the ground, Seto paying the others no mind. "I lost..." Of course he did! What, did he actually think he would win? She mentally shook her head at the thought, a small smirk playing on her face. HAH! What a joke... Then again, that was the main reason he'd challenged her wasn't it? Oh well... The woman's eyes narrowed as Yugi sent an odd look her way, and she had to smirk in response to the partial glare. Really, was he upset over that? It was a fair fight after all...

"Now do you see, Yugi?" she stated calmly, her Blue Eyes hovering around and behind her. The dragon appeared to almost be standing there protectively as she spoke, Yugi merely staring in silence along with most of the others listening. "I'm the one who will defeat Pegasus... And no one else!" The disk before her continued to whir, the crowd falling relatively silent as she spoke. Most were staring with narrowed eyes... It was to be expected she supposed. Regardless of a fair fight with a clear outcome a group like that was bound to turn on the opponent... But the one who had actually lost... He was staring back with an oddly neutral stare, neither angered nor loathing visible in anyway. True, there was obvious disappointment, but there was also something else... Relief maybe? Or even something else... Her eyes narrowed, and she decided to simply move on with the reason she was there. "Return, Blue-Eyes," she commanded, the disk powering its light off in response. Blue-Eyes vanished into thin air at that, the disk shuddering while she moved to grab the Battle Ox card it had spat out before. She pulled the device back, removing her cards and turning her attention back to the crowd again as she packed up.

Currently, Jonouchi was unclipping the duel disk from his wrist, placing it on the ground in silence before the others helped him up. He looked forward, expression still that same blank look of mixed gloom and relief. The teen stumbled as his friends attempted to pull him up, gritting his teeth; apparently the force of being thrown back by Blue-Eyes attack had rebounded on his already self-inflicted injuries... He'd probably feel that tomorrow, but really, he was the one who pulled back on the cord sitting up she told herself.

Moron... "Hnhnhnhn..." Seto chuckled, arms still crossed as she looked over the blond with a smirk. He seemed fine other than that... Maybe next time he wouldn't make pointless bets that would result in him being thrown against the ground on an endless basis. "Was it educational 'Mutt'?" There was a short bit of silence, the teen looking up with narrowed eyes in response to the 'nickname'. "Maybe it was luck... Or perhaps the aid of your 'friends'," she began, removing her duel disk as she continued, "Regardless, you managed to win a few matches despite obvious incompetence, I admit. But in the end, it's all just an illusion... You," she began, watching as the blond continued to grit his teeth. Her expression wasn't mocking, or joking in anyway; these words were dead serious. If this was all it took to knock him down after all... If it was easy for even a holographic attack to send him flying... "It suits you to crawl on the ground! You're-'"

"'Too much of a loser to stand on his own two legs'." What... Her eyes widened as the words were literally taken out of her own mouth, watching as Jonouchi lightly refused his friend's help. He pulled himself up, shaking even as he stumbled a few steps forward. Jonouchi wiped a bit of dust from his face as he straightened, before finally looking the woman in the eye. How... How did he know what she was going to say..! "I don't know if you r'member my promise, S...Kaiba," he forced out, appearing oddly calm compared to what was probably the norm. "Hell, th' way you're going, I don't even think you r'member my name!" Jonouchi coughed, his target rendered silent from the brief shock of being interrupted with her own words. She really had forgotten his name too... How... How did he know that...? "But I'll tell y' this," the blond continued on, "I don't care what you think or say about it..." Seto watched as the teen picked up his duel disk, before throwing it over to her. Catching the disk in her free hand, the woman listened with blank and almost wide eyes. "I don't intend t' break that promise... Even if I have t' die for it!" Promise... What promise! She knew there was a promise but what was it!

She stared, eyes narrowing somewhat as those behind Jonouchi nodded in response. How did this moron manage to, in a few seconds... "That's right," Anzu was saying angrily, the woman stepping forward with an intense glare. "Don't think you know anything about what Jonouchi has been going through... Mokuba might be your brother," she spat, rendering the Seto silent yet again at the mention of the boy, "But I don't recall Jonouchi trying to kill him!" Kill... As Seto barely managed to hold the false image of apathy, the woman across from her continued on. "You weren't there when his life was at stake," Anzu bit out, Honda nodding in agreement from the side. "Jonouchi was! And we saw that! So don't think you can just run your mouth and get away with it..."

"That's right," another of the group said, Mai coming up to Anzu's side with a frown in the meantime. The white haired teen seemed rather confused at the mention of Mokuba's possible death, but even so he moved to speak. "After all, Jonouchi is-"

"Stop." Seto's eyes narrowed slightly, her exhaustion from before seeming all to real again. She felt dizzy... Almost dead on her feet. Memories from before hit her mind with Anzu's words, stabbing at her brain and playing with the holes in her memory. Death-T... After Yugi defeated Mokuba, she had initiated the penalty... "That's enough," Jonouchi was saying, the woman only dimly hearing those words. "Sh... He doesn' need t' have that thrown on top 'f everything else righ' now..." Mokuba...

No... No she didn't. Seto grit her teeth as she pulled herself back into reality, before walking back over to the still open briefcase to pack up her duel disks. This wasn't the time... This wasn't the time to think of the past! "Gch," she muttered with a growl, refusing to look at either of them for the moment. That woman... To even suggest that Jonouchi was more of a sibling... She... She wouldn't be replaced... She would save Mokuba... She would make it up to him, somehow, some way... Even if she didn't deserve it... "So what," she bit out, Jonouchi tensing in response. If Mokuba really did choose a mutt over her... Then so be it! It... It was her brother's choice, and she wouldn't blame him for it... But there would be hell if she simply sat by and leave her brother to die! "Everyone has some reason to fight, something to believe in... But it doesn't change how strong you are! The only thing that matters," she continued to force out, closing the briefcase with a click, "Is whether you allow yourself to be crushed... Or if you continue to fight and protect those 'things'..." One chance... If Mokuba could give her one chance... She would not throw that chance away, not as she had those years ago. Seto's eyes grew dim as she looked to the crowd yet again, frowning once more. Before her, Jonouchi was staring with a blank expression, as though fighting to say something. Yugi was sending a partial glare instead of his usual wide eyed stare, an odd thing to see... And behind him, she was greeted with nothing but scowling faces. Hn... As though she expected anything else...

The blond's name... If she had it right from the people calling him, and from the papers... "Jonouchi," she shouted, the teen in question jumping as Seto continued. Even the crowd seemed surprised at her use of the name after all the insults she'd thrown. Personally she was surprised she was using it, but really... He'd stopped the talking. "You'll regret battling me... Regardless of whether or not you say 'afraid' to fight, your eyes say otherwise... In fact, I'm surprised you'll be able to stand up as a duelist..." She clutched her briefcase, turning away from the endless glares to head for the castle. That castle... That was her destination, and nothing else... "Do yourself a favor and remember that!"

"You..." It shouldn't have been surprising that Jonouchi was not the one to respond, but for some reason it was. Ignoring the sound of Yugi's voice, Seto continued to walk away, the woman attempting to steel herself once more in her resolve. Mokuba... She had to get to him, get him away from this place... And no matter what, she would be the one to do it! She had to! To at least atone for what she'd done to him... "Kaiba!" The woman ground her teeth as Yugi continued to shout, finally stopping at his next words. "You're just the same as before," the boy was muttering, his expression unseen to her from behind. "Haven't you changed at all?"

Tch... Changed? There was a limit to the word. "Yugi," she growled, turning just slightly with narrowed eyes. And if he hadn't seen where that limit was, obviously he wasn't the person that even _she_ thought he was. "Do you expect me to forget the past, grin like an idiot and join forces with you?" All this talk... Just let her do what she had come to accomplish! They'd made a deal, and she expected them to honor at least that! If he thought that his 'friendship' would overpower that... "Don't make me laugh," she bit out, before turning on them completely. Pathetic... Pathetic! That's what it was! "To this day, your so called friendship disgusts me!"

At this, Yugi had nothing to say in response. No one did really- after all, she'd made it clear she wasn't listening, hadn't she? Still not another word... And it would be better off that way! The woman turned her attention back to the castle, eyes narrowed. She had no time for this... Pegasus was the target, the only target! She would get her brother back and send Pegasus through hell for all that he had done.

Regardless of what anyone else had to say in the matter...

* * *

There was something to be said about just how messed up the world had gotten, particularly with those few moments alone. Six months ago, he thought, Mokuba wouldn't have factored into things, would he? Instead, they'd have probably missed the danger completely, much as he hated to say it... The fact was, had all this happened and he wasn't as close to the kid... He'd have probably been more concerned with how bitchy Kaiba was acting rather than with how believable her actions were. Katsuya bit back a grunt of pain as he held his bruising stomach, instead focusing on moving toward where Yugi was standing. "Yugi," he muttered quietly, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. The boy turned to him, and he continued. "Don't try t' convince he... Him otherwise, alright?" At the slight stare he got in response, he gave a weak smile. Yea... Yugi still wanted the lady to stick with them... "S... Kaiba won th' bet, alright? An' we promised..." They had promised they'd let her leave no questions asked- and after pulling up memories of Death-T after she'd woken up just hours before, they owed it to her.

Seto appeared to have no intentions of leaving just at that moment however, and instead the group stood there in an awkward silence for a few moments. The wind blew through the trees and the crickets slowly began chirping again. Looking to the side briefly, Katsuya could spot his fallen cards in the moonlight now... He could grab them later he decided. It was Seto who spoke first oddly enough. Katsuya supposed it was better that then anyone questioning Anzu on mutterings of attempted fratricide, which, given Bakura and Mai's expressions, looked to be something they were wondering about. "Yugi," she said, addressing the boy yet again. Said boy blinked, turning to look at the woman's back with slight confusion. "...And Jonouchi," she added with seeming hesitance, to the likely surprise of the others. "Look over at that castle," she stated without turning, not even bothering to see if they were listening.

They were of course. At least, he knew that he and Yugi were... Couldn't say if the others were listening really, though they probably were. That castle... That was where Pegasus was. Katsuya found himself swallowing as Seto continued speaking, thoughts on the American CEO vanishing for the moment. "On this island, duelists collect star chips to reach that castle... But they won't win," the woman stated with a slight growl, fists visibly clenching. "All they're doing is playing in the hands of the Duel Monster's 'God'!" Katsuya narrowed his eyes at that, frowning as Seto continued still onward. "Yugi... Even with your skill, you can't hope to defeat Pegasus. I've seen him duel once before in the past... And only once."

Given the tone that Kaiba was using now... Once was more than enough. He blinked at the snort Seto gave with those words, the woman shaking her head as she stared at the castle. "If one could even call it that... As I assume you know, Duel Monsters was an instant success in the United States; multiple tournaments are held annually in that country, and the number of people involved are estimated to be around 20 million total..." 20 mill- Holy crap... Katsuya blinked, shaking his head. That was... Wow. What did that have to do with all this though? Sure, Pegasus was American but... "Among these players are a group of the country's top 13 duelists, known as the 'Card Professors'. Back then," the woman continued, expression still hidden from view, "The top of that group was a man named 'Keith Howard'... Nicknamed 'Bandit Keith' for the number of prizes he'd 'taken'," Seto added with a fairly dismissive and sarcastic tone. Clearly this 'Bandit Keith' wasn't worth much in her eyes... Still, top player in all of the USA... Wow.

Nonetheless, the woman went on, regardless of any commentary from behind. "Bandit Keith had issued a challenge to Pegasus... While he hadn't been interested initially, he abruptly changed his mind within seconds of announcing this, accepting the challenge under two conditions. First," Seto began, a foggy memory of some past event coming to Katsuya's mind with the words, "The prize for the match would be a million dollars. The second was that it would be held in a stadium of 50,000 people, and broadcasted nation-wide, with the earnings split among sponsors and TV stations involved." Ok... So that was the huge tournament in the states that Sugoroku mentioned at one time, but what was so important about that? ...Wait, wasn't a million dollars something like... 10,000,000 yen! Holy shit...

"I was invited as a guest," Seto was telling them, still staring at the castle with her backs to the group. "From the front row, I watched as Pegasus took the time before the match to gather children from the audience and teach them to play the game..."

* * *

She could remember the match clearly at that moment. Cheers had filled the seemingly endless room, and the lights from above had almost been blinding as she sat at the sides with her arms crossed. An entire crowd of kids had been pulled down into the arena, and at the time she had thought nothing of it, beliving it to be no more than a publicity stunt. Pegasus had been giving endless words of encouragement to one boy in particular, who had commented on enjoying the game but not having any money to buy the cards with... "Pegasus seemed attached to, in particular, one boy from that group," the woman continued, partially speaking to herself at this point. Genuinely attached, but then again, Pegasus had been credited with a mass donation to orphanages many times before, even adopting a large number of children at that time. "He gave that kid a deck, and shortly afterward the duel began..."

And of course there had been a fair amount of snark from Keith at the begining. Fair being the loosest of terms, given that all Pegasus had done was stare as Keith muttered on and on. A comment on the man's hair, sexual preferences, and standings all in one... Personally, she'd just wanted the moron to prove his words on game skills true at the moment, as he was really getting on her nerves. "Keith shuffled and cut his deck, drawing cards to start the game... However, in response, Pegasus did nothing. Instead, he began writing on a piece of paper..." Her eyes narrowed as she continued to stare at the castle in the distance. Regardless of what was real and what wasn't, there was one thing that had been proven to her that day... "In the next moment, he did something completely unbelievable- he called down the boy he had given a deck of cards, handing him the sheet of paper..." Keith had protested of course... Hell, the kid had protested! But Pegasus had reassured the boy that if he followed the instructions on the paper, he would win. No matter what happened. "He told him to follow the directions and duel in his place... Before taking a seat beside me at the sidelines."

If what happened next had not proved it, what happened in the audience was enough to spark suspicion. More than enough in fact, she decided as she continued to recall the event. '_Hello Kaiba-boy!_,' the man had said upon sitting down. She'd stared with a slight bit of shock of course- he'd just abandoned his duel and left it with a begginer, what else was she supposed to think? And then he'd turned, that wide smile still in place... '_Oh by the way, I took a look at your proposal_,' he'd said all too cheerily. This had gotten a fairly deep frown, not to mention confusion from her; she hadn't sent the proposal to the company yet after all. In fact, she hadn't sent any proposals... The only one she was even considering was only half typed in the office. However, Pegasus had pressed on, quickly proving that this wasn't a problem. '_Duel Monster Simulation Boxes_,' he'd started with a grin. '_What a great idea! I would **love** for my company and KaibaCorp to develop it together! Let's make it a reality!_'

How the hell that man had known, she couldn't have guessed at the time. It took all she could to keep from fearing for herself after she did find out though. "Within one move, by simply following what was on that sheet, that small boy defeated Keith Howard- every strategy that he had thought of was on the sheet, and Pegasus managed to turn the entire duel into a joke and a commercial!" It was probably just her shock of the duel that saved her ironically... Thanks to that, she'd probably avoided whatever mind-reading abilities Pegasus appearently had. Unbelievable yes... Impossible... Apparently not.

She had a solution though. "I don't know what kind of trick he used across that table..." Not to mention at the seats... And possibly every other time they'd met... "But... There's a possibility to win if I challenge him with this duel disk!" She had to win! If she didn't... "Yugi," she shouted, moving to follow what appeared to be a partially made path to the castle. "I'm leaving, to take back what I lost! And I will be the one to fight!" If she didn't win... No one could.

As she walked, the response was nearly instant- for a brief moment, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end, the wind seeming to blow behind her as a familiar tone of Yugi's voice came to her ears. "Kaiba," the other Yugi called, the woman turning with hidden surprise at the appearance. The one who had faced her those times before..! Her breath was caught in her throat as she listened, regaining her composure as quickly as it had threatened to fail her. "Just like you," the teen began, eyes narrowed "We too have precious things that we can't lose! And we will protect them!" As she looked at the determined expression on both Yugi's and Jonouchi's faces as well, the woman's eyes softened just slightly. This was the one who had put her into that coma... And he was also the reason why she was here now, rather than ignoring her brother's danger. Yugi's expression... Why did she feel she knew that look... "I'm going to beat Pegasus," Yugi shouted, and in response, as she turned away, she had to smile.

"In that case," she decided as she walked off, managing to find herself oddly calm for at least a few minutes with those words, "Let me put it another way... I'm going to Pegasus' castle before _you_!" And with not a word more, the woman disappeared into the trees and out of sight. No more distractions...

This would end **now**!

* * *

And there she went... Katsuya stared as Seto disappeared into the distance, before turning to his friend at the side. He hadn't expected the 'other' one to appear really... But in the end, from what he'd seen (or thought he'd seen at least), it was probably for the best. Yugi as well turned, giving the blond a slight smile before closing his eyes. A split second later... And the eyes opened again, seemingly wider as a more innocent smile came into place. As quickly as the 'Other Yugi' had appeared, he was gone. "Jonouchi-kun," Yugi began, the rest of his words going unsaid. The smile faded out with worry, and he lowered his voice to a whisper. Behind him, Katsuya could hear Mai asking the others questions about the earlier conversation... Namely on the talk of brothers killing brothers, but either way... Ignoring that for now... "Are you..."

He smirked, shaking his head. Was he alright? Physically no. He probably had enough road-rash on his back to keep him sleeping on his front for a month. Nothing he couldn't handle though, so taking his current mood into opinion... "'M fine... Hell," he muttered as he rubbed his head, turning to look at the others. "I'm just surprised she isn't collapsing on the spot... 'S what th' doctors said she'd do at least..."

Yugi nodded, frowning slightly. He was probably running over those last words right now, wondering if that wouldn't end up happening. "If you say so... But... After all that she said... I mean, you spent all that time with Mokuba and-"

"An' she was sleeping through it all... Hate t' say it but... She kinda has a point I mean..." He bit his lip, trying to find the right words to say. Man... He wasn't the one to talk about this kind of thing... At the same time though... "I don't like her attitude either but Mokuba's in there and..." Katsuya frowned, staring at the ground for a few moments to gather his words before continuing. "Well, that was probably th' first thing she found out about waking up. If I woke up t' find out my little sister was taken, I'd probably be just as pissed..." And it wouldn't be fair to say more or less to that. The blond stratched his head, looking at the others again. Mostly they were talking amongst themselves... Rather Honda and Anzu were trying to fill Bakura and Mai in on what the hell was going on. Bakura in question looked paler than he had before, while Mai was visibly green in the face. "She's bitchy, I'll give y' that but... Fact is, there's still a line... I just didn' wanna cross it really." At the stare he got from Yugi, he shrugged. "Hey- we did promise right? An' She won..." As he said this, Katsuya's expression fell to a slight scowl. It really figured too... Stupid Blue-Eyes. If he'd gotten his metal claw card out, he'd have won too! "But hey! We're still gonna get there! Regardless of what that idiot thinks!" Or wants, he mentally added. Fact was, he was helping her if she liked it or not.

Another nod, though Yugi's mood seemed to pick up quite a bit with those words. Well... At least Katsuya's head was clear at the moment. "Of course!" At least he wasn't too upset about it..? The boy turned back to face the others, walking over as he continued. "So..."

As they came over, the others turned to look at them as well. For the most part, the expressions were similar. Honda and Anzu seemed a little relieved more or less that he'd managed to survive not getting the snot beaten out of him for throwing a box of pads at Seto... They probably thought it was an add on to the joke at Death-T all that time ago. Bakura seemed a little like he had shortly after the whole 'Monster World' fiasco, not that he blamed him... As for Mai... For a brief moment, Katsuya thought he saw something in Mai's expression when the woman spared him a glance... But just as fast as he'd seen it, it was gone, the woman simply giving a light yawn before turning away. "Well... I think we've had enough excitement tonight, don't you think?" Er... Ok? He agreed of course but... Katsuya blinked, watching as Mai continued to walk off. "It's late- we need sleep..."

Well, anything to get off the current topic he supposed... Much as he'd expected Seto to say all that earlier, it did still sting a bit. And having an equal if not doubled amount of 'sting' thrown back at the woman wasn't sitting well on his conscience. "Nyh... Right..." The others walked off as well, Yugi giving one last smile before heading off.

"Jonouchi-kun," he said before he left. "...I..." The boy shook his head, laughing quietly. "Nevermind."

Er... What? Katsuya scratched his head, frowning slightly. Man, what was that about... The teen shook it off, sighing. Probably Yugi being Yugi really... If something didn't seem right to say, he wouldn't say it after all. As for the others... Well... He figured the other guys would be giving him weird looks... Hell, he'd probably be looking back at all this in the morning and give himself a weird look... How the fuck did he manage to keep a cool head the entire time?

How was he keeping a cool head now! "Man..." Moving off to the side to gather his fallen cards, he found himself looking back at the castle for a moment. Before she left... And when he'd summoned Red-Eyes, for a brief moment he'd thought he'd seen something... Something that forced his decision to play though and just let her walk off to the forefront. Thinking back now, he thought as he gathered up the cards, reaching the last one only to pause, it was hard to believe... But he could swear that she'd smiled.

Katsuya sighed again, grabbing his Red-Eyes Black Dragon before turning back to return to their 'campsite'. He needed to sleep this off, get his head clear for tomorrow... Things were just too damn confusing now, all this mind-reading Pegasus company take-over crap going on... Way too confusing.

In the end, he decided, staring at the starry night sky a few minutes later as the others slept, it would all calm down if he just got some sleep. It had to really, he told himself, ignoring the sting against his back as he continued to lie on the ground. While he was sleeping... Seto would be storming the castle wouldn't she? Hell, of course she would... She'd come in the middle of the night on a helicopter hadn't she? It was good... Not good that Mokuba was in this situation of course but... At least he could safely say the kid got his sister back. Maybe if they were lucky, all this would be fixed in the morning...

"Good luck, Seto-chan," he found himself whispering to the sky with a scarcely audible voice. Maybe... Just maybe... And a few minutes later, all that could be heard in the clearing was the sound of crickets and a calm breeze.

* * *

For a building so close to her landing site, it took far more time than she'd liked to get there. Maybe that 'path' had something to do with it... She'd had to walk around a lake after all. Or perhaps it was just all in the 'perspective' of things, or in the fact that rather than taking the wide 'road' from Pegasus' private docks, she was taking the wooded trail. Either way, she was here now. And that was all that mattered. Seto walked up the immense stone steps before her with a determined glare across her face, watch on her wrist reading '2:30 AM'. Pegasus' castle... She continued up the steps in silence, eyes taking constant glances to the side. She was being watched... From where she could not tell but she was definitely being watched. Not that she really cared for the moment, given that she would be doing this the 'direct' way...

Regardless of the guards up by the sides of the doors, she continued forwards. She recognised one of them... The woman's jaw tightened as she spotted the man she'd hired for Mokuba's care, but regardless of the moron's stuttering she made herself clear nonetheless. "Get Pegasus," she commanded rather bluntly, watching the two guards as they continued to stutter. "Tell him that Seto Kaiba is here to see him!"

Before either guard could say a thing, the immense steel door before them opened inward. There was nothing but darkness on the other side, the walls of the castle creating an endless shadow over the garden and courtyard within. From behind the door, a grey haired, well dressed man walked through, clapping as he smirked. Hn... Pegasus' assistant... Seto narrowed her eyes as the man came forward, gritting her teeth as the clapping stopped. "Well well well," the man began, bringing his hands to the side. "Kaiba-san! This is a surprise," he muttered with a chuckle. "We weren't expecting you this late after all!"

Bullshit, she thought mentally, leaving her expression blank. Two in the morning, they didn't have people like Crocketts come to the door the instant someone arrived. Hell, they shouldn't have been 'expecting' her at all, she certainly didn't make any contact... Though given the state of things at the house... "Hmph," she muttered, barely keeping a growl out of her voice. It was expected after all, that information of her recovery leaked out already. "I'm so _sorry_ your spies didn't kill me as expected..."

Crocketts showed no visible reaction to those words, but she knew they'd made their mark. She knew damn well what was going on after all... And he'd do well to realize that. The man gestured to the door, bowing his head before speaking. "Please... Come in," he requested. Giving a curt nod, Seto did just that, the doors closing behind herself and Crocketts with a 'clang'. Pegasus' garden courtyard... A door to each side, covered by an arch way, and a larger door at the end of the garden, leading to Pegasus' main quarters. "Now then, this is your second time on the island isn't it," the man muttered as they walked, apparently attempting to start a conversation. "That's right, I remember now... You were invited here for the celebration held for the completion of the Battle Simulation Box!" He chuckled, the woman beside him simply gritting her teeth. "My, come to think of it you shared little more than perhaps two words with Pegasus-sama, that was very rude..."

Tch! "Enough chit-chat," Kaiba bit out with narrowed eyes. No time for this bullshit... She needed to get straight to the point! "I know you kidnapped Mokuba; now where is he?"

"What?" The old man merely held a cold smirk, chuckling. If he did that much longer she swore it, she would rip his god-damned teeth from his mouth right there... "Mokuba... Oh that's right, that's right... Your little brother..." Crocketts gave Seto an even darker smirk, adjusting his glasses as Seto seethed beside him. The briefcase in her hand was shaking just slightly under the tightened grip, and it was looking more and more like the man was digging his own grave. "'_Kidnapped_'... Please, why on earth would we do that? We have nothing to gain from doing such a thing! My my my..."

Her fists tightened, nails threatening to dig into her palms until they bled. In fact, if the slight dampness on her left hand was any sign, she _was_ cutting into her palms already. "Stop wasting my time," she roared, watching as Crocketts merely walked a few paces ahead with that same moronic smirk in place. "And let me talk to Pegasus!"

Crocketts sighed mockingly, shaking his head. "Oh no no... I'm afraid that's quite impossible. Why," he stated almost jokingly as he held a watch out, either unaware of just how damned he was at the moment or simply confident in whatever protection he had. "It's almost 3 in the morning, Pegasus-sama is in bed... How about this," he asked, folding his hands over at his front. "I'll get a room for you... You can rest tonight, and then in the morning you can- GCKH!"

Seto snarled, grabbing the shirt of the man before her and cutting him off. He was pulled forward, eyes growing wide for a split second while Seto's own narrowed into mere slits. "I said I want to see him _**NOW**_," she muttered dangerously, grip tightening on the man's shirt. "I expect you to _listen_."

"Heh heh heh..." Even held by his shirt the man was still chuckling... Seto's jaw was clamped tightly, the woman ignoring Crockett's own struggling grip on her wrist. Moron... He had no idea just what kind of person he was dealing with, did he now? "I understand sir," he stated with a laugh, apparently immune to the woman's gaze. "I'll tell you where he is... Pegasus-sama is right behind the next gate... You can go on through any time you like..." There was a catch here... Crockett's was confident enough in his life to ignore any threats, there was a catch... "If you can open it..."

The woman narrowed her eyes, turning to look at the gate behind Crocketts. A padlock... She could easily get through th- She frowned, dropping Crocketts rather roughly before walking forward to inspect it. Her fingers brushed against the shadowed lock for a brief moment, the woman squinting before the lock's shape became evident. This lock... "What in the hell..." What the hell kind of padlock was this! Ten star shaped holes lined the sides, and with grim realization her fists tightened. Of course... "The tournament..." That bastard had installed a padlock centered around... Augh!

"That's right," Crocketts stated from behind, arms crossed as he chuckled. If he kept going... "The only way to open this gate is to put ten starchips in the mechanisim. In otherwords," he continued, Seto forcing herself to not simply crack her briefcase over his skull right that moment, "Only the chosen few who survive the duels are allowed to pass beyond this point... You and I," the man continued, narrowed eyes barely visible behind his shades, "Are no exception." This man... She grit her teeth as Crocketts gave a seemingly mocking bow, gesturing to a door at the side. "Now if you don't mind Kaiba-san, there's a room for you in the annex..."

Gh...

"Please, step this way..."

* * *

Where he was standing was not the forest. It was not the fields he'd dueled in earlier, nor the coast line that he'd eaten fish with Ryota on. It was not even the rooms of Kaiba's mansion, a building that he had as of late become rather familiar with. Katsuya opened his eyes only to frown as his body moved forward on it's own volition, the teen unable to move even slightly with his own will. "What th' hell..." His voice echoed around the hall he was walking, and Katsuya's eyes narrowed at the sight and sound both.

Where was this place... Photos hung on the wall, but their images were faded and unclear, merely smudges of washed colour on a framed canvas. The walls were painted a rich creamy white, and the floors seemed just as blinding in colour, blood red carpets seeming to mold around his bare feet as he walked. "Where is this?" His body was walking and he couldn't stop it... Doors passed by, every single one of them closed firmly shut, and not a single window could be seen. Occasionally he would pass a pedestal of sorts, a vase of flowers held in it. There was a pattern to these, he could tell- the first hall had hydrangeas, the second had mixed flowers including roses and snap dragons. The one he walked through now had tulips of every colour, and as his body turned the corner he was greeted with vases filled with roses. "Where the hell is this," he shouted, already frightened enough by the ghost-like feeling he had.

It was like he was an intruder in his own body... Watching it move before him and leave the 'real one' behind. Colours were beginning to fade into blacks and whites, and the time seemed to drag on and on as he walked. The lights in the halls were dimming, becoming dark, as though they hadn't been there begin with. To the side he could make out a niche of sorts in the walls, a hair-thin line between the panels of the walls... His 'body' moved forward, opening a door from the crack and moving down through a small hole that had been revealed in its place. He had to duck to enter it... But once he had, he'd been able to stand instantly, passing through and down into the stairway below.

"What..." Katsuya's frown deepened as he looked around the hall. It was dark, made of stone and pounded dirt. The stairs looked as though they'd been carved from the rocks themselves, and torches rather than lamps hung from the sides of the walls. It was cold in here... Damp, and musky, with the scent of moist earth hanging in the air. As a series of barred doors came into view, he had to shake his head. Where was this... Where... It was like a dungeon, from those old time fairy-tales, with chains and shackles hanging from the walls... And yet...

His body stopped infront of an empty cell, the door hanging open. A small bit of light came down through the barred window in the room, but he paid it no mind, a feeling of paranoia coming over him for the moment.

He'd learned not to ignore this feeling...

Someone was behind him. "Who the hell-" He tensed, instantly turning to deliver a chop to the unseen person behind him. Whoever he met would be greeted with a hand across the tender areas of the throat, and would likely be on the ground gasping for air..! But there was no one there. Not a soul, nothing but the air... "What the..."

"Hello Doggy-boy~" Katsuya whirled, jumping back as the form of Pegasus stood before him. The man had is arms behind his back, a frightening smile on his face. The stuff of nightmares, that was for sure... Something to keep him up all night, so why wasn't he waking up... "Oh don't worry... I'm not real," he said with a chuckle, hair pulled back to reveal that gleaming golden eye. "Or am I," he asked with a chuckle, the blond across from him gritting his teeth. "Hard to tell, isn't it Doggy-boy?"

Again with the dogs... Though his body refused to respond, he would have been grinding his teeth if he could. "Gh... Don't fuck with me," he muttered, shaking his head. "This is a dream! Of course you aren't real!" Right?

The man smirked, still chuckling. "Of course I am... Of course... Tell me, 'Doggy'," he said with another laugh as Katsuya's body refused to respond. Pegasus seemed particularly creepy at the moment, more than he had in the video really... Why was that... "How's your sister?" Shizuka-! "...And your 'brother'," he continued, the teen across from him growling. Mokuba... "What about...Your 'girlfriend'..?"

His eyes widened, and abrubtly, all control returned to his body. Katsuya's teeth were ground in rage, and with nothing to hold him back anymore he charged forward to pin Pegasus against the wall. "You shut the fuck up," he roared, not caring that Pegasus was showing no signs of resistance. "You shut up! We ain't in any kind of relationship, and I'm no replacement for Mokuba's older sister! He's a friend... Not a brother, got that! The only sibling he has is on her way to pick him up right now, and you aren't stopping her... You leave that kind of crap out of this, you got that you sick fuck?"

Pegasus merely chuckled, apparently not caring that he was currently pinned against the wall by his neck. Not caring that at the moment, this 'dream' was acting as a fairly handy outlet for any pent up frustrations toward the man and simply staring at the blond with that same smirk. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Really... You shouldn't get so worked up 'doggy-boy'... It's only a dream after all.. Gh!" The man's throat was pushed tighter against the wall, Katsuya's eyes narrowed dangerously. And still, Pegasus laughed, voice somehow coming through even with his throat crushed against the cold stone behind him. "Hahahaha... I wonder just what your 'friend' would say now... You wouldn't kill a figment of your imagination would you? I doubt even that would go over w-gk!"

"Where's Mokuba," the blond ground out, ignoring the words Pegasus was saying now. Screw all this, screw all the dream crap, the dueling, the star chips... "TELL ME WHERE HE IS!"

The laughter continued, accompanied by a low growl on the blond's part. "Where is he...? I wonder myself..." Pegasus' single eye narrowed with cruel mirth, and to Katsuya's shock and rage he began to fade out of existance. "Did you check your deck maybe..?" As his eyes narrowed in response, Pegasus merely continued, smirk growing even colder as his body vanished to leave a single golden eye behind. "Or are you too afraid..?"

"Katsuya-nii," came a faded voice, the blond turning to look at the ground with wide eyes. The golden Millennium Eye was staring down at him as he did this, and while it would ordinarily have scared him to the point of passing out he couldn't bring himself to bother. A card... There was a card there, and he could hear... "Katsuya-nii..."

Numbly, he picked it up, the image of steel bars gripped by a childs hands coming into view. The light through the window brightened just slightly, and as colours returned to the room, he could see the familiar black mop of hair he'd grown used to seeing by his side for the last few months. "N-n..."

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba whispered, the image on the card unchanging. "It hurts..."

"N-N... AAAAUUUGH!"

* * *

"HAH!" Eyes snapped open to a clear blue sky, and as Katsuya sat up he found it hard to breath. In the distance, birds chirped to welcome the morning, the sounds of snoring reverberating in the air at his side. "Hah... hah... hah..." Just a dream... It was all just a dream...

The blond leaned against the tree he'd slept by, one hand on his chest as he calmed himself down. Just a dream... That was it, it was just a dream... Nothing more, nothing less, nothing had happened... '_Did you check your deck_,' came Pegasus' haunting voice, chuckling filling his thoughts. N... Mokuba... Kastuya gripped the pendant around his neck, pulling himself up to look at the small key-shaped indent on the lid. '_Or are you too afraid_!'

"Gh..." He took a few deep breaths, shaking it off. His skin was all cold and damp... Clammy was the word for that right, he got it from when 'training' moved to 'first aid'... The blond found himself looking over the others as they slept, eyes landing on Yugi. "..." Looking at him, no one could guess all the crap they'd been going through... That Yugi had been going through really. A calm smile, hands holding the puzzle even in his sleep... Nothing but an innocent (mostly he supposed, recalling a few 'penalty games') kid who had been pulled into a large amount of crap. He couldn't be scared, he told himself with a small smile. He couldn't! If Yugi could unflinchingly go through battle after battle, when he was just a tiny little guy... He could too! He had to, he decided as he pulled away from the trees to look up at the early morning sky. For Mokuba's sake... And if things ended up going awry, then for Seto-chan too, no matter what she said...

He wasn't going to lose... No matter what!

* * *

AN: Can you tell I enjoy screwing with Jonouchi's head? Oddly enough, that dream was completely spur of the moment. I was just sitting here, thinking 'Hnnn... What can I use to fill in a bit more time between now and the next duel...' To which Pegasus said 'Well, I haven't been creepy for a while~'. And of course, my response was 'What the hell are you talking about, you were creepy just last chapter.' 'Yes, but I wasn't creepy to Doggy-boy~~'

To which I decided I should get more sleep, because having conversations with Pegasus in your own head is NEVER A GOOD SIGN.

And on a side note, I'm thinking of sketching each 'version' of Kaiba that Yugi would have seen way back when she showed up during his duel against the Ventriloquist.

Like... Every single one.

Think I should do that? Let me know!

And now for the Poll results! I forgot to put these up last time, I'm sorry about that... In the end it's ok though, because there's no change. Poll is still on people, and I know that more than four of you read this! As of now we have 3 for a cross-dressing Priest Set (Technically Priestess), and 1 for a Priestess Set who doesn't need to bother with crossdressing and does just fine without it.

And now for...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Technically, there's only one... However, recently there was a comment over on the Yugioh Abridged Forum that concerned the fanfic, and in my opinion it counts as a review. Because it sure felt like one to me! I don't know if you have an account here Silent Cinderella, but nonetheless! Setting it in Japan, I know.. It's _DANGEROUS_. It's good to see that my manga/Japan guide at the bottom is good for something! With each person who tells me Kaiba's still in character, I find myself giving off a long loud sigh of relief. Because trust me when I say, it's hard to make sure that she's still acting properly and still develop a slightly romantic relationship between her and Jonouchi. Obviously a little easier than if they were both guys and Jonouchi never ended up breaking into the house... But nonetheless.

Here's a secret; the reason why Mokuba hired Jonouchi was for match-making purposes. Little conniver... And hey! So the scene with Kaiba jumping out of the soul room is your favorite? Wow... That's the one scene I was most worried about in terms of negative reception... Guess that fixes things!

You can indeed call me Usagi-chan! It's a common nickname of mine actually (I used to wear a pilot hat with rabbit ears on it all the time. Usagi means rabbit sooooo...)...

Hello hello again Iona! If you thought he was a jerk last chapter, just take a look at his disembodied floating gold dream eye. Never invite him for dinner, it'll be RUINED. Anyways. On the conversation between Jonouchi and Kaiba... Oddly enough, it's not so much Kaiba watching her tongue so much as her simply having nothing to base an insult off of; she'd say something worse, but if it's inaccurate it'll feel awkward. (Otherwise... Well, I point you to the 'meat-grinder + scrotum' threat that she kept locked in her skull.) Oddly enough, we won't see any insults shot out around the topic of Jonouchi and Mokuba for a while... Not until she remembers anything at least. Because then she'll have no doubts that he's a moron and therefore unworthy of her brother's attention, see? Kaiba's head works weird... But the fact is, if she thought that the subject of Mokuba's care legitimately deserved the attention, she'd be upset... But she wouldn't argue against it. Because after all, Mokuba is _the_ thing that matters.

But as you said with the BEWD in the anime... Yea. It'll be like that once the memories come back. Probably would have been like that had Jonouchi not done what he did up in this chapter actually- fact is though, after he did that, he probably gained a slight sliver of respect. Enough to save his body parts from being turned into hamburger meat at least.

Ahahahah~ Yep~ It wouldn't be Jonouchi if he wasn't at least slightly impulsive really... As much as he's changed in the fanfic, he's still him after all. Thankfully his impulsiveness will probably save his ass as much as it pulls him into trouble. (As to which one happens more... One can probably guess.) And actually, the next person to find out (Whom most have likely guessed by now), will be the last one to know until Battle City... And even then, the only reason anyone else is going to find out there is because they cheat with objects made of gold...

I can see it now... 'If you can see the future, then what am I thinking in a few minutes?' 'You're going to summon this. And then you're going to blame all of your troubles on your peri- Wait... ...' 'Well? I'm waiting...' That will be fun.

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section so sneaky, if you look you'll find spoilers for at least ten other chapters! It also lies a lot in the first sentence. Did you guess?**

* * *

**The title of this chapter is brought to you by the title of the chapter Kaiba comes into the castle at; technically, it was 'The Terror of Pegasus'. I like mine better though, because I'm_ that_ full of myself. AHAHA. *coughcough*

* * *

Continuing from where we left off! When Mai does her 'shout out' in the manga, it's because Jonouchi is having another 'I'm losing nooooo' moment. He's on his knees about to give up... And then Mai shouts that she _'doesn't want to see him like this_', blushes, cuts herself off, and turns away while Jonouchi comments that he'd rather not hear that from Mai. (And then turning back to fight.) So hey! We just turned the scene that makes Mai's crush apparent into something... Else.

This scene was really hard to get in there; it wasn't until I noticed that people were actually being tossed around by the holograms (Though it makes sense given the amount of 'solid' going into the 'solid vision') that I got the idea. Because really, that looks _painful_. I was happy I could do that though, because in all honesty I liked the scene.

Somehow, it turned into more of a failed-encouragment speech than a touching one though. BWAH?  


* * *

For some reason, everytime Jonouchi refers to Mai, he calls her by her full name. It seems a little redundant, but I left it in, because in some ways it emphasizes the fact that he really does want nothing to do with her at the moment.

Also for some reason, Kaiba had Blue Eyes in his hand the entire time in the manga. He just didn't summon it. Most would think he would, what with his love for the card, but then I realized... He probably didn't think that Jonouchi was worth even that! In the fanfic's case, it's... Similar I suppose. More that it's not a 'real' battle in her eyes, and that's really not something that Blue Eyes should be bothered with. Or maybe it was because of the last chapter's goals- both people were simultaneously testing the other after all! ...

Or something. On a more nit-picky artist note, when Kaiba crosses his arms in that panel, his fists are clenched and under each elbow. For some reason, I couldn't stop staring at that. It was one of those things that made me say '_Well...If... If that's comfortable I guess..._'

Another interesting note, technically Blue-Eyes' attack isn't called 'Burst Stream of Destruction', it's simply called 'Burst Stream'.  


* * *

For some reason, after the duel, Kaiba speaks to Yugi about defeating Pegasus. Whether or not this is based on earlier questioning or not is a little out there, but it's one of those things where it's like '_why aren't you telling Jonouchi that...?_' Then again, Kaiba doesn't even see Jonouchi as a person persay in the manga... Possibly the anime as well...

Also, if you had doubts about Kaiba being a complete douche-bag, be reassured! Holding Blue-Eyes the entire time... Man... Way to kill the mood. Course, in the end, someone else managed to take that title... (And it makes me feel really bad, because I _like_ that character. I should not be pulling them down to douche-bag-dom.)  


* * *

Jonouchi's amazing theft of speech is brought to you by his dream; as the dream was using dialogue from a battle that already happened, the fanfic's version ended up doing the reverse. So Jonouchi decided to take it as a sign and just remind Kaiba of the reason he was there. Also, I was being silly at the time, but you didn't really need to know that.

Lots and lots of dialogue changes here! In the manga for example, Jonouchi obviously doesn't complete Kaiba's sentence. (Which was originally '_you're too much of a loser to even stand_'.) Rather, Jonouchi completely deflates, Yugi quietly asks '_Why?_' (Well Yugi, he tried to kill you once...)... And Anzu comes over and starts reaming Kaiba out.

Kaiba ignores her of course. But he doesn't interrupt her either, which is fairly interesting given that Kaiba has a habit of cutting off everyone _but_ the female cast. To sum up Anzu's amazing speech, she says '_Who cares what you think? What do you know?_' and then after saying he doesn't know what Jonouchi's going through (In the manga, this made me laugh actually, as while yes, Jonouchi goes through some terrible crap, Kaiba's brother is literally between life and death on this. Shizuka... Not so much, asshole-ish as that sounds.), tells him to stop saying whatever the heck he wants. (IE, '**_STFU_**, KAIBA'.)

But in this case, Jonouchi took the _'I don't care_' line. Which is obviously a lie on his part, given that Jonouchi does indeed care about what's being said but at the same time, since he wasn't dueling for outright vengeance as in the manga and anime, he's not feeling as completely shot down. And the fact is, they _are_ fighting for the same thing right now, so really, he can't just blame Kaiba for wanting to go right off the bat- not when he's thinking clearly enough to realize all that at least. (Not to mention that Kaiba's general mood was partially expected on his part, and now that he's got a clear enough head to know that...)

In the end, Anzu still gets her speech in a way. But it stings, it **_REALLY_** stings; this is Kaiba's brother guys. Kaiba puts that kid on a damn pedestal, you take Mokuba away and... Well, things get messy. To even _suggest_ that Seto is less of a sibling than someone who is, at least in her eyes at the moment, a mutt that was pulled in off the streets is... Unthinkable. And shocking enough that Kaiba doesn't even have a response to it... Because the fact is, there's no defense for it at that moment, and she _knows_ that. Hell, she almost _killed_ Mokuba with that penalty game, something that would have rendered him clinically insane in the best case scenario, so regardless of what she remembers of Jonouchi, she remembers what she did to Mokuba before her coma.

And it doesn't make for a good defense when coupled with the pictures that were placed on the side table. Instead, it's something that's more likely to _scare_ Kaiba... Not something to tick Kaiba off. After all, she really can't honestly tell herself that she's the better because in her mind... She _isn't_. Not after all she remembers doing, that's for sure. It's actually why she doesn't make any comments on it for the moment- after all, who is she to doubt her brother after all the crap she put him through? And before you ask if Anzu would actually sink that low... Yea. Yea she would- because the fact is, not a single person outside Yugi actually forgave Kaiba for the events of Death-T until _after_ they saw the guy face Pegasus off. And get his soul snatched. Didn't even come to mind actually... So... Death/Soul-abduction equates to forgiveness then? Huh.  


* * *

Fratricide, mentioned above, is the murder of one's own brother if one didn't guess. And as a matter of fact, _yes_, this is actually the thing that clues Mai into Seto and Kaiba being one and the same... It helps that she's questioning people who are innocently spouting information that when pieced together. (So she's gathering facts such as Kaiba being 'Seto Kaiba', Mokuba being one of the lives Katsuya's aiming to save, etc... Doesn't really hit just yet though.)  


* * *

You'll notice that for the explaination of Pegasus, a good part of it _isn't_ from Kaiba's point of view. Originally, it was going to be... But the fact was, all of Kaiba's thoughts were things that couldn't be left out of the explaination for anyone to understand what was going on! So in the end, it made more sense to have Kaiba monologing the first half oddly enough.  


* * *

Card Professors? As in YuGiOh R? That's right... That's probably where the term in YuGiOh R came from actually. In fact, I'm fairly certain that it _is._  


* * *

An intersting note; when Pegasus tells Kaiba that he'd be more than glad to work with him on the Duel Boxes in the manga (Not sure about the anime), he says that he took a look at a proposal... But after saying that he'd want to do it, Kaiba has a look of sheer _horror_ on his face. It heavily implies that, unlike what Pegasus said, there was no proposal... However, Kaiba can't well say that outloud in front of an audience, can he?  


* * *

Oddly enough, in one of the panels, Kaiba's expression of sheer shock and horror looks more like a look of sheer '**DO NOT WANT**'. (Though at the same time, I wouldn't blame him.) In addition, his more human side is fairly evident when commenting on the entire thing having been turned into a comercial, as there's a sweatdrop right there as Kaiba stares in silence... You can practically hear him muttering '_Wait... what..?_'.  


* * *

It's hard to write a scene right after people's characters have effectively been flipped; after all, Jonouchi was absolutely _livid_ by the end of that duel... Not to mention legitimately paranoid about his own ability. And of course, it's not likely that anyone caught the smile that Kaiba gave... And that smile exists; it's actually the only thing that made me dead set on putting it there. (Until I checked that part over, I was wondering if I should do something small like that. Apparently the manga beat me to it. Shoot!)  


* * *

Back to the MANGA. When Kaiba tells the guards to call Pegasus, I left it as 'Seto Kaiba' rather than 'Kaiba Seto'... But trust me, in reality, it was the latter that was said. On a more written note, you can practically feel the rage seeping out from the manga at that time- even if the amazing scene was cut in two.

That's right- that scene with Kaiba was cut clean across Jonouchi and Ghost Kotsuzuka (Bonz)'s duel... And across the two-on-two match against the Meikyuu brothers as well! I left it as is though; because in all honesty, it _does_ make for a decent amount of time away from the action... Plus, I'd rather not end a chapter with a show of gun-play (And those who know what 'invisible guns' mean in the dub will know that there was gunplay there as well. More epic in the manga though.), and at the same time, putting two big duels in one chapter is just _silly_. Even if the one at the top was the bottom half of it. (That's why this chapter is slightly shorter than the norm. But honestly 10,000 words per is insane anyways, so I shouldn't whine to myself.)

Instead we see people talking... As a side note, I can't tell if Jonouchi is OOC or not in this chapter... While all of the reasons for him to be perfectly calm in the duel make sense, I still can't help but feel paranoid; most likely because all the reasons he's doing stuff right now have effectively been switched around... So I have next to nothing to base his mood on! AHAHA...

* * *

I really liked typing out that second dream; see if you can guess what sorts of things it's foreshadowing... Also, the reasoning behind the dream even being there... Well, aside from reasons concerning what it foreshadows, I needed to put just a smidge of fear into place. Or at least have Jonouchi going '_SCREW FEAR I HAVE A JOB TO DO_'. Something like that. He seems to fluctuate back and forth between the two. A lot. While it _seems_ like something that would make for convinient plot issues, it's actually fairly common in real life. Think on it; when was the last time you went through something without thinking in the back of your mind 'absolutely nothing will go wrong'. Heck, I'm writing this now thinking '_Oh god. Oh god what if I royally screw this up?_' And then I get your beautiful reviews... And everything is made ok~

That's another chapter done! Hope you enjoy it, and for the next one, expect to see some zombie fighting! (Sadly, Kaiba won't be anywhere to be seen for a small bit...)**  
**

And on a side note, I'm thinking of

sketching each 'version' of Kaiba that Yugi

would have seen way back when she showed up

during his duel against the Ventriloquist.

Like... Every single one.


	28. Chapter 27

**Call of the Haunted  
**

* * *

He didn't know how long he'd stood staring at the lake that morning really. After waking up, the sun was only just peeking out from the horizon, and after the night before he'd decided to let the others sleep, wandering off to think. The lake was as smooth as glass at the moment... Calm, peaceful... You wouldn't expect a creepy guy with a gold eye that stole souls to own it would you? The blond sighed, leaning back on the grass and staring at the sky for a little longer. As morning had come, he hadn't heard anything or anyone- not even a rustling bush really. It was a little unnerving at first but all the same, it was calming to.

There was a reason he was there though, he told himself as he got up and stretched. Mind as well wake up the others he decided, walking back through the brush and cracking a few kinks out of his neck. Breaking through the foliage separating the last clearing from their own, he shook a few leaves from his hair before turning to his still snoring friends. "Oi!" Cupping his hands, Katsuya shook a few more leaves off of him and shouted from across the clearing. A few people stirred, and he continued as he came close. "It's morning! Wake up guys!" Muttered grumbling filled the air, and the blond grinned. "Last day of th' tournament, come on! Let's go win duels and get starchips!"

From the side, Honda yawned, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. "Hnnn... Sleepy..." Yea, and yet he was the one snoring louder than the helicopter the night before...

Katsuya's grin merely widened as the others sat up, and he laughed. "Come on, come on! Up we get, we gotta get t' Pegasus' castle!"

Beside him, Yugi laughed quietly, rubbing his head as he packed his things up. "Wow... Somebody's excited," he muttered, gaining a look from Katsuya in response. Course he was it was the last day... "Not that that's a bad thing!"

Before Katsuya could say anything on the matter, Bakura drew their attention to him with a slight cough. Regardless of whether it was intentional or not, the ended up following his gaze to the castle in the far distance. "I wonder if Kaiba made it to the castle last night," he muttered, a light frown on his face. From behind the teen, Katsuya fell a little silent at that. Had she made it..? It had probably been a few hours since she got there...

As he thought about this, Anzu walked over from the side with a large bag. "Ah," she smiled, adjusting the large sack as the others turned toward her. "You're awake!" They stood, Yugi moving over to greet the woman with a grin.

"Oh, hey Anzu!" While the two entered into a fairly lengthy conversation on something or other (he couldn't hear them), Katsuya found himself approached by Honda.

"Nyh..?" He blinked, idly noting that the 'ni' in 'nihon' on his headband was faded out. So now they had half of 'Japan' on a good luck headband, that was always great... "Honda, what-"

The teen held up a hand, shaking his head. He had a frown on his face, his mouth half open before he shook his head again. "Hang on," he muttered, scratching his head under the headband. "There was something I wanted to say... Gotta remember what it was." Ahahaha... Yea. Katsuya looked around, as Honda muttered to himself, before frowning.

Mai wasn't there... Weird, she'd left a giant bag of stuff... "Oi... Where did 'shiranui-san' vanish to this time..?" At the confused frown Honda gave him, he smirked. "You know... Kujaku! The one y' keep staring at!"

"Ah-" Honda blinked, a thick blush coming over his face before he frowned. "Good question," he said, coughing as he looked over the clearing. "I guess she just left before us... She did say 'until morning' really." The teen shrugged, going back to his head-scratching with a frown. "Man, there was something I was gonna say, what was it..."

From behind, Anzu tapped Katsuya's shoulder, the blond turning. Honda was still trying to figure out what he was going to ask... It'd probably take a while really. "Eh?"

The woman had a light frown in place, and had slung the bag over her shoulder. "I was going to ask you last night, but in the end getting sleep seemed more important..." Her eyes narrowed, expression of a frown becoming more of an unimpressed stare than a glare. "But what was it that possessed you to throw_ that_ box at Kaiba?" The tone she held seemed more incredulous than angered thankfully... Though all the same, it had Katsuya laughing nervously in response.

Apparently, this was just what Honda needed to remember what he was talking about as well. "Right! Wanted to ask you about that..." The blond turned back to him, blinking as what looked almost like an expression semi-awe came to replace his light scowl. "Wasn't what I was going to say of course," he said with a cough. "But still... You," the teen continued, "Have balls doing that- did he even remember that comment from Death-T," Honda added with a raised eyebrow, frowning again. "The estrogen one, with the PMS..?"

"Er... Not sure but..." Katsuya coughed, attempting to find a safe way off the topic. "...Thanks..."

Anzu rolled her eyes, lightly smacking Honda over the head with a growl. "This isn't exactly something to continue doing! You were probably only saved by the fact that Kaiba has 'better things to do' than toss you in a lake... As it is," she added with a slightly more worried stare, Honda in the meantime gaining a slightly more embarrassed frown at the reminder of last night. "You _do_ work for the guy..."

Yes... Yes he did. Katsuya scratched his head, laughing nervously. "Eh... I'll handle it when I have too..." He coughed, turning as Bakura came up to them.

"Are you guys all packed," he asked with a small smile, his own bag loosely slung across his shoulder. He seemed a little more nervous than usual... Probably a combined result of both last night's duel and the ring thing. Hihhh...

There was a nod from most of the others in the group, Katsuya included; not like he'd brought much outside of his own jacket really... "Yea," he said with a nod, grinning. "Lets go!"

As to where they were going... They looked around, eventually starting off on a mindless walk through the woods. "I wonder how many duelists are left on the island," Bakura was absently asking. "There were twelve in the boat we saw yesterday..."

Honda nodded, frowning. "Yea... And there's probably loads more that were picked off by the Player Killers last night..." The teen went slightly green in the face with those words, having remembered Yugi's comments on the one that he'd encountered the previous night. Dead or alive... They were gone, but if the words from the 'Player Killer of Darkness' were any sign... "There's probably only a handful left," he continued, before looking at Jonouchi and Yugi both. "In any case, we still have a whole day left... The important thing is to be careful who you face off for your remaining chips- it's not that hard to go backwards really.."

Sheesh, he thought he didn't know that? Either way, it was a good point. It only took one duel to go from the 'starting amount' to four really, so if he lost one... From beside him, Yugi was nodding in agreement, having almost lost all of his own against the player killer the night before. "That's right... But at the same time," he added, expression of slight worry still in place, "We can't take too long- it's all over when enough duelists collect ten starchips before we do, and I heard only four people can reach the castle..."

Only four? Hnn... The teen scratched his head, frowning. "And th' remaining duelists are all people who made it through th' first day and th' player killers both..." Well shit, only four..?

Yugi nodded yet again, turning to face the path ahead. "Yea... They have to be even stronger than yesterday!"

Urgghh... "Y-Yea..." For some reason, his dream was coming back to him with that comment... Pegasus' words... '_Did you check your deck? Or are you too scared?_' What the hell was so scary about his deck though... Maybe it was something else? God...

Honda chuckled from the side, apparently spotting the less than cheery mood his friend was in. "Oii, Yugi! Better stop talking, looks like this guy's turning into a chicken here!"

A chicken! What! "Tch! Who're you callin' a chicken you moron! I ain't th' one running away from vines!" He reeled on the teen, the two quickly entering a fairly awkward fist fight that had one hand pulling Honda's lips back and said teen's foot against Katsuya's chest.

"G-Gh! Yu urr shoo shkered!"

"What was that," Katsuya said with a grin, ignoring the slight bit of slobber that was covering his fingers. "Couldn't hear yah through all that 'hand'!"

Anzu rolled her eyes, before walking over to smack them both on the back of the heads. With a loud '_OW_!', the woman pulled them apart, shaking her head with a sigh. "Really guys, this isn't the time for fighting... Can't you two just calm down for two seconds, I feel like I'm babysitting..."

He snorted, giving a shrug and turning to the others. "Hn! Whatever..." The blond coughed, and though he was still a little pale from the reminder of his dream, he forced a grin on his face. "Like I said, I ain't scared- no matter who stands in my way, I'll take 'em all down, got it?"

The others nodded, Yugi in particular grinning in response. "That's the spirit," he shouted, continuing forward. "Don't worry about a think Jonouchi!"

"I-I wasn't worrying!"

"You tell 'em Jonouchi..." As Honda ducked a swipe from the blond, he laughed. "Man... I can't wait till someone with a zombie deck challenges you! That'll make my entire day!"

At he mention of zombies, Katsuya quickly froze, giving an involuntary shudder. "Hihhh... Zombies..." Don't even joke about that...

Yugi laughed beside him, shaking his head. "I... I doubt you'll run into someone with only zombies... They wouldn't get a field bonus I don't think, so it's more likely that we'll encounter decks with field advantages..." He better...

Behind them, Bakura nodded as well. "That's right... But all the same, if someone does have a deck like that..." He paused, Katsuya only serving to become more nervous at the next few words. "Well, they would have been strong enough to fight through a disadvantage so far wouldn't they?"

"Engggh..." As Katsuya continued to rub his head, he attempted to shake it off. Please let Bakura be wrong, please please please... He sighed, before continuing on with the others on their walk. "Right... Anyways..." The blond looked around, frowning. "Wonder where the other duelists are..."

As he continued to frown, Yugi also mimicked the expression. "Hnn... That's a good question. It's already 10 but we haven't seen anyone..." And he hadn't seen anyone in the morning before they woke up... He'd have thought that at least one person would have passed them really.

Weird... Katsuya narrowed his eyes, slowing down just slightly as an eerie feeling passed over him. No one had passed them but... He felt almost like someone was following him. Watching them from the sides, like a stake out or something. He shook it off, turning to the others. "Ah... Hang on a sec guys, I gotta take a leak..." Maybe he'd figure out what was going on while he did that, who knew... Either way though, he should probably calm down.

Walking off into the trees as a small chorus of _'alright_'s and '_ok_'s faded behind him, he held back a frown. Nothing was wrong, he told himself as he found a secluded tree. Nothing was wrong. It was just him and the forest here, and even if there was someone else no one would be an asshole enough to take him out while he was answering nature's call. There was complete silence as he stood there, and even as he was zipping the fly back up he was still going over that silent mantra. "Hah..." Maybe it was nothing... Felt somewhat relaxing now that that was over with at least... "That's much be- MNBP!"

A hand was clamped across his mouth, his words cut short as one of his arms was restrained by the same hand that covered his face. The teen quickly slammed his free elbow back against the gut of his captor, one of his feet slamming down on the other's toes at the same moment. A muffled 'GNH!' was released as a result, the arm loosening its grip to allow Katsuya to turn around on his would be captor with a scowl. "Tch... Sneakin' up on a guy while he's taking a piss!" A left punch was delivered to the man's jaw, the attacker caught slightly off guard by the move and pain both as he held up a weak block. "Try fightin' fair y' asshole!" He froze as rustling came from behind, and just as quick as he turned he found himself stuck on the side of the neck. "GACK!.. Woooaaaah fuck..." The teen stumbled slightly, vision blotted out for a few seconds and leaving him light headed against the rush of pain. Ahhhh shit. Shit! He felt someone grab him in the same position from behind as before, a second arm grabbing his free one this time. The blond blinked rapidly, recovering from his slight blackout only to find that while his original attacker had his mouth and arms, two others had his legs. "MNNGG!" He attempted to struggle against the hold, only to find that the combined efforts of the three were just a little too well balanced for him to take on. "GNNN!"

"Alright," the red-head was shouting with a grin. Katsuya's neck throbbed painfully as he looked at his captors with a glare, trying as best he could to kick the bespectacled teen in the face. Sadly with one leg at one end and one at the other, his currently pinned arms and legs did him little good. "It actually worked! Just like the movies!"

Just like th- Oh right, the knife-hand strike they'd gotten him with... God damned rats, taking him from behind with something like that... "We got him," the shorter one was saying, pale skeletal appearance briefly giving Katsuya an unwanted chill. "We got him!"

The blond continued to attempt at an escape, little more than muffled shouts escaping his mouth. "MMNG!" He snarled, glaring at the captors with wide eyes. Let him go let him go let him the fuck out now! "MNNGGMP!" Trees passed by, and for a split second he thought he saw a skull on the ground. Katsuya went limp briefly, a shudder passing through him. Oh god... Was that a-

"We're almost there," the tallest of the group was saying, Katsuya's eyes moving back upward with a growl. The shorter of the three had taken advantage of his limpness, letting the blond's leg drag across the ground as he ran forward. "KEITH," he shouted, the red head from before moving to drop his other leg and grab his arm. They'd entered a cave of sorts... A dark winding series of tunnels with skeletons lining the walls themselves... The light in there was dim, he could barely see a thing...

As they moved deeper in the cave, a voice came from the side. "Good," a rough and almost slurred voice shouted. It sounded broken almost, as though the one speaking had lost all focus... Or maybe he was just recovering from a hangover. "Throw him in the duel box," the man commanded, and as he was roughly shoved in the chair Katsuya continued to struggle. Damn it... These guys had a pretty solid grip on him!

Across from him, the shortest of the group took a seat, grinning maliciously. "Hnhnhnhnhn... We've been saving a seat for you..." Yea he bet!

"Gnnnh... Who the fuck are you guys!" He wrenched his arms back, grabbing the side of the chair only to freeze. He'd planned on beating the crap out of these guys and running but... "H-Huh..." He stared through the glass of the duel box, the sight of an endless pile of skulls and bones greeting him. The only light in the cavern was melted candles on the skulls, the walls themselves made of stone and bones and coffins with the occasional rat scurrying through while from the ceiling dripped a black watery substance which pooled around the pile in a mock up of blood and... and... "A...AAAAAAUUUUUGGGHHH!"

* * *

He could hear voices... Katsuya's vision had gone completely black, his senses dulled. Where was he... There was something wet on his face and hands, and the air reeked of... Something. Something stale and cold... Something that made him feel nauseous... '_Hey you_,' he heard in the distance, before a stinging pain across his face brought him back to reality. "DON'T WASTE OUR TIME!"

"G-! OW, WHAT THE-!" Katsuya cursed, shaking his head as he looked up. What the... He narrowed his eyes, frowning as he turned on the one who slapped him. Great... He'd woken up to an attack! Where was this... Who was this? He snarled, grabbing the man who slapped him rather roughly by the shirt and slamming him against the glass wall. "Hey! What the hell was that about?" This wasn't the field or the forest... Hell this wasn't anywhere he recognized, but as he curled his free hand into a fist and pulled it back he didn't care. At least until he spotted what was behind his target. This... This was.. He halted his plan to punch through the man's face and froze, looking down at the rows and rows of skulls below and behind the glass. This was sure as hell not somewhere he wanted to be right now. "G-Ghk... W-Where... Where is this," he managed to force out with a slight whimper, eyes growing wide as he released his grip on the man before him. He stumbled back, shaking his head as the blood drained from his face. "H-Hhh..."

From the other side of the table, dark chuckling echoed around the room. Katsuya scarcely realized that all three of the people who had taken him now stood at that side of the table, and the only thing that told him why he was there was the next few words from the kid across from him. "You're in the crypt," he said chillingly, his own pale visage making him look almost identical to the skeletons in the background. "A hidden duel monster's arena! Hehehehehe..."

A... A crypt! He swallowed nervously, and the boy across from him continued to explain. "This cave is haunted by the spirits of soldiers killed in the pacific war... Ghosts are all around you... You can't hide from them!" A chilling feeling came over him, and Katsuya took a shuddering breath. "Now," the boy shouted, "Let's start the game! DRAW YOUR CARDS!"

Oh god... Oh god... Damn it Honda, why did that moron have to be right... Scared... He numbly pulled out his deck of cards, placing them on the table with a swallow. He was so royally screwed right now... Slowly, he grabbed the chair to pull it back from the table and take a seat, refusing to look at even the board. With only a glimpse he'd seen holographic graves and coffins, and a few of the 'gravesites' didn't even have anything more than a hole! G-Gh... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." The boy across from him continued to chuckle, pulling out a handful of starchips from his glove and placing them on the table. "We'll both bet all our starchips," he stated, Katsuya wondering for a brief moment how he knew he had the same number as he did, "Put all four on the board!"

He could hear his heart beat... _Ba-Thump... B-Thump... B-Thump_... A dull clink as he pulled the start chips out with shaking fingers, placing them on the board. The two who had aided in his capture stood outside the box, but directly behind his opponent was a tall and presumably American man who was at the moment leering down at him with an eerie chuckle. A chuckle that seemed eerily familiar to tell the truth... '_Where is he I wonder_,' came Pegasus' voice again, pounding through his ears alongside his heartbeat and the dull clinks of starchips as they hit the table. '_Perhaps your deck? Or are you too scared?_' God damn it... This was going to kill him! ...Hhihhhh don't think about that! '_You're too weak to stand on your own two legs_,' came Seto's voice, Katsuya gritting his teeth in response. And now she was yelling at him in his head too? What was this, some kind of medical condition he randomly acquired for being a jerk in early life? '._..But even then, I expect you to keep your promise..._'

His promise... Damn it! He steeled himself, forcing himself to draw his hand and look across the table. He had to ignore the bones... Ignore the zombies... Fuck all that! He had to fight... If he ran now, then how the hell was he supposed to continue through this tournament? How the hell would he keep that promise he'd made before? If he let this get to him... How would he be able to look Yugi, or Seto, or Mokuba in the eye? "Let's go," he managed to grit out, attempting to clear his head. The kid across from him, he'd seen him before but where... "DUEL!" Zombies... The kid probably had zombies, so where had he seen him...

From outside the box, the group was shouting their encouragement for his opponent, Katsuya catching the name 'Kotsuzuka' amid the shouts. Ko...Kotsuzuka? As in... Grave! He swallowed, gritting his teeth. Shit... He knew this guy! He'd seen him on the semi-finals of the National Tournament... 'Ghost Kotsuzuka' of Tokushima! Shit... He was against a semi-finalist with zombies of all things... He had to ignore them... Just play his cards and trust in the deck... "Alright... Here's my first card," he shouted, picking a monster from his hand. It wasn't too bad a draw... Not too many strong monsters, but most of them were pretty good. "Take this! Axe Raider!" The card was slammed on the table, the dark skinned warrior slowly fading into existence. The raider hefted his weapon upon one shoulder, leering at his opponent from across the field before falling into a more prepared attack stance.

Kotsuzuka's response was to merely smirk at the monster from behind his cards. "Axe raider huh," the boy muttered as he looked over at the monster. "Looks just like a plain old common warrior card..." Katsuya growled in response to the comment, and his opponent merely laughed. "Nothing for me to worry about... Alright! I play this," he shouted, grabbing at one of his cards. "Prepare for... Medusa's G-"

The man from behind Kotsuzuka interrupted the move, shaking his head. "Hold on a sec kid..." Katsuya frowned, as did Kotsuzuka, turning in response to the sound as the man continued. "Don't play that card... Play the one on the very left!" Tch... Backseat driving? What the hell! The blond grit his teeth as his opponent looked over the card, growling. Cheating little twitch... What was it that a semi-finalist of all people had to cheat for though? "Hehehe," the man was chuckling, and as their voices lowered to a whisper Katsuya continued to scowl.

"Hey, you," he shouted, eyes narrowed. Either way... If 'Ghost', who was 'fourth' in all of Japan was taking his advice, it couldn't be good for him! "Fight me by yourself y' coward! Stop asking yer pals from the sidelines to make your move!"

Kotsuzuka grit his teeth, turning back to the field with an oddly suspicious expression. Huh... So even he was doubting his 'friend's advice then? "I play Zanki," he shouted, the blond across from him frowning. Zanki... He recognized that card, that was... "Attack Mode!" A samurai-esque warrior appeared, slightly smaller in size compared to his own axe raider. 'Zanki' drew his katana and held it forward, silently taking a fighting stance with a scowl. That was just a normal warrior card, that wasn't a zombie...

Alright... Kotsuzuka had just set a monster weaker than his own on purpose. And.. It... Wasn't a zombie. Whatever. It was his turn again, and Katsuya frowned slightly as he drew his card. Shake it off, he told himself, forcing his frown to lighten up. Just shake it off; whatever the the point was, this monster was weaker than his own by 200 points! "My turn," he said with a nod. "BATTLE! Axe raider strikes," he shouted, the raider doing just that as he charged forward. There was a thunk as Zanki's head toppled to the ground, Katsuya's frown still in place. "**SHIPPUGIRI**! He kills the samurai!"

Across from him, Kotsuzuka was wincing as the body of his monster collapsed with a twitch before sinking into the ground and out of sight. "Gh..." Even with that though, the guy behind him had a smirk in place. What was he up to... One move in and he already had a feeling that he was essentially facing the American rather than the kid... But why didn't he just challenge him himself then? Damn it... There was something up here, but he'd have to ignore it and hope it wasn't anything too serious. Besides, he thought as a grin came into place. He was already in the lead wasn't he? Two hundred points! "Haha! Yes!" So long as he held that position, he'd be out of here as quick as possible, and he wouldn't have to worry about any more of this creepy undead crap. "Pick a grave, any grave," he shouted, leaning on one of his arms. "I win!" Across from him, Kotsuzuka was growling, a scowl set deep on his face. Well, at least there wasn't any immediate danger in killing the monsters... Definitely nothing that was coming to his opponent's mind with that scowl. "Hehehe... What's the matter, 'Kowaii-jii'?" The grin widened as his opponent's scowl deepened still more. "Your side's empty- play your next card!"

The boy nodded stiffly, still gritting his teeth as he drew from the deck. As he placed the card in his hand and moved to make a play however, he was again interrupted by the American behind him. "No," the man hissed, eerie smirk still in place. Damn it not again... "The second card from the left..." Mutterings died out in sound once more, and regardless of Kotsuzuka's visible confusion, the boy was nodding.

"Got it," he muttered as he grabbed the card as instructed. "I play the crawling dragon in defense mode..." Defense mode... Well, that made sense he supposed.

He drew a card for his turn, before sending his monster forward. Another 'normal' monster... A dragon, also an oddity for the 'Ghost's deck. "Alright then... Axe Raider," Katsuya shouted, the monster coming to attention with those words. "Chop it up!" The warrior rushed forward, taking a leap in the air before slamming the axe down across the dragon's skull. Though far larger than his opponent, the dragon let out a mourning roar before hissing out of existence. At Kotsuzuka's fallen expression he had to grin, regardless of the fact that there was no change in lifepoints. "Ahaha... Yea! I'm good!"

Across from him Kotsuzuka was growling, the man behind him whispering something in his ear yet again. The boy drew from his deck once more, shaking as he slammed a card on the table. "Gh... My next card is this! Crass Clown!" Wait... Another one? The clown appeared atop a spinning ball, swinging his scythe dangerously.

Katsuya snorted at the monster, drawing a card again and grinning. "Hah," he shouted, looking at the very much 'living' monster as the grin widened. "Then I play the Flame Swordsman!" The red-robed warrior appeared to the field in a flurry of flames, and again, the blond led an attack. "Go back to the circus carny; it's on!" As his opponent winced, Flame Swordsman held his sword forward, the blade glowing brightly as it charged an attack. "**TOKI ENZAN KEN**!" A whirl of flames escaped the swordsman's blade, and as the warrior struck the clown's chest there was an ear-splitting wail. Fire erupted on the spot, and within seconds the clown was merely ashes with a blackened scythe... Kotsuzuka's life points in the meantime, had dropped by a full 450 points. "And the clown is gone!"

Alright... He watched as Kotsuzuka continued to growl, the boy's eyes beginning to fill with fear in the same instant. Alright! He could do this... He could win! He had almost double Kotsuzuka's lifepoints... He could do this! Katsuya steadied his breathing as he caught sight of the skulls around them again, suppressing a shudder. Before this fight, he'd been relying on Yugi to some extent... Even against Ryuzaki he'd only won with the encouragement of Yugi and the others... But this time...

He swallowed, gritting his teeth. He'd trust in his own instincts, and win on his own... and in the process, he'd get over this weakness of the undead he had! ...Somewhat. He probably would never be able to actually look at these things without getting a creepy feeling really. "Oii, you three," he called, the two outside the box blinking as he looked their way. Whether or not they could hear him he didn't know... Not like he'd been awake enough to see speakers. "How about after I beat your friend you all fight as well?" He paused, before adding with a somewhat weaker tone, "...In a different arena." Different location was definitely a must, definitely. While those outside merely frowned, proving his theory on being unheard, the American merely grinned.

Kotsuzuka had drawn his next card... Suddenly, Katsuya's blood ran cold, as the man was looking at it with a loud laugh. "Yea," he said, his grin growing even wider. "Why don't we," he 'asked', the grin widening to a frightening 'slasher smile'. "Heheheheheh..."

Abruptly, the boy in front of him gasped, his sour expression instantly replaced with a grin. Shit... Not a good expression for his opponent! "Ahhh! Now I get it," he shouted, the blond frowning in response. Get what... What the hell happened? "Keith was waiting for me to draw this card!" Keith? So that was the man's name? Definitely American... And... What card?

'Keith' merely continued to laugh, grinning. "That's right," he said as he leaned back, Katsuya swallowing nervously in response. Suddenly he wasn't feeling so sure of himself... Hell, suddenly, every bone in his body was saying to brave the skeletons and just bolt. "Now, play your trump card!" Ok, now he _really_ wasn't feeling sure of himself! Trump card? That was never a good sign!

"Get ready," Kotsuzuka shouted with a haunting cackle, "It's all over with this card!" The card was tossed on the table, an eerie violet mist seeping out from it. The fog swirled out from the card, and Katsuya paled, as it filled Kotsuzuka's side of the table. "The rare magic card, Call of the Haunted!" Call of the... There was a loud crunching noise, and Katsuya's eyes widened as the dirt across the field began to shift, the fog seeping into the soil on the table.

Call of the Haunted... Wasn't that a zombie movie? One that involved... Dead... Things..? He drew back as another crunching, squelching noise came through the air, accompanied by a moan. The fog began to clear as the sounds continued, and Katsuya's breath was caught in his throat before he could scream. Oh god... Oh god! A clawed foreleg came tearing through the earth, and to the side a rusted scythe. Ragged flesh covered with moth-eaten clothing followed as wings that were no more than a few strands of muscles on bone followed suit. At the far left a helmet was tossed through a hole, before a broken and rotted armored corpse following. With nothing but a cracked spine between its armor, the warrior knelt to pick up his fallen head and replace it atop the creaking bone.

Across from him, Kotsuzuka merely chuckled at his opponent's frozen horror, those behind him joining in. "Hehehehe... Call of the Haunted brings all my monsters back as un-killable zombies," he shouted with a laugh, grinning. Un... Un-killable..?"And now that they're zombie cards, they gain the field power bonus from the graveyard!" Bonus! He balked, recalling how close in power most of the monsters were to his own as it was. That put...

That put all of the monsters save the god-damned clown higher in attack power! God damn it, he mentally whined as Kotsuzuka send his dragon zombie forward with a cackle. Why the hell did it have to be zombies! Of all the times!

His Axe Raider of course put up a fight against the dragon. How could he not, it was a god-damned zombie! But as the axe slammed into it's face, the wound healed up right before its eyes... That... That wasn't supposed to happen, it was a rotting corpse it... It... Corpses didn't heal! "Hahahahahha! You can't hurt the undead," Kotsuzuka was shouting with a grin, the blond across from him swallowing in fear. "No matter what you do, they'll come back!" The zombie dragon gave a low growl, appearing to grin at the topic of its new found immortality as it raised its head. "Prepare to die! **DEADLY ZOMBIE BREATH**!" Katsuya tensed as a noxious gas escaped the dragon's maw, surrounding the Axe Raider completely. For a moment, there was no result, the Axe Raider simply slashing at the dragon in an attempt to force it back to his side of the field. Abruptly however, the monster chocked, gripping its throat as it collapsed to the ground with a dying gasp. The gas peeled his skin of his body, his flesh rotting from its bones as the gas erroded him to nothingness. Gh... N...Not good... "The axe raider is reduced to emulsified flesh in seconds," Kotsuzuka was shouting with a cackle, only serving to make his opponent grow even paler. The body was absorbed into the ground as the stench of rotted flesh hung in the air, and 'Ghost' continued to laugh manically. "Lets see what you do against my army of darkness!"

Not good! Not... Good! Katsuya shuddered, teeth grinding as he stared at the rotting monsters before him. How the hell did he kill what was already dead! These things were already creepy enough as it was... And with the graveyard was powering them all up...

"Come on, come on," Kotsuzuka was shouting from across the table. "It's your turn! Unless," he said with a laugh, grinning. "You're scared again?"

He growled, eyes narrowing. No way... He wouldn't let this stop him! "What? Scared?" The blond swallowed, forcing back the truth in the statement and steeling himself for the duel. "I'm a duelist," he stated with uneasy breath, shaking slightly as he gripped his few cards. "And a real duelist doesn't run from something like zombies!" Regardless of how fucking creepy they were.

Rotting corpses and ghosts and... And... Hihhh! Kotsuzuka merely laughed louder, as did those outside the glass duel box. "Hahahahha! Whatever you say... Just don't start foaming at the mouth again!"

F-Foaming? He didn't foam at the mouth! ...Then again there was something wet on his face earlier... Katsuya scowled, drawing his card. "Tch... I'll make you guys foam at the mouth you..." He looked the card over, still growling. Nothing much, but since the clown was still relatively weak... "Here! Take this y' un-dead bastards... My card!" He placed it on the field, before pointing the monster forward as it appeared in a flash. Armored scales shimmered into existence, and a green, draconic man took his stance on the field with a growl. "Rotten creeps... Take this! Garoozis," he shouted, the monster nodding. "Get the clown!" As Kotsuzuka chuckled across from him, the lizard man nodded to the command, charging the decaying clown with his axe. A brief sparking pentacle could be seen in the slashes, and ignoring the chuckling from the other side he watched as fragments of bone and fabric toppled to the ground. "Instant kill! **Five Point Slash**!" The monster fell to bits, Katsuya sighing in relief. Alright... Even if it was only fifty lifepoints down it was still something... Not to mention one less mons-

"Hehehehhehe... HAHAHAH!" The blond mentally groaned as chuckling filled the air, and he swallowed as it quickly turned into a full blown cackle. "Didn't I tell you," Kotsuzuka was saying. "This card is active as long as it's on the board..." But... But it was only supposed to bring back the first three wasn't it? It couldn't- "Rise from your grave, Zombie Clown!" It could. At those words, the pieces on the ground gave a jerking twitch. Within seconds they shot in the air, binding together with sick squelching noises as flesh mended and bones re-attached. Fabric hung loosely by a few threads and the staff for the clowns scythe mended itself immediately. Katsuya's mouth hung open with horror as the monster appeared, and across from him the laughter continued. "And the best part is, every time they're resurrected, it's attack power goes up by 10%..."

What..! But that meant... He attempted to count the numbers in his head, only for the lifepoint counter on the side to give him his answer. The clown was sent forward to attack Garoozis in return for its premature death, and while it wasn't much... There was a slash, a 'line' of light as the lizard-man was cut cleanly in two. Garoozis collapsed to the ground in two pieces, each half being pulled into the ground below...

He swallowed, staring at the field with wide eyes. Even if he beat these things they just came back stronger... The bonus would add on to the attack they had when they died, giving more points each time... And more and more... How the hell... How the hell was he supposed to do this..! "Now do you see," Kotsuzuka was muttering from across the table, his target staring at the starchips on the counter with wide eyes. "You can't possibly win... Hehehehehhe!"

Shit... Shit... If he lost this duel, he lost his starchips... And if he lost these starchips, it was game over for him! And if he lost, then that meant... '_Katsuya-nii..._' He grit his teeth, eyes narrowed as the dream came to mind yet again. He'd lose everything... And even if Mokuba was sprung out by Kaiba, he was willing to bet that Pegasus had a trump card up his sleeve... '_Katsuya-nii... It hurts..._'

He couldn't give up. Katsuya shook, eyes squeezed shut as he forced the dream out of his mind. He couldn't lose! And he wouldn't! The blond mentally nodded to himself as he opened his eyes, drawing his next card. He'd stake his life on it... He'd stake everything on it! If he used the right card... The blond's eyes widened, and he grinned. Time Wizard! The grin widened as he looked forward, mentally reassuring himself yet again. He couldn't fight the zombies with Flame Swordsman... But he might be able to do something with the Time Wizard's magic! It got rid of the Harpies and Ryuzaki's dinosaurs after all... So who knew what would happen now! "Here I go," he shouted, playing the card on the field. A small ray of light escaped it, and the round, wide-eyed clock appeared. "Time Wizard!"

While Kotsuzuka stared at the card with a raised eyebrow (if he had eyebrows at least), Keith seemed to freeze completely. Good... At least someone knew what this card could do! "Time Roulette," Katsuya shouted, and the wizard thrusted his wand in the air to start the spinner. The table grew tense, Kotsuzuka realizing from the growl behind him that Time Wizard meant danger... And a lot of it. The arrow on the wheel spun furiously, almost invisible thanks to the speed. Even so, it wasn't long before it began to slow... Slower... Slower... The tick-tock sounds of a clock passed by as it spun, and as the wheel stopped Katsuya had to pale. That wasn't the crown... "_THE SKULL_!" Shit... Shit! He didn't know what that meant but... "Shit... Did I just..." It couldn't be good!

Across from the table, Keith was howling with laughter, apparently knowing exactly what the result of this play would be. While his 'partner' seemed a little more confused, Katsuya found himself watching in horror as a vortex of sorts appeared above the field. "Hahahah! Had me worried for a moment there," Keith began, 'slasher smile' still in place. "But your 'time magic failed', it self-destructs!" The blond turned to Keith, eyes wide as they shifted back to the 'portal'. "Your field is being cleared by your own monster's effect!"

Time Wizard waved frantically as the vortex intensified, the small clock pulled up into the air with a childish scream. The winds picked up without the wizard to control them, and seconds later Flame Swordsman followed him into the hole. "Ack... No," he shouted, growing pale. "Don't... Auuuugh..." Don't go! Come back damn it! Without them... He turned to the lifepoint counter on the side, wincing. Not only was his field cleared but... Shit... Half of their attack was taken from his points too, leaving him with only 630!

On the other side of the table, Keith's laughter was chorused by both those outside and by Kotsuzuka. "AHAHAHHA! HAHAHAHHA!" The cackling blended into one voice almost, Katsuya gripping his head with a groan. "He killed himself," Kotsuzuka was shouting with a grin. Yea no shit... Damn it... "And all my zombies are unharmed! Hahahha!" The boy shook it off, sighing with the grin still in place. "Ahhh... Alright," he shouted, grin twisting into a sneer. "Time for you to play another monster as sacrifice to my zombies!"

Gh... He looked over his hand, scowling. Great... So much for keeping the lead... Now the tables had turned completely and his trump card was gone! Red-Eyes could probably stand against the monsters a few more times but... Damn it... "I play Demon Hunter Kojikocy in defense mode," he stated with grit teeth, placing the card on the field. His frown deepened as the bearded man appeared and crouched down, his sword slammed into the ground for a makeshift shield. "End turn..."

There was a nod across from him, Kotsuzuka picking up his next card before pointing forward. "Alright," he shouted with a grin, the monsters all eagerly awaiting their master's command. "Kill him, Dragon zom-"

"Wait," Keith shouted, interrupting the boy. Again..? Katsuya narrowed his eyes as they both quieted down into another bout of hushed conversation, free hand clenching tightly in response. Fucking rats... Dirty, rotten, cheating rats...

He growled, finally snapping. This duel was heading south and it wasn't even being played fairly! "Hey you, **KIBITZER**," he shouted, Keith turning to him with a smirk. God this guy was grating his nerves... Talk about wearing a flag on your head, this guy's bandanna was more obvious than the damn skulls around them! ...Don't think about those. "'_Mister I know everything about Duel Monsters_'... Who the hell are you anyways?"

The man continued smirking, arms crossed. "Who me," he asked dismissively, giving a mock shrug. "Name's 'Keith'... Bandit Keith!" Wait Bandit- "I don't expect some small time Japanese punk to know about me, but in the US, I'm a top ranked prize hunter," he continued with a laugh.

Bandit Keith... Contrary to the American's thoughts, he did indeed know that name. And it made him realize just why his opponent was bothering to cheat and take tips from the guy. Katsuya swallowed, eyes widening completely as he remembered the words from Seto the night before. The one who issued a challenge to Pegasus... The one who... "You... You're the 'Card Professor' that fought Pegasus," he muttered, shaking his head slightly. Shit... "Seto-ch... Kaiba told me about you!" The number one player in the USA... SHIT!

The one who only Pegasus had been able to beat! If he was facing off against this guy... He never had a shot at winning from the start! Keith laughed at the fallen expression on Katsuya's face, grinning. "Just give up man," he said with a smirk, his target's face falling even more. "It's all tough luck you had to play against us really... I'm teaching these guys the perfect strategies for their duels... You don't even have a prayer!" Would anyone even listen if he was a praying kind of guy..?

"Yea," came Kotsuzuka's shout, the boy grinning madly. "That's right... After you lose, you can go tell Yugi that the four of us are going to Pegasus' castle while you take a row-boat back to Japan! AHAHAHHA!" Ghn... These rats...

He held his jaw tightly shut as Keith leered at him, a frightening glint coming from behind the shades he wore. "Lemme tell you something," he stated, leaning against the glass wall of the duel box and adjusting his sunglasses. "After I beat someone, they never play duel monsters... Or any card game again! You want to know why," he asked with a dark grin, the expression alone putting enough fear in the air to completely take back the knowledge of dueling in a crypt. "Because I beat them so bad," he began with a low voice, "That the mere sight of a card brings back enough memories to cripple their entire body! Hehehehhehe..."

Below the man, Kotsuzuka was nodding, his own grin matching Keith's in eeriness. "And the same goes for me," he said, laughing as he took the card he'd drawn. Shit... Shit... "You can say 'farewell' to cards for the rest of your life!"

"Now," Keith shouted, as his 'partner' nodded. "Play the Ghost King!"

"I'm on it!"

The card was slammed on the table, and in a burst of dark fog an enormous eye appeared from nowhere. Instantly the dream before came to mind and Katsuya tensed, heart racing even as the rest of the body became clear. Vines whipped at the ground as a grinning orange pumpkin came into view, the beast beginning to glow an ethereal and nauseating green. What in the world was this thing... He said a zombie but how the hell did this thing even qualify!

Looking at the expression on his face, Kotsuzuka's laughter increased. "Take a look! This is Pumpking, the King of Ghosts! Lord of the Undead, his body is nothing but a giant sack of ectoplasm, the very fuel for the spirits of evil!" The cackling increased, joined in by the monsters on the board as the enormous cyclopsian pumpkin rumbled with a wide grin. "Every turn," Kotsuzuka added, the pumpkin's eye rolling backwards in some sort of mock glee, "He feeds them this energy, raising their attack points by another ten percent!"

_Another_ bonus? But they already overpowered most of his monsters..! The blond broke into a cold sweat, the sounds of the room seeming to ampliphy in his fear. His hair stuck to the sides of his face, and he swallowed for what felt like the hundredth time in that hour alone. Every turn they'd be getting an even bigger bonus...

"Now Pumpking," the boy across from him cried, grinning madly. The pumpkin's eye shot back into focus, the ghost appearing to 'nod'. "_Give them your power_!" The vines cracked, jamming into the backs of all three of the zombies on the field. Each one pulsed, a large 'lump' appearing from the top of each vine and pumping its way down through to the monsters. The zombies moaned, a foreign and sickening liquid dripping from their bodies as they grew in size. Katsuya absently wished he'd paid attention in math as they leered across the field, the blond shaking yet again. 10 percent bonus... So what did that put these guys at again? "Attack, Dragon Zombie," Kotsuzuka cried, the largest of the three lumbering forward with a cheery moan. "_**DEADLY ZOMBIE BREATH**_!" The noxious gas filled the air, surrounding the sole 'living' monster on the field and reducing it to a pile of unidentifyable mush. Mush that was, yet again, absorbed into the ground by some unseen force.

Katsuya gulped, shaking his head. "N... No way!" He drew a card, frowning before he placed it on the field. Shit... Shit... He had nothing... Nothing in his hand that would get him out of this! "I play another card in defense mode," he shouted, turn ending with laughter from across him.

His opponent stared at the 'Pumpking' with glee, drawing his card but paying no real attention to the draw for the moment. "Hehehehhee... It's my turn again," he shouted, grin widening beyond what Katsuya had thought were human limits. "And that means that the zombie's attack power goes up even more!" The beasts in front of him appeared to dissolve slightly with those words, increasing in size yet again. More fluid was pumping into them from the pumpkin behind them, and what fell on the ground created a hissing crater. By this point the three corpses filled just about the entire half of the table, side to side... The stench of death filled the air, and Katsuya wondered just why Kaiba had bothered inventing anything that replicated scent just as well as it did sight. With another stream of poisoned air from the dragon, another shout from 'Ghost', the armored lizard Katsuya had played vanished into a pile of scales... There hadn't even been a scream, and its fallen form was pulled down beneath the ground.

"Gn..." He wrinkled his nose as the scent met his nostrils, coughing to the side and holding back his supper from the night before as words of praise for Keith filled the room on the other side. Damn it... He needed something, anything... He drew a card, putting it in his hand and taking one of his monsters. Anything! "I play glassman in defense mode," he shouted, wincing as he caught the tail end of Keith and Kotsuzuka's conversation.

'_It's not perfect yet_,' the American had said with a low chuckle. '_The combo won't be complete until you draw stop defense... Then it'll all be over!_' A wave of nausea hit him again, Kotsuzuka's shout drawing his attention back to the table as he swallowed it down. This smell... He looked down, biting his lip. "Glassman dies," the boy was shouting with a mad cackle, and Katsuya found himself covering his nose from the scent and chocking on his own breath. Hopeless... As soon as they got that card it was hopeless! 'Glassman's melted corpse was being dragged beneath the earth again, and in the back of his mind he heard nothing but the whispers of his dream the night before. No... '_It hurts..._' Mokuba... Shit... He winced, closing his eyes as the cold sweat he had continued to drench his face, a shiver wracking his body. There was no way out of this... None at all... Damn it...

The blond slumped in his seat, biting his lip until he felt something wet run down the side of his mouth. '_Yugi..._' He rubbed his head, tensing slightly at the coldness of his own skin and the small bit of blood on his chin. S-Sheesh... At this rate he'd be dead, like everything else in here! ...Don't think of that. Katsuya shook his head, gritting his teeth as he thought back to his other duels. Asking for help all the time... He oughta be ashamed really but all the same... If anyone was listening somehow, no matter how impossible... Even just a 'you can do it'... Even just that! '_Sorry Yug'... I can't.._.'

'_Don't give up, Jonouchi!_' Katsuya's eyes shot open, the blond jumping. That voice... No way... There was no way he'd actually heard him, hell... They didn't know what the Puzzle did but how the hell... '_There's always a way to win_,' came the sound of the 'Other Yugi', the blond practically able to see his friend's face at his side right then. The same stern expression, accompanied by an encouraging smile... Somehow, he seemed different than he had when they first 'met', back at Death-T... '_No matter how bad it looks!_'

The blond stared at the table with wide blank eyes with those mental words. That... That was different from when he'd thought he'd heard Seto-chan... Really different... It wasn't as though he was 'talking' to a ghost, or as though his own weird conscience was trying to snap him into focus. That was..._ Real_. Drawing a card, he frowned. Still nothing... But he had to keep going, somehow... "Another defense card," he stated, the teen attempting to steel himself. First thing first... He had to get rid of that pumpkin the first chance he got! "Tiger Axe..."

"Hehehhehehe..." Kotsuzuka chuckled, grinning eerily in the light of the duel box. Sheesh... As if he didn't already match the decor... This kid needed to eat more often... And get some sun... He looked like a skull! ...Don't think of that. "Looks bad for you doesn't it? Every turn you defend, my zombies gain more and more attack points... And the longer you go on," the boy continued, his opponent glaring in response, "The sooner you'll run out of cards! Face it... You lose!"

Tch! He narrowed his eyes, staring across the field with a scowl. He was right... At this rate he was going to deck out- he didn't remember all the cards in his deck, but he knew for a fact that the ones in his hand would do nothing right now! The monsters kept getting stronger and stronger... He had no choice but to defend! He could practically see his opponent thinking the same thing...

Across from him, Kotsuzuka drew his card, grinning. "My turn," he shouted, looking over his draw before cackling madly. Oh shit... "GEHEHEHE! FINALLY!" Finally? Katsuya tensed, his opponent continuing to grin wickedly. Oh SHIT... "I drew stop defense!" He placed the card on the board, face down before turning to face his opponent. "Heheheh... Now that this is here, when you call '_Defense_'," 'Ghost' stated with a cackle, "I can flip it face up and activate it..!" The boy's grin grew in response to Katsuya's increasing horror, and he pointed his monsters forward. "Starting next turn, your monsters won't be able to hide with their defenses anymore! And now for my attack!" The monsters below roared in pleasure, increasing in size once more as the acid green fluids seeped into the ground below with a hiss. "First, Pumpking gives the zombies more ectoplasm, making my army even stronger... And now," he continued with a laugh, his zombies resembling little more than clothed or even bare skeletons by this point, "GO! Dragon Zombie! There's nothing that can stop you now..! Do what zombies do best," he continued, the blond across from him clenching his jaw. "And break through their pathetic defenses!_** DEADLY ZOMBIE BREATH**_!"

Oh god... He grunted, pulling his jacket closed around his face as the gas seeped over the field. Oh god it reeked... The Tiger Axe growled in pain as the acid breath burned at its skin, holding the axe up as a feeble shield. The gas corroded even the metal of its armor, eating through the tiger's flesh before melting it into nothing but armor and bones. "Hahaha!" Keith's grating laugh came from the other end of the room, and as Katsuya wiped another bead of sweat from his face the American's grin widened. Tiger Axe was joining its comrades in the graveyard, under the ground... "It's over 'Jonouchi', or however you pronounce it," Keith was saying, the blond across from him swallowing under his gaze. "This trap card is just waiting for you to say 'defense', and once that happens it's alllll over..."

Tch... How did he know that... "What he said," Kotsuzuka was shouting, the blond merely scowling as he tried to figure out how Keith knew his name. How the hell... "Now hurry up and draw... It'll end your suffering!" Shit... Not good...

What could he do... What could he do..? Katsuya closed his eyes, taking a deep breath as he attempted to calm himself. Think.. Think... He had to clear his head, figure out someway out of this..! '_Don't give up Jonouchi_,' Yugi's voice reminded him. Damn it, was this his conscience or for real? Either one was beyond belief! The blond blinked, eyes opening as he stared at the table. Don't give up... Don't- '_If you rid yourself of doubt, a light will shine into the cave of your heart_!'

He blinked again, coughing with a frown. ...W-Wait... What? What was that..? He frowned, shaking his head. Alright... That one couldn't have been him... Definitely just his conscience or some other part of his brain. (A damn weird one...) '_Remember the promise we made_,' Yugi was continuing, Katsuya blinking as he took in those words. The promise... That's right, on the roof of the school, when he'd asked Yugi for help... '_We'll save them both_!' Both Yugi's grandpa... And Mokuba!

Right... That was right! He had to focus on this duel... There had to be something in this deck, something that would turn this around... "Tch..." All the dreams and voices he'd heard... They all meant something in the end, didn't they? Some kind of message... "I won't give up," he finally stated with narrowed eyes, ignoring whatever reaction he received from those words. "Not as long as I can draw these cards... Because I have something important to protect," the blond continued, determined scowl in place as he spoke. "And a promise to keep... And I'll do just that!" On his own this time!

The card in his hands seemed to almost shine in response to that. "Alright," he shouted, placing it on the field. With this he could fight! Maybe the three zombies were stronger... But he had to at least do this! "I draw the Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" As his opponent... Opponent's really, tensed up completely, he held his steady glare. Either they were wondering where he got the card, or they knew what he was targeting... Red-Eyes appeared on the board in a flash of black and red, roaring loudly as it flexed its wings. And while he wasn't stronger than the three monsters dominating Kotsuzuka's field... "Hn! Now that I've come this far," Katsuya muttered with narrowed eyes, "I can't just run away.. If I can't use my cards to defend," the teen continued, "Then I mind as well die fighting, instead of surrendering like a coward! Here I go," he shouted, pointing the dragon between Kotsuzuka's monsters. "Red-Eyes! Attack the Pumpking!"

With a feral roar the dragon swooped in, the Pumpking's eye widening with fear to mimic it's controller. It had more attack power after all... And with this, those attack bonuses would be gone! "**_BLACK FIRE BULLET_**!" With an head-splitting screech the blast of flames struck, the pumpkin bursting into a shower of red and gold. Vines flapped feebly in the air as they fell, and as ashes entered the ground there was soon nothing more than a spinning eyeball. And that too sank into the ground within a few moments... No more attack bonuses after this though... And since it wasn't brought to the playing field with Call of the Haunted, it wouldn't be coming back... "Hahahaaa! Yes," he shouted with a grin. One down, everything else to go! "Now your zombies can't get any tougher... The power trip stops now!"

"Feh..." Kotsuzuka growled, before replacing the expression with a grin. Yep... He'd seen through the glaring flaw in his plan hadn't he. Ahhh well... "You idiot... They're already more than strong enough to kill you! My turn," he shouted, Katsuya glaring in response. Cheh! It figured... "Dragon Zombie! Counter attack!" As the next wave of acid hit, Katsuya covered his nose and mouth, turning away with his eyes shut. Regardless of them not being real, each time this attack happened it felt all too painful to watch... Red-Eyes roared in pain as the acid burned through its scales, screeches piercing the air as it hissed and spat pointlessly at his attacker. Finally, the cries ended, and Katsuya turned back to watch Red-Eyes' burning corpse sink into the ground. "Die Black Dragon," Kotsuzuka shouted with a cackle, his own monster rumbling with cheer. "Fall to pieces and rot away!"

Shit... There went his best card and four hundred of his remaining life points from what the point counter said. From behind Kotsuzuka, Keith was laughing as well, and he found himself looking toward him with narrowed eyes. "It's over, 'Joey'," he shouted with a grin. Damn it... Too much of an asshole to even bother with his name too now? He'd had it perfectly fine before!

What did he do... The teen swallowed, staring at his cards. He had three cards in his hand right now. Salamandara would have been great if Flame Swordsman was still here, giving a bonus of 800 points to fire monsters, but it _wasn't_ thanks to his screw up with Time Wizard... Kunai with a Chain would lower the attack power of a monster by 500 points, but the only monster he had in his hand was Ultimator... And his attack power was only 700.

Regardless of his skills in math, he knew damn well that Ultimator wouldn't beat any of the monsters even with the chain on his side. Katsuya's head continued to bow forward, the teen narrowing his eyes in thought. And he couldn't play him in defense mode... "C'mon," Keith shouted, the blond attempting to ignore him for the moment. "Like they say in the wild west, '**DRAW**!'" What the fuck was... Oh right. American movies... The cowboy ones... Man this was a pain... "Play a card and _draw_ you mangy _mutt_!"

Katsuya's head snapped up instantly as he tensed, growling. Now hang on here... Did he just call him... A **_MUTT_**? "Gnnn..." Alright... That was fucking it. He got it from Seto-chan, that was expected. Hell, he even got the dog comments from Honda whenever he smelled something, and from god-damned Pegasus, who would be paying for it anyways.

But he. Was. Not. A.** MUTT**. And there was only one person he was going to even stand having around to call him that! He drew a card from his deck, expression of unbridled rage now set on his face. Ohhhh he'd be punching this asshole's god-damned head off his shoulders that was for sure! He'd be joining the skulls at the- ...Don't think about that. He looked at what he'd pulled from the deck, frowning. Now... What card... He looked over the description, blinking as he logged the information in his head. Shield and Sword.. One of his few spell cards... '_Switch the original ATK and DEF of all face-up monsters on the field until the end of this turn.._.' He looked across the board, frowning. Now hang on... All the monsters that he was facing had high attack points that was true... But when they'd first been summoned, they didn't have any defense points... The field bonus only applied to attack last he checked so maybe... Just maybe...

He nodded, smirking. He had a plan... And there was no way it would fail! Alright! This was his last chance... He'd have to give this a shot, and hope for the best! "Here I go," he shouted, his opponent staring with a slight look of surprise in response to the sudden zeal. If this didn't work, he'd at least go out with a bang! "First, I play this card in attack mode," he shouted, 'Kung-Fu Fighter Ultimator' appearing on the field with a nervous nod. The colourfully armed warrior steadied its stance however, seeming to feed of its master's current confidence. "And now for the big finale... The spell card 'Shield and Sword'! By playing it," he continued, eyes narrowing further, "I switch the attack and defense of all monsters on the field!"

The reaction was instantaneous. The crowd at the other side of the table balked, and if he didn't think it was possible for Kotsuzuka to become paler than he was before, he was proven wrong. All of the monsters slumped, bodies falling to pieces before the crowd's eyes as the card's magic seeped over the field. Yes... Yes... He was right..! Zombies didn't have any brains right? So why would they bother defending? They didn't have any defense... So now that they switched...

"It's not just your monsters," Katsuya said with a neutral frown, focusing on the match itself. "The card affects all the monsters on the field! Which means that instead of 700, Ultimator now has 1000 attack points!" Kotsuzuka's expression fell, and the blond nodded down at his monster. "Now... Go back to th' movies you zombie freak! **_ULTIMATE SCREW KNUCKLE_**!" At those words the small ninja shot forward, slaming a fist through the nearest monster's skull with a sickening crack. "The dragon zombie goes down," he shouted, the rest of the dragon's skeleton crumbling to bits on the table with an eerie moan. "And so do your life points!"

Shouts filled the room, and most of them were from Keith. "Kotsuzuka you fucking moron," the American shouted in English, before grabbing the boy and the cards roughly. The starchips remained where they sat, untouched as he continued shouting. "YOU LOST!" Katsuya slumped in his seat, watching as the man sent him a scowl. "And you... Heh," he smirked, pushing Kotsuzuka out of the duel box before moving to follow after. "Don't think you're any closer to the goal..." What the hell did that even mean..? God he was exhausted...

Katsuya frowned weakly as the people left, his cards falling from his hands as he gave out a loud sigh of relief. He... He just won right? The teen looked dimly across the table, attempting to steady his rapid breathing. He'd really gone all out... So... Since he won... Four star chips was the number right? So that meant he... He had eight now... "Hah... Hahahhaha..." He rubbed his head, shaking it as he continued to laugh. He won... He won! "AHAHAHHA! YEA! Ahhhh..." Slumping further back across the chair, he stared at the top of the box with a sigh. He managed to win on his own for once... No tips, to tricks... His conscience had a bad habit of speaking in the voices of his friends but either way...

He continued to breath deeply, eventually slowing the pace down to a quiet and slow pattern of ins and outs. He did it... He... Eyes closing over, he had to smile. Only two more and he'd be there... For Mokuba, for Yugi's grandpa... For everyone...

Wait for him, he thought as he gave one more sigh. He just needed... A rest...

So wait...

* * *

AN: Wowwwww I love how this chapter came out... I don't even have any words...

Save for this! Expect fanart next chapter! And here are the results of the poll so far; as a note to those without accounts here, you need to send a review with your vote if you want to participate in the vote!

So far, it's still zero for Canon, Male Set, but we've gotten two more votes! Now we have 4 for the crossdressing Priest(ess), and 2 for the Priestess as a whole!

And now...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hello Angel A! ...Your name seems familiar, are you on YGO Abridged forums by any chance..? In any case, glad you like the fanfic so far, and I hope to keep the reputation up for you and anyone else enjoying it thus far! Also, your vote has been tallied.

And Iona! Noooo not even in sleep... Though Jonouchi's dream was really just that. A weird creepy dream. Still. You're never really safe from the EYE... Hhihhhhhh... It's a very good thing that Pegasus didn't keep that power; you're right in that Kaiba essentially got lucky in not being found out. Her shock from the duel was enough to save her the first time around, and she managed to barely save her skin during future meetings by constantly thinking nothing more than 'I want to get away from you, you creeper.'. Or anything along those lines. And as Pegasus only gets the outer thoughts when he goes at them in passing... It worked!

And... Phew! It's good to know that Jonouchi is still in character... Maybe I'm a little over the top about it, but I can't help but be continually paranoid about that.

Expect fanart soon~

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that braved the undead _for you_. Be happy!

As usual, the title is a nod to the related duel. Rather than being from a chapter title however, it's the name of the creepy over powered card utilized by Ghost Kotsuzuka. 'Call of the Haunted'... Hihh!

* * *

From the moment they get off the ship and to the evening before the final matches, Honda wears a headband for good luck. I can't figure out what the last kanji means, but the first half translates to 'of Japan', or 'Japan's', as 'no' is a possessive particle... And the headband says 'Nihon no _'.

* * *

It's unknown just what Jonouchi's referring to when he calls Mai 'Shiranui-san', mostly because the Yugioh manga is already notorious for making references to established manga's, video games, and other things. Heck, within the first few pages when Yugi mentions getting a wish if he puts the puzzle together, he says _'Like Dragonball_!'.

Most likely however, it _isn't_ a reference to a pre-existing character in a certain fighting game, as Shiranui is the Japanese term for an optical illusion similar to the Will-o'-the-wisp. To be specific, a Will-O'-The-Wisp is a ghostly, lamp like light that appears in the dark and vanishes when approached. As Mai has a habit of appearing and then 'disappearing' when it looks like they're getting to know her during Duelist Kingdom, it's not much of a jump.

Interesting note; maybe it's just faulty translating in the manga that said 'Shiranui', but it looks more like Yugi is speaking rather than Jonouchi... Hmm.

* * *

What was Honda going to ask? I don't know myself! Originally, I was going to have him say _something_, but around the time I started typing I completely forgot! Ahhh...

Another note on Honda; if you look in the manga, he accepts that Kaiba's a jerk, but he _doesn't hate him_. Mostly. If anything, he's pretty much got the same thoughts that fanfic Jonouchi does on the matter, and even mentions to a still enraged Jonouchi in the manga that '_he should know what it's like_', as it's '_no different from Shizuka_'. (The saving a sibling thing). In fact, he mentions his nephew in the comparison as well.

I checked and double checked though; the entire cast apparently suffered from delayed thought, as it wasn't until after Kaiba lost his soul to Pegasus that all this came into mind. Whooooops.

* * *

Dialogue extensions! Why? Because it's always fun to set Jonouchi up for passing out in a few more paragraphs. As a note on Ghost Kotsuzuka, when he shows Keith his deck, the man puts in some more cards and replaces others. After he does this, you see Ghost flipping through the cards, going on about how he had 'this one' and 'this one'... But later on in the duel, he seems genuninly surprised to see the clown, dragon, and warrior that was in the deck.

But if he was looking through the cards earlier, how did he not realize they were there..?

* * *

When Jonouchi leaves to take a leak in the manga, we see him from behind, with a speech balloon above him reading 'peeeee'. Yes, because we needed a sound effect for that... Either way. Taking a man down while he pees! For shame!

Somehow, the guy who bragged about taking down three people at once was taken out by two- Ghost didn't do anything in terms of fighting. In the end, I cheated... Fun fact for you guys! The knife-hand strike to the neck, which obviously can't render you unconscious let alone kill you, _will_ do this: by striking the mastoid muscles (Side of neck), you not only cause immense pain (There's a cluster of nerves there), but there's a good chance that for a few seconds you'll black out. By black out, I mean dizzy spell, no vision black out... Similar to standing up from a couch after sitting down all day.

* * *

Also, some names for you. In addition to Kotsuzuka, we have Takaido, or 'Sid' (Redhead), and Satake, or 'Zygor'. Where the hell did they get these names...

* * *

As a side note, when we switch back to Yugi in the others, we see Yugi asking what's taking so long. Honda gains this 'wise' expression, crossed arms and everything, and says '_Probably number two_.' To which Anzu of course says '_EW DON'T BE GROSS_', and things progress as... Planned.

* * *

Back to the scene with Jonouchi, it really is as he decribes. Skeletons EVERYWHERE. Makes you wonder where they came from... (According to Ghost, they're from the Pacific War. YIKES.)

* * *

'Kotsuzuka' comes from the two words 'Kotsu' and 'tsuka'. (The pronunciation is altered from 'Tsuka' to 'zuka'.) Kotsu means 'bone', or 'skeleton', while 'tsuka' means 'mound', or 'grave'. Effectively, Kotsuzuka means 'bone mound', or 'bone grave', etc... Basically 'graveyard'. Hihhh.

* * *

I came up with Kotsuzuka's 'hometown' on the fly; what with each competitor supposedly coming from a specific district and all... Anyways. Tokushima is home to the second largest cultural dance festival in the world, called 'Awa Odori' (Awa is Tokushima's ancient name; basically, this all means 'Awa Dance'.) It's part of the Obon festival, which is a Japanese celebration of the dead. Hehehe...

* * *

Back to what Yugi and co. were doing while he was gone, during their mutterings (Bakura mentions that he's been gone 'at least twenty minutes' before they finally start searching), Anzu asks if he maybe got lost. Honda, in response, says '_NAH! That can't be, he's the kind of guy who can tell which street he's on with his nose..._' Anzu's response is '_Are you saying he's a dog..?_', which makes for an interesting 'inside joke' when you realize that for the first while, it wasn't Kaiba who coined the dog-comments towards Jonouchi.

It was _HONDA_. LE-GASP!

* * *

The move for Axe Raider, 'Shippugiri' means 'Gale Cut'. Shi-pu or Shippu comes from the combination of the kanji for wind (Kaze) and illness (Shitsu). Basically 'Shi-' comes from Illness (Ordinarily Shitsu) and 'pu' comes from Wind. Normally, the 'compounded' form of Wind is pronounced 'Fuu' though... Anyways. 'Giri' of course is from the verb 'kiru', or 'to cut'. For an example, look at the ever famous Japanese blade 'Kusanagi'. Kusa is grass, 'na' is a particle... And 'gi' is cut.

As for 'kowaii-jii', it's taken from what Jonouchi calls Kotsuzuka around this point. Specifically, he calls him 'uncle creepy'... Which probably means he called him 'kowaii-jii', using the word for scary (kowaii) and the word 'jii' from Uncle. (No 'O' at the beginning however, as 'O' is a sort of honorific meant to give respect. And Jonouchi has none for Kotsuzuka.) I typed it out in Japanese (If you notice, save for attacks and honorifics, I don't often do that) mostly to keep the insult intact... As 'Uncle Creepy' doesn't really have the same effect in English. The power of language!

* * *

Interesting note; after his clown is killed off, Kotsuzuka's lifepoints are identical to the attack power of the clown... Namely 1350. This is of course because Kotsuzuka's lifepoints were identical to the attack power of Flame Swordsman (1800) before that point... However, it's an interesting thing to spot.

* * *

In the actual card game, Call of the Haunted isn't nearly as cheap; rather than being a spell card that brings back all monsters as zombies, repeatedly bringing them back after death, it revives one monster and remains on the field. When the monster dies, the card is destroyed, and when the card is destroyed, the monster dies. It's also a trap card instead of a spell...

* * *

Oddly enough, Mokuba's line from both Katsuya's memories and his dream from last chapter mimic that of Kaiba's own line in the anime. When Yugi finds the three 'pillars' (_Crosses_ in the original. Yikes.) with the cards/souls of Mokuba, Kaiba, and his grandfather smack dab in the middle of them, you hear them speaking... Kaiba in particular says only one thing, namely '_It hurts.._.'. Coming from Kaiba, that's pretty dang creepy, as when something hurts Kaiba... Well, Kaiba keeps his mouth clamped tightly shut, particularly around someone he doesn't really like at the time.

* * *

Kibitzer is the term for a person who, during a card game, looks at the cards over a player's shoulders and gives advice from behind. It's alternately a person who simply gives unwanted advice, or makes jokes when everyone else is trying to be serious... But anyways. It's from the Yiddish language, which is pretty awesome in my opinion. Heeheee.

* * *

When a monster gains attack power... The numbers don't show up for the players. It's implied that you just know what the number becomes really. Or that someone has a calculator. I would imagine this is the source of endless grief for the duels where neither person can figure out percentages or has a calculator on hand. Pity~

* * *

Apparently Yugi and Jonouchi have some kind of mental bond going on, because by focusing into the puzzle, the 'Other Yugi' managed to briefly see exactly where Jonouchi was... And even speak to him! _Weird_... But also really cool.

* * *

Interesting fact; Takahashi himself states that at the very beginning of the manga, 'Yami Yugi' was _evil_. As in... No better than any other antagonist in the series. (Possibly worse actually. Unless you count 'Yami Marik', who is effectively pure hate.) Most likely a side effect of being sealed in a golden artifact of shadowy darkness for a number of millennia... Hanging around Yugi and his friends made him 'get better'. And then Doma happened to the Anime... And we got a _glimpse_ of Yami's 'former self'. Hihhhh!

Another interesting thing; in the final chapter of this duel, one page showed up with Katsuya's current hand (Four cards), giving the challenge of guessing which card he'd used to win the duel. Red Eyes, Kung Fu Fighter Ultimator, Shield and Sword, and finally Kunai with Chain.

In the end, all but one of them... So the question seemed pointless...

* * *

Actual line from Yugi; '_If you rid yourself of doubt, a light will shine into the cave of your heart!_' It's so corny yet so amazing all the same... So much that against what was probably my better judgement I left it. Though I have to say, how is Jonouchi's heart a cave? Is it because he keeps falling into his fear? That can't be it... Maybe it's because of his self-doubt? I don't know anymore! Ahhhhh...

* * *

Fun fact - Keith actually calls Jonouchi 'Joey' in the manga. This is likely because he's a jerk who can't be bothered to pronounce his name properly. Even though he can pronounce it perfectly well. Even though he bothered learning an entire language to get back at Pegasus... Even... Though... Pegasus is American... So I guess that wasn't it either.

Hmm... So why did Keith bother learning Japanese again?

* * *

Keith technically calls Jonouchi a 'loser'; however, he says it using the same terms that Kaiba did earlier. ('make-inu'!) I replaced this with 'Mutt' in the end, as personally, I can't tell if Keith is a Japanese master or a failed Japanese student... Because on the one hand he speaks the language perfectly, but on the other... Well, case in point, his issues with Jonouchi's name. Needless to say, typing out loser would have little effect compared to 'Mutt'.

Jonouchi appears to have a 'Hancock' response to being called a Mutt here. In fact, I was picturing this line in my head as I typed...

'_Call me a Mutt... One more time..._'

Those who saw the movie Hancock will know what the result of that was. In my mind at least.

* * *

Kotsuzuka and his two friends _kind of_ get what's coming. Kind of. One can say they got on the _very_ wrong end of retribution really, because while they weren't the greatest people, they still didn't deserve their fate. 4Kids says Bakura sent them to the shadow realm... But you see, both the proper Anime and Manga both say different.

Those three were pulled into **HELL**. Yikes...

* * *

Anyways, that ends the chapter for now! I'll see you next time, hopefully with some coloured artwork! (Given my typing speed with this, that's unlikely though... As so far I've gotten one out every 2-3 days. Granted I figured that would be my timing but still.)

Oddly enough, had I not been badgered off to bed last night ('It's 11:30 Usagi!' 'I'm just typing the Manga notes!' 'GO TO SLEEP USAGI.'), this would have been up yesterday. Darn.

See you next time!


	29. Chapter 28

**To The Minotaur's Lair  
**

* * *

It had only been one, maybe two minutes since he one the duel, but his exhaustion had still taken its toll. '_Jonouchi_,' someone called, the blond unable to hear who it was. Katsuya's head slumped forward as he leaned back, eyes closed and senses all but cut off from a majority of the living world. The blond was sleeping... Mostly sleeping at least, given that it had only been minutes since he chose to succumb to the feeling. His arms hung to the sides of the chair as he took long, peaceful breaths, the sound of shouts just barely reaching him from in the distance. '_Jonouchi_,' someone was calling, their panicked voice somehow held with a confident air. The voice cleared, and as his eyes opened blearily the blond could make out a figure from the side of the glass. "Jonouchi, What happened?"

Reds, golds, and blacks... Wait... Those colorus were- He blinked, frowning slightly. Heck, colours aside, that voice sounded like... "What the.." He groaned, holding his head as he cleared his vision up. Candle light... It wasn't much to go on but- The blond turned to the source of the voice, staring only a moment grinning. Yugi... And... "Ah! It's you guys!" They... They were all there! Behind the glass stood the 'Other Yugi', along with Anzu, Bakura, and Honda. Why the 'Other' one was there, he didn't know... But right now, he was just glad to see them really! "Hah! I don't believe it... You all came..." How had they found him..? This would be the last place he'd come to duel, and yet... He shook it off, focusing on the positives. "Yugi," he shouted, grabbing his things from the table. "You just missed it man, I won on my own!" Why did that come out more like a kid proudly showing off his homework than what it was supposed to sound like? Well, Yugi didn't seem to mind at least... Coming out as he clipped his four new starchips in place, he gave a light shrug before breaking into a grin again. "Well... It was mostly luck again but..."

"It doesn't matter," Yugi was saying with a smile, cutting the blond off. "You did it, didn't you?" Hah... Yea, he did... Didn't he.

Katsuya's grin grew, and he rubbed his head with a laugh. "Hahah! Yea! You guy's should've seen it," he began with a shout, momentarily forgetting about the skulls around them. "I took them down in one move, with a deadly one-shot combo!" Sword and Shield... With an instant kill. Awwww yea...

As he said this, the others stared, blinking. He wasn't sure if they were listening to the details of his combo but... "Wow," Honda muttered, the others nodding at the side. They all looked at his left hand, where the glove's metal band was shining dimly in the candlelight. "Eight star chips..." Eh? Oh right, he'd just clicked those in huh...

"Sounds like it went great," Anzu added, smiling. "Even if it was mostly luck..." Er... Much as he wanted to argue that... Yea. He guessed that luck had a fair bit of power in it all really.

The blond shrugged again, stretching a few kinks out of his arms while Honda frowned. "You know Jonouchi," he started, eyes 'narrowed' in faux wisdom as he spoke, "This streak of good luck is something to think about... Did you ever think that since you came to this island you were wasting the rest of your life's luck?"

"E-EH!" He turned, eyes wide. Wasting his luck? That couldn't happen right? "No way! That' can't be it," he shouted, grabbing Honda by the shirt. "T-Take it back man, you say things like that and it'll actually happen!" He'd doom them all damn it!

His friend merely laughed, throwing an arm around his shoulder and throwing off the blond's grip. "Hahaha! Prove me wrong then and tell me you're running on more than just fumes!" What what what! No! This wouldn't help at all ahhhh...

"Damn it Honda!" As Katsuya turned to continue the verbal battle, he frowned, cutting off. -_clack_- That sound... Rocks? His frowned deepened, and the sounds continued. _-clack- _"...Hang on..."

The others turned as well, expressions mimicking Katsuya's own. Far off down the tunnel they'd come in... was that a person..? "Hey," he shouted, running after the now clattering sounds of footsteps. Whoever it was he'd spotted was now barreling down the tunnel in an attempt to escape, Katsuya soon coming within just a few meters of them. "Wait a second," the blond continued, squinting in the dark. That was... Oh, hell, it was _them_. (Why were they still there? ) "HEY! YOU!" He continued running, the people ahead stopping in their tracks. Kotsuzuka, his two friends... And as he came close a familiar black vest and flag bandanna came into view, the blond scowling in response. "Bandit Keith!"

The reaction from both sides was something he'd more or less see coming. Keith, of course, turned to face the group, along with everyone else with him. The American leveled a narrowed glare at the group, while his three 'friends' merely stared at them with narrowed eyes. And as Yugi and the others came up from behind, he could hear their surprise at the group as well. "Jonouchi," Honda was saying with a disbelieving tone, Katsuya stopping to turn to him. The surprise was expected really... This was the number one duelist in the US... Or 'was' really. "You got in a fight with these guys?"

"Psh..." He shook his head, frown returning. "Naw... It wasn't like that..." More like he'd been attacked really... His scowl deepened, and he clenched his fists. "These guys shanghaied me and dragged me down t' this crypt!" As Honda and the others blinked, before turning to look at Keith, he continued. "They were stalking us the entire morning, waiting t' make their catch!" The people in front of him merely glared in response, and Katsuya growled. "Tch... 'Bandit Keith'," he shouted, pointing at the man accusingly. The American grit his teeth, fists clenching in response. "If you call yourself a duelist then why don't you fight fair next time, instead a' hiding behind someone else?"

Keith merely growled, and while his eyes were hidden behind the shades his anger was was more than evident. "Fucker," he shouted, the same ragged slurr he'd heard before echoing around the cavern. "Don't tell me how to play you yellow-ass punk!" Yellow what? What did he just call him! As Katsuya growled, Keith turned on them all with the same 'slasher smile' from before, and a shiver ran down his spine. "You want me to 'play fair'? HAH! Don't make me fucking laugh... Card games are about outwitting your opponent," he shouted with a crazed sneer, the others drawing back slightly. "And that starts before the game! So don't go talking about shit you know nothing about... Hell," the man snorted, "You know what I'm talking about right?" As he pointed toward the blond, tilting his head with that same grin in place, Katsuya tensed. What the hell was he talking about..? "Tell me you're pulling my leg 'Jonouchi'! There's no way in hell you can be this naive! Stop pretending to be a 'nice guy' kid," he continued with a laugh, the blond across from him barely holding himself back. Much as he'd like to rip this guy's head off, he had a nasty feeling about what was in that vest... "That's when all the glory and cash comes flying your way!" As the group merely stared with a frown, Keith grabbed the sides of his vest and held them forward. "Check it out!"

Holy fucking... Katsuya's eyes widened as he looked at the number of pockets, and he took a few steps back. "What... What the hell..." The others as well stared, silent as the dull candlelight revealed a number of cards on the sides. "You've got at least twenty decks in there!" At least it wasn't a weapon..? Seriously, what!

The American chuckled darkly, adjusting his vest before closing it back up with a snap. "That's right," he said with a grin, adjusting his sunglasses. He could see how..? "Dragon decks, warrior decks, machine decks..." He trailed off, hands in his pockets as he continued. "And they're filled to the brim with dozens and dozens of rare and powerful cards!" Katsuya growled, face going red as the man continued. "And I've got a deck to beat any poor sucker who fights against me... HAHAHAHA!"

Beside him, Yugi merely snorted, arms crossed. "Bandit Keith," he began, eyes narrowing. "If I recall, wasn't there a rule that stated you could only bring forty cards to the island?" That was very true, but did he look like he cared?

Anzu nodded in agreement, frowning. "Yea," she shouted, expression mirroring the others. "You're allowed to trade as much as you like... But once we got to the island, they checked everyone's decks! After they counted forty, the extra cards were confiscated, no questions asked!" Again... Did he care?

A howling laugh cut the woman off, and Keith shook his head. "Fuck you guys are dense!" His chuckling grated their ears, as did the man's voice as he grinned. "You think I'm really in this tournament? It's only for the Japanese league you morons! Which means I'm not officially a competitor..." As he pointed toward himself, he lowered his laughter to a dull and dark chuckle. "And because of that, it also means the rules don't apply to me!" What the... Well, that explained why he was acting through other competitors but... God what an asshole... (And since when did this make him above the rules!) "I only have one rule," he continued, turning around with the others as he continued to laugh. "Do whatever the fuck it takes to get to Pegasus' castle! HAHHAHAHAAA!"

As the group left them ('_H-Hey Keith_', Kotsuzuka shouted, '_Wait up_!'), Yugi and Katsuya's frowns deepened. This man... Damn it, he wasn't even worth going after. Punching this guy's lights out would just get his hands dirty and Keith a better looking face. "Bandit Keith," the shorter of the two shouted, pulling his friend out of his mind again. Keith turned briefly, expression seemingly neutral as Yugi continued to frown. "The 'Duelists' Pride' is the rule on the island... Not your desire for vengeance," he added with a glare. "Remember that..."

Keith merely snorted in response, turning back with the rest of his 'party'. "Pffft!" The man continued to laugh, giving a dismissive mock salute as he moved on again. "Don't make me laugh, midget goth," he shouted with a smirk. "I don't have anymore words for a bunch of dumbass punks like you! HAHAHAHA!" With those last words he disappeared, Katsuya seething in his place. Yugi didn't appear to be responding to the insult much, but nonetheless...

"Man... That creep..." He wanted to shout back at this moron, say something that would shut the asshole's mouth right up. He doubted that simply shouting 'Hey! I'm gonna beat you!' would work though, and something told him even using his fists wouldn't silence the guy. Hell, he was probably waiting for that! 'I'm going to beat you!.. Regardless of that being what he wanted to say, the blond thought to himself, he couldn't honestly do that could he? After all... This time around, Keith was essentially using Kotsuzuka as a pawn. All he'd done was buff up his deck... Next time...

Now that he knew what sort of deck he played, Keith could just build a complete defense against it, making it even more difficult for him to get through. The blond swallowed as the footsteps in the distance faded, lost in his own thoughts. He'd have to get stronger... Find ways around that... From behind, the group continued to stand in silence. No one was moving or speaking... Finally, Honda coughed, attempting to get moving again. "Hey, come on guys," he said, "Let's get out of this place too! We got work to do right?"

As the others nodded, Katsuya found himself going pale, remembering where they were. Right. Cave. ...Crypt. Hihhhh... "Y-Yeah," he muttered with a nervous laugh. They might have gotten out of the creepy skeleton area but... "I hate dark places," he muttered to himself, fairly certain that a few of the others were rolling their eyes at that. In the end, as they took off on their own as well, he found himself turning to Yugi. Now that he had eight starchips... They were a lot closer huh? "Oi Yugi," he asked, the teen turning to him. "You've got six starchips right? And... I've got eight..." As his friend blinked, nodding, he grinned. "So maybe if we win our next duels, we'll both have ten eh?"

There was a curt nod, the shorter of the two giving a small grin in response. "Right," he said with a smile. "Then let's finish this with our next duels!"

"Hah! You got it!" They continued down the path up to where they'd come in from, the fork in the tunnels leaving Katsuya scratching his head. All he'd really seen was ceiling so... As to where they were going to go, he had no clue really. Left, right..?

Bakura pointed to one of the paths as he and the others came behind the blond, smiling. "Ah... I think the exit is this way," he said with nod, looking to the others for their input.

Honda as well nodded, moving toward the path to look around the corner. "Yea, I'm pretty sure we take a right here... Came in and turned left after all so..." As he said this, the path they came to brightened, and he grinned. "Alright! How do you like that?"

"Hah! YEA," Katsuya shouted from behind the teen, running forward. Outta the crypt outta the crypt outta the crypt! "The way out! YEEHAW! Sunlight," he shouted, eager to get as far away from the caverns as possible. "Let me feel your warm embra- Eh?" He skidded to a stop, the others freezing as well. The tunnel exit was still a fair distance away but... Was that a shadow up there..? As the light began to fade, he tensed, stumbling and skidding on his feet as he charged forward. "S-Shit!" Shouts came from the other side, and as he came within a few meters of the boulder blocking their entrance there was little more than a sliver of light left. "Awww shit! SHIT!" He skidded, feet slipping beneath him to reward his efforts with a mouthful dirt. "PWEH!

Mad cackling sounded from the crack, and as Katsuya looked up through a muddied squint he could make out Bandit Keith's crazed grin. "HAHAHA! Hey there losers!"

"Gh..." He growled, watching as the boulder shifted an inch or so. "You rat... What the hell do you think you're doing?" Attempting to pull himself up, he slipped again, the others coming up from behind with a bit of difficulty. Wet... Great, he must have uncovered part of a spring or something... Just what they needed going up hill.

Keith merely grinned viciously, still laughing as those in the tunnels attempted to make their way forward. "Hehehhe... If the law of the island is to win duels," he began, still laughing "I figured then I'd just have to win like this!" That fucking piece of- He grabbed the side of the wall, attempting to make his way toward the boulder. "Now that I'm this close to getting at that castle," the American continued, "You morons are just in my way... So why not join everyone else in there in the crypt," he shouted, laughter coming from outside the cave. "Tough luck for you guys I guess! Maybe if you're lucky," he said as little more than a sliver of light came through. "Someone will find you... In five years! HAHAHHAHAHAAA!"

AUUUUGH, screw the cards, he didn't care what kind of weird disease he got punching this bastard! "**KEITH**," Katsuya roared, charging the slit to get his message through. The ground had leveled out just enough for him to reach it from where he'd fallen, and the blond pounded against the stone in a rage. He pushed against the rock fruitlessly, a few of the others coming from behind to help while he screamed. "I'M GONNA BEAT THE EVER-LOVING CRAP OUT OF YOU! **GET BACK HERE**!"

"HAHAHAHHAHAAA!" The target of his frustrations howled in response, and while he couldn't see him he had a feeling he could guess what the man was doing. "Scream all you like," he called through, likely grinning at their misfortune. "Maybe someone will hear you... See you later, '_Champ_'! And with a final slamming echo, the boulder closed over the entrance, leaving them in the darkness.

Damn it... Katsuya's arms shook as he stood there, eyes still wide with anger. If he had to dig his way out of this cave he'd get to that bastard... Mark his words! He grit his teeth, before pushing against the boulder. Come on... come on, it had to give at least an inch... Not a single sound came aside from the group's breathing now, that and the occasional 'plink' as water dripped from above. "Ungg... Damn it...!" By this point Anzu was essentially the only one not helping- though that was because, with all four of the guys there, even with Yugi being as small as he was, it was more an issue of not pushing each other instead of the rock. Unlike outside... "Damn it," he growled, finally pushing back from the rock with a scowl. "It won't budge!"

The others as well stopped, while Anzu searched through her bag for something. "I guess we'll have to look for another way out," Honda was muttering, arms crossed. Thanks to the candles below, he could still see a slight outline of the others... Either way, Katsuya thought as he leaned against the wall, it was hard not to bump into anyone. "Provided there is one..." Yea... That too. As they turned back to the fork of paths they'd come from he continued speaking, the others ignoring the occasional slip and grunt of '_watch it_!' from anyone else. "Path to the left takes us to the duelbox, but there's no where to go after that..."

"Hihhhh..." Katsuya gave a shudder, shaking his head. Skulls and zombies... Even if there was another path from there he wouldn't have looked forward to that! "I ain't going anywhere near that place again..."

From ahead, Bakura turned slightly with a chuckle. Oh, so his fear was funny was it? Then again, they'd looked through Bakura's deck on the ship, and that alone was the stuff of nightmares... "Hahahaha..." He cut his quiet laughter short, before the smile vanished to a more serious stare. "Well, if we were on the surface," he began, turning back to look at the paths, "We would be better off taking the right really... The passage goes in the direction of the castle..."

Katsuya turned, as did Anzu and the others. Huh. How did he know that... "Really Bakura," she was asking, blinking as she voiced the confusion of the others. "You've got a good sense of-" The woman paled, as did everyone else when they noted the soft glow of gold in their friend's hands. "O...Oh... You used the Millennium Ring..." HAH-AHH-AHHH! What!

While Bakura nodded, an oddly distant look on his face, Katsuya swallowed. "H-Haaaahh... I thought that thing was staying in the bag!" Where it belonged. Or maybe in the ocean, far away from them. That would be better. (Much. Better.)

"We can't help it if it's doing a good job Jonouchi," Honda said with a shrug, walking down the right path. What did he mean can't help it, it was like the ring was trying to get on their good side or something. "Let's just take this passage for now, we mind as well take advantage of it's handy 'compass' abilities too..." And it was working...

He swallowed again, frowning. From the side, Yugi was giving Bakura an odd look as well... So at least he wasn't the only one feeling completely off about using this ring thing... As it was. He swore he heard rumbling whenever it was going on- -**_click_**- "Agh!" The blond jumped, hissing slightly as a beam of light struck his face. Oh god it was _blinding_! "Watch were yah point that thing Anzu!"

Anzu smirked, giggling. Conniving little... "Really," she said with a smirk, "It's just light..." The woman turned the flashlight down the path, bright gold light illuminating the walls completely. "It's a good thing Mai gave us this flashlight though," the woman muttered, the group walking off yet again. "Otherwise we'd be completely stuck in the dark."

Well, Katsuya added mentally as he took a nervous glance at Bakura's ring again. Mostly at least...

Seriously, gold glowing objects... That couldn't be normal even with all the crap they'd done right? He fell silent, as did the others, and soon the only sounds were the constant clacking of shoes against echoing ground. The ceiling was getting lower... Katsuya frowned slightly, looking around the tunnel with skepticism. "We're getting pretty far," Honda was muttering. As he spoke, the 'clumping' noises against the uneven rocks and dirt became more echoing, the path becoming flatter. "Haven't seen a way out, but at the speed we're going we've made pretty decent time..."

Katsuya nodded, frowning. "Yea... But th' tunnel's getting narrower," the blond stated, running a hand along the sides. Earlier, the wall was obviously craggy, being nothing but tunnel but... "Weird," he muttered, frown narrowing. "Walls are all smooth, like a brick-lay..." Same with the ceiling and the floors... He froze, before shoving past Honda.

"Hey, what the hell-" The blond ignored him, taking a few steps ahead of him and frowning as he placed a hand in front of him. Wall... At the end of the path was a wall, the path itself dividing in two. He frowned, turning to the right with a few more steps in the darkness. "Jonouchi! What the hell are you doing man?"

Again, the teen stopped, this time finding the path split into three. "Shit," he muttered, the others coming up from behind to gasp. Yea, they could see it now... The ceiling was just a few inches above his head now, and in Honda's case it was brushing against the teen's hair. The path had narrowed to the point that from there on out it was single-file and nothing else... "SHIT," he muttered again, kicking the dirt. "We're in a maze!" Katsuya grabbed his head, expression of annoyance replaced more with dull shock. What the hell was with this island, it had everything... Volcanos, mazes, what next sharks?

From behind, there were a few worried mutterings before Honda spoke up. "Well it's obviously here for a reason," he was saying, Katsuya turning against the glare of the flashlight to see a frown. "There's really only one thing to do now..."

He nodded, frowning slightly. "Yea... Guess that makes sense... Well," he continued with a nervous smile, looking at their options. "At least we know we're close right?"

"Hah, that's one way of putting it," Honda said with a grin, leaning against the sides of the tunnel. "So... You gonna lead the way, or are you waiting for someone to light a campfire to sniff our way out?"

Auuuughhh again with the dogs... "Honda..." He tensed, deciding against the risk of smacking his fist into the stone wall and moving toward the path heading straight ahead. Damn it. Later... Later! (If he remembered...) "Gh! This way then," he shouted, pointing ahead. "Lets go!"

Katsuya received no answer from that save for some muttered '_Alright_!'s really. As it was though, he decided as they moved, he really hoped he'd picked the right path. Granted, the blond thought as he trailed his hand along the sides, the path hadn't diverged since that point... So unless he randomly came to a cross-roads, they were probably scott free, even if they had to turn back! Speaking of... He blinked, stumbling for a brief moment as a bright light came from the end of the path. Holy shit... He really did pick the right one! (And Honda said he was losing his luck... PAH!) As they walked, the 'exit' was getting larger... The ceiling slightly higher... But this wasn't sunlight, Katsuya decided as they went. Too bright, no warmth... This was coming from a lightbulb, or maybe even just a really powerful lamp... Or...

The group came to the open exit, staring out at what it opened up to in shock. Or a really, _really_ well lit room he guessed! "What the..." Katsuya blinked, eyes wide as he took in the room, shaking a bit of hair out of his face as he took it in. "What is this place?" A pillar at each corner, the kanji 'Mayou' at one side in a large marble carving, with 'Miya' at the other... 'Delude' and 'Shrine'.. Wait.. ...Meikyuu? 'Maze'? Abruptly, something shifted in the air, and he tensed. Someone was there... But where-

-_tph_- From the ceiling came two figures, each one resembling little more than a blur as they shot down to the ground and rushed forward. Backflipping one over the other they moved, before both landed directly infront of the group in a bizzare sort of mirror. The men stood back to back, arms crossed as they stared at the group through narrowed eyes.

"H-HEH!" He stared, eyes wide as the pair looked at them in silence. The way those two were flipping off the ceilings... That was insane! "What the hell are you guys," he shouted, the two both having little reaction to the question. "I mean... You two could have been in a Hong Kong movie!" Hell, they looked like they _came_ from a Hong-Kong flick with those outfits!

The two men again had little reaction, merely shifting their arms as they bowed their heads to the group. If their actions hadn't made him flash back to watching old movies at his original house, their outfits did... Definitely not Japanese whatever they were wearing. Maybe Chinese, or Korean, who knew really... "We," the pair began, both sending a stern gaze toward the group, "Are the guards of the dungeon- We are the Meikyuu brothers," the two continued, bringing their arms to the sides.

As Katsuya merely stared ('...Mei... Kyuu...' Maze brothers?), there was a snort from behind. Anzu quickly covered her mouth, face red as she held back a laugh. At the moment, it looked as though Katsuya and Yugi were a little too distracted by the duel rings that the pair had to really bother with that... Though Honda was also sniggering behind them at the pun, and it looked as though only Bakura's polite nature prevented him from doing the same. (He had an amused smile though.)

'Kyuu', rather the one with 'Kyuu' on his brow, tilted his head before frowning slightly. "Hmmm... What have we here brother," he asked, bringing a hand to his chin. "Five travelers, lost in the maze?" Lost? They weren't lost, they knew exactly where... Wait, so there was another path then? Damn it, he really _was_ wrong.

"Who knows brother," Mei said with a shrug, also frowning. The duel rings on their wrists... A gleaming row of starchips sat on them, and Katsuya tensed slightly. These two were probably player killers then... "It wouldn't be a maze if people didn't get lost." They weren't-! Auugh, forget it...

The pair turned, facing them completely as they continued. "Have you come to ask us lost travelers," they asked, voices echoing around the room, "Of the right path?"

"Of the right door," Mei continued for his brother, the two stepping away from the other in a blurr as they gestured to the table in the center of the room. "To find the answer," he stated, Kyuu speaking in the same instant, "You must face us in a duel!"

Katsuya stared, frowning. "Wait," he said, pointing forward. All weird 'twin voices' aside... That thing was almost _round_, and had _four chairs._ "That thing's a duel table!" Come to think... He frowned, Yugi nodding beside him.

"It mirrors the room," the teen stated, neutral expression in place. A chair for each pillar, symbols carved on the sides... "Including the two doors at the other end!" Which, like everything else in the room it seemed, had the kanji 'mayou' and 'miya' on them... Huh. Weird.

The two brothers before them nodded, hands hidden in their sleeves as they gave a curt bow. If they acknowledged the comparison, they didn't show it. Instead, they merely addressed the group once more. "Now," they both spoke, voices creating a bizarre double echo. "Will two duelists please step forward! This duel will be an unorthodox two-on-two battle!"

"Two on two," Yugi was muttering under his breath, Katsuya blinking as his own expression shifted to his standard 'game face'.

So then... "A duel monster's tag-team match..?" Weird... How would that work? He frowned, watching as the twins before them (had to be twins, no one looked this similar) nodded.

"Beat us," Kyuu began, "And you will learn the right way..."

"But run," his brother finished with a smirk, "And you will all be lost on the path of darkness!" Eh? Path of darkness? ...Right. The maze. Er... He didn't like the sounds of that...

The group turned to each other, Yugi somehow holding his serious expression despite the humor of the situation. Seriously... 'Meikyuu'? "Jonouchi," he began, hands in his pockets. Katsuya coughed, turning to his friend as the boy continued. "It looks like we have no choice..."

He grinned, nodding. Well... After this, they would have to be set for the castle right? "Yea!" He pulled out his deck, watching as his friend did the same before turning to the Meikyuu guardians. "Bring it on, 'Mario Brothers!'" No reaction again? Sheesh, did these guys live under a rock or something?

As they moved to the table, each taking a seat on one of the sides of the octagon, the brothers nodded again. "Very well then," they began, Katsuya looking over the board curiously. Looked like a giant grid... Weird. "We welcome you, to the Labyrinth Field!" Alright! If they didn't win, they wouldn't get out of these tunnels... But if they did win... Ten starchips! Whoo! Speaking of winning and dueling in general...

He frowned, and a quick glance at Yugi's own expression told him that his friend had similar thoughts on the current board. If this was a 'labyrinth' field, then where was the labyrinth... Heck, normally there was at least a drawing of sorts on the board, but this was bizarre. "Wager your star chips," came the guardian's request, and he nodded in response. Right. Time to start dueling then.

"I'll be two," he stated calmly, pulling the pair off and placing them on the edge of the table with a -_clack_-.

Beside him, Yugi did the same, pulling out double the amount of his friend. "And I'll bet four," he stated with a nod, before leaning back on his chair. "A total of six!"

The Meikyuu brothers nodded, each one pulling three starchips from their gloves. "We'll meet that bet then," they chorused. "Six Starchips!" From the side, Yugi turned to give Jonouchi a determined stare, a small smirk on his face.

"Let's do this, Jonouchi," he said with a nod, the blond turning to him with a smile. "If we win this duel," the teen continued, "We'll have ten starchips each... We'll both be able to get to the castle!"

Another nod, and the smile grew into a grin. "Hah! You bet," he answered, before turning back to the board. Win this, and Mokuba would be right in his reach... Along with Pegasus' pasty face for his fist! He looked over the board again, the smile vanishing into a frown. Alright... Sooo... Where was the- "Duel Start," the twins cried, the four players each drawing their hand. "I go first," Kyuu shouted, pulling a card from his hand. "And I play this card! Labyrinth wall!"

The moment the card was set, Katsuya's question was answered. "What the-" The sounds of gears clacking came over the air, and the slats between the 'grid' squares opened up.

"Walls," Yugi shouted with a slight jump, he and his friend both watching as from small slits in the board a randomized series of walls appeared. Not just walls... A maze! So this was the maze of the 'labyrinth field'..! ...Sheesh, what would have happened if they hadn't drawn that card, would the board have just been flat..? "Now this is interesting..."

That was one word for it... Some luck these twins had though. "This is the labyrinth field," Mei said with a smirk. "You just try and get to these doors!" Hn! There were a few shouts of good luck from behind, and the two shared a glance. If they won this, they would make it forward after all...

"I'm ready when you are," Katsuya said with a grin, his friend nodding in response. Now or never really... "Alright... Lets go!"

Across from them, the brothers nodded. "This game is a matter of life or death," Mei was stating with that same smirk. "Now listen carefully..."

Life or death... If they lost, getting to the castle would be the least of their worries! He wouldn't put it past that bastard Pegasus to just lock them in there and throw away the key... Listening was probably a good idea... "Now that my first turn is over," the second of the brothers continued with a slight frown, "I will explain the rules." He crossed his arms, expression far calmer than that of his twin. "All four players have 2000 lifepoints each," he began, gesturing to the point-counters at the side. "But your life is tied to your partner's! If one loses their lifepoints, so does the other... And you both lose!" They'd both lose? Shit... He nodded as the rules were logged in his head, frowning slightly. If he screwed this up he wouldn't be able to look Yugi in the eye for a long time... He'd have to really watch himself huh... "We alternate turns," Kyuu was saying, Katsuya watching as the man gestured over the board. "One player on each team... From myself, it goes to the opponent across from me. Then, it will be my brother's turn, after which it end with the one across from him... Before continuing in a cycle." There was another pair of nods from Katsuya and Yugi both, and Kyuu then gestured to the maze. "And now... About this labyrinth field," he began, Mei continuing for him.

"We shall explain how to play!" Why were they doing this 'finish sentence' thing, it hurt his head... Mei as well crossed his arms, smirk vanishing as he explained. "To make it simple," he began, "Think of your monsters as chess pieces. If the card is in attack mode, it can advance as many spaces per turn as the number of stars on the board." Alright... So they had to go through the maze then... Chess eh? ...Sounded like Seto-chan.

As those thoughts came to mind, the twins both continued their explanations, switching yet again. "If you can survive the dungeon and beat us gate keepers," Kyuu was saying, "You can open one of the doors."

At these words, Mei smirked again, expression far darker than that of his twin. "But which door will you choose? Mei, the door of deception..."

"Or Kyuu," the second guard began, "The door of the palace?"

Katsuya tensed, frowning. Well wasn't that lovely... "So... Only one door leads to the outside then..." His frown deepened, and the blond crossed his arms. Great, that wasn't good at all... "Then which door do we head for..?"

The brothers merely smirked, Mei's appearing far darker than before while Kyuu answered. "Well," he began, "We will of course, each do our best to guard our doors..."

"We are the gatekeepers and dungeon masters after all," his brother continued, resulting in a scowl from the blond at the other side. He kinda figured they'd have to beat them... But if one would lose when the first did, that would be a little hard!

What was with those faces... Weirdos... "Oi oi," he shouted, fists tightening. "You're playing with human lives here! What the hell do you mean that there's only a 50-50 shot at escape if we win!" The blond growled, face going red while the others merely watched in silence. "Give us a fair shot... A clue at the right door at least!" They should at least get that!

The twins stared, blinking before giving a nod. "Very well," they both stated, Mei's smirk shrinking slightly while his brother gained a neutral expression once more. "Then from now on, one of us will always tell the truth... And one of us will always lie!" Eh?

One tells the truth and one always lies..? That sounded familiar, like a riddled he'd heard... What was it again... He frowned, while Yugi as well drifted into thought. Oh yea! The riddle with two guards! 'The Road to Heaven'! His expression brightened slightly as he ran over the riddle in his head. "That better be the truth," Yugi was muttering at the moment, as Kyuu nodded. '_Of course it is_,' he was saying, before he and Mei to point at their doors to proclaim them the correct options. This riddle... How did it go...

'_A traveler comes to a fork in the road on the way to the afterlife. Next to each of the forks stands a guard, and they state the following. One is that while one of the paths lead to Paradise, the other leads to Hell. It's impossible to distinguish the two paths, same with the guards, and it is also impossible to turn back._' Alright... Similar to now, they had two guards and two doors. One would get them out, but the other one would mean they'd be stuck there forever. (Though he could always just follow the guards when they went to get food he guessed... Even they had to eat right?)

_'In addition, one of the guards always tells the truth, while the other always lies. You may ask one guard one question in order to ascertain which path leads to Paradise._' Well, he didn't know if they had the same question limit but...

Katsuya's eyes narrowed as he looked at the doors. That question... It was... Was... What was it again? Oh, right! _'If I ask the other guard, which path will he choose to lead to Paradise?_'

That was it! He blinked, before smirking. That was right... If it was the liar, he'd say the honest guard would point at the wrong path, his path! But if it was the honest one, he'd point out the wrong path, because that was what the liar would tell him! He got it! "Alright," he shouted, the brothers before him looking up. "You gotta answer our questions, understand?" The men nodded, while Mei held up a single finger. One question huh... Figured really, but at least he knew what to ask. "Ok then... In that case, I'll ask you," he continued, pointing at Mei. "Which path... Er, door," he corrected, "Would your brother say is the right one?"

Across from him, Mei merely smirked, before pointing at his own. Alright... So then Kyuu was the right door then! "Hahahha! Alright!" He grinned, putting the smirk in the back of his mind before turning to Yugi. "We're in the clear now... Kyuu is the right door, and Mei is the liar- now we know which one to head for!" At this, Yugi merely narrowed his eyes, staring across the table. "Nh... Y-Yugi?" Katsuya's grin faded, and he blinked. "What's wrong... That's how the riddle goes right..?" Had to be right! Made sense in his head, that was for sure...

Yugi's stare merely narrowed further, and he shook his head. "Depending on how you look at it, your question is logically correct," he began, frowning. Alright, so he _was_ right then... "But should we really take their words for truth? Hnhnhnhn..." The teen smirked, and his friend frowned in response. What did he mean by that... "I'm a cautious man... I don't think we should."

"Wait... What do you mean," the blond said with a frown. "If one's honest and one's a liar then they should've answered the question..." That was how the riddle went wasn't it? One lied, one told the truth...

Again, Yugi shook his head, the smirk vanishing momentarily. "No... I'm saying it's too dangerous to compare our current situation with the 'Path to Heaven' riddle; after all," he continued, arms crossed, "Simply saying 'one of us will tell the truth and one of us will always lie' is in itself suspicious! If one of them is a liar," he stated, "Both of them should claim to be honest... Which means that they're also a possibility that they're both liars!" Both of them- He blinked, mouth hanging slightly open. Shit... He was right... They'd said one would tell the truth, but if the liar said that then... There was no honest person... But that meant... Eh... Damn it his head hurt, but either way it couldn't be good. He looked at Yugi with wide eyes, the teen nodding. "Right," he stated, somehow knowing just what his friend had assumed. "It's not even certain that 'Paradise' lies at the end of the road... For all we know, they both lead off a cliff!"

Across from them, the twin brothers had abruptly smirked, eyes narrowing in response to those words. Either they'd been seen through or... Something. "All that aside," Yugi muttered, leaning back against his chair. "We're still playing... RESUME THE GAME!" Alright! Yugi's turn... The teen pulled a card and placed it on the board as he spoke. "I play the Beaver Warrior in attack mode!"

As Yugi said this, the monster slowly misted into appearance. It wasn't so much of a beaver as a rat really... The creature's whip-like tail swished in nervousness, his master muttering as it moved. "Okay," Yugi was saying, his friend staring as the warrior gave a worried cough. "Four stars... So four spaces." One two three four... Beaver Warrior was visibly nervous, and was dragging his blade against the wall with a small yet audible swallow while he walked. Soon enough however, he came to a stop, shaking with his master's next words "...End turn," Yugi finished, Katsuya looking over the board.

Alright... There was still a fair bit of distance between them and the doors, but they could still make it. After all... Even with all that distance, and Yugi's maze disadvantage, from what the blond could see he had a direct path! Speaking of Yugi... Why did he take the dead end path? They'd get no where with this one... Maybe it was the board? Across from him, Mei smirked. "I know what you're thinking," he muttered, before the grin widened. Eh? What were they thinking? "And you're wrong! I will teach you the true terrors of the labyrinth, right now!" No seriously, what were they- Placing a pair of cards on the board, the man continued, Katsuya staring. "First," he shouted, "I play the Polymerization card... And then I play the Shadow Ghoul, merging it with the board itself!"

"It can't be..." Heh, took the words out of his mouth, Katsuya thought mentally. How the hell did he merge his monster with the maze! And-

His eyes widened, and both he and Yugi leaned forward as a shadow of sorts appeared on the walls. "What the... Something's coming after the beaver!" Lighting quick the shadow approached, Yugi's monster looking around with wide eyes as a pair of claws shot out from behind. "It..." Ahhhhh fuck.

It came out of the wall... Rotted green skin and claws the size of the Beaver Warrior's sword, its waist, head and arms solidified on the side of the wall. The ghoul moaned eerily as its victim turned with a high-pitched squeal, claws gouging the beaver through the neck to silence it before pulling him back to its domain. "**Labyrinth Kamaitachi**," Mei shouted, Yugi's lifepoints dropping slightly as the shadow retreated. "The Beaver Warrior dies!" Yea. A bloody and fairly horrifying death he might add. What was wrong with Seto-chan when she designed- Wait. He already knew what was wrong, lets not go there.

Katsuya swallowed, looking down at the board with a frown. Shit... The shadow didn't have to bother with the board, it was hiding in the walls! Stupid loopholes... He grit his teeth, before steeling himself. Whatever... This was the first turn- it was too early to decide who would win or lose! "My turn," he announced, taking a pair of cards from his hand. "I'm playing the Axe Raider in attack mode," the blond began, before setting another card beside it on the field. This trap would be good... And Yugi could use it too! "And one more card face down on the board." As the dark-skinned warrior appeared to swing his blade, Katsuya frowned. "But I can't fight what I can't see..." That was common sense really, but all the same... A real pain in the ass to tell the truth. "I'm not moving on this turn," he continued, the twins across from him merely nodding dully in response. "I'll keep some distance from the wall and stand-by; if anything comes close, I attack!" He just hoped that Yugi caught the strategy he'd just set into motion...

From behind, the others were whispering he noted. Huh... Wonder what they were talking about? Anzu's voice was the first one he heard, and it instantly had him mentally groaning. "I hope Jonouchi doesn't do something stupid..." Oh... Thanks... Thanks Anzu. He wasn't that bad...

"Don't worry," Bakura was muttering in response, and just as quick as his mood came up it was pulled right back down. "Yugi will back him up!" Oh come on!

As the three fell silent again, Honda spoke up, and Katsuya had to scratch his head. "I hope so too," he was saying, likely to Anzu rather than Bakura. Seriously Honda? Why... "Since it's a tag-team match, there's a chance their opponents will concentrate on Jonouchi to take him down..." Eh? Abruptly, the teen blinked, the words hitting him with a rather cold feeling.

Shit! That was a good point! What would happen if they targeted one single person? ...He still wasn't a weak link though. "It's my turn," Kyuu shouted, pulling the blond's attention back to the board in an instant. "First, I'll set a card face down," he announced, Katsuya swallowing. Great... Now _he_ had a trap... "And now," the man continued, placing another card. "Labyrinth Tank!" As the monster appeared in the middle of the maze, he frowned. Huh... That one was pretty powerful... As it moved forward from the far end of the maze however, he shook it off. At the distance it was, there was a chance he could counter it though... Maybe if he could get Flame Swordsman and Salamandra...

"It's my turn," Yugi stated, drawing a card. For a moment, Katsuya sent the teen a glance, silently attempting to pass along a message. They needed to pull out the Shadow Ghoul for this to work... Come on... He'd set that card for a reason... Come on... The teen smirked in response to the look, and Katsuya had to mentally sigh in relief. Alright! He'd seen it then! "I play the Elven Knight in attack mode," Yugi announced, and in a shimmer of light the armed celtic guard had appeared. "I advance into the labyrinth," he continued, the elf moving four steps into the maze before freezing. Silence filled the air, and with a single nod he ended his turn.

Mei's reaction was fairly expectant; a large smirk, as he drew the card for his turn. "Hnhnhn... My turn... And the wall shadow strikes," he announced, the familiar shadow appearing across the walls again. "And his target is the Elven Knight!" The shadow continued along the walls, Yugi's elf taking an uneasy stance as the sound of sliding came over the board. "Hahahahahha! You can't escape," Mei shouted with a grin, his brother appearing just slightly uncomfortable with the volume. "The wall shadow will kill you in one blow... The elf is dead!"

With those words the familiar mutated figure appeared from behind Yugi's elf, only for both Katsuya and Yugi to smirk. Regardless of how creepy that thing's blood-stained claws were... "Heheheh... Got you," Yugi said with a grin, he and Katsuya both chuckling. Mei's expression became that of shock as from behind the Axe Raider came a silvery blur on a chain. "Chain Boomerang!" That wasn't what it was called... Eh, whatever.

The chain clanked loudly, a large steel boomerang blade digging into the ghoul's side. The chain wrapped around the monster's hide and dug deep welts into its skin, Axe Raider smirking as he pulled the trap taught. "Hahaha!" Katsuya grinned as he flipped the card over, holding it for their opponent to see. "Check it out," he shouted, grin widening as both Mei and Kyuu stared in shock. "Kunai with Chain wraps around and immobilizes enemies when they try to attack, lowering their power 500 points" he shouted, watching as Axe Raider tossed the weapon over to the Yugi's elf to hold for the moment. "I saved this trap card to help Yugi!" And it worked too!

As the ghoul struggled pointlessly against its hold, Yugi as well smirked. Still his turn, Katsuya thought before pointing his friend's monster forward "Counter, Elven Knight," he shouted, the swordsman's strike cleaving its opponent's head clear off the monster's shoulders. He didn't need a command to do that of course... In fact, to his shock, it looked as though for a moment the elf had turned back to give him a look that said '_What was the point of **that**?_'. All the same though, there was a hissing scream the monster collapsed into a pool of blood, neck twitching before the beast vanished into a mist. Yugi's Knight handed the boomerang and chain back to Katsuya's own Axe Raider, the monster nodding as it placed it on his side. "The wall shadow is killed!" As 'Mei's points dropped by a small amount, he crossed his arms. "Hehehe... How about that for a combo eh? C'mon Yug'," he shouted, mood greatly improved from a few hours prior. "Let's break this maze in two!"

"Right!" From behind, the others were cheering... They were always cheering really; it really helped though, keeping his head on his shoulders during the duel. '_Nice move_,' Bakura was shouting, the target of his shouts mentally nodding with a grin. '_You can do it!_'.

Well, at least they weren't doubting him anymore! "Did you guys see that," Anzu was shouting from behind, Katsuya focusing his attention on the board for the moment. Had to focus on the duel, focus on the duel... "Jonouchi's trap just saved Yugi's monster!" Yes, it did.

"Yea..." Bakura and Honda both seemed just as excited as their friend, though Bakura's voice was of course not as loud. "It was a nice combo," he said with a smile.

Honda merely grinned, nodding. "Hah! You said it!" Back at the table, Katsuya's grin had shrunk into a small smile to continue his own move. Alright... That was 'turn one', now it was turn two... They had to win this duel for everything, so he couldn't lose focus! All that in mind though... It was nice, hearing things like that behind him. Where it used to be '_can he do it_'... Now he was getting '_he will_'!

These stupid player killers couldn't stop them... Not when he and Yugi were the opponents! "Jonouchi," Yugi said, turning to the blond. Katsuya blinked, before nodding. Right, right... He had to stop spacing out, honestly. "It's your turn..."

"On it," he said with a nod, drawing a card. Alright... He only had Axe Raider on the board, and it would probably be best to play more support for Yugi... "For my first move," he began, taking the card he'd drawn and playing it on the field, "I play the Flame Swordsman!" The warrior appeared in a column of flames, before moving a few spaces toward Yugi's elf. He wouldn't go the full six, but even a few steps were good really. Lucky draw though, he thought with a smirk; this was one of his best monsters! "Next," Katsuya continued, as his Axe Raider adjusted his grip on the kunai he had, "I move the Axe Raider closer to the Elven Knight. Now that Axe Raider's used the kunai for a surprise attack," He continued, his monster grinning in response, "It becomes a normal weapon... But because of that, he gains a 500 point attack bonus!" Lesse, 1700 plus 500... Hah! 2200! Not a bad combo he had here! "And I'm done," he stated, leaning back on his chair. Now then...

What would 'Kyuu' do... "My turn," Kyuu shouted loudly, Katsuya jumping in response. Holy... He expected that from his brother damn it! That was loud! "Labyrinth Tank moves forward," he called, the monster trundling down the maze with a loud roar. The tank itself already looked fairly frightening, even as a miniature; the entire front was made of gyrating drills, each one of a different size and pointed toward the front. Six squares later however, it wasn't anywhere near the group... And as the whirring ground to a halt, that was a fairly large relief.

"It's my turn again," Yugi called, drawing his card and staring at the board. The boy seemed to sink into thought as he looked over his hand, leaving the room to fall in silence.

Katsuya frowned as he looked over, eyes narrowed. "Damn it," he muttered, leaning on the table. He had a feeling this duel would take a while... It would be more than worth it true- but it would take a while. "If only they could just jump over the walls, we could get this done way faster..."

Beside him, Yugi chuckled, the blond turning in response. What was so funny..? "We can't do that Jonouchi," he said with a smirk. Oh. It was that. "Besides, Flying monsters don't work in the labyrinth!" Wait... They didn't? Why not..? At his look of confusion, Yugi continued, still smirking. "We can't see it as the players, but in actuality, this setting is a dark, stone dungeon with an equally solid ceiling. There's no room to fly!"

Hoh... Like the actual room then. And the maze behind them. Well, if the board mirrored this place, that made sen- Wait. "H-Hold on," he said, going pale. If flying monsters didn't work... "My red-eyes black dragon is a flying monster!" Shit! That was his best card too... "Agggh..."

Yugi nodded, smile vanishing. Yea, he got that too, didn't he... "That's right... Dragons are no good in this setting," the teen stated with a frown. One could practically see the gears clicking in his head as he thought over that fact. "Warriors, beast-warriors, spellcasters... Anything that remains on the ground is fine. For now however," he continued as he drew a card. "We'll just have to go one step at a time! Now then... I play the Dark Magician!" A whirl of shadows appeared from the card, reshaping into the confident and violet robed sorcerer. "Advance," Yugi stated, giving a single nod before his monster moved forward. One two three... Six spaces.

Huh... Katsuya looked down at their group of monsters, blinking. Their group was pretty tightly packed... Those Meikyuu brothers wouldn't be getting any sneak attacks near them at all! Hah! It was Mei's turn now though... The man drew a card, before a frightening grin came over his face. Aw hell, that was never a good sign... Why did the opponent have to get that look whenever they came close to winning? "I play this card," he shouted, grinning. "Magical Labyrinth!" Magical laby-

There was a clacking sound, the walls retracting into the ground. What the hell! Gears sounded through the table, the entire thing vibrating violently as new walls appeared. Awww fuck, not this... The maze changed! "Gh..." And since their monsters took up two squares... "Shit... There's a wall between our monsters!" Damn... His two on one side, and Yugi's on the other... They'd split the team clean in half! Completely at that! "Tch... Okay," he shouted, drawing a card. Couldn't let this bug him... Yea they were separated now, but he had to at least keep a clean head about it! Or something... Either way, had to win somehow. "I'm gonna go!" He'd need to take a big detour to get back to Yugi... At this rate, it'd be better to meet him at the end. "Alright guys," he decided, speaking mostly to his monsters. Not that they could hear him but... ...Well, regardless of doubts, they'd both just turned to him, creepy as that was. "Looks like it's just us warriors! Lets go!"

Alrighty... Flame Swordsman could move 6 squares that was true, but Axe Raider was ahead of him, so for now it was just four... Axe Raider was already making his move in fact, though a small click came around the board at step 'three'. Eh? As the monsters moved, Kyuu's expression abruptly changed into something far more frightening once more, Katsuya tensing in response. Aw shit, not that again- "Trap card activate," Kyuu shouted, the blond across from him groaning in response. Ahhhhh shit. "Jirai Gumo!" Spiders? Ffffff... NO! NO. AUGH. Auuuughh... Crap there went his monster. "The trapdoor spider attacks your piece," he shouted, the ground cracking beneath the Axe Raider. As the monster looked down only seconds later, a monstrous spider tore through to throw the raider back. Axe Raider scrambled to flee the beast, only for the spider to pin him down and tear him limb from limb. Blood and bone scattered the field, and as the Flame Swordsman drew back, Jirai Gumo pulled itself out of the hole to sit in place with a series of chittering clicks. "That's the end for the Axe Raider!"

"Awww man..." He winced, watching his lifepoints drop down. Shit... That wasn't fair, the spider had a hundred less than Axe Raider, he shouldn't have been kill- He groaned, looking at the kunai and chain that had dropped to the ground in Axe Radier's death. Great... He'd been unable to use the weapon thanks to the trap... Damn it. '_Hang in there Jonouchi_', Yugi was saying from the side as the blond looked down at the table. '_Hang in there!_' He was hanging in there alright... Somehow.

Meanwhile across the table, Kyuu was proving how very like his older brother he could be. "HAHAHAHHA! He fell for it like a ton of bricks," he roared, his opponent growling in response. Oh great, talk to him as though he wasn't there why didn't he... "It's my turn," Kyuu shouted, eliciting another wince. Great. "And the Labyrinth Tank moves!" Shit... Shiiiiit! The loud whirring roared over the table as the tank came to life, barreling down the maze before taking a sudden turn toward the Flame Swordsman and Jirai Gumo both. Shiiiit!

"G-Ghh..." Jirai Gumo with 2100, Labyrinth Tank right behind it with 2400... Nothing but wall behind his monsters... Flame Swordsman was all he had, and there was only 1800 in his case! "Shit... Looks like he's dead..." Sorry Flame Swordsman...

As Katsuya grit his teeth, the others shouted from behind. "Don't say that Jonouchi," Anzu was shouting with a frown. Well what the hell else was he supposed to do?

Honda as well joined in, nodding. "Yea! Come on man, you can't give up just like that!" Yea, except that there was a wall between the Dark Magician and all these monsters... This was as good as checkmate, unless Yugi got something. Wait...

Speaking of Yugi; "It's my turn isn't it?" The teen drew a card, giving it a single glance before smirking. Ah... That look... He had something then! Across from him, Kyuu continued to chuckle, before it faded. And it looked like he'd seen the look too. "You think that you have him 'beat'? Don't be so cocky!" The smirk on Kyuu's face vanished completely, and Yugi dropped the card on the table. "My next card... Mystic Box! And I use them with the Dark Magician!" Hang on what? Mystic Box..?

As if to answer the question, the spell activated with a dull glow. Around the Dark Magician appeared an enormous box with slats on the sides, three doors locking the monster within after he willingly stepped inside. From the other side of the wall, another box also appeared... Though the other inhabitant wasn't so willing. The sound of swords clattering came through the air, and for each slat on the side of the box a sword pierced through clear to the other side. '_Did he just kill himself_,' Kyuu was muttering with wide eyes, a piercing scream going through the table. Katsuya winced slightly, before shaking it off and paying attention to the duel. What kind of scream was that... Yikes... '_No,_' Mei was shouting. '_Look_!'

On the board, the door that was in the Dark Magician's place slowly creaked open, and Katsuya found himself grinning as Kyuu's words said exactly what he saw. "Th... The one who died was the spider," he shouted with horror, as the door to the second box in front of the flame swordsman opened. "The Dark Magician moved between the boxes!"

Yugi nodded, eyes narrowed. "Get it now," he asked, arms crossed. "The Magician teleported using the Mystic Box... It switched places with your spider, using it as a sacrifice! And now," he continued, his opponent's growing pale, "It gets another attack!"

H..Hah! "Yugi..." He grinned, turning back to the board as his friend continued. Alright... They were in the clear again!

"Dark Magician," he shouted, the sorcerer pointing his staff towards the motionless Labyrinth Tank. "Cast your spells! **BLACK MAGIC**!" In a thundering crash of dark waves and lightening the tank collapsed. Metal creaked inward on itself before falling to bits on the ground, and as the younger of the Meikyuu brothers cried out at the strike to his lifepoints Yugi merely smirked. "The Tank is destroyed... Sorry to wreck your plan, 'Meikyuu brothers'," he stated, expression mirrored by Katsuya beside him. "But not even these walls can keep us from working alongside each other!"

As the twins across from them seethed, Katsuya turned to his friend with a look of relief. "Man... Thanks Yug, you really saved me there..." Like really. Saved him. Well, it was an even trade off after the earlier trapped he supposed.

His response was a curt nod as it came to the next of the brothers' turns. "Let's get out of this maze together Jonouchi," he said with a smile, the blond nodding in response.

"Right!" Back to the game... Jonouchi smirked, turning back to the board with a determined gaze. They couldn't lose... Like the maze behind them, they'd just have to break through the one on the table! They could do this!

* * *

**AN:** I put 'AN' in bold. Since when I re-read these, I find it hard to spot otherwise. Whoo~ Anyways. Took a while to get this chapter up, for a _very_ good reason I promise. Lots of new things for you, mostly in the fanart section (Can you say 'ink' and 'spoilers'?)... I'm planning on going through the Yu-Gi-Oh meme with either FanFic Jonouchi or FemKaiba as well, let me know if you'd be interested in that.

And hoooollly shit this duel! The reason why it took so long for an update is because when I type out a 'duel chapter', I go right to the end of that duel. As in, from beginning to end, events of the last and first chapter included. So this one was no different, regardless of the fact that, as I realized looking back, it spanned over double the average chapter count.

What does that mean? It means this one totaled up to 23 pages, _double_ the amount of a normal chapter! For that reason, expect a lightning fast update after this (As in, new chapter tomorrow), since all I have to do is edit the second half of this and it's... Done. Which means that (unfortunately) we STILL don't get to see Kaiba being amazing and badass, or Pegasus being a complete creeper.

Whhyyyyyyyyyy...

Also, new poll results! YAY~ So far we have...

5 for Female Crossdressing Priest Set

3 (One vote is anonymous) for Female PriestESS Set

And last but not least, Male Priest Set finally has a vote as well! And now... On to the reviews!

* * *

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey there Iona! Yea... Jou gets hurt a lot doesn't he... In the end, aside from the two accidents that got him in Kaiba's house it's all canon though. ...Wait, my injuries were worse! What's wrong with meeeeee. Oddly enough, he actually _did_ break his arm falling down the stairs. Rather, he fell down the stairs after getting a fairly large number of blocked fists and frying pans against it, which fractured the arm... After which the fractures broke completely during the tumble down the stairs. OUCH.

Your prayers have been answered! Here's a bit of a spoiler; though he only knocks him over the head in the manga, Jonouchi will indeed pummel the crap out of Saruwatari. Not toooo much, as he needs to appear during the 'Legendary Heroes' arc, but definitely more than just a fist to the face. Think 'concussion'.

HAhaha! Yea... It actually does balance out in the end with all that... I have to admit, Sid _does_ make sense given 4-Kid's style for things when I think about it. I looked up 'Zygor' though... All I get is World of Warcraft. So really, the question still remains... 'WHY?' And to the next topic..~

Heheh. He probably doesn't walk around the island much... My guess is he figures that too many will be booted off for the lack of sanitary disposal to be necessary. Or it didn't hit him (No food or shelter after all) at all... Who knows really. That would be something that would likely bug him if he thought of it though... Hahahah. Yeaaaaa now I'm getting the ick-vibes as well.

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that yet again has a bit of non-Japanese info for you! Hooray!

* * *

First off, the bit of 'non-Japanese' here... The title of this chapter, 'Minotaur's Lair', is a pretty well known reference to the Labyrinth that everyone is in at the moment. Specifically, the legend of the Minotaur and the Labyrinth originates in Greece, and is centered around an enormous maze (Labyrinth) that the architect Daedalus built for King Minos of Crete. The maze was built specifically to house the monstrous 'Minotaur', who was half man half bull. (Which you probably knew.) This monster was locked in there, and every now and then people would be sent in for him to eat. (As to why a thing that was half _herbabor_ was eating people... Lets not go there.) Specifically, it was seven maidens every year, from Athens, as payment for a battle. OUCH.

Interesting fact behind the Minotaur; he's essentially the result of pissing off the Goddess of Love. Minos must have done something stupid, because not only did his wife suddenly fall in love with the Cretan Bull (Which Poseidon had given to Minos. And told him to sacrifice. He didn't, the_ moron_.), she had a wooden cow built for her to sit inside in order to... Eh... Have some fun with it. HUHHHHH? (Origin of 'yiff' I guess.) He was apparently alright as a kid... But then he got older and went all man-eater on everyone, so Minos went to an Oracle for help. Apparently, the Oracle told him to build a giant maze, and put him in there.

Ah well. In the end, the Minotaur was killed by Theseus... So that was one problem solved I guess. In any case, by the 'lair of the minotaur', you can also refer to the center of the Labyrinth. Technically they're at the end of the maze here, but really, a labyrinth only has _one exit and entrance_. So really, it's a one-way ticket in a true labyrinth.

* * *

Jonouchi's 'sleep' is based on the fact that he managed to space out in his win at the end of this chapter of the manga. It was a little weird actually, as unlike the fanfic, he was staring directly at the ceiling of the box. Hoh. That was the state that everyone else found him in as well; which of course had them going 'OMG DID HE LOSE? _WHAT HAPPENED_...' At which point he snapped out of it and grinned, going on about how he won.

* * *

One would wonder why Keith and the others stayed behind, but the fact is there were no other paths past the duel arena. Most likely, they heard the others coming and were forced to hide along the walls, sneaking past... Only to fail. D'OH.

* * *

When Jonouchi explains how he was caught in the manga, he first makes the comparison to a pack of hyenas... Also, in a tiny bubble to the side you can see '_they even punched me once_!' But... They _didn't_ do that. The closest they came was a slap in the face waking him up from the black-out spell, and in the fanfic's case the knife-hand strike to the neck. However, there was no punch.

* * *

How colourful is Keith's language? Enough that every other line has a collective of '#$%*%' in it. That's how. I can't obviously tell what he's saying through all that, so I took many, _many _creative liberties... He has some interesting comments too; 'Baby Goth' is what he actually called Yugi, though I switched it out with midget. Because seriously... 'baby goth'? What the hell does that even mean? Yellow, however, is not something he even came close to saying; I used it there because there was more random symbols. As it is, you can probably guess that yellow is a purely racist comment on his part, ('Yellow' is a derogatory way of referring to Asians. It's like calling an African 'nigger'. Don't do it.) though it completely flies over Jonouchi's head in terms of the actual meaning. (Probably because, what with him being blond, he doesn't really invoke that comment when meeting a foreigner that rude.)

* * *

Good thing Katsuya didn't actually try to attack Keith (Not that he wouldn't get a fair number of good hits in)- the man is completely unpredictable, and though it might have been a gun in the anime (Not sure), he's later seen in the manga attempting to attack Pegasus with a knife. This fails. Horribly, I might add. As for what else is in that vest...

I can see him hustling cards on street corners thanks to that scene...

* * *

Now why didn't Katsuya try and push at the boulder? Because the exit is on a slope; they essentially 'slid' down the entrance. Not only that, but as the boulder was being pushed _over_ the entrance, and by four other people nonetheless, it wasn't likely he'd make it. There's room out side true; but in the cavern, at least in the manga, there's barely enough space to stand three people side by side. Which unfortunately means they're outnumbered in the attempt to get up there and just push the damn thing back.

* * *

In the great '_WE'RE IN A MAZE!_' reveal, for some reason everyone's in a solid line leading in circles. This would make sense if not for one very interesting point. Not only is Anzu so far back that the moment Honda turns the corner they'll be face to face, but Yugi, who was behind Jonouchi and Honda when they entered the maze (which is too narrow for more than one person to pass through), but in the panel after we see him, Bakura takes his place. And then, even more confusing, we see Yugi a few feet _ahead_ of Jonouchi, _behind_ Honda, while Bakura is just a meter away from Jonouchi's back.

Where the heck did they find the room to do that kind of switching around! As a side note, the maze is pretty pathetic; there's really only two paths to start, and once you're on the right one you're about set. Of course, that might be me looking at the manga...

Even more interesting but they didn't seem to realize they were in a maze until about a third into it. Even... Though it was nothing but sharp turns in there. Bwah?

* * *

Interesting note here. 'Meikyuu' is seen as the word for 'Labyrinth' or 'Maze', that's true. But technically, it's _wrong_. Rather, it's not the first one you're going to find in the dictionary when searching flat out for 'maze'. The first kanji, Mayou (or 'Mayui', to be lost or deluded), becomes 'Mei', and that one doesn't change. However, rather than using 'miya', or 'shrine' (Alternatively Palace, and the 'Kyuu' in 'Meikyuu') for the kanji, the word 'Maze' uses the kanji for 'road', or 'ji'. (Pronounced 'ru' in it's use, making the word maze 'meiru'.) Strange, I know... Ironically, 'ze' sounds can be mutated into 'ji' sounds, as the 'e' in Japanese is pronounced 'eh' rather than 'ee'... And there is no 'zi' sound. Regardless of dictionary translations however, Meikyuu is still easily recognised and also more commonly used for the word 'maze' and 'labyrinth'... Giving the word _two_ different names really.

Make up your mind Japan!

* * *

That's right; Japan's version of Indie films are Hong Kong action movies. They ARE pretty over the top when you get the B-Rated ones... Granted, Japan is no better when you look at some of their live action. Look up 'vagina bubbles from hell' on youtube. I am completely serious. (There's nothing explicit, and anyone can watch it... But I would still label it as 'Not Safe For Work' given what it implies.) ...The lady killed a guy with this move by SITTING THERE. (JAPAN. JAPAN WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOUR FILM INDUSTRY?)

Mei and Kyuu, the 'Meikyuu brothers' were of course the 'Paradox' brothers in the dub, Para and Dox respectively. Mei has the corresponding kanji 'mei' on his forehead, whereas Kyuu has... Well, 'kyuu' on his forehead. They don't rhyme in the Japanese version either; that's dub only. I eventually opted to keep the rhyming business out as well, it was giving me a headache. (They do, however, finish each other's sentences as in the manga. Or are they both speaking at the same time? Who knows...) _Technically_, neither Mei nor Kyuu actually have names. Rather they're 'Meikyuu Brothers - Elder' and 'Meikyuu Brothers - Younger'. However, for the sake of keeping it simple, we're naming them by the kanji on their foreheads... Which makes sense, since that's probably what Jonouchi was doing in his mind anyways.

* * *

Most likely, when the brothers say 'lost' it's more to creep the group out. (It doesn't work, as you can see Anzu snickering in the background.) However, you never know... Maybe it _was_ possible to avoid those two! (That would suck. A LOT.) Though I have to say, I wonder what would have happened to anyone unlucky enough to come down there alone... Would they have to wait there for another person or what?

* * *

Even the Meikyuu brothers state that 'tag team dueling' is 'unorthodox'! SHEESH. Interesting point about this; of the two brothers, Kyuu is either constantly serious or constantly scowling, while his brother Mei tends to have some twisted smirk on his face. What is he plotting... Granted, by the end, this switches. Kyuu flips out completely and Mei is the one sitting at the side with a smaller smirk than normal. Maybe Kyuu has personality issues? I dunno.

* * *

Originally, the riddle Katsuya thinks of is 'Honest Town'; a man comes to a fork in the road, by which an elder sits. There are two towns, but the sign is ruined; honest town, and 'false town'. He want's to go to Honest Town, but doesn't know if the man is from that same town (Which would mean he would tell the truth), or from the other (Which would make him a liar.) The solution to the riddle was for the traveler to ask the man for him to take them to _their_ town. If he was a liar, he would pretend Honest Town was his town and take him there. If he was Honest, he would take him there regardless. In this case, in addition to the already stated defense up above, Yugi states that rather than one person, there are two... So they can't really compare. (Ironically, by simply altering the question you get the reverse answer and get it right.)

In all honesty however, (Hee. Honest.) the riddle of the two guards can arguably take the same defense that, if one always lies, then they should both be claiming to tell the truth... Kyuu claiming that it was true and Mei saying _nothing_, and when they were asked the question, neither one of them spoke.

Basically... Because they said they would _tell_ the truth or lie, they had a loophole. By keeping silent, they could lie as much as they wanted. (In the end, they didn't actually care...)

* * *

Yugi's Beaver Warrior has the teeth, but it doesn't have the tail! More likely it's a mouse, rat, or maybe even a _muskrat_. Here's an interesting 'western' folk tale; years before, it was said that the muskrat had a large flat tail while the Beaver had a long one. The Beaver, seeing the use in this tail, managed to flatter his way into switching with the Muskrat... And when the Muskrat found that out, BOY was he pissed!

* * *

Interesting point; despite the fact that Yugi and Jonouchi essentially have a direct path to each door on their side, they took the middle path first... Which... Clearly ends with a dead end. WAIT WHAT? Maybe they were forced to go there, I don't know... The monsters certainly appeared to be summoned on the cards. Maybe the direction they walked was pre-programmed?

* * *

'Elven Knight' is the original name of the 'Celtic Guardian' for those wondering.

* * *

Anyways. 'Kamaitachi', half of the Wall Ghoul's attack, is the name of a Japanese monster. It means 'sickle weasle' (Kama being sickle, and itachi being weasel.), and... Well... It's pretty much what the name implies. A spirity-weasel. With a sickle.

Jirai Gumo on the other hand, comes from these two words; 'Jirai', made up of the kanji for earth ('ji') and thunder ('rai', or 'kaminari') means 'Landmine'. 'Gumo' however, comes from the word 'kumo', which means 'spider'. Basically, 'Jirai Gumo' means 'Landmine Spider'... Appropriate given how it was used as one.

* * *

For some reason, Axe Raider, who has 100 more points than Jirai Gumo with his equip card, was completely owned by the thing. So I came to the conclusion that monsters caught by surprise don't get to use their weapons. Oh well. Sucks to be Axe Raider I guess.

* * *

The spell 'Mystic Box' is followed by the words 'The Magic Boxes of Death!'. Uh... 'Magic Boxes of Death'? REALLY? I have to admit though... It's not as bad as some real card names out there. (-coughGiantTurtleWhoFeedsOnFlamescough-) An interesting note, whenever they combine cards in this duel, the word 'combo!' appears in the background. Whoo!

* * *

Yugi's original line in the manga at the end there is '_The power of teamwork will over come any wall!_'. Really, _REALLY_ cool in Japanese. English... Not so much. It's essentially a '_Cave of your heart_!' situation here, sooooo... I made it a little more language appropriate for the chapter, given that we aren't dealing with insults or anything.

Anyways, as you can see, the duel's been cut in half! So I'll see you tomorrow with the thrilling (Thrilling?) conclusion to it! Whooooo~ Yea. Also, sorry that this took so long... Not to mention that it had to be cut in two in the first place... Don't go yet, there's MORE.

* * *

**Fan-Art/Fic-Art Section**

Been a while hasn't it? Unfortunately, though it's mostly inked, I can't finish the 'Matryoshka' picture until the poll closes. Mostly because it kinda determines what I put on the nesting dolls. D'OH. However, I have new sketches for you, and a COMPLETELY INKED IMAGE. So hopefully that cheers you up! Now, unlike last time where the pictures mysteriously shrank in the scan, these ones are _very_ big. Just a warning. As usual, remove the spaces and go crazy!

'Skin' - http: /i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO%20 Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ YGO. jpg - I got bored one day, and decided to make a 'movie poster' for the picture. There's a few spoilers if you squint, _reaaally hard_. Also, take a look at Kaiba's scars; they'll be where the title, 'Skin' goes. ... No this is not why the fanfic is called Skin. I just couldn't think of a name (SHAME)

The Spirits of Kaiba Past (Part 1) - http: / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO%20 Fanfic%20 -%20Skin/ KaibaSpirits1. png - As promised, all the 'forms' of Kaiba's spirit-y self from Yugi's duel. I'd ask you to guess where each age and point was, but that would be mean, so here you go.

First - Age 4, the 'oh-so-famous' (In the fanfic at least) 'Yukata' one. Basically tiny little 'Seri'/Seto during the time where there was no Mokuba, her parents were alive, and she was stuffed in a yukata to go to a festival. Whoo~ She doesn't likely remember much of this, as most people (And I mean most), can't remember anything past age three going back.

Second - Age 5, this is what she wore during her Mother's wake. A wake is the gathering before a funeral if you didn't know, the 'last good-bye' sort of thing. An interesting fact about wakes in Japan, but in the past it was customary to wear white. However, and this is most likely from 'western' influence, it's now more customary to wear black instead.

Third - Age 7, this would be a bit before her and Mokuba's father died. That or it could be a while after, when she's eight. And hasn't gotten bubble gum in her hair yet. This is what Yami Yugi saw when he mentioned 'a girl in a flowered shirt'. I already went pretty 'out there' in terms of putting Kaiba in a dress, I wasn't going to go any further, regardless of the fact that this is Fem Kaiba... So her parents would have bought 'girly clothes' for her. The closest thing she gets to pink in those days are the red flowers on that shirt though.

Fourth - Age 8 or 9, right after the 'hair' fiasco. To sum that up, Mokuba got gum in her hair so she cut it all off... Leaving it in TATTERS. The clothes she's wearing are from shortly after she made a deal with her Aunt concerning their adoption; basically, by dumping them at an orphanage that had no connections to them, they skipped over getting any real papers... After that it was a giant mess of issues in terms of getting the gender covered up, leaving the Aunt out in exchange for just giving her the guy clothes and not bothering to hand over any papers. (Which she did by just leaving them there and driving off.) That week would have been HECTIC. As in 'Missing Persons' hectic. I think I fudged up her face...

Fifth - Lastly we have what Kaiba would have looked like around age 10, essentially 'orphanage time'. I can't remember if Kaiba was adopted at age 10 or 12... I'm fairly certain that it's 10 though, so this could also be taken as 'shortly after adoption'.

The Spirits of Kaiba Past (Part 2) - http : / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic%20- %20Skin/ KaibaSpirits2. png - Second half! There's only three Kaiba's here.

First - Age 12, this is basically what Kaiba wore (According to the manga) during Gozaburo's rendition of a training from hell session. I'm not kidding, it was basically a simple shirt, likely just as plain pants, and a freaking collar. I think it was a dog's collar. Yikes...

Second - Age 14, this would be shortly after the forced vocal lessons, hence the turtle-neck (She actually wore these because of a sudden fear that people would realize she didn't have an Adam's Apple. 'People' being Gozaburo. She's realized by now that no one's really looking all that close though.). I screwed up her face really badly here, I'm sorry... (Will fix that in the ink.)

Last - Death-T Kaiba! I had a few troubles here; mostly because of Kaiba's fem design, as I realized a little later on that I actually gave the woman some pretty curvy hips. Anyways, I fixed it in the end... And ooooooh I love her expression here, just saying. You can still see the line where I drew her body here; gravity works in her favor really, as since she rarely runs, the shirt is pulled straight down from her shoulders. Which are obviously wider than her waist and hips. (Most women have shoulders wider than their hips... Yay anatomy~) Actually tested with myself; I put on that shirt, I wouldn't even have to wear binding to pass off. (Until I spoke. Or walked. My walk would give me away.)

Doodles and Design - http: / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO%20 Fanfic%20- %20Skin/ AwesomeDesign. png - Basically, it started with me fleshing out what will indeed happen in the Virtual World arc during Kaiba's 'mind fuck'. Rather, the Noa VS Kaiba duel, where Noa repeatedly slams crap like this in Kaiba's face. Starting with poofing her into the female school uniform _in front of the main cast_. Whoops~ Came out rather well I think... It ended up developing into a 'human' version of the figurine from the Monster World Arc (The 'Birdtail', Kai.), which also came out pretty good in my opinion. Heck, everything about Kaiba came out well on this page.

Anyways, that led to me attempting to do the same 'figurine counter part' thing for Jonouchi, which failed pretty hard... And then as I was re-watching the Legendary Heroes arc, I had to wince at Jonouchi's outfit again. What was it, a caveman costume? I added buckskin pants and a shirt to it in the sketch you see here, and I have to say... Daaaaaamn I love it. Also eyes. And profile views. Whoo~

And that's all for now guys... See you tomorrow with the next chapter!


	30. Chapter 29

**Theseus and Ariadne  
**

* * *

It was only 'half way' through the duel so to speak. Minimal amounts of damage had been dealt to both sides, rather they had until the latest move. Within one swift play from Yugi 'Kyuu's most powerful monsters had bitten the dust. The rusted metal 'Labyrinth Tank' was currently vanishing into a fine powder on the board, and the corpse of Jirai Gumo was now collapsing into a pile of destroyed flesh. Cheering had erupted from behind around the same moment, Honda in particular giving a loud shout as the two at the table stared their opponents down. "Yugi, Jonouchi," he shouted, Katsuya turned briefly to grin at the expressions on their friends faces. All smiles and grins, shouts echoing around the large marble room. "You guys are at the top of your game man! Show them how it's done!"

He nodded, turning back to the table with a growing grin. "You got it," he shouted, watching as Mei angrily drew a card. Well, wasn't someone a little ticked?

"It's my turn," he growled, before his expression shifted to a grin once again. Ahhh shit that wasn't good... Stop switching... "First, I'll play Sanga of the Thunder on the board," he shouted, placing the card on the board. "Hehehehehe... My turn is over!" Okay...

Wait, where was the monster..? Yugi frowned from beside him, also staring at the blank space on the board questioningly. Nothing but a card for a few moments... Abruptly however, a small box appeared above the card, tied firmly shut with a gold chord. 'Kaminari'... Thunder. That was the symbol on the lid but... Well shit, who knew what that meant for the moment! Deciding not to bother (The monster _was_ face down after all), he turned his attentions back to the game. Well... He'd find out when he got there he supposed... "Okay," he announced with a nod. "It's my turn! Hah..." Well... On the bright side... "Not a bad guy in sight," he said as his expression shifted to a slight smile, the teen drawing a card. Nothing in his hand that would really help prepare for something at the moment so... "Flame Swordsman charges forward!" Yugi beat all the enemies that they'd had... So with this they had a solid chance! Other than that there was nothing more to do really... As the swordsman came to a stop six spaces down the path, he leaned back on the chair. "End turn!"

Across from him, Kyuu nodded, drawing a card. "My turn again," he stated, before gaining a smirk fairly similar to the one his brother held constantly. "Hehehehhe... The second of the three great guardians is mine!" Wait what? Guardians? That's what they were! And... There were three..? "I set this card face down as well," he announced, smirking. "Only one more before the Guardian springs to life!" Ahhh that didn't sound good... Mizu... The kanji for water was on this box. So they had thunder and water then... And there was a third. ... Why did he not want them to find that third one. "In addition to that," he stated, placing a second card on the table, "I'll play Dungeon Worm in attack mode!"

As he played the card, nothing appeared to happen... For a few seconds, the board fell silent, the card merely shimmering a slight moment. However, within moments after deciding nothing would happen, a rumbling began... Louder... Louder... Yugi and Katsuya both shared a frown as the shaking threatened to topple their cards off the side, before an ear splitting scream of horror came from the board. Katsuya turned, eyes wide as Yugi followed his gaze to the playing field. A gaping hole had been torn through the ground, an enormous worm swallowing the Elven Knight almost completely. "A... A monster from underground," Katsuya said with a growl, teeth clenched. Shit, these two had loopholes around everything didn't they! Through the walls or underground... Below on the field, the knight was fighting off the worm as much as he could, doing little more than gouging out one of the beast's eyes before shouting in pain.

If Kyuu the screams, he certainly wasn't affected by them. He merely laughed, arms crossed again as he 'narrated' the fight. "The elf falls prey to the Dungeon Worm," he shouted, the enormous monster clamping his teeth on its victim before spitting out a bloodied leg and arm. Yugi's lifepoints dropped yet again as the limbs clattered to the ground, and although there was a wall between them it looked as though his former companions knew of his demise as well. The worm in the meantime slithered forward a few squares, as though sniffing out its next meal before it burrowed back to the ground with a low rumble. "Between meals," Kyuu stated with a smirk, his opponents sending a narrowed glare toward the man, "The dungeon worm hides itself under the labyrinth... Hehehehehhe... No matter where you run, you're worm food," he shouted, a mad cackle coming in with it. "And each time it devours an enemy, it's attack power rises by ten percent!"

Ahhhh fuck! Not percentages again! He grit his teeth, before turning to the teen beside him. "Gh... Shit... Got any ideas Yugi," he asked nervously, eyes still trained on the hole. The others had to have heard that scream, it was damn scary! Like it was right beside him... Come to think... He swallowed, recalling (with a shudder) his duel with Kotsuzuka. No one had a reaction to the smell from the board... He'd thought that was because he was on the other end, or maybe because Kotsuzuka played with the zombie deck regularly but... Well heck, some of the crap in _this_ duel was worse!

He shook it off, watching as Yugi drew a card. "It's my turn," he stated, a severe frown in place. He only looked at his card a moment before placing it on the ground with a shout. "And I play this spell; Magical Hats!" The area where their monsters sat were instantly covered by a shroud of 'dust', hiding the two from view. As the shroud collected, it began to clear into four familiar black top hats, the 'question mark' band appearing as the last of the dust vanished. This card... Katsuya grinned as the hats merged into one with the monsters inside. Yugi had used it against the Ventriloquist the day before! The hat split into four as they spun across the nearest four squares, before stopping in place with a light 'thmp'. 50-50 shot of a miss now...

"Alright," he shouted, grinning as silence came over the table. "Now that worm won't know where to attack!"

At those words, Yugi nodded, smirking. "Right... The Magician and Swordsman are hidden somewhere in those hats," he began, smirk growing wider in response to the scowls across from them. "Even with its power up from eating the elf, Dungeon Worm only has 1980 attack points; if it chooses the hat with the Dark Magician," Yugi continued, Katsuya watching as their opponent's faces fell even further, "Who has 2500 attack points, then your dungeon worm is dead!" Yes! Which meant only a small chance of taking a hit!

For a moment, there was no response, save for the growl from Kyuu. However, Mei's face twisted into a grin again, the man having drawn his card and looked over it. "Very well then," he began, Katsuya narrowing his eyes. Damn it, why was it that these two had to switch between 'win'-'lose' so fast... Seriously... "I play this card," he announced, an Arabian looking man with a whip appearing. The man pulled his whip taught, slouching over as he shimmered into full existence. "The Monster Tamer of Hell!" The whip cracked across the ground, the tamer grinning darkly at its master continued. "Oridinarily I wouldn't be able to control a monster which my brother played on the board," he stated, grin widening. "But by using Monster Tamer, not only do I take control of the dungeon worm, I increase its power by 600 points!"

At the side, Yugi visibly winced. Shit... Six hundred with 1980... Definitely more than 2500. Not much more, but it was enough. Great... If that worm hit the Dark Magician, they were dead! Another crack of the whip, and Mei pointed the tamer forward. "Come on, Dungeon Worm! Attack the hat on the corner!"

The table began to shake loudly again, and each player looked forward as the rumbling increased. Fifty-Fifty chance of surviving here... Come on... Louder... Louder... Finally with a thundering roar it appeared, bursting through the top of the hat only to find nothing. "HAH! Yeaaaa!" The beast flailed angrily in an attempt to search out its prey, the cracking of the Monster Tamer's whip sounding in the background. As the worm finally slunk back into its hole with a growl of annoyance, Katsuya grinned. "It missed!" While Yugi continued to stare at the hats, the blond had to drop the grin as he followed his gaze. If they stayed put they were screwed... Hmmm... "It's my turn," Katsuya announced, drawing a card. Abruptly, the cheer from before returned. This one... This was exactly what he needed! "Heheheh... Y'know," the blond said with a grin, flipping the card around in his hands before putting it on the board. "I just hate bein' stuck in dark places... FLAME SWORDSMAN," he shouted, the monster leaping from his hat at his master's command. As the hat dispersed in his wake, the table and those from behind frowned. '_Jonouchi_,' Yugi whispered from the side, voice a little overpowered by the shouts of '_WHAT_' from the side. '_What are you doing?_'

He merely smirked, watching his spell take effect on the field. "Take a look at this," Katsuya said, continuing to laugh. He knew exactly what he was doing... "The power of Salamandra, the Fire Snake!" From within the card shot an enormous dragon, flames licking the sides of the walls as he rushed through the maze. A frightening roar pierced the air, a few of the walls still left smoking in his wake as he surrounded the Flame Swordsman to bless its blade. "Salamandra goes inside the sword, increasing its power by 800," he announced, watching as the swordsman's blade glowed a red-hot orange before continuing. "Here I go... Do it, Salamandra! Attack the Dungeon Worm!"

They were probably gonna tell him he couldn't do that... After all, the dungeon worm was underground... But that wasn't a problem, Katsuya thought as he ignored them with a smirk. From the sword, Salamandra reared his flaming head, giving off a loud roar before diving forward. Katsuya's smirk grew, the blond watching as flames dove into the hole beside Flame Swordsman. Silence passed over the board as the Meikyuu brothers went pale. No one said fire couldn't follow the monster... He just hoped this worked. More time passed, with seemingly no result. Finally however, he heard a faint roar from beneath the hole. Briefly, his eyes widened. Did that mean...

Katsuya shifted a glance over to his opponents and Yugi both, seeing no reaction. Maybe not.. Or maybe- A roar of flames and Salamandra shot back out of the hole, a burning and half-eaten worm corpse tightly gripped in it's mouth. "AHAHA!" He grinned, pumping his fist. "YES! Take that," the blond shouted, watching as Kyuu's face went ghostly white. "The worm burns!"

Beside him, Yugi grinned. "Not bad Jonouchi," he said, the blond turning to give him a similar look. The others as well were shouting now that the strategy had worked- truth be told, if it hadn't, he wouldn't really know what he'd do... As it was though, they were in the clear now!

"Cheer while you can," Kyuu growled, drawing his next card. "For without further ado-" He stared at the card, scowl dropping for a frightening grin. Oh fuck. Ohhhh fuck he knew that face. Obviously not the same, but it was definitely similar to the look he'd seen on Kaiba's face when she tore through Sugoroku's card. Really. Similar. "I play this," Kyuu shouted with a cackle, before slamming the card on the board. A third box appeared on the field, the kanji for 'wind' clearly viewed on it's top for a brief moment. The cords holding the lids down snapped off with a 'crack', and from each box game a glowing orb of sorts while the boxes burned into nonexistence. "HAHAHA! Thunder, Wind, and Water, all united to form the ultimate being! Rise, Gate Guardian," he cried, a shadowy figure appearing from within the triangle the orbs created. "Demon God of the Three Elements! **THE GATE GUARDIAN**!"

He stared, frowning as the monster began to appear. There was a triangle of light hovering in place as a pair of arms shot through, followed by a second set, and a third... "What in the world," Yugi was muttering, the others struck silent. This... This was oddly similar to when Exodia was summoned, he had to say. With those thoughts he swallowed nervously, drawing back slightly in his chair...This... Didn't mean they lost right? If summoning Exodia meant 'instant kill'... He frowned as the monster appeared before them, mouth slightly open. The three cards summoned into place were still there, and though the monsters were stacked on top of each other, the cards being there cleared up one thing at least. They had three sets of attack... What the hell! The guardian roared, flexing its golden metal arms and claws dangerously from his position between the doors. Wellll wasn't that great... Even if they didn't have a door in mind, there was still a great big monster sitting between them!

"Great," he muttered, teeth clenched. Gate Guardian... 'Guardian' indeed, how were they supposed to beat their way through that thing damn it! "I shoulda known there would have been a 'boss character'!" Shit... Three layer monster looked pretty damn powerful...

And of course the opponents were gonna rub it in about now. As usual. "Heheheheheh... A fatal mistake," they both shouted, voices echoing around the room yet again. "You gave us time to summon the Gate Guardian! And now that it's here, there's nothing you can do!"

You know... He was really sick of those put downs. "Feh!" He snorted, glaring at the two men across from him. There had to be someway out of this... Besides, they were safe in the maze, the Gate Guardian was sitting where he was. "Listen up cue-balls," the blond shouted, his targets showing no visible response. "If you guys are gonna use card combos then so will we; we'll show you just what kind of power we have!"

The brothers merely smirked darkly, Kyuu leaning back in his chair. "Hnhnhn... I spent my turn summoning the Gate Guardian," he stated with a sneer, crossing his arms. Convenient that... Not that they could attack. Right? ...Right? "It's your move, 'Yugi'!" Alright... Now what would he do...

Yugi stared forward, eyes narrowed as he drew a card. "I'm going to play two cards face down," he stated, before bringing his arms back with a frown. Looked like aside from that he had nothing... "End turn!"

"My turn," Mei shouted, the boys looking over with a blank frown. "Gate Guardian," he continued. "Use your power! Sanga of the Thunder, attack the swordsman!" Hang on what! But there was a wall there! He winced, watching as a torrent of lightening charged towards his warrior. Not fair damn it! This thing shouldn't have been able to attack from _outside_, not after all the crap about flying monsters and stone tunnels they couldn't see!

Shit... Shit... "Damn it!" Sanga had a hundred points more than the Flame Swordsman even with his sword... He was dead...! The blond frowned as he heard chuckling, turning to stare at Yugi.

"Hehehe... We'll see about that," he was muttering, flipping one of his set cards over. Oh? "I activate the card Mirror Force," he shouted, a smirk appearing on his face as he spoke. "It protects the Flame Swordsman, deflecting the electric attack back to the monster who dealt it!" At those words, a shining light sprang from the card across, shield appearing around the swordsman just as the lightning struck its side to bounce right back.

Alright..! He was in the clear! "Thank's Yug," he shouted, grin appearing. Thanks to that card, they'd have one less piece of the Gate Guardian to deal with! At least... He'd figured that before a shout from Kyuu cut their cheer in two.

"Kazejin," he commanded, scowl set on his face as the middle portion of his Guardian responded. "**Reflection**! **Storm Barricade**!" Wait what? With a loud '_FUUUUUU_', the green 'orb' blasted a gust of air from its mouth, the winds appearing to swirl around the guardian before the lightning hit. Katsuya's eyes widened as the thunder was blocked, rebounding on the rest of the field nearby as his opponents laughed. "Heheheh... Reflection activates automatically when an enemy attacks," Kyuu announced, resulting in a brief scowl from his opponent. "Nothing hurts the Gate Guardian," he shouted. "Nothing!"

Again, Yugi chuckled, a smirk appearing on Katsuya's face as well. Though the thunder had failed to strike Sanga, it had done something... "Too bad your other monster isn't as safe," the teen stated, a pained cry sounding over the board. What was once the Monster Tamer was quickly fried into a black, burnt crisp, his ashes blowing away into the air in silence. "The Monster Tamer is killed!" And by his own ally too!

As Mei and Kyuu both began to growl at the chip to their lifepoints, Katsuya continued to grin. "Whew! That was close... Saved me again Yug, nice one!" Really really saved him actually... Come to think, how many times had he done that so far? He shook it off, drawing his card instead. Couldn't think about that... He was just as competent a duelist after all! "Right... Now it's payback time," he shouted with a grin, the Flame Swordsman pointing his blade forward. Nothing in his hand that would help right now, so with a single nod he watched the Flame Swordsman move forward. Six steps... And with that, he was at the exit of the labyrinth! "Come on Flame Swordsman," he began, the blade charging with energy as he spoke. Now that he was in range, there was only one thing to do right now... First things first; get rid of that damn shield monster! "Attack Kazejin, with the fires of Salamandra!" A roar echoed through the room, the flaming serpent appearing around the blade with a nod. As the dragon charged forward however, it stopped in its tracks, the monster below its target opening its gaping mouth with a low chuckle.

"**REFLECTION**," Kyuu shouted from above the field, his monster glowing slightly as the sound of rushing water began to come forth from its mouth. "**Wall of water**!" Shit! At those words, an immense blast of fluid poured out of the beast's mouth, surrounding the monster in a bizarre translucent pillar. Damn... That thing could create a shield too? He growled as Salamandra was held at bay, the dragon hissing as the barrier stood between it and its goal. "Hnhnhnhn... Now do you understand," the man continued with a chuckle, his opponents merely glaring in response. "Water, Wind, Thunder! The power of the three guardians makes their tri-form incarnation unbeatable! And now it's my turn," he shouted, the waters abruptly dropping to the ground in a pounding 'splash'. "Pay the price for your insolence! **AQUA WAVE**!" Shit...

The waters gathered into an immense wave as Suijin continued to pump out the liquid, the wave barreling towards the hats and Swordsman both. Dark Magician would be fine, Katsuya thought with a wince, the waters passing around the hats no problem. Those things were air tight so long as they weren't the target... This was a matter of water VS fire though! "No," Yugi was muttering, voicing his thoughts completely. "It's going to die..!" Yea. Yea it was... Nice knowing yah Flame Swordsman, he thought with a wince.

"_DROWN SWORDSMAN, DROWN_," Kyuu was shouting, Katsuya watching as the monster suffered from his elemental disadvantage. Salamandra had attempted to take the brunt of the damage, erecting a 'shield' across the blade. His flames however, were easily extinguished, and as the waters continued to flow, the Flame Swordsman was carried away beneath the depths.

Gh... Shit! As the swordsman gave one last gurgling shout of terror, the point counter to the side began to flip through the numbers. Great... There went his lifepoints again. "Damn it..." As the twins continued to chuckle, he frowned, gritting his teeth and muttering to himself. "Fuck! Losing Flame Swordsman right at the doors..." Worst luck ever worst luck ever... Wait. "This mean I have to walk through that maze all over again," he wondered out loud, scowl deepening at that thought.

"No," Yugi said, drawing a card. Katsuya blinked, turning to him with confusion. He wasn't talking to him but.. That was right... It was his turn... So did he have something to make a comeback? "Your swordsman's death wasn't a waste Jonouchi! Now it's my turn," he called, taking the card he'd drawn and placing it on the board. "And I'll use this card to follow in the Flame Swordsman's footsteps! Come forth, Skull Demon!" A dark thunderclap sounded through the air, and from the waters Suijin had left behind came an ominous shadow. Above the board the shadows began to converge, thunder rumbling through the air yet again as a figure materialized from the darkness. Towering over the walls of the labyrinth, the summoned skull stood, crossing his arms with sightless eyes as the storm around him continued to brew. One of Yugi's most powerful monsters had come... And given the name, whatever it did wouldn't be pretty.

The twins stared at it nervously, tension on their side of the board thick with fear before Kyuu frowned. "But," he muttered, attempting to reassure himself of his safety, "It's at the beginning of the maze! It's attack won't reach the Gate Guardian!"

More chuckling was heard in response, and already Katsuya had a feeling he knew what was going to happen. If its attack was anything like against Haga, then this would be good... _Really_ good. "Heh heh... We'll see about that," Yugi was saying with a smirk, leaning back on his chair. Below, Skull Demon's clawed hands were held upwards, the storming clouds above sending bolts of lightning to his hands. As the demon charged his attack, Yugi's grin widened. "I thought I told you I'm following in his footsteps," he stated, his partner watching as the storm covered most of the board. "The footsteps of his path through the maze!"

At these words, the guardians reeled back, looks of horror appearing on their faces. The dungeon was still flooded from Suijin's attack after all... And it didn't take much to realize what water would do with Skull Demon's next attack. The two turned to look directly at their shorter opponent, eyes wide with fear. "T...That means..."

Yugi's smirk vanished to be replaced with a fairly vengeful scowl, the teen nodding to his monster in a silent command. "That means you DIE! **DEMON LIGHTNING**," he roared, the monster below giving a growl in response. Thunder sounded about the board, and from the demon's fists, lightning struck the water with a crash. "The electric shock races through the water with lightning speed," Yugi shouted, the current racing through the maze toward the Gate Guardian. All that was delaying the attack for now was the non-conductive surface of the walls and hats, forcing the electricity to bounce through the paths. "And it's headed for Suijin!"

"Alright!" Katsuya grinned, crossing his arms. The grin faltered however, when he recalled the 'middle' portion of the giant. '_Forget it_,' Kyuu was shouting, having realized the same thing. '_I'll blow away the water with Kazejin's wind powers! **Relfection**_!'. Instead of a shield however... The grin returned, and the twins followed his gaze with wide-eyed horror.

Nothing was happening... Kazejin was merely frozen in place, hands against his cheeks as he attempted to give even a weak puff of air. "H-Huh! Nothin happened.. But why!" What did they mean 'why', were they blind?

Again, Yugi chuckled, smirk appearing on his face once more. "Surprised," he asked 'innocently', leaning on his chair. "Here's a clue... Remember when your wave passed over the top hats?" The two froze, eyes wide as Yugi held up the trap he'd activated. Below, there was only one hat left over, Katsuya recognizing yet another move from the match against the 'Ventriloquist'. "Hnhnhn... When you did that, you set off this! The Spellbinding Circle!" The expressions of horror grew more, as did Katsuya's grin. YES! "Hexagram activate," Yugi roared, the circle encasing Kazejin completely from within the beast. "And as for Suijin," he continued, "_EAT LIGHTNING_!"

With those words the beast toppled to the ground, Suijin becoming little more than fried metal. The waters began to recede without the source of their power on the board, and while Suijin's ashen and rusted form collapsed into the water the board was eventually left clear of any evidence he even existed. Kyuu's lifepoints toppled yet again, and as the shouts came from behind to encourage them forward it was easy to ignore his pessimistic grumblings. "Alright," Katsuya shouted, grin widening as he looked down at the two guardians on the ground. While Kazejin was completely motionless, Sanga was trying and failing to right himself on the board with an audible growl of anger. Haha! This boss was a piece of cake! They'd make it through easy! "We'll smack 'm from th' bottom up, like a daruma otoshi!"

Across from him, Mei merely seethed. Eyes narrowed the man drew a card from his deck, almost as red in the face as his twin brother. "Gh... My turn again," he called out, placing a card on the table. "Undo-Magic," he called, the 'de-spell' lock appearing before them. With a loud 'click' the lock broke open, the circle locked around his brother's monster vanishing into a mist. "The spellbinding circle is removed!" At those words Kazejin shook himself, appearing to blush heavily with embarrassment before blowing a large gust of wind to propel himself and Sanga into the air. "Hah! The Gate Guardian is back," he called, his opponents merely staring with slightly narrowed eyes. "It's your turn!"

Katsuya nodded, drawing a card. "Okay then," he shouted across the board. "Here goes..." As he looked over the card, he to share a glance with Yugi. 'Jonouchi', the boy was whispering, the blond nodding in response. Time for their trump cards! "Here's my card," he shouted, placing it on the field with a determined glare. A shower of shadows and flames alike sprouted from the card, appearing to create an almost demonic flame. Ruby red eyes gleamed as they shone from the shadows, and in a flurry of black scales came the dragon he'd summoned to play. "Red Eyes Black Dragon!" A fearsome roar sounded through the air, and the dragon flexed his wings menacingly as it came to rest on the ground.

"And that's not all," Yugi shouted, Katsuya nodding in agreement. That's right... Though they didn't get any more duels in the night before, they sure as hell got some trading done! "I use the magic card I played face down on the board, **POLYMERIZATION**!" As a swirling vortex appeared, sucking the two closest monsters inside, Yugi smirked. "This is our combo," he shouted, the vortex pulling in even more before an earth shaking roar bellowed through the air. "Summoned Skull and Red-Eyes Black Dragon," he shouted, his partner staring as the creature came into full view. "Combine to become the Black Skull Dragon!"

The blond grinned as their opponents grew pale again, leaning against his chair. "Hah! This is our team's ultimate monster," he shouted, before Yugi nodded in agreement. Below on the board, 'Black Skull Dragon' was looking himself over in apparent confusion, as though wondering just what had happened in the last two seconds. In the end however, it appeared to decide that whatever had occurred was a welcome change, turning its gaze to the maze before them. "You better look for a new dungeon," Katsuya continued with a grin, the dragon before them flexing his now bone-rimmed wings and claws with a growl. "Cause we're breakin' this one int' pieces!"

The twins before them merely stared, mouths hanging open. One minute passed... Two... Hah! They were so shocked by the summon that they were- "HAHAHAH! AHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Wait what... He frowned, drawing back slightly. Ok... Yea he'd made a joke about breaking the maze in two but... His joke wasn't nearly that funny, what the hell was going on. "Fools," Kyuu shouted, grin mirrored only by his brother, "Have you forgotten? This labyrinth can only be crossed by grounded creatures... You can merge as many monsters as you like," he continued, the twins still laughing loudly, "But a dragon is always a dragon!"

From beside him, Mei's grin grew as well, becoming dangerously sharklike. "The Black Skull dragon still has wings," he shouted with a grin, "So it can't fit into the narrow corridors... It can't get in range of the Gate Guardian!"

"But the Gate Guardian," the twins chorused, Katsuya growing paler with each word, "Can attack the entire maze! AHAHAHAHAH!" Shiiiiit... Shhiiiiiiiit!

Of all the fucking things to come up! "Ghn..." They were right! Yugi had even told him, '_flying monsters **WILL NOT WORK HERE**_', he'd just screwed everyone over by- Wait... Yugi could have just not used polymerization with his dragon. But he'd used Red-Eyes anyways. What the hell, why the hell did he do that.. What... "H-Hold on..." He narrowed his eyes, looking over to Yugi. The teen was still smirking for some reason... Did he have another half of this plan then? "You... You knew about that too Yug'... Heck you're th' one who told me, but y' still used Polymerization so..." He coughed, silently wondering if he really screwed up as much as he did. Heck, if Yugi thought they needed a big giant dragon on their field... His friend merely nodded in response, resulting in a loud sigh of relief. Phew! Leave it to Yugi to figure out a way out of this... "Heheheheh..." He looked forward, confidence restored yet again as he crossed his arms. "Alright baldies! In that case, I'm done here!"

More shouts came from behind, Katsuya's smile growing larger with each one. '_You can do it guys,' _Anzu was yelling, her cheers outweighing their opponent's chuckling by a long shot. '_Us getting out of this maze depends on you_, _go for it!_' Honda was calling, the rest of their words fading into mutterings. Bakura's voice had grown quiet in particular, even by the albino's standards really. Before he could put more thought into it however, he heard something else.

For a brief moment, he thought that what he was hearing was rumbling... Not the 'earth-quake' kind either, more... He didn't know, but as his smile faded it felt weird... He shook it off, focusing on his opponent. One move and he'd see what Yugi was planning... "My turn," Kyuu shouted, before moving to draw a card. A menacing grin came over his face as he looked at what he'd picked up, Katsuya growing pale under the gaze sent their way. H-Hihhh... That was not a good sign... "Heheheh..." The man chuckled, before looking over at the group with a frightening sneer. "This card even scares me," he muttered, before placing it on the table. From the board came an eerie set of shadowed arms, each one ripping into the ground with an unnerving amount of silence. "The magic card Ryoku," he cried, Katsuya and Yugi both staring with a frown. Ryoku... What... The shadowed hands shifted, as though digging for something, and the blond's eyes narrowed further. What the hell did that- He turned, watching as Yugi's expression shifted to that of horror, the boy's eyes glued to his life-point counter. "HAHAHHAHAAA!" Shit that couldn't be good. If Yugi was freaking out, that could only mean- "Now your lifepoints belong to me," he called, Katsuya's eyes widening as those behind him groaned.

"Wait... No way," he shouted, turning to watch his life-point counter tumble down to half the original amount. The steady 'beep' of the counter soon clicked to a stop, the blurred numbers glowing a neon yellow as opposed to the 'safe zone' of green. "Our life points-!"

Ryoku took half their lifepoints and... And... "I take the power from you," Kyuu shouted darkly, the blond across from him watching as the same shadowed arms tore back from the ground with two glowing orbs. "And feed it to the great Gate Guardian!" W-Wait... So... If Sanga had 2600... That would make him more powerful than... As these thoughts came to mind, 'Ryoku' tossed the two orbs to the monsters above, who both eagerly devoured them and grew in size. If he didn't think metal, 'mecha' type monsters could be menacing before... Well, case in point, the two in front of him looked more like floating demonic spirits than robots by this point.

He grew pale, swallowing. Shit... Shit they were s- "I can't attack on the same turn that I play Ryoku," Kyuu stated bluntly, his grin still in place. Oh... Oh ok... The blond sighed in relief, shaking his head. Well, that was alright... "But next turn," the man continued, Katsuya wincing at the shout, "When Sanga of the Thunder and Kazejin attack together, they will have 3500 attack points... More than enough to kill your dragon!" As the teens tensed at those words, Kyuu merely continued to laugh loudly with his brother. "Hahaha! No matter what you do, your lives will end on my next turn!"

Gh... Damn it... 3500 was more than enough to wipe at least one of them out too... Beside him, Yugi merely narrowed his eyes, drawing a card from the table. "Hn," he muttered, sitting up in his chair. "Before that," he announced with a shout, "It's my turn!" The teen looked over his hand, nodding to himself and looking back at the board. Alright... Lets see what he was doing! "Dark Magician proceeds toward the exit from the labyrinth," he called out, Katsuya blinking from beside him. Ah wait what? On the board, the top of one of the hats flew off, to the side, and as a hand came to grab the edge the Dark Magician swiftly moved to pull himself out. Landing with a soft 'thump' to the ground and giving his master a nod, he turned to face the hall that lead directly to the maze exit. Dark Magician... But he wasn't nearly enough to take on the Gate Guardian... Course, Yugi probably had a plan going so he probably couldn't complain. Still, what was he going to do? "Dark Magician," Yugi continued with a set glare, eyes not moving from the end of the board. "You're a seven star monster... So advance seven spaces!" Again, the magician nodded, before doing as commanded. Seven spaces... That would take him a full square out of the maze. Quiet tapping noises echoed around the board, and as the Meikyuu brothers continued to laugh at the move the teen's eyes narrowed. "Listen up," he shouted, pointing toward them as his magician continued to walk steadily to his goal. "We'll continue on no matter what stands in our way... So long as there's even a slight chance! With seven steps," Yugi continued, the room falling silent, "We're out of the maze... And one step away from the exit! And before my turn ends," he continued, "I'm playing one more card!" As it was placed on the ground, Katsuya stared, a small glow appearing on the field beneath Kazejin. "Monster Reborn," he called out, the glow from the card and field both intensifying. "I'm going to raise one of your monsters and make it defend my own!"

At this, Mei merely smirked. "Hah! Bring back any monster you want," he shouted, apparently oblivious to the fact that beneath Kazejin's breath, pieces of metal were now re-forming. "It won't make a difference... And now it's my turn! Gate Guardian," the man shouted, his monster rumbling in response as it attempted to steady itself above their revived former comrade. "Attack the Dark Magician!" Ohhhh Yugi this better work... He was dead if that hit connected... "Double Attack," Mei continued with a grin, the metal form of Suijin still morphing and misting back into shape. "Demon's Wind and Thunder!" The blast was gathered above the magician, tendrils of fire and air swirling as they charged for the inevitable before chuckling broke out from Katsuya's own side.

The twins couldn't see it from there but... Katsuya continued to snigger as Suijin finished at the bottom of the Gate Guardian, while Yugi crossed his arms to watch. "Attacking is useless," he stated, watching as the charged attack shot forth, he continued. As he said this, the watery demon across from them rumbled, as if to ask what happened while he was gone. "Suijin," he shouted, the monster abruptly dropping his mouth open for the familiar torrent of water to escape. "Use **Reflection**!" The Meikyuu brothers froze as the water shot forward, wrapping around the Dark Magician in a large protective dome.

"S-Suijin!" That was right... And while Suijin's reflection wouldn't be as effective as Mirror force, they wouldn't take damage that turn... Nor would they take damage when Suijin was destroyed, since it wasn't their monster!

He grinned, arms crossed as he laughed. "Hahaaah! Smooth move Yugi!" They survived this turn... Somehow. "Now.." What to do... Ignoring the mutterings from their opponent, he looked down at his deck, grin disappearing to shift back into his determined glare. '_Alright_,' Yugi was saying, the look he gave telling him all he needed to know. All on him now... '_It's your turn, Jonouchi_!' The blond nodded, eyes narrowing as his hand came to rest on the deck. "Yea..." Now what... He drew a card, frowning. Everything depended on his draw... There was only one way to win! Once Suijin was destroyed, they'd be screwed... And there was no way that the Meikyuu brothers would stand to have their attacks blocked again. One shot... He looked over his card, before blinking. This... This card was... A grin came over his face as a plan came into being, and he chuckled. "Heheheheh... I just had a good idea," he said with a grin, the 'Copycat' card gripped tight in his hand. "I play Copycat," he shouted, grin widening as the card began to glow on the board.

"W-What!" The twins balked, eyes wide as they leaned over the table to stare at the monster. "The mimic illusionist!" Damn straight it was!

Katsuya continued chuckling, watching as the mirror-faced wizard appeared on the board. The robes swirled as the magician waved cheerily, quite uncaring about the fear on his opponent's field. "That's right... And I'm gonna copy your card 'Ryoku'," the blond shouted, crossing his arms with a grin as the magician suddenly sprouted those same shadowed arms from before. "In otherwords, I'm taking half of yer life points and turnin' them into power for US!" The arms tore through the ground from Copycat's card, swiftly returning from their search with the stolen lifepoints. "And I'm giving it all to the Black Skull Dragon!" With a violent roar, the dragon on their field took both, pulsing as he increased in size and devoured the energy received. Meal finished, he reared up on his hindlegs with a 'grin' of sorts, Copycat vanishing from the board now that his work was done. Alright! Half of each the brothers lifepoints was added to the dragon's power... And if his math was right...

"Good job Jonouchi," Yugi said with a grin, his friend nodding in response. That gave Black Skull Dragon over 4000 attack points... Yes! With this kind of power, they could easily beat the Gate Guardian! ...Or at least keep it from attacking really.

Across from them, the Meikyuu brothers were seething, as though unable to tell if they should laugh or scream. In the end, it looked as though they decided on screaming. "You stupid morons," Kyuu roared, Katsuya taking back all comments on one being calmer than the other. Holy shit he could not wait to get out of here... "How many times do I have to tell you! The Black Skull Dragon **CANNOT CROSS THE LABYRINTH**!" He continued to growl, redfaced as he drew a card. "It's my turn," he shouted, visibly shaking as his brother blinked a few times at the tone. "_KAZEJIN DESTROYS SUIJIN_," Kyuu continued, the brother sharing a crazed glance with his twin. From directly above him, Suijin was blown against the ground, the force of the wind enough to leave a crater that hit the board itself. The rest of the metal followed after it within moments, and as it vanished from sight Kyuu's face was still held in a crazed grin "Haha...Ha"

"Hehehehehe..." As the two turned back to face their opponents, they grinned viciously, the elder apparently deciding to ignore the change in composure from his brother. "Now what, Yugi," Mei called with a grin, his own expression no different from that of the start of the duel. "You have no way of blocking our attacks... And on the next turn, we win! HAHAHAAA!"

Katsuya frowned, before a glance to Yugi told him that this was far from the case. Well... He had a plan obviously. Didn't have a clue what it was, but it was probably something good. "Hnhnhn..." The boy smirked, arms still crossed as he looked across the board. "Now's the time when _I_ laugh," he began, the Meikyuu brothers tensing in response. "Haven't you figured it out," Yugi asked, leaning forward to take one of the cards he'd set off the board. "The real reason why I took the Dark Magician through the maze?" As the twins continued to tense, the teen held it up, activating it. "This! The magic card shift! This card switches my monsters, letting me put the strongest ones up front!"

Hahaaa! Yes! Katsuya grinned as the card was replaced on the board, activating at Yugi's words; '_SHIFT_,' he called out, and from both monsters came a blinding light. With this... Black Skull Dragon didn't need to bother with the maze! The light intensified, surrounding the monsters both before slowly dying down. At their side of the board appeared the Dark Magician, the sorcerer kneeling in a defensive stance. He stood up once the light cleared, and after sending a glance to his master chose to turn his attention to the other side of the field. At the other end however, came a rage filled growl, bone-white armor on pitch black scales appearing from the pillar of light. Black Skull Dragon was there and ready to fight... And since Kazejin's shield only worked on monsters other than itself... "Alright," the blond cheered, before pointing the dragon forward with a nod from his friend. His turn after all... It was time to finish this! "Black Skull Dragon! **METEOR FLARE**!" The dragon roared, rearing on it's legs at the command. Without even bothering to charge an attack it released a series of red-hot blasts from its mouth, each one hitting their target clean in the face. With destruction of both Sanga and Kazejin the twins points plummeted simultaneously, the devices hitting zero and giving off a loud 'beep' in response. "Heh... We win," he shouted as the holograms dispersed on both sides of the field, point counters 'clicking' off at those words. Behind him the others were shouting, and with a sliding clack the group watched six starchips come across the board. The maze had clicked back into the board immediately after loss, and grabbing two of the chips from the relatively smooth surface he grinned further. "Haha! We can get t' the castle now!"

As they gathered their cards however, the twins began to chuckle again, eliciting a frown from their former opponents once more. "Hnhnhnhnhn..." The pair grinned, arms crossed. "This game isn't over just yet..."

Wait what? "What th' hell are you talkin' about," he muttered, frowning. The duel was over, of course it was... "Didn't we just beat you?"

Kyuu shrugged, the cunning smirk still on his face. "Oh yes," he stated, "You have our respect for defeating us in our own labyrinth of course..." Yea, 'respect'... "And you've gotten your starchips," the man continued, sharing a look with his brother.

"But don't tell me you've forgotten," asked Mei, his own expression also rather fox-like in appearance. "You haven't really won until you actually get out of the maze!"

Gh... Katsuya scowled, tensing against his chair. That was right, they still had to pick a door... Shit... "Hnhnhn.." He turned as Yugi began to chuckle, a smirk on the boy's face. "Oh, we haven't forgotten... Isn't this what you said," he asked, pocketing his deck before crossing his arms. While Katsuya as well pocketed his cards, he watched as his friend continued, smirk widening. "There are two doors, 'Mei' and 'Kyuu'; only one leads to the surface... And we only get to open the door of the person we beat! However," he added, his friend slowly turning back to stare at the back walls. "We defeated you both at the same time! So both doors should be opened!"

That was right..! If it was a tie, they should get both shots right? "No," shouted the brothers, Katsuya gritting his teeth. Great... Apparently not. "Only one door will open," they shouted, the blond continuing to growl in response.

"Come on," he shouted, the twins merely chuckling in response. Seriously, what was with these pricks and pulling rules from their ass? "That ain't fair at all!"

"Yea," came the voice of the others, Anzu's voice angrily rising above those behind her. "If that's the case then there was no point in a double knock out!"

As the woman finished her own two cents, Honda's annoyed growl could clearly be heard rising in volume, the teen red-faced at the moment. "Damn it... We're still stuck with a 50-50 shot at this! What the hell was the point of the duel!" Yea, that was his question too... Then again, this _did _mean they could choose either one.

The Meikyuu brothers continued to laugh, their voices echoing around the room amid the growls of the others. "That's right," they chorused, taking a relaxed seat against their chairs. "Now you must choose your fate... On your right, 'Kyuu', and on your left, 'Mei'!" Laughter continued, the brothers gesturing to their respective doors. "Which one will you choose?" As the group continued to grumble, the brothers grinned. "Let me give you a hint," Kyuu was saying. "The 'Kyuu' door is right."

"No no," Mei was adding with a smirk, clearly enjoying the position of 'power' he and his brother held. "The 'Mei' door is the best choice!" Damn itttttt...

He gripped the side of the table, scowling. "Damn it, I know one of you is lying," he shouted, grinding his teeth before standing up from his seat. "But you can both shut up until we figure out which one, got that?" As the twins continued to chuckle, he sat back down against his chair and grumbled. Man... They said that they'd _speak_ in truths or lies, but all they did was point last time... If that was all they'd do when asked a question, how the hell was he supposed to figure this out? "Man..." The blond rubbed his face, groaning. How could those two morons be so confident in this, it was a 50-50 shot they'd be right... Damn it, this was all hurting his head... "I can't think anymore Yug'," he muttered as the others came by to help out with the 'riddle'. "It's all yours..."

"Jesus Jonouchi, pull yourself together," Honda muttered from behind. Just shut up, his head was pounding right now...

More chuckling came from the other side of the table, and Katsuya looked up with narrowed eyes. Hn... What now? "It seems you're pondering the existence of a third door," Kyuu was asking Yugi, toothy grin still in place.

"How about this," Mei offered, gesturing to the open room. "We'll give you five minutes to search every inch of this hall." They were letting them search..?

The blond jumped out of his chair, nodding. Alright... If that was the case, maybe he could figure out if one of the doors was fake too! "Got it," he shouted, the others turning to run about the room as well. "Let's search this place top to bottom!" As he moved to check around the back however, Kyuu's voice could be heard again. Now what..? '_Aren't you going to look_,' he was asking, Katsuya turning back to see Yugi still sitting on the chair with a smirk. He wasn't..?

"I'm fine where I am," the teen said confidently, smirk still in place. "It's easiest to judge the correct door from this spot." Well... If he said so. Really, Katsuya thought with a shrug, he was probably right. He moved off to the back of the room, peering beneath the doors best he could. As he attempted to see where the light went (If it stopped, there was probably a wall, but so far it was just fading out...), the blond suddenly tensed. He stood, a frown over his face as an eerie feeling came over him. Both doors were real, no doubt about that... But that wasn't what had him all creeped out. Right now... He could hear it again... That rumbling sound from before.

He turned, frown deepening as the strange, air-shaking rumbling came around the room. Nothing seemed wrong... No one else looked like they were feeling it, save maybe Bakura; the albino was holding his head, back toward him as he appeared to shake himself off... The others however, were searching around the sides, checking for cracks or even buttons that would lead to a third door. What was going on though... The blond narrowed his eyes as for a moment, he swore he heard muttering. Now what- "FIVE MINUTES ARE UP," the Meikyuu brothers shouted, Katsuya jumping as he was pulled out of his thoughts.

The blond sighed, walking back with the others. Well... No luck on his part... "Sorry Yugi," he said with a grimace, turning to his friend as he came to the table. "Looked everywhere but there's no way of tellin' which way t' go from that..."

As Bakura came up from behind, he turned, blinking as Anzu asked him how he'd done. "What about you Bakura," she was saying, the albino looking a little worse for the wear. Anzu and Honda also had no luck, maybe Bakura did..? "Did you find anything?"

The teen shook his head, appearing just a little... Off. "No," he said quietly. "I didn't..." Something wrong..?

Across from them, the twins were laughing again, both gesturing toward their door. "Well then! Back to the matter at hand," they shouted, the group turning back to face them. "Yugi," the brothers called, "Choose a door! Will it be Mei... Or Kyuu?" The teen merely smirked, and Katsuya watched as he held up two 10 yen coins between his fingers. One one, the kanji 'Mei' and other, 'Kyuu' was written. That was one way to do it he guessed. The twins across from them blinked as they stared at the coins, before bursting into laughter. "AHAHAHHAA! You're going to decide with a coin toss?" Really confident... And how was two coins a coin toss?

While Yugi replaced them in his hands however, he frowned. Hang on... He had 'kyuu' on the opposite side of the 'Mei' coin as well... What was that about? "Be quiet and watch," the teen ordered calmly. "I have a coin in my left and right hands..." There was a soft clink as Yugi folded his hands over and put them down. "And I now put them on the table... We're going to play a small game," he continued, those behind him blinking. "I will keep these coins covered with my hand... And you will decide which one I move. The coin that remains hidden," Yugi stated, eyes narrowing slightly, "Will be my guess. Are you ready," he asked, the brothers conversing across him for a moment.

As they whispered, Katsuya stared, finding an odd feeling of paranoia creeping up. Was something else in the room..? Sheesh, it was like someone was holding a knife to his back right now, what the hell..? He turned slightly, seeing no one but Bakura and the others behind him. What was going on... Felt like the air was a freaking blanket or something... The blond swallowed as Mei guessed the left hand, turning to look back at the table. "Alright then," Yugi stated, removing his hand from the coin.

"Ahhh," Kyuu stated with a smirk. Upon the coin revealed was the kanji 'kyuu', and while a majority of the group looked across the table in silence it's 'counterpart' continued to grin. "My door! So then the coin in your other hand must be Mei!" He chuckled, Yugi merely narrowing his eyes. "Which means you chose my brother's door!"

From behind, Katsuya tensed yet again. Something behind him..! He turned only to see Bakura narrow his eyes, muttering. "He chose Mei," Bakura was asking, somehow seeming a little less than his usual self. '_B-Bakura_,' Anzu was asking as the teen moved past, frowning. "No- You're wrong Yugi," the albino shouted. "The Kyuu door was the right one!" What the... How the hell did he know?

Chuckling came over the table again, and Kyuu merely smirked. "It's too late," he stated, his brother chuckling as well at the growls from most of their 'victims'. "Yugi already chose the Mei door... Hehehhehe..."

"You should have listened to your friend instead of taking a gamble Yugi," Mei continued with a grin, chuckling continuing to echo about the room. "The correct answer is... The Kyuu door!" With a click, the door labeled 'Kyuu' opened wide, a single gold key revealed. It was fairly ornate in appearance, and definitely unique. Of course, like everything else that door had to do with, the kanji 'kyuu' could be seen rather clearly on it. "HAHAHHAHAAAA..." The twins continued to laugh, grins widening. "This key is the only thing that can open the exit," they cheered, Katsuya's frown deepening in response. Oh great... And what he wouldn't bet that these guys would catch him picking the lock in an instant. Not that he couldn't take two guys, but it'd probably be difficult given earlier acrobatics. "You chose wrong Yugi... Thereby, you are forbidden to leave this labyrinth! You and your friends must stay here," they continued with a low growl. "Forever!"

At this, both Yugi and Bakura began to chuckle, Katsuya finding himself looking at the taller of the two with a slight frown. Alright, what the hell was going on with Bakura? "I knew it," Yugi was saying, his friend attempting to pay attention to his words rather than the albino behind him. "You gave everything away," he continued with a smirk, the twins quickly frowning in response. "All the clues I needed were on your faces! Those smug expressions, confident that I wouldn't choose correctly... Because there_ is no right answer_!" Wait what? Katsuya blinked, turning to look at the doors. "If I chose Mei you'd say the correct door is Kyuu... If I chose Kyuu, you'd say Mei..."

"In other words," Bakura continued from behind, voice seeming fairly unlike the teen, "They decide which door is correct, after knowing what their opponents choose." As the teen chuckled, Katsuya and Anzu both shared a nervous glance. Maybe Honda couldn't tell from behind the guy but... Well, given he was right between them it was fairly clear to at least them that this wasn't normal behavior. "It's the perfect swindle," Bakura was saying with a low chuckle, a small shiver running up their spines. What was wrong with Bakura..?

Across from them, Kyuu merely snorted. "Feh! It doesn't matter," he shouted, smirking again. "You still couldn't answer correctly... Therefore, we win!"

Yugi shook his head, and as Katsuya looked at him again he noted that the second coin was still covered. "Not so..." He moved his other hand, revealing the 'kyuu' kanji on his second coin. '_WHAT_,' the twins were roaring, eyes wide with shock. '_BOTH.._' "Hnhnhn... The coin I hid under my right hand only had Kyu written on one side... But the first coin," he continued, the smirk growing, "Had 'Mei' written on one side and 'Kyuu' on the other... Hnhnhn... I forgot to tell you," he added, picking up the two coins and pocketing them as his opponents seethed. "One of my hands doesn't play fair..."

"Hnnnng!" Katsuya smirked as the two brothers in front of them growled, the younger ripping out the 'Kyuu' key and tossing it over. "Tch! You win," Kyuu shouted, his brother merely looking at them in aggravated shock. "Take the key and get out of our sight!"

Hahaha! Yea! "What..." The blond blinked, as Bakura's voice came from beside him quietly. Turning to look at the albino, he stared as his friend looked around confusedly "Erm... W-What just happened..?" Katsuya frowned, looking at the teen. What did he mean 'what just happened', he was right there... "Er... Did you just win Yugi," he asked, turning to the boy.

Beside him, Anzu frowned, raising an eyebrow. "Are you feeling alright..." Yea... That was a good question. It really didn't look like it.

Katsuya grabbed the key from the table, walking over to the 'Kyuu' door with a frown as his thoughts stewed. What the hell was going on here... It was like Monster World without the monsters... He attempted to shake it off, pushing the key into the door and turning it with a 'click'. A loud 'thunk' could be heard as a crack appeared in the center of the door, the door swinging outward with a loud creak. They could deal with this later- it wasn't like Bakura had put the ring on or anything right? That would be completely and horribly... Stupid. Bad. _Really _ stupid and _really really _bad. Um. He forced the paranoia back again, better judgement vanshing in lieu of a grin. "Alright," he shouted, tossing the key back to the Meikyuu brothers behind them. Not really caring where it landed, he focused his attentions to the dark tunnel ahead of them. "We're outta the maze... Next stop," he continued, walking through the door, "Pegasus' Castle!" Now wasn't the time to worry about things; they had ten starchips, and no where to go but 'up'!

"Lets go!"

* * *

**AN: **Ahhh... This would have been up much sooner if I didn't get caught up in colouring pictures... Whoops... Anyways!

And the Tag-Team duel is over! You know what that means...~ It means that next chapter we'll see some bad-assery in motion! Not to mention the start of what will be an _avalanche_ of changes for this arc. In any case. There isn't much to say, due to the speed of this update really... That's actually why this chapter seems slightly shorter than the 'norm'. Fun fact guys; from the point where we started hitting 12,000 per chapter, only 10,000 has been the actual story. Even for the last one, which hit '15,000' words by the end of the edit. Generally, when I type out the chapter, it hits the 6,000-8,000 word range, with around 2,000 (Sometimes even _4000_) words added during the edit. After that, everything is my words to you~.

Poll results so far are unchanged~ However, an interesting fact; if cross-dressing does indeed win out, then the poll will knock off 'Priestess' and continue on with 'Crossdressing' and 'Male' as vote options. This is because the only thing that people have to go on until late in Battle City is a stone tablet. So we really can't tell if the Priest is a lady crossdressing or a man.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

New reviewer! Hey there Ayu! Glad to see you like the fanfic. As for the links... I'll test them now, but you need to remove the spaces between the characters of the link. FanFiction doesn't support web-pages in the stories or profiles, so unfortunately this is the best I can do for now. Sorry about that... From what I've checked though, the images are fine. Check and double check that **all spaces** between letters are gone when you paste the link- some of them are between the '%' and the '20', a space that tends to like hiding...

Iona! Yea Keith gets what's coming, but then he comes back! D: Or.. Something. I don't know, part of me likes that he got a twisted second chance, but the other part is screaming 'WHYYYY'. Onnn the other hand, re-reading 'R' gave me an idea on how to get it mixed in with Doma. After all... No one said they didn't successfully get part of the 'Avatar' project going... Not sure if I'll go through with this idea though, as it seems almost _literally_ 'Deus Ex Machina'... 'God in the Machine'. Hehehe...

Glad you like the fan art! Speaking of fanart, finished flat-colouring something, so I hope you enjoy that too. ;)

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that should put up warnings for explicit language, but it's a little late now.

* * *

The title 'Theseus and Ariadne' comes from the couple who slew the Minotaur... Though technically Theseus did all the work and Ariadne just acted on a love-interest and led him through the tunnels. Sometimes she didn't even do that. She just gave him a ball of yarn. Ah well.

* * *

You probably noticed this _ages_ ago, but when it's Jonouchi's POV and he's thinking about something specific (As opposed to the general 'omnisient' view), Kaiba's referred to as 'Seto-chan'. ...Boy, you are digging yourself a _hole_. Oddly enough, I'm looking forward to when he slips up. He'll probably get a briefcase to the face.

* * *

Yes, that monster really is called the 'Monster Tamer of Hell'. Adding 'Hell' in Japan tends to instantly make things a million times worse. Kind of like 'Darkness', or 'Terror' or such. Whoo!

* * *

Exoida is actually compared to the Gate Guardian by the brothers themselves; specifically, they say that some cards require certain monsters to be on-hand or on-field to summon, and that Exodia was the only one. However, Pegasus created the Gate Guardian specifically for the Meikyuu brothers. And then more cards came...

* * *

Each of the 'gods' used to summon the Gate Guardian use the compounded versions of the words for Thunder, Water, and Wind on their boxes. Not to mention 'jin', which means 'human' in the case of the bottom two of the guardian... Any who! Interesting fact, but aside from the obvious (Sui comes from water, kaze from wind, rai from thunder), but they all have faces and arms. Yet they form one giant monster. ... Mecha anyone? Or... Power rangers? (I feel the nostalgia seeping in...)

* * *

Hey changed names! Interestingly enough, though the cards got their translated counterparts, the names called out... Didn't. Huh. Anyways. Elven Knight is the Celtic Guardian as mentioned last chapter, whereas Skull Demon is the Summoned Skull.

Also... '_Suijin's attack flooded the maze!_' '_THAT MEANS YOU DIE, **BITCHES**_." Even though Yugi didn't say that last word there, anyone on the receiving end of that phrase will feel like he said it. Hell, I felt like he said it. Yugi can be _harsh_.

* * *

Interesting fact, but Yugi appears to use a lot of strategies in this duel that are from his battle against the Ventriloquist. Magical Hats and the Spellbinding Circle inside the hat are the biggest two really... Reusing strategies is fun~

* * *

A daruma otoshi is a toy where you knock out the bottom segments of a pillar, without letting the other ones fall down... Rather, it's a pile of wooden disks with a daruma on top. It's really really old, but also really really common as a kid's toy in Japan to this day. You do this (knocking disks out) with a mallet by the way. HAVE FUN.

* * *

I got bored and made 'Polymerization' bold. Heee. Normally, I only do that with attacks. Anyways, interesting point here; somehow, even though he didn't get Red-Eyes until he was _on the island_, Yugi has a Black Skull Dragon in in his deck. Even... Though he needs a Red-Eyes to make it. What the hell is with this kid, is he a seer or something? Heck, it gets even crazier with the filler arcs. It's like... I can see Kaiba asking him why the hell he's got a card that requires Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon to fuse, with Yugi just shrugging and going 'Eh, felt like it'.

He'd do that. You know he would.

* * *

How can you NOT see where the Meikyuu brothers are coming from in their laugh fest? It's like '_WE JUST TURNED THE MONSTER THAT KICKED YOUR ASS INTO A DRAGON. SO... HE CAN'T GO THROUGH THE MAZE NOW_. YEA.' Granted this bites them in the rear about two seconds later but WHATEVER.

* * *

You can practically see the Meikyuu brothers grabbing their heads in rage during the final chapter of this duel. Seriously! How many times are they like '_YOU CAN'T USE DRAGONS IN THE GODDAMNED DUNGEON! ARRG_H'. And then suddenly Yugi and Jonouchi _do_, and they _win_ god damn it. That's gotta SUCK. Granted, this happens to pretty much anyone that Yugi and Jonouchi face in the series... After all, Jonouchi's still standing later on during his duel against 'Yami' Malik, after taking a hit from freaking RA. In a SHADOW GAME. (Which means he felt that. ALL OF IT.) Granted he collapsed about two minutes later but still. He freaking stood up!

* * *

Also, to clear things up, Jonouchi doesn't have a weird sixth-sense in the hearing voices way... Yugi aside, it was allll his head. Which might speak wonders for his conscience as assumed by him but in any case... Well... There _was_ a bit of spirit-y business during Kaiba's coma, but that's over now. Notice how Jonouchi didn't hear Kaiba for a while after she woke up, and when he does, it's because of a dream he had... Dreams that were really just that. HOWEVER...

Notice how he's seeing/hearing/_smelling_ the things on the board with what seems to be more clarity than the norm... Like Beaver Warrior getting gouged through the throat. Yay? You can probably tell by now that I have way, _way_ too much fun going into detail on what's on the board. Also his sensitivity to the 'rumbling' that happens when the Ring is active is part of this... There's a VERY good reason for this, and it comes into play much later! So don't start throwing tomatoes alright?

* * *

When everyone starts complaining about how there was no point in ending the match with a double knockout, I had to frown; the way the Meikyuu brothers had it set up, the player you beat was the 'door' you picked, regardless of whether or not that was actually the goal. However, that means that a double knockout should have been preferable... As it would mean the opponents would still have a choice.

* * *

By the way, it really_ is_ 'Fluffy' behind them right now; in the panel right after the Meikyuu brothers say '_MOVE YOUR HAND_', we see a small toning 'star' around Bakura's head to draw our attention to him. If you look at his eyes, they're not the usual soft round ones, and his hair seems _slightly_ more messy than usual. DUN DUN DUNNNN. Granted, within the next page it's fairly obvious that, given the crap with the ring in the same chapter, it's the 'Other one'... (As we actually see his evil-face quite clearly when he shouts) But still.

* * *

OH GOD THIS CHAPTER. So long, to the point that finding the mid-point was hell in itself! ARG. As it is, there's still some maze-issues after that... But fear not, for we encounter the amazingness that is Kaiba next chapter!

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**Fan-Art and Fic Art**

One picture for you! Not a new one so much as an improved one, but I flat-coloured the 'poster' for the fanfic. I showed you the line art in the last chapter; the image was titled 'Skin'. Obviously the details on scars are missing, but that's because I put that sort of thing in when I shade the image. Same with the background and special patterns on things like kimonos really.

Same thing as usual, remove the spaces and you'll have a link!

http: / /i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO%20Fanfic%20- %20Skin/ YGO-1. jpg

Until next time, I'll see you!


	31. Chapter 30

**Tiger and Dragon  
**

* * *

The other side of the door was to be expected really. At least, it was expected after everything else they'd encountered so far. The only light they had came from within the room, and as they stepped out into the hall a quick look to the left told them there was only one way to go. As Honda moved off to the right with mutterings of getting out, Katsuya found himself glaring at the second 'Mei' door at the side. "Fuck..." He shook his head, walking after the others and stowing his hands in his pockets. "Now that we're on the other side, both doors lead to the same place... Stupid Meikyuu brothers," he muttered under his breath, eyes narrowed in annoyance. "What a bunch of liars..." A few nods from the side told him that essentially everyone else shared his thoughts on this, though their way of showing it varied from his own livid scowl and Bakura's ever so slight frown.

Either way, making their way down the path made it fairly easy for their fried nerves to cool down. Heck, the moment they'd left the room, 'Other Yugi' had become the 'Original Yugi', and was cheerily heading down the hall behind Honda. If that wasn't a sign that his 'other self' was feeling relaxed, he didn't know what was. In any case... Only one turn down the far more spacious path and a series of candles could be seen along the walls; hopefully if someone had bothered with putting lights here, they were in the clear. "Either way," Honda muttered as Anzu mentioned this under her breath, "We can't relax just yet..."

Behind them, holding the tail-end of the group Bakura nodded. "That's right," he muttered, adjusting his sweater as his frown deepened slightly. For a moment Katsuya's eyes were drawn to the shirt itself but... "We still don't know if this path will lead us above ground..."

Katsuya merely snorted, hands still in his pockets as he scowled and focused on the path again. "Heh... With luck it'll lead us right t' th' castle dungeon and we can slam Pegasus a good one!" He gave a harsh laugh, a sound that lightened considerably when Honda joined in with a grin himself.

"Hey," he said with a smirk, turning back to the blond. "Don't forget me! I want to get a few hits in myself you know!"

Another snort, though this one was fairly more lighthearted in tone. "Hah! Yer gonna have t' beat me first then, cause there won't be anything left by the time I finish!"

At this, Honda merely turned back to the front with a laugh. "Well in that case," he began with a grin, "I'll just have to do that!"

Katsuya moved to respond to that, before stopping himself short. 'In that case,' he remembered her saying, 'Let me put it this way. I'm going to get to Pegasus' castle before you!'. Seto-chan... Was she alright..? From ahead, Honda had noticed that the conversation fell short and turned his full attention on the path. The others as well were keeping fairly silent as they walked, and the blond found himself staring at the dimly lit path in silence. She didn't look to good before... Hell if she'd say it, but he was still worried! ... God, what was the world coming to when he was worried over _Seto Kaiba_... She could look after herself if the duel before was any sign! Geeze...

It did not take long before silence completely covered the group really. Anzu was distracting herself with the walls, as was Honda. Bakura in the meantime held a steady, if not hesitant pace at the back, eeriely quiet even by the albino's standards. Looking to the side for a moment, Katsuya noted that Yugi seemed to be staring into his backpack in silence. Listening close, the blond could hear him whispering, most likely to his Grandfather by means of the camera. Before he could really focus on what they were saying however, Bakura broke the silence with a nervous cough. "Ah," he pointed forward, expression changing from nervousness to slight relief. "Look! There's light over there!"

The group turned in the direction he pointed, grins quickly spreading on most of their faces. Well damn... Stairs! "It's an exit," Honda shouted from ahead, charging forward as the tie from his headband flapped behind him. "It has to be!"

"At last," Anzu cried, running forward as the others picked up the pace as well. The sound of backpacks thumping up and down on their owner's shoulders filled the air, as did a number of cheers while the light brightened. "We can finally get out of this place!" Footsteps thundered across the stone ground as a stair case came into view, light from the sun pouring through the exit at an almost blinding sheen. "We made it!"

Katsuya's grin grew further, and as he ran up the stairs he caught the grin that Yugi had beside him. "ALRIGHT! Come on," he shouted, his friend nodding from beside him. "Next stop, Pegasus'-" He cut himself off, almost tripping as he came out of the staircase to stare ahead of them. Trees surrounded most of the exit, which of course had led directly to the grounds. As he moved forward to look around however his silence persisted, Yugi also freezing as they both looked forward. By this point, the others had followed not to far behind of course, with Honda already staring at the sight before them. 'Where on the island are we,' Bakura was asking from behind, the rest of the group following Katsuya's gaze in the meantime.

Anzu turned to him, expression caught somewhere between relief and shock. "Look for yourself," she managed to say, the last of the group turning to look at the immense castle before them. Compared to the early morning view, the sight of Pegasus' castle was fairly impressive, towering above them in an almost intimidating position. Though they couldn't get to the base of the stairs from where they were, it was still right there... A convenient move, putting the path out of the labyrinth right at their goal really.

Staring at the castle, the group fell somewhat silent. After all this... Their goal was literally right in front of them. No tricks, no catches... It was right there, ready for them to take on. And yet, as they watched the setting sun there was still the silent question of whether or not four other people had already made it or not. If they had... What did that mean for Mokuba, or Yugi's grandpa? Or even Seto-chan herself, Katsuya wondered with a frown. In the end, Bakura was once more the one to break the silence, though likely unintentionally at first. "I wonder," he asked, eyes appearing fairly distant at the moment, "Do you think any other duelists have reached Pegasus' castle already.."

"Well," Anzu said with a frown, addressing the topic that was effectively gnawing at everyone's thoughts for the moment. "There's Kaiba but... He isn't really in the tournament." The woman's frown deepened, and she turned back from Bakura to face the castle again. The sun was creating a complete glare from behind it, giving the castle the appearance of an enormous shadow above them. "I wonder if they let him in..."

At those words, Katsuya as well found himself growing a little cold, looking at the castle in the distance with narrowed eyes. That was a good question... A shiver ran down his spine, and he continued to squint into the glare of the sun. Why was it that he felt off again... Was there someone up there, at the entrance to the castle? He couldn't tell- not in this light, that was for sure. "Who knows," he found himself muttering, before the group began heading for the stairs. As he gave one last look at the palace in the distance, he turned to catch up with the others. '_I hope so..._'

* * *

Fourteen Hours Prior, 2:40 AM

What were her options, she pondered in the split second before Crocketts dared to ask her that question. The first one was the least likely; pick the padlock by jamming all ten of the chip slots at once. Time would need to be on her side for that option however, and she did not have that luxury. The padlock was keyed to open only with ten 'starchips', ten tiny, golden pieces of cheap metal that were being passed around the island like candy. And given Pegasus' general behaviors, somehow that wasn't surprising. Nonetheless it was the only key, so she supposed she could find one of the people Pegasus hired to gather those and take ten from them. And if they decided that it had to be 'in a duel', she had thought with a mental snort she could simply test her duel disk further.

Her mind however, was made up rather quickly when Crocketts opened his mouth again, her actions decided not by logic but by a furious rage that was aided by her exhaustion and hunger both. "Please," he said with that sly, crocodile's grin, a low growl building in the back of her throat. "Come this way... We have a room prepared for you in the annex..." He dared... The growl grew louder, but not so loud that her soon injured victim could hear. He _dared_...

The reaction, regardless of the two guards who had come in to check on things from outside being present, was fairly instantaneous. With one swift motion her right arm moved forward, briefcase little more than dead-weight and a blunt weapon. A loud crack came through the air as she swung the case into the Crockett's unprotected skull, eyes wide with anger. "ARE YOU JOKING," she roared, quickly dumping the briefcase on the ground as shouts came from the guards. Sounds of guns being drawn and hurried footsteps faded into the background and the woman continued her assault even as logic pounded the back of her mind. Now hold on... She could use this to her advantage. It only took an instant after all. And in that instant, between the time it took for Crockett's cracked and destroyed sunglasses to hit the ground she'd already grabbed the man by his suit jacket. By the time Saruwatari had a gun to her head...

She had a gun pressed firmly against Crockett's skull, the elderly man's eyes and mouth wide in a silent and shuddering horror. "Kaiba," Saruwatari hissed, teeth grinding as the woman smirked. The upper hand was hers. If she couldn't get to Pegasus herself, she would make him come to her. "You..."

"Saruwatari, isn't it," she asked, tone flooded with contempt. This scum... She'd hired him to protect her brother and instead he'd done the reverse. Even a _dog_ had done a better job than he did! "Hnhnhnhnhn..." The woman chuckled as Saruwatari stared at her, the man visibly tensing at the reaction she was having to the gun in his hands. "It's because of KaibaCorp's special employee training that you even know how to hold a weapon you know..." As Saruwatari swallowed her smirk grew, and she continued. "Did you ever finish the course? Watch," she stated, smirk dropping to a narrowed glare as she turned her attentions to her captive. Best to make the situation _very_ clear as fast as possible after all... The safety was clicked off the gun, and as Crockett's eyes widened even further in terror she continued. "I'll teach you how to fire a gun right now..."

No response... Her eyes turned back to her hostage, cold and almost blank as they looked down. Really, such a pity... Oh well. If she had to deal with one of Pegasus' men then it would make the situation all that more obvious to her real target, wouldn't it? She squeezed the trigger slightly, the shuddering breaths of her captive increasing in volume as she stared. 5 seconds until fire... Sweat was visibly dripping off the man's face, and she wouldn't doubt it if he'd pissed himself in fear. Four... Saruwatari still wasn't responding, he would be next then she supposed... And he _did_ likely have a radio on him... Three... "Y-Y.. S-STOP! STOP, SARUWATARI," Crocketts cried, tears running down his face to mix with the blood already pouring from his head wound. "P...Put your gun down! PUT IT DOWN! Can't you see his eyes he's serious!"

Two seconds... Saruwatari scowled, and as the sound of clattering met her ears she lessened her pull on the trigger. The gun had been dropped... Good."Hn!" She glanced at the weapon on the ground, her own not moving from Crockett's face. Very good... "Glad that you have at least a portion of a brain," she stated, narrowed eyes turning back on her captive once more. "..As for you," the woman continued, "You'll be my hostage until I see Pegasus." She dropped the man to the ground, watching him shrink under the 'stare' of the gun. Pathetic... She turned her attention back to Saruwatari, the sudden glare causing him to freeze on the spot. "Carry my duralumin case to the guest room," she ordered, the man in question holding his hands in the air and nodding nervously. The threat she would give need not be said aloud, and her target knew that all too well.

"Alright," he muttered, visibly swallowing under the pressure. As the man moved around the woman to grab the briefcase off the ground, he continued. "Just... Just don't do anything too hasty alright..?"

She sneered, eyes narrowing further at the comment. "Hasty," she repeated incredulously, aim never shifting as Saruwatari picked up the case and moved in front of her. The word couldn't possibly describe the situation. "Don't push your 'luck'... And you," she shouted, leering at Crockett's bleeding form on the ground. Crockett's head had been cut rather messily by the glass of the sunglasses he'd had, as well as the side of her briefcase it seemed, but given that he had the time to hold it and whine he was obviously not beyond '_use'_ for the moment. "Get up," the woman demanded, her target nodding furiously in response before scrambling to his feet with his hands in the air. As her two 'hostages' held their stance before her, Seto moved to take a more advantageous stance, grabbing the second gun and pocketing it as she did so. "Now then," she continued, both men swallowing in response. "You said you 'prepared' a room for me? Why don't you lead the way then?"

Another nervous swallow, and with frightened mutterings from Crocketts she was led off down the door to the left. Door being the 'loose' term of course... The east and west wings of the castle were divided by tunnels closed off with a gate. It was inside these tunnels that the entrance to the wings themselves were found, and regardless of hurried shouts from the second guard behind her she kept her eyes on Saruwatari and Crocketts; the guards would not move fast enough to save their 'comrades' if she were to be attacked after all... That was the point of the hostage after all. A few keys were being pushed into a code box, numbers pushed including 2, 5... More 2s, 8... 7 and 9. Seto narrowed her eyes as the door clicked open, logging the numbers in the back of her mind. She could figure out what the full code was later. As the door was pushed open by Saruwatari, the woman watched as her hostages led her inside, door closing tightly behind them. Once inside the hall she was met with a bright light from the simple lamps on the side, portraits of various western themes hanging on the wall. Numerous vases could be seen lining the sides, filled with a wide assortment of flowers but she paid them no mind as they were taken to the room. The door was closed of course... But that would be fixed. "Now then... Open the door," she stated 'calmly', leveling a stare to the taller of her captives. With a nervous nod, Saruwatari did as ordered, pushing the door wide open with his free hand. "And get inside..."

For a moment, it looked as though the man was going to say something. Perhaps even attempt to fight. Thankfully for both Saruwatari and her own patience however, he did not. "Good..." She crossed one arm continuing to hold her aim as the wide open door gave her complete view of the room. Both Crocketts and Saruwatari currently stood before her, the latter holding the case with a tight and worried grip. "Next," she stated coldly, eyes narrowed to mere slits by this point, "You are going to open the case and carefully place each deck to the side..."

The two in front of her stared, as though questioning what she was about to do. She didn't move, instead continuing her gaze- two seconds was all it took before the men before her stooped down to get to work.

"And by the way," she added, grip on the weapon almost tightening as she spoke. "Don't get any blood on the cards... Or I'll make sure you clean each and everyone before you die..."

The silence in the room spoke for itself after that, though there was a scramble as Crocketts covered his bloodied hands with his sleeves for fear of his life. Dully, Seto watched as each deck was carefully lifted from the briefcase and carried to the side, on a desk in the center of the room. Not a single word was passed... What words did the damned have for their judge after all? Nonetheless, she would not be killing anyone... Yet. No reason to after all. Give her a reason to believe they had done harm to her brother however and heads would roll in seas of blood, hostages the first to go.

Staring into the room as the last deck was moved to the side, she took a quick glance to both ends of the hall. Being approached by backup was the last thing on her mind after all... Good... No one was there. This spoke _wonders_ for Pegasus' staff really. She walked forward, keeping her back to the wall at all times once she had entered the room. The door was shut behind her as she walked, her captives merely staring whilst she made her way around. "Remove the duel disks as well," she commanded, gun steadily pointed toward the men at all times. "And be careful with them... Each one is worth more than both of your lives combined." Again, Saruwatari grit his teeth, as though about to say something but the gun once more told him otherwise. The security guard quickly undid the latches in place on the devices, and as the two were removed and placed to the side with the cards Seto nodded. "Now... I'm going to repeat what I asked when I first came here, understand?" Her already disguised voice grew dangerously low as she continued, now the opposite end of the room and pulling a chair back for herself. "Get me Pegasus," she growled, "And tell him that Seto Kaiba **_will_ **speak with him!" As Saruwatari hesitantly walked backwards to the door, Seto looked down at Crocketts and smirked. "As for you... Get down on your knees..."

And within the next few minutes, her hostage and former 'employee' both realized just how dead serious she was about her goals.

* * *

Pegasus, however, did not it seemed. Thirteen hours and counting, and still she was waiting. Seto sat impatiently in her seat, legs crossed as her foot tapped against the lid of her open briefcase. The table so far was mostly unchanged. An empty glass of water from around noon, which she had long since made clear was free of poison (one couldn't be to careful...), but aside from that there was nothing. In her right hand, as it had been for the last number of hours she'd managed to stay awake somehow, was the gun she'd had trained on the door for the past number of hours. In her left... Nothing, and as it gripped the side of the chair she could hear panicked and angered shouts from outside.

"_Is Mr. Crocketts alright_," came Saruwatari's voice in English, footsteps thundering down the hall as he ran. The guard she'd been holding at bay with her weapon shook his head, instead motioning toward the door.

Even from inside the room, she could tell the man was nervous... Then again, most people were when there was a 'man' holding a gun to them as they kept another one's head viced between a briefcase. "_We don't know his status at the moment_," he was responding in the same language that had been drilled into her skulls those years ago. Handy... They were likely moronic enough to assume she didn't know really, though Saruwatari should know better... "_He's still being held hostage in the guest room_!"

She smirked darkly, before dropping it at the feeble '_h..help..._' coming from the briefcase. Tch... Couldn't he keep quiet for even a moment? A light push against the case silenced the man swiftly, and as a small bit of hair was spotted around the side of the door frame Saruwatari's voice came into the room. "Kaiba," he shouted, obviously re-armed by this point. Not that it would do him good... "Let him go! We've already told you all we can!" Lies, of course. Nonetheless.

The woman scowled before responding, eyes narrowed in rage. "Then bring me Pegasus," she demanded, the guards outside of the room tensing at her tone. Her left hand gripped the chair tighter as she spoke, nails almost digging into the sides. "And be sure to tell him that if he keep me waiting any longer, I'll snap his so-called advisor's neck!" Muttering continued from outside, and her scowl deepened. Not for the conversation... More for the content. '_did you inform mister Pegasus_,' they were asking, Saruwatari nodding his head in response. '_yes_,' he responded to them, Seto's expression shifting to suspicion rather than rage momentarily. Oh? They had had they? '_But he said to wait until the time was right.._.'

Tch! Suspicion was once more replaced with anger, and the woman grit her teeth as her head pounded. The proper 'time' was well over twelve hours ago, and until then she would not rest for anything! She ignored her fatigued form, forcing her voice to hold out to a confident shout once more as the guards outside turned to the room again. "I know you cowards have taken Mokuba prisoner," she stated, watching as the guards tensed once more. "Are you still going to deny it, even with a life at stake..?" As she said this, the woman looked down at Crockett's miserable form, the man having somehow survived the likely concussion he sustained the night before. At least he'd had the sense to keep his bleeding wound pointed upwards rather than toward the case...

"I... I don't know," he whined, unable to move or shake his head. Hn. She hadn't been asking him... "I don't know! I'm telling you the truth!" Bullshit.

She smirked darkly, knowing full well that there was more; she hadn't been forced into months of classwork on the subject of business to fail when it came to reading a man's voice and actions. It was important in business and it was important here. It was clear... Crocketts was lying through his bloodstained and chattering teeth. "I had you remove my things from this briefcase for a reason you know," Seto began with an again lower than 'normal' tone. A thick silence came over the room with those words, and her dark and possibly crazed smirk grew. "If you _insist_ on continuing with this deception, your blood will be _more_ than easy to wash off the duralumin sides... I'll already be taking it in to be cleaned as is," she continued, the smirk widening slightly as Crocketts gave a jerking and involuntary shudder. "The inside isn't much more when compared to the outside after all..." The woman turned her gaze back to the door again, eyes narrowed as her smirk dropped. "Twenty minutes," she called out, releasing her grip on the chair. "And if I have no news by then, of either Pegasus or my brother's wearabouts... I **will** close this case."

And with those words all but one of the guards scurried out of sight, Seto turning her narrowed glare back to the case before her. Pegasus...

Just how long would this scum keep her waiting even now...

* * *

What Seto Kaiba did not know at the moment wasn't much for the moment, an impressive feat for someone who had been comatose almost two days prior. Rather, there was little she didn't know in terms of 'what mattered' for now, to say the least. What she didn't know was, however, something that likely would have incensed the woman even more about things so it was probably best she was left unaware for the time.

At the moment, Pegasus was seated calmly at his desk, laptop screen black as he awaited a call from one of his staff. The man looked at a clock on the side of the desk sighing. "My my... At this rate I'm going to have to injure another of my prized guests..." He sighed, shaking his head to no one in particular as he ran over the events of the early morning. It had already been terrible enough to be woken up so early, but to think that Seto Kaiba had taken his assistant hostage in that time... Dreadful! If he... Rather she, the man added with a humored smile, continued with this then orders to fire might have to be taken. And Saruwatari could certainly get her knee before the leg was dropped. Pegasus gave another sigh, before looking to the side of the room. There was a second screen there, giving him yet another stream of live feed from a scene that had been set up moments after his assistant was taken hostage. A feed crafted from a plan that he'd conceived moments after hearing the news that his employee's 'helicopter' plan had, unfortunately, failed horribly.

He would have to send his condolences to Okami and Johnson's families both...

Nonetheless, he thought as he ran over that hastily crafted plan, he took a sip of wine from the glass currently held in his hand. It was one thing, after all, for 'Kaiba-_dear_' as he was humerously refering to the woman as for now, to know they had Mokuba. It would be a whole other thing if they spoiled the surprise of holding the boy's soul hostage however! And that just wouldn't do. So for now, the screen had a motionless and chained form seated limply in a stone cell, head . He'd even put matters in place to make it seem as though the boy was fine so to speak~! So long as the guard kept out of sight, his commands would be responded to in full...

And the camera feed from the dungeons 'had' no audio after all.

Pegasus idly took another sip of his wine, before replacing the glass on its coaster. Really... How much longer would he be kept waiting... Injuring someone physically was something he _never_ enjoyed doing. Let their minds come up with their punishment, while their bodies remained intact... He would much rather not have to go against that particular policy.

-_bzzz_.- He blinked as the screen began to 'buzz', leaning forward on his chair. -_bzzzzz_.- "Ahhh!" He smiled, clicking the button on his laptop as a member of the security came into view on the screen. "_At last... What news do you have_," he asked, grabbing his wine glass once more and listening intently.

"_Mr. Pegasus_," the guard began, using the language that the CEO in question grew up with rather than that of Japanese. "_We've received a report from the player killers Delusion and Deceit._" Pegasus blinked, recognizing the 'code names' for Mei and Kyuu both; the Meikyuu brothers had actually encountered someone and lost then? Interesting... And even if they lost, they would have only bothered to make contact if they had either been outsmarted in their riddle or... "_The competitors Katsuya Jonouchi and Yugi Muto have successfully collected 10 starchips, and are now headed toward the castle as we speak._"

He brightened instantly deciding against finishing his wine for the moment. Yes! Brilliant! "_Ah! This is incredible_," he cheered, his smile widening. "I was waiting for this moment," the man continued with a sigh, the guard on the screen looking as though he didn't quite know how to respond. "Attaboy, Yugi~ I knew you could do it," he cheerily muttered to himself, slipping back into Japanese out of some odd and unknown habit. The man's expression grew slightly more serious in that instant however, and he turned his attention back to the guard. "_You are dismissed_," he stated calmly, watching as the screen faded to black before replacing the smile on his face. "Haaahhh... But my my," he continued, hands folded in his lap as he pretended to speak to his awaited guest. "The road to my castle may be longer and harder than you think... And I'm not quite ready to end this game... Hnhnhnhnhn..." Pegasus turned his attentions to the laptop, smile turning into a fairly twisted smirk as he laughed. "Now, let me see," he began, eye narrowing with anticipation. "I had another guest waiting didn't I?" With a small 'click' he activated a second web-cam screen, the portrait in his 'guest quarters' clearing into a view of Seto Kaiba's right side. "Hello there," he began, watching as the woman turned with a jolt. Ahh... And just within range too. "My _'dear'_ Kaiba~"

* * *

The moment she heard the sound of static, she'd turned toward the only possible source. There were no windows in the room, no slats in the ceiling to reveal a hidden screen. And painted screens would have been to obvious. To the side however, a lonely portrait caught her gaze. There... As much as Pegasus was a fan of painting, she had a feeling that the simple portrait of Mount Fuji was out of place given the western theme of the building... As the screen cracked to reveal Pegasus' pale white image, she grit her teeth, left hand digging into the chair once more. '_Hello there_,' the man began with a cruel smirk across his face, '_My **dear** Kaiba.._.' Dear? And what happened to 'boy'? Tch!

Ignoring any and all possible room for thought lest they be gleaned from her mind, she opted to go straight to the point. "_Pegasus_," she growled, attention only briefly caught by Crocketts feeble '_M-Mr. Pegasus_' from below. Eyes narrowed further in annoyance, and a quick 'tap' to the briefcase elicited a pained shout from the man before he fell silent once more. On the screen however, her former 'buisness partner' merely shook his head in response.

"Tsk tsk tsk... Oh my 'dear' Kaiba," he began, the woman idly noting that he'd again dropped the boy and added 'dear'. "You disappoint me so much," the man continued, shaking his head once more. Of course she did... Did she care? "Where did you learn your 'manners'," he asked with a sigh, an expression of faux worry on his face. "Is this how you always act in another person's home?"

She growled, gritting her teeth once more as her right hand threatened to fire off the gun right there from its tenseness. No time for this... She had no time for jokes! "Pegasus," she grit out, narrowing her eyes as her attention turned to the screen completely. "I know that you attempted to complete a take over of my company... Had that been all, I would have dealt with this through a proper 'meeting'. But I also know you abducted my little brother," she shouted, her target's amused expression only serving to agitate her further. This man... This scum of a man, and he dared to smile and taunt her even now! "GIVE HIM BACK, _NOW_!"

The man chuckled, shaking his head. "My my..." Briefly, he appeared to ponder saying something... Instead however, he chuckled again. "Very well," he stated, waving his hand dismissively. "Under one condition!"

Seto continued to grind her teeth, before her bleeding and bitten tongue reminded her to speak. "What is it," the woman asked, angrily tapping the briefcase yet again as Crocketts pitiful moans threatened to fill the air. One condition, whatever it would be...

"You should know," Pegasus stated with a wicked smirk, fondling his undone tie at the moment. Odd... Not like Pegasus to have something 'out of place'... "After all," he continued, as Seto's eyes widened with the man's next words. "How is it said in your country? Oh right..." The smirk grew, eye narrowed in mirth as he gripped both ends of the tie in his hands. "You could say that you and _he_ are tied together by a single string... Tied into a knot and pulled tightly against the other, each end shares the same fate..." The man chuckled as he did the string around his neck up in a tight knot, Seto's expression of rage and shock increasing as he went on. "Bound together, each one strains pointlessly against the other... The time has come '_my dear_'," he said with a laugh, the tie now neatly done up in a bow around his neck. "For Altair and Vega to intersect..."

The woman stared, eyes widening briefly before she narrowed them with a growl. "You..." Those were the names of two stars, but in addition to that they were the counterparts of an old story she'd once told her brother years before. Before Gozaburo, before all of this... The silver river, a tale that she had absolutely nothing to do with save one small and blatant fact. She grit her teeth, pushing the comparison to the back of her mind. He knew... He **_knew_**... Which meant that, if she was being compared to one, than the other would have to be... Her eyes remained as narrowed as before, the woman refusing to reveal her shock to everyone present. Pegasus was bad enough... The others however... "You don't mean.." He couldn't mean _him_. Hell, how could he even DARE to imply such things!

And yet, she noted as the man spoke again, he had once more dropped 'boy' and replaced it with 'dear'. "That's right 'Kaiba-dear'," Pegasus stated with a chuckle. Crocketts and the security outside the door were both too distracted to catch the underlying meaning of the name, instead focused on the 'hostage' part of the situation. Hell, they'd need a decently processing brain to even consider what 'dear' implied, but all the same... "There is only one way for you to get Mokuba back," the man continued with a narrowed eye, hands folded in front of him now that his 'work' was done. "You must defeat Yugi!"

Her teeth ground further, growl caught in her throat as she glared. "And what makes you think you're in any position to decide that," she said with a snarl, a tap to the briefcase before her bringing Pegasus' attention to her hostage. As Crocketts jerked slightly against the pressure on his neck, the man's boss seemed to have no reaction to the act at all. "You might have finally bothered to _call_ Pegasus, but I don't intend to simply bow to your whims when I could be leaving with my brother!"

Again Pegasus chuckled, shaking his head. "Really my dear..." There was the sound of a click, and abruptly the image fizzed and cracked to reveal another room. What... "When you see this image from my surveillance cameras, you'll know you don't have a choice..." Surveillance...

It was black and white, hardly a decent quality image. Most security cameras were as such however, given the constant run-time. All the same however, even from the position of the camera she could see him. Through iron bars and dark stone surroundings, she could see him. Both arms were shackled to the walls, and the moment she saw his beaten form slumped in the cell room she tensed. "Mokuba!" She leaned forward in her seat, watching as the boy lifted something from under his shirt. White shirt... Where did he get those clothes, she didn't remember... Those weren't... "Mokuba," she shouted, watching as her little brother fingered a locket shaped like a card. That locket, it looked just like...

She could remember a voice... '_Nee-sama_,' he had said, Seto momentarily vanishing into thought as she watched the reel, watched her brother continue to slump forward over the locket he held. '_I wish you could have been with us this summer, with Katsuya-nii and Shizuka-chan... But you still can't move_,' he had said. She didn't care that the 'mutt's name had come up again, that she didn't know who 'Shizuka' was. When had he said this... When... '_You can't talk... But don't worry about anything_,' the boy had continued, his sister presently watching in silence as the boy slumped back against the wall. When had he said this..? Why did he think... _'Your company will be safe with me and Katsuya-nii, so you don't need to get all stressed out anymore! When you come back, I... All of us, we'll be waiting._' Waiting..?

Crocketts had gotten out of the briefcase, her feet having moved when she'd seen Mokuba on the screen. Her weapon had lowered, and across the room Saruwatari was hesitantly moving to Crocketts side. And as she continued to watch, the elderly man was hurriedly rushed out to the others, likely to be taken to a doctor on-site. She didn't care anymore... Lost in thought, she didn't care as she stared at her brother's worn body, the boy still cradling the pendant as though it were his last treasure. '_That Yugi guy at Death-T said that you'll come back when you solve 'the puzzle of your heart'_,' Mokuba was saying all those months ago, voice reverberating around her skull. '_So I took this picture of us together, and made it into a pendant. Nee-sama,_' the boy had stated, tone low and serious. Saruwatari was returning, slowly and hesitantly with his weapon at the ready. Her own weapon was now pointed to the ground, her eyes wide as they stared at the screen before her.

She still didn't care. '_Even with all the money in the world, this will be my most valuable treasure. No amount of money will take it away... I'm giving you the other half,_' he said, and at the time she could recall feeling something around her neck and down her shirt. '_I'm putting it around your neck nee-sama... As long as you have that, I know you'll come back. That's what I'm wishing for after all, that's what everyone is wishing for... Complete the puzzle of your heart..._' "Mokuba," she forced out with a quietly strained and somehow still hidden tone as the camera feed clicked off and switched back to Pegasus.

'_This is the final piece.._.' "Gn..." The gun clattered to the ground as she bowed her head, the locket around her neck hanging limply as her now free right hand moved to clutch it tight. Mokuba Mokuba Mokuba... All these things that happened... "Gk..." All these things that were still happening...

"Saruwatari," Pegasus was stating calmly, Seto only vaguely aware of the sound. "Give _dear_ Kaiba those things we were talking about..."

The guard gave a stern nod, and without looking up she knew he was now standing in front of her. "Kaiba," the man stated, his target merely sitting in silence. "Take these... They're five starchips that Mokuba stole and hid in his pockets." Stole..? Why would Mokuba steal, he didn't need... Saruwatari's chuckling brought her back to reality as the chips landed on the ground before her, gleaming in the light of the room with a dull sheen. Starchips... The 'keys'... "Your little brother really looks up to you... Hnhnhnhn..." Gh...

Seto grit her teeth, slowly looking up as Pegasus' voice came through the room again. "Wager those starchips and battle Yugi," the man was 'commanding', Seto releasing her hold on the locket to clench her fists tightly. "If you win, I'll let you into the castle... Where Mokuba is."

And of course, he didn't say '_I'll give you Mokuba_'... Fists tightened even more, the scabbing lines her nails fit into opening once more. "Pegasus," she grit out, standing from her chair. Saruwatari had long since fled the room, leaving her 'alone' so to speak, leaving her to whatever actions she would take next. "Don't forget that the 'tie of fate' you speak of is wrapped around your _neck_!" With those words her target merely chuckled once more, and in a flicker of light the screen was replaced with the image of Mount Fuji again.

Silence. Alone in the room she was now met with silence. She lowered her gaze to where the starchips sat, staring numbly at her briefcase on the ground. Only a few drops of blood there... Grabbing a kleenex from a box on the table, she wiped it off with a blank expression. So she had to face Yugi in order to get her brother back... Her eyes narrowed as the blood was wiped up, and dropping the kleenex to the side she grabbed the starchips to pocket them with her 'true' deck. "It seems we really are tied by the thread of destiny," she muttered under her breath, moving to re-pack the briefcase with a disgusted expression on her face. "Try to cut it, but it cannot be broken... Entangling us both." Her expression darkened, and as she stacked the last of her decks in the case she slammed the lid shut with an echoing 'click'. This battle...

She did not want to fight a battle with strings attached! And yet she had no choice... She couldn't see half the hall on the video camera after all; how was she to know if they had a gun to her brother's face or not as well? Seto grit her teeth, grabbing one of her dueldisks and clicking it into place on her wrist. Regardless, she decided as she grabbed her things to leave the room. She would not lose... She could not lose!

As she walked out and down the hall, her coat whipped around her, sudden movement bringing the sides up against the walls as she walked. The suitcase was gripped tightly in one hand, second duel disk in the other and she deliberately ignored the small bit of blood that would likely stain both devices from her cut palms. Forced herself to ignore the sleep she refused to have, the pain her empty stomach was giving in retaliation to the nearly two-day long 'fast' she'd taken. It would likely last two days in the end, but she didn't care... Not any more. She just wanted... Needed... Had to get him back... The guards posted at the doors payed her no mind as she walked past them, a glare set almost permanently on her face. Out of the hall and into the courtyard, out of the courtyard and on to the large open 'walk way' of the castle gates.

Defeat Yugi... Those were Pegasus' demands, she told herself as she looked down the staircase. But why would Pegasus wait so long to tell her this? It was growing late... Awake for over 24 hours, having eaten nothing during that time... The glass of water was doing nothing to aid her strength, and she'd only taken it to ensure her voice didn't give out half-way through speaking. The woman scowled as her vision threatened to blur, tightening her fists as she threw off the drowsiness. She had no time for these things, no time for weaknesses... She could guess why Pegasus had waited this long- he wanted to make sure that Yugi would actually come, that he hadn't managed to lose to some third-rate duelist elsewhere!

And though it took longer than she would expect, he did not fail to prove her own and Pegasus' suspicions right. Why should he after all, when he had beaten her as well? In the distance, far beyond the bottom of the staircase she could see a cluster of shadowed figures in the dying sun. Most seemed relatively normal of course, but there was one that was by far unique in itself... No one else had hair that _completely_ ridiculous after all. (How did anyone have hair shaped like that, honestly..)

Seto placed her briefcase at the side of the stairs, crossing her arms and forced her eyes to remain open. If Pegasus wanted a duel he would get one... And she would win, for her brother's sake. No matter what... Any fear she might have of loss was intolerable, any hesitation unthinkable! As the group below hesitated at the bottom of the stairs, she narrowed her eyes. She would fight... And she would win. No matter what the cost may be.

* * *

The path around the castle was a short one to tell the truth. As short as it was however, Katsuya couldn't help but get a nagging feeling that something was happening. Or about to happen. Or something along those lines at least. And as it turned out when they arrived at the castle steps in silence, there was. "There it is," Katsuya muttered, staring up path. "Pegasus' castle..."

"Right..." As his friend said this, the blond turned to look at Yugi with a blank and possibly worried stare. "After all this," Yugi was saying, staring ahead. "It'll be over..." Got that right...

Katsuya turned forward again, moving toward the winding stair case. It was probably as long as the path from the maze exit to that point really- walking forward as Bakura and Honda joined him, he had to stare with wide eyes. "Man," he muttered under his breath, scratching his head. "Somehow I don't r'member walking this much when we were brought her last time..."

At the side, Bakura nodded, blinking. "I think we were taken to a separate entrance last time," he said quietly, the teen's arms wrapped around his chest for the moment. "The sun is facing a different direction than it would have last time..." In response to that, Honda and Katsuya both stared, pausing in their trek up the stairs. Looking at the clearly bewildered expressions, their friend coughed and explained. "If it was the same time on the first day," he began, arms still firmly in place around his middle, "Then the sun would be setting in the opposite direction.

Oh. Ohhhhhh... Katsuya nodded, before looking back down the stairs. "Eh?" He blinked, looking near the bottom where Anzu and Yugi were talking. Why were they still down there... Honda and Bakura as well turned, also blinking.

"Weird," Honda muttered, adjusting his hold on his bag. "What's taking them?"

The blond shrugged, before cupping his hands to 'address' the issue. "OI," he shouted, the two far below turning at the sound. "What's taking so long!"

Beside him, Honda nodded before joining in. "YEA," he called down, watching as Yugi and Anzu merely stared upward through the sun's glare. "You take much longer we'll leave without you!"

"Honda-kun," Bakura muttered with a frown. "What point would there be for us to go ahead if we aren't dueling..?" While Honda rubbed his head muttering 'eh... right!', Katsuya continued to look down the stairs at the others. Still not moving...

He decided to give another shout, the other two beside him jumping in response. "OIIIII! Yugi, Anzu!" As the two down the stairs turned again, begining to move, he grinned. "What's takin' yah, Hurry up!"

As Yugi and Anzu both came up the stairs, he noted a few things. One was that it was the 'Other Yugi'... And his face looked a little scratched up. The other was that Anzu looked a little less than- "Honestly," she said with a scowl, glaring at the taller three with narrowed eyes. "Yugi tripped over one of the steps trying to catch up with you morons, try thinking before you shout!"

At this, Katsuya merely winced, watching the other Yugi give a shrug- well, obviously he wasn't any part of this... "Er... Right..." He coughed, before turning back to the stares. Now that the sun was a little less obvious behind the castle, it was easier to see the top of the staircase really. Briefly he wondered why Yugi had switched out again... Though now that he thought about it, it most likely it had to do with the 'coming battle'. As they looked forward however, the group paused, Yugi frowning slightly. "...Somebody's there," he muttered, the setting sun glaring into their eyes.

Following the boy's gaze as the sun dipped behind the castle, he frowned. "Yer right..." Hard to make out of course, what with 'less glare' being far from 'no glare' but... Still, Yugi had eagle eyes or something, they were only about a third up the staircase. "But wh-" Katsuya froze, eyes wide as the sun sank further and allowed his vision to clear the sight before him. "Set- Kaiba," he shouted, the others somehow missing the slip up with the mere presence of the woman. "But what the hell is sh... Is he doing there? He's blocking th' door!" Really blocking it to; these staircases were fairly narrow at the top from what he could tell.

Anzu frowned worriedly, hands gripping the large bag she'd been given by Mai the night before. "You don't think..." She swallowed, staring up at the castle and Kaiba both with hesitancy. "You don't think he might be working with Pegasus do you..?" Ahahahha NO.

At this, Honda shook his head, interrupting what would have been a rather loud shout of disagreement from Katsuya. "No," he muttered, eyes narrowed as he crossed his arms. "He might be an asshole, but he said pretty damn clearly that he hated Pegasus as much as we did..." As Katsuya nodded in agreement to this, he continued. "No... If he's working with Pegasus, you can bet it's because Mokuba's being used as leverage against him." Hostage...

As those words, the group fell into a rather awkward silence. Mokuba... The thought that he would possibly be used as more than just a hostage to reel _them_ in was alarming really, but at the same time who expected Seto Kaiba to suddenly 'come back from the dead'? From above, it seemed as though the woman was leering at them all, almost daring them to say a word against her. '_I'm not moving_,' she seemed to be saying, arms crossed as she stood before them. In the end, nothing was said however, and Yugi began to move forward in apparent confidence. "Regardless of why he is there," the boy stated, making his way up the stairs with a blank expression in place, "We have no reason to simply wait here- lets go."

At this, the others merely nodded, walking slowly up the stairs to find Seto still blocking the path with a glare in place. Katsuya stood beside Yugi as they came up to the woman, his own expression a mix of neutrality and worry. Why was she here... More over, had she gotten any sleep? She looked exhausted... The woman merely stared at them both for a few minutes, before Katsuya decided to speak. "Oi, Se... Kaiba," he asked, the woman barely giving him a glance in response. Damn she looked pale right now... He mentally shook it off, frowning as he continued. "...Y' think you could move? Yer blocking th' way..."

For a moment, she merely gave him a look that said '_You think?_', before shifting it back into her glare. "I'm not moving," she stated rather bluntly, turning her attention to Yugi.

The boy in question also narrowed his eyes before speaking, hands held steadily at his sides. "Kaiba," he stated with a fairly steady and demanding expression in place. "Let us past." Er... Alright, guess asking was probably outta the question... That was about as blunt as what Seto herself had said.

At these words, it seemed that Seto chose to abandon whatever _else_ she had planned on saying to Katsuya (There was obviously _something_...), instead lessening her glare slightly. "Yugi," she began, Katsuya noting that she seemed to shake just slightly as she spoke, "I knew you would defeat your opponents on this island, no matter how strong..." What was she talking about? The blond frowned as he listened, Yugi's own gaze becoming slightly narrowed with the woman's words. Seriously... What... "That's the reason why I left you to earn those ten starchips... After all," she continued, eyes appearing slightly less 'fogged' than they had been initially (Seriously, was she alright?). "There's only one person in this world that can beat you... And that person is me!"

Katsuya blinked. "Hey! Is... Is this really the time t'-" he frowned as Yugi silently cut him off with his arm and a look. "...Yugi..." Alright... He'd let her finish...

Given that she was apparently still talking. "I realized my fate on this island," Seto continued, eyes narrowing slightly. Fate? "Yugi... As long as we're alive, one of us will always be a thorn in the other's side!" Wait what!

"Kaiba," Yugi growled, eyes narrowing further. What the hell... What the hell, was she really taking this fucking _stupid_ grudge here? Really? When she looked _dead on her feet_ and her brother was...

He as well growled, though he supposed it was a show of good self-control that he didn't have Honda or Bakura pulling him back at the moment. "Gh... You gotta be kiddin' me," he bit out, the woman turning to him with a slightly raised eyebrow. "You're seriously goin' on about that?" At the silent stare he received in response, the blond seethed, pointing toward the castle. Alright... Screw any theories they'd had on the castle, and screw any crushes he had! ...For now. "Your _brother_ is in there," he roared, eyes wide. The woman had come all this way, not even waiting to get some rest before showing up... Possibly not getting any rest since the last time they saw her... Why the hell would she bring up the thing that got her comatose in the first place! If she could do something why wasn't she doing it! "So where th' hell do you come off just standin' here!"

Seto narrowed her eyes, apparently ignoring the blond. Instead, he noted, the eyes had been drawn toward his outstretched right hand. "Hnn," she muttered, the blond still red in the face. "You as well..." Him as- The starchips... Of course. For a brief, split second moment the smirk on Seto's face seemed more like a smile than a 'joke'. More '_good_' than '_well good for **you**_'. In the end however, it widened and became more reminiscent of past 'arguments'. "Tch! It seems I underestimated you _mutt_," she stated with a seemingly insulting grin. "I hereby promote you from a losing dog to nameless stray."

"Nameless... WHAT?" The blond's already red complexion grew dangerously dark, and as he shook he found himself unable to speak. What the hell... Regardless of expecting the insults, why was she blocking their way now? She had no reason for it! Hell, if she was able to do as much as Mokuba bragged, she could probably have just killed Pegasus by now! ...Well, maybe not kill Pegasus given the eye thing but... Even if Honda was right, even if this was her being put up to it... His anger slowly faded at that thought, and he found himself staring rather than shouting again.

...Maybe... That was why...

As the blond fell silent, thoughts of what Pegasus could have already done to Mokuba in mind once more, Seto's grin shrank into a smirk again. "Hnhnhnhnhn... One could almost call this a miracle," she was muttering, only serving to once again agitate the blond before her. Dogs, losers, 'nameless strays', what was with these insults?

He grit his teeth, eyes narrowed. "Gh... S...Kaiba," he forced out, attempting and failing to calm down. Calm down... Calm down... It might have seemed worse now, but they were probably in the same boat... They had to be in the same boat, what other reason could possibly make sense..? "You came here f'r Mokuba... Why th' hell are you out here bugging us instead 'f in there?" Would she even answer..? Hell, should he have even bothered asking?

The woman stared, the smirk vanishing completely. "Why," she asked, adjusting the grip she held on her own arms. "Hn! You could say it answers this question as well," she began, both Yugi and Katsuya narrowing their eyes at that. "'Why did I lose at Death-T?'," she asked, answering her own question before anyone could come up with a smart-ass remark (He sure as hell had one.). "I searched endlessly for the answer... How was it that at the last moment, you summoned up a miracle 'Yugi?" She turned, staring past the group with a neutral stare as the wind blew about them. "I think I know what that answer is," she stated, Katsuya blinking with minor surprise. The answer..? "The thing that Yugi had that I did not..." Did she mean...

Er... Was she talking to herself? He glanced back at the others, watching as Anzu gave a small shrug while Honda simply stared with a '_wtf_' expression on his face. Bakura of course had little clue what was going on, so he wasn't really sure that this wasn't normal but... Huh...

He blinked again as the woman continued, hands moving toward something around her neck. 'The thing Yugi had'... Abruptly, he tensed as he realized what the woman was holding, the theory of a 'hostage' appearing all the more likely. That thing... It was the locket that Mokuba had... "Yugi," Seto shouted, dropping the locket to speak again. "If you want to enter the castle, you'll need to get through me first... This duel was fated to happen from the start!" At this, Yugi nodded. Apparently his mind was already made up. Of course, Bakura and Anzu were both attempting to convince him otherwise until someone else showed up... ('_You already have ten starchips, you don't need to fight_!')

And ohhhh speak of the devil, that someone else was appearing at a time where he could avoid getting his face smashed in. Asshole. "Not so fast," came Saruwatari's chuckling voice, Seto visibly eying the man with distaste. Well, she obviously recognized him then, though he expected no less really... "You can't run away from this one Yugi... Either you enter or Kaiba does," he continued with a smirk. "Not both of you!"

At this, Katsuya narrowed his eyes. "Great... Figures it'd be like that," he muttered, glancing at Yugi once more. Well... This or nothing, for both of them really.

Beside him, Yugi returned the stare before nodding. Well... Here went nothing then... "Alright Kaiba," the boy stated, eyes narrowing slightly. "I accept this duel... And I will defeat you!"

In response, the woman merely grabbed her briefcase and led them through the door to the courtyard. "Good," she stated bluntly, back turned to the others as she walked. "I'll show you where we'll be fighting then." Past courtyard they were taken to a tunnel of sorts at the side, and upon being taken through that the group soon arrived to a large 'balcony' of sorts looking out at the sea.

Walking in silence, Katsuya blinked as Anzu's voice barely came over the air behind him. "Kaiba doesn't look too good," she was muttering under her breath. As the blond turned to her, Anzu jumped slightly before continuing. "Jonouchi," she said with a slight frown, reading the teen's expression as they found a place to stand at the side. "You noticed as well..?"

As he nodded, Honda also joined in the conversation with a frown. "Yea," the teen said, "I noticed too- he look a bit paler than normal?" Just a tad...

Katsuya coughed awkwardly, while Anzu nodded once more in agreement. "Ghost white," she said with wide eyes, before narrowing them with a frown. "He's shaking a bit too... Maybe he's sick?"

"He _did_ just wake up from a coma..." Honda frowned, crossing his arms. "I mean... That can't be healthy, but I figured since he had the energy to be as big a jerk as he normally is..." The two turned to Katsuya, as though waiting for his input on this.

"Nh-" The blond growled, crossing his arms. "What, because I live there I have all th' answers?" They merely continued staring, Bakura seeming to do the same as they gave him a look that said (rather bluntly), 'Yes'. He groaned, leaning against the wall beside the balcony stairs. "Look... Y' said it yerself Honda, I mean... Pegasus' got Mokuba! And..." He continued to frown, mentally wishing that he could actually answer the question asked for once. Honestly, he had no clue the reason _why_, he was in the same boat! Damn it... "Well if Pegasus' had me on a leash like that I'd be pale to," he finally muttered, trailing off as he stared back toward the balcony.

At this, the others fell silent themselves- In some cases with worried thoughts of something worse, and in others the reassurance that it was just a show of, for once, nerves. It couldn't be anything else right? What other reason did they have to think really... "Well," Bakura finally said, turning back to the front. "He seems fine enough so far right..? So lets just watch the duel then..." The albino's words seemed to be all it took to solidify that reassurance for those who had gained it, and the four moved to focus on the soon-to-begin duel.

While the others had been talking, Yugi and Seto had both walked to on the ends of the balcony, the woman having roughly handed Yugi a duel disk before pulling something from her pocket. Looking at them from a distance, you couldn't really guess that one was near collapse... Though she couldn't be that far gone right? ...Right? "Yugi," Seto stated, expression seeming distant yet again. "We'll each bet five starchips on this duel... Only the person who wins may enter Pegasus' castle," she continued, dropping the chips to the ground in front of her. "Understand?" There was a curt nod from Yugi as the boy pulled half of his chips from the glove, dropping them in front of him as well. At that, she as well nodded. "Good... And of course, we'll be using my duel-disks to fight- but it won't be the same as when I fought your 'mutt," she continued, Katsuya growling slightly in response. Again with the dog comments! Would she just drop it already? He shook it off however, continuing to listen as he and the others watched from the sidelines. "I've switched the system to 'Expert Mode', so the game will be more our speed..." And what the hell was that supposed to mean, he wondered idly, face still slightly red as he listened to Seto walk Yugi through the set up of the disk. 'Our speed', honestly...

From behind, the others already started up a cheer, Honda's in particular sounding over the air rather loudly. "GO FOR IT YUGI," he cried, Katsuya watching as his friend attached the duel disk to his arm and inserted his deck. "You beat this guy twice before, you can do it again!"

At those words, Yugi nodded, while Seto merely narrowed her eyes. "Are you ready Yugi," she shouted, her own deck long since placed in the holder on the duel disk. Watching the two stare each other down, Katsuya briefly wondered who the hell he was supposed to cheer for. Seto wasn't in the tournament... It should have been easy for her to force her way into Pegasus' castle. With this in mind though, why couldn't Yugi win a second duel and follow in after? Or was there even time for that, he thought with a frown. It was almost sun-down after all... Damn it... Yugi's grandfather and Seto's brother... They both had something to fight for, so how the hell could he favor one side! Mentally, he groaned. Man... If only this was way-back-when, back when he would be in the same boat as Honda and the others.

Namely easily able to say '_Kaiba's sick? Huh. Oh well, GO YUGI!_'. Course... Now that he thought about it he'd take the current situation over that one. Sheesh... He rubbed his head, attempting to clear his head before it just gave up on him. Couldn't think straight... What was with all this, seriously...

The blond shook it off, focusing on the two duelists again and watching as Yugi gave Seto a single nod in response to her question. Yugi grabbed his disk with a determined glare, and as the duelists prepared to start the wind appeared to pick up in anticipation. "I am," he shouted, and with a single word it began.

"**DUEL**!"

* * *

**AN: **Dayum I moved fast! Sadly my art didn't move nearly as quick. Actually, you probably won't see that one coloured one for a while... I might even _re-ink _it, as Gimp is complete crap compared to Photoshop... Which I will have in a matter of weeks, giving me the resources to make the lineart much _much_ smoother, as well as even get the shading done better than the crap that Gimp allows. Don't get me wrong, Gimp is damn handy when you have no other choice.

But the fact is, if not for the fact that it was free, I wouldn't go near it with a fifty foot pole.

You know, I think that at this point Jou's life can effectively be summed up as 'What is this, I don't even-'. Also... I am very very confused and worried about the end part. I know from experience that you can sure as hell get as pissed as he did even when the other end of the conversation is in bad condition... But I keep wondering if I should have done something other than Honda suggesting that the situation would be a hostage type deal, after which everyone was essentially mentally bashing Kaiba for blocking their way (Right... After Honda said that he was probably doing this because of Mokuba, and OH HEY SHE IS.)... Not to mention the conversation that Jou, Honda, and Anzu (For some reason, Bakura was exempt... But he's got his own problems given last chapter.) had on Kaiba's generally ill appearance at the moment... Which was immediately followed by, on Anzu and Honda's part, loud shouts of encouragement for Yugi. Course, I don't know if that counts as ignoring their own words or not... Since Honda and Anzu still quite clearly say 'WE DON'T LIKE KAIBA.'

AUUUUGH confusion. Time for a new topic!

HOLLLLY SHIT! You people** REALLY** like the idea of a cross-dressing, female Priest Set! Poll results thus far guys:

Female Crossdressing - 8 (One vote is anonymous)

Obviously Female - 3 (One vote is anonymous)

Male - 2

As a side note, depending on the results, the poll might be extended; if Male catches up enough, and crossdressing is still clearly in the lead, then around the 'Poll Closing' date I'll remove the 'obviously female' option and continue to hold the poll until a scene that would clearly oust the Priest as male or female occurs. (Most likely the Kisara and Set vision on the airship.)

Now then! ON TO BUSINESS. Before I get going with the usual reviews and crap, I'm putting a few songs here that I've added to my 'repertoire' here... Mostly because they're catchy, and I love them... And they're effectively running the fanfic, so you mind as well know the crap inspiring them. Why, some are _in English_. (Horror!) (Granted, there's only two here...)

First off we got 'Crossroads' by Brandon Flowers... Which is really great when you want something that isn't violent and insulting in a relationship, so it'll probably be on repeat in one of the later chapters if you catch my drift. (Kaiba being nice? BLASPHEMY. Also un-true. Merely Kaiba not caring enough to spout insults at the time. I'll say nothing more on the matter now..~) If you watch the music video, it has nothing to do with the song. YAYYYYYY.

Annnnd second we have 'Boss Death', originally by the Vocaloid Miku. But you all know me by now, and are probably searching for the Nico Nico chorus cover already. Very good song, and when you compare the music to the lyrics, it's surprisingly meaningful... I probably should have listened to this back during the monster world arc, but hey, it spouted interesting ideas for the 'Legendary Heroes' arc. (Trust me when I say, that arc will have more than the anime shows in _both_ languages.)

AND NOW FOR THE REAL BUSINESS.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Iona, you are a wonderful person, anyone tell you that? Seriously... You've reviewed essentially _every chapter_, and you didn't just pussy foot around any details either! Like... Three paragraphs of things that _really_ help! SERIOUSLY.

On a more responding note, why did he keep that thing... Part of me wonders if it's because his dad gave it to him, and he doesn't see the guy anymore but... Maybe he just can't 'bring himself' to. Like it's the ring's creepy way of just _not leaving_. And of course, we could alternatively go with the fact that it just has the creepy ability of zapping itself back around Bakura's neck like in the anime... But let's not. Also.

_Throw it in the fire frodo Bakura! THROW IT IN THE FIREEEEEEE_

Oh.. Oh oh oh! You've misunderstood! The only part that was in Jonouchi's head were the _dreams_... And even then it's only limited to how the dreams played out. After all... The dragon and the dog kigurumi obviously never 'existed', but the conversation happened later on that same night. Jonouchi is indeed getting weird things thrown at him, and they are most certainly real... Keep an eye peeled for what the 'Pegasus dream' translates into later on.

You know what... Takahashi also finds Jonouchi as the stronger of the 'three guys' (Yami, Kaiba, Jou). WHOO! Certainly explains why the main character of GX, who he designed, was intended to combine Jonouchi's personality with Yami Yugi's dueling ability. (Didn't really capture the complete personality, but you can definitely see the exported traits when comparing Sho/Syrus to the normal Yugi and Judai/Jaden to Jonouchi.)

Hey, someone new! Hi there Death-Dimension12. Wow~ Number one favorite huh... Thanks! And much appreciated that you aren't throwing tomatoes (Though those would likely be the ones to get the most rise, as I hate hate _hate_ them.). No worries, no cliffhangers! Updates will get slower in two more weeks, but I'll still be updating. Besides, I'll let you know if a great big time-lapse occurs... I know for a fact that one will likely happen next summer, as I'm currently engaged... And we're considering August as the wedding date. (And typing fanfiction on my honeymoon and wedding would be a little ridiculous.)

Anyways! Ok... So you're voting for the crossdressing Priest Set then? Got it! Your vote has been added!

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that wonders if anyone really cares what it thinks outside the facts... Wait, it's not a person, nevermind!**

* * *

**The title of the fanfic draws on a popular Chinese way of comparing bitter rivals; namely the Dragon VS Tiger idiom, depicting two beings who are violently different, yet just as terribly similar as well. They're said (of course) to be linked by destiny itself, and while the Tiger is seen as brute force that just completely overwhelms its opponents, the dragon draws its awesome power from wisdom and patience.

Seeing any parallels yet guys? I'll clarify! The dragon is generally the more down to earth person, relying on strategies... Hey there Yugi! As for the tiger, he'll just be hot-blooded. But hang on... Kaiba may be a freaking card game powerhouse, but he/she certainly isn't a loud person. In fact, one could argue that Yami Yugi is more hot-blooded, given his general drive to _just fucking win_. (And before you argue, I point you to the end result of the duel that just started up there. Yea. You know what I mean.) So who _is _the dragon and the tiger then?

It's a big question. Maybe they're... (gasp!) BOTH?

* * *

There's a fair bit of dialogue splitting in the short 'start off' with the others; originally, Bakura and Jonouchi's lines were all Honda's... And that's about where things began to roll down hill...

* * *

For some reason, it's the _other_ Yugi who takes out Grandpa's camera! But... Grandpa doesn't know about the other Yugi until the Millennium World arc. So... He doesn't recognise his own grandson then? Bwa..? (After all, regardless of appearance, there are still subtle differences that a guy who lives in his house should notice!) For that reason, there's a switch back for at least a few minutes. It's about as Deus Ex as the conversation that Jonouchi has with 'Yami Yugi' in Burger World really... So... Yea.

* * *

Honda's headband is _ninja_ worthy guys. The 'tails' on that thing go past his shoulders!

* * *

There's also dialogue switching; originally, the question of who made it to the castle was made inside the tunnels... In fact, in the manga, the moment they came out of the tunnels was when they reached the staircase to the castle, and when they spotted Kaiba at the top... And _hilarity ensued._

Speaking of dialogue switching and changing, some of the lines were taken directly from the anime, specifically the Japanese version. In the anime, they adapted the 'I think there's another me' scene from Death-T into a conversation Anzu and Yugi had shortly after exiting the cave. The others had gone on ahead, but Yugi ended up tripping over a rock... On his first step. At which point Anzu said, '_I think there's two Yugi's. A cool and kinda scary one, and a nice and unreliable one_'. Unreliable huh..? Anyways, he still tripped! And scraped his face up... Most likely the switch from Yugi to 'Yami' had to do with whatever he and Anzu were talking about though.

As to what it is... Who knows.

_

* * *

_

Kaiba says it himself in the manga; that briefcase is made of Duralumin, a material often used in aircraft (Like zeppelins), auto, fuel tanks... You know. _Stuff that isn't a briefcase holding trading cards_. Annnnnd yet... On a more specific note, duralumin is an aluminum alloy made with copper, magnesium, and maganese... It's an air-hardening metal (Meaning that it gets stronger with time up to a certain point), and also one of the strongest when compared to its weight.

This is why his briefcase deflects bullets. Whoo!

* * *

'_Even a dog **HAD** done better_'... Had? As in past tense? Oh Kaiba..._ I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE_.

Or is it you seeing what I did there? OHOHO... Obviously most of Kaiba's thoughts have been twisted somewhat; I'm almost certain that his 'real condition' didn't factor into his actions during Duelist Kingdom. See below for more on that, but the fact is, Kaiba is _extremely_ lucky to be alive right now. And not because of violent hostage situations.

* * *

First person to guess what those numbers 'spell' gets a cookie. Here's a hint; the numbers are '2 5 2 2 8 7 2 9', and the password was used in the Japanese anime in letter form. It will be handy to know later on...

* * *

Given previous show of how nit-picky about the cards Kaiba is (Two words. 'Gyakutenno Megami'.), I wouldn't be surprised if this extended version of the hostage scene is how it played out. At all. After all... You touch those cards, you will _die_, most likely a _long and painful death_. Or so Kaiba implied in the manga and anime both, much to my amusement.

Fun Fact: Gyakutenno Megami is a _common card_.

* * *

Concussions? **WHAT CONCUSSIONS**? Seriously, while Yugioh is normally _really_ good at _not_ playing up an injury and making it non-fatal (Though Mokuba's ten-story fall in the anime is another glaring example), there are still some examples. Namely Crocketts getting completely wailed in the face by a briefcase **FULL OF METAL THINGS AND CARDS**. About 50 stacks of 50 cards I might add. _That's a lot of weight_. And Kaiba isn't going easy either... So really, chances are, not only is Crocketts bleeding (Also avoided in the manga/anime), but he's probably got a concussion that needs to be looked at.

Badly.

_And yet he's walking around and talking about well enough to speak to Yugi and CO after all this is done..._

_CROCKETTS. CROCKETTS GET TO A HOSPITAL.

* * *

_

Also, I'm gonna say this now, but Saruwatari has _balls_. Yea, he's a god-damned asshole. But that asshole was just following orders. Also, Mokuba _can_ be an insufferable snot when you get on his badside, and Saruwatari was likely exposed to that too much.

I know what you're thinking. You're saying 'But Usagi! YOU **_HATE_** SARUWATARI! (Still do actually) WHAT ARE YOU SAYING.' Fact is, after taking even the basics of psychology, I can't help but be objective about things like this at least once. Hell, wait until I hit the _Noa_ arc.

_You will never look at Gozaburo the same again. EVER_.

Anyways, back to Saruwatari- at the end of Duelist Kingdom, he quietly comes to Kaiba's cell, unlocks it, and tells him (in a fairly neutral if not calm and _sad _tone given his expression) that '_it's over_'. This doesn't happen in the anime of course (As in the anime, he actually works for the Big Five. And really IS an ass, thereby making him deserving of his upcoming fate, mwuahaha), but I have to say... Manga Saruwatari might be a jackhole, but he's jackhole with a good deal of heart for his boss. Hell, _all _of Pegasus' employees have 'heart' for him from what I can tell. You'll see what I mean later.

* * *

Some might wonder, '_what's with the mentions of English?_' Well, fact is, I2_ is_ an American company, and Pegasus himself _is_ American. While he does indeed have Japanese staff, you can bet that the 'common' language of the building is English... Japanese was probably only used for the other scenes due to the Big Five being a Japanese group (respect MATTERS), and Mokuba not knowing any other language... Which means that his soulless body would be unable to respond to anything outside that language, so using English around even his soulless body would be rather pointless.

* * *

Interesting fact; in India, the 'Red string' is used to denote a brother and sister bond rather than a romantic one.

Another cool point to keep in mind, the 'joke' of it is that the string is used to kill any unwanted love interests for either of the two joined. Hihhhhh! (When compared to the above 'string of fate' comparison, you get some _bizarre_ imagery.) Also, you've probably guessed that my string line is a play on both what actually happens in the manga (Pegasus compares Yugi and Kaiba to the ends of his 'tie'... Which is a ribbon actually.), and the season 0 line mentioned in an earlier chapter. Which... Was reused in his very chapter.

Another 'reference' in Pegasus words, Altair and Vega are the two stars that were personified in the Chinese myth 'The Silver River', a tale centered around the Milky Way. Specifically, the stars (Obviously _not_ called Altair and Vega at the time!) were said to be a man and a woman who, on the seventh day of the seventh month each year, were permitted to meet after being separated by the Milky Way for the rest of the time. (They crossed a bridge of magpies. Ooooh) It brings new meaning to 'star-crossed lovers'.

Basically, Pegasus is being a dick and comparing Kaiba's 'obsession' (Though it's still rather borderline at this point) to a crush, while simultaneously telling the woman that _he knowsssss._ I was actually trying to find something other than the 'silver river' myth to tie this to... But I couldn't find anything 'well known' enough (The myth is something I found in books when I was _10_ so... Yea.)... Damn. Thankfully, 'Altair' and 'Vega' being star names, the only ones who probably caught it are Kaiba and Pegasus himself, given that I sure as hell never connected the myth and stars together and I'm fairly sure that most people in security and business would otherwise not bother.

* * *

Oddly enough, for a brief moment when the camera is on and showing Kaiba Mokuba's captured form, you can see someone's legs in the hall... It was probably a guard though.

* * *

On another note, I caught myself in a plot hole! I'd forgotten about the cell scene, oh dear... Mokuba's soul wasn't taken by that point obviously, so since I already had it stuck in a card... Well, fact was, it'd have been worse if I just put it back really. In the end, it served to add more creepy to this. True, I could have had Kaiba get a looped feed of Mokuba shortly before Pegasus came in... But in the end, there's a lot of nightmare fuel in the whole '_He was dead/soulless the entire time..._' creep-phrase.

* * *

What Kaiba's recalling up there is what Mokuba's mental monologue in the manga was... I didn't want to cut that out, and found it appropriate for the way the plot is heading to make it 'as above'. And before you ask, I did indeed keep this part canon. The last piece to Kaiba's heart really _is_ Mokuba...

However, had it not been for Jonouchi in the earlier chapters, that 'last piece' would be 'lost' so to speak... Hence 'Kai's message of '_For her sake, don't die, both of you_' during the Monster World. As for who the hell Kai is... It's just a tiny shred of Kaiba that happens to know why the hell she's still alive. _AND THUS THE PLOT THICKENSSSS_.

* * *

Crocketts wasn't rushed to the hospital after all that crap that happened..? Not even when he was released from his rather frightening briefcase prison? (Seriously, that stuff would have me in a bed for _weeks_ with nightmares.) Well... That's what the manga says at least. I REFUSE TO BELIEVE THIS. That man is spending at _least_ a few hours in a medic's care before he gets back to work, at _least_.

* * *

I couldn't resist putting the 'season 0' line there, I'm sorry. (Yes, that line is CANON.) Technically, it was stated loooonnng ago to Yugi personally in season 0 lines, but I don't really go by that anime... I love it to death, but I find the manga a little easier to use given that it's the one that doesn't involve Kaiba hiring other people to beat Yugi in a game of sorts. Because lets face it guys, he actually says, in both the anime and manga, '_I'M THE ONLY ONE THAT WILL BEAT YOU_'. ...Little obsessive Kaiba?

* * *

You've probably already noticed, but the 'storming the castle' scene differs greatly between the manga and anime. In the anime, the scene with the helicopter was essentially crammed into the castle one. Kaiba for one piloted the helicopter on his own, and arrived on the island to be cornered by Saruwatari. This is where the gun scene occurred, part of which involved Kaiba pulling off a rather well placed arm-grab-toss to the guy. (Right over his shoulder... Ow.) In any case, after this Kaiba made his way into the castle, where he actually successfully found Mokuba's cell and started breaking him out...

Wait, Kaiba can pick locks? Well, he can hack a computer... (And the password was _not_ Pegasus in Japanese. That would be SILLY.) Sadly, Pegasus came at that moment and snatched Mokuba's soul right there, rather quickly forcing Kaiba into the same deal as above. WELL DAYUM.

* * *

When Kaiba comes back out of the castle in the manga, he's got his briefcase back. I guess that whatever blood was spilt was cleaned..? Then again, there wasn't any bleeding in the manga... So I guess it didn't matter. In any case, I would guess that having all those cards left unwatched was just something he would _not _stand for, hence why the case was taken along. (And even now, FemKaiba says '_I still wouldn't stand for it!_', and brings it along...)

* * *

There's a big dialogue change here, heralding both a plot-hole fix and a first 'big change'! (Big being figurative, given that this is cupcakes compared to what's about to start.) First off, there obviously isn't _as much_ negativity against Kaiba as a whole, particularly between Jonouchi and her. In addition to some dialogue switching, a quick note; for some reason, it completely flew over the group's head that Kaiba is not only in control of a _rival company_ to Pegasus' by this point due to the attempted takeover, but the man has _his/her brother._ Why the FUCK would Kaiba work with Pegasus _willingly_, or even _consider_ doing such a thing!

And _yet _Anzu's line was spoken by Honda...

Course, the line after that was Jonouchi's, and canon Jonouchi _detests_ Kaiba, to the point where he didn't even think of the fact that Mokuba would factor into things. Hence the change of lines... And a hint at the conversation points Honda would have in the manga with Jonouchi. (A subtle hint on the stairs, blink and you'll miss it.) It was actually fairly difficult to progress that scene for these reasons actually; most of the dialogue was enraged Jonouchi accusing Kaiba of 'switching sides', and everyone else considering that to possibly be true.

Even... Though it's fairly clear that isn't the case. EHHHH.

In the end, most of his rage came from a slipped thought of hostages again due to how Kaiba treats the situation. He realized it when he spotted the locket of course... But until then the idea that Pegasus would pit Kaiba against Yugi in a 'win-win' situation was completely beyond him.

After all, what other point would their be (outside entertainment) for Pegasus to do that? See... If Yugi loses, there's a good chance he won't make it through (In Pegasus' opinion) to the castle, meaning the company is Pegasus regardless of what Kaiba says (Kaiba still has to regain control from the board.)... And that's 'if' (HAHA, we know the answer~) he loses right? Should Kaiba lose of course, it means one less problem for Pegasus to deal with...

* * *

Kaiba's insult to Jonouchi, rather the 'promotion' was a little different in the anime and manga both. Now... In the manga it was essentially from loser to a nobody. In the anime, it's about the same thing, as Kaiba says 'make-inu' (Loser, or in some translation error's 'losing dog') to 'uma no hone' (Literally 'Horse's bones'. Yea.)... Which is effecitvely the way to call someone a 'nobody' and be insulting about it. (Horse's bones? Really Japan? Then again, 'Baka' is made of the words 'horse' and 'deer'...)

In any case, sticking to my usual 'dog' thing, it became a 'nameless stray'. Which is like a nobody. But now it's a dog. Ohohoho~ (This will actually be addressed later on, during one of the 'original' arcs...)

* * *

Around this time in the manga, we see Kaiba's eyes with literal_ flames_ drawn in them, the word 'BURN' written above his head. Directly after this, Yugi says 'Kaiba's different. There's something _hidden_ in his _eyes_...

Yeeeep. That's hidden alright.

* * *

The balcony-esque area of Pegasus' castle is conveniently the exact distance required for Kaiba's prototype duel disks, more convieniently a point that has a round area on both ends with a thin path in the center, and even _more_ conveniently built raised above the rest of the area as a seperate location.

Pegasus Pegasus _Pegasus_, did you steal Kaiba's thought's again..? I wouldn't put it past him. (As to what he more recently snatched, that's at the end of the duel. Unfortunately.)

* * *

A note on Bakura; way _way_ back when he stole Anzu's line of '_Yea! After all, Jonouchi is-_' (etcetc..), he wasn't about to reference Death-T. That would be _silly_, as he didn't even know about it at the time, and though he does _now_ he's still not completely sure. Bakura's a polite person, he isn't the kind to just judge on other's opinions. (Not like some people...) What Bakura _was_ going to say however was centered around the fact that Jonouchi sacrificed his soul in an attempt to save Mokuba's own during the monster world arc... Didn't to a good job obviously, but nonetheless. All the same, whether or not Jonouchi knew about this fact, it's a damn good thing he stopped him; how much do you think it would help Kaiba's already _very_ fragile condition had she been told that '_Oh yea, and your brother's soul was temporarily locked in a figurine with the risk of death. But no worries, we got him back, but you should probably know that Pegasus could potentially do the same thing._' It wouldn't go over well.

* * *

Speaking of Kaiba's already delicate physical and mental being, lets go over the facts contributing that we know of shall we? Rather, the facts that occur after the coma. So far...

Kaiba woke up around Noon the 'First Day'. Rushed out without eating a thing, though for the sake of not killing the poor woman lets say she had lunch before 'waking up'. Took a helicopter non-stop to Pegasus' island, which took around oh... 10-12 hours. So we can so far compare this to eating breakfast, and then skipping lunch and supper. Around this time, people tend to go sour with the moods; either they'll go effectively 'bi-polar' (Happy = REALLY happy, Sad = REALLY sad. Basically, a bi-polar person _really_ feels every emotion they have.), or they'll get listless... Or they'll just be cranky. All depends on your metabolism, but since we obviously don't know that we're just sticking with slightly cranky. Something that won't really stand out too much in Kaiba's case, particularly after Death-T.

Ah, but then she also did a bit of fighting... Right after sitting down for hours and hours on end, which would already have her exhausted. (Sitting and thinking takes more energy than you think; how did you feel after your last exam for example?) In addition, shortly after landing the helicopter, she took part in a duel, which requires brain power (Albeit not much in this case, but given her mental musings on Jonouchi, we'll say it), and due to the use of the duel disks (YO-YO) some more physical power.

Going to the castle involved another fight, and though quickly resolved it leads us to this; '10-12' hours after she woke up, it was midnight. She reached the castle around 3 AM, and Pegasus didn't speak to her until 4 _PM_. This means that as of noon that day, she had gone 24 hours without food or sleep; she probably had the sense to at least demand water, but you never know, as she's not about to abandon her hostage to take a bathroom break when that's meant to be under wraps. For the sake of her health, lets say she had some water. Sure, she's got her liquids...

But she's now gone 25 hours without food or sleep, is about to take part in a duel that most assuredly _will_ require her full attention to take part in, and oh yea, lets not forget that she's still recovering from a six month long coma.

Face it guys; the only thing keeping Kaiba from a complete breakdown right now is grit determination and the fact that Mokuba's life is riding on hers... So... Yea. Expect blurred vision and a bit of emotional extremities of the non-weepy variety. (Think of it this way; Kaiba's desperation just took the bullet train to hell.)

* * *

Seriously, how does _anyone_ 'pick a side' with the full knowledge of things? It hasn't _really_ hit most of the others of course, as they either just _don't know_ who the hell Kaiba is (in Bakura's case) or they..._ Really_ don't like him in comparison to Yugi (Everyone else). But thanks to Jonouchi's developed crush, not even his pure _detest_ for being called a dog can make up his mind. Because when it gets down to it, he still knows how a hostage situation works, given that he's been at the wrong end of them before; once in the 'yo-yo' chapter of course, and another even earlier, when he was successfully forced back into Hirutani's gang early in the manga (Ironically it was the chapter directly after Yugi first dueled Kaiba)... That was when Jonouchi missed a few days of school actually, as Hirutani came to him and said this: Either join the gang, or he'd essentially do away with Yugi, Honda, and anyone else he felt particularily close to. In that situation, he couldn't well just call the cops and hope for the best (Besides, that's not his style.). Instead, he played along and hoped for the best...

It ended with him getting sick of himself, getting the shit beaten out of him with tasers, and the Other Yugi electrocuting a majority of Hirutani's gang. Owch.

In any case, what with Jonouchi knowing about the issues of a hostage situation, he can't well fault Kaiba for standing in their way and insisting they play along as well. Because the fact is, epic and bad-ass as Kaiba is... The woman has no clue if her brother's going to die or not, and if she makes a wrong move the kid is fucked.

* * *

Also yesssss that is /recognition/ she looks at Jonouchi with. Before giving him an 'upgrade'. Ahahaha~


	32. Chapter 31

**And I Stand Alone  
**

* * *

The so called 'balcony' they stood upon was not at all such a thing. Carved from a stone cliff the enormous castle had been built into the rock and these towers were no different. Other areas of the castle might have had areas where it would be safe to fall from... This most certainly wasn't one of them, and if she had to hazard a guess she would say they were at least 40 meters above ground. Though she doubted the others knew this (or cared, as she certainly didn't), it did not change the fact that they were currently dueling above the altered remains of a pair of towers that were meant for imprisonment...

The barred windows on the side that she'd spotted going up the staircase told her that much at least. Not to mention the clearly 'built above ground' stairs leading to it. Regardless of the location however, regardless of the wind that was now blowing so strongly that even her briefcase was shaking against the wall, it was time to fight. For Mokuba, and only him. Nothing more nothing less.

'_DUEL_!', they had cried, voices somehow carried through the ever increasing pressures of the wind. With that single word the game had begun, each of them staring the other down in an act that could almost be called a game in itself. The game had started; rather than the basic 'one monster' set up from before, the 'expert mode' would allow all five slots to be filled at once... She needed to test that option as well after all, and while she'd have much rather taken Pegasus by surprise with this... Well, she could at least hopefully catch her current opponent off guard. "Draw five cards from the deck holder," she explained, doing so as her own opponent mimicked the action. "And place them in the duel disk; set your main monster in the center." And as Yugi did just that, she flung the disk forward, her own 'first play' already made up. Her strategy would not be broken... "When that's done, throw them into the center of the field!" Not this time!

Of course, she thought grimly as her opponent tossed the wheel out himself, the chances were that somehow Yugi would manage to figure out how the device worked regardless... She narrowed her eyes as Yugi's 'Curse of Dragon' appeared, though given the shouts from the side and her opponent's face a smirk had to come across her face. '_Woah_,' the 'mutt' was shouting from the side, surprise clearly evident in his tone. '_Is this... Expert mode_?' As a matter of fact yes... Yes it was. The smirk grew as her opponent stared, regardless of the fact that her own main monster was currently weaker. After all... In this strategy...

"Hnhnhnhn... I'll start," she shouted, taking advantage of the boy's shocked silence. Behind her, a large metallic beast crawled out from a card, actions almost mirroring the dragon that Yugi had summoned to the field himself. Thick blade like wings spread behind the monster as she continued, still ignoring the shouts from the side. "My main monster, Ryu-Kishin Powered attacks!" As her opponent frowned, the smirk grew. He hadn't guessed yet? Well, she'd just have to show him what she meant... "Hnhnhn... Of course," she stated with a smug tone, "My cybernetic gargoyle isn't nearly as strong as your dragon... So..." Lets see... One two three... There. That one. "I attack that card," she shouted, the gargoyle behind her charging up a beam as its master pointed. "**Powered Beam**!" In one swift blast the beam hit Yugi's far left card, the card itself flipping to reveal itself as the 'Feral Imp'. As the card itself began to fade away into nothingness, she took her slightly more 'relaxed' pose and waited for her opponent's response.

Across from her, Yugi was frowning. Given his expression, it was fairly clear that he did not appreciate being the first to take a hit by a rule he wasn't aware of. "You can attack the cards directly," he shouted incredulously, Seto merely smirking in response. Of course they could... Did he expect anything else? Really...

He should have known there would be a catch. "Of course," she stated, the smirk still in place. Her exhaustion seemed to essentially melt away as she spoke, the energy from the duel filling her with focus. Even if it was just the beginning, even if she didn't know just how 'serious' her opponent was taking this... To duel against this 'rival' of hers again was in itself invigorating. "Granted," she continued dismissively, "There_ is_ a risk in attacking unknown face down cards; if it's a monster with higher attack points, I run the risk of killing myself!" The woman chuckled as her opponent's card vanished into nothingness, arms crossed. "But it looks like my instincts were correct," she continued with a dark and almost fox-like grin. "And because of that, I was able to take out one of your weak monsters!"

Her opponent continued to frown momentarily, before the expression shifted to his standard 'game face'. Hn! Looked like he was getting into it as well. And good... She wanted no less than an all out battle! "Are you ready Kaiba," he shouted, the woman bringing her arms to the side as Yugi's turn came up. "It's time to settle this once and for all!"

She snorted, eyes narrowed as her smirk lessened just slightly. "Hn!" Speaking of an all out battle... Her expression became more severe as she looked down to her opponent, eyes narrowed. "Yugi," she stated, the boy staring back with a frown in response. She had to make sure of at least this... That he knew this, even before the battle began. "Even though we're enemies in this fight, we share the same objective..."

Yugi nodded, eyes narrowed as well. "Beating Pegasus," he called with a frown, Seto appearing to 'look down' on him in response. That was right...

"Indeed... But," she continued, the smirk growing again, "If you really want to see Pegasus defeated, then you have no choice but to lose here to me!" As her opponent's frown deepened she continued, grimly recalling just how true her words were. After all, after the battle between Pegasus and Keith... Well... These words held their value in large numbers even without the battle taunt in play. "Because it is impossible for you to defeat Pegasus!" Regardless of skill...

The boy across from her tensed, as did a number of the 'peanut gallery' to the side. Though all of them appeared to be voicing their disagreement, it was effectively summed up by her opponent himself. "What..!" Surprised? Hn!

The smirk darkened into more of a frown, and she pointed toward the spinning duel disks at their feet. "Take a look," she shouted, her opponent staring down to follow her gesture as the frown deepened. "I invented this machine," she continued, the scowl darkening even further, "And only a person who knows how to use it to its full extent can have a chance of beating Pegasus!" As those around her continued to fix narrowed stares in her direction, the woman crossed her arms. "There's no doubt that Pegasus can, either through some sort of trick or 'psychic power' read minds," she continued lowly, growling as she spoke. "But Solid Vision cards hide your face and body from the opponent, and in addition to that there's a chance that the distance between opponents will take the player out of range of that power! This duel disk," Seto shouted, "Was designed solely to beat him... I will bury Pegasus with the same hands that built this device!"

Even with the silence, she knew what the reaction would be. Of course that wouldn't cause her opponent to falter; she expected no less really, particularly from this strange 'other side' of the boy. Said boy was snorting, a smirk across his face as he merely sent her that same determined glare from before. "Hn! Save the boasting for after you beat me," he shouted, eliciting a mental frown from the woman. Regardless of how much he took this battle seriously, and how much she herself was putting into this duel.. How the hell was she boasting- she was trying to say, quite clearly, that he had. No. Chance... Because of the _**technology**_! ...Granted, she was definitely going to prove that she was the better duelist, win this battle for Mokuba if not for herself as well... but nonetheless. "It's my turn," Yugi continued, Seto fixing the boy with a blank stare in response. "Continue the duel!" Well said.

For the next few moments Yugi merely stared across the 'balcony' with narrowed eyes, opponent following his gaze. The boy was staring at each card with evident suspicion, and Seto had to smirk in response. "Hnhnhnhn..." She knew what he was thinking... He was wondering if one of her cards was a power up for Ryu-Kishin. Wondering what other traps lay in wait for him, what other loop-holes this 'expert mode' gave.

Granted, there wasn't one that she had on hand for this particular moment of course... But nonetheless. It looked as though the boy had already grasped what 'expert mode' meant, and not a moment too soon. The 'sub card' slats on the side of course were meant to hold four 'face down' cards... But they were far from useless when used properly. After all, if they were spells or traps, the 'main monster' could effectively become unstoppable... She continued chuckling as her opponent's face darkened, before opening her mouth to speak. "What's the matter Yugi," she called out with a dark grin, watching as Yugi continued to stare with evident suspicion. "Come on! Defeat my Ryu-Kishin Powered!" The key in winning this sort of duel lay in two places, she thought to herself as Yugi continued to glare. One by reinforcing the main monster with multiple cards... And the other... "Hnhnhn... If you think there's a spell card among my 'side cards', then why not trust your instincts," she shouted loudly, smirk growing. Words held power... In everything and anything. With just a few words it would be easy to manipulate the opponent into making the intended move... "Attack! If it's a spell card, you'll only destroy it after all... But be careful," she added, disguised voice lowering slightly as dark smirk locked into place. "Some of them are monsters... And if you attack a powerful one, not only do I win but _you_ lose lifepoints..."

It would be dangerous to attack something face down without thinking of course... Anything could be there, another monster, or a trap... And Yugi knew well to act on that, as any other duelist would do. "Alright," the boy shouted, Seto watching in silence as her opponent continued. Come on... "The only thing I can do is attack... Go, Accursed Dragon," he shouted, the hologram charging forward with a blast of flames from its mouth. "Attack Kaiba's gargoyle!" The dragon rose above Ryu Kishin, and in a few moments there was nothing but heat from the light resulting. "**FLAMES OF HELL**!"

Hn... As both her opponent and the 'gallery' cheered at her 'loss', she smirked. It was... Interesting, she noted idly, how the 'normal' Yugi had suddenly referred to her as 'Kaiba-san' the night before, while the current dropped honorifics altogether... Strange, but interesting. She didn't have time to pay that mind however, she reminded herself. None at all. "Hnhnhnn..." The woman chuckled, looking toward her opponent with the same smirk she held from before. "I knew you would come at me without fear," she stated, arms crossed as the cheering faded. "It was worth taking that blow just to make sure of even that... Hnhnhnn..." Regardless of the shouts of '_he was just bluffing_!' from the side, Seto continued chuckling. Bluffing was she..? Just watch... "My turn," she called, the smirk still set in place. "I draw a new card!" From below on the wheel, her main card had been tossed to the side, protected from the pressuring winds by the stone ledge around them. Looking over the card briefly, she turned her attention back to the field with a growing smirk. "Cards that lose in battle are flicked to the side to make room for other cards," she stated in an almost dismissive fashion, crossing her arms once more. No need to use this card that she'd drawn... It wouldn't affect anything further than the strategy she already had in place so far. "But while it's possible to reel the duel disk back in order to replace it," she continued, "I'm going to keep fighting with the cards I have!" At her words, the 'cards' before her shuddered, and her smirk widened into a grin. "Come out Swordstalker," she called, watching her opponent's eyes narrow again. The card flipped around, a demonic and apparently nose-less being appearing with a sword half the size of it's own body. Yugi's eyes were practically boring holes into the monster, calculating its every being.

Hnhnhn... He was probably wondering if she had an upgrade for the card... After all, Swordstalker was just as powerful as the Curse of Dragon, in attack power, and in level alike. "There's one disadvantage to attacking with a 'sub-card'," the woman stated, her smirk having vanished into a more netural gaze. Mind as well 'reassure' her opponent before the fall at least... "Magic cards and effects won't work on it, leaving the monster as it is... However," she added, quickly regaining her grin as an ethereal shadow appeared above the monster. "Swordstalker has the ability to absorb the anger of its fallen comrades, channeling their power into his sword..." The holographic shade seeped into Swordstalker's blade, and at Yugi's expression she continued to laugh. The blade was surrounded in the glowing light, and with the 20% bonus Swordstalker now had four hundred more points than the dragon... More than enough to deal the next blow! The smirk grew and she pointed her monster forward with a nod. "Hnhnhn... Go! Swordstalker!"

As the demonic blademaster swung his blade toward the dragon however, Seto's smirk plummeted. Yugi's chuckling now filled the air, and before the swordstalker's blade could connect with Curse of Dragon's neck the monster disappeared. Shit... He did _that._

"What..!" Her eyes widened, and for a moment the field remained clear. "You monster dis-" She froze as one of the cards flipped around, Yugi smirking as the image became clear from behind her Swordstalker. Damn it... Why was it that he had just the right card to smash her strategies when it mattered...

"I activated this card," he shouted, the image of a spell clearly seen to those watching now. "The spell 'Shift! With this," he continued as Seto grit her teeth, the woman knowing full well what the damn card did, "I can replace your intended victim with a monster who's a little more well-matched.." She narrowed her eyes as the card on the far right turned around as well, Yugi continuing confidently. "Specifically the card with the highest number of attack points... The Dark Magician!" Familiar violet robes swirled from existence as the mage appeared from the card, quickly taking the place of the now missing dragon. "And now," Yugi commanded, the magician pointing his staff forward at his master's call. "Kill the swordsman! **Black Magic**!" In a show of 'black light' the stalker vanished, another hundred points disappearing from Seto's counter. Cheers for Yugi were again coming from the side as her opponent chuckled, filling the air in a twisted chorus that had her narrowing her eyes. Noise, noise, noise... She frowned however, expression softening as she listened close. Hang on... The frown did not appear to deepen in reality, but for a brief moment she found herself looking to the side with mixed confusion as the shouts continued.

Strange... Her eyes narrowed slightly, the woman noticing that for all the volume of the 'peanut gallery' on the side, something was missing... '_Hey Kaiba_,' the woman of the group, 'Anzu', was shouting. _'Underestimating Yugi is the world's fastest way to lose_!' She ignored the shouts, eyes skimming the small group in an instant before narrowing. For all the noise... The normally loud one was oddly silent. She wasn't sure how she knew that he would be the loudest... But it seemed wrong, to see nothing more than a neutral and possibly conflicted expression among the crowd of people cheering her opponent on. Strange... Why did this unnerve her...

The woman quickly recovered, mentally shaking it off. Whatever... It was nothing, and it didn't matter at the moment. She turned her gaze back to Yugi, the energy of the duel coming to a peak. Nothing mattered but this... Nothing mattered but this battle... She would still win after all... _Nothing_ would change that! "Hnhnhnhn... Yugi," she stated with a smirk, regardless of the slight disadvantage she was now at. It would be easy to make a comeback after all... Easy! "Fighting you again..." The chuckling continued, eyes almost crazed in appearance as she regained her resolve to fight in full. She was going all out, no doubt about it... This was the one who had defeated her twice before after all, the one who had caused her company's stock to decline in the first place... Setting in motion the events that had her brother taken from inside her home! This battle... "You wouldn't believe how much it gets me going!" With one swift motion she retracted the disk, placing the card she'd drawn earlier on the side whilst drawing another. "I'll add a card the duel disk now," she stated clearly, before removing her third monster from the side. "And I'll switch the positions of the cards for a new main monster!" With those words she threw the disk forward, device landing to the ground within mere moments. The cards re-appeared on the field along side a misting figure without legs, her main monster hovering in the air with crossed arms. "La Jinn, the Genie of the Lamp! Now Yugi," she shouted, grin once more on her face despite La Jinn's 'apparent' lack of power in the face of her opponent's own monster. "It's your turn!"

Across from her, Yugi nodded, apparently disregarding the weakness and the possibility for a trap both. "Right," he shouted, pulling his disk back and moving his hand to the disk and deck. "I draw a card," he shouted, shifting a few cards around on the device. "And I set it in the duel disk... Battle," the boy shouted, tossing the wheel back into the center of the 'balcony'. As his magician re-appeared behind him, the mage sending his staff forward with narrowed eyes Yugi continued to yell across the ravaging winds. "Dark Magician! Attack the Genie!"

Seto's grin became darker, and with a low chuckle she stared her opponent down. All to late did Yugi realize what he'd walked into, eyes narrowed as she spoke. "Trap activate," she announced, motioning for her card to flip. The image and description both appeared to her opponent in full, before the object itself misted into sight. "Ancient Lamp!" As Yugi's face fell just slightly, the image of a clawed and four-legged lamp appeared before them. From it's position on the board the D-Jinn instantly flew toward it, taking refuge as it's opponent sent the black magic his way. "Your Magician's spells bounce of the lamp," she continued, watching as the magic did just that with grim amusement. Bolts of shadow bounced off the reflective lamp's sides, charging toward the opposite end of the field with no signs of stopping. "And hit your own cards!" With a thundering crack in the air, the card Yugi had replaced his magician with vanished completely, opponent wincing as his life points dropped. "Curse of Dragon is Destroyed!"

Hnhnhn... One step forward, one step back... And for her, she'd be getting still another forward! Across from her, Yugi's expression of anger had shifted into that of a dangerously eager smirk, the wind appearing to pick up more than it already had. "That," he began, eyes narrowed just slightly as they filled with a bizarre form of excitement, "Was amazing! ...To trap me!" The smirk widened, and as he looked forward to watch his opponent's next move it looked as though he might even laugh. "I applaud you!"

Applause? She snorted, grin closing back up into a large and cruel smirk. If that was all it took to impress him... Then obviously she'd overestimated him! Her eyes drifted over to the card she'd placed face down on the field, chuckling as wind pounded through her ears. Her blood was rushing and almost blocking out all sound from her, and the wind stung against her skin with a cold chill. Regardless of the cold however, she couldn't be bothered to acknowledge it... Things were just starting after all... And Yugi didn't know just what he'd be dealing with... Not even an inkling... He called that a 'trap'? HAH! The real trap was yet to come... The first card for the unbreakable strategy had been drawn, and in just a few more moves... "Hnhnhnhn..." She was unable to contain her laughter as the thought came to mind, though she managed to silence it after a few moments. With those cards, she would polymerize her three dragons for the ultimate monster! And nothing would stop her then...

From the side, the shouts continued, along side negative mutterings about their 'friend's opponent. Of course they had their 'doubts'... Didn't they always? Psh! What did those words matter in the end... Her smirk remained completely in place as she crossed her arms, eyes narrowing with mirth. She would prove them wrong soon enough, watch as their faces fell when she crushed their precious 'friend's strategies into dust... Looking across the field as her opponent continued to scowl, she watched the magic lamp mist out of view. The trap was over... "Are you ready," she shouted, her grin still in place as the lamp vanished from the field to leave the card in its wake. "It's my turn! The trap is over," the woman continued, her 'D-Jinn' reappearing at her side in the meantime. "The Magic Lamp returns to the disk, and the genie of the lamp re-emerges! Of course," she added, seemingly as an off hand thought, "It's no match for your Dark Magician... So for now," Seto continued, tone lowering to a seemingly impossible level as her monster turned its attention to the side of Yugi's 'field', "I have no choice but to attack your other cards! Go," she shouted, the genie behind her appearing to take a deep breath at the command. Time to get rid of the one Yugi had just placed... "**GENIE FIRE BURIAL**!"

In a blast of apparent flames the card was incinerated, burnt remains revealing themselves to be the Swords of Revealing Light. That one... Good, she thought as she chuckled, relishing in the scowl her opponent now had. Without that card, she wouldn't end up in the same embarrassing lock-down as she had at Death-T... No 'three turn stalemates' this time! "Hnhnhn... My turn is over," she stated, moving her arms to her side once more. Next thing to cover... "But I can't leave the Ancient Lamp exposed like this... You'll just destroy it! So," she continued, waving her hand as the card flipped back over. Lets test this option... "I shuffle my cards!" The four cards on the field spun around each other rapidly, blurring into a single solitary line. They quickly slowed into four discernible shapes however, continuing to slow their pace before coming to a stop. Perfect... "Now," Seto stated with a laugh, grin widening to an almost fox-like state. "Guess which one is the lamp!"

Across from her, Yugi was now staring the cards down with a thoughtful frown. Now that the hand was shuffled, it was likely he wouldn't even attempt to attack... With La-Jinn and the Ancient Lamp on her field she had an unstoppable shield! And he knew that... After all, attacking the face down cards could be catastrophic, would be catastrophic! Not to mention, she thought with a slight grin, a small sword to hold Yugi off until the time was right. And even if the boy did attack, she mentally added, expression remaining unchanged even at the thought, he had just as much chance of hitting the lamp as he did her Blue-Eyes White Dragon! And when that happened, the Dark Magician would be long gone... Along with 500 of Yugi's life points.

Speaking of the boy... "It's my turn," Yugi shouted, eyes narrowed as he finally made his move. "I draw a card," he continued, looking over the hand as he pulled the disk back. "And I set it on the disk!" Tossing it out, the boy then crossed his arms and stared the woman down, saying nothing.

Nothing at all... Seto narrowed her eyes as the expression she dimly recalled from her previous matches against the boy came to mind, anger building in response. Was that it? Was that all he was doing..! "Come on," she shouted, eyes narrowed. He had to do something, anything! But she would not just sit by and watch him delay the inevitable! "Attack me! You'll fall into my trap regardless Yugi, so attack!"

Yugi was chuckling again. Damn it... Whenever he did that it was never a good sign. She grit her teeth, eyes narrowing as the chuckling grew louder. "Heheheheh..." The boy fixed her with the same confident smirk he had those times before, pointing to one of his cards and flipping it around. "Your Genie-Lamp combo is finished Kaiba," he stated clearly, the woman in question freezing as the card was revealed. "Spell card," he called, "The Eye of Truth!" The eye of- What! Agghhh... Of all the cards... "Heheheh... Now I'll see just which card of yours I need to destroy," he shouted, Seto watching as her cards flipped around in response to the spell. Play with her hand revealed... Damn it!

At least it was just this turn... Even so! With the reveal of her dragon, both her opponent and opponent's 'friends' both stared with shock. Scum... Revealing her hand was effectively the ultimate humiliation, her strategy was essentially there for all watching to see! In fact it probably was... Shouts of confusion and encouragement for the opposing player both filled the field, and Seto's eyes narrowed dangerously as she growled. The morons at the side didn't realize it... They couldn't tell why she had her dragon sitting on the sidelines... But if the expression on Yugi's was any clue, he _did_. He most certainly did...

She needed to draw Polymerization, so she could merge the dragons... She couldn't just attack with one, Yugi had already proven a strategy against that! She had no way of telling if he didn't already have it in place across the field... And if she lost even one of her dragons, then it was just as likely he'd bring it back to his own side! Her teeth ground at that thought, and as a growl continued to form at the back of her throat she clenched her fists. And to hell if she was letting _anyone_ use her dragons... Wait and see, she told herself with grit teeth. She'd merge the dragons together and return the humiliation threefold!

Once again, Yugi's expression was shifting around from determined confidence and nervousness. Attack or don't attack... After all, though the cards were there, there was obviously something else hidden to the boy that she had in mind. In the end however, he apparently settled for the former of expressions, eyes narrowing as he calmed. "Alright," he called, waving a hand over one of his cards. The spell flipped forward, and as it faded from existence two boxes appeared. Shit... This one too... "Mystic Box of Death," Yugi cried, Seto growing slightly pale in the meantime. Shit... The boxes just surrounded Dark Magician and her Lamp. Her opponent continued to chuckle, the boy's arms crossed as swords began to impale the box on his side. "Heheheh... This might seem unsafe," he was saying, a smirk appearing in place of his earlier frown. The reverse was the case on Seto's own face, and her frown was threatening to become a complete rage-filled scowl. "But I'd like to perform a little magic trick, and I need a _volunteer_..." As the last sword impaled the side of the box, Seto found herself biting her tongue. God damned joke making scum... Did he know no bounds for the humiliation! "How about your card," Yugi was 'asking', the image of her now skewered Magic Lamp card appearing in the far off box as its door opened. And of course, that meant that in the second one... "And presto! The Dark Magician appears from the other one!" The door widened just as he said this, Dark Magician, calmly stepping out with his staff in hand.

And now he got a free attack. God... Damn it... All... "Gh..."

With those exact words, Yugi's Magician raised its staff toward her D-Jinn, free hand pointing forward in an almost insulting manner. "**BLACK MAGIC**," Yugi shouted, the D-Jinn easily fried by the resulting attack. "La-Jinn is slain!" Tch... Curse him... Curse him to the very depths of hell... Her combo had been slashed and slashed again, and now her lifepoints sat at below even half! "Kaiba," her opponent was shouting, the woman growling lowly in response. "I won't let you polymerize your three blue-eyes! I'll take our your life points before you even have the chance!" Well, so he had guessed...

Seto grit her teeth, before calming herself down. Had to calm down... Had to, had to... Why was she worried, she asked herself mentally. She could still win... She would still win! This... This was just a minor set back, something to humiliate her opponent further when she summoned the Ultimate Dragon to decimate him completely! A smirk appeared on her face with those thoughts, and she chuckled. "Hnhnhnhn... Just try it," she muttered, mood once more taking a turn for the apparently positive. She would win... If it was the last thing she did she would win... "But don't underestimate me Yugi," she continued with a dangerously 'positive' tone, appearing to sound more crazed than severe. "My formula for victory is more perfect than you think!" With the flick of her wrist the dueldisk was pulled back, Seto catching it neatly with one hand. "Let's go," she shouted, drive renewed once more. "It's my turn! And I draw a card!"

She looked over the now two-card hand she had, smirk growing as a plan came to mind. From her last draw she had 'Saggi the Dark Clown'... Obviously a weakling without his dark energy, so she wouldn't be sending him out in attack mode any time soon. But this other card... She chuckled darkly, setting the monster in the main slot and clicking the 'defense button' as the smirk grew into a grin. With this, she had a combo that would by far surpass her last one! "Go!" Visible recognition could be seen in Yugi's eyes as Sagi hovered before her other cards protectively. "Hnhnhn... As you can see," she stated with a smirk, waving a hand over her monster. "Sagi is in defense mode... Turn over," she shouted, crossing her arms and watching. The strategy was in place...

Thanks to defense, Yugi had no choice but to attack Saggi rather than the cards... And if he didn't move this time, then she'd simply keep laying the trap out until her Blue Eyes were ready! It was flawless... Completely flawless..! "My turn," Yugi shouted, pulling his disk back and drawing Seto's attention forward once more. "I draw a card!" Silence reigned over the field as the boy switched his cards around, placing both cards he'd had in his hand on the disk. What would he do... "I replace my main card with Gaia," he shouted, tossing the disk forward as the horseman appeared. Gaia? Hah! The same monster that had destroyed Saggi last time... Interesting. "And I attack Saggi! **SPIRAL SABRE**," the boy continued, round slices appearing in Saggi's form as Gaia charged. "The dark clown dies!" But not without doing as needed...

Hnhnhnhn... First move and the trap was triggered! This would go faster than even she had expected! "Hnhnhnhnhn..." From Saggi's disappearing form came the trap she'd rigged the monster with, the card appearing from beneath the monster in a synthesized pillar of acrid smoke. "Hnhnhnhahaha!" As the card's effect activated Yugi's monsters both began to disappear, the woman's opponent drawing back with a shout as it happened. "HAHAHAHAAA! Surprised," she asked loudly, a grin appearing on her face as her opponent's own expression fell considerably. "You can thank this! The Crush Card Virus!" She continued to laugh, waving a hand as the 'Virus Card' continued to infect the field completely. "I infected Saggi with this, so that once your monster struck it would activate! And now," the woman went on, grin growing wider and darker as she laughed, "It's not only infected your hand, but your entire deck! Now all cards with over 1500 attack points... All of your best cards will be _**useless**_," she continued, her grin growing to nearly crazed appearances, "I've **_destroyed_** your entire deck," she shouted, watching as her opponent's face fell farther and farther into horror. "And with that, your cards are as good as dead!" Not a single chance... Yugi didn't have a single chance of recovering from this..!

Her chuckling continued, and from the side angered shots could again be heard. Cheap, among other things could be heard of course... She expected as much. Eyes did not even drift that way however, not once. Though for a brief moment her grin had to appear more honest than crazed- amid the shouts that currently filled the air, that one voice from before was once more non-existent. Interesting... She didn't know why this stood out to her but it was strange. The 'dog' at the sidelines wasn't picking a side at all, only watching... Staring...

Now what was it that had him so attached to the 'middle point', his 'third option'? Seto turned her attention back to the duel, mentally shaking it off. Who cared what it was... All that mattered was that she was going to win this fight no questions asked! Her eyes narrowed in focus, the smile she'd had on her face becoming a dark smirk once more. This time... Regardless of the situation bringing them here not being what she preferred, regardless of Pegasus, of her brother's capture... This time she would make sure that Yugi knew true terror, knew true loss! Knew just what it was she had felt around the climax of her last duel... She would freeze his blood solid... Give him the same nightmares she'd had long ago... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." The glare from across the field intensified, her own smirk growing in response. Someone angry? That would only increase before the 'fall' in the end... And what an end it would be..! "It's your turn," she stated, crossing her arms as she calmed down once more. "Neither of us have a monster on the field... Draw two cards and set them in your disk for my next monster to destroy in an instant!"

Again, Yugi scowled, but nonetheless did as stated. Two cards were drawn, and for a moment he merely stared at both cards with a blank expression. At the sight of the boy discarding one with a scowl however, she had to chuckle lightly. And another one infected by the virus... What other reason would he discard it after all. Seto watched as the disk was pulled back, only to be thrown out with a crouched and growling white wolf.

Silver Fang. Defense mode. For a moment, she successfully held her laughter off but in the end it was no use. "Hnhnhnhn... Hahaha! The only cards left in your deck are complete junk," she said with a grin, moving to draw from her deck. And it was all her doing... Now that she had no 'active' monsters on the field, it was time to continue what she started. "It's my turn," the woman stated, pulling two cards from her deck. "I draw two cards!" She looked over her hand, smirking. Aside from the this spell card... The second Blue Eyes White Dragon was in her hand..! Seto looked over the field with calculating eyes, pulling the dueldisk back and shifting her cards around once more. She had Yugi running and hiding now, hiding behind now worthless cards in an attempt to block her wrath... But turn by turn, she thought with a grin, the cards she needed were gathering in her hands... And when all were there...

The second Blue-Eyes was set in the 'sub' section, the woman placing a different monster in the main section. The element of surprise would be hers again, and so would the battle! Tossing the disk out with a strength betraying earlier appearances, the grin on her face grew slightly more psychotic in appearance. "I play the Battle Ox," sh shouted, the armored minotaur appearing behind her. "Now go! Kill Silver Fang," she commanded, the monster rushing its opponent to slice it in two with the axe. "Axe Crusher!" More shouts from the side. Shouts of worry and of faltering faith... "Hnhnhnhn... HAHAHAHAHA!" Even Yugi's precious friends were losing their beliefs in the boy, how fitting before he lost..! "Don't think this is the worst Yugi," Seto shouted with a wicked grin. "I have much stronger ones coming... This is just something to keep you occupied!" Her chuckling died down, grin fading into a small smirk at the glare Yugi sent toward her. 'you...', he seemed to say. "Hnhnhnhn... It's almost pathetic," she stated with narrowed eyes, brushing a bit of hair from her face as the wind gave a particularly rough blast. Times like this that made her appreciate short hair even more... Unlike her opponent, who was somehow able to _ignore_ the hair blowing into his face. "Even the Battle Ox, whose attack is less than 2000 has become out of your league..."

She was prepared for anything... Anything that might happen! Two Blue-Eyes were hidden in her 'hand', same with a negate attack should Yugi find a way out of the virus trap... And should anything else happen she had 'Gift of the Mystical Elf' to restore her lifepoints. Her hand was perfect..! She could not lose, she would not lose! For Mokuba's sake... And to prove her own power! Her victory had been decided_ long_ ago, before all of this! "Now Yugi," she shouted, her opponent currently staring across the field with a blank and possibly fearful gaze. "It's your move!" Yugi continued to frown, and her own grin grew. Hesitating..? Scared maybe? "Hurry up," the woman continued, the shouts from the side now dying down once more. "Play your next card so the Battle Ox can destroy it!"

Yugi merely narrowed his eyes at the shouts, before drawing two cards. Briefly, she frowned. Was that a look of triumph she saw..? No matter, she decided as the disk was thrown out. "My new main monster," Yugi was shouting, Seto merely smirking in response. "Griffor!"

"Hmph!" And she'd been worried... Pah! What reasons did she have to even flinch with the lockdown she had? "Griffor," she asked incredulously, the smirk growing into a dark grin. Another weakling... She might not even have a chance to summon her dragon at this rate! "Another useless shield monster... My minotaur will crush it and you'll be one card closer to your end!"

Her smirk dropped when Yugi as well began chuckling, her eyes narrowing as the boy spoke. Damn it... What now? "Except it's not in defense mode," he stated, before waving a hand over one of his cards. What..? Why the hell would he do something like th- "Horn of the Unicorn," Yugi cried, Seto gritting her teeth in response. Great. Equip spell. Aggggghh... "I combo attack with this card!" The horn latched itself to Griffor's head, and in a sudden pulse of synthesized thunder the monster launched its boosted attack. "**GRIFFOR ARROW**," Yugi cried, the Battle Ox's hologram misting from existence as her lifepoints took another hit. Remnants of the attack danced around the air before following behind it, Seto holding back a growl. "The Battle Ox goes down!"

Hn! More shouts... More cheers and insults filling the air with noise... Nonetheless, she'd prepared even for this hadn't she? "Hnhnhnhnhn... So you defeated the puny battle ox," she stated with a chuckle, those watching giving a confused frown in response. The card could only be activated after an attack... With this... "I almost want to thank you for it!" More confusion... Always prepare ahead of time, she knew that Yugi would do _something_ after all... She smirked, still chuckling as she continued. "I probably don't have to tell you this, but if you switch your monster to Attack Mode, it remains that way until the beginning of your next turn... In other words," she stated as Yugi abruptly tensed, "Your monster is open to attack! Hnhnhnhn... I hope you made the right decision," she stated with a low voice, eyes narrowing. The advantage was still hers..! "My turn! And before I draw my cards," she called out, her spell card flipping around to glow with light, "I'll play this spell! The Gift of the Mystical Elf!" As Yugi reeled back in shock and anger, she smirked. This card would bring back more life points than she had before the attack... Not much but nonetheless. At least it meant she was closer to 1000 and she was 0. "Hnhnhnhn... Now I've healed from your little attack," she stated, pulling back her duel disk as she continued. "And since my field is clear, I can draw two new cards!"

And they were... Polymerization and Blue-Eyes. Her neutral gaze twisted into a far darker smirk reminiscent of even her duel at Death-T. All three Blue-Eyes were in her hand, as was the Polymerization card..! She placed the third Blue-Eyes in the center, clicking Polymerization into place at the side. With this turn she would play the first dragon... Merging them would take one more... Now... Her smirk widened into a manic grin as the victory she'd envisioned came closer and closer. Now he was at last at her complete mercy! "Come out Blue Eyes," she roared, sending the dragon out with a wide grin. White shimmering scales appeared in a blast of light, the dragon coiling in the air as it gave off a loud roar. As shock and defeat came over the faces of most watching, her grin grew. "This is it Yugi," she shouted, voice barely carrying over the roar of her dragon and the still increasing pressure of the wind. "Get ready... **BURST STREAM OF DESTRUCTION**! Die, trash!"

The resulting explosion blinded the field as Griffor's hologram seeped out of existence. Blue-Eyes returned to its position behind her, growling in an almost amused fashion at the sight. Of course, even though Griffor was complete trash on the field Yugi was still alive... Barely. "Hnhnhnn... A close one wasn't it," she asked, almost looking down at the boy across from her. "Good... Now it's your turn!" 100 lifepoints... That was all that stood between her and victory, her and her brother, her and _Pegasus_ lucky-to-be-alive being.

Her opponent growled from across from her, drawing his cards before tossing his disk out with a new monster. "I play this in defense mode," he shouted, a stone golem appearing in a huddled position on the field. "My turn's over..."

Defense... She'd ordinarily be amused by this, with victory so close in sight, but at the same time she wanted nothing more than this to end now... "Yugi," she stated, eyes narrowed as her expression became an almost neutral frown. This was it... The time had come. "From the moment I met you I've tasted nothing but the thirst of defeat... A hunger for victory that has since gone unsatisfied..." Her eyes narrowed, and with her next words all three of her remaining 'trump cards' came into play. "Until now... BLUE-EYES," she roared, voice echoing clearly over the wind as the three dragons she'd played began to swirl into one being. "**POLYMERIZE**!" The dragons continued to swirl, before the hologram cleared up to reveal three snarling heads atop an immense and white scaled body. "Merge and become the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" As the roars sounded from behind, Seto had to laugh. The ultimate dragon flew over and before her, hovering in place above the center of the field. It easily dwarfed the golem before it, and even the three dragons who had created it would have shrunk in it's presence. "Hahahahahhaa! What do you think," she shouted, her opponent's face frozen with shock in the beast's presence. "Look Yugi... Isn't it beautiful? The world's strongest killing machine!" 4500 attack points, little more than a scrap heap for a defense... This duel was over! "Hnhnhnhnhn... Are you ready Yugi," she called, calming herself down and bringing her crazed grin to a smirk. Truly a wonderful sight, this dragon... She needed to focus though. Focus... "This weight I've carried," she muttered with a slight frown, those around having little response. Their shouts had long since died, and she could care less. "This weight of defeat that's been pulling me down since the day you threw it on me..." Her eyes narrowed, before the frown shifted into a dark smirk. "Now it's your turn to carry it," she cried, pointing her dragon forward. "And you'll crawl on the ground in humiliation! HERE I COME... BLUE EYES ULTIMATE DRAGON," she shouted, all three heads roaring in response to her cries. "ATTACK! **ULTIMATE BURST**!"

She didn't attack the defense monster this time. Not when Yugi could well have traps and spells set up for the dragon lying in wait, not when her monster was now vulnerable to a single hit.. In a burst of light Yugi's spell flipped around, misting out of existence as her opponent winced. 'Monster Recovery'... "Hmph," she muttered, arms crossed as the dragon returned to her side. "Nothing but a spell... But that's fine," she decided, eyes narrowed to slits as she stared her opponent down. If Blue-Eyes hadn't been taken out before, then he obviously had nothing else lying in wait... "There's no way out after all... Nothing will save you!" She. Could. Not. Lose. Not at all... She chuckled as her opponent froze, ignoring the wind that pounded against her. "Now Yugi," the woman shouted loudly. "It's your turn! If you aren't going to surrender," she continued with a wicked grin, "Then draw a card!"

Yugi was staring at his deck, eye narrowed. The look of defeat was there... It wasn't moving, not this time... As her eyes narrowed however, the cheers from the side filled the air once more. And this time... She gave a slight smirk, the expression almost feeling foreign as opposed to her general look. Hn!

The mutt was shouting now. In fact... At the moment he seemed to be the only one shouting, making his voice all the more apparent. "YUGI," Jonouchi was shouting, her opponent turning to the blond in response. They were all silent, all of them... Just listening as this mutt shouted at the top of his lungs. "We're almost at Pegasus' castle..! We worked hard to get here," the blond was continuing, deliberately turned away from Seto as he shouted. She couldn't see his face... "If you give up now... We'll never get in!"

More shouts, more words of encouragement. More noise... As she turned her attention back to Yugi, she noted that the boy's expression had shifted to that of a familiar determined glare. "Hmn..." '_I won't give up_,' he seemed to be saying, the shouts from the others continuing as once again Jonouchi's cries faded to the silence he'd uncharacteristically held. Never giving up... Alright then... Her opponent drew his card, and Seto's expression shifted back into it's dark smirk. Come at her until the very end then! Let her crush that hope at full blast, in one move! And only one!

"Draw," Yugi shouted, pulling his next card from the deck. He pulled his disk back, setting something on the device before tossing it out. "I'll add this card to my 'subs' this turn... My main monster," he continued with grit teeth, "The Giant Soldier, stays in defense mode! And my turn ends!"

Good! Then she would destroy it! "My turn," Seto shouted, dark grin still in place. Alright... Four cards were in place; instinct told her to destroy those cards, but knowing Yugi at least one was a trap. Her grin vanished momentarily, the woman sinking further into thought. And wouldn't it be absolutely moronic to be caught in the same trap she did in her last duel... The spellbound circle from the last duel... A mental nod was made at those thoughts, and her smirk returned. Alright. She'd play it safe this turn... Or somewhat safe at least. "**ULTIMATE BURST**," she called, a simple head-tilt telling her dragon what to attack. White lightning coursed across the field to blast through Yugi's monster, and the smirk grew. Nothing but air where it had stood now... "The stone soldier is turned to dust!" As her opponent shuddered against the combined force of the wind and attack, she had to laugh. Interesting how 'expert mode' didn't seem to hold as much force as it had against the 'mutt' the night before... If it had, she'd have long since knocked Yugi off the side of the wall... Oh well. "What now," she taunted, manic grin in place as she stared her opponent down. "What's your next move? There's no card in the world that can defeat the Ultimate Dragon!" Not a single one could do it! And that was a fact... Not a one...

As she continued to laugh, her opponent merely glared and grit his teeth. Gradually, the laughter died down, much like the shouts from the side had ages before. "It's my turn," Yugi was shouting, eyes set into a determined stare. "And I'll bet my life on this card!" His life? She merely smirked at that, continuing her blank and narrowed stare. Useless... Draw any card, any card at all, not a single one would save him! His life bet would be made- "Hehehehe..." Why the hell was he laughing _this_ time! Her smirk was replaced by a small frown, and her opponent's face quickly broke into a grin. "Kaiba," the boy stated, chuckling all the while as her expression dropped. "I just drew the ultimate card..." What! "See for yourself," he shouted, pulling the disk back. "I'll make this my main monster... And play it in attack mode!" The disk was thrown out, and before her eyes came what appeared to be a tiny ball of fur with enormous eyes. ...It couldn't even come close to being intimidating.

Wait... W..What..? She stared incredulously, blinking a few times. A joke... That had to be a joke... Ku..Kuriboh! In attack mode! 300 attack points made it the weakest monster in the game..! "Gh... Haha...Hahahahaha!" She attempted to laugh, to make this a joke. It had to be, it had... But why! Why of all things! "Grgh... Yugi," she forced out, gritting her teeth and finally banishing all thoughts of looking at the situation humorously. This play... "It's your right to give up... But to play KURIBOH," she shouted, face twisting into a wide-eyed scowl. "The piece of trash that is the weakest card in the entire game, the card that no one ever even bothers to put in their deck! WHY," she shouted, fists clenched. "Don't even _think_ of treating this game as a joke!"

Her opponent merely snorted under her shouts, calmly smirking in response. How dare he... How _dare _he... "You're wrong Kaiba," he stated, voice somehow making it across the windy stage. "This is my trump card... And it will beat your dragon!" Impossible... That thing, beat Blue-Eyes? It couldn't beat anything, let alone the most powerful monster in existance! As she stared in shock, the boy across merely pointed his monster forward. Serious... He was serious..! She should be laughing at this, but why the hell did she suddenly feel cold... "Here I go," he shouted, waving a hand over the field. "But before that... I play the Multiply Card!" WHAT! She stared in shock, watching as the single Kuriboh abruptly began to divide in two, the two dividing into four, and within seconds...

"Th...There's hundreds of them..." And they were still going..!

Yugi smirked, and the air continued to fill with more and more 'Kuriboh' duplicates. "That's right," he stated, Seto merely watching in silence, attempting to grasp how one of her dueldisks, now matter how powerful, could emulate the number of kuriboh appearing before them. "Multiply duplicates monsters with 500 attack points or less... Hehehehe..." What the hell was he doing... What the hell was he planning with this... "You're right," Yugi continued, crossing his arms as the kuriboh swarm continued to grow. "This is a low level monster, with little attack power at all. But don't take it too lightly," he added, smirk widening to eerie proportions. "It has hidden powers which can overwhelm monsters stronger than even yours!"

An idiot... A moron... It couldn't possibly be... "You're a fool," she roared, snapping herself out of her shock. This meant nothing... Nothing! "For my Ultimate Dragon more opponents only mean more corpses!" This changed nothing... Nothing, regardless of the effect the pathetic hairballs had! "ATTACK," she shouted, dragon charging it's strike with all three heads. "**ULTIMATE BURST**!" The field was filed with light for a moment, only for a number of kuriboh holograms to invade even her field in the resulting explosion. "What..!" Shit... Shit! These things were multiplying too fast to...

"That's right," Yugi stated, face hidden behind the wall of kuriboh. "Multiply remains in effect far longer than one turn... And the moment it touches the enemy, or gets hit, Kuriboh explodes, leaving no damage to my lifepoints! Which means," he continued, Seto's face growing pale as the boy said this. "That your Ultimate Dragon can't get to me OR my cards!"

Gh... Wretched little things... She watched as the poor excuses for cotton balls continued to appear, easily replacing the ones lost in the attack. More and more and more... Like a virus, or even just a bacterial scum... Yugi chuckled at her shock, continuing as it came to his turn. "Hehehehe... My Kuriboh-Multiply combo won't stop until you destroy them all," he stated, Seto narrowing her eyes in response. "Of course... If you can wipe them all out," the boy was adding with a dark grin, "Then you can go ahead and kill me! But first," he shouted, Seto's eyes widening as her opponent continued. "I'll play my second trump card!" Second..! Damn it how many sets did he have on hand! "Here goes," he shouted, the kuriboh in front of him floating aimlessly as he shouted. "A three-part combo to destroy the three-headed dragon!"

The cards were flipped around, and as each one was called out she found herself shaking just slightly. The wind was feeling more and more rough, her exhaustion catching up to her... 'Living Arrow' was first, Yugi was shouting. _'It lets me play one of my spells on your monsters! And because you like polymerization so much..._' Voices were becoming dimmer, and her eyes stared wide and horrified as the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon was fused against its will. The ear-splitting roar pierced through the wind itself, dragon writhing in pain... "You... Y-You combined the Mammoth Graveyard with my dragon," she roared, watching as the monster began to decay from within. Blue-Eyes was light... Mammoth Graveyard was dark, a corpse! Merging light with darkness, matter with anti-matter, life with death...

They'd both die! "The tables have turned Kaiba," shouted Yugi, Seto's eyes not moving from her monster. Rotting away... Falling to pieces before her eyes... Becoming nothing, nothing... "The Mammoth had 1200 attack points," Yugi was saying, Seto ignoring his words as she ran over a solution, any solution in her mind. Anything... 1200... This meant that the dragon would lose 1200 each turn. Negate Attack could only block monster attacks, it did nothing against this..! "Well Kaiba," Yugi was shouting, the woman across from him slowly turning back with a growl. "Now you're the one losing!"

'_This is what happens to people who lose Seto._' Only this time she wasn't going to be the one paying for it, was she...

Shouts from the side pounded through her ears. The wind howled and pushed against her, threatening to knock her to the ground as it had her briefcase. Holograms of these god-damned Kuriboh _scum_ blocked her view of everything around her... She couldn't lose... She couldn't lose! "It's not over," she forced out, eyes narrowed. Never over... It couldn't be over, not if Mokuba was to... "**IT'S NOT OVER YET**," she roared, sending her rotting and pained dragon forward. "ATTACK, ULTIMATE DRAGON," she shouted, regardless of how pointless the situation was. "**ULTIMATE BURST**!" The dragon's attack had decreased, but it had no effect anyways. Minimal damage was done to the wall of kuriboh, and as she stared forward across the field she breathed heavily.

"Give up Kaiba," Yugi was saying with that smug smirk that she wanted nothing more than to rip of his face. "As long as my kuriboh minefield is here, your big, flashy attacks can't do a thing!" Vermin... Scum... Ultimate dragon was getting weaker, it couldn't make it through the wall... And because of the number of cards used in the fusion she couldn't play anything more... "I'll draw one card," Yugi was saying from across from her, the woman narrowing her eyes in a weak attempt to stare her opponent down. "And end my turn. Kaiba," the boy continued, Seto stumbling slightly behind the kuriboh wall as her dragon seemed to moan in pain. "This... Is Checkmate."

'_This is checkmate,_' she had said that day, and if she hadn't...

Rotting... She stared at the great dragon before her, watching it rot into an emulsified sludge on the ground. Once white shimmering scales were effectively a murky brown-gray, the dragon sitting at the ground rather than hovering proudly in the air. She couldn't lose... No! She couldn't lose, not again... Her locket dangled around her neck, pulling around her throat as the wind tugged at it. Not again... If she lost, who would watch Mokuba.. Who would...

'_N-Nii-sama_,' he'd said that day, somehow clinging to the facade she held. '_Nii-sama_,' he'd screamed as she looked at him through the screen, fingers playing across the button controlling the holograms of the duel box. '_Help me... Help me..! I'm... I'm your brother aren't I..?_'

Suddenly, she wasn't standing on the tower, surrounded by a swarming and thick wall of kuriboh anymore. Her body was there but in her eyes was another sight all together as they widened with fear. The tower, the wind, the noise, none of it existed. Nothing but darkness, herself... And the large and magnificent white dragon that was slowly rotting to mush. One head seemed bowed, as though crying but it had no eyes from which to cry. The other attempted to roar in pain, but without a throat or a lower jaw, all it could do was writhe its head and attempt a gurgled snarl. The third head couldn't even move, glued to its body by the mush that the muscles it once had beneath those proud white scales. Wings were rotting to nothing... Bones could be seen, muscles and tendons... And amid all of this, as the center of the beast began to rot, she could see through the great dragon's ribs. A hand reached out... And behind the bones, regardless of the flesh dripping past them, she could still make out a head of long black hair in the darkness. "NEE-SAMA," came Mokuba's cry, and through the acidic and dissolving body she could see the boy attempt to reach further. No... No no no no...!

"MOKUBA!" That wasn't her who had called... Instead someone else... Someone else whose voice sounded eerily similar, too similar to be falsified. Seto watched, shocked into complete silence as another her, a smaller one... The one she'd been years before, that day when everything had gone wrong... It was winter... The snow had been falling, and the tree was there, and as they looked around they had seen nothing but the truck... "MOKUBA," her younger self shouted, reaching forward as her brother's shouts were drowned out by collapsing flesh, the heads of the Blue-Eyes white dragon finally falling over the middle and leaving nothing but dissolving bones. "NO! **NOOOOO**!" The beast before her melted to nothingness, the ooze seeping away and resembling little more than a puddle. Even the skeleton became nothing but dust... Nothing but grains of sand blown into the wind...

She did this... Seto looked at her hand, eyes wide with terror. She did this... **SHE DID THIS**... Her hand was begining to melt away, and as she brought them to her face she realized that that wasn't the only part. Dust and bone... That was all they were, dust and bone and now that Mokuba was gone it was her turn...

"WHY," shouted the other version of herself, the girl turning on her older counterpart with a vicious snarl. "WHY DIDN'T YOU HELP HIM!" She couldn't answer, frozen in fear and despair both as she continued to grow weak. "CAN'T YOU EVEN PUT YOUR LIFE ON THE LINE," the girl shouted, eyes wide with rage as she managed to instill fear into a woman who was at least twice her own height. "_EVEN A DOG DID BETTER THAN YOU_," she raged on, fists clenched tightly as the shouts echoed about her. "SO WHY DIDN'T YOU, WHO SWORE TO PROTECT HIM, HELP HIM YOURSELF! WHY DIDN'T YOU DO ANYTHING!"

No... No... She shut her eyes, squeezing them shut. NO! This couldn't be, this couldn't... She hadn't lost Mokuba yet, she hadn't... He wasn't gone...

"Oi," came a shout from 'elsewhere', the woman still grimacing as her eyes remained tightly shut. "Didn't you come for a reason, S... KAIBA?" Who was that... "DON'T JUST STAND THERE," ordered the voice, Seto's breathing labored as she felt herself continue to almost sink away. Gone... Gone... They were gone... "_IT AIN'T OVER YET_!" Not over...

Eyes flung open, and she was again on the tower. The wind was pounding at her sides and the kuriboh continued to fly about aimlessly. Her coat barely kept her warm and her locket was tugging around her neck as though pulling her to a gallows. Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon was almost completely dissolved... It had only 900 attack points now, the same as her own 'life'... Her turn had been skipped over... By this point her opponent would be a fool not to attack... Seto's eyes fell, neither to an expression of fear nor of hate. She was here for a reason... The woman grabbed her pendant, gripping it tightly as her eyes closed over. A reason that she could not forget, not ever... Mokuba...

She turned, a light and confused frown in place as she stared past the wall of Kuriboh. Someone had shouted to her. Someone had shouted, and not with anger or fear... Yugi's 'friends' had mostly turned on the blond with confused stares... The blond however, had a confident if not worried smile in place, and she recalled his short 'cheer' with confusion.

Why... She stared, turning back to face the field. Why did he do that... She didn't need his help! She didn't need anyone to help! Her turn had been skipped over... Looking across the board, she found herself watching as the wall of Kuriboh was abruptly banished by their controller. It wasn't over... Never over but all the same, she thought as her logical side came to the forefront.

All the same... It was close. And the mutt... Jonouchi's words would have no effect on this. They were only words after all, nothing more nothing less. She stood alone, she fought alone... Besides... As 'she herself' had said...

'_Even a dog did better than you_.' She didn't need to look into that statement to know what 'she' had meant. "Elven Knight," her opponent was shouting, the call only dimly heard over the sound of the wind and her own rushing blood. Through rotting bones and slime emulated by her duel disk she could see the celtic guard grip his sword with a nod, ready for battle. "ATTACK THE ULTIMATE DRAGON!" 1400, taking down 900... One of the heads toppled to the ground win the elf's wake, and she stared at it dimly before looking across at her opponent. Over... It was over...

"...Yugi," she began, faded voice somehow making it across. She didn't want to cheat. She didn't want to lose either though... Only one thing... One thing to do, to make sure that one way or another it was fixed... '_Put your life on the line_,' she'd told herself. She caused this... Mokuba was gone because of her... If she couldn't get to him... "The game has only just begun..." Her arms hung limply at her sides, and though her eyes were narrowed they were dim and almost soulless in appearance. "I lost 500 points from that attack.. So," she began, barely holding the diguised voice by this point. "Each of these bricks on the ground will represent 100 of those points." The wind continued to swirl, but rather than picking up it instead died down. "I will move back as many bricks as I have lost lifepoints," she continued, stepping backward as she counted mentally. "I lost 500 points... In otherwords," she shouted, voice and expression both betraying her otherwise desperate move. If she couldn't save him, then what worth did she have for him in this world? She'd said it herself... Hadn't she? "I'll move back five spaces."

One... Two... Across from her Yugi's eyes were widening with realization, and shouts from the side held the same reaction. Three... Four... '_Oh my god_,' came Anzu's shout from the side, Seto ignoring it. '_That means..._' One step left, and without hesitation she took it, stepping up and backward, unflinchingly as the wind howled.

Five.

As she stood at the top of the tower wall, she refused to look anywhere else than toward her opponent. This castle... It was built into a cliff-face... She'd noticed it long ago. Forty meters high, at least...

_'Put your life on the line..._' she had said...

"I have nothing more to lose," she stated, tone frighteningly calm in comparison to her words throughout the entire duel as a whole. Put her life on the line... And she would. Gladly. "If you hit me again," she continued, ignoring the shouts as they raised in volume, "Then you win this game. And I die."

And she would gladly do so if it was all there was left. She could't reach Pegasus if she lost. Mokuba would be gone... Briefly, her eyes drifted over to the same blond from before, the teen's own eyes wide with fear. ...Hn. '_Even a dog did better_'... Then... if that was the case...

As the wind swirled around her, she could recall something that someone had told her many years before, her own thoughts vanishing as the shouts continued to fill the air...

_...Don't look down...

* * *

_**AN: **And another chapter that I liked typing a lot~ Don't do it Kaiba! LIFE IS TOO GOOD.

Well... I'll admit that at the moment life royally sucks for you but... Well that's completely missing the point isn't it. After all, this is more a 'Well... Mind as well pay for the shit I've done to my brother if I can't redeem myself otherwise.'

And the hair insults return! So many stabs at Yugi's hair this chapter, _wow_.

In other news, aside from there being not much to say, her's a bit of an 'announcement' for you! One, for any TV-Tropers in the area, I made a page for the fanfic over here: http: / / tvtropes. org/ pmwiki/ pmwiki. php/ TroperWorks/ Skin Done out of both boredom (I was having some edit issues...), and a muse-reboot. (It worked by the way) Also because I was browsing the site and had to hit myself in the head every time I came across something that had me think 'Oh hey, this reminds me of...' Free for you to add if you like~

NOW THEN. Back to crap that matters!

More poll results! Mostly unchanged save for the fact that Female Set is again receiving votes (Rather, A vote.).

Crossdressing Female Set - 8

Obviously Female Set - 4

Male Set - 2

I'm pretty sure I was going to say more, but I seem to have forgotten... Foo.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hi Iona! It's very hard to find anything that _isn't_ SERIOUS BUSINESS to Kaiba really... I don't think Kaiba really bothers with anything _unless_ it's serious business. Oh well. Oddly enough, while she means all the insults, it's also got a few roots in attachment there... If you look really.. Really close. (Think grade two, with the kid that pulled the other girl's pigtails non-stop. Except more subtle and unknown to_ both _sides.) You're right in that it's a culture thing though; remember, 'Nobody' equates to 'horse's bones'.

And OH MY GOD his/her obsessiveness over these cards... I actually _toned it down_ in some cases! Kaiba gets... Really out of hand with this. Really. To the point where I had to keep reading the chapters depicted above to figure out if Kaiba had randomly forgotten what was more important; winning the duel against Yugi, or winning the duel to save Mokuba's life. It's a tight line... Particularly since, (in the manga at least), there's a good number of maniacal laughter scenes. Frightening ones I might add.

Then again, this is both a matter of '_I must beat you_' and '_According to the past, losing means I die_'... So it's probably a mix of immaturity and simple fear.

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Section**

The section that believes in knowing. _Because knowing is half the battle you know_.**

* * *

**

The title of this chapter, 'And I Stand Alone' is a little bit of foreshadowing that really... Really hit me as I read through this duel. Reading the manga, you have to realize this; even with his Grandfather's life at stake, Yugi still had him there. In addition to that, he's fighting with the encouragement of all his friends, who have proven time and time again that _not even death itself_ will ever stop that.

But Kaiba doesn't have squat. As shouts and cheers fill the 'arena', Kaiba's just standing there getting the shit verbally pounded out of him/her from the sidelines. This is even worse in the fanfiction, where she saw a picture that clearly said that Mokuba was among that group of friends... And since she hasn't seen or heard from him since waking up, there's no telling Kaiba if she's been 'replaced' or not, regardless of her genuine emotions in terms of wanting to save the kid.

It's really, really upsetting, particularly since, given that Kaiba literally has _no proof_ other than theory that Mokuba is still alive, that there's still so much hate out there. Yea, Kaiba did some crappy things but... Well, case in point, Yami Yugi looks less scared about the possible suicide situation at hand than he does _angry_. This of course increases when Kaiba says that if the tables were turned, he'd just make the move regardless, but when you really think that's not just because it's winning against Yugi; it's also because winning means saving Mokuba's life.

Fact is guys... Kaiba had no support whatsoever until he bit the dust completely in this arc. And that just _sucks_.

* * *

It's hard to tell just what the towers Kaiba and Yugi are dueling on were; they could have been _prison cells_, given that starvation was an actual punishment (They'd actually seal you in a stone room. Ick. Case in point, no doors on the towers.), or they could be the remains of a 'Curtain Wall', an immense wall built around a castle to prevent assault. Curtain walls would have towers on them, which would have slits to fire arrows from... These slits can be seen from the side of the towers that Kaiba and Yugi are dueling on.

* * *

I always have to laugh at the reaction shots we get from Yugi and Co. when Kaiba's new technology is involved. '_Holograms of the cards as well as the monsters! THIS IS THE MOST HIGHTECH CARD BATTLE SYSTEM I HAVE EVER SEEN._'

Those are Yugi's actual thoughts, and I have to say... '_Y-Yami... Did... Did you not figure that if one could get the hologram of a monster that they could get the cards too?_' Course, tabletop duels didn't really need a card to be hologram-ified, and Yami IS an ancient Egyptian spirit...

* * *

Expert mode..? I swear it, that was Takahashi's way of spicing things up for the Yugi-VS-Kaiba duel. It has to be it. Mostly because I don't know if Kaiba's pride would prevent him from dueling on 'expert' to test the system against Jou, or if the pride would say '_screw testing that part, just beat the CRAP out of him!_' (Case in point, impossible defense-mode.)

* * *

Interesting fact; most of the cards that Kaiba and Yugi will use within the first three moves can be seen, what with the disk projecting their 'hand' so to speak. It's hard to tell what's going on, but either there's a rule that says '_PLAY ALL YOUR CARDS_', or Yugi was just playing along with Kaiba's statements of '_play all your cards_'. Can't tell... And it's probably obvious that I still don't get it...

Regardless, right off the bat for Kaiba's hand we can see the D-jinn, the Lamp that is used to power it up, and the Sword Stalker. The third card is blocked by Kaiba's body in the panel.

Yugi on the other hand has, aside from the Feral Imp, his Dark Magician (Why did he play Curse of Dragon then..? OH WELL.), Shift, and 'Eye of Truth'.

* * *

'Ryu-Kishin's name comes from 'ryu', or 'dragon' and 'kishin', which comes from the words 'ki' (Oni, english translation being 'Demon) and 'shin' (Kami, or 'god'). Basically, 'Ryu-Kishin Powered' means a powered up demon dragon god. HIHHH!

* * *

Somehow, this chapter turned into (from rather early on), Kaiba's more... _obsessive_... thoughts on Yugi. And I tell you, no amount of changing dialogue will... ...God. Holy crap. The amount of 'Foe-Yay' and suggestiveness in the dialogue is _astounding_. And so, so, _SOOOOOO_ much more obvious when you make the one with obsessive tendencies a woman. Hell, at least in originals we have (for the most part) a fairly solid reassurance that the men of Yu-Gi-Oh are very much straight, no matter how twisted some of the lines can get. (Not to mention by taking a look at the uniforms Kaiba has for female employees during Death-T...)

But seriously! _Seriously_. Kaiba's obsessiveness can really promote an interesting image. Case in point, Pegasus in the last chapter.

* * *

In the manga, Kaiba says '_it was worth taking the first blow_'... But she's already dealt damage to Yugi by this point, meaning she took the second hit and not the first. Weird... That's not the sort of thing Kaiba would screw up on...

* * *

Swordstalker's ability of course, isn't in the actual card game. This tends to happen with 'percent gains'... As a side note, I can't help but laugh at the image this provides. '_VENGEANCE MAKES IT STRONGER? NOOOOOOO! IT CANNOT BE_.'

Those were Yami's thoughts, but at the same time, I can't help but say '_Yami, pretty much **everything you did** in the early chapters were as penance/vengeance for wrong-doings against your better half. STOP BEING BORDERLING HYPOCRITICALLLLLL_.'

* * *

In another blatant show of 'foe-yay' and fuel for Pegasus' 'red string' comparison, the line that I replaced with '_It really gets me going_!' was originally '_It makes my heart beat faster_.' (Which looks hell-a suggestive in italics. Hehehe.)

So... So dueling Yugi makes your heart beat faster? In Japan this has notably _less_ suggestiveness than in English. Case in point, friendship has love too, which is expressed in the much later 'Yugi VS Mind-Controlled Jou' duel... In Japanese, both manga and anime, Yugi says '_I love you_'.

They of course cut this in the dub... (According to 4-Kids, gay is _bad _children.) Didn't even just replace it with '_you're my best friend_' or something, they _cut it_. Whyyyyy... Anyways.

You know what, I'm going to stop addressing each and every little thing between Yugi and Kaiba here and effectively say that the entire duel could be compared to a flirting match. _I AM NOT LYING_. The _constant_ banter between these two...

There's a reason why there's 'Ho-Yay' and '_FOE_-Yay'. Hell, Pegasus got it from just_ knowing_ Kaiba! (Granted in the fanfic's case this was played for lul rather than serious..)

* * *

I love you Japan... Making even the most mundane things amazing... Whenever they throw the dueldisk (Well, not all the time but mostly) in the manga, they shout '_THROWING DISK_!'. This is the same for drawing cards, but that's probably more for the following fact.

In the actual card game, your opponent has a right to know what's in your grave yard, what your monster does, and what the spell does. While this _does_ get to ridiculous points with certain super-common spells, in some cases the anime and manga's habit of explaining exactly what the card says is fairly... Required. Because the opponent doesn't know what the hell is going on otherwise.

Same with drawing; the cards hide what each person is doing right now, and in addition, certain effects of spells and such are activated by the draw-phase. Hence why '_I attack_' suddenly becomes so important... If it wasn't for the fact that you _have_ to declare an attack when doing so, you could technically laywer-loophole your way through every trap card set to counter it. Rather, through anything that says '_when your opponent declares an attack_'.

* * *

Funny thing about 'La-Jinn'; Genie comes from the word 'D-jinn'... Which... Means that this card is called 'Genie, the Genie of the Lamp'. OH LANGUAGES.

* * *

Speaking of such, there's a humorous translation error from the scans that I read when typing this fanfic. A few actually. The most notable? Yugi's name being replaced with _Jonouchi_ when his life point counter shows up in this scene. And then later when Mokuba calls his own brother '_KAIBA_' in the nightmare scene, meaning that he called his brother by his own _last name_, how awkward is that...

You can already tell that this section is going to be a long one! Yugi's line of '_To trap me! THAT'S AMAZING!_'... Oh boy. Yugi yugi _yugi_, I don't care how good you are, _it's not that difficult_. Granted, he might be referring to the fact that you normally have to trigger a trap... But still. YUGI. Just because you're the King of Games... (Technically, he doesn't even have that official title yet!)

* * *

In the 're-cap' of the chapter of Kaiba's duel following the '_I'm going to polymerize Blue Eyes_!' line, you see the words Strong! Invincible! Ultimate! appear behind him... And beside each one is the exponent '3'.

(Cause it's _Blue Eyes to the third power_! AHAHAHHA ok I'll stop.)

Kaiba... You really love that dragon don't you... You know what's even better though? This wasn't from translation. This was gratuitous English, which makes it ten-times as amazing.

* * *

The 'Eye of Truth's real life counter part is a bit of a kick to the pants really, given that it could have saved Kaiba's ass; as long as it's on the field, the opponent gains 1000 life points per turn. In the manga however, it isn't continuous; it only lasts one turn, which is why Yugi was only able to see Kaiba's hand for that turn. (And why Kaiba didn't get his lifepoints. Boo!)

* * *

Somehow, even though a card made of three blue-eyes shouldn't actively be known to the world when there were only four cards in existence, Yugi knows that Kaiba's gonna fuse the damn things together. Granted, at this point in the manga it looks like fusion isn't so much of a case of cards as it is an '_ass pull_'... if the monsters are similar enough to combine then damn it, THEY CAN. And well... Three Blue-Eyes...

* * *

If you doubted Yami Yugi's inner asshole before, just re-read his 'Magic Box' lines... Seriously. '_Well, I don't think this is safe, I think I need a volunteer~ HOW ABOUT YOUR CARD_.' Snark snark snark! Hoorayyyyy~

* * *

When the magic box spell is played in the manga, the Dark Magician waves his finger's in Kaiba's face, and is actually _saying_ 'Tsk tsk tsk...'. This is more something that Jou would notice though, given that (in lieu of spoiler-less spoilers) the holograms are... Really just that. Which means all that happened was the Dark Magician popped out of the box and did his attack.

Unless you're Jou, in which yes, the Magician did an '_Ah-ah-ah~_' to Kaiba. AHAHAHA.

* * *

On another note, Kaiba appears to react as though he's never seen this card before in the manga. I... Highly doubt that would actually be the case if he carries around a brief-case full of them. Something just tells me. Actually, he does this a lot. Now that's understandable in Pegasus' case, since Pegasus didn't show _anyone_ those cards, but for common cards that Yugi has... Nooooo.

* * *

In the duel, Kaiba draws _two cards_ before pulling the Polymerization gambit. HUH? _Two_? I'm pretty sure that's _not allowed_. Even if Yugi did it right after... (It's like his 'cheat' rule. 'You cheat, I cheat.')... And if they continued... Egggggghhhh I'm trying to keep the rules constant here you guys! STOP HAVING FUN/BREAKING RULES.

Hence why Kaiba drew a card earlier; the card she drew was Sagi, but since there was no room on the disk... No one knew it was there... Yugi did as well, while Kaiba was mentally monologuing through one of his turns (That would be when he got Multiply).

* * *

From what I can tell, '_draw two cards not one_' is some kind of twisted rule here... For the sake of not confusing too many people however, I tweaked it; if you don't have a monster _active_ on the field, draw two cards.

* * *

The original line from Kaiba when mentioning the 'weight carried' is '_This cross I've carried... The cross of collectible card game defeat.._.'

Um. Jesus anyone? Line was changed to make a bit more sense, and focus a bit more on the _reason why she's there_. Namely Mokuba. Not Yugi. MOKUBA. Also to avoid silly. (Seriously, a cross?) She's still kinda slipped into '_MUST WIN FIGHT_' as opposed to '_MUST SAVE MOKUBA_' here though. ... A lot.

Also, that line is _worthy of the Abridged series_.

* * *

For the sake of saving Yugi's ass and keeping the 'one card draw' rule, 'The Living Arrow' was pulled out in one of his two-card draws, and actually set earlier than it was in the manga. Course, Kaiba kinda destroyed one spell so that cleared up some room for polymerization later on...

* * *

Kaiba Kaiba _Kaiba_... Stop cackling like a maniac, it's frightening. Even with a bit of 'downgrade' on certain lines (The cross of cardgames? SERIOUSLY?), Kaiba's still eeriely similar to his/her Death-T counterpart for someone who just spent the last six months fixing that. Not so hard to fall back on psychotic tendencies when faced with '_THE ONE I MUST BEAT_' I guess... (Hence the big '_OH SHIT I CAN'T DIE HERE_' calm _down_ as opposed to freak out that was used to show this wasn't _really_ the case. Kaiba flipped out during the duel that's true. But then he/she _really _remembered just what was on the line, even if it was because of the scariest crap **EVER**.

* * *

Does anyone _not_ see the potential for the worst nightmares _ever_ looking at the result of Mammoth Graveyard and Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon? YIKES. At least Yugi was able to keep things from going _too_ far though... (Before killing it completely. AUGH.)

And if that's not enough, Kaiba really _does_ start to melt away 'Blue-Eyes' style when this nightmare scene occurs, manga and anime both. I even made it worse for the fanfic by bringing in a secondary fear; Kaiba's not sure whether or not she's been 'replaced' or not, and the fact is, _she wouldn't be surprised_, given her 'recent' behavior toward Mokuba.

* * *

When Kaiba snaps out of the 'nightmare', it's obviously of his own volition in the manga and anime. Not to say fem Kaiba wouldn't have done the same, but I figured since Jonouchi got a shout out to Yugi, he should do it for Kaiba... (So no, this isn't a 'one is weaker', this is just two events happening at the same moment. She would have 'woken up' regardless of Jou's shouts.)

Careful Jonouchi, you might come off as mistakenly gay if you keep looking at Kaiba the way you do... (As it is, you can bet that the others are all looking at him like '_Wait, did you just cheer for Kaiba? The one who's fighting Yugi? WHY._' (Well, Kaiba_ is_ fighting for a good cause here...)

* * *

Another interesting point, more Anime-to-Manga difference really, but whereas the Kuriboh stick around in the anime, they're banished completely in the manga. Well... You _can_ technically send monsters right from the field to the grave so... I stuck with the manga.

Mostly because if those Kuriboh really were multiplying that fast, they would definitely swarm the field to the point where you couldn't see either player (And they did in this chapter), and _that's just silly_.

* * *

Watching the anime in question had me hit the pause button and double take when I saw someone in the window of the tower _behind Kaiba_ (Just a little creepy). As it turns out, it was just Keith, who had taken that position in the anime to watch the duel. (In the manga, he was watching from the doorway and left the moment the duel was over.)

* * *

IRONY: The exact moment I was originally going to end the chapter (I wasn't going to have Kaiba's words to Yugi in the end originally) was where the commerical break on the anime went.

Also, here's a fun fact; Anzu's line, though obviously non-existant, is based on the expression you see on her face. It's hard enough to see her of course... But when you do, she's covering her mouth with both hands in the typical '_OH MY GOD..._' pose. (For a woman at least... Guys not so much. Eh.)

* * *

Does it disturb anyone how much I enjoy typing Kaiba? Particularily in the most hopeless situation? Also, Kaiba isn't so much as saying outright that she trusts Jonouchi... Far from it in fact. More 'if she's gonna die here, then that mutt better realize that she will haunt his ass and make damn sure he looks after her brother', due to Mokuba actually liking the blond from what she can tell.

Well, that's it for this chapter guys!

Until next time~


	33. Chapter 32

**Revenge Before Reason**

* * *

Watching the battle Katsuya had to admit to one glaring fact that he could no longer ignore. Personally, he was beginning to mentally kick himself for not seeing it sooner... It was literally right in front of him after all. No one else saw it of course... That would have been pretty weird otherwise, and they'd have definitely reacted. However, as he stared across the balcony and swallowed back a comment there was no doubt about it.

These holograms... Were not supposed to look like what he saw. Not by a long shot, that was for sure. Ryu-Kishin had been a hulking mass of moving 'liquid' metal and at his flaming attack toward Feral Imp's motionless card he had heard a piercing and inhuman screech that he wasn't even sure could be emulated by a computer. Curse of dragon's own blast of red-black flames had melted the armour right off his opponent in retaliation, before the burns set a now scaled and revolting looking Ryu-Kishin ablaze, flames lasting for a few moments before allowing it the peace that was death. Swordstalker had summoned in his place, and the ethereal spirit of Ryu-Kishin had been enough to drive a figurative blade of ice through his own heart. Ghosts were one thing... Zombies, mummies and other things. Ghosts of god damned 'god demon's were another thing all together though. Swordstalker charged... Only to be taken down by the Dark Magician, who gave a humoured and dark smirk as he switched places with the dragon VIA an obvious 'tag-team' switch out. Briefly, as the magician charged up his magic he had heard chuckling...

He'd thought these were just lights. Just some intricate tricks that Seto had put into the dueldisks. Well done if not obsessive voice acting with overly accurate details. He was quickly proven wrong.

Swordstalker vanished in a blast of black lightning, but as the disk was pulled back the hovering and almost stone-like cards remained in place. La-Jinn in turn appeared and taunted the Dark Magician into attack before taking refuge in his lamp, the clawed golden device giving off loud and aggravating clicks as it scuttled across the ground. Dark Magician's face visibly grew pale, regardless of already odd complexion, when Curse of Dragon's piercing roar hit the air under his own comrade's attack. Inside the card however, the dragon could do nothing.

He'd thought the others were just ignoring it... Hiding it like he was, regardless of already pale complexion. Maybe it was because of his apparently 'recent' eye-for-detail... Was it just him, or was Seto's 'acting' fooling even herself out there, her obvious exhaustion somehow holding no effect over her at all? La-Jinn burned another card... Three swords hovered in the air before vanishing into very real looking flames. No one seemed to really notice all of this, so maybe it was just something they weren't talking about, like he was. When Eye of truth came into play however, he had to stare. Blue-Eyes image sat across one of the cards... But why the hell wouldn't Seto have played that card if she had it? That was, without a doubt, her 'favourite', to a pretty damn obsessive point... So why the hell didn't she summon it! Yugi seemed unaffected by this reveal after only a few moments. There was obviously something there that he'd missed, something that Yugi knew... The battle went on. The Ancient Lamp was skewered by the Magic Boxes Yugi had cast into play, and as the Magician exited his, the same dark smirk was in place.

"**_Ah-ah-ah_**," the Magician was saying, Katsuya's eyes widening momentarily as he heard the voice. They.. They'd heard that right? They'd heard... Dark Magician pointed his staff forward, and as he watched it again seemed that only he had seen those things. La-Jinn was electrocuted violently by the black lighting, the smell of smoking and burnt flesh accompanying the already acrid smell of smoke as he vanished into a pile of oddly coloured dust. There was no way Seto would have programmed something that intense for a card she didn't use right..? He had continued to watch in silence as he pondered that, and Saggi the dark clown was sent out next...

Same with Gaia from Yugi's side. The horseman stood valiantly, as he was called to attack, hoofs clacking across the stone ground as he urged his horse to charge the clown before it. Regardless of being skewered by a drilling blade however, regardless of the lance embedded in its abdomen, the clown merely laughed in response. "**_Nyahahahaha... HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA_**!" Dark, poisonous smoke seeped from the clown's wounds, Katsuya coughing as the clouds seeped into Yugi's side of the field. How... How was he the only one seeing this..? His vision swam slightly, the poisonous clouds floating through the air as he continued to choke. What the hell was going on, that stuff wasn't seriously... Affecting him was it?

"J-Jonouchi," Bakura asked worriedly, turning to him from the field. Over on the towers the horse had been the first to fall, its rider soon to follow in the poisoned air. The Dark Magician knelt on the ground, struggling to breath and holding to life only a moment before death finally claimed him. In the clouds of smoke, their bodies quickly evaporated into nothingness... "Jonouchi," the albino asked again, tapping his shoulder hesitantly. "Are you alright..?"

He nodded, breathing deeply as he looked over the others. Fine... He was fine... Whatever that 'poison' was had him feeling pretty damn crappy but... Another cough, and he put his hand against the railing to steady himself. "Are you sure man," Honda was saying with a slight frown, Anzu giving a similar expression from beside the teen. "You look almost as pale as Kaiba over there." Honda, only snow could be whiter than Seto-chan now... That and Bakura.

The blond gave another nod, scowling slightly. Honestly, it was nothing..! (Besides, would they _really_ believe him if he said that he was being poisoned by Crush Card Virus?) "I said I'm fine! It's nothin' alright? Prolly jus' from tha' cold I got yesterday..." As if to support this fact, he sniffed before turning back to the duel. In the clouds of poisonous smoke, Saggi had continued to laugh, eventually bleeding out and dissolving into the black and endless clouds. "Damn," he muttered under his breath as the others whispered amongst themselves. The poison had since faded slightly, resembling more of a thin curtain hovering over Yugi's side of the field. "Talk abou' biological weapons..."

Now that that had happened Yugi was left with spells and low level monsters... Likely against Blue Eyes. Silver Fang was summoned to Yugi's defence, the white wolf growling nervously as he paced on the spot. In the end he had taken a defensive crouch, before the Battle Ox was summoned from Seto's own side. '_Axe Crusher_,' Seto had cried, the enormous minotaur rushing forward. The axe had cleaved Silver Fang clean in two, but it wasn't a pretty sight. From head to tail the wolf had been cut, both halves falling to the ground on a mess of blood and organs before disappearing into the poisonous fog on Yugi's side of the field.

Next came Griffor... The bear-like beast appeared in its armoured shell, and after a long and golden horn grew from its head the beast had given a low and chuckling growl to match its master's apparent amusement. The 'card' behind it that had summoned the horn ground itself into dust, and as the horn itself glowed brilliantly Griffor continued to growl darkly. Thunder charged from the tip of the horn, shooting directly forward to pierce the battle ox's heart. "**_Hrnrrrrrrrr.._**." With a weak growl the beast had clutched his chest, collapsing to his knees in pain. Finally, he toppled forward, and within a few seconds the ox vanished completely.

He didn't believe this... How the hell was it even possible, was it some kind of crazy mind trick? Hell he could see the blood literally pooling in the middle of the state..! Was he loosing it somehow, and these completely vicious images of the monsters a sign of that? The sounds, the scents... Everything? Was this some kind of twisted nightmare that he'd managed to get stuck in? Of course, he added as an afterthought, not all of the things were vicious 'mindfuck's. 'Gift of the Mystical Elf', Seto's spell, had been activated, a young robed woman appearing before them in a soft glowing ray of light. In her hands was a ball of that very same glow, and though he doubted Seto could see it, the elf turned to its master with a calm and genuine smile before tossing the orb forward. It floated into the disk, the elf vanishing in a shower of white dust to grant Seto some life points. And then...

Blue Eyes had appeared. "She... He finally did it," he muttered, likely unheard even in the silent shock of the others. The others were probably just staring because Blue Eyes would easily put Yugi in a rough spot. And honestly, sights and sounds aside he knew that too. With what was before him now though... He didn't know how 'realistic' the monsters appearances were compared to what the others saw, they probably weren't close to the gore he'd seen in the past few moments... He had to say though, the blond thought with a nervous swallow, unable to look away from the creature, his figurine couldn't even hold a candle to the beast that hovered protectively around Seto's form. Hell, it didn't even hold a candle to what he'd seen when he fought against Seto the night before, how did that even _work_? Maybe it was because of the darkness..?

How did that even make sense though..? Huge and white, the dragon's scales glimmered, even in the light of a clouded and setting sun. An earth-shattering roar came through the area, and it felt almost as though that in itself would knock him over. It hovered in the air and each beat of its wings joined with the fierce winds in blowing the crowds back slightly, blue eyes focused on the opponent's field completely. With Seto's command the beast had attacked... Griffor hid in his shell only to be fried into nothingness, a small scrap of his horn left behind in the resulting explosion. And even that had faded away...

Still, the battle continued. The Soldier of Stone was summoned in defence mode for Yugi's sake... Even the soldier knew he was doomed, staring across at the dragon with a nervous gaze. Nonetheless however, he took a protective stance in front of his master, its gaze shifting from fear to grim determination. Rather than destroying the stone golem however, it quickly became apparent as to what Seto was doing, the woman waving her hand and activating a card that hovered before her.

'_POLYMERIZE_!'

An immense vortex appeared behind the three Blue-Eyes white dragons as the last two appeared on the field. The three dragons growled expectantly, vortex growing larger and larger behind their summoner. Each one was pulled inside, giving a last roar that sounded neither pleased nor disappointed about the current situation. They vanished completely into the whirlwind, sounds of thunder erupting from the void as it continued to churn. The vortex shrank, shifting from its circular appearance to something else... And when the swirling winds finally came to a halt he had to stare.

It was immense... Huge, larger than the Blue-Eyes before it by a long shot. Each head was easily his own size, and the scales and armour of the dragon had become more defined and battle ready than that of its predecessors. Enormous wings only beat once and the wind increased three-fold in intensity. Katsuya stared upward, eyes wide as one of the heads turned to stare in return. A single black marking marred the brows of the dragon's three heads, and aside from that the scales were a blinding pure white in colour. This... This was... Blue eyes continued to stare directly at him, before the head finally gave a snort and turned back to the field.

Dimly, he could hear the others. '_Was this Kaiba's plan all along_,' Honda was muttering from the side, also staring with shock.

'_Three heads_,' Bakura was saying as they stared, the dragon regaining its protective stance in front of Seto, seemingly hovering in mid-air without even bothering to flap its wings more than thrice. '_4500 attack points..._'

Hell, no wonder it was so big... The first attack was made, but rather than strike the golem that stood between it and its prize the great dragon had simply snorted. The heads turned to each other, as though conversing amongst themselves. Before Katsuya could even give a thought to how something that was one monster could do that, the left-most one shot a small and weakly powered beam off to the side. The card struck burned into nothingness in an instant, reduced to mere ashes... But the arm the golem had used to defend the card was gone as well, as though to prove to the stone giant just how wide the gap of power was between it and the dragon before it. As if to prove just what madness it took to challenge it, but regardless of such, the golem did not move...

Not even as its master faltered, gritting his teeth and staring at the ground in worry. No...He grit his teeth, taking a glance at Seto and her enormous dragon before turning to Yugi. No... He didn't want to pick a side, but god damn it, he sure as hell didn't want them to just give up and forfeit! And if no one said anything Yugi was liable to do just that... That was worse... Yugi continued to stare at his deck, time for his turn ticking away quicker and quicker. "COME ON," he finally shouted, the others jumping at his sudden words. They couldn't just end this on a forfeit damn it! "YUGI," he continued, the teen turning to him with wide eyes as he heard his friend's voice for the first time during the entire match. Katsuya kept his gaze as far from the dragon and from Seto as possible, swallowing as he continued. He could feel the dragons staring at him... It was unnerving, frightening even... But... If they lost here without trying... If they lost simply because of their fear... Then how the hell could they say they were worth the lives at risk? "WE'RE ALMOST AT PEGASUS' CASTLE," he roared, eyes wide with determination rather than shock this time around. "WE WORKED HARD TO GET HERE!" Harder than anything... Mokuba had been snatched before their eyes, Yugi's grandfather was trapped in a camera that was right in their hands... And even though they were all technically on the same side, they couldn't just give up. He wasn't picking a side damn it... And while that meant not rooting for a single person to win, it also meant not wanting a single person to lose! "IF YOU GIVE UP NOW," he continued, gritting his teeth. There was only one real enemy here... Only one... "WE'LL NEVER GET IN!"

"Remember your promise to your grandfather," Anzu was shouting from the side, joining in the cheers with an encouraging stare. "You said you'd beat Pegasus!" That was the real enemy. Katsuya stopped shouting with the words Anzu had given, eyes narrowing dangerously. Pegasus was the target... Not them! They had to remember that... Regardless of what was going on! Focusing on the match once more, Yugi was standing firm again and drawing his next card. He'd regained his resolve, that much was sure. But resolve alone was not enough to save the Stone Giant from being reduced to mere dust in the face of Blue-Eye's ultimate attack, the blinding light forcing Katsuya to close his eyes until the blast calmed down to reveal nothing but a card-filled field. Not at all. All the same though...

It wasn't the end. By far it wasn't the end.

Kuriboh was summoned, and he had to say, for the 'weakest monster in the game', it was being pretty bad-ass... Granted, the moment those things opened their mouths to scream against Blue-Eyes' attack he had to shudder; even the weakest monster held true to the word 'monster' it seemed. Most of the Kuriboh were too furred to really see anything but their eyes of course... Beneath that however they had razor sharp, shark like teeth, and a good majority were baring them at the immense dragon before them, accompanied by the sounds of low and almost whispering growls. He had to hand it to them... For all that they were up against, they were pretty damn courageous... Not to mention, he noted with a slight frown, not duplicating anymore. After they had about fifty they'd called it quits, the 'Multiply' card only spitting out a few more Kuriboh from it's portal after Blue-Eyes' attack. Those that were there swarmed the field completely however, blocking Yugi, portions of the dragon... And even Seto herself from view.

Not all of her though. He could barely make out her face, but nonetheless it was there. As Katsuya looked through the wall of kuriboh, he squinted in an attempt to see the woman clearly. It wasn't much that he could make out, but from what he could tell... She was still eerily pale compared to usual... And while she might have completely shut down any immediate threats of what the doctor had predicted, he still couldn't be too sure. "Damn it," he muttered, a glance at the others telling him that they couldn't see much as well. "Can't they just move-" He cut himself off, watching as a few of the kuriboh turned to look at them. W-Wait... Wait that couldn't be right, these things couldn't hear him!

And if they could, then damn it he really _was_ going crazy wasn't he. Apparently however they really had heard his words... And as if to respect his wishes, they moved back toward the other side of the field just as Yugi finished making his move, giving the blond one last look before turning on the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon and continuing with their growls. Living Arrow... Plus Polymerization... Plus... Katsuya's eyes widened as the arrow shot forth from the card, carrying with it the second spell at its tail end. The arrow pierced Blue-Eyes directly in the center of its chest, each head turning on the weapon in question with silent stares. Suddenly however, their stares were turned toward the sky, mouths hanging open in what Katsuya could only assume was shock. In the center of the field hovered an enormous vortex, similar in appearance to the one that had fused the three Blue-Eyes together. This one however, did not elicit the same neutral screams from before.

Katsuya watched in silent horror as both the immense three headed dragon and Yugi's own skeletal mammoth were pulled inside, each monster giving off their own screeches and shouts of horror. Loud and endless roars of a fear that he didn't even think the dragon could have, and bellows of pain from a mere skeleton. How the hell a skeleton could shout was beyond him, but what the hell did he care! The thing that was happening... The 'portal' that the monsters had been pulled into... He didn't get a good feeling from it at all. And still the vortex swirled, growing darker and darker in the center of the sky. Larger and larger it grew, before finally subsiding and re-forming back at Seto's side of the field. The winds vanished... And in its wake the Blue-Eyes was left seemingly untouched.

For a moment at least.

Blue-Eyes gave a low groan of pain, the beast coming to land on the tower on all four legs. How it could fit was beyond him, but it was by far the last thing on his mind as the blond stared at the dragon and swallowed. It's immense heads were bowed toward the ground, and for a moment he was unsure of what was happening... It merely clutched itself with its foreleg, each head breathing heavily and painfully. And then Yugi explained, just as the Blue-Eyes showed him what was wrong... "I mixed Mammoth Graveyard with your monster," he stated with a frown, the mammoth's skeletal head and legs suddenly bursting from within the dragon's middle with a loud and nauseating squelch. The dragon's ribs and front were split open in an ear-splitting screech, and as Katsuya stared in frozen horror it took all he could not to reach up and cover his ears before the cries died down. "By fusing an undead 'Dark' monster with the light Ultimate dragon," Yugi continued, the dragon rearing on their hind legs as Mammoth Graveyard attempted to untangle it's freed limbs from the beast's mass, "A deadly organ rejection is caused... The body becomes unstable," he explained, Katsuya watching as the dragon's scales slowly began to melt off to reveal delicate skin and muscle underneath. They clattered to the ground in clumps, most still attached to patches of skin themselves before they began to... Melt... Into a disgusting, murky grey substance that he could scarcely describe. "...And it starts to decompose..."

Rotting... The dragon was... Rotting. The skin began to literally slide off the body in chunks, the mammoth trapped in the dragon's chest giving off another moan. It's host's heads were held almost level with Yugi's own, as though pleading the teen end his play, destroy the mammoth and free them regardless of any pride they held. Claws scraped against the side of the field, wings hung limp at the sides as muscles and blood practically poured from the wounds they were receiving... The Blue-Eyes was literally rotting... Yugi was winning, that was great. Wonderful even, it had to be! He was winning in a fair fight, no one forfeiting no one cheating... He shouldn't be upset, he told himself, silently shaking his head slightly. He shouldn't... Hell, they were fighting for the same thing, weren't they?

Watching that dragon rot away right before him however... Katsuya attempted to do the math in his head, watching as Seto stared at her dragon with frozen horror as well. The dragon had what... Forty-five hundred points? And it was losing twelve hundred each turn... So how many turns did that leave it? Hell, what did that even mean if the dragon had already rotted away to this much? What fell off and clattered to the ground continued to melt in the seemingly poisonous presence of the mammoth skeleton, the ooze pooling on the field at the beast's feet. The dragon's three heads each coughed up large amounts of blood and phlegm as they attempted to give a roar, their failing muscles and organs refusing to give them the chance as all that came out was little more than a low and crying moan.

Seto wasn't moving... Wasn't moving from the shocked stiff position she stood in, staring wordlessly at her rotting dragon. He frowned, mouth hanging slightly open as he stared across at the balcony 'towers'. Yugi was also waiting in silence... One minute... Two minutes... Finally, the blond's friend merely frowned drew a card, the time for his opponent's turn passing over in an instant. Aside from that he remained silent, holding a steady and almost glaring vigil... Waiting for the dragon to continue dissolving... (_he could see the sinews of tendons hanging by a thread, the round eye-balls of each dragon, one of them losing them to gravity and rot already_...)... Waiting...

She still wasn't moving. Just staring blankly and while he didn't think the others had really noticed he was getting worried... Why... She wasn't like this... She couldn't be like this..! Her brother's life was at stake, she couldn't... But still... Why wasn't she moving..? Her shoulders were no longer held back in the 'proud' stance she always held, and the woman's eyes were wide and blank as they continued to stare at Blue-Eyes decomposing form... Staring... Simply staring... The locket hung limply around her neck, battered by the winds completely... Why... Why wasn't she doing anything!

Damn it... Katsuya grit his teeth, before moving forward and past the others with what could almost be called a growl. Damn it! It couldn't end like this... He didn't want it to happen to Yugi and he sure as hell didn't want it to happen to Seto-chan! The others blinked as he leaned against the wall, hands cupped as he prepared to shout. "OIIIII!" The others turned, blinking. Yugi stared as well, frowning slightly. He wasn't looking at Yugi... The others were likely wondering why, but whatever... Hell Yugi was going to win, he'd have to be a complete moron to not believe that! But he didn't want it to end like this... He didn't want it to end with a series of forfeited turns... He didn't know what was going on but... "DIDN'T YOU COME FOR A REASON SE... KAIBA," he shouted, watching as he received no reaction from his target. Of course, the moment he'd said that the others _really_tensed... They knew he was looking at Seto but... Not cheering her on. Yugi in particular seemed to be looking at him as though he'd grown an extra head for a moment, but with a quick look of realization instead gave an encouraging smirk.

Yea. Yeaaaaa he kinda got it... He guessed. Sort of. "DON'T JUST STAND THERE," he shouted, ignoring the taps on his shoulder. She couldn't just give in like this damn it... Wake up... Wake up, and listen to him this time! "IT AIN'T OVER YET!" Come on Seto-chan... Move... Move... Do something... Anything!

And... She moved. A quick jerk of the head, and suddenly the look of sheer horror shifted back into a stead and determined glare. Briefly, Katsuya grinned, before quickly toning it down to a more serious smile. Alright... She was back- time to pipe down again. The smile didn't even falter when Seto herself actually looked his way, visibly confused. Heh... He merely continued to look back, even as the confusion visibly increased for a split second... Hidden again moments after as she turned back to the duel. So she didn't know what he was up to... At least this way the duel would go properly...

"Jonouchi..?" He finally turned to the others, smile replaced with a slightly questioning stare as the others looked at him oddly.

"Hn?" He blinked, watching as the three others stared with raised eyebrows. Oh. Right... They were probably wondering what the hell was going on... Ahhhhh... "What is it?" Honda looked as though he'd be first- He was interrupted by Anzu instead though, though given her fairly dumbfounded stare that wasn't actually surprising..

"...That..." She coughed, eyes flicking over to where Seto and Yugi were fighting. Definitely confused, definitely wondering... "What was that?"

"Yea," Honda said with a slight frown, looking equally as confused as the others. For another instant it looked as though he wouldn't say anything, but in the end he continued. "I... I mean, I know we're all gunning for Pegasus but..." He coughed, before attempting to piece together what he was going to say yet again. "You know what. I can't even find the words to describe that question so... I'm going to go with Anzu's- What was _that_?"

He stared, watching as Bakura nervously scratched his head. What to say, what to say... He inwardly groaned, trying to figure out just what it was he was going to say. In the end, it appeared that Bakura's words covered him more. "Eh... N..Not to be rude but..." As Katsuya and the others looked at the albino, their friend nervously took a breath. "Well, Yugi is winning..." He shrugged, looking decidedly torn about whether or not he should actually be saying this. "But I don't quite think it would be fair if the loss came out of Kaiba constantly forfeiting his turns..."

At this the others blinked, before Honda changed his expression of confusion into a frown. "Yea," he muttered, turning back to the duel as Yugi shouted his turn. "That's right..." Aha! He had an excu- "At the same time though," the teen continued with a raised brow, "I never thought _you_of all people would be cheering for Kaiba, Jonouchi..." He gave him an odd look, narrowing his eyes. "...Are... Are you alright..?"

"I'm **_fine_**," he shouted, crossing his arms with a scowl. Perfectly fine, seeing things that either weren't there or just happened to be there and he was the lucky guy who got to see them... Seriously... "Geeze... I get that I cheered for the opposite side but lay off for a minute alright..." Could not... Find out what was going on...

Anzu put her hands in front of her, laughing nervously at the outburst. "Hey... We didn't mean anything by it Jonouchi it's just..." She frowned, lowering her hands to shrug. "Weird... I mean-"

'_ATTACK, ELVEN KNIGHT_!' "**_Graaaaoaooghg_**-!" Katsuya jumped, the others frowning as he turned to look at the battle instead of listening to the others. A strangled, gurgling growl had come over the air, sounding more like a suction cup than a dragon. Right before it had been a shout... For a moment the others had attempted to restart conversation, but after looking at the damage done they instead followed his gaze with a grin.

'_Ah_,' they were saying, grins on their faces as the blond went pale and leaned against the wall. Damn it... And here he'd thought he'd seen enough crap in his life to have an iron stomach... '_Blue-Eyes lost enough power to take a hit_!'

Yea... He shut his eyes, mentally wincing. Got that right... Katsuya made an effort to hold back what he'd eaten back in the tunnels as one of Blue-Eye's head-less spines twitched and spazmed violently. What with the beast having three heads, it was far from killed... But while the severed neck was at least still holding a few muscles and blood vessels in place, the head on the ground was mostly that thick grungy slime and a vicious yet pathetic looking skull. And as that as well rotted, he could hear Honda shouting behind him. '_Alright_,' he called, seemingly oblivious to his friend's hastily covered nervousness. '_We have a win_!' It wasn't dead yet though... It wasn't giving in yet. Despite only having half a body, despite the fact that it now resembled little more than a skeleton held together by fragments of rotting flesh it stood, attempting to hold what small scraps of pride it had left to the very end. "**_Graooooo..._**" The roar was not a roar anymore... It wasn't even a growl. Yet somehow he could hear some distinction in the tone. It was almost mourning, crying even... And yet... Something told him it wasn't because of the grievous harm it was going through right now.

'_Yugi_,' Seto stated quietly, the cheers cutting abruptly at the deadly serious tone of voice. Same as before she had 'spaced out', and after she'd snapped herself out of whatever daze she was in, her posture was less than it normally was. As she spoke however, the posture was regained... Yet somehow it didn't seem to be a good thing. '_The game has only just begun.._.' The woman was staring Yugi down with what could pass for 'soulless', maybe even dead eyes, confident pose shadowed with some other feeling that identified itself as little more than a shiver in his spine. The others as well were staring in silence... Just listening. '_I lost 500 points from that attack... Each of these bricks on the ground will be my life points.._.' What... He frowned, listening and staring as Seto continued to look toward her opponent with an empty stare. '_I will move back as many bricks as I lose life points_,' she continued, Katsuya's eyes widening further in response.

Five bricks..? He stared at the tower, counting the number along the wall as Seto began to move back. How many... These bricks were already a fairly decent size, almost half a meter square... One... Two... Beside him Anzu had her hands on her mouth, eyes wide as she and the others realized what 'five spaces' meant. Three... He as well swallowed, stopping his count when estimation told him what would happen.

Four...

"Oh my god," Anzu said with a shaking tone, Bakura and Honda both simply watching with silent horror. Their eyes widened as the wind continued to howl about them, dragon's almost gurgling cries accompanying it. "He's going to..."

Five. "Oh dear god..." She was standing on the god damned ledge of the balcony... Simply looking down to see how that kind of fall it would be made him dizzy, and fearful eyes were turned back toward the woman. The woman who was, without any fear what-so-ever, staring her opponent down and standing tall against the wind. "Oh fuck no...No no no no _no_..."

"I have nothing left to lose," Seto stated, voice gaining a large amount of confidence and volume as she spoke. God damn it... No... No... "If you hit me again," she continued, hands held to the side as if to simply accept the next attack literally with open arms, "If you win this game... I die."

No... Oh fuck no... _NO_... For a brief moment, Seto's gaze was turned on them, he and the others. A narrowed stare that didn't seem angry and yet all the same... Don't... No... The woman turned back to her opponent, expression hardening as she continued. "I would _gladly_ die for this," she spat out, the others continuing to stare. No... He shook his head, swallowing. No...

Finally Anzu shook her head, moving to take a position beside Katsuya against the wall. "KAIBA," she shouted, eyes wide with panic as she leaned over the side. "DON'T DO THIS!"

From behind, the others were merely staring, unsure of what to say. "What the hell is he thinking," Honda was muttering, shaking his head in disbelief. "What the hell kind of bluff is he making, you don't do that kind of crap..! This is at least thirty meters up..!" Was that how high it was? It looked a lot longer than that...

Bakura as well was shaking his head, the teen growing exceedingly pale as he spoke. "But what if... What if it's not a..."

"S... He ain't bluffing," Katsuya stated in response to his friend's unfinished question, voice on the verge of cracking as he stared at the woman. What if it wasn't a bluff? He had a feeling he already knew... "...He's not bluffing! YUGI," he roared, eyes wide as he turned to face his friend. Who the hell cared what kind of questions he got, this... They couldn't let this happen! "YUGI SH-HE ISN'T LYING!" If Seto died... If she died because of something like this... He didn't want her to... Hell if he knew why he felt that way besides obvious comatose confessions but he didn't want... "DON'T DO IT!"

They'd find another way in, hell he'd gladly play Yugi to 'give' him his five other chips provided he could get into the castle with the others. He'd pound Saruwatari into the ground, pound any guard that stood in their way to the ground, but this... He would get on his knees and beg if that was what it took... Just don't...

"Yugi," Seto was saying, the group turning their attention back to the woman with wide and fear filled eyes. No... Don't talk, don't... "On your next turn, your _real_worth as a duellist will be tested..." What worth, the worth that involved not killing a person! Or some twisted honour in the reverse! What was she doing, she couldn't... She couldn't.. Don't... Don't... "A duel is like two mirrors held against each other," Seto stated, eyes still unchanging. "How would you evade your own attack," she asked, arms hanging limply at her sides. "You need to be one step ahead, you need to put yourself in the mind of your opponent... Only then, when you become your opponent can you achieve victory," she continued with a blank stare. 'Victory'? What the hell kind of 'victory' would this be! Could you even call it that! This wasn't victory, please... Don't... "After all... Only then can you know yourself..." Don't do it... Don't do it... Please... He stared with wide eyes, silently mouthing his words. Please... Please don't, he knew she didn't care about what he thought but Mokuba was... If Mokuba was freed only to find that his sister had...

Blue-Eyes was still rotting, and the two remaining heads turned to Kaiba with mourning cries. Though their jaws were literally falling from their hinges, they still turned, curling around the woman in a final attempt to protect her from Yugi's possible attack. Why did he have a feeling... How did he just know that they understood the gravity of the situation themselves..? That their cries from before were...

They weren't even real, they couldn't be real but... What other explanation was there...

"If our positions were reversed," Seto stated, crossing her arms as she stood against the pounding winds, winds that had died considerably in the last few minutes alone. "I would push you over the edge of that wall without a second's thought. But," she continued, Katsuya still watching with wide and horrified eyes, "I didn't say I give up. It's my turn," she stated calmly, hand moving toward her disk. Damn it... Why did she have to... "And I draw this. Monster Reborn!" She hadn't even looked at the card... How did she know that was her card..? The disk was pulled back, Seto somehow managing to stand unfaltering as the disk slammed against her palm. The card was placed on the side before the disk was thrown back out, and in a beam of light the monster that had never once left the field in Katsuya's eyes continued its mourning cries. "I resurrect Blue-Eyes with this," she shouted, the dragon before her giving an odd moan.

From the severed neck came a blinding light, swirling endlessly from the empty hole it had left behind. It continued to spiral forward, shifting, rearranging itself into a long and serpentine form before clearing. The ankh that had appeared above the dragon to create this light vanished from view, and with it the clouds of smoke caused by both the constant attacks, poisons, and decaying flesh.

The deceased head was completely repaired... And now that it could roar, it merely joined with the other decayed heads in miserable song. "Now one Blue-Eyes with normal attack points has been resurrected," Seto stated with a grim smile, the renewed head of Blue-Eyes turning to face its master in brief thanks. Mouth open, mouth close... The sound that came out wasn't a roar or a growl, but it still suited the beast quite well in his opinion.

**"_Graooooo... Aooooo.._**" Sad... It sounded so... Sad...

"Unfortunately," its master continued, arms hanging at her sides once more, her still disadvantaged position seemingly holding no effect on her stance, "As a fused monster it can't attack this turn... Which makes it your turn, Yugi!" Silence filled the air... What words did they say in this situation? What did they say... He couldn't do it... Yugi wouldn't, he couldn't do that... And yet memories of Mokuba's screams of his 'penalty game', the condition of the few others that had been on the other end of the punishments came to mind. He'd say they were deserving, but... Mokuba... "DO IT YUGI," Seto roared, almost desperately, the group's eyes turned to her in silence. No... NO NO NO NO _NO_!. "_SLIT MY THOAT WITH YOUR_**_CARDS_****!**"

Even Yugi's own monster looked uneasy about that particular command, pulling back slightly with a grimace... Turning to his master uneasily for a moment before looking back on the great and decayed dragon before it. Yugi himself however merely stared, expression caught between horror and anger. Where was the worry..? Where was the concern from his friend... Don't do it... God damn it Yug', don't do it... His voice was caught in his throat as he looked toward his best friend, one of his best friends with wide and pleading eyes.

Don't do it... Please, for the love of anything that existed in the world please don't do this...

"Ng..." Don't...

There was no hesitation in the boy's tone. "I'LL DO IT KAIBA," the Dark Yugi shouted at the top of his lungs, pointing his monster forward. Those on the sidelines had no words themselves from the sheer shock of the shout, staring powerlessly and silently as the boy continued. NO... **NO**! "ELVEN KNIGHT," he commanded, the guard turning to give his master a look of horror. "_ATTA_- GHk!" Huh?

Did Yugi... Choke..? '_NOOOO_!' Yugi's body gave a violent shudder, the monster on his field, dropping his blade as he looked toward the boy with worry. His body fell to his knees, hands gripping his head tightly and continuing to shake. '_No other me_,' someone shouted with panicked terror, the voice distant and almost inaudible. '_DON'T DO THIS_!' Yugi continued to clutch his head as he shook on the ground, before the time for the turn finally passed. Katsuya looked over to Seto, the woman's expression shifting from dull acceptance of the inevitable to a sudden unbridled determination and drive that lacked any and all anger from her previous moves. This wasn't for her... She wasn't into this...

This was for... "BLUE EYES," she commanded, the living head rising up to turn on the elf before it. Its jaw was clamped with grim determination, as though what it was doing was also for something other than the duel itself. "**BURST STREAM**!"

'Destruction' was cut off... He stared, watching and wondering in silence. What did that mean..? As Blue Eyes charged a beam and blasted the Elven Knight from behind, the field began to clear of the monsters completely. The last thing remaining in the flash of light was the knight's shocked face as the sudden pain struck it, before calming into a small smile. The last thing heard over the field was a loud and song-like cry that had come from the dragon's reborn head. And over the field, last rays of the setting sun had disappeared behind the horizon... Besides all that, as he looked toward 'Yugi', he could see that it was the 'original'. And he could see that he was in rough shape. Yugi's hands were all that kept the boy from falling over, fingers gripping the stone bricks tightly, and slowly, very slowly, he looked up toward Seto with wide and tear-filled eyes.

"Ng... N..." Oh god... Katsuya bolted around to the stairs, running over as the boy crumpled to the ground in complete tears. Not a word nor a glance was spared to the other on the field, the blond swallowing as he attempted to calm his friend. God-damn it... What the hell was going on with all this... What was going on..! "Yugi... Yugi," he shouted, the others coming behind him just as quick.

Yugi shook as his friend came toward him, a hand placed on his shoulder as he cried. "Ahh... I... I couldn't do it," he forced out, shaking his head. "I couldn't... If I kept going..."

"It's ok Yug'..." He clutched the boy's shoulder, turning away slightly. The words were partially for himself really... All the crap going on... How did... "It's ok... It's..."

The boy shook his head rapidly, eyes wide and fearful. "No it's not... Kaiba-san could have died," he shouted, shaking his head as the others drew back with a partial wince. "I... I almost..."

'_NOOOOOOO_!' Katsuya swallowed, looking at his friend with tearing eyes. The 'Dark' Yugi... That shout he'd heard...

That was the 'real' Yugi... Wasn't it? That was him... Stopping his other-self from landing the last hit. "I'm scared," he whispered, curling on himself as the others stood around him worriedly. "I'm scared of this game... Of the other me..! I don't... I..." Yugi...

"You did the right thing," Anzu was whispering, pulling the boy into a hug. Any other time, and Yugi would have gone tomato red at the gesture. Instead however... "You did the right thing, it's ok..." Anzu herself was on the verge of tears as she said this, and as the others merely stared the woman continued. "Don't cry," she whispered despite her own tears, before pulling slowly out of the hug. Yugi himself was still wiping tears out of his eyes, looking at the woman with fear and confusion both. "You're a guy aren't you," she added with a slight laugh. "Men... Men don't cry!"

The boy chocked, wiping his face with a sniff. "A...Anzu..."

From the side they could hear a dull clattering sound as the starchips thrown to the ground were gathered. The chips had been scattered completely about the tower... And now, Seto was gathering the ten starchips, looking toward Yugi with an expression of near loathing. While Katsuya frowned at the sight however, he held his tongue. Now wasn't the time... There were more important things... Thinks like-

"You showed weakness at the end," Seto was saying almost with disgust as she moved forward with her briefcase in hand. As Katsuya tensed at the words, he continued to still bite his tongue in response. Her dueldisk was already packed inside the briefcase, and with a single movement all ten starchips were hidden away in her coat pocket. Her cards were likely already there... And still the woman continued to speak with the narrowed glare she held. "And it cost you your win... If you'd had the resolve to push me over the edge Yugi, you would have won," she continued, Katsuya gritting his teeth as he went red in response. "You would have moved on to that castle with no problems... Caring about the enemy's safety is the most moronic thing you can do in this kind of situation- consider that a lesson to you."

Damn it... Not. The time. "S... Kaiba," he growled, eyes narrowed as the woman turned to look at him briefly. "This is a **_GAME_**! It ain't about murder! I get that Mokuba's in there," he shouted, pointing toward the castle and taking a step forward. "And I'll do whatever it takes to get him outta there as well... But that doesn't mean that you drag this kind of bullshit into the match! You won," he spat out, bringing his hand back to his side. "You don't need t' go an' diss the guy who saved your ass for it."

At this, Seto merely stared before snorting. "Hn! Moron," she muttered, crossing her arms. "Games mean 'conflict', 'combat between enemies'... They're all the same," she stated bluntly, eyes narrowed. Huh..? "Cards... Chess... And the blood-soaked wars that go on around the world as we know it... They're all just different kind of games, and you know what," she asked, moving closer as she stared the blond down. "When this world was created, each person was given one thing, just one thing to play these games... And that thing was one single chip called _Life_. And when I threw that chip on the board," she continued with a low growl, expression souring further, "Your 'friend' exposed all weaknesses he had in his own and lost..."

For a moment, they simply stared. Anzu looked as though she would say something... In the end she didn't, the others instead watching the two glare at each other. Seto had an odd look in her eye, hate filled but not for the one she was currently staring down. Not for Yugi either, he didn't think... It was for something else... Something different...

"That so," he finally said, expression kept as neutral as possible. No... Seto wasn't just spouting nonsense... Well... She kinda was, but at the same time...

Made him think back to Death-T again really... _'He told 'him'... 'Lose means death',' _Mokuba had told them all, hands clutching the worn photograph he had. '_And then he jumped out the window_...'

This was all she knew, wasn't it. Didn't know why that came to mind now, but somehow it made him feel a lot better... And a lot worse all the same. Confused even... Somehow though... "You're the one who lost th' duel, y' got that right," he muttered, shaking his head and moving over to Yugi's side as the boy stood shakily. "But not just this duel..." Helping his friend up and watching as the boy gave him a weak and nervous smile, he turned to Seto and continued, expression softening somewhat. "If life 's a game, then you've got th' rules all messed up S... Kaiba. You said you have t' know yourself..? Then you have t' face yourself too. Stand up and fight, no matter how tough things get... No matter what happens..." That was the point of that months long coma wasn't it? To figure out what mattered, for her brother?

"You bet your 'chip' as if it meant nothing," Anzu spat from the side, Seto's look of dull confusion abruptly shifting to anger as Katsuya was interrupted. "You lost to yourself! When you realized you were going to lose, you decided to just end it all right there!" Uh wait, he was pretty sure something else factored into that... Katsuya mentally groaned as Anzu continued to turn on Kaiba, eyes narrowed as the other merely glared in silence. Damn it... He was getting to something... "Listen," she stated, voice lowering. "Real courage... It isn't pushing someone off a cliff if it benefits you... It's protecting what it is that's been given to you. No matter what! The moment you give up," she continued, the blond beside her blinking as he caught the message and giving a nod, "That's when you really lose!"

At this point, Honda came forward, hands stuffed in his pockets as he fixed Kaiba with a stern frown. From behind, Yugi was fumbling with the duel disk... Trying to get it off as he attempted to calm down simultaneously. As Katsuya moved to help him out with that as Honda spoke, the blond unable to see Seto's reaction to the words. "Don't forget Kaiba," the teen was stating with a neutral tone, somehow managing to keep even a thread of anger out of his voice. "If it wasn't for Yugi, that 'chip' of yours would be over the side of the cliff... And I doubt that, even if you had lost this duel, that your brother would want that."

As Katsuya grabbed the duel disk and turned back, Seto was fixing them all with a narrowed glare. Either she caught it and really didn't like it or... Something he supposed. The woman's teeth were grinding as she clenched her fists before them, finally speaking after a few moments. "Tch... Say what you want," she finally spat, eyes narrowed as she turned to Katsuya. Knowing why she was looking over, the blond tossed the woman her dueldisk, watching as she caught it and swift motion stowed it in her briefcase. "Nothing changes the fact that they're the cries of a loser!" Eh... Somehow he didn't think she'd get it. Or admit that she got it if she did... Which she likely didn't. She really didn't make it easy to tell. "I'm leaving," she snarled, the briefcase clacking shut as she turned toward the stairs. "And when you morons get to the castle I'll leave the remains of Pegasus for you to deal with!"

With that the woman disappeared down the stairs and into the stone arch beyond, Katsuya staring with a slight frown. Well... Not for lack of trying, he thought with a sigh. Rubbing his head as the woman turned away from them, he mentally sighed. She was doing all this for Mokuba really, so he guessed that was a start to not being so tense about this stuff... If that ever changed really. Smiling wryly to himself, he shook his head, before turning back to Yugi.

Currently the boy was speaking to Honda, taller walking over as he spoke. "Cheer up Yugi," the teen was saying with a slight smile, hand on the boy's shoulder. Yugi in question was looking up at him with a slight frown, wiping his eyes as he listened. "You've still got half of your starchips right? So there's still a chance we can get in..." That was right... And even if the competitors were all eliminated there were Player Killers.

"That's right," Bakura said from the side, smiling. "After all... Kaiba isn't officially in the tournament... So if no other competitors have made it in, there's still a good chance you can make it..." He continued to smile softly, looking down the balcony as the night started setting in. "There have to be some duellists left on this island, and if you face them... I doubt anyone would be falling asleep on the last day after all..."

As the boy continued to look at them all, Katsuya smirked. "Yea," he said with a laugh, jamming his hands in his pockets. "C'mon- we aren't giving up... So neither should you! We're with ya to th' end alright? Don't let anything bring you down!" Yugi continued to stare, before nodding with a small smile. Still nervous... But it wouldn't be Yugi if he wasn't, much as he didn't like to admit it. Either way, a start. "A... Alright," he said, somewhat uneasily. "I won't give up!" Just what he wanted to hear! The group turned back to look at the castle, Katsuya's grin softening into a small smile. They'd make it in... No matter what they'd make it in..!

Walking back through the tunnel and looking through the courtyard however, the group froze. "Wait..." Saruwatari was standing by the door, watching as Seto placed her ten starchips into the lock. Standing there only moments before the door opened inward to allow entrance. Seto was going in obviously, but behind her... "What th' hell," he said with a growl, watching as a familiar, bandanna capped man flashed a glove to the guard and followed after. That bastard... He wasn't even in the tournament, what the hell! (He could see why Pegasus would be pulling the chip-gambit over Seto at least...) "Bandit Keith is here!" He growled, before turning to the others with a frown. That was one person in... What happened if three others followed after Keith? "Damn it... We can't waste any more time guys... We gotta get those starchips!"

The others gave a nod, Yugi looking toward Katsuya with a slightly unsure stare. "R-Right!" The sun was gone... They raced out the door, following lights affixed to the sides of the rails only for Katsuya to tense up. Something was off... Something was very off, he decided, hairs raising as the feeling increased.

Freezing at the tops of the stairs, he slowly turned, the others stopping in their tracks as well. Watching... Someone was- "It's too late," a voice from behind said with a chuckle, Katsuya turning to growl in response. For the love of... AGGGH. Saruwatari merely grinned at the sight, arms crossed. What did he mean 'too late'? Did four people already get in? The rest of the group turned, frowning as the man laughed before them. Was it just him, or was it _always _this guy? "You're disqualified Yugi!"

Katsuya grit his teeth, eyes narrowed. "What th' hell do you mean 'disqualified'," he shouted, fists clenched as the guard continued to chuckle. "Yugi's still got half his starchips, you can't disqualify him!" That was only if he had no starchips whatsoever! ...Unless...

This only elicited a louder laugh, the man pointing off toward the coast of the island. "Really," he said with a smirk, the others following his gaze to the sea. "Then look over there! See that boat leaving the island," he asked, Katsuya dimly making out the shape in the dark. Hard to tell but...

Well, it was a lot bigger than the one they'd seen before. "It's full of duellists who lost their starchips," the man stated, expression unseen to the group as they watched the ship. "Which includes all remaining contestants besides _you_!"

"What.." They turned back, eyes growing still wider as Saruwatari continued to laugh.

"Ahahaha... In other words," he said with a grin, the others expressions falling at the sight, "The four finalists for the championship tournament have already been decided!"

He tensed, swallowing nervously. "What... They're already..." Shit... So Keith was the fourth then?

"The first of course," the man muttered, "Is Howard Keith'..." That lousy son of a-! Wait.

Waaaait... First? He frowned, listening as Yugi asked about whether or not he'd gotten in. If Keith was first... "What about Jonouchi," his friend was saying with a worried frown, the others turning back to look at Saruwatari as well. "He has ten starchips, he has to be-"

"Don't worry," Saruwatari was saying dismissively, grin visibly fading slightly. "He's one of the four..." Not that he obviously liked that, Katsuya mentally added. At all. Then again, he' d kinda been calling him out on everything he did.

Which he wasn't about to stop doing, he added with a mental grin. Feeling a little sore, Saruwatari? As those thoughts came to mind, he was pulled back into the conversation's topic. So he was still in... But what about the other two? "Then... Does that make Kaiba the third finalist," Honda asked with a frown, only for the group to sigh in relief as Saruwatari shook his head.

"No," he stated curtly, arms crossed behind his back. "He's a special guess of Pegasus-sama... For that reason, he won't be participating. The third contestant did in fact come by earlier," he continued, looking off down the stairs. The lights along the railing lit the path rather brightly, but a few feet past the bottom and there was nothing but darkness. "However they left, claiming to be bringing back the fourth... Well," he continued with a smirk, walking back toward the door, as the others continued to look down the staircase. "When those two get back we'll have four!" How the hell did he even know that the 'fourth' existed? Ass... "A pity you didn't make it Yugi! AHAHAHAHAAA!" At those words the gate slammed behind him, leaving Yugi to do nothing but stare at the ground with wide eyes and the others to growl.

That asshole... Tch! He looked over his glove, frowning. Starchips... Stupid things had gotten them into heaps of trouble, but without them they were screwed. Eyes drifted to his friend, before the blond held his wrist out to Yugi. Only one thing to do... Only one! "Yugi," he stated, severe expression in place. "Take my starchips!" The boy stared, jumping as the hand was literally thrown in his face before frowning. _'But why_,' he seemed to silently ask, eyes wide. _'Why.._' "The only reason I made it this far," he began with a sad smile, "The only way I got here was because you gave me one of your starchips... You gave me _half_," he continued, bowing his head. "Half of your starchips, so tha' we could both go after our goals." Granted that had been 'Dark Yugi' but... Well, he was in a 'time-out' for the next bit really. "It's time f'r me t' return the favor."

"But Jonouchi-kun..." Yugi continued to stare at the blond, before shaking his head. "No... I can't... I can't," he shouted, frowning. "You won those for Mokuba-kun, you worked hard for them... You said it yourself, he's in there..! There's no way," he continued, shaking his head furiously. "There's no way I can take these..."

Mokuba... He bit his lip, looking at the ground. "Yea, I have t' get Mokuba but..." He looked back at Yugi, steeling himself. "But you've got somethin' t' fight for too! And you and I both know that out of th' two of us, you're th' real champ... Yugi," he continued, still holding the glove in his friend's face. All those times they'd faced each other at his house... He'd almost always won, and while the blond knew that he himself had improved, Yugi was still... "I know that you can do this... F'r both of us... So you can't give up," he shouted, shaking his head. "Never-"

Again, Yugi refused. "I can't..." There was fear in his eyes... Fear that he'd seen only moments before back on the balcony. The fear that he'd had at duel's end when... His own eyes widened with realization, and the blond bit his lip. That was right... Whenever Yugi had duelled on the island, it wasn't him was it...

It was 'Dark Yugi'...

They fell awkwardly silent for a moment, before a shout from behind caught their attention. "_There_ you are," came a familiar voice, Katsuya blinking with shock as the same 'stalker-esque' blond from before made her way up the steps. Mai was only about half-way up when she shouted, but it took mere moments before she was at the final flight with a large smile on her face. "Really," she said almost exasperatingly, "I've been looking for you guys for ages... Do you know how hard it was to convince the lug at the door that I was getting you?"

Wait... What! His eyes widened as they turned, before the blond mentally groaned. Damn it of all times... "Great... It's you..." And hang on... He blinked, the woman's last few words catching on. 'Lug'? Saruwatari? ... SHE was the one who was looking for the fourth competitor?

Mai snorted, hands on her hips as she pulled Kastuya from his thoughts. "Hn! '_Me_' indeed... I see that you're still here..." At those words she paused, before roughly grabbing blond's wrist with wide eyes.

"O-OI! What th' hell are you doing!"

The woman ignored him, staring a few moments before dropping the hand with a dumbfounded expression. "I don't believe it... **_You_** collected ten starchips..?"

He growled, face going red. Well, by all means, don't hold back right? "Oiii... Don't act like it's an impossible feat! B'sides," he grumbled, crossing his arms as the scowl deepened. "It's gonna be half that when I finally convince Yug' t' take 'em..."

Again the woman paused, turning to look at Yugi in question with a bewildered stare. Obviously she was in shock... Yugi had half the amount while he had all of them, probably looked just a little weird he'd admit. She scratched her head in silence, Yugi merely shrinking back slightly under the look. "You..." She frowned, eyes narrowing slightly with worry. "You're not disqualified are you..?" Silence was the only answer she received, Yugi staring to the side with an awkward expression. "Hn! You're kidding me," Mai muttered, before reaching into her pocket for something. "Well... I can't accept that," she stated with a smirk. "Here... Not quite the eight I owe you... But take these!"

Katsuya stared, he and the others looking in shock as a handful of starchips gleamed in the sun. "Holy shit," he muttered, looking at the woman with wide eyes. "You got _sixteen_ starchips? How the hell is that even possible?" Wouldn't... Wouldn't she be called out on that if she challenged someone with the full amount of chips?

She merely smirked, hand still held out as she turned to give the blond a joking wink. "Double-or-nothing; you won't believe how _easy _it is when your opponent spends all his time underwater..." Underwa- _Ryota?_Mai chuckled, free hand on her hip as she continued. "One would almost think he never saw a real woman before!" The woman appeared relatively oblivious to the fact that Anzu was now muttering death threats to a certain harpoon fisher at the moment (_'real woman, honestly_!'), looking back at Yugi with a more serious expression. "Go on, take them," she said with a light tone, smiling. "They're not gonna bite you... All I want in return is a fair fight in that castle there, understand?"

As she said this, Yugi continued to stare at the ground in silence. Mai as well stopped speaking, her hand unmoving. "Yugi," Anzu finally said, smiling as she got over her earlier slip of anger. (Hopefully, for Ryota's sake, she never saw the guy again... Especially since he wasn't the one who made the comment.) "Go on... If you take these we can all get inside right?"

"That's right," Honda was saying with a nod. "Come on man... You just caught a lucky break, we've got a fair shot now!" A _really_ fair shot.

Still Yugi stared, a frown playing over his face before he finally shook his head. "I can't..." The others tensed, Mai's hand slowly closing over the chips in response as the boy politely pushed it back. "I can't accept these..."

"...Yugi..." They stared, Katsuya almost shaking his head in slight disbelief. "But why..."

He stared at the ground, shaking his head again. "When I was fighting with Kaiba-san, I had to force the other me to stop... Because of that, I lost..." Ignoring Mai's raised eyebrow the boy grabbed his puzzle, holding it close. "The other me... I know, even with all that's on the line... I know he wouldn't take those starchips after what happened... So... I won't take them..." Wait... So 'Dark Yugi' was too proud to take the chips outside a duel? AGGGGGH.

Katsuya had to hand it to Mai. For such a creepy 'stalker', not only was she actually pretty cool but... She was pretty much just taking what Yugi had said and throwing the words to the side for what. Though... Given that she'd already been there with that whole 'Player Killer of Darkness' deal, she probably knew about 'Dark Yugi' as it was... "Well," she said with a small smile, still holding the starchips tight in her hands. "I don't know what happened but... This 'other self' of yours is effectively a mass of 'duellist pride'!" She chuckled slightly, before again holding the chips toward Yugi. "But the fact is, I owe you these starchips... If not for you, I'd have been disqualified long ago, and your 'other self' knows that. So never mind his _pride_," she stated, narrowing her eyes as the smile vanished. "I always pay back my debts... And even if you had ten starchips already, I would hold these in your face until you took them!"

"But..." Yugi looked at the woman with confusion, frowning. He shook his head still more, trying to find an excuse of sorts. "But..."

A hand clapped his shoulder, and the boy turned. Katsuya looked at him with a narrowed and severe stare, almost hesitating before speaking. In the end, he found the words though. "That's enough," he said clearly, his friend looking up with still more confusion. "Stop thinking about what th' darker you thinks," he said with a scowl, watching as Yugi gave him a slight frown in response to 'dark'. Hey, not like he said 'evil' right? That wasn't Yugi. Definitely darker though... "Think about your own feelings! 'Dark Yugi'," he said with a snort, shaking his head. "He can take a time out this time; hell, if he's sulkin' in there you can just tell him t' deal with it an' move on! But I ain't talking about him," he continued, regaining his serious gaze. "I'm talking about _you_!"

The boy shook, head turning back and forth as his gaze slowly shifted to the ground. "I... I..."

"Why do you feel so _INFERIOR_," he shouted, the others frowning as he turned on the boy completely. As Yugi jumped slightly, he continued, ignoring the fact that he was shouting and continuing regardless. "Is it because he won all those battles? Because he's 'good at games'? _THINK_," he continued, Yugi looking up in shock. "I've played you, th' real you an' not that other side... An' yer just as good as he is! Just because he's good, doesn't mean that you aren't worth just as much! Think about yourself for once," he continued, Yugi still staring at him with wide eyes. "What's the thing that really matters to you... Th' thing you came for!"

At those words the confusion seemed to clear. Yugi's eyes grew wide not with shock or indecisiveness, but with realization, and in response the blond continued further. "All I ever hear is _'Duellist' pride'_, worries about _'losing face'_, _WHO THE FUCK CARES_," he roared, Mai going a little red behind him. "We didn't come here for that kind of crap! We came for something _important_! Something we're fighting for! Yugi," he continued, turning to look at the sky for a moment as his voice quieted. All these things that were going on here... What he saw earlier, not just between Seto-chan and Yugi but also...

"Somehow, even though I'm just newbie-player that picked up a deck a few weeks ago, I got ten starchips... Set... Kaiba's words," he said with a sad laugh, "They weren't all lies, it really must've been a miracle that I came this far..." He smiled, still staring at the stars as his hand fell from Yugi's shoulder. "But I was feeling happy... Thinkin' people might start callin' me a 'real duellist', instead 'f jus' callin' me a mutt all the time... But if all a 'real duellist' cares about is pride," he continued, turning back to the others with a determined gaze, "If all that matters is saying 'I won' and flaunting it in th' other guy's face... Then I don' wanna be a duellist... I don't wanna be some asshole, acting full of myself just 'cause I won a few games playing cards..." The sad smile remained in place, hands in his pockets as he continued. "I have somethin' t' protect," he continued, stare unchanging. "And I'll crawl through hell itself if that's what it takes t' do it. Cause y' know what," he said, giving a small shrug. "B'fore I'm a duellist, or a security guy, or a student or any of that other crap... I'm Jonouchi Katsuya. An' that's all I'll ever be."

Yugi stared, as did the others in silence for a good long while as the blond stared into the distance. Mokuba and Yugi's grandfather... And Seto-chan as well, if her condition against Pegasus' eye was any given. He didn't know what was going to happen... But he'd be damned if he didn't get his say in how things went, even just a little. "Jonouchi-kun," Yugi was saying from behind, Katsuya turning in response.

Mai as well was staring, before giving a small and seemingly knowing smile. "He's right you know," she stated to the boy, gaze softening as she leaned against the staircase wall. "Pride... It can be a right pain sometimes... But Yugi," she continued, still clutching the starchips tightly in her hand. "I didn't go around collecting these just for pride... True, I wanted to repay you, believing that with that, I would earn the right to face you in a match... But to tell the truth," she continued, giving a light shrug and a sad sigh, "I wanted to see you guys again..."

What... He frowned slightly, the others turning on Mai as well with confused stares before the woman continued. "After all the things I said before, after all that..." She snorted, the smile remaining unchanged. "To hear you guys say '_we're friends_', that made me truly happy... It's the first time anyone's said something like that to me, in my entire life..."

"Ku..." Katsuya paused, before correcting himself. Nah... If she was a 'friend' (He'd admit it really...)... "Mai..."

Briefly, Mai blinked in response to that. In the end however, she merely smiled and turned to Yugi yet again. The woman held her hand before the boy, eyes appearing sad as opposed to their former pride-filled cheer as she spoke. "Listen... These starchips are more than just a debt re-paid," she stated quietly. "These are a token of my appreciation; my 'thank-you' for what you've done. Yugi," she asked, hand opening to reveal the starchips that were now slightly embedded into her palm. "You'll take them... won't you..?"

They stared, expressions blank as they waited for his answer. Yugi appeared to merely look at the chips blankly for a moment, expression decidedly neutral for the boy. Finally however, he smiled and nodded. "Okay," he decided, taking the chips in his hand and clicking five into place. "I'll take them!"

"Alright!" The others grinned, watching as Yugi turned to them with an equally cheerful expression in place. Back in the competition! "That's better," Honda was saying with a wink, pointing back toward the castle over his shoulder. "Now how about we get going?"

As Yugi nodded, Katsuya tapped the boy's shoulder. "That reminds me," he muttered as Yugi turned, blinking. "Yug'... You tell your other self that if he's gonna keep moping and complainin' that he's got me t' face, got it? You bring him out th' moment he starts, I'll knock some sense intah him!" He grinned, before coughing. "Er... Without somehow hurtin' yah..." Maybe he could find a way to get in there to deal with him himself? But wait, what would _that_ do..?

His friend stared a few moments before laughing loudly and shaking his head. "Ahaha! Don't worry Jonouchi-kun," he said with a smile, the others turning to face the castle. "I won't let him argue... Trust me!"

"Good," he said with a grin. Well... That fixed things. If 'Dark Yugi' or 'Other Yugi' or whatever he was would keep quiet then things would work out... Fact was, he missed 'normal' Yugi- after hours and hours of nothing but 'Other Yugi', it was a good break... No matter how damn different those two were, or how damn creepy it was. "Now... Let's go kick some ass alright?"

With that there was a mostly resounding shout of 'Alright!', the only silence resulting from Mai being due to preference to not scream. The group pushed open the great iron doors to the castle's courtyard with that shout, rushing forward to enter the castle itself. It was time...

And in just a while, this would all be over.

* * *

**AN:**And another chapter complete! This one's a little longer than average (The note isn't as long as normal.), and _I didn't even get everything I wanted in;_there was originally going to be a scene with good old fashioned 'Pegasus creepy' at the end of this chapter, but really, it'll work at the beginning of the next one as well. Very well actually, regardless of the fact that Jou and Co will only get a small sliver of speech if they show up in the next chapter at all... They likely will though, given that I'd like to involve their reactions to the _start_ of the duel in there... (There's an extra scene going there setting the marks of the complete 'big change' this arc.)

In any case! New poll results as per usual; Female, Crossdressing Priest Set is really killing the other two competitors...

Crossdressing, Female Set - 9 (Two Anonymous Polls)

Obviously Female Set - 4 (One Anonymous Poll)

Male Set – 2

NOW, on to things that are not polls! This story has been getting _massive_amounts of favourites and 'alerts', and I really want to thank those people; you might not be reviewing, but it tells me that I'm obviously doing something right when someone signs up for a chapter update or puts it in their list of 'top fanfics'.

ANDDDD NOW...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Two this time! First off, your vote has been recorded above Blam! Thanks for reviewing!

Second, hello hello there Iona! As I said before... Anything that Kaiba deals with is 'serious business'. ... _Anything_.

Definitely for the better, but definitely on the extreme side; sadly, a few lines concerning Mokuba originally concerned the cards themselves... AHHHH CANON KAIBA, DID YOU LEARN_NOTHING_ AT THAT TIME? Granted, trying that with a helicopter would be just as successful as jumping out of it into the moving blades, and for all Kaiba knows Pegasus has a gun to Mokuba's head sooooooo... Yeeeaaaaa...

Ah! Thanks! I like putting in things like that... Not to mention, I find it hard to believe that if Kaiba has crazy laughing scenes in the manga that he's really recovered from anything... Which ends up being drawn on in Battle City with the tower as it is. See you next chapter; hope it's just as good as the last!

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**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The guide that demands you embrace the TV-Troper _within_.

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Speaking of TV Tropes; the title for this chapter is one. It's effectively the reverse of 'Honour Before Reason', a trope that has the hero doing the 'honourable' thing to do... But completely forgoing common sense to do so. Arguably, this happens to both Yugi and Jonouchi fairly often... Not to mention anyone else when they have a 'save the day' moment... Hell, in the actual series, you can forget about logic; any time Kaiba goes for it, his logic is likely to backfire if it's a moment of 'YAMI YUGI IS ALWAYS RIGHT'. Course, 90% of the time, Kaiba is awesome anyways, and that's _if_it backfires...

Of course, for 'Revenge Before Reason', you just need to switch 'honour' with 'revenge' and let the sparks fly! This tends to lead to instances of 'was it really _worth it_?' or '_My GOD, what have I DONE_' when the vengeance succeeds. Or doesn't succeed as is happening in the puzzle above.

* * *

Mentioned in the last chapter, but the cut-off point between this chapter and the last is the exact moment where the commercial break for the episode depicting this duel sat.

* * *

Hey Usagi! _WHY DID YOU SUMMARIZE THE LAST CHAPTER_? Well, mostly because it's Jou's 'inner reveal' that he's got some weird sixth sense thing going on. Granted, he thinks he's completely crazy but _we all know_ what's going on...

Kinda sucks when you're subject to the cards poisons though. A lot actually. To be specific, Jou's spirit-y ability is more centered around the same crap running the power in the millennium items. _Possibly_ because of all the exposure to them... More likely something else. In any case, what it means is that all those monsters that are summoned out, while ordinarily unseen are perfectly visible to him.

In every. Form. (Ick.) Also means he's a bit more sensitive to the... Other. 'Spirits'. Ironically, while this will serve as a handy warning for when Yami Bakura (Or Dark Bakura or... Whatever) comes up, it does dick all for when 'Yami Malik' appears... Because all Malik's 'dark side' is, is a sad result of Dissociative Identity Disorder. (Ironically, DID is so eerily similar to the 'early' relationship between Yami Yugi and Yugi that a lot of people actually think Yami Malik _is_ another person. BUH?)

* * *

How can Jonouchi get away with saying 'she' before replacing it with 'he'? Well, the fact is I'm just using that as a text effect. In the Japanese language, it's actually very rare for them to specifically say 'he' or 'she' does this as opposed to 'Name' does this... If they even mention who the subject is. Hell, they don't even really _have_ a word for 'she' and 'he'. They just stick with 'this/that person' and slap 'girl' on the end to differentiate. It's generally implied in the Japanese language that you know who they're talking about, and that if you don't you're clearly an idiot. So really, when the fanfic says 'she... He... Is doing this', he's screwing up with the 'that girl' and 'that person'; rather 'Kanojo' (Kano (That; specifically, the 'That' used for someone or something distant from the speaker. The other 'that' is 'sore'.) and Jo (Woman)) with 'Kano' itself, which really_is_ used as a rough equivalent of 'he'. (Even though it means 'that'. Alternatively 'Kare' is also used... But that's still the same word, just used more specifically for men. Also for boyfriends, hence why he's _not_ saying 'Kare'.)

Basically, he keeps saying 'Kanoj-' before correcting himself with either 'kano' or 'kare', and that's if he even bothers. All they ever hear is 'Kano' though, which is really still 'he' territory. OH JAPAN. Basically, '_why would he bother correcting himself if all he did was add a 'j' sound at the end_?' comes to mind.

* * *

You can probably tell, really, really obviously, that I had fun emphasizing the 'three' in Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon. (Thrice? Three-fold? OH USAGI YOU NUTBAR.)

* * *

Originally, there was a little more to the '_WTF WAS THAT_' scene. (Also known as the 'STOP CHEERING FOR THE WRONG TEAM' scene.) However, I quickly realized as I was typing that they would have only had a few moments to do so... In the end, it'll be slightly re-lived in a non-canonical scene that takes place in either the next chapter or the chapter following that. We'll see how it works out. (It's not from Anzu's doing though... I'm fairly certain that the entire issue of Kaiba threatening suicide killed that for her.)

* * *

In the manga and anime both, Kaiba's original line was '_I would gladly die for the cards!_'

Wait... Wait what are you talking about Kaiba... I thought you were doing this for your brother! (Hence why 'cards' became 'THIS'. Up to you if Kaiba's obsessing over the wrong thing.)

* * *

Another interesting point; when Kaiba draws 'Monster Reborn' in the manga, he calls the name... _Before_ pulling the card out. HUH.

* * *

Also... '_Slit my throat with your cards_' might _sound_ silly, but it's a fairly literal comment that actually increases the intensity of the scene; this is a _card_ game as Jonouchi himself says in this chapter, and Yami just about did as Kaiba said... Over _cards_. YIKES.

* * *

You think 'normal Yugi' is traumatized by this event? Try everyone else as they listen to someone they consider a best friend effectively shout '_I'LL KILL YOU_!', send the monster forward without any remorse whatsoever toward an opponent who is _literally waiting for the blow to fall._ There's a reason why Jonouchi isn't questioned about Kaiba anymore in this chapter, and it's because everyone else is too busy being completely scared shitless by the 'Other Yugi'.

* * *

'Dark' Yugi indeed. (Did you know that 'Yami' means 'Darkness'? Now you do.) Notice how rather than 'Other Yugi', it suddenly switches to 'Dark Yugi' for a while in Jonouchi's mind the moment he shouts that. Hohoh~ This isn't an act of hate or downplay; rather a re-surfaced fear on Jonouchi's part. Remember, first time _this_ Jonouchi found out about him by means of Mokuba's panicked mutterings of a penalty game. So... It's kinda like having a really cool really strong best friend that (unfortunately) also scares the shit out of people occasionally.

* * *

And yes. Jonouchi heard normal Yugi giving a big 'No'. Among other things. However, this is _only_ because Yugi was literally screaming in his mind at the time; casual conversation or deliberately private mutterings will remain completely unheard to him, though it's likely that with time he'll end up guessing when they're talking... (That will probably be an overall thing though, as opposed to something 'special'. Otherwise, Jonouchi's got a little _too_much 'special'.

* * *

Kaiba's speech about games and life is actually really, _really_ deep... But it's of course played off as either an overly obsessive point (Which it admittedly is) or just plain silly. Guys... When you take those lines out of context, it really _ISN'T,_ particularly when you think of just how 'serious business' games tend to get as it is.

Speaking of that speech, Kaiba! Kaiba you said 'God', does that make you religious? FUCK NO. I doubt Kaiba solidly believes in _anything_ guys... Not to mention the main religion of Japan is Buddhism followed by Shinto.

* * *

Dialogue switching? WHERE? I took a number of Anzu's lines and altered them for Jonouchi's mindset; given that he actually _does_compare life to things like this with relative ease, it wouldn't surprise me if the slightly-more-character-developed version above actually came up with this.

Course... Anzu picked up and apparently missed that Jonouchi wasn't bashing so much as attempting to deliver a message...

Specifically, Anzu's exact lines after '_you're the one who lost_' are '_You say people's struggles are a game? That's totally wrong! Facing yourself no matter how tough things get... And keeping up the fight... That's what games are really about!_' And then cue '_you bet your chip_.'

Quite honestly, I would think that Jonouchi understands more about Kaiba's 'game' analogy than Anzu's own. Which is rather silly in the end. Granted, after she said the second half, it makes a LOT more sense... If... You divide the speech in two... Plus, Kaiba spent most of it ranting about either cards or rivalry rather than Mokuba, so really, with that in mind, the entire thing is actually really well said.

Jonouchi's own line after Anzu was given to Honda... Given that Jonouchi had already said his piece in the chapter, and Honda kinda deserves a little more than '_Hey, it's alright Yugi~_'

* * *

In the manga, when Jonouchi (Angrily) tosses the dueldisk back to Kaiba, he compares it to cup ramen_again_. (Specifically, he says '_THIS CUP RAMEN THING_'.) Oh Jou...

* * *

As it turns out, Mai was looking for Yugi; that's why she told Saruwatari she was getting the 'fourth finalist' (Probably didn't know if Jonouchi made it or not.). To be specific, it's more likely that she mentioned getting someone else with ten starchips and convincing Saruwatari to wait with her more 'convincing' aspects.

* * *

Again with the _accurate_ lines; the first thing out of Jonouchi's mouth when he see's Mai is '_IT'S HER_!'.

On the other hand, the first thing out of /Mai/'s mouth is '_WHA- Jonouchi...__YOU__COLLECTED TEN STARCHIPS_!' To which Jou 'intelligently' retorts that it will soon be half, not even explaining why. (Mai seems to catch on regardless though.)

* * *

Yea, I had Mai go double or nothing against Ryota. AHAHAHA. On another note, somehow Mai's character is growing closer and closer to 'really cool big sister' rather than what I tend to see of her in media... Let me know what you're thinking of that, it kinda affects the plot.

* * *

Yugi's original line makes so little sense that I almost want to throttle the kid myself, regardless of the constant pummelling he goes through anyways. '_When I was fighting Kaiba... I interfered with my other self... And lost... I can't do anything selfish anymore..._'  
Selfish? SELFISH? _BOY YOU SAVED KAIBA'S LIFE, THAT'S NOT SELFISH. YOU PREVENTED MURDER YOU MORON_.

It almost makes me wonder... If he's so submissive at this point that he's bullying himself. Hell, if you take that line the wrong way, it almost seems like Yami's picking on Yugi... When this is far from the fact, and it's more likely that Yami's just sulking in his puzzle and Yugi's feeling miserable about that fact. Because face it guys, Yugi's _very_ nice.

And that tends to be what gets him into deep crap.

In any case, technically the situation is no different given Yami Yugi's mood, though there probably is a bit of a guilt layer there... (It's still pride that's keeping him from wanting those chips though. FOOL.)

* * *

Mai appears to already be aware of Yami Yugi, but given that she witnesses a duel between he and the PK'er of Darkness, I'm going to assume that Anzu cleared things up for her...  
That or she is able to pass of _anything_, because she really does make a statement about Yugi's 'other self' in the manga with a straight face.

* * *

Still doubting Jonouchi's awesomeness? Besides a few words at the beginning in regards to Yami Yugi himself, that_entire speech_was all him. All of it. Oh... I also added some slang, given his mood. Some lines_were_rearranged to make more sense though... Otherwise,_all him_, message, heart, and soul. Ohhhh his mood though... So conflicted...

He's happy Seto's alive. But _pissed_ that she essentially threw that to the ground in everyone's face. Sure he loves her, but he's still pissed as hell. Then there's Saruwatari being a jackass and Keith getting in... And now Yugi's giving up? NO, HE CANNOT HAVE THIS. And of course, he's currently dealing with the fact that Yugi effectively just said that only _now_ did Yami finally pull a '_WHAT HAVE I DONE.._.'. That didn't even happen in the manga or anime guys; case in point, Yugi's original line.

* * *

Another point on that actually; the main reason _why_ Yami's got that reaction in the fanfic (He doesn't appear to give it much thought until much later in the anime and manga both. If he even does.) has little to do with Kaiba herself and more with Jonouchi. Specifically, he now has the recent knowledge that he's facing the one his best friend has eyes for... Not to mention he's a fair bit closer to Mokuba than before, and also has that particular attachment thread to bug him.

So now he's effectively come that close to killing off his best friend's 'girlfriend' and another friend's older sibling. One of those things that make you go '_OH SHIT WHAT DID I JUST_**_DO_**?'.

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And that's all for this chapter! I'll see you next time!


	34. Chapter 33

**Silent Conversation**

**

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**

The sunset was a wonderful sight to see, from the balconies of his castle. The ocean would be dyed a deep violet, with streams of pink and pale orange lining the red-tinted sky. Pegasus however, was not looking at the magnificent sight as he sat in his chair, back turned to a window that was closed shut with elaborately designed curtains. Instead he leaned against his chair, flipping through a pile of cards with a calm smile across his face.

Such marvellous cards these were... So special that he simply did not release them to the public in the end. A few made it of course... But for his personal ones, his favourite ones, they would never be shown to the public world eye. Pegasus sorted through the cards, quietly humming to himself as silence sat around the room. Mokuba had of course been moved from the cells after the 'reveal' to _dear_ Seto... There was no sense in using unnecessary means to keep an eye on him after all. He had to say though... The woman's more prominent thoughts had been interesting to say the least, and at the memory his eye narrowed slightly in mirth.

"Hnhnhn... Dear _dear_ Kaiba," he muttered, pausing in his card sorting to sigh. An intense worry for Mokuba that he hadn't seen in anyone for a long time... More so than when he'd spoken to the 'Dog' that the siblings had for security even, though between siblings he supposed it was expected. To think though, the woman assumed he had a weapon aimed at her brother! Really!

He'd already done all he 'could' to remove any possible problems the boy would pose... Weapons would be useless! Pointless! And messy... He would rather not have blood on his floors, even the stone ones. He gave another sigh, still smiling. So interesting though... She'd guessed instantly what it was he knew, and had created all those things to get around revealing more... And it would all be for naught, he added with a smile. All for nothing...

Pegasus' thoughts were cut short as the phone to the side buzzed. "Hnn..?" The smile faded, and he placed his cards on the table to turn on the speaker. This phone would only receive numbers from his hired hands... Which meant... "Yes," he asked as he picked up the phone, listening for whoever was on the other end. Good news perhaps..?

"_Mr. Pegasus_," stated Saruwatari, accented English coming through the other end. Aha... Very good news! "_The match between Yugi Mutou and Seto Kaiba has just ended_." There was a pause, as though Saruwatari himself was unsure of what had happened. "._..The winner_," he finally stated with a slight cough, Pegasus holding back from his intended statement of 'go on...',"_Is Seto Kaiba_." There was more silence for a moment, Pegasus merely smiling with a narrowed eye. Kaiba-dear... Well, wasn't that interesting. "._..Shall I let him into the castle," _he asked, his employer smirking in response.

"_But of __**course**__~,"_ he stated with a smile, leaning back in his chair. Hands folded in his lap and the man crossed his legs, giving a mock sigh. "_My... What a turn of events..! I wouldn't miss it_," he stated with a shout, grinning. "_Bring him in immediately_," Pegasus continued, not even skipping a beat when it came to cloaking Kaiba's gender. It was so much more fun after all, when there were mind games involved... Much more fun, to watch and see how a paranoid 'Kaiba-dear' would act. The eye narrowed further, his smile darkening into an almost villainous smirk. "_Be sure to show him directly to the duel arena... Understand,"_ he added lowly, nothing but silence on the other end. "_We can't keep our Dear Seto Kaiba waiting after all..."_

He assumed there was a nod on the other end with Saruwatari's next words, the man completely missing the implications with the word 'dear'. "_Yes sir_," he stated seriously, sounds of footsteps dimly audible over the phone. "_Right away sir_!" With a sharp click the phone disconnected, Pegasus clicking the switch controlling the speaker before leaning back in his chair.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... My my..." The man turned to the side, looking towards where his 'guest' had been standing for the last hour or so. The boy merely stared blankly, not responding to the words he spoke... Merely standing in the same position he had been left in. "It looks as though your _dear_ sister has gotten her wish, 'Mokuba-boy'..." The man continued to chuckle as he gathered his cards, millennium eye seeming to react to the upcoming duel. A pulsing energy shuddered through the room... Cards gathered, he continued to speak. "Her next opponent will indeed be me..."

On his terms though, he mentally added with a smirk. These 'dueldisks' would simply not do! "Don't worry 'Mokuba-boy'," Pegasus continued, standing up to leave the room with the cards. "Soon enough you'll be able to see your dear sister again..."

In the card prison he had created that was... "Hnhnhnhnhn... Come," he 'ordered', the boy blinking in response. Walking past the boy, he opened the door to leave, knowing that Mokuba was listening despite lack of response. "We're going to meet with your sister..."

The response was nothing but silent footsteps behind him as he moved down the hall, but then, that had been expected. The smirk continued to play across his face as he moved to set up his duel, eye glinting coldly in the hall light. _Time to play a Shadow Game... 'Kaiba-dear'..._

_

* * *

_

The wind had been pressuring at the wall of that tower. Far softer than before, during the duel itself, but still enough that she was hardly believing the fact that she hadn't been blown down before Yugi made his move. And his move, his decision was... _'I'll do it,_' her opponent had shouted, expression set with the decision and making no move to betray his actions. Show no mercy then... Do it... Do it..! '_Elven Knight_,' he had continued loudly. '_ATTA- Gkhk_!'

She had only stood there for moments waiting for the strike that never came. Across from her, Yugi collapsed, as though fighting off an intense wave of pain. Grabbing his head, tensing on the ground... The woman narrowed her eyes as the boy continued to stare at the ground, almost shivering. What was he doing..? Where was the attack?

"Tch..." Soft, almost inaudible sounds came over the field, her eyes narrowing further. Crying? That was what it sounded like at least... But crying! Her opponent was _crying_ now? Time passed... Seconds, minutes, and finally it came to her turn. "Blue-Eyes," she commanded, eyes narrowed as the win came into view. She couldn't feel excited about this... All she felt was a cold detachment from the battle itself, a desire to put this as far behind her as possible. This fight wasn't for her... It was never for her, and as such it was little more than an obstacle to cross to find and Mokuba. And as such, she would end it now!

It was never a duel. Never... "_**BURST STREAM**_!" Her dragon reared the third repaired head, blast of energy gathering in its mouth. White light had filled the arena... Spouting forward to an almost blinding extent in the now night sky. Yugi's lifepoints dropped to zero and her dueldisk clicked off with a loud 'beep'. Seto pulled the disk back, removing it from her wrist silently as a blank frown came over her face. Pathetic... Pathetic... She tried to convince herself that this was what Yugi was, that this was the reason... But why... Why?

Why the hell had he stopped that attack! One step and she was back on the tower and out of danger. A few more steps and she was picking her briefcase up off the ground and opening it up with a loud click. The disk was packed back into the briefcase that sat along the sides as the winds died down, and in a single motion she had the cards from the deck holder, disk, and ground. Gathering them back into a deck, her cards sat in her jacket's breast pocket once again, and as the case before her was clicked shut she turned briefly on the group before her.

Tears, nothing but tears... Why... '_Kaiba-san could have died,_' the boy was crying, Seto's eyes narrowing as the honorific was noted. Sometime's 'san' other times not... Tch... What was this then, a case of some stupid personality take over? She didn't know what Yugi's issue was... Maybe he had a mental disorder, something, some kind of problem that had him do one thing than then say another... But there were definitely 'two' people in there so to speak. This Yugi, the one huddled on the ground in pieces...

And the one who, without a doubt, _would_ have attacked her. Killed her without remorse and moved ahead regardless of the words of the others. Picking up the starchips on the ground with a grimace, she didn't know which fact she detested more; that her fight had effectively been interrupted in the only legal way possible, or that it had taken that interruption to change the course of the duel. Yugi's eyes with those words... Vicious, with the strong desire to win... Eyes that she'd found familiar to her own... Familiar enough that, she realized with a silent growl, it appeared that he had done _exactly_ what she would have 'as predicted', rather than proving her wrong as he always would... Exactly what she had predicted...

A prediction that, she recalled with a jolt, had involved actions that ended up with her almost killing her own brother. Seto turned to face the group with a glare, pocketing the starchips and scowling. Death-T... "You showed weakness in the end," she stated with disgust, fists clenched as the group looked at her with mixed expressions.

For the most part there were frowns... Even the blond had one, though that in itself made her feel a little more detached from the annoyance that resurfaced with his presence; she still didn't know who he was... Couldn't remember what he meant to her, whether he was worth anything or not. At least this way however, it mattered only little, if at all. Yugi's face was still twisted with grief however, and as she continued to stare the boy down her eyes narrowed further regardless of that slight relief.

He showed weakness... Interfering on his own duel, collapsing into tears, and yet that wasn't why she felt angry. The real reason... The main reason... If she could even pin it down... She grit her teeth, continuing. "It cost you your win... If you'd had the resolve to push me over the edge Yugi, you would have won." Seto's gaze remained relatively unchanged as she continued, looking at the boy's eyes without a speck of remorse. Pathetic... He should have just let her die, maybe give him something to really cry about. Rather than reminding her of that hated day months before. Rather than sitting there and crying like a child, making it even more difficult to believe in his age. At least she wouldn't have had to watch him curl in on himself.

Of course, she added as an afterthought before speaking, who would be there to cry at any funeral she had given the current situation if she had died..? Who... "You would have moved on to that castle with no problems," Seto stated, Yugi still staring back with tears streaming down the sides of his face. Instead of moving ahead however, he'd pulled himself back... Pulled himself far back and now the moron would have nothing to show for it, nothing but tears and whatever the hell kind of memory it was that Yugi was apparently fighting for this time. He always had something after all... ...Pathetic. "Caring about the enemy's safety is the most moronic thing you can do in this situation," she decided, turning away slightly. "Let that be a lesson to you." Don't play games that weren't intended to be won no matter what. This wasn't some manga where 'defeat' was synonymous with 'friendship' or some other crap; this was real life, and it just so happened that real life had decided to give them nothing but bullshit. This was a time where the goal had to remain in sight no matter what...

And this... This was not the place for someone like Yugi. Not the place for someone who switched persona at the drop of a hat and contradicted themselves just as quickly. "S... Kaiba," Jonouchi shouted from behind, the woman turning slightly in response. Hn..? Now what did the mutt want... She turned on him completely, staring as the blond's face grew red. "This is a _**GAME**_," he shouted, eyes narrowing. How often had she heard those words... "It ain't about murder!" Her eyes narrowed slightly; she never said it was... Honestly, what kind of bullshit did he think she was trying to pull... "I get that Mokuba's in there," the blond continued, Seto's expression betraying the slight pang of guilt she felt with that particular reminder, "And I'll do whatever it takes t' get him outta there as well... But that doesn't mean you drag this kind of bullshit into the match," he roared, Seto merely staring in response. "You don't need t' go an' diss the guy who saved your ass for it!"

For a moment, she said nothing, merely staring and taking in the information. Finally however, she snorted. Idiot... 'Just a game'? Don't make her laugh. He completely missed the point... "Moron," she muttered, eyes narrowed. "Games mean '_conflict_', '_combat between enemies_'," Seto stated with a mild glare. "They're all the same... Cards, chess... And the blood soaked wars that go on around the world as we know it..." She took a few steps forward, staring the 'mutt' down and continuing with a dangerously low tone. "They're all just different kinds of games, and you know what..? When this world was created, each person was given one thing, just one thing to play these games... A single chip called 'Life'. And when I threw that chip on the board," she spat, growling as she continued. "Your friend exposed all weaknesses he had in his own and lost pathetically..."

More silence. She wasn't sure why she was still standing there rather than leaving for the castle, leaving for her brother. She needed to move... Get him out of there... In the end, the blond before her spoke up again, catching her attention once more. "Is that so," he said, sending back a dull and neutral frown. "You're th' one who lost th' duel... You got that right," Jonouchi continued, muttering as he moved over to Yugi's side. "But it wasn't just this duel..." What..? Jonouchi helped his friend up, before turning back to face her with the same narrowed and neutral gaze, Seto merely staring back. "If life's a game, then you've got all th' rules messed up S... Kaiba. You said you have t'know yourself..?" Yes.. She did... "Then y' have t' face yourself too," the blond continued, his subject merely staring in response. ...What. "Stand up an' fight, no matter how tough things get... No matter what happens."

Stand up and- Oh please, don't start trying to teach her this bullshit now... She was hardly in the mood. Listening to those words gained a mixed response of annoyance and confusion really; the 'mutt' was obviously trying to say _something_, just what the hell was it though, she pondered with a mental growl. Her thoughts were stopped when, in the silent gap created with the last few words, the others decided to continue where he left off. "You bet your chip as if it meant nothing," Anzu spat out from her side, Seto turning to fix the woman with steady glare. Excus- What did she say! "You lost to yourself," she was continuing, apparently uncaring of the fury that Seto herself was now in. "When you realized you were going to lose, you decided to just end it all right there!" Nothing..? _NOTHING_? She was there for one purpose and one purpose only- if she could not fulfil that purpose... Then her chip really was worth nothing... How dare she twist this into some pathetic tantrum over a duel! These weren't even her preferred conditions... If it had been that, she wouldn't have given the option at all, and would have tried again to rub the moron's nose in defeat for once!

Winning by circumstance was one thing, she thought with a growl. But winning because of circumstance she created for the sake of her brother... If there was one thing she wanted never to do again, it was to be forced into such a situation yet again. She did what she had to... It wasn't her fault that _someone_ couldn't make up his mind about that. Still fixing Anzu with a glare, Seto watched as the woman's harsh tone suddenly quieted slightly, the gaze softening. "Listen," she stated, eyes narrowed. "Real courage... It isn't pushing someone off a cliff if it benefits you... It's protecting what it is that's been given to you, no matter what!" Except she hadn't been fighting 'this' Yugi, she'd been fighting the 'other' Yugi, making the entire point completely moot! Protecting that chip...

If she couldn't protect her brother's life... Even that wasn't as bad as simply disregarding it and having someone else step in to stop it. And even that... Even that wasn't the reason... "The moment you give up," Anzu was continuing across from her, those around giving a nod in response as Seto's train of thought was lost once more. "That's when you really lose!"

Tch... Oh, how _touching._ Still. Moot. Growling, she watched as the tallest of the group (Honda was it?) moved forward, with a considerably less angered expression. "Don't forget Kaiba," the teen was stating, Seto fixing a dull glare his way in response. "If it wasn't for Yugi, that 'chip' of yours would be over the side of the cliff... And I doubt," he stated, the woman merely holding her tongue in response, "That even if you had lost this duel, your brother would want that." Shut up... Shut up shut up _shut up_!

If she lost the duel, her brother would be out of her reach completely, and Pegasus would likely gun her down as it was. Mokuba would be locked in a cell for all his life, and likely made to watch as she died... Better to die by her own hands than by- Oh that wasn't even the point! Why... Why did she feel so damn _guilted_ about this? How was it that, in addition to already detesting the conditions she'd ended this duel with, she still felt like complete _crap_? Not the point, she tried to tell herself. It wasn't the point... The point was that this moron in front of her had just changed his mind half way through... Changed his mind from killing her to letting her live, when there was no reason for it. Weak... He was weak, and that was all- he couldn't stomach the possibility of getting his hands dirty, and it made him weak... That was all... She narrowed her eyes, watching as Jonouchi stood with the second dueldisk. "Tch... Say what you want," she spat out with a growl, turning to give a demanding glare to Jonouchi for the moment. There was a nod, and the dueldisk was tossed over. With one swift motion she was on the ground opening her briefcase to re-package the device. "Nothing changes the fact that they're the cries of a loser," she continued, closing the briefcase off and storming down the tower steps. "I'm leaving," Seto shouted, wanting nothing more than to get her brother, get out of there, and just get this all over with. Her coat flapped behind her as she moved, locket thumping against her front with each step. "And when you morons get to the castle," she added with a snarl, "I'll leave the remains of Pegasus for you to deal with!"

Time to get this over with... Over and done and in the past... Shoes clacked against hard cold stone as she moved past the stairs, walking toward the tunnel and attempting to clear her mind. She was there.. She was almost there, and Pegasus was next... Calm down, she told herself with narrowed eyes. Calm- She tensed, frown returning as a shadow stepped from in front of her. Oh great... A small and clearly sarcastic form of applause was coming from the shadow, and not even two feet ahead of her she stopped in her tracks. For the love of... Was everyone trying to keep her away from Mokuba? Really? She grit her teeth, narrowing her eyes as the man before her spoke in an accented and almost slurred form of Japanese. "Good show," the man before her stated, her eyes narrowing further as she recognised the voice. "You kicked that midget's sorry little ass! Hehehehe..." Now what could he be doing here...

"Mm.." She stared, her own voice laced with clearly evident dismissal as she answered the American. He was completely butchering the language... What the hell was he saying? "Well," she began, completely ignoring the comment on her 'play'. Honestly, it wasn't a win if she wasn't going 'all out' without the kind of crap she'd been forced to pull out there... That kind of duel was making even her feel nauseous. As for the one watching her... "I didn't know a prize hunting hyena like yourself could find their way to an island this far from the USA... _Interesting choice of languages_," she continued, slipping into fairly clear English with a dull expression. "_But what are you doing here, 'Bandit Keith'_?"

Keith merely smirked in response, apparently amused by the fact that he wasn't limited to Japanese for the moment. "_Hehehe... Didn't guess? You were there too, weren't you_?" The man continued to laugh, Seto's own expression held relatively neutral as the man continued. Great. Somehow, regardless of it being his native language, he was doing _worse_... "_Let me tell you something, you rich bastard,"_ the man stated with a crazed and almost frightening grin. She'd seen worse honestly... And 'bastard'? Not new, she decided as Keith continued. "_I'm taking that prize... And Pegasus' __head__... For myself..."_

She remained silent, the comment leaving little effect. Psh... Such a heavily slurred tone even in English... This moron was either drunk or hungover...

Not to mention loose a good number of screws she decided, only barely listening as Keith muttered something about '_rich kids not caring about prizes_'. (Though it was true, she could really care less about the prize...) "Hey," the blond asked, a dark grin in place as he spoke again. "_What you said out there_, 'we're all given a chip called 'life'..." He snorted, wheezing laughter echoing around the tunnel for a number of moments before he continued. "_This chip worth the same for everyone? For the poor and the rich both? Or is it just something you pulled out of your ass for the situation?"_

As Keith continued to laugh, Seto merely smirked. Moron... She couldn't even be too bothered by his insults he was so pathetic... Hahhhhh... Mind as well get going then if he was going to be talking about that... "_Mm... I thought that distinction was for you 'hyenas' to sniff out,"_ she stated calmly, smirking and walking off with those words. "_While you hunt for your next pile of scraps_..."

"Gh..!" She rolled her eyes as the man muttered a few curses to her under his breath, walking through the courtyard to reach the door. "_Well_," he was muttering as she took out the chips from her jacket, ignoring the muttered conversation Saruwatari was having over the phone beside her. "_Mind as well head inside the castle too..."_

Hn! The smirk grew minutely, and she continued to fish out the ten starchips. By the time she was through, this tournament wouldn't even be able to run... Seto placed each starchip within the door lock with a click, watching as the lock clacked open and 'swallowed' the chips in an aperture-like fashion. Spaces now cleared for the next contestant, the lock turned swiftly in a full circle. "Lock Activated," the device stated with a computerized monotone, before the door itself swung open with an echoing bang. "Enter."

She would... Taking no time to pause at the entrance, she stormed through the foyer of the castle, all anger from the previous 'duel' doubled. Pegasus... She was coming for him now, and he had better hope he was prepared... Walking through the foyer however, she paused. Someone was watching her... Who...

"Excuse me," a man asked from the side, Seto's eyes widening from their near slit-like state slightly in response. Hn... What now... "Kaiba-san," he asked, the woman turning to face him completely, expression kept almost professionally neutral. "Pegasus-sama will meet with you momentarily for your duel," he stated calmly, hands gesturing to the side. "Please, follow me."

Ah... So this was an escort then... Seto nodded curtly, mood remaining relatively unchanged. Her rival was either literally two-faced even by normal standards or simply unable to fight... Her brother had been kidnapped by a man who could read minds, and that same person now had her own personal secrets dangling on a thread. Not to mention the aggravating comparisons that he was _daring_ to assume... Needless to say. Not in the mood... Not in the mood at all. The walk passed in silence, and she was led to a single door labeled 'arena'. A few chairs sat at the side, as did a vase or two filled with foxglove... Hn... So Pegasus had built himself an arena then had he...

It figured. She crossed her arms, watching as the escort left with a muttered '_the door will open when the duel arena is prepared. Please wait here'_. Tch... More waiting... Shouldn't this have been ready to start? The briefcase was placed at the side, and as she took a seat she found herself staring at the wall in well hidden annoyance. Pegasus' tournament... That was probably what was delaying this 'duel' really... According to the rules she skimmed while waiting all those hours before, there would be four finalists allowed into the castle. Keith was apparently one... And given the glove, so was the Mutt. Two more spots were freed... Make that one, she mentally corrected. After all.

She had no doubt that Yugi would regain the missing five starchips. No doubts what so ever. The only question was she decided, turning as the door to her side clicked open, was whether or not it would the a case of her 'rival' getting over himself and accepting the reality that was bloodied hands in a situation such as this... Or if he'd simply tagged along with the mutt, like a lost puppy. Or maybe even something else...

The door was open now, and the platform bridge to the center arena was now beginning to move forward. Seto walked out onto the platform that jutted from the entry, walking across as it moved to lock into the side of the arena. This device... Identical in every way to the 'arena' she'd built for Death-T... Seto narrowed her eyes at the reminder, grip on her briefcase tightening. Obviously Pegasus _had_ found something in her mind that last time she came. The woman shook it off, frowning. Forget it... Forget it..! All that was left was Pegasus...

And that was all that mattered! Staring forward, her free hand fingered the locket around her neck, scowl fading. Hold on... Just a little longer... Hold on, and she swore it, she would defeat Pegasus and get him back... Mokuba... Her fist tightened around the pendant, before dropping it back down to sit around her neck. She would win... No matter what.

And if he didn't show up soon... Eyes traveled to the sides of the room, narrowed as she waited for Pegasus to appear. Watched... She felt like she was being watched, and not just by Keith; the moron was standing at the side, leaning against a railing from a hall above them. Staring down with a leering grin and an appropriately hyena-like chuckle while spinning something around in his hands. A balcony... It figured that Pegasus would have made room for private audience. There was someone else though... Someone else was watching, where...

Ahead of her, the door slammed open, three men stepping out and cutting her thoughts considerably short. Those on the sides merely stood behind the third impassively, one holding a case of sorts and the other with his hands behind his back. As Pegasus stepped forward from the door, only the guard with the case walked forward however, the second remaining stiff at the door.

Pegasus... She grit her teeth, ignoring the oddities of the guards and focusing on the man before her. This man... "Ahhh welcome~," he said with an apparently genuine smile, Seto making no attempt to hide any thoughts of loathing toward the man. Reading her mind? Have fun with that! Regardless of whatever he 'saw' as he came toward her, Pegasus merely continued with a laugh. "Welcome to my castle! So good to see you again Kaiba-dear~" Tch... As she clenched her fists at the 'dear' once again, the woman opted let Pegasus continue. Live with it... Not long now... Not long and Mokuba would be back, safe and sound... And with that done, she would fix everything... She would fix this all even if it took years... "I've been waiting for the day when I could battle a proud duellist such as yourself," Pegasus was saying, his smile abruptly shifting into a more sinister expression. "Right here in my own duellist kingdom..." He chuckled, and from behind the man's hair she could make out a gleaming golden eye. And eye that send a cold chill down her spine before she reigned in her fear and cast it aside for the moment yet again. Tch... Bastard... Stop talking and give her brother back! "Hnhnhnhn... No need to worry Kaiba-dear," the man stated with a smirk. No need to- Of course... He'd read her thoughts and knew what she wanted already then... Spit it out, she mentally muttered, Pegasus merely chuckling in response. Get this over with... "Once our duel is _safely _over, I'll give back your wonderful little brother..." And if he didn't, then 'safely' would have to factor _out _of the situation, she thought wryly. Again, Pegasus chuckled, before gesturing to the arena around them. "Now now Kaiba-dear," he said with a smile, eye narrowing with cruel mirth. Well, someone was enjoying this... What she wouldn't give to just wipe that smirk off his face... "Let's just enjoy the duel shall we..?"

"Tch..." Enough with the 'thought speak'! 'Enjoy'? The only part she would enjoy was smashing the bastard's head in with her briefcase after the match! "Let's go Pegasus," she snarled, watching as her opponent's smile darkened even further. "You've wasted enough time!"

Before Pegasus spoke, distant shouts could be heard from the side. Seto's eyes widened just slightly as she made out a few words, the woman frowning in response. Hn..? "Ahhhh," Pegasus said with a smile, turning to look at the balcony to the side. "It looks as though the four _official_ finalists have been gathered to watch... Such a large audience, wouldn't you say..?" What..?

She turned, blinking with slight surprise as the shouts from the side cleared up. '_Kaiba-san_,' Yugi was shouting, Jonouchi and the others right at his side and staring down with encouraging stares. The blond was shouting as well... All of them were looking down with... "Yugi..!" Why were all of them..? She stared, motionless for a few seconds as she rephrased the question to herself. How the hell did they get in? Nonetheless, turning back, she had to smile. She knew it... She knew he would be there. And if the look in his eyes was any given, he'd neither simply 'tagged along' nor lost whatever it was that made him stop that last duel.

Somehow, as she turned back to Pegasus with a frown, that didn't bug her. It wouldn't be 'Yugi' if he'd done that... Wouldn't be the same person she wanted to face in a true duel, the one who had beaten her twice before and would someday be repaid that 'debt'. "Now then," Pegasus was stating, cruel smile still in place as he stared the woman down. "Let's start our little game, shall we?"

She nodded, grip on her briefcase tightening. 'Little'? Tch... "Before that Pegasus," she snarled, watching as the single guard at the back adjusted something behind him. Odd... But for the moment she cared less. "Tell me- Where. Is. My. _Brother_?"

Pegasus merely chuckled, giving a dismissive wave. Ghn... Don't treat this lightly..! "Now now... Don't you worry Kaiba-dear... You'll be allowed to see him soon..." She narrowed her eyes, biting her tongue. Why didn't she like the sound of that... Gh... "Now," the man continued, eyes briefly passing over the briefcase. "About the means of our duel... I have a feeling you've brought an interesting contraption with you," he stated, Seto mentally rolling her eyes. Of course he had a feeling; he knew what she was thinking... As to _how_ he knew that when she hadn't given that a thought for the moment... Tch. "Something called a duel disk...?"

By this point she had already placed the briefcase flat on the ground, opening it up to pull out one of the duel disks. "Hn! That's right," she stated, handing it over to the man and watching as he looked it over. She decided against taking out her own for now, instead watching Pegasus with a scowl. "We fight with this disk," she stated, "Or I don't fight at all!"

It was a weak threat, she knew that... Pegasus had her brother after all, and he could easily use that against her. Could easily threaten something against him should she not fight... Nonetheless... "Hnnn..." She continued to watch as Pegasus 'inspected' the device with an apparently curious eye. "Ahhhh!" Seto blinked, eyebrows raised as the man attempted a throw of sorts with an expression of apparent revelation. "Hup! ...Do I throw it like that?" She stared. Was... Was he serious... What was... She mentally shook it off, resuming her glare. Whatever... She already knew Pegasus was a few screws loose... "Hah... It looks exhausting," Pegasus muttered, wiping a fake bead of sweat from his brow. "I'm not very good at physical sports..." ...Many. Screws loose. Many many many- "How about this," Pegasus asked, his former expression of faux-worry changing to a significantly more severe smirk that stopped her thoughts instantly. "I'll fight you with the duel disk," he began, Seto's attention pulled to the guard behind him with a frown. He shifted with those words... Why... "But I'll use a... 'Proxy' of sorts to wield it for me..."

WHAT? A proxy? A _stand _in? Her eyes narrowed, but before she could even voice her complaints Pegasus smirked. "Now now," he said with a smirk, Seto merely bristling even more at the expression. "I'll be using the cards myself! It doesn't change the fact that I'm your opponent you know..." Yes... Yes it damn well did!

She grit her teeth, fists clenched as she left the second duel disk in the box. "No," she shouted, standing confidently despite the clear advantage her opponent had over her. "You'll use the disk yourself Pegasus, and face me one on one! _NOW_!" She would not be refused... She would _not_...

He was chuckling. Pegasus stood to the side, gesturing toward the door and shaking his head. "No no no... You see, I already told you I'm no good at that... Here," he continued with an eerie smile, Seto's eyes widening considerably as the guard to the back began to walk forward. A chain was gripped tightly in his hands, the 'leash' in question disappearing around the corner. _'Follow me,_' the guard stated with an underlying tone of anxiety, the chain slackening as dull footsteps padded across the ground. The guard continued forward, position blocking the other side of the chain for a moment. "As promised... I'll let you see sweet little 'Mokuba-Boy'..."

Mokuba... The boy walked around the guard at that, eyes staring listlessly forward. What... What... "Mokuba," she shouted, charging forward only for the guard to block her way with a grin. Not even a response... Not even... Why wasn't he saying something... Anything..! She looked around the guard at her brother with wide eyes, before turning on Pegasus with a snarl. "PEGASUS," she roared, ignoring additionally enraged shouts from the side. "What did you do to my brother?"

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." A card was pulled from the man's breast pocket, and as he held it forward she felt herself grow weak yet again. What was this... What was he doing... "His body can't speak to you," the man stated, Seto gritting her teeth in response. "In fact, he won't even respond... You see Kaiba-dear," he said with a reptilian smile, the woman staring as Pegasus flipped the card around to reveal its front. "I sealed his soul in this card..."

What... What... Mokuba's screaming image could be seen clearly across the card's surface, panicked face staring outward with wide eyes. His hands gripped the bars of his paper prison, and staring at it with wide and horrified eyes Seto couldn't even move. Sealed inside a card... What the hell was this..? It was impossible, it had to be, and yet beyond all that she had proof right before her... There was... Nothing...

And he was still talking... The bastard who did this still dared to speak... Holding her brother's body and soul, separate even... "The Mokuba before you is a mere shell," he stated, smirking as he handed the disk to the boy. "But there's enough of him in there to listen when given an order by _me_," Pegasus continued, emphasizing that last word with dark humour. "Now my _dear_... If you can defeat me, I'll free his soul from the card." Would he really? Just what proof did she have that he was anything more than an invasive, gall-less... "And then you and he will be free to go..." he trailed off, Seto continuing to seethe on the spot, shaking and biting her tongue to prevent from worsening the situation any more than it could. Curse him... Curse him... Mokuba didn't deserve that... He didn't...

Leave him out of this!

"Hnhnhnhn... That brings us back to our match," Pegasus stated, motioning the boy forward and placing a hand on his shoulder. Don't touch him... Don't even think of- "If you insist on challenging me with the duel disk," the man continued, handing his disk to her brother with a grin, "I nominate Mokuba-boy to throw the disk in my place~! A wonderful idea, wouldn't you say... Kaiba-dear..?"

No... She swallowed, staring at her brother's soulless eyes (Damn it, it was literal.. It was...) and suppressing a shudder. Damn it all... What was he doing? Asking her to fight Mokuba, her brother... After all that she'd done... After all that she'd... Her eyes narrowed as the man before her continued to smirk, having obviously gleaned those thoughts from her mind as well. Bastard... Bastard... That thing... That was the one thing she could never do!

And the man continued to chuckle, shouts from the side drowned out as he placed Mokuba's card back in his pocket. "Of course," he was saying with a low voice, the woman before him wishing she could simply push him off the side of the arena right now (8 or so meters, that had to do it right..?). "If you don't like that idea, we can go back to my original plan and duel 'my way'..." Ghck... And of course, by his way, he would mean table-top duelling...

A sure-fire way to lose, but she had to try! She had to... For her brother's sake... "Pegasus, she growled, stepping back from the panels in the arena with her hastily closed briefcase. "I'll accept your conditions... But it is **I** who will win!"

The arena was cleared, the table and chairs appearing from within as her opponent merely chuckled darkly... And moments after, the game began.

* * *

Merely moments before, the situation he'd seen in the arena was definitely not something he could see happening. Far from it, in fact... He'd expected foul play, some kind of mind-fuck maybe, given who it was... Hell, the worst he had imagined it getting was Pegasus possibly yelling to the world '_Hey guess what, Seto Kaiba's female!_', but when he thought about it, Pegasus would probably just hang that over her head and taunt her with it... Nonetheless, his mood had been far from expectant of what was soon to come. "Alright," he had said, grinning as the group headed toward the door for the castle. Saruwatari was only just closing the doors up ahead, the only one remaining in the courtyard between the hectic events of the day. "Time to show Pegasus a thing or two!"

There had been no answer to that other than nods and grins, the door standing mere feet away from them at the moment. "I'll go first," Mai had decided turning to give the group a wink. "Knock 'em dead boys," she said with an almost alluring smile, before turning back to the door and continuing. "I'll see you inside..."

The woman was stopped at the gate, along with everyone else, by the annoyingly familiar turn-coat-guard. "You again," he stated, arms crossed as he looked over the woman. He ignored the group only momentarily, but in the end apparently opted to address them as a whole. "You have all your starchips," he asked, Katsuya nodding in response.

"Yea," he stated, watching as Mai stepped forward. As the man warned them about only three more people being allowed inside, he turned to Yugi. "Listen Yug'... You go next, alrigh'?"

Yugi in question turned, before nodding at the request. "Alright," he said with a smile, turning back to watch Mai place her ten chips in the lock. The device spun completely, computerized voice confirming the chips and allowing Mai to push past the door. Following after, Yugi walked forward, holding his glove up for Saruwatari to see. "...I'm next," he stated somewhat confidently, chips giving off a dull glow in the lamplight. "Here... Ten starchips!"

The reaction was fairly expected... "W-What!" Saruwatari frowned, grabbing the boy's wrist and looking over the glove with a slight cough. The man hurriedly turned the glove over, ignoring glares from the others before dropping the boy's hand. "Tch... So you do..." He stood up, shaking his head and apparently banishing the thoughts from mind. Win some lose some really... "Alright then... Go right ahead!" With that Yugi again nodded, walking past and through the door with a nervous smile.

With those words, Katsuya came up toward the man, a steady frown in place. "My turn," he stated, holding up his fist. "Here yah go; ten starchps!" Saruwatari nodded, and as Katsuya walked toward the door he dropped the frown and smiled. "Alright," he said with a stretch, waving back to them as he walked inside. "Later then-"

"Hey, hold on," the guard shouted, Katsuya turning around to stop in response. Saruwatari pointed almost accusingly at the three others who were about to walk in, each of them turning to laugh nervously in at the glare recieved. "Just where do you three think you're going?"

Ahh hell, not this time. He scowled, walking back toward the door as Honda merely mocked the guard in response. '_You say something_,' the teen was muttering, Anzu herself nervously saying '_Er... Cheering section?_' Bakura nervously shrank back against the glare in the meantime, visibly biting his cheek. _'FORGET IT,_' Saruwatari was shouting at the excuses, Honda rubbing his head and ear with annoyance at the outburst. _'ONLY COMPETITORS CAN ENTER!_'

"Oh yea," Katsuya stated with a frown, tapping the man on the shoulder. As Saruwatari turned, the blond gave a dark scowl. "How about you shut up and deal with it for once!" A resounding crack came through the air as his fist slammed into the guard's nose, throwing the man back a few steps as he stumbled off the doorsteps. Taking advantage of the split second break, he took a more prepared stance. "Go on in guys," he muttered, ignoring Honda's mutterings of '_I can deal with it just as well as you can..._'. "Somethin' tells me Pegasus' isn' gonna disqualify me f'r this if he let a scumbag like Keith in..."

Before Honda could say anything, the teen's mouth was covered by a frowning and clearly nervous Bakura, who nodded in response. "Got it," he said, pushing him inside while Anzu took off after them. "Please hurry though, Jonouchi-kun!"

As the three rushed in past the open door, Saruwatari turned around with a livid scowl across his face. Broken sunglasses clattered to the ground as the man lightly felt his now shattered nose, blood staining his face and tie. "You..." Well... Someone wasn't too happy about that. Was it too much to have hoped the punch would knock him out?

Katsuya merely smirked darkly, dropping his bag to the ground as he stared the man down. He probably should have guessed really. "Yea," he said with a shrug, shaking his hands off before curling them back into fists. "Figured I mind as well kill two birds with one stone, y'know?"

The man merely growled, reaching into his pocket for something. Something black and... He tensed, watching as the guard fumbled over a radio. Ack! Shit not that! The blond charged, forcing Saruwatari to throw up a hurried block for the strike aimed toward his neck. The radio clattered to the ground harmlessly, its owner far less than pleased. "Gh- Jonouchi," he growled, aiming a kick at the blond only for Katsuya to grab his shoulder for an easy flip to his back side and out of range. "Trust me when I say 'disqualification' would be mercy by this point!" Oh, like he wanted mercy from this guy!

He merely snorted, dodging the punch the man sent his way when turning around and slamming a kick into his side in retaliation. "Kinda figured," he shouted, grabbing the block Saruwatari threw again for his feint to land an uppercut beneath it. God, for all that this guy showed him up with in gunplay... His hand-to-hand sucked. "But y'know what," he added, grunting sharply as a hit landed across his face. Ow ow ow... Teeth... He forced his knee into the man's gut, watching as the guard stumbled back in pain. Kay, shouldn't think before the battle's over... Spitting a bit of blood on the ground and wiping his cheek on his sleeve, Katsuya narrowed his eyes. "Honestly, I don' care... I've been waitin' t' do this f'r a while since that stunt you pulled back at th' duel box..."

As Saruwatari looked up and attempted to regain his stance, Katsuya didn't even give him the time to react. Two hands balled into a 'volley ball' spike, slamming into the back of the man's skull as he continued to stumble backwards. Hah... No backup, Katsuya noted with narrowed eyes, grunting as he nailed the man in the gut to force him back again. Too bad nh? Finally, as the man angrily charged him in a last attempt, the blond gave one last, sound kick to the man's face and watched him collapse to the ground with a groan. Face first he fell to the ground, remaining motionless save for breathing as he lay there.

Katsuya stood there for a few seconds... A few minutes... There was nothing but silence in response, and only after he was certain the man wasn't moving he sighed. "Hah..." Man... That felt pretty good... All the same though... He walked over, putting a hand on the guy's neck just to make sure. Didn't want to kill anyone after all... Annnnd yep, there was a pulse! He shook his head, giving a smirk as he stood and turned back to the still open door. Alrighty then! He grabbed his bag off the ground, chuckling to himself as he headed toward the entrance and disappeared inside. "Heh... Haven't done that in a while! You can count th' stars around yer head Saruwatari," he muttered with a grin, before closing it behind him with a resounding gong-like sound. "Maybe if yer smart, you won't not be such a jack-ass next time!"

Mannnnn... Letting off that steam made him feel a_ lot_ better he decided. Though he had to say, if... That was what a 'trained guard' did... "Man," he muttered under his breath, walking through the foyer to find the others. "No wonder Mokuba was so quick t' hire me..." Coming up to the others with a grin, he waved, putting the thoughts out of mind. "Oiii! How you doing?"

The others turned, at the shouts, Mai smiling as she looked them over. Ignoring the question, she gave a curt nod before looking toward the far end of the hall. "Alright... Everybody made it then..."

He grinned, nodding furiously as Anzu eyed the slightly bloodied glove with a sigh. "Yep! Just as planned," he said, a few of the others staring incredulously in response.

"We had a '_plan_'," Anzu asked with a deadpan, Honda coming up and clapping her shoulder.

"You know," he said with a 'matter-of-fact' shrug, moving forward. "I kinda learned to _not ask_..."

The woman looked at him with a glance that mirrored her incredulous stare, silent for a few moments. "Hah... Yea," she said with fairly evident sarcasm. "I guessed!" There was another sigh, before Anzu sent the thought to the back of her mind and turned back to the others. "Right! So," she said, following after Mai and Honda. "How about we move on then?"

Yugi nodded, turning to face the main hallway. "Yea," he echoed, before taking off down the hall at full tilt. "Let's go!" Hey! Wait for him! Taking off after the boy, the footsteps from the other soon came from behind, and before long the entire group was running at top speed to their destination.

All other doors and such were sealed off completely far as he could tell. Despite this, Katsuya noted, Yugi had a fairly clear idea of where to go. Coming down the hall took them to a wide and open set of twin staircases leading to a single hall upper foyer and floor. Charging up these stairs and through the only open door to the right however, took them to a hall with nothing but a single open entrance at the end. Walking through that particular path revealed a wide balcony of sorts rather than a hall or a 'room' however, the balcony itself facing an empty and expansive room. And waiting at the railing... "T-That's... That's Bandit Keith," Yugi shouted, the American in question turning to smirk.

"Hah! Well what a damn surprise," he drawled, chuckling as he continued to lean against the railing. "So you morons made it to the castle?"

Katsuya growled, holding his tongue for a second before letting it loose anyways. "Yea Keith, we _did_... Thanks f'r nothing with th' cave _**asshole**_!" As Mai merely raised her eyebrows ('_What's this about,_' she was muttering), he continued to stalk toward the man with narrowed eyes. His good mood... Was completely trashed yet again... Damn it..."I'm gonna rip out your god-damned throat you-"

"Oh keep your pants on why don't you!" He scowled as the American waved him off, continuing. "Fuck... Show's about to start, you can whine later!" Show? He frowned, stopping in his tracks a mere few feet away from the man. What show... Keith turned back to the room below the balcony, continuing. "Take a look," he said with a grin. "Rich-guy's about to get his ass handed to him!"

Wait what. He looked over the railing, eyes widening as he looked over the empty room. The floor sunk at least ten meters below the tower and platform in the center, the only ways out to it a pair of 'bridges' that were currently non-existent. This was... As the others came near the railing as well to look over, he swallowed. That arena... It was... "Damn," he muttered under his breath, watching as two 'bridges' began to move from either side of the room. "That thing's th' exact same as..."

"Death-T..." Yugi stared, before his eyes widened further. Identical in almost every way, all they were missing was the crowd of not so bright hundreds. "Ah-... Jonouchi-kun," he said, leaning over the railing slightly. "Look..!"

The boy didn't need to tell him twice, Katsuya's eyes already trained on the left bridge. Yea... He saw... The blond stared, watching as Seto steadily made her way across the still moving bridge before reaching the end just as it locked into the arena. The woman stood there, narrowing her eyes and staring at the door across from her in silence. He had a fairly good idea who she was waiting for. "You're just in time," Keith was saying with a grin, turning to the group with another harsh chuckle. The others paid him no mind, regardless of how loud he was. "We get to watch a duel between Pegasus and Kaiba! Hehehehe..."

Shit... So Seto had gone against Yugi... Only to end up in another all or nothing match? What the hell was the point of that besides exhausting her even more? ...Don't answer that. A voice came from the side, and they turned as another of Pegasus' hired hands came forward. The man had a thick patch of gauze on the left side of his face, but regardless of injury seemed to act as though everything was fine. As to where the injury was from... Not a clue. "That's right," he stated with a smile, coming up and addressing the group. "It's good to see that all of the contestants are here in one group! Welcome to Pegasus Castle!" Still smiling, he briefly looked over the others with his hands folded behind his back. "And it looks as though we have a few uninvited guests here as well," he began, Katsuya and the others tensing at those words. Shit, don't tell him that they'd be kicked out now... It was one thing with Saruwatari, but he couldn't just pummel mooks all day! The smile remained in place however, the man merely giving a slight nod. "Well," he stated calmly, "I suppose we can prepare extra rooms and meals!"

They stared, eyes wide. S...Seriously..? They were allowed... The man gestured off to the side, back at the arena before continuing. "In any case, we present you this special match! A welcome and a... '_Preview_' of sorts from Pegasus-sama," he stated calmly, the others following his gesture to look back down below. "For you proud gamers who survived the Duelist Kingdom... And for those who followed along as well."

At the man's words, Pegasus appeared on the arena below, flanked for a moment by two men before walking forward with only one. The same man who greeted them was now leaving the room to some other task, but watching the exchange below he couldn't be bothered by that. "Damn it..." He narrowed his eyes, watching as the woman grew steadily angrier in whatever conversation she was having with the man. "There's gotta be a catch... There's no way Pegasus is just gonna agree to use th' disk system, it'd kill his entire strategy..."

Yugi turned, frowning. "You mean... Kaiba-san's disk system really will work..?" He kept his voice down, the others merely looking down at the arena in curiosity. "I know that Kaiba-san built it for this reason," he continued with a light frown, "But that it would be able to work around the Millennium Eye is..."

He nodded, also frowning slightly. "Yea well... Back when I got th' tape from Pegasus," he began, swallowing nervously, "Soon as he mentioned th' key, I put as much distance b'tween me an' th' screen. It _seemed _t' work," the blond continued, eyes narrowing as he thought back. "I can't be too sure but... He definitely seemed annoyed enough by it. An' he didn' figure out _where_ th' key was, jus' that I had it..." Katsuya turned to Yugi with those words, watching as the boy blinked again and smiled.

"Don't worry," he whispered reassuringly, giving a small nod. "It's safe." Alright... He as well nodded, sighing in relief. That was all he needed to know really... Looking back down at the arena as Pegasus turned their way, Katsuya put up a determined and encouraging smirk. He didn't know if Seto would really appreciate it but... "Kaiba-san," Yugi shouted, a similar expression on his face as he leaned over the railing. "Go for it! For Mokuba-kun!"

Katsuya as well gave a shout, nodding in agreement with his friend as his encouraging grin grew further. "Don't wait any longer, S- KAIBA! He's waiting for yah!" Though the woman did not nod or give any distinct sign of listening, Katsuya had to stare; she... Did she smile..? ...Nah... Couldn't have...

He stopped blinking, watching as the exchange between Pegasus and Seto both continued. Pegasus' 'issues' with the duel disk could almost be humorous really... Almost. He grit his teeth, watching as the exchange continued on before tensing as the guard from inside Pegasus' door came out. "Oh my god," Anzu muttered from the side, the others following her gaze. "Oh my god it's the same as..."

The blond stared, shouts in the distance fading as he moved past the others to get a better look over the railing. Keith's damn body was in the way, but as soon as he was around it and beside the others... "No..." He... It couldn't be, he was just... Just tired right? He wasn't...

Katsuya grew pale, sounds and sights blurring into a slowed freeze-frame as the nightmare from the night before beat its way to his mind yet again. '_Where is he I wonder_,' Pegasus was saying again, regardless of the fact that he was right in front of them now.

_'Try looking in your deck..._'

Pegasus was pulling something out of his pocket... A card... A...

'_Or are you scared..?_'

The expression on Seto's face was all he needed for time to snap back into reality along with his thoughts. Held back only by the well played foresight of both Honda and Bakura, he struggled, hands gripping the railing as he went red with rage. That... That monster... Screwing with his head and it turns out that... "PEGASUS!" His voice echoed around the room as he was pulled from the railing, attempts to charge it barely stopped by Honda's grip as Bakura nervously attempted to hold onto his own. "YOU BASTAAAARD! I'M MAKE YOU FGnhH! MGGGGMN!" Honda's hand clapped firmly over his mouth, the blond uncaring about the stunned stare that Mai was giving, the cruel and wheezing chuckle that Keith had for the situation. He struggled against Honda's hold as he was pulled back, back past the vases that lined the second entrance to the room, far back into an unlit hall and far from the events in the arena.

"_DAMN IT JONOUCHI,_" Honda hissed, slamming the blond against the wall. He struggled against the hold, pushing forward only to be slammed back yet again in retaliation. Again he attempted to push against Honda's hold, struggling to find some way to get down there to just smash Pegasus' face into the nearest wall as many times as he possibly could, before being thrown back yet again. "Pipe down and calm down," the teen continued, finally pinning the blond with his arm by the throat with heavy and struggled breaths. "Calm down before you get everyone killed!"

The blond breathed deeply, eyes flicking off to the door. "Honda," he stated with an eerily calm tone, staring at his friend with wide and incensed eyes. "Let me go- GHN!" Again he was slammed against the wall, shaking his head and wincing. "HONDA," he said again, raising his voice before his head met the wall yet again. "ACCGH! God damn it Honda, stop that!"

"No! I won't," his friend hissed under his breath, leaning in slightly. "If you didn't guess you moron, Pegasus did that to get on both yours _and_ Kaiba's nerves, and at this point going after him and proving he succeeded will do nothing but make things _worse_!" Before the blond could respond to that, Honda continued, lowering his voice from the hissed and whispering shout to a more composed point. "Listen," he stated, not easing his hold on Katsuya. "I know you're pissed; hell so am I! I owe that kid my life, and you know it! And after how I acted at Bakura's place," he continued, both teens thinking back to the 'monster world' events with a mental shudder, "I owe him more than anything... He did real good back then... A lot better than I did, that's for sure. But the fact is, if we act now," Honda said with a worried frown, shaking his head. "If we try anything even remotely similar to our normal tactics... Jonouchi, we're screwed. Plain and simple."

Katsuya stared, silent for a moment before Honda continued yet again. "Look," he whispered, lowering his voice even more than it already was. "You and I both know that Pegasus will do all it takes to keep us from getting to him. And," he continued, moving his headband out of his eyes and taking a nervous glance down the hall, "We also know that his eye does the same thing as, maybe even _more_, than Bakura's ring... Which means he could probably take our souls any time he wants!"

He growled, pushing against Honda's arm with narrowed eyes. "I got that," he muttered, struggling again. What did he think happened to Mokuba? And when he got through with the bastard he would make him regret every damn thing! "But that doesn't mean I can't go down there and-"

"Yes it does, _now shut up for a second and listen!"_ Katsuya bit his tongue, doing just that as Honda slowly removed his arm from the blond's neck. "Look," he said, face barely visible in the dark hall. "You can't forget that he has the body and soul in a different place... That's how he got us here isn't it?" Before Katsuya could say anything to that, the teen clarified. "He took Sugoroku-jii's soul, and took Mokuba completely... But," he continued, narrowing his eyes "He 'apparently' offered them _back_, should either you or Yugi win... If you do anything now," Honda stated with a steady frown, "He'll probably call you on it and take you out right off the bat- he wants your key, but he doesn't necessarily have to beat you in a duel to get it!"

Another growl, and Katsuya rubbed his head. "Yea, I got that, but it's like y' said, he could do it anytime he wants right?"

Honda nodded, frowning. "Yea... But this way he can mess with your head... So he's not touching you until he absolutely has to," he continued, crossing his arms. "And if that's really the case, it means that if you play along through the duels, there's a chance you can avoid getting both the key _and_ your soul snatched. Not to mention," he added dryly, smacking the blond upside the head. "_EVERYONE ELSE_!"

"Ow, fuck! I got it!" He growled again, before sighing and rubbing his head. "Shit... I just... I..." He swallowed, shaking himself and looking toward the hall. "He's right there... Chained up, with Pegasus using him like a living doll... It... It's just... Worse than even Bakura's you know..."

Another nod from the side, Honda's own sour expression falling. "Yea... Listen," he said, turning to the blond with a determined stare. "You and Yugi handle the souls; I don't know how we'll get around this whole 'mind-reading' deal, but the fact is, you both have the best shot. So focus on the duels, and stay out of everything else until the time is right. Me on the other hand," he continued, his friend blinking in response. "I'm gonna look for where he's keeping Mokuba's body first chance I get tonight."

The blond stared momentarily, before nodding. "Got it... Honda..."

His friend merely smirked. "Hey," he said, hands in his pockets. "I have a nephew you know... Might not be quite the same as a brother or a 'mostly brother'," he added with a raised eyebrow, "But it's close. I don't know how pissed you are," the teen continued, turning to look at the door a moment. "But all the same, no matter what, we've got to keep a cool head on this. Not to mention a clear one," he added with a wink, before a resigned Katsuya followed him toward the hall exit. Hahaha, 'clear head'... He'd almost laugh at that...

"Yea yea..." He rolled his eyes, attempting to inwardly calm down more than just what he appeared to have done. (Damned Pegasus... Gonna wring his pasty neck, he swore it...) "Jesus Honda, you're worse than Anzu..."

He snorted, giving a shrug in response. "Hah! You leave me to deal with her long enough," Honda said with a smirk, turning to face the hall exit. "You can blame yourself for that! Any ways... Any ideas on how to get around 'mind reading'," he asked offhandedly, raising his eyebrows.

Katsuya shrugged, smirking as he decided not to put much thought into it for the moment. More thought into beating the crap out of Pegasus... Those were good thoughts... "Eh," he decided with a shrug. "I dunno..."

"How about '_don't think'_?"

* * *

**AN: **Whoooo~ Two chapters in _one day_? What is this madness? Well, I'm in the process of a move guys... It involves my mom and I driving across the country in a few days, which means that, as a result, I have copious amounts of typing time.

However, it also means that my internet is limited, and had I had more than an hour to edit the last chapter yesterday, it would have been posted then. As it is, though I prefer editing in FF, I'm currently using Microsoft Word... So you've probably noticed an increase in 'ou's, as the spellcheck actually works with Canadian settings in Word, and given that I'm _Canadian_...

Now then! Poll results, as per usual! (Even though there's no change.)

Crossdressing, Female Set - 9 (Two Anonymous Polls)

Obviously Female Set - 5 (Two Anonymous Polls. I got an e-mail...)

Male Set – 2

Also a _very _special note... As you know, I'm not focusing specifically on relationship so much as story... Extensive story. Because of this, we get a shot at any _other_ relationships going on... Now obviously we've got Peachshipping here; that's Yugi and Anzu by the way, though why it's called peach when Anzu means 'Apricot' is beyond me. But there's also a matter of Shizuka...

Now... Here's the interesting thing about this. What with Shizuka and Ryuzaki both living in Osaka rather than Tokyo and Yokohama (For some reason, even though Ryuzaki was named as 'from the west' in the manga, he lives in Yokohama and speaks with that accent in the anime. Also, despite claims of living far away, Shizuka shows up fairly often after the surgery. HEH?), there's actually three options here... Keep in mind that Ryuzaki's character is quite different from the anime, as it's based solidly on the manga.

Effectively making Ryuzaki a loud, but still otherwise down-to-earth kind of guy. Now... I went over these with a few people (I'm not making another poll; as I'm finding with the above one, my gut feeling is starting to revolt against the results.), and the general standing decision was actually _Ryuzaki_.

Now, before I get belted in the head with tomatoes, This idea is actually fairly sweet; Ryuzaki is listed as a year younger than the others in the manga... In addition, since Shizuka is fourteen in the fanfic, that puts them in the same level of schooling... Highschool more often than not starts in grade 10 in Japan. If I go with this option, the ages will be stretched to their very limit; Ryuzaki will either be one of the oldest in the class for that year, or Shizuka the youngest... The relationship would be a 'We're not dating' sort of deal, which tends to involve lots of subtle bickering or otherwise. (This would also explain why Shizuka came across as a slight bit louder than normal, 'in character' Shizuka... I'm fixing that for next time by the way.)

Continuing on Ryuzaki (As this _really_ changes things.), not only would this obviously pull him in slightly more (Not for Battle City or Noa though, that would be silly. Unless you all say otherwise of course, and I end up deciding it works.), but it would bring mass hilarities when Ryuzaki encounters Jonouchi in Battle City; if we go with this shipping (Which... Apparently has no name...), Ryuzaki's original intent would have been semi-identical to manga Jonouchi's reasoning in entering the Duellist Kingdom. Not only was the prize looking fairly good at the time, but as it turns out the 'one who harped at him in class all the time' was about to go completely blind and hey... If he wins, there should be more than enough to fix that right? (This ends up causing a separate branch of amusement when Shizuka finds out...) A sort of 'I'm not doing this for you' kind of deal _when she's around_. Otherwise, it turns into a 'Yeaaaa... She's pretty cool actually.' Of course, for maximum lul, Jonouchi will be completely oblivious to this for the first few minutes of conversation on this topic...

Basically, while talking, Jonouchi would be drawing parallels between 'the classmate' (As Ryuzaki calls her at the time) and 'Shizuka'... Before a name is finally mentioned, and the blond remembers that the two live in the same district of Osaka. OH BOY. FUN STUFF.

Now here's what I want _you_ to do. Ryuzaki has no official first name, and if I go through with the above, I'm going to need one really really fast.

I have a few options in mind, but I can't quite decide. Most of them draw, to an extended point, from Ryuzaki's last name; 'Dragon' (Ryuu) 'Point' (Zaki. This is point as in landmass by the way.). The word for 'dinosaur', when not counting the one in katakana (Dainosoa) is 'Kyouryuu', or 'Feared Dragon'. Kyou specifically comes from 'kowaii', and can alternatively mean 'awe'...

At which point the _real_ fun begins. Kyou has two kanji when used to mean 'Awe', and the second one has to do with benevolence and honor... In other words, the kind of name that would be very likely to be given to a Japanese son. There are a number of readings for this... But here's my question for you! Should I use that definition? Or should I find something else? The alternate reading that caught my eye was 'Kei'. (Ryuuzaki Kei... Doesn't sound too bad actually.)

Send in your comments, be it on the name or even on how terrible this idea will be... Personally this will add a fair amount of variance to the Doma Arc, and not the bad kind either...

Annnnnd on to other news... I probably should have mentioned this a while ago, but I have a FlipNotes account over on Hatena. Now... before you all decide that the fact that I don't do animation in 2D should stop you, I'll tell you this; _I use FlipNotes for concept art_. In other words, the notes will have a series of thumbnail images detailing possible 'full scale' art. In addition, one of the flipnotes is completely made up of profile shots... Granted those ones don't really look as good, but ohhhh well.

To the reviews! ... Which were answered last chapter!

NEXT.

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The guide that should really stop confusing you. It's mean.

* * *

Obvvvviously Pegasus didn't have Mokuba with him in the manga or anime... But you gotta remember, I've increased the creepy-meter by a fair bit in this fanfic... So yea.

It's even more creepy if you think about toon-shipping... (Pegasus and Kaiba...) HIHHHHHHH. Why does changing the gender change _everything_!

Phone scene was obviously lengthened a fair bit. Mostly for creepy, also so that I could still put the scene in; originally, it only took one page of the manga really... But at the same time... PEGASUS.

* * *

There's some flower symbolism in there! Foxgloves can be seen as a bit of a 'deception' type flower, as while they represent healing due to their use for medicine, they're also seen as a flower of death and danger... Foxgloves are 'digitalis', and have been known by many names with many stories behind them to keep children from eating them; even drinking the water from a vase of foxgloves can be fatal for a small child.

In any case. Yessssss... I used foxgloves as a slight bonus foreshadowing to the fact that Kaiba was effectively screwed. Just wait until later...

* * *

Interesting thing I noted while typing this chapter... Crush Card means you send all the monsters above 1500 attack to the graveyard, but with the current duel disk, there _isn't one_. So... Did Yugi just drop his cards on the ground or what..?

* * *

I had a really, REALLY hard time nailing the exact reason why Kaiba was so pissed with Yugi by the end of this. In the end, it boils down to a bit of a mixing pot... Most of the anger is actually really, really intense guilt (Ignored. Guilt. ); Yugi saved Kaiba's ass guys, meaning that she can move on to Pegasus and get her brother back (Or at least try). Then, she tells Yugi that she'd push him off the cliff first chance she got if the roles were reversed...

But Yugi _doesn't_ kill her, or at least, the 'normal' one doesn't. This just packs the guilt on, and she _does not want that_. So she tries to convince herself that it's nothing but weakness. Yugi's crying at her feet, and she neither wants the blame for that nor wants to accept that her rival has effectively turned into a pile of mush (Albeit for good reasons)... She also can't accept that Yugi's turning into mush about possibly killing her. FOREIGN SUBJECT to her. Note that it's in caps.

In the end, her head comes up with these two options; one is that the two persona's just can't make up their mind, and that one is acting as a dark _dark _reminder of herself during Death-T; as she said herself in her head. After all... She would have pushed Yugi off the side without a thought, and the fact that Yami Yugi would have done that kinda says something about parallel personality traits. Of ick. Hence the 'weakness' of personality; either Yugi can't make up his damn mind, or worse, Yugi's falling into the same pitfall _she_ did, from what she can see. This obviously isn't the case... (That would be _terrible_.) Though you can see how Yami Yugi's disproportionate retribution in early manga can transfer to those thoughts in Kaiba's mind, given that she doesn't know the reasoning behind the punishment. Not to mention she doesn't know about all the other penalty games outside her own and Mokuba's... Also keep in mind that this time around, that last 'not move' was driven by Yami's _pure drive to win_, and it was fairly obvious too. And... That was what fuelled Kaiba's insane obsession with Yugi in the first place, and _still does_, to some extent.

YIKES.

Of course, you can take the 'third option', which appears more prevalent near the end, in that the weakness of Yugi's apparent 'indecisiveness' is just that he isn't willing to do things like that to move for the goal. Unlike Kaiba who... Viced a guy's head in a briefcase. This option ended up winning out _mostly,_ since it's likely rather similar (If not THE reason) to the 'whys' in the manga.

Personally, I'll leave it up to you as to what the 'main' reason aside from copious amounts of _'Damn it, why did he __do__ that'_ guilt. Because trust me when I say, Kaiba is confused as hell as to why Yugi did that.

Course... Depending on the reasoning you decide on, both speeches used against Kaiba can either be right or wrong... Which makes for an interesting show of how so much of everything is situational.

* * *

And it's true! The point _is_ partially moot when you consider the fact that technically the results were skewed; Kaiba _should _have died up there, meaning that technically the 'chip' wasn't being protected... Someone interfered, making the argument 'void' in Kaiba's mind. Or is that guilt making the decisions again..? Hard to tell at this point, as it's... Really hard to tell anything about Kaiba in that situation. Gotta remember, just two chapters ago she was laughing like a _maniac_.

* * *

Honestly, do you really think Kaiba would have considered that fight a 'real duel'? The win was completely unrelated to the fight in that it was basically 'forfeit your turn or forfeit your life'! Not exactly a fair battle, which is what Kaiba wants to beat Yugi with.

* * *

Fun fact for you 'dub' go-ers... If you didn't guess already, Keith kinda got a_ liiiiiiittle_ alcoholic over his loss to Pegasus... Not to mention crazy. Spinoff manga made him get a little better from his apparent death later on though. (He was still crazy.)

* * *

Language bonus was one part boredom, one part Kaiba figuring out if Keith was just really bad with Japanese (Saving her the troubles of trying to figure out what the hell he was saying, given that she was bothering), and a few other parts spicing the scene up. Because really, that scene felt so random in the manga, _I don't even_...

* * *

Kaiba's paranoid feelings are brought to you by reality! During the battle between himself and Kaiba, Pegasus has the Big Five sitting in their own private room, hidden by a two way mirror. It's directly across from the 'real balcony', and we see them (kind of) after Kaiba first walks into the room.

* * *

Oddly enough, despite the apparent hate, the smile Kaiba gives in the manga when he see's Yugi in the stands seems more genuine than smug. Yea, the eyes are narrowed slightly, but the smile is... Wow. _Not_ fake, I can tell you that. (Maybe he was glad he came? HMM.)

* * *

That part with Mokuba on an arm leash... I didn't make that up. (End of story) On another note, not only did a majority of the conversation between Pegasus seem largely to be made up of 'mind-scan and respond' on Pegasus' part, but... Did anyone else notice the fun I had with him ignoring insults?

In any case; a 'proxy' is a 'stand in'. Ever heard of 'marriage by proxy'? Means that either the bride or groom couldn't make it, but they're still legally married even though someone else 'took their place'. Technically Mokuba isn't offered up as a proxy so much as a 'tool' though, given that Pegasus will still be doing the duelling himself... Just with Mokuba throwing the disk.

Or he would have if that hadn't been a dick move and Kaiba chose option 'Original'.

* * *

_AT LAST._ Saruwatari got what was his! Katsuya's flip-out isn't so much of a 'flip-out' as a '_You know what. You've ticked me off one too many times, and I owe you for kidnapping and manhandling Mokuba_.' Those things tend to spark a beating by Katsuya in the manga, at least they _used to._ After a while it seems to become 'duel' instead of 'beat the crap out of'. (Not so much in the manga though...)

This scene partially came about from what occurred in the original manga; Jonouchi lands _one blow_ from behind, knocking Saruwatari down face first... But his sunglasses are sitting at the side, which would mean they'd have to be knocked off _from the front_. In any case, as Jonouchi says '_you can count the stars in your head!_' (Saruwatari originally said _'one person per ten chips'_), Anzu says _'Is this ok..?_'

Quoth fanfic Honda: _'I've learned not to ask questions'_.

* * *

Crocketts! You're baaaack~ Guess he didn't have a concussion. (Ahahaha.) Oddly enough, it seems I was _wrong_ in assuming the injuries 'didn't exist' in the manga; though you didn't see bleeding when he was taken hostage, the moment Crocketts' makes his reappearance, you can see a thick patch of gauze on the side of his face where Kaiba hit him.

That man loves his job, I have to say.

As to why his demeanour magically changed between the group above and with Kaiba... One, he knows Kaiba's screwed as hell, and is probably quite happy about that. Two, he figures Yugi and Co. legitimately are Pegasus' expected guests, knows what the tournament and such are about, and also knows that they're not 'really' fighting against anything... So he's treating them as a proper host should. Since they'll be screwed in the end.

Gotta remember though, Crocketts has nothing against anyone save (for obvious reasons...) Kaiba. So... That's another verrrry big factor into this.

* * *

The scene in the dark hallway was inspired by the 'dinner conversation' that takes place in the chapter 'the eve of the battle'; Honda calls Jonouchi out on being horribly hypocritical when the blond asshole-ishly says that Mokuba and Kaiba both _'had it coming'_ in regards to their souls being snatched. Honda then compares the situation to Shizuka, and mentions his own nephew (This part was used in an earlier chapter), and then asks Yugi to save the brother's souls. Yugi agrees, but mentions that their bodies might be imprisoned...

At which point Honda mentally states/monologues/somethings that he'll handle that part.

In any case, the scene took a surprisingly weird tone, involving Honda's interestingly cunning side coming into play; if you look in the manga, he not only does a fairly good job of sneaking around the castle, but in coming up with a plan to get past the guards on the fly. Too bad he didn't think about them possibly coming _back_ before he was done... Not to mention that he was kinda shouting for Mokuba to wake up... (At least he knows that the... soul... is gone.) (Though Dark Bakura helped him out there. Hihhh.)

In any case, for a guy who not only never duels but is apparently crap at it, he's fairly strategic. Remember, he came up with the tactic in Death-T's 'shoot out' level to get rid of two guys with one gun right off the bat in the manga. Also, he tends to be _right there_ whenever Katsuya flips out... So it's fairly likely that not only would he put one and one together when it comes to the millennium items, but also be... Right there... When it comes to Jonouchi spotting poor soulless Mokuba.

As to why Seto didn't hear that, she was _kinda_ busy dealing with her own inner 'Blue Screen of Death' with regards to the sight of her brother... Soulless... Chained to a guard with his image on a prison card.

* * *

Also _yes_, this _does _mean that Jonouchi missed the entire Kaiba duel. As for that duel, it takes place next chapter, so have fun guys!

Until next chapter!


	35. Chapter 34

**Broken Promises

* * *

**

It was 'Duel Start'. Seto took a seat at the table, narrowing her eyes as Pegasus set his own at the side and took a seat as well. "The game will be played using standard duel monster's rules," he stated calmly, the guards standing behind him with Mokuba. The boy was merely staring blankly at her, eyes dull and faded and forcing her to turn back to look at her opponent with an only slightly hidden scowl. "Do you agree," he 'asked', the woman across from him narrowing her eyes as the 'request'. As if she could refuse..! Just get on with it! Pegasus merely smiled, crossing his arms. "Wonderful~! Now then," he continued, still smiling. "Prepare your deck..."

As he said those words, Yugi's voice sounded over the air again, the boy leaning far over the edge of the balcony as he shouted. "Kaiba-san," he called, the woman turning with a slight frown in response. What was it... The duel was about to start, what could possibly be more important at the moment? She had to prepare herself... She was about to duel someone who could apparently read minds... And steal souls... Who knew what the hell else, regardless of common sense and the laws of reality! She grit her teeth, before tensing at the boy's next few words. "Pegasus has a Dragon Capture Jar," he shouted, eyes wide with worry as a few on the balcony turned to him in confusion. Some of them were gone... Where was the blond..?

Seto shook it off, steeling herself yet again. Back to the matter at hand... She turned back to her deck, closing her eyes briefly in an attempt to gather herself. Dragon Capture Jar... With that in Pegasus' deck, she had a feeling that even her Blue Eyes would be struck down... And knowing Pegasus herself, she was almost certain, particularly with the look the man was now giving her. An overconfident smirk that put a scowl on her own face, and likely said clearly 'I know what you're thinking'.

Tch... No matter what the strategy, she was fighting with Blue Eyes either way; they were her cards, her prized possession... And with those dragons, she_ would _defeat Pegasus! Listening as a faint '_Be careful, Kaiba-san,_' came from the top balcony she gave a mental snort. Hn! She was always cautious with her dueling. And this wasn't like last time... This time she would win with the advantage. Now then...

"Duel start," she muttered, watching as Pegasus drew his hand while she herself drew her own. Now then... She looked across the board, Pegasus smiling. She hadn't looked at her cards just yet... Better to see what her opponent would do first...

"Well then," the man began, taking a card from his hand. He'd probably 'heard' that... "I'll go first! Hnnn..." He placed a card on the field, smiling oddly. "I'll play Toon Alligator in defense mode," he stated, the growling and oddly proportioned lizard appearing from the card. 'Toons'... Obviously not cards that he'd released anytime recently... "In addition," he stated, Seto mentally wondering how the hell this moron had programmed these cards into the devices without her knowledge to begin with, "I will play one card face down... That's it for me," he finished with a cheery grin, waving his hand before leaning back.

Hnn... Low level monster in defense, face down card... Trap, she wondered with a frown. Or was it a spell... Either way, it was almost putting a sign up and saying 'I have nothing!' Though this was Pegasus... "It's my turn," she stated, drawing her card. Staring at it she blinked, forcing herself not to look at Pegasus as a loose strategy formed. She didn't know how this mind thing worked... But her best guess was that it was by looking her in the eye, and provided that was all it was she had a chance... After all, she reminded herself, strengthening the theory. The time Pegasus had spoken to her at the duel, and before when she had Crocketts hostage, that was what she'd been doing, wasn't it? There was a chance...

She started at the card a few moments more, before deciding on her move. Blue Eyes... Her first draw was the dragon itself, and somehow she could hardly say that was a coincidence! She could open with an all out attack, but at the same time, Yugi's warning needed to be heeded... For all she knew, that trap in front of her was the Dragon Capture Jar... Or, it was in Pegasus' hand? Hell, she didn't even know if it _was_ a trap, it was just her best guess! "Hnn... I'll play a face down card too," she decided in the end, not looking up from the board as she did just that. "And then," she continued, placing another on the board, "I play Rude Kaiser!" The armed and menacing lizard appeared in a flash, sharpening the blades on his wrists against each other with a grin. "Attack the Alligator," she ordered, the monster rushing toward a now panicking cartoon lizard with a snarl.

The Kaiser's blades tore through his opponent, Pegasus giving a mock groan as he held his head in one hand. "Oh nooooo~" he cried, the monster below misting out of existence whilst the Rude Kaiser returned to its side of the field. Pegasus continued to sigh, Seto twitching slightly in annoyance. Oh shut up...

"My turn's over," she growled, the man before her continuing to 'fret'. Across from her, Pegasus was now looking over his hand. _'Hnn... So your card has 1800 attack,_' he was muttering, opponent growling in response. _'What do I do...'_

Pegasus drew his card, before grinning. "Ohh~ I've got it," he cried, taking the card and placing it on the table. "Here's a card that can beat you! Parrot Dragon," he shouted, the bird-headed dragon appearing on the field with an obnoxious squawk. Parrot Dragon..? What the hell was that thing... "Do your best~! Attack!"

She flipped a card over, still not looking up from the board as Parrot Dragon rushed forward. Well, she wasn't about to take the first strike. "Before that," she stated, a small pendulum appearing above the card, "I activate my spell." Ignoring the sound of shock (She was almost certain it was fake...), she explained. "Mesmeric control," she continued, the Parrot Dragon spinning on his feet. "It'll reduce your monster's attack by 800 points!" As the Parrot Dragon collapsed to the ground in a daze, she looked down upon her own monster. "Now, Rude Kaiser!" With a growl and a nod the lizard charged, slicing Parrot Dragon's head clean from its body with a single swift strike. The monster misted away into nothingness, Rude Kaiser again returning to her side of the field. "Take that!"

"Oh nooooo..." She'd made the first hit... Pegasus would have 1400 points left... She risked a look up, her opponent 'apparently' facing the table himself. Tch... She grit her teeth, knowing full well that the man before her was not grieving in anyway. Bastard... Was he even taking this fight seriously! He was better than this... He'd created the game, he had to be...

She narrowed her eyes, fixing her gaze on the table again. Alright... Serious or no, she needed to win... If Pegasus' actions led to his downfall, then it would mean Mokuba would be freed... "It's my turn again," she stated, drawing a card and glancing at it. And though it was just a hunch, she was fairly certain that Pegasus did _not_ have the Dragon Capture Jar in his hand for the moment. With that being the case, it would be safe to play her dragon... Grabbing the card however, Pegasus' voice suddenly came over the board.

"Stop," he ordered, Seto tensing slightly. Tch... What was it..? She refused to look up from the board, eyes cast down to her side of the field even as the man before her began to speak. "Don't move," he stated calmly, grabbing the card he had on the table. "Don't show me your card... I'm activating this trap for the moment..." A trap..! She swallowed, listening as Pegasus flipped the card over and continued. "The card I played was 'Prophecy," he stated, the woman again swallowing in response. Shit... She didn't know what that card did either... It figured she would be against cards she'd never heard of... This wasn't good at all... "Using this card," Pegasus was explaining, expression unseen to his opponent, "I can predict the attack points of the card you were about to play... I'm going to guess if it's more, less, or equal to 2000... And," he continued, Seto barely hiding the tenseness she felt under her opponent's gaze with those words, "If I guess correctly... That card is _mine_..." Shit... Shit... "I not only predict that your card has more than 2000 attack points," Pegasus stated, the woman across from him gritting her teeth. Shit... Shit! She'd averted her gaze the entire time, if he somehow knew what her cards were... "I predict you're about to play the Blue Eyes White Dragon, with 3000 attack..." Gh... She tensed, growling before taking the card from her hand. Her dragon... How dare he take her... Gh... She continued to growl, placing the card on the table and watching as Pegasus took the card to the other side. "Hnhnhnhnhn!~ My my _my_ Kaiba-dear~," the man said with his usual exaggerated optimism. "I _never _thought I'd get your Blue Eyes White Dragon~"

"Tch..." She bit back a growl, instead gripping her cards tightly. And she would have never imagined that there was a card that could actually _steal_ the card as opposed to taking it! Damn it... Her eyes drifted toward Mokuba, the woman swallowng before steeling her resolve. Damn it... A promise... She'd promised to take care of Mokuba... And she would do just that! She promised... She would beat Pegasus and get him back! Before this man got the chance to play the Blue-Eyes!

Across from her, Pegasus was still chuckling, one hand at his face in a mock attempt to silence the sound. "Well then," he decided, opponent still refusing to look the man in the eye. There was still a chance... Despite the uncanny guess, even she knew that Blue-Eyes was her 'obvious' card so to speak... Pegasus could have acted on a guess, rather than his 'mind reading' scheme... All the same though... The fact that he'd guessed... "I'll just draw my card and end my turn," he finished, the move-set coming to Seto once more.

Calm down... She had to calm down... Even if he used her dragon, she had a card in her hand that would make him regret ever doing just that! Drawing her card, she continued to hold her stare at the table with a frown. "I put Rude Kaiser in defense mode," she stated, shifting the card sideways. She didn't have the second half of the 'combo' just yet... She had to wait... "I end my turn.."

"My turn then~!" The sound of cards being shifted could be heard, her opponent drawing his next card. Pegasus had her dragon... But would he play it? There was no reason for him not to right now, yet all the same... She continued to stare at the table in thought, eyes narrowed. If he didn't, he would probably be preparing another trap... Nonetheless... Keeping her thoughts cleared in case the man _did_ read minds without eye contact, she continued to attempt at calming herself down. Her strategy was set... That was all she would tell herself, and all that Pegasus would know. Her strategy was more than enough for this...

Across from her, Pegasus had grown silent for a moment. Merely staring forward, hands folded in front of him after placing the card back in his hand. Finally he spoke, opponent's eyes trained on the board in wait. "I'll play one card face down," the man stated, before placing another on the table. "And I play this in defense mode! Dark Rabbit!"

A wickedly grinning monster appeared on the board, the Dark Rabbit standing in a hunched position as Seto raised her eyebrows in response. _'My turn is over,'_ Pegasus had stated, the woman across from him narrowing her eyes. He didn't play the dragon... Instead he'd used another of his toons... Well then! "Alright," she called out, drawing her next card and mentally nodding. Time to move! "It's my turn!" Placing the two cards on the table, she continued to fix her glare at the board as opposed to Pegasus himself. The card behind Dark Rabbit was a bit worrisome but she had no time to think about that..! "I'll sacrifice Saggi the Dark Clown, activating the trap Crush Card Virus! And that'll destroy your entire deck," she continued, flipping over the cards as Saggi began to turn a poisonous shade of violet in reaction to the trap.

Pegasus, however, had another idea it seemed. Shit... Trap..? "I activate my face down spell card~," he stated cheerily, Seto tensing in response. Gh... What! Spell card..! "And the card is," he stated darkly, "Negative Energy! This card," he continued, a large black orb appearing on the center of the field from still another card unfamiliar to her, "Doubles the attack of all 'Dark Monster's including_ yours_, 'Kaiba-dear~' In other words," he said with a wicked grin, "Your clown's attack value becomes 1200..." The woman swallowed, watching as Saggi suddenly cleared of his poisons effect and shook himself off. No... Saggi needed to have less than 1000 for the trap to take effect, this meant..! "And that's not all," Pegasus added darkly, Seto still refusing to look up from the board. Shit... That meant- "My Dark Rabbit is _also_ a dark monster after all! It's attack doubles too~ Now rabbit," he ordered, the man's opponent growing pale as she calculated the damage. 2200 against 1200... 1000 damage right off the bat, damn it... "Murder the Dark Clown!"

The rabbit bounded across the table with its wicked grin, socking the other monster in the face. Saggi's form misted out of existance, its master's lifepoints splitting clean in two as Dark Rabbit returned to the opposite field. Shit... This was bad... A bead of sweat ran down her face as she stared numbly at the board, attempting to swallow back her fear to focus on the duel. She was half dead in one attack... And Pegasus still had her Blue Eyes in his hand! This man... She narrowed her eyes, finally looking up and fixing a glare on him. Obviously he didn't rely on 'eye contact' at all! Which meant that she was literally stuck between a rock and a hard place... Yet if Mokuba was to ever get out of this alive, she had to...

She grit her teeth, staring across at Pegasus' 'Dark Rabbit'. Tch... Probably reading her mind right now... But at the same time, she couldn't let this stop her! She would win, even with the disadvantage she was now at! Even when her thoughts were no longer private! "Hn!" She drew her card, adding it to her hand with a growl. "I'm not through yet, _Pegasus_," she spat with a glare. Looking across at the monster she was against however, she knew that nothing in her hand would hold out against it... Time to gather the shield, she decided with a wince."I play another card in defense mode," she stated, placing the Battle Ox on the field. The monster appeared in a crouched position, seated directly beside the Rude Kaiser. "It's your move..."

"My turn?" Pegasus chuckled darkly, drawing his card with a smile. "Well then! How about we chat... The duel will be just _boring_ otherwise~" And how about she ram his entire deck down his throat instead, she thought with narrowed eyes. She didn't enjoy 'idly chatter' when she was in a good mood let alone moments like _this_. Make the play... Just make the play... "Tsk tsk tsk... So impatient! Really Kaiba-dear," the man said with a sigh, shaking his head. "Speak up! You're no good at this at all~ How about I go first," he continued with a smile, apparently ignoring the copious amounts of curses to his name running through the mind of his opponent. "Do you like cartoons at all?" She didn't answer, merely narrowing her eyes. If he said. One more word. About the damn toons he was playing... "Hnhnhnhnhnhn... I'll take that as a 'no'," Pegasus decided, merely waving off his opponent's anger as he continued. Shut up... "Well, not so for me!~ I_** love**_ them," he said with a grin, eye closing with the apparent memory. "I remember growing up as a boy, watching 'Funny Rabbit' every Saturday morning~ All those characters running around on the T.V.," he stated with a sigh. "They were my best friends back then!"

The woman merely stared in response to that, brow twitching. Well, at least that explained _one _thing about Pegasus'... Eccentricies. "To this day," Pegasus was continuing, nostalgic smile becoming a fox's smirk that had his opponent frowning, "They run around in the little garden of my heart... They never betray me, and they never die... And now my dear Kaiba," the man continued, smirk growing into a grin, "I'm going to invite you to that world..." Oh _fuck_ that didn't sound good. This was going to be completely- "I'm going to play this... Toon World!"

Seto's eyes instantly flicked down to the bottom of the card, reading it with a frown. 'All player's cards become Toon cards, this is a continuous effect'... Great. Which probably meant he built the entire damn thing around supporting that... There was probably a catch too... Actually, a number of catches, given who this was really. The woman tensed as the thought came to mind however, eyes widening when the large book above the Toon World card appeared. Black Rabbit... It was _gone_...

"Gh..." She stared, free hand clenching into a fist as she scanned the board. "Where..."

Pegasus chuckled, giving a mock shrug as the illusionary book that appeared on the field slammed shut. "Well," he stated calmly, "All my cards are Toons after all... They _live_ in the Toon World! If you don't see them," he continued, tone darkening considerably, "They must be hiding inside..." The man's smirk became a frightening grin, opponent tensing more so as he looked toward the book. "I'm sure you'll see them soon enough though... _Dark Rabbit,"_ he 'called', the book opening to a new page. "_Are you there_? ATTACK!"

From within the pages of the book the rabbit's twisted form charged appeared, coming out from the pop-up forest on the open page. Dark Rabbit's hands were formed into fists, and with one single strike he had the Battle Ox knocked out of his defensive crouch. Tch... It jumped from the book..! "The battle Ox goes down," Pegasus was shouting with a cheer, Seto watching rigidly as the rabbit disappeared back into the book. She couldn't attack the spell card using the standard system..! Shit... "My my," her opponent said with a drawling tone, voice far betraying the sinister grin on his face. "My shy little rabbit went back in the book again... And now that the book is closed up, he's completely out of harm's way!"

Damn it... She couldn't attack him even if she drew a card to overpower the damn rabbit! "Tch..." She drew her next card, eyes narrowing once again. "For my turn," she stated with a growl, placing the card she'd drawn on the board, "I'll place a card face down. With that, I'm done," she continued, biting her tongue. Shit... She had nothing at the moment... What the hell would get around that book...

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Ahh yes... Well," he began, drawing his next card. Given his expression he was more than enjoying the clear advantage he now had... Bastard... "It's my turn isn't it? How about I show you something_ interesting_ Kaiba-dear..." Seto frowned, watching as Pegasus pulled a card from his hand and flipped it around with a wicked smirk. "This," he stated, the woman across from him narrowing her eyes as the card gave a dull shine in the light. "Is the Blue-Eyes White Dragon I got from you..." No... Nooooo... Don't do it... She read that card's description, and if that meant what she thought... "See what happens when I play it," Pegasus continued, placing the card on the table. No no no no no, not when the field spell was in- The book slammed open, a ridiculously 'rubbery' and mis-proportioned version of her dragon popping out with a 'grin'. "It's a Blue-Eye's _Toon_ Dragon! AHAHAHH~!"

WHAAAAAT NO. NO! She bit back a growl, staring with wide eyes at the... _Thing _ her opponent turned the dragon into. What... What did he do to it! It looked ridiculous! Did it actually have a pupil in its eye? How the hell was it supposed to fight with those teeth, it couldn't even close it's mouth it- "Hnhnhnhnhn..." And of course he was having plenty of fun doing this to her..! Goddamned piece of scum..! "All my monsters become residents of Toon World," he stated with a smile, folding his hands over. "I'm just that accepting! What do you think Kaiba-dear? _So _much more loveable than before isn't it?" No it damn well wasn't! Turn it back! "NOW," he cried, the dragon rearing it's head back to charge a ridiculously large blast of energy. "Toon Attack!" A miniature explosion occurred on the field, Seto's second defence monster biting the dust. "Rude Kaiser is blown to pieces!~" Gh..!

Seto's eyes narrowed dangerously, fists clenching as the 'toon dragon' skipped back around the book, seeing no point in bothering with its closed pages. 'Toon' dragon had all the power of her Blue-Eyes... But to take an already perfect card and do that! Bastard... Daring to take _her_ dragon... And do... _That_ to it! "Hmmm..." Pegasus was looking at her with an overly smug stare, eye narrowed in what was likely cruel mirth for the moment. "So _angry_ Kaiba-dear! You _must _fix that temper..." Shut up..! And get the hell out of her head!

Damn it! She folded her hand, closing her eyes. Alright. That was it... Screw strategy. That obviously wasn't working, and quite honestly she'd rather put her faith in chance than deal with this. "Pegasus," she stated, forcing her tone to remain neutral as she calmed herself down. Breath in and out... In and out... Damn it she was tired... "You obviously know what cards I have already... So I'm going to discard my entire hand," she continued, evening the small pile she held before dropping it beside her deck. Pegasus' eye widened just slightly more in curiosity, the woman across from him merely fixing a narrowed stare back at him in response. "I'm not just going to sit here while you make a joke out of my deck, and tell _me _what I'm going to play... Instead," she stated, vision blurring slightly as exhaustion began to slowly creep in again before being pushed back by grit determination alone, "I'm going to draw one card from the top of my deck... One completely unknown card that I don't know..." A card that Pegasus wouldn't know either, not that it seemed to disturb the man in any way... "And I'll play it in attack mode," she shouted, drawing her card.

Don't fail her now... Eyes stared across at the board, and in one swift motion she placed it on the field. "Watch," she shouted, the table reacting to the card's presence and allowing the monster to materialize in that instant. Don't fail her... "This card that I place my faith in..." A mere glance told her she had succeeded, but despite the draw her expression remained unchanged. "**THE BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON**!" A fearsome roar echoed around the arena as the dragon appeared, white scales shimmering into existance. Rather than remaining 'table sized' oddly enough however, it instead held the size of a large dog, hovering behind her almost protectively as it gave a low growl toward the opponent. Hnn... Interesting... '_Oooooh_,' Pegasus was saying in the background, voice seeming rather distant for the moment. '_Wonderful job Kaiba-dear~ Wonderful! Drawing another blue-eyes... How lucky~_' Whatever, she mentally muttered, ignoring the man to look at her dragon. Just shut up and let her think... Privately.

Blue-Eyes turned its head, giving a quiet croon and rubbing its head against her side for a moment. Just a hologram of course... She didn't feel anything, just watched as the dragon moved. This was just a hologram, a solid creation made entirely of light. But even so... She hadn't programmed that... Briefly, her gaze softened, the woman still staring at her monster. The dragon, while a mere collection of light, seemed a little less... 'Computerized'... For the moment... Abruptly she turned to look forward, eyes narrowed as a scowl reappeared on her face. She'd summoned the dragon for a reason after all... Only one thing to do! "You say you feel my anger Pegasus," she asked, snorting as the dragon beside her leered at Pegasus' own sad excuse. Feeling and reading thoughts... Disgusting. "Hah! I'll show you what _**true**_ anger is! Changing my proud dragon into _**THAT**_ pathetic joke," she sneered, Pegasus' own dragon still hovering behind the Toon World book with a grin. "I'll never forgive you!" As Pegasus merely smirked on response, she pointed her dragon forward. The only way, unfortunately... "Here goes," Seto called out, the dragon giving a vicious roar in response. "It's my turn! BLUE-EYES, ATTACK!" Forgive her Blue-Eyes... But she wanted the sorry excuse on her opponent's side of the field to be gone as soon as possible! "_**BURST STREAM**_!"

The attack was charged. Blue-Eyes reared on its hind legs, standing on the ground beside Seto's chair as it prepared to attack. White light crackled into view, gathering in the beast's maw as the dragon took aim. With a thundering roar the attack was fired, the toon counterpart watching and panicking as it came closer... And closer... Closer...

And missed. The toon dragon bent itself into an impossibly stretched tube, bending over and around the stream of white lightening with ease as it came within range. The beam crackled out of existence, the dragon beside her closing its mouth with a snap. "What..." It evaded... It damn well... She clenched her fists, looking across the field with wide eyes she growled. Beside her, the dragon doing the same as their opponent's monster stretched back into place and gave a silent grin. What the hell was with this! She couldn't attack... Even if she could it would _dodge_..! What kind of spell was this..!

"Hnhnhnhn..." Pegasus gained the same nostalgic smile from before as he spoke, hands once more held out to recount some story that she wanted nothing to do with. "Did you know," the man was asking, opponent merely gritting her teeth in response. "There were five hundred and eighty three episodes of Funny Rabbit... And in the entire series," he stated, Seto wanting him to just stop talking for ten seconds at least, "According to someone who countered, Funny Rabbit's rivals the 'Bulldog Police' fired over 26,000 bullets at our hero~" She did not have a hero in some stupid looking rubber rabbit! Just shut up! The growl continued as Pegasus spoke on, turning back to Seto with a narrowed and almost villainous smile. "But you know Kaiba-dear... Not a single one ever hit him! A miracle!" On the board the Toon World book continued to hover in place, as did the 'Toon Dragon'. Given this monologue... She had a feeling she knew what Pegasus was going to say. "As long as Toon World is on the board," Pegasus stated with a smile, the expression continuing to darken further while Seto's own grew pale, "Everything I play becomes a cartoon! And nothing can hurt... Or _kill_... A toon," the man continued, a dangerous tone entering his voice. "They are the _perfect _lifeforms..!"

G...Ghng... "Rnnnnnn..." Seto seethed on the spot as she stared across at the board. Perfect? Pah! A cheap shield behind a single spell card wasn't perfect... No... This was a stalemate... The bastard had her in a stalemate using cheap tricks that involved dodging every hit that came from the other way! She crossed her arms, scowling as it moved back to Pegasus' turn. The man was drawing his card now, simply looking over it with the same dark smirk in place. Damn it... All the same, a stalemate held one advantage; her opponent couldn't do anything either... The Blue-Eyes and the Toon Dragon were equal in power to each other... If the toon attacked, then it would be taken out as well. A grim, but otherwise helpful move...

But Pegasus wasn't about to do that... She was pretty sure of that anyways, given that he seemed to be finding every loophole possible using that damn spell card.. Across from her, Pegasus was silent for a few moments longer than normal. The man's eye was narrowed with some unseen emotion, staring toward her and eliciting a deeper scowl from her. Stop flipping through her head like a book... That or staring blankly, though she had a feeling it was the former. Finally, Pegasus made his move, averting his gaze from Seto and moving one of the cards from his hand. "I'll play this card," he stated, placing a spell on the board as the 'Toon World' book flipped sideways. "Toon World," Pegasus cheered, the book opening up and flipping through the pages rapidly. "Let's tell a new story~! How about... **SHINE PALACE**!"

The book's pages stopped, a blinding gold castle rising from the covers. Definitely not the forest she saw before... What the hell was this about, she thought with a glare, watching as as Pegasus' Black Rabbit fizzled from existence in the golden light. Turning to a new page..? What was the point in-

Across from her, Pegasus merely chuckled. "But of course Kaiba-dear," he told her, Seto giving a mental twitch at being called 'dear' yet again for the umpteenth time. "Toon World is _infinite_! This book is merely a gateway to that plane of existence! And now," he continued, opponent gritting her teeth as Pegasus' dragon moved to sit in the light of the castle. "Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon, a monster of the light, receives the shining energy from Shine Palace and powers up!"

Shit. Her eyes widened, the woman tensing as 'Toon Dragon' charged up a blast of it's own. Shit, he'd increased the difference in... "Blue Eyes Toon Dragon," Pegasus shouted loudly, the dragon on her own side climbing onto the table with a growl. "ATTACK! **Burst Stream~!"**

The woman growled, fists tightening. That was not an attack he had the right to make..! She narrowed her eyes, flipping over the card she'd set long ago with a scowl. "I activate the card I placed face down," she called out, the aperture portal appearing in front of Blue-Eyes just as the toon's duplicate attack came close. "Negate Attack!" The toon's blast faded from existence, aperture closing and fading from view as well. The toon dragon returned to it's base 'stance', her own Blue-Eyes growling lowly and moving to give its master a clear view of the field.

Damn it... Pegasus likely knew that she had that card... In fact she was almost certain! Now that she'd used it she only had one chance at getting rid off the toon mock-up... If she put Blue-Eyes in defense mode she'd lose her best monster to a cheap imitation... And if that dragon attacked her again following that... She swallowed, reaching for her deck. If it attacked her, it was all over. Not just for her... But for him as well.

Mokuba... She narrowed her eyes, taking the card from the deck in silence. Everything... Everything relied on this next card! And she had no doubts that it would be the one she needed! Throwing it on the board instantly, her expression didn't change, reading the name and activating it. "SHADOW SPELL," she cried, the chains appearing to wrap around her opponent's monster in an instant. Across from her Pegasus had a calm if not scheming smile in place, obviously knowing full well just how lucky this draw was. One card...

This was the only card that could have possibly saved her, in the entire deck. And only this one... 'Lucky draw' indeed. The Toon Dragon's attack was now not only lower than Blue-Eye's by two hundred points, but in addition... Her eyes narrowed, and although this now placed her at a slight advantage her expression was nowhere near elation. Her Blue-Eyes... "Even your pathetic rubbery copy can't squirm out of those chains," she spat, the Blue-Eyes beside her roaring in agreement. "Prepare yourself," the woman continued, her dragon charging an attack at those words. Mouth hung open it took aim, this time more than certain it would not miss. "_**BURST STREAM**_!"

In a blast of white flames the imposter dragon was destroyed, chains vanishing from sight with nothing to hold. The toon dragon was long gone... No longer was her Blue-Eyes condemned to a life as a pathetic toon. She'd put it out of its misery, and now it was Pegasus' turn!

Pegasus, however, merely chuckled at the minor scratch received from the attack. "You have a good mind my dear," he said with a low chuckle, Seto merely glaring back. "Just now... I felt your love for the Blue Eyes card in your heart," he continued, opponent's expression falling considerably at those words. He'd felt... What? _Felt_? She grit her teeth, fists clenched. Get out of her head damn it... Out..! Her thoughts and feelings both were private damn it..! "As a game designer," Pegasus was saying with that same smile, ignoring the woman's growls and thoughts, "That is the greatest compliment you know... I must thank-you, 'Kaiba-dear'... It's my turn however," he stated, drawing a card with a dark smile. "And this is my next move... The Dragon Capture Jar!"

Shit! The woman paled, the jar appearing on the field in a small swirl. A monster card... Damn it! The jar trembled slightly, winds appearing to pull her dragon in immediately. Blue-Eyes gave an enraged growl as it was pulled forward for imprisonment, and as it finally became engulfed completely the jar glowed. Looking toward Pegasus with a snarl, Seto watched as her opponent merely chuckled. "I should tell you," he added, hands folded once more. "The jar gains the defense points of the dragon it absorbs... That makes it '2700' I believe..."

"Rggghhh!" That bastard..! Was he planning on using her dragon as his pawn yet again! She didn't know how this jar worked completely... But if Yugi had even seen fit to give her fair warning... "It's my turn," she bit out, gritting her teeth as she looked over the card. Tch... She had to destroy the jar before Pegasus could use it completely, but with such a high defense only her third Blue-Eyes could possibly face it... And all that would do was get the dragon captured again most likely... She placed the card on the field, narrowing her eyes. "I play Swordstalker in defense mode," she stated, before crossing her arms once more to lean back on her chair. Damn it...

Across from her, Pegasus held a seemingly blank expression, staring yet again. Get out... Get out..! "My turn again," he stated quietly, voice devoid of the cheer he'd had earlier while taunting her. Instead it was grave and severe, more closely matching the expression he held. "I'll play this card face down on the board," he stated, before removing the last card in his hand to put it on the field. "And on top of that... I play this monster!" Appearing on the field was an odd one-eyed monster, a flute gripped firmly in its hands. "The Dragon Piper, in defense mode!"

Dragon Piper..? She frowned, staring at the monsters as it came to her turn once again. With a name like that she was almost certain Pegasus had a plan that concerned her captured Blue-Eyes... Pipers controlled, they manipulated... A 'dragon piper' combined with the jar itself... Seto's scowl deepened, thoughts running through her head without a care to hide them anymore. Would he dare... _Could _he possibly release her dragon, using the piper to turn it on her..?

"Exactly," Pegasus stated with a dark grin, eye narrowing in mirth as Seto's thoughts were once more taken from her mind. "On my next turn," he continued loudly, arms crossed for the moment, "The Dragon Piper's 'Flute of Rebirth' will bring back your dragon as my monster... And it will once again become, as you put it," he said with a dark chuckle, "A 'Pathetic' toon..."

Gh... She growled, fists clenched tightly as she looked across the board. A toon? Fat chance! "Over my dead body," she snarled, switching her monster to attack mode in that instant. Swordstalker rose up to its feet, blade gripped tightly in its hands as its master continued. "I'll crush your measly Dragon Piper before you get the chance! SWORDSTALKER," she roared, watching as the piper already moved toward the Dragon jar to prepare for the next move. "ATTACK!" The monster charged, blade raised and ready...

She should have known.

The moment her monster turned his blade on the Piper, the sword mere centimetres away from the beast, Pegasus' smirk grew even darker than previously seen. Trap. He'd goaded her into a trap and she'd run into it without a care at all..! She was- "I activate the spell Doppleganger," he cried, Seto tensing in response. She knew what _that _card was... Knew exactly what it was. Staring across the board in horror, she watched as Pegasus continued to chuckle, the card he played shifting into one of her own. "That's right," he stated with a grin, his card continuing to shift. "The copycat card... And it can change into any card you played in the entire game," he continued, the woman before him growing paler and paler with each second. The image was appearing on 'Doppleganger's apparent 'card face', as was the description. But she already knew... "And the card it's going to copy... Is your Crush Card Virus!" The card appeared on the board with those words, but Pegasus was still not finished. "In addition my dear," he said with a menacing smirk, Seto swallowing as the card was shifted to sit beneath the Dragon Piper. No... No..."I'm infecting the Piper with the virus..."

"Gngk..." _'And so it begins,_' Pegasus stated with a grin, the Swordstalker on the board cutting cleanly through Pegasus' monster with ease. She'd given the command, she couldn't take it back... Foolish... So moronic, how did she not..! _'Prepare to die by your own card..._'

Crush Card Virus... Swordstalker vanished from sight as the virus took effect, its owner staring at the board in horror. All monsters with 1500 or more attack points... All of them... Were now useless... Her deck was almost completely made of monsters with high attack power, and if she couldn't use monsters...

She stared at the deck, eyes wide as she drew her card. The only other one she could play... The only card she had left..! All other spells would be useless if she couldn't defend, and even with half her lifepoints remaining she was dead..! She placed the card softly on the table, breathing un-even as all her hours of wakefulness and dueling caught up to her. "I.." She chocked, steeling herself for at least that last moment. "I bring back Saggi the Dark Clown with Monster Reborn, in defense mode..." The off green ankh appeared on the field, shining its light downward as the clown appeared beneath it in a crouched position.

"You have the courage to play out the game to the very end," Pegasus stated with a smile, nodding proudly. Tch... "Right to the very end... I applaud you my dear," he stated with a smile, only serving to elicit a weak growl from the woman. Applause... She wanted nothing of his pride or applause... "But with the next turn," he continued, "When I destroy that monster you will have no others in your deck... And I will win..." Somehow, she couldn't bring herself to care how Pegasus knew what the cards in her deck were. She couldn't care...

Seto stared past the man, looking toward Mokuba's unmoving body behind him. The guards flanked him on either side, not that the boy needed to be watched. He couldn't run... He couldn't speak, he couldn't move... Mokuba... She looked toward him sadly, hands shaking as she brought them to her side. Mokuba... She thought she saw tears running down the side of his cheek, but that was an illusion right..? Her own eyes were dry, completely dry, she hadn't had anything to drink since noon really... '_Forgive me,_' she cried mentally, no longer caring that her thoughts were as loud as a clear shout to her opponent. _'I couldn't save you... Please forgive me..._'

"And now," Pegasus began darkly, placing a card on the board. "I strike. This is the end of the game my dear! I summon Bikuribox!" The jack in the box appeared from Pegasus' book, Seto staring it down with narrowed eyes. Wicked and wide eyes were turned her way from the monster, the dark-clothed jester appearing to cackle madly. "ATTACK," the man called, the monster charging up a blast of sparking and clouded energy before eradicating her clown in an instant. The light was intense, despite the dark origin... The attack went fairly quick as well... With just that, it was all over... The field cleared, and though she held an apparently stoic stare she inwardly winced from the strike.

Dead. She was good as dead... Felt dead too... All her work, only to fail now... Briefly her eyes were turned on the balcony, only dimly seeing the blurs that were her audience and turning her eyes back to the table. _'Good-bye Yugi,_' she thought, before closing her eyes. So tired... Mokuba... Forgive her... She needed to rest... So badly...

Her eyes slowly opened up again as Pegasus drew a card from his pocket, voice almost inaudible to her. He was standing up, leaning over the table to hand her something... A card... It was placed on the table before her, and though her vision was doubling she could still make out its image. Why... Why did she feel so... So... _'You're a smart girl_,' he whispered, to quiet for any around the room to possibly hear. This card placed before her, this card she'd seen only once before... Her eyes were drawn to it, the woman's resolve crumbling before her as she stared at her brother's screaming image. Mokuba... Forgive her... Please... Please... _'Very smart, possibly too much so... After all,_' Pegasus was saying, voice low. '_You know what sorts of stakes I play for though, don't you my dear..?' _Weak... Why did she feel so weak... She was fine moments before wasn't she? Wasn't...

She could hear shouts... Far off in the distance and barely identifiable... Yet somehow she knew where they were coming from, off to the side, above...

_'KAIBA-SAN_,' Yugi was shouting, voice raised and panicked beyond anything she'd heard. '_NO_!'

Another person... _'KAIBA!_' Who were those people... Why were they screaming for her... '_KAIBAAAA!_!'

Pegasus was still there... She wasn't looking at him, unable to even muster the energy for anger by this point. Was she... Dying somehow..? "In this game my dear, the loser loses everything... That which is most precious to them, beyond anything in the world... More than just material gain," he whispered, regaining his seat and folding his hands. But he'd already taken all he could... Already... "They lose even their souls..."

"I was saving this for you," he whispered, tossing a second card on the table. What was he doing... What... The card landed beside the first, Mokuba's screaming face staring up at her as her eyes watered. What was he...

She took a shuddering breath, and as she continued to stare at Mokuba's card, ignorant to the one beside it her eyes momentarily widened. "Gh.." A small surge of energy, something that lasted only an instant... Only an instant, and in that moment...

Just that moment... She could hear...

'_**N...Nee-sama?**_'

"...Mokuba..?"

And all she saw was darkness...

* * *

When the card's image had finally appeared, Seto's head was merely tilted forward in 'defeat'. The woman's body was slumped over in the same weakened pose she had while her soul was being sapped, and there was only one real difference to tell the truth, between the image of her soulless being and her weakened form... The moment the soul had been taken, her hand fell from it's grip on the locket around her neck. He didn't even think she was aware that she grabbed it... Aside from that on thing however, the woman was still staring off with the same, momentarily hopeful glimpse that had come with the sound of her brother's voice. Though her eyes were blank, the expression remained frozen. Questioning, confused eyes on an otherwise defeated face.

Pegasus leaned forward, smiling darkly as he grabbed the two cards that sat on the table. Mokuba's was the same of course, remaining as unchanged as ever. Now what of his sister though... The image of Seto Kaiba on the card was not at all fearful like her brother, there was no panicked expression, no wild last attempt to pull on the 'cell bars'. Looking over the card, he was almost surprised really. The expression was neither hopeless nor depressed, not even angered... She was merely accepting of fate, as though it was forever expected to occur. The woman wasn't even staring out with eternally open eyes like all others who had ever been sealed in a card. Instead, they were closed over, her head head bowed forward as though waiting. No frown, no grimace or scowl... Just a blank expression betraying all emotion. Waiting...

It would be a long wait, he mentally told himself with a sigh... Walking in the darkness of the monster's realm for all eternity, the fate of both the siblings... Pity, he thought, placing the cards in his pocket before gathering his deck. Though the cards were so close, the distance between the two mind as well have been infinite now... If only she really had died back then, he thought with a smile, shaking his head sadly. Perhaps they could have eventually been reunited in the afterlife. Ahh well... He gave a nod to the two guards, who both made to take Mokuba back to where he was being kept in silence. Mokuba would be well kept... Wonderfully kept, he would do that much for now- Kaiba Corp needed a Kaiba, and even if he would soon be buying the company out it was the... 'Right thing' so to speak.

As for Seto herself... Crocketts came in, and with a stern nod the CEO turned his way. "Remove the corpse," he said coldly, the assistant staring blankly and out of his 'range' of thought. "You know where to put him."

Crocketts merely nodded, roughly grabbing the woman's limp body and slinging her arm around his shoulder before dragging her off to an unknown area. An area where she would remain for the rest of eternity... And now that this was all over... '_Well done Pegasus_', came the voice of Daimon, coming out as a low 'whisper' from the speaker at the table. _'Seto is taken care of_,' muttered Oota, who was nodding in agreement with the rest of the 'Big Five'. _'Deal with Yugi as well, and you'll get Kaiba Corp. as planned Pegasus...'_

Good... He smiled, eyes briefly turning over to where the hidden board room above the arena sat. With his eye he could see the shadows of the men as they moved to leave, likely for the rooms he had prepared for them during their swift arrival the night before. Defeat Yugi, the only condition... Which meant the company was as good as his; no one ever beat him at his own game after all... And even if the power of the millennium puzzle resided within the boy, it was powerless against his eye- He froze, a sudden chill passing through him. A wave of energy had shuddered through the room, an almost 'rumbling' sound arising. This power...

This was... He turned, eye wide as he looked toward the balcony where Yugi himself was standing. A confident air now hung around him... A confident and enraged air. This was... "PEGASUS," he roared, eyes wide with an unbridled fury. "I won't forgive you for this," he shouted, those beside him turning with slight shock. The other Yugi... Pegasus' eye narrowed as the boy continued, the anger effectively radiating from his being in waves. Interesting how quickly the defeat of the boy's rival had sparked anger... "I swear it," Yugi was continuing with a shout. "I _**will**_ defeat you!"

The man merely smirked in response, hands held at his sides as he addressed his eventual opponent. "Oh Yugi-boy~! I'm so glad you care," he said with a smile, before it narrowed into a wicked smirk. "But please remember... You have to win the championship tournament to earn the right to fight me!" And if he lost any other duels, he would fail completely... Hnhnhnhn...

Above on the balcony, Yugi merely nodded, scowl increasing. "I know that," he stated with a cold glare, hands gripping the railing tightly. "But you had better prepare yourself Pegasus... Because I won't be satisfied until I destroy you completely!" Was that so..?

Well, wasn't that exciting? He continued to stare up at the balcony, chuckling at the words. 'Destroy completely', now how likely was that? Idly, Pegasus noted that the blond was missing, along with another of his 'friends'... Hmmm... Such a pity he couldn't have been there to see his dear friend's older sister be defeated. He wondered... Did the boy know that Seto was in fact a she..? Did he feel close at all..? He hadn't been within range long enough to glean those thoughts, but soon enough he supposed... "Hnhnhnhnhnhn... Well," he muttered, before raising his voice to a shout. Back to business after now! "The Champion Ship Tournament is Tomorrow Morning," he stated, expression becoming relatively neutral as he spoke. "It will be held here, in this arena on the main floor! Out of the four duelists," Pegasus continued, eye narrowing as he recalled the event's details, "Only one of you will have the glory of facing me in battle!" And in a way, that would mean only one 'real' loser... As he said this, his eye caught glimpse of a shock of blond among the small crowd on the balcony, accompanied by a second teen. Ah... So he had returned. Just in time...

The smirk grew and he stepped back, allowing one of the guards at the side to take over. "Duelists," the man beside him shouted, holding up two cards for them to see. "To enter the finals and face Pegasus-sama, you will need the cards that were sent with your original invitation! Even if you are the winner," he stated, tone held to a dead serious extent as he continued, "Should it be found that you lack both of these cards, you will be disqualified immediately! Is that clear," he finished, Pegasus gauging the reactions of the crowd above. Crystal clear...

As though to act on those very words, Yugi and Jonouchi both pulled something out of their pockets. Ere both staring at the surface of a single card, and spotting this he smiled. Ahhhh... Wonderful, _wonderful_... So the two had both split that as well... Kujaku Mai seemed confident enough, understandably so given that she as well had those cards... As for Keith... He smirked, watching as the American turned to eye both Yugi and Jonouchi with clear distaste, obviously lacking a card of his own as well. Well... After all, he had hardly invited the American to his 'kingdom'...

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Chuckling, he turned to leave the hall, giving a last wave. This was enough for now... "Well then my fair duelists," he called out, the bridges from the arena beginning to retract as the guards and hired hands left through to the halls. "I'll see you all in the morning~" Not even turning back he moved into the hallway, the bridge continuing to pull back behind him. With a thundering slam the bridges locked beneath the floor, door shutting behind him and locking into place. Now then...

Time to prepare for dinner...

* * *

"_PEGASUS_!" As Katsuya left the hall with Honda, that was the first thing he heard really. That and something that could have passed for a small earthquake but... He had the feeling the last one was just him. Nonetheless, hearing Yugi shout that loudly, with that much blatantly obvious rage...

It was almost scary really. Hell, it _was _kind of scary. The boy was staring down Pegasus from his position on the balcony, eyes wide and body tense and stiff. The air around him was almost thick with energy from the shout, and looking forward he had to stare. "Woah..." He swallowed as his friend continued, shouting his vow and threats to the man below with a snarl. It was fairly obvious that Yugi had switched out to the 'Other Yugi' once more. For that to happen though, after all that had gone on outside... "Yugi.."

The boy turned, but before he could say anything more, a shout from an announcer below caught their attention. The man held two cards in his hand, and even from the distance they were at he could tell what they said. 'The Honor of the King's Left'... 'The Honor of the King's Right'. He swallowed, pulling a single card from his back pocket as Yugi did the same. The card that Yugi had given him before... Telling him that he had no use for prize money, and that it would be better off put to use for Shizuka's surgery... "Th' Honor of th' King's Right.." 'Ultimate Riches', it said at the bottom. And as for Yugi's card...

The boy was staring at it intensely, saying nothing in response, and in the end it was easy to be distracted as Mai spoke up from behind them. "Alright," she said with a stretch, taking the bag she had left Anzu and waving. Looking toward her she seemed slightly flustered... A little pale, as were most of the others save Keith, Honda and himself really. Granted, he and Honda were a little clueless as to why that was but... Now that he thought... "From now on, we're enemies again understand?" The woman apparently steeled herself, slight nervousness hidden completely. She gave a wink, before turning to walk away from them. "The time for friends is over! Yugi, Jonouchi," she continued, disappearing down the hall. "Good luck, alright?" Good luck..?

"Y-Yea," he said with a nod, slowly turning back to Yugi. "You too..." Looking back at his friend, he frowned, watching as the others turned to him somewhat nervously. Down on the stage there'd been nothing but scattered cards on the table... If the others were this pale... "...Se... Kaiba... Kaiba lost didn't..."

Anzu nodded, looking rather pale as she turned away. So then what happened to her..? "Jonouchi," Yugi stated quietly, the blond turning to him with a slight frown. A slight nod and a bowed head was all it took really... All it took to send another cold shiver down his spine. What happened... "No matter what," Yugi was saying curtly, usual stern frown in place, "We _must _make it to the final round!"

Katsuya stared, piecing that statement to his own question with worry. Seto-chan lost... They had to win no matter what, he knew that part but... Damn it, what was going on! "Guys," Honda said with a frown, the others turning to him. The teen was looking over the railing, having apparently figured out fairly quickly what the abandoned cards meant. "What did they do with Kaiba..?"

"He said..." Again heads turned, this time toward Anzu as the woman turned from her position on the railing. They were the only ones in the room now... Keith had long since vanished, probably for the better... But the look that Anzu had... Why did it... "'Remove the corpse'... Before he had his soul taken, he said... I heard him say..." She stopped, taking a deep breath before continuing under her breath. "How could he do that," she muttered with wide eyes, shaking her head and holding it in one of her hands. "How could he just jerk someone's chain like that, even Kaiba didn't deserve that...I mean-" Anzu's voice faded into nothingness as the blond stood there, her first sentence still pounding in his ears. Remove...

The corpse..?

Numb... He felt numb... He couldn't move... Suddenly it felt as though a heavy weight was slamming into his legs, pushing down on him and making it hard to breathe. "Corpse," he finally croaked out, blood draining from his face. But... Pegasus only took souls right? He... He wouldn't kill... He wouldn't...

"Jonouchi," Yugi said with a frown, turning to him. Something in his eyes... Was that guilt? From the other Yugi? But why would... "...He's still alive, just as last time. Pegasus has sealed his soul in a card... And we _will_ get him back," he continued, eyes narrowing. "And everyone else as well." As the blond continued to stare in silence, Yugi held up his card to him. Honor of the King's left... The empty, clear card with only a title. Was it just him, he wondered, or was the fact that it was an empty 'face' and 'description' just making him feel even worse. Completely blank... What did the cards that Pegasus held look like before he used them..? "No matter what," he stated again, clutching the card tightly. "You take your card... And I'll take mine... For everyone!"

He looked at the boy, swallowing. "But Yugi... What if we're matched up in the first round..." Cold... He felt cold, but he couldn't give in damn it... What happened if it did come to that match up though?

The boy didn't even pause to answer, his arms crossed as he looked up at the blond. "Then we'll just have to fight," he stated, expression unchanged.

Just fight... "E-Er... O... Ok..?" That was fast... Not a single bit of hesitation... (Would he even stand a chance against Yugi, seriously...)

He shook it off, taking an unsteady breath to calm down and listening as the others continued to talk about what had happened. "Yugi," Bakura was asking, arms wrapped around his middle yet again. Now why was he doing that lately..? Cold..? Indigestion or hunger maybe..? "Do you have a plan to counteract Pegasus' mind scan at all..?"

The answer was so blunt it almost cheered him up right there. "Nope," Yugi said, smiling as he shrugged. Oh god... If this had been anyone else they would be so fucked... (Course his answer wasn't much better... So really, no excuse...) "His Millennium Eye is troublesome," Yugi 'admitted', crossing his arms in thought. Yea... Yea that was one way to put it... "I don't have a perfect solution." No one did... "But all the same," he continued, smile vanishing rather abruptly. "I will _CRUSH_ Pegasus!"

With that shout, Katsuya stared, again shaking himself off. Right... That was right, if they beat Pegasus... It was just like with the 'Monster World' wasn't it? Win the game, win back the lost souls! He snapped himself out of the cold, dead feeling he had for the moment, steeling himself. "Right," he shouted, nodding. He'd known this would happen damn it... It hurt like hell but he still knew! He had to fix it... And like Honda had said... Bodies in one place, soul's in another, and everything else in between... They had to do what they could, and win! "Let's do this," he decided, giving himself a reassuring nod. Alright... Alright... One day to fix things, one day to find Seto-chan and bust out of here... Finals couldn't possibly take all day, there had to be some point of free time he would get...

"Excuse me," came a familiar voice from the side, the group turning as the bandaged suit from before came over. Oh... This guy again..."If you could all follow me," he asked somewhat casually, "A dinner party has been arranged... Please," the man continued, Katsuya's stomach gurgling at the mention of food. "Step this way..."

Eager nods abounded as they followed after the man, Katsuya rubbing his stomach in question before coughing. "Hah... Man, forgot how starved I was..." Damn... Good thing they'd been eating snacks all through the labyrinth before coming to the castle.

Honda smirked, arms crossed as he overheard the muttering. "You _forgot,"_ he asked with a raised eyebrow, attempting to lift the spirits again. It was a little bit of an awkward conversation start... But really, he ended up listening anyways. "That's new! I didn't think there would be anything that could do _that..."_

He snorted, hands in his pockets as they continued down a flight of stairs. "Psh! Don't tell me you were thinking of dinner through all that," the blond said with a smirk, the group turning a corner. "Admit it, no one can think of food with that kind of duel!" Not to mention, he was still feeling queasy from Seto's last du-

...

Don't think about her...

Ignoring Honda's muttering of _'Yea, but I'm not __you_,' the blond watched as they entered a large and lavishly prepared dining hall. Vases filled to the brim with flowers of all sorts lined the sides, coming up to an enormous landscape portrait at the back end. The table was long, but it looked as though only half the chairs would be filled and only because of the others who were there. '_Please_,' the man from before was saying from the side, hands motioning toward the table. _'Take a seat._'

Huh... Lots of food... Aside from bowls of soup he could see a number of bread and cheese platters, elaborate looking pitchers of water, salads, meat... Somehow he couldn't feel that hungry though. Standing just inside the doorway as the others filed in, he watched as Mai waved them over with a smile. Hah... Looked like she had been waiting a while... '_Honestly_,' Anzu was muttering hands on her hips as she moved into the room, _'First time they've even bothered to feed us properly..._' Yea... First time they bother and no one's feeling hungry...

Well, he decided with a sigh, walking forward. Food time he supposed... Mind as well eat so that he could focus on tomorrow's- "...Nh..." The blond frowned, stopping in place. Yugi stopped as well... Was... Someone watching them..? He had this weird feeling, like there was someone behind him, and yet there was technically no one there... He slowly turned, gaze moving upward as Yugi did the same. Something there... He jumped, eyes coming to the top of the doorway and freezing. "H-HIHHH!"

"T-That portrait," Anzu shouted, the group following their gaze upward. Framed in an elaborate border were two portraits above the door, each one painted so realistically that for a brief moment, Katsuya had to wonder if they were moving. On one side a young woman, dressed in an elaborate gown and smiling serenely at the room. The woman's eyes were half closed, long blond hair falling around her face and shoulders to frame them rather nicely.

The portrait of the woman however, was far from what caught his attention though. "It's him," he muttered, the image of the simply robed Egyptian man sending a shiver down his spine. The Millennium Ankh, key, whatever the hell it was, was hanging around his neck, and the man's seemingly soulless eyes stared outward at them.

...Don't think about soullessness...

He swallowed, eyes narrowing as he recalled the night all those months ago, long before he had even been staying with Mokuba and Seto. That guy... "What the hell is a painting of _Shaadi_ doing here," he muttered with a growl, Bakura looking at the others with a frown.

"...Shaadi," the teen asked, blinking slightly. Right... He wouldn't know, he'd transferred in September after all... "Who is that..? He looks Egyptian almost..." Almost? Hahaha... Yea, that was one way of guessing he supposed.

Beside them Yugi nodded, staring at the portrait in silence before answering the albino. "That's because he is Egyptian," he stated, Bakura blinking as the boy continued. "Not only that, but he possesses a Millennium item too... See that ankh around his neck," he asked, Bakura turning to look upward at the question, "It's a key... The 'Millennium Key'! Using it, he was able to go inside a person's mind and control them..."

Hihhh... It was zombie night all over again... "Just thinking about that night gives me the chills," Anzu was muttering, shaking her head and moving toward the table. "I almost died because of that guy!" Hell, _everyone_ almost died because of that guy!

"Yea," Katsuya said, frowning, mentally recalling just how much more danger she had been in compared to the others at the time. "That guy took over Anzu's mind and had her just about jump off a building!" He'd barely gotten there too... If he hadn't been able to escape from the poorly controlled professor that chased himself and Honda around that night, if he hadn't made it out the window to hold that platform up... He shuddered, before turning to Bakura. "Reminds me..." The blond frowned, recalling the reason why Shaadi had done all those things in the first place. "The guy wanted to know about Yugi's puzzle too... Like the guy in your ring, if you don't mind me saying Bakura..."

Bakura's reaction to that was... Odd... To say the least. At the mention of the ring he had merely given them all a rather odd smile, adjusting his bag. "Oh," he said, as though having somehow forgotten about the 'golden ring from hell' as Katsuya was 'affectionately' calling it. He shook his head, turning to look back up at the portraits. "You don't have to worry about that... I won't let it take over my mind anymore!" _Won't _let it? He frowned, eyeing the albino oddly a moment. That sounded almost like he was wearing the damn thing again but.. Hah... Hahah... He... He wouldn't do _that_ right?

...Right?

He swallowed, turning away to take a seat at the table as the others continued to talk. Alright... Let... Let's just eat and get through the night... There was no way that would have happened after all, just no way... Not after the whole RPG fiasco and the impaled hand... No damn way he would do that... Katsuya pulled out one of the chairs, collapsing on it with a sigh and idly watching as the suit from before spoke to the others. "Man," he muttered, holding his head with a groan. Seto had finally woken up again only to lose her soul... So had Mokuba, and not only did they have to beat Pegasus to get them back but it looked like even Shaadi was in on things. "This is insane..."

"So it is," came Yugi's voice from the side, Katsuya blinking as he looked his way. W-W-Wait... When did he sit down...? He looked around, blinking. Hell, when did everyone else sit down? Idly, he noted that Keith was missing... Eh. It figured really... He kind of preferred that... Looking back at Yugi, he watched as his friend merely stared at the table in silence. Looking around the table, a good number of people were like that... Bakura was talking to Anzu about something, but otherwise... "...Jonouchi," Yugi finally said, the blond again blinking at his voice.

Er.. "..Yea Yug'," he asked, eyes continuing to drift around the table. Most of them weren't eating... Bakura had tied the cloth napkin around his neck and slowly started picking away at some corn himself, but for the most part, even Mai for all her talk of waiting to eat wasn't doing anything. The room was completely silent, and the food otherwise untouched... He turned back to his friend, swallowing. Some dinner... Pegasus sure knew how to kill a mood... "What is it..?"

Silence. The entire table was filled with an eerie and cold silence as slowly others began to eat as well, people around the table drifting off into their own worlds as they simply went through the motions of eating their soup. Complete silence, and it was almost frightening how long it lasted for everyone. "...About earlier," the boy finally stated, arms crossed as he stared at his bowl of soup. Yugi's voice, the 'Other Yugi's voice, seemed almost 'quiet' compared to its usual confidence, the boy not looking up as he continued. "During my duel with Kaiba..."

Again, Katsuya swallowed, the memory of the event coming to mind. That duel... All he could remember thinking back to that duel now was the monstrosity that was Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon's melting and decaying corpse... And the wide eyed, blank stare he'd seen through the wall of kuriboh. What was it that Yugi was saying though..? He wasn't looking up or around, merely staring off in thought... As though he couldn't actually say anything. "Yugi, what are you..."

"I was out of line," he stated, the blond beside him staring in response. What..! Yugi's eyes had narrowed, his voice low as he spoke. "You care about Kaiba a lot," he continued, the teen beside him keeping silent in his disbelief. "To an extent that I myself can't likely hope to understand. I interfered with that..." The boy sighed, adjusting his crossed arms and still staring at the soup bowl. "Even when you asked me not too."

Even when- Katsuya tensed, swallowing still more as he logged the words in his head. "You..." He shook his head, staring. "You heard me..." He'd heard him and he... Eyes wide he continued to stare, unsure of what to say in response. What...

Yugi merely stared at his soup in silence, voice still held quiet so that those around the table couldn't hear. "Forgive me, Jonouchi," he said turning to him with a look that was quite different from the familiar stern and confident stare. A 'non-Yugi' stare... A look that didn't suit either half, or even a mix of the two in his opinion. Yet it was there... And he was... "Because of what I did..."

The blond tapped Yugi's shoulder lightly with a fist, friend blinking in confusion. "Hey," Katsuya said with a sad smile, sparing the boy of any more difficulty in what he was saying. "Don't sweat it... Won' happen again right?" As Yugi stared, the blond turned back to the table. What did he say... What did he say..? He'd never spoken to the 'Other Yugi' long enough to really end up in this kind of situation. And the normal Yugi apologized for things that weren't even his fault, so it was easy to just tell him that it wasn't and move on. But now... "It hurts y'know," he said quietly, slumping back in his chair. His voice was kept almost to a whisper, and with the sounds of silverware clinking in the background it was easy to keep his words private. "I Couldn't be there to cheer 'er on, and then I came back t' find out she's gone... But that ain't yer fault... And y'know Yug'," he continued, turning to the boy with a slight frown. "Th' fact is... I forgive yah for th' duel out there. Not just 'cause you're my friend," Katsuya said, watching as Yugi stared back with the same slight scowl he always seemed to have, "But because I know that in reality... You jus' wanted t' get here an' get at Pegasus too... 'S like Seto-chan said," he whispered, blinking slowly as he unconsciously fingered his 'key box'. "If th' roles were r'versed, she wouldn' 've hesitated... Cause that's how much Mokuba means t' her... An' it's how much Sugoroku-ojii means t' you..."

Silence was his only answer, and, after a few minutes of awkward silence he found himself grabbing the spoon to go after the soup in front of him. Gotta eat up for tomorrow he told himself, dunking the spoon in and taking a sip. Save up the energy for his duels and for finding Seto both. Had to-

-blnmp- "NYHHAAAAAAHH!" He jerked backward, face pale as an 'eyeball' surfaced to the top of his soup. "H-HAAAH! WHAT THE HELL!" What... What the hell was this doing in his soup bowl! ... What the hell was _anything _doing in his soup bowl!

Beside him, Yugi was well was staring, at his own dish, raising an eyebrow as he lifted the eyeball out with his spoon. "Ghmlm-ghk!" The boys looked across, Honda as well following their gaze as Mai began to choke on something. Bringing a hand to her throat, she hurriedly spat something onto the counter before taking a wheezing breath. "Gh... Hah... It was in my soup too!"

Alright what the hell was with the eyeballs! He picked the one in his soup out, going slightly green in the face. Seriously, this was disgusting... A click sound came from the far end of the room, and the large portrait of what had apparently been the coast of Okinawa shifted into a close up view of Pegasus' face. "Iiiiiiiiit's SHOW TIME~," he called out, the table's occupants tensing up in response. "Hello everybody," Pegasus shouted with a grin, a majority looking toward the man in distaste. "How do you like my favourite soup~?"

He growled, holding the eyeball up between his thumb and finger as he shook the soup off. "Tch... Yea thanks for the meal _Pegasus_, what is this poison? Tryin' t' kill us off so you don' have t' fight us?" Though he wouldn't exactly gain access to KaibaCorp if that happened... And since it was in Yugi's soup as well, he doubted that was the case. Still...

Pegasus merely brightened at the accusation, clapping his hands together. "Ohhhh~ That," he shouted, appearing far more 'cheerful' than he had during the duel with Seto. "That's part of tonight's _special_ dish," he said with a grin, leaning into the camera slightly. Er... He didn't trust anything that _this guy_ called 'special'... "The heart-pounding Tournament Entree Bingo Game!" What.

"Tournament Bingo," Mai shouted, grabbing her own 'eye' with a napkin and wiping it off before turning back. The eye was gripped firmly in the napkin, the woman occasionally looking at it with a somewhat disgusted stare. "And just what exactly is _that_?"

The man beamed even more if that was possible, as though having waited for that very question to be asked for hours. "Well," he began with a smile, eager to explain, "All participants in the Championship will receive a replica Millennium Eye! One of you isn't there of course," he muttered, while Katsuya merely swallowed a wave of nausea staring at the 'replica eye' in his hands, "But oh well... Now," he shouted, still grinning. "Time to start the game!~ Crack that eye open!"

Crack it open? The blond frowned, looking back at his eye. With what, a hammer? What the hell was going through this guy's he- Oh... He blinked, looking along the side and rubbing it as he found a small divet. "A line..." Twisting the eye, he pulled the sides apart with a small 'pop' noise, dropping both halves to save the falling slip of paper from landing in his soup. "Ack- ...What th'..." He frowned, unfolding the small paper before looking at Yugi. "'S jus' a paper with th' letter 'D' on it..."

As Yugi held his own up in question ('A'), Mai nodded from across the table. "Mine say's 'B'..."

"Now then," came Pegasus' voice again, the group watching as the screen shifted to a simple tournament line up. "To announce the order of play!" They stared, Katsuya's eyes widening briefly before the blond clenched his fist with a nod. 'A', 'B', 'C', 'D'... The first and the last two were matched up with each other for a semi-final knock out!

Mai was smirking, a few fingers placed on her lips. "Ohh," he stated, winking across the table at her soon to be opponent. "Looks like I'm facing you, Yugi~" The boy merely nodded, expression notably neutral in response. Well... Obviously someone had their eyes on the _goal_... (Not to mention, normal Yugi definitely had monopoly on the hormones... Or something.)

As for his own match up... Given that Keith was missing, that would make him 'C'. "Hah," he said with a dark grin, pumping his fist. "I'm against Bandit Keith! Guess I have th' chance t' get back at him f'r th' cave already!" Alright... He could do this easy..! Er... Well... Regardless of Keith's 'champion status' he guessed... And the fact that he knew what cards he had now... Honestly, he should probably just stop thinking, he wasn't doing well here.

The screen switched back to Pegasus, the man grinning as the others turned on him with either blank stares or frowns. "Aha~ That's all! The soup never lies," he stated with a grin, before giving an apparent 'wink' (Man had one eye, how did he pull that one off...). "I look forward to the tournament... See you tomorrow!" With those words the screen cracked back into the image of Okinawan shores, the suit from the end of the room stepping forward.

"Well," he stated, clapping his hands together, turning the group's attention back toward the entry way of the room. "It's time to call it a night," he continued, opening the doors. "We will now show you to your rooms, understand?"

Katsuya frowned, having moved to start his soup again. He only got like five spoonfuls though..! Hell, the only one who managed to get anything to eat was Bakura, and that was because he'd managed to start off right away! "Wait... We don' even get t' finish the soup!" As a few of the others grumbled in agreement, the blond's appetite quickly dropped- Bakura was leaning across the table to speak with Yugi at the moment, and listening in on the subject made him feel a little queasy honestly... '_Ah... Your replica eye_,' he was asking, the boy turning to him and staring from where he was moving to throw the halves out. _'Can I have it?_'

He swallowed, shaking his head. Ugh... Screw dinner, after everything going on he'd just end up blowing chunks in an hour...

And then of course, Yugi _did_ give him the eye, which didn't help with the shivers at all... Katsuya swallowed, moving from his chair and rubbing his head. Damn that was... What the hell was Bakura going to do with that thing, seriously... Hihhh...

"Hey, Yugi," Mai said as they moved to leave, the woman shouldering her jacket as she turned to the boy. She was either oblivious to the stare that Honda was now giving her, having gotten over the shock of the eyes and things to notice that the jacket was gone or... Just plain used to it. Both were options really, with a shirt like that... (Stop staring, he told himself. Stop. Staring. Now.) "Let's have a fair fight tomorrow," Mai was saying, the group walking down one of the castle's many halls.

Yugi nodded, a small smirk coming into place with the request. "Of course," he stated clearly, the group watching as Mai turned to enter the room they'd come to. _'Later then_', she was saying as the door shut behind her, the group being led further down the hall.

"Alright," Katsuya said with a yawn, scratching his head. "We oughta get to sleep too!" The others nodded, the still unnamed suit stopping in the middle of the hall to gesture to the side.

"Each of you may take any of the five rooms here," he stated calmly, the group nodding in agreement. Five doors, each with a vase between them... Man, this was like a hotel or something... "The tournament will commence tomorrow morning at 9 AM, so be sure to turn in as early as possible." More nods, and the man left the hall just seconds after.

Five rooms... Honda opened the door to one, giving a slight wave to the others. "Well... See yah in the morning then," he said, smiling slightly before the door shut behind him. Huh. That was fast...

"Good night guys," Bakura was saying with a yawn and a smile, opening the door beside it just as quickly. Well... Either they were all tired or they really... Really wanted to just forget about something. ...Not that he could really blame them in any case but still...

As the three others turned to face the doors across the hall, Katsuya blew out a tense breath of air. "Well," he said, shrugging slightly as he grabbed the doorknob. "Guess this is my room..." Opening it, he turned around to look at the others a moment. "Yugi..." He smirked, gaze hardening along with his resolve. No failing... That wasn't an option- he had to stay strong, if not for himself, than for Mokuba and Seto both! "Let's do this alright? Let's get those cards and kick some ass!"

The boy nodded, smirk becoming the familiar small smile he'd seen before. "Right," he stated with a nod, before turning to speak with Anzu.

"See yah," he shouted, giving a slight wave and shutting the door behind him. _'Night Jonouchi_,' he heard Anzu shout, before the door blocked all other sound. Bed time... Alright... Tomorrow was the 'big day' so to speak... It was all on him and Yugi! Whether Seto kept her company... Her soul... Whether Mokuba stayed alive... ...Or Seto herself...

He stared at the door a few moments as those thoughts came to mind, the forced smile fading out. Walking over to the bed as the cold feeling from earlier returned, he pulled off the red glove around his hand with a frown. Well... No point in the starchips now right... The glove fell to the floor with his backpack, jacket thrown on the coat rack at the side as he looked around the room. Huh... Weird... If he'd still been living with his old man, he'd have probably gunned it for the bed and just sat on it all night. As it was, the room, though huge, just seemed... Empty. The blond turned to his bed, walking over and collapsing on it with a sigh.

He could remember the first few nights after 'moving in' to Seto and Mokuba's house... It was weird, meals were damn awkward when the woman even bothered to show, and he had to say that when Mokuba said 'lonely'... He wasn't kidding. The room he had there was about the same size as the one he was in now, and he'd refused once, twice, three times... In the end Mokuba had just tossed his things in there and effectively said 'deal with it', he remembered with a quiet laugh. Time had passed and the room stopped looking or feeling like a part of the 'mansion' and more like 'his' in the end... Clothes on the floor, any homework he bothered with lying around on the desk...

This room though... It was just cold. Dead. Katsuya stared at the ceiling, frowning as the feeling continued to seep into him completely. Damn it... It was one thing to tell himself constantly while out and about that he'd definitely win, that he'd definitely save the others... But damn it... That dream... That damn dream he'd had was bugging him so much... _'Try looking in your deck_,' Pegasus had said, and he was sure that the dream was only that... But when he'd pulled out that card...

_'Or are you too scared?_'

Gh... " 'M not scared..." He shook his head slightly, trying and failing to deny the fact to himself. He wasn't scared... He wasn't... The blond forced his eyes closed, biting his lip. Snippits of conversation were flooding his head, scenes of the evening playing back before him. The rotting dragon, Seto's 'smile', the 'Other Yugi's shout of sheer rage...

Anzu's words...

'Remove the Corpse'...

And with those words in mind, he rolled over, looking at the box that as far as Pegasus knew held the key that had very well pulled them all into this mess. "I'm sorry," he whispered, clutching the box tight as he attempted to sleep. "I couldn't stop all this... But I swear," the blond continued, gritting his teeth. "I swear to you I'll fix it..."

Even if it killed him... He'd promise them at least that much.

* * *

**AN: **_PEGASUSSSSSSSSS!_ Rawrawrawr~ It's a long one folks! Happy you made it!

And so we finish this chapter as well! Sorry if I haven't answered any reviews... The last two chapters were uploaded at 2 AM, so as to clear my mom's laptop for her... Which means I didn't get to my e-mail until _tonight._ In any case, the wheels of change are ROLLING. Big time! It only goes downhill from here guys... Trust me. It's a good downhill though, you know, the kind that come with ski lifts?

As a side note, all updates from this point on will be _painfully_ slow. Might get one more chapter in by tomorrow, but between my online classes (I was kinda putting them off... Because I needed pictures.), this move, and whatever job I'll end up with, I won't be able to obviously just sit around at home and type. Which means that update time jumps from say... Three days to a week and a day or so. On the bright side, I _can_ guarantee that Duelist Kingdom will be over by Christmas.

Know why? Because there's a Christmas chapter, it's only October (Middle of October grant you, but October nonetheless.), and we're at the 'tail end' of things here. After the next chapter, I would say... Ohhhhh... Four, maybe five more until this arc is over? It really depends on how the 'out of duel' scenes go, particularily since Jonouchi will obviously be present for both semi-final matches (Lest he be disqualified).

A sum up of events? Next chapter is a combination of the chapter 'Stealth in the Night', along with the kick off of the semi-finals. In addition, we'll be seeing a bit of Mai VS Yugi... The chapter afterward would also be Mai VS Yugi, along with some conversation between Anzu and Jonouchi, before we have the scene between Mai and Jonouchi concerning the 'Honour' cards.

Chapter after that will be Jonouchi VS Keith, with an ending conclusion of what Jonouchi and Yugi ended up doing with their finalist ranks... And the chapter after that concerns completely non-canon business, which depending on length will either last one or two chapters before Duelist Kingdom officially ends. So... In total, it's as I said. Four, maybe five chapters, and I hope you enjoy!

And the poll results are...

UN. CHANGED.

Crossdressing, Female Set - 9 (Two Anonymous Polls)

Obviously Female Set - 5 (Two Anonymous Polls. I got an e-mail...)

Male Set – 2

Also, I still can't figure out what the heck 'Ryuzaki x Shizuka' is called. Makes me kinda sad, since they have names for freaking six-way relationships between the main cast, but there's _nothing_ for this one. Granted... It's pretty obscure but hey, wouldn't a six-way pairing be obscure too?

This is starting to bug me...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Two again, but they're both from the same person! Whoo! Thanks for reviewing both chapters Iona! Sadly, therapist is at the top of the list of things that Kaiba will ignore, as it involves talking to someone else about many many things. But I think that after all this, even just having Mokuba will help her out... Heck, having anyone closer than ten feet even helps.

Despite the fact that she'll likely spend christmas throwing a nabe at Jonouchi as he starts cooking Oden... (I can see it now... Mokuba eating oden going 'How come we never try this?', as Kaiba sits at the side and seethes...)

And I don't know if I should feel bad or good about how far into describing Blue Eyes went... I had fun though, so I guess it's me channelling my inner Yami Marik or... Or Inner Yami Bakura or... Something. I dunno.

And the real twist is- ... *checks* Hoh, no twists for a while actually... I think...

Second review! Ohhh it's building and building and... I'm pretty sure it's gonna be one nasty 'Daruma Otoshi' by the end of it. *hands Jonouchi a mallet* (Have fun Jou.)

It's both difficult yet intensely fun to do Kaiba's point of view... Hard as heck to nail down but OH WOW is it worth it by the end! Especially with the friendship-snark scene. HAHAHAHA that was incredibly amusing...

See me next chapter? See you now! HERE IS YOUR CHAPTER. I may or may not update soon... Depends on how my typing tomorrow goes, as it's my last moving date... Pray that I do update though, because I can tell you this, it's an interesting one!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that feels as though it's been depriving you of well needed fanart... But there's not exactly a scanner on hand you know!

* * *

The title here? Feels kinda like a cop-out unless you think really hard. Many many promises were made after all- for one, Jonouchi was promising not to let anything get worse... Which happened. Kaiba promised to save Mokuba... Which also didn't happen. And then there's just the but-load of crap that was tossed on top.

Pegasus, stop breaking everyone's promises! IT'S MEAN.

* * *

_And we return for the 'thrilling' duel_... (Thrilling Usagi? _Really?_) This is probably the last time we'll have a bunch of crazy time-jumping for a while... After this, things become more 'streamlined' again, in that it's one point of view, and then maybe a few hours later another, but we don't go jumping back to cover the second person's point of view. LOTS OF JUMPING. Sorry about that. At least it's over...? (Eh, let me know if that was better or worse than streamline...)

* * *

For some reason, even though Pegasus specifically said he was using cards he either_ just_ released or never would, Kaiba knows what the Dragon Capture Jar is in the manga and anime both. Which is... Weird... Because that was a card that Yugi didn't recognise, as it was released around the time he dueled Pegasus VIA Tv...

Kaiba's been in a coma for a good _year _in the manga, let alone the six months in the fanfic, and kinda left without warning so really, while it's fairly obvious that Anime Kaiba would be able to access the info, this kind of knowledge wouldn't be available to him in the manga's case. Hence why Kaiba in the fanfic has... Only a slight guess as to what the card does. (It's right though.)

As for how she knew about Yugi's cards... Most of those are the same as the deck Yugi used against Kaiba _last _time, which would imply that most of them are a little older than six months old.

* * *

OHHHH Kaiba... For someone who built a device to specifically counter Pegasus' mind-scanning trick, he sure thought rather clearly through the battle in the manga. However, this was probably completely instinct; it's hard to _not _think about what you're doing, particularly in a _strategy_ game. Basically, Kaiba can only go with what he/she has and pray to whatever is listening that Pegasus doesn't have anything to counter... (Oh hey, Pegasus has top-decking skills too! DANG IT.)

Because if Pegasus doesn't have the resources, all he can really do is see what's coming and mentally say _'This is gonna __**suck**__._' (Probably why he makes such a crappy play to start; he not only tick's Kaiba off, but he successfully stalls for the card that will screw Kaiba over completely.)

* * *

Pegasus' entire monologue... Dear lord... It took a bit to find a moment where Kaiba was willing to look away from the board because of the obvious fact that Pegasus didn't rely on eye-contact. (A fact that was, if you didn't guess, Fanfic Kaiba being just a _tad _more accepting/smart than her male counterpart.) Ended up deciding on it being after Kaiba's crush card strategy vanishes to NOTHING. In otherwords, right before Pegasus does his monologue.

Oooooh crappy luck there Kaiba...

(Anyone else find Toons cheap? Guess what. Now they're so easy to destroy it's not even funny.)

Boy... Won't Kaiba be pissed when she finds out that Pegasus was already dealt with while she was comatose/soulless... Again. (Kaiba's luck... It's crappy guys.)

* * *

Oh! A dialogue switch you say? _You're right! _Originally, Pegasus goes on about how lucky Kaiba is _before _the line _'Changing my proud dragon into that pathetic joke..._'. Also... I'm purposely taking advantage of the fact that, for some reason, the holograms on the table are oddly lifelike when it comes to things like this. Heck, the entire time it's around (Though that isn't long) in the manga, Kaiba's Blue-Eyes is hovering right at the teen's side, like... Like a loyal _pet._

I laughed so hard... And then had to say 'awwwwww', because honestly, it's actually kinda sweet... In a... Weird hologram way.

_'A boy/girl and his/her holographic dragon'_... I WILL SELL MILLIONS.

* * *

Fun fact... And it's a pity that Jou wasn't there to see it, but in the manga, the Toon dragon _twists its tail to give Kaiba the finger_. OHHHH Pegasus. (Actually, Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon flips Kaiba off a number of times... Huh.)

* * *

Pegasus' mindscan? Scarier than you think. Not only is he reading your mind, he's reading your _sub conscious thoughts. _Obviously he's got to do a good deal of focus to do that (Hence why Kaiba's secret lasted so long; he never got to talk to her more than two minutes before the woman left.)... But it still means that he knows every card in your deck... _And everything else in there too_. What, you think your subconscious is only for cards? (AHAHAHA I'll stop now.)

* * *

...Pegasus is almost as obsessed with Toons as Kaiba is Blue-Eyes... I say 'almost' because HEYYY _Kaiba-land_.

* * *

Also, the only monster Kaiba will ever ever _ever_ see 'for real', (And even then I'm not sure if it'll get as far as Jonouchi) is Blue-Eyes. For... Obvious reasons. And that's if I do it. I might not. (Let me know~)

* * *

Kaiba's drawing abilities. Are amazing. When he/she is _not_ against Yugi.

OH CRUEL FATE.

By the way. That part with Pegasus commenting on Kaiba's love for Blue-Eyes? Canon. (You can take it as either obsession or true 'heart of the cards' amazing.)

* * *

You probably knew this, but in real life, Dragon Capture Jar is a trap card, not a monster.

* * *

Damn it Kaiba, stop making everything you say turn this fanfic into a love triangle. I didn't change that guilty line though; (_'Good bye, Yugi'_) Because quite honestly, at the time, that's still the closest thing to a_ friend_ Kaiba can get, be it manga or anime. ... And as Kaiba can't remember diddly squat about Jonouchi at the moment... Yea.

* * *

'Bickuri Box' is also known as 'Devil's Jack in the Box' in the manga. 'Bikuri' by the way, is not a translation of that. If you didn't guess. (I actually don't know what Bikuri means... Looking, but not finding.)

* * *

Do you know. How sad I am right now. At the _exact _moment I started typing Seto's soul-snatching scene, the song _Soundless Voice_ comes on. Confused? Go find it on Youtube (It's by Vocaloid Len.), and make sure you watch it with subs. You will _know_.

* * *

Any ways, if you didn't guess, Pegasus did the same thing to Seto as he did to Mokuba... Just that it works a hell of a lot faster on someone who's been up for almost 48 hours straight with no food. And is emotionally/mentally _crushed_, given the crap the Pegasus put her through. (_Hey look~ Your brother's soul is in here. :D _) Anyways. Technically in the manga, Pegasus flat out called it a penalty game, holding the cardout and actually shouting _'PENALTY GAME! MIND CARD!_'... But this is creepier and I've already kinda proven that he doesn't need to do that. (Thank you Mokuba~)

Creepy thing; when the 'penalty game' happens in said manga chapter, it looks more like Kaiba's being shot with a freaking _grenade launche_r through the chest. AAAACCCCCCK.

* * *

Yes, as a matter of fact, _everyone_ was shouting up there... Save Keith, and Mai, as Keith is a douche and Mai doesn't have a clue what's going on, and isn't exactly the cheering type either. Given that the general negativity has decreased considerably, this is actually understandable. Not to mention Honda isn't up there right now, so it's just Bakura (Who doesn't really know Kaiba anyways, and therefore has little to detest), and Anzu... Who's just completely shocked at the 'yanking of the chain' that just occurred.

* * *

Originally, I was going to end this on a terribly upsetting note (The soul piece). But it was too short... As it is, can you imagine what Jonouchi's gonna say when he finds out what Pegasus did with Kaiba's body? He probably already guessed... (I predict a Roaring Rampage of REVENGE.)

* * *

Why did Yugi get away with his outburst when Jonouchi was dragged away after starting his own? Well, for one, and I'm pretty sure Honda guessed this, but Jonouchi was set to jump off the railing to get to Pegasus... Which wouldn't have worked well to say the least. (Yugi's smarter than that.)

For another, keep in mind what Honda says; Jonouchi doesn't have to be involved in a duel to lose that key, not like Yugi; the Big Five specifically told Pegasus to defeat Yugi in duel monsters, and simply disqualifying the boy will not work. (Not to mention it isn't Pegasus' style.) But Jonouchi is fair game, he's not tied by those rules. Hence why Honda pulled him out of there as fast as possible, whereas Yugi can shout all he wants.

* * *

In the manga, Yugi handed Jonouchi the 'Honor of the King's Right' before they left for the Duelist Kingdom. Yet later on, when the rules are stated that you need the cards to proceed, Jonouchi needs to be given the card... Again. In the end, I pulled a 'star-chip' dilemma; Jonouchi already had his single starchip and glove going on the ship, unlike the manga and anime... Same for the card!

* * *

Interesting fact here (That yet again... Conflicts with what happened later in the manga...), but the morning of the finals, Yugi is talking to his Grandfather... Who says _this _about his other half;

'_A true duelist never loses their confidence and their honour. But sometimes, self-esteem becomes pride, and then a duelist digs his own grave. (...) You don't know this, but I think you balance your other self's heart; when the other you becomes overconfident in his abilities, and loses his true heart, his sense of justice, that is when you must help Yugi. That is when your heart is needed._'

It certainly explains Yami Yugi's asshole-ery against Kaiba... In any case. Good thing I don't have to write that scene (As it's Yugi's point of view), otherwise I'd be trying to figure out how the hell it was possible! Maybe I missed something in the Millennium world but... Yugi quite clearly _slips up_ when mentioning the other self, and it's made out as though this is the first time that Sugoroku is made aware of this other presence. AND YET, I GIVE YOU THE ABOVE. (Maybe Sugoroku just thinks his grandson has D.I.D. right now..? I... I don't know anymore...)

* * *

Speaking of Sugoroku, AKA, 'Yugi's Grandpa', you probably noticed that from last chapter on, he was being referred to out loud by the others as 'Sugoroku-ojii'. The 'Ojii' is a slightly less formal version of the honorific 'Ojii-san'. Now, here's something to be _very _careful with. In Japan, 'Ji' is the honorific used for uncles, or uncle-type figures. Same with 'ba', from '_oba-san'_ in the case of '_aunt_'. _HOWEVER_. By simply extending the 'a' or 'i' sounds in both those words, you make the phrase 'Obaa-san', or 'Grandmother' and 'Ojii-san', or 'Grandfather.' Both of these are used as honorifics for elderly people you know, or even to simply refer to them politely. (Though tone, of course, factors in considerably.)

In any case, though Jonouchi normally doesn't bother with honorifics, he and Honda are using them for Sugoroku out of a good deal of respect... After all, the old man's been through a lot, but he's still trucking along fine! They knocked off the 'san', which can be taken as the 'true honorific' here though. Really it's just their way of calling Sugoroku 'gramps'... Though keep in mind that the 'O' in all of the above are also part of an 'honorific', and are not from the main word itself. It's just a particle to add honor.

* * *

Major conversation changes... Major perspective changes... Major everything really, so where to start? First off, once things get rolling, I won't so much as detail all the differences as just mention off hand what scenes are added in or altered completely. Second off...

The changes for this one. Obviously Honda's big series of lines and Jonouchi's jerkness have been removed, as not only has Honda already made the agreement with _Jonouchi _that he would have with Yugi, but Jonouchi himself obviously wants nothing more than for the Kaiba siblings to be alive and well (As opposed to dead in a hole.).

First _major _change... Blink and you'll miss it, but _hnnnn_ Mai might just be up to something... Particularly since she was already fairly hot on the trail to start. Remember guys, she actually _did_ hear Jonouchi call someone 'Seto-chan' at one point, and that one outburst concerning Mokuba might have just set things in stone for her to put two and two together. Will she? ONLY I KNOW THAT. (Ahahah _I'm a jerk_.)

Second change obviously, which occurs before it, is the general reactions to Kaiba's soul-snatch. Hell, the soul snatch in general, as what basically happened at the end was akin to waving a piece of meat in front of a dying dog and snatching it right before their last breath. _Meeeeeean_.

Pegasus let Kaiba hear Mokuba, or more specifically, let Mokuba _see_ Kaiba... And then promptly locked their souls up right after Kaiba noticed. (_'Mokuba..?_') That last part was actually _heard_ by the 'audience'. Hence Anzu's semi-break down- that kind of stuff is... Chilling. Particularly since it's followed by the rather blunt and very much _canon _line of _'Remove the Corpse'_.

Needless to say, not something you want to hear before _eating_... I think Bakura's the only one starting at his food this chapter, and that's likely because he's got a second person who's fairly desensitized telling him to eat up in there.

(Most likely demanding rare steaks... Yea, I went there.)

Obviously as a result of all this, appetites are decreased, and conversations change around considerably. Such as Yami Yugi's _apology_ scene... That was hard to wrap around. After all... Since when did you see Yami Yugi apologize for _anything_?

* * *

Speaking of Yami Yugi... OHHHH BOY some of his lines... From the manga folks, in the depths of his mind... _'Kaiba... You might be my enemy __forever__... But..._ '

_Enemy forever_? Wow, someone's optimistic...

* * *

Also... I have to wonder, how the _hell _did Mai manage to get the eyeball in her mouth eating _soup_, without realizing it was an EYEBALL? HUHHHH. Personally, I was surprised that they managed to start eating after Pegasus says _'REMOVE THE CORPSE'_. UHHHH. Yea. You all have stomachs of steel, guys... (Maybe that's part of it. DISTRACTION! Whooo...)

* * *

Anyways. That line with Bakura? Actually happens, you see it in the corner of one of the panels... I laughed so loud that people were staring when I spotted it actually. (You don't find out if Yugi says 'ok', but I can only guess that that would be the case.)

Then again, there's a creepier side to it... After all, Yami Bakura takes the Millennium Eye at the end of this arc, so who's to say he has the real one if Yugi gave him a replica just moments before? YIKES.

* * *

Mai's shirt? It's a corset that stops above her belly button... But it's only 'loosely' laced shut, putting about three centimeters between each side. Also, it barely covers her nipples. Mai has D-Cup breasts by the way... _Enjoy boys_...

(And they do, it seems; it's mostly cut off, but in the panel where Mai says 'later guys' and enters her room, you can see Jonouchi's face... And it looks rather _'Hehehe-boobs'_-like in terms of emotion.)

As a side note for Mai's anatomy, manga Mai has no hips... Not sure about the anime but... Huh. Ended up giving her hips every time I drew her though so... _She does now.

* * *

_

Gotta feel for the situation in this chapter guys... Really have to... Anyways. Had to put a fair number of sad songs on repeat to get this one done. After all; the mood in his chapter is really.. Really... Depressing. Jonouchi comes back after his 'flip out' to find that not only has Kaiba lost but that she's had her soul taken... And while it's one thing to figure that that will happen, the fact is, it was a heavy, heavy fear he had, and after seeing Mokuba's card... Yeaaaa... After his nightmare from the night before that's damn scary.

Then there's the dragon... And then there's the words that Anzu mentions, namely 'corpse' in general, which puts a kink in _everyone's_ moods really. Dead bodies tend to do that, regardless of _not actually being dead_. Then of course, _Yami_ Yugi actually apologizing _really_ emphasizes the negativity of the situation... And then there's the few subtleties that he got from Kaiba regardless of being an 'unknown'; genuine smiles from before, anyone?

That's actually part of the reason why Yugi made the apology, aside from because of Jonouchi at least. Building on the intense rage of the situation that _both_ Yugi's had, Kaiba really does give one last mental look at the guy... In the manga, aside from the moment where the soul is actually ripped out, it also looks a lot like... He's just ready. As in 'a_lright... Here I come death'_ ready. And that's just... Upsetting...

* * *

Well... That's all for this chapter! Also, I forgot to tell you about the title of the last one... 'Silent Conversations' obviously refers to the mind-scan-speak deal, sorry about forgetting that! (I was tired, what can I say?) At least you know now.

Until next time! See you!


	36. Chapter 35

**Calm Your Mind**

**

* * *

**

Cold. That was the first thing he felt when he finally drifted off to sleep. It was cold in here. A numb endless chill that rendered him unable to feel even his own body. So cold... He was drifting somewhere, anywhere, and it was so...

Cold...

Why was it so...

Katsuya opened his eyes, blinking a few times as he sat up with a groan. Where was this... Bed and blanket were in the same spot as always, but looking around that there was... Nothing. Nothing but an endless plain of darkness, the bed he sat on appearing almost like an island. "What the..." He swallowed, his voice echoing around the empty expanse as he stepped off the bed. Dark... Nothing but darkness as far as the eye could see, and 'lucky him' being in nothing but a t-shirt and boxers it was damn freezing here. Though he had the feeling that things wouldn't have been different if he had his jeans and jacket on. "Where the hell is this..?"

"You're asking that a lot lately," came a young voice from the side, the blond jumping in response. Who the- "Need a map, 'Mutt'?" Katsuya tensed, turning around to where he'd left the bed only to find nothing. The bed had vanished without a trace or a sound, and in the pitch black darkness he found himself frowning. 'Mutt'... That kid called him a-. His eyes narrowed as he continued to look around, before finally spotting a small child at the side.

Huh... He squinted, moving toward the kid with a confused frown. "Who..." Who was this..?

The girl crossed her arms, looking up at the blond with a glare as he approached. Well... He had thought it was a girl at least. Voice seemed like it until he saw the kid, but he was pretty sure little girls didn't have hair cuts this bad... "Hn! No one you need to know about..."

He raised an eyebrow, shaking his head. Alright... This was weird... What, was that soup really poisoned or something? The girl... Boy... Whatever... The kid was wearing a simple button up shirt with jeans, messy hair resembling little more than a bird's nest. Even so however, 'he' somehow managed to hold to 'himself' a bit of sophistication, staring at Katsuya with narrowed and stubborn eyes. "No one I need t' know," he repeated, shaking his head. The blond rolled his eyes, ignoring the still steady glare the kid was giving him. "Right..." He turned briefly, looking around the empty dark expanse before sighing. This... Had to be a dream. Absolutely had to... Nothing but darkness and some kid who reminded him of a mini-Seto-chan. The only thing tell him it _wasn't _some messed up 'mini-Seto' was the state of 'his' hair... No way Seto would live that down. "God my dreams are fucked up," he muttered, rubbing his face as the kid below him smirked.

"Hah! That's one way to put it," 'he' muttered, smirking darkly. Katsuya frowned, watching as the kid as well looked around the darkness for a moment. Looking closer the kid looked... Exhausted to say the least. The shirt looked damp with sweat, and though the position _seemed _that of someone just 'standing there', it was almost obvious that the kid had been running from... Something. "So Mutt," 'he' finally said, arms falling to 'his' sides as Katsuya growled. Again with the mutt... "Any ideas on how to get out of _this_ mess?"

Katsuya stared at the kid, shaking his head. What the hell was with everyone calling him 'Mutt', honestly... Even so, he decided to humor the kid- obviously this was just a dream so... Didn't... _Really_ matter, right? As for 'this mess'... He frowned, looking around the 'room' once again before sighing. He didn't even know what 'this mess' was, let alone how to get out of it. "Not a clue," he muttered eventually, taking a seat on the ground before staring off. "You?"

The 'boy' looked at Katsuya, before shrugging in response. "Nope..." 'He' as well looked around, before stretching slightly and folding 'his' arms behind 'his' head. "...When you can't find your way out of your own head though, that's generally a pretty bad sign... That or you have a mental issue."

Katsuya looked at the kid a moment, staring. ...Mental issue..? He snorted, shaking his head at the words. "Yea," he muttered, turning away from the 'boy' and rolling his eyes. "Because being told off by a figment of my imagination doesn't tell me that already..." He thought pretty clearly in his head... Weird.

-**_thunk!_**-

"OW!" The blond turned, scowling as the 'boy' beside him held a fist. "What the hell was that for..!" Damn... Kid had a pretty solid punch for someone who was probably ten... Maybe younger...

The 'boy' merely growled, crossing 'his' arms again. "Moron," 'he' muttered, wrinkling 'his' nose. "My point was that this _isn't _your head! What, you thought that you 'dreamed me up' or something?" As a matter of fact yes, yes he did. He continued to stare, and at the confused look he gave the 'boy', the kid continued. "You aren't supposed to be here," 'he' said bluntly, crossing his arms. "Personally, I can't even figure out how a moron like you _did _get in here!" Oh well thanks for the confidence there... "And knowing you," the 'boy' continued with evident distaste, "I'll be stuck with you in here forever!"

Now hey, what was that all about? "Tch- Whatdya mean 'knowing me', we jus' me-" He froze, turning back from the kid for a moment. Something shifted in the darkness... Looking into it however there was nothing but the same empty space he'd seen before. Rubbing his head, he turned to continue his glare at the kid before speaking. "Tch... Whatever... Look, you're th' one who said it was my head weren't yah?"

The 'boy' snorted, arms crossed as he shook his head. "I had said that it must have been really messed up if you couldn't figure things out!"

"Well what am I supposed t' think then?"

"I don't know _MUTT_, try using your brain!"

"You know what, maybe I wi-" He froze, cutting himself off with a sarcastic grin as he realized the 'hole' he'd just about dug himself. "Oh no no no no... You ain't getting me with that one," he said, grinning as the kid beside him growled. Looking the unimpressed frown he was still getting, he scratched his head again. "Sheesh... Worse than Seto-chan..." Same eyes too... Cause that wasn't cree-

The kid bristled, with those words, clenching 'his' fists and growling. "I told you... **_NOT_** to call me that, **_MUTT_**..."

Yea, 'him' and everyone- Wait what. Call '_me_' that? Katsuya turned, staring at the kid with wide eyes before scrambling to his feet. "W...What did you say..?" No way... No way that was what the kid had said right?

Apparently it was what she (Defintily a 'she' if he was right on this) said. The girl merely scowled at the question, arms still crossed as they stood there in the darkness. "I said, _don't call me that_! It's all I ever hear from you, and it's the only thing I've been able to hear," she shouted with obvious annoyance. "That's not my name you know! Not by a long shot!"

The blond swallowed, slowly crouching down to the girl's level and grabbing her around the shoulders. "Se... Kaiba," he asked hesitantly, the girl frowning. "That... Are you Kaiba..?"

"What..." She frowned, as though thinking of something before shaking her head. Her eyes had lost the confidence from before, now simply wide with angered attempts to push back. "No... I... I didn't... Get off me," she shouted, pushing away the blond's arms with a scowl. As Katsuya stood back up again, he watched the small girl continued to seethe. "That... That's not what I said, I just said not to call me that, moron!"

Yea, she also just said her name _wasn't_ Kaiba, what the hell did that even mean! The only person he'd ever called 'Seto-chan' was her! Again the darkness shifted, and the teen and the girl both gave a shiver as a cold chill passed over the room. "Well that's just great," he muttered, scratching his head as he passed off the shift as some sort of 'breeze'. "What the hell does that even mean, you either are or y' aren't, what am I supposed t' call you then..."

There was silence in response, and as Katsuya turned to look at the girl he sighed. It was weird... Like... Really weird, talking to a kid who was and wasn't Seto... The girl was staring at the darkness a moment, before turning back to look at her feet. "I..." Her frown deepened, eyes wide as they continued to fixate on the ground. In the end, she merely crossed her arms and turned away with a huff, agitation evident but unmentioned. "Tch..." Yea... That reaction... It was definitely 'Seto Kaiba'. Another shiver passed through the room, and the pair turned to look forward as an odd shape appeared in the distance. The girl beside him tensed up, and as Katsuya glanced at her again he found himself watching the 'blob' that was appearing.

"What th' hell..." The blond stared as it drew closer, shaking his head and squinting. "What is that..." A shadow was appearing... Something so dark that even the black space around them seemed more of a dull grey in comparison to the mass' empty black form. There was no answer to his words however, no 'smart-ass' remark, and as he turned to look at 'Seto' he found the chill in the room growing colder. "Hey... S... Kid?" That was so weird... Couldn't call her 'Seto-chan', or 'Seto' as expected, but he couldn't call her 'Kaiba' either... (What was wrong with his dreams..?) The girl didn't answer, merely staring off at the distant shadow forming. "Hey..." He shook the girl's shoulder, frown deepening with worry as he received still no response. "Hey! Wake up!"

The girl swallowed, still saying nothing as she stared. The 'shadow' began to come closer, a long slit of 'gold' appearing in the center. What the hell... The slit began to open, and as Katsuya looked toward the shade with wide eyes he finally pulled his thoughts together. Running... 'Seto' had obviously been running from something, and he had a feeling he'd found what that was! Taking a nervous step back before finally grabbing the girl by the waist, he tossed her on one shoulder before belting in the opposite direction of the shadow. Damn it... Damn it, what the hell was wrong with these dreams! Giant shadow things, mini, child-size Seto-chan's... (Who were still just as jerky...) At least this one remembered him but...

Behind them the shadow was still growing. Larger and larger, encompassing the room and spreading across the sides and ceiling above him as he ran. Katsuya chanced a look behind him, blood growing cold as the slit on the shadow's form opened completely. Gold... An immense eye lined with gold stared toward them, the sclera a shade of black mimicking the 'not-so-dark' darkness around them. The iris itself however was a solid gold, gleaming wickedly in its own light. Lines of equal hue wrapped around the eye, encompassing it in a elongated ellipse that reminded him far too much of the thing he and the others found in their soup. "Shit," he muttered, picking up speed as his bare feet slapped across the ground. "SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT!" Shadows continued to increase from behind, the stare of the eye sending a constant bout of shivers down his spine.

"Hnn... What..." Oh fuck, of all the times to wake u- Mutterings came from his shoulder, the blond looking back toward her and mentally groaning. "H-Hey!" The girl jerked, turning on Katsuya regardless of being carried off fire-fighter style from something that would probably be at home in Bakura's board games. "Put me down you stupid mutt!" She attempted to smack the blond's head, Katsuya gritting his teeth as childish demands continued to rip through his ears. "Put me down!"

God damn it god damn it god damn it... He continued running, making a sharp turn in a failed attempt to lose the shadow. "Now ain't the time kid!"

'Seto' tensed, gripping Katsuya's back with a growl. "D-Don't call me a kid!"

"I kinda ran out of name options a while ago, '_SETO-CHAN!_'"

"_DON'T CALL ME SETO-CHAN!"_

"Well screw you too, '_Princess'_!"

"AAAARRGGH!"

_'Hnhnhnhnhnhn...'_ The two stopped their shouting abruptly, 'Seto' and Katsuya both turning their heads as the shadow behind them began to laugh. They stared, swallowing loudly as the eye behind them grew in size and detail both, ripples of gold bleeding into the sclera as they turned back. That sound... Katsuya shuddered as the girl in his grip grew dangerously silent, eyes wide as the laughter echoed around the room. That was way too familiar to certain other's laugh for his comfort...

"G-!" Abruptly the blond skidded to a stop, the shadows spreading full circle around him from the distance. There was still a good deal of space between himself and the shadows both, but now that they were surrounded it was easy for the 'enemy' to close in. He grimaced, both arms clutching 'Seto' protectively as the girl looked around in silence as well. "Awww shit!"

On his shoulder, 'Little Seto' as he was mentally calling her gave another shiver. Looking toward her with worried eyes, he mentally winced as he was faced with a standard 'Kaiba Glare' for his efforts. "Tch... Good job _mutt_," she said with a swallow, tone and expression betraying the mood she had wanted to convey. "You got us both cornered!"

Oh, so this was 'his' fault then? "_I_ got us cornered? Are y' _serious_?" He looked at the girl incredulously, receiving nothing more than an intense glare in response. Yea, she would blame him, wouldn't she. Opening his mouth to speak again, he froze as the 'Eye' appeared before them to laugh yet again.

'_Hnhnhnhnhnhn... Found you,_' The shade said with a cold and echoing tone, coming closer and closer with a laugh. '_Time to go to sleep...' _Again, 'Seto' gave a shudder, eyes wide as she looked from Katsuya's shoulder at the 'thing' before them. It was scary... Not just the shadow, but how quiet the girl was right now. What the hell... The blond bit his lip, looking back at the eye as any remaining blood he had drained from his face. What was going on here... '_Just come along now...'_

He held the girl tight, 'Seto' not even making a noise in annoyance as they both stared at the shadow. Not letting go... He couldn't let go, but at the same time he had no clue what this thing could even do! Shit... Shit! "Who the hell are you," Katsuya bit out, the shadow momentarily halting in its advance. "What do you want with her?"

Silence was his answer for a few moments- the shadow's eye was tilting to the side, as though in thought. Finally, it turned back to its original level and narrowed slightly in apparent proud pleasure. _'There was a piece missing,_' it said rather plainly, the 'gold' in its eye finally filling around the empty iris completely save a single black and empty 'slat'. 'Seto', who had slipped down from the shoulder to Katsuya's front winced again, pulling close regardless of previous actions. Briefly, he wished it was the 'real Seto'... The tall woman who had been dragged off by one of Pegasus' men... But this was just a dream wasn't it? And even so, he couldn't help but feel that if he whined about that kind of thing right now, he would end up losing completely. The shadow's 'eye' narrowed, empty 'space' in the gold sclera cut partially. '_Let me take it._' Scared...

This thing was damn frightening, not that he was saying that. He grit his teeth, drawing back from the shadow regardless of being surrounded. "Like hell I'll do that," he said shakily, the shadow merely 'staring' as the blond steeled himself. "Answer me," he roared, grip on the girl tightening as she continued to shake. "Who are you!"

More silence, and the shadows drew closer. There were only a few feet of space around them, and whatever was coming out of Seto's mouth at the moment wasn't coming out easily. "G-Ghh..." 'Seto' clutched his shirt tightly, as if fighting against the hold of something while she grit her teeth. "Nngh... Ngh..."

Across from him the eye narrowed in mirth yet again, 'shivering' with another wave of chuckles. _'Me..,_' it asked, blinking slowly before continuing its stare. The shadows closed in, Katsuya tensing further as the voice that sounded eerily like Pegasus continued to float around the room and through his ears. 'I'm no one... I'm just a card. But why would you care,' it continued, narrowing again as it continued to draw closer. _'Why would you care what I do with this little soul piece? This isn't yours anyways..._'

"Ghnn... Jonouchi," the girl on his shoulder hissed, Katsuya turning for a moment. Some sort of.. 'Hand'... Was making its way up the girl's ankle, others snaking around in an attempt to pull her out. "J... Jonouchi..!"

The blond grit his teeth, before staring the eye down and tightening his grip. He attempted to kick back the approaching shadows, eyes wide as his feet met with air. "Get away," he muttered, watching as the shadows merely continued to advance. Waves of cold continued to wash over him, and the blond began to shake. Damn it... "Get away..!"

The grip on his shirt tightened, and he turned his head toward Seto as she looked toward him. Her eyes were wide with fear, an expression far different from what he was used to from the little one's 'real' counterpart. He'd only seen the expression once before, in the final match of Death-T when... "J...Jonouchi," the girl repeated, voice barely more than a whisper. "Hide me..." What..? He stared as the words that were so unlike the girl were stated, watching as 'Seto' gave another shudder and tightened her grip even more. "Hide me... Get me away... Get me out of here," she screamed, the shadows beginning to wrap around her waist even in the blond's hold, Katsuya tensing as he fought against the pull. Seto's eyes were wide and no emotions were hidden in her expression as the girl continued to scream. Katsuya watched in horror as he realized that where the shadows had touched the body was gone. Legs were completely enveloped, and the shadows were making their way up... All she had was her chest, her arms... Her face... "_GET ME OUT OF HERE_!"

No... No! "Damn it..." He grit his teeth, looking at the girl with equally wide eyes before continuing. "Hold on," he told her, before turning on the 'eye' with a glare. Just hold on..! This thing... He couldn't fight this thing, but if he just let it take 'little Seto' then what did that mean for the real one? 'Soul pieces', 'missing pieces'... The gold in the eye looked like a giant puzzle, complete with tiny lines running through the entire thing. What did this all mean... What did it mean..!

_'This isn't your head_,' she had shouted in annoyance. _'You should know how to get out of your own mind_!' Well that was all just fine, but if this wasn't his head then whose was it! The shadows were coming closer, the child-version of Seto still clinging to his shirt in fear. Katsuya found himself with little more than a few centimetres of space around his feet, the blond staring at the 'eye' with rage filled eyes. Damn it... Damn it... He closed his eyes, adjusting his hold and curling over in an attempt to shield the girl from the approaching shadows. If he could wake up... If he could just wake up... "Get away," he shouted, the room suddenly beginning to quake as the mantra ran through his mind. Wake up, wake up... He needed to wake up..! Cracks began to appear in the darkness, places of the 'walls' peeling away as the 'eye' before them froze. Katsuya didn't pay it any mind, eyes still squeezed shut as he continued to shout. Wake up... Wake up... "**I SAID GET AWAY GOD DAMN IT**!"

The sound of collapse echoed around the room, cracks in the 'sky' beginning to widen. He opened his eyes, staring at the shadow with rage as its darkness began to steadily be pushed back by the original 'dark grey' room. 'Rocks' of darkness fell to the ground, a thundering boom echoing about with each collapse. The 'eye' before them tensed as the shadows were forced back, looking around in horror. _'What... What are you doing..._' The darkness continued to recede, only centimetres away from coming within the boundaries of the eye itself. '_What..._'

Katsuya looked forward, breathing heavily as he stared the eye down. If this wasn't his head, then he would have to get out of it... And if this thing wasn't from this head either, then obviously it had a way out... And in that case... "HAAAAAAAHHHH!" The blond charged the eye with a roar, 'little Seto' remaining still silent as he rushed. "HANG ON," he shouted to her, the girl growing limp in his arms. "This time... I ain't stopping!" The eye before him widened, and with a leap the blond took aim. The only way out... Don't hit the gold, hit the-

He dove through the pupil of the eye, the single hole that led to nothingness. Katsuya's eyes squeezed shut, his grip tight as he held 'Seto' ... In the distance he could hear an enraged roar, the sounds of continued collapse... And then silence. Silence... And a little girl's voice. "..W...What..."

The blond slowly opened his eyes, blearily wincing as a bright lamp light hit him in the face. Agggh... Not the best thing to jump into after the darkness from- His eyes widened, Katsuya sitting up in shock. This was... "This hall..." He'd been here before... The night before when he'd been running down the halls, past vase after vase of flower after flower... He blinked, turning to where 'Seto' was standing up with a red face. Hair was still in tatters... Did Seto ever _really_ have hair like that? The blond tensed slightly as his eyes moved to where the girls legs should have been, frowning. No feet... Her body faded out to nothingness from the shirt down...

Whether or not this was why she was so nervous he didn't know, but he wouldn't blame her if it was. "Gh... Y-You..." Seto took a breath, appearing to try and calm herself down with little success. "What did you do..?"

Well, that was some 'thank-you'... He stared, frowning slightly as he thought back to the 'other dream'. The giant eye he'd jumped through on a whim... What did he do..? He didn't know... He'd just... Gone with it. "I... ...I don't..." He steeled himself, before smirking. Well... It didn't really matter much now, now did it? "Heh... You said 'get me outta here' didn't yah?" At the silence he got in response, he turned to stare down the hall, shaking his head. This was the 'half way point' it looked like. Least they hadn't popped up on the other end. "Sheesh... From one dream to th' next, how does that even work..." He yawned, taking a seat and leaning against the wall. Damn he was tired... How did that work, he was asleep but still exhausted..? "For someone who ain't Seto-ch... Kaiba," he corrected, ignoring the sound of disgruntlement from the 'little one', "You're sure a pain in th' ass..."

The girl snorted, arms crossed as her expression quickly became that of the 'standard' glare once more. "Tch! Then why did you bother doing anything at all, Mutt?" She was turned away, scowling as she stared at one of the hall's many vases.

Why..? "...B'cause I..." Why did he... This wasn't the 'real' Seto, it was just a weird looking, 'kid version' but... He paused, before smirking. "Cause I don' want you t' leave," he finally said, giving a shrug. Why'd he do it? Because he wanted to he supposed... And maybe... "I'd say more," the blond continued, leaning against the wall, "But y'd probably tell me you weren't that person!" The smirk grew into a grin, and the blond laughed as 'Seto' merely gave him a confused glare. "Well..." He yawned, slumping slightly against the hall. "Should be safe here... 'S my dream after all..." God he needed a break... Too much weird in his head. The grin softened to a smile, and he closed his eyes. "Jus' don' go down any secret passages, th' dream went... R..Really weird after that..."

"H...Hey..." Seto frowned, floating over from across the hall as the blond's vision began to blur. Sleep oughta fix all this right... Hwaaah...

"Night Seto-chan..."

"HEY!"

* * *

"_HEY_," a voice called out, Katsuya jerking awake at the sound. Angered shouts faded somewhat into the air, and he looked around the dark bedroom with a frown. What the... He shook his head, rubbing his face slightly as he tried to get over his dream. Shouts were still going... Must be a weird echo memory or whatever... God... Weirdest dream ever...

"_What are you doing in front of Jonouchi-kun's room_," he heard someone shout, drowsy brain quickly identifying it as Yugi. What... Who was... Someone was in front of his door?

"_FUCK!_," came another familiar sound, the blond quickly hopping out of his bed and scrambling for the door at the sound. Not that voice... Shit not that voice... "Just shut up," Keith continued to shout, the sound of something hitting a wall coming from outside the door. "And go back to sleep!"

Katsuya opened his door, running out into the hall with narrowed eyes. Keith was picking Yugi off the ground, muttering something under his breath as he leaned over the boy with a snarl. Sunglasses had clattered to the ground, and in the dim moonlight he could see a scrape on Yugi's cheek. Keith pulled a fist back as Katsuya came near, preparing a punch... The hell that was happening! He stalked over in an instant, roughly grabbing the man's wrist and pulling the arm back behind with a growl. The man snarled in response, a sick 'pop' noise coming through the air as the shoulder was dislocated and the American himself pushed off to the side.

Tch... He fixed a glare to the man, watching as his target slowly stood to his feet. "Bastard," he muttered, hands still held limply at his sides as Keith stood to rub his shoulder. The American took a solid grip of the injured area in question, and with a loud crack had pushed the shoulder back into place. Ignoring the sound as Yugi winced from the side, his eyes narrowed further. "Think you can get away with hitting my friends?"

Keith merely snorted, saying nothing as he grabbed his sunglasses from the ground and charged. As Katsuya dodged to make a strike however, so did Keith, the American ducking below the punch before getting caught in the face by the teen's own brow. "Ack-!" Keith stumbled slightly, cursing under his breath before being thrown back further by a knee to the gut. "NGH..Ghhgg..." The man fell to the ground, slowly picking himself up and holding his nose. It was hard to tell in the dark, but the sound of someone trying _not_ to sniff made it fairly evident that the slight dark blotches on Keith's face were splashes of blood from the strike before. There was more cursing, Keith slowly moving his hand back from his face to fix a glare at the blond before him. "You...

Hn! Bastard... Couldn't even fight. "You might be good at cards Keith," the blond muttered with a glare, hands still held to the side as he spoke, "But yer fighting is worse than a five year old's... Consider yerself lucky," he growled, watching as Keith wiped the blood from his face with a glare. "I'm saving these hands t' draw cards against you t'morrow!" As Keith continued to curse, Katsuya's own stare narrowed as well. "Don' think I won't use my feet though," he added, moving to help Yugi. With those words Keith had tensed slightly, as though reconsidering (for once) his next few actions."Now beat it!"

"Hah!" The American smirked, turning and disappearing down the hall no questions asked. Left without another word... Weird. ...God, he thought to himself, shaking his head.

What an asshole... He knelt down beside Yugi, glare becoming more of a worried look as he looked over the boy's face. It was definitely going to bruise... Would be one hell of a shiner, that was for sure. "Hey Yugi," he whispered, deciding against waking anyone else up. "You alright man?"

The boy nodded, rubbing his cheek as he answered. There was a little bit of blood there as well... How Keith's punch managed to scrape Yugi's cheek open was a good question, but nonetheless. "Y..Yea," he said quietly, before the sound of a door opening came from behind. "Hn..."

They turned, blinking as Anzu walked out with a yawn. Idly, Katsuya noted she was wearing a nightgown... Where the hell had she gotten that? "Yugi," she asked, as she opened the door more, frowning slightly. "Jonouchi..? ...What's going on out here," she continued, stepping out of the room and squinting into the darkness. "I heard shouts..."

"Anzu..." The blond shuffled slightly as he moved to check over Yugi's face, biting his lip before turning back to the woman. Right... Shiner or no shiner, this would have to get cleaned, that was for sure. "Hey, you have th' first aid kit from Mai's bag," he asked with a frown, the woman blinking in response. "Need a bandage f'r Yugi's face..."

The woman stared, before nodding and disappearing into the room. Turning back to Yugi, Katsuya watched as the boy looked at him with a frown. "...Jonouchi-kun," he finally said, sitting up with a slight wince.

"O-Oi," he muttered, frowning. "Don't move jus' yet, weren't you thrown against th' wall..?" There definitely wasn't anything else that would have made that sound... And besides, he knew a thing or two about injuries given all the fights he'd gotten in.

Yugi laughed slightly, giving the blond a wry smile. "I've had worse," he said, Katsuya wincing in response. Course... There was also that... "But in any case... Jonouchi-kun," Yugi asked again, frown growing slightly. "What was Keith doing in front of your room..?"

In front of his room..? Keith was standing by his door! He frowned, turning to look down the hall. Damn... That couldn't be good... "I dunno," he muttered, door opening behind them again as Anzu came over. "'S late though," he continued, taking the first aid kit from the woman beside him and pulling out a bit of gauze and wipes. "Maybe he went t' the wrong room... Wouldn' put it past him," the blond added with a snort, handing the kit back to Anzu. "Place is like a maze..." Not to mention that the guy smelled like beer. And if his dad had issues with finding the bathroom in an _apartment _drunk... "Anyways," he continued, holding the things in one hand and helping Yugi up. "C'mon, we need a light f'r this an' I'm not looking around f'r th' hall light when we got a room right here..." Probably should have asked if they could use the room now that he thought about it... Oh well.

His friend nodded, rubbing his shoulder from where he the wall and going slightly red as they went back into Anzu's room. It was the same size as his own room really... All of them were, it was almost like a hotel- Even had a bathroom attached... The blond walked in slowly, and as Yugi took a seat on the bed, Anzu grabbed the rest of the first aid equipment from Katsuya. "O-Oi.."

At the woman's raised eyebrow he stopped, hands in front of him in 'submission' as Anzu turned back to face Yugi. Ok... If... If she wanted to deal with it that bad then he was ok with that... Katsuya leaned against the door, watching as Anzu took a seat on the bed beside Yugi. "Alright," she said, the boy going slightly more red as she moved closer. "Lets get this cleaned up, turn this way..."

"I-It's fine Anzu," the boy was muttering, shuffling back slightly. Katsuya crossed his arms, smirking as Anzu continued trying to get at his face with the wipe. Hahaha... The dreaded sting of cleaning alcohol...

Anzu merely smiled wryly, crossing her arms for a moment. "You say that now, but who knows where Keith's hands have been? Come on," she continued, Yugi scowling but nonetheless staying put as the woman moved dab his face with the wipes. "There we go..."

The wipe was drawn across the slightly bloodied cheek, Yugi hissing as the alcohol on the wipe bit at his skin. "Ack!"

The woman smiled, raising an eyebrow as she leaned back. "Oh come on, it can't hurt that much," she said, reaching forward with the wipe again. "Hold still, you're a guy aren't you? I barely even touched you!"

Hahahaha... Well, that was enough for him... Katsuya shook his head, laughing slightly before turning to leave the room. "Well," he decided, opening the door and turning back to the others with a grin. "I can see I'm not needed here..." As the two turned his way to blink, the blond gave a small wave and shrugged. "I'm headin' back t' bed! See you in th' morning guys!"

"Okay," Yugi said from behind, Anzu adding in a 'Good night!' before the door shut. Whew...

That was weird... He walked back to his room giving a yawn as he walked back inside and shut the door behind him. Between messed up dreams and that crap with Keith... Man. He glanced at the clock, shaking his head. God... Three AM too...

The blond collapsed on his bed, staring at the ceiling with a groan. Three AM and he'd spent most of the night in a weird ass dream... Speaking of that dream, he thought with a frown, hands behind his head as he continued to stare. Why was it that it was so important that it_ wasn't _his head? And where the hell did he get that idea from anyways, dreams were supposed to be weird memories on shuffle right?

Then again, there was the one he had before Kaiba showed up the night before, with the dragon and the insults... And he was pretty sure he'd never seen nor worn a dog kigurumi, particularly outside of his toddler years. (...Not... That he'd worn anything like that as a kid...) And the Pegasus dream was just... Weird. Golden eye staring at him and Mokuba's card-

"Hihhhh..." The blond shuddered, pushing the dream out of his mind. Couldn't think of that... He couldn't think of that, not when he only had one shot at fixing it as it was. "God... I gotta get some sleep," he muttered, rolling over in the bed. Just... Close his eyes, hopefully not have any more weird dreams...

Curling up in the blanket in silence, Katsuya gave one last final yawn before closing his eyes. Just sleep... He'd need as much rest as possible in the morning after all... So he needed sleep... Sleep...

Drifting off, he didn't realize he was being watched...

* * *

-_Bzzzzz_-

"Hnn..."

-_Bzzzzzzzzzzz_-

"Hnnnggg..!"

-**BZZZZZZZZZZZZZ**-

"AAAGH DAMN IT!" Katsuya jerked up from the bed with a roar, slamming a hand on the clock beside him. "Shut _UP_! ...Eh..." The blond blinked, looking around the room with wide eyes. No one was there... So where had the sounds- He turned, looking at the clock and sheepishly rubbing his head with a laugh. Ooh... Hahaha... Right. He'd set the clock for eight so he couldn't sleep through the tournament... He scratched his head, stretching as he headed over to a door at the side of the room. Right... Well, he decided with a yawn, cracking his neck as he walked into the bathroom, mind as well shower now that he had the chance... Hell, might be his last...

...Don't think of that... Running the water in the shower he gave another stretch, waiting for it to heat up. Man... Sitting at the side and holding his hand under the water as he waited he frowned, staring at the wall. Ended up with a dreamless sleep after he went back to bed the night before... A great change really, saving that he'd gotten a paranoid feeling the entire damn time, regardless of it being 'dreamless'... Maybe he just wasn't really asleep, who the hell knew...

The shower heated up, and taking his things off he got in and attempted to calm down. Alright... Shower time! Lets see... He frowned as he looked at the shelf on the side of the shower, before poking his head past the curtain to look at the counter. Please have shampoo, please have sh- Nothing was on the counter. Damn it. He knocked his head against the wall, groaning. "Man... Not even a soap bar..." Sure there was a towel on the side but... Sheesh, he'd have thought a guy like Pegasus would leave those in the bathrooms... Well... Probably should have checked before getting in he supposed...

"Agghhh damn it..." Man... Not much else point in standing there really. The shower was clicked off, and he shook his head in a slight attempt to dry off. Eh... Rinse was better than nothing he guessed. Better than having blood on his head from the night before. "...Eugh..." Don't think about having Keith on his face. That was... Yea. Beating the snot out of people was one thing but... Keith blood. On his face. Eggggghhh...

He grabbed his clothes, getting dressed and packing up within a few minutes. Anyway... Today was the day... Time to get going! Stay positive, win the duels, and by the end of the day he'd be trading insults with Seto-chan while Mokuba laughed at the side! Yea... He nodded to himself, the image of the currently non-existent event banishing the remainders of his negative mood. Maybe it was just him but... Something felt different that day. Opening the door wide, he went across to rap on Honda's door with a grin. Really different... Who knew, maybe the others would be optimistic about things as well! "Oiiii Honda..!" There was no answer for a few minutes, and the blond shrugged. Well, his own fault if he was doing something weird then... He pushed the door open, walking in with the grin still in place. "Hope yer awake, cause I'm gonna find a bucket 'f water if y' ain-"

Silence was his answer, that and an untouched bed and a trench coat on the floor next to a headband. "...Eh..." The blond stared, frowning as he looked around the door. Hn. Where the hell was he..? He walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him and thinking back to the night before. _'I'll get their bodies first chance I get tonight_,' he'd said. _'You and Yugi deal with Pegasus_.' So then Honda was probably still wandering around the castle... Shit. Better not have gotten caught by any of the guards... He moved next door, knocking on the side as he put a smile back on his face. "Ah well..." Honda could take care of himself; and there was no way Pegasus would be snatching his soul, that was for sure! He'd pay dearly if he did... "Bakura," he called, pausing in wait of a response. Now Honda was one thing, but there was no way that Bakura had- ...There wasn't an answer... "...Oi... Bakura?" Another knock, and still no answer.

Kay... He knew that Bakura was a light sleeper so... There was no way he was ignoring that right? "I'm comin' in Bakura," he shouted, pushing the door open and walking in. "Better not be doin' anything w...eird..." He trailed off, frowning as he looked around the room. Bed was slightly mussed, but otherwise nothing but some clothes on the ground (He'd been smart enough to pack pajamas at least...), backpack at the side... "What the hell..!" The teen grabbed his head, before throwing his hands in the air and walking back out with a scoff. "Sheesh, this better not be a trend..."

"What's a trend," came Anzu's voice on the side, Katsuya turning as the woman closed her room door. Oh... Not a trend any more, that was for sure. "Is Bakura awake yet?"

He shrugged, shaking his head at the question. "Hah, if he ain't, he's gonna be uncomfortable when he does..." If he'd fallen asleep in the hall, he didn't envy him one bit. He moved over to Yugi's door, opening it without a knock as Anzu merely followed with a raised eyebrow. Not like Yugi would be doing anything weird... ...Not with his grandpa in the camera after all.

Not like last time he walked in on Honda... (God that was _scary_.) "Hey Yugi," he called, leaning against the door frame as the boy turned around from where he was picking up his puzzle. Oh hey, he was all set! "Well, looks like I don' have t' wake you up," he said with a grin, putting his hands in his pockets. "Lookin' good man!" Leather leather and... More leather. Big change from the kid who wore his school uniform on the weekend, that was for sure!

Yugi grinned, nodding in response. "Hah, yep! Good-morning guys!"

Beside him, Anzu moved into the room as well, giving the boys both a nervous smile. "Well," she said, turning to Yugi for the moment before the smile widened. "Today's the big day right?" Yeeep!

Katsuya nodded, smiling. "Got that right... Yug', you ready? We didn' exactly get a map of this place, an' I wanna find th' arena b'fore we're late y'know?" Normally late wouldn't be an issue but... Well. Soul stealing and such aside, they'd probably end up missing the tournament if that happened. And he wasn't really planning on that.

His friend gave a nod, throwing the puzzle over his neck and grabbing his school jacket in one swift motion. A wave of energy passed through the room... For a brief instant, the same 'earthquake noises' he'd heard before had echoed around, before stopping. Turning toward them, the 'Other Yugi' gave them his usual narrowed eye smirk before nodding yet again. "Alright," he said, grabbing the rest of his things from the table as he hung the jacket around his shoulders. Which led him to 'School uniform on the weekend? Really?'... "Let's go!"

Eh, overused jackets aside... He couldn't say it any better himself! "Alright! Let's move then!" They walked out of the room, Anzu turning to the blond with a cough as the door was shut behind them.

"So," she asked, arms crossed behind her back. "You were saying about Bakura..?" The woman looked around as she said this, as though to ask about the other missing from the group.

The blond blinked, before frowning. "Ah.. Right... Yea, Bakura an' Honda, they ain't in their rooms..." He shrugged awkwardly, turning away. "Er... Who knows where they went really..." Still in the castle probably...

Anzu raised an eyebrow, but nonetheless took the words as truth. The three fell silent for a moment, turning the corner to find the same bandaged suit from before standing by a pair of double doors. "Ah," he began, bowing his head. "Duelists of the Championship Tournament... We've been waiting for you," the man continued, stepping to the side and gesturing to the door. "Please, enter the duel room!"

The boys nodded, pushing the doors open and walking in to stand on the floor of 'arena room's bottom. Behind them, Anzu followed, moving to the side where there was a bench of sorts to sit. Aside from the bench however, the room was fairly empty, and there was only one real noticeable difference between the room at the moment and the room from before- Namelt that the 'arena' itself had been lowered into the floor, table and chairs already flipped out and waiting. Of course, there was also the fact that there were actually people there... Leaning against opposite walls were Mai and Keith, the boys both turning toward the former as she smiled and gave a wave.

"Hnhnhnhn... Morning boys," she said with a wink, arms crossed as she held her deck. "Looks like the time to decide the strongest on the island has come, hasn't it?"

As Yugi nodded at the statement, a rough chuckle came from the side, cutting off what would have been a response to the woman. "Hahaha... Hey, 'Joey'," Keith called from the side, the blond in question turning with narrowed eyes. Stop getting his name wrong... "If you can make it to the duel table, I'm gonna make you pay for last night... Hahahahaha..." 'If'? What was he on about..? And like he'd be able to land a single punch right! "Hope you're ready, yellow-fuck!"

He rolled his eyes, snorting. Again with the insults he didn't know about... (Though given who he was talking to, it was probably not a good one... Oh well.) "Whatever Keith," he said with a glare, hands still in their pockets. "You can put your cards where yer mouth is, cause championship titles or not you're goin' down!" Preferably in two ways, rather than one. At those words Keith merely chuckled darkly, Katsuya's frown deepening in response.

Was he confident or just... Nuts..? (He wouldn't doubt the last one...) The sound of slamming doors came from above, to cut his thoughts, those in the room turning toward the source of the sound in an instant. Looking up at the small balcony seat at the end of the room, they watched as the so called 'ruler' of the Duelist Kingdom walked out before them. Two guards flanked his sides, and standing before his chair in the center Pegasus moved to address the people below him. "Welcome proud duelists," he cried, arms crossed as he shouted. "Welcome to this holy place, this place sanctified by our duels!"

...What... He stared, frowning in confusion as Yugi seethed beside him. Well it was great that he was focused but... Seriously... 'Holy'..? Far from it... More like the castle from hell...

Pegasus continued to stare down, hands moving to the side in an 'open' gesture. "The Tournament Finals begin now," he called out, Keith and Mai coming in from the sides to stand with the other two on the arena. "The one who survives these finals will be given the prize of champions," the man continued with a grin, one of the guards from the side moving back to grab something. "Allow me to give you a preview!" An elaborate chest was hauled forward by the guards as the second went back to help, the men placing it on the railing before opening the lid. Though difficult to see from above, it was clear that it was filled to the brim with gold and jewels, the chest itself just as elaborately decorated. "A prize of two hundred thousand dollars!"

"_T-TWO HUNDRED THOUSAND_..!" He stared, before counting numbers on his fingers in an attempt to convert it. "Holy shit... How much is that in yen..!" Get Seto-chan, get Mokuba, get Sugoroku-jii, maybe get enough money for Shizuka... (How much was this..?)

Beside him, Mai was absolutely beaming, expression akin to Mokuba's when he'd been in Osaka. "Oh my god..!" She shook, as though fighting not to jump for joy in that instant. "That's over sixteen million yen, I'm going to be rich!" Sixteen mi- That really _would_ be enough for...

Before he or Yugi could say anything on that bit outloud(Sorry Mai, but they wouldn't be losing...), the guards up top shouted down and moved the chest back. "Hold on," the left one stated, frowning as he leaned over the side. "You won't just get the prize by beating the other three finalists!"

"That's right," stated the second guard, albeit apparently more lax in his mood. "You have to beat Pegasus-sama, the 'King of the Duelist Kingdom' first!" Tch. 'King' indeed...

As the men stepped back to put the chest away, Pegasus chuckled. He was now sitting down rather calmly, legs crossed as he shook his head and 'sighed'. "I wonder," he said loudly, not looking at the crowd for the moment. "Just who is it that will defeat me? Hnhnhnhnhn!" He grinned as he looked back down, a small but evident form of maliciousness visible in the expression. "I'm looking forward to it..!"

Tch... Pegasus wasn't about to separate from that much cash at all, Katsuya thought with a scowl, Mai's expression having fallen as well with the mention of beating Pegasus. They'd all seen the match between he and Kaiba... And while it was obvious that Keith wasn't affected, they all knew the risks. If they lost... Then the chances of leaving with their lives let alone that much money was slim to none...

He clenched his jaw, eyes narrowing. That was _if_ though! They wouldn't lose... He wouldn't lose! Everyone was riding on himself and Yugi, and no matter what at least one of them would have the satisfaction of making the man's game blow up in his face! Guarantee it...

"If you could now clear the arena stage," the man from before stated, waving the four from the area. Katsuya moved off to the side with a nod, taking a seat next to Anzu and leaning back. "We will begin the first match; Mutou Yugi and Kujaku Mai," he continued as Keith as well moved to stand on a separate area of the room. "Please prove your right to duel, and reveal your 'Honor' cards!"

In the center of the arena, Mai and Yugi both pulled out their respective cards, the 'announcer' bowing his head and stepping aside. Alright... Round one, time to go! "Go for it Yugi," he shouted, grinning as the two took their seats. Nothing against Mai but...

He would really rather not go through another series of 'harpie lady bondage' again. Really. Besides, this was Yugi really... And while Mai was great and all, he and Yugi kinda had something more than perfume riding on this. Speaking of Yugi... The blond stared, watching his friend with a frown. Huh. He was... Really not looking at Mai. Katsuya blinked, watching as Mai frowned in response; she'd obviously noted the kind of stare Yugi was fixing at her. Namely a blank one that wasn't quite looking at all... If anything he was constantly flicking his eyes toward P-

Toward _Pegasus. _God damn it... He rubbed his head as the duel began officially, shaking his head. Well, he was definitely focused on the guy... But he'd better put just as much into the duel _now_! Katsuya stared at the board as Mai summoned her Harpy Lady, watching the bird-woman preen itself before giving a threatening screech toward the woman's opponent. Yea... That was a little new. Not the monster of course but... That was weird. (At least they weren't life sized...) "Harpy Lady again," he muttered, raising his eyebrow. "Sheesh, if I beat that then Yugi's gonna fly through this..." That or it would be really awkward by the end of the day.

As if to answer to that, the harpy on the table turned to send a rather piercing glare and screech at him, the blond tensing in response. Nh- for fuck's sake, how the hell did it hear that! He was three meters away damn it... "I don't know Jonouchi," Anzu said from beside him, drawing his attention back. The woman was staring at the board, frowning. "Mai has a trap set too..."

Hn? He blinked, looking at the board briefly as Yugi summoned Gaia before turning back to Anzu. "Yea," he said, "But what kinda trap could cause serious damage in that deck..? Not like Yugi's going t' jus' run in and attack!"

Before Anzu could answer, a shout came from the table, along with a fairly stunned whinny from Gaia's horse- "He attacked his own reflection!" Reflection..?

What? Anzu pointed to the table with raised eyebrows, before crossing her arms. Back on the table, Gaia had managed to get his lance stuck in a wall of ice... And the Harpy Lady was looking all too pleased about that fact, giving a rather mischievous chuckle at the sight. "Apparently he just did..."

He frowned at the sight, blinking. "E-Eh..." That was weird... Wasn't like Yugi to just charge into a trap, though thinking back he'd done it before... He shifted uncomfortable as the Harpy Lady began teasing Gaia from the ice, the knight as well looking rather put off by the bird's actions. Oh great... The Harpy Lady had... Bondage on it. Here came Mai's ten hit combo... He shook his head, turning away as Yugi's knight was scratched to pieces, opting to not watch the bloody mess if he didn't have to. (It was still rather upsetting to hear the knight screaming under the attack though... "Well... Least th' trap is gone right?" Silver lining... Silver lining!

The woman shook her head, arms crossed. "Nope." Wh-What? Again, Anzu pointed at the board, and he facepalmed as yet another monster stood stuck in the wall of ice.

"Agggh..." Continuous spell... Mai was chuckling from across the field as her opponent's Skull Demon electrocuted itself against the 'Mirror Wall' in an attempt to free itself. The demon roared in annoyance, but nonetheless his tactics worked, and he returned to his side of the field to tend to its wounds. Harpy Lady, of course, was considerably amused by this.

He should probably stop looking at the bird though, because it was starting to give him weird looks... When not preening itself in the mirror wall at least. "Man," he muttered, rubbing his head. What was that? Falling for the same trap twice? "Oi, Yugi," he shouted, gaining no response. Ignoring that, he continued, cupping his hands for added volume. "What's going on! This ain't like you!" And... Still... Nothing. Instead, Yugi was just seething on the board, glaring at his opponent as though the woman were an ant. "Shit," he said as he crossed his arms, shaking his head. "He ain't thinking at all, s'not like him t' fall for the same trap twice..." Not that he hadn't said it enough of course but... Seriously.

Anzu nodded, frowning. "He's too impatient," she stated, shaking her head. "Attacking without thinking... He's distracted," the woman added, turning to Jonouchi briefly. "I doubt we're the only ones who noticed too..."

Back at the arena, Mai was muttering something under her breath, a light frown on her face. She wasn't using her 'aromatactics', that was for sure... But Yugi didn't look to pleased about what she was saying either. If anything, he looked a little put off, though to be frank both competitors looked fairly ticked. The volume raised, and Katsuya caught the tail end of her words. "You're thinking about Pegasus, aren't you," she asked angrily, eyes narrowed. As Yugi's eyes widened in response the woman snorted, shaking her head. That would be a 'yes'... "So I'm not even worth your full attention," she asked, Katsuya groaning from the side. Oh boy... Nice one. Just go ahead and tick off the lady with the bondage deck... Yea... Great move. Now she'd be making innuendos left right and center...

Damn it, he was going to need so much brain bleach after this... Was that harpy _posing_ for the _Skull Demon_? (Well, it passed the standby phase time he supposed...)

"Really," Mai continued to mutter, arms crossed as she tapped her cards to the table. Her lady instantly snapped to attention, turning upward as she waited for the woman's play. "You're no better than most of my other opponents! An arrogant little boy!" As Mai's voice lowered out of audible range yet again, both Katsuya and Anzu watched as their friend grew steadily tenser. From above, Pegasus almost appeared to stare at the competitors, eye narrowed in evident interest...

Did... Was someone whispering, he thought he heard something...

Yugi snapped, eyes narrowed as he gripped his cards. "Say that after you win Mai," he spat, face growing read. "Let's get on with the duel!"

At this his opponent merely rolled her eyes, arms still crossed. "And now you're trying to intimidate me," she said with a snort, the Harpy Lady below also looking to Yugi with an annoyed shake of the head. Even the Skull Demon was looking up, though his 'look' (It didn't have eyeballs, seriously how...) was more of a 'Are you seriously taking this?' "Hah... Aggressive men are _weak,_" she muttered frown deepening. "Anger and Machismo, it's all just a bluff to hide their weakness..." The woman narrowed her eyes, looking back to Yugi before continuing. "I'd say I have your current mood dead on, right?"

The boy merely growled, clenching his fists. "_You shut your-_"

"Hahaha! And that," Mai said loudly, cutting Yugi off as he spoke, giving a slight chuckle, "Is _exactly_ why you fell into my trap, just as planned!"

Ahhh damn it... Katsuya groaned, standing up to shout again. "Hey Yugi," he called, the boy still not turning. Damn it, just listen already and get into the duel instead of thinking about Pegasus! They'd get him when the time came! "She's just provoking you! Don't listen to her!" But at the same time, please please _please_ stop ignoring her, because the Harpy was doing some weird shit... And she didn't even have her _whip_ yet... "Come on man, pull yourself t'gether!"

At the board Yugi continued to glare, though something had changed in the look he was giving. His eyes had snapped back into focus with an added energy, the boy now looking at his opponent with a more severe edge. Mai merely smiled in response, nodding to herself. Well, obviously whatever she was trying to do had worked... Hell if he knew what that was though. "Hnnn..." Katsuya turned, watching as Anzu brought a hand to her chin in thought. "I wonder..."

Wonder what? From the arena came a few shouts; '_The real fight starts now_,' Mai was shouting, Yugi giving an equally loud call of '_Bring it on!_' in response. The duel continued, Mai clearing off Yugi's trap card with a spell of her own and forcing the boy into defense. A second equipment card was placed on the Harpy Lady, Katsuya biting his lip and staring at the ceiling as the now bondage clad, whip wielding Harpy Lady proceeded to lash at the Feral Imp on the board with a wicked smirk. Er... 'Punish'... Rather... Those screams didn't sound nearly as tortured as the screech from last duel, that was for sure... (Auuuuggghh his head...) Harpy Lady sure sounded like she was enjoying it..! "_**Hnhahahahaha**_~!"

And damn it, she still had more upgrades in store, didn't she? "Careful Yugi," he shouted across the room, thinking back to his own match. Bondage, whip... Next stage was... Right! Kaleidoscope! "She's gonna play that card t' get multiple harpies!"

Yugi winced with those words, drawing his card. Warning or no warning, now that he thought about it he couldn't really attack with that wall there could he... "I play Saiga," he called, the small wingless dragon appearing beside the Skull Demon. The dragon crouched down with a light 'Rggrn', sound, staring across at the Harpy Lady with a frown. "Defense mode!"

"Shit," Katsuya muttered, leaning back against the wall. "If he doesn't get rid of that trap soon he's screwed..."

Beside him Anzu nodded, eyes narrowed yet again. Again, it looked like she would say something. Giving an odd glance to him every now and then... (Please say something already...) "I told Mai about Mokuba," she finally said, crossing her arms as Mai summoned 'Harpies Pet Dragon'. The red-pink dragon appeared in a flurry of wind, long chain leash gripped tightly by the one Harpy Lady on the field. Huh... Weird drago- Wait what? Katsuya turned to the woman, frowning as Anzu continued. She told Mai about... "She came to my room last night, to give me a few things from her bag... While we were talking, she asked about what happened during... During the duel." Her tone softened, and briefly the pair were distracted by Mai's move on the board.

It likely wasn't as vicious in Anzu's eyes, but at Mai's command the 'Pet Dragon' had fired an immense blast of fire toward the 'Skull Demon', the bones cracking and turning to dust in an instant. Standing at the side the Harpy Lady laughed, slashing her whip across the ground in wait of the next turn. Damn... At least it was defense mode...

What was Anzu saying again? He turned back, the woman continuing. "Listen," she said quietly, turning back from the table herself. "I know that... Those sorts of things are private but... I just didn't want her thinking you were some nutcase or something... I mean, you were actually kind of scary back at the duel..."

Scary? _Him_? Briefly he thought back to the 'aftermath' of Seto's duel, the blond staring at the ground. "It's fine," he muttered, hands stuffed in his jacket pockets. Told Mai about Mokuba... What did that mean..? "...What exactly did y' say..?"

Anzu blinked, nodding slowly as she answered. "Just 'basics' really... Mokuba is Kaiba's brother, and that you've been staying at their house..." She paused, frowning slightly. "She wanted to know about what happened really, with Pegasus' soul stealing... During the duel, we'd explained about his mind reading, but she didn't seem to believe us at the time." As Katsuya continued to stare, the woman gave a small shrug. "I don't know if she believed me even later but... I think she got it after that. Why you shouted I mean..."

He nodded, turning to the board once more. "Right..." When he thought about it, Honda _did_ have to drag him off... "Well," he decided, attempting at a smile, "'least she knows what Pegasus'll do righ'?" There was no response, and he found himself watching as on the board there was a shout of '**_SAINT FIRE GIGA_**!' A blast of flames engulfed Saiga, the tiny dragon screeching as it vanished into ashes. No more defense monsters... "...'S better that way," he finally said, giving Anzu a sad smile and receiving one from the woman in response. '

'_Your friend Jonouchi asked me a riddle during our last duel,_' Mai was saying, Yugi tensing as the woman continued. Katsuya as well tensed slightly, frowning. The riddle? Why was she bringing up that now? _'Now I'm asking you Yugi,' _the woman continued with a frown._ 'What can you show, that you can't see? If you can't answer it... Then you won't be able to win!_'

"Wh-What! Oi," Katsuya shouted, Mai turning with raised eyebrows. Hang on, what the hell did that riddle even have to do with this! "Do you even know the answer yourself?" Seriously, would she be asking if she did? Answer had nothing to do with this...

Nonetheless, the woman nodded, giving him a confident smile. "As a matter of fact Jonouchi, I do! I came up with my own answer." Her own answer?

While Mai crossed her arms, Katsuya snorted. So it wasn't the 'real' one then... Unless she'd figured it out... And was just being weird about it. Who knew what went through the mind of a woman... He sure as hell didn't know what Seto was thinking most of the time. ...Don't think about..."

Tch! In that case," he shouted, shaking the thoughts from mind, "Lemme tell you th' answer in Yugi's place! 'Friendship'! The bond between friends! That sound anything like your answer?"

Mai shook her head, still smiling. "Afraid not... Not even close! Try again!" Try a- _IT WAS THE RIGHT ANSWER_!

He growled, crossing his arms. Not even close, what the... "Damn it," he growled, bristling as the woman laughed. "Then what is it?"

The question remained unanswered, Mai merely turning back to the table with a slightly more depressed smile than before. "You should know," she said as she resumed the duel, settling back into her fight. "Your move, Yugi," the woman told him, Kastuya left scratching his head with a scowl.

_'Something you can show, but can't see'_... Friendship, the perfume, and (If Time Wizard even counted), time. But the look on Mai's face was different... Instead of seething like he'd thought he would, he ended up just watching the board with a dull frown in silence. _'Something you can show, but can't see'_...

What else could it possibly be then..?

* * *

**AN: ** YOU ALL SHIP SUMMONED SKULL X HARPY LADY NOW. That or Harpy Lady x Every Monster. AHAHAHA.

Annnnd hello again! Surprise surprise, but when I finished updating last I realized that I had already gotten about 2/3s through the next chapter... And given that I had a day of car-drive ahead of me, that meant I was able to edit it _just in time for you._ But at the same time, I didn't want to end up unable to answer anything to the last chapter before that happened... Which led to me putting off the update until I had the _next_ chapter ready for update! BAWWWWW.

In any case, the chapter might seem short, (And spaztic) particularly after the last one, (It's still spaztic) but don't be fooled!

_It's all Mini-Seto's fault_. ALL OF IT. The scene between herself and Jonouchi is made up of a _lot _of bickering, which means a lot of 'one liners', which means less word count due to the lack of a need for description. Phew, fun!

On a side note, I found out how Japan's age system works; if you're born in April over there, you're likely oldest of your class. This not only means that Jonouchi is younger than Kaiba, but, given that everyone was apparently in grade ten, that I'm gonna have to pull a break from the prologue; despite Kaiba apparently being '16', she will have only hit that marker during her coma... Which means Jonouchi is actually still 15. It also means that he's the _only_ one who isn't 16... Not to mention it makes he and Kaiba the youngest of the 'group' so to speak. Honda is the oldest, being born just shortly after the start date of school in April, followed by Yugi in June (during which Jonouchi was in Osaka for the fanfic), Anzu in August, Bakura in _September_... And then Kaiba was born in October.

This actually works in favour of a few things too... It means that when Jonouchi and the others enter Grade Eleven, it'll still match up with the manga time line (Their class is '2-B' during Battle City, meaning that they're in their second year of Highschool. Or... Grade eleven.). Also, it works in favour of the Ryuzaki x Shizuka plan; I specifically labelled her as fourteen (Course... I think I labelled the main cast as 16 as well, which puts me in a hole), but with the time change, this makes Ryuzaki 14 as well; his birthday isn't until December 29th, and as he's a year younger than the main cast... (An interesting point, but Haga is _two_ years younger than them... So at the moment, he's also 14.) Anyways. Shizuka doesn't have a listed birthday though; any suggestions?

Poll results! And...

They're all still the same. More people need to send in their opinions! Go go go you guys!

Crossdressing, Female Set - 9 (Two Anonymous Polls)

Obviously Female Set - 5 (Two Anonymous Polls.)

Male Set – 2

Anyways! Time to respond to some anonymous reviews! ... ...

...There are none...

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's so teary after the last chapter, that it's crying even now! _And it's just a block of text!_

_

* * *

_

And the dreams _return_... Lots and lots of foreshadowing, symbolism, and MINDSCREW in this one. So nothing new really. (If you hadn't guessed.) Mostly because, even the somewhat prophethetic dreams are like that. One part obvious, Three hidden meaning, and 6 parts WTF to make it a little more _dreamy_.

_Or is it._ That's the thing about dreams eh! You can never tell... _Maybe it wasn't even a dream..._

First person to correctly identify all the 'players' in that 'dream' so to speak wins a hallucinatory review cookie by the way... Not to mention a heightened chance of me taking a request sketch from them.

* * *

Some help on the dream business, but the 'sclera' is the white of the eye. For a clear idea of what the 'Eye' in the first scene looked like to start, look up 'Hollow Ichigo' from 'Bleach'; his eye is pretty close to it.

* * *

Bicker bicker bicker! 'Little Seto' (HAH names..), at least up there, is obviously a childish depiction of Kaiba... Who quite clearly remembers Jonouchi. In any case, what with her being around 10 or eleven, she's acting as such. Hence why she's doing a number of very **UN**-Kaiba like things. Such as screaming for help... Or pulling close to Jonouchi in fear.

A kid is still a kid after all... Not to mention, you may have guessed, but Jonouchi's suspicious are correct in that 'Mini-Kaiba' doesn't even know she's Kaiba- Well that's interesting...

* * *

That last shout of '_I SAID GET AWAY_' (god damn it)? That's what Keith hears when he's rooting in Jonouchi's jacket pockets in the middle of the night. In the manga, this is followed by a grin on the sleeping blond's face, along with a 'hehehe'... Keith of course muttering about morons as he bolts out of the room with the card.

* * *

When Jonouchi compares legless 'Little Seto' to a ghost, he's referring to the stereotypical Japanese depiction of them. 'Yuurei' (Literally 'Faint Spirit', 'Yuu' being 'Faint' or 'Dim' and 'Rei' being 'Soul' or 'Spirit') are depicted as having no legs to speak of, hence the comparison... To be more specific on 'Little Seto's condition, the body slowly fades from the chest down, until it's completely gone around the shins and ankles.

Other traits of 'Yuurei' are black hair, white clothes, and limp wrists... Hence the 'hanging sleeves' that often come with stereotypical art of these ghosts. (Not to mention the white kimono) They're also accompanied by 'hitodama', the Japanese equivalent of a 'Will o' the Wisp'.

* * *

Some of you might be wondering what's with the flowery hall of Jonouchi's dreams... There's actually more to it than just a hall way, and if you can figure it out than good on you! ...I'll tell you this now, it is _not_ a soul room, that would be _ridiculous_. Not to mention horrendously inaccurate. Flowers? BAH.

And this is why there's actually a challenge here for you to figure out its point.

* * *

Heeeeyy fun fact you guys! And I know this one from partial experience... But a dislocated shoulder need only be popped back into place and it's all good; often times, pro swimmers who deal with the issue of dislocated their shoulders against the wall or another person's arm will just pop it back into place and shrug it off. It's a bit disconcerting for me, the lifeguard, when the person just holds you off and says 'No trust me, I'm fine.'... But it's the truth, as many a first aid and lifeguarding instructor has told me.

Apparently Keith knows how to fix it too... (I don't want him to save me.)

* * *

It's kinda weird how Anzu had a nightgown on her when they clearly never packed for more than a day to start with... I personally wonder if maybe it's another case of something she borrowed from Mai. And since I had Mai show up again...

* * *

During the chapter 'Stealth in the Night' (The one where we see all those sneaking around at 2 AM sneaking around... At 2 AM.), Bakura ends up wandering the halls after being left around somewhere by his 'other'. When he runs into the pair of guards at Mokuba's dungeon (Rather the staircase to it) in the manga, he claims to have been looking for the washroom. The guards then tell him to 'use the one in his room', which would imply that there was a bathroom for each bedroom, hence the shower.

Really Pegasus, put some soap in there or you'll have diseases all over your house!

* * *

Anyways! For the short bit that you see Yugi in the next morning, the bandage that Anzu put on his face is _gone_. Clearly Yugi didn't feel that bandage made him look too good. Or manly. OHOHO. In any case, you can still see the bruise/cuts on his cheek obviously... And of course, the moment Yami Yugi switches out with him, the injury is ten times more hidden... It's the YAMI EFFECT. Also that he was just drawn that way in the panels for a while.

* * *

Another point on Yugi, but the 'switch' happens _as _he puts the puzzle on that morning. I was kinda sitting there going 'Hoh... Does this mean that holding it half way would give Yugi angry eyes?' And then I had to smack myself for thinking such things. Anyways.

* * *

In the manga, Jonouchi tells Yugi and Anzu that Honda and Bakura both weren't in their rooms... But if he'd checked after getting the other two, the other two would have known! ...I guess he saved Yugi for last in terms of wake up calls...

* * *

Why was Jonouchi knocking on Bakura's door and not Yugi's? It's actually an unconscious action due to increasing paranoia about that ring... He feels like something's up, but until he's sure... Well, he doesn't want to walk in on anything evil you know. (Ohohoho~)

* * *

To clarify on the arena room... The arena itself is situated on a rising pillar. It was raised during Pegasus and Kaiba's battle, so that not only would those on the balcony see, but so that the big five, who are effectively on the third floor as opposed to the second, could see. (Pegasus' private balcony is exactly level with the arena at its raised point by the way.)

For the semi finals however, the arena is lowered to the ground, while Pegasus sits on his 'private balcony' and watches like the king he wants to be. Laaaa~ (It's raised again when Yugi and Pegasus fight.)

* * *

Yea. Pegasus calls his castle _holy_. What's more amusing (When going strictly by that page and that page only), is that directly after Pegasus says this, Yugi instantly starts seething and thinking '_PEGASUS YOU FIEEEEEND_.' Yesss, because how _dare _he claim such things about that castle!

* * *

Pbbbbbt... Anyways, serious note, the manga (And likely the anime) state that the prize is 200,000 dollars... Which is around 16.5 million yen, at this moment. That's... A lot of money.

And _all of it_ will be used for Shizuka's eyes; by the way, the amount that Shizuka and her mom had before they found out they'd be screwed was about half that... Pity.

* * *

ALSO on the note of prizes... Found out what the average prize for a_ real_ tournament concerning the card game is; cards. Specifically, _tournament only_ cards, which would obviously sell for a fair amount, along with another assortment depending on your placing. Basically, if you make money of this, it's through selling the cards...

Using this, I would estimate that the 'average' prize amount for the _major _tournaments in the manga itself would be around 1,000 dollars, maximum likely being around 2,000, given that Ryuzaki when offering up his own tournament prize of the Red-Eyes Black Dragon labels it as being worth around a hundred thousand yen; in other words, a thousand five hundred dollars (Technically 1,200 point something something something...). Keep in mind, this is the _AMERICAN_ dollar, I'm not converting to Canadian here... And also that this is using the strength of the current dollar on the market.

* * *

You might have noticed that Anzu is getting a little more than just 'YUGI!' in terms of cheering this time around. See... You have to remember, before the duelist kingdom started, Anzu was completely trashing Jonouchi in this game. In fact, on the page that we see this, Jonouchi mutters about how that's been happening _constantly_.

Let's face it guys. Anzu is no newbie to Duel Monsters, and could probably kick a fair amount of ass if she wanted to. (Remember, she's going into dance, not cards.)

* * *

Yami had another line of amazing here; in his monologue thoughts, he literally says, right after _'But I can't lose either!' _... _**'WE WILL WIN THE GLORY**_!'

YAMI. YAMI I DON'T THINK GLORY IS QUITE WHAT THE JONOUCHI AND KAIBA WERE GETTING AT.

* * *

Bit of a line change,_ mostly_ because Jonouchi's partially distracted by the board specific events (Oh mah, Harpy Lady what are you... AAAAAAH! ), but also because he's more into the serious than the lul-standard. In the manga though, I swear he has the best line... _'HOWL IF YOU'RE A MAN!_'

...As he looks around with a fairly nervous and unsure stare.

* * *

Anzu and Jonouchi's conversation is based on the words Mai gives the blond later on; '_Anzu told me about your sister_'. Obviously in this case it'd be about Mokuba rather than his sister... But I was also wondering when that actually _happened._ Maybe in the tent? Who knows. In any case, you can probably guess that Mai's getting a little close to figuring things out...

_It's all that woman's intuition. _Hehehe.

* * *

While those two are talking, Mai's putting Yugi in his own little mind-game, by turning his own riddle on him; _'There's something you've lost sight of,_' she tells him, _'Something you can show, but you can't see'._

This of course scares/bugs the crap out of Yugi, as he just sort of goes _'WHAT._' Also bugs Jonouchi. A LOT.

Doesn't help that Pegasus can apparently use telepathy with that eye, and is doing some weird '_SHE'S RIGHT YUGI, YOU SUCK~_' from inside the guy's head... HIHHHHH.

* * *

Well, that's all now! Don't expect updates to be as fast as this (This was kinda... Done a while ago, just had to do file transfers and such since it wasn't my laptop...), though they shouldn't take more than a week and a bit of time. If they do... Well, I _did_ just move guys, so you should probably expect a little bit. Not to mention it's not the best transition into 'real life'. OH WELL.

See you next time!


	37. Chapter 36

**Iris' Request**

* * *

The battle went on.

High above the arena floor stood Pegasus, watching with his golden eye as a villainous smirk played over his face. Across the room on the exact opposite side was 'Bandit' Keith, whose name had quite likely taken a literal turn since his loss to Pegasus himself... Keith likely could have cared less however, and was obviously paying more attention to the misfortunes of those playing than the duel itself. By the door in the meantime stood the same 'suit' who had as of yet given no name and looked as though he didn't particularly plan to. '_Crocketts,_' a voice seemed to whisper in his ear; the blond held back a shudder at the sound, mentally shaking the unknown and bodiless voice off. Lets try _not_ to go crazy today...

They were supposed to pay attention... He and Anzu watched as the first match of the semi-finals commenced, Yugi having for only a moment no monsters on the field against Mai's own powered up Harpy Lady and 'Pet Dragon'. Mai's words... '_What can you show that cannot be seen_'... Katsuya frowned as the riddle came to mind, partially for the fact that Mai brought it up, and partially for the sheer annoyance this 'unknown answer' was proving. His answer was 'wrong', but he knew that the 'situational' ones, the ones that weren't _really_ the answer weren't it... In the end, watching the Harpy Lady blow raspberries at him convinced the blond to leave it lie for at least a little bit; the monsters on the duel table were just too distracting really... And lest he appear as insane as he figured he was going right now, it would probably be better to just hold his tongue.

Because _seriously_, did anyone else see this? _Any_ of this at all?

Back on the board, Yugi had placed one face down card and summoned his Dark Magician, the mage appearing in a swirl of shadows as a large and intricate seal appeared beneath him to herald his appearance. He was in defense mode of course... Rather than the standard 'crouch' that the hologram display was supposed to show however, the magician instead stood with his staff at the ready, eying the Harpy lady with clear distaste. Obviously 'defense' was just a command to the monsters on the board... Whether they crouched down for protection or not was all up to they themselves. Distaste seemed to increase; the Harpy Lady had evidently decided she ought to try and impress her opponent before whipping him to shreds, but all that had happened was the Magician's scowl deepening a fraction.

Which the Harpy Lady of course, found rather insulting, given her absolutely enraged screeches as her actions stopped. They lasted only a moment however, as the bird turned up toward to her master. "It's my turn," she called out, drawing her next card and looking over it with a slight and approving nod. Mai's expression was determined and very much confident as she placed it on the table, the announced title changing the Harpy Lady's demeanor instantly.

As did the Magician's, he noted for a brief moment. "Shadow of Eyes", Mai called out, and almost instantly an aroma more potent than all of the woman's perfumes combined came through the air. Katsuya stiffened as the smell wafted through the room, swallowing as the Dark Magician had a similar reaction. This smell... He couldn't identify it, but something about it had him feeling a lot less depressed and sleepy and a lot more... Pumped than he probably should have. Maybe it was the side of his brain that said quite clearly that the Harpy Lady was... Tiny... That held him back. Maybe it was the fact that he had nothing against Mai or the Harpies to begin with, and the two guys he _did_ have a beef with were either out of reach or in the kind of range that would get him disqualifed... Which he did not want. But that smell was really... Really... God damn it what was it doing! The Dark Magician looked red in the face and ready for anything, twirling his staff and charging the bird without even the aid of his master's command. The Harpy Lady hadn't even done anything just yet, having merely been stroking her dragon's head before turning with a wicked grin. "'Shadow of the Eyes lures the enemy into battle," Mai explained, her Harpy Lady more than pleased at the attention she had regained despite its negativity. "Her battle pheromones stimulate the foe's fighting instincts, drawing them into battle!"

Well, Katsuya thought idly with an awkward cough, watching as the Magician managed to somehow electrocute himself off the 'Mirror Wall' on the field. That was one _light _way to put it... Looked more like the Dark Magician was trying going to screw magic all together in lieu of skewering the bird with his staff! (And had apparently failed... Terribly.) Battle pheromones... What were pheromones again? Damn it... Who the hell knew anymore, the battle was one thing when it was cards, it was something completely different when they pulled science into it. Back 'above' the board, Mai was getting rid of Yugi's trap, before destroying the Magician... Damn it, how often was he going to fall for that! The blond grit his teeth, before turning as Anzu tapped him lightly on the shoulder. "Jonouchi," she asked, the blond frowning.

"Yea," he asked, feeling just slightly agitated about being pulled out of his thoughts. Wait... Why was he mad at Anzu? ...Hell why was he mad about anything! He shouldn't be mad! AAAGH.

The woman frowned, leaning back slightly. "Sorry," she finally said, shaking her head. "You just look a little red... Do you still have that cold?"

Katsuya frowned, blinking a few times. "What..? The cold..?" No... No he wasn't still sick... He definitely wasn't... And if he did, he'd strangle Haga next time he saw him! (...Where the hell did that thought come from...)

She nodded, smiling nervously. "Yea... You're definitely red right now... Might be a fever or..." Anzu shook her head, turning back to the field for a moment and looking back. "Should I get some medicine, maybe some water, you really don't look..." The woman trailed off as Katsuya continued to growl under his breath, shaking her head and turning back to the battle once again. "Nevermind... It's probably nothing."

"W-What's nothing!" Come on, he wasn't red in the face! "I don't have cold damn it!" And he wasn't- ...Why the hell was he getting pissed about this... The blond shook his head, flush clearing up as the smell from the table began to fade. Why the hell was he getting ticked... Katsuya's frown lightened, and he looked back at the duel table where the Harpy Lady was again playing with her pet dragon. 'Battle Pheromones'... No way that was affecting him right... Hell... He'd accept that 'Crush Card' did something, but 'Shadow of the Eyes'? Seriously?

Anzu didn't seem to notice the blond drifting into thought, instead laughing nervously at the last outburst. "Alright then, you don't! Calm down alright..?" Before Katsuya could say anything more on that (Damn it, he wasn't sick!... Stop getting angry.), the woman again frowned and followed her friend's gaze to the board. "This is incredible," she muttered, the blond following her gaze questioningly. Yugi was about as tense in appearance as he had been against Seto, right after the Ultimate Dragon had been summoned... Mai however, was far from easing up, though it was clear that she was becoming more and more agitated despite being 'acknowledged' as a 'real opponent' for the moment. "It's as though she's a million times stronger than when she fought you..." A million? Oh come on, it wasn't that much... Even so...

He swallowed, staring at the board and nodding in agreement. Definitely not a million, but the fact that she was trouncing Yugi so easily was just a little unnerving... "Yea..." He shook off the events on the board itself, turning his attention to his friend with a worried frown. "Oi, Yugi," he shouted, gaining no response. The boy merely stared at the board, frowning as he stared down the opposing monsters. "What's going on?" Even for when he was 'stuck' this was weird... Really, really weird... He wasn't normally this tense! Something seriously had to be up or... Or... "Damn," he muttered, friend still sitting across the table to ponder his move. Or maybe Mai was actually that... "Was it seriously just luck that I beat Mai then..?"

There was a shaken head in response to that, the woman having apparently heard them from the arena. "No," she said plainly, crossing her arms and looking at Katsuya a moment. "You didn't just win through luck Jonouchi- when we fought, I was giving it all I had..." The blond frowned, listening as Mai continued. All she had... Then how.. "The truth is," the woman began, pausing a moment before going on, "When you beat me I was devastated. I tried to deny the fact of course," she said with a sigh, shrugging with a sad smile. "Turn my eyes away from the board, from the fact that I'd lost to a kid who knew next to nothing about the game!" Though Katsuya frowned at that, he kept quiet; she sounded like she was going somewhere on this after all... (But 'next to nothing'? Awww, man...) "Even if I looked away however," the woman continued, turning back to the board as the others listened. "Even long after the duel, and after the duel you had with Ryuzaki, I couldn't get that riddle out of my mind. 'Something you can show, but can't see'... You had me stumped! But when I confronted myself," she stated, nodding slightly to her opponent as she came to her last few words. "My real self... I understood what those words meant. Jonouchi," she called, the blond jumping as Mai suddenly turned on him. "Do you know why you made it this far in the tournament?"

He blinked, nodding. "Eh? I- ... Of course I do! My friends," he shouted, thinking back to the few duels he'd had. He wouldn't have even gotten to the island without Yugi... Wouldn't have made it through his first duel without him, his second without the cards he'd had... And if the others hadn't have shown up while he was in that crypt he'd have been locked inside without even knowing it most likely. "That's how a guy like me made it here! Because I had my friends!" That was why... But... Why did she need to know that..? What was she getting at..?

Mai was simply looking at Yugi as she got her response, nodding in agreement to something that was completely beyond Katsuya. "That's right," she was muttering, eliciting more confusion than anger from the blond in return. What was right, he thought with a frown. What was 'right' about that answer... Seriously... The hell..? "You know your own weakness," she stated, sending a glance his way for a moment. His weakness... "You accept it, and you try to become stronger in order to overcome it... The courage of a 'true duelist'," Mai continued, turning again to Yugi as the boy listened. "That's what your friend taught me, Yugi." Wait... Because he needed to cheat his way in he was- Wait she was on something completely different here. Katsuya's thoughts were cut yet again as the woman continued, Yugi in question staring with a confused and oddly wide-eyed frown. "It's not in 'victory'," she told him, "That a duelist's courage is tested. It's after they lose, despite having done all they could to do otherwise." After they lose..? They continued to stare, still listening as Mai went on. "A strong heart is born only when you are prepared to lose, having accepted your weakness. Yugi," she asked, expression stern and Mai an Anzu both tensing instantly as they thought of the likely answer, "Do you have that courage?"

If Anzu and Yugi were thinking back to the duel against Seto, he wasn't surprised. Not at all... During those last moments, despite a life being on the line, despite the similar goals... Katsuya grit his teeth at the mention, pushing down on the anger that came with the thought. That damn smell from the table just had him raring for a fight... If this didn't finish soon... The blond swallowed, taking a deep and silent breath. Calm down... Yugi had come to grips with what he'd done out there... He had... He didn't feel good about what he'd done out there, he wouldn't do it again... Looking at the table, almost looking for a sign that would reassure him of this, he watched as Yugi's expression of confusion and anger vanished from sight. A sudden look of realization, replaced with a smile... "Mai," the boy stated, the woman in question giving a small nod in response. The boy as well nodded, more out of respect than anything as he held his cards. "I'm glad I got to fight you," he began, drawing his next card. "This is where the real duel begins!"

As Mai chuckled in response, Katsuya watched as his friend looked over his hand to make his play. So the 'real duel' started now huh... Not a moment too soon, he thought with a swallow; Yugi was sitting with 300 lifepoints while Mai herself had remained untouched the entire time! Sure, he himself had been in similar spots but... Well, the fact was, what were the chances of getting out of those situations multiple times in a row? ...Of course, this was Yugi he was talking about... And the boy's confident smirk was once again in place as the card was set down on the field, proving that last thought in particular correct. Mai was tensing as wicked clawed hands appeared in the air, shadowed and severed wrists revealing withered skin and sinews attached to bones that were almost as blue as the skin itself. Hovering in mid air they waved, seemingly calming motions being made above their target's head, motions that far betrayed their clawed and malicious appearance. 'Brain Control'- That was what the card was. And for the next turn, the monster that Yugi would control with those hands was... "...Harpy's Pet Dragon!"

The dragon snarled, as the hands approached, each one beginning their mesmerizing dance around the beast. Gently, carefully they moved, but despite that the dragon still howled, managing to fight against the bonds of the mind control. It stumbled painfully over to the other side of the field, growling and roaring in anger despite the movements of the hands above it. Furious, miserable... The dragon thrashed, the hands still attempting to continue in their calm approach to lead him away to their side of the field Across from it, the Harpy Lady was crossing her arms, pouting at the theft of her 'pet'; it obviously wasn't worried about a possible attack... And given that Mai was merely chuckling at the sight, he had a feeling he was about to find out way. "Sorry Yugi," the woman said with a smile, crossing her arms. "But the dragon is the Harpie's pet, their servant... Even brainwashed, it won't attack her!"

Yugi merely nodded, the smirk unchanging as the dragon stood in place on the opposite side of the field. "Oh I know," he stated, taking another card from his hand as the dragon continued to growl angrily. "I won't be attacking the Harpy though..." As his opponent frowned, the smirk was replaced by Yugi's 'normal' game expression, continuing. "It's still my turn," he stated, placing the card on the table as he grabbed a second. "I'll play this card face down... And I'll also play this! Catapult Turtle!" The card was placed on the table, quickly becoming ingrained with the board before glowing with its usual summoning light. From the card's image came the enormous mechanized being, mouth creaking open as it gave a motorized roar. A solid step foward was taken, forelegs leaving visible craters in the ground before the machine-powered catapult came to rest to prepare for an anticipated launch. "Get ready," Yugi shouted, the hands guiding a still growling dragon over to the catapult's lift. Harpy Lady grew pale at the sight, watching first in silence and then in well voiced rage as the 'Brain Control' hands grabbed the fighting beast and roughly tossed him onto the device with little mercy. The dragon was strapped to the catapult in an instant, giving a pained howl as the same hands guiding him began to push him against the device with as much force as possible. It would do no good if the beast moved during launch after all... The monster was 'called' for action. Attack mode, Yugi had said, Mai's eyes growing wide as her mirror wall trap shimmered in response to the phrase. Against the wall's shining 'glass', the entire boards expressions of horror could be seen, at least by those with faces. Harpy Lady's rage and horror filled cries, joined in by the Dragon's miserable howling... "And right on cue," Yugi continued, "The Mirror wall appears! Launch preparation complete," the boy shouted, the turtle below clicking in agreement. "Three," he called as the dragon's shouts hit the air at a raised pitch, "Two," he continued, Katsuya holding back a wince as the Harpy's screeches grew to an intense and reverberating note around the room. "One," The dragon struggled against his hold, the hands power beginning to wear off at its owners miserable shouts and fading from existence as the end of turn came ever closer. And now... "LIFT OFF!"

A resounding sound of a terrified roar came through the air as the catapult fired, the dragon's body breaking through the shield completely as the cries cut short. Shards of crystalline glass were embedded in the dragon's corpse, its mangled body hanging limply at the edge of the table. Blood wasn't even dropping from the body... It wasn't pumping through the shards that were stuck after all, no matter how mangled the shattered bones rendered it. Harpy Lady gave one final wail as she knelt by its motionless form, before turning to her master's opponent with rage filled eyes. Her pet was gone; all that remained as the dragon's corpse vanished was the chain that had been attached to its collar, the glass as well fading into nonexistence... But with the sounds of rage on the board came Yugi's response to Mai's own words of shock at the attack, and in the end it was a lot easier to focus on the players than the board... Better than ending up nauseous over something only he could see really. "Hnhnhnhnhn... That's right Mai," Yugi was saying with a smirk. "The force of the catapult can break through walls and fortified structures of any kind! But that wasn't my only plan..." As he trailed off, his opponent's attention moved down to the side at her lifepoint counter, followed by the squinting gaze of those at the side. Now what was it about Catapult turtle again, he thought to himself as he watched the counter drop down. Something about the monster's attack and... Oh yea... "When you use Catapult Turtle," Yugi explained, the numbers still dropping. "And fire a monster... Half of that monster's attack points are taken from its owner's life points!" As Mai began to shout in protest, Yugi merely continued, the smirk growing as her counter finally finished. "Half of twenty-three hundred... Which means you lose one thousand, one hundred fifty life points!"

Holy shit... Katsuya stared, before grinning despite the still continuing screeches of anger coming from the Harpy Lady. That one move... 850 points... In one move Mai's points had come to 850... Alright! As Mai herself smirked in response to the play, obviously impressed by the play herself, the teen jumped from his seat with a shout. "ALRIGHT! YEAA!" The shouts echoed around the room, soon joined in by Anzu from beside him. "Go for it Yugi! You can still make a comeback!" The grin grew, and as he and Anzu sat back down their friend gave one curt and determined nod before going back to the duel.

"This is great," Anzu said with a grin, glancing at Katsuya for a moment as she continued to grin. "He's completely lost his impatience from before... He's not doubting himself, he's actually into it!"

Katsuya's grin still remained in place, and he nodded as well. "Haha! 'Course he is," he said with a smirk, crossing his arms. "It'd take more than this t' bring 'm down... There's no way he'll lose!" Definitely not! The turn around had effectively happened right then... Even with that 'Shadow of the Eyes' card, and that mirror, he was still making headway again. One move... It only took one move..!

As they both turned back to the field, the 'noise' from the last attack had died down. Though clearly still grief-stricken with rage the Harpy's cries had quieted, the bird merely sending a piercing gaze toward . Mai was staring at her opponent's face down card, fingering her hand as Yugi narrowed his eyes from across her. '_Attack me,_' he seemed to be saying, his eyes narrowing in the silent dare. '_Go on... Do it_!' Even the Harpy Lady was shrinking back under the gaze... Halting in her original, flaunting strut to turn nervously to her master. In the end, Mai merely narrowed her eyes, appearing to glance quickly at the board before looking back up to study her opponent's expression. More silence... Finally she smirked, taking one of her cards. "Well," she decided, placing it on the board. "I won't attack this time... I can still hold the advantage if I do that after all..." She chuckled, shaking her head. "No sense in risking that card of yours!" While Yugi merely held his confident stare, the woman continued to speak, her card already beginning to take effect on the field. "Instead, I'll play this... The Kaleidoscope!" Ohhhh fuck, the exact card that she couldn't attack after using to begin with. Shit. In a flurry of light and feathers the Harpy Lady's body began to pulse unnaturally, the kaleidoscope light filling the field before spiraling into a circle about her. Her reflected image divided, shifted... And as the light cleared there stood two others of her kind beside her, each just as scantily clad and armed as the other. As the three sisters screeched with the idea of vengeance, whips cracking threateningly across the ground their owner grinned. One Harpy was easy to over power... But with three... "HAHAHAHA! Are you ready Yugi? On my next turn, you'll experience the Harem of Hell!"

W-What... He blinked, staring at the table a moment. H-Harem? ...Seriously..? Katsuya groaned, slamming the back his head against the wall to the raised eyebrows of the woman beside him. "Oh god... An' here I thought it couldn't get worse..." If Yugi lost... He was so screwed over in the finals...

Anzu snorted, shaking her head before their attention was drawn back to the board. "Is that your turn," Yugi was asking, almost hesitantly. The field went silent... And Mai nodded, her opponent's smirk re-appearing in response. "Well then... I'm sorry Mai but," he said, flipping over his card. "I would have lost if you attacked me... You see," Yugi continued, "My face down card is 'Monster Recovery'." Monster Recovery... Shit what did that one do again? As Mai stared, eyes wide with apparent recognition for the card's ability the boy placed it back on the table and moved his hand toward his deck. "You missed your chance of winning," he stated 'matter-of-factly', his card appearing momentarily in the form of a glowing 'tablet' on the field. "I now activate 'Monster Recovery'; by returning my monsters to my deck, I can shuffle it and draw five new cards!" And since Yugi had next to no cards in his hand now...

The cards were removed from the field, Catapult Turtle vanishing in a swift gust of wind and vanishing metal while the 'stone card' that appeared in 'Monster Recovery's stead ground itself to dust. The deck was shuffled swiftly, almost impatiently before the new cards were drawn. As Yugi looked over his new hand however, Mai merely smirked, watching as her opponent's expression fell short. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Worried," she asked, arms crossed as Yugi merely continued to stare at his hand. "The Harpy Ladies' attack deals 2700 points of damage... And with the Shadow of the Eyes pheromone, any monster you put into play will be finished!" Ahhhhh crap...

With those words Yugi grimaced, the hand holding his cards shaking for a slight moment. Mai's words were true after all... But all the same! "Come on Yugi," Anzu shouted from the side, cupping her hands. "You can't give up now! You've got a way out!"

Katsuya nodded, also cupping his hands to continue shouting. "Yea Yugi! Hang in there! You can't just let those bondage monsters have their way with yah!" They were creepy enough as it was! Like that one tape he and Yugi had borrowed from his grandpa and...Awww hell they were looking at him now! He swallowed, attempting to ignore the now extremely loud screeches of indigence aimed his way from the board, instead focusing on the ones playing it

Their friend turned, a wide eyed stare sent their way in an instant before turning back to his cards. The boy clenched his jaw, pulling one of his cards from his hand and frowning for a moment before nodding to himself. "Mai," he called, the woman merely crossing her arms as Yugi placed it on the board. "I'll play the Mystical Elf, in defense mode!"

"It's over regardless," Mai stated calmly, moving her eyes to the board with a small smirk. As the monster was summoned into existence, the Harpies scowled, all three turning on the newcomer with narrowed eyes. "Shadow of the Eyes wi-" She froze, the same sight that had Katsuya grinning leaving the woman tense. The monster Yugi had played was _female_ after all... And... That was how these chemical things worked right? (Damn it, he was paying more attention in class after this!)

Yugi smirked, arms crossed. "Hn! The 'Shadow of the Eyes' card was intended to 'aggravate' opposing monsters correct?" At the small silence he got in response, the smirk grew. "I thought I'd take the chance," he continued, the smirk growing with his opponent's frown, "That those same 'pheromones' created by the card would be less effective on the women as opposed to men!" The boy leaned back on his chair, before continuing. "My turn is over..."

"Alright," Katsuya said, crossing his arms with a grin. "He's made it through this turn..." The grin quickly vanished however, and he swallowed as he realized what would happen next. "...I... I don' think Yugi has any more girl monsters though..."

Anzu as well swallowed, her eyes not moving from the board while she nodded. "I think you're right... Even if he does, it's not many, he'd have to draw it his next turn... Mystical Elf won't last more than one round with the Harpies against her..." On the field, the elf in question appeared to respond to this, turning to them both from her kneeling position with a calm smile; her hands were folded before her in prayer, and though the Harpy Ladies were clearly sneering at her the elf merely bowed her head, uncaring of the shouts around her. Turning to them, she merely shook her head... As if to say she was fine with what was awaiting her.

Across from Yugi, Mai was biting her lip, apparently not pleased that she'd missed her initial shot at a win. In the end however, she appeared to get over it, merely shaking her head. "My you're tenacious," she muttered, drawing her card before smirking after a glance at the image. "But your struggles are going to have to come to an end with this turn," she continued, placing the card on the field and crossing her arms once more. "First," she stated, a large glowing green ankh appearing above her side of the field with the card's magic, "I'll use this card to bring back one monster... The Harpy's pet dragon!" The light burned into the ground, creating a burst of energy that blocked the side of the field from view. A menacing snarl was released, the ankh and light both vanishing in a roar of flames. Katsuya swallowed as the dragon appeared to grow slightly with its rebirth, the harpies cackling at their reborn pet; and given that it was powered by the number of harpies on the field, he wasn't surprised that Yugi was also grimacing slightly. "And now," Mai shouted after announcing this fact to her opponent, eyes narrowing. "For my next attack... Harpy Ladies," she cried, the three birds arranging themselves in a triangle formation in the air within moments. "**TRIANGLE ECSTASY SPARK**!" Ordinarily he would have smacked his head on the wall again but... Ignoring the once again obvious... Implications of the attack... (Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it... At all.)

The elf was still smiling with that attack. A calm and peaceful smile that lasted as long as there were muscles to hold it in place. Three orbs of acid green energy had been charged between the three Harpy Ladies, each held between their clawed hands and creating a large triangle as the attack stated. A beam gathered in the center of the triangle, growing larger and larger as its intended target closed her eyes... And finally the beam shot forward to strike the Mystic Elf head on. The elf merely held her hands forward in the blast as it struck, green light bathing the field and vanishing as it passed the border of the table. She merely sat there, without making a single sound, even when all that Katsuya could see in the light was her skeleton as it held against the blast for a brief moment... Before joining everything else in a pile of ash, as Mai had ironically said she was burnt to. Gh... "Yugi," he shouted, the boy merely staring at the board with wide eyes. Shit... This was it...

"Now," Mai was shouting as they stared, the side of Yugi's field once again completely clear. "It's your last turn... Get ready!" Last turn, last draw... He swallowed, leaning back against the wall and staring at the table. Everything relied on this one draw... As Yugi stared at his deck, likely with the same thing in mind, the woman across from him was bringing her arms to her lap. "By the way," she said, her smile fading slightly. "Don't worry about the final match... I'll definitely win, regardless of what you or the others believe; I even have an idea of what to do with the prize money," she added offhand, glancing at Katsuya briefly before the blond could shout against the words. What... Hang on... Why was she looking at him when she said that? "Now then," the woman continued, before Yugi's shout interrupted her.

The card was placed on the table in the same instant of the shout, the boy's face set with determination. He'd drawn his card, having only stopped momentarily to let his opponent speak; and now... "Swords of Revealing Light!"

Three golden blades for each monster appeared on the field, shooting downward from the sky to create a completely impenetrable barrier between sides. The blinding light filled the field, monsters caught within reeling back to cover their eyes. "Hah...HAHA! YEA! GO YUGI!" There was still a chance! This was the same card that turned his duel at Death-T around after all... It couldn't fail! As Yugi and Mai both continued to trade words, the grin grew. "He's still got a clean shot," he said, pumping his fist. "Yes!"

"Even so," Anzu said with a slight frown, Katsuya turning as she continued. "Mai's monsters are still pretty powerful... He's going to have to tread lightly here..."

The blond shrugged, still grinning. "Ehhhh... Three turns Anzu," he said, the smile shifting into a smirk. "With Yugi, three turns is all it takes!" He turned back to the duel, grin widening as he stood to shout again. "YOU WIN THIS F'R EVERYONE YUG'!"

Anzu smiled, laughing as the loud cheer was responded to with a stern nod. The blond sat back down, and she shook her head. "Save your energy for your own duel alright..?"

"Hah!" Katsuya snorted, smirk fixed in place as he crossed his arms. "Like I'll run outta energy f'r somethin' like that!"

The woman rolled her eyes, giving a mock sigh as they turned back to the board. "Well," Mai was saying, giving her opponent an approving nod as the swords glowed softly. "Drawing the swords at the very end..." She shook her head, chuckling as she crossed her arms. "Three turns then Yugi! We'll just have to see if these swords are a light of hope, or merely the last sparks of your defense!" Leaning back against her chair as the boy looked over her hand, she waved her opponent on, still smiling. "Go on now... You don't have any monsters," she stated, crossing her arms once more. "Play one!"

Yugi nodded, taking one of his cards. "Of course," he said, placing the card on the table. "I'll play this, and end my turn." The card merged with the ground on contact, as did all the others before it; and upon its image misted the familiar small ball of fur from the fight against Seto, Kuriboh shaking itself before looking across the board with a small 'kurii' sound. Kuriboh..? Wait- Katsuya blinked, remembering the effect it had used in its last fight; when destroyed in battle, no damage was given... Which meant that if Yugi came up with nothing in the next three turns, he'd still have at least one more!

...Poor Kuriboh...

Across from her opponent, Mai appeared to completely miss that ability, staring at the fuzz ball questioningly before holding back a humored grin. "What the," Mai was saying, stiffing a laugh. "What is this little... Gn... HAHAHHAA! AHAHA... Oh..." She held her head, and as Kuriboh began to do what Katsuya could at best call 'mini-shadow boxing' in front of the swords, the woman shook her head. "Oh boy... Such a tiny little monster but he's getting all riled up with the Harpies' pheromones..." Her expression abruptly went more severe, the woman frowning as she stared her opponent down. "Yugi," she asked, her harpies currently staring down the Kuriboh with mixed glee and confusion. (Did he hear '_kawaii_'? ...Nooo... That couldn't be it... Definitely not it... ) "Are you sure you want to play that? Once the swords are gone," she stated, still frowning as she looked across the board, "He's dead in one shot!"

The boy merely nodded again, crossing his arms and holding his 'standard' expression. "Out of the thousands of cards I could have chosen," he stated, Kuriboh briefly breaking from his 'boxing' to turn to his master with wide eyes, "I believed in _this_ one. That's why I put it in my deck," he continued, still facing his opponent with a seemingly neutral frown. Kuriboh appeared to beam at the words, turning back to his 'shadow boxing' with renewed vigor while his master continued. "It's a piece of the puzzle... The puzzle to victory."

For a moment, Mai merely stared at the boy with a frown, eyes narrowed. The puzzle to victory..? Briefly, she appeared to think about asking something. In the end however, she shook her head, shaking it off. "Well," she finally said, shrugging. "I don't think I'll ever understand you really, putting a card this weak in your deck... But either way," the woman continued, reaching for her deck to draw her card. "We move on! I'll draw one card and end my turn," she stated, adding the card to her hand. There wasn't much else she could do after all, with the swords in play. "Two turns left," Mai reminded the boy, Katsuya merely watching as a few of the swords vanished from sight. The blades ground themselves into a fine gold powder that rose up into the air, vanishing from sight and leaving one of the Harpies room to stare at Kuriboh. "And when that happens, your loss will be guaranteed!"

Eyes narrowed, the boy merely reached for his next draw. "It's my turn," he said, giving no real reaction to the words other than that glare. "And I play this- the monster reborn!" The spell appeared on the card, a second ankh arising to the air to shine its light on the field. Green light bathed the field once more, and to the side of Kuriboh it began to take form. "Gaia the Fierce Knight," Yugi called, the light misting into a solid and moving figure before Katsuya's eyes. A horse began to whinny, a knight appearing on its saddle... The light began to clear, the ankh vanishing into nothingness. "Arise from your grave!" As the steed pawed at the ground, Gaia gripped his weapons tightly, dual armed rider glaring at the Harpies as he and his horse both took their place in the middle of Yugi's field.

It was obvious, however, that it was not where he wanted to be for the moment. Gaia made no move to hide his rage for the creatures that had killed him prior, and for all it was, Katsuya couldn't blame the knight; though his horse remained in place, the man was clearly wanting nothing more than for the swords to move from between the battling sides, so as to make room for his own twin lances. "Hnn," Mai was muttering, staring at the knight with evident suspicion. "Stronger than Kuriboh," she admitted, the puff ball bristling at the words, "But it's still not enough to face the dragon," she continued. "Your futile last stand ends in just one more turn Yugi..!" Oh really?

"Hah," Katsuya said with a grin, the woman turning with a raised eyebrow. Something he saw there... Not just on the board, but in his friend... "That's what you think Mai!" As the monsters on the board continued about their business the blond's grin widened, Katsuya continuing on. "Yugi's gotta plan," he said almost dangerously, arms crossed. "You can see it in his eyes..!"

Beside him Anzu nodded, a similar expression in place. Nothing wrong with turning the emotional tables after all! "That's right," she stated, appearing just as confident as Katsuya's and Yugi's both. "This move won't be it for him... Trust me!"

Mai merely ignored them both, shrugging as she turned her attention back to the board and her harpies both. "It's my turn," she called out, drawing her card. Looking at it the woman's expression brightened considerably, Mai even sending a wink across to a tensing Yugi. A wink..? Shit that wasn't good... "Get ready," she said with a smirk, folding her hand before crossing her arms. "It's all or nothing, and it's your turn..."

At those words Yugi had stiffened considerably, before staring at his deck in an almost spaced-out fashion. She was right on one thing, this _was_ the last shot that Yugi had... With Gaia on the board, the Harpies' dragon could just attack him rather than bothering with Kuriboh; and with that, Yugi would lose. All or nothing for this... The boy drew his card, and in the instant he looked at it his expression shifted. It was only a fraction of a second... His eyes widened, and with a neutral stare he made his play. "I'll play one card face down," he stated, before taking another monster from his hand to do the same. "Then I play Griffor... And end my turn!"

Griffor..! The bear-like monster misted into existence, thick gold shell appearing to protect the monster. Katsuya swallowed, watching as Mai stared at the board in confusion before chuckling. The last move had passed... If Yugi didn't make his final move he was screwed... There had to be some reason why he'd done all that though, maybe the face down card... "Now Yugi," the woman called as the swords vanished into nothingness from the board. Instantly the sounds of monsters shouting at the other could be heard, the harpies screeching threateningly as their dragon growled at the monsters across, Griffor, Kuriboh, and Gaia's horse all sending their own threats back. Gold dust flew through the air, but though the shouts were deafening it wasn't so much that he couldn't hear the duelists themselves. "This is it," Mai shouted, drawing her card and preparing to make her play. "Show me what your three turns bought!"

"What I bought," Yugi repeated, smirking in response. On the board the monsters were sending constant glances to the blank stone 'tablet' that had appeared in the face down card's place, before turning back on the harpies with wicked grins to match. "I bought all the pieces to my puzzle... That's what I 'bought'," the boy stated, Mai and the crowd both tensing with the words. "I reveal my spell card," he shouted, Katsuya watching as an immense throne and crest appeared behind Gaia from the 'tablet'. The stone ground itself to dust, forming a 'stage' of sorts beneath Gaia and his horse while the knight looked upon his opponents with a deadly smirk. "_The Black Luster Ritual_!" As Mai tensed further, two altars appeared beneath Kuriboh and Griffor, the two monsters sending each other a glance before 'nodding' to themselves. The altars rose to almost the same height of the horse, all three of the beasts turning their attention back to their opponents. "Now," Yugi cried, the harpies below watching in confused silence as an odd energy began to seep from the altars and the crest both. "The Dark Ritual begins... I offer two monsters as a tribute," he continued, the altars bursting into flames and enveloping both monsters within. "One soul to the light," he began, Kuriboh going up in a bright white blaze, "One soul to the darkness..." Black sparks surrounded Griffor, the monsters both making no sounds as they vanished in the fire. The flames rose, smoke spiralling forward to create an enormous tunnel that rose to the air above Gaia and the field both. The Harpies continued to stare, as did the knight himself, Gaia lowering his head in wait as his master continued the ritual. "Between Light and Darkness," Yugi stated clearly, the vortex on the field spinning into a mix of dark violets and blinding golden light, "The gateway to Chaos is opened..! Now charge Gaia," he ordered, the knight's head jerking upward to face the tunnel. "Charge into the black pits of change and let it suffuse you! Be granted absolute power!" Whether the words were over the top in the others eyes or not, Katsuya wasn't sure. The knight galloped through the tunnel, blinding light and shadows swirling around the knight as the horse vanished from sight completely. Leaping in the air from the back of his steed as it misted from existence in the shadows and light, Gaia changed... As he ran his armor darkened, thickening as his lances became a sword and a shield. His helmet lowered, hiding most of his face from view as his hair gathered into one long ponytail that came from the helmet just as his body itself changed in size. With one graceful move the knight kicked off from the end of the tunnel, landing on the ground as the crest, altars, and tunnel both vanished from sight. The knight looked forward, eyes hidden by the helmet but clearly cold given the sudden shiver from Mai's harpies. The ritual was over... "BLACK LUSTER SOLDIER!"

As his opponent continued to tense, Yugi faced the woman with a severe and merciless stare. "Now I'm ready," he stated loudly, the monsters on Mai's side of the field stepping back with wide eyes as Black Luster Soldier stood from his kneeling position to grip his sword. "**CHAOS BLADE**!"

A single hit was all it took. The luster soldier mind as well have not moved at all for the speed he used, charging the dragon before him and slicing its head clean from its shoulders within the span of a few seconds. A black blur was all the knight was, and for a brief moment the dragon stood stock still... And then its head toppled to the ground, tongue lolling out of its limp mouth as its body twitched and jerked. Again the Harpies cries filled the air, all three screeching not of anger but fear as the knight who be-headed their large pet stared them down from Yugi's side once more. The pet dragon had taken a single step forward before collapsing to the ground, blood pooling around the severed neck from cleanly sliced veins as the heart beat just once more before stopping. "Whoa," Katsuya found himself muttering, half asking the monster on the field and half asking Yugi himself. The soldier had merely sheathed his blade, turning to stare at the Harpies from across the field with narrowed eyes as its future targets cried. "Where th' hell did that come from..."

The harpies were panicking... Loud and wailing cries filled the air as they gathered by their fallen pet's head, whips dropped to the ground. All three turned toward Mai from the dragon's corpse, tears running down their faces as they huddled together behind the dragon in a futile attempt to hide. '_**Kowai**_', they screeched, Mai looking at her card for a moment before staring at the field with what looked to be a mix of grief and defeat both. They stared upward, not a single one turning away as they continued to scream. '_**Kowai!**_'

Strange... Katsuya frowned, watching as the woman's eyes shifted from the locations that the Harpies huddled in, as opposed to that of the their cards positioning. The center of the board, where their dragon had fallen... At least two hand-lengths away from the edge, where the cards sat. It was strange... It was as if she could see- Mai's hand was placed calmly on her deck, the crowd staring as she turned her gaze downard for a moment. No draw... It was just there, resting on the deck. The sign of defeat... "I don't want to see my harpies injured," she stated clearly after a few moments of silence from her harpies, her monsters looking up with grateful eyes. With a shot of light the monsters returned to the deck as opposed to misting out of existence, the dragon's body as well vanishing, along with their whips. Katsuya stared as the woman gathered her cards, placing them back on her deck. They hadn't even been taken from the field, the cards were still there and yet... A few moments later, the board cleared completely, monsters gone with no reason to fight any longer and Mai giving her opponent a sad smile. "I lose Yugi... Congratulations."

"...Mai," Yugi began, before also gathering his cards back together. "...Thank you." As the woman blinked, turning on the boy in surprise Yugi continued, nodding slightly. "You made me realize what I was about to lose sight of," he stated, frowning as he stood. "What I can show, but cannot see..."

The woman stared, before smiling yet again with the renewal of the riddle. "Yugi," she stated, pocketing her deck and moving from the board. "You need to know... There's no such thing as an invincible duelist. Everyone has _some _weakness in their hearts, and everyone knows it," she continued matter-of-factly, briefly glancing to those at the side before going on. "They just try to cover it up... 'What you can show but cannot see,'" Mai said, turning to leave the room and walking out of the arena. "Everyone tries to put up a bold cover, a strong front but that in itself can be a weakness... Yugi," she said with a slight frown, turning back from where she was walking toward the door. "There are two ways of losing... There is the loss where everything truly comes to an end," she stated, hands held firmly at her sides, "And then there is the one which merely paves a step on the path to victory. I _will_ become stronger from this loss," the woman continued with a nod, eyes narrowing with determination. "And I'll reach my dream... Just as you will reach yours, understand?"

Yugi nodded, smirking as Mai continued off to leave yet again. As the woman left the door, Yugi's last word could be heard. "Right," he said, standing up to pocket his deck once more. From the sides Anzu and Katsuya charged toward the arena, grins on their faces as their friend turned their way. '_The winner is Mutou Yugi_,' the announcer from the side had called, 'Crocketts' continuing on. '_He advances to the final match!_'

"ALRIGHT!" The two ran forward as Yugi stepped off the stage, Katsuya grinning widely. "Nice job man! We're half-way there!" Now he had to win his match, and they'd be set..!

Anzu as well held a grin, hands again held at her side. "I was worried for a while there," she said, Yugi turning to her as the woman continued. "You seemed pretty tense..."

"We knew you could do it though," Katsuya added, hands in his pockets. "No matter what happened, we knew you'd pull through!"

The boy nodded in response, smiling. "Yea," he said somewhat hesitantly, crossing his arms. "Barely though..." ...He had a point, that was literally a skin-of-the-teeth moment there...

Before the others could answer to that, the sound of solitary clapping came from above. The group turned as Pegasus stood from his chair, the small applause eliciting a scowl from the crowd as opposed to the usual reaction of cheer. "Congratulations Yugi-boy," the man said as he took his seat once more. His guards as well gave subtle nods in response, having also enjoyed the match it would seem. "Good work..! Now..." Pegasus sent a small look down to Crocketts, the man nodding as he stepped forward.

"We will now hold the second duel of the semi-final match," the man called out, bringing a single hand forward to gesture to the stage. At those words Keith moved from the side, stretching slightly before moving forward with a smirk. "Will the duelists Howard Keith and Jonouchi Katsuya please step forward!"

The blond tensed as Yugi turned, the boy giving him a nod. Alright... He had to win this..! "It's time," his friend stated, giving a small nod. "Good luck Jonouchi," he said calmly, moving back to take a seat at the side with Anzu.

Time... "Y-Yeah..." He swallowed, pulling out his deck and walking toward the arena. While he did this, Honda would still be looking around for Seto and Mokuba... Possibly with Bakura's help, though that was probably a long shot... "Here goes then..." Katsuya sighed, taking a deep breath before watching as Keith tossed his feet on the board and kicked back. "What th..." He stared, expression of nervousness quickly replaced with a dumbfounded rage. "OI," he shouted, narrowing his eyes and coming into the arena with a growl. "Get yer feet of th' table!"

"Hn?" The American blinked, arms crossed as he looked back at the teen only to roll his eyes. "Hah! A little baby like you, going to play with me?" A wheezing laugh came over the board, Keith's target narrowing his eyes further as he grew red. Baby? Just wait for it pal... "You really think that a kid like you can beat 'Bandit Keith'..?"

Tch... Nothing but dirty boots on the table and an attitude to match... He couldn't wait to see this guy's face when he lost! "I don' like seein' th' crap on anyone's boots," he growled, holding his anger in place for at least the moment. He said he would duel, and he would do just that... Nothing more, nothing more... His eyes narrowed even more, resembling little more than slits as he clenched his fists. "But yer about as good as th' dogshit you're puttin' on th' table!"

Keith merely laughed, fingering a single card in his hands. "Hahaha! Bottom of my boots ah?" More laughter, the man shaking his head before bringing his shades down to level a narrowed stare to his 'opponent'. "Well whatdya say then 'Joey', how about you lick it off and I'll forfeit the duel!"

Gh! Alright, screw what he'd said before! "Why you-"

"Bandit Keith," Yugi called from the side, arms crossed as he glared. Katsuya froze, turning as well for a moment to listen. "Get your feet off the table... That board is a Duelist's battlefield, not something for you to disgrace so calmly!"

While Yugi seethed however, Keith merely chuckled, much to the others distaste. "Heheheh... Sure it's a battlefield," he called, ignoring the reason why Yugi had called it such in the first place. "But does your pansy-ass friend here have the right to be called a duelist?"

Again Katsuya tensed, turning back and gritting his teeth as Keith flipped his card around to reveal it as an 'Honor of the King's Right' card. "Gh... What did you say..."

Keith smirked, placing his card on the table before moving his arms behind his head. "Remember that," he asked sarcastically, adjusting his legs on the table. "It's the card you need to participate in the tournament..." The card, there were two damn it... "And I'm sure that you need this card to sit at the table too, right... 'Joey'?"

"Tch! My name ain't 'Joey' yah creep," he muttered as he dug into his pockets. Keith's harsh laughter continued to rasp around the room, Katsuya unbuttoning his other pockets to search those as well. "And I've got one of those cards too!" The exact same one actually, he thought with a frown. But really, if every real competitor had had one, he wasn't surprised that Keith had snatched one... Now where was it... He dug further into the jacket, frowning as nothing met his finger tips save dust and lint. What the.. "Oh fuck..." He ripped his jacket off, digging into the pockets fruitlessly as Anzu and Yugi both moved over from the side with frowns. "Sh-Shit! Where the hell is it!"

Yugi and Anzu both watched as the blond continued to mangle the jacket, sharing glances for a short moment. "You didn't lose the card did you," the taller of the two was saying, a frown on her face. Beside her, Yugi was nodding, apparently having thought the same thing.

He swallowed, looking over at them with wide eyes. "No, I..." He winced, slamming his face into the jacket in his hands with a groan. "Damn it, I was positive it was in my jacket pocket!"

Still leaning on his chair, Keith howled with laughter before turning to the suit at the side. "Hey you," he shouted, grinning wickedly as Crocketts looked up from his watch. "No card... That means he can't duel right?" As the man nodded ('_That is correct..._'), he continued to laugh, shaking his head before sending a leer toward Katsuya. "Well damn! Looks like you're about to be disqualified then... Heheheheheh..."

The blond tensed, shaking his head as he brought the jacket down to his sides. "Now hang on jus' a second! I know it's here somewhere..!" He couldn't lose like this..! He had to at least get as far as he could on his own ability, he couldn't just lose his card and...

The laughing continued, Keith tapping his head with the Honor card as he grabbed it from the table. "Well you're shit-outta-luck kid! This game is mine and I didn't do a damn thing! HAHAHA!"

Awful confident about that fact, _Bandit_ Keith... Why did he have a feeling he knew why he was outside his room now? Damn it... "Jonouchi," Yugi called from the side, frowning as the blond turned to him. "Did you drop the card at all?"

He stared, before nodding slowly. Dropped it... He didn't think so but... "Maybe," he decided, frowning as he stared at the ground in thought for a moment. "I just threw th' jacket on th' floor las' night, so... Shit," he muttered, turning to the door. It must have fallen out when he did that... Which meant... "I must've left it in my room!" Katsuya bolted, pushing the doors open as he threw his jacket back on. "You guys stay here," he shouted, jamming his arms through the sleeves and turning back just a moment. "I'm gonna get my card, jus' hang on for a-"

"Five minutes," the man from the side said, Katsuya freezing in place. What... The blond turned, eyes wide as Crocketts held out a flat hand before tapping his watch. "In the event you cannot present the card in five minutes," he continued, expression unreadable behind the sunglasses, "You will be disqualified!"

Katsuya swallowed, before looking back at the door. Oh crap..! "Five min-"

Anzu reeled on the guard, glaring. "That's not fair," she shouted, fists clenched as she voiced the same thoughts Katsuya had held for a moment. "He can't even get to his room and back in that amount of time!"

The man merely shook his head, hand back to his side. "Well _unfortunately_," he said with a frown, likely more for the ignorance to instructions than with pity, "Those are the rules. Five minutes, starting the moment you leave that door," the announcer stated yet again, Katsuya standing by the open door and swallowing. Shit... Shit... "That's all you have."

Shit..! He didn't have enough time to- "Give him _ten_ minutes," came a voice from above, Katsuya swallowing as he looked up at Pegasus yet again. What was this... Mercy, pity? A way to say 'even if you win you're screwed completely?' As the guard stared upward in confusion, Pegasus merely smirked, golden eye gleaming even from behind his hair. "Better to give our young duelist a fair chance after all, wouldn't you say~" Fair chance... Though the words and expression seemed to initially be filled with careless mirth, Katsuya felt himself grow cold with the stare. A voice... Somehow, in the back of his mind he could hear...

'_I know you have it..._'

He snapped himself from his thoughts, the announcer's now re-established time of 'ten minutes' echoing through his head as he bolted from the room. Don't pay the voice any mind... The clock was ticking, he needed to move! Ten minutes... Ten minutes, and his room was on the other damn side of the building! Damn it... Katsuya grit his teeth, mentally recalling the route he and the others had taken to get there. Damn it! He bolted past the halls, vases of every flower known to man blurring beside him. Roses, daffodils, lillies, damn it stop paying attention to those, he told himself with a snarl, paying the nearby vase of snapdragons no mind as he continued to run. Briefly he thought he saw a shadow on the side, but he ignored it... Just a shadow, probably nothing... Another moment more and he'd burst through the next hall door, coming to the five rooms that he and the others had used the night before. He couldn't stop... He'd come this far...

He couldn't give up now! The door to his room was thrown open, Katsuya searching the area in a complete frenzy. The blanket was ripped from the bed, sheets following after. The pillow and case were both searched, floor scoured as he crawled beneath the bed for even a hint of the card. Where... Where! Not on the bed... Not in the bed either, nor was it on the floor. The card wasn't anywhere in his deck, wasn't in the side table, wasn't in the bathroom, wasn't by the coat rack...

Wide eyes looked over the room, the sight now reminiscent of what his old apartment looked like after his father had a late night. Tattered, shredded... And completely hopeless"No... No no NO! AUGH!" It wasn't here! Katsuya turned his eyes from the sight, panicked gaze moving back to where he'd come from. It wasn't there..! He ran from the room, racing to get back to the duel arena. He still had a time limit... He wouldn't run but... The blond grit his teeth, wincing as he again passed vase after vase and dozens of portraits in a blur. There had to be a way... Some way to make it through, he... ...He...

"Gah-hah... Hah... Hah..." Katsuya's pace slowed as he made his way back through the hall, hand on the wall just moments before collapsing to his knees. "Hah... D... Damn it," he muttered under his breath, hand still brushing against the side of the wall as he sat there. He'd come this far... He'd won those matches, and even if it was just luck... Just luck... Damn it..! '_Did you ever think,_' he recalled Honda saying, back in the crypt-caverns of Mei and Kyuu's labyrinth. '_That since you came to this island you were wasting the rest of your life's luck?_' But that couldn't be it... Life wouldn't be that terrible, it wouldn't... "Damn it... Damn it!" The blond pounded a fist against the side of the wall, shaking as he bowed his head. The resounding thud was answered in silence, and his hand fell to the ground softly as tears followed after. "I'm sorry," he muttered under his breath, oblivious to the sound of soft footsteps behind him. "I'm sorry... Mokuba, Seto-chan... I couldn't-" He gripped his head, screaming as his eyes continued water. Hopeless... He'd come so far and now... "DAMN IT! Why... WHY!" Fingers dug into his head, clutching his hair tightly as he continued to rage to no one but himself. "How the hell could I be such an idiot! How could I... I..." Grip slackening his hands fell to the ground as his head followed in misery, before a voice came from behind.

"Stand up, Jonouchi." The blond tensed, head raising just slightly. Mai's familiar voice had sounded over the room, and given the lack of anything else she was probably just standing there. Silence... A few seconds of time passed, and again Mai shouted at him. "I said _STAND UP!_" He turned his head, gritting his teeth at the woman's seeming scowl. What was she doing here... Why... "Save your tears for if you lose the duel," she said with a growl, her target merely turning away in response.

"Gh..." Always... Ever since they got to this island... What the hell was with Mai and following them... "Don't look at me," he bit out, wiping his eyes and pulling himself up to his knees. He wasn't in the mood to be laughed at... Don't look at him...

The woman behind him merely huffed, walking around to kneel down herself. "Hmp," she snorted, ignoring the confused frown that Katsuya was giving and continuing. "If you don't want to be seen, don't collapse outside my bedroom!" Bedroom? Katsuya wiped his face again, still red and tear-stained as Mai handed him something. "Here," she said quietly, the teen taking the handkerchief with a light frown as he sat up more. "Use this for your face alright..."

What... He stood up, looking at the fabric before staring at Mai. "This..." The blond held the folded handkerchief, looking at it a moment before turning back. "It's already..." Mai smiled, shaking her head with the same sad smile in place.

This was... Already wet... "Anzu told me about Mokuba," she said quietly, turning away from the blond. Yea... She'd told him that... Before he could say he already knew however, she continued on. "But that's not the only reason I want you to fight... She's very good with her disguise," the woman said with a light smirk, her eyes betraying the emotion far too much to fool Katsuya for the moment. She- Wait... "But I know a woman's face when I see one..." What... As Katsuya frowned, looking to Mai with narrowed eyes, the woman went still on. "Jonouchi," she said, shouldering the bag and jacket she had grabbed from her room with a small sigh. "I might not know much about this 'Seto-chan' of yours," she began, Katsuya groing tense as he realized just who she was talking about. "But you shouldn't give up on your goals so easily..." He stared, eyes wide as the woman began to walk away in the opposite direction. 'Seto-chan'... She... She knew that she was a... How did she... "Those tears you shed for your friends," she asked, Katsuya staring in silence as the woman again stopped walking for a brief moment. "For 'Mokuba' and his sister... I hope it shines with the same light I saw on the field against Yugi."

She knew... But how did she find out that... Katsuya frowned as he tightened his grip on the cloth in his hand, feeling something stiff along the side. There was something in this handkerchief... Something flat... The blond looked back down at it, slowly unfolding the covers. Eyes narrowed, before widening again as the familiar image of a pile of gold on a card met his face. "Th' Honor of th' King's Right..." He turned back to Mai, eyes wide as the woman stopped in her tracks. "This is th' qualification card..."

Mai gave a sad shrug, turning her head back to face the teen. "I don't need it anymore," she stated plainly, shaking her head with a small smile. "And if I heard right, then you sister has a better use for that money than I do... I'll manage without, like I did before."

"Mai..." He stared, shaking his head. "You..." She knew about that as well..? "Why did y' do this for me..."

She blinked, before shrugging yet again. "Why," she asked, before shaking her head. "Because we're friends, you moron!" Friends... The woman jerked her head down the hall, shaking her head once more as the smile grew. "Now get going," she shouted, adjusting her bag yet again as she moved back toward her room. "You have a duel to win, there's no time to talk!" As he stared for a few more moments with wide eyes, Mai again gestured down the hall. "Go on," she continued, Katsuya gripping the card tight in his hands with the handkerchief. Mai rolled her eyes, turning around "Run!" He tensed, before nodding. Right... Ten minutes ten minutes... "And Jonouchi," the woman shouted, Katsuya briefly pausing in his charge back through the hall. They stared a few moments, before Mai finally smirked and gave him a wink. "You better win, 'boy'..."

He nodded, turning again with the card gripped tightly in his hands. "I will," he shouted, charging back down the hall as fast as possible. Friends... That was the reason... He had a second shot at this now, but he needed to get there on time... He needed to win... He steeled himself, bolting down the final stretch of the hall and throwing the doors open to walk in. '_Jonouchi_,' Yugi shouted, Anzu jumping from her place on the bench with a look of relief. At the side Keith was jerking from his chair while Crocketts stared at his watch. Briefly, his eyes flicked upwards, catching a small smirk on Pegasus' face... In the end he turned his attention back to his friends for a brief moment. '_You made it!_'

The blond said nothing, merely nodding as he made his way to the arena. He had to get this over with... Win this duel and then face whatever happened after! "Here's th' card," he said loudly, holding it in the announcer's face as the man looked over his watch. The handkerchief was stuffed back in his pocket, and the card shimmered in the light just dully. "Y' satisfied now?"

The announcer nodded, swallowing as he stared at his watch. "Y-Yes... Of course," he muttered, bowing his head before gesturing back to the table. "...Th...That was ten minutes exactly, you're safe!"

Again the blond nodded, turning his gaze on Keith. "Good," he said bluntly, watching as Keith stared at him with wide and shocked eyes. Keith was otherwise not moving an inch... Bastard still had his feet on the table... "Hey," the blond shouted, Keith flinching just slightly as the blond stood at the side of the board. "Get yer feet off th' table!"

Keith glowered, reluctantly moving his feet to the side and brushing the dirt off his half of the field with a glare. "Fucking little shit..." He snorted, pulling out his deck and slamming it on the table. Katsuya said nothing in response, merely ignoring the man. "Looks like we have to duel anyways... But here's a warning kid," he said with a crocodile's grin. "The moment you sit down, I'm going to show you a living hell!"

His gaze still didn't change, the blond taking his seat at the table and placing his deck at the side. Living hell huh... "Then I'll jus' have t' beat you in Hell, won't I," he bit out, before the announcer's voice from the side came over the air.

"The Second Semi-Final Match, Howard Keith VS Jonouchi Katsuya..." He raised his hand, the two opponents staring the other down before they heard the words needed to spark the first play. "Begin the duel!"

With a nod they did just that, each player drawing his hand. One, two, three... Five cards. "Here I go," Katsuya said with a frown, gathering his hand only to squint slightly at the cards. Each card... Each card's image had suddenly become somewhat different... He couldn't tell how though, what was it... Almost a glint in the monster's eyes...

"I get to go first," Keith shouted, pulling the blond from his thoughts. He frowned as the American slapped his first card on the board, Keith grinning madly as his card took effect. "Pendulum Machine, Defense mode! ...Get ready punk," he shouted, opponent blinking to hide back any surprise at the appearance of a small stone tablet on the board. Metal arms tore from the image revealed across it, pieces of rock rubble falling to the ground. The machine on the board gave a harsh grinding screech as gears clicked, an enormous axe swinging from its middle only to lodge itself into a deep gash on the board. "I'm playing a machine deck," the man continued, "And against the former U.S. Champion, you don't stand a chance!"

Former eh? He smirked, despite the challenge that even 'former' posed for him. "Hah! 'Former Champion'," he repeated, drawing his card for his turn. Ignore the 'tablets'... It was probably nothing, hell, the spell cards showed up as tablets didn't they? "You're just some rock-bottom asshole who's fallen as low as he can possibly get..." Low enough to lock them all in a cave with next to no shot at getting out, enough to laugh at even the duel the night before...

Cheers were coming from the side, lightening the mood he had just slightly. '_Don't worry Jonouchi_,' Anzu was shouting loudly, Katsuya dully watching as the board appeared to gain a dark shadow over it as he listened. '_You can do this! You're not an amateur anymore!_' Amateur... That's right... He wasn't an amateur, and Keith wasn't a champion any more, just as the American himself had said! Watch him, he thought, eyes narrowed as he looked over his hand. He was gonna beat Keith into a figurative pulp and then maybe get to the real version afterward... He'd win this battle with his own strength...

No matter what!

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**AN: **Stone tablets? LIKE EGYPTIAN STONE TABLETS USAGI? Hmmmmm...

And another chapter bites the dust guys! We're getting close... And people are finding things out too quick for Kaiba's comfort! (And she's not even conscious. DANG.) Little bit of a spoiler-esque note though, but Mai is the last person to find anything out for a _long_ time... At least two and a half 'arcs'. (Namely Christmas, Legendary Heroes/Stuff Before Battle City, and Battle City itself.) More on that below~

So I did some more age searching... Mostly because I had guessed Mai to be around 22. ... Not only was I wrong, I _under estimated_ her age; Mai is 24 guys, and recently so... Her birthday is November 20th. (Mai is one of the characters whose ages were actually listed officially. Keith and Pegasus were among the number as well; Keith is OLDER than Pegasus!) Hnn... Guess she's in dueling as a permanent career then! (That or she has a part-time job somewhere...) Anyways. Thinking of expanding a bit on some story for Mai, but at the same time, I don't want to necessarily do something that will have all of you saying '_But Usagi! USAGI THAT'S NOT EVEN REMOTELY CANON!_' ...As opposed to me being creative with Kaiba's dad and mom. (Because I would literally have no basis this time.) You let me know on that!

Iiiiiin other news, I'm working on a large scale art thing for this as I apply for jobs and wait for the phone to ring... If you've ever seen the end credits to 'Durarara', you'll get an idea of what I'm doing... (Hehehe.)

I'd put the Poll results here, but they're **still unchanged**! BAWWW.

So instead it's time to respond to the reviews!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hello Iona! As with last time, responding to both reviews at once here! You say material? _And there will be more_~~

Pegasus is a big big big jerk… Though it's implied in the manga (I need to watch the anime more so I can compare) that this is because the eye is that evil. I wouldn't put it past it, that eye mutated into a giant eldritch abomination… Hihhh!

Lots and lots of angst in that chapter, that's for sure… And I _should_ say it's futile with what happened shortly after! You cannot fight it Jou~ You cannot…

You gotta love magical comas. What would we do without them! On to the news of Christmas, it's a bit of both with some added '_Awwwwww~'_… Not saying more on that, though I can tell you that the 'something humorous' will likely end up involving the aforementioned nabe full of oden. Hehehe…

And holy crap! My creepy shadowy eye is worthy of Freddy? YESSSS. Oddly enough, that wasn't so much Pegasus as his eye doing its job… As the eyeball said, '_There was a piece missing…_' And… Well, it was supposed to lock up the entire soul really. Of course, personifying that alone could be the stuff of nightmares... (I should draw it now.)

Oh Bandit Keith… He'll get whats coming! Back on track, they do need their own show… But what to name it…

I like putting little things like that, along with emotions in really… As you said, it makes things interesting. I still have no clue what's with Pegasus budget though! It's like… '_Well, it's only a few days so we can manage…_' Noooo Pegasus… Nooooooo… GERMS EVERYWHERE.

As you said- see you next time!

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that wonders if it scared the reviewers away with the misery chapter... And everyone else with the last one. -shivershivershiver-

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The title of this chapter is based on the heavy amount of myth behind the Harpy Ladies; fun fact guys, but late greek myth specifically had three harpies, all of them sisters... They had another sister however; Iris, the greek personification of the rainbow. Iris was a messenger to the Gods, and was said to travel with the speed of the wind itself; appropriate, given that her husband was the west wind (Not to mention her brother... Yea. Greek Myths.), and her sisters the Harpies were originally meant to represent the general fierceness of the winds. In any case...

Interesting story; in Greek myth, the harpies were sent by Zeus to torment a blind man who had apparently ticked him off (This seems to be a trend, pissing off the gods...), stealing his food. (Harpy came from the Greek word 'Harpuia', to snatch) What they couldn't steal they'd just ruin... Anyways, the Boreads (Sons of the north winds), who were part of the Argonauts that Jason led around at this time stopped by the island and ended up putting a stop to this. However, at the request of Iris, they merely scared the Harpies off before saving the poor guy.

Anyways. Summary? Mai stopped the duel because she didn't want her Harpies hurt, similar to how Iris specifically requested that her sisters, the harpies, remain unharmed.

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Continuing from where we left off, Mai was about to play 'Shadow of the Eyes' in response to Yugi summoning Dark Magician! And here's a bit of news for you…

'Pheromones' aren't just for romance guys; when Mai says that they were spurring _attack_ responses, she isn't joking. Pheromones can be used for anything from alarm to territory marking, and spurring an opponent into an attack is one of those skills. Specifically, these pheromones are meant to spur aggression, and _only_ aggression. Otherwise stranger things would happen on that board... Much stranger things...

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Some good news for Jonouchi; things like Crush Card and Shadow of the Eyes only affect him for a _short_ amount of time. So by the time Catapult Turtle comes out, it's worn off… Which means his already easily triggered temper (Though a little less easy now than in Canon I find) is no longer being spurred on by the pheromones. (What with the pheromones targeting more than just one 'species' in terms of duel monster… That would be why they held an effect to begin with.) As it is, the main reason why the normally otherwise volatile temper is toned down without that extra push is because of the depressing mood of about everything else… Ironically, that bit of 'Shadow of the Eyes' has probably given Jou there just what he needs to get going in his next duel!

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Obviously a little bit of slight OOC on Jou's part during the Shadow of the Eyes... What with all the little things that bug him being pulled to the front of his brain. (I almost wonder if the pheromones put to use just give a rush of testosterone...)

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I'm sorry…

_HAREM OF HELL_? Damn it Mai. (Yea, that was the actual line in the manga)

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Originally in the manga, Yugi says '_to my hand_' when referring to 'Monster Return's effect. But not only does he clearly put the cards in his deck, but… Well, you can't really shuffle a hand, there's no point. Not to mention the 'draw five cards' part…

* * *

The lines have been switched around; Jonouchi has Anzu's line about the Harpies while Anzu has Jonouchi's line of '_Don't give up_!' Why? Because Jonouchi literally has a front row seat to the Harpy's more… Questionable actions. So he's more likely to comment on it (Especially since he _already has_, during his own match against Mai.).

* * *

Science? _WHAT SCIENCE_? The reason why the pheromones supposedly work against Mai when the Elf comes into play is because they're meant to be _sex _oriented… But the only ones that do that are… Well… Sex pheromones. As in, ones that would have had Dark Magician charging that Harpy Lady with a little something other than 'anger' if you catch my drift. But in the manga, the pheromones specifically target the male monsters… And make them _aggressive_.

Maybe the effects are just duller on women? After all, a good number of pheromones are slightly less effective on the same sex depending on the intent… Still…

* * *

Damn it Mai. You did it again. '_Ecstasy_ spark'? AAUGH.

* * *

In the manga (And presumably the anime), Mai mentions 'off hand' that she's not sure what to do with the money… In the fanfic however, she's more than aware of the soul stealing antics going on so she's not too eager anymore... Hence why she looked over at Jonouchi; if Anzu told her about the stakes, I wouldn't be surprised if Mai was willing to do a little more in terms of helping. Back to the manga by the way, but her harpies turn to her as if to give their own suggestion when she asks…

* * *

Interesting thing; though Yugi uses Kuriboh rather obviously during this duel, Pegasus still seems _very_ surprised when it appears during their own match, despite the man having watched the duel shortly before it! In fact, he actually says this: '_SOMEONE ACTUALLY USES THAT CARD!_

'

You know a card is underestimated/BAD when the _creator of the game_ says that…

* * *

Speaking of Pegasus, he can guess just from that move that Yugi's going to try and summon the Black Luster Soldier. HAH! That's interesting... Granted, he _did_ create the game...

* * *

When Mai gives her last reminder, she says the swords will disappear in _three_ turns… Even though there's only one left. Bwah?

* * *

Earlier in the chapter, Jonouchi really _does_ hear the Harpies shouting 'Kawaii!'; the word is the adjective 'cute', and… Is quite likely something that the harpies would actually call something as tiny as Kuriboh. (Technically they say more than this, but Jonouchi can't hear all that through their screeches/the sounds of reality.)

In contrast, I would bet that after seeing their giant pet dragon so easily dispatched, 'Kowai', or 'scary' would be_ exactly_ their thoughts on the Black Luster Soldier after it be-heads their pet dragon.

* * *

Speaking of the Harpies, Mai really does seem to be able to connect with those monsters interestingly enough… Besides what was mentioned above, shortly after that move she looks at the panicking harpies and ponders how with one more move, she could have had Yugi completely… And then forfeits with that exact line, knowing that she won't be getting back from that fall. I kept the scene, as quite honestly it says a lot… But similar to Kaiba, the harpies will quite likely remain the only monsters she ever sees.

* * *

For the 'time limit' scene, I increased the limit that Crocketts ends up giving in the end; due to Mai and Jonouchi's conversation, it was likely to go over the five minute line. More on that scene, but during Mai and Yugi's duel it almost seems as though Pegasus has some sort of creepy telepathy using the eye... Hihhh!

* * *

Speaking of the conversation between the two, in the manga Mai encounters Jonouchi outside the arena room… From the door. Did she originally go in there and not find him within those five minutes..? Who knows, but that's why I moved it to her own room; she has to get her things sometime after all!

* * *

I appear to have accidentally given Pegasus a thing for flowers... Even though we only see a few scenes with vases in the entire Duelist Kingdom.

* * *

The shadow Jonouchi passed? Bakura, Honda, and Mokuba's body. Honda half succeeded the night before, and ended up getting himself saved by 'Yami Bakura'; differences in the fanfic? Mokuba was being kept in a bedroom somewhere, and the guards were about to call Honda in rather than simply tossing him into a 'near by cell', as they obviously didn't have a cell 'on hand', and if they dragged him off then 'history' so to speak would end up repeating.

* * *

Keith and Jonouchi's line on Hell is almost reminiscent of the 'Insult Swordplay' from Monkey island… Ahhh Monkey Island… Seriously though. '_I'm gonna show you a living hell_!', followed by... '_Then I'll **beat you** in hell!_'

Also if you didn't guess… Due to the current system of 'element beats element' or whatever (Battle Ox overpowers Flame Swordsman due to being earth vs fire? I dunno anymore..), Keith's deck has a… Pretty… Heavy advantage over Jonouchi's.

* * *

Now, this next note happened before the last two points, but it's a fairly long one and I wanted to save the best for last. How did Mai find out that Kaiba was a girl? (For those who didn't guess themselves…)

Well, here are the facts that Mai had; First, Jonouchi mentions a 'Seto-chan' at one point during their duel, and before that mentioned being there for 'three people'. Process of elimination later on with Anzu says that one was Mokuba, and the other was Yugi's Grandfather. _Questioning_ Anzu on the 'third' option had Anzu herself confused however, as she didn't think Shizuka was in any immediate danger, and there was no one else in any danger as well (Besides Kaiba) that Anzu could think of.

Later on, she finds out that 'Seto-chan' means at least _something_ to Jonouchi (she gauges his reaction to the question on the night they camp out.)… But that obviously still isn't enough to connect the dots, though she finds out later that evening that Mokuba and 'Kaiba' are 'brothers'…And that Jonouchi is apparently gunning for the castle for Mokuba.

Also, she _definitely_ catches the slips between 'Se' and 'Kaiba'.

After that (Still not sure after all!), there's the soul-snatching duel; when she talks to Anzu about who Mokuba is, Anzu mentions Kaiba's first name to tell Mai just who 'he' is… Namely 'the' Seto Kaiba. Between this, Jonouchi's completely defeated reaction to Kaiba's loss, and the fact that Jonouchi stays at their house and counted 'three people' to save (What with Jonouchi having brought up the coma in the conversation Mai was present at)…

Along with her own intuition (If you look really hard at FemKaiba's face in my drawings, you'll notice that I'm consciously trying to give her a 'fem' face.) about appearance… She comes to the conclusion fairly quick. Helps that she herself knows a bit about pulling the wool over people's eyes using appearance, though obviously not in the same way- there's no doubt that Mai uses her appearance to entice a 'deal' between guys for what she wants after all… Ryuzaki can attest to that!

* * *

And that's all for this chapter!

Next up... Jonouchi VS Keith! See you next chapter everyone!


	38. Chapter 37

**Mas Ex Machina**

* * *

The table certainly looked different up close for the duel as opposed to from the side when he'd been watching Yugi and Mai face off. Maybe it was just him... Maybe it was the duel starting up, some sort of effect played out by the arena itself. Maybe it was Pegasus' creepy gold eye looking down on them from above, or hell, even the machine that Keith summoned to the field, its black smoke seeping over the field ground. Who the hell knew really; all he knew was that suddenly, everything around the arena seemed a heck of a lot darker than it had outside, as though a curtain of tinted black had been pulled over the entire room. Nonetheless...

Staring him down from the opposite end of the field was the 'living' 'Pendulum Machine', and regardless of what was at fault he found himself wondering about the 'living monsters' theory yet again. The machine stood with long, slim arms, bent at the elbows as its axe bit deep into the table. How it could do that without affecting 'reality', or without attracting the attention of anyone else he wasn't sure but... He decided not to think much about that, instead taking the first monster in his hand. Pendulum Machine was in defense mode... He had a monster that could beat it, but he needed to get to Keith's lifepoints as fast as possible... "Here I go then," he said almost to himself. The blond gave a slight, 'reassuring' nod, placing the card on the table and watching as a stone tablet appeared to hover above it momentarily. "My turn; I play Kung Fu Fighter Ultimator in defense mode!" From before the stone tablet misted his light footed warrior, armored fists slamming against each other as the man gave a rough grunt of enthusiasm for being the first summoned to the field. Enthusiasm quickly faded with the sight of Pendulum however, the man looking up at the machine across from him briefly before setting his head back down to the ground and taking a crouched position.

Yea... He mentally winced, ending his turn. That would be about his reaction to being set up for a fall too. (Sorry...) Across from him Keith roared with laughter at the sight of the weak monster, drawing the card for his own turn. "Fuck! That card's not even worth beating!" Yea yea yea shut up. This was the one that beat Kotsuzuka after all... It was worth something! "You have to be kidding me," the American said under his breath with a grin, before moving his monster into attack mode. "Pendulum Machine," he called, the monster below standing erect on its arms at the order. Keith's grin grew, and with a single point sent the monster forward. "Turn him into dog food!" With a whirring 'nod' from it's 'head' the machine moved forward into attack mode, Ultimator watching motionlessly with a nervous swallow. Closer.. Closer... The blade swung back and forth, a thick straight line moving from one end of the field to the other as it moved. Closer... The sounds of grating metal and wood could be heard, the table going up into splinters and wood dust as sparks flew from the gears holding the axe in place. Closer...

Abruptly, one of the arms snapped, grabbing Ultimator roughly to hold him in place. The man swallowed, pulled from his feet but otherwise holding silent in the face of the cold and emotionless machine's 'eyes'. He needed the monster in attack mode... The monster knew that was why he was there, and for that reason would accept what came. Watching as Pendulum stood erect on one leg, bringing the axe forward the blond shut his eyes. One quick shout of terror from Ultimator was all that could be heard before the swish of an axe and the sound of two halves of the a man's body coming to the ground met his ears. Blood spattered to the ground, staining metal of Pendulum's axe with bits of organ and bone. The Ultimator's body was now sitting across the board in pieces, each bit melting away to join the smoke that his executioner left on the field. Pendulum Machine was returning to the other side of the board, taking its more erect position as it waited for its next order. "Hurry the fuck up," Keith shouted angrily, Katsuya opening his eyes and jumping slightly in response. "It's your turn!"

He grit his teeth, a quick glance at the bottom at least telling him that Ultimator's corpse was thankfully long gone. Blood still dripped from Pendulum's axe but... He paid it no mind, instead focusing on Keith himself. "I know that," he shouted, drawing his card. Now then... "I play Gilta, the Dark Knight!" Another tablet appeared on the field, the robed and armed spear-man coming into play with a calm glare before standing confidently before his opponent. "His 'soul spear' can kill you in one shot," the blond bragged, Gilta spinning his spear idly before holding it forward with a nod. Course, 'one shot' was really all the monsters could do when it came to fighting... Eh, whatever. "So get ready!" The tip of the staff glowed, and as Gilta pointed it forward the machine across the board waited for the inevitable, standing in the same position it had since the end of the last turn. The beam continued to charge... "**SOUL SPEAR**!" The ray of light shot forward, cutting a path through the field as it followed Pendulum's large crack in the board. Curving just slightly as it honed in on its target it flew, smoke clearing from its path as Gilta pulled his spear back to his side. The light struck dead on, hitting the joints of the axe and sending sparks flying across the field. But in the end... The monster continued to stand there. "What..." He tensed, watching as the magic merely washed over the machine to seep into the air around them, light fading away into the darkness as Gilta also stared at the monster incredulously. "The attack didn't work..?"

"HAHAHAHAHAHA!" Keith leaned back in his chair, grin still in place as he looked across the board. Laugh a little louder why wouldn't he... "My machine deck monsters are equipped with full-metal, anti-magic armor," he shouted, Katsuya tensing as he continued. 'Anti-magic'? Aw hell, wasn't that just great... "Magic attacks won't do jack-shit against them punk!" Ffffff shit... That wasn't good... "Now it's my turn," Keith shouted, placing another card on the field. He'd already made his draw after all... The next tablet appeared, a large arachnid appearing on its surface before beginning to crumble. This time the tablet broke forth to reveal a large four legged metal spider, two massive missile launchers attached to its back. Multiple beady sensor eyes stared blankly across the board, the spider taking a single step to steady itself before becoming completely motionless. "Land-Based, Ironclad TM-1 Launcher Spider!" ...So... The launcher spider then? Katsuya had little time to think over specifics, the blond swallowing as the launchers on the spider's back rose slightly to aim toward Gilta. Aw hell, that looked like it would hurt... And given Gilta's own wince, the warrior knew it as well. "Take aim and kill him," Keith ordered, a series of shots firing through the air. Multiple missiles fired from the launchers, each one rising in the air with a trail of white smoke before honing in on their target. Though Gilta did his best to hold them at bay with a make-shift shield, he could only do so much... And in the resulting explosion nothing could be seen, and not a sound could be heard... White smoke and clouds of grew dust filled the air, clouding his side of the field from view. But even if he had been without the life point counter's steady beep, or Keith's shouts, he already knew the result. "HAH," his opponent shouted, adjusting his sunglasses as the grin on his face grew. "Gilta's long gone!" The man leaned back on his chair, Katsuya scowling as he kicked the blond's feet away from his legs. "Hehehehehe... You're no match for me you little fuck- learn that!"

Tch... He grit his teeth, looking over the field. How about he learn to shut the hell up... Shit though... 2200 attack on that spider... He'd already been put on the defensive then! "...My turn again," he said with a frown, ignoring the blank stares received from Keith's machines. Both Pendulum and Launcher Spider both remained motionless after the last attack, the only thing moving on the dust ridden field being Pendulum's slowly swinging axe. Sheesh... Talk about soulless... (Don't think about souls...) Drawing a card, he looked over his hand once again only to frown at the sight. Alright... Bad draw. Shit... None of his cards had enough attack points, least not the ones who used a sword or an axe or anything... Even so, he decided with a mental nod, adding the card to his hand. He at least had Kunai-with-chain here... Not to mention _this_ particular trap... "Okay," he decided, taking the card and placing it on the board. "Here goes... I play one card face down," the blond announced, watching as a blank tablet appeared on the field in the card's stead. Sometime soon, he was going to figure out what the hell that was about. He really was. "And then," he continued, placing another on the board as he pushed the thought from mind, "I play Axe Raider in defense mode!"

Axe Raider was quick to appear from his tablet, the man stepping out just as quick as the stone appeared on the board. Masked face looked down the field blankly, before with a shrug he swung his axe into the ground and took a seat. One quick look at the machines had been enough to tell him that nothing he did would defend him against them it seemed, but this apparently didn't bug the man... If anything, he was surprisingly relaxed about it. "Psh..." Keith snorted from across the table, drawing his next card as it came to his turn. "That kind of card in your deck... How the hell did a moron like you make it here?" Grgg... Shut the hell up for once why wouldn't he... '_Those kind of cards_', what the hell was he on? Keith continued to laugh, before taking one of the cards in his hand and placing it on the table. "I'll put a card face down too," he said with a smirk, taking another one. "And then... I'll play this in defense mode! Take that," he shouted, a large demonic monster appearing on the board with a snarl. Even crouched down the monster looked menacing, large leathery wings forming from his brow, lipless mouth gnashing its teeth at the empty board across from it. Fearsome and black claws sat at the end of each fingertip, and as it looked forward a loud and hissing growl came across the field. "The deadly Devil Zoa!" As the monster gave out a fearsome roar with its announced name Keith crossed his arms, leaning back on his chair and giving a dismissive nod. "I'm done," he shouted, shrugging his shoulders. Nothing else to do when the other monster was in defense apparently. "Your turn, brat!"

Gh... He grit his teeth at the comment, his Axe Raider merely snorting at the words. Well... At least he wasn't calling him a dog or anything... He swallowed, narrowing his eyes as he drew his next card. 1900 defense... It had high attack, but now that it was in defense mode he had a shot at at least getting rid of one of Keith's monsters. God that thing was muscly though... He looked over his hand, smirking before looking back over the table. Alright... Just the draw he needed for this! He could do this... He would do this! "I play Flame Swordsman," he shouted, the tablet that appeared on the board releasing a flurry of flames as his monster stepped out. Flames continued to wrap around the tablet, before dying down to reveal a man garbed in orange armor and blue robes. The swordsman hoisted his blade on his shoulders, staring down the Devil Zoa with narrowed eyes before sharing a look with the Axe Raider at the side. "And then," Katsuya continued, taking another card and setting it on the field as he took his eyes away from the burned tablet on the field. "The spell card, Salamandra!" His swordsman's attack shot up as the second tablet appeared, image of the flaming serpent appearing on it's image. The dragon shot from the tablet, its former home grinding into a flaming dust that wrapped itself around the blade along with the dragon itself. Of course, with this upgrade it would mean the Flame Swordsman would have to attack with magic... Which meant a no go against the machines... But Zoa wasn't a machine, he thought with a smirk, giving a nod to his swordsman below. And even if he couldn't attack the machines, getting rid of Devil Zoa would still mean he could focus his efforts on the Spider! "Go Flame Swordsman," he shouted, the monster raising his blade as 'Salamandra' appeared from around it once more. "Attack Zoa!"

The flaming dragon shot from around the blade, Keith merely snickering across from him as the dragon charged toward Zoa. "Hehehe... Fucking idiot," he called out, moving to flip his card over on the field. What? "Trap Card activate," he shouted, the tablet above it turning around to reveal the image of metal armor. "Metalmorph!" The card ground itself to dust, leaving nothing but a shining steel armor that rose high above the demon with a loud clang. "Zoa turns into metal," Keith was calling, Katsuya mentally wishing he could just shut the man up for a moment. He could see damn well what was going on on the board... Perfectly well... Zoa screamed as screws dug into its body, pieces of metal raining down from the pile above to replace its muscles. Large thick wings were replaced with steel spikes, legs and arms becoming nothing more than nuts and bolts. The roars continued, Zoa turning toward its master with narrowed and angered eyes before finally a helmet cut his shouts off. Locking around its skull the helm sat, and for just a moment the demon stood motionless there. Arms hanging limply at its sides, armor gleaming in the florescent light of the room... Finally, with the same uniform silence from before, the beast crouched down, looking across the board with the same soulless stare of the machines beside it. And as the 'transformation finished, Keith continued still on. "It's attack and defense go up," he was saying, opponent merely swallowing at the sight. He figured... But...

Shit... If he guessed right... The flames searing toward the demon recoiled from Zoa's now metal form, Katsuya biting his lip. Shit... 'Anti-Magic' armor! That wasn't all though he realized, watching as the rebounded flames shot directly toward his monster. "Wait," he shouted, eyes wide as his swordsman found his own weapon turning against him. "It's sent back to my monsters too!" The other monsters didn't do that... What the hell was this about then!

Keith merely chuckled, dark grin still in place as the Flame Swordsman continued to fight off the now rabid Salamandra. "Hehehe... And that's not all," he said as the flames finally struck its original summoner, the monster quickly covered in by a blaze of fire. "The deflected magic strikes back with MetalZoa's attack points! HAHAHA!" As laughter came from Keith's side of the board, Flame Swordsman's tortured screams filled the air as well. Nothing much could be made out from the figure in the flames... Cloth burned away, as did chunks of skin before the person inside collapsed to the ground. '_Flame Swordsman is killed by his own attack_,' Keith was shouting, the swordsman's master in question biting his lip. The body remained there for only a moment, flames dying down to reveal a blackened, charred body that was beyond recognition. The smell of burning flesh hit his nostrils, and Katsuya swallowed back what little bit of soup he'd gotten the night before. Damn it... Damn it! "HAHAHAHA! You really are a fucking moron, aren't you '_Joey_'," he said with a grin. Stop calling him 'Joey' god damn it! "A top-notch, grade A _dumbass_!" Shut up!

His laughter continued to fill the air as the corpse before him vanished into a pile of ash in the smoking field below, shouts from the side filling his ears as well. '_Jonouchi,_' they were shouting, the rest fading out into the background. Damn it... Damn it... And it was still this asshole's turn too! "Hehehe... Ain't this a shame," his opponent was saying as he drew his card. "You summon one of your more powerful pieces of shit and I get rid of it just like that! Hehehehehe..." God... Damned... Errgh... At least he still had his defense monster to hold off the sp- "I win kid," he said loudly, Katsuya tensing with the words. What the hell? What did he mean, '_I win_', he wasn't gone yet! Unless... ...There was that one card that he'd put in Kotsuzuka's deck, the one that... "I know you're defending with that Axe Raider there," Keith 'explained', chuckling darkly as the blond across from him swallowed. Shit... Not that one not that one not... God damn it. "But what if I play... STOP DEFENSE!" AW FUCK NO. Keith roared with laughter, the Axe Raider on the ground grabbing his axe from the side but otherwise not moving. Not quite an attack stance, but given how relaxed the warrior was getting to be about this... He wasn't too surprised when the man merely stood up and used his axe as a prop for his arm. Not much he could do when Keith was shouting '_MetalZoa strikes!_', and he only had a little over half the attack heading his way after all. Even so... "It's game over kid!" Not as though he didn't have something waiting... MetalZoa charged from its side of the field, regulated and mechanized gait taking it toward the center in just a few bounds...

Bullseye. Katsuya's face broke into a smirk, his Axe Raider crossing his arms rather smugly as the center of the field opened beneath MetalZoa's feet. '_WHAT_,' his opponent was shouting, the blond merely flipping his card over as the 'blank tablet' he'd put up ground itself away. "Hehehe... Ta-daaah," he called, holding the card up for Keith to see, ignoring the strangled crunch of metal as spikes skewered their target at the bottom of the hole. "Think again! You jus' fell inteh th' chasm of spikes!" The card was placed back on the table, sighs and shouts of relief coming from the side. Hehehe... He could lay a trap too after all... And with that move, Keith could say good-bye to a quarter of Zoa's points... Not to mention the monster! "Hey Keith," he said with a grin, watching the American seethe across from him as his monster fell to pieces. In the bottom of the hole, Metalmorph's armor had clattered off of Zoa's body... Spikes pierced through to skewer the demon's flesh core at an odd angle, blood and oil pooling around the spikes and the bottom of the hole. Sparks cracked from the fractured metal joints, and as the hole filled in over top the beast he found himself oddly relieved. "Didn' I tell yah," he said as his smirk fell, the Axe Raider on the board once again leaning on his axe. "Yeh hit _rock-bottom_?" As Keith continued to growl from across him, Katsuya narrowed his eyes. Alright... Time to get back to the duel! "Next hole I put y' in," he said seriously, drawing a card now that it was again his turn, "Is goin' straight through yer heart... Now then," he continued, watching as Stop Defense ground itself to nothing. Looked like that was dealt with then... He looked over his draw, smirking yet again as he added it to his hand. Heh... He had an idea..! The smirk grew, Katsuya placing one of his other cards on the field. "Hehehe... First I'll play this face down," he shouted, before brushing a bit of hair from his eyes. "Bit of a warnin' here, 'Bandit Keith'... 'S another trap, so y' better watch out..."

Keith merely growled loudly in response, face growing red. "Little shit... What the hell is that supposed to be, some kind of fucking mind game!"

Well, he thought as the smirk grew, dangerously close to a shark's grin by this point. Something like that... "I'll put th' Axe Raider back in defense mode," Katsuya stated seriously, expression returning to its determined frown. The Axe Raider gave his master a wave before sitting back down in the meantime, axe once again rammed into the ground as he crossed his arms. And with the card he'd drawn... "Then I'll play this in attack mode; Beast Warrior Garoozis!" Again a tablet appeared on the board, rising up beside Axe Raider and glowing slightly as the reptilian monster slowly made its way out. Garoozis gave his axe a test swing, tail swishing in agitation as he looked across the board and growled. Fifty points more than Pendulum Machine... With a trap set up for when the Spider attempted to remedy that! Go! "Now," he called, pointing Garoozis forward. Defense against magic? Try cold steel then! "Attack Pendulum Machine!" With a single curt nod the monster tore off, rushing toward the enormous mechanism with a toothy grin. One steady swing of its axe and the monster struck, dodging the swinging blade of the Pendulum with ease. Grabbing the shaft of the device he hoisted himself up on top of the weapon, before tossing his axe high into the joints of the beast and jumping off as the machine gave a loud groan. Sparks flew from the device, Pendulum stumbling as its axe began to swing off kilter. Flames began to sprout from the center, Garoozis continuing to run. Louder and louder the grinding screeches of metal became... And louder... And louder... Before finally the middle began to seize up and...

-_**BROOUM**_!- An explosion that blew multiple bits of scrapnel to the ground occured, flames roaring at Keith's side of the field and blowing Garoozis forward to the other side of the table. The monster ducked as he landed, Garoozis covering his head before slowly turning back in the aftermath of the clattering metal. Pendulum's body was collapsing on its two arms, silhouette melting into the orange and red flames as the other 'living' monsters stared. "YES," Katsuya shouted, pumping his fist as his monster ran over and snatched his axe out from the scrap pile. "Take that!"

"Gh..." Katsuya's smirk dropped momentarily as his opponent continued to tense, low and quite likely completely serious voice coming over the board. The blond stared, watching momentarily as his monster returned to its place on the field before narrowing his eyes as Keith continued. "I'm going to _kill_ you," he growled, face beet red as he reached for his deck. Somehow, the man's tone was all too chilling to ignore that time. "My turn," he roared, drawing a card and pointing his last monster forward. "Launcher Spider! Target Garoozis!" Missiles fired yet again as the spider did as commanded, each shell firing in the familiar jet of white smoke. Katsuya flipping his card over while the lizard man ran about in an attempt to avoid all the shots, Garoozis skillfully dodging each one. The field became grey with smoke and dust, the table riddled with craters wherever the smoke began to clear... Though there wasn't much space that was clear, to tell the truth. Keith was staring at the board, a crazed grin on his face as the smoke continued to fill the board and seep into Katsuya's lungs. He could almost picture what he was thinking...

But his own smirk had long since re-appeared after all, despite the difficulty this smoke screen posed for breathing. "Hehehe... Warned yah," he said with a shrug, watching as Garoozis continued to move through the smoke after grabbing what his trap card revealed. A non-existent wind was beginning to blow the dust clear, and as Keith looked at his card in horror Katsuya continued to grin. A single long chain was gripped in his fist, the same hand clutching a steel, razor sharp boomerang tightly. "You jus' activated my trap card!" Garoozis leaped above the Launcher spider, tossing the weapon he'd snatched from the now clear tablet with a crocodile's grin. Not a sound was released save that of buckling metal as the boomerang lodged itself in the spider's side, chain wrapping tightly around Launcher Spider's legs. Landing to the ground, the chain was pulled taught, pulling the machine down as Garoozis ran toward it with his blade. "**_GAROOZIS AXE CRUSH_**," the blond shouted, watching as his monster sliced cleanly through the spider's missile launchers only to flee yet again. There were still explosives in there after all... and as Garoozis skidded to a stop on the field a great and mushroom cloud explosion shattered through the air yet again, arms outstretched and weapons gripped tightly as he and the monster's melting metal frame both were highlighted in the flame. "And one more for th' junk heap," he shouted, opponent's lifepoints now passing below his own. He was in the lead... He was going to win this..!

So why the hell was Keith grinning? He narrowed his eyes, his smirk vanishing as the American's sunglasses fell down to the edge of his nose a moment. Wide and bloodshot eyes met his own, Katsuya swallowing under the gaze. "What th' hell are you grinnin' about," the blond bit out, voice kept low as his own monsters gave Keith a similar expression. Wide eyes, dilated pupils... Keith sure as hell wasn't drunk right now, but the hell if he was all there at the moment...

"Hehehehehe..." Laughing too... Katsuya continued to narrow his eyes, his opponent slowly looking back up from the board as he spoke. "Hehehe... Hey kid," he said roughly, face paling from it's flushed red as an insane grin grew across his face. "You ever risked your life before?" The blond tensed, frowning as his mouth hung slightly open in confusion. Risked his... What the hell was Keith going on abo- "I'm asking you," the man said, bringing up his empty hand and making a gun shooting motion against his head. '_Bang_', he could almost hear as the figurative trigger was pulled, the blond continuing to tense under the crazed grin and stare from across the board. "Have you ever seen hell kid? Hehehehehehehe..." Alright... Why the hell did he have to get matched up against this nut-job? Seriously... Why..? He'd take Mai's 'harem of hell' over this any day damn it! "You don't care who you have to kill," the man was continuing with his rough cackle, "Just so long as you can save your own skin... That's what hell is," Keith muttered with a snort, the grin still in place as he brought his hand back down. "This Duelist Kingdom, it's the same thing... And there's only one way out of _my_ hell," he shouted loudly, turning upward for a moment. "And it's right through _Pegasus_... Hehehehehe..." Katsuya followed his gaze only a moment, turning back as soon as he saw Pegasus' narrowed and small smirk. What kind of sick guy enjoyed this kind of speech serious- Oh wait. _Pegasus._ "I'll do anything to get there," Keith said with a grin, gripping his cards tight. "Anything to get outta hell..."

To get out of hell huh... Katsuya swallowed, staring down his opponent with narrowed eyes. Honestly, he'd like it better if Keith stayed wherever the hell 'Hell' was for now. "Hah! That case, I'll jus' have t' kick y' right back down into Hell, Keith!" Crossing his arms as his opponent continued to grin, he forced a small smirk on his own face. "Get ready..." He still had a plan... Kinda. For the moment, he had the field advantage after all!

His opponent merely snorted, drawing a card and looking at it before smirking. "Hahaha! Whatever kid," he muttered, putting it in his hand to grab a different one. "My turn!" He placed a card on the field, a blank tablet appearing on the field just above it while the man grabbed a second one and continued. "I place one card face down... And attack with this!" A loud series of gunshots came through the air, and the stone tablet that appeared in its stead crumbled to pieces after three solid bullet holes appeared in its form. Rising up with two pistols for arms, an enormous metal dragon rose from the shattered rock, parrot-like beak clacking open and shut against the pistol that made up its nose and head. The barrels in its thighs spun quick enough to smoke, the monster giving a loud and ear-splitting roar as it crushed the tablet's remains beneath its feet. "Barrel Dragon!"

Oh hell... Wasn't sure how he knew the numbers when he couldn't see the damn cards but oh hell... Damn thing had twenty-six hundred attack points. Fuck... Katsuya swallowed as the monster turned its head blindly, apparently very much alive in contrast to the monsters before it. The dragon lashed about the barrel that made up its head spinning with a click while the safety on its main trigger cocked backward in preparation to fire. It couldn't see... But it sure as hell could aim. "Hehehehehe... This... This is gonna be _fun_," Keith said with a wide and wicked grin, his opponent again swallowing in the the face of the deranged laughter. "Now I get to gamble... Let's see how I do huh!" Gamble! Again he swallowed, eyes widening slightly in confusion. What the hell was this to him? As the blond stared, his monsters currently eying the Barrel Dragon with cocked heads (Where the fuck was its face...), Keith merely continued to laugh and explain away his newest metal monster. "Barrel Dragon's got three revolvers," he started almost lazily, tone only held up by an insane 'pick up' tone. Or at least, three _working_ revolvers... "One for its head," he began, the head pistol turning on its opponents with the words, "And two more for its shoulders... Each barrel has three bullets, meaning there's a 50-50 shot at firing!" Fifty-Fifty... Why would it bother with those chances... "When it attacks," the man continued, grin widening still further, "The cylinder spins!" Then... He frowned, putting the facts together in his head. Then... This was Russian Roulette! A slight chance of life for his monsters he'd grant, with those rules, but all the same... "Here I go," Keith shouted, his opponent swallowing nervously. All the same, fifty-fifty... And even with all of his luck... "Barrel Dragon," its master commanded, the metal beast giving a grating roar as the barrels clicked round to the first hole. Safety triggers clicked off on all three guns, the monster's tail swishing and thumping against the ground hard enough to cause craters to appear. "Attack! _**RUSSIAN ROULETTE**_!" The barrels spun rapidly, the dragon clicking his mouth open and shut in anticipation. "If all three go my way," Keith was shouting as the dragon straightened itself, "I can kill three monsters at once! HAHAHAHA!" Three- Which meant that if Keith made a triple shot he was dead! One for Garoozis, one for Axe Raider, one for...

The barrels slowed... Hit. An echoing bang could be heard as the first shoulder fired, knocking Axe Raider's helmet to the ground swiftly. The raider's eyes merely hung open as he fell back under the force, staring endlessly upward as a small puddle of blood pooled at the back of his head. It wasn't a good death but... Though the corpse didn't vanish as the others had, it was better than being destroyed by the Launcher Spider before it he thought. The one on the left slowed next, Barrel Dragon roaring with a grin. Slower, slower... ...Miss. Not a sound came out as the barrel stopped, save an empty blank 'click', and for a moment Katsuya sighed in relief. Ok... Just one more and- "Two out of three," Keith shouted with a grin, a second bang piercing the air as he laughed. Shit..! "**_GUN CANNON SHOT_**!"

The bullet slammed through Garoozis' gut, the lizard stumbling to his knees as he clutched his middle. The monster had been taken completely off guard, and his axe and boomerang both clattered to the ground as blood trickled between the monster's fingers. Shit... Both his monsters were... The lizard turned to look at him a moment, giving a weak smile in contrast to his former 'alligator grins'. Though no words came, he could almost imagine an apology... Suddenly, with the same expression in place the monster toppled forward, body laying limp on the ground... And his life points fell again. From what Keith was saying now, each of the bullets carried 2600 attack, but Garoozis' equipment had saved most of the points... Despite the lack of damage done however, he found himself looking forward with narrowed eyes.

Roulette and gambling... Cheh... If that was the way he wanted to do it..! The blond drew his next card, biting back a growl before taking one of the spells in his hand. Alright then! As Keith put it, '_let's have some fun_'! "I'll play this card," he bit out, stone tablet appearing in the card's place as a spiral came forth from it's front. small gears floated forward, followed by the large and wobbling eye-balls that allowed the small magician to see. "Time Wizard!" Ignoring Keith's brief look of surprise the blond narrowed his eyes, watching as the Time Wizard's clock body formed from the spiral of the tablet around the gears and eyes both. Time Wizard spun his staff between his fingers, looking forward with the closest thing he could call a frown. "A gamble f'r a gamble Keith," he said with a scowl, the Time Wizard 'nodding' in agreement. "I'm gonna use Time Roulette an' blow you away t' the end of time!" As his opponent's expression fell even further, the grin on his own face grew just as much. "Hehehe... If you're gonna use th' Barrel Dragon t' gamble," he began, the grin growing again to it's shark-like proportions, "Then why don't y' try yer luck with mine Keith? But first," he continued, taking the card he'd just drawn and placing it beside his Time Wizard's 'tablet', "I ain't done... I'm also playin' a monster card!" A second tablet appeared on the field, tiny clawed hands appearing from it and following with an equally small round and orange body. Wide eyes opened to the field, the dragon walking forward from the tablet and stumbling slightly before steadying itself. "Baby Dragon," he called with narrowed eyes, the monster in question looking around the board curiously. "Attack mode!" The dragon gave a small growl, before looking up at the blond briefly and giving a 'thumbs up'. '_**Rrrrnnnnrr...**_' Huh... The blond blinked, watching as Baby Dragon turned back to face his opponent down. ...He wouldn't say it out loud but... The dragon was actually pretty cute... (He was never saying that out loud.) Katsuya steeled himself, crossing his arms to continue with his play. This move would be all or nothing... If he won, the Baby Dragon would become 'Thousand Year Dragon'... And there was no way he wouldn't _not_ overpower Keith's Barrel Dragon then. But if he lost... "Here I go," he shouted, ignoring Keith's smirk. Jerk was probably thinking about what would happen if he lost... Something he had a good chance of doing. Either way! He wouldn't let that happen! "**_TIME ROULETTE_**!"

Time wizard raised his staff with a nod, the needle spinning rapidly from the force of the move. A single blur was all that could be seen on the wheel, Keith and Katsuya both watching and waiting to see what would happen. Come on... It continued to spin, flying past the crowns and skulls at top speed. Come on... The needle began to slow, the wizard's master and dragon partner both watching in silence as the wheel continued to spin. Everything was on this... Come on... Slower... They could see the needle now... Slower... The needle slowly came to a stop, Katsuya swallowing as it came nearer and nearer to the end. Slower...

-_ting!_-

Er... That sound was new. Whatever... It didn't matter... The needle had landed on the crown! "YES! It's a win! **_TIME MAGIC_**," he called out, watching as the small wizard's staff began to pulse with an odd and neon coloured glow. A spiral appeared in the center of the field, cracks and craters in the table beginning to fill slowly. The spiral grew larger, encompassing the entire field in its light as the magic did its work. "Time goes forwards hundreds of years," Katsuya stated, watching as the table repaired itself. The blood, the bones of his monsters, the scraps from Keith's own, they were all gone... Time moved forwards, the corpses long since rotting away... The Time Wizard as well was fading away as the magic took effect, his card grinding into dust as he went. He couldn't live over all that time after all... "All the monster's get older," he continued, eyes momentarily trained on the board. His dragon was growing larger, muscles becoming more defined, horns growing longer and claws becoming razor sharp. A beard began to grow, and in its age the dragon came down to all fours. Wings shrunk and grew tattered, thick hide wrinkled and calloused. "And the Baby Dragon becomes the Thousand Dragon! As for your monsters," Katsuya added, grin becoming more of a smirk as the Barrel Dragon across from him began to creak and stumble in its movement. Patches of brown and red appeared on the beast's sides, Barrel Dragon halting all movement as it started to collapse. "They all rust up an turn int' scrap metal!" Cheers sounded from the side, but even so the blond's smirk faded when he pointed his dragon forward. Alright... Time to get rid of the dragon then! Get the duel over with... "Alright," he said with a frown, pointing his dragon forward with a nod. "Go get 'im! **_THOUSAND NOSE BREATH_**!" The dragon nodded, sending a blast of heated air toward his opponent with a low growl. Wind was all it took really. The Barrel Dragon creaked and groaned under the assault, barely able to move as it fell to pieces under its own weight. All gone... "Hehehe... Bye-bye, 'Barrel Dragon!"

Keith merely smirked, flipping over the card he had on the table. Ah hell, why did he have to... "That's what you think punk!" Rough laughter sounded around the room, Katsuya gritting his teeth as the man continued. "I activate my trap!" God. Damn it! AUGH. The stone tablet turned with Keith's words, rough image of its form appearing before it ground to dust. It wasn't long... But for a brief moment, he thought he saw- "Time Machine!" Time machine..?

The blond swallowed, watching as an enormous steel capsule appeared on Keith's side. Not large enough for a person obviously... But sure as heck big enough for whatever was inside it. The metal steamed fiercely, as though having just left a furnace to enter a pool of ice, and wisps of white smoke flew off the sides to join the shadows around it. "Time machine," he found himself repeating, his Thousand Dragon following his gaze. The door was opening... An angry hiss came from the door, and with a loud an grating roar Katsuya found himself grow pale. Now way... "What... Th... The Barrel Dragon came back!" Watching as the monster came forward to step back on the board, time machine vanishing back into the dark mists around it he continued to pale, his own dragon drawing back as well. That wasn't all either... That was far from all..!

It wasn't rusted anymore... "Hehehehehe!" The dragon stalked over on the board, sightless head looking about the field as it clacked its teeth together in wait. "_**Russian Roulette**_," Keith shouted with a smirk, the three barrels of his dragon spinning rapidly. Shit... Now that he was repaired, there was a two hundred point difference... The first shoulder stopped... Miss. Katsuya swallowed, turning his head to the next one. One down, two to-. The second shoulder stopped... Also a miss, and as the blond began to give a sigh of relief, he found himself jumping slightly at the third result. "_**GUN CANNON SHOT!**_" Fuck. A loud bang came through the air, Thousand Dragon momentarily tensing as the bullet caught him square between the eyes. Too fast to see... And since the dragon was already lying on the ground he could do nothing but sit there... "No limey little fantasy dragon is a match up for my guns," Keith said with a grin, his opponent swallowing as the dragon's relaxed pose appeared to become more tensed in its death. Two hundred points down... He looked back across the board, away from the corpse to look at the Barrel Dragon with narrowed eyes. Just what the hell did Time Machine do? As the American continued to speak, Katsuya frowned; looked like he was getting his answer... "Hehehehe... When one of my monsters gets killed," the man began with a grin, "I can use this trap card to bring it back from a turn before... The rusted Barrel Dragon becomes nothing but a decoy," he continued, grin widening to what Katsuya thought an impossible width. "And the original comes back to kick the thousand dragon's pasty yellow ass! HAHAHAHA!" Fuck... Fuck!

...He was sweating... Katsuya opted not to wipe the beads on his face away, instead swallowing as he stared at the board. This was just_ great _wasn't it. His entire move had been made for nothing... Time Wizard and Thousand Dragon both, their actions literally undermined just for one turn. And all there was to show for it was the corpse of his dragon on the field... "Hehehe... I memorized your so-called deck back when you were fighting Kotsuzuka," Keith said with a snort, his opponent growling in response. Oh of course he did, what else did he have the time to do after all? "You're such an amateur, you don't even _have_ a strategy! You know how pathetic that is! Read my lips fucker," he said lowly, Katsuya narrowing his eyes as he gripped the side of the table. "Your deck... Doesn't stand a _chance_ against my machine deck... Now come on," he continued, leaning back on his chair. "Play another monster! I'm just itching for something to kill..."

Gh... God this guy was... Augh... The blond drew a card, gritting his teeth and wincing as he looked it over. Nothing... Damn it. "I play Kojikocy in defense mode," he said quietly, placing the card on the board and watching as the aged barbarian made his way from his tablet. Kojikocy knelt in the same position he had appeared in, sword held at his side as he gave the Barrel Dragon an odd look. And as for the results...

"**_EAT LEAD_**," Keith shouted with a cackle, the steady pattern of 'miss miss hit' again appearing on the board. Damn it! What the hell were the chances that that exact combo would happen? The bang echoed through the air, bullet flying from the dragon's head. Kojikocy clutched his chest as his lung was pierced, breathing raggedly before collapsing to the ground along side the Thousand Dragon. He was still breathing, for just a while... Rough, haggard breaths accompanied by bloodied coughs. Finally... There was silence. ...Damn... "And it's not over yet," Keith was shouting, grabbing another card from his hand. Of course it wasn't, why the hell wouldn't it be over for once... "I'm playing another monster in defense mode... Slot Machine!" Another gambling monster? Oh hell...

Katsuya stared across the board as another tablet appeared, a second 'living' machine smashing its way through. Horse-like legs trampled forward on the ground, crushing whatever remains of the tablet sat on the board. With its small arm it gripped a lever on the side of its body, upon which three windows bearing question marks sat in place. A single, tiny head spun about at the top, sole LED eye taking in the board with evident curiosity. "Gh..." Another card... Katsuya made his draw, placing it on the ground with a wince after looking it over. "Tiger Axe," he said, watching as yet another tablet appeared on the board. The furred warrior appeared from his tablet to look up with determined and seemingly honoring eyes, axe held at the ready whilst he turned back toward the opponent. "Defense mode..."

And again the roulette began. Right shoulder. 'Miss'... Left shoulder. 'Miss'... And for the one in the center... 'Hit'. The familiar sound of a gunshot pierced the air, and as it struck the Tiger Axe's throat he had to shut his eyes for a moment. Gurgling cries met his ears as the warrior fell to the ground clutching his neck. "Speechless," Keith was shouting with a laugh, mad and wheezing laugh surrounding the arena. Speechless... Don't fucking say that when there was a monster bleeding out his neck on the table... "You wanna surrender," the man continued, answered with silence. Tiger Axe's choking sounds had finally stopped... Three corpses on the ground now. "Well fuck you kid," he shouted with a grin, his own monsters clicking and whirring in a sound that almost resembled laughter. As the blond set yet another defense monster, Keith continued to laugh, pointing the dragon forward and managing to yet again earn himself a 'miss miss hit' cycle. Armored Lizard was down one eye and lying limp on the ground within the few seconds he had appeared, and across from him Keith was still talking. "I'll let you die when I'm good and ready!"

Tgh... Katsuya grit his teeth, listening as more shouts filled the air from the side. _'Jonouchi_,' they were shouting, Anzu and Yugi's shouts both fading into the background as the blond stared at the table. '_Jonouchi_!' There were now four corpses littering the ground, the side of his field almost filled. It was weird... Against Kotsuzuka, the bodies had been pulled under ground, sinking into brown mire to join with the graves below. In the labyrinth, they vanished from existence through the attack, either rusting and crumbling on itself or simply fading away. But here, they'd both stayed and gone... Before the Barrel Dragon made his appearance, the monsters had simply 'misted' from existence... Corpses vanishing into the smoke filled field. After however, each monster it'd gunned down remained on the field, collapsed and motionless on the ground with an eternal blank stare. Just... There.

He narrowed his eyes, a merciless glare sent toward Keith as his next monster was gunned down yet again. Battle Steer collapsed to the ground the moment the bullet struck, a single glaring hole in the center of his chest. Five corpses now. He didn't get what all this meant... Wasn't sure he wanted to but... Like hell he was losing here. Sounds had dulled completely... He could care less what Keith was doing, though if the motionless and 'dead' metal monster across the board was any sign the American summoned another shield. 'Space Megatron,' Keith had shouted, the sphere hovering before its crumbled tablet in silence. Tch... It wasn't over... He still had one monster, just one monster... The blond looked back to the cards he held, swallowing. Red Eyes Black Dragon was in his hand now, but there was one card that could power him up enough to get rid of the machines on the field. It was his only chance...

If he could just draw that card! The turn was his again. Katsuya looked over at the deck, silently making his draw and looking at it for a moment before mentally nodding. Alright... He'd gotten it! He didn't want to know what it would do to him but... He'd gotten it. "I play one card face down on the board," he announced, ignoring any reactions he got fro the moment. The tablet appeared, blank visage meeting the field... But he wasn't done just yet. "And I also play t he Red-Eyes Black Dragon," he called, placing the card on the table. One shot... This was his only shot. He'd just have to hope that Zoa's reaction wouldn't be mirrored by- Hang on...

Where was the tablet..? He tensed, frowning briefly. Nothing was on the field, nothing but the corpses... Suddenly however the blond froze, eyes widening for just a moment as a sudden snort came by his ear. '**_Grrrnnnnn..._**' A low growl sounded, and, slowly looking through the corner of his eye Katsuya tensed even more. Holy shit... Deep red eyes met his, even as his gaze turned back to the field. This wasn't happening. '**_Grnnnnnn..._**' Warm black scales rubbed against his arm, a towering black dragon's clawed arms coming to rest at either side of him on the table. Each arm pressed almost firmly at his sides, holding him in the chair as the enormous dragon came to rest. This wasn't happening, the board was one thing, the 'Duel Disk' was another thing, but this... Red Eyes gave a low growl, twisting it's neck to look his master in the eye before facing the field, mouth hanging just slightly open as deep steady breaths came from the side. Holy shit... How the hell was this... How the hell was this possible... He swallowed, steeling himself as he followed the dragon's gaze toward the opponent. Damn it... This would just make him feel even worse about he was going to do! Katsuya swallowed, turning his gaze directly toward the weakest of Keith's defense mode monsters. "Red-Eyes," he shouted, the dragon giving a curt nod. Eyes that glowed with a deep red flame were looking at him now... If he looked close, he could see a slit and reptilian pupil in them... Damn it... Stop looking at him... "Attack Space Megatron; **Black Fire Bullet**!" The dragon beside him opened his mouth wide, charging a blast of flames that licked the sides of his maw and threatened to burn the corpses below it. A few seconds was all it took, before the flames were blasting toward the other end of the table. 'Space Megatron' vanished into the flames completely, and by the time they died down... There was nothing left. "Turn over!"

Keith smirked, chuckling lowly as his opponent and Red-Eyes both glared at him. "So at last," he said with a laugh, arms crossed. Laugh at his dragon why wouldn't he... Bastard. "Your strongest monster..." The harsh chuckle continued through the air, Katsuya thinking to his strategy and sending a small look to his dragon. This move... He didn't want to hear Red-Eyes' screams like what Zoa had done, but if he didn't... "Hah! It's no match for the 40mm slugs in Barrel Dragon!" Those things were forty millimeters..? HUH. "Okay then," Keith shouted grin growing yet again as his opponent sent another look at his monster. This was it... All or nothing. "If that's what you want, I'll make it a clean shot! This is the end," he roared, Barrel Dragon's roulette spiraling through it's usual pattern of shots yet again. The right shoulder was a miss... So was the left shoulder. The center however... "Barrel Dragon! Kill Red-Eyes!" Damn.

The bang came through the air... The bullet shot forward almost in slow motion, Red-Eyes moving its head around and giving a single look to Katsuya. '_Do it_,' it seemed to say, a low and muttering growl coming under its breath. '_Do it..._' Somehow, as he reached for the card, he just knew that it wouldn't be like Keith's 'MetalZoa'. Taking the dragon's look as an 'approval' he nodded, before flipping over his card with a wicked grin. "Heh... I've been waitin' f'r this," he shouted, flipping the card over as Keith froze. Nothing holding him back now... Hehehehehe... "Check out my face down card!" The tablet on the field spun, and as it ground to dust the familiar faceless wizard on the tablet appeared on the field. "Copy cat! I'm gonna copy one of your cards," he continued, the mirror-faced mage waving down the field before batting away the fired bullet with the same hand. Copy cat's multicoloured form began to shift, misting out of existence as the blond's grin grew dangerously menacing. Large metal armor now hovered above his dragon... Time to give Keith a taste of his own 'medicine'. "And I choose Metalmorph," he shouted, Red Eyes giving a loud roar as his scales shimmered in the odd light surrounding them. "Givin' Red Eyes his own boost 'f power!"

He wasn't hearing the same screams that Zoa had given when Keith played this card. The metal merely came down from above and wrapped around the dragon as a well fitted armor should have, accenting already fearsome scales and claws with black steel. Red-Eyes, though now completely covered by the same metal that had formerly adorned MetalZoa now was merely staring down their opponent with a low growl, and looking at Katsuya with what could almost be called a grin. The blond looked to his dragon for a moment, sharing the expression before turning back on Keith and crossing his arms. "Hehehe... Say hello t' Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon, Keith! An' now that it's my turn," he shouted, Red-Eyes already charging a thick blast of black-red flames in its mouth. The blaze grew larger and larger, sparks catching the side of the corpses on the board as he continued. "Red-Eyes attacks! **DARK MEGA FLARE**!" The flames completely surrounded the board as the dragon fired, Barrel Dragon's harsh rasping cries drowned out by the roar of flames as its body melted and sparked. Even surrounded by the flames he could see the beast thrasing, limbs having each detonated in the flamable, black-powder reaction. "Barrel Dragon dies," Katsuya shouted, eyes narrowed as a determined frown returned on his face. Red-Eyes had pulled its head back, giving the blond a clear view of the field. Keith was looking toward him with an expression of complete horror now, and cheers were again coming from the side as the remaining corpses on the board vanished into ashes. "You can f'rget about makin' it outta Hell, Keith," he said lowly, eyes narrowing further as the man continued to pale. "Cause th' fact is, th' devil doesn't get that kind 'f a chance..."

The tables were once again turned! As Keith grumbled something about the last move, Katsuya found himself looking back toward the others. Anzu was still shouting loud cheers... Yugi didn't seem to be saying anything however, instead giving a nod. He could almost hear him... The silent cheer that 'this Yugi' gave during each battle. He could win this... Be it by luck, by some miracle, or by his own skill, he could win this... Definitely! And by doing that, he thought with a nod of his own, turning back to the board, they'd be in the clear.

...Mostly. Keith was laughing again, an alligator's grin once more in place. "Heh! Enjoy your luck while you still can," he spat, light from whatever flames remained creating a glare on the man's sunglasses. I still have a winning strategy... And I'll show you that there's no way for an amateur dumbass like you to beat a pro!" Tch!

As more of Keith's wheezing laughter filled the air, Katsuya spared a glance to the dragon at his side. Red-Eyes was currently seated in an almost laid down position, the armor on his neck leaving little room to simply bend it around to look at his master. For the moment however, it was merely growling at his opponent's final monster, eyes narrowed at the Slot Machine. "Hn! You're right," he said with a frown, crossing his arms. "I don't have any particular strategy, and I'm just some amateur who started playing a few months ago... But lemme ask y'," he said, leaning forward just slightly in his seat. "If I'm such a dumbass who can't find his way around a deck, then why are your lifepoints th' ones decreasing right now?"

"Tch... You idiot," Keith growled, absently rubbing the shoulder he'd dislocated the night before. Heh. Did it still hurt then? "It's skill that'll determine the winner of this duel!" Hear hear for once... Though while Keith obviously had some skill, there was no way he'd be beaten by it! "Now shut the fuck up," the American roared, drawing a card. Angry maybe? "It's my turn!" A mere glance was spared at it, before it was placed on the table. Wow, did Keith even look at that card... Like he knew it was there, holy crap. "I play another face down card," he called, adjusting his sunglasses yet again with a grin. "And Slot Machine stays in defense mode... That's the end of my turn!" Ah... Probably nothing...

Hnn... Alright then! Katsuya looked across to the Slot Machine as a blank stone tablet appeared on Keith's field, mentally nodding. Time to clear the field then... "It's my turn," he shouted, drawing another card. Looking at it for a moment he set it down, a second plan coming to mind as the blank tablet appeared on the field. "I'll play one face down card too, and then attack the Slot Machine!" Again black flames appeared from his side, the heat almost blistering his skin. Nonetheless however, it was something he could tolerate for the moment. Red-Eyes' attack had only one target in mind as the flames grew hotter, mouth growing wider in an attempt to control the attack. And... Now! "**DARK MEGA FLARE!**"

The burst of flames washed over Slot Machine, obscuring the device from view as it raise its cannon arm in an attempt to protect itself. Though he could see the silhouette of the monster briefly, the fires quickly illuminated the field beyond anything the shadow of the monster could survive. Couldn't see it... He couldn't see it going down... Did he beat it..? He knew the attack was better than the defense this time around but... "Hehehehe... Close brat, but no cigar!" Damn. That was a no then. Keith grinned wickedly as he flipped his recently placed trap over, the tablet on the field spinning forward as the flames around Slot Machine died down. "I'm gonna use this face-down card..." Slot Machine pulled on the lever at his side, slots in the center blurring and spinning before it clacked into place. Seven..? "Complete Seven," the American continued to shout with a laugh, the tablet behind it continuing to hover in place. "An interchangeable power unit that increases the Slot Machine's defense by 700 points! Making it a total of 3000..." Awwwww, shit! "And with that kind of power, your fucking dragon can't even scratch it!"

"Guh..." The flames bounced back from against the Slot Machine, roaring back against himself and the dragon both. Katsuya grit his teeth as a few flames singed his face, holding his place against the slight onslaught. Wonder what would happen if one of these attacks hit him directly... ...Hihhhh don't think about that. "Th' attack bounced back..." His lifepoints dropped another two hundred points, and from the side he could hear worried shouts. Damn it... He hadn't expected something like that! All the same, if that was what one '7' did...

He swallowed, both he and Red-Eyes looking across to the now steaming Slot Machine with narrowed eyes. What would three, a 'jackpot' do? It only increased defense though right? He could find a way around that, hell, he had Sword and Shield in hand so if he used that while the thing was in defense mode... "Hehehehe... And y' know what kid," the American said with a grin, Katsuya frowning as the man rubbed his shoulder yet again. "I've got another 'Complete Seven' in my hand!" You could play as many spells as you wanted in one move..! Katsuya tensed, and as the card's 'tablet' appeared on the board the Slot Machine pulled down his lever again. The number on the far left spun and blurred, steady 'cling' noises filling the air before it halted with a second number seven. It was coloured differently... So it wasn't a match then right..? "And you know what's even better," he added with a grin, "This one adds 700 attack points!" What..! The blond swallowed as his opponent continued laughing, watching as the Slot Machine gave what could only be called 'snort'. They could do both..! Shit... Was he going to up the attack power again with the third seven then..? Shit, what would that bring the numbers to... "I'm playing another card too," Keith shouted, slapping yet another card on the table. Damn it stop adding crap! "Blast Sphere!"

The tablet that appeared on the field was the first to survive its monster's appearance, a single four-legged 'ball' shooting from it toward him. Red-Eyes instantly blocked the strike with his neck, only to give a confused growl as the four legs locked around it tightly with a clack. "W-What..." He narrowed his eyes as Red-Eyes gave a nervous tap to the orb with one claw, only for it to give an angry beep and shudder in response. '**_Grrnn! Rnnnn..._**' Yea. He was confused too Red-Eyes... Either way this was a problem... It was one hundred points more powerful than the dragon... But what the hell was it, if it had just latched on like this? "It's attached to th' dragon's body..?"

Again his opponent laughed, grin wide and chilling. "That's a time bomb kid... Set to explode in one turn!" W-w-what... Bomb! This thing was a bomb! "Hehehehehe... In other words," he said with a laugh, a small red light appearing on the 'Blast Sphere's form, "Unless you can do something about it now, your Red-Eyes is history!" There was a bomb right beside him!

Oh shit... Katsuya looked at his dragon for a moment, the beast giving a low and annoyed growl as the sphere around its neck began to beep slowly. Shit... This thing went off Red-Eyes was... The blond looked at his deck, gritting his teeth. And not just Red-Eyes he bet... His cheek stung way too painfully for the fires from the last attack to have done nothing. One shot... He'd have to put all his faith in this card... He drew from his deck, looking over it as the beeping began to pick up. Beep... Beep... Beep.. Beep.. Dragon Nails... His eyes widened briefly, and beside him the pace on the bomb was picking up. Beep. Beep. BeepBeepBeepBeep- This would do it! The card was slapped on the table and activated, just as a single sound came from beside him.

-**_Beep_**- "Times up," his opponent shouted, Katsuya wincing and closing his eyes as the explosion went off beside him. He'd seen the legs snap off, Red-Eyes having clawed at the bomb in the last moments. Nothing but a white veil of smoke around the side of the field now... Come on... come on... Smoke filled the field as Keith continued to laugh, before the chuckling abruptly cut off. Red-eyes shook off the soot and scraps of the Blast Sphere, small attack upgrade having proven just enough to keep it safe.

"Phew," he said with a sigh, rubbing his head. Sounds of crackling flames from the explosion were ringing in his ear, and honestly he was surprised the bomb had been dealt with before it literally went up in his face. Damn... "That was close... Good thing I drew this," he continued with a smirk, holding up the 'Dragon Nails' card as Red-Eyes flexed his claws beside him. The tablet below had ground away to nothing, and the act had been just enough to buy some time against the bomb. "Brings Red-Eye's attack up six hundred points... More th'n enough t' d'fend against that bomb 'f yours..."

And the best part was, the shrapnel from the blast had found their way over to Keith's side of the field, the power from the attack rebounding on its owner. Obviously no physical damage there, but... Heh... Now his life points had taken a decent hit too! Four hundred left... Just one more attack and- "You little rat..." The American rubbed his wrists, red in the face as he moved to draw his card. The smoke from the last explosion continued to block portions of the field, and as Katsuya tensed, the man before him suddenly grinning wickedly as he held a card out through the smog. He couldn't really see what it was... But... "Well look what I have here," he shouted almost hysterically, opponent tensing in response. "_Another_ Complete Seven card, ready to equip to my Slot Machine!" He continued to grin, the tablet that appeared on the field already grinding away to nothing as the familiar sounds of a slot machine filled the air again. Oh... FUCK. Seven... Seven... Seven... "Seven hundred attack points brat, and I move the Machine into Attack mode!" Seven hundred...

Sounds of a jackpot could be heard, Katsuya tensing as the machine before him leveled his gun toward Red-Eye's head. Even with its pidly size compared to the dragon, there was no doubt that the weapon would pack a punch. No doubt... '_They have the same attack points_,' Anzu was shouting from the side, the rest of the field filled in silence aside from casino rings and the breathing of his dragon. '_Almost the same lifepoints... They're completely even_!' Damn it... Katsuya looked over his hand, narrowing his eyes. Nothing in his hand to help that he could tell... Sword and Shield would just screw Red-Eyes over completely at this point... All he had left was what was on the board really. The blond grit his teeth, shaking his head slightly. This feeling... He was getting a nagging feeling in the back of his mind- everything was going to end this one turn, no matter what happened. This one turn...

"Hehehe... You better not still think you can beat me," Keith was saying with a low growl, answered only by a steady glare. "Cause if you do," the American continued, taking a card from his hand, "I'll open your eyes with this..! Pillager!" What? Katsuya tensed, watching as from the now visible tablet a small thief bounded forward. The thief hoisted a sack on his back, hand on his hip as he looked toward the blond across from him. He didn't seem to be doing anything but... Wait, was he looking at- "Pillager lets me look at your hand and take any card I want," Keith said with a grin, his opponent swallowing with the words. Below on the field, Pillager was eying his hand with evident interest... Shit. "Now show me your damn hand, brat!"

"Gh...Rrgghh..." Katsuya grit his teeth, turning the hand around and revealing his four cards. Shit... While he didn't have a card that would help him, there was definitely a card that would help _Keith_!

Chuckling continued as he held the hand there, the pillager on the bottom giving one point before he and the tablet vanished from view in a blast of windswept dust. "Hehehe... Looks like for all the crap in your hand, you have a nice card there!" Shut the fuck up Keith... Shut... Up... "Didn't you beat Kotsuzuka with this one," the man said with a wide grin, reaching forward to roughly snatch the card from his hand. The blond pulled his hand back, still glaring as his opponent continued. "I'll take this one... And with that, it's all over '_Joey_'!" Stop calling him that already! The card was slapped on the table, tablet appearing only to spin rapidly from its position on the field. Dust flew from the rock, wrapping itself around the Slot Machine and Red-Eyes both before the monsters shook the stone particles from their faces with a growl and a roar. Gh... For all that wasn't visible, it still seemed aparent that the Slot Machine had the advantage. Now there was a six hundred point difference... If he'd just had one turn- Wait... "HAHAHA! Attack," Keith ordered, Katsuya hurriedly reaching for his trap. One turn... Alright! "**PLASMA LASER CANNON**!"

No time... No time... The laser on the cannon arm charged, aiming toward his monster as sparks of electricity jumped off the sides. Red-Eyes bent its head in front of his master, growling warningly at the Slot Machine before it. "W-Wait," he shouted, flipping the card on the field as the tablet before it spun forth. The image slowly came into being, small hooded boy beginning to materialize from the stone. "I'm activating this face down card," the blond continued, opponent simply laughing in response as the card slowly took effect.

"It doesn't matter," the American shouted madly, Katsuya's 'Graverobber' rushing over to Keith's card pile from the tablet it leaped from. Though the ground was littered with metal scraps it ran, the board proving a fairly long distance for a figure of its size. No time... "**_DIE_**," Keith roared, Slot Machine's attack charging to its last length. "The black dragon **DIES**!" The laser blasted into Red-Eyes' face, the dragon giving a strangled roar before a solid and fist sized hole appeared between his eyes. His head sunk to the table at Katsuya's side, the blond swallowing as he brought his attention to the spell he'd activated. Come on... The first part of the move was over... Graverobber hurriedly dug into Keith's cards, searching frantically for a single thing before running back over with a tablet on his back. It was interesting how the 'Graveyard' had materialized as a pile of the tablet rubble... But nonetheless, it made it easier to comprehend how Graverobber was finding a stone tablet in there. "I win"' Keith was shouting with a laugh, his opponent still watching his spell card do its work. "HAHAHAHAHA!" Graverobber pulled on its master's sleeve at the table amid the shouts, Katsuya looking down to smirk as the boy vanished from sight. Only a tablet remaining there, a tablet that was already glowing with power on the field. Time Machine. And as the card activated, the blond looking forward at his opponent, Keith's laughter began to fall short incredibly quick. "Haha... Hah... Ah... What..."

Katsuya's smirk grew, the 'Time Machine' tablet grinding away into nothingness as an enormous metal capsule appeared behind him. He didn't need to turn around to know what happened... Hell, he could feel the heat from the giant steel box as it was! "Heh... I ain't proud 'f beatin' you at thieving Keith," he said with a grin, the door hissing open behind him as a loud and thundering roar followed after. "But say hello t' my friend from th' past!" One turn backward... Before the death, before the Sword and Shield... Keith was staring at the board in horror where Red-Eyes hologram was likely appearing, the dragon itself taking position behind him with a low and angered growl. _'No_,' Keith was muttering, Red-Eyes baring its teeth to the man as it glared. '_No... That means..._' "You got it," he shouted, smirk falling back to a determined frown, the dragon beside him raising its head to take aim. "Attack and d'fense wasn't reversed last turn... Which means I'm bringin' my dragon back at full strength!" Four hundred points more, against four hundred life points..? Easy math. "Go for it Red-Eyes," he shouted, the dragon's fiery breath charging above him. "**DARK MEGA FLARE**!" As the blast charged down on Keith's last monster there was a loud explosion, the ciruits and sparks in the machine joining with the dragon's flames in the worst way possible. Flames lept from the table as the remaining tablet remains and 'graves' vanished into smoke, the Slot Machine giving one last fruitless 'clank' before falling into melted pieces of scrap. "Slot Machine is destroyed," he continued, his opponent still staring in shock as cheers continued from the side. With the machine's destruction the field cleared, smoke and shadows both vanishing as a shout came from Crocketts at the side. Keith's lifepoints had been erradicated dead on after all...

'_The match between Howard Keith and Jonouchi Katsuya is resolved_,' the announcer was calling, Keith still staring with mixed rage and horror. '_And the winner is... JONOUCHI KATSUYA!_' He won..! He won! The blond slammed his hand and cards on the table before jumping to his feet, his dragon remaining at his side only a moment before vanishing with the rest of the board. "YES! In yer face y' creep," he said with a shout, arms raised as he grinned. Keith merely continued to growl, grabbing his cards and storming from the duel table in a rage as Katsuya continued to cheer. "I WON!" HAH! To say he beat the former champ of the US... That wasn't something to sneeze at!

"Jonouchi," the others were calling, the blond turning as his grin faded to a more controlled smile. He really did it... Mokuba, Seto-chan, everyone else... He did it... ...So why did he feel... "Congratulations," Anzu said, she and Yugi both coming over. Why'd he feel so damn exhausted now that that was over with..?

Haha... Ha... "Anzu," he said, looking at the woman before turning down to his friend. "Yugi..." Nothing but smiles and quiet celebration..! ...He did it. He threw an arm around both, head bowed as he continued to smile. He was shaking... Why the hell was he shaking..? "Thanks," he said quietly, pulling his friends into the hug. "I couldn't have won without you guys... Wouldn't 've stood a chance..."

Yugi shook his head as the blond pulled out, arms still resting on their shoulders. "No Jonouchi," he said calmly, hands in his pockets as his friend pulled back completely. "You had the courage of a true duelist... You fought alone, and because of that you were victorious!" Courage... Hah... Like what Mai said neh?

"Yea," Anzu said with a nod, stepping back slightly as Keith shoved past from behind them. "You won without the help of anyone... Both now and a few times before; you can be proud of that, we didn't do anything!"

Katsuya blinked, pulling out the 'Honor' card Mai had given him with a nod. All him... He stared at the card, frowning slightly before turning back to his friend. He owed Mai one... but first. "Sorry Yug'," he said with a small and nervous smile, pocketing the card again and moving to clear his side of the field of cards. "I know this was jus' th' semi-finals... But f'r me, that felt like th' final battle..." He couldn't fight anymore; not with cards, not today.

As he gathered his deck back up and put it back into his jacket, Katsuya turned to the others once more. "But," Anzu was saying, giving a small shrug before crossing her arms. "If you and Yugi both advanced to the final match, doesn't that mean you both have to fight each other still..?" Hah... Not like they wouldn't know the answer to that match up...

Beside him, Yugi shook his head, frowning. "No," he stated bluntly, his own arms crossed. "That won't be necessary... Our objective was to beat Pegasus," the boy continued, his friend nodding in agreement. "Now that we've come this far, he's within both our sights; if Jonouchi and I were to fight in front of him," he continued, eyes narrowed, "We'd only expose more of our tactics..." Not that he had any tactics in particular but... Whatever.

"I guess it could only hurt," Anzu was muttering, frown still remaining in place. Yea... Well, in any case.

Yugi turned up to Katsuya, the blond blinking as his friend faced him with a still determined frown. "Jonouchi," he asked, the teen staring with wide eyes for a moment. "Will you leave the rest to me?"

He... Katsuya swallowed, silent for a moment. "Yugi..." This was... Hell, he admitted that that would likely happen but when the question was actually asked... "I know you're th' only person with a clean shot at beating Pegasus," he began, pulling his 'Honor' card from his pocket again to stare at it a moment. "Hell I knew that b'fore we even got here but... But still.. I..." He shook his head, eyes still wide before he grabbed his friend's shoulders. "I... Can I really weigh you down with all this," he asked, looking at Yugi with a frown. "With Mokuba, W' S-... Kaiba... You're already fighting for yer Grandpa," he continued, head again bowed as he spoke. "But do you really want to... Would... Would y' really..."

"Of course," Yugi answered, smiling. "I would never refuse my friend- and I'll win not because I can," he continued, bowing his own head as Katsuya turned to face him. "I'll win because I fight for you, and for the others... Just like you fought for them." Yugi... "Jonouchi," the boy stated, narrowing his eyes with a steady frown. "I _**will**_ defeat Pegasus... For you... For Mokuba... For my grandfather... And for Kaiba."

Katsuya stared, before nodding and handing his card to the boy. Alright... As Yugi held the card up for Pegasus to see, the blond turned his narrowed glare upward. They wouldn't let this guy get between them..! It was time to fight... Let him do his worst, let him snatch his soul on the spot, it was time... Pegasus was standing from his chair, muttering something to a shocked guard at the side. Though the guards both looked as though they would argue for a moment, they calmed rather quickly. For a second, Pegasus merely stood there, watching the guards leave... Finally the man looked down and gave a wide, false smile. "Very well Yugi-boy," he said calmly, Katsuya and Yugi both narrowing their eyes further as the man spoke. "We will hold the final battle of the kingdom! But first," he continued, gaze appearing to shift over to the blond momentarily. First..? "It's almost noon... A break for lunch will be held, to give those who have lost an opportunity to gather their things... And for you to prepare your deck for our final match..." A large grin appeared on his face, the man giving Crocketts a wave before leaving the room.

Lunch huh... The man at the side nodded, turning to the three remaining in the room. "If I could ask you to clear the room," he stated, gesturing to the door with a blank and neutral expression in place. "We will prepare the arena for the final match; staff will deliver a small meal to your rooms," Crocketts continued, Anzu audibly muttering something about the 'food' likely being only in name as opposed to existence, "So wait there until someone notifies you of the battle start." They were going to _send them food_? After all the crap from before?

Yeaaaa right. Briefly, he thought about arguing against that but in the end... "Alright," Yugi said, both Anzu and Katsuya looking at him for a moment. He had a feeling there was a reason why Pegasus called the 'break' after all... "We'll do as you say..." As he turned to leave, the others following behind him however, Crocketts coughed.

"First," he said, the three turning yet again. "As the runner-up to the tournament, Jonouchi Katsuya will need to be taken to a separate room for a briefing on his prize..." 'Briefing'? As the blond frowned, Crocketts continued on, hands held firmly behind his back. Shit... So not only were they being separated, they were being separated by a good number of hallways! "If you could follow me," he stated with an almost chilling tone, Katsuya's frown gaining an added feeling of nervousness as the others behind him listened with narrowed eyes. "This will only take a moment..." Yea... Only a moment right?

He could hear his heart beat with that statement... Final match was going to start in an hour, but something told him he would take longer than that hour... At the same time... The blond swallowed, but nonetheless nodded. He couldn't make a scene here... He couldn't... Yugi needed to face off against Pegasus, finish him off. If it was anything but a duel, then Pegasus would probably call him out on it and render the entire unspoken agreement void! "Jonouchi," Anzu was asking, eying Crocketts with evident suspicion. "Are you sure about this, I mean... You can do this later can't you?" Probably not, he thought with a grimace.

Before Crocketts could answer that however, Katsuya shook his head and did it for him. "Nah... Like he said," the blond muttered with a cough, "Only a moment righ'?" Despite the sudden tenseness of the situation Katsuya continued to look forward, attempting to hold a confident stare. He was done with the dueling after all; if this was what was next... Then he couldn't risk Yugi's shot at Pegasus by arguing now. He couldn't risk everything... "...Lead th' way," he said with a shrug, moving past the others and giving one quick glance to his friend. Yugi's eyes were narrowed with suspicion only a moment, before they widened with realization. Yea... He'd guessed too... "Look after that thing," Katsuya muttered under his breath, before walking off down the hall. "I leave it up t' you Yugi..." Get their souls out... He'd do whatever else he could from the sidelines!

With that they went their separate ways- Anzu and Yugi to their rooms, to pack up whatever was left and prepare for the next duel... And the blond being taken to a room elsewhere in the castle, to await whatever would happen next. Whatever it was though, he decided with a nod, hands in his pockets as he and the suit both passed through a nearby hall to enter a large study room, he would be ready. Honda was looking for the bodies still... Yugi would soon be fighting for the souls. As for himself...

He was here. The blond looked around the room a moment, sunlight pouring through wide open curtains to illuminate the lavishly furnished room. Fireplace at one side, a couch across from him... Walking forward to inspect the table, he had to raise an eyebrow. Damn... There was actually f-

The sound of a door closing came through his ears, the blond turning back to face the one who had started the entire mess with a jump. As Pegasus walked in, small smile on his face, Katsuya swallowed. The door... He turned his attention's to Pegasus, watching as the man moved around the room to take a seat in a nearby chair. "So," the man began, staring his 'guest' down with an odd and fairly cold smile. "How about we talk... '_Doggy-boy_'?"

He didn't even need to look at that door to know it was locked now.

* * *

**AN: **Damn iiiiiit Pegasus, you didn't even show up for more than a few lines and you're still a giant creeper! HAAAAAAAH STOP IT NOW.

And so we jump into non-canon... What with this being Jonouchi's point of view, anything we see of Yugi's next duel is completely dependent on whether or not Jonouchi gets there... And given Pegasus' track record, we can't be too sure with that happening. (Pity...) In any case! Finally got photoshop up and running, so expect art in the near future... You'll notice updates are still moving fairly quick, what with me sitting in the hole of time between applying for a job and actually _having_ one. All that aside though, not much longer... Depending on how timing plays out, Christmas will either happen before or after the 'Legendary Heroes', though it's still a definite 'before Rebecca and Otogi show up'. Really depends; if Duelist Kingdom wraps up fast enough, then hey, I'll give it a shot. A lot of you are probably wondering how a three episode 'season' is proving difficult for me, but the fact is, there was so, _soooo_ much in that small group of episodes that they could have done that I ended up going crazy with the designs and plot there. Lets face it guys, the entire thing put them in armor, had it all built up like an RPG...

AND THEN THEY KILLED IT WITH THEIR CARDS! Ahhhhhh I expected it. But that's not to say I won't try something, mehehehe... In any case, if that happens then we get to see much more of Mai than before! So be happy guys! Basically, if I finish Duelist Kingdom _before_ Halloween, I'll most likely do this. Mostly because, as long as I've made it, Legendary Heroes will still be about as long as the Monster World Arc... Maybe a chapter longer, depends on how it plays out... And of course, 'how it plays out' determines whether or not you get a super early Christmas special, more 'filler' (Like the summer chapter.), or... Yea.

**Poll Results:**

I put it in bold; OOOOOOH~ Same results so far, decide through either the poll on the author page or through reviews, on the identity of Seto Kaiba's past incarnation the Priest!

Female Crossdressing Set - 9 (One Anonymous)

Obviously Female Priest_ess_ Set - 5 (Two Anonymous)

Canon; Male Set - 2

And now for the next part...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

We've got two again, so first thing's first! Hey Iona! Haha, I don't think anyone expected it really. The fact was though, I had always intended for that scene to play out at least somewhat like that… That or she'd pull something on them in the Legendary Heroes.

Oh hey… This means that the entire cast of the Legendary Heroes arc for the 'VR' part is on Kaiba's secret, _isn't that interesting... _(-beaten with bricks-)

I did make sure that it would make sense for her to find out though; it helps that she actually asked, albeit subtly, about the entire deal, which meant that she was able to do what a lot of series like to play with. Basically, if people just stopped and spoke with one another, the entire story would play out, as what one person knows can be paired with what another knows to complete the story… Mai just acted on that theory, and found everything out.

Hahaha, Mai does follow because she cares, but this time it was all Jou's fault; he was in front of the bedroom in the fanfic! She is indeed an 'awesome friend', and it's mostly that which saved her from being little more than a lost love interest in the fanfic… If anything, she's likely to be more of an annoyance to Kaiba now… (This should be interesting.)

There should be a pest spray for him. '_PEGASUS-BE-GONE! Protect your thoughts at all times!_' It is nice to see how for once it works in their favour though… (Probably just wanted to spy on Jonouchi a little longer…)

Believe me when I say that I'm looking forward to what's next as well!

Oh hey! Someone new! Hello Cynical Gamer!

Glad to hear you like it so much- focusing on the other characters is really half the fun in writing this to tell the truth, and I have to say, I'm glad that I took the challenge for writing a 'Good Genderbender'. You're right in thinking that its Jou's relationship with Mokuba that affected his maturity though; kinda pulled his more reasonable and serious side out to the forefront.

Ohhh yes… The Eye scene… I should really draw that scene actually, that was fun to write. I always end up sitting at the computer spacing out when I get to dream sequences (It's my own fault for putting them there, hahaha!), but when I got to the end and said '_…So… Now he needs to get out. …Uh…_'… Seeing him charge through the thing was probably the first thing that came to mind yea. But oh boy, 'not easy' is definitely accurate! Half the time I end up reading through the chapter scratching my head with self-doubt! It's nice to know people enjoy this though… So I'm obviously doing something right I guess.

Oh! That part… Jonouchi's ability... Can't really say without spoiling. Started as a strange little thing that linked up with how he could actually hear Kaiba while the woman was inside her own soul, ended up growing much larger than that… I'll just tell you that it's really really interesting when we get there. Like... _Really_ interesting.

You're right in that I'm following the original series. You could say that it's going to leave Yugi beating everyone, but at the same time… That's not really the case. For the Duelist Kingdom as an example, we have Yugi getting the souls, Honda getting Mokuba's body… And Jonouchi himself does a lot more than just sit around now that he's forfeited his match too! The orders of battles and who fights who doesn't chance, that's for sure… But even so, we will definitely see a lot more 'spotlights' on the other characters, so don't you worry about that!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section so vain, it has yet to fail in making a tagline for itself! See? Seeeeee?

* * *

Chapter title today~ Is brought to you by the phrase 'Deus Ex Machina'; literally, 'God from the Machine'. It's essentially a giant pun; rather than 'Deus', or the latin word for 'Deity' or 'God', we have 'Mas', or 'Male', 'Man'... Making this title 'Man from the Machine'.

* * *

When Keith attacks with 'Pendulum Machine', he originally says 'Splitting Death Axe!' as the attack. ...I have limits guys. Might be hard to believe. But I do.

* * *

Magic doesn't work against machines? THIS IS TERRIBLE! And... Completely jossed in later duels...

* * *

And so we have Jonouchi VS Keith! Now. I don't know about you, but… The fact that Katsuya fell for all that stuff with Zoa… Well, I guess he _was_ going a bit 'one track' at the time... (Win duel win duel... Go for it!). Anyways, originally, Katsuya tells the swordsman to attack '_with the magic sword_!'.

Seems a tad redundant there… Telling the swordsman to use his sword... (Also, notice that Katsuya doesn't once say _'The_' insert monster name here. Good reason for it.)

* * *

Obviously some dialogue additions here; mostly for Keith's character... (Which is really not the best form of character in either medium... Though you can kinda like him for the jerk he is in the dub. Everywhere else... NO.) Aside from that, not much changing around until we hit the 'after duel'.

* * *

Stop Defense only works one turn? But then what happened against Kotsuzuka, when it lasted the _entire duel_? It's called 'new rules as the plot demands' for a reason guys.. Least it's not as crazy as the 'CatapultTurtleFlyingCastle' gambit.

* * *

In the manga, when Katsuya cheers about destroying Pendulum, the words 'TAKE THAT' appear beside him… Where a sound effect would normally be. HAHAHA. AHA. Ahhh… Oh well. Also, that 'sharks grin' really showed up in the manga. And it was scary as _hell_ guys.

* * *

Yea… I used to have doubts about Keith's mental health, but re-reading the duel between these two squashed any doubts I could have ever had… EVER. Hollllly shit… All of that dialogue, for the 'Have you ever seen Hell' scene? That's canon guys! He actually said all that, with the same expressions too! HAAAAAH! Anyways. You just wait until next chapter...

* * *

I find the machine deck ironically symbolic in the way I set this up; what with Barrel Dragon coming up right after Keith's speech on Hell at least… Not to mention the thing's effects. (Anyone for a round of Russian Roulette..?) There's more symbolism I put in there myself, utilizing Katsuya's own 'ability'; the machines before Barrel Dragon were emotionless, completely dead. Barrel Dragon however has plenty of life, as does the Slot Machine… As he effectively represents Keith's current obsession and downfall, whereas he's completely forgotten everything else about the game in terms of 'enjoying' it; Keith wasn't always like this guys… Katsuya even recognizes this in Yugioh R, which is what makes their later duel so important.

* * *

If you didn't guess by how fast the man hit 'Jackpot' later on, I'll tell you now. Keith cheats. But he gets what's his because of it, I'll tell you that much.

As to _how_ he cheats... Apparently he has two 'Complete Seven's in his wrist band... But how the hell did he pull those out while faking a card draw? Arguably, you can say it makes sense here... First time was when he was messing with his shoulder, second time was when he was blocked by a field of smoke. Rather, when his opponent couldn't see two feet past his face. Bawwwww.

* * *

What! Jonouchi played two monsters at once? Well, would it shock you to know that Time Wizard is a spell card in the manga? I know, weird… Sure makes for an easy save on Baby Dragon's part though. Speaking of different cards, Copycat is also a spell rather than a monster in the manga.

* * *

When Keith goes through Russian Roulette again, you only see the shot that hit Baby Dragon… So it's assumed that the other two missed. In fact, every attack the Barrel Dragon makes afterward simply strikes each monster, implying that either Keith has a solid run of 'miss miss hit's, or that Barrel Dragon isn't limited to his Russian roulette.

* * *

Fun fact! Though we don't actually see Jonouchi say 'Tiger Axe', the panel with his next monster getting blown away by Barrel Dragon has the Tiger's head in it. And an axe. …So yea. I kinda guessed… (The next few monsters weren't so easily identified.)

* * *

Yes. That monster Keith had on the field was really called 'Space Megatron'. It looks like a giant hydrogen atom though… As a Transformers fan, this was VERY UPSETTING. Very. Upsetting.

* * *

Technically, the card Keith uses is called 'Seven Completed'. The way he describes the last one though, it sounds like its effect depends on what position you put the card in; you can use it for attack _or_ defense. The official card does the same thing; choose one or the other, and when you have it set, you can't change your mind.

* * *

On a more cultural note! Gambling for money is completely illegal in Japan; creating an interesting way around it. Pachinko, a 'slot machine'-like game where you trade in the small plastic balls from the machines for prizes is Japan's version of the 'Slots' really; you trade the balls in for prizes at the front (Things like canned food and what not...)... And then go around back where you can sell the stuff back to someone for the money. OH BOY GAMBLING.

* * *

Interesting thing; on the cover for the last chapter of this duel (aptly named 'the final turn'), you can see the four cards in Jonouchi's hand; Graverobber, Sword and Shield, Ogre Rock, and the power-up card Dragon Nails. This leads me to believe that it's his 'final hand'… Or something like that... As none of those cards, save for Ogre Rock, were in his hand at the same time. Dragon Nails was drawn and equipped in an instant, Graverobber was placed on the board, Sword and Shield forked over to Keith... Yea.

* * *

You probably got this a while ago when the ability was first explained but... Well... Jonouchi's ability essentially means that all attacks _against him_ are similar to how Shadow Games work. In other words, direct damage hurts. A lot. An accurate version of this would actually be the GX manga's duel between Manjoume (Chazz. TERRIBLE NAME.) and the first of Tragoedia's pawns so to speak. Basically all direct damage is felt in full... And oh boy the guy took advantage of this; summoned three 'sniper' type monsters, who can't be attacked if another of them are on the field, and can all attack directly. Manjoume literally got shot in the shoulder, stomach, and left lung. By the way guys, getting shot in a joint _hurts like hell._

Best part though? _HE STILL WON._ Anyways.

Needless to say, Jonouchi has a slight burn on his cheek right now... And if anyone looks really, _really_ close, the edge of his jacket collar is a little singed.

* * *

Plasma Laser Cannon? But Plasma cannons and laser cannons are two different things!

...Maybe the gun is powered with one and guided by the other? Who knows...

* * *

In the manga, either Yugi or Anzu (I'm assuming Anzu) actually say '_Our hero_!' at the end of Jonouchi's match. …Pbbbbbt what! Se... Seriously guys? ...Seriously?

* * *

A note on the forfeited match; while obviously Jonouchi could have cared less about Kaiba's company in the cannon, the fact remains that if Yugi, and _only_ Yugi looses a single match in the finals and semi-finals, not only does he loose his shot at his Grandpa, but the deal with the Big 5 between Pegasus and them follows through. In other words, not only would a match between Jonouchi and Yugi risk exposing strategies, but it would also have the possibility of completing the deal Pegasus made... So not good!

* * *

Originally, at the end of Jonouchi's duel, Bakura and Honda show up. Technically they still did, just that Jonouchi was pulled away to some other room, so he doesn't end up being present for the conversation that the two have with Yugi and Anzu. Pity that.

* * *

And thus begins the divergence from Canon… Lets see what insanities will happen in the next hour… Not to mention after said hour!

Until next chapter guys! Ciao!


	39. Chapter 38

**Kyoufu Garden  
**

* * *

There was something missing in the card that he held in his pocket at the moment. Something he felt critical... But not so that he could be bothered to care about it too much. It couldn't be too much after all... The card looked, for all appearances, 'normal' didn't it? Completely normal... Well, save the calm expression in place of course, after all, how many held a peaceful expression when being spiritually imprisoned... But given the actions before sealing, he wasn't surprised that such an expression had come into place. After all... For 'Kaiba-dear', 'imprisonment' hadn't been something to fear so much as something to accept, had it.

There was something missing there though. The card seemed to lack something, something vital, but for each 'something' that came to mind it proved to be there, safely in place... Interesting... How very... _Interesting_. Pegasus turned his attention back to the duel arena below, watching as the second of the semi-final matches began. Keith Howard versus Katsuya Jonouchi... The man smirked, single eye narrowed with interest as he watched. He couldn't glean their thoughts from this distance of course... Even if he could, he would prefer not to in this case. It would ruin the surprise, the 'meat' of the duel after all... Though while he was not interested in their thoughts... Base emotions were another.

After all, he could snatch at their top most feelings at the very least, see the details of the board that most could not, even up close. Things such as Jonouchi's incredible come back during his duel, a comeback that should have otherwise been impossible with the difference in deck strength, strategy, experience... Champion of the USA versus two week playing amateur, who had only made eighth in the regionals of Tokyo! Against an entire country's worth of ability such skills were child's play, _literally_! Then again, the man thought with distaste, watching the duel below with a slight frown. Keith had come back a ruined man, hadn't he... After his defeat, according to rumor, he had turned to alcohol and drugs both... And when the vices proved expensive he turned to gambling in a pathetic attempt to pay the debts. And as Keith himself said from below... To feel true fear was to stand at the gates of hell themselves, as he had in that time... And there was no place closer.

What thoughts they had, even without the words to guide them. What interesting and enlightening thoughts he could see. On the American's side there was despair, revenge, and a killer's intent that had only been beaten out by the 'dear' woman in his card... Her anger, at least, had been somewhat understandable however. He had her brother after all; and given her drive, her desire to atone to that one boy, he could see why she had been so restless until the end. Keith had none of this however, nothing even remotely close to it. Only a mad, unbridled desire to see his end, to bring about the death of the one who had, in his opinion, destroyed his life.

The other one however... The 'jailers dog', with the keys to his guardian's possessions in his grip. A tight hold that matched his resolve on the field now, the hope and trust that filled him to the brim. Another point in the duel and these emotions were joined by awe, and shock... Pegasus narrowed his eye, a small smirk appearing on his face as the blond sent a glance to the side rather than the board with the summoning of his Red-Eyes. Interesting... He himself couldn't see anything of course, but wasn't this interesting... The number of emotions running high would almost make him wonder if someone the boy cared about was on the field now... If someone on the field had actually died, was actually at a risk... Actually _fighting_ for him even...

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." He chuckled, eye narrowing with mirth as he continued to observe the fight below. Such an interesting duel, the match between light and darkness. This battle of chance and belief against sheer raw power. The man crossed his arms, continuing to watch the battle unfold before him on the field. Like a ping-pong ball, the balance of power went back and forth, back and forth... From the light to the darkness, from will, determination and faith to rage, strategy, and vengeance. Abruptly however, his eye narrowed, honing in on the older of the competitors. Hold on... Now what was that... Keith didn't draw a card there... Yet he had another in his hand, a card that had been played on the field just then.

...Cheating..! The eye narrowed further, Pegasus expression souring at the sight. From the wrist, during moments where he'd brought it up with his other hand to rub his shoulder... There! The man's hand was brought down, slightly cupped as it hovered over his deck in a drawing motion. Faking a draw... Not once but twice. He didn't want to bring it up now of course... It would be better to see how the dear 'hound' of the Kaiba house made out with this situation really, this 'miracle draw'. Would he still manage to make a comeback, as he had with the first draw... Even so...

A few moves passed, and the cheat earned his first dose of 'Karma'; despite the foul play Jonouchi had turned the duel around completely to bring about its end... The duel board cleared, and as the American slunk away he found himself responding with a small applause. Wonderful! Simply _wonderful_, how much of a comeback an amateur could make, turning his opponent's cards against him... A small smirk appeared on his face as cheers erupted below, and again he crossed his arms. Interesting, so very interesting... Those emotions he felt rush from the blond amid the celebration... In addition to the elation and success...

Could one of them be... _More_ than simply concern and triumph? Muted conversation began from below, and as a single bond of trust was felt the man watched his would be opponent hold the Honor card high. So the blond had forfeited then... Handing over his card back to its rightful owner, returning the honor of the King's 'right'... It seemed that a battle between these two wouldn't happen... He stared down, silent as a single message came through his mind scan. Two phrases, thought so strongly, so powerfully they reached across even the boundaries of his own ability. These thoughts were _meant_ for his eyes and ears. '_Now Pegasus_,' Yugi seemed to shout, a deep and determined frown in place as he addressed his desired opponent. '_Now is the time we fight_!'

Well... The smirk on his face grew, and within a split second his decision was made. The CEO turned to his guards, smirk dropping to a more professional and neutral stare. "_Prepare the north study for a guest_," he told the leftmost one, watching as the man left without question in response to the English spoken command. If those below understood him, aside from Crocketts he'd be surprised... First year of high-school in Japan was hardly much for English education after all, which certainly helped with 'privacy' for the moment. And privacy would be important now, wouldn't it... After all, now that the 'dog' had given up his right to fight, he had also given up his right to the keys he held. Now, he thought as he looked to his second guard. For the next task. "Tamaki," he asked, the second man turning with a nod. "_Prepare my duel stage..._"

"_W-... But Mr. Pegasus,_" he protested, turning to the man with wide eyes, an expression plainly obvious even behind darkened shades. "_S-Sir... The duel between Katsuya Jonouchi and Yugi Muto hasn't even happened yet... The championship isn't-_"

Complete? It wasn't a problem... "They don't need to fight," he stated calmly, eye closed partially over almost lazily. Pegasus looked back down on the two boys, smiling oddly as he again gleaned the top most emotions from their mind. Such intense feeling down there... The guard behind him momentarily stopped his protest, the American continuing when he noticed the silence. "_A duel between those two_," he stated, eye narrowing further in seeming mirth, "_Would be completely pointless..._"

He could _see_ it, literally see it in their eyes. The bond of trust that connected them both, materializing almost _physically _between the two, a cord of gold stronger than steel itself... And by taking the wishes of the blond, the wishes of his friend, Yugi's strength and resolve had become even stronger, strengthening that bond...

And in return, the blond's defenses were turned to something else, his focus having turned to that bond and seemingly nothing more. Jonouchi's resolve to fight had been turned toward a different cause, something else but he was relaxed now... And with that in mind he would take the time originally intended for a duel between the two and use it for something worthwhile. "It's strange," the man said with a small laugh, hands resting on the ledge as he continued to stare downward. "But at this moment, I feel like facing this 'other Yugi' head on..." As the king of the Duelist Kingdom, 'defending' his title so to speak... Of course, before that, he would have to deal with something... Else. "Very well Yugi-boy," he said almost quietly, likely only just audible by those below as his tone raised above his previous self-mutterings. "We will hold the final battle of the Duelist Kingdom! But first," he added, turning his eye on Jonouchi for just a brief moment as the smirk grew. Suspicion was more than evident now... For good reason, he supposed. "It's almost noon," he trailed off, sending a glance to his assistant at the side as the man pulled out his radio. Good... The message was being passed. "A break for lunch will be held, to give those who have lost an opportunity to gather their things... And for you," he added, turning his eye on his soon to be opponent, "To prepare your deck for our final match..."

Such _anger_ they had... Such intense rage and grit determination to see his end. Hnhnhnhnhn... He gave Crocketts a wave, his guard's radio made instructions being enough to continue the rest. Complimentary 'cheese and crackers' for the guests while they waited... That would be enough, in addition to the water. A little something more in his study though he decided, moving past the chair to leave for the hall. After all, it _was _lunch time... Perhaps a main dish of shrimp and steak, that should appeal to his guest's interests... If old wives would have the belief be that the heart was through the stomach, than how about the weak points of the mind? Of the soul..? A calm smile came over his face as he walked, arms held crossed behind him. Such a thrill he had though... He was almost trembling with excitement for his duel, and that wouldn't even be ready for an hour!

Of course, he thought with a smile, just how long had it been that these feelings had been stirred up to a challenge? Since he could feel legitimately excited about a duel... Eager to face a truly worthy opponent... He turned the corner, before pausing with a frown. "Hehehehehe..." Pegasus blinked, eyebrows raising slightly as rough chuckling came from down the hall. Now... He knew that voice. Hard to miss after all, when the rest of the people in the building were either mostly silent guards or younger competitors in his tournament. The man stared ahead, watching as in the distance the familiar flag-printed bandanna of his 'third place' finalist came into view. Stumbling along the side of the hallway Keith walked, slowly, drunkenly... Madly he'd hazard to say even. "Hehehe heh... Hehehe... Pegasus," he said with a wide grin, eyes blocked by the sunglasses that somehow still clung to his face. The man was stooped over in a slouch as he moved, slowly but steadily down the hall. Light gleamed off the edge of his knife as it dragged along the wall, a long thin line digging into the plaster as it was dragged over and above each vase nestled at the side. Well... At least those were still intact... He rather liked jasmine flowers. Nonetheless, the walls... He'd probably have to have at least three halls re-plastered now. "_We finally meet, face to face..._"

The guard beside him instantly tensed, moving for his gun. "_Bandit Keith_," he shouted in shock, moving to step forward only to be blocked by Pegasus's arm. "_W-What... S-Sir..._"

"_Stop_," he said calmly, eye never once moving from Keith's stumbling form. He would deal with this himself... All the damage done would need to be paid for somehow after all. Tamaki turned, raising an eyebrow as his boss smiled oddly. "_There's no need for a weapon, Tamaki..."_ No need... The man turned back to Keith, smile still in place as he took a step forward. His guard was putting his gun down slightly, still nervous about what might happen... He expected as much, but either way no shots would be fired. "_Now,_" he began, hands moving to fold over at his front._ "You wanted to talk, 'Bandit Keith'.._?"

Keith's grin grew, and he brought the knife up before him as it gleamed in the light around him. "_Hehehe... I'm going to say it... Just once Pegasus..._" He fingered the blade, sunglasses falling slightly askew on his face as his target continued to stare. True, he knew what he was demanding... But for the moment, he'd listen nonetheless. Judy got now... "_Just once... Give me that prize, right now_!"

He shook his head, sighing as the man made his demands... So low he'd fallen, so very low... "_Dear me," _he muttered, speaking clearly despite the apparent 'danger' before him._ "To see the old 'Prize King' like this_," Pegasus continued, crossing his arms once again. Nothing but darkness in Keith Howard's mind... Despair and vengeance and a combination of hate that he quite honestly wasn't in the mood to deal with. "_It's no wonder,_" he continued with a smile, "_That you lost to a mere boy who had never come into a tournament until just now.._."

"_Just shut the fuck up_," Keith roared, the man's grip on his weapon tightening as he moved forward. Glasses clattered to the ground and bloodshot eyes stared forward, eliciting little if any sort of reaction from Pegasus in response. "_Shut the fuck up and fork over the cash before I slit your damn throat_!"

Tsk tsk tsk... So impatient... The smile disappeared, Pegasus' eye narrowing in annoyance. No manners whatsoever... He didn't even attend the dinner the night before. "_Yes, well_," he muttered dismissively, shaking his head. Talking time was over... He was on a schedule after all. "_I don't think I'll be doing that just yet... I must say though," _he continued plainly,_ "I'm __very__ glad we had this little chat_," For the situation he was in, Pegasus' voice was dangerously calm, as was his posture as he stood before his former one-time opponent. "_According to the Kingdom's regulations you must be punished after all... I saw what you did during the match Keith,_" he said coldly, voice devoid of the former cheer and 'kind' natures. "_Did you honestly think you could cheat... In front of __me__? Moving not one, but two cards from your wristband to your hand..._" The clicking sound from before came again as he shook his head, the man before him merely laughing in response. Really... "_Not at all a show of good play..._"

"_Hah! So what,_" Keith growled, his own grin still wide and evident on his face. "_You think I give a flying fuck about the match? My rules,_" he shouted, waving his knife with a laugh. "_My plan... All legal by my fucking standards!_" So was that how it was? Pity.

There was nothing more in this man's mind, and nothing remotely useful nor even resembling a thought. "_Dear me,_" he muttered, ignoring the mad ravings before him. Such a pity that a prideful champion could fall so low... A true pity, a disgrace to the flag he wore across his brow. "_It seems to me that you lost your mind as a duelist when I defeated you in America..._" He continued to shake his head, eye 'glowing' behind his hair as his mood darkened. Well now... Cheaters deserved at least one 'small' chance didn't they? And Keith_ had_ claimed that the escape from hell was through him... "_Are you ready,_" he asked, voice low as he stared down the man before him. Perhaps if he was lucky he'd pull his way out of _this _hell, and escape death again. Shadows seeped from the hall around them, swirling angrily at the command of his eye. Across from him Keith was staring with wide eyes, knife clattering to the ground as the Pegasus pointed forward. "_**PENALTY GAME!**_"

The man before him tensed considerably, mouth hanging open in a silent scream. Shadows wrapped around the man's wrist, and those who could see them looked toward the appendage in question. Keith and Pegasus were both silent, one in horror the other in mere distaste. To look at Hell, he had asked? To have a gun to your head, just as Keith had gestured on the board below. And as that same gesture was made, Keith's face couldn't have been more terrified, fingers curling into the iconic 'shoot' position. A barrel to a gun twisted out from his palm, veins bulging and moving to the sides as a series of bullets appeared to glimmer within each one. His middle finger moved foward slightly, as though to hold a trigger, and from his index finger there came a small hole. His thumb clicked back, like the safety of a gun, and as the American's middle finger pulled in, panicked whimpers coming through the air...

-_**BANG!**_-

As he walked silently down the hall, shadows pulling inward he could hear the thoughts of the guard behind him. What happened... Why had the would be attacker simply collapsed, as though dead? Was that blood trickling down the side, pooling around his skull? Or was it merely an illusion?

Only he knew, and that was all that mattered. Best to shake the man out of his stupor however. "_The arena, Tamaki_," he said curtly, the guard behind him giving a nervous cough and turning to his employer. "_I will contact you when I have finished with my other guest..._"

There was only silence in response for a short while, before a small and nervous '_Yes sir, Mr. Pegasus,_' was received as an answer. The men both moved down the hall in silence, passing through the main path as an eerie calm settled over them. The hall they came to split in two, one to the stairs and one to the next hall... With that they took their separate ways, the guard moving toward where the Arena controls would be located and the American coming toward the study he had asked Crocketts to prepare for 'meeting'. Such an annoyance... He would have to have someone dispose of Keith's corpse later on, though for now it wouldn't hurt to leave him there. Even so... Perhaps his next guest would prove more interesting conversation, or at least a more interesting form of thought. Coming toward the door, he watched as Crocketts moved from where he had stood vigil in front of the entrance. He had been making sure his 'guest' remained in place... Personally, Pegasus decided mentally, Crocketts would have been taken out rather quickly if the 'dog' had truly decided to make a move. Even so, he appreciated the effort.

"_Mr. Pegasus,_" Crocketts said with a nod, bowing his head and stepping to the side. "_As requested, Katsuya Jonouchi has not left the room since entering. The windows have been monitored in case he attempts to escape, but so far, there has been no sign of an attempt._" There was a short silence, and the man continued as his boss reached for the door. He was wondering why they needed to monitor the boy so heavily... Well, he never did tell anyone who really had the key after all. "_In addition_," his assistant stated, frowning slightly as he pulled something from his pocket, "_There's something our men spotted on the old security feeds of Mr. Kaiba's bedroom._" Pausing again for a moment, he handed his boss a single slip of paper before bowing his head. "_We thought you might find it... Interesting," _the man decided with a small cough, "_...In regards to what we deciphered from this clip..."_

Pegasus skimmed the sheet just briefly, pocketing the note and turning the handle to the room with a small smile. It was always good to have someone who could read lips on hand when looking into these tapes. This would make things very interesting... "_Well done Crocketts,_" he stated calmly, opening the door quietly. So the 'hound' did know its task... Among other things. Interesting. "_If you could make sure the arena is prepared,_" the man continued with a slight frown, "_I asked Tamaki to do so, but in light of recent events I'm not completely sure he's... Up to the task._" Pegasus paused for a moment, before stepping into the room. "_Be sure that __everything__ is perfect, alright~," _he asked with a small smile, turning to his assistant for one last moment._ "And by the way,_" he added, Crocketts nodding in response. "_Be sure to patch that feed to the Tokushima screen in the room... I'm sure we can find the... __Answer__ to our little problem!~" _With a curt nod from his assistant, Pegasus walked into the room, quietly shutting the door behind him as an onslaught of suspicion and anger came from the guest in the room.

Really, such an upsetting mood... To be expected of course, but nonetheless! Why, even the food was untouched! He shook his head slightly, turning the lock to the door before moving back to look at the blond teen standing before him. A blank frown... And an active attempt to hide his thoughts, very interesting, if not more intelligent than he would expect from the boy. "So," he began, moving to take a seat at the side as he switched back to the Japanese language. "How about we chat..."

* * *

"_Doggy-boy..._"

Pegasus hadn't looked at him when he started speaking, but he had long since turned around to see his scowl with those words. Again with that name... Stop calling him a god damned dog... Katsuya narrowed his eyes, gaze following Pegasus as the man sat before him on the couch. He was silent only for a moment, not even looking at the blond as his back turned to the blond. However, as Katsuya took a few steps around the couch, watching as Pegasus crossed his legs before him the man spoke. "Now now," Pegasus said with a smile, taking a glass from the table and pouring himself something that looked to be wine. "You don't need to get angry about it..." Angry about- Of course, the name...

The blond tensed, before gritting his teeth. Only two seconds into 'conversation' and already he was pulling that? Tch! "Why shouldn' I be angry," he muttered, watching his 'host' take a sip from the glass, two meals of steak and shrimp steaming on the coffee table in the middle. "Yer flipping through my head like a book right now!"

Pegasus sighed, shaking his head. "Well, I suppose I could call you 'Katsuya-boy'," he said with a smile, the blond tensing in response. Like that was any better than 'dog'! Using his first name... They weren't on those kind of terms by a longshot! The man before him merely continued to smile slightly, leaning back against his couch. "Hah... And to think," he muttered, 'tsk' noises coming around the room for a few moments. "I had all this food prepared just for you~! In fact," he continued as he gestured to the coffee table with an eerie smile, "I heard this was your 'favorite'..." Oh, so the food was leverage then? Well screw that... "Of course," Pegasus continued, taking another sip of his wine, "I suppose I've been rude as well..." He laughed, grabbing an empty glass from the table in the place of his own and holding it out to the teen. "I didn't even offer you anything! You must be _exhausted_ after all, coming all this way... You didn't even have the strength for the finals," he said lowly, 'guest' swallowing in response. "You should gather your strength... Care for some shrimp, or maybe a bit of wine to drink?"

Gh... Like hell he was taking anything from this guy... "Tch..." Katsuya stepped back slightly, narrowing his eyes and not even bothering to spare a glance at the food. Yea, it smelled great but knowing his luck it was poisoned... Not to mention, he had a feeling the others weren't getting this kind of treatment. "I ain't hungry," he muttered, shaking his head slightly. Stomach said otherwise of course, particularly with the looks of the steak on the table but... Either way! If the others were probably hungry, then he would stay that way! "And b'sides," he added with a scowl, pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind as he fixed Pegasus with a glare. "'M pretty sure I ain't legally able t' drink in _any_ country let alone Japan righ' now..."

The man across from him merely chuckled in response, replacing the glass on the table before him as the remaining food and wine was left untouched. "If you say so," he said quietly, before a wide grin came into place. "Well... We have a lot to talk about," he began, clapping his hands together. "Please, take a seat 'doggy-boy', I can't wait to get started!~" Yea, he bet he couldn't...

He swallowed, gritting his teeth as he stood with his back to the fireplace and continued to glare at his 'host'. Names aside... Let's just _not_ do that now. "I don' think I will," he said with a frown, shaking his head as he swallowed. Definitely not saying anything... Or thinking anything really. Besides, he told himself with another nervous swallow, Pegasus couldn't possibly stall the entire day, he had to face Yugi in less than an h-

"Oh, I'm not pressed for time," Pegasus stated calmly, stopping the blond's thoughts in their tracks. What..? "The duel will begin when I wish for it to after all..." Briefly, his eye held a solid gaze in the teen's own, 'guest' growing slightly pale. Don't look at him... Don't... As Pegasus merely smirked in response, the man's gaze quickly flicked down to the pendant around his neck. "My my," he muttered, grin fading into a smirk as Katsuya followed the stare. "An interesting necklace you have there 'doggy-boy'..." Gh- Necklace? The blond tensed, the small 'box' pendant hanging innocently around his neck before his eyes. S-Shit... It wasn't tucked in..! "The shape on its cover," Pegasus continued almost 'off handedly', smirk shrinking even more as it became increasingly menacing in appearance. "It almost looks like a certain key I've been looking for..."

Katsuya grabbed the pendant, growling under his breath with those words. Yea, he bet it looked similar! "Yea? And y' ain't getting anywhere near it," he spat, eyes narrowed as he stuffed it back under his shirt. Really figured that it would end up outside his shirt in the earlier search... Either way, he was still protecting it. Pegasus wasn't coming anywhere near this box... Not even a foot!

Chuckling continued from the chair, causing the blond to grow still paler. "Just as expected from the guardian of the Kaiba family," Pegasus said with a smile, shaking his head. 'Guardian'? That was a new title... "But alas, it seems you failed anyways..." Gh- Failed... As Katsuya tensed further, the man merely continued to smile. "It must be _devastating_, 'Doggy-boy'! To take such an important position in the home only for it all to fall apart! Ah..." Pegasus shook his head, an apparent expression of despair on his face. Don't talk about that... Don't talk about that so lightly... "Such an _important_ task," the man before him continued, seemingly oblivious to the reaction he was receiving in response. "To hold those lives in your hands... It really doesn't suit you..."

The blond's knuckles cracked, fists tightly clenched as he stood there. Just shut up... Shut the hell up..! Where did he get off, telling him this when he was the cause? Taking Mokuba's soul, and Seto-ch- He narrowed his eyes, keeping silent as he mentally corrected himself. Kaiba's soul... Kaiba's... Pegasus could read minds, Pegasus could read minds, Pegasus could _fucking read minds_, and he couldn't forget that! Not if he was going to get out of this. "Stop callin' me a dog, _Pegasus," _he bit out in a pathetic attempt to change the subject, taking a small step back as his 'host' took another sip of wine. What did he want... He wanted the key of course, he knew that, but why did Pegasus pull him out here for that? He could have just gone off to his room, take his soul before anyone was even aware...

Again, Pegasus chuckled, tapping the side of the side-table beside him as a small keypad appeared. Hn! Here came some more silent conversation he guessed... "Why indeed," Pegasus muttered, the glass of wine replaced once more on the table. "Why did you forfeit," he asked lowly, an odd glint appearing in his eye, Katsuya narrowing his eyes in response. "Why did you take my offer to join my tournament only to give in so easily," he continued, tapping the keys beside him quietly. "You were so _close_," the man almost whispered, his guest merely tightening his jaw at the words. "So very_ very_ close Doggy-boy..." Stop calling him a... Damn it! Forget it! He obviously didn't care about what he thought anyways! "It almost makes me wonder," he muttered, pushing one final key on the pad before folding his hands before him, "If there was a more... _Personal _motive for things..."

Personal..? The portrait behind him crackled, and Katsuya turned with narrowed eyes as what appeared to be a security feed replaced an image of the Tokushima coastline. Black and grainy white with grey, one person on a chair, another on a be- Hang on... This was... He swallowed, Pegasus silent behind him as the blond attempted to curb his thoughts. He knew what this was...Shit... For all he wanted he couldn't ignore what was right there..! The feed from Seto's bedroom was silent of course... Completely quiet, for observation and privacy purposes, and even then, 'observation' was only something that the board of directors had managed to implement. This feed though... The time stamp on the side read '10:17 PM', which he could remember gleaning from the clock as he waited for 'thirteen minutes later' to roll around. The date and month were also burned into his mind, and as he watched the feed he only dimly heard the voice behind him, "An interesting thing we found," Pegasus stated as the image of Seto's comatose form lay before them on the screen, his 'on screen counterpart' merely sitting quietly at the side. Though it was a four-poster bed, the curtains drawn apart still allowed a clear view up to the woman's neck, even with the blanket in place. And of course, given that nothing else was covered, everything other than Seto herself was clearly visible... Including... "This feed," the man behind him asked, Katsuya swallowing back a growl, "It came from _your_ shift... Did it not?"

Yea... His shift, but it didn't take a genius to notice that the person on shift was a good deal smaller in build than every one else on security staff! Another swallow, and the room fell silent again for just a moment. Wide eyes watched as the grainy version of himself sat on the chair, lips moving silently in speech as he mentally cursed himself. Shit... Shit... He even figured this could happen, why the hell did he have to be right! (He was never right damn it...) "I wonder," Pegasus continued, voice barely more of a whisper as it floated by his ear, despite the man having never moved from his spot. "Just what were you saying that night..?" Get out of his head... Just get out..!

He could remember word for word what he said that night as his on-screen counterpart opened and closed his mouth. His words to the one that lay on that bed, the promise he'd made... '_...I know_,' he'd said quietly, holding confidence in the privacy of the room, the silence in his last shift. '_You'll probably do everything in your power to slaughter me when yah wake up..._' Each word he'd thought hidden from view of the camera had been perfectly visible, having no other thoughts than his failure... No other thoughts other than getting Mokuba back from Pegasus... '_But I'm only lettin' yah do that after I've done that myself.._.'

Get out of his head. Pegasus had gone silent as the blond watched the feed, likely busy gaining a clear script from Katsuya's mind. '_Mokuba's gone...'_ He knew he was there... This itching, invasive feeling at the back of his skull... Get out of his head... '_Snatched off from school without me ev'n noticin'.._.' Get out of his head! '_But I know who did it... An' I'm goin' after him with all I've got..._' GET OUT OF HIS HEAD! '_But for his sake_,' Get... '_I want you tah get better!_' Out of... '_I want yah t' wake up f'r him_,' His... '_Even if he ain't here, got it_?' **HEAD**!

"You care so _much_ for them Doggy-boy," Pegasus said from behind. The man had come up behind him, face far to close to him for comfort. "Keeping a faithful vigil by your employer's side, just what were you saying," he asked, Katsuya turning his eyes back with a nervous shudder. "Perhaps it was a promise..?" 'Perhaps' his ass, he knew damn well..! "A _pity_ how that turned out..."

The blond jerked back taking a number of steps away and moving to the other side of the couch. Wide eyes and a flushed face turned to Pegasus, watching as the man continued to look toward the screen. "Gh... Stop flippin' through my head damn it!" The version of himself on screen was still talking... He'd leaned in closer to the one on the bed, the time-stamp hitting '10:26'... Not too close, but it was enough that his head was partially obscured by the bed's cover. "You already have me where y' want don't yah," he continued, grinding his teeth. "After all, I ain't in yer tournament anymore..!" He was long gone from that... He'd literally handed his rights to Yugi, so why was Pegasus bothering with all this!

Pegasus gave a mock sigh, shaking his head as he crossed his arms and turned back to the blond. "No," he said with a small smile, eye narrowing. "No you aren't... And such a pity too! I would have_ loved_ to see you face off against dear Yugi-boy... Hnhnhnhnhn..." Yea, he _bet _he'd have enjoyed watching that, the bastard... The man turned back to the screens, Katsuya as well following his gaze. His on screen self had leaned over the bed... This was... The part where... "My," Pegasus said, the blond swallowing nervously as the words came to mind. He had to reign in his thoughts, he had to... But he couldn't..!

'_Please don' kill me f'r this...' _

The rest was left to imagination, but thanks to what he knew..._  
_

The man before him turned back with a narrowed and almost sadistic smirk, a shadow appearing to come over his face. "_How close to her you are_... How very close..."

...Her... He said... Wide and fearful eyes turned back on the man, Katsuya's face paling as he continued to back up toward the door. He had to get out of here, and fast... Pegasus knew... He fucking knew that she was...

The American chuckled, arms crossed behind his back as the screen clicked off seemingly automatically. "Ahh... Young love," he said with a seemingly nostalgic sigh, shaking his head. Briefly, a genuine expression of sentimentality appeared on the man's face, before being replaced by the same dark smirk as before. "How wonderful it is... Hnhnhnhnhn..." The blood continued to drain from his face as Pegasus turned on him, eye narrowed to match his amused smirk. "Really Doggy-boy," he asked with a frown, shaking his head. "Did you think I wouldn't know who I was working with..?"

He grit his teeth, growling. Like hell he needed to even answer that if his head was an open book right now... He didn't think that this kind of crap would happen! The blond brought his hands behind him, back pressed against the door as he stared his 'host' down. Door was locked... Pegasus probably had the key... Not to mention everything else apparently...

Pegasus again shook his head, turning his back to the teen for a moment. "I _did_ try to be polite," he said quietly, gesturing to the likely cold food on the coffee table. "All that work for nothing, it's clear you were tired... But," he continued, picking his glass of wine from the table with a sigh, "It would seem that you and _Kaiba-dear_ are more alike than I thought... Tsk tsk tsk," the man muttered, smile vanishing as he moved back from the table. "Refusing a host is _never_ polite you know... I had all this food prepared for you, even allowed your _dear _friends a place to sleep..."

The teen snorted, a wry and forced smirk on his face. "Hah! Yea," he muttered under his breath, "Some host you are... Didn' even have a bar 'f soap in th' bathroom, let alone las' night's 'supper'! Ended up chasin' a guy away from my bedroom!" And not just any guy either, fucking Bandit Keith who stole his card...

"Oh... You must forgive me for that," Pegasus said with a mock cry, bringing a hand to his head. "But it's not my fault.. I only thought you wouldn't have the time for such things, that people would hold a sense of privacy! Besides," he continued, a dangerously eerie smile returning to his face. "It would only be for a day after all... You really ought to be more considerate, 'doggy-boy'~." The man placed his glass of wine on the side table, pulling something out of his pocket and twirling it in his fingers. "I have your _dear_ 'Seri-chan' after all..."

Gh..! Katsuya tensed, hands gripping the door knob behind him as his eyes grew wide once again. So he'd gotten that out of his head too then..? Hah... Haha... Damn it... A low growl came from his throat, jaw viced tightly closed as he narrowed his eyes in rage. "You... Don' bring that inteh this... Don't even think of it..."

He shook his head, fingering the card in his grip. "Whaaaat~? Oh, but _Doggy-boy_," he 'protested', the smirk still in place as he held the card's face toward the blond. An eerily calm expression was on the card, eyes closed in an expression that almost mimicked sleep... Hang on... Did her eyes just... "You _love_ her don't you," Pegasus asked, pulling the card back into his crossed arms. "You would do _anything_ for her," he continued, a low chuckle grating against Katsuya's ears. "And yet she knows nothing of this... Can't even remember," he added as a seeming afterthought, the blond biting down on his lip to keep from shouting.

Get out of his head damn it... Stop taking all of his thoughts and memories and using them like this..! Stop it... Just stop... "It must be depressing," Pegasus muttered, smirk fading to a more 'serious' expression as he stared his guest down. "All you did, and she wasn't even awake to know... And when she woke up, almost in answer to those last words you left her..." Pegasus shook his head, eye shutting momentarily before he fixed him with a cold stare once more. "How did you feel," he asked, "When she stepped out of that helicopter and the first thing she acknowledged was _Yugi-boy_? Your 'best friend'?"

Katsuya growled, eyes narrowing once again. "Gh... You can't prove that," he shouted, a small bit of blood catching in his throat from his bitten lip. Why would Seto look at him anyways, she pretty much detested him! He'd almost broken into her house, saw her naked, got a job and a room at said house from it instead of a bullet in his skull... She hadn't actually forgotten, that was just a theory, it was just... "You don' know anythin' abou' that!" And it was pretty much expected that she'd address the guy who put her in a coma first! He didn't know anything about this... Nothing...

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Do I," he asked, spinning Seto's card in his fingers as a smirk returned to his face. "It seemed _very_ obvious to me, during our duel..." Gh... Don't talk about that... Don't... "That's _right_," Pegasus continued in mock surprise, eye wide as he brought a hand to his face. "You didn't get to see that match, _did you_ 'Doggy-boy'! You really should have~," he said, the shock and innocent cheer vanishing back into a dark smirk. "It was _wonderfully_ played," he continued, before giving another mock sigh and shaking his head. "Such a pity she had to lose the way she did..."

Shut up... Blood was seeping out of his tongue as his teeth clamped on it but he didn't move. Hands continued to work the lock behind him as he glared, arms shaking in his anger. Just a few more clicks... Just a few more and he'd be out...

Pegasus was walking toward him, and as a hand grabbed his chin the blond almost dropped his picks. "Gh-!" W-What the hell!

"Now," the man said, other arm reaching for the blond's own and pulling back roughly as a few metal tools clattered to the ground.

"Ack-!"

Shit... There went... Pegasus' eye narrowed, a frown in place. Damn... For someone who was 'worried about his health' throwing duel disks, he had a fucking strong grip..! Gh... "You didn't think I hadn't noticed that did you?"

He grit his teeth, forcing a smile on his face. Blood was dripping from the side of his mouth... Tongue was filled with a coppery taste, and if he didn't think it'd damn the others he'd have put that to good use and spat in this guy's face. "Well," he said, choking back on his nerves as Pegasus gave no apparent reaction to the mental comment, "I'd kinda hoped..."

Pegasus smirked, clapping his hand along the boy's face before holding Seto's card before him. "Did you now..." Gh- He tensed, completely motionless until the hand moved away. Don't... Don't touch him! "Tell me 'Doggy-boy'," he asked the card's visage catching Katsuya's eye and holding it completely. Those eyes... They'd been closed before, but was one of them maybe... Open now? Like a wink? (Or was that just him...) "What do you think would happen if I _tore_ this card..."

Tore it..? His eyes widened, moving from the card to the one holding it. With Bakura it'd been figurines... _'I know the breaking point of my figurines_,' the 'dark' Bakura had said as the spikes dug into their skulls on the board, bodies trembling in the pressure. If the figurines had broken they'd have died... So if the card was torn, didn't that mean... "N...No... That'll..." If her soul was... Was in there then... She would...

The smirk grew, and Pegasus moved back to replace the card in his pocket and give Katsuya some 'space'. "Right on the mark Doggy-boy~," he said almost cheerfully, waving one of his hands through the air with a laugh. "If I were to tear this card even slightly," the man continued, childish grin returning to the smirk once more, "Kaiba-dear's soul might not just make it out..." Gh... Then... Why bother with this..! Was it her or the key then? Or her instead of Yugi even? "Now, I'm not going to offer to release her," the man continued lowly, his guest 'growling' across from him. "That would be _foolish_~! Not to mention 'Doggy-boy'," he stated with a short laugh. "A terrible lie... As would threatening to kill your precious '_Seto-chan_'," the man added calmly. Gh... Then what the hell was he going to do? If she wasn't on the line then why bother mentioning her... Why drag her into this..! Pegasus' smirk faded into a seemingly honest smile, the man crossing his arms as those thoughts came to mind. Katsuya stared, eyes narrowing into slits at the expression as his 'host's tone quieted somewhat. "However I will give you one chance, one offer 'Doggy-boy'... After all," he said with a light 'shrug', sighing. "I myself have someone I would do the same for..."

Someone was actually in a relationship with this guy? Hah! He snorted, eyes drifting down to where his tools had fallen before looking back at his 'host'. No chance of getting those back any time soon he guessed... Still. 'Someone' else? Psh... "Yea, I bet! Who th' hell would wanna hang around someone like you," he spat, moving further back from the man. "Scannin' people's brains an puttin' their souls in tapes an' cards... _Real_ charmin' I bet!" Like hell this guy was telling the truth! Come on... Give him some overly happy, exaggerated 'oh well~' and just finish this... He was good as gone wasn't he? And the longer this took, the longer the others would have to wait... If it took to long... He shook it from mind, waiting for the answer. Come on... Come-

He frowned as silence settled over the room, his 'hosts' voice just as quiet as it had been before. "...Yes... Why wasn't the answer as snarky as he expected? "Yes that's..." Pegasus trailed off, eye staring off at the side before speaking again. "I suppose that is true... Nonetheless," he continued, tone darkening as a shadowed glint appeared in his eye, the chill in the room returning yet again. "That's not for you to decide, _boy_..." Just 'boy'? No 'doggy' this time? ...Oh hell that voice was creeping him out now. "Not when you know your fate..." Shit... Chuckling filled the room again, and the man began to pace around the couch as Katsuya stared. "You have something I want after all," he stated, the lack over-the-top cheer serving to further creep him out. "Something I _need_," he continued calmly. "The key around your neck- I'll take it regardless of what you say... But I'm going to offer you a deal..."

Katsuya grit his teeth, spitting what remained of the blood in his mouth on the ground. "You c'n blow it out yer ass Pegasus... I don' care what you offer, I-"

"You'll refuse it? _Really_," he said, shaking his head, an exaggerated expression of disappointment clearly visible. "You shouldn't be so quick to reject my offer Doggy-boy~! I haven't even explained... Hnhnhnhnhn..." Pegasus stopped walking, the couch sitting between he and the blond as he crossed his arms yet again. The card was again in his hands, Katsuya noted, frowning. And it looked different again... Both eyes were half open, staring blankly forward, but that wasn't all either. Beside the name at the top, where it had simply held the kanji of Seto's name, a few question marks had appeared... And the particle 'To'. Katsuya stared, wide and livid eyes narrowing slightly with confusion as he swallowed. What the hell... "I can seal a soul into any object after all... Even if it's already _occupied_..." Already occupied! What the hell was he getting at here... "The soul is eternal," Pegasus continued, expression of neutrality only marred by the shadow over his eye. "Ageless and never dying... I could give you the chance to see your _dear_ 'Seto' again," he offered, voice little more than a whisper as his guest stared, eyes widening as the message became clear. "Have you join her in this card rather than banish you to an eternity of solitude... If you'll just give me the key without questions." Forever with...

Tch! He growled, drawing back even further from the man as he made his way back toward the door. 'Forever' with Seto-chan huh? And what about Mokuba..? Or even Seto's own nerves on the subject? (He'd admit it himself, his chances were... Pretty damn low.) Besides... 'Soul imprisonment' wasn't on his list of ways to go out! "Forget about it," he snarled, hands moving in front of him in a poor attempt at defense as they closed into fists. Wouldn't do anything for his soul but... The hell he wouldn't at least try to slam him one in the end. "Y' mind as well jus' take my soul now if that's what yer' gonna try!"

Pegasus' eye narrowed, and the card was instantly replaced in his pocket. "I suppose I tried," he said exasperatingly, shrugging with a mock sigh. "I'm not even sure why I bothered with such an attempt! Just look at what you did to my carpet," he shouted, gesturing to the small bloodstain that was seeping into the floor. Oh hey... Must have happened when he shouted at Pegasus earlier. Oh well... "Do you have any idea how long that will take to clean! Really Doggy-boy... How very inconsiderate..." A new card was procured from his pocket, Katsuya tensing in response as the CEO again gained a dark gleam in his eyes. The man's hair seemed to part to reveal the false one in his skull, bright gold shining in the light of the room. Shit... Blank card, question marks like the one on Seto's... Here it came... "It looks as though I'll just have to be rid of you now... Pity," he muttered, fingers tracing the card slightly before he looked back to his 'guest'. "I had been thinking of letting you leave in one piece..."

Here it came... He swallowed, shutting his eyes and wincing as he waited for the 'inevitable'. The feeling of weakness that was already washing over him like a wet sheet, making it hard for him to breathe and for a moment, he frowned. This... He choked, shaking his head and staring at the ground with a frown. This wasn't like when Bakura's 'other' just switched him over into a figurine, with the sudden black out he'd had. Where all he'd felt was a brief instant of some sort of pull, and then nothing. This was... Different. This... He coughed, collapsing on himself as one hand limply gripped the door knob at the side. This... "Gh... Hah... Kch! Hah... Hah..." What was this... Weary eyes looked up at Pegasus' hand, and he could see something slowly appearing... What the hell was this, was he just sort of pulling him in slow, like siphoning gas? "Hah... hah...Gkh..." What was...

The blond closed his eyes, hand falling to his side as he continued to struggle for breath. This was it... He was dead now... Yugi... He'd better not lose that key damn it-

"Oh," Pegasus muttered in evident disappointment, Katsuya looking up through his exhaustion to glare at the man. The man's expression was visibly faded into honest depressed surprise, and at the sight he had to force a triumphant grin on his face. Hah... Yea, that's right... "So you don't have it," the man continued with a frown, earning no more than a weak laugh from his soon to be captive. "You gave it to him... Hnhnhnhnhn... Such a surprise!" Yea... Go ahead and laugh now, but he still 'won' this round... And thanks to earlier deals, Yugi was untouchable, so there! Hahahaha... Haha... hah... Pegasus' voice continued to fade in and out, Katsuya breathing heavily as he continued to tire. Damn... This was taking an awful long time... What was taking so long...

'_Hey._..' Couldn't he just sleep and be over with...? Just close his eyes and wait until he hopefully woke up... '_Hey_..' And shit, he was even starting to hear voices again, wasn't the duel monsters stuff enough..? Couldn't he just...

'**_HEY_**!' Eyes shot open from where they had closed, and with a loud bang Pegasus stumbled back from him. The again blank card fluttered to the ground, Katsuya hurriedly shuffling back with wide eyes as a misted figure erupted between he and Pegasus. '**_What the hell do you think you're doing Mutt_**,' a familiar voice screeched, target grabbing the lock-picks from the ground as his hand fumbled over them in his flight. Hands unconsciously gripping the picks he stared, eyes wide as the shouts continued. '**_DIDN'T YOU PROMISE ME_**,' she roared, bright and hazed light blocking him from Pegasus as he continued to stare. '**_THAT YOU WOULD RETURN MY BROTHER UNHARMED_**!'

S-Se... Was this... He pulled himself to his feet, back pressed against the door as the same legless form of the girl he'd seen in his 'dream' appeared before him. "W-What... What the hell..."

"My my," Pegasus was muttering, apparently recovering as the light receded to the 'ghost's form. "Isn't this interesting..?" 'Seto' turned, fixing the man with a glare before looking back at Katsuya. The light was intensifying again... But was it just him, or was it being pulled away from him...

'**_What are you waiting for_**,' she growled, the blond tensing in response as the spectre continued to glare. '**_I'm not letting you go back on your word MUTT_**!' He continued to stare, before the light flared and a blinded shout of surprise came from the other in the room. Ack... His eyes..! '**_GO_**!'

What the hell was this..! He turned to the door, thoughts racing as he gave up on lock-picking and slammed his arm down on the knob. What the hell was this! One solid slam was all it took and the knob was snapped off, Katsuya pulling the lock from the door in a panic. He couldn't hear anything. Not Pegasus' mutterings of seeming amusement in the face of an angered shard of soul, the shouts of the soul herself, nor the thundering footsteps from the right of the hall as he flung the door open and bolted. Nothing... Not even... "YOU," came a guard's shout, Katsuya paying it no mind as he fled. Get out of there... That was all he could do, just get out of there... "GET BACK HERE!"

Run... Run... He had to get out of here! In the back of his mind as he ran, he could see 'little Seto' staring down Pegasus... Eyes narrowed, a wry and vicious smirk on her face. Pegasus himself had long since recovered from the blinding light, and was now approaching the ghost with a legitimately curious expression in place. The smirk grew... And then...

"**_Heh... Here's your last piece, Crawford..._**" More light.

Then nothing.

Footsteps continued to thunder down the hall, and Katsuya shook the image from mind as he continued to barrel through the house. The blond's shoes skidded against the carpet as he turned a corner, the teen narrowly avoiding tripping over his own feet as the shoes laces slapped against his legs. Run... Keep running... Another corner was turned, and despite his fear the blond chanced a look back before smirking. Three very angry, and very large guards were about... Oh... 8-10 meters behind him? Hah! No big deal right? He'd been in situations like this befo-

-**_Bzwsh_**!-

-_CRACK_- He ducked, eyes wide as a vase directly to his left shattered to pieces. Feet skidded over shattered porcelain and waterlogged anemone flowers as he picked up speed, a few strands of hair falling to the ground behind him. Fuck... Oh FUCK, they were firing at him! "Haaaahhh shit!" He stumbled as another bullet flew past his ear, turning another corner and tripping as a loose shoe managed to clatter to the ground behind him. Damn it, he'd gotten away from Pegasus and jumped right into something even worse! Turning yet another corner, the blond continued to breath raggedly as shouts sounded behind him. Glass was stuck in his remaining shoe, and what slight shards stuck to the laces bit at his bare left foot. Still he ran, barely keeping from falling as he continued. He couldn't run much longer... He needed to find a spot to hide... Anywhere... Somewhere...

There. How he knew there was an open door there he didn't know, but as the door shut behind him he turned the lock and moved off to the center of the room. He'd only had a few seconds around that corner before the others would follow after, and the fact that this door was there... He turned his attention from the door he'd backed away from, staring. Two doors... There were two doors in this room, which was large and empty in an almost ballroom like fashion. Hell, knowing Pegasus it _was_ a ballroom... A stage at one side, enormous and elaborate stained glass windows in the ceiling... He shook himself, looking back to the other door and moving toward it to open it. Like hell he knew why there were two doors in here but who cared if it got him away from the bullets? There wasn't any time to stare at the scenery... Those morons would probably realize he'd headed elsewhere once they hit a long stretch of hallway after all. Cautiously poking his head out, he glanced down both ends of what was apparently a dark and blocked off hall. Not a single light in there, save from whatever the comparatively well illuminated room behind him gave it. Ok... Ok... No one in sight...

He slowly walked out of the room, shutting the door behind him with a click. Alright... Calm down... He was somewhat in the clear now, somewhat... It was completely dark in here now, the only thing allowing him to find his way around being his thankfully well honed night vision; night shift sure seemed to be coming in handy lately... "Hah... Hah... Hah... Hah..." Katsuya fell to his knees as he took a few steps into the hall, shaking his head as the events of the past few minutes caught up to him. "Hah... God..." Back in the room... What the hell _was _that! He was dying there... He was sure of it, he was sure... And then, right when he'd been so sure it was the end... The 'eye' from the night before came to mind, eerie voice echoing through his head. '_There was a piece missing...'_ He swallowed, fingering the lock picks that were still gripped in his hands and staring at the dark wall across from him. '_Let me take it...'_ He'd thought last night was a dream... He could have sworn... But back there, with Pegasus... He shook his head, picks hanging limply in his fingers as he attempted to figure out what happened. How the hell had all that happened...

All he could hear now though was 'Seto'... _'Didn't you promise_?' The lock picks were jammed back in his pockets, Katsuya standing up slowly and staring at the floor with a worried scowl. Yea, he'd promised but what could he do? If he moved an inch in the wrong spot... Lights out, thanks for trying. He bit his lip, shaking his head. Rephrase that... To hell if that wasn't worth the risk after all, but the fact was, if he didn't watch it... Fists clenched he felt his way down the hall, looking for another door as his arm moved above and around various flowers and vases lined along the sides. He needed to move, to get out of there... Pegasus knew he didn't have the key now, he was probably on his way to duel Yugi now... Honda and Bakura had never showed up, which probably meant they were still looking for Mokuba and Kaiba... He couldn't just sit around and-

"Ow!" He hissed, pulling his hand back as his fingers brushed against a rather thorny set of plants on the side. Shit, what the hell kind of plant was that, a thistle? "Damn it..." Bleeding... He sucked his finger a moment, flicking it in the air in an attempt to east the sting. "Ow... Sssss... Shit, you'd think he'd get rid 'f th' thorns..." He held the bleeding finger under his arm for a moment, before moving out into the center of the tall and continuing on his way. Alright... Well, hopefully that thorn wasn't anything poisonous... He continued down the hall, steady un-even thumping of socks and shoes pounding through his head before coming to the next door. Light was coming from under it... Quietly he opened the door a crack, and with a cautious look around the corner pulled back inside the dark hall instantly. Shit! Someone was there... He only saw one but... He slowly poked his head back out, biting his lip as the guard stood across from him, back turned not two feet away. Looking elsewhere down the hall there was no one else... All the same though, this wasn't personal like with Saruwatari. Hell, how would he get out of this one...

He pulled back inside, frowning. Something told him the other hall wouldn't be any different, if there even was another hall at the opposite end of this one... So how to get rid of this mook without getting a gun pulled on him then? He stared down at his mis-matched feet, looking at his single shoe for a moment. Huh... How the hell was he going to get that shoe ba- Katsuya blinked, before smirking. Hehehe... Here was an idea... He needed to get this guy out cold somehow didn't he? Katsuya poked his head back out the door, biting his lip as a loose plan came to mind. This guy would probably notice if he walked up behind him with a big ol' vase to knock him out after all... But there was no way he'd get him 'quietly' and in one shot from the back! But if he cut off any possible noise...

Katsuya took off his other shoe, quietly placing it on the ground before taking his sock. Alright... First, make sure there weren't any shards of glass in there either, lest he cut the guy's throat... Much as he didn't want to lose his shoes, his jacket wouldn't really work for this... Too thick, and his cards and picks were in there. Knowing his luck, the picks would impale the guy's neck. Besides, bare feet were quieter, now that both his shoes were gone (How the hell would he replace those?)... He slowly pushed the door open, ignoring the slight creak as he approached the guard. Alright... The sock was gripped tightly in both his hands, the blond cautiously toeing over to where the guard was staring at a portrait. Closer... Closer... The man before him tensed, as did the one behind him. Shit. "What the..."

Oh fuck. The guard turned, Katsuya dropping the sock and charging the man in an instant. "Hn!" Elbow slammed hard into the man's stomach, guard chocking at the sudden blow. Well, there went the quiet way. As the guard collapsed wheezing for air he continued to move, hurriedly slamming his palm up against the man's throat just as he began recovering. Wheezing breaths came through the air, and before the guard could react further Katsuya grabbed the man tightly around the neck to change his positioning to behind him. Swiftly the blond reached around the guard's side, feeling around for the weapons holster at his side. Come on come on... Ahah! As the guard struggled, Katsuya pulled out the gun and grinned, holding it out and watching the man pale considerably. "Heh... I'll be takin' this," he said quietly, tightening his grip on the man in his arms. He gripped the gun firmly, adjusting his grip and moving to drag the man to the side, back into the dark hallway he'd left before. "Now then," he grunted, the guard currently holding stock still lest he get himself shot as his captor attempted to carry the man off into the dark. "Hold still f'r a moment," he continued, moving his second arm back to the man's head now that they were where he wanted to be. Pitch black, door mostly shut behind them... No one was coming in here, he decided, taking a seat on the ground with his arms still tightly wrapped around the guard's neck. "This'll only take a sec..."

Much as he didn't want to knock someone out by strangulation... This was pretty much his best bet for now. Better than smashing the guy's skull against the wall and bringing in more guards at least. The gun clattered to the ground as he tightened his grip, the guard abruptly bringing his hands up in a panic. Wheezing sounds coming out of the man's mouth became silent gasps for air, Katsuya forcing his eyes shut and turning away as he held his grip firm. Airway was cut off... For ten seconds... Twenty seconds... Forty... The man continued to scratch at his arms, Katsuya not moving despite the throes of strangulation the guard was going through. 120... 150... The struggling died down somewhat, becoming feeble slaps against the air but still his arms held firm. 200... 300... The movement stopped, and after a few more seconds he slowly let go and moved out from behind the man. Hah... Hah... Ok... He swallowed, putting an ear to the guy's chest with a swallow. Sure he'd knocked him out, but... He bit his lip, wincing as he listened for a few moments... Please don't be dead, please don't be dead, please don't be-

"Hah... Ah... Hah..." The blond moved away as movement started up in the guard's lungs again, sighing in relief. Ahhh thank god for that... Aside from Hirutani he wasn't a murderer. Now then. He swallowed, searching the man's suit for the radio before dumping it in a nearby vase and listening to a few feeble crackles. Turning to the door again, he quietly poked his head out with narrowed eyes. Time to get out of here.

Back out in the hall there was no one... Looking back at the guard, he moved back to snatch the security card on the guy before heading out and shutting the door behind him. Never knew when the card would come in handy after all; lots of card-accessed doors in private places after all, so if anyone was behind that sort of door... He shook himself, walking down the hall as light streamed through the windows at the side. Now that he was officially 'shoot on sight' material, he mind as well figure out how to get things fixed... If Honda was looking, then why the hell shouldn't he? Hell, Bakura could be looking even... Katsuya looked around, the hall, quietly stepping out in his bare feet and trailing his hand along the side of the wall. Silence... That guard was obviously the only one there, and thank god for that... But how long would that last?

Again, he shook that thought off. He'd just have to keep an eye our really... For now, his eyes had nothing to do but look around the hall however. The entire cream coloured hall was adorned with portraits, each one depicting either an unknown human being or simply a piece of western scenery that had been painted on a thick oil canvas. Lights from the ceiling came from small but otherwise immensely powerful 'mini-chandeliers', overpowered by the sunlight from the windows beside him, and against his feet the red plush carpet almost conformed to each footprint completely. Eyes narrowed as he slowly walked the hall, looking around in confusion before turning down to a path that was completely devoid of windows. This place... He frowned, hand trailing against the wall again as he walked. Why did it feel familiar...

Fingertips brushed against a vase of flowers and he turned, frowning. Huh... Were all these flowers some kind of 'map', a way for Pegasus to keep from getting lost in his own house..? Each hall had a different set from what he'd seen... For this one, vases of enormous blue hydrangeas filled the hallway, and as he looked at the large bundles had to pause his walk for a moment. These flowers... The smelled familiar, looked familiar too... But where had he seen them..?

Katsuya turned back down the hall, continuing his slow walk and shaking his head. Forget it... He had to continue with his 'job'. Much as he would like to go faster so that he didn't end up stopping for things like that, he couldn't run either... Wanted to run of course, definitely wanted to run, but between all that went on earlier and what he'd just done to that guard he was exhausted. He wanted to run but... Well, he just couldn't right now! Besides, he assured himself, silently padding along the blood red carpet. If he bolted past a corner, what would happen if he was stuck dealing with another guard? That sure as hell would suck... Particularly since it would be likely that the guard would have the advantage that round. Hah... The lighting started to dim, a few lightbulbs flickering as he glared upward. Seriously..? Come on, was Pegasus so cheap he crapped out on lighting too? Those bulbs shouldn't be doing that..!

The blond shook his head, turning around the corner to check for more people and continuing down on his way. Whatever... Not like he should really expect much from this guy (Though he had to say, the steak and shrimp was a damned low blow.)... If there wasn't any soap or food, why not cop out on lighting too? Sheesh... More silence... The vases beside him were filled with mixed flowers now, a collection of snapdragons and seemingly marbled roses. Red and white... Who the hell knew what colour they were he decided, continuing down the hall. Damn it, why the hell did all this feel so familiar... The lights in the next hall were completely out, Katsuya not even bothering to check for a guard upon entering it. There was obviously no one in here after all... Guards weren't posted in dark hallways, only dark rooms; and even then, that was only if something in there was sleeping and still under a heavy need for protection.

Continuing into this hallway, he found himself staring at the sides again as he walked. Vases of tulips lined the sides, and still he couldn't shake the feeling he'd been there before. Familiar... It was so familiar, he couldn't shake the feeling that he'd been here before..! He couldn't have been here though... It was impossible! And what was with these flowers... Even in the dark he could tell that they came in all colours, reds, oranges, whites...

Yellows... He tensed, freezing as he came to the end of the hall and turning away to face the 'exit'. Wait... This hall split into four here... But the flowers around him, he'd definitely seen them before..! This wasn't just a 'feeling', he knew... Taking a hesitant step forward, he looked down the next hallway with wide eyes, taking a confident turn to the left and swallowing. These hallways... Right down to his damn bare feet he dreamed this! After his duel with Seto! All of it... Which meant...

The next hall was roses. He tore down the next hall, the blurred forms of rose filled vases passing his eyes as he charged. This hallway... There was something here, a panel wasn't there? A loose slat with a tunnel to a dungeon. So where-

Katsuya skidded to a stop, frowning as he turned to a nearby vase. He wasn't sure what made him stop... The burst of speed he'd hit, he shouldn't have been paying the side any mind, but something here... He moved closer to the vase, lifting one of the flowers up and frowning. The other ones were filled with roses, right to the brim with fully bloomed flowers that smelled strong and fresh. But this one... He didn't know what flower this was. It looked like the roses in a way, but looking close the petals were withering, falling... The center of the flower was different, same with the leaves and stems, and the scent differed completely...

He grabbed the vase and pedestal without giving it anymore thought, heaving it away from the wall with a grunt. This was it... He didn't know how he knew, or how the hell he could get dreams like that but this was it... "Ghn... Ghaaa..." The water sloshed in the vase as the pillar was dropped, and he stooped back down the examine the wall with narrowed eyes. Hands ran along the sides, feeling around for something, anything that was out of place on the otherwise smooth plaster. Though anything below the vases seemed uniform and flat, there was something here, something... "Come on," he muttered under his breath, giving a slight knock on the wall to check for a 'hollow point'. "Come on..." Knock knock... Ahah! Briefly his eyes widened, before a grin came on his face. "Yes!" A crack in the wall... And a spot where the 'thud' was a little more echoed! Fingers dug into the side, pulling tightly against the entrance with a loud creak. Bits of dust entered the air as it pulled out, Katsuya stumbling back slightly as the thick wood 'door' fell into his arms. Gh- He turned, head peering around the vases a moment in the darkness.

Did anyone hear that...? He swallowed, counting down as he held his grip on the plank of wood in his hands. Two seconds... Four... Six... Ten... He sighed, silently laughing to himself. Hahaha... Ahhh... Good... Nothing. Pulling the 'door' off to the side and setting it to rest against a nearby pedestal, he looked at the square entry way he'd found and bit his lip. As with the dream, it was small. He'd be ducking in before he could stand. Honestly, he didn't know what he expected to find in here... Given his 'dream', probably Mokuba but all the same...

Pegasus was the one who showed up in that dream, and that was just damn creepy to tell the truth... There was no telling what was in there really, nothing at all. Nonetheless he steeled himself, crawling through the hole and paying, for the most part, no mind to the cold stone under his feet. To the wet and musty wall he trailed his hand along for a moment, nor the uneven ceiling his head scratched against as he moved. The dungeon at least was lit... Thick wax candles hung along the walls, and the stagnant air was less smoke filled than he'd figure for an enclosed dungeon. There was probably a vent around there or something then, given the otherwise breathable air hanging around well melted candles... His hand hand trailed along the side of the rock and dirt walls, the blond looking around hesitantly in case there was anyone else 'awake' down there. He didn't see anyone so far... Nothing but empty cells as he walked, a few chains hanging under barred 'windows' in an enclosed room. His hand was now brushing against cold and rusted cage bars as opposed to rock now, but all the same the scenery was the same.

Nothing but dirt, rock, cold air and- He froze, coming to the end of the room and stopping in his tracks. And that. "Holy shit..." There they were, in the same 'end of the hall' prison cell as had been in his 'dream'. Arms held limp above their head by chains, head slumped over in silence as they sat partially on their knees... Dirt caked over skin and hair from the scummy ceiling and walls, and with wide eyes he stumbled over to grip the cell door for a closer look. Their clothes were covered in filth as well... Whoever had locked them in here wasn't too careful, probably even angry. Why even bother locking someone without a soul down here anyways, how could they run? Maybe he should have expected this... Didn't change his surprise, that was for sure, but even so he felt he should have expected it. He should have... And looking at the blank blue eyes that were staring toward his feet, frozen in the defeated position they'd been left in prior 'imprisonment' he found himself choking on his words.

"S... Seto-chan..?"

* * *

**AN: **JONOUCHI DID YOU JUST STRANGLE SOMEONE? ...

YES. (Still alive though, we checked~) (You can probably tell I enjoy fight scenes. )

And so we have the first half of the Duelist Kingdom 'Finale'. Though when I say finale, I mean 'Climax', because there will still be a cool down chapter if the next half of the action takes too long. Oh MAH though... The sheer insanity/creepy/camp that is Pegasus! I had too much fun writing that scene, I really did. Anyways.

Thinking of using as many _pairs_ of chapters for the Legendary Heroes arc as there is episodes... Basically six chapters. Or should I just roll with it and pray it doesn't get out of hand? Asking you guys really, but the fact is that if I get Duelist Kingdom under wraps before Halloween... Well, Legendary Heroes either happens before or after Christmas, but if I don't know before I start, then I might end up writing Christmas... In January. ACK. Hence why, even if I get this wrapped up by halloween, I might end up rolling into Christmas anyways... Christmas isn't just some 'filler chapter' after all, there's going to be a bit of story around it! Anyways...

In other news, poll results!

**Current Poll:**

Time to decide the identity of Seto's past incarnation! So far our results are...

Female Crossdressing Set - 10 (Two Anonymous)

Obviously Female Priest_ess_ Set - 5 (Two Anonymous)

Canon; Male Set - 2

Holy crap guys, crossdressing is double the number of the Priestess. WOW.

_And now..._

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Three this time! First off, Wafflekid, your vote has been recorded above!

Next... Iona! Duels involving Jou are always fun. Granted, if you look at the opponent you can normally predict the outcome.. (Damn it Siegfried.) Either way! Definitely more 'variance' there… I mean. I always wonder why the anime diverged from the manga with the finals to set Jou up for a fall against Yugi. Seriously… WE… WE KNOW YUGI'S GONNA WIN THE FINALS GUYS DON'T PUT HIM AGAINST JONOUCHI.

If I sound ranty, it's because that's been bugging me. Sorry!

And oooooh, I hope that my differences didn't pull you for a complete loop then! Because trust me a lot of the complete non-canon (As opposed to 'slight non-canon', such as conversations during duels or before duels… Mai and Jou's conversation before the match counts as one of those.), is very… _Very_ action centric as opposed to 'card game centric'. Probably the inner action buff in me. …Actually it's definitely that.

I hope not to disappoint you with the Legendary Heroes arc then Iona! Off we go to another chapter!

Hey again Cynical Gamer! And HOLY MOTHER OF… Your review… It… It's _HUGE_! *stares at it in awe* (So beautiful...)

Man… I wish I could write reviews like this. No need to thank me for the response by the way; I make sure to respond to all my reviews! Prove that I read them, appreciated them (I really really do!), and more importantly to answer questions. Like yours!

Seeing monster corpses definitely doesn't help his situation with Pegasus, though at least Pegasus didn't find out about that… Good thing about things like that, you tend to block them from mind… Which means the mind-readers don't find them in the initial sweep.

It's still a giant mind-screw though. Heeee~. And hey, no problems with 'joining late' as you say; I don't expect everyone who reads my fanfic to be reading it from when it started off, I come across complete or long-underway fanfics all the time myself!

Small things like that always do tend to create an interesting domino effect… Thanks for the compliment in regards to pulling off said effect though, I was worried about it when I first started this fanfic! And yea… The tournament… I always wondered about that. He was kinda caught in the anime, but it turns out it wasn't gloves so much as stars that were needed... So he got off relatively scott free. That or Pegasus just did not care, and given Keith's appearance… (Not to mention people _not even competing_...)

I will draw that then! I actually have a sketch made up, the eye is proving slightly difficult to piece together though… But yes. '_Here is a giant monster, how do you escape?_' '_I FUCKING JUMP THROUGH IT THAT'S HOW_' '_…Ok Jou… O… Okay…_' Good thing Kaiba won't remember all this...

It is something, rest assured. Something very _very_ big actually, though I'm obviously saying no more on that. He's seeing every card as a tablet technically; think of the tablets that you see during the Millennium Game arc when a monster is being summoned. That's what he's seeing effectively. And you will get a big reveal… Somewhat. It's a little less of a 'HUGE' reveal so much as a few smaller ones. As for that soul piece… Well… *points up*

This tends to be the case in a lot of anime with a single hero and a 'band of tagalongs' really (In terms of supernatural ability or Anti-Heroisim at least.)… Sad but true, but obviously something that the early manga avoided somewhat. Granted it generally involved Honda either showing up 'occasionally' (He wasn't a regular character for a few chapters actually.) and Anzu being taken hostage… (Damn it.) Nonetheless- Yay character focus! Helps that the one whose point of view its from ends up on the sidelines a few times himself.

And here's your update… Mwahahahaha! Enjoy your Pegasus. (Hopefully not out of character here... It felt in character, but all the same, with what I did before, his evil-ness was ramped up a bit more than the manga and anime I think... Hn... )

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's having a few troubles with the pen tool, but when it's done oooooooh will it be worth it.

* * *

Today's chapter title literally means 'Fear Garden'. Specifically, 'Kyoufu' (or 'Terror', 'Fear', etc.) comes from the combination of the verb to be afraid (Or terrible, or enormous... Don't ask.) ('Osore', in this case 'Kyou') and... the adjective 'scary' (Kowai, in this case 'Fu'). (Scary + Scary = More scary.) This isn't me being 'weeaboo'-ish though... Otherwise my nit-picky Japanese knowledge would make me put a 'No' there, for 'Garden OF Fear'. Rather, it's the title of a song by the vocaloid Rin (Which is technically called 'Kyoufu _Gaa_den'); in it, she talks about her garden... Of... Hands and arms. Human. Hands and arms. Hihhhh... (Oddly enough, I don't actually like the song. HAHAHAHA. Ohhhh...)

Needless to say, the song has about nothing to do with the fanfic really, but at the same time, the creepy part and the copious amounts of flowers making their appearance here made me decide otherwise. Pegasus' house has enough plants there that it mind as well be 'Fear Garden' after all... (And to think, I had originally used those flowers as a way to put more description into the scenery! _HOW FAR WE'VE COME_~)

On a completely different note, to get the word 'Dinosaur' in Japanese, you combine the above 'Kyou' with 'Ryuu', or 'Dragon'. Meaning that 'Dinosaur' in a literal translation is 'Terrible' or 'Frightening Dragon'. (Not too far from where Dinosaur comes from in _our_ language; 'Terrible Lizard'.)

**

* * *

**Supposedly, (At least from what Pegasus says in the manga when he says '_I'm going to read both their minds…_') the table for the duels (More than ten meters away by the way, if the height shown in the manga says anything.) _isn't_ out of range… Which would mean the Duel Disks_ wouldn't _have worked.

And yet Pegasus has a legitimate fear/distaste for them. So… My conclusion? The distance affects the clarity, like shouting. Hence why he only grabs the emotions when he 'reads' Keith and Jonouchi's minds… Given that he really does just say all that about Keith and Jonouchi in terms of 'Hope + Trust VS Despair + Revenge', I'm gonna say I'm at least close on it.

* * *

When Pegasus calls Jonouchi the 'jailer's dog', he references the not-so-common (But certainly memorable) position of the 'Prison Dog'. You know, the one that always has the keys and sits outside the jail cell... And just won't give up the damn keys? Ironically, this is_ the _reason why Pegasus calls him a dog; he's holding Mokuba and Seto's safe key, and he's not letting go! (Least he _appeared_ to...)

* * *

You'd think Pegasus could see the 'reality' on the board... But the fact is, the reason why Jonouchi can see all this isn't something unique to the Millennium Items. If those with items can't actually summon those monsters to reality, or just don't really feel close... They won't see it. Why is Jonouchi an exception to the 'close' and 'summoning' rule? Don't worry! You'll find out! As it is...

Pegasus can_not_ see the Duel Monsters, but he can 'feel' their power. This translates into the energy akin to dueling really... Not to mention everything else concerning the items, and for that reason, he's completely unaware of the fact that any surges of power on the board _aren't_ because of the eye.

Yugi? He can see _his_ monsters. My proof for this? In the chapter that he prepares to face off against Pegasus, he holds his deck close... _And all of his monsters appear before him_. While he's asking his deck for help by the way. This is more of the 'heart of the cards' deal really, not to mention the fact that... He knows the realm of those spirits exists. Though he can see his monsters however, the gore doesn't go beyond what everyone else sees in the holograms. Doesn't mean it doesn't affect him... It's just not quite as horrific as watching your monster dissolve in a pool of acid, or maybe get shot through the neck.

Bakura, rather, 'Yami Bakura', can very much see everything on the board. I doubt he really cares though...

As for anyone else with items, not too sure. Mostly because this deal with seeing the monsters and all that isn't centered on the items... Ironically, Yugi's 'heart of the cards' would be closer(Though sadly inaccurate to the same extent in this case.). I'll leave you to your theories now...

* * *

High-school in Japan (And I've probably said this before) starts at Grade 10... To be specific on schooling over there, Elementary school is from Kindergarten to grade 6, Middle school from grades 7 to 9, and Highschool the remaining 10 through 12. Just to clear you up on the 'first year of highschool' business.

You know what that means? It means this entire fanfic will take place over the course of three years. WHOO!

* * *

I appear to be _very good_ at giving one-appearance-only characters names. It helps things make sense when other people talk to them you see.

* * *

Pegasus' reference of 'Old Wives' refers to the phrase 'The way to a man's heart is through his stomach'. Obviously not an 'old wives tale' (As those are just completely false stories in terms of folklore.), but really, who coined this term? Not like we know really...

It's actually a proverb. SILLY PEGASUS. He probably knows this too. Oh well. (I don't know where said proverb came from, I can't find where it came from soooo...)

* * *

Originally, Keith gets to Pegasus _right after_ he leaves the room/balcony/whatever. Holy_ shit_, how fast did Keith stumble on up there? (He's got the crazy stumble down pat I tell you!)

* * *

When Pegasus says a 'tournament', he refers to the 'final stages' in the fanfic's case; though technically, this standard tournament format is the same for standard regional and national tournaments, quite unlike the first half of the Duelist Kingdom. Now, since Jonouchi came in eighth in Tokyo, and they only took the _champion_ of each region… Well, there's a heavy chance that he's anywhere from Eighth to near dead last in all the second to tenth place players. Just don't tell him that, because it means that at the very worst he's 403rd in all of Japan... And that number, while fairly high compared to the population of the country, still has the 'Triple Digit Depression' effect.

It should be noted that in the manga, he said 'first tournament'; which is accurate to the manga, as Jonouchi... Really was fresh off the playground so-to-speak. As for the anime... I can't actually recall what he said. (Fear not guys, I'm consulting the anime from 'Legendary Heroes' on; it's just that since I knew I wouldn't be able to access the anime for a good chunk of Duelist Kingdom...)

* * *

I like to believe that Pegasus is at least _slightly_ patriotic. Enough to realize that Keith is making a bad name for Americans everywhere in any case... More than can be even remotely excused. By a long shot.

* * *

Jonouchi is actually right to guess that he's not legally of drinking age… In countries that bother enforcing the law at least. Specifically, the lowest age is 16; _thank-you_ Germany. And of course, thanks to recent age-revealing rules for the fanfic, Jonouchi is currently _fifteen_... Though Pegasus probably has his island out of the country or something insane like that, or something... Who the heck knows.

As for why Pegasus is even offering... Well, it's his house, no one's going to be saying anything (Why should they/Who would bother?), and wine is the more... 'Regal' of drinks, more 'business'-like than say offering the guy some punch. Plus, Pegasus is under the impression that he's going to be snatching this guy's soul in a few minutes, so hey! Let's toast to that shall we?

* * *

Why is Jonouchi making such a big deal out of a box that doesn't have the key? Well, when Pegasus gets to it, he'll find out that it's empty... Something Jonouchi was (At least until he figured he was dead, thanks to final moment thoughts) trying to prevent for as long as possible. Ironically, this 'you can't get this box' works in his favor, as, what with the reason why being so obvious to him that he doesn't even think about it, all Pegasus picks up is that the box is important... Leading him to believe (at first) that the key is in there.

* * *

As you've probably noticed, for the sake of the fanfic, any portrait that isn't of European or American origin is real, whereas all of Pegasus' Japan related imagery is fake. Well isn't that handy.

* * *

Oh but _Jonouchi_! He was telling the truth about feeling for your situation! Pegasus, while the source of Jou's problem here, can't help but relate to the whole 'love' issue. While Jonouchi's interest in Kaiba is obviously completely unknown to the woman (Unlike between Cynthia and Pegasus), the situation of 'just out of reach' is still there… So _hey_, why not offer an eternity together, and actually roll with it?

Or would he have? We will never know…

* * *

The particle 'To' in Japanese (Which is of course, the hiragana 'To') is used in the same way as the word 'and'. So really... You could say that 'to' means 'and' in those cases. More accurate would be saying that 'to' is the same as the '' symbol though, as it's used this way in math as well...

* * *

Oddly enough, though he says 'young love', Pegasus is only 25... VERY young when you think about all the stuff that happens. Particularily when Yakou and Gekko Tenma show up... If we assume that Yu-Gi-Oh R happens right after Battle City, the furthest from Duelist Kingdom we can get is about a year and maybe a half. The youngest I would say those two are is 16-17 (And 16 is pushing it..)... Which means that Pegasus is only 8-9 years older than them.

But... They're his adopted sons! HEH? Oh well... We'll deal with that when the time comes!

* * *

If you think little Seto's 'soul fragment' appearing in a rage is from the 'power of love' so to speak, think again and think hard; this is a lot closer (as intended) to a 'ghostly obsession'... Namely that the last thing Jonouchi said to Kaiba as a _whole_ (So to speak) was that he'd come back alive and with her brother... And if she's gonna 'die' so to speak, or even just force her way out for _anything,_ it's going to be about Mokuba.

* * *

I checked guys, you can bust a door open this way. Pegasus likely has solid wood doors, which require a lot of force to break down of course, but not _too_ much; putting all his power behind it like that (with adrenalin on his side no less), and striking what is actually one of the _weaker_ points of the door (The knob and lock), means that it's actually fairly easy to break through to the lock. And as the lock is built into the door here (as with most indoor locks), that means that knocking the knob off gives him access to the lock itself. Which means it's just a matter of pull from the wall and push.

As for the lock-picks he had on hand, Jonouchi's actually picked a lock in the manga before interestingly enough; I figure that when going on a possible 'dungeon rescue mission', he would have brought them. And given that they obviously weren't searched for weapons... Not to mention it's easy to stick those in a pencil case.

* * *

'Crawford'? Hnh? Well, Pegasus actually got a name change in the dub; he wasn't originally 'Maximillion J. Pegasus' guys; he was _Pegasus J. Crawford._ Why they couldn't stand the fact that his first name was Pegasus, I'm not sure… In any case, how did the little Seto figure out this? She's two feet away from the rest of her soul guys, _come on_. (To be more specific on that, The proximity basically made 'little Seto' more of a soul than a 'soul fragment'. YAY. Not enough to actually make it 'Kaiba's soul' obviously, but enough to get some residual memory on the man standing in front of her.

* * *

Jonouchi's not gonna figure out what happened, but I can tell you so that your heads feel a little less sore; The shard of Kaiba was basically stuck in Jonouchi's head (He really did jump into a 'dream' guys. Funny what your head does on autopilot.)… When Pegasus started pulling out Jou's soul however, it kinda opened a window for her. Bringing in an interesting case of '_PSH! Only I can torment this guy_!', which involves her only temporarily distracting Pegasus/attacking Pegasus/over all just attempting SOMETHING against Pegasus.

Because hey, a piece of soul just jumped out and started talking, that tends to be a little distracting you know? (Enough that Jonouchi's soul actually recoiled and got slammed back into his body, haha!)

* * *

While I explain Jonouchi's 'elaborate' (Not really) knock-out plan, I found out how the neck strike works. It… It's not that it doesn't work guys, it's that it's more likely to be _fatal _than briefly effective if pulled off. See, striking there strikes an artery called the 'Carotid Sinus'… Hitting it sends strong impulses down the nerve there (as said), which leads to a terminal_ cardiac arrest._ As in, stopped heart guys. This is likely in part due to the fact that it helps regulate your blood pressure… And… Your _heart rate_. YEAAAAAA Good thing Jou didn't end up on the end of a working one!

As for the rest of the 'plan'. The fact is, if you find a completely silent door somewhere, you have an overly obsessed janitor. Jonouchi could get his head out sure… But not all of him, not without triggering a loud door sound that would have that guard on his ass faster than possible. The fact is, he doesn't have time for a brawl, and he knows it; unlike his 'semi-immunity' before, with Saruwatari, if he makes too much noise he'll likely end up with a bullet through his skull. Back then, he was at least protected by the fact that Pegasus had Jonouchi in the tournament. Now? He's fair game to shoot in the side and drag off. So yea... He was kinda trying to go the sneaky approach here (He was originally going to strangle/gag the guard using his sock.)

A note on the specifics of what Jonouchi did? When someone gets a good solid shot to the solar plexus, the muscles of the diaphragm will spasm uncontrollably making it… Well, to put it lightly, _very_ hard to breathe. Safer than a blow to the back of the head... (Which, conveniently enough for Jonouchi, was only jossed because the guard saw through his 'strangle you with my socks plan'. Yea, he was originally going to slam him in the back of the skull 'volley ball' style.) And _definitely_ safer than the neck strike… But still serious in that it can cause organ and nerve damage. (It's also known as getting the wind knocked out of you.) And then of course, he basically held on until the guy conked out... (This will definitely give that guy some brain damage. Not as bad as slamming him in the skull, but that will be one POUNDING headache when he wakes up.) Doesn't really help that he crushed the guy's throat with a palm strike _before_ that.

* * *

Layman's term for the solar plexus? Took a while to find, as believe it or not, solar plexus really _is_ the first thing that comes to most minds when they see the move in action, and technically _is _'layman's terms'. Because… They're so used to it being stated as such. The solar plexus is technically called the 'Celicac Plexus'. YAY SCIENCE.

* * *

By the way, that guard isn't being super-cautious when he stops moving after Jonouchi's tossed the gun away (At least not until strangulation kicks in). He's being smart; it doesn't actually take much strength to snap a neck in that position, which is kinda why Jonouchi took it (Though he definitely won't be snapping his neck.); it means the guard won't struggle too much... Er... At least until air stops coming into the lungs.

* * *

Spoilers concerning earlier actions with Saruwatari by the way; the fact that he was knocked out for a bit implies _serious_ damage to the head, and while he woke up soon afterward (Really soon), meaning that it's not fatal (He's still going in for a concussion), it _does_ render him cursed with a bit of amnesia concerning the fact…

Which means _he completely forgot the attack, and anything within ten minutes of it._ (Of course, when he was briefed by the magic of security cameras his mood soured but… Oh well.)

* * *

_Holy crap **symbolism**_! First, early on in the chapter we have Pegasus' Jasmine flowers; these are said to attract wealth, and really are rather beautiful white flowers. Go figure.

Anemone flowers carry with them the message 'Take care of yourself'. Isn't that nice...

Hydrangea's symbolically refer to a 'thank you' for understanding, but alternatively they refer to frigidity, or heartlessness. Red and white roses bunched together represent unity (And just unity), whereas snapdragons can imply presumption, or deception (Also a gracious lady, but that's not the case right now. Though Kaiba should definitely be grateful after all this.).

Tulips have many meanings depending on their colour, but in general refer to fame and charity… The yellow tulips near the end, where Katsuya puts two and two together however, specifically symbolize _hopeless_ love.

Lastly we have the Begonia, sitting among the bouquet of fully blooming roses (It's too dark for Katsuya to see the colour, unlike with the tulips… As yellow is a pretty unique shade in the dark compared to white-red. Plus there's no intended colour here, as begonia don't have specific colours that symbolize one thing or the other.). A large amount of roses in full bloom like that represent gratitude… Begonia on the other hand are a sure sign of danger! Also, while the roses are in full bloom, the bouquet of begonia are withered… A bouquet of any withered flower signifies a rejected love, sadly.

Why is there a single vase of begonia there when Pegasus so clearly went through all that trouble with the other flowers? Because he gets silly with telling his guards where the hidden dungeon is. Begonia _do_ look… _Somewhat _like roses. Obviously not enough to pass off, but at a glance in the dark it's easy to ignore. (Kaiba's in there because Pegasus made a handy guess that someone would be sneaking around his house that night.

...He was right.)

* * *

On a last note...

_Finally, the dream makes sense_. Almost. Mostly. Doesn't really need to be explained though right?

* * *

**Fan Art and Sketches**

In which Usagi spams you with her self-promoted and made fanart, proving once more that drawing fem!Kaiba comes far too easy for her! Same as usual, remove the spaces, there's your link!

Now, for now, I'm working on the 'Durarara Chain'... So that's really all I have for you. The image I'm linking out is obviously 'WIP' for that reason, with the original credits line behind it as a sort of positioning guide (No tracing for Usagi!), and is definitely not completely inked... Otherwise the background image wouldn't be there. So far? Kaiba, Jonouchi, and Mai are all inked up! The rest are all sketched, and you'll notice that I have notes along the side to fix things... Like my horrendous use of perspective on Ishizu's leg, the gap between her hands and Rishid/Odion's feet (Not to mention Malik's as an extra), annnnd poor Yugi's skewed neck length due to the positioning of his head. D'OH.

_Not_ shown in this picture so far is Yami Bakura, who will actually show up if I end up getting the sketch too look right when I get there. All depends really.

'Durarara Chain' - http : /i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ DurararaChain. jpg - Complete with decidedly neutral (Probably slightly happy) Kaiba (The sketch and the ink are merging over each other due to how I saved this for you; it looks like she's smiling, but she's not.), very much happy Jonouchi, questioning Mai (Probably asking why the hell Jou is grinning that much. IT CAN'T BE GOOD FOLKS!), the likely bored Rishid, a plotting Malik, annoyed and very ticked Ishizu to support the two, while balancing Rebecca and Mokuba both on her other leg... (Gotta hand it to her for the balance.)

Followed by Honda, whose been used for babysitting it looks like, Otogi who's... Probably just wondering why the hell he's there, then a _flustered_ Ryuzaki (Very hard to do, I'm sure... We all know what Ryuzaki acts like normally.), holding Shizuka... Who knows what she's saying, but she's either annoyed or just saying something that made Ryuzaki blush for once (Positioning doesn't help his case.). We then have Anzu just chilling there and being cool, the clearly nervous Bakura beneath her... and at the bottom the Yami-Yugi double! Whew! Have fun guys. (Yami Bakura will sort of sit between the Yugi pair and Bakura in a more 'reaching' pose than his 'better half'... He won't be 'super imposed' over Bakura though, I just haven't increased the space between the people at the bottom yet.)

And with that, we're all done for today...

See you next chapter~!


	40. Chapter 39

**Interregnum**

* * *

It was dark in the dungeon, but not so dark that he couldn't see, like in the hall he'd dumped that guard's body in. After all, there were candles lining the walls behind him, and in the case of the cells where he stood there was a small amount of sunlight pouring through the one side to illuminate the room. Katsuya stood in front of the cell door at the end of the hidden dungeon, staring in silence at the prone form of a normally proud and overly confident Seto Kaiba. Soulless eyes stared forward, strands of now damp hair falling across them, but with the light from the barred window behind her it looked almost like she was glowing despite all that. "S...Seto-chan..." No answer... Nothing but silence filled the air, and he continued to stare. "Se... ..."

The blond swallowed, looking over the cell door as he fell silent. Locked in a cell... Couldn't even move and she was locked in a cell... He shook his head, moving one of his hands to the lock on the door. He needed to hurry... Pegasus had to have cameras down here right? He pulled the lock picks from his pocket, moving to the lock and getting to work. Alright... One down, Mokuba to go, he could at least live with that couldn't he? He'd have to hurry it up though, if he was going to keep hidden in this place while carrying Seto. The picks were slipped into the lock, quiet clicks coming over the now silent room as he worked. There'd been no response to her name... No response to anything at all.

Briefly he paused, before biting his lip, continuing his work. It wasn't right... It was one thing when he could tell himself she was only 'sleeping', hell, he was almost never in the room back at the house when Seto's eyes were actually open but...

Half lidded eyes continued to stare off blankly as he worked on the lock, and all in all it gave him the shivers. Even so, he had to shake that off! Alright... One more move and... -_clack_-

The rusted iron gate swung open, and the blond hurried into the room to work on the shackles around Seto's wrists. The rusted door behind him swung slightly on its hinges as it moved back into place at a half opened angle, but really that didn't matter at the moment. Moving to search the shackles for a key-hole, the blond carefully picked up the metal brace to frown. "Sheesh..." He lifted the woman's clenched right fist, lips pursed as the limp hand abruptly slipped through the shackle. Katsuya tensed, catching the woman as she fell to one knee before hefting her up to pull the second wrist out. "You're way too skinny Seto-chan..." Not even the shackles fit? Man, what kind of prison was this... Was there even a point?

And of course, there was no answer to that question. He sighed, slowly adjusting his hold on the woman while replacing his lock picks in his pocket. Well, he'd gotten her out... Now how to carry her? Without ending up in an awkward situation at least? He bit his lip, before slipping one of her arms around his shoulder. There was always this... Though thanks to her damn height he couldn't just drag her around like that. Again the blond adjusted his grip, hesitantly moving the woman's body to his back before placing her second arm on his shoulder and hoisting her up until her head slumped above his shoulders. Alright... Piggy back worked... Kinda. Little awkward given she was taller than him by about half a foot really... But he could live with this.

He grunted, kicking the cell door open further than from where it sat now and walking through, a low creak sounding behind him as it shifted back into place. Nothing but empty cells and hanging shackles behind them... A few quick 'tosses' had Seto in a relatively 'safe' position on his back, and Katsuya didn't look back once as he came up the stairs he'd come down. Crawling through the door of the tunnel however, he frowned, almost lying on his front as he wormed his way out of the small square door.

"_Found Hiroshi in the ball-room hall,_" someone muttered faintly in the distance, Katsuya freezing as a few English voices came from past the end of the hall. Oh hell... Someone was coming... "_Has a killer headache, they said he'll be off work for a few days at least._"

The voices grew slightly louder, Katsuya backing away from the source with wide eyes. Shit... He'd have to be quiet... Maybe if he was careful, they'd pass this hall by... "_You think it was the kid we're looking for,_" another was muttering, the subject of the conversation in question wishing he knew what the hell they were saying. Damn it... Even if he bothered paying attention in English he doubted he'd get what they were saying... "_I mean, he knocked Saruwatari for a new one didn't he?_" Saruwatari? Were they talking about..? He continued to back away, feet quietly padding along the ground in silence. Definitely needed to get out of here then... Definitely-

"_Yea but Saruwatari is-_"

-_**CRASH!**_- Katsuya turned, eyes shooting open as the vase of 'not-roses' he'd moved to the side beforehand clattered to the ground. A mess of water and porcelain littered the floor around him, cut flowers sitting among the pieces like a warning sign of the inevitable. Shit... Shit..! "_What the hell,_" the voices were saying, Katsuya turning to watch as a few beams from a flashlight began peeking around the corner. "_What the hell was that?_"

Shit. He bolted in the opposite direction, glass slicing at his bare feet as he charged down the hall. Ow... Ow ow ow! Blood dotted the ground as he ran, mostly hopping on his toes as he got out of the small 'mine field' to continue running. The shouts from behind grew louder as the blond ducked down another hall, gritting his teeth as he ran. Damn it damn it damn it, couldn't he just catch a break this time! Seto's limp form was on his back, head slumped over his shoulder and her coat was flapping in an arc behind them as his bloodied footprints slapped across the ground. Ouch... Ouch ouch ouch this hurt like hell, but if he didn't keep running... Shouts had again faded as he turned another corner, Katsuya chancing a look back as footsteps continued to sound through the air. No one behind him, just dim flashlight beams from the devices that the guards hadn't bothered to turn off in the lit hallways between 'here and there'. He turned back, picking up speed with ragged breaths as the carpet fibers continued to dig into his skin. Another corner turned... And another, and another... He slowed, turning the next one to a dark hall and glancing back around as he ignored the sting on his no longer bleeding feet. The guards took the left turn as opposed to the right... The footsteps in the distance faded, and he smirked, turning back to look over the hall he was in. Phew... He'd avoided them this time around.

Now... He stared at a vase of iris' at the side, frowning as the sunlight from nearby windows fell over himself and the woman on his back. Where to go now... These flowers made a map of 'some sort', but he'd gone down and up a few staircases in his run as well... He was probably on the third floor by this point, so there was no way in hell he'd be able to put what he remembered of the flowers to use right now. Turning away from the vase to start walking again, he found himself staring up at the ceiling, before turning his attention to the individual paintings along the wall. Lots of scenes of what was probably Europe... A fair number depicting Egypt though, he noted with raised eyebrows. Well... This millennium item crap sure had a bad habit of heading back there didn't it...

He adjusted the weight on his back, continuing through the hall before turning a corner to a far better lit path. It was a single, straight forward hallway; he could turn on one end or the other, but if there were any doorways here he didn't see them. Instead, there was nothing but a series of portraits on the wall, all similar in appearance to the two he'd seen the night before in Pegasus' dining room. Most were just as the name stated of course. Portraits, of a young blond woman. However, a good number of them depicted scenes and events as well, and walking down the hall he found himself silently staring at them as though it were a timeline of sorts. Faceless people without identity sat in them, people whose faces never once registered with a living person in his mind. Nonetheless, the entire length of the hall appeared to be filled with the pictures. There was one depicting two young children meeting at what looked to be a ball... A small boy with grey hair, standing across from a slightly smaller blond girl. Another of those same children on the beach... In a garden... 'Time' passed in the photos, moving further as the 'boy with grey hair' was identified as 'Pegasus' much to Katsuya's distaste. Even so, the paintings kept coming... A picnic, a tree swing... "Lil' obsessive," he muttered, continuing down the hall as he came near the end. Abruptly he froze, stopping in place as a sudden chill raced down his spine. There was no one around him in the lit hallway of course, nothing but the portraits; he'd have known by now after all, he had no where to run! Even so... Somehow, it felt as though someone had just...

_Died_. No warning, no reason... They were just gone. "What the hell," he whispered, frozen in place as the feeling intensified, before fading away just as quickly as it appeared. "What was that..?" His eyes were even watering... Hell this feeling was worse than when Mokuba was taken, when Yugi was being strangled in the warehouse, or even when Honda had just told everyone to move on ahead of them in Death-T. But why the hell did that feeling even happen, all he was looking at here pictures of two happy, playing kids, and while he'd admit that the fact that it was Pegasus and some lady was creepy... He tooth a slow breath, moving down the hall yet again as the portraits continued to fill the side. Was it just her, or was the woman looking a little paler? They looked otherwise cheery of course... But something seemed off. The frown on his face deepened, before plummeting with silent surprise as he came to the last portrait in the hall. At first glance it seemed normal. The woman sat slightly slumped in a bed, blanket pulled up to her armpits as she turned toward whoever was painting at the time. A vase of bunched up, almost pin-prick sized flowers sat on the sidetable, and the curtain beside the woman was drawn back to coat the room in a calm ray of sunlight.

But something was wrong here... Hidden by the numerous flowers alongside the woman was a monitor of sorts, with cables that fed into the bedside. Looking closely at the woman's wrist there was a 'bracelet' of gauze, where the cables... Tubes really, were retreating. There was a chart at the end of the bed... And as he looked close he realized that the hair the woman had now was faded in colour, lacking the sheen of the many pictures back. Her skin was pale and sallow, and the woman's eyes were barely held open for all the weakness there was there. This woman... The same woman who had been depicted in the dining room..

'_After all,'_ Pegasus had told him back in the other room, an oddly depressed gleam in his eye as opposed to his normally eerie stare._ 'I myself have someone I would do the same for.._.' Oh god... For all the asshole Pegasus was... There were no more portraits after that one, just the end of the hall as it turned into another one. His wide eyes closed slightly, and he bowed his head as he turned from the painting. Guess Pegasus wasn't as full of it as he thought... Didn't excuse him worth shit but... He shifted his feet, the numb sting against the cuts only slightly registering in the back of his mind despite the intensity. Those two were dueling right now he bet, Pegasus and Yugi... Two spirits sharking a body versus the owner of a creepy eye. He turned down through the hall that the current one split into, lights completely missing from the path as he moved into the darkness. How was he doing right now? Against that eye, nothing would be hidden after all, not for long. How was he making out..?

The blond stared at the ground as he walked slowly, silent as he thought about the duel he wasn't seeing. He couldn't be there to watch... Best friend was fighting with his soul, both souls on the line and he couldn't even watch. He wanted to be there though, he thought as his vision began to blur, steps slowing. He wanted...

Face first he lay on the ground with those thoughts, eyes closed in a peaceful sleep as the body atop him shut her eyes as well.

* * *

Where was this place..? The first thing he felt was a numbing loss of pain, the sudden absence of it almost jarring him completely. Eyes slowly opened as he overcame his 'drowsiness' and he looked around, seeing nothing but darkness. Yet it wasn't cold, he decided with slight surprise. Unlike any other time he'd been tossed into darkness, it wasn't the slightest bit cold in anyway. In fact, he noted as he looked himself over, he wasn't even injured... His feet were perfectly fine, socks and shoes still in place... It was no wonder the pain was gone, but even so... He looked back up, eyes wide with confusion as he took a few steps forward. There was nothing... Just nothing... "Where..."

"Heh." Katsuya turned, jumping as he came face to face with Honda. What the... He stumbled back slightly, eyes taking in the sight of his friends all crowding what looked to be an enormous blank tablet. "Took you long enough!" As the blond stared, the others behind him nodded, small smiles on their faces as they held their place. Bakura... Anzu... Wait, was that-

He moved past Honda, blinking at the sight of Yugi's limp form in Anzu's grip. Oh god... "What th'... What happened..."

Bakura sighed, following the blond's gaze to the injured boy. His face was red and still scabbing from the injury the night before... Despite there not being any dirt in the area, he still looked as though he'd been dragged behind a horse on the ground. "Yugi was..." He swallowed, turning back to Katsuya with a slight frown. "During the duel, they found a way to beat Pegasus' mind scan... By switching places with each other..."

At the side, Anzu nodded, a sad smile on her face as she continued to explain. "They beat Pegasus' toon world with it," she said, adjusting her careful grip on Yugi. The boy didn't move an inch in response, continuing his silent and labored breathing in response. "You should have seen it," Anzu was whispering, looking back down at the one in her arms. "In one shot, the duel was almost completely turned around..." Completely..? Hah... That sounded like him!

But where was this..? Endless blackness surrounding a single stone tablet, still others behind it... He continued to stare, silent as the others did the same in an almost awkward manner. Darkness, and a slight pulsing feeling of what was possibly despair. Finally however, there was a voice from behind, echoing clearly through the air. "Isn't it obvious," came the childish voice he'd heard the night before, the others turning with raised eyebrows to the sight of what looked to be a small girl in a patterned vest and shirt. "If you don't know where, or how" 'Seto' continued, hands in her faded and 'leg-less' pockets, "Then it's not yours to know!" Not theirs to- Wait... Was this the 'other Yugi's mind!

"What..?" He frowned, the others as well staring in silence. Pretty good idea why that was of course... No one knew 'little Seto', and if they did it'd get a little awkward. Moreover, unlike the last time he saw her she looked even... Younger. Hell, more like a girl than he could ever remember, especially compared to the night before. Even so... "Well then how'd we get here," he asked the girl, only receiving a shrug in response.

Anzu spoke up, still sitting as the others 'hovered' around in the darkness. Her expression of confusion had quickly shifted into complete confidence, and she turned to Katsuya with a curt nod. "We wanted to help Yugi," she said frankly, eyes serious as the others nodded in agreement. "So I prayed, more than anything that somehow I could help... And suddenly, I was in here," she gestured, looking around a few moments before turning back to the others.

"And you know me," Honda said from the side, smirking as Katsuya's attention was drawn to the teen. "I couldn't be left out of something like that..."

Bakura nodded, giving a small smile as he held his hands behind his back. "If I can help... I'll do all I can! After all, Yugi's done a lot for us..."

He continued to stare as the albino trailed off, watching as 'Seto' moved over to the side of the group and 'sat'. "Guys..." So wait... They were all there just because they wanted to be? ...Well, those had been his last conscious thoughts himself come to think. But how did that even work..? How did... Ahhh whatever. He shook his head, pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind before grinning. "Hah! You can count me in then!" The others broke into grins as well, before Seto's voice came from the side to pull their attention.

"If you want to help," she stated plainly, an unamused look on her face as she crossed her arms, "Then you should probably hurry..." Her voice was fading... Katsuya stared, eyes wide as bits of the girl began to fade out of existence. Her legs weren't the only thing gone... There was almost nothing left as the darkness ate away at her torso, save her arms and anything above her shoulders. And yet wry smirk was on her face as she continued to dissolve, crossing her arms with a snort. "Better not fail," she whispered as her arms vanished, head finally following after as she closed her eyes. Gone... She was gone. And in her place, far in the distance, a darkness could be seen.

And endless darkness, with a single gold speck in the center, the sclera devoid of the gold it had held the night before. "Oh fuck," he muttered, the others looking past him with frowns as the darkness increased. The hell was this thing, a storm? Some kind of creepy manifestation of Pegasus' eye? "Not this thing..."

Large and imposing the eye began to appear before them, slowly opening its eye as it approached. The others shook slightly for a moment as shadowed arms began to reach forward, Honda turning to Katsuya with a frown. "'This thing'," he asked incredulously, eyebrows raised. "What do you mean, 'this thing'? You've seen this before? What the hell is it?"

The blond narrowed his eyes, clenching his fists as the eye approached. Last time... He'd jumped through the thing, and he'd managed to escape it. Before that though, he'd stopped it somehow hadn't he? Rendered it nothing but a floating eye with small mists of shadows on the back. What was this thing? Hell if he knew. "'xactly what I said," Katsuya muttered, staring down the eye with a growl. "'That thing'! You have any other words for it?" The eye began to move closer, met with scowls from Anzu and Bakura, as well as a light frown from Bakura to the side.

"No," Honda was muttering, crossing his arms as the thing approached. Scary as the thing was, they couldn't budge... They wouldn't budge! "No I can't say I do..." And he had an idea of how to get rid of it this time...

The eye before them loomed, narrowing at the sight of Katsuya's form. Heh. Recognize him? '_You again,_ it muttered darkly, the blond merely smirking in response. Yea... Him. The others continued to frown, ignoring the statement for the sake of dealing with the 'main problem' for the moment as the eye continued. '_Move aside,'_ it demanded, shadowed arms waving about them in an eerie mimicry of a flickering flame. _'I've come to observe only... Not take, as with last time. Surely you can be satisfied with that?_'

He smirked, before dropping the expression into a dark frown as the others behind him looked to the blond with wide eyes. "Hah! Yea right," he growled, moving slightly forward as the shadows retreated from the teen. They probably figured that meant Pegasus used his eye on him... Probably better than explaining everything else really. Even so... "Don't y' even think abou' gettin' through Yugi's mind," he shouted, the eye retreating with a narrowed glare. "Get outta here!" As the others behind him nodded, the eye continued to narrow, almost growling in response.

_'You dare to think that a mere command will deter my purpose,_' he shouted, Katsuya narrowing his eyes further.

"No," he said with a smirk, cracking his knuckles. "I think that jus' sittin' here, keepin' yah from doin' anything outta do th' trick!"

For a moment, the eye looked as though it were about to chuckle. In fact, after staring downward incredulously it did begin to laugh, a quiet nearly inaudible sound that grew into a loud and echoing cackle. '_Hahahaha... HAHAHAHAHAHA! You actually believe such a thing,'_ it roared, growing even wider before the group as its hands reached forward. A few were moving to grab at the others, each target moving back against them. Katsuya held silent as the eye continued, merely staring it down. He'd done this before... Somehow, he'd done this before... If he just pulled up that same feeling... '_FOOLS,_' the eye shouted with a laugh, rolling back in mirth before turning back on the teens below. '_It's almost enough to make me pity your pathetic souls! Very well,_' he continued, seemingly widening into a 'grin'. '_Say good-bye to your bodies in the mortal realm..._'

There. Katsuya's eyes snapped open, and he looked upward as the eye began to grab him. Amid the feeling he'd reclaimed, there was a wash of weakness and fatigue over him but just as quickly as it began the eye widened in what could possibly be fear. "I don' think so," the blond growled, a low earth-quake-like sound beginning to fill the room. Sounds of rumbling began to increase in volume, and as with the room 'Seto' had been in the night before the 'darkness' began to crumble. Cracks appeared in the very sky and ground, Katsuya's fists clenching and tightening as the cracks widened with an echoing boom. Blocks of the eye's 'form' eroded away into dust, the hands pulling away as Katsuya and the others stood firm in defense against the monster. He was dropped to the ground, still staring the beast in the 'eye' as it looked around frantically. '_You... Again,_' the eye howled, black and empty eye wide with rage. It whirled back on the blond, the shadows around them continuing to pull into its form as it became the same shade as it had in the 'dream' before. _'How are you doing this! How is this even possible..! Ngk... STOP THIS!_'

Katsuya merely smirked, watching as the eye's 'rim' began to twist and bend before them. Honda, Anzu, and Bakura... All three of them were fixing the eye with a similar glare, their own grit determination fending the beast off. They weren't moving... Not really, but all the same this was a battle. A battle they could not lose..! And with those thoughts in mind they watched the rim of gold evaporate completely, the remaining shadows turning on the gold 'iris' in a frenzy. Within seconds, the darkness was gone... Reduced to nothing but a small golden disk that clattered to the ground before fading out of existence with a moan. "Heh... Figure out yerself," he muttered, before turning back to the others. The eye was gone... The others shared a look with him before turning back to the boy whose mind they were currently sitting in. Yugi was still mostly out of it... But he wasn't completely gone. As though in reaction to the 'eye' disappearing his eyes were opening slightly, a quiet and inaudible mumble coming through the air. Yugi... "He alright," he asked, deciding against trying to wrap his head around them all being in 'Yugi's Head' with the boy inside it at the same time. He took a few nervous steps toward them, choking slightly on his words. "W...Will he..."

Before Anzu could answer with more than a nod, still another voice came over the air, the others turning upward. "_You guys..._" The... Other Yugi? A feeling of elation washed over the group from above, the voice of their friend continuing on. "_You stopped him from..._" From reading his mind? Heh!

Anzu grinned, turning briefly to Yugi before looking back up. "Yugi..!" The grin softened into a smile, and she continued as the others 'looked' toward their friend with similar expressions. "Yugi... Your other self is fine ok?" The others watched as Yugi himself gave a small smile, looking to the others with partially closed and nonetheless hopefilled eyes. "Don't worry about this," she continued, Honda nodding in agreement as the boy behind them attempted to pull himself up.

"We're right by your side man," he shouted, arms still crossed as he leaned on thin air before Katsuya joined in.

"Yea! We got your back... Er, yer head," he corrected with a slight laugh. Back, head, what the hell ever... Even so, that eye was still going to come back, wasn't it... "You jus' focus on beatin' Pegasus, y'hear?"

There was little hesitation after those words, and had he been watching he decided that Yugi would have given a determined nod. A set and steady look of determination as he stared his opponent down, moving on with his fight. "_Right,_" he shouted, the dark room filling with a pale and glowing light in response to the mood. "_Thank you... All of you!_"

He nodded, expression once again serious. They couldn't see the eye right now, but he had no doubts it was still out there... He doubted he could really kill it. "Yugi," he said, turning to the 'real' one with a set nod. The boy in question stared back with a slight frown, listening as his friend continued "As long as we're here, we won' let Pegasus read yer mind alright, same with th' other you... So don't y' worry about a thing alrigh'?" Shadows began to appear again, and before anyone could respond to that they ended up turning back toward the appearing eye.

"Great," Honda muttered, rolling his eyes at the sight. "This going to be the same as last time," he asked, arms still crossed. The shadow began to weakly develop in the back, the teen stepping forward as a smirk came over his face. "Hah! Give your best shot," he challenged, Katsuya glaring at the 'spot' as it came near. This would be just like last time! They'd get rid of it, Pegasus would get slammed back...

The shadow across from them merely snorted as it developed, rolling itself before fixing the group with a glare. '_Oh please,_' it muttered, shadowed arms waving as they held a safe distance from the group. Weird... Was it just him, or did it seem different..? '_I don't need to take these thoughts in order for my task to be fulfilled..._' What..? What the hell did he mean, what was it doing..? _'I'm more than content with just taking you with me this time around..._' Katsuya narrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth. Taking them with him? What the hell was that supposed to mean? They weren't going anywhere, they could easily beat- '_Don't think that your little trick will work again,_' the eye growled, arms and shadows around him abruptly snapping to the ground as the 'center of the beast' rose high above them. '_Fool me twice and shame on me... But a third opportunity is nigh impossible for mere children like you!'_

Impossible? Hah! Like that would- He froze, tensing as a wave of shock washed over the room. This place was keyed into the other Yugi's head wasn't it..? So then... This last wave meant... "No..." The group looked upwards, toward where they had heard his voice as the mood shifted into despair yet again. Something had happened... Something had... "Yugi," they shouted, the 'original' beside them slowly standing up with haggard breaths.

"H...Hnn..." They turned, watching as the boy pulled himself up with a cough. No... He wasn't in any shape to stand up right now, they couldn't. "Gkh..." He choked, stumbling forward with weary eyes as he looked to his friends. "G...Guys..?"

...He wasn't backing down either though. He smiled slightly, moving to catch the boy as he began to fall again. "Hah... Yugi," he said, helping the boy up to his feet yet again. How could he expect him to, that wasn't Yugi after all... "You alright?"

The boy nodded, before turning to look at the enormous eye before them with a frown. "Y-Yea..." He swallowed looking at the others in silence a moment. Hah... Yea, seeing them all there must have been one hell of a shock right..? "...How did you all get here..?"

Anzu gave a small hrug, Honda merely shaking his head. "Not completely sure," he said, the light in the room beginning to pick up again despite the dark eye hovering there. Their voices were weak... Hell he was feeling weak too... What was this..? "Just wanted to come here... And here we were..."

"You..." Was this the eye? Yugi blinked, before smiling at his friends despite what was likely happening around him now. "Thank you," he whispered, before turning to the enormous eye before them. In the silence that resulted, it was plainly obvious that he knew what it was. What it was doing to them... How was it even doing that anyways? Pulling them away when it had been dispatched so easily before? "...You," the boy said confidently, voice appearing stronger than he had ever heard before. The eye moved in, 'face to face' so to speak with the boy as the others found themselves standing stiff in response. They weren't going to leave... They couldn't leave, not in the face of even this! They stood close behind the boy, at the side of their friend as he continued. "Get out of my head," he ordered, eyes narrowed as the shadows continued to whittle away at them. "_**NOW!**_"

A flash of light filled the room, the others throwing their arms above their eyes in response. Gh... What... This didn't happen before! All that happened last time was the darkness rebounding on the eye, before it disappeared... But this time... Looking past the blinding light he stared, watching as the eye literally began to dissolve before them, splitting and cracking into fragments before their eyes. And somehow, Yugi was the source... '_HOW,_' it screeched, pained cries far more horrified and rage filled than they had been earlier on. '_HOW CAN YOU DO THIS! HOW! **HOW**!_'

Because it was Yugi's head. That was the conclusion he came to in the blinding, seemingly non-existent fight. The eye was widening beyond its possible proportions, and rather than the shadows retreating they simply vanished completely. Like 'Seto' had said... If they couldn't figure out how to get out, then it wasn't their head... But if it was Yugi's head, then...

Heh... He never liked fighting but... It looked like he'd really saved their asses, hadn't he?

So bright...

'_**Pegasus,'**_ he heard Yugi say, Katsuya closing his eyes against the force of the light. He was moving again... Drifting away... Was it all over then? The eye gone? _**'We win...**_'

Opening his eyes again, he watched numbly as the others as well started to fade away, both 'Yugi's standing before them. The light had faded into nothing but background, and though he couldn't hear much what he saw told him all he needed to know. The 'original' was talking to his other half, giving them all a thankful smile... '_We all helped_,' Yugi was saying. '_Everyone..._' "Heh..." He smirked, giving one last thumbs up before fading out completely. They won...

And now... It was time to wake up.

* * *

"HAH!" Katsuya's eyes flung open, the teen giving a sudden jolt as he woke up. Eyes wide he swallowed, breathing rapid as he stared at the wall to the side. Pedestal... There was a pedestal across from him, and on his shoulder there was an arm in a deep purple sleeve... Hey, was this thing patterned? He shook it off, wincing as the pain of his previous injuries came back to him at full force. "H-Hah... Hah... Gh-Ungh..." Owwww... His face... Not to mention most of his torsto... He fell on the ground _hard_ damn it... The blond shook himself, pulling himself up with Seto while making sure her arms didn't fall off to the side. A little awkward sitting up without using his arms, but all the same he thought, wincing as the soles of his shredded feet touched the carpet again, at least she didn't end up falling as a result of not doing it. He turned to the woman, Seto's head still limp on his shoulder with now closed eyes. "...Seto-chan," he whispered, frowning. Any time now... She'd wake up anytime now, to yell at him for calling her this... "...Seto-chan..?"

No answer... Not even a twitch. Just closed eyes and steady breathing, the same as before. He bit his lip, turning his head back to the ground as he shook. Still not waking up... Damn it... But he'd won hadn't he? Yugi had won, against both Pegasus, and if he was right, against the eye itself! He'd won hadn't he? He'd...

"Found you," a voice called from behind him, Katsuya's eyes opening instantly at the sound. That voice... He swallowed, turning with wide eyes as he made to adjust his hold on Seto. Saruwatari... Looked like he'd avoided the hospital bed huh... He stepped back, watching as the man slowly moved to pull his gun from the side and aim it toward him. Shit... Of all the times... Low chuckling filled the air, the guard's finger pulling back the safety as he spoke. "Pegasus-sama should be pleased to hear that we've finally tracked you down..." The man had a dark smirk in place as he stared the teens down, second hand reaching for his radio as he allowed his words to sink in. Looked like the message hadn't quite gotten out yet huh... What to do... There was nothing but vases at the side, vases filled with more flowers. And across from him, with a gun pointed toward where Seto's head lay... He tensed, watching as the man before him looked down to his radio. One look down was all he needed... Eyes switched over to a vase at the side, the bouquet of orange lilies sitting innocently in place. One hand was all it took, despite the weight of the object in question. He grabbed the vase, gripping it tightly by the handle and lobbing it forward as Saruwatari looked up. One throw was all he needed. "What the-" After that it was all instinct after all.

In the same instant the shout was made Katsuya hurriedly rushed back down the hall, shifting Seto's body to his front in an attempt to somewhat prevent any bullets from striking her. She'd never forgive him for this if she found out... But hell, she probably wasn't the forgiving type anyways. The sound of gunshot against the vase and the wall ahead of him forced him to charge down the hall to the side as he ducked, arms tightly clasped around the dead weight in his arms. Run... Put as much space between himself and the guard as possible, just run... Saruwatari was quick to catch up despite the porcelain 'bomb' he'd tossed though, coming behind him with a roar of anger and another shot that ricocheted off the side of a stair railing That wasn't crap aim to thank this time either... That was his last minute turn around a second corner! Shit... He picked up the speed, the man behind him halting his chase to take aim as he came to a flat space on the stairs. Shit... He had to get down the next flight at least, just the next flight... Shi-

-_**Phst!- **_"G-"_**  
**_

Something hit his head... He'd heard the sound of a bullet as he charged down the stairs, and something hit his head, grazing him on the right side... Katsuya tripped on the next stair, senses briefly growing numb as he tumbled forward. Falling on the dark staircase, blood fell to the ground in his wake... He felt something wet on the side of his head, but the blood couldn't be from him or Seto could it? Nose hit the stairs first as he attempted to turn, dull thoughts reminding him to at least keep the body in his arms from falling to her death. He'd been on the third floor when he ran, the second when he was shot... Over and over they rolled down the stairs, falling off the path to a separate case as shouts continued behind him. Round and round... Wasn't the staircase supposed to be straight? So dark... He closed his eyes for a moment, holding the unconscious woman in his arms close as they continued to tumble down the steps. It didn't hurt, it didn't... Finally it stopped... After flipping off at least eight or so steps it stopped, ending with his back and head landing on the ground in a partially limp collapse. It didn't hurt... It didn't...

The last thing he saw before he blacked out, eyes open just slightly as he looked around, was Seto's face... Coloured lights from above streaming down on her silent and still unwaking form.

She wasn't bleeding though... That was good... He'd done at least that, so Mokuba would be able to see her again wouldn't he?

...The lights... They were fading... His eyes began to close over, his grip loosening around Seto's body as his head tilted to the side. Dark...

...It was... Dark...

...

.

* * *

"Gnnh..." Where the hell was she..? The last thing she remembered she was sitting at a table, staring down the man across from her as his 'Bikuribox' destroyed her only defense monster... And hearing her brother again... And then suddenly, she was somewhere dark, and cold, and endlessly painful in a way she couldn't describe. And yet at the end of it all, someone had grabbed her by the hand... Someone with white hair... "Ng..." Seto groaned, something brushing against her face as her eyes opened. What was that, a bunch of straw? ...No, it was different... Fingers brushed against cold marble, and her eyebrows furrowed slightly at the touch. She was laying on something... Something soft... The woman mentally shook herself, eyes blearily taking in the side of the room she was in. Where was she... Blank, sunlit walls were all she saw across from her, but the light shining on it was coloured in enough shades of the rainbow to have her frowning in slight confusion. Strange lights... This pattern... Stained glass? But if it wasn't from the walls, then that would mean the ceiling... And the only room in Pegasus' castle that looked like that was... She continued frowning, mouth held slightly opened as her eyes moved to to look at what she was laying on. "Gh..." Wait... She frowned, a collection of 'gold' meeting her eyes before she shook her head. Something rough brushed against her cheek, and as she lifted her head slightly she continued to frown. Looked almost like the mutt's hair... But why...

She groaned, moving her hands up to pull herself up before freezing. Wet... Something was... She looked down, eyes widening. She wasn't sitting on something, she was sitting on some_one_... What the h- What was Jonouchi doing here?

...Scratch that, why the hell was she _on top of him!_ ...Why the hell did she _wake up_ on top of- She grit her teeth, pulling herself to her feet with narrowed eyes and taking a step back from the blond. There was a small but very much bloodied patch on the side of his head... The blood from it had dripped down the side to gather near his neck, but given his moving chest he was obviously still alive, and no longer bleeding if the slight mat in his hair was any sign. Tch... And now there was blood on her hands... It figured that moving her hand to get up would put it right in the puddle by this moron's neck... She shook her hand free of the blood, snorting. She wasn't about to wipe her hand on her jacket... Wiping blood from a duralumin case was one thing, getting it out of her jacket was another... Psh... Well... At least she wasn't in some prison, though as to how that had happened... She shook it from mind, deciding not to give it much thought for the moment. She was awake... Obviously someone had put Pegasus in his place; it would only take one guess as to who...

The woman brought her hands back to her sides, turning away from the unconscious teen before her and moving toward one of the doors with shaking breaths. The light coming through the ceiling was strong, strong enough to almost completely illuminate the room so it was likely only early afternoon. It'd been the early evening when she fought Pegasus though. She continued walking, turning her eyes back from the ornate windows above and steeling herself. She was still tired... Couldn't see very well either, but that didn't matter... It didn't... If she was awake, she could at least put herself to good use after all; Mokuba was around here somewhere wasn't he? She had to find him...

She stumbling slightly as something pulled at her coat, eyes widening briefly before narrowing to aggravated slits. "Gh... I'm not in the mood Mutt," she growled as she turned, fully expecting to see the idiot blond that had been unconscious only moments before. Instead however, her eyes quickly widened again, the coat having been let go from the grip of the small girl before her. "...Impossible," she muttered hoarsely, the familiar guise she had taken years before staring up at her with wide eyes. Neatly trimmed hair in a style that had been relatively common at the time, or so Gozaburo had said the day she and Mokuba were taken in... The vest and shirt she'd worn the drive to the house... "You're..."

It was... _Her_. But how... The spirit pointed back to the blond laying on the ground, expression resembling almost a pout as it's larger counterpart frowned. Oh come on... This couldn't seriously be happening could it? What did it want her to do, get a doctor? She frowned, eyes still wide as she watched the spirit float over to the body and attempt to move it. Strange... Keeping true to 'ghostly nature' it was floating, but it had perfectly useful legs... The spirit knelt down beside the body on the floor, reaching out with a frown. Tiny hands passed right through the teen however, and Seto continued to stare as the shade turned back with a frown. It couldn't speak... It was completely silent, but all the same she could easily put a voice to the words it appeared to say. '_Taskete,_' the spirit mouthed, the woman's frown deepening with confusion. The hand held at the side sunk through Jonouchi's arm, and the spirit stood to turn its attention to Seto completely. '_Taskete..._'

"Tch..." She grit her teeth, moving toward the blond on the ground as the 'spirit' stepped aside. Help? Why should she even bother? And this ghost... Smiling like an idiot at her side as she stood there... What was this ghost beside her, some sort of hallucination? ...Or was it something else... Seto turned away from the 'ghost' and stared at the body, before rolling her eyes and stooping down to shake the blond's shoulder. Damn it... She mind as well wake the moron up she supposed. "Hey," she muttered, eyes narrowed. The blood on the blond's left cheek had long since dried up, leaving nothing but a red trail. As for the other side... Well, it was stuck in a puddle, so she could guess. Seto continued to shake the blond's shoulder, glaring as she continued to receive no answer. "HEY," she growled, shaking the blond harder as a groan came over the air. "Wake up..!"

He stirred slightly, wincing as he pulled his head back. "Ghnn..." Good... Awake. ..._Mostly_.

The woman sighed exasperatingly, pulling the blond up by the shoulder as Jonouchi in question gave a rough yelp of surprise. Lets get this over and done with so she could get her brother and leave damn it... "Get up," she demanded flatly, roughly releasing the arm only to find herself catching her 'security guard' as he stumbled forward. Oh come on, he couldn't even stand on his own? "Tch..." She sneered, her slightly bloodied hand leaving red smudges on the blond's white shirt as she pushed him back up on his feet. "Honestly, how pathetic are you that you can't even walk on your own two legs?"

Jonouchi merely laughed, shaking his head as he threw an arm around his 'boss's shoulder. Gh-! Don't touch h- ...Damn it, fine, not like he could move otherwise... "Hahaha..." He coughed, stumbling slightly as the woman sneered with evident distaste. That did not mean she would do more than barely tolerate this... "Ev'n if I can't," he muttered, turning his head toward Seto with a weak grin as the woman's frown shifted, "Least I'm still doin' what I promised righ'?" Promise...

'_No matter what,_' she remembered someone saying in the distance. _'I'll bring 'im back! It's a promise!_'

...A promise... "...Hn!" She smirked, shifting her arms around the blond and turning to the door. So that was why a moron like this had attempted to come here. Made it farther than expected too... She'd give him that. She moved the bloodied hand to Jonouchi's arm, adjusting the weight on her shoulder as Jonouchi attempted to stand straight. "I suppose that's one way to put it," she muttered, before nodding her head over to the exit. "Think you can at least try, or do you plan on proving to my brother just why you should never have been hired?"

The blond laughed again, shaking his head as he fell into a slouch again. He wasn't wearing shoes... Seto looked down only briefly, before looking back to the door. "Hahaha... Figured y'would say that... Looks like yer right though," he added, weak grin turned toward the woman. Right? "Can't ev'n walk on my own two legs, pretty pathetic huh? Leanin' on th' one I w's s'pposed t' protect f'r th' las' few months..."

Seto's eyes narrowed, her initial scowl fading. Weak steps were made toward the door, her own fairly steady and confident ones accompanied by a hobbling limp from the blond. No... He wasn't supposed to admit she was right... He was supposed to argue against it, shout and bicker and complain about it! Not just rollover as though it meant nothing! Gh... Her eyes drifted over the blond's head, a small slice on the side where blood had gathered and clotted. A bullet wound... Straight as it was, the hair clung thickly to it, the blood a more murky and sticky black-red where it had started to dry. "Tch..." She turned away, half pulling the blond and half allowing him to walk on his own as they made their way to the door. "Whatever mutt," she muttered under her breath, the odd pair limping along the smooth marble floor before exiting into a well lit hall with plush red carpet. "Just realize that someone won't always be there for when you get yourself shot."

He frowned, turning upward. Hn? Didn't he realize he'd been sliced across the side of the head? "Shot..." The frown deepened, and he stared. "What're y' talking abou' Seto-ch-" He paused, the woman's eyes narrowing dangerously at the name before both of their gazes were moved to something in front of them. The ghost... "What th'..." She frowned, turning to look at the blond at her side with a frown. "Two..." He saw it..? What..?

She raised her eyebrows, narrowed eyes continuing to stare at Jonouchi before turning back to the hovering form of her younger self. The sight seemed to render them both silent really... Or maybe they were just tired of talking. Her own throat was slightly dry really... Not so much that her disguised voice was coming with difficulty, but even so, neither she nor the blond beside her really sounded too healthy, she'd admit that much. On her side it was hours upon hours of fatigue rending her throat dry, and on the 'mutt's it was a chase through a mansion culminating to a fall down the stairs... She'd assume as much at least. Even so, with just a glance at the other they followed the 'spirit', the ghostly figure rushing ahead and gesturing for them to follow with an overeager and by her standards uncharacteristic grin on its face. '_Follow me,_' it seemed to call, the two doing just that. '_Follow me..!'_ Silently moving down the halls, they swallowed back whatever words they had for the other after that. Sunlight poured through the windows at the side, portraits hung on the walls... They were in the eastern hall, she told herself idly. Likely the furthest possible point from the exit, but nonetheless that was where this ghost was headed.

It was a long walk... Looking down at Jonouchi's feet had revealed sliced and shaven lines across the soles, the woman turning back to look at the spirit rather than dwell on the no longer bleeding feet. Idly, she wondered why she wasn't simply looking for Mokuba... Or why the idiot at her side had bothered pulling her out of whatever hole Pegasus buried her in instead of leaving her to find her brother. Pulling her out and getting his feet torn up, a bullet to the head... It was strange, and stupid in her opinion. Completely moronic... She was the one who Pegasus had locked away, and yet she was the one carrying this moron out of the castle. This injured, bleeding moron who was still grinning like the entire god-damned world had turned and worshiped him! This stupid, god-damned dog who had...

She couldn't bring herself to hate him for that she realized, continuing to follow after her 'other self' in silence. Couldn't bring herself to just rub the pathetic loser's face in the ground for that fact, for pulling her out of wherever the hell she was instead of just leaving her be! Why the hell had he gotten himself shot up? His feet sliced into tatters, shoes gone, hair matted and stained? To spite Pegasus? To spite her? ...Or even just... _For_ her? She narrowed her eyes, continuing on the walk. Why the hell would anyone, this _moron_ in particular do such a thing? He hated her, and she hated him, end of story! The only reason why she had initially tolerated him, if one could have even called it that, was to use him against his own friend... To build up adequate rage and fear to make it all the more sweet when she won the match of that stupid, disgusting waste of time and money. She hadn't even won that match, only lost...

After which she hadn't seen anything... Just darkness... And maybe a puzzle? Eyes narrowed with thought for a moment she shook it from mind yet again. They were coming to the entrance now... The ghost was just hovering there now, staring at them expectantly as they came through the courtyard to the final door. Seto tensed, Jonouchi suddenly moving his arm off her shoulder and falling off to the side of the main gate's door. Gh... "...What the hell are you doing," she muttered, eyes narrowed. What was this, some last form of bravado, some way of preventing anyone from seeing how weak he was? ...How close to passing out they both were? Hn! "Unwilling to show your 'friends' just how far gone you are, 'Mutt'?"

Again Jonouchi merely laughed, leaning against the statue that stood along side the gate entrance and shaking his head. Gh... Stop taking her comments so lightly! "Nah," he said, looking toward the small 'spirit' to the side and smiling. "I jus' figured y' wouldn' want me in th' way f'r this..." What... The blond nodded his head towards the stairs, his same 'stupid smile' seeming less _stupid_ and more... Something else she couldn't actually think of, much to her annoyance. "There's someone who wants t' see yah," he muttered, letting himself slide to a slumped and seated position on the ground. What..? "Someone who's been waitin' f'r a long time, Seto-chan..."

"Gh..." Don't call her- She froze, as from behind a loud shout pierced the air.

The ghost was gone from its original position... "Nee... Nii-sama..!" The woman turned eyes wide as she moved toward the edge of the staircase. That voice... That voice, that was... Eyes widened as she spotted her brother, the boy charging up the stairs with tear-filled eyes. It was him... He was... "SETO-NIISAMA," the boy shouted, locket swinging through the air alongside his bandanna, feet skipping every second and third step as he ran. She couldn't move... She just stared with wide eyes, breath caught in her throat.

He was alive... He was alive and he was... He was there... "Mokuba," she whispered, taking a weak step forward before finding her voice again. "MOKUBA!"

Mokuba charged up the stairs, arms held out as Seto herself did the same. He was alive... The boy jumped the last few steps, arms latching around her waist and easily knocking her off her feet. He was alive, and healthy, and... She held him close, eyes squeezed shut as her brother cried into her arms. And he was there. "Nee-sama," he whispered, burying his head into her jacket to the point where he resembled little more than a mop of black hair. He was here... He was still alive, and he was here... "Nee-sama," he cried quietly, the sounds of footsteps halting part-way on the stairs becoming nothing more than a mere whisper in her ears in comparison to the words. Like anyone else mattered, this was her brother damn it... This was... "You're here," he whispered, as though not believing his own words. "You're here... You're here... I... I was..."

"It's ok," she whispered, sitting up and holding him tight. It was ok, everything was ok... She swallowed, her own head bowed into her brother's shoulder as the boy cried. She was shaking wasn't she... A bunch of morons were watching her sit there and... Who the hell cared anymore, her brother was... "It's ok Mokuba," she whispered, partially reassuring herself as well. It was ok... It was all over... "I'll never leave again, never... Never again," she repeated, almost in a mantra. "Never... I promise you..."

As they sat there, for some reason, she felt something 'click' into place, completing itself... Filling itself in, removing an absence that had been sitting in her mind since she woke up. Filling in a shadow, a void... An empty space that hadn't belonged... "Never again," she repeated once more, still shaking as they sat there. "Never again, Mokuba..."

It was a promise...

* * *

It had been really hard to walk, with his feet cut up like they were. Probably his own fault knocking the vase over and then running over it but... Well, for the moment, just sitting there was a good break really- much as he wanted to tell the others he was fine, he didn't feel like interrupting the two in front of him. Sure, it hurt... Everywhere really, thanks to all the crap that went on at the stair case. Feet, shoulders... He was in so much pain right now... But watching those two, he couldn't keep the smile off his face, the blond holding his tongue and leaning back against the statue in silence.

Man... He turned his head, watching as the small, spirit-counterpart of Seto gave him a similar smile. "Hey," he muttered, mostly under his breath as the girl continued to smile. "Looks like you c'n jus go back t' bein' you now, right..?" The ghost nodded, hands held outward as something shimmered into existence. "Huh..?" In her hands... The smile on the girl's face grew, and from nothing but thin air came a small piece of gold matching the sphere in her grip. And the sphere itself... Lines filled it completely, like a puzzle almost. The girl leaned over, coming to her knees as the piece slipped into the puzzle perfectly. For a brief moment, it glowed brilliantly... And then it misted away, its owner whispering just one thing as she evaporated into the air.

'_...Thank you..._'

"Katsuya-nii..." Katsuya turned his head blankly from where the ghost had vanished, watching as Mokuba looked up from where he was still clutching his sister tight. There was visible confusion (And possibly anger) on the woman's face with the name... He expected it really, given that last she'd heard he was still 'Jonouchi' to the boy but really, good on her to keep quiet and let the kid run over when he pulled out of the hug. "K-Katsuya-nii," the boy repeated, eyes looking over the blond's feet and head both. "What happened to you..!"

What happened? His eyes drifted down to his torn up feet, moving back to the boy in question as Seto stood up from where she had been sitting. There'd been something sticky on the side of his neck too... He didn't bleed that much though right? "Eh," he muttered, still smiling despite the pain. Feet were probably the worst of it for now... "It'll heal righ'?"

Mokuba merely stared, eyes wide as he turned to his sister. "Ne... Nii-sama," he asked, the woman merely staring at the blond blankly. "What happened..?"

The woman blinked, before moving over to stand beside her brother in silence a moment. Was she frowning..? "He took a bullet," she said bluntly, before moving to pull him to his feet. "Among other stupid things..." H-Hey! It wasn't stupid! ...Hell, she didn't even know what happened and- W-Woah... He shook, gripping the statue at the side and looking at Seto oddly as the woman continued. "...Come on Mutt," she muttered, looking down at her brother and nodding her head toward the stairs as they moved. "I'm not leaving a member of _my_ staff in this hellhole." Was that possessiveness there?

He turned, blinking as he was pulled toward the stairs before pulling out of the woman's grip and grabbing the railing at the side. "Heh..." Katsuya shook his head, smirking lightly despite the sting of pain in the foot on the ground. "Don' think about it," he said, limping down the stairs. "It's no big deal," he continued, hissing as he stepped on a particularly sharp bit of rock on the steps.

"K-Katsuya-nii," Mokuba muttered, Seto again wincing at the name he used for the blond. Well, it was better than a voice protest he supposed... (He'd kinda expected one...) "I don't think you should be walking, your feet are really..." The boy swallowed, before the three all turned their head to the group that had gathered in the middle of the stairs. The others had just made their way up the final flight, only to freeze at the sight of them. Mokuba stared as well for a moment, before finishing what he'd been saying quietly. "...Cut up..."

Yugi was there, the 'normal' one... And Honda, Anzu, Bakura, all of them... He smirked, the expression growing into a grin despite the wide eyes that the others had. "Hey," he said weakly, the two behind him keeping silent. The others all had about the same expressions on their faces... Wide eyes, slightly open mouths... "How y' doin?" Probably better than he was... Owwwww his throat hurt... How the hell did falling down a staircase affect his throat..?

Anzu was the first to speak, Yugi merely walking forward as he gripped an envelope in his hands. "J-Jonouchi," she said with a cough, eyes wide as the blond slumped over the rail. Oooh boy, screw his neck and feet, his arms were pretty shot too. This was kinda pathetic... Seto was keeping oddly silent now that he thought about it though... Kinda expected a comment on him being a worthless dog really. Course, she was probably just keeping quiet because wasn't complaining, and was instead looking at Katsuya with the same if not more intense expression that Anzu and the others were sending the blond's way. Something to keep out of, for Mokuba's sake he supposed... Or at least keep out of until the woman figured out why Mokuba was acting like that. "Jonouchi," the woman repeated, moving forward to bring a hand toward the scrape on his head. "What..."

"Ack!" He hissed, pulling back as Anzu did the same. Shit... Whatever the hell happened to his head, it hurt _a lot_!

Anzu swallowed, pulling her hand back before taking a step back. "Sorry," she muttered, biting her lip. "It really does look..." Bad? Someone get him a mirror or something so he could see for himself damn it, he knew it hurt but...

In front of him, Yugi was still staring, before finally opening his mouth to speak. "Jonouchi-kun," he whispered, eyes not moving from the bloodied mat on the side of his friend's head. Was it really that bad..? Really? "You..." He swallowed, handing the blond the envelope with shaking hands. Eh..? What was this...? "I want you to take this, for your sister alright?"

As Katsuya blinked, Seto turned from beside them. Right... She probably didn't know about his sister huh... The envelope in question looked like it was thickly filled, a small wax seal over the center of it. Was this... This was the prize wasn't it! Two hundred thousand dollars US... Sixteen million plus yen... He hesitated, before taking the envelope with a nod. "...Yugi," he muttered, frowning as he looked from the envelope to his friend. "Yugi... 's it really ok if I take this money..?"

"W-What are you talking about Katsuya-nii," Mokuba protested, the woman behind him turning with slightly raised eyebrows. The boy frowned, staring at him as Katsuya turned. "If... If you take this, doesn't that mean Shizuka-chan will..." He shook his head, turning up to Seto for a moment with an odd look as Yugi continued.

His hands were held firmly at his sides, eyes wide and almost eerily certain of themselves. This look... "Jonouchi-kun," he said clearly, the others falling silent as he spoke. He wasn't changing his mind on this. "I never intended to keep this money," he stated rather clearly, frowning slightly. "And even if you hadn't made it this far," he continued, "I would have given you this prize... But Jonouchi-kun... You were the real champion of the kingdom! Even though you didn't fight against Pegasus through a duel... Even with that..." He smiled, Katsuya watching as the boy stepped back and continued. "I don't know what happened after your duel with Keith," the boy said, smile widening. "But with all that happened... My words are still the same, understand?"

"Y...Yugi..." He jumped slightly, watching as Honda lightly pushed past the others to grab him by the arm and pull him over his shoulder. "O-Oi," he muttered, grumbling as Bakura joined in on the other side to grab his second arm. The two teens slowly made their way past Anzu and Yugi to help him down the stairs, the blond growling at the effort. H-Hey! C-Come on, at least with Seto she'd left him alone at the top of the stairs when he'd refused help..! He could do this on his own, really! "I'm fine! Let me down!"

The taller of the teens merely snorted, adjusting his grip on the blond's arm. "That's bullshit and you know it," Honda said with a frown, hoisting the blond awkwardly off his feet. Toes dangled just above the stairs a moment, Katsuya frowning as he looked at his friend. "Come on man," the teen continued, "We gotta find a boat, get off this island... Yugi's right you know," he continued, turning to Katsuya with a slight frown. H-Heh..? What..? "I don't know what the hell went on in there but..." He shook his head, giving the blond an oddly honored stare as he spoke. "Compared to what Bakura and I did to get Mokuba out..."

Bakura nodded, looking at Katsuya worriedly with those words. "That's right... We knew that you'd been pulled to the side, like Yugi-kun said but..." He swallowed, the others following slowly behind as they walked down the stairs. "Well... To be frank, I don't think we expected you to come back in this condition..." 'This condition'? Come on... It was just pain, he could deal with it!

He snorted, shaking his head as the two carrying him adjusted their hold once again. "Aw c'mon," he muttered, deciding to just let himself get carried down the stairs at this point. Given that they obviously weren't planning on it anytime soon... ...And it did hurt like hell to move right now... "It ain't that bad... What abou' th' time I w's off school f'r my eyes," he asked Honda, raising his eyebrows as he gave a weak nod. He even had scars for that one! ...Scars on his eyes...

Honda merely shook his head, still frowning. "Your head's bleeding man, I don't think that really compares for the moment if you can't even walk." Eh? His head was bleeding?

He shook it off, instead focusing on the other matter at hand. "Heh! I _would _walk if y'd let me," he growled, a quiet and weak laugh coming from his friends in response. Oh sure, laugh at his expense damn it... "Hahhh..." Looked like it was pretty much hopeless really...

Walking down the stairs was mostly filled with silence after that point, the group slowly making their way down the stairs. The mood would have been destroyed by words, and the fact was, with all that happened Katsuya was just looking forward to getting back home. Getting back to Seto and Mokuba's house, and collapsing on the bed that had finally started feeling like 'his'... Getting to the bottom of the stairs however, the mood was partially interrupted as Mokuba ran forward to grab Seto's briefcase from the ground, carrying it off with the woman as they both turned to the group. Huh... Well, at least that didn't end up lost then. The blond stared at the two, watching as they stood there in silence for a few moments. It was an odd look in Seto's eyes, that was for sure... As though she was attempting to hold a glare but only serving to stare blankly at the group in confusion. Like something was just bugging her so much that she couldn't even hold the usually ice-cold stare. "Yugi," she finally said, the boy slowly giving a small, slightly hesitant nod in response. "...I owe you for saving Mokuba... But tell the 'Other Yugi'," she continued, turning away with a small nod if her own as the others stared, "That our battle isn't over yet!" Huh... So she knew about the 'two Yugi's' too huh... And still held a vendetta with one...

Heh! He smirked slightly, shaking his head. Wouldn't have it any other way really... As Mokuba and Seto started walking away, leaving the others to their business Anzu frowned, turning to the others with a frown. "Ah... Does anyone actually know how we're getting back..?" Eh..?

As the others frowned, Bakura shook his head, a rather sheepish wince on his face. "Not really... I'm sorry to say it but," he continued, rubbing his head embarrassingly, "There aren't any more boats on this island... I looked out from the castle, but I couldn't even see a boat house..."

Aw hell, wasn't that great. And Seto of course was ignoring them with a fairly smug if not slight smile. Damn it... "Well," she said moving off with a slightly more amused (if not clearly happier) air about her. "I suppose you _small fry_ will just have to swim!" Yea, because if it took six hours by boat that made a hell of a lot of sense right? "Come on Mokuba," she said quietly, continuing to move before the boy frowned. "...Mokuba?"

"O-Oi, Nii-sama," he asked, briefcase still held tightly in both hands. A rather clear frown was on his face, and he gestured to the others. "We can take them with us on the helicopter can't we? They're my friends... And there's still enough room for everyone isn't there?" Seto visibly tensed, turning back with wide and incredulous eyes as her brother continued. "Let's take them with," he stated, the frown disappearing into a smile. "We owe them right?"

She merely stared, growing rather still as she took in her brother's words. "...What..!"

Hahahaha! Oh come on, it was like Mokuba had said... They were friends, had been for a while! Wasn't like she couldn't deal with that right? "Please," the boy asked with a small whine, his older sister quite clearly seething before them. "It won't cause any problems, honest!" Oh boy... Mokuba never did this before Seto was awake...

The woman continued to grit her teeth before them, before finally she turned back and walking off. "Fine," she snarled, the others smiling nervously and following after the two siblings as Mokuba quickly and eagerly followed after the woman. "But only because you helped get Mokuba back, understand?" There was nothing but nervous laughter in response, Mokuba grinning the entire trip back to the helicopter as they started down the dirt path. "Once we're back in Japan," the woman continued, likely red in the face for the moment as they entered the woods where the helicopter sat, "We're even! Got it?"

Still more nervous laughter as they traveled on, and Seto and Mokuba both hopped into the cockpit seats the moment they found the helicopter. The others followed, Mokuba busying himself with putting the briefcase at the side before poking his head through the door between the cockpit and cabin room. "Ah... I think there's a first aid kit out there," he stated with a blank look on his face, Anzu walking in to look for it with Yugi as the others awkwardly pulled Katsuya in. "I'm gonna help up here ok? Take off in two minutes!" A grin came over his face as he leaned back on the chair, laughing as muttered 'yes' and 'yea's came through the room in response. "Hehehe... You guys better thank my Nii-sama for letting you on the helicopter alright?"

There was a flurry of nods, the doors to the helicopter closing with some difficulty as the others made themselves somewhat comfortable. It was a tight fit... Still enough room for Anzu to try and clean his head wound of course though, and as the woman pulled out some anestethic wipes for his head he had to wince. Here it came and... "Hsssssffff!" He pulled back as the wipe touched the graze at the side of his head, Anzu frowning in response.

"Oh hold still," she muttered, moving forward again in an action that wasn't unlike the events much earlier in the morning with Yugi. "What are you six?"

He scowled, biting his lip but nonetheless caving in as Anzu continued to work on his head before pulling out some gauze. Sheesh... Either way, he decided as the engine started up. Concerning the room in here... "Ngggh..." He winced as the helicopter slowly began running, rotors spinning rapidly as the vehicle began to rise up into the air. "'S tight..."

Yugi nodded in agreement, laughing nervously as he made to help Anzu with the gauze. "I don't think it's made for this many people..."

There was some growling from the front as Honda also began voicing his opinion on the matter, before Seto's voice could be heard. "Mokuba," she asked somewhat tensely, gripping the controls of the helicopter as her brother buckled himself into the seat beside her. "Would you mind shutting the door so I don't have to deal with their apparently ungrateful whining for the next six hours?" Awww, they weren't that bad were they?

Mokuba laughed, turning around to do just that as he grabbed the sliding door. "Sorry guys," he said with a grin, the others watching as he slowly pulled it over. "But Nii-sama _is_ driving..."

"Heh!" Katsuya merely grinned, shaking his head before wincing when Anzu lightly smacked him for ruining the bandage process on his wound. Ow... He turned back to the door, shrugging. "'S fine Mokuba..." The door shut, and he leaned back against the seat while Anzu finished tying up the bandage. "Man," he muttered as the woman pulled out some more wipes, roughly grabbing his first foot. "What a day... Ffff!" He jerked back, before reluctantly biting his lip after receiving a 'warning look' from Anzu in response. Ehehehe... Right right... Ignoring the sharp sting from the wipes, he pulled out the envelope from his pocket, looking over at Yugi. The boy was currently digging through the first aid kit for more bandage material for his feet... His eyes drifted back to the envelope, before he returned it to his pocket. "Yugi," he said, the wincing frown on his face shifting to a more blank and serious expression. "This money... I really owe y' one man..." With this... There was a chance for Shizuka to get better... Heh! Maybe he and Mokuba could actually drag Seto off to Osaka, have them meet! He pushed the thoughts from his mind, watching as Yugi looked up from the first aid kit to shrug.

Looked kinda interesting, with all those bandages in his arms... "It's fine," the boy said with a laugh, handing a few rolls of gauze to Anzu as the woman wrapped up the now clean foot. "Really..." He paused, eyes suddenly growing blank for a few moments. H-H-Hey... What the he- "Ah..." Yugi blinked, looking down at his puzzle a moment before turning back to the blond as though nothing had happened. "Though the other me says that it's fine if you 'owe him one' until the day you beat him..." He smiled nervously, scratching his cheek. "I just hope he doesn't get carried away with that..." The other Yugi said that? ...Wait, they could talk to each other now? (Was that what the space out was for..?)

Anzu blinked, looking at the boy before turning to an equally nervous Katsuya as she grabbed more wipes to deal with his other foot. "..Why," she asked, frowning slightly as the blond bit his lip against the sting again. "What's your and Yugi's record?"

He gave a slightly pained laugh, rubbing the back of his now loosely bandaged head and forcing himself to think of something other than his foot. "Ehe... Well," he said with a cough, briefly wondering how the hell getting tased and sucker punched in the face could hurt less than this, "Startin' from las' week an' countin' t'day..." He bit his lip, mentally counting up the amount of times before answering. "Eh... Zero wins, a hundred eighty-seven losses..."

At this, the others stared, Honda giving a loud 'oooo-boy' as he turned away with wide eyes. Yea... Yea it was a big number. Anzu kept quiet for a few moments and paused in her work, before shaking her head and continuing. "Wow," she muttered, tossing the used wipes to the side and grabbing the next roll of gauze. "...Good luck with that Jonouchi..."

"Oi oi..." He narrowed his eyes, sitting up with a growl. "What's that s'pposed t' mean..?"

Honda grinned, shrugging from where he was sitting beside Anzu. "Nothing... We're just saying you've got a lot of... Hn... A lot of work ahead of you!" Which was another way of saying he'd never make it damn it!

"Hondaaaa-"

A loud thunk noise came over the air, helicopter abruptly veering to the side as the passengers were flung to the opposite end. Anzu had only just barely finished tying up the last bandage, slowly pulling herself up to sit by Yugi as the boy gathered the fallen items from the first aid kit with a flustered expression in place. "H-Haah!" The copter righted itself within a few moments of the jolt, Katsuya turning to the window with wide eyes. Holy shit... Did something hit them or... "What th' he-" His eyes widened, watching as a familiar blond woman began chasing after the copter from below. "H-Heh..? M-Mai!"

"Oh shit," Honda muttered, peering out the window as well. "She's still here?" Apparently so... He was quickly moved aside as Katsuya grabbed the handle to the door, throwing it open as wind whipped in their faces. Ohhhh shit, this was a lot rougher than he expected... He spat a few strands of hair from his face, before leaning further out the door to look down.

"HEEEEY!" Mai continued to run after them, voice somewhat clear over the sound of the copter. It was kinda hard to hear but... Well, she was down there, bag hanging around her shoulder and helicopter 'winds' pushing back at the woman to a slight extent. "TAKE ME WITH YOU," she shouted, waving her hand above her head as she continued to run.

Katsuya blinked, before smiling and turning down to the side. Take her with eh? Who was he to refuse that after the earlier card deal? He blinked as his eyes fell on something just behind the door, the blond smirking. Well look at that... A rope ladder, bolted to the side and everything! "Heh..." He pushed it out, leaning out the door and grinning as the ladder itself clattered in the wind. "OI, MAI," he shouted, the ladder dangling just a foot or so off the ground at its full lenght. "GRAB ON!"

The copter gave another shudder as they flew, Mai hurriedly grabbing onto the end with a nod and managing to pull herself up a few rungs with difficulty. And not a moment too soon; by the time she was on the sixth rung up, the copter had just passed over the coast line, a loud roar of wind meeting the group's ears in response. "WHOOOOOO!" A loud shout came from below, water misting into the woman's face as she climbed up. "Now that's something I never thought I'd end up doing in life," she continued loudly, making her way up the ladder. "What took you so long," she shouted, climbing up as the copter slowly gained a bit of air before moving on. "I must have been running for ten minutes down there!"

"Hehehe... Least we made it," he shouted back, leaning over in an attempt to hold the ladder somewhat steady against the wind. "W-Woahh.." He shook, gripping the sides of the door. S-Shit! "Aaaaagh! I'm gonna fall!"

His fingers began to slip, blood draining from his face before he was pulled back. "Hold on Jonouchi," Honda said with a laugh, gripping the blond by the back of his jacket and pulling him in. "Sheesh," he muttered, turning his head back down as Mai continued her way up the ladder. "We just finished patching you up, don't go drowning on everyone..."

The blond scowled, pulling himself back into his seat and crossing his arms. "Nyhhh... Like that'll actually happen..." He wasn't about to drown, sheesh...

"Like 'what' will actually happen?" The group turned as Mai came into the copter, the woman pulling herself and the ladder in with slight difficulty before the door was closed behind her. She looked around, blinking as the room abruptly fell silent in the absence of the ambient noise. "...Well," she muttered, resting a hand on the side wall. "Isn't this crowded..."

Honda shrugged, the teen currently leaning against the cockpit door to make room for the woman. "Yea well..." He smirked, attempting to keep the blush he had from getting a close up view of the woman's 'shirt' under control. "Try not to let Kaiba know, I don't think he's too happy about his brother letting us all hitch a ride..."

She merely smirked, glancing at the door before her eyes fell on Katsuya. "...Yea," she said quietly, taking in the boy's bandages. "I bet..." She swallowed, before moving toward the blond across from her. "Oh my god," she muttered, Katsuya moving back as Mai brought a hand to the bandaged wound on his head. "What on earth happened to you..? _You look terrible_..!" Tell him something he didn't know! At least he was somewhat wrapped up now...

Katsuya shrugged, arms still crossed as a small smile came back over his face. "Eh," he muttered, leaning back on his seat. "'S a long story..."

"Is it now," Mai asked with a raised eyebrow, before taking a seat on the floor and leaning against her bag. "Well," the woman decided with a small smirk, her own arms crossed. "I have a feeling we'll be in here for a while... Why not share?," she continued, the others as well turning to listen.

Share that? He swallowed, looking around at the others before snorting in response. Heh... It was pretty crazy but... "Eh," he muttered with a grin, pulling himself up in the seat before leaning back on the side again. "I Guess yer right..." The smirk was replaced with a somewhat thoughtful look, the blond turning himself slightly to face the others as he thought of where to start. "Lesse... Guess I outta begin from when th' announcer guy lead me off..." Now how to do this... Well.

Not like there wasn't a better way to pass the time really. Re-telling what he'd done through the afternoon while obviously leaving out a few... 'Questionable' things, he found the things taking a fair amount of his mind off the pain in his feet really. Not to mention the time the ride was taking, or the fact that his last meal had been a few spoons of soup the night before... All the same, watching as the island outside the window slowly disappeared in the distance he was really only half there with the story... The other half was just staring dumbfounded out the window with disbelief.

It was all over. All of it... The crazy dreams, the card game 'battle fields', the creepy giant eyes... All over...

Heh. By the time his story came to an end the sun had sunk below the horizon, and Tokyo's shoreline was a grey line in the distance. The castle and the island it sat on was long gone in the meantime, nothing more than a spot on the ocean. All over, and all gone, all of it, he thought as he leaned back on his seat. The others were quiet themselves, a few holding muttered conversation or simply waiting for the ride to end. Seats had re-arranged... Anzu was now talking with Mai, the three guys sitting on the bench. And it was all over.

Heh. Staring out the window, only a few words really came to mind as he sat there.

Good-bye, 'Duelist Kingdom'.

* * *

**AN: **And good-bye Pegasus...

Thus ends the Duelist Kingdom Arc! It's been a good run, but there's still more to follow... Keep your eyes peeled for the next 'Original' arc, 'The Holiday Season'! It's more than just a Christmas chapter, trust me on that!

No update on my Durarara chain; I turned all my focus to this chapter, as tomorrow I'm gone to see my Godparents... And for the weekend and Monday after, some more family fun and a Halloween event at Wonderland. WHOO! Happy Halloween indeed! (I've never been to Wonderland before...)

Unlike my art however, the Poll _does_ have a new update!

**Poll Results:**

For the identity of Seto's past incarnation the priest, we're having an effective slam-down! It's getting dangerously close to the winner literally doubling the combined efforts of the other options...

Female Crossdressing Set - 11 (Three Anonymous)

Obviously Female Priest_ess_ Set - 5 (Two Anonymous)

Canon; Male Set - 2

And there's still more...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

We've got a lot of reviews this time around! First off 'Don't Have An Account', your vote has been recorded up above...

And for you, fsdfsdfsd, your answer to most of your questions above! As for why Pegasus called Jonouchi a 'guardian' of the two Kaiba siblings so to speak, he's mostly building on the fact that not only is the main reason why Jonouchi is there currently Mokuba and Kaiba both, but also the fact that Jonouchi himself was hired as security for them. In other words, his job was to 'guard' the family. Another point is that by guarding the key, he guards a number of very very, _very_ important documents concerning Mokuba and Kaiba, as the key is the only thing that can get into that safe. (And you can bet that some... Important... Health records are in that safe.)

Lastly Iona! Glad to see you're enjoying the action! (I know I am...) What can I say, Jonouchi's an unpredictable person... As is Kaiba's soul shard apparently, but we're not going there. And oh my- Zetsubou Sensei! I read the manga for that... Love it. Anyways... A testament to my talent? You really think so? ...Thanks! Hope you enjoy the next few chapters even more with that in mind then!

And now...

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that saw how long it got last chapter and winces for this one; well, at least you're informed!

* * *

'Interregnum', from the latin terms for 'between' ('inter') and 'reign' ('regnum'), is the term for a gap of time between reign. Given that Pegasus and Yugi were both (as a 'bonus') fighting for the title 'King of Games', the gap between when Yugi got the prize and when he won could be somewhat considered as this... And though only a small amount of the chapter occurs then, I found it to be a nice way to end the Duelist Kingdom really.

* * *

When Jonouchi says '_You're way too skinny Seto-chan_', he's not too far off the mark. Though it's a slight bit less than the intense weight issue that is the original (Kaiba's only 143 pounds according to Takahashi…), due to men having more skeletal muscle mass. (Muscle weighs more than fat.)

Now… Using BMI (Not the most accurate in terms of body types, but for the sake of 'average'-ness we'll use that), the 'healthy' range is a Body Mass Index of anything between 18.5 and about 24. (18 and 22 in Japan.) Now, recently, I found out that Kaiba is actually closer to six feet, one and a half inches than six feet two inches… But thankfully an inch only means a difference of one or two pounds here. So!

For the male Kaiba, at 6'1, 6'2'' and 143 pounds, he's at the BMI mark of 18.9… Healthy range, but in the mark where it seems almost _too_ skinny. (I myself sit at 18.5 even… HAHAHAHA I have hypoglycaemia for an excuse though, anything I eat burns to nothing. I could do with five pounds or so.) Oddly enough, that one inch for 6'2'' puts him at the line for 'unhealthy weight'. If I put '6'2' in the calculator, he hits 18.4… Just shy the 'healthy' number of '18.5'.

As for fanfic Kaiba, using the same measurements… We get the same result oddly enough! So it's not at all crazy to have someone say Kaiba's 'too skinny' (even though she isn't.), nor is it in anyway hard to believe that the shackles _wouldn't fit_. A clenched fist takes more width, and can hold firm in the shackle. Limp hand curled in on itself does not.

* * *

Jonouchi's bleeding feet? Ironically, all that running actually helped to stop the bleeding. Ordinarily, a minor wound to the foot can take up to ten minutes to stop bleeding... However, because of the constant pounding pressure he applied while running, it stopped sooner, despite what gravity would normally have to say about it.

Oddly enough, he's not being followed around as easy either, as once they hit the dark halls, his bloody footprints match up with the carpet amazingly well.

...Yakou and Gekko are gonna have a hell of a time cleaning all this...

* * *

Sad to say, but Pegasus' temporarily happy marriage was dub only; in reality, they (Cynthia AKA 'Ceceilia', her dub name. (WHY?) and Pegasus) were making plans to move in with each other (possibly get married, who knew..)… And then Cynthia kinda _died_

...

Ouuuuch… Fact is, Cynthia was 17 when she died, so I'm not surprised that they didn't actually get married. What the heck did they do to cover the 'high-school marriage' this implies though? 4Kids is normally against that stuff!

Fun fact though, but Cynthia and Pegasus apparently met 14 years prior this. Given that Pegasus is 26, and he says she died 'seven years ago' in the manga, this would mean that she was two years younger than him… So he was 12, and she was ten, giving them seven years together. It's very upsetting…

* * *

And hang on! Is that card Pegasus shows Yugi in the manga a personal portrait, or her soul! HAAAAAHHH scary. Would make sense though; Cynthia's body would have been out of commission thanks to death, so if all he could do was hold her soul close… Then again, it's pretty obvious that he only got the small instant of sight he got when the eye was rammed into his head. Such is the price...

* * *

Also, Pegasus' father owns (Owned? He should still be alive me-thinks...) casinos in LA. YESSSS.

* * *

Pegasus states that Cynthia got sick shortly after _he_ turned 17; given that Pegasus should be two years older than her, I'm gonna say… Terminal cancer. Or something along those lines at least. Poor girl… You even see a shot of her funeral, and of Pegasus stuck with all his paintings of her. It's very depressing… (He originally went to Egypt to get into his art again, as the depression had him staring at an empty canvas. Ended up comparing the endless desert to his heart. Ouch.)

* * *

Jonouchi's feeling of someone dying isn't far from the truth; at the exact same moment, Yugi and Yami Yugi were doing their mind-shuffle against Pegasus… And then it turned into a shadow game and Yugi collapsed- Pegasus flat out says '_His soul is dead_' in the manga too, which kinda... Pisses the people watching off. Just a tad... It's actually got some humor in that scene, as Jonouchi is completely taken over by grief… But once Anzu mentions that Yugi mentioned neither being able to live without the other, his face takes a comical 'ORLY?' turn, and despite the situation, it kinda made me giggle a bit. Granted, this is the person who described Blue-Eyes rotting away without batting an eye so...

Of course, Jonouchi's no where near the duel at the moment, so he has no clue what happened right now. But the feeling is there, and though we won't have a view of what's going on in the duel specifically (It's kind of implied that not only would this be boring to watch, but that you would all overdose from the Pegasus creepy. Because you can guarantee that man will pull a creepy, more so than his goddamned eye.), we still get a fair amount of 'I'm there for you' in the end. Not to mention bad-assery. Which is always nice.

* * *

How _did_ they get there? Takahashi sure doesn't explain it as anything more than the power of friendship when we see this in the manga...

* * *

You didn't think Mr. Big Creepy Eyeball from Hell would show up this chapter? FOR _SHAME_. Of course I'm putting him in there! As to what the hell 'little Seto' was doing there, she's kinda tacked onto the eye right now, as until the 'last piece of the puzzle' is actually inserted into said puzzle… She's not technically part of the soul. Case in point, she's actually floating around on her own after Pegasus lets everyone go. HAHAHAHA. Ahhh… Basically she showed up as a last 'take that!' to the Eye, given that it still didn't manage to lock her away. (Though it certainly succeeded after that.)

Damn it Kaiba, even as a pint-sized soul fragment you're a badass. Pity we won't see you again.

* * *

The most amusing thing about the 'Everyone fighting in the heart' scene? (Besides the fact that they're literally just standing there? Hell, I even kept that to a slight extent, though it's implied that this all happens with brain-soul power...) In the manga, once we get to the end of the scene, everyone's returned to their bodies. Jonouchi says '_don't say anything guys, I know what it was like… I felt-_'… And then Bakura steals one line he wanted to say (_I felt Yugi's pain of fighting and joy of winning_!') and Honda steals the other (_I feel like… We fought alongside Yugi somehow…_), and Anzu steals the most basic one of '_I'm glad…_'.

Poor Jonouchi then comments on how he wanted to say all that, and now there's nothing left to say on the topic. But since he's alone at this moment, and Pegasus doesn't return the souls until a few minutes after, he still gets his shot. To himself. Oh well~ Anyways.

* * *

Why was Seto still out cold when Jonouchi woke up? Well, for one, as said above, Pegasus didn't return the souls until Yugi brought it up again. Not to mention, it takes until much later for any of the soul-snatched victims to actually wake up, given that there's time for everyone to reach the bedroom that Honda stowed Mokuba's body in... And actually sit there, waiting for the kid to wake up. …In fact, it shapes up to be even _more_ gradual for a brief moment, as Yugi's grandpa just sort of says '_Hey, I feel weird…_' as he 'fades out'... Before shooting off into the sky like a freaking _rocket_. And the souls actually _bounce off the walls_ as they go, meaning they actually have to find an open door or something.

Even better; Grandpa's soul is _laughing_ as he does this. Though it gets a bit creepy after that, as in the next chapter Yugi says that Sugoroku mentioned seeing his _dead wife_ before coming back to his body. HAAAAAHHH! (At least you know why I had Kaiba slightly more confused than normal and thinking about seeing someone with white hair... Yea. That was her mom guys.)

* * *

Some more flowers for you! First off, we have 'Iris', which serve as a double meaning here. The first concerns the flower, which typically invokes faith, hope, wisdom, and valour. (Many good traits that Jonouchi is currently exhibiting by running around with his neck on the line I would think…) As a secondary thing however, Iris, the Greek personification of the rainbow, was said to ferry women's spirits to hell, or carry messages from the underworld to the realm of the gods. As someone who is known for carrying around the spirits of women… …Heee. Kaiba isn't exactly a spirit right now so much as a body, but hey, Jonouchi was certainly carrying around at least a _portion_ of her soul earlier on.

Second flower set, orange lilies also have a double meaning. Lilies in general are meant to keep unwanted people away. Orange ones bring the meaning of 'hatred'. Pretty good given that the vase of them was used as a 'bomb' in the face of Saruwatari's gun. (Saruwatari was aiming to hit the blond's shoulder by the way. Excrutiating pain, avoid killing him… Mostly…)

And of course, we have our 'danger begonia' from the last chapter...

And even after that, the flowers in the portrait. This is more because Pegasus would likely see those flowers as the sort of thing to give Cynthia in her last moments though; Yarrow, which is what Jonouchi saw in the vase, symbolize health and healing.

* * *

As for how that works, basically the vase throws the bullet slightly off, as there's a crap-load of flowers and glass in the way (also painful, hence why Jonouchi bolted.)... Besides the fact that this throws shrapnel _everywhere_, making everyone lucky to be alive, (Thankfully, porcelain doesn't really fly that well.) the shot made was also in reaction to the vase being thrown as opposed to Jonouchi himself. Which means it wasn't aimed properly, and was off just enough to avoid hitting the blond as he fled down another corner. It's still a narrow miss though; regardless of the crap it flew through, the bullet will always fly _straight_. So... If Jonouchi stood still rather than bolting to the side, he quite likely could have gotten both himself and Kaiba killed; the human body is not a shield if it is 'dead' or 'good as', or even just 'in the way'.

* * *

Jonouchi, Jonouchi, how are you still alive! Well, it's quite possible (Unlike getting shot in the leg, where MANY VEINS AND ARTERIES ARE) to survive getting sliced along the side of the head by a bullet. Provided it's a graze and only that. And a very, _very_ light graze at that. It'll still bleed a lot, but it won't be fatal... Oddly enough, Jonouchi's unconsciousness actually helps with this, as his heart rate slowed up... Meaning his blood wasn't pumping nearly as fast as it was when he _was_ shot. Blood clots fast when the wound is small though; for all the blood that came from Jou's skull, it likely stopped bleeding a few minutes after falling to the ground. Damn it Jonouchi, you have the luck of a _god_. (Though it helps that those chasing him were _not_ aiming to kill, and were in fact making a conscious effort to not hit anything that he would likely bleed out from in minutes with. With such few choices, its no wonder they missed really...)

* * *

Before anyone says '_But Saruwatari is the one who says 'It's all over, yadda yadda' at the end_, _he wouldn't be chasing after Jonouchi for the key_!', need I remind you that the scene involving the gunshot happened literally _right after_ the match end. This means it was before Saruwatari found out about it all being over, and this is actually what causes Seto and Jonouchi to fall down the second set of stairs and not end up continually fired at. Shortly after they disappeared down the stairs, Saruwatari got a call on the radio concerning the match…

Unfortunately, very few people know about the second set of stairs leading to the ballroom, so really, though he did charge down the first set going 'Oh shit, I killed them!' (Rather, 'I killed the blond!', as the Big 5 /want/ Kaiba dead, and much as Saruwatari hates Jonouchi's guts right now, it's not enough to kill him. ), he… Completely missed them. AUUUUGH.

Another point to make is that Jonouchi severely injured another guard in his flight, and _he must be dealt with_! Or something along those lines...

* * *

Interesting fact; though Mokuba has enough energy to pull back in immense fear after waking up, Kaiba literally staggers and stumbles out of the cell before walking with the standard and apparently healthy gait. A testament to Kaiba's formerly 'non-existent' fatigue? Or just the sheer shock of seeing 'himself' in the manga? (I don't think he sees him in the anime...)

* * *

'Tasukete', pronounced 'Tas-ke-te', as the 'su' tends to be sped up to a mere 's' sound in Japanese (Unless you have a fairly thick Kansai-ben accent... In other words, you're from Osaka and your 'desu's come out 'desu' as opposed to 'des'.). 'Tasukete' (Or as written above, 'Taskete') means 'to help', and is also used to simply _ask_ for help... Which effectively makes 'taskete' translate fairly literally out into 'help'. Sometimes, the particle 'yo' can be added, as the particle is meant to convince... So 'taskete-yo' would mean 'help' in a more 'please help' sort of way depending on the tone.

* * *

For clarification on Jonouchi's 'head wound'; the bullet clipped the side of his head. This causes a heck of a lot of bleeding but… Not enough to kill so much as just leave a lot of blood around. The passing out was more from a combination of shock and falling down a flight of stairs. (Clotting did the rest.) So yea. Getting barely shot in the head did _not_ make him pass out.

* * *

WHY. _WHYYYYYY_. In the heartwarming, '_MY BIG BROTHER IS ALIVE_' scene in the manga, did the translators put 'KAIBA' in Mokuba's speech bubble? In _all_ of Mokuba's speech bubbles? That's calling the guy by _their_ last name, can anyone guess just how damn awkward that is! It'd be like calling your mother or your own sibling by your last name. Not close at all.

Even so... I tear up everytime I look at this scene, watching those two hug… (Damn it why is Proof of Life playing in the background! THIS MAKES THINGS EVEN MORE UPSETTING.)

Proof of Life is Rin's answer song to Len's own 'Soundless Voice' by the way. _VERY DEPRESSING_.

* * *

Originally in the manga, Bakura meets up with everyone after they've left the castle. (And after he… Erm… Took Pegasus' eye and left the replica there. Whoo~.) This time around, it took longer for Kaiba to get out, given that she was ironically pulled away in the opposite direction of the exit by Jonouchi… And then later on effectively carrying Jonouchi out of the castle. This in turn means that they got there _after_ Bakura did his deed and got out...

Not to mention licked that eyeball really really creepy-like… Hihhh!

* * *

The answer to Jonouchi's question on his throat? Kaiba kinda _landed on it_ when they fell over the stairs. Also he's been running himself ragged without taking a drink soooo… Besides the fact that every part of him is in pain from that fall...

* * *

Yugi's words to Jonouchi concerning the prize money originally came from Yami's mouth. I couldn't well get away with the conversation I moved to the helicopter in the same way I could here though...

* * *

As for why Honda and Bakura are bothering to carry the guy off, while Jonouchi _can_ kinda sorta walk (Not really on his own, but still walk), the fact is, his feet are sliced to bits and still open. They're not about to let him walk on a dirt and rock path though… Not only will that hurt like _hell_, that's a great way to get his feet horribly infected.

* * *

You really have to feel for how damn out of place Kaiba must feel during the moments after getting back to Mokuba; his brother's calling this 'moron' by the honorific 'nii' for older brother, talking on about a bunch of things about said 'moron' including a sister, the present injuries… And then flat out says that they're welcome to come back on the helicopter to get off the island.

Poor Kaiba's probably pulling her mental hair out now. It doesn't help that at the end of this trip, Mokuba said that he'd 'have to invite them over sometime'. Obviously not shown in chapter, but ohhh boy… You can guess how that went.

* * *

Originally, Mokuba was (of course) quite the little snot about the helicopter in the manga; he essentially made fun of the fact that he and Kaiba had their own private helicopter for the ride, leaving Jonouchi to be pulled back by the others as he yelled at him in response. Before they left however, Mokuba quickly changed his mind and made the offer to take them back... Which of course, threw Kaiba off _completely_ in response.

* * *

The conversation between the group in the main cabin of the helicopter is about the same as the conversation they originally had while the Kaiba siblings were catching up. Obviously a little difficult in the fanfic's case, as I have a feeling they wouldn't want to talk about that sort of thing around Kaiba... At all.

* * *

Speaking of the conversation, the numbers are _real_ guys; Jonouchi has fought against Yugi _187 times_ within that _week _and lost… Aren't you glad that he didn't face off against him in the finals now? That would have been like kicking a puppy. (Oh hey, a pun.)

* * *

In the panel of the manga before we see Mai shouting up at the helicopter, we see everyone suddenly fall to one side of the copter. Given that, as tired as Kaiba is (Thankfully, the guards gave soulless Kaiba some food, so she's not as liable to pass out anymore in the fanfic's case), he/she's not going to just send a helicopter that out of control, it's heavily implied that Mai managed to throw a rock at them..

_AND HIT THEM_.

* * *

Originally, I was going to have Kaiba get fed up with them and shut the door _after _Mai got on… But then I realized that there would be some _serious_ reaming out if that happened, because like hell any of that is safe (for the passengers. Mostly Mokuba.)! (As it is, you can bet that Kaiba was pissed when they got back to Domino.)

* * *

Obviously this scene has been extended… It's actually building with what you should expect in the Christmas chapters to tell the truth, though it's very, _very_ hard to spot what does that. Now, I recently fleshed out what I'm doing for Christmas, and due to how extensive it is (It builds up to the point rather than copping out like a filler. You know… Like what I did with the summer (I'm sorry…).), I'll be heading off on that arc first, as opposed to going into the Legendary Heroes. (Interestingly enough, there's time for Rebecca to show up in the anime _before_ that arc... Hn.)

Even figured out how to prevent a plot hole concerning not dealing with the Big 5 right off the bat… You'll see what that is next chapter though. Have fun~

Until next time!


	41. Chapter 40

**Settling Back Down  
**

* * *

There weren't too many words to describe what happened during the next few days. After Katsuya finished his 'story' so to speak, everyone had fallen silent. They were tired after all... By the time the helicopter left it was late into the afternoon, so at the moment it was well into the evening. By the time they got back to Tokyo, only Bakura was still awake, lightly shaking the others awake as they landed at the hangar for the helicopter itself. Listening as the copter powered down, they'd watched as Mai picked up her things and left the copter, hopping out to head to a subway station and later take a train home. '_Tell your friend I appreciated the lift_,' she had said with a smile, before disappearing just as Seto herself came through the door. By the time one had left, the other was busy herding them off the copter... And although Mai somewhat escaped the glare and questioning, they didn't, given that it was fairly evident that _someone_ had stowed away on board the copter. Mokuba however, thankfully acted as buffer for the angered comments as the others were sent home... Kinda.

While he liked avoiding any questioning, the fact that it was stopped by Mokuba insisting on a hospital call wasn't really something he enjoyed. The others headed home rather soon of course, fairly confident in the fact that if he was still there they could visit but... He could handle himself damn it! He was alive now, six hours after getting shot at, he wasn't about to die after that, right? Apparently not; and it was likely his annoyance on the matter that had Seto herself calling up the one remaining chauffeur she knew on the 'new staff' to get him to the place. Or maybe it was for Mokuba... Or even Mokuba's words from many months before. '_I take care of my employees_,' he'd said back then, and again when handing him a shoebox later that day. '_Just like my big sister does._' He couldn't get mad about that honestly... He really couldn't, not after all that had gone on. The blond groaned, giving a yawn as he walked to the school the next morning. Even so... These shoes were pretty damn uncomfortable, compared to his well worn 'Air Muscles'. So what if they had a hole in the front, he liked those shoes... Not to say he wasn't grateful or anything, but even so... He winced as they squeaked along the ground, tapping his toe against the front steps before switching them out for the familiar slippers that everyone else in the building wore. Alright... That was a bit better...

"Ah, Jonouchi-kun!" The blond turned, grinning as Yugi walked over from where he'd switched his own shoes out. "I thought Mokuba sent you to the hospital..."

He snorted, a grin still on his face as they walked toward their classroom. Yea he'd been in there but... That was yesterday! He was fine now, and had been fine the day before... "Hah! Like I'd be stuck there!" He stretched somewhat, bag held over his shoulder as they continued walking down the hall. Missed two more days of school, probably wasn't much of a problem though... Right... He pushed the thoughts back, instead continuing the conversation with a grin. "Sides, not like there was much t' do... Just a small cut, didn' even hit anythin' big!"

Yugi bit his lip, looking up at the still bandaged area in question as they entered the classroom. It was still healing of course; his feet were in similar condition, which was probably part of the reason why his shoes were so uncomfortable. The bandages in question, weren't nearly as thick as the night before though- Though it still made for one obvious injury. Ah well, he'd have a cool scar right? ... Hidden by his hair... Damn it. Despite that glaring fact, his friend was still very much worried about just what could have (And possibly had) happened. "Erm..." The boy nodded slowly, still not quite believing the words. "If you say so... There was a lot of blood though..."

The blond shrugged, moving over to take his seat. Yea, but that was nothing... Washed out easy enough hadn't it? His green jacket was forever stained of course but hey, nothing too bad. (Course this was a little more than the standard...) "Eh, it's fine..." Katsuya dropped his bag on the ground, watching as the others in the class slowly came into the room. It was all slightly surreal, spending the last three days on an island with next to nothing no matter what the surroundings only to be going back to school. The blond leaned back on his seat, before blinking as he spotted one of the others they'd stayed with on that island in question. "Oiii!" The teen at the door turned, blinking. "Honda!" Yugi turned as well as his friend shouted, Honda in question waving from the door as he came over.

"Hey..." He grinned, leaning against a nearby desk as Anzu joined from the door as well. "Looks like you escaped the hospital!"

He snorted, crossing his arms. "'S one way 't put it... 'Sides, not like me missin' two days 'f school is that big a deal!"

"It was still creepy," Honda added seriously as they recalled the few days he'd skipped, Anzu rolling her eyes from the side as they were joined by Bakura.

The albino in question frowned, putting his backpack by his desk and looking at the others in confusion. "What was creepy," he asked, blinking. Oh right, he wouldn't know about that...

Honda shrugged, shaking his head at the question. Looked like he was going to remain out of the loop too. "Eh... Nothing much really," he said, bag dropping to the ground. "So," he asked, changing the subject fairly quickly. "How's your sister Jonouchi?" His si- Damn it Honda.

He held back a frown, the grin dying for a moment before answering the question. Honda was not coming anywhere near his sister, no where near... And thankfully, he reassured himself, there was a 10,000 yen train ticket in the way of that happening should he miraculously get her address. Which she couldn't. Back to the matter at hand... "I talked t' her las' night," he said with a slight nod, recalling the conversation he'd had. '_You can get yer eyes fixed_,' he'd said with an unseen grin while on the phone, the girl on the other end balking in surprise. '_There's still a chance, trust me_!' It took a bit to convince her that he hadn't done something stupid to get 16 and a half million yen in the end; apparently the fact that he'd come in 'second' in a gathering of top duelists at a tournament was hard to swallow, but even so... Helicopter had gotten back early the morning before, so in the end he'd called Shizuka the first shot he had getting out of the hospital. With some help, he'd had the money sent over to his mom's account, and everything was set up... "She's goin' int' surgery on th' 20th," he continued with a smile, the expression growing into a relieved grin when he thought back to the elated shouts from his sister when the fact that she could have the surgery had finally hit her. "Next Wednesday."

"The 20th..." The others turned as Bakura frowned, a hand on his chin for a moment. "For something as delicate as her eyes, that would mean recovery will take weeks..." Yea. He knew that. The frown deepened, the teen continuing on as the others grins faded into more blank expressions. "Even if it wasn't that long, that extends far beyond the holidays..." Yea. Exactly.

The blond shrugged, a wry smile in place. "Well... Not like I got t' spend too many Christmases with her anyways..." He'd kinda gotten used to it. Though he didn't even have his dad for this year... The thought was pushed out of mind again and he coughed, before turning to the others and replacing the smile with a more honest grin. "So! Speakin' 'f Christmas, what are you guys doin'?"

There was a small silence as the others shared glances, Honda speaking first. "Just the usual for me," he said, glancing at the clock before continuing. They'd managed to get into the building a little earlier than the norm; there was still a good ten minutes before class would start. "Christmas with my sister, her fiancee, and my nephew, nothing new really." Fiancee? So the guy who helped spawn the kid was marrying Honda's sister then? Abruptly, Honda frowned, biting his lip as a sudden thought came to mind. "Damn," he muttered, wincing. "What the hell do I give a kid who watches porn all day..."

No answer was given to that particular question of course; because honestly, why the hell would they know the answer to that? Honda appeared to shake it off after a few seconds however, and ended up turning to Bakura. "How about you Bakura," he asked, the others nodding. "You live on your own right?" Oh yea... Didn't his dad live in the Bunkyou district..? Not exactly walking distance. Of course, Bakura's dad was apparently constantly out of the country for a dig _anyways_...

Nonetheless Bakura nodded in response, a small smile in place. "Yes... Well... My father says he'll be in the area for the holidays, so we made plans to catch up on things... He's the new curator of the museum you know," he said somewhat offhandedly, a glimmer of the closest thing one could call pride by Bakura's standards visible to them. Oh? So did that mean he wasn't going to randomly disappear all the time? "He's actually considering extending the Egyptian display," the teen continued with evident excitement, Katsuya recalling his fairly excessive interest in the false millennium eye with the thought. "Would you like me to let you know how that goes..?" Eh? About the Egypt display..?

While Yugi nodded eagerly, the others gave a small and nervous shrug. "It's up to you," Anzu said calmly, leaning forward on the desk. "What sorts of things would be there? I know they already have a lot at the museum..." Enough to get that creepy Egyptian guy on their tail for the scariest damn night of their lives...

Bakura blinked, disappearing into thought for a moment. "That's a good question," he muttered, frowning slightly before turning back with a smile. "I'll be sure to ask him though!" Hahaha, that didn't change much of what they knew. "In any case... If you don't mind my asking, what do you have planned for the holidays?"

Another blink, this time on Anzu's part as the others all turned on her. "...Me," she asked, before receiving a nod in response. "Actually, I'm going to be in Kyoto for the winter break..." Kyoto? "You probably won't believe this," she said with a slight laugh, shaking her head as the others listened in, "But while we were on the subway, Mai invited me to her house there..." Wait Mai? _Mai _invited her over?

"Mai lives in Kyoto," Honda asked quickly, the others shaking their heads or something close to it at the reaction. That sounded a little less like disbelief and more... The teen coughed, shaking himself before continuing. "...Where?"

Anzu frowned, crossing her arms. "Believe me when I say, I'm not telling you if it costs me my life Honda..." Rolling her eyes as Honda groaned in response, she turned a much softer expression to Yugi. "What about you Yugi," she asked with a smile, ignoring Honda's mutterings of '_temple city, who would have thought..._'. "Do you have any plans for the holidays?"

He shrugged, shaking his head. "No more than usual," he admitted, a somewhat sad expression on his face. Hn? What was the usual then? "I know that my mom will be there, and hopefully Grandpa will be out of the hospital soon..."

That was right, Sugoroku's body had been hospitalized soon after his soul flew off... But after Pegasus was dealt with... "Oh yea..." Katsuya turned to the boy, leaning on his arm. "How is your grandpa anyways, I mean... I know he got 's soul back but..." Well, the fact was, he was already having heart troubles...

His friend nodded, eyes wide with slight worry. "He's definitely back," he stated confidently, hands resting on his puzzle. "I'm just a little worried... When I was talking to him yesterday, he said that he thought he saw Grandma before he came back..."

His grandma? Wait... Sugoroku saw his dead wife? He held back a shudder, falling silent for a moment. Hihhhhh... Ghosts. Nonetheless, he quickly jumped on the change in subject when Honda turned the Christmas question on him. "Hey, plans aside," he said, leaning back on his arms with a shrug, "What do you think Kaiba's going to do for the holidays?" As the others remained silent at that, he glanced at the clock again before continuing. Five minutes left. "I mean... He's not exactly the kind of guy to do anything like that, but do you think with Mokuba... Kid seemed pretty gung-ho about it last time I checked."

"Hnnn..." Katsuya shrugged, leaning in his chair with a frown. It was a good question... Seto sure as hell didn't seem to be one to get into holidays, but like Honda said... "Sh- He'll probably get somethin' f'r Mokuba at least," he decided, giving another shrug to the subject. "Not really sure abou' anythin' else though..."

Honda shrugged as well, taking his seat as the others continued to listen. "Well, give the kid holiday greetings for me will you," he asked, Katsuya nodding in response.

"Got it," he said with a smirk, before blinking as a slight humming noise entered his ears. Eh... What was that... He turned to the source, watching as Yugi appeared to stare off for a few moments before turning. Alright... He wasn't the one humming so where...

Yugi blinked, still holding his puzzle as he replaced his blank expression with a smile. "Ah... By the way," he asked, leaning against his seat. "The other Yugi want's to know... Jonouchi-kun, what are you going to do for Christmas presents? I know you got one for your sister but..."

The others turned, before looking back at Jonouchi. "Presents," Bakura repeated with slight surprise, blinking. "Didn't you say you already bought something for Mokuba-kun, Jonouchi-kun?" Yes... He did. Kinda. Um...

Katsuya scratched his head, inwardly wincing as Yugi as well realized just what the conversation had possibly wrought. "Yea," Anzu muttered, frowning as the two shared a nervous glance. "You did..." The woman's expression suddenly lit up with surprise, Anzu almost pausing over her words for a moment. "Wait... Are you_ dating _someone," she asked, eyes slightly wider than the norm.

Honda as well blinked at that, looking at his friend somewhat incredulously. The silence was really all he needed to know for that one...

"Errr..." He coughed, laughing somewhat nervously as he turned back to Yugi. "Y-Y'know what, I could ask th' same thing t' you Yugi..." Get this subject off him now... Please...

Yugi instantly blushed at the comment of course, turning awkwardly away from Anzu before coughing. "E-Erm... I... I don't think I'll have any problems..." Oh. He blinked, quickly remembering Anzu's earlier mention of her own plans. Right... Yugi's chances of a date were now spending that time in Kyoto. Whoops... The boy looked back up, glancing at the clock as it ticked down to three minutes before the bell. "Um... So, holidays aside," he asked, swallowing back his nervousness. "Does anyone want to come with me to Burger World on Friday?"

Friday? Damn it. Katsuya bit his lip, frowning. "I got work... Sorry man..." Yugi nodded, turning to the others as they as well gave less than hoped for answers.

Honda was next to speak, frowning slightly and shaking his head with a sigh. "I would if I could man... But my sister signed me up for a bunch of after school Christmas deals..." He scratched his head, biting his lip. "Never should have said I was free after school damn it..." The others looked at him somewhat sympathetically, before Bakura turned to him with a small smile.

"Erm... You know," he asked politely, bowing his head as the teen turned to him. "If you like, I could probably help..."

The teen gave Bakura an odd look in response, an almost suspicious glint in his eye. In fact, it almost looked like the kind of stare he only saw way back in middle school... When Hirutani was involved. This was Bakura though... Why would he get that look around Bakura? "That's fine," Honda muttered with a cough, the look vanishing quickly. "I'll be alright..."

Bakura nodded, frowning slightly in response. "Well... If you say so. I could always-"

-**_Brrrrrrrnnng_**!-

The group turned as the bell rang over Bakura's next words, the albino in question moving to take his seat next to Jonouchi as Anzu as well moved. Well, probably wasn't too bad... "Oh..." He turned to Yugi as the teacher walked in, voice lowering to a whisper as he remembered what he had originally planned on asking earlier. "Ah.. Yugi?" The boy as well turned, blinking as his friend continued. "I gotta pick up my stuff from yer house after school t'morrow... That alrigh'?" He'd do it today but... Well, he kinda wanted to make sure Seto didn't manage to kick him out first

He quickly nodded, smiling. "Of course! Not a problem... Mokuba fixed things with the papers then?"

Provided Seto didn't say anything... "Yep!" He grinned, crossing his arms over on the desk. "Still working th' usual days though, the weekends and-"

"Jonouchi-kun," came the teacher at the front, both teens jumping and turning to the front with a jolt. "Mutou-kun... If you could pay attention..."

"R-Right, sorry Sensei!" "Sorry..." Class time... Right.

...He hated math.

* * *

Needless to say, the topic of Christmas was still fairly inescapable after school ended, not to mention during the lunch break... Of both that day and the day after. With only one week, and a few days or so away, there was nothing but talk of parties, vacations... Hell, with the way everyone was going on about it, he'd have thought they had more than a few days off for the holidays!

It was still something to talk about though, even after he and Yugi had headed off on their own down the street. Honda and Bakura had headed off in their usual directions, and even though Anzu's regular route would normally take her down the road with Yugi she as well was missing. Something about a new job down town at... An engraving store? (Good luck with that he supposed.) Still, given that he was used to walking alone thanks to the 'off map' route that he had to take to get to the house, even just walking with Yugi was a welcome chance. "So... Jonouchi-kun," Yugi asked, continuing the conversation that had been cut short that morning. Katsuya turned to the boy as they continued down the street, Yugi still staring curiously as he repeated his question. "_...Are_ you doing anything for Kaiba-san? For Christmas I mean?"

Christmas? Right. Presents. Um... He coughed, biting his lip. Truth be told... No. "I want to," he began, frowning as he adjusted his bag. "But... Well, I don't really know what the hell t' get her." As Yugi blinked, the blond continued, shrugging. "Fact is, th' only things she really openly likes that I know of are her brother an' those dragons of hers... I don't think there's anythin' I _can_ give her. Not in terms 'f somethin' she doesn' already have at least..." Which sucked really bad... Really, really really- Damn it, why the hell did he have to think about these things now? So much simpler when he was squinting at pixels on a screen... So much simpler...

Yugi merely smiled, shaking his head. "Well, there's still time left..." He gave a reassuring smile, still looking up as he somehow maneuvered his way around other passing people. "I'm sure you'll find something Jonouchi-kun!"

The blond nodded, before frowning as they turned the corner. 'Kame Game' was clearly in sight now, the oddly built store and home standing out among the usually uniform buildings fairly easily. However, for all that stood out, there was on thing in particular that caught his eye for the moment. "Hey... Yugi," he asked, stopping for a moment as he looked at the boy's driveway. "Whose car 's that?"

"Hn? Car..?" Yugi slowly looked back at the driveway himself, before stopping as well. It was just a normal, slightly out-dated car really... Maybe a scratch on the side from a car door scraping into it, but otherwise just a normal car. Apparently this 'normal car' more than caught Yugi's attention however, as the next few moments were silent. "That's..." Yugi stared, before suddenly bolting for the shop door and pulling it open.

"O-Oi, Yugi," he shouted, charging after the boy. W-What the hell? What was so important about the car? He ran into the shop, door shutting loudly behind him as he followed after his friend. The shop was of course 'closed'... Lights off, door only unlocked for the convenience of those living there... "Yugi, what's goin-" He stopped, watching as Yugi stared at a middle aged man standing in the store in shock. Um... Who the hell? "Ah..."

The man turned from where he had apparently been looking over some papers, blinking before adjusting his glasses at the sight of the boy. "Ah- Yugi," he said, slightly shocked expression replaced with a soft smile. "I was just- Goh!" He winced, suddenly thrown back slightly as the boy just about tackled him around his waist.

Dad!" Yugi grinned, before pulling from the hug as his father ruffled his hair. "Haha... I thought you were going to be out of the country..."

Wait, what? Katsuya stared, taking a hesitant step forward as he registered what was going on. This... This was Yugi's dad? He blinked, before noting that despite the lack of blond, the man's hair was indeed tipped with red... Really damn short, which was probably a good thing for a guy that looked like he was in business... But still tipped with red. The man in front of him laughed, scratching his head and looking down at his son with a large smile. "Well, I could hardly just ignore the holidays... I managed to get the next few two weeks off of work, for the holidays." As Yugi continued to grin at the fact, his father's smile faded slightly, confusion replacing it as he noticed Katsuya's presence. "Oh," he began, blinking as he looked back at his son. "And who is this..?"

Yugi turned, before smiling and gesturing over to Katsuya. "Ah... This is Jonouchi-kun," he said, the blond in question coming over with a nod. "He's my friend from school!"

Katsuya smirked, bowing his head as he looked over the just barely taller man before him. "Er... Nice t' meetcha Mutou... san." Wow... Never thought he'd see anyone in Yugi's family taller than him... The man before him bowed his head in response to the greeting, also smiling.

"Very nice to meet you," he repeated hands folded in front of him. "It's good to see that Yugi is making friends," he continued, smiling. "I was a little worried that he would end up caught up in some game that my father showed him," he added with a small laugh, Yugi flushing slightly in response. He kind of had after all... Eight years on a puzzle being the most obvious example. "Now then..." He turned to the boy, still smiling. "I need to talk to your mother for a moment, but I'll be right upstairs alright?" Yugi nodded, watching as his dad vanished up the stairs before the room fell silent.

Huh... "So..." Katsuya looked down, blinking as the boy turned back to him. "That's yer dad huh?" He could... Kind of see the resemblance. Kind of.

Yugi nodded, still grinning as he moved further into the house to help Kastuya grab his things. "Yea... I didn't think he'd be here," he said with clear excitement, pulling the long since prepared suitcase out from where it had sat in the hall. "He normally has to work over Christmas, or something comes up... This is great! I mean, getting to spend time with my Dad like this is-" He quickly stopped himself, expression fading. Apparently, he'd just realized how awkward the conversation could be for someone who didn't quite have the chance himself. "Erm..." He coughed, holding the suitcase over. Anyways... Here's your suitcase, Jonouchi-kun... Tell Mokuba and Kaiba-san I said 'hi', alright?"

Hahaha, because that would work well in the case of the latter right? He took the suitcase, smiling wryly as he turned toward the door. "Will do- Thanks Yug'," he said with a nod, the boy giving a similar nod in response.

"No problem! I'll see you tomorrow alright?" Another nod, Katsuya pushing the door open and walking outside. Yep... School tomorrow, and for another few days... What was it, thursday? So he had work tomorrow night then...

The door clacked shut behind him, Katsuya slowly making his way back to the house with his suitcase in hand. Yea... Anyways. He stretched, looking back at the game shot for a moment before smiling again. Well... Looked like Yugi was getting his entire family together for Christmas then. He never knew the guy's dad was working out of the country... Huh. Seemed everyone was getting together with their families really... It was nice...

...How was his dad doing..? Katsuya frowned, stopping for a moment as the thought came to mind. He hadn't visited him since he heard about his arrest... Inconsiderate yea, but the fact was they were putting him through rehab from what he'd found out. He wasn't supposed to go see him, not for a while at least. It had to be alright now though right? Hell... There was no way he couldn't go see him sometime before the holidays rolled around, right?

There was a loud beep from the side, the blond jumping as Kaiba's car came up beside him. What the hell? What was the car doing out in this direction? "...Eh..?" The driver's window rolled down, the surprise continuing as Isono's face became visible. "I..Isono?" What..?

The man popped the trunk, gesturing to the car as the engine quietly hummed. "Not to be too blunt," he said with a small and humored smile, "But it looks as though you could use a lift." As Katsuya stared for a few moments, Isono gave him a wave, still smiling. "Go on," he said the blond in front of him still staring. "I can only wait so long, I'm picking up Seto-sama soon." Eh? So then KaibaCorp was this way? ...Huh. That was interesting.

Katsuya nodded, pulling his stuff over to the trunk and dumping it in before closing the trunk with a clack. Well, this sure as hell made things easier. "R-Right..." He pulled the side door open and hopped in, laughing somewhat. "Er... Thanks f'r th' ride?" As Isono nodded, driving off with a smile, the blond frowned. "...Wait..." He shook himself, frowning. Isono was Seto's assistant, why was he... "...Why're you drivin'?"

The man at the front gave a small shrug, pausing at a stop sign before continuing through the street. "The regular chauffeur broke his leg unfortunately," Isono stated, turning the corner slowly before adjusting his sunglasses. "Apparently safety ladders aren't as safe as they seem, nor should three year olds be trusted with remote control planes."

There was a bit of silence, Katsuya blinking as the driver slowed to another stop in Kaiba-Corp's parking lot. "...Oh. Er..." So then... What, he'd been trying to get something on the roof? "That sucks..."

Isono chuckled, shaking his head with a small smile. "That's one way to put it," he said with a small laugh, pulling the keys from the ignition. "I can handle taking his place until the rest of the positions Seto-sama cleared are done though," he continued, looking at Katsuya through the rear view mirror as he spoke. "Interesting thing preventing him from being replaced by another chauffeur however... But shortly after she left for the Duelist Kingdom, a large number of requests to resign came in..."

The blond snorted, shaking his head. "Yea... I c'n guess..." Wonder how long it would be before any remaining were completely screwed over? He laughed at the thought, before moving to the side as a familiar figure came walking steadily through the main doors. "Ah... Here she is..." The blond clicked his seat belt in place, watching as the woman came closer to the car and Isono started the engine again. Huh. She didn't look too happy... The door was pulled open, Seto shutting the door beside her and not even sparing the blond a glance as she fixed a glare at the back of the seat in front of her.

"Domino Elementary," she said curtly, the briefcase sitting beside her as she crossed her legs. Huh... Really... Unhappy. Hell, it looked like she didn't even know he was there! (...That was new.)

...What the hell happened?

* * *

What happened, to say the least, was something that was a little difficult to really describe. There were very few things outside the obvious that actually angered Seto to that point after all; and for the most part, anything concerning KaibaCorp wasn't one of them. Work was not something that Seto Kaiba actively avoided after all... Indeed, it was quite likely that due to preferences in solitude it was something she preferred. Her brother certainly noticed that, and had voiced at some time during their flight back to Tokyo, the question of her even returning to Highschool at all for that reason. '_Maybe I was a little too fixated_,' he had said with a shrug, staring out the window as they flew back. '_I mean... About the whole 'normal life' thing... Us going to school like normal kids..._' She had remained silent as he spoke, focusing on both staying awake for the flight and on the words that her brother was giving her. '_But you know_,' the boy had continued, smiling, '_Maybe, even though it's not really 'normal', we can just go with what comes in life... ...Besides,_' he had added with a laugh.

'_You still want to look after KaibaCorp, right? To make 'Kaibaland', like we dreamed before..._' Yes... She did. Seto leaned back in her chair at the thought, rubbing her head before thinking back to when she landed the helicopter. A calm and well placed landing on a well lit landing pad, the boy beside her giving a small thumbs up as he unbuckled his seat belt... Of course, shortly after that she found out they had a stowaway; it certainly explained the sudden 'jolt' they'd had while leaving the island, though she would have much rather be told when her helicopter was holding dangerously large numbers of people compared to the safe amount... At least the woman hadn't overstayed her 'welcome', having left the moment the helicopter had landed safely at the hangar though. Things after that had been dealt with swiftly, with Mokuba coming with her to first get the blond moron the boy hired into a hospital, and then when storming her company building to set things straight. Papers were filled, forms were signed... She liked her job, she really did. But why, of all the damn issues to come up before she went back home to get her brother from school, did _this_ have to happen? "Damn lawyers..." It figured that her 'legal advisor' from the board of directors would put his skills to use and just manage to get these papers to her before she threw them out of the building... Papers detailing a fairly annoying and completely flawless clause that just had her recalling quite grimly why Oka had been one of the few to keep relatively the same job style as he had under Gozaburo's hire. He was a legal advisor for a reason; and while she had ordinarily gone with her own judgement, he was still damn good at paper work...

And it showed. How the hell he made a loophole that prevented his own boss (Namely herself) from interfering she had no clue... ...Rather, she didn't want to particularly go into the details for the moment. It would probably save her the headache honestly... Even so. She slammed the papers back on her desk, gritting her teeth as the neatly typed words pounded against her skull. '_In the event that termination of employment occurs, the following members of project 'VR-18' must receive the approval of the current CEO for the product under development in the aforementioned project for release, prior the notice of termination..._' And so on, and so on, and damn it the only 'members' mentioned just happened to be those five! Who just so happened to be getting their hands 'dirty' for once, as apparently they had _insisted_ on doing the project themselves! And of course... '_Due to the current progress of project 'VR-18', any and all attempts to alter staffing in the aforementioned project will be rejected..._' In the words of a certain 'dog'; '**_FUCK'_**. She stowed the papers in her desk drawer, locking it securely before grabbing her suitcase to leave the building. The work day was over; while she normally had a bad habit of staying there far beyond the 'limit', the fact was there was nothing much else she could really focus on for the moment. Now she couldn't fire the bastards until they finished programing whatever virtual reality program they were developing, she couldn't go in and ask what the hell it was supposed to be, couldn't simply switch the workload around and be rid of them that way... And of course, until they actually had the devices set for the program done, she couldn't well test it either...

And of course, with that in mind the stupid forms specifically said that it wasn't a matter of glitches, it was a matter of the entire thing being trash or not, which meant she legitimately had to go through this with a fine-tooth comb when she _did_ get to it rather than calling them out on a computer error! "Ghhh..." Lights were turned off in the office, and a curt nod was given to the secretary in her lobby. Few things had remained untouched in her absence... Thankfully, a small number of her staff were in that group. Seto waited somewhat calmly for the elevator, walking in and watching as the doors shut with a silent click. This was complete bullshit... Complete... Aggggh... It really _did_ figure that this would happen... The elevator hummed to a smooth stop at the ground floor, Seto making her way through the main building's lobby and pushing the door open to spot the familiar shape of the rolls she'd come in. Well. At least someone was on time... Not that it helped her mood much.

She walked over to the car with a silent growl, opening the door and hopping in as the sound of the engine starting met her ears. Slamming the door beside her shut as the briefcase was put to the side, she simply muttered '_Domino Elementary_' before leaning back in her seat with narrowed eyes. Time to pick up Mokuba... Hopefully he didn't catch her mood, not that that was likely. Damn it... The woman rubbed her head for a moment, silently groaning as she mentally went over the legal documents in a still failing attempt to find a loophole. "Why can't the Board just roll over and die already," she muttered under her breath, before an answer from the side jolted her from her thoughts.

"I dunno," a familiar blond muttered, the teen giving a dismissive shrug as the woman beside him turned to stare. "Personally, I would kinda expect 'm t' be dicks about gettin' fired..." He turned, blinking before hesitantly continuing. "Er... That's what this 's abou' righ'?"

Seto merely glared, arms still in the same partially crossed position they'd been in when she got in the car. Ignoring the fact that he was dead-on with the likely reason... "What are you doing in my car," she growled, changing the subject over as Jonouchi gave another shrug.

"Eh..." He leaned back against the seat, smirking. "Not my fault he d'cided t' pick me up..."

'He'? Seto raised an eyebrow at that, bringing her arms down to her sides. Why the hell would her chauffeur, any of her chauffeurs, bother with picking up this moron? Isono's voice came from the front with that thought, the second eyebrow raising to join the first one in mild surprise. "I trust the day went relatively well Seto-sama," he asked, the woman behind him merely blinking. Now hold on, since when was the man that worked in an office beside her own sitting in a car when he should have been-

"Isono," she asked, frowning as she shook the surprise off. "Why are you driving?"

The man sighed, before waving his hand. "Ah... Yes well. In your attempt to filter out all employees," he began the two in the back listening quietly, "You managed to fire off all but one of your chauffeurs from those who bothered to stay behind once you woke up. This normally wouldn't be a problem," he added in the mentioned chauffeur's defense, "But you see..."

Jonouchi coughed, Seto turning to him with a blank stare as the blond finished for her assistant. "Ah... He kinda broke his leg," he started with a frown, scratching his head. "W's tryin t'... Get somethin' off th' roof," he added lamely, the woman beside him frowning.

"...What was he trying to get off my roof," she asked, the frown deepening slightly. One of her few employees were injured and she hadn't been told about this? ...On her roof? (Why the hell was he even on her roof in the first place...)

At the front, Isono shook his head. "You misunderstand," he stated with a short cough, Seto turning her attention back to the front. "This only happened early this afternoon- I believe he was trying to get his son's plane off his garage..?" Which would explain why he broke his leg and not his _neck_...

Jonouchi shrugged, shaking his head. "Ehh... Don' ask me," he said plainly, leaning against his seat. "You're th' one that told me..." He coughed, before turning to Seto with raised eyebrows. "Nyh... Anyways. Why you heading t' Mokuba's school, he forget something there?"

Hnn? Seto frowned, looking back at the blond. What did he mean 'forget something', Mokuba finished school in ten minutes... "You don't think I should be picking up my brother," she asked incredulously, expression still set in a small glare.

The blond blinked, also frowning. "Wait... He didn' tell y," he asked, scratching his head. At the blank expression he got in response, Isono chose to explain from the front.

"Mokuba-sama returned from school over two hours ago," the man stated with a cough, having evidently forgotten to mention this glaring fact. Seto's eyebrows rose slightly in response, the woman turning her attention to the rear view mirror. "I believe his exact words were 'I won't miss anything for the next two weeks, and I would like to catch up with my older 'brother''." There was some audible 'quotation' around that last word so to speak she noticed... Probably exact words to the teacher, but even so...

He wanted to spend time with her that badly..? But she had work, and- Jonouchi smirked from beside her, Seto frowning in response. Alright, what the hell were they plotting... "Oh yea," he said with a grin, leaning slightly on his school bag as the glare Seto held intensified. "R'minds me... Mokuba told me t' tell yah that you've got th' next two weeks off f'r th' most part..." What. "Said t' check on things on th' 24th, but otherwise yer on 'house arrest'! Hehehehe..."

She stared, narrowing her eyes as she registered those words. House a- "I'm being forced into _my own house_..?" Again... What? Really... What was...

There was a nod, Jonouchi's grin still in place despite the mood the woman beside him currently held. "Yep! Chrismas is comin' up after all," he added, looking out the window briefly as they came up to the house. Yes, in a few days... The number of flyers concerning 'Omisoka' were begining to get a little too much on her nerves in fact, and it was only a slight comfort that they'd be gone in just another week or so. "Y' outta relax," Jonouchi was continuing somewhat dismissively, opening his door as the sound of the trunk popping open came over the air. "Not like th' company's goin' anywhere righ' now..."

Haha, how _cute._ It was certainly going nowhere save 'up' now that she was awake at least... All rather _interesting_ how Pegasus had magically disappeared once she'd officially gotten off her 'sick leave' and made to call the moron, but it seemed that combined with that, her return had at least resulted in the stock going back up again. Funny that... Even so, she'd rather not leave the company in the hands of the damn board! ...Though now that they were preoccupied with what was likely to shape into an obvious act to delay the inevitable...

...Well... She sighed, deciding not to answer to that particular comment on her company and instead getting out of the car as Jonouchi pulled his things from the trunk and slammed it shut. It could be worse... And besides, didn't the 'mutt' himself say it months before? Loathe as she was to admit, he had a point... 'Always time for family'. She owed at _least_ that much to Mokuba after all. Seto walked over to the door, Jonouchi following behind her as she opened it wide. '_Tadaima_,' the blond behind her shouted as they came into the foyer, Seto wincing slightly before fixing him with a glare. Loud enough...

"Eh..." The blond shrugged, grinning somewhat sheepishly. "Sorry abou' that Seto-ch-" AH.

"Don't finish that sentence," she stated dangerously, Jonouchi nodding as he bit his lip. The glare remained fixed for a few moments, before she turned away. She swore it, if he came close to calling her that again...

"Nee-sama," a voice called from the side, pulling her attention to the front stairs. Ah- "Katsuya-nii!" She winced momentarily, before walking in to put the briefcase down as Mokuba ran down the stairs. The 'nii'... She had yet to ask about that. She should probably do that soon...

The boy ran over, Seto giving him a light hug before grabbing her briefcase again. "Obviously I don't have to pick you up from school," she muttered somewhat dryly, briefly turning as Jonouchi disappeared to the coatroom. She turned back, looking down at her brother somewhat blankly. "...You pulled yourself out of classes..?"

Mokuba gave a dismissive shrug, still smiling at the question. "Eh..." He put his hands in his pockets, walking beside his sister as she as well made toward the coat room. "I already knew the stuff in that unit anyways..." Oh did he now? As Seto raised an eyebrow, the boy beside her merely smirking. "Hehehe... I got bored and read ahead... I'll be fine, trust me!" Hnn... That expression was almost similar to someone else she knew...

Damn it. "Alright..." Well, it was only one week at least... The briefcase was again placed on the ground as she took her coat off, hanging it up and turning back to the boy. "So," she continued with crossed arms, ignoring the fact that Jonouchi was quite obviously only there to listen now. "What exactly do you have planned now that you've pulled me out of my job..." Let him listen, not like this was anything private... She did send him a glare though. Regardless of anything that happened, she would still treat the moron as deserved. And given that he was, as she said, a moron...

Her brother's grin grew, the boy just about humming with excitement at her question. "Well, I was thinking since Christmas was coming, we could celebrate," Shit. "And maybe before then just play games together like we used to, and go to the park, or maybe just go around the back yard and-" Oh wow he... Really planned this. Though aside from Christmas this wasn't anything terribly upsetting really... ...She could... Live with Christmas if it was a nice quiet dinner she supposed... She blinked, listening as the boy continued before chuckling came from the side. Tch. Laugh at her did he... As she narrowed her eyes however, the glare quickly fell. "That reminds me," Mokuba had said, turning to the blond once he had started laughing. "Katsuya-nii, do you think that you could leave us alone for the next bit?" Hn? He was being kicked out of things? Now that was something she wouldn't argue with... As Jonouchi stared, the boy continued. "Nothing personal, I just want to catch up you know..?"

Instantly the grin returned, Jonouchi moving to leave the room at that moment. Wait, he was- "No problem," he said, giving a small wave as he carried his school bag off with him. "Brother sister time righ'?" Something like that... (Leave already.) He laughed again, before continuing off up the stairs. "Eh, I got homework anyways..." And since when did he care about that sort of thing? ...Since when did he agree with this kind of stuff anyways? "See yah later Mokuba, Seto-chan..." A- Seto-_chan_!

"Gh-" Seto narrowed her eyes, turning as the blond continued to disappear. "What did I just say about-"

"Hahahaha... N-Nee-sama..." The woman turned, holding her tongue as Mokuba rubbed his head. "Can't we talk to him about that later..?" Would it even be reversible after that..?

Hahhhh, fine... She sighed, eyes closed briefly before watching as her brother grabbed the briefcase off the ground. "Alright," she muttered, tone softening. "So," she asked calmly, walking off with her brother to put the case in its place. "What do you want to do first?"

She supposed in the end, that bearing with the 'seto-chan' business was worth the smile on her brother's face all the same really.

* * *

The next day had passed fairly quickly to say the least, similar to how the day before had gone by really. And the day before that, and the day before that...It seemed to be happening a lot really... Though that was probably just because of the usual issue of him just not liking school... When Yugi mentioned his father, the topic went fairly hot of course; Honda in particular was a little surprised when the man was described as 'a little taller than Jonouchi', given the size of Sugoroku and Yugi himself. A number of other questions had come up as well; what did he do, why wasn't he ever at home, etc.. etc... (Businessman, travels for work, etc etc.)

By the end of it, he was walking back home on his own, putting his things away back at the house, and before he knew it he was going through his once more camera-oriented security shift. Nothing much on the screens as usual... Seto had of course taken down any and all cameras in her room after getting back, replacing the lost feed with the formerly missing hallway and window camera. Friday night had passed with no event, the Kaiba siblings both having disappeared to the same rec-room he himself had spent a fair amount of time with Mokuba in. Watching the two for a moment before looking over the other screens he had to smile really. Aw... They were just so... Erm... Damn, he couldn't use brotherly, Seto was a girl, but sisterly obviously didn't apply for the reverse reasons...

He shook it off, leaning back on the chair and pushing the renewed ponderings on the 'right word' to the back of his mind again. Eh, whatever, he'd always know what he was talking about at least. Saturday had passed without incident as well of course; it was his double shift day, the afternoon first and the night shift after. Seto and Mokuba were both out of the house- same with Sunday, his current shift. As to where they were, who knew really. Came back late Saturday, Mokuba going straight to bed while Seto seemed to hover between leaving for her study (from what he got while glancing at the hallway feed) and just turning in herself... She ended up disappearing off screen to her room at the end of things, which was something that had him sighing in relief to say the least. While he hadn't given it much thought before, when he was on camera duty and Seto was busy with what was probably Death-T, she'd spent hours in the study room... Probably falling asleep in there even, though generally Hobson would show up at the door and shortly after watch a slightly half-asleep Seto go back to her room.

All in all, not too bad a weekend he'd decided as he headed to his room with the end of the shift. Actually got some homework done too! ...He just hoped his mom didn't see any of the marks that came back with that. Hihhhhh... No way he'd ever get what the hell English class meant.

Nonetheless, Monday came with pretty much the same thing that Friday and Thursday had come with. Class was boring, and Christmas was on everyone's mind... Bakura had apparently gotten Honda to let him in on the 'voluntary' toy drive, having offered to make a number of figurines for the effort; an effort that had him more than occupied for the moment, and would probably have him occupied for the days before the holidays really. Anzu in the meantime was staring at a google-maps printout she'd gotten from a net-cafe; apparently she was meeting Mai at the woman's house rather than at the station, but given Anzu's expression, wherever the house was in Kyoto it was obviously some place unexpected. Not that he'd gotten a look- pretty much anyone who came near had quickly earned a warning glare as the papers were stowed away out of sight. And of course, Yugi was as happy as ever, and needless to say they were occupying enough time just talking about whatever came to mind.

Now that he was walking back home however, 'whatever came to mind' ended up being the same thing he'd wondered the week before really. He hadn't given it much thought after Isono picked him up the other day. He'd kinda been distracted by trying and failing to think of a present for Seto really; and it looked an awful lot like he really would fail at that... His dad... It was monday now, he didn't have work; hell, the only reason he wasn't with the others was because Anzu _did_ have work, Honda and Bakura were doing the voluntary toy-drive (Or whatever else Honda had been signed up for), and Yugi was helping his Grandpa get out of the hospital. So... What if he _could_ visit his dad now? He had enough change for a subway now... Despite not having much more money on hand than before, he sure as hell had more than when every cent went into paying off his dad's bills! ...Not to mention when there'd been a break between loan-shark runs, though that in itself had been rare... Even so, despite all that...

"...Hn..." He missed his dad... Well, 'not-drunk' dad at least. Those times had gotten fewer and fewer as time went on, that was for sure but... Back when he was a kid, and when that was all he ever was... A smile came over his face, Katsuya staring at the ground at the thought. Those were good times... The kind of times he'd wanted to have by paying off his dad's debts, getting rid of the source of the 'problem', the thing that had the man reaching for the bottle... Debts were paid off now. But his Dad... The blond nodded to himself, fishing out some change before changing his course for the nearest subway. Alright... He would visit him! After all... If his dad was really a dick, he wouldn't have stayed where he was for all those years right? And his dad wouldn't have been with his mom for too long...

The man never drank that much until after the divorce after all... It was just those few times that had pushed the envelope, and in the end it all snowballed from there. Nights outside the apartment increased, along with the bag of cans on the side- his dad never did too much harm to him until the end really... Broken arm was the most serious it had ever gotten and he'd still been weak from the night at the one professor's house with Shadi. Falling over the edge of the stair railing, that sure as hell wasn't intentional; he'd just been avoiding a hit... And gravity took over. And the fights had increased, and the defenses rose high... He wouldn't need those anymore though. Katsuya found a free ticket booth, punching his change in and moving through to the station itself with a determined nod. He was completely different... Just give it time, and things would get better. The blond sighed as he crammed his way into the subway, grabbing a nearby pole and waiting for the right stop as a number of people were crammed in around him and the vehicle started moving. Two years- that was how long he was going to be in there, from what he'd been told. By that time, he'd be seven-teen, and it'd make no sense to move back in with him...

Didn't mean he couldn't say hi though. Or visit, spend holidays together... The subway moved quickly through the city, the scenes of the tunnels or buildings around blurring through the window as he kept an ear open for the right stop. It didn't take long for him to reach it really. The subway doors clicked open with a short 'hiss', a swarm of people making their way in and out as with all other stops before it. Worming his way through the crowd and out of the station, he shifted his hold on his bag before shaking himself. Man... He was never getting over how damn cramped the subway was, seriously. Anyways... The detention center was just a bit north then wasn't it? He swallowed, scratching his head as he looked at the street he was on. Right so... It was a bit of a ways to walk but... Eh. He'd gone further. (Much further really...)

Regardless of what the distance was though he took off, hands in his pockets as he thought back to the reason why he was doing this in the first place. Not like turning back would do anything but waste his money after all. He had to wonder though... Was his dad alright in there..? Hell, he hadn't even said 'hello', what the hell kind of jerk did that make him? The blond bit his lip, shaking his head. Whatever... He couldn't think about that. Point was that he was on his way now, and he was going to see how he was.

And now that the detention center was in view... He let out the breath he'd been holding, moving forward after a moment. Here went nothing...

* * *

If there was one thing he could find solace in from that visit, it was this. "Ahhhhh, Katsuyaaa!" His dad had not changed one bit for the worse, if he had changed at all. Katsuya smiled somewhat sadly as the man on the other side of the glass grinned, holding the phone up to his ear. The guard at the side said ten minutes... But even so, it was obvious that even ten minutes was worth it to his old man after over half a year of nothing. "Oh..." The man brought a hand to his head, before gesturing through the glass. "What happened to your head," he asked, shaking his head as the teen brought a hand lightly to the injury in question. "This isn't my fault is it..? Ohhh..." W-Wait, he thought he did this?

He laughed slightly, scratching the side opposite his injury with a grin before shaking his head. "It's nothing dad..." Really, this... This wasn't his doing by a long shot. "An' it ain't yer fault, trust me!"

The man nodded as his son reassured him of this, his frown softening into a more worried expression. "I can't tell you know," he muttered sadly, the teen across from him frowning in response. "I did lots of things, horrible things to you Katsuya; it's good your friend moved you out, it really is..." Aww dad... It really wasn't...

Katsuya attempted to smile, shaking his head. "Ferget about it Dad... It's nothin', honest! Sides," he said with a somewhat forced laugh, the smile growing slightly. "All yer debts are paid off, an' when y' get outta here, you'll be clean righ'?" The smile grew more honest with those thoughts, the blond adjusting his seat with a grin. "Y' won't ever have t' worry about it again! Thing's 'll be like they used t' be!"

Another nod, the man giving a few eager nods before smiling. "That's right," he said, grinning and laughing somewhat hoarsely at the reminder. "That's _very_ right... Never again!" The chuckling faded, and he continued on. "...Katsuya," he asked, leaning forward with a slight grunt. "Katsuya, I need to know... Did you see your sister? Is she alright? Is she..."

He blinked, recalling the same words he'd heard on the phone a while before. '_Don't tell otou-san that I called, alright Katsuya-niisan? I just... Well..._' Well... There was a reason why Mom had left after all. The blond swallowed, before nodding with a slightly forced smile. "Y-Yea," he said, nodding as he held true to his words to the girl. "She's... She's doin' fine!" He just couldn't mention the phone call, that was all... He could at least tell the guy that she was alive and well right?

The man across from him sighed in relief, shaking his head with the 'news'. "I'm glad to hear that," he said with a smile, the words being all he needed to hear. "She has your mother's eyes that girl, I'm sure she'll be a real knock-out when she's older! Hahaha..." Loud and cheerful laughter faded out just as quickly as it had come, and he again sighed. "You take good care of her understand Katsuya," he said seriously, tone jumping from nostalgic to humored to severe within a few instants. "She's a good girl," the man continued, "You take care of her!"

He nodded, biting the inside of his cheek. He did the best he could but... She kinda lived in Osaka... Even so, these weren't words that he'd just push to the side. "No worries dad," he said with an honest smile, nodding as he matched his father's determined and serious stare. "I'll take good care 'f her... That's a promise!"

Again, his father nodded, a look of relief over his face as he sank into a slouch on his stool. "That's good," he muttered with a sigh, smiling. "That's good..." He drifted off, before grinning as his eyes drifted past a small charm on the wall behind his son. "Oh! I almost forgot," the man stated, leaning forward on his partially crossed arms. "Katsuya," he said with a cough, a serious expression fairly similar to Honda's own 'wise man' look coming over his face. "As you know, it's almost Christmas..." Yeaaaa... Yea it was... "And even though I'm not there, it's still a very special holiday..." Kay... Where was he going with this... "So, I expect you to find yourself a nice young woman and-" PBBBBTT WAIT.

"Awwww Dad..." Katsuya held his face, going beet red. Not saying anything, not saying anything... Damn it it really was easier when he was just trading tapes with the guys! "D-don't you think that's a little bit... I mean hell," he said with a cough, "I'm living in the same house as an eleven year old kid!"

The man shook his head, arms crossed as the expression merely deepened into a frown of sorts. "That's no reason... No reason at all," he 'protested', the teen across from him biting his lip. "Christmas is a time for people like you to have _fun_, and find someone they _care_ about... And I want you to do the same, understand?"

He groaned, shaking his head. "Daaaad..." 'Care' was one thing, 'fun' was... Ahhhhhhggg don't think about that... Just don't let those thoughts meet... "Dad, I'm fifteen..."

"Ahhh, but that's almost _sixteen_," he said with wide eyes, before grinning oddly. "And not only that," he continued with a laugh, "But that is already a full two years ahead of the age... Hnhnhnhnhn..."

His hand connected with his forehead rather soundly, another groan coming through the air. "Mnnnnnnnggghhhh..." Damn it, his face was about as hot as a pot of boiling water right now... And probably just as red..! "Daaaaad... There's no way anyone my age would agree w' that, let alone S-" He coughed, hurriedly cutting himself off as his father continued to laugh. Damn it. Much as he wanted to believe the old man hadn't heard that last part, there was no way he-

"Hahahahaha... HAHAHA!" His father howled, clapping his hands before pointing somewhat accusingly at the bot with a grin. "Ahhh, so you _do_ have someone then? That's good! That's wonderful!" Yes it was but damn it dad, please shut up now... The man continued to laugh at the teen's reaction, nodding his head before continuing still on with the subject. "Well, if you're spending Christmas with a woman, you're going to get her a present then right? Take her to a nice dinner, have a good time..." He trailed off, Katsuya growing redder and redder with embarrassment as he groaned. Because hey, even if that had a snowball's chance in hell of working he'd be able to afford a 'fancy dinner'. "You have to tell me though," he said as he lowered his voice, grin fading to a somewhat serious expression. "You have to tell me, what are you getting her..?"

He blinked, coughing. Oh... Uh... He still didn't know... Damn it, why did the question have to keep coming up, he had like... Five days left now. "Er..." He coughed again, frowning. "I... I actually don' know yet..." Shiiiiit.

His dad nodded 'knowingly', sighing as the 'wise' expression again. "Hnnn... I had the same problem..." Er... He did? Katsuya blinked, watching as his father continued to nod across from him. "When I was younger," he stated 'knowingly', "I could never figure out what to get your mother, never... In the end," he said with a shrug, staring at the ground for a small moment in thought. "I would take her out for dinner, where we would have some wine, some steak, and later we would take a nice picture to remember everything..." The man trailed off, gaining a somewhat misty eyed look at those words while his son merely stared.

Dinner huh... Explained why he was so set on _him_ taking someone to dinner he guessed. Even so. "Hahaha... Eh..." Something told him that would fail, horribly. Pictures though... ...Yea that probably wouldn't work either. Probably wouldn't get within two feet of her with a camera. And then there was the smile that would never happen...

"So Katsuya," his dad asked, leaning in and pulling the blond from his thoughts. "Katsuya," he asked, the teen somehow knowing just what the next question was. "Just who is this wonderful young woman any-"

"Times up!" The two turned, an officer tapping Katsuya's shoulder as the statement came over the air. "You've had your ten minutes," she said plainly, the man across from them both sighing in response.

"Ohh," he said with a groan, pointing at the phone. "I can't just ask this question..?"

The cop shook her head, and Katsuya nodded as the woman beside him fixed a stern frown. No arguing that he supposed... "It'll be fine dad... I'll see yah soon, alrigh'?" The man nodded, and Katsuya gave a wry smile as he stood up from his seat. "Bye Dad... An'... Merry Christmas, alrigh'?"

His dad nodded furiously, shouting through the phone as his son moved to hang up on his end. "Of course.. Merry Christmas, Katsuya!" With a quick click the two were both cut off, nothing but muffled sounds coming through the glass as they were led away. One to his cell for the next year or so, and the other to the exit and the road outside. Yea... Merry Christmas...

Walking back to the subway in silence, Katsuya stared at the sky for a few moments as a few snowflakes started to fall. It was a relief really... Even with all that was going on, his dad hadn't changed... He was alright, and he hadn't changed. He'd get better too. He'd get through this, and get out, and he knew it! And then maybe they could meet up with Shizuka and his mom, get a family picture together again like the ones in his-

The blond paused at that thought, looking back down in front of him. "...Huh..." Speaking of pictures... Did Seto have any pictures of her own family? Like... Before Gozaburo, with her dad? Mokuba said he never knew their mom but there had to be pictures somewhere right? He frowned, free hand stowed in his pocket as he thought that over. Yea... She had to. Maybe not with her at the moment but... Yea... He smirked, nodding to himself as he continued. If she didn't have it, there was no way that the relatives she still had would have gotten rid of the pictures right? All he needed was the address of her last family..! And all he needed for that was her old last name! Hah! That would be- ...Um.

...Shit. He started walking again, mentally rubbing his head. He needed her last name... But what the hell _was_ her last name? Seto sure as hell wouldn't tell him, and even if she would, she'd sure as hell want to know _why_. The frown returned as he came into the subway station, walking over to the nearest machine and pushed some more of his change in. From what Mokuba said, they didn't end up with a real listed last name at the orphanage... They were just dumped there, so it wasn't even bothered with. So how the hell would he find it then?

Hnnn... Damn it. The subway slide into the station, Katsuya pushing his way through to a safe spot to stand and watching as the doors shut. Damn it... Needed to figure out what that last name was... He could probably ask Mokuba of course... But... He'd already said pretty clearly that he couldn't remember much from back then. Hell the closest thing he'd gotten when he _had_ asked, out of curiosity, was that it had the 'ryuu' kanji in it, and how many had that in it? 'Ryuzaki' and 'Ryusaki' were both pretty damn common, and they both had 'Ryuu' there at the start.

Wait... The frown lightened, and as his stop came he stumbled out to the side through the sea of people before grinning. Most names had the kanji at the start of the name but... Mokuba said it was the _second_ kanji. And while he didn't pay much attention to this kind of thing, even he knew that not many last names had that style of kanji in the last half of the name! The grin grew, Katsuya pumping a fist as he moved to leave the station. "YES!" Yes! This was great! Now all he had to do was figure out the first one and find the name in the phone book before... Ah... Huh.

Right. ...Damn it. He didn't even know if the relatives Seto and Mokuba lived with for a while had the same last name... So it could end up being a complete waste of time in the end. Shit. "Ahhhh damn it..." He groaned, leaning against a wall at the side of the downtown street he'd come out on before shaking his head. Come to think, didn't Mokuba say they were related through their aunt? What were his chances of finding the same last name if it was through the aunt, who had probably taken her husband's name?

Man... "Agghhh..." He crossed his arms awkwardly, bag hanging loosely in one of his hands as he rubbed his head with the other. He had to think, there had to be some way around this... Yea they stayed with their aunt, but there was no way that he needed to look up that name right? There had to be something tying the two families together, _some_ way to figure this out... (Damn it, he wasn't good at this kind of crap.) He continued running the kanji through his head, biting his lip. 'Ryuu', 'Ryuu'... Man, he was going to have his head stuck in the phonebook for days... And damn it, that neon sign behind him was starting to grate his nerves, buzzing like tha-

He blinked, turning as he noted what building the neon sign in question was advertising. '_24 Hour Private Internet-_' Oh. ...A net cafe then. Hnn... Katsuya stared, a small idea coming to mind. You could search for phone numbers and addresses online right? So maybe he could try that as well then... The blond searched his pockets, frowning slightly as the idea formed somewhat. Net cafe wasn't something he'd ever been to, but hey, Anzu got her maps of Kyoto from one right? So it couldn't be too bad then, could it? Now... He had to at least have enough for half an hour in here... He looked at the sign for a moment, an odd frown on his face as he counted over the change in his hand. Man... Never thought he'd be standing outside one of these... Weird coincidence that. Well... He coughed, looking at the few coins in his pocket again. Not like he had a computer himself so...

"Hundr'd, two hundr'd, three hundr'd..." Plus four hundred and... Two fifty yen coins. Huh. Five hundred yen. With that, he walked into the cafe, nodding to himself. Five hundred...

* * *

...He had fifteen minutes. Two of which were spent actually finding a computer and logging on; though he had to say, the whole floor-to-ceiling cubicle effect was definitely helping with the 'privacy' claim. Still. Besides the computers at school... Damn, when was the last time he had the chance to actually really do anything on these? "Ehhh..." He frowned, pulling up the net browser and scratching his head. Whatever... Not like he really did much when he was signed into one anyways. Alright... So. He needed to find Seto's cousins (who were apparently assholes), but first he needed her last name... Rather, he was going to have to cross his fingers and pray that the last name still had a tie of sorts to those cousins. He bit his lip, trying the first thing that came to mind and typing it in. 'Seri' and... 'Ryuu'. Traditional stroke use. He paused for a moment, before adding in a date as well. Err... Seto was 8 when she lived with her aunt right? Yeaaa... Enter in the year she was seven though, just to be safe.

And with all that entered in, just hit 'Search' and... He blinked, eyes widening as the page loaded. Oh hey... He... He actually got a result! Only one result granted, from the 'city' newspaper but... Hey! It was a result! He clicked the one available link with a grin, before reading over what had appeared as the expression faded. Oh... Shit. This was... Katsuya swallowed, looking over the small page of newspaper with a wince. He hadn't expected much but... The blond looked over the picture above it, frowning. So that was... Seto's dad. Well... He winced, skimming the 'article' itself. He knew her last name now... 'Souryuu'. Kinda fitting in a weird way really; Blue dragon... Heh. He'd almost laugh if this wasn't so... ...Man... He shook his head, hand dropping from the mouse as he looked over the article. Of all the things he could get though... Why the hell did he have to find an obituary..?

Killed December 24th, hit head on by a semi-truck... Dead on impact. And that was how Seto ended up... ...Shit, he didn't want to read this kind of thing... "Ah..." He looked near the bottom, blinking as he got over the initial shock of the find. Bottom half of the obit, was that... '_...survived by his two children, Seri and Mokuba, his older sister 'Yamada Anne'..._' Older s- The aunt! Huh... Yamada then. Hah! So that was the name! He closed the window, grinning despite the source of the information. Computer was closed down, school bag gathered up... Man... Why the hell was it so easy to find that kind of crap? Hell, if he'd found all that, what would happen if anyone actually bothered looking into Seto herself?

The grin faded at that thought, the blond leaving the net cafe with both those thoughts and the last name in mind. Huh... Well... Most people didn't know that she was a girl right? He adjusted his grip on his bag, shouldering it as he made his way down the street. Heck it wasn't even 'most' it was like... 'All but three or so'. So there was no way that she'd be found out like that, right? He nodded, reassuring himself of that fact before looking for a pay phone. Yea... No way! The blond made his way into a nearby booth, pulling up the phonebook and flipping through. "Kay... Yamada, yamada..." Couldn't be too many here right? The name wasn't... _that_ common after all... Pages were flipped down to the 'Ya' section of Domino's pages, before Katsuya groaned."Ah... Damn it." Three choices on... Three opposite sides of the area. Er... He scratched his head, looking over the initials. Alright, no big deal... Just pick them off with this then! Ehh... One was single... That probably wasn't it. Annnd... Oh. He brought his finger along the page, skimming it over. Katakana, there... And the one beneath it was completely kanji! Hah! "Thank...god..." Who ever was up there... Was giving him the best damn luck ever. Alright so where was the a-

The address. Katsuya slammed his head against the book, groaning again as he looked over the street number. It was on the exact other side of Domino. Why the hell did his luck have to run out now? "Ghnnn..." He looked over at the clock on the payphone mentally gauging the distance he had to make. Alright... It was only five in the afternoon, he still had time right? Maybe half an hour to get to the address from there... Yea, he definitely had time!

...Who the hell was he kidding, if he didn't get back to that house Mokuba was going to be a pain... Be at least an hour and a half before he got back if he did that... Well... He tore the page from the book, stuffing it in his pocket before closing it over and leaving the booth. He could do this tomorrow at least, couldn't he? Maybe figure out what the hell he was going to say when he got there; sure as hell wasn't going to go asking about Seto _Kaiba_ while he was there. Heck, he didn't even know if the aunt was pretending she had two nephews or not, and that would be weird... The blond rubbed his head, slowly making his way back to the house and rubbing his arms somewhat awkwardly. Man... It was cold... Kinda figured it would be, since it was December.

No snow though. Well... Not much anyways, given the light dusting that was beginning to gather on the sides as the snow fell. He shoved his free hand in his pocket, looking around the now glowing Christmas lights decorating the streets. They would probably get a little bit more by the time Christmas came around at least... He kicked a can nearby, continuing on his way with a shrug as the lights around continued to come to life in the now setting sun. Anyways... Well... Hopefully no one was wondering where he was... He snorted at the thought, shaking his head.

Yea, the hell that would happen, he thought as he broke into a run. Mokuba was going to be in his face so bad...

* * *

As it turned out, supper had been delayed that evening; something about an accident in the kitchen involving an oddly strong crab that refused to be boiled alive. He sure as hell wasn't complaining though, given that this was another stroke of bizarre luck for him. And honestly, between seeing his dad in jail and going into a net cafe he had been pretty much done for the evening; no homework was done that night, that was for sure. (Did it ever really get done, he wondered...)

Of course... With all that luck, which included the teachers apparently forgetting to assign anything from the classes, he still had to actually get inside the house that he was now walking towards in front of at four in the afternoon. Not to mention convince whoever was there to cough up whatever the Kaiba siblings had been forced to leave behind... Hell, he didn't even know what kind of stuff Mokuba and Seto had left behind, would they even want it? ...Or would it still even be there? He was aiming for an album but... What if they didn't even keep one? Where the hell would that leave him then...

He groaned, rubbing his head as he walked down the street with his bag again held hover his shoulder. School passed by pretty quick, not that the others hadn't noticed this particular distraction... Honda had jokingly asked about whether or not he really was dating, which he of course shouted 'no' to before ending up in a scuffle with the guy. Bakura had wisely just stood on the sidelines for that particular moment of course, and ended up talking to Anzu about what sorts of things she should see in Kyoto; apparently he'd been there with his dad a few years before. Yugi in the meantime seemed particularly sympathetic of the odd silence that his friend held during most of the school day; whether or not it was because he knew about the present issue or just because that was how he was, who knew. But in the end, it meant Yugi wishing him luck as the others shrugged it off, Katsuya himself heading off with a nod and a grin.

Which brought him here. The 'Yamada' family, listed under 'Yamada Gi – A' with the last character in katakana, weren't quite as far from the school as they were from the Kaiba home. In fact, he could probably argue that the school was some sort of 'half-way point' between the two, albeit on a weird angle. The fact was, it was pure coincidence that they were in the same district of Tokyo at all; from what little Mokuba had remembered, the orphanage he and Seto had stayed at was well over in a separate end of Tokyo's special wards. Why they bothered driving off to the exact opposite end who knew really. Relatives probably wanted them as far out of their hair as possible...

Not that it did much for them in the end he figured, adjusting the grip on his school bag. Katsuya stood in front of the small, average sized house as he double checked the phonebook page in his hands, clouded sky occasionally spitting out a few snowflakes to add to the dusted sidewalk and pavement around him. All luck... He'd probably gotten here on nothing but luck, like some twisted testament to the Duelist Kingdom. A wry grin was on his face as he stood there, squinting against the sunlight glaring from the windows. There was only one thing he really didn't like about all this really, and that was how damn easy it had been to find these people. Not to mention that he knew nothing about said people aside from the fact that they were apparently pricks when it came to relatives... What the hell was he supposed to do, nail them or just sit tight like he had when talking to Tanaka?

Well whatever. He cracked his knuckles, stowing the phonebook page back in his pocket before going up to the door with a swallow. Well. Here went nothing. Few knocks on the door... And now he waited. Katsuya stuffed his hand back in his pocket, looking around at the house for a bit as the sound of muffled footsteps came from the other side of the door. Looked like every other house on the street... Two stories, and a small thin block with a garage. Almost like Honda's house too actually, which was interesting to say the least. Though at least Honda's place had a bit more 'character' to it than a cookie-cutter- He turned as the door opened, a middle aged and slightly gray haired woman answering the door and cutting his thoughts short. "Hello," she asked hesitantly, grey eyes narrowed in a soon failed attempt to recognize the blond on her step. The woman held a neutral stare on her face, standing only an inch shorter than the teen before her. "...Is there something I can help you with..?"

He nodded, swallowing. Alright, lets do this. "Eh... Yea," he said coughing somewhat as he shifted his school bag again. "Ah... 'M a friend 'f Se-... 'F Souryuu's, I was wonderin' if y' knew th'm at all..." Sheesh... It was one thing to avoid mentioning that Seto was a woman, it was an entirely new thing to hide the gender all together! Even so, would probably keep this lady from either connecting some awkward dots or throwing him out the door... Hopefully.

Maybe not. The woman at the door tensed, briefly setting off alarm bells in the blond's head before she nodded slowly. "...I do," she said curtly, not even a trace of an accent in her voice despite her clearly foreign features. "Please, come in," she continued, standing to the side of the door before turning back with somewhat narrowed eyes. "What's your name?"

Huh. Didn't expect that. Katsuya walked in, watching the door close behind him before shrugging and taking off his shoes. "Jonouchi Katsuya," he said with a nod, putting his bag down at the side and sticking his hands in his pockets. "So... Y' know 'm both then?"

Another nod, the woman gesturing to the side of the hall as she walked into the house. "I should think so... The Souryuu's were my nephews," she stated, eyes flicking back for a moment in an attempt to tell if the term still 'applied'. No reaction was given from both side, Katsuya merely following the woman into a small living room of sorts. Alright, so no change then... Refer to Seto as 'male'. "I didn't expect someone to come to my home asking about them," the woman said almost suspiciously. "Just what do you need to talk to me about," 'Anne' asked, lips pursed as she gestured to the couch. Er... Was this some twisted way of getting mad at him, she could always have kicked him out...

He mentally shrugged, taking a seat across from the woman regardless. "Nothin' much," he said, scratching his head. "Jus' wonderin' about their things... Se- Souryuu didn' say much abou' you guys," the blond said with a shrug, eyes drifting around the fairly plain room, "But he- But 's brother said that they only went through adoption w' one suitcase, so I w's wonderin' if they left anythin' here..."

Anne continued to give the blond her subtle glare, crossing her legs as she adjusted her seat on the couch. "If they left anything... Well," she muttered somewhat offhandedly, "There might be a few things..." As she said this, Anne's tone remained just as cold and neutral as it had been with the mention of her relatives, glare seemingly intensifying as Katsuya swallowed. Wow this seemed eerily familiar... Just a glare, no other resemblance but... Damn this was creepy. "However, I don't believe you have any right to those '_things_'," she continued, somehow giving the impression that she was far taller than she actually was. "And if your friends truly needed them," Anne added, "Then perhaps they should have taken them with them."

Yea, but see something told him that wasn't really their choice, _was it_. "Look lady," he muttered with a growl, "I ain't tryin' t' intrude or anythin... All I wanna know is if there's anythin' like a family picture 'r somethin," he continued, gripping the insides of his pockets tightly. "Like an album 'r something. I figure it's somethin' they outta hav-"

"I think you've stayed long enough," Anne said calmly, cutting the blond off as she stood. Hang on what? The blond narrowed his eyes as the woman stared down at him, her arms loosely crossed. "Forgive me for pulling you in for what I thought would be a _meaningful_ conversation," she continued with a noted trace of sarcasm, "But if this is all you came for, I'm going to have to ask you to leave..." Tch... Katsuya stood, glaring but nodding nonetheless and heading for the door. Lousy little- "By the way," the woman continued, following after the teen as he grabbed his bag. "If you even think of attempting to disturb other members of my family with this pointless and long dead topic, I'll be calling the police to charge you with trespassing."

Wait what? Katsuya's eyes widened, the blond turning for a moment from where he'd been putting on his shoes. This lady was going to charge him with... He continued to stare, moving aside as Anne opened the door and allowed him out of the house. "You understand what that means of course," she asked coldly, Katsuya merely standing on the steps a few moments with wide and clearly angered eyes. "...Good," Anne said with a 'smile'. "I trust this is the last time we'll see each other then."

And with that the door was slammed shut, leaving Katsuya to stare almost bewilderingly at the door. 'Trespassing'? What the... Was she serious about that? It was their stuff, she should be... The blond shook his head, turning away from the house and walking off with his free hand in his pocket. Seriously, what was that... What the hell was that..?

Knowing his luck Seto would actually have to get involved to find a way around that... Her stuff in there, not his; he didn't have any real defense in this situation. But there was no way in hell that she would do that, and even if she had been willing to do so it would involve 'Seto Kaiba' meeting with old relatives... And that probably wouldn't work out too well, given that the damn 'Aunt' would probably mention that she had a 'niece' not a 'nephew'... "Agggghh..." There was obviously something in there though, the fact that the lady clammed up like that was obvious enough, but damn it he was no where near getting anything... Again!

And the fact was, as he walked back, he didn't think there was really much else he could do about it. He could take out four plus guys out in a fist fight within one round, out run a few trained mooks with guns, even stand against a full gang beating him with yo-yos of all things, but he couldn't fucking get a photo album from a middle-aged house wife that was shorter than him! Either he was loosing his touch or... Well.

Damn. That stubborn streak _had_ to be hereditary...

* * *

**AN: **Did anyone expect me to pull in relatives? I'm guessing no. No worries guys, the Kaiba siblings won't actually end up having to deal with their aunt's family again... (That would suck.) Even so. If you can accurately guess what's going to happen next, you're probably amazing. (Or maybe you just _are_ amazing.)

LONG chapter though, sorry about that... Probably mostly due to the extent that I put notes in here...

Annnnd Christmas starts! It's coming closer... Updates might be fast, might be slow, not sure right now... Sort of in that hole where you've applied everywhere and end up sitting by the phone, so really it's a matter of time now. Christmas will take three chapters, maybe four depending on conversational length at some point, so keep an eye out! Expect a lot of interesting things to happen here...

Also, a sort of secondary challenge here, see what kind of 'shadow games' you can come up with. And I mean old school shadow games, like the knife and money one from the first chapter, or the 'two paint cans one rope' deal from 'Get the Million'... Or maybe even like that certain exploding ice-hockey game...

And in other news!

**Poll Results**

We've got some more! Decide the identity of Seto Kaiba's past self... And we have...

Female Crossdressing Set - 11 (Three Anonymous)

Obviously Female Priest_ess_ Set - 6 (Three Anonymous)

Canon; Male Set - 2

You have until Battle City is officially underway to decide guys! Take your time!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Two reviews this time around! First off, , your vote is recorded up above! As for Pegasus... I'm pretty sure he's the same age anime wise. Even if the dub changed that, I stick to the Japanese copy anyways, and they don't mess with things like that from what I've seen.

And next we have Iona! I think you said it... Three times before you asked, which demands just as many thank-yous. Thank you, thank you, _thank-you_ for being such a faithful reviewer Iona... And I'm very glad, and personally honored that you loved the arc so much! As for Fluffy the eye-licker... There'll be a hint in maybe the next chapter or so, trust me on that. It is hard to sympathize for the villain after he's done all that crap. And I would _never_ have guessed your love for hygiene, _never_. (Bahahahaa, it's amazing what sorts of things are suddenly highlighted when thought is given...)

Seto does remember 'everything' so to speak, but not from inside the soul-room. Anything from in there is very, _very_ faded... So thankfully (Or unfortunately), the 'kiss' is not remembered. Might be something in her subconscious dealing with that, but nothing else. Much safer for Jonouchi though, that's for sure.

As for dealing with the Big Five... Just take a look above. Boy it sucks when one of the five is a lawyer! This will make later actions in the Legendary Heroes arc make a _lot_ of sense though... It's also more logical for the five, as hey... They want to live! As for the helicopter, no worries; if Kaiba started nodding off, Mokuba was there to take the wheel! (Believe it or not, he _can_ pilot a helicopter to some extent.) Wouldn't be the best ride... But thankfully Kaiba was able to drive the entire time, and very well. Most likely because Soulless-Kaiba was given something to eat at some point...

Your demands for a doctor have been answered! A big deal indeed... Lucky for him, it missed some very vital points, so he didn't end up bleeding out more than he did. Yay~ The panda powers appear to have been directed toward an alternate target however...

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that would wish you Happy Holidays, but it's only the start of November!

* * *

I don't know about you but... I find that the title of this chapter pretty much speaks for itself eh?

* * *

A note on _time_... When Mokuba and Jonouchi were walking home during 'the week before December', they weren't walking around seven days prior; they were literally at the last leg of the week before December started. Specifically, it was the last day of November, and a Thursday. Mokuba was taken that Friday, on the first of December... And the following week, on the ninth, the Duelist Kingdom started.

The eleventh was when the Duelist Kingdom ended, and when everyone returned home... However, they didn't actually land in Tokyo until early in the morning on the twelfth, Tuesday. In other words, the first day back was the thirteenth, Wednesday... Yugi's Dad showed up on the fourteenth, and due to work related things, Jonouchi ended up putting off visiting his dad the day after (He works Friday evenings) that until Monday... So he visited his dad on the 18th of December, and showed up at the Yamada house on the 19th. Phew! Time's running short Jonouchi, hurry, hurry!

* * *

AIR MUSCLE. Silly name, but that's what they were called in the manga, and I'm leaving it as so. Early in the series, Jonouchi passed a 'challenge' set by a shoe store owner to prove he was 'worthy' of buying some _very_ high end running shoes... They were listed as being worth '100,000 Yen' in the manga, making it about twelve hundred dollars. The challenge was to put his foot in while the owner's pet scorpion was there... If he did it and lived, then he'd get the shoes half price. Jonouchi of course, being Jonouchi, agreed to it. And lived. Because he's lucky like that. Had to trade in his old shoes along with what he had for this, in order to cover the price though... So he probably coughed up about 50,000 yen, or 500-550 dollars. WAIT WHAT. J-Jonouchi, no wonder you're always fighting off your dad's bills and debts! (He must have been in a calm period.)

In any case, later on he and Yugi were mugged for the shoes, and Yami Yugi paid a visit to the shoe store... Finding out that the owner had paid for the mugging to get them back. They played a game involving pulling coins from the shoe, with the scorpion inside. The owner however, decided against letting his pet live, and just stabbed the toe... Only to get his hand stuck in the shoe, where his still living scorpion nailed him soundly on the hand. (He didn't die though, just got hospitalized.) Jonouchi got his shoes back as a result, and just called the hole a 'battle scar'.

Seriously though, why the hell was he buying those shoes...

* * *

In Japan, it's pretty much a requirement to remove your shoes and put on slippers when you enter a house… (Very rude not to!) And it's _definitely_ required in schools. Entering the building, you take off your shoes, put them in a small shoe locker, and put on slippers in exchange. This keeps the floors clean hn? Which is good, since the students are the ones who clean it... Either certain students will be assigned for clean up the one day, or everyone will get together and... Clean.

* * *

And yes, Mokuba bought Jonouchi new shoes. Of course, this means that they're far cry from the simple, worn down sneakers the blond had… So they're _very_ hard to get used to, as you can bet that he didn't skimp on it. I doubt his older sister would complain about it either, given the condition of Jonouchi's feet, and _why_. (If anything, it'll just give Kaiba an excuse to continue messing with Jonouchi.)

* * *

Now, something you should realize about the 'Districts', or 'Special Wards' of Tokyo Japan... Each one has its own mayor, and is generally treated by the rest of the world as its own 'city'. That's how the otherwise mammoth city of Tokyo doesn't fall to shit. In any case, I just wanted to let you all know that, in case you notice this and say 'why does Usagi call them districts..?'... They really are called 'districts'; just that technically they aren't districts so much as mini-cities.

In any case, Bunkyou is a bit of an education center in Tokyo, and is home to the University of Tokyo as well. Would make sense for Bakura's dad to live there, particularly since the commute isn't nearly as horrendous as many others who work somewhere in Tokyo while living outside the city.

* * *

Why is it so hard to believe Mai is from Kyoto? (She's probably not by the way; this was only made for the purposes of the fanfic. Mai's living spaces are never actually made apparent, and as the only times we see her are at gatherings of top duelists from all over Japan unless you count Doma...) Because comparing the busty blond's fairly forward ways to one of the most well preserved and cultural centers in Japan is just that interesting. (Honestly I just said 'Kyoto' because the city is _beautiful_; fitting for the one with 'Peahen' for a last name.) On Kyoto itself, as said before, it's quite the cultural center, and was specifically avoided during the fire-bombing of Japan during the second world war. It's home to around 2,000 shrines and temples...

(It's also home to Nintendo, hehehe.)

* * *

In Japan, exchanging presents goes a little different than in the 'west' (Northa America, Europe...) so to speak. Within families, it's obviously the kids get presents from santa deal, or from their parents/parental guardian… Parents of course don't get anything. (And of course, if the kids don't believe it's still 'Present time!' ) However, in addition to this, it's very, _very_ common for presents to be considered something to exchange among _couples_. Christmas you see, is considered a very 'romantic' holiday over there, and generally it's a rough subject among single women if they don't have a guy to spend the holiday with...

In any case, this is why the topic of dating sprung up so quickly when Yugi asked what Jonouchi was going to do about presents; if Shizuka and Mokuba are already covered, then… Who the hell else is he giving presents to?

* * *

An amusing note concerning Christmas, or... Almost at least, given that it's 'in name only'. The term 'Christmas Cake' was (Not so common now) often applied to women over 25 who hadn't gotten married; due to the tradition that once Christmas was over, the cakes meant for the holiday were good as useless, old, and unwanted. Owch. Of course, this term is a little outdated now, since people are marrying older than that a lot more than they used to. Even so... Does this make Mai a Christmas Cake? Hnn...

* * *

When Bakura says his Dad is the _new_ curator of the museum, he references the old one; way way back during the 'Man from Egypt Arc', the Egyptian Display was put together by 'Professor Kanekura', the current curator. When Shadi showed up, he methodically 'judged' all those involved in either the display of the things from the tomb on display (Curator), or in the dig itself (Sugoroku's friend, Professor Yoshimori, who unlike the Curator had innocent intentions.). He judged Kanekura using the scales, asking him questions that would test his character; or rather, if he was a selfish prick (He was) or if he was a decent person... And each time he lied, the scales tipped against him, until finally the illusion of Ammit, the Egyptian monster who devours the hearts of the sinful/unworthy, appeared behind him... And locked his jaws tight on Kanekura's head. Nom nom nom...

Needless to say, that was plenty enough to throw the guy into a heart attack, leaving the position of 'Curator' freed up. And since in the Millennium world, Yami Bakura says 'his' father is the curator...

* * *

The conversation around the end of the 'Christmas' talk during their first day back to school hints at Honda's very evident suspicion about Bakura. See, though Honda chucks the ring as far as possible in the anime, and therefore doesn't really guess that it _came back_, this scene doesn't happen in the manga; Bakura did his thing before springing Honda out of a cell, and the only thing that happened after that was Honda noting some very un-Bakura like words… Such as before Yugi's duel, where Bakura says _'Kill him Yugi! For Kaiba!_' (Way to cover yourself there Yami Bakura...)... And of course, Honda's thinking '_…Dude, am I the only one hearing this?_' Now Honda. Now you know how Jonouchi feels half the time in this fanfic.

* * *

Something that I decided I should put here, since we're seeing these guys in school a little more than the anime but lack the obvious visual aid, a quick thing on their seating arrangements... (Which I'll re-post when we hit the Dungeon Dice Monsters' part, as they end up in grade eleven at that point)

Using Jonouchi as the center here, and with 'north' refering to the chalkboard... Yugi is to Jonouchi's 'north east' side, setting them on a perfect diagonal. Makes it a bit hard to keep conversations quiet. Honda on the other hand, (Who was ironically a bit more of a jerk than Jonouchi when he was introduced...) is 'south east', also on a perfect diagonal. From when Bakura was introduced, we know that he sits directly beside Jonouchi, on the blond's left. (West!) Obviously because of that, he can't continue his conversation with Honda.

And here's where we hit a bit of a problem... See, Takahashi... Isn't always too concrete with the seating arrangement; case in point, the same chapter Bakura is introduced, we see a decent portion of the class; where Honda usually sits, there's a young woman. Granted, the seating arrangement might have been switched around, but it's still a little weird. In any case, I actually don't know where Anzu sits. My guess would be that it's not particularly close to the others though... Given that most of the others end up standing during lunch, or in the morning when they're talking. (Ironically, they tend to converge around Jonouchi's desk just as often as they do Yugi's.)

* * *

Though we never see Yugi's dad, I'm fairly certain that not only is Yugi and his grandfather's current height an issue of age (As young Sugoroku is quite a bit taller than he is now.), but that the hair colour is _very_ much parental, particularly since when we see 'Young Sugoroku' in full, he has blond bangs, and red tipped black hair... Hohhh. Pretty cool. Probably not the best thing for a businessman though, which is what Takahashi said Yugi's father was. Specifically, he's a travelling businessman, which means that he's likely out of the country a lot.

* * *

Now, Jonouchi is stated as _not_ using honorifics, but I think we can break that for now, as with when 'Tanaka-san' was around. See… Whereas with Tanaka it was more out of paranoia (He didn't want to get kicked out of the building or anything, so he played it awkwardly safe on his part.), in this case it's purely to avoid being _really awkward_. After all, it's Yugi's dad… So the last names are obviously the same. So just calling the guy 'mutou' in front of Yugi would be just a little… Weird. Kind of like fanfictions where Yami Bakura is called 'Bakura'... By Bakura's _dad_. And then everyone else is calling the normal Bakura 'Ryou'? HUH.

* * *

Originally for the Legendary Heroes, Kaiba's dealings with the Big 5 consist of him going in, demanding that they clear their desk (not even a two weeks notice. Hihh.), only for them to claim they did what they had to, and had also developed a VR program… Heeeeeyyy, why not take a look, maybe reconsider? It'll just require him to sit in a capsule and let the program do whatever...

And then Kaiba agrees..? Instead of just… Firing them anyways and testing it SAFELY?

Needless to say, I figured that the team with a lawyer who could turn an _aqua-phobe_ into a _boat thief_ would proooobably find a way to avoid getting his ass kicked by Kaiba for at least a little bit. So what's he do? He finds a way to not only avoid her, but makes it so that the only way that they can be fired is _after the product has been tested and approved for release by the company's current CEO_. Which practically guarantees that they can kill her off. YAYYYYYYY. Of course, they have to _finish_ the damn thing first, and they're putting that off as much as they can without getting their asses dealt with, so really all Kaiba can do is sit and glare. A lot.

* * *

Speaking of the legal jargon above, I probably worded it really badly, and really oddly in my attempts to mimic it... But the fact was, I wanted to make sure that the guy creating the loophole didn't end up leaving a hole open for Kaiba. Tsk tsk tsk... As for how the legal fun started in the first place, Kaiba didn't technically re-claim her role as CEO until after getting to the building from the helicopter... Which meant that there was plenty of time after she woke up for Oka, the legal advisor, to create a backup plan... Not to mention put it in action the moment Pegasus lost to Yugi. D'OH.

* * *

Omisoka is the 'Forget the Year' party that happens on New-Year's eve... In fact, it _is_ new-years eve. The parties are very big at companies, and basically go on about putting the past behind them to welcome in the coming year's successes... At midnight, a gong is rung 108 times on Omisoka (Once for each of the 'earthly desires' that cause human suffering), like how fireworks and such are released for new-years, but with a heck of a lot more meaning than just to celebrate and look pretty. (Of course, there are likely going to be fireworks and such in addition to this...) It's the second most important holiday for this reason, and there's often big and thorough house cleaning around this time, same with on the last day of school in terms of desks for a similar 'clear out' of the past year. The biggest meal of the year is around now as well, with a specific type of noodle often served for the occasion (Omisoka noodles!), though not too many people know the traditions behind the noodles, or how to really make them... In any case, though New Years tends to be a fairly quiet occasion over there compared to in 'The West', the parties that go on in companies are _not_. Compare it to the standard drunk fest you have in North America and you have a businessman's Omisoka party. Expect people to be hammered!

On a side note for the event, even Japan itself isn't completely sure as to what Omisoka means; 'O' of course is from 'Dai', or 'Big', and 'ka' comes from 'nichi', or day... And then there's 'Miso', rather 'Mi' (Form of 3, or San) and 'So' (A form of 'Ten', Jyuu), as the reading means '30'; the kanji itself refers to the last day of the month. Most likely, with the added 'Big' or 'Great' there, 'Omisoka' means the 'last day of the last day' so to speak... Which makes sense, since it is. (Or maybe even just '_THE_ last day'.)

Anyways, not to say that Kaiba's being a stick in the mud, but why the hell would she, someone who is under the legal drinking age and probably wouldn't drink outside offered wine at a fancy fancy meeting/dinner (If the host had the gall to do so in the first place, as it's quite rude to do that when the subject isn't supposed to drink, despite it being polite otherwise.), want to go to a loud and very much alcoholic party? Even without the alcohol, it's doubtful that she'd really want to be at something that would seem so damn informal really.

* * *

'Tadaima' is a phrase a whole lot of you subbed anime watchers should recognize; it's a phrase commonly stated upon returning to the home, and means 'I'm home' and alternatively 'I'm here!'

* * *

It's a little difficult to really gauge the relationship between Kaiba and Jonouchi at the moment. On the one hand, she knows damn well that he's ready and willing to keep her brother (and apparently her) safe, given the bullet issue and such… Which brings a grudging respect, particularly when combined with her own way of using duelling as a partial way to judge skill. Despite an obvious disadvantage in terms of experience and deck, Jonouchi did, after all, technically gain the rank of 'Runner Up' in the Duelist Kingdom, which makes him one of the top players in Japan… (Just wait until you see how this is countered for the 'rating system' in Duelist Kingdom, OHHHHH.) And of course, he's managed to prove capable in terms of the whole 'chase after the kidnappers' deal.

On the other hand, the blond is loud, and overall, really annoying… Not to mention (In her opinion) a not so good influence on her brother. She knows damn well what kind of mouth he's got, not to mention his reputation for injury, the house he was pulled out of… Basically, conflicting opinions that, in the end, involve her continuing to 'hate' Jonouchi to a slight level. It's far lighter than in the anime and manga though, though that was likely a little obvious given that she didn't boot the blond out of her car the instant she saw him there, and instead went on with the standard conversation.

* * *

Interesting thing; the whole gap between 'drunk guy' and 'sober guy' tends to be believed to a very high extent for a number of people in Japan, rather, the fact that when a person is drunk, they're a completely different guy... Words spoken by 'Drunk' were not spoken by 'Sober'. Now this doesn't change the fact that some will still be disgusted when they see someone passed out on the train, but even so… The fact is, add a few beers in, and you can get people acting really, really weird. Like... _Really _weird. It wouldn't surprise me of Jonouchi's dad wasn't so much of an _angry_ drunk as a _depressed and violent_ drunk… Which just hammers on even more guilt by the end of it, brining in more alcohol and…

Well, you can see where this is going. Good thing he's in rehab... (Japan's very good at putting the prisoners through this. They only have 62 prisoners per 100,000... Compare that to the 756 per 100,000 that the USA has. Course, with how populated Japan is...)

* * *

For some reason, when I picture Jou's dad, I hear him speaking with the typical accent of the old war veterans you see on tv… The foreign ones in particular, from the second world war. Or even just the general speech pattern of all the typically portrayed veterans, the whole 'bouncy', 'broken' form of speaking. His appearance obviously isn't _nearly _as aged though; in my head, he's the typically 'older than he looks' middle aged man, though with slightly darkened skin and blond hair. Oddly enough, the blond isn't a foreign trait in my opinion... But oh well.

The real irony of this accent? Also comes off as the 'drunk man's accent. D'OH.

* * *

It really is upsetting, that Shizuka says what she did up there... But she really did say it! In the manga, at the end of her video-letter to Jonouchi, she says '_don't let dad see this_' before ending the message. Poor guy… Granted, it's quite likely that Jonouchi's dad doesn't get off quite as easily in reality (-coughprobablyajerkcough-) as he did in this fanfic… I just didn't want to just say 'THEN HE WAS ARRESTED, THE END'. Seems like a cop out to me. (And then I did the address search... Mrnggg... Need to work on my cop-outs.)

* * *

Mokuba's age (unfortunately) directly conflicts with the one earlier stated... This is because, after realizing that the age-cutoff for school in Japan was in April, I was stuck making Kaiba a year younger than in the prologue... And as Mokuba is five years younger, something that I had written with Kaiba's initial age in mind... (Rather, with the idea that Kaiba was turning 17, not 16 this year) ...Well, he was written as turning twelve, when, given the 'accurate ages' (Kaiba is only recently 16, Jonouchi is actually still 15) would be wrong; Mokuba should be eleven, though ironically he's still right about the middle school; with the cut-off in April, he's still going into grade seven. Yay uniforms! (Interesting how in the anime, we never see Mokuba in one... Despite the fact that his age should say otherwise...)

* * *

Yea guys. The legal age of consent in Japan is _thirteen._ Might be fourteen now, not sure. Even so. WHAT. You're not legally an adult there until 20, 21 in terms of drinking, but once you're 13-14 sex is ok? HUH. I've said it before, and I'll say it again; OH Japan...

* * *

The reason why Jonouchi can easily say that the name is going to be much easier to find than it would normally be is that for one, he's right about this kanji being _very_ rare at the end of a name. Normally it's only at the beginning… If it's at the end, that's a fairly uncommon name you've found! (And Jonouchi is looking in Tokyo only, so even with the daunting number of people...) In addition, Mokuba told Jonouchi that it was written traditionally; normally, the kanji for dragon is a little less complex to write, but what with it being Chinese in origin, it can alternately be written in the Chinese fashion. (Hence the term 'traditional'.) Of course, most people don't stick with the traditional form unless it's specific to the name, or reading...

Ironically, it still works for finding the Yamada's, even though there's otherwise nothing else to link the families, so good on that!

* * *

Net cafes are so 'house-y' that there's a term called 'net cafe refugee' over there! It costs less to spend a night or so over there than it does to rent an apartment… Pity that. Even so, just getting the computer part isn't too hard out there, and you normally get a free drink... Jonouchi's just there for fifteen minutes (He's lucky he got that, they normally go by either the hour or by 'session') though, so all he gets is the computer. Much easier than going for a library actually... Net Cafe computers are fairly private, whereas in a library it's not likely that the computers are really kept separate from the others.

* * *

As said above, 'Souryuu' means 'Blue Dragon'; 'Sou' is an alternate pronunciation of 'Aoi', 'Blue', whereas 'Ryuu' obviously means 'Dragon'. I was originally gonna have Dragon first and blue second (A lot of names 'don't make sense' like that), but that sounded really... Awkward.

* * *

Obituaries… Harsh stuff. Not sure how common it is in Japan; ran a search, they're definitely done, but it doesn't actually matter too much there because the _aunt_ wrote it… And the aunt is quite used to obituaries being relatively common as a way to send out regards to the dead. (Obits are more of an 'English language' thing... In fact, one of Britain's newspapers highly encourages it.) Oddly enough, despite the fact that she pretty much milked the inherited cash dry, she didn't actually get much from the Kaiba's original family from what would be likely with the FanFic dad; more likely that the two were dumped out of necessity than pure hate. ...Still doesn't excuse them though.

* * *

So why hasn't anyone connected the dots with that obituary there? Because the idea that Seto Kaiba is a woman is just _too outlandish,_ not to mention the fact that most people don't… Really bother with things like that unless they really want to know. Annnnd… Thankfully, most of those people don't know about the original last name, which makes it even more difficult to find that ovit. Bad enough that it uses the traditional kanji, but when the _only_ result is an obituary for a seemingly unrelated man... (Seto doesn't really take after her fanfic parents as much as she does her dead _grand_parents, and the eye colour is more from her mom... Who Mokuba very visibly takes after.) Yea.

More irony for you; somehow, I ended up making 'Anne' a little more similar to Seto than intended... In terms of stubbornness and the 'glare' at least. Thankfully, there's no other resemblance. (Phew!)

* * *

Japan, or at least the Tokyo area and south of that, doesn't tend to get much snow… They get it though, most definitely! You just won't get as much. (Unless you get to northern Japan, like Sendai. Expect to get meters of it after that.) In any case, there's snow hanging around in the fanfic now, but it's only like… five millimetres.

Speaking of snow, a somewhat unrelated note involving Canada and snow... YOU! Americans. _Stop coming to Southern Ontario with skiis in the middle of July_. (That actually happened. Many times.) Amusing as it is, it... It just makes us shake our head, because quite frankly we have really hot summers around here. (And it's getting worse...) And don't get me started on BC; Vancouver Island, save the mountain tops, get about as much if not less snow than the aforementioned Tokyo. And when they _do_ get snow, it lasts for like... A day. An idea of how 'snowy and cold' Canada is? I have yet to have snow on my birthday. Which, by the way, is December the sixth. (It's a dream of mine, a dream I tell you...)

* * *

'Anne' is a pun by the way. Though obviously written in katakana, what with her being British, (Katakana is used for words not of Japanese origin.) a resident reading it could read it as 'Ah-Ne'… Or 'ane', which means 'older sister'. Guess how Anne is related to Seto's dad in this fanfic. Last name however is just a somewhat common last name; 'Yama' means mountain, and 'Da' is from 'Daru', 'to come out', 'to participate', and as most likely the case in this point 'origin'. So yea, no special meaning there. That would be kinda silly. (The name is more often a 'place name' than a 'last name' though.)

* * *

Oh. As for why both of the _Brits_ have Japanese names... Kaiba's Dad took his wife's last name to sort of fit in a bit more- a strange Japanese name tends to get through a bit more than a strange foreign name, and it certainly prevented any teasing on tiny 5-6 year old Seto's part. Anne, of course, just took her husband's name out of tradition...

* * *

Don't expect these relatives to last more than a bit into the next chapter by the way, not only am I not too fond of them, but pulling them into things would just complicate matters a _lot_.

* * *

If you're wondering why Jonouchi is always holding the bag over his shoulder, think for a moment; when was the last time you saw an anime where the highschool students used 'normal' bags? The bags over there resemble briefcases, or folder cases if anything, and can only really be held by a handle... Hence the over-the-shoulder method that is constantly mentioned.

* * *

Does the last half, with Jonouchi finding the old last name and such seem a little too easy to you? There's actually a reason for it. A creepy reason. But a reason nonetheless. Not giving any hints save the fact that the Kaiba siblings are most assuredly _not_ involved.

Well, we'll see! Just wait for the next chapter guys, which will cover more events before Christmas is underway!


	42. Chapter 41

**Penalty Game  
**

* * *

It was December the 22nd now, and over the main and largest island of Japan a number of things were happening. A large number of things that mattered only to a handful of people in their own right, things that those around them could likely care less about. In a hospital in Osaka a young girl was beginning a slow recovery from a possibly dangerous if not only half as likely to have succeeded surgery, accompanied by her mother and a close friend. Bandages were wrapped firmly around the upper portion of her face, but despite the fact that she was unable to see the two at her bedside she was very much awake... And praying.

Only a few hours away in Kyoto, a young woman dressed far differently than what most who knew her would expect calmly walked back to her home from a corner-store with a bag of noodles, eggs, and assorted vegetables for the next nights dinner, while glancing at a clock to the side. It was only a matter of time before the train left Tokyo, and she needed to set up the spare room for the next few days.

Even further from there was Tokyo, and while two siblings both spent well needed and well missed time together, one keeping the enjoyment of the situation buried as the other eagerly led the first through whatever was planned for the 'together time'. Not much further from the siblings, within the same city, a close group of friends sat at a decently empty fast-food restaurant to talk about the holidays. The days for which each plan that these people had would roll into motion was drawing closer and closer after all; and it was only right that they spend the last few days before that moment celebrating themselves, before the holidays closed in completely.

And just how would they do that for the moment? By splitting an order of burgers and fries, what else? Idle chatter filled the air as they sat, a young uniformed woman coming over to the table as the teens at the booth looked through the menu. Most already knew what they were ordering of course; despite the 'Prisoner 777' incident, Burger World had long since become a regular place to sit and chat. Why bother doing that at a restaurant if they didn't eat? Favorites had long since been decided on really, and as the waitress stopped by their table the group turned. "Have you decided on your order," she asked, holding a small notepad in hand and looking the group over. "Just so you know, for the holidays all drinks come with free refills."

The news didn't seem to phase the group, most of them just folding up their menus if they had opened them at all. "Yeea," Honda said first, leaning against the window he was at and handing his menu to the woman. Somehow, through some miracle of the gods, he had managed to escape his 'voluntary Christmas fun' for the evening. It was almost similar to how Katsuya had managed to avoid working for the evening really but... Given the fact that he openly detested the 'Christmas fun', Honda seemed more than pleased about the fact in comparison to the 'around average' cheer that Katsuya held. "I'll just have a coke and a cheeseburger..."

"Same for me," Yugi said with a nod, smiling. "But I'll have milk with mine," he added, handing his menu to the waitress as she nodded.

She moved to scribble a few things on his notepad, before looking at the one between the two boys. "And you?"

Bakura blinked, before handing over his menu with a smile. "I'll have some milk as well," he said quietly, bowing his head and looking to the side a moment. "Though I think I'll just have a basket of fries, with some gravy..."

There was another nod from the waitress, before she looked across the table to the last two members of the group. "Hmm... I think I'll take the fries too," Anzu decided, bowing her head politely. "A glass of coke for me."

The waitress nodded, before turning to Katsuya expectantly. "And for you sir," she asked, folding her hands over in wait.

The blond blinked, before looking up from where he'd been staring out the window. Been lost in thought... Wait him? "E-Eh?" He swallowed, shaking his head before leaning back on the booth seat with a grin. "Oh righ'... Iced tea an' a cheeseburger f'r me," he said with a nod, watching the waitress scribble this down.

"Alright," she said, bowing slightly before looking over the group. "I'll be back with your meals soon enough." With that the woman left, leaving conversation to settle over the table once again.

"Sooooo," Honda asked, turning to Katsuya with raised eyebrows and an odd grin. "How goes the 'present hunt' for this mysterious 'not date'?"

Besides not well? Katsuya groaned, before glaring at the teen in question with a sour look on his face. "Seriously man, don't even talk about that..." At all. Since he'd been iron-walled from the 'Yamada' house, he'd tried running over a number of possible Christmas ideas really. Breaking in had all but been locked out of mind given that Anne was quite clearly a stay-at-home mom... And he had no doubts she really _would_ have him arrested. He'd tried a few things... The first thought had been making an 'upgraded' clay Blue-Eyes, with the added detail of the 'Ultimate Dragon'- however, anytime he thought back to the beast there were too many details to possibly recreate properly with nothing but clay. Not after what he saw in the Duelist Kingdom really... And it was probably better that way. All other thoughts after that point had just as quickly gone down the drain, varying from either something that would get his throat slit... (Blue Eyes... Plushie?) ...To something that would likely be thrown in the trash first chance that came up. (Maybe he could help _cook_ the Christmas dinner, a sort of compromise from his Dad's suggestion! ...Yea no.) He rubbed his head, leaning back on the seat as those thoughts continued to run through his head.

Yugi in the meantime blinked at the news of continual failure, apparently genuinely surprised given the lack of news on the topic since that day. "Oh..." He stared, leaning over the table slightly. "...You're still not having any luck then?" There was nothing but a nod in response, and the boy frowned before turning away in thought. "Hn... There has to be something you can do then..."

Beside the blond, Anzu merely shook her head, an odd look on her face as she turned to him. "No offense... But I'm still trying to get over you dating someone let alone going all out for Christmas myself..."

"Gh-" He glared, turning on the woman with a scowl. "I told you, I ain't datin' anyone! I'm jus' stuck on presents f'r someone!"

The others laughed at the paper thin defense, Anzu merely holding her hands up in mock defeat as she smiled. "Alright, alright," she said, before crossing her arms. "It would be nice to know who you're talking about though..."

Bakura nodded in agreement, shifting in his seat as the waitress came by with their food and drinks miraculously balanced on one tray. "That's right," he said as he grabbed his glass of milk, taking a small sip while the fries and gravy were placed in front of him. "It's rather confusing when you refuse to say anything. In fact," he continued, grabbing a few fries with the fork provided, "It's really only natural to assume you _are_ dating someone... Ahahaha..."

The blond groaned again, before grabbing some ketchup to put on his burger. "Tch... Whatever," he muttered, leaning forward as he put the bun on top and started eating it. Drop the subject, drop the subject and- "Hey what abou' you Anzu," he said with a renewed smirk as an idea came to mind. "Y' seem pretty surprised about wherever it is you're goin f'r Christmas..." The grin grew, Anzu herself blinking from where she'd taken a few bites of her ketchup slathered fries. "Why don't ya share?"

The woman tensed, gritting her teeth before dropping the fry she'd been holding. "I think I have your point now," she muttered, taking an angry sip of her coke. "If you want to know so badly," she continued, turning back to her meal, "You should probably ask Mai yourself!"

Katsuya gave a 'defeated' shrug, still smirking as he continued on what was already the second half of his burger. "Heh, maybe I will," he said with a laugh, before taking another large bite of the burger.

Honda also grinned, his own burger already well close to being done if not mostly devoured. "Not before I do," he said with a laugh, the woman across from him merely shaking her head exasperatingly.

"Ahhhhhggg... What is _wrong_ with you two!" Wh-What? Oh come on, it wasn't like that...

Though it was still fun to mess with Anzu. The grins grew, Bakura and Yugi both laughing quietly as they watched the 'argument' continue between bites. The laughing was quickly cut off on Yugi's part however when the boy turned to ask his friend something. Staring at the already empty platter that was now nothing but smeared gravy, he gaped as Bakura quickly downed the rest of his milk with a large smile. "B-Bakura-kun," he sputtered, looking back at his own barely half-done burger for a moment. Katsuya and Honda were one thing, given their normally large appetite but... "You already finished your food!" Apparently, his was just as large then.

The albino turned, blinking. "Erm... Yes... Well..." He laughed nervously, rubbing his head as the others turned to stare at the platter themselves. "I tend to eat rather quickly, it's a habit of mine... Hahaha..." Yea... That platter was about the size of three burgers, so 'quickly' was definitely one way to describe things.

Yugi merely continued staring at the platter with those words, before Anzu finally broke the silence. "Well," she said with a cough, waving a near-by waitress down. The woman came over, nodding as Anzu turned to her. "I'm... Going to need to take these fries to go," she admitted, grabbing a large number of bags that she'd taken with her as the waitress took off with a nod.

The others turned, Honda leaning on his arm with raised eyebrows. "Hn... You're already leaving Anzu?"

She nodded, the waitress quickly returning with a styrofoam box for her. "Yea," Anzu said with a small laugh, carefully stowing the fries in the box before wiping her fingers off on a napkin and packing the box itself in one of her bags. She pulled out some change from her purse, putting it on the table to cover her meal. "I'm sorry guys, but I can't miss the train, it was hard enough to get a seat before hand with the holidays..." Oh right, she was heading to Kyoto today... They nodded, watching as the woman gathered up her bags and glanced at her watch. "I'll see you later though, alright?" A slightly longer look was given to Yugi with those words as she gave a quick wave, before leaving with a smile. "Merry Christmas everyone!"

The boys blinked as Anzu disappeared through the door, before turning on Yugi with a mix of smirks and a soft smile on Bakura's part. The boy was fairly red for the moment... Possibly more so than the ketchup on his burger actually, and there was no difficulty in guessing what the cause was. "Heyyyy, Yugi," Honda said with a grin, tapping the boy's shoulder as his friend coughed and continued staring at the table. "Hey Yugi, you alright in there?"

There was no answer save a slight change of energy in the air, Honda pulling back as the familiar 'switch' between persona appeared. Hair rose on end, and with a few blinks a rather startled looking 'Other Yugi' appeared, eyes wide with slight confusion for the moment. The boy looked around, blinking a few times before turning to them with raised eyebrows and an odd frown. "...Just what did you all _do_ to him," he asked somewhat incredulously, the blush from his 'other' quickly fading with his presence. "He won't say a thing to me!"

Katsuya sniggered, shaking his head. 'Conversation' between the 'two Yugis' had become fairly common since the end of the Duelist kingdom, and though it had only been about a week they were all more than used to it by now. "I think y' wanna ask Anzu that," he said with a grin, laughing as Honda joined in the laughs with him. "After th' holidays at least... Hahah... Ahhh..."

"I think you're going to be out here for a while," Bakura added, scratching his cheek with a slightly sympathetic smile. "By the looks of Yugi-kun's face, I don't think he wants to really talk about too much right now... Actually," he continued with a cough, "I'm not even completely sure he _can_ say anything right now..."

The 'other' Yugi nodded with the words, blinking as he looked down at the puzzle with an apparently unimpressed stare. "I can tell," he said as he crossed his arms, before sighing grabbing the burger in front of him. He looked at it for a moment, nibbling the far end of it before dropping it on the plate with a small gagging noise. "Ghk... I don't think I'll be finishing his food for him though..." Hn? Katsuya blinked at the comment, before holding back another laugh as the boy stared almost disdainfully at the large amount of mustard on the burger. Hahaha, and thus the argument between the two went on... Yugi looked at the mostly full glass beside him as well, frowning. "...Or his milk..."

"Oh..." Bakura reached beside him, bowing his head hesitantly as his friend turned at the gesture. "Could I have the milk then..?" As Yugi gave a nod, the albino took the glass and switched straws, taking a few quiet sips with a smile before bowing his head again. "Thank-you."

Yugi merely nodded again, crossing his arms. "Not a problem... I-"

"Oh_ shiiiit._.." The three turned as Honda interrupted the boy, all blinking as a rather angry looking young woman began rapping on the window. Messy brown hair was topped with a knit hat, but despite the otherwise 'calm' wear the woman was in it was more than evident that she was out for figurative blood. "Oh shit, my sister..."

Katsuya stared, eyebrows raised as the woman was joined by an apparently equally unimpressed young man carrying Honda's nephew. There was Johji, still in his trademark duck kigurumi... And looking oddly pleased about the mood his parents were in. "She doesn't look too happy with y' Honda..." The blond turned to his friend, blinking. "What th' hell did you _do_?"

The teen coughed, lightly shoving past Yugi and Bakura with a red face and grabbing his school bag. "Er... I... _Might _have skipped out on some Christmas stuff to come out here..." There was a hurried cough as he grabbed his coat off the bench, pulling it on while muffled shouts came from outside the glass.

"You skipped," Bakura repeated, frowning as he downed the rest of his milk. "But I thought you said you had today off..."

Honda merely groaned, the others jumping slightly as his sister began rapping on the window with a glare. '_Get OUT HERE,_' she was shouting through the glass, the others looking at their clearly doomed friend with raised eyebrows. "Yeaaaaaa... Might have lied about that one... Just a little." A little? That was one way to put it.

The others continued looking out the window, Yugi blinking owlishly at the sight. "You should probably hurry," he said rather plainly, leaning on his arm and taking a bite of the fries still on his plate. "I don't think they'll stay outside much longer..."

"Man..." Honda again groaned, holding his head as he shouldered his bag. "I _really_ don't want to go out there right now..."

Katsuya snickered again, turning to his friend as the rapping continued with apparent vigor. "Hehehe, and in a few moments," he added with a smirk, "Y' won' wanna be in _here_! Better move it Honda..."

The teen continued to groan, Bakura standing up with a small smile as he grabbed his own coat. "Ah... If you like, I could act as moral support..."

He shook his head, still more groans coming from the teen. "I don't think that'll work," he muttered, holding his head in his hand, "But you know what, it'll probably keep them from murdering me so... Lets go." With that, the two made, Yugi and Katsuya watching as the teen's sister quickly moved from the window toward the front door with her fiancee and son. "Happy holidays guys," Honda shouted with a wave, voice laced with a small bit of dread in regards of what was to come.

The two nodded, sending their own holiday wishes back. "Merry Christmas!" The large spinning glass door swung, the two quickly disappearing into the now dark outside as Yugi turned back to Kastuya. "Man," the blond muttered, shaking his head before taking a sip of his iced tea. "Y' think he'll live through th' holidays?"

Yugi merely shook his head expression held in a perfect deadpan as he answered. "Personally, I wonder that every day with _you_, living in Kaiba's house." Hahahaha, very funny... He'd live. The boy shifted closer to the window, looking outside at the already windy and snow filled sky for a moment. "Speaking of Kaiba," he added, looking back to his friend with a small frown. "You seem more than just pressed for time with this..."

The blond shrugged, rubbing his head in agitation. "Well I only have two days left," he muttered, biting his lip as he looked up in thought. "One if y' count th' fact that most stores 'r closed t'morrow..." He sighed, slumping in his seat as the scowl on his face fell short. "I was this close though," he muttered, staring at the table with a more depressed frown. "Thought I had somethin'... Maybe it jus' wasn' th' right idea t' act on..."

"...What sort of idea was it," Yugi asked, the boy trying and failing to hide what curiosity he had. (Probably not trying actually...) "What were you going to get?"

Another shrug, followed by a sigh. Briefly, the blond looked around, checking with now almost ingrained paranoia to make sure no one was listening. "Found 'r las' name," he muttered, turning back to his friend. "'Souryuu.' Found 'r relatives too," he added, leaning over the table as the remaining food there lay forgotten. "Th' ones she stayed with b'fore she an' Mokuba went t' the orphanage... I'd figured," he continued, Yugi listening intently, "That since there was no pictures 'f their parents, since Mokuba never got t' see what 'is mom looked like, they should have something... And I figured," the blond whispered, voice low as a waitress passed to take the clear plates from the table, "That since they left a bunch of things b'hind at that place, maybe one of them was an album 'r somethin..."

His friend nodded, arms still crossed. "I take it they didn't then?"

Katsuya shook his head, a scowl appearing on his face. "Nah, they had one..." Yugi's eyebrows went up in an evident 'oh really?' sort of look, letting his friend go on. "Pretty sure 'f that at least. Th' problem is that as soon as I mentioned th' las' name the aunt said she'd sooner charge me wi' trespassin' than give me th' stuff." He shook his head, letting out a long sighing breath. "An I thought Seto-chan could be a bitch... Sheesh..."

Yugi appeared to almost be caught off guard by the reference to his rival, staring for a few moments before shaking his head. Probably still used to her being 'Kaiba' due to the presence of others... Even so, this didn't stop him from addressing the actual problem. "I see," the boy muttered, closing his eyes a moment in thought. "Hn..." He stared at the ground for a few seconds, before smirking. "So they turned you away then did they... Well. How about I give it a shot," he asked, the smirk growing. Katsuya stared, the boy across from him continuing with an almost frightening gleam in his eyes. "Where do they live exactly, I'm sure I could convince them..." Well, if he was so sure...

The blond shrugged, pulling out the phonebook page and handing it over. "Second 'Yamada' on th' list," he said with a mutter, taking care to avoid sticking the paper in the ketchup covered fries he had. "It's on the other side 'f Domi-" He tensed, watching as Yugi took the page and looked it over before pocketing it. "Wait..." Katsuya coughed, watching as the boy pulled out some change to cover the rest of the bill before grabbing another fry. "Waiiit hang on... W... What are y' gonna do t' them..?"

He shrugged, moving out of the booth as Katsuya followed behind him. "Oh... Nothing much," he said dismissively, looking up at his friend with a smirk. Though the response was a blank, somewhat dumbfounded expression, he still continued. "Just going to talk to them really... Anyways. Are you free at any point tomorrow, Jonouchi?"

"...Yea..." He frowned, nodding. "I got th' weekend off, same as t'day, so I'm free..." They continued toward the door, Katsuya trying to think about something other than the many possible 'penalty games' that would possibly end up going on soon enough. "Seriously though, what-"

Yugi gave a wave, still smirking as he moved to go back to his house through the miniature blizzard that was currently developing. "You'll see," he said, snowflakes slowly creating a thin layer of ice on both boy's coats and pants. "How about we meet here again tomorrow," the boy continued, zipping up the coat he was wearing and carefully hanging the puzzle just under his scarf. "Same time as today."

He blinked, before grinning. Well... In the end, Yugi was Yugi right? He was getting a... A little better with the penalty use right? "Heh.. Yea," he said with a nod, waving as he turned toward his own route back. "Will do... See yah Yugi!" With that, the two took their separate ways, snowflakes continuing to fall to the ground in their wake. He needed to calm down! Not like he was going to do anything in cold blood after all right? The games were all a fair chance after all, from what 'normal' Yugi had said at least... (He didn't really feel comfortable asking the other Yugi at the time...) Everything would be fine...

And with those thoughts in mind, he went back to the house feeling more relaxed than he had since he started the whole Christmas mess to begin with.

* * *

While conversations on the holidays went underway, much quieter times could be seen between Mokuba and Seto throughout the same week that had caused so much grief for the youngest member of their staff. As Seto's brother had 'planned', something which had quickly been revealed as a list of things to do with no real set date, work was something that was for once pushed to the back of her mind. If only for Mokuba's sake at least. '_Lets play capmon_', was the first thing the boy shouted, an expected thing really. Down in the large rec room that she'd hardly been in since first coming to the house, a board was pulled out and a basket held before her. Pieces were picked from a scrambled number of pieces from the basket and though she personally didn't see much in the already dying game it was more than clear that Mokuba was enjoying this. With that game out of the way, the next thing Mokuba had decided on was a game she hadn't actually heard of herself. '_And Monster Fighter_,' Mokuba had shouted, pulling out two gun-like objects and a small collection of figurines. '_That's pretty fun too_!' Not something she knew at all, but fairly easy to figure out... Almost point and click really- (Wait, did she just lose?)

It was almost surreal, how happy he was as the time passed. After all that had happened before, and with Gozaburo... With _herself_, a thought that made her sick to her stomach. And still, the days flew quickly, for only positive reasons. '_Lets go to the arcade_,' her brother said with a grin, '_It's been a while since we went there! And I want you to have a burger with me_,' he continued, laughing at the raised eyebrows the request had received. '_There's a place that I got to go to a few times... I think it's called.._.' They went to Burger World of all places... A few times he said? Didn't take much to guess who took him there... (Though she supposed the fries were alright...)

During the drive back, she'd finally asked about this 'Katsuya-nii' business. He didn't really have an answer for when that happened- it was gradual, according to him. Something that he'd done himself, the boy had hurriedly added in the blond's defense, Jonouchi had nothing to do with it. ...He told her about the summer after that, about his trip to Osaka... How he'd given the key to Jonouchi (Who had apparently given it to Yugi in an attempt to hide it from Pegasus, given the quick conversation they'd had at the helicopter hangar...)... About the festival, the fish... It certainly explained the well cared for tank in her brother's room, with the three idiotically happy goldfish swimming around. '_We'll all go together sometime, right Nee-sama?_' What else could she say to that? Festivals weren't particularly something she was interested in but... '_We'll see_,' she told him honestly, the boy's grin widening in response. '_We'll see..._'

She'd missed a lot, too much really. Pictures made sense now, along with dull, numb feelings she could recall having while she 'slept'. Souvenirs that had gathered along the side-table still cluttered it neatly, a permanent reminder of the fact that she didn't want to get rid of this time. Fall had come to an end before she woke up in her opinion, despite the fact that only now, on the 23rd, had Winter officially lasted more than a day. She'd skipped over half a year, skipped over her sixteenth birthday of all things! And after an 'interesting' mini-celebration which consisted of her brother and herself sharing a small dinner and Mokuba handing her a booster pack of cards he wanted her to have, the boy had 'run out of ideas'. She didn't though. And despite the fact that it was a 'national holiday', there were still a number of things still open and running. This would be no exception... To an extent. The car had been prepared, windows tinted to further hide the surprise as the vehicle moved... "Alright," she said quietly, hands over her brother's eyes as they left the car. "No peeking, alright..?"

The boy nodded, slowly being led onto a sidewalk as cold snowflakes fell from the morning sky. "I won't," he shouted, attempting to nod despite the hold on his head. "I promise!" She smirked, continuing to lead the boy through the doors of the building he couldn't see. "Where are we," he asked, listening as his older sister muttered something to someone, pushing a second door open to fully escape the cold winter air. Silence filled the room, save for a few footsteps. "It's pretty quiet in here..." It should be; it was almost completely empty in here. A small click, and the first few lights were on... "Really quiet, are you sure we're-"

The words were quickly proven wrong as loud theme park sounds suddenly sounded through the air, the secondary lights whirring to life as various park rides began to move through their tracks. The boy remained shocked silent, Seto smirking lightly at the slight jump he'd given in response to the sounds. "Alright," she said as she uncovered the boy's face, stepping to the side somewhat. "Open your eyes..."

Mokuba stared, looking around as the rides of his sister's enormous indoor theme park started up. Roller coasters shot around at top speed on their tracks, other, slower rides merely running through the motions pre-programmed into them. "We..." The boy blinked, attempting to find the right words. "We're at... Kaiba-land..?" He looked around as a few members of staff passed by, the boy turning to look up at Seto. No one but staff... Where were the usual crowds of people playing at the park? "Where is everyone..?"

The woman smirked, arms crossed as she turned to one of the staff members. "No one," she stated plainly, giving a dismissive nod to the staff member on the side as the man in question closed up the main power controls. "Just the park staff, along with you..." She knelt down, a small smile on her face as she looked at her brother. "And me." Mokuba continued to stare, Seto continuing with a rare, honest smile that would quite likely never make it outside the building. "We have the entire park to ourselves," she continued, "For the entire day."

He blinked, eyes wide. "The _entire day_?"

She nodded, before standing up to take off her coat. Was it that hard to believe? "The entire day..." She folded the coat over her arm, looking at her brother. "So," she asked, arms crossed with the bulky coat over top them. "Where do you want to go first?"

"I..." He blinked, before his face broke into a wide grin as he ran off. "Roller coaster! Lets go on the roller coaster!" He quickly charged down the center hall, older sister staring off before belting after him after a few moments.

"G- Mokuba!" Now wait a moment, they had to put their coats away, and- ...Hahh... She continued after her brother, a small smirk on her face as the boy eagerly started a small conversation with the woman heading the coaster controls. Well, she decided as she slowed to a walk. She could deal with carrying her coat for a day really.

It'd be worth the time.

* * *

The house of the Yamada family was straight, clean, and uniform. White plaster walls, a neat front yard that was little more than a meter in length, and a garage with the door closed over. It was something he'd expected, that was to be sure. Personally, he didn't know what sort of 'conversation' he would end up having with this 'Yamada Anne' though. Was she legitimately cruel, and someone to be 'dealt with'? Or merely afraid of the past, and hiding behind idle threats?

He wasn't sure, but whatever the reason he would help his friend. Yugi, the 'original Yugi', stood before the same door Jonouchi had, large and innocent eyes staring as he waited for his knocks to be answered. Despite any growth he'd made throughout the current year, he was still fairly short... As it was, he was more than embarrassed to admit that the door knob was still a fair number of inches above where his puzzle sat. Ignoring height however... '_Other me_,' he called mentally, the familiar form of his friend misting in the back of his mind. He could either see his other self, or the world around him, not both... For now however, he focused on the sights of the 'real world'. '_Remember, don't do anything drastic alright_?'

There was an odd sensation, his other self nodding in agreement. It was strange, talking to 'thin air', particularly when he couldn't see the one speaking... But maybe sometime, they could find a way to change that, so that they didn't have to choose between one or the other. '_Alright partner_,' his other self said, arms likely crossed in the depths of the puzzle. '_But if we get the same reaction that Jonouchi did_,' he warned, the sound of light footsteps coming from the other side of the door.

The door opened, the grey-haired woman from before looking down with raised eyebrows as Yugi gave his last answer. '_We have to at least try_,' he said quietly, watching as the woman stared down at him with a frown. '_At least that much..._' "Ah... Sorry to disturb you," Yugi said politely, as the woman eyed him skeptically. He bowed his head, continuing. "I was just wondering... I came from K-" He coughed, hurriedly correcting himself with the name Jonouchi had used before. "Erm... From _Souryuu_-kun's school and-"

"If you have anything to do with that blond hooligan that came to my house yesterday," the woman stated dangerously, "Then you will make it as far as the hall step..."

Erm... What? The boy stared, before pulling himself together. "A-Ah... Again, I'm sorry to disturb you..." He coughed, flushing red as he turned away somewhat. "I just wanted to know something about them... I'll leave as soon as I know..."

Anne's eyes narrowed dangerously, but she moved away from the door to let him in anyways. "I'll assume for a moment that you truly are sorry then," the woman muttered, standing to the side. "Please," she continued, allowing Yugi to come in and take off his shoes. "Come in." The boy nodded at the request, putting his shoes away and turning as the woman motioned for him to follow into a kitchen. It was a narrow hall... And the kitchen was about as roomy as that, with a small table and four chairs standing in the center of a cabniet-ed kitchen. "Take a seat," she stated, pointing at the table and clearing a worn leather covered book from it. Besides the book there was only a medium sized bell of sorts, with two mallets hanging on either side. "You're lucky my husband isn't home right now," Anne muttered with a small shrug, placing the book on the side counter before turning to her guest. "Otherwise you wouldn't have even had the chance to speak..."

Another nod, Yugi taking a seat on the chair and looking around the room. It was almost dark in there, despite the sun coming through the window. The room was bathed in a dull grey light, shadows clinging to every corner. It was mostly plain the room, but while there were standard new-years decorations on the table to make up for this fact, there was a cross on the side wall... A crucifix, he noted in silence, before turning back to Anne once more. "Thanks for letting me in Yamada-san," he said quietly, the woman merely nodding her head.

"Not a problem," she muttered, continuing to stand against the counter. "Now what do you want from me, concerning the Souryuu's?"

The boy swallowed, a feeling of reassurance coming from his other half. He was in here, and he needed to ask just one thing... Here went nothing. "I was wondering," he began quietly, the reassurance continuing to buzz from the back of his mind. "Mokuba-kun doesn't know what his mother looks like and... I wanted to know if you maybe had a picture, or an album with her in it..."

Anne's eyes narrowed, the woman crossing her legs as a sour expression came over her face. "So this _is_ about that then," she muttered, gritting her teeth. E-Erm... What? All he was asking for was a picture..! "Unfortunately, as I told the one I can only assume is your 'friend', you have no right to such things." Hah..? "If your friends so want their possessions back," the woman continued with a glare, "Then they will have to come themselves! Besides," she added with a snort. "I don't have any albums with such photos in them... What do you take me for boy, a sentimentalist?" Certainly not, that was for sure... But something seemed off here.

He winced, before his eyes drifted over to the book on the side. "Hn..." Hang on... Those kanji were- "Wait..." The boy swallowed, turning back to the woman. "If you don't have a picture of her, then do you at least have one of their father? In that book there?" He pointed over to the leather bound book, Anne tensing as she looked toward it. "It has their name on it after all... You shouldn't keep something like that from them," he continued as the woman's expression soured even further. "That's theirs, they have a right to it."

The woman quickly grabbed the book, moving from the counter and toward the door. "I think I'll be putting this back now," she stated with narrowed eyes, "So if you could excuse me..!"

Yugi moved from his chair, frowning. "Hold on... You asked me why I was here, and I told you," he said, expression growing more severe. "If that's K- If that's Souryuu-kun's book, then why didn't you let them leave with it to begin with?" Even if he couldn't get the book for overly legal reasons, he could at least find out that much! But the woman merely stood there in silence at the question, and his serious expression faded into a sad frown.

...There wasn't a reason, was there... "...It..." The woman turned, eyes narrowed and cold. "As I said- you have no right to this book! Now," she continued, tossing the book to the table and moving for the phone at the other side of the room. "I gave your friend fair warning, and I'm more than certain he would have relayed the message!" H-Hang on, what? "I'm calling the police," she snarled, voice almost frantic, "And hopefully your arrest will serve as a larger warning to your 'friends' to leave me alone!"

Arrest? But he hadn't even done anything, he- A rush of energy filled him, the boy's hair standing on end as the feeling intensified. '_That's my cue_,' his other half said, the original mentally nodding as he stepped forward in their mind. '_I'll handle this now_.'

'..._Alright.' _Another nod, and within a few seconds he was watching from an almost ghostly plane... And 'Yugi' was now 'Dark Yugi'. "I know what you did eight years ago," the boy abruptly said, voice low and confident as the woman across from them halted in her reach for the phone numbers. Anne slowly turned with narrowed eyes, 'Yugi' continuing on with an eerie red glow to his eyes. "When you left those two in an orphanage... You left no ties, and I can guess that it was only your fear that kept you from saying otherwise... If they found out you lied about something so important after all..."

The woman turned completely, eyes wide as she dropped the phone. "What are you saying," she asked, voice almost nothing but a hiss. "What are you implying..!"

Yugi merely smirked, arms crossed with a level of confidence rarely ever exhibited by his 'lighter' half. "Implying? Nothing... All I'm saying is that we both have something against the other, something that we need... With that in mind," he continued darkly, the smirk growing as a dark energy appeared to seep from where he stood in the room. "How about we play a game..? If you win," the boy explained, eyes narrowing. "Then I'll leave, and you'll never have to deal with your '_nephews_' again... More importantly," he added, "Your secret from those years ago will remain as such..." Not that he had any intentions of spilling _those_ particular beans... Even so, she didn't know that, did she. And quite frankly, if that was what she was assuming than that was just fine. No harm done... Right?

Across from him Anne was swallowing, slowly walking forward to take a seat at the table as her 'guest' returned to his own. "...And what if you win," she continued with a nervous growl, hand coming to rest on the tabletop as it shook.

The smirk grew still darker, an energy seeming to radiate around the room instead of just himself as he spoke. "I get that book," he stated, "No questions asked... Keep in mind of course, that this will be a shadow game." The woman across him frowned, and Yugi himself crossed his arms and continued to explain. "What this means is that, in addition to these conditions, the loser will face a penalty game," he added, an odd glint appearing in his eyes with the words. As for the penalty... Let the games decide. "But I'm sure you expected some sort of 'punishment', didn't you," he asked, watching as Anne continued to tense before him. The energies and shadows continued to radiate around the room, seeping up the walls, blocking the windows and doors... "So what do you say, Yamada-san," he asked with a wicked grin, the millennium puzzle appearing to glow around his neck. "Would you care to play a game..?"

Anne swallowed audibly, but it would seem that despite the numerous differences there was at least one thing she held in common with her niece; she was not one to back down from a challenge so easily. And despite any fears she obviously had as the shadows continued to whirl about the room, she managed to steel her gaze and tone both. "...I accept," she muttered stiffly, hands folded in front of her as she looked down upon her opponent. Instantly the shadows converged, and soon enough there was nothing but the woman, Yugi, and the table. "What sort of game is this?"

Yugi's smirk grew into a grin, and he gestured toward the small bell that sat on the table. The bell itself seemed to glow ominously as it stood there, stock still as Yugi grabbed one of the small mallets from beside it. "A simple game really," he said with an odd smile, twirling the mallet in his hand. "Using this bell you've left out for Omisoka..."

The woman's eyes narrowed, her arms crossed. "I didn't set it there," she stated with narrowed eyes, evidently insulted by the assumption. "That was my husband, and my son; I don't see too much point in those sorts of holidays... Their beliefs are not mine. However," she continued with a small sigh, moving over to grab the second mallet, "We made an agreement- if I decorate for my holidays, he decorates for his... My cross, my prayers... His bells and shrines and rice-paper charms." Hn... Was that so?

He nodded, smile vanishing for the moment as the rules of the game formed in his mind. The best way to do this... "Alright then," Yugi decided, arms crossed. "If that's the case," he continued, "You should know of the worlds most _cardinal_ sins, shouldn't you?" The woman across from him nodded, and he went on. "We will each take turns striking the bell," he explained, looking at the bell once more. "The one to strike it last, for the final 'sin', wins the game... You're first," he continued, gesturing to the bell with a neutral expression in the place of his eerie grin. "Go!"

Anne swallowed, before nodding as the energy in the room appeared to change. "Alright then," she said, swinging the small mallet along the side. A loud and thundering peal, a noise seemingly impossible to make from the bell at that size echoed around the room. Even so, the woman appeared to pay it no mind, merely staring across to her opponent with cold eyes. "The first one... Your turn."

The boy nodded, calmly leaning over the table and tapping the side of the bell. "Second peal," he stated, the same thick and pressuring energies from before seeming to close in as another roaring chime came through the air. "Go ahead."

A strong clanging noise came through the air, followed by Anne's voice. "Third strike," she said coldly, the turn moving to her opponent as darkness licked the edge of the table.

Shadows seemed to swirl at the sides, the room appearing darker than it actually was... Another peal echoed about them, the bell before them reverberating in place. "Fourth," Yugi stated plainly, expression calm and neutral as the darkness thickened.

"Fifth," Anne continued, the sound of the bell's gong piercing through the air.

"Sixth," echoed Yugi, crossing his arms and leaning back with the same neutral expression.

The woman before him stared at the bell, suddenly tensing. Her eyes narrowed and widened once again, her entire body growing stiff. "Gh... This is _rigged_," she hissed, clenching her fists. "The last person to ring this bell wins," she screeched, volume raising in her anger. "Then it's impossible for me to win," she shouted, eyes narrowed with rage. "You've set me up... It's either the ten bonds, the 98 proclivities or the one-hundred eight earthly desires, and each and every one of them end on your turn!" Yugi merely watched as the woman before him shook, shadows appearing to close right in on them both as they hid the rest of the kitchen from sight. The woman's fists clenched tighter, cracks appearing on the wood in her hands before she finally flung the mallet across the room with a roar. "I refuse to play this game," she shouted, teeth grinding. "A little cheat like yourself... How dare you!"

Yugi merely sat there, a few moments of silence passing before he shook his head. "Well," he began, a smirk beginning to appear on his face. "If you insist... It's still my turn though," he stated, a dark grin on his face as he continued to speak. "A pity you threw your chance away Yamada-san! Hnhnhnhnhn..." Darkness continued to close in on the two, and on the side of the wall the shadows cleared to reveal Anne's crucifix in an almost villainous light. "You assumed I was referring to the vices of _Buddhism_," he stated, the woman across from him frozen in silent shock. "Your paranoia was so strong that you didn't recognize your own win- for in the Christian religion you hold faith in, there is an _odd_ number of vices... The cardinal sins, and of the six that we've rung this bell for there is only one more!" Anne's frown quickly turned into a look of unbridled horror, the boy in front of her slamming the mallet against the bell to release an echoing peal far louder than that of those before it. Shadows whirled on the one who had lost, seemingly crumbling around them as the woman's eyes suddenly cleared to see what had been there all along. Shadows, clinging, gripping, faceless spirits appearing from the smoke and wrapping around her...

"What is this," she muttered, eyes wide as she turned to look at Yugi with terror. "What... What are you!"

He merely stood there, shrugging at the question. "'_What am I_'," he repeated, arms crossed. Now... He'd gotten questions quite close to that one, but never quite like that... Hm. "A good question," he decided. "One that neither of us have the answer to. You should have gone with your instincts instead of your fears Yamada-san..." Shadows continued to wrap tightly around the woman, leaving nothing but her wide and terrified eyes visible. "Even when loss appears imminent," he continued, "There is _always_ a chance to make a comeback." Anne took shuddering breaths as the boy continued, his eyes narrowed into slits. "Your pride and your petty fears have led to your downfall... And now! For your _**PENALTY GAME**_!"

A rush of energy filled the room, and the shadows that had wrapped tightly around their victim began seeping into her skin. The shuddering breaths increased, echoed voices whispering in her ears as sounds became drowned out. '_This is the Meaning of Fear... **Invidia**_!' And with a final, split second series of terrored breaths the shadows were gone, vanished from Yugi's sight. The room fell silent for a moment... The kitchen was as it had been at game start, albeit with a small mallet on the floor and the other calmly placed on the table beside the bell. Just pale grey light coming through the air, accompanied by the soft ticking of a formerly unseen clock on the side. And then, there was a soft sound that was not at all what he expected from the visions the 'penalty' granted. Screams were typical. In some cases mad laughter depending on the illusions invoked. But this was different.

This was crying. Yugi frowned, looking at the woman as she curled in on herself in tears, soft cries slowly echoing around the room. '_I'm sorry_,' she repeated to herself in English, over and over and over as she trembled. '_I'm sorry, I'm so sorry..._' Now why would she say that..? The frown deepened, before he moved to grab the book from the table. He couldn't think about that... It was quite likely he wouldn't find out. Taking the book from where it had fallen, open and cover side up, he slowly flipped it over, dim light illuminating the glossy pages before him. Along the side there was a cloth ribbon marker, almost glued to the page from constant pressure under closed pages. The pictures weren't too special really... Just a western style wedding between two people, along with a picture from what was likely the reception. A young woman with pure white hair, a man with sandy brown hair... Ah... He blinked, looking over the page as the woman on the floor continued to sob quietly. This was the wedding of Kaiba's parents then... So the man there was this woman's brother... There was a picture near the bottom from what was likely the reception; the same couple, accompanied by a few other people, one of them recognizable as a younger version of the person on the floor.

The woman whose mantra continued to fill the air. '_I'm sorry._..' Yugi traced his fingers over the page, the frown deepening. Some sort of void on the page... What was it? It was a rough, splattered patch, accompanied by a small number of others...

'_Other me_,' his lighter half whispered, Yugi pausing in his examination of the book as the presence in his mind addressed him. '_I think those are... Tear stains..._'

The book was closed over with those words, and he nodded. "I see..." He shifted his grip on the book, leaving the kitchen with a blank expression on his face. "...Lets go meet with Jonouchi now, partner."

With nothing but the sensation of a nod in the back of his mind the two did just that, leaving nothing but a dark house and a crying woman behind them.

* * *

It was probably around lunchtime that Mokuba started getting a little tuckered out really. Ride after ride after ride, with numerous repeats, tended to do that it seemed. For the moment, they were 'resting' on one of the quieter rides, a drink in each ones' hand. Rather, they were sitting on the bench, while the ride itself had been turned off. They were quiet for the most part, as they sat there. Coats were hanging on the side of the bench, and both Seto and Mokuba were merely sitting there with nothing to say. In the end however, it seemed the silence needed to be broken. "..Nee-sama," the younger finally said, the two currently quite alone and away from any possible eavesdroppers. "...Thanks for doing this, Nee-sama."

The woman turned, blinking before putting her drink to the side. "You don't need to thank me for this," she muttered, arms crossed. "I just thought you'd like this..." It was the sort of thing he liked really, what most kids his age liked. Besides all that, it was... Kind of fun, she'd admit. She wasn't much for rides, but Mokuba certainly seemed to be enjoying it... And since she really had no real dislike for the amusement park (She _was_ the one who built it...), that 'not much' didn't really matter for the moment.

Mokuba in question was just smiling, leaning back on his seat as he sipped his own drink. "I do, really," he shouted, as though to reassure his sister of the fact. "It's even better than over the summer, with Shizuka-chan and Katsuya-nii..!"

Again with the nii... It wasn't likely to change but even so she winced slightly at the words before turning to the boy. "That reminds me," she stated, frowning somewhat as a still unanswered question came to mind. "...You told me what happened over the summer, and while I was 'gone'... But from what I can tell, you left something out." As the boy stared, she turned her eyes back to the wall across from them, still frowning. "The figurine on my side table," she continued, recalling the avian figure. About 4 or 5 inches tall, with widespread wings... But unlike everything else on the table, she hadn't gotten a 'story' for it. "Where did it come from? ...Actually," she decided, correcting the question as the conversation she had at the Duelist Kingdom came to mind. "..._What_ happened?"

The boy blinked, before turning away. "Nn... I..." He swallowed, putting his drink down. "I don't want to say," he finally whispered, frowning.

He didn't want to? Her gaze lightened somewhat, the woman keeping her own voice down in response. "...Why?"

Mokuba continued to frown, swinging his legs from the bench as he attempted to find the words to say. "...Because," he said quietly, hands at his sides as he continued to look away. "At the time, with Yugi and the others... ...I just don't want you to get mad at them," he finally said, turning to look at his sister. "I know you don't like them... And I don't expect you to but I don't want you to blame them for what happened, or judge them wrongly because of it..."

...Alright, now she definitely had to know what happened. This could only mean something bad, only- She narrowed her eyes fro a moment, looking at the expression on her brother's face. ...Damn it. "...If I _promise_," she emphasized, not completely believing her own words but speaking them nonetheless. "_Not_ to 'judge them' about what happened... Will you tell me what happened?"

The boy stared at her with a fairly unimpressed look. "No."

What? She wouldn't do anything (most likely), so... Aggh... "..Why..."

He smirked, crossing his arms with a somewhat smug expression on his face. "Because you'd still do it!"

Damn. She sighed, mentally groaning at the words. Obviously someone knew her better than she thought. ...Hn... "...Could you _please_... Just... Tell me what happened then?" If he had been in any danger... Any at all...

Mokuba frowned again, turning away. He could probably guess what she was thinking... "I ...I don't..."

The woman gave an exasperated sigh, holding her head for a moment. Alright. Mokuba wasn't afraid of whoever caused this most likely, just afraid of what she'd do to anyone else involved... Just this once then, she wouldn't come down on those idiots. Just this once... "The only reason you would need to worry about those morons," she decided, lowering her hand, "Is if they did something more idiotic than normal..." A highly unlikely is- Oh shit, unlikely true, but not impossible! She tensed, before turning to her brother with narrowed eyes. "...That had better not be the problem..."

The boy jumped, shaking his head rapidly. "N-No! No, that's not it!" He laughed nervously, rubbing his head. "It's definitely not it... Trust me..." He sighed, staring at the ground again. For a moment, she thought she wouldn't be getting an answer. Abruptly however, just as she was about to ask if Mokuba was ready to go on some other ride, the boy began speaking again. "...That day," he said, before shaking himself and saying something else. "...You know how Yugi... How there's two of him," he asked, Seto nodding somewhat as the boy continued. "It's because of the puzzle he has, the big gold pyramid he wears..." Alright... Sounded more like object attributed 'DID', but given all that had happened as of late she'd accept that for now. But where was he going with this..? "There are other things like it too. Pegasus had that eye," he explained, Seto recalling the similar Egyptian eye depicted on both gold pieces with a mental growl. "And Yugi and the others met someone named 'Shaadi' with_ two_ items like it... But Bakura... He used to wear one too!"

Bakura? She blinked, eyebrows raised slightly. The albino? Her expression was apparently all the boy needed to continue on, as Mokuba nodded. "We didn't know about it," he continued, turning away. "He was really quiet, and nervous when we met him... So when we went to his house to play 'Monster World'-" Monster World? They were playing a table-top RPG? "-Well... It turned out, that there were two Bakura's as well... The real one had tried to warn us not to come, because he finally found out what was happening... He'd had to move away from his family, to protect them, but even with that" he continued, Seto's eyes widening as the boy went on, "The other him took over, taking his place. We didn't know obviously, and for a while the game seemed normal so we just assumed we didn't know him well enough..." He took a shuddering breath, still staring at the ground before continuing on. "Whenever there was a super-critical attack from Bakura, who was acting as the dungeon master... Or when one of us rolled a fumble..." The boy swallowed, shaking slightly before changing tangents yet again. "Everything was going fine until the boss monster appeared... It got a free attack, and rolled double zeroes... And suddenly, Bakura pointed at me, shouting something... And the next thing I knew, everyone was screaming, and I couldn't see anything, and when I opened my eyes again," he said, voice somehow little more than a whisper, "...I was in my figurine..."

In the... In the figur-... What... WHAT? "Katsuya-nii went ballistic," he continued, trembling words pulling Seto's attention back to the story itself. "All I could hear were his shouts as that 'Other Bakura' spoke, telling everyone that to save me they had to win... And after that, I heard the dice clattering on the board... And then Bakura told Katsuya-nii he'd rolled out of turn, shouting the same thing he did to me, but instead of Katsuya-nii being next... Anzu took the hit... And her figurine started to move too." Seto stared, silent as the boy continued still on. She wanted to go deal with this 'other Bakura' right now... Bury him a thousand feet below the ground, but Mokuba was still talking. Let him finish... Let him finish... Interrupting now would just make things worse, she knew that somehow...

"...It was for nothing though," he said quietly, recalling the events vividly. "Katsuya-nii, he rolled a fumble, so he ended up a figurine... And then after him, Honda was trapped in his figurine too, when 'Zorc' attacked him..." Zorc... That must have been the 'boss monster' then... "But before Yugi made his move, he told the Dark Bakura to put his soul in his figurine... So that all of us could fight, while the other Yugi rolled the dice..." He shuffled over, leaning against Seto as he continued on. The woman tensed for a moment, before quietly putting an arm over the boy in an attempt to comfort him, listening as he continued onward. "We continued to play along with the game, like Dark Bakura said... If we wanted to get out, we had to win, but if we lost our hit-points, and died as figurines, we'd all die... It wasn't fair," he shouted, his sister jumping slightly at the sudden change in volume. "My figurine could move outside of my turn, so I couldn't be attacked like they could... While they were stuck standing in place with each attack, I was able to move... When we made it all the way to the final dungeon, and suddenly everyone was trapped in a spike pit, everyone but me... And all I could do was watch, when 'Zorc' appeared and attacked everyone while they couldn't move! I couldn't do anything... I..."

He sniffed, pulling closer to the woman beside him as he spoke. "And then... We all died..." What... Seto tensed with the words, unconsciously gripping the boy tighter than before. Dead..? But he was right here, how- "They got out of the spike trap, but Zorc was too strong... He rolled a super critical hit, and blasted us all away... But something happened," Mokuba continued, eyes seeming faded as he spoke. "For some reason, the attack didn't work... Everything went black, but when we woke up..." The boy looked up, swallowing. "Nee-sama... I don't know how it happened, but... Not only did the good Bakura, not only did he take back control of his hand for a moment, the figurine on your sidetable... That's where it came from... We woke up, and we heard Dark Bakura shouting, and there it was... It shot down Zorc's eye, and fought with us while the Other Yugi pointed it forward... Nee-sama," he said again, still looking up with wide eyes. "I know you probably don't believe me but... I think you saved us all from that attack... And again too... Later," he explained, choking slightly on his words, "When Zorc made his final attack... Before we defeated him, there was another super critical... Bakura, the good Bakura," he clarified, "He managed to appear with us on the board to help us, and block most of the attack with a shield... But your figurine, it stood in front of Katsuya-nii, while Katsuya-nii stood in front of me, blocking the attack... Without that, we would have died nee-sama!"

H-Hang on... She looked down at the boy, an odd expression on her face. Some figurine counterpart of herself appeared on the board and... What? This was... Dim shouts could be recalled in the back of her mind, but besides a wash of heat there was nothing. Impossible, completely impossible... So much that it could only be true. "...Well." She shook her head, still holding the boy close as she attempted to wrap her head around what he'd told her. "...I can see why you didn't want to tell me this," she finally muttered, pulling the boy closer before looking down at Mokuba with a small frown. "...I assume Yugi dealt with this 'Dark Bakura' accordingly..." An odd glint appeared in her eyes with that, her brother nodding furiously in response.

"Definitely," he said with a nod, pulling from the hug. "We got rid of him completely when we won the game, and everyone who had been trapped in a figurine returned to their bodies! Bakura doesn't have the ring around his neck any more either, so even if 'Dark Bakura' still exists, he's long gone!" He laughed nervously, shaking his head at the thought before continuing. "Everything's fine now! Really nee-sama, it is..." The boy turned away, hopping off the bench. "So... There's no problem, alright?"

Of course there was a problem! He'd had his soul snatched out and had been likely to die within a few hours after! The only thing giving her even a sliver of comfort on the topic was the apparent lack of the 'ring', which had apparently caused all this! And it all happened while she was-

...Gone. '_That's right_,' the albino had shouted after her match between herself in the mutt, '_After all, Jonouchi is-_' The one who was there that day, as opposed to herself? Or even the reason why he was still alive and here with her? She narrowed her eyes, silent for a moment before standing up with a nod. "No," she finally said, grabbing the coats as they moved to whatever ride was next on Mokuba's 'list'. Everything made sense now... A part of her didn't want it to make sense but... She held her tongue, looking down at her brother for a moment before pulling him close as they walked toward whatever ride or event would be next for the day. "...No there isn't..."

* * *

She hadn't saved her brother. While she had known and accepted that when they left the Duelist Kingdom, distracted by the annoyance of ferrying Yugi and his 'friends' back to Tokyo and by the overall hidden elation of seeing her brother alive and well, she was still running that thought through her head as she sat at her desk on Christmas Eve. Against Pegasus she had at least tried, tried and failed and accepted death in a grim attempt to at least make up for her failure. She hadn't known about that other time though. She didn't do anything, not that she knew of, to keep her brother safe those times before, despite what her brother believed. If she couldn't recall it, then she hadn't done it. She wanted to remember but... Someone else had saved her brother, that was for sure. He'd had his soul stolen not once but twice, and in both cases... Even though she herself wasn't in any way available in this newly discovered case, that did not change the obvious fact.

'Katsuya-nii' as the boy would call him, had jumped after the source of both cases of 'spiritual kidnapping', not to mention the more obviously dangerous physical form, pulling his friends with him. And the 'other' Yugi joined in, bringing with him his absolutely moronic luck when it came to winning. Something she had counted on, she admitted to herself, something that she had believed, when coupled with his skill, would at least spare her brother from an ill-deserved fate. But for all his skill, there was always a weak point. Same with the luck... And she'd find it, sooner or later. Seto sighed, leaning back against her seat and putting down the sketch pad she'd been working on. The design, something that had originally started out as a small mistakenly placed line on the page labeled 'Duel Disk V2', was far smoother than the prototype, in her opinion. New designs for the dueldisk... She wasn't quite sure where the inspiration was coming from, but so far it looked rather practical really. It would fold to the side when not in use, and latch tightly around the arm... When it _was_ in use, it would resemble a blade of sorts, lining the side of the arm and extending past the hand. It would need something to display the holograms though she decided, perhaps something could attach on the sides or...

The woman looked over at the clock, sighing as she noted the time. Well... The rest of the designs would have to wait she supposed... In all honesty, given how slow the work day was, she could probably have this under development within a month as it was. (It was nice to get things done quickly...) She closed up the sketchbook, slipping it into her briefcase before getting up to lock up the building. Christmas eve... She had a nasty feeling she knew why her brother had decided on that particular day for her to do her last work-day before the new year, but all in all she would take what she got this time. Better than sitting across from the board and listening to them whine about how much longer it would be before she could fire the- Erm... 'Test their product'. (And then fire their asses.)

She grabbed her coat from the side, pulling it on before heading off to the elevator. '_Merry Christmas Kaiba-sama_,' the secretary to the side said with a smile, Seto herself giving nothing more than her usual 'nod'. Watching as the doors to the elevator hissed open she stepped inside, pushing the 'G' button and dimly watching the doors close before going down. In any case... Much as she had planned to draw out her 'one day of work' as much as she could to ensure she didn't miss any details in all that had happened, anyone available to drive the car was 'preoccupied' with something that was apparently far more important. And as much as she didn't want to say it, there were things far more important than not having to walk back to the house...

Things like her brother for one, she told herself as she left the elevator to head out of the building. If there was even the risk of something happening to him, then she would give up anything to fix that problem. _Anything_. Though she doubted that those reasons were applying in this situation, she wasn't in the mood to argue with her company assistant. Snow and wind struck her face as she came out of the large glass door, the woman wincing briefly at the sudden temperature drop before shrugging it off with a neutral and blank expression. Tch... Well, a scarf and a coat would be enough for now. Now then... It was likely about a forty-five minute walk from the building to the house, so she had better move...

Seto gripped her briefcase, making her way down to the crosswalk in silence as the wind continued to howl. Clouds above more or less obscured the now moonlit sky, most stars above her clouded from existence by the thick and heavy air above the city. She blinked as a few clumps of snow blew into her face, again paying it no mind as she walked. Hn... For a 'quiet, peaceful' time of year it was getting awful stormy... She shrugged it off, continuing along the sidewalk in silence as she somewhat pushed her way through the crowded streets. Music was dimly audible from numerous stores, mostly playing romantic songs about the holidays or English carols, as had been going on since likely early November. 'Christmas'... Such were the consequences of the holidays... By the looks of things, Mokuba was getting incredibly excited about the idea, despite the thin veil of 'reason' being clearly unable to cover the intense commercialism behind it. She'd never really bothered with it herself... Not after Gozaburo... Nor after that _other_ day, she thought to herself. She continued walking, expression still notably blank save a slight and seemingly permanent glare. Didn't see the point, or was it something else? ...Maybe it was just knowing that the point of the holiday was to roll in double the average profit Japan received. Even so, with Christmas around the corner, and her brother likely flying around the house in some sort of holiday panic... She still didn't know what to give her brother.

The woman stopped for a moment, frowning at that thought. And how many people ever said that, really? '_I don't do Christmas, even for my younger brother_'? Just repeating it like that in her mind sounded worse than it should have been. Damn it... She had to do _something_. Something more than just playing along with his recent requests, because the fact was that while she could have just refused the 'two weeks off' among other things... Just playing along was...

She sighed, gritting her teeth as snow started to gather on her hair. How could she _not_ know what to get him? There had to be something, anything... Wouldn't she bet that the Mutt, who only knew her brother for less than a year already had a present? The thought bit hard, Seto holding back a growl at the idea. Damn it... She couldn't just go with some half-baked, last minute plan either, that would be even worse... Tch. The woman looked beside her, eyes drifting over the store she was standing outside of. Something worth- She blinked, looking over the display for a moment. Hn. An engraving store...

...She hadn't ever bothered with Christmas, not for a while... And thinking back, she could remember Mokuba giving more than one sad smile around the time when the subject was rejected. Year after year, the first time with herself, and all those afterward with no support at all when facing down Gozaburo with the question. And by the time Gozaburo was gone, well... Her brother hadn't even bothered bringing it up the year before... So perhaps this year...

She turned to look over the store window, before making her decision. This wouldn't just be something to make up for it all she decided, stepping into the store and paying the now melting snow on her coat no mind. It wasn't some pitiful attempt to make amends, or to pretend nothing had changed from when they were younger. This...

This was something she wanted to do this time around.

* * *

**AN: **Merry Christmas... IN NOVEMBER! Bahahahaha... See? I can tie up loose ends in a mean way too. Course, there's a big difference in tolerance between Seto's bitchy Aunt and Jonouchi's awesome but not completely there dad...

Annnnd it's another long one! I have a feeling this is going to be a trend... Doesn't seem to be something to be alarming though, given that it's only a difference of a few words from what I can tell... I'll let you decide on that though. Man! I managed to hop right from the Halloween mood to the Christmas mood just like that though! Whoo! You might be wondering what I mean by long though; the fact is, the note down here is only about half the length of its normal run so... Yea. Takes a large chunk off the length.

Not much else to say on everything else that isn't said below... So with that, we'll jump right to the next point!

Poll results are...

**Unchanged**. So take a look at the last chapter for the current results guys!

And now...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey there Iona! On the first point... Yay~! It's fun to provide entertainment you know. I'll keep it up then!

And yessss, yes she is a bitch, that mean old aunt. You are right in saying that Jou could potentially put a large kink in her life, but that isn't actually the reason why she flipped out on Jonouchi. Yes, she's paranoid about that fact (Once the pictures come out, it's fairly obvious after all), but she isn't afraid of him spilling that otherwise.

Yugi on the other hand… Well, when one bluffs, it's hard to tell with him. (After all, the thing that would put a kink in 'Aunt Anne's life would put a fairly large one in Seto's as well.) And hahaha! You're right, I didn't go that route with the baby panda power! Of course, Yugi _did_ try to be nice to start… Unfortunately though, it just doesn't work all the time…

Awkward conversation between Jou and Kaiba? Oh lord yes! Awkward interactions are what those two practically thrive on right now! Between grudging respect and intense annoyance, plus the desire to keep Mokuba as 'her brother' instead of 'his brother' (in the sense of words obviously, not actual blood relation), it's really interesting how things pan out… And of course, Jou has that crush that keeps him from going tooooo far over the line unless he doesn't intend it, which helps with the balance of things. (He's also testing the waters, which is always... Fun... )

It's not so much that Yugi's dad was on business that long, as it was that when he was home, it was probably a one night shot; it's similar to Hanasaki's own father in the manga, who ironically has the same position in a way. Hanasaki however, sees him far more often, as the man just sort of does his thing in the states and then returns… I have a feeling that in the case of Yugi's father it's fairly similar, just that 'Mr. Mutou' has less free time. The traveling/commuting businessman in Japan really does travel a lot…

And ooh boy, you just wait! It'll be incredible! (-I got really into some of this-) Keep a wide eye out for hints at later arcs while you're at it though… The Christmas arc will be_ loaded_ with either foreshadowing, or seemingly menial points that will become key in later arcs. Not to mention hefty character development and assumption for those I'm having fun with (Though you likely guessed that.).

Speaking of menial points... _Take a look at the first paragraph_.

To the next point!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that warns you for copious non-manga related things in this section as we move on. Enjoy the ride!

* * *

This chapter's title? Because that's what happens. (Whoooo!)

* * *

Have fun interpreting the events going on in Osaka and Kyoto guys~ You've probably guessed already though, you all tend to be good at that.

* * *

Bakura's practically _inhaled_ french fries references a scene in one of the later episodes in the anime, near the end of the entire series itself. After waking up from who knows how many hours of unconsciousness due to Yami Bakura's 'Millennium Game', he mentions (very **LOUDLY**) that he's hungry… And for a brief moment of time when everyone is preparing for the ceremonial game between Yugi and Yami Yugi, we see an _enormous_ selection of food in front of the guy… And he just downs bowl after bowl of this stuff without a care within those few seconds!

* * *

I don't know about you, but I think that even an Egyptian Pharaoh with no memories would have differing tastes compared to his 'host', particularly since as unconscious as it is, that is one _huge_ culture jump. In any case, I added in the 'mustard' in reference to Yugi's most disliked food; the 'shallot', a sort of sweet onion.

* * *

On a more important note now… When Yugi says that time is running out, he's obviously not lying... But there's a further extent of this you should know. In Japan, the 23rd is a National Holiday, as it's the current Emperor's birthday… So… Shopping at stores is probably either a bad idea, or the stores are closed. Kind of an unknown, though I'm going to say it's like most 'basic' holidays and just say it's a bad idea to try it. (Kaiba of course doesn't really care about it, so closing down the amusement park for a day with her brother isn't exactly hard to do... Same with shopping on Christmas eve.)

It's also a great opportunity for Yami Yugi to screw around it would seem. Hoooo boy.

* * *

Interesting thing on the 'partner' deal. There are two seperate 'spellings' for the word 'Aibou', which is what Yami Yugi refers to Yugi as. The first one, which _only_ means 'companion', uses the kanji 'a' from 'au' or 'ai' (meaning 'to come together', 'to merge', 'to unite', 'to match', etc.), as well as the kanji 'bou'... Which... On it's own, means 'pole' (Best not to ask.). The two kanji are linked with the hiragana character 'i'... But that's because 'au' and 'ai' are the kanji with the hiragana characters 'u' or 'i', so the 'i' is still part of the first character technically.

The second one, which I think is the correct term (I would need a RAW scan to check this), uses two kanji, and means 'partner', or 'accomplice'. The first kanji, 'ai', means 'together', or 'fellow'. The second, 'bou' is the same as above. It means pole. (What's with the pole...) In any case, for simplicity's sake, we're sticking with 'partner'.

* * *

Cardinal means 'important', or 'prime'. So when Yugi says 'cardinal', though he refers to the seven deadly sins (Also known as the cardinal sins), Anne just thinks he means the most important ones. And of course, in Japan, where Christianity is like... Half of one percent as opposed to the vast majority of Buddhism participants... Well, take a look down there.

* * *

Always sucks when you realize that the religion your 'punisher' is referring to is completely different from the one you thought eh? The one Anne was thinking of was Buddhism. The '108' earthly desires all come from this handy formula here… The six senses of the eyes, ears, nose, mouth, skin, and mind, multiplied by the three aspects of time, the past, the present, and the future. (18)

This is then multiplied by the two characteristics of the heart; pure and impure, good or evil, based on one's karma. So far we have 36 now… Multiply that by the three preferences a person may have- like, dislike, and indifference- in regards to those six senses. We now have 108.

Anyways, these are all divided into 98 proclivities, and 10 bonds, the 'biggest issues' so to speak. Those are what Anne _thinks _Yugi is referring to, hence why once she hit six she was all '_You're a dick, you know that_?'

At which point Yugi said '_Actually, I noticed you had a cross on the side there and decided that the seven deadly sins would be better'_. ENVYYYYY-GONGGGGGG.

* * *

On a translation note, 'Invidia' is the latin word for 'Envy'; now envy and jealousy are technically two different things. Jealousy is technically the fear of losing something one possesses to another person (So paranoia over losing your stuff basically.). Envy on the other hand is the pain and frustration caused by wanting something, be it material or otherwise, that another person has, that they themselves lack. If you didn't put it together... (Not to surprising if that's the case though...) ...So technically we're looking at Jealousy here, but whatever.

* * *

So why did Yugi play this game knowing he was rigged to lose? Because he had _that much confidence_ in the woman flipping out on him. OH YAMI YUGI. YOU WILL NEVER LEARN.

* * *

I checked and double checked, and I'm pretty sure that no penalty game inflicted by Yami Yugi has _ever_ ended in tears as opposed to screams, death, and crazed laughing/mutterings. Tends to come off as a bit of a surprise for that reason.

* * *

Interestingly enough, this scene _wasn't even supposed to be written_. Instead, there was a much lighter, and actually quite humerous 're-cap' of sorts, with Yami Yugi just rattling off dismissively what he'd done and giving Jonouchi the album… With both Jonouchi and the normal Yugi in question coughing somewhat awkwardly as a result. In the end however, I ended up fleshing out the penalty game completely, as really… Most of them _do_ involve a lot of psychological manipulation to an almost frightening level! Of course, sometimes Yugi's so subtle about these things that his opponent doesn't realize just what kind of crap they're in until its too late…

* * *

OH GOD THAT SCENE. The one with Mokuba and Seto… It was hard, but I _really wanted to type it_. It's a love hate deal I suppose. In any case, rather than argue out of character tendencies, think about what kind of news the kid just floored his sister with. Think about it… You're spending the day at the themepark, and suddenly '_Soooo… Bakura has an evil half that sealed my soul and the souls of the others in figurines with a life-or-death shot, you showed up, but it wasn't really you, saved all of us, and then we won and everything was ok_.' It's bad enough that Kaiba's only just starting to wrap her head around this soul-stealing business… But when you throw all that in, with a fairly bizarre tale of living figurines, it kinda… Renders one silent. Just a little.

And then there's the added realization that '_damn it, I wasn't there, it took my rival and a mutt to save him_'. Ouch…

* * *

Oh Mokuba... You do not want to know how wrong you are Mokuba...

* * *

When you think about it, the only person available to drive is Isono at the moment. Kaiba won't be able to apply for the liscence to drive a car for another two years really, and given how often she actually drives, it's not really worth the time to force a law through... In fact, I'm almost certain that the only reason why we see Kaiba driving a car in the doma arc even though he wouldn't have been legally allowed to is because... Well... He didn't care at the time, and honestly he'd more than certainly be able to pay whatever ticket flew his way in the blink of an eye. (It's just troublesome to have that sort of thing on record.)

Back to Isono, in addition to being the only one who can drive at the moment, he's pretty much the 'go-to-guy' running the house when you don't factor the actual home owner (-coughSetocough-) into the equation… So really, he's probably the only one aside from Jonouchi, who can actually watch Mokuba when Kaiba isn't there.

* * *

A note on Kaiba walking... Not too 'rare' actually. For one, during most of Battle City he's... Walking. And for another, when we first see Kaiba in the manga he's... Walking. From school to the game shop I might add. Now, I should probably keep in mind that plot holes have a bad habit of coming into this series, and when Kaiba first appeared he was only supposed to appear once... So it's quite likely he wasn't the super-rich owner of Kaiba Corp at the time. So really, who knows... Personally, I don't think walking would be that much of a big deal for Kaiba...

* * *

Present time~~ And next chapter, we'll come somewhat close to it! More likely there will be two more chapters, as opposed to one… This one was longer than intended as well after all, and the fact is, there was a _lot_ more I wanted to put in here that I didn't end up doing. (It meshes in quite well with the next chapter you see.)

In any case... See you later!


	43. Chapter 42

**The One Replaced  
**

* * *

By the time Yugi had showed up outside Burger World that afternoon, the snow falling from above had come to a brief halt in lieu of letting the light of the sun through. From the cloud covered sky that dominated the area early in the week had come a welcome and somewhat clear sky... Even if it was still painfully cold outside if standing still for too long. Even so, he didn't want to miss seeing him... So outside he stayed. It was the 'Other Yugi' who was walking toward him, Katsuya noted when he finally spotted him. A thick book was gripped tightly in the boy's mitten-ed hands, and despite how awkwardly ridiculous his original counterpart looked in the coat he wore, for some reason the darker half managed to still exert his usual air of respect in the same outfit. It was fairly interesting to say the least... Though when the 'darker side' of the boy had realized he would be stuck in a coat for a good three months, he hadn't been particularly pleased about it...

Though he certainly wasn't complaining now that it was actually cold outside. "Yugi," Katsuya shouted, watching as his friend continued across the street with the thick book in his hands. In fact, despite the thick coat he wore, he'd say that Yugi looked almost a little cold... "Yug'," he continued, walking over with a grin. "How'd yah do?"

The boy merely smirked, gesturing to the book in question before coming close enough to speak. "Take a look," he said with a smile, the two walking into the restaurant. He brushed a bit of fallen snow from the cover, holding it out to his friend. "This is the entire album for Kaiba's family."

Katsuya stared, grin frozen on his face as he took the book. It was incredibly well kept, from what he could tell. The leather embossed cover was scarcely touched by the elements of time, and thick kanji stood out from the book's hide. The pages themselves, from what he could feel along the sides were in good condition as well, and despite fraying, the ribbon that hung out on the side looked almost as good as it likely appeared when first purchased. "Woah..." The blond shook his head, eyes wide. "Yugi, I..." He'd expected maybe a picture at best, a worn and torn photo that was barely seen... But this... He looked to his friend, before somewhat chasing after the boy as he was led down to a table by a waitress. The pair took their seats, leather-bound album placed neatly on the side of the table. "Yugi," he repeated, looking from the cover to his friend. "How'd you get this..?"

His friend shrugged, a small smirk on his face. That look didn't seem... "Oh... The usual way," he said nonchalantly, taking off his coat and mitts. Erm... Usual? The boy chuckled as Katsuya coughed, looking over the menu before continuing. "We played a 'game'," he stated with a shrug. "And she unfortunately lost... I have to say, you were right to say that Yamada was more than a little over the line," Yugi said with a frown, looking up from the menu a moment. "You have my word that no harm came to her though," he added seriously, turning back to the menu. This was probably the first time he had a shot at ordering something he liked really; from what could be seen, 'Other Yugi' and 'Normal Yugi's tastes were fairly... Varied. In any case...

"Phew..." He nodded, sighing with the news. If Yugi said she was fine, then she was fine; now worries there then. "Well, so long as there's no crazy money-eyes like las' time," he said, wincing at the memory of the gameshow he'd been on. "That was jus' a lil..." Weird? Scary maybe? Who the hell knew anymore.

Yugi gave a wry smirk, apparently recalling the day just as well as his friend did. "I was only trying to help," he said with a shrug, flipping the menu page.

The blond grinned, laughing. "Yea, I know," he said, shaking his head. Of course he was trying to help; and it worked didn't it? Besides, if it hadn't been for Yugi, he'd have never gotten to make that trip to Osaka... "An' anyways, it's no big deal! I jus didn' think that'd be th' best way to start th' holidays, y' know?" Crazy people going on the news... Wasn't the best thing to watch at Christmas really.

Again, his friend nodded, before turning as a waitress appeared. "Well," he continued, smirking. "I can at least tell you that it isn't something like that." Er... Why did he have a feeling 'something like that' just meant '_Well, she's not cackling madly or anything.._.'. As... As opposed to what? ...Ahhh, what the hell, what was done was done right? Yugi looked up at the waitress, looking back at the menu again. "Hn... I'll try..." The boy frowned, continuing to flip through the menu in apparent annoyance. "...Ah..."

He snorted, holding back a laugh as his friend gave a fairly unimpressed glare in response to the sound. Haha! Such was the price of never actually ordering he guessed! "Iced tea an' a cheeseburger," he said to the waitress with a nod, before glancing at Yugi with a wide grin. Hehehehehe... "Y' might be waitin' a while f'r this guy though..."

Yugi frowned, crossing his arms. "Actually," he said somewhat angrily, "I've made my decision."

"Oh y' have," he asked with a smirk, watching as the boy nodded 'knowingly'. "Annnd?"

He turned from his menu, expression nothing but severe as he continued to speak. "I'll take the burger as well," he stated, nodding somewhat. He blinked, before adding something. "...With extra onions!" Erm. The other Yugi liked onions then? And... "...I think I'll try a milkshake too," he muttered, looking back at the menu as Katsuya stared with raised eyebrows. "...A chocolate one..."

Oh. He just didn't know what the hell he was doing. (That was new.) The waitress nodded nonetheless, scribbling the order down and bowing her head. "Alright then," she said, folding her hands in front of her before taking the menus from the table. "I'll be with you as soon as I can!" With that she left, leaving Katsuya to continue snickering as his friend glared across the table.

"Gh... Havin' a hard time choosin'," he asked, wide grin still in place.

Yugi merely snorted, arms crossed as he protested the fact. "It just took me a moment, that's all!"

He continued to grin, nodding his head. "Whatever y' say man... Hate t' see you on a date w' someone," he added, mentally picturing the 'two Yugi's arguing about what to order. Poor Anzu he guessed...

The boy huffed, before changing the subject. "Well, speaking of dates," he said with a raised eyebrow, looking at the book again. "How are you going to give it to her?"

Katsuya blinked, silent for a moment. Dates, what? "Give it t'- Oh!" Right! Whoops. He turned to look at the book before looking back at Yugi. "Righ'... I w's thinkin' 'f jus leavin' it by th' door or somethin'..." He flushed, scratching his head with a laugh. "Heh... Somethin' tells me that if I try anythin' else, I'm not likely t' live through th' holidays! Ehehehe..." Probably wouldn't live past Christmas if he tried something else actually...

His friend shook his head at that statement, a smirk on his face. "Personally," he said wryly, "I think that if you've lived this long, you have a fairly good chance... ...You aren't going to look in it though are you," he asked, frowning.

Again he blinked, before shaking his head. "Nah... I get that y' would've had t' check," he said with a shrug, "But other than that, this thing 's Seto-chan's personal property... If she shows anyone else, that's up t' her," he continued, leaning on the table. "But I ain't opening this book f'r anything."

Yugi nodded, arms crossed. "That sounds good to me," he decided, watching as the food came to the table. "Ah..." Plates were placed on the table, same with tall glasses before the woman before them bowing politely before leaving as quickly as she game. Yugi looked at the food a moment, before taking the milkshake and cautiously taking a sip. "...Hn..." He put the glass back, a slight expression of surprise on his face. Hehehe, well, at least it wasn't like when he'd tried Yugi's mustard-burger... Two souls two tastes right?

Hey wait... Katsuya frowned, watching as the boy took a small bite of his burger to get a similar reaction. "Hey Yug'," he asked, the boy looking up and swallowing. "...How'd y' know y' wanted onions on that thing..? Didn' you..." He shook his head, correcting himself. "Didn' yer 'other you' say yah didn't remember anything? If... If you can't r'member anythin' then how... " It was apparently a rough subject between the two at that; the only real link was Egypt and... Well, just about everything crazy involving other people with items like the puzzle.

That never worked out too well... Either way, more weirdness showing up was never good. Yugi stared, putting the burger down and frowning with the question. "...I'm not sure," he muttered, eyes narrowing with evident worried suspicion. "...I..." He hesitated, closing his mouth and continuing to stare at the table in silence. It was one of those things that tended to clam a person up really... Because similar to how Yugi's words had the power to quiet a person, so did the inability for those words to appear do the same.

* * *

It would be terribly inaccurate to say that the conversation at Burger World had ended on a bad note. In fact, Katsuya thought to himself as he looked around the corner-store the next day, it was quite the opposite. Shortly after the awkward silence had come over the two in response to the 'habits without memory', Yugi decided to change the subject to a large building that was currently in construction across from his house, a topic that sprung up when a construction truck had passed the restaurant. They weren't sure what exactly the building _was_ for the moment... It was certainly tall, with an almost regal looking entrance to go with the many tall and tinted windows, but the guesses were more than enough to keep the conversation fairly high paced.

Maybe it was an apartment complex? Nope, the door was too fancy, and there wasn't a buzzer from what they could tell. A hotel then? Maybe, but it was pretty small for a 'big fancy hotel', and why would they put a hotel like that across from a small time game store anyways? (Oddly enough, it was Yugi who had countered that one...) Perhaps a restaurant, or just some really weird house... Nonetheless, they finally had one clue as they walked back to Yugi's house that evening. Though it was still pretty much nothing. Apparently, the tarp covering the large light they had installed the day before was blown off, so when the two got to the street they were able to read the large English letters fairly clearly.

C... L... O... W... ...'_Clown_'? The building was called... 'Clown?' So like circus clowns? Katsuya shook his head as he pushed the thought from mind, instead looking through the foods he needed for the evening. Clowns aside, it was now Christmas eve day, and from all that had gone on he had a feeling everyone was celebrating this evening rather than the next day. He'd long since decided and planned for what he'd get Mokuba though; the boy had said he'd never had Oden so... Why not make some oden then? Not for supper obviously, but hey, wouldn't be a bad idea! He'd convinced Kyouko to lend them her nabe and kotatsu... And hell, maybe Seto would try some, who knew! ... (He should probably stop thinking of Seto and a kotatsu in the same room though.) He gathered up the food he needed, unable to keep a grin off his face as he went to the front. There was just enough for three people in there- a few eggs, some daikon and suji... Though he ended up skimping on the veggies, he'd admit that.

He shouldered the bag, walking back outside and closing his eyes as a gust of wind and snow struck him in the face. Snow scraped against his cheeks, the blond tensing for a moment as a particularly large clump stuck to his mouth. "Bl... Pbbt..! Pbbt!" He spat the snow out, wiping the rest off his face with a slight growl. "Eugh... Bleehhh..." Alright, what the hell was in that snow... That was disgusting... He shook his head, blinking a few times as he headed back to the house. What with the house being a big fancy mansion, the corner-store was obviously not nearly as close as he'd like... Even so, given that it was around noon when he left he should have plenty of time to get there, and it would likely take around half an hour.

Despite the near blizzard worthy conditions for the moment (Wouldn't Seto just be so damn comfortable in her office right now...), it was almost a nice walk really... The sky had cleared somewhat, and even though it wasn't near the evening for the moment the lights decorating the streets still gave their own bit of flair to the city for the holidays. Silence reigned through the windy walk, most people inside warm homes or downtown to finish a last minute shop. All in all, he thought to himself, it wasn't a bad start to Christmas...

Not bad at all. Katsuya trudged his way through the small layer of snow that had gathered along the sidewalks leading to the Kaiba mansion, the soft 'fluff' having remained mostly untouched due to the privacy of the area. Due to the size of the area that was in the mansion's 'possession', it wasn't surprising how few people ever appeared in the area. Why bother coming that far out if all that was there was one house after all; it wasn't as though Seto really invited too many people over, if she ever did... Actually he had a feeling that given Mokuba's reaction to his own first visit, he'd been the first exception for a while. (Though he wasn't sure how to feel about that one...) He wasn't sure how much yard the place had... Just how big the 'backyard' was, without counting the already spacious and well cared for front. But given the fact that it took a lot longer than ten minutes to get from one end of the wall to the other before turning the corner to see the gate, he'd say it was a lot more than he would want to bother himself with attempting to calculate. Now that he thought about it actually, he was lucky he'd entered from the more 'frontal' side of the wall during the one night he'd attempted to break in; had it been any further back, he'd have likely been screwed over completely thanks to the distance.

Though it wasn't like that really mattered now he supposed... He came to the gate, fishing around his pocket for his security ID before scanning it in the machine. Briefly, as the computer registered his number to open the gate with a click he looked over the card. Sheesh, his picture looked so... Serious... Of course, they'd specifically told him not to smile, and to just stare at the camera but... Still. He pocketed the card again, turning briefly as the gate shut behind him again before looking back at the mansion. Man... For all the security this place had, he really had to wonder why Seto bothered with guards... If she didn't have any, the cameras would have likely caught him easily before!

Of course, cameras couldn't well pummel a guy to the ground soooo... There went that suggestion. Not to mention, even with the recently placed 'decorative spikes' on the wall (probably the only good thing about the board of directors actually), it was still pretty easy to climb over it. He pulled the bag of food from his shoulder, shrugging the thoughts off as he made his way to the front door. The door of course wasn't locked... With all that was going on, there wasn't really so much need for a key at the door as there was around the gate, but in any case... Christmas time was here, and he was ready! Kyouko had agreed to move her kotatsu and nabe into the kitchen for the moment... It was sitting behind the counter, along with the present he'd wrapped the night before. It was simple wrapping really... Mostly pieced together from a few paper bags, but all in all he decided that flashy paper would probably just bug Seto a lot. He had considered painting the paper as well but... Well, in the end he decided otherwise.

He did throw in a card for good measure though. Tried to draw Blue-Eyes on it too, though... That didn't work out too well. Better than the last time he'd tried to draw though, he'd give it that. The blond tapped his shoes against the step, pushing through the door to pull his shoes off. "Tadaima," he shouted from habit, shoes hanging from his hand with the bag of food as he looked around. Eyes widened as he took a few steps into the foyer, shaking his head. "Woah..." Needless to say, the difference between when Seto had left that morning and what the house looked like now was... Astonishing. He hadn't paid much attention outside of course; he was a little busy balancing the bag of food as he skidded across a patch of ice but... Wow.

Katsuya took a few more steps forward, shoes and food still hanging from his hands. Long green garlands of pine and holly wove around the staircase railings, sprigs of mistletoe and a few pots of poinsettia's decorating what little he could see of the hall. Tinsel lined the pine branches, and even hung around the chandelier above him. Candles were sitting on the normally unused stands along the walls, flickering warmly in the dim light around them. All in all, Mokuba had done... A lot in the time he was gone to say the least, not to mention whoever else was left in the house. Speaking of Mokuba, where-

"Boo!"

"NYHAAA!" The blond jumped, barely catching the food and shoes he held before whirling on Mokuba with a frown. "O-Oi," he shouted, the boy merely laughing in response. "I've got breakables in here!" Well... The eggs were breakable at least (please don't be broken...).

Mokuba merely grinned, arms crossed despite the long lengths of tinsel in his arms. "Hehehe... Whoops?" He shook his head, before gesturing to the foyer around them as a few strands of tinsel clung to his hair. "So what do you think," he asked with wide eyes, looking up at Katsuya expectantly. "The remaining staff and I are decorating for Christmas while nee-sama is gone, how are we doing?"

He continued looking at the hall, giving a slow nod and deciding not to compare Mokuba to a small Christmas tree for the moment. "Y' did good," he muttered, shaking his head. "Like... Really good! This is... Incredible," he said, looking down at Mokuba with still wide eyes. "How long 've you guys been workin' on this?"

Mokuba shrugged, shaking his head and moving to dump the pile of tinsel on the side of the stairs. "Hnn... Not sure," he said, looking back at the hall to scratch a few threads from his hair. "Depends on who you talk to... I know that Kyouko has been working for most of the day now..." Yea that sounded like her... "And Isono disappeared somewhere to handle a few other things... Anyways," he continued, turning to look up at Katsuya with a renewed grin. "Do you want to help? I think Hobson is putting up lights in the backyard, and we're mostly done in here..."

Hobson? But he was... The blond blinked, frowning. "Er... How's he puttin' lights on the trees if he's usin' a cane..?" That sounded just a bit impossible, wasn't that guy old enough to be Seto's grandpa?

The boy again shrugged, walking off toward one of the lower hallways. "Beats me," he said, frowning. "I think he had help from one of the servants, but I can't be sure... Anyways," he said with a nod, looking back at Katsuya. "The back door is over here, follow me!"

Katsuya blinked, before looking at his bag and mentally smacking himself. "W-Wait," he shouted, jogging up to the boy as he turned. "I gotta put this in th' kitchen first, alrigh?"

"...The kitchen," Mokuba asked, staring somewhat owlishly at the bag. The expression abruptly shifted into an odd grin, the boy moving back toward Katsuya. "...You know, I could do that if you want..."

He shook his head, pulling the bag back with a frown as Mokuba reached for it. "Hehehe, naw... I think I c'n handle it myself..."

This apparently was the wrong thing to say; most likely because this increased Mokuba's evidence suspicion as to something important being in the bag. Something important that likely concerned him. "Are you sure," he asked, continuing to reach for the bag with a grin. "It doesn't look like much..."

"Gh-" He tensed, holding the bag above his head as Mokuba continued to reach it. "Very sure," he shouted, before bolting for the door to the kitchen. He turned the corner, Mokuba chasing behind him as he continued to shout. "Y' ain't gettin' this bag," he called, turning back to look at the boy.

He continued to reach, tripping over himself as he ran. "Let me see what's in it!"

"NO!"

"Pleaaaase?"

"I said N-"

The chase abruptly stopped, Katsuya just about bowling Kyouko over as the maid stepped out of the kitchen. "Ah!" The woman jumped, the boys both narrowly preventing the bag from falling over as the woman stood there. There were a few seconds of silence as the maid looked over the two, eyes wide with minute shock. "Wh...What on earth is going on..? J-Jonouchi... Mokuba-sama..?"

Mokuba laughed, grinning sheepishly as Katsuya sighed in relief. Well, no one was hurt so... "Nothin'," he said with a groan, holding the bag out for the maid to nervously take. The woman took the bag in both hands, leaving the blond with his shoes as he continued. "Y' think you could keep this from Mokuba f'r me?"

She blinked, before peering in the bag and raising an eyebrow. "This is just f-... Ahhhh..." She nodded with realization, closing the bag up in her hands before bowing her head. "Of course..." Yeaaaa, that's right... Food for the nabe he was borrowing. So... Please don't say anything... "Alright then," she said with a small bow, before looking over to Mokuba with a warning smile. "_Don't try anything_..." Katsuya held back a shudder, blinking a few times. ...How the hell did she manage to make that sound more like a threat..?

The boys shared a glance, with Mokuba hurriedly nodding in response as he looked back. "Ah... O-Ok," he shouted, coughing. "I got it!" With that, Kyouko nodded, before disappearing back into the kitchen with an odd smile. A few moments of silence passed, the shorter of the two fixing Katsuya with a glare. "Nghh... Katsuya-nii, did you really have to do that...?"

He merely shrugged, shoes still hanging from one of his hands. "Hey," he protested, crossing his arms. "Had t' do somethin' t' keep 'm from yah! Sides," he added with a grin, laughing at the pouting frown he got in response. "You'll find out later t'day..."

"Gh-" Mokuba bristled, growing red in the face. "T-That just makes me want to know even more!"

"Hahahahaha..."

A cough from the end of the hall took their attention, Mokuba and Katsuya both blinking as Hobson made his way down the hall. It was slow going of course, what with the man limping on a cane. It was honestly a miracle, in his opinion, that Hobson was still alive after what happened at Death-T. More so that he had returned to work within a few weeks, albeit with a fair amount of physiotherapy on the side. As it turned out, the voltage on his chair had been no different from that of the other chairs, which really were apparently charged to '100,000'... But as it turned out, from what he'd managed to glean later on from science in any case, the voltage could have been double that and it wouldn't have killed him.

Rather, the 'amperage' was what controlled the fatality. The voltage affected something, that was for sure; from what he could get, the higher the number, the higher the pain, and the pain had likely been more than enough to render Hobson motionless when he'd been shocked. But it was the amount of amps in the electricity that would determine life or death, a level that had apparently been just low enough that there was a shot at life. As it was, even though he had survived, the old man's formerly bum leg was no completely useless. Despite all that though, he continued his job with a determination that more than explained why he was one of the few staff remaining despite his age, the 'staff purge', and the fact that he had been one of the people directly involved with Death-T. "Oh," the old man said with raised eyebrows, the sunglasses on his face dully reflecting the hall light as he ambled forward. "I was about to look for you, Mokuba-sama..."

The man hobbled over, Mokuba blinking as Hobson stopped a few feet away to lean on his cane. "Hn? What is it," the boy asked, Katsuya as well looking down at the man.

"Oh nothing much," he said, waving his hand somewhat dismissively. "Odoru just left for the end of his work shift you see, so I need someone to help with the last of the lights..."

Mokuba looked up at Katsuya, giving an odd smile before the blond shrugged. Well, not like he was doing anything else. "Eh... I'm free," he said, free hand placed in his pocket as he looked down at the old man. "Lead th' way!"

The old man nodded, smiling. "If you say so," he said with a bow, turning slightly. "Mokuba-sama," he added, pointing down the hall with a slight nod, "You should probably make sure the den is _prepared_..." The boy paled at those words, hurriedly nodding and running off with wide eyes as Katsuya stared at the spot he had stood in moments before.

"Ah..." Ok, that was weird. Whatever was supposed to be 'prepared' must have been important he guessed. The blond turned back to Hobson, the old man slowly making his way back down the hall. Eh, whatever... Time to work right? Katsuya easily caught up with the man, shoes thumping at his side as he walked. "Oi... What was that abou'," he asked with a raised eyebrow, Hobson merely chuckling in response.

"Lets just say," he said with a somewhat conniving smile that reminded the blond of less than cheery days, "That Seto-sama will be in for a _very_ large surprise when she returns home from work." The chuckling continued, Katsuya blinking with the words. A surprise? More surprising than the rest of the house? He thought for a moment, frowning. Ok... If whatever was _outside_ that room was going to pale in comparison to that then... He shook it off, instead pulling his shoes on with a slight hop as the back door came into view. "Now then," the man stated, gesturing to a few boxes on the side. Katsuya looked up from where he was tying his second shoe, nodding. "If you could carry those for me..."

Another nod, Katsuya grabbing the large box of lights before turning as Hobson held the door open. "Righ'... I got it," Katsuya said with a grunt, adjusting his grip on the fairly heavy box. Sheesh, how many lights were in this thing? ...Where the hell did they come from even, these things were gathering dust! "So how many tress do we-" He froze, gaping as he looked at the backyard for what had been the first time since the middle of the night when he'd attempted to break into the house all those months before. Now that there was sunlight to guide him rather than just house lights detailing the first part... "H... Holy shit," he muttered, turning to Hobson as the old man made his way out and shut the door. Looking back at the yard of now barren trees he stared, breath creating a steady cloud of vapor in front of him. It was... _Huge_, how the hell did they look after all this? He could barely see the wall at the back through the number of trees! "How big is this place?"

Again Hobson chuckled, waving the boy over to follow him down the seemingly empty backyard. "Trust me," he said with a laugh, cane sinking through the few centimeters of snow as they walked. "If I told you," he said with a clearly humored tone, "You would likely not be awake for more than a few seconds with the surprise." What? Wait, and what was that supposed to mean? "Now then," the old man stated, cane leaving a steady and even trail of small indents in the snow beside their footprints. "There isn't too much left to set up with lights for now, just a few trees that line the back stables..." A few trees, alright... "I could also use some help with feeding the horses however, if you wouldn't mind," he continued, looking back at the blond.

Huh... Help with the horses, never done that before but that didn't sound too- Wait. Waiiiiit... Katsuya frowned, blinking a few times as the words registered. "We... We have _horses_?"

"Well..." Hobson appeared to pause, frowning as he looked for the right words. He stopped walking for a moment, before moving on with a wave. "To say _we_ own them would be the loosest of terms... Technically," the man stated with a small grunt as he hobbled over a few tree roots, "The horses belong to the late Gozaburo-sama, bound to this home by his will and testament." He pointed toward a distant looking 'shack', before looking toward Katsuya and continuing on. "Seto-sama herself," he continued, the blond beside him adjusting his grip on the basket. "Does not likely know they are even here, let alone pay to care for them."

The frown deepened, Katsuya adjusting his grip on the box of lights. Er... If... The horses were technically owned by a dead man and paid for by a dead man... "If Seto-chan doesn' know abou' th' horses," he asked, Hobson visibly gaining a humored smile with the honorific used for his employer, "Then how'r yah lookin' after them?" Not to mention why... If no one was using them then... What was the point?

Hobson merely smiled, chuckling slightly as he shook his head. "Well," the man started, "It's one thing when it's only one person taking care of the horses," he stated calmly, the stables now in plain sight from where they stood. "It's completely different however, when a large portion of the staff takes their free time and a small bit of their own money to do so."

So then... A bunch of the servants and maids were looking after the horses? Huh... The recent clean sweep had to have put a sizable kink in that plan then. But if that was the case, even with that going on... "...Why bother wi' that," he asked with a frown, again adjusting his hold on the basket as a few cables hung off the edge. "I mean... Wouldn' Seto-chan jus' pay for 'm herself if she knew about them?"

The man hurriedly shook his head, almost tipping on a nearby root as he frowned. "Oh no," he said almost with a hush, Katsuya almost flinching at the answer. "No no _no_, most certainly _not_," he stated, voice low and almost incredulous. Er... Sorry for suggesting it? "I'm sure that if things had happened differently..." He trailed off, before coughing as Katsuya raised an eyebrow. "I should explain," he said somewhat gruffly, voice rasping as he went on. "Seto-sama would just as soon _kill_ the animals as she would keep them," he said somewhat bluntly, the pair walking along the flat lawn as Hobson continued. "You see, a good number of years before, shortly after Seto-sama came here," he explained, "Gozaburo-sama attempted to give his only horse at the time, an _extremely_ passive stallion by all accounts to her for use in horse-back riding..." Er... Horse-back riding..? That seemed kind of... Hobson apparently noted the confused expression, smiling as he explained. "It's a tradition of sorts, she's quite likely the first to break it," he stated with a somewhat nonchalant tone before going on.

"Now then, where was I... When Gozaburo-sama presented Seto-sama with 'Kuma', the horse I am referring to," he stated, the 'shack' ahead revealing itself to be a small stable house. "And stepped back, just for a moment, the first thing it did was rear on it's hindlegs, and attempt to strike the girl down from where she stood! She was pulled away of course," he continued, "And there were no injuries, quite thankfully... But needless to say," he added with a grave tone, shaking his head. "Seto-sama was most certainly unwilling to go anywhere _near_ the beast after that point!"

Er. Yea. He could see why that would happen. Katsuya swallowed, letting out a long sigh as he shook his head. He'd... Probably hate horses too if he was just about beaned in the head by one. "Er... Alrigh' then," he said with a frown, shaking his head again. Ok. So horses were _not_ something she was into then. "If Seto-chan hates horses so much," he asked with a frown, turning back down to Hobson, "Then why bother keepin' them..?"

He merely waved the blond off, shaking his head as they passed the entrance of the stables. "Oh trust me," he said dismissively, You'll find out soon enough." The man steadily made his way to a small cluster of five trees, motioning for Katsuya to put the basket down. "But you will keep your mouth **shut**," he 'ordered', the blond jumping as a suddenly militant-esque shout was uttered. "Understand me? For at least today," he added, pointing at the blond almost accusingly.

The blond swallowed, nodding. S-Sheesh... He'd never heard him shout like that before! "Gh... No problem," he said with a nervous laugh, putting the basket down. "W-Will do!" He calmed himself down, watching as the old man before him leaned on his cane to pull out some lights. The sky was slowly getting dark now... They still had plenty of time to hang the lights on the trees though. "So... How many trees around here?"

"Just these ones," Hobson said with a small grunt, attempting to untangle a few of the wires as a large pile came out from the side. Katsuya as well began pulling a few out, looking at a few of the knots and dust with raised eyebrows before attempting to pull the cables apart. Damn... These did not have a happy existence... "There are very few trees in the back as opposed to the front," he explained, tossing a loose end of cable to the side. "Otherwise the horses have nowhere to run or graze... The trees," he explained, pulling a full line free as his 'assistant' continued to growl at the large knot he was stuck with, "Are more as a barrier than a decoration; with so many there, they tend not to bother with them."

Huh... Alright then. He supposed that would help with managing to trick Seto into believing there were no horses in her backyard... Katsuya continued to pull at the cables, before finally gaining headway on the one end. "Aha!" He grinned, before turning as Hobson coughed. He already had about three or so strings free to use, having started on a fourth. Compared to his 'start'... "Er..."

The old man smirked, roughly pulling the 'knot' from the blond's hands. "How about you put the lights on the trees while I handle this," he 'asked', Katsuya laughing in response.

"Haha... Yea," he decided, taking one of the free cables and rolling it on his shoulder. "Prob'bly a good idea," he added, moving to the farthest tree. He had a feeling there was no real question of a power source for the lights at this moment; climbing the tree and wrapping the cables around the outermost branches, he took care to leave the plugs hanging either near the stable or the next tree before moving back to the box for more lights, linking more cables together when he ran out of line and continuing on his way. The stables likely had lights themselves after all; in fact, given the box beside it, it was likely the source of all the backyard lighting.

He hopped down the tree to grab a few more cables, slowly making a trail of lights from one tree to the next as he worked. The trees back there weren't too big to tell the truth; it was fairly easy to just shimmy up the side and get to work, and by the end of it all, there were no more lights left in the box... The cables were plugged in together to form a long line in the air, and watching as Hobson punched a code into the metal 'cabinet' beside the stable, the blond held silent. As figured, this was where all the lights were connected... So as soon as the right switches were hit, the entire backyard would likely light up. The blond looked up to the sky a moment, blinking as he drifted into thought. The snow had slowed up from earlier that day; rather than blowing about in a blizzard-like fashion, it was now calmly falling from the sky where a brilliant moon hovered amongst a few barely visible clouds and stars. What few flakes hit his face melted in an instant... And though he wasn't quite sure why he was staring, he couldn't stop.

"Now then," Hobson was muttering, looking over the various switches he'd uncovered. Katsuya looked down from the sky with those words, watching as the old man before him traced a finger down the row of switches. "One two and... Aha." -_click_-

Lights abruptly filled the air, Katsuya's eyes widening as the yard was filled with specks of colour. Row by row the trees were lit, both those behind him and the ones filling the upper part of the yard. It was a sea of light... Even the mansion itself had been lit up, lights lining the balconies and roof, visible quite clearly in the distance of the yard as the light hum of electricity met his ears. "Woah," he whispered, staring at the lights. "This 's..." He shook his head, staring. He'd only done five trees, think of how long it took for the rest... And about what the front looked like! "This 's incredible... You've been doin' this all day," he asked, turning to Hobson with wide eyes.

The man shrugged, closing the box with a loud clack before locking it up and hobbling over on his cane. "Well now, I wouldn't say _all_ day," he said with a humored chuckle, making his way to the stable entrance. He opened the door, holding it open and turning to the blond behind him. "Now how about you help with the horses, like you said you would?"

He nodded, following after with a cough. "Right," he muttered, walking into the stable as the door was closed quietly behind him. It was fairly large... Well, the building was large, but it obviously wasn't the biggest set of stables in existence. There was room for three horses from the looks of the stalls built along the sides, but only two spots had been filled. Those spots in question were kept across and diagonal the other, on held almost beside him and the other at the far end. Taking a few steps forward in the stable, his eyes wandered around in silence as Hobson turned around to pull a few things from a rack on the side.

"Now I need you to listen very carefully as I do this," he was saying, the blond paying him only about half his attention as he looked around. A light snort was given from the side, the blond turning to face one of the horses. The horse was white for the most part; its muzzle, rather the skin, was black, and almost as dark as the horse's eyes. As he continued to stare however, it quickly gave another snort, clomping away to turn around from the teen. He shook his head, Hobson's continued muttered instructions still fading out in the air as he moved toward the back of the stable. This was the second horse... He looked across from where the horse stood, staring at the empty stall. Why was there an extra spot though..?

The horse behind him nickered, brown head leaning forward as it leaned over its stable door to look at the blond. Katsuya in question jumped slightly, turning as the horse continued to amble its head closer to the teen. "Er... H-Hey," he whispered, hesitantly raising a hand above the creature's nose. The horse snorted, drawing back slightly before moving close again. "H-Hey there," he said quietly, slowly putting a hand on the beast's muzzle before beginning to stroke it. "H-Hah... Yer pretty cool..." Huh... This wasn't too bad, this horse was pretty sweet actually...

Hobson was still talking, but it was only just now that any words were making sense. "...And above all else," the man was saying in the background, turning around with a bucket as Katsuya continued stroking the silent and obviously pleased horse. "Be sure to stay as_ far _from the brown one as-" The man froze, Katsuya turning with a slight jump and bringing his hand down. "Good _lord_ boy did you not hear me when I said stay **PUT**!" Er, no?

The blond blinked, coughing as he realized what Hobson had just said a few seconds before. The brown one..? "Er... W-What was that abou' stayin' away from a horse," he asked nervously, before turning as the horse behind him began nibbling at his hair. He frowned, watching as the steed pulled slightly at a few strands. "O-Oi," he muttered, pulling away as the horse gave a snort. "Stop that!"

Hobson gave a wheezing and unnerved cough, before hobbling over and quickly tugging the blond back to the other side of the stables. "That means stay away," he muttered with seeming nervousness, the horse in question giving a light snort before turning away from them both. Katsuya stumbled slightly, pulling himself off and looking back. Alright, alright... The man beside him gave a long sigh, looking back to the brown horse and shaking his head. "My god..." He shook his head, leaning against his cane while he rubbed his head. "That beast," he muttered with disbelief, Katsuya raising his eyebrows in confusion. "_That_ is the one I warned you of on our way here."

He blinked, eyes wide. Warning? Wait, so the one who just about nailed Seto in the face was... "Wait... _That's_ Kuma," he asked incredulously, the horse in question pulling his head up in response to his name. It stared for a few moments, before turning back to what looked to be a bucket of water. Erm... Not quite as fearsome and bear-like as expected. More like a teddy bear actually...

Nonetheless, Hobson nodded furiously, and if he could see past the man's sunglasses he was pretty sure he would have seen extremely wide eyes. "Most definitely," he stated seriously, turning back to look at the horse. "That is most definitely him," he said quietly, expression sour as he went on. "That horse hasn't shown affection of that level since Noa-sama's passing," he muttered, gripping his cane tightly. "But you," he continued, turning on the boy with a scowl. "Do you know how lucky you are to be alive you _fool_? Pay attention!" The blond stepped back, scratching his head under teh shouts. Sheesh, alright, he got it! Don't mess around with 'Noa's horse, ok... Wait...

Katsuya frowned, bringing his hands down to his pockets. "...Noa," he repeated, staring at Hobson. "Who th' heck 's 'Noa'?"

The old man visibly shuddered with that name, shaking his head in what looked to be grief. "Yes that's right," he muttered, hobbling back to where he'd dropped the bucket. "You wouldn't know who Noa-sama was, he was... He was far before your time," the man said with a sigh. He carried the bucket over to a large barrel of sorts, turning back to Katsuya as he grabbed a 'scoop'. "Noa-sama," he began, "Was Gozaburo-sama's first and only biological son..." Wait... What? The guy had a kid? He blinked, listening as Hobson gave a low sigh before continuing. "He was twelve years old," the man continued, scooping piles of what looked to be mixed grains and hay into a bucket, "Almost thirteen in fact, when he was hospitalized... Thirteen when he finally moved on. It has been... Eight years," he decided, pulling the now mostly full bucket from the bench and carrying it to the white horse's stall. "Nine come August... Since he's been gone. He was struck head on by a car," he continued somewhat bitterly, Katsuya following the man back to the barrel of feed in silence as he listened, "And for a short time, by some miracle he lived. Every bone in his body was fractured," he shouted, pouring the feed into a bucket on the side of the white horse's stall, "Not a single part of him untouched," he shouted, voice laced thickly with disbelief.

"But for a short time," he said quietly, "He was indeed alive... Comatose and barely there, but he was alive... Until finally, Gozaburo-sama was told there was nothing more they could do. His organs were useless, bones rendered powdered... And his spine was so crushed that it would be impossible for him to live, even if the rest of him recovered. He lasted until a week past his thirteenth birthday," he muttered, cane clacking against the ground. "And then, with the flick of a switch, he was gone." Hobson gave a long and morose sigh, silent for a few moments with those words. It was an awkward silence, one that he didn't even dare to try and break. In the end, it was Hobson who broke it, the man turning to look up at Katsuya with a blank and possibly depressed frown. "I understand you likely share similar beliefs on Gozaburo-sama as Mokuba-sama, and Seto-sama as well," he continued, feed scoop clutched in his hand. "But despite his many flaws, if there was one thing that man was, it was a _father_- he tried everything in existence to save that boy, and when it all fell through... Well... It affected him, pulling that plug. It truly did..." He sighed, shaking his head and turning away again. "He would have been 21 by now," Hobson stated almost wistfully, leaning on his cane. "And I believe that a majority of Seto-sama's grief from the man might be for that reason..."

Katsuya frowned, hands in his pockets as he spoke. "Reason," he repeated, watching as Hobson began to re-fil the bucket with feed. "What reason..?"

The man paused for a moment, before turning to face the blond. "Well you see," he said almost hesitantly, pausing for a moment before moving on. "There was one reason, one_ incredibly_ key factor in the initial reason why Gozaburo-sama agreed to adopt Seto-sama and her brother..." Again the man paused, as though carefully choosing his next few words. "If you were to look at a photograph of Noa-sama," he stated seriously, an odd gleam of light coming off of his sunglasses, "And you compared it to an image of Seto-sama at the same age... There would be one difference, only one, and that would be naught but the colour of their hair... Never before," Hobson stated with a tense nod, filling the bucket at the side with feed and pulling it from the bench, "Never before did two _completely_ unrelated children look so similar! It was as though they were long lost siblings, separated from an early age," he added, shaking his head. "With that in mind," Hobson continued, cane clacking against the ground as he walked toward the back, "I believe that Gozaburo-sama might have been... Frustrated... That this 'son' he had taken in, this child who was by all appearances his long deceased boy, did not react to things in the same way, did not enjoy the same things he had... They are very alike, that is true, but with that in mind there is no doubt in the differences between the two."

Of course there were differences... Seto was Seto, not some other kid! He continued to frown, watching as Hobson dumped the bucket of feed into the corresponding bucket for Kuma before leaving the stall in a hurry when the horse gave an angered snort. It was just bizarre... Seto was meant to..._ Replace_ Noa? As in, fill some void and memory? What kind of memory would it be then, if it could be replaced? "Tch..." He grit his teeth, shaking his head as Hobson slowly walked back toward the rack of tools to put the bucket back. "No offense Hobson," he muttered, looking over to the horses. "But personally, that jus' makes th' guy a hell 'f a lot worse in my head... Not t' mention scary as hell."

Hobson paused, before giving a defeated shrug and shaking his head at the statement. "Yes well..." He put the bucket to the side, before moving to hold the door open for Katsuya. "I suppose I expected as much," he continued, wind blowing in through the door as the now soft breeze gusted through.

Heh! Good. Least that meant there were no weird hard feelings, work would be awkward otherwise. Speaking of all that business with 'Noa'... "Hey... Does Seto-chan know about this," Katsuya asked, following Hobson out of the stables with a frown.

The man shook his head, somewhat shocked scowl deeply ingrained on his face as he turned to the blond. "Most certainly **_not_**," he shouted incredulously, leading Katsuya back from the stables to head toward the house as the blond winced. "The news would at the very best give her a heart attack!" Er, that didn't sound like 'best'... Was Seto really the heart-attack type? "Give it some thought," the man demanded with a frown, jabbing a finger at him. "How would you likely react if you realized that your _entire_ position was based on the twist of fate that you so resembled another person that you could likely take their very place? And that this was the _only_ reason for your existence in that position!"

The blond blinked, turning away for a moment with that thought. Er... Yea, being put somewhere because he looked like someone sounded just a bit creepy. "Nyh... That..." He coughed, rubbing the back of his neck as he shook his head. "That's a damn good point... Shit," he said with a nervous laugh, attempting to lighten the situation. "That'd scare th' crap outta me..."

"An 'eloquent' way of putting it," Hobson said dryly, walking along the slightly filled in trail of footprints the pair had left behind. "But yes... The news would assuredly instill, at best, a good amount of momentary fear with the realization."

So basically it would scare the crap out of her. Katsuya swallowed, nodding in agreement. Heh... Yea... He had a feeling he knew how that would end. He let out a long breath, watching as it fogged into the air before speaking again. "...So," he said with a cough, attempting to change the subject. "What exactly are th' plans f'r Christmas?" That was always a good fall-back plan for the subject, right? ...He would miss being able to fall on that when the holidays were over.

The man beside him turned, staring in silence for a moment as he continued to walk. "Well," he began, a grin appearing on his face. "I can tell you this; it's very_ big_."

Big eh? Like size big or just 'big'? "Y' sure Seto-chan'll be alright with that," he asked somewhat nervously, eliciting a loud laugh from the old man.

"Ohhh I doubt she'll admit it," he said with a grin, a steady 'thump' noise coming from his cane as he moved from the snow covered lawn to the back porch. "But I'm almost certain she'll enjoy it, however grudgingly," he added with a wink. Was grudgingly a good thing..? "I'll make sure of at least that much," he continued with gained volume, pausing in his steps only momentarily before heading up the porch steps. "At_ least_ that much."

Heh? The blond blinked, staring as they came under the porch 'roof'. "Nyh... Whadya mean, 'at least that much'," he asked, Hobson in question dropping the grin.

There was a long, drawn out sigh in response, the man stopping in place with a deep frown. "It's something that I have only just come to recall," he admitted, shaking his head and rubbing it somewhat. "During the Death-T event, shortly after you and your friends moved on from the 'Electric Chair' ride I had hosted" he explained, "I could do nothing but sit completely still and wait. Wait for a paramedic, or perhaps even another member of staff... Anyone," he said with a shrug, taking a seat on the somewhat dry patio chair to the side. "It gave me quite a bit of time to think, as I'm sure you can imagine!" Yea... A long time he bet... "More than enough time," he said bitterly, hands clenching his cane top. "Enough so that when I first came to realize that my would be victims were not the usual threats, or possible 'loose threads' so to speak, but rather a group of children who, besides yourself and your friend, largely had nothing to do with the very one who gave those orders..!"

There was another sigh, Hobson shaking his head before continuing as he stared to the side. "Through all my years," he muttered, eyes still unseen behind his sunglasses. "I have seen many things, things that would likely make your fine hair turn blacker than coal... I've been in war, I've been tortured... I _have_ tortured," he said with a slight shrug, the blond across from him coughing awkwardly with the statement. "And through all my years, I have lived to serve this family, for whatever task is asked of me. Be it house cleaning, or '_persuasion _by other means... I have been there," he stated, bowing his head. "When I was first called upon for the 'Death-T' event," he continued, "I did not put too much thought to the matter. You could say I had become too used to things, too blind to what was happening... Orders were orders, and in comparison to a few tasks that those before her had given, it was quite light to tell the truth... But sitting there," he muttered darkly, appearing to stare off as he shook his head. "It was only at that moment that I recalled that the orders to effectively kill and maim by any means possible had not been given by a hardened soldier with recent ties to an arms maker, nor by a businessman looking to cut off possible competition," he added with a shudder, tone darkening even more. "Instead, they had come from a _child_, a woman younger than my own granddaughter! From a girl who had grown up far too quickly for _this_ world," he added darkly, Katsuya staring at the man with a small and confused frown. "Far too quickly..."

...Shit... What was he supposed to say to that? The blond swallowed, an awkward silence falling through the air as snow continued to fall outside the 'roof' boundaries. All that was... Well, news of apparently worse things happening there aside, that was... Wait... He blinked, the last few words slamming him mentally. Wait, younger than his _granddaughter_? How old was his granddaughter! Katsuya shook his head, staring. "Seto-chan's... Younger than yer grandkid," he asked quietly, shaking his head again. "Wh... How old _are_ you?"

Hobson chuckled darkly, shaking his head as an odd grin appeared on his face. "Ohhh, far, far older than I should be according to the work place rules," he stated with a grunt, pulling himself up from the tree roots. "Far older... I am Seventy-three," he stated with a short chuckle, bowing his head as the blond gaped. "I have been serving this family for three generations now, since Gozaburo-sama himself was but this tall" he continued, a wry smile in place as he gestured below his own height. "Though I _sincerely_ doubt I will be doing so for much longer than that," he added, shaking his head. "Now," he continued, moving toward the door to pull it open with a grunt. "I could go on for hours and hours on what my life has been spent doing... But I think that such stories are for _another_ time," he said with another bow, a bit of light from the inside revealing what would ordinarily be covered by sunglasses. One eye was half closed, aged and withered like the rest of the man, and the other...

Katsuya gave a somewhat involuntary shudder, pushing the image of what was certainly no longer an eye from mind. Nothing but a strange, stitched over and almost mutated wound. Something told him that was one of those 'for another time' stories. He had to agree with Hobson on that... The stories were definitely for another time... _Deeee_finitely... For another time. "G-Good plan," he said with a cough, turning his head away before walking into the hall. Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think...

"Needless to say," the man went on from beside him, door closing with a small click before he turned back. "When I think about what she's missed, and compare that to my own granddaughter..." He shook his head, stooping somewhat awkwardly to pull of his shoes. "The fact that I did not realize how horribly twisted everything was shaping up to be... It is something I certainly doubt I will ever forgive myself for. And for that reason," Hobson stated quietly, exchanging his shoes for slippers as Katsuya made with walking in his socks. "No matter what happens, I plan to treat Seto-sama not as some old, hardened and battle ready businessman, as her image in Kaiba Corporation would suggest... But as the young woman she is," the man stated quietly, cane once again making steady 'clack' noises across the floor. "To an acceptable extent of course, no doubt... But if 'acceptable' means holding a somewhat 'last minute' Christmas celebration," he added with a shrug, the blond beside him giving a wry smirk at the action, "Well, then that is _exactly_ what I will do!"

He laughed, shaking his head. Anything it took eh? Not a bad plan... "Heh... Can't wait t' see her reaction t' this then," Katsuya said with a grin, the blond slowly pulling off his coat and slinging it over his shoulder. "Y' sure yer gonna be alive by the time this is over with," he added, grin widening as they moved down the hall. "No m'sterious abs'nces?"

Hobson waved a hand, limping on his cane with a chuckle. "Ohhh... If I don't," he said with a smirk, "I can guarantee to you that it's of natural causes rather than the wrath of my current employer... khkhkhkhkh..." ...Don't laugh like that please.

Chuckling filled the air, Katsuya shaking his head at the sound before a cough came from the side. The two turned, watching as Kyouko hesitantly made her way out of the kitchen with a bowed head. "Is everything ready," she whispered, looking over the two and taking a nervous glance down the hall. Despite her somewhat flustered expression, she had somehow managed to keep her uniform in pristine condition; and given the shouts and clattering noises from inside the room, that was probably quite the feat. "The food is prepared and ready," she continued, turning to the two once more and biting her lip. "And the 'den' is completely prepared..."

Katsuya looked down to Hobson, watching as the man bowed his head. "Everything is prepared," he stated with a firm and confirming tone, cane held almost at 'attention'. "Now then," the man continued... "After you, my dear."

"R-Right," she said quietly, nodding her head politely before moving past the two. "This way... We're to wait in the foyer with Mokuba-sama..." Wait for wh- The blond blinked, before nodding. Right... Of course... Wait for Seto. ...Boy he hoped she didn't blame him for this if she hated it. That would royally suck. They moved on toward the foyer in silence, before a quiet groan from the front pulled their attention. "Ohhhh..." Kyouko frowned, moving around the stair rail before turning back to the others. "We're too late..."

Heh? Too late? Katsuya looked around the woman, taking a few steps forward and staring. Accompanied by her clearly eager brother for the moment, Seto currently stood in the middle of the foyer, rubbing her forehead. Hahaha, well would you look at that, looked like someone was... Er... Could that be called surprised? Looked more like she was nursing a headache, though she'd stopped rubbing her head now... The blond blinked as he spotted a third person in the foyer, watching as Isono walked over from his position behind the two. "I see you finished decorating," he said with an amused smile, Hobson limping forward to meet the man with a nod.

"You expected anything less," he asked incredulously, eliciting a chuckle from the man.

"Well," he said with a smirk, stepping to the side to bring the others toward the middle of the foyer as he spoke. "I certainly didn't expect it from a crippled old man..."

Hobson snorted, Katsuya awkwardly scratching his head as the 'arguing' continued on while Kyouko merely rubbed her head. "A _crippled old man_ am I," he asked, cane clacking against the ground. "We'll just see how this crippled old man fares against the _green_ business assistant then," he said mockingly.

Ahhhhhgggghhh... The blond mentally groaned, shaking his head. Why the hell was he listening to this..? He blinked as the two in the house entrance turned, Mokuba grinning widely as his older sister raised her eyebrows. He could practically hear her thinking 'why _now_'... Oh well, too bad. "Ah, Katsuya-nii," Mokuba said with a grin, waving from beside his sister, the woman in question wincing far less than she had the first time she heard the term. "Is everything ready," he asked, the answer coming from behind the blond.

"Of course," Kyouko said with a bow, Katsuya moving to the side as the maid continued. "I take it the day went well," she asked politely, Seto blinking before giving a small nod in response to Kyouko's second deep bow.

"...It did," she said plainly, expression seemingly neutral for the moment.

The maid nodded, a smile on her face as she gestured behind her. "In that case," she stated, Hobson and Isono both leaving for another room as she continued. "We have dinner waiting... Shall I show you to the table, Seto-sama?"

There was a brief silence, Seto merely staring for a moment before nodding curtly. "That would be nice," she stated, moving forward to pass the maid to enter the coat room first. She had already pulled off her scarf it seemed, the coat quickly unbuttoned and hung up in an instant. In the same moment, Katsuya as well put his on one of the hangers, the blond stepping out to stand with the others as they waited. The briefcase was placed on the ground in the coat room in that moment, and soon enough Seto came out with her hands free and at her sides. "...Lead the way," she stated, Mokuba and Katsuya both watching the exchange. Ok! Time for food...

With another bow, Kyouko did just that and led them away, the three following behind her in relative silence. The plan had been set in place it would seem... And now, it was time to enact it.

* * *

**AN: **Ohhhh my god the DIALOGUE in this chapter! Many of Hobson's lines were changed from original planning, certain scenes pieced together... It was truly a 'waterfall' chapter, this one. Basically, conversation flowed as it did, and my usual guidelines were only loosely adhered. Normally, I'm very strict with this. The Duelist Kingdom for example, was planned well ahead in advance... In fact, there are certain key bits of the _Doma_ arc that are already planned! In any case... There's only one chapter left for the Christmas arc, and I have to say, I did _not_ expect it to move this quick... I had figured one chapter per week, bringing us to December, where I would leave a month's break...

It's... The first week of November, and I'm one chapter away from finishing Christmas. Hoh, hurm...

Anyways. Need to share this with you; while I was planning out the horse scene up there, I was at my godmother's... It was a pretty awesome time, spent Halloween at her house and at a themepark (YES.)... And one of her friends invited us to watch her daughter take a riding lesson. Now I was sitting there, watching and gushing (The closest thing I'd ever gotten was children's pony rides; despite my age and height, I think the ponies preferred me, since I was quite likely lighter than the sets of two children that most of the other ponies had... Hohhh-hummm...)... And I find out that they do _free_ assessments. And before I know it, thanks to the number of cancellations over the Halloween weekend, I'm borrowing a helmet and boots riding around on a wonderful appaloosa gelding named Ranger. ...But oh GOD my legs! I've never used my legs like that, holy shit! (As you can see, this proved to inspire a good deal of research for the horses.)

Anyways. Needless to say, English riding! Which, is of course, the riding that is referred to up there. This chapter probably seems shorter than the norm, but that's because of the dialogue (BLAME HOBSON.)... Also because I would much rather have all of Christmas' events in one chapter, rather than tacking a small bit of Christmas to this one for the sake of an extra page or so. That would be _silly_.

Now, on another chapters and arcs note... A slight timeline for you people; as you know, Battle City lasts a fairly long time, so that will _definitely_ happen during the summer. This means of course, that the Noa arc goes there as well... Which means that the Doma Arc will either pull everyone rather violently from school for a bit, or it'll occur a full _year_ after the fact. (That's alright though, since Yu-Gi-Oh R is supposed to happen shortly after Battle City anyways.) Now here's the thing; besides Battle City, there are technically two 'arcs' that are between Christmas and Summer. Legendary Heroes of course will take place next, and occurs sometime in January. After that we have another original arc concerning Valentines day, but I'll go into detail on that when we get there.

Following Valentines, we have two possibilities. I can either _mix_ events, by having White Day (A Japanese only holiday so to speak, which exists to sell chocolate I'm pretty sure) occur rather close to when Rebecca appears, or just have the two somewhat separate... If that happens, expect Rebecca to show up in late March. And of course, Otogi won't be showing up until shortly after the start of April, when the school year begins... But even so, after that, we have about two months before the summer begins... Which will likely be spent planning certain tournaments. And voila, you have a series of events, have fun guys!

On a more IMPORTANT note; for the Legendary Heroes, there will be much more RPG-Gaming than magic card draws. To this extent, we're using the class and battle system, which means that each person in the Legendary Heroes game will have... Well, a class of sorts. Now what I want _you_ to do (I'm looking at ALL OF YOU!) is recommend either a game with a number of classes to choose from, or even a specific class for a specific character. Costumes will be changed, weapons made to suit the character and class... Go wild guys!

More notes! If anyone has a particular request for a scene, or even just a design (IE, Yugi's winter outfit, or the horses) they want drawn, let me know! You probably won't see it for a bit, but I'll definitely do it! (I'll have that Eye scene in a bit, the poses for Jonouchi are being fussy though...)

And now for the Poll...

**Still unchanged, see chapter 40 for results.**

Well, so much for that one.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey again Iona!Hahaha, indeed! Rudeness? Being jerks to family? That clearly had _nothing_ to do with it, nothing at all… *Sarcasm mode activated!*

Hahaha, the gift exchange, at least concerning Mokuba, is probably the most amusing scene ever… Kaiba saves her gift for when Mokuba goes to bed, as she gives it to him with relative privacy like that (She_ is _a fairly private person after all), but when Jonouchi breaks out his own present… Oh boy. I'll tell you this now, it has a lot to do with Jonouchi's earlier thoughts during the summer chapter, specifically concerning dishes of food Mokuba has never tried…

(That Seto apparently has…) You've probably guessed from the scene above of course, but I can tell you this, it will be amusing.

And… You liked it? Phwaaaa… I was really worried about that scene… Though it flowed naturally as I typed it, it's the sort of thing that I still end up nervous about. And hahaha, very true! Though it unfortunately carries over even more guilt and 'why is this moron a better sibling than me' issues… Ooooooh boy.

As for how things shape up, you'll see soon enough! See you next chapter!

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**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that had way too much fun researching horses for something that will likely only show up once. Pity that.

* * *

This chapter title? More to it than it looks... Not. You can probably guess (Now that we're at the bottom...) that the chapter title refers to poor Noa.

Who I keep drawing at age 21. (He looks... Good. To my shock and horror.)

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When you think about it, with the amount of time Yami Yugi is 'let out', he probably hasn't really had the time to actually eat anything... So really, any specific preferences are close to non-existent, and... He probably knows that this is like his one shot at eating anything. Hilariously enough. (I think the soup in Duelist Kingdom was a glaring exception.) Though him getting the chocolate milkshake was more of a '_aha_!' to Yugi's '_Oh! Get vanilla_!'... Hey, just because they're as close as friends can get, doesn't mean they don't have their disagreements.

* * *

Yami Yugi's habits concerning food tastes and the like are of course building on an awkward fear of his, in terms of not knowing who he is… He doesn't have the _memory_, but once things like taste comes into play he's got those _tiny_ unconscious preferences that poke up… And the fact is, he has no clue where the hell they come from either... And as much as he's not about to admit it, it scares the every loving _crap_ out of him, and is also why 'Anne's previous demands to know _what_ Yami Yugi is as opposed to _who_ are hitting him a lot more than he shows.

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Yea guys. That's the 'Black Clown'… Otogi's game shop. Currently partially built because it opens after the second school year starts, which means it won't be opening until well into April... A good number of months away, so there isn't any giant clown sitting on the side of the building just yet.

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'Suji' is a Japanese delicacy made of beef tendons. 'Daikon' on the other hand is a kind of radish. Common in Oden, of course. Not so common for any dish in Japan is... Going heavy on the meat rather than the veggies and noodles. Though Jonouchi probably plans on making that oden with 75 percent noodles, so I can't say he's being weird about this... He's probably just avoiding Mokuba's silly/age appropriate dislike for vegetables.

* * *

A nabe, of course, is a small pot/slow-cooker like device that is used to cook sukiyaki and oden among things. This generally is coupled with a kotatsu, a small table you sit on the floor with... Which has a heater inside. This heat is kept under the table using the thick blanket that drapes down from the sides of the table, and you'll generally see a kotatsu used in two ways in anime; one is used for humor, and you'll see people falling asleep under the kotatsu with nothing but their head poking out... And the other is for more ecchi things. Where two people will be studying, someone drops a pencil, reaches under the table and... Finds something between someone else's legs. This thought came to Jou's mind because it's used... A lot... In Japanese ecchi and hentai. (One is porn, one is just perverted. Hentai is the worse of the two.)

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Most people in Japan celebrate Christmas on Christmas Day as opposed to Christmas Eve… (Don't ask me why.) But given that this isn't obviously a 'must' sort of deal, I'm fairly certain that Christmas Eve would have a big old dinner since… A lot of the planning was made by the American butler. WHOOOPS. Even so, go Hobson!

* * *

On the Christmas card Jonouchi mentions _very_ briefly (And I say this because we won't see Seto's reaction to the present for a while... Sorry guys)… There's a difference between working with your hands, and actually drawing. Trust me on that. It's pretty much the reverse for me actually… Which could cause problems, since in the 3D animation world (Where I'm headed), making maquettes (3D _clay_ models) is a pretty decent plus. A plus that I lack. D'oh! In any case, though Jonouchi can make a number of things with clay-wood-plastic what have you... The drawing. It doesn't work. (Though it's not as bad as five year old Mokuba, that's for sure.

* * *

Time for a story! Volts don't kill you guys, _amps_ do. It i_s_ going to hurt like hell if you get shocked at 100,000 volts though, the number being pretty damn overkill to say the least. (The amperage in the chair ride was likely around .8… .9 is the fatal zone. Or is it just 9? ) In any case… Yea. PAINFUL. Needless to say, something that would have a person sitting stock still for a bit by the end of the frying.

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Somehow, Hobson ended up channelling my inner Ducky (NCIS. Whoo!)... Not completely obviously, if anything he's definitely his own character... Just he's doing a lot more talking and sympathizing than even I expected to begin with. Which is really weird given that his sadistic streak in Death-T was completely untouched in the fanfic, if not possibly increased due to his knowledge of Jonouchi's phobia… AND YET.

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Now, I can't tell if Hobson's character development/change is logical or acceptable or _not_... Mostly because we know so little about him, and also because I _did_ have him have a sudden dark realization of what the hell was going on… As opposed to just having him act the same as before. Hnnn… It's an interesting thought...

* * *

Seriously guys, Hobson is _old_. He's so old, that his season zero counterpart Daimon (Who is much nicer, has much more faith in the 'good Kaiba', and is arguably the inspiration for fanfic Hobson) lives in a bubble/portable life support system to live. WHAT. THE FUCK.

* * *

A note on the horses; during the Noa arc, Noa explains his 'mini-life' story, going on about how his dad gave him everything yadda yadda yadda… When he mentions not just being tutored in scholastic things however, we see a bit of a montage. (It… Can't really be called that, there's only two pictures after that part.) Some violin lessons for music, and then when he says sports, we see him on the back of a rather large (If not fairly thin legged) horse. Now, since the Noa arc is being included in this fanfic, you can safely assume that the ulterior motive for adopting Seto was still to act as Noa's vessel…

So hey, why not get it all ready with the horseback riding? (You use your leg muscles when you ride. TRUST ME ON THIS.) Sadly, it failed, _HORRIBLY_, because that horse knows damn well who Noa is and would rather not be pawned off to anyone else. Pity. (Gozaburo kept him after that because he figured when it _was_ Noa, the horse would calm down… And then favouritism happened, and he was just forgotten. Pity.)

Erm... On to why they're there... When it's clear that Kaiba will have _nothing_ to do with them... You'll see shortly, trust me on that. Like... Next chapter shortly.

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On the horses themselves, they're both Arabian breeds. Not at all the 'common' breed you see in Japan, which is HUGE on horse racing; generally you see 'Ban'Ei', which come from a mix of Percheron, Benton, and Belgian horses. Arabian horses however, are not only very well known for being good for riding, but also for their fairly calm, if not _very_ agreeable nature... It's for this reason that Arabian's are one of the few breeds that the US will allow children to ride stallions for. Stallions, which are not all jerks like a lot of people think, are generally a little more active during mating season for obvious reasons... And tend to be a little straight forward about what they're trying to deal with. In any case... 'Kuma' is a chestnut brown stallion with brown eyes, and though he used to be about as mean as a cube of sugar, he's... Kinda soured since Noa's death. And not because no one's riding him either (Trust me, _no one_. Is getting a saddle on that guy.). Information on the second horse... Will come later. (Hehehe, blatant hinting!)

* * *

Now horses? They require a _lot _of money, and a_ lot_ of attention. You can't just let those things sit around, you need to take them around for a ride (In Kuma's case, a run..), treat them with respect, clean them, make sure they don't get colic (They can't puke.)... So when Hobson says it's a team effort for keeping this a secret… It's a_ big_ damn team effort. It was actually quite threatened when the staff-purge happened, as most of those involved came from the staff that was present during Noa's life… But thankfully, Hobson has a bit of spare change lying around from more questionable deeds in his early life, which is just enough to last for the moment.

* * *

'Kuma' means 'Bear'; though it was likely given in regards to the completely chestnut brown colour the horse was, it's a fairly accurate description of the sort of temperament it had later on… Particularly toward Seto… Keep in mind this is a _huge_ and pissy Arabian stallion, pitted against a ten year old or eleven year old little girl. That is _TERRIFYING_, no matter who you are! (Seto's not _afraid_ of horses mind you... She just doesn't like them in any way shape or form. For... Damn good reasons I might add.) There's a reason why Gozaburo actually pulled the kid as far away from that horse as possible when it reared!

* * *

Some notes on Noa's 'age' in the fanfic; this is mostly me making time to make things make sense, me partially making Gozaburo a little _less _of an ass (Hard, I know... Possibly impossible even), annnnd me trying to make sense of everything for myself. I find it _extremely_ hard to believe that Gozaburo was as much of an asshole when Noa was alive as he was in the VR World arc; if anything, he was more of a 'Knight Templar' father, and I think that he just sort of gradually got worse and worse as time went. Again... Knight Templar parent. Good intentions, but _OHHHH MY GOD _the wrong way of dealing with things! (To extreme limits) In any case, I'm… Pretty sure that he would have had at least a year or so helping out/spoiling his now VR entrapped son, given the time and effort he put into the thing to begin with.

And then of course, the orphanage incident would happen a year or so later, and an idea would spring up. _Why, we could replace him_! But first, the ages need to match; Noa in the fanfic was officially declared dead at 13. Seto however, was adopted at ten. (There's a five year difference between the two in age by the way.) But then Noa kinda proved he had gone completely nuts by the time Seto was 12 ('_Hey dad, I can blow up the world within two seconds_!' '_Er… Yea… That… That's great son… I'll be right back…_' )… And then of course there's however many years came after that...

So yea, by all rational things, by the time Seto is 17, (Though she should still be 16 during Battle City and Noa arcs…) Noa should be a fair number of years older. And in any case… Give the maids some time to mourn will yah! Something tells me that if someone helps to care for a kid from infancy up, there's going to be a heavy connection… (Though Gozaburo likely didn't care about what they thought...)

* * *

Speaking of Noa! (Noah in the dub) Not only was Noa voiced by a woman in Japanese (Normally not surprising, but she's known for voicing very well characterized women... Not small boys.), but Noa is also a common _woman's _name. AHA. AHAHAHA. His name means quite a lot of sense though; first we have 'No', which means 'from', 'whereupon', 'accordingly' (It's a possessive particle.)... And 'A', which means 'come after', or 'rank next'... In other words, 'succeed'. Given that Noa was effectively born and raised completely with the intentions of being the heir to the company, it's really no wonder his name holds those fairly 'obsessive' tendencies.

* * *

Now… Despite the fact that Hobson isn't completely right on the reasoning behind Seto's adoption, there is still a _lot_ of likely truth in his words. Unforgivable as his actions are, it is more than likely that the reasons why he was so harsh on Seto while Mokuba was relatively scot free was… Well, _because_ she so resembled Noa! Rather, because she was meant to _be_ Noa (Hihhhh!). So of course, she would go through the same strict training regimen, with tutors, and commands… And when Seto responded negatively as opposed to positively, like Noa had… Well… That would have come across as an impossibility that _must_ be corrected!

As for Hobson's observations of Gozaburo being different after that... Well yea, I'd be different too if I went to a funeral and then from there moved on into a factory computer room to talk to a digitized version of the person who was buried at that funeral. Actually, more of the difference is in Hobson's head guys; it's very, _very_ hard to believe that a man wouldn't mourn the death of his own son after all... So when.. Gozaburo doesn't mourn the death of his own son (For good reasons, I will admit. Since... Gozaburo considers Noa still alive.)... Yeaaaaaa...

* * *

For those wondering, the fictional granddaughter that will never appear (She's living in the States in my head anyways...) is around 22. Hobson himself was around when Gozaburo was a kid, which is... Insane. To say the least. I sometimes wonder what the heck I'm doing when I come up with these things, but hey, OH WELL.

* * *

Hobson will likely remain the only one who can get away with saying '_I'm gonna treat her like a 16 year old woman, not a business oriented CEO and boss_'. The only one...

* * *

And it's time for OLD MAN HUMOR. Though Isono's probably like 40 years old, so that's not really 'old man' humor so much as 'cheery banter'. Whoo! And yes, Hobson only has one eye now. (Oh noooooes…) I put that there for something that was originally going to come out, but in the end, that's a 'story for another time'.

* * *

Yes everyone. 'Green' is an inside joke concerning Isono's slightly green hair. Hobson is more referring to Isono's 'youth' in comparison to his own though, along with the fact that Isono's position in KaibaCorp as Seto's business assistant (Rather, the CEO's business assistant) has only lasted under two years so far. (Because before that point, Gozaburo was CEO, and it was Kogoro of the Big 5 acting as business assistant.)

* * *

Seto's reaction to the decorations? Mostly spent about a block from the house, as she could see the lights from there. So really, all of her shock was mostly spent by that point... Anything else will be displayed with either a shaking head or slight indifference to the matter at hand.

* * *

And that's this chapter guys! I'll see you next time, with the finale of the Christmas arc!


	44. Chapter 43

**Sennen Omedetou  
**

* * *

For all that dinner was and wasn't, Katsuya had to say- he didn't expect to end up in this room again, not after what had happened in it the last time they were there. The small dining room that had originally played home to the 'Russian Roulette' dinner table had been lavishly decorated for the holidays to say the least; the lamp light hanging from above had been dimmed down to a more peaceful mood, and the table in the center was far different from that of its black and red spinning counterpart. Rather, it was instead a far larger round table decorated with a white tablecloth, a plethora of foods covering the table.

Needless to say; there was just a small bit of surprise at the change in seating. "The breakfast room," Seto asked with raised eyebrows, turning to Kyouko as the maid bowed.

She continued smiling, standing at the side to allow the others to sit. "That is correct Seto-sama," she said with a steep bow, looking to her employer's brother before continuing. "As a request from Mokuba-sama..." Seto looked at the boy in question, watching as he nodded furiously in agreement.

"The normal table is big enough for almost_ twenty people_," he protested, a frown on his face as he somewhat glared at the woman. "I don't want to sit at something like that, with everyone on opposite ends... I want to sit with everyone together, beside each other!"

The woman stared at those words, the maid beside her leaving in the silence that resulted with a quick bow before vanishing into the kitchen. There was no answer to that really; Seto was holding her seemingly standard 'blank' stare, Mokuba holding his 'glare'... Katsuya decided to break the silence in the end, giving a short cough and looking at the table as the others turned. "Er... I dunno about you but..." He laughed, grinning nervously as he continued. "Shouldn' a dinner spent t'gether actually be spent eatin' it?"

Seto merely gave a rather unimpressed frown to that, while Mokuba nodded beside her. "That's right," he said as he dropped the frown, before looking up at his sister. "Nee-sama... Let's sit down, come on!" He tugged at the woman's arm, gaining a short nod in response.

"...Alright," she said somewhat quietly, walking over to the table as Katsuya took a seat. "Alright..." Seto took a seat, expression seemingly caught between her usual indifference and slight confusion. It was actually similar to the look she had when helping him out at the Duelist Kingdom, he thought to himself; the glare was there in shape, but not in emotion. Huh. ...Maybe Hobson was on to something! (Not that he was going to be saying anything about that...)

They looked over the table, Katsuya staring at the large amount of food in silence. The still steaming food looked pretty good, that was for sure... And there was no doubt that it would taste just as good. "So... We jus' dig in," he asked, the woman now sitting beside him looking as though she was doing all in her power to ignore the blond.

Also beside him, Mokuba nodded. "Yep," he said with a grin, clearly enjoying the 'triangle' that sitting at the table put them in. "But finish the soup first," he added seriously, an unamused glare on his face. Aww, what, he couldn't dig into the turkey first?

Katsuya laughed nervously, glancing at Seto and watching as the woman in question raised an eyebrow at him. '_What are you looking at_,' she seemed to ask, before he turned away. Nothing. Absolutely nothing, ehe... Well! This soup wasn't going to finish itself after all... "Heh... Merry Chris'mas then," he said with a grin, before grabbing the spoon by his soup bowl. He would never get this whole 'multi-course meal' thing, he really wouldn't... Even so, he thought as he started eating through the soup, he would appreciate it nonetheless. Besides, the soup wasn't too bad. Though... There was very little at the house that he didn't like in terms of the cooking really, and the exception was that one mushroom dish... He continued at his soup, shaking it off. So what if that one mushroom thing tasted weird! The soup was great!

Though... It was pretty quiet, he thought as he downed the last of the soup. Like really quiet... Awkwardly. Quiet. It was one thing when it was just the occasional breakfast that he was stuck with this... Back when they _both_ hated each other. But, well... He was pretty sure this wasn't the 'leave my house or die' silence that that had been. Mokuba seemed to notice as well actually, looking across the table at the blond before turning to Seto. "So..." He blinked, shifting in his seat somewhat as he attempted to start up some conversation. "How come you came home so late..? Was there a lot of traffic?"

Hn? She'd probably been working late, if the Christmas rush wasn't it... Katsuya turned as Seto looked over to her brother, her own soup almost finished as well. She stared for a brief moment in silence, before blinking. "...Isono was unavailable to drive," she said calmly, turning back to finish off her soup and moving to put the bowl carefully to the side. "I decided to walk back for a change," she continued dismissively, as though to end the topic as quickly as it started.

Mokuba blinked, as did the blond beside him before both shared a confused look. Ah... Walk? She walked? He knew she walked that one time when he and Yugi and the others didn't know who Seto was... Back when she'd stopped by the game store. But... Since when did she walk other than that one time? Regardless, it didn't appear that any of them were really willing to ask that question. "Oh," was all that the boy said, before finishing his soup as well and putting the bowl at the side to free the space on his plate. "Ah... ...Ok..."

Katsuya moved his bowl to the side himself, attempting to change the subject. "Er... So! Pretty good soup right," the blond said with a small laugh, rubbing his head.

The others looked back at their empty bowls, Seto merely staring at it a moment before shifting it further to the side. "...I suppose," she eventually said, before standing up to fill her plate. Scoops of potatoes and green beans were placed mostly in silence on the plate, before she cut herself some turkey and sat back down in silence. The others stared as this went on, before turning back to each other with frozen half smiles on their faces. D-Damn it... How the hell did they get her to talk... About _anything_?

He looked back at the food, shrugging it off and getting his own plate filled. Potatoes... Beans... What was that red stuff, cranberries? ...He'd try those too he supposed. "Er... Right then," he muttered, easily clearing out half of the table and sitting back down to start on his overflowing plate. "...Any ideas what's f'r desert," he asked with a grin, Mokuba blinking in response.

"Ah... I was trying to find that out actually," he said with wide eyes, grinning briefly at the thought of desert himself. It quickly died however, and he continued. "...I tried every chance I got to get in the kitchen, but Kyouko kept me out each time..." He gave a small shudder, Seto looking from her food at the expression and raising an eyebrow. "K-Kyouko can be scary when she wants to be..."

Katsuya nodded, slightly pale. "Y-Yea... T-Tell me about it..." At this point, he noted that Seto was no longer looking at her food or Mokuba, but directly across from her with the same, somewhat surprised stare she'd had before. "..Hn?"

They turned, the boys growing slightly pale as Kyouko stood there with a slightly frightening smile on her face. "...I was about to ask," she started, the large jug in her hands shaking somewhat, "If anyone wished for some eggnog..."

Seto gave a somewhat amused smile, arms crossed as the boys both exchanged looks of horror with the realization of their eavesdropper's presence. "That would be good," she said calmly, the maid walking over to fill the woman's glass. She looked over at Katsuya, eyebrow raised in what looked to be amusement. "Thirsty at all, _mutt_?"

He tensed, choking for a moment before regaining his breath. "G-! I ain't a-..." Oh, what was the point! He scowled, holding his glass and staring at the plate with a red face. "...I'll take some too," he finally muttered under his breath, Kyouko cheerily pouring him a glass before moving toward Mokuba.

"Ah..." The boy turned, Kyouko's smile far more honest than frightening by this point. "Same here," the boy said with a renewed smile, watching as the frothy yellow drink filled the glass. He grabbed it, taking a sip before turning with an even larger grin. "Thank you!"

Kyouko bowed, smiling widely. "I'll be in the kitchen, for when the main course is complete, understand," she asked, the others nodding in response. "Enjoy the meal," the woman added, bowing as much as she could with a jug of eggnog in her hands before leaving.

The three turned back to their food, Katsuya looking at his plate with a regained grin. "Alrigh'! After this comes desert," he cheered, Mokuba grinning as well. He started scarfing down his food, the third member of the dinner party merely looking with evident annoyance. It was probably just the intensity of the glare that even told him someone was staring actually... But whatever, he was eating. Well... He was until Seto finally voiced her annoyance at least.

"...Do you plan on eating the food," the woman questioned with a growl, "Or simply _inhaling_ it," she finally asked incredulously, the blond in question turning to her as he swallowed the remains of his mashed potatoes.

Katsuya merely stared a few moments, clearing his throat before pointing across the table. "What, an' he ain't an issue?" As Mokuba (whose mouth was currently reminiscent of a squirrel) put his hands up in mock defense, Seto merely continued to glare at the older of the two boys.

"...As a matter of fact, _no_," she stated, returning to her food for a moment before looking at her brother. "...You shouldn't eat so fast though," she said somewhat quieter, "You'll end up with a stomach ache..."

Her brother blinked, before nodding slowly and swallowing. "O... Ok nee-sama," he said, nodding. "I'll take smaller bites..." He looked back across at Katsuya, expression still somewhat the same. "But you do the same, alright Katsuya-nii?"

At that, he got a somewhat warning look from Seto in addition to the severe stare he got from the woman's brother, Katsuya laughing nervously. "Ahahaha... A-Alrigh', I will..." He moved to the last of his food, the nervous smile somewhat frozen on his face. "Sheesh, never got a stomachache b'fore..."

Seto snorted, swallowing a bite of turkey before speaking. "That's probably because your stomach has about as much intelligence as you," she muttered, the blond sending her a glare in response. Seriously? Seriously?

He took a bite of his turkey, ignoring the comment and leaning back in his chair. "Yea well," he muttered, swallowing his food. "Least I don' clam up until a chance t' insult a guy comes up..."

The woman merely stared, huffing somewhat. "Hn! That's because the concept of _dinner_ tends to imply _eating_, and not _talking_."

"Eh," the blond said with a shrug, grinning. "Who said y' can't do both?" He continued to grin, taking another large bite of his turkey despite earlier warnings.

Mokuba nodded in agreement, swallowing the mass amount of food he'd crammed in his mouth before speaking. "That's right Nee-sama," he said with somewhat wide eyes. "I wanted to sit together so that we could talk, not just to eat..!"

Seto looked back at the boy, staring for a split second before briefly turning back to her food. "...Then what do you want to talk about," she asked him honestly, the boys sharing a small glance. Er... They'd kinda been asking her, the point was kind of lost without it...

They turned back to Seto, silent for a moment as well. In the end, Mokuba merely shrugged, shaking his head and frowning. "I don't know," he said, biting his lip. "Christmas? ...Work? What do you want to talk about Nee-sama?" The table again fell silent, Katsuya mentally smacking his head on the table. Oh boy, at this rate they were just going in circles...

As it was, the only sounds at the table were again the clacking sounds of silverware. Katsuya cleared off the rest of his plate, the sizeable chunk of turkey he'd taken finally reduced to nothing while they continued to sit in silence. Let it be known to anyone who hadn't noticed it long ago... Seto Kaiba did not like to talk. At all. And this did not bode well for an attempt to instill conversation from her. "So," Katsuya finally said with a cough, awkwardly breaking the silence. "...My mom called las' night..." He paused at that, the other two turning as he thought of where to go from there. "Said tha' Shizuka went through surgery alrigh'," he said with a small smile, before it faded with his next words. "Bandages have t' stay on f'r at least another month though, so we won' know if it worked 'r not 'till then..."

Mokuba nodded at the news, a smile back on his face. "But the surgery it self is over right," he said with a grin, turning to Katsuya as he continued his food. "So that's at least half of it done with right?"

Katsuya nodded, briefly turning to catch a glimpse of Seto's own expression. The woman merely frowned slightly, looking at the blond oddly before turning back to her food. Still however, she remained completely silent, leaving Katsuya to cough and turn away awkwardly while the others finished their food. "Er... Yea," he finally said with a nod, smiling as he turned back to Mokuba. "Guess so... Heh..." He leaned back on his chair, scratching his head for a moment. Er... Now what to talk about... "Righ'... Anyways... Did y' know tha' Anzu's goin' to Kyoto for Christmas," he asked, Mokuba shaking his head in response.

"Nope," he said after swallowing the last of his beans, blinking. "Why's she going to Kyoto?"

He shrugged, before smirking. "Heh! Believe it 'r not, 's where Mai lives!"

Mokuba's eyes widened, Seto as well looking over with slightly raised eyebrows. "Wait... Kujaku Mai," he asked, blinking owlishly before drifting into thought. "The lady who stowed away on the helicopter..?" The two glanced over at Seto with that last part, the woman in question sending back a look that merely said '_if I cared about that, don't you think you'd know by now_?'. The boy turned back to Katsuya with that same look in mind, blinking again and pressing further. "...Why's she going to her house?"

Another shrug, Katsuya putting his plate to the side and taking a sip of his mostly untouched eggnog. "Hey, don' ask me," he said, shaking his head with a grin. "'Parently she got an invite and off she went!" ...Pretty interesting how that worked actually. Hm...

"Hnnn..." Mokuba blinked again, before looking over his plate and Seto's. Both were fairly cleared off, and given that Katsuya's had long since been cleared... "Ah- Nee-sama," the boy asked, Seto in question turning. "Should I go get Kyouko now?"

She blinked, before standing up from her seat instead. "I'll let her know you're done," she said, moving over to the kitchen door. "Don't eat too many sugary foods," she added with a slight frown, eyes narrowed dangerously. "You need to sleep after this..."

The boy scowled, crossing his arms. "I'll still sleep," he protested, huffing as Katsuya rolled his eyes across from him. "I promise! Really!"

Seto merely smirked, turning back to the door. "We'll see..."

"Hah! Yea," Katsuya said with a grin, laughing as Mokuba continued to glare at him. "Not t' bring yah down 'r anything Mokuba, but you c'n get pretty sugar high..."

The glare intensified, Mokuba sinking somewhat in his chair. "Mgnnnn..." As the boy continued to growl Seto walked back to the table, having already notified Kyouko on the meal being finished. Taking her seat as the maid came in to clear the table of the dishes and food both, Mokuba merely continued to pout, apparently not enjoying the cap on his desert... At least until another maid came in with three small pies, and put one in front of each person. He quickly sat up, 'cap' forgotten as he looked at the slightly steaming pies with a slow to come smile. "Ahhh..."

Katsuya as well looked at the pie with a grin, Seto herself simply raising her eyebrows as she looked at the food herself. "Mincemeat," she ended up saying, the maids having left the room. She continued to look at it, before seemingly giving a mostly invisible shrug. "...Hn." Oh hey, was that a look of approval she was giving? Or maybe this was just Seto's way of saying 'PIE'. Who the hell knew anymore, reading Seto was harder than reading the science teacher's notes... Not to mention Honda's writing. Even so, she had picked up her fork and started on it...

Pie, of course, was something else that passed in silence; but rather than the awkward silence it had been before it was more of a calm one, a silence that resulted more because of the fact that everyone's mouths were full. A few bites of pie were taken, Seto having apparently been the only one who knew what the pie was... (Though it was definitely good) Speaking of which... "Nee-sama," Mokuba asked, halfway through his pie already despite earlier requests to slow down. "Where did you try mincemeat?" He swallowed another bite of the pie in question, staring at his sister. "I've never had it before now so..."

The woman turned, looking up from her own small pie. For a moment, it looked as though she wasn't going to speak; the way she paused at the question tended to have that effect. However... "...At one of the dinner's Gozaburo held," she said somewhat quietly, "They served this pie. You were in bed at the time," she added as she turned back to her food, the other two falling somewhat silent.

"A-Ah..." The boys nodded somewhat, an awkward silence again coming into the air. "...That makes sense," Mokuba finally said, Katsuya merely chewing through his pie as he watched the exchange. Just people eating pies now... Errr... This was awkward... The boy coughed, before going back to his pie for a moment before again turning to attempt some conversation. "Um... So... You said work went well, right Nee-sama?" Seto turned with that comment, and Mokuba went on, attempting to smile somewhat. "So then... What did you do today?"

Katsuya blinked, glancing over at Seto in question in continued silence. Would she talk about that kind of stuff with him in the room..? Company stuff was private wasn't it? It was one thing with say Mokuba but... "I did finalize a few designs," she admitted, returning to her pie as the others listened in. "Overall however, I spent most of it smoothing things over from the past year." What about the past ye- Oooh. Right. The big 5 turned it to shit. Yeaaaa... Something told him this would be a constant topic for the next... Month or so. The woman grabbed her napkin from the table, wiping her mouth off before putting the dishes to the side. "Now then," she said, standing up and looking over the other two's finished dishes. "I'm going to go to my study... Mokuba," she asked, the boy turning to her with a blink. "Do you want to-"

"Actually, Nee-sama," the boy said, cutting his sister off as he stood up as well. "I wanted to show you something!" Seto blinked, her brother continuing to grin as he continued. "Close your eyes, ok?"

Katsuya watched as the woman blinked once more before crossing her arms and doing just that after a moment of evident skepticism. "Alright," she said, frowning slightly. Katsuya as well stood up, stretching as Mokuba grabbed his sister's arm and pulled her forward.

"Just don't peek," he said with a grin, pulling the woman toward the door and pushing it open. "No matter what alright," he added, Katsuya shaking his head and following after. Seto merely nodded somewhat, keeping silent as she was led out of the room and down the hall. While Mokuba probably knew exactly where they were going, the blond had to say, he certainly didn't. Granted, there was a lot in the house that he didn't know about, though it was still a little disorienting to be led around to another room he didn't know about. Just watch, one day he'd find like... A classroom of all things. "Alright," Mokuba said as they came to a pair of double doors, motioning for Katsuya to help with opening them. The blond paused for a moment before doing so, rushing forward and forcing them open with a slight grunt. The doors were held wide open, Mokuba pulling his sister into the room with a still wide grin. "When I say go," he said with clearly held back excitement, Seto still holding a hand over her eyes as she walked, "Open your eyes, alright?" Hehehe, this would probably be-

...Holy shit... Katsuya stared as they were led into a large ballroom, the sound of closing double doors never meeting his ears. A few footsteps from the side caught his attention as both Hobson and Kyouko followed them into the room, the maid giving a short bow, before Katsuya turned back to look around. 'Improvised den' was really only a small way to put all this, given what the others had been going on about... Hell, the 'rec. room' was probably only half the size of the room, maybe smaller! It was huge... And until he saw how high the ceiling was, he almost wondered why they bothered using this room. Looking at the top of the enormous tree that sat in the center of the room, he had to say; he didn't think it would fit anywhere else. Though why they bothered with the size of the tree with the relatively miniscule in comparison number of presents at the bottom was beyond him... Who knew, it still looked cool... The tree was by far not the only thing in the room however. Each chandelier above them was host to a number of tinsel strings, the trails leading from the 'center' of the room to either the sides of the walls or to other chandeliers and decorations. Branches of pine lined the walls, as did unlit candles and scarlet ribbons at each stand. The lights in this room however, were not dimmed like those in the hallways. Rather, they were just as bright as they were intended to be, contrasting against the dark night sky outside the windows while the wind silently howled. "Okay," Mokuba said, pulling Seto toward the middle and near the tree. A few couches and chairs had been moved into the room from the rec. room it seemed, and it was around the point that the others had also walked over to the spot that the boy let go of his sister's arm. "Now... Open your eyes!"

Silence reigned _completely_ with that one; whether it was simply in wait of whether or not she'd walk out after seeing the room or not, he personally wasn't sure. Seto however merely blinked a few times, slowly taking in the room with wider than normal eyes before turning to look at everyone else in the room with a slightly more narrowed gaze. It was hard as usual to tell what she was thinking for the moment... Time to see if they were all screwed or not he supposed. There was a bit more silence, the woman looking at her brother a moment before turning to the others. "...Where did all of this come from," she finally asked, frowning slightly.

Huh. Not a bad question actually... He sure didn't see the giant fake tree they had here being stored away too easily... Hobson merely chuckled at the question though, leaning on his cane slightly and bowing his head. "I would say that 'this' from the storage room and my paycheck both, Seto-sama," he said with a slight grin, the maid beside him bowing as she gave her own answer.

"I would believe approximately seven hours of work to be the answer myself," she stated somewhat nervously, as though testing her waters with her boss. "Though I certainly cleaned as I did so," she added, hurriedly bowing again with slight panic.

The woman answered with more silence, Hobson turning around in its wake to leave the room. "Now then," he stated with a slight laugh, turning a moment and bowing his head politely. "I believe I'll leave you three alone now," he stated, Seto's eyes flickering over to Jonouchi with slight disdain for the moment. What, she couldn't stand the fact that he was staying? Whatever... "If you need anything at all," Hobson continued, bowing his head yet again, "Kyouko will be just by the door."

At those words Kyouko bowed as well, before turning to follow after the man. "Ah..." The woman turned briefly, winking at Mokuba a moment with a small and possibly conniving smile. "Before I leave, I believe I should mention that there are a few things under the tree for you... I'm sure that Hobson-san intends for you to find them before the evening's end," she added, turning around again. Hobson had already left the room by this point, and as Kyouko made to leave for the door Seto shook her head before turning to the tree in question.

The woman crossed her arms, eying the presents sitting just slightly beneath it with a frown. "Tch... Fool," she muttered, taking a seat on the nearby chair and crossing her legs. "How old does he think I am," she continued, leaving the answer somewhat open when Mokuba turned from the pile with a questioning glare. Seto managed to miss the glare it seemed though, and whether or not it was for the best was something they could argue for a while really.

"Actually," Kyouko said from the side, bowing politely as she re-entered the conversation with a short frown. "I believe Hobson-san has a granddaughter who is 6 years older than yourself, Seto-sama..." She bowed her head slightly, continuing on and biting her lip. "In fact, she stated somewhat nervously, "I'm quite sure that she still receives gifts from him as well... I certainly doubt that age is truly a factor of the matter."

At this, Seto merely turned away, eyes still narrowed as she snorted. "Hn! Moron," she muttered, gaze softening only somewhat. Something told him that she didn't know about the granddaughter... In any case though, present time right? Lets see what Seto got...

There was rustling beneath the tree, Mokuba pulling one of the few boxes beneath it out for the others to see. "Aaaah..." He blinked, turning to where Kyouko was again making her way back to the door. "Kyouko," he said with a slight frown, holding what looked to be a paper bag of sorts out. "One of these is for you..."

The woman blinked, eyes wide as she tentatively walked over. "I... Hobson-san gave me a gift," she asked with surprise, taking the gift wrapped paper bag with shaking hands. "Ah..." She looked inside, moving the tissue paper to the side as the others watched somewhat curiously. Abruptly however, the woman went beet red, closing the bag up with a stifled cough. "E-Ah... F-Forgive me Mokuba-sama, Seto-sama," she said with a deep bow, holding the bag closed and close. "If... I could perhaps put this with my things..."

Mokuba nodded, blinking confusedly as the woman turned to leave at a fairly quick pace. "A-Ah, Kyouko," Katsuya said, tapping the woman's shoulder as she moved off, almost jumping at the touch. "Er... When y' come back, could y' bring th' stuff," he asked, Kyouko minutely staring before nodding with a smile.

"Of course," she said with a smile, before leaving the room just a slight shade lighter than the ribbons on the side. Katsuya looked back at the other two, Seto looking with raised eyebrows while Mokuba held the similar suspicious look he'd held when he first saw the blond with the bag. From one, it was a 'you better not do anything stupid...'... And from the other...

Hehehe, he'd find out what the things were soon enough! And so would Seto really. Seto in question decided to turn her attention away from the blond, instead looking to Mokuba as the boy fished out the other boxes. "I'm going to save mine for last," the boy was saying with a grin, handing a box to Seto and Katsuya both before taking a seat on the couch. They were both quite different in size, that was for sure; while his own was about palm size, it looked as though Seto's was about the size of her briefcase. And given Mokuba's face when he handed it to her, it was just as heavy too. "I want to see what you get first, alright?"

Seto merely stared at the box on her lap blankly, Katsuya giving a shrug and taking a seat on the couch as he took his own present. "Heh! Guess I'll go first then," he said with a laugh looking over at Seto with slight grin, "Get Seto-chan in th' mood f'r presents..."

There was a growl from the side, Katsuya abruptly tensing and drawing back as he realized his 'slip' again. "What did I say about calling me that," she warned, eyes narrowed as the blond laughed nervously.

"Ehehehe... I... I' won' happen again," he said with a cough, opening his box and continuing to inch his way to the opposite side of the couch. "Honest! Never aga-" He froze, pulling out the small object that was wrapped up in the box before giving a few more nervous coughs. Small, lightweight... And something that, while it would likely gather pocket lint, was not something to be taken lightly. "H-Holy shit," he muttered, Mokuba and Seto both staring with raised brows as the blond pulled out what looked to be a well made pocket knife. He flicked the blade out, eyes widening further as it gleamed under the chandelier light. The handle itself wasn't anything to sneeze at either, that was for sure... Seriously though. A... A knife?

The woman across and beside him stared, before smirking and shaking her head. "Handy," she said, turning back to look at her own unopened box with crossed arms. "You now have something to defend yourself with."

Katsuya ignored the comment for once, merely continuing to stare at the pocket knife before putting it carefully back in the box. Man... This was... "Shit," he muttered, turning to Mokuba with wide eyes. "How much did Hobson spend on this?"

Mokuba hurriedly shook his head, instead watching as Kyouko returned from the kitchen with what looked to be a dolly in front of her. "I- I don't know," he said with a large shrug, before turning as the maid pulled in a small table on the dolly. Somehow, she'd managed to balance a pot atop it as well... Though given her expression, it wasn't an easy task. "...Ah... What's that," Mokuba asked as the maid came to a stop, blinking as she carefully placed the pot on the ground.

The table in question was also carefully brought to the floor, Katsuya running over to help the woman put it down safely as Seto answered for them. "...That's a kotatsu," she said with narrowed eyes, frowning as the others made to plug the pot in and flick the table on. "...Just why are you bringing a kotatsu in here, _Mutt_?" What, she knew what the table was but not why it was there?

The blond turned, taking the small pot that Kyouko had managed to bring in with the table and putting it on the top. "Heh... You'll see," he said with a grin, taking a seat at it and propping his arms on it. "Why dontcha open up yer present while y' wait," he asked, Mokuba looking back at Seto at the comment.

"Yea," the boy said, grinning as he looked back at his sister. "I won't open mine until you look at yours Nee-sama, so you mind as well get it over with," he said with a nod.

Seto appeared to let out a long albeit silent and otherwise invisible sigh, before nodding. "Alright," she muttered, untying the ribbon that held the box to its cover. She carefully lifted the lid off and put it to the side, before pulling out a book with a somewhat surprised stare. It looked like a pretty nice book to say the least... Almost as though it was new, but there was no way that books were made with those sorts of covers anymore right? Seto continued to look it over, before pulling out the other two, equally decent looking and evenly sized books out to examine the covers. For a moment, the woman merely looked over the English titles in silence. As she opened the cover of the first however, the dull silence and seeming glare was quickly replaced with raised eyebrows and slightly wider than the norm eyes. "...He gave me Lovecraft's complete works," she finally said somewhat incredulously, the rather large box again becoming home to two of the three books. "...Hn..." The woman quickly flipped to the next page as she put the box to the side, leaning back in her chair and beginning to read.

"N-Nee-sama," Mokuba muttered, sighing as he received no real answer. Hahaha, didn't look like she'd be getting out of that book anytime soon... "Hahhhh..." The boy shook his head, before turning back to grab his own box while Kyouko came back in with a jug of water and the same plastic bag from before. He put the box under his arm, standing and watching as the woman made her way over to the kotatsu. "Hn..?"

Katsuya took the bag, grinning as the maid poured the water into the pot and moved to leave for the side again. "Heh! C'mon over here," the blond said, putting the bag at the side of the table and taking a seat. The boy blinked, crossing his legs and hesitantly sitting beneath the table blanket with a nod. "You r'member when I asked yah what kinds 'f stuff you'd had, over th' summer," he continued, watching as Mokuba broke into a grin when he realized what the blond was getting at. Katsuya also continued to grin, turning on the small pot of water and pulling out a bag of noodles with a cluster of now pre-boiled eggs. "Hehe! Ta-daaaah~ Hey Seto-chan," he asked, instantly receiving a low growl and a glare for his efforts. He continued on despite that however, still grinning. "You ever had oden?"

The reaction to say the least was not... Quite what he expected. Did she actually pull a face there? As in, something other than a scowl? And... More of disgust..? Complete and utter disgust? The woman quickly retreated back and behind her book, Katsuya eventually giving a shrug as Mokuba looked into the pot. The water at the moment was sitting at a standstill with the recently added noodles, small bits of steam slowly rising from the broth as that itself was added in. "How long will it take to finish," the boy asked eagerly, watching the blond put a few eggs in with rest of the food that was being put into the water.

"Hnnn... Not long," the blond said as the water heated up, stirring it with a pair of chopsticks before leaning back from the water. "Probably a few minutes..." He looked over to where Seto was reading, still smiling despite the seemingly warning glare he received in response. "Oiii... Y'sure you don' want any?"

There was another short growl, the woman not looking up from her book this time. "I'm _fine_, MUTT." Owch, it wasn't like his cooking was toxic or anything...

Mokuba turned from the table, the water starting to boil as the boy looked to his currently red-faced older sister. "Are you sure Nee-sama," he said worriedly, frowning somewhat. "It smells pretty good, you never know until you try... And it's warm over here too, you should take a seat!"

There was a short bit of silence, Seto looking over her book with narrowed eyes. "I've had it before," she said stiffly, sending another glare toward Katsuya. "An I don't. Want. _Any_," she added lowly, glare intensifying before she returned to her book.

The boys held back a nervous laugh laugh, unable to turn back to the table without grinning. Somehow, with all that usually had to be done to get that reaction, they couldn't take this seriously. "Heh... Whatever yah say," Katsuya said, shaking his head and looking over the oden again. "Anyways, food shouldn' be much longer Mokuba, here's th' chopsticks..."

He nodded, taking the chopsticks from Katsuya and looking into the pot again as he snapped them apart. "Hn..."

"Er... Y-Y' might wanna not sit so close to th' pot though," he said with a laugh, lightly waving his chopsticks over the pot to send Mokuba back a bit. The boy blinked, leaning back somewhat as the blond continued. "Anyways... Why don't y' open yer present while we wait?"

Mokuba stared slightly, before smiling and pulling the box over with a nod. "Good idea... It seems pretty flat though," he said with a laugh, feeling around the edges for where he could open the box. The boy slowly pulled the lid off, putting it to the side before blinking at the contents. "Uh..." He pulled out a few sheets from the box, Katsuya staring as what looked to be a photo of the white horse he'd seen earlier was pulled out. "There's an envelope and a folder in here," he said with a blank expression, holding the envelope up as Seto came over.

She lightly took the envelope, opening it and pulling out a few papers in one smooth motion before frowning. There was a brief span of silence as she read over the papers; it only took an instant for her to apparently realize what she was reading though. "...This is a part of Gozaburo's will and testament," she muttered, flipping over one of the pages and continuing to read with increasingly narrowed eyes. "Why didn't I see this when he _died_?" Errr... Good question?

"That would likely be because, despite your position of CEO," Hobson stated, the others turning as the man slowly ambled his way into the room seemingly from no where, "You were not of the legal age to deal with his papers. At least," he added with a short and otherwise serious wave, "Not according to the papers _themselves_."

Seto frowned slightly, before looking back to the papers and crossing her arms beneath them. "...These papers say that we have a horse, and have _had_ one for at least a few years," she added, narrowing her eyes. "...Since when did that happen?"

The old man merely smiled, chuckling slightly as he leaned against his cane. "It should all be there on the papers, Seto-sama," he said with a laugh. "Now then..." He turned to Mokuba, who was looking into the folder curiously as a number of papers fell from it. "To be specific on what these papers detail, it was Gozaburo-sama's wish that you receive, on the Christmas of your eleventh birthday, that horse you see there." 'That horse' apparently being called 'Yuki', from what he got from the folder in any case... He looked over at Seto, watching as the woman looked over the papers again.

"Last time I checked," Seto said from the papers, still frowning, "Gozaburo's '_eldest son_' didn't have a horse."

Hobson waved the woman off somewhat, shaking his head in the closest thing the man could likely get to 'dismissal' concerning his boss. "Oh, well... The papers were written a full week before _that_ incident occurred," he stated, Mokuba frowning at the mention of an otherwise unknown occurrence. "If it aids any thoughts on the matter, you are not the only one who has had to deal with the stallion's behavior."

It didn't look like it did to tell the truth; if anything, that gained another fairly annoyed if not livid expression in response. "...You _kept_ the horse?" There was an awkward pause as the woman grit her teeth, before folding the papers back up. "...Just why did you even bring up Gozaburo in the first place," the woman continued, the glare seeming to act as more than just a glare with those words.

Apparently however, Hobson was immune to the expression, as he merely looked up at the woman somewhat blankly while he responded. "Believe me when I say Seto-sama," he said with a stern frown, "If I could have simply stuck with giving this horse as a gift rather than dredging up the legal matters at hand, I would have... But the fact remains," he continued, shaking his head as Katsuya looked over the folder with Mokuba and turning back to his employer, "I was bound to go through with his final wishes... Which, might I add, included _this_."

"B'sides," Katsuya said with a grin as he looked up from the folder, Mokuba still looking over the horse papers. "If it's his horse, he gets t' say if he keeps it right?" The boy in question looked up from the papers, sending a somewhat pleading look to his older sister as he bit his lip.

"There's papers for lessons in here Nee-sama..." Mokuba looked back at the papers, before turning up to his sister and holding a few out for her to look at. "The horse looks nice too, and it seems fun," he added with a nod, nervously bowing his head. "Could I... At least give it a try..?"

Seto's glare softened, the woman lightly grabbing the papers from her brother's hands and looking through it. A few moments passed before she looked back down at Mokuba from behind them, giving a small nod. "...Alright," she said, giving the folder back. "However," she added with a small glare, looking at Hobson almost accusingly as Katsuya laughed nervously at the side. "I expect to know _exactly_ when the first lesson is so I can be there if anything happens... Understand?"

The man merely bowed, a smile on his face as he nodded an affirmative. "But of course Seto-sama," he said politely, before looking at the oden pot and turning to the two boys. "In the meantime," he said with a slightly rasped chuckle, "I believe your food is finished..."

Done? A thick smell of eggs meat and noodles hit his nostrils, pulling the blond from his thoughts. R-Right! "Ack!" Katsuya jumped, going back to the pot and poking through it with the chopsticks. "Oh shit, please don't be burnt, please... Ack..." He fished around the pot, clicking it off with a wince before calming down. Well... Some of the noodles were singed but hey, it was otherwise pretty good... "Hahhh... Alrigh'!" He pulled out two dishes from the bag, holding one out for Mokuba to take. "Heh... Mokuba, y' want some?"

The boy nodded, putting the picture and folder back in the box before leaning forward at the table and holding the bowl out. "Definitely," he said with a grin, grabbing the chopsticks again and watching as Katsuya shuffled close himself.

"Heh! Dig in!" He grinned, taking his own chopsticks and pulling out some noodles for the two before moving on to grabbing an egg. "I didn' cook everythin'," he said with a nod, noting that Seto had since returned to her book. "But... 's a pretty good snack b'fore bed right?"

Mokuba nodded, laughing somewhat and taking a pile of noodles for himself before grabbing a few strips of meat. "Hmhm!" He stuffed a pile of the food in his mouth, pausing for a moment before nodding to himself. "Mmm... 'S good," he said with a grin, before swallowing the rest of his food. "It's great Katsuya-nii! Ah..." The boy blinked, turning to the side. "That reminds me..." He moved from the table as Katsuya continued eating, fishing what looked to be one last pair of boxes from under the tree. "Here," he said with a grin, handing the blond the more 'square' one of the two. "Your Christmas present!"

The blond blinked, pausing from his food to open it up. "Oh hey!" He pulled out a green-blue jacket, laughing as it unfolded in his hands. Over all, it looked pretty nice... But... "Mokuba," he said with a laugh, shaking his head. "I already got a coat y'know..."

He shrugged, moving back to the warmth of the table. "I know," he said with a shrug, going back to the oden as Seto looked over with a somewhat betrayed look. Katsuya almost had to laugh again as he caught the look really; what, Mokuba couldn't like oden? That was too much? Hahaha... Anyways... The boy grabbed one of the stringy chunks of meat from the broth, swallowing it whole before continuing with a small frown. "And that's great for the winter... But your last jacket ended up all bloody," he continued, looking down almost guiltily. "And your coat is a little warm for spring right? So I thought I'd get you a new one!"

Ah... That was right, his old one was pretty much unusable with the bloodstain on the side. Not that he hadn't kept it (Hey, he'd bled on that thing!), but... Wearing it around was kinda uncomfortable given that it was a giant bloodstain by his neck. Hahaha... This jacket though... It was pretty much the same as his old one, pockets and everything! ...Well... Save the fact that it was new of course. And... Not green. He grinned nonetheless, shaking his head. "Hahaha! Now I wish my present was more than jus' a bunch 'f food," he laughed, Mokuba still grinning in response. The blond looked into the pot of oden, blinking as he noted what was remaining. "Er... Speakin' of th' food..."

Mokuba snatched the last of the meat, grinning as he downed it; in its place was nothing but a small bit of soup broth, the food itself having long been devoured. "Yep- looks like it's all gone Katsuya-nii!" The grin died down to a more relaxed smile, the boy bowing his head somewhat and putting the chopsticks and plate down. "Thanks for the food!"

"Heh..." He shook his head, smirking. "It was nothin'..."

At this point Seto had packed up her books, and, placing the box on the chair behind her, she came over and lightly shook her brother's shoulder. "If you're done," she said plainly, expression mostly unreadable, "Then it's about time for you to get some sleep..."

The boy smirked, getting up as Katsuya stowed the used food wrappers in the plastic bag. "Heh! Same goes for you Nee-sama," he said with a grin, grabbing the box he'd pulled from the tree along with his 'horse papers' and their own box. "Tomorrows sunday, make sure you sleep in for once!"

She shook her head, snorting before taking her brother's free hand. "Hn... I'll_ try_, how about that," she said with a small smile, before moving to step around the small bits of ribbon and paper on the floor. Hobson, who had stayed near the couches since he came in, bowed as the woman passed and spoke. "...Be sure this is cleaned up by the morning," she told him as she walked by, receiving yet another bow in response.

Hobson nodded the affirmative, a simple '_Of course, Seto-sama_' being given in response as the siblings left the room. He turned to Katsuya, the blond currently staring at the door they'd walked through. Hobson shook his head, hobbling over and rapping his knuckles on the table to snap the blond from the slight daze. "Ach-hm!" The blond jumped, coughing as Hobson chuckled and continued to shake his head. "I assume you'll be cleaning up your table then," he asked, Katsuya pulling himself up and turning off the kotatsu lest he fall asleep under it.

"E-Er... R-Right," he said somewhat sheepishly, grabbing the oden pot and the bag before moving to unplug the device. "Er... I'll be back f'r th' table then," he said, moving off to put the things in the kitchen.

"Oh, don't bother with that," said another voice, Katsuya turning as Kyouko returned with the second maid from before. "Kira-chan and I will handle it, it's easier to just put it away than bring it in and out of the kitchen!" She chuckled somewhat, Katsuya nodding as he shouldered the bag. "You just get a decent night's rest, understand," she asked, bowing her head. "I can almost guarantee that Mokuba-sama will want to spend some time with you and Seto-sama in the morning! You've helped enough for tonight!" Again, the blond nodded, before being grabbed lightly by the shoulder again. "Ah... And before I forget," she stated, whispering in the teen's ear as the blond blinked. "I believe the things you asked me to hide are in the third pot drawer, specifically inside the double boiler pot, understand..?" The things he asked her to-

He blinked, before nodding with a smirk. "Heh... Right," he said with a nod, before moving to leave. "Thanks Kyouko!" The woman gave a bowing nod in response, Katsuya leaving the room at a slight run. Heh... He grinned to himself, running down the halls and into the kitchen. Not a bad Christmas, he had to say! ...Speaking of Christmas.

The blond put the still wrapped food in the bag in the fridge, dumping the water down the sink in the kitchen from the pot. Garbage went in the garbage can, the pot was placed on the side where he was (apparently) supposed to leave it... All in all, everything was put away, so there was really only one thing left. Ah... Kyouko said the 'double boiler' pot right? He opened a few of the cupboards, searching around one after the other. Third drawer from the right or the left, how was this any help..? He shook it off, before finding one with an enormous pot in it. ...Double boiler maybe? Not like he knew what that was... But this looked big enough. "Hnnnn... Er... Tha' might be it," he muttered, before pulling the pot forward and looking in. Oh, would you look at that, there it was!

Katsuya pulled the wrapped present out, closing the cupboard back up with a grin before looking over at the clock. The grin fell rather quickly, Katsuya standing and coughing at the time. Holllly shit, almost midnight... Course, he'd been up later but still... Where did all the time go? He shook his head, gripping the present under his arm and heading upstairs. Alright... Seto was probably around Mokuba's room right now, that was in the hall over from his... If she wasn't, he could _probably_ head her off at her own hall. Probably. Wasn't too sure how that would work.

He walked up the stairs, the halls almost completely blacked out in comparison to those on the main floor. Lights were turned off for anyone sleeping... Despite the fact that barely anyone would be seeing the halls more than a few times they too were just as wonderfully decorated. Though he had to say, he was glad there wasn't any mistletoe hanging around. That would be... He turned the corner, watching as the woman walked down the hall. ...That would be awkward. "Ah... Se-" He cut himself off, watching as the woman raised her eyebrows. R-Right... Don't call her 'chan', would probably not help the situation...

"...Jonouchi," Seto said with a frown, crossing her arms as she walked over to the slightly red-faced blond. "What are you doing here?"

Katsuya coughed, handing her the brown present with a nervous nod. "Well... 'S th' holidays righ'," he asked, turning away somewhat as his face heated up. Please don't hate it please don't hate it... "I thought y' might like this..."

There was a pause, a span of suspicious silence filling into the air as Seto held the present. Slowly however, despite the slight frown, she tore away at the paper, clearing it away to reveal the leather-bound cover of a book. 'Souryuu Albu-' The woman stared, clearing a few bits of paper from the book before looking back at Katsuya in somewhat shocked silence. She wasn't glaring at the moment. If anything the frown she held was more confused than anything, possibly wondering just how the hell he'd gotten his hands on the book. In the end, the silence continued to persist, the two merely sharing an odd and brief look before Katsuya gave a small and honest smile.

"Heh... No worries," he said with a laugh, Seto still staring in silence. "I didn' do anythin' stupid t' get this..." He turned, giving a small wave before leaving down the hall. "...Merry Christmas, Seto-chan..." This time as he went down the hall, there was no growl. There wasn't even a word, and when he looked back from the corner that 'his' hall was on he didn't see anyone despite the usual path that led from Mokuba's room to Seto's own. Turning down into the hall where his room was in silence, the blond glanced back at the empty space behind him once again. No sounds, no glares... Did she like it then..? What did she even think of it? He stowed his hands in his pockets, turning from beside his door with a slight frown as he looked into the darkness. Why didn't she say anything that time..? Not even a growl?

Maaaan that was weird... The blond rubbed his head, walking into his room and shutting the door behind him with a small click. Was she actually so surprised she hadn't said anything or... Was she actually ok with him saying that? He peeled off his socks, snorting at the thought. Heh! Scratch that last one, there was no way in hell he'd escape alive if he acted like that was the answer. Katsuya gave a loud yawn, tossing his jeans to the side off the room as well before collapsing on the bed with a small groan. Ahhhh... Whatever. Time to sleep off dinner and presents, that was for s-

He frowned, sitting up from where he'd fallen on the bed. Something was pushing against his chest... "What th' hell?" Something hard on his bed... He blinked as he rolled over, looking at a small box that had managed to create an impression in the blankets under his weight. The blond picked it up, lying back down on the bed somewhat and looking it over. Just a small white box... It easily fit in his palm, and other than the fact that it was a white grey there was nothing too special about it. He opened it, sitting up against his pillow as moonlight from the window glowed over something metal on the box. "Hn... These are..." He pulled out the set of dog tags with a wry laugh, light gleaming on the small chain that held them together. Dog tags... Hahaha, that really figured, now who did this... He looked back at the box, picking up a small and simple hand written note from inside it as the smile vanished. This note was from Seto... So then... She'd given him these? '_Recent events made the fact that attempting to kick you out would be futile_,' the note stated almost bluntly, Katsuya rolling his eyes and smirking at it. Heh... Yea, Mokuba would probably drag him back in if she tried that... He fingered the dog tags in his other hand, looking over them for a moment. The metal felt pretty damn smooth, save for what was engraved on the side. And the were shining, almost like silver... Didn't seem like it was silver though, least, it didn't 'feel' like it if that made sense. '_So_,' the note continued as the blond absently felt the tags over, 'You can consider this something to at least keep you from dying too easily. Or possibly getting lost like the dog you are. I suppose it's official,' he could hear the woman saying in that same condescending tone she always used. '_You're mine, Mutt._' And of course, right after that was a 'Merry Christmas' that he had to read over a few times to believe she'd written it. Hahaha...

The tags continued to glow in the light, Katsuya shaking his head and laughing silently as he collapsed back on the bed. 'Hers' was he? He looked over the dog tags, the engraved kanji showing clearly despite the partial darkness. The first one just had his name on it, neatly engraved in vertical rows. The second was for some reason his address and bloodtype both though... Also written in rows, but still weird in his opinion. Regardless of what the tags said however, he continued chuckling slightly as he lay back on his bed, staring at the ceiling. "Heh... there's a big part 'f me tha' want's that t' mean somethin else," he muttered, rolling over on the bed with a somewhat depressed smile. "Jus' wish th' other half would stop tellin' me it's def'nitly a threat..."

Whatever reasons Seto had for giving him these though, he told himself; he'd take them. And he'd treasure them, that was for sure. And while Katsuya fell asleep with platinum dog tags gripped in his hands, Mokuba as well began to quietly drift off with a stuffed dragon monogramed with his name at the side of the bed, calmly waiting for the next morning to come. In another room, the older of the three sat on her own bed, flipping through the pages of a photo album with a small, sad smile before pulling out a card and shaking her head at the messy hand drawn cover. 'Have fun once in a while,' the card said. She merely put it at the side and snorted, returning to her album before turning in to sleep not fifteen minutes later.

Elsewhere in Tokyo an albino teen looked up from his figurines at a clock with wide eyes, hardly believing the amount of time he'd missed. Materials were put away and he headed off to bed, a box of left-over food from an earlier 'Christmas KFC' dinner sitting to the side. Not too much further from the apartment building the albino lived in another teen, slightly older, was long since asleep with a book on motorcycles in his hand... With a large and somewhat odd looking dog at the edge of the bed and an old used dirt bike sitting in the driveway. On another side of the city where most of the inhabitants of the street and house both were asleep on the otherhand, an otherwise invisible and restless spirit stood at his host's bedside, staring out the window deep in thought... And wondering whether or not any of those thoughts would ever have to be voiced.

An hour or so away in Kyoto, two women had only just lay down for the night themselves, hair still slightly wet from a hot-spring they'd visited. Soft futon lay flat on the floor beneath them as shadows played along the side of a paper screen at their side, the two both falling asleep within only an instant. Another few hours away, the hospital staff roughly shook a patient's visitor awake, the visitor giving one last whispered good night before leaving... Remaining unheard as the patient herself continued to sleep in peace.

But despite the festivities, and despite the calm that filled the air in its wake, there were things of much darker origin occurring at the moment... And for all the peace that was in place at the moment...

It would only last so long.

* * *

**AN: **Ironically enough, nothing of the aforementioned dark origin will happen for a number of chapters... Though dark things are certainly brewing, including the Legendary Heroes! Ended up looking to Final Fantasy III for my class sources... Trust me guys, Legendary Heroes will be nothing like you've ever seen; RPG will actually be RPG! (With the duel monsters still playing a somewhat decent role without monopolizing it or sitting at the side going '_Hey. Sooooo... Why are we here again_?') There might even be something addressing Jou's rather questionable ability, though that's more likely to be addressed in Battle City. Chapter is about as short as the last... So if it seems that the 'AN' is longer than the chapter this time around, I can understand why. (And I'm sorry about that too, as I know that there are a good number of people who get ticked off by that; but that's why it's here, at the bottom, rather than up there, where you'd have to read it to get to the chapter itself.)

Art is no longer on 'hold' so to speak, so while I'm not giving you a link to the chain _this_ time, you'll definitely get one next chapter. In any case. Christmas is over! But... It's also a month away. Ahmmmm... Oh well. Originally, this was meant to be more spread up in update; I had expected this one to come out around my birthday... (Early December) After that, I would have said 'Alright! Turning in for the month, it's CHRISTMAS!' (Provided it wasn't actually my birthday... That would be _too_ early.)

Instead, it's not even Remembrance Day. Soooo... Many more updates to come!

By the way there is a _coloured_ picture for you below, as I got a little sidetracked while working on that enormous 'durarara chain' from before... (I'm still working on that, along with various sketches though, so don't worry.)

Now then...

**Poll Results:**

Priestess Set is picking up the slack... Keep going voters!

Female Crossdressing Set - 11 (Three Anonymous)

Obviously Female Priest_ess_ Set - 7 (Three Anonymous)

Canon (Male) Set - 2

And now for some reviews!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

I'm beginning to wonder if, for portions of the review I'm answering to specifically, I should put a segment of that review in down here... Just so that there isn't any confusion reading over the response, going 'Alright, what did I ask again to get this answer..?'. Let me know if that's a good plan.

Now then! Hey Iona! And yea, Hobson is pretty cool. And creepy... And weird. He can be all three at the same time, I would think. Glad to see you like his added backstory though… I'm beginning to think that it's a requirement to be on Kaiba's staff… Being cool that is.

Enthusiasm is always fun around Christmas! …Pity it didn't do much for the fairly awkward dinner though… (I don't think anything could quite fix that, myself.)

And Cynical Gamer! Yes… Yes you did miss a fair bit... If it helps, I didn't think I would update that much by a long shot. And haha! It sure is long… That just makes reading it even more fun though.

And ohh… What to do with that kind of knowledge... Probably screw with his mind some more. (You can bet that Noa will when the time comes.) More likely just that actually; to an extreme extent as well, you can bet. And… I don't think they could have done that with a flurry of creepy/negative thoughts actually; because despite all that's gone on, Pegasus seemed to have a fairly strong tolerance for… Things. So while it likely would have thrown him off for a second if Jou had say… Rotting Blue Eyes Ultimate Dragon at the forefront, it wouldn't have lasted too long. Mostly because the people on the other side of the mind read also have to keep the thoughts going, and really, if it's enough to scare the crap out of Pegasus… What kind of effect is it having on the people thinking?

And not a problem! *bows* As for Jou's crush…

Like it or not, it started out as a physical crush that was obviously hindered by personality from the start. Once the coma struck however, all Jou got was Mokuba's worry about when the woman would wake up, not to mention complete silence, entire evenings beside the bed with nothing else to look at but her face… So it wasn't really hindered anymore, despite constant mental reminders of _'this is a bad idea_...'. Yeaaaa… Like it or not, the crush definitely started for that reason. Of course, after things like the Monster World happen, where Jonouchi admits, or at least things to some extent that maybe the figurine they saw really was 'Seto' in a way… Well, things really got moving then.

And now they're back to bickering of course, but all in all the fact that the bickering has been very low key or at least not quite as stinging now that Mokuba's back, combined with the fact that she actually helped him out in leaving Pegasus' castle… It tells him that despite all impossibilities, there's still a shot… Kind of. Sort of tells him he's not going to die before his sixteenth birthday in any case.

And… Really? Hah! Wow… And I have to agree with the 'normally wouldn't work' statement there, I really do… I don't know why I'm so fond of 'impossible' pairings, really I don't! Oh well. Ahhh… Going to have to go beet red when I say I'm completely blanking out on what bit of the tournament you're talking about though… Sorry! (Ahhh, it's probably because of all the RPGs and Christmas on the brain…)

And it will, trust me! I could probably actually put some logic in there… It's fairly close to what Jou said, the eye wasn't supposed to be there, so maybe it was the way out. You could say he piggy backed on a millennium item's power. How'd he do that? …Well. It was there, wasn't it? (Have yet to decide if it ties in with certain other things yet...)

VERY lucky. Very very _very_ lucky… He's quite lucky he hasn't been smacked once as it is, and I think the only reason why is because one, Mokuba's right there, and she's holding back for his sake… And two, because there's that grudging respect saying '_He's an idiot, but damn it, if I smack him for it he'll prove me wrong, somehow_.' And that always sucks. Mostly, those thoughts are because of the 'ballroom' scene; Seto's words of '_standing on your own feet_' came back **hard**, and she has a nasty feeling as to why Jou got in that condition to begin with. Kaiba doesn't like people doing things for her for 'no reason' after all.

BWAHAHAHAHA! Cryptic foreshadowing is so fun though! It is very much like Ancient Egypt, more so as we go on, trust me… I can't say more though, save the fact that you're right in that it's more than ancient history we're dealing with. Quite a lot more, trust me on that… I like your guesses though, go go go!

She did indeed; her protection could actually be considered a hint… (It is adorable though. I can't quite draw her expression properly though, which makes the scene rather difficult to redraw. Curses!)

I'm not sure why everyone was reduced to tag-alongs myself… Maybe because they 'sort of' played a more physical role in the Millennium Game, we kind of saw a small bit of action in Duelist Kingdom, and that only left Battle City as the real hole in the manga? (Which meant of course that the anime couldn't do much more than what the hole left them.) Who knows really… And haha! Let me know if you find a good chunk of the latter/middle half of Battle City alright? I need to find it, lest I end up using the anime as a source on its own instead…

Shielding Yami's mind was pretty fun for me really. Ended up coming to Yugi in the end, but honestly that's how it should be for that particular part; Yugi and Yami Yugi share a mind, so it's only natural that one or the other end up calling the shots in there. …Now I have to draw that scene too… It's a scene of amazing bad-assery really.

And hahaha! YES. Glad to see it hasn't died off. And… I'm not actually sure. On the one hand, this follows the manga, so Pegasus _should_ be dead; otherwise, Yugioh R can't happen. On the other hand, Pegasus was pretty clearly alive for the Doma arc… I might do a bit of playing around here though. When Yakou comes to look for Pegasus after all, he doesn't see a body… He sees a bloodied table…

_So where was the proof that Pegasus was dead_..?

I loved that chapter too… I actually cried writing that scene; as I said, the answer song to the one that played when Seto's soul was taken by Pegasus started up around that moment. It was probably the weirdest twist of fate I've ever had in those sorts of matters; and a rather nice one too, I had to say.

Hahaha! A high five would have been awesome, but her hands were both occupied with a giant gold puzzle… Oh well. If only I could write more kick-ass scenes like this… **

Hehehe, 'mostly'. Poor Kaiba, she just can't catch a break… I always wondered why the lawyer at least didn't try to weasel his way out of being screwed over by Kaiba after everything concerning Pegasus went to shit. Though to the original anime's defense, the Kaiba of that Legendary Heroes arc _did_ know it was a trap; but he also knew that if he pushed the line to far, he'd likely trigger even _more_ crap from them… Of course, his pride was also in the way, but hey, that's Kaiba for you.

Definitely not a loincloth! GHAAAAAAA no. I actually sketched out what the outfit will likely be (And by the way, with how this is going they don't get their original clothes for the arc), you can find the link in chapter 29's art section. It's 'doodles and design'; while I was doodling uniform! and MonsterWorld!Kaiba, I ended up adding something to Jonouchi's absolutely ridiculous animal skin… Coming to the conclusion that buckskin makes everything better/more awesome. It looks pretty damn spiffy, if I say so myself. (I just love how (at least in Japanese), the maid protests that the armour they gave Jou is the _strongest one_. Had me thinking 'Wait, so there is a stat system of sorts?')

Hahaha, that was sort of the point of the word cardinal; of course, everything's in Japanese for them, so it comes out somewhat different… Then of course there's just the fact that the lady likely figures Yugi, like a good majority of Japan, is Buddhist… (Who knows really.) It does suck to be the aunt; and you're right. She actually quite regrets sending the two kids off; that's part of the large reason why she broke down into tears as opposed to either a fit of terrified screaming or rage.

The secret wasn't so much that Seto is a girl, but rather that the Aunt is the one who technically started the facade; if she hadn't agreed to Seto's request to essentially dump her in the middle of nowhere with nothing but a first name to go for identity, then none of the fanfic would have happened… And of course, if he brought it up now, the aunt would be in a shit load of trouble with the government (Not that Yami planned on doing that.).

It does show a lot of maturity really… Though this branched off from more of Jonouchi's actual character in the manga. No doubt that the siblings are helping that along in their own way though… Vice versa indeed.

Fun for everyone… She doesn't hold it against them though, you're right on that. (Though it certainly isn't helping any ingrained paranoia…) And yesssss, yes he does. Trust me, the interesting parts are barely touched on with that subject. BLATANT FORESHADOWING FOR THE WIN!

Kuma likes Jou, but he'll never ride him… That's alright though, Kuma can be a cool horse even without the rider…

Well, we don't really see the reaction, but hopefully that's enough for now… (I say for now for a good reason, hehehe…)

And I'll see you both next chapter!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that wishes you a Merry Christma- Wait, what do you mean it's November?

* * *

Now, to explain the title to you! Despite the fact that 'Merry Christmas' in Japanese is effectively just that... ('Merri Kurisumasu'! Hehehe, _you can hit me now_.) ...There are other ways to say it. First off, new years! 'Shinnen Omedetou'; 'Shin' being 'new' (Look down, and you'll see why knowing your kanji and your context helps a _lot_ in Japan... And why mis-communication is just as easy in that language if you're bad with your context.)... 'Nen' being 'Year', and 'Omedetou' being 'Congratulations'. Now normally, 'Omedetou' is written only in hiragana. However, in addition to the 'o' at the beginning and the 'u' (Vowel extension) at the end, the word actually has _three_ kanji in it. 'Me' from 'eye', or 'experience', 'de' from 'exit' or 'leave' (Don't ask.), and finally 'to', from 'occurrence' or 'time'. So it's probably best to just accept 'omedetou' as 'congratulations' rather than all those definitions... This is probably why it's normally written in hiragana too; very confusing other wise!

In any case, for Christmas, you take the katakana equivalent ('Kurisumasu'. Hehehe.) and shove 'omedetou' at the end; 'Kurisumasu Omedetou'. So technically you're saying 'congratulations on Christmas', or in the case of the above, 'Congratulations on New Years'.

This is how you say 'Happy Birthday' too; 'Birthday' is 'Tanjyoubi', ('Tan', 'be born', 'Jyou', 'birth', or 'life', and 'bi', from 'nichi'... Also known as 'day'.) so 'Happy Birthday' is 'Tanjyoubi Omedetou'. (By the way, you can also just pronounce 'Omedetou' as 'Omedeto'. No one will ding you for dropping that one vowel extension for _this_ word. It's not like with certain verbs where the difference changes the meaning completely.)

So yea, this chapter said 'Happy New Year'; but that's because we're not covering the actual new years celebration, and _hey_; guess what most people say around Christmas anyways?

* * *

Technically, it's not so much a 'breakfast room' as a room for people to just sort of have a snack; it's directly attached to the kitchen, so it's easy to just pull food out at leisure. As opposed to the actual dining room which is... Not... Attached to the kitchen. (Normally, the 'breakfast room' just has an 'island' of sorts with a bunch of stools... Or at least the fanfiction one does. Whoo~)

* * *

The round table idea is partially based in fiction, and partially just something that Mokuba would likely do… After reading the fiction and myth in question. As you can probably guess, it's based on the 'Round Table' of the Arthurian knights, a table at which no person was 'higher' or 'lower' than the other. Therefore, everyone at the table is equal. (Or at least Mokuba would like to think for the moment.)

* * *

The table itself is bigger than that of the Russian Roulette one of course, not to mention unable to spin… And not nearly as gaudy. This puts just enough distance between the three that they're close, but not super close… And they can see each other around the main course. Whooo~

* * *

Speaking of courses, a 'four course meal' as it's called generally goes soups, mains, salads, and deserts... But it was shortened to a three course meal, partially because Mokuba planned it and he probably didn't want too many veggies, and partially because not all multi-course meals are like that. That would be silly.

* * *

Traffic in Japan is _never_ going to be good of course. Think about the population, and even with the number of people taking trains/subways/bikes or just walking. But during _Christmas_? Oddly enough, the 'chauffeur unavailable' deal was actually put together by Hobson and Isono; so that Kaiba wouldn't get back to the house before everything was ready. Isono was actually following from a fair distance in case anything happened, though Kaiba would likely have been more than able to handle it herself...

* * *

Not too many words exchanged during the soup course hn? Mostly because Kaiba doesn't… Really want to talk. At all. (She has nothing to talk about, so why should she bother?) When you think about it, when does Kaiba start a conversation in the anime unless it concerns something either _drastically_ important, or just… Cards. Or insults. Keep in mind, the conversation is generally started either as an insult to Jonouchi (Which she's holding off on for Mokuba's sake) or as… 'Something' with Yugi. (Concerning cards, you boneheads!)

Of course, as soon as the opportunity to break the awkward silence comes, Kaiba's going to break it; even she doesn't like _awkward_ silences. Not to mention, the boys were both wide open on that one, and she's not going to go after her brother with insults.

* * *

The Christmas dinner depicted here is largely based on the English/Canadian traditional meal (You can't really say there's a traditional one in the State's I don't think, and putting a label on Canada as well is probably a bad idea, but still), and this is mostly because… Well, a majority of the meal's at the Kaiba house are rather 'westernized', and I'm fairly certain that KFC wouldn't cut it with her. AT ALL. (KFC tends to be the dinner of choice for Christmas in Japan, thanks to well placed commercials.) Nonetheless… Mashed potatoes with gravy, stuffing, turkey, boiled vegetables, cranberries, and eggnog. Mmmmm, wish my Christmases had that kind of food…

* * *

Of course, with those sorts of meals come those sorts of _manners_... Though really, just shovelling your food in any culture is rude, and while Kaiba admittedly expects it from a 'mutt', it's still one of those things that just isn't going to be tolerated for too long when she's right there. What happens if he starts talking after all. And of course, Mokuba managed to somewhat pick up on it, since he ends up eating with the blond _every day_... Leading to more points of annoyance. (Of course, Kaiba doesn't want to respond to her brother the same way she does the mutt, so it's dealt with in a fairly hilarious fashion.)

* * *

Now here's an interesting point; with the amount of time Kaiba spends with people, would you honestly be surprised that she doesn't know what the hell to talk about at the dinner table? The most she's probably gotten is 'dinner parties' that she attended for the sake of business… And all she ever did at school was read… And even with her own brother, there's still a fairly awkward rift between the two. And of course, you put Jonouchi at the table…

So what the hell is she supposed to do, start talking about Duel Monsters? Needless to say, it's awkward for the poor woman. Oddly enough, most of the problem could actually be described with 'Tea's words in the dub anime, when she rants about how Kaiba spends all his time with machines; Kaiba doesn't hang around people too much until the Duelist series after all, and you can bet that's going to put a damper on any social skills, regardless of personality traits. (It just so happens that Kaiba's pride and jerk-ness meshes with that lack of social skills to the worst level possible... But just as the Canon one got better (In my opinion at least), so is this one.) Kaiba can talk through a business meeting and party... But good luck getting more than two words out at an informal setting when it _doesn't_ concern the above points of cards and work. And insults.

I have to say though, the big-sibling care is fun to write.

* * *

MINCE PIES. Normally, a lavish dinner would include a hell of a lot more food, but in this case, what with half the cooks being fired, and there only being like… Two maids left in the building, they kinda had to tone that down. A lot. Also, Kaiba's used to just having the meal and that's it _anyways,_ and since there's only three people eating there's not really much point in making huge amounts of food. So hey, why not stick to the basics that they know will sit nicely with everyone's preferences? As it is, I can tell you this; that turkey was _not very big_.

Needless to say, only one choice for desert for those same reasons, and to spare Kaiba the issues of a mostly awake and sugar-high Mokuba, they stuck with the mince pie. Mince pies of course are filled with mincemeat, which, while originally made using meat in addition to the common ingredients, is a desert pie that doesn't normally have meat in it any more. It's made with chopped up fruits, raisins, spices… And it is _probably_ very good. I wouldn't know, I've never had one and WANT. I WANT IT. Sooo bad... (I should stop whining in my guide section.)

* * *

Kaiba's pretty much realized by this point that waiting until Jonouchi leaves the room to talk about… _Anything_... Is pretty much impossible. It won't happen, it just won't, because the fact is, once the holidays are over, out-of-school time that Kaiba is still at work for will effectively be shared between the two. Jonouchi is… There. Whether she likes it or not, and she figures she mind as well deal with it for things that aren't completely private. Lest she end up a mute all her life, more so than she ever intended at least. (Though you can _reaaaaally_ tell that any kind of conversation is still awkward for now, and not just because of subject matter.)

* * *

How old does he think you are Kaiba? Well, who knows, but if you're not careful you'll get the same reaction that Jonouchi did when he made the mistake of going on about fairies in the Monster World Arc… (Though I doubt Mokuba would ever hit his sister over the head with a book. He'd probably just give her a nasty look and avoid her for a bit. ...Or maybe he _would_ use the book, you never know...)

* * *

What the heck will Jou do with a knife? Who knows (Probably nothing), but it's something that Hobson probably thinks he could use… Particularly as a member of security staff I guess. (Even though he works the cameras… OH but not for long~ *wink*) You should probably realize that a number of 'pocket knives', or 'pen knives' are used for craft work, and delicate tasks however... The knife is probably very good for that sort of thing as well.

As for Kyouko's present, that's up to you to decide, but trust me when I say it's nothing _weird_ ok? It's just because Kyouko is the _second_ youngest member of staff at the moment, being 19... She actually knows Hobson quite well, which is probably why she was part of the present run. (She also wrote up that rather lovingly detailed folder on the horse.)

On a completely separate and unrelated note, Kyouko managed to export herself into an actual original fiction I'm planning; which is pretty weird, since she's only 15 in that one... Oh well, it's an in-progress work, I'll have to see how that goes when it happens. (If anyone is actually interested in that, let me know.) Kira, on the other hand _is_ from that original fiction; probably my oldest original character in terms of 'lasting past the sue stage', though she's here in name only... As the character herself is only 13. (...No it's not from _that_ Kira. It's actually a fairly common girl's name guys. Not a Japanese one obviously... But still somewhat common.) ...I just needed a name, same as last time with Hobson's original helper; guess what the main character of the fiction is named.

* * *

To be specific, Kaiba received three books; The Call of Cthulhu and other Weird Stories, The Thing on the Doorstep and other Weird Stories, and lastly The Dreams in the Witch House and Other Weird Stories. They're omnibus collections of Lovecrafts most popular stories, and there's also an essay from him in a few of them… I dunno, I figured that if Kaiba was a Nietzche reader she'd be at least somewhat interested in Lovecraftian tales... And I didn't want to just spam Seto with an untitled or inappropriately given book. Nor did I want to hand her a non-fiction. Anyways... So yea, she has three large books...

And of course, no one else can read them, as they're in English… (Though Mokuba might be able to.)

* * *

You ever see a picture of Kaiba holding a skewer with a tofu triangle (I think it's a tofu triangle), an egg, and some other piece of food on it? Those pictures are basically of Kaiba holding a stick of Oden, as you can buy it on a skewer. Oden, however, is obviously eaten with chopsticks as opposed to that…

Of course, Oden is listed as the utmost _worst_ food in Kaiba's opinion, so you can probably guess the reason for the somewhat betrayed looks from behind a Lovecraft novel. (I actually drew this scene with chibis, I should probably scan that in...) Not to mention the initial, of not somewhat out-of-character look of disgust at the sight of the oden pot to begin with; you could compare it to when, in the Yugioh _movie_ (Which will not make it into this fanfic unless I get a hell of a lot of people asking), Kaiba shows up at Pegasus'... And Pegasus shows him his now empty eye-socket. (Needless to say, Kaiba had a very emotive '_DO NOT WANT_' face as a result.)

* * *

What's in that folder? Well besides the info you see above, it's actually a rather lovingly detailed log on that horse's preferences on... Everything really. You tend to learn really fast if your horse is picky or not, trust me on that. (I asked my mom and sister; the former took lessons continuously when she was young, while the latter actually looks after horses on a regular basis.) In any case, in case you missed what was above (Not to mention for what _isn't_ there...), the 'white horse' isn't actually white. Rather, 'Yuki' as she's called (Hahaha, 'Yuki' means 'Snow'. I am _so_ not being creative with this...) is _grey_. A horse with black skin, and white hair. Yuki would have actually started out as black, and gone 'silver' from a young age, before finally going completely white. Truly white horses have pink skin. In any case, Yuki of course has brown eyes (differently coloured eyes tend to be rather rare...), and like Kuma, is an Arabian. Also like Kuma, she has all of her sexual organs perfectly intact...

So there's a damn good reason to keep those two horses separate and diagonally across from the other. She's a rather sweet horse too... (I always talk about these things like they're real, I almost feel pathetic doing that...)

* * *

A 'double boiler' pot is used to cook foods that would otherwise burn if left in a pot to cook on their own, but can't be sitting in water. You have two pots basically; one is this huge freaking _bucket _thing that you fill partially with water. The other, much smaller pot, is filled with the food you need to cook, and then suspended on the top of the first. That way, the food is cooked by boiling water, moist heat, rather than drying flaming heat. It's often used to melt things... Since you can't really do that safely _in_ the water.

Needless to say, the first pot is more than large enough to hide things.

* * *

When Seto asks what Jonouchi is doing there, she means in Mokuba's hall… When Jonouchi says he's in the 'hall across from Mokuba's', he means that when he comes down one large hall, turning one way would take you to Mokuba's 'hall', while turning the other way takes him to his own room. Kaiba's room is on the other side of the house though.

* * *

'Shashinchou', or 'photo album', comes from these three kanji. First you have the two that make the word 'shashin', or 'photograph'; the kanji 'Utsu', or 'copy', from 'utsushi' (Shi is in hiragana, and 'sha' is obviously an alternate pronunciation.) along with 'shin', or 'truth', 'reality'. (So 'shashin' is a copied truth, or reality so to speak.) Then you have 'chou', which just means 'book', or 'register'. (There are other words for book by the way.) Course, in the fanfiction it just says 'album' due to the English language being like that... But something tells me we'd his specifics in Japan, so enjoy your slight lesson!

* * *

Don't you _dare_ say that plushies are a bad present for an eleven year old boy, I see this all the time; five younger siblings guys, I have a bit of experience in the matter. (So much that my dad forgot to separate my presents from the lot when I did my job of wrapping… That was TERRIBLE AAAAAAAUUUUUH. Still liked the presents though. ...Hee.) It's more a pillow plush though; I have one myself, on a much larger scale. Basically, you can either undo the snaps underneath to have yourself a big ol' pillow… Or you can tie it back up for a stuffed animal... OR, the pillow _is_ the plush, plain and simple.

It's not Blue Eyes by the way (That'd be silly and actually very _very_ thoughtless if you think about it); it's actually just a stuffed blue dragon, and if you can guess what that blue dragon looks like, you win the _ultimate prize_ of foreshadowing knowhow.

* * *

You now have a fanfic origin for Jonouchi'd dog tags. Enjoy.

* * *

What did Mokuba give Kaiba? What was the reaction to the album past what we saw, _USAGI WHY MUST YOU HIDE THESE THINGS_! Because they're gonna come up, trust me, they really will! I'll tell you that the reactions were positive though… Just to calm you down for now. ...I hope it calms you down anyway.

I won't make comments on anything else though… I'll just leave the end as it is. Which is somewhat creepy. (It certainly seems to have ended on a somewhat creepy note, hasn't it...)

* * *

**Fanart/My Art Section**

Just a reminder guys, but if you have any art yourselves, don't hesitate to say so! I'd love to see it!

And as per usual, remove the spaces and enjoy...

Just a quick set of chibis here today... (And a design sheet) Enjoy~

Unwanted Luggage - http: / /i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ StowawayCase. jpg - In which you may or may not have a spoiler for the Doma arc. You already know that Ryuzaki isn't an antagonist in my books, therefore not nearly as likely to end up tagging along with Haga (Particularly not since he's almost 90% likely to end up showing up with Yugi and Co at least more than once 'after' or during Battle City)... But while I was re-watching the Doma arc, _this_ came to mind. As you can see, I had fun giving Ryuzaki a different shirt.

I've also coloured his hair wrong, as I found out too late (I couldn't tell, since most of the white/purple there would be under a hat...)... But I can either change that or leave it if you want. Personally, with all the crazy hair in this series, I don't know if he dyes his bangs or if his hair just randomly started growing in that colour. CONFUSING. In any case...

Oh boy. This probably means all of Ryuzaki's clothes are gone, hahaha...

Winter Coat Designs - http: / /i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ WinterClothes. jpg - So I was wondering to myself what people like Yugi would wear through the winter, since we never actually see them wearing winter clothes; all of the events in the manga either take place around the more 'cool' and balanced tempertures of the year and after school, or during school breaks... The longest of which are summer (self-explanitory) and, for Japan, the 'Golden Week'... Which takes place in May. So needless to say, no coats! In any case, I figured that Jonouchi would be using the same letterman that he wore during the 'Man from Egypt' arc (probably got that from his dad), with Honda wearing the trench-coat/duster he had in Duelist Kingdom. Kaiba gets the same awesome coat that we saw in Yu-Gi-Oh R, but I added a scarf. (Mostly because scarfs are fun to draw... Ironically, a scarf was one of the things I saw her getting from Mokuba. Hurm..) As for the others... Given that Anzu would still be stuck in a short skirt thanks to her school uniform, she got a thick warm sweater, a hat, leg warmers, and that is in fact a scarf around her neck there, it's tucked in. Bakura in the meantime ended up in a parka for some reason (And as you can tell, I never finished his hands. Booo...), and most of his hair is actually stuck under the hood... So it kinda umbrella-ed on him. (Poof!)

Yugi on the other hand has a thick winter coat, and I _almost_ gave him a hat. But giving Yugi a hat never really works too well, so he didn't get one. He did however, end up with mitts. Partially because I got sick and tired of trying to draw his hands, partially because it struck me that Yugi would probably actually wear them. Hah!

I wonder if 'Winter' is a 'yami-free-zone' because of all this... Can you picture Yami Bakura in that parka?

Any ways...

Until next chapter everyone! With the start of the Legendary Heroes...


	45. Chapter 44

**Red Skies At Morning  
**

* * *

After the events of Christmas, things had settled into a mostly regular routine to say the least. She and Jonouchi went their mostly separate ways after the holidays passed, with the blond heading to school during the week and work on the weekends while she herself spent as many possible waking hours in her office. And in any spare time that there might have been, time was either spend with Mokuba or on more work... None of which she spent within Jonouchi's proximity, for obvious reasons (Worse than a dog damn it...). There were of course exceptions to this; Mokuba's first riding lesson was one large example, and despite the fact that she personally didn't see the appeal of horseback riding she did have to admit one thing. He was having fun out there from what she saw, even with the number of times he'd been reminded to sit up straight as the horse he sat on slowly trotted in a circle. Reminders to sit up and down filled the air as she watched that first lesson, and from what Mokuba said after his further ones, the enjoyment didn't change. ...She still didn't see much point in the 'sport' though.

Other exceptions however, seemed to be few and far between thankfully. New years had come and gone, with the moronic blond narrowly catching himself before calling her by her first name... Again. And again. And _a__gain_...

She swore it, if the blond didn't have a place in her brother's heart for some bizarre and unknown reason, the moron would have been kicked out of the house at the very _least_ with nothing in his possession. As it was however... He seemed to be making at least an increased effort not to use the term, though now that the holidays were over she really couldn't tell how much better that was going... Reassuring herself that Jonouchi was the only one who 'knew' to say the least, was probably the only thing that told her he was likely to continue the correction. So really, whether or not that effort was running well...

It was probably doing better than her work was. That was for sure. Despite all designs she'd been working on, despite prototypes of her secondary duel disk already in development, there was no doubt in her mind that her job had seen far better days than these recent ones. For the past two weeks now, despite the substantial evidence that whatever 'game' the board of directors were working on had since been completed, she'd been blackballed completely with excuses that there were minute glitches that needed to be repaired, electrical errors that had to be looked over, that it simply _was not ready, _and if she heard another word she would-

"Ne-Nii-sama," her brother asked hesitantly from the side, leaning on the desk somewhat. The woman looked up from her papers, blinking. Normally, having Mokuba in the office would be a fairly rare occurrence to say the least; he had school after all, and unlike herself, Mokuba was legally bound to his classes. As it was however, apparently his school had some sort of 'bring your kid to work' thing going on that day... And given the obvious lack of parents, she was the next best choice to hang around the office with for the working hours. As to when the boredom would get to him... It already had, and she could tell. "Nii-sama," the boy said again, frowning as his sister closed over what she had been working on. "Are you alright..?"

The papers were placed to the side, the woman blinking yet again. Hn? Why ask that? Was there anything that clearly said she wasn't? ...Besides maybe the steady scowl she had whenever she looked over the board's latest reports on their 'progress'? Personally, she was surprised they were able to create anything even resembling an 'MMORPG' from Duel Monsters; there was a fairly large gap to bridge between card games and 'sword-shield' style battling, and to do so without creating something either completely pointless or something that was duel monsters 'in name only' would be nigh impossible. Nonetheless, that was apparently what they were doing... And damn it, enough was enough she was going over there to see what the hell was taking so long. She pushed her chair back from the desk, standing up from her seat. "I'm fine," she said somewhat testily, before looking to her brother with an odd expression. "What about you?"

The boy shrugged, standing up himself as the woman moved over to the door. "I'm alright," he said, holding his hands back behind his head. "I just didn't think your job was so..."

"Boring," she asked with a raised eyebrow, smirking as her brother gave a sheepish shrug. Hn! That was because there wasn't anything for him to do! ...Hah... She shook her head, moving to hold the door open as they both walked out. "I suppose you would see it that way," she muttered, letting the door shut as Mokuba walked out into the room. "I'll tell you what," she continued, the pair passing by the secretary and toward the elevator. "How about we both do something a little more than simply design and management today?"

Mokuba looked up as his sister tapped the elevator button, blinking. "Hn... But what else do you do other than that," he asked, following the woman into the elevator before watching as she pushed the button for the next floor down.

"Not much," she admitted, the elevator doors remaining closed only for an instant as they stopped at the second highest level of the building. Oh definitely not much outside the occasional beta test for a soon to be released product... Like hell she'd let anything out on the market before that after all. The two walked out of the elevator, moving through the spacious hall toward what looked to be a board room. "However," she continued, knowing full well that the board had effectively relinquished their offices in order to appear 'busy' in recent times, "I think it's time we convince a few morons under my hire just _why_ they're still here..."

The door opened inward, five middle to late aged men turning from where they sat at a large table. "Seto-sama," Daimon said from the center, the group standing up briefly to bow their heads in 'respect'. Normally the right thing to do would be bow back but... Quite personally they could all go to hell for what she cared. "...And Mokuba-sama," the man added seemingly as an after thought, both Kaiba siblings sneering somewhat in response. Sounded almost as though that had been tacked on, now why would _that_ be... "Would you care to take a seat," he 'asked', despite likely knowing the answer already.

Seto merely crossed her arms as they stood there, her eyes narrowed. "Unfortunately," she 'admitted with a frown, "There are a number of things I still need to deal with, so I'll only be a moment..." The mostly hidden look of distaste on her face increased, eyes narrowing further "I'd rather not waste any time..."

The men nodded, taking their seats once more without skipping a single beat. "In that case," muttered Oshita, the grey haired man folding his hands over in front of him, "What brings you in here Seto-sama?"

Yes, a _very _good question, wasn't it? She continued to glare, grip on her arms tightening while she held back a growl. "It's about your 'adventure game'," she stated, gauging the board's reactions. Not a single wince, clench, grimace... "Given previous 'findings'," the woman continued, "You should have long since had a full copy of the game prepared for the final test run. However," the woman continued, Mokuba mirroring her expression from beside her, "You're instead sitting here, claiming otherwise... Regardless of the fact that not only do I have evidence of not one but _five_ completed 'Virtual Reality pods' to run the program, but that you have already hired a civilian to test the program... _Without_ my knowledge," she added darkly, growl forming in the back of her throat. "I don't think you need to ask just how _disgusted_ I am by your actions, which you apparently have no problems with doing despite how _unbelievably_ lucky you are to still be here after your stunt during my absence." Or course, given her tone, it was more than clear as to how little luck had anything to do with it. "You are going to _show me_ that game," Seto demanded with a growl, eyes narrowed into slits. "And you are going to allow me to test it completely, within _this current day_, before you can clean out your desks and leave... Understand?"

The board turned to themselves, sharing a number of odd glances for a moment. Silent stares were exchanged and a number of them appeared to look to Oka and Ota in particular before the latter coughed and turned forward. "Well," the technical expert stated, Oka nodding from beside him with an odd gleam in his eyes. "How appropriate of you to ask that just now," he continued, smirking. "In fact," he added almost darkly, the others nodding in agreement, "One might almost call it convenient..."

Otaki nodded as well, arms crossed. "_Very_ convenient," he continued with a 'smile'. "We just recently finished with the last of the bugs in the system... As a matter of fact," he added with a somewhat smug grunt as he leaned back against his chair, "We were about to call you down to tell you this!"

"Hn..." Seto snorted somewhat, expression unchanged. Oh yes. 'Very' convenient. There were clearly all rushing for the phone when she'd come in. "I see," she muttered, staring the board down. Still no reactions... And _that_ was never good. "You five seem oddly eager to leave this building," she eventually said, watching as Daimon pulled out a thick pile of bound papers from the side. "Given that whether this program is approved or disapproved you'll be leaving your employment here regardless."

The five merely turned to the woman, either smiling oddly or simply frowning in the case of Oshita. "Yes, well," the aged man stated with a low grumble, "You yourself seem oddly eager to be rid of us yourself," he said with a growl.

Mokuba grit his teeth at the words, scowling as he attempted to stare the men down himself. "And for a good reason," he shouted, the board turning to the boy with mild if not possibly non-existent glares. "After all, thanks to what you did, Pegasus almost killed us both!" ...One way to put it, that was for sure.

There was a small round of awkward coughs with the accusation, Oshita merely nodding his head somewhat in response. "Yes... Well. That_ is_ unfortunate_,_" he stated, both siblings before him clenching their fists at the words. Well, he sounded so _genuine_ about it, now didn't he? "But you must understand," he protested, a faux look of scowling worry on his face. "We had no idea that he would attempt such a terrible thing! Believe us when we say this!"

Bullshit. This was complete bullshit. And still they went on, regardless of the fact that they all knew it was a lie... Damn it. "This is correct," Oka stated, adjusting his glasses and leaning forward slightly. "Our deal to create a merger with Industrial Illusions before your return was only to save the failing stock, there was _never_ any foul play intended..." No foul play what so ever hn? She would believe that when the mutt had a PhD in molecular physics... And was teaching it.

And still it went on. "In fact," added Daimon, smirking oddly as he spoke, "Why not let your opinion on the _game_ decide our fates?" Hn? Seto raised an eyebrow at that, listening. They were actually saying that out loud regardless of the fact that she would agree to that when she believed Oka's last words? If she didn't think there was something else going on _before_... This was enough to send sirens on a rampage. "Perhaps our work will be enough to prove to you our loyalty," he continued, standing up to hand Seto the large binder he'd pulled out. The woman took it, narrowed eyes looking over the blank white cover for a moment. "What do you say," the man asked with a smirk. "If you don't like the game, if it's such a terrible investment and we've wasted all our time, then we'll leave... If not," he added, Seto merely putting the book under her arms as she crossed them, "Then we remain in your employ..."

The woman snorted, narrowing her eyes. "Tch! I believe _I _am the one who decides that," she stated with a growl before turning. Leave the people who tried to kill her brother under employment, what kind of moron did they thing she was. ...Though despite their position, they could certainly be doing worse, she realized with a mental jolt. "...We'll see how this test goes," she 'decided', before leaving the room with Mokuba. Basement floor two of the research division wasn't it? The button was pushed and a moment later elevator doors opened, Seto and Mokuba both walking in and watching the doors close behind them. She pushed the button, Mokuba watching with a confused frown as his sister stared out the glass wall of the elevator back.

"N-Nii-sama," he said as he bit his lip, the woman beside him merely flipping through the first few pages of the binder. "Nii-sama, doesn't this seem a little bit... Erm..."

"Dangerous," she asked, turning to look at the boy. There was a reason she was looking through this book, and it wasn't just 'for kicks'. "Trust me," the woman said with a growl, continuing to look out the back of the elevator. "If it wasn't for a few _very_ well written forms I found on my desk the first time I attempted to fire these morons, they would be _long_ gone..." As it was they were being extremely stubborn about the only other option. Her eyes narrowed further with those thoughts, the binder closed with a snap as they came to the second basement floor. A smooth and quick ride... Hopefully the 'game' would run just as well. "Either way," she stated, the doors sliding open before them, "It's either I 'test' their game, or we're stuck with them and whatever other stupid attempts to cause problems that they might have at their disposal..." Her eyes narrowed with that, the woman walking out of the elevator with Mokuba at her side. "And there are a large number of more 'permanent' ways they can deal with us," she muttered somewhat quieter as they made their way down the hall, knuckles growing white as she gripped the binder under her arm. Far too many ways for her to risk ticking them off further, despite all of her own power. It didn't take much for a thorn in a person's side to cause pain after all.

Mokuba frowned, swallowing nervously as they walked down the mostly dark hallway toward the research section of the building. He knew full well what 'permanent' meant... "Then," he asked quietly, the only other sound in the hall being their footsteps. "Then what's going to happen to you," he finally said, the boy looking up with a worried expression. "If there's something wrong with this... If...I mean..." Mokuba shook his head, choking somewhat. "It's supposed to directly connect to your _spine_," he protested, eyes wide. "If even the smallest thing goes wrong, even the smallest thing, what happens if you... If you..."

"I won't die," she said with a tense growl, eyes not once turning back to her brother as she cut the boy off. There was a small span of silence, footsteps echoing through the air. "You have my word on that," the woman continued at a softer tone, looking down at her brother. "I won't lose this game."

The two stopped as they came to the room that the board had cited as their 'development' room, a typically 'identity-less' and thick set guard turning to them as they approached. It was one of three that the board had taken; and home to the second of the 'single' pods that were to undergo testing. "Seto-sama," the guard stated with a bow, before punching a few numbers into the pad on the door's side to let the two in. 2, 5, 2, 2... She blinked, quickly recognizing the code as that of Pegasus' own. Funny how that worked. Even so... Those numbers, what did they spell out... Her thoughts were cut short as the guard spoke again, Mokuba walking into the room ahead of them. "Should I prepare the computer for you," he asked, nodding over to the large 'control center' that sat at the side of the pod.

Seto shook her head, walking past the man and examining the room. "That won't be necessary," she stated, briefly looking to her brother as the boy looked around the immense room as well. Computers, equipment, even boxes filled with spare parts littered the room, the only truly clear area being that of the space around the pod and behind the 'control center' itself. "Mokuba should be able to handle the controls perfectly well with the instructions we've been provided with," she continued, turning to the guard with somewhat narrowed eyes. "...You can leave now," she added darkly, the guard nodding nervously and doing just that. Good. One less problem to deal with. Now then... Seto looked back at the 'pod' in the center of the room, idly listening as the door shut behind her with a series of clicking gears.

"Nnn... N-Nii-sama," Mokuba said nervously, looking at the pod as well before turning back to his sister. "Are you sure there isn't another way to do this, so that maybe... Well..."

"I'll be fine," the woman said with a small nod, cutting her brother off once again. Stop reminding her of the risks... She'd win despite them, just stop reminding her. "I told you that much, didn't I?" Seto turned to her brother, before handing him the binder and moving toward the pod with a mostly stone glare. "I'm going to beat the living hell out of these morons when I'm through with this," she muttered, looking over the pod before turning back to Mokuba. It was already open... According to the book, the device would close in on whoever sat in it automatically, with the rest of the device controlled by the attached computer...

Because hey, that was just so _comforting_, and helped the already tense situation _so much_, given how well she knew about the connections this thing had. Numbers were running through her head again, in a failed attempt to calm herself down... 2, 5, 2, 2, 8...

Ah... Her eyes widened slightly as the numbers clicked into place, a single word coming to mind. Perhaps it was just her comparing this situation to an equally hopeless location, but even so... "Mokuba," Seto stated as she prepared to sit in the pod, turning as the boy looked up from the binder. "Before I go under," she continued, sitting partially on the seat in the pod, "The code to this room and the other systems is 'Alcatraz', understand?"

Mokuba blinked, before following Seto's minute gaze over to the camera and nodding. While their wasn't any audio, she wasn't taking any chances that the room wasn't bugged... The look on her brother's face told her that he understood the situation however, and she nodded as well. Good... He got it then. She just hoped he knew the proper conversion of numbers... The woman leaned back in the seat, tensing only slightly as a large headpiece settled over and around her skull, tinted class hiding most of her face from view as steel encompassed her ears and head. Thick cushioned metal revolved from behind her to secure her shoulders into place, preventing her upper body from moving out of the seat. The glass from the above pod began to close over as the device locked her into place, and the pod itself was slowly turning toward the control center as Mokuba made his way to it and looked through the binder in his hands for instructions on the device itself.

A computerized voice came seemingly from nowhere as she sat there, a small drawer coming out just under her fingertips as it spoke. '_Please place your deck in the drawer_,' the voice stated, Seto moving her arm up to pull the deck out of her breast pocket. Since coming back from the Duelist kingdom, it remained in that pocket and it would go no where else; if it had been so easily stolen before, when it was hidden away... Well. That wouldn't happen anymore, now would it?

She stretched her arm slightly to hold the cards over the drawer, dropping the deck in and watching as the device retracted into the seat arm with a small click. The glass above her had come into place as well, rendering the entire pod claustrophobic-ally silent as she looked at her brother through the glass. Mokuba was saying something from the other side of the pod... She couldn't hear him, but she had a feeling she knew what he was saying given the expression on his face. '_Nee-sama_,' he was saying under his breath, eyes wide with worry. '_Please be alright..._'. "I'll be fine," she shouted somewhat, expression unseen behind the thick glass of the 'helmet' around her head. He probably still couldn't hear her... But even so, she would say it. "No matter what, I _will_ win," she continued, nodding as much as the machine would allow. "Start the game!"

Though she couldn't hear the answer, she was able to see as the boy pulled a large switch before him. It took both his hands but it was pulled down, a barely audible click coming from outside the pod. The screens behind Mokuba flashed in response to the action, and again the computerized voice echoed around her in greeting. '_The Game will now begin_,' it stated 'calmly'. '_Please remain still, and try to relax_.'

Relax? Hn! Because being put into the equivalent of a literal 'death trap' was relaxing... As lights passed through the helmet, but even so the woman closed her eyes. Something was pushing against the back of her neck, and on her forehead... Something cold, but abruptly the sensation vanished, along with the rest of her senses. It was time... Time to see how much work had gone into this 'trap', and into this game... Lights continued to fill into a blur despite the fact that her eyes were closed, lines of code streaming past her eyes and soon enough...

The game had begun.

* * *

There was nothing but darkness when she opened her eyes, or at least when she believed that she had. Her mind and body thought she had. But she knew for a fact that if she had actually opened her eyes she would have seen nothing but glass and her little brother. And thus the ability to cut off all her sensations was more than proven for the virtual reality world. Tch... Seto blinked a few times, looking around the empty space with a frown. Regardless of cutting her senses off however, this place... There was nothing above, beside, below... Nothing at all. She felt almost like she was floating through a thick cloud of smoke, a heavy blanket of smog, and yet she was having no troubles breathing whatsoever. At least, that was what her mind told her. Darkness... For all she knew there was nothing but darkness... She looked down at herself, breath catching in her throat as her eyes widened. Despite the darkness, she could easily see herself. "G- Where the hell are my clothes?" She didn't even look like herself so to speak, it was more as though she was made of 'light' or some ridiculous other medium. What the hell was this? The closest thing she could call it was glowing, but that? Glowing? Hah!

Nonetheless, this machine was already posing a threat; if it so easily stripped her down to absolutely _nothing_ in only an instant... Who was to say that the board themselves wouldn't have access to that information, ready and more than willing to turn it against her? '_Greetings_,' a voice called from above, Seto tensing slightly and turning upward toward the voice. Gh... The computer... '_Welcome to 'Duel Monster Quest' version .10,_' it stated 'cheerily', before continuing on._ 'Please pay close attention to the instructions given_.' The woman merely stared, a frown on her face as the voice continued. Instructions... Hn. '_A number of questions will be asked,_' it continued with its emotionless cheer, Seto crossing her arms in response. '_Please answer them honestly._'

Only if they didn't concern herself, how was that? And even then... '_First_,' the voice began, Seto listening only slightly as it spoke. '_Decide on your name please_.' Name? Hn. "'Kai'," she stated calmly, deciding to stick with her arcade initials to keep things simple. No letter limits, no problems with pronunciation... '_Thank you_,' the voice said, its subject snorting somewhat in response. Programmed politeness... How contradictory. Though at least a program was still readable... '_Next_,' the voice continued as expected, '_Decide on one of the following battle classes_.'

Classes? She raised her eyebrows as what appeared to be floating panels depicting fighting men and woman floated up around her, hovering in place. Well. Hn... So this _would_ be more than just cards. Interesting, she would admit, looking over the panel before her as a description hovered beside it. Even so... She moved her hand, watching as the panels 'scrolled' before her with somewhat raised eyebrows. Hnn... That was interesting. Now then... Her choices were... Warrior, White Mage, Black Mage, Archer... Summoner, Thief, Monk... She paused on the one following the last, skimming over the description. Hn... While the 'stat growth' would never be quite as high as the classes it borrowed skills from, this one was balanced enough... And given that she didn't know what sorts of advantages or disadvantages either 'skill set' would have, the balance would effectively be required, much as she'd prefer a guaranteed powerhouse. 'Red Mage'; she'd have 'magic' (however the hell that would work out) and a sword both from what the description said. Far better than just relying on one or the other in her opinion, though she would have to see how that worked.

She tapped the panel with slight hesitation, watching as the others around it abruptly vanished from sight while leaving the 'Red Mage' intact. Hnn... Interesting. '_Thank you_,' the voice stated again, Seto looking up briefly as it continued. '_Now_,' it asked, '_Please decide on your initial armor_.' That wasn't decided with the class? The woman watched as three sets of armor appeared from the panel, the 'Red Mage' vanishing in its place as the three hovered before her. Ahh... This was why; due to the 'jack-of-all trades' status, she had the option of either form of armor... Cloth, leather or metal. Hn...

The woman frowned, looking over her options. If the computer had detected and revealed her gender, she would need to be careful with her choices... For now, there was probably just a blank screen on the 'outside world'; there was no way after all, that the board would dare to possibly reveal a nude player on-screen... Even they had standards, or at least she would think that much.

But who was to say that whatever appeared on the screen _after_ this, when the game itself began, wouldn't do that just as well. Who was to say what would appear on those screens for anyone watching to see? Tight-fitting metal armor was out of the question, given the likely result she would gain... Same with a number of the cloth ones it would seem, given how they were somewhat tightly wrapped to the models on the panels... "This one," she muttered, choosing what looked to be a mix of cloth and leather with a small nod. Neither tight fitting nor too flimsy to stand against whatever the hell would be attacking in this game... Besides the layers of clothing however, the cloak should hide the rest of her from view, provided it remained closed at all times. Now then.

'_Thank you_,' the voice stated on cue, sounding almost like a broken record to the woman below. '_Please listen carefully to the following instructions_,' it continued, Seto in the meantime watching with slightly shocked curiosity as the armor she'd picked appeared overtop of her body. Leather and cloth had simply misted into existence, the feeling of the cloth rubbing against her skin as it weighed her down. Hnn... She flexed her fingers, testing the mobility she had with the gloves she was now wearing. ...Not bad... Though...

Why was it red, she'd have thought white at the very most or- Right. ..._Red_ mage. Never mind that then... She turned her attention back to the voice, crossing her arms as she continued to 'float' in the darkness. '_Each player begins with 2000 lifepoints_,' the voice explained calmly, continuing on. '_For each monster summoned, half of the monster's attack will be deducted from your lifepoints._' W-What? What? Since when did summoning require- '_Spells and traps as well require lifepoints, their number depending on skill-level and power-level both._' She grit her teeth, nonetheless listening. Alright... That wasn't too bad... But since when did summoning or setting a card require that? '_In order to gain lifepoints_,' the computer added, seemingly unaware of its subject's current scowl, '_Monsters must be defeated. For each monster you defeat, its attack points will be added to your lifepoint count. Money and experience for use in skills will be earned in addition to this from single attacks. However,_' the voice warned, Seto narrowing her eyes in response. '_You will not gain experience from attacks inflicted by a summoned monster_.'

Hnnn... So in other words, it was a form of 'easy way, hard way'... Summon cards to end a battle quick and risk it all, or simply fight without the cards for a larger prize. '_During battle_,' the voice went on, pulling Seto's attention back up once more, '_Only one card may be drawn to start. The option to draw a second card will be given in the event that the opposing monster is either stunned or otherwise incapacitated_,' it added, 'pausing' for a moment. '_Alternatively_,' it added a split second afterward, '_Spells allowing new draws may be used. However, please keep in mind_,' the voice warned, '_That there is a limit of seven cards per player. All cards drawn beyond the limit will be destroyed immediately._' Alright then... The same rules as the game itself, she could live with that. The destruction of the cards were new, but again, she would deal with it. '_Lastly_,' the voice stated, Seto bringing her hands to her side as she waited, '_Once all lifepoints have been lost, the game will be over. The option to quit the game or continue from a previous point will be offered_.' Would it now? So then there was a fail-safe against actually 'dying' in this place then... Though she had considerable doubts that this voice was telling the truth given who programmed it. _Extremely_ large doubts... '_Thank you for your time_,' the computer said 'calmly', an odd sensation filling Seto's body with the words. '_We will now begin the game_.'

Alright then. And how would- Seto froze, watching as the blackness below abruptly cleared to reveal the far off ground. The tops of the trees were so far off that she could see the thin space between each one, the small clearings that appeared... In the distance, far to the north of the wood was a desert, and beyond that a wall of sand. Before the desert there sat a single withered patch of land, which brought her attention back to the trees below as the details on their tops became clearer. Falling... She was falling, and yet all the same she wasn't... It was more like the 'board' so to speak was coming to her. The trees below were drawing closer, and yet as she drew close she couldn't feel too bothered by that fact- she wasn't falling after all. She was perfectly fine. She reached the ground, eyes closed briefly as she landed with a silent thump in her feet. And slowly she opened her eyes again to the sound of distant chirping birds and a cold breeze. Seto looked around, calmly taking a few steps forward in silence. Silence was all the wood had besides the distant and occasional chirping. On one of the trees beside her there were a cluster of cicadas. On another, a large flock of birds taking refuge from something unseen. The woman paused, looking over herself now that there was light around enough to see. Better to check for anything else the game dropped on her now, before any battles began, then later in the middle of a fight... Particularly since she didn't know exactly how the battle system would work just yet. So far there were no changes. Besides the red cloak and matching cloth armor she had a long and thin blade at her right side. Idly she wondered what good it would be if she didn't know how to wield a sword... But something told her that programming fixed that. She looked around her left wrist, frowning slightly.

Now this was out of place... "Hn... The deck holder from my duel disk," she said with a snort, looking at the small blinking '2000' on its cover. Lifepoint counter and deck... And just what was she expected to do with her other cards, hold them through battle? Well then... She moved forward in the forest, adjusting the hat her armor came with and looking around. She should probably not attempt to summon any cards for the moment... The draw would of course be random, but she had a feeling that somewhere near the top was one of the magnificent beasts. And as much as she would enjoy blasting through whatever appeared with Blue-Eyes, summoning the dragon would cost her 1500 of her lifepoints; a risk that even she was unwilling to take for the moment. She moved her wrist back down, continuing through the forest. Not as though she could draw a card now of course; she wasn't in whatever this program would consider a battle, that was for sure. And battles aside, she didn't even know the point of this game. How the hell was she supposed to fight if she didn't know what the point of the game was?

A low growl came from behind her, Seto turning with somewhat narrowed eyes. Low as it was, the sound was more than loud enough to silence the birds and the insects both, the entire flock fleeing in a panic. Nothing directly behind her... The woman slowly looked upward, staring high past the tops of the trees in silence. Enormous violet scaled heads sat high above her, golden horns gleaming in the light of the sun. Large and equally golden eyes stared her down, and with a thundering roar the two-headed king rex rose to its full height. The trees? Likely between 40, 60 meters tall. The giant, draconic dinosaur? She could see it's shoulders between the tips, so that probably said something. Even so; she knew what this monster was... And compared to her own deck, this was nothing to sneeze at. She drew a card from her deck holder, frowning. Tch... Much as this card would be handy if she _lost_ life points... She blinked, watching as the card abruptly vanished in her hands. Where... Where did it- '_Card added to hand_,' the computerized voice from before called, Seto merely looking back at the two-headed monster that had toppled a number of trees as it walked. Well... She supposed that explained a few things. No cards for now... The woman fingered the handle of the blade she had, narrowing her eyes. "Hn! Trying to beat me with a game like this," she muttered, drawing the sword from her side and holding it tightly in her right hand. This pose she was taking... She wasn't sure how she knew it, but this was a fencer's position... ...Great, the computer could change her own thoughts. Alright... The dinosaur before her stomped closer toward the woman, Seto not moving an inch. She couldn't think about that for now... Instead, she would see how the combat system of this game went. "Bring it on," she growled lowly, blade held at the ready.

The monster merely roared in response, snapping its jaws before bringing one of it's massive and truck-sized feet toward the woman. Closer, closer... Before the beast could have the pleasure of squashing her beneath its toes however she had long since rolloed out of the way. The first of the two heads turned from where it had stepped, looking beneath it's again raised foor before snarling in annoyance. The second turned, uttering a growl and pointing the first toward where she stood; with low and enraged growls the dinosaur stomped forward yet again, the ground quaking beneath its feet. "Grrrrnn... GRAAAAAAOOOO!" She winced slightly as the sound shook through the now mostly clear field, gritting her teeth. "**GRAAAAOOOOOOAAAAA**!" Tch! Loud enough? The dinosaur opened its two great mouths, a blast of flame charging between their jaws as Seto stared up with wide eyes.

Hang on... Since when did dinosaurs breathe f- She jumped to the side as the flames struck the ground, watching with wide eyes as she came to a stop a full fifteen feet away from the location. Alright... If there was one thing she knew about jumping long distance, it was that that would have ordinarily been impossible if she was actually jumping... Even running before a jump four meters and beyond was unlikely! It was one thing to avoid being turned into charcoal... But that distance... A small smirk came on her face, the woman looking over at the still flaming trees with an odd smirk "...Hnhnhnhnhn..." She chuckled darkly, looking up at the dinosaur as the smirk grew. "Hnhnhnhnhn..." Well now... It looked as though the players in this game had fairly exaggerated reflexes! How fitting in a battle with a monster more than ten times her size. The smirk faded somewhat, and again the woman took a combatant's pose of sorts. As she told her brother before this game began... She would win, no matter what! The blade at her side was held well at the ready, Seto staring down the dinosaur as it turned its heads to strike. The heads both snarled, apparently more than enraged about the the fact that its prey had again dodged the attack. Honestly, the size of a small skyscraper and it couldn't make a hit? "Hn! Pathetic," she shouted up at the beast, the dinosaur in question snarling in response. Come on... Come on! She continued to stare, watching as the closest head finally attempted to smash her into the trees behind her with it's jaws. One jump and the attack was again easily dodged, a low and muffled growl coming from behind her among the sounds of splintering wood.

The growls continued behind her, Seto herself landing squarely between the beast's horns and turning back as the cluster of trees in its maw finally cracked into piles of what could barely be called toothpicks. The second head of the giant rex gave a loud and angered roar, Seto grabbing the beast's horn as it's trapped head was pulled cleanly from the ground and branches. It was a difficult grip... But although the horn was easily a number of times larger than herself it served as more than enough to support her balance as the head beneath her rose up. A fierce growl entered the air from the second head, the woman staring it off as she gripped the side of the horn in her free hand. Higher she rose, higher and higher... The second head growled menacingly, its target simply smirking as it rose above the first. Now, she thought as the head she stood on ceased to move, the woman moving away from the horns and toward the weak point of the monster's neck. Come at her... Come on...

Razor sharp teeth that could likely saw her in two on their own were bared in front of her, Seto hurriedly charging down the first head's neck as the second one struck. A swish of air was all she felt as she rushed down the monster's neck, along with drops of blood and saliva from the monster behind her. A loud and ear-splitting 'scream' came through the air as the first neck was severed, before the cries cut short. The second head pulled out as Seto continued to run, the spine she stood on hanging limp as the neck began to bleed out. It wasn't moving... Alright. That was one half of this thing's life then. Seto ran toward the base of the second neck, the dinosaur snarling and storming around in an attempt to throw it's attacker off. "Gh..." The woman stumbled, boots scraping against the side of the monster's scales before she grabbed the crook between the beast's two necks, hanging by her hand as the monster continued it's rampage. "Damn it..." Seto dangled from monster's back, looking down and narrowing her eyes. Well- that was definitely not an option. In that case... "HAH!"

Blood splayed over the woman's face as her blade entered the base of the second spine, the dinosaur abruptly cutting it's cries. Deeper and deeper she pushed it in, before pulling it roughly from the dragon's corpse as it toppled forward to the ground with a resounding thud. Seto stood as the beast came to 'rest', droplets shaken from the blade as she looked over the dinosaur in disgust. "Tch... Remind me to put a 'cleaning' program in this," she muttered, looking over her already somewhat stained clothes. Blood, blood everywhere... Not to mention the fact that she'd likely been drooled on by this stupid beast, though it would probably be better for her mood if she just didn't think of that. The woman slid down the motionless dinosaur's side, before turning as the beast itself began to dissolve into nothing. Vanishing into bits of dust that blew away to nothingness, leaving nothing but a field of ruined trees in her wake... A small beeping sound from her side caught her attention, Seto watching as her lifepoints shot up by a full 1600. Well, she thought with a smirk. There was at least somewhat of a bright side here... Not a bad reward for-

She blinked, freezing as a small band of shadow came over her eyes. The shadow resembled tinted glass to say the least. However, while that in itself was somewhat alarming, the text that appeared with it was a little more surprising. What was this... A menu? The band filled with scrolling numbers, a small stat sheet appearing before her as the numbers shifted around. One stat 'plus 2', another 'plus 3'... '_Welcome to level two_', the menu stated in the same familiar computerized voice, Seto idly watching as the blood on her sword and clothes vanished with the dinosaur. Alright, scratch the need for a 'clean' system then... '_Remaining points until level three- 253 of 1200_'. That much already? Hn... In her experience most RPG games didn't quite level so quickly... Then again, she supposed the leveling system made sense given the size of the monster. Of course, against Blue-Eyes it would have been a joke rather than the mild blood bath that had just occurred.

Seto walked over to where a card of sorts had fallen on the side of where Two-Headed King Rex's body had been. It merely hovered in the air in the same position the beast had fallen to, standard duel-monster's backing one one side and a small number on the other. '5'. She grabbed the card, idly watching as it vanished and the 'menu' appeared above her eyes again. Hn... She scanned the numbers, hands returning to her sides as she looked it over. An inventory... On the side was a menu labeled 'hand', which she idly noted contained her 'Gift of the Holy Elf' card. On the other side under a small counter however... 'Gold – 5'. Not much per say, but it was only one monster really. Besides, for all she knew '5 gold' was a virtual gold mine. The woman looked around as the menu vanished from sight, sword still gripped in her hand as she walked. Whatever; the battle was over with, and it was time to move on... Heading for wherever she was supposed to go in order to continue this game. It would have helped if there was a way to simply 'log out' really, but as it was it figured that there wasn't. Even if she did 'log out' so to speak, she told herself as she moved, it was more than likely that she'd be told to test the game in full. Damn it. Regardless, no way out save apparent 'death' it seemed...

At least from what she could tell. '_This is what happens to loosers_' indeed... She shook the thought from mind, biting her tongue. Why the hell was Gozaburo's twisted 'lesson' coming to mind now of all times? She needed to get out of here. Focus on the game, get it over with, and she could go home with Mokuba... For whatever it was that had him so excited from the start of the morning. Seto's eyes drifted around her as she continued to move, the red cloth of her armor standing out considerably against the green pine. The woods around her were thick and expansive... Dark, far darker than the clouded sunlight she had in the 'clearing' before. The darkness seemed to increase despite the space between the branches above, and as she continued on the path the trees themselves seemed to slowly rot away to nothing but withered and petrified husks. What was once a forest of enormous and majestic pine grew down into a wide expanse of blackened trunks, needles equally dark despite the fact that they rose far above her. The ground itself was littered with branches and needles themselves, all a murky black-brown in colour and crunching loudly beneath her feet. It was neither the scenery nor the prospect of being killed in a virtual reality that by all aspects felt real that had her on edge however...

Rather it was the silence that surrounded her in the meantime. A complete silence, to the point that not a single form of living creature could be heard, with the only sounds that of her feet stepping across the blackened pine. The feeling she had however, was unmistakable. A chilling feeling of paranoia that creeped deep into her spine and had her standing on edge. Someone was watching her... Watching from the side, above or behind... Who the hell knew; but someone _was_ there. Briefly, she paused, standing in place with narrowed eyes. She knew someone was following her. But where... Hnn... She closed her eyes, raising her eyebrows as instead of 'darkness' she saw the menu again. A status screen. Huh... That was... Interesting.

She frowned, 'looking' over the menu while keeping her ears open to her surroundings. It was a simple stats menu, that was for sure... As to how she was supposed to work this menu... She looked over the labels, eyes still closed as a small frown came over her. There were a few tabs on the side... 'Inventory', 'Party' (which was completely black of course), and lastly a section labeled 'Spells'. Now... If she could simply use the spell cards, she thought with a small frown, then why was that there... The frown deepened, and she decided to try something. Alright, either she'd manage to make a complete fool of herself or she'd figure another stupid point of this game out... "...Open 'Spell Menu'," she stated, opening her eyes as the menu itself appeared before her. Similar to when she had defeated the two headed rex, a band of 'glass' appeared before her eyes, a clear list appearing before her. Ahhh... Now this was better...

A list of greyed out spells met her eyes, an almost equally grey list of numbers beside them. There were two sets beside each spell; for the first one, which was likely a simple fire oriented spell given it's name (Fire. How _cute_.), the list stated '_5 Skill Points, alt. 150 Lifepoints_'. Skillpoints... The number hovered at the side, and she frowned. She had two; likely one for each level... Was there honestly a point in offering that form of payment if the alternative price was so low? Speaking of the low price...

Life points were certainly something she had a fair amount of for the moment. Hesitantly she reached out at the menu, tapping the first spell and watching as it glowed. From the side, her deck holder beeped, 150 of her recently gained points vanishing as the spell itself flickered into green. Below it, a few of the other spells on the list glowed white, Seto herself listening as a slight rustling noise came over. '_Fire spell purchased_,' the computerized voice from before the start of the game stated, its subject only partially listening as she looked back in the corner of her eye. '_To utilize this spell and any others, speak the name during battle. This spell costs 50 lifepoints to cast_.'

Speak the name? So 'Fire' basically. Alright, that didn't seem too bad... "...Close menu," she stated, watching as the screen vanished in a small stream of light. She had to admit... That was handy. And lucky that it worked really, given how hands on everything else seemed to be. She adjusted her still firm grip on the blade at her side, frowning as more rustling sounds came from behind. The woman grew tense, shifting her footing and finding herself answered with silence. Someone was watching her... The same as before, only now they were extremely close. Seto's eyes narrowed and she moved her blade to the side, preparing to swing. Someone likely safely out of reach of her blade... Simply swinging it would likely only open herself for attack, but if she waited too long then she'd be in just as much hot water really.

Hn... Perhaps this was a good time to test that 'spell' system... More rustling came from behind, growing louder and louder... And to the left- In an instant she turned, met with black cloth armor and a samurai's helm as a monster she quickly identified as 'Armed Ninja'. "**_FIRE_**," she shouted, swinging the blade toward the armed ninja as it charged. Flames coated the sword in an instant as it swung through the air, the heat and sparks shooting off and striking the ninja's feet as he flipped out of the attack's path. Seto backed away slightly, sword at the ready while the ninja merely pulled what looked to be cards from its side. They both stared at the other, the ninja toeing around the small space between trees that they had. So...

The armed ninja... Hn! This one only had a small fraction of power compared to the rex she fought with! Still the ninja stared her down, cards and shuriken held at the ready as they paced around the other. Even so, if this continued on she wouldn't be getting anything done. Perhaps she could get this done quickly... She glanced at her deck holder, drawing a card from it and looking it over with a smirk. This one... Heh! Well now, this would be more than simple. She held her card out, eyes narrowed as she held her ground against the ninja. "Blue-Eyes White Dragon," she shouted, her lifepoints plummeting to 1900 as the card vanished from her hands. Behind her a large and swirling vortex appeared, an ear-splitting roar filling the air as the dragon's hot breath came from behind. White scales shimmered into existence, claws the size of her forearm coming to rest at her side. An echoing growl broke through the area, but even as trees themselves buckled under the pressure of the roar Seto did not wince at all. This would be no contest, she told herself, taking a fighting stance along side the mighty white dragon. No contest what so ever. "Now," she shouted, pointing the dragon forward with her blade. "Attack!"

The dragon let loose a loud roar, the ninja in front of them paling as it attempted to flee. Charging back through the trees it ran, Blue-Eyes merely snorting as it took aim. Heh... As if anyone could outrun Blue Eyes! Immense heat came from behind her, Blue-Eyes charging a white hot blast of flames before letting it loose with a roar. "**BURST STREAM,**" she shouted, watching as the dragon's bluish white flames shot toward the ninja in a solid stream of light, the ninja continuing to run...

Only for Seto to pale, eyes widening with shock. At the last second the ninja turned with narrowed eyes, tossing one of the cards he'd pulled forward... With no way to stop the attack she could only watch the trap fly closer and closer before the flames engulfed it, the paper reduced to ashes in an instant... And before the ninja an immense jar appeared, scaled clay toppling into existence before standing in front of her. The dragon capture jar. "Gh- Shit!" She turned, eyes wide as the dragon she'd summoned was quickly pulled in, a howling roar filling the air as it was compressed into the jar's opening. The eyes of the jar gleamed as it engulfed blue eyes entirely, quivering slightly before if vanished from existence. "...Blue-Eyes..! Tch..." Damn... She turned back to the ninja, eyes filled with rage as it pulled out a katana. Oh, so now it was blade against blade? Damn it... "Bastard..." Who cared if it was programming that determined all of this, that was her Blue-Eyes damn it! She didn't even know that card existed outside of Pegasus' god-damned castle! The woman charged toward the ninja, blade swinging in a single arc toward her opponent. The ninja however merely flipped back, bouncing off the side of a tree and tossing a flurry of shuriken toward her from behind.

Seto grit her teeth, pushing herself to the side and behind the same tree her opponent lept from, tensing slightly as a series of 'thunks' met the air. Just as quickly as the sound hit her ears however she was at the other side of the tree, charging after the ninja once again with her blade. He was just within reach... Despite the difference in power it was more than apparent what the difference between fighting a person and fighting a giant stupid dinosaur was. Even so she continued after the ninja, blade narrowly missing with each strike. Each strike however, pinned the opponent against a tree, and as she approached with what would be the first and final strike a single solid 'thump' he the air... Instead of flesh however, a piece of the tree she had cornered the ninja against fell to the ground, smoke meeting her eyes in the place of black fabric. Thick and heavy the smoke filled the air, the woman coughing as she attempted to clear the air to see. What had started as a thin curtain had quickly developed into a solid and impenetrable fog, Seto taking a step back and turning around with her sword held before her. Shit... Where the hell did that ninja vanish to... As much as she knew this was to disorient her, she also knew that standing stock still would do absolutely nothing for her... There was a reason why smoke bombs worked; it was because they _worked_. Seto grit her teeth, looking around with narrowed eyes. Damn it... If it hadn't been for that damned dragon capture jar... She swore it, the first chance she got that card would be-

"Gh- Ack!" Something wrapped around her feet, the woman stumbling forward as her sword clattered from her hands. Limbs were wrapped tightly to her sides, leaving her glaring down at her tangled body with grit teeth. Great... A bola? Damn it, how would she get out of- Her eyes widened as a net fell over her, before an immense and blinding pain filled her body not a moment after the thought. "Gh..." Don't scream... "Hah..." Don't scream damn it, this was- "HAAAAA! AAAAAAHHHH!" This wasn't just a shock..! "AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!" And yet this wasn't nearly enough electricity to kill her, she knew that much... She'd have been rendered immobile if that was the case, completely unable to move! "**GAAAAAHHHHH**!" But the pain... The pain was more than lasting and intense, burning through her skin and literally jumping from her fingertips as visible sparks laced the net over here. Finally, a few moments after she cut her screams short she felt her body grow stiff. Her jaw clamped tightly shut, eyes locked open as she twitched against the shock... Her limbs stiffened, unable to move, her heart unable to fight against the shock. "Gh... Gh... H..."

Finally... Finally it was dying down. Down to nothing but a numbing pain across her skin as her eyes closed over, the heat from the net still smoking above. Dimly, she could still see through the smoke... Through the now vanishing fog as her captor moved toward her. The ninja stood there with a rope and thick cloth tarp in hand, her blade laying at the man's feet... And finally, she saw nothing but blackness as a final shock and twitch jolted through her system. Hearing nothing but a long, steady tone that rang loudly through her ears...

* * *

-_beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep-_

That sound was _not_ a good thing. "H-Hah... Ahhh..." Mokuba froze as the screen flashed, a series of stats appearing along side a small pixelated version of his older sister. Lifepoints froze in place, flashing in and out of red and green, red and green, stats were blacked out, the sprite on screen collapsing to the ground... From the regular and constant monitor that told him of his older sister's status, of her breathing and heart rate had come one single piercing beep, replacing the well placed and balanced blips of a pulse. "N-Nee-sama," he shouted, momentarily forgetting about the earlier silent warning that the room could have been bugged. There wasn't time to worry about that- the steady 'bump bump' of a heart rate had just flat-lined! Hurriedly the override button he'd found from the binder was pushed, Mokuba running over to the pod as the lid hissed open. Behind him as he ran, the screen had replaced the lifepoints bar with the letters 'PAR' before switching to a far more blunt 'GAME OVER'. But that couldn't be true, he told himself as the computer calmly announced that fact. That couldn't be... "Nee-sama," he screeched, shaking the woman's motionless form as a steady '_bp...bp...bp..._' came back from the computer. Heart rate was normal again... She was still breathing, but although the device had technically opened up it still held the woman tightly in its grasp. "NEE-SAMA!" He continued to shake the woman by the arms, before stumbling back from the chair with nervous breaths. There was no response, no response at all...

Game over, the computer said? _Game over_? But that... That couldn't... Doors were closing over top of the already shut 'gate' behind him, locking the boy in the room with the sounds of grinding levers and gears followed by a solid slam thanks to the override. Steam was rising from the computer due to the immense heat it now gave off, the binder laying open by the controls from where he had torn through it with the sudden electrifying blast that erupted through the device itself. In one move that had happened, just one... But... They couldn't... He swallowed, eyes widening as the screens to the side of the main one flicked on in a flash. To see one of the board facing him down from a screen the size of himself... "Greetings Mokuba," Oka said almost cruelly, adjusting his glasses as the boy on the other end of the camera tensed and stepped back from the screen. There was no need to feign respect anymore, not when the position and table of power had turned. No more... And even though he knew that the honorific had been halfheartedly tacked on when they used it, the lack thereof still placed a chilled feeling in his throat. But Oka was not just saying 'hello', that was for sure. "It would seem your older brother was unable to pass the challenge of the game..." Mokuba again swallowed, backing up against the machine where his sister sat, blood draining from his face as the man 'in front' of him continued. "You know," he said, shaking his head with a small smirk as he appeared to stare past and at the pod behind the boy. "If he remains in that state for too long, it'll be impossible to pull him out from the game..."

Impossible? But that... That wouldn't... That wouldn't happen, it... The screen switched, cracking and flashing as Ota came on screen in his coworker's place. "You should listen," he said with narrowed eyes, expression nothing but severe. "Thoughts are nothing but electrical signals after all," he continued, folding his hands before him. "And at the moment, all of those signals for your brother's consciousness are entrapped in that device. If the signals aren't brought back into his body soon," he 'warned', despite the clear sign that there was nothing to be done, "You'll be right back where you were two months ago... And the one you call your brother will be trapped in a line of code, for all eternity!"

"G-Gn... That..." He shook his head, eyes wide before attempting to steel himself. "That won't..." He couldn't let that happen... He wouldn't! Not again... Not... Not again...

"Mokuba," Oka continued, again taking the camera as he addressed the boy with narrowed eyes. "Don't think that you yourself are in any position to protest..." Gh... What? "You are just as caged as your brother; and when those doors open up again, you won't enjoy it..." The boy grit his teeth as the lawyer on screen chuckled, the man's eyes narrowing dangerously. So they were sending someone down to catch him then? Like he'd let that happen! "We'll see you soon Mokuba," the man said darkly, the small screens crackling out a few moments later. "_Very soon_..."

Gh... Not good... Not good! He turned to look at his motionless sister, biting his lip. Not moving... She was breathing though, and the machines said she was at least alive right? Gh... He couldn't hear what was happening outside the room... He couldn't tell if the people that the board had sent were just down the hall or only leaving for the elevator from their staffroom on the main floor. But he knew he didn't have much time, not if he wanted to help his sister; if the game needed to be beaten to leave this place, then he'd go in and do that himself! But he needed help... He'd done some flipping through that book... It didn't just detail the game, it had the system as well, maybe there were a few things he could do, if he just had time... He pushed one of the buttons on the side of the pod arm, watching as the same card deck drawer opened up in the override. Seto's deck was quickly and carefully pulled out, stowed away in the pocket of his jeans before he ran over to the computer itself in a cold sweat. He needed this binder, he thought as he grabbed it. There were only a few people he could go to that could possibly help with this, and if they were going to help then he would need as much information for them as possible...

Eyes darted around the room, Mokuba scanning for any possible way out. Even a ventilation shaft would work if he was lucky... Come on... He blinked, running over to the back end of the room as he spotted something. Above the pile of left overs... A grate! Alright! Now... He clambered up the large series of boxes at the far end of the room, looking over the grating that covered the shaft with a small grin. He could get out of here, eas- The boy frowned, realization striking him cold. It was bigger down here because the room was industrial but... Looking at the piping above there was no way he'd fit... And even if he took the main shaft up, he'd have to somehow climb straight up the pipes... And thanks to Seto's own security endeavors, that was pretty much impossible!

...Would _they_ know that though..? His eyes widened for a moment, before a smirk came over on his face yet again. Smart as some of the guards were, there was no way they knew about every detail of the vent piping... The grate to the shaft was loosely screwed in place of course, so he'd need to fix that; easily done using nothing but a ten yen coin he found earlier, the thin coin slipping into the slot of the screws with ease. Pushing the cover to the side however, he hopped down from the boxes before running to the other side of the room. The doors were opening now, from the outside to the inner barriers; he could hear the gears clicking behind the walls, the whirring sounds as the doors began to rise and come apart. But along the side of the doors was an immense supercomputer tower that was required for anything concerning the VR pod to work, huge and cylindrical in appearance; and it was perfect size to hide behind.

The doors rose open, three guards running in with their weapons drawn. The first one he recognized with an uneasy swallow, Saruwatari moving to glance at Seto's motionless form before continuing to search the rest of the room. Mokuba made his way around the back end of the computer, before hurriedly rushing into the dark hall as quietly as possible lest that search take them to his hiding spot. Shouts were coming from the inside of the room, and even down the hall he could still hear them... '_He's escaped_,' they shouted angrily, Mokuba holding his breath as he charged to the nearby elevator. The 'up' button was jammed immediately, Mokuba hurriedly turning to look down the hall as voices began to pick up in volume. Come on... He had to get on the elevator, come on... '_Well go after him, he can't leave_!' Come on..!

-_ding-_

The doors whooshed open, Mokuba running in and hurriedly pushing both the 'G' button and the button to close the doors. Only when they shut did he relax somewhat, moving back to lean against the glass wall of the elevator. Gh... That was... He held the binder close to his chest, breathing heavily as the elevator came to the main floor. No time to relax; they had stairs didn't they? As fast as he possibly could he ran out, not even paying the confused secretary at the lobby any mind as he bolted for the door. There were no guards in the lobby... They were on the sides, or in their own staff-room, waiting for a call... The spinning door was pushed as hard as he could with his shoulder, the sounds of thunder meeting his ears as he left the safety of the small roof that hung above them. Rain poured heavily outside, thunder sounding as the boy charged on toward the busy streets and crowds of Tokyo. Earlier in the day, the radio had stated the near constant down-pour to be a 'nice break' from the constant blasting snow, a 'well needed shower to clean the city' Now?

Now there was rain pounding against the back of his head and neck, his body partially slouched over in an attempt to protect the binder from the elements as he ran. He choked on his breath, running through the streets as people were bumped past him in either confusion or anger at the careless charge. Now... It was the 25th now... He'd planned on having a small birthday party with Katsuya when the blond got back from school, as a surprise. The present still sat in his room even, neatly wrapped in a box, they'd have some cake and even if Seto wasn't much for parties (at all), she'd probably like the food at least...

He didn't expect for that game to happen though. He didn't think that all of this would happen, despite the knowledge on both of their behalves, despite the glaring fact that it was all a giant trap! Mokuba bit back a few tears, taking shuddering breaths as he continued to run through the streets. Wednesday... It was Wednesday... Katsuya didn't have work of course, so he'd definitely be spending some time with his friends on his birthday right? So they would definitely be at Yugi's house, definitely, definitely... He stumbled slightly, tightening his grip on the binder as he ran. It was hard to breath... He couldn't stop running though, he couldn't... Streets were beginning to blur, rain soaking through his shirt and vest until his entire body felt as though it was sitting beneath a pool. In the distance, he could see a large building, a tall 'department' store of sorts with... A clown? Was that what it was...? His eyes widened, and he pushed onward as he took a look at the immense building across from him. 'Black Clown'... Katsuya had mentioned this place... He and Yugi had been wondering what the building would be, particularly since the addition of the clown, which had shot down all ideas the two had come up with; Katsuya had even asked Seto if she had a clue... And to Mokuba's surprise, rather than a glare and a '_do I care, Mutt_' the blond had gotten a knowing, if not likely smug smirk.

Something told him that his sister would be giving this store a few devices at special request... Something just told him. Mokuba rasped for breath as the rain continued to pound on his back, the boy approaching the door of the far smaller and humbled looking house/game shop that Yugi called home. There... They had to be there, they had to be... He could hear voices from inside, he could hear them... '_Which reminds me_,' Sugoroku was saying, '_You asked me to tell you when the capture jar was released and-_' The old man was cut off, a muttered '_nah, I'm good_' coming from inside. That voice... He was there... He was...

Mokuba choked again, numbly slamming his shoulder into the door and pushing it forward as he stumbled. Here... He was here... The bell rang above him, those at the store front turning at the sound. All of them, they were all there... "Gh... K-Katsuya-nii," he said with a cough, the blond in question running over with the others as the boy collapsed. How fast had he run? ...How long, he couldn't tell... The binder slipped out of his arms, but while that clattered to the ground warm arms picked him up and pulled the boy close, Mokuba shivering as the door swung shut and closed out the wind and rain.

"M-Mokuba," Katsuya said with a shout, the others coming over and looking down at the boy. Everything was a blur... All he could see through the drops of water on his face were blurs of colour, browns, blacks, reds and blonds swirling in a giant cloud. And cold, so cold... The boy shivered, only just now realizing how wet and cold he was. Numb... His entire body was completely numb, and he could barely hear the others as worried mutterings filled the air. '_Get a pot of water boiling_,' Sugoroku was telling Yugi, grandson nodding and hurriedly running off. '_I'll get a blanket_,' he had continued, disappearing with those words. "Mokuba," Katsuya was saying, voice sounding more as though it was going through water than through air. "Mokuba what happened," the blond was asking, the others looking on worriedly. Bakura was gone, the boy noted. It was just Honda, Anzu and Katsuya in the room. Where was he...

He looked up at them dimly, taking a few ragged breaths. He'd asked what happened... He had to tell them too, he had to... "N...Nii-sama," he whispered, Katsuya pulling the boy up somewhat awkwardly in his arms as Sugoroku came over with a blanket. '_Bring him downstairs_,' the old man was saying, Mokuba dimly feeling himself being lifted up. There wasn't much time, he had to tell them... "N-Nii-sama is... Is..." He took a few more shaking breaths, shivering violently as the cold finally caught up to him.

"Shhh," Anzu whispered worriedly, Mokuba dimly watching as they were led down into the basement. It was a fairly cramped living room that they were brought into there; coffee table, a love-seat and two chairs... There was a bookshelf at the side as well, along with a small television at the other end of the room. As he was placed on the couch, a blanket wrapped tightly around him however, he didn't care where they were. It was warm here, and they were all in the same spot, so he could talk... "Shhh," Anzu continued, wiping a bit of hair from the boy's face as she took a seat beside Katsuya and Mokuba both. "Get warmed up first, then you can talk... You need to warm up, you're as cold as ice," she said with a slight gasp, the woman's hand feeling red hot against his skin.

"Not surprising," Honda was muttering from the side, shaking his head with wide eyes as he leaned against the wall. "The rain out there, even coming from school you'd be soaked to the skin..."

Katsuya swallowed at that, attempting to warm up Mokuba with a bit lip. Constant rubbing against his arms, doing little to dry the wet clothes stuck to his body... "...An' KaibaCorp's about as close as that," he muttered, the boy beside him merely shivering. That far huh... It never seemed that way when they went by car...

"Gh..." The boy sniffed, curling in and into the blanket with a nod. At least he wasn't still out there, right? He'd made it here hadn't he? Yugi came in a few moments later, hoisting a pot of steaming tea as Sugoroku followed with both cups and the binder that Mokuba dropped. Dishes were placed neatly on the table, the binder at the side... He watched as Yugi poured a small cup of tea, handing it to him with a worried smile. Warm... His hands almost pulled back from the cup, the heat stinging against his palms. So warm... "T-Thank you," he said quietly, holding it in his hands for the moment. It'd be too hot to drink... Better to hold it than let it spill because of a burnt tongue right? "Ng... I..."

The others tensed as the boy coughed somewhat, Katsuya in particular frowning. They all looked so worried... He was... He wasn't the one in trouble though, he had to... Suddenly the blond holding him tensed, Mokuba looking up somewhat in response. "...Mokuba," Katsuya asked with somewhat wide eyes, as though only just realizing what the boy's presence entailed. "...Where's yer s-... Where's your brother?"

As a few tears fell at the question, Mokuba could do nothing but clutch his tea cup and fumble with his answer. Where was she? She was... "G-Gone," he said shakily, the others drawing back with frowns at the words. "G...Gone, he..." He took a shaky breath, bringing the tea cup to his lips and slowly taking a sip despite the burn it left on his tongue. Despite how hot it was it still tasted good... He took another sip, calming himself down a little more before continuing. "N-Nii-sama... Nii-sama finally got through to the board of directors, the 'Big 5'," he began, staring at the table as he started his tale. "They finished their game, along with all of the technology for it, so he was going to test it... After he did that," the boy continued, "He'd be able to fire them for what they did to us before..." He grit his teeth, eyes narrowing at the thought of the big 5 as the others listened. "It was a trap... We both knew it was a trap.. But we couldn't do anything about it," he protested, hands clenching the tea cup in his hands. "If we just let them continue on, they could have done something even worse, something even more..! I... ...And now, nii-sama is..."

The others stared in silence, Katsuya audibly swallowing. "Gone," he whispered, shaking his head. "Whadya mean gone... S... He's... De-"

"No!" Mokuba shook his head, eyes wide with disbelief as he turned on the blond. The others flinched at the shout, letting the boy continue. "No, s... He's not, he's not," he continued, shaking his head rapidly. "...But he's trapped," he whispered, turning away and biting his lip. "He can't get out... It's a virtual reality game," Mokuba explained, staring into his tea cup. "When you start it, the body enters a coma almost, and everything that happens, happens in the mind... ...In the computer," he almost corrected, recalling Ota's words with a shiver. "Nii-sama... Something happened to him in the game, and since he didn't 'die' in there he can't just end it and get out! He's stuck, unable to get out, and if I can't fix it... If I can't beat the game for him to pull him out..."

She'd be in there forever. They'd be left with a comatose shell once more, but this time there wouldn't be a promise for her to come back. They wouldn't be able to wait and see what happened... She'd just be trapped... Until the day she 'died'.

Tears began running down his cheeks with that realization, and he took another sip of his tea in an attempt to calm down again. "Trapped in the game," Katsuya repeated with an almost shocked scowl, shaking his head as Mokuba fell silent. "Gh... That ain't a game, that's a murder machine!"

Anzu nodded, her own eyes wide. "And... He's _trapped_ in there," she repeated, swallowing. "He's... Actually _trapped_ inside something like that..."

Mokuba nodded, staring at the table. It sounded like something from a sci-fi movie, or a book... '_Trapped in the game, need to beat it to get out_'... Something so bizarre and impossible that you could almost laugh at the idea! ...And now that it was actually happening... That it was actually real... "K-Katsuya-nii," he whispered, head bowed as he stared at the ground. "And Yugi," he asked, the two in question both looking at him with steady nods. "I know that... That nii-sama isn't that nice to you guys..." In fact, if it hadn't been for the holidays, he'd say that was an understatement really... "But I need help," he said with a cough, shaking his head and turning to the others. "I don't want him to die... I... I can't just let him die! Please," he begged, shaking as Katsuya pulled him over, the boy's tea cup placed on the table. "Please, you have to... You have to save him... If he's in there too long, he'll..."

The room went silent for a moment, Sugoroku crossing his arms. "Nnnn... The heads of Kaiba corporation," he said, shaking his head with a frown. "If you aren't careful with that, you'll be worrying about far more than just your brother's life..."

"I know," Mokuba said with a small frown, biting his lip and wincing at the thought. "But even so, I have to try..."

"And you can count us in then," Katsuya said with a stern nod, the boy turning to look at him. "You think we'll jus' leave y' hanging," he asked with a wry smirk, before frowning once more. "There's no way in hell I could jus' stand by an' watch this happen after yah told me about this..."

Beside him Yugi nodded, as did the others. "That's right," the boy said, his own gaze equally as hard. "No matter what Kaiba-san thinks of us, I still see he-him as a friend," he continued, bowing his head. A friend..? Yugi thought that Seto was a friend..? Mokuba stared, listening as Yugi continued. "Mokuba," he said, puzzle seeming to glow as he spoke. "No matter what, we'll help... The bond between you two," the boy continued, a severe stare in place. "It's an important thing. Something that you can't break, right?" He continued to stare, listening as Yugi went on. "So don't worry about anything! No matter what, we'll help, alright..?" He'd...

...They could die... They could all die, but they were still so willing to help... He swallowed, thoughts flashing back to the last time they had been in a situation even comparable to this, back on the board of the 'Monster World'. Back when they had to 'beat the game' to get out, just like they were going to do now. That time, they'd done it because he'd been trapped, and in the end, because it was all or nothing for everyone on the board. But they hadn't known the risks going into that game to start; they'd just been forced to jump into it, caught completely off guard.

With this though... Mokuba nodded, wiping the last of his tears from his eyes as he composed himself. He couldn't cry... He was eleven, he wasn't supposed to cry! They could do this... They could get his sister out of there, and then they'd get rid of the ones who started this in the first place... The big 5 were prepared to deal with Seto, but they wouldn't be ready for an assault on all fronts! They wouldn't know what hit them... They wouldn't expect anything like this..! "Alright," he finally said after a small bit of silence, nodding both to himself and to the others. They could do this... He looked at the binder that sat on the table, before grabbing it and pulling it over. "But before we go," he continued, opening it up and looking to the others with a frown. "...We're going to need a plan."

This would be more than a rescue... This would be an attack that the big 5 would never walk away from!

* * *

**AN: **The legendary heroes! YEAAAAAAA! I've actually been really... _REALLY_ looking forward to this arc guys. Although now that it's actually out on paper so to speak, I'm incredibly nervous; mostly because I did a _lot_ of creative licensing here, and now I have no clue how it'll all work out. I can only hope it works well though. Innnn any case...

For the sake of awesome (And visual aspects), I've put the chain on hold for a brief moment to do a chibi run. Now to put this in perspective, it takes a little under an hour for me to ink a chibi... It takes me about an hour and a half to do a full person however, due to the fact that in most cases, the chibi's don't have as many details drawn in. The reason why the chain itself is taking so dang long however is that it's made up of about fifteen, sixteen people. Now... I don't know about you, but sitting down and working at inking that many people when I'm not getting paid for it tends to get tiring. And even if I was getting paid, I'd still take a lunch break and such. In any case (I'm not trying to sound like a jerk by the way; I actually quite enjoy drawing, I'm just saying that if I spent all my time on it, I wouldn't be able to job-hunt or write this fanfic here.)... As you can tell, that chain will take a _long_ time.

As opposed to this amazing 'Red Mage' Seto chibi that I have for you at the bottom... Designed with final fantasy in mind of course, because I am a shameless little video gamer. (I don't even have FFIII...)

Now, in other news...

Poll Results are as of now **Unchanged**, so you'll have to go to the last chapter to see them.

Andddd...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

We have two people... And we have someone new! Hello there Maggiemay! …Wow… Thanks for your support! I hope you continue to enjoy the fanfic!

As for your question on the poll… While that is _technically_ an option, the thing is that not only is that_ exceedingly_ rare, but the main turning point for the Priest's father Aknadin going 'dark side' to say the least, is when comparing how Set got to his position to how the pharaoh, Atem, was born into it. Despite being raised as a peasant, Set ends up a High Priest at no older than _16_; with nothing to turn the tables to his side save intelligence... A pretty damn impressive feat.

If I were to go with this idea however, there would be something other than that intelligence and drive that got Set in, almost certainly. So I'm going to have to turn it down… Though you could probably argue that crossdressing is the far less supported version of this for Egypt. I can bet that no one would be too pleased if a crossdressing Priest was found out…

Ohhhh typos… Yes… Ah… That will either be my editing fail or just me being Canadian. Either way, I hope you continue to enjoy this!

In any case... What can I say Iona? I love making warm fuzzes.

I also enjoy typing awkward conversations, though I don't think the two topics are related. Even so, it's one of those things that I just think would end up happening given the type of person Kaiba is. Of course, keeping everyone in partial suspense on whether or not she's even alright with anything is fun as well, though from my own look at the chapter it certainly didn't seem to bug her as much as it could have.

And hahaha! You can bet that 'something dumb' happened all too soon… Though you're right in saying it helps calm the waters between the two.

Kaiba does act pretty adult all the time, canon or no… But as I was reading the manga, I noticed that… There are absolutely hilarious moments where Kaiba acts so much like his own age that it seems out of character almost. It's like… '_Holy crap! Um… Didn't know this bugged you so much…_'

Very long way to go, that's for sure… But honestly, Kaiba's made a lot of headway since 'Death-T' to say the least. And now, FOR YOUR UPDATE!

**

* * *

**

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's very excited about this arc, how about you?

* * *

You're probably all sick of my punny little titles aren't you? And yet...

Today's chapter title of pun filled glory is brought to you not by the colour red as in blood or Seto's current amazing costume, but rather in the following saying that you'll find among sailors. It's an old one, and goes like this: 'Red skies at morning, sailors take warning. Red skies at night, sailors delight.' It's rule of thumb on the weather so to speak, as a red sky is caused by the haze of distant clouds; a red dawn meant many clouds in the west, which would be heading the viewer's way within the next few hours. A red dusk on the other hand meant the clouds were already eastward, traveling away, and the storm had already passed. So this title? Despite current weather conditions, very much a reference to all the crap heading (And still going by the way) in Kaiba's direction. Curses!

* * *

There are a number of different terms for the speed of a horses' gait, and of course, it takes time to get used to all of them when you're riding. So there's no way in hell that Mokuba's going around on a galloping horse just yet. First is the walk of course, which doesn't require much for the rider to do in terms of work save things concerning direction and sitting straight. (Which is harder than it looks if you're an artist like me by the way. Endless slouching HOH!)

Now then. Next you have the trot, which is where you get to sit up and down, up and down, up and down, _despite_ the horse's bounce... Which can get pretty crazy I might add. The fastest trot tends to go eight miles an hour, or 13 kilometers per. Mokuba however, was riding at a 'jogging trot', an extremely slow trot that makes _much_ it less bouncy. (Which is good, since it's _very _hard to go up and down on your own power on a horse's back without the bouncing, let alone _with_... Particularly starting out.)

* * *

And of course Seto's just sitting there going '_…Mrn_.' during the lessons... But hey!

At least Jonouchi is making a somewhat more conscious effort to not call the woman 'Seto-chan' in front of her.

* * *

There is nothing more amusing than 'polite snark', and you can bet that as a CEO, Kaiba will be a professional at this. Speaking of polite, fun fact; the average Japanese businessman bows around _300 times_ every day- the bow is basically their handshake really. (Though handshakes are catching on a little more...) The bow however, is quite a bit more respectful than a handshake however, as it stems from exposing one of the weakest points of the body, the neck, to the other person. A sign of trust and respect basically.

Of which, Kaiba of course has none when it comes to the Big 5... So she isn't about to do any bowing whatsoever. Closest thing you'll get is the 'nod', regardless of who you are I would think; Kaiba's a proud person.

* * *

So does anyone else wonder how Mai was beta testing this device without _anyone_ knowing? Jonouchi and Yugi I can understand. But Mokuba and Kaiba? Those two should have known, because even if Mokuba didn't initially know, you can bet that if Kaiba knew he'd have said something. And yet no one knows! Which would mean that the Big 5 hired her to test the device behind their backs... Completely.

On another note of hidden things, isn't it a little interesting how they have one pod in one room, one in another, and then _three more in the same room_? ...This is just me finding plot holes guys, don't mind me...

* * *

This 'when this happens' comparison seems just a little more plausible than 'when pigs fly', doesn't it? And it does help that molecular physics is something Jonouchi will never likely be interested in. Still; I had fun with that.

* * *

We've encountered another plot hole _oh noooooes_! Similar to the magic '_Of course I can work this duel disk. Fool_' business of the Yugi VS Kaiba match, we have here a bit of an issue concerning the VR pod… How did Kaiba know what to do with it? How did Mokuba know what to do with it? Hell how did _anyone_, particularly Honda and Anzu shortly in the same episode know what to do! This was probably partially explained by the dub actually, when it's apparently been programmed by Kaiba himself…

Of course, that same handwave makes the 'Our Queen is Mokuba in a dress' deal just a_ liiiittle_ more awkward in hindsight. (Just a tad.)

* * *

Remember those numbers from the Duelist Arc? The ones I challenged you to decode? TOO LATE NOW, _AHAHAHA_! That's right everyone; I took Japanese Pegasus' password of 'Alcatraz' and coded it through telephone numbers. 2 gets you A and C. 5 gets you L, 7 is R, and 8 is T… Leaving 9 with Z.

So 'Alcatraz' is 25228729.

* * *

How the hell did Mokuba hear anything through the glass of that pod? It seems largely impossible to me. It's like talking through a car window with three meters of space between you; ain't happening. And yet, for the sake of keeping conversation going, this happens in not only this scene, but in a good number of shows and anime and such... Since... Well... It keeps conversation going, adds drama... etc.

* * *

Yea guys. _That_ Red Mage. I went all out on this one, you can already tell! Erum… As for glowy Kaiba though, for some reason I didn't think that the VR would really bother with the actual clothes. Probably the part of me that keeps watching digimon, I dunno. To be specific on the matter, Seto couldn't actually see any details on herself beyond the 'light'… But what with the lack of binding and things, she has a right to be worried since she's still very clearly _not a boy_ when the binding and clothes are pulled off. Especially since everyone and their dog knows about the habit of giving the female rpg-player skimpy armour in games, and since we see the sprite on a screen in the real world…

Hnnnnn yea... One of those times where cross-dressing gets a tad difficult.

* * *

The rather amusing 'Wait, dinosaurs breath FIRE?' scene is inspired by the fact that in _one_ game, and _only_ one, the Two Headed King Rex actually does breath fire. It makes sense given that it looks more like a dragon, but Kaiba's main confusion comes from the fact that when the game started out, _dinosaurs were weak against flames_.

* * *

Yea guys. _That_ 'Fire'. (There will _not_ be any 'Fira' 'Firaga' business though. That would be silly... Upgrades yes, but not like that.) The spell system is a little different if you haven't guessed though… Trust me when I say, when you have a spell card, it's _much_ better to use that than rely on one's own spells. Mostly because of the difference in effects of course, not to mention how damn almighty some of those spells can be. Anyways.

* * *

A note on ninja! Mostly to explain why the armored ninja wears Samurai things... Real ninjas didn't fight _against_ the samurai, they technically _were_ the samurai. To be specific, they were to the shogun and leaders of feudal Japan as today's 'special agents' and organizations are to the government… So basically, you could argue that ninja = the FBI. Ooooooh, now isn't that just cool.

Also, the black clothes/body suit came from the noh stage plays; people would wear black when moving things on the stage, to give the feeling that they themselves weren't there. Ninja would wear the same thing as these stage hands, creating surprise when they actually turned out to be people in the play. Actual ninja tended to blend in with other people… Though they probably did do the whole 'black cloth' thing if they were sneaking around in the middle of the night.

* * *

For some reason, the beeps that we hear when we flash back to the 'real world' sound eerily similar to the blips of a heart monitor… Now an electric charge would be more than enough to put a bit of a damper on how well that machine responded for a split moment thus the long 'bleep', but given that in the 'real world' we still see Kaiba sort of choking in pain from a visible electric shock, despite the fact that_ technically_ there should be no sounds coming out in reality (Due to the mind and body's sensations being separated for the moment)... Ummmmm… I'm going to go out on a limb here and say that hurt. _A lot_. Hence the above screaming... Which thankfully remains unheard to the world. Because trust me when I say; similar to during the first penalty game she got, which was mentioned somewhat off-handedly when someone said that they heard a _woman_ screaming from the school building, she was _not_ trying to hide her voice with that much pain on the mind, that was for sure.

In any case, as you can probably guess, Kaiba is quite incapacitated for the moment... To say the least. However, rather than being 'dead', which really _would_ allow her to quit the game, she's merely been shocked to shit for a 'paralysis' attack (Which does very little to the lifepoints), and as we will see soon enough, tied to a stone cross... (Or... Weird tablet thing in the case of the dub.) Without her sword or, as Mokuba makes sure of so that he himself can help out, her deck. All she has is her lifepoints and herself... Needless to say, she is not having a good day. And Mokuba is having conniptions about the day himself to say the least.

* * *

Now… Here's the _fun_ part. For someone to be 'trapped in the computer', that would mean that all that makes up 'you' has been moved _out_ of the body. So rather than the game being a thing of the mind, cleverly stringing you along until you finally keel over in the case of being 'trapped'… This would imply all of the specific signals that jump neuron to neuron in your brain being replicated in the computer while those of conscious thought and feeling (_Not_ the ones for your vital functions!) are actually turned off so to speak. The body enters a coma/vegetative state, and 'you' enter the computer… And if you're not careful when you play by those rules, you could argue that you're stuck in that position.

Who knows really, it's a form of fiction that can't completely be proven or disproven at this point; no one wants to play around with zapping the brain like that just now, that's for sure!

* * *

So, um… Anyone else wonder how Mokuba had the time to take the deck and leave through the ventilation as the doors were _opening_. Keeping in mind that Saruwatari _ducked under the door_ to run in first…

Now obviously things have been rearranged for the sake of this chapter, furniture wise. But that's mostly to support reality; small as Mokuba is, ventilation shafts tend to branch out to reach their destination, getting smaller as they go. Now, while Mokuba _could_ have gone up through the main piping to reach the bigger tunnels… He would still have had to go up at least two floors (My fault again, sorry.). Crawling through an air vent is loud and very very noisy, and due to the space, climbing upward would be nigh impossible with either a deck of cards in his hands (As in the anime), or with a binder in his arms and the deck in his pockets… Hell, even if his arms weren't occupied it'd be more than easy to reach the 'exit' before Mokuba, heading him off immediately... Particularly with the sound to guide them.

* * *

Here's some irony for you; using the date set up for Christmas, I can now have weekdays for any actually set dates… Now as we know, this is the year that Battle City will happen for the fanfic people... So you could say cataclysmic things begin to occur around then, right?

Ahhhh, but did you know that the date set up matches that of _2012_. BOY that's convenient/really cool. (I love it when things like this happen…) Pity that the end of the world won't work out.

* * *

The sounds that Mokuba hears from inside the building are a reference to the conversation that actually occurs in the Gameshop shortly before Mokuba comes in. (Or at least that's what we hear in _Japanese_. The dub is completely different.) Sugoroku tells them that he's got some new cards in, and Jonouchi eagerly asks what they are... I randomly decided to use this to tie up Jonouchi's earlier thoughts concerning the Dragon Capture Jar, which he had considered getting when he first saw it... In the end... '_Eh, maybe not_', as seen above.

* * *

Interesting thing here; between the time that Mokuba enters the game shop and the time where he actually explains what the hell happened, nightfall occurs... Completely. Though this was probably because the kid was completely soaked, so his current physical condition was probably the more important factor in things.

Speaking of Mokuba's condition, he's in a good deal of shock right now; now for the first part, this saved him, as shock kept him from completely freaking out when his sister was mentally electrocuted to shit. It allowed him to think rationally enough to get the hell out of the building and through the rainstorm over to Yugi's house. Once he gets there however, the adrenaline is gone; shock has come back with a vengeance, leaving him cold and largely 'unstable' for the moment given all that's gone on... And do remember that Mokuba's only eleven. Now, this probably isn't as serious a hit in the anime; it's not really stated what 'stuck' means, not stated that this would induce an endless coma-like sleep, etc etc. Without those specifics, it takes a moment before that sort of fate actually hits you.

But for the Mokuba who has experienced Death-T, this is an extremely frightening if not paralyzingly traumatizing thing. As he realized in this chapter; Yugi promised Kaiba would come back, and that's what happened, _because Yugi allowed that to happen_. But the big 5 could give a rat's ass about what happens to the woman; which means that in that case, there really would be no hope for Kaiba coming back.

* * *

There's a small dialogue switch here; Jonouchi has Anzu's line of '_that's not a game_' from the anime.

An interesting note here in addition to the above, but this is also where Mokuba tells everyone about Kaiba's goal of building a number of amusement parks worldwide in the case of the anime. It's actually what convinces Anime-Jou to help; he instantly says '_I didn't know that_!', before stating that they won't abandon Mokuba, and they'll definitely help out.

For some reason though, Mokuba's statement on amusement parks was his answer to Sugoroku saying that dealing with the Big 5 would be dangerous… (Understatement) Hnnnn.

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

Hey everyone! Got another picture for you, you can use it as a bit of a reference for Kaiba's above 'Red Mage' outfit if you want... It's pretty heavily based on the Final Fantasy red mage if you haven't already guessed by the way (Ehehehe)... I'll be posting little 'reference chibi's as we go for things like outfits, since that goes much faster than simply drawing a full reference while I'm trying to work at that chain. Other sketches are in the scanner, so you should be seeing them next chapter...

And in the meantime enjoy the chibi, remove the spaces for your link!

Red Mage - http: / /i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ ChibiRedMage. jpg - The power of cute compels you! The power of cute compels you! Basically, I wanted to draw Seto in her red-mage wear, but wasn't in the mood for a full-body drawing. As you can see, I've already started shading it; the eyes have a gradient, which I apply to each colour before putting in the solid shadow. (That way, the eyes don't look quite as creepy when I post a flat coloured piece of art. HAHAAAAA yea... You can probably guess from this that things like that fur-skin... Thing... Jonouchi had in this arc won't happen. ...Mostly. (*points way, wayyyy back to a design sketch*)

In any case, that's it for this chapter! Have fun until the next one guys!


	46. Chapter 45

**Between A Rock and the Frying Pan's Flames  
**

* * *

Planning an attack was never really an easy task... Particularly when the attack was meant to go against a group of people who could arguably have each of them shot for simply breathing the same air in the room. There were many things to be done, many things to be prepared. The area needed to be scouted out, analyzed more thoroughly than a soldier's bedroom during inspection. Safe paths of entry and exit would need to be found, backup plans made in case things went awry, ideas for what would occur in the game itself... And for the next hour and a half, that was exactly what they'd been doing. The book lay open on the table before them, and in a twisted way, Katsuya could almost compare it to a last minute study session for entrance exams.

The book came in three parts really; location, detailing the rooms containing pods along with their location. Construction, which concerned the wires and code of the device, down to the details of each tiny piece in the motherboard... And last of all, the actual game play. The game itself was so heavily based on circumstance that they gave up looking through that section after about ten minutes really; there were too many things based on where they went, and what they did. All they really had was that the final boss was some kind of giant dragon of sorts, and even that in itself was sketchy. They did have one thing from the section though; thanks to the detail that went into what was a surprisingly well written 'class system', they'd managed to already have set decisions on just what they'd be picking to go into the game.

Mokuba for one, had stuck with what was familiar to him; having played the rogue during the Monster World fiasco, the 'Thief' seemed a most logical choice for him. Fighting with a dagger, the thief could (according to the book) use trap cards, as well as steal from the opponent during battle. Katsuya in the meantime had picked the same 'Warrior' class he'd had from that time, the blond briefly wondering what sort of armor he'd end up with; from what the book said, the look depended on the size and build of the person... Completely in fact, to the point that even the 'preview' screens weren't much to go on. Nonetheless, the moment he'd seen the 'warrior' on the list, he'd picked it, grinning eagerly when told that the warrior got an attack bonus; whatever got them closer really.

While he'd been pondering his armor however, Yugi and the other Yugi had both been flipping through the book, while questioning whether or not they'd both end up in the virtual world or not. It was a good question, given how things worked out in reality; would a machine be able to take two minds in from one person, even when one wasn't technically in there? Pegasus hadn't been able to read both minds after all. He'd only reached the one 'present'... So what would happen in the game? In the end, the thoughts of who would be going were dropped when Mokuba spotted the page that Yugi was currently looking at. "The archer," he asked with raised eyebrows, the three sitting around the table as the others stood at the side. It had already been made clear that only three of them would be able to go in, once Mokuba had stated that there were only three pods in the room they would be able to access; and after Mokuba had insisted on going, it was effectively pointless to even suggest that anyone other than Katsuya and Yugi follow after. Katsuya was probably the closest thing to a 'brother' next to Kaiba... Yugi in the meantime would probably have more luck in the virtual world than the real one when things started getting rough. The boys stared at the page, Anzu and Honda remaining at the side as they talked to each other. Like the others, it had a basic 'image' of the class, along with all the stats... Yugi had been looking over it for a while now though. "Are you going to pick that one Yugi," Mokuba asked, the boy in question turning with the statement.

There was a slight pause, Yugi briefly looking back at the book. "I think so," he said with a nod, looking over the page for a few moments. "I was considering summoner as well, but this way I won't have to rely on the monsters completely... Also," he said with a small and determined nod, passing the binder over to Mokuba, "The archer has a chance of taming opposing monsters to summon once again... Depending on what we run into, that could be extremely helpful!"

The others nodded, looking back at the book themselves to look over the page. That wasn't all the archer could do it looked like; it could also use spell cards. "Heh..." Katsuya shook his head, smirking. "Guess that's as close as we'll get t' the 'Beast Tamer'," he said with a laugh, before watching as Mokuba flipped to another portion of the book. "Anyways... Now that we've got that," he continued with a slight frown, "We'll need t' figure out a way in righ'?" He looked to Mokuba, the boy nodding from where he was scanning the book.

"Yea... They'll probably have the entrances covered," he said with a frown, flipping through until he found a page labeled 'Multi-Player Beta'. A large room detailing three pods situated around a pillar met their eyes, certain areas labeled 'computer', or 'main power cable'. "Although..." The others stared, Mokuba looking up in thought before turning to them. "If we could get in through the back door without being seen," he explained, leaning on the table as he spoke, "We might be able to avoid detection until we get in there..."

Katsuya scratched his head, frowning. "Yea, but what happens when we actually get in there then," he asked, the others turning to him questioningly. "I mean, if we're gonna get caught when we get there, what happens after that?" He'd rather not end up going in only to be dragged back; nothing would get done if that happened!

Beside him, Yugi nodded in agreement, wincing somewhat at the thought. "That's right," he said with a frown, biting his lip. "They might try to do something to the machines while we're connected... And if it's attached to our spines," he added with a nervous swallow, shuddering somewhat. Well... That would be bad. Hihhhh... He should probably not think about things attaching to the back of his neck.

From the side, Honda snorted, shaking his head. "Hah! Like hell we're going to let that happen," he said with a frown, crossing his arms while the others turned to him. "We'll be there won't we," he asked, smirking. "Just because only three of us can go into this game, doesn't mean that the rest of us will be standing on the sides doing nothing right?"

Anzu nodded, frowning slightly. "That's right... I might not seem very capable," she said with a slight glare, "But there's a reason why you used to call me _Mazaki_." Yes. Yes there was, and it was because she was more than enough to scare the shit out of him and Honda at school. And sometimes not at school. Like at Burger World... With the ketchup bottle. (Stop thinking of that.)

Well, if they said they were good... "Alright," Mokuba said with a smile, looking back to the book, before frowning somewhat. "Just one more thing then..." The others turned, blinking before watching as the boy flipped through the binder. One more thing..? What was that then? He pulled open one of the latter pages, a list of computer terms and diagrams that just about gave the blond a headache appearing before them. "We're going up against all sorts of things that the Big 5 programmed to specifically counter Seto-niisama," the boy stated, frowning. "We're going to need as much of an advantage as possible..." That was for sure; if it was programmed specifically against _Seto_ of all people, then what did that mean for them? Mokuba continued looking over the book, Anzu and Honda coming over to look as well while the boy frowned. "If I can find a way to maybe hack the game software to do that... Put in a code to our advantage..."

Katsuya looked over the book, the others staring with somewhat wide eyes at the gibberish on the page. "Wow," Honda muttered, scratching his head as the boy worked over the binder. "You actually understand all that crap?"

The answer to what was likely everyone's thoughts was needless to say not only silent, but another clear example of just how close the Kaiba siblings were; fairly interesting how that glare could be re-created really... It sure as hell had him inching back a bit. In the end however, the boy went back to the book, staring at a few pages and biting his lip. "Hnn..." A few moments of silence passed, the others watching with baited breath. It wasn't as though they could tell what the book said on all this... There was nothing but numbers and codes and lists on the page. An entirely separate language really. It seemed he found something however as in the end he closed it, nodding to himself before smiling. "Ok... I have something," he announced, sitting up before wincing and tugging at the shirt he was wearing.

"Er..." Yugi bit his lip, rubbing the back of his neck as Mokuba adjusted the shirt a bit. "My shirt isn't causing any problems is it," he asked, the boy in question shaking his head.

"Ah, no... It's fine," he said with a laugh, scratching his head and looking himself over for a moment. It was pretty weird to say the least, seeing Mokuba in leather of all things... But when they were pressed for time and Mokuba was wearing wet clothes... "It's just a little weird," the boy continued with a laugh, "Being able to fit in your clothes I mean..." Well, given that there was a five year difference... Yea, he could see why that made him fell a little awkward. Just a little. "...Thanks for letting me wear them though," he said with a small bowing nod, Yugi shaking his head.

"It's the least I could do," he said with a smile, standing up himself. "Your clothes won't be dry for a while after all, and if you wore them too long you'd get a cold... I don't think your brother would be too happy about that," he added with a small and nervous laugh.

Katsuya nodded, getting up from the side as well and stretching somewhat. "Besides," he said with a smirk, laughing. "Don't yah wanna see S... Kaiba's face when s- When he see's yah in Yugi's clothes?" Damn it, why was it so hard to keep the terms straight! Yugi was doing alright with it... Then again, he had the other Yugi to remind him, didn't he...

The boy laughed nervously, shaking his head while the others stood up. Ok, _maybe_ the situation wouldn't play out as well as it did in his head... Actually, the situation in his head was suddenly a lot worse. "Well," Honda decided, stretching somewhat as he moved from behind the couch to the stairs. "If we're ready we should probably head out... Limited time right," he added somewhat awkwardly, frowning. Yea... Limited time.

The others nodded, Mokuba shoving the binder under his arm with a determined if not nervous frown. "Yea," he said somewhat nervously, looking over to the stairs before walking over to them. "We need to get going... Has it stopped raining," he asked, Anzu nodding her head.

"A few minutes ago," she said, blinking as she moved from her chair to follow the boys. "We can use the umbrellas if it's started up again though... In any case," she said, turning to the others as they walked over. "Do you two have your decks," she asked somewhat warningly, Katsuya and Yugi both nodding in response.

The blond pulled his deck out, holding it out. "Yep; right here!"

"Ah... That reminds me..." The others turned to Yugi, the boy himself looking up at Katsuya. "Jonouchi-kun... Have you added any new cards to your deck since the Duelist Kingdom?" New cards?

He turned, staring for a moment. "Eh?" The blond smirked, shaking his head. "Hah! Nope... This deck has a lot of good monsters," he said with a grin, looking through it as he spoke. These cards were what got him through all those battles after all! "I don' really see much point in changin' it..." Though... He had yet to win against Yugi...

Yugi grimaced, crossing his arms. "I guess," he said with a shrug, biting his lip. "You should probably think of re-organizing it with some new cards though..."

Beside them, Mokuba as well nodded, before moving to head up the stairs with Honda and Anzu behind him. "He has a good point Katsuya-nii," he said with a frown, the blond in question following behind with Yugi. "If you just use the same cards all the time, it'll be too easy to tell how you're going to attack..." What? Man... ...No wonder Yugi kept beating him...

Honda snorted from the back, shaking his head. "Don't even bother trying to tell him that," he said 'wisely', before giving the blond behind him a smirk. "Jonouchi's the kind of guy who'll stick to a good thing until the very end when he finds it!" Wait, what the hell was that supposed to mean? "It'd be pointless to tell him otherwise!"

"O-Oi! Don't talk like I ain't here yah ass!" What was wrong with sticking with something good? That was why it was good wasn't it!

The teen laughed, he and the others coming out of the stairway and moving into the hall. "Well then try listening to people for once," he said with a smirk, Katsuya merely growling as the others laughed.

Come on, them too? "Aww c'mon guys," he muttered, running his hands through his hair and groaning. "So mean... Seriously..."

"But it's because we _care_ Katsuya-nii~" The boy ducked a playful swipe from the blond, laughing as the others shook their heads.

"Yea, you guys care alright," he said with a snort, shaking his head and pulling back with a mixed smirk and scowl. If Mokuba weren't eleven damn it... Hahhh... ...Now that he thought about the cards though... "Hey Yug'," he asked, the boy turning to look up with a slight nod. "You re-did your deck then..? Y' cleaned it out an' put new ones in?"

He nodded, hands holding his puzzle for the moment as Anzu and Honda busied themselves with finding the largest of the groups umbrellas. Currently, it looked as though they were all about the same size... Bringing them to an argument of which one was safer (Anzu's green 'frog' one) or 'less embarrassing' (Honda's worn out black one)... Needless to say, Honda's comment was not well taken, so Katsuya decided it'd be best if he just paid attention to what Yugi was saying."Un... Yea! I kept my key monsters," he said with another small nod, putting his puzzle down. "But the most of the other cards are new," he continued, turning to his puzzle. "I don't think that the same monsters can keep fighting in duels forever," the boy continued with a small smile, looking back up at Katsuya again. "So for the past few days, the other me and I have been going through our cards, refurbishing the deck."

Hnnn... Katsuya looked back to his deck, putting it back in his pocket with a nod. Even though Yugi probably didn't see what he did on the field, he knew without a doubt what his friend was getting at. Giving the monsters a break then eh? ...Huh... Maybe he should try a bit of card sorting himself, buy a few new cards... He moved past the others and pushed the door open, looking outside and at the sky. It was pitch black, with what few stars were normally visible clearly out above them. The clouds were obviously gone. "Nnn... Alright," he said with a grin, turning back to the others and holding the door open for everyone. He stepped outside, leaning against the door and holding his arm out. "Skies are clear, no rain! Lets get goin'!"

Honda shrugged, tossing his umbrella back in the bucket in the hall while Anzu rushed outside herself. "Well, so much for that then," he decided, walking outside as well. It was pretty cold out there for obvious reasons; middle of January, it wasn't going to be that warm. Either way... Despite the cold they crowded outside with either their school jackets or in Mokuba's case a borrowed one, Yugi turning back as his grandfather waved them off from the door.

"We'll be back soon, alright grandpa," he said, the man merely nodding.

"Of course," he said with a small bow, looking down the street and turning back to the group with a small smile. "I wish you all luck."

The group nodded, turning to leave. "Yea!" Yugi looked up at the others, before turning to Mokuba. "Alright," he said as the boy adjusted his grip on the binder. "Lead the way!"

Mokuba looked over the others, before nodding and moving past the others toward the direction he came from. "Right... Follow me," he shouted, before charging off down the now relatively empty and dark streets. While crowds still filled the area, it was far easier to maneuver their way through now, the group forming a sort of clustered train as they shoved through the streets. "The company building should be closed down by now," he said as they ran, binder gripped tightly under his arm. "The gates will all be locked from the inside..."

Honda grit his teeth, frowning with the words. "So we're going to have to break in then," he asked, Anzu also frowning from beside them. Oooooh... He didn't have his picks on him either...

"That doesn't sound like it'll be too easy," Anzu said uneasily, shaking her head as they continued to run. "Your brother is pretty particular when it comes to security isn't he? It won't just be a matter of hopping a fence I don't think..."

The boy nodded in response, before answering. "That's right," Mokuba said, continuing to run as the others followed close behind. "But even though nii-sama did a security sweep," he continued with a slight frown, There's still a way in..." There was? Other than just breaking in then? "Katsuya-nii," Mokuba called, the blond blinking as they continued down the streets behind the boy. "Do you have your security pass on you?"

Katsuya stared for a moment, before nodding. "Yea," he said with a blank and slightly confused expression. "'F course I do, it's th' only way I can get in th' house! But I thought that was all it was keyed into!"

He shook his head, the enormous tower that was Kaiba Corporation standing tall in the near distance as the others listened carefully. "Not really," he said seriously, slowing down as they came to the large crosswalk between themselves and the building. For the most part, they'd had a straight shot in terms of crossing streets... Most of the roads were fairly long, so this would be the first wait... The boy looked up at Katsuya as they took a few moments to breathe, clarifying. "Seto-niisama coded the security staff he left on hire at the house into the building here as well," he said with a small frown, Katsuya raising his eyebrows in response. "...Didn't he tell you Katsuya-nii?"

The blond laughed quietly, a frozen and somewhat wry smile on his face. As a matter of fact... "No," he said, turning away and continuing to laugh somewhat darkly. "No s-" Not she, not she... "No he didn't..." And something told him he knew _why_ damn it. The lights for the crosswalk changed over, the group running across the street before slowing to a stop at the gates. The barred doors were immense to say the least, and more than impossible to scale too easily... At the side however, was the familiar 'box' that was installed back at the mansion. Katsuya looked down at Mokuba, shaking his head for a moment before fishing around his pants pockets for his ID card. There it was, same emotionless face that had Honda in stiches for a few weeks after he'd first shown him the card... (As Anzu and Yugi both smiled somewhat...) "Right... They won' be on our trail after I use this will they," he asked, frowning somewhat. It would really suck if that was the case...

Mokuba shook his head, looking back at the gate. "Nope," he said confidently, turning back to the entrance. "When the gate opens, the card ID is logged automatically in a computer," he explained, continuing on, "But the log has to specifically be accessed to tell exactly who's coming in... After all," he said with a grin, looking up at the others with a small laugh. "If the card works, then obviously they're allowed in right?" And yet no one told him that he could use his card to get in here... And he had a feeling it had to do with why Seto hadn't told him either... Hahaha...

He pushed the thought from mind, nodding as he swiped his card across the gate lock. A small 'beep' came from the device, the light growing green as Katsuya watched the gate swing inward for them to enter. It seemed a little too easy, walking in with nothing happening. Really really easy, almost like they were waiting for him... So that they could just end up trapped inside...

Honda appeared to notice the blond's uneasiness, throwing an arm around his shoulder with a grin. "Heyyy! Calm down man," he said with a smirk, the group walking in as Mokuba quietly led them around a more dark path to the 'back door'. Katsuya looked at his friend, expression somewhat blank as the teen went on. "It's better than trying to hack into Kaiba's security system isn't it?"

From ahead, Mokuba nodded, smirking. "Haha... And faster too," he said with a grin, Katsuya looking back to the boy while he ducked under Honda's arm. "If I started hacking into nii-sama's security system after what he did to it when he got back, I'd be stuck at that gate for fifteen minutes before it opened! And even then," he added with a more nervous laugh, "We'd probably trigger the alarms doing that..."

That... That was a good point. He should stop complaining. "Hahaha..." The blond scratched his head, before rubbing the back of his neck as they made their way around the building. Yea... Erm... Oh well. They walked over to a small door, Mokuba looking back to Katsuya before moving to the side and gesturing to the lock. He shook his head, pulling the card out of his pocket again. "Kay... Somethin' tells me I should jus' leave this card out," he said with a nervous laugh, swiping it through as the door clicked open.

"Pretty much," Mokuba said with a grin, watching as the others began to file inside. "Ok... Now we need to be quiet in here," he whispered, looking down the currently dark hall. There were next to no lights still on inside the building, and even then, they were only tiny and distantly spaced 'lamps' for the sake of a small bit of safety. "Patrols go on regularly in the building after hours, especially in the basement rooms..."

The basement? What? "Why th' hell would they have issues in the basement," Katsuya hissed, frowning as the door was quietly clicked shut behind them. The five slowly made their way down the hall, keeping to the walls as Mokuba looked around the next corner before moving on. "If it's all computers down there, wouldn' that make it even harder t' steal?" There was a light smack, the blond growling slightly before turning to the source. "T- Ow! Honda, what th' hell?"

Honda shook his head, rolling his eyes as they walked. "Idiot," he muttered, the group heading quietly down the hall as Mokuba looked around for the stairs. "It's a company that's built on technology, all someone would have to do is copy what they need to a flashdrive!"

There was another pair of thumbs, both teens wincing and groaning as someone else growled behind them. "Will you two _both_ shut up," Anzu hissed, the two turning to meet the woman's glare with a flinch. "Mokuba said to be quiet, do you want us caught?"

They both clammed up, sharing an annoyed look before the expression switched to a resigned sigh and they continued off. Alright alright, perfect silence... They'd keep quiet, no worries... There was a loud creak as Mokuba held the door open, turning to the others as they winced and waving them over. "Alright," he whispered, gesturing to the stairs beyond the door. Unlike in the halls, there were no lights in there, save whatever the main-floor window and that of the doors to the hall left them. "Watch your step and follow me!"

The group nodded, following the boy down as the door again echoed shut behind them. It was hard going, walking down the stairs in the dark... The railing was tightly gripped as they went down, passing the first basement floor in silence before stopping at the second. 'B-2'... The door was opened in tentative silence, Mokuba poking his head out before waving them over with a hurried nod. '_This way,'_ he mouthed, the others tiptoeing down the hall as the door was quietly shut behind them. The halls were completely black down there... There was the occasional light above a door to light the way however, and it only took a few moments before they found the room they were looking for. And all without running into a single person; damn they were lucky! "Alright," Mokuba whispered, looking at the number pad and biting his lip. "This is the room. Lets see..."

Mokuba stared at the keys a moment, Katsuya looking at the pad himself. Out of all the keys, there were a few that were faded... "Hnn... Whatever th' code is," he muttered, squinting as he looked at the pad, "It's gonna have a lot 'f '2's in it..."

The others turned, staring at the seemingly odd statement. "Er... 2's," Mokuba repeated quietly, looking back at the pad and narrowing his eyes.

He nodded, scratching his head. "Y-Yea," he muttered, looking around the hall somewhat nervously. "Th' key's all smudged, so it's been used more than th' others..."

"Huh... That's pretty handy Jonouchi," Anzu said with a nod, blinking with slight surprise. "Where on earth did you learn that..?"

Er? Where? ...Ah... "Trust me," Honda said with a quiet laugh, watching as Mokuba punched something into the number pad before the doors hissed open for them to run in. "You _really_ don't need to know the answer to that one."

Anzu gave the teen an odd look, Katsuya laughing nervously himself as they walked in. The lights were quickly flicked on from the side, the doors buzzing shut behind them with a loud clang... Including the manual 'pull shut' door, which had been hanging open on the inside. He rubbed his head, still laughing quietly as they moved into the large room. It was probably for the best that Anzu _not_ know why he learned that trick...

They looked around, watching as Mokuba ran over to the computer for a moment to push in a few buttons. Large screens sat beside him, the one in the center turning on before he moved to pull the cables from the other smaller ones. "...Alright," he said as the others watched, before coming down and handing Anzu his binder. "You'll need page seven on hand," he said with a slight frown, the woman nodding in response. "It should have all the instructions on starting up the pods... Also," he continued, looking toward the door, "I put a code in to keep the doors from opening... But they could still push them in manually, so you might need to put up a barricade if worse comes to worse," he said with a wince. "...At least there's lots of stuff down here?"

The woman gave a somewhat wry smile, merely nodding while Honda moved over to the computer to look at the switches. "We understand," she said with a nod, before watching as the pods opened up with a hiss. Katsuya and Yugi both walked over, Yugi looking at the second one and appearing to stare off for a few moments in silence before turning back to the others. "...Make sure you all come back safe, understand," she asked with a worried frown, holding the binder close before moving to sit with Honda at the computer. "If anything happens to you guys... I..."

"We'll be fine," Katsuya said with a nod, smirking. Hey... They couldn't get worried now, not when it was all or nothing right? If they stopped to think right now, they might not come back! "That's a promise," he added, turning back to the pod he was standing by. He kept his promises didn't he? And this would be no different. He pulled out his deck, looking at it a moment before turning back to the pod. Alright... Time to get in...

Mokuba as well moved over to his pod, pushing a key of sorts on the arm of it's 'chair' before dropping his sister's deck in a drawer that appeared from it. "Push the third button on the right," he told the other two, looking at them both from his far off pod. "The machine is programmed to ask for the deck automatically, but it's a little hard to reach the drawer once you're inside..."

He and Yugi nodded, doing as Mokuba had said and watching as a small drawer appeared. Ok then... He dropped his deck in, watching the drawer retract and taking a large breath. This was it... They all took a seat in their pods, Katsuya tensing slightly as the device abruptly began to lock around his body. "Gh-" Cold metal pushed against his shoulders, the blond attempting to turn his head only to be viced in by a helmet. "W-What th' hell..!"

"It's just the machine Katsuya-nii," Mokuba said with a slight shout, sounding somewhat faded thanks to the 'helmet'. "Just calm down, it's part of the game!" Yea, but the game was also a death trap, it was kinda hard to relax with that kind of knowledge...

Nonetheless he nodded, watching as the glass for the pod itself closed over top of him. Damn this was claustrophobic, he thought with a swallow, eyes wide as he stared forward. From where he was, he couldn't see the others... He couldn't hear anything either, he realized with a frown, attempting to lean back against the seat and get somewhat comfortable. Having his uniform jacket on the side helped with that he supposed, but even so the 'chair' was just a little uncomfortable... The blond sat there, silence digging into his mind while he stared down at the dog-tags around his neck. He never did end up getting the nerve to ask Seto what they were made of... Sure as hell hadn't asked anyone else if they'd have an idea, he'd probably have gotten a fair number of awkward looks... (Sure as hell got raised eyebrows from Mokuba...) They looked pretty damn expensive though, that was for sure.

Now that he thought about it, Anzu had mentioned her co-workers gushing about someone who came in and paid extra to have a quick engraving job done on some dog tags and a stuffed animal... And... Didn't Mokuba get a monogrammed-

"Ghn!" The blond froze, streams of light abruptly rushing across the black screen of glass before his eyes. What the hell..? The lights continued to fill his vision, streaming across in what looked to be lines of code before blurring into nothing. What the hell was- His eyes widened momentarily as something pressed against his neck and head, before slowly closing over as the cold feeling increased. This feeling... Wh... He felt pretty tired for some reason... Couldn't keep his eyes open... Body felt numb... No, it wasn't that he was numb, it was more that he wasn't there. He couldn't feel anything... Not the chair he was in, not the air he was breathing (He was still breathing right?)... Yet he couldn't feel scared about that, even though he knew he'd ordinarily be creeped out more than when he'd dueled Kotsuzuka. His eyes closed over completely, the sounds of his breathing dying out to his ears. He couldn't see... Feel... Hear... Couldn't even taste the roof of his mouth when his tongue pressed against it, if it was doing that even...

...Why was that...

...It was dark again.

* * *

"...What... What th' hell?" Katsuya slowly opened his eyes, blinking a few times before frowning at the darkness that sat around him. Nothing... There was nothing here, just an endless expanse of true darkness and... "Aw hell," he muttered to himself, rubbing his face as he closed his eyes for a moment. "Not this again..." Ok... Calm down Katsuya, this wasn't necessarily one of those creepy ass dreams he'd been having since Duelist Kingdom... Maybe it was something different! Something that wasn't scarily prophetic, like the last few. Or just plain weird, like with the 'little Seto-chan' that had... Managed to materialize in Pegasus' castle. He should really stop thinking of that crap, but hey, this wasn't a dream right? Although... He frowned, staring off and making a mental list. Complete and total darkness... Check. It was definitely around and below him, given the weird floating feeling he had despite standing flat on his feet. Next up... Cold... Sheer cold despite whatever the hell he was wearing. Also present, he thought as he rubbed his arms, before frowning and looking down at himself. What the- His shirt and pants were- ...Was he naked? Seriously? ...And...

...And glowing? Naked and _glowing_? (Seriously, the hell was this shit...) Alright! Weird crap! Definitely there! Three for three, he told himself with wide eyes, shaking his head. God damn it, did he fall asleep in the pod or something? This was the _worst_ possible time for this... Seriously... '_Welcome_,' a computerized voice above him stated, the blond looking upward with a jump. W-W-Wait... That voice was new. _'To Duel Monster Quest version .10_.' Er... Wait, so this was part of the program..? "...What the hell kind of game is this," he muttered, scratching his head as the computer continued on, ignoring his mutterings. Ask a bunch of questions, listen to the instructions, yadda yadda yadda... (Why the hell was he naked...)

Wait did it just ask for his name? He looked back up, bringing his arms back down. "Er... Jonouchi," he said with a shrug, leaning somewhat backward as he put his hands behind his head. There was no way in hell he was ever going with 'Joey' again... Never. Ever. Again. Not after Bandit Keith damn it... Completely ruined it for him. The voice continued on about something else as he thought of this, before a series of panels appeared to spin around him. Oh hey... The blond blinked, watching as they stopped moving and hovered in place before him. '_Please choose your battle class_', the computer stated, Katsuya merely staring. Huh. The classes. Er... He poked the first one, blinking as the other panels vanished behind the 'Warrior' one. '_Thank-you_,' the computer said, Katsuya shrugging in response. Eh, whatever... He was just trying to move through the game really... A few more panels showed up, a bunch of armor appearing before him. "Eh..." Hohhh... Here he thought he was done...

Katsuya scratched his cheek, looking over his options. Leather and cloth, cloth and leather... He'd have picked the cool looking metal armor, but looking at how damn heavy it was... And how many issues he'd had in that one bit of time where he'd been wearing his figurine's armor when he _wasn't_ a figurine (That was weird). "Shit, I won't be able t' run more than two meters in that," he muttered with a laugh before sighing. Alright then... He tapped the cloth one, smirking as the panels all vanished completely from sight. "Heh... This oughta work..." He blinked as the sudden feeling of cloth came over him, looking down at himself as a simple pair of breeches appeared on him along with a tunic. Huh... Boots as well, a small sheath of sorts on his back. Didn't look like much, he'd have thought that armor would come with a bit more armor, cloth or not...

Ah well. This was pretty comfortable really, so no big deal! He shrugged to himself, stretching slightly to get a feel of the outfit before frowning. Waaaaait, did that computer just say the game was beginning? Right now? He looked down coughing as a large and dead looking wood began to come up through his vision, the darkness around him fading out into a large and cloud filled sky. "Ahhh shit!" The trees began to become more detailed, a few clouds passing him as he fell. "Shit!" The blond looked around, watching as the ground moved closer and closer. Shit, he was falling! What the hell kind of game was this, he only just started and already he was going to die! ...Wait why was he still standing?

He blinked, stumbling slightly as he came to land on his feet on the ground. "Wooooahhh..." He tripped, shaking his head as he looked around. Man... He hadn't even hit the branches coming down, he thought, looking up at the trees above. He'd just... Passed right through them, like he was a ghost... H-Hihhhh... Scary... "...S-Shit," he muttered, looking at the withered and blackened trees around him with wide eyes as he brought his eyes to more 'ground level'. Numerous gashes lined the trees, each of variant height and depth. A cluster of shuiken were embedded deep into the side of one tree in particular, the ground singed completely, as though lightning had struck the place where he stood. There were even a few charred pieces of wood at one side he noted, the blond rubbing a finger along the charred wood and drawing back with a swallow. Still warm too, even though it was obvious that no one had been there for a while now. And the damage was all concentrated in once spot... "Shit... What th' hell happened here..."

"Nee-sama happened, that's what," a voice said from the side, Katsuya turning abruptly with wide eyes. Mokuba stood there, hands held behind his currently bandanna wrapped head before coming down to his sides as he walked over to inspect the damage as well. A cloak as well hung around his shoulders, making Katsuya just slightly jealous of the fact that all he really had to call his own was a simple shirt. Either way... Attempting to scratch his head told him that there was a pretty awesome looking spear hanging on his back, so the feeling didn't last too long.

Looking at the damage around them however, that wasn't quite the point. "Seto-chan was the 'source'," the blond repeated with raised eyebrows, looking back at the charred wood and again swallowing. "Even f'r _this_?"

The boy nodded, frowning. "Yea... Nee-sama managed to figure out the initial spell system," he said, crossing his arms in thought. "Her first card draw was a dud, so she had to fight using both that and her sword... That was her first attack against the thing that ended her game, the 'Armed Ninja'..."

"So then..." The others turned, blinking as Yugi stumbled to the ground himself with a slight frown. "That's the one we have to look for right?" He himself didn't look to bad either; aside from a simple tunic style shirt and shorts, the boy's ranger wear came with rather thick looking boots and gauntlets. Along with, of course... His puzzle? Katsuya stared, shaking his head and looking again. It was gone..! It was... Yugi appeared to pay it no mind, walking toward the other two as he continued. "If Kaiba-san was last here, and she was captured by that ninja that must mean that we're going to be traveling along the same path she was taken on..." He turned around, looking down the cliff they stood on with a swallow. It was probably about ten, fifteen meters up really... Not a short distance. "Hnn... It doesn't look like this will be too easy," he muttered, scratching his head with a wince. "Mokuba," he asked, turning to the others as they looked over the cliff as well. "What sorts of fights does this game have exactly?"

The boy blinked, before looking over the deckholder on his arm. Come to think, he had one as well... Looked pretty out of place to say the least. "Well," he began, blinking before turning back to them, "There are two options really... We can draw a card once per battle, and either use that or store it in a hand... There's a limit of seven, like the game," he added, looking to Katsuya and Yugi as the pair stared at their own disks. "From what I could tell while nee-sama was fighting however, we have to pay half of the monster's attack when we summon..." W-Wait, that much? "We also have to pay to cast spell cards but... Ahh..." He laughed, looking over to Katsuya. "Well.."

"W-What," he said with a frown, blinking. "Is... Is there somethin' different in my case?"

Yugi grimaced, pulling a face and nodding. "The book said that the warrior class sacrificed all magic for strength," he explained, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don't think you'll be able to cast any spells even with cards... I can't use traps myself, while it's the reverse for Mokuba..."

Awww hell that sucked. "Seriously..?" He bit his lip, frowning as he fingered the spear his armor had come with before pulling it out. It was about a foot taller than him he'd say... The blade curved around to cover his hand, almost like some kind of giant curved dagger or axe stuck on a stick. Annnnd this was all he had. And his monsters... Which admittedly made up most of his deck, but damn it, he still had good spells in there! "Crap," he muttered, rubbing his head with his free hand. "What th' hell do I do with any spell cards I pull out then?"

"Hnn..." Mokuba looked up, crossing his arms in thought. "You could probably toss them to us," he began, shrugging. "Actually, I think that as long as we use them right away, we can use each other's cards..." Oh. Well that was a bit of a relief anyways...

The boys looked back down the side of the cliff, Katsuya swallowing and pulling back from the cliff's edge. Hooooo... Long way down. "Heh, well... At leas' I can still use monster's or my spear," he said with a laugh, waving the staff in question before leaning on it somewhat.

The others nodded, grinning. "Haha! That's the spirit, Jonouchi-kun! Ah..." Yugi turned, blinking and looking questioningly at Mokuba. "That reminds me though... How does the combat system work for us?"

"Ahh... Basically," he said with a shrug, biting his lip, "We fight; from what I saw, it comes natural... Though we won't get any experience from a monster attack as opposed to our own attack... Ah, we'll still get lifepoints from each monster we beat though," he said quickly, looking at the others. "When we beat a monster, we get the same number that it had at defeat... When nee-sama beat the two-headed king rex," he explained, Katsuya briefly shaking his head at the image of Seto charging a giant purple dragon-thing, "She gained 1600 life points... I don't know how it'll work with three of us," he continued with another shrug, "But it should be similar."

They nodded, Yugi looking back down the cliff again. Hnn... This couldn't be anything compared to a giant purple dinosaur right? "Ok then," Yugi said, crossing his arms and staring down the side. "How should we get down to that cliff though..."

Mokuba frowned, looking down it himself before turning to the forest behind them. "I'm not sure," he said, shaking his head. "There _should_ be some way around here... I mean, that kind of jump would be impossible otherwise and-" He froze, watching as Katsuya abruptly flew past and skidded down the cliff on his feet. "G- K-Katsuya-nii!"

"J-Jonouchi-kun," Yugi shouted, staring as the blond skidded through a now developing cloud of dirt before landing safely at the bottom with a loud cheer. "Ah- ...It worked..."

"WHOOOO! YEA!" That was great! HAH! He looked up, grinning at the others and making room for the two to come down themselves. "Heh! I figured since Seto-chan took down a dinosaur, we'd have some sort of special ability in th' game!" Like say incredible cliff diving skills. Or something. Heh... The blond stretched, cracking his knuckles before leaning against his spear. "That was pretty fun actually... Hehehe..." Really fun... Hah!

The others blinked, sharing a look for a moment before turning back down. Should they jump down or... Finally Mokuba shrugged, shaking his head and following after Katsuya with a sort of skidding jog. "Hup!" Dirt flew through the air behind him, Yugi waving it out of his face before the dust cleared. He landed with a slight stumble, Yugi following behind in a similar fashion before scratching his head and looking back up. "So..." They looked down the path, Katsuya visibly growing pale while the other two looked up at him worriedly. Tombstones littered the ground that had originally been mostly invisible from the top of the cliff, a heavy and thick layer of smog sticking to the ground before them. What trees remained were shadows of even those above on the cliff... White and dry husks that looked as though they would crumble with a mere tap. "...This must be the 'Graveyard' 'bonus' level we were trying to avoid," Mokuba said with a swallow, looking back to Katsuya.

"N-Nyhhh..." He shivered, shaking his head. Of all the places for them to come, why were they _here_! "D-Damn it," he muttered, shaking considerably, "What were th' chances of that!"

Yugi bit his lip, shrugging. "I suppose it makes sense," he said with a frown, taking a few steps forward through what had merely been a thick blanket of fog from above. "We _did_ have to go down a cliff to reach it..."

Mokuba nodded, giving a somewhat sympathetic look to Katsuya. "Well... Think of it this way," he said with a nervous laugh, rubbing his head. "More experience points right? We'll need all the strength we can get when we go against what took Seto-neesama right? So this might be for the better then!"

Well... He guessed that was right... He swallowed, nodding his head in an attempt to steel himself. "A...Alrigh'... I guess..." They started walking, the blond looking down at his deck holder nervously before looking back at the graves around them. "But if we run int' any monsters, there's a good chance it'll be zombies..." Particularly if this graveyard, which looked... Eerily familiar to him... Was home to the same ones Kotsuzuka had used... H-Hihhhh... "I don' think too many of my cards'll help against those..."

"Actually," Mokuba said with a wink, turning to the blond with those words, "I fixed that." The others blinked, staring owlishly at the boy as he explained. "I put a code into the program," he continued with a somewhat wicked smirk, crossing his arms. "It's simple enough to get rid of, since there wasn't time to put a firewall on it... But for now," he added with a grin, "We should be able to call our draws!"

So like... Just say what the card would be and pull it out? So... "...Y'mean cheat?" There was a nod as Mokuba continued walking beside them, Katsuya sharing a look with Yugi for a moment.

"Well," he said with a shrug, Katsuya blinking with minute surprise at the dismissive response, "Since the people we're up against are technically cheating, I guess it's only fair... The other me thinks so anyways," he added as he scratched his head, staring up briefly. Wait... He was still talking to him without the puzzle there? But... How..?

Katsuya again nodded, turning to his friend to ask about that before tensing. Something on the air... Something was in the air, something familiar... "...Hey... ...You guys smell that," he asked lowly, staring ahead as the same acrid scent from the 'graveyard board' met his nose. Rotting flesh, bugs and bone... Moth eaten cloth, rusted metal and coppery blood... The others frowned, shaking their head as the area fell quiet. Great. Why was he always the first to smell this kind of crap, he thought with an involuntary shudder. Gh... The smell increased, Katsuya looking around at the graves around them and stopping in his tracks. Where... Where were the monsters... He could smell them, but where-

"_**GRNNNNNNN**_..." A loud squelching noise came through the air, followed by a deep growl as an enormous bony claw pierced the ground. Skeletal wings broke through the earth and the zombie dragon clambered from its grave, toppling the tombstones of those beside it as it exited the ground. And it wasn't alone... The boys tensed, backs pressed against each others as they drew back, the sound of a low growl accompanied by hoarse and rasping laughter. From beneath the ground just a few paces away, a rotting clown with a scythe pulled itself through the dirt, appearing before them with a wicked toothless grin. It stood on it's worn yet still inflated ball with a manic cackle, twirling the scythe in its hand before leering down at its current opponents. And still there was another, Katsuya thought with a wince. Still another for the god-damned 'immortal zombie trio' he'd seen before! A third sound came through the air, soil pushed from the front of a grave as a rusted and worn blade was tossed out. Bony arms followed after, an ancient and worn samurai with nothing to call a face save its skull pulling itself from the ground and turning toward them with endlessly empty eye sockets.

God damn it why did it have to be zombies. WHY. "Gh... S-Shit," Katsuya muttered, holding his spear out before him and swallowing. "S-So... What was that y' said about 'top-decking' Mokuba?"

There was no answer, the boy merely running forward with a hand on his deck. "No time, just watch" he shouted, facing the zombified warrior with a frown. "Without looking at the card, call your draw! **_Rude Kaiser_**!" There was an odd sound as his lifepoints dropped, the monster appearing to Mokuba's aid in a shimmer of dust and light. Scaled and as lizard-like as ever the beast drew his blades, charging forward and cutting down the zombie warrior in a flash of light. Lifepoints increased again, the other two zombies looking over their fallen comrade before chuckling darkly. An odd green mist filled the air... Rude Kaiser turned to look back at the corpse he'd destroyed, eyes widening as the pieces began to reassemble. "H-Heh..?" Mokuba swallowed, stepping back as the other two quickly came to his side. In a flash of steel the Rude Kaiser was gone, Mokuba's well earned lifepoints cutting down instantly. The alligator-like monster's body collapsed to the ground to vanish into a mist... And the samurai appeared slightly larger than it had before. "What..!"

The blade was turned on Mokuba in just an instant, Katsuya jumping in front of the boy to block the strike with his spear tip. "Gh-... I played against a guy who used these," he said with a grunt, pushing back the blade of the samurai before hurriedly moving to block another strike from the clown as it came forward. The dragon in the meantime had successfully drawn Yugi's attention, the boy dodging a number of 'stomping' attempts from the beast with wide eyes. "Normal attacks don' work," he continued, slicing through the clown and watching the pieces bowl away on the ball before slowly reassembling. Shit, here it came again... "They jus' come back even stronger! Y' can't kill them!"

"W-What!" Mokuba and Yugi shared a look from behind gravestones as they narrowly avoided a blast of acidic slime from the dragon, Katsuya turning back slightly as he continued to block the attacks. This wasn't working... Again he was forced to send the clown back, managing to but its ball back along the ground as opposed to simply killing it.

"Look... You guys need t' get outta here," he shouted, attempting to push the onslaught of zombies back yet again. Constant moaning was grating at his ears, worm eaten flesh staring him in the face as he attempted not to puke. God damn these things were creepy... So damn creepy... The scent was burning his nostrils, and it was taking all he could to just hold his breath and not pass out... "I'll hold 'em off for a bit," he continued loudly, attempting to reassure himself as metal clashed against rusted metal, "But until then..."

Yugi swallowed, frowning from where he and Mokuba were ducking behind a stone slab. "Jonouchi-kun," he said as he and Mokuba backed up somewhat, before they themselves were forced to dodge a second blast of acidic smoke from the zombie dragon. The gravestones melted into a mere sludge, and they both looked over at Katsuya with wide eyes. "Jonouchi-kun," the boy repeated, he and Mokuba keeping a careful eye on the dragon as it lumbered forward. "Didn't you have a card that stopped them? You beat Kotsuzuka last time didn't you?"

Back against Kotsuzuka..? Ah- That was right, he had- "Gh-... AH-CK!" The blond fell back, spear cut in two and his arm faring just as badly as it bled. S-Shit... Just a moment of distraction and that was all it took... He gripped the half of the spear that still held a blade, cutting half-blind at the monsters as they came near again. "Gh..." Shit it stung... Oh man it stung, he thought as he gripped his arm. They had to end this, now! The card... He couldn't use the spell but... "Tch... Shield and Sword," he shouted, pulling the card from his deck holder and tossing it to the others as he took a few steps away from the monsters again. "Yugi," he called, ducking under a strike from the zombie clown before rolling out of it's way when it opted to simply attempt steamrolling him. "Go for it!"

The boy nodded furiously, dodging another blast from the dragon as he caught the card in his hand. "Alright," he shouted, holding the card toward the monsters as Mokuba charged out of the way when the dragon attempted a more physical approach yet again. "_**Shield and Sword**_" he called, voice reverberating around the graveyard. The card vanished into dust, and in its wake the result was instantaneous; the blades of the samurai and clown both rusted away to nothing, handles clattering to the ground pointlessly. The clown's large ball deflated, leaving the zombie to struggle to its feet while the dragon at the other end of the field merely collapsed to an even slower crawl than it already had. And as they stood there, the monsters looking over their defenseless forms, Katsuya gripped his spear top with a wicked smirk.

"Hehehe... Try this f'r size," he said with a grin, charging forward. Pay back time! "Hah!" It was more than simple to slice the head of a zombie when he knew it wouldn't come back really. With a single 'whoosh' sound, followed by a thunk, the zombie warrior was long gone, helmet clattering to the ground along side its worn and filthy skull. He turned to deal with the clown, only to blink as Mokuba twirled his dagger from where the clown's corpse was vanishing into dust. Huh... Already dealt with eh...

"Haha..." Mokuba sheathed his dagger, looking from the corpse back to Katsuya. "This is kinda like the Monster World," he said with a grin, rubbing his head. "Except not as creepy... Maybe nee-sama will keep developing the game after all this is over..."

Katsuya shivered somewhat, shaking his head. Personally, as scary as the 'Monster World' was, he prefered those monsters over the zombies _a lot_ more. He sighed, smirking nonetheless before paling as a shadow loomed over them. "...Aww hell," he muttered, looking up as the enormous and very much alive zombie dragon ambled over and above them. "Shit," he muttered, looking down at his spear while Mokuba looked at his dagger. Not exactly 'dragon destroying' material really... "This is gonna s-"

-_fffpt!-_

The boys blinked, looking up and hurriedly running back somewhat as the enormous dragon collapsed to the ground with an echoing thump. Looking at the great beast's head as it slowly disolved, they swallowed, staring at the three arrows embedded deep into the monster's fragile skull. The two turned, watching as Yugi shouldered his bow with a grin. "Hah... You didn't think I wouldn't help did you?" Of course they didn't! It was just weird, seeing him take out a dragon that was about twenty plus times their size... Haha... The boy walked over, brushing a bit of dirt from his pants before looking at them with a worried smile. "...Rangers are better for long-range attacks... Sorry if I surprised you guys," he said with a nervous laugh.

"Ahh, it's fine," Katsuya said with a shrug, throwing an arm around the boy's shoulder. "I'm jus' glad y' didn't try taming one of these guys," he added with a shudder. Yugi gave a small laugh in response to that, before the boys abruptly froze. Just seconds after the immense dragon fully vanished, a glass 'screen' of sorts appeared before their eyes. "E-Eh!" Katsuya jumped, pulling away from Yugi as the screen began to flash with numbers. "What the-"

Mokuba jumped slightly as well, before watching as the dirt and filth from the battle cleaned itself off of their armor. "Ah!" The boy blinked, before turning his attention back to the 'screen'. "This is the stats menu," he said with slight surprise, turning to the others as he continued. "We all gained two levels already," he continued with wide eyes, the others nodding in response.

"It must be because we defeated three monsters at once," Yugi said with a blink, watching as the menu vanished. "If we keep fighting, we should be able to learn more skills as well..." Wowwww... Two levels in one shot, that was pretty... Wow...

The taller of the three nodded, looking over his magically repaired spear before putting it in the holster on his back. "Heh... So long as we don' have t' deal with that again," he muttered, before looking at his arm. He couldn't see much damage from the outside but... He pulled his sleeve back, biting his lip as he looked over the slice on his arm. Though not bleeding, the strike from the zombie warrior had clearly left it's mark, leaving a large bloodied gash along the side of his arm. "D-Damn," he muttered with a wince, swallowing. "First few minutes 'f th' game and I'm already hit..." Lifepoints took a hit too... From the insane number he had after destroying the clown, he was now sitting at 1860...

Yugi looked over the arm himself, Mokuba as well looking before wincing. "Ah... That can't be good," the older of the two said with a frown, biting his lip and looking back up at Katsuya.

"I can't tell if the injuries are too much for the lifepoint drop or not," added Mokuba, still staring at the wound with a grimace.

Katsuya mimicked the expression as well, pulling the sleeve back down with a grim nod. "Hihhh... Tell me about it," he said with a wince, before looking at where the corpses of the zombies had vanished. At least his arm didn't hurt any more and- "Ah- Hey... There's somethin' by where th' bodies were!"

The others turned, Mokuba walking over to the pile as three cards hovered in place above the 'corpses'. "Ah... This must be the drop item," he said, hesitantly grabbing the card before a menu appeared before all three of the boys. Numbers flashed, all three tensing slightly before the menu vanished. "Fifteen gold..."

"Five for each monster," Yugi added with a nod, before turning to the others. "We can probably use this for better weapons and armor if we find a store," he added, watching as they nodded in response.

That sounded like a good idea... Given how fast his spear had given out at least. "The menu is probably voice activated," Mokuba muttered, moving over to them again as he sheathed his dagger. Eh? What was that about the menu? "It's probably a good idea to look over the menu next chance we get," he continued seriously, "Just to make sure we aren't bad off, or that we haven't missed any possible upgrades..."

Katsuya nodded, crossing his arms and looking down at his deck holder. Not going up... Though the zombies didn't have any attack points so that was probably the reason. In any case... "That's probably a good plan," he said with another nod, before frowning as he recalled the series of numbers on the 'menu'. "A lil' weird havin' two counters f'r things though..." The others looked at their deck holders at that, nodding in agreement. Despite the confusion, it almost made sense though... Like the holder was their own personal 'hitpoints' bar. Though the thought of what would happen when those 'hitpoints' ran out was more than disturbing... Thankfully, before anyone could voice their opinion on that a small bell-like chime came through the air, the others turning as it echoed through the clearing air. "Nh?" The blond blinked, moving over to the side as the chiming continued. Behind some of the intact tombstones... "What's that sound..?" He walked closer, frowning as a small glow came from behind one. "...Heh?"

"_M-Mnn_!" He jumped back, a small spray of power and light smacking him in the face as small muttering came from behind the tombstone he was inspecting. Dust flew in his eyes, Katsuya squeezing them shut and attempting to clear them with a shout.

"Ack! What th' heck!" He shook his head, blinking rapidly as his vision cleared to the source of the 'attack'. Just a small, tiny little figure dressed in a blue sleeper, complete with hat. Not to mention fairly large wings on its back, which were probably what gave it away. "Ah... A fairy?"

The others walked over, Yugi and Mokuba both watching as the fairy cringed and hid further behind the tombstone. It looked kinda cute actually... for a tiny little guy with wings. That glowed. Looked pretty nervous too...

Hey what was that about fairies and games again..? "Ah! Of course!" He turned to the others, grinning. "In games, fairies normally have advice of sorts... We can probably ask this little guy for help!" He looked back at the fairy in question, only to jump back as it blasted past his face with a loud cry.

"_Nmnnn_!" Gold and sparkling dust erupted in their faces, filling the air as the fairy flew from the spot.

He kept his eyes open despite the urge to rub the dust out, turning with a shout. "O-Oi!" They stumbled, watching as the fairy tore off down a nearby path before running after it. "Wait up," the blond called, chasing after while the others followed close behind. "We jus' need some help," he continued, trees and cliff-sides blurring behind him as a small trail of sparks and dust hovered ahead of him. Had he paid attention, he would have noticed the forest growing less and less dead... But for the moment, that wasn't the point of things really. "Wait!" He stopped running, grabbing his knees as they came to a large and clear outcropping that sat high above the expansive forest. The trail of dust went over the side, and looking down... Well, he could see the tops of what were likely fifty meter tall trees really, so that was a bad idea. "Damn," he muttered, scratching his head as he looked down with a swallow. "Lost it..."

"I don't think we'll be able to slide down this cliff," Yugi said with a nervous laugh, looking down the side as well. "I guess we'll just have to follow the path..."

The two boys nodded, before Mokuba's voice caught their attention. "Hey," he called from his position down the path, pointing to the side "Look!" They both turned, staring in the direction that the boy was pointing in with wide eyes.

"Ah... A town," Katsuya muttered, standing up from where he'd been kneeling at the cliffside. "Pretty far away but..." That was definitely a town out there. "Hah..."

"It's probably our best shot at finding Kaiba-san," Yugi said seriously, moving a bit down the path and squinting as the sunlight peaked through the clouds above. "Someone in the town might have some information we need to complete the game... Or even find Kaiba-san herself," he continued, looking to the others.

In that case, what was distance but... Well... Distance? "Alrigh' then," Katsuya said with a nod, staring down the path with a grin. "What are we waitin' for? Let's get movin'!"

Mokuba and Yugi both nodded, following after the blond as well. "Right," the younger said with a smirk, rushing past the blond at his own steady jogging pace. "Lets go!"

* * *

It took a long time before she managed to open her eyes again. Dimly, she could recall passing through a desert of sorts, before a sudden jolt shut her down again. Her entire body was still trembling from the electricity even, fingers giving a numb twitch. She felt tired... She felt _weak_. "N-nnnn..." And extremely warm. Hot actually. The heat was almost blistering, and as she opened her eyes somewhat she could make out a red and flaming glow along side a stone wall in front of her. How far was it... Three meters, four maybe? Seto's eyes slowly opened, the woman attempting to move her arms only to freeze as she woke up completely. Something was holding her... Her feet weren't touching the ground and she was pressed against something, so... "Gh- What the..." She turned her head, eyes widening as thick ropes came into her view. They wrapped tightly around her arms, fixing them to a thick stone 'arm' that stretched behind and down like some sort of giant English letter 'T'. Stone... They had her tied to stone... She attempted to move her arms, only to find herself hanging limply on the stone cross with a scowl. "Tch..." Great. She was tied to a rock in the middle of what looked to be a volcano. "Where the hell is this..."

"Ahhh, Seto Kaiba-sama," a voice called from in front of her, the woman looking forward as a shadowed portal appeared on the ground. Darkness spiraled out from a small circle on the ground and slowly a monster misted into existence before her, dressed in a violet suit and cap with narrowed green eyes. 'Majin Satan', she realized as the gold-skinned demon brushed some hair from his face. Or as the card in the USA had created him, 'The Witty Phantom'. And apparently, she had the luck of getting him for a jailer. Damn it. "So nice to see you've finally woken up," the demon said with a toothy grin, gloved hands pulling his cap over his head as he bowed. "I must say you've given us quite the surprise..." _Of course_. "I assume you like your quarters," he said with an echoing shout, Seto minutely looking down at the lava below them in disdain. Eh. They could have put her in worse really... "Only the best for the great Seto Kaiba," he said with a grinning sneer, the woman looking back at him unimpressively.

Hn! Of course it was... Seto merely glared, hanging from her position with narrowed eyes. "So I see," she said with equal sarcasm, fists clenched against the tight hold of the rope. These ropes were far too tight... They'd really wanted her stuck to this rock, hadn't they? "I'd demand release," she continued with a frown, "But something tells me that that would go against your programming, _wouldn't it_." The woman continued to narrow her eyes, the phantom across from her merely smirking in response.

"Ahhh yes, but of course," he said with a dark chuckle. "You are right to guess that... And after all, you know _everything_ don't you," the phantom continued, pacing around the two stone crosses with his arms behind his back. The woman before him merely watched with a blank frown as he walked, still talking as he went. "Absolutely everything... About this world that you are now trapped in, about all of 'us'... An interesting thing," the demon added with a menacing grin. "Not only am I programmed to keep you here, but this entire game was created to prevent you from getting any further than that graveyard! Even if you'd beaten the armed ninja," he said with a laugh, "You would have been captured! Be it by a monster, or by the will of _God_ himself..."

"A _God_ you say," the woman said with narrowed eyes, smirking darkly. Oh please... As though that would have worked. She certainly wouldn't be sitting here for much longer... "And you think that this digitized 'god' of yours will be enough to hold me here?"

The Witty Phantom smirked, bowing low from where he stood by the second cross. "But of course," he said with a small laugh, stopping in his pacing to stand a few meters away from his captive. "Even if the Five God Dragon lacks a physical form after all, his will is our own..." 'Five God Dragon'? Seto frowned, minutely running the name through her head. That monster, what was it... It was one of the newer monsters, she knew that much... "Speaking of the Five God Dragon," the phantom stated with a grin, razor sharp teeth giving a crocodile's smirk. "An interesting thing... To appease the dragon and allow his return, we require a pair of virgin sacrifices... One male," he stated, Seto continuing to glower before the monster as it drew close. "And one female... Now I had assumed that we had our male sacrifice," he said with a grin, drawing close enough for his acrid breath to sting the woman's nostrils as her eyes widened with anger. "But imagine my surprise," he continued, bringing a hand toward the woman's cheek as his captive clenched and bared her teeth in disgust, "When I found out that we already had our woman..?"

Tch... Get away from her! A loud crack filled the air, the demon quickly thrown to the side by a well placed kick slamming into the beast's skull. He hadn't been too close after all... A knee to the jaw, and a heel to the cheek and the 'Witty Phantom' was on the ground holding his face. "Hn..." She spat at where the demon lay, watching as he slowly stood up to look at her with disbelieving rage. "You forgot to tie my legs, '_Phantom'_..." She continued to glare, watching as the demon slowly cracked and adjusted his jaw before glaring at the woman.

"_You_," he muttered with wide and rage filled eyes, receiving nothing but a steady and cold glare in response. "Tch! Enjoy what little freedom your body has," the demon spat, snapping his fingers as a shadowed portal appeared beneath him. "It's only a matter of time before the second sacrifice arrives," he shouted, stepping into the portal and vanishing from sight as his last words echoed around the room. "And the both of you are immersed in lava to appease God!"

Seto merely glowered, watching as the demon vanished into wisps of shadow to leave her hanging on the rock. Hn... Good riddance, she mentally muttered to herself, attempting to stretch somewhat before tensing. Seto stared, narrowing her eyes as from her 'menu' screen the stats menu appeared again, familiar band of 'glass' coming from in front of her eyes. '_Remaining experience to Level 3_,' the device stated blankly, Seto merely staring silently. '_152 of 1200_'. Up... Her experience had gone up...

As the heat from below beat at her and pounded her into exhaustion, a wicked smirk had to appear on her face, even as her head slumped forward in an attempt to find some rest. "Hnhnhnhnhn..." They could hold her there as long as they liked... She wasn't out of this game just yet...

* * *

**AN: **Yea Kaiba, you kick that thing's ass! ...As you sit on a stone cross. Eh, at least she's doing more than her anime counterpart... Though in canon Kaiba's defense, Witty Phantom didn't try to get that close to him, as there was not only no reason, but he wasn't quite as creepy... So he was pretty much out of range there. ANYWAYS.

Lots and lots of chibi's will be flying your way _next_ chapter, including not only our main trio, but also the 'Queen' (Princess in the dub), and Mai... ALSO, ready for you to see NOW, the sketch of that creepy creepy Pegasus eye... Whose hands aren't drawn. Bleaaaaaahhhh... I decided against penciling them in, since the eye will probably be _painted_ digitally as opposed to cel-gradient shaded, which needs lines. Also, ignore the weirdness of Jonouchi's pose... It's hard to draw that small, and now that it's scanned in I'll be able to work on the detail of it _much much much_ easier. So no worries~ I almost scanned in another page with a few more eye-ball creature things, but then I would be spoiling you. And I don't want to do that. (Hahaha, _god I'm such a dick_... )

On another note, I've been flipping through the Japanese soundtrack for the series, which has some pretty awesome tracks I have to say. Particularly 'Anger of a God' and 'Fang of Critias'. _YESSSS, MUSIC. YESSSSSSS_.

*cough* Now then...

So without further ado...

**Poll Results**

And there's new ones too! Not wanting to take even the slightest risk, the cross-dressing Priest has gained yet another vote!

Female Crossdressing Set - 12 (Three Anonymous)

Obviously Female Priest_ess_ Set - 7 (Three Anonymous)

Canon (Male) Set - 2

And now for reviews!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hello there Iona!

If you want my opinion, I think he secretly retained all of his skills as a rogue in the Monster World… That's the only explanation I have (Despite him doing this in canon as well)... But that's just me. It does help a lot that no one expects the eleven year old to be a genius when it comes to things like that though, it really does.

And oh yes, LOTS of trouble. I think the best part about that trouble though is the fact that they don't see each other until right before the Five God Dragon shows up… So it'll be like '_WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU_!' '_WHAT DO YOU MEAN_!' '_YOU FUCKING TOLD THEM_!' '_DID NOT_!'

And in the meantime, the others would be like... 'G_uys guys, can we PLEASE focus on the giant five headed dragon trying to eat us_!'

Very good thing Mokuba's there. Very…

And ah! Thank you! As for awesome outfits… Wait no more, the are below! Whoo! (Including Mokuba in leather, which will probably give Kaiba a heart attack. Hehehe…)

And Cynical Gamer! Stop apologizing! *ka-smack!* I like long reviews, silly. And… I both hate and love the updates tooooo… (Mostly because sometimes I'll get a review… _RIGHT AFTER I UPDATE_. Bawwwwww… Makes me feel so terrible, since I have to wait until the next chapter to respond to it.)

And yes, Noa too. Actually, I have three completely separate options for how Noa's mind-fuckery will work, I should figure out which route I'm going soon… *mutter mutter* They either branch on him either being completely fine with possessing a lady (That's interesting.), on him having a fairly twisted crush on said lady (Resulting in much 'do not want' of course) annnnd him just being oddly obsessed with Mokuba as opposed to Kaiba... Which could work out interestingly well, as it's one that could mix with the other two. UMMMM Hoh. Needless to say, I must figure this out!

Back to Pegasus! …You know, I bet that's a big part of how Yami Bakura got to him…

As for Jou! It does, it really does; all that sitting around actually led to _wanting_ Kaiba to wake up and call him a 'mutt', because in the end, at least it means that they're there and alive. One of those things where it's like '_COME BACK SO YOU CAN YELL AT MEEEEEE_', just because... Well, having them _not_ be there is just that bad. Of course, this has a bizarre effect of the insults not working completely… (Unless of course, your name is _not _Seto Kaiba…) Oh well. I'm sure Kaiba will find a way around that. (It certainly comes into play to hilarious extents in Battle City...)

It _is_ almost friendly… I think that's mostly because Mokuba is there, along with the fact that the Christmas bickering was so god-damned _awkward_ for everyone that even the bickering itself was affected! (Though it's also partially because of that same grudging respect of course. Poor confused Kaiba is... Well, confused.) And hahaha, too true on that; the dog tags especially are a show of that, as while made of platinum, they're meant purely for identification if Jonouchi gets into an accident; hence the address and blood type. ... (_Or are they..._ I should stop pulling your leg. )

Course, as you can see above, she's still being rather petty about things… ('_Wait, you were coded into the building security and you didn't know_?' '_…NO. NO I DID NOT._' ) But hey, that's Kaiba.

And hahaha, I think that even with all of this, if Kaiba hadn't been made a woman it would have fallen completely flat! ...Mostly. Probably would have made for the world's most awkward brother system. Even so… Aaaaaahh yes that… Duelist Kingdom... It probably was because of the competition, though I have a feeling that it was mostly a matter of not having complete records on-hand for the island staff's part; the guards on the island itself were basically just inspecting gloves and tossing off… Of course, the others simply being there creates a hole there, but whaaaaatever.

That's because it's patented Jou logic… ALWAYS WORKS (mostly). Also, the hole in the eye is the closest thing in appearance to an exit as anything in the entire place. (It's visibly hollow.)

And hahaha, YEEEEEP. I'm actually tempted to have her smack him on the back of the head sometime, though it would ironically be more likely to happen in private than in public… Likely because actually physically doing something to him would imply that they were closer than most people are to her; after all, you don't see Kaiba tossing anyone else around…

And BWAHAHAHA- *cough* It's... It's ok… *pats back* *cough* Anyways! He is indeed the one that has come closest to death the most often, even in the canon sense (He admittedly comes closer more often in the fanfic, but that's because I'm a bit of a jerk to characters. ...A big jerk really.)… It's actually questioned in the manga if the reason why he survives Ra's strike is because '_His spirit is stronger than that of a God_'. How did he survive? He's that damn lucky… Among other things in the fanfic's case. In any case, you're getting closer on this tangent of simply encountering ancient and evil forces more often than he should, so have fun with your theories! (And hahaha, you're like me~ Thinking is fun until you have to do it.)

Hahaha, it's not quite that the expression is awkward or mature, it's that is _scary as hell_; it's the scene where she's about to (attempt) to kick Pegasus' ass after all… She has this creepy-ass smirk on her face as she does it too. Hihhhhh! And it was still coinciding concern, you're right on that; but the fact that she was _able to appear_, and that Jonouchi was _able to see and hear her_… That's your hint.

I think it was always supposed to be about Yugi, that series, but you're right in that the anime managed to amp it up to Yugi or Kaiba by ridiculous proportions… Despite Jonouchi technically being the 'second main' and not Kaiba. And haaaah, oh well~ As for the manga, that's quite fine really, as despite minute changes, the anime still serves as a fairly good resource for things… At least I still have Mai VS Yami Malik though! _YESSS_.

And… Hoh… That sounds like one of the earlier cases; back then there were a lot of 'one show' characters due to the partially episodic nature of the manga really… (Though Hanasaki managed to hang around for a while! …Kinda.)

Welp! To the next chapter! Also, enjoy the eye scene~

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that can't wait for the next chapter! And the next, and the next...

* * *

Seriously, this series is so full of fun that despite my bad habit of constantly looking at future scenes and thinking 'I can't wait to write those', the scenes I'm working on _now_ are too fun to even let that thought come to mind! Anyways!

To the chapter title! Today we have a mix of two common phrases; 'Between a rock and a hard place', which quite possibly came from the term 'Between Scylla and Charybidis', the two great monsters (Or monster and whirlpool...) in Greek myth who guarded a narrow strait of water. (So narrow that it was an 'arrow's length wide'. Hihhh!) In any case, we're combining that with 'Out of the frying pan, and into the fire', as a rather cheesy reference to the fact that Kaiba is tied to a rock... _Above a pit of lava_.

* * *

Remember way back when Jonouchi mentioned that Mokuba was taller than Yugi, or at least close? Well, Mokuba's obviously still growing himself, and given that Yugi doesn't really get much taller throughout the series… It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that they're about the same size. Especially since they _really are_ the same size in the anime! Though there appears to be a difference in the manga for a while. That was weird. Guess Mokuba caught up...? (Really fast? He _is_ supposed to enter middle school in April so...)

Anyways, point is, same size clothing as is good, because I cannot rationalize Mokuba going back to that building in the same clothes he came in with, now that they're completely wet. He'll catch a cold! That or at least go into shock again from the cold... The body doesn't generate much heat sitting still, and his body was about to do that at the start of this chapter... Needless to say, Mokuba in Yugi's clothes; Kaiba will have conniptions.

* * *

The conversation between Yugi and Jonouchi concerning decks being souped up is based on the conversation they have after the Dungeon Dice bit in the manga; Yugi of course is hospitalized with burn injuries (A good idea really...), so the others are visiting him, Jonouchi getting his ass kicked in cards many many times during said visit. I was originally going to leave the scene where it was (After Dungeon Dice) but I realized with a fairly heavy jolt that the incidents in the manga were originally quite close together; Duelist Kingdom happened shortly before the next year of school began, so it was likely only a few weeks. To say that would be the same for the fanfic would be disastrous, as that means it took over four months for him to get that point. In addition…

That scene in the manga has Yugi using the 'new rules' concerning the game, namely that you need to sacrifice monsters to summon more powerful ones. But when Jonouchi first uses the dueldisk to fight against Esper Roba in Battle City, he doesn't know about that rule! (In fact, Ryuzaki calls him out on it rather angrily, before lamenting that this is the person he lost to... Personally, from Ryuzaki's point of view, I'd be fairly upset as well.) In fact, he's quite surprised when he tries to summon a monster… And it fizzles out thanks to the programming instilled in the disks, preventing rule-breaking. Bahahahaha… Whoops? (Honda's line is relatively the same from that scene actually, though Jonouchi originally responded with '_SO MEAN_!'… Which was technically still included.) Interesting thing about the disks though, if they're programed against that during duels, _why was he able to summon Red Eyes right off the bat against the Rare Hunter_?

* * *

Speaking of conversations, we've skipped the one concerning 'who gets to go'; originally, as Jonouchi is counting out the pods and people in the anime (You (Yugi), Me, and...), he's pretty much head-locked by Honda, who quickly says '_And me as well_!'… Only for Mokuba to insist on coming, stating that without Kaiba, his life is pointless. (Sound familiar guys? IT SHOULD.) Jonouchi then claps Honda's shoulders saying '_Well then… Honda, you stay here_!'

(Cue Honda going 'Heh?') In any case, I didn't think that the others would be quite so clueless as to why Mokuba was wanting to go himself… Nor would they really think it as a possibility that they could convince Mokuba otherwise. So really, as it says above; to question the boy going when Kaiba is what's at stake would be _disasterous_.

* * *

When Anzu mentions that they used to call her 'Mazaki', she's not lying. In Jonouchi and Honda's initial appearance, she comes in on them as they toss around Yugi's puzzle box... She quickly grabs the box and tells the boys to beat it. And surprisingly enough, _they do_... Calling her by her last name, which is an _extremely_ masculine way to refer to someone... (So basically she was a tomboy.) In any case, something tells me that being a tomboy was not what scared the two boys off...

* * *

Interesting thing about the KaibaCorp building; in the anime, the dub places the building in the KaibaLand building (Which makes it seem so outrageous given the brightly coloured company sign really)… But whenever any business concerning Kaiba Corp happens period, it's still that same building. Despite the fact that KaibaLand is a giant skyscraper housing an indoor theme-park. (_Actually_, the Japanese anime has the Big 5 telling the guards to _go to KaibaLand_ to deal with Mokuba and the others... This is still a weird point to me though, because... Well... Why the hell would a prototype machine that needs to be well guarded and worked on be at the park... Rather than at the building? Though I suppose it would make things easier for transporting the device...) Needless to say, KaibaCorp itself is in a different building, especially since it seemed to be that way in the manga…

Which is good, because that is the logical thing to do. And Kaiba tends to be fairly good about logic.

* * *

Logic does not appear to be used for the security however! _AHHHHH._ Kaiba Kaiba Kaiba, I don't care if your brother is an awesome hacker, it should _not _be so easy for him to climb the fence to your company and break in. It really shouldn't… Needless to say... Patched up here.

* * *

And concerning those plot holes… (I have a giant chain going here, can't you see?) Last chapter, Kaiba and everyone were only aware of five pods (Yugi, Jou, Mokuba, Kaiba, and Mai)… And for a damn good reason.

See, for this fanfic, those other five pods are kinda in a room not meant for computer-y things… Actually, Kaiba isn't even aware of the room herself; it was Gozaburo's more 'private' of rooms there… (-_winkwinknudgenudge_- on that by the way. …No it's not concerning Noa! Silly.) In any case, perfect hiding spot for the Big 5… Until Kaiba actually finds it, at which point _they are so fucking screwed…_ (This was mostly to help with the fact that the big 5 got there... Really fast.)

* * *

Jonouchi has a very good reason to be paranoid; as usual with his twisted 'sixth sense', _he's completely right_. After Mokuba leaves, Oka (The laywer guy) tells the other members of the board not to bother with chasing after him; they have Kaiba, so Mokuba will be returning soon enough... And then they can move on from there.

And of course, Oka is right, Mokuba _does_ come back... In the anime the board knows this because the pods are turned on. In this fanfic's case, I decided that they'd simply be made aware when someone was accessing the room itself. (Not that we can see this.)

* * *

Most places with number pad locks are either really cool doors to houses owned by paranoid people… Or warehouses with many things inside. So… Jonouchi probably learned this (Along with most of his more questionable skills) while he was actually part of a gang… Because it really _does_ lessen the number of options you have when trying to break into a num-pad lock.

* * *

When you think about it, with how most of Jonouchi's weird dreams have been starting out, it's no surprise that he'd end up mixing it up with the VR start. Hehehehe... Poor guy... (And by the way... He's had other dreams since Duelist Kingdom. They just aren't as serious, and while most were just him and the darkness for a few hours, one or two resulted in awkward 'line finishing sentences'... Like with the weird dream he had involving giant Kaiba, Blue-Eyes, and a dog kigurumi.)

* * *

Hey, the Millennium Puzzle counts as 'original clothing' guys, it's not exempt from things like we want to believe. _However_. They still obviously have that strong connection, which surpasses the limits of the mind itself. So while technically Yugi's out of the body and his other is inhabiting the puzzle, the link between their minds is unaffected... So they're still communicating just fine! (They're of course just taking it as it is for that reason... Because trying to think about it just brings sore heads.)

* * *

When we see everyone land in the VR world, they actually pass through the same forest that Kaiba started out in; rather than skip over how everyone figured out fighting (Graveyard scene) though, I decided that they started off where Kaiba dropped off the map; she was about to enter the graveyard herself in this case. Of course, just to be silly, I left all the damage intact... Meaning burnt twigs, slashed trees...

* * *

Technically Jonouchi isn't using a spear; he's using a polearm called a 'Bardiche', which has a tall and curved 'axe' blade at one end... The curve goes far past the 'top' of the staff however, and if the head was cut off from the staff, you could arguably use it as a giant blade on its own. The blade is also reaaaaally long compared to an 'axe'; it's about two feet.

* * *

So does anyone else wonder what the hell was going on in Legendary Heroes? It's like they magically top-decked all the right cards, and the program didn't shuffle… Or it did, and the boys were all psychic, and super lucky when it came to the draw. Seriously,_ HOW DID THEY DO IT_? Well. In this case it was through the magic of hacking.

* * *

Alright, now here's something that bugs me. Forgetful as Jonouchi can be, I sincerely doubt that something as paralyzingly frightening for him as zombies would be something he forgot about; for him to just instantly forget that zombies have an incredibly bad habit of coming back stronger is a little silly. In contrast, Mokuba, who doesn't actually play duel monsters, would not likely know every little detail about this… And you have to admit, he did just summon a monster instantly in the game, though that's probably more for defines in the anime's case... (Of course, he and Yugi both slam the zombies in the face initially, before quickly realizing '_OHSHITTHEYDON'TDIE_'

* * *

Also yes, Jonouchi's bleeding arm stopped bleeding after the battle; battle was over, there's no more damage! But his lifepoints don't go up either... Because the monsters have 0 attack, there's nothing to gain from them! That's also why they don't come back; the monsters are supposed to come back with a certain percent attack point gain but… You can't do that when it's 'percent of 0'.

* * *

In Japanese, the card 'Witty Phantom' is called 'Majin Desu-Satan', with the middle word being a butchered form of the English word 'Death' (So 'Demon Death-Satan'. HAHAHA ahhh...). Personally, Kaiba being held hostage by 'Satan' as opposed to the 'Witty Phantom' appeals to me in a twisted sense, but I still shortened the name to 'Majin Satan' (Which literally means 'Demon Satan'. And then left him as the Witty Phantom, because I am a jerk/contradictory like that. Also because in the anime and manga both, Duel Monsters started out in the States as opposed to Japan... So the fact that all the Japanese names are the Japanese changing the names of the cards as opposed to the reverse really make sense when you think about it.

* * *

A note on things like that… Technically, the Phantom would have called Kaiba 'Kaiba Seto-sama', but it flows a little better when I switch the name order. Also, the phantom itself is based on more western-things, so it technically makes sense for the phantom to be incorrect on this (Despite the fact that it's a computer program.). Either way.

* * *

'Five God Dragon' is the Japanese name for the Five Headed Dragon, and here's an interesting bit; it was inspired by a similar monster that appeared in Dungeons and Dragons, which in turn was based on the Mesopotamian god Tiamat (Who ironically was never clearly stated as a dragon, just as something who gave birth to a crap load of things including dragons and sea monsters…)…

Also Tiamat's a girl, just thought I'd throw that out there. (LAAAA~)

* * *

_Virgin sacrifices_ Usagi? WHAT ARE YOU DOING. I dunno, I just find that for some reason, the sacrifices that come in twos (Conveniently enough, one male one female) have to be virgins. Not sure why, since they _stay_ virgin, but I'm pretty sure it has to do with 'purity'. OH WELL. (You can practically see Kaiba rolling her eyes in that scene though... 'Virgin? _REALLY?_'

* * *

In the anime, we have two different things occurring in the first scene concerning the Phantom and Kaiba, thanks to dubbing changes. First we have the dub, where Kaiba attempts a kill code to escape the game and fails horribly… And then the sub, where Kaiba demands to be returned to the game, only for the Phantom to be all '_Pbbbbbt, no_.'. I stuck to the Japanese as usual, but with a different spin. Mostly because I'm pretty sure that when tied to a rock above a pit of lava, one would realize that asking the enemy for release is a stupid thing to do. '_I'd do it, but you'd say no_.' '_Ahhh, so true~_'

* * *

Speaking of 'tied to a rock'; in the initial scene we see Kaiba, he's literally chained to the stone cross. He has his arms cuffed in shackles that are literally embedded into the rock... And then suddenly, the next time we see him, it's as though the animators realized that Mokuba would have to actually be able to cut Kaiba free, so they replaced it with rope. Whoooops?

* * *

Damn it Witty Phantom, stop trying to compete with Pegasus for creepiest antagonist, it doesn't work.

* * *

**FanArt/My Art Section**

As per usual! Remove the spaces and you'll have yourself a link!

Only one sketch today, since I finally bothered scanning it in... BEHOLD THE _**EYE**_. And he's not the worst of it, I'll tell you that... (And nothing more.)

The Millennium Eye - http: / /i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ TheMillenniumEye. jpg - By the way, that thing's about half the size it can possibly be (And was, in the case of the 'guarding Yugi's mind' scene)... And all those 'squggles' are where arms made of pure darkness will go. Yeaaaaaa... If you look close, you'll notice mini-Seto's legs are gone, since... They kinda were. In any case, enjoy the sketch!

And with that... That's all for this chapter! I'll see you soon!~


	47. Chapter 46

**Yell Omens  
**

* * *

Watching the screen of the 'game' so to speak was fairly interesting really, even if everything took the form of small simplified pixel sprites. It had taken a moment for anything to really happen once the game started of course; all they'd really seen was information slowly filling a profile that held a '?' in the place of a sprite body, things such as name and class slowly appearing on each profile. Needless to say, with that going on they had ample time to look through 'page 7' as Mokuba had asked them to. "Alright," Anzu was saying from the book, skimming the page with a blank expression. It was mostly text to say the least; the only image on it was a copy of the 'control center' they sat at, numerous numbers along side the buttons to match with a list below it. "It looks like the monitors on the computer," she stated, gesturing to the small screens built into the control center, "Are keeping track of everyone's health..."

Honda looked over the monitors in question, nodding as he watched a small line scoot across all three screens. Now that they'd entered their names, the status monitors were a fair bit easier to tell apart; Yugi's was in the center, Mokuba's on the top, and... "Jonouchi's heart rate is pretty normal," he said after a moment, looking at the bottom with slight surprise. "I'd have figured this kind of thing would scare the shit out of him really..." What with being tossed into a giant computer and all. Weird things tended to bug Jonouchi really...

"Well," Anzu said with a shrug, "It's not as though they're fighting a horde of zombies or anything..." She flipped a page, before turning back to the large screen. "We'll get a view of what they're doing in game on the screen there," she continued, watching as the three profiles flashed for a 'final check over'. The woman blinked, watching as slightly more detailed views of the sprites came on screen. "Ah..." She continued to stare, watching as the profiles flashed briefly above a loading menu. "Yugi's puzzle is gone..."

The teen beside her turned, blinking at the small 8-bit of their friend. As with everyone else the outfit was different... But somehow, simply not seeing the puzzle there felt a little... Weird. Possibly wrong even. "Hey, you're right... Man," he muttered, looking back at the pod that held their friend in question. "Hope that doesn't cause any issues," he continued with a swallow, frowning. "Those two are pretty much inseparable... To split them up without warning..."

Well... Who knew what that could do. The two shared an uneasy glance for a moment, before looking back at the screen as a large forest of sorts appeared. The scene looked just a little barren really... A patch of black on the ground and trees, and to start only Jonouchi's sprite had appeared. "Ah," Anzu said as the other two followed soon after. "The game's starting," she said with a blink, watching as the three sprites appeared to simply amble around for a moment. They were turned in toward each other, standing in place. Occasionally, one would turn and appear to do something. But other than that, they were left to guess what was going on on the board. "I wonder what they're saying," she muttered, Honda shrugging beside her as he shook his head.

"Who knows," the teen muttered, sitting back in his chair again with a worried look on his face. "Though it's probably best that we don't know," he continued, crossing his arms from his seat. "If we can't tell, then the Big 5 shouldn't be able to figure it out either right? So whatever plans they make can stay secret then."

That was true... In any case... Anzu continued watching the screen, the sprites jumping down the side of a cliff and continuing on. Huh... They were almost cute to say the least. Wait... "...Uh-oh," she muttered, eyes widening as the scenery on screen shifted to that of a graveyard. What were once somewhat large if not bunched together trees were now... Well, they were definitely dead. "I think they found that level they were trying to avoid..."

Honda as well winced, biting his lip as a trio of pixelated zombies appeared on the screen as well. "Along with what's supposed to show up in that level..." Beeping behind them increased, the teen rubbing his head and turning to look at the bottom monitor as 'R waves' quickly began shortening the gaps between each other. "And there goes Jonouchi's heart rate..." It was quite clear to say the least that the three on three line-up on the screen was not doing the actual event any justice... At all.

The two continued to watch, looking at the screen with near identical worried frowns. A standard 'RPG style' battle began to unfold on the screen, turn based actions flying across at top speed. It was weird, watching something that their friends were technically experiencing in person as the equivalent of an old NES game. What would be next, over-world traveling? Anzu sighed, crossing her arms and leaning back on her chair. "...How long do you think they'll be in there," she eventually asked, watching as Jonouchi took a direct strike from the zombie clown.

"...I don't know," Honda said with a frown, shaking his head. On the screen, the image of a card flashed across the screen, tiny 'attack/defense' numbers flipping around above the zombie's heads. "I mean, even Yugi needs time to get through a game right? And he's pretty much the king of games really..." Yea... That was true... Anzu nodded in response, still staring at the screen before Honda spoke up again. "Hey," he said with a slight smirk, sitting up from his chair. "Cheer up alright? They'll get through this... ...Want to talk about something while we wait," he continued, leaning against the computer. Anzu merely turned, blinking from where she'd been reading the manual. "I could tell you about my first crush," he said with a shrug, the woman merely snorting in response.

"Your first crush was Miho," the woman said with a somewhat amused smile, "I think we all know how that went..." It involved a puzzle... And the teacher's face to say the least.

Honda 'pouted' somewhat, before shaking his head. "Ahhh... You don't know that," he said with a slight frown. "Right... What about... My essay for Japanese? We could talk about that..."

Anzu raised her eyebrows, looking up from the binder again. "You actually wrote an essay for that class?" That was actually... Surprising. Really surprising actually.

He frowned, arms still crossed. "Of course I did!" There was a small span of silence, and he gave a slightly defeated shrug. "...I just don't get the best marks on them, that's all..." Anzu continued looking with raised brows, Honda leaning back on his chair again before explaining. "It was for the career assignment... I called it 'My Dream is to Become a Pilot'..."

A-huh... The woman shook her head, turning back to the binder. "I think I'll pass... As 'interesting' as it sounds," she said with a slight frown, "I don't think now is really the time..." Honda gave a shrug in response turning to look at the screen again before sounds began coming from outside. The noises against the door quickly increased in volume, the two turning to look at it with wide eyes before sharing a hurried and panicked glance. "...That doesn't sound good..."

"Crap," Honda muttered, standing from his chair as the 'hammering' continued. "They're here already?"

The sounds from outside increased still further as the 'first' was joined by what was likely two others, both teens running from the computer desk as the binder clattered to the ground. "I guess we'll be barricading the door faster than we thought," Anzu muttered, grabbing a large box from the side and pulling it over in front of the door as it threatened to push forward.

"A hell of a lot sooner," Honda added with a shout, pushing what looked to be a failed 'bottom half' for a pod in beside the box. "Do you think any of this will hold?"

A few more boxes were shoved against the door, before the two both moved to grab more boxes from the side of the room to add to the barricade. "I don't know," Anzu said with a slight shout as calls to open the door came from the other side of it. "But I'm pretty sure we're going to find out _really_ soon!"

* * *

It was a long walk down the side of the cliff. Or at least it felt that way going down... Katsuya couldn't really tell, but as it was they were just busy trying to reach the town anyways, running as quick as they could to do so. After all; limited time right? "We should probably watch for monsters," Yugi was saying as they ran, Mokuba nodding from ahead of the two. "I don't think we'll see anymore zombies," he added with somewhat rushed breath, "But who knows what might attack next!"

"Got it," Katsuya shouted, the trio continuing at a relatively quick pace through the woods. Upon leaving the graveyard, the scenery had freshened up fairly quick to say the least; for the moment, they were running down a long dirt path with tall green pine trees on either side. "How long do you think it is from here to the town," the blond asked, eyes trained on the two running ahead of him.

Mokuba shrugged, turning his head back a moment before answering. "I don't know," he said with a slight frown, before turning back. "It looked pretty far from on the cliff... But I can't tell with all these trees here," the boy added, the path taking a quick turn down a corner as they ran.

Yea, that tended to put a bit of a damper on things... Particularly when there was no map really. "Right... Well," he said with a slight laugh, continuing to run with a grin, "At least we ain't runnin' outta breath righ'?"

The others nodded, smiling in response. "That's right," Yugi said with a grin, looking back at Katsuya. "I guess that our stamina was increased along with our agility... It's kind of weird actually," he said with a nervous laugh, scratching his head before picking up his speed. "In the real world, I'd have had to stop by now but... Well..." He laughed again, shaking his head. "I feel like I could keep running for hours! It's amazing!"

There was a sudden rustling noise, the three skidding to a stop as growling came from around them. "Er... Y' might wanna re-think those words," Katsuya said with a nervous laugh, before looking around the clear path they were on with narrowed eyes. Despite the bright, sunlit skies above, the scenery seemed to almost have darkened with that noise... Looking around, though they didn't see anything, they could certainly hear. "Somethin' tells me stayin' put is a better idea righ' now..."

Mokuba and Yugi both looked around with equally expectant looks, the three boys all bringing their deck holders up as the rustling sounds increased yet again. Suddenly... Silence. The three swallowed, waiting with baited breath for what ever was following them to appear. Two seconds... Three seconds... "GRNNNNAAAOO!" From all sides they appeared, large eyes narrowed with feral rage. The three stared, watching as what looked to be three kuriboh faced them, fur bristling as they faced their opponents.

Katsuya blinked, before smirking at the sight. "Heh... This won' be too bad," he said with a grin, pulling his spear out and looking at the Kuriboh. "We'll be done in-"

"**_GRAAAOOOOOO! RAAAAAOOOOO!_**"

The three tensed as a loud roar pierced the air, eyes turning upward as nervous swallows became audible. "Er... ...I take that back," he muttered, Yugi and Mokuba both gaping at the beast.

The kuriboh grinned, large and razor sharp teeth bared from underneath their fur as a large shadow hovered above the group. The boys looked up, swallowing as a great black-scaled dragon flew overhead, enormous wings blocking the sun from sight for a moment before it landed just behind the trio of kuriboh. Burning red eyes stared the boys down, the dragon rearing back on its legs to let loose a red hot stream of flames into the air. "_**GRAAAAAOOO****O**_!"

"Ah... It's Red-Eyes," Yugi said with a shout, before looking at his deck holder. It was one draw per battle right? The boy looked back at the dragon, eyes narrowed just slightly with determination. "Right! Dark Magician," he shouted, reaching for his deck to pull the card. Lights flashed on the disk as he did so however, the boy freezing completely as another voice came over the air.

"**ERROR**," the computerized voice they'd been introduced to the game with called, the three looking up for a moment before Yugi looked back at his deck holder and card. "**CARD UNAVAILABLE. ERROR,**" it continued, Yugi paling visibly at the sight of his draw, "**CARD UNAVAILABLE.**"

Katsuya watched as Yugi's card, briefly revealed as the 'Multiply' spell vanished from sight, simply turning into dust from where it sat in his hands. "W-What," he said with wide eyes, Mokuba as well gaping at the sight. "I thought th' top-deck code was..." Why didn't he pull out the Dark Magician..?

"Gh... The Big 5 must have already gotten to it," Mokuba said with a wince, pulling out his own card biting his lip. For the split second they could see the card it revealed itself as the spell 'Quick Attack'... Just as quickly however it vanished, Mokuba swallowing and turning to Katsuya as the blond looked at his own deck holder. "We're going to have to rely on whatever the deck gives us," he continued with wide eyes, Katsuya pulling out his own card before clenching his jaw.

"Damn," the blond muttered, 'Trap Hole' vanishing as he adjusted his grip on his spear. Three kuriboh were easy enough... But while Red-Eyes appeared to have contented itself with simply showing off, it looked more than ready to attack now, and that was _not_ going down easily. "Looks like we get to fight th' traditional way," he shouted while the others nodded, each of them pulling out their own weapons to jump out of the way of a blast of red-hot and burning black flames. The three didn't need to look back to know that the fires had singed the ground where they once stood. It was something they didn't need to know for the moment; that was how battle worked. "Hraah!" The kuriboh growled, mouths wide open as they attempted to strike at the group's limbs. One flew at one's arm, another at the other's legs... But with a mere flash of light they were dealt with, one by Mokuba's dagger through its skull, another cut clean in two and already vanishing from sight after being split by Katsuya's spear. The third one fell as well, Yugi piercing the beast through with two arrows before it succumbed, the three turning on Red-Eyes with grit teeth. Lifepoints increased by 300... But the battle wasn't over just yet.

The dragon was huge... And it knew it. Entire trees had fallen in its wake as it landed, almost skeletal form standing on its rear legs with an ear-splitting roar. The dragon's tail swished angrily as it stared down its opponents, and by the time it had passed behind it once the entire area was cleared. "Here goes nothing," Mokuba shouted as the dragon bared its fangs, before he and Katsuya charged toward it. "Lets go!"

Yugi bit his lip, pulling a few arrows and jumping to stream of flames before shooting each one toward the beast. Mokuba and Katsuya were having a little less luck themselves; though Yugi had managed to pierce the soft and vulnerable tissues of the dragon's eye, the thick black scales proved nigh impossible for them to cut. Mere clanging noises came from the blades as they struck, the two sharing a wide-eyed glance beneath the dragon before turning to where their friend stood. "Yugi," Katsuya shouted as he and Mokuba attempted to avoid being stepped on by the beast, quickly ducking as it's tail swished toward them. A reverberating 'thud' sound echoed as the dragon stomped on the ground, the two pulling themselves to their feet after being knocked back by the shock-waves. "We ain't having much luck here!"

"Nh... Hang on guys," he shouted, pulling a few more arrows and firing. The air was filled with constant growls, the smell of smoke thick on the air as Yugi continued to fire from a seemingly endless quiver of arrows. Nothing was working... Katsuya again ducked under the tail as it passed behind him, only to find himself clinging to it as it smacked back into his chest.

"Guh!" Oh god that hurt, oh that- The blond hurriedly wrapped his arms around the tail as it rose off the ground, eyes widening as he looked down. "AhhhAhhhAHHHH- Shit!"

"Ahhhh... Yugi," Mokuba called, watching as Katsuya attempted to keep his hold on the black dragon's tail as Red-Eyes began to flail the appendage through the air in an attempt to shake its victim off. "You should probably hurry!"

The boy winced, firing another volley of arrows before biting his lip. Constantly firing wasn't doing anything... So maybe... "I'm going to try something," he shouted, moving his hand away from his quiver.

Katsuya looked over from where he was still gripping the tail, vision blurring as he attempted to hold back whatever vomit his virtual self had. "Whatever it is," he managed to shout out, wrapping his arms tightly around what was proving more bouncy than an out of control carousel. "Please hurry!"

There was a nod, Yugi staring up at the dragon and swallowing nervously. "According to the class specifications," he managed to say as he pulled out another arrow, the shaft appearing to gleam in a different light than the others had. "I can tame a monster after I've dealt damage to it... And I pick you," he continued, looking directly up at the dragon's good eye before taking aim and firing. "Red-Eyes!"

It was a little weird, what happened next. The arrow had appeared to glow, shooting through the air not at Red-Eye's eye, but at his chest. And yet unlike the few arrows Yugi had attempted to fire there, which had merely bounced off the impenetrable scales, it sank into the dragon completely. There was just silence after that, Mokuba pulling himself out from beside the dragon's feet to look up, Red-Eyes slowly ceasing in its fury and bringing his tail to the ground to let Katsuya off... And then suddenly, the great beast bowed its head, a low growl forming in its throat before vanishing into the form of a card. The three boys stared, Yugi slowly walking over and picking it up from the ground before looking at Katsuya. "...Heh," the blond said with a grin, putting his spear back in its hold as Mokuba as well came over. "Good job there Yugi," he said with a laugh. "Looks like 'monster tamin' really came in handy!"

The boy smiled wryly, looking at the card a moment before holding it out to his friend. "Maybe so," he said with a slight shrug, "But all I did was fire a few arrows... It wouldn't feel right if I took this," he continued, Katsuya blinking as the card was held out to him. "Jonouchi-kun," he continued seriously, "You ended up being thrown around by Red-Eyes... You had the dragon's complete attention while I fired that arrow," he added, frowning somewhat. "I think you should take this card instead... I don't think that I would have been able to catch it if you hadn't helped."

Katsuya blinked before frowning. Take the card? But Yugi had been the one to deal all the damage to it, and could he even _do_ that? "But I didn' even make a scratch," he said in protest, Mokuba merely watching for the moment as they 'argued'. "All I did was grab 's tail and hold on!"

His friend merely shrugged, still holding the card out. "But you still did most of the work... Come on, take it," he said with a smile. "I won't use it, even if you don't!"

Awwww, don't say that... Now he had to take it damn it... He sighed, before smirking. "Heh... I guess there's no changin' yer mind then huh," he muttered, before taking the card and watching as it vanished into his hand. Huh... Weird, why hadn't it done that in Yugi's hand while they were arguing..? "I'll make sure t' save it for somethin' important, alrigh," he said with a nod, Yugi merely smiling in response. Something _really_ important he mentally added, watching as Yugi grabbed the 'loot card' from where the Kuriboh had vanished. He blinked, frowning and looking around as the menu appeared to signify the end of the match. Numbers shifted around, but... Ah... "O-Oi... Where's Mokuba," he asked, turning around.

"Hey," the boy called, standing a fair ways down the path. Ah; there he was. "Look," he called from atop a number of logs Red-Eyes had left in his wake. "We're just outside of the town!"

The two blinked, walking forward to join the boy before grinning. The stone gates were nothing compared to the height of the trees, but now that those around were on the ground it was more than easy to see. "Hah... So we are," Katsuya said with a laugh, shaking his head. Well what were the chances of that? "Guess this means we can jus' head in t' look around then righ'?"

Yugi nodded, the three hopping down the series of logs before walking off into the town. "Yep! We should probably split up to cover more ground though," he continued, looking around the main street that they came into. Numerous people seemed to bustle around, paying them no mind in particular as they walked. The boys stopped as one stand in question caught their eye, Katsuya hanging further behind to stare bewilderingly at what looked to be a food stand.

The word 'looked' being the most key, given that the 'food' looked like a series of dried newts hanging from a stick. Or maybe lizards... "Ehhh..." He swallowed, stepping back from the stand somewhat as he paled. Were these things deep-fried..? "D-Do they actually eat these things here..?" A crunching sound came from beside him, the blond turning only to pale even further as a towns person munched away on one of the newts in question. He didn't appear to be paying any attention to the teen beside him; which was probably good, as Katsuya was currently eyeing the newt with considerable distaste as he held back still more virtual chunks. "Gh- Nevermind," he muttered to himself, edging away to join the others.

"Jonouchi-kun," Yugi said from the next stand over, the blond moving to join them as he attempted to push the image of fried newts from mind. "Look!"

He turned to the stand that his friend was gesturing to, before his eyes widened. "Ah- That's Red-Eyes Black Metal Dragon..." Ooooooh... The two continued to stare, before Mokuba coughed from behind them and pulled their attention. "..E-Eh?"

"It's too expensive," he said bluntly, the others looking back at the price before paling. Oh... Aha...

"Gh- 2000 coins," Katsuya said with a swallow. That was pretty high...

"We only have 20," Yugi added with a slight laugh, rubbing his head. "We're no where near that amount..."

Mokuba shook his head, sighing. "We should probably be focusing on finding nee-sama anyways," he said with a frown, arms crossed as the others turned away from the stand. "Besides," he continued as the three walked further down the street. "Even if we bought the card, we'd have to pay half the lifepoints to summon it; we can't afford that kind of price right now!"

The others blinked, before nodding. "Right," Yugi said, Katsuya looking around at the town in question as they moved. Call it a hunch, but a lot of the people walking around them didn't seem like they'd be responsive... Even so.

"I guess we should ask whoever we run into for info then," he muttered, scratching the back of his neck.

Yugi nodded again, looking toward the end of the street where a large fountain sat. "Hn... How about we meet at that fountain in half an hour," he asked, looking to the others as they stopped.

Mokuba blinked, before nodding in agreement. "That sounds like a plan... Let me try something first though," he added, crossing his arms yet again as he appeared to stare off briefly. "Hn... 'Open Menu'," he said plainly, watching as the menu appeared before him in a simple flash. "There should be a clock around here somewhere," he continued, looking over the numbers before smiling. "Aha- there," he said, the menu closing in another flash of light. "There's a clock underneath the gold counter," he told them, looking back at the two before waving. "I'll see you in half an hour," he continued, running off.

"A-Ah... Right," Katsuya said with a nod, Yugi also nodding before the he took off down another of the four 'main streets' from the fountain. The blond looked around, scratching his head before shrugging. "Eh... I guess that leaves me with th' north then," he muttered, heading around the fountain with his hands behind his head. So... Questioning people... He wandered down the street, frowning. "Er... Hey," he asked, a few people merely passing by without a glance. He waved a hand in front of a few, raising his eyebrows as the people merely walked around it. "...Oi," he asked, attempting to grab the attention of at least one person. "Anyone know something abou' how t'... Finish... This game," he asked lamely, scratching his head.

No answer of course... Instead, the people merely continued to walk past him in a seemingly pre-programmed track. He supposed he expected just as much really. "Ahhhh... Great." Well wasn't that just perfect. He walked down the street, turning a corner and frowning. "Gotta be someone here who'll answer my questions..." He turned, blinking as he spotted a pair of meditating monks. "Hnn... I don' s'ppose you guys would have an idea 'f what I'm after would yeh," he asked, turning to the two for a moment.

The monks said nothing, merely continuing in their silent meditation as Katsuya stared. Yea. Yea he would get the quiet NPCs, wouldn't he. Ahhh... He continued walking, groaning before looking around at the people as they walked by. They weren't even sparing a glance... Hell, the way they moved practically told him he'd have no luck asking questions; was it just him, or had he passed that blue robed guy three times already? "Damn it," he growled, kicking a rock and watching it bounce across the dirt as he continued on. "Who th' hell do I have t' ask f'r help around here?"

"You could say please," a childish voice sounded from behind, Katsuya mentally groaning. Please... Please tell him that the 'handy NPC' in this game was not going to end up being a pain in the ass, please. It always ended up being some loud and annoying fairy or kid in those situations, but could that please not happen right now?

Katsuya sighed, turning around to address the source of the voice with a slight frown. "Yea well," he muttered as he scratched his head, "I ain't exactly worried abou' bein' poli... Te..." He stared, before tensing and drawing back as a small dog tilted his head and wagged its tail at him. There was no one else in the street in view really. None that weren't merely walking past and giving the dog no second looks or even first looks of which to speak of. Not a single person, and in fact, within a few moments he really was the only one looking at the dog. He wouldn't have been surprised if the NPC's had given odd looks while they'd been there though; the muzzle on the dog was... Fairly interesting to say the least...

If not sado-masochism worthy, given the spikes on the collar, the completely black eyes, the straps pretty well wrapped around its head... The almost robotic mask gleamed in the sunlight, 'black' eyes staring blankly upward despite the otherwise cheerful appearance of the rest of the dog's body. The dog was just a little chilling... That was for sure. The dog continued to sit there, looking up at the blond and tilting its head. "It's rude to stare you know," it said rather plainly, Katsuya coughing awkwardly and taking a step back.

Aha... Yea but... Could that thing really blame him? Really? "E-Er... S-Sorry abou' that..?" He guessed... What...

The dog gave an odd, mechanized laugh, remaining in its seat on the path. "It's fine," it shouted as it laughed, 'staring' forward unblinkingly. "I'm just saying! Someday the person you meet won't be so forgiving." That was a creepy warning, he was just going to say that now. So... O...Kay... ...Damn it why did all the weird crap have to happen to him? "You said you needed help right," the dog asked, giving a small bark as it grabbed Katsuya's attention yet again. "Maybe we can both help each other," it continued, standing up from its seat. "You answer my questions, and I'll answer yours!"

Uh... What..? "Er..." The blond coughed, shaking his head. "I... Don' think tha' there's much I can tell yah," he said with a nervous laugh, taking a step back. Not much at all really... "An' unless y' know anythin' abou' someone bein' captured an' dragged off," he continued with a forced laugh, "I don' think there's much you can help me with yerself so... Eh... I'll jus' leave now..."

"Oh, but I do know," the dog said with a bark, trotting after the blond despite his clear discomfort. "I know lots of things," it continued, Katsuya paling as it made to follow after him down the street. "Many things... _Everything_," it said with a particularly loud 'yelp', causing the blond to flinch and continue backward. "But there's just one thing I really want to know," the dog said, Katsuya swallowing and continuing to back away from the creature as they came to a small four-way street. "Just one thing," it emphasized, "I have to know... This 'real world' of yours," it asked, target still walking back from the dog. "What's it like?"

The real world? "Ah... W-What?" Wait, this thing actually knew it wasn't real? How the hell did that work!

The dog looked up, an odd gleam appearing in it's 'eyes'. "I said... What is this 'real world' of yours like... Is it still as pathetic as it was last time I checked?" P-Pathetic? Self-aware computers were never a good thing in movies and crap, if this thing was calling the world 'pathetic' then...

Katsuya stared at the small 'puppy' with wide eyes, swallowing. What the hell... What... Slowly he stepped away again, the dog merely sitting in place and wagging its tail. One step... Two step... The dog continued to sit, and finally he turned, bolting from the spot as fast as he could while the same odd mechanized laughter began to ring behind him. '_Ahahahahha_~ _I-tera-shai, Katsuya~'_

What the fuck what the fuck _what the hell was that_! Katsuya gasped for breath as he skidded to a stop down one of the other streets, leaning against a wall as he stared off in silence. Alright... Breathe... Breathe, it wasn't following him... He swallowed, before slumping to a seat beside the same two monks he'd passed earlier and letting out a long panicked sigh. W...What... What the hell kind of 'program' was that? '_Itterashai_'? Like hell he'd be seeing that dog again! "Hah-ahh... Hah-ahh... Ahh... Gh-..." He choked, attempting to calm himself down and continuing to stare off before simply shutting his eyes. "Hah... Hah... hah... hah... ...What was that," he finally muttered to himself, rubbing his head and turning to stare at the ground. "What was..." What was that thing? He swallowed, thumping his head back against the wall and staring at the sky. Bright and blinding sunlight in a cloudless sky... Wasn't that deceiving? ...Time... He continued to stare, leaning against the wall as the thought dimly came to mind. What time was it... "...Open Menu," he muttered, the odd 'glass' appearing before his eyes in an instant. Stats came across the screen, the blond's eyes moving toward the 'gold' counter to check the clock beneath it. Half an hour... That's what they had said, right? Half an hour, meet back at the fountain.

Some help he'd been... The blond took another deep breath, before standing up with a slight grunt and heading back toward the fountain as the menu closed. Time was up... And he hadn't found a damn thing, save for a creepy ass dog that he was sure as hell keeping quiet about. "Ahhh... Damn it," he muttered, shaking his head. Well, maybe the others had something! That would be good.

"Ah, Jonouchi-kun!" Katsuya looked up, watching as Yugi sat up from where he'd been waiting at the fountain's edge. "Did you find anything," he asked, the blond shaking his head as he walked over with a slight frown.

Besides something to add to any nightmares he might have... No. Not really. "Nothing," he said with a shrug, scratching his head. "You?"

He shook his head, frowning somewhat. "The same..."

Which left them with... "I found something," Mokuba said with a grin, the others turning as the boy ran over. The boy continued grinning as he came over, brushing a bit of sand off his cloak before speaking. "An old man I helped out apparently saw someone with an unconscious person on the back of their 'Koke'... Whatever that is," he added with a slight frown before shaking it off. "They crossed the desert," the boy continued seriously, looking toward the 'eastern' street. "Toward what he called the 'Cave of Death'..."

They blinked, Katsuya frowning. "E-Er... 'Cave of Death'," he repeated, frowning as the three began walking away from the fountain. Because hey. 'Cave of Death', that didn't say anything at all right? "...Wait... Do you think that person could have been Seto-chan?"

Mokuba nodded, expression somewhat blank as he looked at the two. "I'm almost sure of it," he said in response, eyes wide. "The old man said it was about two hours ago," he continued, sending a glance toward the eastern road as he spoke. "That was around when nee-sama lost the game... There's no way we're wrong!"

"Hn... So then if we cross the desert," Yugi began, turning to look as the large wide 'road' that opened up to the vast wasteland in question. It was fairly clear that sticking to the main street as opposed to taking the side-roads as Yugi had done during their search for clues was a fast and sure way of getting to the desert... And what a desert it was, Katsuya thought, the three stopped at the edge and staring out for the moment. Wow... Lots of sand... "Hnn... That looks pretty far out... ...Ah!" He jumped, watching a blue-black blur rush past him. "Mokuba!" The two watched, eyes wide as the boy abruptly charged forward in a run and began making his way out into the desert. "H-Hang on," he shouted, charging after with Katsuya close behind him.

"Mokuba," Katsuya shouted loudly, wind picking up almost immediately after they ran out into the sanded wastes. He winced as a blast of sand met his face, throwing his arm above his eyes and continuing on. "Mokuba, wait up!"

The boy didn't listen, Yugi and Katsuya both holding their arms above their faces as they charged through what looked to be a quickly brewing sand storm. Mokuba had a bandanna and cloak... He was lucky. Them... Not so much, Katsuya decided as the sand quickly blew with enough force to block their vision past about 5 feet. "Mokuba," Yugi shouted, the two older ones slowly making their way toward the boy as the wind slowed them down. The boy ahead of them was slowly blown back, the three within arm's length of the other as they walked. "Mokuba, it's too rough out here," he cried, attempting to make himself clear through the sand. "We need to get back, at least to prepare for this better!"

There was no answer, Katsuya squinting through the sands as he shouted as well. "Mokuba! This is impossible," he yelled, sand striking the side of his face hard enough to cut skin. "We're gonna die if we keep goin', let's jus' turn back like Yugi said!"

"No!" The two frowned, wincing slightly as the wind appeared to pick up with the small boy's anger. "I... Just... Shut up," Mokuba shouted, struggling to move further. "We... We can't turn back! This is our only lead," he protested, fighting against the wind with all he could as his cloak and bandanna flapped against the wind. "We need to keep going... It can't be much further," he continued to shout, voice barely audible over the storm. "If we hurry, we can find Seto-neesama and-" He froze, the three stopping in place as howling wind met their ears.

"Ahh..." Katsuya squinted, stumbling back slightly as a wicked blast of air hit him. "Please tell me I ain't th' only one hearing that," he shouted, the sand blasting against their ears as the others shook their heads.

Yugi swallowed, looking forward before his eyes widened despite the sand blowing at his face. "It's not just you," he shouted, stumbling back somewhat as an enormous hurricane of sand appeared. "That's a tornado!"

And what a tornado it was- it as as though it was a monster's attack as opposed to an actual natural occurrence. And would you look at that, it was getting closer. Ahhhh shit... The three stumbled back as they overcame the shock, before turning to trip against the sand. "Run," Katsuya muttered to start, before grabbing Mokuba's arm and charging in the opposite direction. The boy gave an awkward shout as he stumbled, Katsuya finding his voice as the sound of the winds increased. "_RUN_!"

There were no arguments as they attempted to flee, stumbling through the sand as the sound of howling wind continued to grow behind them. Odd 'clipping' noises sounded from behind, scratching against the backs of their cloth armor as they ran. "Haaah..." Katsuya turned somewhat, eyes widening before a wave of sand smacked him in the face and knocked him off his feet. "AAAAHHH!"

As he landed to the ground, all he could see was an enormous shadow, three 'claws' reaching toward them through the curtain of sand. And then there was nothing...

Nothing but darkness...

* * *

-_**BRAM! BRAM!**-_

Honda winced against the pounding on the door, throwing as much weight as possible against the boxes. It'd been going on for at least an hour really; he and Anzu would switch between holding the 'fort' at the door, which would occasionally jump forward an inch before being slammed back, the other grabbing whatever was available in the room to add to the barricade. The problem however, was that they were beginning to run out of things to hold the door back... And as it was, the 'door' resembled more of a wall of boxes than anything. "Anzu," he called, looking across the room as the woman began pushing a series of chairs over from the side. "Find anything else?"

"Besides these," she said with a grimace, jamming the chairs against the boxes with as much force as she could. One leaned against the other, while the back of the chair was rammed as far into the box pile as possible. "Nothing! You'd think that the doors would be a little easier to barricade given all of Kaiba's thoughts on security!" Yea, they'd think but... Here they were.

The teen beside her nodded, looking over at the screen. Walking out of a town now... They'd missed what happened after the zombies were taken out really, barricading the door was a bit of a priority at the time... Still a priority actually, but really, what could they do? "Damn it... I hope those guys hurry," he said with a wince, the woman following his gaze toward the screen with a nod.

"Gn... You say that now," she muttered, leaning against the boxes and biting her lip as the pounding and shouts behind the door continued with seemingly increased vigor, "But from what I can tell on the screen they won't be doing much of anything for a while..."

Honda nodded, watching as on screen the three sprites of their friends collapsed to the ground in a sand storm. "Looks like," he muttered, small pixelated 'SLP' appearing above the trio. "H-Hey," he said with a swallow, watching a large tentacled beast made of stone appeared from the opposite side of the screen. Despite what little detail was visible on the sprite, it was fairly obvious that it was bigger than their friends. And far... Stranger too. No eyes, a mouth on one hand, three claws on the other... It simply appeared from the ground, tentacles waving from its base as it appeared to give a roar. "What the hell is that thing..?"

Anzu paled, watching the pixelated monster slowly approach the fallen sprites with an odd snail-like motion. "That's a duel monster," she muttered, before her eyes widened. Ordinarily it wasn't very strong on it's own but... 'SLP' meant 'Sleep' didn't it? "That's 'Sandstone'," she said with a swallow, pushing back against the barricade. "But if they aren't awake to fight then-" The two cut off, watching as a fifth sprite charged onto the field. It was tiny, far smaller than Mokuba or Yugi's sprites to say the least. But it looked almost like... A puppy? With a mask maybe? The dog appeared to bark, the words 'Sandstone fled' appearing on the screen briefly before the screen went completely black. And then there was nothing... "What the..." She turned, sharing a confused and wide-eyed look with Honda as the teen shook his head.

"Hey... I'm just as confused as you are," he said with a swallow, watching the blackened screen before it switched to the edge of the town their friend's had sat in prior the storm. Small dog from no where saving everyone's ass? He'd take that for now. "At least the thing is on their side right?"

They looked at the screen a few moments more, sharing nervous glances again. That had to be it right..? It had to be on 'their side'... After all... What else would it be doing if it wasn't?

* * *

"Kh! Kack! Kah! Ahk..." Katsuya coughed roughly, groaning as he slowly opened his eyes to look up at the sky. "Ghk..." Sand in his throat... And his ears... And everywhere else... "Gnnn..." _God_, his _head_... Agghh... It felt like his head was tossed around in one of Seto's blenders... On one of the weird options that he didn't think existed until he watched all those strawberries go 'splat' against the ceiling... "Aggghh..."

"Ahh..." What was that sound... "You're awake!" The blond tensed, eyes widening as he slowly sat up and turned toward it. Oh fuck, not that voice. Please tell him it was _not_ that same- It was. "This is interesting," the dog from before said, Katsuya turning away the moment he spotted it as he held his breath. Damn it... Whyyyyyyy... Of all the things to see when he woke up, why was that thing there..? "I didn't expect to see you so soon," it continued, giving a happy bark despite apparently not having a jaw to open or close to do so. "You should thank me," the dog said from its seat, the blond it spoke to currently holding his head in his hands. Maybe this was just a bug. Some weird, twisted bug that somehow slipped into beta... "If I didn't pull you back here, the Sandstone would have ripped all three of you into little fleshy ribbons~" ...A very twisted bug. "As it is," the dog continued despite Katsuya's apparent discomfort, "If I didn't already owe you a favor, I would have just sat and watched anyways..." Uhhh... O... Okay?

He stared, unsure of whether or not to thank the dog. It did just finish saying it would have watched... And as it was, the prospect of having been, as the thing said, '_ripped into little fleshy ribbons_' was just a little... Unnerving. Particularly since it was apparently a fate he was spared from for some favor he didn't even know about. "Er... T-T-Thanks... I... Guess..?" What the hell did he pull himself into...

The dog gave it's usual mechanical laugh, shaking its head before turning away. "Whatever," it said somewhat dismissively, walking back toward the town. "I'm going to go back to _my_ home now, ok, 'Katsuya'?" How the hell did this thing know his name! The dog turned, as if to answer. "Hnnn? I know everything... Remember?" Er... W-W-What? As the blond tensed, growing white and pale the dog began to walk away with a still constant and mechanized laugh. "Ehehehhe... Say 'hi' to 'Seto-chan' for me, neh? I'll see you again~"

No. No he wouldn't, he told himself as the dog vanished back into the city, quickly turning a corner and vanishing from sight completely. He damn well would _not_, not if he wanted to stay sane in any way. "Nnnnnnnng..." This was turning into the most fucked up birthday ever in existence. By a long shot. He rubbed his head, collapsing back on the ground before turning his head to look at others. Somehow they were all relatively in the same spot... They were still knocked out though, faces turned to the side. He clambered to his feet, crawling over to Mokuba and lightly shaking him by the shoulder. "Mokuba," he said with a slight frown, rolling the boy over and continuing to try and wake the boy up. "Oi... Mokuba!"

"Ghnn..." He opened his eyes, blearily looking up with a wince and blinking a few times. "Gnn... Katsuya-nii..?" The boy groaned, sitting up and looking around dimly as the taller of the two followed his gaze. "...What happened..?"

Katsuya bit his lip, looking out at the seemingly calm desert. "Eh... That's a good question really..." He looked back to Yugi, before moving over to his friend's side. "Yugi..." He tapped the boy's shoulder, before grabbing it and shaking it slightly. "Yugi... Yugi," he repeated, moving back as Yugi as well began to stir. "Hey," he said, watching the boy pull himself up to his knees with a groan. "You alright? Mokuba," he added, looking toward the boy worriedly. "What about you?"

While Mokuba merely nodded sullenly, Yugi shook his head and looked around himself. "Ah..." The boy blinked, turning to Katsuya with somewhat wide eyes. "We're back at the town..?"

The other two nodded, frowning. "Yea," Katsuya said, standing up and shaking the sand from his pants. "Th' twister blew us back here..." Or at least close enough to be dragged over by a creepy ass dog... Which he should probably not think about given the already large number of questions surrounding that. The three stood in silence a moment, before rough and rasping chuckling came from the side.

"Hahahahaha... Tried to cross the desert did you," an old robed man said, the boys blinking as he looked them over. The man seemed to stare up at his shack's roof, looking at the ceiling with squinting eyes while sitting in his rocking chair. "How foolish..."

Foolish? Tch! And he had a better idea? ...Wait... Katsuya blinked, before walking over as the others followed behind him. _Did_ he have a better idea? "Wait," he muttered, watching as the man continued to stare at his porch roof. "So then you know somethin' abou' crossin' th' desert, old man?"

The man merely continued to chuckle, staring off at nothing in particular. "You need a 'Koke' card to cross the desert," he stated, trailing off somewhat as he shook his head. "Great avian mounts weathered against the sand for means of travel..."

Koke... Katsuya frowned a moment, thinking back to their initial clue to Seto's location. Mokuba said that she'd been carried off on a 'Koke' right? Thinking in terms of duel monsters... He continued to frown, before grinning as the image came to mind. "Ah... That card!" Yugi blinked, turning as the blond continued with a grin. "The chicken card! You know, th' one that goes on abou' a chicken who eats things f'r their life energy?" Come to think, that sounded pretty damn creepy... Were they seriously going to ride on one of those things?

Mokuba pushed forward, eyes wide as he clung to the next clue at how to reach his sister. "O-Old man," he asked somewhat desperately, the man in question appearing to not respond for a moment. "How do we get that card?"

"You need a 'Koke' card to cross the desert," the man stated, chuckling somewhat as he spoke. "Great avian mounts, weathered against the sand for means of travel..."

The three blinked, frowning as the taller gave an awkward cough. "Er... Y' said that already," Katsuya said with a slight frown.

"You need a 'Koke' card to cross the desert," he said again, the boys sharing somewhat exasperated smirks in response. R-Really? Again? "Great avian mounts, weathered against the sand for means of travel..."

"Pbbbbt... Gh... He keeps repeating the same thing," Katsuya said with a wheezing laugh, holding his head as he shook it. It was worse than just hitting the 'a' button too many times in a video game! All they had to do was say something, ahhh... "Shouldn' there be a program agains' that or somethin'?"

Mokuba merely smiled wryly, before it dropped to a frown as the boy turned away. "Yea... I guess," he muttered, the older two quickly cutting their laughter short as they noted their friend's current misery. "But it looks like we can't leave this town without that card," he continued, staring at the ground.

Hnnn... Damn. That was a good point huh... "We should look through the town for clues," Yugi said, turning back at the town in question as the sun continued to hover high in the sky. "Someone should know about this 'Koke' card..."

Yea. Someone... Though given their luck with finding out which way to go... ...Wait... Katsuya blinked, looking back at the town before running off as he recalled something. "H-Heh? Katsuya-nii," Mokuba shouted, running behind him as the blond continued off down the street.

"J-Jonouchi-kun," Yugi called, the blond ahead of them running back to the square surrounding the fountain. The three slowed somewhat, looking around the main square in slight confusion. "What's going on?"

"I saw somethin' earlier," he answered, turning back a moment before coming to a stop at one of the walls. Where was it... "When I was runnin' back t' meet up with you guys," he added. Or rather... Running away from that creepy dog... Not that they needed to know about that part. "I didn' think anything of it at th' time but... There was a contest poster," he said, the other two raising their eyebrows before following him to a collection of posters on the wall. Alright... Newt add, something on armor, and... Aha! "Here!"

The pair looked at it, blinking for a moment as they read it over. "The battle of champions," Mokuba read someone monotonously, skimming over the text decorating the rather 'over the top' poster. "Test your strength against the incredible 'Queen of the Butterflies'," he continued, eyes briefly moving over the costumed woman on the paper, "Winners will receive- Ah!" He brightened, eyes wide as a grin came back into place. "The prize is a Koke card!"

He grinned, Yugi and Mokuba both looking at him with similar expressions. "This is great," the older of the two said, looking back to glean the location of the 'coliseum'. Somewhere north right? "If we hurry, we can still catch up to Kaiba-san's captors!"

Katsuya nodded, turning toward the road that he'd walked on before they attempted the desert crossing. He'd never made it to the end of that street... It was no wonder he'd missed the building first time around. "Th' coliseum should be over there," he mentioned, the others turning to follow his gaze. The walls of the enormous ring rose high above the buildings in the town, easily making it locatable now that they were trying to find it... "I just hope this ain't timed," he muttered, grimacing at the thought. "If we can't compete just 'cause 'f timing..."

The boys frowned, beginning the small trek toward the coliseum. "I don't think that it would end up like that," Yugi said in response, shaking his head. "While the Big 5 are definitely trying to stop us, I don't think they'd put that kind of a bug in to do it..." He trailed off, looking at Mokuba as the boy pulled a face.

"You'd be surprised," Mokuba spat, scowling at the topic. "To code a timer into a program is as easy as breathing for Ota, if he decided to he could stop us in our tracks!"

Gh- really? The blond turned, swallowing as they came toward the coliseum and wandered into the entrance. "Then... Why hasn't he," he said nervously, blinking a few times. If it was that easy then... "I mean, not that I don' mind still bein' here but..."

The boy shrugged, shaking his head as they located the 'office' of the building. "I don't know... I'm not complaining either but..." He sighed, a worried frown on his face as he looked back at Katsuya. "It's bugging me..."

Yea... Him and everyone else that wasn't made of computer data... Katsuya scratched his head, following Mokuba and Yugi in through the door and staring from the doorway in silence. "...E-Eh..."

Yugi swallowed, before bowing his head politely as the other two continued to stare. "Ah... Are you the coliseum manager," he asked, the three watching the fat and frog-like man follow a fly around with his eyes. Frog-like was probably the 'nicest' way of describing this thing actually... Besides green and somewhat warty skin, the man was... Pretty much a slime ball, to say the least.

"I am," the man stated with a hoarse grunt, smirking as the others continued to stare. "Come to take my challenge have you?" They were... The boys nodded, bowing their heads somewhat as the manager gave a hoarse laugh. "Aha! Good," he shouted, standing up from his seat as the wood creaked under the lack of pressure. "Wonderful, wonderful... I was beginning to think no one would show," he said with a laugh, tromping over to a shelf at the side while the others continued to stare. "Apparently they're all _scared_, afraid of being trounced by our current reigning champion! Its so pathetic," he spat, "That even with nothing but the challenge of defeating her in place, I was getting empty seats and costumes! But you," he said with a grin, pointing at Yugi as the boy jumped somewhat. "I can _tell_ you have what it takes!"

There was a snap noise shortly after he said that, the three both staring with wide eyes as the man's tongue shot out to grab the fly he'd been watching. A fairly pleased expression came over the manager's face for a split second, an audible swallow coming through the air as the man grabbed a few more things from the shelves. E-Er... What the hell..? Yugi bowed his head nervously, watching as the frog-like man pulled a hooded cloak with mask-like additions and other pieces of furred armor from the side to hand to him. "Ah... Is... Is it really that dangerous," he asked with wide eyes, coughing somewhat as the three listened..

"But of course," the coliseum manager said with a snort, hobbling back to his chair to sit down as it groaned under his weight. "All matches here are 'to the death'! You keep fighting until one or the other dies, that's business," he added with a laugh.

To the death? That didn't sound good... The boys shared a nervous glance, before jumping as Katsuya snatched the dog-like costume from Yugi's hands. "A-Ah... Jonouchi-kun!"

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba protested, eyes wide as the blond stowed the costume under his arm with a frown. "What are you doing?"

Katsuya looked down at the two, staring seriously at them. "You two are Seto-chan's best chance of rescue," he said calmly, the manager watching in silence. "I'm already a good chunk 'f lifepoints under y' both... Both of you guys have a better shot than I do! I'll go," he continued, nodding his head toward the 'frog' as he said this. "Tha' way, if I really do end up losin' th' game, it'll jus' be one less liability f'r yah both."

They stared, frowning somewhat with those words. "Katsuya-nii," Mokuba said with a glare, "You're not a liability! You're-"

"Eh, I don' wanna hear it," Katsuya said with a shrug, turning his back on the two as the protests stopped. "No matter what, y' can't change my mind! B'sides," he added with a grin, looking back at them with a small laugh. "No way I'm gonna lose, alrigh'?" He promised right?

The two fell silent, sharing odd looks before finally nodding. "Alright Jonouchi-kun," Yugi said with a nod, the blond turning in response. "...We'll be watching from the stands alright?"

"Yea," Mokuba said with a set frown, "You better not get yourself too roughed up out there!"

He continued to grin, nodding. "Hah! Whadya take me for, an idiot?" There was silence in response, the blond growling as he received shrugs. "O-Oi!" Now hang on! "That wasn't a serious question!"

There was a cough from behind, the three turning and dropping the subject as the manager pointed toward the side of the room. "You're going to need to put on that costume, understand," he said with a grunt, Katsuya nodding in response. Yea, of course..."Wait by the grated door at the end of it when you're ready, and in fifteen minutes the battle will begin! As for you two," he continued, standing up from his chair as the other two listened, "The stands are that way; that will be ten coins each for admission!"

The boys nodded, before freezing. Right... Payment... Ah... "Er..." Yugi stared, looking over himself for some sort of bag to get the money from. "How do we pa-"

"Good, good," the frog-man abruptly said, the boys blinking as he pointed to the side. Briefly, the menu flashed before Mokuba and Yugi's eyes, the sound of a cash register coming from above. Ten coins vanished from the counter, leaving them with the same amount paid. There was no reaction from the 'frog' however. It was as though the manager simply... Didn't hear it. As though they'd simply handed the coins over rather than staring and letting the computer do its work. Weird... "You can go take your seats in the front row," he continued, nodding his head toward the path to the side.

Yugi and Mokuba both nodded, turning to Katsuya briefly. "Good luck," the older said, Mokuba nodding his head in agreement.

"Whatever you do," Mokuba said seriously, frowning as he looked at the blond, "Don't lose! Understand?"

He nodded, smirking as he waved the thought off. "No problem," he said, before turning with a smirk. He wasn't about to lose... "I'll have this over in no time flat," he continued, grinning before the boys went their separate ways. He walked over to the door at the other end of the room and shut it behind him, looking around the somewhat dark room and putting the costume at the side by a window.

This would be easy, he told himself as he shook some still clinging grains of sand from his hair and grabbed the cloak. No problem whatsoe- Katsuya pulled a face as he held up the costume, gloves and greaves falling to the ground in its wake as he looked the black 'fur' over. "Ah hell," he muttered, an oddly adorable looking dog face staring back from the hood. Despite the somewhat 'flaming' appearance of the mesh eyes, all in all, the black dog costume was just a little much. Even a pig would have been better, god... "Is my life cursed 'r somethin'?"

He continued to scowl, before pulling on the greaves around his shins nonetheless. They were more boot covers made of fur really... Covering the lets from his toes up to his knees, with the gloves themselves being long enough to reach his elbows. What was the point in all this if he had a mask though? And one attached to a freaking cape at that? The blond shook his head, pulling on the cloak and mask before attempting to cape portion on the front in place. "Sheesh," he muttered, voice muffled by the cloth as he looked through the red 'veil' so to speak, "How th' hell am I supposed t' see in this thing?" He looked down, grabbing the gloves from the ground and pulling them on before pulling out his spear. Maybe it was just the lighting... Hell, despite the red 'film', most of what he could see was relatively clear...

Seriously though, a dog? "Man," he muttered, scratching his head. "This is completely..."

A loud blaring noise came over the air, Katsuya jerking his head up and running forward as a grate at the end of the room began to lift. Ah... He slowed down, watching the gate lift completely before looking out at the large arena. The battle was starting already then? '_Ladies and Gentlemen_,' the rasping voice of the coliseum manager called out, Katsuya slowly walking forward and squinting as the sun glared from above. "I welcome you to the match we have all been waiting for! A battle so fierce," he continued with raised volume, "That the gods themselves watch from above as we speak!" Errr... What? "Put your hands together for our challenger," he continued, Katsuya taking the words as his cue to walk out with a somewhat nervous swallow. "A fierce hound, who guards the gates of hell itself... Will he stand against our reigning champion," he shouted, a chorus of 'boos' coming through the air.

Ahhhhahaaa... Katsuya laughed nervously, the sound never making it past his mask. Increased angered shouts came through, the blond nonetheless standing in place near the exit of the tunnel he'd come from. D-Damn, this was a tough crowd... "Katsuya-nii," a voice shouted from the side, the blond turning to spot Mokuba and Yugi in the crowd. "Go for it," he shouted, Yugi cheering loudly as well. Despite the overwhelming shouts from around, the calls of those two in particular seemed to stand out as a whole really- now where...

Aha! There they were! He stared for a brief moment before nodding with an unseen smirk, turning back as the enormous gate on the other side of the field began to open. "We'll soon find out," the frog-man was shouting, calls from the ring blurring into one sound as an elaborate palanquin was carried out on a crowd of men. "For the champion now stands before us," continued the manager as the crowd stopped just outside the entrance, the man gesturing to the curtained 'box'. "Now... Please welcome, the Queen of Butterflies!"

From the covers of the palanquin a shadow rose, curtains drawn and pulled back before a woman stepped forward from the cover into the sun. Katsuya's eyes shot wide open as the rather busty blond walked forward, the teen staring with wide eyes as the woman pulled out with a whip to look down with a smirk. The cloak that the 'Queen' wore spread out wide behind the woman, forming an enormous pair of butterfly's wings that shimmered in the sunlight with all the appearance of a series of stained glass windows. And that was probably all that was on the woman's back too, Katsuya mentally thought to himself with a swallow. Because there certainly wasn't anything on her arms and shoulders. Or legs and sides. Or the center or her breasts.

How was this armor again, he thought with yet another swallow, briefly wondering if his nose was bleeding. Seriously, was _anything_ covered? Katsuya took a step back somewhat, letting out a long breath as the woman in front of him flipped through the air to land across him on the ground in a crouch. The palanquin was pulled back into the room behind the woman, whip cracking threateningly across the ground as the gate closed shut behind her. The bladed whip sliced through the sand and dirt on the ground as she looked down through the butterfly shaped mask, the manager's voice coming from the side as woman stared. "Let the match... BEGIN!"

There were only a few words for this, he decided as he held his spear before him. Very few, he decided, watching as the woman began to walk forward before moving to produce a card seemingly from nowhere. Though the whip lay motionless as she did this, it was more than apparent that she could pull it forward as soon as she liked to slit through his throat, lest whatever she call from the card did that. In fact, he decided with a swallow, there were really only _three_ for the situation. "Fuck my life..."

* * *

**AN: **Yea Jou, that's about what I would say too. In any case. THE WINGS DO NOTHING~~ Lost and lots of dialogue here, so a shorter chapter for you (again)... But hey. It's lots and lots of dialogue, ahehehe.

On a more 'artsy' note, I have a fair number of things for you... Chibi's of Mai (without the awesome wing-cape and mask) and Yugi in particular, and in addition to that we have a musical note. Remember when I would put the songs I listen to as I type down here? Well, as of late I've been reserving that right for the songs with lyrics I kinda see fitting in with the mood... And today we have two.

The first one is more of a Noa sympathizer (And really, who can't feel for the guy at the last episode of his arc despite all the crap he's done), and is called 'Recycle Bin', done by vocaloid Kagamine Len. Again, I was listening to a rather beautifully done Nico chorus (You'll find all the choruses I talk about on 'AnotherNicoUploader's channel), but for the lyrics you'll have to look up the song with subtitles I'm afraid...

This next song though, has me in emotional stitches. Not laughing really, but _oh my god_, it's like the song was _made_ for Jou to shout in Kaiba's face! There are a number of different translations of it though (thank you alternative reading/hearing...), so the translation that _you_ want is found by searching 'No Logic [English] [Kuripurin]'. No Logic is the name of the song itself of course... It's originally sung by the vocaloid Luka, but someone took a version with subs and keyed it into a cover by Kuripurin. Anyways~

The poll results are currently **unchanged**, so as usual, check the last chapter for the results.

Now lets move on to what else is important...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey there you two! I love your reviews~

First up, Iona! YES. _I HAVE SUCCEEDED_. (And continue to do so with that dog hopefully...) And trust me, besides the fact that she technically beaned him in the face _hard_, he's about to get it much worse. Next chapter actually, ahehehe...

And interestingly enough no they don't know just yet; because while the _program_ knows, the Big 5 can't until they themselves are hooked up. And while certain others shown above might be able to weasel their way in using tiny programs from the web, (At least enough to make themselves a nice little hacking microphone despite the inability to do anything else.) the Big 5 can't access that sort of thing…

You can bet that it only adds to just how much they'll want vengeance in the Noa arc though.

Hahaha! Ooooh, you can almost bet on that… Almost; for one, Kaiba has to actually work along side Yugi for the end of this arc to work… So no strangling there. And for another, Jonouchi will still, as he did in the anime, sacrifice himself for Mokuba's sake. Giving Kaiba another wall to smack her head against before she thinks of strangling him for being a moron. Curses!

Actually, the 'T' _is_ somewhat religious if you think_ really hard_ about it; it's one of the many forms of the crucifix, and… Well we all know who ended up stuck on a crucifix, even though that one was a cross. In any case, a good number of people died on 'T' shaped ones, as well as 'X' shaped ones in addition to the crosses. Ick!

Ooooh yes it amplifies the anger… Just wait for what happens next though, that_ really_ does it.

And now…. Cynical Gamer! …Again you say? Meep! I'm sorry! Annnny ways…

Hahaha, technically _both_ would be screaming of wrongness; depending on which path you take so to speak, not only does the mind-fuck differ a fair amount, but the way that Noa pulls a forced 'reveal' on Kaiba also changes! (And a lot. The reaction is mostly the same. But also not. Hurumum...) I'll probably mix the third in with one or the other though… Feels more right that way. You're right to say that there's no telling right now though- I'll just have to wait and see…

Yep~ At least she's there~ And it really doesn't; you could probably compare it to moving out, going on about how you won't miss annoying younger siblings and the like… Only to realize that things are just _not the same_ without them.

Of course it's confusing for Kaiba! And hahaha! _MAKE MEEEEEEE_. *coughs* Ok I'll stop.

Hehehe, too true! Though certain aspects may have thawed out even now really…

Yesssss… Jou would probably take a long walk if gender wasn't changed… Very long... Underwater…

And oh! Oh! I know what you're getting at now! ...I think. I tend to be clueless like that... Ahhhh… In terms of the anime, he was technically there _legally_ once Yugi coughed up a starchip for him… And for the fanfic, Jou was mostly known due to Pegasus and Saruwatari both knowing (The latter due to having been working at the house until late), but allowed to an extent because… Well… Pegasus needed the key.

Indeed, scary little girls… Far more badass though, you can bet on that. And not quite; more that it's _how_ he was able to help with that. Though you can bet being connected to someone whose been reincarnated helps as well... And you can bet that this will be something fairly big in a certain way.

And very true, very true. Well, at least 'minor' has been toned down a bit here…

And why thank you! As for your question, like hell I'd pass up the chance. :'D Time to lay the rage on Mokuba! AHAHA~ I'm putting a twist there too, as a backward take that… _And another shameless reference to my original fiction_. (Which I will clarify at that time.)

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that supports overly creepy antagonists! ...And semi-protagonists. Hihhhhhh...

* * *

The title up above is a little more cryptic than usual, mostly because anything else that came to mind was horribly corny. (More so than usual! Oh my!) It draws from two things, albeit two things that are rather closely entwined in topic. 'Yell' comes from 'Yeth'.. Specifically the 'Yeth Hound', a creature from Devon folklore. It's one of the many kinds of 'Black Dogs' that show up in European myth... However, there's a reason I picked this one as opposed to the standard 'Black Dog'. The 'Yeth Hound' is said to appear as a headless dog, and is the spirit of an unbaptized child. It roams the woods making wailing noises, but that has nothing to do with why I chose it.

I picked it more for the headlessness really. Because heeeeeeyyy... That muzzle on the dog above mind as well _be_ its head.

In any case, black dogs in general are said to be omens of death, or misfortune at the very least. ...Hehehehehe... (And of course, Jou's 'costume' is that of the sterotypical 'Black Dog'.)

* * *

In the anime, Anzu and Honda originally got to sit around being bored to shit until they ended up barricading the doors… (Though they first opened them, spotted Saruwatari down the hall, and closed it again. HEH.) And yet when Mokuba was heading things with Kaiba, he got this handy little screen with this adorable 8-bit of his brother walking around… (I should make those sprites actually.)

Oh well?

* * *

'R Waves' are the tallest parts of the little wave you see on a heart-rate monitor. The entire set is called the 'QRS' complex, but generally it's the gap between the R-waves themselves that make up the heartrate.

* * *

Here's a bit of humor for you; 'Yugi', as in Yugi's _name_ means 'game'. Now... The name of the series, 'Yu-Gi-Oh' is technically 'Yuugiou'... 'Ou' means king. The name of the series is _King of Games_. Ahhhhhh I love this... On a more _awesome_ note, changing the kanji of '_Yuugi_' gets you the word (One of them anyways) for friendship as well; apparently it doesn't have to be 'yuu-jou'. (Yea. 'Jounouchi'. Heheheeeee... OH THE PUNS!)

* * *

The conversation between the two is based on the actual one used in the Japanese version (The dub had 'Tristan' going on about how he had eight whiskers on his chin. WUT.)… Honda asks if Anzu wants to hear about his first crush (not interested), and then if she'd like to hear about his essay… Which really is called 'My Dream is to Be a Pilot'. (She's clearly annoyed by this, and asks if he has any idea what kind of situation they're in.) In any case, I couldn't help but draw the line between 'crush' and 'Miho from that early chapter'. Hehehe. Also, given that I had Honda be the one to clear Jou's head in the Duelist Kingdom, I figured that the '_do you even have a clue what kind of crap we're in right now_' deal would be a tad void.

* * *

Kuriboh! This will be eas- And then Red-Eyes appeared. Originally, it was just going to be kuriboh... But things happened, mostly concerning the plot.

* * *

Multiply is probably already a card that obviously wouldn't be helpful for the boys _at the time it was pulled out_, but for those who don't know, 'Quick Attack' is a card that allows Fusion monsters to attack on their first turn… (Ordinarily, they can't.) While 'Trap Hole', Jonouchi's card, is obviously something that wouldn't really help unless the monster's were actually standing on the ground or at least unable to float or fly. (Which is what Kuriboh and Red-Eyes can do.)

* * *

Just as there are monsters Yugi will have no luck with using arrows (Armored beasts mostly, along with anything that attacks him in close combat) on, there are a few which reduce Mokuba and Jonouchi to nothing… Such as Red-Eyes; the dragon is so heavily scaled, the blades can't pierce anything. After all, way back with just the holographic duels, Kaiba's battle ox had to _step on the blade_ in order to actually cut through armored lizard's neck. Thinking about the Red-Eyes Black Dragon in comparison... Yea. The only reason why Yugi's having any luck himself is because he can shoot things at the vulnerable points, whereas a normal blade would have to get there first.

And of course, this ends up with the two looking over at Yugi going '_UH… HELP_?'

* * *

That scene with the newts? It happened. Though no one ate them in the anime, we just saw Jonouchi wondering if that was food. Mokuba is notably more displeased with Jonouchi when he looks at the card-stand in the anime though, coming off as a little more impatient while he's at it… (Due to his expression mostly) I can't tell if he's blaming both him and Yugi or just Jonouchi though, because I had Yugi take a few of the blond's lines; originally, they both call him over (Mokuba's looking too; does this make him hypocritical in the anime?), and he notices the card… Only for Mokuba to say '_No, too expensive_', after which Jou mopes.

* * *

As for the questioning of people; came from the mini-montage we got after Jonouchi decided it was time to go look for clues; Mokuba's scenes involve him trying to bribe a few kids for info (Using a popsicle from… Somewhere…), and helping an old man up a bunch of stairs by _piggy backing him up the stairs_... Yugi first tried just talking to a crowd of people… And then apparently tried going into a bar, which got us this image of him being carried out by the back of his jacket. Jonouchi's however, involves him sitting with a bunch of monks (Why the hell..? How did that help in _any way_?)…

And being chased off by a group of dogs, which was what inspired that creepy little scene we had there. (In the anime, he actually returns with one of the dogs attached to his leg, chewing away at his pants… Poor Yugi just draws back with wide eyes.)

* * *

Speaking of interrogation of sorts, I'm wondering how they got _anything_ out of the NPCs when the one at the edge of the desert was so pathetically 'repetitive' (as in, after giving his advice, that was all he could say. Erummmm…). So really, it's no surprise that they didn't actually get too much info... Even so. That old man... Ahhhh...

* * *

Anyways. That dog there. You should know who that was… As to why that's all he did, it's mostly because he'll be busy dragging off a few other people in a few moments; right now he's just sorta gauging the competition. Reading their minds. Deciding on the perfect way to screw them all over (you know, that sort of thing.). FUN THINGS. Also, there's a bit of distance between them in terms of computers for the moment, so it's a little more difficult... Think of it as an RC car.

* * *

'Itterashai' ('I-tera-shai' really… There's a 'skipped beat' where those dashes are.) is a phrase commonly said by those inside the house when another leaves. Normally the person leaving will say 'Ittekimasu' first, which basically translates (very loosely) out to 'I'll see you soon!' and is said when leaving the house (your house), with 'itterashai' being the loose equivalent of 'I'll be waiting', said by those still inside. Now… That's fairly everyday thing in japan if you're just a person who lives there. And it can be a touching thing too, if it's used like in the case of my Japanese teacher, whose host family on his exchange said this as he was leaving back for Canada at the end of the exchange… Meaning that they were effectively saying 'you'll always be welcome to come back to our house'.

But when a tiny little puppy with a spiked and twisted evil looking mask says the equivalent of 'I'll be waiting' as you run away in terror, that's not touching. _At all_. Hihhhhhhhh…

* * *

In the anime, Mokuba says that he was told someone passed through with a 'prisoner' and went off into the 'Cave of Death'. My question however is... One, how the hell did they cross the desert if the others need a Koke (Ta-daaaahh...), and two, _why would Kaiba be walking_? Clearly he was still unconscious... In fact, it's probably implied that this was the case. Even so, when I first heard this, I couldn't keep the image of the usual 'shackled to the back of a carriage' image from mind, hehehe... (Instead, Kaiba was flopped over a bird. ...Er... Not much better in hindsight.)

* * *

I almost thought it would be better to leave the 'blown to the entrance' thing as part of the game… But then I realized that the opportunity for scaring the shit out of Jonouchi again was too fun to pass up.

What can I say guys. I'm an _asshole_. You all have fun with 'the dog's sadistic humor now… And keep in mind that said dog's sadistic humor is mostly a trait of the _dog_, rather than of the one controlling the dog… …To put it plainly, we have here a remarkable show of acting skills… To make up for the fact that what's going on right now is effectively radio transmitting. (He can't get any 'closer', hence why he hasn't tried anything weird." You could probably compare it to what Yami Bakura did during the Dungeon Dice Monster's arc in the manga... Where he actually _helped_ Yugi win; granted, it was so that he could put a little bit of his soul in a piece of the puzzle but HEY whatever.)

* * *

Hey, it's the repetitive NPC! Yea guys, Yugi and Jonouchi were both laughing at the guy in the anime… As Mokuba remained behind, completely silent. (Nooooo…) No one even asked if he was ok! Poor guy...

* * *

In English, the 'Koke' card is known as 'Niwatori' (Which is what the old man calls it in Japanese as well actually.); Niwatori is the word for 'chicken', coming from 'tori', or 'bird'. (It's still the same kanji though.) This happens a lot, changing the names of the cards to something in Japanese; for example, 'Sangan' comes from 'san' or 'three' and 'gan', which is a pronunciation of the word for 'eye'.

In any case, the flavor text for Koke (flavor text being the italic words under any card that has no effect... Which is exceedingly rare _these_ days...) says '_Swallows enemies whole and uses their essence as energy_'. ...And they're _riding_ on this?

* * *

Finding the poster with the koke card on it (Koke, by the way, is the sound a chicken makes… Rather, the sound effect used for 'cluck' in Japanese.) was a lot easier in the fanfic than in the anime; originally, they spent a good chunk of time looking around the city for any sign of the card (Didn't even get a montage this time), meeting back at the fountain again with no luck…

At which point Yugi spots the poster and starts going '_AAAAH! I FOUND IT_!'. I kinda figured that someone should have seen it sooner though.

* * *

I have 'Madame Butterfly' as Mai was known for a small bit here, explicitly named, (She was the 'Butterfly Queen' in the Japanese) mostly because she was _technically_ on the poster. Complete with mask, cape, mini-skirt, corset, and whip. And boots. YEAAAAAA. That was definitely Mai on that poster.

Which was actually a sign in the anime. D'OH.

* * *

Now here's a question that comes up with the question of Big 5 meddling; why make themselves vulnerable to being trapped inside the game when they probably could have just sent a virus or a rewritten code in through the computer? Hnnn…

* * *

Yea guys. Screw the protector of the pigs, (Those who saw the episode know what I'm getting at) I made him a dog. Again. This is actually in part to make up for the fact that we won't see the amusing and horrendously embarrassing kigurumi scene in the Dungeon Dice Monster arc, as that largely follows the Manga plot… Which leaves no room whatsoever for that scene. D'OH. In any case... At least his 'intro line' is a bit cooler.

* * *

Greaves are essentially shin armour. Basically, what the cloak doesn't cover for the costume, the greaves and gloves do. (It also makes it that much more amusing for me to draw. AHAHA ulterior motive!)

* * *

If you can guess what the frog-man gets at when he says 'the gods', you'll be laughing as hard as I am.

* * *

Anyways; hellhounds are a fairly 'widespread' term for any hellish, supernatural dog really; most tend to be omen's of death though… The 'Black Dog' (AKA, the 'Grim') is known as a hellhound actually. Some of them were fairly benevolent… But seeing them was still an omen of death unfortunately.

* * *

NOSEBLEED. You know those anime nosebleeds that are a sure sign of arousal? It comes from an old Japanese wive's tale… And tends to imply _something else_ coming out as well… Hehehehehe... (That's not what Jou is doing though.)

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

You know the drill! Remove the spaces and there you'll have a link!

We have a _lot_ things today... Two coloured chibis, a fair number of unfinished chibis... And some spoiler-ific sketches with appropriate warnings there for you! Along with a small bit of concept art. Very small though. ...Along with a painting WIP for the Millennium Eye. (Enjoy~) (Yea I went overboard.)

Mai the Summoner - http: / /i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ ChibiMaiSummoner. jpg - Oh my! How _stripperific_. Mai is demonstrating just why Kaiba was so rightfully irked by the possibilities for her armor; if she picked metal, she'd have likely ended up with the equivalent of a chain-mail bikini. If she picked cloth... Leather is a little more difficult to do that for though, particularly since it was mentioned in layers. ...By the way, Mai gets more clothing with her 'costume upgrade' before the final attack.

Archer Yugi - http: / /i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ ChibiYugiArcher. jpg - I screwed up his eyes so bad... But AAAAH. How do you make Yugi a _chibi_? His eyes are big enough as it is! His size compared to everyone (There are episodes where Mokuba is _taller_ than him) does not help matters in any way either... In any case, enjoy the chibi! (God his eyes are big...)

Spoilers: The other Eyes - http: / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ EyeThings. jpg - In which you get a sneak peek at those who are just a little worse than their counterpart in the Millennium Eye. Note that they're kinda subject to change though... (And that as ridiculous as the Rod's is, it's effectively fire with teeth for eyelids on _all its eyes_. ...As to why it has so many, you'll find out someday.) ...Oh, but as powerful and creepy as they are, don't think that both of them are evil; the Tauk's spirit is actually quite nice, despite the fact that neither of the two speak to anyone but themselves.

Chibis: Jonouchi & Mokuba - http: / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ MokubaJouVR. jpg - To the left we have Jonouchi in his 'Warrior' wear... As you can see, I drew his spear wrong. BAW, oh well. Beside him is Mokuba of course, in all his thieving glory. Their colours are actually going to be hints to the Doma arc; Mokuba's wearing blue, whlie Jou has a brown-ish red. (If Jou was wearing flat red, it wouldn't look good on him; red clashes on blonds... Trust me on this.)

More Chibis: Mokuba & Meyari - http: / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ MokubaMeyari1. jpg - In which Mokuba is questioning Yugi's taste in clothes, and Queen Meyari merely stares. Un-Mokuba-like. I figured that Meyari, being a queen of sorts, should _probably_ have brushed hair. Probably. I dunno, one of those things...

Concept: Noa 22 - http: / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Noa22. jpg - A pity he didn't live to that age. This was me doodling one day... Decided to ponder on what Noa would have looked like if he actually made it to 22 years old. He looks pretty good, I have to say... (Hee. Jacket.)

WIP: The Millennium Eye - http: / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ TheMillenniumEye-1. jpg - You can't see the puzzle lines because those are going to be painted into the details. But heyyyy! Lookit those HANDS! Also, Mini-Kaiba is ridiculously small because eight year old Kaiba is... Ridiculously small. Kinda helps that her legs are mostly gone, and those make a good chunk of her height. (She's also really skinny, hence why Jou's arms look like they could be the size of her scrawny little neck.)


	48. Chapter 47

**Not So Distressed  
**

* * *

"Honda, stop staring at the screen."

It was about the fifth time the teen had been told that as the two held firm against the constant battering against the door. It was getting tiring to say the least; despite the wall of 'junk' they'd put there, it was more than clear that one wrong move and the pile would fall... And when it did, it would not be pretty. Pancakes would be putting it lightly to say the least... Not to mention it would look far prettier than what the actual end result would likely be. Honda turned away from the 'coliseum' scene, coughing before giving Anzu a nod. "Ah... Right..." Despite the fact that the screen was all sprites, it did not change the size of the small sprite woman's breasts... Not to mention what _wasn't_ on her breasts. "Hey... Does Jonouchi's opponent seem familiar to you," he asked, narrowing his eyes at the busty blond sprite as the woman on screen summoned a monster.

Anzu raised her eyebrows, not even batting an eye at the question. "Besides the fact that she's probably modeled off Mai? No," she said with a frown. Though she'd definitely hit the nail on the head with that one...

The teen shrugged, staring at the screen again as a small battle started. How long would they be there, in the game..? If this kept up, he thought with a wince as the seemingly endless pounding continued, then by the time Yugi and the others made it to Kaiba, the door would be broken down and the plug would be... Well.

Beside him, Anzu swallowed, similar thoughts having come to mind after the conversation came to an end. According to the book, if the plug was pulled during the game, it would cause enough shock to the body that brain-death would be imminent... There would no longer be anything to support the slight connection between the thoughts and the body itself, no connection to keep what made the person 'human' from simply being lost in the machine... There would be no return, no come back after that. Perhaps the 'Other Yugi' would still be there, depending on how things worked out, but for everyone else to be gone in his stead... It would be more than 'bad', to say the least.

It would be horrifying. An occurrence that would haunt everyone more than anything else could possibly succeed at... And possibly screw them all over while they were at it too. Honda continued to stare at the screen, deciding to lighten the topic rather than sit in the awkward silence that had come into place in the meantime. "So," he said somewhat offhandedly, Anzu not even looking up from where she was pushing at the barricade. "What's with the mask Jonouchi's wearing?"

There was a slight grunt as a particularly sound thump hammered against the door, Anzu looking up with narrowed eyes after being thrown back somewhat. "Gh... Now isn't the time," she muttered, leaning against the barrier. "Less talking, more pushing Honda..."

He nodded, turning from the screen to push against the barricade again. "R-Right..."

* * *

Back in the virtual coliseum of the game, Katsuya swallowed and took another step back from his opponent. The sun was high above the two, and in the glaring light his opponent was almost completely shadowed... Through the wings however, he ended up with a blinding rainbow. He wasn't sure which was worse about that really; the 'rainbow' or the 'shadows'. Katsuya didn't have much time to think of this however, his opponent quickly deciding that silence was not as golden as it seemed. "Are you ready," the woman across from him asked in an almost sultry tone, the card she created falling into her free hand's grip. A deck holder sat on the side, and yet it seemed more than obvious that she was not using it for the cards... As to how she was getting them then... Who the hell knew. "Do you think you can challenge the 'Champion'," she continued, her opponent drawing a card only to curse under his breath; Dragon Nails. Damn his luck, damn it to hell... Not helpful without a dragon to equip it to, and he wasn't pulling out Red-Eyes in the coliseum battle. He needed to save that card, for a time where Red-Eyes would really be needed. Besides, he told himself with a grim sense of reassurance, he couldn't even play spells... And given that this battle was 'one on one', attempting to use it against this woman would be pointless. Shouts continued from the side, Katsuya's opponent literally carving cracks into the ground with her whip as she walked forward. "It's a hundred years too early to be challenging me, _boy!_ Prepare yourself!"

Katsuya watched the card vanish into his 'hand' before taking a somewhat defensive stance with the spear. No cards. Traditional way to fight then... Seemed like that was happening a lot in this game. "Tch..." '100 years'? Hah! "Say that when y' actually beat me," he shouted, voice muffled and distorted by the fabric. He paced around the wall of the arena, watching as the woman across him merely tossed the card in the air with a grin. The air..? He narrowed his eyes, swallowing. That wasn't how summoning worked in the game though... So then what...

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." The woman gave an oddly familiar chuckle, holding her hand up as the card glowed above her. "In that case, I'll show you just _why_ I'm the champion," she shouted, whip cracking on the ground as the card above her began to vanish into a sparkling mist rather than the standard dust. "I summon the _**Harpy Lady**_," the woman continued, the mist dispersing into a shower of feathers the swirled in a single large sphere above the field. With in an instant the sphere burst, the summoned monster appearing in a flurry of feathers to screech loudly and eagerly above the woman. Damn. Wasn't that a familiar sight. "Now," she said calmly, pulling her whip taut before pulling it through the air. "_Fight_," she roared, charging forward with the whip as Katsuya paled.

Shit... Harpy Lady _and_ a woman coming after him with a bladed whip. Damn it. He threw up his spear, blocking the claws of the bird and throwing her back as his opponent laughed. "Gh..!" The harpy returned, Katsuya rolling as the claws scraped against the stone behind him, whip slicing against his shoulder as he pulled his spear up again. Where... Where had he heard this laugh before..? The blond's eyes widened as the Harpy Lady landed at its mistress' side, quickly connecting the laugh to a name as the woman stared down at him. Blond hair, purple eyes... And damn _huge_ melons that was for sure. No way... No damn way, didn't she live in Kyoto? Why the hell- The whip came shooting his way, Katsuya catching the tip and allowing it to wrap around the center of his blade before pulling it taut. Heh... Only one way to find out, he thought with a smirk, his opponent pulling back on the whip in annoyance. "Hn! Intr'sting seein' yah here Mai," he said with a shout, pulling off his mask allowing it to hang on the back of his cloak. "But what're yeh doin' here, in Tokyo," he continued, the woman across from him staring with wide eyes.

Mai blinked, standing up and waving her hand to hold her monster in place for the moment. "Jonouchi," she said with wide eyes, before shaking her head as she continued to hold the whip taut. "Well this is interesting to say the least," she said with a slight smirk. "But unfortunately," she continued, pulling the whip again in what looked to be a developing 'tug-of-war', "I was hired to fight against who ever came my way here... That's the point of a beta-test dear," she said with a slight shrug, before frowning. "You make sure everything works out, including the PvP servers; no hard feelings," she continued, pointing her Harpy Lady forward with a slight frown as the bird nodded. "Now! Go, _Airo_!"

Katsuya tensed, turning the staff in a somewhat effective defense against the bird as it struck the whip he held in place to cause the weapon to give a loud twang. "Tch... No hard feelin's then," he said with a frown, giving a particularly hard tug only to find his opponent not budging from the other end, "But I ain't backin' down either... There's a life on th' line," he continued seriously, charging forward with the spear and ducking under the Harpy Lady as she attempted to slice through him yet again. "And I ain't lettin' anything get in th' way of that!"

"...A _life_," Mai asked somewhat incredulously, pulling her whip free in the slack caused by Katsuya's charge before flipping away from him with ease. She narrowed her eyes, before pulling her mask off with a nod and tossing it to the side. "Hnn... Airo," she shouted, the bird turning to her from the air. Airo? It had a name? "This fight is over," she continued, the monster vanishing in a flurry of feathers not unlike its summoning.

Katsuya stared in silence, Mai simply staring back as the blond straightened and held put his spear back in its holster. In just a few moments shouts followed from the side, Yugi and Mokuba both hopping over the coliseum wall to run over to the two. "Ah... Mai-san," Yugi shouted, stopping alongside Katsuya and Mokuba both to look at the woman. Mai turned, blinking as Yugi went slightly red before speaking. "Y... You're here too?"

The woman nodded, hands on her hips as she looked the boys over. "That's right," she said with a slight frown, evidently rethinking the reason for being there herself. "Now... What's this about a 'life on the line'?"

There wasn't even a pause before the woman received an answer. "It's my brother," Mokuba said with a swallow, the four ignoring the slowly souring crowd around them; who cared if they wanted a fight, what would they do, throw rocks? "He was testing this game," the boy continued, "When he became trapped in it..." He looked down for a moment with those words, before continuing with grit teeth. "If we don't beat the game," Mokuba said with a slight growl, "If we don't find him, we can't get him back!"

"We need the Koke card," Yugi continued, looking to the side where the card sat on display. It was all rather... Obviously placed to say the least. "Kaiba-san is apparently somewhere across the desert, and we need a Koke to get across it... We shouldn't be fighting though," he continued seriously, frowning somewhat as he looked from Mai to Katsuya. "We're friends; there should be another way to deal with this..."

Mai stared with those words, before smirking and turning to follow his gaze to the side. "I see... In that case," she said with a wink, card appearing in her hand as she drew the whip back behind her, "Grab on!_** Harpie's Pet Dragon**_," she shouted, the card flying through the air to explode in a shower of sparks. A sphere of flames hovered through the air, bursting to reveal the massive red-scaled dragon as the monster filled half of the arena. Mai's whip flew toward the card on the side with the summon, snatching it from beside the shocked and quickly angered manager before it's owner flipped back onto her dragon's shoulders. "Now then... Let's go," she shouted, the boys hurriedly grabbing onto the dragon's feet as it prepared to take off, Katsuya ripping the cloak from around his neck and throwing it at the manager with a grin. He turned back as the coliseum disappeared below, the enormous dragon soon passing through the clouds and out of sight from those below. "You said the desert right," Mai asked, looking over the dragon's wings.

The three nodded, Katsuya looking up as the wind howled past their faces. It was interesting; despite the force against them, holding onto the dragon's feet was... Well, easy to say the least. Speaking of the dragon... "Hey... How did you summon the monsters without drawing the cards," he called out, the other two following his gaze with equal curiosity.

There was a short chuckle, the woman turning back to focus on 'steering'. "One of the basic skills of the 'Summoner' class," Mai responded, steering her dragon with the chain leash tight in her hands. "Any monster I've summoned," she explained, "I can summon again for a small amount of lifepoints!" The clouds parted as their ride abruptly began to dive down toward the ground. The sight of the desert boundaries came into view as the dragon landed to a fairly graceful stop, Mai sliding off the back of the monster before it vanished into dust and allowed the boys to come to the ground as well. "Hnhnhnhnhn... That's not all," she added with a smirk, pulling the 'Koke' card from the tip of her whip's blade. Despite the small hole it now held in the side, it seemed in relatively good condition... Hopefully that was good for the monsters too. "Watch," she said with a small grin, before tossing the card forward into the desert. "Tetra-summoning," she shouted, the card she threw glowing briefly with a golden light. "**_Koke_**!"

The boys blinked, before watching as the card divided into four separate clouds of smoke before swirling into equally smoking spheres. Each one dispersed at the same time, revealing a series of large, dull feathered chickens that somehow reminded Katsuya of some other game he'd played before. Probably nothing though, he decided with a mental shrug, instead turning as Mai gave them a somewhat smug smirk. "Ah... You can summon multiple monsters," Yugi asked, following behind Mai and the others as they walked toward the Koke.

She merely nodded, moving over to one of the birds and stroking the side of it's head as it lightly crowed in response. "That's right... However," she added with a frown, looking at the others with a fairly severe stare, "Don't expect me to do something this large scale again..." The woman turned, hands moving to her hips as she continued. "It takes a lot of lifepoints to do multiple summons from one card, even a weak one! It may only be a fraction of the original summon, but I still have to multiply that four times!" The three nodded, swallowing somewhat nervously as the woman pulled herself onto the Koke she was standing beside. "Now," she said with a renewed smirk, her koke clawing at the ground somewhat. "How about we get going before the welcoming party comes over from the other side of the town?"

Welcoming party? Katsuya turned, Yugi and Mokuba following his gaze as a small crowd began to develop in the distance. Oh. The coliseum audience. Riiiiiight... They probably wanted their money back, huh... "Ah... Good idea," he said with a nervous laugh, hopping onto the nearest Koke and adjusting his seat on the bird as it shook itself roughly. "So," he asked with a cough, wobbling somewhat as the bird took a step forward to flap it's small wings for a moment. "...Any idea how we ride these things?"

"Well," Mokuba began, grabbing a few oddly long strands of feathers that hung from the side of the birds' head and turning to the others with a blank expression, "If it's anything like horseback riding..." He shook the strings slightly, the Koke giving a loud crow before taking off at a high speed 'gallop'. "Ha-Haaaah!" He turned back, laughing nervously as the bird continued running. "I was right! W-Woaaah!"

"A- Mokuba!" Katsuya looked down at the feathers, grabbing the same ones Mokuba had taken while the others did the same. Okay, okay... These were the 'reins' and... "Alright..." He gave them a shake, lightly tapping the sides of the bird he was on with a nod. "Hya!" The Koke gave a loud crowing call, rushing off along with the others behind it and leaving a trail of dust in its wake. Within moments the birds came to a steady pace alongside each other, sand quickly brewing into a storm around them. The four quickly ducked behind the Koke's heads, Yugi pulling his headband down while Mai and Katsuya attempted to block the sand with their arms. "Gh... F'rgot about this," he shouted, laughing nervously as they went against the sand without a change in the pace.

"You _forgot_," Mai asked incredulously, looking at the boy as she held the wing of her still present butterfly cape over her face. "Are you _serious_?"

He shrugged, shaking his head as the wind howled through his ears. "Eh... Kinda," he shouted, laughing despite the situation. "Hey that r'minds me," he continued, turning to the woman as the Koke continued on their trek through the storm. "If you're here t' test this thing," he asked, the others as well turning with the question, "How come we didn' know abou' that?"

Mai gave a shrug, Mokuba pulling his koke back somewhat to sit between the two as Yugi took a position on Katsuya's other side. "That's because we weren't given a name for the other Beta-Tester," he yelled, voice somewhat drowned out by the howl of sand as the boy looked to Katsuya and Yugi. "Nii-sama found out that the Big 5 hired a tester," he continued with a shout, "But he never found out who it was!" The boy turned to Mai, biting his lip before laughing nervously. "I don't think nii-sama will be too happy to find out that they went out of town for the hire in addition to already hiring behind his back though... Especially since you stowed away on our helicopter..."

The woman smiled, shaking her head as she waved the statement off. "I'm sure your sister will be fine with it," she said with a small laugh, ignoring the boy's jump at her reference to the woman. "After all, it's these 'Big 5' people she needs to deal with, neh?"

Mokuba blinked, before turning on Katsuya almost accusingly with an incredulous glare. "K-Katsuya-nii," he said with a shout, Mai blinking with slight surprise as Katsuya in question tensed. "I know that Yugi found out on his own, but that doesn't mean you can just tell-"

"Ahhh, it's alright 'Mokuba-kun'..." Mokuba turned again, Katsuya merely laughing nervously at the near death sentence he'd received from the boy. Mai smirked lightly, tightly gripping the feather 'reins' of the Koke. "I found out on my own, Jonouchi has nothing to do with this..." she continued to smile, bowing her head. "It's not his fault, alright? And you can trust me on this," she added reassuringly, "Your nee-san's secret is safe, alright?"

He stared, before nodding somewhat. At least this meant everyone on the 'party' was in the know? "Hn... Alright," he said with a frown, before turning away to face the desert storm. "But you three are the only ones who know about nee-sama then right," he asked, looking at the others from the corner of his eye. "There's no one else," he continued, voice laced with evident worry.

They nodded, Katsuya in particular adamant about the statement. "'F 'course," he shouted, eyes somewhat wide despite the sand. "I haven' said a thing t' anyone, honest!" If anyone else knew... Well they'd have probably found out a long time ago to say the least. Ehehe...

"We wouldn't reveal Kaiba-san's secret Mokuba," Yugi said with a nod, a determined smile on his face. "Trust me," he continued, grinning somewhat despite the sand in his face, "The secret is safe with us!"

Again Mokuba nodded, moving to speak again before Mai's voice interrupted him. "I hate to be the bearer of bad news," she said, pulling the 'reins' on her Koke as the bird came to an abrupt stop. "But what is _that_?"

The boys turned, their own birds stopping as a series of vine-like tentacles burst from the ground as it cracked and crumbled into an immense and impassable fissure. Enormous blocks of stone and rock came from the ground, shifting and merging before they rose up to form a twisted, two headed creature with a single clawed arm. "Gh... That..."

"It's 'Sandstone'," Yugi cried, the koke he was on pulling back with a frightened screech, the birds all pulling back as a chasm continued to form between them and the monster. "A rock golem..!"

Katsuya swallowed, looking at his deck holder for a moment. "I'm gonna take a wild guess an' say that tryin' t' use normal weapons against this thing would be pretty much pointless," he shouted, drawing a card only to groan. 'Giant Trunade'. Damn it. "Hnn... Cross yer fingers guys," he shouted to the others, watching as they drew their own cards. It was either that or... 'Sliced into fleshy little ribbons', as the creepy dog said.

"Hnn... Polymerization," Yugi said with a frown, shaking his head as his card vanished. Mai as well drew a card, before allowing it to evaporate into nothingness before turning away from the others.

The woman let go of the 'reins', standing on the back of her Koke to stare down the monster before them. "You boys just sit tight," she said with a nod, a card misting into existence again. "I have just enough lifepoints to summon the pet dragon again, this will-"

"_**Battle Ox**_," Mokuba shouted from behind them, the others turning as he tossed the card forward. A small 'explosion' of sand occurred as the monster took form, the armored minotaur appearing to swing its axe and snort at the enormous stone beast before it. It was fairly small compared to the monster... But while the others stared, Mokuba merely pointed the beast forward with a confident nod. "For the duel monsters," he shouted through the sand, "It's only a matter of point calculation!" A bellowing cry came through the air with that, the Battle Ox charging toward the immense Sandstone to cut down the numerous green tentacles it sent his way. "This will be easy for him," he continued, watching as the monster charged along the craggy monster's body with ease whilst dodging the creature's three sharp claws. "_Attack_!"

A feral shout came through the air, stone and rock crumbling to the ground as the Battle Ox cut through Sandstone's main head. Rocks crumbled into dust, filling the chasm as the monster collapsed into nothing but a few steel claws. Sand began to clear from the air, the others lowering their arms as the sky once again became blue and sunny in the monster's wake. "Ah..." They four watched as Battle Ox returned to Mokuba's side, carrying with it the three bladed claws the monster held. As Mokuba took the claws in confusion, the Ox vanished, becoming nothing but dust like the monster behind it... The desert was clear... The sun was out... "The sand storm is gone," Katsuya muttered, eyes wide as he shook sand from the furred gloves he was still wearing. He turned to the others, Mokuba currently watching as the claws fit themselves around his hand with wide eyes. Huh... Talk about 'weapon upgrade'...

"Sandstone must have been creating the storm," Yugi said with equally wide eyes, looking in the distance at where a large series of mountains and cliffs sat as the others turned to him. The stone in the distance created an immense and unending wall of sorts from what the four could see, but despite the distance, looking back proved it much closer than the town was. "That must be the cave over there," he continued, the others following his gaze to a distant 'building' of sorts.

That was the cave? The Koke took off with a start, Katsuya shouting with surprise before leaning back into the ride. Even from there, the building looked large. Tall pillars rose from the ground, huge wide staircases leading from the desert sands and up into an incredible arching door... "If that's th' cave," he asked, volume far lower than it had been while running through the sand storm, "Then whats with th' building around it?"

"Most likely the cave itself was meant for other purposes," Mai said with a small frown, dust flying behind them as the Koke ran. The boys turned, listening as the woman continued. "While in the town, the NPC's all spoke of a 'God' of sorts that reigned on the other side of these mountains," she explained, eyes not moving from the structure. "I wouldn't be surprised if this building was meant to reveal an entrance of sorts to that..."

Yugi nodded, the Koke coming to a stop a few meters from the stone steps. "That makes sense," he said, looking at the immense structure before sliding off the side of the bird. "If the tunnel was originally meant to herald a deity, then the building would have to be fairly elaborate... It also helps to find the cave," he added with a small laugh, turning to the others with a grin.

Mokuba merely stared at the building in silence, before hopping off of the Koke and charging for the steps. "Hn... Lets go then," he shouted, the others shaking their heads and watching as the boy rushed for the arched entrance. "There's no time to lose!"

"Gh! Mokuba," Katsuya shouted, before scratching his head with a sigh. "Ahhhh... Man... He keeps runnin' off like that, we're gonna end up in trouble..." Not that he really blamed him he guessed; Seto right? He hopped off his bird, the others following behind only to watch as the Koke turned and fled back into the desert with a loud squawk. "E-Eh..!" Within moments the birds had vanished into the haze caused by the heat, leaving the trio to stare while Mokuba stopped on the steps. "What!"

Mai shrugged, crossing her arms. "I guess it was a one time summon," she said with a frown, looking to the others with a somewhat plain expression. "Normally we'd get the cards back otherwise..." Really? Huh...

The blond sighed, shaking his head and watching the small 'dust cloud' that was the Koke's trail as it vanished in the far distance. "Man... There goes our ride," he muttered, before looking up the stairs as Mokuba turned down to them from the top.

"Come on," he shouted down, the other three running up the stairs as Mokuba stood there. "Lets go!" Well just hang on a second, there were lots of stairs here!

"Alright, alright..." Katsuya followed the boy up the stairs, before they walked off into a large tunnel that was open from the door. The archway they entered through was enormous to say the least... And as Yugi had said, incredibly elaborate. Through windows on the side they could see the murals painted around them, wonderfully painted across the ceilings and the windows themselves. "Man," the blond muttered to himself, staring at the large image of a snow white 'bird' of sorts facing off against a five-headed dragon. "F'r a death trap, they put a hell of a lot of detail int' this..."

Mokuba followed his gaze, the others looking around the enormous hall as well. "They _were_ planning on selling it in the end," he said somewhat quietly, eyes drifting over the image of five 'faceless' beings on the back of the white 'bird'. The others fell silent, staring up at the ceiling and slowly walking forward to simply observe the room. It wasn't hard to tell that each one of the 'faceless beings' represented some sort of counterpart to the dragon really; on the far side, facing mechanized 'wind' head was its polar opposite, a small 'child' wielding a chakram of sorts. Against the next head, simple muddy scaled and serpent-like maw wide with apparent rage stood a cloaked woman in gold, a staff in her hands. The blue skinned and gilled head on the far opposite end faced another small 'child', form covered completely with a cloak and scarf. The flaming head beside it was faced with a plainly robed warrior wielding naught but an axe, draconic helm hiding his face. Five heads, Katsuya thought, eyes drifting over the final, red-robed figure facing the shadowed and monstrous head in the center. So then... Five 'heroes'? But there were four of them, weren't there? Then again, this was probably pre-programmed; and Mokuba _had_ said that there were five pods.

He shook it from mind, a sudden chill passing over them as they moved from the warmth of the sunlit room behind them and into the dark tunnels of the 'cave of death'. The difference between the glaring sun outside and the wet, dark cavern inside was quite shocking to say the least. Only a few steps in and the blond was shivering, holding his arms and looking around with nervous swallows. Where there had been stained-glass windows depicting unknown 'heroes' of sorts there was nothing but cold stone surrounding them at all sides save behind them. Water dripped from the wet rocks above, uneven ground beneath his feet causing him to almost stumble as they moved through what was already almost complete darkness. "Hihhh... Why th' hell does th' 'Cave of Death' have to look like this," he muttered, tensing as distant sounds moved in and out of his ears. Voices... Did he hear?

Yugi looked up at the blond somewhat sympathetically, an odd expression on his face. "Well," he said with a frown, "It wouldn't be a cave of death if it wasn't scary I guess..."

"Hihhhh..." The blond continued to shudder, shaking his head. "Doesn' change my opinion on this crap..." He shook himself, listening as a sound almost similar to wind passed his ears before turning around the corner to spot an enormous set of wooden doors. "Hn... Tha's new..."

The others stared, blinking. Not locked... Just a set of hinges on each side that told them they'd be pushing the doors in to enter the room really. "Well," Mai began with a smile, "You know... The only reason why anyone would build something like that in a place like this, is if it's important to the game..." She crossed her arms, before moving forward and turning to the others with a wink. "Looks like we're on the right track boys," she said, pushing against the door with a slight grunt. "What do you say we see what's on the other side?"

Katsuya laughed somewhat, moving to help with the door as the others followed behind. "Heh... Jus' what I was abou' t' say," he said with a grin, pushing the doors open and walking out into the room with the others. Wide eyes took in the room before them, the sound of the others footsteps coming up beside him as they followed his gaze. The ceiling stood only a few meters above them... The tops of the walls a few feet. There was still no doubt however, as to where they were. "Aaaah hell," he muttered, the doors swinging shut behind them with a resounding 'slam' as they moved further inward.

"No way," Mokuba said with disbelief, shaking his head. "We're in a _maze_," he asked, looking at the others.

"Well," Yugi said with a frown, "If this game was made alongside or after the Duelist Kingdom... It would make sense that they'd include this as well..."

Mokuba turned, frowning at that. "Duelist Kingdom..?" Right... They didn't really say much about the Duelist Kingdom after it happened... ...For obvious reasons. "They had a maze board on that island," he asked, blinking with slight surprise as Mai as well turned to stare questioningly.

The two boys nodded, turning to the younger. "Jonouchi-kun and I fought a tag-team duel using a maze-type board," Yugi explained, turning to the maze itself and looking at the single brick walls that stood between themselves and their goal. "It looks like this room is built based on that..."

Completely in fact. "Lets jus' hope th' walls don' move th' same way," Katsuya muttered, recalling the shifting walls of the last maze before freezing.

"_KYAAAAAAAA!_" Gh- A scream? Katsuya turned, bolting after only a moment's thought. Not just a scream either... That was a kid's scream!

He barreled down the first path, turning a corner as the others shouted behind him. "O-Oi," Mai called, the others yelling after the blond as he disappeared into the maze. "Jonouchi," she continued, Katsuya paying the fading shouts no mind as he ran. "...Sheesh," she muttered with a frown, crossing her arms as she shook her head. "He complains about people running without thinking and then does it himself..."

Loud cracking sounds came from behind the three, the boys and Mai all turning as wood began to splinter from the door behind them. It was small to start... Mere splinters flaking off the sides of the wood was it creaked and pushed forward, small shavings gathering at the ground. As a large crack developed through one of the sides however, it quickly became apparent that the noise was no one's imagination. "E-Err... Yugi," Mokuba muttered, stepping back as the wood continued to split and crack through the air. "What sorts of monsters did you see in the labyrinth board?"

Yugi swallowed, stepping back as an enormous red-coloured drill began to pierce through the wood. Just the tip for the moment, a single gyrating tip that was followed by many other small drills attached to it and... "That's the Labyrinth Tank," he said with a shout, turning to the others with wide eyes. "We won't be able to fight that with our weapons," he continued with a nervous swallow, stepping back as wood began to fly off in chunks. "If there's one here, Jonouchi-kun might..."

Mai paled, turning toward the path with a serious nod. "Well what are we waiting for then," she said with a shout, before the three bolted down the hall. "Lets run!"

The boys nodded, following her as the tank continued to break through the door before coming after them with regained speed. The sounds of whirring gears and cracking stone came from behind, mere splinters remaining from the door now that the tank was freed "Katsuya-nii," Mokuba shouted, the blond in question standing at a fork in the road ahead with a frown. "Katsuya-nii, _run_," he continued loudly, the blond turning to spot the tank behind the three before nodding furiously.

Ohhhh fuck that was not something he wanted to fight right now! "Right ahead 'f yah," he shouted, tripping in his run and charging away down the left path. Sounds of spinning gears continued behind them, the other three quickly joining him as they fled. "We better hope this ain't a dead end," the blond continued, before skidding to a stop as a second tank turned the corner. Despite the distance between them, the red headlights seemed to gleam with anticipation, the tank's targets already in sight. "Ahhhh _shit,_" he muttered, turning as he and the others broke into a run for the opposite direction only to spot a third tank come down the opposite path. "Gh..." He winced, watching as the three tanks slowly closed in on the three. He did not want to think of what it would feel like to get impaled by that thing... Not at all.. "This ain't good..."

The four turned to look around, backs pressed against each others as Mai bit her lip. "The ceiling in here is too low for me to summon the pet dragon," she said with a wince, Mokuba nodding in agreement as his 'Spirit Ryu' vanished to his hand. "I don't suppose you have anything Yugi," she continued as Katsuya's own card vanished as well.

The boy clenched his jaw, looking at the deck in question before drawing a card. "Maybe," he said quietly, before looking at the card and brightening. The sounds of spinning drills were drawing close... The four were pressed completely against each other, and the drill's details were all to clear for comfort... "Ahh! _**Magical Hats**_," Yugi cried, the tanks closing in only for a shroud of darkness to surround the four. Everything vanished from sight completely... An odd sensation came over them, a dispersed, scattering feeling that was quickly replaced by simply being surrounded by darkness. As though they'd been taken apart piece by piece and reassembled in a new location. Opening his eyes however, Katsuya blinked, taking in the inside of the large black silk hat they were under with a grin.

"Th' hats... Heh, good call Yugi," Katsuya said with a slight laugh, the hat vanishing in a wave of mist as they looked around. There appeared to be far less walls here... Even so, looking back, it was obvious that the tanks wouldn't be catching them anytime soon. "Hah! We're on th' other side of the wall now!"

The others nodded, before a second scream came through the air. Loud and fear filled, and the others turned with wide eyes in the direction it came from. "That's a lot clearer than before," Mokuba said with a swallow, turning for a moment before he and the others took off in it's direction. "But who else could possibly be in here," he asked, confused frown somewhat marred by his worry for the situation.

The question remained somewhat unanswered however, as the sound of clashing weapons and shouts came from around the next corner. Slowing to a slight stop as they came around into the path, the four stared, watching as a tall man dressed in blue attempted to fend off what looked to be a wall ghoul. Behind the man a young girl sat, huddled with her face in her hands from fear as her defender struggled to hold off the monster with what looked to be a staff. Loud snarls came from the ghoul as it attempted to gnaw it's way through the weapon itself, its opponent almost buckling under the weight of the monster. There were no words for the situation it seemed. If anything, it was fairly obvious what needed to be done for the moment. A single long look was shared among the four, before Yugi drew a series of arrows and fired.

Each arrow was about as quick as a bullet, and just as invisible until it was far too late. The wall ghoul reared, screeching as the man it had been fighting turned to them in confusion. Mai quickly doubled on the attack however, ignoring the man and running first across the ground and then along the wall itself toward the ghoul. Distracted by the number of arrows piercing it's face, it barely realized that Mai had wrapped her whip around the monster... Until it was already sliced in two by the blade from the whip, Mai landing on the other side of the monster as Yugi stood beside her from where he'd continued to fire arrows. Even with the wall ghoul's defeat however, it was made fairly obvious that the the battle was not over. A low but otherwise human growl came through the air, the group looking down the path to watch as a 'Monster Tamer' appeared and began cracking his own whip across the ground. Despite his human appearance however, there was an inhuman glint in his eyes that told them he was not alone...

Rumbling filled the air, the walls beginning to quake as the tamer ceased his movements. The sound continued, becoming louder and louder... Cracks began to appear in the ground and Katsuya looked down with wide eyes, grabbing Mokuba and jumping from the spot. "Look out," he shouted, the call lost as slabs of rock flew through the air to land haphazardly at the sides. The boys crawled to their feet, looking back with wide eyes as the dust from the destroyed ground cleared away from the air. They shuffled back, hurriedly running from the spot as an enormous worm faced them. Large fang like spikes grated against the sides of the cavern maze, round mouth practically spinning with rows of razor sharp teeth as it turned blindly on them. "Tch..." Katsuya pulled himself to his feet, pulling his spear off his back with wide eyes. "Th' labyrinth worm..!"

And that wasn't all. There was a screeching sound above them, Mokuba and Katsuya turning as a second monster appeared. Beady black eyes faced them from above, scuttling sounds clearly audible as a shadow appeared between themselves and the others. The boys quickly jumped back as the Landmine Spider hopped to the ground before them, Yugi and Mai turning from where they stood with wide eyes. The path only had so much room after all, despite the fair amount of distance that the Monster Tamer continued to put between himself and the others. To say that he and Mokuba were now sandwiched between the worst replacement for 'bread' was an understatement to say the least. "Gh..." Mokuba drew a card from his deck, only to wince as Katsuya did the same and groaned. Mokuba's card? De-Spell. His? Time Wizard. And since neither of them could play spells... A normally kick-ass card was going into his hand. "'Traditional way'," Mokuba 'asked' with a worried frown, pulling out his dagger for his 'non-clawed' hand.

"Traditional," Katsuya said with grit teeth, pulling his spear as Mokuba charged beneath the spider. The monster instantly reared, Mokuba pulling back to avoid the arachnid's legs as Katsuya charged as well. "Righ'... I'll take th' top you take th' bottom," he shouted, the rest of the path unseen to them as they ran at the spider. The blond jumped onto the beast, preparing to ram his spear through it's head only to find himself holding on to it as his weapon was cut in two by its oddly solid head. Mokuba ducked and rolled beneath the spider, stabbing upward as the spider attempted to throw Katsuya off in annoyance. Katsuya yelped, spear ramming into the monster's abdomen as he attempted to hold on. "HaaaAahhh..! Y' havin' any luck there," he called, unable to pull the blade free to do more. There was no answer save three sharp blades puncturing the head of the monster he sat on, a loud moaning noise coming from the monster as it slowly stumbled forward. Ah... It was...

Katsuya rolled off the spider, pulling his spear out of the beast and watching as Mokuba crawled out from underneath it. "Hehehe... Does that answer your question," he asked with a grin, Katsuya shaking his head in response.

"Hah! I guess," he said, shaking his head, before paling as the spider's corpse vanished. Rumbling had come through the air again, and now that the spider was dead it was more than clear- though Mai had taken out the Monster Tamer, the blade of her whip slicing through the man's neck rather cleanly, the worm still had its last orders to act on. All they could hear and see was the crumbling rocks from the walls as their ground support vanished, Mokuba turning from where he'd been walking toward the others with a hesitant frown. And then horror, as the sounds vanished briefly. "Oh fu-"

"_**GRUEEEEEEEEEE!**_" Piles of rock flew through the air, Katsuya finding himself airborne as the worm burst through the stone beneath him. He could see the rocks as they landed to the side, the walls decimated by its attack. He could see the faces of his friends, their eyes wide as they looked up...

He could see the long, circular row of gleaming teeth, held wide and spread apart as the mouth opened up for its latest victim. Shit... Katsuya's eyes widened, body unable to move for reasons beyond him. Shit... He was falling... It seemed slower than it really was, far slower, like some re-play on a soccer game... And then it all sped up again, and he found himself looking into an opening worm's mouth. Shit! The worm's large mouth opened still wider than it already was, the blond barely holding onto his weapon as he fell toward the opening with a shout. Face first, and in he went... And then it was all dark.

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba shouted loudly, calls drowned out by the worm's scream. "KATSUYA-NII!"

"Jonouchi-kun," Yugi shouted, he and Mai running forward and looking up with horror as the teeth from the mouth closed over.

Silence... Silence... Mai stared, shaking her head. This was a game... Just a game, so this shouldn't mean anything... Right? "Jonouchi!" Right?

With a sickening squelch the worm appeared to 'swallow', a lump appearing near the top and moving down to join the rest of its body. With one last writhing search for possible victims, the rest of the crowd drawing back in horror, the monster ducked back into its hole... Leaving horrified silence in its wake. "A-Ahhh..." Mokuba stared, eyes wide as the sounds of burrowing met their ears. "Ahhh... K..." Silence... Nothing but silence. No sign that he'd somehow survived, or re-started the game... Just... "K...Katsuya-"

"_**GUREEEEEE!**_" They jumped, an earsplitting screech tearing through the air from the tunnels below. "..._**REEEEEE!**_" The group stared as the worm abruptly tore back through the same hole it created, writhing uncontrollably as it screamed. The remaining walls crumbled as it slammed against them, flailing through the air from some unknown pain. "_**GUEEEEEE!**_" With a gurgling cry the middle of the beast poked forward, before being cut completely by a slime covered arm and blade. Still the screams continued, blood and bile pouring from the wound as the arm forced its way out and jammed the spear back in place. One slice was all it took, the arm pulling the blade around the side of the beast as the now severed top fell to the ground with a disgusting 'splat'. Wriggling on the ground for a few moments it slowly stopped moving, the source of its pain and end slowly stepping out from the corpse with rasping breaths.

"Guh... Ch... Hah... Hah..." Slowly Katsuya pulled himself from the corpse, spitting on the ground and shaking slime from his body. "Euuuughhh..." The others stared, the blond slowly looking forward and shaking the fluids off his body with a retching choke. "That," he said with another disgusted choke, greenish, white 'fluid' gummed in his hair and clothes, "Is way easier in th' movies... An'... Way less disgustin'," he added with a visible shudder, the corpse behind him vanishing with the gunk on his body as his lifepoints went up. "Next time I try tha'," he added, collapsing to his knees with a groan as his spear repaired itself as well, "Someone slap me... Alrigh'?"

He'd... Survived... There was silence, the two people that they'd just saved slowly looking at each other before the smaller walked over. Despite the slime and flesh and blood all being gone, it was a little hard for Katsuya to see for the moment... Despite 'raised stamina', that entire attack had been exhausting to say the least, given the smell he'd been stuck with inside the monster. The young girl came over to him, Katsuya watching with narrowed and confused eyes as he saw her face. "I must thank you," the girl was saying, her subject merely frowning as he looked over black hair and large blue eyes. "You, and your friends, you all saved our lives..."

Y-Yea... That was all great but... "...Mokuba," the blond muttered, the boy across from him blinking as he came over with the others. "...I think we got issues here," he muttered, shaking himself. Why..? Why was it...

That there were suddenly two of Mokuba? The others came over, swallowing nervously as the small girl stepped back. Despite the dress and clearly well-kept hair, the resemblance was... Astonishing, to say the least. "She looks exactly like Mokuba," Mai was whispering, helping Katsuya up and staring with wide eyes as the blond struggled to his feet before opting to lean against his spear. Mokuba and Yugi as well looked at the girl, staring as she was once again accompanied by the taller man in the group.

"I must thank you," the man stated, bowing deeply with slightly ragged breaths and pulling the group's attention from the eerie resemblances for the moment. "As Meyari-sama said, you have saved us both... Gh!" He abruptly broke into a fit of coughs, the girl beside him looking up with worried eyes.

"Earu," the girl said, lightly grabbing the man's arm as he looked down. "Please, save your breath... You've done too much," she continued quietly, "You shouldn't exhaust yourself further..."

The group stared, watching as 'Earu' merely shook his head. "I know," he said with a small smile, his staff clattering to the ground only to vanish into a fine gold dust. "Please forgive me Meyari-sama, but I must abandon this disguise for the moment... Fear not," he added with a confident smile, looking over the group with an odd expression. "We can trust these people." A quiet sigh was given at that, the man abruptly collapsing into a ball of light identical in colour to the dust of his staff. The light however, quickly cleared... In its place, a small unconscious body was on the ground, a form that the boys had seen once before.

"A-Ah..." Katsuya blinked, shaking his head as his vision cleared up. He stepped forward, looking at the ground with wide eyes. "The fairy from before..!" It... Got bigger? ...Uh?

They watched as 'Meyari' picked up the fairy, smiling sadly as the little one gave a small cough. "Earu," she said saidly, before hiding the fairy behind her crown and turning to the others. The girl gave a steep bow, before again looking over them with wide eyes. "For you to have Earu's trust," the girl said, shaking her head. "You must truly be powerful..." There was evident awe in her voice as she said this, the others merely listening and watching in confusion as the Mokuba-look-alike continued on. "I am the Queen of the lands beyond this cave, 'Meyari' of 'Gorador'," she said with a slight bow, looking over the four. "May I ask who you are?"

They shared looks, Katsuya coughing and speaking first. "Er... Jonouchi Katsuya," he said somewhat hesitantly, the others speaking as well.

"Kujaku Mai," the woman beside him stated, bowing slightly with a little less hesitance.

"Ah... Mutou Yugi," their friend added, nodding his head and smiling. "It's nice to meet you..."

Mokuba nodded, though he appeared visibly unnerved by the 'look-alike' standing before them. "And I'm Kaiba Mokuba," he said with a swallow, before looking down the path. "...If you come from the area past the exit," he asked, "From... 'Gorador'... Does that mean you know the way out then?"

The girl shook her head, biting her lip. "Forgive me," she said with a small bow, folding her hands in front of her. "But I'm afraid not... I became lost after I entered this labyrinth to find Earu..."

Ahhh... That wasn't good... "Well, there's no helpin' that," Katsuya said with a shrug, putting his spear back on the holster on his back while idly noting that his 'dog gauntlets' had claws on them now. Huh... More weapon upgrades? Ah well. "Guess we jus' have t' keep movin' then," he continued, starting forward with a slight nod.

The others nodded in agreement, following close behind as they began to move. "We're probably near the exit," Yugi said quietly, looking around with somewhat narrowed eyes. "The ceiling is beginning to rise, and the path doesn't appear to have any forks in it..."

Katsuya nodded, looking around somewhat nervously. So they were almost out then... That was great, but something didn't feel right. In fact... It almost felt like he was being... Watched... "Hey... 'F this thing 's based on th' match in th' Duelist Kingdom," he began, the path ahead slowly beginning to widen along with the rising ceiling, "Do y' think that means-"

A low rumbling sound came from above and across from them, the crowd looking up and swallowing as Katsuya was cut off. Light began to come into the room, seemingly emanating from the monster that stormed into existence before them. Blue legs held a steady base, a gaping mouth hanging open from the being that was 'Suijin'... Bottom and top were held in place by a tiny green sphere, 'Kazejin's cheeks filled with air and ready to attack from it's position in the center. And above it all, with hulking golden arms sat the third of the trio, 'Sanga of the Thunder'... And together, creating the monster they would now have to fight...

They were the Gate Guardian. "Does that answer your question," Mokuba said with a swallow, looking up as the others reached for their decks.

"Pretty much," Katsuya said nervously, before looking toward Yugi as the guardian above them stood protectively in front of the exit. They knew the power this thing had... If they were going to nail this in one hit though... "...We got one shot at this," he said seriously, looking back at the metallic beast. "That thing's got too much d'fensive power f'r us t' blast through otherwise... An' I don' think our weapons are enough to deal too much serious damage to it..."

Yugi nodded, looking back at his deck himself. "I have Polymerization," he said with a slight frown, reaching for the cards. "And combining that with your Dragon Nails, if we make the next draw..."

There was a pause, before Mai stepped forward and pulled a card from her deck. Another moment of silence, and the woman smirked, appearing to nod to herself as she stepped forward. "You boys don't worry about a thing," she said calmly, flashing the card in her hands to them before looking at the monster before them. "Just get ready to move when I say so, understand?"

The boys looked over, before nodding and drawing their cards. If all went well, they wouldn't have to get help... But depending on what Mai did, their chances could shoot up to an impossible advantage. For a brief moment, there was silence, each of them looking over their draw and turning toward their opponent as the Queen stood behind them. Mokuba's card vanished from sight, the boy quickly drawing his dagger while the others kept their hold on the cards. Weapons were drawn and readied... And with narrowed eyes the four turned on the Gate Guardian, each one taking a stance against the beast. Given Yugi's look, he knew what his friend had drawn... And now it was time for his own card! "_**Red-Eyes Black Dragon**_," Katsuya shouted, holding the card forward and watching it vanish into ash. In a flurry of black red flames the beast appeared, large black scaled wings spreading across a majority of the room before the beast took position alongside its master with a loud roar.

"_**Skull Demon**_," Yugi cried, black thunder striking the ground as his own monster appeared, thick bone claws flexing as the beast stood alongside the people at double their height. "Mai," he called, the woman beside them gripping her whip tightly. She had a plan... So what was it?

Mai turned, giving a single nod as she held her own card forward. "When the trap activates," she called out, cracking the ground with her whip. "Until then, _attack_!"

With pleasure! The boys charged, monsters running along side them as they went. It seemed mostly pointless to attack a metal monster with nothing but swords and arrows the blond told himself, Mokuba and himself running up opposite sides of Suijin in an attempt to reach the more vulnerable joints of the monster. Indeed, the Gate Guardian didn't even bat an eye as the boys struck, at least until Katsuya's spear found it's way into Suijin's eye. While Yugi focused on impaling the face of Kazejin above, Mokuba managed to gouge the second eye that Suijin had with his three claws, the monster giving a pained roar in response. Odd, silver fluid began to drip from the injuries, the boys staring in slight shock before the sound of rushing water met their ears. Slowly the two looked into the monster's mouth, turning back to the others with pale faces. "Ahhhhh... ...Mai?"

The woman didn't move, attention not at all moving from the monster ahead of her. "Not yet," she shouted, holding the card directly toward the monster.

Water continued to sound through the air, a small mist exiting the beast's mouth as the boys slowly made their way back down the monster's 'legs'. Rumbling was beginning to sound through the monster, and after sharing a nervous glance he and Mokuba again looked back. "...Maaaai," Katsuya repeated, the others turning to the woman as she shook her head.

"Just a little longer," she called, still holding the card as it began to glow somewhat. "It won't work otherwise!"

They looked at Suijin, Skull Demon and Red-Eyes both sharing unnerved glances as the boys ran off the monster lest the rumbling throw them off. They looked back, stumbling to a stop as the sight of rushing water met their eyes. "**_MAI_**," the blond shouted, before water abruptly shot forward from the beast.

"_NOW_," she yelled, tossing the card forward as Yugi and Katsuya pulled their own from their 'hands'. Mokuba ducked as the card flew over his head, appearing to burn before repelling the mass of water heading toward them. "_**Mirror Wall**_," she called out, a wall of ice and glass quickly growing from the ground and sending the water right back at the monsters.

Katsuya handed Yugi his spell card, the boy holding them up with a nod as their opponent roared in evident pain. Suijin's attack might have been halved... But the Gate Guardian's complete power still stood! "_**Polymerization**_," he shouted, the spinning portal appearing behind Red-Eyes and Skull Demon to pull them inside. Dust and ash flew through the air, slowly misting out from the portal to form a single enormous dragon in the monsters places, and with a mighty roar the bone armored dragon faced its opponent. "And next," the boy continued, the second card in his hand vanishing from sight as he held it toward the beast. "_**Dragon Nails**_!" Thick black claws appeared on the dragon's claws as it gave a manic and feral grin, before Mokuba tossed a third card to the boy with a shout.

"Yugi," he called with a nod, his friend catching the card and looking over it as the boy spoke. "Lets finish this now!"

Yugi nodded, lifepoints ticking down yet again as he held the third card up with a determined frown. "_**Quick Attack**_," he called out, he and Katsuya all stepping away from the Gate Guardian as the card vanished. Black Skull Dragon moved forward, standing above them and charging a blast of dark flames in its throat as the magic took effect. Mokuba joined the two beneath the beast, the boys pointing the enormous dragon forward with a shout. "Go, Black Skull Dragon... **_METEOR FLARE_**!"

Heat filled the room as the attack was released, and in a blast of fire the monster clattered into scrap metal pieces. The flames burned away at the metal on the ground, ashes filling the air as the Gate Guardian was destroyed. Smoke filled the room completely, clouding their vision as their lifepoints quickly rose from the finished attack despite the difficulty in breathing they were now having. A few moments passed... The smoke blew away, and when the dust cleared, both monsters were gone... And in the distance, there was a large wide tunnel. Katsuya turned to Yugi, smirking somewhat as the exit cleared for them. "Heh... Whaddya know," he said with a laugh, spear replaced on his back as the others put their weapons away themselves. "Looks like I got t' save th' card y' gave me!"

Yugi smiled, nodding at the statement. "Hah... That's right," he said, looking up at his friend as he put his bow on his shoulder. "That was a good draw, Jonouchi-kun..." The group turned, shouts coming from the other end of the tunnel as the others stared. "Ah... Who is that," he asked, turning as the queen beside them brightened.

"Ahh..! I know that voice," she called, running forward as the others quickly followed behind. Meyari stumbled somewhat, running forward and into the tunnels with a large grin in place. "Eri-san," she called, coming to a stop in front of a large crowd with torches. "Ah... ...All of you," she continued, hands brought to he face in surprise. "Oh... You all came..."

The others paused, slowing to a stop as they looked over the crowd. Mostly, it was made of soldiers, each well armed despite their hands being occupied with torches. Helmets covered half of their faces, thick mail covering their bodies. At the front however, stood a young woman, long black hair hanging behind her as she bowed her head toward the queen in evident respect. "Meyari-sama," she said calmly, spectacled eyes filled with worry. "Are you alright," she asked, the queen standing in front of her as she spoke. "We attempted to come into the cavern earlier, to aid in your search for the chosen ones of the prophecy, but we were stopped by a strange force..." Chosen ones? Prophecy? ...Well this _was_ a game he guessed...

Meyari nodded, smiling. "Of course," she said with a relieved sigh, before turning to gesture to the ones behind her. "Eri-san," the girl continued, "These people... These four heroes saved my life," she stated, looking back to the woman with wide eyes. "Do you think that perhaps, these people are..."

'Eri' as she was apparently called, blinked, before turning to the group with narrowed eyes, as though examining them for all apparent details possible. "...Perhaps," she said somewhat cryptically, the others sharing uneasy glances. "Perhaps... Great heroes," she asked, stepping forward with a polite nod. "I must thank you for your aid... What lands do you hail from," she continued, the queen standing in silence beside her.

"Ahhh..." The four swallowed, again sharing uneasy glances. Lands? ...What were they supposed to do, give their hometown, what... "Er... ...Tokyo," Katsuya said with a shrug, Mokuba smacking his forehead in response. "Gh- What," he muttered, looking down at the boy as his friend shook his head, "I ain't lyin'," he protested, crossing his arms.

The boy shook his head, muttering something about that not being the point before Meyari giggled somewhat. "Please... It's fine," she said calmly, the four turning to her as she smiled. "We needn't know... The world is vast after all, and not all lands are known to us..." Er. Yea. Yea he guessed that made sense. Um... "However, I must offer you at the very least, an invitation to my palace," she continued, bowing her head. As she did so, the crowd behind her did the same, bowing low and deep as the four shared awkward glances. The crowd stood again, Katsuya and the others looking at the girl before them as she continued to smile. "Will you come with us," she asked, staring at them with wide eyes. "Will you join us perhaps, for a dinner in your thanks?"

Come with them..? (And how would dinner work, now that he thought about it...) The four turned to each other, silent messages passed among the glances. They had a goal in mind already after all; save Seto, beat the game, get the hell out of there. Was there anything else to do, that would take them on that path though? This tunnel was their only lead... The tunnel that led to the country that these people apparently came from. Which meant that it was quite likely that this invitation to the palace in said country was also their only shot at getting to Seto... ...And if that was the case... "...Sure," Katsuya finally said with a nod, the others voicing their own responses as well. "Lead th' way."

* * *

A volcano's heat was often attributed as one of the hottest naturally occurring things on the surface of the earth. Next to lightning, it probably was... Depending on where you stood. Of course, who knew what sorts of strain the 'virtual' body could take. But given the fact that the heat was still present, it was quite likely that life was still present. Blinding heat filled the air of the 'dungeon' cell, a dry, smoking heat that threatened to blister her skin. It was as though the lava below had increased in volume... Coming closer, increasing the heat on what was apparently turning out to be a stone made slow-cooker. Seto wasn't the only one who could feel the heat; if anything, having been sitting and waiting as it slowly increased was better for her than for anyone coming into the room. But for the moment, the Witty Phantom could care far less about that. In fact, there was only one thing he really cared about, and she was currently hanging on a stone cross on a stone pillar in the center of a private volcano. "You're a real piece of work _aren't you_," he spat as he came into the room, slowly fading into appearance from the shadows to stop a few meters from his captive. There was no response from the woman however;she merely hung limp on the cross, head sinking forward to rest on her chest in an apparently exhausted slumber.

The phantom snarled, all 'class' abandoned in the duel monster's rage. "I can hardly believe the problems you've given us," he continued with narrowed eyes, still receiving no response as he paced around the room. "I send in one of the Sangan to restrain your legs, so as to _prevent further issues_," the monster spat, flames leaping from the lava pit behind him, "And you punt him into the lava pit!" He reeled on the still motionless woman, scowling as his prisoner merely continued to hang limp and motionless. "Sangan don't grow from the ground you know," he hissed, orange coloured skin reddening to a more crimson-gold shade as he growled. "I have half a mind to simply replace you with a separate sacrifice, deal with this problem some other way... I hear there's a nice young _Queen_ from the northern lands, actually _asking_ to be sacrificed..." 'Phantom' turned back, as though looking to see if he received a response from the words. There was only silence however... A fact that quickly proved to incense him even more.

He walked over, eyes narrowed as he slapped the still motionless woman across the face. Still no answer, and in fact, if not for the occasional movement from her chest he would say he was beating a corpse. "Are you listening," he snarled, shark-like teeth bared with rage as shadows appeared to physically radiate from his form. "I exist to torment my captives," the demon roared, the flames in the room leaping to intense proportions, "Not lul them into a sleep!" Another slap, and still no response as he finally leaned in to stare down at his captive's head. "Can you hear me," the demon bellowed, voice echoing around the room. "You little rat!"

Suddenly, there was a movement, an intensified heat in the air that had the phantom himself tense up, holding him frozen in place as silent muttering met his ears. Narrowed, ice cold eyes turned slowly upward, and with her own voice the woman spoke in a dangerously frightening tone that cut the monster's breath short. "Loud and clear," she muttered, eyes appearing to glow with an eerie light. "_**FIRE.**_"

In a mere instant, all that the phantom could see was red. In the moments before, for a split second he watched as Seto pulled her head back, taking in as much air as possible before blasting it forward in a stream of flames that engulfed the monster completely. The Witty Phantom fell to the ground in seconds... During which a howling and pained scream reverberated about the room, bouncing off the stone walls and down the hall. And still the blast of flame continued to stream from her mouth, the woman turning her head to the ropes that held her right arm in place and setting them ablaze before the attack finished. It hurt... It hurt like hell, she knew that well. Even so, she allowed the last of the fire to catch onto her sleeve and arm, watching as the flames ate away at the ropes that held her in place. Charred and weakened ropes tore easily against the rough stone, and in an instant her sword arm was free to pull the blade from her side, burning pain or no. She'd felt worse... In her dreams, her nightmares, she'd felt worse. The sword was gripped tightly and as she hung by her second arm, flames continuing to work at her first, she easily sliced through the second series of ropes. With a soft thud the woman dropped to the ground and shaking her good arm somewhat before moving calmly toward the still wailing Witty Phantom on the ground.

"Pathetic," she muttered, fires still burning across her right arm as they angrily ate through the skin to the muscles beneath. She should be screaming... In all honestly, she wasn't sure why she wasn't. But the fact was, that wasn't something to worry about right now; this was a game. And whatever pain she felt now would all vanish in an instant with her next move. The woman stood, watching as the Phantom slowly looked up with wide and fear filled eyes. The rest of the monster was burning away, skin blackening and flaking away. Was her arm doing that now? It felt like it... "Another mistake," she growled, coming closer as the phantom gave unheard pleas of mercy. The woman held her blade tightly, bringing it forward with narrowed eyes despite the fires that had now likely destroyed the nerves on her arm. "Forgetting that I don't need cards to fight, **_Phantom_**." With a single light thud she brought her blade through the monster, the top half of the burning corpse remaining in place for a few moments as she passed... Before falling to the ground behind her as she left the room through the acid green stone arch that held a rope bridge in place. Fires dimmed down instantly, vanishing from sight as though having been submerged in ice cold water. She ignored the cheerful 'beeps' from the empty deck holder on her wrist however, her lifepoints increasing by a small amount as she held her blade ready and stormed down the hall. Her arm was numb... She could scarcely feel it, and though the damage to her armor had been repaired her arm in itself was not in any sort of condition. Still she moved however, eyes glowing with a dangerous light as she moved into more castle-like halls from the 'dungeon' she'd been inside. Hold her in this game would they..?

They would regret ever entertaining the thought. She moved through the castle's dark paths, shouts already filling the halls in her wake. Already aware of her escape were they? A clever program, she'd give the board that. But she was far superior to some pre-programmed machine. The woman quickly ducked down a particularly dark hall on the side as shouts drew nearer, soon watching as a small crowd of humanoid duel monsters passed her by. In a stampede of footsteps they ran, quickly disappearing into the next hall and leaving her in silence as she remained in the shadows. Hnnn... She looked around a large pillar she stood behind, eyes narrowed in thought. While it would be 'easy' to fool the program, there was still the matter of doing so. Not to mention, the matter of 'beating' the game so to speak. And if she was going to get anywhere near the exit to this place to do so, she would have to either somehow sneak through the halls undetected for what would possibly take hours, time that she most certainly did not have... Or simply find some other way to hide and escape.

However that would be... Voices began to come from the other end of the hall, Seto tensing and drawing further behind the pillar. Tch- Well wasn't this great... She could always wait for them to pass she decided, listening as a single voice floated through the corridor. '_Ruddy sangan_,' the voice muttered, footsteps coming down the hall from what was likely one being and only one. '_And that Sanwitch too_,' it continued with evident annoyance, quickly proving to be alone. '_How did anything like him come into magic?_' Hnn...

A constantly talking NPC? Perhaps placed for a specific purpose, interaction with the player? Though going and doing that would be incredibly moronic, so it was far more likely to be something else really... Seto peered around the pillar, watching as what looked to be a darker form of the 'Lady of Faith' walked around the hall and began to pace. The hat wasn't the right colour, she realized with narrowed eyes, attempting to place the card. Black... The Lady of faith however had azure robes, with a rose coloured helm... And it's counterparts had matching blue or white robes, with either a golden helm or a green one.

This was a different card... One of the newer ones, she recalled with a frown, the 'Shadow Priestess of Ohm'. The only one that didn't look as though it would keel over first chance it got to fight. Seto watched as the woman continued to pace in front of the pillar, gritting her teeth and holding back a growl. Regardless of who she was however, she was preventing her escape! With the pacing that was going on now she'd never get out of this place! ...Unless... "...Hn..." A small smirk came over the woman's face, Seto twirling the sword around her hand in silence to hold the handle forward as opposed to the blade. Quickly... She had to move quickly... Silently she walked over to the priestess, ignoring the woman's ramblings as she moved toward the monster's back. Closer... Closer...

"I can't believe the Phantom would hire such a- Aaa!" The priestess turned, abruptly struck in the brow by the hilt of Seto's blade. For a brief moment the monster's eyes widened, red eyes staring back at Seto's own blue before closing over with a groan. "Hnnn..." There was a soft thud as the woman collapsed, Seto sheathing her blade and looking around the hall before pulling the priestess off to the side with her one good arm. Hn. Easy... Pathetically so for something that was just as strong as her 'Battle Ox', though she supposed the element of surprise helped with that.

If she didn't move quickly though, the monster would probably wake up, she told herself, tossing the monster roughly against the back wall and getting to 'work'. But if she simply killed it, she was almost certain that the robes would disappear, and as much as she didn't like the idea of having to hide, she _needed_ to get out of this place. Besides... Who knew what sort of advantages a 'disguise' would prove against the 'game' she was in. She pulled the helm off the woman's head, smirking at the thought before pulling it over and proving one of her silent theories. As she expected... Most of the hair was from a wig on the hat, meaning that almost her entire head would be covered by the large headdress. She took the robes and weapons off from the monster in silence, throwing them over herself as more voices came down the hall. Tch... Great, someone was coming already... She took the two urumi that the priestess had carried, hurriedly slicing through the now mostly cloth-less woman's throat in an instant and stepping back behind the pillar as the monster vanished into nothing. Monsters continued to pass her by, the woman watching as a trio of sangan followed by a child-sized version in white robes followed. Slowly they passed her by, leaving through the other end of the hall before Seto looked over herself in dull silence.

The clothes had remained intact... The monster was gone, but the weapons and armor were not. A dark smirk came on her face, Seto adjusting the large helm on her head before calmly stepping out from behind the pillar to re-enter the more lit hall. Her face was mostly hidden by the shadow of the helm, everything else hidden by the hair and robes. Hands gripped the urumi tightly, and in silence the woman walked through the castle. Holding the blades, she knew in the back of her mind that the weapons would not prove a foreign subject in battle, a fact that allowed the dark smirk to grow even further. The disguise was now in place, enough so that she could literally walk right out of the castle she bet... Provided of course, that a particularly 'intelligent' strain of AI wasn't in place on any of these monsters... So long as that wasn't happening, she would easily remain hidden in plain sight... Which left only one more thing for her to do really, she told herself as she regained her narrowed glare.

Get out of this hellhole and beat the ever loving crap out of the so called 'Board of Directors' sitting in her company building. Along with anything else in her way.

* * *

**AN:** Go for it Kaiba! Gooooo... ...Huh. Wonder what she'll do when she realizes that she's stuck on a _floating castle_. That's going to suck... Considering she has no cards and therefore cannot summon any monsters to escape. Ohhhh well... We'll see how things go anyways. By the way, _never_ try writing something involving a flaming-arm escape right after watching Scott Pilgrim VS The World. The overflow of epic-crazy-awesome from the movie will constantly tempt you to do terrible things... Which I thankfully didn't do, as that would be horribly out of character. Expect to see some SP inspired insanity in the attack on the castle however, given that it's... Well. In the air. Hehehe.

Now then, there's a bit of art for you below; the designs for 'semi-upgrades' Mokuba and Jonouchi received, Seto in the priestess' robes, along with a few spoiler-ific/concept images... (They _might_ be spoilery... If they make it past the concept stage.) ...We even have the maid that replaced the old woman who appeared in the anime. (Which occurs mostly for the rule of funny really. Because conversations in the next chapter... They'll center on it. A lot.)

Also, I have a grasp on how many chapters of this arc are left. Given that we are now 'half way' in terms of anime length (We're half way through the second episode, and since there are three of those...), I would say we have three chapters left, four at most. I say 'at most' because as much as I love typing combat scenes, it's also incredibly difficult to make it realistic and fun to read... Which is something I tend to get rather picky about. I will try though, just don't expect this arc to be more than three more chapters.

And in other news... Poll results are **Still Unchanged**. Go send in your votes people!

With that out of the way, it's time for the next section...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hello there MaggieMay! ...You know, I don't think being so cold that you can't think is safe, you should get that checked. Take it from a Canadian eh!

As for your impatience, you can definitely bet that if Jonouchi did that he would end up in a rather shallow grave that she made him dig himself. However, you should keep in mind that the 'breather chapter' after this arc (Unlike Christmas, I won't be stretching the next 'section' more than a chapter) is _Valentines Day_... And that works a little different in Japan. If you've watched enough anime however, you can probably guess what I'm implying though... Hope you enjoy the next few chapters!

And Iona! Hahaha! Well, technically about 80% of the fanfic is meant to be from his point of view really… It's just that the bare thoughts that make it obviously his point-of-view don't tend to come out on paper unless I'm completely confident that I'm 'IC'. (Ahehehe.) As for Anzu and Honda, what did I say? Forgetting people doesn't sit well with me, so I pull them in~. And I'll continue to! Glad it's proving interesting for you!

Hnn… Technically it's a one time appearance, that Noa cameo… But don't think that's the last cameo we'll see period; he's going to be testing his boundaries when possible, and trust me when I say that _someone_ will notice. (Very tragic really, his situation… Poor guy.)

What would they do indeed… I always wondered why people did that; I mean, it's pretty obvious that Mokuba has a good deal of his own intellect and maturity… Not to mention he's _just_ as protective of Kaiba as Kaiba himself (Herself?) is of Mokuba! Bahhhh… Oh well. (Granted, he _was_ a pretty big little snot in his initial appearance...)

I guess you could argue that Mokuba grew up too fast as well in a way; he just has a fair shot at making up for it in comparison to Kaiba. Also, _speaking of Epic!Mokuba moments_... You'll be seeing a few next chapter if planning serves me right... If the above wasn't enough I mean.

Enjoy~

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's hiding behind you with a pair of urumi _right now_... Mehehehehehe...

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Today's chapter title is brought to you by 'Distressed Damsels'; Kaiba ain't one of them. She will plot and conspire against you until you are so far into the fire that you're crispier than a burnt french fry. Speaking of crispy...

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Oh hey, it's Honda and Anzu! Throughout the three Legendary Heroes episodes, we occasionally saw extremely short snippets of these two, as they attempted to hold the door back from the guards. Poor guys...**

* * *

**In the anime, this scene was obviously much shorter; Jonouchi found Mai out when she used 'Mirror Wall' against his Flame Swordsman, and Yugi and Mokuba jumped into the field to explain things before Mai used her Harpy's whip to steal the Koke card as they made their escape... However, since in the fanfic, Mai knows damn well she'll get no experience from the fight if she just lets her harpy do all the work, she's in the fray as well... Also, I found it fairly interesting that she simply stopped fighting against Jonouchi, despite the fact that she figured it was just a game (albeit a game she was stuck in) at that point. One of those things I guess...

* * *

Summoner claaaaass~ It's the one that Yugi was considering, before he realized that it's a little better to get the monsters your facing rather than routinely pulling out the one you drew last, over and over again. (Not to say that Mai doesn't make her draw, buuuuut...) Also, a note on the summoner; though it only takes half as much of the regular 'price' to make a repeated summon, it doesn't cost _anything_ to pull out an 'allied' monster as the Archer. And the 'allied' monster stays with you until the very end... It's just that you can only have two, as opposed to the Summoner, who could have like... Fifty going at once (Though that would take a hell of a lot of lifepoints.)... Either way. The summoner could potentially swarm you, which is why it works with Mai's strategy (Summon the harpies, who draw strength from each other)... But the Archer gets his power from those few monsters that are on his side.

* * *

Interesting thing about the harpies, but they more closely resemble _Furies_; the Harpies are depicted as birds with women's heads. The furies on the other hand (Of which there are three) are women with claws and wings. Hurmmm... They represent the anger of the dead, which is kinda... Creepy. In any case, the names of the three are Alecto (Unceasing), Megaera (grudging) and Tisiphone (Avenging murder). Whoooo!

The Harpies themselves actually do have names though; apparently they are Airo, Ocupete, and Keraino. They come from three actual names for a trio of fairly famous harpies in Greek myth; Aello (storm swift), Ocypete (the swift wing) and Celaeno (the dark). So really, you could argue that their names are romanized versions of the real ones. (No 'l's, things like 'cu' are actually 'Ku', etc.) The names were given in the game 'The Falsebound Kingdom'. (Which also gave names for the three Blue-Eyes oddly enough; Azrael (Who is the angel of _Death_), Ibris (From 'Iblis', which is pretty much the Islamic _Devil_/Lucifer), and Djibril (Gabriel... In Islam.)... Oddly enough, you could say you have the perfect trio of 'Good, Evil, Neutral' here...)

* * *

Though a more interesting point about that battle though, is that Jonouchi actually says he's willing to fight through Mai to save Kaiba. Ehehehehehe... (I'm shameless, I know.)

* * *

Originally, everyone had to flee the old fashioned way; through the door. This resulted in a fairly large crowd chasing after them, along with Jonouchi pulling 'Trap Hole' on said crowd to keep them from following. That was originally going to stay in actually... But I liked the idea of escaping on the back of the Pet Dragon instead.

* * *

So… Anyone else wonder how they got four Koke from one card? Because I swear it, it's like the program in the anime was designed to be ridiculously _easy_.

In any case, 'Tetra' is another prefix type word for 'four'. Like 'quad'!

* * *

Mokuba knows that Yugi knows about Kaiba, mostly because Yugi kind of told him in an unseen scene at duelist kingdom… A scene that basically involved Yami Yugi flat out telling the boy (Away from the others obviously) that he 'guessed'. Something that irked Mokuba to say the least, but not for too long given that he was also told that Kaiba was on the island. And in any case, it also means Mokuba knows that Katsuya didn't open his mouth, which is good for him. But when Mai mentioned being in the know, it was kinda one of those '_You told her_!' moments, for fairly obvious reasons...

Just wait until this happens in front of Kaiba though, _oh dear_…

* * *

Obviously, monster summoning was quite different in the anime... Rather than Mokuba doing _anything_ until he went to spring Kaiba out, Jonouchi or Yugi did everything. In any case, Jonouchi summoned Red-Eyes about... Four times throughout the Legendary Heroes, and given that he only has two shots at it the way I'm doing it, I opted to have Mokuba cut down Sandstone the easy way. Because personally, Red Eyes was a little overkill for something like _Sandstone_.

* * *

So here's a good question, why is there a giant temple-like structure built around the cave of death? Seriously, it was this huge building of sorts, holding the entrance to... A _cave_. My theory? Wasn't always a cave of death so much as a tunnel between the two lands… And then things happened, and now that building is a ruin. CURSES! (Makes sense to meeeee...)

* * *

Originally in the anime (both dub and not dub), Mai says something along the lines of Jonouchi not seeing that there was a woman right in front of him (In the dub, she specifically says he must have realized she was out of his league. HAH, what?)… But since fanfic Mai already considers Jou taken, and because I'm pretty sure that Polarshipping _isn't _canon despite the constant blatant signs of it, she instead references the conversation outside.

* * *

Now before anyone asks why, when Earu dying in the anime triggered a 'switch' between 'Yami' and 'Yugi', the same didn't happen for when Jonouchi almost died, allow me to tell you this. That scene happens a little differently... And it's going to be more than just the fairy dying that triggers it.

* * *

Hey look it's Iru the fairy! (Or rather, 'Earu', pronounced 'Eh-Ah-Ru'. Iru was his dub name.) But Usagi, why was Iru fighting too? (More importantly, why was Iru tall?) Because I can't really see that little tiny guy doing any fighting… Yet he technically did in the anime, and he got killed (mostly) for it. Whyyyyyy... Um. Anyways. (Also I was on a design streak, so sue me.) Annnnd hey! It's Queen Meyari! The dub called her 'Princess Edina'. What's wrong with child Queens, 4-kids! There will be more on her after this by the way; most of the conversation in the anime takes place in the carriages as it is, sooooo... Yea.

* * *

I _think_ I got the country name right. It's mentioned in the Japanese version, I know that much. I just... Can't remember what it is exactly. It's either what's above, or at least _close_.

* * *

Is the Mirror Wall overkill? Probably, given that Black Skull dragon had enough power already. But the fact is, Mai doesn't know what kind of power either of these monsters have (As Gate Guardian was specifically created for the Duelist Kingdom and she never encountered it.), so she's not taking chances. (And personally, I would be quite surprised if the Gate Guardian was a well known monster given the reason it was created.) In addition, they don't know whether or not they're facing three monsters in a stack, or the actual Gate Guardian; because they could do that, and since a monster can only attack once… (In fact, it seemed like the Gate Guardian could actually work that way if you took out the one on the bottom or middle as opposed to all three at once.)

* * *

Lava (Which is what Magma is when it's above ground... Like in the case of the somehow still floating castle Kaiba is stuck in) is anywhere between 700 and 1200 degrees celsius (The latter of which is around 1500 fahrenheit last I checked.)... Lightning? Double that number and _then_ some, coming in at 30,000 degrees celsius. The reason why people survive being shot in the face with that sucker rather than lava however is probably because lightning lasts a split second... Lava is always there, and sets you on fire. Whooooo...

* * *

'Rat' Usagi? _Really_? After all the other things that go flying around in this fanfic? Well... I had a fairly large list of things that the demon could call her... But unfortunately, I just found them too sketchy. Mostly because a lot of the insults that go flying a woman's way tend to be... Erm... Sex-centered, in my experience. It's probably just me, but everything else just doesn't fit. (At least not in a 'rolls right off the tongue' sort of way) In any case, being called a rat can be a bit of a sore point when it needs to be, not that Kaiba cares...

* * *

Speaking of fire, Kaiba's escape went a little like this; she punted the sangan into the lava pit (She was just trying to kick it actually.), which got her 300 lifepoints and enough experience to hit level three. This meant she could upgrade that shiny fire spell she has in her repertoire... Then, using 'Gift of the Holy Elf' from her 'hand', she gains another three hundred lifepoints. This ensures that she not only has enough to actually use the now triple-powered fire move (She bothered upgrading it because she _knew_ that the demon would otherwise not even bat an eye at that attack), but also that she'll live through burning through her own arm in the process; the flames only last as long as the 'battle' is on... Once Witty Phantom was dealt with, so was the fire. (She still burned through her own arm though!)

* * *

Sanwitch is this adorable little fusion monster that can't actually exist unless you use a substitute for fusion, as the Witch of the Black Forest, one of the materials for it, is an illegal card now. It's made up of that witch and the card 'Sangan', who ironically have opposite effects; one searches for a monster with 1500 attack, while the other searches for a monster with 1500 defense. Sanwitch on the other hand, has no effect, likely because both the effects would activate the moment the fusion happened. (The monsters have to be sent to the graveyard for the effect to activate.) Also, don't think this is the last you've seen of it. Ehehehe...

* * *

'Shadow Priestess of Ohm' is effectively a darker, stronger counterpart to the Lady of Faith... Along with Dryad and Doriado. (And better looking too.) In any case, I picked it because A) It's got very flowy robes, which tend to make for a better way to hide body shape and identity, and B) It's a monster you'd likely see in an evil castle centred on Duel Monsters… Mostly because its effect is fairly handy; you can tribute dark monsters to inflict direct damage to the opponent. In any case, unlike the other counterparts to this card, which are all praying… This one isn't. This one is holding a pair of urumi, and looks very much prepared to slice someone's head off. Hehehehehe...

* * *

Urumi are pretty much the exceedingly deadly (To both the opponent and the wheedler) lovechild of a sword and a whip; the entire 'whip' is a long blade to say the least, and to make matters worse, most urumi have two blades on them… Similar to a cat o' nine tails. So very very deadly, to say the least... So much so that you're liable to take you your own hand with them.

* * *

What? Kaiba escaped? But what about the anime Usagi? What about that! Everything will be fine guys, don't worry…

Everything will be fine... (BWAHAHAHAHAAA!)

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**FanArt and My Art Section**

Do I have to tell you to take the spaces out of the link to get your full link? ...Well, I said it at least.

See if you can figure out where I got the maid design from in the meantime...

SpoilerConcept: Tauk & Rod - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ MoreEyeConcept. jpg - You can probably guess which one represents what, but one fact remains and that is that these designs are _not final_... So you're more than likely to be in for a surprise when these two really _do_ appear. Though I do have to say I like the idea of setting Jonouchi on spiritual fire... Brings out my sadistic side I guess. OH WELL.

Jou & Mokuba's Upgrades... And a maid - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ TwoWarriorsOneMaid. jpg - As to why the other two didn't get an upgrade? They technically did, in the form of paying less lifepoints for crap. Yugi played _three spell cards at once_ up there; the cost? Far less than it would have been if he tried that stunt earlier on, trust me on that. In any case, we have Mokuba's awesome sandstone gauntlet, complete with three blades that threaten to rip off the X-Men... (Whooooops~) ...Jonouchi's remaining 'armor' from the coliseum battle, which actually _does_ increase his defense and such; the gauntlets and greaves both upgraded as well, and have rather sharp claws tacked onto them... And he'll be keeping these in the next battle by the way. Lastly we have that maid, who replaced the old woman from the anime. First person to guess where her design came from (she has golden eyes by the way) gets a big cookie and a warning not to choke on it while they laugh.

The Perfect Disguise! - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ TheDisguise. jpg - It's flawless I tell you! Flawless! And it really is if you think about it; besides her eyes, there is nothing in there that tells you 'this is Kaiba in disguise'. I absolutely detest that hat though, _oh my god_...


	49. Chapter 48

**Decoy Damsel Situation  
**

* * *

-_**BRAM!- -BRAM!**_-

Boxes shifted against the constant pounding at the door, dust falling from the pipes on the ceiling from the force. At the back of the immense pile that they'd been shifting in case it finally gave however, Honda and Anzu were still pushing back with all their strength.

-_**BRAM!- -BRAM!-**_

'_Open up_,' the voices from outside called, Honda and Anzu deciding not to grace the demands with an answer. '_Let us in!' _Constant pounding was bruising their arms, and in the morning it was likely that they would be coloured a deep blue-purple. There were deep impressions from the boxes on their palms and sides, both teens holding their push against the door. And still the pounding continued, shouts from outside marred only by an almost soundless buzzing noise from the other side.

-_**BRAM! Br-**_-

The pounding abruptly came to a stop, Honda's eyes widening as he looked at the door and shook his head. "What th-" The teen pulled back, silence coming through the air as a few stray particles of dust fell to the ground. "They... They stopped," he muttered, looking to Anzu with wide eyes. The woman gave a hurried shrug, as if to say '_well don't look at me_!' before muttering came from the other side of the door. It was one-sided... Muttering, pause, muttering, pause... "Hang on..." He leaned against the barricade they'd made, narrowing his eyes as he attempted to make out the words with little success. "What are they talking about..?"

Anzu as well leaned into the pile, frowning as she attempted to make out the words as well. "It sounds almost like they're on a phone," she said after a few moments, narrowing her eyes as well. A lot like they were on a phone actually... And if not a phone, perhaps... A radio? She stood back, shaking her head in slight confusion. The words were completely muffled... She couldn't make anything out at all. So then what... "...What could they possibly be talking about..?"

* * *

The 'What' that they could be talking about was a good question actually. To get the answer however, one would have to travel a number of floors up, to the second highest level in the building... To a large and dimly lit room, where on a large sprite filled screen a small victory fanfare was playing. The members of the 'Big 5' all stood up from their observation of the 'game' almost simultaneously, watching as the first of the three... Now two screens since the 'merge' of two parties, under close eye began to show action. Within moments, close and detailed pixel versions of faces came across the screen for a spell... Fires coated the monster that had stood guard in the dungeon cell, and in seconds their captive was a fugitive as opposed to a prisoner. It had only taken moments... But those moments were enough, and those moments were more than shocking.

"How can this be _possible,"_ Ota hissed under his breath, the others turning on him almost instantly with the question. The screen seemed almost frozen on a seemingly empty hall, but the five all knew perfectly well who was standing behind that pillar within the game. It should have been impossible... Completely impossible, and yet-

Daimon was the first to answer to the question, eyes wide with a mix of surprise and rage as he turned to the man. "We should be asking _you_ that," he growled, fists clenched tight as the small pixelated form of Seto Kaiba walked free across the screen, striking down a passing monster and vanishing from sight again. "You were the one who programmed the codes required to hold him in place," the man shouted, "You _swore_ that no man of his body type would be able to escape!"

The tech expert grit his teeth, narrowing his eyes. "Not everything relies on game code," he shouted, turning on Daimon as well. "And what does it matter the specifics of what just happened," he continued, "The fact remains that he's escaped! So why don't one of you try coming up with a plan yourselves!" The glares continued to bounce about the table, muttered insults remaining as nothing more than just that.

"I say we deal with this as we should have long ago," Oshita muttered under his breath, glaring at the others as he spoke. The men turned, listening as the older of the group continued "We should have pulled the plug on him hours ago," the man spat, glaring at the screen. "We could have had this dealt with easily had we done that!"

"And I already told you," Oka drawled, adjusting his glasses as he looked the others over. "To do that would be _fatal_ to us, as it would involve over-riding the safety protocols on the pod. It's one matter for the multiplayer system," he continued, turning away from the screen. "After all, those machines haven't entered the emergency mode yet, so they aren't protected... But if an investigation were to occur, finding even the slightest hack, our entire strategy would be _shattered_," he warned lowly, eyes narrowed dangerously as the others fell silent.

The five fell silent, before Otaki dropped his briefcase to the ground and moved toward the door. "What are you doing," Ota muttered, watching the man leave.

Otaki snorted, pulling the door open and shaking his head. "What does it look like you morons," he said with a growl, "If we expect to get anything done we're going to need to deal with this from the inside!"

The inside..! Ota swallowed, eyes widening briefly. Putting themselves into the game to program it from within was one thing when they were the only ones inside... However with other people playing, they would need to discern those people's actions, work around them, prevent the attack code from targeting _them_... "You realize what kind of risks that entails," he asked slowly, the others turning to the man as he continued. "We could well end up in the same situation as our victims if we aren't careful! Making all our work pointless!"

"Hn! In that case, we'll just have to be careful, won't we," Otaki answered, bowing his head with a smirk. "You designed most of this after all! Programmed and built it... Why wouldn't it be safe for us to continue the programming while others are playing from within?" Because the mere presence could- Nevermind.

There was an awkward silence, Ota growing slightly red before storming past the man. "Fine," he spat, pushing past the door as the others followed behind. He pulled out his phone, tapping a few buttons in as they moved for the elevator. "We'll need to make sure to get out within half an hour minutes of full override," he continued, one of the others hitting the 'down' button and waiting for the doors to open. "It's the only guaranteed way to get rid of them without leaving any evidence!"

Oka smirked, arms crossed as they stepped into the elevator. "You seem _nervous_ Ota-san," he said almost humorously. "Shouldn't something you put so much work and time into be a comfort rather than a pain?"

The man grit his teeth, fixing the other four with a nasty glare rather than answering as he waited for the phone to pick up. Just did not understand the details of these things, did not... There was a small click, and he turned away from his coworkers. "Saruwatari," he muttered, the guard on the other end waiting for any orders in silence. "Unlock the door to the second single-player room, but touch _nothing_" he continued, surprised questioning coming from the other end. "Don't ask questions," he shouted, narrowing his eyes as his coworkers merely stared, "Just do it!"

The phone clicked, Ota folding it over and tossing it back in his pocket. The doors to the elevator had long since closed over, elevator moving steadily downward to its destination as the others held seemingly professional gazes. In a few moments, the door was opened... The five headed steadily toward the room, Saruwatari already standing at the side of 'Test Facility 1-B' as they moved in. "That will be all," Daimon told the man as they moved, the guard bowing his head in response. "Go back to what you were doing before..."

"Of course, Daimon-sama," the man said calmly, before making his leave back to those down the hall and outside the multiplayer room. The board in the meantime closed the door quietly behind them, turning to look at the otherwise silent room with frowns. The lights were on of course, given that they couldn't well cut the power and get away with saying 'it was an accident' when there was clear record that they were aware of Kaiba's presence. Unlike before however, during Mokuba's escape, the room had changed somewhat.

The pod, which had opened during override had closed over again. And yet despite this, upon the screen at the side the words 'emergency override' were flashing, sparks literally pulsing from the cord attached to the device. It was a dangerous mode of operations for the device... Glitchy, almost fatal... But extremely well watched and well recorded, the codes unable to simply be erased or altered as with everything else. Only an inside job could fix this... Only that. In silence the men moved past the device, instead walking to the back and moving a small panel of the wall to the side to reveal a number pad. With the others behind him, Ota entered in the code. Five... Five... Five sets of the same number, a code so ridiculously simple that no one would likely guess through it. That was the logic for anyone who found the complicatedly hidden entrance at least. If it had been so carefully hidden, shouldn't it also be carefully coded?

With the code entered in, there was a loud 'hiss' from between steel panels in the room. A door slid first back into the room, and then to the side, leaving a large entrance to a somewhat darker room... A room far larger as well. In the center of the room sat an enormous super computer, to which five virtual reality inducing pods were attached. Though terribly lack-luster in comparison to the 'beta' pods, these machines were more than powerful enough to handle the same, if not more intense programming. There were already cards in the machine, not that they really used them. It had only been to test certain portions of the game that any of them had even bothered to pick up the cards. It served a bit of irony for the situation at least... With the 're-focusing' of KaibaCorp, they'd been forced to create machines based on the games that their current CEO so loved; so why not kill him with it? The men walked in, Ota moving over to a large 'master computer' to the side and tapping a few keys as five pods in the center opened up. Seconds was all that it took for the devices to turn on completely, Ota not looking up from the 'keyboard' as he spoke. "Automatic login is being initiated," he stated clearly, the men taking their seats as the devices closed in on them and held them in place. "Automatic override," he added somewhat nervously, tapping one last key before looking back to his coworkers, "Will initiate fifteen minutes after the completion of the game... If it comes to that."

"Not that that would happen," Oka said with a slight frown, watching his coworker run over to the final open pod.

He stepped in, taking his seat and watching the device close around him and start up. "No," Ota muttered under his breath, the glass sealing over him completely as a timer appeared across the screen on the helmet. "Not at all..."

'_One Minute to Moderator Login_,' the computer stated, the board members lying back and shutting their eyes in wait. This was it... Perhaps they'd find out how Ota's program had been over run while they were at it as well. There had to be some reason after all... Things like that, things decided by a computer, did not simply 'disappear'. '_Thirty seconds_,' the computer continued, a timer appearing on the larger screen outside of the room despite there being no one to see it.

'_Three,'_ the computer calmly counted, Ota silently praying that what could possibly be his most advanced creation wouldn't turn on him,_ 'Two,'_ it continued, the screen blackening as sensations and feelings vanished completely with the neural inhibitor taking hold of their minds._ 'One..._'

_-click_-

The 'gods' had arrived.

* * *

This castle was probably the most ridiculously designed building she had ever seen, after Pegasus' own. With Pegasus, there had been a somewhat 'consistent' way of telling where you were despite the insane number of hallways. Namely the flowers that the man had, for reasons unknown, become so attached to. Or so she had been told by the man's young protege's during the dinner party she had attended before sealing the deal between I2 and KaibaCorp for the 'Duel Box'; despite being raised by someone who was in her opinion a raving lunatic, she had to say... She hoped to hell that Gekko took the company rather than his brother. He was idealistic true, but at least he was somewhat _sane_. It was not the time to consider the details of company negotiations however, the woman reminded herself as she unconsciously rubbed her almost useless right arm, burnt skin unable to feel the touch for the moment. Rather, it was far more important to figure out how the hell she was supposed to navigate the castle she was in _now_. Seto held a steady glare as she walked through the halls, any other monsters she spotted passing her by without a second glance. One turn led one way, another turn led one way... One would think it was designed specifically to confuse, rather than hold an entire army of AI programmed monsters. In fact, it probably was, given that half the monster's she'd seen could simply walk through the walls...

Even so, she told herself as she pushed through a large door to enter into a courtyard of sorts, that was far cry from something that could stop her. The woman adjusted the helm she was wearing as she moved forward, passing through the enormous door to an even larger 'courtyard' that could likely double as a forest. Seto looked up at the sky, thick black clouds swirling above in odd patterns as the occasional monster flew through the air. Strange, she thought with narrowed eyes, slowly walking down the courtyard path and looking up to study the sky. The way the clouds were moving she would almost say that _she_ was the one moving through the air, along with the ground she was on... As with the helicopter to Pegasus' isle, the sky was turning against what made sense, appearing to curve against the axis of the planet itself. But this was a castle... There had even been a lava pit inside the dungeons, there was no way that this place was hovering in the air, not with this much land.

Then again, she told herself as she moved through the courtyard, moving past the arch at the far end of the 'forest', this was a game. And in a game, she found herself recalling with wide eyes, barely catching herself on the edge of the wall as bits of ground crumbled beneath her feet, anything was possible. Including the ground simply dropping off into nothingness. Burnt fingers gripped the side of the wall as she caught herself from falling, wide eyes looking out at the large stone ring that hovered around the castle. Despite her general demeanor she couldn't stop herself from taking deep breaths, staring down to what had almost been her end. Down below, far down below, she could see nothing but endless scores of duel monsters, dragons and demons alike all soaring through the air. Monster upon monster, flying in the same direction and occasionally with a flightless one on their back. If she squinted, she noticed, she could see past them. She could make out the small, coloured specs of ground that made up village roofs, rivers, mountains, plains, farmlands... She could literally see an entire country from where she stood.

Not something that was making her feel calm... Not at all, she told herself with a swallow, pulling back from the crumbling courtyard edge. It was by far the last thing on her mind she decided as she stepped back, looking down at one of her 'options' of escape. If it could be called that, she told herself, continuing backward until she was a safe distance away from the edge of the castle. "Tch..." She looked through the arch, watching as a thick stone ring hovered a few hundred meters in front of the cliff's edge. The kanji 'yami' hovered in the ring, a clear sign of what she was standing on. 'The Castle of Dark Illusions'... How the hell did she end up with the luck to end up th- Right. The morons who designed the game. Seto narrowed her eyes, attempting to lower her heart-rate as she calmed down. Computer or no... That sort of height was more than just a 'chill' after almost walking off a cliff. Far more than a chill, when she'd almost brought it on her self. Nonetheless...

The woman turned, biting her tongue in thought. She needed to find a way out of here... Get her deck back and leave this pl-

"_**GROOOAAAAAAAAOOOOO!**_" Seto's eyes widened, the woman turning with a jolt as a large white figure appeared in the air. The black clouds against it served as an easy way to keep an eye on the monster as she squinted, attempting to make out the details on the monster only to step back with wide eyes as she realized what the creature was. Enormous and leathery wings beat the air as the dragon closed in, Seto growing almost as pale as the monster's scales as the trees around it flattened against its power. With an echoing quake the dragon landed at all fours, the woman before it holding her arms up in a failed protection as it let loose another roar. "**_GRAAAAOOOOOOOO!_**" The force of the air was more than enough to throw her off her feet, sending her flying by a number of meters before rolling to a stop.

"Guh..." She coughed, pulling her self up despite the cracked and broken bones the strike had caused. This monster... She turned, stumbling to her feet and watching as the monster walked over. "Blue-Eyes..." The dragon reared, eyes glimmering with a light that was far from friendly as a second sound came over the air to accompany its low growl. This noise... A frown came over her face, light tones of a pipe coming over the air. Music... An eerie piping melody that hung through the air with a chilling tone... She gripped her urumi, watching as a smug, one-eyed monster leered down from the top of the dragons head. It was well protected... Blue-Eyes scales would be completely untouched by the blades in her hands, but that wasn't the point. She couldn't fight this monster... As strong as she was, she knew damn well that the dragon was stronger. Eyes narrowed dangerously as she stared up at the piper, the woman's hands shaking. "Gh... You _bastards_," she hissed, despite the knowledge that the target of her rage couldn't hear her. Blue-Eyes was already charging a blast of white flames, the woman unable to move from the spot for a moment as her own monster stared her down. Finally however, with a loud roar she charged, jumping into the air and turning her blades on the piper. "You _B- _GHN!"

"_**GRAAAAAOOOOOOOOO!**_" White flames cracked across the courtyard, cutting off the woman's shouts in an instant. From the jump she had made she was pushed back, urumi dropping from her hands as the robes she wore were set ablaze. There was nothing but white in her vision... Nothing but cracking flames in her ears. Even as she fell to the ground, unable to move, the only thing she felt was a burning pain that stung across any part of her that wasn't covered by the robes she wore. There was nothing but pure white fire... Surrounding her completely as the rest of the world faded out of existence. Taking her dragon... Turning it against her... How dare they, she told herself with a growl, managing to find the strength to reach out as the shadow of her dragon vanished from sight. How dare...

The last thing she saw as the light cleared from view, eyes closing over as her hand dropped to the ground, was a violet suit... Along with the Witty Phantom's grinning face as he spun his cap atop his fingers. The phantom... But that was impossible...

She'd killed him, hadn't she..?

* * *

It was probably to be expected that rather than horses pulling the carriages they were in, it was a series of birds. They needed birds to travel the desert, other people had been mentioned using birds... It was probably just something about this game in general really. They weren't Koke that were pulling them though; no... There was only one weird ass bird that came in purple and orange and had no wings, and that was 'Speak'. As to why it was called that, who the hell knew. Personally, he was wondering why the hell the birds were pulling the carriages in the first place... They had a really... Really creepy stare to say the least. Katsuya poked his head out the carriage window, watching as the exit to the cave disappeared behind them. Unlike the entrance on the other side, the 'temple' that was built around this one had fallen into ruin completely. There was nothing but weathered stone behind him, along with a large gaping 'hole' from the cave exit. And damn it, _good riddance_ pretty much described his thoughts on that completely. "Well," he muttered, slowly pulling back in for what the others felt to be the umpteenth time since they'd left. "No one weird seems t' be followin' us... Don' know how we'll be gettin' back if we need t' though..." Because he wasn't going in that cave again. He really wasn't.

Mai shook her head, sighing as Katsuya leaned back on his seat again. "You need to calm down," she said with a slight frown, crossing her arms. "I sincerely doubt that we're in any danger from these people, we just finished saving them after all..."

Beside her, Yugi nodded, a small smile on his face. "That's right... Besides," he continued, looking from Mai to the others. "The queen seems rather polite... And," he added with an honest grin, "She also seems to be modeled with you in mind Mokuba, so I don't think think that we'll have any problems..."

Mokuba blinked, pointing at himself. "Er... You think she acts like _me_," he asked, Katsuya shaking his head from beside the boy.

"Somethin' tells me... No." He rubbed his head, laughing somewhat as he looked at the boy beside him. "Personally, I jus' wanna know what th' hell th' board was smokin' when they modeled a _Queen_ off yah..."

The boy frowned, crossing his arms with a growl. "Gh- I don't want to know really..."

"It's not just the queen actually," Mai said from the side, leaning against the open carriage window in slight boredom as they traveled. "Though the resemblance _is_ far more apparent," she added with a slight handwave, the boys turning with confused stares. "I'm fairly surprised you boys didn't notice," she said with a small, if not rather surprised smile. "I found it rather obvious once I spotted it..."

Katsuya frowned, leaning back on the carriage seat. "Eh... Spotted what," he asked, the others listening in as well with slight frowns. "I didn' see anyone else w' look-alike faces..." He... Didn't think he did at least... Sure as hell weren't any guards that looked familiar...

The woman shook her head, looking them over with a sigh. "Well, like I said," she began, turning to face them completely. "It's quite subtle! Unless you look carefully at the maid's face it's impossible to notice," she continued, the others staring with continued confusion. There was a moment of silence, Mai giving a somewhat exasperated sigh before explaining. "She's been modeled based off of Kaiba's body type," the woman went on as the others frowned, Mai rubbing her head slightly. "Whoever designed this game essentially took her height and weight and added a few cup-sizes... Of course," she added with a shrug, facing the boys with a slight frown. "Since Kaiba is currently pretending to be male, I'm almost certain that the resemblance is even further off than expected..."

"O-Of course it is," Mokuba sputtered with a cough, going slightly red as he scowled. "Seto-neesama looks nothing like that character... She doesn't even _sound_ anything like that character!" Got that right... Though at least it was just 'different' as opposed to sticking some middle school girl's voice there.

"Hnnn..." The others turned, watching as Yugi crossed his arms in thought and stared at the carriage ceiling. "Actually, now that I think about it..." He looked back down, blinking. "While the hair and eyes are obviously not the same, the facial features are almost identical... The Big 5 don't know the secret," he continued with a slight shrug, shaking his head somewhat, "With that in mind, it's only natural that Kaiba-san's voice would be off... Though... ...I wouldn't know myself," he added with a laugh, scratching the back of his head.

Well, unless Seto ever said anything outside the house in her actual voice (Though the fact that she was even doing that was surprising, according to Mokuba)... Katsuya snorted, shaking his head as he stared out the window and watched a number of trees and village homes slowly pass them by. "Now tha's an understatement," he said with a long sigh, staring out the window a few moments longer before pulling back in. "I guess th' Board figured tha' if Seto-chan made it this far, an obvious character modeling would mean a death sentence..." If everything else already didn't...

"Oi!" Katsuya turned, tensing up as Mokuba scowled at him. "And the fact that the Queen has my face wouldn't get the same reaction," Mokuba growled, the blond laughing nervously in response. Ehhh... S-Shit, digging a hole... Um... What to say?

The blond coughed, looking for something to change the subject with before the carriages abruptly came to a stop. Oh. Hey! That was... That was handy... "A-Ahh... Hey," he said with a nervous laugh, gesturing toward the window. "We're here!"

"It certainly looks like it," Mai said from behind him, before lightly pushing him out of the way to step out of the carriage. The woman stretched somewhat, looking around as she moved forward before staring with wide eyes. "Ahhhh... This place is huge..!"

The boys followed after, stepping out of the carriage and looking up at the enormous castle with equally large eyes. "It... It's bigger than Pegasus' castle," Yugi muttered with wide eyes, the others nodding in silence. So big... How the hell were they supposed to find anything...

"Excuse me..." The four turned, boys staring as the maid from before walked over. The woman bowed slightly, face held mostly impassively. "I must again thank you for your efforts in protecting her highness," she stated, appearing only slightly miffed as the boys attempted to glean any resemblance between the woman and Seto from her face. She coughed somewhat, before gesturing to the side. "We have prepared a banquet for you in our dining hall," she stated calmly, "If you could follow me, I will lead you to the room while her highness freshens up..." There was a span of silence, the woman adjusting her glasses as she fixed the boys with a look that said 'stop staring, now'. Needless to say, they did just that, before nodding and following after the woman.

Mai frowned somewhat as they followed the maid in silence, cape fluttering behind her somewhat as they moved. "Hnnn... I would think that given the cave we just came out of we would be told to clean up as well," she muttered, eyes narrowed as they moved through the torch lit halls.

Katsuya shrugged, shaking his head and turning to the woman. "Eh... It's probably 'cause 'f th' clean up we all get at th' end of a fight," he said, looking back to the front as they came through another hallway. "Heh... I don' think I'd 've gotten within a foot 'f th' carriage otherwise," he said with a laugh, before shuddering with the reminder of the enormous worm that had swallowed him. That... That was not something he wanted to think about right now, he told himself as they walked through the castle. Not at all, he thought as they came to a large set of double doors. Hihhhh...

The maid ahead of them pushed the door in, standing to the side to reveal a large and expansive dining hall already prepared with an almost as large table of food. "After you," she said politely, the four walking in. "Please," the woman continued, moving to join the Queen at the far end of the table, "Take a seat."

They did so, Katsuya looking over the food as his stomach in question growled. "Aww man," he muttered, staring at the meal with a swallow. It smelled... Really good... "F'rgot how long it's been since we started all this..."

Mokuba frowned, shaking his head from beside the blond. "Katsuya-nii," he muttered as his friend started scarfing down the food without abandon, "No matter how much you eat you're only going to be just as hungry when you wake up..." The others turned, Mokuba continuing on regardless as Katsuya seemingly ignored him. "It's just a game, none of the food is actually real..."

"..E-Eh..?" The four turned, both Meyari and her maid staring with wide and confused eyes for the moment as the others froze. Wait- They actually heard that? An awkward silence hung over for a moment before Mai coughed, slightly red in the face.

"Aha... It's nothing," she said with a quick laugh, waving the subject off as Katsuya returned to eating. "A long story, it's just an inside joke, alright?" She turned as Katsuya started choking, eyes wide as the others looked toward him as well. "A-Ah- J-Jonouchi, are you-"

He continued to cough, slamming a fist into his chest before swallowing what was in his mouth to take a large and relieved breath. "Ha-Hahhh... 'M fine," he said with a nod, leaning back and leaving the rest of the food as it was. Damn... Seto was right... "Jus'... Jus' fine... This food," he continued, pointing at the table somewhat weakly with a small laugh, "'S really great, y'outta try it..."

He'd just be sitting out himself, giving his throat a chance to relax really... ...Honestly, he was full anyways... The others turned to their food, shrugging somewhat and slowly taking bites of their own meals. It was a bit of an awkward start... But the others were a little less prone to leaving it as such, thankfully. "Ah... Meyari-sama," Yugi asked, turning to the Queen as they ate. Meyari in turn nodded politely, looking at the boy as he continued. "Earlier in the cave," he began, "You mentioned the 'chosen ones of prophecy'..." The table sounds fell short with those words, the meal postponed somewhat as the boy spoke on. "What did you mean by that?"

The queen blinked, before bowing her head. "I see," she said quietly, tone almost sorrowful as she spoke. "You heard Eri-san then..." Eri? At the mention of the name, the maid turned to face Meyari somewhat, Katsuya blinking in response. So... The maid was named 'Eri' then? Huh. Ok... "I will explain," Meyari said quietly, looking over the four at her table. "For centuries," she began, "The people of Gorador, along with those of Gortas, to the west, have been forced to sacrifice one of their citizens to the Five-God Dragon, the ruler of the Black Castle to the north... Refusal," she continued with a swallow, fear more than evident in her voice, "Results in the destruction of both our lands, regardless of which people refuses action..."

Katsuya swallowed, sitting up in his seat with wide eyes. Er... Y-Yikes... That sounded like the typical video game stalemate he supposed... Except for the part where it wasn't either-or really. That was a little extreme. They stared, listening as the girl continued on. "The exchange has occurred for over 1000 years," she explained, gaze lowering to stare blankly at her plate. "From Gorador, a young maiden is always taken... From Gortas, a young warrior, sometimes native, sometimes not... However," Meyari said with wide eyes, turning to look at the side where an elaborate tapestry hung, "It is possible that despite all this, not all is lost! It was prophesied," she continued almost desperately, "Five hundred years ago by a traveling seer... '_When five by five score years pass from this day, the Legendary Heroes will arise from the far west... And with the aid of the redeemed one, the demon of the north shall fall..._'"

'The redeemed one'? And... How many years was 'five by five score', what did that even mean... The four stared at the tapestry, the image of a praying and blindfolded woman at the bottom of the fabric. Probably the seer, Katsuya told himself, moving his gaze from the blond to the rest of the tapestry. From her hands came many rays of light, illuminating the image of what looked to be the same shining white 'bird' from the cavern archway... It fell, seemingly 'dead' from a large dark castle, mechanized head obscured by its wing. And behind the figure he noted, there five unidentifiable shadows... Each of which looked oddly similar to those in the temple outside the cave. "Hold on," Mai asked, shaking her head as the others looked away from the tapestry. "You mean that you believe that... _We_ are these 'legendary heroes'?"

Meyari nodded, turning to the four with wide and confident. "I do," she stated plainly, staring at them as the four blinked owlishly. "Just hours prior our encounter in the cave of the lost, we received news from Gortas that their sacrifice was sent... A young man from a distant land," she explained, Mokuba visibly perking up. "A warrior who was passing through... There is only one sacrifice left," the girl continued with a worried frown, "But perhaps with your help, not all is lost! Perhaps," Meyari added, "Perhaps, this year, no lives will need to be lost..."

Katsuya shook his head, laughing somewhat dryly as Mokuba muttered something about the 'warrior' almost certainly being his sister. "Man," he muttered, still shaking his head before looking to the others with a smirk. "How did I figure that this would happen," he 'asked', crossing his arms as the smirk grew. "Heh... Looks like we're right on Seto-chan's trail," he continued with a grin. "All we gotta do is find this 'Five-God Dragon' and kick 's ass, and then it's all over!"

There was a slight wince from the Queen with those words, 'Eri' sending him an oddly familiar glare that silenced him fairly quickly. Across from him, Mai had a similar response, shaking her head with a sigh as she looked at the younger blond. "Don't think that will more than certainly finish things," she warned, frowning. "This game was programmed specifically to deter us, or at least Kaiba, from what you boys told me... And if that's the case," she continued, tone growing grave, "I wouldn't be surprised if there was a catch..."

More awkward silence filled the air as Katsuya coughed, turning away from the confused stares that Eri and Meyari were sending them. The others as well shifted rather awkwardly under the stares, having realized the again awkward situation they'd thrown themselves into. Er... Maybe they should just not talk about the 'game' for a while, the oddly well programmed NPC's were starting to look a bit edgy about things... And who knew what would happen if _that_ went too far...

"Er..." Yugi scratched his head, before turning to the Queen in an attempt to change the subject. "Maybe we should just focus on the Five-God-Dragon for now," he said with a nervous cough before continuing. "Meyari-sama," the boy asked, bowing his head somewhat. "You said that only one sacrifice was taken, right?" The others turned at this, somewhat curious gazes following Yugi's own as the Queen nodded. "If we act quickly," Yugi continued, "Then maybe, we can keep the second from being taken, while finding the location of the Black Castle!" The others brightened at this, looking over at Yugi for a moment before looking back to the Queen. "Do you know who the sacrifice is," he asked, Eri abruptly paling and turning away with the words.

Well. That look was never good... There went his mood. Meyari swallowed, turning down before speaking. "That would be... Me," she said somewhat hesitantly, the maid behind her wincing as the others bit their lips. Oh... That was a little... Awkward... "In my absence," the girl said quietly, "Eri-san will reign over the kingdom, as she did during the time when I was too young to rule... And I believe she will do a fine job," the queen continued, a somewhat forced smile on her face as she looked toward the four. "I would much rather sacrifice myself than one of my people."

"Your highness," the maid protested somewhat quietly, eyes narrowed as she turned to the Queen. "This kingdom would do far better under the rule of the true royal family-"

"The decision has been made," Meyari said firmly, not looking back at the woman as she stood from her seat, moving back from the table with a sigh. "I will sacrifice myself for this kingdom, as others of this land have done before me... There has been too much pain Eri-san," she continued with a sad smile. "Far too much."

The others as well stood, swallowing nervously before Yugi spoke. "...Meyari-sama," he said with a small bow, the queen turning toward him. "We won't let you sacrifice yourself," the boy stated firmly, a slight frown on his face. "We'll protect you, by any means possible... And we'll stop this Five-God Dragon," he continued, the others nodding in agreement. It was a little weird, the feeling that was going into those words... Though they knew that these people didn't really exist, there was still the sense of responsibility, the sense that if they just stood by and 'let this happen', regardless of whether or not Seto would end up killed in the process, they would still feel an intense guilt over everything that happened. That despite the knowledge that said otherwise, these were 'real people'. ...Why the hell did _these_ NPC's have to be programmed so well damn it! It was just too weird... After all...

They weren't real but... Well... Meyari looked over them, eyes wide before she steeled herself with a nod. "Thank you," she said quietly, before steadying her tone. "Thank you, all of you... Eri-san," she asked, the maid turning from where she stood as Meyari looked over to the woman. "Take these brave warriors to the armory and outfit them with the strongest robes of their size... If we are to fight," she continued with a strong tone, gaze hardened to the seemingly hereditary stare that Mokuba and Seto both had habits of displaying, "Then we must be prepared..."

* * *

_Drip... Drip... Drip..._

What was that sound..?

_Drip... Drip..._

She felt wet... But it was too dry in the air for that...

What was that sound..?

_Drip... Drip..._

_...Drip..._

Seto breathed raggedly while sounds slowly but steadily re-entered her mind, a pressing and nigh unbearable heat making its way into her lungs. It was burning, each breath... The hottest of saunas couldn't compare to the dry feeling coming in and out of her throat. As dry as it felt inside however, the sweat coating her body was worse, leaving her uncomfortably damp against the pressuring heat. And yet it wasn't this discomfort that was pulling her awake after the attack she'd sustained from her dragon. Instead, it was the steady drip of sweat coming off her nose as her head hung down to rest on her chest that was slowly bringing the woman back into consciousness. A constant 'drip' marred just slightly as she moved her head with a small groan. Hot... It was hot in here... So where...

Her eyes slowly opened, the intense red glow of the familiar stone dungeon meeting her eyes. Lava was bubbling below, to the point she could see the edge of the liquid along the far end of the wall, the bridge and exit held safely above the molten ground. "Damn," she muttered under her breath, the feeling of her body slowly returning to her with a vengeance. While her right arm was thankfully spared any pain thanks to already destroyed nerves her right shoulder and side was not spared the feeling in any way. On her left arm... The woman bit her tongue, coughing as she took in dry and heaving breaths. The deck holder was gone... Completely gone... Even so, she forced herself to ignore that as she hung from the same stone cross she had been tied to before. It wasn't the time to think of that... It wasn't the time... This place... She was back in the dungeon...

"I see you've woken up," muttered an eeriely familiar voice, Seto's only response being to frown as she looked up from her position weakly. That sound... The woman attempted a growl as she leveled a weakened glare forward, the voice echoing around the room. That was... From nothing but shadows the demon appeared, slowly fading into existence as the he walked forward on the bridge. He leered smugly as he stopped a few meters away, pulling white gloves over his hands before adjusting the cap on his head with a small chuckle. "Did you enjoy your little _run_," he asked, eyes narrowed as the woman swallowed. "You certainly provided a minor distraction for us... Running through the castle as you did..."

Nothing but a distraction was she..? Tch... "..." A dry throat served little use for speaking... Attempting to moisten it was pointless however, as her entire mouth was just as barren. She managed to speak nonetheless though, despite the weakness now striking her body as it hung from the rock. "Gh... _Majin_," she muttered, taking a ragged breath and looking forward with narrowed eyes. How, she thought darkly, looking at the demon with rage. How, how, _HOW!_ "How are you_ alive_," she managed to force out, eyes narrowed in the closest thing to rage that she could physically muster in the face of the monster.

The demon merely held his sneer, looking at the woman from across the room. "'Monster Reborn' you little _bitch_..." Oh that one was new... "You should be glad you're still living," he hissed, staring the woman down from where he stood a safe distance away. "A direct strike from your _precious_ Blue-Eyes would be enough to burn through the strongest of _diamonds_," he spat almost bitterly, "And yet you managed to escape with barely a scratch, the only 'damage' being the robes you stole from one of my servants..." The monster shook his head, clicking his tongue almost mockingly. "One could almost say it was actually holding back," he said with a grim sneer, Seto slowly raising her head back up to send an iron glare to the monster. "Out of some sort of cruel _mercy_ for you..."

Bastard... She pulled at the chains, ignoring the burning pain in her shoulder as she leaned forward. "_Release me_," she spat, pulling violently at the chains that held her in place on the rock as the demon across from her watched in silence. "And you'll find out just how _lucky_ you are to be alive right now..."

He merely chuckled, a wicked grin on his face as he bowed mockingly before the woman. "I don't think I will," he said with a sneer, pulling up from the bow and turning away. "You see 'Seto-sama', as we speak we are retrieving our second sacrifice... And in just a few moments," he said with a wicked and feral grin, "Your wonderfully powerful dragon will bring it right to us like a loyal _dog_, heralding _your _end..."

Compare her dragon to trash would they..! The woman snarled, pulling at the chains with renewed strength as her eyes widened. "Gh... Don't you dare," she spat, the demon merely chuckling as he began to vanish from sight. "Don't even think of using my dragon for your own ends, you piece of shit!"

"'Piece of shit'," the demon repeated with a chuckle, slowly fading out of existence from the feet up. "Really dear '_Seto-sama_', you can do far better than that... Tsk tsk tsk..." He shook his head, grabbing his hat in one hand as he continued to fade away. "Enjoy your last few minutes of life," he said darkly, his voice echoing about the room as he finally vanished completely. "It's all you'll have..."

"Gh... Get back here," she roared, pulling fruitlessly on the chains as she was left alone, un-charred wrist growing red against the pressure. "_GET BACK HERE_!"

* * *

"Hwaaaaa..." It had probably only been about half an hour since the end of 'dinner', but already the armor had been doled out and for the most part pulled on for a readied battle. "I'm beginning to really get a feel for this game," Mai said with a stretch, walking out from behind the change curtain with a large smile. She straightened out the black and white robes she wore, leaning slightly on the large staff she now held in her hands. "It's nice to get out of form fitting clothing once in a while," she added, stretching again as Yugi swallowed and stared at the seemingly 'out of character' armor Mai was now wearing. The woman cracked her knuckles, looking down at where the boy was sitting on the side with a smile. "You don't look so bad yourself," she added, the boy nodding somewhat nervously as he looked himself over in question. "Very 'steam punk'," she continued with a wink. "I like it!"

"A-Ahh... Thanks... I..." The boy coughed, fingering the large three-bladed boomerang in his hands. It was all fairly interesting how the armor had been handed out really. Whereas Mai's outfit had apparently done a full one-eighty from tight and revealing one-piece to open and flowing robes mostly reminiscent of traditional miko priestesses, Yugi's armor had more or less gone under an 'upgrade' rather than a change. His headband for one had been replaced by a set of leather bound goggles, formerly cloth armor now mostly made up of similarly faded leather and denim cloth. Like Mai, his weapon had been switched out as well; though while Mai's at least appeared to have whip-like attachments on the end, he wasn't completely sure how his 'archer/ranger' had ended up with a giant, folding, three-bladed shuriken of sorts. An odd silence came over the air, the boy coughing as he attempted to think of something to say. These clothes felt a little weird... It was part of the game sure, but... "You look good as well," he finally said with another nod, still somewhat red in the face. "I.." He shook his head, laughing nervously. "I've never seen you wear something other than... Erm..."

The woman laughed as her friend fumbled over a 'polite' way of stating the mostly obvious, shaking her head. "Ahhhh... I see... It's fine if you stare," she said with a smile, taking a seat beside the boy and putting her staff from the side. "I got the same reaction from Anzu-chan... I answered the door in a sweater and jeans," the woman stated casually, "She had the same shell-shocked expression for about ten minutes before she realized I was asking her to come in side! Ahahahaha!" Mai shook her head, still laughing before turning to the boy. Yugi in question was merely nodding at the words, slightly redder in the face than prior despite the considerable covering on the woman beside him.

"Right..." He coughed, placing the boomerang in the sheath on his back and turning away somewhat. "I guess... I'm just a little nervous I guess," he said with a slight laugh, attempting to change the subject. "Actually... About the fight..." Another cough, and the boy shook his head before frowning. "...Mai-san," he asked, turning to the woman before being cut off.

Mai shook her head, still smiling despite her friend's confusion. "There's no need for formalities," she said somewhat dismissively, still laughing somewhat as she leaned against the wall. "Just 'Mai' is fine, it isn't as though we've only met you know..."

There was a small pause, before he nodded again. "R-Right... Alright then Mai-s... Mai," he corrected with a slight cough, turning away a moment before looking back with somewhat renewed confidence. "...I wanted to ask... Why are you helping us?" The woman blinked, turning with somewhat wide eyes as Yugi continued. "I mean... This has nothing to do with you, and you don't even know Kaiba-san that well," he said quietly. "Yet you're helping us, even though you could probably die..."

She stared, smile softening as she stood up and grabbed her staff. "Why am I helping," she repeated, shaking her head before winking. "Because we're friends, aren't we? It's been a long time since there was someone I could honestly say that to," she continued, closing her eyes with a sad smile. "A very long time," she repeated quietly, before looking back at Yugi. "To have someone I want to fight beside is a nice change- so you shouldn't expect me to back down, right?"

The boy blinked, before nodding with a small smile as Mai held a hand out to help him off his seat. "Haha... Right," he said with a smile, adjusting the clothes he was wearing before looking back at the room. "So... How do you think the others are d-"

"O-Oiii," a familiar voice shouted from the other side of the curtain, rustling coming from behind it. "Y-you can't be serious..." The two turned, listening as Katsuya and Eri's voices came from the other side of the room at rising volume. "There's no way I'm wearin' that!" The curtain was pulled back, a mostly un-armed, if at the very least shirtless Katsuya edging away from Eri as the maid scowled rather angrily.

"This is the armor of our very strongest warriors," she insisted with a growl, storming over and going so far as to attempt to pull what looked to be a furred tunic over the blond's head. The blond of course resisted completely, pulling it in the opposite direction as he stumbled backwards. "Now please either put this on or hold still so I can do so for you!"

The blond tensed at those words as he escaped the 'tunic', clambering backwards and away as he tripped back over a trunk. "Ack!" He pulled himself up as the maid continued to storm over, the blond shaking his head with wide eyes as he continued his attempts at escape. "Hi-Hihhh! No way," he shouted in a panic, a number of helmet and armor stands tumbling over as he was continually chased around the room by a still walking maid. "I ain't wearin' that cave-suit! I don' care how strong it is, I've got limits!"

Eri appeared to visibly bristle with anger, hair standing on end as the woman continued her 'attack'. "Now listen carefully," the woman stated lowly, Mai and Yugi sharing raised eyebrows as they watched on with mild confusion. "I was given specific orders to make sure that each of you were armed with our best sets of armor and weaponry," she growled, finally succeeding in grabbing the blond by the arm and pinning him to the ground. She pulled the teen's arm somewhat painfully behind his back, ignoring the small shout of pain as she held the 'tunic' in her other hand. "And I will not go against those orders!"

"Gh-" Katsuya attempted to worm his way out, eyes wide as the others continued to watch. He did not like this position, he did not like this position _at allllll_... "G-Get off me!"

The light sent an odd glare across the maid's glasses, the woman grinning almost wickedly as she moved forward with the tunic. "Not until you are fully armed!"

HAHHHHHH shit! "That thing is worse than a toga, I ain't doin' it! Nyhhhhaaaa!"

"Ahh..." There was a cough, the two freezing as footsteps came into the room. "Eri-san?" The two turned, Mai and Yugi following their gaze as Mokuba and Meyari both walked out from where they were still getting changed. For all appearances, the only thing that told the two apart was Mokuba's mostly skin-tight 'ninja' garb and Meyari's plain white under-dress... Otherwise, both the Queen and Mokuba had their hair tied back in a pony-tail of sorts, the only other defining detail between them being the slight curve the Queen's body held. Meyari walked over, hair partially pinned up against her head as she handed a pile of dull coloured clothing toward the maid. "I believe that he should perhaps wear these as well..."

The maid stood up, Katsuya doing the same and brushing himself off before taking the clothing from the Queen. He held up the shirt in question, blinking as the sleeves fell to the side of it. "Eh..." He put it back in the pile, looking at the furred tunic the maid still held before turning back to Meyari. "Y' mean that fur thing goes on top 'f this?" There was a calm nod, both Meyari and Mokuba giving somewhat amused smiles as the room fell silent.

Eri abruptly flushed pale with the knowledge, coughing awkwardly before giving a steep bow. "Oh my... I... You must forgive me," she muttered, pulling up and going rather red while Katsuya stepped back with a surprised blink. "I had not realized that the armor came with those particular pieces of clothing... I was under the impression that it was a 'stand-alone'..."

"It's fine," Meyari said with a small smile, shaking her head as the maid continued to flush. "Now," the girl continued, bringing her hands back in front of her. "I need to finish putting on the sacrificial robes," she said rather calmly, turning to the side to look at the boy beside her. "Mokuba-sama," she asked, the boy jumping slightly at the form of address from what was 'royalty', "Could you perhaps help me..?" The boy blinked, before nodding with a small smile.

"Eh... Sure," he said with a nod, an odd expression on his face as he looked toward the others. "Katsuya-nii," he said with a grin, the blond in question looking over. "I'll see you in a bit, alright?"

The blond nodded, grabbing the rest of the armor he'd been handed before smiling. "Right," he said, before moving toward the 'change room' Mai had used and pulling the curtain back. "I'll be right out," he muttered to them, pulling the cover shut behind him and dumping the pile in his arms on a box to the side. Alright, he told himself as he pulled off the rest of his original armor. Lets see what he got... He held up the buckskin clothes he'd been given, shrugging before pulling on the pants. They were fairly comfortable to say the least... Well, he supposed, the shirt following after as he gave another shrug. He supposed that now that he was wearing something underneath that weird-ass 'tunic' he felt better about all this... He pulled the shoes it came with onto his feet, before staring at the gauntlets and greaves that replaced his last ones for a brief moment. Kind of interesting how similar they were to his last ones... Like the other ones, they were clawed, making them resemble (in a somewhat horrifying way) skinned bears arms and legs... Though he had a feeling he could probably get away with kicking a monster in the face to get rid of it with the size of the claws on these ones. He tied the greaves in place around his legs, shaking his head as the claws extended a few inches past the simple moccassin-like shoes he had on. Holy _shit_... Good luck standing on his toes?

He shook his head, pulling the armor over his clothes before grabbing the last few pieces. The sheath for his weapon was pulled over his shoulder and tied securely in place, the 'tunic' following shortly after... Making sure that the belt was tied tightly around his waist, he grabbed the last piece to put on his head before looking himself over in a glass mirror at the side. "Huh..." He nodded somewhat, before smirking. "I don' look too bad," he said with a grin, adjusting the large bone helm he wore before grabbing the also bone axe from the side to put in its sheath. Huh... Not bad at all... This looked pretty cool actually...

Katsuya walked out from the curtain, watching as Mai gave an approving nod. "Ahhh... _Nice_," she said with a smile, Yugi as well nodding in agreement as they stood. "Now we just need to wait for Mokuba and Meyari-sama and we'll be ready for anything," she continued, looking toward the other room in question. That was right, they were both getting robed for this right? Though if Mokuba was suddenly a ninja he didn't see why there would be anything else to his own clothes...

Not a moment after that thought however, the two walked out, Meyari presumably being the one wrapped completely in white robes while Mokuba himself appeared to be covered head to toe in almost samurai-esque armor. Looked like he was wrong, Katsuya told himself as the boy came forward and flexed his fingers to test the armor. Very wrong. Hell, with all that covered the two, there was only their eyes visible... A skin-tight mask on the 'ninja', and a large cloak and scarf for the Queen... And while the sheer wide expressiveness of Mokuba's eyes had to throw him off for a moment, Katsuya had to grin. Looking _good!_ "Heh... Man," he said with a laugh, the two looking up at him in silence as the blond grinned. "If I didn' know any better, I'd say you two could've switched places on us! This' insane!"

The two laughed somewhat, the sounds muffled by the cloth veil and mask that one or the other wore. Briefly, he thought he saw the two glance nervously at the other... But that had to be his imagination right? Katsuya moved to say something else, only to tense as he was cut off by a loud thunder clap from outside. Turning to the windows in shocked silence the sounds of rain quickly met their ears, Eri coming out from the side room to stare out the window with wide eyes as what was once a calm sky began spitting out rain and hailstones. "What was that," Mai muttered under her breath, looking through the window as the skies went completely black. Thick sheets of rain covered the lands outside, the stone already dyed a dark grey under the layer of water. "It was clear just moments ago," she continued to mutter, "How could it be raining..."

"They're here," Eri hissed, eyes wide before she turned to the Queen with renewed professionalism. "Meyari-sama," she said with a stern gaze, holding her hands out before her. "For your own sake... Please, stay here, understand?" There was no answer, Meyari merely nodding somewhat through the thick white robes before the maid turned to the others. "The monsters of the Black Castle have come for their sacrifice," Eri explained stiffly, grabbing one of the torches from the wall. "Please... Follow me," she continued, rushing through the door with the others behind them at those words.

It was not far to the battlements from the room they had stood in; merely turning down the hall took them to a door that led outside, both the 'heroes' and the Queen running on to the wet stone behind the maid as the sky took an even darker turn. Rain already pounded the ground from the skies below, the fields in the distance slowly beginning to flood beneath the pressure. Yet for all the rain did as their clothes were instantly soaked through, Meyari and Mokuba both remaining inside the doorway, that was by far the least of their concern. Their problems were a little more... Fatal... Than the rain could be he decided, numerous screeches filling the air as dark 'blots' on the sky developed into monsters. Far more fatal.

"Gh... Don't summon anything," Yugi warned, pulling his boomerang as the monsters slowly moved closer from where they came in. From where they were now they couldn't see any more detail than the colour of their bodies... But it was more than likely that those details would clear soon enough. "We don't know what kinds of monsters will be attacking, it's too much of a risk... There's too many," he continued, gripping his boomerang tightly. Perhaps that was why he had the boomerang rather than the arrows? The blades sure as hell looked like they'd take out a monster faster than the arrows would...

The others merely nodded with the warning, Mai gripping her staff as Katsuya twirled his long-handled axe with narrowed eyes. The battle was beginning... Behind them, Mokuba as well drew his weapons, holding a pair of wakizashi as he stood protectively in front of the Queen. The monsters moved closer... They could now make out the first wave in full, spotting dragons, demons, spell-casters... "I'll hold th' fort here," Katsuya shouted to the other two, both Yugi and Mai nodding in response. The blond took a prepared stance, drawing a card and allowing it to disappear into his 'hand' in silence. Time Wizard... A good card. But even with his general luck he didn't want to risk it. This was a game right? A program right? So if they'd done something to rig his chances... He swallowed, steeling his gaze and replacing his grip on the axe. No matter... "You two c'n handle long range a lot better than I can..." A lot better...

"Right," Mai said, twirling her staff and looking forward as a large eye-ball like creature swooped in. In a single instant the monster was dissolved, six razor sharp, bladed chords piercing through it as the woman swung her staff toward it with the flick of her wrist. "We're counting on you then," she continued, running forward along the wall of the battlement to continue attacking the coming monsters. "Good luck Jonouchi," she shouted, looking back before slicing through a number of beasts in one go.

Yugi as well charged forward, pulling out the boomerang from his sheath and tossing it forward for it to cut through numerous creatures before they even gained the chance to reach them. Watching as the weapon spun through the air, he pulled a card from his deck, glancing at the name before looking back at Katsuya with a small nod and smile. He had something... Turning back to catch his weapon as it returned, Yugi held the card high as the swarm of monsters began to close in. Already Katsuya had been forced to turn his axe to the air, cutting through a few approaching monsters with his new weapon. Looking forward in a moment of rest he had he had to stare in relief. He could see the card from here... This was- "**_BLACK H_**- Ach!" He grabbed his hand, hissing as a blade sliced past his fingers to pin the card he had prepared to summon to the ground. Blood seeped from the wound as Yugi looked the hand over, before pulling it back with a wince and watching as his spell card vanished into the air. "Gh... Who..."

"Yugi," Mai shouted, turning from where she was attempting to deal with a large and oversized eagle type monster. The 'Sonic Bird' screeched with rage, attempting to bite through the whips that were now embedded in its wings before moving to try his hand at returning the favor with his talons. Mai quickly ducked under the strike, turning her head back to Yugi yet again as she shouted. "Watch for the Armed Ninja," she continued, pulling her whips taut as the bird she was fighting became little more than tattered ribbons. "He's heading your way!"

Gh- The armed ninja? Katsuya paled, looking back to Mokuba and Meyari before scanning the building around them. Nothing... There were no monsters coming through the area... He couldn't see anything... 'Armed Ninja'... That was the thing that took Seto wasn't it..? "Gh-" The sound of footsteps came through the air, Katsuya running over to where the two kids stood with wide eyes. "Mokuba! Meyari!" A blur of black jumped across the field, Mokuba turning around only to find Meyari already gone as the ninja stole away with its prize in his arms. In a single motion the ninja pulled himself to the roof of the battlments, running across the stone as the others stared with narrowed eyes. "Tch... Like hell," he growled, running down the battlements on the ninja's tail. A series of boxes stood at the side... Katsuya charged up the pile, flipping himself up to the roof as the ninja headed toward a tower on the side. "Haaaaahhhh!" One step, two step... The blond hopped off the wall of the battlements, pulling himself up the tower roof and shifting his grip on the axe to the bottom of the handle. In a single swift motion the blade was swung forward, axe coming toward the Ninja in a wide arc before an echoing thud was heard over the pounding rain. "Take that," he shouted, the ninja collapsing to the ground in a bleeding twitching mess as his head toppled to the side. Now then... ...Er...

Wait, who was holding the Que- Katsuya jumped forward as Meyari began to fall, reaching out to grab the girl with his free arm as he fell to his stomach at the edge of the roof. Shit! He dug his axe into the side of the roof, extending his reach in an attempt to grab the Queen's hand. Shit, he wasn't going to- "Jonouchi-kun," Yugi shouted, Katsuya blinking and looking forward at the shout. "Look out!"

The blond looked up, hurriedly pulling back onto the roof as his axe came free, a blast of white hot fires burning the ground where he stood moments before. Shimmering white scales almost seemed to glow under the pounding rain, Katsuya stepping back as the dragon stood before him. Times like this he realized how much of a 'break' this was from actual duels... Even his clay dragon topped this one. Even so, the monster was huge... And as it stared him down, the blond had to swallow. "B-Blue-Eyes," he half asked, watching the dragon soar upward with a grinning piper sitting tall on the beast's head. The piper played a steady, dark series of notes on the flute, 'second mouth' grinning wide as it stared the blond down. The piper was missing an arm Katsuya noticed, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the 'stump'. How did that- He froze, slowly adjusting his grip on his axe as he spotted the dragon's second cargo. "Gh-" There, tied firmly to the base of the dragon's leg... "Shit!"

Sitting rather confidently on the bottom of Blue-Eyes hind leg a small white-robed witch sat, chuckling darkly as it tied a final knot in the net rope he held. The queen lay motionless in the net as it dangled below, their ride rising into the air as Katsuya charged at it only to be met with another blast of wife flames. The blond threw his arm up as he was tossed back, skidding across the ground as the flames melted through the stone. He pulled himself up, watching the dragon fly further out of range with wide eyes. S-Shit!

Shocked and angered shouts filled the air... The monsters began to clear the skies, swarming Blue-Eyes in order to take the damage from Yugi's boomerang as he threw it forward. For all that Mai's whips did however, Yugi's boomerang cleaving through monster after monster, the result was still the same. Within moments, all moves to attack were made pointless... And for all the lifepoints they'd gathered in the onslaught, the result was still the same. The seemingly controlled Blue-Eyes was long gone, the storm clouds and rain slowly following behind it... Along with their only hint at Seto's location and the location of the 'Five-God Dragon'. "Damn it," he muttered, gritting his teeth as his fists clenched. "Aaaagh!" He slammed his axe into the roof he was on, kicking the side of the tower with a rage filled shout. "Fuck!"

"Well," Mai said with a somewhat exasperated sigh, the blond turning as he ripped the blade from the ground. "Don't hide your feelings now..."

Gh... Damn it! He jumped back to the ground, walking toward the others. Not good... Not- "Oh no..." The blond frowned, turning toward 'Mokuba' as a somewhat familiar voice came over the field. "Oh no no no no no..." Yugi and Mai also froze, tensing as they turned around to where 'Mokuba' had fallen to 'his' knees. W-Wait... They walked over, shocked into silence as their friend held 'his' hands to his mouth and shook. That wasn't Mokuba's voice... That was... The figure pulled the helmet off their head, tears running down the girl's face as she pulled down the mask. That was the _Queen_. Oh _hell_. "Mokuba... They took..." She swallowed, attempting to calm herself down as she continued to shake. "Oh this is all my fault..."

They continued stare, eyes wide as the girl trembled. "M-Meyari-sama," Yugi asked, swallowing as the girl slowly looked toward them. "But..."

"You two... Y' actually switched places," Katsuya said quietly, eyes wide as he shook his head. "But why... Why would y' do that..."

The girl bit her lip, shaking her head as she wiped her eyes. "There were two sets of armor," she finally said, taking deep breaths as the others listened. "Mokuba... He begged me to switch places with him," she explained quietly, "Telling me that if he were to go in my place, he could reach his brother and attack from the inside... I... I can only hope that the Five-God Dragon doesn't strike," she finally said with a shudder, staring at the slowly drying ground for a few moments as the rain stopped completely. "When it realizes that it only has one of the required sacrifices..."

There was an awkward silence, the three remaining 'warriors' sharing a glance. Er... It was supposed to be one male one female right? ...Yea... Uh... About that... "A-Actually," Katsuya said, biting his lip as he attempted to justify what he was about to say, "There's a bit 'f a problem w' that..." The Queen turned, frowning as the blond continued. Well... Not like anything they were saying had made it through the computer right? So... What did it matter if he said this to an NPC? ...Right? ..._Right._ "Th' sacrifice th' other country got... Th' 'warrior' from another land," he continued, coughing as he rubbed the back of his neck. "'S not a guy," he said somewhat bluntly, the Queen tilting her head.

"Not... He isn't a man," she asked, frowning as she came to her feet. "But that can't be... We were told that..."

Mai as well took in a long breath, a hand on her face as she answered to the statement. "Mokuba's older sister crossdresses," she said fairly plainly, Yugi looking somewhat put off by the sudden revealing of secrets to an apparent stranger. "With Mokuba joining along side her," the woman continued, "That makes one male and one female sacrifice..."

The queen grew pale, growing stiff with realization and looking over the three with wide eyes. "You mean... They're both going to..."

Yugi shook his head immediately, frowning. "No! We won't let them die," he insisted, the others nodding as well. Like hell either of the siblings were dying on their watch! "Meyari-sama," he asked, bowing his head somewhat. "We need to know... If there's any way at all for us to get to that castle..." Any way, any way at all..? The Queen bit her lip, shaking her head. Damn it, there went that-

"There is _one_." The group turned, watching as the Queen's maid stepped forward with a large book in her arms. The woman flipped the book open to a rather 'mid-way' page, looking over it briefly before turning to the others. "A tale from many years ago, supported by the seer's prophecy... One thousand years ago," she explained, "When this land was still young, an immense and magnificent beast of white escaped from the confines of the Black Castle, falling to this land... However," she continued, holding the open book for the others to look at the image, "It was not alone." The four looked at the page, examining the image of a broken and 'bleeding 'dragon-bird' thing gracing its pages. "It was attacked, viciously, and though it emerged from its airborne battle victorious," the maid added, Katsuya momentarily paying more attention to the question of what the 'thing' was, "It was unable to fight any more... It hid itself in these lands," she continued, looking off to the side of the battlements as she closed the book over. "Burying itself beneath the earth until needed again..."

The others stared, following her gaze to the side before Mai spoke. "So somewhere in this country," she began somewhat hesitantly, still gripping her staff tightly in one hand as the free one rested on her hip, "There's a monster who can take us to the castle?" Now hey, _that_ was convenient...

Eri nodded, face held mostly impassively. "That is correct," she stated, pulling the book under her arm before adjusting her glasses. "But we have very little time," she continued, frowning somewhat. "I have searched hard... But though I have an idea of where the beast lies, I cannot say how to revive it from its thousand year slumber!" ...That part, not so convenient. Damn it. Then again...

She knew where it was? Katsuya blinked, the skies above clearing completely while he stepped forward. "Well... It's still an' idea right," he asked with a slight shrug, scratching his head. "So where is it?"

"Ah..." The maid swallowed, before turning to the side and looking at the edge of the battlements. "Follow me," she stated, moving over to the wall as she held the book tight. "While researching the 'beast', I noticed a series of patterns on the grounds outside the castle..." She gestured off the side, where a large and faded outline of sorts could be seen along the ground. "I believe this may be the final resting place of the 'beast'."

They looked over, staring at what looked to be an enormous white 'outline' of a bird-like creature. "Oh..." Mai stared, eyes wide as they looked over the outline. It sure looked like a giant bird... Dragon... Thing. Seriously, what was it... "Those look like the markings from the Nasca desert..."

The boys blinked, turning to the woman with raised eyebrows. "Er... Nasca," Katsuya repeated, blinking. What..?

She nodded, turning to them with a somewhat blank expression. "They're a large number of ancient geoglyphs in Peru," she explained, looking back at the bird. "My step-father used to tell me about those sorts of things when I was younger, as his work takes him rather far around the globe... These were one of those things," she added rather nonchalantly. Step-dad eh... What was with everyone's relatives and traveling the world? Anzu's parents were in the states, Yugi's dad was always out of the country for business... Mai continued to lean over the wall, looking at the 'bird' in the design before smirking. "Nonetheless... I think I know exactly how to get that 'beast' out from the ground," she said with a wink, turning to the blond beside her. "Wouldn't you say, Jonouchi..?"

"E-Eh..?" Katsuya stared, turning away from the wall with a start. Hang on... "What?"

Yugi blinked as well, frowning somewhat before a look of realization came over his face and he nodded. "A-Ahh... That's right," he said with a grin, looking from Mai to Katsuya. "There's that card..!"

'That card'? What card? "What th' hell are y' talkin' about?"

"Eri," Mai said with a smile, turning to the maid and ignoring the younger blond. "Could you maybe show us how to get to that geoglyph?" The maid nodded, muttering a 'follow me', as Katsuya continued to look over his friends.

"O-Oi," he protested, putting his axe in its sheath. "Seriously, what's going on?"

"We'll explain when we get there," Mai said with a grin, Yugi following behind the woman as she grabbed Katsuya's wrists to pull him off. "For now, let's just move alright?" What!

He yelped slightly, stumbling along as he was pulled down a series of steps. "E-Eh?" S-Seriously... What the hell did he have that would un-earth a giant monster bird! "C'mon," he growled, still tripping over his feet as they were pulled down to the outside of the castle. "Tell me what's goin on!"

"It's your card," Yugi shouted as they ran, Katsuya turning back somewhat to look at the boy.

"My card," he repeated with raised eyebrows, his friend nodding in response.

"The time wizard," the boy stated with wide eyes, still grinning. "Your card can turn back time to when the 'beast' was above ground, a thousand years ago!" Oh. Right. Time Wizard did thousand year jumps. Wait...

That worked in reverse!

* * *

**AN:** Awwwwwwwhhhh and all that Kaiba did was reversed? _What was the point in that Usagi_? Actually there was a lot... Now Kaiba doesn't have the deckholder. Also, it's what spurred the Big 5 into making what Ota calls the 'stupid decision' and go directly to the source. Whoo! In any case, not much left... Two, maybe three chapters, all depends on how I finish all this. But that's besides the point!

First off, there is some more art, since this entire arc has me on a creative string... Pictures! Mostly we have Mai in clothes you have likely _never_ seen her in before, along with the rest of the armor for the characters. ...Still, pity Kaiba didn't get to keep the Priestess robes. Really.

Also, the poll results...

**_Still_ Unchanged.**

So we move on to other things...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Three today! First off, MaggieMay!

Grow a new brain huh… That sounds interesting…

Also, yea, I can see how that would result in pain.

Oh! The wounds don't heal because the injuries only _stop bleeding_ at the end of battle. Though an amputation would obviously grow back if it was _too_ serious (Given that monsters are programmed _not_ to cause that unless they're super powerful and OKO people), the Witty Phantom's life points just… Aren't enough to heal that arm. (At least she can't feel or see it…) ...Keep in mind, the injury is technically self inflicted too; it's quite likely her own _life_ is preventing it from healing.

MIB you say? ACTUALLY, that's what made me want to write that scene. Heheheeee…

Enjoy the next bit!

Hey there Iona!

Yessssss, yes he did get his commupance… And then he came back! _AGHH_. He'll get what's coming though. Again. He's the kind of man who deserves… Two deaths really. I think it's more '_hooray for skipping the other spells on the list in favour of FLAMES_' rather than a 'hooray pyrokinesis' though. But hey, it _did_ work…

Too bad all that rage she spent just doubled… The grinding teeth of rage are really… Grinding… Right about now...

Oh trust me, you haven't seen anything yet! Those two are about to have a moment of insanity that no one else will _ever know about_… Keeping Honda on track is more difficult than it looks.

I made a mistake; epic!Mokuba comes in buckets _next _chapter. It's still buckets of Epic!Mokuba though, not to mention a fair amount on Mai's part as well. And she could use some, after the anime made her the designated victim of every… Single… On-screen duel…

Yesss, I'm dangling it in front of your face along with sugar cubes and straw… Enjoy the update~

Now now Cynical Gamer, I am not an abusive person! …I think.

Actually, it gets even creepier if he's perfectly fine with just possessing/being a lady… Since… He proves it. So on the one hand, we have the opportunity for Noa to be a creeper in terms of hitting on Kaiba and possibly pulling a reveal using 'more' than a school uniform (Though school uniforms are seen as fairly 'sexy' in Japan soooo I dunno.), or… Pulling the reveal while somehow showing how he'll _top that_. Yikes. Um. No more details on that me-thinks.

So yea, as you said. Wait and see I guess… It'll probably develop based on what Kaiba and Jonouchi's relationship is like at that time really.

What am I planning? _I don't think you want to know that Gamer..._ (-cough- Sometimes, I don't even know myself…)

Well… Not many _male_ stares mind… You can bet that she was glad to _not_ be in school during February, as Valentines Day is made up of girls giving the guys they crush on chocolates. And… It's… Only… The girls giving away the chocolate.

Needless to say, Kaiba pulls off the crossdressing so well (As planned), the desk would be swamped with food that she wouldn't even be eating. (As it is, _she gets that kind of reaction from her secretary_. Much to her (albeit silent) distaste.) And you're very right… It's expected with the character growth...

And aaaaahh, got you now. I guess since they weren't using resources on the island they didn't care until people tried entering the castle… Also, in Jonouchi's case, they actually stole Haga's glove after Yugi beat him. I guess the gloves are 'one-size fits all'?

Oh you're going to love the big reveal… When we get there. *mad cackling*

And yaaaay~ My chapter is awesome~ Yes, poor Jou indeed. He certainly won't sleep too well for a bit… And damsel in distress? Oh certainly not! …Granted it ended up horribly turned around on her in this chapter (With her own dragon no less)… But that was mostly because the point of her escape was not only for the incredibly epic escape, but also to create a decently legitimate reason for the Big 5 to endanger themselves by entering the game in the first place. Simply going in because Yugi was getting close didn't seem to make much sense since they still thought that the 'Five God Dragon' would be showing up at the time…

Actually, if you think about the fact that the flaming one is the Millennium Rod… *winkwink*

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that wants Witty Phantom to stay dead damn it... (You so know that was the Big Five's doing.)

* * *

I probably don't need to explain _this_ particular title, given the main reasons why Mokuba was captured instead of Meyari...

* * *

If you haven't guessed now, the brief moment of silence and rest that Honda and Anzu got was due to the rather annoyed conversation that Ota was having with Saruwatari. …Despite the fact that I hate all five of the board, I couldn't help but feel _slightly_ bad for making Ota the but of the jokes in this chapter; but really, the others have _no experience_ with electronic devices… So it's quite likely that they just sort of sat around while Ota did all the work. Damn. No wonder he had enough gall to challenge three people at once in the Noa arc (Ota was the robot guy.). Hell, beginners or not, challenging _three people at once_ is the stupidest thing _ever_.

* * *

Fun fact; the dub changed Otaki's original role... Apparently, he wasn't originally in charge of finance. He was in charge of _human resources_. He was the Head of Personnel. Which... Actually makes a lot more sense, given that he's somewhat more expressive compared to his coworkers (not to mention the penguin deal...)... Still a creepy old man though.

And speaking of creepy old men, I have to wonder what the age difference between the Big 5 is; Oshita is by far the oldest of course, which is probably followed by Daimon and Otaki... But both Oka and Ota look, in terms of anime age, like they're barely in their mid thirties! _But they've been working with Gozaburo since Kaiba was at least ten._ I am so confused... Makes more sense for Ota than Oka; stereotypical yes, but the fact is, you're more likely to find a younger guy in that line of tech, unless they did something godly to the computer world. (*coughIfyouknowwhatImeancough*) But a _lawyer_ in that position? Eh, he _is_ good, have to admit that I suppose...

* * *

In any case, yes; the panel for the door lock was left open... As they actually have to close it. (Normally, it was just Ota in the pods though. There's always one person out there. _Now_... Dun dun dunnnnn…

* * *

The dialogue for Kaiba's scene is very loosely based on that of the initial dialogue from the first anime encounter with the Witty Phantom. After demanding to be released only to be find out he's about to be sacrificed to a computer program, Kaiba calls the disappearing monster a bastard in a sense (He says 'kisama', which technically means 'you'. Translates loosely to 'bastard' though.) before gritting his teeth and sitting there... Because seriously, what else can he do? In any case... I would imagine Kaiba would have a similar reaction with Blue-Eyes, given the one that we saw in Battle City's Kaiba VS Jonouchi...

* * *

Here's an interesting thing; the birds pulling the carriages in the scene mentioned are that of 'Droll Bird', a rather little known monster known as 'Speak' in the Japanese version. It's… A pretty weird monster. I would compare it to a multicoloured dodo bird.

* * *

Of course, this conversation in the carriage draws fairly loosely from actual anime dialogue as well; originally, after Yugi mentions that Meyari was likely modeled off Mokuba, Jonouchi gains a rather teasing grin, saying '_Ahhh, how low of them_! (The big five)', which gets a rather angry '_Shut up_!' in response. (In the dub, Jonouchi calls Mokuba 'My lady'... Which gets a similar response, naturally.) I find it a little interesting that Jonouchi wants to know how they'll get back though... _Is it really that hard to walk Jou?_ (One can only assume he just doesn't want to go near that cave.)

* * *

Yes, I based the maid's design loosely off Kaiba's face. Mostly to make Jonouchi feel that much more awkward in the costume scene. Also to make me feel that much _less_ awkward while typing that scene, because seriously, can you _imagine_ an old lady doing that? Haaaaaaaahhhhihhhh...

Innn any case. I had a feeling that if the Big 5 decided to do that with Meyari, they'd have... Probably thrown in another 'take that!' at Kaiba. Of course, in fanfic land, they don't realize that Kaiba's _already_ female, which means that their attempts to feminize the body type work really... Weird. It's also my own personal 'take that' to what most genderbends do actually; which is essentially rack up the hourglass and extend the hair past the shoulders. I _occasionally_ see a well drawn genderbend with short hair and natural or at least modest curves. Yugi doesn't count though, since his size makes him moe-material _anyways_. ...Actually, I think one of them was a Kaiba one. Hurmmm...

* * *

Bit of a plothole I found; when Yugi first goes through a game with Yami Yugi willingly, namely the Death-T matches against Mokuba and Kaiba, he says afterward that 'he remembered everything.' However, during the duel against Pegasus, their entire initial strategy lies in the fact that after placing a card face down, the other mind _doesn't know what it is_. It makes me wonder if the matter is mostly keeping certain thoughts private... If that's the case, Yugi's statement still stands; though Yami obviously allowed Yugi to see the memory of his duel against the ventriloquist (Which involved Kaiba's spirit briefly appearing... And speaking with her own voice before covering it with her false one.), it's possible that details like the voice were just... Lost. So Yugi really doesn't know what Kaiba legitimately sounds like... Though that probably makes it much easier for him to call Kaiba a 'he' as opposed to a 'she'.

* * *

You can probably tell I'm just winging it with the country names by now; originally in the anime they were 'Gorland' and 'Gortas' respectively… Huh. Interesting. One out of two isn't bad though right?

* * *

In the anime, Mokuba initially starts this conversation up at the table by asking about Kaiba, as the moment Meyari mentions someone from a far off land being taken as sacrifice, he links the term to his brother; Yugi just beat him to the punch here though, asking about the entire thing right off the bat.

* * *

A 'score' is twenty years. 'Five by five score' means five times five score, or five times 100 years. So Five hundred years basically.

* * *

'Cave of the Lost'? But Usagi, it was called the Cave of Death! Ahhhh, but that's what _Gortas_ called it... And appropriately so, they have the side with all the murals and creepy bats. But on the other side, you're exiting a maze right off the bat. So 'the lost' makes a little more sense to tell the truth.

* * *

Jonouchi doesn't have any issues mentioning 'Seto-chan' in front of Meyari and Eri for the same reason he didn't have problems mentioning Kaiba by that name in front of Mai during the duelist kingdom; the NPC's don't know who he's talking about when he says 'Seto-chan', so they can't guess that it's Kaiba. Not only that, but these are NPC's we're talking about so… Yea. Who are they going to tell, if it doesn't even concern them?

* * *

Oddly enough, the conversation of Kaiba's second scene draws almost every line from the actual scene in the anime. Well… Obvious lines aside of course (Monster Reborn _bitches_.)… But seriously! The third/fourth encounter, and it's based off the first one in terms of cannon... What are the chances?

* * *

Kaiba's deck holder is gone because of something that happens in the anime; when Mokuba arrives to save Kaiba, he simply hands Kaiba the deck holder and Kaiba pulls it on his wrist. The question is however, given that we see the duel disk on Kaiba's wrist earlier while he's captured, _where did the first one go_? In any case, taking the deck holder means that Kaiba not only can't use any spells... It also means that she gets to suffer the same risks as every other monster. Namely the fatal 'KO' strike. See... With the lifepoints bar, having a certain amount meant that even getting your damn _head_ cut off was still survivable.

Fat chance _now._

* * *

A note on burns for the sake of making sure you know I'm not pulling the wool over your eyes on Seto's burnt arm (Besides the fact that she should have been absolutely _howling_ with pain when her arm was on fire)... She burnt it to the _fifth_ degree. The game is letting her move the arm that's true but... She really _did_ burn all her nerves out, in addition to a bit of her muscle! A first degree burn hurts like hell, reddening the skin, but otherwise doing little else. A second degree burn varies from either touching past the first layer of skin to cause blisters and intense pain (Along with a clear fluid coming off...), to reducing the feeling in the burning area as it moves on past to the 'reticular dermis' layer of skin. The skin then either looks red or considerably paler... And disgusting.

Next we hit third degree, which is the first one that requires skin grafting to 'heal' (Thank you Virtual World?), and is charred and leathery, with the area feeling minimal pain if any. Fourth comes next, when all the skin has been burnt off and the function of the arm begins to be affected... And finally we hit fifth degree, which exposes and affects muscles and blood vessles and is possibly fatal given that you could bleed out. There's an either-or shot at amputation here; but if it isn't needed, that arm will be scarred to shit. (There's one more level after this; sixth degree, which exposes bone and tends to be very very very fatal for obvious reasons.)

Of course, like Jonouchi's sliced arm, bleeding only lasts as long as the battle. There wasn't enough time for her arm to bleed out, especially since it barely reached the fifth degree. It's guaranteed that her shoulder is in the third and second degrees though and... That hurts like hell, as said above. (Even so, be glad that her arm is covered by fabric.)

* * *

As said before, 'Majin' is 'Demon' in Japanese (From 'Majin Desu Satan', or 'Demon Death Satan'.)... So you could take how Seto is referring to the monster one or two ways; one is that she's tired of calling him 'phantom' and settled for his Japanese name... And another is that she's really just calling him a demon.

* * *

Did you guys think that Mai would wear her usual clothing_ in the middle of winter_? She's actually wearing something similar in the pod right now (Given that it's late January...); wait until everyone sees _that_. For the fanfic, her other clothes (Corset, mini-skirt, etc.) are more 'duelist clothes'; remember, she was _notorious_ for using her feminine traits to her advantage in a duel... I'm almost certain that her wardrobe was partially inspired by that. (Among other things.)

* * *

By the way guys, Yugi isn't red because of anything romance or sex related, he's legitimately _embarrassed_ about his outfit (Though it really does look good on him; he's just modest like that.). Though it certainly doesn't help that Mai's breasts are about two inches above his head. At all.

* * *

In the anime, after Yugi asks why Mai is there, she says '_there's no need for formalities_'… Seems a little out of place really. In any case, given that Mai only uses honorifics with two people (Anzu-_chan_ and Shizuka-_chan _respectively. You can bet she's taking pains to _avoid_ saying 'Kaiba-chan' though.), I took a wild guess and figured that she'd be the type to insist on fewer uses of 'san' with her own name.

* * *

A more serious note on Mai's treatment concerning the 'friend' deal... Which actually likely concerns Jonouchi as well, actually... But as excitable as the Japanese tend to be about foreigners, it's a whole other matter if you look foreign and you _live there_. Being blond would have basically stuck a giant glowing sign above _both_ their heads yelling 'Hey! Single me out!'. Jonouchi likely just dealt with that as he did everything... Namely by beating the crap out of anything that looked at him wrong. (Remember, he was, before becoming friends with Yugi, a jerkass with heart at best.) Mai however... Well, guys and bullying tend to be a deal that is very physical. Fists and insults go flying.

When girls bully, it is _harsh_ guys; I found that out the hard way after switching from a school where I was the 'girl among the guys' (And therefore just subject to elementary school knockouts. Rather, watching them, as half the guys were still going on about 'not hitting girls') to being the _very_ odd girl out. It is behind-the-back turn-everyone-against-you in style, and I tell you... I would not be surprised _at all _if being ostracized in that fashion played a heavy role in setting Mai on her 'fight alone' path... Which of course, was soundly broken by Yugi and the others, who could care less about _anything_ like that. (And really, speaking with real-life here, would you be surprised about that given Yugi's hair? _Really_?)

It's actually things like this that make me wonder which shadow game from battle city was worse; the manga one, where Yami Malik sent out torture device after torture device out on the field in a way that each injury taken by the monster was dished out to Mai as well (Malik actually gets his head cut off, picks it up from the ground _while he's explaining these rules_, and calmly puts it back on his shoulders. AAAAAAAAAH!)... Or the anime one, where she was literally robbed of all her memories of really... Anyone she ever cared about. It's a tough choice... (And certainly explains why the hell she fell into such a deep pit during the Doma arc.)

In any case, as her first 'real' friends... These guys are people she will jump in front of a car for, I'll say at least that much.

* * *

Interesting fact; Meyari refers to everyone (Rather, to Mai, Jonouchi, Yugi, and Mokuba) with the honorific 'sama'. This is likely due to their assumed status as the 'legendary heroes', which in her opinion places them at a higher status than herself.

* * *

Armed Ninja just took out Yugi's Black Hole with it's 'flip effect'; it can pick one card on the field (IE, Yugi's hand before summoning) and reveal it. _If it's a spell, it's destroyed_. (Traps are set back into place.)

* * *

So here's a weird fact; despite having apparently switched outfits completely, Mokuba still rips off the dress to reveal _the same armour Meyari was wearing_ once he gets to the castle. WHAT, WHAT? How did it all fit? How did those shoulder cover things not poke through the dress? AAAAAHH. (Meyari's 'ceremonial robes' are meant to hide this themselves actually. Mokuba can actually fit his helmet under that.)

* * *

In a blink-and-you'll miss it scene before the 'Queen' is kidnapped, we get a pan-over for everyone... If you look at 'Mokuba' and 'Meyari's eyes, you can tell that they've switched; Mokuba's eyes are normally held in a semi-glare like Kaiba's, whereas Meyari has 'Moe' eyes (Very wide ones)... And if you're watching, you can see rather clearly that the armored one has the Moe eyes while the apparent Queen is suddenly 'glaring'.

* * *

So… Here's a thought. If Jonouchi has such crappy grades and reputation in terms of knowledge, why was it that _he_ was the one to mention that the lines looked like the nasca lines? I sure as hell didn't know about those things for most of my life... (Actually, though I heard about them in passing once, the full knowledge didn't come until I started watching _5Ds_.) In any case, these lines are _huge_, made using varying shades of dirt… Some of them are over 270 meters across though, and that's 890 feet! The desert that they're located in is extremely dry… Thanks to the lack of wind there, they've remained in tact for well…_ Years_.

* * *

Yes, I gave Mai a step-dad… Will we ever see him? _Good question._ Mai lives very very much on her own, and as it is, I'm pretty sure that Anzu will still remain the only one to know where she lives specifically soooo… Yea. Your guess is as good as anything really. It was mostly me being silly and throwing in detail. … _Or was it_. (I am _such_ an ass. Holy crap. I need to go douse myself in cold water, _right now_.)

* * *

Some would call Jonouchi a bit dim for missing the fact that he's got Time Wizard… But he's not thinking in terms of turning back time (And as it is, the time wizard turns time _forward_), he's thinking in terms of simply digging things. Ohhhh well… Keep in mind that the Time Wizard, outside this _one time_, is only ever used to turn time _forward_ by a thousand or so years (I say 'or so' because... Dinosaur fossils.)... It's never used to turn it _back_, so it's only natural that the fact flies over Jonouchi's head. Oh well~

* * *

**FanArt & My Art Section**

For your link, the spaces must be removed! W-chaaaaa...

Two pictures for you, all of which concern the appropriately epic armor upgrades above~.

Mai & Jonouchi - http: / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ MaiJouFinalArmor. jpg - Oooooohhh I fudged up Mai's face... But I still really, _really_ like how I managed to draw her hands well since... Hands are the bane of any artist's existence really. Also her whip-staff thing, which in my head works somewhat like an urumi... On a staff. Yessssss... Jonouchi on the other hand has been freed the embarrassment of that _terrible_ loin-cloth _thing_. That axe by the way is completely made of 'bone' in the 'it's not going to shatter on contact' sense. So's the helmet for more obvious reasons, though I completely fudged that one (as usual.). I do have to say, I like how their armor came out...

Dark Yugi, Mokuba, and 'Meyari' - http: / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ YYugiMokuArmor. jpg - Careful now, the last one's a TRAP. (*cough* Right, anyways...) You can probably tell I went absolutely _wild_ on these. Well... On Mokuba's ninja armor (Which fits perfectly under those robes.), _especially_ on Yugi/Yami Yugi's upgraded armor... And boomerang. You can probably guess I was reading too much '666 Satan' (AKA, 'O-Parts Hunter') actually, but hey, _that boomerang is BADASS._ I'll probably colour both of these... Maybe... Don't really know, I need to get back to that durarara chain...

Well, until then everyone! Enjoy the chapter!


	50. Chapter 49

**Synthetic Seraph  
**

* * *

The ground outside the castle was, despite the heavy wash from the rain, considerably dry by the time they were walking out on it. Flat and expansive it spread about the back side of the castle before dropping off at a cliff far to the end. The ground was actually crusted under their feet, audible crunching coming through the air as the walked, and in a few moments after passing the few trees around the plain they could see for what felt like miles. There was nothing but an enormous stretch of soil... And as they stood at the edge of it, the Queen behind them took their attention by simply halting her step it was so quiet.

"This is as far as I go," Meyari said somewhat sadly, bowing her head as the others turned to look at her. "Eri-san will guide you to the marker," the girl continued, gesturing to the maid as she stepped forward with a bow. "But I must stay here."

Er... Why? Katsuya stared, frowning somewhat before pushing the thought back. Why was the maid allowed to come while everyone else had to stay? In all honesty, he probably shouldn't ask... Probably something programmed or... Something. Hell, things always seemed to work out like that in video games. Anyways. The maid nodded at her employer's request, walking ahead of the others before turning to the Queen briefly. "...Good bye, your majesty," she said somewhat morosely, the others merely listening in slight confusion. "...I hope to serve you well," she added, before turning back to guide the group forward.

The queen nodded, smiling somewhat as they left. "Indeed," she said quietly, a mist appearing to coat them after they were out of sight. "Indeed..."

With those words in the back of their minds the group walked off, moving toward the edge of where the 'head' of the bird was located. Ruins of age old temples and homes littered the sides, crumbled stone long since mixed in with the dirt ground. Approaching the white faded outline on the ground, Eri turned to them to adjust her glasses, face held somewhat blank. "...This is it," she said calmly, standing at the head of the outline. "Whatever it is you hope to do," she began, light obscuring any view of the woman's glasses as she turned to them, "I hope that it works."

Yugi nodded, Katsuya merely holding out his hand. Time Wizard... Lucky how he'd pulled that card in the last battle really, he told himself. Ok... How did this hand-menu thing work he wondered, did he just think of the card and- The card materialized in his hands from the bottom up, and as he gripped it in his hand he blinked. Oh. Hey... Uh... That worked. He looked over the card, before handing it to Yugi with a nervous laugh. "Ehhh... I think you outta do this," he said with a shrug, coughing somewhat. "Since I can't act'lly play any spell cards..." Which kinda sucked really, but hey, whatever...

The boy blinked, before taking the card with a steady nod. "Right..." He looked toward the large bird-like outline, swallowing before he held the card out while Eri stepped back behind them. "Here goes... _**TIME WIZARD!**_" The card glowed brilliantly, slowly fading from Yugi's hand in a stream of dust. The sparks flew upward, vanishing into the sky as the four looked upward and watched it vanish completely into the sky. The wizard of the card however, did not appear much to their surprise. Instead, the clouds began to darken into odd and almost red wisps, slowly curving into a spiral above the ground as the sky around it darkened as well. Closer and closer the clouds came, spinning about as their edges met in the center to funnel toward the ground in a twister. The spinning increased... Faster... Faster...

Rumbling filled the air, the others looking around as a wall of light appeared to build around them amid the darkened sky. From the ground, old ruins began to repair, dust flying from the ground and swirling to reform buildings of old while wind whipped past their faces. Pillars that once had been reduced to complete stumps stood proud and tall, roofs that held no sign of existing shadowed them completely... It was a courtyard that they stood in, from what he could tell in a few moments. An immense field surrounded by temples and shops of varying sizes, the one directly behind them forming into a building comparable to an elaborate palace, a fact that he knew even without turning around for some reason. And finally...

It stopped. Silence filled the air as the skies cleared, the geoglyph on the ground fully repaired in a single outline of white. The clouds vanished from the sky, allowing a blinding hot sun to burn down on the now fully restored city of a thousand years prior. But there was nothing else. "...That's it," Katsuya finally said, looking around with a frown. Just buildings and a giant bird outline. Clear skies, somewhat more fertile ground... He took a few steps forward, frowning as a light breeze passed them by. "That's... That's all..?" That was all that happened..? But it couldn't...

Yugi stared, taking a step forward and looking around as the wind slowly blew across the field. "I guess... We're too late," he said as he paled, shaking his head in disbelief. Mai as well frowned, mostly silent beside the two as she walked forward to look over the silent and empty plain. "...Eri-san," the boy asked, turning around with a swallow. "Is there any other way you can-" The boy fell quiet, staring as even the sound of the wind died off.

Quiet... Why was he suddenly... "Nh? Yug'," he asked, turning to look at the boy before staring with wide eyes. "H-Holy shit..." Mai also turned, quickly giving a silent gasp as they stared. The maid that stood before them had her eyes closed, glasses having fallen to the ground in a non-existent gale, possibly having been tossed to the side even... Though as far as he could tell, there was no such sign of them on the ground either. The book she held from before was clutched tightly against her chest and almost appeared to even be a part of the woman's body as she stood, hair blowing back behind her in an intense wind that only seemed to affect her. The weird thing though, weirder than all that..?

She was _glowing_. A bright, brilliant white blue that was so intense he couldn't tell if her eyes were open or closed any more. What was going on... Katsuya tensed as Eri's book vanished completely, arms moving calmly to the side. As the woman did this however, feet obscured by her long apron-wrapped dress, a sudden crack came through the air to distract the three from whatever else was happening. They jumped back from the ground as it began to split, dirt flying through the air as they pulled further back. From the boundaries of the outlined 'beast' a fissure began to develop, Katsuya standing at the side and watching as the earth moved aside for an immense metal device to rise from the ground. The 'head' was first it seemed, metallic 'fins' spreading wide from the side of its face, mouth opening wide to shake free the dust that was literally pouring from the cracks in the ground. Enormous diamond encrusted wings broke free of the surface, stones flying through the air and over their heads to slam violently into nearby architecture without a care. Slowly it pulled itself free, taking shaking steps out of the ground as the dust continued to fly past them. An enormous metal dragon, a creature that none could begin to compare to a 'bird' rose before them, the sunlight gleaming off both the white steel and the blue-white diamonds embedded along its joints. A tail that was as long as the monster's body itself swished briefly, blasting back the final remains of debris before taking a steady stance among the rubble with a final stomp. And finally it was over... Enormous wings were spread wide along what used to be a mere outline, the dragon's head lowering to the ground mechanically with dead grey eyes.

And then... Silence. Was it... Dead? Mai slowly walked forward, shaking her head in confusion as she placed a hand along the monster. "It's not showing any signs of life at all," she said quietly, turning toward the others with worried eyes as she attempted to ignore the still 'glowing' maid to the side. "It simply... 'Died'," she finished confusedly, frowning and shaking her head. "It..."

"It is ready," Eri said calmly, the others turning to her in silent confusion. The maid no longer looked like a maid to say the least, despite what the uniform said. Narrowed gold eyes had softened in an odd way, the stance and posture she held speaking of anything but servitude. What was ready, Katsuya thought with a frown, staring at the 'spirit'. The dragon? The thing just died, it wasn't going anywhere! Even so the woman stepped forward, audience stepping back with wide eyes as she moved toward the motionless beast's head. "I must explain," she said with a small smile, turning to the others as the unseen wind continued to blow against the woman to cause the dress and hair to billow around her in quiet waves. "I am sure after all, that you have wondered why we as a people did not fight sooner... Why we did not attempt to summon the aid of the monsters of this land..." They stared, watching as Eri appeared to 'flame' in the same figurative wind, colours vanishing from her body and leaving her as little more than a blue spectre of sorts as she stared at the dragon before her. "It is not that we are unable," she explained, hands held to her sides as she stared at the magnificent creature. "It is that we _are_ the beasts of this land..."

Hang on... _What_? 'Eri' turned, seemingly sightless eyes looking over the three before she bowed her head. "It has been a long time," she stated with subtle gratitude in her voice, "Since I could reclaim my true form... The dark magics of the castle to the north are strong, so much that it was all I could do to keep these people from dying... These lands were sealed a thousand years before for this very reason, this area remaining as the place that would break that seal... And the time has come," she continued calmly, voice seeming to echo through the air as the others listened in slight awe. "And you have proven yourselves more than worthy of my aid... Please," she continued, stepping back to 'merge' with the head of the dragon behind her in a smooth motion. "I would be _honoured_ to fight along your side as the Dragon of Light, the Shining One, once more... Allow me to aid you in your battle!"

The three didn't even skip a beat with their answer, each of them nodding in response. Weird as this was, _hey_. It was a _game_, wasn't it? "'F course," Katsuya said with a nod, the others walking closer toward the dragon and Eri both.

"Why would we say no," Yugi asked, the spirit staring in response before smiling calmly.

A blinding light came from the diamond it was sinking into at the brow of the dragon, the spirit giving a steady nod before disappearing completely. Blinding light shimmered through the monster and with an echoing shudder the monster came to life, blue eyes sparking with a cold flame before blinking a few times. The monster's mouth slowly clicked open and shut, head rising from the ground and shaking free any remaining piles of dirt from its scales. The monster continued to shake, taking a shaky step forward as it rose to its full height above the three, blocking out the sun and giving low, stuttering growls. One second passed... Two... And in an instant it was gone, Katsuya jumping somewhat as the beast soared through the air with a loud and cheerful cry. "**_GNNNAAAAAOOOOOOOOO_**," the monster chorused through the air, the 'roar' passing through the air clearly despite the distance it had already put between the ground and itself. "**_NAAAAAOOOOOOOOO_**!"

They watched, eyes wide as it flew through the air, flipping and twirling through the air without any reason save to simply do so. Loop-the-loops, somersaults, and barrel rolls skipping across the sky. "Hnhnhnhnhn! She seems to be enjoying herself," Mai said with a smile, arms crossed somewhat as the dragon began to make its way back. "I don't think most birds or planes could make those moves..."

"A thousand years is a long time," Yugi said with a small smile, shrugging as they watched the dragon circle around them briefly. "I guess it's only natural..."

Yea, probably... A wave of dust blew past them as the dragon landed, the trio shielding their eyes as it gave another loud roar. The dirt settled to the ground, the three looking up as the dragon quickly lowered its wings and head to meet them. '_You'll have to forgive me,_' a voice sang out, the dragon's mouth moving with it as the others stared. Er... Hey! She could um... She could talk. Ok... '_It has been a long time... But I am ready,_' it continued lowering the wing further until it touched the ground to create a 'stepladder' of sorts. '_Please... Hop on!_'

* * *

The skies above them were dark and storming, the lack of rain only being due to the trek taking them far above the layer of cloud that would release such things. Clouds thundered both above and below, and had it not been for the constant pressing knowledge of the time it would have likely been a surprising fact that it was only 'mid-day' by the video game's standards. It was slow going, steering the Blue-Eyes White Dragon with only one arm of course; only half the notes of control were accessible to the Dragon Piper, and already the beast had demonstrated twice its rebellion as a result. The woman that they had locked in the castle had a good arm, he would give her that... Cutting off his own before the dragon released its flames had allowed the beast enough control to hold back on the attack. To hold back enough that only the cloth armor surrounding her had been disintegrated, the rest of the damage dealt merely by the force of being thrown back against the castle walls. There was no doubt however, that Blue-Eyes had held back in its attack that time...

And again, the piper told himself angrily, against the blond on the roof... It had just barely missed in its attack, as though fighting against what it wanted to do despite having already fired a blast of flames at only half the usual strength. "But you're still mine, aren't you," the piper muttered with his second mouth, grinning wickedly as the beast merely flew on in a controlled silence. "Yes," he hissed, chuckling somewhat. "You know who your master is... Unlike _certain three-eyed mages_," he called out with a raised tone, rolling his eye as he thought of the 'Sanwitch' he'd been paired with for the task. "Honestly," he shouted with a scowl, "How do you get anything done being mute," he asked in the same tone, shaking his head. "Do you have any idea how difficult it is to tell when you're ready to go when you can't say anything? ...I don't even know why I'm asking you anything," the piper grumbled angrily, "I mean, it isn't like you're going to say anything back! Ahhh... But I kid," he said somewhat dismissively, again shaking his head as he focused on continuing the eerie and almost funeral worthy tune. "For a mute, you're alright... I don't suppose you could use sign language, or some kind of special magic though, tell me what you're thinking," the piper rambled on, shrugging despite the lack of his arm on one side. "Maybe tell me what it's like, having three eyes instead of two... Gh-! Hk..."

The notes of the flute faltered somewhat, the Piper choking as a pair of blades dug deep into his second mouth. The lips spread wide as he gagged on the blades, single eye looking down while he managed to continue playing the controlling melody of the pipe. "Gkch... Glacgk... Alchk..." Blood poured from his wounds, the monster slowly turning his 'first head' to see large blue eyes in the place of his partner's slit gold ones, the witch's robes all but hiding his killer's face. They were his only sign... But it was enough for him to falter again, eye widening in fear as he continued to choke on his own blood.

"I wouldn't know about having three eyes actually," the boy behind him said calmly, pulling the blade free of the piper as it continued to choke. "I only have two." The monster stumbled forward, notes faltering even more as the dragon slowly shook his head with a growl. It was amazing that he was still playing really... Still holding at least a fragment of control over the beast... But with a single swift kick the monster was tossed off the side of the dragon, Mokuba hurriedly sheathing his blades in his sleeves and watching the beast fall. The notes began to fade... Without missing a beat the boy turned, running forward to grab the horned 'fins' on either side of the monster's head as the dragon regained complete control of itself.

"**Grrr...**_" _The monster shook itself, before thrashing violently as it reclaimed its senses and realized just where it was.** "GRAAAAOOO! _RAAAAAOOOO_!**"

"Shhh!" Mokuba held tightly as the dragon flailed, flapping its wings angrily as it broke free of the piper's magic completely. He winced as the monster gave a particularly violent 'jump', the boy briefly becoming airborne as he tightened his grip on the fins he held. "Shhh! Calm down," he whispered, briefly pondering on how vividly different this was from his child-hood dream of riding on a Blue-Eyes White Dragon. The dragon continued to hiss and roar, teeth snapping as it attempted to shake the boy from its head. "Calm down," he repeated, stroking the side of the dragon's head as though it were his horse, the monster appearing to settle at his touch. Alright... Alright, he could do this... It was just like riding Yuki after all, wasn't it? Just keep calm, don't show any fear... "It's alright... It's alright," he said with nervous and quiet swallows, breathing deeply in an attempt to calm himself. "They aren't controlling you any more... Just calm down..." The dragon continued to growl, halting its thrashes as though in thought. The boy in the meantime looked up, narrowing his eyes as the 'Black Castle' came into view. Not much time left... Alright. "Listen," he whispered, eyes not moving from the castle ahead. "You need to stay calm," he muttered with a swallow, dark and demonic beasts of all shapes and sizes passing him by as he kept his voice low. "We're going to get my nee-sama, your 'master' out," he explained quietly, the dragon still holding only partially still as it seemed to ponder the words, "But you need to stay calm and follow my lead, understand?" Please let this work...

The dragon gave a low growl, turning its head slightly as though to look up at the boy riding on his neck. Silence... It couldn't look directly at the boy of course, given that Mokuba in question was technically sitting at the very top of its neck. Even so, it appeared to nod, swooping into a steady path toward the castle before them rather than continuing on its unsteady and hesitant flight path. The dragon's passenger sighed, loosening his grip slightly on the fins now that he was confident he wouldn't be tossed overboard. Alright... Mokuba silently nodded to himself in relief as the dragon fell silent once more, flying in toward the castle grounds and passing through the barrier with no problems. The castle was still somewhat far off of course, given how far the ring sat from the building itself, but even so. Now then... It was pure luck that he'd been snatched off by a mute monster really, not that he'd be complaining. The boy looked back at where the still unconscious 'sanwitch' sat, wrapped tightly in the sacrificial robes as it curled in on itself. He had to admit, it had been just slightly satisfying when he pulled the monster into the electric charged net... Though it helped to avoid being shocked simply because of the copious amounts of fabric he'd been wrapped in. The fact that he could fit through the holes near the top of the net were always handy as well he decided, steering Blue-Eyes down toward the ground as the castle came closer. The dragon landed before the entrance, Mokuba clambering off the monster before moving to untie the rope holding the net to its leg. "Remember," he whispered quietly, looking around nervously in case someone appeared as he pulled the net forward. "Follow my lead..."

It nodded, Mokuba making sure to hold his head low as he grabbed the net. There was obviously a notable difference in skin tone... But if he kept hidden, he could avoid being spotted. Now then... "You've returned," a somewhat suave voice stated, Mokuba jumping slightly as a monster he recognized as the 'Witty Phantom' appeared. "And I see you've returned with the sacrifice," he said with a toothy grin, the boy merely bowing his head to keep with his facade. Yea... The 'sacrifice'... The phantom came close, looking over the robed, somewhat 'hidden' figure before snapping his fingers with a smirk. Shadows wrapped around the net, reaching from the ground almost hungrily before pulling it into the ground as the demon looked back at Mokuba. "Your actions will most certainly be rewarded," 'Majin' stated with a grin, arms held behind his back as Mokuba turned to look through the cloth on his face. "Same with your loyalty... I could use a partner for the sacrificial ceremony," the demon continued, "Someone to oversee the actions with me... It's an amazing sight," he said almost with awe, turning away from the boy as he spoke. "To see the flames erupt from the lava below, encompassing the soles of the sacrifices feet... Sending their bodies into an endless blaze of fire to herald the God's return, screams chorusing our master's reign..!" Mokuba held silent, going somewhat green in the face at the thought of his sister going up in flames. Even so, he had to go along with this... It wouldn't happen even if it cost his life after all! He bowed his head somewhat as the phantom turned back, still grinning. "A truly amazing sight," he repeated quietly. "You'll join me," he asked, the boy across from him nodding somewhat hesitantly. He would certainly follow the monster to his sister's cell, that was for sure... "Good... Wonderful! Follow me Sanwitch," he said with a grin, walking forward as Mokuba came behind him in response to the monster's name. "What you are about to see... Will change your life completely..."

Following behind the monster, it was only the knowledge that he would soon leave with his older sister that kept him from taking down the demon right there.

* * *

Thundering pounds struck against the door, Honda's head slamming back against one of the boxes he was pushing with a groan. Despite having rearranged a number of the boxes in lieu of not being completely crushed by the things, it was still fairly easy to be nailed in the face if they weren't careful. "Awwwww damn it," he muttered, slamming one of the boxes hard against the door as it threatened to slide back against his face. "There has to be another way to do this," he said with a grunt, gritting his teeth as Anzu continued pushing against the barricade as well. "Maybe an automatic lock, or even just another door..." Mokuba said that the doors had those right?

Anzu shook her head, pushing against the boxes as the thuds continued from the other side. "If you can think of a way to make them stop," she grunted as she grit her teeth, "Then you're welcome to check that book for an idea. But until then-"

-_briii briiiiii-_

Honda paled, looking down at his pocket as Anzu followed his gaze. The pocket was visibly vibrating somewhat as the phone rang, a dull light from the screen coming through the cloth. The teen looked back up, before staring at the phone as it continued. "No," Anzu said with wide eyes, shaking her head. "Ooooh no, no you are _not_ answering that now..." The teen swallowed, looking from Anzu back to his pocket before pulling out the phone. "Honda..." He flipped the phone open, wincing as a particularly solid thump against the barricade rammed the back of his head. "Honda do _not_ answer that phone," the woman said with a frown, her friend looking at the caller I.D. as it continued to ring. "Honda..." The teen paled even more, looking at Anzu with a swallow.

"It's my sister," he hissed, eyes wide as he fingered the 'answer' button. "I can't ignore that!"

She shook her head, jerking it toward the door with an incredulous expression on her face. "Yes, you can," she protested, a particularly loud bang coming through the air as the boxes were pushed back somewhat. "And you will," she growled, pushing the boxes back against the wall, "Or else we're likely to get crushed by all these boxes before everyone else is killed as well!" Honda looked back at his phone, the ringing stopping for a moment only to come back with a loud and seemingly angered tone. He looked at the phone, biting his lip and giving a defeated look toward Anzu. "...Honda," she said somewhat incredulously, moving closer with a frown. "Don't do it! Ho-"

-click- Agggggggh... "E-Ehhh... M-Moshi moshi, ane-san..." Anzu smacked her head against the boxes, audible shouts coming from the other end of the phone.

'_Hiroto,_' Honda's sister shouted, the teen in question wincing and holding the phone back from his ear as the woman's voice echoed over the room. '_You were supposed to be home over two hours ago to look after Jouji,_' she shouted angrily._ 'Where are you?_'

The teen coughed, shifting his weight against the boxes in an attempt to hold his position as he faltered against the 'new' attack. "Er... I... I'm kinda busy right now ane-san..." He coughed again as the thundering continued, looking at the phone with somewhat fear filled eyes as Anzu continued to groan. "Do... Do you think you could call back later," he continued with a cough, nervously looking back at the barricade behind him. "I mean... I'm sorry I didn't call or anything... Er..."

-_**SLAM!**_-

The teen was again bumped forward by the force from the wall, nonetheless holding the fort against the physical attacks. '_What the hell do you mean, 'call back later,''_ the woman screeched, Honda continuing to wince at the volume. '_You told me you would be there! I had work Hiroto! Jouji was alone for a full hour before I found out! What kind of thing could possibly be so important that you didn't even bother to call me!_' Erm... Um... About that...

-_**SLAM!**_-

Honda winced again as the boxes shifted, Anzu hurriedly pushing them back into position against the pounds in an attempt to keep them from falling off. Dust continued to fall from the ceiling, the teen's eyes drifting around the room in an attempt to find an excuse. "Er..." He looked back at the piles before glancing at Anzu, only to receive a rather incredulous '_you're asking __me__'_ expression in response. He continued to give a pleading look, before hurriedly giving his answer to the impatiently waiting woman on the other end of the phone. "Er... N-Nothing," he shouted nervously, "Nothing at all!"

-_**SLAM!**_-

Alright, that was probably not the best thing to say he thought soon after that. '_NOTHING,_' his sister roared, Honda barely keeping his hands on the boxes as opposed to on his ears. The pounding continued, a particularly sharp corner of a pod-fragment digging into his shoulder. '_Then you obviously aren't as busy as you want me to believe Hiroto! Get back here NOW_,' she continued, brother biting his lip in response. Well, um, about that...

-_**SLAM!-**_

"Aaaaahhhh, I can't do that... I really am busy," he protested as the slamming continued while he winced. "I really am..! Goh!" He choked as the boxes pounded rather roughly into his back, the teen resisting the urge to rub the spot in question as he slammed back against the boxes to set them into place once more.

-_**SLAM!-**_

'_Then what are you doing,_' the woman on the other end demanded with a snarl, her brother coughing rather nervously in response. '_Please,_' she spat,_ 'Tell me just what is so important that you have to lie about it!_'

The teen swallowed again, looking back toward Anzu as the woman at his side rolled her eyes. "Ahhh..."

-_**SLAM!**_-

_'And what the hell is that noise,_' his sister continued with a questioning growl, Honda in question let just as clueless in response.

"A-Ahhhhhhh..." He tensed, Anzu finally grabbing the phone with a growl and bringing it to her end as the pounding continued. "O-Oi, Anz-"

"_Ahh,_" she said with a fairly 'erotic' tone, the one on the other end struck completely silent. "Honda-kun," she shouted into the phone, _"Stop that!~_" The phone was clicked over in an instant after those words, the rather unimpressed looking woman tossing the phone back to a dumbstruck Honda with a glare. "Problem solved," she said with narrowed eyes, pushing back against the barricade with renewed force.

The teen stared, dropping the phone in his pocket and almost falling to the ground against the force of the pounding before shaking his head and staring. "Holy _shit_," he muttered, Anzu pointing at him with a wide eyed scowl.

"Not a _word_ about that," she warned, before narrowing her eyes and returning to the barricade. "Understand?"

Honda nodded hurriedly, swallowing audibly as they continued to hold the fort. "C... Crystal..."

* * *

The heat in the room was quickly becoming unbearable, she thought as she took constant and audible ragged breaths. A thick wave that despite only gradually increasing had the nasty advantage of being simply _too_ hot to ignore. What was hot before, when she first woke up, was something she would gladly have considered 'lukewarm' by this point the woman decided with a weak swallow. Perhaps even just a calm spring day she thought as she closed her eyes and hung limp on the stone cross. It was taking all she had not to simply pass out right there really, and as it was her head was hanging back against the stone as opposed to down as she attempted to stay away. Tired... So tired damn it... She grit her teeth and swallowed again, before allowing her head to hang forward once more with a ragged breath. "G-Ghn... Aha... aha... aha..." This couldn't be the end, she thought bitterly, clenching her fists. She didn't lose, she wouldn't lose... This couldn't be the end... "Ahha... hah... ha..."

"Greetings, _Seto-sama_," a voice called from the front. Seto slowly re-gathered the strength to look up, glaring at the suit-wearing demon as he walked in. Hn... Looking sharp for someone who ought to be dead. "Feeling tired," the monster asked mockingly, spinning his cap on his fingers as he looked toward the woman. Dark chuckling filled the air as he stepped forward somewhat, remaining around the arch of the bridge behind him. "Oh don't worry," he said calmly, "It'll all be over in an instant," the monster continued with a wide and viscous grin. Seto merely clenched and unclenched her fists, glaring at the monster before her in silence. "You see," he said with a cruel laugh, "We have both sacrifices now..." The grin on the monster's face darkened, and he continued on. "A heartwarming reunion you could say... Your dear brother's attempt to 'save' you has only led to your very downfalls!"

What... Her brother..! But he wasn't playing this game, he wasn't here..! The woman's eyes widened with horror at the thought, watching as the demon snapped his fingers. No... He wasn't here, he wasn't..! She pulled herself up somewhat against the chains before following the demon's gaze to the side, watching as shadows appeared from the ground in an almost regurgitating fashion. A black-coated 'lump' appeared from within, before revealing itself to be a net bound, white robed figure. W-What..? She stared, before narrowing her eyes somewhat as the robed figure moved somewhat with a quiet groan. Not her brother's voice... The cloth shifted, a golden eye turning upward with narrowed confusion as Seto drew back. _Not_ her brother's eyes. And the skin... Green... This wasn't her brother, not by a long shot, this was-

"Ghk! Gnnaah... Ahhhh..." Seto turned with a jolt, eyes widening as she looked at the witty phantom's frozen and wide eyes. The demon stood, gasping for breath only to lose it in his decompressing lungs and looking down at the two large blades piercing through his chest. Slowly looking forward as blood began to pour from his mouth at the corners, escaping with what little air he could force out from them as a small bit of blood dripped from the blades. "G... Aahh... Ahhhhhhh..." The blades were ripped out violently, as the demon fell forward into convulsions, the figure behind him ripping off simple white robes and tossing them into the lava pit at the side. In a swift, smooth motion the two blades were sheathed, black and blue armor meeting the woman's eyes before the figure before her walked forward and pulled down his mask.

It was... Impossible... Seto stared, swallowing as the boy continued to walk forward. It was... "Heh... Seto-neesama," Mokuba said with a grin, walking closer before forming a card from his 'hand'. He gripped the card lightly as he stared at the woman, brushing some hair back from under his helmet. "Don't talk," he said as the woman stood there, staring with somewhat wide eyes as her brother calmly grabbed the edges of the net on the ground and tossed 'Sanwitch' into the lava pit at the side. "I'm getting you out of here alright," the boy continued, holding the card toward the cross with a slight nod. "Just hang on... _**De-Spell**_," he called with a slight echo, the card vanishing into dust in an instant. The shackles that held Seto in place followed with it, vanishing from around her wrists along with the cross itself.

The woman fell to her feet, stumbling slightly before pulling herself up using the stone wall behind her. "Gh... Mokuba," she rasped, her brother grabbing her wrist and pulling the deck holder from his own. She frowned, watching as it flashed somewhat in the boy's grip. A deck holder... But he didn't have any cards, unless... "What are you doing..."

The boy frowned, clacking the wrist into place on his sister's own before holding up another card. "_**Gift of the Holy Elf**_," he stated, the woman before him taking a sudden breath as energy filled her body. She coughed somewhat, eyes widening briefly as she shook her head and looked back at her brother. _Her_ deck? He'd been using... ...Huh... "Come on," the boy said with a slight frown, pulling the woman toward the exit by her good arm as she rubbed her head with the other. "Blue-Eyes is just outside, if we hurry, we can escape without problems..."

Blue-Eyes was..? What? Seto looked down at the boy, following him down the drawbridge and through the door. "_Blue-Eyes_," she repeated somewhat hoarsely, frowning. "Since when did Blue-Eyes fit in-" The woman froze as they stopped outside the exit, finding herself greeted by a smaller, dog-sized version of her dragon sitting patiently in the hall. The monster gave a cheerful croon, looking up at its 'master' and nuzzling against the woman's side. "Gh... What..?"

Mokuba shrugged, merely shaking his head at the sight. "I don't know how it's that small either," he said with a frown, turning to his sister. "We came into the castle, and suddenly he shrank down..." The boy sighed, scratching his head beneath the helmet he wore before replacing it and crossing his arms. "I'm just as confused as you are nee-sama! But nee-sama," he continued with a frown, looking up at the woman with a swallow. "That isn't the point right now, I-"

"You're right," she muttered, shaking her head and absently patting the dragon's head. "That's not the point... Mokuba," she asked, Blue-Eyes nuzzling against the woman some more before looking down the hall. Seto followed its gaze briefly, narrowing her eyes as a shadow flickered across the far off hall. "How..." No, not even that... "_Why_ did you come," she corrected with a frown, looking at her brother as the boy merely stared back.

He smiled somewhat wryly, biting his lip and giving a half-hearted shrug as he shook his head. "...You're my big sister," he said with a smile, formerly severe gaze softening completely. "I'm not going to leave you behind," the boy shouted somewhat, shaking his head. "And it's not just me," he added with a somewhat hesitant grin, crossing his arms. "The others are all fighting for you as well! The other beta-tester turned out to be Kujaku Mai, she's here," he said with a slight nod, Seto tensing for a moment. Alright, keep the cloak closed the- "Along with Katsuya-nii, and Yu-" What.

"You brought the _Mutt_," Seto asked with distaste, narrowing her eyes with a growl. Oh great... As if dealing with him at the house was bad enough... "...Hold on," she corrected, shaking her head. Back up a moment. 'Yuu'? She'd cut Mokuba off as he said... ...Oh hell. "...Please tell me that _Mutou Yugi_ did not come as well," she said with grit teeth, the boy beside her coughing awkwardly. "_PLEASE_," she repeated darkly, fists clenching.

"I..." The boy coughed a few more times, looking to the side awkwardly. In the end he shook his head, sighing as he walked forward and stared at the ground. "Hahhhh...I..." He bit his lip, looking up at his sister briefly before resuming his fairly nervous gaze at the ground. "I know you don't like him," he said with a swallow, giving an awkward shrug. "But I didn't know who else to turn to," the boy protested loudly, looking up at his sister with wide eyes. "I needed help, and if anyone could do it it was Katsuya-nii and Yugi..!"

That wasn't the point! He was good at games, she would admit that... Damn good, there was a reason why she wanted to face him again when she had the chance. But this. Was. Not good. This was not good, this was going to be _hell_, god damn it if _he_ of all people saw her in these clothes..! She could only hold the cloak shut so long, and if she was going to draw her blade... "_Anyone_," she finally muttered, rubbing her head with a growl. "The 'dog' would even be a better choice," the woman continued as Blue-Eyes looked over the two confusedly, "At least then I wouldn't have to deal with _this_!"

The boy beside her froze somewhat, as though considering asking about 'this' before his eyes widened in apparent realization. "Oh..." The boy paled, swallowing as he realized what his sister was getting at. "Ohhhh!" He coughed, turning away with a nervous laugh. "A-Actually nee-sama," he began, rubbing his head nervously. "Yugi already knows about you being a girl... He-"

"_What_..._"_ Seto stopped, slowly turning to look at her brother with wide eyes. She stood frozen for a moment, expression caught largely between shock and anger. Impossible. It had to be! The only way that could have happened was if the Mutt had opened his mouth, and she'd made it perfectly clear to that moron that if he said a word he would be digging an early grave... And even without that, she thought bitterly. "He _knows_," she repeated, fists clenching tightly as she turned to look down the hall. The woman took off at a steady and brisk walk, glowering as her nails dug into her palms. That. Was. IT. The day was already shaping up to be one of the worst, but _now_? HAH. "Alright," she said with a growl, Blue-Eyes following behind almost confusedly as she stormed down the hall. "I don't care how much you care about that insignificant _weakling_," she spat furiously, "He's as good as _dead_ to me now!"

Mokuba yelped somewhat with those words, running behind her with a start. "A-Ahh! Nee-sama," he protested nervously, "Katsuya-nii didn't tell him!" Like hell she'd believe that. Nonetheless the boy continued, racing after the woman as Blue-Eyes skirted to the side to make room in the hall. "I'm telling the truth," he continued with a panicked shout, "Yugi found out on his own, Katsuya-nii has nothing to do with it!"

She snorted, continuing on her way without looking back. "I'll believe _that_ when the moron graduates at the top of his class," she growled, left palm stinging slightly as her grip tightened. "As it is, I don't think this needs explanation."

"But it's true," he said with a shout, shaking his head and picking up his speed. "D-During the time that Yugi found out," he began, coughing somewhat as he came to a stop. "During that time..." Seto as well stopped moving, turning back to the boy as he looked down awkwardly. During that time _what_? Why did he suddenly stop..? "...When Yugi found out about your secret," the boy explained quietly, "He was in a dueling arena, with no one else but his opponent... And," he continued hesitantly, the Blue-Eyes at the side appearing to attempt at comforting the boy, "Katsuya-nii was..." He swallowed, shaking his head in an attempt to steel himself. "Katsuya-nii was trying to save me at that time... So... So there was no chance for him to do something like that," Mokuba insisted, biting his lip. "And even if there was," he continued with a shout, narrowing his eyes with a glare that briefly threw the woman before him off, "I trust him! With my life even! He's a good person nee-sama... He wouldn't sell us out, and neither would Yugi and the others!" The boy took deep breaths, clenched fists loosening their grip as he calmed himself down. "...Nee-sama," he said with a slight smile Blue-Eyes looking between the two with a low and curious growl. "I'm sorry but... They're my friends," the boy said, shaking his head as the smile on his face seemed to break under the quivering tone. "I didn't know who else to turn to but them..."

His friends? The woman's gaze softened somewhat, frown still in place. The one who wanted a normal life and he ended up making friends with her rival and rival's friends... Rather than someone his age. She shifted somewhat, expression largely unreadable as her brother stood there. Fine... She could accept this defense this time... Mokuba didn't lie. Not to her at least... And not about things like this, that was for sure. Never for things like this... He wasn't lying... But to come here, into this place... "...You needn't have," she finally said quietly, looking down at her brother as the boy wiped his eyes. She walked over, coming to her knees by the boy and placing a hand lightly on his shoulder. Don't cry... Please...

"What else was there to do," her brother said with a sad shrug, shaking his head and looking at the woman as he sniffed. "You were trapped," he protested, swallowing again. "And I needed hel-"

No. The boy tensed as he was pulled over, Seto shaking her head again as she gave her brother a light hug. That wasn't the reason. That was never the reason, not really... "_You needn't have come here_," she said calmly, Mokuba staring past the woman's shoulder with wide eyes as the last few words were added. To this place, to this game... "It's too dangerous here," she continued with a whisper, tightening her hold on the boy. A miracle he'd survived to get here really... Anyone, to say the least. It was just too... "For you... For anyone in this death trap," she spat, pulling out of the hug and standing to look to the side with a worried frown. "Far too dangerous," she repeated, voice barely audible. "You didn't need to come..."

The boy stared, before shaking his head with a smirk and moving past the woman into the main hall of the castle with Blue-Eyes behind him. "Yea," he said with a smile, looking back and waiting for his sister to come along. "I _did_ have to come, nee-sama..."

Seto blinked, expression for the most part impassive as stared before shaking her head. Hn... She couldn't win against her brother in the end... She really couldn't... It was just her luck they had the same stubborn streak after all. She sighed, moving forward to join her brother before tensing, a chilled feeling coming up her spine as she moved her hand toward her deck. A shadow blurred past, the woman picking up her pace to move beside her brother as she grit her teeth. "Gh... Mokuba," she called, the boy nodding and pulling back behind her as he drew his two swords. "...Blue-Eyes," she continued, drawing a card from her deck and glancing at it. A swirling vortex met her eyes, before the polymerization card vanished from her hand. Someone was definitely here, if she had been 'allowed' to draw a card she thought bitterly, hands moving for her sword. The small dragon moved to circle the pair as she did this, looking around the room with narrowed eyes and giving off a low growl.

Someone was there... Seto slowly drew her sword, walking forward alongside Mokuba as they looked around. Watching them, like before... But where... Silence filled the air as Blue-Eyes cut its growls, Seto continuing forward with narrowed eyes. "...Nee-sama," the boy asked quietly, the woman not moving her gaze from the room. "...Do you hear that?"

-_fffpt!-_

A card flew through the air, Seto's eyes widening as the familiar violet rimmed trap card flew toward them. It never landed on the ground however, the slip of paper dissolving through the air to form dust as it flew, clay pot of the Dragon capture jar appearing before them. "Tch... Not _this_ time," she growled, charging forward as the pot slowly quivered in a move to activate its magic. Gleaming glass eyes stared forward, Seto pushing the panicked cries of the dragon behind her from mind as the pot in front of her began to pull the beast in. "Lets see how long you stand after going under a second firing," she snarled, blade gripped tightly in her hand as she pulled it back. "_**FIRE**_," she roared, the sword instantly blazing in her hands as she pulled it around and into the Dragon Capture Jar.

A series of cracks developed along the side on contact, the heat seeping into the pot from the flames and serving to crack the pot even further. What started as a quiet crumbling noise turned into a chorus of splintering sounds, the magic of the pot cutting completely as her Blue-Eyes shook itself off. Within mere seconds it was rendered nothing but dust on the ground before them, Seto holding an arm in front of her face as a blast of light blew the scraps through the room. The woman lowered it in only a moment as the dust fell, turning to look forward despite the blinding light still filling the room. The light cleared... Seto smirked, watching as the Armed Ninja stood before them in a nervous attack pose. That war scythe would do him no good now... "Hn!" She snorted as she drew a card, looking over it before narrowing her eyes in mirth. Oh... Now this would work... "Trying to capture my Blue-Eyes again," she 'asked', holding the card forward as the smirk grew into a dark grin. Seto brought her blade to her side, the dragon behind her growling menacingly as the card began to glow. "Lets see how you handle two! _**Blue-Eyes White Dragon**_," she shouted, the card vanishing into a trail of dust and swirling into a blinding light at her side as the second dragon joined them. The monster slowly stretched its neck, managing to hold its menacing appearance even while holding the size of a large dog. The two dragons looked around their master's side, awaiting the woman's command as she continued. "Attack with _**BURST STREAM**_!"

In a blast of light the two dragons fired, twin streams of blue-white flames coming down on the monster before them. Not a spec of the monster was left in its wake, the flames taking mere seconds to die down as Seto stared at the now blackened tiles. The menu of course appeared, lifepoints adding to the deck holder at the side. Thanks to her initial move, she'd just gained another level 'apparently'. Who cared about experience right now though; the main focus was getting the hell out of here, not on 'leveling up' after all. The two dragons turned back from where they were inspecting the 'rubble' on the ground, Mokuba and Seto both following their gaze before exchanging a look. The dragons seemed awfully... Cat-like. To say the least. "...Lets get out of here," the boy finally said, his sister nodding in response after a brief moment.

"Good idea..."

* * *

When dark clouds suddenly started appearing from nowhere, Katsuya had a feeling they were getting close. It might not have been raining per-say, but given that there were clouds beneath the clouds beneath _them_... He would say that rain wasn't something to base the distance on. The blond looked up from where he was sitting behind Eri's 'head diamond', The others standing behind him in silence as they flew through the air. As the castle began to appear in the distance however, a mere 'smudge' of black against the dark clouds, so did it's monsters, a swarm of pin-prick dots appearing around the air. Katsuya swallowed, Yugi and Mai following his gaze toward the monsters in uneasy silence. "Eri-san," the boy behind him began somewhat nervously, their ride taking a sudden turn to 'circle' the castle. "Will you be alright on our way in," he asked, looking over the enormous swarm in the distance.

There was a low rumble, the dragon 'nodding' in response as the others looked down at the slightly glowing diamond. '_There is only one way into the castle, so we will need to fight to reach the entrance'_ she explained calmly, soaring above the developing swarm of monsters. The trio looked below as the 'pinpricks' remained as such, even while the castle itself appeared closer than it had long before. '_It is not, however, a matter of my own condition.'_ The three blinked, looking back at the dragon as it began to circle the castle._ 'I will be fine,'_ she insisted calmly, wings barely flapping to keep the beast alight._ 'For now however, you must focus on keeping yourselves alive, for our path takes us through that swarm you see now._'

Err... Katsuya swallowed, looking past Eri's head and paling. The one that they were heading for right now? With the pinpricks that were more ore less... Not... Pricks anymore..? Mai nodded, gripping her staff tightly and stepping back somewhat as the boys looked over the edge. "Alright," she said, holding out her hand as a number of cards appeared in her fingers. One, two, three, f- How many cards was she going to summon? The woman winked, fanning the cards out and taking a stance of sorts on the dragon's head. "Let's go all out, right, boys?"

The other two nodded, Yugi drawing his card for the battle as Katsuya did the same. Ah damn it. Bad draw. Again. "Err... Copycat," Katsuya said with a nervous laugh, handing it to Yugi as the boy blinked. He started at it for a moment, before it vanished into dust to join the other cards in his hand. "Well," his friend said with a shrug, "Mind as well save it f'r later righ'?"

"Right," Yugi said with a nod, before looking over his own card. The boy held a somewhat neutral smile on his face as he held it forward, facing the swarm below as Eri dove toward the crowd of monsters at an increased pace. "_**Dark Magician**_," he cried, the card vanishing into a cloud of dust. In an instant the violet robed figure appeared at the boy's side, staff held tight in his grip as he looked toward his master. Yugi pulled out his boomerang, looking to the others with a determined nod as the weapon un-folded. "I'll take the left side," he said somewhat confidently, the others also nodding in response. "Lets go," he continued as he looked at his monster, the Magician beside him nodding as they took off.

Mai in the meantime tossed the number of cards in the air, her lifepoints plummeting to a few hundred from the fairly impressive amount she'd held before as Katsuya watched. "_**Mass Summon**_," she declared, each card developing into a sphere of sorts, feathers, flames and shadows all filling the air before them. "_**Harpies' Pet Dragon,**_" she shouted loudly, the flaming orb bursting into a mass of red scales that hovered just above the dragon they were on now._** "Harpy Ladies!**_" In a flurry of feathers the monsters appeared, flexing their wings threateningly as they gave a loud and fearsome battle cry. Mai merely gave them a strong and supporting glance, before drawing a card from her deck and tossing that one forward as well. "_**Valkyrie!**_" In a trail of dust the card was gone, a black winged and horned 'angel' appearing with a staff at her side. A small army within seconds...

Though that was nothing to say what they were about to fight against. The sky darkened completely as a feral series of battle cries filled the air, the trio of newly summoned harpies following after the winged witch into the fray. With a run and a leap Mai grabbed hold of the chain hanging from the dragon above her, flipping onto its back and looking back at Yugi and Katsuya as Eri dove down to avoid the first wave. Already her monsters were preoccupied with holding others off, the woman herself standing between her dragon's shoulders with the chain in one hand and the staff in the other. "Good luck," she shouted loudly, bowing her head before turning to face the swarm. "I'll do what I can to clear a path, understand?"

W-Wait what? But what was wrong with fighting on the dragon right here? "M-Mai," Katsuya started, Yugi following his gaze with wide eyes.

The woman cut them off, sending the whips from her staff toward a close flying monster and ripping it to shreds as her harpies took hold of the ones following it. "I told you," she cried loudly, turning back briefly as her Valkyrie skewered a particularly unlucky trio of monsters through with her staff. "We're friends..! Just focus on getting there, I'll be fine! Only one of us needs to make it right," she shouted loudly, the dragon she was riding on sending another wave of monsters out in a blaze. "Only one of us needs to win! So let me act as a distraction," the woman insisted, nailing her staff backward as a monster came too close. "Besides," she added with a wink. "It's just a game... I'll be fine!" Just a game...

Hah... But that was the thing, this wasn't... He bit his lip, watching as the woman turned around to face the rest of the swarm. Mai... Without another word the dragon that Katsuya and Yugi were on dived down, avoiding a blast of white flames from a long and snakelike dragon before the beast was dealt with by Mai's monsters. Katsuya pulled himself up from where he'd ducked down against Eri's head, looking up as Mai and the first wave slowly disappeared into the distance. "Gh... Alright," he growled, pulling out his axe and looking around. They could all jump what... Twenty plus feet now? These monsters were probably swarming the field with nothing but ten or so to separate them! Alright... "My turn then," he decided with a nod, twirling the axe in his hands before narrowing his eyes. "Yugi," he shouted back, the boy turning from where he was waiting for his boomerang to return. "See you in a bit," he called, the boy tensing and running forward with wide eyes.

"W-What? ...Jonouchi-kun!"

Without waiting for anything more of the answer the blond took off, charging off the tail end of the dragon at a running jump. He was falling... But as his axe shifted in his grip, he couldn't allow himself to be afraid of that, the blond instead grabbing hold of a nearby monster and ramming his axe blade deep into the beast's flesh. "Haaaaaah!" Blood spattered across his front as the monster gave a keening groan, Katsuya pulling himself off to kick its rider off the side before jumping off to grab another close flying monster. "Hah!" Alright... Next ones! Wide green wings met his face from the Emerald Dragon and Katsuya grabbed the edge of the wing even as the monster struggled and growled. With out giving much more thought to the matter he pulled himself over the edge of the wing, running down the side with his axe as a 'ground rope' before doing to the dragon what he'd done to the enormous 'devil Zoa' before it. There was no rider on this beast, not now that it was spiraling up and down and left and... Oh god he was going to be sick, he thought grimly, slamming his blade into the monster in an attempt to keep from falling. The dragon flailed as an axe made its way into its spine, the owner gripping the handle tight as he was pulled around by the beast. "Hwoah..." Oh shit this was even worse than... "WOAHH! Fuck!" A sudden crack came through the air, axe coming free as one of Mai's harpies passed by. Gripping the blond by the arm, the harpy pulled away from the doomed beast, taking its cargo high and giving a seemingly incredulous snort as Katsuya looked up. "Heh... I could've handled it..." The bird again snorted, giving the blond a look of sorts before violently tossing the teen toward a passing swarm of beasts. "W-W-W-WAIT THAT AIN'T WHAT I MEANT!"

AAAAWWWWW Shit shit shit shit- Reflexes! Reflexes! The blond swung his axe forward, catching the next monster in the throat and launching himself off it's face before meeting with the toes of the next beast. "Hah! HAHAHA," he shouted with a grin, flipping up onto the winged demon's beast and sabotaging its wings before charging off its good one toward the next monster. How were the others doing, he thought idly, slowly making his way toward the castle by means of the improvised 'stepping stones' he was making. They were getting closer and closer to the barrier of the castle... Launching himself off the pterosaur he'd paralyzed, the blond grabbed at the horn of a passing black dragon, riders quickly finding themselves in shreds to match the dragon's own already tattered condition. The blond looked up, gripping the dragon's horn as it seemingly ignored his presence. Everyeone... Mai was doing fine it looked like, having just cut through another series of monsters with the bladed whips and the aid of her dragon... So was Yugi, he told himself as the boy sent his boomerang toward another trail before pulling out a card from his deck and summoning a series of blinding golden blades. And 'Eri', he noted with a nod. He looked back at the black dragon as Mai's harpies began to come back, hacking down at the beast's neck before looking back to the birds.

"**_Come..._**" Wwwwaaaait... ...Talking? He tilted his head, before quickly catching on as the monster below began to fall to pieces. Alright, whatever; there was no time to jump off that monster it looked like, so really, he'd live with the programmed talking monsters! Grabbing the Harpy's leg, he looked down at the disappearing corpse with wide eyes, axe dangling from his free hand as he stared. Now why had they... He blinked, watching as they headed toward the giant stone ring around the castle. Oh hey...

They were there. "Jonouchi," Mai shouted from below, the harpy carrying him slowly bringing him down to meet the level of both the woman's dragon and the ring itself. "Get ready!"

He nodded, looking forward as they came closer to the ring. Right... This was the moment they'd been going after, the barrier that surrounded the castle. Closer now... Closer... They came in from the top, heading toward the ring only to shout as the barrier stung back against their forms. "G-Gh... NHAAAA!" He tightened his grip on the harpy's leg, coughing against the shock sustained. "What's goin' on," he shouted as the harpy carrying him screeched, dropping him only for the blond to land on another monster. Even with the drop however he remained momentarily unphased, merely taking hold of the beast's horns for balance and turning upward again. "What th' hell was that!"

"It's the ring," Yugi's voice sounded from the side, the white dragon he was on growling angrily at it before coming in beside the blond. "It's the castle's ability, it creates a barrier..."

Tch... He growled, before paling as a blast of flames shot forth from the ring. The dragon he was on didn't appear to notice, if it was noticing much of anything but... "Oh hell," he muttered, before jumping from the monster he was on toward another as the last burst into flames. The blond quickly punted the white dragon's rider off, grabbing the reigns it held and turning to the others. "Any ideas," he called out, the others merely biting their lips at the question. Er... That didn't seem good.

'_Forgive me,_' Eri called out with a low cry, left wing singed from the ring's attack, '_But my power is not as it used to be... I will try and destroy it,'_ she continued as the others looked toward her. '_But it won't be easy... Brace yourselves,'_ she shouted, before charging a blast of light toward the ring as Kastuya was again picked up by one of Mai's harpies without warning. H-Hey, he was fine with the dragon, what was wrong with- '_This is all I can do for you now,'_ the dragon called sadly, Yugi's Dark Magician quickly pulling the boy back and ducking behind the dragon's more 'raised' scales despite clear discomfort. '_**SHINING BURST STREAM**_!'

With a resounding explosion the ring burst and cracked, blinding white light blasting clean through the dark circle within. For a moment there was no reaction... The device seemed to have merely absorbed the attack, still holding firm. And then a loud crumbling noise came through the air, the far edge of the ring cracking and falling to the side. The rest of it was quick to follow... Towers of stone fell to the ground, spearing monsters in its wake as the others pulled back somewhat to watch. Katsuya stared, axe hanging from his hand as the castle began to sink against the now restored law of gravity in place. "H-Hah! Yea!" They'd done it..! "Th' barrier's-" A rumbling filled the air, cutting the blond off as an odd feeling caused his hair to stand on end. Hang on, he thought with a swallow, eyes widening as he looked toward the ring. What was _that_..? From the still intact shadow and disk that once held the ring together came a viscous wind, before a wave of shadows swamped the sky. An enormous twister, a hurricane even, made of nothing but fire and shadows given form. Black flames filled his vision, shouts coming through the air as the harpy carrying him was destroyed in the blast instantly. '_Jonouchi-kun,_' Yugi was shouting, nothing but darkness meeting his vision as gravity took hold. '_Mai!'_

In the distance he could hear Mai's dragon giving a pained roar, growls still filling the air to prove it was still alive. The dying shouts of a thousand other monsters were meeting his ears, each one cut off by the same darkness. Mai was shouting as well, but her voice seemed closer... _'J-Jonouchi!_' Were his eyes open? The blond didn't know, but he knew that... He was falling... '_JONOUCHI!_' He knew at least that much from the feeling, but he couldn't see anything, not even his own hands... Not the axe he was holding... Falling... Sailing through the air, and suddenly... "Ghn!" With a soft thump the blond's body hit the ground, his eyes closing over only for no difference in the scenery to come. Dark... Just...

Dark...

* * *

"Kgh! Gah!" What happened..? "Kh-knh, kah! Aha... Hah... hah..." Yugi coughed as he pulled himself out from the rubble on the ground, pushing a large rock past his face and weakly pulling himself out from the debris. "G-G-Gn..." Choking on his breath he opened his eyes, blinking a number of times in an attempt to clear his vision. Where... Darkness sat over the sky like a thick blanket, making it impossible to tell if this was a cloudless sky or a completely covered one. Flames of varying hues caught along either the corpses of monsters or trees around him, bathing the ground in an eerie and almost ethereal light. In the distance, the castle was falling to the ground... For the most part as he pulled himself up, all he could see was the enormous structure vanishing past the treeline far ahead of him, listening as a distant crash filled the air. The boy winced, turning away as a wave of dirt and wind blew past his face, giving another bought of coughs before turning despite the blast of wind flying at his face. "Gh..." The others... He blinked the dust from his eyes, arm coming back down as the air cleared. Where were the others.. "J... Jonouchi-kun," he shouted, looking around as he received no answer. Where... He stumbled forward, rubbing his arm as he looked around. Felt broken... How was he moving it though? He shook it off, taking a few steps forward and swallowing. "...Mai," he shouted on, eyes wide as a breeze passed. "Anyone?"

Where was everyone... The boy grew pale, arms falling to his sides as silence continued to preside over the air. Did... Did the explosion... Did they... '_G...Gk..._' Yugi's eyes widened as a small grunt came through the air, the boy turning as a massive pile of rubble at the side began to shift. He rushed forward, watching as Eri slowly un-curled beneath the pile with a low and miserable keen.

"E-Eri-san," he shouted, running over to the dragon as it moved its head weakly. "Eri-san..!" The dragon turned its head weakly, mouth opening soundlessly as its eyes began to flicker. He tripped over the stone rubble, pushing a few blocks to the side in an attempt to reach the monster's head. "Eri-san..."

Dying... He didn't know how, but... '_Aibou_,' his other self whispered, the link having held strong for the entire game. Yugi swallowed as a wash of worry from his other self came over him, sliding down the small crater created by the dragon's impact. '_...She's dying..._' Another sad keen came through the air, Yugi staring with wide eyes as he knelt by the monster's massive head.

The monster gave a weak cough, somehow managing to pull her head up. '_Gh... F-f-forgive me,great hero,_' she rasped, almost as though it had heard the boy's darker half speak. The low moan continued to hang in the air as it spoke, mouth hanging just slightly open as it looked down at the boy before it. '_It would appear... I can go no further..._'

"N-No..." This couldn't... This couldn't be happening, it couldn't... He shook his head, swallowing as he attempted to find something to say. "E-Eri-san..."

Another cough came through the air, the dragon shaking her head. '_I've done my duty...'_ Eri continued to attempt to hold her head above the ground, staring into the boy's eyes despite the evident pain she was in._ 'But please... You must listen,_' she forced out, head landing softly on the ground with a small thump. Yugi swallowed, looking at the dragon's eyes as it looked forward from the ground, enormous size still leaving them at eye level with the other. '_The prophecy,_' she whispered quietly, rasping for breath. '_It's... Incomplete,_' she hissed, giving a racking cough.

"E-Eri-san," Yugi said with wide eyes, reaching out only for the dragon to pull back somewhat. He swallowed, pulling his hand back somewhat hesitantly before looking to his deck. "Don't talk... I... There should be a spell card I can use," he said almost frantically, reaching for the deck only for his hand to go through it. He paled, before thinking back to the cards he'd drawn during his fight earlier. "Just hang on... I... I have to have something..!"

She shook her head, giving a low growl before moving the boy's hand from his deck lightly with her muzzle. '_There is no card... That can fix this,_' she rasped, eyes closing somewhat as they continued to dim. The boy stared, shaking somewhat as the dragon again shifted from beneath the wreckage surrounding them. '_My time is over... But you can still fight...' _But so could she couldn't she..? She... She couldn't die, she couldn't-_ 'Listen carefully,_' the dragon begged, mouth hanging open as she took ragged breaths. _'When the third power of dragons unites with that of the third power of warriors,_' it choked, the boy before her standing in silent horror, '_The strongest of unions will be formed... By the third power they will stand, and by the third power they will fight... By the third power,'_ she continued on,_ 'They will face the face of darkness and they will succeed..._' Eri took a long, rasping breath, coughing again as she slumped to the ground completely, rubble on top of her shifting and falling to the ground in her wake. '_Young hero... I have complete faith in you,_' she whispered, voice fading to the wind along with the light in her eyes. '_I believe that you and those with you will survive through this... And that our lands will be saved... So I say to you, good luck,' _she whispered quietly, turning her head to the side and closing her mouth as her eyes finally lost the blue light completely. '_Great warrior..._'

No... "N-Nnn... Eri-san," he whispered, staring at the head as fires cracked around them. He moved forward, 'shaking' the metal head in desperation. "Eri-san!" No answer... He swallowed, shaking his head and pulling back with wide eyes. No... This was a giant _metal dragon_, likely built with Kaiba's own dragon in mind! The monster who destroyed the ring around the Castle of Illusions, causing it to plummet to the ground in an instant, after wreaking havoc on countless monsters..! If she didn't make it... If even she was dead, then what did that mean for the others..? "...Jonouchi-kun," he whispered, tears running down his face at the thought. "Mai... Both of them..."

An equally fearful feeling came from the connection of minds he held, his darker half almost seeming to place a nervous hand on his shoulder. _'...Aibou..._' They... They could be dead... Yugi swallowed, looking down at the white dragon's corpse and falling to his knees. Dead, completely... The other Yugi seemed to tense with those thoughts, his presence growing just as nervous and fearful as the boy himself in the back of his mind. '..._Aibou,_' he repeated, Yugi staring at the ground in silence as tears continued to fall. '...' Did they have the same thoughts on this..? On this so called 'game'? What kind of people made a game where 'game over' was really 'game over'..? Where each strike of the blade could clearly reap a bleeding wound that was detailed with all the work of an actual corpse? Where the player's injuries were as well detailed with equal precision? As dark clouds continued to swirl around him, the boy hung his head, arms held limp at his sides in the again silent and burning wood. What...

What kind of game was this..?

* * *

Someone was calling him... '_Jonouchi..._' The blond however didn't respond, unable to find the strength to move. Nggggghhhh... God his head hurt... '_...Jonouchi..._' Who the hell was talking, his head felt like it was on fire damn it... Though he had to say, that voice sounded familiar... '_Jonouchi, wake up..._'

"G... Ngh..." Katsuya groaned, slowly opening his eyes to look up as his vision slowly clearing. The sky was completely black and coated with clouds... Hell, it could have been a clear night sky for all he knew. But the fires surrounding the area more than lit up the area, and in that light he could slowly make out Mai's face before his vision faded once again.

"Damn it Jonouchi," the woman above said with a frown, lightly shaking his shoulder and forcing the blond awake again. "Wake up! Come on!"

Ow, alright... He groaned again, sitting up and rubbing his head where the helm still sat somehow. "Gh..." God, felt like he'd broken every bone in his body... A glance at his lifepoint counter said he probably _had_ as well. "Nggh... Sheesh, what hit me..."

Mai sighed, shaking her head and pulling back to stand up. She seemed rather tense, if not in shock about everything... Not really something he should be surprised about he guessed, rubbing his shoulder absently. "The Harpie's Pet Dragon would be one thing," she said somewhat wryly, looking over at where a visible outline in the ground amid the rubble could be seen. It looked as though a small crater had turned up in the dragon's wake when it landed... And as to what else happened, it was left to his imagination really. Mai helped Katsuya to his feet, looking around the thick piles of rubble that scattered the forest clearing with a frown. Bones could be seen in some piles... Rocks in another... "Pretty much every other monster in the sky would be the other things..." Yea... That was one way of putting it. Mai bit her lip, looking at the younger blond as her friend steadied himself and pulled himself to his feet. "I was getting worried... When we crashed," she said quietly, "I had the dragon break most of the fall... But you still hit the ground hard, and for a while you weren't breathing..."

He swallowed, looking at the woman. The dragon broke the f- Wait... Wasn't... He wasn't _breathing_? Katsuya brought a hand to his throat for a moment, shaking his head. Holy shit... That was close... Wait... "Wait... If that's what happened t' me," he said nervously, before looking around them with wide eyes as the fires around them continued to burn. "What about Yugi..?"

The woman paled, looking around the area as well with those words. That's right... What happened to him..? "I... I don't know," she said somewhat quietly, stepping forward and continuing to look around as her staff hung limply in her hands. "I lost sight of Eri in the explosion... And when we crashed, I was more concerned with trying to make sure you hadn't been crushed... Or worse," she added with a nervous swallow, turning away and biting her lip.

"Well then we gotta find 'm," he said somewhat nervously frowning as he looked at the woman beside him. "I mean, 'f I was passed out that bad, what could happen t' him?" He walked forward, almost running as he clambered over a nearby pile of rocks and continued looking around. They had to be able to find him right? Maybe from up there... "There's no way t' tell what happened," he muttered with a swallow, pulling himself up to the top of the rubble pile and continuing. "If... If he's gone then..."

Mai followed behind, still biting her lip as she shook her head. "I'm... I'm sure that Eri-san wouldn't let that happen," she said with an almost equally nervous tone, climbing up the stones behind Katsuya. "He can't be far... I'm sure he-" The woman froze, looking to the side as Katsuya followed her gaze. "He's not..." Over there, was that... "...Far..."

The two hurried over without another word, half running half walking lest they end up falling flat on their face amid the piles of rocks. "Yugi," Katsuya shouted, running over to where the boy was sitting on his knees. He was alright! He was... Erm... "Y-Yugi," he continued, before stopping a few feet behind the boy, Mai stopping as well. He wasn't moving... Just staring down at what looked to be the motionless body of the Shining Dragon, hands held limp at his side. The bladed boomerang was still strapped to the boy's back, and as a breeze passed the woods fell silent once more. "...Yugi," he said quietly, Mai as well looking on in silence.

Something felt... Different about the air around them at the moment. Tenser, more severe... Like before a match, or a game. "...Jonouchi," the boy finally said, Katsuya standing stiff as he recognized the confident and possibly cold tone of the 'other Yugi'. "...Mai," he continued, slowly turning around from the dragon's corpse to look at them with a narrowed stare. "...Let's finish this game."

* * *

**AN:** Things just got serious guys. _Seriously_. Expect a 'real' boss battle by the way, concerning the 'Five-God-Dragon'... And I mean a _real_ boss battle, I'm going all out on this. In any case! Depending on how things go, the 'end' might take two chapters- the dragon will definitely be faced in the next one, but if the battle takes too long I'll be putting in the 'wrap up' scenes in a separate one. Basically it'll either be two slightly shorter than the norm chapters... Or one longer than the norm one. (I just don't want to make it 'REALLY longer than the norm', since that would be a little overwhelming...)

Now then! Some art below, though it's something _else_... It's a bit of a 'tradition' among my friends to be complete morons with ideas and just plain go nuts on the paper when we can. Mostly, this leads to something we call a 'doodle war'; I draw one panel of a sketch comic, friend draws the next, and so on. Sometimes, it goes into a full blown internet RP, which in one case ended up home to a semi-crack semi-serious fanfic over on BlackRockTaffy's page; though I haven't touched it for... A loooooong time since I got more serious about keeping things in character. (At the the time that fanfic started up, it was largely based on the _dub_... And upon insanity) That fanfic is basically home to any weird and bizarre idea that never made sense in my head... Along with crack and yaoi pairings... (Fangirl heaven really.)

Anyways, that part has nothing to do with the something else, but rather the fact that I have a bit of a self-made doodle war concerning little things that either _will_ show up in the fanfic in a more serious conversation, or simply little things that are just too hilarious to stick in within safe limits. Or even just 'behind the scenes' amusement. For now, we have one such thing; 'The Secret to Long Hair In School', which could probably use a better name.

**Poll Results** are being re-posted here as a reminder... Come on guys, lets decide on Seto's past incarnation!

Female Crossdressing Set - 12 (Three Anonymous)

Obviously Female Priest_ess_ Set - 7 (Three Anonymous)

Canon (Male) Set - 2

And next we have...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

He had to do it Iona… Because… It led to the scenes of AWESOME that we see above. It really does actually… Though I have to say, I hope to work a bit of magic on Rebecca as well… While keeping in mind that at twelve and thirteen, you tend to see girls at their cattiest… (I was not immune…)

I do hope you enjoyed Mokuba's moments of EPIC though. And as for Mai's backstory… Yaaaaay~ I'm actually having a lot of fun delving into people's backstories for this fanfic… I had a particularly large amount of fun with Honda's actually, which you can probably tell from below…

In any case, enjoy the chapter~

I won't I sweaaaaaaaar… I won't do it Cynical Gamer...

And yesssss very. I don't know if it's bad or good that I can put a voice to each one of those lines… Even so. On the one hand, it would be '_WTF GO AWAY_'… And on the other it would be '_You realize I'm a girl right.._?'

Noa: …Either way, I win!  
Me: *coughnotreallycough*  
Noa: What? D:

Somehow, I feel like in the end I'll have to flip a coin. (Or just go with what's creepier. BWAHAHAAA~) You can't wait and neither can I~!

Pfffff, you can NEVER be prepared! *mad cackle* …Or something.

Anyways, hah! You're right, she would be getting crap loads of bad lines… Least until she glared at them, but whatever… And hoh… Now I want to read that fanfic. They probably _could_ come up with a lot of devious things together those two. Oh well.

And hahaha! Who knows how everything worked really… Who knows…

Not my fault Noa took so long to set up pods for everyone! (..How the hell did he do that..) And so… I'm evil in a good way? Or… Something?

Oddly enough, I think Jou's weirder dreams will put a block on the nightmares. Oh well… And yes! So close..! She'll certainly be kicking all kinds of ass now though, most definitely. And it does… And in a way, it kinda sets up the attitudes that the big five held for the Noa arc… Otaki was fairly paranoid during duelling; before the Legendary Heroes came to an end, he was possibly the one whose recklessness got everyone stuck in the first place. (Being the guy who was like '_well then we'll just have to be careful…_') And then of course, I now get to activate a particular dislike for Jou using the Oka VS Jonouchi duel…

And heheheheheeee…. You'll just have to see! *mad cackling once more* Ahhh foreshadowing is fun…

Fun times indeed! And oddly enough, no… There won't be. The Big Five get their info directly from the computer; the moment they looked in and accessed everyone's profiles, they realized fairly quickly why the code that locked around _males_ matching Kaiba's body type didn't work. Heheheeee… And of course, Noa knows these kinds of things as soon as he signs in _anywhere_, so there's no questioning _his_ knowledge…

And yay! The costume gets love~

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that wishes it had as many moments of crazy awesome as Mokuba and Kaiba... And everyone else in this fanfic.

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Today's title is brought to you by the an archetype of Yu-Gi-Oh cards called the 'Synthetic Seraphim'; a series of fairy type, mechanized monsters with angelic themes. Given that every one of the Blue-Eyes 'supposedly' have the same names as angels of some kind, I figured it suited our shining dragon up there. ...Even though I personally don't really see the three blue eyes with those names due to the Millennium World...

Anyways, another reason why I picked 'Seraph' is because they were said to be six winged angels that were known as the 'Burning Ones', the hebrew word for which was normally reserved for serpents and the like. Which was normally a bad thing, but since 'seraph' wasn't tacked on with other snake-reserved words, you would generally be able to tell the two apart. In any case, early on in tales they weren't explicitly said to be six winged, just 'flamy'. So it was really ones best guess as to what they looked like...

Either way, 'serpents' in ancient times also tended to refer to 'wyrm' type dragons, ones that either had no legs, or were simply long and snake-like despite their limbs. Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon isn't _snake-like_ persay, but it's certainly rather long in comparison to otherwise short legs (it only has two, as it's a wyvern. Wvyern. I can't spell damn it...)

**

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**

Oh hey! Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon- WAIT WHAT. WHAT USAGI, _WHAT_? Well, since the shining dragon would otherwise never appear here(since I'm not including the movie in this)… And… Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon is _pretty damn kickass_, I decided to use it as a bad-ass replacement for the wooden 'air ship'.

Particularly since the 'ship' in the prophecy was _white_ in the anime… And the ship itself turned out to be completely wooden, and _brown_ damn it. Fffffff. And yesssss, as a matter of fact, I _did_ do this as a silly reference to the Millennium World arc…

However, it also holds heavy ties in my more original series I'm working on; the initial antagonist (Or… The one who is technically being controlled by the main antagonist) is a witch who carries about a large grimoire… _And by fusing with the book turns into a giant fucking dragon_. Looks nothing like Blue-Eyes mind (It's actually eastern in appearance), but still held a bit of an inspiration here. (I should probably work on my original series for once... Eh, oh well.)

* * *

Something tells me that in the whole 'medieval speech' and 'RPG lore', Eri wouldn't be calling herself 'Blue-Eyes Shining Dragon'. Oh well. On another note, concerning the whole 'the people of these lands _are_ duel monsters', it stems from the final episode of this arc. Queen Meyari turns into the Mystical (...Holy?) Elf to bring everyone who died back to life...

I was just sitting there going 'wait, why didn't she just help them then!'. Annyways. In a nutshell! 'Eri' fell from the castle, sacrificed most of her power to keep the Five-God Dragon from destroying everything in sight... While giving everyone human forms. The area with that 'bird' would be turned back 1000 years though, around the time she did this... So no one else could really come with lest they be subject to certain 'blocks' that the Dragon put in place. Remember guys, in the anime, Meyari said it was impossible to summon monsters there. (Despite the glaring fact that not even two minutes later THEY DID. AAAAAAGH.)

And if it still doesn't make sense, then it's probably just me. (Sorry.)

* * *

Picture the piper with a Scottish accent. I know I did. And it was _beautiful_. Also, if you didn't guess from the last chapter, that's right; Kaiba didn't go down without dealing a bit of damage to the thing controlling her dragon!

* * *

Why was Mokuba not electrocuted to shit by the net? Partially because he's wrapped rather tightly in plant based clothing... But also because _all his armor is made of wood_.

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That scene with Honda and Anzu was brought to you by boredom, amusement, and overall hilarity. Enjoy. *cough* Anyways.

'Hiroto', if you haven't guessed, is Honda's first name. It's spelt in Hiragana, and has no real meaning. A somewhat common name actually. Anyways... As for Johji, the 'oh' is technically spelt 'ou' in Japanese… So I spelled it as such.

* * *

'Ane-san' is actually a somewhat humerous nod at Honda's own habit of not using honorifics. The 'san' is tacked on because of an intense fear of his older sister... But 'ane' is pretty much the most laid-back and informal way of referring to an older sister, and isn't even supposed to have an honorific there!

* * *

Is Honda's sister being unreasonable? Hell no! Jouji's _three_, and she literally has no one else to look after him. For Honda to say nothing when the time comes to look after the boy is about the worst thing you can do when it comes to pissing off a mom. Granted, Honda had no idea he'd be in the situation he's in, and it's easy to forget that you need to make a phone call when you're more worried about keeping the others alive. Even so...

* * *

Yes, Anzu just did that. Believe it or not, given her more tom-boyish traits (Which are obviously dumbed down as we go along in the anime… A lot.) it's quite likely she'd do that. Keep in mind that she said her dream was to dance in New York... But no one ever asked what kind of dancing she was going for; if she's going after certain strains, she's probably going to be a fairly good actress as well! Anyways... You have to admit; it's a damn good way to shut Honda's sister up for a moment, keep the phone lines dead for a while, and even better, get Honda into shit later on.

Though that last one _has_ to be unintentional right? Anzu's not that mean... ...Right...

* * *

How did Mokuba get hold of another 'Gift of the Magical Elf'? Well, the cards essentially 're-set' when Mokuba took the deck out. It was a glitch; Kaiba had one copy, as it was logged into her 'hand'. But since the cards never actually move from inside the deck, Mokuba had the opportunity to draw the same card.

* * *

The conversation between these two draws from both the dub and the subbed version; in the dub, after Mokuba says he asked Yugi for help, Kaiba says '_you know how I feel about him_ (Yugi)', to which Mokuba responds that he didn't know who else to turn to. Kaiba responds with '_anyone'_ (Which had me going 'Even Jou?'), and they move on.

In the subbed version it's somewhat different, likely because in the Japanese, Kaiba seems to have a bit more of a grudging respect for Yugi than an intense wall-banging rivalry when it comes to things outside of the card game. (It looks that way at least.) He simply says '_you needn't have_' after Mokuba admits to getting help, before the two move on.

* * *

When Kaiba calls Jonouchi an 'insignificant weakling', it's in reference to another common insult that her canon-counterpart calls Jonouchi a number of times. 'Zako', which ordinarily means 'small fish' and comes from the kanji 'miscellaneous' (which is read as 'za' in Chinese) and 'fish' (Which... Doesn't have any readings that remotely resemble 'ko' oddly enough.), also tends to mean 'insignificant person' or 'weakling' in the world of Japanese insults.

* * *

Kaiba seems to cave fairly quickly when Mokuba comes into matters doesn't she? In addition to being fairly canon on this (So long as it's not serious, Mokuba tends to know what buttons to push. Certain things however... Don't fly. At all. (But that's expected) The pause up there, along with the caving, isn't the result of Mokuba merely being her brother however. It's more the really _loud_ statement concerning Jonouchi. All those 'he was there, I was not' paranoia issues are just coming and coming... (Though these all fly right out the window when the mutt does something stupid of course.)

* * *

You have to admit; Mokuba's 'I'd like to be normal' thing from before is pretty much a lost cause by this point. I'm pretty sure he's just embracing it by this point though, like everyone else.

* * *

A war scythe is basically a curved blade on a stick, differing from an actual scythe in that it's not a short, hand-held one, meant for cutting plants down. It's the weapon that you see the Armed Ninja holding, and is considered an improvised weapon to say the least.

* * *

Interesting thing, those conversations originally take place _after_ they defeat the ninja and the capture jar, despite the fact that one would think Kaiba would ask how Mokuba got there _before_ all of this. As it is… Kaiba doesn't seem to have quite realized that there is still one person unaccounted for in terms of the 'secret'. She will soon though... Very... Soon...

* * *

Cat-Like dragons? What? Usagi, what are you talking about... *goes back to watching 'How to Train Your Dragon'*

* * *

'Valkyrie' is a card that is known as 'Dark Witch' in the English version, due to the fact that as religion overtook the country the formerly angelic (in appearance) (if not highly war-like) women known as 'valkyrie' were reinterpreted as 'witches'. They were originally nordic deities who served Odin... Before that religion was absolutely pounded on by a certain cross-wielding one. This tends to happen a lot when Catholicism and Christianity hit things in ancient times really. It has nothing to do with Siegfried's cards though...

* * *

I used to wonder how it was that the death of an NPC character was so shocking that it triggered a 'switch' between Yugi and Yami Yugi... Then I realized that it's really about the same as when _I_ cry over a character's death in a series... Or about things like Kaiba and Mokuba reuniting, or Kisara dying, etc etc... So yea, it's kinda like that.

* * *

Believe it or not, but there was actually another nod to the manga in making the 'ride' a Blue-Eyes of sorts. Interesting fact; for the manga, Takahashi had originally planned on making Blue-Eyes _Yugi'_s key monster. It was decided that Kaiba would get it as a somewhat last minute thing though…

Imagine what it would have been, Blue-Eyes as Yugi's signature monster…

* * *

The 'third power' of dragons of course is Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon… Which comes from the absolutely hilarious first appearance it had in the manga, where you had three words describing how incredible it was… With the exponent '3' beside it.

Interesting thing about the exponent 3 however, is that technically 'to the power of 3' means 'number x number x number'… Even more technical is that this makes it '1 to the power of three' since it's… Supposed to reference tripling the power of blue eyes.

But that's 1 x 1 x 1. Which is 1. BAWWWWWWW. Oh well, have fun making your guesses at the 'third power' of warriors.

* * *

And the other Yugi arises… As to why it didn't quite hit Yugi that the others could possibly be dead until _after_ the dragon passed on, he was kind of… Caught by the fact that the dragon was talking before it died. And then after death settled in… Yeaaaa…

It was probably about then that the other Yugi stepped in and said '_…I think I'll take it from here_.'

* * *

So… For a guide on waking up from that 'explosion' of sorts (They landed in a forest by the way), Mai was mostly conscious the entire time, as the pet dragon took most of the force. She nodded off a little bit, but was otherwise fine… After… She recalled the dragon to her deck to free her leg at least. While she was doing that, Yugi woke up and had a bit of a 'blue screen' moment concerning the death of Eri… Interestingly enough, but Iru was originally still going to accompany these guys, and was actually the reason why he had a 'big' form.

But at the last minute, I decided '_Isn't… Killing one person enough? Really_?'

In any case, Jonouchi was the last to wake up, which happened around when Eri gave her last breath. Everything else just put the three in shock… Which, as you can tell, is dealt with in varying ways. 'Light' Yugi has a bit of a mind-blank, Yami taking control to sort of calm things down… Not to mention go on a bit of a vengeance stampede… Jonouchi addresses friends first and otherwise acts fairly normal… And Mai is just in shock, plain and simple. Which really isn't surprising, given that this is probably the most extreme form of _anything_ she has ever experienced…

_So far_. (Key words being 'Battle City' with that in mind…)

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

As a reminder, remove the spaces to get your link!

DoodleComic: The Secret To Long Hair In School - http: / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ copyimage. png - WARNING. Dramatic change in art style, since it's it's... Well, a _doodle_ comic. In any case. It's an actual fact that in highschool and middle school (I can't well say for elementary) that if your hair is too long and you're a guy... You are at risk of ending up with your head shaved on that one day that the staff decides to 'enforce the rules'. (They really will go over with a shaver and cut it all off. You'd have Honda hair!). In any case, notice how after Bakura 'offers' to help (With his soul-snatching ways), Mokuba has the same expression right until the end panel. Ahahahahaaaa... Also, Blue-Eyes laptop. (Yes~)


	51. Chapter 50

**Azrael's Hand**

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-**_BEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEP_**-

It was the only sound that could ever possibly have both of them freeze like that. A single, long and crying tone that rang about the room with a haunting peal. Honda and Anzu had only barely been paying attention to what was on the screens for the past few moments to say the least; most of their energy was being spent with holding the barrier on the door, and there had been no sound or sign that anything was the matter. They'd been doing fine hadn't they? Cutting through the monsters in the skies, in a way that almost seemed worthy of video games...

And then it all ended. The screens went black, the 'battle theme' music cut short, and all they could see were sprites 'falling' through the air at top speed. And as the figures hit the ground, each one earning its own little cutscene, that one sound began in moments.

Yugi's sprite was moving within just a few seconds, pulling himself from a deep and rubble filled hole with what looked to be a buried white dragon just behind him. Mai's sprite was as well awake, dispelling the form of her large 'pet dragon' before apparently stumbling to her feet. In the dragon's absence, they could see the now motionless sprite beside her. A sprite with a draconic helm and an axe at his side... Oh god... "Jonouchi..." Honda swallowed, eyes wide with horror as he and Anzu stared at the screen. The sprite was completely motionless... There wasn't even the 'twitch' that the standard standing one gave, where the figure would shift somewhat second to second. They couldn't see his face... But they could hear the echoing, reverberating and constant tone of the heart monitor in the computer. "He can't..." Again he swallowed, shaking his head as they stared. "He can't be..."

Not... Dead..? Honda bit his lip, looking down at the ground and clenching his fists. No. No no no, god damn it all n-

-_**Beep**_-

The pair jumped, staring at the screen despite being jostled by the continuing pounding on the door behind them. "...That was..." Honda looked over at Anzu, the woman changing her words around as she stared. "That's..."

-_**Beep**_-

That was a heart rate... Honda broke into a grin, turning to Anzu as the woman did the same. The long tonal cry was stopped, starting up into a regular, stead heart rate that went...

-_**B-beep**_- -_**B-beep**_- -_**B-beep**_-...

"HAHA!" The teen pumped a fist into the air, ignoring the constant pounding behind them. "YES! YEA!" Anzu laughed somewhat, shaking her head as Honda shouted beside her zealously. "They aren't out of the game yet! Whoo!" But god _damn_ if he did that again... Heh... Now he knew how the guy felt during Death-T he guessed.

Anzu sighed, grin fading to a small smile. "Got that right," she said with a relieved tone, before biting her lip and turning back to the screen. The sprites were now moving... Was it just them, or did Yugi's have the 'other Yugi's streaks in his hair now? Eyes seemed sharper too... ...Huh... They shook the thoughts from mind, continuing to stare. "I just hope that luck lasts..."

"Yea," Honda said with a swallow, nodding his head. "Me too..."

* * *

The forest's flames had died down rather quickly once they began moving once again. Despite the clearly flammable foliage around them, the fires seemed to be content with staying put... And as trees rose high around them, the trio passing the through the same piles of debris that Katsuya and Mai had been buried in, the darkness settled in all too fast. Shadows stood out from every side, the wind occasionally brushing past the branches alongside them. And in the darkness around them, there was no telling what could happen.

"Sheesh," Katsuya muttered with a swallow, looking around them as they passed through the dark path through the woods. Cobwebs the size of subway cards could be seen dimly hanging above, hives of presumably sleeping insects off to the size. Hihhhhh giant bugs... "'F all th' places f'r us t' fall in..."

The blond was answered mostly with silence, Yugi walking steadily ahead as the pair behind him shared a glance. Finding Eri dead had been... Disturbing, to say the least. Even with the knowledge that the personality was nothing but a computer code, that the dragon had only been a creation of pixels for a video game... It was still haunting, in a strange way. Something that had most of them fairly quiet for obvious reasons. "The castle landed a little to the north," Mai was saying, attempting to break the silence around them as she gripped her staff. "Yugi," she began, Katsuya coming up beside her.

It was too quiet... "...Yugi," he said with a frown, the boy not answering. ...Damn it... This really sucked. "We won' let her sacrifice mean nothin', alrigh'?"

Yugi turned somewhat, nodding before looking ahead. "I know," he said somewhat plainly, moving on down the path. "...How far do you think the castle is from here," he asked, Mai frowning somewhat before closing her eyes in thought.

A little bit to the North wasn't much to go on but... And since everyone else only saw a wave of dirt flying their way at the time... "Judging by the shadow in the distance," she said after a few moments, opening her eyes again to look at the others, "I would say it'll be a fifteen minute walk at the most. We aren't far," she added with a nod, adjusting her grip on her staff. "But I wouldn't say we're out of the clear yet..."

Yea... But they were getting close then weren't they? Katsuya also gripped his weapon tightly, the sound of their feet crunching the ground echoing about the air. Stones and pebbles clacked underfoot, the air sitting thickly around them without movement. He could hear something else though... Constant buzzing, like a swarm of cicada in the middle of the summer... '_nrrrrwhrrrr nrrrwhrrrr nrrrwhrrr..._.' The blond frowned, looking around somewhat nervously as the buzzing continued. Was it getting louder or... What, where was it coming from... '_**nrrrrwhrrrr nrrrwhrrrr nrrrwhrrr nrrrrwhrrrr nrrrwhrrrr nrrrwhrrr**_'... "The hell is that noise," he finally muttered, eyes narrowing as he looked up at the trees above them. '_**NRRRWHRRR NRRRWHRRR NRRRWHRRRR**_' Seriously, the hell..!

The other two stopped, looking around as well as the noise increased even further in volume. "...It sounds almost like... A swarm of _locusts,_" Mai said with a swallow, eyes wide as the sound of beating wings came along with the noise. Locusts..? EH?

The buzzing increased still more, all three looking toward the north with wide eyes as the source of the sound became visible. "Insects," Yugi said with a frown, reaching for his deck as what looked to be a large cloud began to develop and move toward them. They could see the details of each one's form, the wings, the eyes, the mandibles... "Flying Mantis, Dragonfly, Bladefly..." Stop naming them, stop naming them stop naming them..!

"So _**hell**_ is that noise then," Katsuya said with a somewhat sarcastic tremor, watching as the monsters began moving closer at top speed. "Great," he growled, drawing his card only to wince and watch it vanish. "Any ideas on how to take down a swarm this big, " he asked, holding his axe out nervously. "Y'know... B'fore it pulls a 'Return 'f the Mummy' on us?"

Mai shook her head, pulling her staff forward and taking a stance with a swallow. "No," she admitted, staring down the swarm as it flew toward them. "But given the looks of the cargo those things have, I'm pretty sure summoning monsters would be a bad idea..."

Cargo..? Bad idea? He squinted, before paling as a number of Man-Eater bugs growled from the backs of the mutant looking dragonflies in the distance. Those things looked fairly viscous... Particularly when they jumped to the ground and started running toward them. "Awwwww shi-" The blond was quickly thrown back by a charging insect, axe driving into the bug's skull in question as the monsters swarmed. "GOH!" '_**NRRRWHHRRR NRRRWHRRRR NRRRWHRRR NRRRRWHRRRR**_' Katsuya swung his axe, flailing against the man-eater bug as it snarled in his face. '_**NRRRWHHRRR NRRRWHRRRR NRRRWHRRR NRRRRWHRRRR**_' He pushed the monster off as the axe in his hands dug into its neck, turning as a second wave struck him from all sides. Damn it... Damn it, he couldn't even see past his face! "Agggghh!" Katsuya swung the axe blindly, slowly being pushed down by the wave with a growl. "Where th' hell are they all coming from!"

The buzzing continued to pound through the air, physically throwing them back under the pressure. He didn't get an answer to his question in the end... But he _did_ like the next few words he heard. "_**Mirror Force**_," Yugi calmly shouted from the side as the monsters swarmed, the card in his hand vanishing into a clear and crystal like dust. The powder blasted forward, forming an immense shield around them as the monsters within instantly burned into ashes. Light swirled about them, rising up the moment the following wave of insects hit to do the same in response. In a chain reaction the destruction spread... Loud screeches filled the air as the bugs were pushed back, rebounding along each other and crashing down into the trees. The bladeflies were gone, the man-eater bugs, the dragonflies... The mantises, the blazewing butterflies...

Waaaaaiiit... The Blazewing Butterfli- Katsuya blinked as the flaming butterflies tore into the trees, setting the forest ablaze in moments as they died in their own attacks. "Er..." The blond swallowed as the flames continued to spread, the entire field bathed in reds and golds within seconds. "...That's one way t' do it," he said blankly, before Mai helped the younger blond to his feet as the shield dispersed. "Sheesh," he muttered with a laugh, hanging his axe back on his back. "I thought we were bug food f'r a sec there..." He looked around, before paling at the now brilliantly lit sky as shadows appeared in the air. H-Hang on... "What the hell," he said nervously, eyes wide as he watched the shadows rise and clear before them. "They're still alive!"

"No," Mai shouted with a swallow, gripping her staff tightly as the monsters in the distance unfurled their wings. "Those are Greater Moths..! We don't have time to fight that many," she continued, looking to the trees ahead on the path. "The fire will block our path by the time we're done... We'll be trapped..!"

Yugi narrowed his eyes with those words, before drawing a card with a scowl. "Then we'll finish this quickly," he stated, holding the card forward as two others materialized in his hand. He held the cards forward in an almost fan-like formation, staring at the monsters with narrowed eyes. "_**Catapult Turtle**_," he called loudly, the first card vanishing to form the familiar mechanized tortoise on the side. The monster slowly lowered its metal head, taking a steady grip on the ground as it readied its catapult. "_**Kuriboh**_," he continued, the small furry ball with eyes appearing on the catapult lift and giving a light 'kuriii' as it looked around.

"O-Oi," Katsuya muttered with a nervous laugh, staring at the small monster as it continued its small cry. "Kuriboh..?" Seriously..?

There was no answer, the catapult firing toward the swarm of moths in an instant as the third card was summoned into existence behind it. "And lastly... _**MULTIPLY**_!" From one Kuriboh came two as the catapult turtle behind them vanished into rusted scraps of metal, two becoming four, becoming eight within milliseconds as the Kuriboh continued to charge toward the moths with wicked grins. "Let's go," Yugi shouted, running beneath the swarm of Kuriboh as the fires began to topple the trees around. The monsters above began collapsing into the flames below, tree branches falling behind the three as they ran down the path. Burning limbs were either blocking their way or blocking their escape... Creating a constant maze as the three dodged about the charred wood falling to the ground. The trio ran, Katsuya holding his hands somewhat above his head in defense as he ducked under another pile of burning brush, shutting his eyes and wincing against the heat.

Come on... Somehow their clothes weren't on fire, somehow... They had to almost be through with this, come on... "There," Mai shouted, pointing toward a distant clearing through the arch of trees. Something was visible out there... A shadow of sorts, jutting out of the sand... "The castle!"

Indeed it was the castle they realized, bolting forward with renewed speed as it came within their sights. They charged past the arch of trees, skidding to the ground and looking back with labored breaths as the forest in question literally collapsed on itself behind them. Sparks flew past their faces as they stared, smoke filling the skies behind them and stinging their lungs. "Shit," Katsuya muttered, laughing somewhat as he realized what cause a majority of the latter half of the flames. There were no moths in the air now, that was for sure... "Man Yugi... R'mind me t' never underest'mate Kuriboh ever again..."

Yugi smirked, nodding in silence as they turned and moved toward the ruined castle. Despite falling from an impossible height, the building was almost completely intact, at least from the outside. Even the courtyard entrance was still in place, albeit lopsided thanks to the angled position the castle held. It looked as though a crater had formed around the castle at one point... However, in some weird... Relapse he supposed, the dirt had piled back, still leaving a path through the archway and into the courtyard. All in all, it looked more as though the building had always been built there, and had fallen to thousands of years of ruin rather than a few moments of collapse from the skies above.

"Well," Mai muttered under her breath as they walked through, onyx stone and charred garden decor meeting their eyes. "It's certainly 'black'..." Yea... That was one way to put it. Black leaves on the trees, equally dark stone gargoyles surrounding them... The woman looked forward, before tensing up and stopping in her tracks. "...Hold on," she said with a frown, pulling the boys back with her hands as her eyes narrowed.

The boys turned, blinking and frowning somewhat in response. "Eh? What th' heck is i-"

"Shh..." Shhh? What? Mai frowned, taking a small step forward after letting go of the other two and tapping the ground with her staff. A loud crumbling sound came over the air, the woman and the boys both jumping back as an immense trap hole opened up before them within moments. "Hn! Well," she muttered, shaking her head and leaning on her staff. "Isn't that a warm welcome," she said with wide eyes, the others staring in silence.

Er... Yea... ...Good thing she knew what to look for..? Katsuya leaned over the edge, shaking his head and pulling back with an audible swallow. "Sheesh," he muttered with wide eyes, stumbling back somewhat. "That thing's gotta be at leas' fifty meters down..."

"Actually," came a rather smug sounding voice from below, the three looking forward as a monster rose up from the hole to hover in place. "It's a hundred..." A... A hundred feet! Wasn't that a little overkill..? And hang on..! The three watched as the woman hovered before them, black-violet hair appearing to furl behind her as the others slowly drew their weapons or cards. The witch before them smirked, a series of cards appearing in her hand as she smirked. "Would you like to check..?"

No... No they wouldn't... The three narrowed their eyes, Yugi pulling a card from his deck only to allow it to mist into his hand with a slight grimace. Evidently it was a bad draw for once... He dropped the expression, before pulling off the boomerang on his back and looking forward. "...'Hibikime'," he muttered, the pale skinned witch twirling a scythe in her free hand. Hibikime..? 'Noisy Lady'? ...As in the one who supposedly destroyed opponents by _screaming_ at them?

Hibikime smirked darkly, still hovering in place as she tossed three cards forward. "A good guess," the woman said with a sneer, cards evaporating to form thick clouds of black dust in the air. Trios of golden eyes opened from the dust, the clouds slowly materializing to reveal large and snarling sangan before them. Katsuya swallowed, narrowed eyes faltering for a moment as he stepped back. Ah hell... Sangan didn't look nearly this threatening on a duel table, that was for sure. Not when they weren't the size of small horses to say the least... "But you know," the witch drawled as her targets backed away somwhat, a grin still in place, "I don't think I'll be fighting for now... How about you play with my pets instead," she said with a giggle, moving back from above the hole to stand by the door with crossed arms. "A warning though," she said as she released the leashes that held the sangan in place from her free hand. "They can be _really_ rough..."

He bet. Instantly the sangan snarled, lunging forward as the three before them threw their weapons up in defense. Shit shit shit things this 'weak' should not be this 'big'! Yugi ducked the first one as it leaped toward him, tossing the boomerang toward it before it could retaliate. Within a single moment the monster was ripped into two, boomerang spinning around through the air as the fight commenced. Catching it as a second jumped at him however, Yugi found himself watching as the monster was torn into shreds, ribbons of flesh and bone falling to the ground. Mai winked as the monster's torn body faded from existence, pulling her whips back and turning to watch for other attacks. So far so good... So far- ...Damn. It was only as Katsuya pulled his blade out from the third one's corpse, the monster's three eyes resembling a messy and bloody pancake, that he spotted it. The witch had something in her hand... "Gh- Shit!"

Across from them Hibikime growled, a fourth card in hand as she looked over the corpses of her 'pets'. "Oh," the woman muttered as she tossed it upward. "You know this card then," she snarled, 'Call of the Haunted' hovering just above her as she took a step forward. "Good. Because it's the last thing you're going to se-"

-_**BROUM!**_-

A sudden, thundering explosion came through the air, the castle behind the witch cracking into large car-sized slabs of stone. Chunks of rock fell to the ground, Katsuya and the others winced as a sickening squelch came through the air while Hibikime's blinding scream of terror was cut horribly short as she was crushed beneath the ruins. Stones continued to fall atop the wreckage as dust filled the air, the others coughing in an attempt to clear it before looking up. It was a fairly thick curtain to say the least... But something in the cloud... "H-Hey," Katsuya began, squinting for a moment before grinning. That shadow... "Ah! Se-"

"Kaiba," Yugi called out with wide eyes, watching as the woman slid off the side of her horse-sized dragon to walk through the clearing dust with a frown. She was alright..! "Then, Mokuba is-"

There was a laugh from above, a second Blue-Eyes landing atop the rubble as Mokuba slid off to run over as well. "Hahaha! Katsuya-nii," the boy shouted, bounding down the stones as the dragons stretched out for a break. "Yugi, Mai!" He grinned, arms crossed as the others slowly came over to where he stopped. "Heheheee... Took you three long enough," he said with a laugh, Katsuya shaking his head.

"Hah! Would've helped t' know you were doin' this," he said, shaking his head before looking at Seto. She seemed alright... As she ever was at least... Er... "Oi," he muttered, voice softening somewhat as the woman turned to him with her usual narrowed stare. "Seto- Er... Kaiba," he corrected after Seto in question sent a dangerous glare his way at the sound. "Y' alright? 'Sides any obvious things..." Like being stuck in a floating castle and such...

The woman merely snorted, arms crossed as she leaned back against her dragon as the monster in question lay on its back and yawned. "Trust me _mutt_," she growled almost testily, "I don't need someone like _you_ to worry about me..." Sheesh!

He scowled, slinging his axe back into place. Well 'excuse him' then! "Tch! Jus' askin'," he muttered, shaking his head. Across from him Mokuba gave a slight shrug, the argument apparently nothing new to say the least. "Y' sure though," he added quietly, swallowing somewhat. "I mean, y' don't look too good," the blond continued with a shrug, before tensing as the woman narrowed her eyes.

"As I said," she growled, still leaning somewhat against her dragon's arms. "I don't need _your_ help."

Mokuba sighed, shaking his head at the slight, half-hearted bickering. "Is this really the time," he muttered, Mai merely giving him a somewhat sympathetic smile in response.

It was about then that Kaiba apparently 'noticed' Mai actually, the woman looking the older blond over with a seemingly incredulous stare. "...What is she doing here," she finally said, growing rather pale for a reason beyond the others.

Again her brother sighed, shaking his head. "I told you nee-sama, Mai is the other beta-tester..." He looked over at the woman, somehow holding his rather casual posture as his sister 'glared' at the boy. "And before you say _anything_," he continued with a small frown, "Mai found things out on her own as well, right," he asked, looking to the woman in question.

Mai nodded rather furiously, bowing her head somewhat in response. "That's right," she quickly said in Katsuya's defense, the younger blond currently shifting awkwardly under the still steady glare. "Er... You don't need to worry about anything though," she added with a cough, laughing somewhat nervously as the glare was almost instantly turned on her. "Your secret is completely safe, it was a complete twist of fate that I found out actually!" Er... That was one way to put it.

There was no answer, save a muttered "I'll bet", as the younger woman momentarily sent the narrowed stare toward a cringing Katsuya. Awwwww, come on, it really wasn't his fault... Mostly. Er... The woman across from him adjusted her grip on her arms as Mai coughed, pulling a few strands of hair behind her ear.

"Well," she said somewhat nervously before putting the staff back in the sling around her shoulders. "In any case... I suppose it's nice to meet you in person Kaiba..." Seto appeared to twitch somewhat at the attempts at conversation, Mai merely going on with another awkward cough as she looked away briefly. "Ah..." Yea, that was about what he felt every time they sat down for a meal. "Hn... I have to say," she muttered with a genuine tone, crossing her arms somewhat as she looked back. "You look very good in those robes..."

Seto again 'twitched', glare intensifying as she moved her arm again. Hey, not like they weren't telling the truth! Though he'd probably get beaned in the face if he said it himself. And... Now hang on, he thought with a frown, watching as Seto continued to glare. The way she was moving her hand to her sword looked more like she was hid... Ing... "Holy _shit_," Katsuya said with a swallow, eyes growing wide as he finally spotted the tips of the woman's right fingers. There was no skin, no _flesh... _"What the hell happened to yer hand..!"

The woman tensed somewhat, her brother looking at the limb in question before choking as well. "Are... Is that _bone_," he asked incredulously, Seto wincing slightly as she pulled her hand back and out of her brother's sight. As the woman held her wrist however, it was fairly clear that yes... It was bone, along with charred tendons however that worked; shouldn't those have snapped back against her palm or something? (S-Seriously, was she alright!) The others stared, the woman becoming visibly incensed by the attention. "N-Nee-sama," Mokuba said with a swallow. "...Is all of your arm..?" He steeled himself, looking at his sister with slightly less wide eyes as the woman looked over the limb in question. "...Nee-sama... Show me your arm," he asked, frown on his face.

Silence... It wasn't like Seto had to listen right? And yet Mokuba's stare seemed to have that effect of getting the woman to just go along with things, provided they weren't too serious. A few moments later and there was a groaning sigh, Seto looking down before roughly pulling off the gauntlet and pulling back her sleeve as the others held back their earlier virtual feast. Even she looked a little pale when the sleeve was pulled back... And he wasn't surprised to say the least.

"Holy shit," Katsuya muttered once again, ignoring the 'stop staring' glare that he was receiving at the moment. It was...Was... "How th' hell are you still moving that thing..?" The arm in question, which was now quickly being covered up again, was about the colour of a badly cooked steak... To put it lightly at least. Anything that wasn't black was a dark, angry red in colour, and while it was only the fingertips that had revealed bone, with a few bits of skin still clinging to the upper arm, the sight was truly... Nauseating... To say the least.

Seto merely glared in response to the question however, roughly pulling the straps of her gauntlet back in place with a slightly greener look. Guess it was worse than she'd expected... "...Nee-sama," Mokuba said as the woman did this, his sister looking down with a slightly softer gaze in response. A lot worse... "How did this..."

Happen? Seto continued to look at her brother, tightening the last of the straps on her gauntlet to the point where in the real world circulation would likely have been cut off. "I was restrained with ropes before," she muttered, staring somewhat absently at her fingertips before bringing them back down to the sword handle. "This isn't the first time I've escaped..."

"_No_," an echoing and rumbling voice from above called out, the others pulling back with wide eyes as the rest of the castle began to collapse. They hurried out from the courtyard as it continued to crumble, turning back to watch the entire structure become nothing but a pile of crushed stone and powder. The five looked up at the 'sky', swallowing as the dark clouds above began to swirl and part, an immense gold scaled dragon with five growling heads appeared. Fire, Water, Earth, Wind, Dark... The heads bared their teeth, rumbling voice continuing through the air as the beast hovered before them. "_But it will certainly be your last!_" The sound of a sword being drawn met their ears as Seto pulled her blade free, eyes narrowed dangerously while the others pulled their weapons out as well. The dragon was landing, coming to stand on all fours... The ground crumbled beneath the monster's feet, each head giving a monstrous roar as those behind the woman ducked under the blast, gusts of violent wind blowing from the pressure of its wings. This was it... The 'final boss'...

The 'Five God Dragon'... "Gh... I thought this thing was s'posed t' only show up if th' sacrifice went through," Katsuya muttered, eyes wide as he looked at the monster. Huge... It was huge, how the hell were they supposed to fight this thing...

"H-Hah... You didn't think that the Big 5 would think of that loophole," Mokuba asked incredulously, the blond merely shrugging as he continued to stare forward with wide eyes.

Well... Yea? "It was worth a shot," he found himself saying, pulling himself up against the wind.

There was a whooshing sound in the air, the others turning back momentarily as Yugi threw the boomerang forward to meet the dragon's necks. "Regardless," he said seriously, drawing a card and visibly scowling at his result. "This is the last step before the end of the game... We need to attack!"

Seto snorted, drawing a card nonetheless before pulling herself back on Blue-Eyes as the card vanished. "Hn! Is that an order," she growled, Yugi merely giving the woman a light glare in response. "I don't need you idiots to tell me how to fight. Blue-Eyes," she called, the second dragon turning to her as the dragon behind them dodged the boomerang the first time around. The monster's heads were long and snakelike, apparently acting just as flexible given that each of Mai's whips had been avoided thus far... She hadn't summoned anything though; if this thing destroyed them after all... "You're with Mokuba," Seto told the dragon, before taking off into the air as it gave a nod.

"O-O-Oi," Katsuya shouted, pulling out his axe and running forward on the rubble as the woman took off. "What th' hell's wrong with makin' a plan first!" Granted he was one to talk really but even so. There was no answer as they watched the first Blue-Eyes shoot a jet of white hot flames toward their opponent, eyes widening as the necks abruptly split down to the tail to avoid it. The Blue-Eyes as well appeared to tense, Seto only momentarily halting her assault as the beast repaired itself from it's snake-like state to reform a snarling dragon. "Er..." He blinked, the others staring over the beast with wide eyes as it continued to rage before them. "That was new..."

The others ran past him, the blond stumbling somewhat before Mai turned back. "Just focus on the fight," she shouted, card appearing in her hand as she summoned her own dragon. The red scaled beast growled with anticipation as its master climbed on, pulling the chain leash taut and joining the fray. "It can't be too much more difficult than before can it?"

There was a loud and rumbling roar from above as Seto narrowly dodged a blast of fire and water at the same moment, Katsuya scratching his head while Yugi and Mokuba also charged forward. Yea because his axe was going to do great. He was still going to try of course but... "Er... I don' think that th' 'Boss' is gonna be too..." Easy... Since it was a boss...

"Jonouchi," Yugi shouted from the side as he threw his boomerang forward once again. "Look out!"

The blond looked up, before he and Mai tore off in opposite directions to avoid a blast of mire from the center head. The poisonous fluid burned through the ground, Katsuya swallowing as he scrambled away from the spot. "Gh- Shit," he shouted, pulling himself up before running forward with his axe, tripping across the ground as he ducked under a blast of flames. "How th' hell do we beat this thing?"

"Good question!" As Mokuba attempted to strike down the monster with his swords they watched, Yugi's boomerang finally hitting the mark and cutting through one of the monster's heads. "I think Yugi's got it though," the boy shouted, the dragon he was on narrowly avoiding a jet of boiling water from one of the dragons. The 'dark' head was gone now... However, it was only a momentary victory; as shadows spewed from the bleeding head, the others watched in horror as the limb in question began to re-heal in a wash of shadows, a new head arising within mere moments. "W-What," Mokuba shouted, the dragons above both growling in confusion as well.

"Gh... It's not real," Seto shouted in apparent rage, gripping her sword and turning toward the end of the monster. "Blue-Eyes," she ordered, the dragon she sat on responding with a roar. There was some sort of 'void' at the end of the monster... Did she see it? In a swift motion the pair charged, the two flying directly through the dragon as they headed down for the tail. Apparently so. Katsuya again rolled out of the way of a blast of mire and flames, looking forward as Seto cut through what was seemingly thin air, the woman jumping from the back of her dragon to bring the blade down in a sweeping arc.

For a moment there was nothing but a flash. And suddenly, a blood curdling scream sounded through the air, blood dripping from Seto's blade. "_GNYAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!_" The blond winced, freezing with the others as a wave of energy pushed them all back to slam each of them against the ground. "_RYHAAAAAAAAHAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!_"

Katsuya plugged his ears, watching as Seto was tossed back against the wall with Blue-Eyes. "Gh- What th' hell did you do," he shouted, the woman in question sending a glare to him as the others cringed against the earsplitting cries.

"What does it look like I did Mutt?" She grit her teeth, stabbing her sword into the ground and pulling herself up before looking forward against the still moving wave of shadows. "I revealed our actual opponent!"

Actual opponent? The others looked toward where Seto had struck, watching as the 'Five-God-Dragon' vanished into a flurry of shadows. The dragon again split into five 'snakes', but rather than reforming they extended outward and lengthened into hair thin strings of varying colours. Red, blue, gold, black, silver... A small girl appeared to scream from the center of it all, colours appearing to bleed from her form as she screeched. Finally however she slumped forward, the whips and strings in the air falling to the ground as its wielder stumbled on her feet. "H-Hang on," Katsuya muttered with a frown, shaking his head as he pulled himself up to his feet. No way... "We're fightin' a little kid..?"

The figure before them slowly lifted her head, golden eyes narrowed dangerously against darkened skin and white hair. That face... That was... "That's no child," Mai hissed from the side, her eyes widening as a dangerous and inhuman grin appeared on what looked almost like a colour-swapped version of the queen. A 'glascows grin', moving beyond the cheeks to reveal rows and rows of razor sharp teeth... This was... "That's..."

"_Hehehehehee..._" Dark chuckling filled the air as the girl moved her head, tilting it to the side and staring the crowd down with a frightening grin._ "You found me out,_" it hissed lowly, hands gripping what looked to be a long, five-bladed whip. The 'dragon'... Huh... "_How interesting..._" Interesting didn't cover it..! The group tensed, eyes narrowing as the monster continued with a grin. Fires were sparking from one of the whip's cords... Ice stung the ground from another, shadows seeping from the one beside it as an earthen one remained 'normal' beside its eerily floating 'twin'. "_You think you're so smart,_" the monster spat, bare and clawed feet padding across the ground where she stood."_Sabotaging our great master's return..._" The dragon then? Hahaha... Yeaaa... The whip cracked loudly against the ground, a stream of five elements blasting forward at the five. In an instant the girl flipped back to avoid a preemptive strike from Yugi and Mokuba both, the others dodging the whip's blasts with ease as they charged as well. The two boys glowered, looking up as the 'small child' grinned menacingly from a seemingly hovering position._ "I'll show you to interfere with our plans! In the place of my God, I will fight for him!_"

Oh great, multi-stage boss! They continued to tense, Katsuya growling as he clenched his axe to duck under a line of frost headed his way. "Gh... What th' hell kind of duel monster is this s'pposed t' be," he muttered, eyes narrowed as he blocked a strike from the only 'normal' whip with a wince.

"It isn't," Seto spat, the grip on her sword tightening as Blue-Eyes stood beside her. She muttered something under her breath, before tossing a wave of fire toward the monster from her blade. "Those bastards created a 'second line'... Instead of facing off their precious 'Five-God-Dragon', we're stuck with this sorry excuse for a monster!"

Er, something told him the monster heard that... There was a growl from across the field, the whip again cracking against the ground to release a wave of five different 'elements' of sorts. Stones rose high in the earthen whip's wake, the air itself splitting before it's cousin. Fires singed the edge of their armor, only to freeze against that of the 'water' head. As for darkness... ...Ow. "_You're calling me WEAK,"_ the monster roared, eyes widening before she held a hand in front of her. Mokuba and Yugi both paled, the three behind them momentarily stopping their advance as a beam of light appeared to charge before it. "_Then try THIS,_" she roared, the two boys quickly flying back.

The pair both screamed, landing to the ground with a thud before pulling themselves up with a groan. Even behind the two and in the opposite direction Katsuya found himself stumbling back, wincing against the force of the monster's anger. Gh... "Blue-Eyes," Seto commanded, charging toward the monster as the dragon joined her. "Take Mokuba," she continued, sword gripped tight as Katsuya followed behind. With a nod the dragon flew off, joining with its sibling at Mokuba's side as the others continued to charge. The witch ahead of them merely laughed as the woman attempted to cut her through with her sword, dodging with near lightning speed before turning the whip on her. Instead of dodging however Seto grit her teeth, pulling back as the five blades wrapped around her sword. The whips were pulled taut, flames of ice, fire and shadows all blazing across the steel as the woman held firm. The owner of the whip however, was still far out of reach...

"Medea," Mai shouted, the dragon responding to what was apparently its name. A fierce roar was given in answer, the monster watching its master jump from its back to point it forward. "Go!" The dragon nodded, leaving its master with the groaning Yugi and Mokuba to join Seto in the fray. The monster hovered along side Katsuya, as though waiting for a moment before the blond turned to it and paused. Eh...? What?

There was a low growl, the monster shifting to drop its leash downward. Heh... ...Right! The blond hopped on, axe in hand as they charged toward where the 'tug-of-war' was currently going on. "Oiii, Seto-chan," he shouted, receiving a wide and murderous glare for his efforts as he hovered above the two battling women. "Need a hand?"

"Hn! Even if I did," she grunted, still pulling at the sword to tighten the grip on the whip cords even more, "You would be the last person I would ever ask!" Well, at least she would ask then... The woman continued to growl, before taking a large breath in as the dragon Katsuya stood on reeled back. "Tch... _**FIRE**_," she roared, voice echoing across the plain as the whips were set ablaze. The flames caught in an instant, ripping down the cords as they would a stream of gasoline before reaching the wielder's hand. The witch screeched, dropping the whip and leaping back into the air as shadows melted from the ground where the weapon sat. It was vanishing now, evaporating into the air... "Tch! Just give up already," Seto muttered under her breath, those behind her making their way back up the pile of rubble to join her.

Rather than 'listen' however, the witch merely hovered in the air before them, eyes wide with rage. Colourless flames appeared to emanate off the beast's form, wisping through the air as she gave a low growl. Hang on now... Something seemed a little off... "I don't think we're even close to finishing," Yugi muttered with narrowed eyes, moving to his deck and drawing a card with a frown. Oh hell, if he was allowed to do that... The card vanished into his hand, the boy looking forward and gripping his boomerang tight. "Not nearly close..."

Mai swallowed, looking back to the sky as her dragon landed to let Katsuya down and return to its master. The monster before them was grinning... "I think that's putting it lightly," she finally said quietly, the witch before them cackling madly.

"_Hehehehehe... Hehehe..._" Stop laughing, pleaaaaase..."_Hahaha... __**HAHAHAHAHAHA**__!_" The witch began to grow and stretch, features distorting as loose armor appeared over body and gown. Claws extended from bony and twisted limbs, the glascow's grin still prominent on her face. "_This is almost fun,_" she said with a cackle, eyes widening to a crazed state. "_I think I'm going to enjoy this,_" she continued darkly, before a sick, ripping noise sounded through the air. "_Gnnn... Ghnnnaaa... RHAAAAAAAAAHHH!_"

The five paled as the witch screamed, four 'tentacles' if they could be called that bursting from her back. Long and writhing they formed, pulling the demon further above them into the air as they reached the size of the 'Five-God-Dragon's heads easily. A long bladed tail followed, the monster grinning insanely at them as each 'tentacle' formed into a separate 'head' of sorts along with the tail itself. Fire and water took the top two... Earth and darkness took the bottom. And a bladed metal 'head' took the tail, blasting wind toward them as the others stared. "What the _FUCK_," Katsuya shouted with wide eyes, the monster before them grinning darkly as the transformation completed itself. "What the hell is **THAT**," he roared, before charging off to the side as the cackling demon sent a pillar of flames toward where he'd been standing. The fires burned into the ground itself, Katsuya looking at the spot with wide eyes before turning to the others.

"I don't know," Mokuba was shouting, the two Blue-Eyes both blasting off a wave of white fire toward the beast's wings with no luck as the boy crouched down for cover, "But I don't think I even want to know," he continued, the group mostly scattering in the onslaught of attacks.

Katsuya looked up at the demon, gritting his teeth as it pounded it's earthen head toward a quickly fleeing Seto before receiving a slice from the woman's blade for its efforts. "Where th' hell are we supposed t' attack this thing," he muttered angrily, feeling largely useless thanks to being 'grounded' by his weapon. "Everything they're throwin' is bouncin' off th' wings!"

Indeed, everything that struck the 'heads' was simply causing no visible damage. From Seto's blasts of fire to Yugi's boomerang nothing was making contact that seemed to legitimately cause damage, Mai herself narrowly avoiding being destroyed in a blast of razor-wind as she steered her own dragon clear of the attack. "Gh... Nothing's working," she shouted down, ducking another blast of flames as the demon cackled. "We need a new idea..!"

"_Hehehehehe... Of course nothing's working," _the demon roared, rising further above the group and higher into the air above with a mighty beat of its 'wings'. "_I am the vessel of my lord and God, the embodiment of the darkness itself! You fools can't hope to stand against me,_" it shouted insanely, head held high with laughter. Katsuya paled considerably as the demon's four heads began to glow, the monster holding her arms out as a concentrated sphere of energy developed around her. Oh shit.

OKO attack coming through... "Ahhhh guys," he shouted, Mokuba as well watching with wide eyes. The others looked up mid-attack, their own eyes wide as well as they looked toward the monster's form. "I think we outta ru-"

-_**BRMMMMM!**_-

In a blast of light the five were thrown back, dragons growling against the attack as they stumbled to their feet. Blinding light filled the air as dust and rubble pounded against them, the blond shaking his head as he pulled himself up. "Ghn! Ahng..." Katsuya coughed as he looked up, frowning as he saw no trace of her in the sky. W-Wait, don't tell him it was invisible too..! "Th- She's..."

"Ghk... Katsuya-nii," Mokuba said with wide eyes, looking at the blond before turning toward the center of the field. Those closer had been blasted past even himself and Mokuba... But now... "This is our chance..!" The teen turned, before nodding and charging forward with the boy.

"Right," he called as the demon's fallen form came into view, the dragon heads all momentarily collapsed around the seemingly unconscious monster. "Haaaaaaahhhh-"

"_**Grrrrrrreeeeeeeehhhh...**__" _Oh shit. The collapsed demon opened her eyes, looking directly up at the blond as he swung his axe forward. Dragon's heads rose from the ground turning on the blond with wide and gaping mouths as attacks began to build. Oh shit shit shit shit shi- "_**RHEEEEEEEEEEEE!**_"

-_sqlch!_-

Katsuya took heavy breaths as he dropped his axe, the disemboweled monster choking violently before falling back to slump on the four dragon heads that made up its body. The heads charged attacks quickly backfired, falling to the ground as Katsuya as well fell to his knees. Sightless eyes stared upward as he scrambled back, still breathing heavily as he looked at the corpse before him. That... That was close... That was... "H-Hihhhhhh..."

"_Please_ tell me that you aren't afraid of a _corpse_," Seto said from behind the blond, Katsuya in question jumping at the voice before growling.

"Gh... I ain't afraid," he snarled, pulling his axe from the ground and scowling before turning back to the body on the ground and shuddering. "'S jus' disgustin', that's all..."

Mokuba sighed, rubbing his head and coming between the two as the others came over to join them. "Can't you guys _not_ argue for a while..?" ...No. The two merely continued to glare at each other, eliciting a groan from the boy as a breeze passed. "Augggggghhhh..."

The other two shook their heads, Yugi looking around with narrowed eyes as he ignored the silent argument going on before them. "Strange," he muttered, boomerang still gripped tightly in his hands. "That seems a little... Anti-climatic..."

"Personally," Mai said with a sigh, "I could care less about how 'disappointing' the ending is, so long as the game _ends_," she continued with a small smirk, looking at the others as Mokuba continued to rub his head. The woman brushed a bit of hair back again, frowning. "You're right though," she said after a moment, the others turning in question. "Something feels..."

"_Hnhnhnhnhnhnhn..."_ Chuckling came from the corpse at their feet, Katsuya stumbling back as Seto calmly moved to the side to avoid being run over by the blond. The corpse's neck gave a sickening crack as it turned its head upward, the others staring as it continued to laugh. Oh hell that didn't sound good. "_Hnhahahahaha... You fools think that this is the end,"_ the monster spat, apparently not completely dead for the moment despite no longer having a waist or legs. "_That defeating me means you're all scott free..?_" ...That didn't sound like the boss... The low chuckling continued, the scenery around them abruptly vanishing into showers of pixels around them. Mountains in the distance went first, followed by the trees as they all joined the dark clouds above to fuse into a pure black 'room'. "_No__**t so fast, Ojou-sama...**_" O-Ojou- The others quickly paled to a ghost white shade as the demon's voice mutated into a mix of familiar sounds they'd heard outside in the real world, the term visibly causing Seto to tense with rage.

Those were the voices of the board of directors... The realm continued to pixelate, wide eyes watching as within moments they were left in a black field, the ground itself vanishing from beneath them. To the front, the corpse before them vanished into nothing but a fading kanji for 'ryuu', the mark sinking into the ground before them. This mark... 'Dragon'? "_**Hnhnhnhnhn... Did you think it would be that easy,**_" Oshita called over the air, Seto narrowing her eyes. "_**That we'd simply let you 'win' the game and leave..?**_" ...Yes?

"You five," Seto spat, eyes narrowed as she stormed past the others to look up into the darkness they were now hovering in. Despite the lack of visuals she continued to look up to where the voice had come, posture tense with rage. "Your game is _over,_" the woman roared angrily, grip on her sword tightening as the Blue-Eyes White Dragons behind her growled in agreement. "The 'Five-God-Dragon failed to arise, and its servant was killed in its place. You **LOSE**," she continued with a shout, cloak on her shoulders billowing in a non-existent wind. Her voice echoed around the 'room', the woman not even bothering to disguise the tones as she normally would.

They'd said 'ojou' after all. It was fairly clear that they knew. The chuckling continued from above, Oshita joined by the other four members of the big five. In the distance, the suited forms appeared, smirks on each of the men's faces as they hovered in space. "**Oh do we,**" Oka said rather smugly, adjusting his glasses and crossing his arms. "**You see, you seem to be quite mistaken... '**_**Ojou-sama**_**'...**" Seto audibly growled at the term, the others merely watching as the 'Big Five' stood before them. "**You see, in this realm, **_**we**_** are the ****gods****...**"

"**And you, the 'players',**" Otaki continued, frowning somewhat from his somewhat slouched stance, "**Are nothing but points of code for us to manipulate. True,**" he said with a slightly deeper frown, "**We can't directly influence **_**your**_** actions, or **_**your**_** thoughts... But this game doesn't end until one or the other happens... Either you defeat the 'Five-God-Dragon',**" he called, a large and snarling beast forming out of pixels as he spoke.

"**Or you all die by its hands,**" Daimon continued, dark grin still somehow visible behind the crouching and growling dragon as it slowly materialized into existence. "**I have to say,**" he continued darkly, shaking his head as the 'dark' head on the dragon did the same.** You **_**really**_** had us going...**" Eh? What did he mean by that?

The others of the Big 5 nodded, their targets simply standing in silence. "**Our programming was **_**flawless**_**,**" Ota hissed, appearing to seethe before them. Compared to the others in fact, he was... Almost demonic to say the least. "**Completely free of all error, and you overran it **_**JUST LIKE THAT**_**!**" Oh hey... Um... He was pissed... The metal head on the far side growled with its 'corresponding board member', Ota continuing with a snarl. "**It was specifically written... Movement would be impossible, Avoiding capture would be impossible, **_**ESCAPE, WOULD BE IMPOSSIBLE!**_" The men beside him seemed to cough somewhat awkwardly, the other four dragon heads reacting accordingly as Ota ranted on. Scratch that, Ota had completely lost it. Shiiiit... "**Height limit 6'1'', Weight limit 63 kilograms... Any **_**male**_** player below those limits would pass without fault in the game,**" he growled, Seto smirking rather smugly as she and the others connected the dots. Any male player eh..?

"Hnhnhnhnhn... But I'm no 'male player', _am I_," she said with an almost villainous smirk, for once appearing quite pleased that she'd been 'found out' so to speak. It was already fairly obvious that Seto was probably the only one anywhere _near_ six feet... So really, if it hadn't been for that... Oooohh, that _had_ to _sting_... The five men glared, faces growing red as she continued on. "You wasted all those months, all of my time..." She looked over the the immense beast before her, eyes drifting back to the immense kanji at their feet. 'Dragon'... It didn't take much to figure that they'd have to fight only with dragons really. "And now you challenge me to a battle of _Dragons_ above all of this? Hnhnhnhnhn... Hnhnahaha... AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!" Um. The others drew back somewhat as Seto grinned darkly, the cloak still flowing back behind her as she stood. Aha... Was... Was she alright? "Your constant delays are beginning to make me _sick_," she spat, eyes narrowed as she drew a card and held it forward. Without even looking, it began to vanish as she summoned it, a silvery white trail of dust forming before her. "_**BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON,**_" she roared, the monster appearing in a flurry of white scales from the dust, relatively small in size compared to the being before it. With a rumbling and menacing roar it cried, eyes narrowed dangerously at its opponents.

The five before them merely leered however, slowly fading out into the background and from sight. "**I suppose we shouldn't have expected you to give in,**" Daimon said with a slight shrug, shaking his head. "**But it doesn't matter... Enjoy your last moments on 'earth', if they can be called that...**"

With those words the dragon before them jumped into action, rearing on its hind legs and giving off a loud and impressive roar. Five heads suddenly shook with life, skyscraper sized wings beating against the air viciously in an intimidating manner. "Blue-Eyes," Seto ordered, the two standing by Mokuba turning at the command as their master jumped into action. "Take the left and right sides!" With a quick growl they nodded, Seto hopping onto her own now full-sized dragon and standing atop its head to prepare for battle. "And you," she added, looking down at the others while taking care not to group Mokuba in with the three. "_Don't get in my way._"

"Tch... OI! Seto-chan," Katsuya shouted, gritting his teeth before pulling out his axe as the woman charged into battle against the enormous dragon. In moments she had charged into close combat with the 'dark' head, leaving him to shake his head in annoyance. "Damn it..." He turned to the others, Mai summoning her enormous red dragon into existence and drawing a card as the blond accessed his menu. Well... He still had this at least... "Looks like I'll be usin' that Red-Eyes y' gave me Yugi," he said with a grimace, pulling the card into existence and turning to his friend.

The boy merely nodded, drawing his own card and tossing it forward to reveal 'Curse of Dragon' in a quick shower of white powder. "I can't think of a better time," he said with a smile, before pulling his boomerang forward and throwing it toward the dragon. It would be completely moronic to expect it to cut through one of the monster's heads... But perhaps they could make it through the beast's fingers or claws, given the arc that the boomerang was taking. Yugi turned forward to pull himself onto Curse of Dragon's head, giving Katsuya an encouraging nod before taking off in an instant.

Alright then... His turn! "_**RED EYES BLACK DRAGON,**_" he shouted, the card he held going up into a sudden blaze as the smoke formed the familiar black scales of his dragon. The monster gave a menacing and echoing roar as it materialized, before crouching down to give its master a steady look. Katsuya turned back to Mokuba, blinking as Mai handed him a card with a wink. "Err.. What're y' doin'," he asked, the Five-God-Dragon behind them momentarily occupied with taking pot-shots at the Blue-Eyes. It wouldn't be attacking them just yet... Hopefully.

Mokuba looked over the card in question, blinking before raising an eyebrow and looking at the woman in front of him. "It's not fair if you don't have a dragon as well," Mai said, grabbing the chain of her own dragon before flipping onto its back looking forward. "Besides, with the way your sister is acting," she muttered under her breath before taking off. "It should take away from my lifepoints, so don't worry about how it works alright..?" Mokuba and Katsuya both shared a glance, the younger looking rather... Annoyed at the already evident fact of his older sister's 'distraction'. Seto _did_ have three dragons... But really..

Katsuya merely shrugged, shaking his head at the look before Mokuba pulled out one of his swords with a sigh. Yeaaaaa... Something told him that with the people responsible for all the crap 'mostly' right in reach... Seto was pretty much unreachable in terms of all other common sense. Mokuba shook his head, holding the card out nonetheless to summon the monster into existence. "_**Harpie's Pet Baby Dragon**_," he called out, the card evaporating into a light red mist to form a 'miniature' of the original 'pet dragon' before them. "Well," he said with a shrug as he climbed onto the somewhat large dragon, the beast giving a low snort in response as the boy took a rider's stance. "At least I won't end up fried right off the start right?"

The blond laughed, turning to the front with a nod. Now that was a better way of thinking! "Right!" He pulled himself onto Red-Eyes with a bit of difficulty, standing between the monster's spiked shoulders and holding onto the beast's spines before climbing toward the top. Thanks to the immense size, he could easily just stand on the monster's head... He'd just settle with sitting between the horns though. "Let's go," he shouted loudly, the dragon rising into the air with a roar and charging forward with a blast of black flames. Mokuba followed behind, free hand gripping a wakizashi tightly as they aimed for the numerous heads before them. Alright... Time to start the pot-shots! "_**ATTACK**_!"

Shouts filled the air as they moved, multiple targets being decided on as they charged. It would be ridiculous to even think of beginning a conversation, let alone possibly starting one in the fray that ensued. Blades clashed and sparked against teeth, blasts of varying shades of flame collided against one another in a shower of sparks. Against the flaming head Yugi's boomerang did nothing, merely blasting through to the other side as the Blue-Eyes on the other end ducked beneath the weapon with an annoyed growl. The boy hurriedly dodged a strike with Curse of Dragon before trying to catch a different limb with the weapon as it returned, briefly wincing when the white hot metal singed his finger tips. Firing blasts of white flames against the metal, robotic head resulted only in white hot and liquid metal coming _back_ toward Seto in the meantime, the woman paling momentarily before she and her dragons fled from the blast of wind that followed behind with it. It was complete and utter chaos, the 'field' they were playing on. They were doing nothing but taking pot shots, and useless ones at that!

But this was a dragon field... And whatever other monster could face off against the enormous monster before them would have just as much luck as they were, thanks to the damn seal on the ground. All other monsters entered defense mode and became target fodder as Mai found out with her harpies, and no one was willing to waste lifepoints for a useless shield. Red-Eyes fired another blast of black flames at the earth-oriented head, its owner smirking as he gained a slight result. Perhaps the 'wind' and 'fire' heads were mostly immune... But against these ones... Reddening scales were what the blast resulted in, bits of skin slowly flaking off to the ground as a blast of acidic mire came their way... The two dodged, Katsuya smirking as they took to the air above it and fired another blast of flames. "Heh! Take that," he shouted loudly, laughing as they continued to fight. The earthen head merely glared up at the blond, before turning to the side with a growl. "Nh- Oi," he growled, eyes narrowed as he stood up on his dragon's head. What the hell was it looking at... "I'm up here y' moron! O-" Katsuya froze as he followed the dragon's gaze, before looking back at the monster and paling. Directly in its line of sight..."Oh no," he muttered under his breath, chuckling coming from above and behind the earthen head.

"**Oh **_**yes**_**,**" Oshita said darkly, the golden dragon appearing to speak with it. No... No no no no no. Opening its mouth wide, there was only so much time to react as the others turned to the voice as well. Only an instant... '_Blue-Eyes,_' Seto shouted from the side, screaming for the dragons to block the attack that they could see charging before them. Mokuba turned from where he'd been fending off the teeth of the watery head, eyes widening with horror as a blast of what looked almost like pure molten _flith_ came his way. No time... Blue-Eyes could only fly so fast, and the watery head was pinning Mokuba to the ground. No time...

There was no time..! "Red-eyes," he whispered, the dragon soaring downward despite the command having never been given. It knew what had to be done... There was no time to think after all... No time, no time no... He jumped, hurling himself off the front of the dragon, his axe clattering noiselessly to the ground... And the blond fell forward, blast stopping the moment it came in contact with one of the players in battle. It stung... If only briefly. He could hear Mokuba screaming as he collapsed to the ground, Red-Eyes vanishing in the same mire that had been blasted at the blond. But while he couldn't feel anything... Breathing was awful hard now... "G-Ghn... Ah... Nngg..."

"K-Katsuya-nii," Mokuba shouted, landing to the ground with his dragon as the others looked down. It was hard to see... As the mire cleared off his face he could at least see the boy running toward him though, before Mai came to the ground to pull him back as a blast of mire struck the ground once more. "KATSUYA-NII!"

If he could see himself, there would be no holding back the contents of his stomach. He hadn't been struck down by 'lava', or even 'dirt'... It was the same mire as before, true, but there was an added sting. Almost. He couldn't feel anything... Not surprising, given that his legs were already dissolved to nothing. Hell, he'd have been surprised that his face was still in tact, the others sure were... He slowly looked up, coughing as Mokuba was restrained by an equally panicked Mai, the other two still buffered and pushed back by the dragon behind them. "Gh... Nk..." H-Heh... Looking at his deck holder, his lifepoints were still there... Almost a full thousand sitting there, haha... But... "T-This 's it," he coughed, pulling the device off with melting hands and shakily tossing it to Mokuba's feet. The device was magically untouched by the acidic sludge. "Ev'n w' th' points," he rasped, coughing violently as the sting of the sludge suddenly began to affect him. "I'd be pretty useless t' all 'f you... G... Kah-ah... hah... hah..." Oh god, the pain was coming back with a vengeance now that he was tied down to 'mortality'...

Mokuba shook his head, eyes welling up completely as he was held back. "N-No... Katsuya-nii," he forced out, swallowing as he and Mai both stared. "If you die in the game that means..." Yea... "No..."

He merely grinned sadly, nodding his head despite the pain. Yea... Yea, it meant he'd be gone... But if they beat this thing, he might come back right? That was always a good thought. Hehehe... "Y' gotta fair shot now," he rasped out, laughing weakly as he slumped to the ground completely. "Kick this thing's ass, alrigh'..?"

Again the boy shook his head, tears falling freely as he stopped fighting against Mai's grip. "No..." Sorry kid... "No don't..."

"What kind of sick, twisted 'game' is this," Mai spat, looking up at the 'sky' with rage filled eyes as she held her grip on Mokuba. "What kind of _MONSTERS_ are you," she roared, tears running down her cheeks as well. "You expect _CHILDREN_ to play this!"

Aw come on guys... Don't shout... Don't... "**Well,**" Otaki was saying in the background, Yugi and Seto both doing all they could to fend the attacks off from the two who were still 'alive' despite the grim situation below. "**There are a few **_**minor**_** details we'll be removing before the game is released of course...**" 'Minor'... That was one way to put it...

"You _bastards_," Mai spat, shaking her head and pulling herself onto the dragon beside her as Mokuba continued to stand by Katsuya's still melting body. "I can't believe I even _started_ working for you complete monsters," she hissed, cards appearing in her hands as she stared down the dragon before her.

"Mai," Mokuba said shakily, turning to the woman as the dragon's wings spread wide with an earth shaking roar. "Mai, what are you..."

The last thing he saw before finally succumbing to the pain was the Harpie's Pet Dragon taking off into the air... And Mokuba's crying face as he whispered... '_...Don't die..._'

* * *

It was all she could do when the voice came over head, as the earthen head charged a blast of poisonous mire and filth in its mouth. "MOKUBA!" She couldn't reach him from where she was... Seto snarled as the metal head continued to attempt to strike her down, narrowly avoiding the monster's jaws as it stood between her and her brother. "_MOKUBAAAA_!" She couldn't reach him... But Jonouchi could.

Yugi as well as shouting, though what he was saying she could care less about. It was definitely concerning the blond... The one who was melting on the ground, resembling little more than a molten pile of... Something... Beneath the multiple blasts of filth he'd sustained. Yugi was definitely shouting about that, from where the shadowy head had him cornered in the sky. The 'death' of his friend... He wasn't dead though... She knew at least that much, the board had said it themselves; it was all or nothing, one or the other. And in a situation so 'hopeless', they wouldn't lie about that. That didn't change how her brother felt about it though, that much was clear. They needed a new strategy... They needed... "Kaiba," the boy shouted, Seto turning with narrowed eyes. "I think there's a way to defeat the dragon quickly," he said somewhat desperately, gripping the single horn of his dragon for balance as it swooped toward her. "But you need to listen..!"

Tch... Not. NOW. "I don't need you to tell me what to do _Yugi_," she growled, the boy merely gritting his teeth in response. They were shouting down there... Mokuba was crying...

"Just listen," he shouted loudly, the woman turning back to him with rage filled eyes. "There was a prophecy from one of the NPC's..." ...What. "'_When the third power of dragons unites with the third power of warriors_'..." ...And what the hell was that supposed to mean? "We need to team up," he continued, the woman across from him instantly tensing at the thought.

Team up? And do what, didn't this already count? This was as close as they were getting... If he was planning on calling all the attacks... "Like _**hell**_," she spat, ducking below a blast of sharp stinging wind that nearly knocked her off the dragon's head. The woman turned back with narrowed eyes, the sounds of her brother's cries and 'Mai's shouts still piercing the air through the dragon's roars. "I can deal with things myself... I don't need your help to do so!" This was her problem, not theirs, and these assholes would be so much more than 'fired' when she was through with them. Death... Would be _merciful_. The boy beside her moved to speak yet again, cards appearing in his hand before a sudden shout broke through the air.

"_RAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH_!" The two tensed completely, the heads of the dragon abruptly screeching in pain as Mai charged the monster with not one but four of her 'Pet Dragons' on her side. It was a final stand, a hell-bent charge with no holds barred... Something that had the dragon's complete attention, as well as their own. It would have been difficult _not_ to pay attention even.

Four dragons... _Four_... "How the hell," she muttered, eyes wide. Limit three of the same card per deck, and even then there was no way that Mai would have that many of the 'Pet Dragon', the card was too expensive for someone of her level to purchase that many times over, so how... How...

Yugi's eyes widened from where the boy stood on his own dragon, swallowing. "'Multi-summoning,'" he muttered under his breath, the Five-God Dragon screeching as in one fell and combined swipe the dragons tore through the earthen head's throat. Blood spurted through the air, but Mai was not taking any time to relish in the small success. "Mai's a summoner," he said quietly, "She can call up any monster she's summoned previously, as many times as her life points allow... ...But with that many..."

She summoned the same monster four times... That had to take out the life points. Even with that however... It was obvious that Mai could care less for the moment, given her charge. The sheer power behind the attack was something to stare at, possibly even marvel at, to say the least. The earthen head was torn to nothing but shreds and had long since clattered and dissolved on the ground. Mai's staff and whips knocked the shadowed and watery heads off her back seemingly without care at that same moment, before she turned the blades on the watery one's neck with a feral and vengeful roar. "_HRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHU_! _AAAAAUUUUHHH_!" Bladed whips tore into the flesh of the water dragon's head, torrents of water striking down around her dragons and destroying them as she went. One dragon down... Two... Three... And still she went on, even after she was left with only herself, the woman hopping from her steed's back to push the collapsing blue neck of the 'water head' toward the flaming one. The head toppled to the ground, passing through it in an instant... With none left but the flaming head she tore forward, still screaming with rage even as the monster snarled at her.

The fire head was almost completely extinguished by the waters of its blue-coloured sibling, already flickering out as the woman charged it. In seconds however, as Mai broke through the flaming wall to wrap her whip around its spine and snap it off, it really was gone...

And as it fell to the ground, reduced to nothing but charred bone, Mai was following after. "Mai," Yugi shouted, the two remaining heads of the dragon staring incredulously as the boy flew forward on his dragon. "MAI!" Seconds... Only _seconds_ and three of five heads had been taken out...

She couldn't have done that sooner! "M-Mai," Mokuba shouted, eyes wide as the woman burned away to nothingness before he could run over. Seto steered her Blue-Eyes out of the way of the metal head as it moved to strike again, finding herself hovering next to Yugi as they looked down at the second casualty. She was still alive somehow... Even with the steady and angered beep of her life-points meter as it reduced itself to zero, and from above, despite the distance, they could make the scene out clearly.

"Ghn... Ahhh... Ahhhahh..." They couldn't see most of her body through the flames... Somehow however, they could make out her face... "Gk... I... I wish I'd thought of that sooner," she said with a rasping laugh, before wincing with pain as the fires consumed her. "Hey... You make sure those two get their heads into gear," she continued to the boy in front of her, Mokuba standing stock still with wide eyes. Morons? Gh- "G-G... Good lu..."

She couldn't even finish her last words... Damn it... Damn it all! She clenched her fists, looking back toward the dragon with narrowed eyes. "Tch... We need a new strategy," she muttered under her breath, pulling her dragons back and out of reach of the two heads before dodging another blast of shadows and wind. Pot shots weren't working... And something told her that the 'rip and tear' method Mai had used wouldn't work quite so well against a head made of pure shadow or metal. The dragons pulled even further back from the bodies below, Yugi following with her as he gripped a pair of cards in his hand. The Five-God Dragon was following after them as they moved, creating a 'sandwhich' of sorts between themselves and Mokuba... He'd be safer this way, with the dragon's attention on them only...

"_**Feral Imp**_," she heard Yugi mutter, the monster appearing at the side on the dragon as he turned to the woman. Slowly they were moving to land on the ground, the dragon before them tromping forward with a fearsome roar. "...Kaiba," he muttered, looking to the woman with narrowed eyes as the dragons dodged yet another blast of wind and shadows before continuing on their path to the ground. She needed to protect Mokuba... Yes the dragons had been targeting them, but if she was too far out of reach... The woman attempted to ignore her rival, only half listening as the boy continued. So long as they held this position... This would work... "You need to summon the Ultimate Dragon," he shouted, the cards still gripped tightly in his hands. "Summon the dragon," he repeated more forcefully, Seto turning on the boy with a snarl.

"Are you _ordering _me," she asked incredulously, teeth grinding as Blue-Eyes as well looked over with the closest thing they could get to a frown. She hopped off her dragon, looking up as the remaining heads of the dragons turned their way before looking back at Yugi. "Are you trying to 'force me' to summon _my own dragons,_" she spat, the boy growling in response. "Give me one good reason why I should listen to you!"

The boy continued to seethe, slipping off the head of his 'Curse of Dragon' to face the woman. "We don't have TIME for that," he shouted, face growing somewhat red as he stared his rival down. "Jonouchi is gone, Mai is gone... What more has to happen for you to just listen," he demanded as Seto as well came to the ground, the woman's dragons circling around them protectively. "There's no time to argue-"

"No, there isn't," she snarled, fists clenched as she glared at the boy. "So let me deal with this myself!" There was no time, and so far, she was getting no good reason to summon something the size of a sky-scraper in design, and she was not loosing strategy and agility for a power that could still be beaten by this stupid hacked _bug_!

Again the boy growled, eyes narrowed. "Gh... _**Black Luster Ritual**_," he shouted to the side, tossing a spell card forward as his dragon and imp both dissolved into a black powder. In seconds the black armored solider stood before them, crouched in a defensive position by the 'dragon's only' program in place. "Gh... You're _impossible_," Yugi continued, shaking his head incredulously. "I can't understand how Jonouchi can even stay under your roof for more than five minutes! We need the Ultimate Dragon, it's our only chance at this-"

"And if I do that," the woman countered viciously, "We'll be as good as sitting ducks! Blue-Eyes would be too big, they would lose the agility they need for this battle! Stop trying to decide how I fight," she snarled, the dragons around them shaking their heads with low growls as she continued to argue with the boy. "And live with it!"

"That's the problem! We _can't_ live with it," he shouted, attention completely set on the woman as they stood there. "If we don't use the Ultimate dragon, we're going to die! Open your eyes- Your dragons are most powerful when combined, just as the game's prophecy! We need to work with that, just summon-"

The game had also been programmed by five old cheating bastards..! "I said _NO_!"

"What's wrong with you!" The pair turned as a shout came from the side, expressions momentarily frozen in the same rage they'd been feeling before they grew pale. Mokuba was standing at the Five-God-Dragon's feet, a chain gripped tightly in his hands... With the dragon's back to him, they'd been open to his own attack after all... And he had a deck now. The chain trailed up toward the monster behind him, wrapped tightly around the maw of the metal dragon's head. Embedded in it's side a large steel 'boomerang' sat firm, the enormous beast writhing and struggling against the hold. "Both of you," he added with a growl, the two staring for a moment. What, both..?

Seto swallowed, stepping forward with a slight frown. "M... Mokuba," she said with a slight shout, the boy merely holding his scowl. He couldn't come out here, he'd get... He'd be...

"They _died_ for you," the boy shouted, tears still running down his face as he gripped the chain tightly. 'Kunai with chain', where did he get that card... "We don't even know if they can come back!" That wasn't true though, that wasn't- The dragon heads behind Mokuba were seemingly conversing with one another, blood still spurting from the torn necks of the other three. Why weren't they doing anything... "And instead of fighting this thing, you're still arguing..!" It wasn't like that, he wouldn't lis- "Nee-sama," he said with a choke, pulling on the chain in his hands before wrapping it around his waist and holding tight. "I don't know why you both have to hate each other so much... I just..."

What was he doing... What was he doing with that chain..! "Mokuba," the woman said somewhat nervously, taking another step forward as Yugi merely stared in shocked silence. That thing was attached to a giant metal _dragon_, if it even moved wrong... "What are you..."

He gripped the chain tight, a sad smile on his face. "I'm sorry nee-sama," he said as the shadowed dragon head behind him began to charge up a blast, the dragons having made their decision. The woman moved to run forward, eyes wide as she was stopped by her own dragons in addition to Mokuba's own. Low growls came from their mouths and the woman was pinned by her own monsters, Yugi as well tossed back by the beasts. "At least this way there'll only be one left right..?" No... No..!

The flames were released... In a wave of darkness he was gone. The chain he was holding was violently pulled forward under the blast, the metal head at the side crushing under the chain's binding hold with a screech of metal. No... Scraps of metal clattered to the ground, leaving sparking wires and a stump of a neck in their place. No no no no- "Mokuba..." Seto stared with wide eyes as the attack ended, smoke filling the 'air' before them. "No..." The dragons moved to the side as she ran forward, the pile on the ground resembling nothing more than a puddle as she stood there. "No..." Gone... She fell to her knees, eyes wide as she shook her head. "MOKUBA!" Gone... Gone... "You bastards," she muttered under her breath, gripping the 'ground' in her fists. "You god-damned bastards!" Her brother... They just killed...

"...Kaiba," Yugi said from behind the woman, the 'Five-God-Dragon' merely growling above them as it watched the small amount of chaos below. There was nothing left, nothing left of the boy... Just a pile of misting shadows... Not even a scrap of armor, not a single thing... "Stand up," her rival demanded, the woman gritting her teeth in response. Shut up... Just shut up..! "Do you want his sacrifice, the sacrifice of the others to be in vain?" SHUT UP! "We need t-"

"..._Urusei_..." It was probably the eerie, dead cold tone her voice had taken even in comparison to her 'fake' one, that quieted the one behind her. Yugi fell silent as the woman pulled herself to her feet, card appearing in her hands as she dimly watched the four severed necks of the dragon before them fuse and heal into nothing but seemingly oversized shoulders. They weren't dead... Her brother wasn't dead..! And the 'board' that were facing them now... She looked up toward the dragon, jaw clenched tight as she shook. "...You... All of you," she hissed dangerously, the card vanishing with a single mental command to form a dusted vortex behind her. "Are going to know... Every soon... What 'death' feels like..." The vortex behind them continued to swirl, pulling in the dragons behind her within mere seconds. She didn't need to turn around to know that the enormous form of the Ultimate Dragon stood behind her now, forming from the clouds of the vortex herself. Nor did she need the constant beeping of her lifepoints bar to know that she was now on her last leg, Yugi even more so as he pulled out the card 'Copycat'. ...Polymerization again..?

But what monster could possibly exist that would combine with her Blue-Eyes..? A second portal opened behind them, pulling the dragon and Yugi's warrior in at the same moment. "When the third power of dragons unites with the third power of warriors," her rival repeated, Seto watching in enraged silence as the monster formed to an immense size behind them. "Black Luster Soldier," he shouted, gesturing forward as the dragon stood tall above them. "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon... Become the ultimate being! _**THE DRAGON MASTER KNIGHT!**_"

What..? The dragon heads gave a fearsome roar as a set of reigns appeared on their jaws, the knight on the middle one's neck gripping the reigns tightly. This fusion... The woman stared with wide eyes, the monster above them rearing all heads at once with a mighty growl. Since when was there a monster that could... "**You two are completely out of your mind,**" Daimon spat from above, voice seemingly coming through the mostly shadowed dragon above them. "**Between the two of you, you barely have enough lifepoints to allow you to stand... That monster isn't even strong enough to defeat us, your situation is hopeless,**" he roared, Seto merely looking up with dangerously narrowed eyes. Hopeless? Not even...

And as for their Lifepoints... Tch! The woman ripped off her deckholder, hurling it forward with narrowed eyes as the board member sputtered above them. "You think I'll allow my life to be tied to something so trivial," she growled, fists clenched as she brought her arms back to her side. One shot... If they couldn't do this in one shot then they wouldn't have a chance at all. "Tch... I would rather live knowing I have one chance at life than rely on a counter strapped to my wrist!"

There was a second 'clattering' sound, Seto blinking with somewhat wide eyes as Yugi's deck holder was also tossed away. The boy briefly looked at her with a determined nod, before bringing his arms to his sides as well. "We don't need lifepoints to win this battle," he said calmly, the dragon behind them giving an immense and ground breaking roar. "After all... '_When the Third Power of Dragons unites with the Third Power of Warriors_'," the boy began, the woman beside him becoming rather sick of the 'prophecy' to say the least, "_By the third power they will fight and by the third power they will succeed..._" Well, that last part sounded right at least.

"'_Big Five_'," Seto growled, taking a step forward and looking up at the dragon. "...Wipe the backs of your necks and wait... You won't even have the 'honor' of destroying yourselves..."

Spectres of sorts were appearing around them... Ghosts even, single coloured entities that appeared on all sides. The dragons that Mai had summoned, Red-Eyes, the baby Pet dragon... And even the destroyed heads from the dragon they were facing off against appeared with them, a chorus of battle cries and growls filling the air before they misted out of existence. What was this... "Did you know," Yugi said seriously, the Five-God-Dragon stepping back with a nervous growl. "For each dragon on the field and graveyard, the Dragon Knight gains five hundred attack points..." How the hell did he know that... How the hell did he even know about this _monster_? "Your 'Five-God-Dragon' already matches it in power... But with this..."

Four 'pet dragons', four individual dragon 'heads', red-eyes, the baby pet dragon... ...They had it with Mai. "**Impossible,**" Daimon muttered, an audible swallow coming over the air. "**It shouldn't be possible for this to happen,**" he continued with a roar, the shadowed dragon rearing back in fear. "**It shouldn't-**"

"Tch... Live with it," Seto growled angrily, pointing the dragon forward. It was there, and it was powerful, and this was _over_. "Now... Dragon Master Knight... _**ATTACK**_!"

"_**GALAXY CRUSHER,**_" Yugi roared at the same moment, an immense blast of white flames streaming toward the Five-God-Dragon. The blast filled their vision, white light and fires burning straight through the shadowed attack that its opponent attempted to send in defense. "It's over!"

That it was... There wasn't even time for a 'scream' of sorts, the monster simply vanishing into flames completely... Before the fires had time to die down, before the corpse of the 'Five-God-Dragon' could hit the ground her vision began to fade. The entire 'realm' fell dark, and in exhaustion the woman fell to her knees again before falling forward completely. Nothing was happening... They'd defeated the dragon and nothing was happening. Mokuba was gone...

And she was falling. Or at least it felt that way, she thought as she stared forward, eyes partially closed. She couldn't feel her body any more... Not the ground that she'd fallen to, not her arms and knees... Nor the armor she was wearing, the tightened gauntlets and boots, nor- Seto frowned, pulling herself up to her feet with wide eyes as she looked around. Gone... She was in the same place that the game started at... The armor, the dragons, the cards, they were all gone... The woman looked over her now restored arm, a bitter frown appearing on her face. Everything was gone, and she was back at the beginning. Was that it then..? Was that all there was..? A bloodied battle field that was reduced to nothing, leaving her floating in 'this'? Her hands clenched, the woman looking down into the darkness and trembling. Mokuba... "I have never felt a more hollow victory," she spat, shaking in the darkness. Never...

"...I couldn't agree more," came Yugi's slightly depressed voice from behind, the woman turning with widened eyes to look at the boy's also misting, 'glowing' form. She wasn't in the mood to bother with things like modesty right now. All in all it was more like they were wearing full body suits the way this game had them appearing. Even so, the boy appeared to be purposely turned away from her the woman noted, still frowning somewhat as she turned to look at him. Nothing but darkness... And the grim fact that if she'd just summoned the damn dragon earlier none of this would have happened. Her brother would be there still... And the others as well, something that Mokuba would have preferred if he'd still been there.

But he wasn't.

A breeze passed the two, both turning as a sudden white light pierced the darkness. "Gh- What..?" She shut her eyes, squinting in the light before they widened with a frown. This light... It resembled a smoke of sorts, while still shining brighter than any light she'd seen, or at least been able to see. "...This is..."

From a single, flowing white mist the monster appeared, an enormous white metal wyvern with diamonds embedded in its joints. White steel scales shimmered in a non-existent light, the monster standing tall before them. A white dragon... And blue eyes... "Eri," Yugi whispered, stepping forward with wide eyes.

"Eri," Seto asked with a frown, eyes narrowed. The dragon was named _Eri_? ...Such a common name...

There was no response, the dragon merely bowing its head before them as it knelt down before them. "_I must thank you,_" it said calmly, appearing to mist and ghost in a non-existent wind much like the other two before it. "_Both of you, great heroes..._" 'Great heroes'? What?_ "I am eternally grateful,_" it continued, Seto merely steeling her gaze with a frown. And what did she care, if a computer program was 'grateful'? What did that accomplish at all..? The dragon looked to her as she thought this, as though having gleaned the thoughts from the woman's mind. "..._All is not lost,_" it insisted, misting into a white robed figure with steel hair ornaments across her ears. "_There is still hope,_" it continued, smiling calmly as it continued to 'ghost' before them.

This monster... This was... "Gyakutenno Megami," she found herself muttering, eyes wide. "...The goddess of change..." Yugi and Kaiba both stared, the woman merely bowing her head once more.

"_You've forgotten,_" the woman said softly, Seto jumping as her menu appeared before her at the moment a card came into 'Eri's hands. A single line vanished from the list, Seto's eyes widening as she looked toward the woman before them. "_The game isn't over until the credits finish running..._"

That card... The menu vanished, Eri smiling as a large green ankh appeared in her hands. She'd drawn that earlier... Monster reborn... The ankh hovered forward into the air, a blinding light coming from it and forcing the woman to shut her eyes. The light intensified, and then, just as quickly as it came...

* * *

...It was gone. The light cleared to reveal the similarly misting forms of himself, Mokuba, Mai... Katsuya frowned, blinking a few times as he came to. The light was gone... The dragon was gone, his armor was- ...Wait, were they all... The blond looked down at himself, coughing as Mai did the same beside him. ...Huh. This was... Awkward. "Mokuba," came a voice to the side, the three turning as Seto stared. Mokuba stood still only a moment before running forward, his sister holding him close before letting him down with a worried expression. "Mokuba I..."

The boy choked, looking over himself and the others before coughing again. "Um... This is kinda weird..." Yea just a tad. Kinda killed the moment. A little. (Not that Seto really seemed bothered by it all...)

Mai smirked from the side, shaking her head as she crossed her arms. "Just a little," she said with a light laugh, Yugi simply walking over with wide eyes. She and Katsuya both turned, watching as their friend stared in disbelief.

"You..." He shook his head, staring to the point where it seemed that if he blinked they would simply vanish from sight. "You're both..."

Katsuya grinned, throwing an arm around the boy's shoulder with a laugh as their friend continued to stare. Awwwww what the hell, they were alive weren't they? Who cared how damn awkward all this was, nothing was really... There right? "Hehehe... We're all fine," he said with a cheer, still grinning as he pulled out of the 'hug'. "Heck, I feel better than when th' game first started!" That was probably because they couldn't feel anything here granted... But hey, still better than feeling like complete crap!

Chuckling came from the side, the others watching as 'Eri' gestured to the side. A large opening appeared from a single line in the darkness, before widening into a large and gaping hole in the void. It was completely white... There was nothing they could see on the other end, nothing at all. But somehow, he had a pretty damn good feeling about it. "_I will say it again,_" the woman said calmly, eyes closed over._ "I am eternally grateful to all of you..._" The portal opened wider, and she continued from her bowed position with a smile. "_This portal will take you back to your world... To your reality..._" With those words she misted away, blinding white smoke being the last thing they saw from the woman. "_Good bye, great heroes..._"

They were finally able to leave... Seto took her brother's hand, looking down at the boy before walking over to it without a word. Now hang on... "Y'know," Katsuya said from behind, the woman turning for a moment as the blond held a blank expression. "Wouldn't kill yah t' say 'thanks'..."

Silence settled for a moment before the woman snorted, shaking her head. "You needed _me_ just as much, _Mutt_..." Well... He guessed so but- "There's nothing to thank you for," she continued, looking back to the portal with out another word. Huh... She said that but... Some how it didn't feel like the tone was there... Again the woman paused at the exit, standing for a few seconds as though in thought. "...Yugi," Seto said after a short moment, not looking back as the boy blinked. "...Did you always know about the 'Dragon Master Knight'," she asked, the others turning to Yugi with raised brows. 'Dragon Master Knight'..? What, was that how they'd won then?

Yugi shrugged, smiling despite the fact that they all resembled smoking shades of their actual selves at the moment. "As long as you believe in it completely," he said calmly, "The cards will return the favor..." ...Heh? The others blinked, looking back at Seto in question as the boy continued. "...You believed that yourself, didn't you..?"

Believed in... There was a span of silence, a wind seeming to pass them all before Seto appeared to nod. "Hn... Let's go Mokuba," she said quietly, the boy nodding in agreement. "..._Mutt_," she added as an after thought, Katsuya shaking his head with a small laugh in response.

"Haha... Def'nitely," he said with a smirk, Mai and Yugi following behind the two and walking into the portal. "Sure thing, Seto-chan..."

The portal flashed somewhat as the others entered, a breeze blowing past him in response. "Hn... Don't call me that," a faded voice said, Katsuya walking toward the portal with a smile as the wind dyed down. It was all over... All over...

Except... For one thing. He paused at the 'door', frowning somewhat. Just one more thing... "...After I died," he said quietly, staring at the ground for a moment in the seemingly empty void around them. "...There w's nothin' but white... And a line 'f credits... I couldn' see _anything,_" he continued, shaking his head. "Nothin'... And then you showed up," he said with a frown, turning around with narrowed eyes. Nothing but darkness faced him. But he continued anyways. "...Why did y' do that..?"

A small figure misted back into existence, the same 'dog' from before appearing within an instant. Black eyes and a masked face tilted to the side, the creature giving a mechanized laugh. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Who knows," he said humorously, wagging its tail. "I didn't think it would be fair to just watch people cheat like that... And it's no fun to play with those kinds of odds!" The laughter continued as the blond across from him stared, frowning somewhat. "We'll meet again, 'Katsuya-kun'," it said with a bark, eyes appearing to shine somewhat. "...Perhaps then, everything will make sense... Hnhnhnhnhn..." It turned around, walking away and fading out of existence. "Itterashai Katsuya-kun... _We'll definitely meet again..._"

The blond shuddered somewhat, shaking his head as he turned back. 'Itterashai'... Yea... ...Guess he would... Whether he liked it or not... Stepping through the portal, there was nothing but a blinding light... And as a grin came over his face he had to laugh.

"Heh... Game over..."

* * *

"Ghnn... NGHA! ...Aahhk... Ngh..." Seto clutched her right arm the moment she could move, biting back a second shout of pain as the VR pod hissed open. The metal pinning her down was long gone, the lights in the room almost blinding her as she cleared her vision, but god _damn _it her arm... She'd gotten too used to not having nerves... And now those nerves were all too pleased to let her know that they existed "Ghnnng..." The woman pulled herself up, idly watching as an empty deck holder popped forward before looking around while the pain dyed down. At least it was only for an instant... Even so... Her legs were asleep... "Agghh..." Numbing pain was filling her body, but even so she threw it off, shaking her head. It would be gone given a few moments... The blood just needed to get flowing again, that was all. Mokuba... She had to see if he was alright... She- Seto tensed, frowning as she moved toward the door to the next room and stopping. "...Hang on..."

Something was off... She looked to the side, narrowing her eyes and walking toward what looked to be a number pad. This pad... Even a moron would realize that this was going to open _something_. Given the slight line around the panelling here... "A second door," she muttered, almost growling with the realization. All along... Well... Something told her this explained the sudden appearance of the board...

Who now knew she was a woman, she recalled with a scowl, jaw clenching shut. Shit. She'd have to fix things _fast_...

Seto looked over the number pad, eye twitching somewhat. There was only one key that appeared to have been used, at least recently. And in addition to that, the five key was stuck... And completely faded... She tapped it a few times, watching the numbers appear on the small screen. 5, 5, 5... Still stuck. "Tch..." 5... 5...

-_sffffffffsssssss..-_

Wait... _That_ was the code? "...Are they _serious_," she muttered with a growl, watching as a door hissed open before her, swinging into a darkened room. Five _fives_? Could they be anymore- "Aughh..." She shook her head, instead walking into the room and looking around with narrowed eyes. It was fairly expansive to say the least, with plenty of room for the hardware operating the devices there. Five pods... Despite the tint she could quite clearly see through the glass, a sour expression coming on her face. So this was where those morons were hiding... Tch... She moved over to the 'main computer', watching as a timer reading '20:00:00' sat on the screen. 19:00:54... 45... And beneath the timer the words 'Emergency Override'. A dark smirk appeared on her face, the woman turning to spot a headset of sorts on the side. "Hnnn..." She could always do this the hard way of course, hacking through the system to destroy the program and lock them in... Or, she thought as she put on the headset, easily establishing a connection to the device, she could do it _this_ way... "Well," she said calmly, listening as the sputtered shouts of the Board came through the headset, the smirk darkening even further. "It seems you morons are sleeping in..."

"_Gh- Seto-sama,_" Oshita protested in a faded and crackled voice, before the woman turned the audio portion of the headset off. As if she wanted to hear their pathetic cries for mercy! She might have had to stand through it before, but with this... Hnhnhnhnhn...

"I don't have time to listen to you idiots whine," she growled, walking down the steps of the computer toward the pods. "You crossed the line... _Twice_," she added bitterly as the timer ticked behind her. 17 minutes. "And you can be certain that there are no 'second chances' from me... I keep my word," The woman continued, trailing a hand across the pods as she looked for the access point to the cables behind it. "What awaits you... Is something far, far worse than death..." Seto's eyes narrowed as she moved around to the rear end of the room, stepping behind the pods to find a mess of cables. They all led to one thing however... One thick, wrist-sized cluster that connected to each pod. "As it was," she spat, "You could have easily gotten a job around the same level you already had rather than daring to test your luck with me..." The woman shook her head, a mock sigh coming over the microphone as she stared at the cords with disdain. "Instead you bastards couldn't be bothered to let go... A big mistake," she whispered, stepping over the cables to the one furthest from her. "_Very_ big..."

She wrapped a hand over one of the cables, the large, main cable that connected to Oshita's pod. "I'm holding onto one of the power cables for the VR pods," she said with a menacing tone, slowly clicking the safety lock out of place. "I told you before," Seto stated darkly, an eerily calm expression on her face. "I'm going to _kill you _for what you did... Slowly... And painfully... In a room that no one in the world knows about..."

"This," she said with an eerie monotone, the timer behind her sending out an echoing warning of 'fifteen minutes' through the air, "Is for selling my company out to Pegasus, clearing out my staff and locking my brother out of what was rightfully his in the process..." The cord was pulled, the pod's lights dying down with a low droning sound before she dropped the cluster of wires to the ground with a thud. Seto stepped over the next few cords, calmly reaching for the next one. Oka. "This," she said calmly, twisting the cable and preparing to pull it, "Is for handing my brother over to a complete nutjob, and leaving him for dead." The second pod died down with an identical drone, the woman carefully taking care not to step on any live wires as she grabbed the next one tightly. "This is for wasting my time by building a game with no real point other than to kill myself and anyone _else_ in it," she continued bitterly, the sounds of lights and computer processes dying down continuing through the air as she moved. Ten minutes. "This is for modeling the final boss off my little _brother_, while making the only alternative a sacrifice of another with his face! And _this_," Seto hissed, taking hold of Daimon's pod cable as unheard screams of terror came in the back of her mind, seemingly reverberating around the room as she made to finish what she started. "Is for even _thinking_ that you could come anywhere _near_ my brother and my staff."

With a final click the cable was wrenched from the pod, clattering to the ground as the sound echoed around the empty room. In silence, the woman moved back to the pillar in the center, opening the latch to the power-controls. "Enjoy hell," she spat, taking hold of the main switch and pulling it down. With a resounding drone and an instant 'click' he room went completely black, the woman pulling the headset from her ears and tossing it to the ground. The clattering echoed around the otherwise silent room, the woman standing there in the dark for a few moments. They were dead... Worse than dead... Gone... The woman walked out of the room, making sure to 'close' the door and cover the small number pad before an odd smile came over her face.

The bastards were gone and she'd never see them again...

Good riddance.

* * *

The light was fading... Fading away completely only to be replaced by something just as blinding. Katsuya groaned somewhat, slowly and blearily opening his eyes as the glass helm of the VR pod began to pull away. He tensed at the sudden change in light, shaking his head and groaning. "Nggh... What..."

"He's waking up," a voice called out, the sound of muttered shouts meeting his ears. "Jonouchi," the voice continued, Katsuya still blinking off the suddenly blinding light. Oh god, his eyes... "Jonouchi!"

Ahhhhnnn who was th- The blond blinked, suddenly sitting up as he realized where he was. That voice was Honda... So that meant. "W- Th... This 's..."

Anzu rolled her eyes, shaking her head with a small smile as Katsuya was bombarded by Mokuba. "Ghn!" He coughed, shaking it off with a smirk. "Heh... Mokuba..."

The boy pulled back, grinning as his friend stepped back out of the pod with a slight stumble. "Hehehe! We did it..! We won," he shouted, Katsuya merely rubbing his head and laughing as well.

"Haha... Got that right," he said before wincing and rubbing his arm. Suddenly, there was this one spot that was really stinging... "Ow... Geeze," he muttered, rubbing it down as the pain faded. Huh... Weird... "Got too used t' havin' a gash there..."

Yugi looked over somewhat worriedly, having apparently switched back to his 'normal' self before waking up. The look was lost somewhat however, and he ended up just walking over with a smile as his friend stopped rubbing the arm. "Are you alright," he asked, still smiling as the blond nodded.

"'Course! Why wouldn't I be?"

His friend merely nodded, smiling as they looked toward the others. "You missed a wicked fight," Honda said with a stretch, shaking his head as he joined the others. Given the ruined barricade at the side... Yea, yea he did. "As soon as Mokuba got out of that pod all the doors unlocked... Guards flocked in here faster than anything I've even _seen_," he muttered, shaking his head.

"Oh please," Anzu said with a sigh, arms crossed as she shook her head. "I'd hardly call it a fight," she continued with a laugh, Honda going somewhat red in response. "The most we were able to do was run away from the collapsing barricade..!"

Er... What? Yugi laughed as well, shaking his head before explaining. "When I woke up, the guards had all come in," he began, Katsuya blinking at the news. Kay... But then where were- "But as soon as Mokuba mentioned Kaiba-san waking up as well..." Oh-HOH! That would definitely do it!

Katsuya snorted, holding his head as he laughed at that. "I'm gonna guess they ran outta here pretty damn fast huh..."

The boy beside them grinned, arms crossed. "Hehehe... Yep," Mokuba said with a laugh, moving to grab the blond's deck and hand it to him. "Heh... Hey... ...Everyone," he said somewhat quietly, turning to the others. "...Thanks for helping," he said with a smile, the others merely shrugging and smiling in response.

"Hey," Honda said with a shrug, shaking his head. "It was nothing really..."

The others as well nodded, Anzu crossing her arms behind her back as she shook her head. "We only did what was natural really; friends help friends when they need it after all..."

"Ah..."

Katsuya smirked, pocketing his deck as his friend continued to stare. "Heh... Lets jus' go find yer s... Yer brother alrigh'?" The boy beside him nodded, moving toward the door at the far side before a second one behind them hissed open.

Hang on, what..? There was a yawning noise, the others staring as Mai walked through and gave a small stretch. H-Hah... She wasn't kidding about not wearing the corset all the time..! "Ahh... Good to see you boys woke up well enough," she said with a smile, pulling a few strands of hair back as she walked into the room. She stretched again before turning to spot Anzu and Honda, lowering her arms to her sides to stare briefly. "Oh..." She blinked, brushing a bit of dust from her sweater. "You two as well..?" She paused for a moment as Anzu merely shrugged in response, shaking her head and turning back to the others. All but one person... "Did Kaiba wake up easily enough..?"

Mokuba shook his head, momentarily ignoring the fairly confused look Mai was getting from Honda. "Nii-sama's in the next room," he said with a shrug, turning back to the closed door to walk toward it. "We won't know until-"

-_sfsssssssss..._-

The others turned, watching as the next door opened before either of them touched it. "...The rooms are _all_ connected," Honda muttered with raised eyebrows, before following as Mokuba rushed toward the other room. "H-H-Hey, hold on a second-"

"Nii-sama," Mokuba shouted, looking into the room only to frown as he was greeted with an empty pod. Errr... Where did Seto go..? "..." He looked to the side, breaking into a grin and hurriedly tackling his sister as the woman moved from the back room. Oh. From there. "Nii-sama!"

The woman stumbled only slightly from the force, Katsuya walking in with the others to raise his eyebrows. Alright, calm small smile he'd understand given that Mokuba was there but...Looking at the one on her face _now_, or at least a few moments ago... That was a kinda... Creepy one. He looked at the back of the room, frowning. "O-Oi... What were y' doin' back there..?" Didn't look like much...

Seto looked up, the smile only slightly faded despite the fact that her brother was wearing the same clothes as her rival. "Nothing," she said calmly, walking toward the door as it stood open, Mokuba running at her side as the others followed. "Nothing at all... I'm going home," she continued, turning to the others with her standard 'glare'. She seemed oddly pleased about something despite this, seriously what... "I need to re-design my security program," she said somewhat testily, most of the others going slightly red with the words. Ehehehe... They didn't technically break in but... Ahaaa... "...Along with replacing my board of directors," the woman added somewhat smugly, an evident tone of (if not slight) pleasure in her words.

The others exchanged an awkward glance with that, before moving past. Honestly, it was probably better that they didn't... Ask about that one... "Well," Honda said with a cough, shaking his head as the thoughts came to mind. "I should probably go make sure my sister isn't going to _kill_ me..." Seto stood with crossed arms as the teen passed her, the others following behind somewhat hurriedly.

"I need to sleep myself," Anzu said fairly nervously, Yugi following behind just as fast. "Ah... It was nice seeing you here Mai," she added with a somewhat laughing cough, the woman merely waving in response.

"We'll see you at school tomorrow Jonouchi-kun," Yugi added as he left, leaving the other four alone.

There was a short span of silence, before Mai shook her head. "Well... I should probably find myself a hotel for the night," she said quietly, looking to the others somewhat awkwardly. Yea... She probably had a fair idea of what happened to their opponent... (Though honestly, good riddance damn it.) "...Interesting clothes you have there," she continued with a wink, Mokuba in question going rather red as Seto looked at the boy with a somewhat annoyed expression. And thus the clothes were spotted! Well, this would be a little hard to explain... "It was nice seeing you again," Mai said with a small smile, "Situations aside Jonouchi... Hopefully the next time I come to Tokyo it won't be for something like this, hn?"

The blond laughed as Mai gave a wink, scratching his head as he laughed. "Haha, yea... Yea, ah..." Very different with luck...

"You can leave now," Seto said somewhat plainly, the woman across from her nodding her head as the silence was broken once more.

"Hnhnhnhn..." The woman chuckled somewhat, shouldering a bag she'd brought in with you. "Alright... I'll see you again," she said with a wink, moving out of the door to head out of the building. "Ja-ne, Jonouchi..."

Hah... Yea, 'ja-ne'... ... "Maaaannn," Katsuya said with a sigh, Seto looking over with raised eyebrows from where she'd been staring at Mokuba's clothes. The blond scratched his head, shaking himself with a slight laugh. "Thi' 's th' weirdest birthday _ever_..."

As Mokuba laughed somewhat nervously in response, Seto blinked, staring for a few moments. "...It's your birthday..?" There was a span of silence as the blond shrugged, Seto merely turning to walk away after first staring for another few moments. "Hn! 'Weird' doesn't even cover it Mutt..." She continued out into the hall Mokuba following behind. "...Lets go home..."

He nodded, following after the two siblings after only a split second. "Yea..." Heh... "Sounds like a plan."

* * *

**AN:** And that's the end of the Legendary Heroes! Ended up giving you all a SUPER CHAPTER. Because I couldn't split it in two… (Sorry…) Still. Good finale eh? Anways, to explain...

See, the next chapter is a 'one chapter breather'. Passes the time, gives us a bit of a break from all the gloom we saw, and so on so on. In any case, it wouldn't mesh well at all to merge this with the _Valentines Day_ chapter of all things... So yea. No art today! Working on things, stuff like that...

And now, we can take a good long breath...

And I will share the **Poll Results!**

**Still unchanged.**

Curses..!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Poor Eri indeed Iona... But hey, she came back! Kinda. In a weird 'I'm actually NOA' kind of way.

Hihhhhh I've scared myself... And yesssss, Mokuba _is_ quite awesome! He just doesn't get to show off nearly as much in canon... Personally, I say he learned his ninja skills from his sister. Mostly because of all the insanity that Kaiba can do with cards of all things. (Seriously, are... Are they laminated with glass or something?) Either way.

Glad you liked the drawing! I'm working on another comic actually...

In any case, things have come to an end! Hope you liked it!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that wishes card games could be as cool as battle scenes... ...Eh, I'll make it work.

* * *

Today's title is using a mix of the fact that the Blue-Eyes White Dragons had names in one of the games (The 'Falsebound Kingdom' specifically) and the fact that 'Azrael' in question is in fact the archangel of _death_.

Rather fitting given that Kaiba just left five men brain-dead with nothing but the pull of a cord and a flip of a switch... Hihhhh I've scared myself again...

* * *

So why did I sink the castle? Because I found it a little hard to believe that the 'Castle of Illusions' had a giant forest around it while it floated in the sky. At least one of the same size we saw in the anime. Soooo… Collapse! And fall to the ground like a giant ROCK. (Whooo..)

* * *

Cicada are also known as 'Jar flies' in the US, and are related to leaf-bugs and the like, resembling bug-eyed beetles with HUGE wings… Though a lot of people assume they're related to grasshoppers for some reason. They're generally around two inches long, but they _can_ get bigger… In any case, you tend to see or at the very least _hear_ them in anime during what is supposed to be the summer months… Because they are _everywhere_ in August over there. Constantly making the '_nrrwhrrrrrrr nrrwhrrrrrrr nrrwhrrrrrrr nrrwhrrrrrrrrrrr_' sound in the background.

Kids like to catch them in August, and see how big a bug they can find. ...Now I want to draw Mokuba catching cicada. Huhhhhh...

* * *

'Flying Mantis' and 'Dragonfly' are both called 'Flying Kamakiri' in the English version. 'Kamakiri 1' is the Dragonfly, while 'Kamakiri 2' is the Flying Mantis.

This happened in the last chapter as well; there are two Luster Dragons, the first of which is called 'Sapphire Dragon' in Japanese, and the second of which is called 'Emerald Dragon'. (Kaiba has an Emerald Dragon in his deck actually…)

Interesting thing though, 'Luster Dragon 2' was released before 'Luster Dragon', which is why their 'numbers' are reversed when the cards show up in the anime.

* * *

Hell is that noise? Well, lets just say that I browse TVTropes far too often, and when the line made itself presentable I couldn't resist. I don't think that the sound would really qualify for that trope though. No, that position is reserved for something else... Namely the 'click-whirrr' that turned up for the Big Five as Kaiba slowly went around pulling cables, since she had at least fifteen minutes to do so. ...I can hear the screams... Hihhhhhh!

* * *

When Jonouchi references the 'Return of the Mummy', he's actually referring to the _first_ movie, 'The Mummy'. Specifically, the flesh eating scarabs that... Acted like land piranhas.

* * *

'Hibikime', or 'Noisy Lady' (Hibiki meaning echo, or noise and 'me' being a pronunciation of 'lady') is a somewhat weak _earth_ type monster (yea, not Dark.) who is one of the fusion materials for a _counterpart_ to 'Gyakutenno Megami'… So basically it's the closest thing to opposite I can get but _heyyyyy_... Look at what else happened ah?

* * *

Obviously this has been drawn out a _lot_ guys… The initial part of the conversation however is still intact; after Kaiba breaks through the ceiling with Blue-Eyes (Seriously what was that), Jonouchi tells him off for making them worry (I'm completely serious on that. It's… Canon. HOHHHH?). Kaiba responds by saying he doesn't need a wimp to worry about him… Though in the dub, he just settles with making fun of Jonouchi's outfit.

Personally, I'm not surprised that was Kaiba's first reaction in the dub. It's just one of those things… (Anyways.)

* * *

Why did Kaiba pale when she noticed Mai? _Because she's been using her real voice the entire game_. Leaving the castle she assumed that everyone there knew, because she _forgot_ about Mai being there. (Which is fairly easy to do when you're more focused on either ripping out a certain blond's insides or just being pissed at your rival. Wait that's just her? Oh, oh well.) In any case, it's one of those things where Kaiba just sort of says 'I actually screwed _myself_ over? AAAAAUGH.' Though with obviously more 'in character' mental dialogue.

* * *

Gotta remember guys, the fingertips are the _only_ thing Kaiba could see with that glove on. So she had expected something _bad_, but not as bad as what she _saw_ (Which is actually why she bothered to humor her brother. She didn't think it would be quite so… Disgusting. Or traumatizing to say the least.)… When you look at your still functioning arm to find that it really does look charbroiled despite what logic says… Well yea. Logic was telling her that while her fingertips were obviously being stupid, her arm couldn't _possibly_ be too far gone, because she could still _move it_... Technically, people with third degree and insensate burns can still function… Those with _fourth_ degree burns however, cannot, or at least, if they can, they can't move too well.

But the game doesn't care about things like that, it cares about keeping the attack menu open; heck, if it wasn't for the fact that Jonouchi literally melted into nothing, he'd have probably been able to still fight in a... Weird and disturbing way.

In any case, while she's sure as hell not saying anything on it, that had her feeling kinda pukey as well.

* * *

The dragon's name (Medea) is based on the name of the witch that took out the dragon that supposedly inspired 'Harpies' Pet Dragon'. Whoooo!

* * *

Oh hey! Original boss time… Oddly enough, the 'white haired Mokuba' (Specifically white hair, dark skin, black sclera... Gold eyes.) is actually based on how Meyari is the 'Mystical Elf', AKA 'Holy Elf'. It has a counterpart, with flipped stats called 'Dark Elf'… So their opponent is effectively a colour-flipped Mokuba. (Pale skin becomes tanned, black hair becomes white, blue eyes become 'gold/orange'...)

At least until the second stage...

* * *

Speaking of 'second stage bosses' (Though it's technically third stage...), it's largely based on the 'Dark Elf'... Along with the Five God Dragon.

So basically, it's the love-child of _those two_. And the anti-Mokuba of sorts.

* * *

A Glascow's Grin is an act of torture, where the cheeks are cut from the edges of the lip to the cheek bone. A literal 'ear to ear smile'. _Technically_, this isn't what the boss monster has. What she has is a 'Cheshire Cat Grin', since really, this wasn't cut into her face. It's just... Ear to ear. But saying she has a 'cheshire cat grin' isn't nearly as creepy... So...

* * *

If the boss seems anti climactic, that's because fight-scenes move _fast_, and this isn't exactly a turn-based battle. Also, the monster is kinda hovering in the air, making it difficult to reach when Kaiba's told the Blue-Eyes to stay on the ground and watch her brother… …Alternatively, you could just say I suck at fight scenes when I'm trying to take what is normally a repetitive process (killing the boss in a video game) and making it… Not… Repetitive. Particularly in a five-on-one; party style RPG's are normally turn based for a good reason guys.

* * *

In the anime, the background obviously shifts as soon as they all meet up again at the castle and the Big Five reveal themselves... It's the same look as a motherboard/circuit board pretty much... But that would all obviously be a display as well, as technically, if they were 'revealing' where they all were, all you would see is... Well, black. Complete darkness, maybe the occasional 'light' from the real world. So that's what I did...

* * *

AHHHHHG Big Five how could you! In any case, that 'dragon seal'… In the anime, you see the Lord of Dragons on the floor, which the Japanese version has everyone recognise. Which really makes no sense, as his effect is to keep dragon type monsters from being targeted by spells traps or monster effects… Actually, I don't think there _is_ a card that specifically prevents anything other than dragons fighting. So yea. Went with this.

* * *

Ojou-sama is obviously being used as an insult here. 'Sama' is of course an honorific normally used rather highly, whereas 'Ojou' is a term used to refer to someone else's daughter. (The key part being _someone else's_.) Of course here, it's just being used to say 'WE KNOW YOU'RE A LADY'. Not that Kaiba appears to really care since it's the reason why she got out of there in the first place. Also it's a really, really nice way to kick the board in the crotch figuratively speaking.

* * *

As per usual, the insane laughter is completely canon on the part of Kaiba. Which really says something about either how used to it the others are (given that they just sort of... Stood there as this deep and not all completely there sound came from the front), or just how completely bleak the future is for our 'Big Five'. Gonna go with the last one.

* * *

Kaiba and Yugi both fighting from the _heads_ of their dragons is actually based on the first opening for the anime; there's a scene where they're both fighting... On Curse of Dragon and Blue-Eyes' heads. This is apparently completely safe or... Something. ...And if it doesn't show up in the dub (You have to remember, if I'm watching the dub, it's to compare dialogue... So I skip the opening.) thennnn yea. But I'm pretty sure it shows up in at least the first season opening.

* * *

'Harpies Pet Baby Dragon' _is_ a card that Mai has, but it never shows up in the anime. She uses it in one of the video games… (Mokuba summoning it just used Mai's lifepoints by the way.)

In any case, I just thought it a little upsetting that Kaiba didn't spare one of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons for Mokuba… Thinking it over though, Kaiba can get _VERY_ one-track-minded given the situation, so it actually makes sense (much as it sucks for Mokuba)… It didn't occur to Kaiba that the Big 5 would actually target the one _without _a dragon or a deck!

Actually, it doesn't occur to anyone else until after Jonouchi is 'killed'; Mai comments on it herself in the Japanese version; it shouldn't be allowed to attack a player without a lifepoint counter.

Of course… By that point Kaiba's busy arguing with Yugi…

* * *

Just as a reminder, but a 'Wakizashi' is a Japanese short sword, between 30 and 60 centimeters (one and two feet). It's similar to, but shorter than the katana, and _normally_ shorter than the kodachi. It was normally carried with the katana actually...

* * *

Five for five! Ahahaha… I couldn't help but match each head to one of the members of the Big Five, even though I got the order wrong (I mixed up the 'gold' or 'earth' head with the 'black', 'dark' oriented head.)… So here's a quick and easy guide for who's controlling which head!

Ota - Tech guy gets the 'Metal' head, which blasts wind.

Otaki - Mr 'I love penguins' gets the 'water' head, which blasts.. Well, _water._

Oshita - The earth head. Cause he's… Old? Actually it's because it was the last one I decided on, AHAHAHA (I suck.)

Oka - Our lawyer man gets 'fire'… Because that's what people want to do to lawyers it would seem.

Daimon - The dark head. Because he's pretty much… The worst of the Big five. Or at the very least the creepiest, given that he took _Jinzo_ as his deckmaster/body in the Noa arc, which by association means that he took the one based on nothing but _pain_...

* * *

By the way, this ass-kicking moment was brought to you by Mai Kujaku; who was really not given enough winning moments in the anime. At all. (Whhhhyyyyyyyyy…)

Somewhat inspired by the fact that Mai's role has pretty much ascended to a 'big sister' role as opposed to a 'love interest' role (Which is alright _anyways_, since Takahashi actually said that… Those two would never end up hooking up. LAAAAAAA.). May or may not increase in that connection to a slightly 'team-mom'-ish role. I say 'ish', because Mai isn't really… 'Mom'-like in action, and Anzu takes the role already it seems.

At the same time though, Mai's portrayal in the fanfic was tweaked from canon… And as a result, develops quite differently. Mostly because… Well, I don't know, once I saw Mai's age, the personality tweak stuck fairly hard... And just looking at Jonouchi tells you what happens when _that_ happens. So yea.

It's also based on her actual reaction; she's quite distraught when Jonouchi is destroyed in the anime.

* * *

When you think about it, Yugi never really explained the prophecy any further than '_we need to fuse our monsters together_'... And even if you assume that Kaiba knew the monster existed (After all, Blue-Eyes Ultimate dragon is only 500 points more powerful than _one_ Blue-Eyes soooo... yea.), the Dragon Master Knight has 5000 attack points... Putting it at the same level as the Five-God-Dragon. ...But I don't think that Kaiba _did_ know about that monster...

* * *

'_But Usagi, Yugi summoned __Gaia__ to get Black Luster Soldier, not the Feral Imp!_' Yea, well he only needed a level three monster to get him, and _horses don't fit on dragons_. Which is where he summoned it. Sooooo Feral Imp it is!

* * *

The dialogue in this chapter is slightly inspired by the actual episode (as usual)… Though Kaiba is notably more 'loud' in the scene, as after Mokuba is 'killed' (He actually falls forward and vanishes _as Kaiba attempts to catch him_), first there's a rather loud 'MOKUBAAAAAA'… (of course) Then Kaiba falls to his knees, mutters something about never forgiving the big five, and summons the Ultimate dragon. The argument in the anime was obviously considerably shorter than it was in this chapter but really, it _felt_ just as bad really…

In any case, since Kaiba already made it fairly clear that the Big Five were as good as _dead_ before Mokuba went, it was just sort of recapped with a muttered '_DIE. NOW_.' Also, Kaiba's line after the battle is identical to in canon; though it's probably more emphasized thanks to the anime crowd that greeted them when they woke up…

* * *

'Urusei' is an alternate _verbal_ pronunciation (You won't be seeing it spelt like that!) of the verb 'urusai', or 'noisy'. Apparently, there's an alternate reading for that now as well... Huh. In any case, depending on the tone you'll either have someone saying 'loud...'... Or you'll have someone telling you to shut up. If you're saying 'urusei' though, that's generally a sure sign you mean 'shut up' though, since the pronunciation tends to come from saying the 'sai' part weird.

* * *

Speaking of Mokuba's 'death', the reason why the metal head was destroyed was because the force of the attack pulled Mokuba's body toward the others... And the chain went with him, despite what human strength would allow. Helps that it was attached to the dragon as well...

Also, it was the card he had just drawn from Jonouchi's deck. Whoo!

* * *

Kaiba's line of 'wipe the backs of your necks and wait' is based on the old (OLD) Japanese execution method. The victim would rather 'calmly' (if they had any honor whatsoever) disembowel themselves... While the executioner took off their heads. The necks would be wiped down before this, hence 'wipe your neck and wait' being about the closest thing to a death threat outside of an actual death threat that you can possibly get. ...Yami tells Haga to do this in the original anime after Haga pretends to rip a card with 'Yugi's soul' in it. (He was lying of course, but OHHHHH did he get what was coming...)

* * *

Now hang on... It's already bad enough that Yugi magically knew about this fusion monster that would otherwise not exist (Remember, Kaiba has the only three playable Blue-Eyes in existence. So... Who the hell else would be able to summon this monster?)... Though that's waved off with his statement of 'If you believe~'. _But how did he know about its ability_? (He knows in the anime too, it's not just me!)

* * *

The form that Eri takes again has nothing to do with Blue-Eyes… But it has lots to do with Kaiba. The original Gyakutenno Megami had green hair and such… But in the Anniversary Card Pack, (ten cards in Japan, only nine in the TCG) which contained a number of cards beautifully re-drawn by Takahashi, she has _white hair_, _white skin_, and _blue eyes_.

* * *

And as another note on that, part of the reason why she didn't appear as the maid was to spare Kaiba more grief; remember, they have the same face. Another part is that _technically,_ it was Noa hijacking the program again... And you can bet he's just orchestrating everything together for the 'real game'. It wouldn't be 'fair' for him to take them now after all... Besides, they won with the odds against them; in Noa's 'opinion' (Or at least his non-desperate one given the path of that arc), that would earn them their release. ... _This_ time...

* * *

Hey guys! As just a little something for you, a little guide on the 'solid colours' everyone is. Because they _are_ all solid colours. Think... Ahh... Closest thing I can think of is Digimon Frontier; what the kids look like when they're about to 'Spirit Evolve', their clothes vanish... And they glow. Whooooo~

In any case, Kaiba's a green-blue, as white-blue is kinda weird for me. Though ironically, I ended up picturing the white-blue as _Mokuba_'s glow so whatever. Yugi's a reddish colour, Mai being a more lavender shade... And lastly Jonouchi is a pretty blinding gold. The colours are based on _nothing_~ Whoooo!~

* * *

Kinda sucks getting used to _not_ feeling pain… Only to suddenly wake up to a pins-and-needles arm. Actually hurts like hell initially, due to the sudden jump in sensation. After that sudden jump is dealt with though, it's fairly easy to deal with… Or at least as easy as _most_ sleeping limbs.

* * *

Yes, Kaiba just 'killed' the big five. Did you expect anything less? It _was_ at least implied in the anime after all... Being 'trapped in a virtual world' for all eternity leaves little else as an option for your actual body.

For the 'reasons why' that we see above... Well, the first three are fairly obvious I would hope, same with the last. The fourth one... Think for a moment. The boss looks like her brother for the initial stage. How do you think that felt when she was fighting the sucker? As for how she knows that the 'Queen' would have resembled Mokuba as well, it's mostly based on the fact that Mokuba was able to pull a switch; if they were aiming for a _Queen_ to start... Yeaaa...

And on another note... Besides the fact that she's left the Big-Five's minds trapped in a computer, think about the bodies. They aren't quite in brain-death, that would be inaccurate. The bodies are still perfectly capable of breathing... _Which means she just left the bodies there to starve and waste away before finally dying, at which point they would rot to nothing_. Maybe she'll go down there and destroy the room... _Someday_... By the way, the calm we see isn't her being too 'over with it' to really care anymore... This is just her being dead serious. _Dead_. Serious. Hihhhhhhh...

* * *

Due to Jonouchi being the last to wake up (As opposed to Mokuba and Yugi, who were first), we mostly missed the run to the pods as the guards broke through. When Jonouchi 'woke up', Mokuba had already told the guards off… Because at the same moment, _all the main doors unlock for those who won_, something that kinda... Sets off a buzzer in the halls. And since the rooms are all linked, telling them which person woke up and which one didn't, they can guess fairly quickly just how screwed over they really are.

* * *

In the anime, when Mai comes out she initially says '_you're here too_?' I took it to refer to Honda and Anzu, since referring to the ones she'd been playing the game with would be rather silly to say the least.

* * *

If you think about what Honda's staring at, think for a moment… Mai's not wearing a corset and a mini-skirt after all… And he's the only one that doesn't know she was wearing something other than that. (Mai mentioned wearing those clothes before after all. As for Kaiba, she could really care less about Mai's wardrobe.)

* * *

Oh, and as a final note, 'Ja ne' comes from 'Ja mata ne', with 'ne' being a particle that emphasizes a subject. 'Ja' means 'then' or 'well then', whereas 'mata' means 'again'; 'ja mata ne' basically means, with the loosest but still most accurate translation, 'well, see you later!' (Well then, later!) 'Ja mata' and 'Ja ne' are two variants, and all three are considered fairly informal.

* * *

Kaiba will probably realize about half way back to the house that Mokuba's wearing Yugi's clothes _for real_. (As in '_WAIT WHY ARE YOU WEARING THIS_' rather than '-_staaaaaaaare_-' ) It's taking a bit to sink in because she's currently walking on cloud nine after killing off her board of directors. She's… Fairly happy about that you see. (Hihhhhhhhh...)

Also the topic of birthday's distracted her. (Not in the way where it's like '_Oh hey, I should do something_' but more '_Oh. Huh. Weird coincidence. Time to go home_...')

* * *

Technically Kaiba knows when Jonouchi's birthday is actually… She just doesn't bother remembering it, since she doesn't bother with those sorts of things.

In any case, with that the chapter is over! Here's to the next!


	52. Chapter 51

**Lucky Fourteen

* * *

**

Snow had officially 'stopped' falling in Tokyo by the time February had come around. Rather than the occasional snowfall, the weather was now predominantly either a light rain or a frigid breeze, as it had been since late January to say the least. Perhaps both at the same time even... Though that resulted in a rather painful and unwanted bout of freezing rain, much to the displeasure of anyone caught outside. Personally, Katsuya missed the times when a few degrees below zero was _rare_... But he supposed it would only last until late March really.

Thankfully however, that was not what they had that day, making it a fairly good way to start the second week of February to say the least. Well... Mostly. School was school after all and damn it their English teacher was a bitch... "So," Honda was saying with a 'sigh' as they left the school building, heading toward Yugi's house now that clean-up was over and done with. English class was not the reason why they were less than 'cheery' this time around to say the least... Not by a long shot. "...Valentines day."

Yeaaaaa... The boys shared looks before gaining seemingly identical looks of depression, sighing rather loudly as they made for the school gates. "Ahhhhh don't r'mind me," Katsuya said with a groan, before Bakura came up from behind.

"Ah..." The blond looked back, blinking as their friend stared. "...What are you all upset about," he asked somewhat nervously, frowning.

The others turned, Katsuya giving a small shrug before answering. "Eh... T'morrow's valentines day," he said with a slight wince, stretching. "An' given what happened at middle school _las_' year..." Terrible terrible incident _terrible_...

Honda groaned, face-palming as Yugi and Bakura both raised their eyebrows. "Oh god," he groaned, the others continuing to stare confusedly. "Don't remind me," he said with a sigh, shaking his head.

There was a small span of silence, Bakura and Yugi both trading looks before the latter decided to ask. "Ah... What exactly happened Honda-kun..?"

Katsuya looked over at Honda for a moment, both of them swallowing as they turned back. Friends or not... It was a thing that would never be spoken of again. Ever. "Er... 'D rather not go there..." It involved lots of chocolate that they _didn't_ get... And... Them trying to get it anyways. And... A lot of girls... Not enjoying that... Ehhh... Didn't end well, that was all he needed to remember really.

The other two blinked, nonetheless shrugging it off as they continued to walk toward the game shop. What was left unsaid was... Probably better left unsaid to say the least. The only question was...

How to change _this_ topic with Valentines just a day away... "Ah... So," the blond began, "Yugi," Katsuya asked, hands in his pockets as they continued walking. "Are there any new cards at the shop?" He could probably get a new booster pack... Maybe actually go through his deck like everyone was recommending...

The boy blinked, before shaking his head. "Nope... Nothing new," he said as they walked, the gameshop now in sight along side a mostly tarp-covered building. "Though Grandpa's getting worried about that store across from us..." Eh? The others looked at him after glancing at the building in question, Yugi scratching his head. "It's starting to look like a department store... We might have a bigger selection of _some_ games," he said with a cough, "But most of the profits come because people don't want to go out of the district for cards..." The boy sighed, shaking his head. "It's starting to get a bit tense actually..."

Hoh... The others nodded in silence at that, quite easily catching what their friend was getting at. If Sugoroku got somewhat pouty when they went to a department store on the otherside of down on a rumor of new cards... Hihhhh... The four moved inside the store, Yugi's grandfather looking up from the counter with a blink. He had to say... For a guy who probably went through two heart attacks and one full on coma, he wasn't doing too badly. "Oh... Welcome back," he said with a smile, Yugi nodding in response. "And it's good to see you boys as well... Anzu isn't here," the man continued, grandson shaking his head.

"She said she was staying after school to help put something together for the Home ec. class..."

Sugoroku nodded, looking back at his paper. "Ah, I see... Well then," he said with a small smile, "You boys look around then..."

The others nodded in response, ignoring the somewhat odd tone Sugoroku had suddenly taken before turning as the door opened again. "Aha," a familiar voice said, the four jumping somewhat as Mai walked in. Sugoroku looked around the four, eyes growing wide as the woman walked over with a bag in her hands. "I thought I'd find you all here," she muttered, pulling a bit of hair back.

"Ah... M-Mai," Yugi said, looking up at the woman as the door shut behind her. "What are you doing here..?"

The woman shrugged, pulling out a few boxes from the bag in her hands. "Oh... Just passing through," she said somewhat dismissively. "I was invited to a small private tournament on a cruise leaving from just out of the city," she continued with a wink and a grin, "Adults only~! If I'm lucky," the woman said with a fair bit of cheer, "I'll be able to have a bit of a vacation here!"

The others blinked, before jumping slightly as she handed them each a small box. "Ah... Mai-san," Bakura asked somewhat nervously, looking over the palm-sized package with a frown, "What is-"

She smirked, hand on her hip as she gripped the bag tight. "Well, I won't be here _tomorrow_," the woman began, "But I didn't think it would be too early to give you boys a bit of chocolate..."

Sugoroku leaned around the counter, staring still as the others looked over the boxes. They were all getting chocolate..? "Er... Yea but..." He coughed, looking over the box and frowning. "Why're y' givin' us chocolate anyways..?" That was reserved for couples... And... Compensation... ...Wait, was this compensation chocolate! ...Though, it could also be 'tomo-choco'... Too much chocolate damn it...

Apparently this was the wrong thing to ask though, as the woman instantly huffed and went somewhat red in apparent anger. "Hn! It was originally going to be for my boyfriend," she grumbled, Honda appearing to deflate somewhat behind them at the mention of any relationship at all. "Until I came in on him with some Chinese woman..." Errr... The others swallowed, watching as Mai continued to grumble in front of them. That was awkward... Uh... She shook her head, sighing as she crossed her arms. "I dumped him on the spot, but he just won't leave me alone... If I see him in front of my house again," she growled, appearing to be speaking to no one in particular by that point, "I swear it, he'll find out just how much he needs his 'team'..."

Kay... Maybe they should drop the topic... "Ah... You said you were going on a cruise Mai," Yugi asked curiously, the woman looking down before nodding.

"That's right," she said somewhat calmly, "The ship leaves around five." She rolled up the small bag she'd been carrying, continuing on. "It's a small competition, but because of the high stakes the profit will be _incredible_," she said with a smile, the thought quickly lifting her spirits again. She moved toward the door, the boys following behind somewhat as she gave a wink. "If I win," she called out as she went back outside, "I should invite you over to my house for a celebration... Maybe give you boys a taste of wine~"

The boys went fairly red, coughing a little awkwardly as Mai shook her head and laughed. They watched her walk over to a car on the side, the silence quickly broken as they looked over it. "Woah," Honda said rather loudly, shaking his head as the woman pulled out her keys and unlocked the clearly expensive (not to mention red) convertible. "_That_'s your car?"

Again the woman chuckled, shaking her head as she stepped in. "What, you thought I walked? In this weather?" The boys exchanged odd looks again, and the engine started with a roar. Damn that was a nice car... "I'll see you all later," she said with a wave as she pulled off into the street, winking yet again. "Ja-ne!~"

The car took off with a roar, quickly vanishing down the street as the others watched it go. ...Wowwww... Um... Katsuya coughed as they went back inside, looking at the chocolate nervously. When he thought about it... "Er... If this w's s'pposed t' be for her boyfriend b'fore he cheated on her," he began, swallowing as he looked it over, "What kind 'f chocolate _is_ it..?"

Their eyes quickly widened, all four looking back at the chocolate. Now that they thought about it, if that kind of mood went into it... Suddenly... It didn't look very appetizing... "Erm... I think I'll leave now," Bakura finally said nervously, stowing the chocolate in his bag with a cough. "I'll see you all tomorrow," he added, before walking out the door.

"Ah, bye Bakura-kun," Yugi called after the teen, the door closing with a small 'ding' from the bell up top.

There was a short span of silence as they looked at the door, Honda eventually breaking it with something that was likely on both his and Katsuya's mind at the moment. "...He's going to get _swamped_ tomorrow..."

"Damn right..."

* * *

"So... Katsuya-nii..." Supper at 'home' (almost a year and that still sounded weird), as usual, was a semi-awkward, semi-happy, semi... Awkward... meal. Mokuba and Katsuya would hold a conversation of sorts, generally centered on what was going on in life, and _maybe_ if they were lucky Seto would say... Something. Though normally it would be to insult him... He'd gotten used to that really. Katsuya turned, mouth somewhat full as the boy continued with his question. "I was just wondering... The kids at my school are getting pretty excited for Valentines Day..." Yea, that was kinda expected.. "And... I don't really know what's going on..." Wait what?

He didn't- Katsuya blinked, swallowing as he frowned. How the hell did he not- Right... Mokuba and Seto both started school with the school year, since this was Mokuba's first year so to speak... And something told him Valentines would otherwise have no purpose if there was no school... He opened his mouth to answer the boy, only for Seto's usual 'annoyed' tone to come from across them on the table. "It's a stupid day for love-sick women to fool men into a date using their stomachs," she muttered rather nonchalantly, looking over a few papers as she ate. Briefly, she looked up from the papers to Mokuba, the frigid tone somewhat calmed down for his sake. "It shouldn't concern you," she continued, returning to her food.

A 'stupid day' huh... Well, wonder why that would be... Katsuya smirked, laughing somewhat. "Hehehe... That outlook come from th' workplace," he asked, Seto in question looking up with a blank stare. "I bet yer desk gets _swamped_ durin' this time 'f year..."

The woman glared, leaning back on her chair somewhat as she crossed her arms. "If you're done _Mutt_," she growled, nodding her head toward the blond's food, "You can leave the table and drop that subject..." Sore topic eh? Hehehehe...

Well, his plate _was_ empty... The blond continued to grin, laughing quietly as he moved from his chair to leave. Mokuba in the meantime looked back at his friend, before turning to his sister with a similar grin on his face. "Hey, Nee-sama," the boy asked 'innocently, Katsuya turning back from where he was heading for the door. Mokuba had hopped out of his seat as well, now pushing his chair into the table and continuing with a somewhat conniving grin. "Are you going to be giving anyone chocolate this year then~?"

Ooooooh... That got a response. "I said _drop_ the subject," the woman bit out, standing from her seat as both of the boys fled the room. "Don't mention it again!"

"Ahahah!" They charged through the door, Katsuya leaving the moment the question had been asked as Mokuba laughed behind him. "Just asking nee-sama~" The laughter continued as they ran down the hall, looking back with a grin before shaking their heads.

"Ahhhh... Oh man..." He attempted to calm his laughter, shaking somewhat as he sighed. "I'm so screwed now, but th' look on her face..."

Mokuba continued to laugh, before sighing. "Hahhh... At least now I know why there was always a box of chocolate in the garbage around this time of year..."

The blond raised his eyebrows, snorting. "Wait, y' mean I was _right_?"

"Hehehehe..." The boy nodded, a large grin on his face. "Yep!"

Haha! Damn... Remind him to avoid talking to Seto the next day then. "Well... In any case... Don' worry about t'morrow alright," he said with a grin, Mokuba looking back up with raised eyebrows. "I mean... I don' think that it's really th' same thing in elementary..."

The boy stared, before nodding. "Right!" He paused, before an odd look came on his face and he stared off. "I wonder what kind of chocolate I'll get..."

And there went the point of 'not worrying'...

* * *

The next morning had come a little too quickly for his liking really- mostly though, that was because he was still not done his homework but... Really, when was he _ever_. Even so, not having homework was one thing. Not having the English homework... That was another thing entirely. Especially since he was pretty sure that sometimes when the teacher's face did that weird puzzle thing, not too many other people noticed. All things aside though, getting into the classroom was... Interesting. To say the least. "O-OI!" Katsuya scowled, trying to push through the swarm of girls around Bakura's desk to get to his own. Damn it, they didn't have to stand on both sides..! "Move!"

One of them turned, snorting as the blond continued to push against them. "Psh! Just calm down, 'Jonouchi'," she said with a frown, crossing her arms. "We're _trying_ to give Bakura-kun these chocolates~ Just let us do that and leave us alone..."

"Yea, well d'yah mind letting me sit down," he snarled, glaring at the group as a number of them turned on him.

The girls rolled their eyes, before moving to the side to clear a path to the chair and allow the blond to sit down. "There," one said with a somewhat annoyed drawl, crossing her arms. "_Happy_?"

As a matter of fact... Yes. As Bakura in the meantime laughed somewhat awkwardly ('_Erm... T-Thanks for the chocolate..._'), the blond nodded and took his seat, bag dropped to the side. "Yeep!" At that moment Honda came in, squeezing his way through to the other side of the blond's desk and looking at the small crowd preventing anyone from talking to the albino sitting there.

"Wow," he said after a moment, shaking his head as he squeezed past to lean against one of the desks. "I know I said swamped but..."

Katsuya nodded, shaking his head. "Yea," he muttered, scratching his head. "This goes waaaaaay beyond what I 'xpected..." God damn it, if this was just _their_ class, what would happen when that 'school wide fanclub' the girls had started up struck home?

"Erm... Excuse me, Honda-kun..." The teens turned, blinking as a young girl with ribbon tied hair bowed her head somewhat. Eh..? Miho..? "Could you please move," she asked quietly, gaze occasionally shifting off to the side. "I was hoping to give this to Bakura-kun..."

There was a small, awkward bout of silence before the teen nodded, moving to the side with a slow nod. "Yea," he said quietly, again bowing his head. "Yea... Sure... Miho-chan..." He watched as the girl moved through the crowd, before sighing and taking a seat at his desk as the girls continued to swarm Bakura's own. "Man..."

Katsuya bit his lip, giving his friend a somewhat sympathetic look as he glanced back at the crowd. "Er... Bad luck there Honda..."

"Yea," he said, rubbing his head as the classroom filled and cleared somewhat as the start of class came closer. "No shit..."

"Erm..." They turned again, Bakura coughing somewhat as the crowd at his desk cleared up with the bell. "Honda-kun," he said somewhat nervously, holding out the same box Miho had given him. It was small, tied tightly shut with a ribbon... Much like a number of other boxes on his desk. "If you like, I could give you-"

The teen shook his head, moving from his desk and walking out the door as a confused Anzu and Yugi walked in. "I'm fine," he muttered, disappearing as Bakura nervously began clearing off his desk.

Anzu and Yugi in the meantime shared a look, before turning back to the others as they both walked in. "Ah... Did we miss something," the taller of the two asked, Katsuya scratching his head.

"Well," the blond said with a shrug, "That's one way t' put it..."

* * *

As for where Honda _went_ for the morning... They found him on the roof at lunch, shortly after questioning the school nurse on things. He'd been there for most of the morning according to her... Apparently he'd had a headache..? ...Yea he could see how that excuse would still apply. (At least it meant his sister wouldn't ream him out for skipping class...)

Yugi and Katsuya took a seat beside the teen, keeping silent for a short bit as they looked up at the sky. It wasn't too bad outside actually... Getting a little warmer, no more frost in the morning... "...Gym class is next," Yugi said eventually, the boys already knowing what was wrong and just how much they could really 'do' about it. He turned to the side, leaning forward slightly as his friend gave no response. "...Are you going to come back inside Honda-kun..?"

The teen shrugged, shaking his head. "I don't know," he muttered, rubbing his head with a slight groan. "Probably," he added as an after thought, before leaning forward on his arms. A small breeze passed, the three continuing to stare out at the horizon. "...You guys end up getting anything," he said after a few moments of silence, still staring past the fence.

They shook their heads, Katsuya smirking somewhat wryly. "Nah... What," he said with a laugh, "You think we'd do any better than you?" The blond leaned back against the wall, stretching somewhat. "Hah... Nah, I think th' box we all got from Mai is about as good as we'll get..." Though he had to say, that chocolate had been pretty good...

"Hn..." Honda nodded, before appearing to brighten somewhat as he looked at the sky. "Hey," he said with a smirk, turning to the blond beside him. "Do you think your sister will give anyone chocolate?"

Katsuya instantly tensed, gritting his teeth. "Definitely _NOT_," he growled, glaring at his friend.

The teen grinned, laughing as he edged away from the blond. "Hey," he said with a grin, "I'm just joking around man, calm down..!"

Calm down? Like hell! "That's my sister you're talking about!"

"Well... What can I say," Honda said with a shrug, "She's hot!"

"_HONDAAAAAA_..."

"...Haaaaah..."

Eh? The boys turned as Yugi sighed, watching as he fingered his puzzle for a few moments. Around the same moment the boy seemed to space out, before staring forward in silence and leaning his head on his hands. For a brief moment, Katsuya almost thought he saw something... A shadow maybe... 'Flickering' beside him but... The blond shook it off, pushing it to the back of his mind. That couldn't be right... A small bit of silence hung over the air, Honda and Katsuya both sharing a glance before leaning back against the stairwell wall again. Now that he thought about it, while it was one thing to be raring for _any_ chocolate, Yugi was probably just waiting for-

"Ah!" The three turned as a shout came from around the wall, before watching as Anzu stepped out from the stairway with a grin. "Yugi!" They stared, the woman walking over in her gym uniform and shaking her head somewhat. "I've been looking all over for you," she continued, walking over and holding out a pair of boxes. "Here; happy Valentines day neh?" Yugi blinked, eyes somewhat wide as he went red in response to the 'offer'. "One of these is for the 'other you' alright," she said with a smile, the boy before her nervously taking the boxes with a slow nod. "I don't think he would get anything otherwise," she added with a small laugh, shaking her head. Again Yugi nodded somewhat, still rather red as the woman stood up again. Obligatory, compensation chocolates or not... It was still chocolate. From the boy's crush. "Well," Anzu muttered, bowing her head somewhat as she looked at the three. "I'm going to go get ready for gym... I'll see you in English," she continued, heading for the stairs.

The three stared, Yugi looking back at his chocolate while Honda frowned. "O-Oi," he muttered, turning back from the stairs. "And I don't get any 'giri-chocolate'," he asked with a sigh, looking back at Yugi as the boy in question shrugged as well.

"Heh," Katsuya said with a smirk, crossing his arms. "You ain't th' only one," he continued with a laugh, "After all, I didn't get anything either! It's just like every other year right?"

Honda shook his head, lightly punching the blond's shoulder. "Well _yea_," he said with a shrug, "But you're dating someone," he continued, "You'll probably get a box after school... From whoever this person is..."

The blond tensed, gritting his teeth and quickly reeling on the teen with a snarl. "I told yah, I ain't datin' anyone!"

His friend merely laughed as the bell above them rang, signaling the ten-minute wait period they would have to change for gym. "Whatever you say," he said with a grin, Yugi pulling himself up and sighing as the two argued. He moved past them to head down the stairs, shaking his head as the others followed behind.

Damn it he wasn't dating anyone! "I'm tellin' th' truth!" He thought so at least. Even so, Honda was merely shaking his head.

"A-huh..."

It was really expected that the judo class the boys took mere moments later ended a little badly for Honda after that... Though in the end, both himself and Katsuya were in a just as well off state to tell the truth.

* * *

After all was said and done, it was probably that conversation from the school roof that made him decide to give his sister a phone call after that. Not that he was paranoid about what Honda had said or anything, but... To tell the truth, he hadn't called her since December, before the surgery... After she went through, he'd spoken to his Mom a few times when she called to see how things were doing on his end, but even so, the answer was always the same when he asked; '_She's still resting in the hospital... I'm sorry Katsuya_.'

She was supposed to go home around now though right? Hell, they couldn't keep her in the hospital forever! Katsuya leaned against the 'breakfast room' counter, staring at the phone with that thought in mind. Besides the fact that he'd long since given up on asking why the house had what could effectively be considered a 'second dining room'... It was as good a place as ever to make the call really. "Hn..." He had time... Katsuya looked over at the clock, before looking back. He had to take a shift for someone today but... Yea... He had to have time! The blond grabbed the phone, punching in a few keys before leaning back on the stool he was on. He'd just have to keep track of it was all. '_bzzzz_'... '_bzzzzzz_'. Come on... Pick up...

There was a 'click' sound on the other end, before a somewhat phone-garbled voice came over. "_Moshi-moshi?_" Ah... Ah!

Katsuya grinned, instantly sitting up on his seat as he recognized the voice. "S-Shizuka," he shouted with a laugh. "You're back!"

The girl on the other end jumped somewhat, a slight yelp coming over the end before the girl responded. "_Ah... Katsuya-nihan,_" she shouted, before shaking off the surprise and continuing. "_It's good to hear from you,_" she said cheerfully,_ "How are you doing?_"

He continued smiling, again leaning back against the counter and nodding his head. "Pretty good... School sucks, nothin' else new really..." Besides all that was true... Like hell he'd be ruining his sister's good mood with talk of the VR chaos that happened a few weeks ago. Ooooooh yea... "What about you," he continued, staring off past the window at the side. Damn, it was already getting dark out there... "Did the surgery work," he asked almost hesitantly, suddenly pulling his gaze from the window as he waited for the answer. "Can... Can y' see now..?"

"_Erm... Actually,_" she said, the blond tensing at the words. Oh no, oh no no no no- Just as quickly as he panicked however, he gave a relieved sigh, the rest of Shizuka's answer coming through. "_I'm not supposed to remove the bandages for another month,_" she said somewhat nervously, laughing lightly as her brother calmed down._ "Eyes take quite a while to heal nihan, and the surgery was risky enough as it was..._" Oh... Right... That was a good point... Ahahaha... Um... "_Oh... How was your birthday by the way?_"

His... His birthday? ER... Besides the fact that it was the weirdest and scariest damn thing since the 'Shadi' incident? ...Honestly, it was like someone had taken that night, and the Monster World Night and... Smushed them into one thing... He coughed somewhat, shaking his head. "Er... It was good," he managed to force out, otherwise hiding his discomfort. "'S good as any other time..." Except... Not really...

There was a slight pause on the other end, his sister likely nodding in response. "_Ah, I see... Well," _she continued,_ "What about your job then,_" she asked, Katsuya silently thanking his luck for the change in subject. "_You still work on security for Mokuba-kun's family right?_"

He nodded despite the gesture being unseen, smiling again. "Yep! It's goin' pretty good really... Workin' friday nights an' saturday... An' sunday morning too... Takin' th' late shift f'r someone t'day though," he added, scratching his head as he stared off at the wall. "Heh... Probably gonna feel like hell in th' morning, but what ever! 'Nuff about me," the blond said with a stretch, looking at the phone for a moment before continuing. "How're you doin'? I know y' can't take off th' bandages but... There has t' be somethin' you can do while y' wait right?"

"_Ah, well... Actually,_" she said calmly,_ "A friend from school has been visiting me a lot lately..._"

Oh, a friend? "Hoh..." He nodded somewhat, smiling. "That sounds good..."

There was a sound of agreement on the other end, Shizuka continuing on. "_It is_," she said loudly, likely nodding as she spoke."_Keichi-kun has been helping a lot in his spare time... He's even teaching me to play duel monsters," _she added, Katsuya more concerned with the 'kun' for a moment. Her friend was a guy. ...How close was this friend... "_It's fun! Maybe someday, we can play together,_" Shizuka was saying, the words pulling her brother from his thoughts rather quickly.

Wa-wa-waaaaaaiiiit... "H-Hang on... Shizuka," Katsuya asked, shaking his head as he ran over the last few sentences again. "If... You're learning to play duel monsters... ...How are you doing that when you have the bandages on your face?" Cards were kind of a visual deal...

"_Hn?_" There was a slight pause, before a cheerful response came over the end._ "Ah, Keichi-kun tells me what cards are in my hand..._" Didn't that kind of kill the point of not showing your hand then... "_Though he tells me what's in his to make it fair,_" she continued quickly,_ "I've even won a few times!_" W...What..? How did that... The blond shook his head, thoughts interrupted as his sister continued. "_Speaking of Keichi-kun... I decided to give him some chocolate as a thanks, he's been really nice lately..._"

Wait wait wait what! She- "O-O-Oii... Wh-What kind of chocolate-"

"_Ah- Mom needs the phone, I need to leave... Good-bye, Katsuya-nihan!_" What! WHAT?

"S-Shizu-" -_beeeeeeeeeeep_- Damn it. "Shizuka!" Nooooooo...

"Ah..." Kyouko's voice came from the side, the maid walking into the room with raised eyebrows. "...What are you shouting about..?" Katsuya ignored the question, the phone returning to its cradle with a click as he slammed his head against the wall.

"Ghhhnn..." He could keep his friends of his sister, but in the end, she was still hours away in Osaka... "...Nothing Kyouko," he finally said as the maid walked in. The maid nodded in response, scratching her head as she walked in with a small plastic bag. The blond turned his head, frowning somewhat as he spotted it. Eh... What? "...What's in th' bag..?"

She blinked, looking back at the bag in question. "Ah... For some reason, Seto-sama asked me to pick up a few things for her..." The woman brought the bag back down, apparently still confused. "I'm not sure why..."

Kay... He blinked, frowning somewhat. "Then... What kind 'f stuff..."

"...Jonouchi," the woman asked, frowning abruptly. He tensed, the maid continuing. "...Doesn't your shift start in a few minutes? You said you would cover for Odoru didn't you?"

The blond tensed, looking back at the clock on the wall before pushing past Kyouko with a start. "Gh- Shit!" L-Late!

* * *

As it turned out, he wasn't late in the end. Hell, the clock in the kitchen was about ten minutes fast so... He'd been early for once, which was fairly interesting to say the least. Got into the uniform, grabbed a bit of homework to pass the time and five minutes later, as per usual... Nothing was happening at all. At one point Seto went into the kitchen, but really, not only would staring at her when she was on camera be really awkward in the long run, he _was_ supposed to be paying attention to the other screens...

And besides, she was done with whatever she was doing within half an hour anyways. Either that, or Mokuba would likely manage to successfully eat _all_ of the chocolate he was carrying... Katsuya yawned, leaning back against his chair and blinking a few times to keep awake. Damn... His job was boring as hell but... Well, it was better than delivering papers at least...

He continued looking at the screens, idly flipping through his duel monster's deck as he sat there. Homework? Bah, he'd do that later. Though... He had to wonder, Katsuya thought with a frown, holding up the two 'dice' cards he'd gotten recently. After the Duelist Kingdom... Where were the new cards coming from? At least ones that worked on a duel table? He knew they _worked_ on the table, since Mokuba would mention Seto muttering about certain errors with new cards but... Why would she still be working with Pegasus on that?

...He hated missing things, he really did...

The blond groaned, folding his deck back up and looking over the screens again. He should really be paying attention, really... Ahh... Lets see... Nothing in the north wing, nothing in the south wing, nothing in the-

-_bzzzz-_

"Eh?" Katsuya sat up, shaking his head and turning back toward the door. That sound... Who the hell... He pocketed his deck, looking around the chair as the door lock was accessed and the door opened. "Who-" The door swung in, the blond sitting up with raised eyebrows. Eh! "Set-" Oooh shit that glare... He coughed, shaking his head and correcting himself. "...Kaiba?"

The woman walked in, arms somewhat crossed as she held a box in her hands. Evidently, catching himself was the right thing to do; the glare was 'mostly' gone, replaced with her usual stare. "Hn... Good to know you don't sleep on the job..."

He snorted, looking back at the screens for a moment before turning back. Nothing in the east wing... "Heh! Would I still be here 'f I did?"

There was a small span of silence in response, Katsuya again glancing at the screens to continue his job before looking back to the woman. No answer... Save maybe a look that said '._..No, you'd be dead if you did that'_. Either way...

"So... What is it anyways," he asked with a slight shrug, "There somethin' y' need t' check or..."

"I came to repay you for two weeks ago," she muttered somewhat bluntly, holding out the box in her hands. Wait what? Re... Repay..? What? "In that rogue program," AKA 'the game from hell' he added mentally, "When you took that strike for Mokuba..." Hang on... This was about..? The woman turned away somewhat, still holding the box out. "You're a complete _moron_ for doing it," she spat almost angrily, "But at least you stopped the attack..." Katsuya stared at the box that was being handed to him, frowning somewhat before looking back at the woman. She was... _Thanking_ him for something? Seriously? "...We're even now," Seto said plainly, still holding the box. "Don't get any ideas that this means _anything_ more than that though," she spat with a slight growl, narrowing her eyes. "I just figured a moron like you would ordinarily avoid even getting 'obligation' chocolates." Well yea, they didn't really do that at sch-

Waaaaiit... "O-Oiii," he said with a frown, narrowing his eyes and looking back from the security feeds. "What th' hell is that s'pposed t' mean..."

The woman rolled her eyes, a glare coming from over the box as she forced it into the blonds' fumbling hands. "Just take the chocolate _mutt_." Okay, okay! He'd take the chocolates! God...

He nodded slowly, before watching the woman leave and close the door behind her without another word. "...Hihh..." Okay... That was wei- Waaaiiit a second... Katsuya looked back down at the box, before quickly unwrapping it with wide eyes and staring. It was a fairly smooth cut, palm-sized slab of chocolate but... Well. It was... Chocolate. It was... "... I just got chocolate," he muttered under his breath, voice heavily laced with disbelief. "..._I just got chocolate from Seto-chan_," he said slightly louder, looking back at the screens before breaking into a grin. "Haha! YES! **YES**!" Who the hell cared if it was giri-chocolate, it was fucking chocolate! The chair he was in spun somewhat, and he nibbled a corner off the slab before choking and dropping the slab on his lap. "Gh-k- Kahk..!" Woah-woah-woah! He grabbed the slab again, taking another nibble before swallowing and paling. Oh hell...

...This chocolate. "Ooooooh hell..."

Was not giri-chocolate. "OHHHHH hell..."

Not by a long shot. "Damn it," he muttered, slamming his head into the desk he was sitting at.

...He was so screwed on White Day...

* * *

Making a small slab of (very) good chocolate last was something of an art really. Almost as much as making the chocolate itself, given the difficulty in actually melting the chocolate down without ruining the pot, and then adding things like sugar or flavoring to get just the right 'sweetness'. Even without the added difficulty in cooking though, it was definitely the sort of feat that had to be marveled at, saving chocolate for a certain amount of time at least. And while this was definitely not something that Bakura needed to worry about given all the boxes he'd received, despite the fact that he'd been writing down what kinds of chocolate he'd been given from each girl in order to return the favor properly as a result, it _was_ something that Katsuya and Yugi seemed to be doing. Not that he ended up telling Yugi about his chocolate in the end, but even so... The mood was there, and it was rather obvious given that _both_ of them decided not to buy any cards for the next month, instead saving money for 'something important'. Or... It seemed that way to him at least.

Mokuba himself had come back from school with _lots_ of chocolate, as it turned out that the girls in his class did indeed go with the Valentines day 'tradition' despite it being the last year of elementary. A fact that he'd been more than pleased about... For about fifteen minutes, after which his sister had of course had confiscated about... Three quarters of it lest he end up on a sugar high and awake for the next month. Nonetheless, it was still rather obvious just how much was there... It was... _Lots_ of chocolate to say the least, and Mokuba was _very_ happy about that... Especially since the confiscation actually meant that he _still_ got chocolate with his lunch.

His own chocolate on the other hand, not counting the bit from Mai he'd eaten the day of, had lasted about... Two days. (It was so good...) Which left him wondering one fairly important thing almost a month later.

How the _hell_ was he going to _double_ that in quality? Hell, there hadn't even been a brand or something to go by, it was just... Chocolate. Damn it. Katsuya rubbed his head, mentally groaning at the thought as Bakura's mutterings from beside him pulled his thoughts back to the present. "Ah... And I'll need this much for Nosaka-san... And..."

The blond blinked, raising his eyebrows as the albino continued to scribbling things on a note pad. "Y'know Bakura," he said with a laugh, "Y' don' have t' buy chocolate f'r every girl that got y' somethin'..."

He shook his head, not looking up from his rather interestingly organized list. "I know," he said nervously, scratching his head and looking at the paper. "But I only have two days left, and I'd rather not be rude..."

Honda sighed, leaning back on his chair. "It's just 'fan-girl chocolate' man, you need to relax..."

The two were largely ignored, their friend merely continuing to mutter to himself. "How on earth will I afford all of this..."

"..." They shared a glance, before sighing and shaking their heads. Well, obviously Bakura wasn't convinced...

Yugi smiled somewhat wryly, shaking his head from his own seat before turning to the others. "Well... At least Mai doesn't expect anything in return," he said with a slight shrug, holding his puzzle and laughing somewhat. "Apparently, she didn't want the chocolate to go to waste..."

"Yea," Honda said with a slight sigh, staring at the ceiling. "She _also_ apparently got a restraining order once she got back to Kyoto..." He smirked, shaking his head and laughing. "I'd hate to see what happens to the moron who pissed her off..." Speaking of the restraining order... The entire thing was more than a little interesting to find out about, though at least she sounded happy about it when Anzu was sharing the message over her cellphone... Not to mention loud. The teen laughed slightly as they recalled that moment, before Yugi leaned back on his chair and stared off in thought. No matter what, it was a little hard to avoid the _other_ topic on their mind...

"I wonder if Anzu wants two boxes of chocolate," he wondered aloud, leaning on his arm with a slight frown. "Since the other me got chocolate as well..."

That... That was a good question... "Can y' even afford that much chocolate," Katsuya asked with a frown, turning as the bell rang. The boy merely shrugged, shaking his head before turning to the front. Er, that wasn't a good response... Well... School time...

Maybe they should just drop the subject...

* * *

They sure as hell tried to drop the subject at least... Normally it wouldn't have been hard... And normally, two out of three of them wouldn't have gotten anything on Valentines. Even so, they had fought to change the subject over from that moment on... And it appeared to have worked too, given that the rest of the day had been filled with guesses on what the hell was underneath the tarp covering the rather enormous 'lump' on the store across from the game shop. So far, the guess was... No fucking clue. (Seriously, what was that thing...) They'd have thought it'd be a clown given the name but after the enormous thing had been put up on the building... Well. There was no way it'd be _that_ big right?

..._Riiiiiiight_..?

In any case, it was Tuesday evening now... And... Well, he mind as well see what he _could_ get in terms of chocolate really. Maybe he could just guess at what kind of chocolate he got on Valentines and... Go with that...

...

Yeaaaaaa...

He was screwed.

Katsuya scratched his head as he stood in the 'seasonal' aisle of the department store, biting his lip. Aw hell, this would take forever... Why the hell were there so many chocolates here damn it... He walked down the aisle, hands stowed in his pockets as he looked at the various white chocolate brands. There was one with some kind of lemon taste... A marshmallow one... A caramel one... ...Dang it... Had to be something there... Maybe... This box? He grabbed one, looking over the labels for a moment before looking at a different one. Not that one, not that one... Katsuya looked up at the next shelf, grabbing another box before jumping as a voice came from behind. "N-HHHHAA!"

"A-Ah!" Who the- Wait that sounded like... The blond turned, watching as Yugi poked his head around the aisle. "Jonouchi-kun!"

"_Jonouchi_?" The boy was quickly joined by Honda, Katsuya mentally smacking his head against the wall in response as the two walked over. "Seriously?"

Damn it. The blond scowled, turning as Honda and Yugi walked over. "Gh... You guys..." He'd kept it quiet for so long too...

Yugi laughed, shaking his head as he gripped the chocolate he'd apparently decided to buy for Anzu. "Hahaha... Jonouchi-kun," he continued, scratching his head with a slight grin. "You didn't say that you got chocolate..."

Nope. No he didn't... For a good reason. Ahhh, oh well... The blond sighed, shaking his head. "Yea well..." Er... What to say... "Whatever," he muttered, somewhat red as he changed the subject. "...Didn' Bakura say he was gettin' th' chocolate t'day though..?" Shouldn't he be here too..?

The other two shrugged, Honda shaking his head before returning his hands to his pockets. "With the amount he's aiming at," he asked somewhat incredulously, before taking a more serious expression. "He's probably at a bulk store... I'm surprised he can afford all of the chocolate personally," the teen added with another shrug. He then grinned, laughing as he shook his head. "Heh! Suddenly, I'm really glad I didn't get anything! _Now_," he continued with a smirk, the others looking back with somewhat unimpressed frowns, "I don't have to shell out my allowance for chocolate."

Oh yea, rub it in a little more alright? Katsuya frowned, free hand stowed back in his pocket as they headed for the check out. "If y' don' need anythin'," he said with a growl, "Then _why th' hell are y' here_..?"

The teen blinked, only for Yugi to answer for him. "Honda-kun was at a key-stand when I spotted him," he said with a blink, looking up at the teen in question.

"Yea," Honda said with a slight nod, pulling out a lanyard to reveal a rather shiny looking key. "I was getting a second key for the house made."

Okay... The two stared, Katsuya frowning. "...Why?"

Honda shook his head, Yugi stepping in front of the two to hold a place in the check out line as he answered. "Well," he said somewhat plainly, "Now that Matsuda lives in the house, I've been lending him my key... But... Since he gets back late," the teen continued, "And the other one is lost..."

Lost key... Hn... The others blinked, moving up in the line and putting their things on the counter. "Matsuda," Katsuya asked, tilting his head somewhat and turning back to their friend.

Honda nodded, replacing the key in his pocket as he spoke. "Yea- Ane's fiancee," he continued, pausing for a moment as they came to the end of the line. "Moved into the house in February, didn't I tell you guys..?"

The others shook their heads, before turning to the cashier as the chocolate was rung through. "Will this be all," the attendant asked the boys, Katsuya moving the 'divider' to the side as Yugi pulled out his change.

"Nope," he said before handing the money over, grabbing the bag with his chocolate in it. "This is all." He walked past the checkout as Katsuya bought his own box, the blond answering the same question before grabbing his own bag as the three headed off to the escalator. "So... Matsuda-san is your sister's fiance then Honda-kun?"

The teen nodded, leaning back somewhat as they went down. He never _did_ give them a name after all... "Yep; he was originally gonna move in around December," he said with a shrug, looking at the two as they moved for the next escalator down, "But he ended up breaking his leg... So he couldn't move anything out of his apartment." Huh. That sucked.

Well, anyways! The boys walked out of the store, Honda spinning the new key around on a lanyard as a slightly cool breeze smacked them all in the face. "So," Katsuya said with a slight stretch, shouldering the bag. "Arcade?"

Honda nodded, before catching the key in his hand and holding it out. "Sure... Need to test the key first though," he continued, pocketing it again. "Besides, I left most of my change at the house..."

Well, alright then, whatever... "Honda-kun," Yugi asked as they walked, the taller of the three leading the way to his house. "How did you lose the first key anyways?"

He shrugged, the spinning stopping as he pocketed the key. "Jouji," he said bluntly. "Apparently he decided to see how many things he could cram into a toilet before it would clog up." ...Ew... "Guess which went _first_," he asked with a frown, the other two pulling a face at the thought.

"...Y' know what," Katsuya said with a swallow, "I'm gonna say you can keep whatever I lent y' last week..." Lest he loose his lunch trying to get it back at least... "Hey," he said with a cough, Honda's house coming into view as they crossed the street. "Yer dog isn't gonna go after my feet again is he," he asked with a frown, looking at his friend. "I mean... He doesn't have that weird shoe thing goin' on right..?" Not like last time where it tried to swallow it _whole_...

Honda snorted, shaking his head. "He's penned up in the back," he said with a smirk, "It'll be fine! Had to lock him out there after Jouji chased him around with an RC plane," he continued with a slight stretch, pulling his key out again as they came up to his house. RC plane? That was interesting... The three walked over as Honda unlocked the door, before pocketing the key and stepping inside. "Kid's deadly with that thing," he continued somewhat loudly, disappearing into the hall as the others watched from outside. "Hell," he said with a sarcastic laugh as a light flicked on from the other end, "Even without actually using the plane he's deadly with it!"

The other two frowned, the pair staring into the hall for a moment before trading an odd look with each other "Without," Yugi asked somewhat hesitantly, frowning as he turned back to the hall. "How does that even make sense..?"

Honda merely shrugged, coming back out from the side of the hall and slipping his shoes back on as he looked at the others. "Remember how I said Matsuda broke his leg?" The two nodded, stepping to the side as the teen shut and locked the door behind him. "Well," he continued, "He did it trying to get the plane off the garage roof. Ended up having to stay off work until it healed," he added, shaking his head.

Huh... Katsuya blinked, staring blankly for a few moments. That sounded almost familiar... "Huh... That sucks," he muttered, shaking his head and giving a short laugh in response. "Heh! Sounds almost like how S... Kaiba's chauffeur ended up outta work f'r December too! Hahaha..." They walked back down the driveway, before stopping as a car pulled in.

"Ah- That's Matsuda's car," Honda muttered, pulling a key out of his pocket as the sound of the car's engine died down. "Mind as well hand this to him while we're here," he said with a shrug, watching the man step out of the car as the others waited.

There was a sound 'thump' as the door was slammed shut, Matsuda in question turning to them all before staring. Hey, this guy looked like- "...Jonouchi," he said after a few moments, Katsuya staring with somewhat wide eyes as he recognized the voice. "What are you doing here..?"

There was another short moment of silence, the three boys each sharing surprised stares before looking back. If it was the same voice, and the same accident... "H-Hang on," Honda said with wide eyes, shaking himself somewhat. "You're _Kaiba_'s chauffeur?"

Oh man... That was... "Holy shit," he muttered, momentarily missing whatever Matsuda said in response. The only other time he'd seen this guy as 'Honda's soon to be brother-in-law' was back at Burger World when the guy had been outside, on the other side of the window, mostly covered in snow... It was pretty easy to say that two and two didn't come together at that time as a result, given that he'd looked completely different as a chauffeur...

There was a few more moments of silence, before Matsuda coughed and took a few steps forward. "Ah... Hiroto," he asked with a slight shrug, having apparently figured things out rather quickly and decided to simply move on. "Do you think I could get into the house..?"

The teen blinked, before nodding his head as the three were pulled back to reality. "Right! Right, ah..." He tossed the key over, Matsuda bowing his head in thanks before waving as he left for the door. "Here!"

"I'll see you later then," he said as he looked back. "Hiroto, Jonouchi..." And Matsuda didn't know Yugi, so that was probably what the third 'nod' was for...

The others watched as Matsuda opened the door and went into the house, standing in silence for a while before slowly turning to look at each other. Okay... "Well," Honda said with a somewhat exasperated sigh, shaking his head as they made to leave the driveway again. "That was weird..."

"Yea..." Yea, it was... Katsuya shook himself off, scratching his head and turning to the others. "So... Arcade," he asked, Yugi nodding in response.

"That sounds good," the boy said with a smile, the three heading off down the street in the direction of the arcade and Yugi's house both. "I hear they have a new game there..."

Honda nodded, smirking slightly as they headed off. "Yep- watched them put it in when I was babysitting Jouji actually..." Oh did he now? ...What was Jouji doing in... ...Never mind. "It looked pretty good actually," he said with evident surprise, shaking his head and narrowing his eyes in thought. "I think it was called 'Ninja Ninja Revolution'..."

The other two blinked, looking at their friend somewhat incredulously. Wait what..? Like... 'DDR' except... ...What... Katsuya frowned, the expression set firmly in place as he finally found the words to say. "What th' hell kind 'f game is that..?"

"I don't know," he said with a shrug, pushing in the button for the crosswalk. "It looks like any other DDR machine, just with footprints and the word 'ninja' on the side. I'm just saying, it doesn't look too bad..."

Yeaaaaa... "It _sounds_ interesting at least," Yugi said somewhat optimistically, turning to look down the street as they walked further down. "I mean... If they installed it in the arcade then it has to be somewhat good right?" He... Guessed so..? They stopped at the next crosswalk, looking off at the slightly distant 'Black Clown' building across from them.

The tarp was hanging by one string on the building, blowing slightly in the wind but that wasn't at all what they were staring at to say the least. "Heh... Speakin' of interestin'," Katsuya said with a grin, looking back at Honda as the other two narrowed their eyes at the giant black-eyed clown. He continued to laugh, Honda in question pulling his attention from the enormous and eerie looking clown with narrowed eyes.

"What the hell are you trying to say Jonouchi..."

"'_Ninja Ninja Revolution'_. That's what I'm tryin' t' say. Seriously," he said with a laugh as they crossed the street, holding his head. "Who thought 'f that name!"

"Damn it Jonouchi!"

"Hey, Honda-kun, Jonouchi-kun..." The two turned, moving to where Yugi was looking at a sign outside the building. Ah, he'd run ahead... Yugi looked back at them, smiling. "They have an opening date now!"

Eh? They had a set date? They moved closer, reading over the sign blankly. "'Black Clown Gaming Store, opening April Seventh... Huh," Katsuya said, looking back up at the enormous 'clown'. Besides the fact that they finally knew what the hell this place was... "Game store eh?" About time the clearly finished building get a set opening...

"Right across from your house," Honda muttered, looking back at the Kame Game and letting out a long sigh. "That's not going to be helping profits..."

Yugi nodded, laughing somewhat nervously. "Yea," he said in agreement, "Grandpa isn't going to be too happy about this..."

"It looks like they're offering some kind of 'store exclusive' though," Honda said as he looked at the sign, turning to the others. "Uh... 'Dungeon Dice Monsters'..?" Yugi appeared to stare somewhat eagerly at the poster with those words, the same 'flickering' shadow briefly appearing beside him before vanishing.

Probably a trick of the light... Katsuya looked down at Yugi, blinking it off before giving a wry smirk. "...Yer still goin' huh..."

He nodded, continuing to stare at the die-decorated poster before laughing. "Yep!"

"Ohhh man..." He knew where he'd be on the seventh then... "This'll be way harder than when we went t' th' departm'nt store f'r cards..." Way way _way_ harder...

* * *

The morning of White Day was probably something everyone in the school building was anticipating in terms of class 1-B. "Erm... Here you go Matsuoka-san," Bakura said nervously as he gave a box of chocolate to each of the women who had swarmed him a month before. "And, erm, this one's for you Nosaka-san, I hope you like it... Ah..." Needless to say, this was not the kind of morning that went well for his nerves.

Katsuya shook his head from his seat, Honda and Yugi watching as Bakura ran about the room handing boxes to each of the people who'd given him chocolate. For the most part, it was being rather well received... The one on the receiving end of the chocolate bowed politely in thanks, put the chocolate in her bag, and Bakura hurried off to the next desk with hopes that he wouldn't run out of time. Though... There was that _one_ girl who looked at the box rather quietly before leaving for the washroom... Before a few other girls gave a glare to a rather unnerved and guilty looking Bakura...

The albino collapsed on a chair beside them after he handed out the last box, sighing. "Hah... That was so confusing," he said somewhat sadly, shaking his head as the others stared. "I think one of them's quite angry with me..."

Honda shook his head, crossing his arms. "Honestly Bakura," he said with a small sigh, "I think you should just call in sick on Valentines..." Agreed- Seeing Bakura as a nervous wreck, while not weird persay was... Not normal. "...What exactly did you do the other years though," he added, frowning.

Oh, that was a good question. Bakura turned to them, blinking. "Erm... Well that's the thing," he said somewhat awkwardly, looking to the side as he coughed. "I don't actually remember anything from the other Valentines days so... I decided not to think about it," he continued, subconsciously rubbing his left-hand.

Oh. ...OHHHHH... Shit. The others paled, staring for a few moments before awkwardly turning to the front as Anzu came in. "Ahhh... Hey, Yugi," Katsuya said with a cough, before jerking his head toward the woman. Time to change the subject! Go go go! "You gonna..."

Yugi turned, jumping somewhat before pulling something from his bag. "R-Right..." The boy swallowed, coughing somewhat nervously and turning toward the front. "Ah... Anzu," he called, the woman coming over just as he stood from his desk. He swallowed, slightly red in the face as he held out a box. "Ah... I didn't have enough yen for two chocolates," he muttered as he handed it over, scratching the back of his neck as the woman took it.

"Ah..." She stared somewhat, taking the box before smiling. "...It's fine," she said sweetly, putting the box in her bag and leaning down somewhat. "The other you wouldn't know about White Day right? Besides," she said as the bell rang, kissing the boy on the cheek as the others stared. "One box is plenty, wouldn't you say?" She moved to take her seat, Yugi slowly turning to the others as his face went beet red.

Did... She just... '_Hey... That was... Aibou,' _a voice called over the air, Katsuya growing pale as he heard it,_ 'I think you have a clear shot at this!_' The blond coughed, hurriedly turning down to his desk as the other Yugi's voice came through the room. Alright, what the hell damn it, this was way beyond what he'd finally accepted as 'normal'!

"Oiiiii... Jonouchi," Honda asked, Bakura looking as well as the blond turned to them in response. "You alright," he said somewhat jokingly, "You look like you've seen a ghost!" Don't even say that damn it...

Yugi blinked, frowning somewhat as he lost the red-shade on his face. "Jonouchi-kun," he asked, Katsuya still somewhat pale as he looked them over. "Is... ...Something wrong..? ...Are you alright?"

The blond stared, eyes drifting off to the side as a shadowed, misting figure appeared to double off his friend for a few moments before fading out. Two... He could have sworn... "...Y ...Yea," he finally said, looking at the front as the teacher walked in. He saw both at the same... At the... "...Yea I'm fine..."

* * *

Getting back to the house that night probably happened faster than it ever had before that day, or so it seemed. Mostly it involved him awkwardly using the excuse of calling his sister to avoid being questioned on the intense paranoia he'd had for pretty much the entire day after that... Though... It definitely didn't help that he kept hearing weird rumbling sounds from Bakura's desk. Which seemed to have no source.

But there was no way the ring was back _right_..? The blond suppressed a shudder as he took off his shoes in the foyer, banishing the thought from mind. Right... No way in hell. Maybe there was just something going on with the puzzle, who knew... ...Though with his luck this was going to turn into something similar to the duel tables... The blond sighed, walking over to the hall and watching a rather breathless Mokuba come from another room. "...Mokuba," he asked, raising his eyebrows as he looked the boy over. "Y' look..." The blond shook his head, frowning as he changed his words around. "What happened t' you?"

The boy turned, before joining the blond as they walked toward the 'Breakfast room' with a few gasps. "Ran home," he said somewhat tiredly, shaking his head and continuing to breath deeply. "One of the girls... Really didn't like not getting anything back apparently..."

Katsuya blinked, staring for a few moments. He got chased home..? What? "Er... Y' need any help with that," he asked somewhat hesitantly, frowning. (Chased home, what?)

He shook his head, pulling himself onto a stool with a sigh. "No... I'll be alright," he said with a shrug, "There's only two weeks left before school's out right?" Well, he supposed so... "...She runs really fast though," he added with a shudder, Katsuya staring a few more moments before grabbing the phone. Mokuba snapped out of his shuddering, turning as the blond moved to pull a seat out. "Hn... Who're you calling?"

"Shizuka," he said as he took a seat, leaning against the counter. The blond frowned, slowly looking back at Mokuba from the phone. "...Hey," he asked, adjusting his seat and continuing to frown. "Seto-chan knows you're here right..?"

The boy paled, quickly running from the room with a shout with those words. "Ack! I forgot about that!"

"O-Oii!" He leaned over the counter, Mokuba having long since fled the room. "Wouldn' it be faster t' jus... Call..?" ...Well, not like he actually had a number that would get the message through fast enough... Oh well. He punched in the number for Shizuka, leaning against the counter. Now that he thought about it, if Shizuka couldn't see, how did she answer the phone last ti-

"_Moshi moshi?_"

He grinned, deciding to push the thought from mind as his sister's voice came through the other end. "Hey, Shizuka! ...Did you get the bandages off yet," he asked, crossing his arms on the counter. First things first, it was a month later after all...

There was a bit of silence, some shuffling sounds coming on the other end. "_Actually Nihan,_" she began, the blond growing pale at the tone._ "I'm not supposed to touch them until at least the end of the week..."_ He blinked, the cold feeling quickly vanishing. ...Oh. "_But I'll let you know how things go after I take them off alright?_"

He nodded, grinning. As long as there was a chance the surgery worked... "Hah... Alright then," he said, looking at the phone and nodding. "Sounds good! So," he continued, staring off at the wall. "How are things over there?"

"_Pretty good," _she said calmly,_ "I'm getting a little better at Duel Monsters,_" the girl continued, tone picking up somewhat with her cheer."_I've even got my own deck!_" She had... Eh? But, but how... "_Keichi-kun is helping a little with that of course,_" she said with a slight laugh, likely shaking her head._ "Telling me what the cards look like in the booster packs, what their stats are..._" He was really starting to not like this 'Keichi' guy... "_Ah, that reminds me,_" she continued, sounding clearly excited about something, "_He actually gave be some chocolate with the packs!_" Pbbbbtttt what! The blond froze, gripping the edge of the counter as his sister went on._ "He's a lot nicer than he comes off in class..._"

This boy. This boy was _dead_ damn it, _DEAD._

"_Katsuya-nihan,_" Shizuka continued, somewhat snapping the blond from his tense stare at the counter. "_Did you end up getting anything on Valentines day?_" E-Eh..? Um..._ "Are you going to be giving anyone chocolate,_" she continued innocently, waiting for her response.

Katsuya quickly coughed, going somewhat red. "Er... Y-Yea actually," he said somewhat quietly, coughing again. "Kinda tryin' t' give it t' her in secret though, since she's a lil'... Testy abou' things... Um..."

There was a small bit of silence on the other end, as though a small, broken smile was being sent through the phone in response. "_...I see..._" Urk... Um... No really, Seto _was_ really testy about... Things... "_Well,_" she said, mood appearing to pick up somewhat, "_The only way I could really recommend nihan is mailing it... But I don't think that's really an option right now..._"

Yea... Not really... "Eh... Thanks anyway Shizuka..." He shook his head, looking at the clock on the side before leaning back on the seat. Hnnn... Hadn't been too long, but at the same time if he was going to keep his mom off his back about homework... "Talk t' yah later alright," he said, watching as Mokuba walked back in to sit beside him.

"_Alright Katsuya-nihan..." _There was a slight pause, before the girl added a little more._ "Good bye!_"

"Bye..." There was a small beeping noise as the connection was cut, the blond clacking the phone back into place on the side before slumping back down in his seat. "Aaaaaaaauuugh... What th' hell 'm I gonna do..."

Mokuba shrugged from beside his friend, having been busy pulling books from his bag for homework. "Don't ask me," he said with a frown, opening one of the books up to get his homework over with. "I don't even know what we're talking about! ...So," he continued, propping his head on his arm and turning to the blond. "What _are_ we talking about..?"

"Nothin'," he said with a slight groan, hopping from the stool and leaving the room as Mokuba stared after. "Jus' nothin'..."

* * *

Things had gone _very_ well from the 26th of January on. Extremely well, actually. Possibly better than when she'd taken over the company and turned it over to game technology as opposed to warfare. For one, thanks to the fact that (for the most part) her board had spent the last number of months doing next to nothing, the fact that they were now dead and gone affected very little. Things were running more than smoothly, and since she hadn't seen fit to ever trust the morons with what their titles would normally entail, it was merely work as usual. She was the CEO, and she held the responsibility... And while she should probably replace the positions eventually, there was no rush just now.

As for the 'missing' staff... Well, besides the fact that there was of course a bit of questioning on disappearances and such, everything had been dealt with completely. In fact, the questioning only lasted a few weeks before the lack of evidence turned up nothing... In the end, it was assumed that the board had high-tailed it out of there; the only 'real' issue had come from Ota, since apparently someone actually cared about him enough to keep pressing for his whereabouts. But what was done was done...

They were gone. And she was here. They would never be coming back, which meant that she would have nothing to worry about outside the company save finding a way to beat Yugi at his own game. Preferably soon... And with this, she screwed in a few things on the prototype of the second version of her duel disk. Definitely with this. The woman leaned back on her seat, looking over the device before moving it to the side. She couldn't test it now though... The device that would power it hadn't been completed just yet, same with the programming for the new cards she'd purchased recently. It wouldn't take long though... Not long.

Though despite this 'calm', Mokuba had given her a just a 'bit' of a scare when he hadn't been at the school... At least she'd gotten a call from Kyouko seconds after arriving however. In any case... Seto pulled a large sketch-book from the side of the desk, flipping it open while turning on her computer. A year ago, she probably wouldn't have even thought of doing this, what the design on these pages entailed. While it had everything to do with Blue-Eyes, it had nothing to do with 'KaibaLand', or the company... If anything it was no better than customizing a car for show. With all of that in mind however...

It was going to be the best damn private jet in existence when it was done. "Hn!" She snorted, logging into the desktop as she recalled the 'reason' she'd thought of this. '_Have fun once in a while_'... Fine, she'd do just that! "...Moron..." These designs were completely ready to be built on now... The cost of the plane itself determined, materials ordered in along with the building itself... With luck she could test drive it in May, she told herself, putting the book down to move onto what she had intended on doing on her computer. That would be good... And it had two seats, which meant Mokuba could come...

-_kots-kots-_

"Hnn?" Seto looked up from her designs, putting them to the side as knocking came from the other end of the study. She frowned, silent for a moment as the sound came through the air again. Alright... The woman moved from her chair, the sides clacking against the desk as she moved toward the door. Maybe it was Mokuba..? No one else would be knocking while she was in here, that was for sure... She opened the door, frowning as she was met with nothing. "What..?" Who the hell..?

The sound of footsteps caught her attention, the woman turning only to see a slight 'blurr' disappear down the hall. What was this a prank? Seriously? She looked down, eyebrows raising as she bent down to pick up a small box from the ground. The frown vanished, Seto flipping the box over and looking over the label. "..." This was... _Chocolate_. The damn mutt got her... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." She shook her head, shutting the door and returning to her desk. "Hahahahaha..."

Haaaah...

"...Moron..."

* * *

**AN: **Awwww look, they really _do_ like each other~ ...I... I think... Um.

Interesting thing, this chapter was originally supposed to be _two_ chapters, but as it turns out, the events were just _too_ short to take up a chapter on their own. And even _then, _it's _still _not quite the average length of the chapter! Which is okay really, as the chapter doesn't quite hold as much plot importance as Christmas...

_Or does it..._

Bwahahahaha! Nothing makes sense any more~ And the fact is, my own hatred for filler series with no point prevents me from writing breather chapters without putting a bit of a plot hook in them. Keep an eye on that ex of Mai's... _You'll probably see him at some point in Battle City, dressed in white._ But yea... Heck, look at the filler before the 'Christmas' arc, the 'Summer Chapter'. That key turned mighty important eh? Not to mention a few other things...

**Poll Results**! Keep it up people! You've still got plenty of time! ...Kinda.

(And in case you forgot, the poll is to decide on the identity of Kaiba's past incarnation; female and crossdressing, female, or, as with Canon, male.)

Female Crossdressing Set - 12 (Three Anonymous)

Obviously Female Priest_ess_ Set - 8 (Three Anonymous)

Canon (Male) Set - 2

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Oh hi Death-Dimension!

Hahaha, explaining things like that is part of my way of making sure I haven't accidentally made any obscure references… …Also helps when bringing up plot holes I've found! (If you think you're laughing now, _wait until we hit Doma._

Oh god I love writing~ Though that's probably rather evident given that I think I managed about 100,000 plus words this month… (That's double NaNoWriMo… Holy shit…)

Hahaha, well as long as you like the explanations!

Something tells me that if anime Kaiba were to get a girlfriend, it would take an awful lot of patience… Not to mention some _extreme _event to tie the two together, hahaha!

Oh, that! That'll actually happen, though the outfit may or may not be something else depending… Hehehehehe… (She does go rather red, but... erm… Embarrassment is only part of it to say the least.)

Enjoy the chapter!

Mokuba being passive would be terrible Iona! But yea, some of the need to do epic things probably came from Jonouchi's (admittedly bad) influence.

It probably will smell… …Though Kaiba probably got rid of the bodies… (Maybe set the room on fire, not like the rest of the building will catch on…) …In any case, the fact is, if everyone is completely 'A-Ok' with them being 'trapped in the virtual world forever', the underlying message of '_Oh by the way, t__**hat means they're dead'**_ should _probably _still exist.

Because… Yeaaaaa that's kinda what it means… Given that the Big 5 have to actively attempt body snatching and are desperate enough to work with Noa. (You can bet that he's the reason why Kaiba and everyone woke up so damn quickly; Noa knows a pawn when he sees one. HIHHHH.)

That's what you think~ Actually, whether or not Jonouchi _really_ plays into the Noa deal has a fair bit to do with how Noa reacts to Kaiba in that arc. OH WELL. We'll see how it goes…

To the next chapter!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that enjoys plotting! (...Do you?)

* * *

The chapter title here is based on the date of both Valentines Day and White Day; February and March Fourteenth respectively. It's also a play on the phrase 'lucky 13', but you probably caught that one a mile away.

Keeping in mind I've been referring to the 2012 calendar for all of this ever since cementing Christmas on a Saturday, so the dates are _technically_ all accurate. Until you realize that the year isn't actually supposed to be a specific year. (Whoo!)

* * *

Valentines Day in Japan works a little something like this; girls give the guys they are in a relationship with or are crushing on chocolate (unless they see no point in it of course)… It's their way of saying 'I like you', or at least the way that chocolate companies want them to. (And it really REALLY caught on.)

Sometimes however, in a co-worker situation, the woman of the building will feel a bit of pity for the guy that regularly gets _nothing_, and give him chocolate as compensation, or out of obligation. Or they'll just give it 'as friends'. Whoo!

* * *

Here's a fun fact; Home Economics is a required class in Japan. The other classes (For the first year) are Japanese, something called 'Contemporary Society' (I'm gonna take a wild guess and say... Socials.), Math, Science... The standard really. Oh, also Health and Music. (Those ones aren't really standard I think, least not to me... As Health was part of PE and Music was an elective.)

In any case, it used to be that the guys would have about 4 hours of PE per week while the girls would have 2 of PE and 2 of Home Ec. But around 15 or so years ago they changed it so that the guys would have to take Home Ec as well... (I guess they wanted to make sure the boys didn't poison themselves with bad cooking? I dunno...)

Right well anyways, thus we have explained Anzu not really being here for this chapter. (The reality is, she's likely at her secret job, ahahaha... Remember, Anzu _really_ doesn't like the boys all knowing where she works. Probably because she's afraid of them bugging her and getting her fired.)

OH. Keep in mind that most of my information comes from the internet; if it weren't for the fact that the Home Ec. topic was explicitly mentioned while I was surfing for info on this, I wouldn't have actually known that it was required now... So if something's inaccurate (There's a reason none of this goes into much detail) _tell me_.

* * *

Mai, as a Pro. Duelist, obviously has loads and loads of time on her hands… However, if she's going to live as a pro duelist and as nothing else (she doesn't have any other jobs… I have a feeling she took the 'Legendary Heroes' one as an exception _because_ it had to do with duel monsters), she's going to either be playing with super-high stakes half the time, or in a lot of minor, side tournaments.

Her reasons for being in Tokyo right now were inspired by a flash of backstory we got in the Doma arc; she was duelling on a cruise ship… Where they were quite obviously doing a fair bit of gambling on the side. (At least in the Japanese version... ) In any case, you can bet that a majority of the duelling world would be divided by this, as one half would be locked out completely being underage, while the other half would probably be duelling as a career.

* * *

Remember guys, Bakura's the one that the girls _immediately_ made a fan-club for after he started school there. (Least in the Manga) If that doesn't say '_avoid school at Valentines day if you value your life_', I don't know what does. And of course, the other three are the 'dead lasts' of the class (As seen in the manga at least), two of which were considered delinquents and the other as 'that kid in the back of the class' so to speak, so they'd be lucky to get a single bar (unfortunately.)…

* * *

School starts on April the 1st in Japan (They don't have April Fools, so this isn't quite as amusing a thought as it is for us in North America.), so since Mokaba has otherwise had _one_ year of school, he probably doesn't really know much about the whole valentines deal… Because really, what would the point in going over that be? ...Also, while normally going into the new year wouldn't spare you the 'attack' from an angry classmate, Mokuba's entering Middle School... So he'll be going to a completely different building.

* * *

Speaking of school in Japan, I should probably mention this before anyone 'notices', but Japan _used_ to have half-day classes on Saturday. However (And this isn't me doing internet research, this is me actually asking the teacher, who went to Japan numerous times), they don't have that any more last I checked... Hence why Jonouchi works the full weekend for the most part.

* * *

Another note on the Valentines day business of chocolates, generally the 'obligation chocolate' ('chou-giri choco' with 'chou' being 'very', 'super' and etc. and 'giri' being 'obligation') will be really crappy and cheap, whereas there are two other kinds: 'honmei choco', 'favourite chocolate' (Choco being short for chocolate, 'honmei' or 'hon' (origin, or 'true') 'mei' (fate, life…) being 'favourite'… And 'tomo-choco', 'tomo' meaning 'friend'. (So basically chocolate between _friends_.) Which is what Yugi _thought_ he got... Hehehehehe...

* * *

Though Honda tends to omit honorifics just like Jonouchi does, Miho is an exception; during the _one_ chapter we see her (And yes, this is Manga!Miho Nosaka, the **quiet, polite student librarian**.), she's referred to as 'Ribbon-chan' by him, due to the ribbon she uses to tie her hair back. Miho rejected (albeit politely) Honda when he initially asked her out… Though really, who can blame her after the whole issue of the teacher's face flaking off in puzzle pieces… Poor Honda. Given the _explosion_ that happens at his feet and the fact that he appears to be _crying_ in the next panel... It wasn't taken well. (But hey, he started hanging around Jonouchi and Yugi after that.)

* * *

Gym uniforms! Keep in mind that not only are the classes split among genders (One class has one unit, one the other), but the uniforms differ between the seasons… In fact, they have a specific day where you switch out the uniforms; October marks when summer uniforms go out for winter (the Gym uniforms are track suits at this time.) and June is when you switch out for summer... By the way, the girl's gym uniform is pretty much a t-shirt and shorts so short they could pass for underwear.

Speaking of uniforms, the 'slippers' that the students wear are technically slip-on, uniform shoes. Whooo!

* * *

By the way, these classes have between _45 and 50 people _in them… So needless to say, the crowd of girls at Bakura's desk is fairly big. (Poor guy... You _know_ he's too polite to refuse the chocolate...) Interestingly enough, the classes are decided from a mix of skill level and the classes the students are taking (Keep in mind that each school has an entry exam, so there's really no 'blank slate' for this.). But… If Kaiba was in _their _class…

Of course, that could have been because of the last minute enrolment.

* * *

The last line going on about 'judo' is actually based on an episode from season zero. Jonouchi comments on how lucky Anzu is that the girls only have to play tennis; '_We have judo! JUDO!_' Judo of course involves throwing people around… A lot.

* * *

Given the size of the house Kaiba has, is a breakfast room that surprising? Technically it's not really another room as an off-shoot of the kitchen... The reason why it's called a 'breakfast room' is pretty much because, due to how varied everyone's morning schedule is, it'd be completely ridiculous to have a fully prepared meal all set up in the normal dining room. So really, the morning tends to just have them going in and out grabbing things from the fridge for breakfast. (Unless something is pre-planned of course.)

As a stretch, you could say a lot of houses have 'breakfast rooms'. How many of you eat in the kitchen when there's another, closed off room on the side that is handily called a _dining room_? (And by eat in the kitchen, I mean there are chairs in there that you sit on.)

* * *

'Moshi Moshi', something that showed up two chapters ago, is extremely common as a way to say hello on the phone. Scratch that, it's _the_ way to do it. It can also mean 'excuse me' in an exceedingly casual, 'passing by' sense as well…

* * *

The Kansai dialect! Being Osakan in this fanfic, Shizuka will be depicted with a fairly heavy kansai-ben way of speaking… Oddly enough, kansai-ben is considered a feminine sounding way of speaking by some, despite the fact that the accent is often translated into a southern one in english dubbing. (Weird…) The kanas dialect has a lot of shortened vowel extensions, _extended_ short vowels at the ends of words, slurred words… (Omoshiroi, or 'interesting', becomes 'omoroi', or even 'omoro' for example.) The 's' sound also gets replaced with 'h' a fair amount of the time, one very obvious example being 'han' instead of the honorific 'san

'.

This actually means that the previous chapter with Shizuka in it, the 'summer' chapter, is _inaccurate_ (Besides the obvious slight OOC she had); Shizuka would have called Katsuya '_Katsuya-__nihan_' (Say it quickly for the accent, otherwise it's just weird) rather than 'niisan', as the 'ii' sound would be shortened and the 'san' would become 'han'… I think.

See, my only source of info for this is the fact that 'san' becomes 'han' with the Osakan dialect, along with the _common _language points of the accent. If anyone can correct me on this, tell me if I'm right on this though… That'd be great.

I think the only _real_ accent point that will come up (eventually) is 'ahou' instead of 'baka' as an insult; 'ahou' is considered fairly insulting in the eastern areas of Japan… While baka is used rather casually almost, as an insult that pretty much translates to 'idiot'. It's the complete reverse in the kansai region however, as 'ahou' is the one tossed around for 'idiot', whereas 'baka' is the more insulting term.

This makes it quite amusing for those who know when watching anime when an Osakan and a Tokyo-resident who know each other well enough to toss those insults around start yelling at each other…

You'll see later on another standard of the accent, but the small hiragana character 'tsu', which appears in words to signify a 'skipped beat' of sorts (often replicated in english with a double consonant) is also often skipped over or just blurred in. I _kinda_ implied this with 'nihan'; when typing the honorific without the name, I normally put the dash between the two words (IE: Nee-sama)… Because technically, it's two words. In Shizuka's case however, I didn't, as her manner of speaking would blur it together.

* * *

If you haven't guessed, Shizuka's making excuses about the bandages… (Though she really _isn't_ supposed to take them off in February…)

* * *

Also, if you didn't guess from the above, 'Keichi' should actually be 'Keiichi' (A fairly common name for boys). But since everyone's going to be referring to that guy by his last name (other than Shizuka at least), it really doesn't matter… (This will just _kill _Jonouchi when he finds out...) Also, the 'i' hasn't been extended at the end mostly because… Well, the accent doesn't extend _every _'i' sound into an 'ii', it's just rather common.

* * *

Shizuka's 'duelling lessons while blind' will actually prove to be _very_ important in the end. Obviously this will affect a number of things in the Noa arc, where it was rather apparent that despite having watched at least four duels prior, she knew _squat_… But the importance will be with a fairly interesting twist, see if you can guess what it is.

* * *

A note on the reason why whenever Jonouchi has called he hasn't ended up hearing mutterings from 'Keiichi' in the background; _most_ students in Japan are a member of an after school club of sorts (It would be borderline insane/suicidal to join more than one, for reasons I'm about to explain.)... Now, our main cast in Tokyo are exceptions... Actually, I think it's mentioned in either the manga or anime that Anzu's been a little pressured to join something, but simply hasn't. (Ahahaha...)

In any case, these club activities start after school ends, which is around 3:30, and then they _last until five or six_. Some 'clubs' go even longer, with a short break between then and the 'second half' for supper. My Japanese teacher actually made that mistake while over there; he'd joined the band club, and went home for supper thinking that they were done. His host family idly asked if they'd ended early, which had him scrambling for the door, aha...

So basically, when Shizuka says 'spare time', she's basically meaning maybe an hour or so after supper. As to what the hell Ryuzaki (He doesn't have a canon first name, so 'keiichi' won out) would be taking... You'll find out..? (Heheheeee...)

* * *

Why didn't Jonouchi end up seeing Kaiba melting down chocolate in the kitchen (That's what she was doing by the way.)? Because the camera's don't completely cover the kitchen; they cover all the rooms around it, but they don't quite cover certain parts of the kitchen… (Mostly because the board didn't really care about the kitchen, and Kaiba hasn't quite finished finding all the blind spots yet.)

In any case, Kaiba actually knows about this one, but it's such a minor one that it doesn't really matter… Because to get there, you'd have to pass at least five cameras. (So really, all Jonouchi saw was Kaiba going in and out of the kitchen. Which she occasionally does when she's working from home… Because hey, you can't work too well on an empty stomach.) ...She's probably going to be working on that now though.

* * *

Jonouchi has a point guys; in the manga, Pegasus _died_ (I'm… Still not sure about his fate in the fanfic myself, but _it isn't looking good_.)… So where the hell were the new cards coming from? Seriously did… Did Kaiba take over I2 or something? What the hell happened?

I'm speaking in terms of the rest of the 'Duelist' manga by the way. Yugioh R came _after _all that in terms of publishing, so until then, we didn't know that Yakou and Gekko were there to keep things running. So really... Who the hell took over the company?

In any case, it's safe to assume that Gekko temporarily took control of the company in Pegasus' absence while Yakou does whatever he's plotting for certain events to take place after the Battle City arc.

* * *

Awwwwww look, they really do like each other~ … Kinda. (I've said this already...) Anyways! The question remains, is it really a '_thanks for taking a hit_' or is it _something else_... (BAHAHAHAHA I love doing this…)

* * *

White Day is something only Japan has, and it's meant to sell chocolate! Started out like that too, so really, it's no secret. Basically, the deal is this: The girls have given the guys chocolate, and now they need to return the favour. Not doing so isn't just saying '_I don't want to date you_' though. It's like smacking the girl in the face and then dumping them via e-mail, saying '_I'm __way__ too__ good for that_'. Owwwwch… (Granted, Kaiba expects nothing, and would probably give nothing in the reverse situation, but still.)

Now some girls are obviously ok with this if it's a '_giving the hot guy in class chocolate_' situation for the most part(The fact that he _took them_ tends to be enough really)… But others are really, _really_ sensitive to this, particularly since some people interpret accepting the chocolate as an '_I'll consider dating you_', or even a flat out '_I'll date you_'! (This is why Mokuba was chased around after school actually...)

In any case, giving about the same amount of chocolate back in terms of value/quality etc. tends to be the polite way of saying '_thanks for the chocolate, but I'm not interested in dating you_'. To say _yes_ to a relationship, you need to return a gift that is worth around _three times_ (Or at least double) the amount of the original gift's worth. Which says _something_ that's for sure…

Though I think Ryuzaki might have _surpassed_ that standard with the booster pack he gave Shizuka... (And if you didn't guess that it was Ryuzaki she was talking about, _FOR SHAME_. I've been giving blatant hints at this bizarre pairing since _way back_.)

In any case, besides chocolate, some men use other types of gifts to do this, like jewellery and such, which is interesting since those gifts are _really_ uncommon during valentines day itself. Huh.

White chocolate is picked for white day of course… (Supposedly because white signifies purity and beauty and sugar aaaaand it's really just to sell white chocolate, since most people by milk or dark chocolate for valentines. That's how White Day started by the way. To sell chocolate.)

Of course, thanks to the sheer quality of the stuff that Kaiba gave Jonouchi… Or _assumed_ quality (Take a look below)... Yeaaaaaaa…

Ironically, it was probably just Kaiba adding things like sugar and such to the mix. She only asked Kyouko to buy cooking chocolate... Though the fact that it's hand-made makes it a little _worse _for Jonouchi…

* * *

Some of you are probably arguing that Jonouchi doesn't keep much from Yugi, but there are still going to be things he keeps his trap shut on. Such as _this_. Mostly because while Yugi knows, Jonouchi still wants to keep things concerning the 'relationship' that isn't technically a relationship underwraps... Cause he's nervous about it (and about saying too much). And... Yea. (Also, you can bet that Kaiba was giving the silent message of '_Tell anyone and you DIE_.') That's not the 'big' reason though, especially since the fact is, Jonouchi probably just didn't want to bug Yugi with it when the poor guy is trying to figure out how to re-pay Anzu.

The main reason though is more Honda. Who will tease him about it, because that is the kind of friendship that Honda and Jonouchi have. Mostly because the prospect of Jonouchi dating is _that_ foreign. Though it helps that all of Honda, Anzu, and Bakura's comments are based on assumptions that are being very _very_ thinly disguised... So while they know there's _someone_ (Though they're obviously completely off on the topic of dating), they... Obviously don't know _who_. So it's obviously one of those things that's fun to 'talk' about.

* * *

Jonouchi's comment on Honda's dog (affectionately named 'Blankey'. Awwww.) is based on a scene we get in the manga, where Honda only appeared during the D-D-D arc to walk the dog around... And spot Bakura doing some shifty things. (Hehehe.)

In any case, as Honda continues walking it toward the Kame Game, he tells the dog to 'not eat Jonouchi's shoes this time', which kind of begs the question as to what the _last_ time was... Particularly since that's the first thing the dog does once Honda actually meets up with the others. The dog in question has the fur colouring, size, fur _length _and ears of a German Shepherd... _But the face of a god-damned Bull Terrier_. WHAAAAAAT.

Anyways, safe to say it's a mutt but still. I can't tell if it even _does_ have that face, because it changed a few times in the panels we saw the dog... (And that chapter was the only one he showed up in...)

* * *

Funny thing about the word 'Yen'... In Japan, it's actually pronounced 'En'. Learn something new everyday~

* * *

'_But Usagi, Shizuka said a month-_' Guys, February is ordinarily 28 days long. A month is thirty, thirty-one days. Which means that Shizuka still has a good three days after that phone call for her bandages, or at least that's what she's _saying_. (We _all_ know when she's taking those things off.) Of course, most people take a month as the number of days between 'Day one Month one' and 'Day one Month two'...

* * *

Remember back when Honda called his sister 'ane-san'? Ordinarily he would be calling her 'ane', the informal way of referring to an older sister. Normally, it's reserved for (ironically) referring to an older sister to other people, and shouldn't be used when actually talking inside the house… But in any case.

You can probably guess from this that the male equivalent would be 'ani'... Which is where 'aniki' comes from. The 'ki' is a second kanji that means 'honor'; so 'aniki' is basically saying 'honored older brother' (hence why you always see it in gangs, or as a term of respect between two non-brothers.).

* * *

That shout out to Scott Pilgrim… I couldn't resist! The game won't show up again of course (Unless that's something you REALLY want…), but the fact was, I was kinda watching the movie as I typed this, so that scene _had_ to be written.

Conversations aside though, I wish, so bad, that that game actually existed…

And for those who _don't_ know, Scott Pilgrim's shout out to DDR was a literally 'ninja-esque' version called 'Ninja Ninja Revolution'. Which... Basically had you going through the motions of a ninja rather than dancing. (Whoo!)

* * *

Normally, Mokuba would have been with the three boys as they were having this interesting conversation… The main reason why he _isn't_ is mostly because of Kaiba actually; now that she's back, she's also picking him up from school every day… (In fact, this is probably the only thing keeping her from spending endless hours at her desk during the week) So the time that these guys spend with Mokuba _for now_ is fairly limited.

Note that I said for now. Hehehehe.

Granted, as it turns out, he was busy running away from someone on white day...

* * *

The last half of the conversation on the Black Clown (Hey, I wonder what arc is next… _NOT_ that one. AHAHAHAH.) is based somewhat on the conversation that Yugi has with Anzu, Bakura and Jonouchi outside the store as they wait for it to open. (Honda was walking his dog somewhere) Yugi mentions that if Sugoroku catches him there, he'll be in trouble for obvious reasons… After all, two gamestores across from each other, it doesn't take a genius to realize that _one of them is going to fail_. (Or at least get set on fireeeee… Yeeeeeeeaaaaaa…) And at the time, it looks like it'll the the Kame Game. (So basically, with as little showing up in terms of profit, it kinda hurts for your grandkid to go buy things somewhere else.)

In any case, Jonouchi's referencing something that only happened in fanfic land obviously… But it's pretty much along the lines of '_Kame Game didn't have new cards, __but the other store did_.'

* * *

Remember when I said private conversations between the two (Yugi and Yami) wouldn't be heard by Jonouchi? Not really _private_ if Yami Yugi is materializing on the side and_ shouting._ (And you so know he is.) And as evidence of his 'shipper on deck' tendencies, he does more than a few things with the idea of helping Yugi get Anzu. Hehehe. Standard 'indoor voice' conversations however will remain unheard (So he gets to see their mouths moving, but the 'ghost' one makes no sound), and at the distance where you would normally _not_ wince at a shout, he wouldn't be able to hear the 'ghost' half. Whooo!

By the way you can bet that the others got stuck with 'Paranoid-Jou' for the rest of the day as a result.

Oh, and the 'rumbling' he heard? Three guesses as to what _that_ was…

* * *

Shizuka's '_I see..._' is based on the Summer chapter... And also on the fact that Jonouchi as a whole has generally proven _very_ incapable of figuring out what a lady is getting at, which makes his actually _fairly accurate _description (as of now) seem… Exaggerated. Unfortunately. (Mostly because, obviously, Shizuka doesn't know who her brother is talking about. And won't for quite a while.)

* * *

Yes, Jonouchi's mom is still checking in on her son's grades... She isn't happy either, particularly since Shizuka's own marks are on the _complete opposite side of the scale_; more on that will come later, in Battle City though.

* * *

Normally, I would say that it was clearly Kaiba's obsession with Blue-Eyes that translated into building a jet that resembled it. However, thinking back, with Kaiba so focused on the company during the 'evil' bit... Where was there _any_ time to even consider making a Blue-Eyes White Jet with two seats? How... How did that _ever_ come to mind, seriously! Was Kaiba just... Sitting at work, and suddenly 'Huh, I think I'll build a jet..'? Aaaaaaggghh so confusing... At least the _airship_ made sense...

Though it _did_ prove extremely important at the end of Battle City when I think about it... (Even so, I don't see the jet coming about because of the tournament... Eh, oh well...)

* * *

'Kotsu' is the Japanese onomatopoeia for knocking. It was typed as 'kots' in the fanfic however, as the 'u' in 'tsu' isn't often pronounced in that case.

* * *

Awwwwwww… They really _do _like each other… …I think. ...Three times! Three time's I've said this! _We went from killing five old men to trading candy of all things!_

On the other hand, FAN ART FOR YOU.

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

Remember guys, if you can draw and are drawing things from the fanfic, let me know! I'd love to see!

Innnn any case... Remove the spaces, you'll have your link.

Fun With Dragons - http: / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ DragonFun. jpg - While watching 'How to Train Your Dragon', I got a little bored, and decided to try my hand at the style with Blue Eyes... There was empty space, so I half-heartedly gave it another shot with Red-Eyes (I gave up when the head went wonky. HAHAHAAA. Ahhh...), and then randomly decided Mokuba should get in on this as well. Despite the fact that both Kaiba and Jonouchi are probably like... Ten in these pictures. Oh well~ Obviously holds no canon/fanfic significance whatsoever, except to make you 'D'awwwww'.

Spoiler/Concept: Jou of the Past - http: / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ PastPeople. jpg - Oh hey, it's a past Jonouchi! I gave him a reincarnation, but by Egypt's standards, he won't be very important... (As in, he's no Priest, that's for sure!) ...In any case, see if you can guess at what 'PastJou's occupation is! Has very little to do with the kid on the side; that was just me doodling. ...I'll give you a hint as to the occupation though; Scapegoat. Now go!


	53. Chapter 52

**The Girl From America**

* * *

Though White Day had long since passed, the 'panic' in the classroom was far from completely over and done with. True, 'year end exams' had long since finished, with the Class President and teachers (not to mention parents) both finally off everyone's backs about studying. And while it was certainly a lot less tense than the year prior in Katsuya's opinion, it was good to have that behind them now. After all... Sure, everyone was screaming about the entrance exams the year before, rather than exams in general... But exams were exams. Briefly, the blond wondered how his sister would be getting around that; the bandages were supposedly off by this point, and given that she herself would be entering high-school... Of course, now that the exams were done and gathered and marked, there was the marks themselves to worry about, which easily pulled Katsuya's concerns elsewhere.

It was needless to say after all, that he hadn't done too well this time around either. Well enough to make it into the next grade, that was for sure. But... Not well enough to even begin to make his mom too happy with the results. Which was why he was making sure to stay as far away from the phone as possible damn it.

Despite _that_ particular panic calming down however, there was still one particular subject that had not only him, but even Seto herself sitting on the side decidedly confused. And although he wouldn't really call said panic a 'panic', given that he, Honda, and Yugi had pretty much treated it as they did for the summer exams (with a pen in hand for 'Bingo'), _this_ was probably a legitimate panic... At least on the part of the one bringing it up.

"So," Mokuba said at dinner that evening, finishing off his food and looking across the table at his sister. "What was middle school like?"

They might not have shared a glance on that subject (since when the hell did they share glances at all?), but they mind as well have, to say the least. Seto stared for a moment as her brother brought the question up, blinking a few times as the room fell silent. "...Mokuba," she finally said, expression largely unreadable as she stared back at the boy. "...I never went to middle school..."

Yea, that was probably going to put a plug on the advice, wasn't it... The boy blinked, as though silently saying '_oooooohhh_...' before Katsuya shrugged. "Eh... If you can't help, that doesn't mean I can't help though, righ'?" He smirked, leaning somewhat on the table as Mokuba turned to him. Hehehe... Finally something he could answer that Seto _couldn't_. "Ask away, this'll be no problem!"

There was a snort from the side, Katsuya turning an unimpressed stare to Seto as the woman smirked. Oh, what, she suddenly had something? "Hn! And what do you think your advice will do," she said with usual dark humor, "Teach him to fail his classes and get in fights?" Oi oi, that was a low blow...

He growled, crossing his arms as Mokuba groaned at the side. "Hn! Then what th' hell do you suggest, if your idea is so much better?"

Mokuba raised his eyebrows at that, turning to his sister as the woman blinked. Good question ahhh? Katsuya as well stared, briefly holding a blank expression as the room fell silent once more. "...Ah..." Wait... He blinked, a grin slowly forming on his face. Wait what? Did... Did he actually render her speechless? The woman quickly lost the surprised expression, moving away from the table and grabbing her papers as she made to leave. "I need to finalize a few plans," she said rather bluntly, moving to the door as the blond behind her let out quiet, wheezing laughs. "Try not to interrupt my work," she continued, pulling the door open to walk out. Oh god, this was _beautiful_! Ahahaha!

The door to the hall closed shut, the sound followed by Mokuba's head slamming into the table with a groan. "Hnnnnnngg..." Oh. Funny as it was, it didn't fix anything huh...

"O-Oii," Katsuya said somewhat nervously, grin still in place as he turned to the boy, "I'm still here aren't I?" Hey, he could still help!

He looked up, before nodding somewhat and leaning back on his chair. "I guess... But no offense Katsuya-nii," he said with a frown, "Nee-sama has a point... Wasn't middle school where you met 'Hirutani'..?"

Well... Yea but... Oh come on, that didn't make him completely useless... The blond frowned, leaning back in his chair. Still, good point good point... Hnn... "Well... Jus' use common sense then," he said with a grin, looking back at the boy. "...An' don' insult anyone bigger than yah," he added with a cough, rubbing the back of his neck. "Probably somethin' t' avoid as well..."

Mokuba blinked, a rather unimpressed stare in place in the face of the 'advice'. "...Will do, Katsuya-nii..."

"Well what d'yah wanna know then," Katsuya asked, giving a slight 'shrug of defeat'. "Probably help t' know what's buggin' yah..."

The boy leaned back on his chair, frowning. "Well... There are a few things," he said calmly, before turning. "But... Well... A lot of the other guys in the class keep mentioning a hair restriction," he continued, leaning on his arm. "And when I looked into it, the site for Domino's middle school said that the limit is five centimetres past the shoulders..." He bit his lip, scratching his head and looking at the table. "I kinda like leaving my hair long, so..."

Oooooh... That one... That one, he wouldn't really know... Katsuya frowned, crossing his arms in thought. "Hnn... Yer right on that," he muttered, narrowing his eyes for a moment. "They do have restrictions... But y' know," he said with a smile, looking back to the boy with a grin as he remembered something, "Bakura's _way_ past th' limit, an' he's left alone completely!"

Mokuba blinked, eyes wide. "Really," he asked somewhat excitedly, before frowning. "...Are you sure that's not because of... You know..?" Katsuya blinked, staring briefly. You kn- ...Oh. Yeaaaaaaa... The ring... Hahah...

He coughed for a moment, before shrugging it off with a slight shudder. That couldn't be the reason, it couldn't... "Eh... Seein' how that was a good few months back," he said somewhat slowly, attempting to convince himself of the fact, "I'm pretty sure that ain't th' case. 'Sides," he added with a nod, expression brightening. "Karita didn' even r'member all 'f that, so I'm pretty sure it's somethin' else."

"I guess you're right," Mokuba said with a nod, moving from the chair with another shrug. In all honesty, they were long since done the meal anyways so...

"I could call 'm if y' want," Katsuya continued, hands in his pockets as he followed the boy out of the room. "I mean... I don' think he's too busy now that exams are over," he added, scratching his head. "He was pretty much impossible t' contact durin' exam hell," he muttered, frowning somewhat. And at the end of it all, they found out why. Bakura... Had gotten the near top marks in the class...

Damn it...

Mokuba nodded, looking up at the blond as they moved down the hall. "That sounds good," he said with a smile, leaning back somewhat. "When is he free," he asked, Katsuya stopping in the hall for a moment.

"Eh..." Good question. Ahh... "He should be free this Sunday actually," he said, staring up for a moment before looking back at the boy. Bakura didn't _seem_ to do much else... And he wasn't in any clubs at school so... "I'm gonna be goin' t' Yugi's that afternoon," he continued with a slight nod, "If y' want, I could take yah to his apartment on th' way."

Again the boy nodded, hands held behind his head as he looked up. He was getting a little taller actually... Hard to tell, but if he stood beside Yugi... "You could just give him our address," he said plainly, blinking a few times as he continued. "I mean... It's not like that won't work just as well right?"

Well, he guessed that made sense too... "Right... I'll go give 'm a call then," he said, giving the boy a wave. "I gotta get ready f'r work too though," he added, Mokuba nodding in response. "So I won' see yah for th' next bit... G'night then, alrigh'?"

The boy nodded, waving him off before leaving for the rec room. "Right! Thanks, Katsuya-nii!"

"Heh!" He smirked, heading off down the hall. "No problem!"

* * *

Needless to say, Katsuya had been right; Bakura was indeed free on Sunday afternoon that week, and was (apparently) more than happy to help when the blond called him. As to when Katsuya _had_ called... Well, there _was_ a phone in the security room... Nonetheless, Bakura had agreed to come by and talk. Which was why, that afternoon, Mokuba found himself waving the blond off before leading the albino inside the house through the front gate.

"Thank you for inviting me in," Bakura said politely as the door shut behind them, the both of them taking their shoes off. "Your house is incredible..! ...If you don't mind me saying," he added, holding his shoes as he looked at the boy. "Ah... Where should I..."

"Over here," Mokuba called out, leading the teen to the coat room and handing him a pair of slippers. "You can use Katsuya-nii's slippers for now," he continued, switching his own shoes out and pulling on his slippers as well. "He tends to just walk around in his socks anyways..."

Bakura blinked, before nodding and taking the slippers. "Again, thank-you," he stated, the boy merely shrugging in response as his guest put the slippers on.

"Well it was this or your apartment," he said, leading Bakura toward the rec. room. "So really, either way would have worked. Besides," he added with a short laugh, grinning somewhat. "It's not like you're going to kill me or something right? The ring is gone now!"

There was a small smile in response to this, his guest nodding in what appeared to be agreement. Yea... There was no way! ...Though that expression... The boy shook it off, continuing toward the rec. room and pushing the door open. In any case... The two sat down on the couch, Bakura coughing slightly. "Actually, now that you say that," he said somewhat nervously, Mokuba turning to the teen curiously, "Honda-kun has been looking at me with that sort of expectation it feels like... It's rather unnerving actually," he added with a frown, "It's had me on edge since we got back from the Duelist Kingdom!"

Ah... Really..? ...But why would Honda... "Well... It's probably nothing right," he said, pulling his legs up on the couch and again pushing the thought from mind. "I mean," he continued with a slight laugh, "You'd have said something if there really was a problem, especially after last time!"

Another nod, the albino's smile appearing more genuine. Phew... And here he almost thought something was wrong... "Of course! Now," he continued, folding his hands politely across his lap. "Jonouchi-kun said that you wanted to ask me a few things about middle school..?"

Mokuba nodded, pausing for a brief moment as the question was asked. The smile seemed real but... Something seemed... Off... About Bakura somehow. He couldn't figure out what... Maybe something in his eyes... But something... He shook it off mentally, pushing it out of mind. Probably nothing... Had to be nothing, right? "Ah... Yea," he finally said, nodding again. "I was just wondering, if you had any advice..." On anything really... "Katsuya-nii doesn't really have the best track record," the boy continued with a slight cough, "And nii-sama never went to middle school... So..."

"Ahh, I see..." Bakura leaned back on the couch, silent for a brief moment. "Well," he began somewhat quietly, "I have to admit... My own time in middle school likely wasn't much better to tell the truth." It wasn't? As Mokuba blinked, a somewhat confused expression in place, the albino continued. "I was often teased for my hair colour you see," he said calmly, bowing his head somewhat, "And often times when it seemed I had finally made friends, it would turn out that they were speaking badly behind my back... And of course," he added somewhat lowly, looking away to the side, "When I finally started making true friends..."

They were sealed in figurines... Right... Um...

There was a small span of silence, before Bakura turned back to look at the boy. "In any case," he continued, expression somewhat severe, "The most important thing is to not let anyone tell you what you should do; the way that you live is your business," Bakura said calmly, somehow holding his polite tone despite the words. "And no matter what," he continued with a slight frown, "You should live the way you want to... Understand?"

Hahaha... Yea but... "That's easy for you to say," Mokuba said with a small laugh, before turning back. "Katsuya-nii said you have an entire fan-club... I don't think they'd let any complaint's get through!" Though something told him that being a 'Kaiba' would result in a similar reaction... Personally, he'd rather avoid any kind of 'fanclub' reaction though...

Bakura merely gained an oddly 'cheerful' smile, eyes closed as he shook his head. "Don't worry about a thing," he said 'nicely', Mokuba frowning somewhat and looking at the albino oddly. That smile... "If you don't buckle into what others think," he continued with a short nod, "Then nothing bad will happen in the long run... And if you _do_ happen to run into trouble," he added, tone taking an oddly dark turn as he spoke, "Just ask me for help... I'll see what I can do... Alright, Mokuba?"

This... The boy swallowed, staring for a moment. The words had good intentions but... This... This didn't sound like Bakura... "Erm..." He nodded slowly, growing somewhat pale as he attempted to find a response. Maybe Bakura was just having a weird day? Something? ...Hopefully? "T-Thanks..?"

"What are you doing here?" Ah! The two turned as Seto walked into the room, the woman crossing her arms and glaring rather dangerously at Bakura from the door. Talk about timing...

Bakura merely blinked, smiling somewhat oddly as Mokuba continued frowning nervously from beside him. "Oh, nothing," he said calmly, standing up from the couch as he spoke. "Jonouchi-kun thought I would be able to help Mokuba-kun prepare for Middle School..." A fact that apparently didn't sit well with Seto, if the slight 'twitch' in expression was any sign. "I'll leave now," the teen added, bowing politely to Mokuba. "Good luck, Mokuba-kun," he said with the 'standard' and cheery tone that the albino was known for, waving somewhat. "I hope you do well in Middle School!" With that he moved past Seto, the woman giving a narrowed glare as the albino left.

Silence settled rather awkwardly over the room for a moment, the only sound being the clock on the side. "...Mokuba," the woman eventually said, turning back to the boy and walking toward the couch. Mokuba merely blinked, watching as his sister took a seat beside him. As much as he didn't like the reaction most people got when his sister came in the room... He had to say, this time he felt grateful, for some reason at least. Seto crossed her arms, frowning somewhat as the boy remained silent. "...What has you so worried about school that you would turn to someone _worse_ than the mutt for help?"

Worse? He blinked, staring briefly. Bakura 'worse' than Katsuya... That was a first. Though Seto didn't really know Bakura he supposed. And given that the most detailed description had involved what happened in September despite what any further meetings involved... The boy looked back at the ground, frowning. Either way. "...It's nothing," he finally muttered, shaking his head.

Seto blinked, raising her eyebrows somewhat as she leaned against the couch. "If it's 'nothing'," she said rather plainly, "Then what was he doing here?"

The boy continued to frown, crossing his arms. Alright... So his sister caught him on that then, and it was probably expected really... But still! "If I tell you," he said somewhat testily, looking back at the woman for a moment. "You'll do something over the top about it..."

His sister crossed her legs, expression still fairly identical to what it had been coming into the room. "...Hn... I doubt that," she muttered, eyes closing over for a moment. "The most I would do would be what was necessary," she continued, the boy merely staring. Hnn... And what was Death-T then..?

Mokuba continued to frown, sticking with a more 'peaceful' memory for his defense instead. "Nee-sama," he muttered, expression clearly revealing how unimpressed he was. "When I finally told you the reason why I wasn't at school on White Day," he said somewhat lowly, "You acted almost as though Tamaki was a mass murderer..." Quite frankly, Tamaki was probably lucky she was still going to have a house, let alone getting out of things completely.

The woman beside him tensed somewhat, visibly gaining a stiffer expression as she clenched her arms. "...It wasn't nearly that extreme,_"_she muttered, Mokuba shaking his head at the paper thin defense. "However," she continued, turning to the boy again, "...I would like to know what's worrying you so much." Mokuba blinked a few times, and the woman continued on. "I might not have actually attended Middle School," she said quietly, "But I would still rather not sit on the sidelines about this."

Ah... ...Right... He understood then... Mokuba stared for a few moments more, before closing his eyes and nodding. Alright... He supposed it wouldn't hurt to ask really._ "_I guess... I'm not really worried so much about school," he finally muttered, shrugging somewhat. Really, it couldn't be much better or worse than elementary right? Even so... "It's more about..." He sighed, looking back at his sister. He didn't want to ask her for help on this really... Since most of the time, 'help' was a little extreme but... "...I was looking online at the rules and regulations for school," he finally said quietly, his sister listening calmly as he spoke. "And there's a restriction on hair length..."

The woman didn't bat an eye, merely nodding. "Hn... I'll handle that then," she said, Mokuba laughing somewhat nervously. He... He hadn't finished...

"I... I don't want to make a scene nee-sama..." Really, his last name did that enough...

His sister merely nodded again, expression still the same as it had been before. "I'll still handle it."

"N-Nee-sama," he continued, scratching his head, "They actually have the right to send me to the office to get it cut off..." Which was actually kind of scary when he thought about it, but really... "I... I don't think-"

"Trust me," Seto continued, crossing her legs and leaning back on the couch with a dark smirk. "They won't."

In the end he supposed, it was probably best to leave it at that really... Even if he had wanted to press further however, a single startling thought that occurred to him at just that moment was holding him back.

A few moments ago, before Seto had come back into the room... When Bakura said his name...

He didn't say 'kun'.

* * *

In the end, it seemed that as 'expected', Seto proved to be the most helpful in regards to the issue of 'Middle School'. While she certainly didn't experience it herself, it appeared that this wasn't really something that would help the situation anyways; as it was, Mokuba seemed more set on experiencing it for himself rather than following someone else's guidelines, and more concerned with the rules and regulations themselves.

Though the knowledge that there would be 'no problems' concerning the 'hair concern' didn't make graduation itself any easier, or at least, that was the image that Katsuya seemed to be getting from Mokuba as he and the others stood outside his school. Suffice to say, this was probably the closest thing to 'formal' he owned, what he was wearing right now... And while he didn't know exactly how Mokuba felt about the graduation, he figured it was about as much as he felt now. Namely bored out of his skull as the Principal of the school gave what felt like his third speech. On the bright side, the ceremony itself had been somewhat quick to say the least.

Well, compared to the one that he himself remembered, and at least he hadn't been stuck sitting alone with Seto the entire time during the current one. Then again, something told him that Yugi coming along didn't exactly ease the pressure of things, not to mention everyone else tagging along as well... Namely Honda, Anzu... Sugoroku... In the end, the only one who wasn't there was Bakura, who had said something about feeling out of place. Something Seto apparently wanted everyone else to feel as well... Having mentioned a few times that it was _her_ brother, and while she could understand why Mokuba's 'employee' would want to come... She didn't see why the others had to come as well.

Needless to say, what with everyone flat out saying that they were staying for the ceremony anyways, and Seto sending each of them a rather aggravated look in response, it was probably for the best that the woman had been called out shortly after the main ceremony and speech was over and done with, in order to deal with an accident one of her staff had been in. She had apparently wanted Mokuba to come along as well if the conversation they had on the side was any sign... But Mokuba had apparently refused, if the slight (albeit extremely difficult to detect) disappointment she had in response was proof at all. Either way; at least there wouldn't be a one-sided 'rival stare down' between Seto and Yugi... Though it was beginning to feel like he'd have still seen the stare down, if the constantly materializing 'second Yugi' was any sign...

Nonetheless, that was what had them waiting outside for the moment, waiting for the classes to give their final speeches and let the kids loose. ...Moment being the key word, Mokuba running out with a wide grin with his bag and things in hand. "Hahaha! Guys!" The others blinked, before grinning as the boy ran over, bag swinging behind him. "Haha... Thanks for coming to my graduation everyone," he said with a smile, the others merely nodding in response. "I guess now I'll be in a uniform just like all of you guys huh," he added with a grin, stretching somewhat with his arms behind his head.

"Hehehe, got that right," Katsuya said with a grin, the group slowly turning to walk down the side walk. "What school are y' goin' to anyways, there are like... Three aren't there?"

The boy merely smirked, shaking his head. "Hehehe... That's a secret! You'll find out next week," he continued with a grin, the others turning for a moment at that. S-Secret..?

Clearly it was going to be the school _beside_ theirs. Or something. "Hnnn... If y' say so," he 'muttered', shaking his head. "So," he continued with a grin, "What now," he asked, shifting his grip on his school bag as they walked. "S... Kaiba's probably not gonna be back until whatever that call was abou' 's sorted out so-"

"Ah, about that..." Mokuba blinked, looking up as they stopped at a crosswalk. "Apparently, besides the fact that his secretary was in an accident," he explained, the others turning curiously, "And... She's also being accused of having _caused_ the accident..." The boy rubbed his head, laughing nervously and shaking his head. "So nii-sama wasn't really able to get out of things because of that..."

Oooooh, that sucked... "Hey, Mokuba," Honda asked, craking his neck somewhat. "Speaking of your brother... Did he really have to tell us off for coming, I mean..." He shook his head, frowning. "It wasn't like we were trying to ruin anything..."

The boy shrugged, shaking his head. "I know," he said, blinking. "But nii-sama isn't really too used to all of you just yet... Hah, remember," he continued with a grin, laughing, "The last time we were all in a group, we were giving you a ride back from Pegasus' castle, and you picked up a 'hitch-hiker'... Unless you want to remind him that we broke into the company building," he added, the grin widening.

"Hahaha, you know what," Honda said, shaking his head as the others smirked, "I think I'll just go with your brother not liking us."

"Heh! Good plan," Katsuya said with a laugh, shaking his head as they stopped at the crosswalk.

The group waited patiently, watcing as Sugoroku moved forward to push the button for the light. The old man calmly waited for the light to change, turning to the others as the cars drove past. "So," he said with a smile, arms crossed behind his back as he looked at Mokuba. "I imagine that your brother should be quite proud of you," he continued, bowing his head somewhat. "You left that school with top marks, good for you!"

Mokuba nodded, grinning as Katsuya laughed behind him. "Hah! Yea, unlike me nyh?"

"Oh god... That's not even funny," Anzu said with a slightly humored groan, shaking her head and laughing. "Jonouchi, you, Honda, and Yugi got such low grades, I didn't think we'd all end up in the same class..."

Come on, they weren't that bad... "O-Oi," he muttered, laughing quietly.

"A-Anzu," Yugi said quietly, the woman still shaking her head.

Honda as well groaned, shaking his head. "S-Seriously..?"

"_Anyways_," Sugoroku said rather gruffly as they crossed the street, pulling the conversation back to himself as Mokuba snickered in the background. "Since this is such a big event," he continued, "I think we should celebrate! Now," the man muttered, turning to the boy, "I don't know if you already have anything planned..."

Mokuba and Katsuya both shook their heads, dropping the subject of marks completely with the topic. "Not any more," Mokuba said with a wince, rubbing his head. "Nii-sama's going to be busy for at least two hours now thanks to that accident..." There'd probably still be a dinner but... Not for a while to say the least.

"Good," Sugoroku said with a laugh, the others trading confused looks at what was apparently considered 'good'. "In that case," he shouted, grinning widely as he laughed, "Lets go wild with this!"

"Er... G-Grandpa," Yugi said with a slight laugh, shaking his head with worry. "Shouldn't you take it easy..? I mean... I don't think 'going wild' is really..."

The old man snorted, shaking his head and 'flexing' his arms. "I'm in perfectly good health, no matter _what_ your mother says," he shouted, stretching a bit in an 'attempt' to prove the fact further. "This party will be the greatest thing since- OHH!" A loud crack came through the air and the old man winced, hands flying to his back as he stooped over. "Oh... Oh my back," he muttered, rubbing it and continuing to wince. "Ah..."

"G-Grandpa..."

"O-Oii, Jii-chan..."

"Jii-chan..."

"O-Ojii-san..."

"Er... Jii-san," Mokuba said with a cough, helping the old man up as the others crowded. "Are you... Are you alright..?"

"I'm fine," he grunted, back giving a rather loud crack as he straightened himself out. The boys jumped back with somewhat wide eyes, staring as the man made his way around the corner to the Kame-Game shop. "Perfectly fine," he continued with a slight wince, "Let's just get to the house, I think I have some ice..."

"Hey!" The five turned, blinking as a loud, accented voice came over the air. "You're Sugoroku Mutou right," a young girl shouted, pulling a large suitcase behind her with a frown. They stared, blinking and turning briefly to the old man behind them as he shrugged. Evidently he didn't have a clue either... Er... Who was this kid..? The girl continued to scowl, dirty blond hair pulled up into childish pigtails and 'accented' with an oversized sweater. She came toward them, adjusting her grip on the suitcase behind her and holding a teddy bear firmly in her arms before stopping before them with a rather loud 'thump' on the part of her luggage. "My name is Rebecca," she said in English, dropping the suitcase handle to cross her arms. "And you have some nerve," she continued in Japanese with a growl, "Keeping a lady waiting!"

They continued to stare, Mokuba raising his eyebrows. "A _lady_," he asked incredulously, the others as well staring. "You can't be any older than me!" That was probably a long shot, she looked eight... True, not much shorter than Mokuba and Yugi, but... The bear and the 'cutesy' clothes were really pulling his brain through a blender on this...

'Rebecca' as she was called, merely glared, continuing to scowl at what was evidently a 'rough subject'. "_Yes_," she bit out in an almost ear-splitting tone, "A _LADY_. Anyways," she continued, the teens sharing awkward shrugs and glances while Mokuba scowled at the retort, "I came all this way from America," the girl muttered, crossing her arms and continuing to scowl. "It took you long enough to get to your own house!"

Well sheesh, sorry if they had things to do! Stupid little... "Wait," Katsuya muttered, shaking his head. "Yer from th' states," the blond repeated, Rebecca turning her glare on the blond the moment he started speaking. He ignored the look, frowning. "What's a lil' girl like you doin' alone in Japan then?"

The girl merely snorted, adjusting her grip on the teddy bear. "I don't talk to rude people," she said rather snippily, Katsuya blinking and frowning somewhat. Sheesh, and she was calling him rude..? "And besides," she continued with a somewhat smug tone, mixing it with a sickeningly sweet one as well, "I can take care of myself... I got here, didn't I?" Aaggghh, stop switching languages, he didn't know any English as it was..! "Isn't that right 'Teddy-chan," she added, smiling sweetly and turning to her bear.

The group merely stared, watching the girl cuddle with the teddy bear. Yeaaaa... Not helping the image there... "Alright, alright," Sugoroku said, stepping forward and shaking his head. "There's no need to argue..." At least not_ yet_, the blond added mentally. "Now then, 'Rebecca'," he continued, "Why don't you tell me what it is you want? You wanted to ask me about something," he asked, idly rubbing his back as he addressed the girl.

Apparently... Though why a kid would come all the way from the US for that was beyond him... "I want you to give it back," she said bluntly, the others tilting their heads for the most part. Give... Give what back...

A question on everyone's minds to say the least. "Erm... 'Give it back'," Sugoroku repeated, blinking a few times as the girl held her hand out. "Give _what_ back..?"

"The Blue-Eyes White Dragon card," she shouted, the others widening their eyes. B-Blue Eyes! What! They continued to stare, shocked silent by the demand. Besides the fact that the card was rare enough for people to kill over it (something they knew...) Erm... ...That card was kind of- "As the current duel monster's champion of the USA," she continued with narrowed eyes, before any of them could voice their confusion, "The most powerful card in existence should only _naturally_ belong to me..." WHAT. "Don't you think, Teddy-chan," she added, the others struck completely silent as the girl cuddled her teddy-bear.

Ok... Hang on... "H-Hey, jus' 'cause yer th' champion," he said with a cough, "Doesn't mean it's-" Wait. Waaaaait, back up a moment... Katsuya shook himself, frowning as he re-thought the words over. "Hang on," he said with a snort, "You've gotta be what, _eight_," the blond continued, laughing. "How are you-"

"I'm _twelve_," the girl spat, gritting her teeth as Katsuya jumped back. Honda and Anzu both pulled an amused smirk at the growl, shaking their heads in silent laughter despite the situation. "And yes," she continued bitterly, "I'm the current champion! What, is it so hard to believe that a 'little girl' can be the champion of a children's trading card game?" W-Well, that wasn't really what he was getting at... But...

Yea. Yea it was. He coughed, drawing back as Honda shrugged. "Hey, we're just saying," he said with a smirk, stiffling his laughter as he shook his head. "You can't blame us for finding it hard to believe..."

"Ooooooghhh..."

Mokuba and Yugi both frowned as the girl continued to seethe, remaining mostly silent as the exchange of one-sided 'insults' continued before them. Abruptly however, they both froze, eyes widening as they realized something. "Ah," the older said, blinking a few times before turning to the others. "That's right," he continued, Rebecca turning from where she was glaring at the others to stare. "There was an article in a magazine about this..."

"Yea, I saw that article," Mokuba added, nodding. "Nii-sama even mentioned it... 'Hawkins, Rebecca'... The child prodigy who's coming close to graduating High School already," he said with evident shock. "In addition to winning the championship title for Duel Monsters in the United States even..." He swallowed, the others staring with wide eyes. Wait... So not only was this kid legitimately the US champ but... H-Hang on, _high school_? She was graduating!

Rebecca appeared to beam for a moment, before loosing the proud smirk as the others continued. "The first champion not to be a member of the 'Card Professors'," Yugi said, staring somewhat. "And the only reason why was because-"

"Of my _age_," Rebecca shouted, eyes narrowed as she began to huff. "I _know_! Now," she continued, frowning and holding her hand out again. "Hand over the card you stole," she said with a snarl, "I don't want to be here any longer than I need to!" What, she have a problem with Japan or something? Geeze!

Waaaiiit... Hang on, he could have sworn that Seto was actually muttering something about the 'Card Professors' refusing someone... Katsuya shook his head, glaring down at the kid. Right, whatever. "An' we told you," he said with a frown, "Bein' th' champion doesn' mean y' get th' card! 'Sides," he added with a smirk, "Bein' th' champion of th' states also doesn' make you th' most powerful duelist! After all," he continued with a grin, Mokuba smacking his forehead while Honda and Anzu both shook their heads at what they knew was coming. "I beat th' las' champion in December! And on top 'f that-"

"Yea, second place in Japan," the girl muttered, rolling her eyes. "I know... God," she continued, crossing her arms. "Even a _monkey_ could beat Keith Howard by this point! It's not exactly a secret that he's completely screwed over!" Oh gee thanks! The blond scowled, listening as the girl continued. "Besides... 'Second' is _nothing_ compared to first," she said with a smirk, 'winking' with a fox's grin. "If you aren't first," she continued, glancing at Yugi for a moment as the boy drew back a little, "Then you aren't worth _anything_."

"Hnnnn..." Alright, that was it damn it! Who did this kid think she was anyways! "You little- Gh!" Katsuya scowled, everyone save Sugoroku hurriedly holding the blond back from Rebecca as he snarled. "O-Oii!"

"Trust me Jonouchi," Anzu said with a laugh before frowning. "It's not worth it."

Honda nodded, patting his friend's shoulder. "Yea man... Seriously, you've slept through worse..." Like hell he had!

The blond continued to grumble, crossing his arms as Sugoroku gave the four a short look before turning back to Rebecca. Stupid little pre-pubescent rat... "Listen, Rebecca," he began, shaking his head somewhat and frowning. "I understand that you're _very_ smart for your age," the man continued, "But this card is _very _important to me! I'm not going to just give it to someone!"

Rebecca merely snorted, shaking her head. "Of course it's 'important'," she said with a scowl, rolling her eyes. "You came all the way to California to steal it!"

That wasn't true damn it! "Oii," Katsuya shouted, gritting his teeth, "We already told you, Jii-chan didn't steal any cards!"

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba muttered, "I think you're getting a little too upset about this..."

"Calm down Jonouchi," Anzu added, shaking her head.

Honda nodded, still holding the blond back. "Yea seriously man," he continued, "You need to chill!"

"RGGGG!" Calm down? This kid was acting like a little rat, why the hell would he calm down! "Damn it!"

As Rebecca smirked slightly at the reaction she was gaining, Sugoroku shook his head. "Listen... I didn't steal this card Rebecca! I don't know who told you this," he continued, the girl quickly loosing her amused expression, "But this was given to me by an _extremely_ close friend-"

"You're _lying_," she hissed, fists clenching as the others frowned. Um... Woah, that was a quick reaction... "There are only four of those cards in the world," she screeched, "And this one doesn't belong to you!"

Yugi bit his lip, shaking his head. "But that can't be right," he protested, the girl in front of them merely glaring visciously. "Grandpa wouldn't steal anything... And he's had that card for six years," the boy continued, "He never went to the US during that time!

"Well obviously you're _wrong_," Rebecca argued snottily, the others trading annoyed glances as Yugi and his grandfather groaned. "Your 'Grandpa' _did_ steal this card, and I'm going to get it back!"

They continued to frown, Sugoroku shaking his head. "Even if I was willing to give you this card," he said somewhat shakily, frowning as the girl shook before them. "I can't! It's-"

"Important, you said that already... God damn it," she muttered, rolling her eyes, " I can't get anything done around here..." The girl continued to mutter off in English, Mokuba gritting his teeth as the others merely frowned at what they couldn't understand. "Look," she continued, frowning as she turned her attentions back to the group. "I can see why you don't want to give up the card... I wouldn't either if I were you," she said with a smirk, hands on her hips. "After all... People would _kill_ for something like that," Rebecca muttered, eyes trailing over Mokuba as the boy tensed somewhat. "Some people even _have_ killed for it," the girl added with a smirk, the 'holding back' switching from Mokuba to Katsuya as the boy went red in the face. "But I'm not leaving this country with out it," she continued, frowning. "So enough excuses! Hand it over!"

Yugi sighed, shaking his head. "That's not the reason though," he continued to protest, the others either biting their tongues or holding a red-faced Mokuba back. "If you'll let us explain-"

"Duel for it," Rebecca said calmly, adjusting her hold on the bear. The others blinked, frowning somewhat as they stopped what they were doing to stare. "If you're going to be assholes about it, then we can duel for it," she continued, pointing at Sugoroku. "You and me," she shouted angrily, the old man tensing somewhat. "If I win, I get Blue-Eyes. If you win," the girl continued, "Then I'll leave you alone..." A fate that was surely impossible...

The others groaned, Anzu frowning as the girl fiddled with her bear. "Look," she said with an annoyed frown, crossing her arms. "We're trying to tell you, we can't give you the card, it's been-"

"Ahp!" She shook her head, her 'teddy' doing the same as the woman was cut off. "Not listening! I don't want any excuses," she shouted, narrowing her eyes. "Either duel me, or hand it over now!"

"But the card is-"

"Ahp!"

"If you'll just listen," Yugi attempted to say, only to be cut off like Honda had been.

"Aaaaahp!"

"Aaaaghh..." Mokuba shook his head, scowling as the girl smirked. "Can you please stop tha-"

"Ahp!" Oh seriously..? How was this kid graduating... Rebecca shook her head, the others groaning again before Sugoroku finally stepped forward.

"Alright Rebecca," he said with a nod, still frowning. "Very well... We'll duel for the Blue-Eyes card..."

The girl nodded, smiling in response before cutting the man off. "Good," she said with a contented grin, grabbing her deck. "Now... I have my deck right here... I also heard that a place called 'KaibaLand' has a duel table, and I'd _really_ like it if we could use one of _those_," she continued, batting her eyelashes with the suggestion.

Mokuba rolled his eyes, rubbing his head in annoyance as the girl 'smiled' at them. "Rrrrrgh... Fine," he growled, glaring at Rebecca before crossing his arms. "We can use the duel table there," he said, grumbling. "You're lucky you came today, on the maintenance check" he added darkly, becoming more and more sore about the girl's comment as she smirked. "Otherwise we'd be booked for three months solid," he continued, turning to lead everyone toward the building. "At which point the table would be taken down completely, and you wouldn't be able to use it at all."

"Taken down," Anzu asked, raising her eyebrows as Sugoroku politely asked Rebecca to follow them to the indoor park. The woman shook her head, looking down at the boy as they moved to stand at the nearby crosswalk. "Why would Kaiba take down one of the most popular sections of the park?"

Honda nodded, frowning somewhat. "That's right," he muttered, hands stuffed in his pockets. "If the table is one of the only ones in the area," the teen continued, "Wouldn't that make it one of the largest money makers at the park?"

The boy merely shrugged, looking up at the others as Katsuya and Rebecca glared at each other behind him. "I was asking him about that myself," he said with another shrug, shaking his head. "Supposedly, by that point," Mokuba continued, "She'll have something 'even better' there... Though I have a feeling I know what that means," he added with a slight frown, Katsuya looking up with those words.

Something 'better' than the table..? Wait... "Y' mean th' duel disk," he asked, Rebecca currently following behind the group in what was apparently content (and plotting) silence. So like... An arena then..? "I dunno," he muttered, staring up in thought for a moment. "It was cool seein' th' monsters life size an' all but..." Well, besides the fact that 'cool' became 'horrifying' really quickly during the last time he saw the things in action... Constantly throwing that thing would probably chase a few people away from the idea... "...I dunno if that thing's really gonna take off..."

Mokuba merely shrugged, the six slowly making their way toward the 'KaibaLand' building as he spoke. "Apparently he's working on a second version," the boy responded, adjusting his bag as the tower came into sight. "One that doesn't look like a disk and operates on the duelist's arm," he added, stopping as they waited for the light to change. "I don't really know what it'll look like when it's done though..."

"Huh..." Katsuya stared off for a moment, before following after the boy as they were taken into the 'grounds' of the building. On the arm huh... But if the last disk was powered by throwing it, then what would power these things? He shook it off, instead watching as Mokuba led them off around the side of the building. "O-Oi," he muttered, blinking a few times. "Shouldn't we go in the main entrance..?"

The boy shook his head, pulling out a card from his pocket and opening the door. "Nope; we'd have to go through the ticket booths for that, and besides," he continued, a few lights blinking from the door as he pushed it open, "The main door to the stadium elevator is sealed off due to the maintenance check. We'll be taking the construction elevator, before taking the hall and stairs," the boy added letting everyone into the building. "That way, we don't have to deal with the crowd in the park either."

"Hn," Rebecca muttered, pulling her suitcase behind her and up the stairs as she brushed past the others. "Smart." What, she thought that they'd do something stupid? Sheesh... She was luck they didn't just drop her off at a police station, the blond thought to himself, watching as Mokuba pushed a few buttons for the elevator. They stepped in as the doors opened, Mokuba turning to Sugoroku at that moment.

"Erm... I just realized," he said with a short cough, frowning as he looked at the man with wide eyes. "Even though it's obviously a lot safer now... Is your heart going to be ok jii-san?" Eh? His heart? I mean... Even before the... End of the match," he managed to force out, swallowing as the doors closed, "You looked... ...Hng..." He looked at the ground, biting his lip as the others turned to the old man. That was right... He'd already gone through intense heart surgery, if anything got his heart going again...

The old man tensed, as did Rebecca, the others falling silent. Sooo... What to do now... "...Let me duel in his place," Yugi said, turning to Rebecca as the elevator moved. The girl turned, frowning. "Please," he continued, frowning as the elevator continued to shoot upward. "Grandpa can't have another heart attack, he's not in any condition for that..."

"Yugi," Sugoroku insisted, coughing somewhat, "I'm sure I'll be alright..."

The boy shook his head, Rebecca in the meantime appearing to consider the offer. "...Alright," the girl said with a smirk, turning around. "That's fine by me... Champion versus champion," she added with a grin, nodding to herself as the elevator stopped. "I like that idea..." They stepped out of the elevator as the doors opened, most of the others shaking their heads. Of course she did... It meant she got to rub in their faces how much of a 'champion' she was...

The others continued to silently grumble, Katsuya shaking his head. "T' think," he muttered darkly, "This brat's graduating b'fore any 'f us..."

Anzu shook her head, rolling her eyes. "At least she's not as bad as _other_ people..." Mokuba turned at that, the woman sighing as she was met with a suspicious frown. "No offense," she continued quietly, tone lowering to a much softer level. "But I'm still not too trusting of your brother yet... He might not be doing anything now," she continued, trailing off.

But what had happened was enough, wasn't it... Katsuya and Mokuba both shared a glance, the younger nodding somewhat. "It's fine," he said quietly, the hall falling silent as they walked. "I understand..." Now that he thought about it... There was a pretty damn big reason why Seto rarely if ever came up in conversation...

That was probably it. "...So," Katsuya said with a cough, attempting to change the subject. Something something... ...Well, mind as well find out more about the 'enemy' he figured. "...Yer in high school right," he asked the girl, Rebecca turning with raised eyebrows at the question.

She frowned somewhat, narrowing her eyes. "I thought that was obvious," she said somewhat huffily, shifting her hold on the bear as she dragged the suitcase up the stairs they'd come to. "Your friends said it outside, remember?"

Mokuba frowned, glaring at the girl. "H-Hey," he muttered, eyeing the girl with obvious annoyance, "He was just asking a question..." The girl snorted, Mokuba rolling his eyes in response. "And besides," the boy continued, "Magazines get things like that wrong a lot of the time; you can't blame us for finding it hard to believe that you're graduating!" Particularly with that attitude! ...Wait.

"Er... Wouldn' it be 'graduated'," Katsuya asked with a frown, the others stiffling a laugh at that as Mokuba moved forward to unlock the door at the end of the staircase. What, what was so funny...

"Hn! American schools start in September and end the year in _June_," Rebecca said, rolling her eyes before turning to look up at the blond. "Shouldn't you know something like that?"

The blond growled, clenching his fists as Anzu attempted to calm the situation down. "Well... It's not like we're taught about how other schools work," she said somewhat tensely, frowning before shaking her head. Geeze, this kid was wrapping them right around her finger like this... "So," she continued, calming herself down somewhat. "What do you plan on doing after you graduate," she asked, smiling lightly. "You have a plan right?"

Rebecca nodded, eyes shut for a moment. "Of course," she said plainly, continuing to pull the suitcase behind her. "I'll be going to University on a scholarship for archaeology next year," she continued, walking through the door as Mokuba held it open.

"Wow..." The others stared, blinking. A scholarship huh...

"Yep," Rebecca muttered, not turning back. "UCLA..." Huh... Sounded slightly touchy about this 'child prodigy' business...

Maybe they should drop the subject... Katsuya shook his head, watching as they moved into a largely empty 'colliseum'-esque room. Honda was looking around idly, as was Sugoroku. Katsuya and Anzu in the meantime both swallowed somewhat as they looked around the arena, Yugi as well trailing his eyes around with what looked to be unease. This place was familiar... Not in a good way either. It'd been a while... "So... Rebecca," Mokuba asked, moving forward to override the 'door' that blocked off the bridges to the table. He punched a few numbers into the pad on the gate, before turning. "What's high school like?"

The girl merely shrugged, the others sharing wide-eyed glances as the girl walked past the now open barrier to the middle. "Eh," she muttered, leaving her suitcase behind the door and adjusting her grip on the teddy bear. "It was okay..."

O... Okay? Those were her words for high school? 'Okay'? Anzu and the taller of the boys gawked, before the blond of the group was distracted by a short conversation between Yugi and his Grandfather. "I'm counting on you, alright," he said calmly, the boy nodding in response as his opponent sat in the domed duel arena. The old man looked over at the dome somewhat nervously, before clapping his grandson on the shoulder and giving him an encouraging smile. "Good luck."

Yugi nodded once more, a determined expression in place. "Alright," he said, turning around to walk off. "Don't worry," he continued, "I'll win, ok?" Of course he would! The record was now 200 plus to zero after all... Briefly, Katsuya saw the 'Other Yugi' mist at the boy's side, appearing to talk about something... Within the few seconds the blond saw him however, he vanished... And rather than switching out for a duel as expected, the 'normal' Yugi was the one to sit down across from Rebecca for the duel.

Huh... That was new... "Ok," Mokuba muttered, moving to the side where a booth stood. The boy pulled the metal door open, hopping in to flip a few switches on what looked to be a small computer system. "I just need to turn on the power..." Katsuya turned from the booth, watching as Rebecca seemed to lean over the table in obvious boredom while her opponent shifted awkwardly. "Sound is turned on," Mokuba muttered, a few lights blinking back in the booth. "Scoring systems," he continued, the large device above the dome flashing as the number '2000' flashed on each side. "The hologram software is turned on... Ok," he said somewhat louder, grabbing a mike from the side and flipping a switch. "The table is running now," Mokuba called out, voice echoing from both the inside of the booth and the center of the room. "You can start!"

"About time," Rebecca shouted somewhat angrily, Mokuba rolling his eyes as the sound echoed through the arena. "Hope you aren't too scared," she told Yugi, the boy merely attempting to smile weakly in response. "After all," she continued with a smirk, "I _am_ the champion of the USA..." Of course she was...

Auuuughh... What a _brat_... The others moved toward one of the benches on the side, taking their seats. "Did y' really have t' turn on the sound," Katsuya muttered, shaking his head as the two in the dome searched around for their decks. Seriously, now they had to listen to this kid whine...

Mokuba merely shrugged, taking a seat between the blond and Honda. "Unfortunately, yes," he said with a short sigh, crossing his arms. "Otherwise," he continued, "If something weird happens in there, we won't be able to hear what's going on..."

Huh... Not that he wanted to know what qualified as weird but... Katsuya blinked a few times, looking back at the domed arena in the center. Honda and Sugoroku both appeared to be staring at the large dome around the duel-table, the two inside it currently pulling out their decks and shuffling. "Now what is the purpose of that dome," the elder muttered, frowning somewhat.

"Ah..." Mokuba blinked, looking around Honda at the old man. "The hologram software works differently with this table," he explained, smiling slightly. "Rather than being displayed on the board or off the sides like the normal table," he continued with a nod, "They come off the glass itself, so that the monsters are somewhat larger and are more visible to the audience..." Bigger holograms huh...

Besides the fact that he could see why that would be needed with the size of the room, he wondered what that meant for _him_... The blond shook it off, watching as the two in the middle started the duel. "This will be _easy_," Rebecca remarked with a smirk, drawing her hand and holding her teddy bear close. "Neh, Teddy-chan~?" The bear 'nodded', Rebecca giggling rather obnoxiously as the crowd groaned. If Yugi could please beat this kid _fast..._ Yugi visibly sighed at the gesture, the others in the 'audience' shaking their heads as the girl continued to insist on taking the first move.

"This kid can't seriously be graduatin'," Katsuya muttered, watching the girl look over her hand. Let alone be the champion of the US... "No way 'n hell..."

"I hear you," Honda muttered, shaking his head with a frown. "That kid looks like she belongs a few grades _under_ her age..."

Not to mention she was taking so damn long for one move... "Alright," the girl finally shouted, "I'll play this!" She slapped a card on the table, grinning as she continued. "Come on out, Witch of the Black Forest~" Katsuya stared at the board, only to blink as a tablet the size of the girl's head materialized beside her. Huh... Alright, that worked... Within a few seconds the tablet blew away into dust, revealing the three-eyed witch hovering in place beside it's master. "Isn't she cute," the girl said with a smile, the others staring at it.

Er... The blond stared, the three eyed witch closing her two normal ones and taking a glance at the audience with the third. Hih-Hihhhhh... Not really... "Why did she play such a weak monster," Anzu muttered, frowning. Eh? The others blinked, watching as a few 'stats' appeared on the screen above the dome. Hey... She was right... "There has to be something else to this..."

"Maybe she's just not actually as good as she says," Honda said with a shrug, watching as Yugi looked over his own hand. Anzu gave him a somewhat skeptical look in response, the teen ignoring it and staring at the arena. "...What's taking Yugi so long though," he continued with a frown, "Normally he would have done something by now..."

That was a good question... Though if he had to say, it was probably just as Anzu said; who knew, maybe the kid had a plan? ...Eh, whatever. "Ah... I summon the Elven Swordsman in attack mode," the boy finally said, coughing somewhat. Probably just taken aback by the weirdness of the situation Katsuya figured, watching as a tablet similar in size to that of the witch appeared beside Yugi. The tablet glowed somewhat, the armored elf pulling itself from the 'card' as the stone vanished into dust. "Now," he continued confidently, the witch turning its attention to the elf with an odd expression of calmness. "Attack the witch!"

The elf nodded, wasting no time as it cut the witch through with his longsword. Briefly, the witch seemed unaffected, a look of resignation on it's face... Within seconds however, the monster's two halves fell toward the ground in a bloody mess, vanishing into a shower of dust before hitting the floor. "Aaaaahh!" The owner of the witch cried, shaking her head. "My monster!" Yeaaaaa, that's what happened when you played something really weak... Rebecca appeared to wail over the loss, holding her bear close. "Oh no... What now," she 'asked' herself, still appearing to frett over the loss. "Ah, what's that Teddy-chan," she asked, appearing to converse with the bear as the others stared incredulously. Okay seriously, what the hell... "Oh that's right," she said with a smirk, winking. "The Witch of the Black Forest has an effect," she shouted 'sweetly', grabbing her deck. "When sent to the graveyard, I can pick any monster with a defense of 1500 or less from my deck to put in my hand! That's right!~" The crowd stared as she did just that, the girl still smirking as she reshuffled her deck and put it back on the side. "Hnhnhnhn..."

Augh... Katsuya shook his head, frowning. "What..." Seriously, there were... No other words coming to mind to describe this. What the hell was wrong with this kid...

The girl drew her next card, remaining silent as she appeared to look over her hand. "Ah... R-Rebecca," Yugi said with a cough, a few minutes passing as the girl stared at her cards. "Rebecca," he continued with a frown, "It's your tur-"

"Shut up," she shouted, glaring across the table. "I'm trying to think! God!"

The others stared, shaking their heads. "How th' hell is this kid the American champ," Katsuya said with wide eyes, watching as even the celtic guardian on the duel table shook his head at the girl. Even the monsters couldn't stand her, holy shit... "Seriously," he muttered, "She's takin' fifteen mintues f'r one turn..!"

"She's not exactly the 'nicest' either," Mokuba muttered, huffing somewhat as he sat back on his seat. "Bringing up things like Nii-sama's cards..." He continued to grumble, going somewhat red in the face at the recent memory. "Hn!"

Honda merely shook his head, shrugging. "Honestly," he said somewhat calmly, "I'm not too surprised..." What, he wasn't? "All girls are like that at that age," he continued, leaning back in his seat.

Hang on _what_? Anzu turned at that, eyes narrowed in a dangerous 'recreation' of the 'Kaiba-stare' as Katsuya did the same. "Oiii," the blond muttered with a frown, Honda paling somewhat as the glares came his way. "You sayin' that my sister was that prissy when she was twelve then?" Because she sure as hell wasn't! ... (Least not in his opinion.)

"Yes Honda," Anzu added with a low growl, the teen coughing violently as he realized the hole he'd dug. "Just what are you implying... And make sure you speak up," she continued with a scowl, "So we can _hear _you..."

The teen continued to cough, before a shout from the board pulled their attention back. "Ok," Rebecca called out, putting a card on the table as a tablet simultaneously appeared at the side. "I've decided! I summon Sangan," she said with a smile, the large, three-eyed fuzzball appearing in a blast of tablet-induced dust on the girl's left. The monster gave a feral growl, stretching out on green limbed arms as its three eyes looked around the field in opposite directions. Rebecca giggled, hugging her teddy bear and grinning. "This one's even cuter than the last one, don't you think? Hnhnhn!"

Er... No, the blond thought, the others rendered silent as yet another 'weak' monster was summoned to the field. He stared at the snarling, green-skinned mass of hair, the look on his face likely mistaken for the shock that everyone else had. No it really wasn't... And whoever compared this thing to Kuriboh was blind damn it. "Ah..." Yugi appeared to blink a few times, drawing his next card and shaking his head. "Right... Elven Swordsman attacks Sangan," he called out, the girl giving a loud scream as the monster's blade cleaved her monster in two.

The large counter held above the dome beeped, Rebecca's points falling with the sangan's corpse as the girl wailed. "Ahhhh! No! No, damn it," she shouted, going somewhat red-faced as her field was again left clear. She growled, throwing up a middle finger for a brief moment as the others gawked at the insult. Seriously, what was this kid's problem...

"Y-You weren't going to win that fight anyways," he protested somewhat weakly, eyes wide as the girl merely growled at him. "Sangan has less attack points than the Swordsman," he continued, "It really isn't-"

"So you were taking advantage of me then," the girl screeched, Yugi staring at the girl in shock. How was that taking advantage of her! "Did you hear that Teddy-chan," she wailed to her bear, holding it close. "He's being mean on purpose!"

Yugi continued to stare, pulling back somewhat and shaking his head. "I- I'm not..!"

"Ah, what's that," Rebecca asked, quite obviously talking to her bear again as the others stared. "You say I shouldn't give up? Oh, that's right," she said cheerily, squeezing the bear tight as she moved for her deck again. "Sangan has an effect too!" Oh what the hell! "When he goes to the graveyard," she explained, putting her card-hand on the table for a moment, "I get to pick a monster with 1500 or less _attack_ from my deck! Hnhnhnhnhn!"

The girl hurriedly went through the cards, those on the sidelines shaking their heads. "A kid like that would leave you completely insane in a few minutes," Anzu muttered incredulously, eyes wide as they stared. "How on earth can any one stand her..?" That was one of the many questions of the day...

"I want to know how she's _graduating_," Mokuba said with equally wide eyes, leaning forward somewhat. "I mean... I don't think I acted like this when I was _five_..!"

Actually, there _were _moments before Death-T happened... Not that he was saying anything on _that_... Mostly because he kinda got _why_... Honda grimaced, crossing his arms. "There's no way this girl is the champion, let alone a 'prodigy'," he muttered, frowning. "Just no way..."

"Hnn... This strategy seems familiar somehow..." The four turned, blinking as Sugoroku stared out at the arena. ...That had nothing to do with their topic but...

Familiar..? "What do you mean," Anzu asked from beside him, the others waiting for the response. "Is there actually a strategy to this..?" The whole summoning weak monsters and searching the deck thing at least...

The man frowned, slowly shaking his head. "Hnn... It can't be..." What couldn't be? Make sense damn it! "I can't completely remember," he muttered, eyes narrowing somewhat. "But the last two moves..." The man trailed off, a shout from the arena pulling the crowd's attention to the arena yet again.

"My turn," Rebecca had shouted, having finished re-shuffling her deck yet again. She reached for the deck, drawing her card as Katsuya abruptly tensed somewhat. The elf on Yugi's side of the field had done the same, along with the observing 'Other Yugi' behind him... The air... Something had changed in the air...

"Does something feel different about Rebecca," Honda suddenly asked, the teen's eyes narrowed with slight suspicion as the others looked at the girl. Maybe not 'feel' but 'look' definitely applied... Her face... The childish pout was gone, as was the 'years younger' grin she held earlier... It was almost as significant a change as when the 'two Yugi's' switched out even...

They continued to stare, watching as Rebecca grinned darkly and pulled a card from her hand. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Things just got interesting," she said with a smirk, abruptly appearing much older than she had beforehand. The card was placed on the field, large tablet appearing behind her with a grinding, groaning sound that echoed across the room. The girl's stare narrowed somewhat, Rebecca leaning back as the tablet slowly dusted out of existence to send wave of destruction across the field. "_Very interesting_..."

Something told him that this duel was about to get a lot more serious than he thought...

* * *

**AN: **And thus it begins! Rebecca is... Honestly I have no words for her, but believe it or not, I was as objective as possible when writing her... Unfortunately, the fact is, her age, depiction, script, and overall mindset (which I will not avoid at all) really... Don't work for her. AT ALL.

...She gets better? UM. Right, well... Funny how the air always seems to change when things get SERIOUS. Hehehe. Anyways! This duel was cut off really early neh? We didn't even finish the 'episode'.

But that's because the rest of the duel will _easily_ fit into the next chapter and give us time to finish it. _Easily_. So really… It's probably for the best that the duel _hasn't _been cut evenly in half, as otherwise, the next chapter would be far too short. I can't merge the first part of the next arc into this one after all… The time skip is too much, and the events aren't similar enough, like with the 'Valentines/White Day chapter'. Sooo… Yea. Heck, even with that the chapter's fairly short. Heeeeee...

At least I get to spice things up with Sugoroku's story in the next chapter. With Rebecca's fake-plotting moments to serve as a buffer for time. (Seriously, how long do these matches take!)Keep an eye out for foreshadowing, mehehe...

**Poll Results are Unchanged**, so you'll have to consult the last chapter for those...

And in the meantime...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Three this time!

First off, welcome to the fanfic Szaphyr! You found this through TVTropes?

SWEET. Love that site... And it's nice to hear that you liked it; personally, I'm not surprised that you thought twice before clicking... The words 'Gender-bend' in any fanfic tend to do that really... Not to mention 'Puppyshipping' to those who know.

As for the research and character development, again, thanks! I like to keep things realistic... Almost to an obsessive point actually, I sometimes wonder if it's more of a fault than a bonus really. Also like to keep things accurate... Though I'm going to have to consult the anime for a few choice points of Battle City thanks to lack of manga resources. (Oh well.)

Which makes me wonder what I'll do about Yu-Gi-Oh R; not all of that is online, and not all of it is available in the bookstores in my area... And the chunk that's missing is a nice large one _right in the middle_. Curses!

AH! Spelling mistakes... The bane of my existence. Generally comes about because of my use of spell check... Either OpenOffice will auto-correct it as I type without me realizing, which gets _interesting_ grammar results, or I'll spell it Canadian one way and then American the next... Grammar isn't my strength either; takes me about as long to edit as it does to type each chapter, hahaha!

Oh? Hey, don't hesitate to be nit-picky if that's what you think! It'll help with later chapters! In any case, I hope you enjoy both this chapter and the ones to come!

Hey again Iona!

Hehehe, doing non-game related things is something I like to do with this... Because no matter how game related everything in the series is, lets face it, that's not all they do. (But you're right! LEGASP! I couldn't avoid it! Ahhhhh...)

Poor Honda indeed, though at least he was spared the money shelling in the second half of the chapter... And hahaha! I think Jou eventually just said '_Alright... Still don't know how to do this so..._ *runs*'

Ohhhh, if you had fun with that, wait until Jonouchi sees Ryuzaki again... They're liable to have an entire conversation about Shizuka, without realizing they're talking about the same person until someone finally mentions her by first _and_ last name. Which should be interesting to say the least... (Particularly since they really _aren't_ dating, and Ryuzaki really _was_ just being a friend. Awwww.)

Hehehe, almost... It's too amusing to see what happens, so you can't really feel sorry...

And as a matter of fact, yes it does... Unfortunately, this will take a violent turn for the worse once Battle City starts, if you think about Duel-Disks and direct attacks... (At least most monsters will be relatively nice about it though.)

Pictures indeed! And ohoh! Both you and Cynical Gamer got it right on the dot! I'm thinking more goats than sheep though, due to the area they're in; sheep are more mountainous or widespread than goats... Pretty sure they still used staves.

Hehehe, don't worry, I did all the research anyways... And speaking of research, the Scapegoats are rams; they have a weaker version of them that uses 'lamb tokens', and the scapegoat card itself summons 'sheep tokens'. Also, they are far too fluffy to be goats, hehe. (Speaking of Scapegoat, did you know that the four sheep are the same colour as the four pacman ghosts? Cool huh?)

In any case, next we have Cynical Gamer... Hey! If you look up, you'll see that you guessed correctly! Actually, I was somewhat surprised by how quick I got the right answer, hehehe.

Did you know? Egyptian shepherds/goat herds were likely wage earners rather than farmer's paying their own way, as they tended to just look after flocks for other people... That or they were simply paid to do their own thing, little hard to tell. Still, learn something new everyday...

Hohhhh, you have a point with the voices there... Guess it is a good thing then.

And very very hard to choose... But the squiggly can never be wrong! NEVER!

Thanks for the fanfic link! That was hilarious! And ooooooh yes they could... Yes they could...

My definition of good? ...Well, you are right on the 'good at being evil', mehehe...

What am I doing to Jou? ...Hehehe. I refuse to stop foreshadowing! It's too fun! AHAHAH!

Answering questions is something I tend to enjoy doing really... Probably why I do so much research; I don't like not having an answer...

Yes, the present! First off, thanks for saying that; the Legendary Heroes was kind of my 'worry wart' arc; mostly because it's _so_ different from the original compared to the standard 'minor change' that I slipped into everything else. Let's face it, compared to having Jonouchi springing soulless-Kaiba from a cell, the Legendary Heroes was effectively canon 'in name only'.

Not to say that this wasn't the most fun I've had writing an arc since I plotted out certain frightening scenes in the Duelist Kingdom, ehehehe...

Kaiba's liable to have that reaction to many more things as we go along... Many more... But ohhhh, it's fun to have the 'Ice Queen' melt, it really is. Particularly since it's actually quite realistic for Kaiba to _slowly_ gain a soft spot for the moron despite all stupidity; she eats supper with the guy _every freaking day_, you get used to things when that happens.

Welp! That's all for now, so enjoy this chapter and the next! Whoo!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that takes up between ¼ and 1/3 of the chapter. Suddenly, the word count for the fanfiction as a whole makes sense doesn't it... (And suddenly, it's far more apparent as to how much over the limit of 'talking about things' it goes. AHHHHHHH...)

* * *

The title of this chapter mirrors that of the title for the Japanese episode that started off the 'duo' for this part of the series. Completely, in fact. The dub called it 'The Wrath Of Rebecca' instead... Ouch... I like 'The Girl From America' just a little more me-thinks...

* * *

The date by the way, is March 24th in the fanfic when we start off; basically the friday before the last friday of the year. Whooo! I don't actually know what kind of date graduation goes on in Japan... Suffice to say, I assumed, so if I'm _horribly_ wrong on this, please, LET ME KNOW!

* * *

Something you should know, but since Jonouchi was avoiding a call to his mom between White Day and the current date for the fanfic, he doesn't know that Shizuka hasn't taken the bandages off... In fact, she won't actually come out with that fact for a _while_...

* * *

Back on subject! I imagine that asking Kaiba for advice on _middle school_ would do absolutely _shit _for Mokuba… Not because Kaiba wouldn't want to help obviously, given that Kaiba would do… _Anything_… For the kid… (**ANYTHING**) But more the fact that Mokuba appears to initially be asking about _experience_, as everything else that Kaiba could look up is something that Mokuba likely already looked up himself.

Of course, Kaiba never went to Middle school, given the whole tutoring deal, and the fact that they were adopted before Kaiba _started_... (Kaiba would have been 11 when Middle school started; they were adopted when Kaiba was 10 though.) Soooo yea. The lack of experience would mean Kaiba would literally be rendered _speechless_ on the topic.

* * *

When the only mentions of Middle School consist of beating the crap out of people and hanging around with a guy like Hirutani (You know, the one that tried to kill Yugi? And in Jonouchi's case, kill the blond _twice_?)... Not... The best advice on hand to say the least. Particularly when the beatings spread into High school as well. Hihhhhh...

* * *

Hair! Oh _hair_! Yea, _you know what's coming next_… Of course, Ryuzaki isn't going to be making an appearance, since that would be absolutely moronic, but either way. It's a good question really; if Karita (the gym teacher), who originally threatened to shave poor Bakura's head due to the length restriction, didn't remember dick squat about the soul-stealing issues after the fact, then…

_Why hasn't anyone gotten on Bakura's case about that?_ It's actually a frightening thought, until you remember that Bakura was completely 'ring free' until the Duelist Kingdom, which means that he had plenty of time to have people in his face about that. And yet _nothing happened_. My opinion? CLEARLY, the class president in half of the classes is a woman. A woman who knows that Bakura's hair makes him bishie. So all the girls band together annnnnnd...

Power to the students I guess, though I'm pretty sure that works extremely _badly_ in Japan...

* * *

Before anyone comments on the fact that Yami Bakura is able to _flawlessly_ imitate his lighter half, I point out that there _are_ a few instances where… Yami Bakura doesn't appear to really care if he's being 'un-Bakura'-like… Case in point, the moments before the final match of the Duelist Kingdom went a little like this in the manga;

Bakura: Kill him for Kaiba, Yugi!

Honda: ... ... *_Something isn't right here…_*

In any case, same situation here; it seems so _terribly_ off, but at the same time, the prospect of the ring from hell coming back is just… So _horrifying_ that they can't accept it. At all.

Then again, Yami Bakura _is_ keeping relatively polite, to the point that the only thing that's really making him seem 'weird' is the fact that he specifically gave advice against bullies (the normal Bakura wouldn't have said it quite so bluntly), and offered to… 'Help'.

Yeaaaaa… 'Help'. (Clearly he's bored.)

Note that once Kaiba comes in, the effort actually increases in terms of speech patterns though; Yami Bakura knows that Kaiba doesn't know the difference between himself and his light, but he knows damn well that Kaiba doesn't miss things like how they speak; and since 'light' Bakura has already been firmly established in Kaiba's head as a shy, polite albino kid with odd tastes in the occult, even omitting the honorifics on names, something he would normally do, would likely set Kaiba off.

Particularly since she's still rather paranoid about the two (Mokuba and Bakura) being in the same room… And rightfully so I might add.

Of course, in the end, Mokuba _did_ catch it...

* * *

Running people out of the room. Just one of the many advantages of being Seto Kaiba I guess..?

* * *

Ahhh graduation! It's quite a big deal in Japan, in fact… I could probably compare the Elementary Graduation (Which is normally quite simple in North America) to possibly a standard _highschool_ ceremony.

There are lots of customs (which rarely, if ever, change) concerning this. Using the page I had for reference in this one, so far the image is this… The ceremony involves lots of singing (including the school song and the national anthem, 'Kimi ga Yo'.) from what I can tell... There's also a dance of sorts (I… Think…), along with _lots _of bowing to the Principal, the teachers of course, and then finally going on stage to receive the diploma. Afterward there's a lot of speeches, and then even after _that,_ the kids go to their homeroom for a final speech from their homeroom teachers.

It's around that point that Kaiba had to duck out sadly… (Though the parents aren't present for the homeroom speech anyways, so as a result, Kaiba wouldn't either.)

Now, one thing I didn't quite get was that it _seems _that this would all take place during the day rather than the evening… But I think that might just be because of the lighting in the video I got to see. Ah well…

* * *

Also _yes_, that means everyone is dressed formal-ish. I say 'ish' because they all had school as well, so really, the only ones who had to really do much were Yugi's grandpa and Kaiba… And in Kaiba's case it was just a matter of maybe adjusting her suit. (Everyone else just did up the jackets of their uniform completely for once. Yugi's is normally at least slightly undone, whereas Honda and Jonouchi both leave their jackets open.) ...Though it does mean more fan-art for you... (Mostly because the students are expected to dress nice as well. For obvious reasons.) ...Though that fanart isn't until _next_ chapter...

* * *

Here's a completely different point that I _probably_ should have brought up last chapter... But while everyone walks home with Yugi most of the time it seems, there's a very good reason why no one meets up on the way there, save Anzu. Anzu for one, actually goes out of her way to go to school with Yugi... ...So she doesn't always show up with him.

But in addition to that, Yugi takes the city bus to get there- hence why I have Bakura, Honda, and Jonouchi talking before school begins, with Yugi and Anzu more often than not coming in a good few minutes after the fact, if the last two come in at the same time at all. After all; while we don't see how Bakura and Honda get around, it's probably safe to say that they walk.

* * *

As neutral as Honda tends to try to be on the topic of Kaiba when Mokuba is around (for obvious reasons), when the topic of Kaiba _directly_ comes up, it's not really avoidable... And lets face it, Kaiba isn't too likeable, particularly when the most they know of Kaiba is from Death-T, school annnnnd... Duelist Kingdom, the latter of which is probably the only reason why anyone can even stand her for the moment. (Besides humoring Mokuba at least.) ...Not to say that Kaiba isn't amazing but... Tell me honestly, how long would you stand Kaiba in real life if you had to?

* * *

Yugi mentioning class '2-B' will be something that comes up next chapter, but it concerns the fact that they (Namely him, Jonouchi, Honda, Anzu and Bakura) all managed to get in the same class… Despite the fact that this is normally decided on via the grades of all the students. Maybe it's a balancing type deal, who knows… (Anzu certainly doesn't get as bad a mark as the 'three boys' though, and I doubt that Bakura has those kind of grades either.)

In any case, classes in Japan tend to go like this: The first number (In this case 2) is representative of the year. The second 'number' (Some schools use numbers, also letters) represents the classroom... In this case, 'B', meaning that they're the second classroom so to speak. (Probably one of three classrooms. It's an organization thing.) So being in class '2-B' means that they're in the second classroom for the second year students (Grade 11.).

* * *

A note on the term 'jii-san'; you obviously don't need to be related to use it, as not only is it 'grandpa', it's also 'old man'. Obviously, the politeness involved varies depending on the honorific used… Mokuba is using 'san' more because he doesn't feel particularly close to the old man, rather than to be polite though. Also because he still feels rather guilty about the Death-T fiasco…

You know, the one where Sugoroku almost _died_? YEAAAAA. Good thing they decided not to toss him in the duel box again.

* * *

It's actually hard for me to really get a grasp on Becca's hair colour, despite it not actually changing at all. On the one hand, her initial appearance makes it look almost _brown, _likely due to lighting on the screen and screencaps. On the other, later episodes have it more as a sandy-blond colour... Also... Due to lighting issues I'm fairly certain. And then some more of those episodes have her as _golden_ blond. AAAAAAHHHH WHAT.

And then I remembered something; a lot of people have 'seasonal hair' so to speak. In my family for example, I normally have golden blond hair… But it darkens to an almost dirty brown-blond in the winter. Which actually works rather well, given that much like how Rebecca's initial appearance is around early spring, the Doma Arc should happen in the summer time… Yay seasonal hair! Basically, this is my way of saying '_I can't be bothered to pick and choose which lighting system is right! Let's just use all of them!_'

(You should see my fiancee's hair; goes from black-brown to freaking blond-brown. Weirdest thing you'll ever see, I swear...)

* * *

A slight hint for those who missed it somehow, but English is in underline form rather than the standard italics. YAYYYYYY… Mostly because while I normally put it in italics, the fact that she's using mixed speech would make it seem more like she was putting emphasis on certain phrases... As that is my _other_ use for italics.

Also, Mokuba will likely be the only one (save Sugoroku) who has a clue what the girl is saying when she slips into English, as... Well, Mokuba was constantly sitting in on Kaiba's English class, and lets face it, there is _no way_ Sugoroku started chatting it up with Arthur in Japanese while they were in _Egypt_.

* * *

She really does speak like that by the way! For some reason, despite her clearly using Japanese rather well, she still introduces herself in English, and (for no apparent reason besides the fact that it's cool to swear in foreign languages I suppose) constantly says '_God damn it_!' (It sounds like 'godamit!' Heheee.) … Even when it makes _no sense at all_. (Her first use of the phrase in the original is after Jonouchi mentions rather proudly that he's second in Japan at the moment; Rebecca then says '_God damn it! I __don't speak to rude people_!'. Kinda had me for a moment.)

* * *

Some notes on Rebecca; besides the fact that she is every bit the little snot we know her for when she's introduced, keep in mind that while the dub said she was eight (Though arguably, some eight year olds are _worse_...), she's actually _12_. Hence my little inside joke there. Anyways.

Anyone who knows anything about that age will know that no matter how bratty most kids in that age group can be, the girls tend to take the cake _hard_. Rebecca admittedly, will get _much_ better even within this arc, partially due to (thankfully) being able to comprehend crap a liiiiiittle bit more than most… But the fact is, between being a champion and a prodigy, she has a lot of hot air running through that head, and when you mix that with a vengeance drive…

Yeaaaa not the best attitude to say the least. At _all_, especially when you consider the fact that in addition to the cattiness that comes with that age, she's already gone through the added hell of grade nine and ten high school girls. And you can bet that as a 'child prodigy', there was some _serious_ ostracizing there. In any case…

Basically you have severe social issues (In that the twelve year old among eighteen year olds will be _very_ out of place) + severe cattiness due to age/hormones (Don't you tell me I'm blowing this up, I have _been_ there.) + blind rage… And the end result _sucks_. (Speaking objectively here by the way… I'm not trying to bash her... You can probably tell though, because I have a bad habit of defending myself when I feel like I'm being a jerk.)

In addition, please keep in mind that this girl has already convinced herself _completely_ that this 'old man' stole her card, and therefore, anyone even associated with the guy is pretty much the spawn of satan himself. Hence her going out of her way to be a jerk.

She's going to regret this so very _very_ much in the end...

* * *

For those who don't remember, Duel Monsters _isn't that old_. It was created shortly after Cynthia, Pegasus' girlfriend died... So likely six, seven years prior. Oddly enough, this still fits in rather well with the Noa arc; as Kaiba was eleven or twelve when the two were adopted, Duel Monsters would have started out a few months before adoption. Yayyyy~

It also fits in for Mai's own story, but as I just said. _That's another story.

* * *

_

In the Japanese version, Yugi mentions that there was an article about Rebecca, as she was the youngest to reach championship in Duel Monsters… In the US. The Dub said 'inter-continental' for some reason… In any case! When Rebecca returns in the Doma arc, _she's in college_. Hence the prodigy, high-school status. As Doma has to happen within less than two years of this point in the fanfic, she's either graduating now, or the next year, in December. Ended up going with 'now', just to push on the graduation fun... Also because I don't think Rebecca would be taking a lap-year...

* * *

On another note... It's interesting how 4Kid's made the same mistake of lowering a twelve year old's age only for her to reappear with a fair bit of added height and curves a year or two later… (Much like Rebecca, 'Blair' from GX was supposed to be 12 rather than 8. And then, _like Rebecca_, she reappeared when she was 14… So the 'ten year old' looked like she was 14… WHOOOPS.)

* * *

Now here's an interesting question; in the Japanese anime, Rebecca never says that _Keith_ told her the card was stolen by Sugoroku, she just says 'she was told' (I didn't hear a 'Keith' in there.)… And given that I'm working the manga angle, this works out _so much better_. In any case, why did everyone roll with it when she demanded the card? Why not just tell her off and call someone? When I think about it, they were probably just being nice… Not to mention, unwilling to listen to her ranting while they waited for whoever they called...

* * *

Why didn't Sugoroku guess who Rebecca was as soon as the last name came into play? Because I pulled a silly for the sake of plot; Rebecca is a _granddaughter_; that means that there would be a good chance of her having a different last name than her grandfather. So while Rebecca has her dub name, 'Hawkins', old 'Arthur' still has 'Hopkins'. ...Seriously though, why did they bother changing that... Hopkins is a plenty common last name...

* * *

You can thank the _extremely_ helpful site 'Yu-Jyo . net' (Spaces so that FF doesn't just delete it from the page) for the location of Rebecca's home. It's still estimated of course, and it's quite likely Rebecca doesn't live at her Grandfather's house, but since she's assuming they stole from her Grandpa _anyway_, the location still applies.

Specifically, Rebecca's grandpa lives somewhere near the Altamont Pass, which is a few hours away from San Fransisco… So while they obviously don't live in San-Fran, they _do_ live in California.

* * *

It's no secret that the CEO of Kaiba Corp is a sixteen year old with no parents to speak of, and a younger brother. (Particularly since in Japan, kids can be on their own as soon as they're 14 last I checked.) Mostly because bigshot CEO's jumping out of buildings after a giant change in control tend to make the news like that... It's also not likely much of a secret that one of the people whom Kaiba got one of the three Blue-Eyes cards from ended up dying... (Though that was suicide) So yea. This is Rebecca taking a direct shot. Jerk.

* * *

Originally in the anime, Becca showed up _immediately_ after Sugoroku was discharged from the hospital after Duelist Kingdom… So obviously, everyone was instantly telling Becca that he was in no condition to duel (Because hey, playing a card game… So hard on the heart right?)… But I can't do that right now, because it's already over three months from that point! Oh well~

* * *

Taking down the Duel Table? _Now why would Kaiba do that_...

Well, there _is_ an arena at the top of that building in Yugioh R... Not to mention _everywhere else_ in the building. But they are right; it's mostly to do with the fact that if the Duel Disk works out, those tables will be _very_ obsolete.

* * *

Kaiba was forgiven far, _far_ too easily by everyone in the Canon guys, seriously. Yea, Jonouchi bickers with him constantly, but think; this guy originally showed up for a second time and just about _killed_ Sugoroku, and in the manga's case, _everyone else as well_. Now it's kind of understandable on Yugi's part; he forgives people fairly easily, it's in his character.

But everyone else? Hah. HAHA. Haaaahh _no_. At least Jonouchi has the excuse of being a moron and falling in love before the woman could prove to him what a bad idea that would be in this fanfic. (Also sitting around Mokuba kind of gave him an overload of 'positive-ish outlook'.) ...In addition, Jonouchi lives in the same house, giving him a much longer look at Kaiba; so while _he_ knows that she's legitimately a better person (Looking at Christmas among things), the others... Not so much. Doesn't really help that most of what Jonouchi gets to see comes with the added threat of _tell NO ONE_. Because hey; the privacy of the home is expected to remain as such.

Honda has a similar, _if not worse_ opinion of Kaiba in the fanfic when compared to Anzu by the way, not that you can see it too well; most of his 'neutrality' around her is because he considers himself in debt to Mokuba… Because hey, the kid saved his life during Death-T, and he hasn't really been able to do much since… Though he's obviously not going to pretend to like Kaiba. (Unfortunately, given the fact that Honda _also_ knows that despite doing every damn thing possible to save the kid in Duelist Kingdom, Kaiba was still the one who turned the 'heart attack machine' on Mokuba... Yeeeeeeaaaaaaaaa...)

As for Anzu… She'll be nice, but she certainly won't pretend to like Kaiba just yet. She's _slowly_ warming up to the idea that Kaiba isn't a _complete_ jackass anymore, as is Honda… But it takes _time_ guys. _Time_.

* * *

Rebecca's reaction to Mokuba's question kind of tells you how much it would _suck_ to be the 'child prodigy'… Because seriously, you think a twelve year old is going to be doing much a the prom or the grad party? Or anything else involving the kids six years older than her for that matter?

On another note, 'UCLA' is the 'University of California (Los Angeles)', for those who don't know. I wanted to make sure I got a University with actual ties to the archaeological field... That was my first hit doing a search in the area. (I'm nit picky like that I guess...)

* * *

So here's my beef; it's actually stated in the rules for the manga that the two duelists (or more) have to cut and shuffle each other's decks before the duel begins. And yet not only do they quite clearly _not_ do this (At least with the Duel Disks, it's explained that the device automatically does it for them), but it's _really_ blatant with the 'Rebecca' series of episodes, where the duel literally mirrors that of the grandfather's own match years prior.

WHAT. WHAT! I somewhat explained it in Rebecca's case here; given that some of her cards are currently illegal, I don't really know about how many were allowed in the deck when it _wasn't_. So I'm assuming that she has the maximum number of each card in the deck… Namely three. Thus increasing the chances of replicating the _duel a lot_. (And also making the constant death of the Witch of the Black Forest make sense.) After all; when your deck is made of monsters that search the deck...

And then of course, there's the added 'sentience' all the cards seem to have. That probably helps too. Hehe.

* * *

For some reason, Rebecca is convinced that _all_ of her monsters are cute. (Well, except for the Shadow Ghoul, which she simply calls '_her favourite_'.) Personally, I wonder if this was part of an act… It certainly looks weird enough to have been an act… Not to mention, I _really_ doubt she would have made Champion with that deck. REALLY doubt it. It's too damn suicidal.

* * *

Ooooohhh Honda, you better throw away that shovel...

Keep in mind that this (Jonouchi's response to Honda's comment on girls) is even with Shizuka's 'ooc' bit in the summer chapter; that's nothing compared to Rebecca after all... Also, Jonouchi wasn't talking to his sister when she was twelve, so he can't really say.

I can confidently say that she was not prissy at twelve though, hehehehe. (Maybe a little 'two-sided' though, in terms of reactions; catch her in a good mood nothing happens, a _bad_ mood... Errr...)

* * *

Here's a random fact; 'Sangan' isn't the actual name of 'Sangan'; in Japanese, it's known as 'Kritter'… Sangan does, however, have Japanese origin, as mentioned a few chapters back.

* * *

In the Japanese version of this scene, Rebecca gives Yugi a 'Bras d'honneur' (French for arm of honour. It's not honorable obviously.), an insulting gesture where you hold up one arm bent and out (Like an 'L'), and then grip the inner side of the elbow with your other hand.

It's about as insulting as flipping someone off with the finger… And is obviously more common in other countries as opposed to North America. Or at least I get that impression, given that more often than not, I see people throwing up the middle finger rather than their arm… Probably because the action is fairly similar to pumping your fist.

(Though that's not to say you don't see it in North America _at all_... I just don't think it's really that common. Maybe it's me being Canadian, where we're all private jerks as opposed to public ones.)

Anyways, I don't know how common this insult really is in Japan sooo… Yea.

For double the effect, combine the finger with the bras d'honneur... You _will_ insult people with that.

* * *

Obviously in the Anime, we got these giant stadium sized arena things rather than tables, so really, the shouting and the insults _probably_ didn't have quite the same effect that they would if a kid was right up in your face. So really, Yugi was basically just staring incredulously the entire time.

But when it's _right across a table_, it's kinda one of those things that has you edging away, _just a little_.

* * *

_Things just got REAL_. It's about this point that Sugoroku finally realizes that the duel is mirroring that of his own from a few years back... Which is understandable, given that the first two _could_ have been a fluke. So now you know how the next chapter starts, yaaaay~

IN ANY CASE...

That's it for this chapter! I hope you enjoy the next one! (Though don't be surprised if my updates are suddenly _very_ slow. Holidays and such neh?)


	54. Chapter 53

**Offerings of Paper Cranes

* * *

**

When Sugoroku had first said '_this seems familiar_', he wasn't really sure what he meant by that. What, did he play a match with the same monsters? Was there actually some kind of plan to all of this? In the case of the former... That was weird. How... How the hell did that even happen. The latter..?

..._There was a plan!_

Personally, he just wanted Rebecca beaten and gone, preferably on the next plane to wherever the hell she said she was from. This girl was a royal pain in the ass to put it lightly- any longer and he'd probably have to go in there toss her off the side of the arena. And while that would be harder now that there were railings in place on the bridge, that was still a nice fall right?

The blond's somewhat disturbing musings were cut short to say the least, as Rebecca made her next play, a strange and almost ominous air appearing to hover over the area. "I play this- 'Tribute to the Doomed'! By discarding one card from my hand," the girl shouted, tablet appearing tall and intimidatingly behind her as she spoke, "I destroy one monster on the field! Not that there's much choice," she said with a smirk, her opponent tensing somewhat as the tablet glowed. As the girl said this, she pulled a card from her hand, dropping it into the graveyard to activate the tablet she'd summoned into play. A single wave of dust was all it took... The tablet vanished in one swift blast, and with it, the elf on Yugi's field was destroyed... Blown into nothingness by an enormous sand storm that took all of seconds to fill the table. "Hnhnhnhn... The Elven Swordsman is destroyed," Rebecca cheered, bear held loosely at the side as she grabbed another card from her hand. "And to finish my turn, I'll set this monster in defense mode," she stated, a blank tablet appearing at her side as she put down the card. "Hnhnhnhn... This could be interesting," she continued smugly, brushing a few bangs from her face as a few bits of dust continued to clear from the table. "Like I said... I _will_ get that Blue-Eyes card..."

Gh... The others tensed, staring with narrowed eyes as the girl ended her turn. "I guess she really did have a strategy," Anzu muttered, blinking a few times before shaking her head. "Yugi had better watch his steps..."

"When doesn't he," Honda continued, frowning somewhat. "Still... It's like she's suddenly an entirely different person," he muttered with a swallow, "The way she pulled that one..."

Hah! Got that right... Though he'd personally seen enough people with different persona during a duel in his opinion. The crowd narrowed their eyes, watching as Yugi stared at the board for a few moments before making his own move. "Alright then... My turn," he called out, drawing and placing a card on the field. An immense stone tablet appeared at his side in a flurry of shadows, bone-claws pulling themselves free as its master made the move. "Skull Demon," Yugi ordered, the monster flexing its arms with a low groan as its tablet crumbled behind it, "Attack the defense monster!"

With a curt nod the monster struck, charging at the blank tablet. Claws sunk into the solid stone, cracks appearing across it in a spiderweb fashion as the sound echoed around the room. However, as the stone flaked away, it was the demon that gave a loud shout, hurriedly pulling back as it was tossed back to the other side of the dome. "_**GNNNGH!**_"

What th- "Hnhnhn! Got it! You're attacking," she 'asked', smirk growing, "In that case, here's the monster you attacked! The Millennium Shield," the girl shouted, an enormous golden shield appearing before her as she shouted. A single gold eye stared forward, watching as the Skull Demon steadied himself from the rebounded attack. The monster shook itself off, five hundred of Yugi's lifepoints vanishing at the same moment while it 'glared' at the shield before it. "Hahahah!" She bounced in her seat, squeezing her bear close with a grin. "An iron defense," she shouted with a laugh, before her childish grin vanished into another dark smirk. "Unstoppable! Hnhnhnhnhn... Did I scare you," the girl continued, a faux look of concern on her face. "Good!~"

Damn it... "Tch... I swear it," the blond muttered under his breath, jaw clenched, "I don't care how good this kid actually is, if she says one more word..."

"Yugi has a lot of self-control," Mokuba muttered, shaking his head with wide eyes as they continued to stare at the arena. "If I were in there, I'd have pulled out and called her in for harassment by now..."

At this Honda blinked, frowning somewhat before turning to Mokuba. "And... Why didn't we do that to start with again?"

"Honda, she's _twelve_," Anzu muttered, shaking her head. "Don't you think that even as bratty as she's being, that it would be a little much to do that?"

The teen shrugged, shaking his head. "Well yea," he said dismissively, "But she's also _graduating_. I'd say that makes her plenty able to deal with being arrested," he continued, leaning back on his seat. "And if she's not, too bad. She's acting like a prick." Hear hear!

As Anzu continued to roll her eyes at that, Rebecca's shout from the arena took their attention again. "It's not over yet," she shouted, holding her stuffed bear close with a grin, "Neh, Teddy-chan?" Again with the bear... The girl pulled another card from her hand as her audience shook their heads, an immense tablet appearing behind her as the card was placed on the field. "For my turn I'm playing the Electromagnetic ring on my shield," she shouted clearly, tablet glowing brightly with her words.

"Electromagnetic ring..?" The others turned as Anzu frowned, her arms crossed as she stared at the arena in thought. "That card lowers the monster's defense by five hundred points though," she muttered, shaking her head. "Why would she do that..."

They blinked, frowning at those words. It lowered defense... ...Huh... Good question... Katsuya turned back to the field, watching as the tablet summoned into existence ground away into dust to form a series of large black disks around the Millennium Shield. Sparks flew between the disks, a few bits of light scuffing the sides of the shield but nonetheless proving as sturdy a defense compared to beforehand... Not to mention blinding enough for anything that could see it... Which probably only meant him.

Ahhhh god his eyes... He blinked a few times, squinting as the electricity sparked along the sides of the dome. Damn it this really sucked... Someday he would seriously have to figure out what the hell was going on with him, he really did... "...I'll pass on my turn," Yugi said in the meantime, drawing his card and looking at where the shield likely was on the board. Yugi's eyes were staring at about the center of the table... The shield... Was sitting at the far left and was probably half of Rebecca's size. This was really weird, seeing things in a completely different location... Really... Weird...

Rebecca smirked, drawing a card as it came to her turn once more. "Hnhnhnhn... Can't do anything can you," the girl 'asked', batting her eyes somewhat as her opponent merely sighed. "Not surprising," she said with a small laugh, "I _am_ a genius after all..." Damn it, someone _please_ throw her off the side. "I summon Cannon Soldier in attack mode," Rebecca called out, the tablet appearing to her side as she called it's name. In a pale show of light the stone vanished from sight, the metal, cannon headed monster appeared to cross its arms and adjust its cannon with a loud crack as the tablet crumbled behind it. The skull demon at Yugi's side turned toward the monster, both of the sightless monsters staring the other down.

How that could happen when neither had eyes, who the hell knew, but at this point, _nothing_ made sense damn it. "Cannon soldier," Sugoroku muttered from the side, before tensing and leaning forward. "Yugi," he shouted, the boy turning from his seat at the shout as it barely made it through the glass. "Yugi! If Rebecca sacrifices a monster she'll deal five hundred points of damage to you," he cried, eyes wide. "Be careful!" Shit, seriously?

The others turned back as Yugi nodded furiously, the boy turning back as Rebecca merely continued to smirk. It was all great that they knew but... Something felt off... "Well," Honda muttered, "At least Yugi still has his Skull Demon right? That monster easily beats out the cannon soldier..."

That was always true... But damn it, why the hell was Rebecca so smug... Even with that, the girl was sill grinning... "It's not going to work," Anzu was muttering, the others turning with frowns as their friend said this under her breath. Back on the field, Yugi had declared an attack, the Skull Demon sending a volley of thunder toward the robot with a roar. It looked right but...

"Whaddya mean it won' work," Katsuya muttered, frowning as the woman continued to stare at the field. That... That couldn't be right... Right..?

...Damn it he hated when he was wrong. "Watch," the woman said with a frown, not taking her eyes off the field. "The ring of magnetism attracts attacks..."

There was a sudden clashing sound, the blond jumping as the attack the summoned skull created abruptly veered off track and into the Millennium shield. Sparks fizzled on contact with the defensive monster, singing its owners' bones as it growled in anger. Wait wha- "Aww hell, seriously!"

"...Or... Not," Honda muttered, shaking his head. "I could be wrong... Damn," he continued, rubbing his head with a wince. "I guess she really is the champion..." Damn it, it really didn't feel good to have to admit that...

Chuckling came from inside the arena, Rebecca's smirk darkening as she held her hand of cards. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Fun isn't it," she said with a laugh, drawing her next card as she stared at her opponent. "You have no choice but to wait for me to finish my strategy... Too bad for you! Hnhnhnhnhn..." Laughter I summon the Black Witch of the Forest," she shouted even louder, the monster's tablet appearing to the side of the girl before crumbling away to dust. The cloud of stone rubble cleared within seconds, revealing a somewhat resigned looking three-eyed maiden standing with a grimace. "And I sacrifice it to activate the Cannon Soldier's effect," she continued, moving the card into the graveyard as her cannon solider raised its barrel toward the demon across from it. A single red laser light found its way to the monster's skull as the maiden at its side abruptly burst into flames with a panicked and pained scream, the demon tensing as a counter flashed across his opponent's chest.

"Oh great," Mokuba muttered, scowling as the events took place on the board. "That probably activates its effect too..."

A loud shout on from the arena verified the theory, Rebecca's dark laughter filling the room almost ominously as the flames from her sacrifice died down only for a loud gunshot to pierce the air. A large gaping hole tore through the Skull Demon's chest, the monster clawing at it with a loud moan before falling back into dust. "You know what happens when the witch is sent to the graveyard right," Rebecca said with a grin, putting her hand down to search through her deck as Katsuya looked back at the girl rather than the field. "Hnhnhnhnhn... I warned you," the girl continued, eyes narrowed to slits. "I'm going to show you what it's like to lose something as powerful as Blue-Eyes," she spat, hands gripping the bear almost tight enough to break the fabric. "Just like your grandfather did to mine!"

Hang on... "What?" Katsuya stared, eyes wide as the others also tensed. Grandfather..? They turned, incredulous stares in place as the man continued to frown. Gr... She just said... "...WHAT!"

Sugoroku said nothing, merely grimacing at the words as he stared forward. "So that's where," he muttered under his breath, before pulling himself from his seat to come toward the railing. The others continued to frown, slowly joining the man with skeptical looks on their faces. "Rebecca," the old man shouted, eyes narrowed somewhat as the girl turned from the duel table. "Your Grandfather... He's a professor in archaeology isn't he," he asked, the girl crossing her arms at the question. ...Eh..? "Professor 'Arthur Hopkins', am I right?"

Wait wait... What..? Katsuya looked at the old man, turning back to the arena. What..? "That's right," she said with a more plain tone, almost frowning as she responded. She clenched her jaw, a low growl likely forming as she continued. "The man you stole 'Blue-Eyes' from is my Grandfather!"

"...What." Seriously... What the hell...

The old man beside them sighed, shaking his head. "I knew that Arthur had a granddaughter named 'Rebecca'," he explained, leaning somewhat on the railing as he stared forward. "But I didn't realize that it was _this_ Rebecca..."

Again, only one word to really describe this situation... "...What..."

"You're going to get what's coming old man," Rebecca shouted angrily, pointing accusingly at Sugoroku as her opponent frowned. "I might not be fighting you," she spat, gritting her teeth, "But I think it's almost poetic, avenging my grandpa by beating your grandson in a match... Hnhnhnhnhn..." She turned back to Yugi, ignoring the steady glare of sorts that she was receiving from the boy. "You mind as well surrender while you can," she muttered dangerously, a set scowl in place as her opponent merely stared back with a slight frown. "Preserve what little bit of 'honor' you still have!"

Katsuya groaned, holding his head. Shiiiiit, this was to much. "Whaaaaaat..."

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba said with a frown, turning to the blond as his friend looked through the hand on his head. "Stop saying 'what' and just sit down..." Yea... That was probably a good idea...

Back in the arena, Yugi was having a reaction similar to most of the others, swallowing as he stared across to his opponent. "Y... You..." He paused for a moment, closing his eyes before calming himself. "...You're... The granddaughter of my Grandpa's..."

The girl gave an almost wicked smirk, narrowing her eyes. "Yep~ Hnhnhnhnhn..."

Yugi quickly tensed, frowning. "My Grandpa didn't steal anything," he insisted loudly, gripping his cards tightly. The girl across from him continued to seethe in response, slamming her fist on the table with a shout.

"YES HE DID," she screeched, the boy across from her wincing only slightly at the shout as the girl continued. "My grandpa loved that card... It was his greatest treasure," she raged on, tears dotting the sides of her eyes. "Worth more than most of the gold he found on his digs! Your grandpa stole it," she spat, "And I'll _NEVER_ FORGIVE HIM!"

Auugggghh... Katsuya groaned, slamming his head into his hands as the shouts filled the air before shaking his head. "What th' hell..!"

"Oh Rebecca..." Sugoroku as well shook his head, ignoring the annoyed groans of the others and looking over at the girl. "Rebecca," he repeated, somewhat louder as the girl in question turned back from the table. "I think I should tell you about how I met your Grandfather right now," he said seriously, bowing his head somewhat. "About my best friend, Arthur..."

The monsters on the board appeared to turn to the man, as though curious about the story themselves. Rebecca, however, looked far less than pleased. "I don't want to hear your excuses," she shouted back through the glass, eyes wide with rage as her opponent continued to frown. "Just shut up and watch your Blue-Eyes become mine, like it should!"

Sugoroku stood firm, eyes set in a calm and stern glare. "I will ask again Rebecca," he said somewhat severely, tone intensifying and causing the girl to shrink back only just slightly. "Listen, please."

"Mnnngggg..! FINE!" The others sighed as the girl huffed, apparently willing to listen for just a few moments. With those words, the monsters themselves shared a glance, shrugging as their masters appeared to turn away from the game... They themselves opting to take a seat for the moment and listen as well.

Well... As something to shut the girl up briefly... Even that would be enough he supposed. "A number of years ago in Egypt," the man began, closing his eyes somewhat as he recalled the memory, "When you, and everyone here were but small children," Sugoroku added, I had managed to run out of water at a fairly difficult point in time. I was a tourist," he said almost matter-of-factly, shrugging somewhat, "And like all tourists," the man continued with a short chuckle, "I was fairly confident that I could maneuver my own way around the desert. This was of course, an incredible mistake... However," he added with a smile, apparently drifting off into his memories, "I got lucky."

"Lucky," Katsuya muttered, the old man merely nodding at the question as they listened in silence.

"Yes- you see, while I most certainly wasn't in an ordinarily inhabited area of the desert at the time," he said with a smile, "I _was_ within the area of a recent dig going on in a tomb. It was there that I met Arthur, who was heading the archaeological dig in the area," the man continued. "He shared some water with me, and invited me to join him for the day... We began talking," Sugoroku stated calmly, "Sharing stories of grandchildren, reasons for being in Egypt... He was, and still is, an extremely good man..." Sugoroku appeared to pause for a moment, before again pulling himself out of old memories. "But unfortunately," he continued, Rebecca visibly tensing at the man's next words, "Those who worked with him... Did not see him as such."

They... Didn't? Anzu frowned, as did the others as they stared at the man. "Why," she asked, shaking her head. "If he was a good man, then..."

"You could say that his work was seen as 'a joke'," the man muttered, shaking his head with a sigh. "By those of his 'level' in the world of 'Egyptology' as you could call it, his ideas were seen as heresy, nonesense even. You see," Sugoroku went on, still staring out at the arena, "This all stems from the fact that around this time seven years ago, he had found himself interested in the game 'Duel Monsters'... Isn't that right Rebecca," he asked, the girl gritting her teeth as the man continued.

The girl remained silent, Yugi staring at the table momentarily with a frown before looking back. "How would Duel Monsters tie in though," he asked, shaking his head somewhat. Even the 'other Yugi' seemed curious about this, the familiar and visibly solid form appearing at the boy's side with a similarly confused expression as their Grandfather crossed his arms.

"Well," he began, expression somewhat unreadable, "That's the thing... It had _everything_ to do with it, or so Arthur had found." Err... hang on, he lost them there... "You see," he continued with a slight nod, "During his studies in the recent years, he had found one word used continuously throughout the area, a word deciphered most literally as 'Game'."

...Game..? The others stared, blinking a few times. "...The word game," Mokuba asked, frowning somewhat. "But if that's all he found then-"

Sugoroku shook his head, smiling somewhat before cutting the boy off. "Oh... That wasn't all," he said, sounding somewhat excited about what he had yet to say as the smile became a grin. "From the ruined hieroglyphs found, he found that an 'exchange' of sorts occurred, something that only happened during the era of those ruins and a short time before it... In times of peril or danger," he went on with a grin, "The ruler of the land would seek out an 'oracle', one who could foresee the future as it would happen... However," Sugoroku added, "From the stones in the ruins that he had found in the area of his dig, a different tale was seen. The ways that they went about this abruptly changed, completely in fact!" Changed..? And what the hell did 'oracles' have to do with this..? "Rather than seeking out those blessed by the gods with foresight," the man said with slight surprise, "They consulted in the gods themselves." Uh... ...What... Katsuya frowned, tilting his head somewhat as Sugoroku went on. "Using a game," the man explained, "And carved stone, they would use the results to determine what was yet to come. These carved tablets were unique in that they did not resemble the creatures of the real world," he continued, Katsuya growing rather pale at the mention of the tablets, "Nor the hieroglyphs used for their language," he added, "But rather the same monsters we see on Duel Monster's cards _now_."

Wait... The tablets on the field, what the hell did that mean the- "...Pegasus' book," Anzu muttered, the others turning. The woman coughed somewhat, shaking her head as the attention was suddenly brought to her. "While we were waiting for you to wake up," she explained, looking at Mokuba briefly as the boy frowned, "There was a diary of sorts at the side... I couldn't make out all of it," she continued with a slight shrug, "But... It _did_ say something about Egypt under a date seven years ago," the woman added, narrowing her eyes. "So if Pegasus was in Egypt before he made Duel Monsters..."

Sugoroku nodded, smiling. "Hahahaha... That's right; and that's what Arthur thought as well," he continued, turning back to the arena and making sure to keep his voice up for those inside to hear. "But unfortunately," the man continued with a small frown, "When Arthur came forward with this knowledge he was ridiculed for his ideas, which seemed completely outlandish thanks to the presence of the card game itself. The prospect of ancient demons being used for prophecy, while not so uncommon in ancient times, suddenly became a laughing matter in the face of 'mythology as a muse'... But Arthur did not give in," Sugoroku added with a stern shout, turning back to Rebecca. "And he still works at his research, his life's work! In fact," he continued, smiling brightly as the girl in the arena continued to frown, "He's recently uncovered a large village ruin of sorts, which should soon be going under study in Cairo's museum... In addition to an enormous stone tablet. It bears mention of 'gods in stone form'," he continued, "Creations so powerful that supposedly those who possess them will become so powerful... That they could replace the sun god himself as the ruler of the world..."

"Woah..." The others stared, blinking a few times. Gods? As in... Giant Egyptian animal-headed gods? "Tha's pretty intense..." How come his history class wasn't like this..!

"So, Jii-san," Mokuba asked, the old man turning as the others shook themselves. "That dig," he continued, blinking. "Is that where Arthur gave you Blue-Eyes then..?"

The old man nodded, only for the group to jump as a loud an screeching shout came from the arena. "LIAR," Rebecca screamed, both hands slamming on the table as she stood from her seat. "Liar, liar, LIAR! He would _never_ have given away that card," she roared, the other Yugi glaring at the girl with evident annoyance despite the expression being invisible to most in the room. He quickly misted out of sight as his lighter half gave him a small glance however, leaving the boy alone to deal with his opponent's tantrum. "Maybe I was wrong about you coming to California," the girl growled, fingers digging into the table as best they could, "But that doesn't mean you didn't steal it then, in Egypt! This changes nothing," she continued, sitting back down in her chair and holding her bear close and continuing to shout. "_Nothing_!"

"Please, just _listen_," Sugoroku shouted, the others turning to watch Rebecca growl and huff in her seat. "I haven't finished!" Eh? There was more? "Back in the tunnels where Arthur showed me the carvings," he said clearly, gripping the side of the railing as he spoke, "Among the tablets depicting the 'stone battles', we became trapped in a sudden cave in... The walls literally crumbled inward on themselves by some unseen force, the two of us barely left alive in the mess... We had no way to contact someone for help," he trailed off somewhat, gaze moving downward. "All we could do was wait... But two days passed, our food depleted completely and still no one came. We were down to only a few more sips of water," he continued, staring down as he recalled the event with an almost flat tone. "And we were running out of time and hope... But your grandfather suggested something, a game," the man said with a slight nod, looking back up at Rebecca as he spoke. "To 'decide our fate', or at the very least, pass the time... As we pulled out our decks," Sugoroku added, voice gaining a small bit of volume, "I made an offer; the winner of the duel gets the last of the water. And Arthur agreed," Sugoroku continued, sighing somewhat. "He agreed... And so we played... And his first move was to send out the Witch of the Black Forest, which would later be followed by Sangan," he said with the wave of a hand, "And then the Millennium Shield... Arthur taught you to play this game didn't he," Sugoroku asked, the girl in the arena shaking somewhat as she fixed the others with a murderous glare. "After all," he continued, only for a loud shout to interrupt him. "He-"

"JUST SHUT UP!" Again the others jumped, frozen with silence as the girl turned on them again. H-H-Holy shit... F-Frightening... "I don't want to hear it! No more! You're lying... And I don't want to hear any more of it! No more... There's no proof to your words, none," she screeched, the others pulling sour expressions at the attitude as they recovered from the initial shock. "By the way," she snarled to her opponent, those on the side narrowing their eyes. "It's your turn!"

Alright, that was it. "OI," Katsuya shouted, leaning over the railing with narrowed eyes as he came forward. "Jii-chan ain't done with yah! Cut it out y-"

"It's alright," Sugoroku muttered quietly from the side, moving back to take his seat as he shook his head. The others turned, blinking as the man stared out at the arena with an odd expression in place. W-What... But... "Just let her play," the man said, shaking his head. "It's strange," he added, folding his hands in his lap as the two in the arena composed themselves. "But it feels as though Arthur is here right now..."

...Huh... (Wait, he made it sound like he was dead...) "Tch!" The others quickly resumed their glares as Rebecca snorted, still huffing in the arena. "You're the one who interrupted," she growled, fingering her cards. "That's not your call to make!" Yea yea yea, whatever mini-bitch... The girl turned back to Yugi, frowning. "Go on... We'll see how long this takes," she spat, opponent merely frowning.

Yea, they'd see how long it took... For _her_ to lose... Yugi drew his card, looking over his hand briefly before making his move. "I summon the Catapult Turtle in attack mode," he called out, the large tablet glowing somewhat on appearance as a mechanized tortoise stomped through. The monster turned its head toward Rebecca, eyes gleaming somewhat as it slowly took aim toward her with the closest thing it could call a grin.

"Hnnn... The turtle," the girl said with a smirk, those on the sidelines frowning. The girl continued to smirk, shaking her head. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Nice try... But-"

"I'm not done yet," Yugi said calmly, still frowning as he cut the girl off. His opponent lost the smirk, watching as he set down another card. "I also play Brain Control," the boy continued, Rebecca quickly growing pale as the tablet appeared behind him. Large withered hands flowed out from the tablet, the stone's dust mixing with the air as they began their mesmerizing dance. "I'm taking the Millennium Shield'," he stated as the hands moved past the electromagnetic ring, "And I'm loading it into the Catapult Turtle to activate its effect!"

With a single swift motion the shield was taken in the grip of the hands, locked into place on the catapult. "A-Ahhh... Not..." Slowly the device rose upward, locking into position as Rebecca sat in shock. "Ahh..." And then, it fired... With a thundering crack against a seemingly invisible wall the shield flew forward, exploding on contact with the air a mere centimetre from Rebecca's head. The tablet behind the girl, the 'electromagnetic ring', also disintegrated, becoming mere dust in the air as its owner went red. "Hah... Ahh..!"

"That's not all," Yugi continued, pointing his summoned skull forward with a frown. The demon growled, pulling itself up from its seated position and cracking his neck with a 'grin'. "The Skull Demon attacks," he called, the monster charging up a large blast of electricity in his claws. One instant was all it took, and with a flash of lightning the remaining monster on Rebecca's side of the field became naught but dust. Sparks scattered across the field, tracing along the outlines of where the Cannon Soldier's corpse had fallen. "The Cannon Soldier is defeated!"

"Aaaaahhh! NOT FAIR," Rebecca shouted, gritting her teeth as her lifepoints plummeted. "Not fair, not fair not fair! AAAARGH!"

The girl continued to seethe, Katsuya merely grinning on the sidelines. "Hehehe... 'S called karma y' brat!" He continued to laugh, shaking his head as the girl continued her tantrum. "Keep it up Yugi!"

Honda nodded, grinning as he shouted over the railing from beside the blond. "YEA! You go for it Yugi," he shouted, giving a loud clap. "Kick her ass!"

The cheers continued, Anzu deciding to ignore the more rash comments on the side and watching as Rebecca grit her teeth and drew a card. "...Ah... Hang on," Mokuba muttered, frowning somewhat. The others blinked, the cheers halting as they followed the boy's gaze over the side of the rail. "Rebecca's expression just changed..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Hnhahahaha!" Ah hell not that laugh. "Ohhh Wonderful! This is wonderful," the girl was shouting, holding the card to her teddy bear's face. What... What the hell... "Look Teddy-chan," she continued, Katsuya pulling a face as the skull demon and turtle both tilted their heads in confusion. What the hell was this kid doing..? "Look what we drew! Hnhnhnhhn... Judgement Bomber!" The card was slapped on the table, a large, thickly muscled man stepping out from the tablet that appeared as the stone crumbled into dust. The man grunted, heaving an enormous black device up on his back before staring across the field. "By discarding five cards from my hand," its master shouted with a laugh, grinning almost wickedly, "All monsters on the field are destroyed!"

Gh- The man from the tablet hauled an enormous, chained capsule forward, the device slamming soundly into the table before glowing a beet red. Countdown... Three... Two...

-_**BROUM!**_- Small vibrations blew past the arena, Katsuya wincing somewhat as the sound blasted through his ears. Pieces of flesh metal and bone both flew through the air, splatting against the arena glass with a sickening splat. And even then the pieces were only there a moment, before burning away into ashes before his eyes. Nothing was left in the explosion, to say the least... And above the arena, the counter was ticking down for lifepoints. Nothing left...

Just dust... "I'm going to win no matter what," Rebecca said darkly, smirking with narrowed eyes. "Here's my favourite monster, the most powerful in the deck! The Shadow Ghoul!" With a low and rumbling roar a tablet appeared behind the girl, a void of sorts appearing from the surface. From the stone's carved image it came, rotted, boil-ridden skin and cruel gaping teeth staring down the empty side of the field. Four bone-thin, rotting green legs pulled the beast to the table, hungered maw hovering just inches above the unaware boy that was its opponent. As it moved however, the most disturbing was yet to come, even with that. For from the graveyard pile of cards at the side...

There were _screams_. Wailing cries as the shadowed figures of the monsters both killed and discarded came into view, each one captured and devoured by the Shadow Ghoul with a loud and audible snap as it stood in front of it's master. "Hnhnhnhnhn... This monster gains one hundred points of attack for each monster in the grave," Rebecca shouted with a laugh, voice accented by the miserable shouts from the grave as her monster devoured each soul. "You can do the math for that one," she continued, dark grin widening as the others stared in shock.

"No way," Honda said with a swallow, shaking his head as he stared at the board. "There could be eleven monsters in that pile," he continued, gripping the railing. "There's no telling how many were in her hand..."

"Eleven monsters," Katsuya muttered, eyes wide. The screams had died down... Honda was right, eleven was the number of monsters that died... Even so... He swallowed, watching as the monstrous ghoul in the arena turned to stare almost hungrily at the crowd. Evidently... Yugi wasn't enough for his attention. "That's..." Blank red eyes, staring forward with no attention to whatever command was delivered... Saliva was literally flowing from it's open mouth, low grumbling coming from its throat. "That's..."

Anzu frowned, looking at the blond and shaking her head annoyedly. "It's eleven hundred Jonouchi..."

"Gh- I know that," he shouted angrily, glaring at the woman before turning back to the field. He wasn't worried about the numbers! This was... "Still... Eleven monsters just for that..."

Yugi as well was staring in shock, though at Rebecca rather than the ghoul... Or at least, where it was assumed the ghoul stood. It was hard to see anything else besides the ghoul from Katsuya's angle in any case, given that the beast literally stood between the pair. "You sacrificed all those monsters," the boy asked, frowning, "Eleven monsters," he continued, shaking his head somewhat, "Just to increase this one's attack in groups of a hundred..?"

The boy's opponent smirked, crossing her arms. "Of course," she said cheerfully, Katsuya clenching the side of the railing as the girl spoke, teeth grinding in aggravation as he bit back a shout. "You realized that just now? It's well worth it," the girl continued with a wicked smile, eyes narrowed with mirth rather than anger for the moment. "After all... 2700... There aren't many things that can beat that..."

"...Rebecca," Yugi said quietly, bowing his head in silence. This seemed familiar somehow... This match. These words... He wasn't sure how but... "Each monster has a purpose," he continued, eyes appearing almost dim as he looked back at the girl across from him. "A 'soul' that needs to be respected and treated with care... You're supposed to believe in your cards," the boy said slightly louder, frowning as his opponent stared back. "Not throw them away..! Don't you think that sending so many to the graveyard, just for this, is a little-"

"Psh!" Rebecca snorted, laughing as she cut the boy off. "Hnahahahha! Souls? You think the cards have _souls_," she said with a louder laugh, unaware of the second and third glare she was receiving for her efforts. "These are _cards_," the girl shouted, her amusement abruptly switching to anger yet again as she waved her hand through the air. "Slips of printed paper! The only purpose that they have is making me _win_," she continued, narrowing her eyes. "That's all this is- a card game! And the only thing that matters is winning, at all costs," the girl shouted loudly, Katsuya abruptly widening his eyes.

Those words... Katsuya slowly looked at Mokuba, the boy as well growing tense before looking up at the blond for a moment. These words were...

"That's a real duelist," Rebecca continued on with a growl, narrowing her eyes and leaning forward somewhat. "So stop making up excuses," she snarled, eyes narrowed into slits as she pulled back into her seat. "Stop covering up for your grandpa's theft! It won't work!" Shut the hell up... Just shut up... "These cards are weapons," the girl said lowly, gesturing to her graveyard as the Shadow Ghoul turned toward her with a tilted head. Tch... "That's all they are..."

Yea... Where had he heard _that_ before... Katsuya frowned, turning back to the duel as Yugi turned their way for a small moment. There was an odd look on his face... Undecipherable... He seemed to be turned toward his grandfather, despite the fact that his other half appeared to be trying to get his attention from the side before misting back into the puzzle. "...Is that so," Yugi said quietly, Rebecca merely watching in silence.

The girl stared, eyes narrowed as she held her bear. "Yes... It is," she finally said, before crossing her arms and looking at the board for a moment before continuing. "I end my turn."

Tch... Yugi nodded, drawing his next card. "Alright then... I set a monster in defense mode," he stated, placing the card face down as a blank tablet appeared at his side. "...And then I end my turn," he continued, bowing his head somewhat and leaving the tablet to hover at his side.

The boy's opponent nodded quietly, moving for her deck to draw a card before smirking. Damn it, not that look... "Hnhnhnhnhn... Well," the girl said with a smile, looking over at her opponent with narrowed eyes. "Would you look at this... Luck is on my side," she continued with a smirk, placing the one card she'd drawn and setting it on the board. "I play the spell 'Stop Defense'," she cried, pointing forward as her Shadow Ghoul did the same. From the blank tablet the form of a violet robed mage appeared, before the Dark Magician himself stepped forward from the stone with a frown. He'd been found... And he was not prepared for battle. "And now... Shadow Ghoul," Rebecca ordered, the slightly more powerful of the two staring hungrily at the magician as he tensed. "Attack!"

Katsuya winced, shutting his eyes as the Dark Magician attempted in vain to fend off the prowling monster with his staff. A wide gaping mouth lined with oversized teeth moved forward, the Dark Magician batted across the side of the table by claws easily the size of his head, with little else occurring before one or the other won. "_**Gnoooooooouuu...**_" G-Gh... A 'crunching' sound hit the air and the blond swallowed, opening his eyes only to watch as the Magician's still kicking legs vanished into the ghoul's mouth, the staff on the ground misting from existence without a master. Gh... Disgusting...

"Hnhnhhn..." Rebecca looked over her bear's head, still smirking as she 'waved' at the vanishing corpse. "Bye bye, Dark Magician..."

That was... "Damn it," Honda was muttering at the side, shaking his head as the blond beside him growled. "How the hell are we going to beat this..!"

"Jii-san," Mokuba asked, frowning as he looked back at Sugoroku. The old man turned, blinking as Mokuba continued. "I don't know how these duels can be happening exactly as they did for you," he began, voicing the thoughts that most of the others had had on the matter. "But... Isn't there something you can do," he asked, swallowing.

The others nodded, Katsuya turning from the railing to look at the old man as well. "Yea... Hell," he continued, shaking his head, "You know how th' duel ended las' time right," he asked, frowning as the man nodded. "So then..."

"Just watch," the old man said with a wink, looking back to the match as the others frowned. "Everything will work out fine," he continued with a nod, "Just wait and see... The results," he added, "Will probably surprise you..."

Surprise? But that was never good... Ahhhh... The group turned back to the arena, watching as Yugi drew a card from his deck and set it on the table. "I play Swords of Revealing Light," he called out, the tablet appearing at his command only to crumble away into a fine powder as a series of golden blades dug into the table around the Shadow Ghoul. The beast screeched in anger, clawing at its glowing prison before sitting in a squat with a low growl as he received no results. The boy nodded toward his opponent, ending his turn as the girl before him grumbled in a manner not unlike the monster on the field.

"Gh... How irritating," she muttered darkly, before drawing her card and huffing. "I'll pass," Rebecca drawled, shaking her head as she put the card in her hand. "It'll be better for me to wait these turns out than ruin my own strategy..."

Tch... "Easy f'r her t' say," the blond growled, again leaning over the side of the rail with narrowed eyes. "She's got th' most powerful monster on th' field..."

There was no response to the comment, from the crowd and arena both, Yugi merely drawing his card as his darker half watched in silence from the side. "Monster Reborn," the boy called out, placing the same card on the table with a short nod. From the tablet that appeared came an immense and shining light, a glowing green ankh appearing only to vanish into dust. And from the rubble and light the Dark Magician reformed completely, cracking his neck before staring down the imprisoned Shadow Ghoul with narrowed eyes as he twirled his staff.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Putting up another shield," Rebecca said with a smirk, drawing her next card and looking over it. "Heh! No use," the girl muttered, shaking her head, "No use at all... I'll win that card," she continued with narrowed eyes, placing her own on the field. "But first... Lets see how you like this..." The tablet appeared at the side as the girl spoke, a crouching, somewhat confused looking cannon soldier appearing in its wake as the stone device crumbled into a cloud of dust. "Cannon Soldier," Rebecca said calmly, pulling back to cross her arms. "Defense mode!"

Tch... Great... It was either add to the Ghoul's attack or sit still... No choice there. Yugi bit his lip, the others watching in silence as it came to his turn. "Dark Magician," he ordered after a moment, having drawn his card as the magician readied himself. In the end, it was this or face the Soldier's special effect... "Attack the solider!"

The magician nodded, spinning his staff for a moment before holding it forward with narrowed eyes. "_**Black Magic,**_" the monster stated calmly, Katsuya blinking for a few moments as the words echoed clearly around the room. Again... He heard a monster... A blast of shadows gathered at the tip of the staff, before slamming the Cannon Soldier into the arena glass and rendering the metal nothing but a smouldering heap of scrap. Sparking plastic and metal fell to the ground, vanishing into dust as the Dark Magician brought his staff back to his side. "..._**Hn!**_"

Good god he needed sleep... "Hnhnhnhn... Thanks for the bonus," Rebecca said with a laugh, those at the sidelines shaking their heads as her monster's attack rose another hundred points. "I'll be sure to use it when these swords of yours finally disappear..!"

Damn it damn it _damn_ this kid... "Shit... If Yugi doesn't pull something out soon," Honda started with a swallow, "He's screwed..." The teen bit his lip, shaking his head. "Damn it..."

There were a few nods, Katsuya gritting his teeth as their friend drew a card only to pass on his final safe turn. "It ain't over yet though," he muttered, narrowing his eyes. "There's gotta be one card he's waitin' for... Jus' one..." Some kind of trump card... A back up...

"Some kind of card huh," Honda muttered, staring out at the arena as the others held silent.

The blond nodded, swallowing. "Yea... A card..." Something...

"Waiting for your trump card," Rebecca teased, dark smirk in place while the swords vanished completely from sight. "It won't do you any good... Lets face it," she continued, giggling, "I've won this match! And on my next turn," she continued, watching as Yugi drew his next card and stared at it momentarily. "You're history! Hnhnhnhnhn!"

Oh was she now? Katsuya grit his teeth, glaring at the board. He bet that the next card Yugi had would- ...What was that look on his face... ...And why was his Dark Magician already vanishing from sight, along with the Shadow Ghoul..? "Rebecca," Yugi said calmly, placing the card back on his deck along with his hand. "...I surrender."

W... What... "What," Katsuya said quietly, watching as Rebecca grinned wickedly. He shook his head, eyes widening as he looked forward. "W-WHAT!"

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba growled, rubbing his ears. "Keep it down..!"

The blond ignored him, running over to the exit of the arena as Yugi walked out. "Y-Yugi," he called, frowning somewhat as the boy stepped toward them. Why... Why did...

...Why did Yugi seem happy..? "Yugi," Honda asked, frowning. "Why did you quit," he continued, the others staring as well. From inside the arena loud shouts were echoing around the room, Rebecca jumping around with her bear in her hands as she laughed.

"We won," she shouted with a grin, voice echoing around the room to their distaste. "We won Teddy-chan! YES!"

The others continued to watch as Yugi turned to them, confused expressions in place as their friend merely smiled. "...What's going on," Anzu said confusedly, blinking with somewhat narrowed eyes. "Yugi... Why..."

"I'd like the card now '_please_'," a familiar and aggravating voice said from the side, Yugi remaining somewhat silent as he moved to let Rebecca past. The others grimaced, nonetheless holding their tongues as the 'winner' put her suitcase to the side and held her hand out. "I know you have it with you," she continued, narrowing her eyes. "I was told you _always_ have it after all..."

Yea, a real little 'know it all' wasn't she? Let alone the fact that they had no clue who told her all this crap. Katsuya bit his tongue, watching as Sugoroku slowly and carefully pulled out the taped up card he'd carried with him since the day at Death-T. "Very well," the old man stated, nodding his head somewhat morosely. "Here you are," he said quietly, holding it out as Rebecca gaped.

"You... You _tore _it," she whispered, staring at the worn edges of the paper with wide eyes before looking at its owner with unbridled rage. The others mentally groaned, wincing slightly as the girl continued to stare with shock "YOU FUCKING _TORE IT_," she screeched, the others jumping back.

Gh..! What the- "Shit," Katsuya muttered, shaking his head as he stared at the girl, who was currently regaining her breath. "Where th' hell did that one..."

"I'm gonna say tenth grade," Honda answered under his breath, eyes not moving from the red faced little girl before them. "...Maybe ninth."

"I don't believe it," Rebecca roared, the man before her nervously pulling back under the volume of the shouts. "You tore my Grandpa's card!"

"I'm very sorry," Sugoroku said quietly, shaking his head as he held the card gently. "I did try to tell you but-"

The girl merely shook her head, nails digging into the bear at her side as she continued to shout. "You ripped it clean in half, just so no one would use it! Just so you could have it all to yourself!"

Aaaugh, just shut up already...! "I wanted to tell you earlier," the man insisted, Mokuba currently looking away somewhat guiltily at the mention of the card, "I tried to explain but-"

"No. More. EXCUSES," she roared, Katsuya rolling his eyes and moving forward. "THIS IS-"

"That's enough!" The group all tensed, turning as a stern and clear voice sounded through the room from the side of the main elevator. Who was that..? They stared, eyes wide as a somewhat well dressed old man stepped forward from the hall, cane in hand as he looked toward Rebecca with slightly narrowed eyes. "That's enough, Rebecca. Calm down... This is not how a 'lady' acts after all," he said with a somewhat disciplinary nod, the girl hurriedly flushing and bowing her head in response. Well, obviously whatever he said did the trick... Wait... The old man continued to step forward, Mokuba staring in confusion as the others blinked. That would mean that this...

This was... Rebecca's Grandfather... "H-How... How did you get up here," Mokuba managed to ask, shaking his head as he stared.

"That's right," Anzu said slowly, shaking her head and frowning. "Mokuba said that this floor is closed off right now, so how..."

The old man smiled, shaking his head. "An interesting thing," he stated in Japanese, holding his cane to the side as he spoke. "But when I contacted the police in the area for information on the whereabouts of my granddaughter," he stated, "I was told that she was last spotted entering the 'KaibaLand' building. Within one call," the man continued, "Not only did the police manage to contact the manager of the building, but as it turned out, the CEO himself was notified when the manager became unsure of just how a young American child could have entered without their knowing... Apparently, Kaiba-san had an idea," he continued, Mokuba ducking his head as the old man turned to him, "And had one of the staff activate the side elevator to allow me in. I must ask you to thank your brother for me," he continued, bowing his head to Mokuba as the boy nodded somewhat weakly. "It's quite likely that without this," he continued, "I would have had to give an extremely upsetting call to my daughter concerning all of this."

Um... Ok... The others stared, blinking a few times as the man turned back to them. "Wow," Anzu muttered, blinking a few times. "Kaiba did that..." Sheesh... Calling in the boss of all bosses in the company, wasn't that a little...

Mokuba brightened somewhat, smirking as he turned to the others. "Heh... Nii-sama's a good person when he wants to be you know!"

_When she wanted_, being the key term here... But hey, the kid still had a point. Katsuya shook his head, turning as more talking continued on from the side. "Ahhh... Sugoroku," 'Arthur' said cheerfully, pulling the group's thoughts back to the reason they were there. "It's been a long time," he continued, bowing his head to the shorter old man. "You're looking well..."

"Hahahahaaaa... As well as I can be at this age Arthur!" Sugoroku shook his head, laughing while he shook his head and looked up at his friend. "A 'long time' indeed..."

The others watched as the two old men exchanged greetings, before Rebecca tensed up again. "G-... Grandpa," she shouted in English, frowning as she grabbed at her grandfather's arm. "Grandpa, he tore your card in half," she protested, shaking her head. "How can you talk to him like thi-"

"He didn't tear it!" Rebecca jumped as Mokuba angrily came to the old man's defense, somewhat red-faced as stuttering and accented English came out. The girl stared, as did the others in a shocked silence as the boy continued, bowing his head to the side somewhat. "...It... Someone else tore it," he continued, shaking his head. "It wasn't him..."

Er... ...What was he saying..? ...Damn it, he should have paid more attention in English... Rebecca frowned, turning on the boy almost immediately with the shout. "Someone else," she questioned, eyes wide. "Who! Who did it?" ...Okay, he knew what that word meant. The boy turned away somewhat, swallowing as the girl continued shouting. "Who-"

"Oi oi oi," Katsuya shouted, stepping between the two with a scowl. That was it! He might not have known what was being said, but he had a pretty decent idea... "Lay off!"

The girl growled, shaking her head. "No! I have a right to know," she continued bitterly, "And if he says he knows who ripped it, then-"

"Rebecca..." Arthur turned from where he was speaking with Sugoroku, sending a stern glare down at his granddaughter to match the dangerous tone his voice held. "_Behave_!"

She bowed her head, nodding and turning away with a scowl. "Sorry Grandpa..." Yea, she was 'sorry' alright...

The old man sighed, turning to the others for a moment and shaking his head. "I must apologize completely for how she's been acting," he said with a sigh, frowning. "She's normally quite kind, if not _quiet_ even..." Yea. He'd believe that when the words described Seto. "Now then," he continued, shaking his head as he moved from Sugoroku's side. "Rebecca," he said calmly, "There's something you need to understand about this duel. Come," he continued, gesturing toward the arena and walking toward the table. "Both of you," he added politely, Yugi slowly nodding as they followed down the bridge. Arthur moved over to where Yugi's deck still sat, slowly lifting the top card and nodding to himself. "As I thought," he stated, smiling. The man turned, looking down at Yugi and shaking his head with a chuckling smile. "You're just like your Grandfather... A kind heart... Now then. Rebecca," he continued, looking at his own grandchild and shaking his head, "You did not win that match."

...Wait what. Rebecca frowned, shaking her head as the others as well stared in silence. "That's... But that's not true," she muttered, "I..."

Arthur held the card forward, the others watching as Rebecca gave a loud and fearful gasp, the girl stepping forward with her hands on her mouth. "Soul Release," her grandfather said with a smile, shaking his head before putting it back on the deck at the table. "Had he used this card," the man explained, carefully handing the deck back to Yugi, "Five monsters from the graveyard would have been removed from play. Your Shadow Ghoul," he continued, "Would have been just weak enough for the Dark Magician to defeat... And then it would all be over."

"But... That's..." She shook her head, frowning. "That's..." The girl swallowed, staring at the ground for a moment. "Why," she finally shouted, shaking her head as she turned to Yugi. The boy turned away, sending a glance toward his grandfather as the girl continued to shake her head. "..._Why_," Rebecca continued to press, her grandfather giving a somewhat exasperated sigh.

He placed a hand on the girl's shoulder, smiling. "You don't know why," he asked, chuckling somewhat and shaking his head. "Because he, like his Grandfather, has a kind heart... He wanted to 'save' you," he continued, those outside the arena tilting their heads somewhat. Er... 'Save'? "As Sugoroku did for me. You see," he continued, looking back down the bridge at the old man while the others followed his gaze, "When Sugoroku and I were dueling, I became fatigued... It was hard for me to see, hard for me to breathe even... Closed spaces can do that to some people, and evidently, I was one of them. He forfeited that match so that I would take the water," Arthur continued, bowing his head. "And later, when we were rescued," the man went on, "I asked him... '_Why did you forfeit that match_?' And he told me '_Winning is not important... But life, however, is._'"

Rebecca looked up, frowning somewhat as they made their way from the arena to the others. "Rebecca," her grandfather said calmly, "In any 'game' or 'career', one must always honor those involved... Be they people," he said with a smile, not moving his gaze from the girl, "Or the cards themselves... Because despite what most may think, even a a simple 'piece of paper' is enough to change the flow of fate... I might have sacrificed those monsters during my duels to give the Shadow Ghoul power," Arthur continued, still smiling, "I still respected and honored that sacrifice. A true duelist Rebecca, is not someone who 'wins'," he explained calmly. "It's one who shows respect for their opponent and themselves, despite what fate throws at them. A true duelist needs a caring heart," he continued, turning back to the others. "A heart and a drive for whatever they do in life. After that duel," Arthur stated, looking back to the others, "After we both recovered, I _gave_ Sugoroku that card, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon. Because compared to life... It's more than worth the price. And I don't regret that choice..."

"...But... Grandpa," Rebecca continued to protest, frowning. "The card is..."

Sugoroku bowed his head, watching as his friend walked over and looked over the card. Torn completely in two, the edges were taped back together with scotch tape. "Yes," Arthur said calmly, "I can see that... But that's fine." Katsuya blinked, staring a few times. Er... ...It was? The old man smiled, looking at his friend as the other smiled back. "The fact that you kept it old friend, is more than enough for me; I don't need to know why it's been torn," he continued, Katsuya mentally smacking himself over the head for missing the point, "I only need to know that you'll always remember what this card represents. Because even when torn," the man added calmly, "Our friendship will still be intact." Damn it, of course it was ok... God...

The old man nodded, pocketing the card with a calm smile. "I wouldn't have it any other way Arthur."

A small bit of silence settled over the area, a few of the others shifting somewhat awkwardly. Sooo... That was fixed... Uh... _What now_? "...Yugi," Rebecca said quietly, the others turning from the old men to stare at the girl. She stared at the ground face a beet red as she turned somewhat awkwardly from the looks to grip her bear. "All of you... I... I need to apologize..." Damn straight she did. The others stared, most bearing a mixed look of surprise and annoyance as the girl continued. "I... I really did think that you had done all that..! Stealing the card I mean... And..." She bit her lip, still completely red-faced as she stared at the ground.

"It's fine," Yugi said with a smile, shaking his head. The girl blinked, the others as well staring with slight surprise. "Besides... You know now, right?" Again, the girl choked, staring at the ground somewhat while Yugi dug around in his pockets for something. "Here," he continued, smiling. The boy held out a card, Rebecca slowly taking it from him with a frown. "It's not Blue-Eyes... But I want you to have this, alright?"

Rebecca frowned somewhat, slowly taking the card and looking over it as the others stared at it as well. "...The Ties of Friendship..?" Eh? Where did Yugi get that card?

The boy nodded, still smiling. "Yea; it can't be used in a duel," he added, shrugging somewhat, "But... It's a special card, alright?"

"...Right..." Rebecca stared at the card, slowly nodding before carefully putting it in a pocket on her suitcase. "O-Of course!"

"Well now," Arthur said from the side, the others turning. "I would say that's quite enough excitement for today... What do you say we calm this down with a playful match ourselves," he said with a laugh, turning to Sugoroku as the old man nodded.

"Well," he muttered in response, "I think that if I can handle watching those holograms from the sidelines it won't be too much from inside..."

Er... Really..? Mokuba and Katsuya both shared a nervous glance, before shrugging and looking back.

"Do you still have your _old_ deck," Arthur asked his friend with a wink, chuckling as Sugoroku smirked.

"Hoh! The game is only seven years old Arthur, that's hardly old," he said with a laugh.

"Hahahahaha!"

Katsuya grinned, shaking his head. Well, whatever right? If he thought he was ok, he was probably ok. "Aw this I gotta see," he said with a laugh. "'Duelin' Grandpas'!"

"O-Oi," Mokuba said nervously, shaking his head with a small laugh. "Is that really a good idea, it's completely different from inside..! A-Ahhhh..."

Sugoroku waved the boy off, shaking his head and moving toward the arena. "I'll be _fine_," he insisted, reaching for the gate. "Completely-"

-_crack_-

The man abruptly froze, hands snapping to his back as Arthur blinked from where he stood. "O-Ooooohh..."

"...Sugoroku," Arthur asked with a cough, staring. "Are you sure you're alright..?"

"O-Oiii, jii-chan..."

"Seriously jii-chan..."

The old man groaned somewhat, turning from the arena and rubbing his back. "I think it'd be best... Of we just headed home now," he forced out, setting his back straight with another crack as the others shook their heads.

"That's probably a good idea," Yugi said with a slight laugh, turning with the others toward the hall and the elevator.

"Hahaha... ...Let's just go home..."

* * *

**AN: **And that's it for Rebecca! We'll be seeing snippets of her as we go along before she makes her comeback in Doma, but not so much that anyone will tell its her by then. That scene was fairly amusing after all.

In any case! She'll still be around so to speak at the start of the next chapter, but da-da-daaa! D-D-D is next, followed by a short bit of a breather to build up the upcoming Battle City Arc!

...I swear, I never thought I'd get this done so fast...

On another note, this chapter might _seem_ short, but don't let that fool you! In reality, it's actually about the same length as most. The 'shortness' comes from the short length of this _note_, along with the huge paragraphs above. Because that's what happens when someone tells a story. Paragraphs. Paragraphs that have to be split in two so that people can actually read them.

Haaaaahhh...

Anyways, some art for you below! Consisting of graduation fun, concepts and... Luls. You can't have art without the luls. ALSO FANART. (Yay~)

**Poll Results**

For the identity of Kaiba's past life... Be it male, female, or female and crossdressing.

The Priestess is pulling up the rear! WHOO! Just remember guys; **If you have an account, it's easier for me to tally the votes when you participate in the poll using the in-site version rather than commenting.** Mostly because, that way when I re-count to make sure I didn't make a mistake, I don't have to dig quite so far in my review folder in the inbox... Hehehe...

Female Crossdressing Set - 12 (Three Anonymous)

Obviously Female Priest_ess_ Set - 9 (Three Anonymous)

Canon (Male) Set - 2

And now we have...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey there Szaphyr! Hahaha, right… I need to get that through my head.

Seriously though, Yugioh is the _king_ of shipping names. They have names for threesomes, _foursomes_…

Oddly enough, one of the pairings in this fanfic _doesn't_ have a name, despite it being far more likely than most of the three/four-somes on that list... There is no official name, that I am aware of, for Ryuzaki and Shizuka. Huh.

Yeeeeesss, Rebecca… A brat that gets better… Ish. It's a work in progress, but then again, so is Kaiba's own personality.

And… YAY~ Thank you!

Quite a bit like Seto actually, I was rewatching that episode and double taking at pretty much each line Rebecca spouted during her duel. It almost _mirrors_ the words that Kaiba normally goes on about!

The comparison is especially strong if you look at 'Mini-Seto' from that one dream Jonouchi had. Hehehehehe.

What not to do… Of course! Though Kaiba's probably more worried about those lessons not sticking I think; Mokuba might not realize it, but he really _has_ picked up a number of Jonouchi's bad habits; namely shovelling the food in, putting off homework (Though he still gets his done with full marks, HAHA…) wearing the uniform wrong… (you'll see that one next chapter) There's an entire list, trust me.

Scapegoat was that obvious huh… Eh, I like to think that you and Iona just know me that well Cynical Gamer. It _is_ a long fanfic…

Oddly enough, Scapegoat itself won't have anything to do with this, particularly since it's more likely he'll be herding goats rather than sheep. Oh well~ Of course, there aren't really any cards tied in at all for Past-Jou so… Yea.

Hehehe. AAAANGST.

Haha, yep! As I said; a bit OCD about the details I am… (Why I'm not an author probably points to the length of this sucker; how many books are this long before hitting the half-way point? Granted, it'd have been split into series but still. I'm going into the 3D animation field… So not really an author thing.) …Either way! Fun stuff.

Speaking of wage earners; the GX Manga, which is also by Takahashi and is largely different in plot from the GX Anime (especially since the manga was created _after_ the fact) has another Kul Elna person as the main antagonist; 'Tragoedia', who worked _at the palace_, and therefore avoided being massacred.

He wasn't happy when he found out about the massacre though. Heeeeee… Either way, interesting to see that not everyone in Kul Elna were, as the anime leads you to believe, a bunch of thief's… In fact, they were probably a legitimate village with the sad side effect of being tied into the wrong things.

I refuse to believe you! THE SQUIGGLY IS RIGHT!

It's very rare, they bicker too much for most to really consider it. There actually will be a bit of them plotting as time goes on… It'll take a while, but they will, you'll see… (The results will likely shock you. Along with the reasons.)

You want plotting? I would say three, four more chapters and you'll get it! YEA!

Well… Um… I'm just trying to be good at writing right now so YAY! Go me?

Hehehehehe. Your hint is somewhere in this chapter right here. And ooh, trust me, I won't be pulling a LOST; all the answers will be answered, I just happen to have a set point in the plot for those answers. You'll see more build-up and revealing as Battle City hits though, mostly because of all the Millennium Items floating around.

Speaking of Millennium Items, did you know there's an item in Final Fantasy III called the _Millennium Rod_? …I WANT IT.

Heeeeee'll get over it… Not really… UM…. Right. Anyways! Phew! It's good to know I'm just helping rather than hindering… That's always one of my worries. (I'm a great, big, worry wart I am…)

Hehehe, phew! That's an incredible load off my shoulders… Makes me feel better about what's to come too; there are obviously going to be duels in the Noa Arc, but a lot of things around then are being shifted around… _A lot_.

Keep an eye peeled for the changes!

Oooooohhh, poor Jou indeed… She does have a soft spot for him, not that she'll come anywhere near admitting it right now. Hell, she doesn't even know she has a soft spot, she's completely convinced herself that it's just bearing with for Mokuba's sake. It'll be far more apparent once we _really_ hit Battle City though; and I say 'really' because the events concerning the big old tablet reveal happen quite a bit before the tournament begins.

Because tournaments are big things. And they take time to organize. Especially when there are air-ships and duel arenas to be made.

Annnnd here you go! Duke, AKA Otogi will make his appearance next chapter, as you guessed. There won't be any dog suits though (That's why I had my fun with the dog-stuff in the Legendary Heroes), as it's following the Manga plot. Because that one makes far more sense in terms of how things played out really…

Even worse, it was a _kigurumi_. The kind of pyjamas reserved for teenaged girls and small children..! …Also resident shotas. (In other words, Yugi could pull of a kigurumi and not be dinged for it _at all_.)

Speaking of dog-suits, OHHH! Fan art.

Hey there Iona! What a setup indeed… It gets better though; as we'll find out next chapter, she was purposefully using her Grandfather's deck. (Or at least one modelled off it) He real one is more similar to the deck she has during the Doma Arc, or at least Fanfic Rebecca's real deck is.

Ooooh, she survived a lot in High School. True, nothing would have really been to her face, but the behind the back crap gets pretty intense, and then there's the self-inflicted seclusion that comes with age. Gym-room talks get really awkward when all the girls start talking about boys and what they do with boys with a twelve year old in the room; and while most would stave off that kind of conversation for obvious reasons, there are a large number who will argue that this girl went through sex-ed like every other student, so there's nothing to hide.

She didn't kick too many shins though. Unless someone was a dick.

FLUFFYYYYYY. Ahhhh yes… Actually, the steak eating went quite differently, if not more frighteningly in the manga; Bakura was just eating with this zombie-look on his face, as though he wasn't really there…

HIHHHHH!

Anyways, it's always interesting, and just you wait until Battle City… Ohhhh boy…

…Yea, I figured that would be the answer. I'd probably last a bit longer just by holding an awkward silence myself.

Amazing character development! And all it took was a Mind Crush! YAAAAAAY~ Still a ways to go though, that's for sure.

And for the next chapter… Away we go!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that has facts for you! AHAHAA- Wait, that's _not_ new?

* * *

Today's chapter is returning to my usual cryptic ones... Kiiiiind of. Paper cranes are a symbol of peace in Japan, and besides that particular symbol, cards are... Well... Made of paper.

Not to say that card should be folded into a paper crane. Not only is that likely impossible, it would be very very bad. ANYWAYS.

* * *

Seriously, go look at the Death-T series in the manga; not a single one of the bridges in the Death-T events (The ones in the park are obviously completely safe) have a railing.

It's... It's almost like Kaiba was just hoping for someone to slip and fall to the floor below...

* * *

In the anime, when the card 'Tribute to the Doomed' is activated, a bunch of bandages come from nowhere, wrapping around the Celtic Guardian… And then _A GIANT FUCKING HAND COMES AND PULLS HIM UNDER_. Aaaaaahhhhhhhhhhh...

Tribute to the doomed indeed… ...I was feeling merciful toward Jonouchi's eyes. Hehe.

* * *

Sugoroku doesn't actually say anything about the duel he had a few years back until after he realizes that Rebecca is Arthur's granddaughter in the Japanese… I think that he mentions it earlier in the dub version though. In any case, as usual... Went with the Japanese... _Mostly._

* * *

For some reason, in _both_ versions of the episode, Cannon Soldier's attack is only 400. …But… It's attack is 1400 in real life…

* * *

There's a bit of dialogue switching around in Rebecca's case (You can already tell that I've added and subtracted things from the audience)… Some lines came after certain moves rather than before. Yaaaaay!~

* * *

OHHH cliches! It feels like a soap opera during that moment! '_THAT'S RIGHT. THE MAN YOU STOLE FROM WAS... *dramatic pause* MY GRANDFATHER_.' At the same time though, that's cannon. And... Let's face it guys, kids are dramatic, and it would be _terrible_ if I didn't take advantage of it.

It's good for giggles in any case. Same with SPEAKING IN CAPS FOR SHOUTING. RAAAAAAAH.

* * *

For some reason, Sugoroku keeps saying that all this stuff with the match between him and Arthur happened 'a long time ago'. I dunno, I didn't think six years would really qualify as 'long' to someone as old as Sugoroku… Who knows though.

* * *

I didn't say the reason why Sugoroku was in Egypt; the dub version says something about participating in a dig. The original just says that Sugoroku was looking for rare cards, hehehe. I'm pretty sure the dub is the one that's further off.

* * *

Note that it says 'their' grandfather up there when both of the Yugis are mentioned; at this point in time, while the main cast see the two Yugis as different people, they still see them as the same. This is more easily explained by a mental monologue that Anzu has after the D-D-D arc in the manga. She sees the two Yugis as 'two halves'; Yugi isn't whole as either one or the other... He's 'whole' when they're 'both there'. (So she's pretty much assuming that he's got personality issues. Or something. Which are triggered by the puzzle, something that Kaiba was probably guessing _even earlier_ but whatever.)

In other words, despite being 'different people', they're arguably considered as related to Sugoroku in the same fashion. We just don't really see how this works with the 'other' Yugi, because _he never shows up in Sugoroku or the parent's presence_. (At least not in person... I'm looking at the manga with that one.)

* * *

Speaking of the dub, the dub said that the word Arthur kept finding was 'duel'. Which is all a little silly given that all of this started off with games _in general_ being the focus, rather than the card game. So needless to say... 'GAME'.

* * *

'_Now Usagi, what's all this nonsense about Oracles…_'

The clever fore-shadowing cookie gatherer will know. Trust me. Keep in mind, all oracles pretty much vanished from sight once the Millennium Items showed up... Because hey, you can ask the necklace anything. The oracle doesn't have a damn choice about what they see.

* * *

In the Japanese version of the anime, Anzu finds the book/diary that Pegasus had, and mentions that she isn't sure how much she'll be able to get from it, given the fact that (of course) it's written in English.

She then proceeds to explain _EVERYTHING_.

ANZU. ANZU YOUR POWERS OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARE AMAZING. Explained here by the fact that _earlier_, I _think_ I mentioned her parents living or working in the states… Probably the latter. If I didn't, then hnnn... I was _sure_ that I put that in one of the chapters. In any case, I like to assume the latter of the two. Yay~ (Missing parents explained~)

Also, someone who dreams of going there should probably put a fair effort into the language, so really, even if I didn't mention the above...

* * *

Yes guys, the original anime _did_ mention the god cards like that. Though I was slightly more 'subtle' about it, because frankly, the Egyptians didn't use cards, they used tablets… And they probably mentioned that.

This was cut from the dub though. It appears we north americans miss a lot neh? (Probably wanted to set up more surprise...)

* * *

You know, at the end of the next episode (42), Japanese Sugoroku's line of '_it feels like Arthur is right here in this room_' becomes pretty silly... Hehehe.

However, this line can also be... Very misleading, much like Yugi's line in the manga, when he shows Anzu his (as of that moment unfinished) Millennium Puzzle... And says 'it's a memento of my Grandfather'.

Anzu immediately assumes Sugoroku has _died_, and is therefore more than just frightened when they go to his house and are greeted... By Sugoroku. Naaaaaaah! Oh fun.

But seriously, the first thing you think of when somone says 'it feels like they're in the room now', _is not of someone alive_.

* * *

Originally, Rebecca's tantrum starts when Yugi pulls out Brain Control. Because let's face it, Brain Control and Turtle Catapult, doesn't take a genius. However, I delayed it for the sake of not spamming you with constant dialogue shots. _WRAAAAAAAAHHHHHH_.

* * *

During one moment, we get a shot of Rebecca's hand… And in both versions she has _two _Sangan in there, along with the _third _Witch of the Black Forest. I knew she had three of each card! ...Just thought I'd say that.

* * *

The card 'Judgement Bomber' is called 'Judgement Blaster' in English. Hurn… In any case, I merged effects here; the dub said 'discard 5 cards to destroy all of the opponent's monsters'. Japanese however, merely said 'destroy all monsters on the field'. (This card doesn't exist by the way.)

So yea. Merged~

* * *

Certain dialogue segments are merged as well, as originally, there was a lot more shots to the audience… Mostly because it's visual means rather than text so… That's more expected and desired. It's a little harder to make that kind of thing smooth in a written work really.

* * *

Originally (of course), Jonouchi's reason for hesitating with the 'that's (number of points here)', is because he's busy counting. Everyone still assumes this is the case of course, what with Jonouchi being Jonouchi, but… Well, the reason in the fanfic is pretty obvious. Hihhhhhh Shadow Ghoul...

Up to you if Jonouchi can handle lesser math though.

* * *

Interestingly enough, because of the dub, the number of monsters in the graveyard is different; the dub replaced two of the cards in the shot of Rebecca's hand with spell cards. But that affects Shadow Ghoul's attack power...

* * *

Originally, there was mention of hearts in the anime… And 'Kokoro', which is _a lot_ more than just a 'heart'! Kokoro translates not only into heart, but also mind, and spirit. (Rebecca said 'Heart' in English during the original series, while Yugi said Kokoro.) Also, Rebecca says her Grandpa taught her this… Which is rather silly, since he obviously didn't. _Or did he_..? Maybe it was an assumed lesson? Well, at least you know where the dub pulled that 'heart of the cards' nonsense; in reality, the anime was talking about _the cards being alive_.

I don't think I should really mention every minor dialogue switch in any case…

* * *

Also, Rebecca comments on Yugi taking a long time in the original but… He… He only takes a few seconds. Plus there's dialogue there in the fanfic soooooo… Yeaaaaaa… Cut line.

* * *

By the way if you haven't guessed, Yami Yugi has been standing at the side pulling audience duty as well. For the rare moment he _can_. (Seriously, how many other times does Yugi duel on his own where his darker half can just sit back and watch?)

* * *

Holy shit guys. _THE PARALLELS_. Look at Rebecca's words before the 'reveal' of Soul Release, right down to her treatment of the cards… And then look at Kaiba during a duel early on (Kaiba gets better. Still a jerk, but still gets better).

Seriously guys. _SERIOUSLY WHAT THE HELL THEY'RE THE SAME_.

...Except... Rebecca actually has solid sane thoughts running with her. Kaiba kinda lost it. (Don't you tell me that's not true. Look at the manga, and _you tell me that's not true_.)

* * *

Interesting fact; as many are probably wondering, there are ample opportunities for a 'direct attack' during earlier duels than this one. So why did no one take them?

Because it was _against the rules_; until Battle city, the rules for the duel (or at least in the manga... Who knows with anime) was that you couldn't attack the opponent directly, you had to attack a monster. Having a clear field however was still deadly, as... Well, there are still spells that can fix that.

Which might actually be part of why those same spells were outlawed during Battle City (Kaiba specifically says, during the Jonouchi VS Yugi duel at the pier, that cards which inflict direct attacks are not allowed in the tournament)... Besides the fact that the holograms actually kinda hurt at least.

* * *

For some reason, when Yugi summons up the swords of revealing light, we only see two of his three turns go by… I guess he didn't do anything on his third one… That or I am a _terrible count_.

* * *

How many of you pictured 'sparta' at the end of the '_this is_' that I cut off? Admit it, you did!

(Yea... Just me I guess.)

* * *

Now obviously, despite me clearing the arena well enough,_ I still had to get Arthur in there_! And then it hit me… Rebecca came to Japan _on her own_. If that doesn't start ringing alarm bells among those looking after her, I don't know _what_ does. Thankfully, Rebecca was at her dear Granddad's at the time, or this would have ended much more awkwardly.

You can probably imagine how weird the call to Kaiba went though… '_Yea, they're saying a kid entered but… She didn't…_' '_…*How the hell is this my problem…_*' As for how Kaiba knew where they were, it's pretty clear that when the duel arena starts doing crap on its own, _someone is up there_. Moreover… This. '_Check the security feeds..._'

Nonetheless, I can pretty much _guarantee_ that as someone who has gone through the absolute _hell_ of having a younger relative go missing, Kaiba would indeed quite gladly help Arthur out by letting him in when the mention of missing children comes up. Because trust me guys; the feeling is _terrifying_, and as someone who really has, for at least a few hours, believed their younger brother to be missing… I can really, _really_ feel for it.

(As it turned out in my case, my brother, who was conveniently dressed in camouflage, decided that three foot tall piles of grass was a brilliant place to sit and quietly play... And he ended up just watching curiously when the police started coming around and shouting. We were waiting for the dogs when I spotted him. Tackled him out of a mix of rage and relief I did.)

* * *

Mokuba, being twelve and Japanese, will obviously not have perfect English. It's a lot better than most his age of course, given that he spent as long as Kaiba did on it while at Gozaburo's (Well, for the most part at least), but at the same time, think; would Gozaburo bring _both_ the siblings along to a dinner of any kind of the kids couldn't interact with any other kids in the room? Probably not, since that would make him look bad. (Hehehe. Yay?)

* * *

…For some reason, in the scene where Arthur explains why Yugi surrendered, _Yugi is blushing_. WHAT.

* * *

Here's a bit of 'Fridge Brilliance' for you; Arthur says that the shadow games (And as a result, duel monster matches) were a way for the Egyptian's of 'Yami Yugi/Atem's time to discern the future, their fate. Directly after Sugoroku forfeited the match for Arthur's sake, _the rescue team found them_.

Coincidence? Or was it all a test…

* * *

Originally, Rebecca has her spazz about Sugoroku's card being ripped in half after Arthur says it represents friendship ('_Yea some show of friendship HE RIPPED IT IN HALF_!'). …But I moved it.

* * *

Heeeeeyyyy it's that card that Anime Yugi got from the Duelist Kingdom… This is actually quite common (Getting prize cards), if not _the_ only way anyone who duels professionally earns money. Big tournaments get really rare, one of a kind cards… But you can't use them in duels. That would be silly. (And illegal.) Sure you could use them in a playful match among friends if you wanted to be a dick but… No tournaments!

Of course, being one of a kind, these things can fetch a fairly high price. That 'Ties of Friendship' card Yugi has might not be worth as much as say Blue-Eyes in their realm, what with Blue-Eyes being a legal card and 'three of a kind' (With Sugoroku's being unfit for a match now.), but you never know… It _could_ be worth _more_.

* * *

Whaaaat, you thought I'd do the old man match? HAH no. Not doing more card games than I have to, no thanks!

Poor Kaiba though, probably got like five calls while trying to deal with all this crap... Remember, the reason why she wasn't there to punt Rebecca with words (You so know this kid wouldn't get dick all if Kaiba was there. ...Unless Kaiba randomly figured this would be amusing... But I doubt it with Rebecca's attitude.) is because she's dealing with car accident issues.

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

It's that time of... Update?

Remove the spaces for your link, and enjoy!

Also a bit of a guide; if it says concept, it's something that has the potential to spoil, but might not appear when that moment comes. On the other hand, spoilers have already been set and given a moment in my mind, and _will_ happen at some point in the fanfic. If it has _both_ though, watch it; that means the _scene_ is set, but the design isn't, and it really WILL SPOIL.

Of course, then there's crack and comic; Crack is basically just me drawing weird stuff with the characters. And I mean weird stuff, not just like... Jonouchi in Yusei Fudo's clothes, I mean _weird stuff._ A full on comic, or doodle comic is... Well, exactly what I just said. Keep in mind, some are one panel. Next is costume; if it doesn't have a label other than that, it's either me screwing around with clothing designs, or me showing you other designs that already happened in fanfic. I'll let you know when that happens in the label though.

Lastly there's just the stuff without a label; this stuff is going to be things ranging from me being silly (Like the dragons) and me making 'cover' pages. Yaaaay~

**MOST IMPORTANT**: **Any and all Fanart, in other words, anything NOT drawn by myself, will be in bold, with the name of the artist in the title.**

So yea. Enjoy, now that you know what to click!

Costume: Legendary Heroes Mask Battle – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ GrimHound. Jpg – So this chibi here is wearing what Jonouchi did during the 'colosseum' match of the Legendary Heroes... ...Yeaaaaa. Much more menacing and 'battle-oriented' than a pig eh? ...Not to mention a dog kigurumi... Anyways. Ignore the skewed foot positioning! I tend to forget I'm bizarrely flexible when I test my poses... Whoops.

Comic: Before The Grad – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ GradPrep. jpg – No seriously, _how long_? Every time I look at that kid's hair... Kyouko has her work cut out for her! (And if you thought that was Anzu, my life is now complete. Need to remember; the maid looked eerily like Anzu's initial appearance, so... I draw Kyouko based on that.)

Concept/Spoiler: What If..? - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ WhatIfDream. jpg – If you can guess what kind of panic is on Jonouchi's face, you win another foreshadowing prize. _Especially_ if you manage to guess what the hell is going on. Hehehe.

Costume: Pokemon Part 1 - http: / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Pokemanz1. jpg - This is what happens when I get a hold of the walkthroughs for the upcoming Pokemon game 'Black' and 'White'. I say 'upcoming' with loose terms of course, because the game _is_ released in Japan, and should be out in North America come February-March. In fact, the starters you see there all have names now... Tepig, Oshawott, and Snivy. I DEMAND SMUGLEAF! (Also, you really _do_ get two rivals in this game. Hence Mai and Kaiba both being there.)

Costume: Pokemon Part 1 - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Pokemanz2. jpg - The second part! I'm not naming all these pokemon, but they _are_ all real, and they're all from the coming games. Yami Yugi has crap loads of bird pokemon in his head (of course), his lighter counterpart sitting with one of the legendaries (the one whose ability is called Brave Heart) and another pokemon (It's a cactus~)... Anzu's in the corner with the same legendary on each side; it has two forms... Voice and Step, so yea. Anzu-pokemon... Mokuba's waaaaay in the background, having a spaz on a dragon... And then there's Ryuzaki, who has both the fossil pokemon... One of which is our friend the feathered dinosaur that links birds to reptiles. Yaaaaay~ Have fun.

**FanArt- Sugarfang Phantom** – http: / / voiceofwho. deviantart. com/art/Seto-chan-185421772?q=&qo= - Hey hey hey! Fanart! First off, a big thanks to Sugarfang for the fanart... I know the section is for fanart but... Truth be told, I never expected to actually get any, oh wow! It's certainly a better job with prismacolor markers than I can _ever_ hope to achieve... In any case, Sugarfang has an FF account, so you should go check her out!


	55. Chapter 54

**Luck Over Skill

* * *

**

"The Black Clown's opening this week... Yugi, you think you'll be able t' make th' opening?"

This was the conversation that ended up cropping up during the lunch break as the bell rang on the first day of school, the majority of them crowding around where Yugi's desk was. Somehow, with luck, the boy's desk was right beside Katsuya's, a fairly comforting fact when added to the point that they were all in the same classroom. Everyone else...

Scattered around the complete opposite ends of the room. Anzu in one corner, Honda in another with Bakura... Eck... In any case. Yugi rubbed his head, frowning somewhat as he looked back at the blond. "I don't know," he finally said, biting his lip. "Grandpa is really... Really... Not in a good mood about it..."

"Besides," Anzu said with a shudder, shaking her head. "The clown they have standing outside that store is just... Ugghhh..."

The boys blinked, Bakura turing to Yugi with raised eyebrows before looking back at Anzu. "...Just what exactly do you mean about the clown..?"

Yugi coughed, shaking his head as he answered for the woman. "Er... He got really close with the balloons he was passing out to the kids outside the store..."

...Kay... What did that mean... "Look, can we just change the subject," Anzu asked, attempting to push the subject as far from the conversation as possible. "...Please?"

Er... Rough subject then? Y-Yea, uh... "Hey Jonouchi," Honda asked, hands behind his head. "You said your sisters bandages were supposed to come off a few weeks ago right?" The blond blinked, looking back as the teen asked this. "So... How'd it go? You said the surgery went alright didn't you?"

The others turned, looking somewhat expectantly as the blond smirked. "Heh... Gave 'r a call las' night," he said with a grin, laughing. "They're cured!"

"Aaaahh! That's great!"

"We should go visit her," Honda said with a grin, nodding his head.

Katsuya laughed, shaking his head. "I think I'll visit, an' _you_ can stay here... She's jus' started High-school," he continued seriously, crossing his arms, "And I ain't lettin' _anythin'_ bug her!"

"Awww, so _mean_," Honda said with a sigh, shaking his head. "Have a bit of sympathy..."

"Eh, what's so mean?"

The group jumped, Katsuya fumbling over his desk before staring as Mokuba stood at the door to the room. "H-H-Hehh! M-M-Mokuba!"

Mokuba grinned, laughing as the others stared. He walked over, cloth wrapped bento-box in hand as his unbuttoned jacket flew somewhat behind him. "But... You're supposed to be in school," Honda muttered, eyes wide as the boy sat on one of the empty desks. "What the hell are you doing-"

There was a short laugh from where Anzu stood, the woman shaking her head. "Oh no... You convinced your brother to let you go to Domino Middle didn't you..."

The others blinked, turning. S-Seriously..? She let him do that? Hell, the elementary was one thing, it was the only one in the area... But... Domino wasn't exactly the most prestigious of schools... Hell, the only one _worse_ was likely 'Rintama'...

Nonetheless, the boy nodded, smirking as he opened up his lunch. "Yep! And since it's only a block away," he added with a somewhat conniving grin, "I can get here easy! ...I actually think that might be part of it," he added with a blink, pulling his chopsticks apart with a snap before frowning.

"...Er... 'Part of it'," Yugi repeated, blinking. "How would that..."

The boy again nodded, chopsticks in hand as he picked up a small clump of rice. "Yea! I think nii-sama figures that if anything happens," he explained, taking a moment to chew and swallow the rice, "I can come over here until he shows up, or even just to get help from you guys..."

Katsuya stared, pointing briefly at himself as the others blinked. "Nh... Does sh... Does he really trust us with that kind of thing..? I didn't think S- Kaiba really liked _any_ of us that much, aha..." Though he probably wouldn't be the first to notice that the 'White Day' chocolate he'd bought had _not_ been thrown out... So maybe it was just him.

Their friend merely shrugged, before a shout from the side caught their attention and caused most of them to put their own lunches down. "Kyaaaaah," one of the girls squealed, voice piercing most of the eardrums of those nearby. "That's so awesome!~"

Er... Say what now? They turned, looking over to the far side where a fair number of the girls from the class were crowded and frowning. "Hn... What?"

"Oh... So this is what they meant..." The others shook their heads, turning to Bakura as the albino stared over at a student they didn't recognize. Black wavy hair, green eyes... Definitely not Japanese but... Huh... The teen blinked at the stares, before explaining with a short cough. "A while ago... One of the girls who started a fanclub for me kept on telling me about how she and the members wouldn't turn to the 'dark side' as they put it..." He sighed, shaking his head. "I _tried_ to tell them that it didn't matter, and that I didn't even need a fanclub but she just wouldn't listen..." How _terrible_ Bakura. How... Truly terrible... The albino continued to frown, before shrugging. "Well... At least I have a slight idea as to what they were talking about now...

Yea, he supposed so. Still... A second 'bishie' eh..? The group stared as the girls around the table continued to squeal, the teen they were staring at merely tossing some dice into a cup before shaking it about to somehow stack them all by dropping them from the cup. "Wuaaaaah! Amazing!"

"Sheesh," the blond muttered, eyes narrowed somewhat. "What kinda show-off is that..."

Mokuba stared, blinking a few times before looking back. "Ah... Is he one of your classmates then..?"

The others nodded, still staring. "Hm... I think his name is Otogi Ryuji," Yugi stated, crossing his arms. Wait... So he _was_ Japanese? Then again, he wasn't really one to talk... Being... Blond and all... (Where the hell did he and his Dad even _get_ that?) "He transferred here before the year started," the boy continued, "So he wasn't in any of the first year classes last year..."

Huh... Interesting... Honda nodded with those words, shrugging as he turned to Mokuba and explained. "The fact is," he said as he opened up his lunch, "Now that we've moved on to the second year and changed classrooms, we don't know most of the people here ourselves..."

"It's lucky that we're all in the same class as it is," Bakura added, the others continuing to look over at 'Otogi'. "In fact, I think that the only reason why we're all here is because of overflow from 2-A and 2-C..."

Yea, well whatever... Katsuya frowned, before snorting as he continued to stare at 'Otogi'. "Mannn... Hate those kind of guys," he muttered, crossing his arms. "All he's doin' is usin' dice tricks t' get girls..."

The others turned, a few shaking their heads before Anzu sighed. "That's because you're jealous of them," she muttered, the comment more or less sliding past the blond's attention.

Katsuya crossed his arms, again snorting. "Hn! Whatever," he shouted, grumbling somewhat. "I think it's better to hide your talent, and not show it off to anyone... Better than bein' a big ol' show off like 'Otogi' over there," he muttered under his breath

At this, Mokuba snickered, returning to his lunch while Honda shook his head. "Jonouchi, what kind of talent do you even _have,_" he asked through a mouthful of rice, pointing somewhat at the blond with his chopsticks.

"Gh- You were right there at Duelist Kingdom, what're y' talkin' about! It's in Duel Monsters," he shouted, glaring at his friend, "Duel Monsters!"

"Oh?" The group turned, blinking as Otogi walked over from his desk with a small following of girls behind him. "You're a duelist," he asked with fairly evident surprise, blinking a few times himself. "Really?"

Katsuya blinked, before nodding. "Yeah!" Of course! The two stared for a few moments, before the blond smirked. Heh... Maybe this guy wasn't _too_ bad... "In fact... Y' heard of 'Bandit Keith'," he asked, Otogi nodding in silence as the blond continued. "Former champion of the US... Def'nitly a professional right? An' in th' end, he still lost t' me," he said with a grin, crossing his arms. Hehehe, how could he not mention that? It was pretty awesome...

There was a loud smack sound as Mokuba brought a hand to his head, Anzu and Honda sighing behind him. "What an arrogant look," Anzu muttered, groaning. Wait what?

"Looks like 'not showing off' didn't last too long..." H-Hey! Hey!

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba said with a frown, looking up at the blond as the teen looked back with an annoyed frown. "Didn't you just say-"

The boy was cut off, Otogi abruptly grinning and pulling Katsuya's attention back. "Ahhh, that's pretty incredible," he said with a laugh, before continuing on as the blond grinned. "Duel Monster's is one of my favourite games," the teen continued with a nod, "For you to have beat Keith at that..." He chuckled, shaking his head. "Hey, we should play a game as well!"

Eh... Really? Katsuya blinked, sitting up from his desk as the grin shrank back to a more curious expression. "A game..?" Not a duel monster's match he'd assume but... A game?

The others watched in silence as Otogi pulled out one of his die and cup, nodding. "Yea- we'll make a bet," he continued with a 'smile', "Using this die and cup."

Hnnn... He stared for a few moments, before nodding. A bet eh? Okay then, this sounded fun! "Hehehe... Alrigh'," the blond shouted with a nod, standing up from his desk as Otogi took a seat at another. "Let's go then!"

Otogi nodded, shouts from behind him cheering him on as his 'opponent' grabbed his chair to turn it toward the desk he sat at. "Ok," he said clearly, the blond watching in silence as he took his seat. "Now watch carefully... In my hand I hold only one die... And in my other," he added, gesturing to his right hand, "The cup. Now," he continued, shaking the cup to show it was empty as he held it toward Katsuya, "I place one die in the cup..." The teen continued to shake the cup as he dropped the die in, rattling filling the air as its owner leaned against the desk. "And..."

-_SLAM_-

"Now," he continued as Katsuya jumped, the cup slamming down on the table to cover the die, "The die is covered by the cup," Otogi stated clearly, moving his hands away from it and continuing to explain. "And there's nothing in my hands..." Yea... That was right... ...Why did he sound like a stage magician... "Now then... Do you believe that I can get this die with my right hand, without touching the cup in any way," he asked, 'opponent' frowning somewhat. Get the die without... "Would you be willing to bet on that?"

Heh... The blond smirked, nodding as he crossed his arms. Of course! There was no way he could get it out; the die was in there, definitely... "Sure thing," he said clearly, nodding his head.

Otogi crossed his arms, continuing on with a smile. "If I lose, then for one week, I'll do anything you ask... _Anything_," he emphasized, the blond across from him narrowing his eyes. "Of course," he added as the girls behind him screamed, the others momentarily looking at them before turning back, "Contrary to that," he warned, smile darkening into an odd smirk, "If _you_ lose Jonouchi, you have to do whatever _I_ say for an entire week..."

"Heh!" Katsuya smirked, the others still looking in silence. "Can't refuse that!" This would be pretty interesting... ...What the hell would he make Otogi do though, hnnn...

Chuckling filled the air, Otogi lifting a closed fist up. "Hehehehehe... And yet after all that talking," he said with a sigh, "I already have the die in my hands..."

...No fucking way. "What!"

Otogi smirked, narrowing his eyes. "What, you think I'm lying," he asked, gesturing to the cup. "Why not see for yourself? I'm telling the truth..."

Gh! Like hell! The blond reached for the cup, ignoring the sounds of a slap behind him as he lifted it up. The die had to be- "E-Eh..." He blinked, pausing for a moment. It... It was... "It's still..."

In a flash Otogi reached out, snatching the die in his right hand with a smirk. "Aha! I got the die," he said with a grin, holding it out for Katsuya to look at with wide eyes, "And I didn't even touch the cup!" He chuckled, leaning back and crossing his arms as his 'opponent' seethed. "I win!"

W-WHAT? "Are you kiddin' me," he shouted, standing up from the desk. "That's bulshit!"

Yugi frowned, the others scowling as well. "That's really cheap Otogi-san! You can't call that a game!"

"Yea," Mokuba added with a scowl, before turning to Katsuya with a somewhat annoyed frown. "Though you have to admit," he added rather darkly, "Katsuya-nii, you fell for that hands down..."

"Nhhh..." He groaned, turning on the boy. "You're s'pposed t' be on my side!"

Otogi merely laughed, shaking his head. "Really," he said, looking at the group, "When determining the win or loss of a game, don't you use your opponent's weakness against them? Hehehehehe..." Damn it... Katsuya growled, the others narrowing their eyes as Otogi continued. "You should listen to your friend there Jonouchi," he said calmly, shaking his head. "But back to the matter at hand... A bet is a bet," he continued as he stood up from his seat, smirking darkly. "From today until next week Jonouchi, you have to do whatever I say... _Understand_?"

Katsuya slammed his head into his hands, groaning. "Ahhhhhh damn it..." What the hell... How the hell did he fall for that...

"Jonouchi-kun, don't listen to him," Yugi shouted, Otogi still smirking as the boy glared at him. "This is a cheap trick," he continued, shaking his head. "This was a set up, it's not fair!"

The teen snorted, shaking his head. "Cheap," he repeated incredulously, smirking. "And just how exactly is it cheap?"

"You said it yourself," Yugi continued, frowning as he looked up at the teen. "If you got the die without touching the cup, you won! But you just tricked him into moving it for you!"

Otogi merely shook his head, spinning the die around in his fingers. "And that's gambling! All I said was that I didn't have to touch the cup... Therefore," he said with a smirk, "_I_ didn't cheat."

The boy continued to frown, looking decidedly torn as he ran over the answer. Despite what all morals said, the fact was... "B-But..." ...Damn it...

Mokuba sighed, shaking his head. "Sorry Yugi... But he's actually right... And the fact is," he added, muttering as he shook his head, "The 'other' you has pulled that a few times as well..."

The boy fell silent, biting his lip as Otogi continued to smirk. "Listen... From the very start," he said calmly, "It was Jonouchi's own fault that he didn't notice the weak point in this game..."

"Weakness," Yugi repeated incredulously, Katsuya scowling as the others watched in silence. Oh come on, did he seriously have to keep rubbing it in then?

Otogi shrugged, pocketing his die before explaining. "If my hand didn't touch the cup," the teen began, "Then it was impossible for me to take the die! What other choice did I have? For the game to be fair, _of course_ I would have to fool someone into moving it for me! Then again," he added with a smirk, "Jonouchi would need to know if the die was still there, so all he could do was lift the cup and look beneath it..."

Wait wait wait... The blond narrowed his eyes, running the words through his head again. "Wait a sec," he muttered, shaking his head. "So you planned that from the start?" He _knew_ he'd lift the cup?

"Hahaha!" Otogi grinned, shaking his head. "You finally got it! It took you long enough!"

Katsuya grit his teeth, narrowing his eyes. Alright, that was just... "Again," he shouted, clenching his fists as he glared over the desk. "One more time," he continued with a growl, "We'll try this again!"

"Hnn..." Otogi brought a hand to his chin in thought, before nodding with a dark smirk. "Alright then, I suppose we could do that... However," he continued, frowning, "If you lose again, you'll be my 'dog' for the next two weeks, day and night... _No exceptions_," the teen added, Katsuya swallowing in response. "Clear?"

Shit, he definitely had to win then... "J-Jonouchi-kun," Yugi protested with a frown, looking at the blond nervously. "Don't compete _again..._"

"Yea Katsuya-nii, don't you think he's probably going to pull something like this again..? And besides," Mokuba added with an equally dark frown, "If this guy decides to keep you past a certain time, Nii-sama's going to-"

The blond scowled, not looking at the two. "Just mind yer own business, I'll be fine!"

The two pulled back while Otogi smirked, pulling a deck of cards from his pocket with a laugh. "Alright then... This time," he said with a nod, holding out the cards as he pulled them from the box "We'll be using this deck of playing cards."

Normal cards, ok... He nodded, still frowning as he thought about what kind of game would be set up. "No problem!"

"Okay then..." He pulled the cards from the deck, pulling four out before pocketing the rest of the cards. "I've prepared four aces," he said calmly, smiling as he held them forward for the blond to see. "Watch..." He flipped them all over, mixing the four cards about the table quickly enough for his arms to simply blur until they were lined up neatly in a single row. "I've mixed them up, face down... Neither you nor myself know which one is which," he continued, the others watching somewhat curiously as Katsuya stared. "It's a standard deck; four suits, two colours. The spades and clubs are black," he explained calmly, "While the hearts and diamonds red... From these cards," Otogi stated clearly, looking back from the cards to his opponent, "You can pick two, Jonouchi; if both of them are black, or both of them are red, then you win! Understand?"

Alright then... So there was a 50/50 shot at all this. Four cards, two were right... It looked fair... He nodded, swallowing as the others moved from where they were eating their food to look over his shoulder. "Alright," he said clearly, Otogi nodding across from him.

"Then start!"

"You better win this time," Honda was saying from behind, eyes wide as he swallowed another chunk of his food. The others merely stared at the cards, Yugi in particular frowning as the blond looked over the four.

Concentrate, concentrate... He'd seen Otogi mix them up, and as fast as it was... Alright! "Ok," he shouted, tapping the two in the middle. Had to be these two, had to be... "These ones!"

Otogi flipped them over in a flash, only for Katsuya to draw back with a groan. "Ah... Clubs and Hearts..." S-Shit, red and black! The blond held his head, looking back over the desk with a scowl. "It looks like I win," Otogi said calmly, gathering the cards again.

"Damn it... Otogi," the blond shouted, gritting his teeth as the others traded looks behind him. No way, he wasn't... "One more time!"

The teen smirked, spreading the cards out again and mixing them. "Well," he said with an odd smile, leaning back on his chair. "_Someone's_ not being a good dog..."

Not. A. DOG! "You shut up damn it!"

"Oooh," he said with a laugh, "Did I hit a sore spot?"

"Ghhnnnn..." Katsuya tapped the middle-left and far right cards, growling. "This one an' this one," he shouted loudly, only to watch as the aces of clubs and diamonds appeared when the cards were flipped over. Hell... No way...

No way, this was 50/50, how did he get it wrong again! "Wow... Jonouchi," Otogi said with a sigh, gathering the cards again and tapping them against the desk. "Your luck is really bad neh? It's a fair game," he continued, shrugging with a laugh, "And you still didn't win..."

The others swallowed, wincing as the blond continued to seethe at the desk. "J-Jonouchi-kun..."

"Katsuya-nii... Ahhh..."

"Alright," Otogi said with a smirk, standing from the desk and tapping the cards against his hand. "Time for you to uphold your end of the bet! From now on," he continued with a grin, "You are my dog, and you have to follow _my_ commands!" Ahh hell, this sucked... This really... Damn it. "And my first order," the teen said with a smirk, pointing at the blond, "Is that you can't speak to anyone other than me..." What? That was bulshit... No talking? God... Katsuya grit his teeth, listening as Otogi continued. "Also, since you obviously take being a dog _so well_..." Oh fuck no. "When you answer to me, you need to bark like one, understand?" NOOOOOO DAMN IT. AUGH.

"Otogi-san," Yugi protested with a frown, the others as well scowling as their friend slumped in the desk with a groan. "We're classmates! How can you tell him that?"

Honda shook his head, gritting his teeth. "This is just too weird! I get the dog thing, but telling him to keep his mouth shut..?" Wait, so he was alright with the dog thing? "Come on man, you don't even know this guy!"

"That's right," Anzu said with a frown, putting her empty bento box to the side and looking at the blond. "Jonouchi, don't listen to a word this guy says! It's just a stupid bet, you don't have to listen!"

"Yea! Besides," Mokuba added, frowning. "What's going to happen when the teacher calls on you?" Er what? "We get enough calls from your mom complaining about the marks!" E-Eh! This was his major concern? Seriously?

Ahhhhhgggh... Katsuya scratched his head, turning back to the others. Screw it. This was his mess, his issue... "Look... Guys," he muttered under his breath, ignoring the scowls from 'both sides' as it were. "It's alrigh', I'll be fine... 'S my own damn problem anyways," he added bitterly, "So-"

"Jonouchi," Otogi said darkly, pulling something from his pocket as the others turned. What... "I don't recall giving you permission to talk to anyone..!" A sudden clack noise came from the side, a large die smacking the blond in the face before clattering to the ground beneath the desks.

"GH! ITEEE!" OW. Ow _fuck_ what was that! "What th' hell!" The blond rubbed his face, the others jumping with wide eyes before Katsuya looked down to spot the die that had struck him beneath the eye. "Agggghh..."

"God," Honda muttered under his breath, looking from the die to the rather interesting 'one' impression on his friend's cheek. "What a damn skunk..."

Ow ow ow... "Screw th' bet," he muttered under his breath, glaring at Otogi and pulling out of the chair to join the others. "I ain't dealin' with this shit..."

Otogi shook his head, smirking darkly. "Now come on... I even gave you a second round! Besides," he continued, spinning another die around in his hand. "You're the one who went back on your word... Now bark," he shouted, grinning as the blond scowled silently in response. "Come on now, bark!" He swore it when he saw this guy outside of the school...

"..._Otogi_..." Suddenly, the pain in his cheek was the last thing on his mind... A wind seemed to pass over, the blond slowly moving his hand from his cheek and looking back to Yugi, at where the 'wind' and almost electric feeling seemed to come from. The boy gripped the chain he'd recently strung the puzzle on, eyes narrowed as he made to switch out with his other half. Strands of hair rose up on end, the puzzle itself appeared to glow with a blinding light... "Otogi," the boy roared, the others staring somewhat as the other Yugi's presence was realized, confident tones echoing through the room as a few of the other students stood back with wide eyes. "That's enough!" He pulled the chair back from the desk Otogi sat at, narrowing his eyes. "You've taken this far enough..."

"Y-Yugi..!" Please don't make him go crazy, please don't make him go crazy... "Eh..."

The boy ignored him, leaning somewhat over the table across from Otogi. "How about you play against me," he said with narrowed eyes, the teen across from him merely smirking. "If you win," he continued, "I'll only ask one thing of you, and that'll be all... All you'll need to do is take back your deal with Jonouchi, and that will be all."

Otogi stared, slowly taking a seat again and unfolding the four aces from his hand. "Well... That sounds fair," he said with a nod, placing the cards on the table and slowly spinning them around. "However, if you lose," the teen continued, evening the cards out and leaning back, "You must obey my every order, just like your mutt over there..."

"GH-" Hang onnnnnn... "What'd you jus'-"

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba protested, pulling at the blond's arm, "Calm down!"

The blond seethed, before freezing up again as the 'normal' Yugi appeared at his other's side. Aw hell, this again..? And... Wait... ...Speaking... Katsuya narrowed his eyes, frowning somewhat. They were speaking, but what about... So weird, the normal Yugi's lips were moving but... "We'll play the same game," Otogi was saying, Katsuya's attention pulled back from the conversation as the 'spirit' Yugi vanished from sight. "Four Aces..."

"Of course," the other Yugi said with a nod, before smirking as he pointed to the deck of cards Otogi was holding. "But I want to add the 'Joker' to that..." Eh..? Otogi blinked, frowning somewhat as the boy explained. "We'll take turns picking up one of the cards off this table; whoever matches black with black or red with red wins... But if you draw the joker," he continued with a dark expression, "You lose. And if we both win, or draw red and black" he continued, "Then we'll draw. Is that alright with you?"

Otogi stared, before slowly reaching into the deck of cards at the side to mix in the joker with the aces on the table. "Alright," he said after a moment's silence, nodding as he neatened out the line of cards. "That sounds fine to me..."

"Good... Then I'll go first," Yugi said calmly, the others circling around the table to watch. He pulled a card over, looking it over before leaning back on his seat. Ace of hearts... Across from the boy Otogi pulled his card out, silently looking it over before holding it close. Spades... He couldn't see it but... Yugi drew next, clubs, as did Otogi... "Alright! Show your cards," he said clearly, slapping his own on the table. Yugi's cards... Ace of clubs and hearts. How the hell did he know what without seeing... "Red and black," the boy said, before watching Otogi slam his own on the table with a growl.

"Gh... Black and Joker!" Spades. Otogi had... Spades...

He shook it off, grinning. Hehehe... YES! The Joker! An instant loss! Yugi smirked, crossing his arms as the others grinned behind him. "I win," he said rather confidently, only for his opponent to grit his teeth.

"Damn it," he growled, sending his cards over to the boy with narrowed eyes. "One more time!"

Yugi nodded, smiling as he gathered the cards and re-scattered them. "Alright," he said calmly, Katsuya silently laughing behind the boy as Otogi seethed. How'd it feel to loose eh? "Since I won last game, you can go first..." The cards were evened out, lined up in a perfect row as the boy looked back at his opponent. "Game start," he continued, nodding toward his opponent.

The teen grimaced, before grabbing a card off the table. One... Diamonds... Two... Spades, now back to Otogi... To Yugi...

How did he know...

"Show your cards," Yugi said loudly, revealing the aces of spades and clubs both with a smirk. Otogi grit his teeth holding out the Joker and the ace of diamonds before slamming them on the table. Heh... No matter what, he'd lost!

"Gh... DAMN IT!"

"Hahaha, lost again," Mokuba said with a grin, the others laughing as well.

Hehehehe... "It'll be ten thousand years b'fore you can beat Yugi," Katsuya said with a grin, crossing his arms. What did it matter about the weird sense about the cards, it was probably just wild guessing right? Heh...

"But Jonouchi, if it's ten thousand years, what does that say about your lose streak against him," Honda said with a smirk, the blond tensing and turning on the teen with a growl as he forgot about the 'cards'.

"Why you-!"

"Agggghh... Yugi," Otogi roared, slamming his fist on the table as the crowd jumped. "How dare you," he shouted, gritting his teeth. "How dare you set me in a bar bet!"

Yugi merely chuckled, shaking his head as the others turned to the boy. "Er... 'Bar bet'," Katsuya asked, frowning. What the hell was a bar bet..?

The boy continued chuckling, shaking his head. "Jonouchi," he said calmly, "The game you played against Otogi wasn't a fair game... However," he continued, turning back to Otogi as the blond tensed, "This one _was,_" he said darkly, tone growing dead serious.

Otogi continued to grit his teeth, now faced with a fair number of glares with the knowledge of the foul play. Oh, so the guy really had cheated then? "Damn it... And here I'd been thinkin' I was playin' a fair game..." Damn rat...

"Otogi," Yugi said with narrowed eyes, the teen across from them moving from the desk. "If you think you can put a rift between us with cheap tricks," he spat, pulling away from the desk himself, "You have another thing coming..."

The group was answered with silence, Otogi merely staring at them with narrowed eyes before leaving the classroom. "Hn... Understood," he said somewhat oddly, disappearing into the hall as those paying attention in the room stared after him. "_Understood_..."

* * *

Lunch had, needless to say, passed rather awkwardly after that, given the silence that resulted. The silence was thankfully broken however, when Yugi went to eat the lunch his lighter half had packed, a somewhat successful grin on his face at the idea of eating the bento rather than staring at it... Only for the lighter half to be slammed back into control, the boy sheepishly saying that evidently the 'other' one _really_ didn't like the pickles he'd stored beside the rice. Or the can of milk he'd gotten from the machines for a drink. And of course, the pickle juice had pretty much tainted all of the rice as a result of being packed together so... The only 'safe spot' his other self would have had was... Gone. So yea.

Yea that was interesting. Not quite as interesting as everyone asking where Mokuba's own bento had come from though, once they realized that it had clearly not been store bought; Seto sure as hell didn't make it... Right...

...Right...?

There was no answer to that in the end, the boy instead changing the subject to something else; evidentally, things had cooled down considerably between himself and Rebecca... To the point that they'd exchanged e-mails before she left for America again. As it turned out from what recent e-mails said, Rebecca was currently going through a 'prom rush', trying to get a dress for the event that would take place almost a full month before the end of school itself. _Also_ as it turned out, she hadn't even used her real deck that day against Yugi; she'd built the one she used around her Grandfather's own, as a 'take that' to the people she considered thieves.

Lousy little brat... Though in the end, she was still apologizing about that, and asking somewhat worriedly if everyone was still sore about that... ...Damn it, he supposed he _wasn't_...

In any case, shortly after that particular bit of info came out the clock had ticked down to ten-minutes to lunch, with Mokuba waving and leaving the room to head back to his own school. The rest of the class went by as expected... Slowly... Borderline painfully as he attempted to figure out what algebra was about...

And with him constantly looking over at Otogi with narrowed eyes, at least from the corner since it was otherwise a little hard to turn to where the guy sat without the teacher noticing. Something wasn't right that guy... He kept looking over at Yugi with an almost... Vengeful look. At first he figured that was because of the card match at lunch but...

Something was off. The look had something else to it, more confused than anything. The blond shook his head as the bell rang for class to end, a few of the others staying behind to deal with clean up. Rather... Everyone but him in terms of people that mattered to him.

Damn it. "Eh... Crappy luck, all 'f you guys gettin' clean up while I don'..." Really crappy...

Yugi merely shook his head, pulling a bucket from the side as the others grabbed brooms and mops to start clearing the room. "It's fine," he said with a shrug, turning to the blond. "Besides, you mind as well go see Mokuba-kun off right?"

The blond nodded, waving at the others. "Right..." True, he mind as well do that... The schools ended around the same time, so... Hey, maybe if he was lucky he'd get a ride back to the house. "Well, see yah," he said with a slight shout, the others calling after as he left the room. Well... He guessed this was alright... Not like he'd have been able to go to the arcade with them or anything...

The blond headed out of the school, switching the 'slippers' out for shoes and walking out only to give a short shout as he was tackled around the waist. "GOH!" Owwwwww what the hell...

"Hah! Gotcha," a familiar voice said cheerfully, a mop of black hair meeting his vision at the same time.

Katsuya groaned, doubling over as Mokuba stepped back to grin. "Oh god, Mokuba... I ever tell y' you've got enough punch t' knock out a bull?" His gut... Ahhhhh his _gut_...

The boy merely grinned, laughing as his friend recovered. "Hehehe... Nope," he said with a smirk, "But the riding teacher figures that if I wanted I could kick someone clear across the room..."

Yea that wasn't surprising... Didn't he look fairly happy about that though? He shook his head, sighing as he shouldered his bag. "Yea... Well... Whatever eh? Shouldn' there be a rolls outside th' middle school gate for y' or somethin' by now," he asked, people walking around them as they spoke. Normally the car wasn't late...

Mokuba merely shrugged, shaking his head. "Nah... I convinced Seto-niisama to let me walk," he explained with a smile, "Since it's closer than the elementary school. Besides," he added with a laugh, shaking his head. "I made it to the house back on White Day didn't I?" Yes... Yes he did, but he didn't think-

"Oh my..." Aw hell not that voice. "Well look who I've run into." The two turned, blinking as Otogi walked over. Oh great... Aaaaaghh... "I don't suppose you want to play another game sometime," the teen asked, smirking as the blond frowned. "Maybe this time you'd have a costume to go with the dog label... A kigurumi would work I think..."

Kigu- The blond growled, clenching his fists. "_Otogi_..!"

Mokuba groaned, rolling his eyes and pulling the blond back. "Calm down Katsuya-nii, really! And you," he added, crossing his arms up and facing the teen.

Otogi blinked, staring. "..._Me_," he asked, eyebrows raised. "What is it?"

"Unless you want me to convince my brother to cut the funding for the equipment in your store," he said with a fairly confident frown despite his target being a full foot taller than him, "I suggest you cut it out!"

There was a short span of silence, the two teens gaping for a moment before looking at each other. Now hang on, store? What store? Before Katsuya could ask about this however, Otogi quickly paled, choking somewhat as he looked at the blond. "You... You know the _Kaiba_ family," Otogi asked incredulously, before looking back at the boy with wide eyes. "I... I thought you were one of the first year students!"

Mokuba snorted, shaking his head. "Yea," he said with a smirk. "First year _middle_ school..."

Yea well that wasn't the point here. "So I know Mokuba an' his s- His brother," Katsuya said, shrugging as he looked at the teen. "What's it t' you?"

"You mean besides the fact that he's now realizing how dangerously close he came to losing his and his father's store with nothing but his card tricks," Mokuba said with a grin, Otogi looking down on the boy darkly. "Probably a lot..."

The teen continued to frown, before coughing awkwardly and attempting to recompose himself. "Trust me... It won't happen again," he finally said, gritting his teeth.

Hehehe, as low a blow as this was, he had to say he liked this... "Good," Mokuba said with a smirk, crossing his arms. He'd probably been bluffing but whatever... "Now then..."

Wait... "Wait a sec," Katsuya said, shaking himself for a moment. "Which store are y' even talkin' abou'..?"

The two turned, blinking a few times. "You didn't know," Ogoti asked, frowning. "My father runs the Black Clown," he stated somewhat plainly, "It'll be opening this Saturday..." W-Waaaaaiit...

"...Th' _Black Clown_," Katsuya repeated, staring. "Yer dad is th' one who built that place?" He shook his head, laughing. "Y... Y'know how stupid tha' giant sign looks righ'? ...Righ'?"

'Kay, that was a stupid thing to say... The blond was answered with a pair of unimpressed stares, Otogi turning back to Mokuba rather than gracing the comment with a response. "This is a pretty big surprise," the teen muttered, crossing his arms and rubbing his forehead. "I hardly expected to meet someone from the company funding our equipment in person... All of that was dealt with by my father," he continued with a short cough, "Everything else I had to do by hand..."

Hehhhh... "What th' hell are y' talkin' about..."

Otogi ignored the blond, continuing on with his 'conversation' with Mokuba. "Do you think your brother would be able to come to the opening of the store," he asked, raising his eyebrows with a genuinely expectant look on his face. "You as well, of course?"

Mokuba immediately shook his head, frowning as he bit his lip. "Sorry; nii-sama's booked solid for meetings through this week and the next... Something about a last minute call..?" A what..? He shrugged, shaking his head again and putting his hands in his pockets. "Of course... _I_ could still come," he hurriedly added, grinning almost darkly as the expression became the same conniving smirk Katsuya had seen when Mokuba planned out the 'Christmas party'. "As long as my friends were there of course..."

The teen instantly nodded, Katsuya watching the exchange with minor confusion. How the... How the hell was he doing this... "Of course," Otogi said, still nodding as he spoke. "I can't do anything about the line up we'll likely have that day," he added, coughing somewhat awkwardly, "So you'll probably want to be there around seven to avoid a rush... _But_," the teen continued with a seemingly honest smile, "I _could_ probably show you and your friends around, give you a look at the areas that are opening later this year... A sneak peek if you could call it that..."

Oooooh... Yugi would like that _a lot_... "Great," Mokuba said, still grinning as he turned to the blond beside him. "We'll see you then! Now... Let's go home Katsuya-nii, we need to have supper alright?"

"W-Wait," he said with somewhat wide eyes, shaking himself as he registered all that was going on. "What?"

"Alright then," Otogi said with a smile, walking past as he gave the two a short wave, "I'll see you both on Saturday then!"

So they were... What..? "What th' hell?"

Mokuba snickered, shaking his head and starting off himself. "Just go with it Katsuya-nii, we just got VIP passes into this place... And nii-sama's been keeping me in the dark about this for _weeks_!"

* * *

That bizarre conversation was probably what led to the blond 'mysteriously' getting Saturday off that week in the end, with no questions asked. Personally, he didn't think he'd be buying too much from the store when the main focus was supposedly 'dice'... After Monday, he'd pretty much decided that anything concerning dice sucked.

A lot. Besides... He had other things to worry about. Like the fact that the 'Other Yugi', during any time he decided to hover beside his lighter half, was looking more and more solid as the days went by. And personally... It was damn scary. There was a part of him that even wondered if one day he'd bump into the guy, while everyone else saw thin air. Maybe it was just him but...

Even so... He supposed that since the place was a game store, he mind as well see if there were some new cards there. Take his mind off all the 'weird' going on. At least it wasn't anything _creepy_ though, like zombies or whatever though...

Which left them there. Running down the road as though Death itself was on their heels. "AAAAAAHHH, Katsuya-nii," Mokuba shouted, somehow managing to keep up with the taller easily enough. "How could you sleep in like that!" The two barrelled down the street, shoes skidding across the ground as they ran and pushed past those walking past.

"What, an' you think you're any better," he shouted back, looking at the kid as they turned the corner and dodged around the end of the horrendously expansive 'opening day line up'. "I was almost set t' have Kyouko dump a bucket 'f water on y', you were takin' so long!"

"WUAAH!" The boy shook his head, looking up at Katsuya with wide eyes. "Not that _again_!"

"Oh, there they are..!"

The two slowed to a slight stop, waving as they shouted out to their friends in the long 'Black Clown' lineup. "Ah... YUGI," Katsuya called out, laughing somewhat as they hopped to the near front where the others stood. "Yugi, hey!"

"Oiiii, Yugi!"

They gasped for breath, watching as Bakura and Yugi shook their heads somewhat before laughing slightly. "Hah... Sorry we're late," Katsuya rasped out, rubbing the back of his head. "Sleep issues... An' transport issues... An'... Stuff..." He blinked, shaking his head. "W-Why're y' pointin' t' th' end Anzu..."

"Back of the line," Anzu said with a 'frown', a hand on her hip as she looked over the two. "You're late, it wouldn't be fair! Come on..."

"D-Don't be so serious," Mokuba whined, still taking deep breaths as he leaned against the wall. "We ran all the way here," he continued with a somewhat pathetic laugh, "It's hard to get around without letting Nii-sama know..."

Yugi smiled, still shaking his head as he looked the two over. "Well, at least you all made it," he said, hands stuffed in his pockets. "The store opens in only half an hour," he continued, "We were getting worried!"

"I have to ask Mokuba... Just why do you need to avoid your brother's attention," Bakura asked, frowning somewhat as he looked at the boy. "I understand he would be worried about you but..." He sighed, scratching his neck. "Well, truth be told, I'm not really sure what all the fuss is about..."

Anzu laughed, shaking her head as she turned to the albino. "Personally Bakura... It's probably best that we don't know and just take their word for it..."

The others raised their eyebrows at this, Mokuba and Katsuya merely shrugging at the comment. "Eh... She's got a point," the blond said, shaking his head before grinning. "Some things 'r jus better left unsaid..."

"It's not _that_ bad," Mokuba muttered, before looking across the street at Yugi's house and blinking a few times. "Oh... Wow... Um." He coughed, shaking his head as he looked around the boy. "Compared to the crowd over here, you house is..."

"Not... Lookin' good," Katsuya finished, giving an awkward cough as Yugi briefly looked back as he scratched his head.

"Y-Yea... Even though I didn't think I should say it," the boy said nervously, staring at the completely empty side of the road, "It's completely dead over there..." He laughed somewhat, turning to the others with a small grin. "In any case," he said with another nervous laugh, "Please don't say anything to my Grandpa about this; he's pretty much sworn off this store as his one great enemy! At the same time though, I couldn't resist checking out the new game they're selling, enemies aside, hahaha..." Haha, y- ...Er... Y-Yugi... The others swallowed, a teary-eyed Sugoroku currently standing behind the boy as his grandson continued to talk. Ehhh... "To tell the truth," the boy was continuing with a cough, shaking his head with a sigh, "Grandpa can be really old fashioned... Besides duel monsters, a lot of the stock is... Well... Really out-dated..."

"Y-Yugi..." Damn it even the _other_ Yugi was looking back and growing pale...

"I think you should stop talking," Anzu said with a cough, her eyes wide. "..._Now_..."

"Yugi," Mokuba added, biting his lip. "Um..."

The boy blinked, the smile abruptly vanishing as his other appeared to say something before vanishing from sight. "Ah... What is it," he asked slowly turning only to see his Grandpa caught in an expression of mixed anger and sadness. Yea. _That_. "A-AAAAH-"

"Yuuuuugiiii," the man said shakily, face red as he walked forward. "You... You..."

"G-G-Grandpa..."

"YOU LITTLE BACKSTABBER!"

* * *

Crowds and crowds of people were developing outside the store, as they had since as early as the night before. The line stretched far down the street and even the next road from outside the main door of the building. It was easy to see, even from the apartment window at the top of the store, that Yugi had managed to get an early spot however. He was almost directly outside the door, standing with two of his friends. Honda had said earlier that week that he couldn't come... As for Mokuba... "...Not there," he began, before pausing as a pair of people hurriedly ran down the road. "Ah..." There he was... Along with Jonouchi...

This would probably make things easier wouldn't it? The 'VIP' tour, he meant. They could beat the crowd in the store, pull Yugi to the side as they were leaving so that no one would suspect anything strange until everything was over and done with... He just needed to make sure his father was... Alright with it...

Ryuji swallowed as he left the room, walking over to the next one and standing outside the door. It seemed to be a constant battle, just standing outside this door... What kind of mood was he in, was he prepared... He took a deep breath, placing a hand on the handle and slowly opening it inward only to hurriedly turn his head away.

Not ready. Sunken eyes and mummified skin, a bald hairless face with a permanent scowl... His father wasn't ready. "Ah... S-Sorry, Tou-san," he began, continuing to avert his gaze and stare at the ground. "I... I didn't know you were busy..."

A rasping, aged voice came through the room, the 'old man' inside putting a clowns mask firmly in place on his head to cover the twisted features and shaking his head. "That's alright Ryuji, it's alright... Come in," he continued, pulling thick white gloves over bone thin and wrinkled hands as he turned around. Nothing remaining of the face save half blind and bloodshot eyes that were looking through the holes in the mask. "Come in..."

"Right..." The teen nodded, coming inside the room and shutting the door behind him with a slight swallow. Normally, coming in when the mask wasn't on was... Disastrous... But... He supposed that because of what day it was, he was... Alright... He walked forward, bowing his head as his father hunched over and grabbed his cane from the side. Straight to business then... "Everything is ready," he said quietly, slowly looking at his father. "We're just waiting for the moment of opening now..."

His father nodded, gripping his cane tightly and staring through the grinning clown's mask as he turned back to the window to stare at the line. To stare at Yugi. "Hehehehehe... The beginning of my revenge has finally come..."

Yes... Yes it... Had... ...Was that what the room in the basement was for then? The one hidden behind the dice monster table..? ...Where the aged stone disc with carved clawed hands and a dragon's maw at the start of a spiralling track sat..? He shook it off, closing his eyes and turning away for a moment. Whatever... All he had to do was beat him at that game, the dice game, and then it would be over. Who knew... Maybe he could get to know that guy. Put this week behind them, it was just a game after all... He seemed nice at least... ...He... "...Tou-san," Ryuji said quietly, taking a deep breath as he turned back. "...There's something I need to say... Earlier this week, on monday," he began, eyes drifting to the ground as his father turned from the window. "I found out Mutou Yugi was in my class..." His father had no apparent reaction, expression unseen under the mask.

But he already knew that he wasn't smiling. "...I wanted to test his strength," he continued, swallowing. "So... I set up a simple card game to play against him... That guy," he said with a smile, looking down at the side as he recalled the absurdity of how easily the boy had turned a bar-bet into an even match. "Heh... ...He's not as 'weak' as he seems..." Not nearly so...

"You..." Ryuji tensed, paling as his father's rough tones came through the room. "You didn't... _Lose_ to him... Did you?" The teen swallowed, looking down at his father as the man walked closer.

"I..." This wasn't his fault, this wasn't his father's fault this was... "N..."

"YOU LOST!" The old man's eyes widened, the sharp sting of the wood slicing into his cheek and tossing him back as his father swung the cane forward.

"Gn!" Even as an old man, his father had a good swing... A single bit of weakness, and who knew if he'd be alive right?

...Right..? "How could you lose to him Ryuji," he roared, the boy pulling himself up and rubbing his stinging cheek. "How could you _lose_ to Sugoroku's grandson? This is unforgivable," he shouted, the sound blocked out by the thick walls surrounding them as his son wiped a small trail of blood from his face. "UNFORGIVABLE!"

"I'm sorry... Tou-san, I..." He swallowed, choking on his breath as he pulled himself to his knees. "I..."

"_LOOK AT MY FACE_," the old man wailed, ripping his mask off and pulling the teen close by the shoulders and neck. Ryuji turned his head away, biting his lip as the man continued to scream. "LOOK," his father shouted, the rasping tones given a lisp from the lack of teeth and the worn and weak tongue, "_LOOK AT ME!"_ He couldn't... He couldn't look, he couldn't...

"G..." He turned, swallowing back a panicked sound as he looked over the wrinkled and jaundiced flesh. At an almost skull-like, mummified face that was now staring him down with a mix of anger and pain and a whole slew of emotions that all came from one thing.

One night... One night that was all it took... And suddenly Mom was gone, wanting nothing to do with either of them... Suddenly they were moving across the country with only one confusing goal in mind, suddenly there was that 'one thing' in the basement that he wasn't allowed to touch... Just one night...

And everything changed. "Who did this," his father rasped, yellowed and pale skin stretching unnaturally over his skull as he shouted. "_Who did this_," he repeated, Ryuji staring in panicked and fear filled silence. "_Mutou, Sugoroku,_ that's who! THAT'S WHO DID THIS!"

"I know," he finally shouted, pulling back as his father let go. "I... I know Tou-san," he forced out, rubbing his neck and gasping for air. "You told me... Hundreds, thousands of times tou-san," Ryuji said quietly, "You told me... Please," he continued, bowing his head as his voice lowered to a whisper. "Please just put the mask back on, please..." Don't make him look any longer... Don't make him...

There was a span of silence, the man doing as asked before slowly walking over to his son as the teen pulled himself up. "I'm sorry Ryuji," he moaned, grabbing his cane from the ground to steady himself as his son grabbed the door handle. "I'm so sorry... Did I hurt you," he asked, reaching up as the teen shook his head. "Did I...

"No," he said somewhat quickly, forcing a small smile on his face as he looked at the old stooped man. "No," he repeated, swallowing back another choke. "Not at all..."

"Oooohh... Ryuji... You're the only one I have," he said almost morosely, looking up at his son through the mask once more. "The only one I can depend on..."

Of course... That was right, he was all he had left wasn't he? "I know," Ryuji said, turning back to the door. "I understand... Both your pain, and your hatred," he continued, steeling himself as he opened the door. How could he possibly think of going back on those thoughts... On the very reason he existed now... "Please," he said calmly, looking back at the old man. "Watch... I'll get revenge for you... I'll defeat both Yugi, _and_ his grandfather," he said darkly, voice unwavering as he said these words. "I promise," he continued, turning back to leave the room.

There was no other way after all... This was...

The only way...

And he kept his word.

* * *

**AN: **Do you know how hard it is for me to hate Otogi now? _Seriously_? When I re-read that chapter, I hadn't realized that his dad was actually abusive... And don't you tell me he isn't! The panels after he's smacked on the cheek with a _solid wood cane_ include a nice little bruise there!

Anyways, this _does_ mean that Yugi will be getting to the 'dungeon' room a little differently... ...And it also means a little something interesting for the others, just wait.

Ohhh, but you know what this means? _It means I might just do this arc from Otogi's point of view_. We'll see how you liked him taking the camera here, and if the reaction is positive... Then yay~

_Very_ short note today, mostly since we're back in Canon territory again... And by canon territory, I mean the manga. The anime you see, has so many differences and holes that I can pull and poke and bring them up... But with the manga, I tend to either find less holes, or just stream right around them so that it really isn't relevant. Huh. Anyways...

Back to business! The **Poll Results**!

Keep in mind that these results are **closing** **after the end of the D-D-D Arc**. This is because... Well...

You can probably guess. However, due to the fact that Canon (AKA Male Priest) Set would need at least ten votes to catch up, I'm removing it from the options. So, your two options are...

Priestess Set... Or a crossdressing 'Priest'. Both are female, but one is hiding it. So far, the results are...

Female Crossdressing Set - 13 (Three Anonymous)

Obviously Female Priest_ess_ Set - 9 (Three Anonymous)

I don't even know which one I'm rooting for, aaaaaaaahhhh... (But that's good, I'm _supposed_ to be neutral on this.)

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey there Iona~ And yes, she really did need to get that bee out of there... She'll probably get a nice long chill at college oddly enough; she'll be going on digs, taking notes... On mostly her own time, which should probably work for her. Not to mention e-mail as seen above~

It's so weird how similar their attitudes are... But it probably is largely in part the genius factor; though it's obviously quite a bit more intense with Kaiba, as Kaiba didn't even go to the standard school (Save a few months of grade 10 for the hell of it)... So there was even _more_ isolation on Kaiba's part.

Yea, I think you're stretching it with that last one... Though speaking of _baby pandas..._ (*fan art~*)

And hehehe! Wow, you were able to spot the keychain? Nice! And it's more than just _saw_, trust me. He was already freaking out, beforehand, seeing that girl there just made it _worse_. (If you want a bigger hint as to where he is, notice this: he's not wearing the dog tags. And he _never_ takes those off.)

Hope you enjoy the chapter~ And the next~ It's a double post day~!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that demands you drop those cards and play with DICEEEEE.

...What do you mean it'll never catch on?

* * *

Today's chapter title is fairly simple really... It's based on the nice little law in TV that 'luck' equates to 'skill' in Poker... And most card games. I'm kinda on the fence about it myself.

Anyways, point is, luck pretty much lost out completely in this chapter! ...Because it was a set up. Yaaaayyy...

* * *

Originally when this chapter starts off, the Black Clown is news to everyone of the main characters; apparently, a _giant sculpted clown_ and _sign_ wasn't a big enough hint.

Obviously things are different here, so… _Yea_. Since conversations on D-D-D and the store happened through earlier chapters, we are greeted with Otogi's magic dice instead. WHOO! Dice are badass guys, they showed up in one of Yugi's earliest shadow games.

You know, the one where he _broke one_ with his _puzzle_?

* * *

Also, since Middle School tend to have the same style uniform that Domino High does in terms of boy's uniform, _that_ is why Mokuba was mistaken for a lower year student, and also why Otogi completely missed the fact that Mokuba was Mokuba _Kaiba_. ...Helps that Mokuba acts slightly more mature than the average twelve year old half the time though. (He has his childish moments... A lot of them.)

It helps that at the moment, Yugi's still shorter (note that I said the _moment_; I was looking through the manga again, and as it turns out, Yugi really _does_ hit his growth spurt during the series, and is taller than Mokuba by the time Battle City hits. By... A lot... I might add... _YAAAAY_~)…

It won't be by much (Probably a few inches)… But by the end of things (IE, this fanfic), Yugi will finally hit his apparently cannon height of 5'2'' (Shorter than Anzu), which Mokuba will likely retaliate with '_I'll catch up to you someday_!'

And if Kaiba's anything to go by… He really _will_ catch up in the end, and it will be something salt-in-wound worthy... The 'end' won't be within the fanfic though, evidentally; Mokuba's official height is 4'6''... Which is, oddly enough, only two inches shorter than the average 13 year old boy. And given that he's half Japanese in this fanfic, and _completely_ Japanese in Canon (Well, I'm assuming he is at least...)...

So yea. ...Interesting... He's exactly as tall as my sister...

Keep in mind that when I say Yugi is shorter at the moment, he's only shorter by like... An inch. And Mokuba's already around 4'5'' at this point (Average _twelve_ year old... Though that's not until July for him. I can stretch it when he's related to someone six feet tall damn it!)... So really, Yugi isn't actually _that_ short, given that he only has nine inches before he's at his final height. (YAAAAAAY.)

* * *

A lot of what Honda says at the start of this manga chapter is rather silly; first he asks if Otogi is one of their classmates (Despite the fact that it's probably fairly obvious given how long morning breaks are, and since it's morning break in the manga…), and then he goes on about how now that they've moved to class 2-B, they don't know many people.

Which is something that all of them probably figured about three years ago, when they first went to the second year of middle school. Because hey, the classes... They all change like that, funny thing.

Makes more sense _now_ though, since Honda's just assuming Mokuba doesn't know. Which is probably true, since Mokuba only just started Middle School.

* * *

Here's a random note; one of the girls appears to have Mokuba hair in one of the Otogi panels. BWAAAAAAH? (Thankfully, there is no Mokuba _face_. That would be _very_ frightening.)

* * *

Say it with me guys. _OHHHH_ Jonouchi..!

* * *

Now here's an interesting fact; Otogi says that Duel Monster's is one of his 'favourite' games… Now it's possible (And actually quite likely) that he was just buttering Jonouchi up… But when you think about it, he _does_ in fact have a deck in the Noa arc, and he _does_ know how to play… He's just not a professional, likely due to the fact that he's a game inventor, not a duelist.

It's kind of like how Anzu knows how to play, but isn't at the same level as most professionals because she doesn't spend all her time playing cards... She spends her time aiming for her own goals; namely dance.

* * *

Originally, Jonouchi does this to steal the attention of the girls that are following Otogi around. But that would be a little silly for Fanfic-Jou… So really, this is just him being too stubborn to turn down a challenge. Laaaaaaa~ (And he does that... A lot.)

…OHHHHHH _Jonouchi_… *shakes head*

* * *

Though when you think, it's not that surprising that Otogi could fool them (Or at least Jonouchi) like that; he _did_ distract everyone for a moment with the shouts… And lets face it, Jonouchi's fairly good at pickpocketing himself (Death-T), so really… It's not surprising that for a moment, the idea that Otogi could have taken the die was there.

No seriously, Yugi's pulled this trick as well; things like '_I never said it was only the flowers from the bouquet_', etc etc… A lot of them are obviously from 'Season 0' (Including that aforementioned flower one), but even so. Yugi, you aren't completely innocent here… Though I suppose that most of those games kinda happened when the 'dark' Yugi was a little more 'dark' than anything...

* * *

It's… IT'S SCHRODINGER'S DIE! (Schrodinger's Cat is a theory based on this; put a cat in a box with a vial of poison gas, close the box, and lock it in a room. The cat is both alive and dead at the same time, until you look. So it's trapped in a perpetual state of existence and non-existence~ …No actual cats were harmed.) So basically, as long as the cup isn't removed... The die is there…

And it isn't there.

Ooooooooh~

* * *

For some reason, during this chapter, it was like Bakura, Honda and Anzu magically vanished… In this case, I say that they were just smart and decided to eat their lunch while they had nothing better to say. Because it's lunchtime in the fanfic. As it is, Mokuba's alternating eating and speaking, because hey, this is _way_ more interesting than _his_ school.

* * *

Also, Mokuba was trying to tell Jonouchi that Kaiba will likely try and get the blond fired if Otogi holds the blond at the school for something. Because… Well, Otogi _did_ say two weeks, and that kinda covers friday nights and weekends. Annnnd also because Kaiba tolerates _nothing_.

* * *

A note on 'san'… When Yugi uses it with Kaiba, he's being polite; now that he knows Kaiba's a woman, calling her by her last name _only_ is a little too 'masculine' and 'impolite' by his standards. (Obviously not by the other Yugi's standards though.) However, in Otogi's case, it's because he doesn't know him… At all.

* * *

Originally, when Yugi switches out, his words are along the lines of '_You're really bold! How dare you bully my friend right before me_!' …But as I looked at the line, I found myself more and more confused… Ahhhh, this is what I get for using scanlations…

* * *

To explain how the game Jonouchi played was 'unfair', I'll tell you what the two Yugi's said among themselves. Jonouchi was fooled into playing a 'bar bet'. At first glance, the game _seems_ 50/50… However, after the first card is taken out, you have two of the opposite colour, and _one_ of the same colour. Which lowers the odds to 1:3… Not the best odds.

* * *

After Yugi threatens Otogi at the end of the card game, Otogi merely smirks darkly… And the chapter ends there. Obviously, I'm not doing that when the chapter is barely half way through sooooo… Yeaaaaaaaa… ...Heheheheheh...

_

* * *

Does_ Kaiba make Mokuba's lunch? That's up to you… (You can bet that it's made _practically_ though.)

* * *

Poor 'Yami' Yugi, his taste in food is mysteriously completely different from his lighter half... (-read: the fanfic author is a _dick-_) By the way, the rice makes up pretty much two thirds of the average bento lunch soooooo... That would be why he ducked back inside the puzzle.

* * *

In Japan, the students get to clean up the school after class end; generally, it'll be a small number of each class picked for certain days... So yea. Actually, we see this in one episode; Jonouchi and Honda are mopping the floors at some point early in the series.

* * *

When Mokuba mentions this comment from his riding teacher, it's referencing the large amount of work your legs do when you ride a horse. (Well, English style at least, I don't know about Western...)

In any case. He could probably kick someone... Really... _Really_ hard. (Evidence being a friend of mine who is barely over four feet. Sent a guy a foot or so taller than her across the room. AND I MISSED IT, _AAAAAAHHHHH_... *we don't like the guy...* )

* * *

You might not get Kigurumi!Jou, but you at least get Otogi mentioning the idea of a Kigurumi!Jou. Hehehe. ... (-psst. _art below_.-)

* * *

In the manga, Jonouchi originally wants to buy the dice so that he can re-sell them. But since he actually gets a decent amount of pocket cash from his job now that he doesn't need to pay for his dad, there's no reason for that. In fact, the only reason he's still allowed to have a job is because he 'pays rent' to stay in the house… Which is really nothing compared to the kind of food and board he's got now.

In any case, replacing the conversation that mentioned this is Bakura asking about Kaiba not knowing that they (Mokuba mostly) are all there… Hehe.

* * *

Manga Otogi (Ryuji during his point of view) has a very, _very_ intense reason for being a jackass during his 'antagonist' time. Very. Ummm... By the way… His dad really did smack him across the face with a cane. It was… Yea. That entire scene with Otogi was... Canon. It was all in the manga. The only thing I pulled out was Otogi's thoughts, and I still built those based on his expressions and reactions. Hihhh...

In any case, all the signs point to him legitimately being _afraid_ of his dad… And the fact is, it's quite likely that Otogi's father was… Well, a father _before_ his and Sugoroku's game screwed the guy over. (It was a cursed game of Senet.) Which means that all of a sudden, his dad looked _ninety_… And became an ass.

Needless to say, I'd do anything to get rid of that too.

* * *

On a humorous note, when his dad does put the mask back on, there's a 'speech bubble' that says '-put back on-' in it. Heeeee. It's like Takahashi was trying to hand us all a cupcake and say '_Cheer up guys and just forget about the abuse that you just saw... You'll never see that old asshole again when this arc is over~_'

Anyways, in all seriousness… Abusive, old-looking fathers… …Yeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaa… I don't think that Otogi's case is a show of 'easily forgiven' by the end to say the least... Because you need to realize; he really _does_ think that all he needs to do is beat Yugi at D-D-D! Once his dad jumps in and starts amping the danger up to eleven...

He's fucking _terrified_.

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

Remove the spaces and you have yourself a link! Funny that.

Remember, I love it when other people draw fanart too; if you have a picture you drew for this, let me know!

Thumbnail Posters – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Thumbnails. Jpg – Thumbnails are basically tiny sketches before a bigger work is made. I tend to do them when I get bored and want to draw a poster of sorts (As you can see, I decided on the one near the top, though I might to one of the others.)... Like how I kinda had a poster merging the events of Duelist Kingdom and Battle City (If only because I randomly stuck a duel disk on Jou's arm), these posters cover Battle City and the Noa's Arc... Though none of them really have anything to do with that, hehehe. Anyways, if you look closely, there are spoilers there so... Yea. But don't look to hard, I doubt you'll guess too fast... (Pssst; I like the bottom left one myself~)

Costumes: Kigurumi Madness: http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Kigurumi. jpg – Originally, I was going to just draw Jou in a kigurumi. But as I was drawing Yami-Yugi laughing his ass off, I changed my mind. (Even if Jou is one of the laughing two) Oddly enough, the only reason why the Kaiba siblings are spared this is because... I couldn't think of an animal other than a dragon for those two, and I didn't want to be that predictable. ... Well, unless you count Ryuzaki in the dinosaur one. Anyways. We have... (Since two of them have hidden their heads in shame) Yugi the panda, Honda the monkey, Otogi the rabbit (Because of all the magic dice tricks~), Ryuzaki the dinosaur, and lastly Bakura... The tiger (I forgot the stripes, AHHHH). Was originally going to be a 'Baku', from the kanji in Bakura's last name (It's a Chinese and Japanese creature from myth, a tapir-like chimera that eats dreams and nightmares), but I decided to go with one of the animals that make the Baku up. Namely the tiger. (It has an elephant's head, rhino eyes, ox tail, tiger paws. WHOO!)

Height Differences – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ HeightDifference. jpg – I'd say that this one speaks for itself... But that second half of the page is pretty much what happens for the rest of the fanfic, as after the Millennium World Arc, Mokuba is apparently 4'6'', while Yugi is 5'2''. HAAAAAAH.


	56. Chapter 55

**Black Saturday

* * *

**

Outside the Black Clown store the crowd was as thick as expected. The swarm spread clear to the other side of the street, adults and children alike waiting in line for the 'store exclusive' that had been constantly hyped up through advertizement and rumors. Somehow, despite the clearly heart-broken rage Sugoroku had about his grandson 'backstabbing' him and waiting in line however, he managed to be convinced to come along himself...

Possibly because of the fact that Mokuba mentioned them getting a private tour... Or maybe just because, like his grandson, the man simply couldn't resist the chance to get his hands on a brand new game. Either way, the majority of them were now looking at Bakura's watch, counting down the minutes until the store opened. "Two minutes," Anzu said at one point, the albino beside them holding his watch out in polite silence. "One minute," she said shortly after, soon turning it into a count down. "Thirty... Twenty-nine... Twenty-eight..."

"ELEVEN O'CLOCK," someone shoute from behind, the others turning as the doors were pulled open. Instantly the line began to move, the group caught up in a vicious sea of people as they were pushed around outside and into the store by the massive crowd that were now so focused on moving forward.

"The Black Clown is open," the crowd was shouting, Katsuya merely giving somewhat strangled noises as he was pushed off to the side with Mokuba. Yea, no shit it was open, now when was it going to close? "Don't push me," another voice called out, the blond in the meantime pushing back against the crowd that was doing just the same to him. The sounds were followed and preceded by shouts of "Give me the dice!", from the far front of the store by the register, a few of them gaining the addition of "I want thirty!"

And of course, this was followed by "Limit six per customer!" ...And also a groan, they couldn't forget _that_.

"Jesus," Katsuya muttered, scratching his head with his free arm while Mokuba held on to the other to keep from 'sailing away'. The two were currently pressed against the wall near the front of the store, shaking their heads. "All these people 're here f'r jus' dice?"

Mokuba shrugged, shaking his head as he attempted to see through the crowd while standing on his toes. "Apparently," he said, grunting somewhat as they were pushed even closer to the front by the continuing wave. "Hey Katsuya-nii," he said with a slight shout, turning to his friend, "Put me on your shoulders!"

The blond blinked, looking down and frowning. "Nyhhh... What?" His shoulders..?

The boy nodded, frowning somewhat. "I can't see anything," he said with a shrug, "And I bet that you're having just as much luck..." Well yea, but that was besides the point... "Come on," he continued, hands in his pockets as he smirked slightly. "Maybe we can spot Otogi and get out of all this!"

Oh hey, getting out of this would be good... "Alrigh, alrigh'..." He pulled the boy up, stumbling somewhat as Mokuba steadied himself on his shoulders. "Ack... Jus' don' move too much," he added, eyes widening briefly as he was again jostled by the crowd.

"Yea yea," Mokuba said dismissively, leaning over Katsuya's head somewhat, "Don't worry alright?" Yea... 'Don't worry'... What was the worst that could happen right..? The boy smirked, looking around the store now that he was sitting a good two feet above them. "Hnnn... Oh wow," Mokuba muttered, coughing somewhat. "Yugi got pushed really far back," he said with a small laugh, shaking his head as he continued to look around. "Ahhhh... I can see the others though. HEY," he shouted, Katsuya stumbling as the boy began waving. "ANZU! BAKURA!"

"O-O-Oii! You trying to fall off?"

"Awww, you wouldn't let that happen..."

"That ain't th' point!

The two in the crowd turned, Anzu abruptly bursting into what seemed to be laughter before pulling Bakura along with her to the pair as they weaved through the crowd. "Well," she said, shoving her way past a few others with a laugh as she came within 'range'. "That's one way to get a look around here I suppose!"

Mokuba merely grinned, while Bakura nervously looked over the crowd on his toes. "Yugi's gotten pretty stuck in there," he said quietly, scratching his head and turning to the others. "I hope he gets to the front alright..."

"Ohhh, he'll be fine," a fifth voice stated, the others turning as Sugoroku came over with six packets of dice. "What I want to know is what these packets have in side," the old man shouted with a laugh, hurriedly digging into one of them. "Hohohohhh..."

The others stared rather blankly, sharing glances. "Er... Jii-san," Anzu asked, shaking her head a moment before laughing. "Didn't you just finish swearing off this place as your 'sworn enemy'," she continued, the old man ignoring her as he looked over the dice.

"_Well_," a somewhat familiar voice said from the side, the owner shaking his head. "I should hope that's not really the case..."

Mokuba blinked, turning from his position on Jonouchi's shoulders to stare. "Ah... Otogi..."

Sugoroku also jumped, blinking a few times before frowning to himself. "O-Otogi," he repeated, the others turning as the man went pale. The seemingly fearful expression quickly vanished however, the old man crossing his arms. "Hnn..." He stared at the ground in thought, narrowing his eyes somewhat. "Now where have I heard that name before..."

Hahahaha... Yeaaaaa... Otogi merely shook his head, turning to them all as he paid the old man no mind. "I've had someone help Yugi to one of the back rooms," he said with a smile, crossing his arms. "He seemed a little 'swept away'. Come on," he continued with a nod, "I'll show you the room, tell you a little bit about what I'm working on... Better than walking through all of this, right," he added, looking back at the crowd.

They turned, staring at the sea of people and slowly nodding. "Yeaaa," he said slowly, blinking a few times. "Yea tha's probably a pretty good idea," Katsuya muttered, stooping down somewhat for Mokuba to get off. "Ahhhh my neck..."

"Hnnn..." The others turned to where Sugoroku was still frowning, eyes closed in thought for a moment more before he shrugged. "I think I'll go home in case I get some customers myself," the man muttered, hurriedly stowing his purchased goods in a pocket and looking back at the sea of people with wide eyes. "I could have missed someone already, oh no..."

Something told him that wasn't the case, but either way, the old man disappeared so quickly into the crowd there wasn't much of a chance to say otherwise... In the end, the guy was probably going to find out the hard way...

Well, in any case! Back to the 'tour'! The others turned back to Otogi, Katsuya rubbing the back of his neck for a moment while Mokuba shook himself off. "Lead the way Otogi-kun," Bakura said politely, bowing his head. The teen nodded, moving through the edge of the crowd against the still moving 'sea' to show them to a door in the back behind the counter.

"Just over here," he said somewhat confidently, pulling the door open and letting everyone through. "It's dark in there though," he added, the others bumping into each other somewhat as they attempted to clear their vision, "So watch your step!"

Dark? Yea that was an understatement... The door shut behind them, Katsuya looking around with somewhat narrowed eyes as he attempted to figure out where they were. "Well where'r th' lights th-" There was a loud click, the blond hissing as blinding lights struck him in the face. "AAAAAGH. Agggghhh," he shouted, turning around and still shielding his eyes. "Give us a warnin' next time!"

Otogi merely smirked from where he'd stood by the light switch, shaking his head. "What, you thought I'd leave them off?" No, he figured they'd have the lights on already! "Right," he continued, shaking his head and moving to the front of the group, "Well, follow me; this is just the hall, and besides storage there's really only one room that I wanted to show you all..."

"Only one room," Anzu repeated with raised eyebrows, looking around the hall as they went. "If that's the case," she continued, "Then why was there all this talk of a tour?"

"Hn? Oh... Well," he explained with a shrug, "Originally I was asking about Mokuba and his brother to come by... If that was the case," Otogi continued somewhat dismissively, "I would have shown them the security and computer rooms, but the fact is, they really aren't that interesting..."

Mokuba appeared to pout somewhat at that, Bakura giving him a slightly sympathetic look as their 'guide' moved down toward a somewhat 'hidden' door. Yea... Most twelve year olds weren't really into the tech side of things to say the least. Katsuya kept his eyes ahead, watching as Otogi pulled the door in. "Here we go... Hey," he shouted, stepping in. "Yugi, are you alright in there?"

The boy blinked, turning from where he was sitting on a chair of sorts and holding his puzzle. "Ah, Otogi-kun!" He came over from the chair, smiling as the others followed the teen inside. "Hah... And everyone else..."

"Heh... You were pretty far back," Katsuya said with a slight laugh, shaking his head as he looked around the room. Ok... What the hell was with this building and clowns seriously... "'S lucky we were all fished out eh?" Even if the scenery was a little less than... Er...

Yugi nodded, laughing somewhat as he looked back at Otogi and the others. "Hah, yea... Anyways..." He looked back at the large, smooth black table in the middle of the room. "Otogi-kun," he asked, blinking a few times. "What exactly is this room..?"

Yea that was a... Good question... The others looked around curiously, expressions largely varied among the group; Bakura for his part seemed largely indifferent... Mokuba more or less trying to look indifferent about the 'interesting' décor... And while in his opinion all the clown masks were just one more weird point to the room, Anzu seemed largely uncomfortable about it...

If the fact that she was deliberately keeping away from the walls were any sign at least. While they were looking around the room however, Otogi was busy pulling out a bag of dice from his pocket and walking over to the table. "This," he began, turning to the others as he pilled a few coloured dice out, "Is a table for the game involving these dice. It's called 'Dragons-Dungeons-Dice'," he continued, smirking as the others watched in silence. "D-D-D for short. Now currently," the teen said with a slight shrug, "I can't actually demonstrate the game as we're still working out the power controls for this table... You see," Otogi continued from the side, "We requested that it be powered separately from the company that made it... If you can guess what that means," he added with a wink, turning back from the table as the others frowned somewhat.

"Ahhh..." Mokuba nodded, turning to the others as they looked back at the boy. "Most of Kaiba-Corp's major devices, such as the duel-tables," he explained plainly, "Are all connected to a central computer in the main building... Not necessarily the best _defense_ if anyone hacks it," he continued with a shrug, "But it's a lot simpler when it comes to running the devices and programming the updates, and it's not like it's that easy to hack. Actually," he added with a frown, turning back to Otogi, "It's pretty much mandatory for all the devices to be connected because of that... So how..."

Otogi shrugged, smiling. "Like I said," he said with a laugh, "I do the rest by hand!"

The others blinked, expressions somewhat blank with that comment. "By hand..?"

"Otogi-kun," Bakura said with a somewhat surprised expression, looking at the dice he'd managed to purchase himself, "Do you mean to say that you designed this game yourself..?"

The teen nodded, taking a seat on one of the two chairs attached to the table with a smirk. "Yep! My dad might own the store," he said with a shrug, brushing a bit of hair from his face, "But the game was my idea. I spent a few years on it actually," he said with a laugh, shaking his head. "A long time... But it was well worth it."

Wow... He came up with this on his own..? "Huh... That's pretty cool," Katsuya said after a moment, before grinning. "So... How th' hell do y' play a game with nothin' but dice then," he asked, hands in his pockets as he looked at the large table.

Otogi continued to smirk, pulling out a few of the dice from his bag. "Well, the fact is, it's mostly a free-for-all... Everything depends on what you roll," he continued as he spun them around his fingers, "So it's a little hard for me to explain right now..." Oh... Really..? That didn't sound like a really well working game... "Summon crests summon monsters, magic crests allow for magic attacks, battle for physical... The more crests you get," the teen added, holding his dice up between his fingers, "The more powerful the effect; two out of three for a successful roll, three out of three for a bonus."

Oh, well that made more sense... He guessed. Why were they all different colours though... "Hn... So then how does one or the other win then," Anzu asked, frowning somewhat. "I mean... I get how you _start_ it but..."

...Yea that was a good question what- "Ryuji," an aged voice called, Otogi instantly going white with the sound. "Ryuji," the voice continued calling, "Are you in there..?"

The others turned, looking toward the door with somewhat wide and confused eyes before looking back at their 'host'. "Er... Who's that," Katsuya asked, blinking as the rasping voice continued to call out.

"That's... That's my... My father," he said with a cough, the others raising their eyebrows. That was his _DAD?_ "He's... He's got a throat cold," the teen added, shrugging as the others blinked. Wow... That was... That was one _nasty_ cold then... "Aaaaaah..."

"...He... Doesn't know we're here... Does he," Mokuba said somewhat nervously, laughing.

"Nooooo," Otogi said, rubbing his head. "No he doesn't..."

Greaaaaat... "...That's the real reason why we could only come to this room... Isn't it..."

There was a short nod from their guide, the others trading awkward looks as the shouts drew closer.

Okay... That wasn't good... "Ryuji..." Not good at all... "Come on now," Otogi's father continued with a shout, "I haven't got all day... The store closes early today, remember..?" Early? Why early?

The others looked back from the door to Otogi as the calls came even closer, blinking as their 'guide' rubbed his head. "Ahh... This isn't good," he muttered under his breath, eyes closed.

"Otogi-kun," Bakura asked with a slight frown, shaking his head. "If we aren't allowed to be here, then why exactly did you invite us all..?"

There was a knock on the door, Katsuya turning as Otogi looked up from the table. "Er... I don' think we really have time t' discus that..." At all...

"This way," Otogi quickly said, motioning toward a blank 'wall' at the other end of the room. Er what? The teen quickly slid the side open, pushing it out into another room and looking back at the others. "It leads to one of the storage rooms," he said with a slight frown, "But there's another door to the hall in there you can use..."

Kay, that was... Weird. Secret doors! ...What the hell... "Otogi-kun," Yugi asked, "If we aren't allowed here," he continued with a frown, "Shouldn't we just tell your dad the truth and leave..?"

He shook his head, looking over at the door with somewhat wide eyes. "Trust me, it's better this way," he muttered quickly, pushing Yugi somewhat toward the door without taking his eyes off the 'real one'. "Just take the hall back through the main entrance," he said just as quickly, "I'll explain later alright?"

Er... Alright... They hurried through the door, listening as it closed behind them before finding themselves in a dark room. "...Huh. That was weird," the blond muttered, shaking his head as they stood in the storage room. Nothing but piles of dice-packets and weird looking disc container things... And stuff...

"Did... Any of you feel like we were being rushed out," Anzu asked somewhat nervously, the group slowly making their way toward a door as they spoke. "Because... I _definitely_ felt it..."

Mokuba nodded, scratching his head. "Yea," he muttered, frowning. "I don't know what Otogi was planning, but that wasn't really a tour either... I get that he wasn't supposed to have us over but he could have _said_ something..."

"Well... I don't know about that not being a 'tour'," Bakura said calmly, smiling somewhat as they came to the door to the hall. "The fact is," he continued optimistically, "We were given an exclusive look at the device for this dice game... And you _did_ say that Otogi-kun planned on showing us something that wouldn't be released for another month or so," he added, turning to Mokuba for a moment.

The others nodded, stepping out into the hall and moving down to find the next door. "Yea... I guess," Mokuba said with a shrug, hands in his pockets before he laughed. "I guess I got a little hyped about it, ahaha..."

Yea, just a _little_ given everything else early in the week... That was putting lightly. "Well, not like there's much we can do about it now," Katsuya said with a shrug, pushing the door open to walk into the relatively empty store and freeze. "Wow," he said blankly, looking around the suddenly cleared room. "This place really ccleaned out huh..."

Bakura nodded, turning somewhat as they looked at a sign on the side. "They completely sold out," he muttered, looking back to the others. "I guess there's not much else they can do..."

Yea, he guessed... They made their way toward the store exit, shaking it off for the moment before a voice stopped them. "Excuse me..." The group turned, blinking as one of the store guards from earlier came over. These guys... They'd been scattered among the crowd trying to put it in order earlier... Didn't do much, but at least they tried right? The guard coughed, looking over at Yugi. "Sorry to disturb you with this," he said somewhat awkwardly, "But the store manager would like to have a word with you..."

Yugi blinked, pointing at himself for a moment. "Er... Me," he asked, frowning. "Why..?"

The guard shook his head, also frowning as he spoke. "We believe we have something of yours," he said somewhat plainly, "This shouldn't take long really..."

"Oh... Alright then..." The others frowned somewhat, Yugi shrugging and turning to them. "I'll be back in a bit," he said with a small smile, shaking his head. "I'll meet you at the Kame Game alright?"

They nodded, the guard leading Yugi off to the back rooms before another came over. "I'm going to have to ask the rest of you to leave," he said calmly, gesturing to the door. "We _are_ closed after all..."

Closed? It was only two! "Wow," Katsuya muttered, blinking as he looked from the guard to the others. "Wasn' jokin' when he said 'early'..."

The guard continued to stand there, before the four nodded and left the building. "Well..." They stood outside for a moment, simply looking out at the relatively empty street and trading glances. "...That was weird," Mokuba eventually said, scratching his head and turning to the older three. "What do you think Yugi left in there?"

"Perhaps he dropped one of his dice packets," Bakura suggested, the four walking across the street and toward the Kame Game. "I don't think he had anything else with him... Though I'm not too sure he bought any dice either," he muttered with a frown, crossing his arms. "Hnn..."

"There's also his wallet," Anzu added somewhat offhandedly, crossing her arms as well while they made their way to the crosswalk. "That's not something he would want to lose," she continued, frowning. "He has his bus pass in there, he needs it for school."

Huhhhh... Questions questions... "Well," Katsuya finally said, shrugging as they waited for the light to change, "Not like anythin' bad'll happen from it righ'? He'll be out as soon as it's all cleared up..."

The others nodded, briefly turning to look back at the building with those words before crossing the street. "I just hope he doesn't take too long about it," Anzu said with a slight frown, biting her lip and somewhat leading the others toward the Kame Game. "I have work later today..."

"Oh, that's right," Mokuba said with a slight jump, "Katsuya-nii, you still have night-shift too, so we can't stay too long... We should probably leave around three thirty I think..."

"I would think you would have to head home soon anyways," Bakura said with a slight nod, looking down at Mokuba with the words. "After all," he added slightly warningly, "If you're going to keep your older brother in the dark about all of this..."

Oh, that was a good point... "Eh," Mokuba said with a shrug, Katsuya turning to open the Kame Game door for the moment. "We've still got time... Right Katsuya-nii," he asked, the blond turning back to look at the boy and the 'Black Clown' building behind him.

"Righ'," he said with a grin, nodding, "We've got a good-" ..Hour... Katsuya froze, frowning somewhat as he looked at the building behind the others with narrowed eyes. For a moment... For a brief moment the sky had... The blond blinked a few times, shaking his head and continuing to stare. Nothing. It was normal again but... For a quick 'flash'... There'd been a black sky, but the entire building had been completely lit up, more so than even a campfire blaze...

And then it was gone. "...Katsuya-nii," Mokuba asked, frowning somewhat as he looked up at the blond. "...O-Oii," he continued, waving his hand in his face, "Katsuya-nii, are you alright..?"

The blond shook himself, turning to the others and throwing a grin back in place despite the raised eyebrows. "Eh? Y-Yea! Yea! 'F course! ...Hey," he said with a cough, smirking, "Why don' we go see if Jii-chan figured out how t' play that game yet... Compare what we know," he said quickly, the others nodding as they headed into the Kame Game. That sounded like a good idea...

Yea... That last thing had probably just been a trick of the light...

* * *

"So," Yugi said somewhat nervously, blinking a few times as he was led through the halls by the two guards. "...You said I left something here..?"

The guards guiding him through the hall nodded, bringing him to a 'room' that was built into the hall before sitting him down on one of the chairs. "That's right," the first one said, pulling something from a box on the side. "We found a wallet, with a bus pass belonging to a 'Mutou Yugi'... According to the manager's son," the guard continued, looking down at the boy as he frowned, "That would be you..."

His wallet? But that was impossible... "That... That can't be right," Yugi said with a slight laugh, reaching for his vest pocket. Sure the crowd had been rough, but it couldn't have been rough enough to knock it out of his vest..! "My wallet's right here," he continued, "It's-"

...Right... There... He froze, a few packets of dice falling from the pocket as he pulled out his wallet. How did those... "Those are dice packets," the guard at the side said, frowning as he looked from the floor to the boy. "But I was on duty the entire time by the front desk," he continued with wide eyes, "This boy never reached it!"

What... A wave of panic washed over him, a voice stirring in the back of his mind. "_...Aibou, what's going on,_" his other self asked curiously in the back of his mind, Yugi swallowing. "_...Is everything alright..?_"

Hah... That... That was a good question... And right now... He wasn't too sure of the answer... "Sir," one of the other guards stated clearly, moving from where he stood from the side, "We're going to have to search you for any other stolen goods..."

"W-What..." This... This wasn't happening, this wasn't... "But I didn't steal anything," Yugi protested, eyes wide as he looked at the guards surrounding him. "What kind of joke is this..! I didn't-"

One of the guards immediately grabbed the boy by the shoulders as he attempted to stand, forcing him down into the chair. Gh-! "Come on now," he said with a frown, shaking his head. "Just cooperate and we'll sort all this out..." He pulled off the vest, still holding Yugi's arms tightly in place as he struggled.

"Ghnn..! But I'm telling the truth," he shouted, looking at the guards as he continued to panic. "This is all one big mistake," the boy continued, "I wouldn't do that kind of thing!"

"_Aib-_" Yugi froze as his other self was momentarily cut off, the chain around his neck pulled up and over by one of the guards. N-N...

"Take this as well," the man said, ignoring the wide eyed look of horror he was now receiving from the boy before them. "It sounds hollow, he could have stored something in there..."

N-No... No no no no no... "G-Give that back," Yugi shouted, eyes wide as he began to struggle more fiercely. "That's a really important item to me," he called out loudly, the guard grunting against the force it was now taking to keep him in the chair. "Give it back!"

"Look," the guard said with a frown, putting the puzzle on the table at the side, "We'll return your things to you after we sort this out, just calm down now..."

Like hell! "G-GIVE IT BACK!"

A third guard tapped the first on the shoulder, holding up a collection of dice packets. Impossible... Yugi again froze up, staring at the packets in the man's hand with wide eyes. Impossible... "Found more in his vest pocket," he said with a frown, shaking his head. "There's at least eight all together..."

No... No that wasn't possible, that wasn't... "N- What..." He didn't take those, he didn't... "What!"

"Oh my my _my_..." Yugi tensed even further, a hoarse and rasping voice coming from around the corner as the guards turned to the source. The seemingly mute clown from earlier in the week walked forward, hands gripping a tall cane rather firmly as he hobbled over. "Such a _headache_ you're giving me," he rasped, giving a long and almost ancient sigh as the boy swallowed. The heavily disguised clown came closer, picking up the puzzle from the table and tossing it a few times before shaking his head as he held it in his grip. "With such an innocent face," he continued, expression completely hidden by the mask, "It's hard to believe that your true nature is so _ugly_..."

The clown from earlier... His voice... "You... You sound like... Otogi-kun's..." He steeled himself, shaking his head with narrowed eyes. Right to the point... He had to get right to the point! "I didn't steal anything," he said clearly, swallowing as he sat in the chair. "You can ask Otogi-kun," he continued loudly, "He can vouch for me! Just please," the boy shouted, eyes trained mostly on the puzzle rather than the clown, "Give back my Millennium Puzzle... Now!"

The clown merely shook his head, clicking sounds coming from behind the large painted grin. "Tsk-tsk-tsk... Such a naughty little brat," the man hissed, Yugi tensing as the elder's eyes visibly narrowed. "Lying through your teeth like this... There's only one thing to do," he barked, the guards grabbing Yugi roughly and jerking the boy from his chair with a start. "Take him away," the clown shouted, still gripping the puzzle tightly in his hands. "The testing room is a good place to hold him for now," he continued, Yugi's feet dragging across the ground as he struggled. "I'll contact the authorities in the meantime..."

The guards nodded, Yugi's eyes widening as he was pulled away despite his attempts. "H-Hey," he shouted, gritting his teeth. "Damn it, let me go," he shouted, pulling as roughly as he could against the grip. "LET ME GO!"

"Quiet down," one of the guards barked, dragging him toward the same room he'd seen from before. 'Testing room'... But this was the same room Otogi had shown them, the one with the table... He stared, momentarily going silent as the door across from him was opened. This was...

"Gah!" He shouted as he fell to the ground, pushed roughly inside by the guards. "Ung..." The door slammed shut behind him as he pulled himself up, stumbling to his feet and looking around. "G-Gnn..." Dark... This room was... "Ah..!" He stared, tensing momentarily as a light clicked on above the familiar table he'd seen before. He was right... This was the same room... But... In the white, dull light, the room that had formerly been almost cheery was suddenly dark, frightening...

Even Otogi looked frightening in this light, with the shadows hanging on his face far too eerily for his comfort. "I've been waiting to catch you alone," he said darkly, the light highlighting a small cut that he'd missed earlier in the day. That cut... It looked like it hurt a- Wait, 'alone'? Why would he... "...Yugi..."

"O-Otogi-kun," Yugi said with a frown, rubbing his arms. Alright... He could deal with his questions all at once right..? "...What happened to your cheek," he muttered, stepping forward. "And what's going on here," he continued with a slightly louder tone, "Why aren't the other lights on?"

The teen ignored him, folding his hands over on the table as he stared across the room. "We're going to play a game Yugi," he said plainly, tone almost monotonously dark as he gestured to the second chair. "Take a seat..."

He'd rather pass on that, personally... "O-Otogi-kun... I don't..." The boy swallowed, taking a deep breath and steeling himself. "I don't have time for this," he protested, swallowing. "Otogi-kun, I think... Your father... He took my puzzle, I need to get it back... Otogi-kun," he repeated, shaking his head again. "I need you to talk to him, I-"

"I know," he said bluntly, hitting a switch of sorts on the side of the table for a small glow to emit beneath it. Small white dots lined the board, each outlining a series of squares. He knew about the puzzle, about his father? But then why... "But right now, that's not the problem..." Not the problem! "Right now," he continued, leaning back against the chair, "We're going to play a round of D-D-D..."

But that was impossible... "But... You said the power wasn't running yet," he protested, eyes wide. "That the machine was... Was incomplete," he said quietly, shaking his head. What was going on here... "Otogi-kun, I-"

"Here," Otogi said clearly, pulling a case from under the table and ignoring the boy's words. "The dice we'll use for the game..." The case was slid across the table, lid already opened and the case itself filled completely with multi-coloured dice. "I already chose mine... And earlier I explained a little bit about the crests remember," he added, pulling a smaller case from the side and pulling out his dice. Yea... The crests, but there were others besides the three he mentioned and... And he didn't have time for this! "Each player starts out with twelve dice... There's over five hundred to choose from, ranging in level and ability," the teen stated, folding his hands over once again. "You can choose whatever ones you need... So go ahead," he continued calmly, eyes narrowed as he stared at the boy. "Choose your dice..."

What... Yugi looked over the dice in the case, swallowing. He... But they had his puzzle, his other-self out there, he... He couldn't...

...He wasn't getting it back until he did this, he thought to himself, still staring at the dice. Not until the end... Was he... The boy again swallowed, nervously picking up one of the dice and looking it over. The colours were completely different, as were the patterns on the faces... How was he supposed to choose, all he knew were that different 'crests' had different effects..! And he only knew about three of them at that..!

"There are six different colour categories," Otogi called out, Yugi looking up from the case as the teen continued. Alright... "White, or Magic, Grass, the Warrior, Yellow, the Undead, Green for the Beast and Red for the Dragon," he explained, tone still just as plain and cold as it had been the moment the light came on. "And each of them hold different forms of monsters... But the black dice," he added with a slight nod, eyes narrowing even further, "Have a 'special', 'hidden' ability..."

A hidden ability..? Yugi looked back at the dice, pulling out a small handful and looking them over. In that case... "Alright then," he said somewhat confidently, looking forward as he grabbed a few others and closed the case in front of him. "In that case, I pick the colours Grass, White, and Black!"

Otogi nodded, leaning over to pull the case back and under the table before leaning back on his seat. "Good," he said with a small nod, before smirking. "Now... The stage for this game is the 'Dark Arena'... You could call it a void," he continued with a slight shrug, "The area of the board where nothing can exist..."

H-Hah... That sounded comforting... A loud clunking sound came through the air as Otogi clicked another switch, a pair of holes opening up in the table before them. "A-Ah..." Two holes... Now what...

"The game is about to start," Otogi said clearly, dropping his dice into the first hole with a blank expression. Hn..! "Drop your dice in the hole before you," he continued, Yugi nodding as he did so. The dice clattered down into the hole, sound of a motor came through the air as the holes re-sealed. Yugi sat back somewhat in his seat as the sounds continued, before jumping as a series of dice came through the side, neatly lined up in a row. "The machine mixes the dice randomly... In this game," Otogi explained, "The line up and combination of the dice is a key part of determining victory and defeat both." Alright then... He understood that much at least... "Now... We both take out the first three dice," he said clearly, pulling out his own set and holding each one between his fingers. Red... All of the dice were red...

He pulled out his own three, swallowing. Grass-green, grass-green... And white. So two 'warriors' and a 'magic' type monster. Another click came over the air, Yugi staring as a small doll of sorts appeared from a panel in the table. "Ah..." The small 'wizard' like figure stood on what looked to be a peg, surrounded by a block of 'land'.

"This doll," Otogi explained, a small clown appearing on his side of the field as he spoke, "Represents the player's health. The 'dungeon master' you could say," he continued, before smirking and continuing on. "It has three hearts as you can see," he stated, the three lights pulsing somewhat on each doll in the meantime. "And whoever is attacked three times, losing those points, will also lose the game... So," he continued, his opponent looking across the board nervously. "Let's begin... Game start," Otogi shouted loudly, spinning the dice between his fingers. Game start... Haha... That was all great but he didn't even know how to play this game..! "I'll attack first," the teen continued, tossing his three dice on the field. "On your turn, the player throws their three dice! Clear?" Er... Right! "Now then," he continued, watching as the dice clattered to the ground to reveal a set of two stars and a pair of crossed blades, "I've rolled two summoning crests..." The stars then... "Which means I get to summon a monster..." Oh shoot... "To do that," Otogi explained, still smirking as his opponent paled, "I place one of the die on the table... And push it down. Watch! Come out," he shouted, the die unfolding to reveal a small holographic monster. "Wizard Dragon!"

The dragon gave a fearsome 'roar', clawing at the ground it stood on before looking forward in wait. A... A monster and a path...

"Hehehe... Look closely," Otogi said, his opponent staring at the 'path' that the dice had unfolded to create. "In order to reach the opponent's dungeon master, you need to create a path using your summoned monsters... And while you _could_ use _my_ paths for that," he said with a smirk, Yugi staring in silence as he logged the info in the back of his mind, "Well... You still have to go through my monsters first, so I wouldn't recommend it..." Of course... "Now Yugi," he continued, smirking at the unease his opponent held. "...It's your turn."

That was right... But first... "Otogi-kun," he said with a swallow, frowning and looking forward. "I need you to promise me... If I win this game," he continued, narrowing his eyes, "I need you to swear that you'll return my puzzle... Promise me!"

The teen across from him stared, before slowly nodding. "Alright," he said calmly, smiling as he spun his two spare dice in his hands. "That sounds fair..."

Alright then... The boy nodded, letting out a held breath before clutching his dice. He was going to get the puzzle back... Alright... Ok... He had to win this on his own now... "Thank you," he said with relief, shaking his head and composing himself again. "Now..." He tossed the three dice to the table, watching them clatter across the ground only to swallow. "Gh..." Arrow, pentacle, crossed swords... "They're all different..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn... You failed to summon a monster..." Eeeeeee... Not good... "Too bad," Otogi said with a 'sigh', shaking his head as he looked across the board. "You chose such high-level dice, you're going to find it _really_ hard to do any better than this..."

W-Wait... What? "H-High level..." They had levels..? How did..!

Otogi nodded, smirking as he continued to spin the dice. "Let me explain... There are six types of crests... There are the three I mentioned earlier, summon, magic, attack," he began, flipping the dice in his hand to reveal a star, pentacle and blades for a moment, "And then there are three others, defense, the shield, along with traps, and the option to 'go forward'... The arrow," he continued with a smirk. "And the number of summoning crests the die has defines the level of the monster inside. Take my monster, the 'Level Two Wizard Dragon' for example," he said with a nod, crossing his arms as he continued. "There are three summoning crests on his die, so there's a fifty percent chance of summoning. Because of that," Otogi stated, pulling the dice back into his hand, "He has a low level... Take a look at your dice," he continued, his opponent doing just that for the moment. "How many crests are on yours..? All in all, all three of them only had one crest... That was it.

Uh oh... "Gh... One..."

"That's right," Otogi said with a grin, smirking as his opponent continued to look over the dice. "Which means your chances of summoning are _very_ slim... Of course," he said with a somewhat dismissive wave, "This also means that your monsters are _very_ powerful... But if you rely on just gathering powerful monsters, you'll lose very quickly... Now, you could very well get lucky," he added, giving a shrug. "And manage to roll the two summoning crests you need... But even so," the teen continued, looking at his opponent almost darkly as he spoke. "Four crests for a level one monster, three for two, two for three, and one for four... If I were to hazard a guess Yugi... I'd say that all of your dice are somewhere in the level three level four zone... Aren't they..."

Damn... Damn it, he was right..! Besides maybe two or three, most of the dice he'd picked out had varied crests..! Yugi bit his lip, looking back at the dice in his hands. It hadn't even occurred to him that not having a wide selection of crests would be _bad_... He only had high-level summons now... Not good...

His opponent sighed, pulling another dice from the side and adding it to his other two. "Well," he said with a shrug, "Seeing how you failed to summon a monster, it's my turn now... As with before," he called with a shout, tossing the dice to the table, "I roll three... And as before," he added with a smirk, and arrow and two stars appearing as the dice clattered into place on the ground, "I get to summon a monster. So," he continued, grabbing the dice with a swift movement and clacking one of them into place on the table, "Dimension dice! The path extends," Otogi shouted, "And I now have two dragons on the field... And in addition to that," he said with an almost menacing grin, Yugi growing pale as the second monster's path clicked in place on his side of the board, "This 'forward' crest means that my monster moves one step..."

Bringing him closer to his 'Dungeon Monster'... This was alright though... It was just one step... Just one... He nodded, grabbing his dice again. Alright... "My turn then," he shouted, sweating somewhat. He couldn't lose... He couldn't... The dice clattered to the ground, Yugi wincing. "Ah..." Summon, forward, 'attack'... The star, the arrow, and the crossed blades. Damn. "I missed again..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Better hurry up and summon something Yugi," Otogi said with an odd grin, folding his hands in front of him before grabbing another die. "At this rate, things will be over in seconds... Hahahahaha!"

Gh... Not good... Not good... If this kept on happening...

The boy swallowed, biting his lip. '_Other me..._' He'd never hear that voice again... He'd never-

'..._Aibou..._'

* * *

"What do y' mean, 'he's not there'!"

The guard outside the store sighed as the blond shouted at him, hat under his shoulder as he looked over the five questioning him. It had been about half an hour since Yugi 'disappeared' into the store; and as the clock struck three, most of those in the Kame Game had decided that _maybe_ they should check to see if something had happened...

Which brought them there, catching one of the guards as they left the building to finish their shift. "Look," he said with a sigh, scratching his head and looking over the small crowd that had cornered him. "I wasn't even _there_ when they took him in... All I know is that they found his wallet and sent him on his way," he continued, shaking his head. "I mean, he's not in the building any more!"

But that couldn't be right, they were just down the road and they didn't see a thing... Not a single person left the building! "But there's no way," Katsuya protested, shaking his head and scowling at the man. "There's no way he'd just 'vanish' after somethin' like that," he continued, "He said he'd meet us back at th' house!"

"Yea, well, I'm not him," the guard said, giving a shrug and pulling off his jacket as he shook his head. "I'm not even on duty any more. If you're so worried about him," he continued, folding the jacket over his arm as he pulled out his car keys, "Then call the police." Yea because that would do much... The guard moved off for the parking lot, still shrugging. "Like I said before... I can't do anything."

Damn it damn it damn it..! "Jonouchi," Sugoroku said from behind, shaking his head with a somewhat exasperated sigh. "Let's just go back to the house," he continued with a shrug, turning back to head for the crosswalk. "He's probably caught up with your friend... Otogi right?"

The group nodded, frowning somewhat as they headed back and waited for the light to change again. "Yea... 'Otogi Ryuji'," Mokuba said, shaking his head. "But... Jii-san," the boy asked, looking at the man, "Are you sure that this is alright..? Just leaving it like that I mean..."

Sugoroku nodded, walking across the street and back to their house. "Of course," he said with a slight shout, arms crossed behind his back. "Listen... Yugi isn't some little boy," the man said with a frown, "He's a senior student, like all of you! Well... Most of you," he added somewhat offhandedly, looking at Mokuba as the boy continued to frown. "The fact is, he's able to handle himself! We'll just go back to the house and wait for him to come back alright? Like I said," he continued with a smile, "He's probably just gotten a little caught up in something or other."

There was another round of hesitant nods, Katsuya crossing his arms with a frown as they came to the Kame Game entrance. "Still... 'S not like Yugi t' jus' vanish without a word..." Wasn't like that at all, he was normally pretty good about keeping track of things like that... He paused for a moment, looking back to Bakura as the albino stared at the building. Huh... Looked like he wasn't the only one wo- "Gh!" Briefly the blond's eyes widened again, staring over the 'Black Clown'. Another flash... Black sky, red glow, what the hell was that even supposed to mean, _seriously_... The blond shook it off, blinking a few more times as the flash stopped again. "Oi, Bakura," he called, the teen jumping somewhat before turning. "You comin'," he asked, jerking his head back toward the game store behind them.

"Erm... Y-Yes," he said with a cough, turning back to the others and running over from where he was standing. "Right... Right... Ah..." He looked back at the blond, before frowning somewhat. "Ahhh... ...Jonouchi-kun," he asked, blinking a few times, "What exactly is that..?"

That? The blond looked down at his shirt where Bakura was staring, before hurriedly grabbing the dog-tags around his neck and stowing them underneath it. Aaaaack, shit, no one was supposed to see that! "Ehhh... Nothin'," he said with a laugh, coughing somewhat and shaking his head, "It's really jus'-"

"Were those _dog tags_," Anzu said with raised eyebrows as the blond turned back, Katsuya mentally nailing his head against a wall in response. Ahhhh damn it. Mokuba silently laughed at the side, Anzu and Bakura continuing to 'stare' somewhat. "I knew you had something around your neck," she continued with a smile, "But... I didn't think you'd go near anything with the word 'dog' in it given how you react to it..."

Yea haha, very funny... "Yea, well, now y' know, an why don' we jus' leave it at that," he said fairly quickly, moving toward the door to open it.

Anzu smirked, shaking her head. "Sure thing... But where did you even get the tags," she pressed, shaking her head, "I don't think you regularly have enough for those... If you're even interested in getting things like that..."

"Gh- None of yer business," he shouted somewhat loudly, still holding the door open for the others.

Bakura blinked, rubbing the back of his neck somewhat nervously. "We were just asking Jonouchi-kun..."

"Yea," he responded somewhat testily, "Well I ain't answerin'!"

"Oh... It can't be that much of a big deal Jonouchi..."

"I'm sorry if it bugs you..."

"Now _where_ have I heard that name..."

Eh? The three turned, looking at where Sugoroku was apparently talking to Mokuba. "Er... What," Katsuya asked, blinking. "Y' mean 'Otogi'," he added, the old man merely continuing to stare at the ground in response.

"Otogi, Otogi..." Guess that answered his question. Sugoroku continued to frown, shaking his head. "Just how is it written exactly," he asked, looking toward the others.

Er... Written..? He hadn't really... Mokuba shrugged, hands behind his head as he answered for the others. "I'm pretty sure it's 'O' as in 'honorable' and 'togi' as in 'entertainer'... Why," he asked, blinking as he brought his hands back down. "Does that remind you of anything..?"

The old man continued to frown, arms crossed as he looked down in thought. "Hnnnn... It _seems_ familiar," he muttered, eyes narrowed as he shook his head, "But I just can't place where I heard it..."

Huh... The others stared, sharing glances and shrugs before walking into the game store.

Yea...

Weird thing that...

* * *

In the time that the others had spent in trying and failing to locate him, Yugi had ended up frantically shouting from within his mind to the voice that he thought he'd heard. '_Other me_,' he 'shouted' loudly, eyes wide and staring at the board in a panic._ 'Other me? Are you... Are you there?_'

But of course, there was no answer... The voice he'd thought he'd heard remained completely silent. The connection was held through the puzzle after all, so how could there be an answer..? It was just... Just his immagination... Yugi looked back at the board as the words 'summoning crests' came through the air, swallowing as a third monster was brought to the field by his opponent. A third dragon and a third chunk of 'path'... And only three or four squares between the edge of it and his dungeon master. "Something wrong Yugi," Otogi asked from his side of the table, smirking as his opponent pulled himself back to reality. "Am I maybe coming a little too close to your side for comfort?"

Gh... This wasn't good... If he didn't summon something soon... Then he would lose more than just the puzzle... He'd lose... Yugi grabbed the dice from the board, breathing raggedly in his panic as he tried and failed to calm himself. "...My turn," he shouted loudly, swallowing back a choke as he gripped the dice in hand. Please, please, _please_, he begged mentally, tossing the dice to the table and watching as they clattered about. Please give him summoning...

Damn it! The boy bit his lip, head bowed as he was greeted with two 'forward', 'arrow' crests and a 'magic', 'pentacle' one. Damn... Again! He'd failed again!

"And here I heard that you were the 'king of games'," Otogi said from across the table, Yugi looking up with narrowed and angry eyes. "Is this really all that the 'king' can do," he asked, shaking his head as his opponent stared in silence. "Hn, Yugi?" Gh... Don't talk about that, please... That title meant nothing, especially with how he had to get it... He didn't even know what happened to Pegasus afterward, he'd ended up leaving him there at the table... "Well... Then again," Otogi said with a laugh, pulling the boy from his thoughts, "That was all the 'other you', wasn't it?" ...What... What... He knew about... "Without the power in that puzzle," he continued, shaking his head as he looked over at the wall, "You're just a weak little boy..." What..? Yugi's eyes widened, frozen in a mix of shock and fear. No... This wasn't... He wasn't... "Of course," the teen added, "We aren't done yet... Are we Yugi," Otogi said with a smirk, grabbing his next die and adding it to his two as he had for all of his previous turns. "I intend to completely _destroy_ you with this game... And I'm not going back on that..." Not going back... What did he mean..? "Now," he shouted, rolling the dice and watching as a pair of summoning crests appeared. "For my fourth monster," Otogi announced, "I can now reach your area! Go," he continued, pushing the die into the table before allowing it to unfold. "Twin-Headed Griffin!"

Gh..! The boy tensed, watching as the die's net locked into the board to reveal a two-headed, cyclopean dragon. One step, he thought with a swallow, watching the holographic figure's wings beat at the air. Just one step and he'd be vulnerable to attack...

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Check," Otogi said clearly, smirking. "And if you can't summon anything," he continued, opponent gritting his teeth in panic as he stared at the board, "Then it's 'mate'." Not good, not good... If he didn't summon anything this turn... "Your turn Yugi," Otogi drawled, eyes still narrowed in a dark glare. "I'm waiting..." If he didn't do anything, he told himself as his eyes closed over, then he'd never-

"_...Aibou!_" That voice-! The boy's eyes snapped open, Yugi looking back at the table with a swallow. He knew... He knew it hadn't been in his mind! He could not lose... He couldn't..! If he lost, then the puzzle... His other self...

Yugi gripped the dice tightly, steeling himself as he looked over the crests. There was only one summoning crest on each die... A 1:6 shot he'd get the crest on each one, even slimmer chances to get two... '_I have to do this... I __must__ get you back,_' he told himself,_ 'I have to do this..._' He looked across the table, tossing the dice forward with a silent nod. He wouldn't lose! No matter what..! Otogi was smirking... The dice were spinning across the table, clattering against the set paths... But against all the odds, he would do this... He had faith!

The white one was 'magic', bearing the symbol of the pentacle... But the grass-green ones... "Ha... HAHAHA!" Yes!" The two stars stared up from the field below, Yugi taking hold of the white die and grinning. "Two summoning crests," he shouted with a laugh, unable to keep a triumphant grin off his face. "Go!" He clacked the die into place, watching as Otogi tensed on the other end. "Little Wizard, Level 4," he shouted, still grinning. The screen in front of him had flicked on and was detailing the monster now... There was a hidden ability... When a magic crest was rolled, an attack from two spaces away was possible... And two spaces away from the magician right now... "Hehehe... Attack the Twin-Griffin," Yugi ordered, the small holographic figure striking down the monster projected on Otogi's die. With a resounding and thundering roar the attack was made, Yugi still grinning as he shouted. "_**Thunder Rod**_!" The holographic dragon vanished in a show of light, leaving his mage to stand in place with a smirk. Just try attacking his dungeon master now... He could do this...

And he _would_ do this! "So you summoned a monster," Otogi said, shrugging as his opponent looked across the board with a slight nod. "You might be safe now," he stated calmly, "But let's review... My path has already reached your area," he continued, gesturing at the field before crossing his arms. "And in addition to that... I have three dragons all waiting to strike... So tell me this Yugi," he continued, grabbing his dice as he was answered with silence. "How do you expect _one_ monster to defend my next move?"

The boy merely steeled his expression remaining silent as he stared across the board. The real game had only just begun... No matter what the odds, he was going to win this... No matter what... Just because it was one against three didn't mean he would give in... No matter what!

"Roll," Otogi shouted, tossing his dice to the table top. They clattered about, coming to a stop as the series of red dice resulted in the exact same result as they always had. "Two summoning crests," he called loudly, grabbing one of them and moving it forward. "I summon Grenadier, level 2," the teen continued, pressing the die into the ground and moving back as the monster came into sight. "Now Grenadier here has a special ability," Otogi explained with a smirk, the monster sitting in place beside his closest dragon and tossing a bomb in its clawed draconic hands. "If I roll two trap crests," he explained, crossing his arms, "Then I can destroy any monster on the field..."

Gn... Any monster on the field..! Yugi swallowed, grabbing his next die and adding it to his other two. Hnn... He needed more monsters on the field... If not for an attack, then at least for a defense... He couldn't just go through with one monster if he didn't have to after all... "My turn," the boy shouted, looking over his new white die with a mental nod. Three summoning crests on this one... If he combined this with his other die, then it would be easy to fill his side of the board right? He nodded to himself, tossing the dice to the ground and watching as they clattered about. "Alright," he shouted, the white and first of the green dice landing with a star. "Summoning crests..!" He grabbed the green one, pushing it down into place as the information appeared on the screen. "Crocosaurus, Level 4!"

Phew..! This monster was pretty strong... Not only would it provide a good defense he noted, but it could potentially clear a path too... He moved his eyes from the axe wielding alligator, instead listening as his opponent began to speak. "Hn... My turn," Otogi called, pulling out his next die and rolling. The dice clattered across the board, both sides watching carefully as they fell.

Star... Trap, if the 'spike' symbol was any sign... And tra- He missed? Yugi frowned, before paling as he quickly remembered the last monster Otogi had summoned. No... No he hadn't missed... He'd...

"Hnhnhnhn... Exactly what I wanted," Otogi shouted, crossing his arms as he looked over the board. "Grenadier's ability activates," he announced, the holographic monster tossing a bomb forward with those words. A large 'explosion' occurred on the field where Yugi's recently summoned monster stood, leaving nothing behind as the light cleared. "And Crocosaurus is destroyed!" Gh-! Right after he'd summoned it too... "Hnhnhn... Too bad Yugi," Otogi said with a shrug, shaking his head. "That was a good summon..."

Hn... There was still another shot... There was still a shot... "My turn," Yugi shouted, pushing the thought of defeat from mind as best as he could while he grabbed his dice. There was still a chance... He still had a shot. He still had a shot at this! "Go!" The dice clattered to the ground, only for the boy to wince as he looked over the symbols. Forward, Summon, and Magic... Damn, he muttered to himself, gritting his teeth as he looked at the dice and re-gathered them. Miss..!

"Hehehe... Dice roll," Otogi roared, throwing his own dice forward while his opponent looked back across the field. "And once again," he shouted loudly, "I summon a creature! More over," he added with a dark laugh, the third of his crests revealed to be a single arrow as his monster was summoned from the die, "Girafuse moves forward!"

No... He had his mage, but he didn't have anything else... If he didn't make the right roll... No no no no no... No... Was... Was he really going to lose then..? Was this really...

"Your turn Yugi," Otogi was saying, the boy merely biting his lip as sweat continued to drip on the side of his face. Not good... Not good...

Otogi _created_ this game, built it from nothing but a single thought... He knew all the rules, and all of the strategies... He himself however, had literally come in with no knowledge, no strategy, no way of preparing, no way of even knowing he'd be _in_ this mess..! How...

How would he do this... "Hey," Otogi said from across the table, eyes narrowed as his opponent bowed his head, "Are you giving up?" The boy grit his teeth, looking up weakly only for his opponent's glare to intensify from across him. "Is this all you're capable of? Are you really as disappointing as you seem?" ...Otogi... Yugi swallowed, breathing raggedly as he looked over the board. What was he talking about... "Listen up Yugi," the teen said coldly, sitting up in his seat. "I know... That after you unlocked and solved that puzzle you defeated many people... And not just in card games," he added, the boy across from him tensing. "Not by a long shot..."

What did he mean by that... Yugi continued to stare, eyes wide as he looked at Otogi. He couldn't... He couldn't possibly know about...

"...The 'Shadow Games'," the teen stated plainly, "'Games of Darkness', whatever you want to call them," Otogi continued with narrowed eyes, ignoring the shocked look from his opponent. "My dad told me about the powers of that puzzle from the moment I could understand what came out of his mouth... '_He who solves the puzzle will be granted the powers of darkness_', those are the words engraved on the side of its container... And now," he continued, expression stern as he looked at his opponent, "That person has appeared... After thousands of years, 'Mutou Yugi', you _solved that puzzle_!" How did he know all of this... And what was he talking about... "The 'King of Games', not just duel monsters... It's my dream," he shouted, still frowning, "To face off against that person, to prove myself worthy of solving that puzzle myself! If I can beat you... If I can solve that puzzle..."

How did he know all of this... ...No... How did... How did his... "...Otogi-kun," Yugi said slowly, still frowning with wide and shocked eyes as he looked across the table, "How... How did your father know of all this..?" How did anyone...

Otogi merely snorted, leaning back on his chair as he stared the boy down. "How did he know," he 'asked', shaking his head and turning away. His expression fell from the somewhat smug looks he'd been holding the entire time he'd been in front of him, fading even further into an almost depressed and blank stare. "...That's a long story..."

"...I'm not going anywhere," Yugi answered after a few moments, bowing his head politely.

"...Then I'll begin..."

* * *

"This is a story that began just a short time after we were born... Maybe even before it," Ryuji added as he crossed his arms on the table. "Seventeen years ago there was a man, a single man known across the underground gaming circuit known for leaving an endless trail of defeats behind him... The 'undefeated champion', the master of any and all games be it poker, chess, checkers, old, new... Even if he was completely new to the board," the teen continued, "He would topple his competition in an instant," he stated plainly, snapping his fingers. "Just like that..."

My father was also a member of that dark ring... And so impressed with this man he'd heard so much of, he approached him and begged to be taken in as a student. And to my father's surprise he did just that," he continued, leaning against his seat as he recalled the tale with ease. "Gathering and testing out games from worldwide, he learned in his ways... And then one day," the teen stated, seemingly neutral tone quickly taking a turn for a darker sound, "He asked about a box he had sitting at the side, a golden 'chest' embedded with a symbol known as the 'Eye of Wdjat'... And he told him," Ryuji continued, "'_This box contains a puzzle... A treasure so valuable that only one man survived pulling it out from its tomb_..."

The boy across from him swallowed, frowning. "That man," he stated clearly, blinking slowly before continuing. "That man was my grandfather, wasn't it!" As a matter of fact...

Yes. It was. However, he didn't answer, merely continuing with the story. "Now," Ryuji said with a half-hearted shrug, eyes growing dim as his vision blurred over with the past, "When my father asked for the opportunity to solve this puzzle, he was of course refused the right... '_Only the person who defeats me can be given that honor_,' he was told. And only that person... Needless to say," the teen stated darkly, abruptly looking up with cold eyes. "How could my father pass the chance? So they started a game... But rather than go with the standard," the teen stated, voice lowering almost to a whisper as his opponent listened intently, "They decided to try something different, _something new_," Ryuji said darkly, eyes narrowing.

"But if Sugoroku knew the secrets of that board they decided on," he continued with a jump in volume, "He sure as hell didn't share them with my father... And at first, when he was defeated, it seemed nothing had changed. My father left his studies with your grandfather and everyone moved on..." Or so they thought. So they thought... "But that board had a dark curse... A terrible curse," he muttered, looking at the side. The reason he was here, the only reason... "How do you think it would feel," Ryuji spat, glaring at the boy across from him as he was answered with a single steady glare. He couldn't know. Of course he didn't. But even so... He had to at least come _close_. "To watch, as over night, your father suddenly succumbed to the same bone pains of a man at least _thirty years older_ than him? As his bones and muscles suddenly became brittle and worn, hair going grey and falling out, all within the first _day_! 'Premature aging' they called it," he spat with a snarl, face growing red as he revealed the well kept secret he'd held between himself and his father. "For two entire years, I got to watch as my father went from less than thirty years old to _triple_ that amount, and _**THEN SOME**_!"

And still he was answered with silence, opponent merely staring with no apparent change in emotion save maybe the twitch of an eyebrow. Nothing... Nothing at all. Ryuji grit his teeth, narrowing his eyes. "This fight isn't just some game Yugi," he said darkly. "This fight has been fated to happen since that night all those years ago... And for my father, not only will I avenge this unspoken crime that I've been raised to fight against, I'm going to earn the rights to that Millennium Puzzle... I'm going to defeat you," he stated clearly, "And with that, I'll inherit the powers of that device... But I'm going to do it fairly," he continued, narrowing his eyes. "So you _show_ me," he growled, looking across the table as his opponent's expression shifted even further into anger. "Show me the power and skill of the one who could solve the millennium puzzle!"

Silence... Ryuji's opponent sat across from him, holding his dice in his hands. "My turn," he finally said clearly, voice devoid of both hatred and anger. He merely stared across the board, and then back at the dice in his hands. He had to hand that to the guy... Keeping his anger out of this...

Personally, he thought, as the boy looked over his two summoning crests and trap crest, he wasn't able to do that any more. The teen watched as his opponent silently looked over the dice, before placing his on the side. No move... He placed the die, but he didn't summon...

"That's right," his opponent stated, answering the unspoken question and looking forward. "I decided not to summon just yet..."

Hnnn... Now what was he planning then... He narrowed his eyes briefly, grabbing his dice and fingering them as he looked over the board. It didn't look like there was anything... ...Hn! Whatever! Leave it be... He'd just have to take the chance during this 'break'... "Dice roll," he shouted, tossing the three red die to the table top. He watched as they fell to a stop, before smirking as he looked over his result. Exactly what he needed... "Hehehe... Two forward _and_ an attack crest... So not only can I send my _two_ monsters in range of your Dungeon master," the teen continued, watching as his opponent went pale in response to the advancing army, "I can also use this attack crest to make the first hit! Lizard Dragon," he ordered, the more powerful of his monsters opening its mouth in the face of Yugi's 'dungeon master', "Attack!" In a roar of flames the figure was struck, one of the three pulsing lights quickly fading out from the small figurine. "Hahahahaha..! Only two hearts left," Ryuji shouted, smirking as he leaned back in his seat. "What next?"

His opponent merely looked over at his other die, tapping it into the board. "This," he shouted, the cube unfolding to link up with his own paths. "Iron Demon Gorugon, Level Three!"

The iron de- Ryuji went pale, watching as the large, spherical monster stared at the two dragons before it. It was lined up perfectly... And had it been any other monster he wouldn't be worried at all... But the special ability of that monster was..!

"Rolling crush," Yugi shouted as the monster became a perfect sphere, barrelling toward the row that his two monsters formed. "Destroy the Lizard Dragon and Grenadier!" With a single movement the monster advanced, crushing the two dragons and coming to a stop at the other side of the path. Gh... Two of his monsters... He just sacrificed one of his 'lives' to destroy most of his monsters in one shot... "Otogi-kun," Yugi said clearly, glaring at him from across the board. "No matter what happened in the past... I won't let you take my Millennium Puzzle!"

Tch... Ryuji looked across the board, a small smirk coming over his face despite the loss. Huh... He hadn't thought of that trick... Heh! Not bad... He looked back at his opponent, narrowing his eyes. "Hnhnhn... As I thought... You're no coward," the teen said, shaking his head somewhat. "It wasn't luck that allowed you to solve that puzzle..." This just made things even better..! More fun..! ...But he couldn't let that distract him... Not today.

Now what was he thinking right now... The two stared at each other in silence for a moment, eyes narrowed. Did he think he was playing... For himself? To get the puzzle for his own gain? No... He could care less about the 'powers of darkness' to tell the truth. That... Was merely a bonus. But for revenge... The boy across from him looked up from the board, expression shifting somewhat as Ryuji looked down momentarily. Of course... Of course it was for revenge... For his father... And for himself. To make right the wrong that had turned his father into the man he was today... To make up for the cane, the shouts, the mask... And for the leather-beaten face beneath it... But...

He looked up, steeling himself as he narrowed his eyes. Well... While 'power' was not on his list, even _he_ could not ignore the mysteries that the puzzle held. And to solve those mysteries, he had to win this fight... Defeat Yugi... And earn the right to wield the puzzle himself. "Yugi," Ryuji called out, breaking the silence with narrowed eyes. "It's your turn!"

The boy nodded, grabbing a new die and picking up his remaining two. Thanks to his last move, the 'Iron Demon' was ready to defend the dungeon master... But Yugi likely knew damn well that defense wasn't the only answer. Ryuji watched as the boy rolled his dice, grinning as he again earned the right to summon a monster. "Alright," he shouted, placing the dice on the field. "Duker Twin Swords!" The boy looked forward, grin vanishing in the place of a frown as the tall, dual-wielding swordsman appeared on the field. "My monster stands by for now," he said clearly, bowing his head. "And like the other crests," he continued, "I'll add them to my pool..."

So he'd figured out about that then? Hn... Like his Grandfather... As expected. "Of course," Ryuji said with a nod, narrowing his eyes. There was no rule that said you had to use your crests on your turn after all... And gathering them together was always something that could come in handy... "My turn," he continued, grabbing his dice. Star, star, swords! "Dimension dice... Flame Armor Dragon, Level 3!" The teen watched as the path merged with that of the 'Duker Twin Swords', before smirking as his monster swung its axe. "And during this turn, I'll make use of my crest pool... Go! Two forward crests," he shouted, two of his three vanishing from the screen, "And the attack crest... I'll use them to have the Flame Dragon move forward and attack! _**DRAGON SWORD!**_"

"In that case," his opponent responded, "I also activate two crests from my pool," Yugi shouted, pointing forward as his monster blocked the strike. "Go..! _**Twin Blade Attack**_! Destroy the Flame Armor Dragon!" In a flash of light the blades clashed, the higher level monster easily barrelling through his dragon. The boy across from him grinned, nodding to himself as the field was left in his favor once more.

Again... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." As expected of course... But how soon would it be before he realized what kind of hole he was in? What kind of advantage he now had? "Hahahahaha!" Yugi frowned, looking at the teen as he continued to laugh. "It's great that you destroyed my monster... Really," he said with a smirk, "Good on you! But I already knew what crests you had in your pool... And I had a pretty good feeling that you'd destroy my monster... But Yugi," he continued with a grin, crossing his arms. "The results of this game isn't something determined by the attack or defense of the monsters... Something you don't seem to have figured out. Maybe a little too much time playing Duel Monsters," he asked, shrugging. "Either way... Take a look at the battle field," he said with a smirk, watching as his opponent grew pale.

When summoning a dice monster, there had to be space for the dice _net_. The way it unfolded would eventually set a complex series of puzzles... But the paths had to connect back to the base, and while he himself had a majority of his field free, his constant summoning had done one thing that just set the game for him.

On the entire field, thanks to the solid line created...

There wasn't a single place for Yugi to place and summon a monster.

* * *

**AN**: Yeeeeess, I split the 'fight'. Mostly because there is a _lot_ of story to this arc, particularly when compared to the few episodes replacing it that completely jossed the manga's story line. Who knows why they had to do _that_... But either way. Next chapter expect to see clowns, dice, Bakura... More dice...

And if I manage to compress 'duels' as I normally do, you will also see what Jonouchi's silly little brain is trying to tell him. WHOO!

Things obviously moved fairly quickly with the tour, mostly because it was supposed to seem like that; Otogi is a little eager to get things over with you see. He is not so eager that he will take a forfeit though; he might have helped to frame Yugi in order to get him in there, but he has a pretty heavy sense of 'gaming honor' at the very least... Despite setting up bar-bets to be an ass.

Did I mention that Otogi is a VERY CONFUSING CHARACTER? Yea, he really is...

**Poll Results** are obviously still the same, so take a look at the last chapter for those...

And as a reminder, **The poll will be closing at the end of the D-D-D arc, so get your votes in fast!**

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Since this was a double post (Meaning I updated with two chapters rather than one... Mostly because I had internet issues, so I was on a typing spree), there aren't any reviews for this chapter. Which is part of the reason why this chapter looks so short, despite it actually being longer than the norm; very few notes, no review responses... Yay~

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that has little to say, since most of the cool stuff is in the last chapter. Or in the next one. Foo...

* * *

Today's title references 'Black Friday'... You know, that day in the 'States where _everything_ is on sale, so everyone's waiting outside for the stores to open so that they can swarm the aisles... Possibly trampling people to death?

Of course, in fanfic-land, 'today' is _Saturday_ sooooooo...

* * *

Guys, this place was so crowded that they had police sitting around to make sure nothing happened. It was… Amusing. Though in hindsight, that's probably just the building security staff, which is what I ended up rolling with.

Either way, the crowd situation was fairly amusing to say the least. Particularly since there was one panel where poor Yugi was just looking back going on about how far he's been pushed away from 'Jonouchi-tatchi' (Jonouchi and the others; 'tachi' is pretty much plural when talking about people and the closest thing to get to 'we' is, in fact, 'watashitachi' (So 'watashi', or 'I' and 'tachi'.)…

And there's this arrow _waaaaay_ in the back of the panel, pointing at this _tiiiiiny_ head, which barely resembles a mini Jou. It's really hard to spot, I actually missed it first time around.

* * *

Originally in the manga, everyone left the store to figure out the game, assuming that Yugi was just caught in the crowd... Which was a fairly accurate assumption at the time. Later however, they got worried and questioned the guards… But the guards claimed that he'd already left, so everyone had to leave again…

Of course, Bakura found a way around that particular issue… But that's _next_ chapter.

* * *

In the manga, the game 'Dungeon Dice Monsters' was originally called 'Dragon-Dice-Dungeons'… Or 'D-D-D'. I kinda switched it around… But yea. Makes sense when you think about how pretty much _all_ of Otogi's monsters were... Dragons.

I was tempted to have a scene referencing the abridged series, going on about how 'it's just like duel monsters', but lets face it guys; while I don't know about the anime, the manga version of this game is so radically different, _it's not even funny_. If anything, I would compare it more to say Bakura's 'Monster World', except... A lot more luck-based.

* * *

When Otogi says he can't completely explain the game, it's obvious he's pulling everyone's leg; but that's mostly so he has a bit more of an upper hand against Yugi really… He explains everything during their match, sure, but he does it when there's an added element of fear, which really, _really_ helps... Not to mention, he does it _after_ the dice are picked, which pretty much screws Yugi over to start off.

* * *

Otogi's actually telling the truth when he says that his dad doesn't know that everyone's there... See... He was _going_ to say something, but the cane got in the way. While he hinted at using this tactic to get Yugi, he never said everyone else was coming!

Though most of Otogi's rush is to get them the hell out of there before things like '_It's time to get back at Sugoroku~_' come out over the air. Because that would kind of kill things.

* * *

In the manga, Otogi's dad slips a pile of dice-packets into Yugi's pockets, and guides him to the front to give him a shot at buying the dice. He specifically makes sure the guard sees this, and then the guard pulls him aside for theft... Before he can buy any dice, poor guy. In this case however, the guards are left completely out of the loop, which means that they end up acting without realizing that they're playing a part. Yayyy~ (It also means that those questioning the guards can't say they're lying, because in all honesty, the guards are saying all they can.)

* * *

Yugi's swearing is 100% cannon~ YAAAAAAAAAAYYYY. I love the manga so much~

* * *

What the _hell _manga… For some reason in the manga, rather than maybe asking about leaving, or getting his puzzle back, Yugi just starts playing the game with Otogi. Otogi doesn't even say anything about the puzzle. He just says they're going to play a game… Which is interesting… But aaaaaah, it's not until the dice are picked and everything that Yugi makes him promise this!

* * *

Here's an interesting point; Otogi says that you need twelve dice to play the game... Now, earlier in the chapter, we have the store clerk saying '_Only six per customer!_'... _There's two dice in each packet_.

So basically, the 'limit' makes sure that each person has just enough to play the game. Sweet eh?

* * *

No seriously, _they have levels_? None of the rules are written down, and Yugi really doesn't have any chance to figure things out in this game. The fact that the dice have _levels_ is something _completely_ unknown to the guy so… YEA. And besides, who expected _that_?

* * *

Really guys, his last name actually means 'honourable entertainer', or at least an esteemed one... The 'o' is the same as the honorific version, like 'Ojii' or 'Oba', where as 'togi' means 'entertainer', or 'attendant'.

And on another note, 'Ryuji' means 'Dragon Child'; 'Ryuu' being 'Dragon' and 'Ji' being one of the readings for 'Child'. Suddenly, the spam attack of _dragons_ makes sense.

WHAT'S WITH ALL THE DRAGON PEOPLE, REALLY?

* * *

The 'Eye of Wdjat' as it's known (It's not the 'Millennium Eye' that's on all those items. It's the Eye of Wdjat.) is also more commonly called the 'Eye of Horus', and is a symbol of protection, royal power, and good health. It was personified in the Goddess 'Wadjet' (Wdjat), an early Egyptian deity who would eventually represent Lower Egypt as a cobra.

So it's... Um... Really important, hn?

* * *

Anyways. Also, I took a bit of creative licence with the 'curse' that Otogi's dad got stuck with, mostly because of the fact that not only am I pretty sure Otogi's mom wouldn't have hung around for too long but… I also can't help but notice that Sugoroku in the flashback looks _bad ass_. Seriously. It's INTENSE. I came to the conclusion that he was clearly around his fifties at the time… Anyways. I _could_ say sixty as a stretch though, since it's really only the last few years that tossed Sugoroku in the crapper, so really… Yea. Curse came into being when Otogi was like… 1 or 2. Didn't clearly rear it's ugly head until he was around four…

* * *

Now here's something weird. In the manga, Otogi says something about being raised up for all this vengeance for eighteen years… But… They're all in class _2-B, _the oldest he should be is seventeen… And since his birthday is February 28th, that's a really big stretch; it would mean he entered the school system late and… I don't even know if that's _possible_ in Japan, since Elementary and Middle School education are legally required. In any case, as you can see, I went with that… Because for some reason, it seems… A lot more likely that Otogi's one of the oldest of the 'main cast' rather than the youngest. (It's 'funny' with Kaiba when you say 'one of the youngest'. For some reason with Otogi, it's just weird. Hnnn…)

And now you wait for the next chapter...

Updates will be much slower by the way, as Job hunting and Christmas continues! (And _hopefully_, actual job related things...)


	57. Chapter 56

**Red Skies At Night**

* * *

The thoughts that were running through Yugi's mind as he sat at the table were more or less predictable really. After all... While he'd been absolutely_ flying_ for the last few moments, looking at the board now... Well... Damn. Damn... Damn it! Yugi stared at the field, shutting his eyes as he bit his lip. Across from him, Otogi was chuckling, shaking his head. A trap... An unavoidable trap but a trap nonetheless, damn it all... "Hnhnhnhnhn... Not a single free spot left," Otogi said with a smirk, spinning the dice in his hands. "After all, with six faces on the die, you have the potential to fill an area of 3 by 4 squares... With all the possible patterns," the teen continued, "Taking into consideration flipping the position left and right, you have at least thirty different sets... So I might be 'behind' in terms of power _now_," he added with a smirk, shaking his head and crossing his arms. "But if I just bide my time and build up my army, moving closer to your dungeon master... I _will_ win this game..."

Gh... Damn it... Yugi continued to stare at the field, looking at the 'line' that Otogi had created with his monster summons. He had at least two thirds of the field under a monopoly now..! Compared to that, he himself would be able to summon maybe two monsters, and that would be it... And two was probably pushing it. Yugi swallowed, still staring at the board as his opponent grabbed his next die to add to his two. "Now then... My turn," he shouted, spinning the dice around in his hands. "Yugi," he called, the boy looking up as his opponent held the die up, "Take a look at this..." A black die... "This black die is rare enough as it is," he said with a smirk, holding it between his fingers. "But take a look at this summoning crest on the side..."

The crest? Yugi blinked, frowning as he looked over the coloured crest on the die. It was... Red..? Most of the stars were a plain white... But red..? Otogi smirked, looking down at his pending dice where a single black one sat with an identical crest on its side. "In fact, I have another 'rare black' die sitting right there... Having two of those together," the teen continued darkly, "And you can get one _nasty_ combination... Just wait and see," he continued, Yugi biting his lip as he looked at his opponent. "This is going to be fun... Now... Go," Otogi shouted, tossing the dice to the ground and letting them clatter to the floor. The teen's smirk grew as he was answered with two summoning crests, opponent wincing in response. Shoot... "I'll summon from the black die!" Yugi stared, frowning as the teen set it on his side of the field. It was barely out of range of the dungeon master... Why wouldn't he set it closer, to attack though..? "Now..." The net began to unfold, revealing a large, eye-ball-like creature as its master continued, "Dark Eye Stalker, Level Two!"

Hang on... Yugi continued to frown, watching as a spiral appeared at the end of the monster's path. What was that...

"This," Otogi said calmly, taking his opponent's frown as a sign of confusion, "Is a 'Warp Crest'..." The boy blinked, looking up. Warp crest..? "In the rarer black dice, you can unlock certain crests... This," he continued, "Is one of them... And when there are two rare black die on the field, that crest can be activated." Two dice, one set portal... Alright then... "One becomes an entrance, and one becomes an exit... And in no time flat," Otogi continued with a smirk, "I can send my monsters from my side of the field... To yours..."

Which meant that he wouldn't have to waste time going down the path either, Yugi realized with a swallow, eyes widening. Rather than travel along the extra portion of the path to his side as the dice were linked up with the path, he could get a direct shot... And there was only enough space to summon one die in his area as it was... If Otogi summoned a monster before he could... He looked back at his dice, before slowing gaining a smirk on his face as he spotted the next die in his 'dice line up'. "Heh... Otogi-kun," he said calmly, grabbing his dice and holding them forward. "You forgot something," he continued, watching as his opponent paled. "I have a black die as well... And more over," the boy stated, turning the die over in his hands and holding it forward, "It has a red crest on it." Otogi continued to pale, eyes wide as the boy tossed the dice into the air. "It's my turn now," he shouted, the dice clattering about the board and slowly falling to a stop. Battle... Summon... And... Aha! He grinned somewhat darkly as the black die landed with the summoning crest, before snatching it from the table and setting it on the side. "Not only do I summon a monster," he said with a shout, watching as information flashed on the screen before him, "I also activate the Warp Crest inside it!" The net unfolded, warp crest 'swirling' the moment it appeared as the monster summoned blurred through the portal. "The Black Ninja attacks," he shouted, the monster appearing from the other warp crest in an instant. "And he attacks the Dark Eye Stalker!"

Otogi continued to pale, the teen gritting his teeth and looking at the board. Alright... Moving on! Defending his own dungeon master was one thing... But right now he was boxed in, and if he couldn't summon anything more... Then the only way for him to win was to warp into 'enemy territory' and strike with what he had! Which meant that it was up to the Black Ninja now... "Gh..." Yugi's opponent swallowed, narrowing his eyes. "It's my turn," Otogi shouted loudly, grabbing his last die from the side and rolling. "Go!" The two watched intently as the dice spun about the table, each one coming to a stop within seconds. Summon... Trap...

Magic! Hahah! Yugi grabbed his dice as his opponent grit his teeth, tossing them onto the board with a nod. "Now it's my turn," he called out, a pair of arrows appearing among the results. "Yes! Two 'forward' crests... The Black Ninja takes two steps forward," he shouted, the monster doing just that with an increased speed. "Now, Black Ninja," the boy ordered, his monster now within range of Otogi's clown-like Dungeon Master. "Attack!"

With a single swift motion the ninja struck, drawing a pair of blades and slicing into the dungeon master. The first of the three lights faded out, Yugi nodding to himself as he looked up from the board. There...

Tie game! Now they were both even, point for point. ...Wait... The boy frowned as chuckling came through the air, narrowing his eyes. "Hahaha..." ...Why was he laughing... "Hahahah! Yugi," Otogi shouted, grinning darkly, "Pulling me into a tie this quickly... You're getting me excited!" Errr... O-Okay..? Yugi swallowed, staring in silence as his opponent gripped his last three dice. "But you won't touch my Dungeon Master again," the teen stated, the expression instantly darkening into a scowl as he said this. "It's my turn now... Roll!" Ahh... The dice clattered to the ground, bouncing off the sides of each other as they fell to the ground. Star... Star... And... ...Star! "Hahaha! Three summon crests," Otogi shouted, grinning widely as his opponent went white. A _Triple _roll! "Thanks to that, the level of the summoned monster goes up one... Which means that the monster I summon, the God Orgoth," he called out, pushing the black die into place and watching as the net unfolded. "And what was once a level three creature... Is now a level four! In addition to that," he added with a grin, Yugi growing steadily paler as the monster appeared behind his Ninja, "By spending three of the magic crests in my pool, I equip him with the 'Diamond Blade', quadrupling his power... Something I intend to do right this moment!"

What..! Quadruple! What kind of ability was that! The boy swallowed, watching as the enormous monster charged toward his own as a large gleaming blade appeared in his hands. Oh crap... "God Orgoth," Otogi was shouting, the enormous sword coming closer as its owner tromped forward, "Attack with Diamond Blade!"

No no no no no, he didn't have enough power to defend against- He tensed, eyes widening briefly as he looked back at the screen. Wait... In his crest pool... He had enough to... The boy hurriedly pressed one of the buttons below the screen, three of his crests vanishing from view as he turned his attention back to the board. Please work please work...

The blade connected with the 'ground', a cloud of synthesized dust hitting the air around the sword. "Hah," Otogi shouted as the dust hovered around the board, smirking, "Got him," he continued, the dust clearing to reveal a blank space where the sword sat.

Phew... It worked... "Are you sure," Yugi asked, looking at his opponent as a small light flashed across the screen. "Take a good look at the field Otogi-kun," he said calmly, the teen following his gaze.

Though the blade was still there, as it was pulled out, a void seemed to appear... "You didn't," Otogi muttered, eyes wide as he stared at the field.

The void 'increased' as the ninja slowly came back into view, Yugi nodding in response. Oh he did... "The moment God Orgoth attacked," Yugi stated calmly, "I paid three magic crests from my pool to activate the Black Ninja's special ability... Invisibility," he shouted, his opponent still looking over the field in shock. "Rendering him immune to all attack this turn!" Which gave him at least enough of a shot to take down another of the dungeon master's points to say the least...

Hah... '_Good job..._' Yugi jumped, eyes widening briefly as a faint whisper met his ears. ...That voice... That was... '_Keep at it, aibou... No matter what happens..._'

Don't give up... ...He was... Silence passed for a moment, Otogi momentarily smirking as he leaned back in his seat. He wasn't losing... He wasn't losing! "...Otogi-kun," Yugi said after a moment, frowning as he looked across the table. "...There's something you should know... Even though you took the puzzle from me... You didn't break the bond between us! I'm not alone," he continued, shaking his head and swallowing. "Fighting along side with me... Is the other me, who dwells in the Millennium Puzzle! We're still connected," Yugi said confidently, looking straight ahead as a small smile appeared on his face. "And I can still hear his voice..."

'_Don't give up..._' He could hear it clearly, as if he was wearing it now..._ 'No matter what happens..!_'

'_...I won't, other me._' "That's why," he continued, steeling his gaze and gripping his dice tightly in his hands. "That's why I won't lose! Now it's my turn," he shouted, rolling the dice and allowing the crests to log into the 'pool' on the screen. "Black Ninja," he ordered, the monster turning back to the Dungeon Master and ignoring the presence of the much larger monster behind it. "ATTACK!"

* * *

In a flash of light the blades of Yugi's ninja struck true. The second light on his dungeon master faded out of existence, putting the tie situation into a draw-back situation. One more attack... Ryuji stared, a smirk slowly coming on his face. One more attack and it was over... This... This was fun... But he wouldn't let him make that attack... No matter what! Yugi didn't have the crests to defend himself again after all, so there wouldn't be another chance! Hehehe... Even so... It'd be nice...

If after this, they could just sit down and play a game for the hell of it, with a 'normal board'... Without his father's revenge or the millennium puzzle on the line... The teen silently chuckled to himself at the idea, grabbing his two dice only to freeze as the door hidden to the side abruptly spun around. "W-What..."

"RYUJI," the hoarse voice of his father roared, the old man running in with the Millennium Puzzle gripped tightly in his hand. What was he doing here... What was his father doing there... With the puzzle..? "I _forbid_ you... Completely _forbid_ you from even thinking of accepting a loss from this boy... From Sugoroku's grandson!"

"Y-You..." Yugi instantly frowned, turning to the old man with a shout. "That's my puzzle..!"

What did he think he was doing, he had this under control..! "D-Dad..!"

The man growled, expression of rage well hidden by the misshapen clown's mask on his face. "Sixteen years," he said with a choke, shaking his head as he looked over the two. "_**Sixteen years**_ it's been since I played that wretched game with Sugoroku over this puzzle... And now this game has come full circle," he shouted hoarsely, hands gripping the puzzle tightly as Yugi slowly stood from his seat. "Into the next generation!"

"You..." Yugi shook his head, turning to the man with wide eyes as he stepped from the chair. "Give my my puzzle back," he shouted, Ryuji looking over his shoulder as the man holding it stood there in silence.

What was he up to... "Hehehe... Listen good you little rat," the man spat darkly, pulling the puzzle back behind him as his son frowned. "You think you're getting this thing back? Think again," he rasped, eyes narrowed to mere slits beneath the mask. "The power of this puzzle belongs to one person and one person only," the old man raged, "And that's _my_ son! My boy, Ryuji!"

Yugi shook his head, Ryuji watching in silence with narrowed eyes as his friend grit his teeth. "No," he said quietly, moving away from the table. "No! The Millennium Puzzle is more than that, it's a part of me," he cried, eyes wide as his face grew red. "It's the other half of my heart, my soul..." His soul..? "Give it back," he shouted with wide and angry eyes, looking at the clown from across the table.

The clown merely snorted, grip on the puzzle's chain tightening further. "Like HELL!"

Damn it! "DAD!" The old man tensed, looking to the side as his son stared at the board. "...Dad... This is _our_ fight," he said with a growl, looking at the man from the corner of his eyes as he stood from his chair. "Please... Don't get in the way of this," he continued, hurriedly looking back as he was met with the confused blood-shot eyes of his father. Just... Don't...

"Wh...What... What are you _saying_ Ryuji," his father muttered, shaking his head and turning to the teen. "I'm... I'm doing this because I love you," he continued almost pitifully, shaking his head. "I _love_ you Ryuji," he repeated, sounding more pathetic than frightening for the moment. "I'm just trying to... Trying to help..."

He swallowed, not looking at the man. Now was not the time. Not at all... "Leave us alone, _Dad_," he said darkly, closing his eyes as he continued to stand at the table. "I told you... This is our game."

"But... But Ryuji..."

He turned, eyes flying open as he went read. "I SAID _LEAVE IT_, DAD!"

The man jumped somewhat, looking at him incredulously before stepping back with a few short nods. "I see," he muttered darkly, gripping the puzzle in his hands as he walked away. Ryuji swallowed, calming down somewhat as his father moved away. "You don't understand... You never... Never really understood..." Damn it, don't do this again...

"Dad," he muttered, sighing as he stared at the table and bit his lip, "Don't do this, please... Not now, not..."

"I'll help you," the old man continued darkly, the two beside the table slowly turning with frowns at those words. "I'll do something that will shatter this boy's very will to fight..." What..! "HRNNNNGGGG!"

Instantly Yugi went white, body going tense in reaction to what was almost an invisible electric shock. "NO!"

What..! Ryuji frowned, looking at his father and back to Yugi as the boy grew deathly pale. The man stood with his back to them, hiding his hands... What was he doing... What... "Yugi," the old man muttered, gripping the puzzle tightly in his worn and bone-thin hands as he gasped for breath, turning toward them. "Didn't you say... That even without the puzzle," he said with a dark and tired laugh, "Your bond can't be broken?"

"S-Stop..." Yugi stood stock still, eyes wide as tears began to develop. Scared... Yugi was scared, but why... "Stop..."

What the hell was he doing... Ryuji moved out from his chair, eyes wide as he looked over at his father. "Dad," he muttered, eyes narrowing somewhat as he frowned, "Dad what are you..."

"Hahahahaha..." Why the hell was he... "In that case," the old man spat, growing tense as he pulled at the puzzle, "I'll _CRUSH THIS_! Haaaaaaahhh... HAHHHH..." He continued to pull at the metal, grit teeth somewhat visible through the hole in the mask. "Gnnnnn..."

"S-STOP," Yugi shouted, eyes growing even wider as he screamed, "STOP IT PLEASE!"

"All of it," the clown continued to rasp, almost to himself. "Into pieces..."

No... No... "Dad what the hell are you doing!"

-_click- _

"Hahahahaha!" The sound of clacking metal met the air, a small 'slat' coming out from the side. "I did it," the old man shouted, a single piece falling to the floor as the two boys behind him froze.

"Ahhh... Ahhhh...!" What was going on... He... He didn't need to do this, and why was Yugi... "No..." More clacking sounds came as the next piece was pulled out, Yugi reaching forward as he fell to his knees in shock. "No... NO! STOP IT," he wailed eyes following each piece as it was pulled out, _STOP IT_!"

More pieces fell to the ground... One, two, all of them, shattering and falling to the ground as their 'key' piece fell to the floor and left only the bare bones of the 'base' of the pyramid hanging from the chain. He couldn't even move as he watched, Yugi crying at the side, his father laughing almost maniacally... "What the hell Dad," he whispered, eyes not moving from the gold on the ground. "What..."

"Aaaaaaaaaaaauuuuhhh..." On the ground Yugi was gripping at the ground, still staring at the puzzle with wide and tear filled eyes, as though in pain. "AAAAAAHHHHHHH!" What was going on...

And how could his father just laugh at this..! "AHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAHA! Don't worry boy," his father said with an insane laugh, "My son will put it back together in mere moments... As the new successor to this legend, only seconds until then!" Why was he laughing! "We're right back to where we started," the clown continued, rasping as he swung the puzzle on its chain. "And now the legend can start over..."

Was any one even listening? He wasn't after all, not to this... And if Yugi was listening... Well, he sure as hell wasn't responding, not right now. "AAAAAAAHHHH!" Tears were rolling down his face as he reached for the fallen pieces, eyes appearing almost colourless as he screamed. "AUHAAAAAAAAAAAA! You..." The boy chocked through his tears, picking up the pieces from the floor with wide eyes as he stared at them. "You... How could you... HOW COULD YOU DESTROY HIM," he finally shouted, voice echoing through the room as he looked up at the clown in front of him. "HOW COULD YOU DO THAT TO MY OTHER SELF!"

"Hehehehehe... Well it's like you said," the man answered coldly, his son staring with wide eyes as he continued. "You have to win to get this puzzle back... Too bad that without it, you can't even do that, HAHAHAHA! HAHAHA-"

This was enough. With a single swipe, the man was cut off, Ryuji calmly snatching the puzzle chain from old and weary hands before placing it on the table with narrowed eyes. This was enough. And he should have stepped in long ago. "Don't touch it anymore... _Otou-san_."

"H-Hey..." The man stopped laughing, turning with confused eyes as his son glared and turned away. "What are you..."

Ryuji slowly stooped down to the ground, gathering a few of the pieces of the puzzle as he stared at the floor. "Yugi... I'm sorry... That you had to hear all of that," he muttered, voice barely above the level of a whisper. "Even more though... I'm sorry that this had to happen..." He swallowed, stopping momentarily as he held the few pieces in his hands. Cold... Ice cold, as though sending waves of hate right through to his very bones... A rejection so strong... "...I never realized how important this was Yugi," he said quietly, unable to look at the boy. "I'm sorry..."

"Gn.." There was no answer, Yugi merely gathering the pieces and stifling his cries as he attempted to calm down. "N..."

...Now then... "...Dad," Ryuji said with narrowed eyes, placing the pieces at the side with the puzzle before turning to the man. "This is _my_ battle," he said clearly, not caring what his father said in response. "And I told you... Stay out of it. You don't have any right to decide if I win or lose... But Yugi," he continued loudly turning back to the boy and watching as he slowly stood up. "That doesn't mean the rules have changed... We're going to finish this game," the teen shouted, moving back toward his seat. "And the winner will receive the Millennium Puzzle, along with the honor of putting it back together" he continued, pulling into his seat at the side. "So take your seat... It's my turn!"

* * *

Gone... Even compared to when the puzzle wasn't around his neck, the feeling in the back of his mind... The empty feeling, the void...

It hurt... So much it hurt... Yugi took shuddering breaths as he held a few of the pieces to his puzzle in his hands, swallowing in a faulty attempt to calm himself down. Eight years... He'd spent... Eight years... Putting this puzzle together... '_Don't give up_', he'd said... Don't... Don't give... The boy took another shaking breath, slowly placing the pieces alongside the rest of the puzzle before moving to take his seat. Don't give up... Hang in there... Hang in there... He'd put that puzzle together again... He promised...

He would get him back. Just one hit, he told himself with a swallow, sitting down and looking across the board. He only needed one hit! "Thinking about taking out my last point," Otogi said loudly, grabbing his dice as his opponent stared at the board. The teen frowned, tossing his dice to the ground. "Think again! It's my turn," he continued as the crests were logged away into his pool, "And God Orgoth attacks!" With a single strike his monster charged the ninja, diamond blade cutting cleanly through the Black Ninja before the monster vanished into smoke.

Gh... Yugi bit his lip, looking from the far end of the board to his own. His only monster in enemy territory... Now he only had three monsters at his side of the field... And not only did Otogi have _four_, counting his 'God Orgoth', but that same monster now had 2000 attack points! "Gh..."

"Oh... It's not as bad as it looks," the teen said with a smirk, holding his two dice in hand and pulling his opponent's attention back to him. Not as- Well, he supposed he was as easy to read as anything at this point really... Yugi watched as the two dice spun around in his opponent's hands, the teen's 'dice slot' now empty. "After all, I can't summon any more monsters to the board, I only have two dice left..." Ah... That was right... "So come on," he shouted, pulling the dice he was spinning back into his hand before crossing his arms. "It's your turn! Don't keep me waiting..."

Hah... It was his turn that was true, but he didn't have any way to attack right now. And since Otogi would definitely be focusing on moving his way from this point on, he'd better concentrate on defense for the moment... The boy rolled the dice, watching as the crests scattered over the field before gathering into his pool. It wasn't like he could summon after all... So... "I move Duker Twin Swords toward my Dungeon master," he stated clearly, watching as the monster shifted to cover the figure's side. Nothing more... "And that's it."

Hah... He needed this to work... "It's my turn," Otogi shouted, tossing his two dice forward. A pair of arrows met their view, Yugi growing pale as his opponent smirked. Ohhhh shoot. "God Orgoth advances into the warp panel!" Oh no... Oh no no no... "Hehehehe... I'm coming in Yugi." the teen said darkly, grabbing his dice from the board. "Prepare for battle!"

Shit... "My turn," Yugi shouted, the dice landing with two arrows and a star. Nothing he could do... He swallowed, before looking forward. "The army stands its ground around the dungeon master!"

Otogi merely snorted at the announcement, spinning his dice. "Heh! A wall of monsters won't do anything against the God Orgoth! It's my turn again," he shouted as he rolled the two dice, ignoring the results to point his monster forward, "And the God attacks! An Iron Golem is no match against a Diamond Blade," Otogi continued, the monster's blade cutting clean through Yugi's large spherical golem.

Gh... The boy winced as the first of his three monsters bit the dust, before grabbing his three dice from the table. One down, two remaining... Not good... "My turn," he shouted, tossing the dice forward. Even if he couldn't summon, his monsters still had enough power... He watched as a battle crest appeared from his results, before pointing his monster forward. "Little Wizard attacks," he anounceded, the monster charging forward with its staff held high. "_**Lightning Rod**_!"

"Heh! Think again," Otogi said with a smirk, the attack merely bouncing off his monster's hide. Gh-! "By using the defense crests I have in my pool, I can defend against magical attacks!" What..! What did this monster _not_ have! "And on my turn," the teen added, his monster suddenly swinging the sword forward as the wizard before it paled, "I get to strike back! The little Wizard dies," he said loudly, Yugi swallowing as he was left with one monster on the field. "And in one more turn," Otogi continued, narrowing his eyes, "Your last monster is next..."

No... The boy's eyes flashed over the board, head shaking somewhat. No... He couldn't summon, he couldn't defend... And once his last monster was gone... "How do you like _that_," the clown rasped from the side, Yugi bowing his head to stare at the table as he shook. "Do you realize now... How slim a chance you have against Ryuji?"

No... No... He wouldn't see him again... No...

"The Millennium Puzzle is mine Yugi," Otogi was saying across the board. "No hard feelings I hope..."

No no no no no-

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Hang on... That sound... "Hahahahaha!" Yugi tensed, eyes flying open as laughter came through the air. That sound... That sound was... "Too bad Otogi," a familiar, cold tone said through his friend's voice, confidence ringing through the pitch at a level that the owner's lighter half had never come even close to achieving. Oh god... "You can't _handle_ the puzzle," the voice continued, Yugi slowly turning around to look at the albino.

The others in the room stared, eyes growing wide as Bakura stood in the open doorway at the end of the room. "Who..." Otogi's father stared, shaking his head as his son frowned. "Who are..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Bakura... Bakura was... "In the thousands of years that this puzzle has existed," he stated calmly, slowly walking into the room, "Only one person has been able to solve and wield this device.. And that person is none other than Yugi..."

It was him. But... How..? As the teen walked into the room he could see the golden ring around his neck, the prongs dangling as he moved steadily forward with a confident air. How... Why... "B... Bakura!"

"Bakura," Otogi whispered, staring with wide eyes as he looked at the teen. He shook his head, still frowning. "But... You're..." Completely different? H-Hah... Y-Yea...

There was a good reason for that..! "Hn! I can't _believe_ that someone of your level would actually believe himself worthy of solving this puzzle," Bakura said with a nasty smirk, shaking his head as he came up beside Yugi at the table. The albino narrowed his eyes, looking directly at Otogi as the teen continued to stare. "If I were you," Bakura continued with a wicked smirk, "I wouldn't even try it... And if you do, trust me when I say... You'll die quite horribly... To say the _least_..."

"You..." He was right... Here... Right here... "What are you doing here," Yugi whispered with wide eyes, pulling back in his seat as he looked at the albino. "Bakura..."

"Oh... Don't worry," Bakura said with a short 'laugh', hands in his pockets as he stood beside the boy. "I'm not the same as before... I've turned over a 'new leaf', didn't you know?" Why should he even begin to believe that..? After the last time they'd seen each other, why... "The point is, right now," Bakura continued, grinning with all the honesty of a snake, "I'm your _friend_... Now then..." He looked over the board, Yugi still staring with wide and terror filled eyes as the teen appeared to pay him no mind. "Let's take a look here... Hnn... Well," the albino stated, pulling back, "The odds _are_ a bit against you but... That doesn't mean you've lost just yet... Otogi," he called out, Yugi merely staring at the albino with wide and wary eyes. "Listen well and listen good... In only a few more turns, Yugi will turn the tables on you... So take a good long look at the power of the Millennium Puzzle's host!"

Not good... Yugi swallowed, still looking back up at the teen beside him. He couldn't exactly focus on the game right now with this right here... The ring... Bakura... _How could he put the ring back on_..! "Gh..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn... You look as though I'm going to kill you right here," Bakura said with a smirk, eyes narrowing somewhat. Would that really be surprising..? "Really, how cruel... Just think," he continued, crossing his arms. "Think about what Pegasus told you at the Duelist Kingdom..." The Duelist Kingdom..? The boy tensed, eyes wide. How... But how did he know about what _Pegasus_ said, he wasn't even there at the time... "The seven millennium items are all tied to the memory of the Pharaoh... We _all_ have the same goals in the end," Bakura explained, ignoring his 'friend's discomfort, "And without the other pieces, that goal can never be achieved... So really," he continued with a smirk, "Is there _any_ reason for us to fight right now? Back then, you were just another person who could possibly harm my host... But right now..?" The smirk darkened, Yugi narrowing his eyes in response before turning away.

This... This wasn't the time. Not the time... Whether or not Bakura was the enemy, he had to figure out how to win this game first... To get the puzzle back, to put it back together... To save his other self... The boy's eyes flew across the board, a frown on his face. He only had one monster left... But there was no way to counter attack, no way... Bakura said there was a solution but...

"Hahahahaha... No way..." Somewhere, anywhere... "There's no way you can turn this around," Otogi said with a laugh, shaking his head. "Even Yugi won't be able to do something like that, trust me... But Bakura," he continued, shaking his head as he narrowed his eyes. "...An interesting change you've gone through here... You're normally calm, quiet... Polite... I'd have hardly guessed that you were interested in things like the Millennium Items... I guess I was wrong," he added with somewhat narrowed eyes, looking over the ring for a moment. "But I have to say... I think you're wrong about the puzzle... I _will_ win," the teen said with a frown, spinning his two dice again as he looked at his opponent and friend. "And I _will_ repair the Millennium Puzzle."

Bakura merely looked across the table, chuckling darkly as he stared Otogi down. "Hnhnhnhnhn... A person like you? With a soul as weak as yours," the teen said with a dark laugh, "You'll burn from the inside out the moment you touch it... Don't say I didn't warn you," he continued, grinning maliciously as he stowed his hands in his pockets. "Though it'll certainly be amusing to watch..." H-Hahhhhh... That was the last thing he needed right now..!

"Hn!" Otogi snorted, shaking his head. "Keep talking... I can't hear you," he said with a smirk, before gripping his dice and looking across the field. "It's your turn Yugi," Otogi shouted loudly, spinning the two dice in his hands. "Now roll the dice!"

Gn... The boy nodded, gripping the dice tightly as he nodded. Alright... He had to at least go on until the very end didn't he? If he gave up now... Well he couldn't! Alright then... "Roll!" The dice clattered to the ground, a pair of battle crests coming into view as they came to a stop. Alright... He now had six battle crests in his pool... Now how to attack the God Orgoth..? Orgoth's attack was 2000... Not a match for Duker's... Then again... Duker's ability was to attack multiple times for each attack crest. If he used the crests in his pool... If he used all of them at once, the attacks would add up, coming to just enough to beat it... "Alright," he decided, running over the points in his mind, "I activate all of the attack crests in my pool," Yugi shouted, sending his monster forward. "Go, Duker Twin Swords... Attack the God Orgoth!"

Light filled the field, only for Otogi to grin. Uh-oh. "Hehehe... I activate the last of my 'move' crests," he shouted, "Sending my dragon forward!" What..! Otogi's dragon lept into the blade's path, taking the brunt of all the attacks as the turn ended. In an instant the flurry of attacks reduced it to dust, Orgoth left unharmed. Oh no... Oh no... "Hahahahhh... The low level dragon is gone, leaving Orgoth to stand and fight for the next turn..! Too bad Yugi," he said with a dark grin, gripping his dice as he looked over his opponent. "Your roll was pointless... And now, it's my turn!"

Ungh! "Now..." Damn... "Orgoth attacks," Otogi shouted, the monster swinging his blade forward. Destroying Duker Twin Swords!" No... The monster swung his blade forward, cutting through the swordsman in a flash. Yugi stared with wide eyes as the field was cleared, leaving his Dungeon Master defenseless at last in the face of 'Orgoth'. No monsters... He had no more monsters... He'd good as lost... "Yugi," Otogi said seriously from his side of the field, the boy looking up in silence. "You still have two more heart points left... We're going through with this this to the very end," he continued, smirking almost menacingly. "So don't even think of bowing out just yet... It's your turn..."

Hngg... He grabbed his dice, nodding. There had to be something he could do right..? The boy tossed the dice to the ground, only to wince as he was met with an assortment of crests to join his 'pool'. No way to counter attack... No way to summon. But he had an advance crest..! The boy looked at his dungeon master, staring at the base. Looking at it now... It looked like it could move at least. He mentally nodded to himself again, hurriedly moving the Dungeon Master as far as his turn allowed. Otogi's turn again... He could do nothing but run.

"It's useless," the teen said clearly, a wicked grin on his face as he looked toward his opponent. "No matter how far you run, you're still within my monster's range! My turn again," he shouted, tossing his dice up into the air and catching them again. There was no point in rolling any more... "God Orgoth attacks the Dungeon Master!"

Gh... Yugi watched as the monster's blade swung against the back of his dungeon master, the second of his 'hearts' going out as he bit his lip. One more turn... One turn and he'd lose... "Face it," a rasping voice on the side said, the clown that was Otogi's father grabbing the puzzle and pieces in his hands. "You've lost boy... And Ryuji," he said with a hoarse laugh, placing the golden puzzle beside his son with a nod. "I knew... I knew you could do it... Only my son could ever do such a thing after all..."

The teen blinked, turning to the man and looking over the puzzle for a moment. "Dad," he said quietly, the pieces spilling beside him.

"Look," the old man rasped, handing one of the pieces to the teen and folding Otogi's fingers over it. "It's yours now, you've won... You've made me proud, my son... Go a head," he continued, his son in question staring at the puzzle with a momentarily unreadable expression, "Solve it..."

But it wasn't his... It wasn't... Yugi stared at the table, not watching as the sound of pieces clicking over and around each other came through the air. "Hnhnhnhnhn... How many times must I say it," Bakura said with a laugh from beside him. "The puzzle can't be solved by the likes of you," he said with a shout, shaking his head. "Only Yugi can solve it!"

"And as I told you," Otogi said in response, only briefly looking back from the puzzle as he began to attempt at putting it together, "Keep talking... I can't hear you!"

"Haaaaahhh... Such morons my host associates with..." Gh... They weren't... "_I'll say it again_," Bakura continued, still smirking as he leaned over the table somewhat. "The winner of this game is _Yugi-_ And not you! You can't solve this _puzzle_," he stated clearly, Yugi still looking over his dice and the board as the cracking noises continued through the air. "So don't even try..."

Puzzle... The boy stared at the blank space between the path pieces, eyes somewhat dim. Puzz... Le... "Ah..." His eyes widened, mind hurriedly running over the many patterns of a six-sided die. On the board, that one place between Otogi's and his own pieces... Maybe... Maybe... There was still a chance, if he just summoned... "Dice roll," he shouted, pulling the attention of his opponent forward and tossing the dice to the ground. The boy's eyes watched carefully as they fell, fingers mentally crossed. Come on... Pentacle... Star... ...Yes!

His opponent looked up from the Millennium Puzzle, frowning as the two summoning crests met the air. "Two summoning crests... But even with that," he said with a frown, "You still can't summon anything..! That space is too narrow, and too complex for you to find the exact one that fits..." That was what he said...

But there was one, wasn't there? Yugi grabbed his die, silently nodding to himself as he set it in place. This was the one... He ignored his opponent's confusion, instead staring at the board. Lets go. "Dimension Dice," he shouted, pushing it into place. "Go!" The sides of the box slowly unfolded from the square he'd set it in, filling in the hole in the field. One side... Two... Three... Four... "Yes!"

Otogi paled, staring at the field with wide eyes as a tiny, shell-like monster appeared from the perfectly unfolded net. "But how... There was only one..." Only one monster? Phew...

"As I said," Bakura said with a smirk, crossing his arms. "The winner of this match is Yugi... And no one else."

Hah... Alright! The boy gave a sigh or relief, staring at the board. He'd managed to summon a monster... But would it even be able to take the attack..? "...Gh... Hahahahha! Oh..." That didn't sound good. Yugi frowned, looking across the field as Otogi laughed. "To think, you managed to summon a monster... But how could you even think of pitting something with no attack power against Orgoth?" N-No attack...? The boy paled, listening as Otogi continued before looking over the info on the screen. "A monster like that..." He continued to laugh, still shaking his head. "It doesn't even stand a chance against the God Orgoth!

Oh no... Attack zero! Of course that wouldn't stand against it, it wouldn't stand against anything! Damn it... The boy clenched his fists, bowing his head again as he shut his eyes. What now? He'd used his last shot and now...

What would he say..? What would he say now..? "Yugi," Bakura roared, the boy jumping to look to the side. Er... He... That didn't mean he'd take anyone..! "Stop thinking about 'losing' and focus on the match," he spat, narrowing his eyes as the boy swallowed. "This is your test... A final challenge to prove your worth as the owner of the Millennium Puzzle, to prove his right as the King!" The... _The_ king..?

"...What King..?" He'd heard about _a_ King but... _the_ King..? What was Bakura talking about...

The albino merely continued to glare, eyes narrowed into slits. "Listen up," Bakura continued, looking down at the boy. "There's one person and _only_ one who can solve that puzzle in this world, and that person is _you_; that person is chosen by the gods themselves to recover the lost memories of the King... And no matter what," he added darkly, turning his attention back to the board, "I _will_ make sure that happens..."

B...Bakura... "Hahahaha... Really..." Yugi turned, swallowing as he looked to the other side of the room. "So much talking," Otogi's father rasped, shaking his head. "It's so obvious who the winner of this game is already," he asked, eyes narrowed. "Why do you both keep fighting against it..? Why..."

"Not now Dad," Otogi muttered, eyes trained on his opponent. The old man tensed somewhat, before doing as told and watching. "Yugi," the teen called out. "Your turn is over... So now it's mine! I roll," he continued with a shout, tossing his two dice to the ground. "And now... I attack!"

The puzzle was sitting across from him... In pieces... Yugi swallowed, narrowing his eyes as he pushed a button along the screen. He had to risk whatever ability 'Puzz' had... Whatever it was wasn't too clear, the description made almost no sense but... No matter what, he would win this game! Bakura... He was right. Probably not the best person to rely on for advice but he was still right! He couldn't sit and pray for someone to give him advice... This was his game... His fight! And for his 'other', he would continue on! "Puzz's special ability activates," Yugi shouted, information flashing on the screen before him as Orgoth's blade came toward his Dungeon Master. This ability... Yes! "He transforms into an armor for the Dungeon Master!"

"That's great," Otogi shouted smirking as he sat back in his seat, "But Orgoth's already made his attack! You've-" He froze, swallowing as the holographic blade met nothing but a large shield formed by the small monster summoned from before. Heh... Just in time... "Gh- What..."

Yugi narrowed his eyes, gripping his dice tightly. "Otogi-kun... You said that I couldn't run, didn't you? Well from now on," he said clearly, steeling himself as he looked over the rest of the now clarified ability. "My Dungeon Master isn't running... Instead, he turns to fight!"

"H...Heh... But 'Puzz' is a monster without attack power," Otogi reminded the boy, smirking somewhat. "So how can you even hope to fight against Orgoth?"

He nodded slowly, frowning. "True," he began, "Puzz' attack power is only zero... But that's because he's taken the form of armor! When he turns into a weapon," he continued, narrowing his eyes, "He'll be more than enough to defeat Orgoth..." The info on the screen wasn't lying after all... When 'Puzz' took 'blade' form...

Otogi narrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth. He thought he had missed the ability... But he hadn't... "Transforming Puzz requires at least three attack crests though," he continued, frowning. "You only have one left in your pool..."

That was right... Which meant he would have to just put all his trust in this next roll, wouldn't he! "My turn," Yugi shouted, tossing the dice to the ground. "Go!" Star... Swords... "Yes," he shouted loudly as the final dice landed, grinning. "Two attack crests! Puzz's special ability activates," he called out, the shield before his monster shifting to move into the dungeon master's 'hands'. "Transform... And attack God Orgoth!"

"Gh..!" The blade formed in an instant, striking toward Orgoth and rendering the beast nothing but air within seconds. "...You..!"

"Hah... I did it..." Otogi stared at the board, jaw clenched as his opponent continued to sigh in relief. "Hah!" He'd won... He'd... Phew... Otogi's father gave a wailing cry, shaking his head as his son continued to stare at the board in shock. He... Hah... Ah... "...Otogi-kun," he said calmly, looking across the board at the teen. Something needed to be said... Just to fix things... "...I've never thought of owning the puzzle as owning a title, or some form of ancient power," he stated, the teen looking across with a frown. Never... He needed to know that...

"...But then why," Otogi said with a frown, shaking his head as he looked back at the boy. "What drove you to win so badly..?"

What drove him..? Hah... "...I just... Wanted to see him again," the boy said calmly, bowing his head somewhat as he smiled. "I just wanted to see the other me... That's all... Otogi-kun," he continued, standing from his seat and moving past Bakura as the teen stepped back. "I won... Now give my puzzle back, alright?"

Otogi blinked, slowly looking away from the board and nodding as he put the put the pieces he'd been holding back on the table. ...Strange... He looked tired out, weakened... In fact, one of his hands were even shaking... Yugi stared, a worried expression coming over him. But why... All he'd been doing was touching the puzzle... "Alright," Otogi said with a nod, swallowing as he pulled his friend's attention back. "You win..."

"Hn! Those words probably saved your sorry little soul," Bakura said with a smirk, walking over and grabbing the puzzle by the chain. Yugi blinked, staring as the albino gathered up the pieces in his hands as well. "Here Yugi," he said with a 'smile', looking back at the boy. "How about you just sit tight and relax... After a battle like that," he continued, gathering the pieces and turning to the boy to hold them out for him, "I imagine you'd be exhausted..."

Hah... A little, yes... But... He watched as Bakura came over, carefully placing the puzzle and its fallen pieces in his open hands. This was all a little... Weird... Um... "...Bakura," Otogi muttered from the side, frowning as Yugi turned to look at him. "Who are you really..."

Who... Good question. But of Bakura heard them, he wasn't answering, the teen merely crossing his arms and looking at Yugi. "Alright," the albino said, ignoring Otogi's words as Yugi looked up. "Now... Your next task is to put this thing back together... Your 'other self' deserves just as much doesn't he..?"

Yes... Yes he did... The boy looked over the pieces, nodding. "It took a long time to put this together, the first time around," he said quietly, shaking his head as he thought back. "Eight years... Even so," he continued, nodding again and looking back up, "I'll hurry back home and finish it!" It was strange... Even though it was the same 'Bakura' who tried to lock himself and the others in figurines for eternity, and in the end, kill them completely... It was because of him that he'd won that fight really. He'd have given up otherwise, so...

Perhaps... This 'other Bakura' wasn't so bad... "Ah!" The boy turned, blinking as Bakura handed another piece of the puzzle over. Oh... "Careful now," he said with a small 'smile', "You dropped one!"

D-Dropped one! "A-A-Ahh!" The boy took the piece with wide eyes, nodding furiously as he added it to the small pile in the puzzle's 'shell'. "Th-Thanks, Bakura-kun," he said with a nervous laugh, swallowing. "If even one piece was missing..."

The albino smirked, shaking his head. "Hn! You're welcome... Now then... My business is through," he said as he cracked his neck, walking toward the door and stretching. "I would think my dear host can find his way out of this one...

Er... What? There was a 'breeze' of sorts, the hair that stood on end suddenly dropping as Bakura's expression changed. For a brief moment, the others in the room merely stared in silence, watching as the teen suddenly looked around with wide eyes. "A-Ahh..? This is..."

Oh dear... The boy shook his head, sighing as Bakura continued to look around in confusion. He'd forgotten completely... "...Yugi," Otogi said from the side, the boy swallowing as he looked at the teen. Hn... Last of the loose ends... But what were Otogi's feelings on all of this anyways? Between the time earlier, the game, the time at school... "...Even though I lost," he said calmly, still sitting at his seat as he looked at his friend, "I don't regret having this game with you! However..." He looked off to the side, where his father was staring at the ground in silence. "Hah... ...Dad," the teen continued, turning away and shaking his head. "I couldn't get revenge for you... I'll never... Be able to get revenge for you," he added, closing his eyes. "Because the fact is... I can't even _try_ to hate Yugi... And I'd much rather have a friend in him than constantly pretend to think otherwise."

O...Otogi... "I know," the old man rasped, shuffling his feet as Yugi turned to look at him. "I know... It's my fault," he moaned, shaking his head as the three in the room listened. "All my fault... From the very start," he continued, "I should never have asked this of you..!" Yugi swallowed, gripping the loose pieces of his puzzle tightly as he stood on the side. Something did not seem right about this... Not right...

Not at all... "...Dad..." Otogi sighed, turning back to the old man with a weak and somewhat morose expression. "If we continue to carry this kind of hatred... There's no way we can ever win in any kind of battle," he stated, frowning. "This is no way to live! You have to see that!"

"Hnnn..." Silence filled the air for a moment, the others merely watching with frowns. "...Yugi," the old man muttered, stepping closer as he ignored his son. "I'm so _sorry _I destroyed your puzzle..." Why didn't he believe him... "You must be... Greatly saddened about what I've done..." Don't come any closer please... Don't... "Please," he continued, coming even closer as the boy stepped back, "Let me make up for it... Help hang that precious puzzle around your neck," he stated lowly, snatching the puzzle from his grip.

"A-AH! H-" Get away!

"Forgive me for this..."

"GHNK!" The chain was thrown over his neck, twisted and pulled into a tight noose as the boy's hands instantly reached around his throat. "GHK!" Pieces of the puzzle fell to the ground, Yugi barely getting air as he looked at the clown in horror. "H-GH-!"

The others in the room instantly reacted, Otogi moving from his chair with wide eyes. "DAD!"

"Y-Yuugi-kun," Bakura shouted, growing paler than he already was.

Ah... Ahhh... Air... Air..! "Better not move..." Air... He couldn't... "None of you had better move," the old man hissed, gripping the chain tightly as he gathered the fallen puzzle pieces from the floor to stow them in a pocket. He couldn't breathe... Couldn't move... Air..! "Unless you want to break someone's neck at least... Hehahahaha! HAHAHA!"

Otogi stood beside the table, eyes wide at the scene before him. "Dad," he whispered, shaking his head. "What the hell are you doing, stop this! I already told you, this won't do anything-"

"SHUT UP!" The teen tensed, jerking back as his father dragged Yugi toward the wall. "You... I can't even call you my son anymore," the man spat, eyes narrowed as the two teens watched in shocked silence. "Allowing yourself to lose to this brat..." Please... Please let him go, please let him go... He couldn't... Ahhh... "Your purpose in life was to help me get _revenge_," he wailed miserably, his hostage struggling to breathe even slightly. "That's all it was! And you failed that..!" Stop this... Stop this please, stop this... "Your life... It doesn't _have_ a value anymore!"

How... How could he say that to his own... "Please... Dad," Otogi begged, moving toward the two with wide and fear filled eyes. "Don't do this..! Don't pull yourself further into this hole," he begged, choking on his words in panic. "We've done enough..!"

"Ch! Keep your mouth shut," the hold man roared, tugging roughly at the chain as Yugi wheezed for air. "I don't want any more from you..." How could he say those things... "I'll get revenge myself," he continued, turning a mask on the side of the wall with a click.

"Ghhh-hhhh!" With a sudden swirl the scenery changed. From partial darkness and colourfully painted walls came complete blackness, the sound of clanking metal and chuckling meeting his ears. "Hhhh... Hhhhh..." Breathing... He couldn't... He was still gripped tightly by the chain, he still couldn't breathe... "Hhhhh...!"

"Now... We're going to proceed with a forbidden ritual..." Please, just let him go, please... "An ancient rite from over ten thousand years ago... While I'm getting ready," the man rasped, pulling Yugi close by the chain before throwing him to the side where the boy collapsed to the ground, "You'd better sit quietly, _like a good boy_!"

"Gh! Gah..." Air... Air... "Hhhhaaahh... Hahhh..." He couldn't breathe... He couldn't... Candle light filled the air, illuminating a large table where a stone disc sat. The rim was lined with cobras, clawed hands facing upward with two tiny 'figures' sitting at the side... As for the rest of the room... Cheap wood and metal table, shelves of strange and foreign games lining the walls... Tapestries depicting monsters and enormous 'cities' if they could be called that, the 'eye of wdjat' above only the door behind them... Above the others, it was a strange, six-pointed star... "Gh... Hhhhaaahhh..."

Where was this... This place... "Hehehehehe... Hehehe... Do you know what kind of wheel this is," the clown rasped, placing the puzzle and puzzle pieces on the edge of the table as he spoke. No... But... "It's a cursed wheel..." He'd guessed... "Found off the shores of Ancient Egypt, dating back to further than even ten thousand years ago... No one even knows where it came from, how it's even in this kind of condition" he continued, the fire light flickering ominously against his masked face as he turned around. "But one thing is for certain... This cursed game will eat and eat at a person's life within the span of only an instant..." Ghh... Don't do this... "It might look like a simple matter of 'reaching the goal'," the old man continued, looking over the wheel as he grabbed a hammer and looped tent-peg from the ground, "But the further you proceed on the wheel," he explained with a dark laugh, "The more years of your life you place on the betting table... And whatever the number you're on when your opponent reaches the end... Is the number of years you'll age, lost forever..." Not this... He couldn't even believe his grandfather did this, please don't...

"During that battle," he rasped, turning on Yugi with rage filled eyes as the boy weakly looked up, "During that night so long ago, I _lost_ that bet... I'm barely at the prime of my life," he moaned, "And already I've aged a full sixty years more than I should have..." Yugi closed his eyes as the man turned to look at him, gripping the hammer tightly in his hands. Please... Don't do this... "Originally... I was going to have Ryuji gain the power of the puzzle and challenge Sugoroku with it... Then that old man would be cursed and my vengeance would come full circle," he shouted, laughing menacingly. Don't do this, don't... "But that useless boy _ruined_ my plans," he wailed, the boy on the ground merely pulling himself up to a seat against the wall as he struggled to breathe. No... This was... His puzzle... His... Don't do this...

The man came closer, snatching the few pieces that his victim still held on to and taking them with a laugh. "This puzzle... I'll put it together myself," he said with a laugh, the mask's grin staring down with dark humor. "This puzzle... Is mine! Mine," he roared, slamming the pieces on the table as he grabbed the peg once more. Please don't, don't... "No one can take it... No one will ever take it," he repeated, "So long as this _peg_," he shouted, slamming the hammer down onto it, "Is holding it in place!" A loud 'thump' echoed through the air, Yugi shutting his eyes and reaching behind him for a grip on the wall. "Hahahahhaha... Ahahahahaha..." Don't... Don't... Stop... "I'll complete this Millennium Puzzle... Gain its power..." Don't... Don't do this... "And then use this game to put a curse on _you_," he hissed, laughing insanely. "And then you can experience the same pain I did... Heheheheheh..."

No... He struggled to his feet, eyes barely held open as he attempted to breathe. Shouts were coming from outside... The sound of clicking was coming from the table as the old man attempted to piece the puzzle together. This wasn't... This couldn't... "Stop," he rasped, choking on his breath as he took a step forward. "Stop that," he whispered, shaking his head as the old man continued to mutter on the table. Don't do this...

"You can just pipe down you little rat..." The clown paid him no mind, fingering the puzzle pieces with his back turned to the boy. "This sort of thing... This kind of puzzle is easy... Easy... Hehehehehe..."

Don't... "Don't... Don't make him angry," he continued, shaking his head as the old man suddenly froze. Something was happening... Something... "Don't anger him..."

"Ahhh..." ...What... The clown continued holding the puzzle, still growing stiff. "Ahhhhhh..." What was he screaming about... "WUAAAAAAHHH! AAAAHHH!" Without warning the old man jumped back from the table, the Millennium Puzzle smashing against the table to break into still more pieces. Why was he... "UAAAAAAAHHH!" Candles toppled to the ground, easily sending the table cloth ablaze as he ran, stumbling to the floor and staring. "Ahhh... F-Fire," he muttered, Yugi's eyes flying open as he watched the flames catch onto the rest of the cloth hangings in the room. "FIREEEEEE!"

No... Yugi stared, strength somehow returning to him as he stepped forward.

Oh no..!

* * *

"Rouf! ROUF-OUF! ROUF!" Outside of the Black Clown building the sun was just now heading downward on the horizon. It wasn't twilight yet... That wasn't for over an hour, but it was, when added to the shade along the street, still growing dark to say the least.

Though as to what was bugging the dog and any other animal on the street, who knew really. "Hey, calm down," Honda whispered, stroking his dog's neck and head as it continued to bark. Strange how that only happened when they turned the corner... Anyways. "Quiet Blankey, come on! You'll get us in trouble!" The dog continued to growl, tugging at the leash as they looked across the street at the 'Black Clown'. The doors at the moment were 'flapping' on their hinges to say the least, slowly closing over... But something was off... "Man... Am I seeing things," he muttered, shaking his head as he looked at the building, continuing on his walk. "I could have sworn I saw Bakura..."

"Oii, Honda!" The teen turned, blinking as Katsuya and the others moved from the Kame Game behind him. Anzu, Mokuba, Sugoroku...

"Oh... You guys! Wait..." He frowned, looking back at the store across the road as the dog began growling at his friend. "Weren't you all going in there..."

"Grrrrrrrr..."

"H-Heyyy," Katsuya muttered, laughing nervously, "Down boy... Easy there..!"

Mokuba shook his head, ignoring Katsuya as he edged back from the now barking and jumping dog Honda had on his leash. "Nope... The store closed early," he continued, frowning somewhat. "They ran out of their major stock over an hour ago..."

"ROUF! ROU-ROU-ROUF!" AHHHHHH!

"O-OI!" The blond turned to the others, eyes wide as he continued to edge away from the dog. "Do something about your dog!"

"ROUUUF! ROUF!"

Honda merely stared at Mokuba, blinking a few times as he continued the conversation. "Closed," he repeated, before pulling at the leash. Oh, so he had noticed... "Hey! Blankey," he said with a frown, the dog pulling against the leash. "What did I tell you about that?" The dog whined, shaking itself before taking a seat and glaring at Katsuya.

"Hrnnnnn..." Huh. Yea, yea, go and whine, no one cared...

"Man..." Honda shook his head, before looking back at the store and frowning. "Still... You guys sure it's closed," he asked, looking back to the others. "I mean, I just saw Bakura go in there..."

Huh, that was we- ...What... Wait, what? Katsuya frowned, shaking his head and blinking a few times. "Wait... He went into th' store?" That couldn't be right... Right..? "Are you sure Honda," he asked, still frowning. "He said he was goin' home..."

The teen merely shrugged, shaking his head as he wrapped the leash around his wrist to hold his dog back in place. "Well... That's where I saw him..." Oooookay... That didn't sound too good. "Hey, where's Yugi by the way," he asked with a frown, looking over them. "Wasn't he with you guys..?" Not to mention the fact that this was his house...

Sugoroku gave a shrug, the others merely shaking their heads. Quarter after three... He and Mokuba had fifteen minutes before they had to leave. "We haven't seen him for over two hours now," the old man muttered, frowning. Which was not good to say the least.

"We're starting to get worried," Anzu added, biting her lip and looking over at the door. "The guards pulled him aside saying he'd left something behind but... They also said he _left _already..!"

"Which is complete bullshit," Mokuba added, crossing his arms with a huff as the others raised their eyebrows somewhat. "We were watching that store since we left," he continued with a frown, "And the only people who came out were security guards finishing their shift!

Katsuya bit his lip, looking over the building as it again flashed black. Mostly black he corrected mentally, narrowing his eyes. It wasn't completely dark, just a few shades off... "This ain't good," he muttered, shaking his head as the 'flash' ended. "First Yugi, now Bakura..."

"Hnnnn... Something bad is happening," Sugoroku muttered, shaking his head. He quickly paled, eyes widening for some reason as he turned to the store behind him. "...I need to go make a phone call," he continued hurriedly, rushing into the store. "Get some help..."

Yea, they probably should have done that a while ago..! "'Something bad' doesn't even cover it," Honda muttered, swallowing as they turned toward the crosswalk. The others blinked, frowning at the words. What did he mean by that..? They watched as the teen tied his dog's leash around the store sign post, giving one last pat to the mutt before looking back to the others. "Listen... Something I need to admit," he began somewhat nervously, "But back at the Duelist Kingdom... I saw Bakura holding the Millennium Ring again."

"At... At the _Kingdom_," Mokuba asked incredulously, swallowing as they stood there. Forget the kingdom, the _ring_!

"What..." That was a full _four months_ ago! If the ring was on _then_, what was to say nothing weird was already in the works! Katsuya shook himself, quickly gaining a scowl. "Why the hell didn't you say anything!"

Honda narrowed his eyes, shaking his head as he was met with glares while they walked. "Look! I don't _know_ why I didn't say anything, alright? I just... I didn't think I was all there, it was 2 AM, I'd been trying to get Mokuba..." The boy blinked at that, before Honda again shook his head and continued. "All I know is that he showed up from nowhere and busted me out of a dungeon cell before helping me get to you. I... I kept an eye on him," he added somewhat weakly, shaking his head, "But since nothing else happened... Well..."

The others continued to frown, Mokuba shifting awkwardly as they made their way toward the Black Clown. "Well... We can deal with all that later," Katsuya muttered, running down the sidewalk. "For now we need to see what's going on in there!"

"Right," Honda said with a nod, the group charging toward the store with swallows. "Let's go then!"

"You said Bakura just walked in right," Mokuba asked, running ahead to the doors and swallowing as they moved in on themselves. "...Err..."

The others traded nervous glances, slowly walking in and staring. "...Yea," Honda muttered, looking at the pair of motionless bodies on the ground of the store. "Yea that's right..."

"Shit.." Katsuya rushed forward, Mokuba doing the same. Ahhh shit, not this again. "Errr... They're breathin'," he said weakly, the doors swinging shut behind them and leaving them in a semi dark room, "But..."

Mokuba pulled back, coughing awkwardly as he grew pale. "Their eyes are open..." A sure sign of... Soul theft...

Anzu paled, hurriedly digging into her jacket pockets for her cell phone. "I'll call an ambulance," she muttered, flipping the phone open only for Katsuya to jump. "Ah-"

"Don't bother," Honda muttered, shaking his heads as the guards abruptly groaned. "Looks like whatever happened just reversed..."

"Ahhhhghh," one of the guards muttered, "My head..."

"What happened..." The others traded awkward glances, before looking forward as Mokuba gave a shout.

"Hey! Are you guys trying to find Yugi or not?" They blinked, before charging after the boy. "Wherever he is," he continued, "It's probably back here right?"

Yea, probably... As it was, would likely be best to avoid the guards as they slowly regained consciousness... They moved for the door, Honda moving to grab the handle only to jerk back with a sudden shout."ACK!"

"Ack," Anzu repeated with a frown, the others looking back at the door to pale. Something was slowly coming through the cracks... Rising to the ceilings... "...Oh god," she muttered, ignoring the muffled sounds of the two guards behind them.

"Smoke..."

-_BRRRRRRREEEEEEEEEE- BREEP BREEP BREEP BREEP BREEP BREEP BREE-_

And that would be the fire alarm.

Honda swallowed, before again grabbing the door and wincing as he pulled the door open. "Gh... Gah!" Instantly a wash of heat struck them, the smoke pouring out of the room along the ceiling. Smoke. Fire. _Down_ the hall. "Oh _FUCK_," he shouted, running intp the hall with the others behind them. "Fuck!"

"Gh... Kah... Ah..." Coughing... They skidded to a stop as Bakura and Otogi both made their way down the hall, the albino looking up with wide eyes as he coughed. "H-Hah... All of you..." They stared, watching as the teen looked at them with relief. Smoke was literally pouring from the room they'd come out of, running along the ceilings, the tops of the walls... "...All of you came..." He continued to pull Otogi forward, eyes filled with relief. Yea... Yea they came...

But at the same time, way to prove Honda right at the worst damn moment. "B...Bakura!"

Anzu and Mokuba swallowed, before running forward to grab Otogi from Bakura and help him forward. "We'll take him outside Bakura," the woman said, Bakura nodding and standing up as he was relieved of the weight. "You just get out of here alright," she continued, eyes drifting over where the Millennium ring would be sitting if it was 'there'.

Nothing... Nothing was there, not even a 'lump' where it would show beneath the shirt...

"Y-Yugi..." The group paled, looking as Otogi began to cough in an attempt to speak. "He's still in there... The door won't open," he continued, looking up with weak green eyes. Door... The door wouldn't? Where the hell was he then..? If he was in that room then... "Please," he begged, shaking his head and giving another cough. "Please you have to... Hah.."

Katsuya turned, swallowing as he looked at Otogi with wide eyes. "Where's Yugi," he asked, swallowing. "Where is he!"

Otogi shook his head, giving another cough. Their only answer was a weak look back to where Bakura had just come from... He wouldn't say anything but...

The 'Game' room. The source of the smoke. Damn. "...Bakura," Honda shouted, still staring down the hall, "You go with Mokuba and Anzu." He turned back, looking at the others as he continued before charging down toward the room. "Come on Jonouchi!"

The blond nodded, Mokuba and Bakura both frowning in response as Anzu made off with Otogi. "But Katsuya-nii," the boy protested, "You can barely see through the-"

"Just go," he shouted, pulling his shirt up to his mouth as they ran through. Briefly he turned, giving another shout before disappearing into the smoke with Honda. "Call th' fire department and get outta here!"

The boy nodded furiously, turning to Bakura. "Got it! Come on Bakura," he shouted, looking back at the teen as he made to join Anzu. "...Bakura," he continued, only to watch as the albino as well disappeared through the smoke. "O-OI! B... BAKURA!"

* * *

"H-Help... Help! Somebody... Please help..!" Otogi's father wailed as he weakly slammed his palms against the side of the wall, Yugi merely grabbing for his puzzle. He had to get it... Gather all the pieces and get out of here...

"Ack!" He winced as the hot metal burnt his palms, pulling back only a moment. Hot... Hot... He had to ignore that though, he told himself, before attempting to pull it. "G... Ghn..!" The boy's eyes widened as he looked over the chain, swallowing as he followed it along the table. No... No no no no why... _WHY?_ "Aaaaaaahhhh..!" That was right, the hammer, the peg... Why did it have to be nailed into the table...! If this went on... The puzzle would end up melting into nothing in the fire's heat... It would never... His other self would never... He tugged fruitlessly at the chain, looking fearfully at the fires around him. They had already spread to the tapestries, the bookshelves... No...

No... "H-Help! HELP ME," the clown at the side continued to wail, screaming as his clothes as well caught fire. Gh... This man... "I don't want to die," he moaned, screaming loudly as the room was filled with smoke. "I don't want to die," he continued with a whine, "Please!"

Damn it... The boy ran over, pulling the man away from the wall. "You're not going to die," he shouted, frowning. "Roll on the ground," he continued, "You'll put the flames out!"

Almost predictably the man did as told, the boy before him jumping back lest he be caught under the clown's weight as he attempted to smother the flames. "Hah... Ahhh... I don't want to die, I don't want to die..." He wasn't... Ahhhh...

Really, this was just... "You're not going to die! Look," Yugi shouted, pulling the man up with difficulty, and frowning. "You're not on fire!"

"Ah...Ah..." The clown stared, swallowing as the boy continued.

"Listen," he said, pointing toward the somewhat flaming door that the smoke was escaping through, "You need to open this door, call someone to put this fire out!"

The clown shook his head, again swallowing. "I can't..." ...What... "I... I can't that door... It won't open, I..."

No... No that wasn't... "What did you just say," he said with a swallow, staring. That couldn't be right, how would they have gotten out if there was no fire..?

"I... It doesn't open," he cried, shaking his head. "I always leave through the other door," the man continued with a moan. "But the other door is blocked by the curtains and the curtains are on fire... And I... I..."

So then... They were... Going to... "_YUGI!_" The boy turned, looking toward the door as smoke flew through the cracks. That voice... His eyes widened, breath caught in his throat. That voice... "_YUGI __WHERE ARE YOU!_"

"_YUGI!" _And him too..! "_HANG IN THERE!"_

"Ha-Hah... J-JONOUCHI-KUN," he called out, looking toward the door with wide eyes. They were here, they were... "HONDA-KUN! Gh-k! Kah! Kh! Hah..." Damn... "OVER HERE!" Smoke...

The room was full of smoke... It was getting hard to breathe... "_WE'RE COMIN' FOR YAH YUGI,_" Jonouchi shouted, voice coming through the side of the wall. "_HANG IN THERE! WE'RE COMIN'!"_

Guys... They... Yugi turned, stepping away from the door as shouts came closer and thumps began to sound from the other side.

They came...

* * *

"YUGI!" Katsuya coughed through the smoke, holding his shirt to his nose in a makeshift gas mask. Damn it... Where... "Kuh-... Hah... Hah... YUGIII!"

Honda coughed beside him, narrowing his eyes as they came to the room and looked around. A thick haze sat over everything, creating an almost inpenetrable curtain before them... This fire... It was as though it was being fueled by something other than the building, it had to be! This was a store, there should have been sprinklers, something... "Shit," Honda muttered, arm in front of his face as he shook his head. "I can't see five centimetres past my face, how are we supposed to find the door?"

"This way!" The two turned, watching as Bakura ran past and turned to them. "The door that they're behind... It's hidden in the wall, I didn't think you'd find it in time otherwise..."

They stared, Honda swallowing a few times. "I told you to stay behind and help Anzu," he said lowly, the albino frowning in response. Obviously while one was aware of the ring... The other was well aware of the suspicion surrounding it...

Though he had to say, it was rare to see Bakura's confidence shine like this, he had to give him credit for that.(It... _Was_ their Bakura right..? ) Either way, the response Honda recieved wasn't a bloodthirsty, shark's glare but more... A stern and stone cold one. "...And I thought it would be better for me to help," Bakura stated, turning back and squinting through the smoke. "Yugi is my friend too- I'm not just someone who sits on the side after all! Now... Over here," he shouted, pointing toward a section of the wall that seemed to be spewing flames. "That's where they went through!"

Honda continued to frown, only for Katsuya to elbow him and charge forward. '_Later', _he 'said', moving forward. Bakura, or at least the 'good' one was their friend. And now was sure as hell not the time. "YUGI," he shouted loudly, coming to the door and running his hands along the side as he shouted. How the hell would they get in... "YUGI! WE'RE COMIN' FOR YAH," he called through the door, a muffled answer coming from the other side.

"YUGI," Honda added, throwing in his own shout. "HANG IN THERE!"

"_J-Jonouchi-kun! ...Honda-kun!_" The three boys nodded, Katsuya cracking his knuckles as Honda looked back at Bakura.

"Alright... How do we open this door," he asked, coughing somewhat in the smoke.

Bakura shook his head, biting his lip. "There was a mask... Something... I don't-" He swallowed, shaking his head. "It's a trap door, but I was so caught off guard that I honestly missed how it worked, I'm sorry..!"

Damn it... "YUGI HANG IN THERE," Katsuya called, gritting his teeth. "HANG IN THERE ALRIGH'?" Honda and Bakura turned as the blond shouted, taking a few more steps from the door and turning to the others. "If there ain't a door knob, we make one got it?" He sent them a severe look, jerking his head toward the door. "C'mon!" The two quickly nodded, standing beside the blond as he looked back at the door. "JUS' GET OUTTA TH' WAY 'F TH' DOOR YUGI," Katsuya called, holding back a cough in the smoke. Time to do this the old fashioned way... "YOU'LL BE OUTTA THERE SOON!"

Now then... Three... Two... One...

-_**SLAM!**_- The three boys charged into the door frame, a loud and almost sickening crack coming through the air as wood splintered. Gh... Damn it... "NOTHING," Honda shouted, stepping back from the door.

"AGAIN," Katsuya shouted, the three stepping back to ram into the door once more. "HRAAAAAAAAH!" Go!

-_**SLAM!**_- ...Nothing. Again! -_**SLAM!**_- ... -_**SLA-**_

_**-CRACK-**_

The door snapped off to the side with silent and mental shouts of relief from the three, the boys hurriedly running in as Yugi came forward with wide eyes and a look of relief. "J-Jonouchi-kun," he shouted, helping an old, mumbling man up from the side. Wait, who the he- Was that the clown1? "Honda-kun, Bakura-kun... You're all..."

The albino came forward, smiling. "Later," he said with a nod, holding his arms out in aid. "Later... First we need to get out of here!"

Yugi hurriedly nodded in response, helping the old man over to Bakura as Honda came over. "You need to get him out of here," he said slowly, looking at the man's somewhat charred clothes with worry. "He was on fire earlier... Kg! Kah..." Damn... This smoke was...

"Got it," Honda said clearly, both himself and Bakura hauling the old man on their shoulders. "Yugi," he continued with a nod, "This fire's getting out of hand, let's go!"

Katsuya turned to the boy, frowning as Yugi stood there. He wasn't moving... ...Wait, where was... "...Yugi," he shouted, watching the boy turn back to the table in the middle in silence. The roar of flames and burning wood was almost drowning... But he was just standing there, right in the thick of it, not even flinching... "...Yugi, what are you doing?"

A thundering crack came through the air as the bookcases on the side crumbled to the ground, Honda turning with wide eyes. "Yugi, we need to get out of here," he shouted, "We can't stay any longer!"

The boy continued to stand, shaking his head. "I... I can't leave the puzzle here," he shouted, turning back to them with tearing eyes. "I can't!"

The puzzle..? Katsuya looked over at the table, staring at where the puzzle sat in pieces. "Shit..." It was one thing if it was intact but... What the hell happened here? "Honda," he said, turning to the teen. "You an' Bakura get that old man outta here alright?"

The two frowned, staring. "But what about-?"

"Just get outta here! GO!" They nodded, hauling the old man out of the room as Honda turned back.

"You... You better fucking survive this, both of you," he shouted, eyes wide as the blond nodded. "Got it?"

Katsuya nodded as the three vanished through the smoke, a steady frown in place as he turned back to Yugi. Of course... Of course they would, of course... "...Yugi... We gotta gather these pieces," he said clearly, "Carry them out..." He rushed over, hissing as he attempted to grab the chain while Yugi winced and grabbed a number of pieces. "Ach..! ...What th' hell..." The blond's eyes widened, Katsuya looking over the chain and watching as it led to the edge of the table. What..! "Yugi, this... It's pinned to th' table," he shouted, "We can't do this!"

The boy shook his head, sweat dripping off both of the two in layers as the flames ate away the walls around them. "No... No," he repeated, swallowing, "I'll just have to reassemble it here, I'm not leaving!"

No... No fucking way, no... "No... No no... You _MORON! _We can't stay in here," he shouted, gesturing to the flames around them. Eight years... He said it took him _eight damn years_ to do this the last time, if he was going to put it together now..! "If we don't get out of here now, we'll burn to death! We can't-"

"I'M NOT LEAVING HIM, JONOUCHI-KUN!" The blond tensed, freezing as his friend turned on him with tear filled and desperate eyes. A-Ahh... Ah... "I'm not leaving the other me! Not even considering it! If I leave here now," he choked, rasping for breath in the smoke filled room as his friend stared, "If I leave here, the puzzle won't even be recoverable... It'll never be there... It'll be gone... He'll be gone..." Y-Yugi... And the other Yugi too... Damn it... "I'm begging you Jonouchi-kun... I'm begging you please... Please just let me put it back together..." He... He... "So I can at least see him one last time... Just one last time..."

One last time... But at this rate... The blond's expression shifted to that of rage, the teen pulling his friend close by the shirt. "WHAT THE HELL DO YOU MEAN LAST? YUGI," he shouted, tears now welling up in his own eyes as his friend gave no response. "If you die... Everything is over! Everything! You moron," he continued, shaking his head as he let the boy down. "You can't... How can you solve it so quickly, we only have so long... Don't..." This fire was already getting out of hand as it was..! "Don't do this..."

"I can't..." The boy shook his head, fingers working with the puzzle now that he was released, despite the already angry red burns the metal was scaring him with. Damn it... Why... Why... "I can't..." Why...?

...He knew why.

...No... No he couldn't leave him... He guessed in the end he couldn't either. "...Alright," he said quietly, bowing his head in defeat as the sound of falling wood came from around them. "...Alrigh' Yugi, you win... But I ain't leavin'," he continued, the boy pausing momentarily to look at him with wide eyes. "An' if you even think about arguin'," he added with a weak smirk, shaking his head. "Well..." Eh... Not the time for threats... "Jus' don', alrigh'..?"

Yugi stared, swallowing before nodding and turning back to his puzzle to work. "Alright, Jonouchi-kun..." Alright...

Here's to life or death then... And silence. Fires were literally eating at the table that the puzzle was nailed to, and still Yugi pressed on, nothing but the sound of crackling flames and slowly burning wood surrounding them. That, and his footsteps as he attempted to find a clear path further into the room. He needed to find something... Something to get that damn peg out of the table... But all around them were nothing but flames, so all he could to was stand there. Not a pole, not a rod... Nothing. ...But he wouldn't leave... Like hell he would leave! Yugi wouldn't die here... He'd make sure of it. Even if he needed to knock him out cold he'd get him out... Even if he never looked at him the same again...

The blond swallowed, eyes narrowed in worry as Yugi continued to work in front of him. Click... Click... Click... Piece by piece it was being put together, half of the puzzle already in place. But damn it... Even if the puzzle was finished, he'd have to leave that guy here... The 'other' Yugi... Katsuya bit his lip, flames continuing to eat away the building around them. And with a bond like theirs... That kind of bond, that unbreakable connection...

What the hell was he supposed to do damn it? What... What did he do..?

Click... Click... Click... A portion of the roof collapsed to the ground, Katsuya coming close behind the the boy. No time... They needed to leave... Three pieces left... Two... Another portion fell, the blond's eyes wide as he looked at the wall of flames before the table. Damn it! No time! No time! "Hah... Y-Yugi," the blond said with a shout, turning back to the boy. The last piece was in there... Now or never! "Yugi come on," he shouted, grabbing his friend's shoulder while the boy slumped, "We need to get outta here, we-" He shook the boy's body, shaking his head as he looked at the unconscious form of his friend. Oh hell... The smoke, the heat, the stress... He didn't think something else would end up knocking him out damn it! No... No... The puzzle was done, but they needed to leave... He grabbed him around the waist, pulling Yugi's free arm over his shoulder. "Come on," he muttered, pulling hard. "Come on, come on, come on!" They couldn't stay, they couldn't...

The sound of the chain clacking against the pin sounded through the air, Katsuya shouting with aggravation as he put the boy down and moved to the chain. "DAMN IT!" This chain... This damn chain... He slumped to his knees, pulling at Yugi's hands and the chain both in an attempt to free one or the other. "Let go... Let go Yugi, let go... We're going to die damn it..." How could he be holding so tightly when he wasn't conscious? How... How! "Let go... LET GO! Gh... Damn it... ...Damn it..." He swallowed, eyes wet with tears despite the flames around them. Leaving one friend was another... And hard enough as it was... But two? Both of them..? "What do I do," he finally whispered, shaking his head as it slumped against the burning table. "What do I _do_..?"

A wind passed behind the blond, and slowly he looked up. That wind... The energy that filled the room... The blond's eyes widened as he looked at the side of his friend, hands dropping the chain. He.. The 'other' Yugi, he was looking at him, from behind the 'original'... Almost desperate if he could call it that, or even angry... Eyes narrowed with some sort of emotion he couldn't identify, something that the spirit himself was likely having troubles with. That look... ...It hurt... The blond shook his head, first only slightly, and then completely as the 'Other' Yugi stared in silence. "Don't look at me like that," he whispered, tears streaming down his face. "Damn it Yugi, don't look at me like that..." Please... Please don't...

The spirit's eyes widened, the 'other Yugi' staring in shock as the flames raged. ...Wait... He heard... "_Jonouchi..._" He'd heard..._ "How can you..._" _HE_ heard... The two stared, before the spirit turned to look at the 'disk' like board on the ground. Now was not the time... But what it _was_ time for was... "..._Jonouchi,_" he said plainly, turning back to the blond and then looking back at the disk.

The table... No, the 'board'... Katsuya pulled himself up, eyes growing wide as he followed the spirit's gaze. "...No way..." He climbed onto the table, ignoring the flaming cloth as he picked up the large stone disk. It wasn't attacked... It wasn't... He looked back at 'Yugi' for a moment, steeling himself as he looked back at the peg. Clawed fingers spread out on the hand... And a looped peg... This would work... This would work! The claw was fixed into the hole with a grunt, the blond swallowing. "I told you," he muttered under his breath, looking back at the boy as the spirit of the puzzle vanished from sight. "We ain't dying here..." He jumped on the end of the disc, gritting his teeth as a loud crack came through the air. "_WE CAN'T DIE HERE_!"

The peg flew from the chain, table collapsing underneath the force of the jump while the stone disk itself crumbled into dust. This was all it took... And now they were getting the hell out of here! The blond grabbed Yugi from the ground, the puzzle still gripped tightly in the boy's hands. Still holding on... He was still holding on... The room collapsed behind him as he ran, holding his friend close and ducking beneath the flames and smoke. "Hang in there Yugi," he muttered quietly, watching as wood fell behind and before them, ducking under and jumping over the collapsing building around them. "Hang in there... Hang in there...

The door... "Yugi," Katsuya muttered, the front door in sight as he stumbled and walked past the still collapsing beams and furniture. There, there it was... "...Thank-you..."

'_No,_' the faint voice whispered, the outside of the building coming into sight as wood collapsed behind them. '_Thank you..._'

Fire was roaring around them as he coughed, but suddenly cool air met his face as the blond stepped out. Alive... The fires were eating at everything behind him, the path he'd taken was completely demolished and they were...

"JONOUCHI," Honda shouted, rushing forward with Bakura and a few others behind him. Hah... Katsuya walked forward, coughing somewhat as he held onto his friend. "YUGI!"

Anzu, Sugoroku, Mokuba, hell even the dog... People from all over the road filled the streets as the group worriedly asked how they were, sounds barely making it through his ears. Paramedics were coming over... Sounds began to clear as the blond shook himself, looking down at Mokuba as the boy looked up. "Katsuya-nii," Mokuba said with wide eyes, looking at the two ash-covered teens before him. "Katsuya-nii, is he... Is he..."

He was alive... It would be alright... "Heh... Guys," he muttered, the others staring as he gave a sad smile. "Look... He didn' let go," he continued, the others frowning somewhat. "Even in there, he put it all t'gether an' he didn' let go... He... He's alive... ...An' th' other Yugi..." The firelight glowed against the completed puzzle, the others silent. "Through all tha' fire... Their bond... It's..." His vision was swimming... Maybe he shouldn't talk...

Paramedics swarmed the two even as he continued speaking, a pair taking the boy away on a stretcher as Sugoroku followed after. "Come this way," one was saying, the blond watching as his friend was hurriedly strapped to a board and loaded into the flashing van, "We need to treat your burns..."

"Gh-" He shook his head, watching the ambulance doors shut for the vehicle to drive off, a number of fire-fighters taking its place. "I'm fine," he muttered, "Go look after Yugi..." More doctors was never a bad thing right?

Wait, paramedic's were 'on site' only... "Sir, we have your friend in an ambulance already, now please come with us-"

Well either way, he was fine! "An' I said I'm-"

"Katsuya-nii, _GET IN THE AMBULANCE!_" The blond turned as Mokuba scowled, before slowly nodding. "Now!"

H-Hihhh! Shit, worse than when they first met..! "Alrigh', alrigh'," he said with a cough, shaking his head and turning around to follow the paramedic. Damn it, he hated hospitals, he wasn't even that burnt... (Though he did hurt now that he thought about it.) "I'm goi-" The blond froze, staring upward as he looked over the burning building before them. That flash he saw earlier... The clown statue going up in flames with a haunted and almost demonic smile... The building collapsing in on itself, becoming nothing but ash... The dark, smoke filled sky before it, which gave the illusion of nightfall...

"Sir..." The paramedic turned, tapping the blond's shoulder. "Sir are you alright..?"

He'd seen all this before...

The others stared, also coming over with worried expressions. "Katsuya-nii..?"

"Jonouchi," Anzu asked somewhat hesitantly, the others as well putting in their two cents.

"Hey," Honda muttered, frowning. "You alright man..?"

"Er... Jonouchi-kun..?"

"...Yea," Katsuya said quietly, following off to the ambulance as his friends shrugged behind him. "...'M fine..." Just... Fine...

Something was wrong... Something was definitely wrong, but as weird as it was, he couldn't be bothered with thinking about it too hard as he was pulled off to be taken to the hospital. Because the fact was, they were all alive...

All of them...

And that was all that mattered in the end, right..?

* * *

**AN:** Whoo! You got a long one today! Not a bad ending to the D-D-D arc nah? Fires and clowns... Fires and clowns, _yikes_...

The 'mysteries' of Jonouchi's ability continue to increase don't they? I can tell you this, they will at least be partially made sense of by the time we hit Battle City's 'true start'. I say true because there are breather chapters separating the chapter Ishizu first appears in from the Battle City, as it made no sense to me that Kaiba could have an entire tournament complete with air-ship built within a few weeks for that purpose.

Kaiba's awesome guys, but there _are_ limits.

In any case, you'll all either hate me or... Or something by the end of this, that's for sure. Next chapter could count as a breather in a way, despite us getting Ishizu in it actually; though depending on how I set it up, I might end up with her coming in on the chapter _after_ the next, it all depends...

Either way. Egypt. YEAAAAAA.

**Poll Results** are **NOT OVER WITH. THE POLL IS ON UNTIL THE NEXT CHAPTER.**

Just thought you should know that. In any case, GET YOUR VOTES IN, this is your last chance! **Remember, you can vote 'anonymously', using the 'anonymous review' option.**

As of now, the results deciding on whether or not Seto's past incarnation crossdresses or not are as follows:

Female Crossdressing Set - 13 (Three Anonymous)

Obviously Female Priest_ess_ Set - 9 (Three Anonymous)

Keeping in mind the only difference between the two is that one is wearing binding...

Well!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey Iona! I know eh? 'Defeat means friendship' indeed…

Though what the hell does that mean for _Kaiba_…

And ooh god yes, his father… Ahhhhh… I have to say, the manga always made so much more sense to me concerning Otogi; his reasoning for fighting Yugi seemed so _petty_ in the anime, really… At least we know he gets better though!

…That old man is going in a _home_ damn it.

I might actually make a doodle comic about that now… Just so I can make that turn into a blood bath of ridiculous proportions. Hehehe…

MOKUBA~~ Lunch is about an hour long, as with most places really… I'm not actually sure if Mokuba would technically be allowed to leave the school building during that time, but I'm going to risk it… If not for the fact that it _is_ literally about two minutes away, and he _is_ just going into another school building.

Ahhhh… Jonouchi and Mokuba… They _are_ close, and like you said, it is to be expected… Though you can bet that a few kilometres away, Kaiba was sitting in her chair with a feeling of 'THAT MUTT!' running up her spine for reasons beyond her.

MUTT SENSES. EVERYONE NEEDS THEM.

Ooooh yea, creepy old man… I actually wonder if the age affected his mind; maybe he's senile? I don't know… Still, his vengeance drive probably rivals that of Death-T Kaiba's, the differences being that one had the funding and the other didn't. HIHHHHH!

Strange visions for the win! Maybe he will, maybe he won't… Oddly enough, he'll probably get used to it in the end until we get a duel involving the oh-so-famous Fluffy's occult deck.

Then he'll probably be puking over the side of the airship, hahaha…

Much more embarrassing. And oooooh, that'll be interesting during the pool chapter I'm gonna have…

And crazikido2!When you get here (Seeing how this review is from chapter four), first off, welcome to the fanfic! Second off, glad you like it so much! Though I hope they don't look at you like that too long...

Well, to the next chapter!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's waiting for the snowplows! ...Seriously, _this storm_... TERRIBLE! (And yes, there are very few notes for you today. Funny how that works with the longest chapter in the arc.)

* * *

'Red Skies At Night' is obviously a terrible play on the final half of that sailor's rhyme that inspired the 'Red Skies At Morning' title way back in the Legendary Heroes arc, but it means the exact opposite of the rhyme while holding true to the meaning. A red sky at night meant that the clouds were moving _away_ from the boat see, so the storms had already passed. However, the 'red sky' in this case refers to all the fire...

At the same time, we end this chapter out of the fires, so in the end, 'red skies at night' are still heralding good news.

And on another note, did you know that there really _is_ a 'Black Saturday' in history? It's used to refer to the day that a terribly tragic bushfire in Victoria, Australia broke out.

_Learn something new everyday_...

* * *

Interesting fact; a lot of the later monsters we see here show up as cards in Otogi's deck during the Noa arc. Huhhhh... _Interesting how that worked out… _(Particularly since not all of them were _Otogi_'s. Hell… One of Otogi's key monsters in the Noa arc was _Yugi's_ during the D-D-D arc!) Even more interesting... But look at Duker Twin Swords and the Little Magician. Do they look familiar?

_They should_. They're the Silent Magician and the Silent Swordsman from Yugi's Millennium World deck! (Or at least the early depiction of them.)

* * *

Speaking of interesting, when Otogi gestures to his next black die, it's the only die in the line up. In fact, there's empty space behind it in the 'line up'… Does that mean he has no more dice..?

* * *

Fun fact; besides paranoia and such, it's likely that the game would have gone as it did in the manga _even if Otogi's dad didn't appear_. The only difference would likely be that Yugi would obviously be much more sound of mind, Bakura wouldn't show up, and the game would finish quicker... But Yugi's Black Ninja still would have died!

* * *

HEHHHHH? Otogi's dad says it was twenty years since he lost that game against Sugoroku! But… Who the hell got together with him and had a son in the few years after that fact then? I'm so confused now…

* * *

Now, when Otogi mentions that he can't summon any more dice monsters, he says he has three in his hand. But since he summoned the last die he had, he should only have two… HNNNNN… In the end, it apparently doesn't matter; so long as he has the crests handy in his crest pool, he can just attack and not roll. ... I had him roll anyways.

* * *

When Bakura says 'horribly', he isn't lying; in Pegasus' flashback, we see that when someone attempted to give some random thief off the streets the Millennium ring, it instantly engulfed the guy in flames. OUUUUUUCH.

Needless to say, this scares the ever loving crap out of Pegasus, so when he's caught and forced to become the new owner of the Millennium Eye... Well, getting his eye gouged out was the least of his fears. (Pity he was the 'one person' who could take the eye...)

* * *

Speaking of Bakura, before he enters the building, he's standing outside with his ring as it glows and does it's compass thing… He says '_It looks like I have to do the King's dirty work…_ _Again_.'

WHAT. WH… When did you do anything for the pharaoh before that point Bakura? WHEN. TELL ME.

* * *

Yugi's last monster... 'Puzz'. Like the 'puzzle'. Hehehe. Heh. AUUUGGGGHH THESE PUNS... _They hurt so much..._

* * *

Now, Yugi 'won' right after defeating Orgoth. But that's because Otogi 'decked out' by the standards of the game. He couldn't summon any monsters, which meant he had nothing to attack Yugi's dungeon master with... So yea.

* * *

Ooooohh Bakura… Pretending to be 'friends' is going to screw you over in either the second breather chapter we see after this, or in a doodle comic...

By the way, that piece of puzzle that 'fell'? Bakura kept it to put a tiny bit of his soul inside before giving it back. YAAAAAAAY, unwanted soul-room guests!

* * *

Originally, this 'wheel' thing was from Egypt. _BUT EVERYTHING IS FROM EGYPT_. Holy shit! AGH. Pick another country!

So, as a bit of spoilers for what kind of intensity you'll be getting a long ways from now in the Doma arc, I had fun with it. Hehehe.

* * *

By the way, for those curious, Otogi's dad found himself entrapped in a giant maze the more he tried to work the puzzle. Otogi in the meantime, simply couldn't put the puzzle together. Looks like his soul is stronger than it seems eh?

* * *

Yugi's store/house is on a corner; so the crosswalk is literally right there really.

* * *

Smoke goes _up_ guys. It's why you're supposed to keep your head _down_ when you deal with all this.

Also the shirt thing helps. Not much in that kind of smoke. But it helps.

* * *

In the manga, Jonouchi says '_Otogi, get your Tou-san out_!' (Get your dad out basically.) (Otogi was still there in the manga. Bakura… Randomly _not_ there, hnnn... ) …But how did he know it was the guy's dad..? Ahhhh...

* * *

Also a manga point, Jonouchi waits _outside the room_ Yugi is in. OUTSIDE? Jonouchi whyyyyyyy..? Maybe it was because Yugi asked everyone to leave him alone..?

* * *

Weirdest thing, but in the fire, Yami Yugi shows up 'on the side' (Black background. Probably just inside Jonouchi's head.) saying '_Jonouchi_'… After which the blond suddenly gets the idea to make a lever from the disk. Hnnn...

* * *

Now sunset isn't until six PM in April in Japan... So obviously, the darkness isn't quite from the lack of the sun. More the shadows of numerous buildings plus clouds plus dusk. _Twilight_ however, begins at 4:30... So yaaaaay~

**

* * *

FanArt and My Art Section**

Take out the spaces, paste the link! Ta-daaaaa~

Only two today, but nothing to sneeze at given most of the time was spent on the chapter above…

First off, Merry Christmas, Happy New Years and Happy Holidays to all of those reading the fanfic! I'm surprised it's gone this long, and trust me, it'll just keep going!

And as a Christmas Present for all of you… It might just be a sketch (My photoshop trial ran out, and I don't really like inking sketches in GIMP), but hey, it's a lot less 'sketchy' than I tend to get.

Happy Holidays! - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ HappyHolidays. jpg - Yes, she's wearing a gown. No, this picture doesn't actually happen. It's just me making up for the lack of fanservice! Whooo! (If you look carefully, you'll spot a certain un-invited trio.

Now have a Lady Knight Critias you crazies.

The Lady Knight - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO %20Fanfic %20- %20Skin/ TheKnight. jpg - What, you thought the three knights wouldn't get the same reincarnation treatment? They _do_ have an uncanny resemblance to their 'owners' as the knights after all… Ironically enough, the dragon Critias is the only bipedal one, and therefore the only one that looks like it has massive hips. YAAAAAAY wait, hold on. In any case, you can take this as a small sampler, in addition to obvious little snippets above, that will hint at a massive re-tool of the Doma Arc. Though it's more me filling in holes than making them…

AND NOW... You wait for the next chapter. This is going to be the last update you get before the holidays are over, and as it is, I'll be going a lot slower after. Most of my updates came from Job Hunting going slow thanks to the snow. After the holidays though... Well, the snow's obviously been plowed off now, and the squall is over...

You _might_ get another update, but don't count on it until after New Years. (Sorry~)

Happy Holidays everyone! And Merry Christmas!


	58. Chapter 57

**This Is My Security Team**

* * *

Of all the things that he hated the most about going to the hospital, there was really only one that stood out right now.

It was white. That was something he always hated about hospitals really... They were just so damn...

White. Blank. Blinding. Seriously, it was like walking outside on a sunny day right after it snowed, _terrible_. Except at least then, he could blink it off and get inside the house/school/where ever the hell the nearest building was.

Though in the end, Katsuya supposed that at least this time... He wasn't alone. Which made it much more bearable, despite what had gotten them there.

It was probably day three of the hospital to say the least. Though 'day' one was technically only a few hours thanks to the fact that they'd come in at four pm, day two had passed about as quickly as the latter half of the first 'day' had. Yugi had been rushed into critical care himself as soon as he was hauled out of the fire, and for a variety of things. The most important ones were smoke inhalation, severe burns to his hands and front from the fire he'd almost literally sat in and... Now hang on, the chart said...

What was this about a bruised and crushed throat? How the hell did _that_ one happen? (Yugi sure as hell wasn't saying...)

Katsuya himself had just spent a few hours getting his own burns bandaged up before being hauled off into a bed that night- so really, he'd had it much simpler. Though not as serious as his friend's, given how quick he'd be discharged, he himself was not spared the burns on his hands and body. While he hadn't held onto the puzzle's chain for long, trying to get the stone through the also metal loop had had it's effects... And dear god his hands hurt like hell. Nonetheless. He'd be out that friday, four-three days from that point. Yugi...

More or less the day before Golden Week. On the 29th... Which was currently about three weeks away. On the bright side, the second bed in the room he was in was currently the one that was being switched out... Despite all the odds, the only thing 'permanent' on Yugi's condition were the burns against his hands. Which meant that not only was he out of ICU...

He was here. And he was more or less in perfect condition to talk to his friend on the bed beside him. "Alrigh'," the blond said with a small laugh as the pair recounted their own tales of the night and day prior, "Le's try this again... They tried t' put you in _pediatrics_?"

Yugi crossed his arms, going fairly red in the face at the mention of the 'childrens ward'. "Gh- I was completely unconscious at that time too," he muttered, shaking his head. "If Grandpa hadn't caught them on it while they were wheeling me away... It was hard enough to convince him to leave me with the puzzle as it was..."

But hey, given that the 'other' Yugi was hovering at the side, they knew how that went down. The 'other' beside the boy appeared to laugh somewhat quietly, gaining a glare from his lighter half as he shook his head. "Gh- Other me..!" The spirit merely 'said' something, Yugi flushing and slamming his head back on his pillow. "...Gnnnn... I can't wait until my growth spurt finally hits..." Yea, late blooming was one thing, but how long was that going to last?

Katsuya stared as the spirit began talking about something once again, propping his head on his arm as he waited for the conversation to finish. This was another thing that came through the day really... Evidentally, while unconscious and going through a battery of machines and tests to make sure he wasn't dying, the two Yugis had been talking amongst each other...

And the conversation in the fire had come up. Revealing a few facts that the blond had been attempting to keep quiet. Yugi looked over at his friend from where he was about to answer his 'partner', blinking at the silence he'd gotten before following his gaze back to his 'other self'. "...So," the boy began, blinking a few times before turning back to his friend, "You can _really_ see him Jonouchi-kun," he asked, staring.

The blond nodded, looking over at where the spirit was hovering at that moment. Currently, the 'other' Yugi was staring back... Though after a blink he'd simply turned his attention to the wall. "Yep... Clear as day... It's kinda creepy act'lly..." The two 'Yugi's turned to each other, the darker again saying something before Yugi turned back to Katsuya.

"But you can't hear anything he says..?" Hahaha... Nope.

He shrugged, shaking his head as Yugi frowned. "Hey, don' ask me how it works! All I know is that I c'n see 'm!" Not to mention everything that could appear on a holographic duel table, but hey, lets take things a step at a time right? Because really, seeing 'ghosts' was one thing, seeing 'ghosts' that didn't exist... The blond groaned, leaning back against his pillow at the thought. "Man... This is insane..."

'_Well,_' the 'other' Yugi muttered, back turned as he shrugged, '_It could be worse..._'

"G-HAAAAA!" Katsuya jumped, looking back at the two Yugi's with wide eyes. "What th' hell!"

The pair stared, before turning to each other as the other Yugi said something again. Lips moving, no sound...

"AAAAAGHHH!" The two turned to the blond, eyebrows raised as their friend 'face-palmed' into a pillow. "Th's crazy!"

"Er..." Yugi coughed, blinking a few times. "...What is..?"

He crossed his arms gritting his teeth. "Gh... What else," he asked, frowning. "One minute 'm hearin' 'm, th' other I ain't, what th' hell..."

The other Yugi gave him a somewhat unimpressed stare, frowning. '_I'm right here you know..._'

"Gh-" And again! "Stop switchin'!"

The other Yugi snorted, shaking his head before crossing his legs in mid-air. '_Well it's not like I'm controlling this!_' Learning to do _that_ would certainly be nice though...

"Maybe it's because you're talking to him and not me," Yugi said with a shrug. Katsuya blinked, watching as the boy looked over at his 'other' before continuing. "Let's try something," he decided with a grin, the 'other' raising his eyebrows in curiosity. "You say something to me... And then something to Jonouchi-kun! And that way, we'll find out if I'm right!"

The others blinked, staring a few times before trading looks and shrugging. It was as good an idea as anything else he supposed... And hey, not like they had anything else to do... "Eh... Alrigh'," Katsuya said with another shrug, leaning against his pillows. "Shoot!"

"Alright!" Yugi nodded, turning to his other as the spirit appeared to sigh. The 'ghost' crossed his arms, turning to his partner. Now... Three... Two... One...

And nothing but moving a mouth! The pair turned to their friend, the blond shaking his head as they waited. "Got nothin'."

'_Well,_' the spirit said plainly, blinking a few times as he floated down to 'sit' on the edge of Yugi's bed. '_That's interesting..._'

"Heh, yea," his friend muttered, rubbing his head as he ignored the bizarreness of the situation, "Y' got that right..."

Yugi shrugged, before turning as footsteps began coming down the hall. "Hn... Someone getting visitors..?" Supposed so... They weren't even allowed visitors the day before...

His other blinked, looking at the clock before smirking. '_Four o'clock visiting hour on monday... I think I can guess who it is, aibou._' The others blinked, before watching as the spirit faded into the puzzle as the steps came louder.

Four o'clock... After school... So that meant... "Oiiii Katsuya-niiiii~!" The two turned from their beds, smiles coming over them as Mokuba ran through. "Yugi!" Haha!

Katsuya grinned, sitting up from the bed with a laugh. "M-Mokuba! You're here!"

The boy was quickly joined by others, Anzu, Honda and Bakura following him in. Hey... Everyone was here... Um... "Ah... Bakura-kun," Yugi said with a blink, looking them over. "Everyone..."

The three smiled, Anzu herself coming over and dropping a small vase of flowers on the side table. "Of course! Did you think we wouldn't visit," she asked, turning to them with a smile. "We would have come yesterday, but your Grandpa said you were in ICU..."

There was a nod in response to that, Yugi skipping over the topic as he looked at the group. "Ah... Where's Otogi-kun," Yugi asked, blinking a few times.

Huh... That was a good question actually... Honda stared, Mokuba and Anzu as well giving him an odd look in response to the question. "Er... Otogi," he asked, blinking a few times. There was a bit of an awkward silence, the teen coughing. "Well... Apparently the old man we hauled out was his _dad_," he continued just as awkwardly, averting his eyes from everyone in the room, "And not his _grandpa_ like we thought..."

"W-Wait," Katsuya said with a jump, shaking his head. "That old guy was his dad..! But how's that ev'n possible!"

Yugi coughed, the others turning from the side. Ahh... Something on his mind..? "Ah... Otogi-kun's dad... Apparently played a cursed game, a few years ago..." A cursed game..? The others tilted their heads, and the boy continued. "I wasn't going to say anything," he said nervously, turning away somewhat, "But since you know who he is... Well... The game should be destroyed by now in any case so..."

Well, it wasn't like the guy really got that old on his own he guessed... Though thinking back, the game that he'd seen back in the fire looked old enough to suit that... ...Hihhhhh... The others blinked a few times, nodding at the answer they'd gotten. Change of subject, change of subject... "Well... Anyways," Honda said with a cough, shaking himself. "Thanks to the fire, he's going to be in the hospital for a while... And since the building had their apartment in it, Otogi's staying at my place for the next bit... What with him not having any relatives at the moment, plus all the paper issues he's dealing with trying to put things back together..." That tended to happen when things literally went in flames.

Wait, did he say- "Ah... Your house," Bakura repeated, blinking. "Really?"

Honda nodded, shrugging as he looked back at the albino. Evidentally, whatever issues had been around thanks to the presence of the ring were... Solved... (He was still keeping an eye out) "Yep- Spoke to him in the waiting room yesterday, when I was trying to see you two," the teen continued, scratching his neck. "Speaking of which... How are you guys holding up," he asked, hands stowed in his pockets. "I mean... We didn't get much from Jii-chan other than the 'ICU' so..."

Yugi blinked, before smiling. "Haha... Of course... Well... I'm alright... I can't feel my arms," he added with a laugh, the limbs in question currently heavily wrapped in addition to the IV drip at the side, "But I'm alright..." Though if that drip of painkillers went away, he'd be howling damn it...

Thankfully, that was not going to happen. "As f'r me," Katsuya said with a smirk, the others turning to him as he held up a bandaged 'thumbs up', "You'll be seein' me next week!" The others stared at that, the blond frowning at the lack of reaction. "...O-OI! Shouldn' that be good!"

Mokuba grinned, laughing as he came over and took a seat on the bed while the others shook their heads and smiled. Aggggh, a joke, they'd pulled a joke on him damn it... "Hey, I'm happy about it! In any case," the boy asked, attempting to find a comfortable seat on the blond's legs, "What do you guys think you'll be doing while you're in here?"

While they were here..? Huh... ...That was a good question. Katsuya blinked, before frowning as he crossed his arms. "Hnn... I was thinkin' 'f going through my deck act'ally," he muttered, Mokuba raising his eyebrows. "Nothin' else to do b'sides talk really... I'd play a few rounds with Yugi but..."

They turned, watching as the boy sheepishly raised his two bandaged arms. Honestly, if there were anymore, he'd say the kid was wearing two casts rather than a series of bandages. "Haha..." He shook his head, moving to scratch it only to stop when he remembered the bandages he had. "Eh... Sorry Jonouchi-kun!"

Katsuya shrugged, shaking his head. "Eh, it's fine," he muttered, smirking. "We'll figure somethin' out right?" Better than the TV anyways... The blond turned back to the others as his friend nodded, leaning against the bed. "Anyways... What about you guys," he asked somewhat plainly, "Anything else new? ...Other than an extra chew toy f'r y'r dog Honda?"

"Actually," the teen said with a cough, "Blankey seems to really have taken a shine to Otogi... We were even able to let him back in the house..."

Okay... "...Yea..." That wasn't what he was talking about...

Mokuba shook his head, before leaning back slightly on the bed and throwing his own two cents in. "Well... Nii-sama's almost done testing the new duel disk..." Ooooh! The two on the beds immediately honed on on that, Mokuba continuing with a grin. Someone knew what to talk about..! "Hehehe..." The grin widened with the added attention, and he went on. "If all goes well with the final phases of the test, they'll be ready to sell by the summer! Keep an eye out..."

Ooooo! Definitely! "Sweet," Katsuya said, a grin on his face. "I know what I'm savin' for now..."

"Hahhh... I wonder what the disk looks like," Yugi mumbled with an odd look staring up at the ceiling and smiling as the others groaned.

"Augh... What's wrong with you boys," Anzu muttered, shaking her head and glaring weakly at the group. "Honestly..."

Honda frowned, turning with the words. "Hey," he said with a scowl, narrowing his eyes, "Some of us don't even duel!"

The woman merely rolled her eyes, looking at Honda with raised eyebrows. "Maybe so," she said, "But there's still something wrong with all of you..."

"Hnnnn..."

Anzu crossed her arms, shaking her head. "Anyways," she said, ignoring the grumbling from behind her, "Anything _other_ than cards that we can talk about?"

"Well..." The others turned, watching as Bakura held out a newspaper he'd been holding with a slightly pink tone to his face. "There is _this_..."

...This? The others watched as he held out the newspaper, unfolding it so that the two bed-ridden ones could see it clearly. Not that he couldn't move but...

Mokuba was sitting on his legs so yea, he _couldn't_. "'Egyptian Exhibit Extended'," the boy read off the page, a large image of the Museum visible at the top. A somewhat tall, dark-haired man resembling Bakura could be seen in it, standing next to a tanned woman. Back to the article though... "Ah- so they really are adding to that section then?"

The albino nodded, still somewhat pink. "Yes, that's right! I even got to help organize it," he added with a smile, bowing his head as he flushed. "It was actually very fun..." That explained the blush...

Yugi blinked, looking at the picture beneath the article in question. Bakura's dad, Egyptian woman... Wait..."Ah... That woman," the boy asked, frowning somewhat. "Who is that..?"

"The woman?" Bakura looked down, the others following his gaze to the picture. "Oh! That's 'Ishizu Ishtar'... Er... Ishtar Ishizu," he corrected with a cough, "Sorry... She's a fairly important figure in dealing with Egyptian artifacts apparently... In fact, I believe she's also the one who provided and approved a majority of the display, enabling us to extend the exhibit in the first place!" He coughed, turning the paper around and frowning as he looked closer at the image. "Now hang on..."

Eh? "What," Katsuya asked, blinking a few times, "What is it..?"

The teen continued to frown, turning the paper around again and pointing at the woman in the picture. "The necklace," he began I can't figure out how I missed it before but... Doesn't this eye look familiar..?"

The others leaned in, before growing somewhat pale. Around the woman's neck, neatly molded in gold... "Th-The Millennium Eye," Yugi muttered, leaning back with a swallow.

Katsuya groaned, slamming back against the pillows on his bed. "Awww hell," he moaned, grabbing his face, "If it ain't soul-stealin' an' fires, it'll be zombie night all over again!" Damn it aaaaaall!

"Zombie night," Mokuba asked, raising his eyebrows as the others shook their heads.

"Long story," Honda said with a sigh, Bakura turning to him as well with raised eyebrows.

"That's right," Bakura said with a blank stare, "You said you would tell me about that, didn't you say something about someone with _two_ items being involved with that..?"

They'd said that? Honda sighed, scratching his head. "..._Very_ long," he added, a wry smile on his face.

"Long enough that we don't have time either," Anzu added, looking up at the clock as the others turned to her. "I have work in half an hour," she said with a shrug, shaking her head, "If I don't catch the next bus..."

Yugi nodded immediately, smiling at the woman. "It's fine Anzu- thanks for coming," he added, the smile growing into a grin.

The woman smiled, turning to the boy and shaking her head. "How could I not come? Though before I go... I have to ask," she said somewhat worriedly, biting her lip. "Is the 'other Yugi' alright..?"

The room fell somewhat silent, Yugi looking down at his puzzle. His smile however, didn't vanish, which resulted in everyone else having about the same reaction. "He's fine," he said with a smile, looking back up as he gave the answer that Katsuya and himself had had since the morning. "We're a little shaken," he added with a shrug, "But we're both fine!"

"Hah... That's good," the woman said, sighing with relief. "Well... Time to catch the bus... Good bye everyone," Anzu said, waving as she left. "I'll see you tomorrow alright?

"Bye," Mokuba shouted, Yugi doing the same.

"See you Anzu!"

"Er... Honda-kun..." The teen turned from where he was about to talk to Mokuba, looking at Bakura somewhat blankly as the albino coughed. "...If you're allowing Otogi-kun to stay at your house," he asked, putting the newspaper in his hands down, "Then... How exactly is he going to get in when you have the key..?"

The teen quickly paled, swallowing. Now that they thought about it... That was a good question. "Ooooh _shit_!" He fished around his pockets, pulling out the lanyard and swallowing. "Ahhhh... See you later guys," he shouted, running out of the hall. "I'll visit you tomorrow!"

"DON'T RUN IN A HOSPITAL," someone in the halls shouted, those in the room merely sighing and shaking their heads. "AND KEEP YOUR VOICE DOWN!"

"Hah... I suppose I should leave too," Bakura said with a small shrug, turning to the others and biting his lip. "I don't want to overstay my welcome," he continued with a cough, "And there's probably something I have to do... You two should be getting rest after all..." The albino's eyes nervously drifted downward, before he finally turned away. "In any case," he said with another cough, "I'll come and visit sometime soon alright, Yugi-kun, Jonouchi-kun?"

The two nodded, Mokuba pulling his legs into his seat as the albino made for the door. "Alright Bakura-kun," Yugi said with a nod, smiling. "We'll see you then!"

"Yea," Katsuya called out, "See yah!"

"Nn!" The teen left, the remaining three staring out the door for a few moments. There he went... So... Mokuba and Katsuya shared an awkward glance, looking back at Yugi. About Bakura...

He had the ring back... And... Personally, he'd forgotten to mention that, so he should probably... They both coughed, the smaller speaking first after a curious look from the boy. "Ahhh... Hey... Yugi," Mokuba asked, scratching his head as their friend blinked in response. "Um... There's something we should tell you..."

"'Bout Bakura," Katsuya added with a cough, turning away.

"Yea," Mokuba continued, "Um... He..."

"He has the ring back?" The two blinked, staring as Yugi finished the sentence. ...Interesting, he'd have thought those words would come with- Ah, hang on, the boy was wincing, obviously his 'other' _had_ head that... Yugi shook his head, before smiling despite the invisible verbal beating. Alright, that was the weirdest expression to ever associate with this- "I know," he said calmly, leaning back on his pillows, "The 'other' Bakura came in while I was playing D-D-D with Otogi-kun."

W-W-Wait... "WHAT!" How did he-!

"K-Katsuya-nii," Mokuba said with a wince, rubbing his ears, "We're in a hospital..."

"I know! I know but..." The blond gaped, shaking his head and staring incredulously at Yugi. "Y... Y'know? An' yer not... Worried... About anythin'..?" At all? _At all_?

The boy shook his head, adjusting his position on the bed as he shrugged. "Not really... I know that he tried to kill us before but... Well, when I thought about it," he continued, looking up at the ceiling with an odd expression in place, "The other me really _has_ killed people hasn't he?" Well... Yes but, that was a little- "And Bakura-kun _did_ say that he had troubles with friends right?" Yea but he never actually mentioned how that went- "So I thought, maybe the other Bakura was just doing the same thing the other me was... Protecting Bakura-kun..."

Mokuba swallowed, frowning as the argument was raised. "Well yea but... He put us in figurines!"

"Yea," Katsuya added with a nod, frowning, "An then tried t' _kill us _in th' figurines!"

"And impaling your own hand on a tower isn't really 'protection' Yugi..."

"Er...: The blond coughed, shaking his head. "There's that too..."

Yugi bit his lip, still smiling somewhat despite the comments. "I know but... He really helped back there! He helped gather the pieces of the puzzle back together, helped me win..." ...Seriously? That... Didn't sound like... "If Bakura-kun, the other one I mean... If he hadn't appeared, well..." He sighed, the smile vanishing as he looked down at the puzzle sitting around his neck. "Well... I don't think that the other me would be here..."

The others went silent at that, Mokuba and Katsuya both staring before trading looks. Really... Really, in the end, maybe they should just avoid this topic and not even _poke_ it with a fifty meter pole. Just an idea... "Sooo... Should I go get drinks," Mokuba said with a slight laugh, scratching his head in an attempt to change the subject.

Katsuya slowly nodded, the speed picking up at the idea. "Errrr yea! Yea," he repeated, shaking himself. "Iced tea f'r me alrigh'," he said, turning to Mokuba as the boy moved from the bed.

The boy nodded, turning to Yugi somewhat expectantly. "And you," he asked, hands stowed in his pockets. "Anything for you?"

"Ahh... A coke would be good," he said with a short nod, smiling as he pulled himself up in the bed. "Thanks for doing this Mokuba-kun!"

He shrugged, moving for the door. "Eh, it's nothing," he said, leaving the room.

Not really; while he could get out of the bed, the last time he'd tried to go get a drink himself, the nurses dragged him back into the room. So in the end, getting a drink was pretty nice... Still, he thought to himself as he leaned back against the pillows.

He hated hospitals.

"_You.._." Errr... The two boys blinked, turning as a rather aggravated (and very much familiarly disguised) voice came through the air. Oh shit.

Katsuya coughed as the voice was followed by a face, Yugi merely blinking as the woman walked in. "Errr..."

"...Me," Katsuya asked somewhat nervously.

Seto narrowed her eyes, shutting the door behind her and stalking over to stand between the two beds. For a moment, she was silent... In the end however, she turned to the shorter of the burn victims, dropping her briefcase to the side. "Yugi..." She held her hand up, pointing to the boy rather threateningly and gritting her teeth as she looked the boy over. "_If you weren't in a hospital bed..._"

"Er..." The boy coughed, going rather red with nervousness as he stared. "...What? _What does that even mean_..!"

The woman ignored him, turning around to face Katsuya with the same hand moving to point at the blond as she growled. "And _you_..."

"...H-Hah..." He edged away somewhat, coughing. "Er... Y-Yea, S-Seto-cha-"

-_SMACK!-_

Katsuya blinked, momentarily rendered silent as the woman's hand smacked him across the back of the head. "OW! What th'..." He shook himself, rubbing his head and looking at the woman with a glare. "What th' hell was that-"

"You're a _MORON_!" ...Kay. Um... Seto glared, crossing her arms as she turned to look at both of the two boys. "Complete _morons_, both of you!" Well _sheesh_, rub it in then! "You, I understand," she growled, looking at Yugi as the boy blinked. "Despite what your 'other' is capable of, your naivete knows no bounds..."

"H-Hey," he sputtered, going beet red, "That's not-"

"But _YOU_?" Katsuya stared, watching as Seto turned back to him with narrowed eyes. Er... What was bringing this on..! "You're on my _security_ team... I'd expect better than a suicidal stay in a flaming building,"

"H-Hey," the blond said with a nervous laugh, watching as the door opened at the side for Mokuba to walk in, "How did y' even know we stay-"

"You took half an hour to get out Katsuya-nii," the boy said fairly plainly, shutting the door tightly behind him as he balanced three cans in his hands, "I'd be surprised if Seto-neesama _didn't_ know," he added with a shrug, before walking over to put the cans on the side table. "Hey, Nee-sama," he asked, looking up at the woman as she turned, "You want anything?"

The woman shook her head, moving to take a seat at the side. "I'm fine," she muttered, evidentally feeling calmer than usual. "I'm just wondering if I should even bother with my 'plans' for this weekend now..." Err...

Plans? The boys blinked, sharing a few glances. Errr... What? "What plans," Mokuba repeated, blinking a few times. Well damn, there went asking _him_ what was going on...

"I have a meeting," Seto stated vaguely, idly glancing at the paper that had been left at the side before continuing.

Kay... That told him... Nothing. "A meeting," Katsuya repeated, blinking a few times as he frowned. "...What th' hell does that have to do with me?"

"Hey," Mokuba asked from the side, "Does this have to do with that call..?" Call..?

The woman ignored her brother, grabbing the newspaper from the side and idly flipping through it. "Everything actually... Despite how long I've had to filter through my staff," she continued with slight, albeit evident annoyance, "The 're-hire' is still underway for most of the security... And due to the training program required, none of the recruits are even close to being considered 'decent'..." Okay... Still wasn't seeing what this was about... Seto looked up from the paper, putting it to the side and moving toward the edge of Katsuya's bed to grab her briefcase. "I'll explain the rest later," she said dismissively, "But to say the least, you are unfortunately the best option I have for a 'bodyguard' at the moment..."

"Unfortunately!"

"B-Bodyguard," Yugi repeated, gaping as his friend frowned. Wait. Waaaaait...

H-Holy shit... The blond stared, before grinning widely and pointing at himself as he realized what the second half of Seto's sentence was. "H-Hah! I'm th' best option? Seriously!" He continued to grin, looking over to the other two as they raised their eyebrows. "Haha..! SWEE-"

"That wasn't a compliment _mutt_."

The blond tensed, gripping the side of his bed and growling as his 'boss' smirked. "Gh- You..!"

Seto chuckled, turning to the door and opening it. "I expect to see you 'on duty' friday night this week," she said calmly, moving into the hall as she covered her voice up once again. "Come on Mokuba- the dog and his friend need to sleep..."

Aaaaaghhh..! "_Damn it S-_"

"Good bye Kaiba-san," Yugi called out, voice cutting Katsuya's off as Mokuba left the room as well. "...Mokuba-kun!"

"See you," the boy shouted, waving as he headed out of the room. "Get better soon!" The door shut behind the two, leaving the boys to watch as their last visitors vanished down the hall. Alright. Friday.

'Bodyguard' duty.

A bit of silence filled the room, Katsuya slowly turning to Yugi as the boy did the same. What to say, what to- '_...So,_' the 'other' Yugi stated, misting into appearance beside his partner with a grin to somewhat mirror the 'lighter' one's at a more menacing level. '_A date then?_'

He couldn't have hit the pillow faster if he was out _cold_. "AAAAAUUUGH..."

* * *

To say that it was an 'interesting' phone call she'd received early that day would likely be putting it lightly to say the least. As it was, working while her brother was in the office watching the news of all things on a sunday was not her idea of a 'good work day'. But he was watching with 'closed captions', keeping the volume down, and overall doing his best to keep out of his hair now that he had nothing else to do but worry about Jonouchi.

However the last thing she'd expected on a _Sunday_ was a phone call. From her secretary. Who was sitting in the front, like she always was. Which meant that _this_ business call was _not _from in the building (Given that they knew damn well she didn't normally work sundays in the building anymore, and that the calls would otherwise be written down and noted by the secretary.), which more often than not meant more headaches. Damn it. Seto frowned, picking up the phone with narrowed eyes. "Yes," she asked, leaning back in her seat and tapping her fingers against the chair. "What is it?"

The secretary didn't waste a single moment, merely answering with her usual calm tone. "There's a woman named 'Ishizu Ishtar' trying to call," she said plainly, pausing only a moment to let the info sink in. "She claims it's important, but besides that she sounds out of country..." Which meant that it could very well be important despite her having never heard of the woman... Damn it. "Shall I patch her through?"

Hnnnn... The name... "Ishizu," Seto muttered, Mokuba turning from the couch at the words.

"H-Heh..? 'Ishizu'... Ishtar Ishizu," the boy asked, frowning as his sister raised her eyebrows. The woman nodded somewhat curtly, her brother's frown deepening. "But she's on the news _live_ right now, how can she be calling..""

Live? The woman frowned, looking back at the phone before glancing at the screen Mokuba was watching. Alright... Now that was... Interesting to say the least. ...Hell, after the chaos from the night before she mind as well see how _that_ worked... "Send her through," Seto stated, listening as the phone line switched over. "...Hello?"

"_Ahh... Kaiba Seto-san... Please to speak to you,_" an accented voice stated, Seto in question frowning somewhat as her eyes trailed over to the screen of the TV. Nothing so far... Though she had to admit, despite the accent, this woman was speaking the language quite well. Possibly better than some people she'd seen during her stint at high school, which certainly said something... "_I presume you have the television on the news channel at the moment?_"

An oddly accurate assumption... Nonetheless the woman nodded, crossing her legs as she kept an eye trained on the screen. "That's correct... Though I don't normally talk about such things with foreign people with whom I've never met," she added, narrowing her eyes.

The woman on the other end chuckled, likely nodding to herself. "_Of course, of course... Perhaps an actual meeting would be preferable?"_ Not without introductions, which she happened to be skipping... Again._ "Pay attention to the news Kaiba-san,_" Ishizu continued, Seto narrowing her eyes in response. "_Perhaps we can come to an agreement._"

...Through the _news_? She continued to narrow her eyes, before looking over at the television. ...Hell, it'd be worth humoring the woman just to see how much this failed. "...Mokuba," she muttered, gesturing to the screen, "Turn the volume up..."

"Ah..." The boy stared, before nodding. "Alright," he said with a shrug, clicking the remote as the volume went from 'mute' to 'somewhat above a whisper'.

Alright, lets see... Currently there was just the reporter and... Aha. ...That other woman was probably Ishizu, given that the woman was holding a cellphone in her hand... "_Now then, Ishtar-san," _the reporter asked, holding the microphone forward as the tanned foreigner turned to face her, "_Is there anything in particular you would like to add in regards to the collection of Egyptian artifacts that are now on display here at the Domino museum?_"

"_Only one thing," _the woman said politely, turning to look directly at the camera in such an eerie manner it felt as though 'Ishizu' was looking directly at them. She smiled, bowing her head somewhat before speaking. "_I wish for __everyone__ to enjoy this exhibit while it's here... It's of great importance to my country after all..._"

Her country... Hn. "_Yes,_" Ishizu stated calmly on the other end of the phone, Seto turning back from the tv as her brother turned the volume down again for commercials. "_My country; you see,"_ she began calmly,_ "I, like the objects on display, and from Egypt... To be precise, I am the current secretary general of the SCA._" The secretary- Why the hell was she getting a call from someone the ministry of culture in Egypt! What did any of that have to do with- "_You'll notice I've extended an invitation to the exhibit that I helped provide materials for..._" Yes... Yes, but- "_The exhibit won't open until Monday."_ She knew that, what the hell did it have to do with-_ "However, I must request that you drop by for a... Private viewing this Friday."_ ...What._ "Directly after closing would be nice, though you'll be about ten minutes late due to traffic..._"

...What... "...Excuse me," she asked incredulously, glaring at the phone as she scowled.

"_This Friday. Six thirty. I'll see you there, ten minutes after the fact,_" she said plainly, the phone clicking on the other end to leave Seto with a dial tone.

What... The hell... The woman stared at the phone incredulously, before slamming it on the cradle and standing from her seat. Of all the _nerve_! "E-Er... Nii-sama," Mokuba asked, watching as the woman stormed past to leave the office. "Where-"

"I'm testing my jet," she growled, grabbing her jacket from the side, "I got a notice yesterday that it was ready."

Maybe flying at mach 2 in a giant plane that looked like a dragon would prevent her from slamming the phone through the wall.

* * *

Friday had come with mostly expected incidents. For one, he was finally freed of the white room hell that was the hospital. (Though Yugi was sadly stuck with that for at least two more weeks really.) The bracelet was cut off, he got his clothes back, his dogtags were still safely hidden away from... 'Prying' eyes (Though he had a nasty feeling that whoever was inhabiting the puzzle spotted them while he was digging for his shirt)... Of course, in the end, leaving the hospital ended up with him being carried off in the car Mokuba was in so he wouldn't be late for the job that Seto expected him to do...

Apparently however, that job was _not_ watching security cameras, as he'd expected and had been doing for the past number of weeks and months already.

It was... This. "H-Hahh... I thought she was jokin'..."

There was a chuckling sound from the side, the owner likely shaking his head. "Nope."

Bodyguard indeed. Auughh... Katsuya pulled awkwardly at the suit he was wearing, biting his lip as he looked in the mirror. Right down to the shoes and socks... Eck. "Y'know," he said somewhat loudly, looking over himself again, "When she said 'bodyguard', I didn' think she was serious! I mean," he continued, shrugging as he turned to the hall. "She's... Well..."

"Able to handle herself," the second guard answered, poking his head around the corner with a smirk. Yea. _That one_. The slightly taller man walked forward, shaking his head. "Hahhhh... You did the tie wrong, here..." He reached forward, Katsuya turning away somewhat awkwardly as the man re-did the tie. Oh come on, like he was doing this all the time... "There we go," the man muttered, crossing his arms. "And as for Seto-sama... Well, technically," he said with a shrug, "We're just there for 'show'."

For show huh... 'All in the presentation' right? Sheesh... "That why I look like some kinda penguin," the blond muttered, looking over himself as 'Odoru' laughed from beside him.

"Hah! Partially," he said with a smirk, looking at the mirror a moment before turning back. "You didn't think we'd be going _in_formally did you?" Katsuya merely glared, before his hand snapped up to catch the pair of shades tossed at him. Ah- ...Huh. Sunglasses. "Hahaha... Hey, it's only tonight right? The fact is, we're the only two who finished the training... Think of it this way," Odoru continued, Katsuya merely looking over the small radio that was attached to the shades, "The fact that she even asked for you to 'guard' her, however much it's based on appearance... Is not something you should take lightly."

"Of course," a third voice stated, the two turning as Kyouko walked in with a few wired devices on hand, "The fact that she even considered it is an incredible feat in itself..."

"O-Oii," Katsuya muttered, slipping the sunglasses on and looking over them with narrowed eyes. "What th' hell is that s'pposed t' mean," he asked, watching as Kyouko quickly clipped the devices to the suits before stepping back.

The woman shrugged, shaking her head. "Ohhh... Nothing... Have fun with your 'date'," she said with a wink, leaving the room as Katsuya bristled.

"Gh-! Why th' hell is everyone callin this a-"

"Hng-Hn!" Katsuya turned, blinking as Odoru coughed and jerked his head toward the door.

"Nh..." He moved out into the hall, frowning. "We're leavin' already?"

The man nodded, brushing a bit of hair from his face and grabbing the doorknob before pulling it open. "That's right; museum closes at six pm," he said with a short nod, "And it should take about half an hour to get there." Odoru turned to the blond for a moment, smirking as he proped the door with his foot. "Heh... First time out of the security room, this should be interesting..." Yea yea yea... The blond frowned, crossing his arms as the taller coughed. "Remember to keep your mouth shut though, alright," the man added seriously, frowning. "We're here to make an impression; namely a professional, yet powerful one... You might not be the most 'imposing' of people given your age," the man continued, ignoring the grumble that he received in response, "But given your track record," he added as the blond's expression vanished, "I have a feeling you have another way to pull that off..."

T-Track re- ...Oh... _That_ one. Er... Katsuya blinked, slowly nodding as they entered the garage. "Er... Yea... Sure," he said with a cough, shaking his head as they stood near the entrance. "So... How's this workin' again..?"

"Well," Odoru began, watching as the car pulled up to the garage entrance. "You'll be sitting on the left side, 'road' side... And when we're out of the car," he continued, looking down at the blond, "You'll be walking just behind and to the left of Seto-sama."

Katsuya nodded, leaning back on his toes somewhat as he listened. Sounded easy enough... "Kay..."

"I'll be sitting on the right," he continued, opening the door to the car as it stopped before hopping in as his 'partner' did the same, "Meaning I'll be handling the doors, giving you a little less to worry about."

Worry..? What the hell would he be worried about? "Like what..?"

"Like getting distracted by something when you should be opening a door," the man said somewhat 'matter-of-factly'.

...Ah. "...Oh."

Odoru smirked, shaking his head as the car pulled out into the driveway. "In any case... The important thing is to remember that _technically_, we're here for 'show'... So don't say _anything_!" Eh! A-Alright? "The bodyguard is simply 'the bodyguard' to the 'outside' world," Odoru explained, crossing his arms. "No name, no identity to go by. A human shield that has no reasons to be targeted, and no reason to stand out. That way," he continued, nodding somewhat as the car drove over to the door of the mansion, "We can keep the actual target from getting shot."

Wait shot! "O-Oii," the blond protested, clenching his jaw, "I thought you said she could handle herself!"

Another smirk, the man moving to open the door as the car came to a stop. "Well yea, in a fist fight," he said with a laugh, shaking his head. "But no one stands a chance against a bullet!" Make him feel better why didn't he... He stepped out of the car, holding the door open in wait for Seto as the chauffeur turned around the seat.

"You shouldn't get too worried about things Jonouchi," Matsuda said with a small laugh, keeping his voice down as their 'boss' came over from the front door. "I highly doubt this is anything so high-scale..." Uh-huh... What told him that..? "Personally," the man continued, turning back as footsteps came over the air, "I think he just wants you to take this seriously."

Eh! "But I'm takin' this seriously," he said with a shout, "Honest!"

"Why would you do anything else?"

"Nhy?" The blond turned, watching as Seto came in to take a seat in the middle as Odoru followed after. "E-Ehhh..." He swallowed, grinning nervously as he pulled on his seatbelt. "...I wouldn't..?"

The woman smirked, crossing her legs and putting her briefcase at the side as she gave the blond a smug look. "Exactly. Now..." She leaned back somewhat as the car drove off, crossing her arms. "Let's get this over with..." Haha, yea...

Oh hey, speaking of 'getting things over with'... Katsuya looked out the window for a moment, before turning back to Seto. About this 'meeting'... "...So," he said after a lengthy period of silence, the woman beside him raising an oddly calm eyebrow. "...Where'r we goin'?"

"The Art Museum of Domino," she answered, not looking away from where she was looking through the front window. "It's where the meeting was 'scheduled'." Katsuya nodded, looking back at the window for a moment before frowning.

...Why'd she seem tense about 'scheduled'...

...

...Oh well! "...We meeting with someone important," he asked, a grin quickly coming back on his face. It'd be really cool if he was guarding at something important... ...Or something. Maybe another company bigshot, or even an actor or-

"That's one way to put it," Seto muttered, crossing her arms. Well that wasn't helpful! "The woman we are meeting with is the Secretary General of Egypt's SCA, second only to the Minister of Culture," the woman explained, a slight 'tinge' of annoyance becoming visible. "She's an incredibly important figure in the Egyptian Government... Which is probably the only reason why I didn't ignore this," she added under her breath, the two beside her blinking a few times.

Hehehe... Still. Egypt. Cool... ...Waaaaiiit... "...Wait... Egypt?" Egypt... And the museum... Those were not good things, but besides all that... "Why're we-"

"Ah... Seto-sama?" The three in the back turned as the chauffeur rubbed his head, turning from the front and swallowing. "We've hit a bit of a roadblock..."

A road block..? The others blinked, looking around the front seats and through the windows as Seto merely narrowed her eyes. "...What do you mean, a 'roadblock'," the woman 'asked' rather testily, narrowing her eyes. "We're only five minutes from the museum..."

Matsuda coughed, a nervous smile in place. "Yes well... Unfortunately," he continued, tapping the GPS at the side, "There's been an accident on the highway ahead..." The man moved to switch lanes, shaking his head. "We're going to have to take a detour... Should add ten minutes to the time at _most_ though, so not to worry..."

Please let that not be a tri- Katsuya frowned as the woman beside him stiffened, eyes widening briefly before narrowing to slits. "..._How the hell_..."

"Er..." He blinked, staring. No explosion... Huh! "...What'd y' say..?"

Seto narrowed her eyes, her mood visibly darkening as the blond beside her stared. "Nothing," she growled, crossing her arms. "I said nothing..."

Katsuya blinked, looking behind the woman's head at Odoru only to get a slight shrug. Kay... Um... "So..." He coughed, attempting to grin again as he changed the subject. "Egypt eh?"

"That's right _Mutt_," the woman muttered under her breath, "Now shut your mouth and do your job. Namely keeping _quiet_!"

Hihhhh! Alright, alright... The blond nodded, turning to look out the window as he waited for them to arrive. Damn it... Way too quiet now... "..."

"..."

"...Hey, do we have radio-"

There was a growl beside him, Katsuya turning as Seto glared. "I _swear it mutt_, if you don't _shut. Up_..."

"Alrigh'! Alrigh'..." Again the blond turned away, looking out the window before glancing at the woman beside him. Huh... Interesting choice in clothing... She was wearing her jacket, but besides that, most of her clothes were pretty well skin tight... ...Damn it stop thinking of that... "...I like yer gauntlet things..."

"They're braces," she muttered, still looking through the front window. "And what did I say about talking?"

Hahaha, alright! ...Don't hurt him please... "...Got it..." Huh. Bracers eh..?

...Why the hell was she wearing- "Seto-sama," the chauffeur stated, pulling up beside a building. Ah! Katsuya leaned forward, looking through Odoru's window as the 'Domino Museum' came into view, lights still on and doors likely still unlocked from the front. The car was set into 'park', Matsuda turning to look at the group. "We're here."

The woman nodded, both Odoru and Katsuya glancing at the clock before opening the doors to leave. "Six forty," the blond muttered, moving around the car as Seto stepped out as well. "We're ten minu-"

"_I KNOW_, Mutt!" Okay, okay! Holy shit...

Geeze, what had her so pissed? All he said was that they were ten minutes late... (Damn traffic...) The blond swallowed as the woman walked ahead of him, nervously looking over at Odoru only to receive a shrug. Well _gee_, that was helpful... Seriously, he knew she was testy but... God! They made their way into the foyer of the museum, Katsuya attempting to appear at least somewhat 'blank' going in despite his eyes going every-which-way from behind the sunglasses. "Ah, you're here," a thickly accented voice stated, a woman walking over from the side of the foyer as they stood there. Tanned skin, black-brown hair... The woman was dressed somewhat simply, with what could almost pass as a nightgown in his opinion, but it was the fact that she was the same woman from the paper that caught Katsuya's attention. And there around her neck was that damn 'millennium necklace'...

Please dear god _do not make him go through zombie hell again_. Or anything even somewhat related. Like the soul snatching. And the soul displacement. And... Stuff...

The woman came forward, bowing somewhat as she looked over the group. "Welcome, welcome," she said politely, smiling as the guard behind and beside her looked over Odoru and Katsuya both. The two guards also returned the 'stare', the younger looking more out of curiosity than 'appraisal' if anything. Huh... Egypt eh? ...He didn't really look... "It's an honor to finally see you in person Kaiba-san," the woman continued, gaining no real response from the CEO before her. "The game industry your company set the level for is developing at an incredible speed, you should be proud of your achievements..." Kay... Again, there was little reaction, the woman continuing on as she looked over the three before her. "Now... I am 'Ishtar Ishizu'... I'm here curating the exhibit for as long as it's on display," she 'explained', still smiling. "Please, follow me," she continued, gesturing down the hall as the others again reacted with silence. "We have much to talk about... I trust your drive was _mostly_ uneventful..?"

Seto, for her part, managed to keep a fairly straight if not barely annoyed expression in place at that, though what the two were talking about, Katsuya had no clue. "It was," the woman answered plainly, eyes narrowed. Maybe because they were ten minutes late..? Was that a big deal with these kind of things? "Now, would you care to tell me what business the SCA has with me?"

Yea, what was the SCA exactly..? Someone forgot to tell him that. Katsuya's eyes drifted off to the side with those thoughts, the blond staring at a few animal-headed jars on display, before tapping on his shoulder caught his attention. "Hn..?"

Odoru frowned, making a quick 'shh' motion before turning back to the front and pointing. 'Pay attention!' Right, right... Pay attention to pretending to be a guard, and not to the weird looking stuff decorating the walls, he got it...

(But seriously, that one hippo-lion statue thing looked... ...Scary. And eerily familiar to say the least... Hihhhh...)

"Yes... Well, as I'm sure you know, given your reaction to my position, the SCA, the 'Supreme Council of Antiquities'," Ishizu began, Katsuya raising an eyebrow for a moment, "Was established in 1859 to protect and preserve ancient treasures and findings within the country from the threat of tomb robbers and treasure hunters... Today however," the woman continued, gesturing somewhat to the statues they were passing, "The services have been extended to monitoring various exhibits worldwide..."

Kay... If that explained what she was doing there then... That made sense he guessed... Katsuya stared somewhat unimpressively, attention again snagged by the somewhat more interesting stone carvings they were passing on the side. Had no clue what they were going on about but... Whatever... Evidentally, Seto wasn't in the mood either. "If you're looking for someone interested in this, keep searching 'Ishtar-san'... Because if you know so much about my own company, you'll know full well that I'm _only_ interested in top-line, technologically advanced products. I have no interest in thousand years old broken tablets... If you're going to waste my time," the woman continued, tone darkening considerably, "Then let me know now, so that I can save myself the continued aggravation."

There was a small bit of silence, Ishizu merely continuing forward. "Ahhh, do not worry," she began, Katsuya idly raising his eyebrows at a fairly unexpected (if not impossible) reaction. "I have no intentions of wasting your time Kaiba-san. In fact, within one night's time," the woman continued with a smile, "I believe that you'll be seeing these 'old broken tablets' in a completely different light..." At this Katsuya blinked, briefly looking at Seto and snorting mentally. Haha! YEA. Not with the mood she was in... ...Damn it, he was going to be stuck with that on the way back now... "Did you know," the woman stated, the blond far behind her listening in with mild curiosity, "Those duel monsters that your company so treasures were inspired by Egyptian carvings?"

Okay. _That_ had Seto's attention. Katsuya blinked, mentally shaking off the fact that within two weeks he'd managed to hear the same obscure fact twice. Huh... Figured it'd come from an Egyptian the second time around... Though now that he thought about it, it was probably for the best that this was the second time he got this news; he likely wouldn't have been taking it as well as the woman directly in front and beside him, given the fact that Seto's face had instantly jumped from 'guarded neutrality' to '_WHAT THE FUCK_'.

Nawwwww, if it was him, he'd be _screaming_ damn it. Ishizu appeared to ignore the silent 'what the hell' behind her however, merely nodding her head and continuing on. "Pegasus J. Crawford; the man who personally created and designed the game... And for each of the monsters and spell cards he has designed and painted, an identical stone carving was found... Something that he uncovered while touring the deserts of Egypt. Most of these carvings," the woman stated somewhat absently, "Are back in my home country, where they belong... However, after much negotiation," she continued, coming toward a completely dark room and turning to face the group with a neutral smile, "The SCA agreed to part with a number of relics from the time of an 18th dynasty pharaoh... I wonder what sort of reaction you'll have," she continued mysteriously, smiling oddly as she looked them over, "When you look upon these carved portions of a pharaoh's mural..."

A mural..? ...A... Pharaoh's mural? ...That actually sounded pretty cool. Katsuya blinked, before tensing somewhat as Ishizu turned on the guards. Eh, what what- "Now; from this point on, I would like to request that our guards remain behind..." Damn it. "Standing by the door will give them plenty of time to react should something happen," the woman continued calmly, "But don't worry... Nothing will." ...Okay... How the hell did she know that...?

Not that he was complaining or anything but... The blond blinked a few times, looking up at Odoru from the corner of his eye and then back to Seto as the woman nodded. Alright... To the door... He sighed quietly, watching as those ahead walked through the door.

"Now then," Ishizu stated, walking into the room and vanishing into the darkness. "Please..." The woman's voice soon faded out, a light flicking on after a few moments as Katsuya turned to look up at Odoru.

"Er... What now," he asked, Odoru in question bowing his head with a sigh as the Egyptian guard at the side raised an eyebrow. ...What, something he said?

Odoru shook himself, looking to the other guard with a shrug. "He's new," he muttered, before pulling the now scowling blond to the side of the door. Come on, what was he five? Just tell him... "Look," the man muttered, "We're guarding the entrance alright? You stand on this side, I stand on that side, no talking, no _listening_ to what they're talking about," he added, a somewhat narrowed look from the Egyptian guard coming from the side as he said this, "And try to stop looking around at the exhibit, alright?"

"I wasn'-" The man gave him a look, Katsuya shrugging and nodding his head. "Alrigh', alrigh'..." God, worse than trying to talk to his mom on the phone...

"Good... Now then..." Odoru took his 'post' at the other side, the Egyptian guard appearing 'content' with standing off to Katsuya's side and looking over the displays. Alright... To 'work'. Hnnn...

When he got over the creepiness, this stuff was actually kinda cool looking... Few tablets with animal-headed guys on them (Those were gods right?), the occasional animal. Cool stuff...

So long as he avoided the mummies at le- "-!" Katsuya turned as a muffled and largely incomprehensible shout came from inside the room, the blond moving to turn his head toward the sound only for Odoru to reach across the door and push him back.

"O-Oi," he whispered, glaring at the man from across the door. "What th' hell-"

Odoru merely rolled his eyes, looking at his watch. "Nothing's happening Jonouchi, and if you were paying attention you'd know that..."

Hang on what? "Hey," he muttered, narrowing his eyes, "What th' hell's that supposed t' mean..."

"My," the Egyptian at the side muttered under his breath, accent pulling the blond's attention back from the shouts and mutterings in the room behind him. "You weren't kidding, he _is_ new..."

"Oi oi oi..." Seriously... Seriously, it couldn't possibly be that damn obvious!

Odoru shrugged, shaking his head as he continued to ignore the blond. "Well, he's better than he looks at least..." OIIIII... ...Wait, was that a compliment or... "Your Japanese is pretty good," he continued with a smile, "I didn't expect the guard to know the language... Egypt isn't really close to Japan, I wouldn't think the language was something readily taught..."

The man shrugged, shaking his head and smiling. "Well, thanks to recent dealings with the SCA, it's pretty much required, or so 'Ishtar-san' says..." ...Hey, he really _was_ pretty good with the language... "Though I'm still practicing," the Egyptian continued with a wry smile, "I'm really not that good..."

The two turned, Odoru shaking his head. "No really," he insisted with a grin, "It's great, you're doing incredibly well..!"

The guard coughed somewhat awkwardly, shaking his head. "Oh... I don't think..."

"_URUSEI!_" The three paused, Katsuya moving to turn his head toward Seto's shout only for the Egyptian to turn him back again.

"Oi!"

"What did I tell you," Odoru whispered, shaking his head. "Completely new..."

"I see," the Egyptian muttered, raising his eyebrows as Katsuya scowled.

Honestly, he wasn't that- "_Nonsense,_" he heard Seto shout, the blond's eyes drifting off to the side as the yelling continued._ "NONSENSE! This is NONSENSE, this is a JOKE!_" What the hell was going on in there! He hadn't heard this kind of crap since... Well, since he'd seen the woman with nothing on! (...He should really stop thinking of that) Seriously, what was going on in-

"Jonouchi," Odoru warned darkly, "Stop trying to look in the room before I send in a request to have you fired..."

His head snapped back to the hall instantly, the blond growing white. "N-Nyyyh! Got it!" The shouts calmed, Katsuya crossing his arms as he looked over at the other guard. Tch... Honestly... "Would still be nice t' know what-"

"We're leaving," a curt and disguised voice said from beside him, Katsuya jumping from where he was leaning against the wall.

"E-Ehh..?" The blond turned as Seto stormed past, briefcase gripped in one hand and a card of sorts held in the other. "Wh-What?" Where'd she get the card...

"Don't question it Jonouchi," Odoru muttered, pressing the small radio on his side and contacting the chauffeur as the paid also took off down the hall. "Just roll with it and start walking..."

"But what th' hell is all this..." The blond tensed for a moment, watching as the Egyptian guard and Ishizu briskly walked past. Looked like they were heading off too- "Eh..." He blinked a few times, frowning as the woman glanced at the blond from the corner of her eye before walking out. A... Another flash... He'd seen another flash, something with _eyes_...

What was that..? He stopped for a moment, only for Odoru to shoulder him from behind and yank the blond rather roughly from his thoughts. "Keep walking," the guard warned, keeping his voice down low as they stormed toward the foyer and toward the main entrance.

"I got it, I got it," he hissed, picking up the pace along with his volume as he looked ahead. "I jus' don't get what all th' shoutin' was about!"

"Nothing Mutt," Seto muttered, pushing past the doors and heading down the stairs with the guards on her tail. Matsuda already had the car running and waiting for them, Odoru rushing ahead to open one of the doors for Seto. "Now quiet."

"But you were loud'r than Mokuba when he w's runnin' late f'r school that one day," the blond protested, frowning.

"I said _quiet_ Mutt!"

"Hey, does this have t' do with those tablets," he asked as they climbed into the car, Seto still visibly tensing beside him as they took their seats and shut the doors, "'Cause Yugi's Jii-chan mentioned that a while ago, an'-"

The woman instantly turned on the blond, fixing him with a glare to rival that of the very day she'd held a gun to his temple. "I said _SHUT UP, __**MUTT**__._"

N-Nyhhiihhhhhh..! Katsuya swallowed, leaning back against the seat and holding his breath for a moment as they pulled out of the street to head back to the mansion. S-Scary... He'd forgotten what that look looked like damn it, that was scary... "...O-ok," he finally muttered, turning to look out the window fairly awkwardly. "Alrigh'..."

It was probably obvious, to say the least, that the rest of the drive was filled with uncharacteristic silence. One person holding it by fear, two by professionalism... The fourth and female one merely in an attempt to ease a raging headache. But when entering the foyer that night, yet another 'caffeine point' to keep the blond awake was added to the pile, Katsuya having the luck of getting figuratively smacked with it while he attempted to pull off the tie he was wearing. "...Jonouchi," Seto growled, heading into the coat room as her 'guard' stared at her back. "Tell your friend to get his deck ready; we'll be fighting soon enough."

As to what 'soon enough' was, Katsuya wasn't sure...

But he sure as hell hoped it didn't interfere with the plans that he and Mokuba had set up for the Golden Week, given that they'd already extended the... 'Extra'... Invite.

* * *

**AN:** Would you look at that! I got the chapter done before the holidays! ...I tend to do that a lot, over-estimating and underestimating at the wrong times... Oh well! Short notes again, but the chapter is of average length... Funny how that works. Anyways...

The Golden Week eh... Looks like Yugi will be spending more time with these guys than expected! (Though the 'event' will thankfully be far more relaxing than most of you will likely guess... See if you can figure out the 'event' they'll be dragging Kaiba to before the chapter after the next neh?)

You know what's coming up next!~ And in other news, would you look at that, I was right! Ishizu! When I say 'coming up next though', I'm not quite being honest here. See, we didn't get Kaiba's point of view on all this...

And you can bet that I am _not_ missing out on _that_ particular 'tantrum'. That was _gold_, why the hell would I skip the opportunity to write that one out? Hehehehe. In addition to that, you'll be getting a hefty dose of 'weird' next chapter, so keep your eyes peeled!

And now, for the moment you've all been waiting for...

**POLL RESULTS ARE IN**

The winner of the fight for a crossdressing or not crossdressing female Egyptian incarnation of Seto Kaiba is...

Female Crossdressing Set - 13 (Three Anonymous)

Obviously Female Priest_ess_ Set - 9 (Three Anonymous)

**Making Crossdressing Priest Set the winner, by four votes!**

Yayyyyyy~ Since its so close, expect a surprise~

Now then.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Ok crazikido2, there's no way in hell I can respond to _all_ of your reviews (You reviewed _every chapter_, my inbox was flooded!), but you have my word that I read all of them!

Personally, given that genderflip fanfics are very rarely worth the read, and controversial at best (Not to mention this is a 're-write the canon' fanfic), I'm not surprised at the few reviews. Besides; lots of people simply don't review, they either don't have anything to say or they just don't know!

Heck, that last sentence describes _me_, _all the time_.

In any case, did Kaiba find out? Of course she did. What did she do? *points up*

What an ending indeed Iona, but unfortunately (or fortunately, as is Jonouchi's opinion) the cat is only _partially_ out of the bag. Yugi and Yami Yugi now know that Jou can see both of them at once…

But he isn't telling them anything more. D'OH.

Oh… The flashes he saw earlier were of the building on fire; he hadn't realized it though, since it was largely a foreign and unexpected sight. Sometimes, what's really there just can't be seen…

OH Mokuba… You can bet he was channelling his sister! And as for posts…

I give you two! (The second should be up within the next day.) Happy Holidays!

Haha, when you put it that way Cynical Gamer, I suppose it does make sense…

Don't worry, Past Jou has his monsters, just not in an expected way. *winkwink*

Yea now that I think about it, your word for angst fits better.

ANYWAYS. Maybe so, or maybe not; until I pump out a completely original idea with a set ending though…

And yep! When you think about it, wouldn't an entire village of thieves have either died out or been dealt with? It was probably a viking-like deal; sometimes thieves, sometimes traders, sometimes farmers. Annnnd… I don't know, all it takes for a spirit to hold a grudge is anger and an incomplete burial… And given the way that the residents of Kul Elna were killed… Eeeeeeeh, not holding my breath.

As to whether or not Tragoedia makes a cameo who knows; he'll likely be mentioned rather than seen though, as he was dealt with before Atem took the throne, and before Set became High Priest.

And.. …Tentacles?

Yeeeeeess… It's very difficult to find anything done in halves really… But yes, plotting is good. Very good… Hehehehe…

And hehehe, yes, yes you will won't you? Don't strain your eyes though!

And yep! Mostly in concept stages for Noa, but expect 'stuff' to happen! …In terms of the rule of cool at least.

And hahaha! That's right! Though you can bet that all the crap happening half-way through Battle City will help to speed up the process… (Something about almost dying that does that…) Anyways.

No. No I wasn't. I don't think that either of them actually realized the game was cursed; it was likely a complete twist of cruel fate really, driven further by a vengeance drive… Either way, Otogi's dad is probably senile…

And I know! I kept going through that part on the edit tearing up… So hard…

But the fact is, when fire gets hot enough to burn through bone, it's already gotten hot enough to melt gold! Had they left the puzzle there, there was no way of knowing for sure if it would melt or not. Anyways… Bit of a disgusting fact, but given that the chain was red hot when Yugi was holding it… I think his palms were literally fused/glued to the chain by his skin.

Eeeeeewwwww...

And… Yep. That's what it is. … …Hindsight is always like that. Anyways, now that we're caught up… Well, he still has no clue what's going on, but given that this is a holiday double post, or at least it will be by tomorrow, perhaps a look into the next chapter can confuse you further! YAAAAAAY~

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that should refrain from mentions of the equivalent of Spring Break right before the holidays. So weird, so strange...

* * *

So how many of you were waiting for the title of the picture I linked to you way back to show up as a chapter title?

I'll have to re-draw that scene, now that Isono's been replaced with a more logical choice in guarding... But for now, take Jou in a suit.

* * *

Technically, Pediatrics is the section of the hospital for both infants, children, and _adolescents_. But it still makes the joke, and in any case…

* * *

In the manga, the others are already there in the hospital, and Yugi and Jonouchi are both playing duel monsters. But… I don't think Yugi will be using his hands for at least a month and a half really; hell, I got my arms _sunburnt_ and I couldn't move them for _two weeks_, let alone burning them completely by handling hot metal despite all instinct!

Needless to say, Yugi has severe second degree burns on his hands, and will have light scarring by the end of all this. But at least they're alive~

* * *

And as a matter of fact _yes_, Yugi's test is accurate; Jonouchi can't hear the Yugi that's in 'spirit form' unless he's directly addressed. Otherwise, it's not his business, and his own ability locks him out.

* * *

Kaiba's 'calmness' can be attributed to what she used to cool off after Ishizu's rather unexpected and unorthodox phonecall.

Namely testing out, for the first time, her nice shiny Blue-Eyes White Dragon _Jet_. I might not partake in cargoshipping (That would be pairings with... Inanimate objects. Think Companion Cube.), but an adrenalin rush would still probably do the trick.

And heck, even I can't deny that Kaiba's got a weird thing for that dragon...

* * *

In the dub, Ishizu is somehow able to get through to Kaiba immediately on the phone… The Japanese makes much more sense, with the secretary saying that Ishizu is on the other end. Because really, would the CEO of a company be answering the phone directly, think of the nutbars that they'd be stuck dealing with!

* * *

In the manga, Ishizu was written as a 'minister', at least she was on the page of the newspaper. Technically, there is no minister of 'archaeology'… Or… Whatever Takahashi was calling Ishizu… (All we find out is that Ishizu is apparently an important person in the government of Egypt, and at minister level. Yaaaaay~) …And then the anime switched this out for the 'Secretary General of the Egyptian Supreme Council of Antiquities'. Which… Which makes a lot of sense really.

As that's also a branch of the _ministry of culture_. Hah! Needless to say, I obviously went with the anime's choice here; because hey hey, the Secretary General is pretty much the highest you get next to the Minister… And while it's interesting that the Secretary General is going out of her way to do all this, it still makes more sense, since the minister would even more so than the S-General have _no time_ for things like card games. Thank you anime!

* * *

You can _probably_ guess why Kaiba didn't test the plane on Saturday... Given that the original intention was to show it to her brother first...

Guess that didn't work~

* * *

Another point; originally, they met at ten pm. But in the end, that would mean it took like… six hours for Jonouchi to get ready. Hahaha~ As it is, Jonouchi didn't have work that evening thanks to bodyguard detail, so you can bet that he collapsed on his bed despite the timing.

* * *

So does anyone else wonder why Kaiba wears arm-bracers? Other than to look awesome?

Yea it's probably that... Though you have to admit, the _wrist-strain_ someone must have working with the computer all day...

* * *

Now obviously we had two completely different people doing the bodyguard detail for Kaiba in the manga. (But seriously, I feel like the only reason they're there is for intimidation and a bullet shield…) In the manga, one of the guards asks about what they're doing though.

CUE JONOUCHI'S CURIOSITY. _The best source of exposition that there is..._

* * *

You want real irony? Odoru is a character I scrapped a long while ago for my original story (Well, the name was scrapped. Same with Kyouko; moved the story to Europe. xD)… And back when the story was first getting a planning stage, a majority of the characters 'base image' were unintentionally sapped from the characters of Yugioh.

_Guess who Odoru used to mirror_?

* * *

That 'hippo-lion thing'? There's a _very_ good reason why it subconsciously gives Jonouchi the creeps, and that's because it's _Ammit_. Ammit is a female demon from Egyptian myth (keeping in mind that demons _were not always evil_ in Egypt, and many of them were considered benevolent) that represented all that Egyptians feared. (Though she's linked to the goddess Tawret oddly enough, the one who married Apep (Embodiment of evil) and represents _childbirth and fertility_. Egyptians are _weird_.)

In any case, Ammit would (in some appearances) sit around by a lake of fire while the heart of the dead was being weighed on Anubis' scales... If if was heavier than Maat's feather then... Ammit would eat it. A second death basically, binding the victim into an eternal peril in Ammit's stomach. Yayyyyyy~

Ammit by the way is not only a mix of hippo and lion, but also crocodile... And was also given the titles 'Devourer of the Dead', Eater of Hearts', and (this one is weird) 'Great of Death'. I'm thinking we missed something in the translation of that last one. Evidentally, when making the list of 'giant man-eating animals', the Egyptians included the herbivorous hippo... Though hippos _can_ be pretty vicious, and actually _can_ get away with eating meat...

There are even reports of _cannibalism_, _holy shit..._

* * *

Ishizu is still playing her role as 'exposition lady' for the SCA here because really, how many of you knew that? She's just making sure, it helps build her story after all. Kinda. I... I don't know, I didn't want to cut her dialogue...

* * *

In the Japanese language, accepting a compliment with 'thank-you' (Or anything similar) is considered very rude, and also extremely boastful. If someone compliments you on your skills with Japanese, you're technically supposed to respond 'Iie, mata heta desu…' Which means (Not counting 'desu', the equivalent of a spoken period) 'No, I'm still bad' (At it). Japan likes shortening things... ('Heta' actually means 'unskillfull', whereas 'mata' is 'still', or 'again'). Anywho!

Unfortunately, responding with this only tells them that you're even better with the language than they thought, so expect to bounce back another compliment...

* * *

In all honesty, the guard didn't need to do that for languages, but Ishizu probably recommended it randomly using her tauk. Makes sense at least. Speaking of the guard, _why the hell was he white in the manga_?

**

* * *

FanArt and My Art Section**

Removing spaces to provide you with links, every update that I feel like it!

...That came out wrong.

Jonouchi's Suit - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ JouSuit. jpg - Just a simple sketch from GIMP, have some fun laughing at his expression. (The suit was obviously provided...)

Lady Knight Critias (Colour) - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ TheKnight-1. jpg - Hey it's Critias again! ...In flat colour! Speaking of Critias...

Red Knight Hermos (Colour) - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ TheRedKnight. jpg - Managed to sketch out and draw the knight Hermos as well! Now here's an interesting fact... Both Timaeus and Critias got their names from ancient dialogues on Atlantis... And Critias wasn't even completed. Hermos however, comes from the Hermocrates, a dialogue known as 'the lost dialogue' due to it not existing, but the person himself appearing in Plato's dialogues. So the two rivals get the 'official' documents while the best friend gets the 'lost' one eh... Hn.

In any case, that's all for now... Next chapter should be up soon enough, so Happy Holidays everyone!


	59. Chapter 58

**Ananke's Weave**

* * *

It could be said that to truly understand something, one had to see it from all sides. There was the side of the one presenting an argument, the side of the bystander, the side of the 'defender'... In the case of what occurred at the museum that night, there were also three sides, though to define it as an 'argument' would be fairly in accurate. It was more...

Just a mess. A big, knotted mess between an Egyptian, a CEO, and a stand in bodyguard. The side of Ishizu Ishtar was likely best left unsaid for the moment; there were some things in her family that just weren't ready to be dredged up from underground, unlike the tablets she'd shown to 'Seto Kaiba'... And likely wouldn't be for a while.

Katsuya Jonouchi's side on the other hand was simple, if not horribly confused... Which was probably expected, given that he'd literally been locked out of the loop this time around. Between seeing things that weren't there and seeing things that were there ten to twenty minutes or hours later, it was probably for the best as well.

Seto's perspective however... Well, to say the least, when the lights had been switched on she'd been more than shocked... Might not have shown it for a moment but she was definitely 'surprised'.

But that story needed a little more of an introduction... To say the least.

Before the lights had gone on, she'd been at least _partially_ calm really. This 'meeting' was so far proving useless if not annoying to new levels thanks to the mention of Pegasus (not to mention this ridiculous mention of stone tablets... Though she supposed inspiration had to come from somewhere)... But not so much that it was any worse than the less-than productive board meetings she'd occasionally been stuck dealing with. Time was passing, and there was no way she could possibly be stuck there for more than an hour at the most.

Maybe it was the sheer amusement of watching the mutt behind her squirm in an attempt to remain silent and comfortable while in a suit. Knowing him, it was probably the best thing he'd worn since a thread-bare hand-me-down at a Middle school graduation really... Something that actually showed in her opinion; who would have thought that he would manage to look 'alright' in a suit? Not that she'd be telling him of course... Better to leave things as they were than give the moron something to grin about. Even so... Listening to the 'Secretary General' of the SCA going on about stone tablets and duel monsters had one solid thought running through her mind. Make that two. One being '_what the hell was this woman talking about'_. (Or possibly '_was this woman sane?_'.)

The other was just wishing for this night to be over as soon as possible. Because quite honestly, 'ASAP' was proving to not be soon enough.

"Now then," Ishizu was saying, stepping to the side to turn on a light switch as they walked into the dark room. From the light behind them. "Please," she stated calmly, gesturing to the side, "See the origin of Duel Monster's cards..."

Yessss, because there were actu- The light filled the room, Seto's eyes widening as the tablets before them were illuminated.

Alright, who the hell paid for a prank of this level to be played out damn it! ...And why the hell couldn't she stop staring and really make herself believe those last thoughts..? Seto stepped forward, mouth dropping open somewhat as she stared at the tablet before her. This stone... This enormous carved stone, it _had_ to be fake! The pentacle depicting Exodia sat high at the top, images of monsters such as the Skull demon, the 'Feral Imp' carved about the bottom amid hieroglyphs...

This was _impossible_... "In ancient Egypt," Ishizu began, apparently taking advantage of the silence from her 'guest', "There was a time when the people believed that disasters in the world were caused by the monsters within people's hearts..." She certainly didn't learn _that_ from her text books... "For this reason," the woman continued calmly, "The pharaohs and priests of that time sculpted tablets of varying sizes, believing that they could seal these monsters away within carvings in their image. This practice lasted for a number of years," Ishizu explained, hands held loosely at her sides as she followed her guest's gaze to the tablet, "Preserving the worlds peace for as long as it did..." Of course. Because any and all ancient wars that took place in that time agreed with that. "The monsters you see on this tablet before you were said to contain dark and evil powers," the woman beside her continued, voice quite clearly that of someone who believed their own words. "Powers beyond that of a human's comprehension... Because of those powers," she explained calmly, "It was not long before those under the Pharaoh's reign discovered the potential to wield the monsters as weapons... They would take the monsters from the tablet," she explained, turning from the tablet to look at Seto with an odd stare, "And they would fight with them."

What..? The woman swallowed, narrowing her eyes under her 'host's gaze. What, so they were fighting with duel monsters in ancient Egypt? Pah! Impossible... This was impossible and she would be glad to get out of here- "There is a second portion of the mural here in this museum," Ishizu stated calmly, moving to the side to gesture to another large tablet on display. Seto blinked, still frowning as she listened "A 'central' piece, the reason why I have asked to meet you here. Please," she continued, looking toward the tablet as her 'guest' frowned. "Look closely..."

Hnnn... ...If it got her out of here _faster_... The woman gave a curt nod, walking over in silence and silently taking a deep breath. Alright... Monsters on what was apparently the source of Pegasus' inspiration (a pretty terrible source really...) was something she could 'handle'... It wasn't as though it was that important... But- "Gh..." The woman tensed as she turned to the second tablet, eyes widening. "This..." Seto's gaze instantly honed in on the carved duo at the bottom, the grip on her briefcase tightening as she stared. Yugi... Standing at the bottom were two people, on in robes of some kind, the other... This... This was _YUGI_, there was only one damn person in the world with hair that ridiculous!

"The young pharaoh who fought alongside the Dark Magician..." Of course... Of course the 'tablet' would have his signature monster... "As for the High Priest standing opposite him," Ishizu added, "Controlling the white beast in what is presumably battle..." Blue-Eyes, the woman mentally corrected, staring with wide eyes. That monster wasn't some 'beast', it was... "Well," she said with a small smile, "We know as much about him as the pharaoh himself..." Of COURSE. "This mural," Ishizu continued, staring at the tablet in what appeared to be silent reverence, "...It's been passed down within my family, protected for generations dating back to thousands of years ago... The 'mark of the Duelist War', one of the few objects in existence that now prove its existence... And now," the woman stated with an odd smile, turning to her frozen guest, "The battle continues..."

Bullshit. This was... Complete... "This can't be," Seto muttered under her breath, volume slowly raising as she ignored the words of the woman beside her. No no no no NO! "What is _Yugi_ doing on an ancient relic!" Was it even 'ancient', this... This had to be some kind of trick, there was no way that he had ancient Egyptian ancestors with that much of a resemblance! It was complete...

Ishizu turned as her 'guest' continued to stare at the tablet incredulously, blinking a few times. "Yugi," she asked, eyebrows raised somewhat in genuine confusion. "I don't know about any 'Yugi'... I do know that the battle you see depicted in this tablet, however old," she added with a slight nod, "Still live on today in some form however... As for 'Yugi'," she added with a neutral stare, blinking slowly despite the clearly 'unstable' state of her guest, "The figure you are looking at is that of a nameless pharaoh from the 18th dynasty..."

...What. ...WHAT. "A _pharaoh_," the woman repeated, eyes wide as Ishizu nodded. A... A 'King', was she... Was she serious, was she-

"Correct..." BULLSHIT. Damn it this was- "Look, at the bottom of the tablet," she stated, Seto's eyes drifting downward to where a portion of the tablet appeared to be missing. Ah... Those marks... While she hardly believed all of this, those marks... "This cartouche... The nameplate," she clarified, blinking as she gestured to the stone before them. "It indicates that the name of the figure you see here was that of a pharaoh... But the name has been defaced," Ishizu continued, gaze appearing to soften in slight grief. "And for that reason, though we know much about the time he lived in," the woman explained with a slight frown, "He is the only pharaoh whose name is no where to be seen, be it in his tomb, or upon the carved tablets of his time. He has been completely erased from history... A nameless pharaoh..."

Who even had the boy's damn 'puzzle', she noted with a clenched jaw, shaking just slightly as she stared at the tablet. 18th dynasty pharaoh... That was it damn it! "A _PHARAOH,_" she shouted incredulously, turning on the woman beside her with wide and almost rage filled eyes. "You think he was a PHARAOH? That's _nonsense_! That's _YUGI_," she continued with a roar, anger increasing as the woman beside her merely stood calmly in place, silently watching her 'guest' point toward the tablet. "And you think he's somehow an ancient 'pharaoh' from thousands of years ago? How do I know that you didn't simply build this slab a few days before calling," Seto spat, gritting her teeth as she pointed accusingly at Ishizu. "Show me the _proof _that this tablet is as old as you say! And don't point me to the 'carbon date'," she continued, growling darkly as she brought her hand back to her side. "Carbon dating doesn't work perfectly on stone... Prove to me that this is _real_!"

Ishizu merely sighed, the woman beside her staring in slight shock. What the hell... Completely calm... This woman was completely calm... After all that... "Seto," Ishizu stated calmly, the woman instantly tensing at the use of her first name. "Do not let your heart waver, or your mind blind you from what stands before you... Look at this tablet... It should speak to you in someway, I'm sure..."

'Speak' to her? Tch! Impossible... It wasn't even real, this was i_mpossible_..! Even so, she looked at the tablet, swallowing as her eyes drifted over that of the High Priest in an almost guided fashion. It was _impossible_... It had to be..!

Yet in the back of her mind, the woman noted with a cold shock of realization, she could hear...

'_...Pharaoh,_' an old and weathered voice muttered in the 'distance', the room's surroundings appearing to fade out as Seto continued to stare at the tablet._ 'The man who stands before you has a level of power that the likes of us have never even __seen__ before! His skills surpass many of even our most experienced high priests! With great honor,'_ the man continued, voice echoing as though it were spoken in an enormous chamber,_ 'I request that he be a member of your council...'_

_'...And I accept,' _a strong and eerily familiar voice stated, Seto's blood running cold at the sound._ Priest,_' the voice continued, words clearly in a language that the world no longer spoke,_ 'What is your name?'_

This voice... _'I am called...'_

Impossible! "Gh... Hk..." Abruptly her senses returned, the woman tearing her eyes from the tablet and swallowing back a shout. Impossible... Seto shut her eyes, gritting her teeth as she took a shaking breath. This was... _IMPOSSIBLE!_

"Hn... The young priest who fights with the pharaoh," Ishizu muttered, looking at her 'guest' from the corner of her eye as Seto silently attempted to recover from the 'vision'. Not now damn it... Not... "The beast he's summoned... Is it not like-"

"_**URUSEI!"**_ The woman beside her merely shut her eyes as her 'guest' shouted, Seto turning on her with wide and denying eyes. Impossible damn it... This was all... "Nonsense..." Nonsense, it was all just... "Nonsense, this is all NONSENSE! A _JOKE," _she raged, gritting her teeth. "'Duel Monsters' being inspired by actual battles between so-called 'monsters of the heart'... The game was created seven years ago, and whether or not the 'inspiration' came from your country, what happens today has nothing to do with whatever 'happened' then! Nor is what happens 'now' a reflection of the past!"

The Egyptian opened her eyes again, still looking at the tablet as her 'guest' shouted at her. "So you say... But just as the famous magician 'Aleister Crowley' used icons from the Book of Thoth for his Thoth Tarot... Is it so hard to believe that the tablets before you are legitimately the source of Pegasus Crawford's fated creation of the current card game?" No, it was hard to believe that giant demons existed in those same rocks and fought in the same fashion. Seto merely swallowed the thoughts back however, narrowing her eyes as she calmed down somewhat. Pegasus... That bastard...

Hang on... Why did she hear... '_My Pharaoh,_' a familiar voice was muttering in her ear, Seto growing pale as she again bit her tongue. _'I have returned._' That voice... That _voice_..!

"Perhaps fate still has ties in this game," Ishizu stated calmly, turning to look at the teen beside her as she continued. "Leading the souls of the king and the priest depicted here into battle as it did thousands of years ago..."

'_I have returned..._' Damn it get out of her head! Get out..! "Ishizu," Seto muttered darkly, gritting her teeth as she looked to the woman. "If you, a high ranking government official, have called me here to do nothing but lecture me on the occult," she growled, gritting her teeth and continuing on, "Then I can guarantee that my time will not have been wasted nearly as much as yours... I'm leaving," she added, tightening her already intense grip on the briefcase at her side. "I have a gaming platform to test..."

"I know," Ishizu stated calmly, causing her 'guest' to stop in her tracks. She 'knew'..? "The second version of the 'Duel Disk'... Or to a majority of the world, the 'first'," she continued, Seto growing still paler as she swallowed. How... She turned, narrowing her eyes and heavily masking the shock of the situation. How in the _hell_ did she know that..! "You're a busy man 'Seto'," Ishizu stated, her guest's colour returning with anger as she continued. "I know that there are things you need to do... So with that in mind, allow me to return to the main subject. Did you know Seto," she stated, ignoring the steadily rising level of aggravation from her 'guest' at the continued use of her given name, "That of all the cards that Pegasus created, there are three 'Legendary' ones that never made it past the boundaries of his own home?" Ah?

..._Legendary_ she said? "..What..?" Something other than the ridiculous 'Toon' monsters..? ...Something _worth_ this waste of a night..? Seto continued to stare with narrowed eyes, still frowning as Ishizu nodded and continued.

"Take a look," she stated, gesturing back to the tablet as her 'guest' walked back from the center of the room, "At the carvings near the top of this tablet... Surrounding the Millennium Puzzle," the woman continued, Seto staring at the carvings with somewhat wide eyes as she took in the 'monsters', "These carvings depict the most powerful of beasts, the forms of three of Egypt's most powerful gods... The 'hidden ones'," Ishizu 'clarified', Seto merely staring upward. "Ones that Pegasus came to create three unique and powerful cards from... Look," she continued, the woman beside her rendered silent for reasons beyond her own knowledge, "From right to left... The God Soldier of the Obelisk, he who has no name... The Saint Dragon 'Osiris', king of the skies... And lastly, balancing the powers from above, the Sun Dragon, Ra. These beasts," Ishizu stated, still looking directly at the tablet's stone, "Representing the polarities of the universe, are said to be infinite in power... Light and Darkness, Good and Evil... Heaven and Earth," the woman finished, Seto still staring in silence. "It is said that the one who carries the card forms of these beasts, the supreme and victorious one, the king of kings, will reign over the realm of monsters... And given the title 'The King of Games'."

The king of games... ...Alright, to hell if she believed the tablet crap but... If there was one thing she _did_ know... "Where are these cards," Seto asked plainly, turning to Ishizu with a swallow, "Who has them now?"

"That... Is why I need you." ...What. ...Damn it. "I need you to find out their location," Ishizu admitted, bowing her head with a sigh as her guest mentally groaned. "You see, Pegasus greatly regretted creating these cards... He himself considered it his greatest mistake," she explained, turning back to Seto with a slight frown. "For if those in possession of the cards were able to wield it's power, it would be as though the Gods themselves walked the earth..." Power..? ...What kind of power..? Ishizu continued on, the woman beside her listening with narrowed eyes. "For this reason, the cards were hidden away from the world... They could be used for any number of things, good or evil... But in the worst hands, they could take even the opponent's _life_. They are the ultimate weapon, the ultimate _power_," the Egyptian pressed, apparently ignorant to the sudden jump in interest from her guest, "And all in paper form..."

The ultimate weapon... Seto continued to frown, thinking back to her matches against Yugi. The first battle... During that fight when the cards themselves had come alive... Was that the kind of 'power' that these cards supposedly had? The power that had done... '_That_'? ...Hnnn... "Pegasus tried to destroy these cards of course," the woman beside her was continuing, Seto still frowning, "But in the end... It was impossible." What... Seto turned, the frown deepening at those words. He couldn't destroy a set of _cards_? "So in the end, he was forced to turn to the source." The... The source..? "At his request," Ishizu continued, turning away from the tablet, "The cards were buried in deep in the Valley of the Kings, the lands that their spirits originated from. In three different locations they were placed, hidden away from the world... However," she muttered darkly, bowing her head somewhat. "They were stolen..."

Stolen! How..? If it was a set of cards hidden in the _desert_ then... "Who would know about the existence of cards so secret that even the one who _made them_ was afraid to speak of them," she asked incredulously, frowning as she looked at her 'host'. There was no one, unless it was an inside job who could possibly... "Who-"

"The Ghouls." ...There was that of course. There was... Also that. "You've heard of them, haven't you," Ishizu asked, turning to the side.

Seto frowned, gritting her teeth as she mentally nodded. Ooooh yes. She most certainly did. "The Rare Card Hunters... _They_ stole them?" Of course... Of _course_ it would be the 'Duel Monsters' equivalent of a mafia level gang... Damn it. It was hard enough tracking down cards that were legitimately earned... But to think that rats like them had them? Ugh... "Tch... I've already been dealing with issues of bootleg card from those scum," she muttered, narrowing her eyes. Bad enough that they were taking and re-selling the cards to the highest bidder... Hn! Like their namesake they were rotten to the core... Monsters who dredged up corpses from the ground and devoured their flesh...

Or in this case 'hidden god cards'. Like hell she'd let _that_ happen... "Seto," Ishizu stated calmly, the teen turning from where she had again been staring at the tablet. "I'm asking you, with both the honor of my country, myself at risk... And with Pegasus' own wishes on the line... I ask that you help us get these cards back." Get them _back_..? The woman's eyes narrowed, watching as Ishizu turned back to the tablet with a frown. "We held this exhibit in Domino for this purpose, revealing the mural of the God Card's origin... You could say that this tablet has it's own power," she continued, her guest merely raising a mental eyebrow at the statement. "Attracting duelists from all over... ...Or perhaps _you_ could do that yourself..."

Hnn? Seto blinked, eyes narrowing further as Ishizu again turned away from the tablet. "You expect me to simply go along with this and hold a duel monster's tournament... Because of a stone tablet?" Ahahaha... Aha... What.

"No," Ishizu stated calmly, smiling somewhat despite her guest's evident annoyance, "I'm _asking_ you to host a city-wide tournament containing Japan's duelists with the purpose of weeding out the Ghouls carrying the God Cards."

Ahuh... Now wasn't that a specific request. "And what makes you so sure that a tournament would do that," the teen responded, eyes narrowed. Tournaments took time... This wasn't exactly something you could simply request and set into motion right off the bat... Although... "Unless you're expecting me to participate myself," she added with a smirk, continuing on as a small plan formed in the back of her mind. "Given that they'll likely want my Blue-Eyes cards as well..."

There was a small bit of silence, Ishizu pulling out a card from her sleeve. "True, that is the case... But the main reason will be because I will be giving you this," she stated calmly, holding the card out for Seto to see. Hn..? What cards besides the obvious were rarer than- "The Great God, Soldier of the Obelisk."

-_THUD_-

Oh, was she still carrying that briefcase..? She'd forgotten. Ahahaha... Aha... _WHAT THE HELL_. Seto stared at the card, slowly taking it in her hands and holding it up to the light. A completely blue, one of a kind card bearing the image of a monster almost reminiscent of Exodia... "This is..!" What... What was she doing with this card here, she'd already said enough to prove it was literally priceless! Where did she get this-

"We were able to prevent this card from being stolen," Ishizu said clearly, staring at the teen across from her as Seto slowly looked back up from the card. "Though carrying a great risk in bringing it here... I am entrusting it to you," she stated with a blank expression, "So that you can recover the other two." So _bait_ then...

Hehe... "Hhnhnhnhnhn... And are you sure you can trust me with this 'Ishizu'," she asked, a dark smirk appearing on her face as she held the card. If she was having the nerve to refer to her by name then she was doing the same damn it... Not that it appeared to have any effect mind... "What if I were to retrieve the other two cards... But refuse to let them go..?" Like any other sane person would in her position...

Ishizu merely stared back, expression neutral and unchanging. "I trust you," she said calmly, turning to look at the door. Ahuh... "By the way," she said with the same un-changing tone, closing her eyes. "If you intend to avoid another traffic jam, I suggest you leave now Seto..." She handed over another card, bowing her head. "Should you wish to contact me... This is my number. Though I know for a fact that I will only receive one call from you within this year..."

Gh... What! '_I have re_-' Damn it what was that voice doing in her head! ...AGAIN! Seto tensed, gritting her teeth before grabbing the briefcase from the side. Again with the 'assumptions'..! And the 'voice'... She was leaving damn it. "I see," she said with a frown, before turning to leave the room. "But if I were you 'Ishizu'," the woman added darkly, "I wouldn't wait on that call... Now," she continued, passing through the door with grit teeth. Time to go... "We're leaving," she growled, passing both of her 'guards' as she walked briskly toward the front doors. Briefly the woman turned to the older of the two, eyes narrowed as she muttered under her breath. "Get the chauffeur to bring the car to the front..."

"Of course Seto-sama," Odoru answered calmly, the second of the 'guards', hurriedly picking up his pace to keep up with the woman. "Right away."

Jonouchi as well hurriedly jumped into a brisk walk, easily loosing the already paper thin mask of professionalism as he ran. "E-Ehh, wh-what..?" Oh please, spare her the 'questions' for just a single damn moment...

Past the statues, past the tablets, god damn it if she saw another 'Ancient Egyptian Relic'... '_My pharaoh,_' the voice was muttering as she walked, briefly squeezing her eyes shut as she attempted to drown it out,_ 'I hav-_' SHUT UP!

"I jus' don' get what all th' shoutin' was about," Jonouchi was saying behind her as the woman pushed past the front doors, eyes narrowed as she turned back. Of course he didn't, if he was doing his job then he wasn't listening...

"Nothing mutt," she growled under her breath, watching as Odoru charged ahead to open the door. Just get her home, where she could think all this through... It was _nothing_ damn it, "Now _QUIET_."

Of course, she thought bitterly, he _never_ listened, now _did_ he? "But you were loud'r than Mokuba when he was runnin' late f'r school that one day," he was protesting as he came through the car on the other side, apparently oblivious to her continually rising level of agitation.

The woman grit her teeth, grabbing her seatbelt as the doors to the car were shut and the vehicle set off. "I said _QUIET_ Mutt!"

"Hey," Jonouchi said with a cough, still ignoring the woman beside him. "Does this have t' do with those tablets?" Mention anything even related to those giant slabs of _rocks_ and she swore it, she would- "'Cause Yugi's Jii-chan mentioned that a while ago an'-" Again with the voices..! '_I have returned from the ruins in the north._'

THAT. WAS. IT! The woman reeled on the blond as the car drove down the road, eyes wide with rage. Just... STOP! "I SAID _SHUT UP, __**MUTT**__!"_

Now that... That got a reaction. Jonouchi instantly froze, nodding as he muttered 'alright' a few times under his breath. 'Alrigh'... Alrigh'...' Good... Seto turned back to look at the front, crossing her arms as she fingered the card in her hands before slowly rubbing her head with her free one. Ugh... She didn't know whether she was pissed, elated or both any more...

Though at least the drive was silent right..? She took in a deep breath, card-hand under her other arm as she closed her eyes. ...No voices...

..._Right_? The woman mentally groaned, still rubbing her head as they drove. Alright... She needed to figure this out... Three God cards. The three most powerful cards in the entire game if looking at the description of this one told her right. She hadn't put any strategies to work with it granted but...

Yea. This card was powerful. Very. Powerful. It was a strange feeling that came from the card, a feeling that ordinarily she would scoff at but the fact was... She could _definitely_ beat Yugi with _this_. And if she had all _three_...

A wicked grin appeared on her face at the thought, low chuckling coming through the car as she did so. Oh... OHHHHH this was good. With that kind of _power_... Hhnhnhnhnhn... As for this tournament idea... The 'ticket' to getting the other two...

A 'battle royale', sweeping across the city... If she played her cards right, this could also sell a fair amount of equipment as well... The duel disks would be ready around June wouldn't they? She frowned somewhat, disappearing into thought as the car pulled into the driveway of the mansion. If the duel disks were to be used, the 'playing field' would increase considerably... They would need _lots_ of space... At the same time, the experience alone would be worth it to half of Japan's 'duelists' if she placed the events right. But she'd need something else to entice the players... And especially to gain the attention of the Rare Hunters...

Either way. It looked as though Ishizu was right to 'assume', she thought to herself as she walked into the house, briefly turning to Jonouchi as she headed for the coat room. A 'Battle City'... Hn! "Jonouchi," she stated somewhat coldly, her mood still not quite over-with. The blond looked up from where he was fiddling with his tie, blinking a few times as she continued. "Tell your friend to get his deck ready... We'll be battling soon enough," she told him, before moving off to go to her study.

Very soon... All it would take was a bit of planning... That was all...

Seto pulled the door to her study open, walking in and letting it slam shut behind her. Just a bit of planning... She moved forward, not bothering to turn the light on as she took a seat at her desk. Just a bit of planning, she told herself, looking over the card in her hands once more as she leaned back on her chair. "Hn..." 'The God of the Obelisk'... Requiring three tributes, with four thousand attack and defense points... It would destroy all monsters on the field with additional sacrifices, inflicting 4000 points of damage simultaneously... It was immune to all card effects...

And there were two others of it's level of power. The three god cards... And if simply holding even this one was giving her a rush... "Hnhnhnhn... Hehehehe... HAHAHAHA!"

Well...

She'd better get moving.

* * *

Dreams are strange things. For most, they are made up of scattered memories, ripped into very shreds and pieced together in an eclectic, clumped reel of mental film. A series of events and thoughts played over and over, with no known purpose...

It was a personal question from Yugi to his other as to whether or not his darker half could dream for this reason in fact. As someone without memories, was it possible for him to dream? The darker half chose not to admit that for the first few days, he didn't... That for the first few months, his only 'consciousness' was tied completely to the few moments he'd taken over from inside the puzzle. Instead, he answered 'yes', and went back to his usual spiritual vigil outside of the puzzle as his partner slept... A vigil that continued day in and day out, and would likely continue as so for a number of days to come.

For some people however, dreams are hidden terrors, and hidden thoughts from another time and another place. Messages from the past, digging into the skulls of the dreamer whether they wish for it or not. Sometimes... They were stranger than expected though... And despite how very real they could seem, the content itself was the more confusing aspect. And the voice that sounded like Seto's own disguised one rang through her head in a foreign language that she somehow knew and understood, was one such thing... And by the time morning came, she was busy pounding her fist into the pillow in annoyance, likely leaving a permanent dent in the cloth in question. Because if there was one thing she knew that made that 'tablet' 'fake', it was _this_.

The 'high priest' was male. She was not. End of story, this. _Was. Not. Real_. The voice in her mind mirrored her own disguised one, to a 't' in fact... But it was not her, despite what 'Ishizu' dared to imply. The vision that came with it, the face, the piercing blue eyes matched her own photos completely save for deeply tanned skin... But it was _not her_.

And the 'pharaoh', the 'King' that stood to the side, weakly holding a puzzle forward to the Priest in his dying moments _was not Yugi damn it!_

Her dreams, however, wished to tell her otherwise, and in her personal opinion this was all that damn 'Ishizu' woman's fault. She wasn't sure how, since the woman had all but dropped off the map (and she sure as hell wasn't calling her), but somehow, she was sure she wasn't wrong. And yet here she was. For the fourth night in a row that month, on what was oddly enough the exact same day and the exact same time.

Floating above an ancient Egyptian hallway, or what she assumed as a hallway, hoping and praying that they even _had_ hallways. Not her idea of a 'good night's sleep' to say the least, particularly since she was fairly certain that dreams were supposed to be _forgotten_ when someone woke up. "If someone is trying to tell me something," the woman muttered, crossing her arms with a growl, "They had better realize _very_ soon that it _isn't_ working."

And of course, as usual, there was... _No answer_. Leaving her floating in the air and rolling her eyes. Ugggh... The woman crossed her legs, somehow taking a comfortable position as she watched the 'imposters' of herself and her rival run through the hall in the dark. Hn... Run faster, maybe they'd actually get somewhere... It wasn't like the end result made any sense after all.

'_Quickly Pharaoh,_' the 'Priest' shouted, turning to the 'king' as they charged through the largely black-grey hall. '_We must flee! Khemet is lost... And if we are to reclaim it, then survival is key!_' Assuming 'Khemet' was the kingdom... That was probably a good idea.

The Pharaoh however, either lacking strength of self-preservation, merely collapsed in the door-way at the end of the hall, moonlight splashing across his tanned face as he took ragged breaths. '_Wait... Wait a moment,_' he rasped, holding out his hand._ 'I..._'

'_We cannot wait,_' the Priest protested, shaking his head._ 'There is no time, if-_' Sounds of thundering footsteps came from down the hall, Seto turning her head and narrowing her eyes as what looked to be a crowd of monsters began to develop from the darkness. Oh great.

As if the dream didn't make enough sense as it was. After three nights of 'repetition' did they really have to change things? '_...Set,_' the Pharaoh muttered, the Priest turning back to face the teen as he did so. '_There is something I must do..._'

The Priest merely bit his lip, turning back to the developing monsters before stepping around him. '_In due time my King- But first..._' He held out his hands towards the monsters, taking a deep breath and muttering as the room continued to quake under the approaching stampede. '_Great God of the Desert and Storms, Keeper of the Darkness...'_ Alright _what_?_ 'Guide my hands and grant me power... I call forth a monster from the shadows, the Guardian of the Lamp! ARISE,_' the Priest roared, gritting his teeth._ 'LA JINN!'_

Hnnn? Seto raised her eyebrows, adjusting her 'seat' as the 'genie of the lamp' appeared to charge forward. From nothing but thin air it had appeared... From a stream of 'light', originating from who knew where. Huh... One of her old monsters... Strange, last time she had this dream she didn't hear all that nonsense...

...Damn it, that wasn't a _good_ thing! Seeing the things that were attacking and hearing the 'chanting' were not good! Seto continued to watch as the genie barrelled forward, destroying the monsters as its summoner again grabbed the Pharaoh's hand and rushed forward. "Gh-" Seto grabbed her head as a sudden wash of vertigo struck, the room spinning violently. Oh great, motion sickness... The woman shook herself as she was abruptly 'dragged' through the wall, a clear night sky meeting her vision in addition to a cluster of ruins. Now where was _this_ hell hole... Here she'd assumed they were in a palace of sorts not- The woman turned, staring as in the distance a series of fires could be seen. Ah. That would explain it. So the palace was _that_ way... Making this some sort of... ...Ruin? Village..? Great... Another obscure vision cleared up to raise more questions. Last time all she'd seen was darkness here damn it, and she was beginning to miss that...

'_Pharaoh... My pharaoh,'_ the Priest was whispering as they trekked through the sand,_ 'Are you-_'

'_Please,_' The pharaoh muttered, collapsing somewhat under his own weight before falling to his knees on the ground. '_I am no longer in any position to be called 'king'..._'

The priest paled, freezing in place and rushing back to join the king on the ground. '_But I- ...We..._'

The pharaoh looked forward, weakly shaking his head as he continued to breath labouredly. '_...Set,_' he whispered, shaking somewhat in his exhaustion._ 'Let me sit for a moment... There is something I must do with this..._' The king held up the 'puzzle' around his neck, the Priest before him paling as a muted words passed his lips. Hang on, what was that? The pair's lips continued to move, the air filled with the sort of dead silence one expected from a muted T.V. Great. The one time she _wanted_ to know what the hell they were saying... Seto rubbed her head, scowling. Ugh...

'_You can't,_' the Priest was suddenly muttering, shaking his head as Seto abruptly looked up with wide eyes. '_You- ...You'll..._'

'_Mahaad is gone,_' the Pharaoh cut in, head bowed as the Priest before him gained a mourning expression. '_As is Isis, Karim, Shada, Shiamun..._' A fair number of names... Each of which apparently meant something to the two before her._ 'And the darkness is spreading,_' the Pharaoh continued, shaking his head and looking back up as Seto narrowed her eyes. '_This is the only way..._'

'_My Pharaoh, I-_' Ahhhhh, who cut him off?

More silence. Seto grit her teeth, holding back a growl. Ugh... The puzzle was placed in the Priest's hands, the Pharaoh placing his own hands on top of them as their mouths continued to move in silence. Damn it, what the hell were they saying? '_...Set._' Ah, there... That was better._ 'It has been an honor working with you._'

'_An honor..?_' The priest appeared frozen with shock, more so than before if it was possible._ '...Pharaoh... I..._' Oh come on, Seto thought somewhat bitterly, spit it ou- ...Their mouths didn't stop moving. Damn it, her dream muted itself again. She crossed her arms, frowning as some sort of exchange came between the two before her. Ugh, it was worse than a bad connection during a phone conference... At least then you could ask them to repeat what they said. More silence, more talking... Seto watched as the 'Priest' pulled off his head dress, placing it on the ground as brown hair fell to his shoulders. Again, she heard nothing... Though she hadn't expected the 'High Priest' to have hair... Clearly whatever he was saying shocked the 'Pharaoh' though, given the look on his face... Even so.

She'd like to actually _hear_ something no- '_...I see,_' the Pharaoh finally said clearly, the 'invisible' observer merely rolling her eyes. Yes... Of course he did... Now could someone explain to _her_ what the hell was going on? A sudden 'wave' appeared over the area, the woman sighing as her vision was filled with darkness. Ahhh yes... And as usual, this was the end of the...

...Dream? She frowned, watching as the wave passed to reveal the same two she'd been watching, the Priest's head bowed into the Pharaoh's shoulder in what could have been mourning. This was... Almost the exact same scene as before, but why was she still here... Seto frowned, 'floating' close and looking at the two with narrowed eyes. The puzzle was still gripped in their hands... Something appeared to sit heavily on the air around them, a feeling of sorts that the woman couldn't describe...

And given the growl in the distance more monsters were appearing, now wasn't that- Seto frowned as the Priest stood, slowly turning to face the monsters with rage filled eyes. More silence... This time however, the silence was legitimate. No one was speaking... At least until the last few moments, when a rough and violent wind appeared to blow about the Priest in a tornado of sand. A fearsome roar filled the air... And the area became bathed with light, the Pharaoh behind the man shielding his eyes before staring with shock. '_WHITE DRAGON,_' a voice shouted, Seto growing pale as the sound met her ears, accompanied by a roar. '_ATTACK!_'

The last thing she saw before waking up with wide eyes and a cold sweat was an enormous and eerily realistic Blue-Eyes White Dragon appearing from the clouds to blast white flames over the approaching swarm. A magnificent beast who easily overpowered the monsters before it. But it was what she heard that had her laying back down on the bed with still wide eyes as she stared at the ceiling, breathing haggard and labouring, as though she had run a 1500 kilometer marathon within seconds. The voice... The one that the Priest used in those few seconds...

That was _her_ voice.

* * *

Dreams, however strange they could be, were always made up of memories in some way really. Memories from recent times, memories from a past long forgotten... Even memories from another life entirely, however bizarre the notion was. But while there were strange levels of dreams in those categories, dreams that could hardly be considered the 'average' evening, even dreams such as those were something that could be considered normal...

...At least... Compared to the third 'dreamer' that one night after the visit to the museum, when so many 'dreams' occurred. Katsuya had collapsed on his bed with a groan almost immediately after he managed to get out of the suit he'd been stuck in, ready and more than willing for the 'calm' that was sleep. He was tired after all... Exhausted, and more than 'confused' about certain women in his life...

And, well, thanks to that nice little 'flash' he'd had of the hands and 'eyes' staring toward him, possibly a little scared. Not that he would say otherwise of course, despite there normally being 'no secrets among friends'. The fact was, there were somethings that were just _too_ weird to share. Either way... Between the fire at the Black Clown, the 'eyes' reaching out from the Egyptian woman's necklace, and a particularly awkward call he'd gotten from his mother and sister...

Well. Besides predicting the moment he'd _get_ the call, it took all he could to _not_ finish his sister's sentence when he picked it out from the last dream he'd gotten. Which was scary to say the least, and made it incredibly difficult to even focus slightly on the rest of the conversation. Needless to say, he was looking forward to a nice, quiet, peaceful night... One where he actually slept, or maybe one where he dreamed a _normal_ dream, maybe something involving a roller coaster, or a festival...

Not an endless sea of darkness. Not like this one. "Awww hell," the blond muttered, blearily opening his eyes and sitting up as he entered the 'dream'. He certainly recognised _this_ place... "Great... One minute I'm in my bed... Th' next I'm stuck here..." He sighed, shaking himself as he pulled himself to a standing position and looked around. Empty space, empty space...

What, seriously, nothing? He crossed his arms, rolling his eyes before scowling as he came to a stop after walking aimlessly through the darkness. "Aw C'MON," he shouted loudly, throwing his hands in the air with a growl. "I finally get used t' this crap an I get nothin'!" Agggghhh seriously? _Seriously_! "What th' hell kinda dream is this!"

"_Well now..."_ E-Ehhh? Who..?_ "This is interesting..._" Katsuya froze as a voice came from behind him, coughing awkwardly.

"Er... I..." He shook his head, blood draining from his face. "I wasn' serious," he muttered, coughing awkwardly, "I..."

A rumbling chuckle came from the same direction, the blond slowly turning to face the source only to find more darkness. No... No one was there... What the hell..? "_Hello little one,_" the voice stated, Katsuya swallowing as he looked up toward the source.

AaaahhhAaaahhhAhhhh... Hell. "Oooooooh god," he muttered, falling back and scooting as far away from the creature before him as possible. It was difficult to describe what the being looked like completely, if it could be described at all. For one, the eye that was staring him down was likely about as bright as the sun and possibly as large... Besides eerily similar in appearance. Why he wasn't blind at the moment was likely completely attributed to the fact that he was in a dream really... But that was besides the point, as even counting the 'sun' eye, the 'sky' body was even weirder really. Amid the darkness, a hair-thin neck trailed from the being's 'head', glittering with a fine white powder that resembled stars and fragments of galaxies. It was hard to locate... The body never got 'wider' after all, but if he squinted, it was there, clear enough that opening his eyes wider after locating it made the creature's entire form stand out almost as clearly as a neon sign. The body, despite being hair-thin, did not appear to narrow until it reached the ends of it's strings/ It merely divided, creating a pair of bird-like feet at the end of endlessly long legs, the being who was attached to them standing so tall that it hurt Katsuya's neck to look up from where he lay on his back. The arms on the other hand...

He couldn't see them. Until now, when the location of the shoulders slowly began to 'fade' into appearance. The creature knelt down, eye's gaze appearing more kindly than menacing as a pair of thin and almost flat hands materialized on impossibly long arms. More eyes... Katsuya swallowed as a pair of eyes stared out from the hands palms, before the creature pulled the hands back and allowed them to fade out into the darkness. "_Such fear you have," _the creature muttered, hands reappearing at its sides with closed eyes._ "You need not __fear__ me child,_" the being stated, closing it's eye over as a 'moon' appeared in the place of its iris while the eye-lid closed. The eye slowly opened again, Katsuya merely staring with wide eyes at the 'shift' in 'night' and 'day' before him. "_I will not harm you... Be still... If you like,"_ it continued, holding a hand out, "_I can prove myself to you..._"

"H-Hah..." Honestly, he'd rather avoid things with eyes on it..! "I... I'll take yer word f'r it," he stuttered, slowly pulling himself to his feet as he attempted to calm himself down. Ok... Ok... Giant 'space-eye' thing standing in front of him... Ahhh... "Who... Who are yah," he managed to ask, staring upward as he appeared to 'float' in the darkness. "Er..." The blond coughed, correcting himself. "_What_ are yah," he added, the being slowly blinking once again.

More chuckling came through the air, the being shaking its 'head' as it looked down. "_Hnhnhnhnhn... An interesting question,_" it commented, the eye appearing to 'smile' down at him._ "To some I appear as a lost friend... To others,"_ the creature continued with a disturbingly calm voice,_ "A hero that they will never know... And to still others, a messenger from the gods..." _...Kay... Why couldn't he get one of those..?_ "To you however,_" it continued with a 'bow' of sorts, the 'moon' again meeting Katsuya's face as the blond swallowed, "_I appear as I always am... I am that which divines the past, present, and future... I am the Millennium Tauk, the diviner. And for that whom wields me,_" it continued, the blond's eyes widening as it spoke, "_The guide..._" ...Awww HELL, not another one of these things! "_It is strange,"_ the Tauk muttered, Katsuya momentarily cutting his mental panic short as the being 'frowned' somewhat,_ "Appearing to a mortal in this form..._"

Strange..? The blond frowned, tilting his head. What... "S...Strange," he repeated, looking up as the 'Tauk' nodded. "Whaddya mean, 'strange'..?" How could that possibly be...

The Tauk merely stood at its full height, 'sun' eye appearing against the dark surroundings in an eerie, apocalyptic glow from kilometres above. "_As I told you seconds before,_" it began calmly,_ "I have been many things... Angels, Animals, Spirits... For to appear in the form you see now would be catastrophic to the beings that I visit... A form that the mind is comfortable with, is therefore required. However,_" the Tauk continued, Katsuya growing pale with the mentions of 'catastrophic', "_For some reason, it would appear that despite all of your mortality, your mind is so comfortable with that of the other realms... That what would be unfathomable is perfectly within your comprehension..."_

Uh... W-What..? "W-What th' hell do y' mean, '_would_ be unfathomable'," he shouted, swallowing back a choke as he stared up with wide eyes. "You sayin' I've got some kind 'f 'low tolerance' f'r weird crap!"

"_Hnhnhnhnhn!_" Oh great, it was laughing at him. It had something close to that Egyptian woman's voice, and it was _laughing_ at him, that was always great... "_Not at all,_" it 'shouted' with a laugh, shaking its head. "_Not at all..! To be frank, you have possibly the highest tolerance of any mortal that my 'guardian' has ever even passed along the sidewalk..._" The blond blinked a few times, pulling a face and staring. Er... Ooooookayyyyyy... That was... Good... He guessed. "_I am not completely sure why this is,_" the Tauk continued, shaking it's head' and closing its eye again as it 'calmed' down. "_Nor do I think __anything__ will explain it... But for now, I believe it would be best to accept things as they are... I will only be here this one time after all,_" the being said, opening its eye once more as its hands re-appeared beside it. "_For once I have discerned your __fate__," _it explained, the hands moving close,_ "My task will be done... And I will return from whence I came..._"

W-W-Wait... He tensed, stepping back as the hands continued to move in. "...My... My _fate_..?" W-What..?

The being nodded, coming to its knees and bringing its hands around the blond as he paled. "_It will take only a moment,_" the Tauk stated calmly, Katsuya looking at the two eyes with fear as the hands hovered around him. "_You will feel nothing, so this will only..._" The Tauk abruptly froze, hands jerking away slightly as its 'eye' opened and stared down._ "...Ah..._"

Er... "...'Ah'," Katsuya asked, frowning as the Tauk stared at him. "What... What'dya mean... '_Ah_'?"

"_It's strange,_" the being muttered, closing its eye somewhat._ "This is now two things that have never occurred before... I am a diviner, a seer,_" the Tauk stated calmly, standing before the blond as it spoke. "_A being sent into the minds of others fore only mere moments, that the past and future of the mind be known to my guardian... It is the reason why I am here,_" it continued, staring down at Katsuya as it continued to speak with its oddly calm tone. The only reason..? "_And yet for some reason,_" it continued with a frown, pulling back to its full height once again._ "I can't discern your future... __or__ your past..."_

Alright, that was o- ... Wait... "...What."

The Tauk continued to stare, 'expression' as unchanging as it always was while it looked down. "_It is strange... And worrying, if I might even say it... But for some reason,"_ it continued sadly, voice wavering just slightly,_ "Fate itself will not place it's hands on you... It leaves your past unknown,_" it stated, left hand appearing from the darkness at the Tauk's side, "_And your future un-tied," _it continued, right hand appearing as well. "_You have __no fate__,_" the Tauk continued, Katsuya merely staring in shock. "_And for that,"_ it continued, staring down sadly as the 'moon' and 'sun' on it's form created a partial eclipse,_ "I fear for you..._"

"But why," Katsuya asked, shaking his head as he stared upward at the creature, "Why would that be a problem..?" If anything... He was kinda happy that the eye thing wouldn't know what was going to happen to him.

There was a long 'breezing' noise, the being appearing to 'sigh'. "_I do not know why... But for some reason, I feel a kinship within you. Though I know for a fact that you nor anyone like yourself has ever been my guardian, I recognize your spirit from a distant time... A time that I can no longer recall,_" it added, the blond before it frowning in confusion and suspicion both._ "My time within your mind is ending young one,_" the Tauk said sadly, shaking its head as it stared down. "_And without the knowledge of your fate, I can not properly warn you of the things to come..."_ ...Oh. That was why. The Tauk continued to 'sigh', staring down as it continued on._ "For that reason, I leave you with these words, with the hope that you heed by them before the worst comes upon you. For while the fate-less remain uncharted in the fabrics of time,"_ it explained, voice reverberating around the darkness they stood in,_ "They attract just as much, if not more attention from the negative forces of the other realms... Heed my words child,_" the being continued, slowly fading out from the toes as it began to vanish from existence. "_And heed them well, for your own safety... While most of my brethren lay dormant, there is one among my numbers who remains strong. Beware the flames with eyes that devour,_" it called, continuing to fade as it shut its eye and vanished completely. "_For even the smallest of sparks can create __disaster__..._"

As the words faded from the room, so did the 'moon' that was looking down at Katsuya from above. Along with the 'stars', the 'galaxies', the 'light' that it gave off... And with the stars and the 'sun' gone, the blond was left in complete darkness again...

Before a raging fire filled his vision, with his next sights being the ceiling of his room as he woke up with a shout.

"HUAH!" The blond clutched the sides of the bed, breathing heavily as he stared at the wall and sat stock still, as the sound of the clock ticking at the side met his ears. Cold sweat clung to his skin as he breathed heavily, eyes wide and mouth hanging open, nothing but the roar of flames sitting in the back of his mind. "HAH... Hah... Hah... ...hah... hah..."

If anyone 'up there' was listening, _please_...

What the hell did all this mean? Staring at the wall before him, the blond slowly lay back against the pillow, swallowing back another ragged breath and bringing his hand to the dog-tags around his neck. Cold metal was gripped tightly in his hand, acting almost as an anchor to reality as Katsuya continued to breath hoarsely. What was all this... These dreams...

Rolling over on the bed, the blond attempted to fall back to sleep as best he could, still breathing shallowly as he shut his eyes and clutched the tags around his neck. They were just dreams, he told himself, thoughts laden completely with denial. Just dreams... Just dreams...

Just _dreams_...

**

* * *

AN:** Now that's some mind-screw for you! Unfortunately, any questions I've somehow answered have just brought up even _more_ questions... Which will either be answered in Battle City (Thank god) or... Unfortunately, _The Millennium World_. Ahhhhhh that sucks.

Either way! Slightly shorter than norm chapter thanks to oodles and oodles of dialogue on the part of our friend the Millennium 'Tauk' (Torque), but hey; no problem with that right? (Fact was, this chapter and the last were originally meant to be 'one'... But they were too long.)

Your next chapter will be a breather that spawns from the last line of the last chapter... And it contains much less mind-screw and much more 'awwwwww'. (That and 'lul'. You can't have a breather without the lul.)

Now that the poll is done, I'm feeling empty...

Sooooo I'm doing this instead. Recently, I've been trying to find out if 'Kul Elna' means anything... I know that 'Kul' is Sanskrit for 'family' (Which makes sense, the entire village was probably 'family' really), and is used with the same definition in the English language now, but I can't find a 'decent' definition in _any_ language for 'Elna', 'Erna' or 'Eruna' (The last two come from Japan not having 'L' and from not having single consanants.)... At least not one that makes sense, as 'Erna' is evidentally old English for Eagle. (...But eagles are not only considered beasts of honor, but... Well, in Ancient Egypt, they represented freedom and power. Not the name you'd give to a village of thieves.)

So here's my request; can _you_ figure out what it means? Or is 'Erna' as in 'Eagle' actually a good choice? (When I think about it, the village probably named the village...)

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Normally with a double post there wouldn't be any, but I got a really quick response!

Haha! It is isn't it Iona… Though it really _is_ mostly 'temp', as we see a different guard later on…

Crossdressing won, that is correct! As for how it turns out, I think you'll be sufficiently amused when we get to that point… Mehehe…

Actually, Kaiba's visit isn't at all non-canonical; in season zero, Kaiba ran into Yugi in a _hospital_, as earlier that day, Yugi had narrowly avoided getting run over by a car… Being driven by one of Kaiba's employees… In any case, somehow the later ended up there, and apparently Kaiba went to visit.

Whooo! Though she is _probably_ if not _very slowly_ warming up to Jou.

And haha! Well, it wouldn't be Kaiba if we didn't get those comments…

Hey, no problem! Truth be told, being snowed in means little for me to do _soooooo_…

Merry Christmas!~

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The guide that's feeling empty today... This is what happens when the chapter is mostly dreams that make no sense.

* * *

'Ananke' is the Greek personification of Destiny, Necessity, and Fate. She was depicted as holding a spindle, a device used to create thread from various forms of fibres. Hence the 'weave'; this entire chapter is pretty much centred around fate and destiny, or at least around the device that revolves around it... (Hooray for the Millennium Tauk! Er... Torque. Whatever.)

* * *

Originally, Ishizu said 'sorcerers'. But that would just make her case _so much worse_ in trying to… 'Convince' Kaiba, to say the least. Though that _could_ just be dub!Ishizu, as they pretty much re-wrote anything concerning the visions in the tablet. Which _really_ screwed things up later on by the way... Take a look below.

* * *

I said 'presumably' because in the end, did we _ever_ get a scene that said the High Priest had anything but loyalty for the Pharaoh? Most likely the 'battle' on the tablet was going to be for the intended plot of the Millennium World; Takahashi's original plan was for the High Priest to defect and go after Zorc to avenge Kisara, after the Pharaoh (apparently) does something stupid/doesn't offer to help.

Perhaps that really happened… (It certainly explains why both of them are fighting with monsters that only appeared to them in the dying moments of that 'time'…)

* * *

In any case, those visions we see in the anime happen very differently depending on the translation! In the dub, the Priest is depicted as some kind of... Constant enemy to the pharaoh. But in the original, he's _defending_ the Pharaoh! In addition, there's no banter or 'challenging'; the Priest is merely praying to the gods, asking them to defend him and defeat the wicked. Hahhhhh...)

Moreover, whereas the dub's version of Ishizu says that 'the winner of the match' had his name recorded on the tablet, it's quite different in reality; Ishizu says, as in the manga, that of all the pharaohs of and around that time, 'this one' is the _only_ one whose name has been eradicated from history. Hahhh... What's wrong with the dub...

* * *

No really! The original name of 'Obelisk the Tormentor' is 'The Giant God Soldier of the Obelisk'. So Obelisk _isn't_ his name! Which… Makes sense, because while the other two Gods are actual 'gods' in Egypt, Obelisks are giant pillars. _YEAAAAAAA_. Given that we have Osiris (Slifer in the Dub) and Ra, and Osiris is considered 'equal' to Obelisk, I like to assume Obelisk was made with the God Set in mind. Set being the god of the desert, storm, and chaos... And also the guy who is more well known about his rivalry with Osiris than anything.

* * *

Good lord, you do not know how damn amusing it was to type that scene. Now, in the anime, Ishizu did some sort of weird 'vision' thing, showing Kaiba a vision of the past. Three in fact. But I decided to do something a little more creepy (Namely the dream and constant use of 'this will happen') and a little less '_OH SHIT OUR BOSS COLLAPSED_' (Because in the anime, the guards were _watching_ that.). Also, I needed to get Kaiba rightfully scared/pissed out of her mind enough to keep her from cackling madly in the drive back home…

Because she did that in the original, regardless of visions. Yeeeeeess, Kaiba does like her power, _doesn't she_.

I have to admit though, having Jonouchi around _definitely_ helped to curb the insane laughter. Seriously though… Some of Kaiba's expressions in that chapter… Those faces will be enough to keep me smiling for _weeks_.

* * *

Something interesting about 'Obelisk'. The site I use for an added hand in comparisons seems to think that 'Obelisk no Kyoshinhei' means 'Obelisk the Great War God/Great God Soldier'. Everything but the 'The' is correct really. But 'No' is a _possessive_ particle. Which means it'll either translate to 'of' or the 's at the end of a name. For example…

'Uma no hone' (One of Kaiba's favourite sayings) means either 'bones of the horse' or 'the horse's bones'. Obviously, if translation doesn't realize that this is an insult that means 'nobody', we get the latter.

For that reason, 'Obelisk no Kyoshinhei' means 'Great God Soldier of the Obelisk'… Or 'The Obelisk's Great God Soldier', if that makes more sense to you.

By the way, here's a breakdown of 'Kyoshinhei'. 'Kyo' means 'great', or 'giant', while 'Shin' is an alternate reading of 'Kami', or 'God'. Lastly, 'Hei' means anything from soldier to troops to army… But not 'war' in general.

* * *

Hey dreams! What, you expected that sort of thing in the Millennium World? The fact is, we never find out how things happened when Atem _lost_ so to speak... When he had to seal himself in a puzzle to mostly destroy Zorc.

And that's where I have _lots of fun_. Depending on how I can or can't reveal this sort of thing, that dream will be stretched out into a 'side story' to go along with this. Yay~

* * *

So. The Tauk. Not much to say on that besides '_WHAAAAAAAAAAT?_', so until then...

Art time!

**

* * *

FanArt and My Art Section**

Remove the space for your picture; normally this wouldn't be here in a double post, but there was one image that _had_ to wait until now...

Namely this.

The Spirit of the Tauk – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ TheTauk. jpg – And you thought the _last_ one was weird... Just think about this thing's warning, and then you'll have _weird_. Keep in mind, this thing was supposed to have a form that was 'incomprehensible' sooooo... Yea.

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays! For New Years you have THAT THING.


	60. Chapter 59

**White Rain**

* * *

After the events of 'the dream' so to speak, Katsuya had more or less fallen into an awkward 'base' reaction pattern. This tended to happen whenever he got paranoid about something of course, so really, it was probably to be expected. Particularly after getting another dream where he managed to yet again force himself to bite his tongue before he finished someone's sentence for them.

Personally, if this sort of thing happened concerning homework, he'd be much happier... Either way, he was fairly on edge, and noticeable so. Given his usual actions, consisting of either acting _too_ happy or simply staring off out the window more often than normal... Though for the most part this was attributed to Mokuba's news of the 'bodyguard night'. Which had gotten a fair number of questions from everyone to say the least... Though in the end, Mokuba got less out of Katsuya than he got from his sister on the event, so that really didn't do anything for the others either. ...Though Bakura had an oddly happy look when it came to the Egypt display...

What Mokuba _did_ manage to do however was probably the only reason why, only a week after the 'Tauk's visit, Katsuya was back to 'normal' so to speak. As to what the reason was... Yugi didn't know at all, having been left to get all of his information from everyone visiting.

Though the fact was, he would likely find out quite soon, given that he was standing outside the gate to the Kaiba mansion on the 29th of April, the first day of the Golden Week.

The day he was supposed to get discharged... Exactly as planned a week prior. All Yugi knew was that Mokuba and Katsuya wanted him at the house that day, and were planning to pick him up... After getting discharged early however, he'd called and said he would meet them at the gate.

To say that Yugi was probably surprised when the gate opened _before_ he pushed the 'intercom' button at the front would be putting it lightly. Though the shock was quickly pushed aside with the obvious fact that he was in plain sight at the gate, and he was probably spotted. To say he was even _more_ surprised when a car came over, briefly stopping as someone hurriedly grabbed him and tossed him into the car however was...

Well that was obvious to say the least. The sound of a door closing over met the boys ears, along with muttered curses of surprise from his other. "W-Wh-What..?" Yugi shook himself as the car hurriedly drove off, looking up to be meet with a pair of grins on Mokuba and Katsuya's faces. "What's going on..!"

Mokuba was the first to answer, grinning from his seat by the window as his friend pulled himself into a seat. "Hehehe... We're going flower viewing Yugi!"

"HAAAAANAMIIIIIII!~"

"Sorry we didn't say anything," the boy added with a shrug, Yugi merely blinking at the overly eager shout that Katsuya let out. "But if we were going to get there without nee-sama knowing..."

Yugi stared, buckling his seat belt before shaking his head at the last few words. "Er..." The boy blinked, frowning as he looked around Katsuya at the younger of his friends. "What..."

"Unfortunately," a voice said from the front, Kyouko looking around the seat, as the boy turned from the others, "These two didn't make the best impression when asking Seto-sama if she was willing to come along..." Oi, neither did anyone else... "...So we had to put something else together to pull it off."

And it would definitely work. Yugi blinked a few times, staring before he turned back to the others. "W... Who is..." Oh, right-! Yugi didn't know any of the staff...

The woman smiled, shaking her head before bowing somewhat as she as well realized the problem. "Kyouko," she said with a smile, giving a mock salute as she looked the boy over with a wink. "I'm the maid."

"A-Ahhh... I see" The boy continued to stare however, apparently not believing his own words before finally turning to the others. "So... We're going flower viewing," he asked, blinking a few times. The other two nodded, their friend frowning in response. "Why so late in the year though..?"

Katsuya shrugged, shaking his head and leaning back on his seat. "Well," he began fairly plainly, "Like Kyouko said... We were _gonna_ go earlier, but things happened..." Things like Seto turning it down _really_ fast... And the Black Clown fire.

"And besides," Mokuba added, changing the subject somewhat as he looked to his friend, "We wanted you to come too. Nee-sama might not like it," the boy continued, crossing his arms with a smirk, "But it isn't like there's no room in the field to avoid each other right..?"

Yugi nodded, still blinking a few times. If he was confused, he didn't blame him... Though for his part, the boy was hiding it fairly well if he was. "I guess not," he eventually admitted, agreeing with Mokuba. "...But how is Kaiba-san coming if she doesn't even want to go?"

The other two boys shared a glance, before giving Yugi an odd smile as the car fell strangely silent. "Oh... Well... We found a way..."

* * *

The windows of all of the vehicles that the Kaiba family owned were more often than not tinted completely on the sides. This was fairly standard, as for that reason, no one could really see what was happening inside the car. Privacy was important, after all, if not one of the more important aspects of the drive to and from work. Needless to say, Seto was perfectly content with what was simply 'standard procedure' for that reason.

Though... Sharing the car with a pair of the security guards was a little less than 'standard'. All the same though, it wasn't anything that would really spring alarm bells or annoyances. The fact was, they had more than reasonable points in why they were coming- Namely that, since they had been required to take double shifts at both the mansion _and_ the company building, they didn't have a ride. And so they were there... In the end she supposed, it was hardly that much of an inconvenience when the fact was that the chauffeur involved wasn't technically supposed to be driving her around on a Sunday. So she now had two guards on either side... ...Well, at least everyone was doing their job.

Regardless of jobs however, she still expected to get to the destination she asked to travel to. So when the car turned in the exact opposite direction and made for the highway, rather than driving toward the Kaiba Corp building, and neither of the guards beside her reacted, there was really only one logical thing to do.

Or at least there was, as she had decided while narrowing her eyes and looking at one of the guards while planning an escape, until simply looking at the side to the guards she _assumed_ were completely trustworthy resulted in her being tackled to the side. "GH!" The woman snarled, arms quickly held behind her back as she pulled against the grip they were held in. "YOU-"

"Hahhh... Seto-sama," Odoru said with a slight grunt and sigh, adjusting his grip on the woman's arms while avoiding her head. "I've worked for you for _how long_? I think by now," he continued somewhat gruffly, his boss barely pinned to the seat in the car by the combined efforts of the two guards, "I know the 'look' that you get when you realize something's up."

"Nnnggh..." Bastards, bastards, _bastards_! These two... She'd _trusted_ these two! "You're both _fired_," the woman growled, blowing a bit of hair from her face as she attempted to kick her way out of 'Taijin', the second guard's grip. "Not to mention dead, if you're _lucky_!"

Odoru sighed, shaking his head. "Yea... We kinda figured you would say that," he muttered, shrugging as best he could while holding his grip.

"Good job realizing it this quick though," Taijin muttered, the guard's sunglasses falling to the ground as their 'hostage' attempted to worm her way out of the grip. One holding her arms the other her legs... Oh great, wasn't this just _lovely_... "I owe Odoru here 2000 yen for that..."

"Gh-" The woman tensed, looking at the man behind her incredulously. "You morons were _betting_ on this?" Of all the nerve... Besides an apparent abduction they were taking bets on how long it took! The two men merely shrugged, Seto growling as she narrowed her eyes. Alright... Since she was obviously in a nice tight spot here... Her expression shifted, still clearly dark as she attempted to figure out a way out. If she moved her hands right, she should be able to disa- The woman froze as her hands brushed over the gun holster behind her, only to find it empty. "...You aren't _armed_?"

Two more shrugs, Odoru smirking as his boss continued to growl. "What," he said with a laugh, shaking his head. "You thought we'd give you that kind of advantage? Disarming us is the first thing you would try in this situation, we know that!"

"We learned from the best," his partner chorused, their boss gritting her teeth further. These... Damn... Morons...

Damn it if she wasn't already ticked... "You're both _more_ than fired, got it," she spat, pulling fruitlessly against the guard's hold as they sighed. "Consider your pink slips a death certificate," she continued with a roar, Taijin narrowly avoiding a kick from the woman. "And you as well," she added, turning to the front. Given that the chauffeur was obviously participating...

"Really," a familiar voice asked, turning from the front.

The woman grew pale as her assistant turned around, the man's eyebrows raised in slight humor. "I-Isono!"

There was a short span of silence, the woman slowly turning a narrowed glare up at the guards as the men coughed. This... Was not a 'normal' kidnapping... Her eyes narrowed further, suspicion raising as she looked over them. "...It was Mokuba," Taijin abruptly shouted, ducking his head as the glare was turned on him with. "He put us up to it!" The woman continued to glare, eyes narrowing as Odoru cursed behind her. Mokuba? Set all this up? While obviously not out of the intelligence range, just why would he do _this_? Someone else... Seto continued to glare at the guard before her, clenching her jaw as the man before him attempted to keep his mouth shut. But in the end... "...Alright," Taijin sighed, bowing his head. Hn! She _always_ won these sorts of things... "Jonouchi helped..."

"I am going to kill that dog," Seto growled, narrowing her eyes as Odoru frowned behind her.

"Er... It was still Mokuba-sama's idea," he said with a cough, before jumping back as the woman in his grip continued to seethe.

"The blond is DEAD!"

The man sighed, shaking his head. "Aaaaaahhh..."

"You know," Isono said from the front, coughing as the others turned their heads, "You can probably let her go now..." Yes, that would be _very_ much preferable..!

The guards blinked, slowly looking back at their 'boss'. "Ahh... So," Odoru asked with a small grin, loosening his grip somewhat. "...We still fired," he continued, gaining a largely unimpressed scowl in response to the question.

The answer to that one? Well, seeing how they'd apparently been put up to it by her brother and were likely doing this to avoid getting their asses kicked before she took over the car... "You will be if you hold on any longer," she muttered dangerously, glaring back at Odoru as the man against coughed.

The two guards hurriedly relinquished their hold on her arms and legs, returning to their seats as Seto righted herself and leaned back on the seat.

"Good... Now," she said with a growl, crossing her arms and looking toward the front. "Just what is it that my brother planned with that mutt?"

The guards both blinked, mouths hanging open somewhat as they turned to the front for the answer. "That," Isono began, turning back to the highway after looking to the others for a moment. "Is a bit of a surprise..." Ohhhhh great.

That was always _fun_. Seto continued to scowl, gritting her teeth. "A 'surprise'," she asked incredulously, crossing her legs as well. "I'm heading to an unknown location on the first day of the Golden Week... And you tell me it's a _surprise_?" Give her answers... NOW...

Odoru and Taijin both coughed awkwardly as the woman continued to growl, the men turning away before abruptly reaching out as their 'boss' pulled out her cellphone. "AAH," the shouted, their boss growling as she held her phone out of reach. "Wait wait wait-!"

"I'm calling my brother," she snarled, eyes wide with annoyance as she attempted to make a call.

"NO! No," they protested loudly, "He'll... ...Ahhhhh..." The two drew back as they were met with a glare, holding their breaths as Seto pushed the first number on her speed dial. Now then...

"..."

"..."

Dial tone. Seto closed the phone over, glaring at the device rather angrilly as she clenched her jaw. "He turned off his _PHONE_!"

"Er..." Taijin coughed, shrugging fairly nervously as he laughed. "...We'll be there in around an hour?"

The phone was merely returned to the woman's pockets, Seto glaring through the front window in silence for a few moments. An hour... Tch... "We'll be _where_, in 'about an hour'," she asked, turning to Taijin with a fairly murderous look.

The man swallowed, coughing as he pulled back. "Ahhhhhh..."

It was likely a common thought among all the men in that car that 'about an hour' was really far too long to pull this off. Really.

* * *

"HaHAAAAH!" Tinted windows were not very useful when the windows were rolled down, but in the car ahead of Seto's, no one really seemed to particularly care about that. "YEA," Katsuya shouted, grinning as a few sakura petals were caught in the window. "We're here!" While 'sixty minutes later' was likely not coming soon enough for those in the second car, those in the first car found it coming just soon enough. The moment they stopped the doors were opened, the boys in the back seat for the most part grinning as they made to leave. Katsuya laughed as he hopped out of the car, running out into the somewhat large field of sakura trees. "Alright! An' we've got this place all to ourselves," the blond asked, turning as the others left the car.

Mokuba nodded, grinning as Yugi looked around behind him. "Yep! We didn't take too much space," he explained, gesturing to the fence around the area, "And since it's so late in the year, it wasn't actually that hard... The 'forecast' for the blossoms ended up really off this year," the boy continued with a shrug, scratching his head, "So most people have already stopped by..." Which meant that 'renting' a space in a field of trees was actually possible. Yesssss...

The others nodded with the explanation, Yugi turning as the second car pulled up behind them. "Ah- ...Do you think this is alright," he asked, watching as the car went to park before turning back to the others. "Me being here I mean?" Ahhh... Ohhhh... They didn't really think of that, since they figured the answer wouldn't be that great... Ehhh... "I don't think Kaiba-san would really want-"

"What is _he_ doing here..?" Ohhp. Katsuya coughed as the voice came over the air, shaking himself as he mentally smacked his head. Too late. The boys turned as Seto looked over the car door, eyes narrowed as the two guards she'd come with stood somewhat awkwardly behind her. The woman was clearly not pleased with being 'kidnapped' into this... And as she moved from around the car door, the loud 'slam' it gave off when closing made that all too clear.

Mokuba and Katsuya both went pale, the former hurriedly coughing and running over to explain where the others likely couldn't. "A-Aaaaaahhh... Well, see... Katsuya-nii was telling me about Hanami," he explained somewhat nervously, "And Kyouko mentioned this place, and I thought that maybe Yugi would want to come and-"

Er... Why was he talking so fast..? The two older boys watched with mild confusion as Mokuba's sister looked down, expression currently about as annoyed as it was when Seto was merely standing in Yugi's presence. The look itself was enough to cut the boy off... Though in Mokuba's defense, the boy was still looking with an expression that said 'By the way, I'm not budging on this.' "Alright," she muttered somewhat testily, frowning somewhat, "I won't blame Jonouchi..."

The boy immediately grinned, pumping his fist as he turned to the others. "YEEEESSSSS!"

"W-Wait," Katsuya said with a frown, shaking his head. "That's what this was about!" He thought that she was asking about Yugi! ...Though at least there was no comment on that.

Yugi laughed somewhat nervously, scratching his head as the two siblings came over. For the moment, it looked as though he was avoiding the sour fate of being the 'negative' topic... In fact, the woman appeared to be purposefully avoiding eye contact with Yugi, instead turning to look at the field beside them. "I _do_ want to know why I'm being dragged off to a field of Sakura trees though," Seto said somewhat darkly, briefcase gripped tightly in one hand as she turned back to Mokuba and Katsuya. "Seeing how I told you I wasn't interested in 'hanami' a fair number of times..." All politely when it came to Mokuba of course. (He himself had only asked once... For good reasons.)

The woman's brother merely coughed at that statement, before shrugging it off nervously. "Eh... Yea but... Well, it's Sunday," he protested, frowning as he looked up at his sister, "And it's the Golden Week... You've been working on the stuff in that briefcase for almost the entire month," the boy continued, gesturing to the case in question, "And you won't even tell me what's in it..."

"Wait," Katsuya said with a slight jump, turning to the boy. "Y' mean you don' know either?" And here he'd thought that the kid was just pulling his leg...

Mokuba sighed, shaking his head as the others beside them merely stared. "This isn't the time Katsuya-nii..."

"..." Alright, that look was telling him the same thing...

The boy sighed, turning back to his sister and continuing on. "Look... You can... You can work on whatever it is in there," he said, smiling somewhat nervously as he again gestured to the briefcase. "I mean... Whatever it is is obviously important," Mokuba continued, frowning. "I just think you should relax, alright nee-sama?"

Seto merely continued to look at her brother somewhat blankly, before a voice from the side pulled their thoughts forward again. "That's the main reason why all of us bothered doing this," Kyouko said from the car, stepping out with a bag and slamming the door shut. The others turned toward Seto again, remaining largely silent as they waited for the response before the taller of the group finally sighed in 'defeat'.

Okay... Did... Did they win..? "...Alright," Seto decided, facing her brother in another 'attempt' to ignore the others that were there. "I suppose a change in scenery is alright..." AH. They did it! Yes! YES! ...Granted all they really did was tell her that her 'office' for the day was a bunch of cherry trees... But it worked! "However," the woman added, cutting Katsuya's mental celebration short, "If you expect me to 'relax', I suggest you keep those two out of sight," she stated, walking off to find a place to sit by one of the trees after gesturing to the two beside her brother.

"O-Oi," Katsuya said with a frown, shaking his head. "What's that s'pposed t' mean..."

Yugi shrugged, looking up at the blond as his 'other' misted into appearance to study the trees with curiosity. "I have a feeling we'll be better off just not knowing really," he said with a laugh.

"Probably," Mokuba added with a grin, putting his hands behind his head as he looked at the two. "But we got her out of the building didn't we?" There was a round of nods, before Mokuba looked out at the numerous trees. Yep, they'd definitely managed that... "So," he continued, turning back to them with a slight frown. "What normally happens at Hanami anyways..?" On Hanami..?

The others blinked, sharing a short look before looking back. "Er..." Katsuya coughed, shaking his head. "Mostly... You look at the flower blossoms..."

There was another span of silence, both the Other Yugi and Mokuba blinking a few times before frowning. "...That's _it_," the boy asked, expression shifting to evident confusion as the 'ghost' at the side as well appeared to mutter something along those lines. "But why do so many people..."

Kyouko shook her head, sighing as she came over with her large bag. "It's a _relaxing_ event," she emphasized, frowning. "Looking at the blossoms reminds people how fragile life is, and how much they need to appreciate it... It's not supposed to be some 'giant party'! It's a quiet time, for picnics, relaxing..."

"An' yet..." Katsuya quickly received a dangerous look from the woman, ducking somewhat at the look. "H-Hey," he muttered nervously, scratching his head. "I'm jus' sayin'..." If they hadn't have 'rented out' this space, it would have been a lot more crowded and a lot louder...

Un... Like... Now... Ehhhhhh... "...What do you think Kaiba-san is working on," Yugi eventually said after an awkward silence fell over the group, turning to Mokuba in an attempt to change the subject. Both his other and Katsuya as well turned to the boy at that, sharing short glances.

Oh hey that was... A good question. Almost as good as the reason why they were there now that the blond thought about it...

Didn't... Didn't they _have_ Sakura trees in their backyard? Katsuya frowned, running the thoughts through his head before jumping as Mokuba barrelled past him through a pile of petals on the ground. "O-O-OI," he shouted, watching as the boy grinned back at them, "What'r you-"

"Just because I'm supposed to just watch flowers doesn't mean I will! Come on Katsuya-nii," he shouted, charging off past the trees with a laugh, "Catch me if you can!"

The blond tensed, before charging after. "Oooooiii!" It was on damn it! Like hell the eleven year old was out running him!

"Jonouchi-kun," Yugi shouted, "Wait up!"

'_I can't float that fast!_'

"Gh- Other me, you're still a lot faster than I am!"

'_...Really?_' Given he could float, sit, talk and do whatever while moving...

Haha! Like they were going to spend Hanami looking at flowers...

* * *

...Though by the time it was lunch, it looked like the afternoon was going to be spent doing just that after all.

"Hah... hah... Hahh... Katsuya-nii," Mokuba said through somewhat laboured breaths, shaking his head as the group came to a stop. "Did you have to chase me up that tree..."

"What..." The blond shook himself, frowning. "I thought that was yer idea..." What with how there were a few meters between them... And... Mokuba was probably the only one who could safely get away with climbing the tree, not that he hadn't tried...

Yugi as well shook his head, watching the exchange with slight incredulity. "Ha-haaaaaaahhhh..."

The three boys collapsed under one of the many blossoming trees in the area, having long since exhausted themselves running around the field. For the most part, the morning had been spent alternating between this. Running, stopping for breath, running, stopping for breath...

Kinda figured it would eventually catch up really. "Man," Katsuya said with a slight laugh, shaking his head before thumping it back against the tree trunk. "That was pretty insane..."

Yugi nodded, weakly grinning as he laughed. "Hahaha... Yea," he said somewhat quietly, brushing a bit of hair from his face with bandaged hands. "I don't think I was supposed to be running around like that right after leaving the hospital, hahaha..." The others blinked, turning at that as Yugi merely continued to smile. "I'm fine," he said loudly, waving his hands in emphasis. "Really, don't worry! I just don't think I'll be moving around much anymore today..."

"Heh! You ain't th' only one," Katsuya muttered, shaking his head and looking across the field. Lots of trees for such a small sp- "Oh hey," he muttered, pulling himself up as he looked off past the sakura petals that were falling. "Seto-chan..."

The boys blinked, following the blond's gaze and staring. "Ah..." They squinted, before looking somewhat incredulously at where the woman was currently typing away on her laptop. "She... She's smiling," Mokuba shouted, shaking himself.

Honestly it really said something when her own brother was commenting on that but... Yugi shook his head, still staring at where the woman was working in silence. "...It doesn't look anything like when she smiled at school..." What, way back when she was trying to get Sugoroku's Blue-Eyes card?

The blond snorted, shaking his head. "That was because back then she was a bitch in sheep's cl- OW!" He rubbed his shoulder, turning as Mokuba crossed his arms with a scowl.

"That's my sister you're talking about, Katsuya-nii..."

"Owww..." He continued rubbing it, shaking his head. "But it's true... She ain't like that _now_, but back then..."

The other Yugi as well nodded, crossing his arms from where he was sitting among the three. '_He has a point..._'

"He also can't hear you," Yugi muttered under his breath, Mokuba turning with raised eyebrows.

"Eh," he asked, blinking a few times. "What did you say?"

The boy smiled, shaking his head and laughing somewhat. "Ah... Nothing... Nothing," he said with a cough, his 'other' merely leaning back on the tree. "...What time is it?"

The others blinked, the younger pulling his sleeve back to look at a watch. "One thirty," Mokuba muttered, before rolling his sleeve back down. "We should probably eat now..."

Good idea... Given minor growls his stomach was now giving off. "We should probably get Seto-chan t' eat too," the blond added, scratching his head. "I don' think she's gettin up any time soon," he continued, looking back at where the woman was still calmly (And possibly _happily_, dare he say it) typing away. Wouldn't he bet that she had _no idea_ they were watching... Hahhh... "I mean, if it's anythin' like when she's in 'er study..."

Yugi blinked, turning as the three stood up and began slowly heading back to where they were parked. "Her study," he asked, frowning somewhat.

The others nodded, Mokuba pulling a face at the mention before answering. "Yea... Half the time when Nee-sama comes back from work," he explained with a wince, "She'll go bury herself in her study because she's on a 'roll'..." The boy sighed, shaking his head as they continued walking past the trees. "I have to go in there to remind her it's supper time whenever that happens..."

"Hey," Katsuya grumbled somewhat darkly, "At least you ain't th' one stuck dealin' with tellin' her how late it is..." The others turned with raised eyebrows, Katsuya merely shrugging in response as he clarified. "Hey," he said plainly, looking at Mokuba, "You can't tell me that when someone disappears int' the room and comes out runnin' that somethin' ain't goin' on in there!" Though at least he'd been spared the 'opportunity' that one other time, as when his own shift had finished and she was still in there, she'd managed to fall asleep. She'd likely been fairly uncomfortable the next morning but... At least she got some sleep.

And there was a saying about sleeping dogs to say the least on why he hadn't just told her to go to her bed and collapse there. If sleeping dogs were bad... Well... Sleeping dragons would probably be worse. Nonetheless, the boys decided to keep silent on that topic and stop pressing about it, merely looking toward the parking lot where the guards, Isono, and Kyouko had all effectively taken up residence in for the day. Lets see, the guards had a deck of cards, Isono had a book... "Ahaaaaah," Kyouko said with a smile, standing up from the bench at the side as the boys came over. "I was wondering when you would all get hungry," she said with a smirk, putting her phone to the side. The woman pulled up a large bag from the side, carefully pulling out a series of boxes and placing them on the table.

The three shrugged, Mokuba running forward to grab some of the boxes as the others looked them over. All wrapped up in a square of cloth... Kinda reminded him of when his mom made his lunches back in elementary really. "Did you make all 'f these Kyouko," Katsuya asked, watching as Mokuba piled a second one on top of his before handing another to Yugi.

Kyouko shook her head, putting her own empty box back in the bag from where it had been sitting at the table. "Sort of... ...I had a little help," she said with a wink, gaze moving down to Mokuba as she said this. The others turned, blinking at that a few times.

He'd put them together..? The boy flushed, face going somewhat red as he gripped the two boxes in his hands before handing a third one to Katsuya. "Gh- I wanted to make something for Seto-neesama for once!"

"Wait," Katsuya muttered, shaking his head as he grabbed his box, "So she really _is_ th' one making yer lunch..?"

Yugi turned, giving the blond a look that almost said 'you didn't know?' before looking back at Mokuba. "Er... If it's just lunch," he said fairly plainly, frowning a little, "Then why are you so flustered..."

At this Kyouko immediately beamed, the boy in front of her currently going even more red as the woman explained. "Aaaah- that would be because we went a little further than just 'making' bento... Take a look," she continued, "I think you'll like it!

Er... Further? The two older boys shared awkward glances, before turning as Mokuba finally adjusted his hold on the boxes with a slight grimace. "Gh- I'm going to go give nee-sama her lunch," he said quickly, running off as Yugi and Katsuya both stared. "I'll be back!"

"H-Hey, wait up," the blond shouted, running after as they took off at a relatively quick walk behind the boy. The boy as well slowed down somewhat, still gripping the boxes as the other two stared. "It's jus' bento right..?"

Mokuba remained fairly quiet, coughing somewhat awkwardly as they went toward the tree Seto sat at. "Erm... I guess..." Yeaaaa...

"Hey," he continued, untying the cloth around his own box, "What's in these anyways..?"

"Ahh..."

The boys stopped momentarily, Mokuba again going red as he watched Katsuya and Yugi both open the tops of their bento boxes. Silence, for the most part, was what met the air in the seconds that followed that... Mostly because of just what 'a little further' was. Ehhhh... "...An... How much 'f this did Kyouko make," Katsuya asked, looking at the petal shaped slices of carrot sitting among the rest of the similarly shaped foods.

"She cooked the food," the boy admitted, bowing his head somewhat as he continued to flush, "But... After the first box was done, I organized the other ones..." So... Mokuba was the source of the petal carrots...

There was more silence, before a voice from behind yanked their attention forward and further into what was becoming a fairly awkward situation. "...You did a good job," Seto said calmly, a fairly neutral expression in place as she stood behind them with crossed arms. The others swallowed as an odd and almost angry glare was turned on them, Mokuba merely fiddling with the boxes in his arms. "...Wouldn't you two say so," she added somewhat dangerously, looking at the two older boys.

"E-Ehh... Y-Yea," Katsuya said with a cough, an honest (if not nervous) smile on his face. "Definitely," he continued, "I wasn' thinkin' anythin' else..!"

"That's right," Yugi said with a nod, also smiling despite his 'other' currently staring confusedly at the bento box. "You did a good job Mokuba-kun!"

'_...Why does the onigiri look like flowers..._'

"Not now," Yugi muttered under his breath, Katsuya deciding to momentarily ignore the mutterings coming from the spirit beside him as the awkward situation persisted.

Seto held her neutral stare, taking the box Mokuba held out to her and stowing it under her arm. "I thought so," she said with a smirk, walking back to her laptop and briefcase.

Errr... K-Kay... Well, when he thought about it, food was food right..? At least Seto was eating right? The blond looked back at the bento, grabbing one of the oddly shaped riceballs and taking a bite out of it.

...

"...Hey," he said as he swallowed the bite, "This 's pretty good..."

He probably should have expected the glare he received in response for that one.

* * *

To say that time passed relatively quickly after that would be putting it lightly. After the somewhat tense moment that came from going from holding back comments on food to breaking an awkward silence with it, the four had ended up settling in and around one of the trees to dig into the bento. It was truly amazing how much time had passed just eating the food, not to mention the time it took bringing the boxes back to the parking lot, going back to the tree they'd been sitting at... ...Deciding not to sit at that tree thanks to the now uncomfortable piles of squished flower petals beneath it...

In the end, after sitting on the receiving end of a fairly suspicious look from Seto, their next 'tree' turned out to be 'the one beside the CEO's'. And shortly thereafter, the 'space right beside the CEO's tree, because the last tree was shedding petals in their eyes'. By the time six o clock had rolled around, the majority of them were just as quiet as Seto likely hoped thankfully enough though. Mostly due to having spent almost the entire day running around (or watching other people running around before either joining in or catching their breath), the rest of the evening was mostly filled with just doing as was intended for 'Hanami'.

Namely sitting, relaxing, and staring out at the field of endless cherry blossoms, because they were too tired to do anything else. The blond stretched somewhat, holding back a yawn as the four (five counting the other Yugi, who was floating above in the tree) sat in the disappearing sunlight. Looking at the enormous field of pink had been enough to catch all of the boys off guard while they ran early that morning for a few moments to say the least... The intense _blanket_ that covered the trees, coupled by the rain of petals coming with the now falling blossoms... The figurative sea of petals that sat before them made it easy to forget that the field wasn't actually as big as it seemed, that it was actually fairly hard to avoid 'Seto's tree'...

Hell, the other Yugi had found himself running through a tree at one point thanks to the distraction, gaining a more than uncomfortable expression after the fact. Not to mention odd grins and silent laughs from those who saw, while Mokuba stared in confusion and the other Yugi sulked...

In any case, the flowers... Were just as stunning if not more in the sunset. Pure white and off pink blossoms were died an orange and red as the sun vanished in the distance, a steady light 'rain' falling down. The sky as well was bathed in the light, creating a soft glow across the entire field. Over all, it was completely silent, save for the occasional clacking of keys on the keyboard, or scribbling on paper or... ...Anything Seto was doing...

"Nnnn... Nee-sama," Mokuba finally asked after about an hour of this, looking at the woman from where he was sitting beside Katsuya, "It's long after you would normally come home from work... Can't you put everything down, just for a while..?"

The others nodded, Katsuya frowning somewhat as Seto momentarily stopped to look at the three blankly. "Yea! I get that y' like yer job but..." He shook his head, attempting to catch a glimpse of what was on the notepad. The woman in turn frowned, moving it out of sight as the blond coughed. "Eh... What are you workin' on anyways..?"

She looked back at the notebook, tapping her pencil against it a few times before snorting. "Hn! ...Nothing you'll be finding out anytime soon Mutt," she muttered, closing the book over as she looked to Mokuba. "Though I suppose this can wait until I get home now..."

Someday, he was going to find out what the hell Mokuba was doing that he wasn't damn it... (It was probably a sibling thing...) Either way. Seto was _not_ working any more! Hah! "Heh..." The blond grinned, laughing despite the fact that the woman beside him was a little less than amused. "Tha's th' spirit!"

"Don't push it," she growled flatly, crossing her arms as the blond drew back.

"N-Nyhhhh..."

The others sighed, shaking their heads as the sun continued to vanish, the sky quickly darkening. Within seconds what was coated with a soft golden glow was blending into the rest of the night sky. "Hnn... We should start heading back huh," Mokuba muttered, staring for a moment before looking at the others. "It's getting da-" The boy froze, turning as light abruptly came into his vision. "...Ahhhh..."

The others as well turned, reactions more or less similar across the board in the case of the boys as they looked out at the field. "Woah..."

'_This is..._'

"Hahhh..."

Numerous lanterns lit up far in the distance, leaving a gleaming, golden glow across the sakura before them. Whereas the sunset had left a pale and almost uniform pallet of colour, before them each and every one of the petals on the trees were now glimmering with candle-lit highlights. "Yozakura," Katsuya muttered, staring with wide eyes. "Woah..."

"The lanterns must be from the other areas of the park," Yugi added, staring with the others as the lanterns continued to light up far off from them, bathing the neighbouring fields in a similar light. "They probably have one lantern at least on each tree..."

Again... Wow... The lights in the distance looked more like small flickering candles if anything, leaving the entire field a-glow across from them. For a fair number of minutes, there was nothing but silence, awe...

Katsuya smiled, slouching over somewhat from where he was sitting beneath the tree. Heh... At the risk of sounding like a complete pansy within his head... This was... _Beautiful_. The trees, the blossoms, the lights... He turned, looking as Seto herself held a somewhat less obvious, but nonetheless similar expression on her face, the woman leaning back against the tree and staring at the lanterns. Briefly, she turned, the smile still there as she held her eyes closed...

For about .2 seconds. Then she opened them... And noticed that the blond beside her had stopped staring. "Gh-" The woman tensed, abruptly frowning and grabbing her things as the blond beside her broke into a grin and laughed at the action. "MORON!"

"AHAHAHAH!" The others jumped at the shouts, turning as their friend continued to laugh. "Ahahahahahhahaha!"

Seto grabbed the rest of her things and stormed off, Katsuya falling back on the ground as Mokuba and Yugi looked over from the side. "H-Heh... What was that," Mokuba asked, shaking himself.

"Ahaha... Ahhhh..."

'_...This...'_ Katsuya's laughs slowly faded as he watched Yugi's 'other' drift down from the tree, the spirit watching Seto leave with a somewhat dumbfounded expression._ '...I can't even think of anything that applies to this..._'

The boy shook his head, scratching it as he sighed. "Just roll with it other me..."

"Eeh, Yugi," Mokuba said somewhat nervously, "Who are you talking to..."

Yugi blinked, coughing somewhat awkwardly before he was spared answering the fairly awkward question by Katsuya.

"Hahaha... Ahhhhh..." The blond stared up at the sky for a moment, looking at the mostly 'star-less' sky before slowly pulling himself off and shaking his head. Well... Seeing how Seto was gone... He stretched out, shaking his head again before turning to the others. "C'mon guys," he said with a grin, brushing a number of sakura petals from his hair before turning to head back. "Lets get home..."

The 'three' stared, the two Yugi's both giving each other a shrug to go with their traded glances while Mokuba nodded. "Hah... Yea," he said, taking a few steps forward. "Good idea... Race you to the cars," the boy added with a shout, abruptly taking off in a run as the others stared.

"O-OI, OI!" The blond tensed, hurriedly taking off at the black 'blur' in the distance. "No fair, you got a head start!"

"J-Jonouchi-kun, Mokuba-kun, wait up," Yugi cried, taking off behind them as his 'other' followed as well.

'_Hey! We just got out of a hospital!_'

All in all... Definitely the best 'Hanami' he'd personally had since he could remember.

* * *

The drive back to the mansion was likely a little quicker for the Kaiba siblings than it was for the car carrying the guards, Yugi, and Katsuya. Before leaving the parking lot, the 'window' in the first car had been closed over for even more privacy in the back seat, with seating arrangements turned around so that while _their_ car was full, both Seto and Mokuba would have the back seat of their car to themselves.

Not that he really minded to say the least, despite the fact that this meant he and Yugi were sharing the backseat with one of the guards while another sat in the front. Evidentally, Kyouko drew the short straw for sitting in the front of Kaiba's car... Or so it seemed until she handily closed the 'privacy window', something that had both of the guards smacking their heads in their hands. Katsuya yawned, stretching somewhat from where he sat in the middle of the car seat on the way back, shaking his head. "Hwaaaaah... Man," he said somewhat tiredly, looking at the clock in the front as he blearily made out a '7:04' on it. To think it was only seven... "Never thought goin' 'Flower viewing' would be so tirin'..."

"We've been out all day," his friend said from the side, also stretching somewhat. "I suppose it's only natural..." Yugi as well gave a yawn, shaking his head as he leaned back against the car seat and continued. "Thanks for inviting me to come along Jonouchi-kun," the boy added with a smile, hands in their usual unconscious position on the puzzle. "Make sure you thank Mokuba-kun and Kaiba-san as well when we get back alright..?"

The blond nodded, stretching again as he rubbed his neck. "Will do..." No problem! ...Save getting in close enough proximity to tell Seto that Yugi was thanking her for something she had been completely against. That would be a little... Aw what the heck, subject change! "...Hey, you got any other plans f'r th' Golden Week," he said, turning to Yugi with a somewhat blank expression.

Yugi blinked, briefly looking at where his 'other' was somehow sitting on the armrest between the front seats. For a moment, he looked almost nervous about whatever it was he was going to say. His answer however, was only a shrug... For a moment in any case. "Well," he began, scratching his head as he deliberately made to avoid his 'other's' eyes, "I was planning on meeting with Bakura-kun on the third..."

Katsuya instantly jumped, choking as he shook himself. Alright... H-Hang on! "B-Bakura..!"

'_WHAT._' Real intelligent there, 'other Yugi'...

"If he was going to do something, he'd have done it by now wouldn't he," Yugi said with a shrug, keeping his voice down lest the guard beside Katsuya say anything. The words appeared to have little effect on his 'other' however, the spirit currently looking at the boy as though he'd just pulled himself out of a mud puddle. "Besides," the boy continued, frowning slightly, "It wouldn't be fair to just avoid him because of the ring! Bakura-kun is our friend after all..."

Eh... That was true but... Try explaining that to the other Yugi... ...Hahhh... Katsuya sighed, shaking his head despite the fairly unwelcome news. Alright... Seeing how he still had a point... "Yea... I guess yer righ'," the blond muttered, shrugging. "Still... What were y' gonna do?" Yugi blinked, listening as his friend continued. "I thought Bakura was busy figuring out 'Monster World Online'..." Not to mention gushing over being able to play the game without worrying about... Other things.

Again the boy shrugged, his other pulling a face at the action. "I'm not really sure," he admitted, crossing his arms in thought. "I don't want to go to the museum yet, since he said he was still working on something there, but at the same time," he continued with a frown, "Bakura-kun isn't really much for the arcade..."

"Hnnn... That's true..." More of a 'table-top' guy, Bakura... So... There were really no ideas on what to do about that...

"I'll think of something," Yugi decided, shaking his head with a small smile as he pushed the subject aside. "In any case... What about you?"

Katsuya blinked, staring somewhat blankly in response. "Nhy?"

"Golden Week; what are you and the others doing," the boy asked, leaning against the car door and continuing. "I know that Anzu and Honda-kun are going on vacation with their families for the week, and Otogi-kun is staying with his dad until he recovers in the hospital... But what about you," he repeated, frowning somewhat.

Oooh... That was a good question... The blond shrugged, shaking his head and looking at the boy. "Eh... Probably jus' gonna go to th' arcade, call my sister..." And visit his dad too, he hadn't done that in a while... Speaking of Golden Week though... "That r'minds me..." Katsuya turned to the side, Odoru blinking as the two boys beside him abruptly moved to address him. "Seto-chan puttin' up carp streamers," he asked, the guard staring for a moment.

Odoru blinked a few times in apparent shocked silence, before stiffling a laugh and he turning away with a grin. "Gh- I didn't expect that one..!"

Taijin as well turned, eyebrows raised as he looked around the seat from the front. "Did you just ask about _streamers_?"

Yugi and Katsuya both frowned, the blond scowling as he went red in the face. "Tch... It's an honest question!"

"And do we _really_ need to answer," Odoru asked, coughing somewhat as he continued to grin.

...Now that he thought about it... Katsuya blinked, frowning again and crossing his arms. "Huh... Tha's a good point..."

'_What,'_ the 'other' Yugi asked, frowning,_ 'What's a good point?_'

Yugi blinked, silent for a few moments before staring at the puzzle in thought. "Now that I think about it..." His 'other' blinked, leaning 'against' one of the front seats as he listened. "Would Kaiba-san put up a streamer for herself and Mokuba-kun if she celebrated," he wondered aloud, "Or would she only put one up for Mokuba-kun..?"

"Or two, for me and Mokuba," Katsuya added, looking up at the car roof somewhat blankly. What kind of strange questions would _this_ bring...

The boy beside him shrugged, pulling a face at that. "Erm..." ...Untouchable questions. That was the answer.

Hahaha... Katsuya laughed somewhat quietly, nodding as he scratched his head. "Right... ...Huh..." Probably time to change the subject. "Good question though..." He turned to look at Odoru, the guard merely staring at them with a slight grin on his face.

"Ah... Ahahaha..." The man shook his head, waving the two off somewhat as he chuckled. "I don't think I'm going to even _try_ thinking about this one..."

'_My head hurts just thinking about it,_' 'Yugi' muttered, a muffled groan coming from behind his hands.

"But _I'm_ the one with a physical body right now," Yugi muttered, frowning. Needless to say, he was ignored on that one.

Well, carp streamers aside... "Guess I'm gonna find out when we get home," the blond decided, shaking his head. "Maybe Mokuba can ask..."

"Haaah," Yugi nodded, shrugging as he leaned back on the seat. "I guess so..."

Yep... Though _he_ sure as hell wasn't asking about it.

* * *

Driving back to the mansion was a long ride to say the least, if not mostly silent as a whole. It was not an awkward silence of course, not by a long shot... Those sorts of silences tended to require some sort of conversation to start them, and in this case, there hadn't even been that. But it was silent nonetheless, considering that the only two in the back seat were a woman with a preference in a feeling of quiet and a considerably exhausted (and likely dozing) young boy. For the most part, the two were looking out the windows, locked in their own 'worlds' and thoughts so to speak... Though by the end of it, the younger of the two had slumped to the side after fallen asleep, head winding up on his older sister's lap when she moved her arm from under his head.

The woman grimaced somewhat, arms above her head as she looked down at the boy a moment. Ahhhh this wasn't... ...Oh whatever, she decided, bringing her arms back down, let him sleep. The woman smiled somewhat, shaking her head and looking back out of the window as her brother quietly slept away what was going to be another hour of driving. Hn... All in all... The day hadn't gone too badly, to say the least. A lot better than the rest of the month, she thought somewhat bitterly, that was for sure. Lets see... In summary, starting at the beginning there was the fire. Initial symptoms of heart attack had likely resulted from the slight chance that Mokuba had been involved. After that it was mostly rage... Partially for the fact that the two idiots in the car behind this one had her brother worried, and partially because of the two being morons and getting in a fire in the first place.

She had calmed down from that somewhat thanks to the completion of her jet of course (That was... There were no words for it really.)... And then the _rest_ of the month happened.

First, there was that 'meeting' with Ishizu at the museum. As teeth grinding as it was, it had been more than made up for by the knowledge (and possession) of the God Cards... At least until that revelation had been immediately followed up by the strangest if not the most _aggravating_ dream she'd ever had. Certainly not a nightmare, but hell would freeze over before she considered it a 'dream'...

Thankfully, the aggravation had been made better by the thought of 'testing' Obelisk in a computerized duel. The duel disks weren't ready of course but the table had to be able to handle it right? _RIGHT_..?

Oh she was wrong. She was _very_ wrong, to put it extremely lightly. The moment she'd drawn the card and successfully summoned it in a 'test duel' on that table, the entire board went completely dead, before system itself managed to fry itself completely. It was nothing that couldn't be fixed, thanks to the device being built with a fail-safe program but... She wasn't in the best of moods to say the least. Particularly since that meant 'no testing' the card.

So... She took Mokuba out in the plane. Made use of the 'second seat' in the jet, took off and hit 'mach 2' as fast as safely possible. And while the constant shouts of '_THIS IS __AWESOME_' _did_ start to grate her nerves after the fifth round in the sky, the fact was, the entire event was all too fulfilling to get upset about. The plane was great, the ride was great, her brother was happy, which honestly made her at least somewhat happy... And with all that in mind planning for the tournament started going underway shortly after that, her mood having been 'repaired'. General 'set up' was decided, with approximate 'field sizes' being made, the number of people to have participating going up on the 'debate' board in her mind, the prizes, the 'bait'...

And then the next friday came. And she had that damn dream again, souring the mood that had slowly been rising back to normal levels. The exact same dream at that, complete with any silence being completely 'lip-read' proof, as though her own mind had suddenly lost any traces of an already basic ability. God... Damn it...

Needless to say, she'd woken up more than ticked that morning, heading straight from breakfast to the study and locking the door to do some work to take her mind off things. ...Perhaps turn them toward the tournament that would have to (sooner rather than later) be put into place. So far, it was fairly clear that Ishizu's statement of 'city wide' as a description was unfortunately... Very very necessary.

_VERY._ Necessary. There was certainly not going to be a building in all of Tokyo large enough for everyone to battle 'Swiss format' using duel disks, even with the smallest amount of people that would attract enough attention from the 'Ghouls'. And if she wanted to use the God cards... Hell, with the progress the duel disk was having in terms of testing and production, _not_ using the disks would be absolutely unthinkable!

So she was going to have to (somehow) close off the entire district of Domino. Which meant that this would need to progress fast enough to be over within _one day_ at the most, a fact that had the woman again narrowing her eyes. After all; to shut down a city for one day was already pushing it... More than that? HAH.

Of course, the same day she'd come to _that_ conclusion, she'd been hammered with that god damned dream again... The dream that had decided to _change the ending_, stripping away the last bit of unconscious debate against any plausibility in it. It wasn't _real_. It couldn't be! And god damn it, knowing her luck she was going to end up with that dream _this_ friday as well! ...Though it could always be worse, she told herself with a slight shudder, recalling the last 'recurring dream' she had. The one that entered a class of it's own, a category of nightmare with no true name... It could have been far worse...

Far... Far worse...

The woman shook that off, instead lightly laying her hand on her brother's shoulder and staring out the window in an attempt to calm herself down. Honestly... Enough about dreams. Despite all the annoyances they'd been giving her, she'd gotten a fair amount of the tournament planned out today, and if she let god damned hallucinations based on a stupid tablet distract her from that she wouldn't get anything done. She'd accomplished a fair bit to say the least... For the preliminaries in any case. The finals would have to be held the day _after_ the preliminaries, perhaps a few matches on the evening of at the best... But there was no way that would happen on some random corner of the street, regardless of time limits!

"...Nn..." Seto blinked, pulling her hand up for a moment as her brother stirred. Ah... Don't wake up just yet... Not yet... "..." The boy remained silent, his older sister letting out a calm sigh in response.

...Hah... The woman shook her head as Mokuba continued to sleep, smirking somewhat before looking back out the window. In all honesty, despite all that still needed to be fixed, she had to say... Today was nice...

Quiet, 'successful', dare she say it enjoyable despite the presence of certain others... It was nice... With those words in mind, her eyes closed over, the woman's head leaning somewhat against the car seat as they continued to drive back home through the heavy 'Golden Week' traffic. More planning tomorrow... But for now...

It was nice, celebrating Hanami again.

**

* * *

AN:** Awwwww... Hanami fluff... It's blink and you'll miss it, but it's fluffy enough to confuse Yami Yugi, so that's always good!

And if you haven't noticed, this is one of those tiny little things that Fem!Kaiba has in her persona to seriously set her apart from the Canon; namely that weak, spring season point. Yeaaaaa, the sakura legitimately made her melt! ...Kinda. Mostly it's just a calming effect that just speeds the work along.

Hell's gonna freeze over completely before she _ever_ admits to enjoying hanami though, trust me on that. I'm probably pushing it with that as it is. In _any case_...

There's still one more breather chapter after this, before we officially start the 'Battle City Arc'! Though depending on how long the chapter gets, it _might_ have to be split in two... Hopefully it won't though, since the next breather is very, _very_ quick in terms of progression. It's like the standard breather, except... More jumping through time, as Battle City isn't until the very end of July, and while there _is_ a 'standard breather' in July... ...Well...

You see... I got the summer break _WRONG_; in Japan, the summer break is only one month; August. It starts on 'Marine Day', the third monday of July. Which certainly explains all the school stuff going on around then... (I really should have caught this!)

So yea. We have (Unlike what was implied with the earlier Summer chapter), since this chapter ended on what is effectively the beginning of May, almost _three months_ to skip past. As opposed to the _one_ month that we dealt with in the Valentines-White Day chapter.

You know what's scarier about this though? Because Battle City is actually only a few days, _we still have the summer after that._

But that's besides the point. In summary... Breather chapter, Breather chapter _if_ the last one is too long, Breather Chapter _of plot related proportion_ (Compared to the norm I mean. Because really, look up; not much in terms of the 'card game' plot.)... And Battle City. YAYYYYY.

In other news!

Thanks to a recent review, we have another (if not better) option for what 'Kul Elna' means...

MaggieMay mentioned that while it's not the exact same word, it's quite likely that Elna came from a more vague reference... Specifically a Hebrew one. She offered the word... Rather _name_, 'Elna'athan', which means 'God has given_' _in Hebrew. (The 'El' is one of _many_ ways to refer to God, whereas 'Nathan' means 'to give'.)

In any case, though the entire series of referencing was obscure, not only was a King ('Elna'athan' was both a grandfather to one and the son of another.), but there was someone named 'Sennen' (Which is Japanese for 'Millennium'), and also _'_land running red'... Though that's due to the reddish sandstone in the area. (The area/kingdom was called 'Edom, or Red. Naaaaaah~)

Anyways. See if you can find anything in another language though, because if I go with this, natural logic will _insist_ that the denizens of Kul Elna were all speaking that same language, and while not all Hebrew speaking people are/were (speaking historically) religious, there's still a good deal of... Unfortunate... Implications in pitting a village of Hebrew speaking people against _Egyptians_.

*coughMosescough*

Well, back to business now... As you can see, I managed to squeeze in another chapter during the holidays! So you can be happy about that~ (Me, I'm running around patching up the mistakes I made thanks to the Summer chapter; July the 7th, Mokuba's birthday, is _Tanabata_, a _major_ festival and holiday!)

But whatever! (That was one _long_ note...)

**New Poll!**

For the 'side story'... Basically what portions of Kaiba's dreams cover, only a small bit will be revealed. Because it's... Kaiba's dreams, which _only_ covers the visions from Canon. Obviously there are tweaks (the visions from the anime were all battles that happened while fleeing Zorc in the fanfic), but for the most part... A _lot_ will still be unknown.

This is where the 'side story' comes in. Do you want me to type this? Or try my hand at including more dream sequences? Let me know, I'm setting up the poll on my author's page now!

Option One: Type it on the side (Seperate Fanfic)

Option Two: Type it here (More dreams, more 'piece it together'-ness.)

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey there Maggiemay! You're right in that it's a bit convoluted, wowwwww... Not to sure if this is where 'Elna' came from, but if it is, then I can definitely see why! Thanks for the contribution Maggiemay! It _sounds_ like it was fun!

And hey again Iona!

And ooooh boy, if you think _that_ was an acid trip... _It gets weirder_. In any case, it's good to hear that you think this about where the plot is going!

Hehehe... Ahhh, but where would we be without Kaiba denying everything? Though at least Kaiba _kinda_ accepts the weird crap as we go along... Thankfully. It's so much fun to type Kaiba, it really is..

Ah? You like my art? Sweet! As for Critias... ...Hoh... I'll have to check again. Screen issues does indeed make for these kind of problems after all (Heck, I had an entire note on Rebecca's hair thanks to it.), and I _did_ use a screen cap for my reference on the picture... And given that they all wear helmets, it's hard to tell exactly what colour their hair is from a standard size, 'full body in view' screencap. Oh well~

In any case, enjoy the chapter!

Cynical Gamer! Yep! …Well, mostly unexpected. In one way it's not, but in another… Heh… VERY unexpected, I can guarantee that. *nudgenudge* (Hey you started it with the winking.)

Did you know that one version had it that they were tomb-builders turned robbers? That makes even less sense, they should definitely have been caught and dealt with if THAT were the case! (Tomb raiding is serious business after all.)

Ironically, I think I'm going to be twisting the convenience of that cavern they were all killed in through that… '_Quick, to the- …Shit_.'

Yep, one thread dealt with… On to the next one!

I REFUSE TO FEAR THE SQUIGGLY WHEN IT HAS BROUGHT SO MUCH GOOD.

Heheeee~~

It is a shame really… But hey, we'll get there some day… (Ironically, someone else mentioned, while doing intense astrology fun with these guys that Jonouchi's character actually makes him perfect for organizing things like tournaments… Hehehe…)

Dang straight 'rule of cool'. Among other awesome things. (WHOOO!)

It does, it does… One of those things where you realize just how little time you have… Among other things. (Hehehehe.)

Actually, Takahashi tends to be very good about using proper physics and logic… In fact, Yugi's in the hospital the chapter after the D-D-D arc ends, and we never do find out how long it took him to get out…

Hahaha, good, I've done my job then! (-has fun making mindscrews-) As for the 'no fate', it's more like his fate is completely out of reach; the only one with access to it is (ironically) himself, given that he has a few dreams centred around what he'll eventually do anyways. But in his case, that's not something controllable, like with the Tauk. So very good and very bad is… Well, right. What does it mean?

YOU'LL FIND OUT. (Sooner or later. Before Battle City ends, guarantee it.)

And hehehe, yep! And to be specific, Seto gave Jonouchi a dope-slap… So not so much a hit as a (to quote NCIS) 'wake up call'. And it does show some sort of attachment… Kinda. (She would have done the same thing to Yugi had it not been for the fact that while Jonouchi was just sort of held in the hospital, Yugi went to ICU…)

In any case, enjoy!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Section**

The section that wonders... ...Do people like breather chapters?

* * *

Today's chapter title refers to the colour of Sakura petals; namely white. Of course, some petals are pink, but the fact is, a lot of them are a white/pale pink in colour rather than a blinding shade of pink.

In any case, it would be absolutely ridiculous to think that everyone caught the 'Peak Blossom' of the season, so a large amount of petals are already falling from the trees... Hence the rain.

_By the way, did you know that the petals fall at a rate of 5 centimeters per minute?_ (This was me, making a terrible reference to another anime. Yaaaaay~ It is true though.)

* * *

Ordinarily, the 29th is 'Shouwa Day' (Used to be called 'Greenery Day', but that was moved) in Japan, celebrating that era and the emperor of that time. So… You could compare it to Victoria Day for us Canadians! Except it's probably not… At all the same. (This is where experience overtakes research; all the guide books in the world cannot tell me what the holidays are like in Japan.)

It lands on Sunday in fanfic-land's year, but in Japan, when the holiday lands on a Sunday, they make the next day a holiday too. Isn't that nice? But since the entire week is off anyways, that won't happen this year for them. Oh well~

* * *

Hanami, or 'Flower Viewing' ('Hana' is 'Flower', 'Mi' is from 'Miru', 'To see')is a common event in Japan that more often than not occurs in late march and early April… However, It _does_ stretch right along to the end of April as well… As long as the sakura petals are still in bloom basically. (Most people go during the 'peak blossom', normally in early April.)

And yes, the event is centred around looking at the pretty pink flowering trees and having picnics under them. But the fact is, it _is_ a sight to behold… (Particularly at night, with the 'yo-zakura', or 'night sakura'.)

* * *

By the way, though 'sakura' are 'cherry blossoms', the sakura trees themselves never actually bear fruit in the 'edible cherry' sense... Well, one does but those are used in _tea_...

* * *

The reason why so many points of Yami Yugi throwing his 'two cents in' is audible to Jonouchi (If it wasn't, I wouldn't have typed it after all...) is because Yami isn't making an effort to really make what he's saying 'private'; in other words, he's treating his statements as an open source so to speak, neither targeting Jonouchi nor blocking him from the conversation... In addition, he's not specifically talking to Yugi, which basically means it's a free for all for anyone with access.

Which is really just those two, but _oh well_.

* * *

Bento, (Ben_tou_, Japanese Box-lunch in otherwords) is often times made to look as good as it is to eat… However, this is something that Kaiba likely never bothers with (At least no further than 'it looks _healthy_ and _organized_')… So Mokuba is understandably more than a little embarrassed about modelling flower shaped onigiri for Hanami. Mostly because... Well. _Flowers._ (But really, what else would you bring to _flower viewing_?)

At the same time though, despite seeing no point in that, Kaiba's not about to berate her brother for going an extra mile to make the food look cool! That's _cruel_. It's like (In 'Kaiba-speak') dinging someone for making a presentation actually look appealing! But unfortunately, the other two boys (who probably don't get those kind of lunches themselves) are a little torn about Mokuba doing something that's considered a little… 'Girly'. (Though Yami Yugi's just confused _period, _for obvious reasons.)

* * *

'Onigiri' are 'Riceballs', and are essentially rice wrapped around some sort of food... Sometimes there's seaweed wrapped around it. The rice in Japan is much stickier than most rice that we get, so it clumps together rather well... Hence the reason why you can actually eat it with chopsticks.

Interestingly enough, the ri is in hiragana, the o is an honorific, and the giri doesn't mean rice, it means bribe, grip, hold... And... 'mould sushi'. (Eh?) So confused...

* * *

Hey, you know what the best part is about having a set 'year' is? _It means I have set sunrise and sunset times as well_. And April the 29th's time is around six thirty.

_

* * *

Hey, she smiled…_ And then lost it when she realized someone was watching. You know those moments where you unconsciously smile, for no apparent reason?

Kaiba just had one. Possibly because doing work in a large airy and calm environment without being bothered by phone calls has a relaxing effect on her… See, Mokuba knows what he's doing! Just take the work out of the work! (Wait what?) In any case, as soon as she noticed that _Jonouchi_ had a weird smile on his face (he as well was 'unconsciously smiling', though for a completely different reason...), she realized fairly quickly that something was 'wrong'. Or assumed it at least. Hehehehe.

* * *

'Boys Day', or rather 'Children's Day' as it's called now is May the 5th (Oddly enough the last day of the Golden Week in Fanfic land, as that's Saturday there), and is the day where, besides celebrating children and happiness and giving a reason for the kids to have the day off and not the teens if your school is particularly mean, (FOILED!) where all those carp streamers come from; families hang out as many as there are for the boys in the house outside.

In the end, you can bet that Kaiba isn't celebrating _anyways_, so the question in the car is completely pointless… Though the fact is, lots of people put as many streamers out for the number of children in the family rather than the number of sons now.

* * *

In any case, it's important to note that while a lot of people take the entire week off, _not all of the Golden Week is a holiday_; in fact, between the 29th and the third, those days are just as special as most other days of the year… It's just that the holidays are so close together, the schools and a number of businesses shut down anyways.

Kaiba will probably keep people coming in for work on Tuesday and Wednesday, the two days without a holiday though, and even if it's a few days off for those employee's, she'll still be going in herself. Monday is off thanks to the 'sunday' rule though...

* * *

Speaking of Boys Day, a good number of you Japan-savvy people have probably noticed that there was no mention of Girls Day (March 3) _at all_. This is because a) The 'main female' in this fanfic is crossdressing and very much non-feminine in action, and b) the other 'main female' (Anzu) is a tomboy, so she's probably not going to be setting out a seven tier doll set to ward off spirits/late marriage.

And if she (Anzu) _did_, you can bet she's not going to be talking to a group of guys about it! Either way, it would be absolutely ridiculous to even bring up the subject around those two, particularly since it's not really a 'talking about what we're doing' sort of holiday in the first place.

* * *

The third of May is 'Constitution Memorial Day', and is considered a day to reflect on democracy and such, as it's in celebration of the promulgation of the 1947 Constitution of Japan.

But really, it's a holiday so… …Yea.

* * *

The same treatment goes, though _much_ more so for 'Greenery Day', on the 4th, which is _supposed_ to be an 'Earth Day' like holiday in name, but is generally just considered another day off in the week.

* * *

Due to the 'calendar' we have for the fanfic, Kaiba had that _wonderful_ dream three times in a row, each time on Friday. The first time was right after the meeting with Ishizu, the next one was obviously the week after (the 20th), and finally the version that we saw last chapter happened on the 27th… A day or so before she was dragged off for Hanami.

That flower viewing was ironically the best thing for her to have after that actually, whether she admits it or not. (More likely not.)

* * *

The 'worse' situation Kaiba references is the nightmares that plagued her after her first duel against Yugi. You know, the one that persisted _every night_ until Death-T? After which she was comatose? YEEEEAAAAAAA…

* * *

By the way, the last time Kaiba probably did anything remotely similar to Hanami was likely in the orphanage. So about six years prior. YAYYYYYYYYY~ (Oddly enough, the same could possibly apply to Jonouchi, if not for the fact that schools often partake in it since the season is so close to graduation/the end of the school year.)

**

* * *

FanArt and My Art Section**

Remove spaces, paste the link! Easy!

We've got a doodle comic for you... Yay~

Doodle Comic: May the Third – http : / / i5. photobucket. com /albums /y153 /natasha_unos_1 /YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin /DoodleWar. jpg – In which we get to see how 'May the Third' with Bakura went. I _told_ you that Bakura would regret 'playing nice'! Though be sure to keep an eye on that knife he's got... _You'll see it again_. By the way, be sure to full view this picture if you expect to read anything.

Happy New Years everyone!

And yes, I posted on Christmas Eve. Christmas Eve tends to only last a few hours in terms of the traditional 'open presents have dinner together' deal really.


	61. Chapter 60

**Tin-Can Telephones**

* * *

"Everything is clear; you may proceed to the phone room." That was what he expected to hear and did hear at the gates he was passing through that day really. The fact was, he'd have been surprised if he wasn't allowed in, despite the fact that it was only his second time coming through. Even so...

Katsuya silently nodded as he left his things at the 'front' with the police in the jailhouse, moving through the hall to the large open room with a series of glass booths. A number of cops stood in the room, ready for if anything were to happen, be it an attempt to attack, pass information... But given that there were only two other people there besides himself, the cops, and his father in that room at the moment, it was more than likely that nothing would end up occurring.

Either way, he was long overdue for a visit with it already being the end of May, which was why he was here... To at least say 'hi'. "Ahhhhh! Katsuyaaa!" The blond grinned somewhat as he picked up the phone, his father smiling widely as the teen sat down. For a guy that was stuck in a cell for most of the day, he was pretty cheery... Not that he minded really. "It's been a long time," the man said with a slight frown, "A very long time, I never got to find out if you got a woman on Christmas!"

Gh- The blond flushed, tensing. H-Hang on... How many months and that was the first thing he asked! ...Wait, he thought with a mental sigh, rubbing his head. This was his dad... Of course it was. "D-Dad," he groaned, free hand mostly serving to hold his head as he leaned on his arms. "I didn' do anythin' like that! I got 'er a present," he continued rather insistently, "An' tha's it! There w's no... 'Getting'. Nothing, alrigh'?"

"Ohhhh," the man said with a grin, leaning forward. "So you _did_ meet someone! Wonderful!" Damn it. He slipped up there. "How did she like it," his father pressed, acting somewhat like a five year old as he bounced somewhat on his seat. "What was it? Did you take my advice on the dinner?"

Aaaaaaauuughhhh... The blond sighed, sitting up again and shaking his head. "...Dad..."

"Did she give you that..?" The blond tensed, looking down at his dog-tags before hurriedly stowing them in his shirt with a red face.

"Gh-" Damn it, not again! He'd already had to make excuses for everyone else..! ...And his Dad would probably see right through that when he thought about it. "That's not the point," he shouted angrily, face going rather red.

There was a short span of silence, the man slowly chuckling as his son flustered. "Hahahahaha! Ahhh Katsuya, Katsuya," his father said with a laugh, waving the conversation away. "I'm pulling your leg, give your old man a break ah? This is the most excitement I've heard of since Christmas you know," he continued, sighing somewhat. "It's boring in here... And I still have another year to go you know, before I can get back to 'life'..."

Katsuya blinked, before nodding at that. Yea... Yea he did... As to what would even happen after that... He swallowed, shaking his head. "...Yea... Tha's righ'..." Who knew. "...Hey... How you doin' Dad," the blond asked, attempting to smile. "I know it's been a while but... You've been holdin' up righ'? Hangin' in there?"

His father shrugged, smirking. "Well, the food isn't much," he trailed off, leaning on one arm before shifting his expression to a more lecherous grin. "But you should see some of the pin-ups that my inmate has, hehehehehe..."

"Gh-" Again the blond flushed, frowning. "Dad!" It was one thing to talk about this among friends, among parents it was just weird! ...Also, didn't they sometimes record these conversations..?

"One of them looks almost like your mother at that age," the man continued, smiling as his son stared. Ah... His mom..? "When she had her hair long, and would wear it down... She cut it shortly after you were born," he said with a slight nod, chuckling, "You kept pulling at it..." He bowed his head, sighing as Katsuya continued to look at his father in silence. "I wonder what she looks like now... What Shizuka looks like... You saw them in the summer right Katsuya," he asked, swallowing. "How is she, Akie? Is she alright..? Is she looking well..?"

The blond stared, leaning forward somewhat on his arms. Hnn... Mom and Shizuka didn't want to even mention Dad... At the same time though, he had a right to know that they were at least healthy didn't he? "She's alright," he finally admitted, nodding his head with a small smile. Got a few gray hairs thanks t' Shizuka's surgery," he added with a short laugh, shaking his head, "But she's al'-"

"Surgery..?" Oh shit, he wasn't supposed to mention that..! Katsuya coughed, watching as the man behind the glass paled and swallowed before quietly repeating his words. "Shizuka had... Surgery..? But why..."

"Ah... It... It was jus' for her eyes," Katsuya said with another cough, hurriedly trying and failing to fill up the hole he was digging, "They're completely healed now! She's fine!"

"Her eyes..?" The man continued to pale, shaking his head and looking down as he wiped his brow. "I..." He swallowed, shaking himself. "I didn't know... I never knew she was having problems with her eyes... She was always so... 'Aware', always reading... I would never have thought..."

Awww man... "...Dad..." Katsuya sighed, biting his lip. Seeing his old man like this was never... ...Had they been in the apartment, there would be a case of beer in his hands by now, that was for sure. Seeing his dad like this... "Dad... It's fine alrigh'," he assured the man, swallowing. "You wouldn't 've known, it didn't happen until after th' divorce anyway... It ain't yer fault," he continued, frowning. It was no one's fault, just _please_ cheer up... "...Why don' we talk about somethin' else alrigh'," he said with a forced smile, his father nodding in response. "...Did I ever tell yah about 'duel monsters'," the blond asked, 'grinning'. "I made runner up in all Japan with that game!"

The man blinked, quickly shifting his mood over as he stared. "Ah... That card game they're talking about," he asked, again blinking with slight confusion. Katsuya nodded, grinning as his father did the same. "Ahhh! That's wonderful! Wonderful! In that case..." The man rummaged around in his pocket, before holding a card to the glass. "Ta-daaaaah~ Happy Late Birthday Katsuya~"

"A-" He blinked, looking at the glass. "... A card?" Katsuya stared, before shaking himself. "Dad, how did you get a card in here... ...Wait," he corrected, frowning, "Where did you even get a duel monster's card..."

His father merely continued to grin, laughing as he held the card. "Hahaha... That inmate I mentioned thought I should have a Christmas present... They let him bring his deck in when he came in," he continued, "But in the end, I don't play so..." The man trailed off, shaking his head and shrugging. "So I think you should have this ah," he stated, tossing it over the side of the glass. "Could be useful right?"

Katsuya fumbled somewhat as he caught it, hurriedly looking back as one of the policemen raised their eyebrows. A-Ahahaha... Nothing bad going on here... Well, they were giving him the shrug so... He looked over the card, blinking. Huh... This was a pretty shiny version of a card, that was for sure... "Panther Warrior..." Hoh... He continued to look it over, blinking. This looked like a pretty good card! The blond grinned, looking back at his dad. "Heh... Thanks!"

"Ohh, it's nothing!" The man waved it off, shaking his head. "But Katsuya," he continued, frowning as he looked up at the clock. "Visiting time isn't that long, you should-"

"Get ready t' go, I know," Katsuya said, nodding as he smiled. "I'll make sure t' tell Shizuka an' Mom you said 'Hi' by th' way... An' that they 'look like each other' or somethin' like that..." Whatever one of those his dad had been going on about. He shook his head, before frowning. Wait, _was_ his dad going on about that...

Another nod, the man smiling brightly and apparently missing the frown on his son's face. "Thank you... Thank you," he repeated, smiling. "Ah... Before you go," he said somewhat hurriedly, pointing toward his son before the blond could hang up, "I have to tell you, about that 'pin up'... I was just joking around it's-"

"Not a pin-up," Katsuya said, cutting in, "It's a picture 'f th' guy's wife from college... I kn-" The blond froze, paling as he realized what he was saying. ...Wait.

How... How did he know that? Katsuya's father stared, blinking a few times. "You took the words right out of my mouth," he muttered, staring and shaking his head. "How did you know it was..." The blond swallowed, paling as his father frowned for a few moments before grinning. "Hahahahaha... Aahhhh, great minds think alike hnnn?" He continued to laugh, Katsuya doing the same at a much more uneasy level.

Err... "Hah... Yea! S-Somethin' like that," he muttered, coughing. "Eh... S-See yah dad," he said quickly, his father muttering the same as the phones were hung up. "Bye..."

Sometimes, he told himself with shaking breaths, he really hated this weird 'flash forward' thing. It was finding an awful lot of new ways to bug him.

* * *

Though if there was one thing he could count on, it was forgetting about all of that in lieu of the pool opening up for the summer at school. Particularly since that same pool was one of the few that was open on the weekends. So of course, what else was he going to do with a sunday afternoon off besides take advantage of that? "ALRIGH'," the blond shouted, charging down the pool deck toward the deep end. "CANNON BALL!"

"AAACK! JONOUCHI," Honda roared, ducking as his friend landed a few centimetres away from him. "WATCH IT!"

Mokuba as well ducked away, only a short distance further away from the two. "K-KATSUYA-NII!"

Water was _everywhere_ with the first 'pool weekend' of the year, the first week of June having flown by almost as quickly as the entire month of May had. Heck, anything between that moment and the Golden Week was pretty much done with in a single moment. Thinking of the Golden Week though... When he thought about it, Yugi never _did_ tell them what happened on the third... But given that even his 'other' was relatively alright the next time he saw him, he'd assumed it was nothing too serious.

Though the fact that neither of them said _anything_ kinda felt weird... Especially since Bakura didn't say anything either... The blond shook it off, swimming to the surface of the pool and shaking the hair out of his eyes. Less thinking more swimming; didn't he run this through his head the first day back in school at the end of the week anyways? He wiped a bit of water from his eyes, turning as Mokuba coughed somewhat from the side. "Gh- Katsuya-nii," the boy grumbled, his friend merely smiling somewhat sheepishly. "Watch where you're jumping!"

"Ahahaha..." Katsuya coughed, shrugging. "Sorry abou' that Mokuba..." Not to say that wasn't fun anyways though.

The boy shrugged, pulling himself out to sit on the side of the pool before shaking his hair semi-dry. "It's alright... I can deal with it," he added with a grin, Katsuya frowning. Wait a second...

He knew that look... "O-Oi," he muttered, Honda as well turning while Mokuba grinned, "What 're you up to..?"

The boy at the side merely continued to grin, shaking his head as he went to grab his towel from the side. "Nothing~ Nothing at all," he continued, pulling the towel around his shoulders as he sat on the side.

Honda narrowed his eyes, swimming over to the edge and leaning over. "My nephew lies better than you," he muttered, gaining a somewhat unimpressed look from the boy

"That's because I'm not trying."

"Yeaaaaa," Katsuya muttered, swimming over to the edge himself. "We kinda guessed..."

"Hi everyone!" The others turned, blinking as Yugi walked over alongside Anzu. Yugi of course was in swim shorts, like everyone else... Anzu however was wearing a bikini that had Yugi flushing a beet red everytime he looked to the right of him. Anzu continued to wave somewhat, smiling. "We aren't too late are we?" Nope... Nope... The boys stared somewhat, watching as the two dropped their towels at the side as they shook their heads.

"Naw, you're good... Pools open another hour 'r so," Katsuya said with a shrug, before pulling himself out of the pool to sit. "Hey Yugi," he added, grinning as the boy gave a 'hey!' in response.

"Nice timing you two," Honda added, coming out to sit as well. "Right when we're trying to squeeze information out of this guy..."

The others turned to Mokuba at that, staring as the boy frowned and remained silent. "...Wait... Hang on," he muttered, the four having only a slight idea as to what the boy was talking about. "What..."

The others blinked as Mokuba frowned, the boy running over to stand next to Yugi a moment. Kay... What was he- Honda and Katsuya both blinked as they looked carefully at the two, grins slowly coming over their faces. OhHOH! Granted, Yugi was probably more in an awkward place than a 'triumphant' one for the moment, given his expression. "Erm... Mokuba... What are you doing..."

The boy continued to frown, slowly bringing his hand up and moving it from his head toward Yugi's. Where it stopped at the boy's nose. A fact that very quickly had Mokuba bringing his hand back and gaping. "You... You're taller than me!"

Yugi blinked, nodding slowly as the others stiffled grins at the fact. Now this was interesting... Recently, Mokuba had been staying at his school during lunches to help with his upcoming school festival... Conveniently enough though, that was about when Yugi managed to shoot up about ten centimetres in a few weeks. Which surprised most of them to say the least. But he hadn't really thought about what would happen when the two saw each other again...

Of course... Since Mokuba had only been say... A centimetre or so taller before that point... Katsuya grinned, continuing to watch. This was probably the most amusing thing to happen for a while. A _long_ while. Mokuba looked at the others somewhat incredulously, pointing back at Yugi and ignoring the teen's slight discomfort. "When did this even happen," he 'asked', eyes still wide with surprise.

"Um... Over the last few weeks," Yugi answered, coughing. "...I was surprised too but... It's... It's not really that much," he muttered, rubbing his head as Mokuba continued to stare.

Katsuya shook his head, laughing. Ahhhh... This was great... This was- "Hey, where's Bakura," he asked, frowning. "I thought he was coming..." He knew that Otogi was dealing with his Dad, since the guy was getting discharged soon... But Bakura didn't say anything about any recent 'problems'...

Yugi shook his head, shrugging at the question. "He couldn't come," he explained, fingering his puzzle. "Apparently something went wrong with his computer, so he had to take it in to get it repaired."

"Ah, really," Mokuba asked, blinking. Yugi nodded, the boy beside him shaking his head in response. "I could have done it for him I bet..." Little late for that though, so whatever really... "Alright then... In any case," he continued with a smirk, crossing his arms and gaining a fairly competitive look, "Sooner or later, I'm going catch up to you again, got it? You won't be taller for long!"

Yugi laughed, shaking his head. "Hahaha, alright..." Honestly, that was probably very likely thinking about the size of Yugi's dad compared to the size of Mokuba's sister...

"Ah, that reminds me," the boy added, moving to grab his bag from the side to pull something out. The others turned, watching as he rooted around in it for a few moments "Rebecca sent me an e-mail earlier today- she's graduating this month," he continued, looking up briefly, "And she wanted to ask everyone their opinion on something..."

Eh..? Katsuya blinked, standing up and walking over as the others moved toward Mokuba as well. "Rebecca," he asked, frowning somewhat. They hadn't heard anything from her for a while really... Heck, besides the occasional comment from Mokuba's e-mails, they hadn't heard anything since March...

Mokuba nodded, smiling before looking back in the bag. "Yep; mostly," he explained with a shrug, "I just get e-mails about her classes and what makes them 'boring'..." Something only Rebecca could possibly get away with saying given her age and what her classes were... "Sometimes we talk about Duel Monsters too," he added rather plainly, "But since I don't play, we don't really talk about much there..." He laughed, before holding out a picture and smirking. "Anyways-"

"Wait..." The others turned, blinking as Katsuya frowned. "Doesn't the summer start in July," he asked, shaking his head. He got that the states started the school year in September but...

Anzu shook her head, frowning. "That's for Japan Jonouchi, the US ends their year and starts summer in June... "

...Right. "Oh..."

Again Mokuba shook his head, the others turning to look at the picture he was holding as the boy coughed. It was obviously of Rebecca but... "Wow," Honda muttered, blinking a few times as he looked at it. "She's _really_ dressed up..."

The others nodded, Anzu blinking a few times. "She looks about two years older in that dress..."

"Yea... Ah, anyways!" The boy shook himself, before explaining. "Rebecca said that her 'Prom' is coming," he stated, looking back at the picture. "Apparently, there's more of a party and dance for graduation over there than a ceremony... And... She wanted to know if she looked good?" He shrugged, the others raising their eyebrows at the statement as he looked at them. "I told her she looked fine," he said with a frown, "But she kept asking about Yugi's opinion..."

...Awww shit, please tell him that didn't mean- At that, Anzu frowned, crossing her arms while Katsuya shook his head. "She remembers how old we are _right_," she asked somewhat dangerously, Yugi coughing fairly awkwardly.

"A-Anzu," he said nervously, flushing somewhat, "It's fine... Really..." Shit. It did mean that.

Oh boy, this was a fight he wouldn't want to see... "Er..." Mokuba put the picture back in the bag, staring. "So I'll tell her you agreed then?"

Yugi merely nodded, rubbing his head as Anzu looked at the boy somewhat oddly. A look that had the 'Other' Yugi materialize at the side, biting his lip.

'_Oooooh dear..._'

Katsuya coughed, a muttered 'not now' under his breath as both he and Yugi looked at the boy's 'other' for a brief moment. Not good... Ahhh... "H-hah... Hey," the blond shouted, laughing somewhat, "Aren't we s'pposed t' be swimmin' righ' now?"

The others turned, Mokuba tossing his bag to the side before sitting on the chair at the side. "That's why _I_ came," he said with a shrug, frowning somewhat. The expression quickly fell however, the boy blinking a few times before turning to the group. "Ah... But before that..."

Yugi turned from where he'd been about to hop in the pool as his 'other' vanished, the rest of his friends staring as well. "Er... What is it?"

The boy quickly grinned, an odd look on his face as he leaned back on his seat. "I found out what Nii-sama's working on..."

"AH-" Katsuya grinned, moving from where he'd been heading to the pools edge as the expression grew. "Really," he asked, blinking a bit of remaining water from his eyes. "What is it?"

Mokuba continued to grin, saying nothing for a few moments as he shook his head. "Not telling~"

Whaaaat? "S-Seriously," he muttered, frowning somewhat. "Are you serious..!"

Yugi blinked, his own expression mirroring that of the blonds. "Why not..?"

The boy shrugged, shaking his head as his grin was momentarily replaced with a frown. "Sorry... I _would_ say something," he continued, trailing off for a moment, "But every time I think of one way to say it..." He laughed, flushing with excitement as he shook his head again. "It's _big" _he said with a grin, eyes wide. "That's all I can say about it, it's so incredibly _huge_..!"

Well that didn't tell them a damn thing!

"It has to do with the duel disks though," he continued, Yugi and Katsuya both turning at that as their fallen grins began to return.

"The duel disks," Yugi repeated, Anzu and Honda shaking their heads at the mention of yet another duel-monster's related subject. "You mean Kaiba-san finished..."

Mokuba again nodded, smirking as he explained. "Right! Nii-sama just needs to work out a few more kinks in the system and it's ready to go!"

Alright! Katsuya grinned, pumping a fist as Yugi stared off somewhat. "HAHA! I can't wait," he cheered, the boys friends once again shaking their heads. "I'll finally get t' see what th' hell s..." Someday he would _stop_ tripping over that... "What he's workin' on!"

"I wonder how the game will work on the new systems," Yugi muttered, still staring off as he held his puzzle.

"Aaaaaaauuugh, talk about something other than card games," Honda groaned, falling back in the pool from the edge to float on his back. The others turned, watching as the teen moved out a few feet from the pool's edge and continued. "I mean come on! What happened to talking about arcade games... And _swimming_," he added with a splash, the others ducking under the oddly large wave of water that headed their way.

Dodging however, did nothing for those by the edge, Katsuya quickly sputtering and spitting out a mouthful of water before turning on the teen. "Gh! HONDA!" Another loud splash came through the air, Honda laughing as he ducked a swipe from his friend.

"Alright," he said with a grin, swimming away from the blond with a laugh. "Now that's more like it!"

More like what! "Get over here!"

"Hey," Honda continued as he dodged another swipe, "You're supposed to close your eyes and yell 'Marco'!"

"I'LL SHOW YOU 'MARCO'!"

As to when everyone else started playing along, he had no idea, but he'd managed to make sure that Honda was 'it' ('_OW! I'm joking around you ass!_') before wondering what it was about Mokuba's 'secret' that was so 'big'. As to when he'd find out the answer to that...

Who knew in the end.

* * *

One thing was for certain though; Mokuba's definition of 'big' was far from appropriate. Mammoth would probably be closer. Or maybe 'titanic'. Or perhaps... 'Planetary'? '_All encompassing_'? Well... Maybe that one was _too_ big, given the size of the room that the 'secret' was revealed in.

Either way, there was no surprise that the 'secret' was one that Seto wanted kept quiet... Particularly after what happened concerning it. The 'Research and Development' branch of KaibaCorp had undergone many changes in the past few years, compared to the number that it had been in existence. In the past, it was mostly a somewhat large room filled with computers and varied devices to develop and test, at a small scale, advanced weaponry. Other rooms beside it were used to test more 'full scale' versions, and when things got too big... Well, that was what the ocean space that KaibaCorp owned was for. After Seto had taken over however, the room was completely remodelled, along with the rest of the company.

Initially, it was just computers as before, devices for which to develop and test the various game software that the company would now focus on. Rooms formerly intended to literally drop a bomb within were reformed for the numerous ideas she'd been building over the years, from virtual reality to amusement park models... After her first 'game' against Yugi, the game that 'wasn't a game' thinking back, it had turned its focus completely to holographic software... Most other things had been set to the side, with all other challenges more or less 'rushed' in comparison. The fact was, she wouldn't doubt it if she'd been compared to a 'man possessed' at the time.

But now the 'rush' was a little less 'pressed'. Things could flow properly, thoughts were cleared, along with a majority of the cluttered cables remaining from those days. In addition to that, a large portion of the room had been rendered empty of all desks and furniture, remodelled for what she was testing just right now. Namely the duel disk... 'Version 2'... The device that was held somewhat tightly on her side and more or less built into the device standing a fair distance away from her.

And in addition to that, once the system was ready and the card was re-logged into the database online, her god card would be put to the test as well. For the moment however... She was waiting for that to finish. She was probably clearly impatient about that given the rushing her employees were doing in the 'control room', 'safe room' as it was called at the side, but for the most part it wasn't enough to warrant too much annoyance. At least not visibly, given that her expression wasn't showing any more aggravation than her standard, 'default' level.

Though if there was anything helping to keep her mood down, this coat certainly helped... It was a nice coat really... But back to business now. The woman let out a somewhat impatient sigh, clicking the new proto-type duel disk on her arm. If this test went well then all they would need to focus on for the next bit was production and logging all existing cards into the new system, recently released cards included.

Because hey, _that would be fun_. (Good thing she wasn't doing it all...) At least all of the monsters could essentially be grouped into certain animation s-

"_Seto-sama,"_ a voice called, the woman's eyes not even moving as one of the men on the development team spoke through the intercom. Ah, took long enough... ...Though it _was_ Saturday she supposed. "_The main system has been activated,_" the voice continued, Seto nodding her head slightly in response. Good.

"_Nii-sama," _Mokuba continued, taking the mike from the man beside him and looking through the glass at his sister. "_We're ready over here; we can start the test as soon as you want," _he added with a grin, a thumbs up slightly visible from the corner of her eye._ "Just give the word and we'll start!_"

Alright then... Another nod, and her deck was loaded into the device. The final test! The woman held her disk forward as the mechanized 'duelist' across from her began to whirr and click into motion. Her deck was being shuffled... As was her 'opponents'. As for the disk itself, the woman watched as it was activated with a single motion, clicking and unfolding together into a long blade-like form. Initial assembly worked well enough of course, followed by the small sealers jumping out from the sides, latching on about fifteen feet feet from either side of her. These holograms would dwarf the 'table' versions completely... The sealer's range created an 'arena' of almost twenty feet in either direction, the height somewhat larger in limit.

Heh... She smirked, drawing her hand as the counter on her disk flashed. Soon... Very soon the woman told herself, and she would face her rival with this device... Monsters of 'life sized scale' would clash, and this time she would win! That tablet... The woman frowned as it came back to mind, immense stone carving practically replacing her vision for a few moments before it was mentally shaken out of view. Who cared if it was real or not she told herself, grinding her teeth as the 'robot' across her drew its hand of cards. Old stones and carvings, ancient relics of the past...

This... This was _her_ time, she told herself with a mental growl, her era! And the only thing that she was interested in was the one in front of her, the one who _would_ be in front of her... So what was the 'Other Yugi', she briefly wondered, frown fading. Some embodiment of an ancient grudge? A spirit that sought lost 'honor' from the past? Seto snorted quietly, looking over her hand. Heh... Well... Regardless of what he _was,_ she would win the next time they fought!

And that glory would be taken to the future...

Lights flashing from the machine across from her took her attention back into the duel. Tactics set to maximum... Her own deck loaded in there... Her dragons would be fighting against her this time, but _only_ this time Seto thought to herself. So... How would a 'God' fare, against the perfect monster? "Let's go," the woman shouted, narrowing her eyes as the systems were made completely ready. "Duel start!"

The computerized duelist across from her 'blinked', lights flashing as cards were 'placed' on the disk it held. With Seto's words it had 'come to its senses', 'eyes' spinning as the lenses looked over the cards. "MACHINE'S TURN," it stated monotonously, voice echoing around the large and almost hangar sized room. "SET CARD IN ATTACK MODE... BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON." From the holographic sealers at the sides white scales instantly shimmered into existence, a petrifying roar coming through the air. Wings beat at the air, a wind almost coming from the beast as a result while Seto momentarily narrowed her eyes.

Well... _That_ was certainly quick... "_It... It summoned Blue-Eyes already,_" Mokuba was shouting, older sister momentarily looking toward the glass 'safe room' that the boy and developers both were sitting in. "_N-Nii-sama,_" he shouted, expression set with worry,_ "Be careful!_"

The woman snorted quietly, mentally shaking her head. Hn! Of course she would be careful! It was using the deck she'd spent years developing, even she knew that wouldn't be going down easily! "I'm fine," Seto shouted, looking over her hand. She was fine... Not much she could try using what she had in her hand right now but... Hnnn... She drew her next card, frowning before placing it on the disk. "I play Invitation to a Dark Sleep, defense mode," she announced, narrowing her eyes as the fully cloaked wizard appeared on the field, cross-legged above the ground. Well, when there wasn't much to do... She took another from her hand, slipping it into the trap/spell card slot. "I also set another card face down... End turn!"

The computer bleeped, lenses honing in on the monster and card across from it a few times. "THREAT ASSESSED," it stated clearly, opponent snorting. Hah! If it could be called that... "MACHINE'S TURN. SUMMON LORD OF DRAGON." Hn..? Seto frowned, watching as the dragon-themed warrior appeared on the field to stand at attention. One second... Two... Three...

Seto frowned, staring. Turn over... It didn't attack with Blue-Eyes. The woman glanced at her face down card, expression blank as she mentally snorted. Huh... The computer was playing cautiously...

Her turn then. So long as 'Lord of D' was on the field, nothing would affect dragon monsters... No spells, traps, monster effects... She would have to count on Obelisk then, if she was going to get anywhere near Blue-Eyes... Hn!

As if she'd expected anything else! If Blue-Eyes had attacked though, she thought with a growl, it would have made things _much_ easier... And had 'Lord of D.' not been summoned her monster would have rendered Blue-Eyes 'asleep'... Unable to attack, unable to change position... "Tch." Fine then! There was no use in complaining about what could have and didn't happen! The next draw then, she told herself, before frowning as she looked over the card. Tch... ...Nothing. "Hn... Steel Ogre Grotto," she called out, the decent sized ogre appearing beside her wizard at a crouch. "Defense mode!" Defense, defense, defense... She frowned, holding a relatively neutral frown in place. So much for getting the first hit in right off the bat...

The computer across from her showed no response, merely whirring as a new card appeared in its hand. "MACHINE'S TURN." Yes, she _knew_. "ACTIVATE SPELL- FLUTE OF DRAGON SUMMONING." Gh-! Seto tensed, eyes widening as the flute appeared in the Lord of Dragon's hand. Oh shit... Not this combo. "SUMMON TWO DRAGONS FROM HAND," the computer announced, a loud 'trumpet' coming out from the flute before it vanished from the field. "BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON... BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON..." Ear-splitting roars filled the room as the first dragon was flanked by two others, wings held at their sides lest the beasts fill their entire side of the field.

Three Blue-Eyes White Dragons... The woman swallowed, eyes widening for a moment as she looked at the beasts. All three of her perfect dragons staring her down right at this moment... Staring with eyes that almost appeared real, more so than even the holograms had been able to replicate with any other monster. It was enough to unnerve even her to say the least, almost as much as against...

_..._As against _him_. Seto steeled herself, hand moving toward her deck as she narrowed her eyes. Yugi... When she fought against him with the three dragons at her side he faced them without fear... When she faced him with the ultimate combination of the trio, the Ultimate Dragon, he again faced it without fear. Complete and total faith in his strategies, in his cards... The woman bit her lip, narrowing her eyes somewhat more and staring at her deck. He took each challenge with courage... And won, each and every time. He'd cast his fear aside...

Mankind's greatest enemy, nothing less than the monster called 'fear' inside their own hearts... Not an easy thing to abandon. Seto swallowed, taking in a deep breath as she drew her card and looked it over. Tch... This one wasn't it... But she still had her face down. She still had a chance... The rules the disks were playing by were 'traditional', no tributes to summon, and only one target for an entire attack... There was still a fair shot, _if_ she made that draw. "End turn," she stated clearly, watching the robot ahead of her whirr and click as it made its move. Now then...

"MACHINE'S TURN," the device called clearly, the dragons before it roaring angrily. "INITIATE ATTACK PHASE; BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGONS ALL ATTACK." Another series of growls filled the air, a 'wind' created by the force. Across from her the beams that they would fire were charging, growing, merging in the middle of the field... And stone was filling her vision... Tch! Again the woman shook herself, eyes clearing. The past was useless. Fear was useless. She would win... The future was hers to decide on, and she would win the next time she faced him..!

"Activate the trap," Seto shouted, "Negate Attack!" In an instant the holographic card flipped over, card's image facing the attack to reveal a series of spiralling vortexes to swallow the blast. Only seconds later the field was 'clear', three dragons still angrily hissing from across from her. "Now it's my turn," she continued, looking to her deck. This card... She would bet everything on this card..! She ...The woman looked it over only briefly after drawing it, nodding to herself. Hnhnhnhnhn... And there it was... "God Soldier of the Obelisk," she shouted as she set the card, the hologram coming to life as an ominous and groaning roar came from behind her. A gust of wind seemed to blast from behind the woman, and a mere glance upward from the corner of her eye told her that she had barely contained the hologram in the limit of the room. Standing... No, merely _kneeling_ it 'brushed' the edges of the ceiling, eyeless sockets staring forward in a permanent scowl. It was huge... It was powerful...

And it was more than she had even expected, despite the hologram's programming supposedly being limited to the size of 'Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon'. "Hn!" The woman smirked, crossing her arms as she stared across the field. "I sacrifice the two monsters I have on the field," Seto shouted, ignoring the calls from inside the 'safe room' as worried cries about 'overloading' came through, "Activating Obelisk's effect... He takes their power and adds it to his own," she stated, the 'God' behind her moving to an awkward attack position from his kneeling pose. "Now! OBELISK," the woman ordered, pointing toward the computer as a command entered her mind. "ATTACK! _**GOD HAND CRUSHER**_!"

Within an instant the dragons were subject to its destruction, Obelisk merely swinging his fist toward the beasts before they vanished into dust. The Lord of Dragon's as well vanished from sight completely, the lifepoints for the computer system falling and dropping in mere seconds. Sparks began to emit from the device, lights flashing erratically... "_The main computer's going haywire,_" the developers in the control room were shouting, Seto merely crossing her arms and watching the machine destroy itself. "_The machine can't handle this kind of calculation,"_ they wailed,_ "It's burning up!_" So they'd have to fix it then... She had her information, it was no probl-

"_THIS IS SO **AWESOME**!_" And that would be Mokuba...

Seto grinned darkly as she continued to watch the machine spark and crack before her, chuckling as the hologram of Obelisk knelt beneath the room's ceiling behind her. Only two cards left... Only two, she told herself as the holograms completely dissipated, the systems turning off. And if this was the power of the first, than the possibilities of what could happen with all _three_... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." No matter what... No matter what stood in her way she would find those cards and make them hers! And when that happened... When that day came...

She would face Yugi again, becoming the 'King of Games' herself!

* * *

"_Kaiba-sama,_" a calm voice stated from the phone, Seto looking to it as she tapped the 'speaker' button. "Y_ou have a call from Mayor Yuta-san_."

It wasn't everyday that the secretary patched a call through with those words, to say the least. Though given that for the past week and a half, Seto had been pushing to gain _one day_ of the roads being closed off in the entirety of the Domino district, it was likely a matter of time before the person in control of this actually made contact with something other than paper. And what timing she apparently had, given that it had only been a few weeks. "Patch her through," Seto stated calmly, leaning back on her chair with the phone by her ear.

"_Of course_." There was a short click, the voice quickly replaced by that of the current mayor for the district.

"_Kaiba-san,_" the woman asked, voice just slightly laced with hesitation.

Seto nodded shortly, crossing her legs as she held the phone. "That is correct," she stated, eyes drifting over her recent e-mail from the construction team in the US. Hnn, KaibaLand-US was coming along nicely... "May I ask why you are calling 'Yuta-san'," the woman asked, continuing to skim the mail for a moment before turning her full attention to the Mayor.

There was a short span of silence, the woman on the other end coming to her reason for calling fairly quickly now that she was speaking to her 'targeted audience'. "_I'm calling concerning your request to close off all streets within the Domino district from any form of motor traffic for one single day,_" she explained clearly,_ "For the use of a city wide tournament. After examining the matter further,_" the woman continued, Seto briefly raising her eyebrows,_ "Both the committee and myself are considering the approval of this request, with one condition._"

One condition... "Of course," Seto stated calmly, again nodding despite there being no one in the room. Well if that was all... "...Continue."

"_We request that you abstain from holding this 'tournament' of yours until after Marine Day, on the 17th of July, so as to prevent any schools in the area from being disrupted by this event._" July... Seto stared at her desk for a moment, briefly looking over the calendar. "_Is this acceptable, Kaiba-san?_"

So then within the first week of the summer holidays, if she expected to keep anything else on track... Hn! This simply made things easier, most of the high ranking duelists in Japan were of High-school and Middle-school level! "Very," Seto stated calmly, smirking as the plan formulated in her mind. "As a matter of fact, this is perfect..." Alright... After Marine Day, so... "In that case," Seto decided, closing her eyes for a moment, "If I could request the complete shut down of motor traffic on the 19th of July for a full twenty four hours starting from six PM the day prior until the same time on the 19th..."

There was a short pause, before Yuta again spoke. "_That is acceptable,_" she said somewhat plainly, likely nodding on the other end._ "I will present this to the rest of the committee, but you can consider it done._" Good._ "I hope your competition is successful, Kaiba-san... Goodbye._"

"Good-bye," the woman repeated, listening as the line went dead. Slowly she placed the phone back on the hook, leaning back in her seat as a small grin came into place. The date was set... Time to send out the 'notice'...

...And make a single phone call...

* * *

It was, rather it would be, nine o'clock at night would be when she got the call. As she had foreseen days before, and again just moments ago.

The date was, would be, June the 18th when it happened. Also as she had foreseen. There was very little that could be kept hidden from her to put it frankly it would seem. Besides only two people so far, one of which had no reasoning behind it, all 'minds' were left open to her, if she could call it such a thing. It made it difficult not to finish people's sentences for them, for the sake of keeping herself from suffering from constant repetition really. And it made her miss the times when things were simple...

When she lived with her family beneath the cold ground, away from the harsh sun of the Egyptian desert... Taking part in ancient rites that were lost to time, so much so that there were literally moments when she wanted to rip her hair out and correct archaeological guesses made about various traditions from the past. She missed those days... When she was younger, with her older 'brother' Rishid, and her younger brother... The days before her younger brother had...

The woman winced at the thought of the 'boy', now a teen she reminded herself, hand flying to her tauk almost subconsciously. Slowly her fingers brushed against the cold gold, the woman taking a deep breath in an attempt to calm herself. "...Malik..." She bit her lip, shaking her head. After that... After _that _day... That was when she took up the tauk as her own. When it's 'gift' of prophecy took hold. Where it more or less started... It started small... Dreams where she would enact entire days before they happened, mixed in with the same bizarreness of 'true dreams'. Then there were the 'flashes', along with small lines of dialogue from these same 'true dreams' that would reappear in an alternate situation. And following that, flashes of reality... Flashes of other people when contact was made, telling her what would happen...

Until finally she realized what the tauk needed of her, after placing her hand on the tablet her family had guarded for so long. Taking it's gift completely... And accepting it. She moved her hand to the side,t he phone ringing right on 'cue' beside her hotel bed as she grabbed it. "..._Moshi moshi,_" she said calmly, head bowed somewhat as she stood from the side of the bed.

"_Ishizu,_" a familiar voice stated, again as predicted. Such an aggravated tone, albeit well hidden... And as for the message... "_You'll be happy to know that-_"

"That the tournament will proceed as planned," she stated, not bothering to hold her tongue, "With the city closed down for a full twenty four hours starting at six PM in exactly one month's time... In addition," she continued, pulling the curtains from the window back and looking out at the clouded night sky, "The preliminary rounds will end with the city's re-opening, with final rounds held in a separate location."

There was silence on the other end, the young man likely growling in aggravation from his office at that moment. "_That's correct,_" Seto stated, Ishizu's expression remaining completely calm. She knew that this man was annoyed... Very annoyed... She could never see too far into the future concerning most facts about people though, so this was all she knew... That and when the call would end. But in all honesty, the tauk was not needed to discern this annoyance. "_Though I'm beginning to wonder why I even bother speaking to you, given that you clearly know so much,_" the man spat, Ishizu sighing and shaking her head from the other end. While it was 'nice' to be able to finish the sentences to get them out of the way... There was always this. "_Keep an eye on the news feeds,_" Seto continued, tone dark as the woman he was speaking to stared through the window. "_You'll find out when I get the other two god cards faster that way._"

Somehow she doubted this... Both concerning the news and the tournament itself. Nonetheless... "Of course," she stated, continuing to stare through the window as the moonlight peeked through the clouds. "Though I doubt this will be the last time we see each other," she continued, closing her eyes before turning back to the room.

Three... Two... One... "_...Good bye Ishizu,_" Seto said bluntly. With a single click Ishizu was left with a dial tone, the woman turning the phone off and taking a seat in the chair by the window.

"Hah..." Things used to be so much easier, she Back then... The woman bowed her head, shaking somewhat as the phone slipped from her fingers to fall to the ground. When there was nothing but the world below and the moonlight from the wellspring and ceremony room's open and gaping cavern mouth... Their former sole tie to the modern world, the outside world. That room where they would secretly play... It was so much easier...

But fate...

Was never unavoidable...

Or was it, she thought with a jolt, staring at the wall in her room. That blond, she reminded herself with a frown, the one who had acted as Seto's second guard... She'd attempted to glean his soon to come future as she passed, both times in fact after the first 'shot' had failed, but for some reason... For some bizarre reason that was completely beyond her there was...

Nothing. Nothing but darkness, nothing but a 'void', and emptiness, as though he was either guarded or completely immune to what fate decided. It wasn't even like the nameless king, the Pharaoh, whose past was simply devoid of reference to name, whose future was 'vague', but at least _there_...

But he was just one single exception among millions, Ishizu reminded herself, again rubbing her tauk. One single exception...

And she was not him. Which left her own fate quite real, and more than open to the tauk's eye...

More than... ...

...She could remember watching as her father beat Rishid that day, quite clearly despite her desire to forget it... Watching her brother take the Millennium Rod from the side, while she stood frozen in the hall... Watching as he ran his finger across the razor sharp edge, his hair standing on end... She could remember shutting her eyes, trying to drown out the sight and screams, opening her eyes only to see Rishid holding the boy away from the sight of _him_... Of their father... She could remember Rishid holding Malik away from the bloodied corpse at the side where the blood stained the wall in a single wide line, the _patch of skin_ that sat behind Rishid's own bloody back, the entirety of the initiation carving staring up at the ceiling in the torch light... And not all the blood on Rishid's back was his...

Not all of it...

They were free after that. True, Malik was traumatized, clinging to the rod as though it were a security blanket as she and Rishid kept their father's death, the source, hidden from him... But they were free to leave the tombs... Free to explore the world... And to be taken hold of by the modern world, taken in by the government of the country they were in... And times had changed since Ancient Egypt, since the laws of the world that they were raised in. Times had changed... Cities filled with buildings and devices that seemed impossible were what met their eyes. And when it looked as though Rishid and herself would be unable to look after Malik... When it looked like all three of them would be separated, due to the lack of knowledge any of them had in the matters of the real world...

It suddenly appeared that the two had vanished completely, leaving her alone. Both of them... Her brothers... Her family...

Gone within a single night as she was pulled away, tauk around her neck...

And then when she had finally settled in, caught up with the ways of the world the Ghouls had appeared... And her necklace granted her one wish, her _one wish, _just to see them again... To see them just once...

And they were wearing black cloaks with the eye of wdjat drawn across the hood... Her little brother sitting on a 'throne', the Millennium Rod in hand...

Whispering... Whispering...

'_You're next, Sister._'

"Gh... N..." Tears slowly trailed the sides of her face, smudging the mascara she'd taken to wearing in the recent times. Why... Why... _WHY_... "Nhn... ..._Malik_..."

* * *

"_Nihan,_" someone asked for the third time during that phone call._ "Are you alright_?"

Katsuya shook his head as he leaned back in the 'breakfast room' against the wall, groaning. Besides the fact that he'd had enough of this conversation given that he could do nothing about it? Yeaaa... "'M fine Shizuka," he muttered, shaking his head and frowning. "Jus'... Aaaagh..." He continued to shake himself, looking at the phone for a moment as though his expression would be seen on the other end. "Let's talk about somethin' other than 'Keiichi', alrigh'?"

His sister was likely shrugging at that request, but thankfully she was doing just that... Personally, he'd had enough of the boy he had yet to meet, despite all mentions of 'oh, we're just friends.'. "_Alright_," she said, before continuing. "_I'll talk about something else then... How is school for you Nihan,_" she asked, her brother coughing. D-Damn it, that wasn't what he was hoping for..! "_Mom says your grades are low..._" Ehhhhhhh... That tone was getting dangerous..._ "You're studying for the exams though right_..?" There was a pause, and the girl continued. "_RIGHT.._?"

He continued to cough, going somewhat red as he leaned over the counter he was sitting at. "Ahhhh... C-C'mon Shizuka," he protested, scratching his head, "Exams aren't for another week at least..!"

Evidentally, this wasn't enough for his sister. At all. "_Nihan_," she growled, brother coughing on the other end once more. D-Damn it, nice one minute, and suddenly... "_You need to start as soon as possible to get good grades,_" she muttered, her brother continuing to choke on his words He'd do it, he would..! "_Honestly,"_ the girl continued, likely rolling her eyes. "_You can be such an ahou sometimes... You're even worse than Keichi-kun! At least he still gets good marks!_" _Him_ again? Katsuya quickly stopped coughing, instead glaring at the phone. "_I don't know how he does it,_" Shizuka rambled on, muttering off._ "Wasting all that time in class playing duel monsters... And he still_-"

Auuuughh topic change, _NOW_. Please... "Hey, Shizuka... Speakin' of school," he said somewhat sarcastically, "How're _you_ doin' for studying?" Since she was so certain that studying needed to happen right now...

There was a slight pause, the girl on the other end apparently caught off guard by the question.

Errr... ...Please tell him that wasn't bad... "...Shizuka?"

"_Ah... Sorry,"_ she said quickly, laughing on the other end._ "I got distracted_!" Ah, okay then... "_And I'm fine! Unlike you,"_ the girl continued rather bluntly,_ "I'm passing with full marks in my classes nihan... So catch up_!" Awwww, come on, it wasn't _that_ bad... "_Trust me,"_ Shizuka continued, tone softening,_ "I'm perfectly fine... The bandages came off, and everything's fixed! Nothing's wrong..."_

Why was she reassuring him of that..? She'd told him last time he called that the bandages were off, so why... The blond shook himself, smiling. "Well, if you say so..." It was nothing, nothing... "Maybe Mokuba an' I can come visit yah again... Or you could come here," he added with a grin, looking at the phone somewhat with the thought. Now _that_ would be fun! "Domino's changed a lot since yah left Shizuka, there's a lot I could show you, an-"

"_Oh, that reminds me..._" Katsuya tensed somewhat, blinking. Please tell him this wasn't honing back on- "_Nihan, after Marine Day, Keichi-kun should be vacationing in Domino for a few days..." _Auuuugh, why? Why was it always going back to this guy!_ "He said something about visiting with a friend of his... Maybe you two could meet each other!"_ Hah, NO._ "I could give him your number, or-_"

"THAT'S... Fine," he said hurriedly, coughing. No no no, not doing it... "Really," he continued, shaking himself, "You don' need t' do that..."

"_Really..?" _There was a short pause, before the girl continued._ "Alright then,_" Shizuka said somewhat confusedly, likely frowning. "_Well, it's getting late... I'm going to go to bed, alright nihan?_"

The blond nodded, currently gritting his teeth as the topic of 'Keiichi' hovered in the back of his mind. He managed to shake it off for a moment though, rubbing his head. "Yea... See yah Shizuka!" There was a short pause, dial tone coming before the blond looked at the phone in his hand and growled. "Gh... ...If I see that guy I'm sending him straight t' _HELL_..."

"Erm... What?"

Katsuya jumped, turning as Kyouko walked in, the maid notably confused. "Gh-" He shook himself, putting the phone back before frowning. "...What is it with you an' Mokuba comin' in on th' end of my conversations?"

The woman shrugged, shaking her head. "Don't ask me," she said with a sigh, moving past the blond toward the kitchen. "I was just coming in for a snack myself..."

Katsuya shook his head at that, leaning back against the counter as his phone conversation again came to mind. "Aggggh... I swear it..."

"...Who exactly are you 'sending to hell'," the maid asked, raising an eyebrow as she paused by the kitchen door.

The blond turned, before shaking it off and sighing. "Nothin'... It's nothin'," he muttered, "I jus'..." He frowned, staring at the woman a moment and tilting his head. What the... "...Why're you wearin' a suit..?"

"Hn?" Kyouko blinked a few times, looking over herself and smirking. "Oh... Nothing," she said with smile, moving toward the kitchen again and winking. "You'll probably find out soon..." With that the woman vanished past the door, leaving Katsuya to stare a few moments.

"...E-Eh..?"

What the hell..?

* * *

"So that's it," Honda asked the next day, shaking his head as his friend recounted the 'story'. "She just said 'nothing' and walked away..?"

Katsuya shrugged, leaning back on his chair as the others pulled out their lunches. Otogi was off avoiding his 'fanclub' while attempting to get himself some food from vending machines at the moment... Bakura was in the classroom, _also_ fending off a fanclub... The blond snapped his chopsticks apart, shaking his head. "Weird, I know..." It was mostly common knowledge by this point that Seto had a maid named 'Kyouko', or at least, it was common knowledge among 'the group'. It made it easier to talk about her, that was for sure. In any case... "You know what's weirder though is that she looks 'nough like Anzu that I've got this image 'f her wearin' a suit now..."

His friend blinked, tilting his head a moment at that. Also common knowledge was the fairly eerie resemblance between the two women (who were related in no way)... Even so... "What the hell does that have to do with- ...AHHH damn it," Honda groaned, scowling at the blond. "Now I've got that in my head, thanks a lot you bastard!"

Katsuya grinned, laughing as Otogi came back into the room only to be (again) swamped by fangirls. "Hahaha! I was waitin' f'r that t' happen..." Both the swarming and the 'groan', hehehehe...

"Well," a somewhat 'yawning' voice muttered, "It's a good thing you guys are happy..." The others turned, blinking as Mokuba sighed and took a seat on one of the desks after coming in.

Oddly enough, Bakura was probably the first to speak, given that he'd managed to get rid of the 'horde' and come over just behind the boy. "Is something wrong Mokuba-kun," he asked, blinking.

The boy merely sighed, slumping forward somewhat as the others remained silent in the face of a redundant question. "Hnnnng... I hate exams..!" AH. That was it. "How do you guys stand it," he asked, pulling at his hair. "All I hear about for every class is 'make sure you study for this,' and 'remember, this will probably be on the test'..! Aaaaaauuughh..."

The first two shrugged, Bakura merely sighing as the question was answered by Otogi... Who had also barely ditched the 'swarm'. "That's easy," he said with a smirk. "They don't. Which is probably why they're lucky to still be in this class," the teen added, grinning somewhat darkly as the others growled.

"Oi oi," Katsuya muttered, frowning.

"Hey, remember who's living in whose house," Honda added, narrowing his eyes. Though that threat would only hold for about... One more week really...

Otogi shook his head, merely smirking. "Yea yea... At the end of the day," he continued, crossing his arms smugly, "_I'm_ the one with at least a 90% average at the lowest." Gh... Damn it allllll..!

"Hrnnnnn..."

The others turned as Mokuba again groaned, Katsuya scratching his head. "Er... Wish I could help with th' study problem but..."

There was a somewhat long pause, before they sighed. "Yeaaaaa, we're pretty much a lost cause," Honda said with a cough, turning away somewhat awkwardly.

Mokuba frowned, glaring at the group. "_Thanks_..."

The boys shrugged, before watching as Anzu and Yugi came back in. "So Anzu," Yugi was saying quietly, "On tanabata..." He turned, blinking as the others waved from the desks. "Ah, hey!"

Katsuya smirked, leaning back on his chair. "Manage t' get lunch?" Yugi merely nodded, holding up a small bag before looking at Mokuba somewhat worriedly.

"Ahhh..." He blinked, Anzu as well following his gaze. "...Are you alright..?"

Mokuba shrugged, pulling a face somewhat. "Yea, I guess..." The boy continued to wince, before abruptly dropping the expression. "Oh..." He turned, looking at the others with a frown. "You were talking about Tanabata right?"

Er... Tanabata..? Yea, that was in a few- ...OHHHHH crap. Katsuya coughed, the others ignoring him for the moment to watch as Yugi nodded. "Ah... Yea," he said somewhat confusedly, "That's right..." Ohhhhh craaap...

"Yugi was just asking if I was free for it," Anzu continued with a smile, leaning back on one of the desks as she continued. "They'll be having a festival after all..." The woman flushed somewhat, the smile growing. "I even bought myself a new yukata!"

At this the 'other' Yugi blinked, hovering at the side and nodding somewhat as a look of realization came over him. "_So that's why we were-"_

"Not now," Yugi muttered, looking at his other before shaking himself. The others more or less ignored it, rather used to the 'onesided' conversations by this point... Not to mention thankfully unaware of the fact that Katsuya could listen in on that as well. "Mokuba-kun," the boy added, smiling, "If you want, you could come as well... Unless you were already doing something," he continued, shrugging.

Errrrr... Mokuba shook his head, frowning while Katsuya continued to cough at the side. "Actually," he said, also shrugging, "I've been meaning to ask... _When is it_?"

Damn it, he should have known... Honda choked somewhat, as did Otogi while Katsuya mentally groaned. "You... You don't know when tanabata is," Honda asked, staring.

"Is the Kaiba family that closed off..?"

"Oi oi," Katsuya growled, looking at the two with a frown. "Lay off... S- Kaiba probably just didn' want it t' overshadow he-" Damn it, stop slipping. "His brother's birthday..."

That got a reaction. "It's on my _birthday,_" Mokuba shouted incredulously, a few people behind him jumping before going back to what they were doing.

"Your birthday is on Tanabata!"

"Well... That should be interesting," Bakura muttered, staring for a few moments as the others gaped. "If your birthday is on the same day," he continued with a smile, "That would mean more chance for celebration I would think..."

Mokuba merely pulled a face, crossing his arms as he leaned back on his seat. "Hnnng... I guess but... From what I heard about 'tanabata'," he continued, looking back at the others with a frown, "I don't think nii-sama would really go for it..."

"I think that's somethin' we can all agree on," Katsuya muttered, a number of the other boys nodding in agreement. No arguments there...

"I still want to go though," the boy added quickly, looking over to Yugi with a grin. "My yukata from last year still fits," he continued, "And I could always go with Katsuya-nii..."

The others turned to the blond, Katsuya nodding in response. "Heh... 'F course!" He continued to grin, before the look fell to be replaced by another frown. "...Er... Don't y' think tha' S... Tha' Kaiba might've planned something though," he asked, shaking his head.

Mokuba shrugged, shaking his head. "Probably..." Okay, so what exactly were they mi- "But Nii-sama's apparently doing some more tests on saturday," the boy explained, smirking. "So all the plans are in the evening..."

At this, the others grinned, a few of them chuckling. "So we could just do something earlier then," Anzu said with a smirk, the expression growing into a grin. "It isn't as though the festival is only held in the evening..."

The boy blinked, coughing somewhat. "Well, I guess we could do that..." Aaaaaalright! The others continued to grin, ignoring the fact that Mokuba was currently going red in the face. "But... Ah..."

"If this is your first tanabata," Bakura asked politely, "Does this make it your first festival Mokuba-kun?"

"Er... No," he said, shaking his head. "I went to another one in Osaka with Katsuya-nii and his sister but-"

"Sister," Otogi asked, Katsuya smacking his hand against his forehead as the teen looked over with raised eyebrows.

"Oh yea, you didn't know," asked Honda, grinning. "Jonouchi's sister in Osaka, just a little younger than us... Trust me," he continued, the grin widening as Katsuya growled, "She's way, _way_..."

"_Hondaaaaaaa,_" the blond growled, Otogi ignoring the blond as he looked at the teen.

"Way way _what,_" he pressed, Honda currently coughing as Katsuya continued to growl.

"SAY ANYTHING AND I SWEAR IT HONDA-"

When the hell they ever got the plan for tanabata made out who knew in the end...

But at least Mokuba was happy right?

**

* * *

AN**: Only two chapters left until Battle City guys... One if you think about the arc rather than the tournament. But wait..!

_THERE'S A CANNON IN MY FILLER_! That's right guys; I put Kaiba's 'testing Obelisk' scene in this chapter. Mostly because, the testing would have had to obviously happen before the tournament... Also because I don't think Kaiba would have wanted to wait to test that card for too long.

At all.

In any case, besides the expected filler we have next for 'July Seventh' (Tanabataaaaa! That's right, we have another festival. This time with MANY PEOPLE. Expect fan art, even though a few characters won't be wearing yukata.), the chapter after will by all definitions kick off Battle City... Which means I won't be telling you which chapter comes next and how many are left any more, since Battle City is a long, _long_ arc... And not something I want to put a chapter number on, since there's just... So _much_ that's going on in there!

In any case...

So far, due to me being an idiot and forgetting to put up the poll, there aren't any results at the moment. For those wondering, it's to decide on whether or not the events of the Millennium World as it happened the _first time_ (when our dear Pharaoh locked himself in a puzzle with no memories) will be revealed through only dreams (Which means I add a few here and there throughout the fanfic) or through a side-story fanfic that would then be written shortly before the 'Ceremonial Battle'. In other words, the end of this fanfic.

Up to you! Now then...

Some more news on the definition hunt for 'Kul Elna'... Fun fact; was doing some browsing, and realized, I never searched for _Eluna_.

Guess what. It's Arabic for _Ego_. And 'Kul', in the same language, is 'all', 'whole', 'every'...

Hnnn...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey there Iona! And I have to agree with you, Kaiba needs some sun... Though at least there'll be more of it during Battle City right? (Though I'm not sure how much of her mood really came from being inside all day...)

And yes, yes he is. That kid will be a bishie when he's older, that is for sure. As for the smiling... Hehehe, we'll probably get more reactions on similar subjects in the future to say the least!

Hope your holidays went well too! Enjoy the chapter!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's celebrating summer holidays... IN DECEMBER.

* * *

Today's chapter title comes from the numerous phone conversations we have here... And really, prison phones could be compared to the tin-can version.

Another reason for the title is actually a nod to the number of switching scenes we had here; there's quite a few, it's probably as choppy as a conversation on one of those things!

* * *

Oh hey, an update from Rebecca...

Will this mean any thing later? You'll have to see I guess... (There's a quick _quick_ sketch of her dress below actually...)

* * *

Originally in the manga, the 'duel disk test' was conducted similarly to the duel that Kaiba and Yugi both had using the initial disks... Namely that the 'hand' was on the field. I found this rather silly given that the disk not only has specific slots for 'magic' cards (Spells and traps) and monster cards, in addition to an extra slot for 'Field Spells', but also that this... Obviously isn't how the game is played during battle city.

_So why the hell would Kaiba test it using the old rules, when Yugi already clearly demonstrated the new ones?_ Though in this case, it's obviously done for speed... (Which is also why the 'holographic hand' deal was cut.)

* * *

In the manga, Mokuba explains (Yay exposition) through 'thinking out loud' the full effect of Obelisk; namely that by sacrificing two monsters on your side of the field, you not only destroy all of your opponent's monsters, you _eliminate all their lifepoints_. (Evidentally something that the compy can't handle.)

In addition to explaining this, you see a tiny little speech balloon that reads '_My brother's so awesome!_' Yes Mokuba. Yes he/she is. (Hence the loud 'THIS IS SO COOL' that you see up there. And lets face it, as one of the first few to see the life-sized holograms, it's understandable.)

* * *

The last panel of that chapter has Kaiba grinning… With his mouth open, like he's saying something.

_But he's not_… In any case, this is why the dark chuckle didn't extend into all out mad cackling, like it normally does with Kaiba. You could actually take it as a bit of character development; the cackling is a surefire sign of mental instability. _Losing _the cackle shows that Kaiba's getting better.

There will still be scenes of crazy grinning/laughing on her part though, concerning these cards… What can I say, it's Canon.

* * *

Here's an interesting fact; there are three different terms for the mayor depending on what the Mayor is the mayor _of_. There's 'shichou' for heads of cities, 'sonchou' for villages, 'chouchou' for towns, and for the special wards (or 'districts') of Tokyo, we have 'kuchou'. The head of the Tokyo prefecture itself is the Governor, the 'Chiji'.

Mayors are elected every four years, and hold quite a bit of executive power in terms of local politics… They'll be the ones preparing budgets, new acts… And they have a bit of veto power as well, unless the assembly (Whose number is varied depending on the city/town/district/village obviously) overpowers them by over two thirds.

Female mayors aren't common, but they sure as hell happen in Japan. I checked. …Just making sure you know this. As for the name it was _mostly_ picked at random... ...Mehehehe.

* * *

By the way, while Kaiba isn't too polite, there's obviously a limit to snark. The notable lack of snark in the conversation with the mayor is because… Well, it's the mayor. You don't get things from the mayor using snark. Also, this phone call was _kinda important_… Besides, Kaiba was given no reason to get all peeved. Whereas conversations with Ishizu were loaded with more than annoying mentionings of yet to come, this is just a normal conversation really...

* * *

WHAT. _Ishizu's point of view_?

This won't happen too often… In fact, this might be the only time it does happen, depending on how I feel. It was still pretty fun though. Keep in mind that whenever it's the point of view of someone who doesn't know Kaiba's secret, Kaiba is referred to as a male. Because for all they know, she _is_.

* * *

Interesting point, but Ishizu doesn't wear kohl on her eyes. Rishid (Dub name being Odion) and Malik wear it. But she doesn't. If anything, she's probably wearing mascara… Which makes sense really.

* * *

On a more 'backstory' related point, we never find out what happened between Malik killing his father and Battle City. Now… Malik is apparently the same age as everyone else (16-17), slightly older maybe, while his sister, Ishizu, is 20. So she's 3-4 years older than him.

Looking back at the 'initiation', I've come to assume Malik was twelve at the time, as that's the age that boys were considered 'of age' in Ancient Egypt. (The traditions which the Ishtar's live by. …Ironically, Ishtar is… Not… Egyptian in origin, it's _Babylonian_.) This means that he was 13 when he killed his father… So there's _four years_ unaccounted for! (Well, four at the most really…) Anyways, as far as things go, the rest is history really… Rishid's age isn't listed, but given his general size compared to Ishizu when Malik was born, I'm going to say he's between 23 and 25… So yea. Whoo! In any case, going by this…

At the time that 'Mr. Ishtar' died, Ishizu would have been 15 or 16 years old, with Rishid being anywhere from 18 to 20.

* * *

Speaking of the Ishtar's, have some naming fun! Ishizu is thought to have come from the romanization of 'Isis', which is 'Aishisu'. And it probably _did_. ...Interesting point though, but Ishizu is also a Japanese surname... Huh.

Malik has many meanings, depending on how it's written in Arabic, either being King, or Owner.

Rishid on the other hand comes from 'Rashid', another Arabic name that means 'Rightly Guided'. Hnnn...

Ishtar in the meantime is the Assyrian and Babylonian goddess of fertility, war, love and sex. She's represented by a lion and an eight pointed star... (_Now go compare Yami no Malik's hair to a lion's mane. And an eight pointed star._)

* * *

Oh boy Shizuka, keeping secrets is hard huh… (It'll be ruined terribly some time soon, and you can probably guess who does it if you look carefully.) As to why she hasn't said anything, _can you blame her_? After all the hell that Jonouchi went through to get the surgery paid for, do you think she's going to flat out say '_by the way, I haven't taken the bandages off, so I don't know if it worked..._' Not to mention the terrifying 50/50 that stands there as it is.

* * *

Mokuba doesn't know about Tanabata? _BUT USAGI, HE'S JAPANESE_. The fact is, it's not the _event_ he's clueless about, it's the _date,_ mostly due to being in the Kaiba household from five years old up. The date is something fairly obvious, something even Katsuya assumed he knew, despite it being on his birthday you see... Because the date is something everyone is assumed to know about by that point, Mokuba's literally been going the 'smile and nod' route, picking up everything listening in on conversations. But he never got the date. Besides that, some festivals celebrate the event in August rather than July... So it never came up, and Mokuba never asked.

* * *

July 7th (Tanabata) falls on a saturday in the fanfic's year. That is another holiday landing on exactly the day I need it to.

AM I AWESOME OR _WHAT_.

**

* * *

FanArt and My Art Section**

Remove the spaces, paste the link... We're all set here!

Now before I get _any_ questions on this WIP piece here (This WIP that will, combined with continual job hunts, take away from the time I have to type this fanfic by a lot), _wait for the next chapter_. And then you can spam me with questions, complaints... Etc!

See while I was on my usual 'poster design spree', I started painting this one up... But certain things about the guy at the bottom hide many MANY spoilers, suffice to say.

Not to mention this uncoloured sketch I have for you...

So yea. SPOILERS HOH! (At least one of them isn't too bad...)

WIP-SPOILER- Dreams and Dragons – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ SideStoryPoster-2. jpg - In which we have Red-Eyes being awesome, among other large profile shots and things... This is another of my 'movie poster designs' (Which I really get a kick out of making, if you haven't guessed.), and I've actually already started painting it; look closely (I know, the picture is HUGE, but trust me) at the very top, at the dragon's head (And body)...

SPOILER-Concept- Brothers – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Brothers. jpg - As to whether it's by blood or not, I don't really know. I didn't really think to go into detail with Past!Jonouchi's family, as shepherds and goatherds are generally nomadic and very much on their own. ...Try and hold your guesses on their identities until after the next chapter though, ehehehe... Also, I need to go fix their anatomy. *Dadada..!*

Spoiler-Concept – Everything Is Better With Leather – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ MaiDoma. jpg - _Mai in PANTS Usagi?_ I know, _incredible_. (They're leather by the way.) So I was looking back at what Mai wore during the Doma Arc (You know... When she was 'evil'?)... And I realized that as 'Mai' as it was (Given that all that really happened was that her white corset was suddenly black and likely leather), she was riding around on a bike all the time. ... In a skirt. As someone who knows a thing or two about bikes, I can safely say that this is _very painful_. She might be wearing awesome long boots while she's riding, but... Yea. Anyways, who knows, she might still be in a skirt during that arc for the fanfic, but I still had fun with this design.

Rebecca's Dress – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ BeccaProm. jpg - Exactly as it says, this is a quick, _quick_ sketch of what dear Becca's dress likely looks like. I say quick because one... It was. And two... Something seems off, as you can see by my little note there...

Well, that's all for now... Updates will be slow now, just so you know... Once a week (if I'm lucky). In any case, enjoy!


	62. Chapter 61

**The Evening of the Seventh**

* * *

The seventh day of the seventh month on the lunar calendar was a date that, for an incredibly long time, served for an important festival to Japan and China both. It was the day when above in the sky, two of the brightest stars in the sky would be said to meet, their identities synonymous with a pair of separated lovers. In the past and present both the event was one to be celebrated in the evening... And though many areas had moved the day one month ahead of July the seventh, or simply to another date within that month, the district of Domino had decided to leave the date as it was.

The fact was, summer in Tokyo was more often than not one of the hottest moments of the year, even before the peak point in August. Cicada would cling to the trees and the sides of various buildings, fans would roar in all rooms of the home as the windows were held open, and pools would be filled to the brim. It was either that, or areas of the ocean that were available and clean enough to stand to say the least... And if it was particularly hot, the cicada would be more apt to cling to the open windows, with those who would normally flock to the pools settling for an ice cold shower.

Now that he thought about it Katsuya decided as he scratched his head, this was probably why most people at festivals that _weren't_ wearing shorts and a t-shirt were wearing yukata... Anything else and you were probably from Okinawa. Though he had to say...

For everyone but Honda to wear a yukata was fairly amusing to say the least. "Wow," he muttered, staring at the group as he received a series of blank stares. "It was one thing when I was on the bus with Otogi but..."

Bakura smiled somewhat nervously, shrugging as they stood in the center of the closed off street. "...But?"

He shook his head, sighing. "Well now I just feel like an ass..."

The others smirked somewhat, Katsuya grinning as he crossed his arms. "I'll bet... But at least y' don' have a two year old clingin' to yah like las' time," he added, the grin widening. Of course, last time was... The year before last. Either way, the two weren't likely to forget carrying Jouji around that day. ...At all.

Honda snorted, frowning. "Yea yea... Barely dodged that one," he added darkly, before looking at the blond. "And since when did you wear yukata..?"

Hn? "Me," he asked, blinking a few times. ...Since he had one? "Tch... I didn' wan' Mokuba t' feel left out," he said somewhat angrily, ignoring the raised eyebrow that Mokuba gave him in response.

The group sighed, Otogi shaking his head and turning back to Honda. "I _did_ tell you," he said somewhat plainly, the teen's hair currently tied in a low ponytail as opposed to the usual 'high' one. "But you just wouldn't listen... 'There's no way everyone will wear the same thing'..." At this Honda merely frowned, listening as Otogi continued on and shook his head. "Besides," the teen added, smirking. "Yukata are a _great_ way to attract the attention of certain young women," he whispered, his friend merely groaning.

"Auuuugh... Between you and Bakura I'll be dateless for all eternity," he moaned, slumping somewhat as Bakura blinked from the side.

"It... It can't be that bad can it," he asked, laughing somewhat nervously.

Again the others shook their head, Katsuya smirking. "What made y' decide not t' wear one in th' first place?" Hell, he _thought_ he had one...

The teen frowned, looking over with raised eyebrows. "Besides the fact that I like _pants_ for a reason," he said dryly, The others raised their eyebrows, and Honda shrugged. "Just didn't feel like it," he decided, shaking his head. "...And at least I don't look like I'm going to a funeral," he added somewhat louder, looking over at Bakura as the teen flushed somewhat.

"I know it's not a festive colour," the albino muttered, skin standing out against the yukata in stark contrast, "But I really like black..."

Yea, well it was scaring the crap out of him Katsuya thought to himself, the others shaking their heads at the feeble excuse. Not that they were complaining really; Bakura was Bakura... Despite being every bit as creepy as he was nice. The blond sighed, scratching his head and watching as Mokuba looked around at the various stalls curiously. "It's a lot less crowded than Osaka," the boy muttered, staring out as people passed them by. "I get that it's cloudy today but..."

At this Katsuya looked up, shrugging. With the sky as dark as it was it felt more like late afternoon than just plain 'noon'... "What can I say," he said with another shrug, crossing his arms. "Domino's more 'f a game area than a festival one..." Particularly within the last year...

"Not to mention," Anzu added, shaking her head and smiling, "The next district over has fireworks, a cloudless sky, _and_ it's only eleven o'clock." Uhhh... There was that too. The boys coughed somewhat, shifting as the woman crossed her arms and went on. "In any case," she muttered, turning to Mokuba. "It's your birthday right? Well... What do you want to do first," she asked, the smile widening.

Mokuba blinked a few times, looking back around at the stalls. Mask stalls, games, food, souvenirs... "Ahh..." He looked over at one of the 'game' stalls frowning. "Hn..." Hahaha, yea... Just as stuck as he wa- "Oh..." The boy turned, walking over to the side. "What's that one?"

The others turned as well, Honda staring a few moments before following after the boy with the group. "That one," he asked, blinking.

As Mokuba nodded Otogi shrugged, crossing his arms. "That's a carving stall..."

They walked over, Mokuba taking a seat on one of the stools as Honda explained the stand's 'purpose'. "Basically," he began, watching as the boy looked over the varied baskets of wooden slats, "You use the sticks here to trace and carve out a small wooden key-chain... No refund if you break it by the way," he added, the boy nodding as Katsuya looked over the stand as well.

"Hnn... There's lots here," the blond muttered, taking a seat beside his friend. "At leas' twice 's many as th' last stand I saw...

Mokuba merely 'hnn'ed at that, staring at the piles. "Wonder how I'll do..."

The others rolled their eyes somewhat amusedly, watching as the two both handed over five hundred yen and grabbed a small piece of semi-carved wood. Ok, lets get going... Yugi looked over their shoulder's watching the two carve away at the bits of wood for a few moments before jumping somewhat. "Is that one a kuriboh," he asked, blinking as Mokuba looked over his own.

"Huh..." The boy stared, before nodding at the somewhat evident 2-D 'fuzz-ball' that was being carved out. "I guess it is," he said, pausing in his carving to cross his arms. "That's new..."

"Well," Bakura said with a slight cough, looking at the banner at the side and laughing quietly, "The stand does advertise Industrial Illusions... I suppose it's only natural..."

I... I2 huh... At this the others traded blank stares, before turning back to the carvings with equally vacant expressions. "...I think I'm done here," Katsuya said with a cough, looking back at his 'scapegoat' carving before pocketing it.

"Yea, me too..."

"Well," Otogi said with raised eyebrows, arms still crossed as the group scooted away from the stand "For someone into duel monsters that was fairly quick..." Not quick enough.

"You probably shouldn't ask," Honda muttered, stretching somewhat as they made their way down the street. "Oh hey, masks!" They blinked, watching as the teen ran off to a separate stand with a smirk. It was indeed a mask stand... Or at least a souvenir stand with a stacked tower of masks on either side. "Oi Otogi," Honda shouted with a laugh, the teen raising his eyebrows as their friend held up a mask. "You should get the carp," he continued, grinning. "It looks like you!"

Otogi snorted, rolling his eyes and looking over the masks for a moment rather than busying himself with glaring at the one his friend had. "I might be a 'carp' Honda," he said rather nonchalantly, "But at least that means I get to be a dragon some day... Unlike you," he continued, smirking as he grabbed another mask and held it forward. "Who look more like this one."

The others blinked, staring at the green turtle-like mask their friend held. A... A kappa..? Honda tensed, growling as he put the mask back. "O-Otogi..."

"Hey," he said with a smirk, spinning the mask in his hands before putting it back. "I'm only being honest..."

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba said, looking over the masks himself as the others argued. "Do you think we should get nii-sama a mask like we did last year..?"

Another mask? Ehhh... "Unless y' want he- him t' know we came," the blond muttered, before the others turned to the pair.

"You guys got Kaiba a mask," Anzu asked somewhat incredulously, eyebrows raised.

There was a short span of silence as the boys nodded, before one of the others sighed. "You got a dragon didn't you," Honda asked with a blank look, the teen receiving another similar stare from Mokuba in response.

"You know," Mokuba decided, crossing his arms as he changed the subject, "Just because it's my birthday you don't all have to follow me around all day..."

There was another round of silence before Anzu nodded at this, sharing a short look with Yug before speakingi. "He has a good point," she said with a slight cough, continuing on. "Why don't we all meet back at the center of the street in a few hours for lunch," the woman decided, shrugging somewhat. "Maybe... Two o'clock..?"

Most of the boys shrugged in response, Otogi nodding. "That sounds like a plan," he said, turning to look at one of the neighbouring stands before heading over with another nod. "I'll be over there if anyone needs me..."

Honda and Bakura as well turned, blinking as the teen made his way over to what looked to be a stand involving dice games. Haha, it really figured... "Hey wait for us," the former said loudly, chasing after as Bakura looked from the two to the others. "Hey!"

"Erm..." The albino looked again, before sighing and shaking his head. "I'll see you all at two o'clock then," he finally said with a slight laugh, running off. "Good-bye!"

"Ah, see yah then," Katsuya called out, looking back to Anzu and Yugi before blinking. "...So..." A short span of silence came through the air, the blond coughing. "You guy's got any plans or..."

"Hey, goldfish scooping!" The three jumped slightly as Mokuba ran off with a shout, the others following after the boy only to laugh as he stopped and frowned. The stand _looked_ the same as most 'goldfish scooping' ones. Save for one thing that was standing out in the tank. "...Turtles?"

"Oh..." The others watched the tiny green turtles swim around, Mokuba still raising an eyebrow. "They have turtle catching this year," Yugi said with a smile, his other appearing beside him with raised eyebrows.

'_...Turtles,_' he repeated, hovering over the tank with a blank frown.

Yugi nodded, Anzu and Mokuba both raising their eyebrows while Katsuya watched the two 'Yugis' turn to each other. "Yea," he continued, the others quickly catching on to what was going on. "Turtle catching. It's like goldfish scooping," the boy explained, "But since the turtles are heavier, it's a lot harder than with fish..."

The other Yugi continued to stare, appearing to hover rather close to the tub of baby turtles while Yugi laughed somewhat quietly. "Er... Do you want to give it a shot," he asked, scratching his head.

The spirit turned rather quickly, Katsuya flinching somewhat before shaking himself off as the two Yugis continued to speak among themselves. "...Who is this boy talking to," the stand manager asked quietly, Anzu merely frowning and responding with a somewhat dangerous look that sent the manager back with a bowed head. "F-forgive me for intruding..." Yea he better be sorry-

Katsuya turned back to look at Yugi, watching as he nodded and gripped his puzzle. "Alright then," he said with a smile. The boy closed his eyes, the familiar gust of 'wind' passing through as his other self vanished from sight. Just seconds later and it was the 'other' Yugi in the body, with the lighter self hovering beside him in the after effects of the wind.

Anzu and Mokuba both blinked, staring for a few moments. "...Yugi," the woman asked hesitantly, watching as the teen pulled out 500 yen and handed it forward with a fairly determined expression in place.

"One round," he said clearly, watching as the money was taken.

The man nodded, pocketing the cash and grabbing a few things from the side. "You have until the pon breaks," the manager explained, handing the teen a small dish with the net. "Good luck!"

Yugi quickly nodded, the others watching with mild amusement as he stared almost calculatingly at the tub. For a moment, his lighter self appeared to say something, mouth moving somewhat as the spirit at the side waited for his other to make his move. But in the end, he decided to turn to Katsuya instead it seemed, the boy sighing somewhat as he smiled. '_There's a part of me that knows he'll catch it but..._' The two looked back, watching as the Other Yugi continued to stare at the tub. ...Yea... The rest was left unsaid really...

"Hey kid," the manager muttered after another span of silence, 'Yugi' still in the same position as he had been to start. "Are you going to actually play any time soon..?"

The others continued to stare as well, similar reactions in place before jumping as the teen abruptly swiped at the water. About a millisecond later and there was a turtle in the dish, an alarmed looking Yugi shoved back into his body as a smug looking 'other' appeared at the side in ghostly form. '_Hah._'

"N... No one said you wouldn't make it," Yugi said with a quiet laugh, the others shaking their heads at the visible or assumed smirk on the teen's face. Yugi turned back to the stand manager with the still functioning 'pon' and dish in hand, preparing to pass it forward before freezing and turning back to his other self.

For the moment, it looked as though he was asking what Yugi was doing with the turtle, the spirit having tapped his lighter half on the shoulder and frowned. A few seconds later, and the theory was proven. "...I'm giving it back," the boy said with a somewhat plain tone, shrugging. "I wasn't going to-" The spirit blinked a few times, looking back at the turtle and again saying something that Katsuya failed to hear. For a moment, the two 'Yugi's merely stared at each other... But in the end the boy sighed, shaking his head. "...We could keep it I guess..."

At this Mokuba blinked, staring. "Wait... The other Yugi wants to keep it..?"

"Can you look after a turtle Yugi..? I heard they were expensive..."

"Hey, if th' other Yugi's for it..."

The two Yugis continued to stare at each other, before the 'solid' one sighed and smiled. "Hah..." He turned to the manager again, still smiling despite the evident confusion the man held. "I'm keeping the turtle, okay?"

The man blinked a few times, looking somewhat oddly at the group before taking the dish and pon back with a nod. "Alright then... Here," he added, carefully putting the turtle in a bag before holding it out with a slip of paper. "Coupon for the tank."

At this Katsuya glanced at the stand's 'flag', mentally laughing. Hahaha... The same pet store on the coupon... Why was it only now that he noticed all the sponsors..? "Thank you," Yugi said in response, giving his 'other' an amused look and shaking his head as the spirit stared at the turtle. "You realize that _you're_ looking after this guy right," he asked, laughing somewhat as the others looked at the turtle as well.

The 'Other' merely ignored the boy for the moment, continuing to look at his new pet. '..._I'm going to name it Sheta..._'

Okay, Katsuya decided with a somewhat incredulous smile, so no one was going to be getting through to this guy for the next hour most likely then... Given that the spirit was now having a staring contest with a turtle that was holding a permanent squint... The others shook their heads, sighing and chuckling at the look on their friend's face. For the most part, it was as a result of Yugi's own reaction... Though had they been paying attention, Mokuba and Anzu would probably have realized that Katsuya reacted _before_ the boy, shaking his head and laughing at the sight.

Thankfully for him though... They weren't.

* * *

By the time two o'clock had rolled around, most of the group had managed to migrate back to the center of the street festival. After a while, visiting game stands and souvenir stands lost its appeal, even for the resident 'king of games' hovering at Yugi's side. By the time they found the others again after wandering the streets for their remaining time, it looked as though Bakura was attempting to break up another argument between Otogi and Honda concerning masks (again)... Which was conveniently stopped by the boys spotting Yugi's new turtle, each of them staring at the small 'bowl' he was carrying.

"You got a turtle Yugi-kun," Bakura asked, blinking as the others came over.

The boy nodded, holding the bowl up and letting the others look inside. "Yep... The other me won it in the turtle scooping game," he explained, smiling as his 'other' merely smirked. "Not sure why he called it 'sheta' though," he added, frowning.

And given the look on his 'other's face, neither did the one who came up with it in the first place... Which was really expected by this point, with all the things that he simply 'knew' about himself. "'Sheta'," Otogi repeated, the others turning to him as the teen spun a rabbit mask on his fingers. The teen blinked, spinning halting for a moment as he idly passed a small bit of money over to the stand owner. "...I think that means 'Turtle' in hieratic..."

Errr... What? Katsuya blinked, staring. "'Hieratic'..?"

Otogi nodded, holding the mask firm as they began to walk down the street. "Technically Egyptian," he said with a shrug before again spinning the mask on his fingers, "But yea; I can't read it _completely_ of course," the teen added with a slight laugh, "But my dad taught me a few things..." He fell silent for a moment at that, looking away briefly. Yea... His dad... That was kind of a rough subject, if they were putting things lightly. Again the spinning stopped, before continuing as it's owner as well pulled himself back into the conversation. "It's a cursive writing system that was developed along side the hieroglyphs in ancient Egypt," Otogi explained, looking to the others seriously. "It was used specifically by those of high rank, Pharaohs, priests, scribes..." So all the rich guys then, Katsuya thought mentally.

"Being a written language," the teen added with a shrug, again holding the mask firmly in his hands, "It obviously doesn't mean that the word would be pronounced any differently in the other forms of writing though... Not until it evolved into demotic I mean," he continued with a cough, shaking his head. "But that's the first one that came to mind really..." The teen shook his head, continuing on as he idly tossed the mask up and down in his hands. "I guess the closest thing you could compare it to is hiragana; scribes used hieratic to write things down quicker, whereas hieroglyphs, like kanji, more often than not refer a certain thing."

At this the others looked back at Yugi, who looked at his 'other' somewhat blankly. Egypt huh...

That just kept coming back to them didn't it... ...Speaking of Egypt though...

"...Otogi-kun," Bakura asked blankly, the others again turning to the teen as he returned the blank stare. "H... How many languages do you _know_..?"

Y-Yea, what he said... "How many," he repeated, blinking as the others nodded somewhat nervously. Otogi blinked again, frowning. "...Hnn..." The teen crossed his arms, closing his eyes in thought for a moment, "Lets see... _Spoken_, I have English and Japanese for obvious reasons..." Obvious meaning 'official language and language that will likely save your ass in another foreign country'... That or 'company' things. Which was how Mokuba phrased it in his own defense apparently. "...I know a _bit_ of Arabic," he continued offhandedly, waving the mask somewhat like a fan, "But not enough to pass as anything more than an asshole tourist..." That was always good to know. At least he'd never be lost? Otogi rubbed the back of his neck, continuing on with a grimace. "Ah... As for the written languages..." Wait, there was more? The others blinked, staring with wide eyes and listening as the teen spoke "I can somewhat read hieratic and hieroglyphs... Not completely though," he added with a sudden frown, giving a somewhat dangerous look to his friends, "So don't pull me off to the museum as a test." At this the others laughed somewhat nervously, before Otogi continued. "I can actually read Enochian as well but..." The teen coughed, frowning as the others continued to stare. "You know what," he decided, most of the others simply wondering what 'enochian' was, "I think I'll just stop sharing how many dead languages I know... I prefer being the 'game inventor' over the 'language geek'," he added darkly, frowning.

No one was calling him that... ...(Though that was a hell of a lot of dead languages there...) "Ah... Right..." The others blinked, coughing somewhat awkwardly for a few moments before watching as Anzu moved off to the side with a smile. "...H-Hey," she said, changing the subject with a slight laugh. "Look- They have a play going!"

A play? The boys turned, before sharing a series of winces as Anzu continued to make her way over. Ok... There were masks, and... Auuuuugh... Noh play... They reluctantly followed behind Anzu, watching as the woman peered over the small crowd that gathered.

"This isn't going to be like the one we saw in Osaka is it," Mokuba asked with a groan, ducking somewhat as Anzu muttered a 'shush!' in response

"Why," Bakura asked, keeping his voice down as he turned to the boy curiously. "What was that one?"

There was a short silence, Katsuya and Mokuba trading awkward glances. The one they saw..? Eh... "...Boton Dourou..."

Bakura brightened, smiling as he recognized the name. "Really?" Erm... Yes, and they really didn't- "Was it any good," the albino continued with a grin, continuing to beam at the idea of the play, "I was hoping to see it sometime-"

"Erm..." The boys paled somewhat, before jumping as Anzu moved past. Hey, opportunity for a subject change! "Ah, Anzu-"

"They're just doing the same one they do every year," she muttered, sighing as the others blinked in confusion. ...Kay... "Though I probably should have guessed," she continued with a frown, shaking her head. The others stared somewhat as the woman continued to walk off, shrugging to each other as Anzu continued. "Oh well..."

Okay... Um... "Maybe we should just have lunch," Otogi decided, the others turning as their friend pointed off to a yakitori stand. "Wouldn't you say?"

At this, there was a somewhat loud 'grumbling' noise, a few of the boys flushing somewhat before nodding. Well... It _was_ after two... "Eh... Sounds good t' me," Katsuya said with a laugh, scratching his head and walking toward the stand in question. Now what to eat... There was the stuff here...

"I wonder if there's a takoyaki stand around here," Yugi muttered idly, wandering away as his 'other' followed behind him with a slight frown.

'_I don't like takoyaki...'_

Hahahaha... Katsuya sighed, mentally shaking his head. The things everyone else didn't hear... The blond decided to ignore the less than private conversations going on, instead looking over the food at the stand while the others wandered off to find their own food. Smelled good enough... "I'll take four," he after a few moments, handing over a handful of coins for the skewered chicken with a grin. "Mokuba," he asked, turning to the boy with a grin, "How many do you want?"

Mokuba blinked, shrugging as he looked the food over. "I'll take two for now," he decided, nodding to himself and looking up at the blond. "...Wait..." He turned, frowning. "Where did everyone else go?"

Eh? Katsuya also turned, gripping the numerous kebabs in his hands and blinking. "Ah..." He stared, looking around before simply shrugging it off. "...Guess they went t' get somethin' else to eat..." Not everyone liked yakitori right..? (And Yugi _did_ say he was getting takoyaki...) Anyways, c'mon," he decided, handing Mokuba his yakitori as they continued. "We c'n go sit by the pier," Katsuya decided, looking down at the boy as he ate through his chicken, "That's where th' bamboo an' papers are."

"Bamboo?" The boy stared for a short moment, turning from his food before blinking. "Ah- right... You're supposed to write down a wish and hang it on bamboo right," he asked, before taking a large bite out of his chicken.

Katsuya nodded, taking a bite out of one of his skewers before explaining. "Yep- an' then later in th' evening," the blond went on with a grin, "They set 'm on fire an' send 'm out t' sea. We won' be here for that 'f course but..." Well... He shrugged, continuing on nonetheless. "We'd probably get stuck in th' crowd anyways..." Given that more people were already beginning to gather...

The boy nodded in response, going back to his yakitori for a moment before turning back to his friend. "Right... ...So..." He fell silent for a brief moment, Katsuya blinking at the expression Mokuba held as the boy spoke up again. "If 'tanabata' is the 'evening of the seventh'," he asked, the frown deepening with confusion, "Then why didn't this happen last year..?"

Er... The teen coughed somewhat, flushing at that. "Ah... Hah! Good question..." Very good question, and he'd kinda hoped the boy had forgotten... He coughed again as he was met with a questioning and unimpressed frown, before shaking himself. "Ah... Well, fact is," he admitted, rubbing his head with his free hand and wincing, "When y' said th' seventh, most 'f us assumed y' knew..." And looking back... That was probably a pretty stupid idea. Still. "An' I know Shizuka asked about going to a tanabata festival for yer birthday," he added, shrugging as Mokuba raised his eyebrows, "But in th' end, Mom said it w's that 'r th' Bon festival we went t'..." Couldn't afford to go to both with everything else that was going on really... The blond shook his head, frowning somewhat as he looked down at the boy. "I guess it jus' never came t' mind..."

Something that really didn't seem to be sitting to well with the kid... "...Right..." Mokuba nodded, turning away for a moment as the pair fell silent. "...Hey, Katsuya-nii," he asked, turning to the blond after a few minutes. "For the 'wishes'... Does anyone expect them to come true..?"

...Honestly, it was times like this that made him remember just why Mokuba got along so well with his classmates as opposed to those in the boy's middle school class... "Eh... W-What," he asked, choking somewhat as he looked down. Even so, the question was a little... Jarring. The two stared for a moment, before the taller shrugged. "...Who knows," he said with a sigh, smirking. "I mean... I could make a thous'nd strips 'f paper an' ask f'r good grades," he muttered, shaking his head, "But I know I ain't gettin' it! I think th' point is t' wish f'r something more..." Ahh... "'Bscure," the blond finally said, waving his hand a bit as he looked for the word. Yea something like that. Uh... "Somethin' that's more focused on what happens rather th'n what y' want, y' know?"

The boy tilted his head somewhat, before nodding as Katsuya held his oddly steady gaze on the topic.. "I..._ Think _so," Mokuba decided, pausing somewhat as he wrapped his head around the words. "Ah... Oh, hey," he shouted, stopping for a moment as they turned the corner before grinning. "Hey! Guys," he continued, running down the street with a grin.

Katsuya watched as Mokuba ran off, hurriedly charging after the boy as they spotted the others. "O-Oi," he yelled, continuing on. "Mokuba!"

"Guys," Mokuba continued shouting, ignoring the blond for a moment as he slowed down. "Where did you all go?"

The others turned from where they were standing at the pier, blinking as the others came closer. "Hah... Jonouchi-kun, Mokuba-kun..." Yugi smiled, stepping back from where the others had been crowding around a spread blanket. Briefly, he looked back, a nervous look on his face as he gave a laugh. "Ta-dah~" Yea, there went that surprise...

Mokuba blinked, walking over and looking at the 'cake' the others were sitting around. "Eh..? What..."

"Red bean cake," Honda said with a grin, laughing somewhat as the others took a seat. "Was going to be a surprise," he continued with a shrug, "But... You can guess how that turned out..."

At this the boy merely blinked, turning as Bakura continued on. "We grabbed a bunch of papers as well," he stated, holding a few out with some pens, "Since we're right by the stand..."

Again the two blinked, looking to the side at the stand momentarily before turning back. "Hah... I didn't realize we were already this close to the pier," Mokuba muttered, looking back at the group before grinning. "...So this is red bean cake then," he asked, gesturing to the large reddish-brown pastry.

They nodded, watching as Otogi struck a match off the concrete at the side before carefully lighting a thin wire standing atop the cake. "Yep! ...Stand back," he warned, the others doing so as sparks abruptly fired from it, the teen waving the match through the air to put it out as the wire glowed under the clouded sky.

The boys tensed somewhat, pulling back. "H-Heh!" Didn't see the wire there before..!

Bakura smiled, laughing somewhat as Mokuba stared at the sparkler. "I had a few sparklers left over from new-years eve," he said calmly, watching as the sparks traveled down the wire before continuing. "I thought they would make good 'candles'..." The albino's smile widened, Bakura turning back to Mokuba. "Do you like it Mokuba-kun?"

The boy quickly nodded, continuing to watch as the sparks ran through the air. "O-Of course," he said rather quickly, turning to the others. "It's great, I mean..."

Katsuya shook his head, tugging the wire out of the cake as the final sparks died. Screw words, birthday cake time! "Anyone got a knife," he asked, only to blink as Yugi pulled a square from the side and stared. ..Eh...

"Um..." He swallowed, giving another shrug as the others stared. "...It's pre-cut Jonouchi-kun..."

"...Oh." Of course...

"Hey, this is pretty good!" The boys turned as Mokuba chewed through a piece of cake, Anzu shaking her head as she looked up from where she was writing something on a pad. Well, cutting issues aside, time to dig in then... Mokuba looked back at the pastry, crossing his arms somewhat as he took another bite of his piece. "I should save a piece for nii-sama..."

"Well, it's cut into eight," Otogi said with a shrug as he grabbed himself a piece as well, "And there _are_ only seven of us..."

"Hey Anzu," Honda asked, attempting to look over the woman's shoulder as he ate his own share. "What are you writing down for your wish..?"

The woman turned, blinking before making a move to hide the paper in question. "Hn..? Oh... It's... It's nothing really," she said with a cough, blushing somewhat as she laughed, "You already know-"

"Eh, this about yer dance dream Anzu," Katsuya asked, idly getting the feeling that it wasn't just that.

Anzu frowned somewhat, turning with raised eyebrows before nodding. "Yes..."

"Hn..? You dance," Otogi repeated, blinking as the woman slowly nodded in response. "...I never knew that..." Well, given that there weren't any clubs or classes involving it at the school that would allow Anzu to indirectly say otherwise...

Yugi nodded, smiling. "Yep- Anzu plans on going to New York to dance on Broadway shows someday," he explained, the woman beside him flushing somewhat as she coughed.

"Ah..." Anzu turned, blinking as the boy beside her paused in his eating to frown. "That could be a bit..." Mokuba coughed as he received a fairly stiff frown, hurriedly correcting himself as he choked. "Erm, good luck?" Yea... _Nice save_. "Ahhhh... Y-Yugi," he said quickly, turning to the boy with a nervous laugh, "What are you going to wish for?"

The boy blinked, looking up from where he'd grabbed a piece of paper to write on before answering. "Me? Ahh..." Yugi turned back to his paper, biting his lip for a moment. "...I haven't actually decided yet," he admitted, laughing before he looked back at the boy. "...You?"

"Ehh..." He bowed his head, flushing. "...I don't know either..."

"Well... I know what I'm wishing for," Honda said with a grin, waving a blank sheet of paper for a few seconds before grabbing a pen. The others looked up, blinking as their friend quickly began scribbling a series of kanji and kana on the sheet.

Eh..? "Y' do," Katsuya asked, blinking as his friend merely nodded. "What is it?"

"Not saying," he said rather quickly, ignoring the fact that Otogi was currently looking over the teen's shoulder with somewhat narrowed eyes.

"Eh? How come," the blond asked, swallowing down a bite of bean cake.

Honda merely shrugged, crossing his arms and going back to his paper. "I'm just not saying."

"C'mon," Katsuya said with a laugh, "It'd have to be insanely embarrassing for y' to not say anything..!" ...Which made it all the more worth finding out, hehehe...

At this his friend merely scowled, gritting his teeth. "I'm not saying anything Jonouchi!"

Otogi glanced at the slip of paper as the two argued, frowning as he looked at his friend. "Why would you need 20,000 yen..?"

20,000 yen? Funny the blond thought, that was just enough for a train trip to and from-... ...Wait. A. Second. "O-OI," he shouted, quickly putting the two things together. "HONDAAAAA," Katsuya shouted as the teen hurriedly fled to hang his 'wish' on the bamboo at the side, "I told you to stay away from my sister!"

"Hnnn..." Otogi smirked, grabbing a slip of paper and scribbling something down himself.

Katsuya quickly turned back to the teen, growling as he pointed to him accusingly. "...An' that includes you too Otogi..."

The teen merely shrugged, holding his hands up in 'defeat'. "I know... I know..."

...He was still writing that down, somehow he knew this...

"Hey, Bakura," Yugi asked, turning to the albino as their friend started on his own wish. "What are you writing down," he continued, opting to ignore the arguing going on behind him.

Bakura blinked, looking back at his paper. "Oh... Nothing much," the teen admitted quietly, keeping a small smile in place. "I'd rather not say though," he continued, bowing his head somewhat. "It's probably a bit superstitious," Bakura added with a slight shrug, smiling wryly, "But the fact is, I'm not sure the wish will actually go through if I share it..."

At this Mokuba blinked, looking up from his own with wide eyes. "R-Really..?"

The albino nodded, smiling. "Of course... Moreover," he explained, the smile becoming somewhat larger, "I'd rather believe that my wish comes true because of what I do to achieve it... Things have a way of working out like that after all," he said with a nod, before leaving to hang up his paper.

Mokuba continued to stare, eyes somewhat wide. "Ahh..."

"What about you Jonouchi-kun," someone asked from the side, the blond jumping somewhat as he looked up from his own sheet.

"Eh..." He turned, blinking. "What?"

"Your wish," Yugi asked, laughing quietly as his friend sat back down. "What are you wishing for," he continued, smiling.

Huh... His wish... Katsuya looked back at his paper, before turning staring at the others briefly. "My wish..." That would be... "...That none 'f this has t' change," he decided, smirking rather softly compared to his usual look. Just constant 'normalcy' with a bit of 'other Yugi' mixed in, he added mentally, the others merely smiling as they continued with what they were doing.

No weird crap...

* * *

"You two are _very_ lucky," Kyouko hissed when the two boys came back an hour or so later, Katsuya and Mokuba trading nervous glances in response. It was bad enough that they'd literally run all the way back after noticing the time when they finished at the tanabata festival.

But coming inside to find an enraged maid was not something they had been looking forward to.

"Er... Lucky," Katsuya asked, laughing nervously as Kyouko continued to stare them down.

The maid scowled, crossing her arms as the door was slammed shut. "Seto-sama called only ten minutes ago asking if everything for Mokuba-sama's birthday was ready," the woman stated, eyes narrowed. "She _also_ asked if you two were ready," she continued, "And I barely made it through the phone call with 'they're _almost_ ready'!" Yea 'almost' didn't tend to cut it with-

Wait... Riiiiiight... He had work today... Katsuya coughed, flushing somewhat as the maid continued to shake her head. "Er... But it's alrigh' now... Righ'," the blond asked, laughing nervously.

The scowl remained set, Kyouko tapping her foot as the boys swallowed. "Provided you're in 'normal' clothes before the next five minutes pass," she muttered, glare set in place. "Yes."

Uh... F-Five minutes! The two bolted, the sound of thundering footsteps coming through the air as both boys headed to their rooms. "Shit shit shit shit shit!" Katsuya's room door slammed behind him, the blond scrambling to grab his shirt and jeans from the floor as he pulled off his yukata. "Aaaaaaahhhh..."

Wait, why the hell was he rushing? The blond blinked, pausing as he pulled his pants on before frowning. His shift didn't start for another ten minutes Katsuya thought with a frown, so what...

-_kots-kots-_

"Eh?" Katsuya turned as knocking came from the side, opening his door for a moment and blinking. "Ah- Seto-ch-" The woman before him narrowed her eyes, Katsuya hurriedly coughing as he gripped his t-shirt. "Er... K-Kaiba..."

"I was told you would be ready by this point," Seto said rather plainly, the woman crossing her arms as Katsuya stared. Uhhh... Y-Yea... He looked back at the t-shirt, flushing somewhat as he pulled it on. There was a small bit of silence as the blond did this, Seto merely turning away to head down the hall. "What ever," the woman muttered, shaking her head. "We're going to KaibaLand," she continued, Katsuya poking his head out into the hall as the woman said this.

Kay... Um... "Er... How long 'r you an' Mokuba gonna be," he asked, blinking. He kinda had a present for the kid so... Be nice if he could give it to him before the day ended.

Seto turned, raising her eyebrows as she looked at the blond with narrowed eyes. "_We_ will be spending most of the evening there," she stated, crossing her arms as Katsuya stepped out into the hall. "Whatever moronic plans _you_ have for the evening can wait Mutt. It's my brother's birthday," she continued with a frown before moving back, "And if you think you're going to skip out on that," the woman muttered dangerously, trailing off as she glared at the blond.

H-Hang on... W-Wait... "Wait," Katsuya muttered, shaking himself. "I'm comin' too?" There was a blank look in response, a grin slowly forming on the blond's face as he stood there. He... He was coming wi- Haha... Hahahahaha... "YEA," he shouted, pumping his fist in the air with a cheer, "YEAAAA-"

"Keep shouting," Seto growled angrily, "And you're _not_, idiot."

"Eh... Righ'... Hahaha..." The blond coughed, scratching his head before turning back to his room. "Ah... ...I'll go grab Mokuba's present then..."

Hopefully the clay was dry by now...

* * *

To say that inviting the 'mutt' was mostly to humor her brother would be a rather obvious statement. The fact was, she had planned on going alone, just the two of them... But after overhearing the two plan out a 'secret' celebration behind her back, deciding on the times that would be best to evade her notice she decided against it. It was pointless to fight it really... If Mokuba was set on something he wouldn't turn away. There was no denying it.

Her brother liked the idiot, and as long as she _didn't_ (or at least proved the fact), she and Mokuba would not be telling each other everything... Let alone what he was doing with the blond and his friends... Mokuba's 'friends' she supposed. Secrets were expected of course... Hell, there was a lot, as wince-inducing the thought was, that she didn't know about him, something she was personally trying to get better at now that she had the chance. But it was nice to know where he was at least... In case something...

Either way... For now she would bring the blond along to things like this, for her brother's sake. Bring the 'dog' along with them to the roller coasters, to the arcade games... Personally, she wasn't sure what to feel after the 'party' was over. Happy that her brother had been grinning the entire time, running back and forth with Jonouchi, dragging her around the amusement park to ride after ride after ride...

Or disappointed that she hadn't gotten that kind of reaction. True, Mokuba had been smiling, and laughing during the time that they'd had the day to their-selves, with no one in the building save them but... She supposed that Jonouchi added more energy to the situation really. An energy she didn't. Just a general 'excitement' that came with the blond's idiocy.

She wasn't being 'replaced', she told herself plainly; that would be impossible for one, and unthinkable for another. But again she would have to accept that the blond 'dog' was 'there'. And he wasn't leaving, despite her... _Momentary_ wishes.

...But what would happen if he did? Seto frowned as the question came to mind that evening, the woman leaning against the pillows of her bed as a small breeze came through the open window. The 'birthday' was long since over, power at the building shut down and presents given... The 'secret' that was the boy's tanabata escapade was, for now, a secret. But despite the somewhat relaxed feeling that came with the drive home the question still gnawed at the back of her mind. How would Mokuba react if Jonouchi was suddenly gone, vanished completely? According to Kyouko, to the rest of the staff, her own 'absence' had hit hard. But according to them...

The only thing that kept the boy from completely losing it in all of that was the combined fact that she would somehow come back... And the fact that Jonouchi and his 'friends' were there. There to distract him from any more depressing moments, to cheer him up. But if they were gone... If they were _gone_...

"...Tch..." The thought continued to badger her, with other muddled facts from upcoming events coming to mind. Battle City would start in twelve days, announced in ten in front of the Domino Museum, the latter of which had been a request from Ishizu that she would keep despite personal opinion of the woman. On the eighteenth the duel disks would be released to the public, and only those with a certain skill level recorded in the database she'd built would be given a disk with a locator card in it... With the number of 'high level' duelists, there would be slightly more than enough locator cards for eight finalists. She'd had the 'final location' decided in May, tasked Isono with the actual location that the cards would point out...

But she had no doubt the ghouls would swarm this city come that day. That was the purpose of the tournament after all... Lure them out, get the God cards, and she was not about to go back on that. If Yugi competed... Then that would be fine. She would have her fight with him then, something she was personally looking forward to. As it was the woman decided, from what Mokuba told her she would have better luck challenging him up front; evidentally tournaments, particularly 'ante' tournaments, 'weren't his thing'.

And even with that, Yugi had his 'Other', the one she wanted to fight, should the Ghouls target him... Well. There was no doubt that they would in the end, and that, in the end, they would more than likely suffer for it. The further into the finals anyone got, the more at risk someone would be, that was for certain. There were more cards than just the Gods after all... As it was, the only reason she was so certain they would come, outside the prospect of Obelisk, was the very 'Ante' rule that this tournament would have.

A rule that also, according to Mokuba, would quite likely keep Yugi out of the tournament. (Well, as long as they had the match...)

The Ghouls... Seto bit her lip, frown deepening as she sat in her bed. Bodies followed that gang, misfortune, death...

What would happen if...

"Tch!" She shook herself, gritting her teeth. "I don't have time to think about this," the woman muttered, lying back down on her bed with a growl. It was time to sleep... Tomorrow she would be going through the 'rankings' system to filter out who would and wouldn't be allowed in the tournament, along with going through the last few 'check ups' on the air-ship built for the tournament and she could deal with anything concerning the rankings then. She needed sleep... She'd certainly gone through enough trouble making sure Mokuba had his cake and ice-cream at an hour that wouldn't affect _his_ sleep patterns...

Mind as well make an effort of stabilizing her own...

Sleep, she told herself, closing her eyes.

Sleep...

* * *

But as her senses began returning to her, it became rather apparent that 'sleep' was not on her subconscious' schedule. If anything, it felt more like sending her into an oddly realistic dream was-

...

...God damn it not_ again_.

Seto groaned, eyes opening to meet with hard stone coated with sand that was almost identical in colour. It was night time from what she could tell, given the poor lighting... And in all honesty, when she'd failed to have another dream after Hanami, she'd gotten fairly confident in the fact that it wouldn't happen again...

Obviously she was _wrong_, and personally, she blamed her earlier phone call to Ishizu, a call that had formerly been made nothing more than a past annoyance by news of things like the airship being completed, the ranking system being almost complete... Somehow, Seto told herself grimly, that woman was the cause of this... "Tch..." She shook herself, attempting to stand only to frown'. What the...

She couldn't move... Not her face, not her hands... Nothing.

Outside her own control she felt her body pull itself upward despite those thoughts, heaving and coughing as a result of some foreign feeling of exhaustion that was over coming her. Fatigue washed over her and settled hard as she felt her own subconscious actions mirroring that of the 'body' she was in, groaning. Something heavy on her head was adjusted... A helm of sorts, she told herself, an odd feeling coming again as she attempted to narrow her eyes only for nothing to happen. "_Ung..._"

There was her voice again... But she wasn't speaking the woman noted, so how the he- Seto tensed, watching as tanned hands pushed her up from the ground before pulling out a sword of sorts from in front of her despite the weakness. Tan... Though her gaze lingered on her hands only briefly before fixing themselves on the ground from weakness a mere glimpse had been enough. Tan... She wasn't tanned...

Nor did she wear robes... God... Damn it all... Seto 'grit' her teeth, a low growl forming but nonetheless proving to refuse to come out as her body continued to move on its own. This... This was the 'Priest'! The robes, the helm, the skin... The same man... Woman, if the voice was any sign, that showed up in the same damn dream three weeks in a row! "Aggggghhh..." Alright... So she couldn't move, she was in the 'dream'...

...This... The woman's gaze moved upward somewhat, slow blinks closing over her vision as she looked around. The area she was in looked nothing like the last place her 'dream' took place in, with the ruined buildings amongst the desert... In fact, it didn't look like it at all. If anything, it looked more like a courtyard to a palace, or a temple, or... The woman's body tensed, shaking somewhat as she righted herself and turned to the side. "_...Akhenaden,_" the Priest muttered, voice as well disguised as her own would have been for most of the day. The body shook with laboured breathing, Seto forced to stare forward at a pair of figures some distance across from her with narrowed eyes. A pair of figures that momentarily had Seto stunned.

The first thing that caught her attention from the figures was the eye that the smaller bore, an eye which was locked in place by a mask that spawned a wig of flaming red hair. Gold... In the mask, there was... The woman 'swallowed', ignoring the steady silence that was being held between the two in the dream. The Millennium Ey-

"_My dear Set..._" The woman frowned, both mentally and physically at the comment as the figure across from them addressed 'her'._ "You were my greatest student you know,"_ the 'man' stated, white mask and gleaming gold eye staring forward from a grotesquely armored form. The 'Priest' shuddered in response, saying nothing as the red-maned being continued speaking, a flaming monster of almost crocodilian appearance standing loyally at its side... Snaking around the man with all the flexibility of a vile and endless serpent. "_Such a pity that it came to this," _'Akhenaden' continued, shaking his head and gesturing forward._ "We could have ruled all of the world together, under the power of this darkness... We would have run things as they should... Made things perfect..._" Darkness...

Ignoring the clearly faulty attempts to convince this 'Priest' to what was likely a darker path... Briefly their eyes drifted upward, narrowing further at the slight gold ring around a perfect orb of blackness. Well... Power of 'darkness'... That _was_ a solar eclipse up there... So apparently, it wasn't evening as she had thought. Huh. The woman felt her mouth move, words coming out yet again in the language that she both knew and didn't know. "_Tch... And just what use is a world of darkness," _she asked, a low growl forming in her throat._ "A world where all the people inhabiting it are either dead or dying, where no plants grow and the Ra's light never shines?_" The 'Priest' and Seto both stumbled, weakly holding the sword forward as they struggled for air in a weak attempt at a fighting stance. "_I may not have the power to face you with a monster from within another's soul,"_ the 'Priest' continued, tightening her grip on the blade and reminding Seto even more just how much her body was no longer her own,_ "But believe me when I say this 'Shadowed One'... I will fight until my last breath..._"

Silence filled the air, along with a blast of ominous wind. _"To hear that from the one I would have been proud to call a 'son' if ever I had one," _the being muttered, sky appearing to almost darken further as he spoke._ "Hmph. ...So be it,_" the monster spat, flaming servant charging forward. "_This is the end...!"_

"_Gh..._" They rolled off to the side, ducking under a blast of flames that singed the edge of the cloak on their shoulders. This wasn't real, Seto told herself repeatedly despite the heat that she felt against her arms. This wasn't her body she continued with a mental growl, this wasn't... "_HRAAAAAHHH!_" The Priest charged forward with the sword, metal clashing against fire only for the woman to pull back under the blaze. Flames surrounded their vision, burning their skin and with a swift and painful strike she was thrown back, body striking one of the pillars to the side. "_GHAK!_" Gh-...

"_SET,_" a voice called, tone higher and more panicked than the woman's own under normal circumstance. The woman struggled to stand, tongue bitten in shock as blood began to pool in her mouth. Coppery taste, a disgusting, vomit inducing feeling _and this wasn't REAL! _"_SET!_"

Still the woman struggled to stand, before across the air a 'ripple' seemed to pass... "_**GROOAAAAAAAAAOOOOO!**_"

And suddenly instead of flames, her weakened and closing eyes could make out white scales... And the massive form of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon, hovering protectively before her as she leaned against the pillar and chocked on her own blood. But how, she thought, the feeling shared by the memory as well. How...

"_SET,_" the voice continued to cry, Blue-Eyes charging a white hot blast of sparking flames as its opponent roared in aggravation. "_SEEEEEEE-T!"_

Suddenly...

The dream was over.

**

* * *

AN:** Wuaaaaaah, but what happens neeeeext!

Silly. You know what happens next. In any case, this chapter is somewhat shorter than the norm, mostly because any 'filler' portions of the next one are really kind of important in making that chapter flow properly. As it is, the next chapter takes us back into Canon, so lets cheer for that then!

As it is, the chapter also has a heavily dialogue based path again... And you know me... I don't do the 'purple prose' thing, if something is a takoyaki stand, _it's a takoyaki stand_. That's all there is to it... (So not too much description basically.)

Ooooon the other hand... Despite being shorter than the norm, this chapter actually touches on a lot of serious crap. I like to do that. I really do...

I guess that's one of the many ways I show my mean streak~ Now then.

News on 'Kul Elna'... I think I'll go with Hebrew. Mostly because of this irony; 'na' means to pray or beg... With the order that 'El' (God) and 'Na' are in, Kul Elna would effectively translate to 'The family _God _prays for.' A little bit of a bad omen there ah?

On to the next point!

**Poll results!** Deciding on whether I should put more dreams in the fanfic or make a separate one entirely to 'explain' the past... We have...

Dreams – 1 (Anonymous)

Fanfic - 0

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey there fsdfsdfsd! ...You're definitely excited! As you can see, your poll has been recorded above! Keep in mind that it's not _just_ Kaiba's dreams though... A lot of them are also Jonouchi's.

I don't think she can help it Iona; it's kind of like having someone repeat something over and over, until finally it's so annoying that you cut them off yelling '_YES, I KNOW. Such and such did this!_'

When you think of it like that, as rude as she is, she's actually taking things quite well… And true, it _IS_ Kaiba…

And don't worry! Jou won't make it too much of a habit; unlike Ishizu's constant onslaught of visions, Jounouchi only gets those flashes occasionally… And most of the time they don't have words in them. …In fact, in the last chapter, that conversation with his dad was actually a spur of the moment; a 'flash' directly before what happened so to speak… Basically, it was something so quick and seamless in terms of what was happening that he just _knew_. Like Otogi's cards in an earlier chapter…

He just _knew_ which ones they got. As for how he takes it, hehehehe... Neither of the above? Thankfully, people will realize in the end that something's not right with the duels that Jou is having, so he'll have more than just 'himself' to talk to about this.

...That came out wrong.

Polite Kaiba? WHERE. -shot- Hahaha, now that I think about it, it's probably not that uncommon; it's just that most of the people we see Kaiba interact with are either a) 'normal' and not people he likes or b) being annoying (Ishizu). Though one can never, never deny the fact that Kaiba is still more often than not a jerk. That much can be said.

It's always fun to do in-between-bits… Certain things like coming a little hard to type (This chapter is a BIG example actually…), but in the end, it's the in-betweens that make the major points tie in together.

As for what will shape up… Hehehehehehe… Like I said last chapter, many things will be happening with our return to Canon; personally, I can't wait to see the flying guesses as a result. Enjoy the chapter!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that can't decide which is better... Pets or manga?

* * *

Today's chapter comes from the translation of Tanabata; the kanji that spell it ('nana' and 'yuu' respectively) mean seven and evening. They're also pronounced very differently, and only when read as 'Tanabata'... The other readings for 'seven' are 'shichi' or 'nano', whereas evening gets 'seki

'.

* * *

Oddly enough, a lot of Tanabata Festivals, rather a lot of _LARGE_ ones are moved to a later point in the month so that school isn't interrupted. But our friends in Domino went to a smaller, local one, so... Yea.

* * *

When Otogi states that being a 'carp' means he'll become a 'dragon', he references an old tale in Japanese legend that a powerful carp who swims up a waterfall becomes a dragon.

This is actually why Pokemon has Magicarp and Gyarados; the weak, piece of crap fish becomes (essentially) a giant water-breathing dragon of mass destruction. Oddly enough, when you think about it, Otogi's name 'Ryuji' essentially means 'dragon child' so...

* * *

What's a Kappa you ask? It's a turtle-like monster in Japanese folklore with a parrot's beak, and is _very_ popular. Also not much to look at, which is more what Otogi was getting at. In myth, they were said to eat human entrails and blood... But they were very polite. If you encountered one, and you bowed, they would bow _very_ low in return. To escape the kappa, you had to do this until all the water that they held in their domed heads spilt out through their nose as they bowed actually... By doing that, they would be forced to return to the rivers that they resided in. (Don't try fighting them, they're rather good at it.)

Alternatively you could just give them a cucumber with your name carved in it, as cucumbers are their favourite food, ehehehe.

* * *

Turtle scooping may or may not be done using a 'pan' as opposed to the typical paper net occasionally; I believe that the use of the pan is made difficult because, depending on how you catch the turtle in it, it'll fall off… Or something like that. (You can find out by watching Keroro Gunso, where they actually do this.)

Turtle scooping can still be done with the pon though, so I opted to go with that. After all, they're only _baby_ turtles.

* * *

A lot of turtle scooping games have you trade in the turtles back for a prize of sorts, as otherwise, some people would leave with like... Ten, fifteen baby turtles. This probably happens with fish too...

* * *

As for what turtles are used specifically, it's probably the Red-Eared Slider, which are a water turtle that are fairly popular as pets in Japan… Not to mention 'small', given that they're about a foot large at the most. ...It's certainly the turtle I used here.

And yes, Yugi's going to have his work cut out for him with a turtle, but the fact is, it's a pet that will most assuredly live as long as he does and more importantly serves as another point of the 'Other' Yugi's personal being… It's a weird point (kinda like the mustard. And more recently the takoyaki.), but a point nonetheless.

* * *

Turtles, early on in Egyptian myth, never really had a purpose. They weren't remarkable or notable in any way… And then later on, due to being water creatures they were linked to the Underworld. In addition, they were linked to Set, and the night… And later on, they were linked to evil and darkness because of that association. Poor guys. Weird thing is that it was also associated with fighting Ra but… If they're associated with Set, who _protects_ Ra during the evening, then wh-

Oh _wait_, Set was downsized to the Ancient Egyptian equivalent of Satan after a bit of a falling out of belief. … Poor guy.

In any case, early early _early_ on turtles had a completely different role, and were seen as magical creatures that warded off evil, with turtle shell amulets prolonging the bearer's life and health. Much more fitting wouldn't you say? (Then they took the path you see above; 'pointless, dark, evil'. Hn.)

* * *

Turtle in Ancient Egyptian (Specifically when written in Hieratic and Hieroglyphics.) is 'Shetyw', 'Shetw', 'Sheta', or 'Shtyw'. (The Egyptian language doesn't really have any vowels… You can find proof of this in the fact that 'Set' can also be read as 'Sutekh', among many other things.)

I picked Sheta. Because it can actually be written in Japanese. Well, written much easier at least.

* * *

Why does Otogi know all those languages? If his Dad forced him to learn as much about the Puzzle as he did, along with the games, the myths behind it, and etc… He probably had him learn a few other things as well. Namely the languages that are tied to it. (The enochian is another plot hint, one that probably makes '10,000 years' from the cursed game's description earlier make a lot of sense.) This will actually help a lot during Doma, hehehehe.

In any case, when Otogi says he knows certain 'written' languages, this means that he can read and write them about as well as he says… But if anyone were to suddenly speak one of those thousands of years gone languages, it would take a fair bit for him to actually catch that they were… Well… Speaking in a foreign language that he somewhat knew.

This also means that asking him to help translating the hieratic text on the Ra card will get you _NO WHERE_. He'll probably get like... Three words out of 20, and that's it.

* * *

Enochian is an occult language that came around in the late 16th century, but in the anime, it's also the language used for the text on the Orichalcos cards. That's mostly the reason why Otogi actually goes on about this language with a straight face up there; the language, in the world of the fanfic, has been found a few times on other devices, so it's not considered 'occult'.

* * *

Yakitori are basically chicken skewers; you can essentially get any part of the chicken too, depending on what you order. (There's heart, liver, small intestine, etc… And then of course, the 'normal' meat.)

You know, when I think about it, so many countries out there actually bother finishing the entire chicken… We have pretty picky tongues.

* * *

On the other hand, takoyaki are essentially balls of batter wrapped around either chopped or baby octopus. Hence 'tako' in the name; it means 'octopus

'.

* * *

'Mizuyokan', 'Red Bean Cake', is a sort of cake from China and Japan, though both countries cook it differently. I was going for something that they would actually likely find at a festival really…

* * *

By the way, if you're wondering what Jou made Mokuba out of clay, it was his three goldfish, all swimming around a pearl-ball thing. Which are actually quite big now, and very nice to look at... Also, the pearl-ball thing is... Actually a ball that they mess around with. Isn't it great to learn about the silly things that happen in fanfic land that I never talk about?

...Yes, there's a picture of this below.

* * *

The flamey beast that replaced the weird demon-like one from the anime is _not_ based on Ammit… It's actually based on Apep, who, besides being represented by an 'endless' serpent half the time, was occasionally depicted as a crocodile as well... And is also the embodiment of evil itself. Even later on, a few appearances had a dragon, which was… Weird.

Either way, went with the crocodile since Bakura's Diabound already has the snake.

**

* * *

FanArt and My Art Section**

Time to paste the link and remove the spaces!

There's a lot of concept here, but not so much that it's too spoiler inducing. More 'mass guessing inducing'. Hehehe. Not to mention a bunch of designs for what happened above!

Spoilers- Concept- CRACKDoodles – Costume Fun – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ CostumeFun. jpg - In which many many designs are made, and whether or not the faces and hands look good is debatable. (But since it's design... I'm.. Not going back. They're called sketches for a reason neh?) Most of these are from the same arc, and if you look at the similarities between Kaiba and Yugi's outfits compared to a certain _other_ arc, you'll probably guess when we'll see these.

Now... If you full view, you'll see that as I was doing all this, I started doodling multiple chibi's in the blue 'sketch' layer. This is what happens when you plan _really_ far ahead in an arc... Needless to say, some of the chibi's are just as spoiler-y... And yet about 5-75% of the chibi's are just crazy little doodles that have nothing to do with the plot. (Mai-Zilla comes to mind...) In any case, enjoy!

Yukata Parade + 1 - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ YukataParade. jpg - Mrrrrr, Honda you're so out of place. *frown* Either way, lots of awesome here! Most of the design was more 'what colour fits with whom', though I had fun putting Anzu's hair up/back for once. And moving Otogi's ponytail which I've wanted to do for a very long time. (Hehehehe.) ...And yes, this is also on the 'Costume Fun' picture.

Fish-Turtles-Presents – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Fishnturtle. jpg - Hey look! We have the three (much bigger) fish, along with Sheta the turtle. (It's technically pronounced 'shiita' by the way. And not like the curse.) Da-da-daaaaa~ (As you can see, the sketch isn't finished. This is because I didn't want this chapter to be waiting on a sketch, ahahaha.)


	63. Chapter 62

**Shadows Tailing Shadows**

* * *

The fact that Tanabata and Mokuba's birthday were both over and done with was probably a thing that made the nearness of 'exams' far more evident than it had been before, particularly after Sunday had been pushed out of the way. In a mere instant Shizuka's annoyed shouts of '_study nihan_!' became a fairly haunting reminder, as the fact was, with Tanabata out of the way...

There had only been one week of school left. Four days of which had been exams, and the last of which became the day for 'score card bingo'... In other words, the day when the marks of every student in the school would literally be posted for all to see in the hallway... Names included. All in all, after an already hair-wrenching and aggravating experience with trying and failing to remember what the hell kind of equation applied to the math exam and anything else that had to do with his other classes, Katsuya was personally trying to pay more attention to 'score card bingo'... Rather than what sort of phone call he would have to expect from his mother once she got wind of his marks.

Because while he would admit that they were _slightly_ higher than the year before, when he'd effectively placed dead last out of his grade... He was definitely not in the 'average' range, and the fact was, Honda and Yugi still both beat him, with all three of them sitting somewhere in the three-hundred range. Again. On the other hand...

"Okay," the boy beside him muttered, looking over his card before glancing back up at the top fifty on the mark postings. "I got numbers 50, 32 for 'girl'..."

Mokuba was sure having fun kicking his ass at this game. "Man..." The blond laughed somewhat as he rubbed his head, looking at the boy's card. "I've got th' worst luck w' this, honestly," Katsuya muttered with a nervous laugh, rubbing his head as he looked over his card. Marking off each number as 'girl' or 'boy', from start to finish with his numbers...

He got two lines. Both diagonal. The others however... Katsuya looked at the other two, watching as Honda shook his head and held his own up with a shrug. "Three..."

Bakura as well nodded, blinking. He'd decided to join in earlier after Yugi asked him about it... And he was probably the only one besides Mokuba in the group that wouldn't get the comment of 'CLASS NOT GAMES' as a result. "The same here," he said quietly, before turning to the others.

"Hahaha!" The others turned as there was a slight rustling, Mokuba stowing his pens in his pockets before holding his own card up. "I got four," the boy said with a grin, laughing. "Beat that!"

At this Yugi looked over, his other hovering beside him with raised eyebrows. "Ah, you got four," he asked, looking over the card before glancing back at his. "Then... Hah! That means we tied," he said with a laugh, eyes wide. "Wow!"

W-W-W-Wait, what? Someone managed to- "T-Tied," Honda repeated, blinking. "Can that even happen," he continued, Mokuba and Yugi both opting to ignore the sputtering as they compared cards.

"You know," Anzu said with a grimace, standing behind the boys as they looked over their cards and tapping her foot somewhat impatiently. "I don't know about what was 'at stake' for this round of bingo," the woman said with a shrug, "But... You should probably look at your own scores... Bakura is probably okay," she added, gesturing to the 'top 100' at the side, "But..." The rest was left unsaid.

The three Anzu referred to in question winced, Katsuya shaking his head as he paled. "'D rather not," he said with a grimace, rubbing the back of his neck as Shizuka's shouts of 'study!' came back to mind again. "Really would rather not..."

"Yea," Mokuba muttered, looking back at the board nervously. "I don't think even I _want_ to tell your mom what your score was Katsuya-nii..." Gee. Gee thanks...

"I'm sure you'll do better next time right," Bakura asked, attempting to console the three 'dead-lasts' as they flushed. A short silence came as a result, grimaces still in place. Not... Likely.

Honda shook his head, edging his way back through the crowd as the silence continued to persist. "In any case," he decided, opting to break it before it got too awkward, "How about we get out of the swarm, seeing how schools pretty much out for the summer?" Good plan! The others nodded in response, slowly shoving their way through the crowd and into the next hall as their friend continued. "Any ideas on what to do next," he asked, turning to the others momentarily as he tossed his bingo card into the trash. "Maybe Burger World..?"

The others shared looks at that, likely considering their options before Katsuya shook his head. "Sorry man," he said with a wince, the group coming to a slight stop as they turned the corner. "Startin' t'day I'm on summer hours; it's night shifts 'till th' end 'f August fr'm now on, an' Burger World's in th' opposite direction..." Which really _sucked_, but damn if having lunch for breakfast wasn't fun sometimes.

While Mokuba nodded the 'affirmative' on that, Honda sighed, pulling a face as he crossed his arms. "Sheesh," he muttered, shaking his head. "How tied down to that job are you..."

"Well... Kaiba-kun _does_ provide him with housing," Bakura stated calmly, arms held somewhat loosely around his front as he frowned. This tended to be the 'default' pose for him recently to say the least, and he personally had a nasty feeling he knew why... Either way. "From what I can tell," the albino continued, pulling the blond beside him from his thoughts, "Despite the large number of hours it isn't actually that bad... Wouldn't the school have normally refused his continued studies here otherwise," he asked, turning to Mokuba with the remark.

Mokuba again nodded, smirking as he adjusted the bag he'd been carrying. "Hehehe... Yep! Nii-sama made sure that wouldn't happen," he explained with a somewhat dark grin, "Trust me on that..."

"Er..." Honda blinked, raising his eyebrows and turning to Katsuya. "_Kaiba_ did that?" Yea yea, so it was weird...

Katsuya shrugged, waving the topic off and stowing his hands in his pockets. "Eh... 'S prolly b'cause I don' get as much pay," he muttered, again shrugging it off.

"That would explain it I suppose," Bakura continued, nodding shortly. The boys paused for a moment as they fell silent again, before turning to look around rather blankly at the hall. "Ah..."

"Hey, where did Yugi go," Honda muttered, looking up and down the hall in an attempt to locate both the boy and Anzu as well.

They continued to look around, frowning somewhat before watching as Mokuba poked his head around the corner. "Over here," he whispered, waving them over and turning back. The teens followed, blinking as they spotted their friends standing some distance away. They were obviously talking about something... But just what was it about... The others moved somewhat closer to the corner, narrowing their eyes in an attempt to listen in on the couple.

"What'r they talkin' abou-"

"Shh," Mokuba hissed under his breath, the other two as well giving Katsuya a short 'look'.

The blond ducked somewhat, shaking himself as he continued to listen in. Sheesh, just asking... "_Anyways_," Anzu was saying, grabbing a few things from her locker and occasionally turning to Yugi as she spoke, "_Mai mentioned that she would be coming by sometime this summer,"_ the woman stated calmly,_ "So we should probably keep an eye out..._" Mai was coming? Huh... Guess she had another job...

"_R-Right,"_ Yugi said in response, nodding as he looked up somewhat at his friend. Briefly, it looked as though the boy's 'other' would be taking part in this conversation as well, with the spirit misting into existence at the boy's side as his lighter half continued muttering away. However, after a few less than successful attempts by the spirit to instil conversation Katsuya noted, he opted to hover back by the others instead.

"Wait," he muttered, frowning as he turned back from the three in front of him. Briefly Bakura moved, apparently considering turning around, but in the end opted to merely continue listening in. "You c'n move tha' far from 'im," the blond continued with raised eyebrows, voice held as low as possible.

The spirit merely shrugged, shaking his head. '_He's blocked me,_' the other Yugi said rather plainly, blinking. '_I tried to get in,' _he continued with a slight frown,_ 'But whatever it is he's talking about he won't tell me what it is..._' What..? The blond again frowned, blinking. Was that even possible..?

"_So later on Marine Day,_" Yugi was continuing in the hall, Katsuya and the other Yugi both turning their attentions to the conversation. "_Are you free around ten,_" he asked, the eavesdroppers in question raising their eyebrows at the words.

"_Ten,_" Anzu repeated, blinking. For a moment she frowned, before smiling and giving an affirmed nod. "_I'd say so..._"

Yugi instantly beamed, grinning. "_Great,_" he shouted, before running off down toward the school's entrance. "_I'll see you at the bus stop then, alright?_"

At this Anzu balked, turning to chase after the boy with wide eyes. "_E-Eh..? Wait, Yugi..!_"

Oooookay... "What on earth are they going to do," Honda muttered as they moved from the corner, Katsuya turning to look at the other 'Yugi' with raised eyebrows.

'_I... I think he finally took my advice,'_ he muttered with a grin, before laughing 'loudly' and looking back down the hall. '_Ahaha! He finally d-_' There was a sudden 'cut off' as the spirit 'vanished' unceremoniously, Katsuya jumping somewhat as he was met with empty space. Hang on, where... ...Woah...

Guess distance was something they were working on, if the other Yugi was being pulled back like _that_... "This should be good huh," Honda said with a grin, the three turning to Katsuya as the blond looked back and quickly mirrored the expression. "Ten on Marine Day..."

Hell, disappearing spirits aside... Yes, yes it would be. "Hehehe... Damn straight," he said with a laugh, stretching his arms out somewhat as an idea formed. "Looks like Yugi's finally goin' out on a date..!"

"O-Oi, Katsuya-nii," Mokuba said with a slight laugh, looking at the blond. "You aren't seriously thinking of following them are you..?"

There was no answer as Honda and Katsuya traded smirks, Bakura sighing. "I really don't think this is a good idea," he said with a frown, the other two merely ignoring him as they continued on.

"Ten o clock at the bus stop eh..?" Hehehe, that's what they said... "Which one you think," Honda asked, still grinning.

"Knowin' Yugi," Katsuya asked, also still grinning despite the looks on Bakura and Mokuba's faces, "I'd say th' Domino Mall stop downtown; it's th' half way point be'tween his an' Anzu's stops," he continued, the grin somehow widening as he went on.

"Are you two even listening," Bakura asked incredulously, staring at the two with mild shock.

Mokuba merely sighed, shaking his head and crossing his arms. "What ever," he muttered, giving the two an unimpressed look before rolling his eyes. "I'm going to be with Seto-niisama on Marine Day anyways," he muttered darkly, "It's not my fault if you two are caught..."

Bakura as well sighed, biting his lip as the other two turned toward them with blank looks in place. "I think I'll sit out as well," he admitted, before turning to leave with a nervous frown. "I hope you both don't end up in trouble though," the albino continued, bowing his head somewhat at the thought. "I don't think Anzu's the most 'merciful' concerning stalkers..."

Katsuya shuddered at that, swallowing as he recalled the 'inspiration' to that comment. Hihhhh... Given what happened at the one amusement park... Yeaaa... Definitely not... "Oh hey..." The others turned, blinking as Otogi came from up the hall and adjusted his bag. "I was looking for you guys... Wanted to ask you something actually," he continued, before blinking as Mokuba approached him. "Ah... Mokuba?"

"Hah... Just in time," he said with a grin, the others raising their eyebrows.

"...Just in time," the teen repeated, frowning.

"Monday, ten o 'clock at the downtown mall bus stop," Mokuba said, pointing at Katsuya and Honda both. "_Please_ make sure they don't do something stupid," the boy added, laughing nervously as the two teens in question reeled on him.

"S-Stupid," Honda asked incredulously, face going somewhat red.

"Oi oi, what do you take us for..?"

Otogi as well shook himself, frowning for a completely different reason. "Ah... What?"

"You'll understand in the end," Mokuba said with a shrug, before running off with a wave. "See you! And don't get caught Katsuya-nii!"

"O-Oii," the blond shouted loudly, turning to look down the hall as the boy fled. "If you're so worried, how come you ain't comin'!"

"What's going on," Otogi asked with a blank frown, looking at Katsuya with narrowed eyes.

Bakura sighed, biting his lip as he looked at the teen. "It's probably best not to ask Otogi-kun..."

"N-No seriously," he said with a slight laugh, "What the hell is..."

In the end, they probably shouldn't have been too surprised when Otogi was just as on board with the idea as they were, though he did seem particularly ticked that they hadn't just told him to begin with.

* * *

Marine day brought a few things for everyone to think about to say the least that day, but to start it all off, getting to the bus stop was fairly easy. Avoiding the attention of Yugi and Anzu, who were meeting at the stop ahead of theirs was another thing... But even so, they'd managed. "Alrigh'," Katsuya said with a grin, looking around the corner of the mall as he spotted Anzu greeting Yugi. "They're meetin' up..." Couldn't tell what they were talking about, but they were meeting up, with Yugi (as usual) wearing his school uniform jacket... (At least he'd stopped wearing the entire thing all the time...)

"Hey how come you get to be the 'one in front'," Honda muttered somewhat annoyedly, only to be shushed by Otogi.

Katsuya rolled his eyes, turning back to the two for a moment. "B'cause you were in front las' time, alrigh'," the blond muttered, shaking his head. "Now..." He tensed, stiffening as a sudden and violent rush of wind and energy passed by from where Yugi was standing, only for the blond to watch as the 'Other Yugi' rather angrily started shouting at the puzzle a number of feet away. "...Uhhhhhh..."

"What," Honda asked, pushing against the blond's back somewhat, "What's going on?"

"...He jus' switched out."

"What?" The blond was quickly pushed down further as the other two looked over, eyes wide as 'Yugi' and his 'date' continued on some sort of unheard conversation. "...Why the hell would Yugi set up a date between Anzu and his _other_," Honda asked incredulously, staring. "I mean... Yugi's been after Anzu since..." Since before they even knew him, that was for sure!

"Well," Otogi said with a shrug, the others momentarily turning their attention to the teen. "You have to admit, he hasn't been out that much unless you count Tanabata..." Given that they had no clue about the spirit thing of course... Because the other Yugi was all over that, not to mention any other time he'd seen him. "Not to mention," he trailed off, frowning. "He's actually been looking a little depressed..."

Depressed? How was he..? Katsuya blinked confusedly at that, before turning to look at their 'targets' and tensing as the couple they were watching began moving their way. Ohhhh shit! "Gh-! Quick, hide," he hissed, the three ducking away into a series of bushes as Anzu and Yugi both passed by. A few short rustling noises hit the air as they poked through the leaves, a few holding their breath lest one of the two spot them. Okay... One second... Two... Three... Katsuya looked out from the leaves, letting out a long and relieved sigh. "Phew..." Alright, the blond mentally muttered, shaking himself, deal with the depression later... For now... "Alrigh', time t' follow them," he whispered, slowly skipping ahead while keeping a fair distance between them.

"Right... It looks like they're just heading into the starbucks across the street," Otogi said somewhat quietly, the three teens carefully keeping to the crowds as they avoided the couple's sight. They watched as the couple took a seat near the window, silent for a few moments before Otogi turned back. "...You're oddly good at tailing people," he stated, eyebrows raised. Briefly, Honda and Katsuya exchanged looks at that, their friend merely shaking his head rather than waiting for an answer. "...Something tells me this is another thing that I'm 'better off no knowing'..."

"Y-Yea," Katsuya muttered with a cough, shaking his head. "Something like that..." Lots of things really...

"You know," Honda muttered, the trio slowly making their way closer to the cafe, "I didn't notice with Yugi's uniform jacket on earlier..." But..? The teen shook himself as they looked through the window of the Starbucks from behind another bush and pillar before continuing with raised eyebrows, "But he's wearing _a lot_ of chains..."

"Well, besides what I saw when he came to... My store," Otogi said after a short awkward pause, shrugging the point off fairly easily, "We don't really know what sort of fashion sense he has..."

Huh... Supposed so... Katsuya tilted his head somewhat, squinting as they looked through the window. "...Looks kinda weird on 'm act'lly..."

"You think," Otogi asked, blinking. He turned back, eyebrows raised as he again shrugged. "Personally," he muttered offhandedly, "It seems fairly fitting..." ...Kay... Um...

"Damn it, what the hell are they saying," Honda muttered, narrowing his eyes as the two beside him turned from their conversation. Heh?

Katsuya looked back in the window, squinting somewhat as he studied the couple. Honda had a point, what _were_ they s-

'_He's worried about you,_' he could hear Anzu saying, despite the fact that her mouth wasn't moving. Katsuya grew tense, stiffening just briefly before attempting to calm himself even as he heard the woman's voice in his mind.

'_About me,_' the Other Yugi responded, despite Anzu's own mouth moving at the time. The blond momentarily ignored his friend's mutterings of not hearing anything, swallowing back a slight shout as the 'conversation' continued. '_When he hides things like this under a uniform jacket,'_ he asked, gesturing to his outfit only in the blond's mind and not in reality._ '...We both have a long road ahead of us,_' he continued, Anzu again stopping her mouth from moving as Katsuya frowned. _Now _his friend was gesturing to his outfit... But why..._ 'We both need to figure out who we are,'_ the teen continued rather seriously,_ 'And what we're going to do..._'

What... What was this... The blond shook himself, staring as the two before him continued to talk, words again 'hidden' from him. Alright, so he couldn't hear anything again but... What were they talking about... Hell, he thought with a fairly cold feeling, did he even _hear_ that or...

He continued to pale, biting his lip. Flashes of what was _going_ to happen was all he ever had, something he'd _mostly _gotten used to in the end... So how...

"Hey, I think they're moving," Otogi muttered, jarring Katsuya back to reality as the blond swallowed. Moving again... "Come on," he added with a slightly louder tone, moving from the bushes as the couple they were following walked out of the building. "Let's go! It looks like they're cutting through the park..!" A-Ah!

"Right," Katsuya said with another nod, the three hurriedly following after as they pushed through the crowd. "Right..." Probably be best to just forget about 'weird crap' for today...

"Hey, is Anzu holding a bagel," Honda muttered, the trio continuing toward the park. Katsuya blinked, looking forward the the small bit of food in Anzu's hand. Hang on... A bagel..?

'_Hey,_' a voice muttered in his mind, the blond instantly recognizing it as Anzu's._ 'Let's try feeding some pidgeons..._'

Yugi 'turned' at that, nodding despite his real counterpart doing no such thing. '_Erm... Okay..._'

'_It's easy,'_ Anzu continued, ripping the bagel in half,_ 'Just take some bits of bagel..._'

Hang on, they were both going to turn around before th- Oh shit. "Gh- stop moving, stop moving," the blond hissed, pulling the two beside him into a bush as Anzu and Yugi both abruptly came to a stop. The couple before them paused for a moment at the edge of the small park, turning as the loud rustling came from behind before coming to an abrupt stop. Nothing, it was nothing...

"Ow!"

"Oi, Jonouchi," Honda hissed, only to get a finger in his face.

"Shhh!"

The teens glared at each other, before Otogi shook himself and looked out through the bushes to see if they would be caught or not. So far nothing... "Sheesh," Honda muttered, following his friend's gaze and scowling. "No need to be that rough..."

Katsuya rolled his eyes, merely looking around the tree amid the bushes and swallowing fairly nervously as the two before him began repeating the very lines he'd already heard. Again and again... Hell if he wanted he could mouth each word perfectly right now. Even so... "Well," he muttered, swallowing back another slight panic attack, "It w's either that 'r get caught..." There was no answer to that, Katsuya not moving his eyes from the two before them as they fell silent.

Speaking of caught... The blond blinked, stiffling a laugh as Yugi abruptly started waving off a few approaching birds. "_A-Ah, they... Really like you Yugi,_" Anzu said with a somewhat nervous smile, the teen in question still holding the bagel as the numerous pigeons began flocking toward him. Yugi for his part was trying and failing (badly) at keeping his composure under the assault... This quickly degraded into frantic waving however, with Anzu looking over rather nervously. "_Ah... Are you..._"

"_Gh-"_ The teen continued to ignore Anzu, instead tossing the bagel away as birds continued to heckle him._ "Wh-What's with these birds..!_" Who knew, but Anzu was certainly right.

They _loved_ him. "Oh this is good," Otogi whispered with a laugh, staring with a dumbfounded grin in place.

"Is..." Honda choked, shaking himself as he watched the pigeons swarm their friend. "...Are some of those things sitting on his hair..?"

"Gh... Hahaha..." Katsuya hurriedly turned back from the sight and bit his tongue, ducking down in the bush lest they get caught. "Aw man... I c'n only guess a' Yug's expression fr'm inside that puzzle..." He sighed, still grinning before turning to Otogi with a frown as he watched the teen dig around in his pockets for something. "...Oi," he muttered, "What're y' doin..?"

He turned, pulling out his phone and carefully aiming it through the bush without looking back at the others. "What does it look like," he whispered, Honda and Katsuya both staring at him blankly for a few moments.

"Hey, you aren't planning on..."

"Lets see," Otogi muttered, looking at the screen. "Video... Reco-"

"Oi!" The teen was quickly tackled to the ground, birds abruptly fleeing the scene as shouts filled the air. Ignoring the coughing that Honda was doing as he tackled the other in the group of three, Katsuya reached forward in an attempt to grab the device from Otogi as the teen held it as far out as possible. "G-Gimme th' phone!"

"What th-" The teen struggled, attempting to worm his way out with a scowl. "Get off me!"

"Ahhhh... Guys," Honda muttered, the teen looking over the bushes before turning back.

The others continued to ignore him, Katsuya continuing to struggle at snatching the phone from the one beneath him. "Give it, give it!"

"What? No! No way-"

"Guys!" The two turned, watching as Honda hurriedly fled across the number of bushes at the side before sharing fearful glances. Alright if Honda ran off at that speed...

Shit. "Gh... Go go go go go," Katsuya hissed rather loudly, scrambling up from the ground before diving under a nearby bench as the two that they were following walked over. A few moments passed, the sound of bushes being stepped over and birds settling down meeting their ears as Katsuya spotted his best friend's legs pass by the bench.

"..._What was that,_" Yugi muttered, looking around with a frown as the others held their breath. The teen continued to walk closer, Katsuya biting his lip as he edged back. "_I could have sworn I heard someone..._"

"_It was probably just a few kids playing around,_" Anzu said with a shrug, shaking her head as she moved past the bench. "_It's nothing..." _Exactly... Nothing... So please don't look under the bench... Her friend nodded somewhat hesitantly, before turning as the woman pointed off to a row of streets beyond the small park. "_Come on,"_ she said with a laugh, pulling Yugi over. "_Let's hit the town! Maybe you'll find something you like!"_

There was a short pause, an uncomfortable silence filling the air before their friend nodded and moved past the bench again. _"...Right... Lets go._"

As the two slowly made their way off, Katsuya had to let out a long sigh of relief. "Hahhhh... Damn that w's close," he muttered, collapsing to the ground as Otogi looked over his phone.

"...Damn," he muttered, folding it back over and stowing it in his pocket. "Nothing..."

The other two shook their heads, small grins coming in place now that the situation was over and done with. Hahaha...

Good.

* * *

After the close call at the park, things had progressed far more safely to say the least of things, with Katsuya and the others keeping at least twenty feet or so between themselves and their 'targets'. As Anzu had said, she and Yugi did indeed hit the town... Or at least attempted to really, given that so far each store they went to was only 'browsed' a few moments before moving on to the next one. So far, not counting any glances at windows before heading for the next crosswalk, they'd gone into a CD store... And bought nothing.

Then they went to a few clothing stores, likely at Anzu's request, all of which were actually tuned fairly closely to whatever interests tied into Yugi's current outfit... And bought nothing. They even went into a _theatre_ at one point, Anzu having pointed at the main movie advertised and gleefully pulling Yugi in...

Only to walk out two minutes later with a bored looking expression on Yugi's face, and an exasperated one on Anzu's. It didn't take a genius to realize that in the end... They bought nothing.

Until now. At a card store. Which Yugi had (with a barely hidden smirk to top it off) apparently not seen before and so... '_I wonder what's inside... We should go look!_' Ahahaha... "Man," Otogi muttered, the three teens sitting on a bench a short distance away from the store. It was probably only the fact that Otogi 'happened' to decide to bring food along with him that either of them were still there actually... Though the fact was, now that the food was gone... "They've been in there for at least two hours..."

"Aghhh... Should have brought my psp," Honda groaned under his breath, yawning somewhat as he slumped forward. Food was gone. Time to complain.

Katsuya shrugged, leaning against the bench arm with a bored expression in place as he looked across the street. "It... Can't be tha' much longer righ..?"

The other two turned, staring somewhat incredulously in response. "It's Yugi... The 'other Yugi'," Otogi clarified with a frown as he pointed. "In a card shop."

"Which really figures," Honda muttered quickly, gaining a look from Katsuya in response. "What?"

"Oiii," he grumbled, sitting up with a frown. "What's wrong with cards..."

"Nothing," he said flippantly, shrugging as he crossed his arms. "I just find it's all you and Yugi ever talk about..." H-Heh!

He paled, gritting his teeth as he protested. "Th-That ain't true!"

"Oh yea," Honda challenged, eyebrows raised. "Name _one time_ in the last week that you talked about something other than-"

"Hey!" The pair turned as Otogi moved from the bench, jerking his head to the side as he continued moving down the street. "They're moving again." E-Eh! They blinked, before catching a glimpse of the two in question crossing the road ahead to turn down another.

Shit! "Ri-Right..!" The others stood and took off behind the 'targets', Katsuya again taking the lead as they continued to follow Anzu and Yugi downtown. Lets see... It looked like Anzu had effectively given up on taking Yugi to any other stores, given that she wasn't even looking... And given how long they were in the last one, she was likely avoiding any game and card stores...

"Hey, isn't that the arcade," Honda whispered, the trio looking around a pillar as the couple entered the open building.

"Yea, it is," Katsuya muttered. The blond frowned somewhat, moving around the pillar in question after a few moments when he was sure no one was leaving. "When was th' las' time Anzu went to an' arcade though..?"

Otogi shrugged, before crossing his arms and leaning against the pillar. "Don't ask me," he muttered, "I've only known you lot for a few months..."

"Didn't she constantly turn us down for her job," Honda added, the teens recalling the last time they'd offered an 'invitation' to the arcade.

"Yea," Katsuya said in response, "How'd that las' one end again..?"

The teen shrugged, shaking his head. "I think she's still working at that engraving store actually..."

"Come to think," Otogi muttered, eyes trained on the arcade, "I did see her there when I went to get a new earring..."

The other two turned to look at Otogi as the teen said this, both blinking. "Oh yea... Never noticed that y' had a new one 'f those..." He knew he had that die but this one looked more like...

A different die?

Otogi rolled his eyes, smirking as he turned back from the arcade briefly. "That's because 'earrings' are on the list of things against school protocol... Now..." They looked back at the building, only to hurriedly duck back behind the pillar as Anzu skipped out with a loud shout with Yugi behind her.

"_WHOO! Man! That was FUN,_" the woman shouted cheerfully, her partner merely looking at the woman with a somewhat dumbfounded smile._ "Let's go to..._" ...And there went the volume. But wowwww... Loud enough..?

The three turned around the pillar, looking at the couple before trading looks in the resulting silence. "Does... Anyone else feel like we missed something," Otogi asked after a few moments, looking back at the other two as they continued to disappear down the street.

Katsuya shrugged, shaking his head. "Er..."

"YES," Honda said flatly, rubbing his head as well.

Right... Katsuya coughed, before looking back around the building and charging ahead. "Oi, we need t' move if we wanna keep up wi' these guys..." The other two nodded, quickly joining with their friend as the blond took off down the street. Despite the crowd that was building, it was fairly easy to tell where the two were at the moment... "Look's like Anzu's sick 'f down town fun," he noted, watching as the couple crossed another street before turning onto a more 'empty' one.

"Or something," Honda muttered, looking around his friend at the 'targets'. "...Hey," he continued, frowning as they continued down the road, "Does this street seem familiar..?"

"It's the route the bus would normally take to the museum," Otogi muttered, also frowning as he glanced back behind them. "...I thought Anzu and lived on the other end of the city though..."

Honda nodded, the three teens slowly following behind their friends as the buildings continued to 'thin out'. "Yea, just a few blocks away from my house actually," he muttered, a frown coming over his own face. "So why..."

The museum... The blond tensed somewhat as their friends again turned the corner, staring. "O-Oi," he muttered, eyes wide. "They're going into the museum..!"

"Eh?" The others turned, following Katsuya's gaze as they spotted the couple walk into the immense building that stood across the street from them. Now why... "Oh come on," Honda moaned, leaning back against the wall at the side. "The museum doesn't close for another four hours, they'll be in there until the last minute..!"

"Wait... Anzu's into ancient history," Otogi asked with raised eyebrows, looking at the others blankly.

"Naw, but Yugi is," Katsuya answered, before moving toward the museum.

Honda blinked, turning as the blond moved forward. "H-Hey, where the hell are you going," he 'shouted', somehow keeping his voice down enough in case their 'targets' hadn't yet gone inside.

The blond smirked, turning to the two behind him with a grin. "What does it look like," he answered with a laugh, "I'm followin' them! It ain't like th' arcade, there's plenty 'f space t' put b'tween 's in there!" Hell, it was probably as big as the school really...

At this the others traded looks, before Otogi gave a somewhat relaxed shrug and followed along. "Well," he muttered calmly, shaking his head, "It's better than waiting outside..."

"Gh- If we get caught..."

"Then it'll probably be your own fault," the teen countered, looking back at Honda with a smirk, "You're the one shouting."

"_Otogi_..."

Katsuya sighed, shaking his head as they went over to the front desk in the lobby. "By th' way, I ain't payin' for you guys," he said with a grin, stopping behind another pillar to wait for their 'targets' to get their own passes and move on. "So if y' didn' bring anythin', y' mind as well find a spot outside!"

Honda blinked, tensing somewhat. "Wait... What..!"

"Well," the one beside him muttered, pulling out his wallet, "I have enough for myself..."

"Gh- Otogi!"

The teen turned, staring at his friend rather unimpressively. "It's 1000 yen," he muttered, "You can afford that..."

Honda flushed, digging his hands in his pockets before turning away. "I would if I'd brought my wallet..."

Huh... At this the others blinked, trading glances before Otogi sighed. "Fine," he growled, pulling another handful of cash from the wallet. "You're paying me back when we get back home though..."

"Yea, yea..."

Wait, they were still in the same house? Katsuya turned from where he was still watching Yugi and Anzu, momentarily glancing back to spot the two vanish off into the museum. Waiting a few more moments before he and the others moved over to enter the line, the blond turned back, frowning. "I thought you were movin' back with yer dad once he was discharged from th' hospital," the blond muttered, staring at Otogi somewhat blankly as the teen shifted somewhat.

"Yea... About that," Honda said with a cough, also shifting uncomfortably with the topic.

There was a long wave of silence, Otogi turning away with a somewhat distant look before answering. "Dad was determined... 'Unfit for care'," the teen said somewhat quietly, the tone greatly contrasting from his usual confident air. Another awkward silence settled over the group, their friend shifting again as he continued. "I'm looking for an apartment for now..."

"...Oh..."

"Yea..."

"Eh... ...Right... Ah..." Katsuya turned, coughing as the line moved. Awkward, awkward... "Sorry abou'..."

"Just change the subject," Otogi muttered darkly, twirling a set of dice in his fingers as he moved past the others. Where did he- "A pass for my friend and myself please," the teen continued as he handed his money to the front, gesturing for Honda to join him and grab their museum passes.

Honestly, changing the subject and putting it as far back behind them as possible was probably the better of ideas for now. "Ah, an' one f'r me," Katsuya added as he came to the front himself, mentally shaking himself again as he handed over his own money.

"Alright," the sales person stated politely, handing them each a ticket before bowing her head politely. "Enjoy your visit!"

And they were off... "Okay," Honda said with a stretch, sending his ticket through the machine as the others followed behind into the museum's main exhibit hall. "So where do you think they headed first..?"

Otogi smirked, already walking ahead of his friends as they left the 'main entrance'. "Ancient Egypt," he said with a shrug, briefly turning to the others as they walked behind him. "Where else?"

"Now that I think about it," Katsuya muttered, hands stowed in his jacket pockets as they started off down the artifact lined hall, "Yugi's been going on an' off abou' th' exhibit ever since it showed up in th' paper..."

"Yea... But didn't he tell Bakura he wouldn't go until whatever he was working on was done," Honda muttered, turning to the others.

The two shrugged, shaking their heads in response. "I don't know... What was it that Bakura was working on exactly," Otogi whispered, the three coming to a stop outside the Egyptian exhibit lest they run into Anzu and Yugi.

"Ehh... Some sort 'f display t' go with th' rest 'f the tablets an' stuff," Katsuya answered, momentarily wondering just what it was exactly.

"Maybe a scale model of something," Honda added, leaning against a blank space in the wall. "I don't know..."

"Hello."

"HAHH!" The teens jumped as a woman approached them from the exhibit room, Katsuya momentarily growing pale as he recognized the woman Seto had met a few months prior. What was her name, Ishizu..? Y-Yea... That was it... "A-Ahh... You..."

"You... Aren't you the woman from the paper," Honda muttered, Otogi as well staring as he nodded an affirmative to himself.

"You're... The Secretary General of..."

All at once, whatever the two beside him were saying was drowned out by the sound of his own pulse, blood rushing through his ears as he swallowed back his panic. As Ishizu looked forward at them it appeared that two hands came from the necklace around her throat, two flat and freakishly mutated hands resembling fragments of galaxies, empty space... With the eyes on the palms facing forward, hair thin limbs reached toward them...

With fingers as long as an unsharpened pencil diving directly into the foreheads of the two beside him mere seconds later. Katsuya grew pale, swallowing back a shout as he looked at the two from the corner of his eye, the both of them merely staring forward at Ishizu in confusion. No reaction... There was no reaction there were hands with _eyes_ on them in their _heads _doing god knew _what_ and yet...

The hands retreated. Sound returned despite his panic, leaving a rush of cold in its place and the woman before him continued to stare at them in silence. A frown... Briefly she looked at him with a frown, before averting her gaze and speaking. "...You two," she said calmly, eyes moving from Honda to Otogi and not once stopping to pause on the blond between them. "...If I were you," she finally said after a moment, ignoring the pale and fearful expressions of the three, "I would leave before your friends catch you..."

"W-what..." The teens watched as the woman moved away without another word, before slowly turning back to Katsuya. "J-Jonouchi," Honda muttered, voice trembling as he struggled to keep the tone down, "She was definitely looking at me and Otogi... Why the hell wasn't she talking to you..?"

"H-How th' fuck would I know," the blond muttered in a panic, swallowing again as he looked at the others. Damn it damn it damn it, this wasn't... It wasn't... "I ain't her!"

"Maybe so," Otogi said calmly, somehow managing to keep his composure despite the situation, "But didn't you say that Kaiba had a meeting with that same woman..?" Well, he did say 'secretary general' but... Um... He'd never said...

"_So that tablet,_" they abruptly heard from the room at the side, footsteps echoing through the halls.

"Shit," Honda muttered before Katsuya could answer, looking around the pillar with wide eyes. "They're coming this way..!"

"There's no room behind this pillar," Otogi hissed, stumbling back with a swallow. "Run, run..!" Honda nodded hurriedly with the suggestion, barreling down the hall behind the pillars with Otogi just a hair ahead of him.

"O-OI," Katsuya hissed, reaching out as he tripped back from the side of the pillar, "Wait f-" The blond tensed, hurriedly pulling himself back behind the pillar as Anzu and Yugi's footsteps came closer. Sh-Shit, not time to hide..! This pillar was barely as wide as he was, it-

Wait... The blond paled, eyes widening again as he stared at the wall.

...It was only big enough for him to hide behind. If Honda and Otogi hadn't run off... Katsuya stared at the wall for a moment longer, before looking off to the side as Anzu and Yugi both vanished down the hall. Alright... Two seconds... Three... Four...

Five...

Why didn't Ishizu give him the same warning, Katsuya wondered, slowly stepping out from behind the pillar. The blond swallowed, looking out down the hall with a confused frown. Why...

For some reason, the first thing that came to mind was that stupid dream, with the creature that bore the same arms he'd seen mere moments before... '_I can't discern your future,_' it had said, the voice hovering clearly in the back of his mind. '_...Or your past._'

That... "Th' tauk..." Again he swallowed, before slowly turning to look at the room that both Ishizu's meeting and Yugi's 'date' took place in. There it was, open to the public and yet void of any other people. So just what was it in there that was so important..? He walked forward somewhat hesitantly, looking back briefly before turning back to the room once again with a frown. What was it... That had Seto storm out of the room in as aggravated a mood, while leaving Yugi completely calm... Possibly relieved, coming out? That was the air he got at least...

Katsuya slowly walked into the room, looking around a brief moment as he frowned. There was almost nothing in this room he noted, glancing at the walls around him. A roped off door to the side, and at the end... Two tablets, sealed off by glass. The blond moved closer, blinking a few times as he looked over the first. Huh... "'Xodia," he muttered, looking at the top of the carved tablet with mild surprise. Each limb carefully carved in the stone pentacle, unreadable hieroglyphs at the side... With countless other monsters carved beneath, the blond noted, staring. "Skull demon, feral imp..." A bunch more that he couldn't recognise completely...

Wow. It was one thing to hear the whole thing about monsters coming from tablets from Sugoroku but it was another to see it really... Hell, he knew about the whole 'inspired by Egypt' deal with the cards but... Now that they were right _there..._ Well..._ Damn_.

The blond turned to the next tablet, briefly wondering what other monsters he would find only to freeze the moment he glanced over it. W-Wait... That was- "Y-Yugi..!" Hair and all... And across from him was... Seto..? He crouched down somewhat, moving closer to the glass as he stared with wide eyes. Hard to tell with the 'hat' that the one carving was wearing but... There was no doubt about it. "It's Yugi... An' Seto-chan," he muttered, standing up and shaking himself as he looked over the robed figures. He shook himself, eyes passing over over a small label at the bottom.

'_This tablet, dated to 3000 B.C. in approximation,'_ it began,_ 'Depicts a never before seen depiction of three of Egypt's most well known gods, as well as a Pharaoh and his Priest wielding monsters of some kind...'_ Katsuya paused for a moment, looking back near the top of the tablet and blinking. Three gods..? His eyes glanced over the three 'cards', before dropping back to the plaque with a mental shrug. Eh... Not like he knew their names...

_'Whether or not the two depicted are fighting alongside or against each other is unknown, but the Pharaoh shown is as of yet the only king of the eighteenth dynasty without a name. Curiously,' _it continued, the blond blinking a few times as he read the next part,_ 'The Priest as well is unknown at this point, having disappeared shortly after the reign of the pharaoh was succeeded by (for the first time in a number of years) a queen by the name of..._' Wait...

A queen..? Katsuya frowned, tilting his head as he looked at the clearly defaced 'cartouche' on the tablet. Well, what ever... Still, it was weird... But it felt like he should know what was there... Not understand it but just _know_...

"_Kuri..?_"

"N-Nyhhh!" The blond jumped, stumbling back as he turned to the side and gaped. Okay... Okay there were somethings he was used to by this point, but this was not it! "E-Ehh..! K-Kuri..." He choked, blood draining from his face as he rubbed his eyes. "_Kuriboh_!"

The small fuzzball blinked, Katsuya looking from the monster to the hall outside the room, and back to the monster. Of all things... His 'wish' for Tanabata was being completely screwed with wasn't it! "_Kuriiii~_" Katsuya continued to stare at the creature, coughing somewhat as it blinked back. Duel monsters... He was... Seeing duel monsters... _Outside_ a game... (Bad enough on a table damn it and-) Wait... The blond frowned, watching as the monster bobbed up and down mid-air. This... This wasn't kuriboh, it was...

"...A _winged_ kuriboh..?" And it was black too, not brown, what was with that... The kuriboh blinked a few times as it ignored the blond's confusion, continuing to 'purr' little 'kuri' sounds before it floated over to the roped off door at the side.

"_Kuri-kuriii,_" it hummed, closing its eyes over for a moment. Yeaaaaa...

Oh hell, he must have finally lost it but... "Ahhh... You... Wan' me t' follow yah," he asked hesitantly, taking a few steps toward the door and looking back around the room. Okay... At the risk of looking like a complete moron... There were a few cameras but none facing the door so... The blond looked back at the kuriboh, watching as it bobbed up and down before vanishing into the dark room with a shout.

"_Kurii!_"

"Hahhh..." Okay, here he went... Katsuya stepped over the rope, looking around the room and squinting as his eyes adjusted to the dark. "Alrigh' then," he muttered, eyes drifting up to the ceiling before turning back to his 'guide'. "So what is it that y' wan-" He froze, stiffening as the small kuriboh vanished from sight with as much warning as the 'Other Yugi' earlier on. "Gh... What th' hell..!" G-Gone..! He stumbled back somewhat, before jumping as he bumped into a large stand. "Gha! Shit!"

What what what... He turned, blinking a few times as he made out the object in the dark. Okay... It was... A set of swords? "Heh..?" The blond continued to blink, looking at the tag below the glass encased blades. "A pair 'f 'scimitar' likely used by th' soldiers 'f Egypt 3000 t' 5000 y'rs 'B.C.'," he read off under his breath, "Found buried b'neath th' sands north 'f what was formerly a capital 'f Egypt..." O...Kay..? ...Why north of the capital and not _in_ the capital though?

Katsuya frowned, shaking himself as he looked around the exhibit. Alright, so that was weird, but to the more important point... Why was all of this roped off exactly..? There was more in here than in the last room, possibly triple, that was for sure... A few weapons, what looked like pots and things... A few pictures of carvings too, which was interesting he supposed. This was more Yugi's angle... (And yet here he was...) The blond made his way toward the middle, frowning somewhat as he looked at a large picture standing around a 'pillar'. Okay... That was a little weirder... "What th' hell..." Dark... He could barely see what it was, but- "G- Ghahh!"

He stumbled backward, breathing heavily as he shook the image of the picture from his mind. Damn it why did things like this have to happen when he got too close..? Mummies... All stacked and wrapped around each other in some kind of pile, like... Like... Hihhh!

A large plaque beneath the pillar/photo caught his eye, the blond swallowing back his already constant shudders as he attempted to read what it said through the dark. "Th... Th' massacre," he began reading, biting his lip as his eyes glanced over the picture again. "Th' massacre 'f..."

_'The Massacre of 'Kul Elna' (English+Hebrew; The Ones God Prayed [for]), named by Egyptian archaeologists due to its apparent ties to Hebrew language is a ruinous site recently discovered in the middle of the desert wastes north west of Cairo Egypt. Though the massacre was originally thought to have been the result of a mass suicide due to the location of a full 99 corpses in what appeared to be an underground temple, it was recently affirmed by the presence of foreign weaponry that it was in fact a mass-slaughter._

_Whether or not the execution of an entire village was for just or murderous causes is unknown,_' the plaque went on to read, Katsuya going fairly green at the thought,_ 'But researchers are considering the find of Kul Elna a 'rare gem', due to the extremely well preserved state of the corpses found. The corpses, which were found buried beneath both temple ruins and what appeared to be a large statue of a sarcophagus, were compressed and left sheltered from wind and heat, preserved so well that the hair colour and facial features of each mummy has been left in tact..._' Which... He could see very, very well, and _did they have to have pictures!_

_'At this time,' _the blond continued to read, despite mental cries of 'get out of here NOW!',_ 'It is unknown what caused the execution of the villagers of 'Kul Elna', but evidence shows that in addition to adult women and men there are children ranging from infancy to adulthood in the pile, with all injuries having apparently been inflicted with a knife rather than a sword, leading experts to believe that the slaughter was done in the act of a ritual sacrifice of sorts...' _Okay... Screw curiosity he...

...He couldn't read any more, if he wanted to keep anyone from knowing he was there by not throwing up right now. If he wanted to keep himself from losing the little sleep he got from his summer work schedule especially... And..."Gh... Mng..." His vision had adjusted completely by now... The picture before him has more than just faces now... A pile of corpses, limbs locked around the others by the weight of the bodies on top... To preserve the bodies archaeologists had dug around and to the bottom rather than attempting to move the corpses, something he wasn't sure how he knew but... Almost a hundred faces held in permanent expressions of fear, distorted by time, weight... "This..."

"What are you doing here."

"H-Haaah!" Katsuya turned, swallowing back a panicked shout and brushing back the hair that was stuck to his now sweaty forehead before drawing further back. "B... Bakura..!" Right there...

And the ring..! Bakura narrowed his eyes, stepping forward into the dark as his hair stood on end. "Again," he muttered, standing by the doorway as Katsuya grew even paler than his near white panicked complexion. Despite the lack of lighting in the room the golden ring around Bakura's neck could be seen clearly, reminding the blond just how dangerously he and the others... Bakura included, were playing... The gold gleamed in some invisible light, the eye staring forward... "What do you think you're doing here Jonouchi," Bakura pressed, pulling Katsuya's attention forward.

The blond swallowed, slowly attempting to regain his breath as he moved away from the 'stand' behind him. "I... I... I w's jus'... Jus' leavin' Bakura," he muttered, still holding back shudders as the picture behind him stood clearly in his mind.

"Yes, you were weren't you," the albino stated coldly, crossing his arms as Katsuya continued to move around him. "But what brought you here," he continued to ask, eyes narrowed darkly, "When the room is clearly off limits?"

Nothing but a vanishing kuriboh that kept on reminding him just how over the edge he really was... "Nothin'," he muttered, eyes drifting back into the room despite all reason. Face after face after face after- "I..."

Bakura narrowed his eyes further, stepping to the side to allow Katsuya to slowly move around him. "Never mind it," he muttered, frowning as he looked at the blond oddly. "Just leave..." Um... Okay..?

...Why wasn't he sealing his soul in a figurine or something..? There was... There was no way that Yugi was right about this guy right..?

...Right..? "Y-Yea," he finally muttered, stepping back into the other room as he narrowly avoided tripping over the rope. "...Will do," he continued nervously. And slowly, slowly he stepped further out, eyes fixed on Bakura as the albino turned toward the darkness of the room he'd just been in... Watching as Bakura made no move to turn back, to add anything, to do anything...

And finally he bolted out to the halls, barrelling past the statues, the tablets and anything even remotely Egyptian in theme, eyes wide and skin pale as he attempted to contain his panic and failed. What was all this, he thought as he left the museum, the sky still almost as bright as it had been a few hours prior. An idling crowd appeared to be wandering around outside, paying the blond no mind as he moved, stumbling over his own feet in an attempt to outrun his own thoughts. What _was_ this..?

Katsuya collapsed somewhat against a building's support beam as he stopped for breath, willing himself to not look back at the museum as he held his head. God damn it... Bakura had left him alone completely, hadn't even turned around to make sure he was leaving... Just stared into the room... And just thinking back brought that picture to mind... It was one thing when he'd just thought it was a pile of mummies, but the more he thought about it, and the plaque that went with it, he...

"_...Mrnnnn..?"_

"H-Hah!" The blond jumped again, a few people turning momentarily but nonetheless brushing it off as Katsuya calmed himself down. Okay... Okay, what... What the... "...Oh hell," he muttered, watching as a small dinosaur looking thing stared up. What... What was it, a raptor, or... The two stared for a few long moments more before the creature hopped off with a 'shrug', charging through two or three people before vanishing from sight to leave Katsuya burying his head in his hands with a groan. God damn all of this..! "_Aaaaaaaaauuuuuuugggghhhhh..."_

Why did normalcy hate him so much!

* * *

Settling into bed the next morning after a good long security 'night shift', he really did try to forget most of what happened the day before. Getting back for dinner that evening, most conversation was turned to things that both had little to do with what Mokuba knew he'd done (namely stalk Yugi and Anzu all day) and with whatever was likely to get a comment from Seto... Namely cards. And while he was thankful for the fact that he'd had an excuse to not attempt to talk his way _around_ what he'd done, well...

In the end, he had to admit, doing that made for a fairly empty conversation, especially since when he asked Mokuba what happened that day he'd gotten more of an... 'Eh'. An 'eh' that came with a largely excited expression that was quickly _replaced_ by an 'eh' expression... Well, given that Seto had a fairly interesting look on her own face that he couldn't quite find a word to describe, he had a feeling that he was missing something really really big there.

Well, either way. Thinking back to what happened earlier was not something he was enjoying, piles of mummies and weird little ghosts resembling duel monster cards especially.

Also that weird thing with Ishizu's necklace. He was having trouble getting that out of his head, even with hours and hours of security feeds playing in front of him through the evening before his shift ended in the semi-early hours of the morning to allow him sleep. He'd mostly got over it... But...

Either way... Compared to all that happened earlier the day before, 'waking up' in the usual black space where the particularly weird dreams would go on was... Not... Fun... "Damn it," Katsuya muttered, narrowing his eyes as he continued to lay back on the ground. He'd had what... 7, 8 hours of 'peace' just watching security feeds? Why _now_? "This just isn' my day..." Both of them...

Really not his- '_Who has to die this time,_' someone whispered in his ear, the blond's eyes widening as he sat up. W-What..? The woman's voice echoed through his ears, angered and confused, accusing even as it rasped around him. '_Who has to die, answer me!_'

There was nothing to be seen around him though, nothing but darkness as a woman shouted... Only to be answered with a voice that both was an wasn't his, a voice that had the blood draining from his face instantly.

'_Everyone._'

And the screams began, first as a mutter and then as a loud and wailing series of cries that were literally beside him in all but physical form. Flames arose in his vision, blinding Katsuya as the teen jumped back, arm thrown up to shield his eyes. "G-Gh... What th-"

'_AAAAUUUHHH!' _Who was screaming..? _'No... No don't do this please..!' _Who... Was that a _child_?_ 'WHY! WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TO US?'_

Shadows rose in the flames with each cry, Katsuya staring in horrified silence as the event played out before him. The blinding light from the flames was nothing, not even something to blink at as the shadows one by one vanished into ashes. Mothers crying for their children... Children crying for their friends and families and men angrily vowing vengeance from the grave... One after another after another after...

'_HELP US,' _the woman from before cried, Katsuya's eyes widening just briefly as he swallowed._ 'HELP US SOMEONE PLEASE!_'

Why was all of this... Why... A sudden wave of cold passed behind the blond and slowly he turned around with wide eyes, frozen in place as he looked forward. "H-Hah... Hahhh..." Teeth the size of his entire arm met his gaze, set in a draconic maw with eyes resembling burning coals... Scales blended into the darkness completely on a 'face' that was easily the size of his bedroom, low growling coming from the monster's throat. "Hah..."

'_Hehehehehehehe..._' Not screaming... This thing was not screaming and- With a jolt the blond fell forward, screams caught in his throat as the world abruptly spun. Wind rushed past his face and stung his eyes, flames vanishing as he began a free-fall toward a wide open mouth that he'd been face to face with moments before. And it continued to laugh. '_HAHAHAHAHA! A HUNDRED SOULS IS ALL I NEED,_' it roared, opening its mouth wide and licking the sides of its teeth as the blond continued to fall._ 'AND AGAIN THIS WORLD IS MINE TO ROAM!'_

Wake up wake up wake up...! The eyes were coming closer, light from an unseen source gleaming off the beast's blackened teeth... Wake up wake up wake up... And still he couldn't move, couldn't scream, only listening with horror as the monster before him cackled maliciously, every detail of its mouth coming into his vision. '_HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!_' Oh god please wake up wake up wake up wake...

Up.

"Hah!" Katsuya's eyes flung open to meet with the ceiling above him as he struggled to breathe, choking with each intake of air. Thick, heated air hung around the room, making it even more difficult to breathe as he looked to the clock at the side. 12... N-Noon... It was... "Hah... Hah... Hah..." Why... The blond swallowed, shaking his head again as he attempted to push the nightmare from his mind. Why why why why why did he have to have scary ass dreams like _THAT_! "Gh... Khah..." He shook his head, collapsing back on the pillow as he bit his lip. Noon... No sense going back to bed now with the sun shining and the cicada's making their damn annoying 'nrrrrr' sounds... Alright then... That was it.

Next time this shit happened he was... He was... ...God damn it, he muttered mentally, closing his eyes and opening them again to stare at the sun-lit ceiling.

What the hell was he supposed to do about this kind of crap?

**

* * *

AN: **What, you're asking me Jou?

...Personally, you should tell someone. But I already know that you're not doing _that_ willingly.

Don't worry about his sanity guys, he'll pull through! Mostly because... Well... Jonouchi just does not like loading his friends with crap like this. At all. Probably why Honda had to go out and find him and beat the shit out of him after the idiot vanished off somewhere during Battle City. You know... The part they cut from the dub?

Which made it look more like Honda just blasted past the guy on his bike saying 'HI, BYE!'?

Yeaaaaa... In any case, _now_ you can start shouting either your complaints or your guesses or your cheers. WHOO! (You can probably guess, by the re-emergence of my paranoid side, that I'm very, _very_ nervous about this.)

In any case, Battle City! In the manga, school was still going on, or at least it was for the day before the tournament... In this case things will be revealed differently, which you'll see next chapter. Lets get moving!

**Poll Results! **So far, it's looking one-sided already! And by the way; this vote isn't something that will 'close' necessarily. Rather, it affects the fanfic as it's being written. This is because I obviously can't just put the fanfic on hold until I decide 'Alright, that's enough votes...'. It's actually affected this chapter somewhat; originally, the dream sequence was only slated to have flames and screams.

Dreams – 2 (One Anonymous)

Fanfic – 0

Now straight to business...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

_Awww_ indeed, Iona! Yugi and his turtle… Or is it Yami with _his_ pet turtle?

It'd be hard to find an instance where Jonouchi's excitement isn't amusing really… The fact is, I feel kind of guilty about doing 'this' (-points up-) to him right after the fact, hahahaha…

Yeeeeeesss, those darn Egypt dreams… They're about to get worse. As for foreshadowing, yes and no. It certainly plays into the next chapter though…

So I hope you enjoy it!

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's on the edge of its seat for this arc! (And the next one, and the next...)

* * *

And another chapter title filled with pun! To 'shadow' is another way of saying 'to stalk' 'to follow', etc, etc... And of course, the other, 'Yami Yugi' is considered a shadow in his own right; either simply due to his ties to more darker things, or literally, as he pretty much _is_ a great big shadow of his former pharaoh self.

* * *

The 'score card bingo' game by the way, works like this. Since most names are either obviously male or obviously female due to kanji usage, looking at the charts tends to give you a good idea of who got which 'rank'. Basically you take a grid of 5x5 (so 25 squares) and fill it with numbers from anywhere between 1 and 50. Then, using the 'scoreboard' as a reference, mark each number as either 'girl' or 'boy, depending on which person got which ranking number on the grid. Whoever has the most lines wins! (Including diagonals.)

* * *

Originally, Anzu and Yugi meet up outside a train station rather than a bus stop, but I figured that a bus stop would make far more sense for a 'meet' point given how crowded things are. Alternatively, it could have been a subway point as well...

Who knows really.

* * *

Despite the first series largely not holding a part in this, Jonouchi is still referencing (to some extent) a scene _inspired_ by an episode from that series. During the 'clock solitaire' episode, which was replaced with some sort of balloon game, Anzu was trying to get the 'other Yugi' to appear… She ended up getting Jonouchi in some serious trouble when she thought someone was stalking her though. (In her defines, he really was following her and Yugi around though.)

* * *

In the manga, 'Yami' doesn't do the shouting thing at the puzzle… He's actually quite composed, if not oddly stony about everything. (He just says 'yo!', hehehe.) Also, Yugi tells Anzu before hand that his 'other' isn't feeling that well, and that he wants him to cheer up using this 'date'…

Though he _is_ the one who suggests going to a coffee shop… AFTER Anzu says '_…We could get a drink..?_'

Anyways, _teeeeechnically_, Yugi still explained to Anzu that this was the intent of the date when talking to her; he just threw the date on her really quickly, hehehe.

* * *

Obviously, a lot of the 'date' comes from the anime (subs not dubs~) rather than the chapter, but this is mostly to add material. Yay~ Ironically, by adding material, there's not much to make note of here. HAHA. Hah... Ahhhh...

* * *

Yes this chapter is filled with shameless product placement. But the fact is, it's downtown 'Tokyo' (rather a downtown area of it) in Japan. You… You're gonna find product placement. Heck, in the anime, the coffee cups that the two use have logos that even _look_ like Starbucks, despite the fact that the sign said 'Domino Coffee'. Hahahahaha…

* * *

For some reason, after they leave the arcade, Yugi and Anzu end up at another pier… _And then_ they head to the museum. I guess it makes for a better scene to have their next conversation, despite the fact that Anzu would probably have cheered much much sooner about her win rather than later.

* * *

The black winged kuriboh is actually a shout out to the GX manga; in it, the winged kuriboh was a monster used to help judge the hearts of the living, and actually completely_ white_ to begin with. However, when Tragoedia, a man originally from Kul Elna that was the current palace astronomer was brought in for judgement (As they kinda found out that he'd been stewing over the recently discovered slaughter of his entire village and family)… Little Winged Kuriboh was dyed _black_ by the guy's heart.

Hell, when he went to sit on the scale, it plummeted, and left a CRATER in the stone!

In any case, though the GX manga has Winged Kuriboh in a card given to Judai by another character who got it as a prize in a tournament from Pegasus, the spirit itself wasn't in the card until much later… So I can arguably get away with this. (Ahahaha. )

* * *

Now, a bit of a rant here. In the manga, we see the bodies actually go into a vat of molten gold, later on getting a nice shot of that same vat, which is probably the size of two big 'garage freezers' pouring said gold out. Now given the fact that the gold isn't flawed in any way, I'd argue that there was a lot more gold than human flesh in there… Now normally, I'd keep this. It's creepy, mind-screwing, and largely traumatizing, which is right up my alley. (Don't you all wonder what you've gotten yourself into _now_...)

But if they put 99 people in there, just because they melt, doesn't mean that the matter doesn't take up space! There's this thing called _volume_… And liquids more often than not taking only _slightly_ less room than a solid, rather than a lot…

To put 99 corpses in a big ol' pot of gold… Well. You would NOT be able to get away with using only that pot! Personally, my theory is that they were sacrificed, with the gold melted down and forged in the same room, but not using the corpses as fuel. One of my ideas for this was actually to have the fire that melted the gold coming from the corpses…

But due to the fact that it obviously takes more to melt gold than it does bone, and I needed some mummies… Yea.

* * *

Yes I just gave Jonouchi a lot to panic about. And yes, this was arguably the worst possible thing to load on him after his nice little 'flash' deal got an unwanted upgrade. However, this will arguably save his ass later on sooooooo...

...Besides all that, it at least steers him closer to actually spitting out all this nonsense to someone he trusts. Not that this is happening _too_ soon.

* * *

Are those duel monster spirits floating around pointless? Actually no. One could be considered a _haunt_ (Winged Kuriboh) and the other… You'll actually see him again. He's technically a plot hook.

He's also not very size accurate, but with dinosaurs that's to be expected. It's an 'Uraby' by the way... 'Wild Raptor' in Japanese. (Don't... Ask where the English name is from.)

I've probably given away my plot hook with that...

* * *

Well, that's all for now! Hopefully this mind-screw won't deter anyone, as it'll actually be largely explained by the end of Battle City...

Well... Key word being 'largely', as there will still be _lots_ of things that don't make sense, but OH WELL... Enjoy, and I'll see you next chapter!


	64. Chapter 63

**Level Values**

* * *

Thinking back, trying to go back to sleep despite having already decided the effort would be pointless when it was already after twelve o'clock was probably a lost cause. Hell, even trying to calm down after the nightmare hell he woke up out of was a lost cause. Even so, the blond told himself, head currently firmly locked against the shower wall in a slow and constant 'thud' against tiled wall, it would have been nice if it worked. If... Either of the options worked really.

Katsuya sighed after a few more minutes of ice cold water raining down from above, turning the shower off and stumbling out into the bathroom. In the end, no matter how many times he told himself that the 'morning's dream was 'just that'... He couldn't convince himself otherwise. Sure, it was just as bizarre as a 'normal' dream but... Well...

"'M never goin' t' tha' museum again," he muttered under his breath, leaning against the sink's counter as he took rasping breaths. Never, never... With all the sleeping he'd apparently done it felt more like he'd only closed his eyes for an instant. So really, more things to add to the personal secrets from his friends. Speaking of his friends...

...Hadn't he told the others he'd join them at the pool today? ...At one? Katsuya moved toward the bathroom door, looking somewhat blankly at the clock at the side before slamming his head against the doorway with a groan. "Aaaaaaaughhh..." It was 12:30. It would take him half an hour to _run_ to the school from the house. Not counting the time it would take to grab toast or... Something... "Fuuuuuck..." He stumbled into the room, the blond's eyes roaming over the carpet as he grumbled mentally to himself. Damn... Stupid nightmares... Katsuya continued 'grumbing' before the thoughts came to a grinding halt, eyes landing on the paper he'd used to keep clay off the carpet while making Mokuba's present.

Wait... Did that say... He grabbed it from the ground, brushing off some of the dried dust and frowning. '_City to be closed off from all motor traffic midnight July 18__th__ – 6:00PM July 19__th__...'_ What the hell..?

"Wait..." Katsuya narrowed his eyes, looking closer at the 'article'. "Does tha' say _KaibaCorp_?"

* * *

Needless to say, despite how he felt for the moment, he managed to pull himself into his clothes and swimsuit, grab a towel, and run as fast as he could to the pool. "Katsuya-nii," Mokuba shouted with a grin as the blond came toward the pool, the boy laughing as his friend smirked. "You made it!" The smirk grew somewhat despite earlier discomfort, the others following Mokuba's gaze as their friend tossed his towel to the side. "We were beginning to think you slept in," he muttered somewhat wryly, a slight wince on his face.

Hahaha, _if they only knew_... Slept in... He wished! Nonetheless the blond forced a smile to stay on his face, shrugging as he sat on the pool's edge and pushed the mental complaints from mind. "Eh," the blond muttered, shrugging. In the end, when he thought about it... "I almos' did," he said with a grin, before turning to the rest of the group. Bakura was missing he noted... But aside from that, it looked like everyone was there, Anzu, Yugi, Honda... Otogi... Which reminded him... "Oi... Mokuba," he began, the boy in question blinking as Katsuya looked over. "Why did S-" Not slipping was so much easier when he wasn't actively talking about Seto to avoid awkward situations... "Why did Kaiba close off th' city f' th' 19th..?"

The others shared quick looks with that, Yugi swimming over to join his friend at the side. Evidentally being aware of something he wasn't, most of them merely went back to their own conversations as the boy explained. "Ah... According to the 'other me'," Yugi began, pulling himself out of the water to take a seat with his friend, "Kaiba-san's holding a city wide tournament that day... So he closed off the traffic for safety."

Oh, well that expla- Wait what! The blond turned to Mokuba with raised eyebrows, the boy hurriedly throwing his hands up in defense. "H-Hey! I would have said something," he protested, "But you had work, and you'd have been late... And besides," the boy continued, crossing his arms and leaning on the edge of the pool, "I thought you'd have heard about it when... ...Er..." He hurriedly coughed, turning away as Anzu raised her eyebrows from her seat on one of the lawn chairs.

"Heard about it _when_," she asked with a frown, "Yugi and I only saw Mai that day... And there weren't _that_ many people," she added with narrowed eyes, crossing her arms.

Mokuba swallowed, continuing to pale as he drew away from the pool. "Ehhhh..."

Pff! "'D Still be nice t' know," Katsuya shouted, pulling the others away from the subject as the blond scowled. Damn it! And of course Seto wouldn't say anything! Hell, it was no wonder she had that look on her face... Wait... Katsuya blinked, frown deepening as he realized _another_ small point he was missing. "Wait, how's it 'city wide'," he asked, looking back at the group. "Hell, I though' there w's only one duel box, an' wasn' that thing torn down..?" To make room for an arena... Thing?

"Yea, completely destroyed..." Okay, so he was right with that then. Despite this however, Mokuba grinned, Yugi doing the same as he continued. "About that though... I wanted to tell you today actually," he said with a nod, clambering out of the pool. "See, yesterday," he explained, "Nii-sama announced the release of the new duel disk..." Ooooooh! Then- ...Wait what? "They're on sale starting tomorrow," Mokuba continued with a grin, leaning back somewhat.

They... They were... "Wh- Seriously," he said with a grin, before mutterings from where Honda and Otogi were sitting caught their attention.

"So that's why he was making such a big deal about it yesterday," the taller muttered, crossing his arms 'wisely'.

"I was _wondering,_" Otogi added, nodding somewhat. "I guess that clears it up..."

"Waaaaiiit," Anzu muttered, turning on the teens with narrowed eyes yet again. "How did you two know about that," she asked, the two both tensing under the gaze. "Didn't you both say you were apartment hunting..?"

Why the hell was _Honda_ apartment hunting with Otog- That _reaaaaally _wasn't the point was it. The two teens both paled considerably, rendered fairly silent as Yugi shook his head at the 'rant' his friends were likely about to be put through. Something told him that the 'other' was muttering an '_I knew I heard someone_' in the back of the guy's head right now... Either way. "So," he muttered, opting to change the subject again. "Th' tournament uses th' duel disks," Katsuya continued, staring up at the sky for a moment before grinning. "Heh.. Sounds fun!" Really fun! If they were anything like the ones that Kaiba had last time in terms of holograms... "You enterin' th' tournament Yugi?"

The boy nodded, grinning. "Of course," he said with a laugh, pulling his legs out of the water. "This is my chance to face Kaiba-san fair and square," he continued seriously, briefly staring at the water before turning back to his friend. "Ah... But Jonouchi-kun," he added, biting his lip as the blond blinked. "You'll need to be careful..."

Careful..? "Nyh?" Why would he need to be-

Mokuba as well nodded, continuing on as his friend frowned. "Yugi's right," he said with a frown, the boy crossing his arms. "Katsuya-nii, nii-sama put an 'ante' rule in the tournament," he explained, frown deepening. "All those participating need to have a rare card to offer, and if you lose..." There was a short bit of silence, the boy sharing a glance with Yugi before continuing. "Well...

Gh- A rare card ante... "It... It has t' be rare..!" Ahhhh... Shit... Not good.

"Hey, you sure you want to risk that," Honda asked from the side, Otogi still 'explaining' to Anzu how they knew about the tournament. Given the look on Otogi's face, they were failing horribly but... Obviously Honda was more or less used to conversation while this happened. "I mean... They'll take your 'Red-Eyes'," the teen continued, crossing his arms. "That's pretty much the only thing of value that you have..."

Well, besides his dog tags yea... Y-Yea, it w- "Wai- OI," he shouted angrily, turning on his friend as the teen smirked. "Watch what you say abou' me!" Honda merely shrugged, watching as the blond continued to scowl. "'Sides," he muttered, crossing his arms. "This ain't too bad... Heh... This means I've got a shot at gettin' myself some rare cards," he added with a laugh, a grin replacing the frown.

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba muttered, shaking his head. "Don't be greedy..."

"_Well in any case,_" Yugi's 'other' continued, appearing beside the boys on the pool's edge, "_Before we can even think about entering this tournament, we'll need one of Kaiba's duel disks..._"

Ah, that's right... Katsuya nodded despite being one of two who heard the comment, a few of the others raising their eyebrows in response. "Hey Mokuba," the blond asked, the boy in question blinking. First things first... "How much are th' duel disks..?"

"How much?" Again Mokuba blinked, crossing his arms and frowning. "Hnnn... Around 15,000 yen I think..." F-Fifteen thousand- Katsuya swallowed, the others again raising their eyebrows as the blond groaned at the price. Aww hell... "You know," the boy said somewhat wryly, "You get your next paycheck tomorrow morning, and the disks aren't on sale until then _anyway_..." They weren't?

Oh, good point then. Maybe if he was lucky it would cover it... "Phew... Lucky f'r me then," Katsuya muttered, laughing somewhat. "Hahaha..."

"We'll have to go down town," Yugi continued, nodding as his friend calmed down. "Our store doesn't carry it, but I hear that there's a specialty store nearby that will..."

"_That's right," _his other mentioned, Katsuya and Yugi both turning to what was apparently thin air. "_They were advertising it at the store I went into with Anzu yesterday,_" the other Yugi added, nodding despite the fact that only two people could see him.

Hoh... That would work... "Hey, are you going to have enough money even with the check cashed in," Honda asked, frowning as he looked back at the others.

"Gh- Of course," Katsuya protested, scowling. ...Well. He hoped so at least. "An' even if I don'," he continued stubbornly, grinning somewhat, "I'll still manage somehow..!"

Honda blinked, raising his eyebrows at that. "Okay then," he muttered, blinking a few times. "Good luck with that?" Ghhhhh... He would, really!

Oh, and while they were on that topic... "Hey Yugi," the blond called, turning to his friends as 'both' moved to look at him. "After we buy that thing t'morrow, you wanna test 'm out back at yer house," he asked, the pair nodding in response. "I wanna try out my deck, I made a few changes t' it las' nigh' an'-"

"Wait," Mokuba cut in, frowning. "You were messing around with cards while you were working..?"

"Gh-" Ah... No? "Before I started, before I started," he protested, the boy before him continuing to frown. "Honest!"

"Ah-huh..."

Yugi merely shook his head, ignoring the 'argument' as his 'other' vanished from sight. "Well, that sounds like a plan," he said with a shrug, smiling. "We could meet at the store at noon..."

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba was continuing, "If I find proof otherwise..."

He grit his teeth, 'ducking' under the glare. "Gh... I ain't lyin'!" He wasn't, really! ...Well.

...Mostly...

* * *

Alright... So his paycheck wasn't actually that much, as he remembered when he got back that evening. What with 'rent' and 'utilities' being pulled out from it, among other things. But there had to be enough for him to afford that duel disk right, he told himself. Hell... 15,000, even if Mokuba was 'right there' when the price was decided, he could be wrong... Right? These were the thoughts that were wracking Katsuya's brain and making him hold his tongue that evening at supper, a slight frown on his face as he tapped a fork against the table. The fact was, after digging out his last check, he'd realized all too quickly that he'd be short when he went in to buy the disk. But hell, he couldn't just _not_ enter this tournament, and-

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba muttered from beside the blond, pulling both his and Seto's attention toward him for the moment. The blond blinked, staring somewhat blankly from his mostly empty plate. "Stop thinking about duel disks," he continued plainly, "I don't mind paying the difference..."

He... He didn't..? Again the blond blinked, before nodding. "O-Oh..." Okay then, that-

"..._What_." The boys turned, blinking as they were faced with an oddly blank if not clearly surprised look from Seto. "You're buying a duel-disk..?"

Well _YEA_. Besides the fact that she probably shouldn't have been surprised about this... Well. He snorted, shaking his head in response despite the continued 'blank stare'. Probably should have been a warning sign but... Whatever. "Heh! What, didn' think I wouldn' find out," Katsuya said with a grin, before continuing on despite the tiny alarm bells in the back of his mind. "Hah! You might've made sure not t' tell me," he continued rather 'smugly', "But I've got my ways..."

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba muttered, turning back to the blond with a fairly unimpressed frown. "All you did was ask, it's not that hard..."

"Gh-" Hey hey, ruin his fun wouldn't he... "Yea... Well..."

There was a sound of a moving chair, the boys turning to watch as Seto abruptly moved from the table with the still continuing blank expression. ...She... Wasn't done her food, what... "I'll be in my study," she muttered, pushing past the door to leave the others in silence. ...Hell, that never happened before...

O... Kay..? "...What w's tha' abou'," Katsuya muttered, blinking a few times as he turned back to Mokuba.

The boy shrugged, shaking his head as he turned back to his friend. "I don't know... She's not angry," he continued, looking back at the door as though to wait for his sister to come back, "I mean... She would have said something otherwise, but..."

Yea... Just as confused as he was in the end it looked like. Well, anyways... "Hey..." The boy beside him turned, staring as Katsuya frowned. "Jus' realized, but if th' tournament's open t' anyone with a duel disk-"

"Oh!" The boy nodded, quickly catching on to what the blond was talking about. "It's not like _that,_" Mokuba explained, shaking his head as his friend stared. "Nee-sama set up a 'ranking system'; only duelists of a certain rank will get a disk that allows them a place in the tournament... I'm not really sure _how_ that will happen," he continued, shrugging with a frown, "But..." But...? He shrugged, going back to his food. Yea that wasn't helpful.

But anyways. Ranking system... "O-Oii," he said with a cough, flushing somewhat. "I'm somewhere up top in there right? I mean... I came in second at Pegasus' tournament," the blond continued, nervously reassuring himself.

"Hahaha, I'm pretty sure you're eligible for entry," Mokuba laughed, shaking his head as his friend continued to grow pale. "Even nee-sama wouldn't mess something like that up to keep you out, you shouldn't worry!" Hahaha...

Yeaaa... Yea what was he worried about... She wouldn't possibly do that, riiiight..? The blond sighed, shaking his head. Needed to calm down... "Righ'... I guess y' got a point there," he added with a laugh, scratching his head with a nod. Why did he feel so unsure about this though... ...EH! Whatever. He looked up at the clock, moving from the table with a mental shrug. "Well... Anyways," he said with a nod, "I got work so... Y' wanna come along w' Yugi an' me t'morrow," he continued, turning to Mokuba.

The boy shook his head, shrugging. "Sorry," he said with a frown, turning from his food for the moment. "There's a lot going into the tournament, so I told Rebecca that we'd video chat before it started, hahahaha..." Eh..? That was his reason..? There was a short bit of silence, the boy blushing slightly as Katsuya raised his eyebrows. Alright, now what was that abou- "Katsuya-nii," the boy added, frown deepening. "Remember what I said earlier about the cards alright? Otherwise I'm not giving you the extra yen for that duel disk!"

Katsuya nodded, merely waving away the threat. "Heh! No worries, I won' be bringin' in any cards..." ...For today. "Sheesh... Don' worry about it," he said with a grin, pushing his chair in before walking off toward the door. "It'll be fine... 'Nyways, guess I'll see yah when I get back t'morrow then," he continued, Mokuba nodding in response.

"Yep! See you," he continued with a shout, before going back to his food.

Again Katsuya nodded, pushing the door open and walking off. Hahaha... Okay... Time to go throw on his uniform for work then... The door to the dining room slammed shut behind him, Katsuya walking off somewhat briskly toward his room in silence. Honestly after what happened earlier that morning, a Duel Monsters tournament was probably just what he needed... Sure, seeing monsters everywhere was _weird_, but anything beat that 'night'mare he'd had earlier on, even if the two were probably (with his luck) connected.

_Anything_.

Though on his run to the pool, he could have sworn he saw a moth the size of his head fly through a few people... The blond shook it off, shutting the door to his room and pulling his shirt off. Ahhh, whatever. Creepy things were the 'least' of his worries, and all in all it wasn't like he had enough time to think about 'anything' else. And besides tha-

A loud slam came from behind him, Katsuya dropping his uniform shirt and bumping against the back wall as Seto threw the door shut behind her. "O-O-OI," he shouted, flushing as the woman stormed forward, "I don' walk in on you," the blond protested, Seto crossing her arms and pausing somewhat in her approach.

"Oh please," she growled, rolling her eyes, "You're wearing boxers, you've seen me _naked_," she pressed with a far angrier tone, "And really, this could be far, _far_ worse." Ahahahahah... Aha...

Katsuya blinked, leaning back somewhat against the wall and closet door as he looked away awkwardly. Ehhhh... Y-Yea... Um... "...R-Really?" There were some strange, strange images coming to mind with _that_ one... ...Besides the fact that the topic was apparently coming up without the threat of impending doom and-

The teen tensed as an even stronger glare came up, refusing to die down even slightly as Katsuya backed up further against the wall. "Get your mind out of the gutter _Mutt_," Seto hissed, leaning in rather imposingly as her 'employee' swallowed. H-Hahh, okay... "And listen very closely." He... He was listening..! (Just please stop scaring the crap out of him...) "This tournament is _NOT_ something I want you participating in," Seto warned darkly, "Nor is it something _YOU_ should want to participate in." ...What. "People are going to _die_ in this tournament," she spat, Katsuya staring back with confusion clearly written across his face. "Whether I like it or not," Seto added bitterly, hand gripping the desk beside them tightly as she continued on. "And if you think I'm going to risk you putting my brother through _that_," she continued, cutting herself off with that warning hanging. Wait... She thought he would...

"...Die," the blond whispered, swallowing as the glare continued to persist. But why would people...

"Oh good," Seto muttered dryly, "You're actually _listening_." Hey, hey... The woman pulled back, gritting her teeth. "Listen; I'm going to do everything I can to make sure you don't _screw this up_ Jonouchi, but so help me," she continued under her breath, "If you decide to get yourself _KILLED_, I will personally find a way to bring you back and beat you half to death for it!" E-EH!

Aha... Ahahaha (God damn it why was she so frightening...)... "O-Only half," he muttered with a weak laugh, only to catch a well lit and inflamed glare from the woman. "Nhy-!"

"Did I not just tell you how much I _don't_ want you dead," she growled, the blond before her attempting and failing to avert his gaze.

"Hahaha..." Oh if he could only find a real reason to laugh here... "Y' really do ca- gk!"

Katsuya's breath hitched as he was pushed against the wall by his throat, Seto's glare managing to still continue to intensify as the woman half strangled him. Gh... Air... Aiiiiiir... "I'll say it again... If you somehow manage to get into this tournament," she growled, momentarily tightening her grip, "_Don't screw up_... Got it?"

The woman released her hold on Katsuya, blond taking in a gasping breath as Seto moved to leave the room. "C-Crystal," he wheezed, swallowing back a choke as he looked forward. "W-We're crystal..." Holy shit the grip she had...

"Good," Seto muttered curtly, before looking back as she opened the door to leave. "And by the way," the woman added, cold gaze softening just slightly. "Provided you can afford the disk, you have from the 18th to the 20th off." With that the door closed, leaving Katsuya to stare a few moments in silence as he ran over the 'conversation' he'd just had. 18th to the 20th... So the tournament nights then..? ...Assuming that was how long it was, but...

'_Don't screw this up_'... The blond looked over his dog tags, frowning as he slowly picked them up between his fingers. Much as he got the reasoning behind all of that... Behind the threat... _Holy shit_ that was the last time he tried to lighten up a mood with that woman. Holy shit... Don't make lightly of things concerning Mokuba, just don't... Don't...

* * *

It was probably expected really, what happened the next afternoon. After a 'dreamless' sleep that only gave the blond slight comfort, a quick 'breakfast'... For the most part he was as usual, 'late' to meet up with the others. Hell, with the excuse that Mokuba had told him the address of the card shop they were going to, he'd literally 'run in' just as the others were entering the store, barely convincing them that he had 'gotten lost'. It was either that or admit to following them around on Marine Day after all so...

Yea. Didn't mean he wasn't stuck running like hell to get there. "H-Haaah... Made it," the blond shouted with a laugh, gasping somewhat for air as he skidded to a stop at the store. Three barely missed stoplights, about double the amount of narrow encounters with cars... Anzu and Yugi both shook their heads, watching as the blond looked around and continued. "Hah... So I'm guessin' no one else came along then righ'," he asked, rubbing his head. He didn't see anyone else at least... So...

Yugi nodded, before turning toward the card store behind him. "Yep... Did you manage to get enough for the disks," he asked, glancing back at his friend.

The blond pulled out his wallet, waving it somewhat with a nod. "Yep- didn't have 'nough wi' jus' th' check," he added with a shrug, "But Mokuba said I could pay 'm back after th' next few." Which was fine with him really... The three walked into the store, stepping to the side as a few people shoved past to leave. Just briefly, Katsuya found himself staring back at them. Did he see something..?

...

Nah...

Katsuya shook his head, turning his attention back to the store itself. Definitely a card store... And hey, he didn't see those booster packs before...

"Be right with you," the store clerk called out, carefully stacking a few boxes along the back shelf as they walked toward the front. The three nodded in response, waiting for a moment before the man turned around as they waited by the store counter. "Alright then..." Another pair of boxes were pushed in along the side, the man adjusting his glasses as he typed a few things into a computer at the side. "Anything I can help you with," he asked, leaning somewhat on the counter.

Yugi nodded, stepping forward as his friends both looked past the clerk at the boxes in the back. There they were, boxes gleaming in the store's light with a slight glare. 'Duel Disk'... Huh... It really _was_ drastically different... Looked more like a shield or... Or if the picture on the box was anything, a _sword_ even... "Hi... We were wondering if you had the new duel disks here," Yugi asked, eyes trailing back to the boxes the clerk had only just finished stacking.

The clerk followed his gaze for a moment before nodding. "Ahhh... You must be planning on entering tomorrow's tournament," the man said with a smile, the boys before him both nodding. "Am I right?"

The boys both nodded again, grinning while Anzu gave an amused smile beside them. "Heh! Yep," Katsuya said, the grin widening as he leaned against the counter.

"That's right!"

"I thought so... Well," the clerk said with a nod, briefly looking back at the stack of boxes. "I have a few tournament-level disks left..."

"...Tournament level..?" Yugi blinked, turning to Katsuya as the store clerk rooted through the boxes. "Do you have an idea about that?"

The blond blinked, before nodding. "Yea... Yea, Mokuba mentioned tha'," he muttered, turning to the boy and again nodding as he explained.. "Somethin' abou' usin' duelist rankin's t' keep th' number of people in th' tournament in a decent range. We're fine though," he said with a grin, laughing at the slightly raised eyebrows he got in response. "No worries, it'll be fine! We're definitely in!"

"Ah, if you say so," Yugi said with a nod, turning back to the counter.

"I've been busy all day with customers like you," the clerk was muttering, hauling a pair of boxes up to the counter as he shook his head. "Hah... After this I'll only have three left, and it's only two in the afternoon!" The three before him laughed somewhat at that, watching as the clerk continued muttering off with a grin. "I'm going to have to close early at this rate... Not that I won't have made enough when that happens... Now then," he said with a cough, tapping a few things on the computer at the side before turning to the three. "Could you tell me your names?"

"Ah... I'm Mutou Yugi," Yugi stated first, swallowing somewhat as he gave a slight bow.

Katsuya as well swallowed, a slight wave of nervousness coming over him before he followed suit. "Jonouchi Katsuya..."

The clerk nodded, turning back to his computer. "Alright then..." Fingers flew across the keyboard, the man adjusting his glasses as he started at the screen. "Mutou, mutou... Aha! Here we are..." He tapped a few more keys in, moving the mouse over some unseen point before jumping back with wide eyes. "Oh WOW! This," he muttered, blinking a few times with surprise, "This is _incredible_..."

Ahhh... What? Yugi blinked, tilting his head somewhat as he frowned. "Eh..." He shook himself, the frown lightening up somewhat as he coughed. "What are you talking about..."

"Oh..?" The clerk blinked, before nodding. "Right... Sorry..." The man coughed, shaking himself again before explaining. "You see," he explained as he gestured at the screen, "I'm looking you up through the duelist database, which records the rankings and achievements of all 'official' duelists." Oh... This was the thing Mokuba was talking about then... "It records all 'official' players," the clerk went on to explain, crossing his arms. "Tournament level entrants, 'working' duelists... Kaiba Corporation started it up a short while ago using the national tournament records to filter out eligible competitors," he continued, "Logging their rarest cards, their skill level in comparison to others..." He coughed yet again, going somewhat red as he looked at the three standing before him. "The remarkable thing however, is this... I'm obligated to offer a discount depending on the level of the duelist after they pass the 'tournament' level range... And your level," he continued, shaking his head as a shocked grin grew on his face, "Well... It's the highest one on the charts! Champion of the Duelist Kingdom tournament, level 8 out of 8... It's incredible!"

Yugi went somewhat red at the compliments, Katsuya chuckling at the look on his face. "It... It's not that much," he protested, bowing his head.

The clerk merely continued to grin, still laughing. "It most certainly is; level 8 rank gets you a free duel disk," he continued, eyes wide. "There's only two in the entire data-base!" O-Only two! ...He had a feeling he knew who the other one was... And the 'price' wouldn't have mattered with that one.

But either way, grins grew on their faces instantly with that in mind. "Wh-What, really," Yugi shouted, watching as the box was handed forward. Despite the box being about the size of his entire torso, he somehow managed to balance it in his arms while still staring at the clerk incredulously. "I... I can just take it!"

Another nod, the clerk going back to his database with a smirk. "Of course," he said with a grin, shifting his glasses again. "Level 5's get 10% off, and anyone from that level on are eligible for tournament entry..." Hoh...

"So that's Kaiba-san's limiter then," Yugi muttered, sharing a look with Anzu for a moment.

"Ah- Hey, what abou' me," Katsuya shouted, leaning over the counter. There was no way he could get a bad ranking but... He had this really nasty feeling... "What kinda discount d' I get?" ...Maybe he could pay for it himself though..?

"Ah... Jonouchi right," the man asked, getting a nod from the blond and turning back to the computer. A few quick key strokes was all it took, the man scrolling down the list with narrowed eyes. "Lets see... Jou, jou... Ah, here we are..." There was a quick click, and the man pulled a face before looking at the blond and shaking his head. "Ooooh... Level 2," he muttered, shaking his head. "So sorry..."

W-What..! "L-Level two..?"

"Eh... But Jonouchi-kun," Yugi protested, staring unblinkingly at the store clerk as the man shrugged. "I thought you said Mokuba already knew you would get in..!" Yea, he DID!

"Even I have to admit that should be higher with the Duelist Kingdom's records," Anzu muttered, crossing her arms. "Strange..."

Strange... Yea, nothing 'strange' about it! Katsuya merely bowed his head, gritting his teeth as the others continued to mutter about the 'oddness' of the situation. "'_If you manage_' she said, oh haha," he muttered under his breath, Anzu blinking.

"What did you say," she asked, staring as the blond tensed slightly.

Shit-! ...Oh what ever! "I said it figures tha' S-" Stop slipping! "Tha' Kaiba would do this, th' ass!"

"OH, heyyyy..." The three turned, blinking as the store clerk coughed and tapped the keyboard a few times. Five..? Did he just type- "Sorry about that," he said with a nervous laugh, shaking his head. "I read the label wrong.. Hahaha, darn resolution right?" Erm... Resolution probably wasn't the problem. They stared, watching as the man moved over to the cash register with another box. "Level 5 out of 8, ten percent off the duel disk... You're good for the tournament," he continued, smirking. The clerk rang in the numbers, Katsuya eagerly running to the counter and pulling out his wallet as the man continued. "That will be 13,500 yen please..." He owed Mokuba money now. Oh well.

The blond nodded, grinning as he handed over the cash in exchange for the box. "Heh! No probl'm, 's long as I'm in th' tournament," he said with a grin. Three nights off, three nights off...!~

The others laughed, shaking their heads as Katsuya grabbed his box and turned to leave the store. "Jonouchi," Anzu said with a grin, shaking her head as the blond pushed past the door. "If you keep showing it off like that you're going to drop it..."

"Oh man... Yugi," Katsuya said with a laugh, turning to his friend as they moved into the street. "We've _got_ to test these things..!"

"Definitely," Yugi shouted, Anzu giving a somewhat exasperated sigh from behind the boys.

"Are you even listening," she asked, raising an eyebrow as they moved to cross the street.

There was no answer, Katsuya merely continuing his conversation with Yugi. "So how th' hell are we gonna wear these things anyways," he muttered as they left out to the streets, both boys eagerly attempting to open the boxes. The other Yugi as well appeared, staring at the boxes with narrowed eyes as he crossed his arms.

"_Looks like they attach to our arms,_" he observed, taking advantage of his 'ghostly' status and 'sitting' in mid-air

"Hey," Anzu said with a nervous laugh, "Shouldn't you two at least wait until you're inside, or even near your house..?"

"Hey, 'no assembly required'," Yugi noted, looking at the box with a grin.

YES. "Thank _god_ f'r tha'..."

"Hahhhh!" The two turned as Anzu sighed, the woman crossing her arms as she stopped at the crosswalk. "That's it... I'm going home alright," she said plainly, pushing the button on the side and waiting for the light to change. They continued to stare, watching as the woman walked off shaking her head. "_Men_!"

Erm... The 'three' boys blinked, each sharing odd looks before the 'other' Yugi shrugged.

"_...Oops?_" Hahaha... The other two smirked, before moving on their way.

"Heh... I don' even think tha' _covers_ it..."

* * *

Time really passed playing cards it seemed. Though the duel disks were all set up and ready to play with, the two having latched them to their arms for a short bit, the boys had opted to practice the 'normal' way rather than struggle to find room for a twenty foot field as the sun went down. The fact was, it wasn't hard to guess at the reasoning behind closing off the city... Not to mention the reasoning behind doing that on the evening of the eighteenth, not that they were playing in the dark. Despite the 'arena' flaw however, Katsuya still had his disk latched to his arm, deck locked in place as he lost (yet again) against his best friend. Make that 'loss' streak three hundred fifty _three _to zero... "Aaaaaaagh," he groaned, rubbing his head as he looked at the few remaining cards on the carpet. "Jus' what th' hell 'm I doin' wrong!"

As the 'other' Yugi shook his head from the side, his lighter half laughed, watching his friend cross his arms. "Nothing, nothing," he said with a grin, gathering his cards back up. "You're doing fine," the boy pressed. "You've gotten a lot better," he added, smiling.

"_A __lot__ better,_" his other added, crossing his arms and leaning back from his spot beside the two. "_Maybe this time when we make the finals,"_ he continued with a smirk,_ "We can have a match as well!_" A match against 'that' Yugi..?

Ehhhh... "Hahaha, maybe so," the blond decided after a few moments, "But I don' think I'll do too much better than I am now..." Katsuya gave a nervous grin with those thoughts, gathering his own cards and putting them back in the deck holder on his duel disk. There was a slight whirring noise, the three staring as the cards shuffled among themselves before falling silent as it had before each duel. "...Man," he muttered with a laugh, shaking his head as the others stared at the disk. "It's gonna take a while t' get used t' that..." The three glanced at the clock, Katsuya standing and stretching as he looked at his friends. "Anyways... I better head out now," he decided, Yugi nodding in response as his 'other' moved out of the way. They'd done a bit of 'experimenting' with the whole 'ghost' thing after watching the 'other' float through a wall... Mostly, the question was 'if normal people walk through you, what about Jonouchi?' (Going through Yugi just got them back in the puzzle, or even switched out.)

The answer was one falling over the other, as apparently, 'ghosts' could be solid too. ...That was an interesting 'find'.

In any case... "That's probably a good idea," Yugi said with a nod, biting his lip. "The tournament officially starts at eight thirty," the boy continued with a nervous smile, "And it's already eleven..." Hahaha...

Yea, if he'd still had work, he'd be screwed by now! ...Good thing then. "Hah! Yea..." He shook his head, shaking the thought off. "Domino Plaza right," he asked, Yugi nodding in response. "I'll see yah there then," Katsuya said with a grin, heading down the stairs and toward the door. "Hey... Thanks f'r th' tips, alrigh'," he added, gesturing to his disk before looking at the deck holder in question. "I'm feelin' a lot better abou' this deck now..." Even if he had to hold his breath when _normal_ fighting resulted in miniaturized figures of the monsters charging at each other. ...Though at least they were less 'gory' about it, and opted to keep whatever mutterings they had to a minimum. (The fact that they even _were_ muttering...)

"Of course," Yugi said in response, grinning as his 'other' also nodded.

"_Not a problem!"_

The blond gave another wave, heading out the door as he grabbed his jacket from the side. Thanks to the blistering summer heat, the jacket was largely useless but... Well, with the sun down and all... "See yah in th' mornin'," he called out, receiving the same words from the others as they grinned. The door slammed shut behind him, Katsuya looking up at the sky for a moment as he started heading back home. "Man," he muttered, heading down a near-by alley to pick up on lost time. The blond shook his head, laughing quietly as he pulled off the duel disk to get his jacket back on. "We _really_ lost track 'f time wi' those duels," he muttered, clicking the disk back on his arm. Eerie silence answered the blond, Katsuya shuddering somewhat as he continued off in the dark. These smaller streets were pretty well empty now... Sheesh... Almost as bad as where he used to li-

-_clank_-

"What..." Katsuya froze, watching as a can rolled out into the middle of the alley. Hang on... The blond stiffened, turning as a shadow of sorts moved from the side before leaving him with more silence. That sound... He narrowed his eyes, staring out into the dark alley with clenched fists. Briefly he thought he saw flames, but... He stiffened further as a crowd of cloaked men stepped out from the shadows, blocking both ends of the alley without another word. Tch... Shit... "Damn," he muttered, shifting into a loose fighting stance. "An' here I thought this w's a better area 'f th' city..." The cloaked men gave no answer, one of them merely stepping closer enough for the blond to make out a chain and an 'eye' on the hood of the cloak. That eye...

'_Eye of Wadjet,_' he heard his own 'voice' mutter, tone slightly 'older' than his own. '_It's believed to protect those bearing its mark..._' Greaaaat... Besides the fact that hearing voices was never good...

He was surrounded by an Egyptian gang. Or something along those lines, but gang or no gang, _why the hell did it have to be EGYPT?_ God _fuck_ his life... ...Didn't change the fact he was stuck dealing with this he supposed... "...Who are you," he growled, clenching his fists as the cloaked figures continued to stand where they were. Their faces were almost completely hidden under the cloaks, nothing but an oddly detailed 'eye' staring back from the tops of the hoods. Flames... He _swore_ he saw flames on these guys damn it, but _how_...

"We're Rare Hunters," a man from the front muttered hoarsely, cloak unfurling to unveil black clothes and a duel disk. The man held his arm forward, face still largely hidden by the hood as he stepped forward to face the blond. Oh come on, Katsuya grumbled mentally, narrowing his eyes. The yo-yos were ridiculous enough despite all the pain they involved but...

...Actually, he noted somewhat blankly, these things could probably cut someone in two if they didn't watch it... ... Wait. The blond tensed, his 'opponent's 'introduction' abruptly coming back to Hun-

Shit. _Shit this was the card-theft ring... _Aaaaaaack...

"Jonouchi Katsuya," the man continued, the blond tensing as he heard his name. Shit... Guys like this, he had no idea if they had guns or what... And hey, the fact that they knew his name was even better right? "We've heard that you're in possession of a Red-Eyes Black Dragon..." And they knew what cards were in his deck... Somehow... "We offer you the chance to duel for the right to keep it," he muttered on, Katsuya swallowing as he narrowed his eyes. Yeaaa... 'Chance'... "Unless you prefer your... _Other_ chances," the man added, a slight smirk barely visible under the moonlit alleyway.

Tch... This many people, possibly armed..? He looked around him, before clicking the disk 'on' with narrowed eyes. Eight people; hah! Even he knew when he was out numbered he told himself, watching as the disk's two halves sprung into place before settling at the side. "Heh! I'll take you on," he growled, watching as the Ghoul across from him clicked his own disk into place with a single smooth motion. "I'll take you down like the crooks you are, each and every one of them... GO," he shouted, drawing his hand of cards with narrowed eyes. "DUEL!"

Chuckling filled the air as the Ghoul grinned wickedly, his opponent swallowing as he pondered how 'different' 'reality' would be for the new duel disk matches. His answer was going to be soon, he knew that much... "I summon Hannibal Necromancer in defense mode," the man announced raspingly, tablet appearing tall before him after the card was placed on the disk. No monster appeared from its form as it was summoned into place however, the image of a crouching and thorn covered beast merely appearing on its cover. Huh... Alright then...

So defense mode was 'tablet' mode. He could deal with that. "In tha' case," he decided, placing a card on the disk, "I summon th' Panther Warrior," Katsuya shouted. The blond watched as the monster he'd recently added to his deck appeared in tablet form, rising from the ground seemingly out of nothing but the shadows at his feet. The outline of the armored and anthropomorphic beast appeared clearly on its cover, a smoking energy of sorts streaming along the stone before its carving glowed. With a howling cry the monster tore free, the tablet remaining tall and firm behind it as it stepped out from its form. Blade in hand it came to stand on the ground, light detailing every detail on the monster's form. Fur bristling clearly, the beast turned a moment to bow its head in respect to its summoner, before looking back to its opponent with narrowed eyes.

"_**Attack position,**_" it growled, sword at the ready as its summoner tensed. H-Hah...

Well... He supposed that answered the question of what the duels would be like... The blond steeled himself, pointing his monster forward with a curt nod. Alright... "Panther Warrior... Attack!" With a jolt the panther charged, blade slicing cleanly through the carved stone tablet. A mere milisecond later and the crumbling rock fell to the ground in pieces, leaving nothing but rubble as the 'winner' scoffed at their opponent. Heh! Easy... "One swing's plen'y f'r that monster," Katsuya bragged, grinning somewhat wickedly as his opponent showed no reaction. The Panther as well smirked, Katsuya continuing despite the 'chill' his opponent seemed to emanate. "How do y' like that?"

The Ghoul merely drew his next card, looking over his hand and remaining silent. Sheesh... No reaction from these guys... "Hn," he muttered, staring over his hand briefly. "I'll play the spell Graceful Charity," he announced, tablet appearing at his side as the card was set. Again a carving appeared across its form, an ethreal smoke wrapping itself around the outlines of the tablet. From it's carved form came a white robed angel, the creature's light shining over the Ghoul only to shroud its master in shadows as a result. "Draw three cards, discard two," the Ghoul muttered, the angel behind him doing the same as she vanished into a 'dust' of sorts and crumbled with her tablet. "Next," the man continued monotonously, "I'll play Three-Headed Geedo in defense mode!"

Again with the defense? Katsuya frowned as the tablet appeared, the outline of a mutated looking creature etching itself in the stone. Even with the slight confusion however, the blond pushed it from mind, shaking it off as his opponent's expression remained hidden under his cloak. Tch... Looked like this guy was stalling for a monster that could face his Panther... Even so! "Trounce it Panther Warrior," he shouted, the monster giving a curt nod as it charged forward. With another cloud of dust the tablet was rendered nothing but rubble, Katsuya holding a smirk in place even as his monster fixed a frown at the wreckage. "Two down," he cheered, those around him remaining silent. Evidently, this wasn't a problem for them... But whatever. "That really all y' got," he taunted, grin still in place as he stared his opponent down. Come on... If he had this guy on the defensive, there couldn't be that much wrong right..?

And yet the Ghoul continued to remained calm, drawing his next card before setting it on the disk. "On this turn," he announced, a familiar tablet forming beside him as smoke wrapped about it, "I play another Graceful Charity... Exchanging two cards for three." What... Again! Katsuya watched as the angel again appeared, light shining as its master cleaned his hand out. Again the tablet crumbled into dust, angel vanishing from sight as the Ghoul set another card. "And now Death Hand," he stated plainly, a new tablet appearing with the outline of a crude palm-monster on its front. "Defense mode..."

The blond grit his teeth, narrowing his eyes. God damn it..! Why wouldn't this asshole _attack_! A slight breeze of sorts passed through the alley, both Katsuya and the Panther Warrior growling at their opponent's tactics. There was so much off about this, so much... Nonetheless the blond drew his next card, ignoring the tenseness of his monster as the next tablet appeared. Tch... Fine then, if that was the case... He'd just have to use scare tactics! He looked over his card, nodding to himself. "Whatever," he muttered under his breath, the breeze increasing to the level of a small gale as he set it on the disk. "I'm playin' this," he shouted, motioning forward and not waiting for the summon to 'finish'. "Red-Eyes Black Dragon! ATTACK!"

In a roar of flames the tablet appeared behind him, immense stone radiating with a power that somehow seemed completely different from those that he'd felt so far. Without looking back he could see the outline of the dragon traced out in entirety, indents glowing a rage-filled 'red' rather than steaming with the smoke of the other tablets. Seconds afterward a jet of flames passed above him, followed by black scales and an echoing roar, huge wings held folded inward as the beast's body grazed the robes of the men standing around them. The dragon was here... And before him, the Ghoul stared at his opponent, chuckling even as his tablet crumbled to dust under the intense heat of the flames. "Hnhnhnhnhn... So that's Red-Eyes," he muttered, a grin appearing on his face as both his opponent and the monsters stared back with near identical frowns. "A monster with such power and potential," he whistled, traces of emotion seeping through his words, "You must be breaking under the weight of that burden..." The blond grit his teeth as his opponent laughed, drawing his next card. "I'll have to relieve you of the burden," he muttered, Red-Eyes growling angrily at the statement. "And would you look at this..." The Ghoul continued to grin, before placing a set of five cards on the disk and motioning forward with an almost manic expression. What was that look... "I win."

There were no tablets appearing... Five cards were placed, and yet... "What..."

"BEHOLD," the ghoul cried, Katsuya stumbling back as an immense wind blew his monsters into nothingness, a pentacle appearing in the air. Hang on... How, there was nothing- His eyes widened as the pentacle before him grew, chains rattling as they tore free of the star's hold. "EXODIA!" E-Exodia! But there was no way... No... Oh god...

The ghoul before him continued to laugh manically as limbs reached out from the star's points, a looming and mummified monster rising stories above his opponent. Looking every part the Egyptian 'king' he was based upon it stared forward, eyeless sockets somehow narrowed with sick mirth as it stood to block the moon from sight. "All five of Exodia's pieces are rare, this is true," the Ghoul explained, crossing his arms as his 'partners' drew close to the ground for an attack. "And it's nigh impossible to find all of them this quickly in a match," he went on, Katsuya merely swallowing as he unconsciously stepped back. "But I have three of each in this deck... And we ghouls can find and copy as many rare cards as we want..." Oh god... Ohhhh god...

Cheaters... Figured... That they were... Exodia continued to loom above the blond, Katsuya gritting his teeth as he moved to charge forward instead. Tch... "You BASTARDS," he shouted, only to be held back roughly by the first two of the ghouls behind him. "Ugn!" The blond struggled to escape the hold, elbowing one of the men in the face before tossing the second over his shoulder with a growl. Cheating pricks! Katsuya kicked the fallen ghoul to the side, continuing forward with rage filled eyes. Exodia was still there... But with the duel over.

"_**Hnhnhnhnhn... Pathetic boy,**_" the monster growled, momentarily shocking the blond in place._** "You think to stand against me?**_" Tch! Katsuya ignored the voice of Exodia, instead punching down another of the ghouls as they attempted to take him down from behind. Nahhh... Just its owner, he thought, looking directly up at the monster with narrowed eyes. Evidently, this was a big mistake... "_**HN! PATHETIC!**_"

With a sudden jolt the wind was knocked out of him, one of the Ghoul's punches landing just as Exodia's fist slammed into the blond's gut. A fist easily the size of his body, the blond noted in the back of his mind, eyes widening just briefly under the force of the blow. "G-OH!" G-Gh... Something told him... He was holding back with that... Katsuya stumbled to the ground, wheezing as he blearily attempted to pull himself to his feet. Across from him the Ghoul that punched him was looking at his fist oddly... Heh, that was right, no one saw Exodia did they...

"_Get his Red-Eyes,_" the 'main' ghoul ordered, the blond's slowly closing eyes watching as Exodia vanished with a cackling laugh. Rough hands pulled him to his feet, Katsuya holding back a shout as the grip further irritated already bruising points. Gh... Shit... That hurt... Hurt like hell...

But even with that... "Don'," he rasped, attempting to fight back despite his weakness. He pulled his arms out from the first Ghoul's grip, stumbling as he attempted to turn on his attackers again. "Get th' hell aw- GNK!" Another 'punch', this time in the form of a duel disk to the back of his head as he collapsed forward. O-Owwww... Ow... Katsuya's body quivered violently as he attempted to pull himself to his knees, only to have his support knocked out from under him again. Gh... Someone was grabbing something from his arm... Someone... "G... Gk... Get... Back 're," he whispered as he was dropped to the ground, still attempting to pull himself to his knees as the ghouls began to leave. "You f'ckers... don' d'serve... GHAK!" Another blow was landed, this one to his stomach, the last of the Ghouls kicking the blond to the other end of the street. "Gh... Gk..." Pain... Been a while since he felt like this... Sitting in an alley, with some kind of gang leaving him twitching as his vision continued to fade. Couldn't let them get away though... No... No...

As he lost consciousness, he could only think of one thing... Just a few words, a repeat of what he'd heard the night before. '_People are going to die in this tournament... Whether I want it or not!_' No...

No... '_Yugi... Careful..._'

* * *

When he woke up, he could see sand. Miles and miles of it, stretching as far as the eye could see. And yet for some reason he couldn't convince himself that this wasn't normal, and despite the nagging feeling in his mind he told himself this was as average and mundane a sight as any other. He could see sand...

And the setting sun, if he turned his head westward. Its colours bled across the horizon like a bleeding wound, another sight that he was supposedly used to. As normal as it was though, it was nonetheless beautiful, in its own way.

He was sitting in the middle of the desert at sunset he told himself, with a boy sitting beside him in the sand. The boy, like 'himself' had darkened skin, tanned by both years under the sun and years of their ancestors living by it. A fact that he wasn't trying to deny, for some reason. He was telling a story as well he noted, or at least finishing one, his staff held loosely in his hands as the boy beside him stared upward. A pity he'd missed it really... He suddenly couldn't recall the tale, and from what he knew, it was an important story...

'_Why do they hate us,_' the boy asked, face set with confusion. His attention was pulled out of his thoughts, out of the ponderings of the desert around them with those words, staff shifting in his grip as he looked down. Hate them..?

For some reason, he knew who the boy was talking about. And for some reason, he knew the answer. '_It's because they fear us,_' he explained, a slow wind blowing through their hair as he looked away. '_None from the lands to the south can ever understand our ways... Particularly not the ways of our past,_' he stated calmly, watching the bleeding streaks of red blend across the dusk sky._ 'We live among things that most would normally abhor, and we accept what most would turn away from their steps..._'

'_Because no one else will,_' the boy asked, blinking.

'_Because there is no reason not to,_' he stated, turning to the boy. A small bit of silence settled in, the boy turning away and nodding.

'_Then... The stories my mom tells me..._'

'_Are true, to some extent,_' he admitted, despite a small nagging feeling that told him he shouldn't have known nor stated this aloud. '_But you know,'_ he continued on, still looking at the boy._ 'There is a reason why they are stories... Times have changed... The days of Gods and Monsters are over,_' he stated, looking back out at the desert

The boy turned back, blinking. '_Really..? Then... I won't get to see..._' See... Ahhhh. For some reason, he knew what the boy was talking about. 'That' thing... Hahahahaha...

At this he laughed, shaking his head before ruffling the boy's hair and smiling. '_That depends- the road between cities is dangerous little one, too dangerous to go alone like you planned... But perhaps if your mother gives you permission to join me on my trek this year you'll get your chance._'

'_Ah... Really,'_ the boy asked, beaming as his 'friend' nodded._ 'Even in the middle of the desert!_'

He grinned, standing up and grabbing his staff with a nod. '_Of course...!_'

'_But..._' The boy frowned somewhat, looking up with an oddly 'adult' expression in place. Strange... That look was different than normal... Familiar, and yet... '_We don't have time to go into the desert now,_' he stated, the man beside him frowning at that.

No time? That's right, the nagging voice in the back of his mind said. No ti- But wait... '_Why wouldn't we,_' he found himself saying instead, a slight and confused frown on his face. '_It's my 'job' to be nomadic; I move from city to city, and to the villages between. I can't stay in one place to long... And for that reason,'_ he stated with a smile, '_We have all the time we need._'

But the boy appeared to disagree with this, shaking his head. '_No you don't._' He didn't? The boy continued to look up with a frown, and the desert appeared to mist away into the night sky and reveal nothing but darkness. How odd... '_You have to be somewhere at 8:30,'_ the boy stated,_ 'Remember?'_

Eight... Thirty? What did that even m- The nagging voice grew louder in the back of his mind, the desert continuing to fade out to reveal solid stone and brick. Wait, that was right... It was... '_Eight thirty..._'

'_You need to wake up,_' the boy pressed, his own form vanishing into nothing but dust. Suddenly he was left in complete darkness, the staff in his hands gone as well and replaced with a device on his arm. '_Wake up..._' Wake up? That's right, he... Katsuya jumped, shaking himself as his senses returned. Gh- That's right, eight thirty, the tournament... '_Wake up..!_' He'd love to, but how was he supposed to-

* * *

"_**Wake UP!**_

"

"Gn..." Katsuya's eyes blearily opened, a rough and throaty voice continuing to growl at him from slightly above. "What..."

"_**Ugh... I said GET UP,**_" the voice snarled, aggravation evident in its tone. The blond continued to blink, vision slowly clearing as he stared at the ground. Sunlight... Morning then...

Ugh... Weird dream... Probably the first 'real' dream for a while though he admitted, mentally wincing at the pain he was in. Ow... Bruises... The blond rubbed his head, groaning as he cleared his eyes. Pavement... Pavement... Feet..? Weird feet, looked almost like paws... "What..?" Katsuya's eyes followed the 'feet' upwards, only to swallow as he was met with a furred and quite clearly incensed 'panther'. Armor... And a cape...

Oh yea... Probably should have realized the feet were covered in fur... Haha... Hah...

What.

"P-Pan... Panther..." He swallowed, choking on his words as he stared at the red-eyed monster with wide eyes. "Panther Warrior..."

"_**Oh **__**please,**__**" **_the monster growled, shaking his head and narrowing his eyes. Interesting how unlike the card he could actually see somewhat slit pupils... (Wait that wasn't the point.) "_**Just get UP so I can go to sleep already!**_" Ah wait, what?

"S-Sleep," he asked, coughing as he stared. These things slept..? "Y... You shouldn' even be _real_," he muttered, shaking himself. "An' I'm _talkin_' to..." Alright, way to prove his case there... ...Waaaaait... The blond tensed, hurriedly pressing himself against the wall as he looked at the monster. Way to be slow of mind there! "H-HOW ARE YOU REAL!"

There was a sudden rapid 'flapping' sound as a few pigeons above them flew off, the two looking up briefly before looking back at each other. "_**Ughhh...**_" The panther rolled his eyes, pulling the blond roughly to his feet by the back of his jacket.

"W-woah," he muttered, stumbling somewhat as he leaned against the wall. Katsuya swallowed, turning back to the panther and watching as it shook his head.

"_**Just calm down already,**_" he growled, crossing his arms as his ears fell flat._** "I've been waiting for **__**hours**__** for you to wake up! Do you have any idea how aggravating your world is? **__**I**__** can't do a thing here!**_" Ahhh... O... Okay..? S-Sorry..?

Katsuya stared, watching the panther rant before shaking his head. "...'M I still dreamin'..." This had to be a dream right, hell, intelligible mutterings were one thing but entire conversations..?

Again the panther rolled his eyes, sword held tightly at his side in a belt that was notably missing from the card counterpart. "_**Look... This isn't my problem,**_" he stated flatly, leaning in to speak at eye-level._** "I was already finding it hard to believe that a moron like **__**you**__** managed to get this close to the other realms. This is just making me more exhausted...**_" Yeaaaaaa... Tell him about it. "_**Try not to call me out for a while, got it,**_" he continued with a growl, baring his teeth momentarily. Sheesh... Angry enough..?

Nonetheless he nodded, despite having no clue as to what the monster was talking about. "S-Sure..." Honestly, it was really difficult to realize he was talking to thin air here...

"_**Good! And next time,**_" the panther growled, walking over to where his summoner's cards lay scattered on the ground, "_**Catch the obvious strategy your opponent is making and THINK AHEAD!**_" HEH? And with that, before Katsuya had the chance to argue that he shouldn't be listening to 'hallucinations', the monster vanished, a card on the ground shivering slightly as a result. What what what..!

The blond blinked, slowly at first, before walking over to where the few cards were and staring at the piece of 'paper' blankly. Most of his deck was still in his duel disk... Which was, in question, still on his arm. But his hand was scattered along the ground, along with...

Panther Warrior. Even though that should have been on the disk, he noted, looking at the device as he picked up the card to put it back in the deck. But where was...

All at once the night's events returned to him, Katsuya barely keeping his grip on the cards he'd gathered from the ground. Oh shit... "Red-Eyes," he muttered, before turning to look down the alley. No... More than that... Far _far_ more than that... "Th' Ghouls!" With teeth ground together the blond took off, fists clenched with one thought in mind. Domino Plaza... If the ghouls were targeting cards, then there was no way they wouldn't be there! But while that thought took control of his actions, it never occurred to him...

Panther Warrior had been standing there to wake him up but...

Hadn't Exodia destroyed Panther Warrior the night before?

**

* * *

AN: **Battle City! And leave it to the Panther Warrior to screw with your head. For... Some reason. (Yeaaaaa don't ask. It's not his fault~)

Believe it or not, that dream was probably closer to a 'normal' dream than anything else. Though in its defense, most normal dreams are completely bizarre. As in, things like eating a stack of firetrucks. Whaaaaaaaat?

In any case, there's not much I feel like saying today so...

Off to business then!

**Poll Results **are unchanged, but someone said they'd voted (On the 'main' page, my Author page) and... They didn't. The poll is still being counted, but...

Yea...

Now then!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Let the arrows fly!

What can I say Cynical Gamer… Freaky is something I enjoy. Same with Awesome. Actually, I think both in equal serving is the best thing to do…

And this is where I get to be cryptic. Minor role yes. Caring for goats, another yes. He most certainly was not a survivor, or a soldier or something like that… As to what he _was _in terms of everything else… Well, until I reveal that, the guesses are just going to have to pile unfortunately.

Jou does have his monsters, but not as expected… Winged Kuriboh however, _does not_ have anything to do with it. As stated in the note, it's the Kuriboh that judged Tragoedia's heart; it's tied to Kul Elna in the fanfic in a very _interesting_ way though…

He really should talk to Yugi, but the fact is, he won't… He really won't. Yugi will find out of course, along with a few others but by the time it actually _happens_… Seeing them isn't normal, but actually talking to them is worse. There's still more though, and HOOOOOOO boy.

No, no I wasn't… And that's right! Bakura was number 100; after _he_ died (Or turned to sand..?), Zorc was summoned up by Ahkenaden. As to whether or not his death was required is up for debate though… And I sincerely doubt that Bakura was aware of that little tidbit himself.

Yea we should probably stop talking about the squiggly…

It's mostly little mini reveals for those connecting dots. But I can almost guarantee that it'll still end up with a 'big reveal' by the time things are 'settled'. Poor poor Jou indeed...

Of course they followed them Iona, what kind of friends would they be if they didn't?

…Probably more polite, that's for sure. And you know, I can picture that too… Hehehe…

No, no breaks for the blond it would seem. He really is a magnet, and when he's not a magnet, it seems that the weird-stuff attracts _him_. As to what Fluffy is plotting…

Actually, I can safely say without spoiling anything that he's honestly letting this slide. Because quite frankly, a lot of Bakura's actions were twisted from his drive to avenge Kul Elna… And the look on Jonouchi's face as he left kinda tells him that the blond isn't going to be an idiot about blabbing or anything, and likely feels for it to some extent.

So this more or less puts Jou in a neutral zone for the moment; Bakura won't go out of his way to help the blond, but he won't go out of his way to kill him off either… And not just because of 'appearances'.

In any case, I hope you enjoy this chapter and the next!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that says... YESSSSSSSSSS.

* * *

Another pun filled chapter title! You could use it to refer to the 'levels' in Duel Rankings... Or you could also use it in the values of say... Sanity. 'Level-headed', you know? In other words, this title has lots of meanings; they're up to you though.

* * *

Some of the dialogue, as usual, has been moved around. Mostly, lines from Yugi and Honda have been split, with a few portions handed to Mokuba. And then of course there's the obvious changes…

* * *

Alright! Math time; there are eight finalists in the Battle City Tournament, which means there could only be (at maximum) 8x6 locator cards, plus 5... Thus ensuring that there wouldn't be a random 'ninth finalist'.

With this in mind, we have a maximum 53 competitors... Though it's probably more like 52, or 50 to keep things nicely rounded. In any case, you know what that means?

With 47 prefectures (And therefore, 47 regional champions), adding in Yugi and Kaiba... There were probably maybe three 'extra' disks. Of course, Bakura stole his, Malik got his from his ghouls and...

Well who the hell knows how Ishizu did it. (We already know about Jonouchi) Most likely, a good number of Japan's 'real' champions ended up 'hacked out of the system' by the ghouls unfortunately though, as a number of the ghouls that Yugi and Kaiba face have locator cards.

Of course... There's always the possibility that a few of those ghouls _were_ the champions, but I sincerely doubt that was the case, given the 'average' age demographic of all the competitors. (Namely between 14 and 18, with a few exceptions... Like Mai.)

* * *

What's with the price of the Duel Disks Usagi! Well, lets face it, you buy one of those things, they will last _forever_. The fact is, what with buying crap loads of cards to play on the system, the Duel Disk is to Duel Monsters what the Wii is to Nintendo Wii games. It's a console.

Therefore, I will price it like one.

* * *

And you can bet that Kaiba Corp gets a share of the profit from cards thanks to partnership with I2… Lets face it, if these things _really_ existed, would it _really_ be surprising that it was one of the more popular things? Your card game is now a Battle Royale of LIFE SIZE PROPORTIONS. It's more realistic than all your video games COMBINED.

SIGN ME UP!

* * *

You might think the other Yugi's comment is a bit of a 'throw in', but Anzu and Yugi really did go to that same store; she mentions it on the next page of the chapter in the manga…

* * *

What? Kaiba cares? Of course she does… Mostly. Ironically, the main reason why she bothered warning Jou of this is because of her suspicions concerning the stores selling the duel disk in question; after all, as soon as the store owner realized that Jonouchi had a _Red Eyes_

…

Hence the '_if you somehow manage…_'

In any case, is she really doing it for Mokuba? Or is it an excuse? To be safe, we'll roll with the first one...

_For now..._

* * *

For those curious, the 'ranking' system from five and up is like this. Level 6 gets 25% off the disks, with level 7 getting a whopping 50%; while it's not a mere 'two' at that level seven level, I can tell you quite honestly that despite the fact that no 'level seven's made the finals save _one_, there are very very few at that rank.

Try like... Five. And you can probably guess who one of those five is.

And if you're especially 'genre savvy', you might just guess the remaining four too... ...Particularly when I tell you _this_ little spoiler; fanfic Jonouchi was considered as more than a level 5 by Kaiba... The level down-sizing was (obviously) another obstacle.

* * *

So yea; while they (Yugi and Jonouchi and Anzu) were talking, our crooked ghoul-cardshop owner noticed that Jonouchi has a Red-Eyes Black Dragon… Which isn't _as_ rare as Blue-Eyes in that universe, but it's still pretty damn rare!

* * *

Speaking of conversations, despite Honda and Anzu being there in the manga, they mysteriously vanish after entering the store... Despite the fact that both would clearly have no interest in what was on sale, Anzu especially; she was just there the day prior.

* * *

Originally when Jou is attacked by the rare hunters, he still has the disk in the box it came in. The hunters actually let him put the thing on, set his cards in, and start the duel before winning…

And then beating the ever loving _crap_ out of him. Because hey, lets just rub his nose in the loss _more_ shall we?

Either way, besides the fact that Jonouchi and Yugi would have likely torn into those things like a pair of kids on Christmas...

* * *

Back to the cards! Technically, the way Exodia works is that having it in your hand you win instantly… No really; once they're there, _you win_. But Since it was summoned in the manga (artistically anyway), we'll say that the Ghoul summoned it to be an ass.

Actually, this is probably because the duel disk automatically knows what cards are in the deck; this way, when you draw a card activated by the draw, it'll still appear, as with Parasite Paracide.

...I still had the ghoul summon Exodia though. Just to be a complete dick. (Also to punch poor Jou across the alley.)

* * *

Speaking of that punch, on an 'actually pretty funny' note, you can bet that the ghoul who 'punched' Jonouchi at the same moment Exodia did decided to try it on a wall later on. Hehehehe...

* * *

I pick on poor Jonouchi so, _so_ much don't I? Actually, this is another 'vote induced' dream. Originally, the chapter ended with Jou passing out… But in the end, this works in the chapter's favour, as the next chapter starts on _such_ a different note that I would end up with this chapter a good two-three pages shorter than it should be.

OH WELL. You'll see what I mean later.

* * *

Clever plot hook hunters will already know what the heck is going on. Also Taffy, but she doesn't count because she beta's my plotline. (In fact, if you're a dork like me and enjoy reading the reviews to fanfics, you'll notice that _waaaaay_ back around the first few chapters, she commented on this. Taffy was beta-ing chapters at that time as well.)

* * *

As a side note, the _real_ Panther Warrior can't attack unless a monster is tributed from your side of the field… However, it was obviously made in manga before the card was, and the manga version lacks this… Therefore, the ability 'doesn't exist' here.

* * *

And as another note, the Japanese name for this guy is 'Shikkoku no Hyousenshi Pansaa Woriaa. The last two words are Romanized; in other words, english words. Namely 'Panther Warrior'. (The particle 'no' is also used to attach certain colours to subjects/objects in a sentence.)

The other two words however, Shikkoku and Hyousenshi mean 'jet black' (Using the kanji for 'varnish' and 'black' respectively, which makes sense) and… Panther warrior. I''m serious. 'Hyou' means Panther, whereas Senshi is soldier, or warrior.

So the card's name is 'Jet Black Panther Warrior - Panther Warrior.' I guess that means its his name, hehehe.

* * *

Also, the reason why Panther Warrior is a dick is because he's kinda meant for fighting, and he spent the last 9 hours or so 'babysitting'… Also because he's a cat.

Can't get any more stereotypical than that!~

* * *

More importantly now, a note on _speech_; relatively humanoid monsters can speak. Things like Blue-Eyes and Red-Eyes and most other monsters _can NOT_. There _will_ be exceptions… But these will be very rare, mostly because Jonouchi is largely one of the few people who would hear them.

Also, there will be a few humanoids who can't talk either. You'll find out who as we go along… For the most part though, they obviously won't be chatting since that requires being summoned aaaaaaand… Yea. Bad enough how crazy it seems to _us_, even when we _know_ it's real right? Imagine what the 'normals' would think!

* * *

Well, that's it for now... Got a doodle of the Panther Warrior there for you; fun fact, had it not been for the existence of 'Lady Panther', a monster that Shizuka has, I would have actually been tempted to gender swap him. Fun stuff!

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

Remove spaces, past link. Da-da-daaaaa!

Just one today, a design with some chibis... You'll notice that rather than the boots he has in the card, Panther Warrior has paw-feet and greaves. This was both a mistake and a design point for me, ahehehe...

Concept/Chibis - Panther Warrior - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ panther. jpg - In which, besides seeing Panther Warrior in all his monster-y glory, we also have him being bored, cutting bread, catching his 'sister' having tea with the other monsters in Shizuka's deck, and staring confusedly at Jinzo with the company of the Flame Swordsman. ...So things that don't happen or happen when no one is looking I guess, hehehe.

And with that, I say enjoy this chapter! I'll see you in the next one!


	65. Chapter 64

**Achilles's Heel**

* * *

At eight o'clock in Domino Plaza, those heading to their businesses found themselves fairly confused to say the least of things. Walking around the large street 'donut', a majority of these people wound up being somewhat bounced around by early risers from across the country, each of those people wearing blade-like and shield-like devices on their arms. These people merely gave their own responses to what happened when someone bumped into them, and then offered a warning...

Get out of the playing field. Ten minutes after this fact, and the plaza was devoid almost completely of 'normals', with approximately twenty or so 'duelists' wandering the square as nearby cafes and businesses took advantage of the 'foreign' crowd. Ten more minutes, with the 'twenty' increased to about 'fifty', and those waiting for competing friends found themselves sitting on benches with worried expressions in place, exchanging just barely visible glances with a muttered '_he's late.._.'... Whoever 'he' was.

Because the fact was, none of this was really of his concern for the moment, and as for now he was busy following a crude map his classmate had drawn him from memory a number of months ago. A map that, while accurate, had suffered a few pop stains on the train ride there, and was proving quite difficult to read while he was attempting to ignore another 'friend's ramblings. "I'm just saying," the somewhat nasally voice repeated once again, sounding oddly like begging the more he heard it. "As the _champion_ of Japan," he said smugly, "It would only make sense for me to visit his 'runner up' opponent..."

Keiichi 'Dinosaur' Ryuzaki rolled his eyes as he walked down the street toward the plaza, looking back at the boy behind him with a frown. 'Insector' Haga as the boy was known had somehow known exactly when his train would arrive the day before, what hotel he was staying at, and using this knowledge had been following him since he left the room. To say he was 'annoyed'... Would likely put it lightly. "Haga, you placed dead last in the Duelist Kingdom," he said plainly, watching as the spectacled boy seethed at the comment. Hey, facts were facts... "'Champion' is the _last_ thing I'm going to use to describe you," the teen muttered, adjusting his 'map'. Now was that a stain or a kanji character...

"Ghn... Well then," the boy spat, flushing as he followed behind his self-proclaimed friend, "If you're so much better, then just what place did _you_ come in," he asked, evidently confident in the thought that he had done no better.

Which was not a good thing to think really, not at all. The teen smirked, adjusting his hat as the plaza came into view at the end of the street. "Heh! If it hadn't been for timing," he bragged, "I would have made the finals!" Beat that, 'bug boy'. He looked back at his 'friend', Haga in question visibly seething with the knowledge. Hehehehehe... "As it was," he continued with a shrug, looking back toward the plaza, "I ended up 'fifth'..." And barely catching the last boat off the island, he mentally added.

Not that Haga needed to know that. Besides, getting ten star chips to be booted off the island wasn't nearly as bad as _this_ guy... The insect lover appeared to pout somewhat from behind him, grumbling something under his breath as Keiichi smirked. "Ghngggg... If it hadn't been for that one duel..."

The teen merely grinned, shaking his head. "Don't care~"

"ANG!" Yeaaaa, if he could make Haga squirm then he could live with the stalking...

Though speaking of that... Keiichi sighed, turning to the boy as they entered the plaza. "Alright Haga," he said with a frown, crossing his arms as the boy in question raised his eyebrows. "Why don't you just tell me what you hope to achieve in stalking me and leave me alone, alright," he asked, the frown deepening.

Haga blinked a few times, before a fairly smug (if not painfully aggravating) smirk came over his face. "...Hnn... I don't think I will," he decided, Keiichi's frown growing flat in response.

What. "...You won't tell me why you're stalking me," he 'repeated', Haga's smirk growing.

"No."

"You... _Admit_ that you're stalking me," he asked incredulously, watching as the boy smirked in response.

"Well," he drawled, 'friend' resisting the urge to stab him with the duel disk, "Being a duelist of my level, I wouldn't say-"

"Damn it Haga, what do you want," he shouted, a few others in the crowd turning momentarily as his voice echoed around the plaza.

The boy tensed, blinking a few times with a shocked expression before turning away with a fairly 'snooty' look in place. Great... This look.

The one where he wouldn't admit dick-all, Keiichi thought with a mental grown, closing his eyes as he clenched his jaw. "Well... If you _must_ know," he muttered, the look fading to Keiichi's dull surprise, "I... Well..." Well..? He sighed, turning back to his 'friend' rather pathetically despite the clear look of distaste he had. "Tch... I need a place to stay," he spat, refusing to look at his 'friend' as he said this. "There. Now you know."

He... Needed a place to... "...What." But Haga _lived_ in Tokyo... "Why the hell would you..."

Haga flushed, gritting his teeth in apparent anger as he continued on and turned back. "My sisters said they would kick me out once I started high-school," he growled, fists clenched tightly as he spoke. "I need to find somewhere to stay!"

Wh...What..? He shook his head, blinking a few times as he ran the words through his head. Oh this was just... Unbelievable. Completely unbelievable. "Your... Your sisters," he repeated, blinking a few times. Alright, to the most important point of this topic... "..._You have __sisters_?"

"Three of them," Haga explained offhandedly, apparently not caring too much about the relatives in question. "All of them unable to realize what a mistake they're making..." God damn it, stop talking about how _great_ he was... "...And all paying the bills for our apartment," he added dryly, the smug tone dropping quicker than a stone.

Well, given the attitude... He could see why they would do that. But even so... "Wait," he muttered, shaking his head. "School isn't out for another term..." Which meant that this wasn't going to happen for... _Months_.

This was the wrong thing to say, he realized rather quickly, as Haga was smirking again. Ahhhhh... Someone get him earplugs... "Yes, well... I passed a few 'extra' tests," he said with a grin, managing to look smug despite the fact that his glasses were starting to fall off his face. The boy pushed them back into place, sunlight glaring off the glass oddly as he continued on. "Starting in September, I'm officially a high-school student..." He... He skipped a grade. Half way through the year, _what the hell were the chances of that_? "Of course," he added bitterly, rolling his eyes, "'Ane' doesn't seem to realize that some schools offer 'scholarships'..."

Yea, a _few_ but... Keiichi bit his lip, rubbing his head as he took a long and shaky breath. Alright... Alright calm down, as annoying and bratty as Haga was, he could... Handle this and... Fuck it, no he couldn't. The teen snapped, turning back on his 'friend' again with grit teeth. "Why the HELL are you coming to ME!"

Again Haga froze up, momentarily loosing his proud expression to stare for a moment. "...Well..." He coughed, hurriedly regaining his smug expression much to Keiichi's distaste, "I figured that as the person who lost to me in the championships, you would-"

"WHY, _HAGA_."

There was a short span of silence, the boy gritting his teeth as he again went red in the face. "Fine," he growled, Keiichi holding an unimpressed frown at the 'excuse'. "I'll say it; because you're the first person that came to mind, HAPPY NOW?" Ahhh... No. No he wasn't. Though it made him feel _slightly_ better... "And you're the only one," Haga added with another bitter snarl, crossing his arms and turning away. "So you can go right ahead and rub that in now." Yea, well...

Wait... The _only_ person that came to mind? Keiichi blinked, staring at the boy as he attempted to gauge the honesty in the words. Was... Was he serious? He couldn't seriously mean... ... "Hahhhh..." He rubbed his head, closing his eyes briefly as he sighed. Alright... Alright, just this once... "Fine," he said plainly, looking at the boy. He was going to regret this horribly but... Alright. "At the end of tomorrow," he decided, "You can come back with me to Osaka to stay at my house until you find someone else to live with. ...Like actual relatives," Keiichi stated dryly, the words likely missing their target as Haga grinned.

"I _knew_ you wouldn't say no," he said cheerfully, the grin coming out more manic and haughty than 'honest' Keiichi noted. "After all, I-"

"Say it," he warned dryly, "And I'm taking back what I said."

This shut Haga up quite quickly, the boy looking at him in silence for a few moments before turning his attention to his deck. "Well... I suppose that's fair," he muttered, fingering his cards. Dear god, please shut up... "Should I call your house," he asked 'innocently', "Tell your parents to set up a bed for me?" Agggggh... Imposing little bra-

Wait. He turned, frowning. Alright, his hotel room was one thing but... "Since when in the hell did you have my number?"

"Since I looked it up," the boy said plainly, pulling out a worn phone that was overloaded with insect charms. He flipped it open, pushing a few buttons as he continued. "I also have your cell phone number, house address, school address... Hnnn, perhaps I could enroll there," he added, frowning slightly as his 'friend' steadily grew angrier.

"Aaaaaaaaaagghhh..." Dear god SOMEONE STRIKE HIM DOWN! "Damn it," he growled, "If you know all of that you can get there yourself!" The teen crumpled his map, stowing it in his pocket and shaking his head as he stormed off. Honestly, it would probably be best to just ignore him now... Just... Ignore him and move on...

"So," Haga asked, keeping up with the teen fairly easily, "When the tournament starts, would you like the honor of facing me first," he asked with a grin, only to freeze and swallow as he was met with a dark look from Keiichi.

"Second warning," he muttered with a scowl. "Number three happens, and you won't be getting on that train, least not the one heading _south_..."

"Ehehehehehe... I'll shut up," Haga muttered with a swallow, his friend rolling his eyes. Yeaaaa... When the ice age happened again...

He was already regretting this damn it... "Right..." The teen shook his head, before blinking as he heard a familiar voice from the side. Well, anything for a distraction, but hang on now...

"_He should be here any minute now,_" someone muttered, Keiichi moving toward the voice as Haga followed behind. "_He tends to be late during the summer I've noticed," _the voice continued,_ "Thanks to his job..._" Eh..? Who was? And wait, that voice seemed oddly familiar...

"_Really,_" another voice asked, Keiichi blinking as he spotted the source. Wait... That was...

Oh hell... "Gh- It's Yugi," Haga hissed, reaching for his duel disk with narrowed eyes.

Keiichi shook his head, frowning. "Haga, the tournament hasn't even started yet..."

Annnd he wasn't listening... "I'm going to make him pay for last time..." Agggggh...

"Damn it Haga!" He shook his head, before looking back as Mai and Yugi both turned their attention to them. Eh, what the hell, they'd spotted him now so... "HEY," he called, giving a slight wave as the two stared. "Long time no see Yugi! ...Mai!" Alright... Yugi he had no problems with really but...

_Mai_ on the other hand... The woman blinked, staring at the two as they approached. He hated that bitch. He really did. "Dinosaur Ryuzaki," she said with slight surprise, before looking at the boy behind him with even more confusion. "And... Insector Haga?" Yeaaaaa don't ask. At all.

Keiichi merely nodded, sending a somewhat tense glare toward the woman as he did so. Heh! "Listen up," he said plainly, jumping right to the 'point' of the 'subject'. "This isn't going to be anything like it was on the island! We fight in this tournament and you're going down, got it," he said with a nod, arms crossed. After souping up his deck with a few new cards... Heh! Mai wouldn't stand a chance..!

"That's right," Haga said with a smirk, Keiichi momentarily looking back in confusion. He was agreeing..? "If you think it'll be as easy as before," he continued with a drawl, "You are _sorely_ mistaken... My new insect deck is many times more powerful," he shouted with a grin, "And far superior to your own! HnhnhahahahaHA!" ...No. No he wasn't agreeing damn it, he was being Haga.

"AAAAH HAHAHAHA!" The boys turned, blinking as a notably tanned duelist walked over with a wide grin in place. "Insects," he laughed, looking at Haga as he wiped a tear from his eyes. "Wait until you see my deck," he continued with a grin, shaking his head. "My Fortress Whale will swallow your bugs whole!" Fortress-

Oooooh, this was the champion from Okinawa... Ryota Kajiki? Keiichi smirked, turning his attention to the teen as he snorted. "Hah! If it's size you're arguing about," he said with a laugh, "Then my dinosaurs would top you any day!"

Kajiki raised his eyebrows, the positive expression nonetheless staying firmly in place. "You think so," he asked with a smirk.

Heh... "I know so!"

"My bugs are still better," Haga shouted from between the two, refusing to be out done.

"You wish!"

"RGGGGG!"

All in all, it wasn't really surprising that Mai and Yugi were gone by the time they bothered to pay attention to anything else afterward, and it was probably sheer luck that he managed to ditch Haga at any time after that.

* * *

Domino Plaza was fairly close to Yugi's house in all honesty, being only ten or so blocks away. From the alley that Katsuya had collapsed in, it was even closer, likely about half the distance. But the bruises that developed as a result of Exodia's punch were soft and painful, gaining a fairly sick looking colour at that... And the shock of the events were just barely enough to keep him from running at full speed without acknowledging this pain. It was long past eight thirty he told himself as he ran. He knew that by the people running past him, by the clocks he saw on his run, and more importantly he just _knew_. But no one was challenging him just yet, he thought with narrowed eyes as he stumbled past another corner... Not just...

Yet...

A flash passed through his vision, the blond running through it nonetheless. As he ran however, he found himself slowing, eyes staring not at what was there but more at something _else_. The ghoul... From the night before, sitting at a laptop, with his hood down... But in the street..?

Katsuya froze, coming to a stop in the middle of the street as he realized what he was seeing. Even as he stopped moving, staring at the ground, he could see it... Clearly, every detail, the location, the actions...

The face of the one he was looking for. The blond grit his teeth, eyes narrowing with rage as he charged into the plaza with renewed speed. Him. He knew his face... He knew what he looked like, what he sounded like. And in front of the cafe, the exact same one he'd seen moments before... "YOU," he shouted, storming over to the table where the ghoul sat, face red in contrast to whatever shade the bruises under his shirt were. Pale face, pale hair, bloodshot eyes... The man had likely not seen the sun for a while, to say the least. "Found you y' rat... You c'n disappear int' a crowd," he spat angrily, "But y' can't hide eyes like that..." Not by a long shot...

The ghoul appeared to ignore him for the moment, tapping a few keys on his keyboard before calmly sipping from his coffee. Answer him damn it... Answer him! "Hnhnhnhnhn..." Katsuya growled under his breath as the ghoul chuckled, looking over his mug. "Sore about the card you lost," he asked, raising his eyebrows. "A rare card like that, I'm willing to bet it was your ticket into this tournament..."

Not the only ticket no... But that wasn't the point in any way. God damned bastard..! "Ch... Th' only reason why you have it is b'cause you stole it, y' SNAKE!" And if it wasn't for the fact that he'd likely be the one in pain if he attacked in front of a crowd he'd have taken him out right now damn it!

"Jonouchi," a voice from the side called out, Katsuya turning as the 'other' Yugi came over from the side. He stared for a moment, frown fading only slightly at the sight of his friend. Just him..? He'd have thought the 'normal' one would at least be following around like a ghost for this... "What's going on here," the teen pressed, frowning somewhat as his friend stared. What was going on?

Hell. That's what was going on. "Yugi..." ...Back on subject now! He steeled himself, turning back to the 'Ghoul' with narrowed eyes as a growl again developed under his breath. "Be on yer guard Yugi," he muttered, fists clenched tightly as he stared at his opponent from the night prior. "Th' Ghouls 'r in this tournament..!"

"G-Ghouls..!" Yep. The blond's friend stared, both boys watching as the ghoul gave a smirk and downed the last of his coffee. "Then..." He frowned, turning back to the blond with raised eyebrows. "Don't tell me they took one of your cards..!" Katsuya grit his teeth, nodding.

"Yea..." Yea they did... Even so. "But don' fight him," he continued, turning to Yugi seriously. As much as he hated to say it... "This guy has-"

Yugi ignored the blond, instead placing his hand on his duel disk and moving closer to the Ghoul's table with a red face. A-Ah- Wait! "Hn! Someone who steals the cards and property of my friends doesn't deserve an excuse," he muttered, Katsuya merely blinking at the words. "Anyone who even thinks of it will answer to me!" That was great but...

"Y-Yugi..!" But he was trying to tell him something important!

The Ghoul's smirk grew, laptop closing over as the man stepped away from his table and grabbed his disk from the side. "Hehehehehe... You want to duel me then," he asked, receiving a cold nod in response as the two boys looked back at him.

Hey hey hey... "Yugi, wait," he protested, turning back to his friend with a worried frown. "I need t'-"

"Stay out of the way," his friend stated calmly, moving to an empty spot in the plaza as he stared at his opponent coldly. Stay out of the- Damn it! "I'll get your card back... Garbage like this is a disgrace to the city," he growled, voice picking up in volume as he set his disk into place, Katsuya mentally smacking his head. "I'll clear you out right now!" Okay, what.

"Hehehehehe..." Katsuya turned back as the Ghoul began chuckling once more, eyes narrowing once more. "Challenging me to a duel like this..." The ghoul shook his head, smirking as the two boys glared. "Very brave... I accept then," he decided, locking his deck into place. Err... That was great but... Damn it Yugi, _listen_..!

"So... A 'Rare Hunter'," Yugi said with clear distaste, eyes narrowed as his friend groaned quietly from the side. "Counterfeiters and thieves... The 'Ghouls' of the gaming world..." Yes... So what did he think would be in this guy's deck then? 'Normal' cards? "Just what brings a gang from the Middle East to Egypt," he asked, eyes narrowing even further as he continued to look across the field. Ah...

That was a damn good question now wasn't it. The ghoul merely chuckled, smirk still in place as he glanced up at the clock above them. "You need to ask..? All of Japan's best duelists have been gathered here," he explained with a grin, eyes narrowing in mirth. "A concentration of champions in one sweet spot... We 'Rare Hunters', the 'combat division' of ghouls decided to send a bit of a message," he continued, shrugging as the two before him tensed further. "Remind the world that the _shadows_ are not the only place we hide... We're taking this tournament," he stated with a laugh, disk clicking into place on his arm, "And all the rare cards that come with it..!" Gh...

"Tch... Bastards..." No kidding... "Then I'll have to destroy every last one of you," Yugi roared, Katsuya looking from his friend to the ghoul. That... That was really great but...

"Listen, Yugi," he muttered, expression serious as he again tried to pass on his warning. "I-"

"Quiet Jonouchi," his friend muttered, the blond tensing somewhat in response. "I'll get your Red-Eyes back, you don't need to worry..." That wasn't what he was worried abou- "We're entering this tournament together," he continued with a nod, the blond beside him freezing for a moment before frowning.

Yea well... Not insulting his ability or anything, but this guy kinda had a deck full of bootleg Exodias here. And he'd be damned if he was going to watch him get punched back by that thing! "Agggggh... Just lemme warn yah," he protested, frowning as he was seemingly ignored by the boy. "His deck 's got-"

"Don't finish that sentence Jonouchi!" What! The blond blinked as a hand was held to his face, his friend still staring across the field with a scowl in place. "No matter what kinds of tricks this hunter has hidden in his sleeve," he muttered under his breath, "I have no right to know the enemy's strategy before a game," he said plainly, Katsuya staring in silence. "I don't need an unfair advantage to beat _this_ piece of scum..." He... "So," Yugi 'asked' loudly, looking across the field as he changed the subject before Katsuya could protest again. "Do you have a name? No," he decided with a smirk, "I suppose you don't..." But what did that mean..? The blond beside him frowned, watching as his friend's smirk vanished to be replaced with a cold glare. "Come at me with all you have..."

"H-Heh..!" What, even the ghoul was confused, what the hell..!

Even so Yugi's glare continued to intensify, the ticking of the clock seemingly raising in volume from behind them. "I'll _crush_ you..."

Yugi... Voices from around them were muttering to themselves as the blond stared, frowning. Two minutes to nine... '_Hey_,' one person was muttering, '_A duel's starting by the clock tower..!_' '_That guy 'Yugi' is in it too_,' another was saying, clearly excited, '_Lets watch_!'

One minute left... "Hehehehehe... I have to admire your fighting spirit," the Ghoul muttered, smirking darkly as time slowly ticked away. "But I'm going to teach you that it takes far more than that to win..." In response, Yugi merely narrowed his eyes still further, fingers reaching for his deck.

And without looking at the clock...

Nine. "I'm first," Yugi stated clearly, Katsuya standing at the side with a clenched jaw as his friend drew a fresh hand of cards. Looking over them only briefly he began to make his move, Katsuya biting his lip as he watched. The strategy... The ghoul's plan... Would Yugi be able to figure it out quickly enough, he wondered, swallowing. "I'll set this card face down," Yugi announced loudly, an enormous and blank tablet appearing at his side the instant the card was set. "And in attack mode," he continued, a second tablet appearing with a carving in place, "Gazelle, King of the Mythical Beasts!" Steady and thickly carved lines appeared on the stone, smoke wrapping through the outlines as its monster was summoned into existence. "End turn," Yugi called out as the lion-like beast broke free of its tablet, the monster snarling and howling as the man across him drew his card.

"Hn! Then it's my turn," the Ghoul stated calmly, an eerie smirk coming over his face as he drew his card. Shit... That look... "I play the spell Graceful Charity," he announced, tablet appearing at his side and slowly revealing the angelic carving. Seconds later the tablet ground itself to dust as the familiar angel arose behind him to shine its summoner in a pale and heavenly light.

"_**Draw three cards,**_" it 'commanded', eyes shut in apparent serenity,_** "Discard two...**_" That voice was kinda creepy when he thought about it, the blond noted with a swallow... Nonetheless both he and Yugi narrowed their eyes as the angel vanished from sight, both boys watching as the Ghoul exchanged his hand. The cards he had... Both legs, the blond thought as he grit his teeth, not bothering to wonder how he knew. And the right arm... First 'draw' and he already had three out of five...

Damn it... Before he summoned Exodia, Yugi had to beat him! He had to hurry! "I'll also set the Stone Statue of the Aztecs in defense mode," Yugi's opponent shouted, the tablet appearing at his side as the boys attentions were pulled to the field. The thick carved outline of a stone beast appeared clearly on its form as it arose from the ground, Katsuya looking back at his friend and swallowing. "End turn..."

Tch... And there was the defensive strategy... Damn it Yugi..! "Hn! My turn," Yugi stated after a few moments and narrowed stares, drawing his next card and setting it on the field. "I play Baphomet the demon," he announced, the great winged demon's outline slowly appearing on the tablet on the field's place. Black smoke rose up through the outlines, a blood-curdling cry entering the air as the monster pulled itself from the tablet behind it. "Next," Yugi continued, the image of a spiral appearing on his blank tablet's cover, "I activate the spell Polymerization!" The spirals began to emanate from the tablet's form, Yugi continuing as its magic filled the field. "I fuse my two monsters to summon this," he stated clearly, the intense vortex of the spell tablet pulling both of the monsters on the field into the stone. "Chimera, the Mythical Beast!" The two tablets from the beasts sacrificed crumbled into dust with those words, the resulting smoke forming a carved image on that of the again blank 'spell' tablet. In an instant two roars pierced through the air, the image on the tablet becoming clear as smoke wrapped through the outlines. "_**GROOOOOO!**_" Great horned heads charged forward as the tablet glowed, eagles wings pulling free of the stone with another roar. "_**GRAOOOOO!**_" Haaaaah... Three heads... Lion, demon-thing, sna-

Wait, where the hell did the third one come from... Katsuya shook the question off, instead watching as his friend ended his turn. Fusion monsters couldn't attack on the turn they were summoned... A fact that made his opponent more than pleased. "Heh... In that case I draw," the Ghoul said with a grin, glancing at the card he'd grabbed only for a moment. "Once more," he shouted clearly, "I play the spell Graceful Charity!" Katsuya swallowed, narrowing his eyes as another tablet bearing the image of an angel appeared before them. Discard two cards, he thought, narrowing his eyes as the tablet and angel both disappeared. Draw three... Another right arm...

And the head too, the blond thought tensely, grinding his teeth in aggitation. Who knew how the hell he knew this, but damn it Yugi, the guy already had four cards! Come on... Come on, realize what was going on...

"Now, before I end my turn," he heard, grating voice pulling him back to the duel, "I'll set another monster in defense mode..." The Ghoul's tone took a dark turn with those words, his smirk widening as the tablet appeared before him. "Here! Gear Golem, the Moving Fortress," he announced, an almost bulldozer-like image appearing to etch itself on the stone. "End turn!" Awww hell, the blond grumbled mentally, _another_ shield? Katsuya scowled, glancing back at his friend with a swallow. Come on come on come on...

Come on..! Figure it out..! And suddenly, Yugi gained a smirk, nodding to himself as if to say he'd done just that. "Hehehehehe... I know what you're planning," he said calmly, drawing his next card as both his opponent and his friend both blinked in response. He... He did..?

"W-What..." The teen's opponent tensed, paling somewhat as he held a less than confident smirk. "Impossible..! You're bluffing," he muttered with a snort, shaking his head. "You couldn't possibly have guessed my strategy within so little time-"

"I won't let you summon Exodia," Yugi stated bluntly, his smirk growing with the words. Exo... Hah... H-Hah... YES! Katsuya grinned, eyes widening as he watched the Ghoul's expression fall. YES!

"G-Gn... You..." Found it out? Damn straight. Yet even so the man smirked, dark grin returning with a nervous laugh. "Heh... True, you know my plan," he admitted, visibly swallowing back his nervousness. "But... Just what can you possibly do in one turn!"

One turn..? Katsuya smirked, his friend doing the same as he held his card. That was all he'd need... "One turn," Yugi repeated, eyebrows raised. "Hn! Watch... I'll crush Exodia with this card," he shouted, opponent paling even further. Hahaha... Three turns...

He caught it in three turns, and- ...And he didn't need a warning, did he, Katsuya realized with a jolt, staring at the field with a swallow. The blond's eyes drifted over the field with those thoughts, a frown appearing on his face momentarily. The Chimera was simply sitting for the moment, lion's head cleaning out its fur from the dust of its tablet. The defense mode monsters were, as expected, merely trapped in stone, outlines staring forward. Heh... A small smirk came into place for a moment, Katsuya mentally shaking his head. Learned something again, he told himself, the smirk fading somewhat. Yugi 'taught' him something again. Hell, his own monster told him first... '_Figure it out,_' he'd said... But more than that...

The blond swallowed, staring at the field with narrowed eyes. Time to watch his friend crush this jackass... "Here I go... First," Yugi announced clearly, "I set a card face down on the field." With his words a blank tablet appeared at his side, the Chimera beside it rising to its feet with a low growl. "Next, for my battle phase... Chimera," he ordered, the monster growling louder at the command. "Attack the Stone Statue... _**IMPACT DASH!**_" With an almost musical howl the monster charged forward, horns lowered toward the first of the two tablets. Twin points of impact appeared as the 'demon's head struck first, cracks spidering through the stone before a rumbling sound came through the air. Stone clattered to the ground as Yugi smirked, his opponent not even phased by the move. "So much for your statue..." ...Or tablet Katsuya corrected mentally, watching as the ground seemingly absorbed whatever chunks of rock remained. "Before I end my turn," Yugi continued calmly, "I'll set one more card... There! END TURN!" No..

The Ghoul across from them instantly grinned, hands moving for his deck with those words. There was something else... "Hehahahahahha! And now it's my turn," he said with a laugh, hand reaching for his deck. In just seconds, something else... "Prepare to lose... I draw-"

Now. "I activate my spell," Yugi shouted clearly, a blade appearing on the front of the first blank tablet. The stone crumbled in on itself, leaving nothing but the sword as it shot forth in a ray of light. "Lightforce Sword! Taking one of the cards in your hand and forcing it to the field," the boy cried, blade appearing to spin in a drill like fashion as it took aim above his opponent's hand. "And I pick the second from the left!"

Oooh, good choice, Katsuya thought with a grin, watching as the blade tore towards the Ghoul's hand. ...He wasn't even going to ask how he knew that though... Even so he watched, staring as the blade drove through the card and into the ground, an enormous block of stone forming beneath it. The stone cracked into pieces, an outline never even appearing as a writhing and kicking leg appeared pinned in the blade's grip. "Hahahahah! 'Xodia's left leg! Good goin," Katsuya shouted, his friend merely smirking as he watched the heel-pinned 'monster' flail.

"Hn! That's not all," he said with a smirk, the second tablet at his side slowly gaining a chain-like image on its form. "With the Right arm's summoning," Yugi said seriously, "You've activated my trap! Die," he shouted, a chain and spear launching from the stone to skewer the left leg before worming its way into the Ghoul's deck. "Chain Destruction! Destroying not only a monster on the field," he said with a grin, Katsuya watching as links of chain tore viciously through the mummified hand's form, "But any duplicates in your deck... Hehehehehehehe... Exodia will never awaken," Yugi shouted, both he and Katsuya watching as the boy's opponent grew steadily pale. Which meant he'd lost... But wait... A sudden chill filled the air despite these words, all sound becoming muted.

...What the hell was going on... Katsuya froze, Yugi's next words becoming almost soundless as the man before them shook with intense fear. '_Your deck is DEAD,_' Yugi was saying, the words only dimly registering as Katsuya stared. The chill increased... But more than that... Fire. He swore he saw fire catch onto the Ghoul's robes, he swore...

"I lost," the man was muttering, eyes staring forward as his voice seemed to echo against nothingness. "I lost... I... I can't have..." And again he saw fire, this time not at all just a 'flash' Katsuya realized with a jolt, blood raining from his face. Flames were appearing... "It's not possible," the man muttered, flames slowly wrapping around his neck as they climbed the sides of his clothes, "Not possible... No... No..!" Panic. And suddenly the entire man was set ablaze, the veins on his forehead bulging forward in a twisted, 'eye' shaped formation before breaking completely, blood streaming across his head as he cried in fear and misery. "No... NO... NO! He's coming," the Ghoul wailed, Katsuya staring in horrified silence as the man's head bled. "Help... Help me please," he screeched, hands gripping the sides of his head as he stumbled in place. "Help! AAAAHHH... AAAAH... He's coming," the Ghoul screamed, tears streaming down his face as the blond across from him held back the last evening's supper. "He's coming, he's COMING!" Teeth were digging their way out of the man's head Katsuya realized coldly, mouth hanging open in horror. Rows of sharp, dagger-like teeth, tearing a hole in the skull, digging forward like some gaping alligator's mouth...

"Yugi," Katsuya muttered, his friend merely staring forward with somewhat wide eyes as the blond swallowed. "Please tell me that's you..."

The boy merely continued to stare, arms held limp at his side in shock. "It's not..."

Not good... "Oh God," the man was crying, holding his head tightly as an eye rolled about in the center of his face. A golden iris, rolling from the bottom up as it attempted to focus, teeth growing long and needle like as they grew to take up the whole of the man's forehead. "He's here... He's here..! Malik-" And abruptly the eye turned forward, the man falling limp as he cut off.

Or at least, for a moment... Before, with the crack of his neck, the man 'stood' with blank soulless eyes to chuckle. "_**Hehehehehehehehehe...**_" Oh hell... Oh HELL... The teeth on the man's head were surrounded by flames, single eye staring out at both of the boys across from it. But in the back of his mind, he could only think of one thing. One warning...

'_Beware,_' he heard the Tauk mutter in his mind, mouth moving as he finished the memory's sentence. "Th' eyes tha' d'vour flames..." Oh god...

Yugi blinked, turning with a frown. "...Jonouchi..?"

"_**Hnhnhnhn...**_" The boy looked back, attention switching back to the 'Ghoul' before them with a swallow._** "So you're **__**Yuugi Mutou**__**,**_" an accented voice stated, only barely recognizable as a different being through the tone of the Ghoul. Oh hell... Not... Not good... "_**I've heard of you 'Yugi',**_" the voice continued, eye staring out from the center of the ghoul's head as the teeth moved with the words before settling into a lip-less grin. "_**I should tell you something... This man you see here... This is my weakest 'soldier',**_" it stated calmly, voice almost charismatically smooth in comparison to the 'original'._** "The first of the pawns to be sacrificed in a battle... The real strength of my Rare Hunters is far stronger than that, far far stronger... But I see that you are surprised,**_" it stated calmly, the body it held not moving while it spoke to the boy. "_**I didn't mean to shock you... But the fact is,**_" the voice 'lamented', a shrug almost visible to Katsuya as it continued on,_** "I'm no where near this plaza here, and using this shell to speak is the only way I can contact you... A little like a 'phone' really,**_" the voice added with a 'grin', teeth vibrating somewhat as it chuckled. This was nooooot good, not good... And why did he have a nasty feeling that what he saw and Yugi saw were two completely different things right now... "_**You see,**_" the voice stated,_** "I've placed a little bit of myself in this man... Same with all those working in my control... Whatever I desire, he'll do it... With a single thought.**_" Like... Remote control souls..? What...

The boys continued to tense, those around them merely passing by as though nothing was wrong. Something 'strange' nothing more... Gh... "You..." They swallowed, eyes narrowing as they stared forward. "Who are you," Yugi shouted, the eye briefly 'blinking before the teeth 'narrowed' in a grin.

"_**Me?**_" More chuckling rang through the air, Katsuya continuing to force back a wave of bile at the sound._** "Like you,"**_ the voice stated smoothly,_** "I am one chosen by the Millennium Items... But this is just an introduction,**_" it continued, the grin darkening as the eye 'bowed'. "_**Nice to meet you Yugi... Hnhnhnhnhn... My name is 'Malik'... Be sure to remember that...**_" Flames began to roll off the body... The eye began to turn upward, teeth closing over...

"Wait!" The two turned, blinking as Katsuya stepped forward and swallowed. What was he doing, what was he doing... Ah hell, he'd said something hadn't he? The blond again swallowed, "You... What are you," he muttered, staring directly into the eye on the ghoul's brow. The tauk he understood. Weird, but understandable, even if the tauk itself said no one else had seen it's 'true form'... And the Millennium Eye, he understood that too. Nothing but darkness and an eye, because really, what else was it?

But this... "_**...You weren't listening,**_" 'Malik' questioned under his breath, Katsuya merely narrowing his eyes as he continued to stare at the 'eye'. Not _him,_ the thought mentally, cracking his knuckles as he held his gaze. The other one... The eye... If the other two had a voice...

The eye 'blinked', before its teeth widened into an expansive grin. "_Well now ain't this interesting,_" a voice muttered, single iris staring forward at the blond as Katsuya nodded just slightly. "_You can see me, can't yah 'blondie'..." _The teen grit his teeth at the 'nickname', nonetheless nodding once more despite the more than evident confusion from his friend._ "Hehehehehe... So you want to know who I am,_" it asked darkly, voice completely different than that of the 'Ghoul' its owner was speaking through._ "How my 'buddy' here is talking through someone else..?" _Katsuya merely nodded a third time, both Yugi and the 'shell' of a Ghoul staring confusedly at the unheard conversation. Again the eye blinked, grinning as it 'chuckled'. "_Hehehehehe... What can I say, that's the magic of mind control kid... __Care for a taste,__" _it asked, voice taking a mutant and monsterous tone that had the blond's eyes widen just briefly before he regained his composure. Gh...

Hell no... "Tch... Takin' over people's minds," Katsuya muttered, gritting his teeth as he attempted to steel himself further. "Yer a creepy bastard, tha's f'r sure..."

The 'shell' merely stood there, teeth of the eye grinning and chuckling as Malik again spoke. "_**A 'bastard'..?**_" There was a short span of silence, before Malik continued._** "How 'eloquent'... So you realize the extent of my power then,**_" 'it' continued, the body abruptly straightening out before bowing forward with his own 'smirk'. "_**Do you like it**_" he asked,_** "This ability of mine... I could make him dance, make him do anything I want... Fitting for a loser like him,**_" he spat, both Yugi and Katsuya's expressions darkening as the 'shell' again fell 'limp'. "_**For all those under my 'reign' I can step in at any time I like,**_" Malik explained somewhat loudly,_** "Taking their actions and making them my own. But those ghouls are elite duelists,**_" he continued smugly, "_**Hired specifically to match and exceed the levels of this tournament... So I doubt I'll have to,**_" Malik decided, the body continuing to remain motionless with the words.

Gh... Bastard... Bastard..! "Malik," Yugi growled, watching as the body swayed slightly before them in a sudden 'wind'. "Why are you... Why are your 'Ghouls' in this tournament," he shouted, eyes narrowed. "Why are you _here_?"

"_**Hnhnhnhnhnhnhn... Isn't it obvious,**_" Malik asked, a smirk likely on the 'real one's face to match with that of the 'teeth' on the eye. "_**To gather the God Cards... The three great and ancient souls that have been resurrected to the modern world...**_" God cards... Katsuya frowned, staring forward Wait...

He'd seen that somewhere before, back on the plaque... '..._carved in a never-before seen representation of Egypt's three most iconic deities,_' the label for the tablet had said. So then... The museum carving..?

"_**Saint Dragon of the Skies, Osiris,**_" 'Malik' said calmly, the names appearing in Katsuya's mind before the words met the air._** "Stone God Soldier of the Obelisk... And atop them both, **__**Ra**__**, the Sun Dragon... To he who gathers these three cards and takes the title King, let it be granted to him the powers of **__**Darkness**__**...**_" Wait... What..? What was that, a prophecy..? The two boys both stared, eyes wide as 'Malik' continued to laugh before them. "_**Hnhnhnhnhn... We have two of these cards in our grasp already,**_" the voice stated calmly, another 'invisible' shrug coming to mind._** "But there's just one that's eluded our hands, held in the grip of someone in this city...**_" Someone... In this city...

"So tha's why they're here," Katsuya muttered, Yugi grinding his teeth beside him.

The boy nodded, eyes narrowed with rage. "To get that card..." And who... Who had it...

Briefly the blond's eyes widened with realization, more snippets of past conversations coming to mind. '_People are going to DIE in this tournament..._' ...Seto knew this would happen, didn't she... Whether she liked it or not.

Katsuya continued to pale as the 'Ghoul' walked forward, the eye on his forehead grinning menacingly. The teeth and eyeball almost appeared to grow even larger the closer 'they' came... Slowly increasing in size, single eye staring forward. "_**Hnhnhnhnhn... You've met with the weakest of the Ghouls, but there are more to come... You were lucky not to meet them first,**_" Malik said with a laugh,_** "And if you're even luckier you'll continue to evade their sights... But so long as this shell has lost,**_" it continued, reaching into the body's pockets and handing a card and a plastic 'sheet' toward Yugi, "_**I mind as well abide by these rules...**_" ...What..._** "I'll return this card he took from your friend, the Red-Eyes Black Dragon... In addition,**_" Malik stated, Yugi taking the 'cards' with narrowed and confused eyes, "_**This puzzle card... A 'head start' to your 'six',**_" the voice added with a chuckle Six..? Katsuya blinked, narrowing his eyes somewhat at that. He needed six..? Six puzzle cards, he'd need to duel five times then... "_**The game has just begun Yugi,**_" Malik shouted with a laugh, the body still slumping forward even as the teeth across the 'shell's brow widened into a grin. "_**You've been warned... A rare hunter with the power of God is already watching you from in this city,**_" it stated coldly, flames continuing to whip across the air._** "If you meet him, your fate **__**will**__** be death... I guarantee it...**_"

At this the two boys swallowed, narrowing their eyes. Guaranteed..? "...Hn!" Why was it so easy for this guy to shrug that off god damn it... "We'll see about that," Yugi said with a smirk, pulling his cards from the disk and replacing them in his deck with a nod. "I'll be putting an end to your plan... Trust me on that... Even with your God Cards," he snarled, voice raising in volume as he stared at the 'Ghoul', "With all your power, I will not lose..! I'll defeat you, Malik!"

For a brief moment they were answered with silence, the Ghoul standing only a foot away before the eye grinned once more. "_**...Hn... I look forward to our match then... Yugi.**_"

"_Hehehehehe... As do I,_" the 'eye' stated coldly, chuckling as Katsuya swallowed._ "See you later __Blondie__," _the 'Eye' shouted with a grin, flames traveling back up the eye as the teeth closed over with a laugh. "_Maybe if we're lucky,"_ it howled manically,_ "We'll meet again! Kehehehehe!_" With a sudden 'flare' the flames extinguished, eye vanishing from sight completely... Leaving nothing but a smooth and blood-less forehead in its place as the body of Yugi's last opponent fell forward.

Gh..! Katsuya hurried to the man's side, swallowing as he stooped down and slowly tapped the man's forehead. No blood, none at all..! ...Nothing, he realized with a swallow. Nothing... It was gone... The blond's fingers moved toward his neck, the teen standing back up with a frown. Alive, not that he deserved it. But... Not waking up, he knew that much given what tended to happen with these things. "Out cold," he muttered, narrowing his eyes as Yugi came back from behind. That 'eye'... "Th' power t' control minds..." And more importantly, that second voice... The voices of those things tended to sound like their 'owners', but with the warped version that shouted out at one point. And even more importantly than that...

Where could this guy possibly be hiding..? "Jonouchi." Katsuya turned, blinking as Yugi handed a card forward and jarred his friend from his thoughts. "This is yours," he stated calmly, the blond looking over the card and his friend in silence. Red-Eyes...

"_**Rnnnnn...**_" Briefly his eyes widened, honing in on a small, miniature version of the dragon itself. It... Red-Eyes..! The monster yawned, curling up on Yugi's shoulder as it stared toward the blond somewhat sleepily. It was... His monster... ...

Ah... He smirked, bowing his head as he turned away. Of course... "Sorry Yugi," he said, looking back at his friend with somewhat sad eyes. "I can't take this... 'F I take tha' card," he continued, frowning somewhat as both his friend and the dragon listened closely, "I feel like it'll jus' take me farther from bein' th' kind 'f guy I'm tryin' t' be... A 'true duelist', y' know..?" His friend continued to stare, expression shifting as the blond swallowed and sighed. Red-Eyes... Heh. He looked pretty comfy on his best friend's arm, hahaha... "...Tha' Red-Eyes Black Dragon," he muttered, a small 'rn?' barely meeting his ears. "Tha' Red-Eyes means more t' me than any monster in th' world," the blond admitted, smirking somewhat as the dragon looked at him and tilted its head. "Been my partner f'r a while now, haha..." That wasn't funny damn it... Whatever. "But y' know, it's like y' said," he decided, watching the dragon listen in with his friend as he swallowed. "Way back b'fore R'becca showed up... Monsters... They need a break 'vry once in a while," he said calmly, looking at his deck briefly before turning back. "An y' know, I've been usin' him alo' lately, like a crutch... I take 'm back," he continued, looking at his friend seriously, "An' I'm not gonna grow as a fighter I don' think... Th' way I am righ' now," he continued, swallowing back another sigh, "Red-Eyes wouldn' _let_ me fight w' 'm. Not at all..." And as the dragon nodded, he had a feeling he was being told 'damn straight' to say the least... Hahaha... "So I'm gonna leave 'm with you," Katsuya decided, nodding his head as the dragon gave a happy croon in response. Heh... So this was the right answer then... "I'll be fine w' this deck after all," Katsuya continued, nodding again. "An' f'r my ante, I've still got th' Time Wizard..." He hadn't used that guy for a while actually, haha... "I'm gonna be a 'true duelist', y' hear," he said with a grin, before the expression died down to a serious one yet again.

"...Jonouchi," Yugi asked as silence settled between them, the dragon as well giving a questioning rumble.

One last thing... "...Listen... Yugi," he asked, eyes drifting to the dragon on his friend's shoulders yet again as he spoke. "Can y' promise me somethin," he asked, the boy before him remaining silent as he listened. "...If... If I do alrigh' in th' tournament," he continued, "An th' time comes where I c'n call myself 'ready' f'r Red-Eyes again... Will you fight me," he asked, looking into his friend's eyes as the boy stared. "Can y' look after Red-Eyes 'till then... And at tha' time, fight me..?"

The answer... Was instantaneous. And thankfully, unforeseen... He was kinda sick of constantly getting heads up to things he didn't want to know before hand "Of course," his friend said with a nod, smirking. "Let's do it, Jonocuhi!"

Katsuya nodded, sighing in relief. Hah... Thanks... "Thank you, Yugi..." Thanks... Now then... "...Alrigh'," he shouted, turning away and looking at the crowd. "Tournament's jus' gettin' started! WHO WANT'S A PIECE 'F ME," he called out, grinning. "LET'S GO!" When the time came...

Wait for him, Yugi, Red-Eyes. When the time came, he'd be ready.

* * *

It was half an hour since the tournament start he realized fairly quickly. After all that happened earlier he'd decided he was tired of running, and looking at the clock as he walked... '9:30'. Well... Yugi hadn't started his duel officially until nine... There had to be a reason for that he decided, hands stowed in his pockets for the moment. Even so; he only had so many shots at this before he was out again. He couldn't let that happen... So... First off... "Hah... Where t' go," he muttered, looking around with a frown.

"_**Rnnnnaaaaaaaa..?**_" Heh..? Katsuya blinked frowning as a small 'growl' came from the side. That noise... Another monster?

Hell, if Red-Eyes was 'real' and snuggling up for a well needed vacation... (What was he, a cat?) The blond turned around the corner, frowning for a moment. No monsters here but... He shook it off for a moment, a grin coming on his face as he looked down the next street. "A-Ah! A duel!" Would you look at that... But then where the hell was the monster...

Something brushed against his side, the blond looking down and blinking. "_**Rnnnnnn...**_" Raptor... It was... Just a brown, striped raptor, nothing to see... What the hell...

Wait.

"O-Oi," he muttered under his breath, watching the dinosaur tilt its head to the side. "You're th' one from-"

"Aha! Just as I predicted," a voice called out, the blond's attention moving toward the two duelists further down the road. Eh..? Standing tall behind a momentarily unknown duelist a monster cloaked in a seemingly metal-lined, skin-tight cloak glared forward, mouth replaced with a breathing mask and goggle-like eyes staring sightlessly toward the large serpent-like monster across from it. A dragon, he wondered briefly, looking at the enormous, 'mouthless' beast.

But the one fighting with it was... "Ah... Ryuzaki..?" Against 'Esper Roba', he realized, watching as the teen gleefully unveiled a trap from the blank tablet on his side. The psychic from Ishikawa he realized, watching a simple carving appear on the stone before hacking itself free. ...But why was Ryuzaki using a dragon _again_?

Roba smirked, a pendulum lulling his opponent's dragon to sleep before the monster behind him destroyed it in a single glance. A laser shot from the being's two fingers... Shot directly between the dragon's eyes, with a strong and almost explosive burst of electricity...

And the monster collapsed, dead, Katsuya watching as Ryuzaki grit his teeth in response. "Heh!" Roba grinned, crossing his arms as the monster behind him 'shrugged' out of existence. "I win..!"

"Aggggggh..." Katsuya blinked, the small dinosaur he'd spotted earlier walking over and looking up at Ryuzaki with worried eyes as the field 'cleared'. Eh..? It was his then? "I couldn't even touch his life points," he groaned, looking at the card he'd played as he grit his teeth. "That was _awful_!" Not even a scratch..? Against Ryuzaki..?

'_You see that,_' the crowd was muttering, eyes wide with disbelief. '_Ryuzaki couldn't do a thing... Esper Roba's won two matches already..!_' R-Really! Two!

"Now then Ryuzaki," Roba drawled, standing over the teen as both he and the raptor beside him turned to face the match winner. What now..? "Your rarest card... And puzzle card as well," he continued, holding his hand out. "If you please..."

"Shit..." Ryuzaki looked back at his card, pulling the locator card from his disk with a swallow. "Damned baka..." Nice insult there..? ...Wait, Osaka... Right... The teen continued growl under his breath, nonetheless nodding as he handed over the two cards. Briefly, he could see the same snake-like dragon looking back at its former owner with worry... But only briefly.

"Hmp! _This_ is your best card," Roba asked with raised eyebrows, smirking as he pocketed it. The dragon it represented gave a small shudder, narrowing its eyes in response. "I can't use this in my psychic deck... But it'll prove a good trade..." Not that the dragon was too pleased about that... Though now, the dragon was also fading from existence. "NOW," he shouted, looking out at the crowd as Katsuya moved over to stand behind Ryuzaki. "Who will be next to fight me!"

'_I'll pass,_' duelists in the crowd were muttering, shaking their heads in response. '_I don't know if he really has ESP, but I don't have a chance if he can see my cards!' 'Yea.. No thanks,_' another muttered, Katsuya merely raising his eyebrows at the 'ESP'. '_I'll play someone else..._'

ESP... Heh! Now that he thought about it the blond noted, that was pretty close to his weird ass dreams huh... No way a fight against Roba would be that bad... He cracked his knuckles, nodding to himself at the thought. Yea... "Don't even think about it Jonouchi..."

"E-Eh..?" The blond turned, blinking as Ryuzaki gave him a frown and adjusted his hat. What? "Ryuzaki..." That raptor was still there... Shouldn't it have gone back into its card or something? He shook himself, frowning somewhat. "Whatdya mean, 'don't think about it'," he said with a scowl, looking back at Roba briefly. "He can't be that bad!"

The teen shook his head, looking back at Roba with a nervous expression. "Well guess what, he is! I don't know how," he continued with a swallow, "But he can tell what cards are in your hand right off the bat... He predicts your strategy and works around it! If he beat me, then there's no way you even stand a chance... And you and I both know that it was luck that won our last match," he continued, gritting his teeth as he looked back at the blond. Alright, ignoring that... ...

...Yeaaaaa, Ryuzaki had a point given how he won that match... Still. He was _a lot_ better now! "You're completely serious about this," he asked, looking back as Roba continued to question the crowd. "You really think I can't beat him?"

Ryuzaki nodded, sweating visibly under the hat on his head. "Yea," he said seriously, the unseen raptor at his side also staring at Roba with narrowed eyes. "There's not a chance in hell! I might be an ass," he said dryly, rolling his eyes at the blond, "But I'm still _honest_." Yea yea yea... Way to admit your faults. Speaking of hell, wouldn't he bet that the place was cold as ice compared to Ryuzaki's temperature in that hat and jacket..?

Well... Regardless of that. "Heh... In that case, I'll beat him," he decided, smirking as he again cracked his knuckles and stepped forward.

"Wh..." Ryuzaki blinked, shaking himself. "Say again..."

Katsuya grinned, looking back at Ryuzaki. "'F course! Step one t' becomin' a true duelist," he said clearly, clicking his disk into place as Roba looked over. "Don't pass up an opponent, no matter what... An' step two," he added somewhat louder, watching as Roba took his own fighting stance, "Fight opponents that seem stronger than y, whenever y' can!"

"Ah... W-What..." Still the teen behind him continued to stare, confusion more than evident. "What the hell." Eh, he didn't expect Ryuzaki to get it really...

"Let's do this, y' ESP freak," Katsuya shouted, Roba raising his eyebrows in slight humor. "I don' care how 'psychic' y' are... Duel!"

With that, Roba smirked, nodding. "Well then," he decided, re-loading his deck. "_How can I refuse_..?"

"Aagghhh..." Ryuzaki groaned, hand finding a near permanent home on his forehead. "I don't know if you're a baka or just... Nevermind..." Heh... Maybe he didn't know 'now', but by the end of this...

'ESP'... Hah! He'd show this guy what 'precognition' really was! ...Provided he got a flash during the duel.

Couldn't really predict that.

**

* * *

AN: **Ohhh yea... Roba VS Jonouchi! In other words, our first look at a _real_ Duel Monster's match from Jonouchi's eyes...

And in addition to that, a small look at the consequences visible to the audience, hehehehe. Lots of fun with the first part of this chapter, I have to say... Mostly, Haga getting the boot was to set a path for Doma believe it or not; I need Haga and Ryuzaki to actually be _somewhat_ acquainted after all, given the fact that they were travelling around in that arc... And besides, someone needs to keep that idiot out of trouble, and Ryuzaki just drew the short straw in my head. (And as a side effect Shizuka I guess...)

Also, I'm hoping to, while keeping Haga in character, make him a bit less... Hated. After all, there's gotta be _some_ reason why everyone in Japan loves the guy... (I'm serious. We North Americans are the ones spewing the hate, not Japan.)

Now then, in other news! **Poll Results** are still **Unchanged**. So you'll have to look back at chapter 62 to see the results, but trust me when I say, we're still moving forward with the dreams.

And now for business.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Oh, someone new! Hi there randomprojects! Another troper huh? That's always cool. TvTropes might ruin lives, but it's fun to do~

That was actually the basis for starting this fanfic really; the challenge of making a GB fanfic that didn't have the exaggerated girlies or plotless occurrences. In all honesty, it's more fun to toss in so much BST and Will They Or Won't They antics, it really is. As to whether they caught it…

Someone will bring it up, but it won't be those two. (Not that they weren't thinking it.)

And hahaha, that's fine; another of my readers admitted to not even watching the series, and really, if it makes the suspense better than that's just fine. And yes… Saving the world WITH CARRRRRRRDS! On a side note, I'll say it again and again; I'm glad that my notes at the bottom help out! (In all honesty, they help _me_ out too… Mostly by forcing me to do research about the things I'm unsure about… Or just curious about, or even just wanting to share.)

As for the reveal of the dreams… Well, we'll get through that, and your questions will be answered! In all honesty, they aren't annoying at all; I quite enjoy answering questions. (Though these ones are really spoilery, so I can't answer them…) In any case, I _can_ answer the last one… While the identity of the boy is remaining secret for now, Jonouchi's 'fate-less-ness' is very much tied to his past life… And his current one to say the least. I hope you enjoy the answers when they come!

And hey, nothing wrong with the abridged series Iona~ Though in this case, it's more of a 'I hope Red-Eyes will want Jonouchi later'. Hehehehe.

Panther Warrior would have given him a break if it hadn't taken a number of hours for his summoner to wake up. He'll cool down after his cat nap though.

On the next point… Who says she didn't? (When no one was looking.) Then again, it _is_ Kaiba… So she probably did hold back a blush but… Oh well.

Enjoy the chapter!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that sees fit to warn you that if the next chapter moves properly, no one will duel in the one after that. A card-game fanfic without cards? INCREDIBLE.

* * *

Today's chapter title is probably, obvious, but as a side note, _guess which leg Achilles' weak heel was on_. Yep. I am _that_ shameless.

* * *

Shortly before the Battle City tournament officially starts, we get to see a businessman wandering around all confused as craploads of duelists mess around with their disks. It's hard not to laugh at his confusion really…

* * *

Oh hey, Ryuzaki's point of view! And those who didn't know I gave him a first name are probably rolling around in shock now. Mehehehe.

In any case, this scene between him and Haga is mostly for IMPORTANT THINGS pertaining to plot (mostly Doma, for reasons you can _probably_ guess)… And it's also the unfortunate side effect of me typing this chapter while watching Big Bang Theory.

Because despite them being completely different in every way, I could not help but compare Haga to a certain overly smug nerd. (But Haga has nothing to make up for his overly smug attitude. LAAAA.)

Also yes, I gave him three sisters. Believe it or not, they are bigger dicks than he is. For the most part. We won't really see them though, so I'll be getting a picture ready...

* * *

Hey! Time for a bit of character notes on Haga. We don't know much about him really... All we can see is that he's manipulative, cunning prick, but obviously very _very_ quick to cheat to solidify a win, even when it's never certain that he would need to. What does that tell us? Well, he might be good at 'acting', but he's obviously extremely insecure if he's taking as many underhanded methods as possible to win... It's one thing to be proud.

It's another thing to constantly go the extra mile to cheat. In any case, as smug as he is, I _am_ trying to be objective with every character I type out so... Oddly enough, I don't hate him as much any more, despite his 'reason' for being an ass being completely pointless and unforgivable even when made up on the spot. In any case, enjoy the insufferable genius you see above... His home life sucks, at least in my head.

* * *

Why didn't Ryuzaki realize it was Yugi right off? Mostly because he's never actually spoken to the 'other' Yugi. Maybe seen him... But never _spoken_. It's the same as early on, where Anzu technically met 'Yami', but never actually saw him; because of the difference in the ways that Yugi and his other carry their voices, (One with confidence, one... Not so much.) she didn't realize it was Yugi.

Same here; it took Ryuzaki a bit to realize it was Yugi.

* * *

And as a side note to the whole 'where does everyone live' issue... We know that Mai is considered 'Number 1' in Kyoto by fanfic location, with Ryuzaki taking the position in Osaka, both of which are in the Kansai region. In fact, they're actually directly north/south of each other.

Even Kotsuzuka AKA 'Zombie Boy' got a 'home town'; Tokushima, one of the districts on the smallest of Japan's main islands... Namely Shikoku. This of course, has me giving his two friends, Takaido and Satake, a similar 'home area'... In this case Kochi and Kagawa. Keep in mind that these are all regions and prefectures; **not cities**. While Mai, Haga (Tokyo) and Ryuzaki all happen to be from the 'capital' of their region, the city that matches it in name, that's not necessarily true for everyone else. It's just an 'identifier'... Though some 'prefectures' are cities in their own right, oddly enough.

However, I never listed one for Kajiki, our favourite 'crazy harpoon guy'; I opted to go with Okinawa, or the Ryukyu Island string, as it's not only a spot where you would likely get the chance to do some spear fishing (Which is quite obviously how Kajiki does it; he uses a spear, not a harpoon.), but also because of his absolutely _insane_ tan. Okinawa is an extremely tropical area in contrast to the rest of Japan you see, so anywhere else is fairly pale in comparison. As to why an entire string of islands is its own 'prefecture', _well_… (And yes, this is a LONG one.)

The entire string only has a population of 1.4 million really. Even with that though, there's still a density of 606 people per kilometre square, so the fact is, it's a _small_ set of islands. A similar point can be used for Hokkaido, which is bigger than the entire Kanto area (which houses 7 prefectures including Tokyo)... But only has a population of about plus 5 million people, most of which live in its capital of Sapporo.

* * *

Originally in the manga, Kaiba states that there are 48 participants. This makes sense, given that 48 divided into 6 (locator cards) is 8. (Derp) I upped the number for two reasons though; one is to make up for the fact that there are 47 prefectures in Japan, and as indifferent as Kaiba is, ticking off any one prefecture because there 'weren't enough duel disks' is probably not a good idea, nor would it be good for the sales in that particular area.

Because hey, Kaiba knows how to multitask; and if one person from each area of Japan heads off with that duel disk… (Of course in the end, the ghouls beat them out _anyways_...)

Another point is that this means in addition to those '47' we still get Kaiba, Yugi, and Jou. …Among _others_. (Remember children, the Duelist Database was meant to lock people out, and only contained logs of Japan initially. For Ishizu to get in _anyways_…)

* * *

Some of you might wonder if, given the blistering summer season, this means people like Ryuuzaki are still wearing things like _toques_ despite all common logic. This will be addressed later on, but believe me when I say that the answer is _yes_… But he won't complain. Jonouchi is confused as hell, but Ryuzaki will not complain.

* * *

In the anime, there was a really important scene here that was cut from the dub… But as it didn't happen in the manga, I skipped it. That's not the only reason though, and if it was, I would have typed it.

See, the main reason that scene happens is because someone brings it to Yugi's attention that Jonouchi is missing… Namely his mother, who is calling on behalf of Shizuka, who is still in the hospital at this point.

You can probably guess really _really_ quickly why I can't put that scene here with just that information though. In the end, you could argue that the Panther Warrior took Honda's place with the '_PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER_' bit and re-created the scene back in the alley way, but with less crying and '_I'm not worth SHIT_!'… Mostly because getting punched by Exodia invokes pain… Not shame. (Also anger, but lets not go there..)

It's for the best in the end; that scene led to Jonouchi meeting up with his sister and reassuring her that he'd give her a reason to take the bandages off… But there's a non-canon point that I've been building on that kinda relies on Jonouchi being oblivious to the bandages still being there, hehehe. In fact, you'll see it within two chapters.

* * *

Jonouchi didn't hear anything that Kaiba said about the tournament, poor guy; that's why he didn't know about the locator cards, the tournament rules… The fact is, Kaiba's 'announcement' ended at 8:35, and Jou got there at _five to nine_; in other words, right before the tournament start!

* * *

Hahaha… No matter what Jonouchi says, Yugi just keeps telling him '_AHP. Gonna duel, shush_' in a sense. It's rather amusing really, as in the end it seems sort of like a '_you know, this would have gone a __lot faster if…_'

Of course this being Yugi, he proves him wrong _anyways..._

* * *

Yugi's lines of COOOOOOORN! '_Garbage like you is a disgrace to the city! I'll clean you up_!' Bawwww… Slightly altered, but not so much that the ham and corn isn't there.

* * *

Originally (I'm assuming at least) Yugi is the one who asks 'what' Malik is. I had Jonouchi do it instead though since while Yugi and everyone else are only seeing bulging veins that 'happen' to shape into an eye… His view is a little more frightening. Just a tad.

* * *

Before we go further, a note on Locator Cards. Jonouchi only duels (As himself mind) three times… This makes him two cards short. Needless to say, there's the assumption that he received any locator cards his opponents had rather than just 'one', since there is _no way_ he would take any cards from Yugi after the hell of Malik's mind control… Which means he got _three_ from Roba, rather than one, as someone in the crowd mentioned that Roba won _twice_.

* * *

Hey, it's Roba! His name by the way, means 'silk gauze' ('Ro') and 'place' ('ba')… You can probably guess what 'Esper' refers to though.

As for the 'city' I decided he's from, Ishikawa, (From the Chubu region... Smack dab between Kanto and Kansai.) it's in reference to his name… Ishikawa is the location where 'kaga silk', an incredibly complex form of silk print originates from. It's not gauze obviously, but...

* * *

Hahaha.. And thus we see the 'Baka-Ahou' switch for Tokyo and Kansai dialects. To Ryuzaki, that insult is about as bad as asshole and then some. To everyone else… '_Why did he call him an idiot?_' Poor Ryuzaki, knocked out right off the bat because his opponent was _cheating_...

* * *

Well, that's all for this chapter... Hope you enjoy the next one, and I'll see you then!


	66. Chapter 65

**Eyes That See The Future**

* * *

Domino was known for relatively few things among the Tokyo area in comparison to the rest of its special wards. Unlike other well known 'districts' of the 'city' such as Shibuya, or Shinjuku, it was hardly a tourist hot spot, and possibly the least populated ward of all of them. There was just a small pier on the shore, a single train station, and the 'highlight' of the area, 'Kaiba-Land'. Besides this, there were only two things that Domino was quickly gaining a name for. One was its museums, which had a habit of focusing on the Egyptian and Grecian side of Archaeology, its exhibits gaining a relatively small number of visitors per day. The other however, was its gaming industry, particularly encouraged by 'Kaiba Corporation'...

An encouragement that had quite literally 'taken over' the city at the moment, earning the event taking place at the moment a rather appropriate name of 'Battle City'... Much to the distaste of any vehicle owner attempting to enter the district. As for its competitors...

He was dueling one right now, for what would be his first match of the day. "Alrigh' y' ESP freak," he said with a grin, duel disk at the ready as he stared down his current opponent. "Lets go!"

"First," Roba said plainly, "Lets confirm each other's ante! Mine is Psycho Shocker," he stated, holding the card out. "Along with, of course, a puzzle card..."

The blond nodded, digging through his deck to find his own ante. He had to say, he was a little surprised about Roba's appearance... He'd _heard_ of this guy, but he'd never seen him. All in all...

He looked almost _foreign_. Though thinking about it, he probably shouldn't be thinking that given that he was blond... Katsuya shook it off, continuing to flip through the cards before holding out his own ante. "Mine's th' Time Wizard," he called out with a nod, before replacing it in his deck. "An' I'll offer my Puzzle Card jus' like you are," he added, opponent nodding in response.

"Very well! Lets start the duel then, shall we," he said with a smirk, replacing the card in his deck before moving his puzzle card to a pocket.

Yea... Katsuya nodded, watching his deck shuffle itself before looking forward. All or noth- "Hey hey hey... Jonouchi," Ryuzaki called from the side, a slight frown on his face. He turned, blinking as the teen continued to scowl. "If you're using your Time Wizard, then what the hell did you do with my Red-Eyes Black Dragon!" Errrr...

"Oh... Ah... My dragon!" He laughed somewhat, before shaking his head. "Ahhh..." Yea... The blond coughed, shrugging it off with a slight sigh as he turned back to his opponent. "I screwed up, Red-Eyes ended up stolen..." Oh, maybe he shouldn't have said that... Ryuzaki was red in the face now...

"WHAT-"

"I got 'm _back_," he added quickly, shaking his head and ignoring the continued growl from the side. "But someone's holdin' on t' 'm for me... My rival," he clarified, turning back to face his opponent. "Yugi..."

"Your... Your rival," Ryuzaki repeated, looking somewhat dumbfounded in response. "..._Yugi_," he added, still staring with wide eyes. Katsuya merely nodded, still not looking back. Yep! And that was a promise he was keeping... And- "Agggghhh..." The teen behind him continued to groan, shaking his head as Katsuya glanced back. "Forget it... Better this than watching you lose Red-Eyes to a trade house," he moaned, the blond rolling his eyes in response.

Yea yea yea... Way to cheer him on right? "Hn!" Katsuya drew his hand, watching as the life point meter bounced up to 4000 for the duel start. Pay that no mind... He sure as hell didn't _feel_ like he would lose! "Alrigh'... I'm first," he shouted, the teen across from him drawing his own hand. "Duel!" Now...

What did he have in his hand... The blond blinked, eyebrows raising as he looked the cards over. This... He smirked, the expression quickly hidden as he continued to look at the cards. This was a _good hand_! Well, alright then he decided, reaching for one of his cards. Seeing how he'd been able to summon Red-Eyes with no trouble the night before, standard rulings would let him play a high level right off the bat, so he'd mind as well do that and... And...

...What the hell was that sound. "Hnnnnn~" Katsuya frowned, looking across the field. ...What. The sound increased, the blond narrowing his eyes. "HNNNNNN~" ... WHAT. "I feel the energy of the cosmos," Roba muttered 'mysteriously', arms held to the skies as his opponent stared in disbelief. "Passing through my body," he whispered, "Becoming _one_ with me..."

"O-Oi oi... What..." He blinked a few times, slowly looking back at Roba's _last_ opponent for an answer.

"Yea," Ryuzaki muttered, shaking his head with a sigh. "Don't ask."

Gee that was helpful. Katsuya frowned, before pulling his attention back to his opponent. "At this time, at this place," Roba was continuing on, bringing his hands to his head in a fairly 'tv-psychic'-like fashion, "I will win this duel..! It is destiny... It is the law of the Cosmos!"

"L-Law of th' Cosmos," he repeated incredulously, again blinking off his shock. Destiny..? What? What the hell was wrong with this guy? The blond shook himself yet again, grabbing the card and setting it on the disk. Screw this! "Enough 'f that! Here's my card," he shouted, dust rising from the ground before him as Roba merely continued to hum. "Giltia, th' Dark Knight!"

"Hmph!" The teen before him threw his hand forward, Katsuya not paying attention as he stared at where his monster should have been. First off, Roba's hand was... Off but... Well the tablet had _started_ to appear...

"H-HEH!" The blond coughed, paling as he was left with a swirling cloud of dust. "What th' hell was that," he shouted loudly, choking on his words. The tablet _crumbled.._ To _DUST_. At the exact moment Roba had... "What kind 'f ESP is-"

Roba shrugged, eyes closed as he cut the blond off. "It was simply the law of the cosmos..."

What the- Was he high! What was this! "EH!"

"Pff..." A snort came from the side, Katsuya turning as his shocked expression remained unchanged. "You MORON," Ryuzaki shouted, looking as though he was decidedly torn between laughing and glaring at the blond. He shook his head, jaw clenched. "These are advanced rulings! Don't you know anything?"

Ghnnng... The blond scowled, clenching his fists as he turned on the teen. "Gh- Yer one t' talk, didn' you jus' say y' lost without makin' a scratch," he shouted, face growing red. "My sister could duel better than yeh!"

Ryuzaki rolled his eyes, snorting. "Hah, yea that's a really strong insult there Jonouchi!" A smirk came on his face, the Osakan crossing his arms. "Real powerful from a guy I don't know!"

Why that-! "Gnnnnggggh.."

"...We _are_ dueling right," Roba asked somewhat dryly, crossing his arms as Katsuya looked back. Eh? Right...

"Tch... Shut up," he muttered, gritting his teeth as he looked back at his duel disk. Man... Leave it to Kaiba to find a way to switch between rule systems at the drop of a hat... If he'd known this before...

Roba merely snorted, shaking his head as he drew his next card. "Well... You certainly wasted your turn with that..." Yea, _no shit _he thought with narrowed eyes, gritting his teeth. But how about I give you some advice," he continued, closing his eyes as he raised his hands to his head yet again. Advice..? Seriously? "That card on the very left of your hand... The Swordsman of Landstar," he continued, Katsuya growing pale as he looked at the card in question. "Why don't you play it on your next turn?" W... What... The blond continued to pale, looking up from the card with wide eyes.

He guessed... Right on the dot... "How th' hell..."

"The answer is obvious isn't it," Roba said with a chuckle, the blond across from him continuing to pale. "It's telepathy... The skills of one whose mind is synonymous with the cosmos..." S-Skills? And 'cosmos' again..? What was this guy..! "I have achieved a state of absolute enlightenment," the teen continued, eyes closed in false serenity as the crowd stared. "My awareness transcends time and space both!" H-Hihhhh... "We're both human, Jonouchi," Roba continued, Katsuya's fear quickly replaced with confusion. "We're made of the same cells... By my power I _AM_ you," he said dangerously, "And I _AM_ your cards!" He... 'Was' his cards? But they were all...

He blinked, tilting his head somewhat. That made no sense what so ever... And given that Ryuzaki was shrugging as well, he was just as clueless... So... What?

"Well now," Roba called out, pulling Katsuya's attention forward again as he set a card on the field. "It's my turn..." A tablet appeared slightly to the side and front of him, an almost rose coloured mist seeping through the outline on its form. "I summon Cyber Raider," the teen cried, a spandex clad warrior literally flipping out from the tablet before cracking his neck. "And seeing how you have no monsters," he continued, a dark smirk on his face as his monster took a stance. Oh fuck. "ATTACK DIRECTLY," Roba commanded, the Raider clenching his fists with a nod. "**CYBER KNUCKLE!**"

Oh fuck. "_**No hard feelings kid,**_" the raider muttered, audible cracks sounding through the air as he adjusted his helm. FUCK. The warrior charged with a low shout, a single solid punch knocking him in the gut as the monster grabbed him roughly by the back of his jacket.

"G-GOH... Ugh..." He bowed his head, slumping as the jacket was released. G-Ghnn... Ow ow ow ow ow... "N... Not so hard," he hissed under his breath, watching as the monster shrugged and began walking back.

"_**Hey, standard proceedure,**_" he muttered, shaking his head. "_**Not my fault if you're more 'sensitive'.**_" Gh-! More sensitive he growled mentally, pulling himself up with a growl. That... Bastaaaard...

"Turn over," Roba stated calmly, a smirk on his face as his opponent groaned.

Ung... Note to self... Whenever possible, put up a defense... Ghk... "My turn then," he hissed, rubbing the still tender bruise before drawing his card. "_Draw_..." Okay... Okay... He blinked, eyes trailing over his 'Graceful Dice' before slipping it into his hand with a nod. Just one monster in his hand then... Alright... He didn't have any monsters strong enough for a defense at the moment then... He'd have to gamble on this card.

"Hnnnnn~" Oh for fuck's sake... Katsuya grit his teeth, watching as his opponent again held his hands to his head. "Hnnnnnnnnn~..." Gh... Fucking nutjob... Cut the crap already! "Channelling complete," Roba stated calmly, the blond rolling his eyes as he clenched his teeth. "Your draw... A second Graceful Dice, wasn't it," he 'asked', a smirk on his face. "At least... That's what I've been told."

Second- Katsuya's eyes widened, nonetheless holding his tongue as his opponent continued. "Does it shock you," the teen asked, a smirk on his face as his opponent's cold expression went unnoticed. "This telepathy... This gift from the cosmos!" Gift? Pfh! Gift his ass, this was no- "As we speak," Roba stated in a near whisper, "Communicating with me is the spirit of Pegasus J. Crawford, creator of Duel Monsters... He who was tragically murdered a few months ago..." Tragically-

"Wh..." The blond dropped his thoughts, instantly going cold at the mention. "Pegasus is... Dead..?" The crowd around them fell silent with that question, Katsuya slowly turning back to look at Ryuzaki in response. Alright, he might not pay attention to the news but... "...Is he serious?"

There was nothing funny about that one. The crowd continued their silence, nervous glances exchanged as questioning stares looked back. "..._Are YOU," _Ryuzaki finally asked, eyes wide with disbelief. "That made the news in _January_... They couldn't even find his _body,_" he added, Katsuya swallowing in response.

J... January..? "I'm still waiting," Roba muttered, eyes narrowed as both teens looked back. The so-called psychic crossed his arms, a smirk appearing on his face. "Whether you are aware or not," he drawled, "This doesn't change the source of my 'power'... I know every card in your hand Jonouchi..." Every card eh..? "You mind as well make your move!" Tch...

Was he for real? The blond grit his teeth, before a wicked smirk came into place and he shook his head. Hehehehe... 'ESP'... Katsuya hid his expression, keeping his gaze lowered as a short plan came to mind. This guy could tell what cards he had, but not by some 'cosmic power'! "I'll make my move alrigh'," he growled, grabbing his first card and setting it on the disk. "First," he shouted loudly, tablet appearing at his side in a rise of dust, "I'm playin th' Swordsman 'f Landstar!" More dust flowed through the tablet as its outline appeared,a small alien-esque warrior leaping out with a shout. Heh... "An' then," he continued, grabbing his next two cards and slipping them into the spell slots, "Two face down cards..." The two blank tablets appeared at either side behind him, Katsuya looking at them from the corner of his eye for a brief moment. Heh... No problems there... "An' I end my turn!"

A 'flash' of sorts appeared in Roba's eyes, a grin appearing on the teen's face. Yea yea... Get excited why didn't he... Personally, if there was anything happening in the future it was 'ocean' related... He kept smelling salt water and seaweed damn it. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Well... Trying to oppose my ESP with 'luck'..." Katsuya again snapped himself out of his 'flash', staring across the field. "I'll accept your challenge," Roba announced, drawing his next card with a smirk. Challenge? Feh! Katsuya snorted, shaking his head as the teen continued. "I sacrifice Cyber Raider to summon a new monster," he was shouting, expression serious as both the monster and tablet ground to dust on the field. Smoke rose from the air, slowly taking form. Initially it resembled an odd shaped cloud... But within seconds, standing a few feet taller than than its summoner it appeared, armor shining to an almost blinding extent in the sunlight. "Arise! The Fiend, Megacyber!" Gh... 2200 Attack... Well, a monster had been summoned in any case...

Which mean that it was now or never. "Activate magic card," Katsuya shouted, gesturing to the left-most blank tablet at his side. The carved outline of a white winged 'imp' appeared at his command, die in hand as it floated from the crumbling stone. The more the stone crumbled, the clearer it appeared... Until finally it rose high into the air and prepared to drop the die. "Here goes," he muttered, watching as it was released from the imp's hand. "Graceful Dice!" Katsuya stared as the die clattered on the ground, the imp who had held it vanishing into a cloud of dust. Come on... Come on... He needed a five or a six, a five or a six... The die continued to roll across the ground, rolling, rolling... Was that a six?

...No. No... It was a three. Damn. "Ahahaha! Too bad," Roba shouted with a grin, the Swordsman across from him merely pulling a face at the teen as his attack power rose. "Even with 1500 attack points" he shouted, Katsuya merely staring across in silence, "Your monster is no match for mine!" Oh really? The blond merely narrowed his eyes, watching as the metal giant before them raised a clawed hand and took aim. "Fiend Megacyber," Roba ordered, an outline appearing on Katsuya's second tablet with the words. "ATTACK!"

"Heheheheheh..." Those around blinked, frowning as Katsuya abruptly smirked. "Activate trap card," he shouted, the more demonic of imps appearing as its tablet broke itself into nothingness. The black-capped imp rose above the ground, die spinning in hand with a mad cackle as his opponent tensed. "SKULL DICE!"

"A.. A trap!"

"Wait," Ryuzaki muttered with a frown, the die dropping to the ground to clatter about the field in the meantime. "He said your 'second' Graceful dice before..."

The smirk grew, Katsuya watching as the die landed on a five. Hehehehe... Math wasn't his strong point, but with a roll like that... "Tha's right," the blond muttered, nodding in response. "But would y' look at that," he said with a grin, the die and imp both vanishing into a cloud of dust that enveloped the opposing monster. "Now it's yer monster whose attack is lower!" Right down to 440, he added mentally, watching as the dust gummed up the monster's joints and eroded its metal. Nothing but a walking scrap heap now, with its arm slowly and painfully falling forward with a screech. Hehehehe... "An' since yer still attacking..."

The swordsman gave a curt nod at that, leaping forward to ram his blade as far into the gap in the armor as possible. Though no blood appeared, it evidently did the trick... Slowed movements halted completely and the beast gave a howling moan, clattering backward before scattering into pieces until nothing but piles of metal remained. And even then, it was only for an instant. "Ah..." Roba stared, eyes wide with horror at the intense loss. "AHHHHHH..." Heh... Not a bad hit...

"Hn!" Katsuya snorted as his opponent paled, crossing his arms. "Th' reason you thought I had two 'f th' same card in my hand... I'm bettin' it's be'case they were on top 'f each other," he decided with narrowed eyes, "So you only saw th' word 'Dice'! You don' have telepathy," he growled, looking up at the buildings behind him with narrowed eyes. In an instant, despite the distance being too much and the sun being in his eyes... He still knew they were there, whoever 'they' were. Tch... "Someone here is PEEKIN' AT MY CARDS!"

Now _that_ got a reaction. The crowd went red, most either gasping in shock or muttering amongst themselves as the accused in question chocked. "Cheating..!"

Ryuzaki growled, eyes growing wide as he stood at the sidelines. Briefly he'd followed Katsuya's gaze, looking back at Roba and gritting his teeth. It only took a second for him to begin shaking in his own anger however. "Gh... You're telling me he's _BUGGED,_" he snarled, turning back on the blond's opponent with wide and incensed eyes. "You fucking-"

"G-Gh... Now now..." Now now? Hahaha, like that would hold the crowd back. "D-Don't make baseless claims," Roba said with a slight laugh, shaking his head as the crowd continued to sour. "There's... There's no reason..."

"'Baseless' my ass," Ryuzaki roared, cutting the teen off. "He caught you red-handed!"

Roba continued to tense, swallowing as mutterings at the side began to pick up. "Gh..."

"Oiii, Ryuzaki," Katsuya growled, turning on the teen with narrowed eyes. The teen in question blinked, eyebrows raised as the blond scowled. "Stay outta this, thi' 's my duel!"

"Wh-Wh-" The Osakan tensed, before scowling as well. "What the hell man, I'm helping you!"

Well don't! "I don' care!"

"Oh please..." The two turned, blinking as Roba managed to regain his composure. Huh... That was quick... Ish. "Spies... 'Cheats'... Don't make me laugh," he continued, shaking his head with a sigh. "If that's so then just how would I be getting information? And from where," the teen pressed, Katsuya flushing. Yea... He couldn't really say 'I just do' or 'Because I saw it in my head' with these things... "You've only won one turn Jonouchi," Roba growled, eyes narrowing dangerously as the blond snorted in response. "So you mind as well accept your fate!" His _fate?_ Seriously? "After all... A guess with no basis is just 'speculation'," Roba muttered, again shaking his head. "And as for my predictions... Well, all of them come true, 100% of the time... As I said before," he continued with a grin, Katsuya merely staring in unimpressed silence. "I will win, you will LOSE. I've never lost a duel, not even once," he muttered, eyes narrowed. "The only reason why I couldn't make it to the championships was because of family matters after all... I can guarantee that if I continued to participate, I would have won!" Reaaaally... "There's only one thing certain in this world Jonouchi," Roba stated, grin shrinking to a darkened smirk as he held out a hand. "Fate... Destiny... The 'Future'..." Those huh?

Was that so? Katsuya as well smirked, shaking his head. Heh... Lucky for him then... According to the resident creepy-ass eye things from thousands of years in the sand, he didn't have one. "Y' think so," he said calmly, raising his eyebrows as Roba frowned. "I c'n tell y' this," he continued with a slight frown, "Knowin' what happens in th' future... That's gotta be a pain." Take it from him, he added mentally, eyes growing somewhat dim. "But th' fact is," Katsuya muttered, the frown still in place, "I don' know what's gonna happen. I turn down th' street, I ain't gonna know what's around that corner." Not most of the time at least. "Maybe some lady's shoppin'," he said with a shrug, "Or maybe it's ev'n someone I know... But if there's one thing I do know," he continued, narrowing his eyes, "It's tha' somewhere in this city, there's someone waitin' t' fight me, waitin' for th' finals. An' somewhere, sometime, tha's jus' what I'll do! An' I know it! An' I'll fight righ' now b'cause I believe in that," he growled, clenching his fists. "So you c'n take yer 'ESP' and shove it, y' phony psychic!" Tch... Damn bastard..! And-

...Why could he see the ocean..? Momentarily his senses dulled, nothing but a warm evening breeze blowing over his arms. He was wearing a jacket though, so why... ...And that smell...

The blond shook his head, clearing his vision as more laughter filled the air. Tch... There he went again... "Is that what you think," Roba was muttering, a dangerous grin in place. Well, obviously someone was ticked. "Fine! Continue the duel," he snarled, pointing to his opponent accusingly. "I don't need powers to beat a duelist of your level!"

* * *

In all honesty, he had no clue what the 'future' speech was all about. Hell, it was one of those things that kind of had him rolling his eyes. It had that whole 'it could have been in a shonen manga about friendship' air about it really... The kind of thing that just didn't work out in real life. But if there was one thing that was ticking him off _much_ more than that, it was this.

Briefly, when Jonouchi looked back with the assumption he was being spied on... His eyes met directly with the top of a nearby building. Nearby being the 'loose' description of course... It was at the other end of the street. Nonetheless for the second time he narrowed his eyes and looked back at said building, paying little attention to the duel beside him at the moment. It wasn't as though much was happening. One face down card from Roba, holographic card hovering with its back to the sky... Alligator Sword summoned from Jonouchi, the monster's hovering momentarily before both of them moved for attack. But back on that building... His eyes narrowed further, the teen pulling a face in his distaste. Well hell, even the cheapest of binoculars would match that distance if you needed to look over at someone's cards. And when he thought about it, Roba brought his hands to his head before every prediction... With most small radios...

There was a loud shout, Keiichi looking back on the field with wide eyes for a brief moment before narrowing his gaze again. Roba was 1500 points down now... But before Landstar could make his move, the so-called 'Psychic of Ishikawa' had another thing in mind. "Activate trap card," Roba shouted, holographic card swinging upward to reveal itself. The image of a soldier strung on marionette strings met the field, similar strings pulling the swordsman forward in a daze. "Mind Control! Hahahahaha!" God that laugh was getting on his nerves... "Now your warrior is my slave for two turns," Roba said with a grin, The 'Swordsman of Landstar' switching to his side. "Hehehehehe..."

"Gh..." Jonouchi swallowed, shaking himself in response. "What..."

Keiichi as well frowned, looking from Jonouchi to Roba with narrowed eyes. He'd waited for the second monster... "If I'd used mind control on your first monster it would have been a draw," the teen was explaining, a wicked smirk on his face. "I wouldn't have taken damage, and you'd be down two monsters," he continued, smirk widening. "But you know, that's not what I want... After all Jonouchi," Roba muttered, eyes narrowing with apparent mirth, "I need your monster _alive_..." Alive..!

The teen turned as Jonouchi drew his card, watching as the blond moved it into place on his hand. Nothing but confusion on his face... ...God damn it..! "Gh... Jonouchi," he shouted, eyes narrowed. Had he seriously missed that? And _he_ was the one comparing him to some younger sibling? Sheesh, he knew plenty of people who- The teen shook it off, continuing as the blond turned. "Are you dense," he shouted, Jonouchi frowning in response. "He's using your monster as a sacrifice!"

That got a response... (Thankfully...) "What-!"

"Gh... Ryuzaki," Roba muttered, eyes narrowed as both he and Jonouchi looked back. "Shouldn't you be taking a train back to Osaka now that you've lost..?" A train? Whaaaat, feeling a little ticked?

He smirked, crossing his arms as Jonouchi set a trap on the field beside him. Eh, he had time... "Naw, I think I'll stay here," he decided, a wicked grin in place. "Now that I'm 'disqualified'," Keiichi continued with a laugh, "I'm not technically cheating... And neither is he, at least not according to the rules," the teen added, grin widening. Just in case he decided to try something... "Besides," he added darkly, grin taking a similar turn with his tone. "I _really_ want to see you lose..."

Roba grit his teeth, nonetheless looking back to the field and drawing a card. "Tch... Then prepare to have your hopes shattered _again,_" he said with a grin, Keiichi scowling in response. Yea yea, rub it in asshole... "It's my turn," the teen shouted, "And I play this... Brain Control!" The card appeared instantly on the field, holographic image of two hag's hands around a human brain revealing itself to the crowd. In an instant the Alligator Sword was under its spell, Jonouchi's second monster moving over to Roba's side. Two monsters...

"Gh- Shit, not again," Jonouchi growled, Keiichi merely narrowing his eyes. Two sacrifices meant level 7 and up... Which meant...

"That's right," Roba said with a laugh, grabbing his next card from his hand. "Now your monster is mine! And you know what that means..." The others grit their teeth, faces growing red as Roba laughed. So damn annoying..! "I'm sacrificing them both," he shouted, swirls of light enveloping the two controlled monsters. The card was placed on the field, flipping upwards as the swirls fused for a third monster. Oh shit... No... "Calling forth the mighty cyborg..." Green and black 'robes' with metal... Oh _hell_ no... "PSYCHO SHOCKER!"

The monster stood tall with a loud 'grunt', gloved hands curled into fists as it crossed its arms. Though where Jonouchi was looking was beyond him, given how high up his eyes were turned. "Psy-Psycho shocker," the blond was repeating, Keiichi nodding with narrowed eyes.

He clenched his fists, growling under his breath as he looked back at the cyborg. "Yea... The same monster that did me in," he muttered, gritting his teeth. More importantly...

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Stop _LAUGHING_! "And Psycho Shocker possesses a special ability," Roba said smugly, crossing his arms as the monster stood tall before him. "He can detect... And destroy," he added as a 'seeming' after thought, "Any and all trap cards!" With those very words a laser shot from the cyborg's eyes, blasting through the face down card on Jonouchi's field. The blond held an arm up to his face, gritting his teeth in the light. But wait...

Why was he looking to the side..? "Tch... Gone," the blond muttered, Keiichi's eyes narrowing further as he looked at the jacket sleeve. What the hell...

Had something _cut it_? "Hehehehehe..." More of Roba's aggravating chuckling pulled his attention away, the Osakan looking back to his previous opponent. "So long as Psycho Shocker is on the field," the teen was saying with a grin, "Your trap cards are useless... And now that I've eliminated your trap," he added with a shrug, "I have no reason not to kill you now! Go, Psycho Shocker," he ordered, Jonouchi paling to a near ghost white shade from where he stood. Oh shit, this wouldn't be good.. "ATTACK DIRECTLY, with **CYBER ENERGY SHOCK!**"

"Tzzt! Gh-!" From his own view, it appeared to be a standard direct attack really. Psycho Shocker developed a blast of sparking energy between his hands, an enormous sphere gathering in its palms before it shot it forward at Jonouchi. With the holograms, there was even a warning in the box that getting thrown back as a result of 'solid vision' was likely. That the company wasn't responsible for the little bit of road rash, or any 'stumbles'. But as Jonouchi skidded across the ground... He noticed something that was just as weird as the 'scuff marks from nowhere'. First off he noted, the blond went almost limp, stiffening in a _literally_ shocked pose, the posture one would get if they stuck a fork in an outlet, or if they were struck by lightning. Second however...

After flying back by at least _five feet_ more than the warning covered...

"...Sparks..." He saw... Keiichi stared with wide eyes as the blond pulled himself up, twitching. It was impossible but...

There were sparks jumping from him. Moreover...

He sniffed, swallowing back his unease as an acrid scent met his nostrils. "And smoke..."

There was definitely a small bit of smoke on the air he realized quickly, and yet as Roba laughed wickedly, taunting Jonouchi and telling him to give in, the blond didn't even shout. '_Give up_,' Roba was calling out. '_You don't have a chance_!' Hell, even he had to admit that but...

...If their last duel was any sign, he told himself, eyes growing somewhat dim, Jonouchi was good at comebacks. "Give up," he 'asked', standing up and staggering to his feet. "Heh.. You WISH," the blond snarled, slowly moving back to his former position on the field. "If I do that... My future ain't worth shit!"

* * *

But even with those words, he mentally grumbled, wincing as he bit his lip. Even with that... "Hah... Gh... Ghah... Hah..." That hurt..! That fucking hurt! "Ghng..." Damn it... What was it about voltage and amperage and pain? Something important..?

...Yea. Well... It hurt. But even so... The blond shook himself, blinking it off as his vision cleared up. His turn... It was his turn now. And whether it happened or not, he was doing his best to get to those finals damn it... To that place where Yugi would be waiting... He grit his teeth, looking forward as he steadied himself from another wave of fatique. Man... That 'Psycho Shocker', he noted, swallowing as he looked across the field. He was a quiet guy... Not a single sound came from him, not a grunt or a whisper... But even so. Despite having lenses for eyes... There was something there. "...I have to get there," he stated calmly, taking a shaking breath as he addressed both his opponent and the teen's monster. "Because I made a promise," he growled, closing his eyes for a moment. "And that means I can't lose... Plain an' simple."

"Plain and... Hahaha... HAHAHAHAHA!" Tch... Katsuya grit his teeth, watching as the teen continued to laugh. "Dream all you like," Roba shouted with a grin, eyes filled with an almost desperate rage. "It'll never happen! Your only future is defeat, can't you accept it," he roared, the blond merely narrowing his eyes in silence. "Think about it... 200 lifepoints left, not a single monster on the field... Whereas I have Psycho Shocker, one of the strongest in the game!" Oh stop bragging already damn it..! This was worse than watching Yugi fight Seto... "If there's a way for you to win," Roba said with a laugh, "I'd like to see you even try!" Try..? Hn! He'd do more than that. Nonetheless he held his tongue, merely watching as the teen gestured for him to continue. "Now... Hurry up! It's your turn... 'Mutt!'"

. . .

He just...

. . .

_...Mutt_? A broken smile came on Katsuya's face, the blond swallowing as the insult rang through his head. No... There was no way _another_ person had... "You... You just called me..." He drew his card, clenching his jaw as his eyes grew wide with rage. Mutt, Mutt, Mutt... God damn it, he wasn't a fucking DOG! Why the hell did everyone link him to those things! He had nothing to do with them! Errrraaaaagghhh! He looked at his card, eyebrow twitching somewhat. Alright, his draw... The twitch continued, a somewhat high-pitched growl meeting his ears as he looked it over.

"_**Rnnnnnnn..?**_"

Baby Dragon. The only monster card he had in his hand. ...But at least it was telling him _he_ wasn't giving in. He swallowed, taking in a deep breath as he put the card in his hand. Well... Dragon or no, he had no choice at this point... He grabbed a different card from his hand, swallowing as he looked it over before sighing. All or nothing... He wasn't losing here! "I play th' spell card Scape Goat," he announced, setting the card on the disk and watching as the tablet appeared from the ground. Four carved goats slowly appeared on its cover, the first of the carvings filling with smoke as a dozing orange 'kid' rolled out from the stone. In it's place, three other carvings remained, the single goat giving a quiet yawn as it slumbered on the ground.

"_**Nnnnnnmmmm...**"_ ...Heh. It was kinda cute actua- ...What the hell was he, a girl!

He shook himself off, looking at the tablet for a moment before looking back to Roba. Hn... "End turn," he called out, blowing a bit of hair from his face only for it to stick back on his skin. Awww shit... Thanks to that last attack from Psycho Shocker his hair was sticking to his face... Damn it...

Stupid static... "Hn... Get ready then," Roba shouted, drawing his next card and glancing at it for a moment. "...Heheheheheh... First, the spell 'Brain Amplifier," he shouted, the tablet behind Psycho Shocker suddenly shifting in form. Across the monster's head was carved a helm of sorts, circuitry and wires slowly carving into place... And with the last line a wash of smoke came over it, a similar wave appearing on the real monster to create a real-life counterpart for his head. "Equipped to Psycho Shocker!" A helmet..? Wait... Katsuya swallowed as the Psycho Shocker began clenching his fists, power surging from the helm on his brain. Sparks of electricity flew, short grunts entering the air as the blond paled. Oh fuck. "His attack raises by 500 points," Roba explained, a fact that Katsuya found himself already knowing. "But that's not all... From this turn on," he added darkly, the blond's blood continuing to drain from his face, "His attack power raises by a further 300 points for every turn afterward! AhahahahaHAH!" M-More..? It was going to increase _more_..!

But it was already at 2900..! The blond swallowed, his 'scapegoat' stirring somewhat as it was joined by a second from the smoking tablet behind it. The blue goat shook itself off somewhat, turning forward as its owner looked to them in confusion. Two..? But why-

"And in addition to that..." Shit. He had a feeling he knew now. "I summon the Reflect Bounder!" Shiiit... Katsuya swallowed as another tablet appeared from the ground, the carved image of a legless robot of sorts appearing on its cover. "A monster capable of reflecting any attacks back to his opponents! In other words Jonouchi," he shouted, blond staring as the second carved tablet gave way to the mirror-armored robot, "Even if you summon a new monster, you attack me and you die! So you mind as well give up while you can," he shouted with a grin, the blond continuing to stare with wide eyes in silence, "Because there will be no miracle for you..." Gh... Shit... A mirroring monster... Awwww... "I've said it once, twice... Three times before," Roba muttered darkly, Katsuya narrowing his eyes as well. "You will _not_ win... Now... Psycho Shocker, Reflect Bounder," Roba called, pointing the monsters forward, "ATTACK! **CYBER ENERGY SHOCK**... and **MIRROR BEAM!**" Gh-! Shit, if those hit-

"**Mnnnaaaaaa!**" Katsuya watched as the two goats jumped into the line of fire, the final goats hopping out of their tablet as the stone itself crumbled away. The stricken kids bleated in pain as the harsh light eradicated their wool, setting the two ablaze as their owner winced. Gh... Worse than watching his last two monsters get 'eaten' by Psycho Shocker's tablet to summon it...

And now... "Two goats down," he muttered with a wince, mad laughter meeting his ears.

"And two left," Roba finished, grinning menacingly as his opponent looked up with narrowed eyes. "Hahahahhaha! And if I summon one more monster and attack with all three," he continued with a laugh, "I win... In fact, you mind as well say I _HAVE_ won," the teen stated, expression falling. "So why don't you surrender? Before you embarrass yourself," he added, narrowing his eyes. Why not? Really...

The way he was going on, it was like he was begging him... Now that was just plain weird. Heh... "...It's my turn," he said darkly, the teen across from him growing red.

"You... You..." Hn..? "WHY WON'T YOU GIVE UP," he roared, eyes wide as his opponent merely stood calmly in place. "WHY!"

"Why?" The blond snorted, drawing his card and setting it on the disk without looking at it. Tch... Wasn't it obvious? "Because I'm a duelist." And now...

A large round tablet arose from the center of the field, a grin appearing on Katsuya's face. Hehehehehe... He'd show this asshole to call him a 'mutt'... "I play this," he shouted, waving his hand as the large 'roulette' wheel revealed the outline of an almost toon-like arachnid on its form. "Roulette Spider!" Smoke and dust filled the air with his words, evaporating from the carved lines of the stone disk. Launching forward from the tablet without warning came the red and black spider wrapped itself around Psycho Shocker's face to pull him into the center.

"_**GNN!**_" Hn? He say something?

The blond pushed it from mind, instead listening and staring as his opponent began to panic. "W-What... A roulette table..! What!" Was that what he saw? Looked more like that weird-ass stone wheel he'd seen at the museum really... It was some kind of board game? Eh.

Katsuya merely grinned darkly, watching as the monsters on the field organized themselves in an almost circular formation about the stone disk. "Hehehehehe... Th's card's a real big gamble," he said with a smirk, narrowing his eyes as he crossed his arms. "Playin' this costs half my life points... Course w' only 200 left," he added with a grin, '"Half' isn't much a deal is it?"

"But what..." Roba swallowed, eyes wide as he continued to stare as the wheel. "What do you even expect to do with this," he shouted, "What-"

Psh! It was right there wasn't it? "Take a look," he shouted, pointing at the spider in the field as it continued to cling to the Psycho Shocker's face. "Th' Roulette spider blinds th' strongest monster on th' field, an' spins round an round at my word... An' when it's done spinnin'," he continued, "Tha' monster attacks! You said it yerself," Katsuya said with a smirk, watching as Psycho Shocker continued clawing at the spider on his face. "Psycho Shocker's th' strongest one here... What's more," he added with a grin, "Th' possible targets 'r all monsters on th' field, plus us... If it stops on one 'f us, we're dead," he said plainly, watching as Roba grew even paler. "So when y' think yer' safe, go ahead an' shout stop," he added with a laugh, pointing forward as the spider gave a cackle. "After all... If y' really have ESP," the blond muttered darkly, "Then this'll be easy righ'..?" Nothing but silence filled the air with that, Roba's face falling further and further. After all... One of them was going to 'die' now...

But it wouldn't be him. "Roulette Spider," he shouted, the spider giving a small chuckle in response. "SPIN!"

"_**Hihihihihi~**_" With a crank the spider took off, using seemingly nothing as a kick-off force. The colours of its body blurred against the air, Psycho Shocker as well spinning rapidly as it gripped its own shoulders tightly. Spinning, spinning, spinning... Roba's expression continued to fall, the teen growing paler by the second as it continued.

"Hh... Ghhh..." Hey now... It wasn't going to stop on its own...

"_**GRHAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH! STOOOOOOOPP!**" _Katsuya jumped somewhat, eyes widening briefly as he looked into the center.W-Woah... ...Looked like Psycho Shocker... Could... Speak. Um...

That was weird. "H...Gh... STOP," Roba cried, the spider chuckling in response as its owner as well looked back to the field. "Gh... Hnnn..." The spider's movements slowed, clicking sounds continuing as it came to a stop. Slower... Slower... Three... Two...

Reflect Bounder gave an audible gulp as the arrow pointed toward him, Psycho Shocker as well giving a pained sound. "It..." Roba paled, eyes wide as the two monsters 'stared' each other down. "It's pointing at..." Yep.

A grin came over Katsuya's face, the blond merely watching the field as the spell's effect ended. "_**T... Target... Located...**_**"**Psycho Shocker held his hands up as the spider moved from his vision, lenses giving away no emotions whatsoever as he took aim. Here it went... "_**...FIRE.**_"

The Reflect Bounder immediately began to panic, shaking its head with a shout. "_**OI OI OI-**_" In a vivid explosion the monsters eliminated themselves, the resulting fire reflected off the Bounder's corpse becoming plenty enough to be rid of the Psycho Shocker. Sparks flew from the ruined metal, leaving nothing but smoking corpses and circuits behind before the two disappeared into dust. The numbers were a 'draw' in Psycho Shocker's case of course... So there was no damage there. But against the Reflect Bounder?

"Ahhh... Aaaah... My monsters," Roba said with wide eyes, Katsuya merely watching as the roulette wheel and spider both vanished into mist. There was nothing but his two scapegoats on the field now really... And besides that... Roba continued to stare in disbelief, eyes wide. "They're all gone..." Along with all but two hundred and forty of his lifepoints...

Katsuya merely snorted, grabbing his next card and setting it on the disk. "Hey hey... You fergetin' somethin," he shouted, tablet appearing before him and slowly going up in smoke as a thickly carved outline appeared across it. "It's still my turn," the blond continued, "An' I've got one monster I haven't used yet!" A loud yet infantile roar came over the air, orange scales breaking free of the tablet as the blond's opponent continued to pale. He might not have been he most powerful but... Hehehe... "Let's go! Baby Dragon!"

"G-Ghhh..." Silence and disbelief filled the air in response to the summon, Roba remaining silent as his opponent seethed.

"Tch! Callin' me a Mutt," Katsuya growled, the infantile dragon shaking itself as it stretched out on the field. "I'll show you! Attack," he shouted, the monster taking in a deep breath of air. "**DRAGON BREATH!**"

"_**GRAAAAAAAAAAAH!**_" With a wide grin the dragon took aim, blasting a strong jet of flames toward the blond's opponent. The fires wrapped around Roba completely as his lifepoints ticked down, the Baby Dragon continuing to grin at his win. It was a little weird though, watching someone catch fire only for nothing to happen... Watching someone wince and duck when in reality, they were literally in flames right there... But as the remaining tablets and monsters cleared the field, and Roba stumbled back under that unseen pressure, he had to shake himself. It wasn't 'real'.

Not to them. "...Roba," he said clearly, walking over to the teen as the remaining dust and stone vanished from the ground. "That future you saw... You should know that for me, it's never set in stone." Not if certain spacey 'ghosts' had anything to say. '_You have no fate.' ..._Heh. "'Cause I..." He swallowed, shaking his head. "I'm th' only one who can see mine... An' even then," he continued with a grin, laughing somewhat, "Tha's somethin that anythin' can change, at any momen' in time! Hahaha!" The grin fell, and he held out a hand as the teen before him continued slumping to the ground. "Now... I won fair an' square Roba; you owe me a puzzle card an' an ante!" So don't hold out, because Mokuba would probably ream him out for not contacting him about the cheater.

"Gh..." The blond blinked, odd chocked sounds coming over the air. Oi oi, come on... He didn't have all- ...Wait, was he... Crying? Katsuya frowned, watching as Ryuzaki came over with a similar expression. "You..." More sounds... Shit! He was crying..! A guy that was probably about to graduate high-school, maybe already had, and he was... "All of you... DON'T LOOK DOWN ON ME," he cried with a shout, eyes red and teary despite his apparent anger. Roba looked up that the small crowd around him with rage, gritting his teeth. "You think it's fun," he asked darkly, "You think it's a joke... Looking down on the guy who lost?" Katsuya blinked, looking over at Ryuzaki as the teen raised his eyebrows. Uh... Fact was... Most of the crowd had moved on by this point... And he knew _he_ wasn't looking down. "Makes you feel better, thinking '_at least I'm not a loser like him_'...? Huh? WELL GUESS WHAT," he continued, growling at the blond as Katsuya in question jumped back. "I'm not just some 'person'... I'm a chosen one, with special powers! You got that?" He... He was still going on about that!

"And you're saying that's why you hear voices," Ryuzaki asked dryly, Katsuya shaking his head. Not helping...

"Hah... Look... Roba," he muttered, ignoring the fact that Ryuzaki was looking at him rather than the one on the ground at the moment. (Why was he staring at his jacket..?) "I ain't lookin' down on yah," he said clearly, eyes narrowed. "Hell, I don' think anyone is, I jus' had better luck! Outta anyone here," the blond continued, "I gotta be th' first t' realize that!" Hell, if he didn't, his cards would probably remind him themselves damn it... "...No one here thinks yer a loser," Katsuya told the teen, shaking his head. "If anythin'... If there's anyone lookin' down on yah... Isn' that person you..?"

"SHUT UP," Roba snarled, head bowed in defeat as the two before him jumped back. Eck! Okay, that wasn't the best point to push..! "Shut up, shut up _SHUT UP_!"

"S-Sheesh," Ryuzaki muttered incredulously, "Cool down..."

Y-Yea, what he said..! "I'm jus' sayin' Roba, y' shouldn' hate yerself so much..." Or yell, or cheat, but hey, it was a work in progress...

"I said shut up!" The two continued to frown, blinking as Roba shook on the ground. What the... "I _can't_ lose," he hissed, head still bowed to the ground as tears ran down his face. "I can't... It doesn't matter how," he added with a shake, "Just as long as I win! As long as people look at me, because then, while they do that," the teen continued, "Then my brothers..."

Wait... "Brothers..?"

Roba continued to shake, teeth grinding as his voice lowered. "No one will ever tease them again, not a single person..." T- He had brothers! "This is the only way," he growled, fingers scraping against the ground as he continued to bow his head. "The only way! People always chase after the 'strange ones' first, the ones with weird eyes, wavy hair... I have to be strong," he shouted, curling in further as he cried. "For them!"

The others stared, falling silent in response. Now that he thought about it... Though it was straight near the bottom, Roba's hair was curled, wasn't it? He'd thought it looked wavy from the other end. And his eyes... Definitely not asian. But even so... Katsuya frowned, holding his tongue a little longer before shaking his head.

He wasn't the only one he bet. "C'mon man..." The blond sighed, again shaking his head as he came closer. "Stop yer whinin'... Th's 's jus' Battle City," he continued, holding out a hand for the teen . "So y' lost this time... Jus' get up, fight again some other day. "Get up... C'mon..."

Roba looked up briefly, before smacking his hand back with a snarl. What the- "Tch! Get lost," he growled, the blond pulling back with a jump before shaking his hand. "I don't need your pity!" Ow, _fuck_ that stung!

"Sheesh, someone's ungrateful... You know that anyone else would have kicked your ass right," Ryuzaki asked, looking at Roba with distaste.

"Tch.. Whatever," Katsuya muttered, moving to put his cards away. "Do what you want..."

'_Stand up, nii-san._' He blinked as a voice came from behind, looking out of the corner of his eye. Did he just hear a group of kids..? The blond frowned, narrowing his eyes before looking back. Nothing... Just the crowd from before but...

'_Don't give up nii-san, come o-_' "Stand up, Nii-san!" Eh! He was hearing the real one this quickly? Over top of each other? "Don't give up-" "Stand up, Nii-san!" A-Again!

"Aaaaagghhh... Voices..!" Double, triple... Was that seriously normal! The blong grabbed his head, biting his lip. "Gh..!"

"You..." Katsuya blinked, both he and Ryuzaki turning as a trio of young, wavy-haired boys with a single set of binoculars stood there.

"Nii-san," the oldest two muttered, a fourth boy poking his head over one of their shoulders. AGGH, why was it doubling!

Roba blinked, eyes wide as he reached out. "G-Guys... I..." Crackling came from his wrist, the teen looking down with a wry expression as he stood. His wris-

"Stand up," the 'middle' kid said with a frown, hands gripping a head set he was wearing. "We don't wanna use the radio any more." H-Head set..?

"W-Wait... _These_ are your psychic powers," Ryuzaki asked incredulously, Katsuya staring as the three young boys charged past and tackled their older brother to the ground.

"Gh!" The teen steadied himself, looking at his siblings with wide eyes. "Oh... You three..." Roba rubbed his eyes as the boys wrapped their arms around him, tears still running down his face as he looked at his siblings. "I... I guess I had it coming, making you do all that for me..!" Awww, how could he hate these guys..? There were _four_ of them for god's sake... The teen looked up, moving past the boys and looking at both Katsuya and Ryuzaki both. Eh..? "Well... I lose," he muttered, looking down as he pulled a few things from his pocket. "I mind as well get this over with..." ...Eh? He tossed a card to the shorter of his former opponents, Ryuzaki blinking as he caught and looked it over.

The Osakan balked, blinking a number of times before looking back. "H-Heh! This is the card I bet on our-" He stared, holding it tightly as he frowned. "You..."

The teen shrugged, shaking his head as he continued to pull a few things from his pocket. "I cheated during our last match... I don't deserve to keep it," he said plainly, Katsuya blinking as a small serpent-dragon wrapped itself around Ryuzaki's arm. Ah, that dragon again... (And that raptor was still there too, that was weird... "As for you Jonouchi..."

He blinked as Psycho Shocker was handed over, three puzzle cards along with it. H-Hold on... "O-O-Oi... Three..!" The blond looked at Ryuzaki, frowning as he gestured to the teen. "How come y' didn' give him _his_ puzzle card back," he asked, eyes wide. "I mean... I get tha' y' need t' show yer brothers how t' play fair but... Shouldn' y' start w' fair trades too..?" Just maybe?

Oddly enough, it was Ryuzaki who answered, the teen shaking his head. "Roba's giving you all three because I'm still disqualified," he growled dryly, scratching his ear with the words. "Once you're out, you're out, no matter what the circumstances of your defeat were..." ...Oooooh... Whoops. "There were tournament instructions in the disk packaging," the Osakan muttered, eyebrows raised. "Didn't you read them?"

...Well... He kinda forgot... "Errr..." He coughed, attempting to find a good way to answer that before the topic was cut short.

"Keep the cards," Roba stated, Katsuya blinking in response. The teen shook his head, looking back at his duel disk. "I cheated for my entire time here... If anyone duels me, I'll be surprised." ...Oooh... Yea that tended to deter the competition. "And besides," he added with a shrug, smirking. "My entire deck relies on Psycho Shocker... If I kept those puzzle cards, they'd be useless." W-What?

"But..." He blinked again, frowning. If he took more than the prize, would he have Seto and Mokuba breathing down his neck..? "Y' didn' offer them to begin wi-"

"Jonouchi, take the damn cards," Ryuzaki growled, rubbing his head as the blond took the cards in hand.

"Tch- I don' need you t' tell me that," he snarled in response, the Osakan rolling his eyes.

"Well it sure feels like it!"

"Y' still don' have to!"

"You two are funny~" The boys turned, blinking at the youngest of Roba's brothers as the 'baby' gave a somewhat toothless grin. "Heheee~"

"A-Ah... He spoke," Ryuzaki muttered, Katsuya merely staring as Honda's nephew immediately came to mind.

"Heh, I've met guys who can top tha', trust me..." Speaking entire innuendo dosed sentences by age of two...

"Hn... Jonouchi," Roba stated, smirking. The blond pulled himself from his thoughts, blinking as the teen continued. "Next time we duel, don't expect it to be this easy alright?"

"That's right," one of the apparently identical 'older' siblings said, the second 'twin' piping in from the side to create a 'doubled voice'. "Next time he'll beat you fair and square! Got it?"

"Heh!" Alright then! "Lookin' forward to it," he said with a smirk, nodding. Now... "...Roba..." The teen blinked, listening in silence as his smile remained in place. "I got friends here... But you've got yer brothers," he said with a nod, smirking. "So long as you've got them," Katsuya continued, "Yer always strong... R'member that, alrigh'?"

The brothers stared, silent a few moments before nodding in response. "Hn... Of course! I hope we meet again soon," Roba added, before turning to his brothers. "Come on... Let's get something to eat before we go home alright?" Aww... They were all so brotherly...

...Now, before he forgot...

"An' you," The blond said, turning to the Osakan beside him. Ryuzaki blinked, looking from where he was putting his rare card in his pocket with raised eyebrows as the Roba brothers moved to head down the street. "Ryuzaki."

The teen continued to blink, frowning. "Eh?"

Katsuya smirked, stowing his cards away before glancing at the ever present raptor at Ryuzaki's side. And it was _still _there, even when that dragon was gone... Well hell! Anyone with a 'mini-monster' following this close was cool right? "Heheheh.. Yeh really saved my ass back there," he said with a grin, laughing at the Osakan's confusion. "Y' snapped me out 'f things!" He continued to laugh, hands moving into his pockets as he grinned. "We outta keep in touch nyh?"

Again Ryuzaki blinked, staring for a few moments in silence before shaking himself. "...What." The teen's confusion was interrupted by a low growl, both boys looking down at their stomachs in question as a nearby clock struck eleven. Wow... Eleven huh... Dueling took time, maybe getting three cards was for the best... "Aw hell," Ryuzaki muttered under his breath, "I had breakfast at _seven_..."

Well, he didn't have anything that morning so... Seeing how they were both hungry... "Y' know what," he decided, smirking as he looked down the street. "I'm feelin' nice t'day Ryuzaki... So I'm gonna pr'tend y' didn' call me an' idiot an make y' an offer! What d'ya say we grab lunch nh? My treat," he added, still smirking as the osakan blinked. "...Well?"

"Wait... You're serious," he asked, blinking. Um. Yes..? "You'd treat me to lunch," he added, eyes wide as he stared. "On the day most places are probably jacking their prices?" Well, there was still one place that wouldn't he figured... (But he supposed the guy had a point...)

"Naw, you c'n pay f'r yerself, 'ahou'."

"GH-" The Osakan tensed, growling. "BAKAAAAAA-"

"Yer worse," Katsuya said with a grin, shaking somewhat as they 'argued'.

"BASTAAAAARD- Wait..." Ryuzaki frowned, glaring at the blond as he attempted to hold back a laugh. "Are you _laughing_?"

"Gh- What," he said with a grin, "Y' thought I was serious?" There was a fairly plain questioning look in response, Katsuya shaking his head and holding out a hand. "Heh... I'm not that kinda guy! We're friends now, got it?" Honestly!

"H-Heh..?" Well, seeing how his hand wasn't being taken... The teen stumbled somewhat as an arm was looped around his neck, Katsuya dragging him off with a widening grin.

"Hehehehehe... I know this great ramen stand," he rambled on, the 'raptor' misting from view before reappearing to charge up ahead. "C'mon!"

"Eh..!"

Given that Ryuzaki didn't run off in the end, he'd say that the guy was perfectly fine with that.

**

* * *

AN: **Whoo! More divergence from Canon! We'll see Kaiba next chapter but like the manga... There won't be 'any' dueling since anything Kaiba does until the tag-team match with Yugi is effectively a curb stomp. So hooray for that, despite it being shorter than the norm. Dialogue guys... Dialogue.

Also, before anyone says '_FFFFF WHY IS RYUZAKI SO SMART_' (Even though it's likely that none of you think that), remember what Shizuka said way back when? About how 'Keichi-kun never studies'... _But still gets top marks?_ Smarter than he looks guys... Smarter than he looks. Hell, Haga just last chapter casually mentioned skipping a grade mid-year; and you can bet that his 'book-smarts' are one of the few things he _doesn't_ exaggerate.

By the way, this is probably going to be the first of many things that kicks Jonouchi in the ass for not saying anything about his ability.

In any case, I got a lot of reviews going on about how they couldn't wait for this one, so now I feel kinda bad; if anything, I had to downplay a lot of the excitement we'd get from Jonouchi, as while most 'supernatural' things scare the shit out of him, his own 'ability' keeps him from taking Roba seriously _at __all_. Oh well~

As for the **Poll Results**, which decide whether I will record the 'Past' events in dreams or a separate fanfic, are **unchanged**.

For those who forgot, it's 2 – 0 for Dreams.

And now...

Music Notes! It's been a while since I did this, but that's mostly because I don't want to bug you too much. In any case, these songs have been on the MP3 shuffle list for a while, but I only recently looked them up with english subtitles... (Since I largely listen to 'Nico Nico Chorus' covers of vocaloid songs as opposed to the vocaloid version themselves, I have to look up the subbed version separately.)

In any case, a few songs stood out... (Namely two)

Scrap & Build for one, which you specifically need to search as 'Hatsune Miku scrap&build English/Romanji' if you want the subtitles, gave me a Noa vibe again... At least until lyrics mentioned wanting a kiss, hahaha. This tends to happen when I listen to the songs that go with the robot-computer vibe.

Melancholic – Maybe it's because I'm reading the subtitles wrong, but I can't actually say for certain whose perspective this would be from at the start. By the end of it, I'm figuring Seto but... It's a little confusing, because the one singing appears to be calling their crush the melancholic one before accepting that its them. WHOOPS. Nonetheless, at one minute thirty seconds, you get a very VERY Seto-ish vibe. ('_I don't care about you, not at all_!')

In any case, despite confusion, it's a little like 'No Logic' was; very much suited to any scene containing both Jonouchi and Kaiba.

And with that out of the way...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

It's always fun to watching things like that~ In any case, hey there Iona!

Ryuzaki is both going to regret this and not regret this actually; you'll see why in the next chapter, but lets just say that the conversation takes a _very_ dark turn. Haga and Kajiki were actually present in the manga in that scene; it's most of the reason why the latter appeared, as he otherwise has nothing to do with those two, hahahaha… (But hey, given that I made him live in Okinawa, that isn't surprising.)

Haga's backstory will be _very_ interesting… As to whether or not I reveal it through the story rather than fanart, I've yet to decide. On the one hand, fan-art reveals can seem a little 'here's your information, now you know'-ish. On the other, putting too much backstory on a 'side character' in a fanfic that has little to do with them seems a little out of place.

Hnnnn… It really does tie in though, and before you ask about Ryuzaki, I'll tell you this concerning the Doma issue; Ryuzaki's 'emotional weakness' _hasn't happened yet_.

Yes, yes they do. And for a good reason that will come up eventually/soon/whenever I feel the reveal is suited to the situation. (After all, simply coming out with it would seem like the above issue; out of place, or 'all at once'.) And hahaha… More questions are cropping up I suppose… Whoops! Though this makes me a little nervous now; while I can't deny I did my best to put fun into the Roba-Jou duel, the topic of ESP was largely skirted by Jonouchi…

As he doesn't really like talking about those things, you know? Ahhhh…

And oh GOD yes Randomprojects. Very, _very_ creepy…

_And it can only get worse…_

As for duelling, hahaha! Glad to hear that! I hope that it met your expectations, and possibly surpassed it then; myself, I tend to try and shorten the duels… Or at least make it so that each one fits within a chapter (This gets harder with people like Noa, or during tag-team duels…)… But it's good to hear that the duels aren't making people beg for me to stop.

Jou? Tell someone? We wish. Though if its any consolation, Ryuzaki's already on to something, and he'll be getting even closer in the next chapter… Pity that he won't have time to question him on it. But yea; it's very stressful for him, as you can see up there… And you've got another point, these things are important! Scary as hell but…

If he puts one and two together with the Kul Elna deal… (Though that won't happen for quite some time sadly.)

In any case, I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'll get to work on the next one!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that encourages you to play Children's Card Games. It's serious business guys!

* * *

Today's chapter brings us back to the tradition of ripping manga titles off. Yay~ It's from a much later chapter though, oddly enough; specifically, the one where Jonouchi starts his duel against _Haga_.

You'd think it'd have been against Roba...

* * *

In the manga, Ryuzaki does a lot more exposition here. Mostly, it's to explain the rules at the expense of Jonouchi's failure… As these are things we would otherwise not know, and Ryuzaki isn't the type to explain this 'kindly', so he's rather blunt about it. More over, he's laughing a lot harder in the manga for those same reasons, but the fact is, Ryuzaki would probably be secretly praying for the blond to kick Roba's ass… It would make him feel a lot better, that's for sure. (Especially after finding out the guy was cheating. _ESPECIALLY_.)

In any case...

Ryuzaki was obviously not so helpful in the original, but the fact is, not only do I need them to get along, I don't really see why the guy wouldn't look forward to Roba's fall… Besides looking terrible thanks to his own loss.

It does help to get rid of needless exposition though; do we really need Roba to say, so many times, that he's sacrificing Jonouchi's monsters for a summon? NOOOOOOO. Do we need Ryuzaki to say, in perfect detail, how to tribute summon? NOOOOOOOO. And so the problem is 'solved'.

* * *

In the original duel, Jonouchi took a few moments to realize Roba had said 'second'. Fanfic Jou is quite a bit more perceptive though, due to constant nights of security detail and heightened paranoia. Whoo!

* * *

Yes guys, Roba actually says 'Pegasus' spirit' in the manga. Jonouchi is apparently not surprised by this either, despite the fact that this topic didn't come up _at all_ until that point... Which is... Weird.

* * *

Jinzo isn't 'Jinzo' in the Japanese; he's called 'Jinzoningen - Psycho Shocker'. See, 'Ningen' means 'Human'. 'Jinzo' on the other hand, means 'Man-made', or 'Artificial'. 'Jin' and 'Nin' are both readings of the same kanji, the one for 'person' you see... So 'Jinzoningen' effectively means 'Android'... In other words, his name is 'Psycho Shocker', and saying 'Jinzoningen' all the time is actually very redundant.

* * *

Originally, Roba calls Jonouchi a 'super loser'. Now besides the fact that this makes very little sense in terms of insults, if I were to go with Japanese, this could technically double out with 'make-inu'… Jonouchi's beserk button. But 'Mutt' tends to be fanfic Jou's berserk button anyways, and typing out Japanese insults _all_ the time is a little… 'Weeaboo-ish'. Fangirlish. I dunno. In any case, seeing how 'make-inu' can be snagged as 'mutt' in common language flipping...

* * *

Yea, seriously… Roba flipped out completely with the point of Jonouchi's constant refusal to back down. It's like he _knew_ that he was going to lose in the end. (Hehehe.)

* * *

Hey, guess what! Psycho Shocker actually had a line in the manga; he really did say '_MUST… KILL…_' Haaaaah. Of course, given that I'm sticking with the holograms only giving off grunting noises in the real world for the sake of further 'de-humanization' between 'reality' and 'the other realms', only Jonouchi got to hear this. Not that he really cared...

* * *

Lots of lines changed here, mostly because they're really, _really_ awkward when Jonouchi legitimately has some form of clairvoyance himself in this fanfic. Originally at the end, he said '_It was me who saw the future!_'…

But… Given that he actually _does_ get flashes of the future, meaning that he legitimately _can_ see his own future sometimes… _Yeeeeeaaaaaaaa..._

* * *

By the way, all of Roba's dialogue, save the occasional rearrangement or 'extension' of words, are all identical to the manga. Unfortunately, I would imagine that the prospect of 'looking different' and getting teased for it isn't the best argument for Jonouchi… As he looked after himself by beating the shit out of anyone who tried picking on him for it I would imagine. So it's like Jonouchi said, Roba's quite wrong; he's not being pitied with. He's being empathized with.

Heck, in the fanfic's case, Ryuzaki might empathize himself, given his two toned hair but… Well, with people like Yugi, it's hard to tell who's supposed to be foreign and who's supposed to be 'different', so I would doubt it. It's just so hard to tell when everyone has anime hair...

* * *

In other news, being from Ishikawa, Roba speaks with a Hokuriku dialect… Specifically 'Kanazawa-ben'. There's not much of a change, but a noted one is using 'masshi' instead of 'nasai' as a suffix… For example, 'Gomen-nasai', or 'I'm _very_ sorry' would be 'Gomen-masshi' instead. Similarily, 'Oyasumi-nasai', or 'Good night' would be 'Oyasumi-_masshi_'.

So it's a little weird to say the least.. Heck, it made me glad I didn't pick Tohoku… That one is so diverse, that even in Japan they'll use _subtitles_. _For their own language._

Needless to say though, this dialect isn't really translated to text or english too well... But I do like giving needless tidbits of information, so I figured 'why not?'

* * *

And here's a note on Roba. First off, I said his hair was 'wavy' because given that anime makes him look like a muffin, (Top and all!) and hair cuts are fairly optional, that's quite likely the case; it wouldn't make sense for them to not get haircuts if the style was a point of bullying. Eyes on the other hand are more an assumption; mostly because there are a lot of schools that will actually ask you to make your hair look more like everyone else's, but the eyes are generally a more obviously foreign point. Derp.

As for his siblings, two of them look nigh identical in height; hence the assumption they were twins. They also (Being the oldest of the four brothers) only come up to Roba's torso. Seeing how Roba is 17 (and according to his info, 5'6'') I'd say it's safe to guess that those two are like… 12. I'm going to assume from there that the next one is around eight and the last one is between 1 and 2._ And we will never see these guys again..._ I think. Who knows, maybe they'll cameo later on...

* * *

Now, in the manga, it _does_ say how many puzzle cards Jonouchi has at the end (two), but… Yea. Kinda touched on this last chapter, given that if we stuck with this, he'd be a number of locator cards short, and what with Kaiba actively looking for any excuse _not_ to let Jonouchi into the finals... He'll need all six. Besides, after so many people saw the guy get caught red-handed, him even _saying_ he'll continue fighting would be a big fat NO; it brings new meaning to having your cake and eating it too.

And in other news, look! Ryuzaki got his card back! As to why there's no mention of 'honour' and what, it's because it's tainted by dirty cheating. The card in question is from the anime; it's Serpent Night Dragon, and it'll actually give us a small plot point in the next chapter...

**

* * *

FanArt and My Art Section**

There's no art today actually, I'm just making a note. What with my career goal being 3D Animation/Game Design and all, I've decided to put the constant doodling on hold for the most part (Key point being 'most'; I'm still liable to spam you with costumes.) in order to work on my portfolio.

So what does that mean? It means that iconic characters like Yugi, Kaiba and Jonouchi (Well... The last two not so much, they're pretty normal looking), and _especially_ the monsters will be taking a back seat...

As I model a few other ones. So look forward to that!

In any case, enjoy the chapter! I'll see you next time!


	67. Chapter 66

**Eyes That See The Truth**

* * *

While most duels were happening relatively fairly within the bounds of 'Battle City', there were a few locations where it was not so. Areas in the darker regions of districts where slightly 'higher risk' antes, or even in 'not so dark' regions, not that they'd encountered such a thing just yet. For the moment, that was what he and his sister were dealing with as they made their way around town though, with the chauffeur on call for if they picked something up too far away. Walking along the road right now though, disqualifying or even just 'defeating' (And thereby eliminating) anyone who broke the rules was all that mattered... Particularly since as soon as Seto turned the corner, most of the duelists scattered like shocked rats for fear of being knocked out of the of the many advantages of being a 'Kaiba, Mokuba supposed with a shrug, running a good number of feet ahead of his sister. No 'traffic' to deal with. The boy grinned as he followed the 'blip' on his slate's map, the two siblings currently tracking down what was apparently a counterfeit card user. It could be a glitch of course; the newer cards had habits of giving 'false positives', but it couldn't hurt to check to see if the 'Diamond Dragon' was fake or not. Now then... Where...

'_Look... I'll give you a choice,_' a gruff voice muttered in the distance, Mokuba blinking as he approached the alley way entrance._ 'Either give me a card of equal value to my Diamond Dragon,_' the man growled,_ 'Pay me the 100,000 yen difference, or get beaten so bad that you'll never duel again!' _Oh well that one sounded a little harsh...

'_P-Please,_' a second voice begged, audibly choking on their tears._ 'This is the best card I have, please don't-_'

The first voice merely growled angrily in response, volume raising considerably as Mokuba sighed. '_I'M GONNA BREAK YOUR DAMN FINGERS!_'

Well... They found him. -_**FWEEEEEEEEEEEET!**_-

Mokuba turned into the alley way, blowing hard on the whistle around his neck with narrowed eyes. "Hold it right there," he shouted, moving the slate in his hands to the side. Okay... So obviously while they were moving, the 'counterfeiter' won...

Said counterfeiter turned, a scowl clearly visible on his face as the second duelist huddled on the ground. "W-What the.." The first man turned, eyes narrowing as Mokuba stared him down. "Gh... What do you want brat?"

Brat? Tch! He wasn't some 'brat'! Nonetheless he smirked, stowing his slate in his bag and moving toward the two. "Hehehe... Battle City's Steering Committee Chairman," he announced, crossing his arms for a moment as the smirk grew. "In other words," Mokuba continued somewhat proudly, "The one whose job is to settle any disputes that come up during the tournament!" The boy snatched the ante cards that the duelists were gripping, looking them over and shaking his head. "Now then, lets see what this is about," he muttered with a sigh. Hahhh... "Ante trouble is the biggest problem in this tournament so far," he continued under his breath, looking over the cards before turning back to the two duelists. "I'll settle this as the neutral party, alright? Now..." The boy glanced over the cards, holding them between his fingers. Diamond Dragon in one hand, 'Air Eater' in another... Hmp! "First off," Mokuba decided after a moment, "It's forbidden to change the ante at your demand after a duel!" Not that the guy in front of him appeared to care, given his scowl... "In addition," he added with a frown and narrowing his eyes, "It's against the rules to bet for money..." Yet another thing that this duelist didn't care about. "Hmp... Honestly," he muttered, shaking his head. "These two cards are of equal rarity anyways, this is more than enough! There's no reason to fight of a 'better match'!"

Evidently, the rather brawny duelist thought otherwise, instead clenching his fists and walking over from where he'd given his former opponent a near beating. "Gh... You wanna die kid," he growled, Mokuba raising his eyebrows in response. "Then don't mess with MY RULES!" His rules?

"You sad, _pathetic_ little man," a well disguised voice growled, the two duelists in the alley turning at the sound. Ohohoh... He'd really screwed himself there... Mokuba smirked as his sister came around the corner, the woman's eyes narrowed darkly as the other duelist paled. "When you threaten my brother, you threaten the entirety of Kaiba Corporation," she spat, briefcase held tightly at her side as she scowled. "You'd better be prepared for the consequences, _trash_..."

"K-K-..." The duelist continued to pale, choking on his words as he stumbled backward. "Kaiba Seto..."

"Hehehe..." Too late now..~ "You've really done it this time," Mokuba said with a grin, sister standing somewhat in front of the boy as he continued on. "You could have just taken your ante and left," he said with a sigh, giving a mock shrug as the duelist tensed. "But now..? Hehehe..." He had to say, he would enjoy this... "Nii-sama's rules are much worse than mine," he continued, shaking his head as the smirk grew. "It's out of my hands now! By the way... Nii-sama," the boy added, handing one of the ante cards up as his sister blinked. "Here; this guy's ante," he stated, watching as his sister looked over the card and put her briefcase down.

"'Diamond Dragon'," she muttered, crossing her arms somewhat as she held the card loosely. "Hn!" The woman narrowed her eyes, looking over the card in distaste before turning her attentions to its owner. "I have thirty-six of these..." Wait, she had thirty six of the same card..? He'd thought that all the cards in the briefcase were different though... "I'm shocked that you can even think of demanding so much for a card like this," the woman said with a smirk, before tearing it easily in two.

"Y..." The duelist paled, eyes wide as the rare card's two halves were tossed to the ground. "You shit... What the hell did you do to my card!"

Seto's smirk grew, the woman crossing her arms as she stared the man down. "Please... You wouldn't have gotten this card back anyways," she muttered, duel disk already in place on her arm as she moved closer. "Because I'm challenging you to a duel right now..." Which she would win, because... No one could do otherwise. (Except for Yugi... But he wasn't mentioning that.) "And for my ante," Seto added, Mokuba taking the woman's briefcase from the side. "This," she shouted, her brother clicking the case open in an instant to reveal the stacks and stacks of cards within. "An entire case of rare cards!"

Evidently, the loss of Hyouzanryu was nothing compared to this... But that was only expected really. "W-Woah," the duelist muttered, stumbling forward to stare at the cards in shock. Besides the old ones that had been collected, Seto had been working on adding to it. Sure, they wouldn't be in a deck... But the game _was_ a matter of collecting and trading... Not to mention a good investment for when they went out of print. "These... These are all mine..!" Hey hey... Don't get ahead of yourself! "I just need to beat you..?"

Psh! If he could even get a _scratch_ in he'd be amazed. "Heh! My brother isn't stingy," Mokuba said with a snort, shaking his head as he closed the case back up. "You win," he continued as he dragged the case to the side, "And he'll keep his word," the boy said loudly.

"Consider it compensation for your 'Diamond Dragon'," Seto drawled, an odd smile still in place as she crossed her arms. The duelist turned, swallowing as the taller continued to stare him down. "In fact," she added, the smirk growing darker, "Why don't you take all the cards you like from that case to use in the duel now..?"

As many- Wait what? Mokuba blinked, the duelist doing the same before running back toward the case. A-Ack-! He opened it up, watching with a raised eyebrow as the teen dug into the cards with a greedy grin in place. "Errrr..." H-Hey, those had all been organized..! All the ritual cards were getting mixed in with the fusion monsters, ahhhhhh...

And of course this jerk didn't care, simply switching out as many as possible from his deck with a manic expression in place. "All... All these _cards_..." That was great, that was really _great_... Mokuba pulled a face, shaking his head before glancing over at Seto.

Just what was his sister _doing_, he wondered, frowning as a few more cards were dropped before the unnamed duelist finally found his deck 'ready'. The boy watched as the two duelists took their positions, closing up the case again with a swallow before moving behind his sister. "Remember," Seto said calmly, eyes narrowing further. "You lose," she stated with a grin, "And I take all these cards back... Understand?" Her opponent nodded, a smug grin that quite clearly said he expected a win in place. "And to raise the stakes even more," the woman continued, eyes narrowing darkly, "Let me tell you a secret. In my deck I have something called a 'God Card'," she explained, opponent blinking with the mention. "A card so _unbelievably_ rare and powerful, that I wouldn't sell it for 50 billion yen..." H-Hey, she wasn't about to use that was she? ...Was she? "Just for now," Seto stated, Mokuba raising his eyebrows again as he was proven wrong, "I'll make that card my ante. Is that clear?"

You could almost hear the sounds of money exchanging in this guy's head... The look on his face was caught somewhere in shock and awe as soon as Seto said 'fifty billion'..! "F-Fifty," he repeated, choking on his words. "Hah... Haha... I'll hold you to it," he said with a grin, eyes wide as Mokuba again looked at his sister. "Hehehe... LET'S DUEL!"

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." E-Ehhhh... She was laughing, that wasn't good...

He could guess fairly quickly what was about to happen when he saw his sister get _that_ look after all..!

Which was really pretty good in hindsight he decided, because if he hadn't have plugged his ears, that scream would have been _really_ loud.

* * *

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Getting the rare cards back from the scum in the alleyway and replacing them in the case had been quick and easy after the 'duel' had finished... If it could be called that. Seto chuckled as they left the alley, briefcase again in hand with her duel-disk primed for another duel. The power of 'God' was an incredible thing, to say the least. A power that she held in the deck at her side just now, a fact that was almost unbelievable in itself, she thought with a chuckle. 'God'... Hnhnhnhnhn... And in addition to that, there were two others, which she would be finding in moments. Osiris and Ra... Those two cards... Once they were hers, her deck would truly be complete! A deck that none would walk away from unbowed, that none would escape...

Including _him, _she added mentally, a short breeze passing by with that thought. A dark smirk came on her face as the idea persisted, before falling as she walked along the street with her brother. This tournament... She knew that Yugi would be there... That sooner or later they would end up facing off, a thing that she was personally looking forward to... But what about that blond? The woman's eyes narrowed further, Seto almost stopping for a moment as they continued down the road. "...Mokuba," she finally said after a few moments, the boy looking up from where he was skimming the stats on his slate. He was obviously 'in', given that he hadn't shown up for work... Despite all idiocy, the moron was at least _punctual_. But if she could at least keep him from getting too far without actually having to hunt him down and eliminate him herself... "...What's Jonouchi's current position in this tournament?"

Mokuba blinked, staring a few moments before answering. "Katsuya-nii's," he asked, the term no longer gaining a wince as it had months before. She honestly couldn't be bothered with caring about that any more... "Ahhh... Hn..." The boy turned back to the slate, tapping a few things on the touch screen as Seto looked back to the street. "Let's see... Ah! Wow..." ...Wow..? "He's already got four cards," he said with a grin, holding the slate up for her to see. "This is incredible, that's more than even Yugi!"

H-Hang on... Four..! The woman paled, turning to look at the screen in shocked silence. Impossible... That was impossible, tt was only eleven o'clock! "Nii-sama," Mokuba asked, pulling the slate back as he looked up at his sister, "Do you want an update on Yugi as well?"

The woman shook her head, swallowing as she turned back. Four cards... He was effectively in the final rounds of the preliminaries..! "No," she said rather quickly, mentally shaking herself before going on. "I know he'll be at the finals one way or another... I don't need an update on him..." Yugi's success was to be expected... As to how Jonouchi was _beating_ Yugi... Tch... Three cards in addition to his own, how the hell... "Hnn... How did he get that many this quickly," she muttered, narrowing her eyes. Really, how-

The answer evidently, was quite obvious... An answer that hadn't occured to her mostly because most weren't stupid enough to do it. "Ah... Well, according to this," her brother stated, "He only dueled once..." Mokuba tapped a few more things on the screen, skimming it over before looking up with a shrug. "Esper 'Roba, Tamashi', who apparently forfeited the tournament after his loss," the boy added, shaking his head. "There's no rule against giving more than the agreed ante after all, since it's a matter of free will instead of extortion... I guess he just didn't want to fight anymore..." 'Didn't want to fight'..? Honestly... What kind of moron quit after only losing once..!

"...Hn..." The woman narrowed her eyes, teeth grinding in aggravation. This wasn't good... The closer that idiot got... ...Damn it... "Mokuba," she said after a few moments, the boy blinking in response as he looked up from his slate again. "Make sure you keep an eye on his disk's location, understand?"

Again the boy blinked, raising his eyebrows. "On his disk..?" The boy nodded, frowning somewhat but tapping the screen nonetheless with a shrug. "Alright nii-sama... If you say so..." Good, she thought with a mental sigh, before turning the next corner.

After all, if she was going to keep that idiot from dying, she mind as well know where he was.

* * *

As to where that was... It was a street-side ramen stand overlooking the sea. More specifically, a yatai stall, with the seats for customers being the bench at the side and all payment being given up-front to prevent 'eat-and-run' problems. In all honesty though, despite the modesty of the source of their lunch, Keiichi had to feel at least somewhat grateful for the free meal.

Even if there were only a few choices on the menu. "Extra large pork ramen," Jonouchi ordered with a grin, Keiichi looking at the menu beside him. Beef, egg, fish... On the way there, talking had effectively been built up out of sheer awkwardness to say the least. After all... When there was nothing to start with but dueling and food, there wasn't much else to go on. Of course, about half way there, numbers had been exchanged as well... For reasons mostly pertaining to not waiting for another Battle City to talk but... Well, besides that, the conversation was mostly made up of them insulting each other.

All in good fun of course. Though there had been a conversation on booster packs at one point, which ended with him 'bragging' about how his friend back home was effectively the Goddess of Chance when it came to finding good cards inside. But back to the present now... Ramen. Which one... The last time he went to a stall he'd ended up just getting chicken and... ...Ah, what the hell. "Ditto for me," he decided after a moment, the stand cook nodding in response to the order.

"Just a few moments then!" The cook turned to face the large pots of boiling water, grabbing a few bowls and ingredients as he prepared the orders. "So... Jonouchi," he added, looking at the blond as the teen fished out his payment, "This guy a friend of yours?" Since when was he 'this guy'..?

The blond grinned, nodding as Keiichi momentarily stared at the cooking food. "Heheh... Yep! All th' way from Osaka," he added, the teen beside him frowning somewhat in response.

"Oi oi," he muttered, crossing his arms, "I can talk for myself!" The blond merely ignored him, listening as the stand owner began laughing.

"Hahaha! Osaka ahh?" Keiichi nodded, leaning somewhat on the stand's counter as the ingredients were mixed together in each bowl. "Haha! I have a friend in Osaka," he said with a grin, turning to his customers with a laugh. "A nice place isn't it?"

Osaka in general? ...Eh... When you lived there all your life... He shrugged, watching as the water and noodles were dumped into both bowls. Hn... Smelled pretty good. "It's alright..."

There was a split second of silence as Jonouchi looked at him with raised eyebrows, the cook merely laughing even louder in response. "Hah! I get the same answer from him!" Understandable... 'He' also lived there apparently. "Now then..." The stand owner passed over two large steaming bowls, both boys grabbing them before the cook continued. "Here you are," he said with a grin, "Two extra large pork ramen! You two... You're in that tournament aren't you," he asked, the pair nodding in response before watching the cook drop a few things into the bowls. "Hah! In that case," the man said with a laugh, his customers staring at the extra beef he'd dropped in, "An extra slice from me, on the house!"

"H-Heehhh," Jonouchi shouted in response, staring at the cook with wide eyes. "You... Ahhh, you're th' best!"

"Ah-" Extra beef..! "Thanks!" Sweet! The two boys pulled their bowls over and sat at the bench, snapping their chopsticks apart and grabbing a mouthful of noodles to dig in. Gh- Briefly the teen choked, face reddening somewhat as the steam hit his face from the bowl. Damn it was hot... All the same though he decided, going in for another bite. This ramen... "Huh... This is pretty good," he said with a nod, eyebrows raised. _Really_ good actually...

Jonouchi nodded, smirking as he turned from his own food. "Hehehe... Yep! I used t' come here a lot," he continued, grabbing another bite of noodles before going on. "I figure it's quick, an' not too far off th' main street, so I'll be able t' get right back t' duelin' when we finish!" Right back on track huh...

He nodded, slurping another mouthful of noodles in. "Not a bad idea..." Not bad at all actually... "Thanks for the food by the way," he added, shrugging somewhat as he turned back to the blond. "Saves me from buying a crappy train lunch..." Which was _especially_ crappy with the pass it seemed...

"Hehehe, I hear yah," the blond said in response, still grinning as Keiichi blinked. He... He did? ...Didn't look like the kind of guy to take train trips but... Well, what ever... Keiichi glanced at the blond's jacket, eyes narrowing momentarily as he recalled the main reason he hadn't just brushed the guy off. A few tears, scuff marks... Even a bit of ash from where Psycho Shocker's attack had 'apparently' hit, slightly smudged on the teen's dogtags from being wiped off.

But those hadn't been there before... _None_ of those marks had- "So how'd you hear about th' tournament," Jonouchi asked, the Osakan blinking in response. How did-

What- Seriously? He was asking that..? He shrugged, swallowing another mouthful of noodles as he leaned back on the bench. "Eh... Honestly," he admitted, shaking his head, "I was just playing a few rounds of duel monsters with a friend from school when I got this text about a tournament here... Same friend I mentioned earlier actually," the Osakan added, glancing at Jonouchi before continuing. "Until I got home and found the ad in the duelist's magazine," he continued, "I had no clue what it was talking about really..." Nothing wrong with sharing that much he supposed...

Though getting a text from Haga was one of the weirdest and scariest things to happen since... Ever. Particularly after he'd found him outside the hotel that morning... Shihhhhhh... Jonouchi blinked, raising his eyebrows before shrugging. "Huh... I only found out 'cause Yugi told me," he muttered, going back to his ramen again. Well, seeing how it was likely that only the people who read the magazine realized there was even a tournament... And how the guy hadn't even realized that Pegasus Crawford was _dead_...

The teen shrugged, going back to his ramen and shaking his head. Eh, how they got there wasn't important really... "Well, not like it matter's much now... At least I got Serpent Night Dragon back," he added, thinking back to the card with a smirk before shuddering. Speaking of that card... Oh god, if he'd lost that... She would have _slaughtered_ him...

"Oi, that r'minds me..." Keiichi blinked, turning as Jonouchi again paused in his eating. "What made y' enter in th' first place," he asked, looking at the teen. "A money deal? Cards?"

What, the ante..? ...Well... "Psh!" He snorted, shaking his head before shrugging again. "Kind of," he muttered, swallowing another mouthful of noodles and beef. Ante was good and all, but there was more to it. "Mostly I wanted to see what was such a big deal about the tournament, and tell my friend what the city looked like... Also to get Haga off my back," he muttered as an after thought, narrowing his eyes. That guy had frightening stalking talents...

"..._Haga_," Jonouchi repeated, the Osakan groaning in response. Oh great, he heard that part...

"Ugh... Don't ask," he moaned, shaking his head. "As it is," Keiichi continued with a sigh, "I'm probably going to be going through hell keeping him away from my Kendo meets..."

Again the blond blinked, eyebrows raised as he looked up from his bowl. "Wait... ...You... You take kendo," he asked, staring somewhat incredulously. Eh... Of course he did... It was that or baseball, which he _hated_...

"What... You thought I spent all my time playing Duel Monsters," he asked, raising an eyebrow as he was responded with silence. "...Seriously?"

Jonouchi shrugged, Keiichi momentarily noting that the blond had moved his duel disk to the side after one too many knocks against the ramen bowl. Though even that hadn't saved it from a few drops of soup broth... Even so, despite it being located on his left he turned back, smiling somewhat wryly. "Well... Yea."

S-Serious- Gh... "Pffff... Haha...Hahaha! Oh wow," he shouted with a laugh, just about tearing up as he grinned, "That's rich!" What did he think he was, some kind of nerd? Spending all day playing cards? HAH! Just because he did it in class didn't mean he did it outside of it! "Hahaha! Wow... Look," he said with a grin, calming down somewhat as the blond listened in, "Fun as it is to go to these tournaments, that's not going to be the only thing I do! I mean come on... Playing the game is fun and all, but this is just a hobby! It's not 'fun' if you spend all your days doing it! At that point, you mind as well be 'working'!" He continued to laugh, shaking his head as an odd image of a duelist in a cubicle came to mind. Hahaha... Ahhh... "I mean... Come on," Keiichi said with a smirk, grabbing the last solid bit of food in his ramen before looking back at his 'friend'. "Do you expect me to believe that's all you do? I mean, you have a sister right," he asked, shrugging. "Don't you do anything with her?"

...Oooooh... That was a bad topic wasn't it... The blond beside him fell silent, pulling a face as he turned away. "Er... Not really," he admitted, coughing somewhat as he rubbed his head. "She kinda lives in Osaka... So I don' see her too much..." H-Heh? Osaka..? ...Seriously?

"Osaka..." He blinked, shaking himself before giving a short laugh. "Hah... No shit, what ward is she in..?"

At this Jonouchi's uncomfortable expression abruptly shifted into a scowl, the teen narrowing his eyes as Keiichi tensed. Erk- S-Shit, this was a younger sister wasn't it... For all he knew that meant...

"H-H-Hey," Keiichi said with a laugh, hurriedly scooting a few inches away on the bench, "I'm just curious! I'm not going to be actively looking out for her! Hahaha... Ahhh..." Alright, please don't punch him, he was kind of hoping to finish this ramen broth...

"...Asahi-ku," Jonouchi said after a moment, turning away to go back to his ramen. Asah-

The blood ran from his face, laughing taking a quieter tone. "Hahaha... N-No kidding," he said with a somewhat high-pitched squeak, choking on the very words. Th-That was where he lived... Out of twenty seven possible choices, it just had to be the one he lived in... "E-Ehhhh..."

Jonouchi narrowed his eyes further, chopsticks sitting in his bowl as he slowly looked at the Osakan. "...That's where you live, isn't it," he asked darkly, eyes largely hidden under his hair. Oooooohhhh fuck...

"I swear to god I'm not going to go after her," he shouted in defense, hurriedly throwing the bowl up in front of him for a 'shield'.

There was a short bit of silence, Keiichi looking back over the bowl to watch Jonouchi go back to his food again. "...Y'know what," he decided with a slightly stoney tone, "Since you don' even know what she looks like, I'll let it pass..." T-That made sense but... That expression did not say 'I'll let it slide' damn it!

"Haha... _Yea_..." Okay... Whatever worked... Shit, he wasn't going near his sister if he was getting this reaction... "So..." Conversation topics, conversation topics... ...And... He was completely brain dead for them. Shit. "...Your sister..." He coughed, flushing as the blond gave him an odd look again before mustering up a bit of courage on the topic. "Er... What's she like?"

The teen blinked, before going back to his ramen as his friend silently sighed in relief. "She's really nice," he said after a moment, smiling somewhat nostalgicly. "She doesn' like imposin' on people," he continued with an uncharacteristically calm tone, "So she keeps quiet when she meets someone... Unless she's sure she knows a person," the blond added quietly, "She c'n seem really shy actually, hahaha!" He shook his head, smirking as he chuckled before moving on. "She's got a nasty vengeance streak if y' get on 'r bad side though! If y' manage t' do it, I don' envy yeh... She'll knock y' a new one, an' hard! Might not look it, but she's strong!"

Hah! So a bit of a two-face then was she? "Hahahaha! Man... Sounds like someone I know," Keiichi said with a smirk, shaking his head as he put his now empty ramen bowl to the side. "I know that if I lost this Serpent Night Dragon card, Shizka-chan would kick my ass!" And then some! The only reason she'd given it to him was to 'help him win'! "I swear though," he added, recalling how they'd found the card in the first place with a grin. "The chances of her finding _this card_ in that booster pack... Shizka-chan must be some kind of-"

"...What did y' say her name was," Jonouchi asked darkly, the blond's expression caught in a broken smile as Keiichi turned to look at the teen in slight horror.

W-Wait... Don't tell him... "Gh-" Oh HELL his luck wasn't that bad. It could _not_ be that bad! "S-Shizk... Shizuka," he repeated, taking care not to slurr the name in his nervousness. "I... She's the one I was coming to Tokyo for..." Why the hell was he saying that? Why the hell was he digging this hole further! "And... Eh..." Stop digging god damn it!

For a moment, Jonouchi's expression was more or less frozen in anger, the teen's eyes wide as his empty bowl clattered to the ground. Ooooooh shit... Almost immediately however it vanished, the blond frowning as the Osakan swallowed. "You... ...Yer name's Keiichi isn't it," he growled, Keiichi in question growing paler.

Oh _fuck_... Seriously? This was _seriously_ happening! "Gh... Yes..." Shit shit shit shit- "But I swear it I'm not- I..." He choked, blood further draining from his face as Jonouchi's expression continued to darken. "For fuck's sakes, we're just friends from school," he protested, edging further away on the bench. Ahhhhhggggggghhh _why the hell was his luck so god awful today_!

"I'm going to wring yer god damn ne- ...Hold on..." Hold on? Keiichi blinked, watching as the blond abruptly paled rather than finishing his eerily frightening threat. "Shizuka said she was gettin' a train pass," he muttered, a confused frown coming over his face. "Why... Why would she need you t' tell her what th' city looked like..." Why? Keiichi frowned, shaking his head at the question as Jonouchi looked at him. "What do y' mean by that..."

What the hell did he mean _why_? If this was his sister... If this was his sister, why the hell wouldn't he know! Why wouldn't he know that she was- "What the hell do-"

"What do yah mean," the blond shouted almost desperately, eyes wide as he stared at the Osakan. What...

There was no way... "...She's _blind_ you _moron_..." Keiichi stared at Jonouchi in disbelief, shock leaving his own face pale with numb horror as well. "She's completely _blind_... What the hell kind of brother doesn't know that about his sister?"

"No..." Jonouchi shook his head, holding it in one hand as he looked at the ground in shock. "No that ain't right... She had th' surgery," he muttered with a nervous swallow, "She said th' bandages were off an' that she was in school again..!" She... She told him that..?

Keiichi stared, slowly shaking his head in continued disbelief before speaking. "Jonouchi... I hate t' tell you this," he said with a swallow, "But..." But... The shaking continued, before he turned away with somewhat narrowed eyes. "Jonouchi, she hasn't taken those bandages off since February... I mean... She's been going through _hell_ worrying about if she'll be able to get back in school or not..." All her talks about studying, her shouts about 'paying attention'... And in the end, she was the one stuck in her room. "She... She..." He shook himself, looking back to his friend's brother in confusion. "...How did you not_ know_ this..?"

The blond merely turned away, more or less white in the face. "She..." He swallowed, voice barely more than a whisper as the gravity of the news struck. "Why didn' she tell me..." Why..?

"I... I guess... She... Just didn't want you to worry..." It sounded pathetic, he knew that but... Shit... What the hell did he say to tha- "O-OI..." Keiichi jumped, looking past Jonouchi with wide eyes as a passerby abruptly broke into a run. "What the hell-"

Jonouchi as well turned, worry instantly vanishing as he looked to where his duel disk had been sitting. Nothing was there... But sticking out to the side and clearly gripped in the fleeing boy's arms... "What th- OI! GET BACK HERE," he shouted, running after the kid with a sudden burst of speed. "GIMME BACK MY DUEL DISK Y' ASS!" Sh-Shit, talk about a get-away..!

The teen blinked, staring with wide eyes as the blond continued to disappear. "Ahh... Talk to you later? ... ...Man..."

Well... It wasn't as though the conversation had been making much progress anyways he supposed with a sigh, shaking his head. "Hahhh... I should probably head home anyways," he muttered, pulling out his phone and sending a text to Haga. '_Going home,_' he tapped in, pausing for a moment before adding a half-hearted '_good luck_' as well. Tch... Idiot could find his own way to Osaka... "Before Shizka-chan decides to slaughter me," he added under his breath, shaking himself and pocketing the phone with a wince.

Besides, this hat was murder this time of year... He needed to get changed.

* * *

"STOP!" Katsuya barrelled through the streets as the thief ran, wiping the ramen he'd spat out in his surprise from his face. It had happened all too fast really... He and Ryuzaki... 'Keiichi' as it were, had been talking about Shizuka... And then suddenly his disk was gone. "GET BACK HERE Y' THIEF!"

There was no answer from the thief in question, the sound of somewhat laboured breaths coming from ahead. "Hah, hah, hah..." The boy turned a corner, gap in distance between the two closing swiftly as Katsuya picked up speed with a growl.

"DAMN IT...!"

"J-Jonouchi," someone asked, the blond ignoring it for a moment as he finally reached out to snatch at the duel disk thief.

"HWAH! Ung-!" Katsuya scowled, grabbing the boy by the back of his jacket. "Gnn... L-Let me go," he cried, the blond quite easily raising him a few inches off the ground with a glare. "Let me go!"

Oh like _hell_. "Give it up y' little rat..! An' hand over my duel disk while yer at it," he continued, grip on the jacket tightening as the thief shook his head and winced.

"J-Jonouchi..." That voice aga- Oh! The blond turned as Anzu came over, blinking. "Jonouchi," she asked somewhat confusedly, the albino beside her staring with a just as perplexed expression. "What are you doing..?" Oh hey... Anzu and Bakura.

He'd get to them in a moment. "Hang on a sec'," he muttered, looking back at the kid with his disk. Come on, it wasn't like he could run away any more... "HAND IT OVER."

"Gh..." The thief cringed at the tone, bowing his head in fear. "Alright," he shouted, "Alright!" The boy held it out, biting his lip as it was snatched from him by the angry blond. "Gnnng... I'm sorry... I'm sorry! I'll never do it again, just please, don't hurt me!" Hurt him?

Sheesh... The blond gripped his duel disk, giving the thief one last glare as the boy cringed. Man... Last time he took this thing off... Katsuya sighed, dropping the boy and crossing his arms as the boy fled back against a nearby park bench. Man... This kid was _short_... He clacked his disk back into place on his wrist, watching as the kid wiped his eyes. Probably Mokuba's age or younger by the looks of him. God... "Why th' hell did y' steal my duel disk anyways," he asked with a frown, stowing his hands in his pockets as the boy continued to cry.

"Gn... I... I just saw it there alright," he muttered, shaking his head as he averted his gaze from the blond. "I mean... It wasn't fair!" Wasn't fair..? The boy continued to cry, shaking his head. "I... I was supposed to be in this tournament today," he cried, staring at the ground, "But as soon as I bought my disk, I ended up challenged by this other guy, and he completely creamed me! He took my cards, my duel disk... Everything," he continued, looking back at the blond with wide eyes. "I spent all my money on those, I couldn't just stand at the side when that happened!" Stole everything, what..!

Anzu frowned, walking over as Bakura followed behind. "So... You were going to use Jonouchi's disk to challenge him again," she asked, eyebrows raised.

The boy nodded furiously, bowing his head in shame yet again. "I was going to give it back, I swear! As soon as I got my own disk back," he muttered, swallowing as his face went red. "...I... I was... Again," the boy said with a sigh, looking up at the others somewhat pitfully. "I'm _really_ sorry..." Okay... This kid was going to fight the guy again with his cards..?

"Man..." He could see where he was coming from but... "That's not gonna work," he muttered, shaking his head. The boy frowned, and Katsuya continued on with crossed arms. "A duelist's deck's made 'f th' soul of the guy who put it t'gether," he explained somewhat knowingly, "It's somethin' built t' suit that one person! Y' can't jus' switch decks an' make it work... It doesn' work like that!"

Bakura nodded, frowning somewhat as he stepped in. "I'm sorry to interrupt," he said politely, "But he's quite right... The fact is," the teen continued with a slight wince, "If you had lost, you'd have been worse off than where you started from..."

The boy looked up at that, swallowing rather nervously in response. "H-Hnnn..."

"...Hey- no worries alrigh'," Katsuya said with a nod, the boy blinking in response as the blond's frown lightened. "Yer problems are over... Tell me who this guy is, an' I'll win back yer disk, got it," he asked, watching as the kid's expression brightened in response.

Anzu blinked at that, shaking herself before turning to look at the blond. "Er... Jonouchi," she asked with a slight frown, "Are you sure about that..?"

"Erm..." Bakura as well frowned, biting his lip as he looked at his friend. "Shouldn't you find out how strong he is before making a challenge Jonouchi-kun?" Oh come on, this again! The blond sighed, pushing it from mind.

"Hn! It doesn' matter," he said with a growl, shaking his head as the boy continued to stare. "Whoever this guy is," Katsuya growled, "He ain't gettin' away wi' this... It's one thing t' have a fair trade, it's completely different t' lose yer deck an' disk as well!"

"Then..." The blond blinked as the kid on the bench swallowed, watching as he stumbled over his words. "Then... You'll beat him for me," the boy asked, eyes wide. This seemed bizarrely familiar...

Katsuya nodded, gaze serious. "Yea! I'll completely trash 'im!" Eh. The kid didn't look like Nezumi in any case...

The boy swallowed, before nodding and moving off the bench. "Th-Then... Then wait here," he shouted, running off with a jump. E-EH! "I'll go get him," he continued loudly, looking back for a moment before turning the corner. "Just give me a second!" Wait what!

The three watched as the boy ran off, blinking the confusion off. "Do... Do you think he'll come back," Anzu said after a while, turning to the boys beside her with raised eyebrows. "I mean, he was definitely _afraid_ of you Jonouchi... What if he's just making a break for it?"

A b- "What?" He turned, frowning. Okay, the fear thing he would admit... He hated to say it, but he was fairly good at it when he wanted to be. But running away? "What th' hell do y' mean 'makin' a break for it'," he asked incredulously, shaking his head. "You sayin' he's just a no good rat?"

"Eh... Well, no," the woman said with a cough, shaking her head. "No, I'm not... I just..."

"Man..." Katsuya shook his head, turning away with a frown. "Everyone's so cynical these days..." What happened to the times when they were kids with unshakeable faith in whoever they met..? Hell, he knew what happened to _him_, but even so, at least he still had a _little_ trust right? Though he was suddenly getting a bad feeling... Ugh... "Come on..." Again he shook his head, pushing the doubt from mind and grinding his teeth. "It's a kid who got his disk stolen! Have a bit 'f faith!"

The others fell silent for a moment with that, sharing nervous glances before swallowing. "...Jonouchi..."

"I mean... If y' can't trust people... How can y' trust _anything_..?" Freaking monster-ghost things running around, flashes of what would come next... And he was supposed to believe it all? ...Yea, he was. "I have faith in my future," he continued, partially to himself. He had to... He had to. "I have faith that no matter what it takes," the blond said calmly, "I'll win any duel tha' comes my way until I'm in th' same place as Yugi... An' when that happens," Katsuya said with a nod, looking back at the others. "I'm gonna duel 'm! An' whether I win 'r lose," he continued with a shout, "I'll know I can hold my head up high an' call myself a 'duelist'! An then..." He bowed his head, thinking back to his conversation with Ryuzaki. '_Keiichi_' Dinosaur Ryuzaki...

Who knew more about his sister than he did. Damn it all...

"I'm gonna carve out my own future," he whispered, looking away from the others and down the street with mostly faded eyes. "An' give Shizuka a reason t' see it..."

Anzu paled at that, Bakura as well before the former swallowed. "A reason... To _see_," she repeated, eyes wide. "But... What happened though..?"

"...You..." Bakura shook his head, stepping somewhat closer to the blond as he frowned. "You said there were no complications in the operation though... She was even discharged in January, wasn't she?"

The blond nodded, biting his lip as he thought back to the phone-calls he'd made around then. To think, all this time... "Yea," he muttered, bowing his head. "Yea, she was... But apparently, she never took th' bandages off..." She just stayed at home...

In the dark. "What..."

"I found out just moments ago," he continued under his breath, fists clenched as he shook. "An' I can't... I can't believe I didn' know!" 'What kind of brother'? That was a good question, wasn't it? "Gh... She told me she was doin' fine, y' know? Said she was back in school an' everythin', an' I believed it..." All this time... The blond took a shaky breath, attempting to steel himself as he looked back at the others. "But y' know... I figure, after this tournament, after I win," he added, with a determined nod, "I'll go down there an' give her a reason t' take those bandages off! An' I'll show her th' face of a guy who won his future," he continued, forcing a smirk on his face.

Along with a bit of courage...

Katsuya sighed, shaking his head as he turned back to the others. "Hey... Lis'n," he said quietly, swallowing as the others stared. "I'm okay if y' tell Honda abou' this," he stated, thinking back to his friend for a moment. "But... Could y' not tell Yugi," the blond asked, Anzu blinking in response. "I don' want anythin' skewin' our fight," Katsuya said with a shrug, smirking somewhat sadly as he looked away. "I'd rather he think we're jus' playin' a match, y' know?" That way it'd be fair...

The two stared a few moments, before nodding in response. "Of course," Bakura said with a smile, bowing slightly. "We'll do it Jonouchi-kun..."

Phew... He sighed in relief, shaking his head before frowning somewhat. Just now, why did he get a glimpse of Mt. Fuji..? ...Through a window..? ...Heeeeeey... "Wait... Where th' hell is Honda anyway," he asked, looking past the two with somewhat narrowed eyes. "Didn' he say he was free from babysittin' t'day..?" For once..?

"Ah... Yea," Anzu said with a frown, crossing her arms as she bowed her head in thought. "That's right... Actually," she continued with a frown, "We called him this morning and he said he was catching the noon train somewhere..."

"Th..." Hell no... "Th' noon _train_..?"

"...Yes... That's what he said at least..." Katsuya continued to frown, Bakura continuing on. "He took the Tokaido Shinkansen," Bakura added, shrugging somewhat. "He and Otogi-kun mentioned something about going to Osaka... I assumed you both knew actually..."

Anzu balked, eyes wide as the teen said this. "_OSAKA_," she exclaimed, turning on Bakura with a look of shock. "He skipped out to go to _Osaka_?"

"Erm... Y-Yes," he responded somewhat nervously, backing away somewhat. "Specifically Asahi-ku- ...Oh..."

The two both paled as they realized what this meant, slowly turning as Katsuya grew redder and redder with rage. "Eh..." Anzu swallowed, also stepping back. "J-Jonouchi-"

"THAT FUCKING RAAAAAAAT!"

* * *

"Ha-ch!" The sound of a sneeze rang clearly through the lesser known subway station of Asahi-ku as he stepped onto the platform, Keiichi turning briefly as he adjusted his bag. Who did that..?

"You know," a voice muttered rather dryly, the teen watching as a pair of slightly older boys moved off the train themselves, "I hear that getting a cold this quickly is a sign of someone talking behind your back," he drawled, brushing a few strands of black hair from his face as he looked over a map.

The somewhat tall teen beside him balked, before growing red in the face at the words. "Gh- If that were happening, don't you think we'd have gotten a call," he growled, evidently quite nervous about the topic.

The other held up a phone at the 'question', waving it in his friend's face with a smirk. "There's a reason why we turned these off," he said somewhat smugly, before stowing it back in his pocket.

"Hah..." His friend sighed, running a hand through short brown hair before shrugging. "Well, if it mean's Jonouchi won't find us..." Hold on... Jonouchi?

Keiichi blinked as he stowed his jacket and hat in his bag bag, turning back from the station exit and staring at the two teens who had stepped off his train. Did they seriously just say Jonouchi..? As in... 'The blond' Jonouchi? He shook it off after a few moments, smirking as he continued out of the station. Hahaha. Naaaaah... Probably nothing. Sure the name was uncommon after all, but it wasn't _that_ uncommon... "Man," he said with a stretch, heading down the stairs before jogging down the backroads he was by now long familiar with. "Time to change into some shorts..." Not to mention a t-shirt... Maybe he could get a popsicle too, or-

-_**Bzzzzz. Bzzzzzzzz.**_- The teen blinked, pulling out his phone to look at the ID as it started vibrating. E-Eh... 'Kawa-'

"Ah- Shizka-chan," he muttered, staring at the screen a moment longer before flipping it open. He brought it to his ear, continuing on his way down the street as he glanced at a nearby street sign. "...Moshi-moshi?"

"_Hiii Keichi-kun!_" Aha, there she was... But why was she calling now..?_  
I just got a call from your friend that you were on your way back,_" she said with a laugh, Keiichi blinking in response. W-Wait, what?_ "Did the tournament finish already,_" the girl asked confusedly, her friend still frowning as he walked down the road._ "He was laughing, so I'm not really sure..._" Laugh- What!

Who the hell knew he'd lost that would be laughing! He grit his teeth, calming himself down as he shook it off. Alright, simple way around this... "...Did he happen to leave a name..?"

There was a bit of silence, Shizuka likely nodding. "_Ah... Hai; Katsugi..._" Katsugi..? Who named their kid Kats-_ "Erm... 'Haga Katsugi', I'm pretty sure. He seemed very happy..._" H-Haga-! Even his first name was buggy!

The teen grimaced, rubbing his head. How the hell... He had his best friend's phone number, how the hell did he manage that... This was just... "Hahhh..." 'Happy' huh? He shook his head, crossing the street with a frown. "That's probably because your the first girl he's spoken to that wasn't related to him..."

"_That sounds a little harsh..._" Ah, but it was true, believe him on that... He would bet so much that it was true...

Keiichi shook his head, continuing down the street as the sun sat low on the horizon. Well, anyways... Mind as well explain why he was back in Osaka... "I didn't get too far in the tournament," he said with a shrug, adjusting his bag again and wincing under the heat. "Lost my first match..."

"_AH-_" Shizuka paused, coughing._ "Then, the card I gave y-_"

"I still have it," he said quickly, going somewhat red as he cut the girl off. It was still there, honest... Don't... Throw anything at him when he passed the house... "Anyways... Do you mind if I come over," he asked, stowing his free hand in his pocket as he looked down the road. He could stand the heat a little longer if he was inside he supposed... Shizuka's house was closer to the station than his after all, hell, just down the street from there...

"_Not at all!_" Haha!_ "I'll ask my mom to make some tea then," _she said cheerily, likely nodding. "_I'll see you then!_"

"Right!" There was a short click as the girl hung up, Keiichi flipping his phone back over and stowing it in his pocket as he went.

"So which way do you think it is," a voice behind him muttered, the teen blinking in response. Hang on what?

"I don't know," a fairly annoyed second one muttered, "I've never been to Asahi!"

"This would be so much easier if they had a song, like in Kyoto..." ...What.

Those two again? Keiichi turned, raising his eyebrows as the same teens from the station turned another corner before shaking it off. Whatever... Stupid tourists... (Though what kind of tourists would come here..?) Oh well... He had better things to think about...

Like avoiding Haga. And telling Shizuka he studied for the summer re-entry exams to get her off his back. And making sure the cat hadn't used his furniture as a scratch post while he was gone, like he had last time. And... He frowned, stopping just briefly as another thought came to mind.

"...What the hell is going on with Shizka-chan's brother..." That jacket had definitely been 'good as new' before the duel start he told himself, crossing his arms with a frown. Moreover he was looking at completely different points on the field, _pointing_ at completely different points...

And lets not forget about the whole 'flew at least seven feet' deal. That one had him clam up for a while really... Shhhhihhhhhhh... "Maaaaaou..." Eh?

Keiichi turned as a cat stared at him from the fence, blinking. A... A cat, on Shizuka's fence..? But she didn't have a- ...Ooooohhh... Shizuka's 'stray cat'... The one that was keeping her up all night for the last few weeks. "Heh... So you're 'Taro'," he muttered, the fairly overweight feline flicking its tail in response.

"Maaaaaaou..." Evidently, this was his 'spot'.

The teen shook his head, smirking as he moved toward the front door and looked back at the cat. "You're proving a pain to Shizka-chan you know... Might want to avoid that," he continued with a short laugh, "She'll throw a book at you."

The cat merely turned away, turning its attention to the road again. "Maaaaaou..."

"Hahh..." Whatever... He turned back to the door, knocking and stepping back to wait for a moment before being greeted by Shizuka's mother.

"Ahh... Keiichi," the woman said with a smile, moving back inside as she held the door open. "Please, come in! I just started making tea if you're thirsty," she added, a calm smile still on her face. "Would you like some?"

The teen shook his head, bowing slightly as he came in and dropped his bag at the side. "I'm fine Kawai-san," he said with a nod, pulling his shoes off and putting them at the side. "Er, where's Shizka-chan?"

Akie pointed toward the side of the hall, blinking. "She's in the living room right now," she said plainly, before turning to head back for the kitchen. "I'll bring the tea in later on, just in case you want some..."

But he just said he didn't want any- Ahhhh... Whatever. He shook his head, moving his bag closer to the wall before walking over to the living room. It was small, like any other house really. Normally Shizuka was either in here or her room really, somehow managing on her own while her mom was at work. There she was though, sitting on the couch... Shorts, t-shirt and vest...

Bandages... "Ah... Hey... Shizka-chan..." The girl turned toward the sound of her friend's voice, following his footsteps until the teen took a seat beside her. It seemed like this was how most conversation's started... Things hadn't been too awkward since February despite the constant bandages present, but after the conversation with Jonouchi... He shook it off, leaning on the couch somewhat as he turned to the girl beside him. "Met that cat you told me about," he said with a smirk, despite the fact that the expression would be unseen.

"Ah, you saw Taro," she asked with a smile, crossing her legs and brushing some hair from her face. "What does he look like? Is he a tabby," she continued, the smile growing. "I bet he's a nice thin tabby cat, like a tiger..."

Hahaha... She couldn't be farther from the truth..! "Actually," he said with a cough, struggling to hold the laugh in, "He's black and white... And fat as hell. Like an oversized ice-cream sandwich."

"Ah, really..." The girl's smile faded somewhat, her friend giving a humoured sigh in response. Hey hey now, don't sound disappointed about that..!

He shook his head, smirking. "Yep! Not a tiger in any way! If anything, he's a panda. "Oh, that reminds me..." Keiichi blinked, the expression falling as he looked back at his friend. "You remember how you mentioned your brother in Domino," he asked, Shizuka nodding in response. "Er... 'Katsuya'?" An appropriate name really... But back to present matters... "And about how you were wondering about what would happen if I met him?" The situation that he had deemed 'largely impossible'... "Haha... You won't believe what happened..."

Shizuka paled, bringing a hand to her mouth as the teen said this. O-Oii, this was a bad thing! "You actually- Ahhhhh..." The girl shook her head, biting her lip. "K-Keichi-kun, I was just joking about that! Please tell me he didn't do anyth-"

"He- He didn't do anything," he said with a start, cutting the girl off with a cough. "It's okay, trust me!" At least someone was aware of her brother's over-protective tendencies though... Yikes... "But... Shizka-chan," he said quietly, turning away with a frown. "...Why didn't you tell him about..." ...Hn... He looked down, biting his lip as Shizuka did the same. They both knew what he was talking about after all...

"That..." The girl sighed, shaking her head and 'looking' down. "I had thought that if he knew... He'd just worry over me all the time, get himself into trouble again... He's worse than you are you know," she said seriously, frowning as she turned back to the teen. "Never studying, and always getting into fights! Not just shouting at people either, he gets really hurt sometimes! ...It's stopped lately since he started working with Mokuba-kun," she continued, shrugging slightly as she 'looked' away again. "But his grades are still suffering..." The girl sighed, shaking her head. "I'm worried about him... About what he'll do in the end, if he'll make it into a university..." A-Ah...

Hn... "Well..." She'd probably guessed that he'd told the guy by this point but... "You won't believe this," he said with a laugh, shaking his head, "But I knew Jonouchi from December!"

"Eh! You did," she asked with a jolt, eyebrows raised.

"Haha! Yep! He's the one who beat me in the tournament there," he continued, shaking his head, "The guy who won Red-Eyes off me..." And apparently lost it... (And got it back? Sheesh, even he was confused...) "Made it hard for me to catch up," Keiichi muttered, rubbing his head as his friend laughed.

"Hahahaha! That sounds like him!" Shizuka smiled, giving another sigh as she turned away with a relieved expression. "Still... I'm glad he didn't do anything," she said calmly, rubbing her head. "After I told him you were going to Tokyo," she continued with a sigh, "I almost thought he was planning your murder!" H-Hey..!

"O-Oi oi," he said with a pale expression, "Don't speak lightly about those things..."

"Nothing happened right," his friend asked, grinning as she continued to laugh. "Hnhnhnhnhn!"

"Th-That's not funny!" Stop laughing!

-_Kots kots kots_-

"Hah..?" The two looked back toward the hallway, blinking as someone knocked on the door. "Shizka-chan," he asked with a blank look, "Did you invite anyone over..?"

"Ah... No... And I don't think Mom is expecting anyone," she added, shaking her head.

Akie in question ran down the hall, wiping back a few strands of hair in an attempt to make herself more presentable. "I've got it," she called out, opening the door only to pause in confusion. "...Ah..? You are..?"

"Ahh... Sorry to intrude," a familiar voice stated, Keiichi blinking in response. Hang on now... Th-Those two _again_? He moved to look around Shizuka, frowning as the voice continued. What the hell were the chances..! "Is Shizuka here..?"

"What... Yes," she said with a fairly confused tone, blinking a few times. "But who are you two..?"

"We're friends of her brother's" the second voice said rather plainly, Shizuka as well raising her eyebrows confusedly. Friends of Jonouchi's..? "Can we see her," he asked, Akie pausing for another moment before nodding.

"Ah... Well, I suppose so," she said after a moment. "She's just in the living room..." The woman moved back from the door, heading back to the kitchen and leaving the teens to shut the door and come in. "I'm going to need more tea cups," she muttered, biting her lip. A few footsteps sounded through the room, the two teens from the station walking in only to jump as those in the living room stared.

"H-HEH! Dinosaur Ryuzaki," the taller shouted, his friend looking back at him with slight distaste before shaking his head. "What are you doing he-" Eh! Wait, this was one of the 'peanut gallery' guys from the Duelist Kingdom..!

"Erm... Keichi-kun," Shizuka said somewhat nervously, "Do you know these two..?"

He shook his head, staring. "Nope... Though the taller one knows your brother," he added, blinking a few times.

"Hang on, _Keiichi_?" The shorter turned, raising his eyebrows as if to say '_what, you thought 'dinosaur' was his name_?'

Keiichi rolled his eyes, pulling a face as he collapsed back against the couch. "Tch... And here I thought I would be able to relax," he muttered, shaking his head.

"But why is Dinosaur Ryuzaki h-" The teen was quickly smacked over the head, his friend rolling his eyes as he scowled.

"I don't think now is really the time," he muttered, before turning to look at Shizuka with a frown. "Aaah... ...You..." Gh- Shit, they probably figured the same thing Jonouchi did... Keiichi sent a warning glare at the teen, watching as he coughed and shook himself off. "I'm Otogi Ryuuji," he said with a somewhat broken smile, bowing his head as he introduced himself. "And this is Honda..."

'Honda' nodded at that, blinking a few times. "We... Ah..." Honda coughed, staring at Shizuka's bandages and shaking himself. "We'd come to visit, and..." He looked to the side, Keiichi rolling his eyes. "And..."

Oh for fuck's sakes... "Jonouchi knows," he growled darkly, "Now _stop staring._" The two both coughed at the hissed remark, paling just slightly as they regained their composure.

"R-Right... You know what," Honda said with a cough, "I'll get straight to the point... Seeing how Ryuzaki is here, you probably know about the Battle City tournament..." That would be expected yes... Shizuka nodded in response, listening as Honda continued on. "Your brother's participating in it right now actually," he added offhandedly, shaking his head. "But that's not why we're here."

It wasn't..? ...Yea he should probably have guessed actually... "To tell the truth," Otogi said with a frown, leaning against the wall with crossed arms, "Your brother has been seeing better days..."

"W-What..?" What she said actually... He looked fine to him, outside the bizarreness of the duel against Roba!

The two teens continued to frown as Shizuka and Keiichi shared 'looks', before nodding. "He's acting depressed... Not talking as much," he said with a frown, "Constantly staring off... We'd thought that a surprise visit from you would cheer you up," Honda added, scratching his head and sighing. "Why the hell he didn't tell us that this was the reason though, I-" WAIT WAIT WAIT-

"Jonouchi found out today," Keiichi growled, narrowing his eyes, "Now _drop the damn subject_."

The others turned, blinking at the quickly debunked theory. "T-Today," Honda repeated, blinking as the Osakan nodded.

"...I told him," he said quietly, crossing his arms and turning back to Shizuka. "He's probably fighting for you right now when I think about it..."

"For me," Shizuka repeated, unable to see Honda and Otogi nod in response.

"That sounds like something he would do," Honda said, crossing his arms and turning away with a frown. "Fighting to give you courage to take those bandages off..."

"A-Ah..." The girl swallowed, 'looking' to the ground with a red face at that. "Nihan..."

Otogi coughed, frowning. "Before we even go into that," he muttered dryly, "Could you explain how Jonouchi winning a game would give _any_ sense of accomplishment to his sister?" Completely missing the point there...

The teen snorted, ignoring the fact that the other three were raising their eyebrows in response. "Aaaaagh... You just don't get it," Honda muttered, frowning as he continued. "People have to help each other out sometimes, you know? And because of that, people can give other people courage, or any other kind of mood... It works both ways," he added, looking to Shizuka as the girl continued to bow her head. "You share one thing, they'll share another back..."

S-Shizuka... Keiichi watched as the girl remained silent, biting his lip. "Oi... Shizka-chan," he asked quietly, "Are you... Are you alright..?"

There was a loud sniff, Shizuka nodding as the boys looked at her worriedly. "Yes... Yes I'm fine..." She didn't sound like it... "I think I know what Honda-kun is saying," she continued, swallowing as the others held silence. "...Honda-kun, Otogi-kun," the girl stated, turning to where their voices were coming from, "If it's not to much trouble... I'll come with you to Domino..!"

There was a choking noise from the side, the others turning as Shizuka's mother walked in with a tray of tea. "D-Domino," she repeated incredulously, eyes wide.

The girl nodded, biting her lip before speaking. "That's right! Mom... Dad can't find me right now," she said calmly, grabbing her arms in unease, "And nihan's friends say he needs help, so..."

Akie blinked, silence falling over the room before she slowly nodded with a sigh. "Al... Alright then," the woman muttered, placing the tray on the coffee table with a weak smile. "...Provided these boys can provide your train fare," she added somewhat dryly, looking to the two as they nodded furiously.

"We've got it covered," Honda said quickly, Otogi bowing his head politely as he continued.

"There's no need to worry, Kawai-san!"

The woman continued to stare at the boys, before nodding slowly and turning to leave the room. "...Alright then..." ...Not just them though.

"..Kawai-san," Keiichi stated, standing up as the others turned to him with raised eyebrows. "...If it helps," he said somewhat hesitantly, "I think I'll be going too."

"Gh- You too," Honda muttered with a growl, receiving narrowed eyes from the Osakan in response. Oh come on, just because he'd fought Jonouchi in the Duelist Kingdom...

"Yea, _me too_; maybe you're fine with this," the teen growled darkly, "But we barely even know you two! Besides," he added, gritting his teeth as he crossed his arms. "I'm not coming along as a duelist; I'm coming as 'Ryuzaki Keichi'! There won't be any fights! That in itself should be enough shouldn't it," he asked, the others looking at Honda with questioning stares.

There was a bit of silence, before the teen nodded. "R-Right... Ah..."

"If we leave now," Shizuka said calmly, the others turning to her as she grabbed their attention, "We can catch the five o'clock train..."

"That's right... It leaves Shin-Osaka station in- ..." The boys went pale, older two running for the door and their shoes as Keiichi rolled his eyes. Oh come on, they wouldn't be late or anything... Although...

He turned to his friend, the girl currently heading for the door herself. "You want me to piggy-back you Shizka-chan..?"

"Piggy b-" The girl turned to him, eyebrows furrowed in what was likely anger as she grabbed her shoes. "Are you saying I'm slow," she shouted, the others in the hall staring in somewhat shocked confusion.

"N-No!" No it wasn't, honestly! "It's so that you don't bump into anything," he protested, choking somewhat. "I just thought it would help, and we could get their faster and-!" Shit, that last one didn't help the slow comment...

And she knew that... "You..."

"We're going to be late," Honda called to the two, both he and Otogi holding the door open as the others turned.

The two jumped, before Keiichi hurriedly grabbed his shoes and waited for Shizuka to do the same. "Piggy-back it is," she said with a slight blush, the two charging out the door. The girl turned back, waving at where her mother was standing in the doorway. "Ittekimasu," she shouted, adjusting something on her back before awkwardly climbing on Keiichi's own.

"Itterashai," the woman called in response, Keiichi adjusting his grip on Shizuka before taking off.

The teen barrelled past the others, turning back as the two stared with somewhat dumbfounded expressions. Oh come on, was it seriously that weird... "Come _ON_!"

"H-Hah!"

"Right," the two said with a cough, taking off to join the others at a decent speed.

Alright... About ten or so minutes from the station, which would give them ten minutes to get tickets for the subway that would get them to Shin-Osaka in time... "Oi, Honda," Keiichi shouted, looking back again as the teen nodded. "You and Otogi are getting Shizuka's tickets for the train and subway right," he asked, Shizuka as well turning back at the question.

"Er... Y-Yea," the taller shouted, looking to his friend and shrugging at the glare he received. Something told him Honda didn't have any money... "You're paying for yourself though," he added with a frown, the group turning down a side street as the small station came into view.

Heh heh heh... He was covered, he had a pass... "Whatever," he muttered, smirk dying down as he slowed up to let Shizuka off. "We're at the station now, I'll help you up the stairs... We'll be waiting on the benches then alright," he shouted to the other two, the teens nodding as they ran up the steps to the ticket machine. "Hah..." He led Shizuka off to the side by the tracks, shaking his head as he rubbed his shoulder. Not making a comment on weight, not making a comment on it...

"Neh, Keichi-kun..." The teen turned, blinking as his bag was handed to him from the girl. E-Eh... How did she- ...She did have something on her back a few moments ago he supposed... "I found it in the hall," she said calmly, sitting on the station bench with a small smile. "I didn't think you should forget it..."

O-Oh... His bag... Keiichi nodded, taking it and slinging it over his right shoulder before sitting down himself. "Y-Yea... I guess not," he muttered, looking back at the girl. "Thanks..."

"It's nothing," she said in response, bowing her head again and 'staring' at the ground. This silence...

...Shizuka... Keiichi bit his lip, frowning. "Hey... Are you alri-"

"I'm fine!" The teen tensed somewhat, backing away as the girl shook and continued her 'staring' contest with the ground. "I... I'm just..." She bit her lip, continuing to tremble as her voice quieted. "I know that Katsuya-nihan needs me," she whispered, friend coming close again as she shook, "And that I need to be brave for him but..." ...But..? "But I'm scared," she cried with a sudden shout, arms wrapped around herself as Keiichi stared with a bit lip. "I'm scared! I'm scared that the bandages will come off and I'll still see nothing but black, like before the surgery! That the pictures in my room will gather dust, that I'll never see your face, my brother's face, my mother's face... I don't want it to disappear," she cried, leaning against her friend with a wail and ignoring the initial tenseness the teen had with the contact. "I don't want it to go away...!"

"S-Shizka..." The teen swallowed, rubbing the girl's back as he looked away with an awkward blush. She'd never said all that before... Hell, he knew she was scared but... "It... It's alright," he said quietly, turning back to Shizuka with worried eyes. "Even if you don't take the bandages off... It'll be alright..!"

"Gh... Nnn..." D-Don't cry... Don't... "I want to see him," the girl whispered, curling in on herself with a choke. "I WANT TO _SEE_ HIM," she shouted, tears staining her bandages and running down her cheeks from the bottom. "I WANT TO SEE KATSUYA!"

There was a small bit of silence, Keiichi swallowing as the girl continued to cry beside him. "...H-Hey... It'll be alright," he said quietly, ignoring the approach of the other two teens as he attempted to comfort his friend. He'd never... Never seen her like this, at least not for a while... ...The train would be there soon though... He looked out at the tracks, turning back to Shizuka before continuing. "...Come on," he said with a smirk, helping the girl up with a smile. "Let's go find that moron and remind him he's got more than cards to fight for, alright? Give him a bit of a surprise... Okay?"

The girl swallowed, nodding weakly as the train pulled in to let them on. "R-Right," she said quietly, forcing a grin on her face with a swallow. The four headed onto the train, smile becoming more honest as she wiped the tears off her cheeks. "Let's go."

Time to go 'baka'-hunting.

**

* * *

AN: **What's this, no dueling? Of course! Though there's plenty next chapter, with the re-appearance of a certain bug...

Speaking of Haga, there's a picture of both him and his sisters down there, as I was working on it before I got going on the 3D. And if you look at their occupations, you might be able to guess why he was kicked out... (Also, see if you can find his sore/berserk point in the names. Your hint is that insects have six legs.)

And in any case, for those in need of more Kaiba screen time, you'll have to wait for a while; she and Mokuba aren't showing up again until Yugi needs a wake-up call against Malik's 'puppet'... Or as the dub called him, 'Strings'.

The **Poll Results **are still a landslide of Dreams – 3 and Fanfic – 0 by the way; so expect something weird to happen next time someone passes out.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

And he's still shorter than most of the male cast Iona! The only exceptions (Besides Mokuba for obvious reasons) are Yugi, Ryuzaki, and Haga… And those two are between two and three years younger. Don't feel left out…

I'm five four… (We can both be taller than Yugi… And drink coffee.)

I had wondered when I would hit that point in culture actually… In hindsight, I should have mentioned it with Mai… Who would have had just as many issues if not more, considering her figure… Most asians don't have breasts her size after all, so I would imagine that once that set in… Ouch.

Lots of excitement soon to come though, that's for sure! Enjoy the chapter!

Hey there Death-Dimension! It has been a while huh? In all honesty, I can't wait either, but Battle City will be just as fun really... Your vote's been recorded above just so you know, so thanks for that! As for Yami Malik's duel against Jonouchi...

Bad things. (That's all I'm saying.)

For your second question though, your answer is just up there! I hope you enjoyed it!

Hahaha… Least I can do while looking for employment Randomprojects, though it's really not much, haha…

SUPER SPECIAL AWESOME? …. Yay~

It was fun? Hah! That's the best compliment I could ever get for the duels, hehe. As for repeated mentions of fate, you'll have to look to the manga for credit there; that was all scripted.

Can it last? You'll have to look up and see. It'll be rocky, but once Shizuka steps in, we'll manage to keep both boys alive… Thankfully.

Yugi likely didn't escape this actually; until the friendship with Jonouchi and the others, he was evidently picked on quite a bit! It is hard to tell with all the anime hair though… In the end, I stick with 'natural colours' (Blond) and 'waves' as a notifier. As for the dialects, thank-you! Sharing things like that is fun really!

Well, with that, enjoy the chapter and whatever comes next!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that barely avoided strangulation with that one... Phew!

* * *

Today's chapter title is a play on the last chapter's 'Eyes That See The Future'; mostly because it is largely from Ryuzaki's point of view... And lets face it, he's come closer than anyone else to figuring out what's going on with Jonouchi, which is pretty sad given it only took him a few minutes...

Granted, no one else saw him in a duel-disk wielding fight so that's probably understandable...

* * *

'Steering Committee Chairman' is a fancy way for Mokuba to say 'Chairman of the tournament' by the way; the Steering Committee is another way to refer to the 'Central Executive Committee'… A governing body with executive power over various parties, governments, _or private organizations_. Liiiiiike the tournament! Da-da-daaaa.

* * *

A slate? Yep. Touch-screen too. Probably something like a hacked iPad… Technically, Mokuba's just accessing information recorded on a much larger computer a good long distance away by the way, the slate just makes it much more accessible. So somewhere at his house, the computer is moving by 'itself', hehehe... In any case…

* * *

'Diamond Dragon' is the real name for 'Hyouzanryu'. The _weird_ part? 'Hyouzan' means 'Iceberg'... (Ice being Hyou and Zan being Mountain.) ...It... Has nothing to do with the stone 'diamond'. 'Air Eater' by the way is just an old _old_ card with the same amount of attack.

* * *

We never see this duel (Kaiba VS random duelist) in the manga. Just a scary ass grin on Kaiba's face before you see an _EXPLOSION OF LIGHT ABOVE THE CITY_. Kaiba's last thoughts? '_I'll show you GOD!_' (And OHHHHH did he/she EVER.)

Yea… It's so damn scary for the 'nameless duelist' (Who if you look closely, is Nagumo from the Monster-Fighter arc... Despite having had his _soul_ punched out...) doesn't give out a scream until Kaiba and Mokuba have _left_. Delayed reaction~ It's not Nagumo in this chapter though; mostly because Yugi's penalty games tend to be permanent until the victim learns something.

Needless to say, I kept the duel out here as well… Mostly because curb stomps are the sorts of things I would rather not record. At all. There's... There's no point. The chapter ends shortly after Kaiba's thoughts on getting the last two god cards and facing Yugi actually, but you know me~ Needed more~

* * *

Jonouchi has more than Yugi? Well... Yea. For now. This is because Jonouchi gets his cards (Or most of them) before getting kidnapped and brainwashed by Malik, whereas Yugi and Kaiba both barrel through ghoul after ghoul after ghoul before the Jou VS Yugi match. Now, seeing how in the manga Jonouchi was still looking for competition after he beat Kajiki, it's assumed that Yugi gave him some cards...

But in the fanfic's case, he got _all of Roba's cards_... In other words, Roba's _THREE CARDS_ in addition to his own... Which left him with only Haga and Kajiki to beat. But by the time Jonouchi gets to Haga, Yugi's only beaten Pandora... Or as he's known in the dub, 'Arcana'.

* * *

Roba's first name, 'Tama', means 'Spirit'. It's the first kanji in pretty much any word concerning psychic, and is pronounced 'Sei' in those cases. The second kanji, which means 'ability' however, has multiple readings depending on what sort of psychic action is being described... 'no', 'nori', 'yoshi', 'taka'... In any case, 'Tamashi' also means soul or spirit, but it uses a different kanji in this case.

* * *

Ramen! Invented by Japanese soldiers who got used to Chinese noodles during the war. ...Seriously. And this led to Japan inventing instant ramen by the way. Originally Jonouchi went to some sort of restaurant called 'Buster Beef'. I changed it to a Ramen Stand however, to make the theft seem more 'random' than 'targeted'. (Because as we find out later, this kid was following Jonouchi for a _while_.)

In any case, there are various regional variety for ramen (Hokkaido, its capital in particular is well known for it; ever heard of 'Sapporo Ichiban'?), and Tokyo in particular has slightly thin curly noodles in a soy flavoured chicken broth, generally with a touch of dashi, which is soup stock. It's often topped with chopped scallion, menma (Fermented bamboo shoots), sliced pork, slices of kamaboko (Think of it as processed fish in the shape of a loaf)… That last one is occasionally called 'naruto', which are kamaboko slices with spirals on each side. (Fishcake!)

Other toppings include egg, spinach, and nori (seaweed). The egg in particular, or the slice of pork, tends to be something that's always nice to get extra of.

* * *

A Yatai is a small, mobile stall of sorts that typically sells ramen or some other cheap and easily cooked hot food. Yatai also carry masks and such though; but you'll normally see those at festivals.

* * *

Asahi is one of the wards/districts of Osaka, similar to how Domino is a part of Tokyo, or at least in fiction. 'Ku' is basically the way to note it as such. It wasn't picked at random by the way; you'll see why eventually.

* * *

Wondering why Ryuzaki is afraid of Jonouchi? Mostly it's because they're sitting on the bench and Jonouchi is about four inches taller... A year older... And quite clearly more 'street-worn' than he is. In other words, while Ryuzaki likely has at least two years of kendo under his belt, Jonouchi has pure instinct and fighting spirit that is made for essentially _any_ situation. So sitting right there as he's being told about a 'younger sister', he knows damn well that if the blond wanted, he could knock him a new one right there.

* * *

Ryuzaki calling Shizuka 'Shizka' is for the same reason that Shizuka herself calls Katsuya 'nihan' rather than 'niihan'; it's because he's saying it quickly with a kansai accent, so the 'u' is rendered almost completely silent.

* * *

In the manga, Sugoroku is there with Anzu and Bakura as well… Mostly for exposition. But you know what happens when I hit too much exposition… In any case, Bakura and Anzu will be taking over a number of lines when those lines happen; after all, at this point Sugoroku mentioned the possibility of a rigged deck.

Instead, the topic is skimmed over and Jonouchi tells them about how his sister is still blind. Hihhhh. (Also, conversations on Honda. AHAHAHAHA.)

And of course, Bakura managed to steal some of Anzu and _Jonouchi_'s lines to make up for his lack of dialogue otherwise…

* * *

Strangely enough, Jonouchi says he told Anzu and _Honda_ rather than _Bakura_ about Shizuka… But Honda had long since boarded a train at that point. Of course, Jonouchi knew the entire time, and Honda _is_ considered one of his closest friends...

* * *

Mt. Fuji? What's with that? Well you see, Honda and Otogi (And Ryuzaki as well actually) are taking the Tokaido Shinkansen, which runs from Tokyo to Shin-Osaka. For simplicities sake, we're assuming Domino is on that route... Which, by the way, has an _amazing_ view of Mt. Fuji along the way. Hence the 'flash'.

* * *

Some of you have probably noticed I skipped the Pandora duel. Well, this _is_ supposed to be largely Kaiba and Jou centric after all, and I tend to stick with Yugi's perspective only when it ties in heavily to the plot around those two.

And for those who don't know, it involved saw-blades, a store owner with magician issues, Malik, and 'death by card games'. Ta-daaaah~ (Yugi _will _reflect heavily on it when we get his perspective again, as I will DEFINITELY be doing the Yugi VS Strings (AKA 'The Puppet/Mind Doll Thing' in the original) fight.

* * *

In Japan and China, it's said that if you sneeze, someone is talking about you. Often times in anime, a character will either bring this up (when it's not happening) or ask of the sneezer is coming down with a cold (in which someone _is_ talking about them most of the time.). In this case..? Both. Hehe. Mostly because in reality, it's about two and a half hours after Jonouchi was 'talking about Honda'.

* * *

Haga's fanfic 'first name' (Which we will rarely, if ever, see), 'Katsugi' uses the same kanji that read 'Sasorimodoki', or 'Whip Scorpion'. The kanji used are 'Sasori' (Scorpion) and 'Magai', 'To mimic'.

Originally, he was going to get scorpion in general... But I decided against it. Scorpions of course, are arachnids, not insects... A category that applies to whip scorpions as well, which resemble scorpions, but are their own species all together. (Hence 'scorpion mimic') Haga's first name still means scorpion though; the last kanji in this case is more of a way to say 'he's _like_ a scorpion' rather than something mistaken for one.

* * *

The 'song' mention for Kyoto references a short tune that children learn to remember the streets of the city. It played an incredibly important part in the seventh Detective Conan film in fact... (A series that I'm really rather fond of, ahehehe.)

I don't think Osaka has one though. Or most other cities for that matter.

* * *

You know what I love about Japan? They have very few gender-specific ways of referring to things, not counting honorifics. In fact, gender is something you can assume by how a person is speaking… It's actually another important brick in Kaiba's disguise; before the voice lessons, no one even _considered_ the fact that she could have been female, because her speech pattern was just too masculine for her to be otherwise.

In any case, this means that while Taro the cat is referred to as 'he', Ryuzaki and Shizuka are both saying 'it'; seeing how they don't know the gender after all.

* * *

When Ryuzaki mentally mentions that 'Katsuya' is an appropriate name for Jonouchi, it's because of the kanji most commonly used. 'Katsu' in this case means 'kindly', 'skillfully', and more appropriately, 'overcome'. The second kanji in his name, the 'Ya' means 'To be'; so there are three meanings for his name... To overcome, to become kind, and to become skillful.

* * *

So many talks of University and School... The fact is, while High-School isn't mandatory, most people still attend, even though it costs a fair amount of money to attend. The better the school, the better the chances for a solid education, and therefore entry into a good university. And by getting into a good university, your chances of solidifying a future in Japan are going to skyrocket; not getting a decent education over there is effectively a death-sentence unless you really, _really_ get lucky with whatever career you're pursuing! So of course, if you miss too much school... Or get bad marks...

* * *

Now obviously since Honda and Otogi were under the impression that Shizuka could see, this scene is radically different… But hey, Shizuka's coming to town! And on another note, you may have noticed that the oddities Honda described are all Jonouchi's usual 'paranoid as heck' symptoms; the strangeness started shortly after the dream of Kul Elna.

* * *

'_Now hang on Usagi, it took four hours for Mokuba and Jonouchi to get there last time…_' That's because they took the economy trip, which stops at each location on the route. Ryuzaki, Honda, Otogi, and Shizuka are all taking the express route, which only takes two and a half hours…

As Ryuzaki took the 'noon train', which leaves around quarter after noon, (provided I'm reading the schedule right) he got there at about 2:45. Assuming he spent about 45 minutes after for talking with Shizuka, or even rounding it to an hour, and assuming it took half an hour to get from Shin-Osaka to Shizuka's house, we're at 4:00-4:15. Sticking with '45 minutes' so that they can catch the five o'clock train at Shin-Osaka station really… So it would be 4:40 when they get to the station, giving the others enough time to grab tickets... As for the subway deal, tickets for that are effectively popping out of an ATM, so Honda and Otogi basically just had to stand in line before grabbing extra tickets.

The Tokaido Shinkansen goes to a different district you see; they have to take a subway within the city to get to and from Asahi, and specifically, they use the Midousuji line from Shin-Osaka station, transferring to the Tanimachi line at Umeda/Higashi-Umeda station. And then they get off at one of Asahi-ku's stations near the house. Because in my head, it _is _pretty close. So I've probably got my timing a little off...

But either way, at around 5PM they were on that train, and at 7:30 they got back... (And it isn't dark by that point either; sure the sun sets at 7PM, but still. At least now it makes sense for everyone to be walking around in the dark to the tournament finals. Also Mai's car...)

* * *

By the way, Shizuka's outburst is canon, but the dialogue surrounding it is not, being extended from otherwise short thoughts and lines. Hooray! The fact is, Shizuka in this fanfic will be very 'Two Sided'; seemingly quiet and polite, but with those she knows well enough, she's not going to be subtle about her thoughts! This will be more apparent with Ryuzaki hanging around though, as she tends to go 'quiet' around recently injured people as well... (-coughJouVSYugicough-)

**

* * *

FanArt and My Art Section**

'_But you said you were working on models and had no time for-_' DON'T COMPLAIN.

In any case, paste link, remove spaces, hit 'enter'! Ta-daaah~

So I have a few sketches for you, mostly because I was working on them before...

Haga's Siblings – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ sisters. jpg - Oh hey look! Things that I've spent too much time working on! See if you can guess why Haga got kicked out here... I'll share it with you later on. In any case, ignore the 'different hair colour' between Haga and his sister there; it's the same colour, they just have different eye colour, height, etc. Because I am _sick_ of seeing identical _FATERNAL_ twins. _IT DOESN'T WORK LIKE THAT_. (As you can guess, this is a sore point for me.)

In any case, originally all three sisters were complete assholes... In the end, only the middle qualifies, as the oldest is just _mostly_ a jerk, and the youngest is too shy to say anything. Also, the oldest two have different hair/eyes/everything in comparison to the youngest... ...Yeaaaaaaa... (Awkward...)

By the way, Sen is wearing a poncho, not a cape; she's just moved the sides back to use her arms. Moreover, Cho just perms her hair... They all have straight hair. And as another note... Cho (Rather, Chou) means 'Butterfly'. Kansai uses the kanji that read 'Kamakiri', which is one of the words for 'Mantis', and 'Sen' is another word for 'Cicada'.

'Keiichi' – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ RyuSummer. jpg - This is what Ryuzaki was wearing under his jacket... And as a side effect, this is what he's wearing for the rest of battle city, rather than the shorts and t-shirt he'd been hoping for. WHOOPS. You know how long I spent looking for his eye colour before giving up though? ...A long time. Heeee. Also, for the sake of keeping that shirt there, his jacket was closed the entire time.

_The entire time..._

That's it for this chapter... Quick update, I know. In any case, enjoy the next one; Jonouchi VS Haga! Until next chapter everyone!_  
_


	68. Chapter 67

**God Save Us From The Queen**

* * *

It had probably been about half an hour since the 'disk thief' had left to get his former opponent. With that in mind, it was probably twenty minutes since Honda and Otogi had left for Osaka, given that it apparently left at quarter after... And when Anzu checked her phone moments before, it was already close to one. Which meant that in about an hour and a half, Honda and Otogi would be... IN... Osaka. Something that he wouldn't have been able to prevent even if he'd run for the station as soon as he found out, half an hour ago.

Lousy little... The blond scowled at the thought, arms crossed as he attempted to push the thought from mind. Maybe if he was lucky Ryuzaki was on that train, and his presence would scare them away. Or that they'd just get lost. He wasn't picky really. (Maybe the train would just crash..! ...Yea not likely.) "Hahhh..." Katsuya sighed, looking down the street as the time continued to tick by. "What th' hell is takin' him so long," he muttered, narrowing his eyes.

Another sigh came from behind the blond, Katsuya turning as Anzu frowned. "I'm telling you Jonouchi... He's not coming! You've been tricked," she continued, shaking her head. "All we're doing now is waiting for the sun to set."

Bakura nodded at that, scratching his cheek as he looked away awkwardly. "She has a point," he said quietly, biting his lip. "Perhaps we should just find someone else to duel..."

"Gh..." The blond shook his head, adamant about staying but. "No way," he shouted, turning back to the two. "He's comin' back, tru-"

"So..." Eh? That voice..? "We meet again!" Gh- What the... Katsuya turned, eyes widening briefly as a familiar duelist stepped forward with a smirk. Oh _hell_.

This... This guy... "Insector Haga..!" The blond swallowed as he stared at the boy, shaking himself as he held his tongue. The sight of Haga was alarming enough he'd admit; a part of him had really hoped he'd been knocked out. But the bugs...

He was literally swarming with _bugs_... Insects, spiders, all kinds of tiny creepy-crawlies, clinging to the boy's jacket, shoes, _glasses_... And there was no way they were all real, given the shape of the moth hovering beside him..! Haga chuckled from across the three, stepping forward in the otherwise empty square. "Hehehehehe! Long time no see Jonouchi," the boy said with a grin, clicking his duel disk into place with a laugh. The sides swiftly moved forward to attach at the center, Katsuya watching as Haga slipped a deck of cards into the holder and continued forward. "It's been a while since Duelist Kingdom hasn't it," he asked, grinning darkly as he stopped a few feet from the blond. "You've improved since then I would imagine... But I think you've gone far enough!"

Far enough? As if! Like hell he'd lose to this guy... Though for all the underhanded cheating this asshole did, he couldn't deny this was the former champion of Tokyo... Not to mention all those bugs... Were the monsters just as petty as their 'summoner', or was there something he was missing? Katsuya grit his teeth, stepping back somewhat as he looked over the boy. Even after half a year this kid still looked like the same, snotty little creep who thought it'd be smart to get on his and Yugi's (Not to mention everyone else's) bad side. Why the hell was this guy targeting him though, and not Yugi, he thought with narrowed eyes, continuing to stare at the boy suspiciously. Or Ryuzaki for that matter Katsuya thought, thinking back to his conversation with the teen. If he was really as 'sticky' as the guy had said, why was he here? "You..."

Why... "Jonouchi... Don't give this jerk the honor of a fight," Anzu shouted, glaring at the boy as Katsuya frowned. "He threw Yugi's cards into the ocean," she continued in protest, "You can't forget that!" Tch- Why the hell would he forget something like that!

Haga merely laughed at that however, a wicked smirk in place as the others turned narrowed scowls at the boy. "Heheheheh! My my... To think such a cute girl remembers me so well..." O-Oi oi oi... That was the worst thing you could ever say to An-

Ah, too late. "Gh!" The woman tensed at the comment, putting as much distance between herself and the boy as possible as she gave a shuddering scowl. "Uggggh... You _PIG,_" she growled under her breath, gritting her teeth as Haga in question continued to smirk oddly.

Katsuya snorted as Bakura nervously glanced at Anzu, attempting to get over the number of 'over-protective' insect spirits floating around the boy in front of him. Evidently, they didn't take too kindly to having their 'summoner' snubbed... Not that he care, he thought with a smirk. "Heh... More like a fly," he muttered, the smirk widening into a grin. "Ain't tha' right, y' bug freak? If you wanna fight," he shouted, clicking his duel-disk 'on' with narrowed eyes as it clacked together and settled into place, "Then lets go!"

"Hehehehe... Quick to the punch aren't you," Haga said with a sneer, the bugs around him giving similar looks as his opponent scowled. "In that case we'd better get started, shouldn't we?" Hn! Guess so!

"J-Jonouchi-kun..." Bakura frowned, looking from the blond to his opponent. "Are you really fighting him," he asked quietly, staring at Haga in suspicion.

He nodded, stepping forward with narrowed eyes despite the growing, nagging feeling in his stomach. "Heh! You bet I am," he said plainly, brushing the hair from his eyes as he and Haga took their positions. "What do you wanna bet this is the guy that kid was talking about, th' one who stole 's stuff," he growled, watching as Haga's grin grew in response. Oh... Now that was all he needed to see. It was _on_. "Tch... I'll straighten y' out wi' a beatdown that'll have you in a body-cast y little rat!"

"Hehehehhe! You think so," the boy said with a sneer, holding his disk forward as the insect swarm around him fled for the deck on his wrist. Within mere seconds what was an entire swarm became a green 'mist', enveloping the deck before settling to the innocent, 'normal' looking stack of cards it had been before.

Nothing too 'weird' after everything else though he decided, pushing the sight from his mind quickly. "Hn! I know so," he responded, a wind seemingly picking up around the pair. "Let's do this Haga!"

"J-Jonouchi..!" The blond turned as Anzu came over, eyes narrowed as she spoke under her breath. "Come on... You know what kind of a person he is," she muttered, looking back at the boy with a scowl. "He has to be up to something... He's too much of a coward for anything else!"

...Yea... Probably, he told himself, blinking a few times. But in all honesty... "...Anzu," he said calmly, turning to the woman briefly for another moment. "A true 'duelist', at leas' by my definition," he added with a nod, "Doesn' run away... From anyone," he explained seriously, swallowing as he continued on. "Only cowards do tha'... An I ain't fightin' alone," the blond continued, glancing at his deck for a moment. "I got friends here righ' with me!" Even though those friends had bad habits of questioning his abilities if they were over five feet tall.

Jerks. "_**Hnhnhnhn...**_" Chuckling came through the air in an echo, seemingly resonating from his wrist as Katsuya glanced down._** "Damn straight.**_" E-Ehh! That voice... Panther Warrior?

The blond shook it off mentally, holding his duel disk forward as the lifepoint meter reset. Heh... Looked like the Panther was ready to fight again then! He gave himself a nod, the wind continuing to pick up as he steeled his resolve. "This duel," he said seriously, "I'm fightin' for a reason... T' give Shizuka the courage she needs to remove those bandages... An' t' keep my word wi' Yugi!"

Now then... Time to get started. "We'll use the standard wager," Haga shouted, giving the blond a nod as he gestured to his deck. There was no 'proof of prize' with this guy it looked like... "One puzzle card, and one rare card," he shouted clearly, the blond nodding in response. Jinzo and a puzzle card in his case then...

"Got it!" Even if it was double, he'd still be in... He'd be two cards down, but he'd be in. But even so, one was better than nothing... Even if it meant that rats like Haga would still be around after this match. The blond drew his cards, narrowing his eyes at the thought before drawing his hand of cards. "Duel," the two boys cried, disks responding automatically as a slight 'shudder' passed over the 'boundaries' of the field. "I go first," Katsuya shouted, already knowing what was in his hands without looking from the field. He grabbed a card, setting it on the disk as a stone tablet rose from the ground in response. "Get ready," he called out, thick and detailed carving tracing itself out in the stone as smoke filled its form, "I summon... PANTHER WARRIOR!"

The monster leaped out from the tablet with far more speed than previous summons from his last duel. Sword in hand the beast took a few confident steps forward, cracking his neck before examining his opponent with mild distaste. "_**Hn... Second duel of the day,**_" he muttered under his breath, stretching out somewhat with a yawn._** "I suppose I had enough sleep...**_" Oi oi... What was with cats and sleep...

Katsuya decided not to answer to the panther's comment, instead looking across the field with a smirk. "Heh... This guy ain't losin' t' no bug Haga, y' got that?" 'That guy' also smirked in response to the comment, taking a battle ready stance with a wide and toothy grin. "Gimme yer worst!"

...Alright, given the continuing grin on his opponent's face, that was likely the worst thing he could have possibly said. Hands down. "Hnhnhnhnh..." The chuckling was a bad sign as well really... Not that he was saying anything for the moment. "Alright then... I'll play once face down card," Haga announced with a grin, Katsuya gritting his teeth as a blank tablet appeared on the field. Hated, hated, hated these... "Followed by the Skull-Mark Ladybug in defense mode!" Sku- Nyh?

The blond watched as a small-sized tablet came over the field, the outline of the ladybug carving itself out to the field as noxious green smoke wrapped around it. This monster...? The smoke continued to hover around around the stone, tablet remaining dormant despite the seemingly 'moving' inscription on its form. What the hell was that written at the bottom, hieroglyphs? Damn this sucked...

Though really, a tablet that size... He just had to laugh, he really did. "Heh... ...HAH! You call that a monster," he said with a grin, ignoring the narrowing eyes of the bug on the tablet. Huh... Weird, he thought for a brief moment, it wasn't even summoned... Oh well. "Bugs, bugs, an' more bugs..." The blond shook his head, still laughing as his opponent seethed. Tha' all y got," he shouted, grin widening further. "Ev'n Ryuzaki uses dragons sometimes! Don't y' ever use somethin' else?" Haga remained silent in response to the jibe, a scowl nonetheless becoming prominent on the boy's face.

"_**I wouldn't laugh if I were you,**_" Panther Warrior muttered darkly, the blond's grin fading somewhat as he followed his monster's gaze. Haga's scowl had vanished for no apparent reason at that moment it looked like... And... Oooh... That grin wasn't good...

Even so, he would still beat that, he told himself with a swallow. "Tch... 'T's my turn," he shouted, drawing another card and setting it on the field without looking. That tablet arose just slightly to his right, a small, child-sized carving with no visible face appearing on it's form. "Another monster," Katsuya announced, smoke filling the lines of the tablet as a figure began to step out from it, "Little Winguard!" The monster hopped out with a shout at those words, sword drawn and shield held at the ready as his tiny golden eyes shone brightly.

"_**Hah!**_" Oh hey, he even sounded like a kid... The 'monster' hopped in place somewhat, raising his sword with an unseen grin. "_**Let's go!**_" The Panther Warrior rolled his eyes as the 'child's antics, Katsuya merely smirking.

Hehehe... Okay then! He couldn't argue with that! "Panther Warrior," he shouted, the black cat drawing his blade and facing the ladybug 'tablet' across from him with a blank expression. "Attack!" The monster charged forward with a yowling cry, blade grinding it's way through the dust only for him to freeze. It had collapsed easily enough of course; besides the clean 'line' made by the blade, cracks had spiderwebbed through the entire structure, until the entire tablet collapsed into dust.

But despite Bakura's cries, something seemed off. "A-Ah! Good move Jonouchi-ku-"

"AHHHH..." The albino was quickly cut off, Anzu's eyes widening. "J-Jonouchi!" Katsuya turned, blinking as the woman paled. "I just remembered... That card restores lifepoints when its destroyed!" Wait, WHAT!

"Hehahahaaah!" Katsuya turned as his opponent's grin widened, the boy's chuckling growing into a cackle as smoke continued to rise from the tablet's ruins. "Exactly! I _must_ thank you," Haga said with a grin, laughing wickedly as the haze wrapped around him completely. The fog momentarily shrouded the boy from view, before sinking into his body and fading from sight completely. "That just gave me five hundred more lifepoints..! And what's more, I don't take any damage! HAHAHAHA!" M-More life!

Damn it all...! _**"Tch...**_" The Panther Warrior turned on his summoner with narrowed eyes as their turn 'ended', shaking his head. _**"I thought you gained a 'heads up' on these things,**_" the monster growled, Katsuya sending it a sharp glare in response.

Oh sure, this was his fault? All he'd seen were weird symbols and smoke, that wasn't a helpful fact! "Gh- An you don'," he hissed, the Little Winguard shaking his head at the argument as the monster and his summoner both continued to glare at each other.

"_**Hahhh... And you guys think **__**I'm**__** annoying,**_" he asked with a sigh, looking at the two as he crossed his arms. What? Katsuya turned, shaking himself at the statement with a frown. No! He didn't think- ...Oh. Right... The other monsters...

The blond shook himself out of the monster's conversation, instead watching as Haga set another card on the field. The tablet that appeared on the field this time was again smaller than most, likely about half the size of the 'standard' one. All the same, this didn't mean the detail in the carving wasn't well done. "Hehehe! Now that you're done with your move, it's my turn," Haga announced gleefully, grin becoming still darker as the tablet settled to a still dormant state. "Pinch Hopper, in defense mode," he cried, the blond gritting his teeth as the image on the tablet appeared to turn its attention to the blond. Just plain stone stood before them, appearing slightly worn and faded under the sun. No smoke... Not like the last one, he noted, jaw clenched. Damn it, he really should have known! "Hehehehe..." Haga continued to chuckle from across the blond, his opponent narrowing his eyes in response. "Go ahead and attack all you want," he said darkly, grin taking a fox-like appearance as he spoke. "It's not like you don't have the _advantage _after all..."

"Gh..." Katsuya swallowed, tensing up as the look from Haga persisted. "Gettin' that fr'm you 's never good," he muttered, the Little Winguard nodding furiously in response.

"_**Hah... You got that right!**_"

Panther Warrior rolled his eyes at that, turning to the 'boy' with a slight frown. "_**You realize he can't say **__**anything**__** back to us right..?**_"

The smaller monster blinked, silent for a few moments as he laughed under his breath. "_**...Erm... ...Yes..?**_" If it was 'yes' then stop talking god damn it!

Aaaaaahhhh... Alright. Katsuya took a deep breath and shut his eyes for a moment, calming himself down before looking across the field with a scowl. To hell if he knew the hows and whys of 'knowing' about this crap, but these bugs... The blond growled, narrowing his eyes as the 'pinch hopper' appeared to give an odd 'grin' from the tablet's carving. Damned pest... He destroyed that grass hopper and Haga would just get another bug..! And for all he knew, that would be the same stupid moth the guy tried to pit Yugi against! He bit his lip, looking back at his hand for a moment and narrowing his eyes. Right now he had Jinzo, Roba's card... He could sacrifice the two on the field to summon him, and he'd be immune to traps, which could mean one less thing to worry about when it came to that blank tablet over there... Not to mention a nice powerful monster on the field he decided with a mental nod, moving to take his turn.

Katsuya reached at the deck to draw his next card, only to jump with horror and shock both as his hands grabbed something other than paper. Hissing met his ears as his fingers gripped a set of cold 'bony' legs, the blond's face draining of colour as he stared at it. "W-WHAT TH' HELL..!" The thing in his hands resembled an insect of sorts from the front, antennae and legs both. Cruel pinchers curved from its mouth, and it hissed angrily at the blond as he held it in his grasp, free legs flailing as it clicked in continued rage. That wasn't what he was staring at though. By the end that he was grabbing it by, the end where he was holding three 'randomly' placed legs, it was something far, far more twisted... Legs jutted from every point possible, slime covered tentacles writhing in his grip and slapping coldly against his skin. It was taking all he could not to drop the 'card' right there to say the least. Not to mention dousing it in his lunch. "G-Ghhh..."

The monster screeched loudly at the continued grip, his own pair jumping back with wide eyes and gaping mouths. "_**Th- The Parasite card,**_" Little Winguard shouted with a cry, sword falling to the ground with a loud clatter as his eyes seemingly shrank with fear.

The panther as well was backing away, hissing under his breath as his tail bristled and twitched. "_**This... We've been set up!**_" Set up! No shit, this wasn't even his- The blond's grip tightened as the 'insect' dug its pinchers into his hand, Katsuya biting back a cry of pain as the wound in question quickly took a sickeningly green tone. Despite the grip continuing to hold however he found himself watching numbly as it leaped forward at the others, leaving a card in his hand as it gave a feral and ear-splitting cry. Within a single moment it had found the weak, exposed flesh of the monsters, giving it the same 'kiss' it had to him. The Panther Warrior was first, the monster landing on its sword arm as the beast raised the blade to it in reflex. "_**GH...**_" Little Winguard was next, the mutated 'insect' leaping at its face as the monster attempted to pull it off in vain. Oh no... "_**GLOAAAR... GRAAAG...**_" Choking sounds filled the air as the Panther Warrior brought his hands to his throat, only to be forced to bring the right hand back down as it swelled to an impossible size. Tentacles burst from the monster's mouths, Winguard and the Panther Warrior both writhing in pain as the source of the poison settled calmly between the two. Extra legs were breaking free from the gaps in their armor... Pinchers, 'thorns', exoskeletons developing wherever possible...

"_**Gr... Gaaaahg..**_" The monsters both fell to the ground as the mutation continued, their summoner's eyes widening in horror._** "Raaaagh... Glhk...**_" They couldn't talk, couldn't move... Tentacles had burst from inside and around the Panther's mouth, pinchers forming from the Little Winguard's unseen mouth. This was...

"You..." Katsuya narrowed his eyes, shaking his head as he attempted to block out the sounds of pain. "What did you do t' my monsters," the blond roared, turning to look at Haga with a snarl. "WHAT IS THIS-" He choked, biting his tongue as a sharp, stinging pain ran through his right hand. The pain quickly grew as he held his tongue, wincing as he kept his gaze on the field rather than his hand. Why the hell was- Katsuya swallowed, paling as a shudder passed through his arm. Why- ...The bite... His eyes widened, expression falling even faster as he lost the feeling in his fingers. Oh _shit_. 'Shadow of the Eyes' effected him in Duelist Kingdom... Crush Card Virus did the same, and that had happened _before_ that fight..! So if that was the case them, what would happen with... "Gh..."

Haga chuckled from across the teen, glasses giving off an eerie glow as his opponent kept himself from looking at his hand. "Hehehehehe... Parasite Paracide," the boy 'explained' smugly, the insect as well seeming to beam with pride. "Once drawn," he continued with a grin, "It's automatically summoned to the field, infesting your monsters with flesh-eating, mutating worms and making them insects just like it!" Insects..? ...Wait, so then his right hand was- He swallowed, attempting to push the thought from mind. Gh... Not good...

Behind him, the others were speaking... Bakura was first, voice laced with obvious confusion. '_But why would Jonouchi-kun-_' '_That's not his card,_' Anzu shouted angrily, cutting her friend off yet again._ 'Ohhh, I knew that kid was up to no good!_'

Damn it, way to prove his beliefs wrong again! And here he'd hoped things would work out for once... The blond's fingers twitched, 'Parasite' moving to along the ground to bask in the sun until it was needed again. "Tch... You little shit," he muttered, momentarily speaking to the monster and its owner both before turning his attentions back to Haga. "Slipping cards in my deck!"

"Hehehehehe... A little late now isn't it," Haga said with a sneer, Katsuya's free-hand clenching on the card only for the blond to bite back a shout at the lack of sensation. Gh-! What the hell happened to it..! "A truly brilliant strategist starts his plan before the battle after all... And my deck as complete power over insects!" Don't remind him... Please. "I can make them do whatever I like... Understand," Haga said darkly, opponent's teeth grinding in frustration as he continued, "There's no way you can possibly win... And frankly you should have thought to check your deck before the duel! Hnhnhahaha!" Rgggg... Katsuya shook as his opponent continued to laugh, briefly wondering if his hand was still 'healthy' enough to punch the brat in the face. "It's a wonderful feeling isn't it," he asked, gesturing to the field as the two mutated monsters attempted to regain their bearings. "A field full of insects..! You mind as well put that card on the field now," he continued with a sneer, the blond growling under his breath, "Because it's going to be there for a _long_ time heheheheh..."

Alright that was it damn it... Not looking at the disk as he set the card into place Katsuya scowled, ignoring the tablet that appeared on the field as a result. Little 'Parasite' looked a little too happy about that, god damned rat... "Trus' me Haga," the blond muttered dangerously, "When this duel 's over I'm gonna show y' just how 'wonderful' it is!" Not to mention what a 'right hook' was... "But it's still my turn, got it," he continued, watching as his monsters gave weak nods in response. They'd fight, even with the obvious handy cap... Panther Warrior would have to use that 'hand' instead of his sword for now... And Little Winguard was having some trouble dealing with the extra legs... Of course, taking his next turn meant looking at his...

Hand... Eh... Katsuya pulled a face, growing green as he turned and looked at the mess the parasite had done. Obviously it wasn't affecting him as much, given the fact that he hadn't been brought to his knees howling in pain... And thank god for that! But from the bite mark down the skin had taken a sick, green hue, fingers mutating into individual 'legs' as his palm became covered in the same thick exoskeleton the rest of his monsters were covered in. And while pretending that his hand was covered in an armored green 'glove' wouldn't have been too bad, it was effectively impossible to ignore the few 'tentacles' that had sprung randomly from the back of his hand. So really, he thought with a swallow, attempting to steady himself with a deep breath, there was no ignoring this. Nonetheless... It wasn't as bad as he'd expected, given that it ended a short way up his arm rather than continuing on. He went back to his hand of cards with a sigh as he kept that in mind, only to freeze as he moved to grab the Jinzo card. No...

He knew it already for the same reason he knew about Pinch Hopper but... The blond's eyes narrowed as a sudden flash came through his mind, wide and enraged eyes glaring across at his opponent as he moved his hand away from the cards. That little rat... The Parasite had a second effect! Even so he held his tongue, instead pointing his monsters forward for an attack. Damn it... Lockdown! Haga had stuck him in a lock down! He couldn't sacrifice his monsters, leaving him crippled! "Tch... God damn it..." His opponent appeared to smirk at the realized 'weakness', remaining silent as Katsuya continued his move. "Panther Warrior, Little Winguard," he ordered, the monsters taking offensive stances as they stumbled on extra legs. "_Double attack_!"

"Hehehehehe! Realize that high level summoning was impossible then," Haga shouted with a grin, not flinching as the Panther Warrior reached out toward the Pinch Hopper's stone tablet. "Well tough luck again!" Again! Katsuya tensed as the blank tablet began revealing a carved image on its form, watching the image carve itself free as its summoner continued. "Reveal Face Down Card," the boy announced, the tablet breaking into a fine dust before shielding the Pinch-Hopper's hiding place from attack. "Insect Barrier!" The monsters froze as the dust met their eyes, backing away with strangled and choked shouts as it filled their lungs. The dust continued to fill the field as they fled, eventually settling to a stop and forming a thick and impenetrable wall before the monsters, both themselves and their summoner wheezing under the dusts' effects. Gh... Hell even from here it was stinging his eyes... But to add insult to injury, he couldn't attack now either! A continual spell, sitting tightly on the field... "Hnhehahaha..." If he could just _swipe_ that smirk off this brat's face... "You see where I'm going with this," Haga 'asked' with a wicked grin, eyes narrowed as his grin grew further. "The parasite consumes more than 50% of your monster's body mass, transforming them into a new species... What affects insects affects them!" And _him_ as well! The blond held his tongue, instead swallowing back a shudder that had developed with those words. "This spell will serve a nice _permanent_ barrier between them and me I would think," Haga was adding with a sneer, voice somewhat faded as his opponent continued to bite back a scream. No one could see it, no one could see it, no one could...

'_All insects can't attack_'... Unless they wanted to die a choking, painful death in that dust cloud at least, weakened even without the move.

So what the hell did that make him he wondered, glancing at his hand with weak eyes. He sure didn't feel like '50%' of his body was being eaten away... Hell if that happened, wouldn't he be dead, his organs 'missing' for reasons unknown only to him? Even so... Katsuya shuddered again, head sinking forward somewhat as he choked on the dusty air. "Gh... Hng..." Hah... Hah... That dust was making it hard to breath... Somehow his monsters were doing alright, despite having been brought to their knees, but... "Gh..."

"..JONOUCHI!" The blond jerked his eyes open, turning as Anzu looked at him from the side. "Jonouchi," she continued to shout, voice growing louder as Katsuya forced himself to regain his strength, "If you close your eyes don't even think of facing your sister!" Don'-

He tensed, straightening himself with a nod before turning back to the woman and frowning. "Tch... Moron," he growled, ignoring his hand as it gave another involuntary twitch. "Do you really think I'd give up," he shouted, looking back at the field. "I'm jus' tryin' t' think 'f a way around this!" This being... Well...

This. He looked at his hand again, swallowing back a wave of bile before staring across the field with determined eyes. His monsters... Real or not real they sure acted like it... They were fighting out his battles for his 'amusement' half of the time, taking every loss he'd gone through in stride. And for that reason...

"Tch... Your turn bug-boy," he shouted, narrowing his eyes as he clenched his fists. "Bring it!"

Haga squinted in response to that, pulling a face as he shook his head. "Heheh... Hehe... Tch..." The laughter faded as he opted to stop forcing a chuckle, instead frowning somewhat as he was met with a steady glare. "Don't you _ever_ give up," he muttered, shaking his head as he stared at the blond. "Well," the boy continued with a shrug, grabbing a card from his hand to set it on the field, "This just makes it more fun for me! I play the spell card Insecticide," he shouted, Katsuya watching as a new tablet appeared through the haze of smoke. It was difficult to see the carving appearing on the tablet with the smoke in the way really... Although it had cleared somewhat, it was still proving to be an effective barrier, so when nothing poked through the cloud, he was a little more than surprised. The name though... Well, it kinda gave him an idea of what would happen. "Insecticide will kill any insect, no matter how powerful," Haga explained, opponent minutely tensing as he looked to his monsters. Any mo- "But I'm not destroying yours," he continued, the blond frowning. He wasn't... Katsuya narrowed his eyes, squinting as he stared into the dust before him. The tablet was hacking itself into a spray-can... Pinch Hopper's tablet was sitting directly below it, and within a few more seconds, _in front_ of it... "After all," Haga stated calmly, Katsuya jumping as he realized his opponent's plan, "Killing Pinch Hopper allows me to summon any insect from my hand!" Gh- Shit! The spray-can released its poison on the tablet before it, silence hovering through the air on the field as Haga continued on. "With that in mind," the boy announced, "I destroy him, sending him to the grave to summon the highest level insect I own!" W-What... The highest... "And that card," he muttered with a dark grin, laughing under his breath as he set the card on the field, "IS THIS! _THE INSECT QUEEN_!"

Quee- It was difficult to see through the haze of the 'Insect Barrier' when the Insecticide came into play, possibly impossible even, he'd accepted that. But in those last moments the barrier appeared to thin even more, allowing the blond just enough vision to watch what happened. Before the spray took effect, Pinch Hopper had clambered out of its tablet, antennae twitching as the insect stared around the field. Within seconds however, Haga's spell took effect; the spray of the Insecticide dissolved through Pinch Hopper's exoskeleton and left behind an acrid scent on the field, its dried husk of a body clattering to the ground and continuing to fade into smoke. But the smoke and tablet both remained on the field, even as the insecticide vanished from view. Merging and building on each other, gathering dust and smoke to move from in front of Haga to directly behind the boy. What was a three-foot tall slab of stone rose to at least ten, the carved image changing, shifting... Smoke was swirling along the tablet's form, digging into the spider-like form as it glowed... Before an alien, mutant beast tore free of its stone, wings the size of cars beating the air as it angrily hissed at its opponents. This... "_**Greeeeeeeessssssssssssss!**_" An almost woman-like face and torso met Katsuya's eyes, antennae standing tall on the bald head of the eight-legged beast as it rose above its summoner to leer down at the blond from above._** "!**_"

Ohhhh shit... OHHHHH shit... "Hehehehehe..." Please, for the love of _everything_ stop laughing. "The Queen's power raises for every one of its kind on the field," Haga shouted with a grin, his opponent concerning himself with the size and ferocity of the boy's monster instead. "By 400 points at that! And that includes _your_ monsters," he continued, Katsuya looking back down from the beast with a swallow. Gh... Then the reason for the parasite..!

He quickly scanned the field, eyes widening as numbers ran through his head. "Three monsters countin' Parasite..." Multiply by 400, add that to its attack... "Tch- 3400..!" And if he even heard a _mutter_ about improbable math skills... Damn it, it wasn't his fault if weird 'psychic' powers came with knowing the thing's attack power! "Damn it..!"

"Hehehehehe... NOW my Queen," Haga ordered with a shout, the monster nodding as she turned her attention to her comparitively miniscule opponents. "Attack! _**QUEEN'S HELL BREATH!**_" The Queen's mouth dropped open to an impossible length with the command, jaw seemingly unattached to the rest of her head as rows of razor sharp fangs were revealed. A glowing light seemed to come from inside the monster's mouth, and before the blond could realize what was happening a blast of acidic smoke barrelled its way from above the insect barrier's wall.

"_**G... Mnhhhhggg!**_" Little Wing- It was aiming at..! The flames enveloped the tiny warrior as he ducked in fear, acid burning through armor and cloth both. Like a match to a pool of gasoline he caught fire instantly, smoke filling the air as the exoskeleton limbs glowed eerily from the inside. Despite the burning however, he never saw his face though... The warrior faced his opponent the entire time, shouts kept almost completely to himself as he curled in and became reduced to ash.

Tch... He... "The Little Winguard is eradicated," Katsuya's opponent cheered, the Insect Queen closing its mouth with a clack. Katsuya grit his teeth as he stared across the field, before his expression again fell. The Queen was lowering herself to the ground, massive form curling inward as she stared at the ground... But why? ...Haga, it seemed, had the answer. "Your monster's left the field," he bragged, "But in it's place, a new insect is born! For with every monster the Queen defeats," Haga announced with a mad cackle, his 'Queen' continuing to stare at the ground expectantly, "One of her eggs is laid upon the field!" M... _More_ bugs..!

As Haga spoke there was a disgusting, slurching noise, a round, slime covered 'sack' falling to the ground. The viscous fluid slowly dripped and rolled off the egg it had covered, small noises meeting the air as the Insect Queen grinned. "...Hatching..." It was... From the egg came more noises, the wet shells slowly cracking and pushing upward as it began to fall apart. The egg cracked further and further as the duelists stared, before a small six-legged 'worm' clambered free to shake itself of the remaining 'goo'. The Queen looked down at the insect with a 'grin' of sorts as the tiny bug 'squeaked', before both looked toward him with a sneer and took their positions on the field. Tch...

Not good... "Hnhnhn..." If this guy didn't stop laughing soon, he was shoving that 'egg' so far down his throat, he would- "There isn't much that can be said about its defense, or even its offense," Haga admitted with a shrug, his opponent looking toward the tiny insect with a fairly disgusted swallow. "But it makes a _fine_ soldier for the Queen... I'll fill the entire field with these little cuties," he continued with a sneering grin, chuckling under his breath, "And then wipe the floor with you!"

Bugs... Tch... "Fuck..." Cute... Hah! Maybe to him... He had words to describe those things himself, but 'cute' sure as hell wasn't one of them to say the least. He drew his next card, keeping his eyes on the field rather than pay attention to his 'hand' as he moved to add it to his normal one. This had better go away when the duel was over damn it... And really, _really_ fast... Katsuya looked back at his card hand, before tensing. ...This card..! His eyes narrowed as he glanced at it, swallowing in an attempt to ignore the 'fingers' that were still just centimeters away. This... Hah... He couldn't attack, he reminded himself, looking back on the field as he grabbed the card again. Moreover, he thought with a grimace, if he played another monster it would end up going through the same hell Panther Warrior was... _And_ power-up the Insect Queen further.

But with this, he thought, setting the card on the field with a faded stare...

"I set a card face down," he shouted, the blank tablet shooting up from the dust at his side. He brought his hand back to his side and out of sight, before nodding as the Panther Warrior stared at the stone slab behind him. "Turn over!"

"J-Jonouchi-kun!" The blond swallowed as the shouts started, Bakura and Anzu both paling as they stared at the field. Who knew what they were seeing, but whatever it was, at least it was 'mostly' field accurate in terms of game play... "You didn't put your monster's in defense mode," Bakura shouted in a panic, Anzu as well giving worried shouts.

No... No he didn't, he thought with a mental nod, but there was a reason for- "W-What..." Katsuya blinked, watching as the small 'Parasite' monster scuttled forward into the 'front lines' to hiss angrily at the Insect Queen and it's child both. H-Hey, was the Parasite monster actually raring to fight..?

...For him? "It's too late," Haga shouted, evidently taking his opponent's surprise as horror in the face of an apparent mistake. "You said 'turn over' and your monster's are in attack mode... There's no call backs," he continued with a grin, Katsuya merely growling under his breath. This guy was way too damn smug... "Hehehe... As far as duelists go, you're worse than my newly hatched insects," Haga said with a sigh, ignoring the building rage of his opponent. Worse than larvae? He'd show him worse than- "Are you ready Jonouchi," the boy shouted with a grin, pointing his most powerful monster forward with a laugh. "It's time for you to lose! INSECT QUEEN," he ordered, the demonic 'bug' already dropping her jaw for attack as its master announced the target, "DESTROY THE PANTHER WARRIOR!"

Heh. He knew it... The trap would only work to defend one monster... Hehehehehe... "It looks like I guessed right," he said with a smirk, the blank tablet hurriedly carving itself out as he spoke. "Parasite Paracide is your monster when it comes down to it after all... You wouldn't attack yer own if y' didn' have t'," he continued, the Parasite in question merely hopping up and down in a taunt of sorts. "So I set a trap on Panther Warrior," Katsuya stated clearly, the two monsters on his field both hissing somewhat angrily as Haga paled.

"You..." The boy swallowed, staring across the field in shock as his opponent made his counter-attack. "You left them in attack mode on purpose... As _bait,_" he continued with a shout, expression caught between shock and rage both.

The blond smirked, nodding as his trap 'tablet' stood 'dormant' on the field. Currently, the image of a 'pop-out' hand was clearly visible on its form... As for the image itself... Yea. He'd lured Haga in for that reason. "Hehehehehe... Damn straight," he shouted, waving his hand over the field as the tablet glowed. "An' now I'm activatin' it... Magic Arm Shield! An f'r th' shield," he continued with a grin, 'doors' opening from the tablet as a spiked 'claw arm' sprung forward, "I'm takin' th' larva!"

"M-My larv-" The infantile bug gave a surprised squeak as 'tongs' launched out from the tablet across from it, pulling it forward to take the Panther Warrior's place in an already launched attack. "N-NO!" Haga wailed as the fired cloud of acid flew forward, the Queen's larva taking the hit and disolving with a small, pitiful cry. Like the Little Winguard before it the insect burst into flames, the fires spreading along the 'claw arm's wood to reduce both into nothing but ashes. "Her own young..! You made her attack her own..." Haga stared across the field with dumbfounded horror, eyes appearing to water as he screamed. "G-GHAAAAAAAAA!"

"Heh! One bug down," Katsuya shouted with a laugh, watching as the final remnants of the trap tablet cleared the field. "Hope y' don' mind if I steal one of yer line's Haga... But you mind as well admit it now," he said with a grin, pointing forward with a narrowed smirk. "You're jus' like yer bugs Haga... _Weak_!"

"G..." The boy's expression quickly shifted back into anger, the shock keeping him more or less silent as he stared across the field. "Rggggg..."

"_**Rsssssshhh...**_" Katsuya's smirk remained in place as the Insect Queen hissed from above, momentarily ignoring the size of the beast as it glowered. Heh... What, pissed off about it's 'baby'?"_**Fieeeeeend... FIEEEEND!**_" The smirk quickly died, the blond swallowing as he held back the urge to flee from the spot. Oh hell the Queen could talk. "_**Noooo MERCYYYYY...!**_" Oh HELL, _the Queen could TALK_!

And it looked as though its resolve, vengeance and sheer rage had transferred to its summoner as well. "I still have the Queen," Haga roared in anger, the Queen herself rearing up on her back legs with a hiss. "And the terror has just begun! This is the ultimate insect combo Jonouchi, and you'd do well to remember that," he growled, the Queen behind him giving a fearsome roar as it dropped its draw again.

Tch... The blond merely narrowed his eyes, glancing up at the Insect Queen before looking toward his opponent. He couldn't deny it was an insane lock-down, that was for sure... But he wasn't done yet! Someway, somehow... He was going to do more than just trick these things into attacking themselves! "Hn! You done yet," he growled, drawing his next card and adding it to his hand. "It's my turn!" And his draw was...

Ugh... Katsuya hid a look of disappointment at the Graverobber he'd drawn, swallowing. Not good... He wouldn't be able to get an attack in with this... Shit. He looked back to the field, instead flipping the cards on his disk with a swallow. "I put my monsters in d'fense mode," he shouted, watching as the Parasite and Panther Warrior were both sucked back into their respected tablets. "An end my turn!"

Haga chuckled from across the blond, grinning manically as his opponent growled. "Hehehehee... Nothing much you can do is there," he said with a grin, eyes narrowed to mere slits as the sun gleamed against his glasses. "Now that it's my turn," he shouted, setting a card on his disk, "I summon Ari, the soldier ant!" Another small tablet rose up from the ground, simple carving of an ant appearing on its cover before becoming dormant on the field. Another defensive monster, weak as hell and protected by the barrier... Crap... That left him right where he started! " And now," Haga continued, grinning widely, "Attack, my Queen! _**QUEEN'S HELL BREATH!**_" The monster's attack was fired in one instant, acidic breath streaming through the air to strike at where the Panther Warrior 'hid'. One good thing about tablets, Katsuya thought with a wince, the dead silence in the air just as ominous as screams.

He didn't see burning flesh or raging flames... Just a tablet grinding to dust as the acid burned holes through its structure. "HeheheheHAHAHAAA!" Please shut up already. "The Panther Warrior dies," Haga laughed, Katsuya grinding his teeth as the dust flew into his eyes. Rotten little prick... He was going to leave Parasite on the field even when it was his only defense he bet..! "And look at this," the boy continued with a grin, the two duelists both watching as the Insect Queen lowered her abdomen to the ground. Another squelch came through the air, round egg tumbling to the ground as the sounds of hatching already filled the air. "The Queen's laid another egg..! Come on out," he 'sang', the slime covered shell slowly cracking open as a new 'Insect Larva' came to the field. "You're just in time for the show..!" Damn it damn it damn it...

There was no way Haga was just going to avoid hitting Parasite next turn with the Queen as powered up as it was! The tiny insect shook itself as its mother gave a slight shudder, nuzzling its child before turning to face her opponent. "_**I've got you nnnnnnowwwwwww,**_" it hissed,_** "Little 'imagoooo'...**_" Katsuya swallowed as the monster growled under its breath, teeth grinding as the enormous queen lowered down past the barrier of dust to look him in the eye. Compact eyes staring at his... Rows of yellowed, razor sharp teeth bared in front of him. Noxious breath, making it ten times more difficult to hold back his lunch. His future... His future... The blond narrowed his eyes, snapping himself out of his frozen shock.

He couldn't let this hideous _monster_ cut it short! '_Don't give up_,' they were shouting from the side right now, voices faded as the Insect Queen pulled back somewhat to allow her 'opponent' room to move. '_Don't give in.._!' He wouldn't..! The blond reached for his deck, shutting his eyes and looking at the card before staring with narrowed eyes. Ahah..!

This card..! "Pondering your forgone fate," Haga said with a grin, chuckling as the Insect Queen glowered above him. His opponent said nothing in response, merely watching as the boy continued to sneer. "All your monsters are mere pawns in the great Queen's army," he said darkly, gesturing to the field. "And with the barrier in place you can't even hope to put up a resistance! You know you can't win," the cried, eyes narrowed as he stared his opponent down. "But do you admit it?"

"...No." The blond stared across the field in apathy, placing a card from his hand on the disk and continuing his gaze as a blank tablet appeared at his side. "I don't."

Haga tensed, sneering grin falling as he stared across the field. "W...What..."

Exactly. Katsuya nodded to himself, glancing to the tablet at his side before looking back at his hand. He hadn't had a use for that one earlier... But now... "First I'll set a card face down," he announced in regards to the card he'd set, before taking the card he'd drawn and putting it in place as well. "An' now," he continued, watching as a third tablet came to the field from beneath the ground, "Th' weakness in yer insect combo! I summon Gearfried, th' Iron Knight!" Almost blocky carvings appeared on the tablet's form with those words, each line and detail taking an eerie glow as smoke filled its form. With a blinding light the iron soldier slowly stepped forward out of the stone, the sunlight gleaming off his armor as he drew his blade.

"_**...**_" Katsuya blinked as his monster turned back, Gearfried staring at his summoner for a moment before tilting his head. "..._**What the hell happened to your hand..?**_" Gh! The blond's grin froze somewhat in response to the question, both he and the monster turning their attentions to their opponent.

"You... You fool," Haga shouted with an almost incredulous laugh, Gearfried in question narrowing his eyes. "That monster is just food for the worms of Parasite Paracide," he shouted almost manically, "It can't possibly..! It..." The boy paled as his words fell short, Katsuya merely grinning as the Parasite's tentacles launched from its stone tablet and bounced off the target's armor. Again and again they slapped at the iron armor, appearing to turn to each other in confusion before continuing on. "No," Haga muttered, the Parasite continuing to have no luck on the field. "NO!"

Gearfried looked at the Parasite's tentacles, turning back to his summoner with a questioning stare. "_**...Is... This thing stopping any time soon..?**_" Ehhh... The blond gave a slight shrug, shaking his head. Probably not.

But hey, not like this duel would last much longer right? "Hehehehe! Surprisin' ain't it," Katsuya said with a grin, Gearfried crossing his arms to roll his eyes as the tentacles continued ramming themselves against his arm. "Gearfried's an _IRON_ Knight," he explained, watching as his opponent continued to pale. "Coated completely in metal, leaving no points f'r th' Parasite t' strike... Which means th' Parasite can't infect him... Which means Gearfried's still a warrior, which means he can break through yer so-called barrier," he shouted with a snarl, pointing the knight forward. "Go Gearfried," the blond roared, warrior nodding with narrowed eyes as he held his blade ready. "_ATTACK TH' LARVA_!"

"_**Hn!**_" With a single strike the monster did as commanded, blade cutting cleanly through the insect's body. As a bug, there was little to be said about what was left behind... A bit of strange, brown coloured fluid, a screeching Insect Queen, and a pile of dust. And that was all that resulted, a welcome change in comparison to the usual blood and gore he was stuck seeing each time he dueled. Gearfried calmly returned to his position on the field, briefly looking over his summoner's hand with a blank stare. "_**...So do you plan on telling me what that i-**_"

"Don' ask," he muttered under his breath, looking back over the field as his monster shrugged. Besides the topic being one of the many, _many_ things he wanted to avoid, talking to 'himself' was not the best thing to do in front of friends.

And Haga.

To put it lightly.

"A-Aaaaggh... You... You..." SPEAKING of Haga...

The blond smirked, crossing his arms and ignoring the strangeness of his right hand as his opponent grew paler and paler. "Heh! How's that f'r size," he said with a grin, narrowing his eyes as he stared across the field. Those eggs might have been a right pain in the ass, but it was over now... They couldn't defend, they were born in attack mode... And since they only had 1200 points, he could wear Haga down easily! Of course...

That left this thing. "_**FIEEEND,**_" the Insect Queen was screeching, rearing on her legs as her opponents continued to stare in silence._** "SCUMM! LET ME TEAR YOU TO PIECESSSSSS!**_" Even so, it was hard not to shudder at that. Hi-Hihhhhhh...! God damn it, why could this monster _speak_!

"Jonouchi..!" The blond swallowed, turning to look at Haga as the boy shook. "Are you prepared to pay the price for angering the Queen," Haga raged, Katsuya holding back a quick 'no' as he glanced at the monster in question. "I'm going to show you the insect deck's most powerful move," he spat, grabbing a card from his hand to set it on the disk. "The 'Queen Impact' strategy! Watch! The Soldier Ari enters attack mode," he announced, a second tablet appearing to the side before 'merging' into the Ant's before its depicted monster could escape the stone. "In addition," he shouted angrily, "I activate the card Multiplication of Ants!" Multipli- From the carving of a single ant the tablet grew, glowing and smoking viciously as dog sized insects climbed out from the stone. One after one the insects swarmed the field from the ant-carving, lining up in a single line in front of their queen. One... Two...

Five...

_TEN_... "Hehehahahah... Ten Army Ants," Haga anounced as his 'army' stood at 'attention', "Multiplied by 400 points... You know what that means," he said with a grin, Katsuya's eyes widening as he watched the queen grow to an impossible size before him. "It means that the Queen is now UNDEFEATABLE! With six thousand six hundred attack points!" Six thous- Wasn't that just a little overkill! "KILL HIM MY QUEEN," Haga roared insanely, the monster dropping its jaw in response, "**QUEEN'S HELL-**_"_

"Hehehehehe..." Haga froze as his opponent began to chuckle, the blond waving his hand over the field. "Like y' say," Katsuya said with a grin, narrowing his eyes as the blank trap tablet carved and revealed his image. "'Yer no better than a worm'... TRAP ACTIVATE," he shouted, his blank tablet 'opening' to allow a cloaked and hooded 'boy' through to the field. "Grave Robber!" Haga paled from across the blond, Katsuya merely continuing to smirk as the robber charged forward to dig up Haga's old 'spell' tablet. It was difficult to see the hooded boy at work this time, thanks to the fog. But in a few moments the thief made his way back with a tablet in both hands, the inscriptions carved on its surface already filling with smoke. "You know what this guy does," Katsuya said with a shout. "An' th' card he's takin' this time," he continued with a dark grin, "Is one that you outta be familiar with..." As those words were said the tablet was dropped to the ground, spray-can cutting itself out from stone as the Graverobber grabbed it in his hands. "I jus' can't _stand_ bugs," he muttered, his 'trap' aiming the can with a wide and wicked grin. "So TAKE THIS!"

A cloud of gas blasted from the can, shooting upward in a geyser-like act as its target reacted immediately. "_**GRHHAAAAAAAAA! NNNOOOOO! NO!**_" The spray filled Haga's side of the field, burning through the Queen's exoskeleton to let organs fall to the ground in a splattering wave. 'Blood' was pooling on the ground as the monster collapsed, legs clattering to pieces before disintigrating entirely. And still she cried. "_**WHYYYYYY,**_" the monster cried, turning its face toward her killer with wide and fading eyes._** "HOW COULD YOU... HOW COULD YOU..!**_" Smoke filled the air... Thanks to the Insect Barrier's dust, the final death throes couldn't be seen, leaving nothing but a hazy figure behind clouds of smoke...

But they could be heard, along with Haga's cries. "N-NO! MY INSECT QUEEN!" The boy wailed as his monster screeched, face twisted in shock. "H-HAAAAAHHH!"

Oh whatever... "Th' game's over y' freak!" He shook his head, cracking the 'knuckles' on his right hand before pointing forward with narrowed eyes. Haga's 'ants' relied on that spell... Now that they and the rest of the monsters were gone... "It's my turn! Get 'm, Gearfried!" The monster charged forward, blade appearing to sink right through the boy's body as remaining dust and smoke cleared the field in his wake.

"Ahhhh... Gaaaaaaaaagh..." Gearfried turned away from the boy as he began to fade from the field, shaking his head at his opponent's mutterings. "No..!" The dust cleared from the field almost instantly as Haga's points fell, the sun appearing somewhat brighter despite the time that had passed. Monsters remaining on the field vanished into a mist as the sky cleared up, tablets following soon afterward. As for his arm...

It was back to normal before Haga fell to his knees, tears rolling down the boy's cheeks. "H-He did it," Anzu was shouting, eyes wide as Katsuya looked over his hand. "He won..!"

"Jonouchi-kun," Bakura called out with a grin, oblivious to the 'real' reason for his friend's grin. "Congratulations!" His hand... Hehehehe...

Hand was back to normal, hand was back to normal, hand was back to normal..! Katsuya's grin was barely contained as he stared at his hand, shaking himself off as he looked to where his opponent was sitting. The duel was over... Time to get his locator card then. The blond walked over to Haga, watching as the boy was again surrounded by the ghostly figures of countless bugs, each one hovering beside their 'owner' in evident worry. So many spirits...

But why were they swarming a rat like _Haga_..? "H-How... How," the boy was crying, backing away from Katsuya as he approached. "You... You're a mere amateur," he shouted angrily, "You're _nothing_! My win should have been guaranteed..!" Oh please...

"An' that's why y' needed this," he 'asked', holding the 'Parasite' card in his restored hand with a glare. He tossed it back to the boy, shaking his head as the 'parasite' in question gave him a narrowed glare. "Let me tell y' somethin' Haga... I ain't strong... You're jus' weak! You might've been th' champion 'f Japan at one point," he continued with a growl, "But y' sure ain't now! You love those bugs so much," the blond muttered, narrowing his eyes as Haga stared up with a scowl. "Then prove it! Y' idiot!"

"G-Gh..." A buzzing noise came through the air, Haga looking to his pockets as a phone rang through the air. Phone..? The boy glanced at it only for a moment before wrenching the agreed ante from his duel disk, gathering his remaining cards and holding the phone tightly. "...Gh! T-Take the cards," he snarled through still teary eyes, Katsuya easily catching the Insect Queen and Locator Card as its former owner growled. "I... ...This mean's _nothing_," he shouted angrily, stumbling to his feet as he ran off. "_Nothing_!"

Er... Katsuya blinked, holding the cards in his hand as he watched the boy run off. ...Alright..? The blond looked back at the Insect Queen card, wincing as a miniature spirit of the monster glared at him from its cover. "_**Rssssssssh... Hsssssssshhh...**_" Oooooh man... This thing wasn't about to forgive him was it...

"Jonouchi!" Katsuya turned, blinking as Anzu and Bakura both ran over from the side, grins on their faces. "Good job!"

"That was incredible... I'd thought you were bluffing," Bakura said with a laugh, rubbing his head as the blond tensed. "I can't believe you pulled that off..."

"Gh-Gh..." Katsuya went red, shaking himself. "Bluffin'!"

"Well you have to admit," Anzu muttered with a shrug, smiling somewhat wryly, "Haga _was_ champion until Yugi won the Duelist Kingdom Tournament..."

Bakura nodded, crossing his arms. "That's right... And while it's hardly fair," he added with a frown, "He did have the advantage in terms of strategy..."

That... That... "Gh... Why I outta-!"

"E-Eto... E-Excuse me..." The three turned, Katsuya blinking as a young black-haired girl stepped forward from the street corner. Despite the weather, she had a rather thin, almost net-like poncho around her shoulders in addition to a long sleeved shirt, gold-rimmed glasses hidden from the sun by her bowed head. Probably in Middle School... But... The girl continued to stare at the ground, apparently reduced to a shaking leaf in front of the three teens. "I... I was wondering... Did a boy pass here," she asked, gripping a box tightly in her hands as she looked up through her bangs. "He has a bowl cut... And glasses, similar to mine... ...He should be wearing a scarab jacket as well, ano..."

Bowl cut..? And... G-Glasses..? Katsuya stared, Anzu and Bakura as well blinking as they looked back to where the boy had fled. ..._SCARAB_ jacket! "Y-You mean... Haga!"

"A-Ah..." There was a short blink, the girl looking up for a moment in slight surprise. "Y-Yes, that's my name..." She quickly bowed, face flushing as she introduced herself. "H-Haga, Sen... Pleased to meet you!" H... Haga had a sister..! ...Who looked nothing like him! "A-Ah... D-Does this mean that you know Katsugi," the girl continued, swallowing nervously. "Did you see him at some point..?"

Again they were rendered silent, blinking a few times in shock. Katsugi..? Whose bright idea was it to give Haga _that_ name? The blond remained silent as he stared at the girl, both he and Bakura sharing odd looks as Anzu nodded slowly. "Y-Yes..." The woman nodded, swallowing as she gave Sen an odd look. "Yes, we did... ...You're his _sister_," she asked, blinking a few times.

'Sen' nodded, still flushing as she bowed somewhat. "T-That is correct! T-Twins," she clarified, Katsuya and Bakura's expressions both showing steadily more confusion. "Erm... If you could tell me which way he went," she asked, coughing lightly, "I wanted to give him something before he left..."

Left..? ...Sister? ...TWINS? "Nh-" Katsuya stared, shaking his head. "But y' look nothin' like- OW!" The blond rubbed his head, looking over at Anzu with a scowl. "What th' hell Anzu!"

"Just because they're twins doesn't mean they'll be identical," she growled under her breath, Sen merely watching in nervous confusion. "Fraternal twins have different DNA!"

"S-She has a point," Bakura added nervously, before the girl in front of them again coughed.

"Erm... E-Eto..."

The three turned back, Bakura pointing off to the side as Sen blinked. "Erm... He went that way a few moments ago," he stated, the girl following his gesture.

'Sen' sighed, nodding as she gave the three a polite bow before leaving. "T-Thank you very much!" She scurried off at a run, box still firmly gripped in her hands as the three stood there in silence.

"...Man..."

"She... She acts nothing like him," Bakura said after a few moments, shaking his head.

The three nodded, staring at the disappearing girl somewhat blankly. Incredible... "...So..." The others turned as Katsuya blinked, smirking. "Anyone else find Haga's name ironic?"

He should have expected the smack on the head he got that time.

* * *

Walking around the city to clear scum off the streets was never a 'fun' job, regardless of what kind of 'dressing up' it went through to hide the fact. Completely curb-stomping the morons who even dared to break the rules was at least somewhat amusing with Obelisk in hand of course, but the fact still remained; if not for the fact that she was still looking for those God Cards, she would most certainly not have bothered, and as it was, most people weren't stupid enough to refuse Mokuba's requests. There was only one person she would consider a challenge though... And she could probably have asked Jonouchi or Mokuba to call him in if she wanted the fight right away. (Though he'd probably refuse...)

Nonetheless, with the God Cards in mind she was currently holding Mokuba's slate, patching into the 'Search Room' in the company building with evident impatience. True, having five people searching nonstop for cards through the disk satellite system was expensive... But the fact was, even without the cards, she could afford it. Hell, she'd put enough into the tournament as it was, but given that the duel disks were already covering the prices and then some...

-_fwp_- The slate flashed, Seto blinking as she was met with a few of the 'search room'. Aha, she was in.

"A-Ah..!" One of the employees turned, jumping as he looked directly at the screen in panic. "K-Kaiba-sama..!" That tone...

That tone meant no luck had been made... The woman mentally groaned, settling for an apathetic glare as one of the employees at the desk turned to speak to her. "Haven't you found it _yet_," she asked plainly, the man on the other end of the phone line merely swallowing under the imposing glare. Obviously not of course, but she mind as well have asked... "One of the Rare Hunters in Domino _must_ have the God Cards," she growled, eyes narrowing somewhat as she leaned back against the wall. "They'll be the only two cards without a solid signal from the duel disks," the woman continued angrily, "So _where. Is it_?"

The man on the other end of the line coughed, paling somewhat as he bowed his head a moment. "We... We're sorry sir," he said with a swallow, shaking his head in shame. "But the duelists have spread over Domino," he stated with an almost begging tone, "And not all those with a disk are even participating in the tournament at the moment... The search will take time," he continued, shaking his head as his boss stared with narrowed eyes. "You must believe us..!"

Hnnn... Seto narrowed her eyes briefly, looking over the room on the other end. She couldn't deny that the search system had a manual aspect that took time... That was the reason why there were people working in the building in the first place after all. But the ghouls were obviously _somewhere_ in this city... And she didn't doubt that they would eventually realize that she had Obelisk...

...And like hell she was letting them get the first move! "Tch..." She'd go after them first then... Hunt them down herself! "Contact me as soon as you find those God Cards understand," she growled, watching as the man nodded and bowed in response.

"Yes sir!" -_fwp_- The slate returned to it's 'standard' screen as the connection was cut, Seto handing it back to her brother as the boy frowned.

"Still haven't caught the rats then," he asked, tapping a few things on the screen before putting it in his bag.

"Hnp!" No. No she hadn't. The woman snorted, grabbing her briefcase from the side as the two began moving again. "With those men working from the building and the technology we have, it's only a matter of time... Thanks to 'former' resources," she muttered under her breath, "The communications satellite is just as powerful as the US Military's ground surveillance systems..." Possibly the only 'good' thing about building a game company from a warfare manufacturer...

Though as 'small' a thing it was, it still had the two smirking given the sheer expansiveness of the trap they'd effectively made. "Hehehe... I bet they'll never even think that we've laid an entire 'net' over the sky for them," he said with a grin, laughing. "Those cards are good as yours!" Of course they were!

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Of course," she said in response, responding to both statements as she moved. "After all, this entire tournament is a trap set just for them..." And as long as Mokuba was right here, where those ghouls couldn't find him, there was nothing to worry about... Her smirk fell somewhat at that thought, eyes narrowing. Hnm... Ghouls... She was getting those cards from them if she had to rip them out of their cold dead hands! "Let's go," she said curtly, brother nodding as they walked down the street. It never occurred to them that the silent, motionless 'mime' on the bench to the side could be a duelist after all. And it never even registered that the duelist could possibly have one of those very God Cards in his possession.

Moreover, it was never considered that at that moment, the third of the 'Gods' was only just arriving, rather than wandering the city as expected... And despite the ban against motorized vehicles for the day, by the time 2:30 had rolled around the roar of a single engine could be heard clearly in the air. And if anyone was paying attention to the bike that the roaring was from, they would have noticed two things. For one, the rider was more than an oddity, with tanned, dark skin that spoke of heritage from a completely different land and pale hair that proved the young man as an even larger oddity. But more importantly...

There was a duel disk strapped to the side, along with a golden sceptre of sorts. And the teen, with a smirk clearly on his face, seemed to talk to himself as he drove...

"_Now,_" he whispered clearly, those who could hear unable to understand the language he spoke,_ "__**Move**__!"_

And a full hour after Seto Kaiba had passed the silent 'mime', the one known only as 'The Doll' took off into a run... The only movement he had made in a full forty-eight hours.

**

* * *

AN:** That mime is the scariest thing since... Since... I don't know, Jonouchi's Parasite hand? (I'll have a picture of that up sooner or later.) While reading this chapter, it might be important to realize that scenes that seem random very likely aren't by the way... So keep that in mind.

In any case, you know what's next! Yugi's point of view... And the YugiVS'Strings' duel as a result. Ooooh, I know I'm looking forward to that...

Not much else on my mind concerning this chapter though, so with that I give you...

The **Poll Results **are **Unchanged**; you'll need to look at the last chapter for your results there...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

It strikes back hard, eh Iona? ...Darn it, now I'm thinking that!

Kaiba cares? I know, it's incredible... As to whether or not it's because of Mokuba or not, we'll know soon enough...

And OHHHHH YEA. Ryuzaki definitely caught a break there, though the sudden turn in the mood from 'anger' to 'WHAT- NO.' certainly helped to say the least. You're right to think Honda will more likely take the brunt of blame though; actually, Ryuzaki's reputation might _go up_ next time they meet... The fact is, Honda and Otogi are seen in front of Shizuka for a majority of the panels that they're using up to move from point A to point B. Even... Though Shizuka is blind...

Ehhhhhh...

Well, I hope you enjoyed this chapter Iona! And the next one as well!

Finally _indeed_ Randomprojects. Lets see if he catches onto anything else now... I actually had a lot of fun building up the friendship between those two; we'll likely see a little more of it as we go on, despite them not being the focus of the fanfic in any way... (Hehehe.)

And yep~ Well... It looks like it anyways.

And ah, you think? Haha... I just wanted it to be accurate really, I don't think it's that much... And a bewildered reaction? I suppose it's expected; it took me a bit to fully grasp the lack of gendered pronouns myself.

It both was and wasn't Sen's choice; the fact is, she's extremely shy (which is unfortunately a turn on for a number of people...), and the only reason she started was because she was essentially given the choice of not going to highschool or finding someway to pay for it. So...

And hehehe, yea, I had fun with designs... As for why Kansai is evil-looking, that would likely be because she's a dominatrix. ...Yeaaaaaaaaa. Hence the mantis!

Now, I hope you enjoy this chapter! And the next one as well!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that wants its baby bugs back! RWAAAAAAAR! Also, fix this hand please.

* * *

This chapter title is brought to you by over-exposure to TV tropes! Though the trope itself has very little to do with this chapter, as the Insect Queen is actually a very motherly monster.

Which will likely scare the crap out of Jonouchi later, but whatever!~

* * *

OOOOOOH. I made a big mistake! In the manga, the duel against Haga had more than one puzzle card on wager; both Haga's and Kajiki's duels were two for two locator cards (Which meant that Jonouchi had four, followed by six afterward)… But in the end, this works out fine really; after all, by the end of it, Jonouchi didn't completely want Haga to be disqualified… With one card left, he still has a 'minor' chance. And since Kajiki was still left with two cards after his own loss, it doesn't actually matter too much that it was one instead of two. In any case...

Forgive me..!

* * *

For a completely different note now, look closely at Haga's shoes; those aren't laces, they're _giant flies_.

* * *

In the manga, Jonouchi berates himself for not reading the fine-print on the card. Obviously however, now that they're tablets, I can't well have him do that… Besides that though, with Sugoroku gone, a number of the old man's lines go to Anzu… Just to remind you that she _does_ know what some cards do. Bakura gets a few of his exposition lines as well, being a duelist himself as we find out later on.

* * *

Speaking of the fine print, what with everything being tablets, it's only natural that the text be in some language that matched... Namely Hieroglyphs. So here's another hint to Jonouchi's 'past life' status; he couldn't read hieroglyphs... And on another note, the same applies to hieratic as a result.

* * *

Now here's where things got _weird_. After all, Jonouchi is affected by any 'all encompassing' effect on his side of the field, something I established a while ago… Hell, he wasn't even in the duels that established this fact! (YugiVSKaiba, YugiVSMai)

In any case, this includes Parasite Paracide, which really had me stumped for a bit! I thankfully recalled however that while the spells affect him, they only do it to a small extent in comparison to the monsters; so while his monsters mutated horribly, Katsuya just got stomach flu and the worst right hand possible. (I've been reading too much of the Parasyte manga as well though, which likely helped...)

* * *

Another major difference here in this duel is that Jonouchi doesn't start to give in after the barrier comes up; he's just weakened considerably by the parasite's influence. Because of this, his thoughts concerning Shizuka don't appear during this match; instead, he's fighting for his monsters.

* * *

Here's an interesting thing; despite Jonouchi having clearly set the trap and purposely leaving his monsters in attack mode for bait, he actually thinks to himself '_that's the dumbest thing I've ever done!_' What, what! Jonouchi, you don't need to fool yourself!

* * *

Do insects and other 'bugs' care about their young? A lot don't, but there are a few that do… Scorpions being one of the big ones actually, not that this has anything to do with the insect queen.

I say 'bugs' by the way, because the insect type in duel monsters includes worms, arachnids, insects (Duh)… Lots of things, including things that _aren't_ arthropods.

* * *

Haga had a number of lines for calling for attack that I altered, mostly because they felt _too_ ridiculous for the situation. Things like 'QUEEN OF ARTHROPODS!' (Which includes anything with a segmented body and an exoskeleton) 'YOUR CHITINOUS MAJESTY!' (The form of glucose found in exoskeletons)… Yea.

* * *

By the way, the Insect Queen stole Haga's line somewhat near the end… And for more info on that line, 'Imago' is another name for the adult stage of an insect's lifecycle. The Queen is calling Jonouchi this because he's technically been infected by the parasite; by her standards, they are both the same species.

So it's a good thing Jonouchi doesn't know what an imago is, because he was already severely grossed out. (And now she's in his _deck_.)

* * *

On a hilarious note, as Jonouchi is putting this strategy to win in place, Bakura's thoughts _exactly_ are this; '_It sounds cool… Even if it's just a bluff._' Poor guy gets _no_ breaks whatsoever…

* * *

Haga actually _does_ cry when the Insect Queen goes down… But whether or not that's because he lost or not is questionable. He certainly _seems_ attached to the bugs, given that he's notably upset when the _larva_, which is fairly insignifigant dies… And in fanfic-Jonouchi's case, he can't help but notice the swarm of monsters with him. Though on another note, they (the bugs) mostly like Haga because Haga knows how to play the game and is probably one of the few to bother with an insect deck. So really, they're like cats in the sense that as long as they have attention...

* * *

WH-WH-WH- _Sen, what are you doing there?_ Mostly, she adds space. But also _plot_, and a bit of depth/shock and things. More importantly though, Haga's sisters might be getting a plot upgrade, as Haga, Ryuzaki, and Shizuka in general will be getting one themselves. Which is _weird_, given that all three will be in Osaka after Battle City, and the fanfic is from Jonouchi and Kaiba's perspective for the most part… Which... Mean's we won't be in Osaka...

* * *

'Eto' is one of many sound effects for muttering. Except it's actually used, and it isn't one of the 'effects' that have you thinking '_does it really sound like that?_'. Some people actually mutter 'eto', or 'ano'.

* * *

When Katsuya wonders who named Haga, it's because he's misinterpreting the name; '_Katsu_' is the _far_ less common reading of scorpion compared to it's common one, 'Sasori' after all, so the first thing that comes to mind is a more common rendition of the word as a whole; 'Katsugi' or 'Carrier', which is present in the word for a superstitious person, a prankster, a black market dealer (All of which are 'katsugiya')… And more importantly, in the term 'to flatter' or 'to put up' (Katsugiake-ru).

* * *

Bakura's polite, sure, but he's still human... _No one_ isn't going to be confused when Sen claims relation to Haga, _NO ONE_; heck, before the Jonouchi VS Haga duel, when we see the 'mime' that Malik has waiting around the square, he yells 'BOO!' in its face to see if he'll move.

It doesn't by the way.

* * *

Is the moment with Sen completely random and just made for filler? Actually _no_; you'll see her present for Haga later on.

* * *

So does anyone else wonder how the holograms for each of the Gods were programmed in? Besides Obelisk I mean? …Particularly when the abilities of Ra were largely unknown to everyone but Malik? (…Lets face it, as 'anti-supernatural' as Kaiba is, it's likely that he/she just mentally said 'screw it' when it came to that and just paid attention to the power level.) In all honesty, you can probably safely assume that either Pegasus did another stupid move and did the programming himself while putting in more codes for the duel table, or Malik has inside guys doing the hologram work so that nothing weird happens.

Because really… What other excuse do we have..?

* * *

Originally, Malik arrived at 1PM in Domino. However, to help move the timing closer to 6-6:30, I moved it to 2:30… Ta-daaaah.

* * *

Before any one asks why Malik is speaking in something other than Japanese near the end, think for a moment. As an Egyptian, why on earth would he be speaking _anything_ other than Arabic if he's just doing his mind-control deal? He's not going to switch to a foreign language to do that!

* * *

And in other news, that's all for this chapter guys! I hope you enjoyed it, and I'll see you next time!


	69. Chapter 68

**Arrival of a God**

* * *

While Jonouchi was busy facing his own horrors in the form of drastically over-the-edge visions of duel monster fights, Yugi was more or less getting over his own. True, unlike his friend's last two duels his latest match hadn't been filled with the blood and gore of his monsters... Nor had he spent the last half-hour or so staring at his right arm with barely hidden horror and disgust as those around him pondered his sanity.

But barely saving a clearly insane opponent from loosing both of his legs to a giant saw blade only to be told, through some disembodied voice speaking through that opponent, that the man would commit suicide once he woke up was just a little disconcerting. Along with the situation that led to that incident in the first place, with the store-front 'Ghoul hideaway', the basement of pile upon pile of stage magic equipment...

The leg-braces with automatic locks and life-point controlled buzz-saws... (Now that was just _sick_.)

So really, besides the fact that Malik had also decided to share another fact with himself and his 'other', it was not the best start to the after noon. Though he had to admit, the amount of information that Malik had 'seen fit' to give him though a warped and accented version of 'Pandora's voice was...

A lot, to tell the truth. More than enough to have him silent as he attempted to wrap his head around it while wiping the blood from Pandora's bleeding legs from his hands. Tomb guardian... That was what Malik claimed to be, from what he could tell. Guardian's of the 'Nameless Pharaoh'. He'd heard something similar from his other self when he thought back, in a story from long before he was aware of the spirit. When he was telling him about 'Shaadi'... The man from Egypt who carried both the scales and the 'key'. But while Shaadi had long since vanished back to wherever he came from, Malik's threat was constant and present, and not something to take lightly. Particularly since, unlike Shaadi, his own reasons were not to 'protect' or test the Pharaoh... No...

Malik had been fairly clear about what he wanted to do to his 'other self'. But while Malik's words had carried with them the threat of death, they'd also told him another thing, one incredibly important thing that had his mouth clamped shut for the moment as he left Pandora's store.

The reason why his other self had entered this tournament. The reason why he'd even _considered_ entering the tournament...

Memories... Gathering the cards and the Millennium Items, thereby unlocking the 'Pharaoh's memories. That was who he was, wasn't he? The 'other him'. And to find out just what kind of person he was, he would need those cards, wouldn't he? ...According to Malik, two of them were in this city now Yugi thought, walking down the street in silence. One, 'Obelisk', was in Kaiba's hands... Something that had likely happened soon after Jonouchi's 'bodyguard night' when he thought about it. And as for the other, it was in the hands of the one Malik called the 'Silent Doll'... The man with 'Osiris'...

But just what did he mean by 'Doll' he wondered, swallowing nervously as he moved to take a more 'lonely' route along a small canal. Why had Malik specifically said 'Beware of the Silent Doll'..? "I don't understand," he found himself muttering with narrowed eyes. "I just don't...

"_Then we'll just have to wait,_" his other said with a frown, hovering beside him with crossed arms. The boy turned, blinking as his partner stared off at the side. "_If our enemies plan to hide,_" the spirit stated calmly,_ "Then we'll have to wait for them to come to us; it's much quicker than searching the entire city,_" he added, staring into the canal at the side as he said this.

What..! Yugi paled, shaking his head. But he couldn't- He couldn't..! "N-No!" The spirit turned, watching as his 'lighter' half frowned and continued. "I can't just wait for them to attack us! The Ghouls want to _kill you_," he shouted, ignoring the odd looks a few passersby were giving him as he spoke to what was to them 'thin air'. "For all we know, they're plotting something right now!" Yugi swallowed as his other half merely continued to stare, sighing as he bowed his head. "Other me... I know what you're trying to find here in this tournament," the boy stated calmly, scowl lightening as he looked up and beyond the bridge above them. "And I can't just stand by and watch them ruin that... Your memories... They're worth so much," he continued, "And I knew, from the start that there had to be something else you were fighting for in this tournament! Something more than rare cards, or maybe a chance to fight Kaiba-san-"

The spirit flushed, coughing somewhat as he looked back at the boy incredulously. "_N- Why would that be a reason!_" ...Why was the reason such a big deal..?

Yugi gave his partner a somewhat flat stare, frowning as he ignored the flustering to give him a straight answer. "...If it weren't for the fact that I know better Other Me, I could interpret all of your conversations with Kaiba-san as an attempt to flirt..."

That particular line got an even stranger reaction, his other self continuing to cough and run into an uncharacteristically flustered state. "_Bu- But that's not!" _Well with the way he was reacting..!

The boy shook his head, unable to keep a smile off his face. "I know," he said with a short laugh, "I'm just saying; it's obvious that you enjoy dueling her... But as much as I know that," Yugi continued seriously, stopping to stand by the canal beneath the bridge, "These memories are more important right? For that reason, I want to help you," he insisted, his other self staring at the boy oddly as he continued. "We'll fight together... After all," Yugi said with an honest smile, "Getting your memories back is my job too, right?"

Again the spirit stared, mouth hanging slightly open before he spoke. "_Y... Your 'job',_" he asked, shaking his head as the path around them began to grow silent.

Yugi nodded, a somewhat sad smile on his face as he held his puzzle close. "It took me years to complete this puzzle," he said quietly, closing his eyes as he remembered those times. Eight years of constant attempts to piece one part to another, only for it to end up in just as many pieces as he'd started really... "And eventually, after I did, I finally met you. And even before then," the boy continued, referring to the bit of time from before Kaiba's 'Death-T' event, "You were there... You gave me courage when I was weak, and you helped me to find friends... Just like in my wish," he added with a smile, turning to his other-self. "'A true friend'... Someone who won't let me down, someone who I won't let down... And now," he continued, smile widening as he looked back at the canal for a moment, "I have lots of friends... Jonouchi, Anzu... Honda, Otogi, Bakura, Kaiba-san and Mokuba... And you," he added, the smile widening even more as it was mirrored by his other's usual smirk.

"_Heh..."_ The spirit appeared to cross his legs from where he stood in mid-air, shaking his head._ "You made that wish come true on your own,_" he said with a smile, turning to Yugi as his 'lighter' half again looked back at the canal. "_I can't take the credit for that..._"

"Maybe not," the boy said quietly, looking back at his puzzle with a slight shrug, "But I still think you did..." There was silence in response, his other-self merely turning away in silence. A 'pharaoh'... "...There's a part of me that wants it to always be like this," he continued, rubbing the puzzle in his hands. "You and me, inside my heart and soul, like we are now... But maybe that's because I'm too dependent on you... Maybe," Yugi muttered, almost guiltily, " Maybe I've been trapping you here, with me... Using your strength to protect me and my friends..." He fell quiet for a moment, the gaze of his other self burning the back of his neck somewhat before he turned back with a swallow. "But you know... I can't do that forever," the boy stated seriously, giving a single nod. "So now it's my turn to do something for you... My turn to grant you a wish," he continued, gripping the chain of his puzzle tightly. "I'll help you get back your memories, Other Me... No matter what!"

"_Y... You..._" The 'other' Yugi stared, before shaking his head with a smirk. "_I see..."_ He nodded, the smirk shifting to a more calm smile._ "...Thank you, Aibou._"

"Heh..." He nodded, letting go of the puzzle as he started walking down the side of the canal with his partner again. "No problem..." The two shared calm smiles for a moment, before freezing in place as a sudden chill ran down their spine. Even the warm summer heat seemed to drain from the area as they stopped, their expressions falling as the chill increased. "...This feeling..." Yugi turned as the sound of footsteps came from behind them, watching as a young man skidded down the side of the canal wall at breakneck speed before charging toward them. "S-Someone's coming..!"

The other Yugi as well turned, eyes widening as the man continued to run. "_But who..._"

The man before them skidded to a stop, eyes wide and unblinking as his bones cracked with each movement. Skeleton-thin he stood, pants hanging off his shoulders by loose suspenders and straps that were about as tight as the oversized jeans he wore. A duel disk with a loaded deck sat just as loosely upon his wrist, already primed for battle as he held it forward with a 'clack'. As he did so however, not a word was spoken, not a sound made as he breathed at an even and almost mechanized pace... The bald man merely stared, body clearly suffering from a fatigue that was being easily ignored. "...Who are you," Yugi whispered, swallowing as he stepped back from the imposing looking figure. "Who-"

"_Aibou," _his other self muttered stiffly, eyes wide as he looked at the man across from him. The spirit shook somewhat, growing tense as he stared forward with unblinking eyes. "_Look..!_" Both boys swallowed as they stared at the man's forehead, watching as the light clearly illuminated bulging, 'eye-shaped' veins between where eyebrows had once been. From a distance, it had been difficult to see... But looking now, the shape of the 'Eye of Wdjat' was impossible to miss. This person...

This was... "R... Rare Hunter," Yugi whispered, face growing pale as he stared at the near ghost-like figure.

Without warning the man tilted his head, cracking it back into place as his mouth opened to speak in a frightening lack of emotion or relaxation. "_**That's right 'Vessel',**_" the familiar patterns Malik used stated, voice again formed by the host's throat rather than his own. Vessel... That was what Malik had been calling him since their last 'meeting'... A 'vessel' for the spirit in the puzzle... "_**This is my Doll,**_" Malik said with a likely unseen grin,_** "My Silent Doll... You remember my warning don't you,**_" he asked, 'opponent' swallowing as the 'doll' in question held his duel disk forward. "_**I told you to watch out... To 'beware',**_" he continued with an almost 'hannibal' like tone,_** "Because this is the one whose power mimics **__**mine**__**. I might not be in this city,**_" Malik continued through the doll, the expression sitting in the same wide-eyed 'blank slate' that it was since they first spotted it, "_**But that doesn't mean I won't fight you... After all,**_" Malik 'asked' smoothly,_** "What more worthy an opponent for the thousands years old **__**spirit**__** of the Puzzle than the God Osiris, Lord of the **__**Dead**__**?**_" G...Gh... The boy drew back somewhat with those words, swallowing under the nonexistent stare that he was receiving from the 'voice'. "_**But you know,**_" Malik said with a 'sigh',_** "This fight is a bit of an important matter for me,**_" he drawled, emotions blocked by the stoniness of the host he used to speak. "_**So if the 'Vessel' could please stand down for now...**_" Stand d- What..!

Yugi looked to the side at his other self, watching as the spirit narrowed his eyes in anger. "._..This is fate_," he muttered stiffly, arms crossed as he moved to take control of the body for the moment. "_I can't avoid this one..._"

...No... He supposed not... But even so... "Be careful," he warned, swallowing as his partner continued to stare at their opponent. "If he has a God card, this won't be easy..!" The spirit merely nodded, before seemingly merging with his lighter half's body in a flash.

And with a sudden blast of 'wind' and vertigo on the part of both there was a switch, the body grabbing their duel disk and setting it into position with narrowed eyes as the jacket was pulled off their arms. "Don't worry," the 'other' Yugi muttered, again in control of the body as he gripped the jacket in his hand. "I will _defeat_ God if need be..."

"_...Alright then,_" the lighter, now 'ghostly' form Yugi muttered from the side, fading into the puzzle to allow his partner privacy. His voice faded to little more than a whisper as he took his place within the puzzle, worry evident even without the visual expression cue. "_Good luck..._"

The jacket was tossed to the side of the canal walkway as 'Yugi' stared across the field, listening as Malik's elated chuckling filled the air. "_**At last, at last you come out..!**_" Tch... 'at last'? The only reason he wasn't 'there' last time was because his 'lighter half' had wanted to spare Pandora from the death that he quite deserved... ...Not that it did Pandora any good he thought bitterly, glaring at the 'source' of the reasoning._** "I've waited **__**years**__** for this,**_" Malik was continuing with a laugh, his doll showing no change in emotion otherwise. "_**Many, many years...**_"

Yugi merely stared at the 'doll', scoffing as the pale, skeleton-thin man stood motionless. 'Many years'...? It looked as though this 'doll' had been doing the same quite frankly. "Hn!" The teen shook his head, staring at his 'opponent' in distaste. "Your 'doll' has seen better days 'Malik'... Not the most dignified bearer for a God card," he continued, crossing his arms as the wind blew past the 'duelists'.

There was the sound of a sigh on the air, the owner of the voice likely shaking his head. "_**No... I suppose not,**_" Malik drawled, tone clearly showing how little he cared about the matter. "_**But he's certainly useful...**_" Useful, Yugi thought with a frown, narrowing his eyes as his 'opponent' went on._** "This 'doll' was a serial killer in his country,**_" he explained darkly,_** "A young man who slaughtered his parents and siblings in a single night without warning, captured on scene with literally blood soaked arms,**_" Malik stated with an unseen smirk, his opponent staring with narrowed eyes as a slight prickling feeling of unease developed._** "Out of the guilt and madness this drove him into,**_" he continued 'plainly, "_**He locked his very consciousness from his body, forcing himself into a comatose state. Not a shred of emotion or feeling remains in this 'man'... If you could call such an empty vessel a 'man',**_" he added with a laugh, the voice greatly contrasting the emotionless face his opponent was staring at. "_**But for myself, the master of the mind, there is no better weapon...**_" So then besides brainwashing other people... "_**After all, it isn't as though he can argue any more...**_" Besides admittedly forcing people into his own bidding...

He had effectively denied this man the 'peace' of death, the sole escape that he likely had after actions that so clearly rendered him insane? Yugi's lips curled back in distaste, gritting his teeth as he glared at the 'doll' ahead of him. Even from a distance he could see scars on the man's body... Markings from a self-induced maddness that had slowly degenerated into complete vegetation... "So brainwashing isn't the only thing you do then," he spat, narrowing his eyes as he stared across the field. "You _sicken_ me Malik..." And there were no other words for it!

More chuckling filled the air with that statement however, the 'doll' shaking with each breath as his mouth moved with an almost audible clack. "_**Hnhnhnhnhnh... Oh do I now,**_" he 'asked' with a likely smirk, opponent's scowl deepening even more in response. "_**The human mind is so much more fragile than the body don't you know? You've toyed with it yourself,**_" the voice continued in evident humor,_** "With interesting results I might add...**_" Gh- Yugi's jaw clenched at the accurate accusation, visions of the various 'penalties' he'd inflicted coming to mind. From hallucinatory horrors to soul-imprisoning acts of power... But they had all been within _reason_ he told himself, all of them... This... This was different, this had _no_ purpose, this-_** "People, **__**all**__** people,**_" Malik stated calmly,_** "Are influenced by what they see. Whether they read it, experience it... From those actions, people can do many things, with incredible results... They can create entire personalities, separate each other from their very selves... Or they'll come to believe that they hear God,**_" he continued on with a cold chuckle,_** "Acting on what are merely hints and suggestions that were planted prior...**_" So the mind was 'strange'... He knew this. There were reasons, after all, for Mokuba's initial questioning on his 'presence', the questions of the others as to his origin... Anzu had assumed, for the most part, that he was simply a fragment of Yugi, the 'light' one... Mokuba as well had wondered, if not briefly, whether or not they were technically 'the same'.

And of course, in the end, both were wrong. Everyone was wrong really... But just what purpose did those topics have now..?

"_**The imagination,**_" his 'opponent' muttered, chuckling filling the air._** "Hnhnhnhn... It'll devour you from the inside out,**_" he stated with an eerily humoured tone before continuing on. "_**You see my power is far more than 'brainwashing', far more...**_" ..._More_ than brainwashing? And just what sort of logic was that..._** "With my overwhelming charisma and dominance combining with a person's thoughts, it's easy to show them their image of 'God',**_" Malik explained, his unseen smirk more likely than not widening into a sneering grin._** "And when God speaks,**_" he continued darkly,_** "It's impossible not to listen... Such is the work of the Millennium Rod. A domination of all thoughts, senses and memories, played with to my bidding...**_"

In other words, _brainwashing, _with a glorified definition of complete and total domination the teen thought with a low growl. "Tch..."

"_**This 'doll'... This 'killing machine',**_" Malik said with a rather 'off-hand' tone, likely grinning from wherever he was located, "_**When I win this duel, believe me... It **__**will**__** kill you... It's simply his 'program', his 'instinct' if you will,**_" the voice explained, quite likely revelling in the steady chill his opponent was now suffering from as a result._** "No matter where you run, no matter where you hide,**_" he said with an invisible, cheshire's grin,_** "This doll will pursue you tirelessly, day and night both... You can run as far as you want,**_" Malik announced 'proudly', the soulless eyes of his doll staring blankly forward,_** "But he will **__**never**__** stop... **__**Never**__** sleep... Until the blood from your cold dead corpse is on his hands,**_" he finished with a chuckle, a cold breeze swiftly moving through the area as a result._**"Khnhnhnhnhnhnh...**_"

Yugi swallowed as the laughter floated through the air in a faded tone, narrowing his eyes as he thought over the words. Life or death was it? ...Well... If that was the case... "You might be able to _catch_ me," he said darkly, a threatening smirk coming on his face as the wind around them increased in ferocity, "But do you honestly think that you can _beat_ me," he asked, the smirk widening into a dark and menacing grin.

Silence hovered through the air, before laughter came from the doll once more in contrast to its expression. "_**Khahahaha... HAHAHAHAHA! But of course I can, Yugi! I'll kill you,**_" he shouted with a loud and roaring cackle,_** "And then after taking 'Kaiba Seto's own card I'll do the same to him... And with the three cards in my grasp I will take the title of 'King', freed from your shadow and curse of thousands of years...**_"

Well... He was certainly bitter about this... Yugi grit his teeth, watching as the deck in the slot of the disk shuffled itself before settling to a stop. So not just him then... Kaiba as well. Well... While he doubted Kaiba would be unable to dispose of the scum before him with ease, he wasn't about to let it get to that point. "Hn!" He could not lose... He would not lose! He would regain his lost memories and prove 'Malik' wrong! "Then start the duel," he shouted, narrowing his eyes as both he and his opponent drew their hand of cards. "LET'S GO!"

"_**Hnhnhnhnhn... Very well! I draw first,**_" Malik shouted loudly, the doll doing as commanded with stiff moments as it added a card to the hand. Only a brief moment more and the 'doll' was taking another card from the six he held, blank eyes not once moving from their opponent. "_**Are you ready,**_" he taunted, setting the card on the field robotically. "_**I play one card face down... And then,**_" he continued, the face down card in question appearing to the field in a flash of light,_** "Humanoid Slime,**_" the voice shouted, "_**Attack mode!**_" Attack mode..? The teen frowned, watching as the card appeared on the field as the metallic, gooey beast materialized from the light before it."_**End turn!**_"

But with a monster as weak as that, Yugi thought with narrowed eyes, looking over the stats of the card before him... He narrowed his eyes further, frowning as he drew his next card. Well _obviously_ this was setting up for a trap... Attack the monster, get a nasty surprise he thought with a growl, glaring somewhat at the card in question. But if he couldn't attack this turn, he could always set a trap for a trap, he thought with a nod, setting the card on the field and watching as the enormous version of the card 'flashed' onto the field. "I play one card face down," he shouted as the card appeared, before taking a second card and setting it on the disk. "And then, I play Gazelle in attack mode," the teen called out, watching as the great holographic 'lion' appeared to the field with a roar. The monster's card hovered behind the beast, both the monster and its card sitting a foot or so off the ground. Gazelle however did not appear to stand as though in 'mid-air' this time however, instead taking a 'seat' as it looked across the field. "My turn is over!"

Hnn... Was it just him he wondered with a frown, or were the 'holograms' a little more realistic than before..? Gazelle always had his own personality, but he was never this 'detailed'... ...Whatever, he told himself. Likely nothing... "_**Hnnn...**_" The teen stared as his opponent took his own turn, still staring blankly across the field and hiding whatever emotions the 'controller' held._** "No attack,**_" Malik questioned, his opponent merely narrowing his eyes in response. "_**You're awfully cautious... Or should I even say 'cowardly',**_" he added, Yugi merely holding his glare as the voice chuckled darkly. Bastard... "_**Hnhnhnhnhn... You won't be able to beat me like that,**_" the voice 'observed', his opponent continuing to grit his teeth as Malik muttered on,_** "But at least you won't die before seeing the glory that is Osiris **__**with your own eyes... Perhaps you can offer him a prayer of safe journey's in the afterlife**_," he added, Yugi merely continuing to respond with a silent glare in regards to the veiled threat._** "Now,**_" Malik continued with a cackle, his doll drawing a card before taking another from his hand in an unseen sleight-of-hand. "_**I summon Worm Drake!**_" The holographic card appeared to the field instantly, long and almost reptilian 'worm' appearing in front of it._** "And in addition to that,**_" the voice shouted, the holographic 'worm' writhing in its spot as its doll set another card, "_**Polymerization! Fusing them both into the Humanoid Drake,**_" he announced loudly, the cards on the field vanishing as Polymerization's spiral swam from the newly arrived card, light coating the Worm Drake into a metalloid serpent with wings and arms both.

There it was... The material cards vanished in an instant to make way for the combined form's own holographic portrait, the monster shimmering to an almost blinding extent in the light. 2200 attack points... Obviously more than his 'Gazelle'. But he needn't worry just yet, Yugi reminded himself with a swallow, it couldn't attack-

"_**Do you recall my face down card,**_" Malik 'asked' idly, his opponent staring past the glowing, holographic monster to the card on the field. Yes... That was the card... "_**The one that you likely thought was a trap? It wasn't.**_" It wasn'- Damn. "_**Flip the card,**_" he shouted, the card in question swinging upwards at the Doll's swift movement as its image became clear. "_**Quick Attack!**_" The card vanished from the field as its name was shouted, Yugi narrowing his eyes. Tch... Allow one fusion monster to attack on the same turn it's summoned... And if that was the case... "_**Hnhnhnhn... Unlike **__**you**__**, I don't fear my opponent's cards,**_" Malik drawled, his host holding its same emotionless vigil as he spoke. "_**I'm not the type of duelist who plays it safe, never attacking unless he's sure of the upper hand... Unlike you,**_" he shouted with a cackle,_** "Who's so cowardly they're afraid of a single face down card..!**_" Gh... Then the trap... "_**Slime Drake,**_" Malik ordered, the beaked serpent charging toward his monster, "_**Attack!**_" Then...

Hnhnhnhnhn... He'd fallen for the trap. "Heh... You think so," he shouted, tapping the corresponding 'spell/trap' button to activate the card. "Malik... I knew from the moment you played 'Humanoid Slime' that you would use it to make a fusion monster! After all... You'd be able to gain a powerful monster without wasting a turn, and all in all," he continued, smirking as the card he'd activated swung upward on the field, "What better material monster than the slime?"

"_**You...**_" The voice sputtered somewhat, as though choking on his words._** "You **__**knew**__** I would polymerize-**_"

"Of course," he said with a grin, ignoring the sudden silence his opponent took. "And now... 'De-Fusion'," the teen shouted, watching as the card 'shocked' the monster back into its materials before vanishing from the field. The two material 'cards' again appeared on the field, taking the place of their original summon before the source of the spell vanished in a flash. "And since you're still attacking," he muttered, pointing his monster forward as the beast stood with a nod. "Gazelle," Yugi ordered, the monster growling as the material monsters hovered on the field, "Destroy the slime!"

Instantly the beast reacted, slashing through the slime monster as it charged forward.A blast of wind buffeted the mind-controlled doll as his points went down, the worm drake left as the only monster on his side of the field while Malik growled. "_**Rggg...**_"

Hnhnhnhnhn... "Well Malik," he asked, still smirking as it came to his turn. "I'm sure you've already planned _your_ next move... But keep in mind," the teen continued with a grin as he drew his card, "That I've planned the one _after _it..."

"_**Hnhnhnhnhn...**_" Yugi frowned somewhat as chuckling filled the air, growing steadily louder despite the lack of movement from the doll. ...He... Hadn't expected _laughter_ as a reaction... "_**Hnhnhahaha... So you predicted that,**_" Malik stated with a chuckle, likely grinning despite the hit to his lifepoints._** "Well... You're making this quite enjoyable Yugi...**_" Tch... Enjoyable..! How was this..!

...Well... He supposed he himself could have some satisfaction from beating him at least... "Hn! Your moves are too weak to even touch my lifepoints Malik... I doubt this will last much longer," he added calmly, looking over his hand for a brief moment.

More laughter filled the air in response to this, distracting him from his move. Yugi narrowed his eyes as the disembodied voice chuckling echoed on the wind, the source taking a few moments to calm himself before speaking. "_**Please,**_" he muttered with an invisible sneer,_** "I was just testing the waters on that turn... I cast a pebble into the seas to see how big a ripple it would make, to measure your skills as a duelist...**_"

Tch... "If you cast a pebble into the seas you won't even get a ripple," he shouted incredulously, only to grit his teeth as Malik cut him off.

"_**Now now,**_" he drawled 'impatiently',_** "Let me finish...**_" Tch... Since he would likely keep interrupting until he did, he mind as well..._** "If a duelist is a vessel, a container,**_" Malik explained shortly,_** "Then the strategies and abilities of that vessel are the water that fills it... The water takes the shape of the container,**_" he continued,_** "Filling it, but if there isn't enough you can see right through it to the bottom... And as such, see through the strategies to your own advantage..."**_ And just what was he trying to say by that..? More chuckling filled the air, Yugi grinding his teeth in aggravation._** "The rumors don't lie,**_" Malik said plainly, likely smirking yet again as he 'looked' at his opponent's expression. "_**You have quite the talent Yugi... A duelist with 'depth',**_" he continued, the doll's blank eyes far betraying the tone._** "But with the stone I have, the stone called 'Osiris', I will crush your vessel... Keep that in mind, Yugi...**_" 'Crush' him?

Tch... He wouldn't let him..! "Gh... Continue the duel," the teen shouted, looking back at his hand with a short growl. "It's my turn!" Yugi looked at the card he'd drawn moments before, grabbing the one beside it as he ran a few ideas through his head. Buster Blader... The seven-star, warrior monster. He could summon him next turn then he decided, setting the card in his hand on the field. But for now... "I summon Beta, the Magnet Warrior," he shouted, watching as a large version of the card appeared with the hologram of his monster. The monster gave a curt nod as it took a fighting stance, hovering in the air with narrowed, beady eyes.

...Strange...

The teen narrowed his eyes briefly, looking at the monster as the strong wind from before continued to pick up. The holograms didn't reflect light before... And yet Beta's metal armor was gleaming almost blindingly in the sun, much like actual metal. This wasn't happening before... So why would they now? Again he shook it off, turning his attentions to the duel. ...Whatever. He had no time for this... "Battle phase," he announced, pointing the monsters forward. With a growl the less powerful of the two charged forward, Beta right behind the beast as it tore through Malik's worm. "Gazelle destroys the Worm Drake," he announced, before Beta continued forward to strike the 'Doll' directly. Again the vicious wind passed his opponent's doll, not a single movement given at the steady drop in life points that he'd suffered. "Turn end," Yugi shouted, bracing himself against the rapidly increasing pressure of wind. There... No more monsters left on the field, and an already made strike to Malik's life points directly... He had the upper hand..!

...And yet Malik's voice, like the doll, did not appear to care, the doll in question merely drawing a card as his 'controller' spoke. "_**My turn...**_" Shit. No change in tone, not even in the slightest... "_**Yugi,**_" Malik muttered, the teen in question swallowing back a feeling of unease._** "I likened strategy to water earlier didn't I,**_" he asked, opponent narrowing his eyes at the analogy. "_**I think I'll show you that strategy now... After all,**_" the voice announced clearly,_** "At times, water can become a shapeless shield, protecting against anything... And at others it can become a sword, to pierce the opponent's heart... This monster wields that power,**_" he announced, setting a card on the field as its holographic counterpart rose into place. "_**I summon the Revival Jam, in defense mode!**_" Revival Jam... Another slime monster? Yugi frowned as the largely formless slime appeared above the ground, only to swallow as his opponent continued with his move. "_**And now that the monster is on the field,**_" Malik stated as he placed a second card, the spell card appearing on the field as he spoke, "_**It's time to turn on my Jam Breeding Machine!**_" W-What..! The machine in question arose immediately, a large domed mass of metal spewing smoke and steam of all sorts. A small spout sat on the top of the device, dripping with some kind of goo...

So this was... "A slime machine..!"

More chuckling filled the air, the doll remaining just as motionless as before while Malik explained. "_**Correct... This device produces one slime each turn,**_" he said calmly, the machine smoking and steaming from where it hovered in the air. "_**Of course,**_" the voice stated with an audible 'shrug',_** "As long as its on the field, I can't normal summon any monsters...**_" No, but he could tribute summon as soon as it was self-destroyed now couldn't he..! And given what he'd heard, the teen thought with a swallow, the God Cards were likely too powerful for even the standard 'two monster' sacrifice... Which meant Malik was going to keep summoning slimes until he had enough for Osiris..!

A cold shudder ran down his spine with that thought, the teen swallowing as he stared at the field. The 'ultimate' monster... And for all he knew he realized coldly, it was already in his hand... Yugi again swallowed back the wash of unease, gritting his teeth as he looked across the field. He'd have to kill Malik's lifepoints before he could play it... Knock him out of the tournament first, beat him quickly... "It's my turn," he shouted, drawing a card to add to his hand without a glance before taking the Buster Blader and setting it on the dueldisk. "I sacrifice my two monsters to summon the Dragon Slayer," he announced, wind picking up with a sudden jump in speed and force, "Buster Blader!" The two monsters on the field vanished into pillars of light, cards removed from the disk and field both as the summoned monster took its place. The swordsman held his broadsword tightly in hand as he stood above the ground, Yugi sending the tributed monsters to the grave. And with that in mind... "Attack the Revival Jam," he ordered, the blader giving a curt nod. "_**HAKAI-KEN ISSEN!**_" The monster charged forward with his blade, cutting through the goo in a flash of near blinding light. Droplets scattered through the air, the teen grinning as his monster returned to its position. "Yes!" With that 'jam' gone the spell would be destroyed... "I stopped your jam!"

"_**Hnhnhnhnhn... Is that so,**_" Malik asked calmly, his opponent's expression falling. ...What...

The scattered drops hadn't vanished from the field he realized coldly, nor had its card. Instead, the scattered drops of slime reformed, catching and sticking to each other as they built up the metallic blob once again, one by one until they formed the same 'shapeless' creature that Malik had called 'Jam'. "It... Revived..."

..._Revival_ jam. REVIVE, _how did he miss that_? "_**Hnhnhnhn... This is the regenerative power of the Revival Jam,**_" Malik announced with a laugh, opponent's eyes wide with shock and inner self-beration both. "_**No matter what you do,**_" the voice continued proudly,_** "It will not die... You mind as well attack a pool of water! Hnhnhahahahaha...**_" Gh... Damn... Damn, damn, _damn it!__** "I warned you didn't,**_" Malik 'asked', still chuckling. "_**Shapeless, and invincible,**_" he muttered plainly, almost smugly as he laughed,_** "This is my shield... And as long as the Jam remains,**_" he continued,_** "Your monster's can't even **__**touch**__** me...**_" Not good... NOT good at all, the teen across from the doll thought tensely. "_**Now back to **__**me**__**,**_" the unseen opponent continued, his doll drawing a card and adding it to his hand in silence. "_**First,**_" he said calmly,_** "The Jam Breeding Machine activates... Bringing out the first slime token,**_" Malik announced, Yugi merely biting his lip as the tiny token came to the field from the machine's spout. He'd need to attack the slime first then... At least he could whittle him down th- "_**The slimes created by this machine are weak,**_" Malik drawled with a 'shrug', likely shaking his head from wherever he was located._** "Only 500 attack points, and unable to defend...**_" And there was more to this. Damn it... He'd already long prepared for this, hadn't he. "_**Hnhnhnhn... Well... If you were to attack me through them, you'd do a lot of damage! So... In order to prevent that,**_" the voice continued, setting another card on the field to reveal its holographic counterpart, "_**I'll play the spell card Nightmare Steel Cage, ending my turn!**_" What! In a flash a cage surrounded the teen and his monster both, Yugi looking through the domed and spiked bars with wide eyes as his opponent laughed. T-This... The teen drew a card, glancing at it only briefly before wincing and looking back at the cage around him. He couldn't do anything..! This was...

"_**Hnhnhnhnhn... That cage is **__**strong**__**,**_" Malik stated plainly,_** " Strong enough for a solid barrier that will last for three turns, from both sides...**_" Three..! The blood drained from his face at that, expression saying all that was on his mind as his opponent continued. "_**You can guess what that means, can't you Yugi..? I can't attack,**_" the voice stated as the cage 'dug' into the ground,_** "But I can build up my forces as you stand before me... The second Slime appears,**_" he said plainly, Yugi swallowing as the tiny goo ball appeared to the field. His turn then... Provided he could do anything... "_**By next turn I'll have all I need... Hnhehehehe...**_" All he needed..!

"Ghh..." Yugi's eyes widened with realization as he stared through the small holes in the cage, colour draining from his face. The card was already in his hand... Osiris was already in his hand..! Malik was going to summon Osiris and he couldn't do anything..!

"_**How does it feel in there Yugi...**_" How did it- The teen's jaw clenched tightly, a low growl forming as his opponent taunted him._** "Locked away, imprisoned in that steel cage... Do you feel... Humiliation,**_" Malik asked, passing the time that Yugi's turn would have taken, "_**Despair, sorrow..?**_" Get it over with god damn it... He'd drawn his card, and he couldn't do anything..! But as Malik continued, he couldn't help but be unable to hide all of his uneasiness._** "It's how I've felt my entire LIFE,**_" Malik growled angrily, tone taking a dark turn from its usual charismatic calm as the doll stared blankly forward. "_**The fate of a tomb guardian! And with your DEATH Yugi, I will be freed from that fate...**_" The voice trailed off somewhat with those words, his opponent again unable to make a move with what he held in his hands._** "Hnhnhahahha... And look at that,**_" Malik shouted, the machine beside him spitting out another slime as Yugi cursed. Again... Again, he'd been unable to do anything.. "_**I have three slimes...**_" Four monsters on the field by that logic..._** "Which means it's time for me to destroy the breeding machine,**_" Malik continued, Yugi swallowing as the doll moved the spell into the graveyard and the machine vanished from sight, "_**And sacrifice the tokens I have on the field! Don't look away Yugi,**_" the voice roared, his opponent growing paler and paler as the three slimes vanished from the field only for the sky to darken. In the slime's place a single card had appeared, text too faint to read from his position. Even so, he wasn't trying at the moment, merely turning to the skies with wide eyes. What was this..! The weather itself was changing now, storming in reaction to a summon? Just moments before the sun had shone brightly, despite the battering winds... But now... "_**Watch,**_" Malik said calmly, the doll making still no movements as it stood erectly on the field. "_**This... Is Osiris.**_"

An earth-shaking roar came through the air, Yugi resisting the urge to plug his ears in response. Storm clouds were darkening above and around them as thunder pealed through the air, the sound barely hidden by the snarls of whatever beast had been summoned. Lightening struck the ground near where they stood, and from the illumination of the sparks came the shadow of an enormous serpent coming through the air, flying toward the field as it soared among the clouds. This... He knew each monster had a soul, was its own being in its own right but this...

This was no hologram, he realized quickly, a feeling of dread filling him completely as an even louder snarl pierced the air. "_**GROAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOO!**_" He could hear the roar clearly... And as the monster 'swam' forward, double mouths blasting hot breath in his face as it came through the clouds, Yugi stared in a mixture of sheer horror and awe both. He could feel its breath, see its scales... See the glimmer of light in the beast's eyes as lightening struck from the sides.

Hah... Haaaah... This... "Osiris..." This was...

Osiris... "_**Come forth OSIRIS,**_" Malik ordered with an echoing shout, mad cackling filling the air to join the roars and thunder peals._** "Show this FOOL the power that will bring his end! HAHAHAHAHAHA!**_" The dragon reared with this shout, bottom mouth hanging open as it let loose another roar and coiled above and around its summoner.

"_**GREAAAAAAAAAAOAOOOOOOOOOO!**_" He couldn't move, he realized quickly, watching as the storm continued to converge around the seemingly endless dragon that was 'Osiris'. It wasn't the cage either... He could feel the power radiating off this monster, hear the sounds of every one of its limbs moving as the beast towered over him, easily matching the size of a sky-scraper if not surpassing it. This... This was...

_Real_. The teen swallowed, staring forward as he subconsciously drew a card to begin his turn. He had... Had to move... He had to win, for Yugi, for Jonouchi, for Kaiba, for everyone... "How," he found himself muttering, staring forward with unblinking eyes. "How will I..." The world, the ground, the water at the side, it was literally _shaking_ with each movement as this 'God' hovered in the air..! To say that it _wasn't_ a 'God' would be impossible, false, it would... "_How_..."

"_**How do you beat it,**_" Malik asked smugly, quite safe from the god in wherever his location was, "_**You don't,**_" he said rather bluntly, quite enjoying the fear running through his opponent's body._** "You can't! Every duelist is powerless against Osiris' infinite attack power, and you Yugi, are no exception!**_" In... Infinite..! That was impossible, it couldn't possibly have- "_**For each card in my hand,**_" Malik explained clearly,_** "Osiris gains attack and defensive power... 1000 points for one card,**_" he continued, the doll gesturing to his hand._** "Right now, my doll has three... Making three thousand attack points and three thousand defense points...**_" Three thousand...

Numbers ran through the teen's head with those words, Yugi staring through the bars of the cage. One card per thousand, it would be 4000 on the next turn after Malik drew his card. Five on the turn after that, then six thousand, and so forth... Yugi swallowed, attempting to calm himself despite this fact. He still had a chance though... That meant that Osiris' limit would be 7000 points, same as the limit for the hand of c-

"_**I know what you're thinking Yugi,**_" Malik muttered, his opponent tensing up yet again with those words. "_**But I said ****INFINITE**** power... And I have a card in my hand that will allow me to do just that,**_" he said with a dark chuckle, the laughter continuing as Yugi narrowed his eyes._** "Moreover, Osiris has another ability... But it's still your turn, isn't it,**_" he continued, the image of a smirk coming to mind with the tone as he changed the subject. "_**And once that's over,**_" Malik stated with an 'audible' grin,_** "The Nightmare Steel Cage will vanish, leaving you vulnerable to God's might... So make your move Yugi,**_" the voice 'ordered' with a laugh. "_**It'll be one of your last ones..."**_

Make a move... It was his turn, his turn..! ...Osiris was a dragon the teen told himself, looking toward the monster with a swallow. That much was clear... But Buster Blader gained 500 attack points for each dragon on the field, so he had a small chance... If Malik drew another card, his chance would vanish quickly however, so he needed to act, and fast... There would only be one card that could prevent that though, just one, thanks to his inability to attack this turn... If he...

If he _hadn't_ drawn that card he thought with a shudder, if it wasn't in his hand... "_**What's wrong Yugi,**_" Malik 'asked' with a likely sneer, pulling his opponent's attention from his hand of cards. "_**Has the terror paralyzed you to the point where you can't look at your hand? You might not be able to attack from within that cage,**_" he continued with a chuckle, ignoring the growing fear and anger in his opponent's eyes, "_**But you can still summon a monster, or set a 'trap'... You can at least ****pretend**** not to give up, can't you,**_" he asked, laughter filling the air as it was joined by Osiris' low growls. Give up! The teen grit his teeth, growling under his breath as his hand clenched. Gh... His cards... "_**Hnhnhnhnhn... To watch you squirm like this in that cage,**_" Malik hissed, voice seemingly bouncing about on the storms winds._** "Futilely trying to defend yourself... ****This**** is something I enjoy!**_" Gghhhh... Yes he would wouldn't he...

But he couldn't... No... No, he could not lose! He had to think... Malik had Osiris, Revival Jam, and once face down card the teen told himself, looking over the field... He, however, had in his hand one monster, a number of spells... And... "Ah..." He looked over his hand, nodding to himself as he steadied his panic. And this... Alright, he told himself, taking a deep breath as he continued to calm down. The next turn would decide the match! Yugi grabbed three cards from his hand, hurriedly setting them into their proper slots on the disk as holographic counterparts appeared on the field. "First," he shouted clearly, watching as two 'cards' appeared with their backs to the air before him, "I'll play two cards face down!" The cards shimmered somewhat in the dim light that made its way through the clouds above, the waver in his voice barely hidden as he continued with his move. "Next... I play Kuriboh in defense mode," the teen announced, the furry 'ball' giving an echoing 'kurii' as it was summoned beside him in the cage. Just like the others, there was so much detail and light... He shook himself, turning forward as he prepared for his next move. Not the time! "And my turn is over!" Alright...

Yugi swallowed, heart rate jumping as the 'cage' began to fade. Now or never..! "_**And now... The steel cage vanishes,**_" Malik said with a low chuckle, his opponent taking a step back as the bars continued to vanish. All or nothing..! "_**This cage that's protected you until now...**_"

Hah... Hah... Osiris was growling low from where he hovered, lowering his head to face the boy with hot stinging breaths. Right in front of him... With a skull and face that was easily many times his size, the monster was right in front of him, so close that if he held out a hand he could touch the beast... And it would not take much effort to do just that. He was right there... Right... There... Osiris continued to growl as it floated before him, before finally raising its head as its summoner continued to speak, evidently more inclined to let the 'doll' call his attacks for now.

"_**Now it's **__**MY**__** turn,**_" he announced clearly, drawing his card and moving to add it to his hand. "_**Osiris' power is now 4000 points in **__**total... So here I go! OSIRIS, ATTA-**_"

"Reveal spell," Yugi shouted abruptly, barely catching the move as it tied into his opponent's draw phase. The doll across him showed no emotion, but even so the reaction was easy to envision.

"_**W... What..!**_"

Yugi swallowed as the spell card swung upward, a holographic blade appearing to pierce through his opponent's hand as he spoke. "Lightforce Sword! I'm using it to take one of your cards from play," he continued, the Doll showing no reaction to the loss even as Malik shouted in rage. A seemingly useless card appeared to the field, before disintegrating from sight.

"_**Rgggg... End turn,**_" Malik shouted in response, clearly aggravated by the hurried defense. "_**You've saved yourself **__**this**__** time...**_"

Yes... But this turn would also end it! However... The teen frowned, swallowing as he looked at the card that sat 'behind' Osiris, watching as it stood in its upright, 'natural' position. ...But why... Why was Osiris still in attack mode, if Malik knew that attacking would be dangerous... Yugi narrowed his eyes, nonetheless drawing his next card before pointing his own monster forward. He couldn't think of that! "My turn! Buster Blader attacks," he shouted, watching as the monster charged toward Osiris. "And with that-"

"'_**With that',**_" Malik 'asked', his opponent paling as the 'doll' suddenly activated the face down card from the field. "_**Were you saying something? Hnhnhnhn...**_"

Yugi continued to pale as the Buster Blader's sword stuck Revival Jam, eyes wide as both monsters returned to their side of the field. Revival Jam quickly reformed, the activated trap card clearly visible to the teen. "The... The Revival Jam..!"

"_**Khnhnhnhnhn... That's right!**_" Shit..!_** "You activated my continuous trap, 'Jam Defender'... What was my shield is also Osiris'! No matter how many times you attack,**_" Malik shouted with a laugh,_** "This shield will be there! More over,**_" he continued, Yugi's turn passing over as the teen swallowed in anxiety, "_**For my turn I'm activating another spell... Card of Safe Return!**_" The hand increase card..! The teen paled even further as the card appeared on the field, largely hidden by the coil's of Osiris' enormous form. "_**For every time Revival Jam is destroyed,**_" the voice explained,_** "I draw three cards...**_" And the doll was doing just that, adding the cards to his hand just as Revival Jam wobbled back to its position in the field._** "And since I now have five cards in my hand,**_" Malik said with a dark chuckle, pointing his dragon forward with an unseen sneer, "_**You can say good bye to your Buster Blader!**_" Gh...!

No... Shit..! Osiris' great maw opened wide, wider than it already was as a ball of flames developed above him. In a blast of fire and light the swordsman was destroyed, Yugi ducking behind his arm as the wave of heat blew past him. The hologram served as a paper thin shield when it came to heat to say the least... And while his lifepoints were more or less still intact, his arms were most certainly not ready to agree with the thought. "Gh... Hng..."

"_**HAHAHAHAHAHA! Do you still think you can defeat GOD,**_" Malik shouted over the blaze, his opponent squinting in an attempt to see past the flames. "_**Do you still hope to resist your FATE?**_" Gh... Ghg...

The heat... This heat... The teen took thick, rasping breaths as the air quickly dried, the crackling flames drowning out the sounds of the storm. Even so, the flames were clearly not 'normal' in any way... Already they were vanishing, leaving nothing but clean cement and air in its wake. Yugi's eyes widened as the fires began to clear however, watching as Osiris held his head high above him. Hidden in the flames he'd come close, both mouths closed tightly as it snorted from above. This monster... "**...So... THIS is the one who would be called KING**_**,**_" a low voice rumbled, Yugi's eyes widening as the dragon's lower mouth opened to speak. This... That couldn't be... Talking... The dragon was... Talking... The teen swallowed, backing up somewhat as sweat ran down his brow. "**Hn! Well then,**_" _Osiris 'muttered', the term only loosely fitting his words given the volume of the 'God's voice._** "**_**Do you find yourself WORTHY of my power**_**, '**_**LITTLE KING**_**'..? **_**Or are you a KING in NAME only,**" he asked with an almost questioning roar,** "With his POWER lost to the very fabrics of TIME**_**..?**_"

The dragon... _Osiris_... Yugi took loud, panicked breaths as he looked at the monster before him, watching it rear back to its position with a loud roar. To ask him these things... To even speak at all..! This monster, this 'God', staring him down, radiating power as it did...

This was... "G..Ghk..."

For the first time in a long time...

He was _scared_.

* * *

Across the district of Domino, many varied reactions were given to the quickly developing storm. Some, store owners and 'normals', people with nothing or little to do with the tournament for the most part, headed inside, safe from the harsh winds that were developing from the east end of the district. Others, mostly duelists who hadn't yet been disqualified from the ongoing 'brawl' that spread across the city, briefly paused in whatever matches they were having to look toward the storm with frowns... Before shaking off a growing feeling of cold dread to continue on their way. Even far in the distance, on a train that was as of then, still on its way toward the west of the country, a few passengers could feel a change in the air...

As for those still within the city, there were very few exceptions to the above. One was a young girl whose search through the city was unfettered by the sudden increase in wind and cold, merely wrapping a poncho around her arms and continuing forward with stubborn (albeit silent) perseverance. Another was a young woman who was now regretting the fact that her outfit had formerly matched with the weather of the summer seasons, and had now begun an unfortunately 'long' trek back to the train station parking lot for her jacket... Another exception, somewhere in the middle of the city's 'down town' square was a small group of friends, two non-duelists and one competitor ,briefly pausing in the search for another fight to shudder and look at the sky...

With the blond of the group turning with wide eyes toward one of the bridges north of their location, expression revealing far more shock than a sudden storm would normally bring as low rumblings met his ears...

But far out on the other end of the city, the only reaction that Seto Kaiba gave to the storm developing in the distance was a slightly narrowed stare, while her brother paid no attention to the storm at all. "Odd," she was muttering, watching as the clouds appeared to converge in a single concentrated spot. It was as though for no real reason the clouds had been attracted to one area above the city, leaving the rest of the sky clear... "The weather called for clear skies..." And while it wasn't too cloudy where _she _was, those clouds were definitely along the coastline...

...This could cause problems with the finals...

-_bzz. bzzzzz._-

Hnn? Her radio..? The woman raised an eyebrow as the small device pinned to her jacket buzzed, staring at the logo-shaped radio before tapping the side to answer it. "What is it," she said plainly, knowing just how few a number of people knew about the radio in question. Whoever was calling through this probably had a damn good reason...

And if they didn't, they wouldn't enjoy things when she got back... "_Kaiba-sama,_" the voice of the 'search team's supervisor stated, Seto crossing her arms as the man spoke. "_We've located one of the two God Cards; the computer scans reveal the name 'Osiris'... It's near 350, in Block E._" The god cards! More importantly though, the set location and name..! The woman's eyebrows raised immediately, Mokuba looking up at the woman oddly as the supervisor continued. "_We've also identified the duelist facing its owner,_" he stated, coughing somewhat as the Kaiba siblings both listened carefully,_ "The duelist that the Rare Hunter is fighting is Mutou Yugi, and-_" Yugi! _Yugi_ was fighting Osiris?

...It really figured actually... "That's enough," Seto said 'calmly', mentally keeping her breathing under control. Really, really figured... "Continue searching for the third card," she stated plainly, unable to keep a rising feeling of energy from coming up. With that said and done she clicked the radio off, turning as her brother looked up.

"N-Nii-sama," he asked, watching as his sister grabbed her briefcase from the side. "Does this mean..."

An almost wicked smirk came on her face, Seto turning toward the east with widening eyes. The second God Card..! "Call Matsuda," she said quickly, her brother hurriedly nodding as he pulled out his phone. "We're done walking for now..." And given that her cars were the only 'traffic' exceptions for 'security' reasons, they would be at 'Block E' in no time at all...

Without another word from her brother the call was made, a fierce wind continuing to blow around the pair as Seto's smirk fell to a determined 'mask' of seriousness. So... Yugi was fighting against Osiris was he..?

Well... He'd better not give the scum a loss then.

**

* * *

AN:** Can you _tell_ she's excited? This duel is another two chapter one, but you can blame Malik for that- he can't keep his mouth shut!

_His sexy, effeminate m_- ...Erm. ...Right, back to business. (Seriously though, SO MUCH TALKING!)

**Poll Results** are still **Unchanged**; check back in Chapter 66 for the results so far.

And you've probably guessed just how little I have to say during this chapter by now... This tends to happen with 'half-way points'.

Before we go though, a reviewer brought to my attention that I had the ages for Sen and Haga wrong; I wrote '15' instead of '14' above Sen, and, well... Given the whole 'twin' thing, that's obviously _wrong_. So keep that in mind!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

A very good thing… As for surprised, you shouldn't be Iona.

And yes! One of the sisters! No dark times are linked to her though, so no spoilers for you! And ooh yes, when those guys get back…

Strings… 'Doll'… Whatever you call him, I had fun typing out Malik's interactions (or lack thereof) through that creeper. And OH YES. Kaiba's almost maniacalgrins, hihhhhh… (I'm definitely keeping those by the way.)

You're definitely right to say that Malik takes the cake when his second personality kicks in… Hihhhhh…

In any case, enjoy the chapter!

Hey there Randomprojects! And not a problem; the language deal was bugging me as well really. As for reactions, you'll see them soon… Ish? It's not until after the Jonouchi VS Yugi duel, so we have a few more fights to see.

Let the guessing begin indeed! I won't tell you which point is right for the sake of spoilers, but one of them hit the head on the nail!

Nice one Death-Dimension! I actually did a bit of looking into that myself; 'Leviathan' is actually hebrew for Whale, which is what the Leviathan is often depicted as. Besides being seen as a great monster in Jewish lore, it's also compared to and seen as the 'Hellmouth'. A lot of comparisons of impossibility are made that are linked to the Leviathan, and the beast is mentioned no fewer than six times… The book of Job describes him in detail to, so expect that.

I do like your points here though… As for the Insect Queen, you will see those antics soon enough! Enjoy the chapter!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

* * *

The section that's feeling as empty as Yugi feels scared right now. Hnn...

* * *

Today's chapter? A little obvious wouldn't you say?

On a completely non-chapter related note, you know how Malik and 'Yami Malik' have different shirts? How it seems that the second one came from _nowhere_? It didn't; in the manga, Malik had the black shirt beneath his midriff-revealing, sleeveless hooded jacket the entire time. 'Yami Malik' simply tossed the jacket to the side basically.

* * *

Can you tell I'm a guilty 'prideshipper'? All in all, I don't really take sides, but you can't deny the fact that those two enjoy fighting far too much than can be safe. Though as a quick quick point here, Yugi is actually right; his 'darker' half doesn't have those kinds of feelings for Kaiba!

..._At least not anymore..._

* * *

When looking at lines like 'Someone's coming', it's important to realize he's not so much saying something to late as he is noting that the 'someone' is heading right toward them rather than to pass them by.

Which is scary as _hell _when it's the 'doll', at top speed.

* * *

'Hannibal tone'? Referring to Hannibal Lector from the Silence of the Lambs of course... I don't know, Malik's _constant_ talking here just had me thinking of a Hannibal lecture...

* * *

I didn't change it, but does anyone wonder how Yugi was able to pull off that jacket with the duel disk on his wrist..? It's all a little weird...

* * *

Is Yugi getting Jonouchi's ability of duel-realities? No. But Yugi's always been extremely close to the monsters in his deck, and there are going to be other monsters whose 'power' is just too much to pass as 'holographic'… Thereby breaking the barrier between reality and magic. (You know, the one that no longer exists for poor Jonouchi.)

Things like the Gods. They do that. It does help that as the spirit of the puzzle, Yugi is slightly more intone to the 'other realms' as the monsters call it. (I call it that because GX screwed with my head when it came to the world of Duel Monsters. It screwed with my head A LOT.)

* * *

Alright, you know you're watching the abridged series too much when Malik's voice is his abridged one the ENTIRE TIME. (It's just… So memorable..! Not to mention mood killing.) In other news, originally, Yugi only destroyed the Worm; he didn't attack directly. But since Malik doesn't take a single hit to his lifepoints after that, and it would be silly for Yugi to not take advantage of the opportunity, the attack was made in this chapter...

Which means that Malik obviously had a lot less life points when he put his Osiris-Strategy into play.

* * *

'Hakai Ken Issen', the attack above, translates directly into the following; 'Disruption (With Hakai meaning either that, or 'destruction', and in the case of computers, 'crash') Sword (From 'Ken') 'Flash' (Issen means either this, or 'brandish'... At least in this case. With different kanji, it means 1000.)'. So... The attack is roughly 'Disruption Sword Flash, or some variant thereof.

Lets face it; things sound cooler in Japanese guys.

* * *

Hey, giant red dragon God starts talking to you? YOU'RE SCARED. Even if you're Yugi. And more importantly (Since Osiris didn't talk until right near the end), _GIANT BUILDING SIZED DRAGON AFFECTS WEATHER AND ENVIROMENT AROUND YOU._.. You're _really_ scared.

Kinda helps that a big chunk of 'Yami-Yugi's unconscious memory revolves around actively recognizing certain names as big-damn-gods. You know... Like Osiris! God of the Afterlife, the Dead...

Yeaaaaaaaa...

* * *

Now in the actual game, what happened in the anime and manga wouldn't work; basically, Osiris' attacked a monster more powerful than it after Yugi activated his trap, and then for some reason, Buster Blader attacked Revival Jam. I fixed it though… Hehehehe...

* * *

By the way, Jonouchi heard all those roars. He didn't hear Osiris _speak_, but he sure as heck heard him roar!

* * *

A majority of Japan, believe it or not, doesn't tend to use street names in their addresses. Oh sure, the streets have names! They just don't mention them in the address most of the time. The 'block E' that the supervisor mentioned is just using the grid system Kaiba's satellite is using to keep track of everything.

* * *

Why isn't Mokuba using the slate to call? Because he was essentially 'web-cam chatting' when they did that. There's no actual phone in there!

* * *

In any case, that's all for now... Coming up next time, the conclusion to the YugiVS'Strings' duel! ...Along with _other_ things...


	70. Chapter 69

**Past the First Gate**

* * *

Punctuality was, to put it frankly, one of many things that employees of Kaiba Corporation and of the Kaiba family itself were known for and counted on for. They were quick, and to the point, and if there was any 'dallying' they were quickly reminded of the task at hand, making the trait a fairly learned behaviour. It was this and many other skills in fact that, provided the employee in question wasn't fired for some reason or other, would often prove an incredible asset when it came to future job searching. To say that one had worked for the Kaiba Family after all, was to say that one was effectively the 'top' of their position, no matter how menial the position was.

Of course, the likelihood of anyone even considering to move from said position to a career outside of the family in company was next to zero thanks to all of the 'advantages'.

Nonetheless, Seto Kaiba thought to herself at the moment, while punctuality was expected, the speed that the chauffeur arrived to pick up both Seto and her younger brother from their location was almost _too_ quick... And the hurried arrival from around the corner rather than from the garage a number of blocks away had the woman idly wondering if they'd been following her around at all for the last few hours. 'They' being two now _very_ much memorable security members and the chauffeur himself... And while it was expected that she remember quite clearly the name and appearance of the chauffeur, being able to tell which guard was on duty ('again') from the shadow in the window wasn't a very pleasing subject...

The fact was though, until employee training and screening was done, they were still the best she had outside a few other choices. As for whose idea it was to tail her... She certainly wouldn't have put it past any of them to tell the truth, though she wouldn't be saying anything out loud. For now, she was busy answering her brother's questions as he set up a program to keep track of Yugi's current duel; there was no time to bother with employees going the extra mile... And given that the duel was on the other side of the city, it wouldn't hurt to look into what was going on. "Alright nee-sama," the boy was saying from the back seat behind her, the two guards looking over his shoulders to stare at the screen. "I just need Yugi's disk ID and I'll be able to trace-"

"6-10-622-1766," she stated quickly, idly tapping her fingers on the brace around her right arm.

There was a small span of silence, those behind the woman blinking a few times before Mokuba tapped the numbers in; all in all, the topic of knowing certain numbers off by heart probably wasn't the best thing to bring up... And besides that, she would rather not have to bother with questions. In all honesty, by the end of the evening, she'd know six other sets of numbers one way or another... "Alright," Mokuba said calmly, pulling the woman from these thoughts as the car turned a corner. "I'm in!"

Aha... "Good..." Seto glanced out the window as they turned yet another corner, arms crossed as she continued. "What's the status so far," she asked curtly, glancing at the rearview mirror to watch the boy look back at the panel.

"Ahh... The Rare Hunter has 'Osiris' on the field," her brother muttered, the two guards beside him both staring at the screen as he stated the more obvious of facts, "Along with 'Revival Jam' in defense mode," he continued, "Trap card 'Jam Defender' and spell card 'Card of Sanctity'," he stated, the woman nodding as she put that in mind. A card that revived itself, a card that made the 'immortal' monster take attacks, and a card that granted three cards each time a monster came back from the grave... In short, three cards per monster killed, and a permanent shield... A strong play, that was for sure.

Her rival would just have to surpass that. "And Yugi," she asked, Mokuba looking up briefly before glancing back at the tablet. "What does he have?"

"Ah... Ahhh..." The boy looked back at the tablet, before biting his lip as a slight 'beep' came over the air.

There was a small bit of silence in regards to the sound, Odoru's wince clearly visible in the rear-view mirror. "Well," the guard said with a cough, shaking his head, "He _had_ a Buster Blader on the field..." ..._Had_..?

"It just got destroyed by Osiris I think," Taijin added, Mokuba nodding with a wince. "So... There goes that one..." One way to put it...

"Now he just has Magical Hats face down and Kuriboh in defense mode," Mokuba was continuing, crossing his arms somewhat as he held the slate. Kuri- He _still_ had that thing! Seto narrowed her eyes, frowning as she held back an exasperated sigh. Typical... Just... Typical... Only Yugi could get away with keeping that card in his deck...

Nonetheless, there was likely more that she was missing there. "What about their hands," the woman muttered, staring out the window with narrowed eyes. Maybe she could figure out more about 'God' from the Hunter's cards while she was at it...

Another moment of silence, a few taps coming from on the screen before Mokuba shook his head. "I can't access the Rare Hunter's hand," he said with a frown, eyes narrowing as his sister did the same. "...Weird..." Tch! It figured... The disk was probably hacked into... As to how they'd managed _that_ one... "I have Yugi's though," the boy continued, coughing somewhat as Seto blinked. Oh... Well, that was good to know at least... "Lets see... Dark Magician Girl, Spellbinding Circle, and Baphom- Ah!" Mokuba jumped somewhat, a loud 'ping' coming from the slate as the screen's image shifted. "It's Yugi's turn," he said quickly, a number of other sounds echoing from the back seat. "He just drew Magic Cylinder!"

That card..? There were a few more sounds from the slate, Seto's eyebrows raising briefly as a number of duelists ran past the car in what looked to be slight panic. Oh come on, the storm wasn't _that_ bad... Though she had to admit, the closer they got, the darker the skies... "Kuriboh was just sacrificed to summon the Dark Magician Girl in defense mode," Odoru mentioned with an idle tone, drawing Seto's attention back to the duel as they continued to drive. "And..." ...Annnnnd?

"Wait," Taijin muttered, shaking his head with a frown, "Why did Osiris just attack?" There was a bit of silence at that, Seto frowning as she turned back. Alright... There were things that even she had to question, and adding to that short list...

What. "Osiris attacked..?"

Mokuba nodded somewhat confusedly, tapping the screen for the card to 'zoom in' on the screen while he was at it. "Yea," he said with a swallow, laying the slate on his lap for the four to look at. "Its information sheet updated too," the boy continued. "It looks like in addition to having stats reliant on the number of cards in the player's hand, it automatically deals 2000 points of damage to an opposing monster whenever its summoned..." So it would be completely _useless_ against most four star monsters Seto told herself, turning back to the front.

"Wait we read that wrong," Taijin added, giving a slight cough as his boss raised her eyebrows. "It _subtracts_ 2000 points from the 'command stat', it doesn't just deal damage... Ahhh... ...Yeeeeea," he muttered with a frown, "What the _hell_ is-"

"It's the position," Mokuba said quickly, his sister turning back with a slight frown. It subtracted from the stat count..? "If it's in attack mode," the boy explained to the guards beside him, "It takes 2000 points from the attack. If its defense mode however," he continued with a frown, "Then it takes off from the defense."

"So it'll be destroyed if it's anything lower than 2000 then," Odoru muttered, the guard frowning as Mokuba 'shrank' the card on the screen to reveal the rest of the duel. Seto nodded slightly in response to that, turning to the front once more as the guard continued to frown. "...Isn't... Isn't that monster in defense-"

"Magical Hats was activated," Taijin said plainly, not looking up from the screen.

"It better have been," Seto muttered under her breath, narrowing her eyes. So given that there was no news of a monster destruction, it was probably safe to say that there were now three hats on the field... "Did he do anything else," the woman continued, the three in the back staring at the slate with the question.

"Two face down cards," the first of the guards answered, briefly turning toward his employer with a more or less blank stare. "Spellbinding Circle and Magical Cylinder."

"Both hidden in... Hats," Taijin finished lamely, raising his eyebrow at the move.

Mokuba coughed at that, Seto merely staring out of the car window with a slight frown. Yes... 'Trap in a hat'... And just how many times had _that_ particular strategy bit an opponent in the ass? "How close are we to his location," Seto muttered, looking out the window as the canal's sloped walls met her eyes. Simply getting narrations from her brother and the miniature peanut gallery was hardly a proper way to 'see' a duel... And given that she hadn't seen any holograms yet...

"We're actually here," Matsuda muttered, pulling to a stop as the doors unlocked. He turned to look through the windows on Seto's side, a slight frown in place. "Ahh... I don't see anyone though..." Well whatever.

The doors clicked and swung open instantly, Seto stepping out with her briefcase as the guards moved to let Mokuba follow behind. Doors were swung closed behind them as they stood there, the taller looking around for a hint of her rival's location while Mokuba kept tabs on the duel. "The Rare Hunter just played 'Infinite Cards'," the boy was saying with slight worry, looking down toward the canal they were beside. "He's pretty much ensured a limitless stat bonus on Osiris... But where is-"

"_OSIRIS,_" a distant, almost echoing shout ordered, the siblings turning toward the source and breaking into a run immediately. To the left- There! "_ATTACK THE HAT ON THE RIGHT!_" An echoing roar met their ears in response to the shout, a small voice in the back of her mind wondering whether this surpassed the volume limit on the duel disk or not.

This was the least of her worries, given how close to the duel the were however... Close meaning 'not at all' of course. Seto grit her teeth as she ran, eyes narrowed as she charged past the first bridge across the canal. Holograms were only barely visible in the distance... But if there was anything that they could see as they ran, it was only expected that it would be 'God' that first caught their eye. And what a 'God' it was... An enormous, red-scaled, serpentine dragon, two sets of jaws within one mouth, wings the size of entire vehicles... Mokuba even skidded to a stop for a moment as the two both stared with wide eyes, the boy actually shaking himself as he moved to keep up with his sister. So... That was... Osiris...

"_W-WHAT!_" The siblings shook themselves as the Rare Hunter's shouts came through the air, continuing to run over to the duel as the 'other' Yugi's voice came from the duel as well.

"I hid two cards in that hat you attacked, along with Dark Magician Girl!" Two cards? Not just one eh... Well that was new. "Magic Cylinder was one_,_" the teen was shouting, clear view of the cylinder in question meeting Seto's gaze as it absorbed Osiris' attack, "And Spellbinding Circle!" And there was the Hat-Circle Trap strategy that Yugi used so often the woman noted, watching as the holographic circle wrapped around Osiris' form. And now that she looked at it...

Since when in the hell did the disk system support holograms that big..? The monster had to be the size of an entire building, the hexagram holding the beast in place twice as large by default...

The sheer _power_ radiating off of this monster though..!

Her attention was quickly pulled from her thoughts on the God card as her 'rival' continued with his move, the teen clearly holding himself up from the ground by resolve alone "Osiris' attack is rebounded," Yugi was shouting fiercely, eyes narrowed with determination. "The God will die from its own blow-"

"_**Hnn... No.**_" What? Seto raised her eyebrows as she looked toward the 'Rare Hunter' Yugi was facing, a frown coming over her face. The answer was quite blunt to say the least... Though it wasn't the answer that had her frowning really. "_**Didn't I tell you Yugi,**_" the Ghoul was saying, a low chuckle filling the air as he spoke._** "No mortal, 'King' or not, can raise a hand against the GODS! The Revival Jam takes the hit,**_" the hunter shouted, the actions described taking place with those very words as Yugi's face fell completely. Well... That was all expected, Seto thought with a frown, watching as the Hunter drew three cards in response to the play. With the cards on the field, even 'effect' damage would be re-directed as such... But this person, if he could even be called that given his physical state, was... Completely emotionless. There was _nothing_ on his face, not even a twitch, or... Well, _anything_. Just shadowed, glassy eyes, and a hair-less body. "_**Osiris' attack and defense rise by 3000,**_" the hunter announced clearly at that moment, the dragon giving a near glass-shattering roar in response as Seto again found herself distracted by the beast. Glossy red scales reflecting the dim light around them, glowing gold eyes staring forward from an enormous head... That... That power... "_**Oh and one more thing,**_" the hunter drawled, expression far betraying the emotion in his voice as Seto brought her attention back to the duel. "_**The power of a spell or a trap is nothing against a 'God'... By the end of this turn,**_" he continued with a low chuckle, the words describing a fact that the CEO had long since known about, "_**The hexagram will be long gone...**_"

And that would be about...

Now... "_**My turn,**_" the Rare Hunter announced, emotionlessly drawing a card as Seto looked over the field with narrowed eyes. Without anything else to do, Yugi's turn had ended without him even saying a thing after all... There was no reason for his opponent not to take the initiative. "_**Osiris attacks..! And with that,**_" he continued, blast of holographic fire and lightening burning through the form of the monster and eradicating it completely,_** "The Dark Magician Girl dies!**_"

"G-Ghh..." It was easy, at least for her, to ignore Yugi throwing his arm above his face in defense as fire filled the air before them. The flames were even more realistic than she could have ever expected from the duel disk, the heat from the attack appearing to scorch the ground itself. Amazing...

_Amazing_... Nine _thousand_ attack points now, it was an almost perfect strategy and... And... Seto tensed, turning from Osiris as a faint 'thump' noise tore her attention from the sheer power of the monster before her. No. Her eyes widened briefly as the flames vanished, revealing Yugi's slumping form clearly. No, no, no, no, _**NO**_! "Gh..." NO! "Get on your feet **YUGI**," the woman shouted, staring at her rival's form as the teen fell to his knees. No... He couldn't possibly be thinking of just giving in..! She watched as Yugi turned, narrowing her eyes and crossing her arms with a growl. Osiris was powerful yes, but it was hardly worthy of the hands it was in now! If she was getting this card, she was getting it through Yugi! And no one else! "Your life as a duelist doesn't end here," she continued with a snarl, Yugi slowly pulling himself up in response. "Understand!"

Beside her Mokuba nodded, looking at the teen near the canal with a slight, yet fierce frown in place. "YUGI," he was shouting, leaning on the sidewalk railing as he cupped his hands. "You have to face off against Nii-sama got it? So don't even think of losing to this baldy!" Hn! That was one way to refer to the 'rare hunter' there...

Silence was the siblings' response however, with Yugi merely struggling to his feet and staring at the ground. Tch... So he was actually giving in..? "Yugi... You are one of the few people in this world that I recognize as an opponent, understand? So where is your _pride_," she 'asked', expression gradually growing more and more incensed as she spoke. "I won't allow you to lose miserably while I _watch_... Unless you think that I'm actually willing to believe, for some pathetic reason," she spat angrily, "That this _scum_ is better than _you_!" More silence came, the winds of the storm blowing about viciously as her coat billowed out behind her. Silence... Just endless silence... She was _not_ going to let him ruin this! There was only one person who could defeat Yugi... And that was her! And like hell she was standing for anything other than that! "Yugi," she growled, fists clenching as her rival continued to stare at the ground. "If 'God' stands in your way then MOW HIM DOWN, with no regrets! TAKE HIM OUT!"

And if he didn't take those words to heart she muttered to herself in the back of her mind, her brother merely watching below to see what Yugi's reaction would be...

Then what the hell kind of rival did she have?

* * *

The last attack from Osiris had been just as painful as the first, to say the least. The flames had wrapped around and through the Dark Magician Girl, searing the ground and blinding his eyes. Even when the 'automatic' attack blasted through the Magic Cylinders, missing the teen and his monster completely it had been far too painful to simply be 'light'. More of an unbearable, concentrated blast of energy... And yet at heart, he knew that this had nothing to do with himself, with the dark powers from the puzzle around his neck, or even the monsters of his deck. This wasn't tied to what ever powers drew from the duel monster's realm... No... Somehow, he had a feeling...

The 'God's question of 'worth' was not merely words. Somehow this was a test of strength... And one that he simply could not win. But while that realization struck him, weakened body falling to the ground on his knees...

"_Get on your feet, YUGI!_" Kaiba was here. She was standing at the side of the canal with a scowl on her face and her eyes blazing with unbridled rage. And in addition to that, her brother was standing beside her, his own eyes wide as he scowled and shouted for him to stand...

...Hn..!

...Like hell he was losing... The woman was right he thought with a mental nod, pulling himself to his feet with a small grimace. If God was in his way... Then he would do exactly as he had vowed to do before, when this match had started! "Alright Kaiba," he said with a nod, resolve again restored as he adjusted the disk on his arm. The teen looked forward with narrowed eyes, gaze turning briefly toward the enormous beast that was Osiris as he straightened himself out into a braced 'duelists' position. "Watch... I... Will defeat GOD!" No matter what, no matter what... Regardless of what was yet to come, he would overcome this 'challenge'! "Are you ready Malik," he shouted, voice almost coming out as a snarl as he drew his card. "It's my turn!"

And to decide that turn... The teen swallowed, looking over his options as he added the card to his hand. He had Baphomet and Big Shield Guardna from before, neither of which could even hope to stand a chance against Osiris for the moment... And from this move, Monster Reborn...

Well, he thought with a nod, no sense in delaying the turn then... "I set a card face down," he announced, sliding the spell card into its slot and watching as the holographic 'sheet' appeared across the field. "And next," Yugi continued with a shout, taking a second card from his hand before setting it on the disk, "I summon Big Shield Guardna in defense mode, ending my turn!" And with the summoning of a monster he thought with a swallow, Guardna in question ducking behind his shield with a slight grunt. Came this...

"_**Knhnhnhnhn... Osiris' effect activates,**_" Malik said somewhat smugly, his opponent swallowing as the dragon-God reared its head to fire the attack. The heat was already beginning to burn across his face, Yugi closing his eyes as the attack was fired forward. Gh..! "_**You should be glad,**_" he said with a near cackle, the Kaiba siblings merely watching from the side as the blast blew around the target's shield to wear away at Guardna's defense. "_**Thanks to the defense power of your monster,**_" he continued with an audible sneer,_** "It survives the first attack... But for its next one, it won't stand a chance! I draw,**_" he shouted, the doll doing just that as Osiris' power grew further in power, "_**Giving Osiris TEN THOUSAND attack points!**_" Ghk... It was one thing when it was still a four digit number, but hearing the word 'ten-thousand' still had the unwanted effect of sending a shiver down his spine to say the least.

"T-Ten thousand," Mokuba was muttering from the side, turning to his older sister with wide eyes. "N-Nii-sama," he asked with obvious worry, swallowing nervously as he continued, "How is he supposed to beat something with _infinite attack power_..!" Gh... Some... How..?

Damn it... The teen grit his teeth, wincing as the doll across from him waited for the automatic attack to clear from the field. If he ran out of monsters and Osiris' attack struck him head on... He was 'dead', figuratively and possibly literally..! "Yugi... LISTEN," Kaiba abruptly shouted, the teen turning as his rival continued. "NOTHING is infinite," the woman roared, Yugi frowning in response. Nothing is infinite... "It's just God's deception," she continued loudly, "An illusion of power!" Deception...

An_ illusion_... "_**OSIRIS ATTACKS,**_" Malik was shouting as Kaiba's own calls were drowned out by the surrounding storm, the flames roaring past to destroy the monster beside him in a wave of holographic light and ash. The card behind the monster followed just as quickly as the monster did, leaving nothing but his face down card on the field. "_**Big Shield Guardna is destroyed! HAHAHAHAHAAAA!**_" This laughter was really beginning to grate on his nerves..._** "What do you two think you're babbling about,**_" the voice was cackling, his opponent merely waiting for the attack to dissipate as he closed his eyes. As calm as he was now that he had the answer, that didn't change the heat from Osiris' attack... Nor did it change the fact that he was technically surrounded by fire. "_**'Nothing is infinite'? This is the power of GOD you're talking about,**_" Malik laughed, the doll's blank expression slowly becoming clear as the flames vanished. _** "Yet you have the ****gall**** to believe those words..!**_" Hn...

Nothing is infinite? Hah! The teen chuckled to himself somewhat, shaking his head as he looked across the field. "Hnhnhn... I see," he muttered, blinking slowly as the last attack finally cleared from the area completely. "Kaiba," Yugi shouted, glancing at the woman as a smirk came over his rival's face. "Thank you... I know how to defeat Osiris!"

The look on Kaiba's face was enough to say that she expected nothing less really... As for her brother, he was currently staring somewhat incredulously as he nodded. "H-Hah... Alright," Mokuba shouted from the side, a grin slowly coming over his face. "Go for it, Yugi!"

Hn! He would... Yugi narrowed his eyes as he stared across the field, the winds from the storm almost visible as they blew around the two. "Listen carefully Malik," he said calmly, thunder pealing in the distance as he spoke. "My next turn... Will quite likely be the last turn of our duel. And at the end of it," the teen continued, eyes narrowing further as he swallowed back a slight wave of unease looking at Osiris once again, "Only one of us will be left standing... The winner!"

"_**. . .**_" ...No answer...? No, he noted with a slight frown. Just a near silent one... Which was steadily rising in volume._** "Hnhnhn... Hnhnhhahaha... HAHAHAHAHA! Have you lost your ****mind****,**_" Malik asked with a roaring laugh, the doll merely standing in its same straightened pose as 'he' spoke. "_**You think you can dig yourself out of the grave within one turn,**_" he asked sarcastically, still howling with laughter as his opponent stared in silence.

Could he do it? "Of course," he answered plainly, a wave of silence coming from the doll in response. There was one card in his deck he could use for this after all... Just one... If he didn't draw it, then he would have no monster to defend him next turn. If he did draw it however... ... He would draw it, that was all that mattered. "Now then... I'll take your silence as a sign that your turn is over," he muttered, moving to draw his card with closed eyes as he took a deep breath. "So..." The card... The teen swallowed, pulling it from his deck with baited breath before slowly opening his eyes to look at what was in his hands. This... This card was...

This was what he needed. "...Heh... Malik," he called with a smirk, the expression widening to a slight grin as he gripped the card. "I _win_."

Only a fraction of a second was needed for his opponent to respond to that. "_**W... What...!**_"

Hn! Was it really so surprising? Yugi merely steadied his gaze, slipping the card into a slot on the disk as he activated his other spell. "Here I go," he shouted, the first face down card swinging upward to shine a brilliant light across the field. "First I activate Monster Reborn, bringing back the Buster Blader from the grave," the teen announced, the card vanishing to create an immense beam of light above the ground.

"_**You- Hah!**_" Malik's shock was quickly replaced with amusement, the voice laughing wildly as his opponent held silent._** "Run out of meat shields then,**_" the 'doll' shouted with a laugh, watching as the warrior arose in a pillar of light, "_**You realize that this only saves you for one more turn don't you!**_"

"I only need one turn," the teen responded with a smirk, crossing his arms. The warrior as well took a more relaxed stance for his challenge, arms crossed as his blade sat across his back. "Buster Blader is in Attack Mode," Yugi continued, the smirk vanishing into a challenging glare. "I told you Malik; this duel will only last for one more turn... Because _this_ is a combo that surpasses even the limits of GOD!"

"_**Surpasses the limits of...**_" There was a small span of silence, Osiris' effect put on hold for the effects of the other cards on the field to take place before it. "_**Khnh... HAHAHAHAHAAAA! You really ****are**** completely insane aren't you,**_" Malik roared, laughter filling the air to the point that even the storm above seemed to pause to join in._** "****Beyond**** God? You think that your strategy suprasses GOD,**_" the voice asked, tone clearly laced with incredulity. "_**You can't surpass GOD! Your own move just activated my spell, you've given me three more cards,"**_ he continued with a cackle, doll's mouth wide and gaping to allow the shout through his lungs and throat. "_**Osiris' attack is now THIRTEEN THOUSAND points in total! You've doomed yourself,**_" the voice howled, laughter echoing and sounding over the crashing thunder above, "_**But first... Your summoning activates Osiris' automatic attack!**_" With those very words Osiris roared, a blaze of fires charged under its first mouth before firing forward._** "Your monster may survive that,**_" Malik was continuing darkly, Yugi merely grinding his teeth as the Blader stumbled under Osiris' stinging flames, "_**But with little over a thousand attack points, my win will be a complete land slide... Do you still intend to attack,**_" he 'asked, chuckling as his opponent narrowed his eyes. "_**Do you still intend to charge forward with this foolish bravado of yours? You can always switch to defense mode,**_" the voice continued with a low laugh,_** "And save yourself one more time...**_"

Tch! As if he was running! "_Who do you think I am_," Yugi snarled fiercely, a scowl set on his face as his monster gripped his blade and held it forward. "The Buster Blader remains in attack mode! And more over," the teen continued with a growl, "He _attacks_! Go Buster Blader," he ordered, pointing the warrior forward as the swordsman charged, "Attack Osiris, and end the turn!"

As the warrior charged across the field, more laughter filled the air. "_**Pbbbffttt! How many times... How many times are you going to make this mistake,**_" Malik howled, his 'slime' monster already jumping in front of Osiris to take the Buster Blader's attack._** "Jam Defender activates,**_" he shouted with an almost snarling tone,_** "Revival Jam takes the hit, and in response to the monster's death, I draw three cards! You can't even reach God Yugi,**_" the doll continued with an audible sneer, drawing his three cards with those very words._** "And for all the pointless sword swinging you've done, what do you have to show for it?**_" A good question. As to the answer...

"This," Yugi said with a sinister grin, watching as the Revival Jam's droplets floated about the field while its owner drew his next card. "I didn't forget my earlier mistakes," he continued with a smirk, activating his final face down card with a small click. "I've been waiting for this moment... Activate the spell Brain Control," he announced, the card swinging upward to work its magic across the field.

More laughter filled the air, even Osiris appearing to stare confusedly at the spell as the light from the card filled the field. "_**Brain con... Hnhnhnhnha! So that's what your so-called plan is,**_" the voice laughed, providing an even eerier contrast between the tone and the doll's face. "_**I'm sorry to burst your bubble Yugi, but I've already told you... Spells and Traps don't affect God for at all as long as they normally would,**_" he shouted, the God that swirled about him merely staring in close-mouthed silence._** "And in the case of a single-turn card,**_" Malik continued with a laugh,_** "It doesn't work at all! Osiris moves to attack Buster Blader,**_" he roared, the dragon's mouth dropping open to charge a blast of red hot flames. "_**This is the end..!**_"

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Indeed it was. "Now," he said quietly, "Who said I took control of Osiris," Yugi asked, the sound of a quick 'eh?' coming over the air as he grinned. "Malik," he began, low chuckling coming from himself rather than his opponent for once, "The Monster I took control of was your Revival Jam... Take a look," he continued with a grin, gesturing to the card that had appeared in front of his Brain Control spell. The droplets of slime that covered the field from the last turn were now converging in front of him, slowly building a shield. "The monster regenerates on my side of the field," Yugi shouted clearly, "And from Osiris' effect takes an automatic attack before your targeted one can take place!" A roar of flames passed by as he said those very words, the Revival Jam disintegrating to a mere droplet before growing back to its original size. "And with its come-back, there's your cue! Draw three cards with your spell's effect," he 'ordered' pointing almost accusingly at the doll that stood across from him.

"_**Draw- ...Hnhnhnhnhn... Very well Yugi,**_" Malik decided, his doll doing just as 'commanded' as the voice chuckled. "_**Seeing how this can only help make your defeat all the more sweet by strengthening God's power...**_" Well, whatever helped him get over this..._** "Well now! With that done and over with,**_" the voice called out,_** "Osiris continues his attack on-**_"

"Now hold on," Yugi said with a wicked grin, pointing toward the regenerated Revival Jam. "You're not finished just yet; Revival Jam just revived itself," he pointed out with a short chuckle, "And it's still your turn... He's still under my control," the teen continued darkly, "Which means Osiris' effect activates again!"

"_**Again...**_" Horrified silence filled the air as the dragon-God fired its attack, again destroying the Jam in a blaze of stinging and endless flames before it grew back to its original state. Gh... Even with this shield here, that attack stung terribly... If not for the sheer distance between Osiris' head and himself... Gkh... The teen shook himself, listening as his opponent continued to mutter to himself in dull horror and shock. "_**It activates aga-...**_" More silence, the doll merely staring as the monster sat on the field, waiting for its former master to complete the 'round' it had started.

"Draw three more cards," he 'reminded' his opponent, the doll doing so as the silence continued to fill the air. Droplets from the fallen monster repaired with the action, the slime monster shaking itself as its hologram shimmered with artificial light. "And with Revival Jam's re-appearance," the teen continued, watching and inwardly wincing as Osiris again charged up a blistering wave of fires in its mouth.

"_**GRAAAAAOOOOOOO!**_" Another attack came through the air, the monster's owner still silent with horrified realization as the Revival Jam again melted and revived..

"_**...Gh... H... ****FUCK****,**_" the 'doll' roared, drawing three cards in the same eerie emotionlessness it had held the entire duel._** "You... An INFINITE LOOP!**_" Of course! But hnn...

He swore... That was interesting. "Hn! That's right," Yugi announced, feeling no need to 'remind' his opponent of the events on the field as the doll slowly but steadily wore away at the deck. Fire, revive, draw, fire, revive, draw... Beads of sweat were running down the sides of his face, sticking uncomfortably to his clothes as he stood in place. "And in one turn," the teen continued with a frown, "By your own hand, Osiris' 'infinite' attack will reach its limit... But I should correct myself," he stated, frown deepening as the doll's cards began falling to the ground from his hand, the man unable to hold them all within one thin and bony palm. "Osiris' power was never 'infinite'... It was bound by one key thing... The number of cards in your deck!"

"_**Nnn...**_" The last card fell to the ground, the doll reaching at the deck as Revival Jam revived for the final time only to drop his hands to the side._** "NO!**_" ...Yes. With that single shout the cards on the field vanished from sight, the duel-disk turning off as it ran out of cards to hold. Even Osiris, large as he was, began to disappear, albeit at a far more delayed pace than the instantaneous reaction resulting from the duel-disks shut down... Even the skies above seemed to clear almost instantly as the doll collapsed to the ground, the sun peeking through the clouds as the storm quieted.

"...I win," Yugi stated plainly, the once fierce winds softening to a cool and rewarding breeze that soothed the minor burns sustained under Osiris' onslaught. And that was it... He...

He had defeated...

"**Well done,**" a deep and powerful voice stated, the tone seeming more calm than frightening now that the duel was over. Yugi paled at the sound, looking up as Osiris translucently hovered above the field in its still delayed disappearance. It... It was still there..! Even after the duel was complete, and the storm had passed..! "**LIFE**** and ****DEATH****, that which I was once given command and control over... Little King,**_" _Osiris boomed, snake-like coils swirling in a seemingly endless spiral through the air,** "My POWER is now YOURS... But be warned,**" he continued lowly,** "For this is not the end of your TRIALS... Your JOURNEY has only JUST begun... Use my power WELL, Little King,**_" _the dragon warned, fading out of sight as its rumbling words became mere whispers on the wind, "_**And use it wisely**_**...**" Use it...

It was as though a book had just been dropped over his head at that moment, that last statement. As though the realization had only now just come into place, Yugi's eyes still wide and unblinking as he slowly looked back at the ground while Osiris vanished.

...He...

He'd defeated a _God_...

He'd 'passed' the test. And moreover, he realized, slowly looking to the side, it was all because of...

Her.

* * *

"H-Hah..." The reactions that the Kaiba siblings had to the Rare Hunter's defeat appeared quite mixed, despite the overall feeling of relief that the taller would very much deny ever having. The feeling was at least voiced clearly by her brother however, who was currently looking below at the canal walkway with wide eyes. "He... He did it!" Well of course he did, the woman was telling herself, but even so she couldn't help but hold that particular snarking comment back. Mokuba grinned as Yugi's opponent collapsed face first to the ground, the boy hopping the side of the rail and sliding down toward the canal with a laugh. "Congratulations," he continued to shout, his older sister momentarily glancing at the Rare Hunter before looking back. "Hahaha!"

Yes... He _had_ 'done it', hadn't he... Seto remained silent as her rival turned toward her, eyes narrowed for a moment as her brother moved to grab the 'ante' from the Rare Hunter. The power of a God card... A power only a few could possibly be worthy of wielding, let alone able to defeat. A power that, like herself she thought minutely, her rival now had in his grasp, in his deck... "...Hnhnhnhnhn..." A smirk came over the woman's face as she stood there, eyes narrowing in mirth as the thoughts cleared into a single, steady plan. Well... Her rival was nothing short of 'the best' really... After all, the woman thought, smirk widening just slightly in an eerie light, if he wasn't at her level then what point would their be in facing against each other?

"H-Hey," Mokuba muttered from the canal side, Seto blinking as the boy's voice continued to waver through the air. "What's wrong with this guy anyways..." The woman turned as Mokuba tapped the ground beside the Rare Hunter's head, her smirk vanishing as she took in the sight of the collapsed body. A good question... After the duel end he'd simply collapsed, like a marionette with cut strings... No move to protect himself from harm, catch himself... He'd merely fallen. "Is... Is he dead," her brother was asking as Seto thought this, slowly pulling the disk from under the body's form with a disgruntled look on his face. "E-Ehh..." Hnnn...

She narrowed her eyes, briefly meeting her brother's gaze before giving an uncaring snort in response. His chest was rising, he was fine... They needn't bother with anything else concerning scum like the Ghouls really.

"R-Right," came a muttered response to her own silent one, her brother looking back to the evidently alive body. Mokuba shook himself as the bone-thin man continued to sit motionlessly, pulling the card from the disk by two careful fingers before grabbing the locator card that had been stored in the bottom of the device. A few nervous moments passed, the boy edging away from the body before giving a loud sigh and turning back to the others. "Alright! Yugi," he shouted, moving swiftly toward the teen with a wide and again cheerful grin. "As the Battle City's 'Steering Committee Chairman', I'll be judging the ante for this fight, understand?" The boy's grin continued to grow, his older sister silently shaking his head. Yes, he was certainly proud about that wasn't he? ...Even with all the time's she'd told him the title was the same as it always had been...

Well, she supposed it was all in the actions rather than the words really, a thought that was abandoned fairly quickly as she turned her attentions back to the two below.

Yugi, for his part, appeared to be in some sort of state of shock at the moment really, merely walking toward the boy and nodding as Seto's brother held the cards forward. "Alright," he muttered somewhat blankly, holding his own hand out.

The teens watched as Mokuba continued to grin, handing the cards over to Yugi with a nod before softening the expression to a more natural, smirking sort of smile. "Here you go," he said plainly, crossing his arms as Yugi took the cards from his hand. "As the winner," the boy continued, "You are now the proud owner of the God Card 'Saint Dragon Osiris'! Tadaaaa..!" ...Sometimes she had to remind herself that Mokuba was twelve really... (Though maybe that was just her...) "In addition," Mokuba said with a smirk, Yugi simply looking over the cards in his hand rather numbly, "You receive another puzzle card... You better hurry up," he said with an again growing grin, chuckling under his breath as Yugi looked to him in slight confusion, "Katsuya-nii and Nii-sama are already way ahead of you!"

"Ah-!" The teen blinked, staring at Mokuba a moment as he registered those words. "Jonouchi is-!" Yes, the Mutt had five cards and was raring for his sixth...

...She was still far far ahead of Jonouchi though, damn it! ...

...

...Alright she was _tied _with the dog. A low growl came under her breath at the thought, Seto momentarily glaring at an empty spot in the air. But if anyone even thought of mentioning that out loud... The woman blinked, frowning as a somewhat familiar feeling came over her. This... She watching as Yugi reloaded his deck and turned back toward her with a challenging look. Ahhh... That's right... As competitors in this tournament, a match right there was effectively written in the rules... She certainly doubted that her soon to be opponent would refuse after all. The woman swiftly hopped over the fence, skidding down toward the canal before coming to a stop and adjusting the duel disk on her wrist. "Are you ready," she 'asked', walking toward her rival with a challenging nod. Her opponent as well returned the gesture, slipping the card into his own deck to allow the auto-shuffle to take place while Mokuba gaped.

"N-Nii-sa- ...Seto-niisama," he asked incredulously, gesturing to Yugi as he shook his head. "You're fighting him _now_!" The woman merely held her stare, the expression giving more than enough of an answer for the boy. Of course she was; he was right here after all, so why the hell would she pass up this opportunity? Mokuba frowned, looking back up toward where the car was parked before continuing. "But what about-"

"_**...Yugi...**_"

Without warning the body behind her brother sprung to its feet, arms hanging limply at its side as it stood to face the three. "G- GHAAA! W-What the..." Mokuba hurriedly stumbled away from the ghoul, shaking as he stared at the man's blank eyes. "Why the hell..." The boy shook his head, choking back a few words as he scrambled to his feet again. "I thought you were out cold!"

Evidently _not_, though that formation of veins was certainly an... Interesting sight... As far as she recalled, there weren't any veins or arteries _combined_ that could make the shape of an...

...Eye...

Like in Egyptian myth...

Or Pegasus' eye... And every other thing about that country that she was beginning to abhor.

..._Fuck_ her life.

Yugi turned to follow the Kaiba siblings' gaze, a smirk coming over his face as the doll stood before them. "Hn! Give it up Malik," he said plainly, the ghost-white man before them almost swaying in the wind before them. "I won your God Card fair and square, and we both know that your 'doll' is too weak to hold up your threat..." Threat? She would have to talk to Yugi after this...

Damn it...

"_**Oh please...**_" The woman pulled herself from thoughts of grudging responsibilities, narrowing her eyes as the doll continued to speak before them._** "As though I would be so ****pathetic****,**_" the ghoul, 'Malik' according to Yugi, stated through thickly accented Japanese. This tone... Seto's eyes narrowed further as she listened, gears clicking away in her mind as she attempted to piece the memory. This pattern of speech, she'd heard this before... But where... Again her thoughts were cut short, the woman frowning as Yugi's former opponent continued to speak. "_**I didn't even think of ****that,**_" the man was saying calmly, the different in tone and emotion all the more evident up close._** "Besides,"**_ 'Malik' continued,_** "I know that I'll be getting it back soon enough... I merely wanted to tell you something,**_" he said with an almost drawling tone, Seto narrowing her eyes. Because it was always 'good' when someone with this tone said that right? (Hell _she'd_ used this tactic...) "_**I am coming toward a very specific location of this city, known only to myself... Once I do that,**_" 'Malik' stated almost instructively, "_**My plan will be set into motion...**_"

Plan..? Seto's expression soured even further with those words, arms crossed as she stared at the man. She'd already realized that dealing with Ghouls was something she would have to do. But dealing with Ghouls specifically targeting her rival?

Why. _Why_ did he attract this bullshit!_** "As of now,**_" 'Malik' was continuing on, Yugi and the Kaiba siblings both listening intently with distaste,_** "I can see three things, like the three-way broadcast of a security monitor... I see a trembling boy, standing beside the one who defeated me,**_" he began, Mokuba visibly tensing and scowling at the word 'trembling' before stepping back beside his sister, "_**I see the streets of the city, bare and open, with numerous people passing me by at top speed...**_" Top speed... Hn. Besides the bizarreness of this 'three-way' boast, that probably meant something motorized... Which meant, in a city blocked of most traffic, this person would be found easily. And for the third one..?_** "And in my final view,**_" the ghoul stated with a low chuckle, as though to answer Seto's thoughts at that moment, "_**I see three young adults... A pale-skinned boy with white hair... A tanned, blond one with a duel disk strapped to his wrist... And a young woman by the name of 'Mazaki Anzu'...**_"

Maza- Seto narrowed her eyes, frowning. He'd described Jonouchi and two of his idiot friends perfectly... But how... More importantly... _Why?_ "You..." Yugi grew pale, eyes wide as both he and Mokuba looked to the hunter across from them in horror. Seto herself was holding a steady look if angered indifference despite all this... Though to say that 'Malik's words weren't giving her a cold feeling would be more or less inaccurate. "You..."

"_**Hnhnhnhnhn... Yes... 'Me',**_" Malik said somewhat 'jokingly', chuckling as he continued on._** "You see, while you've been wandering this city,**_" he explained darkly,_** "I've been keeping an eye on your so-called friends, biding my time... After all,**_" the 'man' continued, tone going even further south, "_**No one is immune to the powers of my Millennium Rod...**_" Millen- Seto grit her teeth, a scowl coming over as the man continued to chuckle. Oh hell, not this bullshit again...

Though at least she was more contained than her rival... Who had currently gone red in the face, jaw clenched together as he glared at the man before him. "You _sick_, disgusting bastard..."

An insult that warranted still more laughter from the bastard in question. "_**Hnhnhnhnhn! Really,**_" he said with a tone deserving of a sneer,_** "Even better than your blond friend! And speaking of your friends... Well... You'd best hurry up and find them,**_" 'Malik' warned, still chuckling as his body hung limply above the ground, "_**Before something... 'Unfortunate' happens...**_" Gh- That didn't sound good..._** "And believe me when I say, they ****know**** you're coming,**_" the man muttered, mouth barely moving save for what was absolutely necessary to communicate his words._** "So by the time you get there,"**_ he continued,_** "They'll be quite ready for you. Enjoy the game, Yugi! Hnhnhnhnhnhnhn... And... ****Salaam****...**_"

"Gh-" Yugi tensed even further with those last words, reaching forward with a snarl. "_MALIK_!" A loud thump came through the air, the teen's hand returning to his side as the body collapsed to the ground. "MALIK!"

Salaam... Seto's eyes widened briefly as the body again grew limp on the cement, Yugi shouting at what effectively amounted to a corpse. Salaam, that was Arabic... And this tone...

But there was no _way_ that person was... _Egyptian_. Sure, the Ghouls were Arabic in origin, but everything about this person screamed Caucasian! He was either European, American, or- "H-Hey," Mokuba muttered, swallowing as silence came over the air. Yugi turned with a stiff expression in place, grabbing his jacket from the side, actions pulling Seto from her thoughts. "H-Hey," he repeated nervously, watching as the teen threw his jacket back on, "Yugi, where are you-" There was no answer save for a severe and cold look from the teen, Yugi turning to run as Seto scowled.

...He wasn't serious, was he? Seto's scowl from prior quickly returned as the teen clicked his disk back into the 'in-active' position, stowing his deck safely in the holster at his side before moving to run off. Ohhhh no. Not right now! "Yugi," she growled, turning on her rival as the teen stopped. "Don't even think of running away!" No. She was having her match damn it, and no 'eerie voice' (It really wasn't that frightening...) was saying other wise... Nor was any sort of 'Millennium Bullshit' getting in her way! ...And the mutt could handle himself!

"Kaiba..." Yugi turned, narrowing his eyes as the woman continued to glare at him.. "This is about more than just 'Ghouls'," he growled, a scowl clearly visible on his face. More than the ghouls? "I can't fight you right now... Not when my friends are in danger," the teen continued with a shout. "I refuse to let them die!" D- They wouldn't- ...(Actually she had no proof of that one...)

Without another word however, Yugi tore off, leaving a somewhat dumbstruck Mokuba in his wake as Seto grit her teeth. Idiot. A complete idiot! Her rival was a good for nothing-! "Tch... Choosing 'friends' over 'pride'..."

"N-Nii-sama," Mokuba said with a swallow, turning back to his sister as the woman's scowl lightened only slightly. "What if Yugi's right though," he asked, eyes filled with worry. "What if Katsuya-nii and the others are..."

Rgggggghhhh... The woman's teeth continued to grind, before she turned to watch the chauffeur drive closer to where they were. Tch. At least something was getting done. "There are easier ways to find them," she muttered, narrowing her eyes. "Mokuba," she said clearly, the boy nodding as he caught the silent message. "Follow the 'Mutt's signal from his duel disk and grab him in the car," she muttered, storming off toward where her rival had vanished.

"Ah... O-Of course," he shouted, moving to run back up the canal steps. "But... Nii-sama," he asked worriedly, "What are you do-"

"I'm making sure my rival doesn't waste his time arguing with scum-off-the-street duelists," she growled, cutting her brother off as she turned to face the boy briefly. "Call me when you find Jonouchi!"

Mokuba blinked, staring shortly as his sister turned back to where her 'rival' had disappeared to. "N-Nii-sama..."

Without another word she charged off, teeth still grinding as she followed after Yugi's likely 'path'. Idiots. She was surrounded by idiots who couldn't keep their damn faces out of trouble.

And of all the damn times to be reminded of _THAT,_ she growled mentally, shoes sending loud 'thudding' noises through the air as she charged down the streets. Stupid, stupid, _stupid_...

"_Augh... Tie again,_" someone was muttering in the distance, Seto turning the corner of an alley to scowl. The woman slowed somewhat as a pair of ghouls came into view, each one with their hands out in the typical 'rock-paper-scissors' form as they looked to a clearly aggravated 'rival' of hers. "_Sorry Yugi..._"

Alright, she'd been joking about the 'arguing' part, albeit only loosely. "Gh... Hurry up," the teen was shouting impatiently, the pair of ghouls before him shaking their heads as they blocked his back.

"We're going," one of them muttered, scratching their head as he looked at his hand, "But we keep tying..."

"Y-Yea," the second continued, the two ghouls both clearly scared out of their mind when it came to the thought of facing the teen. "We can't decide who goes first," he added, Seto speed-walking toward the group with a snarl.

Oh, for the LOVE of... A low growl developed in the back of her throat, the woman clicking her disk 'on' and scowling as the ghouls before her paled. They'd spotted her now... And at what was probably the worst possible time for them as well. "You can't decide," she 'asked' angrily, stopping her approach as she stood beside her rival. "Then tag-team us you pigs! Yugi and I will pair up!"

"A- A tag team match," one of the two repeated, the ghouls muttering amongst themselves as Yugi stared. ("We have enough people," the other was saying.)

"K-Kaiba," Yugi muttered, eyes wide with evident confusion.

"Don't get the wrong idea," she growled, narrowing her eyes as she held her gaze away from the teen. "One of the main reasons I set up this tournament was to weed scum like the 'Ghouls' from the face of the earth... This has nothing to do with your idiotic mutt," she added with a defensive snarl, receiving a blank and surprised series of blinks in response.

"...I didn't say anything," the teen said rather flatly, before turning as their opponents coughed.

"Ehhh..." The ghouls in front of them swallowed, holding their disks forward. "L-Lets go," the taller shouted, each of them taking stances as they drew a hand of cards. "'Basic Rulings' style," they shouted, "Duel!"

Basic rulings..? The woman gave a dark snort, quickly setting off the manual switch between 'card locks'. It figured that Ghouls found a way to get through the more hidden lock on store-prepared disks... "Hn! This will be fast," she muttered, drawing her hand only to set a single card on the field. Not that this wasn't a problem... And oooh... The woman grabbed the first card from her hand, setting it on the disk with a sinister chuckle. "Watch me Yugi," she shouted with a darkening grin, card appearing to the field as the sky appeared to darken. "This is MY God Card... OBELISK!"

"O-Obelisk," the opponents stuttered incredulously, holographic smoke developing behind the woman as the card was summoned.

In a single instant the enormous monster appeared, far surpassing the limits of the hologram projectors as it blew the 'opponents' back in a single punch. She could care less about the 'laws of physics' at the moment, or any other to say the least... Hell, she didn't even care that the monster was behind her, rather than in front of her where the card was. And as Yugi stared with wide eyes at the damage done by her card, which was now being removed to return to her deck, all she could do was laugh. "HnhnhahahA! Now then," she snarled, grin still in place as she stormed toward the scum on the ground to rip the locator cards from their disks. "Lets go!"

Yugi's only response was a blank, wide-eyed nod, the teen barely catching the locator cards as she tossed them back toward him.

* * *

While storms were developing and clearing on what appeared to be a whim around Domino, Mokuba was busy running for the staircase of the canal while doing as his sister had asked. "Okay," he muttered to himself, biting his lip somewhat. "Katsuya-nii's ID was..." Hnnn... Mokuba frowned as he walked back up the steps to the canal-side road, tapping a few things on his slate as he attempted to locate the blond. He'd been keeping tabs on him for most of the day but... For some reason, when Odoru had tapped the screen to look at Osiris' info in the car, the tab had closed.

There hadn't even been anything to tell him of the action, which was why he was resuming the search now, rather than already having it set up again. Which was weird when he thought about it... The boy shook it off however, looking at the location as it flashed back on the screen with a nod. Code was entered, and the disk was working fine! "Alright," he said with a smirk, stowing the slate back in his bag as he walked back toward the car. "The aquarium! That's easy enough to find... Hey! Matsuda," the boy shouted, coming over to the car at a slight run. The back door was already ready and open for him he noted, the boy's smirk still in place as he ran over. "We're heading to the Aquarium," he continued plainly, "Get there as fast as you... ...Can..."

Oh no... Oh no... Mokuba swallowed, looking into the backseat of the car with horror as the bloodied brows of the two guards met his eyes. Blunt force... It was just blunt force, there was still a- "M-Matsuda," the boy shouted, looking into the car as the blood ran from his face. "Matsuda, call-" Mokuba continued to pale, stepping away from the car as the unconscious and bleeding form of the recognizable chauffeur met his gaze through the rearview mirror. ...H-Him too... From the middle of their heads, directly between the eyes, knocked out cold...

The boy hurriedly grabbed his phone from his pocket, dialling in the three-digit emergency number with a swallow. "O-One one nine... I..." Come on... Pick up pick up pick up... "Hah... Hah... GHK-!" A strangled cry met the air as the phone clattered to the ground, the boy raised from the sidewalk by his neck as he attempted to pull at the arm holding him.

"_Emergency phone line,_" a calm voice at the other end of the phone stated,_ "What is your reason for calling?_"

Something that warranted '110' instead? "Gh... Hkg..!" The boy struggled as he was slowly deprived of his much needed oxygen, rough hands gripping at his throat as he shut his eyes. No... No...

"_...Hello,_" the man on the phone was asking, tears dotting Mokuba's eyes. No...

No..! He needed to- A cloth was forced across the boy's face, his eyes widening just briefly before closing over as his body fell limp. No...

Something in the cloth... His vision was fading... And what was...

...No...

"_Hello,_" the voice was saying again._ "...Hello..? ...Hello?"_

It couldn't end like this... It couldn't...

_..._

_no..._

**

* * *

AN**: Noooo! Mokubaaaa!

Ooooh, it's so _short_ today! Actually not really. It seemed that way before edit though, and that's because we don't get Kaiba and Yugi next. We get Jonouchi next.

And switching to Jonouchi within this chapter really, really, _really_ kills the drama of it. (Even though it'll technically kill it anyways by switching moods from chapter to chapter.) In the end though, this is only a page shorter than usual anyways... And in all honesty, I can still blame Malik.

He doesn't know when to _SHUT HIS MOUTH_.

And in other news, I'm sure people are still wondering what was up with Osiris the TALKING dragon-god... And there's actually an explanation in one of the review responses below, as that was a question. So without further ado...

**Poll Results** are **STILL** **unchanged**. So yea.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Aha! My goal is achieved! …Nice touch with the 'Eff!' there Iona.

God's sudden speaking ability is all 'God'; the power of the God Cards is such that it one, allows most with their foot in Ancient Egypt power (IE, holders of the Millennium Items) to see and hear them clearly and two, somewhat thins the barrier between 'reality' (Holograms) and 'the other realms' (What Jonouchi sees).

Kaiba however doesn't put much thought to it, since whereas Yugi's affects all of _his_ monsters because of an already prevalent ability, her 'sense' only gets snatched up by Blue-Eyes and the God Cards. Mai also has this, though with her Harpy Ladies instead…

In a nut-shell, the same people that can be affected by Orichalcos, have 'lived' in Ancient Egypt, or simply hold in their possession a Millennium Item have a slightly stronger than normal 'sense'; this ranges from:

Certain monsters in their decks simply following them around (Haga and Ryuzaki)...

To somewhat seeing and/or being able to feel those monsters in reality on the board, (Kaiba, Mai)...

To seeing and/or touching all of the _personal_ monsters _at will_ (Before a fight or during for example; this only applies to Yugi)...

All the way up to seeing _ALL_ monsters and spells, being affected by those spells, experiencing _ALL SENSATIONS_ (So not just sight and touch; smell, taste (Not that this happens often), and hearing as well.) involving this… Both inside and outside of a duel.

This actually extends even _further _than that, but that won't happen for a _long_ time... Read: Doma. And speaking of Doma, when the monsters are wreaking havoc everywhere, that isn't everyone suddenly being able to see; that's the monsters actually existing in the real world.

In any case, enjoy this chapter!

Ohhh very unnerving Randomprojects. As to why Jou's sixth sense is stronger… You will find out. Trust me on that. And it's not really that he hears the other duels; it's just that Osiris is so _loud_ that he can hear the echoing roar.

And regarding that… A few things. One, Atem was quite straight, trust me on this. So you'll find out what I meant by 'not any more' soon enough or eventually depending…

In terms of his embarrassment, it's largely that bottom point, but it is indeed tied to a subconscious memory… Quite like the 'onions' deal, but for a very different reason… Albeit still related to what the two thought of each other.

Actually, the two reasons are tied into each other, so have fun when I reveal that point.

In any case, it's mostly him being flustered. With that, enjoy the chapter!

And as for this nameless anonymous review… Is that you BlueLagoonLoon? The review is pretty consistent with your style. And as for your cold, ouch! I hope you get better.

Hahaha! I think that in this case, being an Ancient Egyptian matter, the name is different, but I do indeed get the point. And yes… So so much arrogance and jerkiness to make Kaiba 'Kaiba'… Haaaahh, but we love him (And in fanfic's case her) for it!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that wonders what kind of 'test' Ra and Obelisk will come up with!

* * *

Today's chapter title refers to the 'challenge' that Osiris supposedly put Yugi through. In Egyptian lore, after death the spirit passes through twelve gates before entering the next world... One for each hour/star of the evening.

_But wait Usagi, there's only three Gods!_ Very very true. But I never said that the 'Gates' title would only refer to 'challenges' from the Gods. Moreover, I have given you a very big hint as to what this actually refers to.

* * *

It's around three in the afternoon for Yugi and Kaiba by the way, for those curious about the time (Since we obviously had to 'backtrack' from Shizuka and the others to cover the other duels); by the time Jonouchi finishes his next duel, it'll be around four, and after the double duel between the masks, Kaiba, and Yugi, around 5:30, 5:45.

* * *

What's on the disk is understandable, but how do they know what's in their hands? It's simple really; the system logs all cards in the deck into the computer... That way, cards that are summoned once they're drawn are actually summoned... So, to figure out what's in the hand, it only needs to figure out which cards were just removed or recently removed during the duel.

* * *

Also, the first part of this chapter is inspired mostly by what I would imagine an announcer is stuck doing in front of every duel monster's game. '_We have Duelist A… He's summoning a monster, a tricky play given the trap card across from him, but perhaps luck is on his side…_'

No seriously. Worst job _ever_. Nonetheless, the peanut gallery guards serve this purpose rather well.

* * *

Originally, this ability that Osiris had was unknown to Kaiba until he was actually at the duel… But lets face it, if we're going to figure out _anything_ as readers from this…

* * *

By the way, the doll wasn't referred to as 'the doll' or as 'Malik' when it was Kaiba's point of view because… Well.. Kaiba doesn't know about the whole possession/Malik deal just yet. She will soon though... (Not that she'll 'believe' it.)

* * *

Lots of lines were changed here, either to match the fact that abilities were known before hand, or simply to cut down on unneeded exposition. Because unneeded exposition can cause unneeded images of stupidity.

And yes, that 'LISTEN' comes from my Zelda-fan-ness. And now all of you will picture Kaiba as- ...Actually, just look at the doodle below.

* * *

Because talking is a free action, but duelling isn't, I had Osiris hold his ability back for the moment, or at least until Malik bothered to draw three cards. Mainly because it takes about two seconds for an attack, and Malik doesn't know how to shut up.

At all.

* * *

…You do not know how tempted I was to have Yugi say '_WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK I AM_' instead of his actual line. Damn you Gurren Lagann. _Damn you_… (Your homework for those who don't get the joke is to watch that show **now**.)

* * *

Malik really does let loose an f-bomb in the manga by the way. It's actually really amusing, because Malik doesn't actually curse that much… At all. Might come off as surprising, _but it's true_... It's very rare.

* * *

As a matter of fact yes, 'Salaam' is 'Good-bye' in Arabic. Informal grant you, but Malik doesn't much like Yugi and the others anyways.

* * *

Originally, Mokuba was going to do two things; one, use his canon line of '_Don't get to used to it; soon, those (God card, locator card) will both be my brother's_!', which was scrapped when I remembered that this was probably stated because Mokuba was still acting like a complete prat in the manga (Something he obviously doesn't do nearly as much now)...

And two, also say 'nee-sama' rather than 'nii-sama', as it appears to just be Mokuba, Kaiba, and Yugi.

But Mokuba doesn't know if 'Strings' is conscious or not, so that would be rather silly… It's a good thing he took that precaution too; Malik was still listening, and he would have had a _nasty_ bit of leverage otherwise.

* * *

Yami Yugi actually _wearing_ the jacket? _Blasphamey! _It goes on his shoulders! But the fact is, I refuse to believe he can run at top speed without that jacket falling from his shoulders. So there.

* * *

Originally, Kaiba only said it had nothing to do with Yugi's _friends _in the manga. For some reason though, her denial is far more specific than her canon-counterpart, ahahaha. _Well, I wonder what THAT means…_

(I am very bad at keeping secrets.)

* * *

I'm pretending Kaiba already has five locator cards by the way. Because then, she's not quite as pissed about Jonouchi having so many so early, hehehehe. It also means less curbstomps to narrate; thanks to this, Yugi now has four locator cards with the end of the duel... For the sake of keeping things running 'smoothly' though, not all of the Ghouls will have locator cards, so a majority of the curbstomp duels will turn out empty handed save _one_.

* * *

Also, Yugi's reaction is entirely shock when it comes to the end of the 'curbstomp' that was made even shorter by means of author-handwave. There's no fear or anything (Though Obelisk also brings with him enough power to make duels somewhat more 'real' than they should be), but lets face it, Kaiba's actions are more often than not… Odd… When it comes to these things.

You'd stare too.

* * *

In Japan, the emergency number varies; to call the police, it's 110. For an emergency at sea, its 118. For fire and medical reasons however, its 119.

**

* * *

FanArt and My Art Section**

As per usual, paste the link and remove the spaces for your image.

There's a lot of sketchiness here, particularly in 'Parasite Paracide', which is actually still in the 'blue-pen' phase for all but two parts. Even so, it serves as a little way to see how I start all my art off, so enjoy that!

Sketch- Parasite Paracide – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ ParasiteParacide. jpg - The super-sketchy sketches are supposed to be Little Winguard, Panther Warrior post-parasite, and an overly motherly giant Insect Queen... Much to Jonouchi's absolute horror. At least you get his hand? ...Eeeeewww...

Crack/Costume - The Legend of Jou! - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ TheLegendOfJou. jpg - In other words, what happens when you play The Legend of Zelda too much. Specifically, this is the Wind Waker, and if you don't recognize the characters, here's a silly little guide:

Jou – Link (Derp.)

Shizuka – Aryll (Link's sister, and kidnappee for the first half of the game.)

Kaiba – Tetra (PIRATES! Captain actually. And then she turned out to be Zelda, which was weird albeit expected... Gives you the 'Gossip Stone' to act as your far-less annoying 'Navi' for the first half of the game.)

Yugi (normal) – Komali (Rito chieftain's son, you meet this guy early on... He's fairly insecure, but ends up gaining confidence and bad-assery as the game moves... Actually saves Link and Tetra from Ganon at one point.)

Anzu – Medli (The Rito Komali loves; Medli turns out to be the Sage of Earth, so you get to lead her around a temple and leave her there. As Komali asks where she went, because he wanted to give her a flower. It wilted...)

Yugi (The other one.) - 'The King of Red Lions' AKA... King of Hyrule. (For the most part of the game, this is the talking boat who acts as the other half of 'Navi'. And then he turns out to be the ghost of the late king. Ta-daaaa! Happens when he reveals Tetra as the Princess too; he poofs her into the Zelda dress and everything. Annnnd then you leave Zelda/Tetra in the basement for half the game.)

And then we hit Makar, the Sage of Wind, and I got stuck. Because Makar is a Korok. And Koroks look like ginseng roots with leaf masks.

Your homework... PLAY THIS GAME. It's quite good. And that's enough of my shameless advertising for today.

Plans/Concept – 'Kaiba-Craft-3' – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ AirshipFloorplan. jpg - This is what Kaiba's Airship is called in Japanese; it took a bit to lay out, mostly because there's only so much room you can have in a jet that attaches to an airship, but also because of the fact that... Well, it's a _jet_ that attaches to an _airship_, has a huge-ass bridge and dining hall, hotel rooms for each of the competitors, and lets not even start on Kaiba's computer 'hole', where the staff disappear to, where the doctors came from... Where the doctor's _equipment_ came from...

In any case, despite all that, it was fun, even if it proves quite painfully how much of an architect I am _not._ And yes, there's a reason why the competitors are in the room's they're in.

And with that in mind, the next chapter will bring us back to Jonouchi... Among other things. Keep your eyes peeled! And until then, enjoy!


	71. Chapter 70

**The Power of the Seas**

* * *

Katsuya liked to think that lately, he'd been getting rather good at realizing when he was being tailed. Being able to tail other people well enough himself, it was becoming one of the less-than-honest things he was still somewhat proud of, mostly due to their use. Like his lock-picking; if he hadn't known how to do that, he'd have never been able to bust Seto out of Pegasus' weird-ass hidden basement dungeon.

That sounded a hell of a lot more creepy when he ran that through his head again. (Suddenly, Pegasus being dead didn't bug him nearly as much as it had an hour or so ago.)

In any case, like lock-picking, tailing people had come somewhat in handy. Like following Yugi around- Why, if he hadn't done that... ...Ehhh... He... Wouldn't have had that weird nightmare...

Alright, he needed to rethink these things. Maybe it wasn't being able to tail people that contributed to figuring out when you were being followed anyways. After all, he'd spent the last year and a bit staring at screens for any single detail or feeling that was out of place, and that was something that only added to years of his own gut feeling saving him while walking to his old apartment in the middle of the night. A gut feeling that had learned very quickly to go with either avoiding a fight, or beating the ever loving crap out of someone that wouldn't actually manage to kill him.

But despite this feeling, after the roars and the storms had died down in the distance and the feeling hadn't Katsuya found himself only barely able to reassure himself of the fact that none of those around him, save Anzu and Bakura, were the same people he'd seen an hour, half an hour, or even fifteen minutes before. That the few passersby were merely other 'familiar' residents of Domino, some of which he was even being given a heads up on curtesy of that annoying-ass 'flash' thing. Woman in a skirt, guy in a suit... Staring at them... And yet even though this was creepy, and more or less setting his paranoia on high as every glance over the crowd found him holding his breath and catching a spark of flames in the corner of his eye, he only ended up staring off into the distance as that same flash of fire vanished from sight completely.

Not the best way to spend the time after a 'bug-duel', that was for sure. "Jonouchi-kun," the nervous voice of his friend asked, somewhat faded as another flash of fires passed his eye. The blond jumped somewhat as the others stared at him, coughing nervously as the two frowned at their friend with evident worry.

"Jonouchi," Anzu asked as she shook her head, "Are you alright..?" The woman bit her lip, glancing at where her friend had been staring before shrugging whatever feeling she had off. "You keep spacing out..."

E-Eh! Katsuya again coughed under his breath, looking away somewhat. Shit... They'd noticed that? Bakura nodded as the teen continued to pale, biting his lip as he continued from where Anzu had left off. "She's right," he said worriedly, eyebrows furrowed as he stared at the blond. "It's worse than when you're in class... The others told me that was just something you tended to do lately but it seems to be happening far more often lately..." Th- They'd noticed that too!

"E-Ehh..." Excuse, quick, come up with an excuse! "I'm... Jus' thinkin' abou' Yugi," the blond said with a cough, the feeble excuse apparently convincing his friends for the moment. The two were both trading shrugs and nods at the moment, expressions of unease fading somewhat as they looked back. "I mean... I promised 'm I'd make it to th' finals, y' know?" Yea... And speaking of that promise... "Course... Even though I've only got one card left..." He laughed somewhat nervously as he pulled out the five cards from his pocket, looking around the street before putting them back. "Ehhh..."

So far, it was like everyone had just skipped down after that storm... Either running inside, or even running home; after all, it was the middle of the afternoon now... There were probably only a handful of competitors left by this point. "The streets are almost cleared now," Bakura muttered, looking down the road somewhat before frowning. The albino fell silent for a few moments, arms crossed over his chest as he stared out. It had become a bit of an awkward subject, the Millennium Ring really... Sort of an 'all-known' secret. They knew he was _wearing_ it, thanks to that incident back in April...

But damned if seeing it didn't scare the crap out of them, and Bakura sure as hell didn't like talking about the thing- the only comfort they ever got out of the knowledge was when gym class came and he _wasn't_ wearing it. Of course, that only meant they never knew when he was or wasn't so... "...Hnnn..." Katsuya cut his thoughts short as he followed Bakura's gaze, eyes narrowed as his hair blew into his face. A wind seemed to be passing... Like some strong, hurricane-force gale that only affected the air and not the things around it. A strange feeling to say the least but...

He looked over at Bakura, turning around to walk off into the street. No way he felt it too right? Hell, Yugi didn't seem to catch these things... Anzu sighed as they continued down the road, a slight frown on her face as she glanced at the clock on her phone. "We haven't seen Yugi all day," she muttered, watching as the skies began to clear above them. She replaced the device in her purse, crossing her arms as the three walked aimlessly down the middle of the street. Empty roads were both the blessing and the curse of the shut down motor traffic really... Not that there was time to think about that. "I wonder how he's doing..."

Whaaaat, Yugi? Heh! "Knowin' him he's already at th' finals, waitin' f'r me," Katsuya said with a smirk, shaking his head. Hell, he was probably way ahead of him..! Probably bored out of his skull, standing around whatever building Seto decided on... "Heh... An' I'll be there in jus' a moment," he continued, partially to himself.

"You know..." Eh? The others turned as Bakura brought his arms back down from around his chest, a small smile appearing on his face. "I just thought of something," the albino said somewhat conversationally, turning to the blond as they continued walking. "You've won a few new cards haven't you," he asked. "Psycho Shocker, and the Insect Queen..." Otherwise known as super-tall cyborg thing and scary-ass bug lady that somehow still had breasts...

"Ihhhh..." Anzu nodded, pulling a slight face as she went a little green. "He did," she answered for the blond, only slightly less pale than her friend, "But they're a little creepy..." A little? More like-

"Gh-! O-Oii," the blond growled darkly, "It ain't like I picked 'm out myself," he muttered in response, ignoring an equally aggravated snarl from his deck. Well, obviously someone (...Thing.) in there didn't agree...

Not that he really cared... "Personally, I found them quite interesting..." In, interesting..! How the hell was- The others turned as Bakura said this, the albino smiling rather warmly as he searched his pockets for something. "You see," the teen was rattling off, ignorant to the looks on his friend's faces, "I absolutely _love_ grotesque cards like that, with more genuinely 'monstrous' creatures and the like..." Yea! That was... One way of describing the Insect Queen... "I'm actually a little jealous," he continued with a laugh, the others continuing to stare incredulously, "If it were me, I'd love to add those cards to my deck!" G-Go right ahe-

Ah- Wait... Bakura had a... "Y-You have a duel monster's deck Bakura?" Weird... He'd never said anything about that... And it wasn't like the game was that new, given everything else that went on because of the cards...

Even so the teen nodded, smiling as he pulled the deck in question out from his pockets. There were definite signs of wear on a few of the cards; evidently, this wasn't just something he'd gotten into within the last week. "That's right! See, It's 'occult' themed!" The albino continued grinning, fanning the cards out in his hands to show the others. There was a fairly obvious amount of care put into the cards despite the wear Katsuya noted somewhat blankly as Bakura held the cards out. In all honesty, he needn't have done this, as the moment the deck met the air a large number of spirits followed with. A blue skinned woman holding the remains of a child-like doll came first, the 'woman' bowing her head politely as she rubbed the broken doll in an almost loving caress as she 'smiled' at the blond. Next, a zombified jester-esque man with strings attached to his hands, muscles and skin worn away to make the man appear more angered than calm...

Sangan was more or less a relief from the shades to say the least, though Katsuya was still edging away from the deck with an uncontrollable shudder as more and more spirits hopped out to stare. "O-Occult..." So... Creepy... He shook himself, watching as the teen closed up the deck for the spirits to vanish from sight. Thank god... "Hihhh! I am _never_ dueling you Bakura... Never, never, _never!_!"

"R-Really," the teen said with a slight laugh, pocketing his deck as Anzu watched in amusement, "Don't be like that now..."

"Never..!" Hihhhh... The blond rubbed his wrists as he attempted to push the feeling from mind, only for a short blip sound to jar him from his thoughts. "Nyh!"

The others blinked, staring as the small light at the end of the deck holder began to glow. It was slow and pulsing at the moment, lighting up the small arrow-shaped lens on the device with a cool green hue. "Ah... What is that," Anzu muttered, watching Katsuya turn the disk from left to right with variant speeds of 'flashing' from the light. To the left, it slowed to the point where it was no longer glowing... To the right however...

"This is..." Is... Some sort of... "...Ah!" Katsuya grinned as he realized what the light was doing, turning back to the others with a grin. "This must be th' 'duelist search sensor' th' packaging for th' disk mentioned," he said with a laugh, stretching his arm out as the light flashed more rapidly. Sure seemed like it at least, with the way it was going on... "It detects other active duel disks within fifty 'r so meters," the blond explained, holding his arm out as the blip sounds continued.

"Hah... That's convenient," Anzu muttered, Bakura momentarily staring off to the side with a continued frown. Katsuya as well paused for a moment as another wind passed them by, before looking back as Anzu continued on. "But how would you know which way to go..?"

Another series of blip sounds came from the device in answer as Katsuya pointed it southward, his grin growing. "That answer yer question," he asked, bringing his arm back in and looking down the street. "Alrigh'! Let's go," he shouted, taking off with a laugh as the 'blips' continued through the air at a slow crescendo. "Who knows how long this guy'll be in range!"

"H-Hey," Anzu shouted, charging after the blond as her friend ran off. "Wait up! If it's only fifty meters it can't be that long!"

Not taking chances! "Battle City Finals, here I come," he called out cheerfully, laughing wildly as he ran with Anzu shouting behind him.

"J-Jonouchi!"

All in all he should have realized that something was off when he didn't hear a 'jonouchi-_kun_' in addition to Anzu's shouts. Because if he had, things likely would have gone much differently by the end of the day...

* * *

"Ah... Hang on..." To say he was a little surprised at where the sensor had taken him, was putting it fairly lightly. Shining above them rather clearly in the sunlight was a familiar, brightly lit sign with a whale as its mascot and logo after all, and given that Battle City supposedly existed because buildings didn't have the space for duels... Well, ending up here was more than a bit confusing. "Th' Aquarium..?"

Anzu as well stared, crossing her arms as she looked from the sign to the beeping duel disk on her friend's arm before shrugging. "The sensor certainly thinks so..." She trailed off, looking behind her only to groan and shake her head. "Oh _no_..." Oh no?

Well it wasn't a _bad_ 'oh no', there'd be a scream then but... "...Eh?" Katsuya turned, following her gaze only to blink at what wasn't there. "Wh- Aw hell..." They'd lost Bakura... The blond frowned momentarily, before looking to his friend with raised eyebrows. "..Y' think he'll find us easy enough," he asked, looking from the empty road and back to the aquarium behind him.

The woman beside him sighed, shrugging as she again crossed her arms. "If not," she said with a sigh, "There's always my cell..." Yes, there was always that... Anzu again shook her head, turning to head for the main entrance as she adjusted her purse. "Let's go inside and find this 'duelist' your disk is so set on and call him after alright," she decided, turning back briefly as Katsuya moved to follow her.

"Righ'..." Well... Despite the usual paranoia, there was no weird flames or winds or anything so... Couldn't be too much wrong right? The blond nodded to himself with that thought, turning toward the aquarium entrance as they made their way inside. "Sooooo," he muttered, glancing at the entrance fee as they entered the surprisingly short line. "...Y' have 'nough f'r two people righ'..?"

"Two-" Anzu tensed, before looking at her friend with a somewhat broken smile as she 'laughed'. "Ahah... And... How come you can't pay for yourself, mister '_I don't need to lie about a job_'?" Oh come on, was she seriously bitter about that? He paid rent didn't he?

And thank _god_ Bakura had defended him on that by mentioning that his dad paid for his apartment, or he'd have ended up at the wrong end of the 'Mazaki-Stare' for a week. It wasn't the 'Kaiba-Stare', that was for sure...

But it was still something he was tensing under the thought of, laughing somewhat nervously as he attempted to spare himself for the current moment. "Ahehehe... I treated a guy t' lunch earlier," he said with a cough, making sure to avoid mentioning Ryuzaki. Or 'Keiichi' for that matter, given that he'd been complaining about 'that guy' for a while... "I... I'm short cash alrigh'..?" So please pay for him, he mentally added as it came to their turn in the line.

Anzu sighed as she looked over her friend, turning away and shaking her head. "Hah..." The woman fished out a bit of change from her purse, moving to the front of the ticket booth to buy two fares as her friend silently cheered. Yes! "Alright... But only this once," she continued, pointing back at Katsuya in slight accusation as she handed him his pass. "_Got it_?"

"Hehe... Crystal," he said with a grin, moving through the gate and flashing his pass across the scanner. "I owe yah one!" Ignoring the 'I won't hold you to it' (What, he was reliable!) from behind, the blond continued to grin and walk into the large 'coliseum-esque' tank arena, the duel-disk's 'blips' now escalating to a full on, endless 'beep'. "Now," he muttered, smacking the disk as the beeping began to grate at his nerves. The noise stopped rather quickly as the light flickered out, Katsuya staring at it nervously for a moment; he... It wasn't broken right? A slight flash from the disk in question told him it likely wasn't at least, so the blond decided to push it from mind before moving further into the arena. "Le's see where th's guy is-"

"HAHAHAHAHA!" Eh... Wow, for that kind of laughter to make itself known among an arena full of people was pretty- "Talk about a BIG catch!" A what? Big... Catch? The two turned at the shout, looking near the side of the tank where a tanned, head-band wearing man was gleefully watching a killer whale leap in and out of the water. Hang on... Loose, messy ponytail, scars on his arms and legs...

"A-Ahhh! It's him," Katsuya said with a slight shout, blinking a few times, running over with a grin. "Kajiki..! O-OIII," he shouted louder, heading over to the tank. "KAJIKI!"

The man by the tank turned, evidently not caring that he was already thoroughly soaked by the whale's splashing. "Hn- Ah! Jonouchi," he shouted with a laugh, grinning as the two others came toward him. The whale behind him again jumped, the pair pausing in their approach as the spray of water misted into the air. "Ahahaha!"

"Hahaha! Been a long time," the blond said with a grin, coming over as the whale beside them opted to take a break from jumping. "How yah doin'?"

"I've been great! Completely fine," Kajiki said cheerfully, the Okinawan crossing his arms as he shook his head. "Long time is right," he added, smirking as he looked at the two. "It's been almost half a year since the 'Kingdom'!" And he was more or less enjoying that time to say the least... "So you're in Battle City too, ah," he asked, Katsuya nodding as his grin widened.

"Heh! Damn straight," the blond laughed, hands stowed in his pockets as he grinned. "Like I'd miss this chance!"

"Oh... But Kajiki..." The boys turned, watching as Anzu frowned and stared at the Okinawan oddly. "Battle City is supposed to be restricted to the streets," she said somewhat plainly, "What exactly are you doing at an aquarium?"

Kajiki's grin didn't even falter at that question, the man merely continuing to laugh as he leaned against the tank's waist-high glass. "Ahhh, well, I was out on the streets before," he trailed off, looking back at the whale as it swam over to open its mouth in a 'grin', "But the fact is," the Okinawan continued cheerfully, "When I saw this aquarium, I had to come in!" Of course he did, there were fish her- "I've never been to one before, hahaha!"

"Ah," The two blinked, raising their eyebrows. "You haven't..-" They were quickly cut off as Kajiki continued to go on about the aquarium, rubbing the killer whale's head with a grin.

"But ohhh WOW! I knew they had fish here," he said with a chuckle, watching as the whale flipped back into the water with another open mouthed grin, "But this is HUGE! I almost want to pick him out and fry him on the grill!" Hahaha, this guy never cha-

Waaaaaait... "E-Ehh..." Katsuya coughed, shaking his head. "Grill?"

"_Fish_," Anzu said incredulously, looking from the whale to Kajiki. H-Hey, that wasn't the point here...

"O-Oiii... Kajiki," Katsuya laughed, rubbing his head. "B'sides th' fact that tha's a whale," he said with a cough, Anzu momentarily gesturing to the blond to emphasize the comment, "An'... Not a fish..." Probably wouldn't make for good eating...

"Kajiki..." The man stared, arms crossed as the two before him shook their heads. "An aquarium is a place to _see _fish," Anzu was continuing with a cough, shaking her head. "N-Not to _eat_ them..!"

Kajiki blinked at this, a somewhat dumbstruck look in place as he looked them over. "H-Heh..? You city-slickers pay money to... To _see_ fish," he asked, shaking his head as another grin came over his face. What. What was so wrong about looking at things that would ordinarily be a couple thousand feet under the oce- "Man," Kajiki muttered with a whistle, "You guys are _weird_..." It wasn't weird damn it! (That aquarium in Osaka had been particularly cool for one, given the chances of seeing a whale shark in reality.) "More than I thought," the man before them added, blinking off his evident surprise as Katsuya frowned. "Heh! If you want to see fish so bad," he continued with a grin, "Come down south... I'll show you all the fish in the sea, HAHAHA! Give them a meal too," the Okinawan added, a well timed splash from the orca behind him happening at that moment.

"Ehhh... S-Sure," he said with a shrug, staring. ...How did Kajiki get from Okinawa to Tokyo anyways...

"Oh, by the way..." Nyh? "Jonouchi," Kajiki asked, turning to the blond as his friend blinked. "If that's all this place is," he continued plainly, "Then what brings you here?" Katsuya paused for a moment, staring as the man continued with a grin. "You must love fish more than I thought," Kajiki continued loudly, "Maybe I should take you on a trip!"

"Ah-" Wait wait wait..! "I didn't come here t' look at fish," he growled, going somewhat red as Kajiki's earlier comments on 'weird city-slickers' came to mind. The Okinawan blinked at this, watching as Katsuya tensed a moment more before smirking. Well... Kajiki _was_ a duelist after all... "I came here t' duel," he said with a grin, crossing his arms. "An' seein' how yer th' only duelist here..."

"You want to duel with-" There was a short pause, the man repeating the phrase under his breath. "You want to duel...With me," Kajiki muttered, eyebrows raised. Was it so hard to believe? The blond nodded, only to growl as the man laughed in response. Oii! That wasn't a real question! (He hadn't even asked it..!) "AHAHAHA! You can't possibly compete against my Sea deck," Kajiki shouted, howling laughter filling the air as Anzu shook her head from beside the blond. "Compared to me," the man continued with a wide grin, "You're just a little prawn!"

"Ghhh!" Prawn! As in shrimp! "What was that y' seafood-nut..!"

Kajiki's wide grin instantly narrowed into the familiar 'duelist's smirk', the man clicking his duel disk into position as he gestured to the large amount of space between the tank and the stands. There was quite clearly enough space to fight right there after all... And given that the show obviously hadn't started... "I said 'alright'," the man shouted, slipping his deck into place with a nod. "I accept your challenge, Jonouchi!"

Ah- "Heh! Now that's more like it!" The blond moved to stand at a fair distance from the side grinning. Already, a number of the people who had initially come to watch the whale show were muttering, talking amongst themselves. Mostly wondering what they were doing... And a few others watching in evident anticipation. Heh... Not bad having an audience... Time to show them what he was made of! "Alrigh' Kajiki," he shouted, the two now a good thirty feet apart as they turned to each other. "I got five locator cards... I only need one t' go on t' th' finals," he continued clearly, "So why not bet one card f'r now?"

His opponent frowned a moment at that, apparently not expecting his match to have that many. The expression quickly vanished however, Kajiki smirking as he held his disk out for the duel. "A better idea," he shouted with a nod, expression faltering slightly as he appeared to weigh his options while he spoke. "We're running out of time for the tournament," he explained, glancing at the aquarium clock with those words. Three o'clock... Traffic would start up again around six wouldn't it? "I still need two cards," Kajiki was saying as his opponent thought about this, voice plain as the blond looked back. "Rather than only offering one," he continued on, "How about this? I offer one locator card and two rare cards if you win... But if I win," the man shouted seriously narrowing his eyes, "I get a rare card and two locator cards instead!" So either way, the winner made it to the end then. Hnnn...

Well, if that happened, he'd still have a clear shot at the finals... Not much _time_, but he'd just have to bet two...

But what the hell was he thinking about that for, he wasn't losing! "Alrigh'," Katsuya shouted, disk clacking into place as he nodded. Two rare cards... And there was no way Kajiki had any creepy-ass monsters in his fishy deck! "Deal! Let's go!"

His opponent nodded, a smirk making his way on his face. "Duel!"

A wave of water splashed up from the side as the whale in the tank leaped high beside them, the pair drawing their hands in an instant. All in all, this whale had interesting timing... That wasn't the point though. "I'm first," the blond announced, disk held forward as the familiar 'wind' that appeared during the duels began to pick up. He won this, and he'd be in! He'd have made it to the finals, made it to where Yugi was waiting, made it to where he would rub this right in Seto's face... (That last one was particularly appealing, at least until he remembered her warning...)

Shouts were filling the air from all sides with these thoughts... Some about the whale in the tank, children watching as the killer whale leaped and flipped gracefully in the air... Others more recognizable as cheers, Anzu in particular standing a small ways off at the side with cupped hands... And all throughout the air a 'tint' seemed to come over the area Katsuya noted, like some thin celophane curtain of shadow to set the field. It was something that happened during every duel... As though the entire world was 'setting the scene' for what was about to happen, affecting even their moods. Kajiki had a fairly nasty smirk in place with that last thought in mind, greatly contrasting the warm grin he'd had before... But even so. The blond looked over his hand, eyes narrowed as he thought of a first move to make. Heh...

Imagine if he'd still had that Parasite card right now... That would have been horrible, hahahaha... Katsuya shook the thought from mind, instead continuing to flip through his first five cards. Alright! This wasn't a bad hand at all... A few monsters, and his trap, Chasm of spikes! Hehehehe... "First," the blond shouted with a smirk as he slipped the card into the duel disk slot, "I set one card face down!" A phrase he had to literally force himself to say every time to say the least... Given that the 'card' was just a blank tablet. Or at least it was _now_, after waiting a few seconds for it to appear from the ground, face blank and unrevealing. Katsuya slipped a second card onto the disk, silently thankful for the fact that he could at least see the cards _and_ the monster's with the devices as he watched the tablet appear. "An' next," the blond shouted as steam wrapped about the stone, "I play Swordsman 'f Landstar in defense mode!" The alien-like monster's form appeared clearly on its tablet, the shield bearing his image facing out to the crowd watching. And now that that was done... He glanced back at his hand, smirking. Heh... On his next turn, he'd tribute summon Giltia, getting a powerful monster on the field right off... This duel was going to be over in minutes! "It's on...!"

"Hn! Right! It's my turn then," Kajiki called out, a pair of tablets appearing to the field as he set two cards into place. "One face down card," he began, the first tablet going blank as it arose from the dust and air to his left, "And Flying Fish, in defense mode," he continued, the second tablet slowly carving the image of a long winged fish on its form. "End turn!"

Fish huh? He stared at the large, arced carving, smirking in response. "So... Y' think you can fight me wi' fish Kajiki," the blond asked, drawing his next card as the smirk grew. Probably should have figured really... "My deck's got some pretty strong monsters..." Something they were pleased to hear, given the weird feeling coming from the cards in question. Hehehehe... "You should be warned..! Here... Lemme show you," he continued, setting Giltia on the disk and putting the Landstar's card in the graveyard as the image on the tablet shifted and twisted into an alternate one. "I sacrifice Landstar t' summon a new monster," the blond announced, smoke enveloping the stone as the newly carved image made way for a figure in robes and armor. "Giltia!"

The spear wielding monster leaped from his tablet with a mute shout, turning briefly to nod his head at is summoner. Evidently, Giltia was more of the silent type... Along with the serious type as well, given the curt look he'd received before the monster turned his attentions back to the field. It was the kind of look that said 'fighting now, talk later'.

That or 'don't bug me', and he really hoped it wasn't that one. Across from him Kajiki seemed more than prepared however, the tablet beside him beginning to glow as he laughed. "Really now," he shouted, his opponent paling somewhat as the blank stone carved an image on its form. "In that case, I activate my trap!" Trap... Oh shit... Katsuya winced as the blank tablet across from him revealed what looked to be an oncoming wave, gritting his teeth as an actual one tore from the stone to blast into his monster. With a garbled shout the warrior was drowned in the waters, the torrent of fluid acting like a hand as it pulled the monster back into the stone before crumbling into dust. And mere seconds after, the dust as well was gone... As for any water that had gotten on him...

That was likely blamed on the whale, which had conveniently leaped out of the water at that moment. Ignoring the fact that getting this wet from the whale wasn't possible from where he was... "Tch..." Not good... No monsters on the field, his summon wasted... He still had his trap, but if the word 'flying' in the fish's name was any sign, it would probably do dick all... Katsuya swallowed, regaining his stance as he watched his opponent continue. Well...

He mind as well give it a shot right? And... '_Man, that duelist is AWFUL!'_ Wait what. The blond twitched somewhat as the crowd jeered, clenching his jaw. '_I guess this makes for a bit of entertainment before the show starts though..._' W-Wait... First turn they'd decided-

Those bastards..! He'd show them damn it! So what if the fish was a flying thing, this was supposed to work by the game rules anyways, not 'Pegasus' rulings! "Hn!" Kajiki snorted from across the blond, Katsuya in question attempting to calm himself down. "I called you a prawn before Jonouchi, but I think I'll have to change that to Krill! This isn't any fun at all," Kajiki continued with a near snarl, narrowing his eyes as he waved his hand. "If it weren't for your big mouth," he added darkly, "I wouldn't even have noticed you!"

"Gh- KRILL!" The tiny crap that whales ate! "YOU DAMN BASTAR-"

"Jonouchi," Anzu shouted from the side, the blond turning as his rage filled expression fell, "Calm down!" Ca- Calm down... Right...

Right, right... The blond swallowed, looking across the field as he took in a deep breath. Should probably take the lady's advice, hahaha. Well, he thought, looking back at his hand with a grimace, nothing else to do... "End turn," he growled under his breath, fists clenched as he looked at his blank tablet. This was all he had... He was counting on this!

So please prove that dark feeling in the back of his throat wrong..! "My turn then," Kajiki shouted, glancing at the blond's 'card' with somewhat narrowed eyes as he drew his card. That... That was definitely a look that said 'no problem'. Which meant problems for him... Ehhhh... "Hn! Here I come... The Flying Fish moves into attack mode," he shouted, pointing the monster forward as it dashed free from its tablet. The fish seemed to swirl through the air as it flipped forward, gaping mouth revealing rows of sharp teeth that had the blond grimacing in response. Kajiki of course, wasn't done yet... "It then moves to attack directly," he was shouting, the fish darting forward with an odd grunt sound, "_**TORPEDO CHARGE!**_"

Alright then! Katsuya waved his hand, motioning for the trap beside him to activate. "Act'vate th' trap 'Chasm 'f Spikes'," he shouted, tablet collpasing into dust across the ground before caving in the center of the field to reveal a near bottomless pit. The pit's spikes arose tall from opening below only for the blond's fears to be realized as the trap took affect. Though the tablet had ground to dust, and was sitting in the center of the field now, the Flying Fish was still moving, flapping its oversized fins and locking its mouth tight in a battering-ram styled charge. And it had eyes for only one thing, and that was him. "Oh _fuck_- GHN!" The blond was tossed back as the fish struck him in the stomach, body skidding a few feet across the ground with a groan before pulling himself up. "Ung..." Ow, ow, ow... What was with everything hitting his stomach, first Exodia, then that Psychic monster...

And how was he alive again..? "Hn! Moron," Kajiki shouted with a snort, evidently more aggravated than amused by the hit he'd made. "How can a flying monster fall into a pit! It doesn't work that way!" Nooooo, of course not... And evidently the blond growled mentally, he had yet to realize that Pegasus' rules didn't apply here, and that he'd actually gotten lucky... ..._Bastard_... Ow his stomach... "Now..." Now? Oh right, still his turn... Damn it... "I'll play another card face down and end my turn," Kajiki called out, narrowing his eyes as the blank tablet arose from the ground and the pitfall in the center of the field filled itself in. "But listen up," his opponent was growling. "If you don't plan to fight seriously then I'm calling off this match, understood!" Not fighting seri- Katsuya's jaw clenched, nails biting into his palms as he growled. Agggggh... He was, damn it, he was! He'd just had a bad 'first move'! ...Which... Really made for win or lose results now that he thought about it with a wince. ...(He should probably pay attention to what Kajiki was saying now...) "When I fight someone," the man was continuing as his opponent swallowed, eyes narrowing while he spoke, "I give that someone my all! It shows my respect for my opponent," he shouted angrily, "Just as with fishing! I try my hardest, no matter how small the catch," the Okinawan explained seriously, "To pull in the fish... Otherwise one day, a larger one will take me! I try my best... And I expect you to do the same!" Gh... He...

The blond's gaze fell somewhat, eyes trailing off to the flying fish that now hovered beside Kajiki's new blank tablet. The monster appeared to be staring at its summoner as it sat atop its tablet, blank fishy eyes looking at the man unblinkingly. "I can't go out to sea right now," Kajiki was saying, eyes narrowed as the whale beside them continued to jump about in its tank and send a wet mist over the field. "I don't have a boat," the man muttered, "Nor the money for a boat..." He didn't- ...Well, there wasn't a prize for anyone below first on that island after all... "That's why I'm here," Kajiki continued, nodding seriously as his opponent stared. "With the cards and the prize of this tournament," he added with a slight shrugging gesture, "I'll have enough to not only get home... But also to make my dream come true!" Well... If he got enough cards... "But even if it takes all my life," the man went on, "I know that the sea will wait; because the ocean is always waiting, ready for the day when we will battle!" Ah- ...Heh.

Waiting for a battle huh? Katsuya's expression grew more severe, the blond nodding in understanding. Alright... He got where this 'fish-freak' was coming from then... "Hn... I know what you're gettin' at Kajiki... Just like you," he continued, raising his voice with a stern and challenging stare, "There's someone out there that I wanna fight! Believe me when I say this," he shouted, drawing his next card and adding it to his hand as the image appeared fresh within his mind, "I don' have any regrets... An' no matter what," the blond continued even louder, "I'm fightin' yah at full strength! Now it's my turn," Katsuya roared, setting the cards and listening as tablets arose without even looking at his hand, "So here I come! First," he announced, watching as the first stone began to give itself a thick-lined carving that filled with smoke, "Th' Alligator Sword in attack mode!" The stone began to glow somewhat, Katsuya watching as the carved image of the warrior led to the lizard-like swordsman rushing out into the field. The monster gave a swift salute as it looked back at his summoner, but nonetheless held his tongue. There was a time and place, after all, and for the moment, it was time to fight. "Next, two face down cards," Katsuya shouted, the two blank tablets appearing at either side the pair flanking him in a way almost reminiscent of a temple's support. And with that prepared... "Turn over!"

"Heh..." Kajiki's former frown vanished as the man chuckled, a smirk reappearing on his face as he laughed. "Hehehe... Now that's what I'm talking about! Alright- It's my turn," Kajiki roared, drawing his card before switching his fish out from the disk for another card from his hand. "I'll use the Flying Fish as bait," the man announced, the fish vanishing with its tablet in a torrent of water that rose far above the duelist's height, "To bring about the half-man, half-fish monster... The Amphibian Beast!"

Bait? ...Er... Amphibia- As quickly as the thought came, a scaled, finned 'man' tore through the watery pillar that brought it about, tablet behind it washing out before re-carving into its image. What resembled silt quickly dried into the familiar hardened stone and clay, the fierce 'fish man' snarling at the opponents that stood before it. H-Hihhh... That did not look good... "This monster is a rare beast that attacks from both the land and sea," Kajiki was shouting, Katsuya narrowing his eyes as his opponent pointed the beast forward. Rare..? It looked like a movie fish-monster! But yea, it was still more powerful than the Alligator Sword he decided with an afterthought, glancing at his monster as the reptilian man gave a steady nod. "Are you ready," their opponent was 'asking', the nod indirectly answering, "He attacks now!"

Alright then! A screech tore through the air as the monster made to answer to its orders, his target's summoner merely gesturing toward the tablet at his side "Activate face down card," Katsuya called out, stone beside him carving out an image on its cover before vanishing into a dust that formed a thick box of sorts around his monster. The silt and dust hardened into place as the Amphibian charged, a series of head-shaped holes appearing as the monster in question paused out of shock. Ta-daaah... "Fairy Box!"

"W-What-!" Kajiki froze, eyes wide as he looked over the box and swallowed. "Six holes," he muttered, shaking his head. "What do I have to do, guess which one he's in?"

Ehhh... Kinda. The blond shook his head, smirking as he crossed his arms. "Heh... Not really," he 'explained', watching as his monster peeked out of the box only to duck back as his opponent growled and hissed, "You jus' gotta catch him as he comes outta th' hole!"

Of course, he thought with a mental chuckle, given that the Amphibian Beast was already having obvious issues trying to snap at the Alligator Sword's appearing and disappearing head, that was a lost...

...Cause..?

Awwww shit, the blank tablet on Kajiki's side was carving an image and turning to dust already. "Hmp! Nice try," Kajiki shouted with a grin, the sound of roaring water filling the air as Katsuya grew pale. Even as the image of waves appeared on the stone the tablet was collapsing... That was never a good sign... "Too bad I have this," he was muttering, chuckling under his breath. "Umi! The field spell- I'm taking this duel beneath the seas!"

Beneath the- ...The seas! Come to think, what would a field spell do to a... Field... Uh... Katsuya's eyes widened as the tablet's cloud of dust became water, the smell of the ocean filling the air as the wave rose high above and behind its summoner. With a rush and a crash the water abruptly collapsed to the ground, water came up to his ribs as he shielded himself from the spray. Awwww fuck! Fuuuuu- Wet... Wet wet wet wet... And even worse, he noted with a wince. "Gh- Th' box 's under th' water..!" He'd expected as much he supposed but...

Well thanks to the bubbles from his now _drowning_ monster, whom was thankfully a large lunged alligator who wouldn't be running out of air for too long that Amphibian... Thing... "Amphibian Beast," Kajiki ordered, water splashing roughly against his opponent while it ran 'through' himself and left no sign of existence. "Hunt him down!"

Shit... The monster could see him clearly and _like hell he was getting him_! "Now," the blond roared, an image carving out on his other, partially submerged tablet. Despite being unable to see what he was setting on the field now he could at least tell it was activating as the tablet 'melted' beneath the seas. "My other face-down card... Th' Skull Dice!" Kajiki jumped somewhat as the hat-wearing imp cackled and launched itself out of the water, hovering above the sea and tossing his die to the waves below. "When that die lands," Katsuya continued, the die in question slowly sinking to the ground as he spoke, "That monster's attack is goin' down..." It's number was already decided too... Only the water was prolonging its magic, the block slowly sinking to the ground. As for the result... Hah! "With a four, that attack is goin' way down" he continued with a laugh, watching as his oxygen-deprived Alligator cut through the Amphibian Beast to leave a cloud of bloodied water in his wake. "Th' Amphibian Beast is d'stroyed!" Putting him in the lead as the water cleared, his Alligator surfacing just as the Skull Dice imp dissolved into a rain of sand that landed at the bottom of the sea.

"Hah! Well now Jonouchi..." Kajiki was shouting with a laugh, apparently ignorant to the fact that his opponent's jacket was 'floating' for no apparent reason. Probably using the wind as an excuse, with the water supposedly being the whale's fault really... Who knew what the excuse was for him already being more soaked than the 'fish' guy. Even so, the man was obviously pleased, still laughing as he crossed his arms. "It looks as though you fight well after all... This won't be boring then!"

Psh! Of course not! A similar grin appeared on his face nonetheless, the blond drawing his next card and laughing. "Heh! Our life points are almost ev'n Kajiki... This duel's only jus' started!" And soon enough, he'd be finishing it too! "It's my turn again," he shouted, narrowing his eyes with mirth as he looked over his hand. Only the 'beginning' and the crowd was roaring now, though for more varied reasons than the last 'wave' he noted.

'_So this is a 'virtual card duel',_' one was saying, a grin on their face as they looked down at the arena. '_It looks fun..!'_

'_Who's gonna win,_' another was wondering, before a much louder shout cut the mutterings off.

'_SHOW US THE WHALES ALREADY!_'

Yea yea yea... Katsuya merely smirked, looking over his card before slipping it onto the disk as he shook his head. Alligator Sword was standing beside him, barely an inch or so taller than his summoner... And while he was more than enough to deal out a direct attack... The blond bit his lip, frowning. "I don' s'ppose you c'n attack in th' water," he asked under his breath, pretending to look over his hand as the monster shook his head.

"_**Naw man... Way too slow through this mess,**_" he muttered, arms crossed as he looked at his 'summoner'. Interesting accent he had... What was that, Chinese?The alligator looked back over the field, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the empty 'sea'. _**"Hnnnn... You're gonna need flight...**_" Flight eh..?

The blond smirked, grabbing two cards from his hand with the word. Well, if that was all they needed... "Heh... Might be able t' fix tha' then," he muttered, setting the cards into place as the tablets came to the field. The tops of the stones were only about two inches above the water, leaving little to see from the stones... As it was, the monster tablet only just gained a foot in height as it glowed, summoning a monster to the field as Katsuya announced his move. "Alrigh'! Here I go... First," he shouted, the monster he'd set now pulling itself out of the tablet and seas both to hover above the waters, "Th' Baby Dragon! An' now," he continued, the dragon giving a low growl as it flapped its wings, "Polymerization!" Now how would this work, he wondered idly...

...Ahh... Though the tablet for the spell he'd set melted into the ground, turning into silt and sinking to the bottom of the sea in its activation. Beside him, Alligator Sword was climbing onto the Baby Dragon, the beast having grown somewhat in size with the activation without so much as a warning. With a curt nod and a salute the Alligator signalled his readiness, signifying the completion of the 'fuse'. The result... "Ta-daaaah! Alligator Sword Dragon!"

And Kajiki knew what _that_ meant... "Gh-" He tensed, looking across the field with wide eyes as his opponent grinned. "A flying monster..!"

Hehehe... Damn straight! "Yep... It'll fly right over yer old ocean," the blond bragged, shifting his stance in the water with slight difficulty. "Got anythin' t' say 'r do," he 'asked' a somewhat dark grin in place as his opponent drew a card only to scowl. "Cause if y' don'," Katsuya continued with a laugh, "Then it's my turn! Th' Alligator attacks directly," he announced, his next card having been added to his hand as he logged the card's name in the back of his mind. Already his dragon was rising in the air, preparing to make a dive for its rider to launch an attack. "Go! _**GLIDE SWORD!**_" The shout was mirrored by his monster as the Baby Dragon swooped toward Kajiki, the Alligator's blade slicing through the man with seemingly no effect. Even so, the man appeared to stumble somewhat, as though being knocked back by a blunt force rather than a blade. "HahaHA! Yea! Th' sea's nothin' compared t' this," he shouted, a wide grin in place as his monsters returned to the side. Sure it was uncomfortable but... Heh! "Thi' 's a piece 'f cake!"

"You..." Suddenly, Kajiki's expression had grown grave... His eyes had widened just momentarily, before narrowing with an almost mournful glare, rage emanating off the man to the extent that Katsuya's own grin faded instantaneously. For some reason, he could hear the ocean at a far louder, inaccurate level than it was around them. Roaring waves, crashing down upon the seas...

And shouts, not that he could hear what they were saying. But despite the dark skies and the sounds of absolute chaos, nothing was happening... And then suddenly, it had returned to normal, his opponent's glare just as cold and fierce as it had been before Katsuya heard those sounds. "Gh.. It's my turn," the Okinawan raged, a pair of blank tablets appearing almost immediately as he set a pair of cards, the stones almost completely submerged beneath the waves. "Two cards," the man continued, eyes narrowing further. "See if you can guess what they are...!" Guess- Aw hell, he'd have at least been able to see if it was a monster if... "And with that, I end my turn!" O-Oiii... Oi oi oi!

The only reason he couldn't see them was because of the water, which he could only see because... Only he could see it! Aaaaugh!

Unless he was missing something here... And the field spell really did make this much water... "Tch... Back t' me then," he growled, drawing his next card. There was something there under the waters he noted, narrowing his eyes. But he couldn't see anything more than a shadow, something that could either be a living thing or simply a shadow of the tablet itself... Not a good feeling to say the least...

...But what was he worried about he told himself, swallowing back the unease with a nod. His monster could fly; he'd just take down whatever was out there! "Tch... Whatever... Alligator Sword Dragon," he ordered, the monsters both giving a curt nod as they took to the air to prepare for another strike. "Cross th' sea, and attack! Comin' from above," he continued, narrowing his eyes as he addressed his opponent, "There's no way you c'n d'fend usin' fish righ'?" And with that, he'd win...

But he somehow knew that wasn't the case right now, even as the monsters dove forward with the Alligator's blade at the ready. "Heheheh... Not so fast," Kajiki shouted, spirals of water launching from the seas to block the dragon's path. The torrents of water tore viciously at the monster's forms, razor-sharp spray slicing into their hides as they fled to tend to the shallow wounds. "Activate the trap card Tornado Wall!"

G- Shit! Waterspouts... The blond swallowed as his warrior gave a small 'thumbs up' from the air, returning as he rubbed his arm. They were fine... That was a relief really, but now he was blocked on all fronts, land, air, and water! And since this was a permanent trap, or so that weird 'sixth sense' was telling him (Best not to ask)... "Crap... A bluff..." He'd been thinking of the strategy Kajiki used against Yugi damn it... Where he'd simply hid monsters and not traps... But with all that happened, he had nothing else to do..! "Gh... Your turn then," he snarled, opponent smirking in response.

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Go ahead and laugh... He'd get him back! "In that case, I play a single card and end my turn," Kajiki said with a grin, another tablet appearing beneath the waves as his opponent narrowed his eyes. Damn it damn it damn it... Two cards, either monsters or traps, and either way, he couldn't well do anything!

Tch... Given his chances, Kajiki was probably gathering tributes too... He drew his card, looking it over before staring ahead with a swallow. The tornadoes had gone down but... Well, if his gut had anything to say about it... "Perman'nt trap..."

"_**That's what it is, that's for sure...**_" The blond blinked, turning somewhat as the Alligator Warrior crossed his arms in thought. "_**If we attack,"**_ he continued with a low growl,_** "We'll be blocked yet again...**_" Tch... "_**But... If we attack anyways,**_" the 'gator added with a grin,_** "We'll still force the opponent into view... Gaining the right to counter-attack...**_"

Which would allow them to wear away at the life points... Well... In that case... "I attack," Katsuya growled, an audible gasp coming from Anzu at the side. Yea, yea... Not the best idea, he knew but...

Better to try he thought, watching as the dragon and its rider dove towards the seas to pull back at the last minute to avoid the waterspouts that arose from the waters. "Heh! Are you an idiot," Kajiki asked, the flurry of tornadoes briefly blocking the dragon's attack yet again before sinking beneath the ocean. "This trap is permanent," he shouted with a laugh, "You can't attack!"

And again, he knew! There wasn't really much he could do about that... But to hell if he was sitting back and waiting for his monsters to di- "_**G-Lk!**_" Katsuya paled, turning as a single pair of spears skewered through both the Alligator and the Baby Dragon's necks. Blood had splattered from the ends of the spears, spraying their summoner across the face... Their cries were cut short however, becoming strangled as they plummeted into the seas beside him with a mighty crash. And as the water ran red, their bodies vanished into dust along with their barely visible tablets as the remains sank to the bottom as disappearing silt.

"What... What..." The blond turned back toward the seas, swallowing as the blood drained from his face. "But where... Where th' hell did those come from," he asked partially to himself, "I w's watchin' th' entire time..!" Watching for the monster, waiting... And still... Still there'd been an attack... Across from him Kajiki was merely smirking, happily taking advantage of the fact that he didn't need to announce an attack or even a rebounded strike from his unseen monster. This... This really wasn't good... "Shit..." He was fighting something hidden below the seas after all..! The blond grabbed a card from his hand, setting it on the field and watching as a small glow came from the submerged tablet that appeared as a result. He couldn't summon a monster in attack mode after his battle phase but... "I'll set an'ther card face down an' end my turn," he shouted, biting his lip and glancing at his defensive 'Little Winguard'. Hell his tablet was so short he couldn't even see the top of it... Shit... Just... _Shit_...

"Hahahahaha...! And that means its my turn," his opponent shouted, the whale in the tank beside them giving another 'obligatory jump'. The sound of rushing water met his ears, a harpoon flying from some unknown location in the air before running through the water. The tablet was destroyed... He didn't need to see it to realize that, but... "Jonouchi..." The blond grit his teeth, swallowing as he looked back up from the field. "_This_ is the terror of the sea," Kajiki roared at his opponent, the teen merely narrowing his eyes at the waters around him in a frantic search. Where... He knew something was here but _where_... "Do you still think that the sea is 'not so tough', as you say," the man before him was continuing to 'ask', tone clearly laced with aggravation as Katsuya clenched his jaw.

Shut up, just... Just shut up and let him _think_ for once damn it..!

"It's still my turn," Kajiki said with a grin, another barely visible tablet appearing beneath the seas to his opponent's distaste. "And I'll play yet another card," he continued, laughing as Katsuya's face continued to fall. "Then I end my turn!" Shit...

He had to be preparing for something damn it... But all this water was so high it was past the waist-high top of the water tank! The only thing telling him where the arena limit was was the killer whale that kept jumping around, and even then whenever something _really _big was summoned it ended up going past the limit anyways! "Rggh..." He drew his next card, setting it on the disk without looking at what he'd ended up with once again as the tablet appeared to his side beneath the waves. "I play a face down card," he shouted, grabbing another card and setting it on the disk as its corresponding tablet arose from the ground, "An' anoth'r monster in d'fense mode!" And another tablet he couldn't see under the waves... Rocket Warrior. If not for everything else, he'd have been _great_ for dealing damage but... Well until he knew what was attacking he needed to play it safe. Damn it, if he could just do something else-

"Battening down the hatches ah, Jonouchi..." Kajiki chuckled from across the blond, Katsuya merely grumbling under his breath. Yea, yea, and what the hell did that even mean- "Well get ready! Using these two monsters," he shouted, two of the barely hidden tablets 'melting' into the sea as the waves converged behind the duelist, "I call forth the ultimate sea beast! The monster of the seas... And there she blows," Kajiki roared, a tablet rising tall behind the man as an enormous shadow appeared to rise from the waters below. "THE FORTRESS WHALE!"

With a massive swell of waters the monster appeared, a loud and low moan shaking through the air as two fins splashed against the ground and waters, passing through the people at the side without anyone being the wiser. Like the unseen lovechild of a narwhal and a blue whale the monster 'floated', tail slapping against the waters that just barely touched its chin.

Holy... Shit. The monster took up the entire field easily, massive girth somehow managing to curl around its summoner. "W-Wha'..." Alright. That was _it_ damn it. "WHERE TH' HELL DID THAT THING COME FROM!" Who cared about tablets and crap, this was a whale the size of the aquarium! In waist deep water! ...Okay, nipple deep, but seriously, _what the hell_! He hated keeping this crap bottled in his lungs, if they thought he was crazy then fine! This. Wasn't. NORMAL.

And yet no one else seemed to think that, as apparently the hologram was as big or almost as big as the real-life version he saw now. "Hahahahaha! That's right," Kajiki was howling with a laugh, ignoring the incredulous shouts and stares from his opponent. "The biggest fish in the seas... Powered up by the Umi field spell at that!" Awwww fuck! This thing wasn't even a fish damn it, it was some kind of mutant whale, and-

...And...

The blond stared, watching as the whale 'flapped' its stubby fins before rising high above in the air and casting a shadow around them. Waves of water splashed against the blond as he held his deck above the water, before staring at the beast with incredulous eyes as it gave another low moan and continued to slowly flap its wings. The great whale was now at least twenty feet above them in the air, staring down with a fortress armed with turrets on its back and... ...Seriously... What.

The fuck. "It can _FLY,_" he shouted, grabbing his head with his free hand before looking back at Kajiki. "Your monster's a _FLYING_ whale!"

Kajiki evidently chose to ignore that shout, merely grinning darkly as his opponent continued to stare. "Jonouchi... With all your warriors and beast warriors, monsters of the land..." The man shook his head, chuckling under his breath as he went on. "They won't stand a chance when my great Fortress Whale launches his attack from above! Let this be a lesson... Don't you take the power of the sea lightly! I can never forgive those who do!" Okay! Okay damn it, if it meant avoiding an impending belly-flop then- ...Wow... This... ...This was a pretty sore point for him, why the hell was-

The blond paled, swallowing as the waters appeared to again converge and swirl in a rough and storming fashion. He...

...He could hear screams again...

"I know first hand the dangers of the ocean," Kajiki muttered, looking toward Katsuya with hate filled eyes. "We fishermen cary the scars from our battles with the sea all our lives... Just as my father before me!" Before..!

But... That would mean... The blond blinked, staring in silence as he rolled the words around in his mind. "But you said... Y' said you were gonna save up f'r a boat t' sail w'th 'm," Katsuya muttered, shaking his head. "Yer dad's alive, you said you were... Were..."

"...A long time ago," the man before him muttered lowly, appearing to space out to a small extent, "...My dad and I lost a battle with the sea... For us," he continued with a swallow, "Losing your boat is like losing your life... Thanks to our boat being destroyed, he would have to take the boats of others on days where those fishermen deemed the ocean too rough to sail upon, so that he could make even a small catch... And that's how I lost him," he said quietly, head bowed in grief as the sounds of a storming sea continued to fill his opponent's mind. "So do you understand? The powers of the ocean," he asked almost pitifully before his voice again raised to a dangerous snarl. "I'll teach you... I'll teach you to fear it, to respect it," he roared, fists clenched tightly as he again glared at his opponent.

Would he now... ...What was with all the secrets..? "...Kajiki," Katsuya muttered, narrowing his eyes as he steeled himself. "Yer a proud duelist," he said calmly, "An' I r'spect y' for it..." Hell, if he'd known about his dad before... ...Well, he probably wouldn't have made that 'ocean' comment, that was for sure. "But so long as I'm alive," he growled, fists clenched as the waters around them continued to rage, "I ain't givin' up!"

"Then just you try and stand up to the ocean," Kajiki roared, pointing his monster 'forward' as the whale above him moaned. "It's still my turn... And I attack! And if you think your single defense monster is enough to save you," he continued with a dark grin, the turrets on his whale's back giving a loud 'whirr' as they spun toward the blond below, "You can think again!" Gh-! Without even looking he knew what Kajiki had meant by that, the top of his defense monster's tablet sinking into the sea yet again as a spea appeared seemingly from nowhere. Another attack...

But from where! All he'd seen was that killer whale jumping around _again_! (That thing was getting in the way...)

"Hehehe... Brace yourself," Kajiki roared, the turrets on Fortress Whale's back now turning on the 'aim-assist' lasers as they honed in on the defenseless blond.

Oh hell no. There was no room for emotions on Katsuya's face as he stared upward, the whale appearing to leer at him as his face went white.

_Hell_ no. "H-Hah..."

"Aim... And fire the cannons," Kajiki roared, motioning for the strike. "_**WHALE BOMBARD!**_"

The sound of multiple cannon shots tore through the air with those words, the reaction almost imminent. Solid steelrounds charged toward the blond, striking the waters around him as spouts of water struck him from each one. Miss... Miss... He couldn't see a thing past this water, where was- "GHRAAAACK!" Hit. Water surrounded Katsuya as he was blown back, 'stumbling' back in slow motion as he fell toward the ground. The small but exceedingly painful cannon ball rolled off his stomach as he sank beneath the waves, choking under the waters as he painfully opened his eyes to squint upward. Ow... Ow... O- Oh shit. "Mnnbl!" Shit, AIR! He pulled himself above the water, doubling over in a cough as he looked at his deck and straightened himself. Aaaaaahhhh crap... The water, had it ruined the... ...Cards...

Katsuya blinked, looking at the deck on his wrist. ...It hadn't... The deck was still dry, in the same condition it had been before the attack... And...

And he also only had three hundred life points left he noted with a wince, which was both more and less jarring than the extremely painful and sensitive bruise on his stomach. The bruise that had him barely holding back his ramen lunch as a result. And as for his resolve... A mix of promises and general hate were keeping the blond on his legs in addition to the 'support' of the water, along with the look on his opponent's face. An almost sneering grin, effectively conveying one single message... '_I win_', he was saying, despite Katsuya being unable to hear him thanks to the water in his ears. Win...

To hell he did..! And yet the thoughts of the crowd were agreeing with the statement just as clearly, only barely drowned out by Anzu's own shouts. '_Don't give up,_' she was calling, the blond opting to listen to his friend's shouts rather than the crowd's._ 'You've just got to win this one duel and you'll be in the finals with Yugi,'_ the woman continued encouragingly,_ 'So keep at it!_' He was, he was damn it!

If the crowd would just _shut up and_- "_**Stop jumping so high damn it...**_" E... Eh? Katsuya blinked, aggravated expression fading as he looked toward the tank where the Killer Whale was jumping. Someone said something but... The only thing jumping was the wh- A second whale joined the first in the flips, the blond shaking himself. Okay. Just two whales then and-

Wait, two? Didn't the aquarium only have one..? "...Heh..."

The second whale jumped through the air once more, a flash of dark skin visible on the side as Katsuya stared. There... He was right there..! A small smirk came over his face, quickly vanishing as he turned back. Heh... Found him. And looking back at Kajiki with narrowed eyes, he watched as the Okinawan crossed his arms impatiently, frowning. "Hey hey... What are you waiting for Jonouchi? It's your turn," he shouted, "Hurry up and play a card! Did you give up," the man asked, a smirk on his face as his opponent held silent. "Did your spirit from before vanish? Those strong eyes I saw before... They're nothing but the eyes of a dead fish now! What happened to the eyes I saw when you came here, into my territory, challenging me so readily to a duel," he called out, the smirk vanishing somewhat into an odd, seemingly angered grin.

His territory? Hn! It might have been his territory Katsuya muttered mentally, but he still had an idea of how to deal with _that_ now! "Tch... I'm still fightin'," he growled, drawing his card and mentally nodding to himself. Just what he needed This was exactly what he needed! And in his hand, another spell, Panther warrior, and on the field was his face down... Alright. "Here I go," he shouted, a plan coming to mind. "Two more cards face down," the blond announced, the two tablets appearing somewhat in view below the continually raging seas. "An' then... Th' Panther Warrior," he called out as a third, much taller tablet appeared at his side, "In attack mode!" The third tablet to appear initially glowed as the image of its monster carved away on its form, before bubbles streamed from beneath it rather than the familiar smoke. Without any other warning than that, the Panther pulled itself above the water, shaking the salt water from its fur and looking at Katsuya with a frown.

"_**Water,**_" he asked with a growl, coming to his full height beside his summoner,_** "**__**Really**__**?"**_

"Tch... C'mon," he hissed under his breath, again pretending to go over his hand, "Ain't panthers' s'pposed to like water?"

Evidently, this was an _insult, _as suddenly the Panther was looking a lot more peeved than he tended to look throughout the day. "_**You... Those are jaguars,**_" he roared, baring his teeth with a snarl._** "I'M A LEOPARD!**_"

"Gh- How th' hell was I s'pposed t' kno-"

"_**If you were looking, I have smaller spots! It's an obvious fact!"**_

"'Xceptin' that yer a _black panther,_" he muttered under his breath, the warrior's fur bristling at the comment.

"_**If you were LOOKING-**_"

The conversation was cut short as the two looked toward their opponent, watching as the man howled with laughter. What the hell was _he_ laughing at, he couldn't hear what they were saying... "HAHAHAHA! Jonouchi... That's just another Beast-Warrior," Kajiki howled, shaking his head as he laughed. "A monster that can't swim or fly- just another target! For a last stand," the man continued, holding his head. "That's more than pathetic! That's just... HaHAAA!" Alright! Alright he got it! "Now..." Kajiki drew his next card as it came to his turn, calming himself as he continued. "This is the end," he shouted, narrowing his eyes as he set a card on the disk. "First, Sea Snake in defense mode," Kajiki announced, another ocean buried tablet coming to the field before the serpent's eyes and nose poked above the water with a leer. "And then I'll attack... First by stealth, and then by whale! GO," he shouted, his opponent crossing his arms. And..

Now. The blond's eyes darted to the side, watching the 'two' whales as they swam. Side by side they were swimming in the tank, before taking turns to leap up into the air. Real one... Real one again... And...

...Now! "Activate th' face down card," he announced, the familiar claw-like trap arm launching from the waters as the next whale leaped out of the water. The claws opened wide as the fisherman on the whale's back turned, the spear in his hands falling to the waters in shock. Hah! "Magic Arm Shield! Hide an' seek's over Kajiki," he shouted, directing the 'arm' toward the whale and the fisherman that rode it. Huh... Now that he was watching it launch out and grab the man and whale both, it looked kinda like... ...Kajiki... ...That was weird... He shook it off, smirk renewing as the whale above them moaned. "I got your monster now... An' now y'r whale can take 'm instead!"

With those very words the trap arm jerked to the side, turning the captured fisherman toward the Fortress Whale's line of sight. The monster looked down as the shield arm moved, bleary eyes only seeing smudges as it took aim with the many turrets on its back... "_**Gh..."**_ The Fisherman paled, pulling at his leg as he looked from the trap to the cannons as the echoing 'boom' sounded through the air._** "No!**_" And as the shout sounded through the air each and every cannon ball struck, the shield arm dropping after the first strike as the rounds of steel lowered their aim to follow a now sinking body. It was a bloodless kill thankfully, but nonetheless just as jarring... As the fisherman sank to the bottom of the seas, the whale above seemed to realize its mistake and 'sing' in a mournful call, its summoner as well paling as the body vanished.

"My... My fisherman..." Shock quickly turned to horror, the man clenching his jaw as he looked across the field in rage filled desperation. "You..." Kajiki shook his head, eyes wide. "You can't say that your Panther Warrior wasn't caught in the line of fire as well..! Fortress Whale attacks all monsters at once," he continued angrily, "There's no way-" No way it missed? Yea well it did.

And besides... "Y' sure abou' that," Katsuya asked, his Panther Warrior spinning the chain that had also appeared beneath the seas. He looked decidedly ticked about having to dive for the weapon, but as he tossed the boomerang-shaped kunai upward to catch around the Fortress Whale's 'tooth' he seemed to get over it. "Take a look at this! My other trap card... Kunai with Chain! And while he's scalin' your whale," he continued, watching as the Panther Warrior swung himself up and used his blade as a hold in the monster's massive hide, "I'll activate my next spell!"

"Your next..." Blood continued to drain from his opponent's face, the Okinawan swallowing nervously. "I... I don't believe you," Kajiki muttered incredulously, shaking his head and gesturing to the field, "You're challenging the Fortress Whale... With _this_!"

"What c'n I say," the blond said with a shrug, "I'm a man on a mission... An' not e'vn th' biggest monster in th' ocean's gonna stop me!" Probably wasn't even the biggest, but who knew... "My monster might not be able t' fly like yer whale," he continued, narrowing his eyes with a grin as the Panther continued to climb, "But now that he's on th' monster's back, we're on th' same level..."

"_**Yea,**_" the Panther muttered dryly, watching as the whale's cannon turrets all turned toward him,_** "Now I'm on the front lines...**_" Shut up!

"But... The Whale is still stronger," Kajiki protested, the Panther meanwhile making a motion that said 'He's right!' from there. "If anything, you're in more danger now!"

"He has a point," Anzu was shouting from the side, her friend merely holding his smirk. "Jonouchi," she continued with a frown, "If you attack, you'll just put yourself in more trouble!"

"Y' think so?" Kajiki paled at those words, Katsuya merely waving his hand to activate his final spell like he'd said. The tablet vanished beneath the seas, a slight glow appearing at his sides. "Panther Warrior... Y' know what t' do!" The cat nodded, pulling his blade out from the side before charging the fortress portion and ramming his sword into to mixed metal and flesh as far as he could, chain in his hands wrapping around the hilt before he stepped back and nodded. The whale, obviously, didn't much appreciate that however... The horn... Tooth, really, poking through its upper lip began to spin viciously as the monster made its descent from the beast, shaking the Panther off his back as the monster yowled. "Gh-!" Panther-

Bubbles rose from the waters as the monster fell under, his summoner swallowing nervously. Please don't let that count as an attack, please don't- "_**Bluh! Plah!**_" Yes! The cat pulled himself above the waters, spitting out a mouthful of salt and spray before again shaking himself and glaring at his summoner. "_**The next time you summon me there better not be a droplet in sight,**_" he roared, Katsuya merely laughing somewhat under his breath. Oi oi... What was it with cats... And anyways...

Continuing his move... "R'member that spell I mentioned," the blond shouted, giving his warrior a look as it scowled. Yea, yea, sorry but... Swords sunk, alright? And now wasn't the time! The monster dove under, moments passing before the monster reappeared with blade gripped in its teeth as it surfaced. Again the monster shook the sea water from his fur, before holding the blade high above the waves with a nod. Telling Kajiki to take a look at the whale would be pointless he supposed but... "Hehehe..." Thank you Science class, for giving him this insane idea. "Take a look at this," the blond shouted with a grin, gesturing loosely toward the whale. "Righ' now, Panther Warrior has 2500 attack points... Just a little below your whale's 2550... But wi' th' spell Lightnin' blade..!"

"G-Gh..." Kajiki swallowed, quickly adding the extra 800 points to the count. "3350..!" Hehehe...

"Yep... An' wi' that," he continued, the Panther Warrior's new sword sending a line of electricity toward his old, lightning rod-acting blade jammed into the monster's hide, "Th' Fortress Whale goes down!" And thanks to the chain that so surrounded the beast... "Hehehe... Thanks t' th' Electric attack it does double th' damage," he continued, watching as the lightning danced along the chain and sword wrapped about the monster. The whale above lit up like some sort of twisted, fat christmas tree, smoke emiting from its blow hole and mouth as it plummeted into the sea. The tablet bearing his image melted into the waters as the whale sank, body disappearing along with it as Katsuya stared. Somehow, this seemed to make the 'hotdog-electrocution' experiment in class a lot more morbid... But hey! The whale was gone... And more importantly, he thought with a smirk... "By th' way... That 'lectric attack applies t' yer Sea Serpent too," the blond shouted, the snake in question suffering under the weight of the whale that had crushed it. Something just told him that Kajiki hadn't seen that... But given that the snake wasn't coming back up, and the tablet just melted, he'd say they were done.

In any case... "_**Hn!**_" The Panther Warrior snatched the chain boomerang as it returned to him from the whale's dead form, sheathing the Lightning blade and pulling back his own familiar sword from the other end of the chain. "_**Much better,**_" he muttered, large grin on his face as he twirled the blade. Oh come on, they were close enough..!

Though he should probably be watching for his opponent's next move now... "You..." The blond blinked as Kajiki's mutterings came over the air, listening as the Okinawan continued. "You held off on activating that card so you wouldn't electrocute yourself, didn't you," Kajiki muttered as he over came his shock, Katsuya holding silent. Actually, Panther Warrior just got shaken off... Though he supposed he should have thought of that. As to what he would do now... "...It's my turn now," the man continued, drawing a card and staring at it for a moment before setting it on the disk. "...I'll play this spell card and end my turn." Spell- Katsuya swallowed, gritting his teeth as the waves revealed no change to the field. Stupid water, he couldn't see what it was..! But as another tablet appeared beneath the waters, he had to scowl, narrowing his eyes. Shit...

He'd summoned _something_... And even with Panther Warrior's current power, rushing in would be a bad idea; hell, for all he knew it wasn't even a monster! But something told him that his next card... "Heh! Here goes," Katsuya shouted, drawing his card with a smirk. Hadn't even drawn and he'd known... For once, this 'flash' thing was coming in handy! "It's my turn!"

Kajiki nodded, narrowing his eyes. "Bring it on! But remember," he continued threateningly, "With the Kunai's initial attack used, you can't cross the seas any more... So you won't be attacking!"

That what he thought? Hah! "Wrong! Th' Panther Warrior's gonna attack this turn..." Kajiki narrowed his eyes at the boast, the Panther Warrior merely eying the water before looking at his summoner in distaste. "But first," the blond continued with a slight cough, ducking the glare and setting his card on the disk as an unseen tablet came on the field, "I'll play this! GIANT TRUNADE!" A vicious wind developed in the sky, the Panther Warrior ducking as his equipment was swept away by the gale, ripped from his clawed hands as he shook the sting off. The wind continued to converge as it blustered, Katsuya's hair whipping around his face as a head appeared to arise from within the circling winds above... Spinning, spinning... Swirling above into an enormous funnel, pulling the seawater up from the field in an act that lasted mere seconds, leaving the tank to the side untouched. "Heh... My equipment spells might be gone now," he muttered, Panther still rubbing his hands from the chain burn he'd received, "But so are all your spells... An' that includes Umi! This storm takes in even th' seas! Now," Katsuya shouted, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the field, "Lets see what monster y'..." ...Wait what...

"_**Tch... Beached..." **_A tanned man with matted black hair and numerous scars met his gaze, low mutterings easily meeting Katsuya's ears. It was the Legendary Fisherman... He was sitting along side his now beached Killer Whale, spear on the ground... "_**You need water,**_" he muttered, the whale merely appearing to wince under the searing sun above. This monster... The Panther Warrior held his blade to the Fisherman's throat, the man standing up with a swallow as he was brought to the cat's mercy. "_**...Take him first,**_" he asked, gesturing to the whale at the side, swallowing as he met the panther's gaze. "_**...He's in pain...**_"

The Panther stared, looking at the whale with an unseen expression before bowing his head. "_**...Alright.**_" With a swift cut the whale was struck through the head by the warrior's blade, the monster appearing to smoke away along with its owner in an instant.

"_**Thank-you,**_" the whale's owner whispered, the Panther nodding as he as well began to vanish. The Fisherman was gone, and he'd won... But as the remaining monsters and tablets on field vanished to nothingness, the sky clearing to the bright and nearly blinding state it had been prior...

"...Why..." He shook his head, monsters on the field staring before they too vanished from sight completely. "Why did you..."

Kajiki's expression was pained, tightly drawn as he bowed his head, Katsuya standing in place as his water-logged clothing stuck to his skin. "This card," he muttered with a choke, shaking his head. "...It's the only one I don't want to see dead... The only one..."

"...Kajiki..." The blond walked over, water making thick sloshing noises from inside his shoes as the salt water dripped off his hair. Wet, completely wet... And to bring back that card... "You..."

"...You win," the man muttered, his cards returned from the grave to his deck as he pulled a locator card from his shorts pocket. He held it forward, along with the Fortress Whale his grave had spat out, swallowing. "You did it," he continued, attempting to lace his voice with cheer. "...You..."

Yea he won... But he didn't feel happy at all... More over... "Kajiki," he muttered, not taking the cards from the man's hand, "That last move..."

The Okinawan stared, somehow forcing a grin on his face as he shrugged. "Heh! You... You did good Jonouchi..! I guess you're not so bad after all," he continued, weak laughter sounding forced as he trailed off. "Ahahaha! Haha... Hah..."

He narrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth as he looked at the man. "Now hold on a sec..! If you had a card t' bring back th' Fisherman, why didn't you use it t' bring back th' Whale," he asked, pointing to the card in the Okinawan's hand. "You wouldn't have lost if you did that," he continued with a snarl, "So why?"

"It doesn't matter," Kajiki said with a shrug, setting the rest of his deck carefully in his pocket as his duel disk folded back up. "All that matters is that you won; you got me... Isn't that enough for you?"

No it _wasn't_! "Don't ev'n say that," he growled, roughly pulling the cards from his own disk as it re-set itself, "We're both duelists... An' if you threw that game over a dead whale," the blond continued dangerously, "I wan' a rematch!"

Silence sat over the air at that, even the crowd gaining a hush in response. "...Jonouchi," Kajiki muttered, still holding the ante in his hand, "That card I brought back was my trump card, and you beat it; I didn't want to prolong the duel after that... Because this card," he continued, Katsuya listening with mild confusion. "...This card is the very soul of my deck..." The man pulled out the last card on his disk as he said this, looking at it wistfully as the fisherman from the card in question appeared behind him. "...I've been fighting alongside this card for a long time," Kajiki muttered as he held the card, "Me and this sea deck... Fighting and winning with this fisherman that so resembles him..."

Heh? "Him," Katsuya muttered, frowning somewhat as the spirit behind his former opponent nodded.

"_**My son,**_" he stated calmly, voice echoing as the young man before him spoke at the same moment.

"My dad..." His dad... Woah... Woah woah _wait_- What did that monster just say? Katsuya swallowed, eyes widening briefly as Kajiki continued, unaware of the attention Katsuya was paying to the 'space' behind him. "...When I got this card," Kajiki stated quietly, "I told myself, I would always use this card to finish a match, to catch the end of a duel... Just like how my Dad and I would fight the waves on the sea," the man continued, swallowing as he stared at the card. "And I... I believe he's still out there," he went on, shaking as he looked up at the sky and continued to choke. Tears were running down his face as he held his card close, unable to hear or feel the man behind him as the fisherman laid a hand on his 'son's shoulder in comfort. "I believe he's somewhere out there, on the seas... That's why... That's why I couldn't leave this card in the graveyard," he wept, again bowing his head as he shook. "Even if it meant I lost..."

...Kajiki... Katsuya stared, holding silent before a third voice took his attention. "_**...Perhaps it's time you moved on,**_" the Fisherman was whispering behind his 'summoner', comforting hand on the Okinawan's shoulder as Kajiki rubbed his eyes. "_**...Go home, Ryota,**_" he continued, rubbing his 'son's shoulders with a smile._** "Catch your own fish... You're a man now...**_" That was all great but...

Didn't this guy know he couldn't hear him..? "...I'm acting pretty silly huh," Kajiki said with a laugh, plastering another grin on his face as the Fisherman stopped talking. "Crying like this, acting like this... And I call myself a duelist?" The man shook his head, laughing weakly as he looked back at Katsuya. "The point of this... It's winning no matter what right," he asked, the weak smile faltering as he held his cards. "Hahahaha..."

Katsuya shook his head, expression somewhat sympathetic as he looked at his former opponent. "Naw," he muttered, nodding as he stared at the 'two' before him. "Th' point is fightin' f'r what matters th' most," he said plainly. Kajiki blinked, looking at the blond as Katsuya continued with a small smirk. "If I were you... I'd 'v done th' same thing, got that..?"

The man stared, before an honest smile came over him. "I see... Well... As agreed," he stated calmly, holding out the two cards he'd been holding in his other hand, "The Fortress Whale, and your last Locator Card... In addition," he continued, handing the card in his other hand forward as his former opponent took the first two, "This..." Th- The Legendary Fisherman? "In Battle City," Kajiki explained, "The rule is for the loser to give his most important card to the one who defeated him... It's not rare," he continued with a slight shrug, "Not to the card rulings... But to me, it's the most important card I own. And that means it's yours now Jonouchi," the man stated plainly, still holding the card out for his former opponent.

His..! Katsuya jumped, looking from the card to the man who had come from inside it as the Fisherman also blinked. The Legendary Fisherman..! "H-Hey," he muttered, shaking his head, "I can't do that..! It means too much to you, I-"

"_**...Ryota,**_" the Fisherman muttered, staring at his summoner with a confused frown.

Kajiki shook his head at Katsuya's words, still holding the card out for the blond. "No... I realized something, while we were fighting," he said with a sad smile, the expression appearing somewhat wry as he continued. "My Dad might be lost to the seas, but if he was here with me, he'd be telling me... '_A card is just a card Ryota! You're relying too much on a card that looks like me... What you should really believe in_...

"_**Is your own heart,**_" the Fisherman muttered under his breath, words mirroring his 'son's as he spoke. The Legendary Fisherman smiled with the same sad, wry expression Kajiki held, shaking his head as Katsuya momentarily looked at the man. The spirit's words and those of his 'son' were almost identical... From start to finish. "_**...Even when I'm not there Ryota, I will always fight by your side,**_" he whispered, fading into the card as Katsuya nodded to himself. "_**Remember that...**_"

Alright... If the monster was alright with it, and Kajiki was insisting... "Alrigh'," Katsuya said with a nod, taking the card and adding it to his deck with the others as he smiled. "You've convinced me... I'll take it!"

"Hah!" Kajiki grinned at that, cheer from before the duel quickly renewed as he laughed. "Haha!Alright! But next time," he shouted, clapping the blond's hand in his own with an iron grip, "I'll win, you got that?"

"Heh! You can try," he responded with a snort, "But by then, I'll be stronger too, y' got that?" Cheers were surrounding the arena as they spoke, along with conversational mutterings as what looked to be aquarium staff moved toward the tank... Katsuya released the grip he'd held with Kajiki, waving as he moved to join Anzu. "I'll see yah some other time alrigh'," he shouted, Kajiki nodding with a grin. "I hope y' get that boat!"

"Hahaha! And I wish you luck in the finals," the Okinawan shouted in response, moving as the staff brushed behind him. "Alright?"

Heh... Alright. "Jonouchi," a familiar voice shouted, the blond turning as Anzu ran over from the side. Katsuya continued to grin, laughing somewhat as he and Anzu both made their way back into the Aquarium building to leave. "Hah... Congratulations," she said cheerfully, pushing the main door open for her friend, "You-" She frowned, looking down at the blond's shoes before following the 'water trail' up to his head and hair. "...You're... All... Wet..."

The blond swallowed, looking over himself momentarily before laughing nervously. "Hahahaha..." Ehhh... "Y-Yeaaa... Hahaha... It was jus' th' whale in th' tank," he said with a cough, stowing the locator card he'd received in his pocket. "Nothin' big," he continued, grinning. "A little uncomfortable but..." But please buy it...

"If you say so," she said with a shrug, a scowl coming over her as she sniffed at the air. "Ughh... You smell like fish," she muttered, coughing as she waved a hand over her face. "Oh my god... Augh..."

"Oi oi..." It wasn't that bad! Katsuya scowled as the pair walked out into the sun again, before tensing as an odd feeling came over him. A strong wind blew past, the blond stopping in his tracks as the scowl lightened to a more confused frown. What... What was... He turned, looking toward the square in front of the aquarium with wide eyes. Someone... Someone was here but... His eyes widened further as two figures caught his eye, one a tanned, blond foreigner and the other the semi-conscious form of the very friend they'd opted to wait for until after the duel.

And it would probably be good to notice that his arm was bandaged in a rag, and that there was blood dripping off his fingers. "B...Bakura!" '_Hang in there,_' the tanned one was saying with a thick accent, stumbling somewhat over his words as he attempted to support the albino. '_Are you alright,_' he asked,_ 'I'll look for a phone..._'

"B-Bakura..." Anzu and Katsuya both ran over, eyes wide as the foreign teen looked up. "What... What happened," the woman muttered with eyes wide, "Who are you," she asked, shaking her head. The woman quickly pulled her purse around, digging for the phone she'd checked earlier as she held up a hand. "...You know what," she said quickly, "Don't answer, I'll call an ambulance..." Yea that was probably a good idea given that he was bleeding through whatever rag had been used to tie off his arm... Which wasn't tied too well either!

The two teens before them fell to their knees, Katsuya attempting to help Bakura into a sitting position as Anzu moved to make the call. "Let 'm sit," he muttered to the foreigner, the tanned teen blinking as Katsuya continued. "Let 'm sit down, calm 'm down t' slow th' bleeding," he muttered, swallowing as he attempted to steady his friend. Thank-you mandatory first aid classes... And here he'd wondered when he'd be using all the stuff they made him learn for the security shift... ...And while they were dealing with that... The blond frowned, putting some pressure on the 'bandage' around Bakura's arms. "You... What th' hell happened to 'm," Katsuya growled, turning on the tanned one with narrowed eyes. Something was not right about this at all... He could feel the ring underneath Bakura's shirt, but skewered hands on a Monster World table aside there was no way the 'other Bakura' would just sit around if he was being attacked..!

Not to mention that he didn't remember any duel monsters that looked like floating flames! "You... Are you his friends," the teen was asking hesitantly, looking to the others in apparent confusion. "I found him collapsed a little ways down the road," he continued with a swallow, "And I helped as best I could, but I don't know the number for the hospital..." And... This accent combined with broken Japanese was hurting his head...

Yea... This guy was no help. "G...Gnhh..." Ah-!

Katsuya jumped, quickly grabbing his friend's shoulders as Bakura began moving, and watching as the albino weakly opened his eyes. "Bakura... Bakura," he muttered as the teen slowly looked up at the blond, "C'mon man, listen t' me... Y' need t' tell me who did this to you alright," he asked, his friend blinking blearily as he shook. "Who did this?"

"I... J-Jonouchi-kun..." The albino swallowed, breathing nervously as he looked at the blond. "I don't know," Bakura cried, shaking his head. "All I remember is waking up this morning, I don't remember anything else..!" Nothing...

Nothing at all..? ...Well, in any case, he should probably... Calm down or... "HEY! There he is!" Katsuya turned, narrowing his eyes as a pair of thugs moved toward them from the side street. "Hey PUNK," the taller shouted, looking toward Bakura as the others frowned. "Where the hell do you get off, stealing my friend's disk?" Stealing? ..._Bakura_?

Bakura looked down at his arm with that comment, the others frowning as well while Anzu looked back from her completed phone call. "Duel disk... But I..." He shook his head, the others staring as the albino coughed. "I don't remember..!" Ohhh _shit._..

"Like hell you don't," the second man growled, charging as the foreign teen moved to 'shield' the others. "How about we knock the memory back into you then!"

"This isn't the time," the teen shouted in broken Japanese, gesturing to the two behind him. "He's hurt, he- NH!" Katsuya turned as the unknown teen fell back, having been right up close to the angered duelist's right hook. "Nggh..."

"H-Hey!" The foreign teen groaned, rubbing his cheek. "Nameless-guy..!" The blond tensed, watching as Anzu moved to help both him and Bakura before moving forward and cracking his knuckles. Suspicious characters or no, these two were just... "Tch... Alright y' asshats... How abou' you deal wi' me!"

The two stared, trading glances and shrugs. "Eh?"

"Well," the second decided, "If it gets us to- GOH-!" Stop talking. The first hit was a solid kick to the first guy's gut, the second momentarily frozen in shock as Katsuya moved. Then while he doubled over, a re-turning blow to the man's back to send him down, groaning on the ground... And as the next guy moved forward with his fists...

Duck, grab arm, toss, he thought to himself, ignoring the water that flew in his eyes from his hair as he did just that. "HAH!"

There was a loud 'thud' as the man landed to the ground, rubbing his wrists where Katsuya had grabbed him. "Ung!"

"Owww," the first muttered, rolling over onto his back. "Aughh..."

"Yea... An' there's more if y' plan on standin' up," Katsuya shouted with a grin, moving back to the others and shaking his head. Well that went quick enough... He turned momentarily as sirens sounded in the distance, before moving back to Bakura and biting his lip. "Hey... Hang in there alrigh'," he muttered, the albino nodding weakly as his friend again put pressure on the wound across his arm. Lots of blood... _Lots_ and lots of blood... The four remained largely silent until the ambulance came after that, answering what questions were needed as Bakura was taken away... Names, what happened (which no one knew)... Relatives, contact... The foreign kid, who when asked by the Paramedics for a name had said 'Namu', was now just rubbing his cheek, staring at the ground as the others turned to him.

"So... 'Namu'," Anzu asked as the ambulance drove off, the teen nodding somewhat hesitantly as she bit her lip. "Right," she said quietly, nodding somewhat as her friend gave a narrowed stare toward the small 'flame' sitting on the teen's shoulder. "Listen... I'm sorry you had to deal with all this, I mean..."

"No, it's fine," Namu said with a nod, wringing his hands somewhat as he coughed. The 'spirit' on his shoulder also 'nodded', a single eye staring forward as Katsuya held back a growl. Definitely fine... He seemed fine, looked fine... That punch barely left a mark on him, and...

There was a lot here that was _not _fi- The blond blinked, looking at the teen's arm as he attempted to hide his frown. "Eh... Yer a duelist," he asked, watching as 'Namu' nodded and held his arm up.

"Yes! But... I'm not very good," he said with a cough, lowering his arm again as he laughed. "So please, don't ask me to duel you, ahahaha..."

Sheesh, worse than Bakura! ...And yet something seemed so _damn_ off about this guy..! Even so he pushed that back for the sake of conversation, forcing a grin on his face. "Heh! Sorry t' tell yah this," he bragged, "But I already qualified for th' finals!"

"Ah, really," Namu asked, blinking as the spirit on its shoulder stared. Ehhhh that thing was creeping him out... "You must be really strong then..." He adjusted the backpack he was wearing on his shoulder, laughing as he attempted to continue with the conversation. "Anyways... It's nice to meet you," he said with a smile, bowing his head. "I'm not actually from here... I've been having a lot of trouble with the language too, so..."

"Well you're doing very well," Anzu assured the teen, smiling as she ignored the accent. "I'm Anzu," she continued, bowing somewhat before gesturing to the blond beside her. "And this is Jonouchi..." Katsuya nodded at that, smile somewhat forced as he held eye contact with the 'spirit'. Damn it, why wasn't this feeling leaving..!

And why was this thing still staring! "Thank you," Namu was saying as the blond stared, "But I'm really not that good... You two seem like good people though," he added, pulling Katsuya from his 'zone' as the blond jumped. "Maybe we could become friends..." ...Nooooo... He wasn't sure why, but he didn't think that would be a good ide-

"Well I don't see a problem with that..." Ahhhh, he should have said something... "Come on," Anzu said with a smile, looking back at Katsuya for a moment. "We were about to find out where the finals for the tournament are!" Yes... Yes they were...

"Y-Yea... Act'lly," he said nervously as he rubbed his neck, "It's only five so..." The others turned, watching as the blond coughed and pointed off in the direction of the hospital. "I was thinkin' we could go check on Bakura... Make sure he's alrigh'," he trailed off, shrugging. And maybe ask a certain 'other' Bakura about what the hell was going on... Because much as he didn't want to think about that guy, this was just too weird...

"I'm sure he's fine," Namu 'insisted' rather quickly, shaking his head as the three moved down the road. "Hey, actually... Let's go this way," he decided, running ahead and taking a sharp turn to the right, "Alright?"

"That way," Anzu asked somewhat incredulously, turning into the alley and picking up speed as Katsuya frowned.

Bad feeling, bad feeling, bad feeling..! He grit his teeth, looking around uneasily as Namu nodded ahead of then. "Yea," he was saying, "It's a short cut to my hotel... I want to drop off my bag quickly and-"

Bad feeling! "Ngh!" Katsuya tensed, grabbed from behind by a cloaked figure many times larger than himself. Attempting to move his arms was futile as he struggled, Anzu giving a shout as she turned before being grabbed as well. "Ngggh..!" Hell no... He wasn't going down without a- "Nnn..." Fight... The blond's eyes fluttered shut, vision blurring as his movements grew sluggish. Shit...

Chloro... Chlorof...

The last thing he could see before passing out was Anzu struggling against the grip of another cloaked figure... And flames... Wrapping around Namu almost protectively as his expression was hidden from view. And in the flames...

An eye... With teeth...

No...

...

**

* * *

AN:** Not Jonouchi too! It was actually hard to get this ending; since I go by the manga, I ended up writing the fight scene that came about because of Bakura... A scene which was cut from the anime and replaced with a brawl against rare hunters; a brawl that Jonouchi quickly lost instead of quickly winning. Whoops.

At the same time though, this makes more sense; you'd think people would notice when a few teens get attacked by men in cloaks and then get dragged off...

This chapter's a little longer than the norm for the same reason the last one is 'shorter'; we're going back to Kaiba and Yugi after this, and the ending of this chapter would really clash with that...

Not that big chapters are bad right? It's another SUUUUP-ER chapter! Da-dadaaaaa...

Er... Please let me know if that bugs you though.

In other news, the **poll results** are **still unchanged**. So... Yea.

Back to everything else then..!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Oh no, _EVERYONE_! I don't think _anyone_ gets a break Iona… And heck, at least Mokuba's second kidnapping was both justified and made up for with awesome dragon-hijacking insanity!

Yeaaa… There's not much about Kaiba that can be taken as surprising… As for the reaction to Jou VS Yugi…

Two chapters Iona. At _maximum_; I say two only because one, I know Malik is going to be talking (AGAIN!), and two, it's a tag-team match; so it'll take a bit, which means we're likely dealing with another two-part duel.

Particularly since Yugi and Kaiba, despite their personalities, are both really freaking hammy when it comes to duel. (ENEMY CONTROLLER comes to mind actually…) In any case, see you then Iona!

Malik is a very, _very_ big gloater Randomprojects.

And as for Kaiba… Yes. Yeeeeesss, that's it… Personally, I don't think Yugi's buying it either, hehehehe.

And HAH! Too bad for you, you'll have to wait for the past things… For at least a few chapters! Mostly because Jonouchi kinda needs to sleep first. (The sleeping comes before most of the duelling after all.)

Oh well… Patience is good, it's great you have it! Enjoy the upcoming chapters until then, alright?

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that wants to know if anyone will take its fish; chicken is better!

* * *

Today's chapter title is based on the 'central' theme of Kajiki's deck, and what he was trying to nail into Jonouchi's head. The ocean is serious business guys.

Seriously. Take it from a lifeguard.

* * *

Jonouchi's right; none of the guys following him are the same guys, unlike in the manga and anime. It's Malik constantly switching hosts for his mind control, moving from body to body; after all, he only needs eyes. Unfortunately, that's setting Jou's 'senses' off like a fire alarm, whereas simply tailing him would just end up with a not so paranoid Jou punching someone's lights out...

Part of the reason he (Malik) is doing this though ties into why, rather than simply getting the guards to take Mokuba, he knocked them all out using the same powers of the Rod.

It's easier for him to 'overload' their heads enough for them to knock themselves out than it is to convince someone who's specifically been hired to protect someone to turn on those instincts within a few minutes... Basically, rather than taking over the guard's minds, he managed to get them mentally stir crazy... And then they knocked themselves out.

Back to the 'mind control deal' though... This is why, despite the large time gap, it'll take a bit for Jonouchi to 'succumb' to the Millennium Rod, at least in the fanfic's case. The Rod needs to dig right in there and find a tiny, _tiny_ sliver of annoyance to get its hold. Otherwise, it's kind of like herding cats.

_Possible_. But a real pain in the ass to do, as Malik himself will find very soon. (In his words though, very much 'worth it'. Creep.)

* * *

Originally, everyone was quite sure that Yugi was fine, and it was Bakura who 'spaced out'. (Also, we are reminded that Jou has four locator cards. EXPOSITION!) In this case though, there's a bit more worry, as the storms and the combined moods of Jonouchi and Bakura are dragging down Anzu's endless cheer to a slight extent, ahehehe.

* * *

Oh no, they left Bakura behind! And as a matter of fact, this _does_ mean that Bakura was 'Yami Bakura' the entire time, 'this' being Jonouchi not noticing a switch; he's keeping an eye on Jonouchi, mostly because of the museum incident… And a good thing he was too; Jou would have known it was 'Yami Bakura' the moment he switched out with his lighter half to check the ring, which was the main reason for the switch in the first place... And that 'sense' words within at least twenty, twenty-five feet!

As to what they missed; Bakura hunted down Malik, finding him because of that hand 'millennium compass' type deal the ring has. They then made a deal; since Malik only wants Yugi dead, he's willing to give him the Millennium Rod and God cards after the fact... At least he _says_ he is.

In any case, Bakura then comes up with a plan to get Malik in their good graces, pulling out a knife and injuring himself before giving his lighter self control again... Malik then drags him off on the motorcycle, stops a little bit outside the aquarium, and the rest plays itself out.

Poor Bakura...

* * *

Kajiki wears very little compared to everyone else in this series it would appear; _short _swim shorts, a headband, and a 'happi', a sleeveless, kimono-like jacket that you'll often see men wearing around at festivals. There's something written on Kajiki's actually; from what I can tell it's his name, Ryouta (which I normally spell as 'Ryota'); the 'Ryou' in his name means 'Fishing', or 'Catch' whereas the 'Ta' comes from a similar kanji to dai (big), and is the kanji for 'plump', or 'thick'; Ryota's name literally means 'big catch'... A fitting name for the son of a fisherman and a fisherman in general... Not to mention, a fitting thing to put on his happi coat!

* * *

In any case, you probably notice that I never refer to Kajiki as a teen; that's because his 'bio' said he was 19… But his birthday is March 1st. Since the Battle City tournament is actually at a later date in the fanfic than it was in the manga (Yugi and Jonouchi were still wearing their school uniforms for the event, as Jonouchi was knocked out on the end of what had been a school day, while Yugi is… Yugi.), his birthday has come and gone; Kajiki is already 20.

* * *

In the manga, Kajiki says something about the whale being in a 'fish tank' before mentioning a grill. While Jonouchi comments on the grill, Anzu asks about the fish tank; despite the fact that the whale is technically in a tank! Also, Kajiki later proves he knows damn well what a whale is, so... Huh?

* * *

And now a note on the Ryukyuan Accent, or the Okinawan accent! Or rather, dialect. There's another language that originates from Okinawa that's preserved by the elders of those islands, but a fair number of phrases slipped into the Japanese they use... 'Hai sai' for example is a universal greeting over there. Besides a number of words, certain phrases are shortened from the original Japanese as well... I didn't translate that last part over, but the use of the word 'prawn' rather than 'shrimp' somewhat hints at the word-switching. And as another point, a few other words in the vocabulary are English, and I mean words that ordinarily wouldn't be English in the rest of Japan! It'd be kind of like meeting with an Australian from what I can gather really...

And the fact is, the Ryukyu island string is very, _very_ tropical and south-bound compared to the rest of Japan...

* * *

Originally, Kaijiki is the one to offer up the ante for locator cards; in this case however, it's all Jonouchi for the first half of the challenge (As they obviously aren't both tied in this case now), and Kajiki for the latter. (Partially because those two monsters scare the ever loving shit out of Jonouchi, and they haven't had the chance to 'meet' him yet.)

* * *

That's right guys; in the manga and anime, Jou _forgot_ he still had Parasite Paracide; he ended up using it as a defines monster on his first turn… Second turn in the case of the manga. It's not important to the plot (besides the fact that Kajiki asks if Jonouchi 'likes those sorts of monsters') though, and the fact is, after the hand issue, there was no way in _hell_ that Jonouchi would forget that the card was there.

* * *

A note on how poor Jou can take all this damage; though he gets to feel everything, the damage from a duel repairs much faster than a normal injury. It develops much quicker too; that's why Jonouchi's bruise from Exodia was so fully 'blossomed' by the morning.

It's important to note however that the duels are things that really don't like leaving things unfinished; though the powers involved can't completely prevent a 'forfeiture', they'll repair most of the damage from an injury if he has the life-points to do it.

In other words, Exodia's bruise is the only one that's really still there; most of the others healed up within an hour due to Jonouchi winning those matches. It's just that the injury from Exodia hurts like hell, and he's grouping it with all the other ones.

Of course, you'll see later on how far this 'forfeiture prevention' can stretch...

* * *

For some reason in the anime and manga both, the waters from Umi are only knee-height. So… How are there monsters the size of people in there!

* * *

Again, exposition lines have either been removed or changed; the latter meaning that Sugoroku and Anzu's lines are now altered for Jonouchi and the Alligator Sword to get the message across.

* * *

Speaking of the Alligator Sword, his Chinese accent is based on the fact that there are only two extant species of alligator in the world. This is the American alligator and the Chinese alligator. I opted to go with Chinese in this case.

* * *

Why did we skip one of Kajiki's turns? Because fusion monsters _can't attack on their first turn_. This rule seems to be avoided when its convenient and enforced when it's... Convenient.

* * *

Yea don't ask me how the holographic whale was hiding in a separate tank of water… It's… Weird. In the case of the fanfic though, this is partially because of Kajiki's closeness to that monster (As in, close enough that the spirit legitimately sees himself as Kajiki's 'dad' to a certain extent.) gives him free reign over where he sits on the field; outside of Gods, this happens for many duelist's favourite monsters in the fanfic... They're still on the field, and within 'range', but their closeness means they aren't nessecarily restricted to the front lines.

Of course, in the case of things like Fortress Whale and the Gods, they're just too _big_.

* * *

A LOT of the latter half of the duel was changed in terms of dialogue and even _move order_, because not only does it just screw with the rules of the game, it also acts as though everything on the field is real anyways. Which is something that was altered to match 'anime levels', including holograms being cut in two to reveal nothing but weird light inside.

Hell, Kajiki originally ordered the whale to do that spin after Panther Warrior somehow didn't self-destruct, which threw the cat off… And then he was all '_Your Panther probably has internal injuries, blah blah blah_!'

What.

So yea… 'Fixed' that, mostly because I like rules to be at least _somewhat_ consistent. At least I had an excuse on Pegasus' island.

* * *

And in other news, while Jaguars don't really have an issue with water being kinda like tigers in that respect, Leopards… They're not really water-guys. They're tree-guys. And panthers are black versions of either Jaguars or Leopards really, soooo…

There you go! The Panther Warrior is technically a leopard! (In fact, if you look at 'Lady Panther', she's a leopard too; and a _normal_ one at that, she's golden yellow with spots.)

* * *

Jonouchi's referencing a _very_ cool way to cook hotdogs... You stick a pair of wires to a metal object (say a nail), and ram both in each end of the hotdog. These wires come from a plug; basically you've taken your lamp cord, cut it from the lamp, and split up the wires. Plug that thing in the wall, and your hotdog is fried! From the inside out, with no burns or anything...

And if you do it with a pickle, _it lights up_. How cool is that?

Er... Warning! You plug it in with ONE HAND, and as with _anything_ concerning exposed wires, this is VERY DANGEROUS. Unless you're a responsible adult who legitimately knows what you're doing, DON'T DO IT.

I'm not responsible for what happens if you do.

* * *

Kajiki's re-summoning of the Legendary Fisherman is quite moving; he initially has thoughts that we naturally see, saying '_your worst fears have come true Jonouchi! I brought my Greatest Monster back to life!'_

Cue Legendary Fisherman, the card that represents his _dad_. And when you think about it, if Umi hadn't been destroyed, he really would have been a threat; those stealth attacks were _nasty_!

* * *

Obviously, besides Kaiba's cars, emergency vehicles get the go-ahead too. Otherwise things would go to shit, really really quick.

* * *

Hey, want to know something about 'Namu'? It's the Buddhist equivalent of 'hail', 'glory', 'amen'…

_So why the hell did Malik pick that_?

Well, he was probably aiming more at 'name'; which roughly ends up pronounced as 'namae' in Japanese… But would probably end up something else in Malik's own accent, which, by the way, he's playing up; no one suspects the guy who barely knows the language! (Save the paranoid one.)

**

* * *

FanArt and My Art Section**

Paste the link, remove the spaces, and hit go!

Only one today though; just another doodle sheet...

Doodles/Concept- Hair, Noa, and Dragon... Things – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Doodles. jpg - Largely just sketching (as you can see by my two random hairstyle sketches there), there's actually some concept here. Noa for one is here, along with some fun with dragons... And... Mutating things... As to what's happening in the fanfic and what's not, you'll have to be in the dark for now... (Though tell me which hairstyle you like more, ah?)

And with that, I'm turning in to work on the next chapter! Enjoy the chapter, and I'll see you next time with Yugi and Kaiba VS the Mask's of Light and Darkness... Or as the Dub called them, 'Lumis' and 'Umbra'.


	72. Chapter 71

**Power And Weakness

* * *

**

-_Bzzzz. Bzzzz._- "Come on," Yugi hissed at the phone, fists clenched as the ringer came through the air. He'd been repeating this action a number of times so far, looking more and more agitated with each 'run-through'. "Pick up..!"

She'd be lying if she said it wasn't _slightly_ amusing, but the fact was, with all the time they were wasting she was beginning to feel just as agitated. "You've called your 'friends' six times already," Seto growled, glaring at her rival as the boy was again answered with a dial tone. "Face it; they aren't answering."

"Tch... This isn't like them," he muttered, stowing the phone back in his jacket pocket. "She normally would have answered by now... And Bakura would have answered quickly as well, there's something wrong!" Nhn...

Of course there was... That was why she had Mokuba looking. "Save your breath... We'll know where they are soon enough," she muttered, adjusting her shoulder as they continued down the road. "I have Mokuba tracking your dog and friends, it won't be much longer. Really," the woman continued with a smirk, chuckling under her breath, "You should get a collar on him before someone beats you to it..."

"Gh-" The teen tensed, turning to the woman with narrowed eyes. "Stop comparing him to a dog Kaiba... You of all people should know he's far more than that, both as a person and a duelist!"

Hnnn... Well, he certainly had a habit of exceeding the expected limits of common sense... Seto merely rolled her eyes at the thought and response both however, turning the next corner with a slight sigh. "Yes... About that..." Yugi frowned as his 'friend' continued, a slightly unimpressed frown in place. "As I recall," she said with raised eyebrows, "Jonouchi's duelist level is '2' out of '8'... Considering only duelists of level five and on are allowed into the tournament," the woman continued with a subtle growl, "Exactly how _did_ your friend the 'mutt' get in?" Yugi bit his lip with those words, turning away as the woman continued in response to her 'friend's silence. "Hn! Well then... As soon as we find him, I'll just have to declare him 'disqualified'," she decided, smirking as the teen beside her balked. "Hnhnhnhnhn..."

"Gh- _Kaiba,_" Yugi growled, saying nothing more as he clenched his fists. The teen scowled as his 'friend' walked ahead, the woman looking back with a narrow smirk before continuing.

"What... Not so eager to find him anymore," she 'asked', still chuckling under her breath. "Afraid to find him only to tell him he's out of the running?" Again the answer was silence, the pair continuing down the road as they searched for any sign of Anzu and Jonouchi. Well... She supposed there wasn't much to say on that really... ...And she supposed that if the mutt had somehow managed to qualify for the finals she'd let it slide... They _would_ all be inside an airship after all, it wasn't as though everyone would die while in the air. Now then... So far, since they'd run into since that pathetic 'tag-team' match, they'd run into two duelists, each one dealt with swiftly and mercilessly... And each one giving Yugi another card. They were now tied, five cards for five cards...

But what was taking Mokuba so long to call back with Jonouchi's location she wondered, a frown coming over her face. "Hnnn..."

Yugi turned, frowning as the woman beside her grumbled under her breath. "What," he asked as he shook his head, "What is it?"

Wh- Nothing, he should mind his own- ...Ahhhh, but this was Yugi... _Right_. "Hn! Nothing," the woman said plainly, a smirk coming over her face again as she opted to change the subject. "It's just odd don't you think? Here I am, walking shoulder to shoulder with the man I consider my lifelong rival... The one who I would want nothing more than to drive into the ground with Obelisk right this moment," she added 'darkly', watching as her rival's expression continued to sour in response to the comment. "Hnhnhnhnhn..."

What, not funny? Well... It was amusing her at least. "...Kaiba," Yugi muttered, narrowing his eyes as he turned back to the streets. "Right now we just need to find my friends... You can have your duel when we know they're alright," he continued, his rival again rolling her eyes.

"Yes, yes, your 'friends'... 'Mazaki' and the 'Mutt'," she muttered, smirk dying. Honestly, did she even say 'duel me' after catching back up? No. Not to say she wouldn't love that right now... "You know, despite all I think of your so called 'friends'," the woman said somewhat shortly, "We still share a similar purpose in this regard... The Ghouls..." Yugi held silent as the woman continued, the taller of the pair currently narrowing her eyes as she continued. "I'm going to smash every single one of them, individually..."

"...I understand your goals to do that Kaiba but-" But nothing.

"Listen, Yugi... The only reason I'm teaming up with you," Seto growled rather bluntly, "Is because as the only two with God Cards, _we_ are an irresistible prize..." She chuckled somewhat at that, before continuing with a slight sneer. "We'll attract those Ghouls like flies and kill them just as easily, exactly like those before us..." And there was no other reason! ...Except to pass the time it was apparently taking to track Jonouchi...

Just _why_ was it taking so long? "...Kaiba," Yugi asked, pulling the woman from her thoughts on Mokuba and bringing the woman's gaze toward him, "...Just how _did_ you get a God card," he asked, a slight frown on his face as his 'friend' snorted. Hn!

Wouldn't he just _love_ to know? "Hnmp... It 'chose' me," she said with a smirk, chuckling under her breath as the teen beside her growled at the answer. "That's all... And it isn't just that one," she continued, the smirk widening to a rather odd grin as the elated thought of the card's 'power' again came to mind. "Soon enough they'll all 'choose me' Yugi, yours, the Ghoul's... Their power is good as mine, understand," Seto said with a grin, still chuckling. "Hnhnhnhnhn..."

"Tch..." The teen merely scowled in response to that, pulling out his phone and again attempting to call his friend. One moment, another... Another... And another... Yugi's eye visibly twitched as there was again no answer, the boy attempting a second number before clicking it over with a growl. "...Damn it..!"

"Seven," Seto muttered, adjusting the collar on her jacket as her friend growled in response. Well it was _true_... ...And it had taken far too long for Mokuba to respond to her calls, this wasn't good. "And that is _it_," she muttered, adjusting her collar and clicking the radio on with narrowed eyes. "Mokuba," she called, holding the radio close as static met her ears. Nothing but snow... The woman waited a few moments, before repeating her call with narrowed eyes. "...Mokuba," the woman said again, "Answer me..."

Yugi paused as his rival stopped walking, the woman's grin and humor all vanishing very quickly as she continued to receive static as a response. "...He's not responding," he asked in alarm, blood draining at the third 'bad sign' so far.

Gh... No... Not good..! They'd at least had a chance of tracking down Jonouchi with the slate, but if they had her brother...

...If they had... Her _brother_, she repeated in her mind, eyes widening with fear as the gravity of the words hit her. No..! "...Mokuba," she repeated somewhat louder, a tinge of panic coming into her voice as she swallowed. "Mokuba," Seto shouted again, "Are you there!"

"Kaiba we need to go check on him," Yugi muttered with a nervous swallow, staring at the woman and slowly shaking his head. "If something's happened to Mokuba and the others, I can guarantee that-"

"Don't. Say _anything_," she growled, sending a sharp glare to the teen as her 'rival' immediately clammed up. Mokuba wasn't answering the radio... Which meant that the guards had both been 'dealt with', Mokuba wouldn't just leave the radio unattended..! So in addition to Jonouchi and his 'friends' apparently being too stupid to defend themselves, the guards had been overpowered and possibly killed, her brother taken and... And... "Gh..." Alright, alright, she told herself, rubbing her head, first things first, she'd need to-

"...Kaiba," Yugi shouted with a jolt, "Above you-!" What?

"Tch!" Seto turned, arm raising into a block as a shadow flew over head. Something locked around her wrists, someone _small_ using the arm as leverage to push off toward the ground across from her, but... "Who-" The 'shadow' quickly landed, black cloak flapping in the breeze as he turned back. A ghoul..! And... The woman looked back at her arm, eyes wide as she looked over the bizarre 'mask' that was locked around her arm and duel disk. "..What the hell..!" What the hell did that scum slip on her arm!

Yugi stared at the lock like device that was wrapped around his rival's dueldisk, eyes wide as the woman attempted to pull at the thick chains briefly only to growl in unbridled rage. "Some kind of... Mask..!" More like a chastity belt for her duel disk!

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." The two turned, both glaring at the short masked 'ghoul' as the man turned to face them. "This just isn't your day _is_ it Seto Kaiba... First your employees, then your brother... And now I've blocked contact to your God Card... I'd be fairly impressed if you could pick that lock, hnhahaha!"

Blocked co- So that was the intent then? It really figured... It really figured that _SCUM _like this would resort to that... Even Yugi was looking at the woman beside him with slight unease as Seto growled, knuckles cracking as she began to walk forward. "You... You can enjoy your few seconds of laughter while you can you _rat_, but if you think you can get away with threatening my brother and doing this to my arm..!" He could enjoy being beaten to death with it!

"Now now, don't get all strung up," the man muttered, taking a step back as a rumbling sound came over the air. A mask covered the right half of the ghoul's face, a permanent grin drawn on its form as it was mirrored by a real one. "There's a key for that lock after all, so you'll be getting your precious 'God' back... "And as for your brother," the ghoul continued with a chuckle, "He's perfectly fine..." And she was supposed to take his word for that! The man pointed upward, Seto and Yugi both frowning as the rumbling appeared to increase in volume. "Take a look," he added with a low grin, chuckling as the familiar sound of a helicopter continued to close in from above.

Take... Take a...

Look..? The woman's eyes widened as she slowly turned upward, mouth hanging open as she spotted something dangling from the helicopter that had appeared in the distance. That... The vehicle slowly came closer, hovering a number of feet away as the figure that was strung around the middle and hanging ten feet below the device quickly cleared. That was... "Mokuba," Yugi whispered in horror, staring in shock as the screaming boy swung from the cord in the distance. The winds were battering him about like some invisible cat would play with a toy, black hair growing matted and tangled as it caught in the boy's face, his eyes wide with terror as his mouth hung open.

Screaming... He was screaming but all she could hear was the helicopter, the roaring sound that was drowning out her brother's shouts for help and..! "Mng... You..."

"You want him back," the Ghoul asked with a sneer, Seto looking back down at the ghoul with rage filled eyes. "Want your duel disk 'unlocked'..?" If not for the fact that she didn't know if there was a radio connected to that copter in the mask... "Follow my lead," the masked man said with a grin, hopping back and up one of the signs to the sides. "I'll be on the roof of this building you see behind me," he continued cheerfully, "And I expect both of you to come... Unless," he continued with a dark sneed, "You'd rather both him _and_ your 'Jonouchi Katsuya' to be '_misplaced_'," the man threatened, both of the teens before him shaking in rage.

"You damned snakes," Yugi hissed, face growing red as the masked ghoul continued to free-run up the building at their side.

"Yugi... Why don't we show this scum exactly what kind of HELL they've wrought on themselves," Seto growled, nails digging into her palms until blood ran across her fingers.

"Agreed," the teen roared without pause, the masked man before them merely disappearing toward the roof to join another masked figure up above. The roaring helicopter in the distance continued to sound, both of the duelists looking at the vehicle a moment before swallowing. Mokuba... The helicopter was turning away, flying off into the distance and disappearing behind the taller high-rises of the city...

_Mokuba_..!

Hang in there!

* * *

"Un!"

-_brmm!-_

"Hah... Hah... HAAAAAAHHH- ...UN!"

-_BRRMM!_-

The sounds of constant pounding filled the dark, sunless air around Anzu Mazaki as she slammed her weight against the warehouse door, teeth grinding together as she was answered with steady and complete resistance once more. Nothing... The steel door that sat before her held completely, Anzu biting her lip as she stood back from the entrance and shook. This place...

She'd woken up just moments before in this dark... 'Warehouse' of sorts, surrounded by a maze of storage containers and wooden crates. There was almost no light in the room, or at least what was created by an impenetrable and impossible to scale wall of storage containers at the side. Jonouchi was gone... Her phone wasn't getting _any_ reception at all, that was the first thing she'd checked when she'd woken up... And as she walked over to the side, stepping on the pile of boxes near the only light source she had, the only window in the room she had to bow her head in misery as she realized she couldn't possibly reach the frame in the stupid skirt she was wearing... And even then she'd probably only fall head first to the ground trying to stretch her leg through the window. "Damn it," she whispered, sinking to the ground as she rubbed her head with slightly worn and bloodied palms. Trapped... She was trapped like some kind of lab rat, or even her hamster, she had no _clue_ what happened... "What's going on..."

-_crrrrrrrrrrkk-_

Anzu turned, jumping as the door to the warehouse slipped open a notch to allow a sliver of light in. There were mutterings coming from the other side... The sounds of a slight struggle, but as she came to the door she found herself jumping back as someone was thrown past her to the ground, the door closing over with a slam. "Glk!" The boy that had been tossed in struggled to pull himself up, quivering and shuddering violently from some unseen horror. Black hair, a light vest over a t-shirt... And...

Oh god..! "M-Mokuba," the woman shouted, rushing forward to help the boy up with wide eyes. The boy shuddered as she grabbed his arm, helping him to a seated position before paling. "You're shaking like a leaf," she whispered, Mokuba merely coughing as he closed his eyes tightly. "What happened," Anzu asked, "You're so _cold_..." More than cold, he felt like an ice cube..!

"H-Hah... Hahhh... Hah..." The boy swallowed as he was helped up to his feet, breathing frantic as he clung to Anzu's arms. Why was he... Why was he so cold..? "Hah... Gnk... Where..." Mokuba swallowed, continuing to shiver as Anzu stared. "K-Katsuya-nii," he whispered with a cough, shaking his head as he opened his eyes. "Where... Where's Katsuya-nii," he managed to force out, slowly warming up in Anzu's arms.

The woman shook her head, biting her lip as she stared at the ground. "I don't know... I only woke up a few minutes ago," she explained with a nervous swallow, "I can't find him anywhere..." At least not on this side of the warehouse she thought bitterly, eyes trailing over to the slight gap between storage bins. They were all turned with their doors toward her, giving the nasty feeling of something lurking on the other end... Gh... "I tried to get out," Anzu muttered, turning away from the bins with a shudder, "But all I managed to do was cut my hand..." A number of times actually... That door was in really bad shape despite its strength...

"Ng..." Mokuba nodded, standing away from Anzu as he continued to shake slightly. "T-Then... What about your phone," he asked, swallowing as he looked at the woman worriedly. "Did you try-"

The woman held it forward as she clenched her purse, a standard 'no signal' light flashing from the screen as she shook her head. "Nothing," she admitted, stowing it back in the bag and turning to Mokuba. "...I'm sorry..."

The boy bit his lip, bowing his head as he clenched his fists. "Those bastards... Forcing my brother to do what they want..." What? Anzu blinked, staring as Mokuba explained with a nervous shrug. "I... I had been about to track down you and Katsuya-nii, like my brother asked," he admitted, coughing awkwardly. "One of the Ghouls mentioned following you around," the boy continued quietly, "And we were worried... So we-"

"Ahh... We," Anzu asked somewhat incredulously, raising her eyebrows. "Not to make things seem worse but... Since when did your brother care about what happened to Jonouchi and I," she continued, a slight frown on her face.

"Oh... Well... Yugi and I were worried I guess..." Mokuba turned away briefly, shaking himself as he sighed. "I mean... I know Nii-sama doesn't act like it, but he _does_ care... In his own way," he added, scratching his head. The boy continued to shiver as he looked around the room, swallowing as he rubbed his arms. "Still... I know the God cards they have are rare," he muttered somewhat angrily, biting back a growl, "But it never really hit me that someone would go through all this trouble to get them..!" Yea well...

'Duel monsters' hadn't seemed like the sort of thing to spawn giant holographic matches, but there they were... And... Wait... "God cards," Anzu repeated, blinking. "Yugi has... He has one of the God cards?"

Mokuba nodded, wrapping his arms around himself as he sat on one of the boxes at the side. "Yea... He won one just before I was captured," he added, standing up on the box as he continued. "The ghouls probably took us as leverage for that... Stupid 'Malik'," the boy growled, kicking a nearby box as he swallowed. "I hope nii-sama shoots him point blank for what he did!"

H-Hahh! That was a little extreme wasn't it? Anzu swallowed, silent for a moment before realizing what the boy had just said. Malik... ...They might have been taken for the cards but... "I wonder," she muttered, taking a seat on a nearby box and turning away in thought. "...If there's more to it than that..."

"...More?" Mokuba stared, before Anzu nodded and explained.

"Yugi only just got the card right," she asked, the boy nodding. "Well... Earlier," she continued, lowering her voice, "Jonouchi was acting as though we were being followed, constantly looking behind him. Bakura and I thought he was just spacing out but-"

"Wait," Mokuba muttered, "You were being followed? ...Ah! Malik told us that he had you both tailed," he continued with a slight shout, eyes widening with realization. "That's why we started looking for you," he added, watching as Anzu bit her lip and winced.

So Jonouchi was probably being the smartest of them at the time then... Ooooh... She'd been worried about all the wrong things then! "Gh... That's not good," she muttered, recalling Ishizu's words about a 'great battle' taking place. But that... That couldn't possibly have anything to do with this right? Anzu continued to bite her lip, arms crossed as she narrowed her eyes in thought. "There's obviously something more to this but- Hnn..." The woman shook herself, holding her head before turning to the window she'd attempted to escape from before. "We need to get out of here," she muttered, shaking her head and swallowing. "There has to be some way we can both escape, a window, or..." Or... Anzu paused, staring off above the boxes and at Mokuba as the boy frowned.

"_Or,_" he asked, watching as the woman before him began climbing toward the window again. "H-Hey, what are you-"

"Come on," Anzu hissed, grabbing Mokuba's arm and pulling him forward and up the crates with a swallow. "There's a window over there, I can help you out..!"

"I-" The boy blinked, stumbling and protesting somewhat as the woman helped him over a few large crates. Shouts were sounding outside for some reason now... She didn't have much time, if she couldn't fit than Mokuba at least would..! "A-Anzu," Mokuba muttered, under his breath, "What about you though, and Katsuya-nii? How are you guys going to get out..!"

The woman shook her head, merely helping the boy up as they pushed at the small window to open it up to the harbor outside. "We'll manage," she said with a swallow, looking out the window at the pile of boxes in front of it. Crates and things completely lined the wall, leading out to the road along the pier... Good... Mokuba wouldn't be falling from too high then... Anzu pulled Mokuba forward, lifting him up toward the window and helping the boy through. "Just go and get help! I might not be able to get out now," she continued with a panicked whisper, "But you can!"

The sound of the door opening came through the air, Anzu swallowing as she looked back at from Mokuba to the door. "...Anzu," he whispered, already half-way out the window.

"_Go_," she hissed, pushing the boy through the window. "And hurry!" There was a slight shout as Mokuba tumbled forward, a small thud echoing through the air as he landed. Ghouls were running into the room now, the sound of footsteps echoing outside... She couldn't fit reach this window, true, but she could at least listen as Mokuba picked himself up and fled the scene, the ghouls charged with them more distracted by what they could see...

"H-Hey," one of the ghouls growled, running forward with wide eyes, "What the hell do you think you're doing?" Haha...

Hahahahaha..! Rough hands pulled her away from the window, the woman kicking out at the men grabbing her as she growled, elated mood quickly vanishing as she was dragged across the floor. "G- What the hell do you think _you're_ doing, pigs!" Stone and wooden slivers dug into her legs, hair tugged painfully above her head as it was used as some sort of hand-hold for the ghoul to grab. "Gh- Don't touch me!"

The second ghoul merely spat on the ground, looking around the room as his partner held Anzu still. "D-Damn it," he muttered, turning from the rest of the small empty space in the room, "The boy's gone!"

"What," the other snarled, dropping Anzu roughly to the ground as she groaned.

Anzu coughed as she pulled herself up from the ground, watching as the ghouls turned on her with wide eyes. "You..."

"Hnh..." Time to do... Something Jonouchi would do, she thought mentally, stumbling to her feet as she spat a bit of blood on the ground. "Got a problem with that," she muttered hoarsely, a hand slapping across her face in response.

How they knocked her out this time probably had more to do with the ground that met her face than chemicals really...

* * *

Bastards. Monsters. The kind of scum that made her wish she carried a gun. This and many other steadily more creative curses were being muttered under Seto's breath as she stormed up the stairs of the relatively tall high-rise that their target had free-run up to. And as this string of curses came through the air she couldn't help but notice the emptiness of the building, fists clenched tight as Yugi ran behind her and further up the stairs. Demons, fiends, scumbags, dead, dead, _DEAD! _"When I get to the top of this building," she spat, cursing the broken elevator that they'd found at the bottom floor.

"We may very well have no choice but to give in to their demands," Yugi warned, his own tone clearly showing his distaste for the situation. "So you might want to hold off on the end of that sentence..."

Tch! Tell it to someone who gave a crap. "'Kaiba's don't 'negotiate' with nutcases like these," the woman growled, passing the tenth floor of thirteen with thundering steps, "They 'win', by any means necessary- and if I get any references to past matches," she added with a snarl, turning on her rival for a brief moment as they came to the twelfth floor...

Yugi's look quite clearly said this was the last thing on his mind, not that Seto could see it as she turned away from the teen. "Just try and calm down," the boy warned somewhat hypocritically, his own posture betraying that advice as they slowed their pace on the stairs. "They have Mokuba, and they probably have Jonouchi and the others as well," he continued, face still red at the thought of what the ghouls were doing with their hostages. "We can't risk their lives because of anger!" Oh really?

"And _you're_ any better," she spat lowly. voice momentarily left un-disguised as they ran up the stairs. There was a moment of silence with that, the pair making it to the final floor as Yugi frowned. "As I recall, you were more than ready to push me over that castle tower in the Duelist Kingdom... So what's with the change of heart, _Yugi_?" There was an awkward span of silence in regards to that, Yugi stopping for a moment as his rival briefly turned back.

"...Something my partners and friends taught me," the boy said plainly, tone laced with clear distaste. "Though believe me when I say that if it weren't for them there would be a lot more blood shed than necessary..." Oh... Well wasn't that an interesting confession... "And at least I'm _trying _to heed those words," he muttered off in regards to said 'confession', before pushing past the woman and onto the roof. "Now then," he growled, staring across the rooftop with narrowed eyes.

"Tch... Two," Seto hissed as they moved out onto the roof, a large and seemingly bottomless skylight across from them. A pair of ghouls stood on the far end of the glass roof, each wearing the iconic black-purple robes of the Rare Hunters. There was something strapped to the bottom of the glass as well, the woman noted... Something small, and round, a device of sorts... But for the moment, she wasn't particularly interested in that, preferring to deal with something far more important. "You two," she shouted, voice again hidden with more masculine tones as she narrowed her eyes. "What did you do with my brother?"

The two across from them merely sneered, the taller chuckling from behind the black 'half-mask' on the right of his face. "Your brother? Oh... He's '_safe_'," he said with a dismissive shrug, the shorter one from before also chuckling as the two teens stepped forward.

"Well... For now at least," the white-masked man muttered, grinning darkly as the woman before them continued to tense. Gh... If she could just push them off the edge of this roof _right now_... "Here," the ghoul continued, tossing a key forward as Seto caught it in a swift and reflexive motion, "The 'first half' of our deal... Now that you're up here," the masked one 'explained' with a sneer, "You won't be needing that disk lock..."

Tch... And she had a nasty feeling she knew _why_ too, given the positions of the pair before her... Nonetheless she unlocked the bizarre, mask-like device, tossing it roughly to the side as the chains fell to the ground around her. Now then, she thought as she narrowed her eyes, only for her rival to step forward and speak first. "What do you want from us," Yugi hissed, arms crossed as the two teens stared the ghouls down. "You hang Kaiba's brother from a helicopter... You kidnap my friends, doing who knows what to both them and whoever was around them... Answer us," he roared, the wind about them howling as if in response to this rage.

Again the ghouls merely chuckled, moving their arms to reveal duel disks as the devices clicked into position, decks already loaded into each one. "Now now," the short one said with a sneer, wagging his finger at the pair. "Not so hasty... You haven't even given us the chance to introduce ourselves," he drawled, shaking his head.

"And as two of Malik-sama's top assassins," the taller continued darkly, crossing his arms with a disgusted expression in place, "That's quite insulting... But given the circumstances you're '_forgiven_'," he continued, the two across from him rendered silent with rage the more the ghouls spoke. "I," the man continued as he gestured to his face, black 'scowling' mask gleaming in the sunlight, "Am the 'Mask of Darkness'..."

"And I," his partner added, holding his hands out wide as he chuckled, "Am the Mask of _Light_... And together we are a tag-team formed specifically to hunt down the two God Cards, in the event that a pair such as yourselves appear..." Well wasn't that just convenient... They were against a nutcase who prepared for losing... "Now... Both of you, step on the glass," he ordered, the two teens both doing so with narrowed eyes and clenched fists. "We're going to have a two-on-two match," 'Light' continued with a grin.

"But first," Darkness added as he spread his arms to gesture at the field, "We'll explain the rules," His partner nodded from the side at this, before the taller of the pair continued. "Besides being a 'tag-team' match," he explained, grin holding steady across his face, "Each player's points are 'stand alone'." Stand alone... "When one person loses their points," the man continued in clarification, "They're eliminated; to win however, both opposing partners must be defeated!"

"And of course, by 'eliminated'," 'Light' continued with a wide and toothy grin, "We mean 'killed'..."

Tch... 'Of course', Seto thought with a mental growl, before looking down at the glass she now stood on while the 'Masks' gestured below. "As you can see," Darkness shouted over the raging winds, "We're on the top floor of this building, standing on the skylight that spans the entire height... Besides this sheet of glass," he continued, tapping the thick sheet for emphasis, "There is nothing standing between us and the ground floor..."

Yes, because that was safe... Though she supposed that as long as each of the four windows were supported on their own... "And if your life points hit zero," Light 'warned' with a grin, pulling Seto from these thoughts, "There won't be _anything _to keep you on this roof- as soon as your points are gone the devices attached to this roof will send out the shockwave needed to shatter the glass beneath your feet," he announced with a mad cackle, "Sending _you_ thirteen floors down to your death!" ..._Great_... Just...

"And before you even think of simply dueling from the side of the skylight," Darkness growled, his soon to be opponents raising their eyebrows somewhat, "Remember who has your friends and family in their possession..." There went that option.

"Hnhnhnhn... That's all for the rules... Time to start! We call this the 'Last Stand Death Match," Light cackled, grin mirroring the one on his mask as his partner did the same. "Sounds fun, doesn't it?" _Fun_?

Silence continued to emanate off of Yugi and Seto both, the two merely loading their decks as a fierce wind began to blow about the rooftops. They had yet to say anything since the two began speaking- after all, talking would just wast time.

Like what these nimrods were doing. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Too scared to speak," Darkness asked in the continued silence, sneering as the two narrowed their eyes further. Oh _please_...

Of _them_? "Are you _done _now," Seto growled, clicking her duel disk into place as her 'partner' did the same. "It's taking all I can not to simply push you off the side of this building without you morons wasting my time," she continued, opponents momentarily tensing under the glare as she held her duel disk forward. "As it is," the woman spat, "The only reason we're having this duel is so that I can have the satisfaction of watching you fools bring about your own demise!"

Yugi nodded with those words, jaw clenched as he stood across from the 'Mask of Light' and held his own disk forward. "Enough talking," he said with a shout, wind picking up in ferocity as he tossed his jacket to the side. "Begin the duel!"

"GO!"

Hands were drawn... Momentarily Seto glanced down, eyes narrowed at the height beneath them. Almost like looking at a pair of mirrors across from each other... Except she could somewhat see the bottom, the 'end' in this case. Tch... While heights were never a problem for her, the glass 'floor' was giving her a case of vertigo... Nothing compared to what Mokuba likely felt from that helicopter, a nasty voice reminded her, the woman swallowing as she looked over her hand. Nothing... "I go first," the 'Mask of Light' was shouting, taking two cards from his hand with a grin. The woman pulled herself from her thoughts, turning as the man continued speaking. "Got it? We'll alternate players," he stated clearly, "One team at a time..." Standard procedure... Did he really need to go over it again? "Now, for my turn," the man continued, a pair of flat, holographic cards appearing to the field as he spoke, "I'll set two face down cards... And that's the end! Now then Yugi," the mask called out, pointing across from him, "You'll go next, understand?"

The teen gave a curt nod, looking over his hand momentarily before speaking. "Alright then," the teen shouted, drawing his card and looking over it before he set it on the duel disk. "...I'll play Beta the Magnet warrior in defense mode," he decided, the holographic 'magnet doll' appearing as the card was set, 'u' shaped hands forming a block as it crouched down. "Turn over!"

"My turn then," Darkness announced in response, raising his disk back up as he took his turn. The man drew from his deck, quickly setting a card for an odd, spherical angel of sorts to appear. "Shining Angel," he called out as the angel as well crouched down, "Defense mode!" Hnn... Two face down's, a mon-

"HnhnhnhnHahaha!" Make that _one_ face down... "And the moment his monster is summoned," Light called out, his first face down swinging upward with those words, "I activate this! Spell card, Mask of Brutality," he shouted, his partner laughing as the clawed mask came to the field. The mask shimmered into existence on the crouching angel's face, eyes seemingly replaced with clawed hands from the mask.

"This gives Shining Abyss 700 attack points," Darkness explained with a grin, the cards too far apart for any fine print to be read off the cards. "So have fun trying to top that!" Seven hun-

"Tch..." Right off the bat he had a monster with over 2000 attack points..! Well... Obviously her opponents would be relying on 'teamwork', Seto thought with a mental growl, arms crossed. "Hmp..." Not that that generally worked out well... The woman glanced at her rival briefly as it came to her turn, mentally snorting at the idea before turning back to the field. Hah! Like she would be making any plans with him... No... She'd just have to use whatever Yugi had on the field to her advantage... These ghouls...

She was going to crush them herself, so called 'help' would only 'spoil the brew' so to speak!

"My turn," she muttered that that in mind, a dangerous and wide-eyed glare in place as she drew her first card. "First I'll set a card face down," the woman announced, the holographic card hovering two feet from the ground with those words, "And then the beast of the battlefields, Blood Vorse," she continued with a shout, "Attack mode!" The axe wielding monster appeared in an instant before her, teeth bared in a permanent scowl as its card hovered behind it, iris-void eyes staring across the field. "Hn... End turn!" And next turn, she'd be sacrificing for her next monster... Bringing this duel even closer to an end.

Hnhnhnhnhn... "Well well," a drawling voice muttered across the field, Seto's mental chuckling quickly vanishing. "Someone's plotting something..." Oh please, the point of summoning was fairly obvious as it was... The Mask of Light continued to grin from across her, drawing his next card and looking at it with a chuckle. "It's my turn," he said plainly, "And for my next play, I'll be using this very card! Ta-daaah," he shouted, setting the card on the field as its image was revealed to the others. "Mask of Accursed!" Mask of-! The card's 'mask' briefly appeared before the spell, gruesome, nail-beaten face staring out to the field. "Nhnhnhnhn! A nice mask wouldn't you say," Light commented with a grin, the mask appearing on Yugi's Beta Warrior with a swift flash as the monster was pulled 'out of play' and behind him. "Your monster looks _wonderful_!" ...Ehhh...

Seto glanced at the monster, briefly running over the card's stats in her mind. ...Hn. Five hundred points of damage to Yugi for each turn he took with the mask on his monster... Beta Warrior now rendered unable to attack and defend as a result. Not her problem then... She'd deal with these scum before that became an issue in any case...

"And for the rest of my move," the shorter of their opponents continued, Seto glancing back as the man grabbed another card from his hand, "Another face down card!" The next card appeared in a flash on the field as Light made his decision, the two cards he had resembling some sort of bizarre table as a result. Another trap or spell... Tch! Playing nothing but de-buffs and 'buffers' then? Pathetic... "And that'll be all for me," the man 'decided', crossing his arms before gesturing across to his opponent. "Of course, that means you take 500 points of damage," the ghoul added, grinning as Yugi glared at his duel disk and opponent both.

"Tch... Draw," the teen shouted in response to the 'reminder', looking at his result with narrowed eyes. The Magnet Warrior was paralyzed for the moment thanks to his 'mask' Seto thought to herself, glancing at the beast. But if there was one thing it was still good for, it was a sacrifice. And if Yugi passed that up... The teen beside her grimaced, staring at his opponents cards for a moment before nodding. Good, he was going to do something that made sense. "...I sacrifice the Magnet Warrior," he shouted, only for the next of 'Light's cards to swing upward as the man cut his opponent off.

Alright, maybe it made a little less sense than expected. "Hehehehheee! Not so fast now," Light shouted, laughter filling the windy air as the card's image and masked moved toward the center of the field. "I activate the trap 'Mask of Restrict'! As long as this is here there won't be any sacrifices from you two," he continued with a grin, the bizarre skeletal mask hovering above the center of the field as both Yugi and Seto paled. No... Sacrifices..?

No. No no no no no... No... That wasn't... Darkness sneered from across the two, chuckling under his breath as his opponents both went white. "Hehehe... And with that card, your 'Gods' are useless... So have fun gathering shields in the meantime," he continued with a laugh. "You'll need them!"

No no nonono- "You _snakes,_" she growled, deciding not to wonder when 'hebi' became an insult in her mind. "Rggggh..."

"Gh... Damn it," Yugi muttered under his breath, replacing the card he'd planned on summoning before taking two others from his hand. "I play Kuriboh in defense mode," he announced, the furball springing into view and staring out at the field as its card appeared behind it on its side, "Along with one face down card!" The second card appeared like a table beside the Kuriboh, shimmering somewhat in the light as its summoner scowled. "I end my turn," he continued, his opponents grinning in response.

"Which makes it mine," Darkness announced, a 'hissing', 'psst' sound from Yugi's end of the field pulling Seto's attention from whatever play he was planning to make. Wh- What, _now_?

"Kaiba," the teen muttered, looking at his rival with a slight frown as he received a similar look in response, "Listen... As much as I know you have a ridiculous hatred for 'working alongside' someone," he whispered under his breath, "Our normal tactics aren't going to work here..."

Nhnnn... Yes, _damn_ that supposedly 'ridiculous' hatred. How ever would she stay on top? (Idiot...) "Your point," she growled in return, eyebrow raised somewhat as the boy shook his head.

"My _point_," he hissed with evident agitation, "Is that we need to share plans; we need to work together on this one," he continued, sounding fairly similar to his 'past' self in the Legendary Heroes game.

"Hn!" And in all honesty, going along with programming and working in a tag-team duel were two very different things. The woman snorted, crossing her arms as she turned away from the boy with a slight smirk. "Ridiculous..."

"Kaiba," Yugi growled, his rival merely rolling her eyes. Stop _talking_...

She was trying to focus on the duel... "Shining Abyss attacks Blood Vorse," Darkness shouted abruptly, his target's owner smirking in response as she watched the angel approach.

"Hn! Just try it," she sneered, tapping her duel disk as her face down card swung up, the attacking monster halting in place to allow its activation. "Activate trap; Ring of Destruction! You can enjoy your twenty-three hundred points of damage," she continued as the grenade-decorated ring latched around the 'angel's neck, her 'partner' grinning in relief as the card activated. Seeeee? 'Every duelist for themselves' worked perfectly fine... (So stop bugging-)

"I wouldn't think so," 'Light' said from across the field, the grins of his opponents falling in response. What..! Seto's smirk vanished as her second opponent's next card swung upward, the image of two cards appearing on the field. "Counter-trap," he called out with a cackle, "Curse Transfer!"

Curse transf- "Gh-!" The ring of grenades quickly appeared around her own monster's neck in response to the trap, an explosion of light taking over the field as she was left defenseless. Within a single instant the monster and trap were both removed from the field, the cards doing nothing from their place in the duel disk... And with twenty-one hundred points left, with no shield... "Shit," she muttered, teeth grinding as the angel before her moved to attack again. Shit...

Shit! "Hnhnhnhn... That's the strength of Light and Darkness," 'Light' said with a shrug, shaking his head as he sneered.

"Our teamwork is unbeatable," Darkness continued, pointing forward with a wide grin in place. "And thanks to that bit of fun, this will be a two-on-one match! Have fun in _Hell_, Seto Kaiba!"

H-... Haaaah... The angel let loose a single, solid blast of blinding light toward her, Seto's eyes widening briefly as the light filled her vision with nothing but white. No... No..! The woman's eyes closed over out of reflex as the light intensified, arm raised above her head in 'defense' only for the woman to frown as it began to fade. Lowering her arm and looking forward, the frown was replaced with an expression of shock as a series of explosions filled the air from in front of her rather than from below, the glass still firm beneath her feet as the light began to clear. "What..?"

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Seto blinked furiously in an attempt to clear her vision, before staring as a swarm of kuriboh each took the attack from the monster before her. The holographic beasts filled her and Yugi's side of the completely, from behind and in front as the attacking angel retreated to its side of the field. This...

This strategy... She turned to the side, eyes wide as she looked over her rival. "Yugi..!" He...

_Why_! The teen merely smirked, arms crossed as 'Multiply' floated face up on the field. "Hnhnhn... You know this combo don't you," he asked with a wink, his 'partner' merely tensing at the reminder of the Duelist Kingdom fiasco. "Kuriboh and Multiply... More than enough to protect the both of us from your attacks," he shouted toward his opponents, the smirk growing into a grin.

"Tch... A wall of _weaklings_," 'Darkness' spat, Seto merely staring at the wall of holographic monsters incredulously as rage began to build. His card...

_His_ card saved... "Yugi," she growled, eyes wide as she clenched her fists, "I don't need your help in this duel!"

"Hn! So you say," he responded, eyes trained on the field as his 'friend' continued to grow red, "But if either of us dies," the boy continued in a dark reminder, "The other won't be far behind... And you know full well that your brother and Jonouchi _both_ wouldn't want that of you," he added, placing a fair amount of emphasis on the latter with narrowed eyes. Tch...

Jonouchi... And what did she care what that mutt thought anyways! She was doing this for her brother and no one else... "Tch... You think that it's impossible to win on your own then," she sneered, narrowing her eyes as her rival continued to stare at the field.

"I think that if there's one thing these two serpents before us have in common, it's their 'teamwork'," Yugi retorted, eyes narrowing further from their usual glare as he glanced to the woman at his side. "They're supporting each other perfectly, their decks working together like a well-oiled machine! And unless we fight together," he continued, tone raising in angered volume, "We _will not _succeed!"

And where was the proof in that! "Fight together," the woman repeated darkly, slowly calming herself down from the near-death moment she'd only just had as she snorted. "...Pfh!" About as much as needed at the minimum- in other words, no change! "Whatever! It's my turn," she growled, drawing a card from her deck. Now... What did she- "Nh-!" The familiar 'vanilla' coloured card met her gaze, diamond white image gracing its form. Blue-Eyes..! The woman's eyes widened briefly, moving over to glance at the Mask of Restrict that still sat above the field. So long as that thing was there, she wouldn't be able to tribute summon... But if it was only tributes then... ...No choice, she thought bitterly, adding the dragon to her hand as she grabbed a different card. 'Stepping stone' tactics it was! "I'll play a card face down," she decided, crossing her arms as the card in question flashed to the field. Relying on Yugi of all people... Damn it! He'd better not defy expectations this time! "I'll also play Gadget soldier in defense mode," the woman shouted, watching the holographic and 'transformer-esque' figure appear in a crouch, its 'flipped' card appearing shortly behind it. "End turn!" This had better work...

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Got your hands full there," 'Darkness' taunted, sneering as he looked across the field at the monster. "You're barely protecting yourself now!" Tch... They'd see who had their hands full in a moment...

The woman was pulled from her thoughts and curses however as her opponent's partner laughed, drawing a card and placing it on the field. "It's my turn now though... But look at you, hiding behind that wall of scrub monsters!" ...If it weren't for the fact that it came from scum, she'd have considered keeping that comment in mind... "I think I ought to clean them up," Light continued with a sneer, Yugi tensing as another spell appeared upon the field. "Here's another Mask... The Mask of Dispel, attaching to your Multiply card!" Another mask-! The swarm of kuriboh immediately dissolved as the mask wrapped around Yugi's spell card, the original kuriboh appearing back in front of its own as the mask at its side stared outward with its mournful face. "Hnhnhn... And besides cancelling that spell's effect," Light bragged, pointing across to his opponent with a grin, "You'll take 300 points of damage each turn from that mask! Hehehehehee..."

So now he was taking 800 points per turn... Seto grit her teeth, eyes narrowing as she ran a few things from her mind. 'Light' was still going through his move... Summoning a weak monster to attack and destroy Kuriboh, leaving Yugi defenseless as it came to his own turn... '_And don't forget about your life points,_' 'Light' was saying with a laugh, Yugi growling under his breath as the damage was done. Not much left now, but Yugi would manage. As to what he was doing now though...

That would be for her to decide, she thought with a cunning smirk, looking to her rival from the corner of her eye. "Hnhnhnhnhn... What's wrong Yugi," the woman drawled somewhat, 'rival' turning to her with a frown. "Don't tell me you've run out of low-level monsters... You realize you're defenseless otherwise right," she 'reminded', the smirk growing as she continued to stare at the boy from the corner of her eye. "Well... I suppose it can't be helped if you only have high level monsters in your hand," Seto 'admitted', smirk becoming more and more fox-like as she 'planted the seed'. "A card that requires sacrifice is completely useless right now... Maybe it should just be sent to the _grave_," she added, raising her eyebrows as she looked back to the field. Silence settled over the pair as she chuckled, before narrowing her eyes somewhat darkly as she turned her attentions to the field. "Yugi... You understand me," she muttered under her breath, tapping her arm as her rival stared.

"K-Kaiba..." She'd take that as a 'yes'. Now just play the damn card already... Her 'partner' smirked, nodding as he took a card from his hand. This had better work... "I do," the boy muttered, responding to her earlier 'question' before setting the card on the duel disk, "And I'll play one card face down," he shouted, holographic sheet appearing above the glass as he swallowed, "I end my turn!"

Across from them the two 'masks' were muttering, voices relatively unheard. Their heads were bowed, their faces hidden, and the wind blew over any hope of listening in on their strategizing. In the end however Darkness chuckled, drawing a card before switching it with another from his hand as he took his turn. "Well well well... No monster to come to your defense Yugi," he 'asked', a sneer coming over his face as he slipped the card into the duel disk. "You know what that means... But before I attack, I'll be using this," the man announced, card appearing on the field to bring with it an immense 'vase'-like device to the field. "Ritual Spell, Curse of the Masked Beast!"

Curse of _wha_-

"We offer two tributes," Light shouted, gesturing toward the field. "One monster from light,"

"And one from Darkness," his partner announced, both beasts on the field vanishing in a swirl and pillar of light as the 'vase' cracked in the center of the field.

"Behold," the pair shouted, the vase abruptly erupting in an almost explosive light, a grotesque beast appearing between the two duelists. "The Masked Hellraiser, Beast of the Beyond! And now that we have our monster," Darkness continued, the strange, twisted monster more than proving itself worthy of the name, "I attack! Go Masked Beast, destroy him!"

Thirty two hundred attack points... The monster charged toward Yugi, Seto merely snorting. Hn! She wasn't about to have that happen... "Gadget Soldier takes the hit," she said plainly, arms still crossed as she looked at the attacking monster blankly. The others on the field turned as the Masked Beast changed its path and charged toward Seto's monster, the woman smirking as her opponent's paled in response.

"Gh- You took the attack," the ghouls hissed, the Masked Beast 'shredding' the Gadget Warrior with a single strike before lumbering back to its position.

"Hn! That's the purpose of a shield isn't it," she muttered, a dark smirk in place as her partner grinned. And before this one got the wrong idea... "We're even now," she continued plainly, the smirk vanishing before Yugi could say anymore. The teen's grin faded just as quickly as the woman looked back over the field, eyes narrowed. "There's nothing else to it."

"Tch..."

"Hehehehe..." Such an annoying laugh these people had... "You might have spared yourselves this turn," Light said with a dark and cackling chuckle, "But on either of our turns we can eliminate either one of you," he continued 'threateningly. "You've just dug yourself into a hole!"

"Pff!" The woman snorted in response to the paper thin threat, shaking her head. "We'll see about that," Seto said plainly, her partner nodding as he activated his spell.

"Right! I activate the spell 'Card Destruction'," Yugi shouted, his opponents paling as the spell took effect and swung up to reveal its image to the entire field.

The ghouls both looked at their cards, paling as they traded glances. "Gh..."

"Discarding our entire hand..." That was right...

And even better than that... The woman sent the cards into the grave as required, a smirk coming over his face as she tapped the disk for the second half of the turn. "Yes... The entire hand," she muttered, before looking across the field with her finger on the card's corresponding 'spell' button. "And now to take _my_ turn..." The pair across from her visibly tensed at those words, watching as the woman continued. "Ordinarily I would have to tribute two monsters to make this summon," Seto 'explained', arms crossed in evident annoyance. "But I'll show you just how many other ways there are to bring a high-level monster to the field... Watch! Reveal face down card," she shouted abruptly, the card swinging upward to release a wide spread, pale green light onto the field, "Monster Reborn! Bringing Blue-Eyes White Dragon from the grave!"

"B-Blue-Eyes," the masks protested, the woman across from them sneering as the card released from the grave appeared on the field, the card itself being set into place on the duel disk. The dragon's ear-splitting roar came across the field as it was summoned into play, the familiar, if not 'odd' feeling of the dragon's arrival coming over as the winds blew viciously against them.

...But... Wait, why wasn't it in front of her..? Seto blinked, glancing to the side with slightly wide eyes as the enormous white monster seemed to curl around behind her, head easily as large as half of her body and just as wide. This... Blue-Eyes was..! The monster raised its head slightly as it stared back at its 'master', bright blue eyes revealing the woman's reflection clearly before the dragon beat its wings to took to the air to hover above. This detail... Seto minutely allowed her gaze to follow the monster upward, a slight feeling of calm momentarily coming over her. She'd gone out of her way to make sure there was enough detail in the monsters but... She shook herself mentally, instead smirking as she looked at Yugi. Well... He'd certainly played his part! And ohhh _look_... He actually believed this was 'teamwork'...

It was almost sickeningly naive, it really was... Just how did people live with that kind of belief, really... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." Seto smirked at the thought, laughing under her breath as she looked back toward the teen. "I have to say Yugi... As much as I prefer solo-battles," she 'admitted' calmly, "I think I've found a _very_ key element in tag-team matches..." The woman continued to chuckle as a wash of elation came over the boy beside her, a grin on his face despite the dangerously fox-like expression on his rival's face. "'Using your partner to your advantage'... If you can predict exactly what your partner will do," she explained smugly, "Just like you would in a one-on-one match, then it's easy! You used 'Card Destruction' so that I could bring out my greatest monster from the graveyard... But that's just logic," she continued with a grin, Yugi's expression quickly sinking into a scowl. "It's all easily predicted mannerisms... _And you think this makes us 'friends_'," the woman sneered, grin falling as she shook her head. "Hn! As I said before, we're 'even' now," Seto growled, her 'friend' grinding his teeth as the woman continued. "I've paid you back for saving my lifepoints... The next time you attack, don't expect Blue-Eyes to be helping you- I'm not helping you again," she muttered, looking back at the field as Yugi growled under his breath. Now then...

The Masked beast had 3300 points... And... Blue-Eyes... Had three thousand... Shit. This hadn't really figured out in her mind before... ...Actually, this was probably one of the few times she'd caught herself on this kind of thing damn it and... (Shit, what the hell did she do to get out of this-) "What are you waiting for," Yugi said somewhat smugly, eyebrows raised in slight amusement, "Blue-Eyes is the 'ultimate beast' isn't she? So attack him!"

"What," she growled, looking at the teen incredulously. "You want me to..!" Attack? Attack the thing _more_ powerful than-

_This had better be a joke_...

And a 'quick to end' one as well, because she was _not_ amused! "If you attack now," Yugi was assuring her, "Blue-Eyes will defeat the Masked Beast... Of course, if you don't trust me," the boy continued with a 'dismissive' frown, "You can just let it return to the graveyard..." GH...! If she attacked _now_ she'd just end up dead anyways..! "Go on," Yugi said from the side, smirk slightly more honest than prior as he crossed his arms. "Show some courage!"

Alright, that was enough! "Fine," she growled, growing red as she turned to the field with grit teeth. Taunt or no... She wasn't backing down from _him_! "Blue-Eyes," she ordered with a swift gesture, the dragon giving a loud and almost song-like roar as it began to charge a blast of heated white flames. "Strike them down! _**BURST STREAM OF DESTRUCTION!**_"

Flames shot through the air as a third roar was released, the volume much greater than it had been moments before. "_**GRAAAAAAOOOOOO!**_" In fact... That was _far _louder than expected, a voice in the back of her mind muttered as the fires filled the air, white light blinding the woman as the sound of the beast's beating wings echoed behind her. The flames had quite clearly filled the field with their light for the moment... It was all she could do to not squint in an attempt to see at the moment in fact. "_**Grnnnnn...**_" Lower, Seto noted, frowning somewhat. The dragon was simply 'growling', 'purring' even, but... But she only programmed 'battle cries', roars, not... Not _that_, it was a _dragon_ after all, and... The woman turned, staring as the head of her dragon brushed beside her before raising into the sky to cast a shadow on the glass. Felt...

She _felt _that, but how...

"Impossible," someone muttered from across her, Seto looking back to the field with still wider eyes as her opponents paled. The light was finally fading, but in its place...

Gone... The hellraiser was... _Gone... _"The monster was killed," Darkness spat, visible eye wide with horror as he and his partner were left defenseless.

"But how," Light was whispering, shaking his head as she stared across the field, "How did it.." She did it... She killed the Hellraiser but...

That would mean...

There had been a power boost or decrease inflicted...

By someone other than her...

Which meant that she owed Yugi _again_! AAAAAAGH!

"Hnhnhn..." Yugi smirked, arms still crossed as Seto looked over with a torn expression of both anger and relief in place. And he had the _gall_ to _laugh_, what kind of... GH! "When I used Card Destruction," the boy was explaining, "One of the monsters sent to the graveyard activated its effect... 'Archfiend of Gilfer' when sent to the grave," Yugi continued with a shout, "Decrease all opposing monster's attack power by 500 points!" Then...

When Yugi had played that card... Seto frowned, looking back to the empty field with wide eyes. He'd been thinking that far ahead..? "Gh..." Damn it, that was something _she_ was supposed to be doing!

Yugi smiled, looking back at the woman with a slight nod despite his rival's obvious displeasure. "Kaiba... _This_ is the power of 'Unity'," he said calmly, the teen ignoring his rival's current discomfort in response. Unity...

Tch! This wasn't the time! "...My turn is over," she muttered, clenching her jaw as she looked across the field with narrowed eyes. Blue-Eyes was still here, that was all that mattered! "Do your worst..."

"Hn... I play a monster in defense mode," Light decided in response, nodding as it came to his turn while he slipped a card on the disk. "Along with one face down card before I end my turn," he continued, a four-faced 'jar' appearing to hover above the field beside the face down in the meantime. "There goes another eight hundred points," the man 'sung', his opponent appearing to have little or no reaction as the blow was dealt from the effects.

Nineteen hundred points left for Yugi then... They had two moves left at most with that in mind... "Hn... One face down card," Yugi shouted, the card appearing at knee-height before him as he continued. "And then Alpha the Magnet Warrior in attack mode," he continued, the armored 'magnet' appearing to the field as its card was set in place. Alpha, Beta... Hnnn... "Now Alpha, attack the Four Faced Beast," he ordered, the warrior charging 'Melchid' and cutting the monster in two with its blade. "_**Magnet Sword Spark!**_ And Melchid goes down," he roared, the monster briefly hovering in place with an odd 'hollow' light on its two halves before vanishing in a shower of pixels. "Turn over!"

Darkness stared across the field for a moment with those words, eye narrowing briefly before he drew his card. Whatever he was saying, she couldn't hear it... "Hnn..." Seto crossed her arms as the two across from them turned to each other, muttering things under their breath. There they went strategizing... As to what they would do to beat Blue-Eyes, this would probably be the most pathetic of resistances in all of history. 'Unity'... Tch! Seto watched as 'Darkness' shouted out his next move a card set on the field for his turn. A long snake-like monster with arms and a twisted chameleon-esque face came on to the field with the card behind it, a smaller, feminine mask in the center of its brow. "...Pff! 'Nuvia'," she snorted, arms crossed as she stared at the grotesque looking beast. Sheesh, constant mask theme... "I didn't think anyone older than four put that in their deck..."

The insult was ignored as their opponents continued to grin, Darkness merely pointing the beast forward with narrowed eyes. "Hn! You'll love this then," he roared, expression almost mirroring the scowl on his mask as he continued on. "Nuvia attacks Blue-Eyes," he called out, the monster dropping its larger mouth open to charge a blast of lightning. "_**Light Beam Gun**_!"

"WHAT?" Was he serious- The monster had 2000 points, this was just going to help-

...There was more to it. Damn it."Hnhnhn... Activate spell," Light announced gleefully as the holographic snake blasted a ray of electricity toward Blue eyes, "Mask of Weakness! And just in time for the attack!" Mask of- The card that swung up on the field shimmered slightly as a mask appeared before it, a mannequin pinned to its form as stakes hovered in the eye sockets. And after vanishing from sight with no warning...

"_**G-Gnnnnnnn... GROAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOO!**_" The dragon roared as the mask vanished and reappeared across its chest, stakes driving into its body as Seto stared at the enormous beast beside her. That spell... But that spell halved the attack points of...

"Gh..." Shit... She turned back to where 'Nuvia' sat, watching as the electric blast fired toward her dragon, the monster in question crawling in front of its summoner in an attempt to shield her. Shit..!

"Bye-bye Blue Eyes," 'Darkness' said with a grin, chuckling under his breath as Seto stared at her monster. Blue-Eyes... From the stakes impaled on its chest, from the body that was somehow creating a shadow over her as the monster curled above and before her... Blue-Eyes was _bleeding_... "The attack continues!"

"I don't think so," Yugi shouted, a card swinging upward as he tapped his disk. "I have my own card," he continued, the card briefly revealing its image and information to the field before vanishing from sight. "The trap 'Mystical Rift Panel! Lets see how you like wearing your own mask," the teen snarled, the mask on Blue-Eyes' chest launching forward with a jolt before attaching to the monster across from it. "_**Burst Stream!**_" The dragon gave a fearsome roar as its wounds repaired, droplets of blood staining the glass before vanishing in pixelated light as it released a blast of white flames, little evidence of its logic defiant injury remaining. The holographic beast before it stood little chance as it vanished in the fires, the great White Dragon returning to its place behind its summoner...

And in response, the 'Mask of Darkness' and his partner were quite clearly left panicked. "My... My life-points," the man muttered, swallowing nervously as he stared at the field, the strike having absolutely devastated his formerly impressive total. "My _lifepoints_..."

"H-Hey... Partner," 'Light' coughed nervously, waving his hands at the man, "Calm down, it's just one hi-"

"I _attacked_ because you TOLD ME SO," the man roared with a start, 'Light' shrinking back before scowling as his partner continued. "And now look what you've done, you _shrimpy_ little shit! I'm just a scratch away from death!"

"Shrimp-!" The shorter ghoul snarled under his breath, red face greatly contrasting his white mask. "Well... At least I'm not some kind of 'ogre', mister 'big-boned'!"

"Hnhnhnhn... Hey now, the duel's still going," Yugi muttered with a grin, Seto still staring across the field with wide eyes in her continuing shock, the words between the three duelists barely registering in her mind. "You'll never beat us arguing like that..!" This... Seto swallowed, hands held somewhat limply at her sides as she frowned.

Again...

Yugi had just saved her _again_, but looking at the dragon beside her, at the monster that so clearly seemed to defy the laws of holograms and simple AI... "_**...Grnnnn...**_"

'The power of Unity'... Seto swallowed as her rival's words came to mind, eyes narrowing to slits as she thought. And just what sort of _power_ was that supposed to be then? Hell, what '_was_' power?

'_It's the only thing that matters,_' the ghostly tone of her late 'father' growled, Gozaburo's voice causing a shiver to run down her spine despite the fact that they were words she actively lived by. '_That's what POWER is!_'

_In a fight, everyone other than yourself is the enemy_, she could remember being taught. Your own strength and intelligence was what determined your win, your own 'power'. It was the weapon you used to crush your opponents and protect what was yours, to defend your territory and stake your claim on what would soon be added into it. It was just like in a game...

And a game, she thought for a moment, was just like real life. When it came down to it, you could only rely on yourself... And yet...

Seto stared across the field, eyes closing over somewhat as Blue-Eyes 'sang' behind her, as the picture that she had reluctantly allowed Mokuba to leave in her room came to her mind, and as she felt Yugi's stare from beside her while the fierce yet comfortable wind of the battle blew about the field. The power that her rival had...

What he considered the 'power of unity', a phrase that went against everything she knew... Could it be possible...

That this was stronger than the power she held on her own?

**

* * *

AN:** Da-da-daaaa... Part one of the tag-team 'Mask' battle is here! And hey look, character development... We're actually really close to the end of this duel, only two chapters of manga left for it. But if I didn't cut it here, I don't think it would have fit too well in the next chapter; as it is, if we think of it in 'episodes', we're half way through the third episode of that duel.

That means there's only an 'episode and a half' of this duel left! In any case, that doesn't include shots of the warehouse though, and we _are_ getting another look at Anzu (And Jonouchi) in there... Not to mention a bit of the train, along with the lead-in for Jonouchi VS Yugi.

Which I am personally looking forward to _a lot_ by the way.

...Because I am a sadistic little _prick_ when it comes to writing. Hehehehehehe. (You've been warned!)

I'm pretty much 'giving up' on the poll for now; no one's voting, and the current votes are completely one-sided really... Until someone votes again, I'll just tell you this; dreams are winning.

And now..!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey Iona! Did Anzu learn anything… Hnnn… No? Then again, it was just Bakura last time, and like Bakura, Malik hid his Millennium Rod. And Jonouchi really should listen; at least he was closer to doing so…

Unfortunately, since Anzu was already running for the alley, Jou ended up following out of worry. And getting caught as a result.

As for how he'll stand up to the possession… You're right to say that it'll still work, but there's a bit more depth to it, and you'll see that next chapter. Until then Iona!

And it is quite sad, isn't it Randomprojects? As for deviousness... He is, he really is...

Oh, you like the hairstyles then? I can't say what it's for really, not in a review response at least, but I _am_ looking at what you said about the hair styles... So the longer says 'Kisara' and the shorter 'Seto' eh...

Hehehehehe...

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's still shuddering; those mask things are FRIGHTENING. Also, apologies for being so short a microscope is needed to be seen.

Oh wait, you didn't say that?

* * *

The title for this chapter is based on two things; one, Kaiba's absolute fixation with 'power' during this duel, which gets _worse_ near the end of the duel before getting better. It also focuses on why they're there; a number of weak-points that Kaiba would likely die before admitting to having.

* * *

Okay! Good news, the internet is great for getting anime-only dialogue! Bad news…

A lot of the _subbed_ episodes were taken down, while the dubbed ones weren't. The problem here is that Kaiba's character differs considerably between the two; take for example, the first scene in this chapter. Dub!Kaiba was pestering Yugi about duelling.

Sub!Kaiba mentioned it once and dropped it, most likely because he recognized the fact that the situation _really_ wasn't the time! The only reason why I still have Seto acting somewhat pestering-ly is because it's manga dialogue… Also because until the last moment, she really thought Mokuba was still looking for Jou.

In any case, this means I'm winging most of the anime dialogue from episode summaries… But that's okay; by this point, the characters are more or less their own separate characters from the Dub. You sure wouldn't hear 'Tea Gardner' shouting 'DAMN IT' now would you?

As for Mokuba's language, blame Jonouchi.

* * *

Originally, the scenes containing Anzu and Mokuba were quite broken, dotted across a number of the episodes containing the tag-team duel. I've shortened the number of gaps to prevent 'jumping', along with giving the parts some actual length though. You can almost guarantee that all of Anzu and Mokuba's scenes are happening _as_ the duel progresses however; Mokuba's escape takes place about half-way through the duel, giving him enough time to flee and get a helicopter.

* * *

No seriously; why didn't anyone think of just _not_ duelling on the glass, and duelling from the nice safe roof? Probably this.

* * *

Unseen to all of you are Kaiba's… _Lovely_ expressions during this duel… They get frightening. Of course, it's possibly _worse_ in this situation (the fanfic I mean), as when people compare a 'papa wolf' to a 'mama bear' persona, it tends to be like comparing 'wicked cool protection' to 'scary as satan himself' protection…

So oddly enough, the expressions Kaiba makes in the manga become even more frightening, even though there's actually no difference in the level of care that fem!Kaiba has for Mokuba in comparison to her canon counterpart.

If anything, the difference is in how readily she's adapting to this whole 'power of unity' deal. (AKA friendship. Which is just _flying_ over her head right now.) You'll see how major this difference gets next chapter...

* * *

In any case, it's interesting to see how Kaiba tends to take pretty much every method used against her other than a monster-on-monster attack where one is clearly more powerful as an insult. In fact, I would stretch the definition to include even 'amusing'.

Speaking of insults though, 'hebi' is Japanese for 'snake'. And as to how that entered the insult vocabulary (Though it is actually fairly common for 'snake' to be used as an insult), think of it this way; one of Apep's, Ancient Egypt's equivalent of Satan, forms is of the 'endless serpent', and we currently have two people with heavy subconscious ties to Ancient Egypt on a roof in foul moods. Tadaaaaa...

* * *

Catch that 'Blue-Eyes is a girl' slip from Yami Yugi there? It's nothing special, just the same thing most people do when refering to cats or dogs; dogs are often called 'he', depending on upbringing, and cats 'she'. My Opa to this day refers to my very _male_ cat as 'she', because of the use of gender-specific words in his native language of German.

For example... 'Die Katze', or 'The cat' is feminine. In contrast, 'Das Hund', or 'The dog' is masculine... Or is it plural? I'm extremely rusty with my german, I keep mixing up my 'Der's and 'Das'...

In any case, this feminine word/masculine word play doesn't exist in Japanese, so Yugi's still technically saying 'it'.

* * *

Well, that's all for now then... I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and you can expect to see the next one some time next week! See you soon!


	73. Chapter 72

**Flames That Whisper**

* * *

Desperation hung heavily over the Ghoul's side of the field as the final minutes of their duel came close. Though only half had been struck well enough, with the other left at full health, the second of the 'Masks' had gone from almost full strength to a mere seventeen hundred with a single mistake. And thanks to that single _strike,_ the supposed cooperation between the two masked figures they were arguing and slipping into neat little cracks in their work. It would only take moments to divide that into a canyon... And as the mask of 'Darkness' set a card face down that was more than obvious, with the ghoul scowling and red-faced in his more than evident panic.

"Hn! Now it's my turn," Seto roared, mutterings of power filling her mind as she stared across the field. "You think 'cooperation' is the key," she spat, pointing her dragon forward while Yugi frowned in response to the remark, "Take this! The ultimate attack... Blue-Eyes! _**BURST STREAM OF DESTRUCTION**_," she roared, the monster charging its flames in response. True... It was so blatantly obvious that Darkness set a trap it was pathetic.

But who said she wanted the attack to go through..? "Heh... Reveal trap," Darkness shouted, the holographic card swinging upward as a large and toothy steel mask appeared to shield its owner from Blue-Eye's flames. The heat washed over the roof of the building as Blue-Eyes growled, beating its wings in agitation as its former target continued to laugh. "Mask of Impregnability! Even your so-called ultimate monster can't break through this," the man boasted with a laugh, Seto merely watching with crossed arms and a blank expression as the flames dissipated across the field. "Too bad Kaiba... I knew you'd try and wipe me out..."

"Hnhnhnhn..." Darkness appeared to lose the expression somewhat as his opponent chuckled, the blocked attack not phasing Seto in the slightest. "Yes... You barely escaped with your life didn't you '_shrimp_'," the woman 'asked' somewhat sarcastically, glancing at the white-masked ghoul as the man jumped. "You were lucky this time... My Blue-Eyes White Dragon could have taken out either one of you," she continued with a menacing smirk, the Mask of Light suddenly growing almost as pale as his mask. "You're a smaller target," she went on with a shrug, "But I suppose it doesn't matter..." No... Not 'really'... Hnhnhnhnhn... "After all," Seto said plainly, "If I _had_ aimed at you... Would that moron you call a partner have used his spell card to protect you," she asked, before answering for the ghoul. "No... No I don't think he would have, with such a high risk to himself," she muttered, eyes flashing somewhat as she continued to smirk. "Hnhnhnhnhn..."

"H... Ghk..!" Light stared across the field with wide eyes as the words struck home, his partner giving an audible swallow in response as he tensed, balking at the accusations.

"W-What... Are you completely insane," he roared as his opponent continued to smirk, turning to his partner with a still panicked expression in place. "Look here... There's no way he's right," the ghoul protested, visibly shaking as his partner stood in still silence. "If... If he'd attacked you," he continued with quivering breaths, "I'd definitely have activated that card, you hear that shrimpy! I swear on my _life_, I-"

"Don't call me _Shrimp_," 'Light' hissed, a broken grin on his face whilst he turned to leer at his partner, "Unless you want your throat _slit_..." Well. Death threats already ah?

Hmp! Well she supposed they weren't assassins for nothing... Light continued to rage from across the field as his opponents stared, angrily announcing his turn as he drew his next card. So long as they had Blue-Eyes they would have the advantage Seto told herself, the dragon in question standing on the concrete roof behind her and staring from between herself and Yugi. Its scales shimmered brightly beneath the sun's light as it stood, looking to its summoner with what amounted to a dragon's version of a grin. Heh! No matter what, they'd won! They-

"I'll play this spell card," Light announced, setting the card on the field along with three others, the cards briefly appearing in a line across the field with their backs to the duelists. "Chosen One! I get to play three face down cards, one a monster, the other not," he explained, a top appearing before them as the cards he'd summoned circled around to form a slight triangle formation. Shit. Not this one... "This top will spin automatically," the man 'explained' clearly, eyes narrowed in deep contrast to his mask. "And when it stops," he continued, "If the mask is pointing at the monster I can summon it immediately, no strings attached..." Which meant a very _high_ level monster was probably in that pile... Tch! "Now then! Start the wheel," Light called out, opponents both growing pale as the device began to spin rapidly above the field. Crap. If that thing landed on the monster...

There was a very, _very_ high possibility that they were screwed over. The top was slowing down now, colours blurring together before again becoming separate 'blobs'... The mask was facing forward, hollowed eyes leering as it stared at its choice...

And as the card swung upward, the rest of the cards and top vanishing, she could hear nothing but her opponent's wild and wicked laughter, mentally cursing her own luck. "HAH! Luck is on my side," the masked man roared, a great and disgusting mass of flesh and bone appearing to the field. Standing on two legs with clawed arms the beast filled half the field, masks staring forward as a feminine torso and face appeared bound to the monster's chest. The 'woman' like the rest of the beast was left unidentified however, straps and flesh both holding her in place as the monster stood above them. It was a newer monster... But by far one she recognized, the woman thought with a swallow. "BEHOLD," Light announced, a digitized snarl filling the air as the new monster hovered before them. "The Masked Beast, Death Guardius!" Tch... Death Guardius... A monster whose effects were unknown to her, but whose power was all more apparent...

It was more powerful than Blue-Eyes, by three hundred points! And what was worse, the woman noted with a growl, staring at the two ghouls across from her with wide and enraged eyes, it'd convinced the idiots that they'd actually 'help' the other stay on their feet...

Because _clearly_ human nature didn't play into things _right_? Augh. Damn it all... Blue-Eyes wouldn't stand against that thing, and there was nothing in her hand to say otherwise. But...

The woman swallowed, glancing to the side with narrowed eyes as her rival stared at his hand. He was obviously sure of _something _in his hands... And on the field, his magnet warriors, Alpha, Beta... There was one monster missing in Yugi's 'trio' however she noted, and if he pulled it out it would stop the Mask's 'no tribute' clause dead in its tracks. But only if that was what he was indeed planning. Logic told her it was- everything else... "Lets see," 'Light' was muttering across them, Seto looking from Yugi's monsters to her dragon and swallowing another growl. "Who will be the first to step through Hell's gates..."

As the masked ghouls were about to say, Yugi would be killed in one shot if he was attacked right now. His monster, in attack mode, would be easily destroyed, and the eight hundred point price of his turn would do the rest. ...But...

...She didn't want that, she realized with a cold shudder, looking back at her dragon in the corner of her eye. Blue-Eyes would die if she prevented it, and she would be left defenseless in the aftermath but...

She... '_Careful,_' Darkness was muttering, turning to his partner with narrowed eyes, posture filled with suspicion. '_If we leave Kaiba's dragon on the field,_' he continued worriedly,_ 'He might be able to attack one of us..._'

Light merely shook the request off, snarling under his breath. '_Shut up,_' his partner growled, staring at his opponent with crazed eyes, '_I'm killing Yugi, right now!_' Hn... No.

They weren't. "Hmph..." Seto put a fox-like grin on her face, arms crossed as she leered across the field. "So now that he has a decent monster on the field, the tiny little 'shrimp' thinks he's a 'big man'," the woman drawled, the Mask of Light growing dark-faced in response to the insult. Please work... "Hnhnhnhn... Go ahead and kill Yugi," she continued calmly, still smirking as her opponent grew more and more incensed. "I have cards in my hand that will power up Blue-Eyes even more after all... And on my next turn," Seto taunted lowly, smirk growing even darker, "She'll crush you _both_..."

"Gh..." One could practically hear and see the cogs turning in the Mask of Light's mind, Seto closing her eyes as the decision was made. Attack, or don't attack? Was she bluffing... Or no? In the end, it looked more like using that single insult of 'shrimp' would fix it for her though. "Very well! I ATTACK BLUE EYES," the man roared, the masked demon charging forward with another computerized howl. Bone claws slashed through the dragon's throat as it gave a strangled cry, scales torn open to reveal the inner workings of the monster's throat. Blood was pouring to the ground beside her as Guardius floated back to its position, the dragon seeming to cry before the blood and gore vanished from sight with the monster's dying body.

A strange if not haunting hallucination... Forgive her, she whispered in the back of her mind, closing her eyes as she banished the image from her thoughts. But she needed to do this. "Yugi," the woman growled, eyes flying open as her field was left clean and clear, "It's your turn!"

It would be well worth it in the end, when she helped Mokuba out of these ghoul's grasp.

* * *

Drip... Drip...

That was the sound that was filling the air in the small storage container he'd been locked in, arms tied tightly and painfully behind his back to the chair. His legs had been given a similar treatment as his body had, each tied to the leg of the chair he was on. There was something wet in the room, that was for sure. Maybe water leaking in from the 'roof', the bin could have a hole in it for all he knew. Really though, at the moment he couldn't have been bothered. That dream he'd had while passed out... He'd seen...

Masks..? Yugi and Seto, standing in thin air as they fought a pair of masked men. 'Light' and 'Darkness', his mind told him, before something else caught his attention. "Well well well," an eerie and sophisticated voice cut through the air, light filling the bin from behind him before a slamming door and three shadows blotted it out. "You're finally awake..."

A pair of steady flames filled the room with the voice, Katsuya swallowing as two men walked in along side a shadowed and cloaked figure. The trio walked toward the front of him, facing the blond with hooded and unseen features that prevented any recognizable points from being seen. This man... "..._Malik_," the blond spat, running his tongue along the inside of his cheek as blood dripped in his mouth. Well... Obviously he'd been roughed up while he was off in 'dream land'... But this man... This vile, _twisted_ son of a-

"Hnhnhnhnhn... So comforting to see that you remember me," the cloaked man muttered, voice seeming both familiar and foreign to the blond. There was no visible accent in the confidently held voice, none whatsoever. Yet he couldn't help but wonder if he'd heard it before... "It's even better that you would wake up as I come in," Malik said plainly, stepping forward with crossed arms. "I would hate to have had to use other means to do so after all, I'm a very busy man... And I prefer _my_ dolls to be... Intact," he continued, chuckling darkly as his captive began rocking in the chair in a failed attempt to escape.

Katsuya only briefly stopped pulling at the chair, turning toward Malik with rage filled eyes as his vision adjusted to the darkness. "Tch! Like hell I'm b'comin' one 'f yer dolls," he snarled, attempting to launch himself forward only for his chair to be held back by one of the still flaming ghouls. Gh- Damn it!

Malik shook his head, sighing as he pulled out a 'rod' of sorts from the folds of his robes. Another item... The blond swallowed as he looked at the 'horned' staff, its owner continuing to sigh as he stepped forward. "Hahhh... Yes well... I don't really have time to listen to words like that," he decided, rubbing the top of the rod as it gleamed in the light cast from his 'doll's flames. "So how about we get this over with," he muttered, holding it in Katsuya's face as the teen swallowed.

Crap.

Flames erupted from the staff with those words, the eye on the device appearing to grow and degrade into the same white 'mush' that built a true one, its single gold iris turning toward the blond with clear anticipation. Arms of fires lashed out from the staff's 'horns' as Katsuya paled, pulling and pushing back in the chair as the fires wrapped about his legs and burned across his skin. "Gh- Get away from me," he spat, the ghoul holding him finding the chair pulled from his grip by the panicked struggles, the bound victim trying and failing to crawl away while tied to the chair. Those in the room appeared to look at him with bizarre and amused confusion, their victim no longer caring for the appearance of sanity. "I told you," he spat, blowing still damp hair from his face as he bit back a shout from the flames that were spreading across his legs and waist. "You aren't gettin' anythin' from me!"

Silence was the blond's response as he hissed in pain, fires spreading up toward his chest. Gh- Hgn! "Hnn... Yes," Malik muttered with a sigh, fingering the staff in his hands, "I expected some form of resistance..." Again the leader of the Ghoul's fell silent, as though attempting to observe what only his victim could see; the burning flames of the rod in his hands, that which were appearing to sear into Katsuya's skin without leaving a mark beneath his clothes even as they dripped from the sea water of his previous duel. "Come on now," the ghoul drawled, stooping down to look at the blond face to face. "I'm sure there's _something_ in that tiny little head of yours that hates your so called 'friend' the pharaoh..."

"An' I'm pretty sure tha' yer a loose-screw psychopath, but we can't all be righ'!" More silence came in response to the spit he'd thrown at his captor as Malik stepped away, Katsuya biting his lip in the steadily increasing pain. Ow... Ow ow _ow_, the fires hurt. He'd compare it to constantly getting stung by wasps, even fire ants maybe, but rather than giving him a bite or sting in its place as the pain died it merely continued to sear across his skin and travel across his body. The blond bit his lip as the flames filled his vision, seemingly burning away at his arms and legs as he attempted to escape. '_Kurose_', someone muttered in his mind, Katsuya seething as he recognized the tones of the 'Millennium Rod' merging and mutating his own mental voice. '_Kurose, kurose, KUROSE!_' "Ghn... NNNH... NO," he roared, the ghouls in the room staring as he continued to struggle with some renewed strength against the ties of his chair. "Go fuck yerselves y' rats!"

"Hnnn..." Another sigh met the air, the ghoul shaking his head before reaching forward. "Come on, come on now... You don't really think _that_ now do you," the item-bearer 'asked', pulling the blond up by his hair as Katsuya grit his teeth. Ffff- Let him go! The chair wobbled dangerously while it was held up in the ghoul's grip, Katsuya breathed haggardly and choking back a number of shouts of pain as the flames burned across his face. "Think about it," Malik continued, 'kneeling' down and tilting his victim's head upward with the rod, "If your friend _really_ cared, would you be in here, tied to a chair? Hm?"

"Tch... I already know where he is y' jackass, an as soon as he sends yer stupid masks t' hell he'll be right over t'... GHN!" The blond clattered to the ground with those words, Malik having dropped him to stare in shock.

Gh... Ow... "...So you know of the Masks," the man muttered under his breath, ignoring the writhing pain that his captive was going through on the ground. The chair was jerked to its rightful position once more, Katsuya's head falling forward as his captor chuckled. "Hnnn... I think I'll try something," the man continued with a sneer, pulling from the bottom of the Millennium Rod to reveal a gleaming, razor sharp blade of gold from within. What... A sword? The item had a sword! What was he doing with that though, what-

A stinging pain rushed across his right arm, cutting the thoughts short. "Ssffff!" Blood was spilling from his arm as the ropes were cut from around him, Katsuya pulled out of the chair by the back of his jacket before being tossed to the other end of the storage bin. "Ungh!" The flames dove into the open wound with seeming cheer and zeal as the blond bit his lip, curling in on himself as he bit back the immense and intensifying pain that resulted in an instant. Blood... The fires were going in through his... "Gnn... Hgnnn..."

"Open the doors," Malik said with a grin, his captive holding his arm as he writhed in pain. "Lets see what his little friend thinks of this new... 'Development'..."

"Gnnh..." The doors to the bin were thrown open, allowing him entrance to what looked to be a dimly lit warehouse. There was little time to adjust to the comparatively blinding light as he was kicked outside however, doors held open behind him as blood dripped to the ground. For a moment, he attempted to walk, pulling himself to his feet to stumble forward, but the pain was growing... Encompassing his entire body, forcing the teen to fall to his knees and clutch himself in pain. "Ghn... Ahhh... HAAAAHHH..." His head... Katsuya gripped the sides of his head, curling in on himself as he attempted to fight off the flames covering him. "AAAHHH!" His head, his HEAD! Like something was fighting to break out of his own skull, digging into every inch of him with sharpened blades. "_HRAAAAAAAAAHHHH!_"

"Jonouchi," a worried voice shouted, the blond pulling himself to his feet with wide eyes as he stumbled through the pain. No... No that was Anzu, he couldn't, ah, AHHH! Fires were surrounding his vision, blocking every bit of the room's interior from his sight. Katsuya curled in on himself as he drunkenly swayed on the spot, a shadow moving in the side of the room as he swallowed. No no no no no...

'_Kurose... KUROSE, KUROSE, KUROSE!_'

"Ghng..." It hurt... It hurt so much damn it, if it would just _stop_ please... "AAAAAGGHHH! MALIK! ...GO BURN IN HELL!"

Footsteps were coming over the air, the pain reaching its zenith in toleration. "J-Jonouchi," Anzu's nervous voice shouted, the woman coming around the side. Don't... Anzu don't, don't, _don'_-

Something 'snapped' in the back of his mind amid the mental 'kill orders' and waves of hate... The burning was still there but it was suddenly numbed, and what little vision he still had was blurred by the flames as the voices momentarily paused. Sharp pains that had riddled his body vanished at the cost of being unable to see them, a strange, pin-prick feeling coating his skin as the feeling of something _attaching_ came to mind. Anzu was over there, he told himself, slowly pulling himself up to a more upright position as he stumbled over to the woman. He had to make sure she was alright, get her out of here but- But wait... Wait...

He'd wanted her to stay away, or else..! He'd wanted to flee, to keep these fires as far from her as possible or else-

'_Kill._'

No...

"Anzu," the blond whispered nervously, the sensations of his body slipping out of his grasp as his clouded vision began to fill with smoke and fires once again. "Anzu," he whispered, tears briefly welling up as he continued to grip his head, shaking himself as he stepped back in horror. "I think... I'm g-"

Gone. "Jonouchi... Jonouchi," the woman muttered, panicking as she reached toward the blond with her hand. Anzu took in a quick and hitched breath as the blond's hands fell to the side, drawing back and swallowing as she stared at her 'friend'. "What... What did they do..." Drip... Blood was dripping from his arm... "What did they do to you!" From his...

Head...

He wanted to tell her to run... But the eye across his mouth kept his jaw clamped shut. He wanted to run away himself... But the eyes across his knees and feet held his legs firmly in place before moving them closer to what he wanted to protect. And though every bit of him screamed about how wrong this was, his eyes watering in the back of his mind, the ones he was staring through were forced to remain blank and emotionless by the teeth that held them in place. Watching as his arm reached forward... As the hand that wasn't his and was coated in crocodilian teeth grabbed Anzu roughly by the hair. Watching still as the woman screamed, pulled toward him with a rough 'tug', that the flames leaping from his hands and spreading across her body would have less distance to travel. A pillar of fire that took only an instant to arise, Katsuya's screams held back by the many rows of flaming teeth holding him in control.

And as he dropped her, there was no more movement... Merely a 'doll' crumbling to the ground before standing to its feet, blankly staring at the one who had caused the flames to catch hold as 'Malik' came from behind. "Ahhh... I _thought_ that might do it..." No... No, no no! "Now," he asked, stepping forward and pulling his cloak off to toss it to the side, the fires in Katsuya's vision preventing him from discerning the man's identity as he turned to face them. "What is your goal, my _dear_ 'new friends'..?"

"To kill the pharaoh," Anzu stated with a blank droning voice, eyes staring forward with no fixed target while she held the purse loosely in her hand.

"To kill Yugi," his own voice clarified, Katsuya's mental self growing pale and cold. No...

No... He couldn't let this happen..! He couldn't let himself do this, he couldn't..! "_Those aren't my thoughts,_" he 'hissed', 'shaking' his head with 'wide' eyes as the Ghoul before him chuckled darkly. "_THAT AIN'T ME!_"

"_**Yea, yea, yea... Heard it all before 'blondie'...**_" That voice... The sound of the Millennium Rod appeared to hover in his ear, Katsuya 'shuddering' as chuckling surrounded the body that was out of his control. Katsuya grit his mental teeth as the voice echoed through his ears, hair standing on end as the cackling grated his senses. "_**Hello again 'Bright Eyes... Now how about we make this run **__**last**__** shall we..?**_" Oh god... Oh god..!

"_You... You damn monster..."_ This wasn't happening... And yet it was, despite all attempts otherwise..._ "GET OUT OF MY HEAD,_" Katsuya 'roared', voice unheard to all but himself and the spirit that now possessed it as they walked out of the warehouse and into the sunlight. "_Get out of my head you sorry excuse f'r an accessory! LEAVE 'S ALONE!"_

Silence answered the blond as he 'cried' in his head, the sensation of collapse coming over him even as his body walked forward. And as he held his 'head' down chuckling again filled the air, filling him with an unbridled rage as he 'opened' his eyes to see fire yet again. "_**Oho-hooo! Now THIS is good... I knew you could see me from the outside kid, but from the **__**inside**__**..?**_" The spirit chuckled darkly, the sound slowly growing into a mad cackle as Katsuya shuddered. "_**We're going to have a lot of fun you and me,**_" the fiend continued, briefly bringing up a hand so that his host could see the grin forming in the teeth and eye that jutted from his palm. "_**A **__**lot**__** of fun... Hnhnhnhnhnhn... HNHNHAHAHAHHAHA!**_"

* * *

The destruction of her Blue-Eyes was a hard hit to her, despite the minimal damage it dealt. It wasn't a blow to her pride or honor, nor was it even a blow that would put her in the 'red zone' of life points so to speak. The blow dealt seemed far more ground-breaking than that, putting a steady feeling of hate and rage around her as she stared across the field. Though her so-called partner had vowed to make up for the dragon's sacrifice, simply winning this duel did not seem to be the sort of action that would do such a thing she told herself. Nonetheless, even as the ghouls were congratulating each other, relief clear on their faces, Yugi was taking his turn, meaning that she would at least get half-way to her retribution.

His lifepoints fell yet again as he drew his card, setting a separate one from his hand in place that moment as he stared at the cheering ghouls. "Too bad," he said clearly, the men across from him staring at the boy incredulously as the boy smirked. "You've fallen right into my trap, 'Ghouls'..."

The men continued to stare, one growing pale as the other went red. "What," the taller muttered, eyes widening.

"That's impossible," Light roared, shaking his head as his partner held silent. "You're saying you were merely bluffing? But you hate each other," he protested in rage, "THIS CAN'T BE!"

Hn! Hate or not, if it got things done she would live with it. "Believe it or not," Seto growled in clear distaste, "My dragon was merely a decoy; an even stronger monster will be replacing it momentarily," she continued, the ghouls both paling in response.

"But... The Mask," Darkness protested, both ghouls looking toward the 'restriction' mask on the field with swallows.

"Hmp! Did I say I was tribute summoning," Yugi asked, card appearing on the field as he slipped the real version onto the duel disk. "Just sit back and watch- I summon Gamma the Magnet Warrior," the boy announced, the tiny winged robot appearing to the field before its card, "And now that all three are present on the field they can merge together into a new monster," he continued, the trio splitting into pieces to re-form in front of their summoner at a size far larger than their individual counterparts. "VALKYRION, THE MAGNA WARRIOR!"

The beast gave a loud and synthesized roar at the announcement, hovering above the glass floor with gleaming eyes. With thirty-five hundred attack points it stood, an enormous and winged stone warrior with a blade in hand... Hah! "Take a good look at the power of 'unity'," Seto sneered, the enormous magnetic beast standing at the 'team's side, "And prepare to die for what you've wrought! Yugi," the woman shouted, turning to her partner with still wide eyes as she growled. "Crush the fools who destroyed my dragon and took my brother! Team work is all well and good," she continued with a snarl, "But only their blood is going to make up for _this_!" Taking her employees, her brother...

They would pay, they would pay _dearly_ for what they'd done..! And yet Yugi wasn't doing anything she realized, staring at the boy in incredulity and silence. He was merely staring across the field at narrowed eyes, staring at the grotesque monster that stood across them with a frown. Gh... What was taking so long... Why..!

"What are you WAITING for," she raged, jerking her head toward the field and glaring at her rival and partner. "My Blue-Eyes sacrificed itself to bring our your monster... It's plenty powerful enough to take them down, and we're wasting time! Crush them... ANNIHILATE THEM," Seto continued with a near thundering voice, "I at least have the right to strike them down through your monster right now!"

And still the boy held silent, instead taking a card from his hand and setting it on the field with what looked to be somewhat regretful eyes. "One card face down," he announced, the card appearing before him as he turned to the side. "...Listen close Kaiba... Like you said, we don't have much time. But do you think you can get rid of the need for vengeance that's driving your thoughts right now," he asked, the words coming out far calmer than one would expect in the situation. "If you can banish those emotions from your heart, right this moment," Yugi continued after a slight pause, "I'll attack." Wh- WHAT!

"Is that some kind of joke," she hissed, expression of shock relatively unchanged as she turned on her 'partner'. The monster would clearly over power theirs, this was _their_ shot..!

The boy merely continued to speak, arms crossed as he faced the woman with a steady and calm gaze. "At times like this," Yugi said plainly, "Emotions like anger and revenge can throw off a person's judgment... Believe me when I say, I know exactly how much that judgment can be thrown," he added bitterly, a flash seeming to appear in his eyes with the words. "But if you're not thinking rationally," the boy added warningly, "You'll expose your weakness... And play right into your opponent's hands."

Play into- "I _AM_ thinking rationally," Seto growled, fists clenched as she looked across the field. "And right now," she snarled, "I'm telling you to ATTACK!"

"Calm _DOWN_," her rival shouted yet again, before bringing his voice back down to a soft and contained tone to continue. "Only then will you actually be able to see our best chance to win... Our _real_ trump card," he pressed, looking back across the field as Seto stared at her hand with grit teeth. "Our real strength as a team..!" Shut up... Shut up!

The woman blinked, jaw loosening as she looked over her hand of cards with blank eyes. Her hand... Obelisk was in her hand she realized, a feeling of calm coming over her with the realization as opposed to the usual rush of energy and emotion. But as a God, three sacrifices were required, and with the Mask of Restrict- ...No... The woman's eyes widened briefly, staring at the card beneath Obelisk's image. Soul Exchange... Use your opponent's monsters as tributes... He...

That was right, she realized, staring across the field at 'Guardius' card. Guardius had an effect, when it died it would... "No..." He couldn't be... She looked to the side, staring almost calculatingly at Yugi's monster with wide eyes before turning back to her hand. No way... Valkyrion was supposed to be the trump, but Yugi intended for it to be a decoy as well hadn't he? He'd intended for the real trump card to be... This one... ...Hmph... The 'power of unity' ah, she thought with a mental chuckle, adjusting her crossed arms with a sigh. "...Yugi," she said calmly, taking in a deep breath as the wave of calm settled. She was 'contained' now... So... "Attack."

"Of course," the boy said with a smirk. "I thought you'd never ask." ...That wasn't even _funny_. "Go Valkyrion," Yugi ordered, the magnetic robot charging forward at his command, "Attack, with _**MAGNET SABRE!**_" The sword cut into the mass of flesh before it with as much ease as it would with butter, the beast's two disproportionate halves hovering around the air momentarily. As the blade split through the monster across them a wide grin appeared on their opponent's faces, Yugi's unspoken fears coming to light immediately as 'Death Guardius' vanished into pixelated light. "There... I've taken out your monster," he muttered, face pale and stony as his opponents laughed. "So..."

"Hnhnhn... HAHAHAHA! That's what you think," Light shouted with a grin, Seto momentarily tensing as a mask appeared on Valkyrion's face. "When Death Guardius is defeated in battle," the ghoul explained, "A part of the carcass detaches and comes to life... A mask," he continued gleefully, the split-faced device turning to stare forward as the monster switched sides. "Meant to deal out the monster's vengeance! The Mask of Possession," Light announced, Valkyrion hovering between himself and his partner as his opponents swallowed. Alright... Phase one of whatever moronic plan was coming into play here, but if Yugi's face down wasn't what they needed they were good as screwed over! "It's over," the masked ghoul was continuing to cheer, his partner sneering with a similar amount of haughtiness in play. "You're both out of monsters... And more importantly you're both out of tricks! Partner," Light shouted angrily, "You take Yugi... Kaiba's mine!" Oh was she now? "I'll make you pay," he spat, narrowing his eyes as he looked toward the woman. "Calling me a 'shrimp'... You think you're so great, standing as tall as you are? I'm going to enjoy watching you go down!" Tch...

Like it was her fault she was over six feet, that was a pain in the ass in Japan... Darkness merely nodded in response to his partner's raging, crossing his arms as he looked across the field. "That's fine by me," he said with a slight frown, drawing a card as he took his turn. "Here I come... Valkyrion attacks Yugi directly," he shouted, his opponent giving no reaction save to tap his duel disk.

"Hn! We'll see about that," Yugi said with a smirk, the card he'd placed swinging upward at the disk's command. "I activate this spell... De-Fusion!" The card flashed somewhat as Valkyrion fell to pieces, before vanishing from the field as its owner growled. "While you fall to your deaths, remember the reason you lost," he continued with a shout, the enormous monster before them splitting back into three individual ones before returning to the opponent's side of the field. "Anger and vengeance!"

"GH-!" Darkness paled as the three monsters hovered before him. "No..!"

"Hnhnhnhnhn... And now for my part," Seto muttered darkly, taking the two cards she needed and setting them on the disk with a leering grin. "Watch... I'll show you _God_..."

"God," their opponents whispered, eyes wide. "But... But that can't be," Light said with a swallow, pointing to the mask in the air, "Mask of Restrict is still in play, you can't tribute summon with-!" Oh please!

"Read the fine print," the woman spat, crossing her arms as her spell activated and revealed itself to her opponents. "I can't sacrifice _my_ monsters to tribute summon... But sacrificing yours works just fine! I'm playing the spell card Soul Exchange," she announced, the card hovering on the field as the three monsters each shot up in pillars of light. "And I'm using all three of your monsters for sacrifices!" Yugi chuckled beside the woman as storms appeared to develop in the air, clouds darkening as she broke into laughter. "BEHOLD," she cried, thunder booming from above as the rain-less storming sky converged above them. Low moans filled the air as dust and sand seemed to gather behind her, her laughter continuing to fill the air as the monster arose. "The God of Chaos and Storm... The Soldier of the Obelisk! _HAHAHAHAHAAAAA_!"

"_**ROOOOOOOOHHHHH!**_" Behind her on the building only the torso of the great god was visible to her opponents. Obelisk stood, unbeknownst to her, at a size far too immense to stand on the building after all, with feet that would easily destroy the very glass they stood upon... As it was, the demon's shins were easily the size of train cars, with one sitting on the ground along side the window while the other sat raised on the building's stair entrance. And as the God crouched behind her, a single fist resting on the ground behind them, its loud groans echoed through the air, wide wings of sorts spread upon his back in the same stone-like guise as his body. Hnhnhn...

Hahahahaha! The power that filled the air... It was almost addicting, to the point where she wasn't even aware that her next words were partially mirrored by the monster itself. "NOW DIE YOU PATHETIC WORMS...

"_**GOD HAND CRUSHER!**_"

The result appeared to happen at the exact moment Obelisk's fist struck the Mask of Darkness, the ghoul's lifepoints extinguished immediately with the contact of 'God's raised hand. The fist appeared to force the man into the glass with an instant, crushing the support and shattering the floor beneath 'Darkness' before the 'bomb' could even explode. With so little time to react, it was all the man could do to scream in terror, watching as glass fell forward along with him, rushing toward the main floor at breakneck speed. "Hnhnhnhnhn... One touch from God is all it takes," Seto said with an almost crazed grin, Obelisk straightening behind her with a rumbling chuckle as well. "As you said before... _ENJOY HELL_!"

"Ha... HAAAAHHH!"

"P-PARTNER," 'Light' shouted, running to the edge of the destroyed skylight pane. "Partner!"

"AAAAHHHH! S-SHIT!" Screams filled the air, echoing out into the distance before abruptly cutting short, the remaining ghoul looking over the side while his opponents stared down in distaste. With a quick curse and a rustling sound the man had been blocked from view by a wave of fabric, the black-masked ghoul now calmly floating down to the bottom by means of a well hidden parachute. The mask of Light sighed in relief, shouting down worried questions about his partner's health as Yugi shook his head from across the roof.

"Hn! A parachute," the boy 'asked' with narrowed eyes. "I had a feeling you'd have some tricks up your sleeves..." Probably didn't expect _this _thought, Seto growled mentally. "Some 'death match' _this_ turned out to be," Yugi growled, a slight tinge of disappointment in his voice as he brought to words the thoughts of his 'partner' as well. The ghoul across from him merely shuddered under the combined glares from both Seto and Yugi, swallowing as he stepped back from the two. "Well," the boy continued with crossed arms, "Now that you've lost your team mate, you mind as well give up and tell us what you've done with our friends... We've _won_," he he snarled, eyes narrowed sharply, "And whether you forfeit or not you'll be following after your partner soon enough!"

Tch... As if they were giving him the choice! "It's not over yet," Seto growled, dark 'grin' still in place even as Yugi turned his duel disk off. "You said it yourself, 'Mask of Light'... In order to win a tag-team match, both opponents need to be eliminated!" Or 'killed' as it were in his words, she added mentally. "Until you follow after your so-called partner," she snarled, "I'm not about to back down!"

Yugi turned to the woman somewhat incredulously, gesturing to the ghoul with a frown. "Kaiba, he's already lost his will to fight," the boy muttered, shaking his head as he looked at the quivering man across from them. "He's completely useless, there's no point! It'll only hurt our honor!"

"Pff!" Maybe _his_ honor, but certainly not hers! "My _honor_ is preserved by crushing the enemies that stand in my way... And in the case of fools who threaten what's mine, I plan on continuing with that path! I might have partnered up with you this match," the woman continued stonily, turning to Yugi as the boy frowned almost sadly, "But that was out of necessity and nothing more... No matter what happens in the end we _will_ fight," she growled, narrowing her eyes. "And on that day I'll win... And I'll take your God card, before leaving you in the dust behind me..." And nothing was going to stop that, she told herself.

Nothing. "Gh... Kaiba," her rival hissed, growing red before falling silent. Hn! As she thought... What else would he possibly have said. Now, to deal with the scum on the other side of the skylig-

"Ahh..." The two boys turned as shouts came over the air, both looking over at the white masked man that had fallen to his knees before them. "_Ahhh_... AHHHH..." What in the hell was he..? The man gripped his head, ripping the mask off as he scratched and clawed at the center of his brow, hands burrowing into his hood as he curled inward and screamed. "AAAHHH! NO! NO," he begged, shouts reaching a pathetic and pleading pitch as he turned his head skyward, "MALI-"

A sickening crack cut the man's voice off, head snapping jerkily to the side and holding still for a moment before the small-sized man pulled himself to his feet. "_**Ahhhh... Now that's **__**much**__** better,**_" 'Light' muttered with a sigh, Seto frowning in shock as an accent identical to the man near the canal hit the air. "_**I just hate backseat drivers...**_" What... How was this possible... "_**I've been watching the entire time,**_" the voice bragged, quite clearly a 'different' person than the masked man had been despite all common logic. "_**I have to say,**_" he continued,_** "I'm impressed... That show of power with the God of the Obelisk... And to so accurately announce his presence too,**_" the voice said with a chuckle, allowing the body to stand limp in the air,_** "My my... How appropriate...**_"

Appropriate..? What was this man even _talking_ about? "What the hell is going on here," Seto manged to mutter under her breath, staring at the man before them with narrowed eyes. A chilled feeling had come over the air as the field cleared of holographic cards, the storm above vanishing as the two duelists continued to stare.

"It's Malik," Yugi hissed, narrowing his eyes and stepping forward. "Bastard... Malik," he roared, glaring at the man as his hood blew back to reveal what looked to be an 'eye'. It was the same bulging pattern of veins across the man's head as had been seen on the man at the canal, Seto realized quickly enough, identical in shape, colour... An impossible feat, she told herself. And yet... "Stop hiding behind your henchmen and face me directly," her rival shouted, Seto's eyes narrowing further as chuckling filled the air.

"_**Hnhnhnhn... I don't think I will just yet,**_" the ghoul laughed, appearing almost ghostly with the pale skin of its host contrasting against the cloak he wore._** "It's far more amusing to watch you squirm after all...**_"

"Gh..." Well she couldn't deny this 'voice' was good at pushing buttons, but besides that...

What the hell was this... 'Malik'? That wasn't... "That's not possible," Seto muttered, eyes narrowed. "'_Malik_' was at the canal," the woman protested, partially to convince herself, "This can't be..." And yet the voice... The way he moved... _Wasn't_ moving even...

"It _is_," her rival growled under his breath, answering the unasked question with a snarl. "He's controlling this man from a distance... Malik is the leader of the ghouls," Yugi continued with narrowed eyes, "He's the one who holds the third God card, and the one who likely ordered Mokuba captured!"

_Malik_ was... Her third target then... And a much bigger target too with that last point in mind. Seto's eyes widened briefly, before narrowing to slits as the man before them spoke up once again. "_**Khnhnhn... An accurate assumption,**_" he said with a chuckle, forcing the body into an awkward bow,_** "It's nice to speak with you directly 'Seto Kaiba'. I must say... You've both done a wonderful job of putting up with my men. Bought me some well needed ****time****,**_" Malik said with a drawling tone, "_**And thanks to that, my plan is moving quite swimmingly... By this point,**_" he continued,_** "I have more than enough information on your decks, and on yourselves, to know that even with Gods in your hands you're no threat to me... Not now that I know what sorts of things will get you on 'edge', what sorts of things will push your buttons so to speak... Not while I possess Ra,**_" the man 'clarified' with a wave,_** "The God whose power surpasses that of the other God's combined... It's the ultimate card,**_" Malik bragged with a chuckle, the body he possessed merely standing limply at the side of the broken glass window. "_**A card whose power can be rivalled by no other being on this earth...**_" The power of Ra...

It... _Surpassed_ both of the others..? A buzzing noise took Seto's attention, the woman jumping as she grabbed the radio at her collar. Someone was calling her, which meant there was a chance it was- "_Nee-sama,_" a hurried, whispered voice muttered Seto freezing as her brother's voice came over the line, "_Nee-sama,_" he asked quickly,_ "Are you there? Are you alright?_" Moku- Mokuba..!

She grabbed the radio subtly, turning slightly from the others on the roof as she held the 'transmit' button. "I'm fine," the woman whispered quietly, watching and listening as 'Malik' continued to go on speaking to her rival. "Mokuba," she continued seriously, "Where are you? I want you to describe very carefully where-"

"_Nee-sama,_" the boy hissed, cutting his sister off with a panicked whisper._ "They have Anzu and Katsuya-nii! I... I managed to escape with Anzu's help,_" he continued,_ "But-_"

"MALIK," Yugi roared, Seto wincing slightly as the teen snarled at the ghoul before him. Thank God she wasn't holding the 'transmitt' button on the radio, lest Mokuba end up more frightened than before... The boy before her was completely red with rage, shaking on the spot as his target stood 'emotionlessly' across from him. "What did you do to him," he asked with a snarl, "_WHAT DID YOU DO WITH JONOUCHI_?" Jonou-

Shit. "_Nee-sama,"_ Mokuba was muttering over the shouts,_ "I've managed to get one of the company's helicopters... I'm coming toward your signal now,"_ he continued with an audible swallow,_ "I can take you to where they were holding me after that, and we can help Anzu and Katsuya-nii esca-_"

"_**Hnhnhnhnhn...**_" More chuckling came over the air, briefly_** This will be my best puppet show yet,**_" Malik said smugly, the wind buffeting the cloak his host wore. "_**Your friends stopped being your 'friends' over half an hour ago my dear 'Pharaoh'... But hey! I'm feeling generous,**_" he said with a chuckle, pulling two cards from the man's pocket before tossing them to the ground before them. "_**So here's a card, from me to you, and to your friend on the side... A parting gift,**_" Malik added with an unseen grin, the cloak around his host causing him to appear to hover above the ground almost._** "Because you see, when you ****do**** manage to find my newest puppets you're in for a real treat Yugi... So come on, meet them there... On the stage of the ****Damned****...**_"

"Malik..." Yugi choked on his words as laughter filled the air, charging forward with a snarl. "MALIK YOU BASTARD!" Without warning the ghoul's body toppled to the side, Yugi running to the side of the broken skylight to shout down the synthetic 'chasm' of sorts as the Mask of Light's corpse toppled to the main floor. "_MALIK_!"

Shit. Not good. Seto paled, hurriedly tapping the side of the radio with narrowed eyes. "Double check Jonouchi's location and get here as fast as you can," she muttered under her breath, glancing to the side as Yugi slowly stood from where the ghoul had fallen. "And be careful," she added with a swallow, eyes shifting off to the other side of the building as she removed her hand from the 'transmit' button, duel disk automatically disengaging as she brought her hands back down.

A split second of silence passed before she received an answer, Mokuba likely nodding in response. "_...Alright nee-sama,_" he said swiftly, a brief moment of static passing over the radio before she was left with silence. Alright. He would probably be there any moment now then, but until that happened...

"Kaiba..." The woman turned as Yugi came over, the boy's eyes wide with desperation as he stared at the woman. "Kaiba... Please! Tell me where Jonouchi is," he asked, formerly red face now white with fear for the blond. "You said yourself you could track him down... There's a good chance Mokuba's with him," he added, "Just tell me where he is-"

"Mokuba just called in to say he's escaped," the woman said plainly, voice again unhidden as she walked to where Malik had dropped the two cards. She mind as well get that out of the way lest time be wasted asking what happened at least. "He's the one who can track Jonouchi, not me," she added with a frown. After all; it was hard to make a satellite search without a computer on hand. The woman knelt down to look at the locator cards, keeping an ear open for the helicopter as she changed the subject. "Ahhhh, but would you look at this," she muttered, grabbing the cards from the ground and tossing one toward her 'friend'. "We've gotten our 'prize'... Locator cards," the woman continued, "One for each of us... I have six now," Seto said plainly, slowly pulling the cards out of her pocket as she stowed her deck safely away. "Therefore earning the right to participate in the final round... Moreover," she continued, sliding the locator cards into the duel disk one by one, "You also qualify now... And as host of the tournament, I have to congratulate you; only those with the cards can access the location of the finals after all, so lets see..." She opened up the 'field spell' slot, clicking the last of her locator cards into place as Yugi shook with rage beside her.

"I don't CARE about the finals! I don't care about this tournament, about the God cards... I just want to get my friends," the boy roared, locator card sitting at his feet as he snarled, "I need to save them... If Mokuba's escaped, then tell him to find Jonouchi, and HELP!"

Really... From the one who had lectured her on keeping calm; here she was with a completely straight face while he was red and livid. Didn't he think she wanted her security guard back? Training employees took time... Or at least, that was the excuse she was giving herself this time really; the reason would probably change in another hour or so, not that she was saying anything. "Hn! Friends... I'll admit it Yugi," the woman said somewhat flatly, "Your power of 'unity', 'our teamwork'," she 'corrected', "Was what won that match we had just now... But in a _real_ battle," Seto continued with narrowed eyes, turning the duel disk back on with a 'whirr', "The only person you can trust is yourself... Everyone else just gets in the way. That's my philosophy- I walk alone... And I always will," she spat, the disk clacking into place and settling on her arm. "And _that_ will never change."

"But you of all people should know that you need to fight to protect what's important to you," Yugi protested almost desperately, shaking his head as he stared at the woman. "I've seen you outside of a duel... I've seen you with your brother, and with Jonouchi," he continued with a frown, "You can't deny you care! Can you _really_ say you aren't worried about either of them?"

Mokuba, no... Even though he was on his way now, there was still an uneasy feeling in the air about whether or not he would make it. And as for Jonouchi...

A flash came from the side, pulling her attention forward as the disk's entire 'field width' filled with light. "...Look," Seto said plainly, watching as the map of domino appeared holographically before them to distract her from the question that was now gnawing the back of her mind. "This is what happens when you gather six locator cards. A virtual panorama of the entire city... This ray of light you see here," she explained as she gestured to the pin-point 'tower' in question, "Marks the stage of the finals..." And from the looks of things, that location was... Hn! "Future location of the duel arena... Not very creative of him," she muttered under her breath, mentally shaking her head as Yugi continued to scowl at the side. Then again, it was a secluded location that would easily hide the airship... So she had to give Isono credit really. Slight rumbling could be heard in the distance with those thoughts though, a moving 'blob' visible from above in the corner of her eye...

So not much longer then... "Kaiba I don't have_ time_," Yugi growled as the woman turned her duel disk off, removing the locator cards and pocketing them as she stared out from the building. "_PLEASE,_" he shouted as Seto 'ignored' him, "Just make the call!"

Now what were his words just before? '_Fight to protect what's important_'? Tch... Jonouchi was just some 'stray' that Mokuba 'let in' damn it, that was it, that was _IT!_ There was nothing more to it, and when it came to the point he was never the target to begin with now was he? To protect what was important... "Hn... How about I ask you something then," she decided, turning back to Yugi with narrowed eyes as the boy frowned. "You care about your 'friends' so much... But if the friends you desire to protect really _did_ turn against you," she asked somewhat testily, "Then what are you going to do? If the only way you can move forward to your 'destiny' is to run them into the ground, what will you _do_," Seto pressed, crossing her arms as the winds began to blow back under the approach of a helicopter. "Answer me that..."

Yugi froze at the question, eyes widening briefly before he looked away with a deep breath. "I... I don't know," he said with a swallow, before regaining his confident mask once more. "But I know where I'll find the answer," he continued.

Well... They'd better move it then hadn't they, she thought with a small smile, watching as the helicopter dropped a ladder to the roof. Mokuba... "Nii-sama," the boy shouted over the wind, taking the precautions concerning his sister's identity as he held the door open. "Nii-sama! I did what you asked," he called out with an expression of mixed relief and worry, "He's still there, at the pier! That's where they have Anzu and Katsuya-nii!"

"The pier..." The woman's rival stared with wide eyes as Seto walked toward the ladder, shaking his head. "Kaiba," Yugi whispered, turning to her in shock as the woman climbed up into the helicopter. "You..."

"Grab your locator card and get in," she shouted, moving past her brother and disguising her voice once again. "We're going to where Jonouchi is waiting!"

This time, there was no arguments or hesitation whatsoever as the teen hurriedly did just that. And as they took their seats in the helicopter, destination decided, it was all they could do to sit back and wait. Now then...

To get the answer to her 'question'...

* * *

If there was ever a definition to 'hell' Katsuya decided, it was probably either close or at least _better_ than this. For despite all the 'stories' of what a 'horrible' place it was, it seemed as though nothing could possibly be worse than what he was going through at that moment. He couldn't see, couldn't move... He couldn't even speak, the only exceptions to the 'rule' being the accursed shade that was forcing his body to walk in the first place. Forcing him to walk toward the edge of the pier at Domino's harbor as 'preparations' were made for some 'duel to the death' that Malik had planned out.

And what was worse, that same spirit of the Rod seemed to have a nasty habit of being a snobbish little braggart about the entire thing, gleefully contemplating what sorts of conversations they would have throughout the torturous matter. And the source of all this hell was standing right in front of him... Hidden by a wave of flames. "_Bastard... If I could just see who you were,_" he muttered under his breath, glaring at the silhouette that was 'Malik' as he and Anzu were led along the pier in an almost sheep-herding fashion.

"_**Hnhnhn... Maybe you never really could see,**_" the Rod muttered with a chuckle, still forcing the blond's eyes to stare at his palm that he could watch the shade 'speak'._** "Looking in your head here,**_" he continued rather darkly,_** "There's a lot of stuff that isn't 'real' to the rest of the world after all... Why... I'm amazed you can even keep track of what's what 'Blondie! Hahahahaha!**_" That was probably the only thing that made being 'mind-controlled' _worse_.

This prick could see everything in his head, 'sane' thoughts or no. "_Tch... Shut the hell up," _Katsuya snarled, only to shudder as he was given a closer view of the eye on his hand yet again. The eye appeared to 'blink' 'sadly', teeth closing over somewhat as its host continued to shiver with repulsion. "_Gh... You're more disgustin' than Parasite Paracide,_" he muttered, the tiny 'insect' coming to mind as the hand was lowered._ "At least that thing didn' take over my head!_"

"_**Ooooohh... Please! I'm only calling it as it is,**_" the Rod said with a 'sigh', before again chuckling as its teeth chattered. "_**After all,**_" it drawled almost sarcastically,_** "There are '****rules****' to the whole 'mind-control' sh-bang; you gotta really dig deep to get these things! You want something to happen,**_" the spirit continued to explain with a surprisingly severe tone,_** "You need to have the base emotions first... The base ****desire****... This hate you feel, this rage and anger for your so-called 'best friend'... That's not my doing,**_" the Rod continued, teeth creating a leering grin as the spirit chuckled. "_**That's allllll you... Those whispers to kill in the back of your mind... Well you were always a killer weren't you 'Katsuya'? You've done it before... And not just once,**_" the spirit added, his host growing pale and cold with the words. "_**Not just once... You can't keep secrets from me ****boy!**** A killer is a killer, no matter how you spell it and wrap it up! It was just a matter of time before something like this happened,**_" it shouted with a cackle, "_**I'm just speeding things up! Body's just the mind's play toy when you get down to it after all... ****And instinct is just instinct****!**_"

Shut up... SHUT UP! Those memories were... "_Get outta my HEAD,_" the blond roared, mouth refusing to move even as he walked at his slow and steady pace. "_LEAVE!_"

"_**Hnnn... no,**_" the spirit 'decided' after a short pause, bringing back his hand and forcing Katsuya to stare forward rather than at the ground. "_**No I don't think so. But seeing how we're such ****great**** friends,**_" the Rod continued with a sigh, "_**How about I give you a 'treat'?**_" He didn't want any kind of treat this thing had damn it! "_**Oh come on, don't be like that!**_" (Mind reading, right...)_** "Just listen! I'm bound to keep my dear lord and master's identity under-wraps for the moment, but how about we clear things up a little for you... Give you a ****REAL**** show hah? Hehehehehe...**_" What..? What the hell did that even mean- The blond jumped as his senses were returned to him abruptly, vision clearing save for a pillar of flame representing Malik standing at the side. He... He could see and feel himself again..! He could smell the salt water on the air, see Anzu in front of him, feel the wind blowing across his still wet and now just as cold body and-

"Hey," a man behind him snarled, shoving Katsuya forward as the blond mutely stumbled. Gh- The blond 'scowled' in response to the push, unable to turn back as the ghoul continued. "Keep moving!" Tch... He got his feeling back but he still couldn't do anything... Damn it.

"_**Oh but naturally you're still under my control,**_" the Rod said with a chuckle, evidently quite amused by the grave disappointment in his host's mind._** "What, you thought I'd be that stupid? Please... I'm the embodiment of a collective of powers you can only barely grasp and comprehend! And with a head like yours,**_" the spirit spat incredulously,_** "I'm surprised you can do even that...**_" Katsuya merely growled in response to the comment, staring forward as his 'guide' rattled off about the powers of the device that was currently speaking to him.

"_Tch..._" Nothing but a foot-long dagger topped with a 'winged' eye, and yet this one _had_ to be the one with flames and teeth!_ "Bastard..._"

"_**Come ****on****,**_" the Rod laughed,_** "You and I ****both**** know you can do better than that!**_"

The blond merely continued to growl as he was led off, watching as a second 'pillar' of fires appeared from the side before scowling further. "_What th'- I thought you said you were only protectin' Malik y' stupid flaming rat!_"

The spirit chuckled with the continued cursing, his host listening as the man offered up what was apparently twelve locator cards. Twelve..! Malik actually hired someone to card hunt _for_ him? "_**Hah! As if I'm revealing him to you,**_" the Millennium Rod snorted, rolling its eyes._** "This guy's important.. The only way you're getting ****his**** name is if you somehow manage to beat it out of my actual being... And I'd eat my physical body if you managed that!**_" He would love to see that, he really would... Get rid of a few problems that was for sure... And-

"_What th-_" Katsuya growled as his arm was snatched up by the ghouls at the side, the disk on his wrist manhandled as card upon card was slipped into the deck holder with his other ones. "_What the hell!_"

"Give him as many direct damage cards as you can," Malik was shouting, chuckling under his breath. "Make that deck so hot that he'll be singed by his own flames," he continued, the blond behind him scowling darkly behind the mask of indifference the Rod had instilled.

"_It would prob'ly already singe me y' DICK!_"

"_**Ohhhh, but who's checking,**_" the Rod laughed, eye 'shaking' with a grin.

"_SHUT UP,_" the blond snarled, only for 'his' mutterings to fill his mind. _Kurose, kurose, kurose- Kill, kill, kill..._ "_And stop that muttering! You're pissin' me off!_"

"_**More than I already am you mean?**_"

"_I swear t' god when I figure out how I got rid 'f th' eye I'm doin' th' same to you,_" he spat, 'clenching' his fists as he growled.

"_**Hnnn... You ****know****,**_" the Rod muttered, his host watching as the area was cleared of all other than himself and Anzu, "_**From what I can tell from your memories, that wasn't ****you****...**_"

Shut. The fuck. Up, he thought darkly, getting continual chuckles as the wind howled around the two. If he was going to be stuck standing here, he'd rather get some form of silence...

-_Hiiiiikariii noooo moto... Yami wa u-ma-re~_- What th- Katsuya jumped as music rang through the air, the Millennium Rod allowing him to turn toward the source as it continued to play. Besides the fact that he'd just finished praying for silence, wasn't that... "_Anzu's phone..?_"

"_**Hnnn...**_" The Rod appeared to 'stare' at Anzu for a moment, the single eye on the woman's brow turning downward as it narrowed._** "Who is it,**_" the spirit barked, Anzu reaching into her purse almost robotically to find the answer to the question as the music continued.

-_Fuuureta yoooru o... Ko-o-ra-seTE mo!- -click-_

The phone was flipped open as Anzu stared blankly at the screen, music cutting short as it was connected through to the other line. "Oi, Anzu," a familiar voice shouted, the sound of muttering audible in the background despite the slight garbling. "Are you there," Honda asked, voice left somewhat more difficult than usual to realize from the sound of the phone. The woman holding the device continued to stare, the eye seeming to consider its options as Honda continued on the other end. "...Anzu? ...Anzu, can you hear me," he asked, the boat beside them giving off a loud blare from its horn as he shouted through the phone. "Anzu? ...Anzu!"

"_**...Turn it off,**_" the Rod muttered in the end, the phone only briefly remaining on the line before it was folded over. "_**It's no one we need to speak to...**_"

"_Tch... Like hell that's true,_" Katsuya growled, narrowing his eyes.

"_**Ahh...**_" The Rod laughed, bringing the blond's hand upward once more to 'speak' to his host as Katsuya shuddered._** "But ****really**** my dear 'Katsuya'... ****Just who is asking you?****"

* * *

**_

"_Man_," Honda muttered as he walked down the aisle of the train they were in, a number of bento boxes stacked in his arms. "I finally got her to pick up but all I got was silence and a horn..." The teen pocketed his phone with a scowl, those from the seats he'd stopped by turning as he took his seat.

"Still no luck calling your friends then," Keiichi asked as he was handed two of the bento boxes, handing one of them to Shizuka as the girl nodded her thanks. There was a nod from the teen as he frowned somewhat worriedly, handing the last of the boxes to Otogi as he opened up his own. "Huh... So after all that you got nothing then," he said with a slight smirk, shaking his head. He'd been trying to call since they left the train station really... The fact that there hadn't been a single answer was apparently worrying.

The teen scowled as Keiichi continued to chuckle, Otogi merely rolling his eyes as he opened up what would be his 'dinner'. "Right... We can find out why Anzu's cell is broken when we get there," he said with a shrug, snapping his chopsticks apart with a frown. "For nowm lets just eat; we'll probably be in Domino within the next half hour," the teen continued seriously, "And I don't want to carry this around all evening..." He looked over at Honda at that, the teen laughing nervously in response.

"Ahahaha... Yeaaaa," he said with a cough. "There was a bit of a line and it cost more than I thought so..."

"We don't care," the shorter of the boys muttered, swallowing a large mouthful of rice as the tallest growled.

"Gh-! _Ryuzaki_..!"

"BACK to the point," Otogi shouted, Shizuka shaking her head as the boys argued while she ate. "Are you sure she just couldn't hear you," he asked Honda, the teen shrugging.

"Not really," he admitted. "I don't _think_ she could hear me though... I mean, it got really noisy as I was asking about that, and all I could hear was this blaring horn..." Honda proceeded to mutter off to himself about what the horn could be at that moment, digging into his food as Shizuka put her own dish to the side.

"Hahh... I wonder how Katsuya-nihan is doing," the girl muttered, the boys turning as Shizuka calmly smiled at the thought.

Honda blinked for a few moments, tilting his head as a bit of rice dropped from his chopsticks. "Eh..."

"_Nihan_," Otogi asked, Keiichi rolling his eyes as the two held their tongues. It was an accent, live with it...

God... Honda quickly nodded despite the gesture remaining unseen, grinning as he continued to eat again. "Yea," he said with a laugh, "I'm sure he's doing great! I mean... ...Ah..." The teen paused, attempting to find something more to say as his friend elbowed him.

"If you say you taught him," Otogi muttered under his breath, "I'm not helping you out of the hole you're digging yourself..."

"A-Ahhhahahahaha..."

Shizuka laughed somewhat as Keiichi blankly stared in silence, before again shaking her head with a sigh. "You know," she muttered, the others turning as the girl leaned back in her seat, "Nihan wasn't very good at cards before," she said, rubbing her neck before smiling. "I guess he's gotten a lot better hah..?"

Her friend snorted, a grin coming over his face as he swallowed the last of his food. "Hah! More than 'better'," Keiichi shouted with a laugh, "He was over half-way into qualifying for the finals by the time I left! You wouldn't believe how much better he's gotten," he continued, shaking his head. "Heck... Maybe you two can have a match while we're there," the teen added, grin softening to a smirk as Shizuka nodded.

"Hah... Yea!"

Otogi blinked as the two friends shared this info, trading an odd look with Honda before coughing. "Er... Hang on," he said confusedly, the others turning toward him as he continued. "You two both fight each other constantly right? You're practically rivals aren't you," he went on, shaking his head. "So why are you..."

"Pff!" The teen snorted, leaning against his seat with a grin. "I didn't say he was 'better' than _me_," Keiichi said with a smirk, crossing his arms while the black-haired teen continued to stare.

"Then... Then why are you _here_," Otogi asked, the teen across from him instantly tensing up in response.

"Gh-! Because my opponent was a dirty cheat, that's why! And if it weren't for him giving back my card I would have-"

"AHHH!" The three jumped as Honda gave a shout, smacking his palm with a look of realization. "I got it... I know where I heard that sound," he continued, the others 'staring' more or less as the teen beamed. That was great, that really was, but what the hell was he talking abou- "A boat horn... It was a boat horn," he said with a grin, "They're at the pier!"

"A _pier_," Keiichi muttered incredulously, Shizuka as well tilting her head in confusion.

"But.. Why on earth would they be there," the girl asked, frowning somewhat.

"Ah..." The other two paused, trading frowns as they shrugged. That was a _really _good question...

Pity it would take another half hour before they could head over and get the answer to it.

**

* * *

AN: **Damn mister 'Millennium Rod', for an evil guy I'm sure enjoying the time I get to type you... Pity this will only last for the duel...

It'll be like when I was writing Pegasus... And when I start writing Noa again... Haaaahh...

And oh boy, do those train-going boys (And girl) _not_ know what they're about to end up in...

In other news, you know what's next... And I am going to have a _BALL_. If I manage to keep the duel under the two chapter limit though, you can _bet_ it'll be a super chapter... But I wouldn't count on it not being split in two for the moment, as there's a lot more than cards going into that particular match! Personally, I'm just marvelling over how quick this chapter came out... Typing torturous scenes involving Jonouchi and the Millennium Rod come a little _too_ easy I fear...

Now excuse me while I listen to 'Doubt & Trust', which was featured in this chapter; it's a _very_ good song by the band 'Access', and if you search 'Doubt & Trust subbed' it'll be the first result you get.

Off to business now!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

He really _should_, shouldn't he Iona? Though at least he got out of that situation… We'll get some epic moments from him too, but not just now. Sadly, most of the time he was unseen between then and this chapter was made up of him running like _hell_… So yea.

But he'll definitely be showing off once we hit the Virtual World arc, thus allowing him to spread his little wings of pure bad-assery…

And aaaahhh yes… I don't believe I've ever heard the phrase 'stubborn as a stump', but I would more readily compare it to a mountain with Kaiba in mind. And yes she can! It progressed at about the same rate as Jonouchi's ability did as well; the only reason why Kaiba was spared the gore in the Duelist Kingdom was because she'd just 'woken up' to say the least. It took a few months for Jou's ability to sink in, and similarly, a few months before Kaiba's head opened up to seeing dear Blue-Eyes in reality.

Blue-Eyes won't ever talk though, so no super-scary-heart-attack moments concerning that sadly… Pity that. Well! Enjoy the chapter!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's hiding from the Millennium Rod; is the underside of your bed available?

* * *

The title for this decidedly frightening chapter is a play on the Tauk's earlier warnings against the '_eyes that devour_', or rather the '_flames_' with the aforementioned eyes. Tauk failed to mention that the flames also speak.

But the Tauk likely didn't even realize that could be possible; note that _even the Rod_ is amazed at the awareness Jonouchi still has, despite being well aware of being able to be seen by him!

* * *

Skipping right to Jonouchi with today's guide (And yes, the 'dripping' was from the water in his clothes), the words he's hearing himself mutter in his mind, which is really just Malik muttering in his mind, was originally 'tsubuse' in the anime and manga.

Tsubuse, or 'Tsubusu' means 'to crush' or 'kill (time)'. Instead however, I used 'Kurose', which quite literally and _bluntly_ means 'to kill'. Because really, that _was_ the point of that match; Malik wanted Yugi dead, or at the very minimum psychologically shaken by the death of his own friend.

* * *

Technically, Yugi was supposed to tribute all three of these monsters to get Valkyrion. But it's treated more like a 'discard to grave and summon this bigger monster' type of effect in the manga and anime both, so I'm leaving it as that.

* * *

And as a matter of fact yes, Yami is referring to the Duelist Kingdom when he mentions faltering judgement. The fact is, Yami Yugi is a _ghost_. He's sharing a body, and locked in a puzzle, and given that he's referred to as a spirit we can safely say that his 'death' is no secret. And as a ghost, good and bad gets pretty black, white, and self-centred for the first bit, something that the manga's _author_ even flat out said happened from the start… It's easy to throw his judgement, despite how 'awesome' he is, and his words last chapter are _VERY_ serious; if not for his friends, and ESPECIALLY Yugi, his judgement would be just as Knight Templar as it was back in chapter one... Or rather, the one after that.

You know, the one where he set a guy on fire? Back when he was technically _evil_?

In any case, it's that kind of judgement that he _currently_ knows as a _very_ bad idea, hence why he's trying to coax Kaiba away from it. Besides winning of course. (Note how easily he's still slipping up once Malik mentions that last threat near the end...)

* * *

These parachutes are actually really cool by the way; the ghoul pulled on the _chain of his cloak_ to release it. That's right guys. _Ghouls get insurance cloaks_! Pity that the Mask of Light couldn't use it... (And no, he didn't die in the manga and anime.)

* * *

If you haven't guessed, I've officially made 'Obelisk' 'Set' (AKA 'Sutekh', or 'Seth') for his Ancient Egyptian God counterpart. It creates a full circle actually; Set was said to watch over Ra during his evening journey, guarding him against Apep.

And for info on Ra, Pharaohs were said to be direct descendants of him… See the parallels yet?

* * *

Set was originally the God of Desert and Storm, but Chaos and Darkness were added to the mix later on when he kinda gained a bad rep... This happens when you do things like killing your brother AKA Osiris.

* * *

By the way, Kaiba's general reaction concerning all that is God-Card related scares the ever loving crap out of me. Seriously its... It's like she/he gets off on it. (Which the Abridged series of course covered...)

* * *

Yea guys. Obelisk has _wings_. You can see them whenever there's a shot of his back. Did it catch you off guard too?

* * *

Hey differences! Kaiba's considerably more affected by Jonouchi's being taken this time around (For somewhat unclear reasons...), so her reactions are far less 'amused' in appearance as a result. (Yea she was chuckling _a lot_ in this chapter.) Hell, Yami's even _calling her out on it_; no matter how confused he was about the whole Hanami experience a while back, he can't deny that it _happened_, which thereby proves that there's at least _some_ kind of connection between the two.

* * *

Anzu's ringtone is a song by Access that is called 'Doubt & Trust', which many will likely recognize as the first D-Gray Man opening. Specifically, these lines are both parts of the chorus… I'm not breaking this down kanji by kanji, but I'll give you the lines. ...Annnd I'll break it down Kanji for kanji for the first line, since the first line is simple enough. Not gonna try the second one though, because I only used half of the line, not half its translation.

'Hikari no moto, yami wa umare' is 'Darkness is born from the purest light'.

'Hikari' being 'Light', 'Yami' being 'Darkness'... 'Hikari no moto' signifies possession (From the 'no' particle), and 'moto' mean's origin, or source. It has a number of different kanji to represent it though, which is... Probably why it was written in hiragana. In any case, 'Hikari no moto' translates _literally_ to become 'Light's origin', or 'Origin of Light'. It can also mean 'base', 'cause'...

As for 'Yami wa umare', 'wa' is the particle used after the subject of a sentence. Therefore, 'yami' is the subject here... 'Umare' in the meantime, is from the verb 'to be born', or 'umare-ru'. On its own, 'umare' simply means 'birth', or 'birthplace'... So basically, 'yami wa umare' is just using 'umare' to describe the darkness; in other words, 'darkness is born'. And since it's the subject of the sentence, and the Japanese language tends to neglect pointing out what should be fairly obvious, one can only assume that as the subject, 'light's origin' is being used to refer to the darkness. Therefore... 'Darkness is born from light', or even 'Light causes the birth of darkness'... And so we get the handy line above, which actually makes sense.

The next line used, which starts a couple seconds after (So that Jou and the spirit can speak to each other) is Fureta yoru o, koorasete mo, which means 'Though it may seem as if we can't escape this night'... According to the subtitles. This line was probably said to translate to that due to Japanese sentence structure; both phrases are fragments of half a sentence, but due to word order would be horribly garbled if they were translated directly... So there's obviously more to each sentence fragment here, but hey, it's a _ring tone_.

In any case, they're very appropriate lyrics for the moment wouldn't you say? One of those rare times I can mention what I was listening to as I typed... And you can probably guess why Anzu picked it in the first place...

* * *

Otogi's threat is a reference to what happened in the anime; despite himself and Otogi not really dueling (Though Otogi is quite obviously _much_ better at it), Honda tells Shizuka that he taught _Jonouchi_ how to duel. YEA. This backfires _horribly_ when he's the first and only one to lose in Noa's Virtual World, for obvious reasons.

This is what he gets for lying! Anyways, since Ryuzaki would _very_ quickly call Honda out on that lie if he pulled it in the fanfic, this is as close as we're going to get.

* * *

The dialogue for the last part is all either added, or mixed around from the chapter itself. A few of Ryuzaki's lines were originally from Honda... But Ryuzaki's not exactly the quite type, so he got them instead.

* * *

And in other news, hold off on your 'does this make Shizuka' a duelist questions. The answer is _yes_. Not hard core obviously, but trust me when I say that the reason for a 'rough start' in the Virtual World arc will be _very_ different.

Now with that, we're done here! I'll see you in the next chapter, and until then, enjoy!


	74. Chapter 73

**Where Katsuya Waits**

* * *

Steady rumbling filled the air around them as the helicopter traveled above Domino district, the sound only barely filling in the otherwise silent time. After the duel above the skylight, sirens had begun to fill the air, ambulances rushing toward the building they'd left; they would only be transporting a corpse however, if the corpse was left behind. The storm above had since cleared thankfully. Mokuba mentioned, just briefly, that they'd had some problems with the wind, but other than that all he mentioned doing was calling in ambulances for the guards and Matsuda, the three having apparently been left where they were attacked. So far, all three were still out cold... As to the reasons, the doctors had yet to say.

There was little that could be said for the situation other than that really. The only words that entered the air after leaving from the northern areas of the district came from the helicopter pilot as he announced their coming arrival, the man yet another of the few in Seto's employment who was 'fully trusted'. Which was fairly interesting to find, given his fairly 'radical' appearance. Apparently he was... Russian? (Even she had to wonder how that explained anything, but really, compared to the _rest_ of her 'house staff'... Tattooed pilots were within reasonable limits.)

Nonetheless, the pilot's announcement was answered almost immediately with a look out the window from Yugi, a nervous fidgeting motion from Mokuba as he looked to the side, and a steady, silent stare toward the ground from Seto as the woman bit her lip. "...Nee-sama," Mokuba said after a few more moments of silence, looking back from the door with hesitancy. "Do you think... Do you think they're okay," he asked, the others turning from the side with either worried or blank expressions in place. "I only saw Anzu," he admitted, turning away as the others continued to stare or listen in silence. "And she didn't know what happened to Katsuya-nii," the boy continued with a swallow, "So do you think..."

The two bit their lips with the question, Seto merely turning her gaze to the ground again before looking at her rival. To answer that question when a gnawing feeling of dread was still hanging over them and growing would be impossible without lying really; the fact was, if Jonouchi was in perfect health, she'd be surprised... Much as the thought brought a feeling of cold loathing. "Yugi," she 'asked', dropping the hoarse 'cover' for the third time that day as she steered the topic in another direction, "The leader of the ghouls, 'Malik'... As far as I'm concerned," she said with a somewhat justifying tone, "He's just another enemy..." Someone to defeat- possibly kill, not that Mokuba needed to hear that. "How much do you know about him," she pressed with a frown, the boy beside her frowning almost confusedly in response. "Besides the fact that he has Ra," she added, narrowing her eyes somewhat.

Yugi turned his gaze away for a moment as his eyes closed slightly. For a moment, it seemed he wouldn't speak. In the end however he leaned back on his seat and stared at the wall across from him, taking a deep breath as he answered the woman. "...I've never seen him," he admitted somewhat quietly, the topic both distasteful and depressing all at once. "He only speaks through his 'Ghouls'. All I know is that in addition to 'Ra'," the teen continued with a swallow, "He has a Millennium Item, similar to mine."

Millennium Items- Again? _Really_? "An item..." And Pegasus wasn't enough to deal with? Hell, even Ishizu's passive-aggressive fortune telling was bearable, but there was _more_? "Tch... Just what we 'need'... More bullshit," she growled, arms crossed.

There was a short span of silence with the comment, the others shifting somewhat awkwardly before a cough came from the younger of the group. "Is... Is this going to be like when we first met Bakura," Mokuba said worriedly, his sister momentarily paling at the reminder of her brother's tale. "Could it be that Anzu and Katsuya-nii were..." Were rendered just as comatose as the guards? A good question, though as their 'friend' responded it became clear that he'd interpreted the question differently, the apparently older of the three shaking his head hurriedly as he frowned.

"No," he said rather quickly. "As far as I can tell there's no hidden spirit locked inside that item... Instead," Yugi continued with a swallow, "The Millennium Rod holds a strong, dark power... More so than the puzzle, the ring... Possibly even the Eye," he muttered darkly, growing somewhat pale as he thought to the object. Yes, the eye... While she could really care less about what happened to that thing, just where _did _it go after the man died..? "In any case... Malik can control a person from any distance using the Rod's power, seeing, hearing and even speaking through them. From what I can gather at least," he added, narrowing his eyes. "There could be more to it than what we know... So far however, it's 'brainwashing' from any way you look at it."

Brainwashing eh... So the 'Millennium Item of hypnosis' pretty much. Hn! "I find that a little hard to believe," Seto muttered, a frown on her face. She turned somewhat to her rival, the frown deepening somewhat with confusion. "Hypnosis as a whole can't convince someone to do something against their inner morals; you could shout all you want for a hypnotized victim to kill someone else, but if they don't want to, they won't do it. And even if such a power even exists," she continued with a slight scoff, "What would you want to bet that this set up is a fight- I've heard the 'Mutt' comment about wanting to duel you after all... He would probably easily be convinced of at least that," the woman muttered, looking away in thought as she rolled the 'idea' around her mind.

Mokuba frowned at that, tilting his head in confusion before voicing his protests. "But nee-sama, why would the Ghouls kidnap me and the others just for that," he asked with a frown, Yugi merely looking away with a somewhat conflicted expression in place. "If it was just to have a duel they were going to have anyways..."

"No... There's more," Yugi muttered under his breath, the others again turning to him with frowns. "There has to be... Malik's intentions aren't just to gather the God cards after all..." They... _Weren't_? There was a slight pause, Yugi's face twisting with discomfort as he continued. "He's said it quite clearly that he wants me dead," he said bluntly, Mokuba gulping from the side as the helicopter fell silent.

Hnn... This was a problem... Besides the amazing habit of everything centering on Yugi, this put an entirely new light on things. If Malik wanted Yugi dead, he'd made it clear that he was capable of that already. The leader of the ghoul's was playing, toying with them like a cat with its prey. Giving them 'fair chances' with drastic consequences. Which meant that if any of this was real, _any _of it... "If this power exists," the woman whispered, lowering her voice to keep her brother from hearing as she leaned toward her rival with narrowed eyes, "And you are, against all logical meaning, _right_... What do you want to bet that this fight is going to be a lot more than just a 'duel between friends'?" Yugi grit his teeth in response to the question, flushing as he averted his gaze from his rival.

"Kaiba... No matter what happens," Yugi hissed almost angrily, "I will do _whatever it takes_ to get him back." The teen held a steady glare, Mokuba looking at the two oddly from his seat as they continued the hushed conversation.

He'd avoided the 'answer' again... Tch. Seto's frown deepened, eyes narrowing to slits as she shook her head. "You can say that now," she growled lowly, "But can't you even answer a simple question?" Her rival tensed at the accusation, listening nonetheless as his rival continued. "You've been going on and on about your Power of Unity," the woman muttered under her breath, "But you're completely lost without that 'power' aren't you _Yugi_? If you have to fight one of the people you care about, you'll just freeze completely won't you?" Yugi's eyes widened at the continued statements, watching as his rival moved to sit back against her seat with a slightly eased scowl. "I suppose I'll be getting my answer soon enough, won't I," she said plainly, turning her gaze to the helicopter window, eyes appearing almost distant with the words. "When I see whether or not your 'power of unity' is strong enough to surpass this so-called power that Malik has..."

When she found out how strong the mutt really was, she found herself thinking, before a shout pulled her attention back to reality. "Ah!" The two teens turned as Mokuba pressed his hands against the window, the boy staring at the pier below as the helicopter made to touch down a short distance away from the docks. "There," he shouted with a grin, laughing. "I can see them... They're alright!"

They were- "They're alright..!" Yugi as well looked out of the window at those words, both boys oblivious to the frown on Seto's face. Alright... This was definitely a trap but... _Alright_? If they'd been kidnapped or stored in a warehouse like Mokuba had said there was no way they would be 'alright'! At the very least Anzu would be fretting about whatever they'd escaped.

"I'll be in here if you need me," the pilot muttered with slightly accented Japanese as the helicopter began to land, doors opening as it touched down for Yugi to run out. The device had barely powered down as the teen charged forward, panic and relief both on his face as he charged toward where his friends stood in the distance.

"J-Jonouchi," the teen shouted, eyes wide as the others stepped out to follow. They weren't moving... A cold pit began to form in Seto's stomach as her brother charged after Yugi, swallowing as her rival continued. "Anzu, Jonouchi!" They weren't _answering_... "Are you alright," Yugi asked, the boy's friends merely standing with shadowed eyes as the others moved close. It seemed only now to hit the older of the group, the teen paling and coming to a stop as a cold wind blew past. "J... Jonouchi," he whispered, eyes wide and questioning as he was briefly answered with silence.

Low chuckling filled the air, Seto's eyes narrowing as Mokuba as well slowed to a walk with wide eyes. "K-Katsuya-nii," he shouted, swallowing a wave of unease as he watched something red drip from the teen's right arm. There was a tear in the jacket, the jacket her brother had bought the blond, a tear that was stained with near-black shades of red as the fabric absorbed bits of blood from the wound beneath. "Katsuya-nii, you're bleeding..." Yes... It was slow thankfully, only a slight 'drip' from the middle finger due to gravity's always constant effects, but the fact remained.

He was bleeding and he didn't care at all. "Hnhnhnhnhn..." This wasn't right... "_Yugi_," the blond called out with an eerie tone, holding his voice at a far more dangerous level than normal. His hands were moved to an open and 'friendly' gesture as he grinned, eyes appearing blank as he continued to chuckle. "I've been _waiting_ for you..." Something was wrong, Seto repeated in her mind as she stood between her brother and the helicopter. Something was horribly, horribly wrong with that voice... It wasn't the carefree laughing one that had her pulling her hair out without fail, nor was it the oddly 'wise' and 'brotherly' one Mokuba was familiar with, a tone that she herself had occasionally heard in moments when the mutt was completely serious about what he said. It wasn't even the stupid, 'confident' drawl he had when she walked in on him during security shifts, or when he was trying to prove himself beyond what were his limits. It was just wrong. Chilling.

Murderous even... The voice of a killer, of someone who wasn't just about to kill but one who _had_ killed, and quite willingly so. This... Was _not_ Jonouchi's voice. "...Katsuya-nii," Mokuba shouted worriedly, the blond paying him no mind as his 'employer' swallowed in unease. "Katsuya-nii," he asked again, "What are you doing..?"

"...Malik's got him," Yugi 'answered' with a growl, before narrowing his eyes and swallowing. "He's got them both," he whispered, glancing at the woman that stood motionlessly behind his friend. Beside them a horn was shouting from a docked ship, the three glancing at the boat before looking back to the blond. "...Jonouchi... Wake up," Yugi shouted, wind blowing past them in the resounding silence as the teen cried. "Do you remember that sound," he asked somewhat desperately, "It's the same sound we heard when we were looking for the boat that would take us to Pegasus' island!"

The boy beside him nodded somewhat nervously, catching on to what his friend was trying to do. "Katsuya-nii," Mokuba continued with a shout, "You went there to get me back remember? You went there because Pegasus kidnapped me! You had made a promise to Seto-niisama," he reminded the blond, "To bring me back, no matter what..! You were even shot, that's where the scar on your head came from!"

For a moment, Jonouchi appeared to tilt his head, as though running the phrases through his head. There was a part of her that wished this was all some elaborate joke really. That in just a moment the dog would break into a proper, honest grin, so that she could throttle him for being the idiot he was. But if she had even _begun_ to think that Jonouchi had been joking, his next words would have snapped her out of it, the single statement sending a shiver down all three of their spines. "Those words mean _nothing_ to me," the teen muttered, hands digging into his pockets as he looked down at the boy. The stare he gave was cold and dead, and after Mokuba forced himself to turn away from unease the blond looked back to his 'best friend' with a half-hearted sigh. "I'm just interested in fighting _you_," he stated plainly as he looked to his friend, "In a duel of life or death... Right here and now."

"No..." Yugi shook his head, repeating the phrase multiple times as he grew white. "_No_," he whispered, Mokuba as well going pale as he stepped back from the three in front of him. "No that's not true! Jonouchi... Don't let him control you," the teen begged, stepping just slightly closer as the slow wind continued to pass. "You're not thinking straight! _Please_!"

More chuckling filled the air in response, Mokuba looking back to his sister with almost pleading eyes as Jonouchi spoke. "Thinking straight," the blond said with a snort, shaking his head as the woman before him growled under her breath. "Oh trust me... I've never felt better," he said with a sneer. "It's been a _long_ time since I could think like this... Since I could think this clearly," Jonouchi 'clarified', a sadistic grin coming over him as he went on. "I can't even _begin_ to list the ways I could kill you right _now_..."

As her brother stared at the blond in shock Seto clenched her teeth, storming forward to pull the boy behind her and out of Jonouchi's line of sight. "Jonouchi," Yugi was shouting, shaking his head as the woman behind him moved to take protective measures. "Please, _listen_! We made a promise... I want to fight you, I really do, but not like this! We're supposed to fight as friends," the teen protested, not as enemies with our lives on the line!" An audible swallow followed the words, Yugi shaking his head as he breathed deeply. "We... _You_ made a promise," he continued with a shout, "You asked me... '_If I do alright in the tournament, and I can call myself 'ready' for Red-Eyes again, will you fight me?_' Those words..." The teen again shook his head, looking down briefly before continuing. "The reason I came this far was because of those words, because of that promise! But this isn't the battle we're supposed to have, this isn't-" That was it!

"SNAP OUT OF IT, JONOUCHI!" The two boys outside Malik's control turned, eyes widening briefly as Seto leered at the blond, the woman stalking forward with a growl. "If you think you can do exactly what I ordered you _not_ to do as my employee," the woman continued stiffly, "If you think I'm going to stand by and let this happen, you have another thing coming... Either you wake up _now_," she continued with a snarl, "Or you can 'wake up' in a-"

"Shut up, Kaiba."

..._What_.

"K... _Kaiba_," The woman repeated almost at a whisper, the others growing just as white as the blond turned to walk away. His response had come within an instant, expression cold and unchanging and voice not faltering one bit.

And in the silence that single statement had brought about, Jonouchi continued to laugh, looking back briefly as he walked toward nearby dock. "Come on Yugi," he was saying with a leering grin, "The stage has already been set for your demise... _You don't want to be late do you_?" This...

The accent was gone. The smile was gone. The idiotic, naive and borderline impossible to bear with attitude was gone. And while she always did continuously wish that the 'blond mutt' would gain 'half a brain' and stop 'slipping up' with her name all the time...

Never before had it felt so _wrong_ to be called by that name without hearing a stutter at the beginning.

"There... There wasn't even a pause," Mokuba whispered with a choke, staring off toward the docks as his body shook.

"Malik," Yugi hissed under his breath, bowing his head. "You _bastard_..."

"_**Hnhnhnhnhn...**_" Gh- Laughter..!_** "**__**Horrifying**__** isn't it,**_" the accented cover of a familiar woman's voice 'asked', the three turning with narrowed eyes as Anzu stared blankly at them. That tone... So Malik was using her rival's crush as a 'host' now? "_**You know, I'm surprised myself,**_" 'she' continued with a chuckle, the woman's body standing in a straight and mannequin-like fashion in contrast to the usual limp slouch Malik instilled in his previous victims. "_**He must have some **__**really**__** nasty thoughts about you if he's able to pick his **__**own**__** words to speak...**_"

The others merely stared in slight horror as the woman continued to chuckle, each with their own disgusted thoughts on the situation. "A... Anzu," Yugi whispered, eyes wide and almost broken in appearance as the others clenched their jaws. Of course... If Jonouchi was under Malik's 'control', then why wouldn't everyone else be?

"Well isn't this just _lovely_," Seto spat, the eerie and familiar 'eye' staring out from the center of the woman's forehead. "_More_ problems..."

'Anzu'... 'Malik' it seemed, merely stepped toward where Jonouchi had walked off, holding a small capsule between her fingers, chuckling as she held it forward. "_**You see this,**_" he asked, blood draining from the faces of the observers as it shimmered just slightly in the dying light. "_**This is a cyanide capsule... Unless she bites down on it, it's completely harmless of course,**_" Malik admitted, fingering the capsule while the others watched with baited breath, "_**But it only takes a second for me to decide on that...**_" Gh... Shit... Yugi would be right at his mercy then..._** "At my command,**_" Malik said quite clearly,_** "She'll clamp down on this capsule and release the cyanide, and death will be near instantaneous... Want to see,"**_ he 'asked', running the woman's tongue along the capsule as she walked out along the docks before them.

"H-H... ANZU," Yugi shouted tensely, more chuckling hovering through the air as the docks came into the teen's view.

"_**Hnhnhnhnhn... Frightening isn't it? But if you agree to duel your friend over there,**_" Malik 'offered' plainly,_** "You'll have nothing to worry about...**_" Save for Yugi himself and the mutt, or so said the unseen statement as Anzu moved off again._** "But you'd better make your decision quick,**_" he 'warned', the capsule playing around in her mouth as he spoke, "_**Unless you want to explain why **__**poor**__** Mazaki Anzu was poisoned at such a young and promising age...**_"

The words did exactly as predicted by both Malik and Seto at that moment, with Yugi standing stock still in torn shock momentarily as the threat struck home. "I... I..!" Yugi bit his lips, before following Malik/Anzu out to the large and hollowed square dock, the two walking around to the furthest end where Jonouchi stood.

"Y-Yugi," Mokuba shouted, looking from around his sister with a swallow. "But what about-"

"He has no choice," Seto hissed, gritting her teeth as her palms again began to bleed. Mokuba stared at the woman as his sister continued to tense and shake, duel-disk even rattling on her arm. "It's lose-lose... He has no choice!"

But just what was the next catch, the woman found herself wondering, watching as 'Anzu' held two chains and cuffs forward. What would make the duel a death match..?

The answer should have been as obvious as the anchor held above the empty 'crane' spot in the center of the field, the machine having been moved for a more updated land-device. Jonouchi was standing at Anzu's side as the cuffs gleamed in the dull sunlight, Yugi swallowing as he looked from the cuffs to the enormous anchor supported on the storage-lift above the dock. The shadow cast on the waters below formed an ominous and hyper extended cresent above the docks, reminding those standing there just how deep the water in the area was. "_**For this duel you will both wear handcuffs,**_" Malik announced, Anzu roughly clacking the cuffs on each duelist's wrist before stepping back somewhat. "_**The cuffs are attached to an anchor,**_" he explained as his host tossed the capsule to the side, gesturing to the device above, "_**Which weighs 300 kilograms... This anchor is held only by a chain connected to the timer above,**_" Malik continued as attention was brought to the momentarily scrubbed timer, "_**Which will do one of the following depending on your next action. It will either release the anchor in seventy five minutes following your duel's start, or, following the defeat of one or the other begin a sixty second countdown...**_" They had an hour and fifteen minutes to fight then... Leaving just enough time for the 'winner' to make it to the finals Seto added with a cold swallow. Gh..!_** "Move to your positions,**_" the voice 'ordered' stiffly, Jonouchi doing as told before Yugi swallowed and did the same. Before each duelist stood a small box of sorts, LED display staring back up from the lids. Now what was that..? "_**See those boxes near your feet,**_" Malik asked, his target looking down at the device that was currently bolted to the dock._** "These boxes are tied to counters mirroring the life-point levels on your own disks. The moment you begin the duel they will synchronize with the counters in your duel disk,**_" the Ghoul's leader explained curtly,_** "And in the event that the opposite 'box's' life-points are reduced to zero, it will unlock to reveal the key to your cuff! You will then have, as mentioned, sixty seconds to use this key to escape... The loser,**_" Malik continued with a chuckle, "_**Will sink into the seas, with those same seconds left to share their farewells... Hnhnhnhnhnhnhn...**_"

"One of them is going to _die_," Mokuba questioned with a whisper, swallowing as Yugi began pleading with his friend to snap out of it once more. Anzu was merely standing at the far end of the docks by this point, nothing but the chains left to decide what would happen...

Tch! His older sister snarled, storming over toward them as Mokuba stared from behind. "Not if I can help it," she growled, fists still tightly clenched. That timer holding the anchor in place, it would be _easy_ to re-write the limit to hold off for a chain cutter and a lockpick! They just needed to get to it! So... "MALIK," she roared, 'Anzu' staring blankly at the woman in response, "If you think you're going through with this, you can think aga-"

"Ghk-!" The woman froze as a sudden cut shout came from behind her, Seto turning back with wide eyes to where her brother stood stock still with a choke. "N-Nii... Sama..!"

"Hehehehe..." Two ghoul's stood behind the boy, each with sadist's grins in place as they chuckled darkly. "You were saying about the duel continuing," one of the ghouls holding the boy asked, a knife held dangerously close to her brother's neck.

Seto clenched her teeth as the blade was brought closer, her brother shutting his eyes as he attempted to pull away from the cold metal. "Mokuba..!"

"Step away from the docks," the second warned stiffly, the woman swallowing as she did just that, forming a 'circle' of sorts as she stepped to the side. "And before you try anything," he added darkly, "Take off the disk and coat!" What..? Her _disk_! She narrowed her eyes, nonetheless clicking the disk off with a growl as the ghouls stared. "We know what you're capable of," the Ghoul muttered, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the woman. "That coat could easily hide a weapon... And the disk mind as well be one," he added, Seto silently removing her white jacket in the meantime as the wind howled dangerously about them. "Now kick the disk away," the man was shouting, apparently treating the console with as much caution as one would a gun.

Tch... Bastards... Bastards..! The first ghoul chuckled as the coat fell to the ground, Mokuba swallowing his fear in the man's grip. "Heh... If it weren't for the obvious I'd have to say you have a nice figure there," he said with a sneer, gaining a deep scowl in response. Besides the obvious reasoning behind the comment... His death warrant had just been signed _twice_. "Now... You stay right there with your hands behind your head... Unless you want to end up fish food like the two over there," he added, motioning for the woman to turn around as he stepped back from her.

Gh..! _Monsters_! Seto swallowed a wave of disgust as she turned around, slowly putting her hands on her head lest they go through with their threat. They had Mokuba at knifepoint... She hadn't even had any time to _think_ of silently radio-calling the pilot back in the helicopter, despite not even knowing if she'd left it on or not... She was a few feet away from the ghouls, so she couldn't even think of taking them by surprise with an attack, and when she thought about it, what could the pilot possibly do outside a distraction _anyways_?

Tch... This game... This sick, disgusting game she was about to watch... Of all the times for Yugi to prove her right on this 'Millennium Bullcrap' again...

Why the hell did it have to be_ now_?

* * *

"_YUGI! YUGI..! WHY? Why did you have to come... WHY!_" If one could hear what Katsuya had to say about the entire matter, there would be very little needed to describe the situation. His shouts were jumping back and forth between anger and terror both as he looked out through dead eyes, seeing nothing but the notably torn and arguably terrified form of his friend across from him. "_YUGI,_" the blond cried, fires filling his vision once more as he struggled against the Millennium Rod's hold. His shouts couldn't reach him... He could see the 'original' Yugi's spirit standing at his partner's side, shouting toward him, but he couldn't respond... "_You monster... You goddamned MONSTER,_" Katsuya cried, choking as he heard his own voice speak out to his friend in 'response'.

"I almost forgot," 'he' was saying, holding his hands out toward the teen in a slight gesture as he motioned for 'his' friend to do something. "I could care less if you drown but I would _really_ prefer not to go diving for Osiris after this..." It _dared_ to say-

"_You fucking fire-coated, eye-eatin' piece 'f SHIT!_"

"_**Ah ah ah, sticks and stones now my 'dear',**_" the Rod said with a sneer, before turning his gaze back to Yugi. The ease with which the spirit switched between his unhidden voice and the voice of his body filled the blond with a feeling of dread, for both what he heard and what he felt. Nothing but hate and anger, and though he'd have said it was justified the Rod's presence was continually forcing it towards a target other than itself. "Take the card out of your deck," 'he' ordered the teen across him, the other Yugi nodding stiffly as he removed the deck-holder belt around his waist to hold it forward.

"...Osiris is in here," he said plainly, momentarily pulling the card out to show his opponent through the flaming haze. "You see it?"

Katsuya felt his body nod, the blond momentarily choking between screams and tear-filled cries as the red sheet of card shimmered in the sun. "Put it on the ground," he said clearly, eyes trained on the belt as Yugi did just that before turning his duel disk on and setting it into place. "God will go to the side of the survivor understand? Now..." Low chuckling sounded through the air, the point counters on the box coming to life as the timer above began its count-down. "_DUEL_," he announced, disk clacking into place as he brought it forward. Cards were drawn with great reluctance on the side of his opponent, the Rod giving a crocodilian smirk as he laughed. "You can go first... Hnhnhehehehe..."

Bastard... God damned... "_I swear t' god when I g't outta here I'm gonna rip out each an' every one 'f yer eyes," _the blond hissed, sounding decidedly snakelike as he clawed at the bonds in his mind.

"_**Please**__**,**_" the rod said with a chuckle, Yugi currently staring across the field in silence as he stared at his deck with a torn expression. "_**You should enjoy yourself! This is fun~ Got that? FUN**_," he roared, mad laughter filling the air to hit only his host's ears._** "All you're doing right now is giving me a headache my dear friend... Though I'll admit it's helping with the control **__**a lot**__**...**_"

Son of a-..! Get out! "_Let me talk damn it... Let me talk you sick, twisted FUCK!_"

Still the Rod laughed, rolling the eye that his host could see from his wrist. "_**Oh now that's just plain mean,**_" he laughed, briefly shuttering his teeth as they clacked._** "Now... How about you be a dear and just sit back, enjoy the show... No one can hear you after all,**_" he said with a low grin, eye turning to face 'their' opponent. "...Yugi," he shouted in slight agitation, again using the blond's mouth to speak. "What's taking you so long? I told you it was your turn didn't I?"

Yea... The first move in a timed death-match! "_You forget that we're best friends you ASS! How is he supposed to kick your ass to save himself when you're in my body,_" the blond continued to snarl, his captor merely rolling his eyes once again.

"_**My,**_" he said with a humored sigh,_** "Aren't we self-sacrificing today!**_" The Rod continued to chuckle as his opponent reluctantly summoned a monster in defense mode, a four armed, white winged demon appearing to stand at his summoner's side as the tablet appeared beside it. The monster could hardly move to stand in front of his 'master' with so much water before them really- rather than exhaust himself by 'hovering' in place, it chose to instead await further orders as his owner swallowed. '_Turn over,_' he could hear Yugi say, the Rod cackling madly from within his head. "_**EHEHEHEHEE! This is going to be great! Show time... **_It's my turn," he shouted through Katsuya's voice, the blond snarling in an almost feral tone as the switch in voices appeared. The teeth across his hands forced his hand to move and draw his card despite the snarls, adding the result to his hand as Katsuya spat at what he saw. "Draw! _**Now lets see what we got here,**_" the spirit continued with a chuckle, his host snarling as he looked at what was there. Monster, spell card, spell card, _another_ spell card... Besides one card his entire hand wasn't his!

"_You... Puttin' cards that ain't mine in my deck..!_"

"_**Well I **__**AM**__** the one playing,**_" the Rod drawled somewhat smugly,_** "So it's only right~**_"

Only '_right_'? "_THERE AIN'T NOTHIN' RIGHT ABOUT THIS,_" he roared, the spirit merely ignoring him as it set a card on the field.

"Hehehehehe... First I play the spell Raigeki, the lightning vortex," the Rod announced, a lightning storm appearing from the empty sky as opposed to a tablet arising as its container. The lightning charged toward a single target, electricity frying Baphomet to cinders as the monster gave stiff, twitching 'sniff'. The monster was quite clearly in pain of course; but how could it move with its body caught in a shocked 'lock', corpse falling into the seas only as its tablet finally caved under the pressure and ground to dust. "Hah! Your monster dies!"

"Gh- This card..!" Yugi looked across the field in horror as he unknowingly voiced his friend's thoughts, receiving nothing but a cold laugh in response. This card... It was illegal damn it!

"_**Psh! And how was I supposed to know,**_" the Rod 'asked', flames appearing to 'shrug' from the wrist in response to his host's thoughts.

"_As if you would even care,_" Katsuya spat, his body setting another card as a tablet appeared to his side. If the spirit of the Rod was surprised by the tablet he didn't show it however, instead going on with his move.

"I then summon the Alligator Sword in attack mode," the Rod shouted, familiar chinese gator arising to stand at the blond's side before shaking his head.

"_**Hnn..? A harbor duel,**_" he asked, looking over the waters with a frown as he turned to his summoner._** "But I thought I told you I can't duel in the water man...**_" Ah... That...

He couldn't see the Rod..! "_**Hnnn?**__" _The rod paused for a slight moment as the alligator addressed him, before chuckling under his breath and shaking it off. "_**Well isn't that interesting... Perhaps I should take advantage of this 'blind loyalty', hnhnhnhahaHA!**_" Gh- It wasn't blind loyalty it was partnership! "Alligator sword attacks directly," the spirit ordered, Katsuya continuing to struggle against the rod's hold as he shouted at the monster.

"_GH! 'GATOR! GATOR GET ME OUTTA HERE,_" he cried, the alligator unable to hear his master's shouts as he charged around the dock the 'long way' to cut at his opponent. "_Damn it Gator, WE'RE GONNA KILL HIM,"_ he screamed, forced to watch Yugi stumble back under the force of the blade before his monster semi-casually walked back along the docks._ "YOU GOTTA LISTEN, PLEASE!_"

For a moment, the gator appeared to react to the words, tilting his head as if to listen for a soft and mousy whisper. In the end however he merely frowned somewhat, crossing his arms as he turned to the blond. "_**Hey... You alright man, you seem off...**_" Off? It was more than 'off', it was...

"_Damn it..._" He couldn't hear him...

Katsuya's body smirked as the cold fact was realized, the spirit opting to give 'his' monster a somewhat reassuring nod before breaking into laughter at his opponent's pain. "Hnhnhn... HAHAHAHA! What's the matter," he shouted with a grin, his opponent merely clutching hist stomach with heaving breaths as he wheezed. The blond snarled at the Rod's taunts, struggling further against the hold as his monster frowned.

"_**Hey, Katsuya-jun,**_" the alligator suddenly whispered with a frown, his true summoner listening only slightly as he fought the Rod,_** "I think I actually dealt some damage there... That ain't 'residual' or nothing, that's a real hit I just made...**_" A real... A real hit? But how? The monster continued to frown, looking back at his summoner with a swallow._** "You better watch it man, you don't keep this under wraps and... Well I might seriously hurt him,**_" he warned, his summoner continuing to 'pale' in realized horror.

He was... _Hurting_ Yugi..? The blond stared across the field in his forced vision, 'swallowing' as the boy raised a slightly bloodied hand in confusion. "_But that ain't right,_" he whispered,_ "I can't..._"

"_**Oh ho ho,**_" the rod laughed, the teeth on his hand and arm curling into a dangerous grin as its flames heightened in an almost blackened light, "_**But it seems to me that you CAN! Such power your have hidden deep inside,**_" he muttered with a sinister laugh, the sound reverberating about his own skull._** "Your monster's right my dear little 'Katsuya', you're a loose cannon!**_" That wasn't right, that wasn't _right! _Someone... Tell him... Prove this thing wrong please, _please_-_** "You think you're the only thing 'this' can touch,**_" the Rod 'asked' with a leering grin, chuckling at the rising horror from within his host._** "That's because you don't want anyone else to know... You CAN'T let anyone else know, and when you keep something like that bottled in it GROWS, only this time you can't observe that growth for yourself! HAHAHAHAHA! AND NOW,**_" the spirit 'announced, chuckling under his breath,_** "Now that this body is in my control, your opinion means NOTHING! So while you wasted your power, it's under MY complete control!**_" Cont- But that couldn't be right, how was he... How was he causing... It just couldn't be he tried to tell himself with a swallow, shaking his head as he shook. He... He'd gotten pissed plenty of times before, that didn't mean people got struck down by his monsters... And he wasn't even... He wasn't...

That was only something that the guys with creepy, ancient golden Millennium Items could do... Something he didn't have! "_Gh... That ain't true,_" he spat with that thought in mind, listening as Yugi summoned the Big Shield Guardna to his defense, "_It ain't true! These ain't my feelin's... THIS ISN' WHAT I AM! You... You..!_"

The 'Shield Guardna' obscured the pair's view of Yugi completely as the tablet covered his back, the Millennium Rod still laughing as his opponent ended his turn. "_**Ohhhh but they **__**are**__** yours remember..? They're all **__**your**__** thoughts, **__**your**__** rages, however dis-jointed and mis-aimed they are,**_" the spirit 'reminded', moving to draw a card with a grin. "_**And now **_It's my turn again," he continued, Yugi gritting his teeth in response. "So you've summoned a wall monster eh," he asked, the Alligator beside him tilting his head with narrowed eyes as he stared in obvious suspicion. "Well that shield might be big," he continued, the shield monster in question doing his best to cover Yugi completely as the next card was set, "But it won't stop a fire ball! Now-"

The alligator's eyes widened, briefly grabbing at his 'summoner's arms before being casually snapped back. "_**Wh- Hey man, that's not...**_" The monster shook his head, looking back at Yugi briefly before continuing._** "This guy's your friend! You use something that direct and-**_" And..!

What did he mean _AND_! "TAKE THAT,_" _the Rod cackled through his voice, mad laughter filling the air as he ignored the monster's warnings. "_HINOTAMA_! THE FIREBALL!" Flames erupted from the sky, filling the air as both the Alligator and Katsuya stared in horror. Yugi was literally crushed by the blast, smoke singing the wood as laughter and screams both filled the air. "DIRECT DAMAGE," the spirit roared the Alligator stepping around the dock's support beam to look at the damage in disgust. "I'm going to fry you more than all the powers of RA! And with this power," he muttered under his breath, Yugi's screams dying down as the teen stood to breath haggardly, the scent of singed leather and hair hanging from the air, "It's more than easy..."

"_**You...**_" Katsuya's monster turned back with wide eyes, shaking his head as his so-called summoner continued to grin._** "You ain't Katsuya-jun,**_" the alligator warrior spat, stepping away as his supposed master leered at him. "_**I don't know what's going on,**_" he snarled as he ran down the side of the docks,_** "But you can forget about the '**__**rules of play'**__**!**_" Good... Good, just please...

Please make this _stop_... "Well," the Rod hissed under his breath, still smirking demonically even as his monster 'abandoned' the field. "It took him long enough... Hnhnnhnhnhn..."

"Gh..." Weakened coughs came from the other end of the docks, Yugi unknowingly helped up by both his 'Guardna' monster and the Alligator Sword. "Ngh..."

"_Yugi..._" How... How was _he_ doing this? He didn't want this, not in any way! And yet..._ "Yugi,_" Katsuya cried, shaking his head as he watched his friend weakly stumble to his feet. "_Yugi please," _he called desperately,_ "Just fight back..!_"

But for all he said he wasn't... He wasn't... "Jonouchi," the teen shouted, unaware that while the hologram of the Alligator stood on the field the monster was standing beside _him_ rather than the one who summoned him, "I won't give up... I'll free you from Malik's grasp even if it costs my life," he continued clearly, stern and determined scowl coming clearly from across the field. No...

No, no _no_! "_Yugi..!_" He couldn't... He had to fight back, he had to win!

"_**Ohhhh, how **__**sweet,**_" the Rod chuckled, visible eyes leering at the blond as Katsuya cried._** "It's almost **__**ironic**__** that your own power is what's going to bring about his end! Hehehehehe... Why... Even a being such as myself can get used to THIS,**_" he roared, cackling madly from within the body while flames rose in ferocity and heat. Bastard...

God damned bastard..! "_YOU MONSTER,_" the blond raged, clawing and prying at any semblance of control._ "GET OUT! GET OUT OF MY HEAD!_" Yugi had set a card face down from what he saw through the flaming haze... A blank stone tablet sat to his side, and on his other the carved stone image of his 'token hair-ball'. Kuriboh in attack mode Katsuya saw with a loud and pained cry, shaking his head. _Kuriboh_ in... "_Damn it,_" the blond whispered, unable to feel the tears that weren't running down his face._ "You have to live... You have to..._"

"My turn," the spirit said calmly, staring at the field with narrowed eyes as he chuckled. "_**Hnhnhnhn... Kuriboh in attack mode... Well,**_" the Rod cackled gleefully,_** "It looks like we've given him heat-stroke with that fire ball, good for you!**_"

Shut up... Shut up! "_There is no WE you god-awful, hell-bound sin agains' nature!_"

And again he received nothing but laughter as his response, the demonic spirit grinning widely in lieu of his host's rage. "_**Well **__**there's**__** the creativity I missed! But as I remind you again... You're wrong! Haha!**_ So you're going to sacrifice yourself to save my life," the spirit said to Yugi with a grin, chuckling as he drew his next card. "Well... When my Alligator attacks, you'll be good as dead," he continued, grin widening even as the alligator leered from the other side. "_**Thanks to this power of yours,**_" the Rod added darkly.

From across the field the monster in question snorted, crossing his arms. "_**Hah! See how well your attack hits when I'm not listening,**_" the alligator shouted in response, the words ignored as Yugi's voice over powered them.

"Jonouchi," he said with a swallow, hand on his disk as he stared forward. "We both need to survive this, understand..? Neither of us are going to die," he continued almost desperately, his friend weeping as the Rod howled in laughter.

"Psh! _**So naive... Isn't this the 'demonic' half as you once put it?**_" What? Katsuya tensed, staring at the toothy eye in incredulity. But he never- He'd never said that! "_**Think back now,**_" the spirit drawled,_** "But don't strain your head... **_Hnhnhnhnhn..." Gh- Monster..! "Keep believing what you want Yugi," the Rod continued with a smirk. "Either way, someone dies today, _**and it won't be ME**_! Now... ALLIGATOR SWORD," the spirit ordered with a snarl, "ATTACK KURIBOH!" Silence filled the air as the 'Gator narrowed his eyes, shaking his head.

"_**Like hell,**_" he muttered, crossing his arms as Guardna coughed. "_**This ain't right! I'm staying righ-**_"

"_**You might want to duck,**_" the monster muttered, his 'master's words supporting his and the Kuriboh's thoughts as the two looked at the Alligator in confusion.

"Activate trap," Yugi shouted, the tablet that stood conveniently behind the Alligator Sword abruptly crumbled, "Spellbinding Circle!" Chains of runes and shadows abruptly swung around the monster, knocking the wind out of the beast as the trap took effect.

"_**...That... That works too,**_" the Gator wheezed, toppling forward as he was restrained to the ground by the large circle.

"_**I warned you...**_"

"Gh..." The spirit of the Millennium rod growled as the tablet's dust blew away, "Trap card," The Rod continued to hiss with annoyance at the attacks prevention, chuckling coming from within his 'head' as Katsuya snarled.

"_Hehehehehe... When Yugi makes a promise he keeps it,_" the blond spat, continuing to push against his mental restraints with all he had. "_You're goin' DOWN! An' like I said b'fore,_" the teen roared, volume unrestrained in the confines of his body,_ "I'm takin' you with me!"_

"_**Tch...**_" The eyes Katsuya stared at merely narrowed further, before bringing his hand to the cards and disk as his host paled._** "Laugh all you want,**_" the spirit snarled, "It's not over yet!" The next card was slipped into place regardless of mental pleas to stop, the sky above darkening and converging into a violent 'hole' in the center of the sky. "I'll end my turn by playing another one of these... HINOTAMA! Hehehehehe... HAHAHAHAHA!"

Fires rained from above as ash filled the air, a shower of meteors raining upon the sea. Violent winds did nothing but buffet the clothes of those around, the sane that watched widening their eyes with both shock and awe before the largest blasted its target back against the docks. "Gh... GHRAAAAAAAAA!" Yugi..! "AAAAAHHHHH!" Fires swarmed the field, drenching the docks in ash and soot as Yugi was again crushed under the heat, remaining flames continuing to burn before the spell dissipated. "Ghk... Glk!"

"HAHAHAHAHA! This deck is filled with cards like these..." There would be at least one more Hinotama in this deck... "I don't need to attack your monsters," the Rod snarled, drunk on his own borrowed power as the sky held its darkened state, "I'll just keep burning you with flames until you can't stand!"

"Gn..." The smoke cleared from the field with those words, the cold wind slowly blowing it back to reveal the fallen form of his friend. "Ngh..."

"_Yugi..." _The teen slowly stumbled to his hands and knees, coughing as the smoke cleared from the air and distorted his vision. "_Yugi..! Don't die please... Please just get up,_" he begged through his tears,_ "You have to... You have to get up!_"

"Gh... Jonouchi," Yugi rasped, looking up with weak eyes as he struggled to do just that. The blond continued to 'cry' as he looked at his friend's face, skin red and covered with ash and tears. "Can't you hear your heart _crying,_" he asked, shaking his head. He _was_ crying damn it... He didn't want this, he didn't want... Any of this...

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Things like that," the Rod sneered, tilting his head as he 'responded' in the blond's place. "...Those don't matter to me at all," he said clearly, Yugi bowing his head and shaking in response.

"_Yugi... Yugi, Yugi, YUGI! Please... Don't listen to him, please don't,_" he begged, the endless laughter of the Millennium Rod echoing in the back of his mind. "_It's not true... It's not TRUE!"_

But Yugi couldn't hear him after all- so what was he supposed to believe? "How horrible," his friend was muttering, shaking his head as he struggled to straighten himself. "Compared to the pain I'm feeling now, that fireball was nothing..." The other Yugi's lighter half stood at his side, head bowed in his own silent pain as the other continued. "How could you _lose yourself_ like this," he asked, unable to hear the cries of his friend across him. "How _could_ you," he shouted, eyes wide in betrayed rage.

He wasn't doing this... Please, he wasn't... "_**Hnhnhnhn... You should listen closely,**_" the Rod bragged, chuckling evilly as the eyes widened with laughter. "_**It's you he's talking about!**_"

"_You... No he's not,_" the blond snarled, hissing and spitting at the monster holding him back._ "It's you!Putting these words in my mouth... What else is he supposed to think? When you're shouting all of this at him..!_"

"_**Ohhh, it's not like he couldn't use it...**_" Couldn't-_** "He's just a weak little boy isn't he,**_" the spirit asked with a low chuckle, his host swallowing back a roar for a brief moment. "_**Just another kid to bully, another one who could use a good beating to 'tough him up'**_," he continued, the words sounding far too similar to those he'd said long ago at the start of his freshman year. "_**'It'll make him a man'...**_" Gh... Ngh...

"_Shut up,_" he whispered, holding his head as he cried. "_SHUT UP! YUGI,_" he shouted desperately, slamming himself against the 'cage' he was in with all he had. "_YUGI! I'M RIGHT HERE! I'M NOT DOING THIS! So please... PLEASE! JUST STRIKE ME DOWN," _the blond begged, the ticking of the clock above them grating against his mind._ "PLEASE, YOU HAVE TO LIVE!_"

"_**He can't hear you,**_" the Rod muttered, eye rolling as it looked to the blond from his hand. "_**And would he honestly care if he could..?**_"

The spirit was responded with still more rage, Katsuya snarling and roaring almost draconically as he tore at his mental bonds. "_And since when did you CARE,_" he spat, unaware of the ignorance his captor had for the rage._ "Since when did you KNOW? THIS AIN'T YOUR BODY,"_ Katsuya roared, pulling and tearing at the cage as he cried, "_IT'S MINE! IT'S-_"

"JONOUCHI-KUN," a clear voice shouted over the field, both the Rod and Katsuya staring through the flaming vision as a calming breeze passed. The change between the two Yugi's was immediately noticeable, the wide and innocent stare coming from across the field with a confident smile. Where normally the other would stand, there was instead empty space, along with the tablets and monster the duel had summoned about. "This time," the boy was shouting through sad and constant tears, "I'll be your opponent... Understand?" No...

_NO!_ "_No no... NO!_" Katsuya went white as he struggled and tore at his 'cage', wailing as the spirit holding him also froze._ "YUGI YOU CAN'T DO THIS, YOU CAN'T!_"

"_**What's the meaning of this... This isn't the PHARAOH,**_" the Millennium Rod roared, for once sharing the opinions of his host. "_**This... **_You're NOT my opponent," the spirit shouted aloud, Katsuya raging against his bonds with more vigour than even before. "Switch out," he 'ordered', only for Yugi to stare back with the same innocent determination he held when worse came to worst. "BRING BACK THE PHARAOH!"

He couldn't fight this... He wouldn't... "_I can't... I CAN'T LET YOU TOUCH HIM,_" Katsuya spat, a pressing heat rising in his body as he roared. "_I CAN'T..."_

When Yugi made his mind however, it was always made up. _"_It's my turn," the boy said calmly, drawing his next card and closing his eyes over as he breathed deeply. No...

"_**NO,**_" the spirit snarled, his words mirroring that of his host for a brief moment.

"_NO! NNGGRAAAAAHHH! NO! I CAN'T LET THIS..! I CAN'T LET THIS HAPPEN," _he continued to cry, pushing with everything he had to just break free of the fires around him.

With the draw of a card across from him, he could hear a distant roar. Amid the shouts to kill, the shouts to fight, he heard a loud and menacing roar, and with a jolt, he felt his eyes open, the flames clearing as he snarled.

"_THIS... IS __MY__ BODY!_"

-_**GROAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOOOOO!**_-

It was a sudden 'calming' sensation what happened after the dragon's cry that he'd heard at that moment. He could see again, he realized rather quickly, the colour of the waters, of the sky and of the harbour around them coming to mind. And in addition to that, he could see...

_Himself_..? Katsuya pulled himself to his feet as he swallowed, eyes briefly widening as flames arose from the 'copy' of himself to impossible heights. It was as though he was looking at a tower of flames, a tower that now moved to stare at him with eerie and tooth-covered eyes from the very flesh and bones of his back. "_What in the hell is..._"

"_**Well well well Blondie...**_" Katsuya swallowed as the flames formed an extra 'eye' from nothing, using it to stare down and chuckle at his former host._** "You're just full of surprises, **__**aren't you**__**,**_" he asked, the eyes 'tilting' somewhat as the blond looked himself over. He was...

Transparent. Completely translucent, able to see himself through... Himself. But that meant he was a ghost didn't it? But how was that even possible, how- "Oh hell," he muttered with a swallow, looking from his pale and ethereal 'body' and back to his real one.

"_**'Hell' indeed,**_" the Rod said with a chuckle, the teeth and eye on the outstretched flame grinning wickedly as the teeth widened for a darker sneer. "_**You've **__**actually**__** managed to separate from your own BODY! You've managed to actually put **__**YOURSELF**__** into a soulless state! HNHNHAHAHA!**_" S-Soulles- He was _soulless_! But if he was here, and the Rod was in his body then... What did..._** "This is just rich,**_" the Rod shouted through laughs, a flaming 'arm' even wiping an imagined tear from his eye._** "It looks like you've got front row tickets to your best friend's death in full colour now kid! And when its all over, you'll **__**STILL**__** be good as dead! H-hahaha... HAHAHAHA!**_" Gh... This thing...

The blond clenched his fists, teeth grinding as he went red. "_Like HELL,_" he snarled, jumping at his body and pulling at the teeth holding the eyes in place in the flames. "_YOU AIN'T TOUCHIN' A HAIR ON THEM,_" he roared, hands slicing with each touch on the fangs as the fires burned into his skin

Words were echoing all around him again, volume increasing as he pulled at the fires and the teeth... _Kurose, kurose, kurose,_ it said, the blond pushing the thoughts to the back of his mind. "_**Gh- Get off me you RAT,**_" the spirit snarled, managing to keep the body from reacting as his fires burnt into Katsuya's skin. "_**You don't have a say in these things,**_" it snarled, eyes turning as Katsuya reached for his left arm.

Tch... "_I can sure as hell TRY,_" he snarled, tugging at the teeth on his 'card hand' arm before flames wrapped around his middle to violently throw him back. "_G- GHRAAGH!_"

"_**Tch!**_" The eyes rolled as they watched Katsuya choke and cough, the blond struggling to his feet while his captor glared._** "Suit yourself,**_" the Rod spat darkly, "_**But you won't be having any luck!**_" Gh... He'd see about that... He'd win damn it, no matter what it took... He'd get his body back and save Yugi..! "_**Now...**_ Don't take to long Yugi," the item snarled, looking across the field with a considerably more agitated glare as his opponent looked up from his hand, "We don't have all day after all!"

"_What was that,_" Katsuya hissed, jumping at the spirit's eyes and teeth yet again as his bottom half vanished into mist in the body,_ "Some kinda JOKE?_"

The eyes merely narrowed in response, teeth closing over slightly as they dug into Katsuya's hands. "_**Hnhnhnhn... You'd like to think that wouldn't you,**_" the spirit muttered darkly, only to wince as his former host tore a fang from the teeth on his arm in response. "_**GH-!**_"

"_Naw... But I'm definitely gonna be a pain in yer ass until th' second I die,_" he snarled as he held the fang up in minute triumph, Yugi's voice cutting across the field while he tossed the tooth away.

"I play the spell 'Card Exchange'," he announced clearly, the Millennium Rod narrowing the body's eyes momentarily. Like a number of spells before it, no tablet had appeared; there was no need for magic when the action was based in 'reality' after all, and when all that was to be done was a one-to-one trade of cards.

"_**Card exchange,**_" the spirit whispered, before snorting as his flames pushed Katsuya back yet again. Standing at Yugi's side once more was the other Yugi... He was shouting, staring at his partner with worry as the body walked around to meet with Katsuya's own at the center of the dock. "_**Well, alright then,**_" he decided, flames receeding. "Trading cards... Hn! Well now," the Rod said with a sneer, watching as Yugi held out his hand. Big mistake... Taking his eyes off his attacker! "Lets see what you h-_**GLK!**_" The spirit was cut off as Katsuya rammed his hand into the eye over his mouth, the 'ghost' wincing and shivering with distaste as the fluids from the eye drenched over his hand. It'd just been a hunch... Just a hunch, but as the spirit roared in sudden pain he knew he'd managed to act on the right 'feeling. "_**YOU,**_" the spirit hissed, flames jumping with rage as minute surprise came over the body's face,_** "What the hell do you think you're doing,**_" the spirit muttered darkly, flaming hands ripping Katsuya's hand from its eye and tossing the blond away with a snarl, "_**Damaging my EYES..?**_"

"_Gh- GNHAAA!" _The fluids from his arm dripped to the docks disgustingly, leaving just a slight stain as the blond attempted to stand._ "Tch..._" Obviously this was the right weak point... Wasn't it? He stumbled forward, wiping his mouth of the blood that somehow still existed in his more ethereal form. "_What does it look like,_" he muttered as the spirit stared, mutterings of 'kurose' abruptly replaced with the order to take the card he'd spotted in Yugi's hand. Orders... So this voice was... _Malik_..! The realization filled him with even more anger, knuckles cracking as his fists clenched for another attack. "_I don' break my promises... An' if you think I'm lettin' y' take Red-Eyes..._"

"_**Well... You're in for quite a disappointment then,**_" the spirit snarled, hands moving toward the card in question as he smirked, "_**Because it seems that my dear Master happens to be demanding it!**_"

Oh yea? "_And I said I AIN'T LETTIN' YAH!_" The blond launched himself at the body, partially merged with the form again as he pulled at the arm reaching forward. "_You seemed t' react when I gave y' a poke in th' eye,_" he continued with an almost insane grin, raising his hand in an almost spear-like fashion as fingers closed around the card, "_SO HOW ABOU' I DO IT AGAIN?_"

"_**GK Wh- ARR... RAAAAAAGHH!**_" The spirit hissed as Katsuya jammed his arm in through the eye, pulling back on what met his fingers as hard as he could. Despite the fact that the eye was only a few centimetres above the arm, his own was buried up to the elbow as he pushed, doing all he could to keep the ghost from taking the card. "_**YOUUUUU... YOU THINK YOU'RE GOING TO WIN LIKE THAT,**_" the monster roared, eyes narrowing before closing completely. Teeth closed over on the arm in the same manner as all the other eyes about it, Katsuya biting his lip as the teeth dug inches deep into his arm. Blood... Blood everywhere, but he was a ghost haha... He couldn't...

He couldn't die... At least not until he stopped this fight! "_Glk... I... I know I am,_" he hissed, wrapping his free arm around the limb that was once his as the fires attempted to pull the blond free. "_Because this ain't yours..! And this... Isn' somethin' I want t' do!_"

"_**GH.. HRAAAAAA...**_" The spirit raged in aggravation as it pulled at the blond, the boy before him unable to see through shut eyes that his opponent was now pulling at own wrist in rage._** "AAAGGHH! WHY! **_WHY," he roared, moving to hold his head as Yugi jumped at the shout. "WHY CAN'T I TAKE IT," he spat, the ghost on his arm continuing to pull and tear at the eye controlling it. "This should be EASY," he snarled, eyes wide with unbridled rage, "So WHY! I..!"

"_You're takin'... THIS ONE!_"

"RAAAGH!" A snap echoed through the air as flames surrounded his waist completely, the hand having just barely been switched to a separate card as the Millennium Rod screeched. "_**GET OFF ME..!**_" With a crack and a snarl the blond was again thrown back, the body's arm jerking from where it clenched one of Yugi's cards. Ghk... Katsuya choked as he gripped his shredded right arm, pulling himself to his knees as he looked toward the body. Did he... Did he manage to succeed...

_Why... WHY DIDN'T YOU TAKE RED-EYES,_ the 'voice' raged, the Millennium Rod cursing under its breath as Katsuya choked. He... Hahaha! He did! "_**It's... I... **_I don't need monsters," the spirit growled, making its excuses while its master hissed under his breath. "The direct attack spells are more than enough," he continued stiffly, holding his own hand out for Yugi to take his own choice of card. The flaming eyes leered at the ghost as his master reluctantly took the excuse, each and every jaw clenched tight in rage. "_**You... Are you trying to get me DESTROYED you blond RAT,**_" he snarled, Katsuya merely stumbling forward with a growl. "_**This arm of mine... What did you DO?**_"

"_Hehehehe... 'Destroyed' maybe..? Somethin' like that,_" he muttered, before launching himself at his body again with a snarl. "_I'm gonna do all it takes t' get rid 'f you... So 'sit back an enjoy th' show',_" he continued, only barely hearing the words of those around him.

"Jonouchi-kun," Yugi said calmly, unable to see the internal struggle as Katsuya again pulled at the eyes embedded in his body. "...I believe in you... I believe in the promise you made with the Other Me..." He did to..! He did to! It was with those thoughts that he was fighting now... Clawing at the eyes as the fires ate away at his form, as the teeth grew wide in pained agony from the wounds he was inflicting... "The reason you couldn't take Red-Eyes... It's because of that promise, isn't it," Yugi said with a sad smile, his friend giving a somewhat frenzied one in response as he gouged out the eye that rested above his right shoulder.

"_**AAAAAAGGGHHH! **_SHUT UP! Shut your mouth, _**BOTH OF YOU**_" the spirit roared, barely separating reality and 'fiction' himself as he screamed._** "And get OFF MY BODY,**_" he snarled, flames tugging on the blond as the 'ghost' wrapped his arms around his own neck.

"_How many times do I have t' say it... IT AIN'T YOURS!" _A sickening squelch came over the air with the destruction of another eye, the control over the body's throat all but shattered in response.

"_**Rrrr-GGGAAAAAAARRGH!**_"

And still Yugi spoke, filling his friend with encouragement even when the blond realized that the injured eyes on his arms still held their roots. "Jonouchi-kun... I also believe that this Red-Eyes will be able to wake you up, understand," he asked, the ghost merely pulling as hard as he could on the left arm's eye.

"_Loud an' clear,_" he grunted, both hands digging in even as fires curled around him,_ "Loud an'-_"

"_**THAT... IS... ENOUGH!**_" The blond was tossed back down the docks, the Millennium Rod steering his body back into position as it spoke. "Tch... Whether it's me or you one of us is going to die," he spat, walking back to his side of the field as his opponent reluctantly did the same, "So shut the fuck up," he snarled, ignoring the streams of tears now running down Yugi's face. No...

Don't cry, he thought with a choke, his own eyes welling up as he came to his knees. Don't... "...My turn," the boy choked, his friend's spirit struggling to his feet as he watched. "...My turn isn't done yet. I sacrifice both my monsters," he continued as the pair both errupted into pillars of black light, a tablet appearing behind him in response, "And I summon Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"

Another roar filled the air, nearly identical to what he'd heard prior as red smoke filled the fresh and clear carving in the stone. "_**GROAAAAAAAOOOOOO! GRAAAOOOOOOOOO!**_" Red... Midnight black scales glowed brightly in the setting sun as the beast appeared, his brilliance rivalling even Blue-Eyes as it cracked its joints to growl.

Red eyes... The dragon's roar was sad and mourning as it looked toward the blond across him on the field, Katsuya staring as the monster curled protectively around Yugi. Red-eyes... He'd... "_Gh... Ghn..._" Damn it... Katsuya bowed his head momentarily as he sniffed, choking on the breaths he didn't even think he needed. He couldn't cry, he couldn't... He... "_Gh... GRAAAAAHHH!_" He charged his body once again, lower half once more vanishing into the flames as he screamed and tore at the now visible bonds. "_This is my body... THIS IS MINE, an' I'm TAKIN' IT BACK!_"

"_**GRN! THIS...**_" A piercing scream hit the air as Katsuya again struck the eyes on the body, his own shouts mixed with that of the Rod's as he cried._** "NO,**_" the item shouted, _** This isn't supposed to happen, it's **__**mine**__** now! It's MY body! You..! What is THIS,**_" he screeched, waves of misery flowing over him rather than the hate and rage he'd so instilled. "_**What IS this!**_"

'This'? Tch... "_There're __my feelings,_" Katsuya snarled, gripping the top of his body's head as he reached for the next eye,_ "My real ones!_"

"Jonouchi-kun," Yugi shouted, choking through his tears as the spirit and his friend both screamed without his knowledge. "You can hear it can't you," he asked, the dragon above him giving a low and pained roar. "Red-Eyes... Red-Eyes is crying for you," he shouted as he as well continued to cry, "And we're both fighting for you! Because we believe in you, Jonouchi-kun... We ALL believe! Now... RED-EYES," the boy ordered, dragon taking aim as his targets both continued their own private battle, "ATTACK... _**BLACK FIRE BULLET!**_"

The low roar that filled the field snapped the somewhat forgotten Alligator Sword at the side from his spell-induced silence, the monster's eyes widening as flames licked the side of the dragon's maw. "_**Gh- **__**Shit,**_" he muttered, looking from the dragon to his 'summoner' with a jolt,_** "If that thing connects...**_" As Katsuya continued to attempt to wrench control of his body back his trapped Alligator sword forced himself to his feet, tail whipping behind him in agitation as he made up his mind. "_**Gh... I don't know what's going on here pal, but you better snap out of it... You owe me one,**_" he continued, launching himself out toward the seas as he looked up at Red-Eyes with a half-hearted grin. "_**HOI! DRAGON!**_"

Flames streamed across the seas before them, steam filling the air as Red-Eyes arose and destroyed the Alligator Sword. A target was a target after all, and the alligator had made his decision; as a monster for the other side, he would take the attacks for it as well. And even as the tablet crumbled, even as the alligator's body vanished completely, Red-Eyes' mourning cries filled the air... And despite the monster's dying intent, scraps of fire still caught onto the body's jacket, scorching the edges of the fabric and stinging the body's skin as the Rod stared in horror. "_**This...This **_isn't supposed _**to happen!**_ What... WHAT _**IS THIS,**_" he roared, speech appearing broken and half crazed as he momentarily moved his attentions from the blond to the field.

"_Heh... I guess I'm jus' special like that,_" Katsuya spat, only to wince and cry as he was flung back in flames toward the waters behind them. "_G-Hngah!_" An echoing splash came over the air, Katsuya pulling himself above the seas to cough as flames leered at him from above.

"_**This... 'SPECIAL',**_" the item 'asked' with a cackle._** "**_Don't make me LAUGH_**,**_" the spirit roared, Red-Eyes crying out as the shouts filled the air before it. "That didn't hurt ONE BIT! Not one BIT! _**You haven't seen ANYTHING yet,**_" the eyes snarled, each one speaking as their host pulled himself out of the waters. "_**NOTHING!**_"

"_Gh... Khk... Kack!_" How could 'ghosts' even begin to drown..?

"_**This...**_ This is the end," the Rod muttered crazily, chuckling under his breath with wide and insane eyes. "It's my turn again, and with this your life will finally END..! HNHNHAHAHAHA!" Bastard, he thought, fingers digging into the planks on the dock as he pulled himself forward, _bastard_... Using his voice... Like that..! The sound of clinking metal hit the blond's ears, Katsuya struggling to his feet only to stare as Yugi stood at his side of the field. A wind was passing as he stood there, something gold shimmering from beneath Red-Eyes' protective position. His hands... The puzzle was in... The spirit of the Rod as well stared, his own eyes widening momentarily. "What..."

"_What are you doing,_" both 'spirits' whispered in shock, before a grin came over the body's face. The ghost at the side shook his head, tears again running down his face. "_What are you DOING,_" Katsuya roared in fear, the 'other Yugi' no longer in sight as the original held the puzzle in his hands with a small and tear-filled smile as flames and meteors again rained from above. "_YUGI!_"

"HINOTAMA!"

"_YUGI! ...NO!_"

* * *

While fires and screams filled the air on Domino Pier, it would be a very large lie to say that the feelings of dread were mirrored across the entire city. If anything the wide-spread emotions consisted of 'normalcy', 'boredom', 'idle amusement' at the best, and if any of those people realized what was going on they would have more than likely pushed it out of mind as quickly as possible before walking away. It was now around quarter after seven with all of the wandering the four teens, now just arrived from Osaka, had finished with at the train station. In the distance the sun was already beginning to set, with streams of red and gold bleeding across the sky above while the occasional pigeon flew past.

For all its beauty however, there was still one among them who couldn't see it, and as Keiichi slowly led his friend outside the station he had to bite his lip. "It's been so long since I came here," the girl was whispering as her friend guided her through the crowd, the other members of the group currently arguing over taxi fare ahead of them. Traffic had started to run again as soon as 6 PM struck it seemed, and cars were again roaming the streets freely as they came to the roads. While those ahead continued to argue however, Keiichi looked around for a bench, his friend breathing in the air of the city with a sigh. "Six... Seven years maybe..?"

Well... He'd first met her in year one of middle school, so it was at least three... In any case, with a number like that, when they hadn't even started high-school yet... "It's a long time," her friend muttered in agreement, Shizuka smiling somewhat as she 'looked' at the boy.

"I used to pass this station on my way to school every morning with Katsuya-nihan," she said lightly, shaking her head as the smile saddened. "I... I would love to be able to see this city again..."

Keiichi nodded somewhat, loosely holding her hand as he looked away. She would... But in the end, the fear of that being ripped away was... Just too much. And in the end, he'd said all he could, hadn't he?

The boy continued to stare off somewhat as their 'travel companions' finally stopped bickering, turning to the pair with nods. "Alright," Honda muttered, scratching his head and walking toward them with a shrug, "So... Domino Pier is at the exact other end of the city..." The _exact_ other end? He was pretty sure it was more to the east, given that was the only side Domino had a harbour on according to the map... The teen continued to scratch his head, before moving his hands to his pockets. "Anyways, since I paid for the food, I can't pay for a cab heading out that far..."

"And I paid for almost _three_ train tickets," Otogi added with a frown as he momentarily glared at his friend, "So I don't even have change for a _block_ in a taxi..." Wh... The two fell silent at that, the others blinking for a moment before Keiichi tensed.

Oh _hell _they were looking at him! "Gh- Oi oi... Don't tell me you expect me to pay," he growled. "I just finished spending all I had on the hotel room I used here, I don't have anything left!" Which reminded him, he really had to thank Jonouchi for that ramen now...

Shizuka sighed, feeling around for a bench to sit on as the others continued to argue about the cab. "Well then what do we do," Honda hissed in response, "Walk around for forty minutes?"

Otogi scowled at that, shaking his head as he dropped the expression to sigh. "Well, it's our only bet... But who'll carry Shizuka-chan," he asked, Keiichi and Shizuka both raising their eyebrows briefly at the question. Er... What..?

The two teens paused at that, Honda frowning as he mulled the question over. "Hnn..." The taller of the boys immediately began glaring at each other when the answer refused to appear, both gritting their teeth. "Tch... Ja-Ken for it," Honda shouted, holding out a fist.

The other nodded, doing the same with a shout. "Right!" Wh-

"Gh- She can walk on her own you nimrods!"

"Hihihihihi..!" Laughter filled the air from the distance, the blood draining from two of the teens faces in response. That sound... Honda and Ryuzaki traded looks briefly before the shorter shrugged, shaking his head with a swallow.

"H-Hey," he said quickly, "I'm not dueling any more today, and-"

"M.. Mai," Honda shouted, the teen grabbing Otogi by the arm and running off toward the source. "Mai!"

"Hey, what-" Otogi cut himself off as he caught sight at the woman Honda was pulling him towards, choking somewhat as his friend continued shouting.

"What ever you do, don't do what I would," he seemed to hiss, running over to the scantily clad woman with a cough. "Hey Mai, you... You gotta help us," he asked nervously, "We-"

The woman turned from where she'd finished speaking on a train station pay phone, raising her eyebrows momentarily before grinning. "Ah- Honda! I haven't seen you since February!" There was a slight look of incredulity from Otogi as his friend grinned, the woman laughing somewhat. "Hah! That makes everyone but Jonouchi," she muttered, crossing her arms with a slightly wry smirk. "Well... I don't suppose you know where he is do you," she asked, raising her eyebrows. "I'd like to at least say 'hello' before the finals, maybe see how he's doing..."

"Er... Actually it's about that," Otogi said with a cough, finally finding his voice as his face grew tomato red. "See, we think he's at the pier," he continued, "But-"

There was a cough from behind the two, Keiichi helping his friend up and leading the girl over with a scowl. "Hey thanks for leaving us behind you _dicks..._" The two laughed somewhat nervously rather than snarling at the jibe, the shorter of the three continuing to scowl as he looked toward Mai. Eck... Of all the 'coincidences'...

They just _had_ to know Mai personally, didn't they, he thought with a slight look of distaste. "Ah- Dinosaur Ryuzaki," she asked, the Keiichi continuing to frown.

"Its... It's a long story," Honda said with a cough, ignoring the scowl from the others in response. Oh come on, it would take five minutes _tops_. "Anyways, we need to get to the pier and-"

"Ah... So you're Kujaku Mai," another voice cut in, Shizuka turning to where Mai's voice had come from. The woman blinked, looking over Shizuka as the girl bowed somewhat in greeting. "Katsuya-nihan told me about you," she explained as the others stared, smiling politely. "You're the one who gave him and his friends chocolate on Valentines right?"

Otogi coughed at that, staring as Keiichi shook himself. "H- Mai gave you chocolate," the boy hissed, the others shrugging as the more red-faced blinked a few times.

"Well... _I_ wasn't there so..."

"Katsuya..." The others blinked as the older woman crossed her arms, staring. "That's Jonouchi. right," Mai asked, Shizuka nodding in response. She fell silent for a moment at that, staring at the girl with an odd expression on her face before glancing to the others. "...Alright. I'll take you to the pier in my car," she decided, the others jumping somewhat in response. Ah- Just like that? "It's just over there," she added, pointing toward the parking lot. "I'll help Shizuka over in a moment, so just wait in the car," she continued plainly. "It'll be the red one." Either Mai was laid back about car security and had left the doors open, or she had a convertible... ...A red...

Convertible... The boys turned, walking toward the lot as Mai stared talking with Shizuka behind them. It didn't take too long to find the car in question, but when they _did, _it certainly stopped them in their tracks. "Ah- That's... That's a..."

Honda grinned as the two others stared incredulously at the car, the two looking back at their friend with wide eyes. "That's a... Is that a _ferrari_," Otogi asked incredulously, the grin widening from behind them.

"What did I tell you," the teen said with a laugh, hopping over the side of the 'roof-less' vehicle to sit in the back. "She's the greatest!"

Besides the fact that this was the exact opposite of what Honda had been complaining about earlier on, there were no disagreements when Mai returned with Shizuka to start the car.

**

* * *

AN:** You can all cheer up with that ending~ It was either that or do a really _mean_ mood-whiplash with the next chapter by starting it off with this.

In any case, you haven't seen anything yet when it comes to the Millennium Rod! Prepare to have nightmares! (And in the case of the next chapter, fan-art to fuel them.)

And in other news, I've been listening to 'Coward Mont Blanc' _endlessly_ as I typed this chapter. Bizarrely, it creates a very welcome mood and feel to type this stuff to.

Even though the message of the song conveys something like a couple breaking up, or an abortion... And is by vocaloid _Gumi_...

Don't you judge me in how my brain works!

Now, since I can't say much else lest buckets of spoilers fall out of my mouth (Did I mention I'm _really_ excited about this duel, even though it's actually almost over?), we're moving on!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey there CynicalGamer! And oh my god it's _way_ worse; if he'd been 'normal' he'd have blacked out! And as you can see above, I have raised _still_ more questions… Though if you look closely, this can also be considered a hint as to his Egyptian origins.

Clearly the reason is because of friends. Yes… (Though regardless of what Seto thinks, it did end up being Mokuba's worry that got her to speak up.)

And hehehehe… It's always fun to 'ruin the dub' as I put it. It makes me feel like I'm breaking all the rules of broadcasting, even though it's just fanfic.

And as usual, regardless of time, your response is always welcome! I'm glad my explanations were of use, and as for the Rod being creepy…

Oooooh just wait… (And yes, you could argue that it's the 'Will' of the Millennium Rod. A closer description would be the 'embodiment', effectively the Rod _itself_; in fact, with the Tauk and Eye both, that's exactly what Jonouchi met. He was effectively speaking with the items.) As for when the others will realize what's going on, it's very soon; within this arc at least.

Though it could end up pushed back depending on which duel I decide to use, due to the Virtual World Arc… Oh well. Fun times! Let's go!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that can't help but shudder when it realizes how much more is yet to come...

* * *

The chapter title 'Where Katsuya Waits' is referring to the title of the 'last' manga chapter, rather, the one depicted at the centre of the last chapter. It was called 'Where Jonouchi Waits', and was basically the chapter where Malik pestered Yugi about how he'd kidnapped his friends and such.

In other words, the 'duel-wrap-up' chapter. How dare they waste a good title there! As for the Katsuya used instead of Jonouchi…

That's for you to find out later, hehehehe.

* * *

Originally, Mokuba asks why they aren't just heading for the finals since Kaiba has all six cards. He also calls Jonouchi a loser.

You can _probably_ guess really, really quickly how much dialogue was changed in this chapter. Also _why_.

One of those other changes was Kaiba's focus in the conversation; originally, Kaiba was pushing about 'Ra', asking if Malik really had it. But as you can see, Kaiba's currently a little more focused on other things. Kaiba also took this scene _far_ more lightly in the anime and manga, and it wasn't until the threat of the duel Yugi was being pulled into was _revealed_ (As in, _AFTER_ they were shackled to an anchor!) that he dropped the grin for sheer horror and disgust!

And of course in this case, Kaiba just ended up feeling _worse_ rather than going from amused as heck to disgusted.

* * *

It's true! In hypnotism, you can't make a person do something they wouldn't want to do! It's impossible!

* * *

Remember way back when I fixed the 'age issue' with everyone? Here's a simple and easy chart to see who's older than who in this fanfic. And their birthdays!

Of which Shizuka _has none_; quick, send in your ideas! (I'd say the same for Rishid, but we'll be seeing a lot more of Shizuka compared to him...)

As a side note, remember; for those in the same 'year', the 'year' doesn't start until April, due to how the school system works over there; in other words, for the main cast, the closer you are to April, the older. So those who are certain years older than the others might only be a few months apart. As for what 'by fanfic's standards' means, it means that certain ages are obviously different than what the anime says, due to the timing of things and the birthdates. (In other words, it's a disclaimer. Hee.)

And also yes, this means Haga is turning 14 while everyone is in the airship. He's still only considered 'two years younger' due to the above though, not to mention the fact that he's written down as 13 because it's only the _20__th_ in the fanfic. Now then! It's a long one...

Oldest

Rishid Ishtar (Age unknown; but given that he's older than Ishizu...) - No known birthday!

Mai Kujaku (Eight years older than the main cast; currently 24 by fanfic's standards) – November 20

Ishizu Ishtar (Five years older than the main cast; currently 21 by fanfic's standards) – April 5

Malik Ishtar (One year older than the main cast; currently 17 by fanfic's standards) – December 23

Hiroto Honda (17 by fanfic's standards) – April 19

Yugi Mutou (17 by fanfic's standards) – June 4

Anzu Mazaki (16 by fanfic's standards) – August 18

Ryou Bakura (16 by fanfic's standards) – September 2

Seto Kaiba (16 by fanfic's standards) – October 25

Katsuya Jonouchi (16 by fanfic's standards) – January 25

Ryuuji Otogi (16 by fanfic's standards) – February 28

Shizuka Kawai (One Year younger than the main cast; most likely 15 by fanfic's standards) – Unknown

Keiichi Ryuuzaki (One Year younger than the main cast; 14 by fanfic's standards) – December 29

Katsugi Haga (Two years younger than the main cast; 13 by fanfic's standards) – July 21

Mokuba Kaiba (Five years younger than the main cast; 12 by fanfic's standards) – July 7

Youngest

You'll notice Rebecca isn't up there. Apparently, she doesn't have a birthday either. (As it is, the only reason I can place both Rishid and Shizuka with confidence is because Mai's birthday is relatively late in the year, and Ryuzaki's is on the freaking 29th of December.)

* * *

I actually cut a large chunk of dialogue out from this section as well, in addition to the alterations; originally, Kaiba has a fair amount to say about 'why people fight', and seems quite entertained by the idea of the two best friends duking it out… And then the above happened and… Yea. In any case, since Fanfic Kaiba actually _is_ worried about Jonouchi _before_ getting there, she obviously isn't doing any of that.

* * *

Oh hey, possessed Jonouchi. You can tell he's possessed, because his accent mysteriously vanished. (Ohohohoho) And yes, the Millennium Rod is ad-libbing rather than broadcasting Malik's voice; it's because he can directly tick Jonouchi off that way, by saying the exact _opposite_ of what the blond wants... Ironically, this makes it seem as though Malik has _that much control_ over Jonouchi... When in reality, it's no more than others, if anything, _less_ than others, because this means Jonouchi can fight back.

* * *

Since Kaiba's taking a far more direct role in terms of the possession issue, the speech given to Mokuba about duelists is cut as well. So much cutting! And on another 'cut' note, Yugi originally said they were supposed to fight with pride on the line. Because hey, that's the first thing that comes to mind when I think of playing against a friend. Telling them that they'll be _horribly humiliated_ when they lose.

* * *

Kaiba's referring to the promise Jonouchi gave to 'not die' of course. Or make her brother worry. Of course, she's too damn proud to admit to saying it was a promise between two people as... Well, people, so she's saying 'employee'.

* * *

I tell you, in a language that's so rooted in gender-specific pronouns, it's hard to figure out how to deal with the 'Anzu's a she but is possessed by a man' bit. In the end, all pronouns directly referring to Malik, speech in other words, will be male. Actions however, or anything referring to the body, will be female. Yayyyy.

* * *

Anzu got rid of the poison capsule because it wasn't needed any more; the Kaiba siblings stay out of the duel because of the younger being held at knifepoint, not because Anzu's going to die. As to tossing the coat and duel-disk aside...

_Whaaaaat! But Usagi, Kaiba later takes those two out using cards_!

Oh trust me guys, Fanfic-Kaiba's way will be much better. I think. Um. And on a side note with the duel disk, you've probably been wondering why I'm pressing the hint that you could potentially injure someone with it.

_You will see, trust me_. And you will probably shit bricks as a result.

* * *

For those wondering why the Rod is being referred to as 'he', it's because it's possessing a male body and fulfilling the will of a male item-holder. Also, it _sounds_ male, so that's the 'gender' Jou's mind is subconciously pinning to it.

* * *

Alligator, or 'Gator''s way of referring to Jonouchi uses a Chinese honorific meant for male friends and respected people... Since he has a Chinese accent. And since Jonouchi is technically both in his monster's eyes, this fits.

* * *

'Raigeki' is a verb _of sorts _(It's not technically a verb.), meaning 'to be struck by lightning'. It also means 'torpedo strike' oddly enough…

'Hinotama' on the other hand comes from 'Hi', or 'Fire', and 'Tama', meaning 'Ball'. 'Hinotama' _literally_ means 'Ball of Fire'; the 'no' is a particle.

And as a bit of a genius bonus... Hinotama is also the term used for _shooting stars_, AKA meteorites and comets.

* * *

Here's another note on the heart/soul deal; Yugi is saying 'kokoro'. So it can mean heart both figuratively (IE, the 'soul') and literally. As to why I'm bothering with that... Eh, mostly a reminder.

* * *

Part of the 'Leaving with Mai' conversation was cut, as rather than Mai leaving the others to speak to Shizuka, Ryuzaki walks over _with_ her; because really, leaving the recently blinded alone on a bench is _not cool_. (Mai originally moved from the boys to where Shizuka was sitting, and then encouraged her to take off the bandages. She still does this, but since it's Ryuzaki's point of view, we don't hear it.)

Also, don't tell those two they're holding hands, they'll probably both deny it and make excuses really really quickly.

* * *

Speaking of the above scene, when Honda says 'Jan-ken', he refers to what Rock-Paper-Scissors is known as in Japan (And South America oddly enough), namely 'Jan-Ken-Pon'.

* * *

Otogi's reaction to Mai is based on a later panel in the manga; while they're driving off in Mai's car, Honda's freaking out about the speed while Otogi is _beet red_ thinking 'Mai's HOT!'.

Says the one who could potentially turn men gay by simply existing...

* * *

As for Mai's car, it's hard to tell from the manga, but besides being a red convertible, the little logo on the front looks suspiciously like a rearing horse… You know… The Ferrari's symbol..?

* * *

Well, that's it for today! Expect the next chapter soon enough...

Until next time!


	75. Chapter 74

**The Gift of Sight**

* * *

Being forced to sit on the sidelines was a 'new' thing for Seto Kaiba. Being _on_ the sidelines even was... 'New', depending on perspectives. After all, where else would she sit when the battle had no part for her to play? To be forced to do anything, or more accurately 'nothing' however was a rare if not foreign feeling, an action that she personally strived to avoid due to her distaste for the matter. There had been far too many things left out of control, things that she would hold on a tight leash for such a reason.

But the fact was that despite these thoughts, if she made a single move Mokuba was dead. And that fact alone would keep her standing there, no matter how much the thought bored at her every being. No matter how much disgust she felt as the blond she'd had working on her security staff acted in stark contrast of his usual self. No matter how much denied fear she felt as the blond acted similar to what she'd 'expected' upon discovering his backgrounds. To what she had, for a brief moment, seen from records dredged up for the required 'check-up' of his history.

Actions that despite this, she had grown used to considering 'non-existent', actions that Mokuba would never have to see from the blond, and actions that he would never be forced to watch.

Actions that held a chilling reminder of her 'old self', before whatever madness her rival had inflicted upon her. Before that 'coma' that somehow allowed her to clear her mind.

There were things that happened before her that she tried, despite emotions she preferred not to acknowledge, to pass off as a trick of the light. Things that while she watched the duel that was taking place before her were considered the stuff of hallucinations, dreams, nightmares even as she so tried to convince herself. Flames and thunder were simply her imagination extending the limits of the duel disk, stumbling a common side-effect of the 'Solid Vision', the blood merely the red light above catching Yugi's hand wrong. There was a reason why direct-attack spells had been made illegal in the tournament after all, and that was the increased damage to the player... There was nothing 'real' about it, nothing but the chains holding the two boys in place as they fought despite all previous interactions.

But the fact remained that she couldn't explain the apocalyptic vision of the sky before her as meteors fell from the clouds above. She couldn't explain the flames that filled the air as stones struck the seas to bring miniature geysers all about the dock, ashes floating on the waters as steam was left to fill the harbor in its wake. She couldn't explain the fact that Red-Eyes was hovering behind and around Yugi rather than before him in its rightful place, nor could she explain the smoke that filled the field after each attack struck his side of the field.

And the fact was, she didn't like being unable to explain things. It was something that she detested, something she loathed with all her being. Everything had a reason. It was the thing that held everything together, held everything rooted to the ground so that it could be worked with. The thing that kept control in place, that kept confusion and fear from arising. The thing that made certain she would be able to do whatever was required, whatever was wanted, whatever _she_ wanted of the situation.

The thing that was missing now, as she stood with her hands on her head and stared at the steaming seas with wide eyes. And as she looked forward, something caught her eyes, the woman choking in silence as she watched Yugi stumble to his feet and walk toward his friend. He'd only just barely recovered from the last of the 'hinotama' attacks, a fact that was plainly obvious as he stumbled forward, but that wasn't what she found her attention drawn to. Around his neck... There was _nothing_. Nothing but the leather 'collar' he'd taken to wearing in the recent months or so, likely longer given her own 'absence', and the chain of his puzzle was gripped tightly in his hands rather than hanging around his neck. But what... What was he doing..? What could he possibly be doing with this..! Jonouchi was paying him no mind at the moment- Yugi was too weak to walk properly really, and he'd barely made it past the first support beam for the docks, leaving the blond's attention to the field as he made his move. But to have taken off the puzzle, after already switching back to the 'calm' side, leaving the 'fighter' within the device..!

"You fool," she hissed under her breath, voice unheard by the others. "You _damned_ yourself..."

She didn't like not 'knowing'... But there was still more to come, wasn't there?

* * *

For Yugi to continue standing after the last attack was more than a surprise in Katsuya's opinion.

Hell it was a god-damned _miracle _he told himself, barely able to spot the boy from his location behind his 'body'. He could hear him coughing as the flames cleared from the air, steam hovering over the seas even while he pulled himself up the docks where he'd landed. It was hard to move... Being a 'ghost' was hard, so hard, and yet... "_Ghn... Yugi,_" he whispered, struggling for breath as he clawed at the dock's wooden planks. The boy was walking... Stumbling slowly toward his side of the dock, but even now he'd barely made it to the support pillar before collapsing against the structure with weary and shaking limbs. "_Yugi..!_"

"_**Ooooh... So **__**sad**__** isn't it,**_" the Millennium Rod said with a sneer, its flaming form and grin still hovering above the body that was so tightly within its grasp. "_**But don't worry,**_" he reassured the blond, the body momentarily looking back at him to grin as well._** "It's allllmost over... All I need to do is destroy that pesky little dragon of yours,**_" he continued maliciously,_** "And it'll all be over...**_" Gh... And 'over' meant 'dead'... And he couldn't... Let that...

The blond's fingers dug into the wood as he attempted to regain his strength, bowing his head before a voice pulled his eyes back up to the docks. "Jonouchi-kun," Yugi rasped weakly, the chain on his wrist clinking across the ground as he moved across the wood. "Whatever happens... I just can't kill you," he cried, eyes having run dry from the amount of crying he'd already done. "I can't... So please," he begged through heaving breaths, "Listen to me..." His voice appeared to fade into whispers almost as his 'other' pulled back at him, actions ignored as the boy slowly continued forward. "Please," he rasped, barely half-way along the docks as Red-Eyes watched carefully from the side. "_Please_..."

Katsuya bowed his head at the words, shaking as sobs wracked his body. Damn it... He'd been listening the entire time... The entire hellish time, unable to say anything..! "_**Hnhnhnhnhn...**_" And instead, he had 'this' for his voice..!_** "**_My turn isn't finished yet," the Rod announced, the 'ghost' behind him continuing to pull his way across the docks with weakened movements thanks to the injuries sustained from the teeth and flames. "I'm summoning the Rocket Warrior," the monster called out, tablet appearing at his side before smoke wrapped around the outward facing carving. "And using his special effect," he continued with a sneer, "I can weaken your Dragon, taking 1500 points from its attack! Hnhnhnhnhn..." The ghost behind him grit his teeth as blood and dust stuck to sticky and burnt wounds, barely managing to pull his leg back out of the water from where he'd been thrown. Clearly...

The Rod had far too much time to get used to his body... Given the comfort he had in all of his smoothly made movements. Just slightly across from him now however, the item's opponent wasn't appearing to listen, instead continuing forward as his friend looked toward him miserably. "...Jonouchi-kun," Yugi was saying again, holding the puzzle forward on its chain with a wracking cough as he shuddered. "If I keep this," he whispered, "Then... When I..." When what..? The end of that sentence couldn't be what he thought it was, couldn't be what his mind told him it was, it couldn't..!

"_Yugi," _he whispered, pulling himself to his hands and knees as he collapsed to the dock's floor,_ "What're y' sayin'... What are y'..._"

The Millennium Rod's shout for attack cut him off, a torpedo launching from the tablet with an echoing boom. "The Rocket Warrior attacks," the spirit announced, Red-Eyes roaring as the green and checkered flag marked rocket tore toward its charge. But wait...

That thing was supposed to attack a monster, not the player! "_Gh- You can't do that... Yugi is-_"

"_**Hnhnhn... There's been a change in plans,**_" the spirit said with a nigh demonic grin._** "Besides,**_" he added with a laugh, the grin transferring to the human body as the 'eye's loomed above the blond, "_**What the rest can't see won't hurt them... Right?**_" No... He paled, staring in horror as the rocket spun and twisted in a dart-like motion. No... No, no, n-

NO! The blond shook his head, jumping from his place on the docks with renewed strength as he snatched at the spirit's eyes. "_No,_" he cried, somehow appearing to the front of the body rather than the back as his bleeding and torn fingers clawed at eyes blossoming from his legs and knees._ "You can't touch him! I won't let... I WON'T LET YOU,_" he roared, spiritual form enveloped in flames as it was tossed forward into the seas. "_GLACK!_"

The flaming eyes merely sneered, 'arms' flapping in the wind as they retreated back to the body. "_**Tch... Get off of me, PEST!**_"

Pest... He would show him more than 'pest', he growled from within his mind, using the key-box as a hand-hold before launching himself forward with the roars and growls of the dragon behind him. "_I won't... I CAN'T LET YOU DO THIS!_"

"_**GRNNNAAAAAAAOOOOO!**_" And with a pain-filled howl the attack was brought to a screeching halt, a dragon's roar pulling the blond's attention to the field as Yugi appeared to freeze momentarily.

Something had dropped, fallen to the ground, the sound of a splash catching his ears and Yugi's both as the boy turned to look at his side. From beneath the shadow above and beside him the waters seemed to run dark and red with blood, an enormous and black-scaled arm sinking into the seas. Even with that a steady stream of red continued to fall, tatters of what remained from Red-Eyes' right wing hanging on mere sinews as blood pooled beside him. "R... Red-Eyes," Yugi muttered, looking up into bright red eyes as he shook his head. "You... _How_..!"

Katsuya stared in horror as the dragon merely growled lowly in response, shaking his head. "_No... No,_" he shouted, tears running down his fist. This dragon... He wasn't even supposed to be fighting now, this was his 'break', his chance to rest..! He shouldn't have been here, let alone suffering the most of all his monsters so far..!_ "Red-Eyes,_" he wept, body sinking into the solid version behind him as he cried._ "Red-Eyes!_"

"_**Gh... Ngh...**_" Flames again wrapped around Katsuya's form, the blond tossed off behind him as both the 'spirit' and 'body' both began to react to some unseen force of nature._** "Pain,**_" the Rod cried, shaking his eyes and 'head' both as he snarled._** "**_Pain, pain PAIN... WHAT _**IS THIS **_PAIN!" The Rod clutched his right arm with a roar, nails digging into the body's flesh as Katsuya again stumbled to his feet from the side. "RGGAAA_**RRRRGH! WHYYYYYY!**_" He felt stronger now... Even as blood was pouring from his arms, he felt...

Now... Now was the time...

Now was his chance! The blond again 'stabbed' forward in a spearing motion with his arm, ripping as much of the eye on his 'back' out as possible. Even as teeth closed over on his hands he pulled, digging deeper and deeper into the cold and vitreous jelly making up the object's form as his 'body' began to tremble and shout. "_Get... Out... 'F... MY... HEAD,_" he roared, the spirit screeching in pain with each strike and shout.

"_**RAAAAAA**_AAAGH! GET..._** GET OFF OF ME**_," he wailed, grabbing at his head, fingers pulling at his hair as tears dotted the corners of his 'human' eyes. "_**GET... **_OUT! WHAT _**ARE**_ YOU _**DOING,**_" the item screeched, words jumbled between reality and his mind as he howled in pain. "The screams and struggles continued as Katsuya pulled and scratched, moving his arms toward the eyes covering his chest with grit teeth as he again managed to move positions from front to back. "AAAAA_**AAAGGH**_!"

It hurt... So much it hurt as the teeth clenched into his arms, and as the veins and nerves of the eyes themselves attempted to pull his arms tightly into the object's being as a last defense, but he couldn't stop, he couldn't... Not until it was all gone, not until it was completely destroyed..! The body fell to its knees as it attempted to physically remove the 'threat', still screaming as Yugi finally made his way to the blond. It was only a momentarily pause that the ghost gave as his voice and the appearance of his other caught his attentions, the Rod itself too pained to pay attention enough to expel him yet again. What... "_Ghk... Yugi,"_ he asked, literally arms deep in his problems as he turned,_ "What're... What're y' doin' here..?_"

And of course as he stared, there was no answer, Katsuya's hands now entangled in the mess of nerve-fibers that held the Millennium Rod's eye together on his front. "J... Jo... Jonouchi-kun," the boy muttered weakly, grabbing the chain in two hands and holding it forward. The boy appeared to be ignoring the fact that the blond before him was tearing at his own neck and chest, instead continuing on as he moved close with the puzzle in hand. "I don't want this puzzle to sink... And I know that... That the other me can help you... And that _you_... You can help the other me," he continued, dropping the chain around the body's neck with a swallow. "Because only you and me can see him," he whispered through renewed tears, the teen before him halting his frenzied tremors to take the gold object in his hands. "So... Please... When I die... Keep it for me," he asked, the ghost of his friend growing pale and stiff enough for the Rod to take control yet again.

"_**Hgn... HGNA!**_" Gh-! Whips of fire and nerves both wrapped roughly around his arms, pulling him into the air before flinging him to the side with a loud and screech._** "GET! OFF,**_" he roared, flames rising and blazing to impossible heights as he pulled himself to his feet. "_**Hah... Hah... This puzzle...**_" Katsuya grunted as he fell to the ground, watching as his body stood and moved to the Rod's will. "_**Now... What should I do with this,**_" he wondered, subconciously mouthing the words as Yugi left for his side of the field.

Chuckling came through the air with that question, Katsuya paling as he again forced himself from the waters he'd been thrown into. _Would you look at this... If we break this,_ 'his' voice muttered, the blond's spirit growing pale. That voice...

And then... "_Aibou,_" another voice called out, the source appearing to be the puzzle itself as the Millennium Rod chuckled. "_Aibou! AIBOU!_"

Oh god not that voice..! Not..! "Hnhnhnhnhn..." The Rod began to laugh almost manically as Katsuya stood, a number of feet away from the monster in his body. No... No..! "HnhnHAHAHA!" Yugi was across the field, watching with dead and miserable eyes... And for a brief moment as the puzzle was held, he could see the shocked image of the other one, the teen staring in horror as his gaze met with the ghost of his bloodied and scarcely recognizable friend.

"_J... Jonouchi..!_"

"Hnhnhahahaha... I win," the Rod hissed, ripping the central piece from the puzzle as the other Yugi vanished in a cut scream, the sound resembling that of the unseen wind that had blown the teen into dust. The small piece shone in his hand, and as he dropped the puzzle about his neck and turned to face the seas and Katsuya both he grinned. "Good bye..~ _**I'll wish you luck in Ammit's bowels...**_"

No... NO! He shook his head, ignoring the pain that was caused by his still constricted arms, 'blood' rushing through his head as he spat. "_Like HELL!_" The blond roared as he charged the arm that held the piece, launching himself into the air to spear the eye controlling it as the spirit moved to throw it.

"_**Gh- N... Again,**_" the demon shrieked, the ghost hanging from the limb even as his legs 'vanished' into some sort of dusted wind. _**"Again!**_" The arm froze in place as Katsuya drove his hands in further, the body's hand clenched as the Rod attempted to move it with a snarl. This didn't work last time... Not really, all he'd been able to do was 'change targets' but... This time..! Flaming arms began to grab at him, the blond gritting his teeth as the fires seared into his skin. "_**Get off... GET OFF,**_" the spirit roared, Katsuya pulling the arm toward him and toward the docks below. He couldn't let go... He... Couldn't... Let... Go! The fires continued to pull at him, arms loosing strength as the mantra ran through his mind. He couldn't... He wouldn't!

With the last of his strength he pulled himself forward, sinking his teeth as far into the eye as possible as his arm was viciously torn from the insides of the eye. Teeth sank deep into the muscles lining the object on his arm, the blond screaming within his head as the spirit's own fangs sunk into his face. His jaw was barely keeping closed... Teeth were boring through his cheek and throat both, and had he been 'alive' he'd have 'died' long before but he wasn't letting go..! He wasn't letting go, not at all..! Because Yugi was...

His friend..! "_**RGAAAAAAHHH! **_These aren't my memories," the monster screeched, the puzzle piece still tightly gripped in its hand despite him not wanting anything to do with it. "WHAT_** ARE YOU DOING! WHAT **_IS THIS_**,**_" the Rod roared, bringing his arm back down to grab at his head with clenched fists and tightly closed eyes. Memories... He could see his memories, Katsuya realized with pained and shut eyes, tears running down his bloodied and burning face. He could remember tossing the puzzle's box back and forth with Honda, teasing Yugi about it... Mazaki... No, 'Anzu', taking it back just as he'd taken a single piece from the box, the 'center' piece, the 'eye' piece...

This piece! He'd felt... A need to have _that piece_, he didn't know why... So he'd taken it, and he'd tossed it into the... Seas..?

No, the pool. The school's pool, right outside the window and closed off until the summer months. But then the next day, when Ushio jumped him and Honda, Yugi had stood up for them... Getting himself just as beaten as the others, just as horribly injured. So he went... To the pool... "_Something you can show, but can't see,_" Katsuya hissed as he brought his arms from the fires to the eye, mouth releasing the muscles as he tore himself from its jaws. "_Something you can show... But can't see..!" _And as he'd done on the back he pulled tightly at the strings and ooze of the Rod's eye, his own eyes wide with frenzied rage. "_Something you can show, but can't SEE,_" he roared, the words his friend told him that day echoing through his mind.

"_**Ghra... RNAAAAAAHHH! RNRHAAAA**_AAAAGGGHHH_**!**_" He wanted to say those words aloud... Wanted to tell Yugi he was right here, but first there was something he needed to do..! With a single hand the blond dove further into the eye on his left arm, grinding his teeth as he continued the mantra in his mind. The depth of the eye was beyond impossibility... He was up to his shoulder, the feel of gold in his hand's now as he tightened his hold on the arm. Something you can show... Something you can... "_**GHRAAAAA! WHY,**_" the Rod cried, his left arm coming down as he trembled. "WHY!"

"_I'm getting control of this body back,"_ Katsuya roared, moving his left hand toward his chest to force the puzzle piece back into the pyramid-like device around him. "_I'm takin' what's mine,_" he continued firecely as he ripped the hand back from the arm, "_No matter what!_" With both hands the blond furthered his attack, the body hanging almost limp as it fell back under the force of the ghost's strike to its face. "_EVEN IF I HAVE TO D'STROY BOTH OF US_," the blond announced, fingers tearing to shreds as he pulled back on the jaws of the eye on his mouth. Let him speak, let him speak for himself, he roared in his mind, the Rod falling dangerously silent as the eye before him rolled about in terror. "_BECAUSE I..._

"I'm a duelist..." The jaw tore open with a sickening crunch, shards of teeth clattering to the ground and bursting into flames. The jaw that held the eye in place hung on limp strands of sinew and fibre as the eye hung forward in its flaming socket, the body's mouth moving with Katsuya's own. "...I'm a fighter... F'r myself, not anyone else. Th' hatred 'f endl'ss years doesn' concern me," he continued with narrowed eyes as he spoke to Malik and the Rod both, "So I'm-" The blond's head snapped back as the little control he'd regained was forced back, a near sonic-blast of flames sending him back down the side of the dock and against one of the support pillars.

"_Ghng! Glrghk! Glack!_" A mouthful of blood and some other substance flew out of his mouth as he struck the beam, gripping the beam beside him and struggling to his feet. "_Ghnnn..._"

"_**HRAAAAAHHH! AAAAAARRRAAAAAAHH! YOU...**_" Shit. It was pissed. The blond paled as the 'body' stared him down, what had formerly been a dead yet determined expression now filled with rage._** "YOU THINK YOU'RE SO POWERFUL,**_" the Millennium Rod raged as its eye ripped from the 'socket' over the mouth, jaw following behind it in a whirl of flames to turn on his former host. "_**YOU THINK THAT YOU CAN BEST ****ME**** WITH MERE POT SHOTS,**_" it snarled as the eye itself opened to reveal nothing but shadows and flames, the teen before it stepping back with horrified chokes,_** "THAT TO FREE A SHARD OF MY BEING MEANS YOU ****WIN****!**_"

The ghost swallowed back a wave of fear as he stared forward with wide eyes, stumbling back as the Rod began to do two things at once. "It's your turn," the body was shouting with a snarl, the 'eye' beside it spreading its flames. "So draw a card!" But even as it did this, Yugi nodding nervously and doing as told the spirit itself was approaching its former host with wide and leering teeth, disembodied jaws nothing compared to that of the eye's own 'mouth', snapping... Snarling...

But if this meant he was close... "_Tch... Yea, I think I can,_" the blond spat, lunging at the body again with a feral cry. "_An' seein' how attackin' th' head is gettin' th' most results,_" he snarled as he 'misted' above his own body in a roar,_ "I think I'll keep at it!_"

Squelches and crunches hit the air as Katsuya pulled at the hair and teeth near his eyes, ignoring the nearly skeletal remains of his hands. "_**GRAAAAHHH! And I told you... It's FUTILE! You stand NO CHANCE,**_" the spirit snarled, forcing the blond to slip down the body's back as he continued his attacks. "_**RAAAAAGHHH! GLK-**_**"**

A handful of 'eye' was ripped from the 'throat's joint', tossed to the side where it burst to flames as Katsuya breathed haggardly. **"**_Y' say that now... But yer screams 'r tellin' me otherwise,"_ the blond spat, wincing as teeth clamped his arms into place. "_Gn- GHA!_" Ghn... Move... It..!

"_What on earth..._"

Katsuya's eyes flung open, jaw still clenched tight as he turned. That voice..! "_Gh... Y-Yu... Other Yugi!_" The voice was there, but where was-

"_Jonouchi,_" the other Yugi shouted more clearly, a 'mist' appearing to rise from the side as his voice echoed. "_You... Is that-"_

The shade appeared just to the side as Katsuya freed his first hand to gain a grip on his body's hair, the firey spirit of the Rod continuing to snarl as its shard and eyes turned on the newcomer. "_**Oh ****look****,**_" he hissed, teeth widening in the face of the shadowed spirit beside them. "_**The PHARAOH... Here to join the party,**_" he spat, Yugi taking his turn from across them in the meantime.

The other Yugi appeared frozen on the spot in light of what he could now see, his eyes wide with terror at the firey 'monster' and the haggard, shredded form of his friend's spirit. "_What in the name of the Gods..._"

"_Gh... There's no time t' explain,_" Katsuya cried, pulling at jaws covering his eyes despite the teeth that were burrowing into his skin. "_I can't... I won' let Yugi die... Gh... Little help be nice," _he added with a strangled and questioning choke, the freed shard of the Rod attempting to pull the blond off with flaming 'arms' once more. The fires were wrapped and threaded into his neck, his arms forced from the toothy 'eye' as he attempted to free himself. "_Gh- Please..?_"

The darker spirit immediately nodded, responding with a swift knife-hand to the eye that was strangling his friend. A hissing scream shot through the air as the monster was buffeted away, the other Yugi hovering in the air with a determined nod. "_Tch! Gladly,"_ he shouted, watching as his friend continued attacking the eyes before him._ "But Jonouchi..._" The teen paused, narrowing his eyes as he looked at the 'ghost' before him. "_When this is over... You will explain, understand,_" he 'warned', Katsuya nodding furiously as the teen behind him was again distracted with the floating 'eye' above them.

"_Anythin'... Anythin',_" the blond shouted, adjusting his grip on the eye he was getting rid of._ "Jus' don' let Yugi die,_" he begged, before freeing the last of the jaws on his face with an echoing snap. "_Don' let 'm-_"

"_**GRNAAAAAAAAAHHHH!**_" The Millennium Rod gave a howling cry, his attackers momentarily pausing as the shorter watched his target flail and struggle with rage._** "SFFFFFFF... Youuuuu SCUM! FILTH of the NILE!**_" Tch! Blood dripped from Katsuya's hands before a larger blast of fire blew the blond back, his friend barely protected by the confines of his own puzzle. "_**I WARNED YOU... I ****WARNED**** YOU!**_" Gh- Some warning..!_** "I don't care what sorts of powers this body holds now,**_" the spirit snarled, the Other Yugi re-appearing to look back at Katsuya's fallen form with wide eyes. "_**As far as I care, you can BOTH die! All I need to do is make sure that you kiddies sit tight and enjoy watching your own deaths,**_" he cackled, the two 'ghosts' both looking at the flaming monster with nausea and distaste, "_**So sit back... ENJOY THE SHOW,**_" he roared, a tablet appearing to his side as he switched back to 'reality'. "I summon the Panther Warrior," the Rod announced, carving filling with smoke for the monster to step out, "And I attack!" Gh...

NO! The black-cat stood at the side, the ghosts attacking the Rod's form powerless as the monster made its decision. What happened in the duel was out of their control... What happened next would kill Yugi, and what they did to the Rod meant nothing. But rather than charging forward as he normally would the cat merely hissed, hairs standing on end as he looked to the blond at his side. "_**You... You're NOT my partner..!**_"

They were... Partners? The ghosts continued to watch with wide eyes, the fires around the Rod's eyes flickering in annoyance as the body grit its teeth. "I wouldn't complain if I were you," the Rod warned, the Panther quickly growling and snarling in response.

"_**Tch! So you take his form and DARE to ask THAT? No wonder the Alligator was in such a foul mood**_**,**" the cat spat, backing away as it leered at the other monster by his 'summoner's side. "_**You can count me out- I don't fight against the 'rules of combat'! In fact,**_" he added, Yugi activating his trap from across the field as an idea formed, "_**How about I do this instead?**_"

As the panther charged toward the Rocket Warrior on his own side of the field the 'Other Yugi' stared, eyes wide in confusion. "_How,_" he 'asked', both himself and Katsuya momentarily pausing out of shock as the tablet holding Rocket-Warrior's prone and torpedo-like form launched the monster out toward its attacker. "_How is this **happening**..?_"

"_I'll tell y' what,_" Katsuya said with a swallow, watching as the Panther warrior crumbled to the ground from the Rocket's wounds, a nasty and bleeding gash on the monster's side as it struggled to keep conciousness. "_I'll explain after... But f'r now,_" he continued, cracking his knuckles as he tore at the body again, "_Next target... Th' chest! HRAAHH!_"

"_**Tch! Fight all you want,**_" the Rod hissed, flames wrapping around its remaining eyes as it struck the two boys attacking him. From across the field Yugi was sacrificing his Magnet Warrior for 'Gilfer', attacking the Rocket Warrior to destroy it easily... The tablet was crumbling into dust as the boys attempted to push through the fires, the flames forming a bizarre shield of sorts over the eyes. But even as the monster was destroyed the spirit paid it no mind, instead continuing to glower at the two boys. "_**Tch...**_" With a wave of violent and hot flames the two were thrown back, the 'Other Yugi' to one side and Katsuya to the other. "_**Like I said,**_" the 'demon' snarled,_** "I no longer care... Whether you take control or not, BOTH of you will DIE, mark my words! Hnhnhnhnhn...**_" Both of them..? And how did he... How did he expect to do that!_** "Hnhnhahaha! I wonder... When that happens, I wonder... 'Little Pharaoh'... Will you end up waiting for another host,**_" he asked, the other Yugi currently batting the fires on his clothes off to glare at the Item. "_**Or will ****both**** of you end up stuck in this puzzle,**_" the spirit continued with a dark laugh, the ghosts both jumping with confused shock and horror at the statement. "_**After all... This is MY body now,**_" he cackled madly, "_**And**_ I still have plenty of life points to spare! The demon's flames mean NOTHING," he spat, even as the ghosts behind him stared at the flames still burning across the ground, swallowing back their fear and attempting to steady themselves. "Now... It's MY TURN! _**And now I can just sit back and wait for the time to pass... And with only ten minutes left, that won't be long at all!**_"

Wait for- He was going to just let them both drown! Tch! "_I told y',_" he spat with a roar, knuckles cracking,_ "That ain't gonna happen No matter what... NO MATTER WHAT,_" the blond roared as he charged, his friend doing the same with grit teeth._ "I'M GOIN' OUT FIGHTIN'_"

"_**IN THAT CASE,**_" the Millennium Rod announced with a grin,_** "LET'S MAKE IT A FIGHT YOU WIN! I'll make my own decisions this time around... If it's a fight you want then so be it! It'll be a fight that costs you the life of your most precious friend, and your own body! HNHNHAHAHAHAHA! THIS will be INCREDIBLE!"**_

Not if he could help it god damn it..! "Jonouchi-kun," Yugi was asking from across the field as both spirits charged the body across from him. "Do you remember our promise in the duelist kingdom," he continued, unable to see that his friend was currently partially merged with his own body, arms elbow deep in the 'eyes' lodged to his shoulders as his 'other self' shielded the blond from the flames. "You fought hard to save Mokuba and Kaiba-san! You fought fair and square," the boy called out through his tears, "And in the end, you gave up the battle to _keep_ that promise! So... When I gave you the prize money for Shizuka," he continued with wide eyes, "While we were going home, we promised each other... Until the day you beat me, you can 'owe me one', alright? And... Didn't you enter this tournament to keep that promise," he shouted, unable to see the wave of flames that were blowing his friends back from the body yet again, both boys landing at either ends of the dock and in the seas with chokes and coughs. "Didn't you enter so that we could fight fairly!"

Katsuya swallowed, weakly pulling himself up the dock as the other Yugi did the same. "_Gh... This 'thing',_" the spirit spat, streaks of blond hair curiously falling at the sides of his face to make him resemble his lighter half as he choked. "_This..._

"_Th' Millennium Rod,_" the blond hissed, swallowing as his friend stared. "_You... You think I'm gonna let y' go through with this,_" he growled, the body in question setting two cards face down as he ended his turn. The eye above it turned to look at the ghost, the body as well narrowing his eyes to glare at him. "_I told you that this... Is my body,_" Katsuya snarled, running forward even as his 'partner's' eyes widened._ "An' I told you... THAT I WON'T LET YOU KILL HIM! RGHAAAAAA!_"

"_J-JONOUCHI,_" the other Yugi shouted, abruptly vanishing from sight as he was re-called to the puzzle.

With a clawed gesture the blond charged head first toward the body, forgoing original tactics in his desperation. It was his body damn it... His... And he wouldn't let...

Fires erupted in his vision as he ran through the form, eyes clenched shut momentarily as he blindly swung at the beast he'd targeted. But instead of screams, he heard laughter as he opened his eyes, abruptly halting his movements as the voice of the Millennium Rod became clear and booming in tone.

"**Hnhnhnhnhnhnhn... Hnhnhahahahaha...**_"_ Laughter echoed all around Katsuya as he swallowed back a shout, body restored to its 'original' state as he began to grow pale.** "Well now,**" the 'Rod' said with a low chuckle,** "This is an interesting development...**" For a moment, the blond thought he was back where he started. That he was back under the 'thumb' of the Rod in his mind, back to watching without the ability to move. Before him, through a curtain of flames, he could quite clearly see Yugi attacking his monster with the Archfiend of Gilfer, only for Graceful Dice and Skull Dice both to activate at once from crumbling tablets. But instead of pulling through with their magic, a 'De-spell' from Yugi's side was activated to dispell the Graceful die... With the Skull die failing horribly as the demon put his Panther out of his misery, lowering the Rod's lifepoints considerably. There was no time left though...

There was _no _time... And it was with that thought in mind that he realized he wasn't looking through a curtain of flames, and that his body was still under control. It was a _window _that stood before him now, and at his feet hot and steaming sand that was burning from between his toes. "Where is this place," he found himself muttering, staring through the window with wide eyes as his and Yugi's lifepoints both became identical in number. The fires licked around the 'window' in an almost framing motion, as though what was through it was far out of reach for its source. "Where..."

"**Hnhnhn...**" Slowly Katsuya turned to the voice behind him, seeing nothing but flames and ruined, charred wood around him as he swallowed. "**We're in the remains of your MIND**_**,**_" the Rod hissed, the remains of what looked to be a stable house or loft collapsing around him. A stable... Why was he in- Hell, how did he know this was a- "**A horribly simple room,**_" _the spirit continued with a sneer,** "And yet even as simple as it was, it was so ****difficult**** to conquer...**" Gh... "**But of course,**" it added, still invisible to the blond's eye,** "****Everything**** comes to an end at some point...**"

Gh..! "Where are y," the blond roared, eyes narrowed as he looked around the sandy and blistering room. The dog-tags around his neck dangled and gathered the heat of the flames, sweat evaporating off his skin as he stepped further inward. "SHOW YERSELF!"

He quickly regretted saying that, as chuckling sounded around the room in response. "**Hnhnhnhnhn... As you 'wish**_**',**_" the Rod hissed, a section of the flames appearing to move forward as it continued to laugh. "**I've drawn the 'winning' card anyways,**" he said with a sneer, footprints appearing in the sand as his target paled. "**I doubt you'll stand much longer after this... There's three minutes left now, and when that happens the anchor will fall and take your dear friend with it... Hnhnhnhnhn...**"

"You..." Katsuya stumbled back with trembling eyes, watching as a charred and blackened skeleton stepped through the flames. From the fires wrapped around its body the blond could see a single golden iris staring toward him, the large eyeball jammed in the skull's right socket as ashen bone reached forward. "What... What th' hell are you," the blond hissed in fear, the flames around the skeleton forming a twisted silhouette of his own body as it pushed through the sand.

"**I'd have thought it was obvious,**" the 'monster' whispered, flexing its hands as his 'host' shook. "**I'm 'you',**_" _it announced, pulling its hands back and cracking its neck.** "I am your 'thoughts', your 'HATE'... I am that which lurks in all MINDS, the darkness that lies within all HEARTS... I... AM the Millennium Rod,**" the demon cackled, the blond shaking with rage. "**And I am that which will consume ALL things as I see FIT!**"

'Him'? "Yer sick," the blond spat, shaking his head as he swallowed. "Yer... Tch!" Katsuya clenched his fists, charging forward as the skeleton laughed. "Yer d'spicable..! You don' d'serve t' exist," he roared, swinging his fists blindly forward as the skeleton dodged with ease. "You're a MONSTER!"

"**Hahahahaha! Yes, yes I AM, AREN'T I,**" the Rod howled, ducking another swipe as what appeared to be organs formed within its skeleton. Katsuya paused momentarily, standing back as he watched the intestines and stomach develop in front of him before snapping himself out of it.

This thing... He had to destroy it..! "Stand still... Die... Die... DIE," he roared, charging after the beast with blind and aimless strikes. "My memories... My friends... You tried t' take everything," he cried, finally sending the skeleton across the room with a strong fist as the beast grew muscles over his form. "WHY WON'T YOU JUST LEAVE US ALONE," he screamed, standing as shouts of 'kurose' echoed around him, the monster standing to reveal that of all the things it developed a heart was missing from its musculature. "WHY DO YOU HAVE T' TARGET US!"

And still the dark chuckling came through the air, Katsuya launching himself at the monster with a roar as his body as well screamed in reality, as the two Yugi's, the Kaiba siblings, and all those at the docks watched and listened to the blond howl in conflicted rage. "**You have to ask,**" the flaming copy asked with a laugh, skin and hair now appearing on its form in a darkened, shadowed mimicry of Katsuya's own being. "**YOU REALLY HAVE TO ASK!** **All I want is for HIM to DIE,**" he roared, cackling grin on his place as he stared through his sole, golden eye.** "THAT'S ALL!**" Shut up... "**And deep down you want that too 'KATSUYA'!**" Shut UP...** "You're just as bad as the rest of the world when it gets down to it, ADMIT IT! My faults are just as much YOURS!**"

"URUSEIII! THAT'S IT," the blond roared, grabbing his head as as he cried, the 'monster' that now bore his face vanishing to stand by the window with a grin. "I DON'T... I don't want that in my memories," he wailed, eyes clenched shut as his voice was mirrored in reality. "I CAN'T PUT THAT IN MY MEMORIES!" And yet already on the disk, that card was...

The direct attack was... "**Hnhnhnhn... It's futile 'Black one'...**" The Millennium Rod walked toward him, stopping a number of feet away as flames licked around the hole in his chest.** "Face it! You've lost... And this,**" the beast continued with a sneer, gesturing to his body. "**This is ****mine****...**" No... NO!

"It's not," he shouted, eyes flying open with bloodshot rage as he screamed. "I WON'T LET YOU!"

"**Go ahead and shout then,**" the beast called with a grin, black hair flying wildly in the fires and wind.** "You only make me stronger... Didn't you hear me? I am every dark thought that lies within you, and every shred of hate you dredge up is also MINE! The more you SCREAM the more you give IN! YOU. HAVE. LOST! HAHAHAHAHAHHAAAAA!**" Monster...

This _monster_..!

"_MALIK,_" Yugi was saying from outside the window as his friend grit his teeth and wept, "_I know you're possessing my friend right now... So listen to me,_" he roared, voice cutting across the air with ease._ "The real loser of this duel... It's not Jonouchi-kun,_" he continued._ "It's YOU!_" What? He was saying... "_Open your eyes,_" Yugi shouted, eyes wide with anger._ "Jonouchi-kun has been forcing you out of his heart since the beginning... You can't make him give in! He's **beaten** you! So try your best Malik! Because in these final minutes of the duel,_" he shouted through his tears,_ "I know he'll break free! And even if we BOTH die,_" the boy went on, not once stumbling over his words,_ "The memory that you LOST will forever be branded into your thoughts!_" Yugi..!

"What are you doing," he found himself whispering with fear-filled eyes, shaking his head. "Yugi what are you-"

"**Hnhnhnhnhn... Such strange friends you have,**" the Rod drawled, crossing his arms with a leering smirk.** "My master **_**really**_** hates him now..! He's putting all his hate into this next card,**" he continued, the window moving to reveal his duel disk as a card was slipped into place.** "This card that will destroy him... And then it's all over... Hnhnhnhn...**" Gh...

"No... I WON'T LET YOU," he snarled, the Rod appearing to move further and further away despite his body remaining perfectly still. "I-"

"**Please! ****You**** can't do anything about this," **the Rod sneered, villainous grin on his face. "**Besides... You shouldn't argue with your friend!**" Argue..-

"_Attack me,_" Yugi was shouting, the blond unable to do anything but stare at the 'window' and his 'copy' both as he fell to his knees. "_Now, with all you have!_"

No... He couldn't, he couldn't...

This _heartless_ bastard... "**With pleasure,**" the Rod sneered, the card on the disk activated with a single touch.

And as the 'Rod' turned around to watch his handywork, he realized it. Maybe it was too late... Maybe he'd realized it far too late to change everything. The card was set on the field already after all, the seas already converging as the skies and waters both ran red... It was probably too late...

But if he was going out, he'd at least try and turn the tables. "You were right..."

"**Hnn..?**" The Rod turned, a look of confusion on his face. "**What's this now..?**"

Katsuya's expression of rage died down to a look of stern realization, the blond shaking his head. "Th' 'hate', th' 'anger'... It really is powerin' y', isn' it," he continued, hands hanging limp at his sides. "I can't kill y'," the blond admitted as he shook his head, "Not like this... But what yer missin'... A heart... 'Kokoro'," he muttered, looking down at his shirt as the dog-tags gleamed in the firelight. "I wasn' lookin' in th' right place at all... Th' whole reason yer here, th' reason you can do this... It's righ' here ain't it," he shouted, holding out the arm that Malik had cut with his blade. The copy paled immediately as the blond leered at the eye blossoming from his arm, shaking its head as what had formerly been invisible to the teen's eyes became clear as day.

"**No... NO,**" he screamed as he ran forward, eyes wide with terror,** "DON'-**"

"TAKE THIS MALIK," the blond roared, grabbing the eye and ripping it from his bleeding arm with a snarl. The squirming eyeball appeared to 'scream' as the blond held it in his hands, the humanoid form across him wailing and collapsing as Katsuya crushed the eye between his fingers. With a howling cry the monster before him degenerated, hands held out in pain as it went from skin to muscle to bone to ash... "I B'LONG T' NO ONE!"

The flames continued to whirl, as though a vacuum was pulling them from the room around him... Shouts filled the air, his head pounding as he squeezed his eyes shut under the fires. Hurt... It hurt so much... Ahhh... AHHHHH...

"HAAHHHHH!" The attack... If he'd won against the Rod, then he had to stop the attack, so if this shout could please make it... "NO!" Storms sounded above him, the blond wrenching his eyes open as tears ran freely down his face. The sunlight almost blinded him despite the pale shine it gave, Katsuya shaking his head as the blocked tears were allowed to run at last. Meteor of Destruction was on the field, a direct-attack spell, a fact he knew only because of that accursed ability that had so likely saved his ass. But the fact was it was already in effect, an enormous, sun-like object appearing in the center of the sky and hurricane like clouds as he cried. Too late... Too late..! "YUGI! Yugi..! You can't die," he begged, shaking his head as rumbling filled the air from the approaching comet above. "You _can't_!"

The boy immediately broke into a smile, voice briefly overpowered by the winds around them as he activated his spell. He still knew what he was saying though... He still knew..."Jonouchi-kun... Hah... Activate the trap Mystical Rift Panel," he announced, the tablet beside him shattering as an angel arose with a mirror. The meteor's power was siphoned into the glass at exactly the last minute, filling the mirror with raging storms as its summoner smiled through his tears. Two minutes of time left... "Jonouchi-kun... You... You woke up," he cried with relief, shaking his head. "I'm so glad... Even if it took this long, I'm so happy..."

"I... I know I... ...I..." He couldn't... The blond crumpled to his knees, shaking his head as he held it in his hands. "Yugi," Katsuya cried, tears running down his face. This card... It would save Yugi, and thank god for that but... "I'm so sorry," he shouted, unable to hold back the tears in what were revealing themselves as his last moments. "This fight... It wasn't supposed to happen, never supposed to happen, I'm sorry..."

Yugi merely shook his head, clicking his duel disk off and placing it on the ground before him. "It's alright... You're back," he said with a smile, the dragon beside him appearing to nod in agreement to this despite his grievous wounds. "That's all that matters... And besides... We were never really fighting anyways," he said with a tear-filled laugh, the blond across from him weeping at the sight. One... Minute left... Fifty-nine seconds... Fifty-eight... "We've both won," Yugi said with a sad smile, a slow and calming breeze blowing past as he spoke. "This card here bought us just enough time, so that I could say everything... So that I could make sure you heard everything... Jonouchi-kun..." He was sorry... So sorry damn it, that he had to leave like this, he... ...Why... Why did he take the disk off, he still needed to activate the second half of the spell..! If he didn't... "You have to listen to these words, no matter what," Yugi cried, his friend shaking his head in realization. "You taught me that I wasn't alone here... You showed me courage, even if I didn't understand at the time!"

"Don't... Don't," he begged, shaking his head, "Not after all this..." The card would automatically eliminate itself and allow the attack through in twenty more seconds... Nineteen...

The boy choked, still smiling as the angel's mirror above began to crack while he cried. "Jonouchi-kun... You're my best friend... And I love you," he continued with tear-filled eyes, the angel above straining under the force of the spell. "But I won't let you die! I TAKE THE HIT," he shouted with stone determination, the mirror turning on him as the world grew silent.

"NO! NO," he shouted, the cries appearing mute to the world as fires blocked Yugi from his sight, the flames launching from the mirror as the angel disappeared into dust. "YUGI! YOU CAN'T DO THIS DAMN IT, YOU CAN'T! YUGI!"

-_click_-

He couldn't see Yugi through the fires, and even if he could see anything he could only see the shadow of Red-Eye's bleeding form, the monster's black scales providing just enough contrast in the light. And although he knew the box at his feet was open now, all he could hear was Yugi's last few words as he begged him to live, before finally loosing consciousness. '_Take the key_', he whispered. '_Live on..._' No...

NO! "You idiot," he muttered, shaking his head. "Y' DAMN IDIOT!" Katsuya's voice echoed across the waters as the fires dissipated, tablets crumbling to dust before him as he cried. "HOW COULD I JUST LET YOU DIE," he roared, ripping his duel disk off and dropping it to the side as he gripped the chain around his neck. The duel was over... Yugi was going to die but...

"_**Groooooooo...**_" The blond's eyes continued to fill with tears as he looked at Red-Eyes, hands still gripping the chain of the Millennium Puzzle as their eyes met. Thirty seconds left of the minute he'd been given. Twenty-nine... Twenty-eight...

He pulled himself to his feet, pulling the puzzle from his neck and lightly dropping it to the ground beside him. "...Red-Eyes," he called out, swallowing as the dragon stood before him on bleeding and broken limbs. "If this is real," he began with a choke, "If any of this isn' a hallucination, an' you're really there..." He shook himself, watching the monster rear to its full and incredible height before him. "...Attack me," he shouted, the dragon giving a short and shocked growl in response as his 'true' owner held his arms open for attack. Come on... Come on! "ATTACK ME!"

"_**Gr... GRAAAOOOO!**_" The monster raised his head with a curt nod, a blast of flames spitting across the field as Katsuya gripped his chain for support. Life-points to zero... He was on fire but he didn't care, even as the flames vanished with the dragon's own tablet and form...

Biting back the pain he dove forward into the water, swimming the remaining feet he'd missed with the jump to get to Yugi. _Thank you_, he whispered in his mind, the remaining monsters vanishing from the field along with the tablets. _Thank you_!

Five seconds left. Katsuya grabbed the edge of the dock before him, pulling himself up to snatch the key from Yugi's own box with a swallow. Three left. He just needed to unlock the cuff around his wrist he told himself, hopping up and running along the dock at a stumble toward where the boy had fallen. That was all, he just needed to-

Shit. Zero. With an enormous splash the anchor fell, slack vanishing in a near instant as Katsuya turned in horror to watch his and Yugi's chains slink into the water. With a sudden jolt the two were pulled back by the chains on their wrist, The air was knocked right out of his lungs as he fell. Yugi's own body left a trail of bubbles behind him as he was pulled under almost right beside him, the blond attempting to think clearly in the resulting panic. The key... He had to unlock him..! He had the key in his hands, so he had to...

Yugi's wrist was snatched toward him by the chain around it, floating slightly like some bizarre balloon as they sank. Come on... The key was jammed into the hole, jiggling and turning as Katsuya grit his teeth. Come _on_...

Though he couldn't hear the click as he sank, he could see the cuff come loose, Katsuya pulling Yugi's wrist free before pushing the boy's body upward with a rough and desperate shove. He was floating... Floating...

Floating away to the surface above. For a brief moment, he could see his eyes open, the boy blinking sadly as he weakly reached forward. _Sorry Yugi,_ he thought with a sad smile, the same 'flash' and gut feeling telling him that the key he'd now dropped was useless on his own cuff. _But yer a real friend..._

_I can't let y' die..._

The anchor was still pulling him down... He was running out of what little air he had now, he knew that much, despite the lack of panic he held for some reason. This was it, he told himself, the last of his air released from his lungs as he continued to hold his 'breath'... Spots were filling the blond's vision as he was slowly pulled down, closing his eyes despite the panic his body was running in without oxygen to feed off of. He was dying. Just like that stupid Millennium Rod had said... 'One will die', and that 'one' was him. He'd never see Shizuka again, never see Yugi, see his friends... See Mokuba...

Seto...

_I wonder what you'd 'v said,_ he wondered as his eyes opened blearily to the distant sky above._ If I'd 've told you I..._

With those thoughts in mind, he could no longer hold consciousness, water filling with lungs as a shadow passed over his form...

* * *

The final events of the duel had passed in a blur, once the 'Meteor' had been summoned. She'd known she had no time, even with the timer well out of view across from them. But she couldn't do anything about this, she realized bitterly, teeth grinding as her eyes narrowed. Nothing... Nothing at all.

But as her hands brushed against the thin cord around her neck, an idea formed, a crazed, scarcely plausible plan that she would likely berate herself for in the coming days no matter how well it did or didn't work. She only had one chance... Looking back in the corner of her eye, the ghouls were more or less watching the duel before them, rather than paying attention to the cord now weaving in and out of her fingers as she pulled it upward. _One chance_, she told herself, fingers pulling at the cord around her neck with subtle movements. Only one...

Now. The card-shaped pendant was pulled from around her neck, and as Yugi's trap was activated she made her move. With a swift step back the pendant was thrown, the ghouls momentarily distracted by the shine it caused as it gleamed in the light, the one holding her brother pulling back with a scream as the sharpened corners of the locket struck him in the eye. "GRAAAAGH!" Mokuba dropped to the ground, knife clattering at the side as the ghoul reached for his face with a scream, former captive turning to his sister with wide eyes.

"S-Seto-n-"

"Get down," she shouted briskly, the boy ducking without an argument as his sister's long legs connected with his captor's skull. That kick was not enough... Not to knock him out the woman thought as she charged, nor for her to sufficiently pay the scum back for their actions. The woman's leg was pulled back for her to charge forward, fist swinging in a smooth arc to knock the ghoul's head back further as a crack came through the air. "HRAH!"

Snapped neck left 'asshole-1' either paralyzed or dead not that she cared about the first. The second ghoul however paled, another knife in hand as Seto ignored him. "Y-You..!" The woman turned with a near demonic glare as the likely dead ghoul at her feet stared blankly upward, fists clenching before she turned back and ripped the locket from the ghoul's socket. To think... She'd thrown it with enough force for it to get _stuck_...

"You _snakes_ are more than dead," she spat, grabbing the extended fist and knife her opponent threw forward in her free hand. Such a piss-poor way to attempt an attack... The woman pulled on the fist with an audible snap, slamming the locket-holding hand into the man's face a number of times as the ghoul's nose bled profusely. "You take my brother, you take Jonouchi, you take their friends..!" Die, die die..! She released the arm, pulling her fist back again to land another, solid punch as she snarled. "If you're still alive, don't expect to be for too long," she sneered, spitting on the ground the ghoul now collapsed on as she wiped her locket clean. The pendant was fastened back around her neck, rage-filled eyes still staring at the bodies as she made no effort to calm herself. "Tch..."

Now... To deal with that ti- "_Attack me_," a familiar voice shouted, the tone and speech patterns matching to the familiar ones she'd grown so used to hearing from the other end of her table. Jonouchi... She turned, Mokuba following her gaze as the shout was repeated at a louder level, both siblings swallowing at the sight that met their eyes. "_ATTACK ME!_"

With an ear-splitting roar the blond was answered, steam filling the air from the seas and clearing to reveal the now soaking teen half-way to the other side of the dock. The timer above them... Seto squinted momentarily, her brother coughing in the resultant smoke and steam before following her gaze. It read... "No..."

The siblings ran, the timer counting down regardless of what they wanted. Three seconds... She was at the 'entrance' to the impossibly long dock, Mokuba barely half-way along it, and Jonouchi grabbing the key from the box as he ran for Yugi. Two seconds, Anzu's eyes abruptly closed over, her body collapsing to the ground. One second, and the blond was turning in horror as...

Zero. The anchor was released with a sudden and emotionless drop, the splash briefly stopping Mokuba and his sister in their tracks before they ran forward, expressions of horror on both of their faces as the chains began to pull forward. The anchor had sunk... As Mokuba reached the edge of the docks he arrived in time to watch as Yugi and Jonouchi were pulled under, a look of cold horror on the blond's face as he disappeared below the waves. "Y-YUGI," the boy screamed, eyes wide as he fell to his knees at the edge. "KATSUYA-NII!" No...

NO! The woman swallowed, charging to where the blond's disk still stood. Yugi had directed the attack toward himself, so how... The puzzle was there on the ground, the duel disk beside it, and in the box... It was right there... Shining in the light of the dying sun, the key..! "You _idiot_," she hissed, snatching the key up from the box as she looked to the water. Jonouchi had quite clearly grabbed something from the other side... Idiot... IDIOT! A shadow began to rise from the waters, Seto turning to her brother with a stern shout as she pointed toward it. That moron had managed to free her rival and leave his 'greatest treasure' at the side... While forgetting his own key! "Mokuba! Get Yugi out of the water," she roared, tightening her grip on the key as she moved to dive forward.

"Nees-" The boy paled, watching his sister back up for a running start. "But what about-"

"Do it," she shouted as she jumped, a resounding splash piercing the air as she held her breath. Idiot... The woman's eyes stung slightly as she opened her eyes, the sea-water blurring her vision as she swam forward. Idiot, idiot idiot! She wasn't letting him do this... She wasn't letting him kill himself! The woman moved forward in a smooth, streamlined fashion, soon switching into a breast-stroke as she pulled herself further into the seas. The water wasn't 'infinitely' deep here... She could make it... She could- The blond's floating body met her gaze as she narrowed her eyes, a small bit of air escaping her as she made her way toward him. There... There he was...

A small stream of bubbles had escaped his mouth as she approached, and were still escaping from the pockets in his shoes and clothes from what she could see through the blurred ocean water. Seto swam toward the chain and snatched out at it with her free hand, pulling his wrist forward and unlocking the cuff holding it down as she wrapped an arm around the limp teen. Please... _Please_ don't be dead, she mentally cried, jaw clenched as she adjusted her grip and kicked up through the waters.

Up... Up and up and up she swam, turning her eyes toward the light as she swallowed and released more air. It was getting harder to keep calm... And it was far more difficult now, swimming with one arm, to swim. But it wasn't that far... It wasn't... She could see the light above her, and- "PHAAH! AHHHhhh..." The woman choked as she broke the surface, adjusting Jonouchi's body so his head was out of the water as she headed for the dock. There! There... Alright... They'd come this far now... Now...

He had to live..! Seto pulled herself onto the dock, dragging the blond out with an expression of mixed worry and coldness as she pulled him further onto the wooden floor. On the other side, Mokuba was helping Yugi up and out of the water, attempting to wake him... Anzu had collapsed herself, wind lightly brushing over the girl...

But she had no time to think of these things she told herself as she moved, pulling the jacket flaps on Jonouchi's chest out of the way as she laid the blond's body out flat. No time... Tilt the head, she told herself silently, quickly doing just that as she brought her own head down and checked for breathing. It was probably a forgone hope to think that the Mutt hadn't been under long enough to be rid of that though, despite the pulse that was thankfully still present beneath her finger tips. It had been a hope though, she thought with a swallow. It had been... The woman sat up, one hand folded over the other as she began chest compressions on the unresponsive teen, pushing down roughly above the heart with grit teeth. Come on... "Five... Ten... Fifteen," she muttered under her breath, eyes wide with desperation as she mentally counted out thirty compressions. "20... 25... 30..." Re-adjust airway... Plug the nose, administer two breaths, no time to bother with something to use as a barrier...

Check for results... Repeat. "Five... Ten... Fifteen..." Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud... Twenty... Twenty-five... Thirty," she half shouted, moving back to re-adjust the head and give the blond two breaths. One... Two... No response.

"Wake up," she 'growled', water dripping from her hair as she checked for the pulse, cursing the fact that breathing was still nonexistent despite the beating heart. Behind her there were shouts... Anzu was waking up, screaming at the sight of where she was, and what was happening.

'_Oh my god... Where... WHAT..!_'

"Wake UP," Seto almost begged, counting the compressions again in her mind as she gave two breaths and continued on. Five, ten, fifteen... Please... Twenty, twenty five, thirty... Wake up...

PLEASE! Screeches from a cars tires filled the air, along with more shouts, but she pushed them from mind as she looked at the blond before her. All she could hear behind her were muddled shouts, drowned out footsteps and damn it... He couldn't die...

He couldn't..! Two breaths... No response. "Five," she muttered under her breath as a slight 'crack' came from the air, a rib likely fractured from the pressure she was putting on them. "Ten... Fifteen... Twenty... Twenty-five... Thirty..!" Two breaths... '_Jonouchi,_' they were shouting, the sound of car doors slamming over the air before footsteps and mutterings followed. '_Jonouchi..!_'

Shut up... Just shut up, for the love of..! "Five! Ten..! Fifteen..!" Breath... BREATH damn it, just breath..! He'd sworn he wouldn't do this damn it, if he would just BREATH! "Twenty... Twenty-f-"

"Klugh! Kack!" Coughing hit the air as Jonouchi's body gave a shudder, Seto tensing momentarily as the sound cut her thoughts short. Choking... He was... The woman pulled herself out of the stupor before hurriedly rolling the blond away as the teen began spilling out whatever water and food had been in his lungs and stomach beforehand, choking sounds echoing around them as his airway cleared. "Kuck... Hah... Hah... Wh... W..." He... He was alive...

Hah... The woman wiped her mouth as she sat back up, moving to help the blond to a sitting position against the support beam as he continued to cough. "Hah..." Thank god...

Now just open his eyes... "Ghk..." Jonouchi stared, eyes barely open as water dripped off of his body. "Wh... Y'..."

"Come on mutt we don't have all day," the woman growled, watching as the blond before her blinked the sea water from his eyes. Not when they had an 'audience' damn it... The light scowl on her face faded as she watched the blond attempt to steady his breathing, briefly distracted by something as she moved to get up. There... Something was shining in the setting sun around the blond's neck... Something...

...The dog tags. He'd kept... More coughing came through, the blond looking up somewhat as he squinted. "S... Se... Seto-ch-"

"Bite your tongue, you moronic duelist," she muttered, shaking her head as she stood. "If you can't stand you can't speak." Or at least _shouldn't_, she added mentally, narrowing her eyes as a grin broke on the blond's face.

"Hah... So yer sayin' I'm a duelist," he rasped, laughing as the woman stared at him incredulously.

"...Is that _really_ all you can think of right now," the woman asked dryly, Katsuya merely shaking his head as he continued to laugh.

"Hahaha... I guess," the teen muttered as he attempted to stand before Seto lightly pushed him back down. The blond collapsed somewhat under his own weakness, looking up through blurred vision with a frown. "Nyh..?"

"You just about died a few seconds ago," she growled half-heartedly, moving to walk away from the 'mutt' as she shook the water. "You can sit there until you're looked over by a doctor," she continued, moving to grab Yugi's puzzle from the ground with as blank an expression as she could manage. People were shouting all around them... Mokuba was running over, his words barely meeting her ears as he handed her the coat she'd been forced to leave at the side an hour or so prior.

From one side she could distantly hear one of Yugi's friends muttering... '_What was that,_' they were saying, Seto merely pulling her coat on again as she blew wet strands of hair from her eyes.

"Nii-sama," Mokuba was saying amid the chaos, the woman walking toward Yugi as he spoke, "Anzu's calling for help and-"

"Mokuba! The phone's dead," Anzu was shouting 'distantly', "I can't call any one!"

"Yugi," still another voice cried, "Jonouchi!"

And beside that voice that of the other woman who had become familiar with the group, Mai... "Oh my _GOD_..."

"What the hell happened here," yet another of Yugi's friends shouted, running toward the docks as Seto moved to stand above Yugi. "What..!" Tch... Shouts, shouts, shouts... Nothing but shouts...

The woman dropped the puzzle at Yugi's feet, the boy blearily looking up as Seto met his gaze from where the boy sat. "Never do this again," she growled, coat hanging loosely off her shoulders as her rival slowly took the chain from the ground. "Understand?"

Yugi merely stared, eyes wide and possibly questioning as he looked the woman over. "Kaiba-san..."

She turned away, merely watching as the dock quickly filled with people before moving to take her leave before the chaos turned to him. "Just give me the last word this one time," she whispered darkly, narrowing her eyes as she walked away. Just this _once_ damn it... The boy stared, clutching the chain that was now in his hands for a short, silent moment before pulling it over his neck...

And nodding, before watching the woman leave in silence.

* * *

The most accurate description for what Keiichi saw as the car arrived was 'chaos'. As the car screeched to an immediate stop from the breakneck speed that had been crushing him against the side of the wall all they could see in the dying light was panic, terror, pain... To one side of the massive dock Yugi was screaming, held back barely by a young, black haird boy who was shouting just as loudly to 'stop' and 'wait', and that it would 'be alright'. In the center, on the far side of the docks, the woman that Yugi was more or less always with was holding her head, looking around before questioned and panicked shouts streamed throughout the air as she dug for something in her purse. '_An ambulance,_' she was crying, pulling out a phone with wide eyes, '_An ambulance..!_'

And as the boys and Mai both hurriedly jumped from the car, Keiichi standing near it as they stared and ran closer to the docks, it wasn't long before still more questions were raised. "Oh my _God_," Mai whispered, bringing a hand to her mouth as they looked at the opposite end of Yugi's side of the dock.

"That... What the hell is Kaiba doing to Jonouchi," Honda muttered, the group momentarily frozen with shock. The teen before them seemed to be sitting at the blond's side, pushing on Jonouchi's chest with rigid arms and a bowed head before moving to tilt it back and bring his ear down by the unresponsive victim's lips for a brief moment after bringing his own lips to that of the blond's.

This... You couldn't laugh at that. You couldn't make a 'kiss' joke... Because this... "I don't know what he's doing completely... But I'm pretty damn sure that's CPR," Otogi said with a swallow, before running out to the docks. "Gh- YUGI," he shouted, the boy in question not looking or moving from where Mokuba was holding him back.

"Jonouchi..! Yugi! What the hell happened," Honda shouted, following behind as Mai and Keiichi both made their way down the docks. "What's going on!" Coughing filled the air part way through those words, Kaiba appearing to roll Jonouchi forward before wiping his mouth off and dragging the blond to the side. Alright... So Jonouchi was alive, but-

Yugi stopped screaming at that moment as a shocked expression or relief came over him, Mokuba letting the boy go with a sigh before he running toward his brother with something white in his arms. Anzu was shouting something about using her phone... About it not working rather, before running over to where Yugi stood with worried eyes. Keiichi took a step forward, glancing back at where Shizuka sat in the car with a swallow. She had no clue what was going on... And where could he even begin to answer her questions when they came? Hell, _he_ had no clue what was going on himself! "Y-Yugi," Otogi was saying across from them with a swallow, Mai merely looking around the dock with disbelief as they walked over. "Yugi what happened here, what..."

The group moved back as Kaiba abruptly approached the boy, Yugi's puzzle in his hand. He was saying something... He couldn't hear him, but as he dropped the puzzle...

"What's going on," Shizuka said with a clear frown, stepping out of the car as Keiichi turned back to her. "What's going on," she repeated somewhat worriedly, "Why is everyone screaming..? Why..?"

The boy swallowed, about to answer before freezing as his friend stumbled blindly forward. Gh- Shit! "Sh-Shizka..!" Keiichi hurriedly caught the girl, steering her away from the dock's edge with wide eyes as she gave a slight shocked shout. Ahh... How to explain... He... "Shizka," the boy began somewhat nervously. "We're at the pier but..." The boy froze, watching as his friend carefully pulled at the bandages from her face. One slip... Two... His grip on the girl's arm loosened, eyes widening in shock. "Wh... Shizka," he sputtered, shaking his head as he attempted to help the girl down the docks, "What're you doing..."

"I... I want to see what's going on," she said with a determined swallow, those on the dock as well looking toward them as Keiichi continued to help his friend on the walkway. "I want to see him," she continued, turning to the boy beside her as the bandages hung loosely on her face.

"S-Shizka," he muttered, swallowing as he stared.

The girl merely held the same determined frown, bowing her head just slightly. "Please... I need..." The bandages continued to pull away, slowly un-ravelling as she stumbled forward on the dock with a swallow. Sh... Shizu...

"Shizka..."

"K-Katsuya-nihan," the girl shouted, stumbling away from Keiichi as she blinked and squinted at what were merely blurs in her eyes for the moment. All she could see was the 'red' of the evening sky, the 'black' of the ocean below it, and in the center a mosaic of the dock, her friends, and the pillars supporting the dock itself. "Katsuya-nihan! I... I came to see you," she called out, Keiichi following close behind lest she fall, "So I..."

"He's over here," a soft voice said, Shizuka's hand lightly taken by the same boy who had been holding Yugi back before. Keiichi stopped following after the girl while she was led away, briefly turning to frown as the same teen who had revived the blond walked past. Why... Why was he leaving..? "Katsuya-nii's over here," the boy was saying quietly, leading the girl over as Keiichi turned to look at the group again. "Alright..." He slowly let go of the young woman's hand before stepping back, briefly staring at the two before retreating after the tallest of the group. Right there...

'Katsuya' in question was leaning against a support pillar at the side of the docks, coughing occasionally as water dripped from his face. As a shadow appeared before him however he had to look up, his own water logged vision blurring the shape of whoever it was that was standing there for a moment. "Ngh... W... Shizuka," the blond whispered as the form cleared, voice sounding almost broken as the girl nodded.

"Yes... That's right," she said quietly, "I... ...I..." Shizuka fell to her knees, the gravity and severity of the situation revealing itself as their vision both cleared. Covered in water, with tears in his jacket... The screams, the worried shouts for help, the questions of 'how', of 'what', of _'why'_... "K-Katsuya," she cried, launching forward to wrap her arms around the blond. "Katsuya..! You... N..Ngk... You..!"

"It's okay," the blond said through his own barely hidden tears, returning the hug in full strength after the initial flinch and cough. His head was hidden in the girl's shoulder, lip clenched in his teeth as he choked on the tears. "It's alrigh'... I'm still alive," he whispered, closing his eyes. "I'm still here... An' that's all that matters, ain't it..?"

The only response was for the hug to tighten, the last of the suns rays vanishing in the distance as it finished setting the path for the evening. Of course it was...

Of course...

**

* * *

AN:** And in the meantime, a small shard of flame vanished into Anzu's back...

MUAHAHAHAHA. In any case, as you've probably guessed, Ryuzaki's going to be tagging along for the remainder of Battle City, but, as a note, he will _not_ be involved in the Virtual World Arc. At least not from a computer's side. Lots and _lots_ of notes here to explain about changes that were largely made because they really _really_ bugged me as well, just as a warning...

Also lots of scary fan art below!

And in other news, there are two random points for you here; one is that I found a name for RyuzakixShizuka! I call it... Secretshipping! And it's not a really obscure/stretched name either; Ryuzaki would want to keep a relationship with Shizuka as much a secret as possible given relations with Jonouchi, at least by Canonical standards.

Also, for some reason, my head has taken to calling this fanfic the 'Anti-Abridged', due to how _insanely_ long it is, along with how seriously heightened I made all the violence and such in regards to realisim. You know the irony in that?

I got back into Yu-Gi-Oh _because_ of the Abridged Series! ...I wonder if anyone from that community (As in, helping with the makings of) reads this fanfic...

That would be cool. Like having a manga or book author read and enjoy your fanfic.

Now! Off to business!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Today we have two from Iona, since both the last chapter and the chapter before it were reviewed while I was typing this.

New updates are my way of saying 'I live to please', hehehe~ And hey, being busy is always an acceptable excuse! The fact that you're up to date is enough for me!

And aaaaahhh… So that's where the saying is from…

And hey, I'm literally as tall as Anzu, which is only two inches more, so it's okay~ Pitting masked people against each other is always fun.

As for the creepy… Oooh boy, if you thought that THEN… As for how it 'entered', it's not so much that he had to get in through cuts as Jonouchi was offering too much resistance; so the spirit took a short-cut to the brain and heart by essentially cutting through the blond's body…

And Malik's own logic there was that the sharp stinging pain would distract Jonouchi long enough for him to take control. So he was… _Kind of_ right?

On to the next review! You now have your answer there, which I personally checked and double checked in terms of throwing things. The fact is, anything can hurt if you toss it with enough force, and getting between Kaiba and Mokuba warrants a lot of force… I switched cards out with the locket-fist combo because cards are too thin and flimsy to be thrown like that though.

And yes… What's with all these dead-guys and being homicidal? At least he'll get his explanation soon, even if Jonouchi mostly lies about it because of his nerves in the next chapter… The truth will come, just not _now_ sadly enough.

Oh! This is something I forgot to mention _last_ chapter. Jonouchi doesn't have crazy, shadow-game inducing powers. He can't make the monsters affect his opponents any more than a normal person could. What the Alligator was referring to however, was that Jonouchi was more 'in tune' than normal, so he figured the effects would spill…

And they did; this is because Jonouchi was unknowingly acting as an amplifier for the Millennium Rod, which, as more and more control was gained over the body, began to effectively make it _his_. In other words, had the Rod 'won', it would have been in 'two bodies' at once. The Rod, and the blond's, effectively making him a god/demon/thing-on-earth… As Jonouchi was locked out.

In any case, long story short, the Millennium Rod instilled a shadow game without realizing it… The mortal brain wasn't doing nice things to it, as this chapter likely highlighted.

And for our next review, Cynical Gamer!

First off, as you can see above, I had actually forgotten to make a point on that 'power'; for Jonouchi to actually 'spread' his power to another person, he needs to be tied _directly_ to a shadow game. In other words, someone needs to start one for his ability to 'spread'; since the Millennium Rod triggered such an event, and had a loose control of this ability, the 'duels are real' bug there-by caught to Yugi for that moment.

As for Yami's shouts, they were shouts of worry, to Yugi. So no, he couldn't see… Not until he was in the body at least; for once, it's not so much a 'sense' deal as a 'body' deal… Since it's Jou's mind and spirit being torn out of his control in addition to the ability, he's the only one who can see the Rod; had it been any one else miraculously pulling off the fight, he'd be able to see or hear it.

This is why Yami Yugi suddenly gets thrown into things; while they obviously wouldn't be able to switch or any thing, Jou's body still serves as enough of an amplifier for him to escape the puzzle as a spirit… It also means he's temporarily tied to the body, thereby giving him a nice clear view of the Rod.

And yes, at least you got a laugh. In any case… Besides Kaiba's inaction being upsetting, you can find a bit more to the hint in this chapter as well, though it'll likely help either less or more than the one in the last chapter… Oh well. You'll be getting more snippets through dreams as we go through Battle City thankfully, along with a nice _visual_ hint in the Virtual World Arc.

And OH. Well, we're still on the same page then with the Millennium Items, haha. Any ways, yep! Crazy! And I _have_ set a point now; Jou's lying about it next chapter, and spilling the beans after the Virtual World Arc. Mostly because he gets away with it until shortly after that arc. (D'OH)

BWAHAHAHAHA! The cliffhanger will never die! And as for Shizuka… Well, just look up; she came in after all that was resolved, so nothing could really happen concerning that theory...

Well, that's all… Enjoy the chapter you guys!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that says Battle City HO! ...Right after Mai deals with the next quick problem they run into, 'ahem'.

* * *

The title for this chapter is partially drawing from the manga chapter that concluded this very 'arc', or 'duel' as it were. Though not all of what happened in it has technically happened this chapter in that a few bits of dialogue will move to the next one, the large bit, Shizuka removing her bandages, did.

The chapter was called, rather accurately, 'The Courage to See', of course referring to Shizuka... However, a lot of the sight in this chapter was 'blocked', kept separate from various people depending on ability and 'location' (Notice how being 'tied' to Jonouchi's body for a brief moment allowed him to see the Millennium Rod as a result.), so...

It becomes the 'Gift', rather than the Courage.

* * *

Originally, Jonouchi had the piece of puzzle in his right hand before trying to throw it. But the left was closer for Jou in this case... And luckily for him, soul-scars don't transfer. ...VERY lucky actually.

* * *

Obviously the scene with Panther Warrior went _completely_ different in the manga and anime; first, Jonouchi's 'reborn' judgement had him attack Yugi's stronger monster, the summoned Magnet Warrior 'Beta' rather than the weakened Red-Eyes Black Dragon, only for Yugi to activate the card he'd taken from Jonouchi; shield arm. This pulled Panther Warrior into the Rocket Warrior, taking 1500 points from the cat's attack, leaving the monster with only 500.

* * *

Another REALLY big change (besides the obvious) is the fact that originally(since Jonouchi was legitimately switching between 'evil thoughts-good thoughts' in canon of course), after Yugi mentioned Jonouchi going to the Duelist Kingdom for Shizuka he remembered going to the hospital with her for the operation… And then Shizuka telling him that she was still afraid to take off the bandages, along with the idea of giving her courage by dueling... A thought that obviously didn't exist this time around, due to him being unaware of the fact until a few hours prior.

* * *

Still another change is the reason why the duel is continuing; see, Malik originally ordered Jou to just wait the time out, a fact that was forced back by Jonouchi, whose 'real self' wouldn't want to let that happen.

But the Rod, in this case, is defying that order despite normally being incapable of such… Partially _because_ he's suddenly able to make that decision, and partially because this actually ticks Jou off _more_... Mostly however, it's because in addition to that, had the Rod 'won', he would have walked away with his 'own' body, a fact explained above in the review responses.

* * *

Cards! Or in this case, sharp-edged lockets. In the manga and anime, Kaiba threw a card at the ghoul, which got _stuck_ in the ghoul's hand. While Mythbusters (God bless them) proved you can _cut_ someone with enough force (They used a machine though), and damage their eye, you can't get it stuck in a person's hand... Particularly not with human strength! In fact, I don't think a human _can_ make the throw Kaiba did, at least not with the card...

Now, a sharp-edged locket on the other hand... Well, that would be akin to chucking a shuriken at someone, and the eyes are extremely vulnerable; hence why Fanfic Kaiba aimed there.

Of course, much like how pissed Kaiba was about the card being Blue-Eyes in Canon, having to throw her _locket_ when she was already in a silent rage was NOT GOOD... And quite ironically it was only Jonouchi's shout that snapped her out of it completely.

* * *

Unlike pool water, salt-water doesn't sting your eyes as much believe it or not. For some it hurts for a very brief moment, but otherwise, it's really not all bad.

However, since it's dirty sea-water in Japan, it is blurry as hell.

* * *

And this... This is where my being a lifeguard ticks you off. ENDLESS FACTS FOR YOU!

Breast stroke (think of how a frog swims), first off, is _the_ underwater stroke. For 'rescue dive' situations, that's the one you use while you're beneath the waves, with front-stroke and back-stroke for above.

Next up… As heavy as people are, it's actually not too bad to carry someone underwater. That's because water, being denser than air and all that, is actually going to help with the weight somewhat, though wearing clothes will indeed drag you considerably, and it's obviously not a walk in the park; it's simply easier than it would be on land. Case in point, I can ordinarily lift maybe 100 pounds maximum above water. I can lift almost _twice_ that beneath, though both examples are obviously not something I would regularly be able to do, let alone do without exhausting myself...

Particularly since this amazing 'super strength' just _dies_ once you hit the surface. (Ever wonder why I'm an _unemployed_ lifeguard? It's because I know that if I apply, I'll _never_ be able to lift a victim safely out of the water without endangering myself.)

And CPR! **C**ardiac **P**ulmonary **R**esuscitation! Also known as chest compressions when you aren't bothering with the breaths (Despite that kinda being required). It is not _clean_, it is not _pretty_, and it will very rarely get the victim conscious before Medical Help arrives. CPR is meant to keep the blood pumping through the body, keeping it oxygenated and alive. Yes, it's GREAT when someone wakes up, but the fact is, it's unlikely. You CAN NOT STOP because you figure they're 'dead'! If the ambulance isn't there, you keep going, even if it takes _hours_. This is why it's recommended that you switch out with someone every once in a while, so that the blood can keep pumping and you don't collapse.

Now, as for what brought this particular ending, I had been balancing my options for quite a while; I've been planning this since _before _the Duelist Kingdom! ...Well, the 'ending' anyways. Most of the Millennium Rod was relatively recent. Now!

In the manga, the car arrives after Jonouchi pulls _himself_ out of the water, Kaiba having 'saved' him by _dropping the key in the water_ before the blond passed out. This wouldn't have worked for a number of reasons, one being that by the time the key got to him (Given that Kaiba just kinda… Walked over, said a few things and dropped the key) he'd have probably been too out of it to see the thing… And more importantly because the key was dropped from _his_ side of the field, but Jonouchi fell from _Yugi's _side. The two sides are at least twenty feet apart!

In any case, the anime version has the car arriving just after Jonouchi sinks, with Shizuka taking off her bandages, grabbing the key, and diving in as everyone's shouting about doing just that. As moving as that one is, there are flaws here too... One, how did Shizuka know about the key and chain deal before they said anything! All you could hear was that Jonouchi 'didn't grab his key', but by the time Mokuba moved from one end of the dock to the other, Shizuka was diving in... The fact is, by the time anyone explained it, someone else would have done it! Though this isn't much of a 'flaw' as a '_damn, that's a REALLY solid gut feeling!_' Number Two which is more serious however, is that Shizuka shouldn't be able to see so clearly that quick, which you can tell from the manga and fanfic both; due to the time she's had those bandages on, her eyes would need to adjust to the light. And the fact is, blindfolded for so long, it's likely her eyes were shut the entire time, which means…

Well, more adjusting. Which there would be no time for.

In the end, I picked Kaiba as the 'saviour', but using a more Shizuka-like approach of diving in…

And then the life accurate/fluff/romance inducing one that is CPR. _Yea, you can see what I did there_...

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

WARNING; the image I have for the Millennium Rod, while only a sketch, can in fact be considered graphic... Mostly because it's down right terrifying, but points aside, you have been WARNED!

Now on a lighter note... Take out the spaces and paste the link for your image!

Reference: The Millennium Rod – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ TheMillenniumRod. jpg - _And why wasn't Jonouchi scared shitless_? He was; but he was too angry to care enough to be all petrified, and by the time he'd gotten 'past' that (he didn't 'really'...) it was really just resembling a flaming, naked him with black hair... And... A hole in his chest revealing his rib cage, but really, that's not the point. The point is HOLY CRAP- frightening.

And with that, I'll leave you with this ending filled of manly tears, normal tears...

The next chapter should come either this weekend or sometime next week really, and so, I say 'good night'!


	76. Chapter 75

**Unneeded Baggage**

* * *

Cracked ribs were something that admittedly, weren't new for Katsuya. He'd gotten them falling from his old apartment railing, from one or too _really_ vicious beatings... Hell, it was probably more than two, he never really bothered counting. As it was, they hurt like _hell _when touched, even when breathing, but seeing how he'd been stupid enough to avoid hospitalization after cracking ribs before, he'd told himself he'd be alright to just head for the finals despite Seto's words.

Even if Shizuka's hug was pushing really, _really_ hard on that rib and... And... It... Really... Hurt damn it... "Shizuka," he finally wheezed, grip loosening as he bit his lip. "I think yer crackin' th' ribs more..."

The girl jumped, pulling back with wide eyes as she looked the blond over. "A-Ahh! You cracked your ribs," she shouted, appearing caught between worry and incredulity. The others came over as Shizuka stood, helping her brother up as the blond nodded weakly. "But how... I mean..."

"Well, with the force Kaiba appeared to be using through CPR I wouldn't be surprised," Otogi muttered, crossing his arms. "From what I've been told," he continued, "It's fairly common for CPR to result in at least a small crack, if not a complete break."

"Well _yea_," Honda muttered from the side with a frown, "But why was _Kaiba_ giving him..." The teen was quickly cut off as Anzu's cough caught their attention, the woman's eyebrows raised in apparent annoyance as she turned to them. "E-Ehhhhh..."

"Honda," Anzu 'shouted' with a 'grin', moving over to cross her arms. "Thanks _so much_ for leaving me to deal with this guy while you were in Osaka," the expression becoming more and more forced as she went, "I was just wondering how I would be able to pass on his message..."

Hey! 'This guy'! Since when was he 'this- Katsuya blinked as he caught the end of the sentence, gritting his teeth and turning to the guilty pair with narrowed eyes. "Oh yea... Since when did you two get my sister's address," he growled, watching as Otogi and Honda both swallowed nervously. "Don' hold back on th' details now..."

Otogi swallowed, turning to Honda on that. "AHHHHH..."

"W-Well," the taller of the two began, "About that... You see... Er... We..."

"Hey, Jonouchi," a third voice cut in, saving the two from certain death, "This is your duel disk right?" Ah-

The others turned, a few of them double taking as Ryuzaki handed over the disk in question. It was... A little weird... Seeing the guy without his jacket and hat...

Really, _really_ weird, he didn't even have a duel disk o- Wait, _why the hell was he here! _The blond swallowed, taking the disk with a slow nod nonetheless. "Er... Y-Yea... I..."

"D-Dinosaur Ryuzaki," Anzu said with slightly wide eyes, Yugi as well gaping as the boy growled. "What on earth are you doing here?

"Errrrggggh..." The boy merely pulled at his head, scowling. "Why the hell is everyone so shocked that I have a 'life' damn it!"

Shizuka laughed, shaking her head as she 'patted' her friend's shoulder. "I did tell you that if you play cards all day, it would take over it..."

"You shouldn't be right about it though," he groaned, turning on the girl with narrowed eyes.

She merely shrugged, laughing quietly. "Well... Apparently I am," she responded, the boy growling.

"Gh... What's that supposed to mean!"

The girl merely stared, a somewhat broken smile on her face as the boy's scowl quickly faded. "...I..." She bowed her head, wiping what remained of earlier tears before looking back up at the boy. "I really missed being able to see you, Keichi..." E-Ehh! Ke- No 'kun'!

There was no..!

...Remind him to talk to Ryuzaki later on...

Alone.

"Oh," Shizuka jumped somewhat, as though just realizing that they had an audience. "That reminds me..." The girl turned to the others bowing politely before lightly pushing her friend's head down in a motion to do the same. "I don't know if Katsuya-nihan told you about me," she began, moving her hand as the boy beside her 'straightened' out his hair and scowled, "But I'm his sister, Kawai, Shizuka..." The girl straightened, still smiling as she brushed the hair from her eyes. "Also... Nihan," she said calmly, gesturing to Ryuzaki as the boy looked over the others, "I wan't you to meet-"

"Ryuzaki Keiichi," Katsuya said with a sigh, shaking his head as he met the boy's eyes. All in all he was probably... Just about as tall as Yugi, give or take an inch. Even so. "I kinda guessed from th' phone calls an' conversations," he continued dryly, the others trading glances as the boy scowled.

"If either of you all me 'Keichi'," he warned, "I swear to god..."

"Trust us," Honda said with a slight laugh, before dropping to a flat frown. "We won't..."

The unanimous decision hung through the air at that, before another voice cut through. "Well, in any case," Anzu decided with a frown, "If your ribs are really cracked Jonouchi, you should probably get some help..." The others briefly turned to Anzu with the statement, Mai momentarily looking back to check the blond over from her position as the others attentions were drawn back.

Ehhh... Ahahaha... Compared to the broken rib, everything about the duel was probably hospital worthy really... "It... It ain't that bad," he muttered, wincing as he gave an attempt at a casual shrug. "In all honesty," the blond continued somewhat bitterly, "I've had worse... And really," he muttered with a swallow, "I d'serve worse." Katsuya shifted his gaze to the ground momentarily, bowing his head as he turned to Yugi. "Yugi," he began, not meeting the boys eyes. "All those things I did an' said b'fore... I know that you an' S... An' Kaiba, an' Mokuba were th' only ones here but... It still feels like ev'ryone saw that hell, y' know," he continued, the others frowning confusedly as the blond went on. "An' ev'n though I know it wasn' really me," Katsuya said quietly, sounding uncharacteristically morose compared to his usual self, "I still can't f'rget what I saw..! An' what could've happened... I can't b'gin to apologise for that," he choked, shaking his head, "I..."

The blond froze as a hand pulled him up, the motion slight enough to pass off as his own. "_Really,_" the other Yugi said plainly, appearing between his other half and the blond,_ "Jonouchi... None of this was your fault._" As Katsuya looked at the expression on the spirit's face Yugi's lighter half nodded, his own frown mirroring that of the darker.

"The other me is right," he said clearly, the others blinking off the evident confusion at the statement. "He told me... You were fighting the entire time to stop," he protested, "It's not your fault!"

"Ah... I... What's not his fault," Ryuzaki muttered with narrowed eyes, Mai shaking her head as she looked down at the boy.

"Do yourself a favor hun, don't ask- you'll probably live a much more peaceful life," she added with a smirk, gaining an even more confused glare in response.

"..._What_..?"

"Heyyyy... Jonouchi," Honda muttered, walking over from the edge of the dock where he'd held a slight distance. The teen now had a very clear look at the condition his friend was in, from the somewhat bloodied arm and brow all the way to his now tattered jacket. "What the hell happened to you anyways?" Uhhhh...

"A good question..." Yes! Very good! Now let him think of an answer! "Your jacket is _covered_ in ash," Mai continued with a shocked whisper, Ryuzaki as well appearing to look at the coat with narrowed eyes. Katsuya merely moved to re-place the duel-disk on his wrist, nervously attempting to piece something together as he paled. UHHHH...

...Please buy his excuse... "H-Hah... Ah... Must've been somethin' th' Rod did, eh Yugi?" The blond looked to his friend at that, Yugi merely staring momentarily before nodding.

"Y-Yea... Malik must have done something..."

There was a fairly obvious look on Ryuzaki's face that said 'that doesn't answer _anything_', but thankfully he held silent as the others nodded in response. "Sooooo..." A semi-awkward silence settled over the air as the last light the vanished sun left behind began to darken, the waning moon already visible in the sky. For the most part, they'd really been trying to start conversation but... Ironically, it would be the most out of place member of the group to succeed it looked like. "You all made the finals huh," Ryuzaki asked, stowing his hands in his pockets as the group turned.

Shizuka brightened at that, looking to her brother with wide eyes as Katsuya in question stared. "Ah- That's right," she said with a laugh, "Keichi said you were 'doing well' in the tournament, does that mean..."

Oh..! That was right, before he'd been kidnapped he'd been all set for the finals! The blond coughed, hurriedly digging into his pockets as the others stared. It would if he still had... "Ah- Hahaha! YEA!" He pulled out the six cards grinning as he held them out for the others to see in the dying light. "They didn' take 'm! I'm still in!"

"Ah..! Then, if Yugi has all of his cards," Mai added in a 'hinting' tone, the boy in question pulling them from his safely returned belt pocket to show the others.

"Right here," he said with a nod, before carefully stowing them back in the deck holder. "Kaiba-san also has six cards," the boy added plainly, "So counting all of us..." He trailed off, looking toward Ryuzaki's arm as the boy shook his head.

"Lost to Roba an hour in," he grumbled, crossing his arms. "I just came to help Shizka."

"But you can still come can't y'," Katsuya asked, the boy in question raising his eyebrows at the remark. "I mean, heck... I know I want you there Shizuka! I want you t' see what kind 'f a duelist I am," he added with a grin, laughing as the others stared in blank confusion. "Got it?"

The girl seemed to study her brother for a moment, before nodding. "Of course! It should be fun, right," she continued, Ryuzaki giving a neutral shrug.

"Just remember that anything can happen," Mai added with a wink, turning away to her car as the others followed. The woman pulled out her keys, smirking somewhat as she looked back at them. "Try not to feel bad when I beat your brother ah? My power has changed since the Duelist Kingdom," she warned, slipping into her car as the others attempted to follow behind her. "This tournament won't be like last time, understand? Yugi, Jonouchi?"

"Heh!" The boys both nodded in response, Katsuya hopping into the car with a laugh and a wince. "That's jus' what we're expectin'," the blond said with a grin. "An' I ain't gonna lose either; so you watch yerself too!"

"That's right," Yugi said with a nod, following behind his friends as they attempted to cram into the car. "We've changed to... We'll be trying our best," he added, Honda and Otogi both climbing in after the others as Shizuka buckled herself in at the front.

"H-HEY, HEY," Ryuzaki wheezed, finding himself crammed on the shoulder-rest between the front seats. The boy shook himself, pulling his bag up and passing it to Shizuka where it was relatively safe. "How the hell are we going to drive like this without getting ourselves killed!"

"Wh-" The driver in question looked at the rearview mirror, gawking as she watched the others attempt to arrange themselves. "You're _all_ getting on," Mai asked incredulously, Shizuka as well turning from her seat as the remaining five forced their way into the car. Otogi and Honda sitting at either side on the car doors, gripping the sides as they gave up on trying to sit inside the vehicle... And while Ryuzaki was stuck somewhere in the middle, the other three crammed tightly in the middle, Yugi and Anzu both doing their best not to crush their friend's ribs further. The woman shook her head as she stared, dropping her keys. "I can't drive like this!"

"Awww, it'll be _fine_," Otogi said with a wave, shaking his head as he gripped the back of Shizuka's seat. "Not a problem! Just... Don't go over forty," he added with a nervous laugh, the others narrowing their eyes. Don't go over _twenty_ more like! And GOD this wasn't helping his ribs...

"H-Hey, do we even know where we're going," Anzu asked with a cough, Katsuya finally forgoing elbow room to sit on the back of the car while Ryuzaki moved to his former spot. The blond attempted to gain a grip on the backs of the seats, eventually finding a safe-spot while the others buckled themselves in. "I mean... We have the locator cards but how do we use them?"

"Ahh..." Yugi swallowed, crossing his arms as the engine to the car turned on. "Well, Kaiba-san mentioned a stadium when he activated his own set, but..." The sound of a chopper hit the air above them, the group looking up as the helicopter passed over. "Ah- His helicopter..!"

"And I'm willing to bet I know where he's going," Mai muttered, easing the car toward the road as she turned to check behind her. "Well, there's one way to find it," she shouted as she turned back, "But you boys better hold on tight back there; if I'm going to follow this guy I'll have to break a few laws..!"

"A _few_," Ryuzaki asked incredulously before the car abruptly spun around to drive off. The boy was quickly forced to the side of the vehicle, gasping for breath as Anzu and Yugi's combined weight crashed into him. "Ghk! Easy on the corners," he rasped, the others around him gripping their friend's legs as they fell to one side. "Easy..!"

"Well, put it this way," the woman responded somewhat dryly, "If I get any tickets, you kids can pay in full; Yugi and Jonouchi aside," she added, the others looking at the two in question before turning back with scowls.

"W-What," Honda shouted, ducking forward as they passed a sign, Otogi as well turning to Mai with wide eyes.

"How come they don't have to pay!"

"Because they look like drowned _rats,_" she shouted over the wind, Katsuya in question laughing nervously as the 'other Yugi' joined him atop the back seat.

"O-Oi, oi," he muttered, resisting the urge to scratch his head, "It ain't _that_ bad..."

"_Yes,"_ the spirit beside him responded with a frown._ "Yes it is._" Thaaaanks... Thanks soooo much...

Shizuka abruptly pointed in the air as the car swerved around another corner, backroads thankfully more or less empty for the moment while the others screamed. "Ah- I can see the helicopter again," she shouted, the vehicle in question appearing to briefly hover over them as those within it looked down. "He's heading north!"

"Got it," Mai shouted, Katsuya as well looking up to the air. It was still hovering there, slowly heading in that direction but...

Hahaha... The blond had to grin as an image of the woman who owned the copter in question came to mind, clearly imagining her looking down with a snort as another 'flash' hit him. '_Hn,_' she was muttering, shaking her heads as Mokuba followed her gaze. '_We're being followed by a pack of dogs... Well then,_' the woman 'decided', '_If you have what it takes, then follow after me! Full speed ahead,_' she shouted to the pilot, the helicopter charging forward just moments later as he grinned. Hahaha...

He gave a slight saluting wave as he tightened his grip, the others on the car's sides briefly looking at him with raised eyebrows. "You're _waving_ at him," Honda asked, bracing himself as they swerved into another corner. "Gh-!" He shook it off, turning back with raised eyebrows. "..._Really_?"

"O-Oi... S- ...He saved my ass alrigh'," the blond grumbled, scowling as the other Yugi smirked from beside him. Yea, yea, take advantage of being 'invisible' why not...

"I don't even want to know how you got in that situation," Otogi said with a sigh, ignoring the scowl from his friend. "Mai's description of 'drowned rat' fits all to well right now..."

"Gh-" Katsuya growled, teeth grinding as he turned on the teen. "It's not that big a deal damn it! An'-"

-_screeeeeee!_-

"FU-"

"Ack!"

"OW, _FUCK!_"

The others tumbled forward on top of each other, groaning as Mai turned back to look at the 'wreckage'. Katsuya was on top of Anzu and Yugi both, Ryuzaki stuck in a corner under Honda and Anzu... Otogi escaped by just hitting the seat, not that he was too pleased about that one. "Sorry about that boys... and Anzu," she added with a nod, the woman in question giving a slightly pained smile as she waved from the near bottom of the pile. "But we are now in the middle of a construction zone," she muttered, clicking the car door open and hopping out, "Which means we're going to be walking from here..." Though thankfully the helicopter appeared to be landing in the distance, sinking toward a series of lights rather than disappearing elsewhere.

The others merely groaned, slowly pulling themselves off of each other as Shizuka simply unbuckled herself and hopped out. "Hnng... Construction," Katsuya asked incredulously, hopping off the back of the car as the others slowly filed out themselves. He looked toward the building and road they'd parked outside of, before blinking. "What th'..."

Across the roped off parking lot what looked to be an immense coliseum stood, a few towers of scaffolding and machinery sitting around in the now dark night sky. A small street ran between it and other roads, the street itself blocked off completely and thus preventing those approaching from doing anything but walking in. "Well," Honda said with a cough, staring at the light that was being released from the building in question. "If there's one thing the jerk is known for it's 'going big'," he said with a shrug, Yugi laughing somewhat nervously.

"Actually," he admitted, "Kaiba-san didn't know about the location himself... In fact, he seemed a little put off when he found out about where it was..." So she didn't know then eh...

The others turned at that, Ryuzaki snatching his bag from the car as they began heading toward the blocked street. "Hn... Did Mokuba come up with it then," Otogi asked, Yugi again shaking his head as they slowly began walking along the half-built walls and buildings in search of an entrance.

"Nope- while we were in the helicopter, Kaiba-san mentioned it to him... He seemed surprised," he continued, Otogi staring momentarily in surprise.

"So he didn't..."

"What the hell are you all talking about..!" The others turned as Ryuzaki held his head in the annoyance of being the 'odd one out', only to wince as it was lightly smacked by an annoyed looking Shizuka.

"There are other ways to ask," she muttered darkly, the boy merely looking at her with a light frown while his friend crossed her arms.

"Well there are other ways to _get me_ to ask," he grumbled, Shizuka merely looking at her friend with a frown.

"You don't listen though! _At all_!"

"Ah- And when was the last time you tried something else anyways," he bit back, pointing somewhat accusingly as Shizuka blinked.

"The last- What's that supposed to mean," she 'growled', the others briefly looking back as the 'quiet' girl they'd met continued arguing with her friend.

Honda and Otogi traded glances as the banter continued on behind them looks of confusion evident on their faces. "This... Do you think this is why he hasn't tried to slaughter Ryuzaki yet," Otogi whispered, Honda shrugging in response.

"I don't know," the teen said with a cough, "I..."

"It's got nothin' t' do with that," Katsuya growled from in front of the two, the both growing rather pale as they realized he'd heard every word. They both watched as their friend looked back, the ever present 'don't touch my sister' glare in place as they swallowed.

"Ehhh..."

"Ahahaha..."

Yea. That was what he thought. The blond merely shook his head, looking around as they moved toward the coliseum. In all honesty, he'd deal with Ryuzaki later... He just didn't trust people he used to partner with for 'date hunting'... Not to mention the fact that it was his SISTER damn it!

"_So,_" a voice muttered from the side, pulling his attention from those thoughts._ "Jonouchi..._" Katsuya turned somewhat as the other Yugi appeared beside him, watching the spirit continue on with a slight frown. "_You said you would explain about the fight,_" he asked, nodding somewhat._ "Back at the pier..?_"

Katsuya swallowed, briefly freezing as the others continued to walk past him. Ah... Right...

That was right, he'd said that hadn't he. This... The blond bit his lip, looking back at the ground a moment. He didn't want to lie about this, not to his best friend, but with all that was going on... He looked back at the ones ahead of him as he stood in the darkness, staring at his friends and the small spirits following them around as well. Ryuzaki's raptor... Mai's own monster being some sort of giant, golden bird with a set of four wings... And behind Yugi there was Kuriboh, the brown fuzz-ball serving as some sort of 'nest' for the miniaturized Red-Eyes at the moment, the dragon's wings and limbs thankfully repaired. These things... He could see them, when no one else could, but...

How the hell did he explain that? That when he dueled, he was seeing something different? That all he could see were tablets in the place of cards, living monsters instead of holograms cleverly programmed to emulate those beasts. That just like how the monsters wounds were real, each attack on him dealt real damage as well, and that if Yugi wasn't careful he would end up dead when they battled? That when they finally faced each other in this tournament...

Katsuya swallowed, the other Yugi still silently waiting for his response. He... He didn't want their fight to be like that... He didn't... "It's... It's like I said b'fore," he said with a weak smile, mentally beating himself as he made his decision. "Th' rod... When it took over," he continued rather nervously, "All I could see was that flamin' thing an' th' monsters..." And... He wasn't _technically_ saying that was the reason right? He was just saying he could still see them so... So... "...You're sayin' y' don' see that kinda thing most 'f the time," the blond asked somewhat nervously, further attempting to link it to items as he asked the question that had been nagging at the back of his mind for months.

The spirit paused as he took in the answer, before shaking his head. "_No... I can sense the spirits of my monsters as they fight,"_ he said with a light frown,_ "But besides that moment when I was tied to your body..._" He trailed off, shaking his head as a somewhat distant look came to his eyes. "_It was incredible," _the boy muttered, hovering in place to meet his friend's height._ "As though a rush of power had filled my entire being at that moment, almost like I was alive not through someone else's body, but instead..._" He drifted off, gaining a somewhat misty look as he left the end hanging in the air. Not someone else's body but... In... Instead..?

E-Ehhh..! Was he saying that he'd been 'alive' again! How... That didn't make any... "Hey!" The pair turned abruptly, looking at the others as Ryuzaki turned back to them from the back of the group. "Are you done talking to yourself," he shouted, gaining a pointed look from Shizuka as the blond paled.

Oh... Oh right! They couldn't see... (Hell, he probably should have waited until they were in some other room or... )The other Yugi smirked, shrugging as he moved to float after his partner. "_I suppose we can find out how it worked later,_" he admitted, unaware of the relieved sigh his friend gave in response as he turned back around. Just so long as he _forgot_ later... And he didn't have to explain. The group passed through another 'hall' of scaffolding, turning up the parking-lot road as pale moonlight illuminated their path. All around them were scattered papers, hanging sheets, shadows playing in the light...

"Hihhh..." An involuntary shudder passed through his body as he looked around, swallowing as a chilled breeze passed them by. "Thi' 's like walkin' in a ghost town," he muttered, absently rubbing his arm as Mai chuckled from in front of him.

"Really," the woman said with a smirk, looking back at the teen. "Such a cowardly thing to say, aren't you a finalist? Just what are you going to do when you have to duel?"

"Gh- It... That doesn' have anythin' t' do with it," the blond growled defensively, Shizuka giving a somewhat sympathetic smile as Mai and Ryuzaki both caught the look on his sister's face.

"Oh... You're... Actually serious," Mai muttered, blinking somewhat awkwardly as she coughed. "Really! My comment stands even more now! What kind of 'man' are you?" The kind that didn't like the undead, so drop it!

Ryuzaki nodded, shaking his head as he smirked. "Sheesh! If this scares you, I'd hate to see you against Kotsuzuka," he chuckled somewhat darkly, arms crossed as the blond coughed awkwardly. Yeaaaaaa... About that... Ryuzaki's smirk fell, blinking as he looked back to the blond. "_Wait_... You... You actually fought with..." The boy paused momentarily, soon walking at the teen's side and staring at him in incredulity. "How the _hell_ did you get through _that_ then," he asked, Katsuya tensing further and further with each word. "I mean... Kotsuzuka's entire _being_ screams-"

"Gh- I don' wanna talk about it," he growled, grabbing his head as the memory of the 'zombie' duel came to mind, "So jus' _drop it_, alrigh?"

The boy shrugged, shaking himself as they walked on. "Alright, alright..." Sheesh..!

Now he had dead things in his head. Hihhhhh... Katsuya sighed as they approached the coliseum entrance, before pausing as a poster caught his eye. Eh... He turned to look at the paper, blinking as the words gradually cleared in the dim light. Ah... A new Magnum movie!

"Oh sweet," Ryuzaki muttered from the side, grinning as he stopped to look at the poster himself. "He's against ninjas in this one!" _Masked_ ninjas. One was a demon, one was a... ...Blank... He supposed...

The others as well paused at the mention of 'Magnum', the first two boys quickly joined by Honda and Otogi as they looked over the poster in evident curiosity. "Wait," Katsuya muttered, shaking himself and turning to the shorter of the group. "You watch Magnum movies," he asked, the boy in question grinning as he adjusted his bag.

"Hah! Who the hell doesn't," he shouted, a quick 'hear hear!' coming from the two behind them.

"So it's ninja's this time," Honda was muttering, Otogi looking over the poster with a grin.

"_YES..._" Well, obviously ninja's were this guy's weak point...

Faded and somewhat sarcastic laughter came from behind the boys as Yugi stared, Anzu merely shaking her head while Shizuka moved to join the group. The girl lightly moved past Honda to look around her friend's shoulder, staring at the image curiously. "Ah..? It's not going to be like the cowboy one is it," she asked with a quiet frown, her friend pulling a face.

"As far as I'm concerned, that one doesn't _exist._" he muttered the other boys nodding 'knowingly' in response.

"Agreed," Otogi muttered, arms crossed as he shook his head.

Honda as well crossed his arms, a similar expression on his face before he turned to the 'new guy' in the group. "Hnn... Maybe you aren't so bad Ryuzaki..."

The boy snorted, a smirk briefly coming over his face. "Of course not, I- WAIIIIIIIT... What was that," he growled, turning on the two with a scowl as the others sighed.

The sound of screeching tires hit the air to cut his words short, the group looking behind them as what looked to be a stretch limo pulled to a stop on the parking-lot beside them. "Wh- I thought th' streets in here were closed," Katsuya muttered, Mai visibly tensing at the limo's appearance as a flag on the window flapped in the breeze.

"It _IS_," she bit out with a grated tone, momentarily sounding similar to Seto as she clenched her fists. He-Hey, what was this, she have something against limos or something? The door to the vehicle popped open with that thought, a young man in a white suit and sandy brown hair stepping out as Mai continued to growl. The man had on him a disk on one arm and a bouquet of roses in the other as he removed his sunglasses, slipping them into his pocket to face the group.

"Mai," he said with a smile, his target not even bothering to cover the look of distaste she had.

"Hello, _Jean_..."

This... This face... "J-Jean- Jean-Claude Magnum," Ryuzaki hissed, the group turning on Mai with wide eyes as they quickly compared the suit wearing man to the image on the poster. "You... You _know_ Jean-Claude Magnum," he shouted, receiving no answer as the others swallowed.

"Ohhhhh hell," Katsuya muttered, looking over himself with a wince. "I don' have anythin' f'r him t' sign... That would've made Mokuba's day damn it..." Though if Mokuba wanted he could probably just ask and have it in an instant...

Sometimes, he had to respect that kid's ability in self-control. Mai continued to glare from beside the group as muttered questions hie the air, Jean walking toward her with a somewhat suave look on his face while she growled. "Since when did my restraining order lose effect within Japan," the woman 'asked' dangerously, a few of the boys tilting their heads in shock. "I distinctly recall it stating that you were supposed to stay at least fifty meters away from me at all times..."

W-w-wait... The restraining order... The order Mai got on the guy she dumped around Valentines..! "Wai- THAT'S the guy," Honda shouted, turning back to look at Jean as he paled. "That... You gave us chocolate that _MAGNUM_ was supposed to eat," he continued, the woman merely shrugging as her ex looked at the boys in slight surprise.

"...We _ATE_ chocolate Magnum was supposed to eat," Katsuya muttered, eyes wide as he stared.

Ryuzaki merely continued to stare, shaking himself as he looked at the sour expression across Mai's face. "...Why the _hell_ did she get a restraining order on _Magnum_..?"

These questions and many others were largely ignored as Jean held out the flowers to his apparent ex, bowing his head in polite 'apology' with a cough. "My _dear_ Mai..." With those words alone he was digging a hole Katsuya noted nervously, Mai's face growing extremely red as a look akin to Seto's more 'frightening' ones came into place. The fact that anyone other than Seto could even emulate that expression was a shock compared to the fact that it was still souring. "I know that we got off on the wrong foot," Jean said with accented Japanese, "But-"

"But _nothing_," the woman said flatly, cutting the man off "The only reason I haven't pulled out my phone and called you in is because I'll be late for the finals if I do!" Oh yea, that was in what... Half an hour? No way she'd get the police here on something like that in that amount of time.

Jean merely turned his head away momentarily, before looking back with a cough. "Yes well... If you could please, _please_ give me another chance," he 'begged', the flowers rather violently ripped from his hands and tossed to the boys at the side. "Ah-!"

For a moment, there was a bit of a scramble, the four near the poster attempting to snatch at whatever it was that had been ripped out of the movie star's hands. "Here boys! A souvenir from your idol; don't fight over them now," she added dryly, the flowers hurriedly dropped as Otogi realized what had been tossed his way.

"Aaaaaagghh..." The teen shook himself, kicking the bouquet away with an odd gagging noise while the others silently went through their own motions of light horror.

"That- That was worse than my cousin's wedding," Honda choked, wiping his hands on his shirt as a look of disgust came over him.

"_Hell_, I'm not that desperate for something he touched," Ryuzaki muttered in 'agreement', turning back to the arguing 'couple' as Jean sighed.

"Please... It was _one time_," the man protested through his accented whine, "And I-"

"I don't want to hear it," Mai growled, shaking her head as she attempted to storm past the man. "Now if you'll excuse me," she continued with a snarl, "I have a tournament to get to!" For a moment as Mai moved to go into the entrance, Jean stood there, staring off at her back. Abruptly however he appeared to steel himself, dropping the somewhat put-off look he had and swallow.

"...Duel me!"

Ah what. Katsuya blinked, raising an eyebrow as the others looked from Jean to Mai. This was starting to sound like a corny romance...

Except with a restraining order involved... Which probably wasn't the best thing to throw into the mix he thought with a mental cough, watching as Mai turned to face her 'stalker'. The woman stared as Jean pulled a ring box from his pocket, a slightly desperate gleam in his eyes as he unveiled a glimmering, flawless diamond. "From the moment I met you on that ship," Jean 'begged', "I knew you were 'different'... Duel me, and let me prove myself again!" Uhhhh... W-Wait...

What. "Is he proposing," Otogi hissed, the others gaping.

If... If that happened... "D- Holy shit," Honda muttered, a grin coming over his face, "We're gonna be friends with a movie star!"

"Ahh..." There was a slightly nervous cough from the side, the others turning as Shizuka pointed toward Mai and swallowed. "I don't think that's going to quite work like that," she muttered nervously, the others catching Mai's extremely rage-filled expression before the woman 'exploded'.

"You... I get a _restraining order_, I get new locks, and I even get a DOG," she raged with clenched fists, "And you think you can offer me a ring and get a YES!" Yea, now that he thought about it, Magnum wasn't sounding so cool after all of that...

At the same time... "Given that Magnum does his own stunts in his films," Otogi muttered with a swallow, Jean in question standing through the rant with a neutral expression in place, "I'm going to say that's _exactly_ what he thinks..."

"Yea but... Magnum wouldn't start throwing punches over _this_ right," Ryuzaki hissed, the others trading nervous looks as the boy frowned. "..._Right_?" ...Hopefully?

Jean continued to hold the ring for a moment, before pulling it back with a calm smile and chuckling. "You told me yourself, that the day I beat you would be the day you married me," he responded rather plainly, Mai's face momentarily falling to the similar 'Kaiba-Calm-Before-Storm' phase. "I might not be in this tournament," the oblivious man continued with a smile, "But I'm fairly certain that you'll keep your word..."

For a moment, the air was left silent, with Mai's eyes largely hidden by her hair as she shook. However a fair number of them, whether from experience with friends or siblings, had a fairly good idea on what was going to happen next. Because really, now that he thought about it...

Magnum was probably dead already. "A-Ah... M-Mai," Yugi said nervously, looking up at the woman as he coughed. "Are you al-"

"Alright _Jean_," the woman growled with a start, disk clicking into place with a resounding snap as the man in question stepped back. "We'll duel- and after I beat you, you can forget about any agreements and leave me ALONE," she roared as they took positions, Jean merely giving a bow of sorts as he set his own disk into place. The disk clacked smoothly into place, a fierce wind buffeting the man somewhat as Mai leered at the man. Oooooh boy... This would either be really amusing or really _painful_ to watch... "This'll only take a moment alright," she added with a somewhat calmer tone, glancing back at the others. "We'll make it to the tournament easily."

"Indeed they will," the man shouted from across the field, drawing his hand of cards as the duel started off. "And soon enough, while you enjoy your last tournament," the man continued with a smile, "_I_ will be planning the _perfect_ wedding..." Jean continued to beam at that, Mai's fist clenching tightly as she drew her own hand. Either he was _really _oblivious to what was going on or he had one _huge _death wish... "California has a number of places, but you would probably prefer something Japanese, am I right..?" Ehhhh... He should probably _stop talking_, right now..! Jean merely chuckled as his ex continued to shake across from him in rage, taking a card from his hand with a smirk. "I'll go first," he decided, setting the card on the field as a somewhat black tablet arose in response. "Summoning Ninja Commander Ikusa!" Black smoke swirled about the stone as a samurai-esque figure stepped forward, drawing a blade with a curt and silent nod. "Next, using his special effect," the man went on, green armored ninja leaping from in front of the tablet to slam his hands upon the top of the structure, "I summon Ninja Soldier 'Katana'! Both in attack mode," he shouted, the second ninja arriving to the field from a burst smoke. Eh...

It didn't have a tablet..? The second ninja, appearing quite stereotypical in terms of skin-tight black garb, drew his two blades, spinning them across his hands. More importantly though, looking back at the movie poster... "Wow," Ryuzaki said with a cough, shaking his head as Mai quite calmly summoned 'Amazon Swordswoman' to destroy the weak monster in a cloud of smoke, "Not only was that _really_ predictable but..."

"I don't even duel and I can tell he's an amateur," Honda groaned, most of the others shaking their heads. The Amazoness appeared to agree quite completely, leaning on her blade with a yawn.

"_**Hahhh... And here I thought my new job would be hell...**_" Wait for it... Wait for it... "_**I can't believe I quit for this...**_" Exactly! ...Wait. Wh-...

Wait what? Duel monsters had jobs, _what_?

Katsuya shook himself as it again came to Jean's turn, a second tablet appearing to the man's side as he made his move. "Hnnn... A sharp blow," he commented, a second 'samurai' stepping forth from the smoking stone before smacking the rock to activate his effect, "I'll be summoning another Ninja Commander and Soldier," he announced, the second ninja leaping to the field as a trail of dust and smoke rose through the air. "And I'll again end my turn!"

S... Seriously? Just... Attack mode ninjas? The guy was already eleven hundred points down, how the hell... "Wow," Shizuka said with a somewhat incredulous stare, the expression mirrored by the Amazoness as her summoner ordered her attack. "When Mai-san said 'this will be quick'..." There was a wave of dust as another tablet was cut in two by the Amazoness' massive sword, the girl shaking her head as Jean was left with a 'Katana' and a 'Commander' on the field. "She really wasn't ki-"

"Hnhnhn..." The opponent's laughter cut her short, Katsuya watching as Jean drew his card and made his next move. "My turn again," the man announced, the others frowning as his grin persisted. Either he was way more oblivious than he figured or...

Another tablet arose from the field, the Ninja soldier vanishing into a cloud of dust as the somewhat larger structure began to form. Yep. It was all 'as planned'... Damn it. "Now that I have two ninja's in the graveyard, I can put my strategy into motion," Jean said with a grin, switching a few cards on the disk before grabbing more. "First, I sacrifice the Ninja soldier to summon 'Ninja Master Shogun'," he shouted, the monster in question arising from the stone with a mask near identical to that of the one in the poster behind them. "And using his effect," the man continued, words accompanied by numerous hand-seals on the part of his summoned monster, "I special summon two more ninjas from my deck... Moreover," he shouted, the cards ejected and set into place as tablets swarmed the field and arose in a domino formation, "One of those ninja's allows me to special summon _another_ ninja!" Another- The 'audience' gaped as the remaining ninja piled onto the field, another solider appearing before he was followed by a white masked woman and man. "So then... First, the Shogun attacks your swordswoman," Jean ordered, the demonic-masked monster running the woman through with his spear as the Amazoness choked and collapsed, "And then... Kabuki, Katana, and the Kunoichi Ayame attack directly," he called out, the trio charging forward with a wide array of weapons as Mai doubled over from the force of what Katsuya couldn't see.

"Ghnn..!" Mai gripped her stomach briefly, her Amazoness in the meantime fading into dust with her tablet as she held her own bleeding wound. "You _prick_..."

"_**Ghk- Probably should have expected that...**_" Yea... They should have to, so it wasn't her fault really...

Jean merely shook his head, crossing his arms and sighing as the woman leered at him from across the field. "I didn't _want_ it to be like this," he said in excuse, biting his lip. "I don't want to hurt you after all, but love is a violent game at heart..."

...What the hell did that even _mean_... "Ugh..." His opponent shook her head, teeth grinding as she straightened herself out and continued to glare. "Save it for your next film," Mai spat, rubbing her stomach with a swallow. Sheesh... He knew Mai would probably turn this around _easily_ but...

Man, if this guy landed another hit like that she'd be stuck in engagement! ...And _they'd_ be stuck hearing about it! "Hnn... Well," the man decided with a shrug, "Before I end my turn, I'll set a card face down..." As the blank tablet appeared to his side he continued to smirk, eyes shining darkly in the dull moonlight. "With luck," he said with a 'sigh', "It'll only hurt a little more..."

A fair number of the audience had to roll their eyes at that, particularly as the woman in question summoned her next monster. The tablet arose tall and strong at her side, a sleek, mature-looking version of her signature monster carving itself into place on the cover. "Tch- I summon the Harpie Queen in attack mode," she shouted, pointing the white-winged woman forward as the 'queen' burst forth from the stone. The monster spun high into the air, long hair trailing with a beauty that far surpassed its 'younger' brethren. "Attack the Ninja Master," Mai ordered, an ear-splitting screech piercing the air as the Queen did as ordered.

Another shout however cut the attack short, Jean's voice faded somewhat in the momentary 'deafness' the Queen's shriek had left the blond. '_Activate trap,_' he dimly heard the man roar, blank tablet grinding into dust and filling the field as his ninja tossed a bomb of sorts to the ground. '_Ninja smoke ball!_' The monster ducked as the Queen attempted to tear at his throat, smoke filling the air and clogging the harpie's lungs before it was forced to retreat with a snarl.

"**_Gh! My feathers,_**" the monster growled, perching on her tablet and looking at her now ashen wings. "**_How DISGUSTING! What is the MEANING of this!"_**

Geeze, the bird was as much a drama queen as the others... "Tch..." Mai narrowed her eyes as her Harpie continued to grumble, nonetheless steeling herself as she took a card from her hand. "I'll play a card face down and end my turn," she muttered, crossing her arms somewhat bitterly. Hnnn...

Jean's grin was still 'shining' from across the field, the man drawing his card only to immediately set it on the disk with a chuckle. "My turn then," he announced as the tablet appeared on the field, only to crumble into dust behind his most powerful monster. "First, the spell card 'Great Kite of Ninja'," Jean called out, the Ninja Master pulling yet another device from its armor before taking to the skies on the great and clearly visible kite. "And now, while he's out of reach and safe from all attacks..." Oh so _that_ was what it did... All he'd figured was that it pulled him up in the air, that was... "I'll make use of his _other_ effect! By sacrificing a monster," Jean explained as the crowd stiffened, "The Ninja Master can attack directly... It'll all be over soon," he continued with a 'soothing' sigh, tapping the disk as his Ninja Soldier erupted into smoke from the field. "Ninja Master attacks directly!"

"G- Hn!" The ninja tore forward, Mai flinching as the blade passed through her before the monster and kite both returned to the skies. The Harpie Queen looked back at her summoner briefly before scowling, both women snarling at the ninja and its summoner as they grew red. "Rgggh..."

"_**Of all the underhanded, cowardly stunts..!**_"

Hey... They were ninjas, what did she expect? Either way, this was a pain, he told himself frowning as the others stared at the kite above. "Is it possible to turn this around soon enough," Anzu muttered from the side, shaking her head as Yugi frowned.

"Well," he began as he crossed his arms in thought, "If she had 'Harpies Feather Duster' in her hand..."

Hey, that sounded good! "Oi Mai," Katsuya shouted from the side, "You got a 'Feather Duster'?"

"If I DID, I would have PLAYED IT," she roared, the crowd tensing slightly as the woman growled. H-Hey hey, honest question! Not his fault he didn't get flashes when he wanted! "Besides... I don't need that card to win," the woman continued, narrowing her eyes as she turned her anger to the field. "I already have an idea... First, the spell Kaleidoscope," Mai announced, an eerie light shining beneath her Harpie to fan out into two extra duplicates of the bird-like beast. The Queen's duplicates stared at their original, blinking a few times before the first snorted. '_Please_,' she muttered under her breath, '_We all know who the 'real' Queen is..._' Not that they looked pleased about that comment as their summoned pulled their attention. "Now," Mai ordered, "Attack all three of the ninjas!"

The Queens quickly nodded in response, taking to the sky as the first pointed her claws forward. "_**Eagle's formation,**_" she ordered swiftly, razor sharp teeth bared as the other Harpies flanked her side. "_**GO!**_"

"_**KEEEEEERRR!**_"

In a flash of steel claws the birds each struck, throats slashed as blood spurted to the field and over the Harpies' talons and faces. The ninjas stood little chance as they were deafened by the monster's cries, weapons clattering to the ground before they dissolved into dust with their tablets. Briefly Katsuya tensed, a droplet of blood splashing across his face as the birds flew back, the urge to wipe it off only barely suppressed by the fact that the other Yugi currently stood beside him. The blond quickly opted with pushing the slight unease back with a cheer in the end, cupping his hands as the Harpies returned to their single tablet. "HAH! Alrigh'! Let's wrap this up Mai!"

The woman smirked, a thumbs up coming from her side of the field as Jean grit his teeth. "Hn! The audience should know to keep quiet," he said with a frown, the 'audience' in question rolling their eyes. "Particularly in the matters of _adults_..."

Katsuya merely snorted, crossing his arms. Really, it was what, the second comment..? "Heh! Like we care what you think," he shouted, most of the others nodding in agreement as they sent their own muttered insults forward.

"That's right," Ryuzaki muttered with a smirk, "You can go to hell for all I care!"

Shizuka frowned at this, turning to the boy with raised eyebrows as her friend turned back. "Didn't you just say how much of a fan you were five minutes ago," she asked, the boy merely shrugging the question off.

"That was five minutes ago," he 'argued', Honda as well nodding.

"Yea," the teen added 'knowingly', "Things can change in five minutes."

"Like what, the wind," Otogi muttered in response to that, the conversation cutting short as Mai ended her turn from across them.

While they'd been arguing and talking a face down card had apparently been set, a blank tablet sitting at the woman's side where the Harpies were perched in wait. This would be the last turn, Katsuya thought in the back of his mind, finding himself more than used to 'just knowing' things by this point. The wind appeared to pick up somewhat in response to that un-spoken knowledge, Jean taking his next turn as he drew a card. The last move... "I play Kunoichi Ayumi the Ninja Girl in attack mode," the man announced, a single tablet arising beside his 'missing' monster's own. The familiar white masked woman stepped out from the stone, arms crossed as she awaited the inevitable in silence. "I then sacrific-"

"Activate trap," Mai shouted, cutting the man off as Ayumi jumped. Jean tensed as his opponent tapped her duel disk, the blank tablet to her side abruptly melting into the ground for the dust to travel across the field. "Grave arm!" An arm tore free from the earth at 'Ayumi's feet, the masked woman jumping and struggling as it pulled her beneath the ground. Soil and brick were tossed and pushed to the side as the ninja's mask hid her fear, blocking her screams as her hands clawed at the ground before vanishing. The woman's tablet fell to a pile of dust, filling the hole in as Katsuya swallowed from the side and attempted to hide his own nausea at the sight. Mai's actions were far from done with that spell however, Jean's turn automatically forfeit with the absence of spells or traps to play from his hand. "And now that it's my turn again... Well. Seeing how your field is now clear, and you were ready for attack," the woman 'drawled' in clear annoyance, "How about I do the same..." Jean paled at those words, the Queens rising to the air with the mention of a fight. "Harpie Queens," she shouted, the monsters leering at their opponent as they awaited the command. "Attack directly!"

"_**SCREEEEEEE!**_" "_**AMPHIPTERE**__** FORMATION,**_" the first Queen roared, the first to charge forward in the resounding screech. In a swift and elegant line the birds struck, diving forward and through the man as they wiped out his life points. One, two, three they tore through, and with each one's exit they 'disappeared' into a fine dust, the tablets already cleared from the field as the end of the duel came around. But wait...

Why was that kite still..?

"Hn..! So I've lost," Jean said with a sigh, his duel disk folding back up as Katsuya looked back down at the 'field'. "Well... The game hasn't ended yet my dear..." Mai frowned at that, the car door to the side opening as her ex returned to the limo. "I'll see you soon," he added with a smirk, glancing at the sky as he tapped his collar. "Very soon, I'm sure..." Hang on...

That-! The car tore off in the night with a loud and ear-splitting screech, Katsuya hurriedly looking to the sky again as the kite shimmered in the moonlight. Different... It was a different kite, a different colour and above it..! "Mai," he shouted, the woman turning and jumping with a start as the blond shouted out to her. "Look out!"

"Heh-!" A net was tossed from the side of the kite, the sound of a helicopter meeting the air as Mai was quickly entangled pulled away. "What the he- _**JEAAAAAAN**_," she roared, pulling at the net as she looked to where the car vanished.

The others swallowed as the net rose further into the air, frozen briefly as the captured woman raged at her fairly obsessed ex. "This guy _really_ wants to get laid," Ryuzaki muttered dryly, ducking a swipe from Shizuka as they ran after the net. "Gh- It's true!" The comment was left unanswered as Katsuya ran forward, cupping his hands as he kept the net in sight.

"Mai! We're comin' alrigh'," he shouted, the woman glancing down from where she was fiddling with the strings.

For someone who was stuck in a net, she was oddly... "Take your time kids! I'm not going anywhere!" Hahaha, that was so... So funny, really... And hang on-! The group skidded to a halt as Mai began filing through the thin netting with the edge of her duel disk, Katsuya blinking as the action began to work in the woman's favor. One thread snapped... Two... Three- "Hyaaah!" A panicked shout hit the air as the woman dropped to the scaffolding below, only to slip and fall to a nearby street lamp as the others moved to stand by it. E-Ehh? That actually worked! Mai groaned as she gripped the lamp pole, legs swinging somewhat as she shook her head. "Ooooh... That could have gone much, _much_ better," she said through a wince, the others looking up with swallows.

"Ahhh... Shit," Katsuya muttered, staring up at the woman and scratching his head. "How the hell are we..."

Honda quickly pulled Otogi over near the post, holding his hands out. "Chair," he said with a steady look. "Make a chair, we'll catch her."

"A _chair_," the teen hissed, looking back up as Mai pulled herself up to sit on the pole. He appeared to go over his options in his mind as he stared at the woman above, before nodding. "Right! Right... Hey..! Mai," he shouted, linking hands with his friend to form a square-ish 'chair' of sorts as they stood beneath the lamp light. "Jump! We'll catch you alright?"

The woman looked down, blinking somewhat blankly as the others stared. "You sure," she asked, raising an eyebrow as she looked at the pole. "I _could_ just slide down..."

"Slide-" The two looked at each other, before staring back at the short skirt with somewhat spaced out expressions in place as they went red. "Slide down... Ahh..."

Evidently they weren't very good at hiding the looks on their faces with that thought either, as the next thing they knew Mai had jumped, with the two teens collapsing to their knees as the woman landed squarely on their arms and walked away. "I decided it was faster to jump," she said somewhat dryly, looking back as the two began rubbing their arms. The boys both groaned from where they'd fallen, the woman walking back toward them with a smile. "Need a hand," she continued with a softer tone, moving to help the two up.

"S-Sure," Otogi muttered, rubbing his shoulder as he was pulled up. The teen stumbled to his feet, rotating the limb with a wince as he moved. "Sfff... I think I pulled my shoulder..."

"Your shoulder," Honda muttered in response, shaking himself as he was helped up as well. "My _entire arm_ is stinging!"

"And what's that supposed to mean," Mai growled, those watching coughing somewhat awkwardly as the other two turned to answer.

"Ahhh... That it... Hurt," Otogi attempted in defense, only to be elbowed by his friend. "Gh- What the hell," he hissed, gaining a 'look' from the teen in response.

"...Nhn... '_And_'," the woman before them continued, eyebrows raised.

A small bit of silence filled the air at that, before Honda hurriedly began spouting his own excuse. "...It has nothing to do with-" The taller of the teens were elbowed this time, Otogi hissing under his breath as his friend winced.

"Moron! If you say anything regarding that kind of thing we'll all die!"

Honda went quite pale at that, coughing before hurriedly running back toward the coliseum entrance. "Aaaaand hey," he said with a laugh, Mai rolling her eyes in slight annoyance, "We should get moving so you're not late for the finals! Ahahaha... Ahhh..."

Well, he had a point with that one... "Heh... Good plan," Katsuya shouted, moving toward the entrance himself as the others followed behind with nods.

"Right," Yugi was saying with a grin. "Lets go!"

"Wait... How is there going to be room for all of us if it's 'finalists only'," Ryuzaki asked with a frown, pulling a face at the thought. "I mean, what, are we going to end up sharing or..."

"Hah! What... Dipping out already," Otogi asked with a smirk, the boy sputtering in response before gaining an aggravated scowl.

"Tch- Hell no! I wouldn't miss this for anything," he shouted, a few of the others shaking their heads in amusement.

Shizuka as well was laughing at the response, shaking her head as she looked to her friend. "That's the spirit," she said with a smile, "We'll be fine... I'm sure they'll think of something," she continued, turning as Katsuya nodded.

"'F course!" Even if the fact was that they would probably all be sharing rooms like Ryuzaki had said.

"I just hope it looks better than this place," Ryuzaki muttered dryly, looking around at the unfinished coliseum stands around them. "This is a _wreck_..."

"Hah! It's called being 'unfashionably early," Mai said with a chuckle, the boy's expression simply slipping further into a deadpan in response. "Now... Let's see what 'hidden location' Kaiba could be hiding from us here," she decided with a wink, moving through the hall as she adjusted the disk on her wrist.

There were nods all around in response to that, nearly blinding lights coming from the inside of the stadium. From what they could tell as they got in, it was just a stadium under construction, as expected but... "Jonouchi!"

The blond turned, jumping as Isono appeared to the side of the arena with a short wave. "Ah- I-Isono..!"

"You know this guy," Honda asked, the blond nodding as Isono walked toward them in greeting.

"Yea, he works f'r S- F'r Kaiba," he corrected, the man in question holding a largely professional appearance as he stood before the crowd.

Isono bowed somewhat, a smile on his face as he looked over the group. "I see your friends have come to see you off," the man began calmly, bowing his head to the others before him, "Assuming you are indeed here for the finals," he added, watching as the blond as well as Yugi and Mai pulled out their six cards to hold out in response. "Ahhh..." Isono reached forward, taking the cards and stowing them in his suit jacket. "Congratulations to all of you then! Here," he continued, pulling out three 'key cards' while he was at it. "This one here is yours Jonouchi," the man stated, Katsuya blinking as he looked over the '2' on his card. "And this is yours," he went on, handing the next, '7' to Yugi before handing the last one to Mai. Number '5', the blond noted idly.

But wait... "We get sp'cific cards," he asked with raised eyebrows, Isono smirking as Yugi also stared at the man.

"_Well_..."

"I had a feeling you wouldn't take my advice and 'stay put'," Seto growled, the group jumping as the woman walked over. Though her clothes were still rather wet she'd quite clearly gotten over the shock earlier on; her disk had been replaced firmly on her arm, with Mokuba running behind the semi-dry woman with a grin. "So I took 'precautions'..." Precautions..? What the hell did that have to do with his and Yugi's rooms being picked out?

...Moreover, why was she admitting that outloud, normally there'd be an insult, or... The others blinked as the siblings continued to approach, Mokuba looking over Katsuya and Yugi with slight worry as he moved toward them. "Hey, you two are alright... Right," he asked, the boys both nodding and smiling.

"Of course," Katsuya said with a grin, ignoring the numb pain his cracked rib was still giving him. "Better than ever!"

"We're fine," Yugi continued. He looked around the stadium with a frown however, turning back to Mokuba in confusion. "But where exactly is the tournament taking place..?"

A shadow passed over the ground with those words, the group hurriedly looking up and gaping as the source was slowly made visible in the light of the stadium. Barely able to fit within the already enormous structure an airship began lowering to the ground, the plane-like machine at the bottom lowering to the ground as the ship 'docked'. "Hn!" Seto smirked, arms crossed as the group continued to stare almost incredulously at the device. "Does that answer your question," she 'asked', the airship's turbines lowering their wheezing roar to a whisper as still more spotlights turned on around them.

"A... A _blimp_," Katsuya muttered under his breath, swallowing as the enormous device appeared to 'glow' from the inside, shadows moving about inside. H-Holy _shit_...

Isono chuckled at the reactions, before taking a more professional guise and stepping back beside the door. "Technically an airship," he muttered with a smirk, "But nonetheless correct! This is the 'Battle Ship'," the man said clearly, raising his voice to reach the crowd around him, "And it is here the semi-final rounds will be taking place!" ...In a bli- An airship? ...SWEET. "Competitors will battle atop an arena over a thousand meters from the ground," Isono continued to announce, a majority of those listening already looking quite eager to follow on, "And at exactly eight o'clock'," he continued, a few of the teens pulling out their phones for the time, "Competitors will be allowed to board the ship... Five minutes afterward," the man continued, "The ship will lift off for the skies, with further briefing in the dining hall. Now then..." The man trailed off, looking toward the entrance and adjusting his sunglasses. "We have four finalists so far," he stated plainly, "So..."

"Only four," Mokuba asked with raised eyebrows, looking back at Isono with a frown. "But it's only five minutes before eight! Who would have to wait until now to get here?" Ignoring the fact that they'd only just arrived of course... That was a good question.

One that he somehow knew was about to be answered. Sudden chuckling came from the side with that very thought in fact, the group turning as a 'shadow' moved forward from the coliseum's covered entrance. "Hnhnhnhn... Well, I suppose I would," a somewhat drawling voice stated, Katsuya's blood draining from his face as he recognized the tone. White hair, white skin...

And why did the politeness have to be dropped? "B-Bakura..!" The albino's arm was still bandaged tightly, blood no longer seeping from the wound much to their relief. However as the blond stared, he also had to frown; there was no sign of the ring beneath the teen's shirt, and if the cord was any sign it was actually in his hands at the moment.

Of course, given that only himself and Anzu knew about the 'incident' involving the injury, that wasn't what everyone else was looking at. Yugi for one was staring in silent shock, eyes wide as his friends gaped. "Bakura-kun..!" The boy's eyes honed in on the duel-disk he had, the white bandage momentarily unnoticed thanks to the matching shade of Bakura's skin and shirt. "I... I didn't even know you dueled," he continued, watching as the albino calmly switched his six locator cards for a key pass from Isono. (Number 3 it looked like...) There was no answer, Yugi continuing on with still wide eyes. "Moreover... When did you even participate in the preliminaries," he asked, "You told me you were going to be busy today..."

"Not to mention," Anzu muttered with a slight frown, "Wasn't that duel disk stolen?" Katsuya held his tongue in regards to that comment, Bakura merely 'smiling' somewhat as he held the disk up.

"Well... Actually, this one's mine," he said with a small laugh, pocketing the key card as he turned to the others. "I was released from the hospital shortly after they patched my arm up... And I'm technically eligible for the tournament due to a previous one I participated in online," the teen admitted with a slight nervous shrug, "So since my disk came with a card, I decided to join in..."

He... He didn't know whether to believe that or _not_ damn it..! Hell... The ring wasn't _visible _he told himself, shaking his head, but who knew what happened in the ambulance... "Th' that's... Tha's great," he said nervously, attempting to laugh off the bad feeling before coughing. The bandages were... Er..."Isn' yer arm is still..."

"It's perfectly fine," Bakura insisted, bringing his arm back down before a slightly 'darker' look of amusement came in his eyes. "Go ahead, touch it, see?" He continued to smile as the blond hurriedly shook his head in response, an even odder look coming to his eyes. "Besides... As a duelist," the albino added in a slightly darker than normal tone, "I _really_ want to fight you Jonouchi-kun..."

Ryuzaki merely tilted his head from the side as the others stared, shaking his head. "How the _hell_ did he get the cards that fast if he was in the hospital," he muttered under his breath, voice scarecely audible to those around

His friend shrugged, shaking her head as she turned to whisper an answer. "I don't know," Shizuka admitted, biting her lip. "Nihan's friends are a little weird really, so..." Hey hey, they weren't weird..! ...Much. He supposed.

Yugi's hair kinda killed their cover no offense to the guy...

Footsteps came over the air as the mutterings over Bakura's wellbeing came to a halt, the others hurriedly turning to follow Seto's stare as a figure came through the darkness. The teen walking forward carried with him a small bag, wearing nearly black cargo pants and bringing with him a tiny flaming spirit on his shoulder, the tiny sprite staring forward with a single golden eye... This... "N-Namu," Anzu shouted with apparent surprise, Katsuya narrowing his eyes as a sudden burst of heat appeared to come over the area.

The foreigner walked forward, a small smile on his face as he bowed to the group. "We meet again," he said in slightly broken Japanese, "Mazaki-san, Jonouchi-san..." That just sounded _wrong_ with his name damn it...

"Oh... Anzu is fine," the woman said with a slight laugh, shaking her head as the others responded to the appearance in silence. "And there's really no need for honorifics," she continued kindly, Yugi and the 'other' Yugi both turning to Katsuya as the blond continued to frown.

"Jonouchi-kun," the lighter one asked, "Do you know this guy..?"

He nodded somewhat stiffly, eyes narrowing further as the sprite appeared to eye Anzu with an almost mesmerizing stare. "Yea," he muttered under his breath, listening as the others began speaking to 'Namu' about the tournament. Seto of course stayed far at the sides... And for the moment, Ryuzaki was holding back on the interaction himself, talking to Shizuka about something but... Hnn... "This guy," the blond continued to whisper, eyes narrowing further. "He's..."

Not someone they should be talking to. "Ah! Yugi... Let me introduce you to the boy we met earlier," Anzu was saying, pulling Yugi off to talk as her friend sputtered somewhat. His other frowned, narrowing his eyes as he picked up on the unease of both his friend and partner, Anzu's words carrying with them a subtle and almost invisible tone of fallacy with them. "This is Namu," she stated with a smile, 'Namu' bowing somewhat as she continued. "He's our friend... Right, Jonouchi?" The woman turned to the blond at that, Katsuya merely nodding hesitantly to get the topic over with as the other Yugi continued to frown.

"_Something seems off,_" the spirit growled, arms crossed. "_He __seems__ fine but... There's something else there..._"

"Yea, tell me about it," Katsuya muttered under his breath, watching as Namu held out a hand to shake Yugi's own. "Thinkin' back," the blond continued stiffly, "When Anzu an' I were taken..." Just what _did_ happen there? He hadn't seen anything... Sure, Namu had nothing to do with Yugi and had quite liekly been left for that reason but... How... "...Oiii... Namu," he asked, watching as the spirit on his shoulder abruptly shied away with a high-pitched 'kriii!'. ...Weird, he'd never _scared_ a spirit before... The blond quickly shook himself from the thoughts on that matter, instead focusing on the spirit's 'owner'. "Back in th' alley," he said with narrowed eyes, "How did..?"

The teen blinked, frowning somewhat as he studied his 'friend's face. "Ah, that... Well," the blond foreigner muttered somewhat plainly, "Truth be told, I'm not actually sure... I remember calling the police after watching those cloaked men pull you away, but I guess they left me alone when they saw I was outside the alley already..." That...

That was a piss-poor excuse but he nodded anyways, tensing as an odd 'wind' hit the air. It wasn't the usual 'gale' that he felt though... The wind that came about when an Item was doing something, like when the two Yugi's switched out, or even rarer, Bakura. More like a 'fan' had been turned on, forcing the wind their way... "Yugi," Bakura abruptly shouted, the others turning as he held out the Millennium Ring. Okay... So it wasn't around his neck, and he really had seen it in his hands but... "Yugi, look," he continued, the boy in question looking over the ring curiously. "It's responding to something..." No... No it wasn't, the pointer was up, but the glow wasn't...

"Uh... How is it doing that," Ryuzaki asked from the side, shaking his head as Mokuba laughed somewhat.

"Ehhh... It... It's just a trick," he laughed, the others closing their mouths rather than digging the younger of the Kaiba's into a hole. "Don't worry about it... It's nothing..." Ryuzaki frowned at that, looking decidedly confused as Shizuka as well stared. For a moment, he appeared to be about to say something... But in the end he was nonetheless holding his tongue as more footsteps sounded through the area, pounding the ground as the forced gale further stormed through the coliseum. The needle of the ring... It was pointing at...

"_That guy..._" Heavily robed the 'source' appeared, Bakura's ring abruptly dropping its pointers as he moved past the group._ "Could it be 'Malik',_" the other Yugi muttered, Katsuya still frowning as the cloaked and imposing man walked forward.

Without batting an eye at those around him he walked up to Isono, holding out six cards. "Here," he said with a plain, grave tone, voice thick and hoarse. "Six locator cards, as required for admission into the finals."

From the side, the others were staring, Seto holding a steady and suspicious glare as she looked at the man. It was very strange, to see someone who was taller than the woman to say the least, even if only by a few inches. Despite this however, the level of tense and steady strength was still undeterminable between the two, even without the constant 'glare'. "Are you 'Malik'," Seto 'asked' him, the man turning as he received his key card.

Briefly, the man narrowed his eyes, hieroglyphs clearly visible across the side of his face. "...Seto Kaiba," he 'answered', looking over the woman and turning back to the air ship as the door opened behind them to mark the eighth hour of the evening. "And Yugi Mutou," he added, the boy in question tensing under the imposing man's stare. "You who own the 'God Cards' Osiris and Obelisk- realize that they will soon be within my grasp," he said plainly, Isono narrowing his eyes in response before gesturing to the door.

"...It is now Eight o'clock," he said plainly, stiffened expression hidden beneath his sunglasses. "Though we will not leave for another fifteen minutes without the eighth finalist," he continued on with a slight cough, "The competitors may now enter the airship so as to settle themselves in their rooms; each room is numbered, a label that will match with the key card you have been given. Now..." He stepped back, watching as the tall cloaked man, 'Malik' according to their 'answers, briskly walked into the ship without another word. Briefly, Isono appeared put off by the action. However there had been a reason he was hired as Seto's assistant, and he quickly got over himself before continuing. "...Right... Well... If the competitors could please step inside," he requested politely, the others more or less smiling as they moved forward.

"Ahhhh... A battle in the sky," Mai cheered, running forward as 'Namu' and Bakura followed close behind. The woman looked back just briefly as the tanned and albino boys disappeared inside, a wide grin on her face. "This will be wonderful! Just the thing for a championship... You know how to plan a tournament," she added with a wink, Seto showing no clear reaction to the comment as Mai vanished inside.

"It does sound pretty exciting," Yugi said in agreement, running up the steps himself as his other stared at the enormous ship. "What do you think, other me?"

The other appeared to not be listening at the moment, instead continuing to stare at the airship with a distant expression. "_I wonder,_" he muttered with a swallow, Yugi briefly turning to pull him in by the arm as he sighed,_ "If I could float around this thing __while__ we were in the air..._"

"Please don't try it," Katsuya heard Yugi mutter in response, grinning as he turned to Isono from the stairs.

"Oii... Isono," he asked, Mokuba running up the steps behind him in the meantime, "We allowed to bring everyone else on?"

The man blinked. "Everyone else," he questioned, looking back at the 'else' as they stared.

"Yea," the blond said, "Anzu, Honda, Otogi, Shizuka-" Everyone else!

Isono coughed, going somewhat pale as he stared at the group. "You- That's almost double the number of the competitors, I can't-"

"Just pretend you didn't see anything," Seto muttered as she walked past, "And they'll share rooms."

"Ahh..." Isono stared briefly as Seto vanished inside, watching as Katsuya grinned and waved for the others to follow before running in. "W-Wait, is this really..."

"Thank-you for your kindness," Shizuka hurriedly said as she followed the group in, bowing politely before rushing into the ship.

"We can't thank you enough," Anzu added, herself and the rest of the boys rushing up the stairs as the man continued to choke.

"A-Ahhh..." How would they all share rooms! Isono sighed, shaking his head as he turned away from the ship. Oh well... No sense in arguing with Seto he supposed. "Alright then..." The man turned back to the darkened stadium, checking his watch with a frown as the time ticked away. He'd momentarily been distracted by 'Malik's appearance; the door had opened a few minutes late. "Hn... Lift off in one minute," he muttered, turning toward the stairs with a sigh. "And in the end," the man continued, "The eighth finalist still isn't here..." Seto wouldn't be too-

-_tpf. tpf. tpf...-_

"Hn..?" The man turned, squinting through his sunglasses as a woman in white walked out from the entrance. She was completely silent, a thick shawl of sorts with gold decoration covering her head, a veil across the bottom half of her face. All he could see was her eyes, calm and almost aged in appearance, along with the duel disk on her bare arm... And the six cards she was holding toward him. She was silent as she did this, merely watching as the man stared at her before hurriedly taking the cards. "I see..." So the eighth competitor had made it after all! Well, that was pushing it close... He pulled the last of the key cards from his pocket, handing it forward with a curt nod. "This is your bedroom key... You will be in room number eight, understand," he explained, the woman nodding as she took the card walked into the ship. Within seconds the woman had vanished for the room's hallway, a slight 'beep' coming from Isono's watch as the time ran out. The man tapped the radio in his ear, stepping into the ship himself as he spoke. "The competitors are all accounted for," he said briskly, pulling the door in as it folded and locked tightly behind him. "Begin take off!"

And with the roaring of a series of turbines and engines, the 'Battle Ship' did just that.

**

* * *

AN**:Also, you'll notice I came back and edited something; normally by the time its caught, its too late to edit, as the document's been removed from the site (FF has a limit!)... In this case however, I realized very quickly that I'd accidentally duplicated the numbers between Bakura and Mai's card. Bakura is supposed to have card number _three_.

Filler episodes Usagi? _Really_? Well, I said I'd include _everything_... Besides the movie of course. (Yeaaaaaa...) And besides that, there aren't actually that many filler episodes as opposed to filler 'arcs'... And this actually made it a little easier to divide the next bit into chapters. After all...

Besides another 'breather' next chapter (the duels aren't starting right off after all!) there's only four duels before the Virtual World arc; I had to make sure that everything flowed smoothly during and between them. In the end, this filler made it so that I could have a full-fledged chapter here, and one that would end nicely rather than getting stuck with a conclusion half way through... And speaking of the Virtual World arc...

Expect coloured things concerning that... And I mean before it starts, hehehehe. There's actually a few designs down in the art section already!

More importantly, '_AHHH Jou why'd you lie!_' Besides the reasoning above, I may or may not touch more on this later. Depends on how suspicious I decide the other Yugi should be... As it is, he _will_ be found out! Just not now.

And in other news...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey there RandomProjects, glad you caught up! As for intensity, I like to think that's my good point… Making card games a little more serious-business than they should ever be.

And oh LORD yes! It's horrific! It makes me wonder why it came to mind while job-hunting…

Then I remember I live in eastern Canada in the middle of the 'Snowpocalypse'. Boy did I pick the best time to move out of BC eh? And no no, in canon, the card was impaled in his _hand_. Though thinking back, that's even less likely than the eye, as the hand has bones in it, while the eye is effectively a ball of fragile mush.

And ah-! That part with the 'oh my God' did have emphasis on the last word, it's just that it wasn't said loudly… So typo on my part really, not subconscious emphasis. Although, that could very well have happened, so you could be right.

And what an ending _indeed_ Iona! I'm glad you enjoyed the differences, and you're quite right; unless there's training involved, such as for free-diving, two minutes tends to be the maximum, particularly under stress, and _especially_ in a situation that knocks the wind out of you.

Pshh! Kaiba owned him long ago! Just don't tell him that, hehehehe.

Oh! No spoilers with this part; it's more just the gang-related issues, which were brought up with Hirutani. Jonouchi actually _was_ part of that gang for a while before he met Yugi… Honda mentions it in the first chapter concerning Hirutani, and is very much worried about what will happen with that gang at the time.

Awww… Th-Thank you CynicalGamer!

Now I have to think of how to top this… And yes, future duels would most certainly have been an issue if it wasn't the Rod's fault. Of course, this does nothing for Jou's side, so hence the lie above… Which he'll be caught on _very_ quickly in one of his later duels.

And yep! Granted, Yami Yugi's likely just as if not more confused about it… Though believe me when I say that as frightening as it is to see that kind of thing, Jou's a big exception for the possession deal; ordinarily, the person is either blissfully unaware that their actions are out of the norm, or they've passed out.

In any case, I have to say, I'm quite happy I've pulled off this sort of feel and surprise despite it being canon and 'expected' in terms of how events would play out. And..

HAH! Exactly! She's going to be questioning herself in the next chapter hilariously (Is it really that funny?) enough. And yes, a few hints…

I'm actually hoping someone realizes that Lower and Upper Egypt were referred to as the Red and Black lands soon enough… With black referring to the fertile soils of the area.

Curse me indeed! As you can see, Jou has his own noble-ish reasons for the lie, but don't worry; the lie won't last more than a few hours his time. (Unfortunately, that is a number of chapters away...)

And thank you, thank you~ However, Jonouchi really was 'brainwashed' in canon so-to-speak… Frightening but true, but the possession was only a partial deal there!

I really _really_ hope I can top this now, though it feels like it's beyond impossible, hahaha… Perhaps with one of the next duels, I'll have to see... Well, until then, enjoy the 'breather' above!

I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter, and continue to enjoy what follows!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's flying! FLYING!

* * *

The chapter title here references a number of things. First off, when a balloon can't fly, the first thing you do is dump the unneeded things. Baggage however can also refer to certain ties that are being severed _very_ quickly in this chapter.

And it can also refer to the fact that I could have easily gotten away with not writing in 'Jean-Claude Magnum', but it was too amusing for me to pass up.

* * *

Bit of a disclaimer! As mentioned, I'm having trouble finding any episodes in the subbed Japanese that take place before the Noa arc. Actually, I'm really, really praying that I don't get this problem in the Noa arc, because compared to what few bits I need from the anime here (This chapter is the only one completely anime-based until that arc), there are _lots_ of line differences from sub-to-dub in there.

A lot. (As it is, there are a fair number in this 'episode' as well.)

In any case, this is where I _love_ Yu-Jyo's episode guide, despite the fact that I pretty much have to ad-lib the entire chapter between when they drive for the stadium and when they enter the stadium itself. It's really helpful!

* * *

Now then, there's a lot of dialogue changes from the manga as well. Originally, Honda explains that he and Otogi went to get Shizuka to cheer Jonouchi up (she's still blind here, bandages haven't come off), with the others agreeing or supporting that (And Anzu saying the equivalent of 'so THAT'S what you were doing!')… Followed by Jonouchi telling them off for bringing them at his 'lowest point'.

He didn't apparently realize that they came in _after_ the duel was over and _after_ everyone was out of the water… Though Jonouchi was sore about both the duel and being saved by Kaiba at this point sooooo…

In any case, besides the fact that fanfic-Anzu _did not enjoy_ dealing with Jonouchi's earlier rage concerning the Osaka trip, Jonouchi knows damn well that 'he' wasn't doing anything in this duel (unlike in the manga and anime, where it WAS him), and considers squashing the eye retribution enough for it; so he's not about to cry about how horrible a person he is.

Also Ryuzaki simply _being there_ changes things for obvious reasons.

* * *

Speaking of Ryuzaki... What with this being Japan, first name basis is 'serious-business'. If you're not using honorifics, your either rude, or really close. If you jump into no honorifics right off the bat, it's assumed your rude.

But as can be seen with Yugi and Anzu, the first name deal highlights them as close friends; and in the case of Jonouchi and Honda, since they don't use honorifics most of the time anyways, the reason they call Anzu 'Anzu' is quite clear; they just stopped calling her 'Mazaki', which they used due to her 'boy-ish' attitude.

With Ryuzaki however, the fact that both he and Shizuka were calling each other by first name with the 'chan' and 'kun' honorifics shows that they use the honorifics properly, or in Ryuzaki's case, with people they actually like. So now that they're _dropped_, this implies a much closer relationship.

Much. Closer. (Hence Jonouchi's worry and rage, which is simultaneously being blocked by the fact that Shizuka is quite obviously moving at the same pace her friend is, and would not enjoy her brother's interference.)

* * *

A large bunch of dialogue was cut concerning the 'bandage' scene since we obviously had that in the _last_ chapter, but Kaiba's line is gone as well… Because Kaiba scooted out of there as fast as possible. Originally, Kaiba told Yugi he had his 'answer', referring to the question he'd asked earlier on concerning what would happen if he was forced to fight his friends.

But that was largely because the question itself was brought up in dark-humored pondering, rather than legitimate worry as the Fanfic version did. So rather than say that she had her 'answer', she instead told Yugi to never, _ever_ do it again.

For obvious reasons.

* * *

Since it's the twentieth of July, the moon is beginning to wane, or 'disappear' so to speak, slowly turning back into the 'new moon'. Hooray...

* * *

Hey, more on Mai's car! It's an import; in the manga, she's sitting on the right side, which _seems_ normal… But like England, Australia, and a small number of other countries, Japan drives on the _left_ side of the road; the steering wheel is thusly on that side as well!

And yes, they were really that stupid about car safety in getting there. Even worse, Mai's driving isn't the best either...

* * *

Originally in the manga and anime both, Bakura was taken to the hospital in a _taxi_, by Sugoroku. Later, in the manga, Anzu would receive a call from Sugoroku saying that Bakura left the hospital before getting past the waiting room. In the anime, they didn't find out he'd left until he arrived at the stadium however... Which happened here as well, since Bakura was obviously taken in on his own.

* * *

The stadium by the way, is obviously still being built, but I had a bit of a brilliance moment while looking at it; while it's just a normal stadium in the manga, it's owned by Kaiba in the anime… And later on in 5Ds, where should the first 'arc' take place but in a tournament held at the 'Kaiba-Dome', _a stadium arena_

.

You can guess where I'm going with this from there, because as ridiculous as auto-pilot and normal-pilot card games on motorcycles sounds, the fact is, they put enough safety points in there for me to honestly say that if it existed_ I WOULD SO DO THAT_.

And I'm betting you would to, because that is like… The BEST extreme sport EVER.

* * *

Hey look, 'Duel Spirits'! As mentioned before, Ryuzaki's is a normal monster called 'Uraby', or 'Wild Raptor', and it tends to follow him around in a 'chibified' state similar to Red-Eyes.

The one following Mai has been 'shrunken' in a similar vein, lest it squash everything in sight; it's Simorgh, Bird of Ancestry, and though she never has a Simorgh of any kind in her deck, it would certainly mesh well with it. Not to mention, the 'spirits' aren't necessarily active parts of the monster's deck.

* * *

Originally (and we're in Anime-only territory now!), after the ghost town comment, Mai tells Jou off for saying something so cowardly, with Jou apologizing about it. This leads into him recalling the card she gave him at the Duelist Kingdom, asking 'why'… And then getting distracted by the Magnum poster.

So yes, Ryuzaki just hijacked _all_ _but one of those lines_.

* * *

Originally, Magnum doesn't have his disk out, was obviously _not_ in a previous relationship with Mai (He was rejected flat out after she beat him), and was also somehow a part of the tournament… With five cards.

Even though that's impossible. So needless to say, not in the tournament... And as a bonus, now you can look WAY back at the Valentines chapter and say 'IT WAS _HIM_!'. YEP. I was planning that far ahead. I've actually planned even further, but you have to wait for those things.

* * *

You know those moments where you act without thinking, and then realize with horror what you've done? That would be 'the boys' (In this case, Ryuzaki, Jonouchi, Honda, and Otogi, the others watching from the side) in that flower scene. Picture the bouquet toss at a wedding...

And you actually come close to what happened before they realized just _what_ it was of Jean-Claude Magnum's that had been tossed their way.

* * *

Duel monsters have jobs? What, what?

...Well, what do _you_ think they do in the monster's realm while they sit around your deck/booster-pack/storage-bin and what-have-you?

* * *

Originally, Shizuka told Jou that she thought Mai looked 'beautiful', before asking if she (Mai) had a boyfriend. This prompted a flustered Jonouchi to say '_of course not, she's only interested in duelling_!' Instead, she's marvelling at how _bad_ the duel appeared to start, leaving all the romance-y stuff out. A lot of the banter between the duelists was cut as well; Mai's too pissed to bother.

* * *

Lots of other dialogue was cut too; Jou trying to give advice that Mai clearly knew, along with most of the 'love-interest' dialogue… Mostly because Mai and Jou just… Aren't interested in that. As you know.

* * *

In the anime, Mai summons 'Cyber Harpie', and she doesn't actually have 'Harpie Queen' in her deck during the series either. However, it's only 100 points more powerful, and the fact is that 'Cyber Harpie' is a Harpie Lady with the armor equipped... Even its attack points mirror this!

In other words, Cyber Harpie, as a card in the fanfic, would have made the Harpie Lady strategy fairly silly given that the armor wouldn't be needed, and part of the point in making cards is to sell them. (It would be a number of cards no longer needed!)

Also, Harpie Queen deserves a cameo, she's awesome. (Her effect is that her name is only treated as 'Harpie Lady' while on the field and in the graveyard... So Mai can still have three _other_ harpies in her deck, along with two queens. Oooooh~)

* * *

The Harpies' 'formations' are based on two spell cards that Mai uses during the 'Doma Arc', namely 'Phoenix' and 'Sparrow' formation. I figured there would be 'others' that the harpies use in battle on their own...

Eagles referring to, of course, the bird that is ever so often linked to courage and battle, whereas the 'Amphiptere' is a snake-like dragon with wings, occasionally depicted feathered, hence the 'line' that the Harpies formed with that one.

* * *

Ryuzaki's line to Magnum is based on one Jonouchi had, which was cut and mis-translated from the anime when it was dubbed. After sending a string of insults to him, Shizuka turns and says '_Didn't you just say you were a big fan?_' …Cue the 'five minutes ago' excuse.

* * *

Magnum was also still there when Mai fell from the net, but I had a feeling he would want to pull Mai off to somewhere else… Especially with the crowd that was there, and the restraining order hanging over his head.

* * *

Why does Mai call them all kids? Because at the 'oldest', Honda's still about _seven years younger_ than Mai. And given that the only other seventeen year old there is Yugi, who is just _inches_ taller than Mokuba, it's easy to see why she would stick with that.

* * *

Where's Kaiba and Mokuba? After landing, Kaiba vanishes off to do something with his deck in the manga, and doesn't re-appear until after Bakura shows up…

In the fanfic's case however, the water and swimming loosened her binding; it's actually come undone by the time she gets to the stadium, so she's scurried off to fix it before the other competitors arrive. (This, along with her dislike for talking, is partially why she left the docks so quickly as well, along with why Mokuba didn't say anything concerning that. Had everything been 'fine', he'd have likely insisted on waiting for some help for Jonouchi.)

* * *

Jonouchi-_san_? Malik's using 'foreigner's Japanese' right now. Somewhat broken, REALLY accented, and the safe use of the honorific 'san', as part of his cover.

This will drop really fast, _really soon_, for obvious reasons concerning 'Jou VS Rishid'.

* * *

In the manga, Mokuba is the one who lets everyone on the ship, mostly by distracting the guy deciding who goes on or not. (It wasn't Isono in canon) In the anime, rather, in the Japanese, Kaiba says '_pretend you didn't see it_'. Which is far nicer than in the dub, where he says '_just let the dweebs go_'.

I like Japanese Kaiba with his character development much much better myself.

**

* * *

FanArt and My Art**

Small chunk of spoilers for the Virtual World arc here to cheer you up! There's also things that I put there just because. As if you weren't having trouble guessing what would happen next already! Ahaha! In any case, remember to remove the spaces for what you want!

And heeeeey! Yugi looks like... A _teen_. Well, he IS about five feet tall by this point, not to mention scrawny and 17...

In any case, enjoy the fanservice!

SPOILERS-Concept: DeckMasters (Yugi) – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ YugiDeckmaster. jpg - Simply by looking at this you can guess _really_ quickly how I'm going to be running the Virtual World arc, so if you don't want spoilers don't come here until the arc begins!

SPOILERS-Concept: DeckMasters (Seto) – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ SetoDeckmasters. Jpg – In which, in addition to the deckmasters, I draw Seto in fanservice-y WoW-styled armor. Will this actually appear? That's for you to find out!

And until then, I'll be working on the next chapter! So I'll see you soon!


	77. Chapter 76

**Keeping Secrets Sucks**

* * *

When she stepped onto the airship, she was greeted with her rival standing by the window with Mokuba watching and waiting for the ship take off from beside him. The door beside and beneath the stairs was still opened, and as she made her way upward she could hear footsteps behind her, sounding almost similar to a stampede... Perhaps she would regret allowing all of the additional people on board, but for the moment she didn't care. The evening wind had already begun to chill her thanks to the sopping state her clothes were in, and she needed to fix that. "I'll be in my room," she whispered to her brother, the boy briefly turning to nod before staring back out of the window. "I'll see you at dinner.

"Alright nii-sama," the boy responded, keeping relatively cautious about the names with the approaching group. He quickly turned back to look through the window, his excitement either mirrored or surpassed by the one beside him. By the time the stairway was filled with similar reactions completely however, his sister had long since stepped into the upper hallway above, door closing behind her as she pulled out her key card.

Hah... Room '1', directly beside Mokuba's own she told herself, walking toward the cold, sturdy built steel door. With walls and doors like this, no sound would escape at all after all... Something she was personally glad for. The card in her hands was slipped through the reader at the side with a smooth click, the woman stepping in before shutting the sliding door behind her with the push of a button. The room was exactly as designed... Simple, 'small', with a door on the side connecting to the on-board computers she'd personally installed for the purpose of finding 'Ra'. To use them however, would be something to do later. For now... The woman hung her coat up on the side, running a hand through her hair. For now she was wet. She was still very, _very_ wet she noted with a grimace, moving toward the washroom to take a seat as she pulled her boots off. 'Lucky' her, the woman grumbled mentally as the first one came off with a 'pop', she had leather boots on...

Acting like a nice, giant pair of suction cups for her feet. The woman scowled as any trapped water was dumped into the sink from the boot, shaking her head before doing the same with another one. Well... This was wonderful, now wasn't it. She'd planned for clothing issues given the amount of time she'd be spending on the ship, but not _shoes_ damn it. "Tch..." And now she had to wait for them to dry... Something that wouldn't happen for a number of hours, which meant that she would be stuck with cold feet for the rest of the evening and possibly the next day.

Tch. She put the shoes on the floor near the heater, shaking her head and moving further into her room while pulling her arm bracers and belts from her arms. Whatever, she told herself, placing the devices on a side table as she pulled her shirt off. She needed to get out of the wet clothes before the tournament started, not to mention dry the rest of herself off. The woman grabbed the phone as she pulled at the binding around her chest, a neat pile forming at the side when the bandages in question dropped to the ground as she waited for one of the staff to answer. Three... Two...

"_Seto-sama,"_ a voice on the other end asked, the ID on the other end having quite clearly told them who was calling. "_Is there anything you need?_"

"I want you to send Kyouko to room seven," the woman explained, moving to the small dresser at the side where her spare clothes were. Socks were added to the pile as she went, moving onto the belts around her shins as she placed them to the side. "Tell her to bring Yugi to the examination room and have Doctor Syn look over him," she continued on, a slight pause on the other end as whoever was speaking likely nodded.

"_Right away,_" they responded, the phone clicking off as Seto replaced it on the cradle. Alright...

Now then. The last of the wet clothes were added to the pile a few moments later, Seto shivering just slightly from the now exposed dampness on her skin. Hhhhh... If she'd ever considered taking up swimming for exercise before...

Well, she'd take the treadmill any day she decided, clean and dry clothes in her hands as she frowned at the thought. _Anything_ over swimming actually... The woman glanced at the clock to the side, quickly pulling her clothes on as she shook herself off. Pants, binding, shirt... She'd have to shower later she told herself, so she would just have to deal with the 'ocean smell' for now really. She could probably do that between the first two duels the woman decided as an after thought, clasping the belts and bracers back on her arms and legs before collapsing in a chair. For now however she needed to think. She needed to clear her head, calm down... She needed...

_Something_.

Seto rubbed her head, shaking herself and sighing as she moved to grab her duel monsters deck from her coat. Cards... That was as good a start to calming herself down as anything. She should be making sure her deck was ready for the tournament anyways, as for all she knew she would be fighting first. And if she were to be facing off against Yugi... Hn! Well, it wouldn't do to face him with a half-prepared deck now would it. The woman slowly began flipping the cards from the deck, images shining from the card faces as she went. Lets see... Kaiser Sea Horse... De-Spell... Enemy Controller... Blood Vorse... One by one the cards were placed, each name coming to mind within a split second of the draw. Rare Metal Dragon... Monster Reborn... Different Dimension Dragon...

As the cards were flipped from the deck to the small table Seto's thoughts gradually drifted off, the minutes of silence passing by as a frown came over her. No matter what card she drew, her thoughts were continuously snapped back from the name to the events that occurred earlier on. Back at the pier... Why did she jump in after Jonouchi? Why did she save him? She'd been telling herself it was for Mokuba, for his sake, as should the blond have died before him he would have certainly been traumatized beyond belief. But despite that excuse, she couldn't fully convince herself that it was only for Mokuba. She'd simply 'acted' after all, not thinking about the consequences, or the 'why's of the matter. She'd simply run over, watched Jonouchi's expression as he sunk into the water... And 'moved'.

The woman paused as she came to her next card, the 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon' staring up at her as her frown twisted. Why. Why did _she_ care about what happened to them? Yugi was her rival, the one she wanted to defeat, so in his case it was only natural. If Yugi were to die her goals in the duel-monsters game would vanish, the challenge gone, the drive to fight vanished as she was left with nothing to face in battle. But why had she had even the slightest bit of worry for the blond, the 'dog', the _mutt_? Had she been the sort to even ask about that sort of thing the 'others', Yugi and the 'other' Yugi would both be rattling some nonsense about 'friends', about how just as they 'needed' her, she 'needed' them. That it was the only reason.

Hn! 'Friends'. That was just another word in the dictionary to her, meaningless. A phrase similar to 'acquaintance', or even 'partner'. All it meant was someone you weren't neck-to-neck in battle with, someone you could use on your way to the top, someone who would get in your way at the worst of times and serve as a stepping stone at the best. And who was she to argue if someone was willing to do that in the situation of the latter?

But Jonouchi... Seto's frown deepened somewhat, a shimmer appearing to come over her Blue-Eyes card as she stacked the deck back together with Blue-Eyes still facing her from the top. He couldn't quite categorize him like that. After all, he'd come in suddenly, stayed there against her wishes, and constantly zigged and zagged between a source of hate and a source of reluctant acceptance. That moron... He was loud, rude, a _terrible_ influence on her brother even with only half a year of her absence...

And on the other hand a small voice in the back of her head reminded, he was probably the best thing that happened to Mokuba in a long time. He was the one who kept him waiting and hoping while still having a fair chance at experiencing life... And even after she'd woken up, he'd done his best to be there when she couldn't, no matter how sickening the idea of 'not being there' was. He was loyal to a fault, and just as determined when it came to getting things done...

A 'duelist' through and through she told herself with a slight smirk, not bothering to ponder on when the term 'duelist' had come into being to describe such a person. Someone she wouldn't mind fighting if it came to it. Someone that while she doubted she would go all out on, would be someone worth paying attention to in a match. Not that she would tell him that, the woman added mentally. The idiot would probably get an inflated head, brag about it endlessly to his friends and staff both, not to mention-

...Maybe he wouldn't, she found herself muttering in the back of her mind, looking up from the cards in her hand to the clock as she pushed the thought back. Then again, yes or no, would or wouldn't, did it really matter? At the end of it all, the question was still there and unanswered, enough that she found herself standing up to do what her brother would likely ask her to do sooner or later anyways. '_Why_', she wondered, pulling her coat back on as she left to pull the blond to the doctor's office before the idiot collapsed from untreated wounds, '_Why do I care that you exist?_'

If she could see things as clear as 'he' could, she'd notice that a small white dragon hovering above the card appeared to be pondering the same thing, before fading into the deck to join with the rest of the unseen monsters.

* * *

As the airship slowly but steadily rose above the district of Domino, the single window in the airship staircase was barely containing the number of faces peering through. "Woaaaaaah," Shizuka shouted, eyes wide with wonder as tears dotted her eyes. "It's... It's incredible! To be seeing this after all this time, its...!"

"We're going so far up," Honda said with a swallow, staring in wonder as the others did the same. "I can see all of Domino," he continued, "All of _Tokyo_ even!"

Otogi turned at that, glancing back to the window before shaking himself. "I... Don't think all of Tokyo is really-"

"Oh hey," Yugi shouted abruptly, pointing toward a tiny 'dome' in the distance. "My house!"

"And there's _my_ house," Mokuba added as they grew still higher, Ryuzaki squinting as he looked through the glass.

"Where, all I see is a patch of trees..."

"That's my backyard."

"WHAT-"

Shouts filled the air as the 'stow-away' group and friends clogged the staircase, looking out the window while others in the ship went about their business. Within seconds they'd risen high above the city, taking in streetlights, rushing cars, and altogether the kind of beauty that they very rarely if ever saw. The sight quickly became an enormous mosaic of tiny dotted lights, slowly moving eastward toward the seas. "Hah... It's been so long since I saw the city," Shizuka was whispering, her brother grinning at the side. "It's so... So..."

"It's pretty cool eh?" The girl turned as Katsuya smirked, staring through the window a moment before looking back at his sister. "An' th' best part is, we're th' only one who get t' see this," he said with a laugh, wide grin on his face. "Only th' strongest get t' fly! Hehehe!"

"Alrighty then 'strong-guy'..." The blond turned as Mai shouted from around the bottom of the stairs, the others turning to where the woman was poking her head into the 'hall'. "But if you think the view from _that_ windows is nice," she added with a wink, "You should see it from your own rooms!" Ah... Their own... The boys abruptly turned to each other, Mokuba streaking up the stairs without another word as the group stared. "Shizuka-chan, Anzu-chan," the woman continued with a slight shout, "Drop by mine later, and we girls can celebrate hn? It's better than sleeping with a crowd of boys right..?"

Shizuka blinked somewhat blankly at that, before the others around moved past to get to their rooms with a nod. "Well... Now that I think about it, we should probably get settled," Yugi said with a cough, running past Mai as the woman smirked. The boy dug out his key card, the group slowly making a line as they left the narrow stairway. "Let's see," he muttered under his breath, "Room seven... So..." He turned as they came to the hall, looking at the door on his right and blinking. "Door three... Hey, Jonouchi-kun," the boy asked, turning to the other side of the hall, "What room are you... In..." He blinked as his friend slid a card through the nearest door, the entrance hissing open as Katsuya blinked. "Oh..."

"Yea..." The blond looked at his card a moment, before staring down the hall with a slight frown. "I think we're on sep'rate ends 'f th' ship too," he grumbled, "An' I don' think tha' was somethin' S... Kaiba f'rgot about either..." Which actually figured in a weird way, but wouldn't Yugi be number '2' instead then? Mutterings going on behind him slowly pulled at his attention before footsteps forced it back to the room at the side. "W-What th-" Where did everyone go- Katsuya jumped, poking his head in his room as Ryuzaki smirked from outside the door. "What th' hell!"

"Wowwwww... That was..." Ryuzaki continued to laugh, before turning away as Yugi as well made to leave for his room. Whatever was going on outside of the room however was really the least of his concern... Given that the inside was filled with people..!

"What th' hell are y' all doing in here!"

The blond was more or less ignored, the others merely wandering the room as he stood in the doorway. "Hey... Not bad," Honda was saying with a whistle, tapping a chair with his foot as he looked at the wall-embedded T.V. "It's like an American hotel... Hnn... Where's the remote," he muttered, his friend growing red as he began looking for the device in question.

"Gh-! How come yer all in here," Katsuya roared, ignoring the slight laughter from outside his room as the others shrugged. "Seriously..! Can't y' go somewhere else!"

"Not really," Otogi said with a shrug, opening a small bar-fridge at the side. Clattering noises came from the device, the teen's voice making its way over the sound as Katsuya continued to scowl. "It can't be helped after all... Kaiba didn't prepare rooms for 'cheerleaders'!" There was a slight pause, before he abruptly pulled away from the fridge with a white-coloured bottle. "Oh! Hey," he called out as he waved the drink, "They've got calpico!"

"And there's room service too," Anzu was saying from the chair in the center, Shizuka laughing from the side as her brother continued to seethe. "Maybe if we're lucky they have some cots onboard!"

"Oi oi oi," he shouted, fists clenched as he pointed outside the room. "Find somewhere else t' sleep!" This wasn't a hotel damn it! (Even if it looked suspiciously similar...)

The laughing continued from beside him, Shizuka shaking her head as Katsuya turned. "It'll be alright Nihan," she said through the laughs, somewhat quiet in the presence of the others. "And besides, it's just your two friends right? Anzu-chan and I will be in Mai's room," she continued with a smile, "So it won't be that bad..." Yea... It'd keep her away from Honda and Otogi he supposed... The blond calmed down somewhat, rubbing his head as Shizuka went on. "Besides... The more the merrier right," she 'asked'. Briefly the girl appeared to gain a look that at this point lacked only her former 'shiny glasses' to add to the 'scare' appeal, though as her brother coughed it seemed to be just as effective.

If not possibly more... "Eh-heheheh..."

Chuckling came from the side yet again, this time from the other three teens standing in the room. "Just calm _down_," Honda said with a grin, tossing his friend a drink from the fridge. Katsuya snatched at the drink on reflex, glancing at the 'calpico' drink before passing it to his sister; he wasn't really a fan of 'lychee juice'... Also he was busy mentally calling his friend out on an obvious lie. "It's not like Otogi and I are after your sister," the teen was saying, his friend's eye twitching in disbelief. "Besides! If we were," he added somewhat darkly, "We'd have competition..." Honda turned back to the TV at that, his friend tensing as he looked back toward the door for a moment. Gh- Ryuzaki..! He hadn't figured out what to threaten him with yet either! "Besides," Honda was saying as he opened a can of coke, "We can't just go bug Yugi right now, he'll be preparing for battle! It's important to him, you know," he added seriously, glancing back from the TV.

That... That... Katsuya's hand shook, clenching somewhat as he grit his teeth. "Ngggg... You don' think it's important t' me," he shouted, only to be answered with more chuckling as his friend was joined by the others at the T.V. And chairs. "Hey! Listen!" Still he was answered with silence, crossing his arms as Shizuka went to sit by the TV as well. Ahhhh... Screw it.

Katsuya looked back at the door, eyes narrowed somewhat. Looked like he was stuck sharing with the other guys, Ryuzaki not included. Where _was_ Ryuzaki anyways though he wondered with a frown, stepping out of the room to look out in the hall. Ah- There...

Well that was quick. "I'm gettin' outta here," he muttered, disappearance briefly noted by his sister before she was again distracted by whatever was going on above on the TV. From what he could tell it was something about a fat cat jumping into a box... Whatever that was. Back to business however, Ryuzaki was momentarily just across the hall, stretching his arms as he walked out of room '3'. Room three... Wait, wasn't that Bakura's- "Ah... Ryuzaki..!" What was he doing in..!

The boy gave a short wave, stowing his hands in his pockets as the door shut behind him. "Hey," he said somewhat plainly, jabbing a thumb back to the room behind him. "Listen... I kinda figured you guys would end up with full rooms, so I'll be staying with your other friend... Bakura I think his name was," he continued, Katsuya choking abruptly as the boy briefly turned to the room.

"B-Bakura!" So he'd been in there too... The blond continued to choke, growing somewhat pale as he stared at Bakura's room. That... That wasn't good...

Even so Ryuzaki nodded, shrugging as he turned back toward Katsuya's door and made to enter the blond's room. "Yea," said with a somewhat relaxed tone, "I figured since you guys knew him well enough it'd be safe to ask... And I'm not really up to asking Yugi," he continued with a cough, unaware of the groan from behind him. Why... He got that he wasn't cool about staying with either of the duelists he'd been against but...

_Why_, of all people... Did he have to pick Bakura! "R-Ryuzaki," he said with a cough, "I don' think-"

"Hey, Shizka's in your room right," he asked, pulling the blond's thoughts to an alternate topic as they stood in the middle of the hall. Ah-

Shizu- "Oh... Hey," he growled with a start, "Abou' that..." He looked back from Bakura's door, tensing. "You better not be plannin' on doin' anythin' t'-" He was cut off as his room door slammed shut, teeth grinding as he was left speaking to the wall. "Gh... God... Damn it," he muttered, head smacking against the door with a groan. "Augghhhhh..."

"I see you're acting as bizarre as ever, Mutt." The flat nickname from the side resulted in yet another jump from its target, Katsuya turning as Seto stood behind him with crossed arms.

"Ah..." He swallowed, hurriedly straightening himself out as he coughed. "H-Hey, Seto-cha-"

"I see you didn't get to a doctor like I asked," she growled, cutting the blond off. The blond merely smirked at that, giving a flippant shrug in response.

"Hey," he said with a laugh, "I've been through worse, an- Nyh!" The blond stumbled as he was abruptly snatched up by his jacket, finding himself pulled toward the next room. "Nyhnynynyny..! What- What're y' doin'," he shouted, shoes scuffing against the ground somewhat as Seto tapped a few keys on the door's key pad. "Oi!"

The woman merely continued to scowl as the door opened, before roughly pushing her 'friend' into the room. "Do yourself a favor," she muttered following the stumbling blond inside, "And _listen_ for once."

Katsuya blinked, turning back to look into the room somewhat blankly. It looked similar to the standard doctor's clinic really, complete with cushioned 'bench' at the side and shelves of first-aid and medical equipment nearby. There was a small stool and table at the side as well, with a nearby door labeled 'equipment'. More importantly however, besides the somewhat thick-set man on said stool holding a stethoscope... "Ah- Yugi," he called out with a start, the boy in question looking up from where he'd been staring off.

"Hah... Jonouchi-kun..!" The doctor quickly gave him a slight look that said 'please be quiet so I don't screw up my results', Yugi laughing somewhat nervously before giving his friend a wave.

Thankfully, the 'other' Yugi wasn't quite so tight-lipped. "_Earlier,_" the spirit muttered plainly, turning from where he'd been keeping a close eye on the doctor, "_Kyouko came to our room to guide us here; evidently Kaiba wasn't fond of the idea of facing an injured opponent,_" he added with a humored smirk, Katsuya turning to Seto as the woman leaned back against the door.

"Kyouko did that," he asked with a slight start, blinking at the thought of the maid on the airship. More importantly however, what was that about... "...Wait..." Katsuya blinked, staring at Seto with a somewhat confused expression in place. "You had her bring..."

Seto merely snorted, turning to leave rather than bother herself with answering. "Make sure they're both fit to duel within the next hour," she muttered, momentarily looking back with a dark smirk. "I'd rather not find that one of my possible opponents was so ignorant to their own wellbeing that they collapsed before the end..." Eh!

"Colla-" The blond tensed, gritting his teeth as he bit back a shout. "Seto-chan," he growled under his breath, the woman narrowing her eyes in response. "I definitely won't collapse when we fight," he snarled, pointing somewhat accusingly at Seto. "Definitely not! We fight in this tournament, I'm gonna beat y', y' hear?"

Again the woman snorted, shaking her head. "_If_, we fight," she countered with a somewhat sneering grin, "I certainly doubt that will be the case..." Tch... Seto ignored the scowl she was receiving in response, instead turning to Yugi as the boy and his other stared. "As for you," she began, arms crossed as she glared at the boy, "A word of advice; you have a God card. _Use it_." Well... That was kinda blunt. And obvious. Though he supposed, Yugi being Yugi... "Our battle _will not end_ without that monster's appearance," Seto was saying with a low growl, "Do you understand? This is the realm of the 'Gods'... The final 'testing grounds' before the last series of matches," she continued. Yugi appeared to swallow somewhat, the doctor as well pausing to listen as his boss went on. "Those cards will determine the winner of this tournament," the woman muttered, turning somewhat for the door again. "And to get them, I will defeat you, I will defeat Malik, I will defeat _anyone_ who stands in my way, and your title WILL be mine, are we clear?" A somewhat awkward silence settled over the air at the last outburst, the again 'calm' woman turning briefly as she received a quick nod from Yugi in response. They... They understood as much as any would... "Good..." Which was apparently fine by her. "You can come to the dining hall when you're done in here," Seto muttered at a quieter tone. "And make sure they don't leave until then," the woman added to her doctor, the man nodding somewhat in response. "Now. I'll see you soon... Yugi... Jonouchi," she continued, before looking over the blond's clothes in distaste. "And get rid of that jacket, it's useless now." Wha- Now hang on a secon- With that the door shut behind her, leaving the boys to stare before their thoughts on the matter could even be completed.

"Ah..." Katsuya blinked, staring momentarily before glancing at his jacket as the other Yugi merely blinked.

"_...Hn. Interesting,"_ he muttered, the blond turning to him abruptly with an incredulous stare. That...

That was his only reaction! The doctor at the side chuckled somewhat, shaking his head as he turned back to his first patient. "Ahhh... That woman never ceases to amaze me," he muttered in slightly accented Japanese, the boys both staring at the comment. Er... Really? ...Guess he knew her then... "Now... I forgot to introduce myself," the man continued, moving to push the stethoscope against Yugi's currently bare chest. "I am Doctor Ahmed Syn, one of two private physicians on board this ship in your friend's employ... And yes," he added at the somewhat shocked expressions he gained in response, "I know that you know." Okay... How- "It was fairly obvious in the way she treated you both," Syn muttered, moving the stethoscope around to Yugi's other side.

"Eh... It... _Was_," Katsuya asked with a cough, watching as Syn muttered a 'breathe in' to Yugi.

The doctor nodded, before pulling the stethoscope back. "Of course," he said rather plainly, turning back to the blond behind him. "She's far less bitter than she normally is around you both," Syn continued, "That much is clear from simply being in the same room." It... Was? Hell, he figured she was less tense at _home_, and if 'Hanami' was any sign she definitely had her _moments_ but... "She's looser," Syn went on, "Less 'pained' with holding her guise... It's quite the relief, whether she admits it or not. ...You're done," he added quickly, looking back at his 'patient' and handing a leather shirt toward him. Yugi nodded as he took the shirt back, pulling it on and sliding off the bench as the doctor moved to change the paper out. "Now then," he muttered, tossing the paper in the garbage as he looked back to the others. "Seeing how this tournament is queued to begin after dinner, and that same dinner is staring in just a few minutes, I'll get right to business... 'Jonouchi', correct," the man asked, Katsuya nodding as the doctor gestured to his jacket. "If you could take off your shirt and get on the table please..." Ah-

His... Shirt? He tensed somewhat, nonetheless nodding somewhat stiffly as he removed his dueldisk and shredded jacket both. "Er... S-Sure," he said with a nod, growing somewhat pale as the 'other Yugi' stared confusedly. The bruise on his stomach... The pain had died down to the point where he'd forgotten all about it, but now that he was thinking of what was there... It had to have at least yellowed by this point, if not darkened to a sick, blue-purple hue... Even so he took a seat on the bench before pulling the shirt off, wincing as the doctor raised his eyebrows.

"Oh my... I was told there was a possibility of sustained injuries but..." The doctor swallowed, Yugi doing the same as he stared at the expansive bruise across his friend's stomach and chest.

"J-Jonouchi-kun," he asked with a high, whispered swallow, "Where..."

"_What in the name of all..._" The other Yugi as well stared, abruptly appearing to his lighter half's side as he gaped._ "Where on __earth__ did you get a mark like that!_"

Katsuya again winced, the doctor looking over with worry before turning to the small gash in his patient's arm. Bandages, the doctor was probably thinking, Katsuya watching as the man hurriedly moved to grab the required gauze and antiseptic. "Ah... This..." The blond swallowed, eyes dotting across the ground as he searched for an excuse. Something, anything... Some... "Th's pro'bly came from when Malik an' his ghouls got me," he said with a cough, the excuse coming quickly as his eyes drifted over the cut on his arm. The blond gave a sudden hiss as the cut in question was lightly dabbed by Syn's antiseptic, barely resisting the urge to pull his arm back as the dried blood was cleared from the wound. Hopefully that excuse worked but... Eeeeehhh... It even _looked_ like a bunch of fingers looking at it now, damn it!

Yet despite what he'd just said it was apparently a strong enough defense for his friend, as the doctor gave a slow nod before carefully wrapping some bandages around a patch of gauze he'd applied. "I understand," he muttered, Katsuya watching as the bandages were firmly taped into place. "Now then..." Syn moved the used supplies to the side, taking the stethoscope from back around his neck. "This will only take a moment," he explained as he took a seat on the stool, "I'll just be checking for any remaining water in your lungs, along with your breathing and heart rate, just to make sure you're alright... Now..." The blond tensed up somewhat as the cold metal touched his bruised skin, nonetheless going through the motions of the check up as he calmed back down. "Take a deep breath in," he asked slowly, the response immediate. Easily done, just had to hide the wince from his stupid cracked rib... "Now take a deep breathe out," the doctor continued, Katsuya doing just so as he again hid the flinch. Huh... It'd been a while since he'd had to do this, that was interesting... (Was that bad or good though...) "Now again," the doctor was muttering, "Breathe in..."

And out... Katsuya's eyes drifted over to the two Yugis as he subconsciously followed the instructions, the more ghostly of the pair hovering between the two as he spoke. "_It seems that these next few battles will be a test of sorts,_" the spirit was muttering, his friends nodding somewhat in response. "_Besides our strength as a whole,_" he added with a slight frown,_ "There's also the God cards..._"

"Kaiba's Obelisk, Malik's Ra... And Osiris,_" _Yugi added, the spirit and his friend both frowning somewhat. Come to think...

That cloud he'd seen before... "On to the other side now," Syn was muttering as he moved the stethoscope, Yugi and Katsuya only barely paying attention as they continued their 'conversation'.

"Three gods," Katsuya muttered, pulling a face. He hadn't even seen those things and he knew that the name wasn't something to take lightly... "Hihhh..! When those things clash, it's gonna be intense I bet..." Really intense... 'Earth-changing' one could almost say, which was more or less frightening to say the least. Briefly, the doctor looked up from his work, only to return to what he was doing as he muttered a calm 'breathe in'. Whether or not Syn was caring that his patients appeared to be speaking to themselves seemed to be a matter of 'minding his own business' thankfully. But on the topic of the Gods Yugi was merely narrowing his eyes, arms crossed with thought.

"The gods are one thing," he muttered, shaking his head somewhat. "We know who has them, so even though they're a threat we have an idea of what to expect. But I'm more worried about the 'eighth duelist'," he continued, looking to his partner with a frown. "I know all of the competitors made it," the boy added, "But I still haven't seen him..."

"_Hnnn..._" The other Yugi nodded at that, his own frown deepening._ "And who knows what kind of man this duelist is..._" Yea, tell him about i-

Wait, 'man'? The blond jumped somewhat as his vision briefly clouded, Syn looking back with a blink. "Ah... Sorry about that," he said with a cough, having only just finished. "I would imagine that bruise is quite tender..." He folded his stethoscope back up, ignoring the fact that Katsuya had said nothing about the device being the source of his sudden shock. "You're all clear," the doctor continued, "But I'm going to get you some pain medication for that bruise just to be safe... You can put your shirt back on in the meantime," he added with a smile, moving to open the 'storage' room at the side.

Pain meds..? "Eh... Sure," he said with a nod, watching the man disappear into the next room. The blond waited a few moments, before looking at the others and sliding off the bench. "Hey, you sure this guy's a... Well, a guy," he asked, the two Yugis raising their eyebrows.

"_Hn? You think otherwise,_" the spirit questioned, his friend currently looking over his tattered jacket with a frown.

Damn, this thing really was dead... He grabbed his shirt from the tiny pile, pulling it over as his friends continued muttering behind him. "Jonouchi-kun," Yugi was saying with a slight frown, "What makes you think that?"

Er... Just a weird flash of a lady from behind, no big deal... Actually, she'd seemed kinda familiar despite the fact that all he really saw other than white fabric were tanned ankles and hands. Ahh... But he couldn't really say that could he..? Katsuya coughed, before shrugging as he grabbed the duel-disk from the side. "Just a feelin'," he said somewhat absently, watching as the doctor returned before clacking the disk into place. "Ah..."

"Here," the man said with a smile, passing the blond a small pill before placing the bottle at the side. "Tylenol. It should last about eight hours," Syn went on, taking a small paper cup and filling it with water from the sink at the side, "But if there's any pain or discomfort don't hesitate to ask." He handed the cup forward, Katsuya looking at the pill and water with a raised eyebrow. Eh... Pills...

That was new... Hell, besides cold syrup, he didn't really... Use meds. He shook it off, tossing the pill back with the water before throwing the cup into the trash. Eh, he mind as well, lest the doctor call up Seto he supposed. Of course, with his luck, the stuff wouldn't work but...

-_**Attention duelists,**_- a sudden voice cut through the air, a speaker system clearly visible above the door. Yugi and his friends both turned at the voice, listening as a woman's steady tone came over the system. -_**If all competitors could please enter the dining hall to the far end of the second floor for tournament briefing and complimentary dinner...**_- Oh hey, the tourna- Wait what?

Dinner? "Ah- Righ', Seto-chan said somethin' abou' food," Katsuya muttered aloud, grinning as he stowed his shredded jacket under his shoulder. "Sweet! It's startin' already!..!"

"We should get going then," Yugi said with a smile, stepping out of the room as the door opened. "Jonouchi-kun, I'll see you in a moment alright?"

"_As will I,_" his partner added, hovering behind the boy as Katsuya nodded.

"Righ'! I'll see yah upstairs then," he shouted, moving toward the stairs before turning back. "Hey thanks f'r th' check over," he shouted, Yugi adding in his own polite thanks as the doctor smiled. Okay! The blond charged up the stairs, hand gripping the railing as he clutched his jacket. From what he could tell, everyone had already headed up to the main room really, with his own room door still completely shut. He and Yugi would be the last ones up there he supposed, and-

"Jonouchi-sa- Eh... Jonouchi," an accented voice corrected, the blond freezing somewhat as he turned from the stairs. Blond hair and a faded lavender vest met his gaze, Katsuya mentally wincing as the young man waved.

Great... 'Namu'. Ah... The teen blinked, glancing at the small flaming spirit on the tanned one's shoulder before answering. "Ah... Hey... Namu..." That spirit was staring at him right now...

If 'Namu' realized he was getting a cold shoulder however, he certainly didn't say anything as the pair made their way upstairs. In fact, a smile remained almost permanently fixed to his face as they moved, adding to the unease of the blond ahead of him. "Listen, Jonouchi," he was saying, bag still on his shoulder for some strange reason beyond him. "If we're battling, please try to go easy on me," Namu asked, stepping into the hallway behind Katsuya with a swallow. "I'm just a beginner that got lucky really, so..."

So what, increase his luck? See, before he went into the 'if he believed it' territory, Namu didn't _feel_ like a beginner, and that was the problem. His voice _seemed_ quiet and somewhat insecure, but there was an underlying tone of manipulation... And the way he held himself, it seemed as though he was forcing himself to slouched just slightly in apparent unease, with a slight spark in his eyes that said the same thing. And as he took all that in, he still couldn't help but glance at the flame on Namu's shoulder before pulling his gaze away. "Sorry," he hurriedly said with a barely hidden look of suspicion, moving to put a hand on the door before them with a swallow. "But I ain't th' kind of guy t' go easy on someone jus' cause they ask... Even with my friends, I go all out," he continued, looking away as the spirit on Namu's shoulder stared at him. God...

That _eye... _Scaring the crap out of him damn it... And yet there was no way he could or couldn't know what it was, there were just too many different cards in the world it could match to! Namu bowed from beside the blond as they pushed the main door open, smiling somewhat frigidly as he moved past his 'friend. "I understand," he said rather flatly, an oddly cold undertone meeting the blond's ears at the same time. "I'll fight with all I have then, understand?"

"...Right!" And would he _ever..._ When the time came, of course. Briefly the blond cut those thoughts short, staring at the large room before him with wide eyes as he swallowed. "W-Woaahh..." It was _huge_... A curved round ceiling sat above, pushing the limits of the already enormous 'ship', and a Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon statue of sorts stood at the far end with tables laden with food before it. Personally he told himself, the statue really didn't do the 'Ultimate Dragon' justice... It was 'blocky', with two mouths bowed and hanging open before trays with the third encased within a sphere of glass. But he had little time to contemplate the inaccuracy of things as a voice came from behind him.

"Don't let the door hit you on the way in," Seto was muttering as she passed, Katsuya jumping in response as he caught the smirk on the woman's face.

A thick scowl came over him, tattered jacket hanging from his hand as he growled. "O-Oiii..." Well... Whatever then! He'd get her back in the tournament! "I'm definitely gonna beat her this time," he told himself with those thoughts, "Definitely... No matter what..!"

"Er... Good luck with that?" The blond turned as Mokuba raised an eyebrow, an odd look on his face as they walked into the room toward where their friends had already pushed two tables together. "Besides the fact that I still think Nii-sama's going to win this tournament," he began with a slight cough, "I thought Yugi was the one that did the talking-to-himself..."

"Nah, Yugi talks t' the other Yugi," Katsuya said with a shrug, "That ain't talkin' to 'mself. We jus' don' hea- O-Oii," he growled, quickly realizing the hole he was in, "I don' talk t' myself damn it!"

"Hahaha..." The boy merely smirked, shaking his head as they stood in the entrance of the room. "Whatever you say Katsuya-nii... I'll make sure not to tell your sister." Mokuba 'winked' at that one, unable to keep a grin off his face at the blond's reaction.

Ooooogh... Of all things damn it, he wasn't! ...Well, he supposed he _was_ wasn't he. "Oh... Tha' r'minds me..." Mokuba turned, blinking as his friend looked back with a calmer and more curious expression. "Did S- Did Kaiba really not know about where th' finals were," he asked, the boy beside him chuckling under his breath at the question.

"Oh... He knew that we'd be taking this _to_ the finals," he said cryptically, the blond sputtering at the comment as he realized what that meant. "But I'll explain later. I'll be sitting with Nii-sama, alright," he added, waving somewhat as he moved toward the other side of the room. The boy ran off, Katsuya shouting various unintelligible phrases after him before looking over at the now _four_ joined tables with disdain.

"Gh- Damn it..." She said within city limits at the tournament announce ment! How he knew that was his stupid flash thing, but he knew he was right! Somehow... Ah well... He continued to stare at the tables, frowning as he walked over. Bakura's table he could understand, and he definitely got why the others had pushed his and Yugi's in as well... After all, more space for them, and they were all friends; it'd just be rude and awkward to keep the tables separate.

But _Namu_'s? Did they seriously have to add _Namu's_ to the mix? As it was, the fact that Honda was sitting beside his sister was ticking him off, but- "Ah, Jonouchi-kun," Bakura said politely, an odd gleam in his eye as the blond shuddered. The albino turned from where he sat at one end of the 'table', a full plate of food already sitting before him as he ate. Sheeeesh... The tone sounded like the other Bakura's rather than the lighter, softer tones, but with the honorifics there... Why the hell couldn't life be more simple damn it? "They're about to start briefing us on the tournament," Bakura was saying as his friend came over, hanging his jacket loosely on an empty chair arm, "And besides that, it's an all you can eat buffet!" A shark-like grin came over him with those words, a large steak already in front of him and dripping with grease and sauce. The teen seemed to eye the dish hungrily, fork and knife clenched in his hands. "And with food like this..."

Ah- Katsuya froze somewhat as he took his seat, staring at Bakura in slight incredulity. "All... All you can eat," he repeated, Bakura appearing to give him an uncharacteristic 'well _duh_' look in response. "S-Seriously," the blond muttered, looking back to the tables before grabbing his plate with a grin. "Sweet," he shouted, the others at the tables shaking their heads. "I'm gonna go back f'r seconds, an' thirds, an'-"

A woman in a suit passed by, the others dropping their forks and cups in response as she turned toward them. For all appearances, had Anzu not been sitting right beside Malik, she would have passed quite easily for her. At least until you compared 'smiles', as the one Kyouko had on her face was akin to the expression a normal person was supposed to run from. "Ah, Jonouchi... Seto-sama asked that I tell you that due to the number of people who have mysteriously been found aboard the ship, the buffet has been limited to one plate per person... So try not to break that rule," she added with a dangerously sweet tone, the blond paling as he looked back.

O-One... "Awwww... Seriously," he groaned, sinking in his chair as Bakura chuckled beside him. "Aww man... I ain't gonna fit all tha' food on one plate..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Well," Bakura muttered, stabbing his steak with the fork, "One plate is fine for me I suppose..." The teen appeared to stare at the food a moment, before eagerly tearing into his steak as the others stared blankly.

"Er... Wow," Honda asked with a cough, watching as the grease and fluids dripped and flew off the meat, "You going to give it a chance to run away," he 'asked', Ryuzaki appearing to be wondering just what kind of person he was going to be bunking with.

Bakura gave no answer, instead muttering something about the steak not being 'bloody' enough and continuing to eat just as frantically, a round of awkward coughs and stares filling the air as a result. Riiiiight... Well. Um... Speaking of... _Other_ things... "O-Oi... Kyouko," he asked, turning back to the woman behind him as the former maid nodded. "Since when were you..."

"'Not' a maid," she asked with a raised eyebrow, straightening herself in a proud and rigid pose. The woman continued to beam at the group, hands folded behind her back as she explained. "I was temporarily promoted," she announced proudly, "To tournament security, due to the absence of one of our 'usual' replacements." Kyouko winked at that, the blond before her coughing as she continued on. "I was going through the training during my free time," the woman explained, nodding her head somewhat as the others stared. "Besides... It's nice to wear a suit instead of the usual uniform," she said with a stretch, before turning to the front and replacing the somewhat serious gaze. "Ah... We're starting..." They were? The woman rushed off, the others of the staff following after her while Yugi came in to take a seat across from Jonouchi.

"I didn't miss anything, right," he asked, eyes filled with slight worry as his 'other' opted to glare at Bakura from behind the albino.

The group more or less shook their heads in response, glancing back at the front as the lights abruptly dimmed. "Nah... Jus' startin' according to Kyouko," he answered, a spotlight clearly illuminating the stage far to the front.

"Yea. And speaking of 'Kyouko'," Otogi added with a cough, looking back from the stage toward his friend, "When you said she looks like Anzu..."

"You _really_ weren't lying," Honda muttered, staring at the woman incredulously before looking at the physical double. "Hey Anzu," he asked, "Are you two related?"

The woman raised her eyebrows from where she was sitting by 'Namu', shaking her head after a moment of silent. "I'm... Pretty sure I'd know about that," she said somewhat blankly, looking back to the front before shrugging. "Believe me," she continued with a cough, "I'm just as confused..."

"Hn... I'm more confused about the empty table," Ryuzaki muttered from beside the blond, the others looking across to where Seto and 'Malik' had appeared to just about divide their half of the room among themselves. Mai was currently sitting at the table near Seto's herself, rather than taking the chance of 'annoying' the more frightening looking of the two. As it was however, it looked as though she'd been striking conversation with Mokuba before the lights came off. Between Mai's own table and 'Malik's however, there was still the empty one. And given the closed doors at the side, it would remain as such. "If there's an eighth duelist," Ryuzaki was questioning, "Then how come they aren't here for the briefing?"

"Maybe they're just late," Shizuka said with a shrug, staring at the table from across her friend before a loud and clearly amplified voice came from the front.

"If I could have your attention," Isono requested clearly, a headset barely visible on his ear. The man stood at the center of the stage, looking across the room clearly as an additional female guard stood with Kyouko by the large Blue-Eyes structure. "Before we start with the dinner," the man announced, "I would first like to extend a 'Thank-you' from the whole of Kaiba Corporation for attending this competition. It is with great pleasure that I welcome you to the semi-finals of this tournament, and I wish each of you luck in the continuing matches." So Mokuba was right, this was only the semi's... Damn it, then where were the finals! "Now," the man continued, gesturing behind him to the dragon. It was only now that the light revealed a series of 'bubbles' ricochetting around the sphere, bouncing back and forth across the dragon's currently closed maw. "As you can see," Isono was saying as he gestured to the machine, "This device is currently scrambling a series of bubbles, each with a number written on its front. These numbers correspond to your rooms," he explained clearly, "And will be matched at random to decide the following semi-final matches." Ah- Random picking?

"Sheesh..." The blond shook his head, leaning against the table as the others listened intently. "Pretty old fashioned way t' pick a match," Katsuya grumbled, looking at the enormous glass sphere locked around the middle dragon's head.

"The first match will be decided before the diner begins, so as to allow time to prepare," Isono was continuing clearly, silence reverberating about the room in his stead. "After the decision is made," he explained, "There will be a half-hour more to eat and meet at the arena above." Half hour _more_? Wait, so he could have eaten already! The blond scowled with those words, nonetheless listening closely as Isono continued. "This arena can be accessed through the elevator located at the far end of the halls on both floors, beside the stairways," he explained, "And will take place above the airship itself! Now then," the man shouted, gasps coming from their own side of the room in response to the 'above the airship' revelation, "Without further ado, we will decide the first match! Please listen carefully!" He turned, motioning to the two guards as each one pulled a small switch located on the left and right-most dragon heads. The spheres bounced around constantly, the dragon's each opening their mouths momentarily as the balls continued to scatter about.

With a resounding clatter a pair fell through the middle head's mouth, device closing abruptly to prevent further spheres from entering. The two balls clattered out through the remaining dragon's mouths, Kyouko and the second guard both holding the spheres out to Isono as the taller looked them over. "Alright," he shouted, turning back as the two women behind him dropped the spheres in some sort of canister to the side. "For the first match," the man announced, "Duelist number 'Three', Bakura Ryou!" Bakura appeared to choke on his food for a moment with that shout, wheezing back a swallow before pointing at himself incredulously.

"Gh- E-Eh? I'm first," he exclaimed, Katsuya laughing somewhat as the more 'familiar' tones of the albino hit the air.

"Hahaha..! That's some luck," Honda said with a grin, looking around Otogi from where he sat beside Namu. "Hey, do your best alright," he added, the others still beaming at the teen.

Bakura merely bowed his head, scratching the back of his neck. "I'm the first one picked... This is so unnerving..."

"I wonder who you'll be facing," Yugi muttered, a number appearing in Katsuya's mind as the blond raised his eyebrows. Ohhh...

He had an idea... "For the next duelist," Isono shouted, "Number 'Seven' Mutou Yugi!" Yugi jumped at the announcement, his question quickly answered as his other blinked in mild surprise. "Now, with the first match decided," the man went on, "I ask that you enjoy your meals... And as a final warning," he continued clearly, "Those competing cannot be more than five minutes late to their official duel, lest they be disqualified on the spot. All others may stand as spectators if they so wish however, and are free to come and go as they please. So, with those final warnings, enjoy your stay on the Battle Ship," he shouted clearly, "And may the best duelist win!" With that Isono bowed his head, the lights filling the room once more as he stepped away to join the guards at the side. Attentions were drawn back toward tables and food, those on the other side already moving to get their dinners as Katsuya and the others turned to the two soon to be opponents.

It was actually almost funny, having a Bakura VS Yugi match all over again... And of course, so long as there wasn't any creepy 'Monster World' business, it could actually be fun! Or at least, the other Yugi seemed to think this. Everyone else were more or less looking to the albino in pity, the boy sighing as he bowed his head. "Hehh... I can't believe I'm against Yugi..." The albino laughed somewhat nervously, turning to his friend. "I hope I do we- A-AH!" Bakura jumped abruptly as the face he turned to gained the stern 'glare' that the other Yugi was so well known for, swallowing as his friend raised an eyebrow. "A-Ah... Yugi..."

"Eh... Y-Yugi," Katsuya asked, blinking as the lighter half hovered in the air beside them. "What..."

The spirit shrugged, smiling. "_I decided that since the other me is going to be dueling, he should have the body for now... Sorry about not saying anything._" No no, really, it was fine, just...

Getting blasted in the side by a sudden wind while they were in an airship was scary as hell. "Man... Yugi against Bakura," Honda muttered as he grabbed his plate, shaking himself as he stood with a few of the others to get his food. "This fight mind as well be rigged," he continued, Otogi and Namu following behind him to the tables of food at the side.

Speaking of Bakura... Hihhh... If he had an occult deck, maybe he would have to stand closer to Yugi's side rather than the middle of whatever arena they were going on. And speaking of cards..! "Hey... Bakura," he asked curiously, looking to the teen, "Tha' r'minds me..." The albino turned, a majority of the others clearing the table to get their food as they left the blond alone with the teen. "I get that y' got all yer cards," he continued in reference to the locator devices, "But how did y' get them so _fast_..?"

Bakura seemed to blink at that, eyebrows raised as he swallowed a few carrots. "Oh! Well, it was actually quite easy," the teen said with a smile, swallowing a bit of the potatoes still left on his plate before continuing. "While taking a short cut through the cemetery," he explained, "I ran into Kotsuzuka-san..." K-Kotsuzuka..! The image of the boy in the middle of the cemetery came all to clearly to his mind, eerie moonlight illuminating his vision as Bakura spoke. "We dueled 'all or nothing'," he continued on, the view of the graveyard very quickly revealing itself as more than just his imagination. A sudden flash of Kotsuzuka came to mind in the darkness of the early evening location, changing from a sneering grin to a horrified look of failure. "After I won," Bakura was saying, seemingly oblivious to his friend's paling guise, "I received all of his locator cards... Now. If you excuse me," he said with a curt nod, finishing off his food before standing from the table, "I'm going to prepare for my match... Wish me luck!"

The blond weakly nodded, swallowing as he stood to get his own food in the meantime. Y-Yea... Good... Good luck then... A shudder ran down his spine as the 'vision' came further into mind, terrified shrieks filling his head as he winced. Kotsuzuka... Kotsuzuka was being pulled, but the things pulling him were... Hands, decayed and rotted hands, some of bone some of muscle, and he could hear laughing...

"_...Jonouchi-kun,_" Yugi asked, the blond swallowing as he turned to the spirit beside him. Evidently the 'ghostly' half opted to stay behind while his other filled his plate, taking advantage of being the one in control for a meal this time. Unfortunately, this also meant that as Katsuya's vision settled back to the plate in his hands and the table he was getting in line for, his obvious cold dread was clearly visible to the boy. "_...Jonouchi-kun, are you alright?_"

Katsuya gave a somewhat shuddering breath, choking as he hurriedly nodded. "Y-Yea... Yea I'm fine," he muttered, keeping his voice low as Ryuzaki gave him an odd look from ahead in the line. Bad enough the duel monsters but... Trying to explain seeing things that either would happen or already _had_ happened wasn't something he wanted to do. "Jus' th' image 'f Kotsuzuka's monsters in a cemetery, y' know? It... It's creepy..." More like terrifying actually... How the hell was he supposed to duel let alone sleep now?

His friend stared for a moment as Katsuya mentally crossed his fingers, before eventually nodding. "_You never change do you,_" he said with a slight laugh, shaking his head as he looked at the blond. "_At least not when it comes to the paranormal, huh..."_

"Hahaha... Yep," he said with a quiet laugh, doling as much food as he could fit on the plate as possible. Hey, if he only had one run at this... Mind as well take advantage of that! Hell who knew, maybe the taste would distract him from... "Man..." Katsuya swallowed, again shaking himself. "An occult deck agains' zombies..." Another shudder ran through him, the blond forcing the image of a screaming Kotsuzuka from mind as he made his way back to the table with his food. "Am I glad I don' have t' fight _him_," he said with a laugh, a somewhat shorter one coming from the side.

"Heh! Already know what's in there," Ryuzaki asked, the blond shaking his head.

"All I need t' know is that it's occult theme," he said with a shudder, "An' I'm good... An' I gotta be blunt on this," the blond added with a swallow, "I have _never_ felt so relieved tha' Yugi was fightin' someone..."

The boy across from him snorted at that, a small smirk on his face. "Well! This better not mean you won't go all out when we face off ourselves," Yugi countered lightly, his friend brushing off the suggestion with ease.

"Pff! As if," he said with a laugh. "I'm gonna win fair an' square an' get tha' Red-Eyes back!" Of course, the dragon didn't seem to care, he was still sleeping...

The one beside him certainly cared though. "Red-" Ryuzaki balked, choking on what he'd been eating as the blond beside him began wolfing his own food down with relative zeal. "You gave Red-Eyes to _him,_" he shouted, eyes widening as he stared. The two teens in question stared at the outburst, Shizuka as well looking up from her plate while the her friend groaned. "Auuuuughhh... You idiot... You're never going to get it back now," he moaned, burying his hands in his head before jumping as he was poked with a fork. "Ack!"

"Keichi," Shizuka was saying with a growl as she pulled the fork back, "Watch what you say about my brother..."

"Y-Yea," Katsuya countered somewhat tensely, "I still have a fair shot! We hav'n' dueled jus' yet!" Not a big one granted but... Hey, all his losses had to mean he'd been learning _something_ about Yugi's deck right? Even... If there was a God... He pushed the thought from mind, continuing with his stubborn self-defense. "You don' know that I'll lose f'r sure... So don' jus' act like I already have!" Though even as he said this, the dragon certainly looked quite comfortable on the other Yugi's shoulder, small streams of smoke furling from its nostrils as it snored.

Ryuzaki however, merely continued to groan at that, holding his head as his own 'partner' and raptor shook its head from behind him. "Auggggghhhh..." Oi oi oi... Stop groaning... "It's _useless..!_"

It was not! "Y' know," the blond growled dryly, "These 'r really big words comin' from th' guy tha' was knocked outta th' tournament..."

"Yea but I was knocked out because of a _cheat_," the boy hissed, his friend sighing as the two momentarily stopped eating to argue. "And the fact is," he continued with an accusing point, "If it wasn't for that I'd have probably been one of the finalists here!"

"Well yea," Katsuya responded with a shrug, "But I'm still here while you're jus' watchin'... Not t' mention," he added somewhat smugly, "I beat Haga on th' way here! An' seein' how Haga beat y' th' first time around," the blond continued, trailing off as the boy beside him scowled.

"Your defense sucks..! _Haga_ got knocked flat out of the Duelist Kingdom in his first match," Ryuzaki growled, Shizuka and all those others remaining at the table sighing as the bickering continued. "I might not have made it to the finals," the boy muttered darkly, "But that's only because I didn't get there in time; I was just as qualified as you were, got it?"

Just as qualified..? "An' what's tha' s'pposed t' mean," the blond muttered, gaining a stiff nod in response as the boy seemed to say '_what do you think_'. What did he think? Well what was he _supposed_ to think, seriously, that-

"_Ah..."_ Katsuya turned somewhat as he glanced to the normal Yugi, the spirit currently 'sitting' in Bakura's abandoned chair._ "...Don't tell me he got ten star chips only to end up 'fifth',_" Yugi muttered, staring as the boy before them held his glare. "_...That... That would mean he went through one of the player killers,_" he continued with a swallow, his other self as well raising his eyebrows at that. One... One of the-

Katsuya's frown plummeted as he recalled the 'player killers' of the island, swallowing. "Wait... You..." He went through one of _those_?

Again the only response was a glare, a sigh coming from the side. "Can you _please_ stop arguing," Shizuka said with a frown, the two both turning to her as she stared from across the table. "Nihan... Keichi... I don't know what happened on that island," she said seriously, "But you're not 'duelists' fighting each other right now, you're my brother and friend, so please, _try_ to get along..!"

The two both stared at the slightly exasperated look, Ryuzaki slowly nodding as he stepped away from the table. "Right," he said quietly, pushing the chair in with his foot as he turned away. "Sorry Shizka... I'm gonna go grab my jacket," he continued, disappearing from the room. "See you outside in the arena." Outside?

...Of course. It was on top of an airship, of course it was outside. Shizuka watched her friend leave, nodding somewhat curtly in response. "Right! I'll see you then!" The girl smiled as her friend left, before fixing a frown on her brother. "Hnnng... Nihan..."

Eh! "W-What," he asked in protest, the others momentarily staring themselves as the 'shy-ish' girl they knew dropped into still more agitated mannerisms.

"Hnnnggh... Nihan, you just don't get these things at all," she muttered, shaking her head as she scowled. The girl held this look, her brother staring for a moment before she moved to leave. "I'll see you in the arena as well," she decided, walking away.

What? What did that even..? "O-Oi..! Shizuka!"

Hahhh... Damn it. The table fell quiet at that, the group left to its 'bare-bones' besides the addition of Malik and the absence of Bakura for the moment. "I wonder why the eighth duelist never showed up," Otogi was muttering in the resulted silence, the others turning to the empty table in question as the room cleared just slightly more. 'Malik' and Mai had both left a fair amount of time ago while they were talking and eating, with the Kaiba siblings leaving at that very moment. While Seto was calmly walking toward the door and minutely sending a competitive glare toward Yugi, Mokuba was waving somewhat cheerily before disappearing before the again closed door. As it was, even if that side of the room hadn't emptied completely, their own side was notably full in contrast, with only the two security guards remaining at their posts near the Blue-Eyes statue. And throughout it all, that single table at the opposite end had remained completely empty...

That one woman in white that he'd seen for a split second had remained behind in the darkness of her room it seemed, sitting at the edge of a bed in the darkness and- Damn it, he really needed to get a cap on this thing. The teens at the table briefly held their stare across the room, frowns on their faces in light of Otogi's statement. "Maybe he thought the duels would be decided by matching numbers to numbers," Honda said with a shrug, Katsuya mentally replacing the 'he' with a 'she' in his mind.

"Well we know that three and seven are taken," Anzu added in response to the theory, Yugi nodding somewhat with the mention of his number. "Not to mention two, one, and five..."

"And four as well," Namu added from the end of the table, before standing up to grab his bag. "That's my number," he said with a slight smile. "Anyways... I'll be right back, please excuse me..." He quickly bowed his head, before pulling the bag on his shoulders as the spirit as well adjusted itself. He was leaving now..? But why...

The majority of the table nodded despite the slight oddness of the situation, watching the tanned young man walk off to leave the room before turning back to listen to Anzu. "You were saying," Honda asked, the woman blinking off a somewhat spaced look that had momentarily come over her.

"Saying- Oh, right!" Anzu coughed, shaking herself before going on as the others stared. "So numbers one through five are taken, along with seven," she said with a nod, arms crossed. "It's only natural that with whatever card this eighth duelist got, he figured he wouldn't be called up... After all, with just six and eight remaining..."

"That's true," the other Yugi muttered from the side, the others jumping somewhat as they realized he was still there. "But to come this far and simply hide away" he continued somewhat suspiciously, "Even with that in mind..."

"_It doesn't make sense,_" the lighter half continued from the statement, ignoring the fact that only two people could hear him as he spoke. "_Even if they didn't want to do any socializing,_" he muttered with a frown,_ "They would have at least wanted to come for the briefing... Who knows what kind of information they would have missed otherwise!_"

Well, they could have missed _anything_ really... Unless... A thought came through his mind, eyes narrowed with thought and suspicion both as he crossed his arms. "'Nless they already knew," he said somewhat plainly, staring at the table with a frown. If they'd already known...

"Ah... What," Otogi said somewhat bluntly, the others turning to stare as their friend jumped under the question. Erk- Did he... Did he say that out loud? Crap, how was he going to cover-

"What was that," Anzu asked abruptly, an odd glimmer appearing in her eyes as Katsuya turned. "Did you say..."

Katsuya's chair was quickly pushed back, the blond moving from around it as he stood. "Nothin'," he said rather briskly, moving back from the chair with an unnerved swallow. "'S nothin'," he continued quickly. "I'll see y' on th' arena alrigh'," the blond muttered at a near whisper, "I gotta go check somethin'... I... ...I'll be righ' back..." Terrible excuse, terrible terrible...

But without another word he left the room, the others at the table staring as the door closed quickly behind him. He just needed a place to calm off, just... Just calm off... The closest 'place' turned out to be a bathroom stall in the men's rooms at the side of the hall, but right now he didn't care. The sink was turned on the instant he got into the room, splashing cold water over his almost white face. Hah... Hahh... Katsuya leaned against the counter with a shudder, forcing back a scream as he bowed his head and shook. Why... Why, why _why_...

When Anzu asked him what he'd been talking about, her eyes... He'd only glanced and in that moment they'd gone golden in colour, contrasting the usual light brown and blue eyes. And her voice...

Her _voice_!

"_**Did you say... You already knew..?**_" Why...

_Why_?

**

* * *

AN**: Because I CAN Jonouchi. Er. Or something. Now he's in a real spot; tell everyone Anzu's under creepy mind control and somehow explain '_Oh yea, I have really weird powers that I don't know a clue about_'... Or does he keep quiet, and hold off until Malik makes the first move? Because remember, most of the incidents where those sorts of 'powers' arise involve those same people _stealing souls_. So it's kind of a 'tomato in the mirror' situation. Except even worse, he doesn't _have_ a Millennium Item to use as an excuse. (I would imagine that even having an item would make it somewhat less awkward.)

Anyways, this chapter is slightly shorter than the 'standard' (It's growing it seems), but this is mostly because of how well it ended at that line; there was going to be a bit more to the scene, but because of the context, I can use it to start off the next chapter, 'YugiVSBakura' instead. In fact, it's _better_ that way. Go me!

Also in the next chapter will be the determining of the following match-up (Jou VS Rishid), and, should the length not be too bad, the events that take place before it actually starts. Depending on what I decide on, the format of the next chapter will effectively be what makes up those ahead of it... Well, unless you count certain visionary aspects in between of course.

So really, it's a work in progress that wholly depends on how long the duels themselves are; thankfully, I use the manga for most of these (Anime-only arcs being an obvious exception), and the manga duels are considerably shorter in comparison.

Possibly because in the anime, they have to take two episodes 'at minimum' it seems...

And in other news, using BlueLagoonLoon's recommendation of an August birthday, I scanned and scoured a 'Birthday-Horoscope Guide' (Which analyzes the days of the year, giving each date a specific write up of personality) before deciding on the 18th. Now normally, this would just seem silly.

But I only did this because I got bored and was searching up the birthdates of other characters... And you know what? The description matches with _frightening_ accuracy when it comes to Seto.

Also, I found out Rishid's age while reading the manga; he's 25 in there, but due to slight timing differences, it's more likely that he's 26 already.

...Hey! _He's around Mai's age_!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

I hear that once you dump a parody, you're never the same Iona.

And yes… This interference will be a continual source of amusement for me too, not to mention his 'boarding problems' as we go; you can probably guess what's going to happen even just now, with the initial plan to share Bakura's room. (Bakura having only agreed because it would bug the others as it is.)

And… Hnn.. I just checked it over, but it looks as though the 'j' in 'jpg' decided to upper-case itself for some reason. If you replace it with a little 'j', it should work.

And yes… As you can tell, Yami's comment isn't helping _at all_, despite the fact that the only reason this happened is because of the combined concentration of sheer _power_ resulting from the combined presence of Jonouchi (effectively the closest thing to a powerhouse you can get in this fanfic without being tied to an item or the seal of orichalcos), the Rod, and the puzzle. It's power times three!

And there was Fluffy here, but there'll be even more next chapter! …And then he'll have to go sit on a bus, as his coma will be there... Well, mostly on a bus, but that's for you all to figure out.

Until then, enjoy the above!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that should really stop being so mean to Jonouchi; the guy needs his sleep!

* * *

This chapter's title says it all... For both Seto (Who is otherwise glaring at the wet binding) and Jonouchi... The latter for far more obvious reasons in this particular chapter.

* * *

Due to the way I made the floorplan, there's no spot for windows like the anime and manga; all of the windows are in rooms, which leave a hallway through the centre. The only windows as a result are by the staircase, as anything toward the rear of the airship is either storage oriented or mechanical.

* * *

There's shout-outs everywhere! Calpico for one, is a drink of sorts... It's not really a 'soft drink', as it's not carbonated, but it's not really juice either. It looks kinda like weird milk...

_But it's soooooo good_...

Also making a cameo is a small series of shorts called 'Maru Neko' (Maru... the Cat.), for the name of this absolutely _adorable_ round cat doing various things... Such as trying and failing to climb a wooden shelf unit, jumping in and out of a cardboard box, or hilariously digging frantically at the drain of a sink. You can watch these on College Humor actually; just search 'Maru Cat' and you should get them.

* * *

A fair bit of Kaiba's dialogue was altered here; shortly after Jonouchi started bragging, Kaiba shot him down in the original, both anime and manga. However, so as to get everyone cleared for 'safe' duelling (Lets face it, there's nothing safe about this), Kaiba's acting quite a bit different in the fanfic… And so as to preserve the idea that they hate each other, she doesn't drag him off until after Ryuzaki ducks back into another room. After all, if someone were to see her drag the blond off, it'd be fairly hard to claim that she still hates the moron.

* * *

Another room attached to the doctor's office? But that wasn't on the plan! Well it's there… I forgot to put it on though, as like I said above, most of the rooms beyond that point are all storage oriented. It's where all the monitors and systems for emergencies are stored; Kaiba was notably paranoid about the event, and rightfully so, given that by the end of it we have three, temporarily _four_ of the competitors in comas... Not to mention that in the manga, Malik actually kills a member of the staff. Hihhhhh...

* * *

If you didn't catch the pun in Dr. Syn's name, you should really be ashamed of yourself. Though something tells me that the name (Which really _is _pronounced 'sin') wouldn't be a name in that language. Mostly because it translated to 'O'. Ehhhh...

As for why Kaiba has an Arabic doctor, she doesn't. Syn is American, and while it sounds a little weird to hire out of the country, this is where being a really good doctor means you're more likely to get hired... And where you don't just look at your own country. In other words, Syn stood out compared to the Japanese docs when it came to the need for a private and trusted physician. (Though the second doctor is in fact native Japanese.) Also, keep in mind that Kaiba likely takes numerous business trips to the US, as her main company export concerns an _American_ company. Sure, the people who took it over (The Tenma brothers from Yugioh R) have Japanese names, but they're still located in the States. So having an American doctor would actually be pretty handy... That's not the reason he was hired of course. (Syn's actually been around for a while)

In any case, more on this later if it turns out to be 'relevant'... Or, if I get questions, I'll just answer them then. Yay~

* * *

Tylenol is distributed in not just North America, but also Brazil, Mexico, South Korea, Puerto Rico, Myanmar, Peru, Thailand, and Japan. Learn something new everyday!

* * *

Besides Malik's fun with vocal-disguises here, a little note on the 'Rod' spirit that's sitting on his shoulder. It doesn't have teeth right now; that's why, despite all his paranoia, Katsuya can't actually be sure that whatever ulterior motive he has is actually from 'Malik'... For all he knows, it could be a card. Particularly since there really_ is_ a monster out there that looks like a small flame with an eye; it's called, rather accurately, 'Fire Eye'. (Though that monster also has _wings_ so...)

* * *

Also, 'namu' is apparently Arabic for 'growth', 'development', 'prosperity' and so on. Interesting. (It also sounds more like 'na_mo_'...)

* * *

Malik is carrying his bag around because his Millennium Rod is in there. He's not stupid enough to leave it unattended in his room after all, and the fact is, it's too easily spotted if it's not in a bag. Unless you'd like to explain how he hid it in his pants.

Actually don't, _PLEASE_.

* * *

For those wondering whose number is what in the fanfic, it's like this; Kaiba has room number one of course, with each room on the 'first floor' labeled in order moving down. Jonouchi is number 2, Bakura 3, Malik 4, Mai is 5, Rishid is 6, and lastly, after Yugi's number '7', Ishizu sits at number '8'.

* * *

Since Yami Bakura's pretending to be his lighter half, he's using honorifics right now. And, since he didn't know Kotsuzuka that well, he's using 'san' rather than 'kun' as a result of that cover. And also yes, I included the steak scene from the anime. Mmmmmm _delicious_.

Besides, you can't deny that Yami Bakura likes his food. (And for a good reason that's similar to Yami Yugi's; they've both been dead and gone for thousands of years, the chance to eat, let alone simply _taste_ something is incredible.)

* * *

Hey look, Red-Eyes… Something you might be wondering, but does Jou get him back? Well, we never see that match between the two (Yugi keeping it until Jonouchi beat him after all), but since he has the card after the Battle City arc finishes...

* * *

The manga being the manga, new chapters had a habit of starting on the most climactic point of the last one. So despite a fair bit of conversation that happened _after_ Yugi and Bakura's match was announced, the chapter after started right at that point… And despite Yugi having _no _suspicions in the last chapter, he suddenly _does_ in the next one. In any case, these suspicions will be raised next chapter before the duel, but I held off on it here to allow a more smooth transition.

Of course, suspicions in the case of Jonouchi will happen first, thanks to his last little freak out. Especially since that movement alone really tells them something is up.

* * *

Ryuzaki and Jonouchi's argument is of course stemming off the fact that one doesn't like the other for getting friendly with his sister while the other is being extremely defensive about it, and really wants Jonouchi to mind his own business. Ryuzaki is also very, _very_ sore about the fact that he was knocked out by a cheat. Not to mention, if you think about it, having to bring up the fact that he got ten chips and was turned away from the door pretty much says that while the tournament had fifty or so people on the island, if you didn't make top four, you don't even get a mention.

Given that he got ten starchips only for that to happen, you can guess how sore a point that is when it's not being used to prove he's 'better'... Particularly since Yugi is right; unless Ryuzaki beat a Player Killer, it would have been impossible for him to get to that point. And the player killers... Kinda actually killed people. Eeeeeeehhh...

* * *

Brown _AND_ blue? _What are you up to Usagi_? Well the fact is, it seems as though no one could decide on Anzu's eye colour. Sometimes they're brown, but sometime's they're blue, and when the manga first started out, they were _amber_. I compromised and gave her mixed coloration; in other words, Central Heterochromia. Basically, the outside of her iris is brown (The 'true' colour of her eyes), but as you get closer to the pupil, it grows blue.

* * *

In any case, that's all for now! Next up, Bakura VS Yugi!

Along with what happens when all of your chances at a decent place to sleep end up in comas. (Ooooo...)


	78. Chapter 77

**From The Mouths Of God**

* * *

He supposed that in a nutshell, this 'ability' of his was screwing with his head a little more that he'd thought. A lot more, actually, given the more recent events. It was as though, within the last twenty four hours alone, the 'ability's intensity had increased ten-fold with no warning as to why. For one, there was the duel monsters. He could see and feel everything on the field as though it was really there, interacting with all that was. He could speak to the monsters, and when it came to those that couldn't he was still able to tell what they felt. And while at some points he wondered if he was insane for all that he could see and feel, there was a part of him that knew that wasn't the case. That all of this was simply a matter of being the 'only one' that saw things as they really were. And really, it was probably for the best...

He didn't want to think of what would have happened if people realized that the cards were summoning monsters to fight and kill each other in a never ending war. Would the cards end up used as some kind of weapon, put to use in wars? Or would they end up gathering dust, determined too large a threat to even touch? The fact was, the only reason he still dueled despite what he saw was because there was a feeling he had, somewhere in his heart, that to simply 'stop' would be even worse on the monsters. That to leave them in whatever world the originated from would simply mean more hell for them. After all; regardless of what happened, they lived to fight... And for them, things like Parasite Paracide, or the appearance of a 'God' was simply a bad day dotted among the years, a small bit of rain in an otherwise perfect moment.

Of course, there was the 'rest' of his ability to take into consideration. The 'flashes' of the future for one were confusing to say the least, a part of this 'ability' that despite clearly being tied into his 'vision' was completely beyond him in understanding. The visions had nothing to do with the monsters after all, very rarely having anything to do with any sort of relevant action, and yet he somehow knew that the monsters and the items had just about _everything_ to do with it. Whatever ties were there however, he couldn't see them.

Not like he could see the ties with the 'Millennium Items', the things that held the objects power in place and guided it along its tracks. There was certainly a link between the items and his vision, that was for certain. And he knew this not only because of those tablets from the museum, but because of some gut feeling that was probably tied to his own 'fore-sight'. Some nagging and grating knowledge that told him those objects... Had far more secrets to reveal. The items... They were frightening things, things that were beyond comprehension and yet all the same completely within it when it came to his own ability to do just that. Whatever things 'man was not meant to see', he was evidently exempt- no matter how horrific the nightmares he was left with as a result. There was the Millennium Eye, who thinking back, had been relatively tame compared to the other 'spirits'. Merely a moving mass, overshadowing all within it as it attempted to do its master's bidding. And yet each time he thought back on the being, its form changed. It shifted, his memory altered by his own changed perception on duel monsters, the world, and everything within it. It had mutated from the golden eye with shadowed arms he'd seen half a year before into an endless, shadowed 'snake'. A being with naught but a great and golden eye for a face, with shadowed arms sprouting along the sides of the body as it came close and opened a great and endless maw. A mouth that resembled a black hole, and empty space that was just as if not more traumatizing than the flames of the Millennium Rod.

When he pushed the 'Eye' from mind however, it was the 'Tauk' that came in to replace it rather than its flaming 'cousin'. An entire being formed of streams of light and stardust, of empty and vast space dotted with the cosmos before it. Endless space, constantly expanding, and at the top of it all was an ever changing sun and moon for an eye, with hands that gleamed with just as much intensity of a thousand suns. The Tauk was calm compared to its 'brothers' really. Possibly even 'kind' he told himself as he leaned against the bathroom wall and sunk to the ground. It only sought to give warnings where they were needed, to glean the past, present, and future from those it passed that it would allow fate to travel correctly.

But then he remembered the Tauk's warning, the words it had given upon realizing that his ability left him strangely immune to its prying. And with the thought of the warning came to mind the demon that it described. And all of the reasons why his ability would drive him into an early grave came back to him, all of the reasons why he kept his mouth shut returned, the blond giving a shudder as the flames and teeth came to mind. Terrifying... Horrifying... And even then, now that he'd escaped and could see what other victims it had taken, just what could he say? About anyone, about _Anzu_? That she was still possessed because he heard the Millennium Rod speak through her? That he could even hear the Millennium Rod, hear the 'Eye' that they'd seen in the depths of Yugi's mind, recall the writhing, snaking form the Eye held as it was forced back by the sheer will of Yugi's determination alone? That he saw Anzu's eyes glow gold, saw the flames surrounding the brows of each ghoul and the teeth and eyes which held the control in place?

The blond took a shuddering breath, head in his hands as he breathed nervously. Everything... Everything was going out of control, everything... The duels were one thing but everywhere he looked he was getting flashes of fires, seeing things that everyone else simply wasn't.

But he _couldn't_ say anything! He couldn't, for his friend's sake, for the sake of their friendship, he just- "_Jonouchi-kun,_" a worried voice whispered from beside him, the sound just as clear as it would be coming from a solid body.

"NyAHHH!" Katsuya jumped, only to find himself smacking his head against the sink and rubbing the back of it as a stinging pain ran through his skull. "Ung... Shit..." As if everything else wasn't bad enough... He shook himself off, looking at the crouched spirit of his friend with a swallow. "Y-Yugi," he said with a swallow, looking up and past the boy to see nothing but the rest of the room. "How did y'-" How was he here without...

"_The other me and I have been working on the distance between each other,_" he explained somewhat shortly, pulling himself to his feet with the ease that came with defying gravity's laws. "_It comes in handy when we need to know where the next bus is, or if we're lost," _the boy continued with a short laugh, shaking his head._ "He's on the arena deck right now,_" Yugi explained, "_But that's not the point. Jonouchi-kun..._" His eyes closed partially in evident worry, the boy looking down somewhat with unease._ "I... I didn't say anything until now,"_ he admitted quietly,_ "Since it looked like you were thinking about something important but..._" The boy swallowed, reaching out to grab his friend's hand and help the blond up to his feet. "_I can tell,"_ he was saying quietly,_ "I can tell that there's something wrong. I mean... If you don't want to say anything,"_ he hurriedly added,_ "You don't have to of course... But if there's anything... Anything at all,_" the boy repeated, hovering in mid-air to meet the blond's eyes as he spoke, "_I want to help you with it, alright..?"_ He...

"Yugi..." Katsuya swallowed, turning away somewhat as he bit his lip. He wanted to tell him, but the fact was... "I..." He couldn't. The blond sighed, averting his gaze a moment as he grimaced. He just couldn't, he couldn't say anything..! Even being on the sidelines was a threat, and if Yugi knew that, how would he react? He would be second guessing his every move, wondering if the next card would send damage off to the sidelines... He would end up paranoid about any match he saw, either driving one to never watch the other or worse...

He couldn't do that to his friend!

Yugi continued to stare as his friend slowly looked back at him, Katsuya swallowing his unease and steeling himself. But he could do this, he told himself, taking a deep and silent breath. He could at least do this... "Yugi," he said with a swallow, clenching and un-clenching his fists as he went on, "Bakura... I think it's th' other Bakura in control. I think he's been there since he got to th' coliseum... Maybe even since he went t' th' hospital," he added, his friend's face growing pale with the words.

"_W-What?_"

Katsuya again swallowed, nodding his head as he continued. "I can't be sure," he added, the small white lie meaning little for the situation. "I mean heck," the blond snorted, "We all saw that th' ring wasn' around his neck! But... Didn' y' say tha' only holdin' th' puzzle let you an' th' Other Yugi switch," he asked, unease evident in his voice. "Tha' back with th' dragon card game, touchin' th' puzzle was enough t' switch out?" Yugi fell silent at that, the memory of the small time he'd been trapped in a jar coming to mind. Maybe he should't have used that example he thought to himself, the image and feeling of darkness coming to mind as he closed his eyes. Maybe... "Let's face it," he finally said after a moment, pushing the thought from mind. "Bakura was holdin' th' ring in his hands when he showed y' what it was doin'... An we never saw where it went after that," he added, swallowing.

Come to think of it, he'd missed that until now... What he wouldn't bet that it was currently around Bakura's neck. These words however were much to take in, Yugi looking to the side with somewhat narrowed eyes as he hesitantly spoke. "_...There... There was a moment earlier,_" he muttered, eyebrows furrowed slightly as he thought back to the dinner._ "After the tournament match up was announced. Bakura's eyes seemed different... Harsher, fiercer... Like a snake's,_" he added with a swallow, his friend biting his lip. Try _everything_ was different, but yea, that worked... Besides, for all he knew that was another 'just him' deal. The whole 'hair on end' and constant 'flashing' he meant. Yugi looked up at the ceiling, narrowing his eyes with a look almost similar to what he'd held back in the depths of his own mind, when he'd defended his other half's thoughts from the Millennium Eye. "_This duel... It could be dangerous,_" he muttered nervously. "_If the Other me and the Other Bakura both decide to fight the way they normally would... That would mean..._"

The spirit looked down, Katsuya turning momentarily to the side. If those two did what they normally did, it would mean calling in a 'shadow game'... It would mean that win or lose, someone would die, possibly both..! "...We need t' get up there," he said quickly, his friend nodding in response as the blond ran to the exit. "C'mon, let's go..!"

"_Right_!"

* * *

It was strange, not seeing Jonouchi in the 'crowd' at the side. After he'd disappeared from the room it hadn't taken long for dinner to finish, and for himself and the others to make their way to the elevator lift. The duel was to start in just two minutes now and the arena he stood on was large and rectangular. At the far end stood raised platform, just opposite the elevator lift for the announcer and the Kaiba siblings to both stand at. As it was, they were already doing this, with Isono tapping the radio on his head as Kaiba crossed her arms and leaned against the shoulder high railing that surrounded the entire arena. At the sidelines, near the railing he could see Anzu shivering, Namu and Shizuka doing the same. Just seconds later and he could see Honda and Otogi both glaring at Ryuzaki, the boy handing Shizuka his iconic green 'duelist' jacket as the girl thanked him. '_I'll be fine,_' he was saying as his friend questioned him on the action, '_If anything, this wind is a relief; I've been sweating like a pig in this stuff!_

'

The boy's response was a rather pointed frown at the comment and a rather disgusted look at the jacket, with Shizuka's answer left more or less unsaid. It was fairly obvious as to why the girl was now hesitant about the jacket of course... But as she was already wearing it, it was all too late to complain. In addition to things like this however, he could hear his friend's shouts over the side, the arena a good five feet above the 'spectator's floor'. "This... _This_ is the 'aerial duel field'," Anzu was shouting incredulously, Namu as well standing at the side and rubbing his arms with a scowl. "They want people to fight in _this_?"

"It's f-freezing out here," Otogi muttered, the teen having arrived in his usual vest and t-shirt adopted in recent times. Honda himself seemed to be rather immune to it all, having brought his black jacket along despite the heat of the ground below. "What is this," his friend was growling, blowing hot air over his hands as he shoved them under his arms. "What the hell is the point of this..?"

Chuckling came from the side at those questions, Kaiba momentarily turning to face the group from the stage. "Hnhnhnhnhn... At an altitude of a thousand meters above the ground," she 'explained' with a smirk, Mokuba having prepared by putting on a sweater, "The difference in temperature from here to the ground is a full ten degrees... Combined with blistering, slicing winds," the woman added in her well disguised voice, "These duels will test the very limits of those participating..." Still more chuckling hit the air at that, the woman's smirk appearing just a few notches lower than the near psychotic one he witnessed a little over a year prior.

Testing the limits with the wind and cold in a game of Duel Monsters... Yes, that _did_ sound like Kaiba, didn't it? Even so, his friends were still ready to cheer for the match, loudly deciding that it 'wasn't so cold really' as they stood there on the side. "So it's 'harsh'," Anzu was saying, shaking her head as she smirked. "That doesn't mean that we'll just leave!"

"Yea! You show them Yugi," Honda shouted, cupping his hands as his voice tore through the streaming winds. "You win this!" He would... He-

"_Go for it, other me!_" The other Yugi momentarily turned as his partner and Jonouchi both arrived from the lift, the spirit briefly turning to his friend to reassure him of a few things. 'We aren't late', he was saying, 'It's alright..!' Jonouchi's eyes seemed to be filled with a heavy emotion of sorts until he met his own gaze, a sudden light appearing as the blond grinned and rushed over to the side.

"Heh! Hey Yugi!" He was here...

But as he back across the field, mutterings at the side dying on the winds, he couldn't help but notice the fierce stare in his opponent's eyes. "Well... It's been a long time since we could talk like this," the albino said plainly, wind pushing the fabric of his shirt against the ring he wore. By some dark magics at the teen's power it melted through the shirt, appearing atop the fabric to glimmer dully in the moonlight above. The sneering grin on Bakura's face darkened, the teen chuckling as he gestured to his opponent. "Wouldn't you agree, '_Yugi_'?"

Well well well... '_Damn,_' he could hear Jonouchi mutter from the side, '_I was right..._' So it would seem. As to why Jonouchi had suspected this, he would think it a required trait for a guard after what happened in the 'Monster World'. No matter what happened, Jonouchi's job was effectively to guard that family. And while the thought seemed more than bizarre to him, he still had to admit that fact. Just as he had to face the 'other Bakura' across from him now. "Hnp... I had a feeling things were going too well from your end," he muttered, eyes narrowing darkly. His lighter half had once mentioned 'Bakura' helping him in the Black-Clown fire. He hadn't believed him, even after the boy had managed to get a single day of 'walking around town' in with the spirit. What happened that day was blocked from his mind, just as it was blocked from the lighter Bakura's. But when it came to him, a nagging thought came to mind- earlier, this Bakura had emulated the 'normal' one's actions perfectly, up until the look he'd gained with his match announcement. So how long... "Just how long have _you_ been in control, '_Dark Bakura_'?"

The answer... An even darker smirk came across Bakura's face, low chuckling hitting the air as he narrowed his eyes. "_How long do you think_..?"

It wasn't good. Yugi narrowed his eyes, staring across the field before shaking his head and sighing. "Who knew that we would face each other with cards the next time we met," he said with a blank stare, clicking his disk into place as Bakura did the same. "It almost reminds me of the last time we played..." The last time they'd instilled a 'shadow game'.

"Ahhh yes," his opponent muttered nostalgically, "The 'Monster World'..." Bakura smirked, the already vicious wind appearing to tear through their very skin as it increased in intensity. "I must say," he admitted with a grin, "I _really_ enjoyed playing that game with you... My first loss! It was _exciting_... Though I think it would be best to hold off on the magics that did that this time around, while the 'kids' are watching," he added darkly.

Tch! 'Kids' eh? Well considering that the last time this happened Bakura was actually _killed_... He supposed his lighter half would prefer they duel 'normally'. "Tch." The teen shook his head, holding his disk out in position as he stared his opponent down. "I'm only going to ask this once," he growled, narrowing his eyes as quiet mutterings went on from the side. "Are you after the Millennium Puzzle?"

Briefly the teen appeared to stare, before shrugging and shaking his head. "Hnnn... A tempting offer," the albino responded idly, "But no, not at all... The Puzzle suits you _far_ more than it does me," he stated plainly, Yugi raising his eyebrows for a moment at the comment. He _wasn't_ after the puzzle... Well that was certainly new. So then what... "What I want is your God card," Bakura announced with a smirk, narrowing his eyes as he gestured around them. "After all; to dominate the gaming world," he explained plainly, "You have to win! And to win this match means to get your God, clear?" Ah- In other words he didn't want anything! But that made no sense at all, it meant- "Now then," the teen muttered, appearing to space out somewhat as he fell silent. Yugi's attention was pulled to the voice from behind him, Isono's shout clearly piercing the air...

"Round one of the Tournament Semi-Finals will now begin," he shouted. "DUEL START!"

"_GO_!"

* * *

"Could someone _PLEASE_ explain what the hell is going on!"

The others sighed somewhat as the duel began, initial shock over the 'appearance' of the other Bakura more or less settled. The fact was, it wasn't much of a shock for himself; there was no additional wind, no visible storm in the air. Bakura had been his darker half since before they'd seen him in the coliseum. Even so. For those who were _not_ familiar in the ways of the elusive Millennium Items and the bullshit they carried with them, the reaction was to continue shouting in shock. This was all understandable when they themselves were shouting...

But could someone _please_ shut Ryuzaki up? "Nihan," Shizuka asked from beside her friend, the blond tensing momentarily as he recognized the boy's jacket around her shoulders and arms. He didn't know what was worse, that the jacket fit her or that she was wearing it and- He should probably listen to what she was saying. "What's everyone talking about..? 'Dark selves', 'the Ring'... What does it mean," she pressed, her voice returned to its 'public' and 'shy' tone.

The others in the group of 'odd ones out' nodded, expressions more or less revealing identical shock. "Even his eyes changed," Namu added from the side, Katsuya mentally wincing as the tanned teen approached. Awwww, why was he... Oh of course he was here damn it. God... "They went from brown to red..! What's going on?"

"Whatever it is," Otogi muttered under his breath, "It's not good... Not _at all_..." Yea, tell him about it.

However, he could hardly expect the others to take that as an explanation. Katsuya sighed, crossing his arms as he looked back to the three with an almost uncharacteristically severe gaze. "Long story short," he explained quietly, "Th' Millennium Items are these Ancient Egyptian relics w' some kinda unknown, dark power... 'Magic' you could say," he added, Shizuka and Ryuzaki both trading confused and skeptical glances as Namu appeared to half listen. This feeling... It was almost as though 'Namu' already knew... Even so he went on, glancing back at the arena with a swallow. "I've seen souls taken w' these things, even switched int' figurines... Some 'f them control people's minds, an others c'n read 'm, or tell th' future. But in th' case 'f th' Ring an' Puzzle," the blond continued, ignoring the confused frowns from his friends at the mention of an item they didn't know of, "Th' item comes with a sep'rate personality. Darker ones, some nice like Yugi's..."

"And others 'evil', like Bakura's," Honda added darkly, having guessed where the conversation was going.

Ryuzaki narrowed his eyes, silent for a moment as he ran the large bit of information through his head. "_Right_... Let me get this straight," he said with a cough. "Bakura and Yugi are possessed by Ancient Egyptian ghosts with some kind of 'dark power' while other guys are running around with mind-control and soul-stealing devices?"

"Keichi," Shizuka muttered with a nervous laugh, "It sounds a lot worse when you say it..."

"I'm just repeating what they just told us," he said with a shrug, "You can't blame me for throwing it out there!"

"Maybe we can't... But it's still true," Anzu said with a shudder, shaking her head and rubbing her bare arms in the cold. "Last year, shortly after we met Bakura," she began with a swallow, "When we met his other side... This side," she added with a short gesture, "Locked each of us in RPG figurines, forcing us to play a table-top game with him. Otogi wasn't there," the woman said with a nervous swallow, "But Mokuba was." At that Ryuzaki looked toward the stage, the boy only just noticing the look of dread from Mokuba as the youngest on the ship hid somewhat behind his sister. "We almost died," Anzu muttered under her breath, a majority of the group paling as they recalled the experience.

Hell... They _did_ die. "That's... That's incredible," Namu muttered, shaking his head in apparent surprise. Incredible wasn't the word for it, but it certainly seemed to have quieted Ryuzaki as the boy realized just what kind of person he was planning to room with. "It's unbelievable..." That one...

He supposed that one fit a little more. "Yea, well, say what y' want," Katsuya muttered, looking back to the stage with a swallow. "I've got a _nasty_ feelin' about this duel..."

"You're telling me," Honda muttered in response as he shook his head. "Shit... You better not lose Yugi," he shouted loudly, the spiritual form of their friend vanishing for the puzzle to add the needed support for the match. "Beat this guy!"

"Bring back the real Bakura," Anzu continued, the duelists above drawing their hand as the winds tore past.

"Hey, whatever works," Ryuzaki said with a shrug, before cupping his hands with a nervous laugh. "H-Hey! Yugi! Can I stay in your room? ..._Ow_!" The boy ducked as a hand smacked across the back of his head, rubbing it as he looked at his friend. "S-Shizka..."

"Honestly..!" The girl turned back to the duel above, watching as Isono announced the start and the duelist's almost required banter began from before them.

"Lets see what you're made of," Yugi spat, smirking as he looked over his cards. From the white knuckles his grip had, it was taking all he could to keep the cards in place, his opponent likely doing the same.

"Hn! I'll do more than THAT," his opponent responded with a chuckle, setting a card on the disk. A tablet arose seemingly from the passing winds themselves as he moved, free hand gesturing to the field as he shouted. "It's my turn! And I'll play the Portrait's Secret in attack mode," he continued, the tablet carving out the image of a somewhat aged man on its front before seemingly going dormant. "Turn over!"

Eh- Katsuya narrowed his eyes, tilting his head somewhat. The tablet was card out, but it was in attack mode, not defense. So where- "_**Hnhnhnhnhnh...**_"

The blond shuddered somewhat as bone-thin and yellowed hands 'seeped' out of the stone, a skull-like face following after. Shadowed and sunken eyes stared forward at the field, the skeletal monster arising from the tablet to hover above its inaccurate portrait. "H-Hihhhh..."

All fear aside, the others at least had a positive reaction to what looked to be an amateur move. "Heh... Bakura's completely defenseless with something like that," Ryuzaki was saying with a grin, crossing his arms as he shook his head. "That's just a 'vanilla' monster... There's no effects, no cards on the field... It's got barely any attack!"

Shizuka frowned at that, swallowing as she turned. "But Keichi, doesn't that normally turn out to be a trap..?"

Her friend also frowned at that, only for the group to watch as Yugi summoned a monster to deal with the portrait easily. The tablet arose and carved within seconds, smoke filling the field and bursting forward to materialize into the prematurely summoned monster with a snarling roar. '_Baphomet attacks,_' the teen was shouting, four armed demon charging through the tablet to rend it into dust. '_And I'll lay single card face down before I end my turn!_'

The second tablet arose at the side, blank face staring forward as his opponent frowned. "Tch! My turn," Bakura shouted in response, another tablet quickly appearing to the field. A dust of sorts sifted through the tablet as its crude and simple image appeared, the cloud forming an antique looking bed atop the field. Within the bed a small girl appeared to sleep, expression of calm twisting into un-dying terror as a blade wielding husk of a woman arose from her form. "I summon the Gross Ghost of Fled Dreams in attack mode," Bakura announced plainly, "End turn!"

"A-Attack mode again," Katsuya shouted, staring at the field before shaking himself. "O-Oi, how'd he even get here with that kind of play!"

"It's like he doesn't even understand the rules of the game," Ryuzaki muttered incredulously, shaking his head. "Heck, even _you_ picked up on things after the first move," he added, turning to Shizuka as the girl scowled.

"Oiiii," the girl muttered dangerously, "Just what's that supposed to mean..?"

Ryuzaki swallowed, backing away with a nervous laugh. "Err... It means... Ah..."

"It means tha' Yugi's gonna win this easy," Katsuya offered with a slight smirk, only for it to fall as he realized who he was defending. "Wait..." He wasn't supposed to be on Ryuzaki's side!

A sigh came from the side, the others turning momentarily as Namu scowled. "This isn't entertaining at all," the foreigner muttered, watching as Yugi summoned yet another monster to the field.

"Gamma," the boy was shouting at the moment, a winged, metaloid monster charging forth from the tablet that had appeared at the side of the field. "Attack with _**MAGNET PUNCH!**_" The monster nodded curtly, hopping into the air with steel wings before charging the bed with a right hook. The wood splintered into pieces easily beneath the force of Gamma's tightly clenched fists, the medium for which its ghost could survive destroyed as its tablet collapsed to the ground. "In addition, Baphomet attacks directly," he continued, the four armed monster giving a loud growl in response.

"_**GnnnAOO!**_"

"Gh!" Claws the width of a person's arm came down on Bakura's body, the limb literally cutting through his form as the albino growled. Easy... Baphomet appeared to send the teen a leering grin as it returned to its side of the field, flexing white-feathered wings as it crouched atop the tablet. The duel was passing so easily, the blond thought to himself, and yet...

"My turn again," Bakura muttered somewhat stiffly, setting a card on the field for yet another tablet to appear on the field. As the beast carved itself into form the smoking suit of armor stepped forward, the monster missing only a helm and a head both as it spun a double-handed sword in its hands. "Headless Knight," its summoner announced, "In attack mode! So, _Yugi_," he continued with a sneer, crossing his arms as his opponent frowned. "It's your turn now..."

Yea it was his turn but... Again Gamma struck at its master's command, Baphomet following behind to inflict a direct attack as the knight's armor crumbled into scrap. Three moves. Only three moves in, and already the tide was in Yugi's favor, with the boy's life points completely untouched. It was almost too much even... Almost...

"Seven hundred fifty life points," Ryuzaki was muttering, the group's eyes wide with confusion and horror both as Bakura took the attack without batting an eye. "If Yugi gets another attack in," the boy continued shortly, "He'll win but..."

Yea... This was definitely a 'But' situation. "Is Bakura-san really that weak," Shizuka asked with a swallow, staring in disbelief. "If he made it to the finals, he would have had to beat six people wouldn't he?"

"Pretty much," Otogi muttered with a swallow, the others merely staring.

"It's actually kinda creepy," Anzu added, shaking her head as Bakura drew his next card. No... Not just creepy.

It was damned _scary_. Each monster so far hadn't shown a single bit of fear or resistance, merely letting themselves die... If anything, they were enjoying it, those with mouths laughing as they were destroyed, voices only silent because of the lack of a truly solid form And now... "Hnhnhnhnhn... HAHAHAHAHA!" He really hated himself sometimes, seeing things like this. "Thank you _so_ much for falling for my trap," Bakura shouted with a laugh, eyes wide as he waved a card somewhat in his hand. "You've just signed your death warrant!"

"What-!"

"But that's impossible," Honda protested, his expression more or less mirrored by those around him. "Yugi's been dominating this match since it started," he continued with a shout, "There's not a card in sight..."

"Unless its something else," Otogi muttered with wide eyes, the crowd falling as silent as the group on the 'stage' as Bakura's laughter calmed. Y-Yea...

There was always that..! "Hnhnhnhnhn... In this deck of mine is a monster considered by some to be the most terrifying of cards ever printed into existence," Bakura bragged, eyes narrowed into mere slits as he spoke. "It is a monster that cannot be tribute summoned in any way, only by one special method of actions... Three monster cards, in attack mode, destroyed within five turns," he announced, setting the card as a tablet arose directly to his side, "All residing in the bowels of the grave! And for such a sacrifice," he continued with a cackling grin, acid green smoke carving an image into the stone as he laughed. "I am rewarded with this! The Queen of the Dead, she who _devours_ the living... DARK NECROFEAR!"

"_**Hnhnhnhnhahahaha...**_" Dark chuckling rang through the air, the source clearly that of a woman rather than either of the duelists on the field. The smoke of the tablet was filling Bakura's side of the field, swirling into the forms of hands and screaming faces both as the voice continued._** "Your sacrifice shall indeed be rewarded,**_" the 'woman' whispered, before breaking into laughter once again. Gh- Katsuya tensed as black stiletto boots appeared from within the tablet, carrying with them a woman with skin in the same deep blue colour of cold dead flesh. Her ribs were made of wrought steel, hiding within them half eaten organs and in her arms she carried the top half of a broken and sightless doll, her arms themselves appearing just as jointed beneath the black iron armor. Completely hairless the monster stood, turning largely black eyes to the side before a sinister smirk came over her face. And whatever Bakura was saying became background noise to him as the monster stepped toward him from the arena, stooping down to a kneeling position as she stared curiously at the blond.

"Gh..." White irises on black sclera stared forward, an audible crack coming through the air as her doll as well turned. "Hng.."

"O-Oi," Ryuzaki muttered from beside the blond, tapping his shoulder to get no response. "Jonouchi, are you alright..?"

"Nihan," Shizkua questioned, her brother merely swallowing from beside the girl. "...Nihan?"

"..._Jonouchi-kun,_" the lighter Yugi offered, hovering beside his friend with wide and worried eyes. No.

No he wasn't, even though he was nodding an 'affirmative' so that the others could look back to the field. No he really, _really_ wasn't..! "_**So **__**you**__** are the one he speaks of,**_" Necrofear was muttering, Bakura setting a face down card and ending his turn as the tablet appeared to his side. "_**How interesting,**_" she continued with a smirk,"_**To see the powers of the ancients so strong in one of your time...**_" The smirk grew to a dangerous extent, the woman straightening up as her opponent sacrificed Baphomet in exchange for the Dark Magician girl. "_**Well...**_" The two both watched as Baphomet erupted into flames, tablet scrubbing clean before the scantily clad magician appeared on the field._** "I'll be waiting to see what comes of this,**_" she decided, staring at her opponent momentarily before turning her head back to the blond. "_**But first...**_" Necrofear held her hand up toward the front of the field, Katsuya ignoring the mutterings and motions going on across the field to swallow as a spirit was created from the air around it. "_**Hnhnhnhn... Isn't he cute,**_" she asked, the blond shuddering despite the opposing magician's recent power-up from a book her summoner pulled into play. For the moment he was too busy staring at the tiny little 'ghost orb' swimming around its creator's hand. Speaking of which... "_**This is the little one who lives in my doll,**_" Necrofear explained, the doll in question hanging lifeless for the moment._** "I thought you should meet before the little one is sent to work... You'll be seeing each other again after all,**_" she whispered 'warningly', the Dark Magician Girl merely closing the book she'd been given with a snap.

"_**Hnp! We'll see about that,**_" she muttered, spinning her wand and pointing it forward with narrowed eyes. "_**You're going nowhere near him, understand! This one is not to be touched!**_" A what? The blond frowned somewhat, eyes narrowing in disbelief. Were these things... Fighting over him?

"_**Hn...**_" Necrofear appeared to smirk at the comment, stroking the doll in her hands as her 'spirit' floated and spun toward a swallowing Katsuya._** "Not in this realm,**_" the woman said mysteriously, Dark Magician Girl growing tense and infuriated in response while the subject of their argument held back a shudder.

"_**Hnhnhehehe...**_" Please leave him alone. "_**Hehehehe!**_" Please leave him alone _NOW_.

The Dark Magician Girl's book appeared to explode into dust, the girl shaking with rage as she made to hover above the air. "_**Gh...! Why you... BLACK BURNING,**_" she screeched, flames spiraling from the tip of the staff. The fires tore through the monster before her, Necrofear merely closing her eyes in 'peace' as the soul she held turned worriedly from Katsuya's side.

"_**Hn... I will see you soon then,**_" Necrofear 'responded' as her flesh slowly blistered and melted away, the remaining portions of her body crumbling into dust as her tablet did the same. W-What...

"That... That fast," Katsuya muttered, only to tense as the soul lingering in the air poked him in the side. Eh- What the hell! He frowned, only to blink as it pointed its 'tail' toward Necrofear's former summoner. Something above Bakura... The smoke and dust from Necrofear's tablet was sitting on the air still, converging above the albino, but why- "What th'..."

"Hehehehehe... Thank's for killing my monster again," Bakura said with a smirk, crossing his arms as the dust continued to reveal a form. The ghost at Katsuya's side also seemed to cheer in response darting forward across the field and pulling the blond's attention back yet again. "Now Necrofear's special ability can come into play," he was muttering, Katsuya narrowing his eyes in suspicion. As for what that ability _was_...

Yugi was holding a cautious frown to the field, looking over his monsters and Bakura's own side as Katsuya swallowed. The spirit... It flew into a monster, hiding itself from sight, but why would it- "Magnet Warrior," Yugi ordered, a nasty 'gleam' appearing in Gamma's eyes as Katsuya tensed, "Attack Bakura with Magnet Punch!"

"_**Hnhnhehehehee!**_" Ohhhhh _crap_.

"Hnhnhnhn..." Bakura smirked almost nastily as the monster turned, ordinarily clenched fists held outstretched toward its summoner. "I don't think so."

"Wh-" Yugi abruptly ducked under the force of a vicious wave of energy passing through him, the spirit from Necrofear's doll blasting through the boy with a mad cackle as Gamma's hand surrounded itself in poisonous smoke.

"_**SPIRIT BURN,**_" the high-pitched squeal of the ghost cackled, before blasting out of the host it had taken with a laugh. "_**Hnhnhnhahaha!**_"

Magnet Warrior's rigid body returned to life as the ghost laughed about the field, its former host shaking its head and looking around in confusion. "_**What-was-I-doing-again,**_" it inquired, turning to the Dark Magician Girl with shuttering optics. "_**What-..?**_"

The girl beside him sighed, shaking her head as she crossed her arms. "_**You were possessed,**_" she began with a frown. "_**Really, letting yourself get-**_" Uhhhh... She was saying?

The magician abruptly fell silent, eyes growing dim as Bakura explained the spirit's purpose. "The magnet warrior was possessed by the spirit of the marionette Dark Necrofear carries with her," he stated plainly, "The loyal servant who exists solely to avenge its master. You gave it the freedom to attack_,"_ he was continuing with a smirk, "And it was only happy to oblige... Provided it was attacking its enemy." In other words Yugi, who was currently growing notably pale as Bakura continued on with a maddening grin. "Do you know the best part," he was saying with a laugh. "While you lose half of that monster's life points, I _gain_ just as many! More over," he added loudly, "You've activated my trap in killing Necrofear! The DESTINY BOARD!" From the blank tablet beside him dust began to form, rising into the air amid ominous laughter. The clouds that hung over him from Necrofear's death converged and swirled, revealing the clouded shade of the monster that had only moments before stood across the field.

"_**Hnhnhnhah... Hahahahaha... HAHAHAHAHA! Hear these words that the dead doth form**_," Necrofear cackled, spirit appearing above and behind her master as an enormous board appeared before her hands. "_**I grant to you the first letter... D!**_"

D..? Clouded hands guided an immense stone pointer, the letter in question appearing through the hole before a cackling shade arose to the woman's side. "What the... A ouija board," Honda muttered, narrowing his eyes as the spirit revealed the very letter Necrofear had decided on.

"Those things are used in the West to talk with the dead," Otogi added, also staring at the device oddly. "But what would that..."

Bakura continued to laugh, crossing his arms as thin strokes of smoke and fog lapped at the sides of the arena. "What can I say," he chuckled darkly, "Dark Necrofear just wanted to pass a message along... And the first letter is 'D'," Bakura announced with a grin, "As in 'D-E-A-T-H'... Death! One letter per turn, leaving just four more... Do you understand," the albino muttered, the audience and Yugi both gritting their teeth as the english word was spelt out. "When that happens, you lose! HnhnhaHAHA!"

'Death'... At least it didn't really mean death, but with this guy who knew really... "Yugi..." A few members of the group swallowed, expression fraught with worry. "He only has four turns left?" Shizuka's 'question' was left unanswered for a moment, Honda merely scowling.

"So even if he has lifepoints left he'll just _lose_..? What kind of..." Don't even start on how cheap this was, just don't.

Ryuzaki grit his teeth, narrowing his eyes and staring at the field with crossed arms. "Absorbing lifepoints and putting a time limit on the game... I guess he really did have a strategy," the teen muttered, only to narrow his eyes as Bakura setting two more cards on the field. "...Shit...

"There's more to this combo," Bakura was shouting with a grin, the two tablets appearing to shine blankly onto the field before both carving themselves into existence. "Look closely! First, the spell card 'the Dark Door'," he announced, the first tablet to appeared quickly dispersing into a thick dust. Clouds formed across the center of the field, rising into a sturdy wall across the arena before revealing a small, toothy door of sorts. Only one monster could attack each turn now, Katsuya thought grimly, watching as the second tablet carved itself to remain dormant, the image of naught but ground appearing on its form. One monster per turn and then the door would close... "Lastly I summon the Earthbound spirit in defense mode," Bakura was shouting, "End turn!"

With those very words the ghost's secondary host seemed to stiffen, the ghost within her taking complete control as a new tablet came into view. The carving of kuriboh could be seen on its surface, its summoner waving a hand across the field as he continued on his move. '_Dark Magician Girl,_' Yugi ordered with a shout, the monster merely standing as the wind blew her hair forward. '_Attack with Black Burning!_'

The girl however merely stood, shadowed eyes turning as Katsuya winced. "Shit," he muttered, ignoring the sudden attention he briefly caught in response. "Not good..." Bad choice, very bad choice...

The Dark Magician Girl slowly turned toward her master, staff held toward the boy as he was left stumbling under an already inflicted attack. "_**Black Burning,**_" she muttered almost stonily, the flames from her staff washing over her master as the boy paled.

"Gh- This time from the Dark Magician Girl," he hissed, unknowingly standing directly in the fires that had been summoned as he recovered from whatever the holographic counterpart had done. "Tch..."

"But of course," Bakura said with a smirk, ignoring his opponent's confusion. "The marionette's host changes each turn after all... If you're not careful," the albino continued darkly, "You'll have me at full strength while your own army tears you to pieces..." And quite literally too, the blond thought bitterly from the side. Even worse... "Of course, you only have three turns to do that," Bakura chuckled, his deceased monster moving the ouja board's pointer to the letter 'E' as a second skeletal shade arose to the air. "Soon to be two! I set a card face down and end my turn!"

Awww... Shit. Yugi was visibly grinding his teeth as he took his turn, Katsuya keeping uncharacteristically silent as the ghost of Necrofear's doll floated around the field. "_**Hnhnhnh.. Hnhnha!**_" Hihhh... The second spirit had carried with it the english letter 'E', and with it Necrofear's dark announcement of the fact. A blank tablet now stood threateningly at its master's side in addition to this, and already Bakura's lifepoints put him ahead of his opponent.

"Damn... Th' tables sure turned on th' duel pretty quick," he muttered, narrowing his eyes as the ghost continued to laugh.

"Tell me about it," Ryuzaki added with a growl, his hands stuffed in his pockets as he looked up at the arena. "If he doesn't find out how to deal with Necrofear's effect he's screwed..." Ehhhh...

Shizuka nodded in agreement, swallowing down a wave of unease. "But we can't tell which monster is being possessed by the spirit," she whispered, her brother shifting somewhat uncomfortably in response.

"And if Yugi guesses randomly," Anzu continued, "He's still got a chance of destroying himself..."

Namu as well frowned, the expression seeming somewhat false as he tossed in his own two cents from behind. "Of course if he doesn't do anything in three turns," the blond said with a slight shrug, "He'll still lose..."

The a majority others turned at that, narrowing their eyes while Yugi pondered his move. "Hey... It ain't 'still'," Katsuya said with a frown, the others more or less nodding in response.

"That's right," Honda added, Ryuzaki and Shizuka simply staring for the moment. "He'll figure something out..."

"One way or another," Otogi muttered, Yugi's shout tearing across the air as all others watched in silence. Somehow...

"Bakura," the boy was shouting, pointing his monster forward as the warrior leaped to the air with a nod. "I won't simply sit by because of the chance of failure! Magnet warrior Gamma attacks," he announced, "With MAGNET PUNCH!"

"Hah-" Katsuya grinned, watching as the monster sped forward through the narrow wall's hole with a shout. "Yes," he shouted with a laugh, "He guessed-"

"ACTIVATE TRAP!" Fuck. "Dark spirit of silence! Turning your command over to the next attack mode monster," Bakura roared, the skeletal shade charging into the attacking warrior as it screeched. Gamma clawed at its face as the ghost burrowed into its body, ethereal smoke pouring from its joints as it locked into place. Yugi's command to attack went to the next monster but...

Dark Magician Girl's eyes were still shadowed, her summoner growing pale as the monster turned toward him with her hand held forward. "Gh- The ghost is in..!"

"_**Black Burning.**_"

"Glck!" The boy doubled over as the attack struck, the combined force of what were merely holograms and piercing wind pushing his golden puzzle painfully into his stomach. As the remaining flames lapped at his side of the field he stood, swallowing back a slight grunt of pain as he growled. "Nng..."

The tables were now completely turned thanks to that attack, Yugi left with seven-fifty as his point total and Bakura at almost 'full health'. And just as before, it had only taken 'three turns'. "Y-Yugi," Anzu shouted worriedly, the boy pulling himself to a steadier position against the wind. "YUGI!"

"Shit... Bakura's combo is pretty much flawless," Ryuzaki muttered with disbelief, "He's almost flipped the table completely..."

"More importantly," Shizuka added quietly, those on the field staring with wide eyes as Necrofear announced her next letter, a shadowed 'A' hovering into existence, "There's only two turns left..!"

Another cackling skeleton with a letter, Necrofear leering as she looked toward the ground. This was... "Gh... 'D-E-A'," he muttered under his breath, swallowing as the ghostly monster laughed under her breath.

"_**Correct... This message is almost complete,**_" the shade muttered, voice echoing over the air and mixing into the air. Shit... Shit! "_**This message... It will finish no matter what,**_" Necrofear cackled, Katsuya swallowing as he narrowed his eyes.

Gh... Not if he could help it! Yugi was standing still on the field, staring at his opponent and swallowing back his unease. And as those around him waited with baited breath the blond steadied himself before looking past the ghost that was swirling around his friend. Stupid, creepy ass ghost... All he could do was shout, but he would at least do that! "Tch... YUGI," he shouted, the boy turning briefly as his lighter half appeared to the side and stared. "It ain't over yet," the blond called out, nodding somewhat as he continued. "There's a way t' turn this around... And yer gonna find it! 'Cause we're fightin' in th' final rounds, got it," he continued, Ryuzaki raising his eyebrows at the call.

"The _finals,_" the boy muttered from the side, before ducking and turning toward his friend with another scowl. "Ow! Shizka!"

"What did I say about talking about nihan," she growled dangerously, arms crossed as her friend tensed.

"Gh- I'm just saying!"

Yugi gave a curt nod after staring for a few moments, the argument at the side ignored for the sake of the match on the field. "...Right!" Two blank faced tablets appeared at his side as he set a pair of cards, the teen making his move while he gestured to where the holograms likely were on the field. "I'll set two more cards face down," he announced with a swallow, "And I then end my turn... I _won't_ lose," the boy growled stubbornly, pointing forward with narrowed eyes. "No matter what you throw at me Bakura, I _will_ prevail!"

"Hn!" The response was merely a snort, his opponent shaking his head. "Don't make me _laugh_," Bakura sneered, "You're on the edge of death! Horror and hesitation are more than obvious in your eyes... And with only two turns left," the albino continued as he laughed, "I have nothing more to say than that..." The low chuckling continued to fill the air, Bakura shaking his head as he crossed his arms. "I pass my turn," he said with a grin. "So show me just what sort of plan you have up your sleeve, '_Pharaoh_'!"

"Pharaoh," Ryuzaki hissed, his friend shrugging from beside him as he frowned.

Honda and Otogi as well were confused, the emotion undetected in Namu's eyes as Anzu nodded. "A while ago," she explained quietly, "We went to the museum... There was a tablet on display with a carving that looked identical to Yugi, complete with the Millennium Puzzle..!" Yea...

"It was pretty weird, trus' me on that," Katsuya added, the others raising their eyebrows. Ack- Shit, he really needed to keep his mouth shut... The blond hurriedly coughed, looking away as he thought up an excuse. "Eh... I... I saw th' tablet when I was on 'guard duty' f'r Kaiba," he muttered, scratching the back of his head.

"Kaiba went to a _museum_," Honda asked incredulously, briefly looking back at the woman in question before Yugi's shouts filled the air. "Ah-!"

"Activate the spell 'Monster Recall'," he announced, the tablets before him pulled into the spell's blank form as the monsters as well disintegrated into a mist. "I return all monsters on my side of the field to my deck," the boy shouted as his field cleared, "Before reshuffling and drawing five cards!" The duel disk whirred to complete the command, Yugi drawing five cards and refreshing his hand as the machine finished. "As a result of this," he was stating clearly, the ghost on the field hovering and screaming without a host, "Your marionette has no where to go... But even if I can't see it, I know what will happen when I do this!" At that the others around blinked, attention drawn somewhat more as a new card was set to the field. "First, I summon Kuriboh in attack mode," he announced, the tablet reappearing for the tiny fur ball to claw its way forward with a short 'krii!'. The spirit of the marionette immediately struck, the monster's eyes growing shadowed as the second of the ghosts on the field moved to strike. "Your Marionette possesses Kuriboh... But the Spirit of Silence does the same," Yugi shouted, thick clouds of smoke pouring from out of the monster's mouth. "And while both of these cards are linked to my monster, I'll activate this," he announced, familiar steel chains tearing forth from his remaining blank tablet as the stone glowed brightly. "Chain destruction!"

"Gh! Shit..!" The chains wrapped completely around the monster as Bakura grit his teeth, the spell pulling taught as tiny flailing streams of ectoplasm tried and failed to escape.

"_**Kuri...**_" Kuriboh strained beneath the fource, his summoner closing his eyes with a wince as its cries hit the air. "_**Kuri... Kuri... KURIIII!**_" With a high-pitched screech the chains tightened completely, crushing the tiny kuriboh into a pile of bloodied fur and bone. With no host to protect them the remaining spirits screeched, dragged painfully into the tablet from which the chains came as they clawed at the ground.

Bakura grit his teeth as his two spell tablets ground into dust, clenching his fists before Necrofear's voice again came over the air. "_**The fourth letter,**_" she announced with a sneer,"_**'T'.**_" Yet another skeletal shade floated out from the board with an english letter, Katsuya swallowing as the spirit's master announced this fact to his opponent. '_Only one turn left,_' he was snarling, opponent merely smirking in response.

"Hmp! One turn is all I need," the boy announced with a grin, Bakura immediately paling in response. The albino's eyes seemed to flash gold for a moment, glazing over as Katsuya swallowed from the side. Hang on...

Bakura never spoke to his 'other', so who could he possibly be speaking to, and with that look in his eyes... A sudden feeling of dread washed over him, Katsuya glancing back behind him to grow pale. Namu's eyes... They'd fogged over, an odd expression coming over his face as he crossed his arms. What was... What was he- "Shut up," Bakura abruptly roared, eyes growing clear as he drew his next card. Namu's expression as well cleared immediately with the shout, a frown briefly appearing over his face as Bakura held his head. "I don't need your help... Leave!"

"What the hell is he talking about," Ryuzaki muttered, his words largely voicing a majority of the group's opinions for the moment. Who knew...

But Bakura's face had taken a dangerously manic turn as he looked over his next card, mad cackling filling the air around them as he set it to the field. "Hahahaha... HAHAHAHAHA! I sacrifice Earthbound Spirit to summon the Earl of Demise," he announced, his defensive tablet scrubbing itself clean before re-carving the figure of a bald, rotted corpse in moth-eaten clothes. The rusted blade was the first to meet the air, the monster steeping forward with a leering moan as it raised the sword for battle. "Now... Attack Yugi," the albino roared, his opponent merely tapping the duel disk at his arm in response.

"Hmp! Activate the spell Monster Reborn," he announced, the tablet releasing a great and glowing Ankh into the air as a new image carved on its formerly blank face. "Bringing your Dark Necrofear to my side of the field to counter your attack!"

The spirit holding the ouja board abruptly gasped, before flaring into nonexistence as smoke wrapped its new tablet. As the new carving came over the field still more smoke came over the air, the woman's thigh length boots slowly stepping forward from the stone. "_**Hn... A worthy move... But will it last,**_" Necrofear 'pondered' with a smirk, easily grabbing the earl's approaching blade before rending it from his hands. As the zombie looked at his hand dimly his queen struck, blade falling forward to cut the monster cleanly in two. The earl's tablet immediately crumbled as a result of the action, Yugi narrowing his eyes as Necrofear stood at his side. "_**Hn...**_"

"Now," the boy began with a confident shout, "Your combo is broken Bakura! What plans do you have up your sleeve _now_?" Ohhhh you _never_ say that, never, _never _say that!

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Especially since Bakura was laughing damn it! "Well... How about this for a 'plan'," he 'decided', tapping the disk as his blank tablet abruptly exploded into dust an shrapnel across the field. Thick smoke and fog filled the air from the seemingly miniscule in comparison stone, clouding the duelists and monsters from view as Bakura's opponent shielded his eyes with a shout. Within moments the fog cleared from the field, revealing to those watching the duelists and their monsters yet again... But rather than Necrofear standing at Yugi's side it was the same trio of monsters he'd had prior the move, with the demon's spectral form standing above with her ouija board. "Would you look at that! We're back where we started... On the stage of your last turn," Bakura cackled, a sneering grin on his face. "Confused," he asked, the others before him more than growling in 'agreement'. "Take a look at the card I activated... The spell 'Deja-Vu'! Bringing both of us back to one turn prior," the albino explained clearly, "With the spells you broke my combo with buried in the grave! So tell me Yugi," he continued with a shout, mad grin on his face as he laughed, "Just how will you escape this time?"

How... That was a good question... From beside him the others were more or less shouting calls of encouragement, with Shizuka, Ryuzaki and Namu all holding silence in an apparent silence. '_Don't give up_', they shouted, '_Don't give up..!'_

_'Don't..._' And as Yugi's hand hovered above his deck, his lighter half giving him a confident and hopeful nod, the shouts appeared to help just enough. "_We have to draw 'that' card,_" the original Yugi said clearly, his other pulling at the deck with a curt nod. "_Now..!_"

The monster hadn't even been summoned and he could already see the results from the draw. Above on the field Yugi was sacrificing his three monsters, each one burning and erupting into a pillar of flames while he set the card on the field. The others on the sidelines gave a slight shout at the 'realism' of the holographics in response to the play, ash and clouded tablet dust seeming to fill the air as thunderclouds rolled in on the skies. But although lightening was striking the ground nearby, coming dangerously close to the airship, not a single drop of rain fell in the resulting storm. This monster...

_God_... "ARISE," Yugi roared, "THE SAINT DRAGON OF THE SKIES... OSIRIS!"

"_**GRAAAAAAOOOOOOO!**_"

A poem had come to mind, for reasons beyond him. And if he was muttering it under his breath, no one could hear over the shouts across the field, Katsuya's eyes almost growing dull as the mutterings came through his ears. '_You who have faced death and returned from the bowels of the unknown, whom the great God Ra shines upon but Set despises,_' he could hear,_ 'Whose power now breaks the bonds of the likes of life itself, I ask that you come to my aid, I ask that you grant me your power, I ask-_'

"_**...And you shall RECEIVE! And thus the WAR for the throne CONTINUES,**_" the great dragon abruptly shouted, head piercing through the clouds as it streaked past the airship's side. "_**And thus,**_" the beast roared as he returned above the other side,_** "The next BATTLE is DECIDED! Young KING,**_" he roared to the boy beneath him, those around staring incredulously as mutterings of 'hologram limits' came through the air,_** "I will do as you REQUEST!**_" G- It spoke! Of course it did he was telling himself, but it _spoke_!

"Ah... Ahhh..." Huge... Impossibly so, Katsuya thought to himself with a swallow, and yet not even as large as it should be with the power it radiated. "So this 's... Osiris," he found himself muttering, staring up at the monster with wide and awestruck eyes. The dragon began to curl about the end of the ship as the storm converged viciously, coils swirling almost endlessly through the air as the enormous double-jawed mouth appeared above Yugi's form through the clouds. The beast was easily the size ofSeto's house in terms of width alone, massive and gaping maw likely large enough to swallow the structure whole. With a thought alone, it would be able to destroy the ship, simply tightening the coils that sat around the front and back both...

And yet _this_ was the power that Yugi held within his deck, what he alone could control at this moment. His strength was at the boy's fingertips, and with a single order everything would end. And as wide, stadium sized wings opened to the air, an earth shattering roar coming over the astonished crowd, Bakura as well was swallowing with terror, his ring clattering in the ferocious wind God had brought with him. The spirit of the Marionette was child's play to the Gods after all... And as a simple shade, it was far too terrified to make an attempt to do the unthinkable and attack such a beast in a pathetic attempt to control it. "Prepare yourself," Yugi was shouting over the winds, "Because this is, as you said, the LAST MOVE! And now-"

"I wouldn't do that," a rough and barely shaken voice said from the side, 'Malik' visible at the lift entrance with what looked to be a rod in his hands. The cloaked man's expression was hidden under the hood he wore, nonetheless appearing mysteriously unfettered by the winds about him as he stood. That... In his hands...

"The millennium rod," Anzu muttered somewhat questioningly, frowning as the man held it in his hands. Its gold seemed almost false in comparison to the dull gleam of the other Millennium Items, the shine that only intensified when the power was in use. This item... It couldn't be real he told himself, it couldn't... The eyes weren't there, they weren't anywhere near the field, so-

"Listen carefully," the man was muttering darkly despite this suspicion as the God itself paused to growl, "For the one you face is not a shadow of your friend's soul," he explained, "But the embodiment of my _own_." The wha- Wait, he was saying he was controlling him? ...But that was _bulshit_, there weren't any eyes or flames or anything! ...But Bakura's eyes had flashed 'gold' for a moment he reminded himself, exactly like... "My Millennium Item is more than just a tool," 'Malik' stated to the boy above, "It is a power. Ordinarily this boy would be unable to stand," he continued, Bakura seemingly gaining a glazed expression as 'Malik' spoke from the side. "In fact... Allow me to prove it," he went on, the crowd frowning as he held the rod forward.

The fierce wind accompanied by a 'switch' blasted through the air, pulling the group's attentions to where Bakura abruptly crumpled to the ground with a grunt. The albino grabbed his arm, hissing in pain as he 'woke up', and as a tiny red stain began to appear through the bandage the 'other' Bakura himself appeared to stand behind him with a scowl. Hang on...

He could separate? He could do exactly what Yugi could, and yet he'd never... "Hng... Where..." Oh hell... "Where is this," the teen above them whispered, choking on his words as he looked about the fear. "This feeling... What's happening," he cried, Yugi paling from across the field as 'God' appeared to leer down at him. "_What is this?_"

"B-Bakura... Bakura," Yugi shouted, Osiris as well closing his mouth from behind.

The storms appeared to increase even more in intensity, teeth grinding in aggravation as the monster growled. "_**A COWARD'S ploy,**_" the dragon spat, wings appearing to tense and clench in anger as it roared. "_**Actions worthy of a THIEF! You DARE to step in to the BATTLE of the GODS,**_" he snarled,"_**YOU who wield the MILLENNIUM ROD!**_" What? The rod _was_ involved?

Hang on, what did that even have to do with- "If you attack," 'Malik' was saying with narrowed eyes as he opened the elevator's door, "You won't kill him completely... But the damage will be enough," he continued, stepping back into the re-opened lift with narrowed eyes. "Think about whether you're willing to take that risk," he muttered, crossing his arms to hide the rod from view. "Alright... _Pharaoh_."

Doors closed over the lift as the crowd burst into angered scowls, eyes narrowed as they turned to the lift. "You... BASTARDS," Honda snarled, fists clenched as Otogi did the same. It seemed as though the only one not snarling in rage was 'Namu', the teen again standing with shadowed eyes as the crowd stared to the field rather than behind them.

"What the hell is this," Ryuzaki growled angrily, "A human shield bluff?"

Shizuka swallowed from beside the boy, shaking her head nervously. "I don't know," she whispered as she shook, "But at the same time, I can't help but think..." That it wasn't..?

"_So... THIS is your plan_," Bakura's 'other', 'Ghostly' half was muttering from above the field, time counting down for the forfeiture of a turn from behind him. "_To force Yugi into a standstill..._" The lighter one was in tears on the ground now, cards only loosely held in his hands as Osiris' presence forced the teen into silence. His other half's eyes appeared to flash with some unknown emotion as he stared at the boy, narrowing further as his arms crossed. "_You..._"

Someone was manipulating Bakura. Katsuya's eyes widened and narrowed in a single moment with that realization, staring toward the shade as it slowly turned to glance at him in response. "C'mon," he spat under his breath, narrowing his eyes further as he raised his voice, "C'MON!" The others jumped as their friend began shouting angrily, the other Bakura turning his full attention to the blond with an odd look across his face. "You really gonna let someone else make yer decisions, BAKURA? _ARE YAH_?"

For a moment, the shade merely stared, eyes wide with incredulity as he looked the blond over. Briefly it seemed as though he was going to say something to the blond, but as his eyes drifted to something behind him he regained his steel-eyed glare and frowned. "_Tch... No,_" he growled, turning away as his hair stood on end, answering the blond and himself all at once. "_No I won't... To win with a technique such as this... It wouldn't be my win,_" he snarled appearing to 'flame' in rage as he re-entered his body by force. "_The only one who wins a battle like that is YOU... So BACK AWAY,_" he roared, his body abruptly standing up with narrowed eyes, "I have no time for the likes of you... Malik..." As the spirit of his lighter half appeared in the same crouched position it had been prior his other-self grit his teeth, holding his arms to the sides with a sneer as he growled. "You can 'duel' on your own time..!"

Yugi swallowed, eyes wide as Osiris also stared at the albino across from them. "B...Bakura," he whispered, the crowd watching in astonishment as time continued to tick away.

"_**The THIEF has RECONSIDERED,**_" the God muttered in amazement, head raising upward just slightly as it stared. "_**An interesting CHANGE...**_"

Yea... Tell him about it, Bakura actually _listened_ to him! What the hell was up with that! "Hn! I've lost this round," Bakura said with a smirk, forcing an image of superiority right to the very end. "But don't listen to the words your cloaked 'friend' just spouted! This host is key to my plans," he sneered darkly, "And I won't let further damage touch it... So come on," he shouted, Yugi swallowing as he stiffly nodded, "COME ON... YUGI!"

"Very well," the boy roared in response, pointing the dragon God forward as its first mouth opened to charge a blast of flames. "Osiris attacks!"

"_**And quite so! HEAR THIS THIEF,**_" the monster announced,_** "You BRAVERY will not go UNNOTICED! RAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_"

Whether or not Bakura heard the words of the dragon as it faded away from existence was debatable, if not unlikely. It was particularly difficult to believe as a blast of hot lightening and flames streaked toward the albino standing before them, mad laughter hitting the air while the fires surrounded and blew past the teen. The lighter half's form could still be seen behind the body in safety as this happened, slowly lifting his head to stare...

And for the first time he saw him, rather than simply hearing a disembodied voice. "_The other... Me..?_"

"HAHAHAHAHA... AHAHAHA! _HAHAHAHAAAA_!" Light filled the air amid the dying cackles, blinding the crowd and duelists both as they shielded their eyes. Bakura's laughter disappeared amid the blast, the storming winds only beginning to die with the storm as it passed. And when the dust and clouds finally cleared, all that was left was a smoking body, standing with his arms open in a seemingly protective gesture as opposed to the challenging one it was.

"Bakura," Yugi muttered with wide eyes, staring at the smoking body.

He seemed untouched, still just as pale as ever... And yet despite that it was more than obvious the strain the body had gone through, the wind causing his body to shake as it stood. And with a sneer and a rasping cough the teen laughed at this fact, before falling forward with a resounding clatter. He... That attack had...

"B... Bakura!" Yugi ran over with a panicked, followed by a number of the others as they ran up the arena steps and toward the body. Anzu was first, followed by Honda, as they approached the body and attempted to wake the albino, but despite this they quickly herded away as Mokuba hopped onto the arena from the stage above. "Gh- Mokuba," Yugi muttered, the others only barely doing as Mokuba silently requested

"You need to get back," the boy said rather plainly, the others frowning in response. "Give him space, alright!"

Isono as well was speaking, standing from the stage with a somewhat tense expression in place as he gave what now seemed insensitive words. "The winner of the match is Mutou Yugi," he announced clearly, swallowing as he and his boss both made their way down from the stage. "All spectators and competitors must now clear the field; an announcement will be sent out when the following match is decided," the man continued shortly, the others turning in protest before being interrupted.

"Medics will handle the situation from here," Seto calmly muttered from the side, fixing the group with a strange if not severe glare in order to cut the complaints short. "Until then I suggest you _listen_," she continued, an unfamiliar doctor running out from the lift to the stage with a pair of guards behind her as Seto spoke.

The CEO walked toward the elevator lift with those words, Yugi reluctantly following Mokuba down from the arena as mutterings and shouts came from behind and shortly thereafter beside and before them. '_Strap him to the board,_' one was saying, Bakura carefully lifted to the plank for easy transport as pressure was applied to his bleeding arm. '_We'll have to continue treatment from his room, lets move!_'

The lift was quickly filled with people while care was given to the albino behind them, silence reigning in the elevator's trip. Seto and her brother were the first to leave, getting off at the 'top floor' of the ship to head for their rooms. At the bottom however the group found themselves converging in Katsuya's own room, worried expressions and silent swallows coming over the air as they stood or sat in awkward silence.

Ryuzaki was sitting a fair distance away from the group, Shizuka and Namu at his side a few moments later with somewhat pale faces. From what Katsuya could tell, the boy was trying to figure out how to breach the topic of his no longer having a place to sleep... A topic that would be more than simply 'rude' in a situation such as this, despite the slight problem it brought up. Yugi had switched back out with his lighter half for the moment himself, the ghost sitting on the opposite side of the room with Katsuya as he frowned. Whatever he'd spoken about with his lighter half however, it thankfully didn't arise in their conversation. Avoiding what little of the ability he knew however, was apparently impossible for the moment. "_Jonouchi,_" he was 'asking', a slight frown on his face as he looked his friend over. "_Back during my duel against Bakura... Your eyes drifted off when Bakura collapsed. When you shouted at him,_" he continued with a frown,_ "Were you talking to..._"

"I was," he said somewhat plainly, swallowing another wave of unease as he answered the unasked question. "Talkin' t' the other Bakura I mean... He was muttering something," the blond added in defense as he whispered, "An' it felt like if he got an extra push," he continued, "That he'd realize he didn' wanna win like that..."

"_The other Bakura is a dark being,_" the other Yugi muttered somewhat lowly, his friend nodding in agreement.

"Yea... He's scary as hell too," Katsuya admitted with a swallow, "But he still has some kinda connection t' th' real Bakura righ'," he continued, his friend appearing to narrow his eyes at the comment. "Might not be th' best 'f pals... But th' fact is, Bakura wasn' th' only one there."

"_No, he wasn't,_" the spirit muttered, shaking his head. "_But this bond... To think that Bakura and Malik both would be working toward the same goal,_" he muttered, the blond beside him holding his tongue in response.

There was a knock on the door just at that moment, and as Katsuya moved to open the sliding door the others turned to stare. Eyes met nothing but air as they stared forward, before the blond looked down to spot who had knocked. "Ah- Mokuba..."

"Dr. Kuzushi says that she's done with Bakura's emergency care," the boy explained at a somewhat hesitant tone, looking back to the door behind him with a swallow. "You guys can come see him now," he continued as he looked back. Ah...

The others rushed forward nearly immediately with those words, Mokuba stumbling out of the way as they filled Bakura's room. The door had been left open for the moment, and upon first glance it became obvious that it held the same layout as the room he'd just left. At the bedside where Bakura slept, a middle aged woman sat, slightly graying hair partially tied up in a clip at the back of her head. At the sudden appearance of a crowd she turned, calm expression quite betraying the look of 'no nonsense' that she held in her eyes."Ah... You must be Bakura-san's friends," she said curtly, bowing her head in greeting. "I've finished dealing with his wound... He's lost a fair amount of blood," the woman went on, "But so long as he's allowed to rest he should be fine."

"Phew..." So nothing serious then... "That's a relief," Honda muttered, shaking his head as the others stared toward the albino's motionless form. A single portable monitor had been hooked up, a heart-rate skipping across as Katsuya's eyes drifted around the room. Ryuzaki appeared to have remained behind with Namu for the moment, for reasons beyond them. Though as a nasty feeling of dread rose up within him, he had to wonder if it wasn't going to possibly cause problems.

For the moment however, Anzu's question to the woman there was what was grabbing his attention, the blood draining from his face as he realized what she was asking the doctor about. "It would have looked like a large ring," she was explaining to Kuzushi, "A golden ring with five dangling 'prongs' and a triangle bound to the center." Kuzushi appeared to frown at this, muttering something as Anzu continued to gesture to the albino beside her. "It was just around his neck," the woman protested nervously, "Are you sure you didn't see it?"

The woman before them again shook her head, arms crossed. "I assure you," she said plainly, "I have not; I would have seen it while dressing his wounds, if it is as large as you say."

The others paled further at this, swallowing as Anzu appeared to frown. The Millennium Ring wasn't there... The Millennium Ring was.. "Bakura's ring is _gone_?" Otogi muttered a curse under his breath as he stared at the body, swallowing as Ryuzaki returned from outside.

"Hey, I just wanted to tell you I got another place to sleep and..." He froze, gaining a 'not now' look from Shizuka while the others continued to ignore him. The mixed fear and worry was more than enough to tell him to bite his tongue for the moment, the boy rubbing his head as he nodded. "Aaaaand I'll just tell you later," he decided with a cough, ducking out as the others bit their lips.

"You... You're sure you didn't see it," Honda asked with a swallow, the doctor again nodding as she left for the door.

"Very," she responded. "Now if you'll excuse me, I need to clear this situation with my associate."

"But you're absolutely sure!"

As a fair bit of annoyed 'VERY sure' responses came over the air, Katsuya had to share a look with the other Yugi as he swallowed. This was bad...

This was very, _very_ bad.

**

* * *

AN:** Originally, we were going to have the 'drawing' for the next match in this chapter. But I've decided that this will instead move to the 'before the chapter' things, particularly since JouVSRishid will be a two part-er.

Not because of the duel though; that will all fit in one. It'll be something else. Hehehe...

In any case, a number of interesting things in this chapter! Ancient blood? Osiris knows who Bakura is? What is this madness! All will be revealed...

But not in the next chapter. I have to raise questions before I can answer them I'm afraid...

Also, someone recently corrected me on Anzu's heterochromia; the lighter colour is always on the outside, so Anzu's eyes go from _blue to brown_, not brown to blue. So here's to that.

Now! I'm going to be off at my relatives until Monday, so the next update won't likely be for another week; there _will_ however, be lots of art as a result, so keep your eyes peeled! I'll be doodling quite a bit during my 'non-visiting hours' after all.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

A very, _very_ deep hole Iona. Possibly a few inches shy of China.

I would imagine that popping up out of nowhere really is a bit of an amusing point for her really… And you're quite right to say that without competition it wouldn't be right.

And yes, yes he is getting tired… As for the steak, he's only getting away on it because they don't know better; you don't really see food of that consistency in Japan, so they don't know how he'd eat it. And given that he eats _everything_ with about as much zeal and vigour as Naruto with ramen…

It's understandable why the point flew past their heads.

Any ways, enjoy the above chapter!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that wishes Dark Necrofear would stop rubbing her head...

* * *

This chapter title is referring to the proverb 'Out of the mouth's of babes', sometimes read as 'from the mouths' instead. It means, in a nutshell, that occasionally children will say wise or 'adult-like' things, though in this case the title is more referring to the fact that Osiris just gave you a bit fat HINT just by showing up.

* * *

Yes, Jonouchi gets to be an Exposition Man. Even better, it's about the Millennium Items. That's right. It's not Honda, Anzu, or even Otogi, the latter of which was pretty much raised on the subject, explaining things in the manga or anime.

It's Jonouchi. Awww yea.

* * *

A lot of Ryuzaki's dialogue here, and even a bit of Shizuka's, was ripped from Namu's own. It's actually kind of sad… She doesn't have a _single line_ during this duel! As a result, most of them are bouncing around her shy side (Which is largely there because of all the people she's unfamiliar with) and her _very_ angry side (Ryuzaki more or less being the sole target for that one.).

* * *

HEY. Here's an interesting thing. Bakura and Yugi (The Yami's at least) _weren't _playing a Shadow Game! They were just playing! The reason Bakura collapsed had completely to do with the injury; Bakura bled out too much, and his Yami was only barely keeping him aloft with his own power.

Of course, even if that _wasn't_ what was making it okay to attack, Yami quite likely would have done it _anyways_, as he really _really_ doesn't like Bakura. Well, he would have tried anyways; Yugi would have stopped him more likely.

* * *

Ryuzaki, stop stealing people's lines! _You even ripped a few from Kaiba's thoughts_! (Though that was only because Kaiba's POV never happened in this chapter.)

Speaking of dialogue, interesting thing; Mai wasn't watching this match in the manga. I left it that way too, to keep things a little clearer.

* * *

Originally in the dub, the message was 'Final'. Apparently the word 'death' is inappropriate, but turning perfectly normal matches into games where the looser is sent to a nightmarish void for all eternity is A-OK.

Heck, the only 'risk' to Bakura's well being was not so much that he'd die, but that he would and actually _was_ in immense pain! And until that point, the only threat was that they'd lose the tournament!

* * *

In addition to Ryuzaki's great dialogue theft, some of Bakura's lines are _missing_. Partially because they make no sense, and partially because the duels are actually moving quicker in the fanfic than in the manga and anime; there's not as much 'dramatic pause', as 'dramatic pause' is really only useful in a visual medium. Typing 'dot dot dot' just gives off the feeling of a flat 'what' when its typed I find.

Also, Ryuzaki inherits Jonouchi's doubts about the duel, with a few bits handed to Namu in his 'attempt' to be friends with everyone. Mostly because Jonouchi's busy beating himself over the head about the rules; he can't tell Yugi which monster the ghost is in, because it'll get them both disqualified. Competitors can't offer advice, and if advice is _taken_ then you're still disqualified. (At least when it's 'direct' advice. Things like '_HE'S TRIBUTE SUMMONING_' are just too obvious to be considered cheating. And in contrast, things like _'NOTHING IS INFINITE_' are simply too _vague_._)_

* * *

Normally, I'll keep the Japanese names on monster's for the sake of accuracy, unless the difference is a matter of 'Black Magician/Dark Magician'. But in some cases, the English names sound _much_ cooler; 'The Earl of Demise' is simply 'Ghost Earl' in Japanese. Not quite as threatening.

* * *

Originally, Mokuba simply calls for a first aid kit, and the tournament moves on 'as planned' with the Kaiba siblings not even batting an eye. But as fanfic-Kaiba more or less understands just what the issues in failed health care would be, along with the high risk of people dying is, she's got doctors coming on scene.

Also, in the manga, Anzu took the ring with the excuse that she would look after it. In the anime, she swiped it while no one was looking, spawning a ship-wide search as Anzu stayed behind in Bakura's room. I opted to go with the latter... It helps get people moving around the ship.

* * *

Yami and Jonouchi's conversation from Bakura more or less borrows from the one they (And Yugi) had in the anime and manga. Yugi was first comparing Yami to Yami Bakura (before quite bluntly saying that his relationship with Yami was far healthier than that of the bond between those two), and somewhat later Yami was mentioning that Yami Bakura saved his lighter half... Something that really, _really_ confused Jonouchi.

* * *

I made the second doctor's name a pun too guys! While it's not using the kanji for 'doctor', it reads like the archaic version of it... Namely 'kusushi' (Though in the name's case it's pronounced 'kuzushi', similar to how 'Anzu' should technically be 'Ansu'.)

* * *

That's all for now! Remember, the next update won't be for a while (Try a week...)... So until then, enjoy!


	79. Chapter 78

**Atop the Chariot of the Dead**

* * *

Panic was something that was probably on everyone's mind at the moment, if not something that was looming in the near distance. Even those outside the room were likely experiencing the fear-filled emotion now that Honda was scrambling over the ship's halls, and for the moment it was taking a few seconds for the rest of the group to 're-boot' so to speak.

Or at least that was how he felt right now. "Alrigh'," he muttered under his breath, almost choking on his words as he breathed. "Th'... Th' ring 's gone... An'... An'..." And he couldn't think of anything else for the moment, his brain was still fried from the duel he watched.

Shizuka coughed from the side, watching as a majority of the others gained the typical 'pre-panic' palor to nearly match Bakura's own skin-tone. "Maybe it was torn off by the wind," she asked somewhat quietly, the others turning. For the most part, she was likely the only one not in a panic, with Ryuzaki (and likely 'Namu') taking the noted exceptions. As Shizuka continued however, a flash appeared in Anzu's eyes, the woman almost appearing to frown as the girl spoke. "The rope holding it seemed rather frail," she explained somewhat nervously, shrugging slightly as the others turned to her completely. "So there's a good chance it was ripped off..."

Hoh... That actually made sense... "Whether it is or isn't this isn't good," Mokuba muttered in response, swallowing nervously. The group turned as the boy brought up the point, watching as he folded his hands over themselves. "I need to tell nii-sama about this, and quick," he muttered shortly, "Before this gets out of hand..."

"I'll go look up on the arena for the ring while you do that," Otogi said with a swallow, running out of the room as the others agreed on this. He briefly grabbed the edge of the door, pointing back at the others with a steady frown. "One of you might want to explain this to Ryuzaki in case he finds it," he continued, "Before we end up with some unfortunate case of soul-theft and mind control."

"Ah..!" The others blinked, Shizuka hurriedly bowing her head in a nod. Regardless of the known powers of the ring the idea was worrisome after all, and brought up more than enough of an excuse to leave. "Of course," she said quickly, heading out behind Otogi. "Keichi! Keichi," her fading voice shouted through the hall, "There's something I need to..."

Shizuka's voice slowly crawled out of audible range, leaving Anzu and the remaining two boys to stand in silence. Two people looking for the ring, two people with 'Namu', and Mokuba had also taken off... "...Someone needs to help explain what's going on to Kaiba-san," Yugi decided after a moment, turning to look at Katsuya with a worried frown.

Like what Mokuba had said then... Of course, Mokuba knew about as much about the ring as they did so... Yea. The blond nodded, looking back at Anzu briefly before answering. He didn't really want to leave the one likely under 'Malik's' control in the same room as Bakura right now... Heck for all he knew Anzu already _had _the ring, and was just going to put it back. But all the same, what proof did he have?. "Righ'... 'M pretty sure S- ..._Kaiba_'s room," he corrected with a fairly agitated wince, "'s jus' upstairs, le's go..."

Yugi also nodded, turning to Anzu for a moment with the same slight frown. "Anzu," he asked, "Are you coming?"

"Ah..." The woman smiled somewhat oddly, shaking her head. "No," she decided, the blond giving a deep shudder as it was laced over with that of the Millennium Rod. "I don't think so- I'm going to stay here," Anzu continued, "Just in case Bakura wakes up again." Or 'something' he thought, again swallowing as the woman's eyes clouded with gold. _No proof_, he told himself as he shook his head, _no proof_!

Yugi's voice pulled him from his thoughts, the boy holding his puzzle somewhat as he nodded yet again. "Right... Will we see you for the next match then," he asked somewhat hopefuly, Katsuya waiting by the door with a somewhat wry frown in place as the woman shrugged.

"Maybe... I'll let you know alright," she told him, taking a seat in the chair that had been left by the bed.

And yet again Yugi nodded, before moving to follow his friend out the door. "Right. I'll see you later then," he responded, the door shutting behind him. For a moment they were left in silence, the trio staring at the door in response to the speed it had shut. Now how had it done that...

".._.Did something seem 'off' about Anzu to you_," the other Yugi asked with a frown, the boy's lighter half and Yugi both turning to face the spirit as they moved toward the stairs.

Oh... So it wasn't just him then? As the lighter Yugi merely shrugged Katsuya had to bite his lip, frowning somewhat. For the moment, she hadn't done anything but... "...It did feel like she w's tryin' t' boot us outta th' room," the blond muttered suspiciously, pausing at the stair doors before shaking it off with another 'flash' against his mind. Aha- They weren't late... "...Oi! Mokuba," he abruptly shouted, the teens exiting the stair case to see the boy turn toward them.

"Eh? You guys came too," he asked, currently standing next to his sister's door as the stairs closed behind his friend.

"Just us," Yugi responded with a short nod, expression severe. Mokuba seemed to sigh in slight relief at that, before jumping at the boy's next question. "Is Kaiba-san busy?"

The boy merely shrugged, turning toward the door and looking at the lock on its side. "Normally I'd be worried and say 'yes'," he answered as he crossed his arms, "But this is kind of important and-" He cut off as Katsuya moved toward him, adjusting his shoulder and turning toward the door.

"Well we better get in there," Katsuya decided seriously, moving past Mokuba to punt the door with his foot. "OIII! OII," he shouted loudly, echoing bangs coming through the hall as the others plugged their ears and winced. "SE-"

"Katsuya-nii..." Mokuba sighed, rubbing his forehead as the blond beside him corrected himself.

That was the point right? There was nothing else he was upset about.. "Eh... Kaiba! Kaiba open up," he called from the top of his lungs, "Yer brother needs t' tell y' somethin'!" More hammering hit the air, Yugi shaking his head as his friend continued to shout. "C'mon! There's pro'lly like five minutes till th' next duel an' it's importan', so hurry up an'-"

The blond's foot was abruptly stopped by the other Yugi's ghost, the normal one shaking his head as 'Other Yugi' pushed the leg back down. "Jonouchi-kun," he said with a nervous laugh, "I'm pretty sure that if Kaiba-san could hear you, she'd have done something by now..."

"That's right," Mokuba said somewhat dryly, pulling a card from his pocket and moving toward the lock. "The doors are sound proof."

Whaaaat? Katsuya winced, rubbing his foot. "Great... Y' couldn't 've told me tha' _b'fore_ I kicked th' thing," he asked dryly, pain throbing through the small and likely cracked bones as he bit his lip.

The boy again shrugged, sliding the card through as a tiny light appeared on the side. "Eh... I figured you'd guess when she didn't come right away," he said with a smirk, the blond beside him growling under his breath.

Oi oi oi, what was that supposed to mean... "_Mokuba_..."

A rather smug smirk was his response, Mokuba chuckling under his breath. "Any ways," the boy said, tapping in a code as a number pad appeared beneath the card lock, "Here we go, try not to bug nee-sama, and-"

-_fwssst_-

"Uh..."

The boys each stared as the door hissed open, a few of them growing rather red. "O-Oops," Katsuya coughed weakly, Yugi holding silent beside him as Mokuba laughed.

"N-Nee-sama," he said nervously, rubbing his head. "Ahahaha..."

"..._I suppose the part of me that didn't believe myself on this has learned better by now,_" the other Yugi muttered between coughs and laughs.

Yea, because if it wasn't some elaborate ruse to break his brain before it sure as hell wasn't _now._ Seto looked up from where she'd been latching on the belts for her boots and pants, shirt hanging over the side of a nearby chair as she stared. Despite the half-dressed state of things there wasn't actually much embarrassing about this; she'd already tied up the binding after all, and was quite clearly on the last of the 'leg-belts'. Pausing was pretty much required in this situation though, and the shock on Seto's face was very quickly twisted into a frown. "What the _hell_ are you doing..?"

"Ahhh..." Mokuba coughed again, bowing his head as Katsuya laughed.

"Tha'... Tha's a good question," he said fairly nervously, "I-"

"Shut the_ DOOR_," came an agravated shout, the shirt viciously grabbed from the chair.

Hurried nods were the boys response, clicking sounding from the side. "Sorry nee-sama, won't happen again!" The door quickly closed over as Mokuba pressed the number-pad at the side, the others trading glances after the resulting silence.

"H...Haha... Hahaha... Well," the blond muttered with a cough, shaking his head. "Tha' was.. Weird..."

More silence sat over the air, a few nods coming in response before Yugi looked up at his friend. "Jonouchi-kun," he whispered somewhat blankly, "You're beet red..." He was? Damn it.

"_Haven't you seen her naked before though,_" the other Yugi asked, his partner palming his head and stiffling the resulting laugh.

"That... That isn't the point other me..."

"Hahhhh..." Mokuba sighed, shaking his head before jumping as the door opened. "Ah- Nee-sama..!"

Th woman nodded somewhat in response, looking down at the boy and appearing to ignore the presence of the others. "Mokuba," the woman responded calmly, arms crossed. "So what is so important that you brought along these two to beat the door down?"

"Beat th- I thought she couldn' hear us," Katsuya hissed, Yugi shrugging as Mokuba explained.

"Ah... Nee-sama... It's about that ring I told you about, the one Bakura has," he clarified with a swallow, "It's disappeared from his neck and-"

Mokuba cut off as he caught the look on his sister's face, the woman currently narrowing her eyes in distaste. "Just what I need," she muttered after a moment, "More bullshit..." Mokuba appeared to shrink back somewhat at that, the others pulling slight faces.

"This is serious," Yugi protested quietly, looking up at the much taller woman. "If the ring is missing, then it's possible that the spirit within could be acting through someone else..."

"That 'r Malik's got it," Katsuya added, mentally wondering if the ring possessing a separate person would even be possible. He supposed he was able to talk to the other Yugi while wearing the puzzle but...

Wasn't that an 'I get weird flashes and powers' kind of deal? Seto shook her head, a scowl still clearly on her face as she responded. "I'm already finding it difficult enough to deal with the nature of these items," she growled somewhat dangerously. "Just what do_ you_ expect me to do about it," the woman added, looking at Yugi with narrowed eyes.

The boy blinked, before turning away with a frown. "Right now all we can do is search the airship for it," he admitted. "Honda and Otogi are already looking and-"

"I'm sure your cheerleaders will do fine with that," she responded plainly, before coating her voice over with its usual disguise and turning to look at the PA system. "Now then, given the time," she muttered under her breath, I would say that-"

-**Attention**-, Isono's voice called out, the others turning somewhat as he continued.** -All remaining semi-finalists must report to the dining hall for the declaration of the second match**.-

The others stared at the PA system briefly, Seto merely walking past the group to open the stairway door. "Just on time," she muttered clearly, and with that the group made their way downstairs.

* * *

The shower was nice, to say the least. The warm water had been more than a relief after standing in cold winds with wet binding after all, and while the binding itself had been spread out to dry she had been making sure the doors were locked before getting in. Had she not been on a schedule, and a tight one at that, she would have likely spent a little more time in the shower really. As it was thought, she had just enough time to wash salt and grime off herself before moving to get dressed lest she be called down before she was ready. There were only twenty minutes between matches after all; and about fifteen of those minutes had already been spent.

Getting interrupted while getting dressed was not something she had expected to say the least however. True, she had been momentarily distracted by Jonouchi's faint shouts from outside the door, and had in fact found herself rolling her eyes before continuing with her clothes, but she'd have thought that Mokuba would know to wait. Particularly since she wasn't answering

Given the context of what they were talking about however, she could see the reason for haste. Bakura was someone she only knew in passing after all; but even if the ring wasn't something her mind could percieve as a threat despite all logic, Bakura's sudden switch in personality and actions were enough to put her on edge. As she had told the boys however, what did they expect her to do about it? Bakura was unconcious, strapped to a bed, and under the eyes of a watchful camera. The ring in the meantime had probably flown off in the winds on the airship, lost to the waters below as the airship traveled. There was no telling where it would be now...

And yet as Isono bowed in greeting at the 'dining hall's entrance before allowing her past into the again darkened room, she couldn't help but feel that this was far from over. Far far from over, despite what she would want. "Is the eighth duelist still not here," she heard one of the guards whisper incredulously, Seto's eyes narrowing further as Kyouko gave a frowning nod.

"That's right... I went down again," the former maid was muttering, "But she insisted that she wouldn't be dueling. She seemed worried about something though, as though whatever was coming next was a worrying subject..." The eighth duelist was a woman..? More importantly, how could she be so sure she wasn't in any matches yet?

Seto had little time to ponder this, the sound of the Blue-Eyes 'bingo machine' as Mokuba had called it pulling her attention. Two bubbles entered the dragon's maw as the last time, each one popping out to the left or right before its mouth closed over for the remaining four bubbles to bounce around aimlessly. "The match-up has been decided," Isono announced, holding the bubbles out for a moment as the slightly less full room turned to face him. "First, duelist number '2'," he announced clearly, the orb handed to one of the guards, "Jonouchi Katsuya!"

At this Katsuya merely stood with crossed arms, an odd and wry expression on his face. Weird... She'd have thought he'd be jumping for joy right now, so what was his problem? Again there was little time to think this over, the blond's eyes having turned toward the cloaked man at the side as further announcements came through the air.

"Next," Isono announced to the room, "Duelist number 6, 'Ishtar Malik!" Malik-

'Malik's reaction was to merely turn from the room with those words, cloak billowing behind him as most of the others stared with narrowed eyes. The wielder of the Millennium Rod was likely heading for the arena at that moment for the battle; something that Jonouchi would be doing soon enough. 'Malik'... So he would be against Malik then... But 'Ishtar' was Ishizu's last name wasn't it? So just what did _that_ mean then she wondered, before watching as Jonouchi's own frown deepened.

It looked as though the blond's luck had come to an end then she told herself, listening dully as Isono ordered the competitors to the arena. The 'cheerleading squad' was more or less following right behind the blond while they moved down the hall and into the lift, the elevator cramped and stuffed after it returned from carrying Malik up to the arena. Strange coincidences... To think that the blond 'mutt' would be facing off against the most powerful of the Gods, the Sun dragon 'Ra' right off the bat in the tournament, right after the hellish match at the pier.

Now that she thought about it, perhaps his inevitable defeat would prove useful. Seto's eyes narrowed just slightly as the lift doors closed over, arms crossed as the device moved upward. When Jonouchi lost, not only would he be out of the tournament as she'd hoped, but if he held against Ra for even one turn, who knew what he would expose. Like an experimental 'white mouse'... With a hundred percent decrease in the fatality rate that came with the job. It might have been a bit late to worry about the moron's safety... But even being somewhat late was better than not at all wasn't it?

Wind met the faces of those in the lift as the doors hissed open, the people slowly pouring out from the elevator to take their places. Before the last of the group left however, the woman found herself snatching the blond's arm to hiss something in his ear, Jonouchi turning with wide and somewhat confused eyes as she hurriedly shared the message. "When you see 'Ra'," she whispered darkly, "Expose all you can before it blows you from the field, understand?"

"Blows me from th'- O-Oi," the blond spat, only just realizing what the woman said as his arm was released. "What makes you think I'm gonna lose!"

There was no answer for Jonouchi however, as Seto merely walked over to her 'stage' to stand by her brother before anyone noticed the prolonged 'tolerance' in the lift. She'd said what she'd wanted to say. If the idiot wouldn't listen, then his stubbornness would at least prove handy when it came to struggling against Ra's might.

She knew that much about him after all.

* * *

The wind on the Airship was just as vicious as it had been during the last duel, if not more it seemed. The battering winds were almost slicing into the blond's bare arms as he stood across from the supposed 'Malik', and he was more than regretting the 'death' of his jacket. Thinking back on it later, the jacket wouldn't have really done much though; it wasn't exactly a wind breaker after all. Well, on the bright side he told himself, at least the decks shuffled themselves.

Though when it came to drawing a hand, he'd hate to see what the winds did _then, _given how many times he'd blown hair out of his face. Still... This man... The cloaked figure appeared completely unaffected by the winds around them, standing tall and strong across the field with crossed arms. "So yer 'Malik'," the blond shouted across the field, the ghoul's only response being to pull down his hood. Dark tanned skin came into view, along with a side-lock ponytail and a bizarre scar that spanned across the entire left side of his face. He had his arms at his side and he stared forward in silence, his opponent shaking his head with narrowed eyes. Yea... Like hell he was. The man was continuing to hold silence even now after all, moving to hold up the 'rod' Malik in question was known for with a blank gaze. The golden object stared out just as blankly as its owner, Katsuya narrowing his eyes as it gleamed dully in the moonlight. This item...

This wasn't real. The item didn't 'shine' like the others, didn't radiate the same amount of power. It wasn't real'; it was merely fake. Mutterings came from the side as Katsuya grit his teeth, the blond recognising each one. Mai had come up from her room to watch, and Namu had of course come along as well. Yugi, Honda, Otogi... Everyone else was right there, save one person.

Anzu. The blond turned his glancing eye away from the sidelines, his duel disk clacking into place as Isono prepared to announce the matches. "Tch..." 'Malik' was still holding up the false rod, an object that was, despite its false image, brining up enough bad memories to set him on edge. "Point tha' thing somewhere else," he shouted somewhat angrily, eyes not moving from the device as he scowled. "It won' do y' any good."

Again, there was no answer, save for the rod to be placed firmly at the cloaked man's side, 'Malik' again crossing his arms. The cheers from the side were dulled into a roar that was blocked by the winds as each moved to hold their disks forward, a grim stare on his opponent's face and a suspicious scowl on his own. This couldn't be him- it just couldn't! So why was he pretending to be Malik he wondered, narrowing his eyes further while his opponent continued to stare blankly. What reason did he possibly have? A sudden flash came to mind, the blond unblinking as wind seared past. One... Two... Numbers came to mind, a tally counting down in his head. Three... Four...

"Oi," the blond shouted again, Isono raising his hand from the side to start the match. "You wanna know something? Fifteen turns." 'Malik' appeared to narrow his eyes briefly at the statement, staring confusedly in response. He'd say it again then... "Fifteen turns," Katsuya continued plainly, "And I'll win this match."

There were more mutterings from the side that couldn't be heard over the winds. Dulled cheers and shouts amid wide eyed stares and the occasional incredulous frown in the corner of his eyes. As Isono's hand came down however, a single shout rang across the field, Katsuya's opponent paying the words no mind. "DUEL!"

"I'm first," Katsuya announced, drawing his cards. Okay one, two- "Nyh!" A rough wind suddenly seared against the papers, each one flying out of his hand.

"J-Jonouchi-kun," he could hear Yugi shouting, the world appearing to slow down as he turned to hurriedly grab at them in a panic.

"J-JONOUCHI!" Worse than when he'd dove into the seas he briefly entered a panic, snatching at the cards. Hand, hand... Where was the third- Ack! "Th' other one..!"

Teeth clamped down on the last one as it fluttered past his face, Katsuya giving a sigh of relief as a brief and English '_nice catch_!' came over the air amid the rolling eyes around it. H-Hah... That would have been Shizuka. Nice catch was right though, if he didn't watch himself more he'd be all over the place... Literaly when it came to the cards! The blond steeled himself despite this fact, pulling the cards back into his hand and swallowing as he drew the last few. Alright... The others had all done fine hadn't they? Well... Yugi and Bakura had at least, he couldn't exactly compare anything else. Besides that though, he'd made it this far right? He might not have Red-Eyes with him he thought to himself, glancing at the dragon on the side, but he'd win any ways! Hell... If he won he realized with a swallow, turning back from Red-eyes, that would mean...

That would mean dick all, this wasn't Malik he reminded himself. A mental string of curses came through his head, Katsuya shaking himself. Damn it. And here he'd been playing with the idea of God Cards, ahhhhh... The blond grabbed one of the cards he'd snatched from the air, the somewhat bitten one slipped onto the duel disk as a tablet arose from the ground. Familiar stone lines etched away into the rock, and as smoke escaped from the carved stone a familiar and metal coated warrior stepped out. The monster cracked his neck as he walked forward, shaking itself somewhat and looking toward its summoner with narrowed eyes. "_**You **_**BIT**_** me!**_"

"Oh c'mon," he hissed under his breath, "It ain't like I had a choice... I summon Gearfried in attack mode," the blond announced as he cut the topic short, his monster rolling its eyes at the defense. "End turn!"

'Malik' merely grabbed three cards from his hand, setting the first as distant rumbling hit the air. Gearfried looked up from where he'd decided to stand with crossed arms, tilting his head somewhat as his opponent continued. "I play the card 'Temple of the Kings'," the man across from them announced, pillars breaking from the ground with the words. Steps arose from behind the duelist, entering into a building that gained its support from pillars embedded into the ground of the airship as torches appeared to line the walls. Murals painted themselves into existence, and as Malik explained the cards purpose (activate traps when they were summoned it seemed) and set two more trap cards, he almost didn't hear him.

Almost. The blank tablets meeting the air before what would normally be an incredible sight of a temple on an airship managed to jar him from any spacing out he'd almost done. "Gh... Nothin' but traps," Katsuya growled under his breath, grinding his teeth. Nothing but two blank tablets flanking the temple sides, shouts of encouragement coming from the side. '_Attack him,_' Honda was shouting from the side, before being told off by the others. He had the monster, attack! But the traps were staring him right in the face, as though taunting him, reminding him what happened every other time he disregarded the unspoken rule. Don't attack a trap card... Or else. It would either be a bluff, which was great, or a trap that would explode right in his face. And given that this guy _only_ had traps... Although... The blond calmed himself as it came to his turn, drawing setting another card on the field as a tablet appeared. He wasn't afraid... And he certainly wasn't allowing anyone else to think otherwise! Smoke again filled the air and recently etched carvings, a small wing-decorated warrior appearing on its form. From the side the Little Winguard stepped forward, sword in hand as it gave his summoner as salute. He'd build his force... And then use Giant Trunade to clear the field he told himself, monsters remaining silent for the moment. That would work... It had to work! "I summon th' Little Winguard," the blond shouted, gesturing somewhat to his monsters with a nod. "End turn!"

"I set two cards face down and end my turn," 'Malik' responded, another two blank tablets taking the sides as he drew and set the cards.

Gh... Damn it..! The blank stone gleamed in the dull moonlight above, Katsuya's fists clenching as he stared the stones down. More traps! The blond grit his teeth as he drew his next card, setting it on the field and shaking himself off with a low growl. It would all be over in a moment he told himself, just a- ...Well he couldn't say that actually he reminded himself, it hadn't been fifteen turns. Even so... The table beside him completed its etchings, thick steaming 'smoke' rising from the ground to melt over the tablet as a monster was summoned. "Th' Hayabusa Knight," Katsuya announced, the falcon headed warrior stepping from his smoking tablet to leer at his opponent with steely eyes. "Attack mode! An' then," he continued as the next card was placed to reveal the hurricane tablet, the blank stone slowly carving out a spiral and face, "Giant Trunad-" Wait... A sudden flash shot through his mind, the blond turning his attentions from his opponent to the tablets on his field. Wait.

What. The tablet abruptly crumbled to dust, as its carving came into completion, the rock collapsing to the ground in what was almost a wave as the monsters stared. "_**What the-**_"

"Activate trap," 'Malik' stated plainly, "'Judgement of Anubis'!" The first of his tablets hurriedly carved out the image of a 'dog' of sorts, before ginding into dust to rise high above the temple behind him. Jowls formed from the clouds themselves, red eyes facing forward from a black jackal's skull as the beast snarled at them. A wicked howl met the air, and as the clouds in the air blocked out the moon to leer at him the blond felt himself pale. Anubis... Wasn't that the God of...

Death? Or was it something to do with death, one of those- Without warning the Little Winguard gave a scream, Hayabusa abruptly bursting into dust with his tablet. There had been no warning, and he Winguard was quick to follow after that fact, the piles of dust falling to the field. Just seconds later and Gearfried was doing the same, the resulting dust pulled into Anubis' form as the hound appeared to inhale. Oh shit... Ohhhh shit... As Anubis snorted at the boy before him, it appeared that it was the calm before the storm... 'Malik' was explaining the card's effect, but Anubis... The dust hovered through the air around him, swirling angrily as the monster spoke. "_**You who would lay a hand on the guardians of the honored dead,**_" he snarled, smoking and cloud-built teeth bared to the blond below._** "Consider this a warning lest you try again!**_"

With a violent wave of dust the blond found himself ducking, arms in front of his face as he turned away and squinted. Anubis sent the dust of his monsters forward in a flurried rage, the anger of both it and the monsters themselves appearing to converge on the spot. The dirt and stone cut at his skin, small cuts forming as he slowly looked back and squinted through the clouds. From each monster's death his mind told him, half its attack had been taken from his life points... In one move, he'd been decimated, dragged far behind his opponent with little chance of come back.

And yet there were still twelve moves left, a fact that he knew couldn't be wrong in any way. "Gh..." Shouts of encouragement and questioning both came from the side as he stood, the dust clearing from the field... And again, on 'Malik's turn...

"I set two cards and end my turn," 'Malik' stated, a tablet arising to replace his first as yet another arose at the side. Five traps... Five blank stone tablets flanking the stairs as the final fifth one stood tall and behind him in the center of the temple. A 'full house' so to speak.

He couldn't just attack though damn it! He couldn't just risk the traps again, not after what happened last time! The blond drew his card, teeth grinding horribly as he looked it over instead of relying on his bizarre and unexplainable ability. Okay... Time to try this again he supposed, swallowing somewhat nervously as he set the card and grabbed another. "I summon th' Alligator Sword," he shouted as the tablet appeared, the armored, Chinese gator stepping forward to look back through the smoke that heralded its existence. And since he couldn't attack for the moment... "I also set a card face down," the blond decided, a blank tablet appearing to his side as he crossed his arms. "End turn!"

"_**Hey**_..." Katsuya turned somewhat, blinking as the Alligator gave a slight wave. "_**You feel like yourself again, Katsuya-jun?**_" Oh yea, he'd been meaning to ask what that 'jun' thing was about...

There was no time for that now though, was there. A nod was the alligator's response for the moment, both quickly looking back across the field as 'Malik' made his next move with crossed arms. "I pass," he said plainly, Katsuya narrowing his eyes at the near immediate response.

"Tch... 'F course," he muttered darkly, looking at the hand full of spells that he had for the moment. "With a full field 'f trap cards why wouldn' ye..." He drew another card, crossing his arms after adding yet another spell to his hand. "Pass," he shouted, face growing somewhat red. He hated traps, hate hate _hated_ traps...

"Pass," 'Malik' repeated, groans coming from the side. He hated this even more though damn it!

"_**This is getting ridiculous**_," Gator moaned, rubbing his head as Katsuya set another monster card to the field. "_**But if we attack we- ...Hey,**_" the monster shouted incredulously, watching as the tablet that appeared again began to smoke and steam while carving itself._** "What are you doin' man?**_"

Continuing as planned before he threw himself off the airship. At least that was what he was telling himself now. "I summon th' Rocket Warrior," Katsuya called out, the checker-board armored figure stepping out with mute grunts and cheers. "An' he attacks," he continued loudly, despite the numerous double and 'spit-take's from the side and the field itself.

"_**What!**_"

"What!"

"Figures," a slightly more muted voice muttered, Katsuya tensing up with a jolt. Oi oi oi, what was that he heard from behind him? The blond grit his teeth, merely watching as the monster tore across the field for one of the tablets to crumble into dust before it.

"Activate trap," Malik was saying among the incredulous sighs, Katsuya pushing back the words of the crowd to focus on the match. "Eye of Wdjat! Your monster's attack rebounds on your own," he explained, the almost hypnotic eye appearing on the rocket's brow as it turned toward the Alligator.

The gator appeared to freeze asthe monster shifted into 'rocket' form, blasting off from the ground to charge forward. "_**Oh hell-**_"

Heh. One down four to go. "Act'vate th' Fairy Box," Katsuya responded, the Alligator Sword safely protected from attack as the 'whack-a-mole' box appeared around him. The Alligator's sword easily avoided the strike from Rocket Warrior, the monster blasting into an empty hole as the Gator stared blankly from a separate one. The blond grinned as the rocket returned to his side of the field, each monster just as untouched as when summoned to the field. "Heheheheheh... Not so easy when I've got my own trap eh," he asked, a grin on his face. "Soon as I clear you out 'f traps, you'll be wide open... I'm gonna win this easy!"

"So you say," his opponent stated calmly. The man's expression was largely emotionless, reactionless in regards to the boasts of his opponent. "Yet you've activated another of my traps... And this one," he continued, Katsuya abruptly growing pale, "Is no mere 'spell'." Carved etchings began to appear on the first tablet at the side, the etchings becoming mirrored in the remaining two that followed up the stairs. "The trap-monster 'Embodiment of Apophis' activates," the man shouted, one of the tablets filling itself with thick and noxious looking smoke. With the body of a snake the monster appeared, hissing as a humanoid torso and head slumped forward with a blade. Blackened and violet scales shimmered in the moonlight, and as the humanoid half held its blade high the snake's neck and head that errupted from its back bared long and poisonous fangs at its foe. "I have three of these on the field," 'Malik' was saying, the two other tablets revealing similar monsters as wicked blades gleamed before them, "So you had best be re-thinking your earlier boasts..." Gh... These... These traps...

Trap... Monsters? _MONSTERS, _he shouted in his mind, swallowing as the snakes hissed before him.

He hate, hate, hated..! Damn it he growled to himself, how could he fall right into this guy's trap? ..._Again_? Seriously, after all that, he was facing... Alright... Alright the blond told himself with a swallow, he had to calm down... He still had a chance here after all, a decent enough chance no matter how small... He just needed to think. "Alligator Sword goes int' d'fense mode," Katsuya decided with a swallow, the Fairy Box and monster both vanishing as the later was sealed into his tablet. The carving faced the field almost dully as he grabbed his next card, swallowing before continuing on. Now then. Next was... "I'll also place one card face down," he announced, the blank tablet arising at his side as Katsuya paled. Scapegoat was in there... It would help him at least long enough to get around these trap monsters by gathering tribute monsters, or so he'd hope... If he was lucky there wasn't a card preventing that on the field. And now... "End turn!"

It didn't take a genius to know what would happen next. 'The Embodiments of Apophis attack,' he heard over the field, each of the twisted naga-like beasts hissing in response. But as the Scapegoats prepared to activate, so did another of 'Malik's cards. _'And in addition,_' the blond heard faintly as his opponent struck, _'I discard one card to activate Magic Jammer_.' His opponent seemed to only mutter these words as the trap at his side carved out, the stone crumbling into dust before flying across to coat the scapegoat's tablet. With the field now free of obstacles, the scapegoat's stone slowly crumbling in on itself the Embodiments continued to drive forward, their opponent biting his lip as he witnessed their strike. The first one charged the rocket warrior, blade cutting the semi-robotic beast in two as pieces of scrap fell to the ground. The Rocket Warrior was mute, but it was plain to see just how much terror was to be had when the violet monster was the last thing he saw. The second sliced at the defense mode tablet however, stone and dust flying back at him in the wind as he was forced to duck and shield his eyes. And finally, as the dust cleared he could feel a small pin-prick of pain...

"_**Little 'ancient'**_," he heard the hissing monster mutter, a blade held against his forehead so closely that a drop of blood now ran down his face. Katsuya swallowed as his head was slowly brought back to attention, the sword turning just slightly as the tiny cut on his brow grew. "_**Conssssssider this warning of what is yet to come...**_" Warning warning warning, they were all 'warning' him, but what was so special about-

"Sfff! Ghn-!" The blond bit back a shout, grabbing at his arm as needle like fangs bore into his flesh and pulled out. The Embodiment's snake head had struck quickly, the target having been distracted by the words of its human head. Whatever venom was in the monster's teeth stopped the bleeding despite the wound now being an ugly blue-black beneath the shirt, thankfully enough. But it was that same venom that was now putting spots in his vision, and as the snakes returned to their side he found himself at his knees. "Ngh..." His breathing was becoming difficult... The wind was feeling more intense... "Poison..." He probably should have been thankful that the words were lost to the winds; but as he attempted to move his shaking arm toward his deck, it seemed he was giving off a different idea.

Though in hindsight, if his head wasn't stuffed with poison and dust, he'd probably have tried to forfeit too the remaining nineteen hundred points on his cleared field . "Jonouchi," Mai shouted from the side, arms crossed. The blond only barely managed to turn his head, pale and clammy skin likely attributed to the wind. Her face was twisted into a stern frown, arms crossed as she looked up to the field. "Just what happened to 'fifteen turns'?" Katsuya didn't answer for a moment, instead glancing back to the field. Well... That was true, there were still at least seven turns left... So he supposed the poison couldn't kill him just yet but... "You have a fight to win," the woman at the sides continued angrily, "Don't just toss your chances away by forfeiting like a coward!" He wasn't-

"Hey," a second voice called out, Ryuzaki cupping his hands as he glared. "The only reason I'm watching you is because I figure you'll actually get a shot at the finals," the boy shouted angrily. "So get on your feet, moron!"

Ryuzaki was quickly answered with a low growl from the side, the others jumping at what likely seemed to be fairly uncharacteristic rage. "Keichi... That is my _brother_ you're talking about!"

"Ehhh..." The boy was silenced fairly quickly to say the least, though his friend took a few steps forward to look up at where her brother had begun to collapse.

"Nihan..." Shizuka had more to say..? The girl had a calm and reassuring smile on her face, Ryuzaki's jacket hanging limply on her shoulders as she spoke. "Before I pulled my bandages off I had to walk around blind," she began with a swallow, "With nothing but darkness around all the time. But even though I couldn't see or hear you," the girl continued almost proudly, "Just knowing that you worried about me gave me the courage to take them off. Nihan... You gave me a light to look forward too," Shizuka announced, her expression brightening as her brother stared. "A light in the darkness! So give me another one, right now in this darkness you see here!" Shi... Shizuka...

Ryuzaki turned to look incredulously at his friend, head tilted somewhat as he stared. "...A _light_ in the _darkness_?"

"_Keichi,_" the girl growled, "_I-am-warning-you..._"

A light in the darkness... Even his opponent seemed to be moved by those words. He'd be a pretty big failure of a brother if he didn't respond to them. Katsuya's vision swam as he pulled himself to his feet, faint cheers and shouts meeting his ears as he stood. Numb... His arm had gone somewhat numb, and he could feel stares on his back and side. For the moment, the snake-bite was hidden by his t-shirt sleeve, but just barely. If anyone looked under that sleeve, he'd have a hell of a time explaining. For the moment however, he brought his hand back down from his shoulder to stare across the field with his hand at his side. A light... In the darkness... Ryuzaki had a point, it _was_ corny but... It still had meaning. "I have a question," Katsuya's opponent asked, the blond weakly raising his head to stare across the field challengingly. "This tournament," the man continued with somewhat narrowed eyes, "Why did you enter?"

"To keep a promise," he answered immediately, the response coming smooth and quickly as 'Malik' stared. To keep an important promise that he wouldn't give up on... No matter what. This man across from him... What was his real name he wondered to himself, eyes narrowing further as he stared. Who was this guy..? Even if he hadn't seen Malik's face, he'd seen his build and height. The 'real' Malik was shorter, and much more slim. This wasn't that man though, not him... He didn't even act like him, the voice and mannerisims were completely wrong. So what was his name..? He found himself shaking the questions from mind, instead, staring across the field as flashes of the earlier matches of the day came to mind. This man... Was a 'duellist'. "I've met lots 'f people in th's tournament who wanted t' know th' answer to tha' question," Katsuya found himself muttering, wind battering against his numbed arm. "An' I gave 'm all th' same answer. I'm gonna keep tha' promise," the blond continued with a shout, "I can't lose here!" He could hear the other Yugi from the side, in his ghost-like form... Shouting out that same riddle he knew so well, the 'friendship' riddle...

"...If you're a duelist," 'Malik' asked plainly, again pulling Katsuya from his thoughts, "Shouldn't you know when a turn around is impossible?"

Impossible? "Heh! Even if I 'should'," he spat with narrowed eyes, "It doesn' mean I surrender... I'm still standin'," Katsuya growled viciously. "An' I'm fightin' 'till my last breath!" And that was all that mattered! Impossible... He didn't know the meaning! "It's my turn," he shouted with renewed strength, drawing his next card. "I'll play two cards face down, an' summon th' Swordsman 'f Landstar in d'fense mode," he announced, the tablet carving itself out before sitting dormant. The shield across the stone shimmered just dully in the light, the two new cards sitting blankly at its sides.

Katsuya's opponent stared across the field, nonetheless returning to his near mute form of play as he deemed the blond a 'non-threat'. "The embodiments attack," he stated plainly, arms crossed as he waited for the defense. The snakes charged forward as the blond activated the stone's magic, face tight with severity and determination.

"Act'vate th' spell 'Foolish Burial'," he shouted, "Sendin' a card int' yer grave yard. An' after tha'," the blond announced, the first tablet reduced to dust on the wind as a familiar cloaked 'boy' charged from the next one's stone, "Graverobber!" The little robber did not charge the field as he normally did, instead holding his hands and 'tugging' at the dust on the air as the Emboidments froze. "I'm pullin' tha' card outta th' grave... And th' card I picked an' put there," he continued loudly, the dust on the air forming an immense tablet at his side, "Was this! Psycho Shocker!" Thunder clapped in the air as the card was set on the field, the tall and robed android's figure cutting itself from stone as the rest of his field cleared. Smoke filled the tablet in almost a pillar like formation, the Psycho Shocker stepping forward from the stone to leer at the field with crossed arms. With a single wave of the android's hand the Embodiments of Apophis were destroyed, the traps rendered useless in the monster's sight. And in addition to the Psycho Shocker... He also had a few other cards in his hand. A smirk came over his face as 'Malik' scowled, the blond drawing his next card and setting it on the field. "Heh... An' b'fore it's done, I summon th' Battle Warrior in attack mode," he called out, yet another, smaller tablet appearing at the side as he did so. Blue smoke poured through the quick to appear carving, a futuristically armed man stepping out in angered silence. "Plus, I move Lan'star int' attack mode! An' now tha' yer traps are useless," the blond continued viciously, the swordsman at his side spinning his blade with a nod, "They all attack d'rectly! GO!"

It was strange, seeing 'Malik' speak through the resulting explosion to say the least. As the two smaller monsters set their fists and blades through the man's form, Psycho Shocker released a blast of energy that cloaked his side of the field in electricity completely. Lanstar's blade should have cut through his torso, Battle Warrior's fists should have left internal wounds to his stomach, Psycho Shocker's should have thrown him against the temple... And yet he supposed he should have been used to it really, after all he'd seen through this game. 'Malik' merely stood through the attacks, just as everyone else had after all, the man narrowing his eyes as the explosion slowly cleared. "I must congratulate you," he said clearly, Katsuya narrowing his eyes in response. "Even a weak man will struggle to claim his honor after all... And that attack was an incredible turn around." It was, wasn't it? But coming from the guy pretending to be 'Malik'...

Well. If he hadn't figured him out _before_... "...'Malik' wouldn' say that," he stated plainly, watching his opponents eyes narrow with suspicion. Plain and simple.

'Malik' however, seemed to realize that pressing that subject would be a bad idea, instead drawing his next card. "Hn... It's my turn again," the man responded, setting a card on the field. Rather than stone arising from the ground however, blinding lights tore from the air, resembling a series of stars in the sky. The 'stars' grew larger however, and soon enough each one was falling forward to embed themselves in the field, the light forming a series of blades that stood a few stories above both of them. "I play the swords of revealing light," 'Malik' announced clearly, arms crossed as he frowned. "I will not lose here!"

The swords... Katsuya narrowed his eyes momentarily, nonetheless drawing his next card as the field was illuminated to near blinding proportions. Alright... So he couldn't attack. He could still build an army, and so long as the Psycho Shocker stood there, the traps would be useless. He had nothing to fear... He just had to keep chugging forward! "Battle Warrior 's sacrificed t' summon th' Legendary Swordsman," he announced with a shout, the monster erupting with his tablet in a torrent of water as his card was replaced with another. The stone washed blank before carving its new image, the rush of water splashing to the ground as a tanned and heavily scarred man adjusted the grip on his spear to look around.

"_**A battle above the **_**skies**," the replacement questioned, his whale tucked safely away in the tablet's stone as he appeared to Katsuya's side. The man appeared to be staring with awe, as though in disbelief as his summoner laughed quietly under his breath.

"An' th' seas," the blond muttered with a smirk, gaining a rather blank stare for a brief moment before a roaring laugh erupted through the field, unheard to all but himself.

"_**Hahaha! The words of a true fisherman**_," the fisherman boasted, his summoner shaking his head. "**_Let's finish this battle with all we have!_**" Hear hear! But...

He didn't fish damn it... Ahhh whatever. A sudden cold chill came over the air, a feeling of dread and death overpowering the field as the blond's cheer was pulled away. Katsuya turned toward where 'Malik' had drawn his card, the man staring at it with horror filled eyes as the feeling intensified. Dead... Dead, dead, dead... The skies had darkened and the winds had fallen flat, as though the very life of the duel had been sucked from the air. The card in 'Malik's hand was so clearly not a card but why, and how... How could a 'fake card' instil this feeling? "This next card," 'Malik' announced, swallowing as he looked forward, "Will be your undoing." Hesitation was evident in the man's eyes, clear enough that those around had fallen silent as they stared with questioning gazes. And yet 'Malik' went through with his actions anyways, setting a card on the disk and not once looking away from his opponent. "I seal a card within the ark of the temple," he said plainly, the ark in question appearing to 'shudder' as its former gold sheen faded to a dull and haunted glow. "And end my turn."

A 'sealed' card... Katsuya swallowed, nonetheless relieved as the feeling of death more or less vanished from the field. His turn again... And there was no way he'd have been able to fight through that after all. The blond drew his next card, setting it on the field without looking as another was released from the disk-system in response. "I play Monster Reborn," he announced as the tablet's green light flooded the field, "Bringin' Alligator Sword back! An' usin' it an' th' Swordsman 'f Lan'star," he continued clearly, the Alligator only just jumping from his tablet as smoke filled the field. "I summon this!" Please don't hate him, please don't hate him... The sacrifices seemed to be fine with it, they were both giving him confident nods and thumbs up but... "Th' Insect Queen!" _Please_ don't hate him.

The tablet arose behind him as the monsters before them were pulled by webbed strings into their stones, the tablets crumbling to dust under the pressure of the cocoons. The image of the fierce queen arose on the stone behind him, deep and powerful hissing erupting in his ears as the dust of the sacrifices formed the smoke that pulled the Queen into existence. "_**I see you wish to fight, little imago...**_" Yes... Yes that would be good he thought with a swallow, paling as the monster curled around him semi-protectively. Clawed and armored limbs clacked and crunched as they folded onto the ground around him, Psycho Shocker and the Fisherman both staring rather blankly as the Queen 'smiled'. The blond shuddered violently as it nuzzled the side of his face, a snake-like tongue rasping the edges of the wound that Apophis' embodiments granted. "_**But you should not fight injured... Be healed child,**_" the Queen went on, the blond before her closing his eyes and biting his lip._** "I will fight with you...**_" Okay... Okay that was great, just stop licking him and-

Uhhhh... Wait, healed? A sudden feeling of relief spread over his arm, the blond lightly tapping the wound as his eyes widened. Healed... His arm had- The wound was _gone_!

"My turn," 'Malik' abruptly shouted, ripping the blond from his thoughts as the Insect Queen reared to watch the field. "First," the man announced, "The 'Seal of Selket', followed by 'Cup of the Sealed Soul'..." Two more spells..? Wait, what were these? "By sending the Seal to the grave," 'Malik' explained to his opponent, the blond narrowing his eyes, "I summon to you a monster of God-like proportions, with a power that far surpasses your own..." Aw hell that couldn't be... "The Mythical Beast," 'Malik' roared through the air, a large goblet arising from the two stone tablets to release a shadowed liquid orb, "'Selket', the Scorpion!" S-Selket..? How ironic, his stupid flash thing was telling him it was the God of poison and healing, that was- That was just mean.

And awwwww _shit, _this thing was looking more like a demon than a goddess. Hissing met the air, the Insect Queen spitting threateningly as a shadowed seal appeared in the orb above the goblet. The seal, an image of a scorpion, broke into pieces as the goblet as well crumbled, claws piercing the skin-like orb before breaking through. Large and bulbous eyes met the field as wings and a series of six additional hand-bearing legs came forward, immense and toothy mouth opening wide as a schreech pierced its opponent's ears. The blackened scorpion bore the eye of Wdjat across its back, and above it on its tail a dangerous and poison-dripping barb pointed toward him. The clawed arms were long enough that they reached over the crowd to cling to the railings of the air-ship's arena, clawed fore-limbs clacking threateningly as its wings beat the ground. But it was far from the end...

For as the monster hissed its warning, sound undescribable in any way, the box it guarded again began to emanate the dangerous feeling of cold it had before. The already dulled glow seemed to fade even further, and the box itself seemed to be more stony than even the temple around it. "I am getting ahead of myself," 'Malik' was saying as this feeling filled the air, a few blades of light vanishing from sight as they had been throughout the duel after their arrival. "For as powerful as Selket is, she is nothing compared to that which has been sealed in the temple behind me... Namely the great God of the Sun, the Dragon 'Ra'!" R... R...

_RA_?

But it couldn't be... Besides the fact that this _wasn't_ Malik, it just couldn't..! 'Ra' was a life-bringer his mind told him, the blond again ignoring the 'origin' of the knowledge he knew he shouldn't have had. Ra was the 'sun', 'life', the 'creator', it didn't bring the stentch of death with it! Not even when it was causing it! Yet as Selket continued to hiss before him, Katsuya found himself swallowing a wave of fear, the presence in the box still sending shivers down his spine. Not much time left now... The monster before him was more powerful than anything in his deck, and if he didn't draw any of his usual 'stat-control' cards he'd be screwed. His monsters would slowly be picked off and he'd be left defenseless. And this feeling...

This dread and fear, a fear far surpassing any he'd felt before, even comparing the feeling to that of what had happened under the Millennium Rod. It was a feeling that seemed to simply have no reason for existence, no fuel other than of fear itself. It was a feeling that was numbing all of his senses, leaving only wide and unblinking eyes to stare at the monster before him. _'Selket is a ritual summoned beast_,' he could hear his opponent mutter, the words barely blurring in with that of the crowd. _'She cannot attack this turn..._' And while the last of the swords would vanish this turn, 'allowing' him to counter attack...

Despite him drawing a card, he couldn't help but be paralyzed in fear. All he could do was move the monster's cards into defense, eyes shivering as they looked over the monster. "All monsters enter defense mode," he rasped, staring into Selket's large and inhuman eyes as he swallowed. The monsters on his field however didn't move into their stone, merely looking down at the blond with worried eyes.

"**_Little imago,_**" the Quen hissed, lowering her head to a protective position. "**_We will be your shield... Have no fear..._**" Gh... Hn...

Easy for her to say damn it! "...Pass," Katsuya barely forced out, choking on the single word as Selket screeched. The demon before him acted immediately, with her master's words barely piercing the sound of his rushing blood in his ears. Worried mutterings came from the side as the blond stared, the monster rushing past him to strike at the first of the beings on the field.

"Selket's effect activates," 'Malik' was saying through the curtain of white noise, "When she destroys a monster, she may devour it to absorb half its attack." And as those on the side grew pale with the knowledge, Katsuya found himself growing even more so. It was not because of Selket's increase in power however, nor was it the sheer unmoving terror locking him in place. For while his friends merely saw jaws close over the Psycho Shocker he could see the saliva drip from the beast's mouth, hear the grunting screams from the monster as it was lifted by its torso and head before being swallowed whole. He could hear the crunching bones as the monster was swallowed and crushed by the strong muscles of the esophagus, and he was forced to watch as Selket's body began to shift... Two sets of its eight legs snapped and folded at the sides, the bottom two extending into legs. The demon's wings moved somewhat up the monster's body as it reared, resembling some twisted, bipedal monster from beyond the gates of hell. And as the monster gave a ferocious roar Katsuya couldn't tear his eyes away, staring at the immense winged demon before him.

It changed... It even changed in reaction to the things it had swallowed... And it was his turn again. Another card was drawn, another card that would do him no good, and another card to add into his hand. "...Pass," he muttered in a barely audible tone as he shook, the Insect Queen huddling around the blond while Selket approached. Its size was enough to take even the towering Queen from the field, the insect's body snatched from behind by enormous clawed pinchers as Selket opened her wide and seemingly jawless mouth. The Queen however, was eaten from back to front; and as the blond stared up with horror, eyes welling with tears in the fear that held his jaw shut he could hear and see the insect speak before her head disappeared beyond rows of teeth.

"_**Turn away, little imago... Turn away,**_" she said through the slices that each tooth created on her skin,_** "And avenge this loss...**_" Scared... Scared, he was _scared _damn it, there was nothing he could do in the face of this! And no matter what, all he could do was watch as 'Selket' appeared to become more humanoid in form, blackened scales conforming to a woman's figure from the torso as it stared forward with bug-like eyes, size seemingly increasing to create the illusion of a smaller 'mouth' despite its enormous size.

Why was this feeling..? Another card drawn... Another useless draw. Another card added to his hand as he seemingly moved on autopilot. "_Pass_," he whispered with a choke, closing his eyes with a wince as the Legendary Fisherman was tossed to the air with a shout by Selket's tail. And as the man fell into her gaping maw, mouth so large that he never even touched the sides of the throat, the scales peeled back. And within seconds a bizzare mix of woman and arachnid was standing tall above the field, tanned skin gracing the air where scales no longer sat, gold and flaming eyes now human in shape as they stared downward. This was Selket. This was the monster's power, and this was the power that was dwarfed by what was in that 'ark'. This... This was a 'god' whose power, unlike the 'top three' was available to more than one... And this monster...

Could now speak. "_**Are you afraid... Boy?**_" This thing... Selket's grin was wide and almost psychotic in appearance, clawed arms and wings stretching from her back as humanoid ones sat at her sides. "**_Do you fear my power... BOY?_**"

"I can't watch this any more," Shizuka was muttering, holding her head from the side as her brother's hearing abruptly returned. "I can't... I'm feeling sick," she choked, worry begining to fill the blond on the arena, "I..."

Suddenly that feeling of dread and fear was gone, replaced completely by that same worry and by the will he'd had at the start of the match. "...Shizuka," he muttered somewhat weakly, his sister looking up with worried eyes. The blond found himself swallowing as he looked to the woman, shaking his head despite the enormous monster standing before him. "Don'... Don' go Shizuka... I know... I know I'm on my las' legs," he continued quietly, "But until th' very end, ev'n if I lose..." Katsuya paused, shaking himself as he raised his voice to a more audible level. Light... "You found yer light, righ'," he asked, Shizuka swallowing in response as she stared. "Well t' me," he went on with a weak smile, "Yer_ my_ light... Until th' very end, I need yah... So please," the blond whispered, his sister still staring up in silence, "Until then..."

Stay by his side... He didn't like this feeling of dread in his stomach, stay by his side... Because so long as he thought about his friends and family rather than the beast before him, he might stand a chance against the fear and horror growing before him. "Why do you still fight," 'Malik' asked from across the field, voice barely escaping the merged shouts of encouragement from the side. "You are as you said, on your last legs... And the 'fifteen turns' you boasted of are nearly at their end," the man continued, narrowing his eyes. "So... Why don't you surrender?"

Katsuya drew his next card, closing his eyes momentarily as he winced. Nothing. He had nothing... Another card he couldn't use, another spell he couldn't bring up for a defense. But even so. "B'cause I'd be a piss-poor duelist if I ran jus' b'cause I was losin'," the blond stated plainly, hand lowering to his side. "I face my battles t' the end," he continued, swallowing as 'Selket' stared from above before moving on, "No matter what happens... Tha's how I play. Make your move," he said almost coldly, narrowing his eyes as his teeth ground together. "Because no matter what, I'll know I wasn' fightin' 'Malik'... An' I think I c'n take this loss with a pretty clear head if I keep that in mind." At this, 'Malik' again frowned, the blond across from him continuing with a darkened smirk. "It's weird," he muttered, having a feeling he knew the reason behind initial thoughts on 'Malik's appearance, "I had this feelin' from b'fore we even got on this ship... That it wasn' you; that y' weren' who y' said y' were. Maybe tha's why my head's been clearer than normal," he continued as the smirk briefly grew into a grin, "I'm abou' ready t' toss th' real 'Malik' off th' side 'f this ship!" However, that would probably get _him_ tossed off as well... Eh. "B'fore I lose," Katsuya continued on, the smirk losing its dark tone as he spoke, "I want y' t' know... On th's las' turn, I didn' know who'd win 'r lose. Jus' that it'd end... An' even with tha'," he added with a cheery tone, ignoring the still growing wave of fear, "This was one 'f th' best matches I've ever had. I don' know what kinda reason you've got f'r pr'tendin' t' be Malik... But you're nothin' like tha' bastard," he said coldly, the smirk dying as he held his arms out in challenge. "Yer a 'real duelist'... So make yer move."

There was no answer however. Instead, albeit only briefly, the man's eyes appeared clouded. They faded out in a manner almost similar to when Yugi spoke to his other half, the man's tanned skin appearing to pale with whatever words he received. As his eyes regained focus however he pulled out the false-rod, holding it forward and speaking with an ease that far betrayed the sudden paleness he'd developed. "Only the 'real' Malik wields the Millennium Rod," he said clearly, the staff barely shining under the windless and clouded sky. "Yet you doubt my identity?"

Yes. He did. "...That ain't th' Millennium Rod."

The ship appeared to fall silent with the flat tone Katsuya used, even Selket standing stock still with narrowed eyes. There had been no hesitation, not even slightly... And if the blond had bothered to look to the crowd rather than holding his steady glare he'd have seen fear and rage both flash through one of the spectator's eyes. "You still doubt me," the man muttered, eyes appearing to shift off to the crowd at the side. A look of apparent submission came over him with that glance, and turning back to his opponent he bowed his head. "I see... In that case," he shouted clearly, "Using the power of Selket, of the three monsters absorbed... Along with a tribute of half my lifepoints," the man continued on through the windless air, "I will offer the ultimate proof! I break the seal of the Ark," he announced with a roar, Selket slowly burning and rotting away with a mourning scream. "AND I SUMMON GOD!" Fires filled the air as Selket's skin and scales peeled away into black dust mixed with blood and bone. Above the pillar of 'solid' shadow, clouds converging into an almost hurricane like spiral but despite the formations the wind continued to remain absent from the air. No storm could be heard, no thunder hit the skies as faded and almost 'black' lightening pierced and singed the air, and as Katsuya stared forward with terrified eyes the lid of the ark merely crumbled into piles of locusts before scattering into the skies. 'Not-Malik' was talking right now. So was everyone else as they stared at what was likely to them an incredible summoning, their words absorbed completely by the thick and mantled silence created by the insects that swarmed the air. 'God' had been summoned, that much was evident by the form escaping the 'Ark'.

But if this was God, it wasn't happy. The clouds above swirled viciously, locusts swarming as the temple and ark both fell apart. More insects arose to the air, clouding into place above the airship and from them God's face began to form. An enormous, eagle-like face, with eyes burning as red as the hottest points of the sun, and thunder sounding through an otherwise muted sky. "You..." Katsuya swallowed as he broke into a sweat, the 'black' sun roaring with rage as it hovered in place, the monster's face and skull clearly as large if not larger than that of Osiris'.

"**Who DARES... WHO DARES to create a FALSE image with my NAME,**" the God snarled, voice reverberating through the sky with enough force to shake the people below.** "Who DARES to toss back all HONOR for such ACTIONS? Such FOOLS who DARE to STAND before ME! Mere MORTALS,**" Ra spat,** "SPECS of LIFE! And you think a FALSE tribute will win you FAVOR? That a FALSE IMAGE will summon ME to your AID?**" A piercing, eagle-like screech hit the air, those below unable to hear the words of 'God' as they sood before it.

Katsuya swallowed as the 'black' God stared down to the field, 'Not-Malik' now holding the Rod forward. "Don' do it," he muttered under his breath, shaking his head as 'Ra' continued to snarl and screech from above. "Y'll kill yerself," he shouted, ignoring the obvious confusion from those on the sides, "Don'-"

"Attack," the man was shouting, the others on the field watching with baited breaths to see the result of the order. "ATTACK!"

"**Hohoho... And the MORTAL still believes he has my CONTROL,**" the monster 'laughed', toothed beak opening with a rumble as still more thunder cracked through the air.** "Then let me OPEN your EYES, and the EYES of OTHERS!**" Open the eyes-

Oh hell, it could do that? It could make everyone see... What he was..? "You idiot... That ain't Ra," he found himself shouting, gasps coming from the side as they slowly watched what was a holographic beast dye itself black in their eyes. "I already told yah I knew y' weren' Malik," he continued with an almost desperate tone, the man before him looking back up at Ra with shock. "Why did y' have t' be so..."

'_Ra is turning __**black,**__' _the crowd muttered, expressions filled with fear and confusion both._ 'It's not real, but how...'_

How? Because it _was_ real... "**You wish for an ATTACK,**" Ra raged from above,** "Then SO BE IT! This is a mere TASTE of MY POWER!**" Thunder pealed across the deck, Katsuya turning up to look at Ra with a swallow. His opponent knew he had no control... He knew he was a dead man, and he had his head bowed, lightning striking the field itself as it singed and blackened the thankfully grounded metal. And as a single strike ran through the man's form, his head was still bowed in apology and shame.

But as the man fell to the ground before him he felt words come to mind again, passing his lips outside his control at the volume of a mere whisper that was blocked by the thunder around him. "_Great God of all he travels, who creates all he sees, whose eye is the warrior Sehkmet, whose knowledge is unsurpassed-_"

"**We have an ANCIENT among us,**" Ra boasted, the locusts appearing to grin from his form as Katsuya was pulled from his daze and back into reality. Maybe it was the surrounding buzz, or perhaps shock had rendered them deaf, but no one could hear Katsuya as he stepped forward and swallowed, nor could they hear the words that Ra held from their ears. "**A RARE sight... ****And yet YOUR ties are not of ROYAL blood,**" the dragon continued seriously, mouth barely open as he spoke.** "YOU are yet MORTAL, however GIFTED... YOU are not yet FORGIVEN for your ACTIONS!**"

Forgiven..? For his 'actions'? "An' those are," he found himself asking, looking up with slightly narrowed eyes despite the terror filling him right now.

"**Hn!**" Despite the retort Ra appeared more amused than angered, though his voice held the same incredulous tone it had from his summoning.** "YOU have POWER**," the God announced with a sneer, "**And yet YOU hold it BACK from all you KNOW, from even the young KING, from HE WHO WILL FINISH WHAT WAS BEGUN. You DOUBT the GIFT you have been GIVEN,**" the dragon continued with a fearsome shout,** "And you QUAKE in the sight of what can easily be DEFEATED!**"

"Selket," the blond questioned, the locusts buzzing in rage at what was apparently far from the correct answer.

"**WRONG,**" the God thundered, voice accented by strong peals of booming claps in the sky as lightning continued to fire at the ground.** "You who BEARS the BLOOD OF ANCIENTS... ACCEPT this TEST,"** he commanded with rage,** "And LEARN from your TRIALS before even THINKING of FACING the likes of MYSELF... We WILL meet AGAIN,**" Ra roared, the locusts filling the air as thunder struck the ground, Katsuya staring in fear as the dragon's visage melted back into the swarm. "**Believe me when I say, we will MEET again!"** Sound all at once returned as the insects flew around, shouts filling the air before blinding light filled his eyes...

Before pain filled the every fiber of his being, with the scent of singed hair and cloth hitting his nostrils. "Gnh... NGH... GHAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!"

A voice... He could hear...

"_Cha...bar..._"

And following the light, the pain, and the voice... There was nothing but darkness.

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**AN:** Oooohhh god, before I even begin on this chapter, I cannot even _begin_ to apologize. A lot of things happened the weekend after I posted, and looking back, I really should have just put a note on my profile as soon as I realized what was happening. First off, the Mac I share was moved, so I can't use it any more. All of my planning notes are in there, but more importantly, all of my _mangai _chapters are there. Since no one's in a hurry to move them from the computer, I have to ad-lib from the screen-site... Ick.

In any case, this means I'm sharing my fiancee's laptop. Unlike with the Mac however, he actually uses the computer. Also, since we're both job-hunting, we're both home all day, which means he's using it for important things. Which means considerably less time to type; I have about two hours in the morning each day, and then it's his again unless I check my e-mail. He's not to fond of fanfiction see... (Which is probably why he hasn't move my files.) ...Any ways.

On the bright side, this means _piles_ of art for you, piles of time for me to draw/work on 3D (which is what he kinda wanted me to be working on, but the Mac doesn't run most of the good 3D programs unless they're sculptors. Which are shit for modeling the base model.)... There's no 3-D for you _yet_ but give me time...

Any ways, point is, instead of the promised one week it turned into two, and I really need to apologize. Worse, this is probably how long it will take until I have my own computer again, something I can't pin a date to at all. Gifts of art and typing just don't make up for that kind of thing.

For now though, the gist is basically that there'll be lots of art... But updates will be slow. Until then, enjoy the latest chapter, and hang tight while I get the next one set up!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

We have quite a few today!

First off, hello Lady Septima! As you can see from above, I am already taken. Oh well.

I'm glad that you love the fanfic, but a note on voices; it actually wouldn't be as much strain as you think. Do ventriloquists sound all broken when they speak normally? Nope. Obviously Kaiba doesn't have a high, 'Japanese-standard' voice, but if she drops the disguise, she's quite audibly a woman.

Of course, her male voice will always be Tsuda Kenjirou in my mind, hehehehe...

Thanks for the suggestions though!

And he probably is Iona... He probably is. Oh dear.

As for the 'hows' of the airship, the speed is never given, so it's likely not moving too quickly. Also, they're not actually that high in the air; the air doesn't start getting 'mountain-y' or illness inducing until around 3500 meters, and 1000 meters is the lowest height a mountain will be officially considered a 'mountain' if the slope is greater than five degrees.

In otherwords, they're at a distance_ lower _than the mountain I often ski on in BC; Mount Washington, which is 1590 meters tall.

And hahaha! Cynical Gamer, Skin has an entire trope _page_!

Thank you for the compliment though- it is incredibly uplifting to find tropes dedicated to the fanfic dotted around the site.

And ohhhh yes... Murphy will definitely be stepping in. Perhaps not now, but soon enough... As for if Seto will believe it, we'll have to see. I think you'll be nicely surprised by her reaction.

Again, I thank you for the compliments. They really do mean a lot! On the research, what can I say; I'm a detail-whore.

And hehehe, you think its weird now? Lets just say Bakura's had his suspicions for a while...

Hello Kakamashi7. First off, I'm glad you like the fanfic, and an I hope that by the time you get to this chapter you'll still be enjoying this! (Given that you reviewed chapter 22... And 24. And 30.)

Also, I must now draw certain characters in Spirited Away garb, and I BLAME YOU. (Love that movie...)

Now, in regards to your next most recent review, I filtered through the voices that Maka's VA's (both for the CDs (Junko Takeuchi) and normal (Chiaki Omigawa)) did. Didn't find anything from the voices of Chiaki, but here's something you'll love.

Junko voiced _Mokuba_. Not to menion many many other young males, including _a certain orange-garbed Ninja_. She's fairly well known for it to say the least. She _does_ however do a few female voices, though not many. Those are 'Yue Konishi' (Ask Dr. Rin), 'Rika Minami' (That one's a big one actually; Highschool of the Dead), Rin Natsuki (Yes Pretty Cure 5), and 'Rainbow Mika' (Street Fighter Alpha 3. Which isn't the best resource for a voice.) I can still safely say that it's possible one of her female roles would suit Seto's own 'girl voice'.

Mostly because Rika and Yue both have fairly mature voices, with Rika taking first and Yue taking along for points in 'calm'.

Also, I can't get a hold of Rin. (But that's okay, she sounds kinda Naruto-ish.)

Annnnd onto the next review... (-looks over picture-) Oh. Whoops. Looks like you caught me on that, hehehehe.

In any case, I hope all of you enjoy the fanfic, the chapter above, and the chapters yet to come!

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**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's bowing its head in _shaaaaaaaaaaame_... Because it's so empty today!

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Today's title refers to Ra's 'journey', which takes place in a chariot or boat depending. He is born and killed each day, driving through the sky (AKA his mom) in the daylight hours, and the underworld in the evening. His evening trip is in a boat guarded by Set, and you can see the links to death given the night/underworld fun going on in the myth.

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Shizuka's note is partially to clear space, and partially as another 'canon' point. In the manga, when everyone left to hear the next match up, Anzu stayed behind with Bakura. However, the ring was also known to be in Anzu's possession at that time... In the anime, it was decidedly more creepy as a result.

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In the anime, events happened both differently and, in the case of the fanfic, in a different order. Everyone goes to disturb Kaiba about Bakura for one, which was prevented this time around by the doctors doing what doctors do, and in addition, Honda and Otogi already took off to look for the ring. Shizuka in the meantime is talking to Ryuzaki.

As for what those two boys are doing, it's largely arguing over who Shizuka likes more, along with how to curb her 'affections' away from Ryuzaki. And if you think it's silly now, wait until the Noa arc... Noa wanted eight people then, and he'll get eight people now after all, which means that Ryuzaki will _not_ be part of that arc!

And it also means that Shizuka's going to have a fair amount of face-palming fun.

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Of course, this means less shouting going on when it comes to the scene with Kaiba, and a lot less arguing. Rather than bickering about turning around and _then_ sending doctors, doctors have already been sent, and more importantly, Kaiba just sapped away the remaining free time by taking a shower.

Showers do that.

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Most of the dialogue here is from the Japanese Anime; as mentioned above, my only resource is a screen cap site for the moment, so I have to adlib a fair bit. Thankfully, Rishid was largely silent in the original.

* * *

During the first wave of passes, Kaiba explains to a groaning Mokuba that Jonouchi will crack and attack long before Rishid does. I can very easily imagine an 'I told you so' following that scene during the fanfic. A difference you'll find here though is that Jonouchi is brought to his knees by poison rather than a slipping resolve.

These people switch between zeal and depression so quickly, I swear... I suppose its only human...

* * *

Graverobber is only supposed to work on spells and traps; this still happened though, in the anime and manga both I believe.

* * *

Originally, Shizuka was sick of watching by the time the Insect Queen was devoured. But 'third-times a charm', and you can just _hear_ the frailty of the tone used with that third 'pass'.

* * *

Yes, there are still things that Jonouchi can see when it comes to the Gods that the others can't. And speaking of the Gods, there's a LOT of lore in the Ra chant (the chant being admittedly made up using various myths surrounding the God)... And much more to come in Mai VS Malik, when the chant has to be uttered in full.

* * *

Sehkmet by the way is a lion-headed Goddess of War, whereas Selket is a Goddess of poisonous stings/bites and healing who appears either as a woman with a scorpion on her head, or simply as a scorpion. Also, Apophis is another name for Apep.

* * *

And now... For the art!

**Fanart and My Art Section**

Remove the spaces for your link, okay?

Spoilers ho!

Spoiler: Mirrors - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Image7. jpg - This was another poster sketch from earlier; it's not so much a spoiler as a concept that probably runs through heads as you read all this happened with _crossdressing_ Kaiba, what would have happened with just-plain-female Kaiba? ...Also, I can't draw ears. Mrrrrrrn...

SPOILER-Concept: Past and Present - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20 Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Image4. jpg - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Image5. jpg - Unless you want to spoil a LOT of things, DO NOT CLICK THESE. There are two links, one for the 'past', as you can see, and one for the present. And if you look carefully not only will spoilers jump out like flames, they will also break your brain. So if you _do_ click, and you have questions, be very vague when you ask, or at least send me an e-mail/PM... It'll keep the people who want a surprise in the dark.

Costume: More Pokemon - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Image6. jpg - Lets go to Johto! OKAY. In otherwords, that's Sen (Haga's OC sister) running around the back in the girl's outfit from Pokemon Crystal. In the front lines however we have Mokuba and Rebecca playing the roles of main-character and best friend (Rebecca got Maril as that is what your 'friend' has in the HeartGold/SoulSilver games), with Noa (Adult!Noa) playing the rival. Why is Noa adult Noa? Because I couldn't picture normal Noa as the rival, hurp-derp. Noa's got Bayleef, and Mokuba has Ferralligator by the way. (Sen got Cyndaquil.) ...It just struck me how much Mokuba looks like Ryuzaki in that picture... Whoops.

Costume: STOP PLAYING POKEMON - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Image. jpg - Title has nothing to do with image~ Mostly. I need to stop playing, but given how close to the Black-White release we are... Any ways, pulled out Mystery Dungeon Explorers of Sky, got silly, and named the main character 'Kaiba' and the partner 'Yugi'. Despite the fact that Jonouchi would work much better. It's still fem!Kaiba I doodled though (hence the comic below), both as the eevee (whose personality quiz result matches Jonouchi if anything)... On hind legs... Annnnd as a gijinka eevee. YAYYYY... Okay I'll stop now. (It IS fun to compare characters to the pokemon though... Akhnadin becomes Dusknoir, Pegasus becomes Wigglytuff... And if you haven't played this game, you will be completely BRAIN DEAD now.)

Comic: It's Gone Too Far - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Image2. jpg - In which the Kaiba in my head kindly reminds me that he's male and not female.

Concept: The Leviathan - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Image3. jpg - I don't know which is scarier; the size this thing was in the anime, or the fact that it looks like a Gou'ald with EYES. HIhhhhhhh...

And as a final treat...

Costume-Concept: If Things Were Even More Different - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ CCI27022011_ 00000. jpg - In which I show you what _almost happened_ for this fanfic. Who knows if it would be as serious, but there wouldn't be crossdressing, Jonouchi would pass as a guy thanks to male uniforms, Yugi and Anzu would swap genders, Kaiba would still be male, and _the pharaoh would still be a guy_. Which would bring the best conversation on trans and two-spirited people the world will ever see. Maybe I'll drabble this... Anyways, the main 'bind point' of this wouldn't have been the crossdressing secret so much as Kaiba simply being somewhat in shock after realzing that Jonouchi is a girl in the boy's uniform, and not just a really slim boy. (Jonouchi obviously wouldn't crossdress. She'd just be ignored by Kaiba, who could care less about Jou's private life.)

And how would Jou get in Kaiba's house this time around? Simple actually. Kaiba _walks in on Jou_. (In other words, its out of obligation, but far different than what I went with.)

Can you imagine how weird this would have been? There would have been so much more gender-swapping... Not to mention the awkward-ing there'd be concerning Yugi. ALL THE TIME.

In any case, that's all for now. Enjoy the chapter!


	80. Chapter 79

**Pillow Talk**

* * *

Panic. Chaos. Terror. Just about everything that could describe a war-zone was synonymous with the current situation, and she hated every single bit of it. All it did was send her thoughts back to the place they were flying toward, reminding her of the 'secondary' purpose of the tournament. Who cared about the 'white mouse' plan; as Jonouchi had said, _that_ had clearly been a counterfeit... And whatever virus it resulted in managed to mix in with the flash thunderstorm horrifically, with sparks flying from the arena as people screamed.

"Stay off the field," Isono was shouting at the top of his lungs, a number of Jonouchi's friends quite obviously fighting the urge to ignore him. The man was nonetheless doing his best to hold a semblance of control over the situation, hands held high in a 'barrier' gesture. "The arena will not only be hot from constant lightning strike but also a probable target for more to come," he warned, swallowing a wave of unease as the crowd more or less soured. The 'other Yugi' had even come out to replace his lighter half, a glare fixed on the field and Isono both. "For your own safety," the man protested as the crowd roared, cut off at last by the shouts.

"Screw the safety," Honda snarled, pointing a finger to the arena above as he spat. "What about the people on the field!"

Otogi nodded at this, eyes narrowed. "If we can't get up there then what will your doctors do? Wait until they're dead?"

At that statement the shouts again merged into a collective, Seto's brother looking up in worry as the screams continued. "Nee-sama," Mokuba whispered from the side, eyes quite clearly filled with as much fear as those on the field. "What do we..."

The woman flashed the small radio at her side, voice curt and quick as she held her gaze on the stricken victims on the field. "The doctors have been called," she muttered, her brother nodding as the crowd turned on them. "They're waiting for the fail safes to cancel on the lift." Again, her brother nodded, opening his mouth only to be cut off by the closest member of the angry crowd.

"What now," Mai was shouting angrily, hands balled into fists as she turned on the siblings with wide eyes. "Just what do you plan to do now? _Wait_?"

As much as she detested it... Yes. "Both competitors still have 200 lifepoints left," Isono announced with a swallow, barely managing to recite the competition protocol under the current pressure. "As they are currently caught in a draw," he explained with a slightly wavering tone, "They have five minutes left to stand, with both either continuing the duel or a single competitor simply winning the match by default. Should neither competitor rise, they will have until the fourth match to wake up for a re-match... Should they remain unconscious afterward," he continued, looking over to Seto almost nervously as he again coughed, "Well..."

"Both competitors will be disqualified," the woman muttered lowly, a crowd of shouts coming in response. And the tournament would move on...

Yugi's voice had been easy enough to pick out from the crowd after that point, the boy having turned with disbelieving eyes before getting cut off by others in the crowd. "Disqualif-"

"Just how far did you think this through," Ryuzaki roared incredulously, "A plan for competitors falling unconscious mid-match? There shouldn't even be a risk of that!"

"Are you fucking serious," came an additional shout, glares filling the side of the field as Seto more or less ignored them.

"N-Namu-kun," Shizuka's worried voice asked, cutting through the crowd with more ease than a hot blade. "Are... Are you alright..?"

Seto's eyebrow raised at the last one, silence coming over them as the crowd turned to 'Namu' in question. The blond teen, who had already gained somewhat suspicious looks and comments from the staff was now clutching his head, grunting in pain as he fell back against the railing. Ragged breathing was meeting the air, and as the boy slumped to his knees he squeezed his eyes tightly shut. Shizuka was rubbing the boy's shoulder only to be ignored, even pushed back. The girl found herself stepping back with a nervous swallow in response, sharing a look with her friends as the crowd stared the worriedly. "Ngh..." The sounds continued on, the others unable to tell the source of the pain. "Nggh..." Whatever it was could very well have been completely psychological for all she knew, but as the sounds continued the woman found herself narrowing her eyes.

And then suddenly they stopped, slowing down as the blond's breathing appeared to briefly calm. "Ah- 'Malik' is standing," Ryuzaki abruptly shouted, having glanced toward the field while 'Namu' collapsed. The man appeared to be pulling himself with a desperate gleam in his eyes, reaching toward the crowd with worry despite the obvious fatigue. "He's getting up..!"

"What the hell is this, an endurance competition," they could hear Otogi mutter, the teen following the others stares as they were pulled toward 'Malik'. Hn! Her thoughts exactly. Nonetheless, rules were rules...

And while a feeling of absolute loathing was rising up with the man on the field, she would just have to hope that the still motionless 'bodyguard' of hers lived through the mess. "Well! As he is the first to stand," Isono was muttering with a cough as the storm died around them, 'Malik' still struggling to his knees as the wind returned to its regular state, "The winner of the match is-"

With a sudden thump 'Malik' again collapsed, a panicked shout coming from' Namu' at the same moment. Shouts immediately filled the air again, Shizuka turning with wide eyes as pained coughing came from the field.

"Ahhh! Ahhhhhh...!" Fingers dug into the blond's skull, the teen curling in on himself as he screamed. "AAAAAHHHH!"

"Namu-kun... Namu-kun," Shizuka shouted worriedly, hurrying over to hesitantly reach out to the teen. "I need you to look up," she continued, her hand swiped away with a growling shout as she stepped back. "Namu-kun," the girl 'begged', "Tell me what's wrong..!"

Shizuka's requests however went unheard, and rather than help with her questioning the others were busy staring at the field. "Damn it," Honda muttered with a wince, wind passing through with an almost agreeable howl. "If Jonouchi doesn't wake up soon..."

The message the statement left unsaid was more than understood, those around the arena biting their tongues before doing the only thing they could for the moment. "Come on," Ryuzaki shouted almost angrily at the field, cupping his hands as the crowd more or less divided into worried groups or cheering ones. "Wake up you moron," he snarled, Shizuka and Yugi both ignoring the insult to stare nervously at 'Namu'. "_WAKE UP_!"

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba shouted from the side, joining in as well. The boy bit back a choke, leaning against the stair railing as he continued. "Katsuya-nii, get up! Get up Katsuya-nii! Please... Just get up!" Get UP!

Despite the shouts however, and despite the lift abruptly giving a loud 'whirr' sound as it came online, Jonouchi did not respond. The blond had been struck by lightning after all, and given the circumstances he had about as much chance as 'Malik' did. Possibly less she reminded herself, given the rather detailed report she'd received from the Doctor. Just what had that idiot gotten himself into... Bruises on his stomach, cuts on his arm...

Seto's hands clutched the railing tightly, her eyes narrowed into slits as she stared down upon the field. She... She wanted him to wake up. The shouts of the others were filling the air, and rather than mentally laugh or insult the cries she found herself wanting those cries to be answered.

"Get up Jonouchi," Honda was shouting, joined in by many of the others despite the crowd's 'division'.

"Jonouchi," Anzu shouted worriedly, the lift opening at the side. "Come on! _Come on_!"

Wake up, Seto found herself muttering in her mind, fingers curling around the railing to dig into her palm. Wake up...

"Namu-kun," Shizuka was saying, turning from the field as another blood-curdling scream pierced the air. "Namu-kun, are you..."

"_Ahhhhhhhhhgggghhh!_" 'Namu's shouts were cut off by hurried footsteps, two guards and Doctor Syn both rushing forward with a board and 'box' of sorts both.

"Clear the sides," Kyouko could be heard shouting, "Paramedics coming through!"

They were getting up to the arena... Heading for 'Malik' first, but damn it all... That idiot...

Damn it...

Wake UP!

* * *

The first thing he could feel when his head 'cleared' was sand. Rough, gritty sand, clinging to his clothes and hair. He was pretty sure it was sand at least. Given the rough grain that was biting into his skin really, his mind deciding to not bother with to arguing that he'd been wearing jeans and not some sort of 'skirt' when he'd last closed his eyes. He couldn't really bring himself to question that fact for the moment really, instead opting to ponder at how much he preferred the cloth of what he was wearing to the sand around him. It was far more comfortable that was for sure, though really, there was no way he could be sure it was sand he was laying on...

Of course, he didn't seem to care either way at the moment. He was too busy trying to wake up. "Hey," a voice was shouting from the side, the teen slowly opening his eyes to squint at the blinding light they were met with. "Hey," it continued, "Wake up! Come on mister," the young boy continued, his form a mere 'blur' in Katsuya's eyes at the moment. "Wake up!"

"Does this happen often," he could hear a girl mutter, Katsuya groaning as he attempted to clear his vision. "Collapsing I mean..?" The teen opted not to comment on that, instead squeezing his eyes shut as he winced in the face of the sun.

Another boy, slightly younger than the first answered the girl, the blur that Katsuya's eyes opened to merely shrugging. "Kinda?" The other blurs seemed to stare, and the boy explained. "I know that while we were further north, he collapsed after finding out a Roman wanted one of his goats... Didn't help that we were in the delta at the time. He's lucky," the voice continued rather flatly, tone clearly filled with annoyance. "If he hadn't taught me about how to price them, I wouldn't have finished his sale... And we wouldn't have been able to get food." Oh come on, they weren't _that_ tight when it came to money, and his herd was-

Wait... "Hnnng..." The teen frowned mentally, running his last few thoughts through his head. "...Goats..?" Seriously? Since when did he have goats..? And a herd of them at that, heck, who had herds at all? Katsuya slowly sat up, holding his head in one hand and wincing as his vision cleared. Alright... As he struggled to support himself enough to sit, he could see the brown grains of sand around him. So he was right about that then, but... What was with these people standing around him? (Hell, what was with the numerous wooly goats...) "Wha..." Katsuya shook himself, subconsciously grabbing a staff at his side before tilting his head. "...Kids..?" He was surrounded by... Kids?

"Wow," the girl he'd heard earlier said rather incredulously. "You really hit your head didn't you..." The heavily covered girl's comment was strengthened by the boy beside her, darkened arms crossed as he shook his head.

"Come on 'chabar', you make a palace sale and you faint," he asked with a wry scowl. "What are you a girl?"

The nearest girl in question balked at this, pale skin just barely visible under the heavy shawl she wore around her shoulders. "Hey! I'm right here Saraph!"

A snort was all she received in response, 'Saraph' merely smirking. "Yea yea yea... This is coming from the 'anag'..."

"Ooooooghhh... I told you not to call me that!"

The teen blinked, shaking his head as the two children continued to bicker. Alright... What the hell? He didn't want any fights breaking right after he woke up damn it, that wasn't- Katsuya opened his mouth to speak, only to frown and look himself over as he pulled himself to his feet. "H... Heh..?" Tanned. He was... He was _really_ tanned, like milk-chocolate shade of brown tan. Actually, so was that kid now that he thought about it, his skin and Saraph's both a few shades darker from a majority of the passers by but... The teen shook himself, looking around at the small crowd of children that had developed around what were apparently his goats. Besides 'Saraph' (who was quite obviously the tanned boy with a shirt in addition to his kilt) there was the cloaked little girl, a likely older young boy in a white kilt of sorts, a younger girl with a similar kilt and- ...Uhhhh...

"Hey mister," the older boy asked, revealing himself as the 'first voice'. "You going to be alright? You've been staring at me for a while," he added with a slight frown, semi-long hair falling into his eyes as he tilted his head. Oh don't worry, Katsuya thought to himself, eyes remaining open and unblinking with silent shock. He wasn't staring at him...

He was staring at the nude three year old on his back. The little girl appeared quite content to play with her 'steed's hair for the moment in fact, and evidently, the nudity wasn't a problem. At all.

Heck, looking around he noted as clay-built buildings and neat wooden stalls were stored as 'normal' occurrences in his mind, the ladies walking past were carrying small children with absolutely nothing on so long as they were under four it looked like. Possibly older, but seeing how the 'middle sized' kid was wearing something... Again the teen shook his head, eyes turning on the boy as he brushed the hair out of his eyes. For the moment, he just looked like some normal kid with hair otherwise lighter than most of the people around him but... Katsuya tilted his head, eyes narrowing as he pointed toward the tallest of the five children. "Dark... Magician..?" He... He looked just like...

The boy blinked, looking up with wide and clearly confused eyes as he adjusted his hold on the girl on his back. "Eh? Magic," he asked, staring up in surprise. "I know I mentioned training but..."

"You're not allowed to talk about that I thought," the girl said with a frown, crossing her arms. Beside her, the smaller girl nodded, her own arms crossed in an almost adorable pout of agreement. "Didn't you try to hide in a pot when we spotted you levitating that fig Mahaad?"

The boy, 'Mahaad' it seemed, instantly flushed, bowing his head and turning away from the girl. "Gh- Well... It's not like I can make you forget or anything," he protested, the girl rolling her eyes as she sighed.

"You shouldn't just toss the idea away though," she muttered. "After all, if you can get in trouble for this..." Mahaad appeared to bite his lip, nodding furiously while Saraph watched 'curiously' from the side.

"You know," he said somewhat idly, "I didn't even know magic existed until now..."

This gained a rather quick response from Mahaad, the boy abruptly turning with a red-faced scowl and retort. "Wha- Of course it does! Are you calling me a fraud!"

"I dunno," Saraph muttered with a shrug, "I mean... What do you mean by 'of course', it's not that hard to make a fig float! All you need is string and-"

"It was floating through magic, not string!"

"Yea well lets see you prove it then!"

"I could make you float above a pit if you want!"

"Prove it!"

"Hey hey," the girl in the kilt asked, tugging somewhat at her friend's own. "Mahaad, wha's ma'shik?" The young girl at the side was summarily ignored, shouts continuing to bounce between the boy and Saraph.

All this shouting... Katsuya rubbed his head, a feeling of annoyance growing as he looked over the children. Damn it... "Alright! That's enough," he shouted, face set into a scowl. The kids abruptly stopped arguing, turning to look up as Katsuya continued to glare. It was a feeling similar to when he'd been dreaming about Pegasus' mansion really, the look on his face right now... Annoyed as he was, he didn't feel like scowling or shouting for the moment- and yet he was. It was as though he wasn't controlling his own actions any more, as though they were predetermined, or even already done. As though this... Was only a memory. "Honestly..." Katsuya's body abruptly locked into the stance it had moved in, the teen unable to even blink on his own accord as he spoke. "Aren't you supposed to be from the palace yourself," he found himself muttering, 'Mahad' bowing his head in apparent shame. "Yea," he continued, nodding as he crossed his arms, "I recognize that face... Your father's one of the high-priests isn't he."

Mahaad continued to flush, shaking somewhat as he spoke. "It... It's not that serious..!"

"Yea right," Saraph muttered, "The closest thing I have to a royal relative is uncle Nehker, and he's not even my uncle..."

"And if you expect to see Nehker while we're here," Katsuya responded with a slight frown, "You'll behave; I promised your mother you wouldn't get into trouble while we were in the Northern areas," he continued warningly, "The village is too close. I can at least cover for you while we're in the south," he muttered under his breath, rolling his eyes.

Saraph appeared to ignore the last comment, instead balking as his smirk dropped for a more nervous expression. "H-Hey," he stuttered, "Not fair! I still want to see him, I still want too! You can't go back on your word!"

There was no response, Katsuya merely watching as Saraph continued to whine before being cut off. "Nehker," Mahaad questioned with a slight frown, Saraph turning from his childish pleadings. "I think that's the name of one of the Pharaoh's astronomers..."

"H-Hah! That's right," Saraph said with a proud grin. He brightened considerably at the chance to brag about the man he so looked up to, arms crossed as he laughed. "He was hired right out of the village, no questions asked," he boasted, the others shaking his head. "Why... His knowledge of the skies even surpasses you Priests!"

"Surpasses-" The older boy seemed to freeze in surprise momentarily, before narrowing his eyes. "Hmp! I doubt it," Mahaad said with a frown, the girls either shaking their heads or staring confusedly.

Saraph opted to ignore the boy, instead continuing his former pleadings. "So... So we're still going right," the boy asked, turning up to look at his guide. "Come on," he continued, "You promised! Pleaaaaaase? Please please please ple-" Alright, that was it...

Katsuya laughed, grabbing a staff from the ground and walking forward despite the small nagging buzz that told him there was something important he needed to do. "We are," he said with a grin, "Don't worry... We'll be getting there before you can say 'due-'"

...Duel... The teen stopped to abruptly find himself tripping forward, the path having thankfully cleared of children so that they could walk forward. 'Duel'... Duel, that word, that word didn't exist here... This...

Katsuya fell to his knees, wincing as a headache sprung up in the mental argument of what should and shouldn't be. "This isn' right," he found himself muttering, looking at his hand as he stared at the sand. The teen slowly closed his palm over a handful of sand, pulling himself to his feet and watching as the grains sifted between his fingers. Sand. Dry, golden sand, in no way similar to the grains of Japan's beaches, and yet... "This ain't righ'... Thi' 's..." Wrong.

It was wrong. The teen found himself narrowing his eyes, still staring at his now empty hand as the skin colour shifted between brown and white in a strange marbling fashion. "_But isn't it,_" a voice asked, a collective of sounds filling his ears as the children stared up from the ground in silence. Not a single one was the source, and as he stared he found himself shaking his head. And one by one they began to fade, Katsuya's eyes narrowing further while the building misted out of existence around him.

"No," he muttered with a frown, as though already doubting himself. "It isn'..." He didn't know these kids...

And yet from what he knew in the back of his mind, from what he could 'remember'... He did? "_They exist, and they do not exist,_" the voice stated cryptically, sand around them falling into black and empty space. "_In another time,_" the voices continued as his skin continued to 'fight' over its proper shade,_ "You could say they were even your friends._" His friends...

Images of the others came to mind, images of Yugi, of Honda, of Seto and Mokuba... The children he'd seen long since vanished from his mind, replaced by images of those he knew. "My friends..." Anzu, Otogi, Bakura, Mai... What happened a few moments ago he found himself asking himself, what...

There was a comforting feeling around him, his body finally settling with keeping the somewhat pale shade of the typical Japanese. As the feeling increased however he had to jump back, a stream of light brushing against his skin before snaking away to swim about him with the dozens more that filled the air.

"W-What..." G-G-Ghosts! He was surrounded by gho-

"_We are here, and we are not here... We are your friends,_" a voice whispered through a single and familiar tone synonymous to Honda's own to a near frightening extent, "_And your family,_" a slightly younger woman's voice continued. "_We are all here,_" they chorused in a crowd of familiar and unfamiliar tones both,_ "Alive and dead..._" Alive and...

Dead? "Wai'... So... I'm _dead_," the blond muttered with a swallow, shaking his head as he stared toward the lit spirits. "I... _died_?" A sudden flash came to mind, and all at once the memories of what had been 'important' came back to mind. The lightning, the duel, Malik... Malik...

_Malik_. Blond hair and a lavender vest came to mind, 'Namu's face twisting into a sneer at the back of his mind. Katsuya's eyes widened momentarily as the blond abruptly curled in on himself, hair standing on end before a large golden eye shimmered into existence between two animalistic ones. Malik... Malik was...

"I gotta warn 'm," he whispered, shaking his head as his friends again came to mind. "I gotta..." He had to get out of here..! "Hey! Hey, wake me up," he shouted in a panic, turning on the 'spirits' as they swirled about the air. "Bring me back t' life," he demanded, "Wake me up!"

"_Alive? But you are alive,_" the voices muttered, buzzing and swirling about in a snake-nest of light. "_Always alive, always, because you promised... You promised..._"

Pro- "Promised," he asked incredulously, staring up at the ghosts with narrowed eyes. "What th' hell do y' mean promised! Jus' get me back in my body already!"

"_Promised... Promised, promised,_" the ghosts muttered, the buzzing increasing in intensity._ "You... Promised... You **PROMISED,**_" the voices screeched, the spirits swirling into a bee-like swarm before charging forward with screeching wails. "_YOU PROMISED! REDEEM US, REDEEM US,_" they cried, Katsuya stumbling back in terror as the spirits swirled into a vicious and rage-filled face above the air, "_YOU PROMISED! YOU PROMISED US ALL!"_

Oh god oh god oh god-! "I don' know what yer talkin' abou'," he muttered, swallowing back his fear only to find it doubled in its place. "I don'... G-Get away from me! I don' know what th' hell yer talkin' abou'..!"

"_REMEMBER,_" the voices roared, the sound resembling a lamenting storm, "_Remember your PURPOSE,_" they wailed, scattering into pieces as they fled and swarmed the blond. "_You came for a reason, so REMEMBER!"_ Remember _what_! What was he supposed to remem-_ "There's more than Gods in this world, there's more than what it seems,_" they snarled, the formerly warm touch now burning his skin as he curled in on himself._ "You have a PURPOSE, we ALL have a purpose, so REMEMBER IT! **REMEMBER**!_"

The blond merely continued to huddle under the attack, arms proving a faulty shield as he squeezed his eyes shut. "Chabar," a clear voice abruptly shouted through the wails, Katsuya shielding his eyes and attempting to look forward as the spirits attacked. "CHABAR!" Who... Who was shouting..! The blond's eyes quivered, hands covering his head as he bit back shouts. Who was... "..._JONOUCHI,_" the voice roared, the tone only just slightly familiar to him. Something reached through the spirits with the voice, something just as familiar to his current self as it was the memories dotted in the back of his mind. "TAKE MY HAND," the voice roared, the blond still staring in silence. "_TAKE MY HAND DAMN IT!"_

Hand..? Through the swirling white he could make out a figure, face and form obscured by the blinding light. Almost as ghostly as the souls around him it seemed to float forward, white form a mere mist with a blank and identity-less face. '_Grab on_,' the voice was shouting through the screams as Katsuya swallowed another wave of paralyzing terror, '_Grab ON!_' A hand reached forward, and still the blond stared. Hand... It was... "GRAB ON!"

With nothing else to lose the blond thrusted his hand forward and did just that, eyes squeezed shut as the wails of the spirits vanished from sight and mind in an instant. Wails vanished into non-existence, endless darkness faded into clouds of darkness. "Where... Where," he found himself muttering as he was pulled forward, the clusters of smoke seemingly passing him by as they shifted into more calm and peaceful looking clouds. The white spirit pulling him forward appeared to ignore what was around them, the sight almost 'normal' to the shade as the blond behind him stared in wonder. "Where are..."

"Shh..." The voice of the spirit was calm now, a slight buzz of familiarity that only barely brought Katsuya's mind to attention. "Come on dear friend," the voice whispered, pulling the blond toward a single light that was developing in the darkness. The shade turned his nigh-formless face back to his apparent 'friend', expression unreadable as he spoke. "You need to wake up... Remember?"

Wake up..?

Voices flooded the air as he was set down to the ground, a strange 'moving' sensation coming over as they touched down. "_Jonouchi-kun,_" he could hear Yugi cry loudly, joined in by others at the side. "_Katsuya-nii,_" Mokuba's own voice screamed, the tones easily picked out from the crowd as their forms slowly faded into view around the area. "_Wake up,_" an aggravated woman's voice muttered, the blond standing over the 'light' as it cleared into his collapsed body. "_Wake UP,_" she growled, Katsuya looking back to the ghost briefly in more than evident confusion.

"Hey... Who are y'," he asked, the 'spirit' briefly turning from where it had been about to vanish with a still blank stare.

Silence hovered over the field only for a moment, before the ghost stepped forward. "...Someone you used to know," it muttered vaguely, Katsuya frowning in response. "Now then," he continued, pushing the blond back with a jolt,

* * *

"_WAKE UP!_"

Katsuya's eyes flung open with a jolt as the shouts pierced the air, slowly bringing his hand up as he pulled himself to his knees through sheer subconscious thought. '_He's getting up,_' someone to the side called out, the name of the source momentarily passing him by as his hands numbly gripped whatever cards had remained in them. '_He's getting... JONOUCHI,_' they called out, a few bits of laughter dotting the air as they celebrated. '_JONOUCHI!_'

His mind slowly cleared as the shouts continued, a name attaching itself to each voice as it sounded. "Nihan," Shizuka was shouting, her own voice drowned out by the next call.

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba wailed, the boy's voice clearly filled with worry.

The shouts continued to fill the air, Honda, Anzu, Mai, Yugi... "Jonouchi," the 'Other' Yugi called out, joined in by his lighter half in an instant. "_Jonouchi-kun!_"

"Ung..." The blond shook himself, stumbling forward on his feet as he opened his eyes to the field around him. The dark night sky had cleared of clouds, and the cool summer air was a stunning contrast from the heat of the sanded area he'd stood in moments before. It was more than clear he'd woken up, returned from whatever bizarre dream or trial that was, but the duel... He swallowed, stepping toward 'not-Malik' as shouts faded into the background of his thoughts.

'_The winner is Jonouchi Katsuya,_' Isono was shouting from behind, Katsuya ignoring him as he ran forward and past the working doctors. '_The next match will be announced in thirty minutes,'_ he continued,_ 'After the competitor Ishtar Malik has been cared for-_'

The doctor and guards balked and protested as the blond continued to ignore the cries, reaching for 'Malik's body in a near panic. "Hey," he shouted, rolling the man over with a swallow as he paled. 'Malik' said nearly nothing in response, gasping for breath as he looked up with dull eyes and paling skin. All around the field... Cheers from his friends, silence from Seto, orders to move from the doctor, the shouts were in the back of his mind... But from 'Namu'...

"_Aaaagh..._" His hair was standing on end, his hands digging into his head as he screamed,_ "AAAAAAGGGHH!_"

"Hnng... Ghk... Hk..." 'Malik's voice pulled him back to the present, rasping tones hitting the air as the doctor himself momentarily froze. "That... That was a good fight," the man whispered, wincing back a wave of pain as he continued. "You fought with honor... You recognized my fault, my mistake, when I myself did not... I..."

Ragged coughs filled the air, Katsuya swallowing as his eyes widened. "H-Hey," he said worriedly, "Calm down man... Doctors are here," he continued as he moved somewhat to the side, "They're righ'-"

"Rishid... My name is 'Rishid'," the man coughed, squeezing his eyes shut. His face was contorted with pain as he continued to force himself to speak, choking on his words. "I am... The guardian and... And shadow to Malik... I... ...Please," he begged, the doctor's assistant briefly blocking Katsuya's view as they attempted to work, "Please... There's another," Rishid whispered cryptically, "Inside..." Inside..? But the Rod didn't have a spirit, he'd have- "Stop him... _Save him_," he cried, the blond finally understanding Rishid's words and turning to the side with horror. "Malik is... Malik... Is... Ghn... Hn..."

"His pulse is moving way to fast," one of the guards was muttering, shoving Katsuya further to the side with a panicked shout. "Get the paddles!"

"Charging to 100," Kyouko was saying in response, the small machine at the side as numbers appeared at the screen. The doctor grabbed the 'paddles', small sticky patches without another word as the second guard tore Rishid's shirt open. The patches were hurriedly applied to the man's chest, and as Syn began work on 'Rishid' Kyouko's shouts faded further into the background.

"CLEAR," the doctor cried, the body 'jumping' just slightly as a pained shout came from the side.

"Ahhhh...! AAAAHHH!" Those on the deck and field however stared at Rishid, Katsuya's eyes wide as the pulse was checked over.

"Starting CPR," Syn announced, patches pulled off as he began. "Get that board ready!"

"Right!"

"Nghaaaaaa! AAAAAGGGHHH!" Why was he screaming... Why was he screaming louder as Rishid's pulse-

"Got him," the doctor abruptly shouted, the heart having been looked to just soon enough for it to begin properly with the added help. "Get him down-stairs and-"

"GRAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Katsuya slowly turned back to the side, eyes widening as much as possible as his own screams hit the air.

"Yugi!" Oh _shit!_ "YUGI," Katsuya shouted, eyes wide as a rush of nausea and fear hit the air for no apparent reason save the sudden quiet around them. "He's BEHIND YOU," he roared in a panic, the doctor and guards both momentarily turning to the blond in shock. "MALIK IS-"

"No..." A cold chill came over the air, those on the arena staring at the foreign blond as the screams cut short. "No... Malik was never 'really' here," the teen responded eeriely, Yugi merely turning with wide and horror filled eyes at the sudden switch from terror to control. Shizuka was pulled back immediately by Ryuzaki as low chuckling filled the air, those around immediately putting as much space between themselves and the blond as possible. The area around Malik cleared immediately as the blond chuckled, his hair standing completely on end as a wicked and animal gleam came into his eyes. "Just a 'shadow'," he sneered, doctors turning to a barely audible shout from the radio at their sides.

'_Get to the lift,_' Seto's voice could be heard muttering, the doctors hurriedly strapping Rishid to an emergency board and heading for the field's opposite side at the words. '_Get him into his room and keep a staff member in there at all times,_' she continued,_ '__NOW__._' For a moment, the source of this paranoia could have been questioned, even passed off as 'troublesome'. The actions taken in response could be seen as simply following orders But as what Seto saw in Malik's eyes was revealed to everyone else, it became apparent that this was something that had everyone just as on edge. That message brought by the change in actions and appearances could only been proven by the next words out of the blond's mouth, words that managed to hold everyone fearfully in place.

"You want to know who 'Malik' is," the blond was muttering with a sadistic grin, voice having changed almost completely within the sudden switch. "You're looking at him... The shadow, the one you saw," he continued darkly, gesturing to himself with a sneer, "He's just pathetic." S-So then there _was_ a spirit in the Rod? "A weakling... _Nothing_ compared to me," Malik continued with a scowl. "Yet because of his blind faith in _that man_ I'm never in control, never here... Hnhnhnhnhn..." More chuckling filled the air, waves of fear rolling off almost all who stood before the teen. "That boy... So afraid of the 'dark'," he stated almost plainly, "But not me! The darkness is _here_," he said with a growing grin, face rather akin to a hyena's as he stood tall before them. "And I _love_ the dark..."

"You... 'Another' Malik," Yugi whispered incredulously, the blond turning on him with yet another laugh.

"Hnhnhnhn... HAHAHAHA! 'Another' you, 'Another' Bakura," he trailed off with a grin, eyes wide with madness. "Shadows fighting shadows, how _ridiculous_... You're mere shades of your former selves, spirits with no purpose in this world, mere _fragments_ of souls! But _me_..." The blond briefly broke into another bought of laughter, shaking his head with a leering grin. "Oh I'm far _more_ than that... I don't need to be tied down to some ancient object I have no care for... Though I have to say," he went on 'idly', most of the others swallowing in unease. "That man's loss was more useful than I thought... Looks like only those with ties to these 'items' can control the gods, not that I really have a use for that pawn any more... Hnhnhnhnhn..."

A snort came from the side, Seto staring forward with narrowed eyes. She'd sent her brother away long ago it seemed, Mokuba mysteriously absent from the field along with Isono. The others weren't so lucky however, stuck with Malik standing almost directly between them and the lift. As Seto spoke however, Isono appeared from behind the blond to gesture to them, Malik seemingly distracted by the sheer gall displayed at the interruption... And despite distractions, Ryuzaki had already caught the message, fleeing behind the blond with Shizuka at his side as he sent the others a look. And continuing with her distraction, Seto continued to speak. "Psh! Millennium Items and 'ancient ties'... Explain how any of that has to do with _me,_" she growled lowly, "Because the last time I checked, 'Obelisk' didn't malfunction in my hands.

This was probably the worst possible thing she could have asked given her apparent hate for this sort of thing, though at least it got Honda and Otogi past Malik and into the lift as a result. Just himself, Anzu, Yugi remained now, their own escape halted by the brief answer Malik was giving. "Hnhnhnhnha! It has _everything_ to do with you," Malik shouted with a laugh, the others on the deck slowly putting more distance between themselves and the blond as the Egyptian howled. "You can't escape the destiny of thousands of years, 'Priest'! Your very image has been carved into time, and there's no escaping! The final battle has already started," he continued with a grin, Anzu vanishing into the lift as those remaining on deck swallowed or alternatively glared. "And this ship is heading into a one-way trip to the realms of the dead... Hnhnhahahahaha..." Seto's eyes continued to narrow as the laughter filled the air, the blond before them crossing his arms with a grin. "Oh... And don't think I saw through your little distraction," Malik added with a chuckle, Yugi and Katsuya both swallowing as the lift closed over and vanished from sight. "I could kill you with just a thought, whenever I liked... But that just wouldn't be _fun_!" F-Fun! The blond's eyes narrowed just slightly, inhuman expression twisting further as winds blew past the four. "I'm going to play along with your little game tournament," he continued, a fierce wind appearing to blow as the 'Other Yugi' stared Malik down, "But believe me when I say... A single sign of 'cheating', a single attempt to 'deal with me'," the blond 'warned', "And I'll use my regular methods instead. You've already tried to fool me once," he added with a laugh, Seto abruptly growing pale from where she stood. "Consider the days of the first victim numbered..."

With not another word Malik turned from the three, the elevator lift having arrived just seconds before. The lift doors opened swiftly as the blond stood before them, and in a single swift motion the bag on his shoulders was pulled down. And from its pockets, a single gold staff appeared, gleaming in the moonlight as Malik entered the lift...

Followed by a fierce, raging flame with tooth-lined eyes. And below on the main deck, in the darkness of the eighth room, tears began to fall to the ground, visions of terror and death filling her mind.

The next battle would soon begin...

And with it, the death toll would ring louder than it ever had.

* * *

Holding back audible panic had been somewhat difficult on the way back down to the 'main' area of the airship. There was no way for them to get back to the ship until the lift returned after all, and the fact was, there was also no way of telling what Malik considered 'playing by the rules'. In the end however, the unwelcome distraction from his own injuries had the group safely tucked away in 'Rishid's room, with short excuses and explanations coming into play while Seto locked herself and her brother away elsewhere. For the moment, no one had asked why he'd warned Rishid against Ra, nor had they asked about knowing who he was...

There were far more important things at hand, and it was those things that had a guard posted inside Bakura's locked room while Dr. Syn checked over a now stabilized Rishid. "How is he," Shizuka was asking the man with a swallow, rubbing her arms as she attempted to get over the terror she'd felt mere moments before.

The doctor turned from his seat, slowly standing to answer the girl as he held a clipboard. "From what we can tell," the doctor stated calmly, "The shock hasn't left any permanent damage... There's no explanation as to how this all happened of course," he continued, shaking his head as a flash of obvious confusion came over him, "But so long as he rests he should wake up within a day or so." Hopefully.

The others nodded at this, worried stares moving over to the man on the bed. "So then... This man," Anzu began, eyes just barely shadowed before she was interrupted.

"...'Rishid'," Katsuya muttered, a frown on his face. The others turned, staring momentarily as the blond went on. "He said 's name was 'Rishid' b'fore he collapsed..."

"'Rishid'..." The group turned, Syn going back to his papers as the teens spoke amongst themselves. "That sounds almost like 'Rashid'," Otogi added with a frown. "That's an arabic name... I think it means 'rightly guided'... Now that I think about it, I'm pretty sure 'Malik' means 'King'," he continued, the frown deepening as the others raised their eyebrows.

Rightly guided... And king. Yeaaaa... "I'm not even touching that one," Ryuzaki muttered under his breath, dodging a look from Shizuka as he sighed. "Man... What the hell is with my luck," he moaned, holding his head in his hands. "First Bakura ends up comatose and now I'm sharing a room with a sociopath..."

"Not if I can help it," Shizuka muttered, arms crossed as a look of stubborn rage came over her. "There's too many people getting hurt in this tournament... We can't just sit here and wait for the worst," she continued, expression quickly sinking into fear and worry despite the comment.

A few of the others as well nodded, tongues more or less held tight. "First Bakura, now 'Rishid'," Anzu muttered, shaking her head. "This man gave up everything for Malik," the woman continued almost depressingly. "Only to be betrayed completely!"

"Betrayed after all that..." Again heads turned, this time stopping at the oldest of the group of friends. "I almost feel sorry for him," Mai whispered, eyes closing over somewhat. "Going through all that..."

"...And to think... Malik was behind us the entire time," Honda added with a swallow, going somewhat green in the face at the thought. "The _entire time_... And we didn't notice..!"

"I jus' don' get how this all happened," Katsuya muttered, the blond shaking himself. He collapsed into one of the other chairs in the room, rubbing his forehead with a swallow. "We were both attacked by Ra... Th' dragon got 's both," he continued to protest, "Equal power! So why did I get up while he..."

"It's probably just something you guys were wearing," Ryuzaki said with a shrug, the group blinking. "Heck, lightning might be dangerous, but it's still quick! There have been people who were hit seven times that walked away," he continued, wisely ignoring the stairs as the conversation went on.

Alright, he'd give Ryuzaki that he supposed... "It wasn' jus' lightn'in though," he muttered under his breath, the others appearing to frown as his words failed to register in their minds. "It was..." Real. A controlled attack. It was... Katsuya shook himself, changing the subject before anyone realized what he'd said. "...When I was knocked out," he began, crossing his arms as he slumped into the chair, "I had no way 'f really knowin' tha' I wasn' already awake, no way... An' this guy... He was probably in th' same situation, so why..."

Yugi suddenly seemed to tense, frowning somewhat as he stared toward his friend. "...Jonouchi," he began seriously, his lighter half nowhere to be seen for the moment. "Earlier during the match, you said that Rishid was a 'true duelist'..." He trailed off as the others turned, Katsuya swallowing and staring while his friend continued. And here he'd thought he escaped questioning... So much for that. "You... How did you know who he 'was'," Yugi asked, the frown deepening as his friend stared at the ground. "You said you knew _before_ the ship took off... But_ how_..?"

How... He couldn't answer. He couldn't answer, not now, not ever, not while all of this was going on..! He'd never even imagined that 'Malik' would go completely nuts after all, never even imagined... So while he told himself he'd find away to warn the others if he saw anything, he couldn't just come out with this. Not yet. Not... "A feeling," he answered in the end, staring at the ground as he broke the silence that had settled over the room. "I jus'... Had a feelin'," Katsuya muttered. "...Maybe... Maybe tha's how I woke up," he continued, eyes growing somewhat dim as he went on. "While I was knocked out, I had this feelin'... Tha' what I w's seein' wasn' real... An' I could hear voices," he continued somewhat blankly. "I heard Honda, Shizuka, S... Kaiba," he corrected, shaking his head. "I could hear all these voices... All tellin' me tha' they were there... Tha' you were there," he continued, gesturing to the crowd. "Maybe... B'cause 'f all you guys," the blond muttered with a swallow, "I was able t' get th' strength to get up when he couldn'..."

Because while he had friends, while someone had somehow sought him out in his own mind... Rishid had no one. Silence came through the air at those words, pale and confused expressions answering them as silence again settled about the room. It was an awkward silence, the sort that none could really hope to break but in the end it was Shizuka who did just that. The girl turned toward the closed door, arms folded over themselves, and with a sigh made her decision. "...Nihan," she asked, turning to her brother as the blond looked up from his seat. "...Which way is Kaiba-san's room?" K-

Seto's room! The blond choked somewhat, the others staring somewhat incredulously as he attempted to think of an answer. "Kaiba's room," the other Yugi asked, still holding control over the body for fear of some unseen attack from Malik. The boy's frown deepened with confusion, shaking his head somewhat as he answered. "Why exactly..?"

Shizuka merely held an oddly determined stare, arms crossed as her brother coughed. Obviously she found her reason more than obvious... And obviously, they weren't getting a straight answer either. "Er... Follow me," he eventually said somewhat nervously, the others raising their eyebrows at the request.

"You know where Kaiba's room is," Otogi asked, tilting his head somewhat as Mai brushed past the boy.

"Ohhh... It's probably the room with the '1' on it," she muttered 'knowingly', rolling her eyes somewhat as she gestured to the other doors. "Given the pattern I mean..." As Otogi coughed somewhat in response to this, Mai turned back to Katsuya. The woman appeared to be smiling despite all that was going on really, and it was only at that moment that a rather cold feeling rose up in the back of Katsuya's mind. Mai... Mai hadn't dueled yet, and besides Seto and the eighth duelist that left- "So," the woman began, cutting her friend's thoughts short as the blond stared. "You heard all our voices before you woke up," she asked, the blond turning with a slight jump. "Even mine?" Even-

Oh crap! She wanted to know that! ...Actually, he was fairly glad he didn't hear any ghosts with her voice... Though to explain that aloud... "Er... W-Well..." Aha... Ahaha... Truth be told, the only voices he heard, at least, the only ones he'd recognized, were the three he'd mentioned in the room. Heck, he'd gotten a few snippets from Mokuba and Yugi as well, but he was pretty sure that that was because he'd been about to wake up! The only reason he knew Seto was one of the voices was because he didn't think she'd be shouting at him in front of everyone really... ...But oooh... How to explain that... ...Well, he supposed he couldn't really lie about this one. "A-Act'lly... I think th' voices were from some past memory," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head. Maybe from a while before, or something weird... There'd been _something_. "Anyways... We don' see each other often," he continued with a cough, "So... I didn' act'lly hear too many... ...Ah..." Ehhh... Katsuya rubbed his head, before shaking it off as Mai's expression appeared to fall somewhat. "It's nothin' though," he said with a laugh, hurriedly changing the subject. Anything to get the dream out of his head really, though he really hoped this didn't get the woman ticked at him. "It's nothin' alrigh'? We're friends! No matter what, we're friends, an'... An' I'm sure you'll show up in another dream righ'," he continued, a mental voice telling him to stop diggin the hole before he hit South America. Of course, thinking now, a dream with Mai in it wouldn't be too bad... Preferably one that didn't involve attacking ghosts granted, but- "Ow ow ow ow ow..!"

The blond quickly found himself dragged off by Anzu and Shizuka both, the older gripping his cheek tightly as he was dragged half-way up the stairs. Katsuya winced as the cheek was released, hand instantly rubbing it over as the women both shook their heads. "Ooooohhhh... Jonouchi..."

"Nihan, of all the things to say," his sister continued, arms crossed as she frowned.

"Owww..." Of all what things to say? Did they have to pull him off like that! The blond continued to rub his cheek, pinch mark slowly fading as he scowled. "Man... What th' hell guys..." A sudden smack came through the air, Katsuya's hands flying for his head as Anzu raised her eyebrows. "Gh- O-Oi," he shouted angrily, his sister again crossing her arms. "Sh-Shizuka!"

"How could you be so _stupid_," she hissed, shaking her head as both girls stared and scowled.

Stupid? "Eh? Shizuka," he muttered, "What are you-"

"You just told her you heard everyone _but_ her," Anzu continued with a scowl, "Are you really that dense?"

"Wha?" But he didn't say anything like that, he'd- "Anzu, I never said-"

"You're an IDIOT!"

"B-But I-"

"An AHOU!"

"Sh-Shizuka!"

"Ahhhh..." The shouts and one-sided insults cut short, the trio turning to look down the stairs as a fourth voice cut through the air. "...Mai went to her room," Ryuzaki said from the side, poking his head in the stair well as the others moved past him. "And Malik's room door is open," he continued with a cough, "So I'm going to try and get my stuff out before he gets back from... Whatever he's doing..." Yea, lets not think about the 'whatever' part.

Shizuka blinked at the statement, worry immediately filling her face as she looked down from the stairs. "Gh- Malik's... K-Keichi," she protested with wide eyes, "Are you sure that's safe?"

The boy nodded, shrugging as the others turned back to look at him. "Of course! Besides," Ryuzaki continued with a sigh, "It's probably now or never really..." Well, that was always a good point, but... "As to where he went," he added with a shudder, "I sure as hell don't want to know."

More silence filled the air, the boy's friend slowly nodding despite the un-ease. "Alright... But be careful..." As Shizuka watched her friend leave with increasing worry Anzu turned back to Katsuya, arms crossed.

"We'll talk later," she growled, the blond before her merely rubbing his cheek in confusion. "Until then," she added with a frown, "Dealing with Malik is probably more important than you sticking your foot in your mouth..."

"Way more important than whatever you're talking about," Honda muttered, receiving an icy look from Anzu in response. The teen through his hands in the air with mock defense, looking from the top of the stairs and shaking his head. "H-Hey! I'm just guessing here!"

A sigh came from further ahead, the others turning as Yugi cut the argument short. "Kaiba's room is just upstairs," Yugi said somewhat plainly, his friends following behind with nods. "Come on," he continued, the group running into the hall as fast as the cramped stair-well allowed, "I'll show you where-"

The boy abruptly cut himself off, blinking as Mokuba turned from the door he'd been heading for. "Ah- Yugi... Katsuya-nii..." The group stared, coming out into the hall as Mokuba idly swiped the door with his key card. "What are you guys all doing up here..?" Oh, well that was easy.

"We need to speak with Se... W' Kaiba," Katsuya said somewhat nervously, rubbing his neck as Shizuka nodded seriously in response. "It's abou' Malik," he continued, "An'..."

Mokuba merely nodded, tapping the door code on the key-pad that appeared with swift ease. "Got it; nii-sama just went in," he continued plainly, "So he shouldn't be busy with anything..." Key word being 'shouldn't', given what happened the last time they went in unannounced... "Nehh, Nii-sama," the boy shouted, the door swishing open as he ran into the room. "Nii-sama," he continued loudly, "The others need to talk to you!"

"Hn? Others?" Seto looked up from where she'd been sorting through her deck, eyes narrowed in slight confusion. The woman's coat was thankfully still wrapped around her shoulders to hide what was a fairly feminine figure despite otherwise suppressed breasts, and as she folded the deck back up her agitation was more than evident. "..._You_," she muttered, crossing her arms and legs from her seat. "...I should have guessed..."

Hey, hey what was that supposed to mean..? Yugi merely sighed at what were now accepted as unchangeable antics, walking into the room with ease as the others hesitantly followed behind. Within an instant the two had switched again, the lighter half evidently being found more trusting when it came to 'arguments' given obvious friction between the more violent of personalities and the woman before them. "We need to turn the airship around," he said with a swallow, looking over to Shizuka and the others as the former gave an 'approving' nod. "There's too many problems happening on the ship," the boy continued as his confidence rose somewhat, "And it's only been the second match of the finals... Each of the losers have entered comas," he protested worriedly, "And if this keeps up..."

"Too many people are getting hurt," Shizuka said with a swallow, the girl shaking her head and cutting her friend off. "And Keichi, he could be next," she protested with obvious panic, "He had agreed to share the room with 'Malik' just before this! I know you have doctors on this ship," the girl continued, bowing her head as she went on. "But a doctor can't stop a psychopath! We need to turn the ship-"

"No."

The others balked, Katsuya gritting his teeth at the sudden response. "O-Oi! What kind of response is that," he barked, Mokuba looking up with slight worry as Seto stared almost blankly in response. "You didn' even give it any thought," he continued angrily, "What's with tha'!"

"Kaiba, listen to what we're saying," Honda said with a growl, the woman quite easily ignoring him it seemed. "There's a _killer_ on this thing! I don't care if we don't know what he's done," he continued in protest, "He almost killed our friends, and he definitely said he'd try again! I'm not about to wait and see if that's true!"

Still Seto ignored the group, Shizuka momentarily taking in a deep breath before stepping forward. "Please... I'm begging you," the girl said clearly, bowing steeply as the woman before her raised her eyebrows. "For all our sakes, turn this ship around before anyone dies!"

"If I turn it around," Seto muttered in response, "You _WILL_ die."

The group tensed, Otogi growing pale as a dead silence came over the air. "...What the hell do you mean, 'we'll all die'," he whispered, swallowing as he was met with an ice cold glare.

"Try to think clearly for at least a few moments so you can keep up with this," the woman began, eyes narrowed as she turned on the crowd. "Malik Ishtar is dangerous, there's no doubt about that; he's a wanted criminal in Egypt and the leader of a world-wide crime ring centred on cards and ancient artifacts both. But for reasons beyond me he's agreed to tie himself to the rules of nothing but a simple card-game tournament... Namely _this_ one. So long as we continue as though nothing happened," she continued on with well hidden distaste, "He keeps to himself. No one dies, no one is injured. I don't know why he's doing this," Seto continued lowly, "But rest assured, I am not simply 'standing by' as this happens. I have guards and cameras to watch his every move should he decide to try anything else, and the moment we arrive at our destination there will be a helicopter for the victims onboard and another to arrest Malik. The doors are thick enough to withstand a blast from a torpedo if it comes to locking ourselves in, but rather than risking all our necks by pissing off a madman, I plan on keeping cautious and preventing any casualties on my ship! So," she spat, narrowing her eyes as she stood before the crowd and finished her whirlwind rant. "You can whine about wanting to go home all you like... But if you plan on doing it in something other than a casket," she snarled, "I would _listen_... Now get out of my room," Seto spat, leering down at the group before her as they held back a cringe. "And the next time that door opens, it had _better_ be important..."

The crowd nodded weakly, wide eyed expressions marred only by the scowl on the 'other Yugi's face in response. "A-Alright nii-sama," Mokuba eventually said with a swallow, turning to the others with a pale face while he coughed. "We... We'll just go now, and..."

-**ATTENTION,**- a voice called out through the air, cutting the boy off.** -The third semi-final match will now be decided,**- Isono announced, Seto turning from where she'd looked away from the others as the group followed her gaze to the PA system. -**All remaining duelists are to report to the dining hall!**- Ah...

"Third match," Katsuya muttered with a swallow, before hurriedly stepping back as Seto moved forward and past the crowd. Of course, since Seto hadn't fought yet, she was required to show up... The others slowly filtered out behind the woman, Katsuya shaking his head as he held up the rear. Malik's grinning face was etching itself into his mind, never leaving... Laughing through the back of his mind and distracting him enough that he found himself stopping in the middle of the hall. "...He's one 'f th' competitors too," he found himself muttering, biting his lip as he stared at the ground. He was one of them... And there was a high chance he'd be against someone they knew.

Mai walked past at that moment, a strong chill travelling through his spine as the realization struck him cold. Seconds before he'd been worried that Seto would have to face the mad-man, that despite all previous experience telling him that Seto would win, the worst would end up happening. That the 'darkness' Malik spoke of would fill the air and everyone would be gone... Slaughtered like some sacrificial lamb.

But Malik had tied himself to the duels, promising he would hold his blade. And as a flash came to mind he quickly realized why, the blonds eyes widening as he forced his body to continue standing. It would be slow... Slow, but undeniably painful he realized, slipping into the washroom at the side and taking advantage of no longer having to be present at the match-ups. Whoever stood in Malik's way would face the powers of the Millennium Rod, but it wouldn't be 'mind control'. It would be far different, far... Darker, far more dangerous, far more...

For in Malik's mind, this was all a game and the loser was going to die. So what better game to play a voice in the back of his mind muttered, than a 'Shadow Game'? What other choice could their possibly be than to send up the powers of the Millennium Items for the sick amusement of its owner, forcing all those at the side to watch?

In Malik's mind, there was no other choice, none at all, not right now. And as Katsuya sunk against the door with his head in his hands, he already knew what numbers were being pulled from the mouths of the Blue-Eyes White Dragons. Number Four, for Mai, the woman leaving the room before the second could be read...

And number 5, belonging to the competitor who wasn't even in the room at that time. Malik was fighting next. And his opponent... Was one of the two he'd feared for.

He almost wondered if turning around would have been better now. If facing Malik himself with something other than cards would turn out better, or even just throwing him overboard and acting as though nothing had happened. But no matter what his mind kept shouting back about it being impossible, about it never happening, about things that had to be done. But why, he asked himself, slumping further against the door as he struggled to calm himself. _Why_?

"_Jonouchi,_" the stern voice of his friend asked, tone laced with subtle confusion and worry._ "What are you doing in here again?_" Again? Oh right...

He'd come in here before... He really had to think of a better way to do this, didn't he? The blond turned, staring as the Other Yugi appeared at the side to take a seat. Had it not been for the fact that half of his body was still inside the wall, he'd have had to ask why he didn't hear the door open. As it was, all oddities aside, he found himself shaking his head and pulling himself to his feet. "I... I jus' felt a lil' sick 's all," he muttered, finding himself unable to bother caring about if his friend bought the lie or not. "Pro'lly from th' attack earlier," he added, again shaking himself as he looked back at the spirit beside him. He needed to go out... Cheer Mai on... _Warn_ her...

Yugi stared at his friend for a brief moment, before nodding as he came into the room. "_I see,"_ he muttered, hands stowed in his pockets as the room fell into a short and awkward silence._ "...Mai is fighting next,_" he stated after a few moments, Katsuya nodding dully.

"I know," he muttered, not caring that he was receiving a blank stare in response.

"_...She left before her opponent was announced. ...It's Malik,_" Yugi continued, eyes narrowing slightly with worry as his friend again seemed to hold no reaction save a slight shiver.

"...I know," he again answered, swallowing back a choke as Yugi stared.

Briefly the teen looked as though he was going to ask something, but he instead opted to continue with what would otherwise seem to be idle conversation. "_...She asked me to pass a message... 'Don't cheer for me', that's what she said... Apparently,_" Yugi continued, looking at his friend from the corner of his eye,_ "She's decided that she can only fight alone..._"

"I _know_..!" The blond's last response came out as a shout, Katsuya holding his head as he shook from where he stood. "I know," he muttered, gripping the counter for support, "I..."

Yugi appeared to bite his lip, vanishing and re-appearing at his friend's side with a worried frown. "_...Jonouchi,_" he stated quietly, usually tense and commanding voice shifting to more comforting tones._ "If there's something you want to talk about, I might not understand... But I'm always here... And I'm willing to listen,_" he added, receiving no answer in response. Of course... Of course he was willing, he was his friend but...

But if he told him about the duels..! Katsuya sat in silence for a moment, shadows appearing to fill the back of his mind as he ran over his options. No time... This wasn't the time, not... "...We need t' be up there," he finally said, turning around to steel himself before pushing through the door. "B'fore anything happens," he continued seriously, "We need t' be there... I don' care what she said," the blond growled, charging through the hall toward the lift, "I'm shoutin' as loud as I can..!"

"_Hn!_" The blond's friend smirked, apparently finding the returned 'good mood' enough to hold back any questions he obviously had._ "Good,_" Yugi said with a grin, following his friend into the lift and watching as the doors closed for the device to rush upward. "_I expected nothing le-_" The spirit abruptly froze, looking up and vanishing from sight without any more warning than a fear filled expression on his face.

"Eh- Y-Yugi!" The blond tensed, staring at the spot where the spirit had stood moments before. Where... Where did he..! The lift doors opened just as those thoughts came to mind, Katsuya charging out of the lift only to stumble and choke as a sudden pressuring feeling came over him. Darkness... A heavy, endless darkness that refused to leave was now sitting across the air, coating the arena like a thick mantle of cloth. It was a complete and utter darkness that blocked the sky from sight, leaving nothing but shadowed figures of those on the arena in its wake, each one seemingly illuminated by nothing whatsoever...

Yet he had no troubles breathing he realized, looking up at where Mai was clearly succumbing to fatigue before the battle even began. He stumbled, and even choked that was true, but only from surprise. So how... How was it that after Yugi's own stories of the 'shadow games', that he could stand so easily...

"MAI," the others shouted from the side, the woman in question turning with eyes that were clearly filled with fear and shock both. "MAI YOU CAN'T LOSE," they announced, Mokuba notably missing from Seto's side. For his safety, Katsuya found himself muttering, he was kept back for his safety...

Again his thoughts were cut short, still more shouts coming from the crowd. "Beat him," still others called from the sides, Katsuya running over to join them as they cheered their friend on. "You can do it," they roared, "Come on!"

The woman tensed, gritting her teeth despite obvious sensations of fatigue running over her at the moment. "You... I told you all to stay below deck," she roared, narrowing her eyes. "I fight on my own! All your shouts are doing is distracting me, don't you realize that?" Distracting? Pah!

"You think we care abou' what you said," Katsuya retorted, Mai jumping as the blond moved to the side of the arena to look up at her. "We're not watchin' y' ruin yerself," he continued, fists clenching while he yelled. "We already know yer a good duelist Mai... Y' don' need t' fight alone t' prove tha'! You're our friend..! So don't push yourself to prove otherwise damn it!"

Mai continued to stare at the blond, expression momentarily falling into confusion. "...You..."

"Hnhnhnhnhnhn..." Dark chuckling came from the side, Katsuya swallowing nervously as the laughter seemed to echo through the air. "_Friends_... That sort of pathetic connection just makes the game more fun," Malik sneered with a grin, the Egyptian having traded his lavender jacket for a cloak identical to that of Rishid's. Gleaming brightly in some unseen source of light the Millennium Rod was in his hand and held tightly at his side, Malik's animal grin instilling terror in each of their hearts as they watched him speak. "There's nothing like a sacrifice in front of those you care about... The looks on the faces of the witnesses... Hnhnhnhnhn..."

"Gh... Bastard," Katsuya hissed under his breath, only to find himself distracted by the mutterings of those behind him.

"Man... What's with this fog," Honda rasped, shaking his head as the others turned. Honda seemed to speak with an almost hoarse tone coating his voice, the teen gripping his throat and attempting to blink off whatever was affecting it. A majority of them were in weak conditions in fact, Ryuzaki even clutching his chest and leaning against the side, Shizuka gripping the railing and taking just as laboured breaths. "I can barely breathe," Honda muttered, the comment appearing to apply to most everyone in the area.

"The entire sky has gone dark too," Otogi added, swallowing back a cough as he held his head. "What _is_ this..."

"Oh... You haven't guessed," Malik asked with a grin, chuckling as he crossed his arms to leer at the crowd below. "Why don't you ask your _friend_..?"

Gh... Katsuya swallowed glancing to the side as he realized that Yugi had again switched places with his 'Other'. Like himself, the 'other Yugi' appeared largely unaffected by the shadows. As to what that meant... "This..."

This wasn't good. "This is a 'shadow game'," Yugi muttered with a swallow, eyes wide as the others turned their attentions to him. "This... MAI," he shouted in a panic, the woman turning just slightly as he called out to her in warning. "If you lose this game you lose your life, watch yourself! Mai," he continued, the woman narrowing her eyes, "This game is..."

"Not good... Not good, not..." Katsuya shook his head as he stepped back behind the others, bring his hands to his ears as panic rose into his eyes. Maybe Yugi could hear it too... Maybe he was used to it, maybe that was why... "MAI," he screamed, cupping his hands and watching as the woman stared. "You can't take this match, it's too dangerous!"

The others of the crowd turned back, Yugi himself holding silent as looks of shock and surprise came over them. "..._Jonouchi_?" Katsuya as well held his tongue, fists closed over tightly as he continued to hold his stare at the field. He didn't want any caskets alright? He didn't... He didn't want any one to die damn it!

But as Isono announced the duel start, most of the words he received in response to the warnings were blocked out by screams of terror and rage both, with no apparent source to speak of. Screams of countless voices, of men, women, children... And the words they shouted from across the field, the words that it seemed he alone could hear...

Made Yugi's warning seem almost pointless.

"_REDEEM US,_" the unseen shades were crying, the darkness appearing to increase with each shout._ "YOU PROMISED US! REDEEM US!_" But amid the shouts there was nothing he could do.

Nothing he could do save watch and see what happened.

**

* * *

AN: **And so the next match begins... Yugi's going to be asking lots of questions after this one though, you can be sure of that... Most of them come a _little_ later though... In any case, update came a bit faster, as the Mac was set up again! A lot of you liked the surplus of art last time however, so I'll keep doodling in my spare time.

Besides, I recently got an irregular job, so who knows how irregular the updates will be as a result. Hehehehe...

Any ways, the next chapter is Mai VS Malik as you can guess, and if all goes as planned that will immediately be followed by Ishizu VS Kaiba... which will hopefully hold the pattern when we cover Bakura and Malik's fight. Depending on how long the last one takes (Kaiba was tracking their duel; so that will actually be from her point of view), it may or may not be merged with any and all events preceding the Virtual World arc...

As it is, I'll be pumping out the VR-art again.

Until then though...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

He should have been VERY CAREFUL.

It's okay Iona, I'm doing it too. Glad to see that you liked the art and chapter both! Speaking of art, did you know Dan Green voiced Grovyle in the dub of 'Mystery Dungeon'? With the _exact_ voice he used for Yami Yugi?

Now you have to play pokemon with his voice in your head, AHAHAHHAHA- And yes… Selket was a fairly frightening monster. They actually cut all scenes of the crowd having their own 'I'm going to be sick' takes from the anime when they dubbed it, hehehehe…

And if you don't catch the hint here, your curiosity and questions will be raised further. BWAHAHAHAHA! Enjoy the chapter alright?

Yep… Murphy's arrived Cynical Gamer!

(Or would it be Finangle's law, which is the real one to say 'anything that can, will go wrong... Murphy's law is the one that says that 'if there are more than two ways to do something, and one will result in catastrophe, someone will do it.' Hnnnn...) Back on topic now...

Believe it or not, but a fair amount of secrets will _still_ remain for the next bit; Yugi has his suspicions, but he still can't outright question Jonouchi on it. In fact, they briefly forget about Ra, or at least they will until the next chapter; Malik going completely insane kinda took priority.

A lot.

…I can't stop grinning, but at the same time, Bakura's filled with spoilers. So I'll zip my lips now…

And now… For the chapter! Save some smacking for me, I know I'm writing it, but sometimes… As for the monsters, the Queen did some talking and poking around; the reason most of the animosity died down was largely because the monsters are more or less tied to their current owners. Last fight she was in, the Queen was somewhat channelling Haga's rage, adding it to her own.

Now however, she can't do that. It would obviously be much worse if 'death' for monsters meant actual death, but since that's not the case she's perfectly fine. Of course, thanks to the knowledge of Jonouchi's ability, she's got her creepy mother-tendencies as you can see…

Maybe it'd have been better if she still hated him eh?

BAH, that's not glory! I will admit that a fair amount was inspired by the appearance in the manga though. As for the 'trial', that was it. Basically, despite all Kaiba wants in a duel, it's endurance.

Also getting through weird dreams a-la-the above. Rishid himself is stuck in a flashback. Hooraaaaay~ In any case, enjoy!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's still air-ship-sick... Buureeeeh!

* * *

Pillow talk is actually a term for close and often intimate conversations in a bed. Hehehehe.

It has nothing to do with the chapter; for the chapter, 'Pillow Talk' refers to the conversations Jonouchi had in his head... While he was asleep. Ta-daaaa...

* * *

What? The doctors came so quickly the other time though!

Well, seeing how lightning struck the arena about a dozen times, they kinda need to play it safe. In fact, for those five minutes, the elevator wasn't working; safety first guys. Same with everyone leaving by the way.

* * *

Funny thing, while everyone was shouting for Jonouchi to wake up, Malik was having his personality switching fit right there…

_And no one noticed_. Whaaaaaat? They didn't realize it until Rishid looked over at Yugi (he didn't do that here, he was to busy having cardio problems thanks to electricity sending his heart out of wack) and warned him about the 'other' Malik. Hihhhhh...

* * *

What does chabar (Pronounced 'Kha-bar') mean? Associate, companion, friend… Etc etc. 'Anag' on the other hand means 'to be soft', 'delicate', etc... Etc. Both words are from the Hebrew language, and while I _could_ have left 'Chabar' untranslated so that you all got carried off on a 'what kind of name is THAT' tangent, I was feeling nice.

Besides, with a word that merely means 'friend', you're still just as clueless. HAHAHAAAAAA. You got MAJOR hints here though! After all, we just had an adult past-Jonouchi meet with an eight year old Mahaad!

* * *

Since doctors aren't really allowed to apply force to someone in the way, and Kyoko was somewhat hesitant to tackle Jonouchi, he was standing there a lot longer than he should have. He shouldn't have been anywhere near those guys, and his presence was actually quite a nuisance; his talking could very well be what helped Rishid's erratic heart finally require defib.

* * *

And why did his heart need defib? Glad you asked!

It's time for a note on defibrillation! First off, if you're using it four minutes after the heart goes nuts, good luck getting any results. And more importantly, defibs don't _restart_ hearts; they get the ones beating irregularly to _stop_, so that the body can restart itself. After defib, CPR is done with hopes of re-starting it at regular rhythm. Hooray~ In any case, the heart controls its own beating, it's the only muscle that does something on its own without the brain's 'orders'. The heart does this through an electric impulse... So you can see how getting shocked by say, lightning, might just screw that impulse up.

As for 'CLEAR', that's because touching the paddles or body could screw up the reading. Paddles are used very rarely now though; most modern defibs use the much safer 'patches', and Syn says 'paddles' out of habit.

Also there is no SUPER jump. I'm not even sure if there's a small one.

* * *

Voice changes? Actually _very_ possible, making the switch in tones not at all hard to believe when it comes to Bakura/Yami-Bakura and Yugi/Yami Yugi. (Or Fem-Kaiba's fake voice for that matter). In fact, there are people with DID whose voices have switched to that of old men within _seconds_, switching again into still different voices including small children, those of the opposite gender… Some people hold entire conversations with themselves. It's downright eerie.

* * *

DID (Dis-associative Identity Disorder, AKA Split Personality) is SCARY BUSINESS. Especially here; 'Yami Malik' isn't some 'darker' half. He's hate, murderous intent, and rage _personified_… In a nutshell? He's the very embodiment of the term 'sociopath', and the only thing holding him back was Rishid. This isn't some spirit with desire to take over the world (Damn it 4Kids!)... It's a portion of Malik's mind _completely dedicated_ to the destruction of _EVERYTHING_. Clearly, the 'Yami' was added simply because of how much darker he really is. (It might be good to note that I don't recall this side of Malik being referred to as 'the other Malik' by most of the others... Nor 'Yami Malik (Marik?)' in the dub.)

* * *

And in other news of Seto's paranoia, how did everyone know Malik was a sociopath? Well, when a guy goes from ear-splitting screams of pain to laughing as his hair stands on end, that's the first sign of crazy. The next was how his voice actually _changed_, how he spoke about his 'shadow', along with the sheer expressions he made.

The eye on his forehead doesn't help of course, but given the above, and the fact that Kaiba already has a fair amount of skill in spotting threats to her brother (Which Malik most certainly is), it's easy enough to tell. Her shouts to the doctor were more to get them out of the way though; if Malik goes on a rampage after all, certain people won't be able to defend themselves… And Kaiba isn't the sort to just let that happen.

* * *

Seto's fear is more than justified as you can see, when it comes to evacuating the arena; as to why they aren't turning the ship around… Well, you got your Shizuka scene. And a bit of dark realization; because seriously, _a card game_ was all that kept this guy from killing EVERYONE. For the moment, it's best to play along until they can oh... Maybe arrest him?

* * *

Originally, no one ever found out Rishid's name, at least not this soon. I didn't want them all to be calling him a shadow, or 'not-Malik' or something stupid though… So yea. Changed that.

* * *

And in other news, lots of changes to the 'Mai' scene, due to two things; one, lack of romance (though who knows, maybe Mai really was just depressed about not being a friend enough for the dream in canon), and two, a completely different dream replaced the 'school scene' one. (For a good reason, trust me... I just can't tell you why just yet.)

In the end, the conversation is both painfully similar to the manga, and painfully _different_; Jonouchi just wants to forget the dream this time, and drop the conversation. Mai feels like she's being shoved back and dropped like a hot coal.

And that's _never_ fun. (Especially when the _others_ assume it's a crush-related deal.)

* * *

The 'infamous' Shizuka scene was slipped in for the sole purpose of in-story explanation for why anyone remained on the ship with a sociopath, but also to make up for the fact that the original, which had Shizuka asking for the ship to land so that Bakura could be treated, had been cut. In the anime, Kaiba caves just slightly by sending doctors to Bakura's room. Since this happened regardless of questioning in the fanfic though, the scene had no point, and had been more or less replaced by the scene with Yugi and Jonouchi walking in on her.

In any case, suddenly, the whole 'everything is solved with card games' deal makes a lot more sense, now _doesn't _it?

* * *

Originally, Yugi was the one to tell Mai that she couldn't fight due to the dangers, and Jonouchi soon stated that they couldn't make her do that, and that it would instead be best to cheer her on. This is obviously just in Jonouchi's nature of course, though really, who knows if he knows too much about what a 'shadow game' means.

Regardless, Jonouchi's panic and paranoia are at an all time high, so he's more or less mirroring Yami Yugi in terms of reactions.

* * *

On another (late) note, the 'shadow games' are called 'games of darkness' in the Japanese, with 'shadow game' being coined as both a translation and a cheap way to pretend that no one in the series died. Thank you 4Kids.

I'm still using 'shadow games' though, thanks to the translation fun.

* * *

Well, that wraps it up for this chapter... Expect more weirdness and questionings in the next chapter! Until then, enjoy, and hopefully I can update this quickly next time as well!


	81. Chapter 80

**Sunrise**

* * *

Friendship was a strange thing. Not a negative sort of 'strange' of course, as friendship was almost completely positive in its nature. But it was still strange. The dictionary defined it as a bond through which one could be considered loyal, caring, and understanding to the other. But there was more to the term than that, he thought. It was a tie that could match with and occasionally even surpass that of the family bond from what he had seen, and on its own its power 'friendship' had the strangest ways of holding true despite the most negative of circumstance. It was a corny acknowledgement. One could even say that was cliche. But the 'power of friendship' was a power nonetheless, and it was this 'power' that allowed the friends tied by it to help each other to surpass what ever problems they needed to overcome. That power that allowed them to move on through life, for the sole existence of the bond. Because they were friends. Because they trusted each other. Because they knew that no matter what the situation, no matter what the damage done, there would be a way out.

And that was all that he needed to know to understand the term, provided his lighter and calmer half was always there to remind him why. Friendship was, so long as the memory was available, easy to understand. But trust, true trust, was different. Even in friendship, 'trust' could occasionally get its holes. It could 'slip up', in a single moment of doubt, no matter how strong the friendship remained through it. And throughout almost the entire evening of the tournament, it was these thoughts of faltering and questioned trust that were running through his mind despite all he wanted to believe. These thoughts that, so fragile in nature, had shielded from his lighter half out of his worry for the reaction, these thoughts that had him wondering what had happened to his friend in that year.

Yugi, the 'real' Yugi, had noticed something was wrong with himself after all. He'd noticed when the shade that was known as the 'other Yugi', the 'pharaoh', had been acting in secrecy, desperately hiding his intentions for entering the tournament. He'd even guessed the reason, piecing the answer together just like, dare he say it, a puzzle. To find his memories, to find his reason for existence... And despite the secrecy, his lighter half had respected the desire to keep the reasoning secret, promising to help in whatever it took to reach that goal. He always did have a way of knowing when something was wrong really... It was what made Yugi 'Yugi', one of the many things that set them apart.

But this time, though his lighter half had his doubts about everything being as 'fine' as their friend had claimed, it seemed that he was the one to realize something was wrong first. That he was the first to notice, or at least notice more than the occasional 'zone' during class. He would admit that it had to do with what he'd seen at the pier of course. If anything, he'd have found it hard to believe that the pier had been a separate occurrence altogether. It had taken time to even recover from seeing Jonouchi in the state he had of course, let alone realize that the 'mind control' had been far more than just that. That rather than the manipulation of thoughts it had been a manipulation of the body, with the soul itself torn from its physical bonds. His friend had been aware of the battle and Rod both, and fighting during the entire battle as he suffered injury after grievous injury. And even when he had first been flung from the puzzle to the ground, sensations unlike any he'd felt before rushing through him, Jonouchi had been in enough dis-repair that had it been a real body he'd have died long ago. His arms had been tatters, with spots where bone could be seen between hanging and ragged muscles. The fact that he could move his arms at all was a surprise in fact, especially considering the multitude of burns covering the blond's body. Even that however was nothing compared to the other forms of damage that had been sustained, the lower half of his jaw effectively being ripped from the bone as the demonic form of the Millennium rod bit into him.

Yet he'd somehow managed to not only push through but effectively ignore the damage done, speaking to him as though all it was was a standard fist fight, but he had managed to _defeat_ the fiend. He'd fought off the twisted fires and teeth gnawing at his physical body, ignoring flying blood and impossible acts of physics and reality in order to save his friend. It was a frightening sight... A horrific one, and combined with the sensations of touch that he had on his own accord, with the enraged emotions running through him, it was altogether a relief in more than one way when it was over. When he had returned to being a 'shade' with minimal capability in emotion, returned to the 'black-white' haze he had become so used to. Returned to the state that Yugi guided him through, that he relied on his partner to hold a balance in.

Something was off however, both after and during the match. Jonouchi had claimed the sight had been a result of the Rod, and nothing more. That the monsters deliberately refusing to battle for his sake were merely a side effect, that to hear them speak mattered little. But he'd been too calm with his explanation, a fact that was clear even with the unease and fear running rampant at that time. He'd acted as though it was just another fight on the streets, and while he admired his friend's courage, he knew how his friend reacted to things. He knew what sort of reaction would have ordinarily arisen from the encounter with the 'Rod', from the actions done. Yet despite his suspicion and unease the power of friendship and trust had taken its toll again; he himself kept secrets from Yugi after all. What gave him the right to pry into what was likely a private matter? If he was able to keep important things from his friends, then so could anyone and everyone else he knew. It was only fair.

But it was also incredibly worrisome. As Ryuzaki had noted after all, Jonouchi's jacket was in tatters. His body had sustained exceedingly light burns and there were scrapes that could not be explained by simple 'hologram' damage. And as the doctor had found later on at Kaiba's request, there were bruises covering Jonouchi's middle in addition to those scrapes. And though he couldn't be too sure of the source of those same bruises, it looked almost like a fist from what he'd been able to tell...

It looked almost similar to the fist of the very monster Jonouchi had so wanted to warn him against earlier that morning. There were 'ring' marks, lines resembling the armor of the beast... There was just so much going on, and so little he understood now! He knew that Jonouchi could see and hear him. In fact, from the last 'test run' they'd had a few months prior he also knew that running into Jonouchi as a spirit would only end in bruises. They collided as though in reality, a pain searing through his body that should not have been possible as a spirit in an object. In addition to this he knew that his friend had a habit of spacing out; a habit that had grown to an alarming extent in recent times, growing from perhaps once every two weeks to once every day or so. If they were lucky. Stranger still however was that quite often during those times, the blond would appear to either grow tense...

Or even finish the very sentence one of them had been in the middle of saying, despite the knowledge more often than not being of private knowledge. An act that would quickly be followed by nervous laughter and a sudden change in the subject.

Jonouchi could see more than simply him though, he knew that much. He had seen Bakura on the field during their match, spoken to his spirit and somehow convinced him against whatever plan he'd had. Perhaps if that was all however, he'd pass it off. Bakura held a spirit within the Millennium Ring after all, so it was only natural. But there were other, stranger actions that he'd noticed just in the last match. In Jonouchi's match.

He didn't... 'Play' properly. During duels and matches he not only managed to pass through a fight without looking at his hand, but also without touching the required buttons located on the disk itself it seemed, the blond merely waving his hand over the field in a gesture that most would do following the button's press. He would set cards without a glance or a thought, and no matter what, it would be the card he stated it to be. Stranger still, his eyes followed empty space on the field as he battled, and when he took a loss it looked almost as though he'd lost a friend. And it was true he supposed, that the cards had their own spirits. But the cards were still bound to the holograms on the field, never bearing a true physical body, existing to simply fight...

Was that really true though, he found himself asking. When Osiris had arrived during both duels, the monsters appeared to shift in their positions if only just slightly. Their feet touched the ground as shadows appeared beneath them, and they moved as though completely there, as though pulled into reality and given solid form. And when Ra had appeared, the same thing had happened, or so it seemed. It was hard to tell given that Ra had been the only being on the field of course, but nonetheless, with the summoning of 'Fake-Ra', the feeling of intensity had hung on the air. Ra had appeared to arise in a pillar of light from the temple's ark, but as he grew and snarled above and before them his scales had suddenly begun to bleed black. His form had swirled into a vicious and imposing vortex with his own great and toothy maw at the center, and from it lightning appeared to strike the arena at random. Thunder clapped all through the air, the winds themselves fell flat...

And yet instead of reacting as expected, or even with minor shock at the very least, Jonouchi had spaced out just as he had a habit of doing so many times before. He'd stared forward with blank and wide eyes, taken a step closer to the immense dragon... And if he looked close enough, it looked like he was speaking. A single long string of words, his attentions at the sky rather than his opponent. Words meant for the God above. And Ra...

Ra had _answered _him. He'd even cut the blond out from his strange blank stare, Jonouchi looking upward and appearing to hold a short conversation with the monster. And yet despite that knowledge, he couldn't tell what Ra said. He could only watch as with each movement of its mouth the lightning struck, thunder covering the words completely. All he was left with was wondering why Jonouchi had warned Rishid against summoning the card in the first place, why he had warned him against angering God, when Jonouchi shouldn't have even known of the danger. When he shouldn't have even known 'God' as anything more than an all powerful card. But more importantly, as he thought, he found still more questions coming to mind. Why Jonouchi had claimed to know the exact number of turns the duel would take, was one, how Jonouchi had known that 'Malik' was never standing before him was another, and how he'd known the real Malik stood behind him...

'_I jus' had... A feelin'._' That was what he had said, voice hesitant and filled with nervousness as he gave the excuse to a friends. It was just a feeling, nothing more he'd said. Maybe he'd have believed him if that was all their was. Maybe if that was all he'd seen and heard, he'd have believed what he said and passed it off as his strange and circumstantial luck.

But Jonouchi had blood on his forehead as he came down from the arena. He'd had scratches and scrapes covering him almost completely, arms seemingly covered with a hair-thin layer of stone dust. Injuries that hadn't existed prior the duel, conditions that had never been there.

Maybe it was Ra; he had that effect after all, he had too. If Osiris was able to bring reality to the field after all then it would be ridiculous to say Ra _didn't_. But Ra hadn't been summoned until the very end of the match, and even then he had not truly made his presence on the field. The most he had done was shock Jonouchi into temporary submission, with not a single moment left to cut the blond's forehead, or bruise his arm. No... Something was wrong, horribly wrong, and that was all it was.

That was what had cemented further in his mind when he passed on Mai's message, when he'd found Jonouchi leaning against the wall in a fragile and clearly frightened state, a state he'd only seen during battles involving his life-long and irrational fear of the undead. Mai would be fighting next, he had told the blond. The others had long since headed into the lift, with Yugi wondering where Jonouchi had gone as he himself left to find out the answer to that very question. And after passing along that message Jonouchi had stared off, not looking at his friend... '_I know._'

She would be fighting against Malik he'd then mentioned, the one who held the real Dragon of Ra...

Katsuya had held his head and nodded, repeating the answer that was clearly not sarcastic and more or less filled with grief and fear. '_I know._'

She wanted to fight alone the boy had gone on, without the support of the others, despite the danger of the match and-

'_I KNOW!_'

Something was horribly, horribly wrong he told himself after that outburst, the spirit's eyes having grown wide and frozen in response to the cry. There was no doubt about it, something was _wrong_. But he didn't know, he didn't know what to do now... Would a true friend force another to reveal what was wrong, despite how uncomfortable they clearly were?...

Or support him from the shadows and pray it didn't get worse than it had?

* * *

While the other Yugi stewed over these facts even from the sidelines of the field and Seto stood at the arena top to glare across at where Malik stood, Katsuya found himself holding his head from behind the crowd. It was a rather convenient niche in the arena's sidelines really, the arena as a whole dipping out somewhat in the middle. And so long as no one turned around, no one would realize that he'd spontaneously developed a headache. The 'light' Yugi had been hidden away from the field for the moment of course, lest his spirit effectively be devoured by darkness. The effects of shadows was never healthy it seemed, and after the Duelist Kingdom Yugi's other self would take no chances. Seto herself seemed to fight off her own symptoms with only slightly more ease than Mai, the woman visibly pale in the face despite the blank and glaring expression she used to hide that fact. Mai was far more obvious in her unease- she was pale, clammy, and while no longer shaking her determined expression was cracking little by little under the psychotic gaze from her opponent.

There was little time to ponder on the reason why he wasn't effected however, as the duel had just begun, Isono's announcement to start made just in time for him to turn away with an ill look on his face. Around him, the voices were just as loud as before however, Katsuya using just about every ounce of willpower not to plug his ears and tell the shades to stuff it. And yet as he forced the voices to the back of his mind, finally succeeding in gaining a silence of sorts, he found himself growing pale to realize that they had silenced themselves on their own. After all...

There was a duel to be had. And why bother speaking during one of those? "Come on Mai!" Cheers had already erupted on the field, Katsuya coming somewhat closer to get a better view. "You beat me, you can beat him easy," Ryuzaki shouted as the disks were set into position, cards drawn to each opponent's hand. They'd managed to break past the 'keep quiet' rule it seemed, with Mai not at all minding the cheers... And while he couldn't hear the woman's shouts in response, the look on her face and reactions of the crowd were all he needed, a lighter feeling coming up from within. But Malik...

_Malik_..! His face seemed to stretch with every other word that he shouted across the field, his voice echoing and doubling with each word. And with every word and sight of the bizarre doubling the cheer he'd somewhat gained was squashed down further.

But despite all this, Mai was still going to fight... And they couldn't stop it. No matter what, they wouldn't be able to stop it, and her words made that all too clear. '_Here I come,_' Mai had shouted across the field, Malik's maniacal grin growing in response.

'_In that case,_' he announced insanely,_ 'Let the Shadow Game BEGIN!_'

Cheers surrounded the field as the duel began, Katsuya and Yugi holding an uncharacteristic silence as the former walked to stand beside his friend. Somehow, with all that was at risk, he couldn't really get excited about this. Actually, he couldn't get excited at all... Given that regardless of what happened someone would die. And that the chances of Malik being the one to die were depressingly slim. "It's my turn," Mai announced from above, setting a card on the field as Katsuya's attention was pulled from these thoughts. "I summon the Amazon Swordswoman in attack mode," She shouted clearly, "And set one card face down! End turn!"

All at once the shadow beneath the woman's feet seemed to stretch, first forming a black and featureless being and then fleshing out into the thick muscled and sword-wielding monster they'd seen prior. "What th' hell," Katsuya muttered in his breath as the summon came about, Malik chuckling darkly from across the field. There was no tablet to herald the Amazon's arrival it seemed, nothing at all. If anything the woman had quite literally formed itself from Mai herself, the shadow it arose from somehow still visible on the field despite the impenetrable darkness.

And yet as a blank tablet formed to the side in the meantime he noticed that Mai herself was staring in confusion as well, eyes drawn to her chest as a light appeared to form from the center. The light was white, glowing, eerily reminiscent of the spirits he'd seen in his dreams... And as a cord of light grew from that light it attached to the shadowed monster that had just been summoned, the woman appearing to immediately mirror her summoner's actions. "This... What is this," Mai muttered, Yugi's own eyes widening as well as he followed the woman's gaze. Oh no... Oh no no no, he didn't want to know how or why, but he knew what that meant.

And as Malik explained the point of the 'cord' that appeared, he couldn't help but shudder in worry and fear both. "It's a life line," Malik stated with a sneer, the words parroted by his opponent with obvious incredulity. And as he continued to explain the cord merely pulsed, seemingly allowing something to flow from body to body. "This game... It's going to be the greatest game we've ever played," the Egyptian cackled, grinning wildly as he laughed. "A game where our monsters and lifepoints decide how long we live, where anything your monster feels is mirrored on yourself! The pain and terror... I'll take it all, anything," he laughed, drawing a card and setting a separate one to the field. "And for my first monster," the Egyptian announced, his own shadow stretching and forming as the eye of wdjat appeared across the shadow's brow. "The Executioner Makyura! I'll show you the fun you can only experience in the dark," Malik sneered, his shadowed monster mirroring his gestures as triple-bladed weapons appeared on its arms. "Into the realms of illusion and seduction... MAKYURA ATTACKS," he roared, pointing forward as the soul-joined monster charged forward, "Now _DIE_!"

"Hn!" In an instant Mai tapped her duel disk, waving her hand as the single tablet on the field began to crumble to dust. "Activate trap," the woman shouted in response, "Amazon Phalanx!" A trio of warriors briefly carved itself on the crumbling stone, smoke wrapping around the stone as she continued. "Not only does it cancel your monster's attack, ending its turn," the woman explained, arrows flying from the tablet stone to pierce Makyura's limbs, "It takes 500 points off of its attack power! Now," the woman continued, drawing her card as the Amazoness appeared to mirror her movements, "The swordswoman attacks! **Execution Blade!**" Ordinarily, Katsuya was fairly prepared for what happened on the field.

Heck, as the Amazoness, with eerily blank eyes, brought her sword toward Makyura, he was finding himself waiting for the head to literally roll. But then he noticed that where the arrows had struck were now bloodstains on Malik's pants...

And as the swordswoman's blade sliced Makyura's head clean from its shoulders, he found himself gawking as 'head' became 'heads'. Makyura's head toppled to the ground with a dull 'thud', and just as blood spurted freely from Makyura's arteries, so did the blood from Malik's own. The blond's head clattered to the ground even while laughing, and as Mai screeched from across the field, hands pulled close, the chuckling continued to fill the air. The executioner vanished from the field, melting into Malik's shadow along with the 'soul rope' that held it in place...

But Malik's head, while sitting on the ground by the base of his neck, was most assuredly still able to speak. A sight that had Katsuya growing incredibly nauseous as Mai only just began to stiffle her cries. "Hnhnhnhn... How _exciting_," Malik muttered with a grin, headless body moving forward to pick the head up by his hair. Slowly the head was tucked beneath his arm, staring forward with no troubles at all as his opponent continued to shiver. "That first hit was almost invigorating... Hnhnhnhnhn... Now..." Malik adjusted his grip on his head, moving his Makyura card to the grave as he went on. "I probably should have mentioned this before, but Makyura has a special effect... I can play and activate any spell or trap I want when he dies... But which one to use I wonder," he muttered, blood continuing to flow and stain his body and the ground both as Mai's screams died to whimpers.

"Head... His... His _head_," those below could hear, staring as the woman shuddered in terror. "His _HEAD_..!"

"H-Hey... Hey, Mai," Honda shouted with a swallow, Yugi and the others as well narrowing their eyes in slight confusion or suspicion. "Mai! Are you alright up there," he asked loudly, slowing bringing the cupped hands back to his sides. There was no answer for the crowd besides those same shuddered gasps, and the teen looked back to the others with a slight frown. "What's going on you think..?" Ah... Besides the obvious? Er...

Obvious to him? "All that happened was an attack," Anzu muttered, the others attempting to encourage the woman and snap her from her stupor. "Just one attack, which _she _made," the woman continued, "And yet she's completely _paralyzed_!" Just an attack...

"Y-Yea," Katsuya found himself muttering, blinking something wet from his eyes before numbly wiping it off with his hands. Red... Even in the darkness he could see... "Jus'... Jus' an attack, it was jus'..."

Yugi turned to look worriedly at the blond, catching the unease in his friend's tone only to freeze. "...J... Jonouchi," he whispered, breath catching for a brief moment. "Jonouchi you have_ blood _on..." Oh god he needed to wipe this off..!

A new tablet appeared on the field, Malik's apparent decision in play cutting Yugi's whispered and worried words short. "Here we go," the blond decided, the stone crumpling to dust as it formed a new 'cord' for his monster to use. "The trap card Rope of Life! Very useful for Makyura," he continued with a grin, the 'rope' of light and spirit again raising from his shadow. Malik idly spun his head in his hand as the shadow rose, bladed armor gleaming dully as he chuckled. "Hnhnhnhnhn... This trap not only revives my monster," he stated darkly, "But it adds 800 points to his original attack... I have to discard my entire hand though," he added with a 'sigh', shrugging as his eyes glanced to the hand of cards he held. "Pity... But oh well.." He moved his head back toward his body, appearing to 'screw' it back into place as Mai and Katsuya continued to hold back their dinners in response. A loud crack came over the air as the Egyptian adjusted his neck, adjusting himself before making the necessary 'sacrifice' to bring back his blade wielding monster. Cards were sent into the grave, and as the blond's hand was emptied out he looked across the field with a wicked grin. "Now now... Just what's with that look," he asked with a psychotic grin, voice far too calm to be normal. The woman across from him merely took quickened breaths, hyperventilating in panic as her opponent grinned. "So _scared,_" Malik muttered with a chuckle. "It was your monster who cut off my head! Your monster who caused me this pain," he added, chuckling as the crowd frowned. "You should be celebrating, not quivering like a mouse! HAHAHAHAHA!"

Those below immediately frowned for the most part, Ryuzaki in particular narrowing his eyes. "Cut off 'his head'," the boy muttered, shaking himself. "What the hell is he talking about..." What was he talking about..? Ahhh...

Hahaha... That wasn't exactly something a person could easily describe..! "Oh no... Oh no no no no _no_," Katsuya muttered under his breath, Yugi slowly looking back as his friend stared at the field.

The blond's eyes were flying across the field as he pieced together what was about to happen, Malik's mad cackling filling the air and momentarily encouraging the prior screams to start up yet again. "I'm going to return the pain you gave me two-fold," Malik was cackling, pointing his monster forward despite the stains across his thankfully darkened clothing. "Go Makyura," he ordered, the monster shifting from it's 'mirrored' stance to charge forward with a nod. "ATTACK THE SWORDSWOMAN!"

As Mai stared across the field in shock, it took a moment for reaction to set in. The scantily armed Amazoness was easy prey for the shadowed monster after all, particularly while standing as motionless as its master. And as Makyura's three arm-blades tore through the Amazoness' chest, he found his own eyes widening incredibly, staring at the timing of the wounds that followed. This wasn't supposed to happen, a voice told him in the back of his mind. This wasn't how the fight worked... This wasn't what the monsters were supposed to do.

But as though torn by an invisible force Mai's corset gained three steady lines of shredded fabric in the same instant her swordswoman had, and as blood spurted from the wounds they could see her collapse to her knees in numb shock. No... "Mai... MAIII," he screamed, the woman before them staring at her shaking hand as the blood poured from her wound. That cut..! With that kind of cut you weren't supposed to live, there was no way she'd be just take that and...

"What's going on," the others were shouting through the screams that suddenly filled the air, "Why is she..."

"MAIIII! MAI, DON' LISTEN' T' HIM!" Whatever she did, don't let him mess with her head, don't let..!

"Hnhnhnhnh... As the monster is injured so will the master suffer," Malik 'explained' as he laughed, the woman across from him going into shock as she stared at bloodied hands before her. "Lose all your lifepoints and you'll die... But until then," he continued with a broad grin, "Your blood will continue to flow, and your nerves will continue to react... It's only an illusion," the Egyptian continued to shout psychotically, "But you'll still feel every bit of pain... And that... That is the power of this game! HnhnhaHAHA!"

"Illusions... She must be seeing illusions," Yugi muttered with wide eyes, shaking himself in his shock. "It's as though she was hit by her own monster and-" The boy abruptly froze, staring as his friend stared forward with almost watery eyes. "...Jonouchi..."

Katsuya ignored the steady stare he was receiving, the stare that others had forgone in lieu of cheering the woman before them on. "Mai," the blond shouted with a swallow. "MAI! You have to get up," he screamed, voice laden with a desperation that had those around staring oddly as he pulled their attentions toward him. "You have to keep going," Katsuya shouted, "Even if that thing tears you to shreds!" Even if there was... Nothing left... "You can't let your lifepoints run out," he chocked, the woman atop the field ignoring him as she continued to frantically attempt to stop her bleeding, "You CAN'T let..! It ain't real," he shouted, ignoring the panicked breaths the woman gave from above. "They're illusions! Th' blood, th' pain, they're all fake! You have t' keep fightin', you have t'..."

Malik appeared to turn with those words, a dark and chuckling sneer on his face. "Hnhnhnhnhnh... How interesting..." Interesting? This guy found all of this _interesting_! "Only those directly involved in the game should be able to see this," Malik muttered with a cackle, the crowd narrowing their eyes as Katsuya swallowed. Shit... He shouldn't have opened his mouth... "You claim to see it..? You claim to see the source of the pain your friend is in..? Without saying anything? Hhnhnhnhnh..."

"Gh..." Damn it... The blond bowed his head somewhat, his friend stepping forward before any questions could be asked.

"...MAI," Yugi called out, narrowing his eyes. Though the woman still failed to respond the boy shouted as loud as possible, determined to make the woman hear his words. "This is a 'Shadow Game'," he warned and explained, "Illusions created by the fear and doubt within will fill the field, and they will test your resolve! Those who succumb to the illusions succumb to reality and thereby death," the boy announced, "So contain yourself! None of what you see is real, it's an illusion created from your own fear!"

At this Mai slowly turned to the side, bloodstained face pale with terror. Those last words, combined with the constant, unending shouts had finally broken something, broken whatever shock the woman had from losing a portion of her very life. "...Fear... It's created by my... Fear," she whispered, hands still fruitlessly attempting to halt the flow of blood from her chest as she held them close. '_Come on,_' the crowd shouted, '_Keep going, come on!_' And as the woman slowly stood, holding her hands to stare at them...

"...Gone..." As Yugi glanced just briefly at his friend, a grin had to come over Katsuya's face. Above on the platform the blood had abruptly vanished from Mai's clothes, all wounds and traces of the prior attack having vanished completely. "Gone... it's..." She'd done it! "MAI," he shouted with a grin, the woman in question mouthing a silent 'thank you' to the crowd before steeling her resolve to look forward. "GO FOR IT! You c'n win this," he roared, a grin on his face. He didn't care that the blood on himself and the field hadn't vanished... Or that Yugi appeared to again be barely holding his tongue, silently pondering the reason he could see this at all...

And as a monster wielding a chain and blade in her arms arose from Mai's shadow, it was evident that the woman had regained the will to fight, the woman before her taking a battle stance rather than mirroring her summoner's own 'duelist' position. "My turn," she called out among the cheers, Yugi and Katsuya again silent as they watched the field. "I summon the Amazoness Chain-Woman in attack mode, and in addition set one card face down! End turn," the woman announced, blank tablet appearing at her side as Malik appeared to stare emotionlessly across the field.

The blond across from Mai appeared to merely tilt his head in idle amusement, drawing his next card and looking it over. "...My turn," he said almost blandly, before yet another wicked grin came over him. Though no wind blew beneath the curtain of darkness the blond's cloak seemed to furl about behind the Egyptian as the look increased, wicked grin across his face as a tablet arose from the side to carve into existence a bizarre and twisted device. A torso and head, covered in steel and black 'skin', from the bottom of which formed a brace. As the monster appeared however, by all accounts resembling a torturous head-lock device, it was Malik's announcement that took the crowd off guard. "I summon the Iron Demon, 'Viser Death'," he shouted, pointing the new monster forward, "And I attack your Amazoness!"

"Attack- It's only got five hundred points though," Otogi muttered, narrowing his eyes. "There's no way that can work!"

"So why the hell isn't it dead then," Ryuzaki hissed, both Mai the two aware of the situation staring with wide eyes as the vice positioned itself atop the chain wielder's head. Slowly, slowly the device's pins moved forward, closing in on the head... But just as soon as it had done this it stopped, merely sitting atop the woman's head as her summoner swallow. So why...

"Why th' hell isn' it _doin'_ anythin'," he muttered, Mai and her monster both clearly tense with panic as the vice latched just slightly onto the latter's head.

Across on the field the woman's opponent merely grinned, eyes narrowed with sick and sadistic mirth. "Oh... You won't see anything from this guy for a while," Malik chuckled, gesturing to the monster across from him. "Not for three turns at least... And after that," he continued darkly, trailing off as the vice abruptly tightened.

"NGH-" Mai's face abruptly contorted with pain as the blunt drills of the device ground against her monster's skull. "Ahhh... AAAAAHHHH!" The woman's form buckled, hands holding the sides of her head as she and her monster both mirrored each other, mouth hanging open in an endless scream. "_AAAAAAHHH!_"

"What the hell," Ryuzaki muttered, Katsuya merely swallowing and turning toward Malik as the Egyptian explained.

"Three turns," Malik stated darkly, bringing a hand to his head in gesture. A slight drill motion was made, the blond's laughter continuing to fill the field as he cackled. "During those three turns," he explained, "The Viser will slowly squeeze about your head tighter and tighter, until finally it drills completely through the skull... And what your monster feels so will you!"

No... NO! "MAI," he shouted, the woman still frozen in excruciating pain.

Those at the sides could only stare with wide eyes, confusion more than evident as they tried and failed to make heads or tails of the situation. "Why... Why is the monster's attack affecting her," Shizuka asked from the side, holding her arms close for warmth in the intense darkness. "Why is Mai..."

"MAIIII!" Come on come on come on, wake up! "MAI," Katsuya roared desperately, "SNAP OUT OF IT! YOU NEED T' SNAP OUT 'F IT, C'MON!"

"Trapped," he heard Yugi mutter, the boy staring with wide eyes as he slowly shook his head. "She's completely covered," the boy continued, "If they keep going..."

Katsuya slowly turned toward his friend, eyes wide and desperate. "Yugi," he said quietly, the boy's eyes just as wide and fear filled as his own, "If this fight doesn't stop..."

The boy merely grit his teeth, fists clenched as the eye of wdjat glowed fiercely across his brow. Briefly it looked as though he was going to say something; in the end however, it was the loud and grating voice from the field that answered. "Really," Malik laughed from above, wicked grin set across his face. "You should _explain_ these things to your friends," he sneered. "No one can stop this game! Not without casualties... The moment I win, this woman dies," the teen cackled, face appearing to stretch and distort as Katsuya stared through a curtain of rage. "And there's nothing you can do to stop me..."

"Gh... Bastard... You _MONSTER_," Yugi roared, the Egyptian above merely continuing to laugh at the crowd at the sides.

"Sweet sweet anger... Wonderful! So wonderful!" Gh... Nothing wonderful about this... "Yugi... Fuel that anger for me," Malik demanded, grin widening and stretching with madness as he laughed. "I want to see the same anger I've held through life in your eyes when we battle, I want to experience every bit of it!"

"Gh... MALIK," the boy snarled, only to be cut off by a weak and almost strangled voice from above.

"Yugi..." The group swallowed, turning as Mai winced and forced back another wave of pain from her mind. "Yugi, and Jonouchi as well..." Ah- Him too? "Please," the woman whispered, "This is my fight. Don't try to stop it," she asked, a pained and forced smile coming over her face. "I'm a 'duelist'... And I'll fight this guy to the end! I activate my trap," she shouted through the pain, tapping the dueldisk as her blank tablet carved and revealed its image. "Grave Arm! It allows me to send one monster to the grave-yard," the woman announced, ignoring Malik's chuckling as the hand spread across the field.

The woman's opponent merely snorted, arms crossed. "Hn! Too bad," he sneered, grinning darkly. "Viser Death is immune to such cards while in his 'stand-by' state... Your card is useless! You've wasted your turn!"

"Just who said I was using it on _your_ monster," the woman growled, the tablet to her side merging into the ground below. From the ground came a fissure, rotted and cold hands pulling the monster attached to Mai and dragging it into the ground with no resistance whatsoever. "I'm destroying mine," she announced clearly, "The chain wielder!" The chain?

"...You... Your own monster," Malik questioned through narrowed eyes, his opponent's expression clearing as the pain from the vice vanished.

"Correct... And because of it," she continued, a sigh of relief escaping her as her head cleared, "I can activate the monster's effect!" With those very words the ground cracked, the trap unable to restrain what was seemingly acting on its own. "The chain of death! By paying 1000 lifepoints," the woman roared, a chain ripping from the ground to embed itself into Malik's duel disk, "I can take one card from your deck!" One card... But that meant...

Malik appeared to tense as the chain bore its way into the duel disk, before watching as the clawed end retreated with a single card in its grip. "Hnn..!"

"The card I pick is Ra," Mai shouted, evidently un-phased by the fact that the chain had snatched the God Card and sent it directly into her waiting hand. As fingers gripped the card tightly the chain corroded into dust, scattering to the winds while Mai smirked. "Your 'God' is now mine," she roared, flashing the card across the field. "It's over!" God... She got...

"Hahaha... HAHA! YES," he cheered, pumping his fists as he grinned. "That was great Mai!"

"Mai," Yugi added in through the shouts, "Keep at it! You're doing great!" She had a chance now! As long as Ra was kept off the field, she had a-

Malik appeared to only grin from across the field despite the loss of his card, face again appearing to stretch off from his own as he spoke. "You troublesome little _wench_," he muttered through his sneer, the golden card appearing to gleam in Mai's hand with a blinding light as they stared. "I'm going to make sure your death is more painful than before! HnhnHAHAHAHAAAA..!" Ghk-

Shit this guy was scary..! Yet even with that his opponent kept her cool, adding the card to her hand with narrowed eyes. "Hn! Say what you want," Mai spat, a smirk coming across her own face as cheers again erupted from the crowd. "Before you manage to come even close to that," she snarled, "I'll make sure you suffer in hell!"

"Hahahaaa! She got God, she got it!"

"She was probably planning that from the start, incredible!"

"Alright! Mai," Ryuzaki shouted, a grin developing as Yugi smirked from beside him. "You summon that God card," he continued with a laugh, "And you'll be in the-"

Oh no. "Mai," Katsuya called out, the boy behind him tensing as he was cut off. "MAI! Whatever y' do," he shouted with a swallow, vividly recalling the God's words during the last fight, "_DON'T SUMMON RA_!"

As a deep rumbling seemed to come from the card in 'response' to the words Mai turned, eyes wide with incredulity as the others followed her gaze. "_Don't_ summon it," Honda questioned, shaking himself as he turned on the blond. "I don't even play and I know that would be stupid!"

"'Ra' is supposed to be the strongest card," Anzu added, looking back to the blond with just slightly clouded eyes as her friend bit his lip. "Why wouldn't Mai summon it?" Why?

Because if she summoned that card... Mai appeared to shake her head as the blond beside the field gave no answer for the moment, instead drawing her next card to take her turn. "Hn! Two cards face down," she announced, tablets arising from the shadows behind her to sit blankly on the field. "And in addition to that, the Amazon Warrior," the woman announced, the monster arising from her shadow to take a stance nearly identical to her summoner. As the woman cracked her knuckles, lean body quite clearly made for hand-to-hand combat she shifted to a more battle ready stance, her summoner giving the woman a slight nod before staring across the field. "End turn!"

"Hn! My turn then," Malik sneered, reaching for his deck as slight growling came from the side. "Draw..."

Hng... Malik appeared to study his hand from above, taking time to plan his next move as Katsuya grit his teeth. Mai was probably ignoring him the blond thought to himself, fists clenched in worry. He knew, he just knew that... And when Ra appeared to the field... "Jonouchi," Yugi whispered from close beside him, the blond turning with a start. "Why did you warn her against Ra..?" Why did he-

For a moment, Katsuya couldn't bring himself to answer. In fact, as Malik summoned a blank, trap 'tablet' into existence, he almost considered claiming it to be another 'feeling', passing it off as nothing but a fluke. But as Makyura charged forward for an attack, blades at the ready, he found himself speaking anyways. "She's going t' die," he whispered, eyes again welling with tears as he lowered his gaze.

"Die..? What do you mean 'die'," his friend hissed, glancing back at the field as Mai tapped a button on her duel disk. "Ra is-"

"If she summons Ra, she _dies_," the blond repeated almost bluntly, voice raising somewhat as the others stared. "Tha's what I mean! She doesn' even need Ra," Katsuya continued, half using the words as an excuse. "She has her monsters! An' if she sticks t' th'm," he went on, "Then she'll win... But if she tries to summon Ra..."

"..._Tries,_" the boy questioned in response, only for his attention to be pulled back toward the field.

"Activate trap; Amazon Curse Master," Mai's voice called out, her trap carving into existence in a manner oddly similar to Rishid's trap monsters. Carved stone turned into a cross-legged and middle-aged woman in robes, orange smoke furling about the stone. The smoke poured forward, misting and solidifying into the curse master's form, the woman narrowing her eyes and leering at the field around them before getting to work. "For this turn," Mai announced, the witch folding her fingers and steadily muttering a few words under her breath before sending a wash of smoke toward the field, "The attack of Makyura and my Warrior will switch!"

"_**More like your souls dear,**_" the witch muttered, standing from the stone she'd appeared from as she slowly began to fade from sight. "_**Just what **__**have**__** you gotten into,**_" she asked with narrowed eyes, tablet crumbling to dust. But of course there was no answer, and as the card which heralded her existence was sent to the grave the woman who summoned her continued on.

"Makyura is destroyed," Mai announced, unable to hear the words of her 'trap' as the warrior charged her opponent. With a single swift kick Makyura's head was snapped out of place, a sickening crack echoing through the air as the same happened to Malik. The Egyptian slowly turned his head back as Makyura vanished into his shadow, a louder crack coming through the air as his head came back into place. Blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, the teen licking the fluid from his mouth with the bitten tongue in question and grinning as more of his maniacal laughter filled the air. This...

This was not good... "Hnhnhnhnhn... Such a wonderful feeling, an incredible feeling," the Egyptian shouted with psychotic glee, grin continuing to twist before them. "And even better, you've fallen right into my trap," he cackled, the tablet at his side carving the image of a funeral procession before crumbling to dust. "Last Will! When a monster is killed," he roared, the dust of the tablet cloaking his disk, "I can draw five new cards!" The blond did just that as he grinned, giving the slightest of glances to his cards before grabbing one from his hand. "And of course, Makyura's effect activates," he announced clearly, Mai narrowing her eyes from across from him. "And for that reason," the blond continued, "I can play this..! The Nightmare Wheel!"

Thunder erupted through the air as the tablet appeared, crumbling almost immediately after the image graced its form. The dust from the stone blew far across the field, wicked bone developing and morphing from the dust as a cruel spiked wheel appeared on its axis. The thorns in the center of the device dug painfully into the Amazon Warrior's back as it latched into position on the field, but despite this Mai managed to hold her tongue as she jerked and tensed under the onslaught of her spine. Blood dripped just slightly from her back from where it could escape the natural plugs formed from the wheel, and across from her Malik explained the device's effects, the amount of points she would lose with each turn... Along with how the wheel would turn with it, pulling the monster under bone-teeth and peeling at her skin. But as worried shouts continued to fill the air for the soon to be victim in question, Mai merely smirked and chuckled through her pain.

"Hehehehehe... I have to thank you for that trap," she said darkly, sounding almost similar to her opponent as she tapped her disk. The second tablet at her side slowly carved into existence, smoke seeping from the cracks as Mai continued. "You've allowed me to activate my own! Dramatic Rescue," the woman announced, the image of a falling warrior appearing across the stone before it crumpled into dust, "Allowing me to trade your trap card with a monster, while returning the target to my hand!"

At this Malik raised his eyebrows a grin in place as the dust flew about the field and sunk into her shadow. "You plan to summon Ra despite wise warnings," he asked through mad chuckles, the crowd and Mai both momentarily tensing at the words. Clearly Malik was enjoying the unease resulting from not keeping his mouth shut...

But Mai managed to steel herself rather than listen to Malik's words, the nightmare wheel instead pulling from the Warrior and crumbling into a dust that merged with the other trap inside her shadow. The Amazon herself melted back into the darkness as the trap took effect, Mai's 'soul rope' digging into the darkness at her feet. But as she looked toward her opponent the woman merely narrowed her eyes, shaking her head. "No," she shouted clearly, "Thanks to Jonouchi's match I already know that Ra's power is dependant on that of its sacrifices... If I summoned Ra with this card it would be useless," the woman added, Yugi briefly narrowing his eyes as his friend's warning came to mind.

"Oooh... Clever are we," Malik asked, chuckling under his breath while a second 'rope' developed from the woman's front.

The woman across from him merely glared in response, taking a card from her hand as a new monster arose from within her shadow. "Hn! Just watch," she shouted, a blur shooting up from the darkness as the rope connected. "I have a plan... And on the next turn," Mai continued as the others frowned, "Ra will rise!"

Damn it, he really wished he was better at warning people about crap... Even so, as Malik ended his turn, the majority of the crowd was still staring in confusion. "How," Honda was muttering, glancing at the others. "She only has one monster on the field, how is she going to get three..?"

"I gotta pretty good idea," Katsuya said under his breath, swallowing as a birds screech pierced the air. Mai's favorite monster, with sleek feathers and long hair had flown from out of her summoner's shadow, but rather than displaying the usual snootiness of the Harpy it instead held a battle stance nearly identical to those around it. It was almost as though these were Mai herself, and not the monster in the card... As though what the 'curse master' had said was far more accurate than he'd care for.

But as cheers came from all those around him, Mai holding a steady frown, Katsuya still had to swallow a wave of terror. Don't do it, he thought to himself, Yugi again halting his cries to turn to his friend as the feeling spread. Don't do it, _don't,_ he mentally cried, the woman before them still speaking.

"The Amazon Warrior was merely a distraction," Mai was stating clearly, drawing a card as it came to her turn once more. Cards were exchanged within her hand, and a blank tablet rose from the ground as the next card was placed. "This card here... This is my most powerful monster," the woman announced, the 'cords' from her chest tripling as the ends dove into her shadow. "It's my turn now," she continued, the tablet's dust burrowing into her shadow as two more arose. "I play the card Kaleidoscope, turning two harpies into three! And using these monsters as offerings," Mai shouted, setting the latest card on the field, as her shadows slowly settled before her, "I'm going to do just as you feared Malik!" No. No no no... "I SUMMON THE SUN DRAGON RA," she cried, the harpies each vanishing into pillars of light as the life-lines holding them burst into flames and disintegrated from sight. No...

No! Damn it, no! From the three pillars came one single light, filling the arena and causing his eyes to water. Damn it... "...Mai," he shouted, somehow still able to stare forward even as thunder cracked and pierced the shadows above. "MAI!" A blinding light had broken through the darkness in a single clean strike as the shadows swirled angrily around it, and as the light developed above the center of the field Katsuya found himself falling considerably silent.

"Th-This... This is..." Mai stared with wide eyes, the crowd falling silent with awe as the light continued to illuminate the field. The blinding light was only barely dying down but even with that it glowed with all the brilliance of the sun. And despite this the woman's opponent was unphased...

Why would he, when the dragon itself refused to even speak for the moment. "Well well... Congratulations," Malik chuckled, hands held out in a 'congratulatory' gesture. "You've summoned God! But tell me," he roared, an immense sphere only slightly visible from above the airship as the blinding light seared over the field, "Do you think you can control it!"

Ra... This was Ra but... "Dorman'," Katsuya muttered, fighting off a strange and almost numbing feeling as he abruptly gripped the railing for support. Spots were filling his eyes under the carved sphere's presence, but for the moment the power emanating from the 'sun' was more than enough to distract the others. This was Ra... But Ra was dormant, unresponsive. "Ra's dorman' form," he repeated under his breath as he shook his head, "This isn'..."

"Why... Why is the God Ra appearing as a sphere," Yugi muttered, Malik's voice tearing across the field to answer with almost sadistic cheer.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... A pity really," the Egyptian laughed, his opponent slowly looking back to stare across the field. "Only a choice few can gain Ra's favor and fight along side him... Do you doubt me," he continued, Mai narrowing her eyes as the Egyptian continued. "Well... Just look at the card! See anything... Different," he 'asked', grin widening as another 'stretch' briefly hovered in the air.

The woman swallowed, blood draining from her face despite the strengthened front she'd put up. "Different," Mai asked incredulously, Katsuya holding his head at the side in pain. "What could possibly be 'different'? The card belongs to the duelist," she continued almost angrily, "There's no reason for it... To..." The woman froze, eyes widening as her gaze fell to the card on the disk, the image briefly flashing through Katsuya's mind as he was met with the same gibberish as the woman who summoned it. "These words..."

"I don't suppose you can read hieratic," Malik drawled sarcastically, Seto abruptly whispering something into her radio as she stared at the field. Translation... They were going to try translating it but- "Only those who can read the words of Ra's power can harness it after all," Malik continued, chuckling darkly. "The Dragon of the Sun doesn't simply fight because he is 'told'... Hnhnhnhn..." Mai began to shake her head and shudder as the realization struck, eyes widening further as the crowd stared toward the sphere. Hieratic... That was the language of the card, that ancient Egyptian 'writing style' that came along side hieroglyphs. But as all those around stared, attracted by Ra's light, words still formed in his mind, fogging over the shouts from above on the arena. "It's useless_,"_ Malik was shouting in the distance, continuing to explain Mai's mistake. "Even Pegasus Crawford was unable to read this card, merely copying the words from stone. This God is different, special... To those who recite his prayer, he will lend his power," he announced, "Even from across the field!_"_

The crowd froze with that, faces falling. "_What_..."

At that moment, as Mai appeared to mentally collapse. From beside Katsuya, Yugi was griting his teeth, Malik's laughter echoing through the air while the woman above paled even further. "Bastard," the boy growled, face growing red as the eye on his brow continued to glow. "From the very start he knew this would happen, that the summoning-" The boy froze, as though realizing something important as he slowly turned to look at his friend. The blond did not appear to notice the gaze however, instead wincing as more spots filled his vision, holding back a shout of pain as he gripped his head. "...That the summoning would... ...Jonouchi," he muttered lowly, eyes wide with worry and horror both as Mai placed a final face down card and ended her turn. "Jonouchi," he asked almost fearfully, "What's wrong..?"

Anzu as well seemed to turn, her eyes completely clouded over this time. "Jonouchi," she muttered, the gaze far to blank to be normal. "Are you..."

For the moment Katsuya found himself unable to care about the continued mind-control victim beside him. Instead, his own eyes blinded themselves, lightning filling his vision as a voice seemed to whisper in his ear. "Viser shock," he muttered under his breath, the words shortly there after mirrored by Malik as the tablet and torture device appeared to the field. The device, a cross lined with a semi-circle of glassy spheres and tessla coils arose directly behind Malik's opponent, the woman turning to look with wide eyes as the Egyptian cackled.

"Too bad," Malik was shouting, the blank tablet that had risen with Mai's card completely crushed by the device. "This card returns all face-down cards on the field to their hand!" Ohhhh no... Oh... "And with no God, no monster, trap, or spell to protect you," the teen cackled, the device appearing behind Mai as Katsuya looked up with horrified eyes, "The machine attacks directly!"

"No..."

"Wh-!" Mai's arms were gripped tightly in shackles before she could even comment on what was going on, limbs pulled across to the sides as her body appeared to be held in the style of crucification to those on the field sidelines. And as spikes gouged her arms to hold them in place, blood coating the steel bars of the device, vicious amounts of electricity were released. And through the blinding light released from the machine they could hear blood curdling screams coming through the air, the head brace of Viser Death latching on to join in as it bored into the woman's skull. "AAAH... RAAAAAAAAHHHH! _AAAAAAHHHHHHH_!"

"MAI," the blond shouted, the crackling metal holding the woman's jerking body in place as she screamed.

"_GHRAAAAAAAAAAA! GHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!_"

"MAI," he cried, the others staring in horror even as the electricity died down. The body that was so tightly latched to the device slumped as much as allowed by the shackles, head hanging limp as choking whimpers of pain escaped the air. Sparks still flew across the air... The metal still steamed with heat, and worse...

"You know," Malik shouted, a wide grin across his face as his eyes widened for what seemed to be the first time since his 'appearance', "This show isn't all bad... Even at the edge of death, pain is just a reminder... Just a sign that death hasn't occurred," he laughed, those below gritting their teeth in rage. "And now... For the ritual that will break even the darkness should I want it! God has three abilities," the Egyptian 'explained', cackling madly as those below stared. Even as the Egyptian spoke from above he could feel himself slipping... Katsuya was holding his head again, a sudden but silent grunt of pain coming over the air as his eyes closed over. He could... Hear... "Now then... Allow me to show you the first of those three," Malik cackled, his next words clearly in a separate language despite his understanding of the sound. "_Great God of all he travels,_" he heard, mouth opening on its own accord,_ "Who creates all he sees, whose eye is the warrior Sehkmet, whose knowledge is unsurpassed,_"

"_Who sails on the evening barge of a million years,_" he found himself muttering despite himself,_ "Who is accompanied by Command, Perception, and Magic, whose Father is Nun, who passes life and death each day... Who battles with the dark serpent along side the God of Storms,_" the blond went on, the closest to his sides slowly turning with wide and likely terrified eyes as his words mirrored Malik's own. "_I ask that you arise to my side, that you illuminate my path with your LIGHT... That you lend to me your power in this most humble of requests, that you protect me from my enemies ... I ask, of the great God RA,_" he finished, eyes slowly clearing as he looked up to witness the sphere crack into the God's immense form,

"**And you are ANSWERED...**" The entire chant... The entire chant, he'd repeated it, hadn't he..? Cracks began to appear along the lines of the sphere as Katsuya stared, immense wings opening to bathe the entire airship in a cocoon of light. Still more cracks appeared along the wings as they spread wider, metallic and golden legs lowering behind the enormous ship as its mammoth and toothed beak opened wide. "**YOU who hold the MILLENNIUM ROD,**" he roared, wings giving one single, windless 'flap' as he rose far above the field to stare at all those below.** "I ACCEPT your TRIBUTE and FIGHT by your SIDE!**" It...

It was actually _siding_ with this guy! Blood drained from Katsuya's face as God announced his apparent pleasure, Malik's cackling filling the air as the 'sun' shone across the field. "AHAHAHAHA! HAHAHAAA! Gaze upon the true form of GOD and become blinded by his light," he laughed, arms held out and open as the air stiffened and cracked under 'God's pressure. "For in this turn it will be the flames of the sun itself that burn this woman down... Hhnhnhahaha..."

No... The blond's senses cleared as he fought off the pressure Ra instilled across the field, slowly shaking his head as he swallowed. No, no, no! "MAI," he shouted desperately, silently willing the woman to wake up and break free of the illusions so she could move again. This was a Shadow Game. That was what his mind told him and what Yugi's shouts had told him. "_MAI!_" It was a game where all attacks were as real as the sky around them, and where the loser would face punishment at the hands of the powers in the winner's possession. And tied up on the enormous torture device before them, Mai was in the perfect position for sacrifice. She was held, forced to stand prone despite laboured breathing and weak gasps for air, and when Ra's attack struck it would be with all the force of the sun itself. So it would have been without the powers of Darkness, and so it would be with them in play, an attack that relied on Ra's power rather than that of the items that it so sided with. '_Burn,_' Malik was shouting through the thundering skies, time briefly appearing to slow to an abrupt stop as Ra began to prepare a blast of flames in its mouth. '_Burn into ashes and let your soul vanish into darkness!_'

"Stop this... STOP THIS," Yugi cried, eyes wide with horror as he turned on Malik. "You've already won," he screamed, "There's no need to attack!" There was never any need, never..!

But of course, Malik was not one to do this. If anything the shouts and fear merely amused him more, his eyes narrowing with mirth as he stared down to the side. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Yugi... I want you to watch carefully," he stated with a chuckle, "To watch as your friend is sacrificed to the Darkness itself... And I want you to bring out all of the hate and rage I know you hold," the Egyptian announced though his grin, eyes widening further. "Scars of memories sit carved across my back, memories my 'family' has watched over for countless millennia... So that when the Pharaoh returns, we can represent those memories... Generation after generation," he explained, "For years, this family has borne nights of darkness and pain, living in a land without the sun... Hnhnhnhn... HnhnhahahHA! AND NOW," Malik roared, cackling madly as the others stared in terror, "Now," he cried, "Thanks to that carried hatred, unlocked and unleashed, I can EXIST! I, who 'he' thought would protect him," Malik laughed, "Who he thought could control me... I have SURPASSED my 'shadow'," the teen roared, psychotic grin seeming to stretch from his face. "And I am free to do as I like... Free to destroy, destroy, DESTROY!" This voice... Katsuya's eyes narrowed slightly, the cackling continuing to fill the air as he swallowed. Where had he heard it... Where... "All that I see will be DESTROYED, leaving nothing but DARKNESS!"

"Darkness," the boy beside him repeated almost mutely, swallowing as the crowd froze. Nothing but endless darkness, pain, terror... As Yugi stared toward Malik, seemingly frozen in shock, the order for attack was given, with Katsuya snapping from his frozen state to charge forward.

No... He wasn't letting this happen he told himself, he wasn't... Shouts were filling the air as he ran, shouts that he ignored. Questions of what he thought he was doing, orders to get off the arena as he leaped onto the 'stage', threats to be disqualified if he didn't listen to those same orders. He didn't care... He didn't care, nothing was worth letting someone close die like this! The blond continued to run, charging toward Mai as the order was fulfilled. '_ATTACK,_' Malik had cried, the God behind him more than happy to comply. '_With the flames of the SUN!_' No, damn it...

NO! '_Die..._' "_NO_!" Katsuya pulled at the shackles holding Mai in place, the woman's eyes widening as Ra as well stared toward the blond. "I ain't lettin' anyone die," the blond whispered, hot metal singing and burning his fingertips as he bit his lip. "'M not lettin' anyone get hurt, not again... Come on," he growled, pulling at the chains to receive no luck in freeing his friend. "Come _on_..!"

"What... What are you doing," Mai muttered, looking up at the blond weakly as he continued to struggle. "What do you think you're doing," she whispered, "Coming here..!"

"Th' hell does it look like I'm doing," he snarled, pulling at the chains before dropping them with grit teeth. "We're friends... An I can't jus' watch y' suffer like this," he continued, red and burnt hands held in protest as he shook his head. "I can't jus' watch y' die!"

"You... But my life points," the woman continued.

"I don' care about life points!"

"But this," she coughed, shaking her head, "This game is just..."

"This isn' a normal game," he said clearly, eyes wide and serious as Mai stared in shock. "An' these aren' holograms," the blond continued, not knowing if he was whispering or shouting any more. "So stop arguing..."

"Not... You... ...You _warned _me," the woman cried, shaking her head as flames from Ra's charging attack already began to singe the field. "You _warned_ me! And I should have listened, really, you don't have to do this..!"

"Tch- Don' pull tha' on me," Katsuya growled, narrowing his eyes. "My warnin's 'r too vague f'r anythin'... I ain't movin'... Not at all," he shouted, the heat and light from behind becoming almost unbearable. "Y' hear tha'? Jus' try me!" Even if it meant...

Death. "**Why have you COME,**" Ra demanded, voice sending thunder through the air despite the cut-off from the world of reality. "**Why have you COME to SUFFER for what is another's FATE?**" Why?

Katsuya grit his teeth, slowly turning to look up at the draconic and griffin-like monster with rage filled eyes. Why not? "...Because I don' _want_ this," he spat, voice low enough that only Mai could hear him. "An' I ain't afraid," he roared, holding his hands out in challenge as he looked up at the monster, "SO DO YER WORST!"

"**HMP! VERY WELL,**" the God thundered, flames erupting from its mouth as Katsuya's eyes were blinded by its light. The blond held them open nonetheless, watching as through the fires Ra began to 'melt' "**PREPARE yourself,**" he roared, body vanishing into the flames as they shot forward in attack.** "For THIS is YOUR trial... LITTLE KING!**" King? 'Little' king..? But wasn't that-

In the blinding light he couldn't see what happened after those words. All he knew was that he was suddenly being pushed to the side, the blond stumbling to the ground and staring with wide eyes as Yugi, the other Yugi, took his place. And as the flames struck and centered on the boy completely, Yugi's face torn with rage and pain both. "Gh- RAAAAAAAAHHHHHGG!" Flames enveloped the boy completely, Yugi clearly fighting off the near-maddening pain as he turned toward the field. Eyes were red and bloodshot, the light and stylized on on his head still glowing fiercely as he snarled. "Gh... MALIK," he roared, the field clearing of darkness even as the flames burned and left no mark. "With all your hate and pain... I'll take as much responsibility for it as needed," the boy spat, breathing ragged and laboured as Katsuya stood with wide eyes. "But before I do I will make sure you burn in the deepest pits of _HELL_!" The final bits of light cleared with those very words, the flames extinguishing themselves... And as his vision cleared the blond found himself running forward to catch the boy, his friend toppling forward with a grimace as he choked on his own breaths.

"Gh- Yugi... Yugi," he shouted, the boy weakly staring upward as he winced. "Y-Yugi..!"

More chuckling filled the air, the laughter no longer echoing as wind again began to blow. "Say what you want 'pharaoh'," Malik was cackling from the side as he grinned. "Soon enough I will crush your precious puzzle and vessel... And I'll scatter it into the void..."

"Gnnh..." Katsuya ignored Malik's ramblings, instead attempting to move his friend into a better position of recovery. The duel had yet to officially end... Mai for the moment was simply standing limp behind him, the 'Viser Shock' having vanished as her very life was drained from her body. But Yugi...

"Yugi," he muttered, looking down at the boy as the blood from the match vanished from the area. "Why... Why did you..."

The boy's eyes merely began to close over, weak breathing slowing to a more relaxed pace. "...Jo... Nouchi..." Sleep... He was exhausted, he was out cold...

A shadow hovered over the two on the field, Isono's voice announcing the match result from across the field. Katsuya slowly looked up as the shadow hovered over him, holding Yugi tightly as Malik held the Millennium Rod forward. A blade could be seen at the end of it, a blade that for some reason appeared to be coated with dried blood in his eyes despite the gleam it gave off beneath the moonlight... A blade that brought a single scream to mind as the blond swallowed. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Protecting his 'friends'... How _pathetic_," the Egyptian chuckled, grin widening as he licked the tip of the blade. "Perhaps I should end your lives right here and end your misery..."

Katsuya grit his teeth, narrowing his eyes and growling darkly. "You... I'm not afraid of you," he spat, the Egyptian before him seeming to drop the grin just slightly in response. Across his brow the eye of wdjat seemed to flash, brightening, and those on the side who had come near seemed to freeze. But despite the feeling of absolute terror that the power instilled, despite the darkness still surrounding them, he continued to hold his gaze. No fear flashed through his eyes to betray his emotions and words, no hesitation... There was nothing but hate, anger, determination... "Not even now," the blond growled, face growing red. "I'm not afraid of _you_..."

A smirk grew on Malik's face, the blond adjusting the grip on his Millennium Rod as he loomed above them. "Oh... We'll see about that," he chuckled, turning to the woman at their side as Katsuya grit his teeth. "But for now," he whispered, lightly lifting Mai's head using the rod as a support, "I'm taking my God Card back." The statement was growled in considerable contrast to his general tone, the Egyptian ripping the card from the disk before setting it carefully in his deck. "You're lucky to still be alive," the blond muttered under his breath, "But in the end you'll regret it. It would have been better if you died here... Now you have to face the penalty," he sneered, grin growing widely as he chuckled under his breath. "And I know just the thing, just the punishment sitting in your mind... PENALTY GAME," he roared, the woman before him collapsing on the spot as Katsuya stared.

What... But she had already been 'brain dead' so to speak, what did... "Mai... You..." Rage began to build, the blond turning to stare at Malik with wide and murderous eyes as he shook. "You monster... What did you just do to her," he roared, receiving naught but laughter in response.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Me," the Egyptian laughed, narrowing his eyes as he replaced the end of his Millennium Rod's blade. "She did this to herself," he chuckled, smirk growing even further. "She knew the risks of the battle but she sought out the ultimate pain and pleasure in her heart... You have 24 hours," Malik continued, moving to leave the arena with a grin. "If you don't kill me before then," he trailed off, "Then this woman will never wake up, her soul devoured from the inside out... Hnhnhnhnhn..." Gh... Gh...

"I'm gonna do more than kill you," the blond snarled in response, shouting after the Egyptian as he left the field. Yugi was carefully left on the ground as he turned, eyes wide as he continued to call after the disappearing psychopath. "I'm gonna make sure y' go through every damn thing y' put my friends through!"

The teen merely turned at that, smirking darkly as his robe fluttered behind him. "Oh please... Just relax," he drawled, rubbing the head of the Millennium item in his grip. "Soon enough, you'll have the opportunity to drown in darkness yourself... _If you aren't already_," he added cryptically, turning back to take his leave.

Al.. Already..? He was 'drowning' 'already'..? From behind him the doctor and guards had arrived, the one to answer the call again turning out to be Dr. Kuzushi as the woman checked over Mai's vitals. Kyouko slowly attempted to rouse Yugi in the meantime, jumping back as the boy opened his eyes with a groan. "Ah- He's awake," the woman shouted, turning to the doctor behind her. Relieved shouts mixed with the worried ones on the side with that, the former maid continuing to shout to her 'partner'. "He's waking-"

"Yugi..!" Katsuya immediately came over to the boy's side, his friend sitting up as Kyouko momentarily stared before moving to help Mai onto the emergency 'board'. "Yugi," he repeated somewhat quieter, "You... Are you alrigh'..?"

The boy nodded, his friend moving to help him up as he took his hand and pulled him forward. "I'm fine," Yugi said somewhat quietly, choking as he regained his strength and looked up at the blond. "It's you, and Mai that I'm worried about," he continued, medics clearing the field with the woman in question on the board between them. "What happen-"

"Mai's out... Comatose," he clarified, before moving on. "It's not like th' others though," Katsuya stated, answering the question before it was even asked. "Penalty game... Malik inflict'd a penalty game," he explained with a swallow. "An' if somethin' isn' done soon..." The blond fell silent, looking back at Yugi as Isono announced a fifteen minute preparation break for the next match. Damn it... All this going on at a game tournament of all things... "Yugi... Why'd y' do that," he asked, "Jump in front 'f th' attack..?"

"Hn! You acted first," the boy responded, a smirk on his face as he looked away somewhat. "Besides... I had... A 'feeling'," he muttered with a calmer, quieter tone, "That if I didn't act soon the worst would happen..." The worst..? For a moment, the two merely stared off in silence, as though to let the words sink in. But as Yugi again stared up at the blond, the others shouting out statements of checking on Mai while they left the field, he quickly began to speak again. "Jonouchi," he started, an odd look coming over his face as he finally removed the self-made block on his questions. "Earlier, when Malik was summoning Ra... I heard what you said earlier," the boy stated, his friend tensing in response.

"What I said," he repeated, Yugi merely staring in silence. "Whad'y'-"

"Jonouchi," the boy said clearly, the two now the only ones remaining on the arena deck. "While I can't know for sure... I'm almost certain that you were speaking in _Egyptian_." Egyp- O-... Oh...

He had to say... Of all the ways to be found out, he had sure as hell not expected it to be like this.

**

* * *

AN:** Dun dun dunnnn!

And you know what's worse? Yugi still won't get everything; so Jonouchi's still going to be a complete moron about this!

And in other news, due to certain flash-backs that are due to happen in Seto's duel, along with bits of build up, it's likely that the KaibaVSIshizu match will be split in half. Most likely it'll cut off at the flashback, but we'll see. Any ways, I went with the 'anime ending', in that next chapter there'll be a small shot of everyone around Mai's bed. In the manga, Otogi and Honda carry her to her room, and the fourth match starts _right after_.

Yeaaaaa... ...Fast update though eh?

On to other things, the song 'Poker Face' (No, NOT the one by Lady Gaga!) from vocaloid Gumi is amazing. ...When sung in a chorus. (Hehehehe)

Now then!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Of course its not ordinary! You don't see games like poker keeping people alive Iona! But yes… I suppose it's no surprise that the unlikely would make the 'best' defense, hehehe.

As for Ryuzaki, he'll be catching a break next chapter, thankfully. Particularly since he's been holding back on asking the others because of sheer awkwardness.

In any case, I'm glad you like the dialogue fun! As for Mai… Ahhhhhh Mai… It doesn't help that these guys are pretty much her 'first friends', so the simple thought of rejection tends to sting. Sure she was pulled out of it to a minor extent, but by that point… Well…

See the penalty game below.

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that can't break this stupid hourglass! AGH!

* * *

This chapter's title is fairly obvious; 'Sunrise' refers both to the 'first ability' of Ra (only listening to those who chant) and his general appearance in the middle of a 'shadow game'.

* * *

And here you thought that everyone was dense-ish on the topic of Jonouchi!

Nope. They've noticed. And they're getting rightfully scared about it to. Of course, Yami's a little more 'aware' than the others, and I'm placing emphasis on how much 'Yami' relies on Yugi, as it's a plot point later on… It helps that Yami's the only one who got the 'I KNOW' outburst, which is as close as they've ever gotten to 'DAMN IT I'M PRECOGNITIVE'.

Also, he's obviously the only one who saw the hell on the pier in 'mostly' full vision; which is really the main factor (besides the shadow game deal) in convincing Yami that something is up.

* * *

Malik actually does call the realm of monsters/darkness/shadows/whatever a world of illusion and seduction by the way. Is it wrong that I laughed?

* * *

As you can see, I have my manga chapters back, which means I can stick to the manga's version of the game. This makes me very happy, as damage mirroring and scorpion hourglasses have strange ways of amusing me, and work far more than stolen memories and sand in my head.

You can all back away slowly now.

* * *

Normally, blood doesn't flow like that. There's not really enough of it to geyser out of Malik's head.

Unless of course your blood is only an illusion and replaced by your lifepoints. Then it can just do whatever.

* * *

Yugi still hasn't said anything to Jonouchi concerning 'things', but not for lack of wanting to; it would just be really rude and counterproductive to talk in the middle of Mai's fight. Think of it as being in a play, or playing in a sport tournament, and turning to see that your friends are chattering away rather than watching you.

It really, _really_ sucks.

* * *

Originally, Mai only asks Yugi to stand back on the 'stop fighting' deal. But since Jonouchi quite clearly wants this to stop as well, she's asking him too.

* * *

A lot of Jonouchi's cheers and lines from the manga were passed on to Ryuzaki in terms of dialogue; this is because Jonouchi actually kind of knows what happens to people Ra doesn't deem worthy of summoning him… So things like '_Once you summon Ra, you'll win_!' become really silly.

* * *

Heeeeyy, what's with Anzu's eyes? Well, Malik was still controlling Anzu when he flipped out; more importantly however, he pulled a Bakura a short ways back… There's a shard of his soul, a 'memory' as he puts it in the ring, along with, due to actively brain-puppeting Anzu, Anzu herself.

I'm actually going to really have fun playing with that.

* * *

Also, Seto's entire existence here was pretty much pondering what would happen when Mai summoned Ra, so no Seto-POV today. It'll mostly be her point of view for the next few chapters anyways...

* * *

So many things on Ra! There actually _is_ a translated chant, but only in the dub. I didn't use it. Because... Yea.

Instead, I made something up… It sounds more chanty and less rhyme-y. As for all the references… Whoo! Here we go!

First off, 'of all he travels' is pretty much '_everything_'; Ra was said to travel the world in a carriage through the sky, and a boat through the underworld, following the path of the sun. …The sun tends to be fairly visible when it comes to the world.

Next, 'creation'. Supposedly, Ra created people either by speaking them into existence, simply calling out their names, or creating them from his tears and sweat. The knowledge point is a little bit of a given.

Sekhmet however, not so much. Supposedly, Ra could send his eye after people, and that eye would become the goddess Sekhmet. And it would be pacified by mixing beer with red dye. …Kay?

Now then! Ra's boat was called both the 'Mandjet' (Boat of Millions of Years), the Morning Boat, and the Mesektet, the Evening Boat. They would carry him on his journey, and in addition to having Set to help him out on the underworld part while fighting Apep, he would travel with various deities during his travels through the sky, including Sia (perception), Hu (command) and Heka (magic).

We already know Set is the God of Desert and Storm by now, and the fight against Apep is fairly obvious… But did you know that Ra came from the ocean? Nun is the primordial god of the 'abyss', the 'ocean', and is considered the 'Father of the Gods'.

This includes Ra. The rest of the chant, of course, is asking for help. Yayyyy~

* * *

In other news, Jonouchi was originally frozen completely by the power of the eye on Malik's head. Things are a little different now though, though this could be a _bad_ thing given what makes 'Yami Malik' 'happy'…

* * *

Also some of Malik's lines are just plain weird. I left them in the fanfic though. Even though they point to S&M.

* * *

The penalty game Malik inflicted on Mai is as follows; basically, she's hovering above what is likely her soul-room in a glass hourglass, separated from the top by the Ra card. Malik explains how slow and painful her death will be and then rips the card out; this releases swarms of flesh eating insects bearing the eye of wdjat on their back, and these bugs will slowly devour her flesh until there is nothing left and she 'dies'. Yeaaaaa...

* * *

In any case, that's all for this chapter, and hopefully Pokemon White won't be too much a distraction when it comes to more things to delay writing. Hehehe.

Until then, enjoy! And thank you very much for reading!


	82. Chapter 81

**Revelations**

* * *

'Ra' was, as expected, a powerhouse of a monster. It was a monster designed solely for killing the opponents before it with as much speed as possible, with the ability to gain as much power as needed provided the proper sacrifices were made. It's power could be nil or infinite, and in addition to that it held more abilities yet unknown to all those witnessing it from the sidelines.

Having to chant in dead languages to activate the card however, would be troublesome. Particularly if she couldn't read it after she won it from the psychopath who was currently in possession of the card. There had been a lot that went on during the latest match it seemed, not counting her own temporary 'high' during Ra's arrival. First, and most obviously, there had been the darkness, creating pressuring mantle that had lined her lungs and scratched at her throat. The pain and rasping breathes coming out had her throat so inflamed that it had come to the point she momentarily wondered if she would still be able to create her 'cover-voice', the woman holding silent for almost the entirety of the match as a result.

Shortly after the darkness' arrival however, were the screams. It was jarring, almost terrifying even, to watch as Kujaku Mai screamed at what were mere holograms and words from the opponent. To watch as the woman stared at her hands like foreign and alien objects, with all the fear that one would have in the face of a firearm. To watch as a woman who she had considered at least a partially worthy opponent in terms of strength crumble into pieces right before her eyes. Briefly, she had attempted to convince herself that it was due to Malik's presence, and that alone; after all she had reminded herself, the young man was clearly a sociopath, a person with no emotions save rage and hatred both.

But disproving this, there were moments of clarity throughout the battle. Moments where Mai had no troubles dueling... Moments when, with all the determination and drive of a true duelist, the woman chugged on forward through the fight. And by all accounts, she should have won that battle... If not for that little problem with the hieratic language. True, the woman had brought it to the field... But that was all. And with Ra's summoning had come a rush of power that made it impossible not to grin at the sight. It was a feeling that drowned out all others, a feeling that only increased as the great dragon took its true form.

And it was only then, when Ra was summoned to the field, when Ra's light illuminated it completely, that she found herself _really_ looking at the events taking place before her. '_Mokuba,_' she could remember whispering through the haze of power in the air, contacting her brother through the radio on her neck. The boy was currently deep inside the 'hidden' room of the ship, the computer room which attached only to her own bedroom by thick steel doors. It would be safe in there after all, safer than any other room on the ship... And as Mokuba told her that he had scanned as much data and imagery as possible from the card using Mai's disk, Seto had given her brother a single request. '_...See if you can translate the text on that card,_' she had asked, her brother pausing momentarily. The text _needed_ to be translated if there was any hope of using it after all; without it, it would never truly be 'hers'.

Mokuba had likely nodded on the other end as he received the request, and his answer had come just moments after. '_Okay nee-sama,_' he'd said plainly, likely grinning as he started off on his work._ 'I'll try._' 'Try' was the most he could do really- The fact was, there wasn't much known about the dead language of the Ancient Egyptians. Particularly not 'hieratic', the jot-notes and sub-script of the scribes. It was fragmented at best, and the modern world's knowledge on the matter were slim. But there was still a small bit of hope to gaining the translation... A small scrap of hope, and with that hanging in reach even by a hair thin thread she would keep herself from feeling too stressed about the situation as a whole.

After all; the pattern of 'losers into comas' was all too suspicious to ignore, and adding the presence of a known killer only made things worse. Once Ra had vanished, the events of the duel had come crashing into mind all to quickly, and her temporary cheer had quite swiftly and violently been torn into grating stress and confusion. The victims were one thing, given that Kuzushi and Syn had effectively worked more in one night than they had in the past year. Malik's words during the match however, did not help in any way. '_Only those in the game should see this,_' he'd told Jonouchi, the blond visibly reacting as a result. As to what he saw no one could really guess, a majority of the crowd just as confused as herself. And then there was the warning that Jonouchi had given Mai, the warning that seemingly had no purpose...

'_Don' summon Ra! Whatever you do,_' he'd cried desperately, '_Don' summon it!_' It almost seemed to be a suicidal warning...

Yet it was also a warning that Malik had _acknowledged, _and used against Mai. A warning that Malik had gone so far as to prove in entirety, with Ra's ability showing quite bluntly that Jonouchi's suspicions had been right on the dot. But where had those suspicions originated she asked herself, the lift she stood alone in moving toward the 'second floor' of the air ship. How had Jonouchi known to warn Mai about a card he should have only just heard of, and why had he reacted to the duel as he did? He was the only one unaffected by the 'darkness' save for Yugi and Malik, but also the only one staring off about the field or holding his head. He had even jumped onto the arena before duel end, ignoring warnings of disqualification even in attempt to 'protect' Mai from the final attack. Of course, Ra's power was great, she would admit that. It would be foolish not to do so after all, given its 'rule' over both Obelisk and Osiris.

But it was still a hologram. A three-dimensional form of condensed light, affecting little more than the air around it. And besides that, a hologram did not cause 'real' injuries the last time she checked the testing. Yet while glancing at the blond at the side of the field during that duel, narrowing her eyes as Jonouchi held his head, she could have sworn there was something dark on his shirt. Something wet enough to stain and spread through his clothing, the splotches standing out in stark contrast to the white fabric. And in the light created by Ra, that 'something' that was revealed...

Seto shook her head as she walked through the hall from the lift, pushing the thoughts from mind and instead swiping the key card to her room. This was no time to ponder the hows and whys of warnings she told herself, entering the code on the number-pad in order to enter. No time to question the sanity of a member of her staff, of a friend to hersel- ...To her brother, she corrected, blaming the rush from the arena. It mattered little what the 'relationship' was... Whatever bizarre behaviour Jonouchi was showing was tied to the duels and _only_ the duels, and she could care less about his successes in that field. That was what she told herself now, and that would be what she told herself later. So long as he didn't start increasing the idiocy outside the matches, everything would be fine... Not that she cared, of course.

It would just be too troublesome to deal with if that sort of thing happened really.

The woman moved over to the small bar fridge at the side as her door shut behind her, grabbing a pair of drinks from inside before she moving toward the computer room door. There were more important things at hand really, things that far surpassed her curiosity for the current situation. Kuzushi for one had contacted her just moments before with Mai's condition; unlike the others, who were merely unconscious, Mai was completely comatose. Barely able to breathe on her own, non-responsive in all manners of action... Even pain did nothing, and it was all they could do to hook her up to machines that had been carried along in her paranoia. Three victims... And while she was more than confident that she would win her next match, just what sort of duelist would that eighth one be? A madman like Malik, or Bakura? Or a pawn, like the Egyptian that now lay in the bottom of the airship. Or even someone _normal_ for once, it would be nice to see _that_...

The door to the computer room slid open after the proper codes were entered in, Seto stepping into the darkness and holding one of the drinks by her brother. "Mokuba," she said calmly, the boy jumping somewhat as he pulled headphones from his ears. Mokuba stared at the drink, slowly taking it as the music continued to blare from the headphones he'd held. So loud... "You shouldn't be listening to music loud enough for me to hear from the door," she growled, crossing her arms as she held her own drink. "You'll go deaf, or at least make someone _else_ lose their ears."

"Ah-" Mokuba laughed nervously, turning off the mp3 player at his side. "Well, you see," he muttered with a cough, "I was just trying to focus and... Ah..." The boy swallowed as his sister continued to stare, instead opening the drink he'd been given and smiling. "...Thanks for the drink, nee-sama..."

Hah... She'd have to talk about this later... Back to the point. "Have you had any luck with translations," she asked, glancing at the numerous screens to the side. Lines of code scrolled down the side of each of the screens in the room, various windows open as multiple programs attempted to make sense of the card. 'Ra', the card in question sitting on the center window, looked every bit the 'griffin' she had seen above the field. The monster's image reared on its hind legs, golden wings spread in front of what looked to be a tablet as the monster held its beak open in a roar. As for the text...

Scribbles. Nothing but complete scribbles. Her brother sighed, shaking his head as he took another sip from his fanta drink. "Nothing yet," he admitted, collapsing back in his chair. "But I've only started really... I'm trying a lot of internet searches while I work," the boy continued, cracking his neck, "With luck, I'll have something after your match!"

After her match hn... Well, the finals wouldn't occur until the next morning at the very least, so even after the duel would be good enough for her. If anything, it proved that Mokuba should be skipping a grade, though there were always his science marks to tell her otherwise...

Just as long as the Tenma brothers didn't contact her about breaches in online security. She wasn't in the mood to deal with those two right now. Speaking of the brothers...

She wondered, would they know anything about this card? If Pegasus had been as tight-lipped as Ishizu said... Seto narrowed her eyes at the screen in the center of the room with those thoughts, the image of the card appearing to flash through her mind as she stared. Strange... It was probably the program but... The hieratic kept flashing, burning itself into her mind as though... The woman shook it off mentally, instead glancing at the clock on the bottom corner of the screen. Duel start in ten minutes... There would be no need for a draw for the final match. She needed to prepare. "I'll be in my room," she told Mokuba, the boy nodding in response as his sister walked toward the door. "Don't over-work yourself."

"Ah- I could say the same for you nee-sama," he shouted back after his sister, leaning over the chair with a somewhat worried look. "Make sure you take a break after this match!" At this the woman glanced back briefly, before snorting.

"Hn! I'll take a break when I don't have things like 'Malik' to worry about," she muttered, walking out of the room.

And only then she told herself, hanging her coat off the back of her chair before taking a seat. Only then...

With her luck, that would happen after hell froze over.

* * *

Rapid coughing was probably typical of a confrontation really. At least, typical of the one being confronted. The one doing the questioning more or less tended to hold a considerable air of confidence about them, and given the fact that this was the other Yugi's 'default' emotion half the time, the fact that the air hadn't changed was to be expected. Even so; as he stood on the arena and stared at his friend in silence, it took a few moments and coughs for his brain to 're-boot' so to speak. Hell... He'd known he'd been speaking in a foreign language, but _Egyptian_? He'd been speaking _EGYPTIAN?_

Seriously, what was with that country? "Gh... Ah... I..." Katsuya swallowed, attempting to piece together something at least partially intelligent to say. "Ah... Yugi, what're you... I mean..." Damn it, this was going no where.

The boy before him sighed as his friend sputtered, arms crossed as a steady evening breeze blew past. The arena was clear now, with the sky almost just as. Few clouds hung over the air, and in the light of the moon the shadows were actually fairly discernible across the ground. Those shadows were also very distracting; Red-Eyes was out again, and he apparently liked flying... A lot...

Uh... "I wasn't going to say anything initially," Yugi admitted, the blond beside him paling considerably as he pulled himself back to what most would consider reality. "If anything," his friend continued, Katsuya merely wondering how long the 'unsaid' things were held back, "I was hoping you would just talk to me about it on your own. But after the last match..." The boy again sighed, shaking his head and looking down to the side. "With what I saw, and with what you said... I don't think that _not_ asking would be the right thing to do." Y-Yugi...

Katsuya again swallowed, bowing his head somewhat. With what Yugi 'saw'... During the duel, he'd definitely asked about the blood so... "...You saw... ...Th' blood righ'," he asked, glancing over his now 'clean' white t-shirt. The stains were thankfully gone... They'd have been difficult to explain let alone wash out really, though as to what else his friend had seen... He'd really rather not say anything before he knew what that was quite honestly. "Fr'm th' field... Th' blood from the field," Katsuya muttered, Yugi nodding slowly in response.

"I only saw blood on you," his friend answered, looking up at the blond with worry. "Around the same moment Mai began screaming. I could see the duel progressing under darkness," Yugi continued on with an almost expository tone, "And from Mai's reactions I knew it was a shadow game... But things like blood, or any form of physical damage really, those are all supposed to be illusions. To see _real_ blood land on you," the boy went on, paling somewhat as he turned away. "To see that, despite not even being able to see what illusions Mai was being subjected to... I couldn't even tell where the blood had come from, and for a moment wondered if something had-" If something had-

Oh! Eh... If something had happened... Well, as for that something... "His head w's cut off." Yugi jumped at the bluntness of the line, Katsuya taking a seat at the edge of the arena. There wasn't really much to say to the origin of the blood stains to tell the truth... Arteries spurted, and when Malik's had been opened up and set on 'bottomless' with the lifepoints, well... He blinked, glancing at the clearly confused expression on his friend's face before coughing. "Er... Malik's head I mean... In th' first move, Mai's monster cut off Makyura's head," he explained somewhat hesitantly, "An'... When tha' happened," the blond continued, "Th' same thing happened t' Malik's, an'... Well..." The blond fell silent, his friend staring in confusion as he registered the words Katsuya was awkwardly spouting in defense and explaination.

"You saw his hea-" Yugi blinked, staring at the blond a few more moments before speaking. "...How can that even be _possible_," he muttered, shaking his head as he narrowed his eyes. "Even those with Millennium Items can't see the inner working of a shadow game when they aren't a part of it," the boy explained, arms hanging at his side as he took a seat beside his friend. "I mean... We can see a little 'clearer', picking out the signs that the game is more than just 'child's play'," he continued, "But we aren't able to see the illusions cast on the field..." Yugi appeared to again stare off at that, frowning as he looked up at the skies. "Hnn... ...Maybe... ...Jonouchi," he asked seriously, narrowing his eyes and turning back to his friend. "Was there anything other than the ring or puzzle, _anything_ you came in contact with," he asked, "Anything that you kept that was golden, or perhaps simply ancient in origin that-"

Wait- Golden... The Millennium Items! "Wha-" Katsuya choked, turning to his friend with wide eyes. "Somethin' gold, wh- No," he shouted with a start. "_Hell_ no," he added, shaking his head and laughing nervously. "You... Are you kiddin'," he asked nervously, "I mean... I'd drop anything like tha' quicker than m' dad's cooking..." Not to mention hot coals... He again shook his head, falling back onto the arena deck with a slight wince and staring at the clouds and stars above. Far out from the city, the sky was much clearer... It made his head feel a little better too, now that he thought about it. Staring at all those stars...

"No Millennium items then," Yugi was muttering, crossing his arms as he continued to sit. Katsuya looked back down from the stars, staring while the boy continued to speak. "I just don't see how this is possible," he said incredulously, shaking his head. "I was already curious about how you could see _me_, let alone _Bakura_," the boy continued as Katsuya again paled, "But to be privy to any and all shadow games occurring around you... And the Egyptian," he added, looking back to the blond with a frown. "That in itself is... Completely..." Inexplicable? Bizarre?

The blond nodded, a slight frown on his own face as he again looked at the stars. "Heh... Yea. Tha'... Tha' one w's new," he said with a swallow, scratching the back of his head as he coughed. "Tha' one didn' happen 'till t'day so..." Well, he was pretty sure it hadn't anyways...

Yugi stared at his friend, face twisting with worry and curiosity both. "...Could you tell me about what has then," his friend asked, the blond looking back with a just as hesitant stare.

Tell him about all this... Hell... There was so much to tell he didn't even know where to begin. _How _to begin even! The duel monsters, the dreams, the visions... After all, it was one thing to explain what Yugi had found out, but everything else? Maybe, he told himself, maybe he could still keep the duel monsters a secret. Maybe their duel could still progress as planned, with no worried interruptions, no fears of un-wanted injuries. Hell, Yugi didn't say anything about random and inexplicable injuries right?

..._Riiiiiight_?

Katsuya continued to mentally reassure himself of this as his friend looked away at the stars, nodding somewhat as a smile briefly appeared on his face. Yea. That would be fine. So then, if he just let off a little bit of steam, maybe it would make that part a little... Easier.

A little easier to deal with and hold back just until this was over. Yea... "...Hey... ...Yugi," he asked after a moment, turning to the boy as his friend also looked back. "...Can I tell y' somethin'," he began, voice somewhat hoarse under the whisper he used.

The boy smirked, nodding his head. "Hn! I thought you'd never ask... Go on," he said with a smile, holding his gaze. Right...

Right well... ...He wasn't going to mention any pre-cognition, that felt a little like saying 'if I cheat, it's not my fault!'... (Though he never _did_ get any 'helpful' flashes during a match, and no one seemed to notice him not looking at his cards...)

Still, that wasn't the point. "I get weird dreams," he said plainly, looking back to the sky as the words began to come out. "Crazy dreams, dreams tha' 'm pretty sure mos' don' deal with... They don' make any sense at all," he continued with a swallow, "But in a way..." The blond sighed, shaking his head as he looked back to his friend. "It's hard t' explain... F'r th' most part I'd just be floatin' in th' dark," the blond muttered with a glance at the sky, "Hearin' bits 'f conversations tha' don' make sense... Hell one time I heard _me_," he added, the frown deepening for a moment. That particular 'conversation' had been the demon-snake-ghost dream too... And he was sure as hell glad he didn't get repeats. Of course... "An' then there w's las' night... When I got knocked out by th' ghouls, an' Red-Eyes w's taken," he explained, "Th' dreams changed..."

"Changed," Yugi asked, expression showing clear confusion at the sudden admittance.

Katsuya nodded despite the hidden, yet fairly obvious dis-belief before continuing on. "Yea... 'Changed'," he repeated, before continuing on. "I w's sittin' in th' desert with all these goats... Talkin' t' this kid abou' some kinda village, I dunno..." Something about a village of outcasts... "Heck," he laughed, a small grin appearing on his face only to die into a small frown. "If he didn' tell me t' wake up I'd 've missed the tournament..." And when that came to mind again... He had to wonder; would he wake up from the next one? After all... "...On th' arena, after Ra attacked," Katsuya began, sitting up to stare at the ground in silence. "I didn' say anythin' 'f course, but that was kinda how my dream went while I w's out cold. I w's in th' desert again, some desert village, talking with a bunch 'f kids... I didn' even realize it wasn' real," he said with a fear filled swallow, turning wide eyes back to his friend. "I didn' realize it until I said somethin' tha' wouldn' exist there, 'till I mentioned th' word 'duel'... An' righ' after that all I could see were these ghosts," the blond continued in a panic, "Nothin' but ghosts, all 'f 'm shoutin, an cryin' at me... Some usin' m' friend's voices, others using Shizuka's, an other's jus' using voices I can't ev'n r'member! An' I _couldn' _wake up," he continued, eyes narrowing as he thought back to the dream. It felt more like he was describing a child's nightmare at the moment really, like he was just some small kid again. Yet when he thought about it... "...Kept shoutin' at 'm t' jus' let me go," he muttered almost blankly, turning away again, "But all they did w's scream abou' a promise..." When he thought about it...

What was up with that? What on earth did it mean..? Yugi seemed to be just as confused as his frriend was, the boy staring in silence for a few moments before finally speaking. "A... A promise," he asked, tilting his head somewhat in confusion.

"Yea... Weird huh," he muttered, shrugging as he stared at the ground. "I don' ev'n know what they were talking about... Heck," Katsuya added with a frown, "If it wasn' f'r that other ghost pullin' me outta there..."

This seemed to just get Yugi even more confused really, the presence of an extra, benevolent spirit resulting in a continued narrow stare. "Ah... There was another ghost?"

The blond nodded, still staring at the ground. "Yea," he said with a sigh. "I don' get it either..."

"...I... I see..." There was a short span of awkward silence the two staring at each other for a few moments. Maybe it was because of how bizarre everything was... Or just because there were friends. But Yugi more or less seemed to believe him for the moment, even if he likely knew something was being held back. "Jonouchi," Yugi said after a few moments, still staring as his friend looked back. "Forgive me for saying this," he admitted in the usual, unintended blunt tone he held, "But you have very strange dreams."

Katsuya couldn't help but mentally laugh at that, the blond finding himself merely raising his eyebrows a moment and turning away awkwardly. "Hah! Yeaaaa... Tha's..."

"The dreams are strange," Yugi continued, "But I imagine that it took a fair amount of courage to share that, along with trust. I might not know what this means myself," he added, a slight smile on his face as he stared at his friend. "I'm glad you told me. So-"

Damn it, he couldn't keep secrets from this guy. Maybe about the duel monsters, but the freaking dragon was glaring at him.

And so was kuriboh. "I saw th' Black Clown fire b'fore it happened," he blurted, Yugi jumping in response.

"W- You... You saw..."

Well... Here it went. "B'fore th' fire, jus' a little after we left... There w's a flash, a burnin' buildin' in my vision. It w's jus' a few seconds," he continued, "But when it _act'lly happened_... I... Th' dreams I have," Katsuya went on, holding his head in his hands, "Th' dreams I have... They don' always happen when I sleep. I get these flashes, these li'l moments where I'll jus' see somethin', hear somethin'... When I draw a card, I know what it'll be, and half th' time, when I turn th' corner, I know who I'll see on th' other side... I... I can' even blame it on th' tablet tha' Seto-chan saw in th' museum," he laughed forcefully, looking up at the sky as he shook. "I can' do anything like tha'... B'cause ev'n b'fore that, at the Duelist Kingdom, I wound up dreaming abou' th' path I would take in m' bare feet on my run in th' castle... I saw it righ' down to th' las' flower," Katsuya went on, turning to his friend with wide eyes. "These... These dreams, I mean... I didn' want t' say anythin', since for all I know this'll start happenin' on th' field and I'll never duel again, but I... I..."

"J-Jonouchi..." Yugi continued to stare with wide eyes, watching as the blond beside him gripped his head in his hands. "All this time... ...So... Those times you were spacing out..."

He nodded, swallowing as he continued to stare at the ground. "Yea," he rasped, voice sounding almost broken. "...I... I'm sorry... 'M sorry I didn' come out abou' this," Katsuya said quietly, shaking his head. "I thought... Tha' if I waited 'till after th' tournamen', after our duel, I wouldn' have t' make y' worry. I mean... I don' even know why all this is happenin'," he 'laughed,' shaking his head. "I can't figure out when it really started, or why... I jus' wanna know _why_," the blond shouted, "Why all th's 's happenin', why it _has_ t' happen an'... An' I..." Katsuya turned to his friend, expression morose and considerably more depressed than the usual grin. "I... I wanted t' be able t' tell y' tha'... But when y' say tha' I'm speakin' in dead languages, an tha' blood's showin' up on my shirt... I guess I can' do tha'."

There was more silence as the two stared, Yugi eventually nodding as a smile returned to his face. "...It's alright," he said calmly, putting a hand on his friend's shoulder. "All of this... I can't even begin to think of the 'why's myself, but really... I'm just glad you're alright," the boy told him, Yugi staring. "Besides... This explains more than enough for me to be able to stop worrying; why... I was almost ready to ask if you were still up to our duel," he added in a joking tone, a grin forcing its way onto Katsuya's face.

"Gh-! Oiii, don' ev'n joke abou' tha," he laughed, shaking his head. "Me, give up on tha'? You've still got Red-Eyes!"

The boy continued to smirk, nodding. "Of course! ...Jonouchi," he continued, turning away slightly. "Again... I want to thank you for telling me all of this. Suddenly all those moments where you finished our sentences makes sense," he chuckled, before paling. "And the warnings... ...Jonouchi, did you _foresee_-"

"...We should go check on Mai," the blond said rather abruptly, scratching the back of his head as his friend slowly nodded in understanding. The two boys hopped down from the arena, Yugi stowing his hands in his pockets as he followed behind the blond.

"Right," he muttered, heading for the lift and pushing the 'down' button before waiting. "I understand... Ah... ...Jonouchi," he asked, turning back to the blond. "If it's alright with you-"

"You c'n tell Yugi... 'Light' Yugi... Er..." Damn it, needed better names... "Th' other one," he said with a slight smirk, shaking himself as the boy nodded. The doors to the lift opened wide for the two, and as they walked in the blond continued. "I'm alrigh' wi' that... You two aren' really th' type t' keep secrets from each other," he said with a just slightly humored tone, before growing somewhat pale. "Er... If you could do me a favor though... An' _not_ tell anyone else abou' this, that would be really... I mean, i's pretty awkward an'..."

Yugi again nodded, lift doors shutting tightly behind them as they were left to stand under the bright fluorescent light. "Your secret is safe with me," he responded, pushing the 'down' button as the lift began to move. A few moments passed as his eyes dulled over, the boy soon looking back to Katsuya with a slight frown. "...You're sure you have no idea as to what might be causing this," he asked again, his friend shrugging.

"Er... Pretty much," the blond answered, staring at the floor with a frown. "I mean, I c'n trace th' firs' _big_ dream t' th' duelist kingdom, but any time before that..." Well... In all honesty the furthest back he could get in terms of weird 'ghost' things was the Monster World game, with that near-death experience he'd had in what he was pretty sure was Seto's soul. But wait... No, he told himself with a frown, crossing his arms as the lift slowed to a stop. There was that one other time...

'_How,_' she had shouted, despite her body being locked in a 'coma' and her lips being unable to move. '_How can you hear me when my own brother cannot!_' He'd heard Seto while she was completely out cold, locked in a vegetative state, while her soul was... Well, wherever souls went in a penalty game. But why?

Why did all of this happen? The lift doors opened before them, the boys moving toward Mai's door with considerable caution. The room was directly beside Yugi's really, but the real issue was in the one that was beside and across from it. Namely door number '4'. The boy's both steeled themselves, passing by Malik's own room in complete silence before lightly rapping on the 'number 5' door with a swallow. "Er... Hey. Guys," Katsuya 'shouted', looking nervously behind him as he forced the shout to a lower volume. Another knock pealed through the metal, the blond rubbing his head. "...Guys? Woah-!"

"Hey, pipe down will you!" The door abruptly opened, Ryuzaki stepping back from the button with a slight frown as he let the two in. As the pair looked back he shrugged, shaking his head and sighing. "Sorry about how long that took," he said with a swallow, peering out into the hall before shutting the door behind them. "But we need to keep quiet. The doors are being automatically locked for the safety of everyone inside- At least, that's what the guy on the PA said," he continued with a shrug, before looking over to the bed. "What with Malik being on-board, and what happened here... Well... We had to be let in by Dr. Kuzushi," he said quietly, wincing somewhat as he stared at the woman. "To put it in perspective... Man... This tournament... It's really gotten out of hand," the boy muttered, leaning against the wall with crossed arms.

"Well it certainly doesn't help that we have a wanted sociopath with a cursed object under his control one door down from us," Otogi muttered, the others pulling faces at the unneeded reminder. "I mean, in all the research my Dad made me do on those items the most I found out about the 'Rod' was that it held 'unnecessary ties' to darkness; that thing is considered the black sheep among even the _other_ items! To know that it's in control of someone like Malik... Ghk..." The teen gave a shudder, a few of the others turning at that.

"Yea... About that," Honda said from the side. "Jonouchi, wasn't Kaiba supposed to run checks on people before they came in," he asked as he frowned, the blond mirroring the expression rather blankly in response.

"Y' know," he said sarcastically, "Somethin' tells me, dunno what it is, but I'm pretty damn sure S- ...Kaiba," the blond corrected swiftly, "Didn' let 'm on with this in mind..."

"Nope... Just 'Ra'," Ryuzaki muttered, the others turning with raised eyebrows as he shrugged. "What," he shouted in protest, ducking under the looks he was receiving. "I can't be the only one who saw the look on his face when Ra was summoned! I mean, that thing mind as well have been some kind of concentrated caffeine rush with the way he was-" The boy was quickly silenced by a glare from Shizuka, ducking down again before looking past the girl and at the bed.

Machines pretty much surrounded that corner of the room where they all stood. Heart monitor, a monitor for breathing... They'd even had to force a tube of sorts through the woman's throat, allowing her to breath without her own tongue blocking the air way. Her eyes in the meantime were closed over, eyelids pulled down for the sake of both the patient and any who saw her. Mai... Katsuya slowly walked over, formerly sarcastic expression falling flat in lieu of intense worry as he stared at the woman. "...Mai... Is she..."

"She's not waking up," Anzu responded quietly, shaking her head from the side. "As it is," the woman added in worry, "The doctor said she's not sure if she ever will..." Never... Never wake- "There's a lot of unexplained internal damage apparently," she continued, staring worriedly at the woman's motionless form."And while they've done what they could, she needs to get to a hospital if she stands any chance... They figure that if she doesn't, they'll only have her in the 'recovery' zone for twenty four hours..." Twenty... Twenty four...

Oh god... Shizuka's face twisted at what was likely a grim reminder, the girl bowing her head as she bit her lip. There was so much wrong here, with the tournament, and with the _competitors_... And yet there was so little they could do...

-**Attention Duelists,**- a voice called through the PA at that moment, only a few in the room turning in response. -**The Fourth Semi-Final match is about to begin; competitors Kaiba Seto and 'entry eight'-**, Isono continued, the final competitor having obviously requested anonymity,** -Are required to be present at the arena within the next five minutes. All those wishing to witness this event are encouraged to leave for the arena now,**- the man went on,** -As lift doors will automatically lock with the Duel start.**- A loud click came through the air following the announcement, the crowd staring at the PA briefly before sighing

"Even the elevator's got automatic locks," Ryuzaki muttered, staring at the PA and shaking his head. "Man... This is all just _so _screwed..." Yea... Yea it was...

"I'm watchin'," Katsuya said quickly, turning to leave the room with Yugi at his heels. The blond tapped the button to the side, door hissing open as he looked back. "You guys comin'," he asked, watching as the others began to move toward them with nods.

"I know I'll be coming along," Anzu said with a slight smile, eyes again appearing slightly glazed. Briefly Katsuya frowned, the small flame of the Millennium Rod curling up on Anzu's shoulder as it ducked under the blond's stared. Weird... Why would she need persuasion to go and watch the match...

The blond's thoughts were cut short, Honda and Otogi moving past with nods and momentarily brushing by the teen's shoulders due to the space. "We'll come too," they decided, the taller opening the door as he spoke. "This unknown 'eighth duelist' deal is bugging the crap out of me... I didn't even know you could enter something like this anonymously..."

"I'm pretty sure you _can't_," Otogi muttered, the pair heading for the lift.

Shizuka in the meantime simply nodded, her friend pulling one of the chairs over and collapsing into it before the girl spoke. "Keichi and I are staying here," she said with a slightly worried smile, bowing her head somewhat. "Before I came here," the girl explained, "Mai-san encouraged me to remove my bandages, and helped me work up the courage to do so. But right now," she continued, "Mai-san is fighting alone, and she can't defend herself from whatever might happen... I want to make sure she gets through this," Shizuka stated seriously, Ryuzaki nodding in agreement from the side. "No matter what... I want to do something..."

"We technically shouldn't be here anyways," Ryuzaki added with yet another shrug, shaking his head. It was fairly obvious that in the current situation there was no hidden intention here after all, so there was no visible unease in what he said. "Besides, it's not like we're really connected to anyone in this next fight," he went on, crossing his arms. "We'll be more useful here." That...

Right. Katsuya nodded, turning to leave the room as the two continued to sit. "Got it," he said quickly, leaving the room with the others as the door closed over. "...Let's go!"

* * *

There was a TV in the room they sat in. Technically, there was a TV in _all_ of the rooms actually, each one equipped with numerous basic channels and film options. In addition to this the duelist's rooms had a bed and bathroom, along with a bar-fridge, a coffee table, two chairs... The essentials of a hotel room really. Though the similarities between this room and the one he'd had in Tokyo were all a little disturbing to say the least.

Still, despite all of this not a single thing was touched save the two chairs, neither person in the room seeing any point in picking up the remote. If anything, the action would be beyond disrespectful, an action that was largely unforgivable. Keiichi leaned back on his chair as the time slowly ticked away for the next duel to start, staring at the motionless body before them. It was currently taking a fair amount of will power to _not_ think about the fact that Mai was naked under those blankets really, given how tightly the blankets had been wrapped around her... An especially large amount actually, though since Shizuka was in the same room it was probably a little easier.

Pissing Shizuka off would not do him any good after all, particularly in this situation. Which reminded him... "Ah... ...Shizka," he said after a few moments, the girl turning toward him with blank and somewhat red eyes. "I... I know this isn't the best time," he started rather nervously, "But... I really need a place to sleep, and..."

"A place to slee-" The girl frowned, straightening herself as she looked at the boy. "Keichi, I thought you asked Yugi about that..."

Errr... Not... Really... "Ah... I was _going_ to," he coughed, "But then I realized that it's... Well,_ Yugi_," the boy protested, "Which kinda makes it _awkward_ and..."

"..._Awkward_," the girl asked flatly, raising her eyebrows as Keiichi turned.

"Well... Yea! I mean, he's kinda the number one duelist in Japan now," Keiichi continued, shaking his head, "And combining that with the fact that he's got the same card I gave your brother, it's just a little..."

The boy froze, his friend slowly scowling as she clenched her fists. "Ooooohhhhhh..." A smack came through the air, Keiichi wincing as his head was subject to the expected 'pound'. "Keichi," the girl shouted, crossing her arms. "You can be such a kid sometimes!" What? A kid!

"O-Owww..!" The boy rubbed his head, wincing as he looked back to his friend. "Geeze, Shizka..! What the hell was-"

-_click_-

What the hell was that. The two abruptly froze as the sound hit the air, turning as the door slowly clicked open from behind them to hiss open. That... That wasn't possible, the doctor wasn't...

"I thought the doctor had the only key," Keiichi muttered with a swallow, standing up from his chair with wide eyes. The person on the other end of the door was quite obviously _not_ Kuzushi after all, and there was no time to take chances.

Shizuka nodded as the boy stood, also standing up as a woman walked in from the hall. "Sh-She does," Shizuka said nervously, "So how..."

"Don't be afraid," a calm, accented voice stated, a woman in white coming into the room as she clicked a veil from her face. The woman's headdress was decorated with gold, bracelets around her wrists and shoulders and a thin, simple torque of sorts around the woman's neck. With tanned skin and dark hair however, it was more than clear of her relation to the other Egyptians in the tournament... Yet despite that, the woman's warnings were preventing the two from jumping for the phone to call for help, both young teens simply swallowing in unease. "Do not fear," the woman repeated as the door shut behind her, veil gripped lightly in her hands. "My name is Ishtar Ishizu... Secretary General of the Egyptian Department of Antiquities," she stated plainly, "And eighth competitor in the tournament..."

Ishtar? As in... _Malik_ Ishtar? ...Waaaait... Besides _that_, did she just say- "_You're_ the eighth duelist," Keiichi asked, shaking his head as he stared. "But... The announcement..." The one that came four minutes ago...

"Shouldn't you be on the stage," his friend muttered, stepping back as Ishizu came close.

The woman merely shook her head, expression more or less blank. "I'll make it in time," she said calmly, moving toward the bedside before freezing as Keiichi stepped in her path. Ishizu appeared to stare for a few moments as the boy stood, expression unchanged. "...You..."

"Hey... I don't know who you are," he said flatly, growling somewhat under his breath, "And just because you _say_ you're alright doesn't mean you can just come over and-"

"I wanted to see if there was any way to repair my brother's damage," Ishizu stated, the others freezing at the confirmation of relationship. "...I... ...You see," the woman began, hands rubbing the torque around her neck, "Like my brother I wield an ancient object known as a 'Millennium Item'... The 'Tauk'," she continued, turning to step past the boy and look over Mai's body. "It grants me precognition," the woman explained calmly, "And it was by its powers that I unlocked your door."

Okay... What. "...You unlocked the door with a-" Keiichi shook himself, instead turning to a more important matter as he narrowed his eyes. "Hang on... You're that maniac's _sister,_" he asked, jabbing his thumb toward the door as Ishizu nodded in silence. "...Shit... I sure as hell don't envy you," he muttered, before ducking back under a glare from Shizuka.

Shizuka held the glare a few moments more, before turning back to the woman before them. "Ishizu-san," she asked somewhat nervously, "If you have one of these items... Does that mean... Can you really..."

The woman shook her head, sighing as she held a hand above the woman's body. "Sadly no," she admitted, eyes closing over slightly before she moved back. "This is my first experience with the powers of the Shadow Game... The tauk you see, is benevolent, and considered the 'lightest' of objects. It grants the wielder powers concerning fate itself, at the cost of continued neutrality. So no," the woman continued, shaking her head. "The only thing that will break Malik's hold on this woman is either his death, or his loss in another game." Well... The last one was sounding good to him... "As it is," Ishizu continued somewhat sadly, "The rest of my knowledge of the tauk is little," she admitted, stroking the necklace around her neck. "And compared to my brother's power..." Ishizu abruptly cut off with those words, turning to the two as they stared. "I must leave," she said plainly, Keiichi glancing at the clock to the side to mentally agree. "I have a duel to attend to... And there is nothing more I can do here," Ishizu continued, shaking her head. "But first... ...'Ryuzaki Keiichi'," the woman asked, Keiichi jumping in response.

"Ryu- H-Hey," he asked nervously, "When did I give you my na-" The boy was lightly elbowed by his friend, as Shizuka frowned, the boy quieting so that Ishizu could continue.

"You are in need of a room," she said rather plainly, "And though my brother will avoid this room due to its uselessness in his eyes, the others will soon be quite full. From what the tauk has shown me, those in this room will end up taking guard shifts... Yugi's room will soon hold the sleeping arrangements for either your friend or the one named 'Mazaki Anzu'," she continued, pulling a card from between the folds of the sash on her waist. "Here," Ishizu said, handing the boy a card. Keiichi looked it over with fairly wide eyes, staring as the woman continued. "Move your things into my room," she told him, the boy blinking in response. "You will be safe there if you stay the evening."

"A-Ah... Your room," he repeated somewhat blankly. "You mean I can stay in-" H-Hey, his silent prayers had actually been answered..!

Ishizu turned and left without another word at that however, Shizuka staring at the card with somewhat surprised eyes before eventually speaking. "She... She gave you her room key," she said with a swallow, blinking slowly as her friend nodded. Yea... Yea she did... Which meant...

He was staying in her room! He was staying in a girl's room instead of having to share with three other guys! "Hah... Hahaha... YES," he shouted, pumping his fists. "This is AWESOME!"

"Keichi," Shizuka said somewhat quietly, "Keep your voice down..."

"I didn't even have to ask Yugi," he continued with a grin, "This is great!"

"Keichi," his friend muttered, "Really, you-"

"I gotta move my bag," the boy decided 'abruptly', hopping over the chair to grab it from the floor, "Get settled..."

"O-Oi," the girl shouted, watching as her friend turned back. "Keichi! Are you blushing!"

"Er... No," he answered nervously, shouldering the bag with a nervous laugh.

Perhaps Ishizu had foreseen that awkward argument on her way there, as she actually had two minutes left before duel start by the time she arrived on deck.

* * *

The wind had seemed to get colder as the duels passed, far colder than the standard 'early-evening, late night' shift. She wasn't really sure why she was bothering to notice these things of course, but as she stood at the far end of the arena with crossed arms she noticed it nonetheless. Her deck had been locked into place, and her disk was now at the ready however, cold be damned. And as she stared across the field with narrowed eyes, Isono's words echoed about the field, her opponent still not present.

"We will now hold the fourth match," the man announced clearly, the rest of the crowd standing at opposite ends of the field. To her left was the 'peanut gallery', the two tag-alongs remaining below deck. To the right, Malik, a vicious grin on his face as he waited for the match to start. If it would, that was. "As the eighth duelist has not yet arrived," Isono was saying in the meantime, "We will begin a five minute countdown- should they not be present within that time, disqualification will occur, and Kaiba Seto will win by default!" Hnnn...

Seto narrowed her eyes, growling under her breath. Disqualification... Such a pathetic way to win! This eighth duelist's antics were beginning to really tick her off with all of this anonymity. Even so, until this person arrived... "...Yugi," she said clearly, eyes shifting to where the boy stood at the sides. The boy in question blinked, still holding onto the persona of the 'other' while in the partial presence of Malik. "Watch," Seto stated, "This is _my_ tournament; the god cards and the title 'King of Games' are both on the line... In order to face you for these rights," the woman continued, arms crossed as the wind blew about the field, "I _will_ win this battle... Remember that." Yugi appeared to narrow his eyes at the statement, Jonouchi as well frowning slightly as the woman stared across the field. He was probably wondering how much of that message was for Yugi really... The title threat obviously was, but she'd rather not have to deal with the blond doing something stupid during this match.

Such as distracting her with 'cheers'. Moron.

As for her opponent...

The woman continued to wait in aggravation, before Isono's voice again pealed over the air. "We have just received permission from the eighth duelist to refer to her by name," the announcer cried, raising his hand and gesturing toward the lift. The arena's height blocked the lift from view, but as the competitor walked forward she could still see her white clad form. "Allow me to announce the official start of this match," Isono continued clearly, the woman now taking her place on the stage before turning toward her opponent. Hang on... That face was- "For the final battle of the evening and semi-finals, Kaiba Seto, versus Ishtar Ishizu!" Ish-

_ISHIZU!_? Even Malik, who stood at the side of the field seemed to freeze as the woman walked up to the arena floor, duel-disk clacking into position as she stared her opponent down. Ishtar... That was right, Malik's last name was 'Ishtar'. Which meant that those two were likely... "We meet again," Ishizu announced with a slight and polite bow, smiling toward the very person she had entrusted Obelisk to. "'Seto'... It would appear our meeting is exactly as predicted," she said mysteriously, the woman across from her tensing in response. Predict-

Tch! "Ishizu... Why are you here," she growled dangerously, the Egyptian showing no real change in reaction as she answered.

"Fate led me here," she said plainly, opponent narrowing her eyes in response. "By the powers of the tauk around my neck," the woman continued, "I have come... I have forseen all there is to see about this match," she went on, her opponent growing more and more tense with each mention of 'fate', "And I _will_ defeat you..."_ Defeat _her_._.? HAH!

Don't make her laugh she thought with a snarl, gritting her teeth even as slight unease crept into her mind. There were shouts coming from below, the 'peanut gallery' converging on itself with questions and confusion at Ishizu's presence... Evidently Yugi and Anzu both knew the woman somehow, and were explaining to their friends just who she was. Yet while that happened below, she couldn't help but notice that Jonouchi...

Was still watching... And was paying no attention to the conversations at all. "...Seto," the woman called out, a few of the boys at the side again muttering off about 'first-name-basis'. "I will say again... Fate is unavoidable, uncontrollable... This tauk around my neck is what allows me to properly discern the future of others," she explained with a shout, "Allowing me to form my predictions... You will lose this battle," the woman announced clearly. "And I say that not only as a duelist," she continued, "But as one who has peered into the future itself!" The fut...

"H...Hhnhnhn..." Laughter slowly came into the air, the conversation seeming all to ridiculous to truly care about. "'_Fate_'," she 'repeated', a grin slowly appearing on her face as she laughed. "It's one thing to make claims, but don't even joke about that! You _gave me_ your God card," she roared, the laughter cutting short. "You were even the one to request that _I_ put together a tournament to lure out the ghouls," Seto snarled, "For which reason I've been dealing with said scum all day- And you tell me that 'fate' decrees it all end here?" As if it would be so pathetic! "Hn! You're quite bold," she said with a sneer, Isono allowing the conversation to continue for the moment. "Your first impressions aren't too bad either," Seto added, idly looking over the outfit that her opponent had chosen. "But sorry to say, these superstitions of yours don't scare me; I could care less about these 'Millennium Items' and occult paraphernalia. As far as I'm concerned," she continued loudly, "You can toss them like the trash they are!" A smirk again made its way across her face, the fierce wind around them appearing to pick up speed. "Hn... It would appear that this battle will be truly ironic by the end," Seto stated with a chuckle, eyes narrowing in mirth as her opponent showed no reaction. "Using the power of the very Obelisk you gave me," the woman continued, "I'm going to toss your 'predictions' to the ground from whence it came! Now..!" She turned, giving Isono a look as the man abruptly nodded from the stage behind her.

"Right- DUEL START," he announced, bringing his hand down in the familiar 'begin' signal. The women on the field immediately drew their hands with those words, faces tight with determination as both took their 'positions'.

"Let's go," Seto roared, coat furling around her as the wind stung against her body. She'd show this woman 'fate'... What the 'future' really was... What created her future was undefined after all, a thing that could not be foreseen by some golden object of the past. It was a thing that none could see completely, something that could only be estimated and travelled toward. So, with that in mind... "It's my turn," she shouted, her opponent's eyes closed over as the cards were set on the field. The holographic panels shimmered into existence, the first swinging upward to reveal her first monster. "First I summon the Blood Vorse," Seto announced, holographic demon holding his blade forward with a snarl as he appeared in a flicker of light. "And next," she continued, "A face-down card... End turn!"

Ishizu opened her eyes, nodding slightly as she drew her first card. "Hn... My turn then," she stated, setting two cards on the field as well. The holographic panels did almost the same as her opponent's had, the first swinging upward before appearing on its side. "First, I summon Keldo in defense mode," the woman announced, the metal being appearing to shield its master with large wing-like arms. "And next," she called out, the second card swinging upward to 'pulse' almost angrily, "I activate the spell Dragged Down to the Grave!"

Dragged to the-! Seto tensed, grinding her teeth as she ran over the card's information. A hand cleaning card _and_ an embarrasment! Damn her damn her damn her da-

"Go on Seto," the woman said plainly, cutting her opponent's mental rant short. "Show me your hand..."

Damn it! She wasn't going to forget this! "Ngggh..." The hand was held out in silence, cards revealed to the entire field as Ishizu appeared to close her eyes and nod. Tch- if she wasn't even going to look-

"Thank-you..." The woman opened her eyes, gripping her cards tightly as she spoke. "Discard Polymerization and 'Kaiser Glider' if you will," she continued, Seto doing as requested with a slight growl. One high powered monster, one spell...

Tch... Well. She supposed it could have been worse really; those cards wouldn't have done too much early on in the duel, given the Glider's negative second effect. But now it was her turn to pick the cards, even if Ishizu's hand wasn't to be revealed. "Alright then Ishizu," she said with a frown, pointing toward the woman's hand. "Starting from my right, discard your second and fourth cards!" She might not have been able to see Ishizu's hand... But mark her words she would make the blow just as fierce!

"Understood..." Ishizu pulled the cards from her hand, holding them forward for a moment. "The cards you picked were Monster Reborn and Revival Magic," she announced, sending the two to the grave before slipping the rest of her hand into her deck. Across from her Seto did the same, before drawing a new hand as the spell on the field vanished from sight. "And with the renewed hand of cards," the woman continued almost blankly, "My turn is over." Hn...

So it was... But what was she planning, shuffling out their hands she wondered, drawing her next card and adding it to her hand. Briefly she noted, Ishizu's eyes seemed to drift to the side, staring at where Malik stood. At where the blond now leered upward in return, a nasty and sadistic grin across his face. In response a glare appeared across Ishizu's face with an intensity that she had yet to see in any form of emotion the woman had shown, and yet despite that her eyes clouded beneath the light. Even so... Just as Ishizu's expression shifted to shock she made her move, pointing her monster forward with narrowed eyes as the hologram charged. "It's my turn," Seto announced, the demon raising its axe high. "Blood Vorse, attack! Cut the opponent in half," she roared, the monster doing just that as Keldo fell to both sides in a shower of pixels. Ishizu ducked against the backlash from the holograms strike and the wind both, Seto chuckling in response. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Before trying to look into the future, try looking at the enemy standing in front of you," she chuckled, opponent narrowing her eyes. Really... Spacing out in the middle of a match! She'd teach her a lesson; that was for sure. All it would take were a few cards after all, and her virus strategy would come into play! And with those same cards in her hand... "Ishizu," she called out, arms crossed as the two cards were set on the disk. "Your so called 'visions' of the future don't even phase me!" Ishizu continued to stare across the field with narrowed eyes at that, watching as the two holographic panels appeared face down on the field. "The 'future' is what I make of it! And until you can prove otherwise, you shouldn't even bother making these claims! HahaHAHAHA! Now," she announced, nodding curtly as she stared across the field. "I'll play two cards face down and end my turn!"

And now to see what her opponent did in response... Ishizu narrowed her eyes at the comment against her tauk, nonetheless closing them over as it came to her turn. The next card was drawn and set upon the field without the slightest glance, a holographic counterpart arising to the field in a flash. "...I summon Mudora," she announced, the Egyptian looking warrior appearing in a golden mask above the field. "And in addition to that," she continued, another card appearing in view as a pair of 'wind and fire' wheels appeared in its hands, "I equip him with the cestus of Dalga, increasing his power by five hundred points! Now... Attack the Blood Vorse," the Egyptian ordered, Seto smirking in response. Hah!

Just as planned! "Hn! I activate the two face down cards," Seto countered with a shout both cards revealing themselves to the field as they swung upward. "You've walked right into my trap! First," she began, the card vanishing as her monster's hologram halved in size, "Shrink cuts the Blood Vorse's power in half... And then," she continued, holographic mist filling the air as the monster was destroyed by the attacking monster, "As a carrier of the crush card virus, the poison infects your cards! Not only are your monsters on the field destroyed," she laughed, her own monster vanishing into a shower of light as her lifepoints plummeted, "But so are the ones in your deck! Now send them all to the grave," the woman continued, smirk widening as her opponent stared. "They won't be doing you any good..."

She'd have expected more of a reaction from that kind of loss really... But as Ishizu nodded she merely closed her eyes over, moving any monsters from her hand and field into the grave. "As you wish," she said plainly, the smirk on Seto's face nonetheless remaining in place. Well... It didn't _really_ matter she supposed, the reaction that was. She'd won this match after all... So why bother with it? Mudora may have landed a strong hit of course, but with all of Ishizu's strongest monsters dead and her strategy as of yet unfinished and in progress it was well worth it. One more card... One more card and the devastation would be truly apparent! "I play one card face down," Ishizu said calmly, the single holographic panel hovering above the field as Seto's thoughts were cut short. "I end my turn."

And with those very words a rumble came through her deck, a beating that transferred to her hand as she drew her card. A rush of energy bolted through her every being, eyes drawn to her deck as she slowly pulled the card from the holder. She could hear it... Feel it, the very _pulse_ of the being in the card... "In that case," she roared, grin widening as the card was placed in her hand, "It's my turn!" God... God's power now sat in her hand she thought with a mental cackle, the card in question appearing to gleam viciously under the moonlight. Three turns, three monsters, three sacrifices... In that amount of time she would win, no matter what! "I summon Des Feral Imp in attack mode," Seto announced, the holographic demon appearing before its hovering card. Seto pointed the monster forward, her grin almost appearing to be mirrored by the beast as it moved. "Of course," the woman laughed, containing her elation somewhat as her expression faded, "Now that your field is clear, the Imp attacks directly! Hear this," she continued, watching as her opponent stumbled under the strike from the solidified light, "The future is limitless... The past is merely a string of footprints- And the past is nothing to me," she shouted with a laugh, grin refusing to die completely as her monster returned to her side of the field. "The fact that you gave me Obelisk... That doesn't matter either; I didn't _choose_ God," the woman shouted clearly, her opponent continuing to stare in stubborn silence, "God chose _ME_! And using this power," Seto roared, the woman across simply looking at her hand as it came to her turn. "I'll end this in just a few turns!" Using a strategy that was going so smoothly it was almost unbelievable..! "And now," the woman announced, setting another card on the field as its panel appeared in response, "For the next part of my strategy... I play the spell 'Virus Canon'- sending the first ten magic cards of your deck into the grave!" Which meant nothing but perhaps a few traps and spells with cannon fodder, the duel's result practically decided already. Perfect... This was working perfectly, better than she could have possibly hoped! "Your deck is good as destroyed," she laughed, Ishizu merely staring across the field.

And yet from the side, the wince on Jonouchi's face appeared to say otherwise. "No," Ishizu stated calmly, tapping the duel disk on her arm. "As I told you before, I have foreseen all of this. You'll have to forgive me Seto," she continued, blood slowly draining from the woman's face as the card on the field swung upward, "But the one who fell for the trap was _you. _Watch... This is the tomb-guardian's trap! I activate my card," she announced with a frown, the card's text burning into her opponent's skull. "Exchange of the spirit!" Ex... Exchange... The card that switched...

. . .

. . . . .

Nooooo... No no no- AAAAAAUGH! Augh! "Hnhnhnhnhn... Our decks are now switched with our graves," Ishizu announced, her opponent staring across the field in shock. "So... How is that for your 'proof'," she asked somewhat smugly, eyebrows raised as her opponent continued to freeze. Nothing... It didn't prove anything damn it, it... It...

The woman's mind drew blank for a moment, facts flying through her head as she attempted to think. There were six cards in her graveyard. _Six,_ the two cards that had been discarded and the spells she'd used for her virus strategy. A 'deck out' loss wasn't announced until it was impossible to draw on the next turn however, which left her with seven turns total.

_Seven _turns! Ishizu on the other hand, who had dumped almost her entire deck into the graveyard as a result of the virus play... Had quite clearly planned this from the start. The woman stared at her duel disk as Ishizu smiled, her graveyard spitting the cards out for the requested switch. Seto shakily and reluctantly switched the deck with the tiny pile in silence as her opponent did the opposite, eyes still wide and unblinking as she slowly looked back to the field. This... This was not good she told herself with a shudder, this was... "My turn," Ishizu announced, placing a card on the duel disk before grabbing another. "I'll set one card face down and summon Kelbek in attack mode," she stated, the holographic panels hovering in place as the mechanized spider shimmered into existence. "End turn." This...

The 'future'... So Ishizu thought it was a future where she lost did she? Well not so! She would turn this around soon enough, mark her words! "My turn," Seto spat bitterly, drawing the next card and looking it over with narrowed eyes. The same card she had sent to the grave moments before, the Virus canon... If she played-

"Activate trap, 'Negate'," Ishizu shouted, her opponent narrowing her eyes as the card flipped upward and vanished from sight. "Discard the card just drawn!" Gh...

Damn it... There went that one. Ishizu knew almost exactly what was in her 'deck' thanks to her strategy, given the number of cards discarded. And with what she had in her hand, her only monster aside from Obelisk being too powerful for the field... "...Des Feral Imp enters defense mode," she growled, a thick scowl in place as she crossed her arms. "I pass the remainder of the turn." This was ridiculous, completely pathetic..! She couldn't summon more monsters, she didn't have enough low-level ones left to use...

But thanks to Ishizu's first spell she decided with narrowed eyes, she still had enough cards to turn this around. Soul Exchange was in her hand after all, which would allow her to summon Obelisk without worry. And once Ishizu had three monsters on the field... "I summon Zolga in attack mode," the woman before her announced, a second monster appearing above the field. The thickly robed being hovered in place before his card, Seto narrowing her eyes. Almost there she told herself, hand almost twitching in impatience. Just one more, one more, this was all she had and-

"KAIBA," Yugi shouted from the side, the woman turning to look at where both he and Jonouchi were staring up with near identical expressions. What- What the hell were they shouting about? "Just ahead of us is the location of our battle," the boy called out, his 'rival' narrowing her eyes to stare in slight confusion. "The future for us both is just within reach! Understand?" The future...

Seto continued to stare, watching as Jonouchi as well cupped his hands to shout. "Hey! S- Kaiba," he called out, barely catching himself on the name as always. "I plan on gettin' a shot at fightin' y' too," the blond announced with a laugh, "So don' even think 'f losin' sight 'f what's there, got it!" He-

"Hn!" The woman turned back to the field, eyes narrowed as Ishizu announced her attack. "I won't; And you would be wise to wait for me," she growled, unphased by the holographic backlash of her destroyed feral imp. Zolga had attacked the monster while she was 'talking', which really figured. That was the first monster however, and now...

"Kelbek attacks directly," Ishizu shouted, the spider charging across the field with a synthesized screech. The monster's claws slashed at her form, sending a wave of wind past her as a result. The woman's coat flew out behind her as she shielded her face, leering over her arms as the monster returned to its side of the field.

"Tch-!" And just how realistic had she made the monsters again..? That felt like a little more than a bruise, and if anything she would even say there were scratches on her bracers...

Even so the turn was not yet over, a face down card appearing to the field and pulling Seto's attentions back to what 'mattered'. One face down card... "End turn," Ishizu stated after finishing the attack and move both, before nodding across the field. "Your draw."

Hn! Tell her something she didn't know... But that card... Seto narrowed her eyes as the wind appeared to die back to its regular rhythm, drawing her next card to take her turn. There was the slightest possibility of it being another 'negate' she told herself, and if she drew the wrong card at that moment...

"Activate trap," Ishizu shouted as her opponent glanced over the card, mentally snorting as 'Blood Vorse' was sent back to the grave. "Negate!" Hn!

Interesting luck she had there, drawing two of the same card so quickly! Even so... With this card the woman told herself, she would _win_. No matter what... "I place one card on the field," Seto announced, the holographic panel appearing before them. A small smirk made its way onto her face, the woman crossing her arms and holding a finger close to the 'activate' button. "End turn!" And now...

For the final turn of the duel. "My move then," her opponent stated calmly, drawing her next card to immediately set it on the field. "First," she announced, a card shimmering into existence at her knees, "I set a card face down." A fourth card quickly appeared on the field, image staring out to the arena as a third monster appeared. "In addition," Ishizu called out, "I summon this; Agido!" Yes...

Yes! HahahaHAHA! As the egg-shaped, eye-decorated monster appeared to the field Seto tapped the dueldisk, her card swinging upward as she laughed. Yes! Not a single ounce of suspicion! "HahaHAHAHA! Thank you for bringing up the necessary sacrifices," she announced smugly, the spell card vanishing from the field in an instant. The monsters across on Ishizu's side of the field burst into pillars of sand and shadow both as the spell took effect, Seto still laughing as the sky appeared to cloud and darken. "I activate the card Soul Exchange," the woman roared, thunder pealing in the distance to herald the summoning as she set her next card, "Bringing out the God of the desert, the warrior of the night, OBELISK!"

A shattering roar came through the sky, seemingly shadowed lightning striking the air about them. "_**ROOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_" And here it came... The pillars of sand seemed to spin toward her side of the field, converging behind her as the winds picked up to a vicious tempo. Dirt scratched the sides of her cheeks but the sting was ignored and not even noticed as the remains of the monsters swirled into the large and now standing body of the God she had summoned. Dust and shadows developed into blue and necrotising armor, into rotted features and clawed hands that curled into fists, and at his immense size it was more than clear that Obelisk was just barely able to stand within the limits of the arena. Despite this however the monster still saw fit to come to one knee, preferring to see the field at a closer level than from the clouds far above. And with this monster... With this power that radiated from the air and filled the arena...

HnhnhaHAHAHAHAAA! "Ishizu... Prepare yourself," she roared, the grin on her face refusing to die as the storm worsened. "This is the last turn! You could surrender... Or you could be destroyed by the God before you... Take your pick!"

Ishizu however merely stood there, wind blowing her shawl back somewhat Seto stared. "I end my turn," she said plainly, eyes appearing almost blank. "It's your move." Nothing... She would fight until the end, and she would lose in the same manner.

Hnhnhnhnhn... Very well then she told herself, a grin forming on her face. This was... The end.

And yet as she moved to speak she found herself frozen in place, Obelisk kneeling in silence behind her as all sensations began to dull. She found her eyes drifting to the card in her hand, the one that now sat on the top, the Blue-Eyes White Dragon that she had held there from almost the start of the match. There was a feeling in the air, a feeling that seemed to radiate from this card... A cold, chilling feeling, depression, death...

And as she brought her eyes back up to the field, she thought she could hear... _Singing_. It was not human in nature however, despite the beauty it conveyed. Despite the sadness it carried, and the mourning it represented. There were no words even, merely shifting notes that rang through the clouds and through her ears. This wasn't the time to lose herself in some sort of 'daydream'... She didn't even _have_ daydreams, that was Jonouchi's field! "Attack," she muttered, before raising her voice as she forced the song from mind, "ATTACK!" But instead...

"_**.**_**.. I think NOT, my PRIESTESS.**" Wh... What... Seto's eyes widened with shock, unable to even turn as Obelisk lowered his head and continued to speak. It had to be Obelisk, her mind told her, despite the other half pushing the argument of impossibility. It was a hologram! There was no way it could speak! But holograms did not carry this sort of power either, they didn't simply 'break' the limits of the disk system... Yet as her mind continued to fight against itself Obelisk continued to speak, the woman still standing in shocked, possibly terrified silence. "**There is a TIME for GODS and a TIME for OTHERS,**" the monster announced wisely, eye-less sockets appearing to glow and reflect off the steel of the arena floor.** "And though the CHOICE is YOURS,**" he continued,"**Your KNOWLEDGE is yet INCOMPLETE. There are THINGS that you must KNOW,**" Obelisk announced,** "There are SIGHTS that you must SEE...**" Th... Things? What was this thing even talking about? 'Priestess'? 'Choices'? What was this, a dream? A nightmare even? It couldn't be real, it couldn't and yet-** "Close your eyes PRIESTESS,**" the God demanded, his hands closing over the woman as she stood frozen. Seto's vision was blocked completely by thick and mummified fingers, armor brushing against what bare skin there was as she swallowed. Impossible... _IMPOSSIBLE-_ "**Close your EYES and WITNESS the MEMORY so tightly LOCKED within your HEART! THIS IS YOUR TRIAL,**" he announced, thunder clapping from above as rain began to fall around but not upon the arena in torrents. "**FACE IT, with all the HONOR of your PREDECESSORS!**" Tri... Trial..?

_Predecessors_! And as she closed her eyes with the intent of blinking she found them locked in place, a rush of sights and sensations flooding her mind. She could see the tablet in the museum, and she could see the tablet as it was carved. She could see the desert, coated with sands, and a group of soldiers and horses charging toward some unseen enemy. She could see sands blowing across a ruined village and hear the mourning cries of some unseen beast, hear the roars of still other monsters of great power. She could see a man with the Millennium Rod in his hands, a man whose face seemed familiar too her, and not seconds later she could see that same man with the rod's blade embedded deep into his chest. And lastly, as the fleeting image of a woman's pale and smiling face met her gaze, snow white hair blowing in a slight breeze...

A tablet stood before her, and her head pounded as images flashed intermittently with the vision. Through the darkness and clouds above pierced the light of the sun, illuminating the carved image of none other than a dragon, a dragon whose form and image seemed so familiar... So important... So terribly important...

And though in reality they were still held in the same dueling position they always had, there was something in her arms her mind told her. A body. A woman, eyes closed as she lay on her lap. And as she lightly brushed white hair away from the face of a woman who could be sleeping for all that she knew... She knew... That just as the carving added detail to its stone before her, the woman in her arms slipped further into death. And she could hear a voice...

"_...Kisara..._"

"Gnnh!" Gasping breaths pulled her from the vision, tears dotting her eyes despite her confusion. Obelisk's hand had come back from around her, fingers moved to allow her motion as she regained her thought. This feeling... This horrible, _horrible_ feeling in her chest, pressing tightly against her...

And that light... That white light...

The gasping died down, calming into regulated breaths as she continued to think of the light. Of the dragon she had seen, carved upon the stone... "Memories... Nn..?" As God stood back behind her, pulling himself back to his feet the woman pulled the Blue-Eyes card from her hand. Beneath the waning light of the moon, among the thunder and falling rain, the image appeared to almost radiate with light in her fingers, filling her with a sense of familiarity and calm both. These memories... These thoughts...

She wanted to trust them, she found herself thinking, still staring at the card in silence. She wanted to trust this light, with all she had... And as she grabbed another card from her hand, setting it on the dueldisk, she found herself staring across the field with wide and determined eyes. This duel... She wouldn't win it with God.

She would win using the very begin that so attracted her to the game in the first place! With the monster that she had worked so hard to gain! And as the hologram appeared to the field her opponent shook, eyes widening with disbelief. "But... This can't be," Ishizu was muttering, watching as the spell was placed and activated. "There was no other option," she protested, "This isn't what happened!"

"Hn! Too bad," Seto growled, raising her voice as a card was ejected from her disk to be placed on the field. "I'm not attacking with Obelisk! I activate the spell silent rebirth," she continued, hologram responding as it was replaced with a crouching being made of gears, "bringing the Gadget Soldier from the graveyard!"

And still Ishizu stared, eyes wide as the move continued. "Wh-What-?"

"As a powerful card, an eight-star monster requires two sacrifices to be summoned from my hand," Seto 'explained', narrowing her eyes as the storms winds whipped past. "I have one here at my side... And another behind me," she she continued, "Making such a summon more than possible! I sacrifice not only the soldier," the woman roared to her opponent, "But GOD as well! Watch carefully Ishizu! I'll let you see the light of the monster who stands by my side," Seto announced. "The monster that carries my very pride and SOUL! I sacrifice these two monsters," she shouted as the cards were moved, "And I summon this... THE BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON!"

"**Well DONE! You have SUCCEEDED in your TEST,**" Obelisk roared, sand clattering to the ground as his body fell to pieces. The Gadget Soldier was quickly engulfed in the downpour as his card vanished, Blue-Eyes' own appearing in its place as dust melted into the ground. "**Allow me to OPEN your EYES,**" the monster continued in his dying moments,** "That you may REAP what seeds you have SOWN!**" What..?

As the last bits of sand vanished into the ground, taking the storm and rain with it, the woman found herself stiff with shock as a tablet formed behind her. Lines etched into the stone, smoke pouring through its form as light seemed to emanate from the very confines of the tablet, its reflection clearly viewed from the arena floor. The tablet continued to glow, continued to carve... Until at last with a mighty roar the beast was released, white wings carrying it through the air as it sang. Blue-Eyes was not confined to a mere 'playing field' in its arrival however; the dragon soared through the night sky with endless 'singing' cries, dipping around the airship itself before landing with both feet at either side of its summoner. And as the beast lowered itself further to the ground, smoke furling from its nostrils, Seto stared forward, eyes narrowed. The dragon was real. She couldn't argue that.

But for the moment, she could no longer see fit to care about that. "Tell me Ishizu," she called across the field, her Blue-Eyes standing loyally at her side as its tail curled about her in protection. "In this future that you saw, did you see Blue-Eyes," she 'asked', watching as the woman continued to stare. "Did you see a blinding light, brought from the sacrifice of a_ God_?" Ishizu's face told her all she needed to know in the resulting silence, and with a slight smirk the woman went on. "No... No you _didn't_," she sneered, Blue-Eyes appearing to give a rumbling chuckle at the words. "Because this is MY future," Seto spat, pointing the beast forward. "This is MY way of battling, and MY decision to make! _NOW,_" she announced, Blue-Eyes taking to the skies with a growl, "Attack the so-called fate that stands before us Blue-Eyes! **BURST STREAM OF DESTRUCTION!**"

"_**GRAAAAAAAOOOOOO!**_" In blinding light and heat both the attack struck, the dragon rearing its head as she blasted through the motionless and somehow calm opponent before them. The fires seared across the field and swiftly evaporated with no surface to burn for fuel, Blue-Eyes landing once more as it came to all fours. "_**Gaoooooo...**_" They did it...

They won. "I win," she said plainly, the dragon lowering its head beside her as she glanced back at the beast. They...

"_**Grnnnnn...**_" Seto frowned somewhat, staring at Blue-Eyes as it began to fade. How was it real... How was any of this real? '_Well done,_' Ishizu was saying from across the field, her head bowed as Seto more or less ignored her. '_Your strength has altered the very fabric of time itself... From this point,_' she continued in the 'distance',_ 'You are 'truly' the owner of that God card..._' But of course... Of course she was... But how was it that... The dragon beside her snorted, steam blowing into her face as the dragon brushed against her face. How... _How..?_ "_**Gnnnnn...**_" Blue-Eyes faded completely from existence with that, the woman removing the card to set it back into her deck in shocked and confused silence. How... _Why_?

Why was it, that looking at Blue-Eyes just now she felt... "...Ishizu," she found herself saying, glancing to the side. Malik had taken his leave already, leaving the 'peanut gallery', Isono, and the two women on the field. Ishizu herself had been about to step down from the arena, the woman turning back as her former opponent continued. "In people's hearts," she explained, "There are always things we would place before God, things that would surpass its power despite what all others think... That fact," the woman continued, "That is why you _lost_."

Ishizu stared for a few moments with those worse, blinking slowly before finally responding. "...I see," she muttered, turning away briefly. Well... If that was all she would say... Seto moved to leave the arena herself, before her former opponent pulled her attention again. "...Seto," the woman called out, the CEO in question turning from where she now stood at the steps. "Through this battle... ...I ...I have to thank you," she said calmly, hand on her tauk as she stared toward her. "The future my tauk saw... The future _I_ saw," she continued, eyes filled with worry. "It was one of darkness, and despair, a future that I felt entirely confined to... But through this battle," the woman went on, "You changed that. And when I look now, all I can see is blinding light... To think," she chuckled slightly, a small smile on her face as she brought her hand back down. "If people can change the future..."

"Hmp!" Anyone could do it; it wasn't anything 'special'. "If you can only follow 'visions' then you _have_ no light to create," she said plainly, stepping down from the arena as Isono announced the match end. "That's all." To the bedrooms then she told herself, pondering her brother's progress with Ra's translation as a few members of the crowd took their leave. To the rooms, to rest for the next morning... And shower. A shower would be nice... But first to deal with everything else. "...Yugi," she said, passing by the boy to send him a determined stare as she pushed the thoughts of a shower back from mind. "Our battle is coming just around the corner," she continued, narrowing her eyes in challenge as the look was returned in full. "I'll see you there."

"Right," the boy stated with a nod, watching as the woman continued ahead.

"Oi... Don' f'rget abou' me," Jonouchi said with a grin, walking behind his friend as the woman stopped to give the blond a smirk.

"Hn! With all your yapping how could I, mutt?"

"Nyh!"

"Breakfast is at ten," she said clearly, stepping into the lift as it returned from carrying most of Yugi's friends below deck. Yugi and Jonouchi both stared at that, staring as the doors slowly closed over. "Anyone late can go hungry." And until then, before she slept...

How _was_ that translation going?

* * *

To say the duel went well was to go without saying. Things had progressed normally for the most part, or about as normal as duels went around him. Yugi, of course, was fairly sensitive to whatever bizarre precognitive abilities he had this time around, and as he formed a slight 'barrier' between the blond and the others, any mutterings made it no further than Anzu's ears. To say that _after_ the duel he was screwed however... Well, that went without saying as well really. It probably had to do with his mouth... But he was pretty sure that everything else didn't help either. Actually, it seemed _every_ secret was coming to an end, given the tilted heads in the crowd when the wind blew Seto's coat back from her waist.

Right. In front. Of everyone. "Is it just me," Otogi had muttered at the sight, narrowing his eyes in confusion as he stared toward the woman, "Or does Kaiba have _hips_?"

"It is _DEFINITELY_ just you," Honda responded at an oddly loud tone, giving his friend a look before turning to Katsuya. "Definitely just- ...Dude," he muttered, the blond jumping as Honda addressed him from around the others. "Are you _blushing_?"

The response, though paper-thin in cover, was fairly expected. "DEFINITELY NOT!"

So yea, all together the moment had passed rather awkwardly. Of course, there was everything else to think of for that matter. When Ishizu had arrived for one, _he'd _already known she would be the mysterious 'eighth duelist'. '_Ishizu_,' he had muttered as the flash hit, Yugi turning at the sound. The blond had gained a somewhat shocked look, muttering the words as they came to mind before even realizing it. '_Th' eighth duelist, it's..._'

There had been obvious confusion, not to mention hesitation with that comment after Yugi heard that of course. After all; it was one thing to be told about the 'precognition' and 'flashes' but to actually believe it... Well, after Ishizu actually walked out onto the arena, the boy had found himself blinking a few times before turning back to Katsuya. "...Did I mention that this is all very, very strange," he had asked, Katsuya laughing nervously in response. Those words had quickly been followed by Honda and Otogi shouting '_IT'S HER!_' when the pair spotted Ishizu however, so he didn't have time to respond to Yugi...

Really, he was too busy watching the two flinch under Anzu's fairly cold '_you WERE stalking us!' _stare, a stare that had also dropped rather quickly when a 'new' bit of information came up. "Wait," Otogi said, shaking his head and scowling. "This was _supposed _to bring out the gang?"

"I _knew _it was planned," Honda hissed, before flinching under the look that Katsuya sent in response.

"Oiii... What'd I say abou' tha'," he growled, before Otogi interrupted to change the subject.

"So who do you think should lose more? Ishtar, or Kaiba," he asked, Katsuya continuing to scowl as the two talked.

"Well," Honda had responded with a shrug, "Hopefully Ishtar... Jonouchi wants to fight Kaiba right? Besides, it'll be worse for him if Kaiba _loses_, seeing how Yugi's pretty much the only one who can make that happen..."

Wait wha- "HEY!"

"Well then there's no problems right," Otogi said with a smirk. "Kaiba won't lose easily then!"

"Especially if it's against Jonouchi," Anzu added with a grin, the blond continuing to grow red in response.

"OIII!" That conversation ended up proceeding back and forth like that, at least until things on the field caught his attention once more. Honda and Otogi thankfully, were 'out of range', unable to hear what mutterings passed through his lips in shock. Anzu and Yugi however were not, and while Yugi himself had a small explanation, he really wasn't enjoying the looks Anzu was giving him.

Particularly since her eyes were still golden. Which was never good.

As the first of matters beyond 'reality', while the monsters had opted to ignore him during the match for whatever reason, he thought he had heard someone speaking when Ishizu came on deck. Not Ishizu herself however... If anything he'd noted, the woman he'd heard was completely different, and almost panicked in tone to contrast Ishizu's calm demeanour. '_Run,_' the voice whispered, a rush of fear flooding him for reasons unknown. '_They will not rest until all of you sleep in the pits of Ammit's bowels..! Run! I will stall them..._' That was all he heard... As to what that meant...

He had no clue. But following that he'd managed to narrowly avoid question after question. Seto after all had typically pulled out her 'Virus Deck' strategy, including the 'crush card virus'. He had yet to ask his monsters why those kinds of cards affected him really, but as he hurriedly threw his head over the side to lose yet another meal he really wished he had. Maybe they had something for it...

And so, a number of 'are you alright's later, he was again watching the duel, narrowing his eyes before smacking his head. "Awwwww hell..."

"...Jonouchi," Yugi had asked from the side, Anzu as well appearing to glance at them from the side.

"Y'll get it in five seconds," he'd muttered in response as he paled, counting down shortly after. "An' three... Two... One..."

"One," the boy questioned, before he was cut off by a shout.

"_EXCHANGE OF THE SPIRIT,_" Ishizu had cried at that moment, a long mental '_FUUUUUUU-_' running through his head as he groaned. And as Yugi had stared the blond merely sighed, arms crossed.

"I hate bein' righ'," he growled, Yugi merely staring in silence. Hate, hate, hated...

It didn't take much really to realize that there had been a lot going on during that final match really; it didn't need much more reason as to why after all, and the fact was that as he stood in the lift with Yugi and Ishizu both, there were other things on his mind. First, the tauk... The spirit had remained largely active through the battle, hands constantly prying through Seto's mind as it worked in silence. At the end of the battle however he had heard its voice, the being chuckling lightly as Blue-Eyes floated into existence from its glowing white tablet. "_**Exactly as planned,**_" it whispered, form unseen at the moment. "_**Forgive me my guardian... You have proven a worthy host. But the time has come for me to rest,**_" it said almost sadly,_** "And stand at the King's side once more.**_" Again with the kings... And the 'Gods' too, Obelisk had sure as hell done _something_ to Seto.

But more importantly... "Blue-Eyes," he'd said at the beginning of the match, Yugi looking at him oddly as Seto started the duel. Of all the things that had happened during the fight, that was the point that stood out the most. "S.. He's gonna win usin' Blue-Eyes inst'd 'f Obelisk," he muttered, shaking his head.

Yugi had continued to stare at that, blinking a few times as the blond frowned. "...What?" Oh... Uh... He hadn't realized he'd said it out loud... Whoops. Then again, it was probably more or less better than what happened later on, regardless of present knowledge. If anything, maybe not knowing would have made it easier to pass off the mutterings...

To pass off the look on his face as he wondered why Obelisk would be sacrificed, a fact that actually had his friend turn back with a look that rather plainly said '_...You were RIGHT!'_

Of course, when the God itself appeared he'd wound up with a headache again... With blind-spots dancing across his vision, words passing through his lips and Yugi listening and watching with a worried frown in place. '_Great God of the Desert and Storm,_' he'd whispered,_ 'He who wields the darkness alongside the light, whose form is unlike any on earth, whose battle with Osiris is unending and whose victory over Apep is celebrated, whose name is SUTEKH,_' he continued, the boy beside him growing paler and paler as he spoke,_ 'I stand before you and ask for your power, I ask that you grant me your strength, I ask,_'

"**...But I instead REFUSE...**" At his Katsuya had jumped, eyes wide as he turned on the monster above. God... God refused to fight, instead kneeling and speaking to his summoner outside the blond's audible range. It held back his attack, instead announcing a trial of sorts. It was strange, so strange that this would happen and yet...

"Jonouchi," Yugi whispered, pulling his friend back into the present as the elevator began to move down. Ishizu stood behind them for the moment, holding her tongue as the boys conversed. As it was, he didn't _think_ she could hear them so... "...During the duel," the boy continued, trailing off as his friend winced.

"Yea... I did it again, I know," he muttered, scratching his head as he turned to the boy. "It's... Pretty weird an'-"

"Actually," the boy responded, "I wanted to ask about that. You don't have to say anything if you don't want to of course," he continued, despite his expression giving away the fact that he would very much prefer it, "But while it's one thing to predict what happens, to predict what happened on the field when the tauk could not is just beyond-"

"You..." The boys turned, Ishizu frowning somewhat as the pair paled. Oh _come on_, she'd _heard_ that? The woman continued to stare, narrowing her eyes. "You foresaw the events on the field," she questioned, Katsuya mentally groaning in response. The two boys shared an awkward look, both wincing as the lift opened for them to step out. Ohhhh _great_, this was _just_ what he needed...

Eh... "...It's... A long story..."

"If you like Ishizu," the boy beside him added, "We can explain in Jonouchi's room." Wait what? Explain? But how was he supposed to- And hang on, didn't he get a say in this? "If that's alright with him of course," Yugi hurriedly added, eyes having briefly clouded as his lighter half berated him.

Again the woman stared, before glancing at the door labeled '2' at the side. "...That would be fine," she decided, bowing her head. "After you..."

Katsuya nodded, biting his lip somewhat before moving to open the door. It was a bit of a relief, being this close to the lift really; sure, Malik's room was right beside his, but at least the stairs were right there. The door slid open as the card was accepted, the trio stepping in as it shut behind them. Okay! So... "Er..." He rubbed his head, looking back at Ishizu as the woman stood in silence. "...I don' really know what I'm s'pposed t' tell y'..."

"You could start with the precognition... You claim that you foresaw the final result of the match," she asked, Katsuya nodding somewhat hesitantly. Yea... Yea he had...

Damn it, why hadn't he just asked to talk about this in his room rather than blabbing in front of Ishizu? Katsuya shook himself, taking a seat on a chair as he winced. "Well... I _did_ see it... Kinda. Jus' a flash," he explained with a cough, "I get 'm a lot... Er..."

"We actually don't know too much about this," Yugi admitted, crossing his arms. "In fact, had it been anyone else I likely wouldn't have brought this up further than where we got in the elevator. However," he continued, bowing his head, "It occurred to me that your tauk, as something with a similar power, might hold some information on this..." Er... Given what the tauk itself had told him, he didn't think so. Though he supposed it didn't hurt.

"...I see," the woman muttered in response, frowning somewhat. "Flashes... Your visions manifest as 'flashes'," Ishizu repeated in question, the blond across from her nodding as the woman's eyes widened. "How is that even _possible,_" she whispered, shaking her head. "Flashes... That is how the tauk's ability manifests, first as flashes, then through dreams and visions, but that cannot happen until after the item is received..!"

And therein lay the _other_ point of confusion. "We've already concluded that the items, while involved," Yugi explained with a slight frown, "Are not the trigger. But... As to what _is_," he continued, looking from Katsuya to Ishizu as he trailed off. "...Well..." He wanted to know if the tauk could figure that out...

That would be a 'no'. Silence settled over the air at that 'request', Ishizu frowning as she picked up on the unasked question. "...Even the tauk cannot discern that," she stated, bowing her head. "In fact, it has been a fair amount of confusion since the evening at the museum, my inability to discern your past and future. Of course," the woman added with a short nod, "I realize now that this 'ability' is likely what interfered in my readings, though that does not change the fact that the tauk's view of you is blinded..."

"Yea... I know," Katsuya sighed, shaking his head as the two frowned. "Got one hell 'f a dream where it explained tha' an'- ... ...Eh..." Crap, shouldn't have gone that far.

The others blinked, Yugi narrowing his eyes in confusion. "The tauk itself... Told you these things," Ishizu repeated almost blankly, eyes wide with incredulity as Katsuya stared back nervously. "The tauk has a _spirit_?"

"Er... N-Not really," he admitted with a cough, shaking his head. "I mean, I don' get it either but..." Ahhh... How to explain... Oh! "Hey, Yugi," he asked abruptly, his friend blinking in response. "Does th' normal Yugi r'member back in Pegasus' castle," he continued, "Back when we were guardin' yer head fr'm it?" There was another nod, the blond moving on. "Did 'e tell y' abou' what we fought off?"

Yugi blinked, before nodding yet again after a short moment. "He mentioned an enormous gold eye with shadows attacking from the sides," he said plainly, "But what does-"

"_Tha'_ was th' Eye," Katsuya said seriously, the two in the room blinking as he went on. "An th' flames y' saw earlier, tha' toothy prick controllin' my body at th' pier... Tha' was the Rod," he continued, Yugi's eyes widening. "I don' know what they are 'xactly, but 'pparently they ain't s'pposed t' be seen by most people... An'... Well, they ain't exactly normal, bein' items an all..."

The two continued to stare, Yugi looking down at his own item in question as he swallowed. "Then, the puzzle-" The puzz- OH!

"Er... No, tha's all you," he quickly shouted with a slight laugh, shaking his head. "Y' don' need t' worry abou' that... Trus' me, you'd 've known if I w's seein' anythin' like tha'!" The boy appeared to sigh with relief at this, Ishizu turning to frown.

"So the Tauk... It also has a form then..."

Katsuya nodded, scratching his head again as he spoke. "...Yea... A lot nicer though, tha's f'r sure... 'Parently it'll show up in people's dreams when it's getting their futures for y', showin' up as somethin' they're more familiar with... ...I didn' get t' have tha'," he added somewhat dryly, attempting to laugh the fact off as the others continued to stare. "Yea..." This conversation... It was so _awkward_...

"Such a strange ability," Ishizu muttered after a few moments, arms crossed as she looked back to the blond. "And you have... _No_ clues as to what this is," she asked, "None at all?"

"Nothin' more than dreamin' abou' goats an' piles 'f angry dead guys," he muttered, the others frowning in response before the PA at the side crackled and interrupted their thoughts.

-**ATTENTION,**- Kyouko's voice called over the system, Katsuya staring at the device as she went on.** -All lights outside that of personal rooms will be shut off in five minutes exactly, with doors locking to all those outside. Please return to your rooms immediately,**- the woman continued, **-And for your own safety and the safety of others, remain within the rooms until morning. Thank you.**-

The device clicked off with those words, Katsuya still staring as a frown came over his face. "Eh... A curfew," he muttered, pulling a face.

Ishizu nodded somewhat in response to the announcement, before leaving for the door. "So it seems," she said plainly, tapping the button on the side. "My door is currently open to the halls, so I should be fine until I return to it of course... But I believe I have overstayed my welcome. ... ...Jonouchi was it," she asked after a brief silence, the blond nodding in response. The woman smiled somewhat, bowing her head as she stepped into the hall. "...I will see if anything my family has recorded over the generations can explain this ability of yours," she offered, before turning to Yugi as the boy made to leave as well. "Until then... If I could speak to you in private, my Pharaoh?"

Yugi stared, the title catching him somewhat off guard. Nonetheless however the boy nodded, deciding not to miss whatever important information the woman planned to pass on. "Of course," he responded, before turning back to his friend. "...Jonouchi," he said with his usual 'smirk', bowing his head somewhat. "I'll see you in the morning, alright?"

"Heh! 'F course," he answered, watching as the pair left into the hall. "'F course..." As the door shut, leaving him alone in the ship room the blond found himself leaving for the washroom, shutting the door behind him and starting up a shower with a somewhat depressed expression in place. After all that... All that... Why couldn't he say anything more on what was going on? Why couldn't he just spit it all out, about the monsters on the field and outside it, instead of holding everything back? He'd come clean about the dreams after all, about all the dreams and the 'flashes' both... But why?

Katsuya pulled his shirt off as the shower water heated up, looking into the mirror before falling back with a choke. As he looked closely at what he saw, looking down at his chest, he was reminded of that reason after all; for across his chest, where Ra's lightning had pierced him, was a thick, ragged looking scar.

Something that, despite the nature of the wound, managed to rather frighteningly resemble the monster's clawed hand.

* * *

The computer room was just as dark as she had expected really, given all of the monitors remaining power in absence of the 'private lighting'. All 'unnecessary' lights had been shut off after all, leaving bedrooms and anything connected to the emergency power remaining. In other words, medical equipment and the devices sitting before her now. Seto looked to where Mokuba sat in front of the desk and screens, the boy typing away at something before turning to his sister with a jolt. "Ah- Nee-sama," the boy exclaimed, before a grin came over his face. "Congratulations on your match," he said with a laugh, pushing the chair from the desk as he continued. "I had it recording on one of the spare monitors... It was so cool! Bringing out Blue-Eyes right at the end, beating Ishizu's trap like that..." Ishizu had a trap? ...Hn. Well...

If her brother thought it was 'cool'... Seto smiled somewhat, walking over as she shook her head. "Hn! Did you expect anything less," she 'asked', the boy merely smirking in response as his sister peered over his shoulder at the screens. Alright, besides the fact that he'd been typing away at a video game that was currently minimized... "How is the translation going?"

"Almost done," the boy announced proudly, sitting up in his seat. "I've got a program working on it that will finish within two hours," he continued, the woman raising her eyebrows in slight surprise. Two hours...

Not bad... "Hn... Too late for you then," she said plainly, the clock showing that it was well beyond the boy's usual bed-time. "How about you go sleep alright," she continued, jerking her head toward the door. "Get some rest..."

The boy nodded, hopping off the chair without a bit of argument. "Got it! Make sure you save my game though," he added as he headed for the door, Seto raising her eyebrows and looking at the screen as she opened up the window in question.

Pokemon. On an emulator. Hahaha... It really figured actually... The sound of the door closing came from behind, the woman shaking her head and doing as her brother had requested with a slight sigh. "Nothing changes," she muttered, watching the game 'save' and close before taking a seat in the chair. Nothing at all... She still hoped that he would get into duel monsters of course, but really, with all signs pointing to 'no'...

The image of Ra flashed back on the screen as she opened the 'main window', the program decoding it appearing at its side. Looking at the loading bar near the bottom however, she had to wince, a scowl coming over her face. Two hours... Just became _three_. It was going to be a long night she thought with a growl, a long and shower-less night filled with- "Nnnh!" Seto jumped out from the chair as the screen flashed, hands gripping the desk as she stood and stared at the card. Impossible... This... '_Great God of all he travels, who creates all he sees,_' the text read,_ 'Whose eye is the warrior Sehkmet, whose knowledge is unsurpassed, w__ho sails on the evening barge of a million years-' _"N...Nhnnn..."

Seto fell back against the chair, hand on her head as she struggled to calm herself. The words... The woman continued to back away from the screen, fingers digging into her head as the words seemed to echo and embed themselves in her mind. She understood the words, she could read _all of them_... '_For the first rise I grant the power of control,_' it stated beneath the chant._ 'For the second, with the offerings of life I shall rise during the evening and smite all those whom oppose thee. And with the third power,_' it had continued,_ 'At the sun's highest point, the true form of God will be revealed, and with proper tribute eradicate all those before them. Such is the decree..._'

Of Ra. All of it... She read _all_ of it..! And as she crumpled to the floor on her knees, eyes wide and unblinking the woman shook, not even able to hear as a small warning flashed on the far screen. What was going on... What was...

"What's _happening_ to me..?"

**

* * *

AN:** And so you see, Jonouchi isn't the only one dealing with weird crap, though it's only a matter of time before he's found out. Of course, his ability doesn't transfer too well into a computer game, so you can bet that this won't happen until _after_ the Noa arc...

Speaking of which, did you enjoy your super chapter? I just couldn't split this up you see...

The next chapter is kicking off the Virtual World, with any and all events leading up to it and _then_ some! (This includes Bakura VS Malik, from Seto's POV; Kaiba was watching from the compy. Of course, since it's on the computer, it passes much quicker...) Anyways.

Expect lots of design work to come flying in, but until then, enjoy your spoiler image below.

Not to mention the hype that comes with this fact; more questions will be raised in this ark as a few are answered. Many, many more...

In other news, thanks to Kakamashi7 (who is sadly still catching up, and last reviewed on chapter 35), we now have a voice for Fem-Kaiba! It's the voice of 'Nana Osaki' from 'Nana'; and it's very important that you realize it's _Osaki_'s voice, the voice of the one with short black hair in other words, as there are two characters named 'Nana' in that show; and they sound _really_ different.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Lots of reviews this time around! Concerning the first, Taffy, use e-mail, we have it for a reason; this isn't the place to have private chatter silly~. As for the others...

Don't worry Kakamashi7, she gets it back! (Review is on chapter 35 if you forget by this point.) As for the songs, _wow_ is that ever creepy.

Not to mention timed so depressingly… Don't give up on reading by the way; you're doing a great job at catching up, and I'm sure you'll make it!

Also, on the voice… 'Nana Osaki'... ...OH MY- I think you got it! This voice works perfectly! Thank you very much for your suggestion Kakamashi, and I hope you enjoy the rest of the fanfic!

Oh Jonouchi's in very big trouble Iona! Though not as much as Mai. Not _yet_ any ways…

As for how he squirrelled out, just look up. He made it, but then he got caught _again_… And when the truth all comes up, it'll probably be just as nasty as Mai's situation.

And yes, it's probably for the best that we didn't get Kaiba's 'is it just me or did something else happen' face. If you know what I mean… (And what Ryuzaki means, ehehehe. …This gets so much worse with the gender barrier.)

In any case, on we go!

Hey, not a problem Randomprojects! Reviews are appreciated regardless of timing; I'll always answer, and quite frankly, I can sympathize with when school interfered with my own free time as well.

And yes! Yes he did notice! Not so much a 'finally noticed' as a 'finally cornered him on it' though… It really is going to get worse, but as to how, I cannot say…

Hehehehe… I just love getting guesses! And you're quite right, he's older than the main cast; in fact, if you look waaaaayyy back at a large doodle-sheet I put in the fan art section, there's an age guide; when Mahaad was 9, Jonouchi's past self would have been around 18-ish. That's about all you get from me though.

And hehehehehe… I'll just sit here and laugh at the rest; you're right to say that something feels off, but I'm not telling you why! The most I'll tell you is that those ghosts _aren't cards_…

Though their ties to the cards are very, VERY strong, so you were still very close with your assumptions. Don't worry about the hooks Random; all will be revealed in time..~

Hey there CynicalGamer, nice to hear from you again! And hahaha, yea, after a while you just _know_ when it'll happen…

And yesssss, I'm good at the chilling reveals aren't I. Ironically however, a lot of this is still passed off by the group; and the ones who heard things like the chanting are Yami and Malik-Possessing-Anzu, so there's no more reveals for the rest of the crowd! And yessss… I was actually wondering if anyone would catch that before I made it a relevant point; whenever a card is activated, I have the character's tap the disk. Jonouchi stops this about half-way through, and simply waves his hand.

On to the next chapter review… Yea. Wow. You really have to feel for Mai; what she's going through is both less and more jarring than in the anime, where it was memories being lost. Sure, Mai remembers everything here, but she also gets the trauma of all that on-field gore and pain… Worse, by the time she realizes what Jou was getting at… Well, yea. That dream confusion certainly didn't help.

And hahahahha! Yep! I had fun drawing that… In any case, I always wondered what was going through Kaiba's head at that time… Because as focused as Kaiba is, Malik could have very well killed everyone on that airship if he wanted. So… Yea.

Of course, the conversation was moved, and the reason behind it differed completely…

And yep! Finangle. Now you know! And knowing is half the- -shotshotshot-

In other news, you have the answer to your question right there! He didn't avoid it. But he didn't get everything in the end. Which is going to kick Jou right in the rear…

Speaking of Jou and his past life, I can't actually say; as I said, anything concerning Bakura is filled with spoiler, and _not _just with Jonouchi.

Dying is never fun! Think of it like pokemon though; constant fainting is a pain, but the occasional faint combined with many wins makes for a strong bond. Which has never really made sense to me, but whatever.

Yea, you can get used to the creepy-sweetness of the Insect Queen… And on another note, expect those nightmares in the next chapter, and enjoy the above!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that should put Jonouchi in a corner. Now.

* * *

The chapter title 'Revelations' refers not to the bible, but to a number of its definitions. The first is simply the act of revealing or disclosing something, which happens a lot as you can see.

In theology however, it's specifically _God's_ disclosure... And seeing how Obelisk/Sutekh (I call him this to keep him separate from Priest(ess) Set, who was likely named after said god) has a few choice words for Kaiba...

* * *

It's time for a note on psychopaths! Psychopaths are people without empathy, unable to feel for anyone but themselves. They tend to 'care' about things simply for their own gain, and often end up as CEO's and other powerful people. In fact, most psychopath's that _aren't_ sociopaths aren't murderers... Killing someone would get them absolutely nothing in return, and simply cause problems.

Now _sociopaths_ on the other hand are a special little branch of psychos. They don't truly feel _anything,_ save for rage and anything directly tied to said rage. As a result, their only release of endorphins and fun things like that (which cause... Happy... Things...) is... Well... Acting on that rage. These are the guys who kill animals as kids and move on to people later on.

As mentioned before, 'Yami-Malik' is the very embodiment of sociopathy. He is _not_ the embodiment of psychopathy however, for this reason:

Remember kids! All sociopaths are psychopaths, but not all psychopaths are sociopaths!

* * *

This section was both easy and hard to right. It's a scene I've had playing in my head a lot, hence the ease... But it was more of 'how much is revealed' that I was stuck on. In the end, we came to a bizarre half-way point. Initially, Jonouchi reveals his weird Egypt dreams. And to Yami this makes a fair amount of sense; shadow games and Egypt all tie together after all. And then the precognition comes in, and with all of the weirdness and such, it's no longer blind faith by that point; it's more that no one can _disprove_ what Jonouchi is saying, it's too weird for him to lie about, and, well... No one knows what the heck to say.

And of course near the end, the precognition is discovered by Ishizu as well, in yet another 'just TRY and avoid talking' situation... Though by that point it's one of those 'we mind as well bring you in on it' situations.

* * *

Originally, Kaiba's obviously far more curt about the translation deal… But besides Kaiba bringing logic into play for timing (It's been like… 3 minutes since Mokuba was asked to do this, seriously), the manga made it seem as though Mokuba was having _others_ translating it. In this case however, its legitimately a solo-effort, so Kaiba's not going to run in and say 'HURRY UP' to her little brother just yet.

* * *

Magic unlocking powers? What? This was partially to make up for/explain all of the Rod's powers…

Because seriously, Malik deflects bullets and destroys sentry guns with that thing later on. WHAT.

* * *

And as a matter of fact, yes, it really looks like flirting from the sides when you think of the 'first name basis' rule. It gets better later on too. On a more serious note, Ishizu was actually not supposed to use the tauk to duel. At all. She actually says it herself in a mental monologue that she's 'not allowed' to use the tauk to see her opponent's moves, but 'for her brother's sake', she would do it nonetheless.

This is quite likely why it backfired on her.

* * *

Bit of irony here, but Kaiser Glider shares a bit of resemblance with Ra. Hnnnnn...

* * *

Did you catch the Death Note reference? Both of them? …Shameless, I know.

* * *

Lots of cards in the manga and anime act differently, but Virus Canon in particular stands out; it's a spell in the anime and manga, and removes ten magic cards instead of just one!

* * *

Sometimes Yugi's cheers feel so damn random... Though it's a little interesting to note that Kaiba did in fact respond to the cheer in the Japanese with as close to a positive response as you can get with Kaiba; and 'wait for me' tends to be a very friendship related thing in anime last I checked...

* * *

Hey! Time for some information on Set/Sutekh! Due to the relation between Set and Osiris, and the fact that an Obelisk… Isn't… A god… I made that God 'Set'.

This actually works out; Obelisk is specifically the 'God Soldier of the Obelisk'… Obelisks themselves represent the Sun's rays, in other words, bits of Ra. So as an offshoot, Obelisk's card name technically means 'God Soldier of _Ra_'…

And guess what, Set could be considered as such, for reasons I've covered already.

As for the 'chant', Set was originally considered the god of desert and storms both. As time passed, and his battle with Osiris and Horus entered the lore, he became the god of Darkness as well, though not in the malevolent nature that Apep was; in fact, Set became known as a guardian against Apep during the night, his domain, protecting Ra during his journey at this time.

And of course, this means he always beat Apep in the end.

As for the 'whose form is unlike any on earth' line, that's because Set's head, and the animal he occasionally appears as, doesn't actually have a real counter part. There have been theories; a fennec fox is as close as they got to something with a forked tail and big boxy ears, but really, do you see a God with a fennec head?

Still, the 'Set-Beast' is freaking AWESOME.

* * *

Again, more 'big-sister-ness' rather than 'angry-Kaiba-ness' here, due to everything being run by Mokuba this time around. Also, the tournament technically started off around 9-ish, so given the time it normally takes for each match...

It's _late_. Mokuba should be in bed. So... Yea.

Also Kaiba's getting a little softer, it's just that Mokuba tends to be the only one that highlights this. (Save rare moments with Jonouchi... Very... Rare...)

* * *

Not many notes today, other than the fact that I obviously added to the vision (fun stuff!). This is what happens with manga chapters!

And in other news...

**

* * *

FanArt and My Art Section**

Also known as shameless self-advertisement. Hehehehe.

Just take out the spaces and you'll have your link! We have spoilers here, but as spoiler-y as it is, it's still in the name of good fun concept!

SpoilerConcept: The Court and Apprentices(WIP) – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ PriestsWIP-1. jpg - Because hey! The pharaoh, Atem's dad rather, had his own court of priests (plus one girl)! As to what happened to them... Follow after me along the top row! Killed by criminal, murdered, retired, died, still present (His apprentice isn't though), murdered annnnnnd... Murdered!

Hang on here, that's three dead bodies with no explanation... HMMMM. All will be revealed! ...Eventually! Until then, enjoy the fact that I based the guys with the rod and tauk off Siegfried and Mai of all people... For no reason other than design fun. (The rest of the priests are based on their images; Karim's predecessor looked identical to him, and Mahaad's I just didn't bother changing. Both of those two have a father-son relationship though.)

And if you haven't guessed, Akhnaden's apprentice is not only an OC, but kinda missing by the time the Millennium World happens. In fact, he's missing a fair while before those events!

And no, the clothes weren't coloured. I didn't want to post the chapter without this... So ignoring the failed attempt at a majority of the 'original court' (and on poor Karim...)... Enjoy!

And until then, I'll be working on this next chapter!


	83. Chapter 82

**Entering The Lotus Eater's Realm**

* * *

Sleep, to most, was an important aspect of life. It was a way to calm down, 'recharge', a way to prepare for what was yet to come. It was required to do so in fact, and without sleep it could take as little as a few days for death to set in. For the moment though, as Honda and Otogi ran past to hurriedly knock on Jonouchi's door, sleep did not seem to be something that would happen anytime soon, despite the fact that it was already one in the morning.

Anzu and Shizuka both were thankfully not in his room it seemed, the girls likely standing at Mai's bedside. Both had requested a stay in his own between their self-made 'guard shifts' by the woman's side after all, and though their things now sat in the room there was not a soul to be seen. For the moment, his room would be completely empty...

The perfect place to discuss whatever it was Ishizu wished to talk about. At least, that was what the lighter half of him was doing, having switched out after the door closed over. The boy looked back at Ishizu as he turned to the door, rubbing the back of his head as the woman jumped at the switch. "Ah... If you want to talk to the other me Ishizu-san," he began, Ishizu in question staring somewhat blankly, "I understand... It's just that with all that happened today," Yugi continued worriedly, "He's completely exhausted and..." And not responding, so his offer was either going to turn really awkward or... He shook himself, flushing. "Well, not as though you probably aren't tired yourself of course, but-"

Ishizu smiled somewhat, shaking her head as she watched the flustering boy before her. "It's fine," she said calmly, moving to the side to allow him to pass. "The bond between yourself and the spirit of the pharaoh is strong... If he needs to rest," she continued, bowing her head, "Then so must you; I will make this quick." Ah- Well, when he thought about it, it was late so...

"T-Thank-you," he said calmly, moving into the room. "I'll try not to interrupt."

Another bowed head, and as the woman took a seat she began. "Since the end of the nameless one's reign," the woman explained, "Those of my blood, traced to the priestesses of the court, have guarded the secrets of those times, under the orders of the succeeding Queen. We have sacrificed much in order to do this, protecting the Millennium Items entrusted to us and the secrets of the memories within," she continued, Yugi looking at the woman with a sad frown.

"Then... I was right..." Like Malik, she had been a tomb guardian. And if that was the case, then that would mean... "You're Malik's sister, aren't you," he said quietly, Ishizu turning away with a nod. A small span of silence passed, the boy pressing on with a swallow. "In that case... Could you tell me, for everyone's sake," he asked, "Why he's like this? Why he's so driven to kill, or even excited about it?"

The woman stared, before slowly nodding as a depressed gleam appeared in her eyes. "I can," she said quietly. "I can, if you so wish it... It is a bit of a long story," Ishizu continued, "But I-"

"I don't mind staying awake," Yugi said with a smile, shaking his head somewhat. "With all that's going on," he added half seriously, a nervous laugh escaping him, "I don't even know if I'll be able to sleep, ahaha..." ...Actually, now he probably wouldn't sleep at all...

Again Ishizu stared, folding her hands in her lap as she seemed to study the boy before her. "I see," the woman finally said, nodding as she spoke. "Very well then. As you likely know," she began somewhat quietly, "We of the Ishtar family are the protectors of the Tauk and Rod, guardians of the Pharaoh's memories and records. For thousands of years," she went on, "We have lived separate from the world, hidden beneath the ground in the remains of a series of tombs and catacombs. Within our family, the heir of the main line, the first-born male," Ishizu clarified quickly, "Would receive a rite of passage, the carving of the 'pharaoh's memory' across his back. This 'memory' came from the remains of the following Queen's order after the nameless one's passing," she explained calmly, "With instructions on how to aid the pharaoh's spirit in passing along with laws that dictated when this would happen." Ah... A Queen ordered all of this? But why? The boy held his tongue as Ishizu seemed to pause before him, before continuing on. Malik was... Malik was this heir," she stated, eyes closing over slightly in memory. "As for the tragedy that sent us here, that has made things as they are, it happened five years ago... a full year after this carving had been made across his back.

"Malik you see, had an attraction to the outside world," Ishizu told him, "A desire to see the outside more than anyone we had ever known. My aunt, whom I saw perhaps twice in those times, believed he inherited this trait from our mother... However, she had insisted that it would pass, and that Malik would soon accept his fate and ties to the tombs."

"That... He didn't though, did he," Yugi found himself saying, the woman across from him nodding in response.

"For the past two days following his thirteenth birthday, he pretended to have a fever with a plan to visit the outside in mind, fooling even our father," she explained, staring somewhat at the table between the chairs. "The plan itself was just as simple as the moments leading to it really; Rishid would stay behind, holding the facade of illness in his abscence, while I guided Malik outside for two hours exactly. We would leave at sunrise I had told him, and the expression on his face when he saw the sun for the first time in his life... I..." The woman bowed her head, closing her eyes as tears began to fall, her words cracking somewhat under the pressure of the memory. "I know now, that despite what our family was ordered to do, we should never have remained as closed off as we had," she continued, attempting as best she could to keep the tears and chokes from interfering with the tale. "Perhaps back then, in the ancient times, it was easier... But above us," the woman exclaimed, "The world had changed completely, and the sights that we saw completely overwhelmed us! Vehicles that we had never even dreamed of, skyscrapers in the distant horizon marking Cairo, planes _soaring_ overhead... Two hours had passed before we knew it," she whispered in nostalgic muttering, "But on our way back from all of this, we encountered someone who knew who we were exactly. A tall man, who held the Key around his neck..." The key-

He froze, jumping as he was pulled from the story. "The key- That must have been Shaadi," Yugi cut in with a jolt, his eyes wide as Ishizu stared. "I met him just over a year ago," he explained nervously, "Before I knew about the other me... He tested him after triggering our switch, putting Anzu and the others in danger... After the other me 'passed'," the boy went on as he swallowed, "He promised to go on his way but... To think..."

Ishizu nodded, knowing just what Yugi was talking about. Her eyes had again grown misty in appearance, the woman looking away somewhat with a saddened expression. "Looking back," she began once more, "I wonder if what he said was more a warning than a threat... As we stood there he had said '_soon, the spirit of the Great and Nameless Pharaoh will awaken_', and that as guardians to the tomb, our fate from then on would be a tragedy that divided our blood completely... All for the pharaoh's sake," she trailed off, shaking her head. "But before we could ask what he meant he had vanished into the crowd, our time cut short and leaving us to run back to the desert in a panic. So we returned, hoping to make it safely inside before our father caught us... But at the side of the door," Ishizu whispered, gripping her arms tightly. "On the door," she repeated with a choke, shaking her head as still more tears fell, "There was a rig, a trip rope that had been released with the open door... As we had run along the caverns in the dark rather than using candles, we never noticed the string releasing the signal... And as we went to check on Rishid, praying that our father had yet to realize this, we found that he was no longer in his room, nor Malik's own... Instead," she went on, swallowing as she recounted the memory in panicked tones, "We found him in one of the main chambers... Whipped by the heated blade of the machete our father held, bleeding on the ground. He wasn't making a single sound," she cried, holding her head in one hand. "He was simply kneeling on the ground, taking as much as he could to prevent our father from hurting Malik... And it was then... It was then, as Rishid finally collapsed before us, and our father turned to deliver our own punishment, that it happened.

"Malik suddenly began to scream," she whispered, "Holding his head in pain before our father even touched him. His hair stood on end, and with a new voice, a fearsome and adult tone, the screams stopped... And he addressed our father with a maddening grin that froze even him in place. Before anyone could even think he had acted... He claimed the Millennium Rod from the side," Ishizu explained, "And within seconds took its power as his, accepted completely. He restrained our father on the wall with its power, and froze me in place at the door way, forcing me to watch what he did next... The _fear_ in my father's eyes," the woman whispered in horror, Yugi as well listening with evident fear, "And the _laughter_ that that _person_, that _thing_ that replaced my sweet brother... He _skinned him ALIVE_," she cried, voice taking a panicked tone as the woman forced herself to dredge up memories long locked away. "And he tore the entirety of the ritual carving from his corpse's back, dropping it on Rishid's unconscious form with such a grating, cackling sound..! And even after this he turned on him, holding he blade in the rod high. But before he could kill him, Rishid's eyes opened," she explained, swallowing back her unease. "And the shadow controlling my brother was forced back, leaving him to wake and find his father dead at the side with his blood on his hands... He couldn't remember what he'd done," she cried, shaking her head. "Not a thing, not at all... And when that 'person', 'Shaadi' appeared at the side, telling him that it was the Pharaoh's arrival that drove our father into death, what else could he think? The source of the scars on his back, the exile and his father's death... They were so easy for him to group into one thing, so easy for a boy of his age to blame..." So then...

The reason Malik hated him, the reason for all of this happening... "I... Ishizu-san," he began, the woman before him choking as she leaned forward somewhat.

"I'm sorry," she said quietly, shaking her head. "To see me like this... I'm normally quite composed, it's required that I be... You'll have to forgive me," Ishizu continued, shaking her head. "I still have to finish after all... Following what happened in the tombs you see, we had nothing to do but leave for the outside world; we could do nothing but be placed in the hands of Egypt's government," she explained, "And by that same government it looked as though we were going to be divided into the care of unknown families. Rishid after all had all of the remaining scars from our father's attack, and had been deemed as someone who would do well to be as separate from it all as possible... Malik had clear signs of mental trauma from the events, more so than anything I myself could hide. They couldn't keep us together, for our 'health'," she continued almost dully, closing her eyes. "So after realizing this, Malik and Rishid both fled the city on their own, hiding and learning in the shadows before eventually creating the ghouls. I myself was left in possession of the tauk, which when found in our underground home had been considered a family heirloom... And while I slowly came to know my 'new' family, I eventually came to realize just what duty I had to that item... That duty however," she told Yugi pulling the tauk from around her neck to hold it forward, "Ends here."

"End-" What! "But Ishizu-san," Yugi protested, watching as the woman placed the necklace on the table before him. "This... This is yours," he shouted, eyes wide. "Why would... Why would you give this to..."

"The tauk no longer listens to my requests," Ishizu stated, gesturing to the necklace before her. "After Seto changed the future, altering my predictions," she explained, "I could see only light; a sight that remains unchanged." Light... Light seemed like a good thing, but when it blinded everything around them... "Yugi... I cannot save my brother," the woman told him, eyes filled with grief and misery as Yugi slowly took the necklace before him. "As consumed by this persona as he is," she continued sadly, "The most I can do is watch... But I have faith that somehow, some way, you will succeed," she told the boy, standing from her chair as Yugi did the same with the tauk in his grip. "And so I give you this message; of the remaining items," Ishizu explained, "You now need five in order to awaken the Pharaoh's past memory." Five others... There were seven then, tauk, rod, eye, key, scales, ring, and his puzzle... "It is ironic," the woman muttered calmly, staring to the side. "But as our duty to the pharaoh is to return these items to him, we would never have fulfilled our vows staying beneath the ground... So the messages I had been sure were filled with Malice were never... ..."

Then, what Shaadi had meant by 'the will of the pharaoh'... Had simply referred to the fact that the Pharaoh had returned. So then all of this, it was his...

-_kotskots- _

Yugi turned as knocking came through the air, looking up from the tauk before placing it carefully on the table and turning to Ishizu. "Ishizu-san... Thank you very much for telling me all of this," he told her, bowing his head as he walked toward the door with the woman. "Really! I'll look after this until the right time comes..." Until the time that his other self would regain his memories...

"I know you will," the woman responded, a slight smile coming in place before she moved to leave. "And until then," she continued calmly, "I wish you luck in all that you do... Now..." Ishizu opened the door, Anzu jumping from the door's entrance as the woman stepped out to leave. "Good night Pharaoh... Mazaki-san," she added, the girl in question watching as the Egyptian entered the room across the hall.

"Ah..." The woman slowly looked back, gesturing behind her. "What was Ishizu doing in..."

"Ahhhh... It... It's a long story," Yugi said with a swallow, glancing at the clock to the side before shaking his head. "You're tired though right? So then, we should sleep..."

Anzu appeared to flush at that, turning away somewhat awkwardly at the mention of sleeping. "Right," she muttered with a cough, "Sleep! So... Ah... ...Exactly how are we doing this again?"

"Erm..."

In the end, Anzu had set up two chairs at the side, leaving the room to grab something she'd forgotten as Yugi buried his reddening face as deep into his pillow as possible.

* * *

This scar... Was definitely going to take some getting used to he told himself, tapping it with his free hand almost blankly before pulling it back with a wince. Katsuya swallowed as he stared in the mirror at the scar over his chest, shower momentarily forgotten as he dropped his shirt to the side. The scar that sat where Ra struck him was definitely something that would be difficult to explain in a change room. While it was only on the front rather than both sides thankfully though, the three-clawed 'grasp' that seemed to more or less disfigure any bit of skin with in it was very... _Very_... Jarring. It looked almost like a burn, combined with some sort of blade induced scar, a mark that no matter what ever happened would never fade in any way.

And it was for that reason that, as knocking abruptly sounded against his bedroom door, his shirt was hurriedly thrown on before he went to answer it. And as to who it was... He paused momentarily, shaking off another flash before opening the door. Honda and Otogi... But what were they- "Oh yea," he found himself muttering, looking at the two outside almost blankly. "You were gonna stay in my room..."

"Gh- You forgot," Honda hissed as the two came in, the door quickly closing behind them while Katsuya smirked.

"Hey," he said with a grin, "I c'n always hope y' share w' Yugi can' I?"

"That's true," his second 'guest' muttered with a stretch, "But as we said before, we don't want to bug him before tournament day... Especially with a maniac like Malik on board," he added, turning to the blond at the side.

Oh, that made sense he suppose- Waaaaiiit... "Bug Yug'- Oi..." Katsuya's smirk plummetted, a scowl coming on his face as he turned on the others. "O-Oiiii! I have jus' as much chance 'f facing tha' guy as he does," he snarled, Honda rubbing his head. "Where's th' difference!"

Honda continued to shrug, awkwardly looking away as he thought of an excuse. "Welllllll..."

"Malik isn't likely to try and actively steal an ancient artifact from you and kill you in his spare time," Otogi said rather plainly, kicking his shoes off and hopping onto the bed on the other end of the room. "At least, I'm pretty sure of that," he added, leaning back against the pillow and nodding. Well... That was true, he _did_ show a fair bit of zeal in the idea of targeting Yugi but-

"Wai'... So you think Malik's gonna kill 'm... _An' y' leave 'm alone in th' room,_" Katsuya asked with an incredulous frown, the other two trading glances as Honda joined his friend on the bed.

"Ah- N-No," Honda shouted in protest, jacket hanging half on his arm as he panicked. "We just... Ah... We..."

"Ah..." It seemed Otogi was coming up with just as much in his defense really, as the teen was growing about as pale as his friend. Really...

Not to say that Yugi and the Other Yugi couldn't look after each other but... The blond shook his head, heading into the bathroom again as he sighed. "Whatever," he shouted over the still running water, closing the door behind him to get ready for the shower again. "Jus' don' come in 'till I'm done, I don' wan' any temp'rture changes while 'm showerin'," he called out as an excuse, not looking forward to attempting to explain the new scar.

And fffffff-! Speaking of the scar, _damn _did it sting under the water! ...Not to mention steam...

The blond was pulled from his thoughts as Otogi shouted back in response, managing to focus on the shower rather than the scar again. "Got it," the teen had called out, leaning back on the bed while Honda went to get the lights. "...Hey," he muttered, looking at the sides and end with a frown. "Is this bed..._ Bigger..._ Than the other ones," he asked, his friend looking back with raised eyebrows as the bed was illuminated in moonlight.

"Uhhhhh... ...Yes," the teen offered, Otogi frowning in response.

"Why the hell did he get a bigger bed," he muttered, somehow still within Katsuya's audible range. There was a small part of the blond was really tempted to say '_because Seto-chan probably figured you guys would invade my room!',_ but another part told him that she would have to actually care for that to happen. Later however, when he settled atop the covers after having showered up and re-dressed for bed he found himself pondering the same thing his friends had.

Because as his mind was telling him right now, the bed really _was_ larger, by at least a foot in comparison to the double beds that the other competitors had... A fact that he couldn't find any reason for Seto to have done, leaving him to fall asleep in confusion as his dog-tags gleamed in the light on his side.

* * *

As the timer on the translator slowly ticked away, the woman keeping an eye on it found herself running out of things to do. At half an hour she had long since made sure her deck was as ready as it could be for the up-coming 4-Person free for all that would decide the final matches. At forty-five minutes, she was pondering an odd e-mail she'd received from Gekkou Tenma concerning the current deal between their companies. Which had somehow managed to center on his brother instead. (Like she gave a damn about him still not recovering from Pegasus' death, there were better ways to deal than fret about inferiority complexes...) Either way, fifteen minutes later had her blowing a bit of hair from her face with a sigh.

One hour down... And two to-

...Go? "Oh for _fucks _sake," she found herself growling, watching as the translator's timer jumped up another hour. A part of her wondered if there was even any point in doing this; no matter what happened, looking at the card resulted in her understanding exactly what it said, despite all logic pointing to the fact that this was impossible. From the chant right down to the vague references to its ability, each point referencing 'sunrise', 'noon', and from what she could tell an 'eclipse'. Well... Besides that issue with the vagueness of it all she decided, opening up a separate window, she at least knew to some extent what Ra's abilities were. So with that in mind, if she could calculate her chances of Ra losing to her Virus-Dragon deck, estimating what the abilities were...

The computer screen flashed, fingers flying across the keyboard with ease as the necessary date was entered before the program itself was sent on its run. It took approximately two seconds to calculate her answer... An answer that had her briefly wonder if she'd entered the numbers incorrectly. "Th... _Thirteen percent,_" she muttered, staring at the screen in shock. ... ..._Ugh_... The woman frowned, hands briefly hanging above the keyboard as she grumbled and cursed under her breath. Great... Even using _Obelisk _she had a hair-thin chance. Hell, after entering in the data for Osiris, with hopes that she would fight against Yugi first, she _still_ only had fifteen percent!

And if she was right about what the card said, there was a damn good reason for that...

Particularly with the 'second' ability, the 'eclipse'. "A one turn kill," she found herself muttering, eyes growing dull as she stared at the screens before her. Only one held any running programs within it by this point, leaving the others to occasionally flash as the card's image stared back. It was what the Sun Dragon was created to do after all, that was, 'wiping the field' of anything in sight. The three Gods had a number of things in common really; they each needed three sacrifices to be summoned, they were completely immune to traps, and be it malevolent or benevolent in intent, all spells lasted only one turn against them before being destroyed. But of the Gods 'abilities', Ra was the only one shrouded in mystery, the only one whose card bothered 'choosing' the worthy to read its cover. The first one she had already seen, the one that came about from the very thing that set Ra apart from the others. Only those who knew the proper 'prayer' on the card's image could summon it into existence after all, and only those who could read the ancient language dictating it would be able to do so. But these other two abilities...

Seto stared at the card on the side of the screen, jaw clenching as the screen continued to flicker intermittently. For Battle City, monsters could not attack in the same turn they were special summoned or fused; it was an 'extra' rule she'd created, a rule to help 'balance' the advantage of there being no limit to special summons. The Gods however were immune to this, partly due to any spells that did so lasting only one turn; and if she was right about the 'second ability' that Ra's card depicted, it centered on Ra being special summoned from the grave with that in mind... Ordinarily of course, this would mean it held no attack power, no defense power... It would mean bringing up nothing but a figure head, a poor excuse for 'God'.

But this line here, '_offerings of life_'... The woman continued to stare for a moment, before a sharp pain ran through her head and she found herself back on the chair. "Nggh..." Migraine... She hated migraines... Damn it...

This was just pointless she mentally roared, rubbing her head and gritting her teeth. She could read the card as though it were written completely in Japanese, but she _still_ didn't know what it did! "Tch..." A screen to the side flashed, pulling Seto's attention from these thoughts as the woman moved to tap one of the keys at the side. Whatever was happening now, it had better be very, very-

She cut the thoughts short, staring at the screen for a moment before frowning. ..._What in the hell_...

Seto stood from the chair and moved to look at the second screen as a record of recent power-usage came up, a small warning appearing on the side as an over-ride was almost ironically 'overridden'. "The elevator was just used," she muttered, narrowing her eyes as she looked over the records. And with that much power... "Someone just took the lift the arena..." ...But if they were going to the arena...

The woman abruptly stiffened with realization, tapping a number of keys as she pulled up the records of the competitors duel disks. Yugi's was off, Jonouchi's was off, Mai's, Rishid's, Ishizu's- Shit... _Shit_! Malik still had his initial threat to act upon a small voice in the back of her mind reminded, and if he was doing that now, against some other opponent... A growl grew in her throat as two disks 'glowed' on the screen, their status clearly revealing that they had recently been activated. Malik was indeed one of the competitors... But the other...

"_Bakura_." Seto pushed another key down, not taking her eyes off the screen as she pulled up a duel-log. As to how and why the albino had left his bed in the middle of a recovery to do something as idiotic as this, she hardly had the time to ponder that. For now, deal with the madman on the other end! "...Kyouko," she said quickly as the 'PA' was activated, the on-duty guard waiting on the other end of the line as she continued. "Get two other members of security to the arena and use extreme caution when exiting the lift," she warned, her employee almost audibly 'freezing' as the woman went on. "Keep your weapons ready to fire," Seto ordered, "And if needed fire _only_ at the tanned duelist, understand? Malik's started another fight." And with the mention of 'Malik', there was never any arguing.

And despite what obvious confusion the former maid held with the mentions of the lift, Kyouko very quickly stated an affirmative for that very reason before the phone clicked off. In a few moments, she would likely see the 'power-logs' pop up yet again. But until that time, with what was going on up at the field...

It was already two turns in according to the somewhat simplistic 'duel-log' on the screen, with nothing particular remarkable going on as of yet. Bakura, who had taken the first turn and begun with one card face down had also summoned a 'Zombie Goblin'. Just a single turn later he defended the summoned beast from Malik's own monster 'Drillago' by means of the 'counter attack' trap he'd activated. The trap 'Fearful Earthbound' was meant to take five hundred attack points each time the opponent attacked... But despite this play Bakura's first monster had been lost, Malik's own face down card destroying the trap in question before it could take effect. As of now, Bakura had two new face down cards, the monster 'Gernia' standing in defense at his side while it moved to Malik's turn. The albino duelist now had 3500 points...

Malik in the meantime, who had used 'Card of Sanctity' with little luck in drawing God as he had hoped, had 4000... And as he continued with his turn he found himself subject to a bizarre yet completely understandable turn of action from his opponent. Bakura's first trap card had activated relatively quickly, with the card 'Dark Tutor' forcing Ra from Malik's deck and into his hands. Immediately thereafter the second card on the field was activated to reveal Bakura's intentions, 'Dragged into the Grave' pulling the blond's entire hand into his graveyard. After all... It wasn't as though Bakura could see the card that Malik had set face down, not like the woman watching the screen now. Monster reborn would only last one turn true, and even then Ra would be powerless. And for that reason it _should_ have worked... For despite Bakura sacrificing as many hundreds of points as the cards cast to the graveyard he technically had the upper hand on the field, quickly becoming the first to bring a powerful monster on his side as he set another card for his turn. And as Bakura made yet another sacrifice of points with the monster's summoning, he activated the creature's effect. In mere seconds the field was swarmed, three more monsters coming to the field. Headless Knight, another Gernia, even _Necrofear, _who would ordinarily need three monsters removed from play...

And yet Seto couldn't help but narrow her eyes, staring at the screen with a frown. There was no way that it could be over that quick after all, and when Malik drew his next card she was proven correct. The card Monster Reborn activated that moment and pulled Ra from the grave for one turn, one turn only before earlier ponderings of the second ability also revealed themselves. "Offering's of life," she muttered almost incredulously, watching as the God's attack rose to exactly 3,999 points before Bakura was attacked. Malik's lifepoints had become a single life_point_, the Egyptian having added all he had to spare in order to attack. It was over-kill... But it worked. And that was it... "The second ability..."

By sacrificing their own lifepoints, the wielder of Ra could increase the God's attack for each one, turning the tides in an instant. Bakura had lost...

And moments later, the woman found her blood running deathly cold as Kyouko called back from her task. "_Kaiba-sama,_" the woman said clearly, voice tight and clearly hesitant. "_As requested, we moved to the arena to apprehend Ishtar and Bakura, however..._"

"However," she repeated, eyes narrowing as the power log briefly came over the screen.

"_Kaiba-sama... Bakura Ryou was not there. More importantly,_" she continued, "_He is no where to be found aboard this ship, and upon encountering Malik, one of the others noticed that he was in possession of an item nearly identical to the 'ring' that other passengers described as being missing from Bakura's possession. ...Kaiba-sama,_" the woman went on with a fearful tone, her employer growing just as pale, "_We no longer have any reason to take Malik out of the tournament let alone some form of custody... We never made a rule against coming to the arena, the elevators were locked! And if we stay here any longer..."_ One word came to mind as the guards were carefully told to leave Malik as he was and flee the deck, the Egyptian left to do whatever it was he planned to from the top of the airship.

...Shit.

* * *

It was said that among close family and friends, one could always tell when something was wrong. A feeling would perhaps occur, or an inexplicable change in emotions in stark contrast to the current situation. And as Ishizu woke up, the woman's eyes tearing open in a violent jolt, that inexplicable emotion was by far that of fear. Ishizu sat up with rapid breaths, momentarily struggling to calm herself as she looked about the room. At the side her guest, 'Ryuzaki', was still largely asleep, having formed a makeshift pillow using his bag and jacket on the chairs. Besides the sound of light breathing in fact, there was no other sound... No other reason for the fear she held at the moment, nor the sensation of suspicion that hovered in the room.

Despite this however, she could not throw off the feeling that something was terribly wrong, and with that in mind she found herself getting out of the bed and walking toward the door in silence. Someone... Someone was there she told herself, staring at the door and swallowing as she reached for the button to open it. She knew, somehow that someone was there... It was just a feeling and not a fact of course; the tauk's power had long since passed on after all, and until seconds prior she had probably had the best sleep since many years ago. At least until those last few moments, when the mood had abruptly switched to despair and fear. As she opened the door to see Anzu, she couldn't help but tell herself that she'd been expecting someone else, a large feeling of suspicion and unease coming over her. "...Mazaki-san," she asked politely, the woman's expression clearly fearful despite the 'blankness'. "What are you doing here?"

The feeling of unease increased considerably as Anzu opened her mouth however, her head bowed as the woman shook. "O-Okht_,_" she uttered in clear arabic, no accent visible on her tone. "_Sister... I need help,_" she told Ishizu with a swallow,_ "I need to save Rishid... But I'm... I'm stuck..._" St-Stu...

Impossible..! This was... "_Malik_," she hissed in shock, staring as the girl before her trembled. She didn't know how, or why but... "_How... How is this possible,_" she asked, holding the language they had started in should her 'roommate' awaken to hear them both. "_How can you be possessing this girl- No... __Why__ are you possessing her,_" she pressed, 'Malik' merely continuing to shake.

"_I... I wanted to know more about her friend, the blond,_" 'he' said with a swallow, shifting uncomfortably. "_I wanted to know how he'd beaten the control of the rod, about what he was seeing..! But then Rishid passed out,_" Malik continued with a shudder,_ "And for some reason, I found myself here, with a darker 'me' taking my place... Okht... Ishizu,_" he pressed, tears running down the sides of Anzu's cheeks, "_I can't let him kill him! I tried to stop him on my own... But it wasn't enough, and I failed my only chance at getting my body back! Ishizu... I need... I need..._"

This... Ishizu stared for a few moments, watching as mannerisms reminiscent of her brother from before the current times came from Anzu's body. This was... "_Malik,_" the woman whispered, looking over the woman he possessed before nodding. _"I'll help you; Just lead the way,_" she continued lowly,_ "We'll hide him in my room for now._"

"_Ah..._" 'Malik' appeared to pause for a moment, before loosening somewhat in relief._ "Thank you... Thank you, Ishizu..._" The body hurriedly rushed toward the room beside 'his' sister's, placing a hand on the side and glancing down the hall nervously. "_The door is unlocked,_" Malik was muttering, sliding it open with slight ease. "_That 'other' me shouldn't be here for a few moments with the staff questioning him, so we have time,_" he continued, stepping inside.

Ishizu nodded, hurrying into the room behind the possessor and his 'body'. "_So long as he doesn't catch us,_" she said quietly, turning on the light as they walked in. "_That's the last thing we nee- Gnh!_" The woman froze, choking on her words as she looked at the shadow that was now illuminated by the room. Before, in the darkness, it had been just out of the light of the window, indiscernible and even undetectable. But with the lights on it occurred to her that just earlier there had been an order for staff to watch over the victims of the tournament. An order that had made it easy for Malik to take his 'pay'. "_Good God..._"

"_The doctor... The doctor,_" Malik uttered with swallows, staring at the corpse on the ground. In the darkness with Bakura he hadn't seen the body; only a lump of shadows that the albino had looked at oddly before waiting for the darker persona. Looking now however there were bruises lining the man's neck almost like a necklace, his back torn completely to shreds for what ever reason other than 'just because'. Death had been slow and painful, with his throat too damaged to scream and his back left to bleed out over the time of the final two duels. "_How long do you think he's been dead,_" Malik muttered quietly, Ishizu holding silent. Dead... Someone on this ship was already dead...

As the two looked back toward Rishid, the man still thankfully breathing, they quickly cut their thoughts short. They had to act fast after all, and they had no time to think about what had already happened...

Otherwise they'd be next.

* * *

He kind of figured that he'd be dreaming again, after all that happened through the evening. Between explaining half of his ability and witnessing the shadow game between Malik and Mai, there'd been a lot going on... And despite how late it was and how strung up he'd gotten as a result, sleep had come easily after all. Sure, the bed was crowded as heck (Did they all seriously have to share?), but nonetheless, as he walked about the darkness of the dreams he had admittedly and uncomfortably gotten used to, he had to shrug everything off of his mind and simply continue on.

Besides... "Compared t' everything else," he muttered aloud, footsteps sounding through the darkness, "Th's 's a vacation..." Not to mention a nice break from all the terror and- "Ah..." Katsuya paused, blinking as some sort of light caught his eye in the distance. "You..." That light, could it be... The light seemed to increase, taking humanoid shape as he came close. Hah! It was! "Hey! 'Ghost guy'," he called out as he ran toward it with a grin. "Nice seein' y' again!"

The spirit in question appeared to tense as he looked back to the blond, a scowl appearing on its otherwise blank face. "_Gh- 'Ghost guy',_" it repeated incredulously, watching as the blond came to a stop in front of him. "_Really,_" it muttered lowly,_ "If you don't know who I am, then don't bother making nicknames!"_

Katsuya jumped somewhat, before slowly nodding his head. Sheesh, what was his problem... He was a hell of a lot nicer in their last encounter... "Alrigh'," he muttered, scratching his head, "Whatever y' say..."

Silence settled between the pair, and as the blond continued to stare the ghost sighed. Despite having little to reveal any emotions it appeared the spirit was uneasy for the moment, the ghost looking around the darkness with a frown. "_Just how on earth did I end up here any ways,_" it muttered, narrowing his eyes. "_I should be sitting amongst a horde of rage-filled monsters and spirits right now,_" it continued almost suspiciously,_ "Not chatting it up in the back of your mind..._"

Errr... Katsuya raised his eyebrows, mentally choking on his words as he ran over what the ghost had just said. Rage filled monsters and ghosts? That sounded... Cheery. Erm... "Hey... Not t' say tha' I'm really pushin' f'r y' t' do tha' or anythin'," he muttered, "But how th' hell would I know what yer doin' in my head?" If this even _was_ his head he added mentally, the ghost turning back to stare rather blankly in response.

"_There was once a time where you knew many things,_" it stated almost blandly, blinking as it hovered in place and continued on. "_When you told stories of the great monsters 'Ziz', and of the realms far beyond... I suppose you can't remember that though,_" it continued, the blond before him frowning somewhat. "_Let alone anything else from those times._"

No... No not really... "I guess not," he muttered, looking away as a small voice in his mind wondered what 'those times' even were. "Not sure 'f tha's bad 'r not really..." He supposed he'd have to find out on his own...

"_Yes... Well..._" The ghost looked back around the darkness, still frowning as it crossed his arms. "_This changes nothing about my current predicament. It seems as though rather than being locked away in the other realms as penalty,_" he continued confusedly,_ "I'm back within your mind... How curious... I wonder what this means for-"_

"Er... What 'xactly are y' talkin' abou'," Katsuya asked, tilting his head somewhat as the spirit turned.

"_Hn?_" The spirit stared, before shaking its head and shrugging somewhat._ "Oh... It's nothing,_" it said plainly, turning back to the darkness just briefly. "_Nothing at all..._" 'Nothing' eh?

Riiiiiiight... "'Kay... ...You gonna tell me exactly who y' are," he asked, the spirit not moving save to snort at the request.

"_I already told you,"_ the ghost muttered, "_'Someone you once knew'... If you can't figure it out from there,_" it went on,_ "Then I have no right in telling you._" Gee, thanks, he thought mentally narrowing his eyes as the ghost went on._ "Quite frankly,_" the spirit growled almost bitterly, "_I'm not even sure why I __**did**__. It's very unlike me,"_ it stated, "_Revealing things like that. ...If you'll excuse me for now though,_" the spirit continued, turning away from his 'friend' and bringing his arms to his sides, "_I have someone I need to kill._"

Someone he needed to- "Tch... Great! I go t' sleep, an' th' first thing I get is a ghost with a clamped mouth an' a vendetta..." And here he'd though things would be 'normal' for once... Damn it. "Man... I don' ev'n _like_ ghosts," he growled, the ghost before him chuckling in response.

"_That's expected; you were always a superstitious person... Disliking whatever you don't understand is typical of you,_" it explained with a smirk,_ "Though you were admittedly more accepting in my time..._" His ti- Again with the 'times'! Seriously!

"Jus' what time is tha' exactly," he snarled, shouting at the ghost as it stared. "Seriously! What's th' point in goin' on abou' this if y' won' explain," he continued angrily.

The spirit blinked, eventually shaking its head as it moved toward the blond and sighed. "_Believe me when I say it's only to keep you from losing your head... Though I have to say, had we been anywhere else I likely would have done that. It's strange,_" it continued, shaking its head and looking to the side oddly. "_But sitting here in the back of your mind, I can think with more clarity than I have in a number of millennia... Perhaps I'll stay here for a while,_" it decided quietly, "_And perhaps sort out a few memories of mine. But first,_" it told him, before lightly tapping Katsuya's brow. "..._How about you get __some sleep, 'chabar'_?"

"Sleep," he repeated somewhat dully, tilting his head. "But I thought I was already-" With out another word he found his thoughts cut short, vision blacking out as he collapsed to the ground. Oh...

That was what he meant. Sleep...

. . .

* * *

To say he was confused when he woke up to find Ishizu's bed completely empty was one thing really. It wasn't too bad though, as for the moment he could pass it off as the woman maybe using the washroom. Reaaaaally quietly. Like... With _no sound_ coming from the sink. At all.

Yeaaaaa... That _had_ to be it.

Even so, as Keiichi pulled out his phone to check the time (2 AM? _REALLY?_), he found himself more or less suspicious of where the woman had gone. After all, there was a maniac on the ship; and that maniac had probably been looking forward to having 'guests' he told himself with a shudder, before quickly being pulled from those thoughts as the door opened. The light came on in an instant as the boy hissed, shielding his eyes from the drastic change before watching both Ishizu and Anzu hurry in with a body in their arms. "W-What the he-" Rishid? What were they doing with Rishi-

"A little _help_ would be nice," Anzu growled from the side, the body almost dropped upon the bed as the boy hurried to help lay the man out properly.

"A-Ah... S-Sure," the boy muttered, watching as Ishizu left to shut the door. Rishid's unconscious body was effectively dead weight between the two, and moving so much as an arm proved awkward as they straightened him out. Rishid was being taken to this room but... "...Mazaki, what's going on," he asked, narrowing his eyes.

"Malik," the woman answered plainly, voice seeming to slip into a slight accent of sorts as she spoke. "As it turns out," she continued with a flat tone, "He's already taken his first victim."

His... His first vict- Keiichi paled, shaking himself as he stared. No way... There was no way, they'd have to have known about something like that, so how..? "The first victim... Who died," he asked almost hesitantly, swallowing a wave of unease. "Was it someone I-"

"Seto's first doctor," Ishizu answered as she flicked off the light, returning to the bedside to look down at Rishid's body worriedly. "He was dead when we found him," she continued, "And likely for a while..." H...Hah...

"Oh hell..." As if the room issue hadn't been pressing enough... "What did I get myself into now," the boy muttered to himself, the others holding slight frowns as Ishizu lightly and carefully checked over Rishid's vitals.

"There's nothing you could have done," she said plainly, turning back to the boy with a frown. "After all," she went on, "I doubt even Malik predicted that he would succumb to mental illness..." Hahaha... That was one way to put 'going bat-shit insane' to words!

Keiichi shook himself again, attempting to calm down as he held his head. "Great," the boy muttered. "That's just great... ...This guy isn't going to try and kill us all right," he asked, before a sudden jolt tore at the ship. "GOH!"

The boy toppled forward as the others collapsed themselves, hitting the floor and groaning while the two others slowly steadied themselves. Ow ow ow... "Ghn... Mal- Mazaki-san," Ishizu muttered, pulling herself up with a wince. "Do you think that was..."

"No," the woman hurriedly answered, shaking her head as dulled eyes looked around the room. "That was... ...Wait here," she said seriously, heading for the door with a nod. "I'll go see what's wrong, just don't open the door," the woman shouted, running into the hall and tapping the button on the side. "No matter what!" No matter wh-

The door closed over, leaving the two in darkness as they stood at Rishid's side. "Um..._ What,_" he asked, blinking as he was answered with a shrug and awkward silence. It was official...

Jonouchi's friends were all completely crazy, and if he valued his life he would have to make sure he never went to Tokyo again.

* * *

Sometimes, he really cursed his luck. Mostly when it came to duel monsters it seemed, given his habit of making crappy draws, but there were plenty of more serious points where he wanted to strangle whoever was sitting in the heavens. Somehow he'd managed to get a fair amount of sleep after the ghost 'zapped' him as he called it, which was really great to put it lightly. But opening his eyes to see a sea of lava before him after what felt like mere seconds, with nothing but the five meter wide rock he currently stood on for protection from the elements was really _not _in any way a good thing.

At all. "Damn it... Where th' hell 'm I this time," he muttered, childish laughter coming from behind to jar the blond from his thoughts.

"Not in Kansas, that's for sure," a familiar voice stated, Katsuya biting his lip in response as he took in a deep breath. Ohhhh no... Oh no no no... After all that time, please tell him that it was not-

...That dog. Katsuya blinked as he turned to spot the source of the voice, which in question was not a dog but in fact a small boy _holding _one. In fact, the boy (definitely a boy his mind told him) looked eerily familiar to Seto to say the least; the jacket appeared tailored in almost the same fashion of the woman's own 'death-T' version, with a pair of matching white pants to cement the image in place. Even his eyes, a startling blue seemed to mirror Seto's own, had Katsuya narrowing his gaze as the boy stared at him. "You..." The blond's eyes briefly drifted to the puppy in the boy's arm, the dog's head covered in the same bizarre 'bondage' helm he'd seen in the VR game. "...Who are you..?"

The boy merely smirked in response to the question, placing the dog on the ground as his form appeared to shift. As his body grew and stretched with age, becoming taller and more mature until he finally stood a full foot above the blond. "Me? I think you know _exactly_ who I am," the young man chuckled, his jacket loosely held over his shoulder rather than being worn properly. At this point the resemblance between himself and Seto was more than uncanny, the only 'real' difference being the masculine features of his face and the far lighter shade of hair. Though the expression that he held was far from similar after all, it would still be far from a long shot to mistake the two for siblings. It was only then that he recalled an old conversation however, his eyes widening with realization...

A conversation about someone who had this kind of resemblance, someone who died young rather than living to the age of the man he saw before him. Someone who was _supposed_ to look like this now. "Noa," he muttered, the chuckling growing louder as it picked up once again from before him. "Yer... _Noa_, aren't y'," he found himself asking, only to pale as the image shifted. The body shrank slimmed, and hair stood on end before the blond found mirror image of his own best friend staring forward. 'Yugi's body, still bearing the same colours and tones of 'Noa' seemed to continue smirking, stepping toward the blond while he fiddled with a lock of hair.

"I _could _be... But I can be anyone," he responded, pacing around the blond as Katsuya swallowed. "I could be your friend," he began, before shifting again as hair succumbed to gravity, "I could be a 'brother'," he continued, now resembling an off-coloured Mokuba. And yet again the body shifted from behind the blond, gaining height and losing hair as the pitch in the chuckling altered completely. "I could even be _her_," the 'man' whispered, the low and oddly husky tones coming from what his mind told him were Seto's lips. The blond slowly turned as the 'woman' smirked, her outfit having shifted to a more feminine version of the 'suit' 'she'd worn as the past forms. "I could be any one you want," 'Noa' muttered fingers trailing over Katsuya's shoulder as the blond shuddered, "And you could _have_ anything you want, you could have 'this'... _Really_ have it," 'she' continued, the outfit slimming down completely as Katsuya gave a nervous swallow. "And all you have to do," Noa went on, coming dangerously close to the blond, "_Is let me take her place._.."

"T-Take..." Katsuya froze, struggling to back away from the 'woman' as he swallowed. "What th' hell are you-"

-_BRAM!- _

A sudden jolt ripped him violently from the dream, the blond toppling to the ground from the bed with a wince. "Nggh... Agggh... What th' hell..?" What was that, an earthqua- ...Wait, they were in the skies. He pulled himself up, shaking his head and looking around the room with a frown. "What _was_ tha'," he muttered, before quiet sleep talking pulled his attention's back to the bed.

"Hnnnn... Shizuka~"

"Shizuka-chan~"

Oi oi oiiii... Katsuya's expression quickly shifted to rage, the teen standing over the bed where his friends were muttering in their sleep. "Oii! Just what d' you two think yer dreamin' abou'," he roared, the two not waking up as smiles remained on their faces. "Get U- GLK!"

-_BRAM!- _

Another jolt shuddered through the airship, the blond toppling forward to land atop the pair as they both jerked awake. "Gh-!"

"Wh- Jonouchi," Otogi muttered, rubbing his eyes.

"Ow," Hona hissed, "What the hell-"

"Tch- Not now," Katsuya found himself muttering with a growl, pulling himself up from the bed with a wince. Owwww... And here his middle had started to feel better he told himself, rubbing his stomach somewhat as he cursed under his breath. Yet another shudder passed through the ship as rumbling hit the air, Katsuya barely catching himself against the wall as he headed for the door. "Somethin's goin' wrong with th' ship," he growled, turning back to the others.

"Gee, yah think," Honda muttered with a grunt, Otogi and himself both attempting to follow behind their friend.

"Gh- Shut up!" Katsuya opened the door, gripping the frame for support from the continuing shudders before looking into the hall. Lights were still out completely, a line of 'emergency' ones lining the hall dully. At the moment a few of the other doors had opened, Yugi's in particular doing so as the boy looked around confusedly. "Damn it... What th' hell's goin' on," he shouted, Mokuba running past the doors from the stairs to briefly pause and answer.

"The ship's gone off course; it's hitting the ocean," he shouted in panic, looking back at the boys as others came out from their rooms to pale. "Come on," the boy continued as he ran, "We can talk on the bridge- Nii-sama's already gone to figure out why the ship's malfunctioning!"

"Th' bridge," Katsuya repeated, narrowing his eyes as he stared. "What th' hell is-"

"It's the 'command room' of the ship," Otogi shouted, running past the others as he threw his vest on. "Just go! If this thing gets too far under we're dead!"

"R-Righ'!" The bridge in question was directly down the hall from the lift, separated from the ship by large-ish doors without a label. Running down into the hall they were quickly joined by a few others, Anzu leaving Ishizu's room for whatever reason, followed by Shizuka from Mai's own and the two Yugis from outside their own. Staff were running back and forth through the halls through all of this, and as the large door to the bridge opened they were greeted with only slightly less chaos in the place of a small bit of extra stability, their own worried conversations held short in the face of what was going on. The bridge in question wasn't that big; after all, it didn't really take too much to steer an airship in comparison to a plane, and if anything, it didn't take as many controls and screens to drive one in the first place. Still, as the pilot frantically checked with as many systems as possible, it was fairly evident even from behind that Seto was _not_ pleased.

"I'm going to say again," she growled, water visibly splashing against the ship as it attempted to dive in a suicidal turn, the view from the window barely illuminated by the first light of dawn. "Get this thing under control _NOW," _the woman roared, standing behind her pilot's chair with narrowed eyes

"We've tried all we can," the pilot shouted in response, clearly panicked enough without his boss breathing down his neck. "There's just... Nothing we can do! No matter what," he continued with wide eyes, "All the controls have been locked, navigation systems completely destroyed... We're dead in the water," he went on, "Even the manual over-ride won't go through!" The pilot tensed as he was roughly pushed from the seat in response to excuses, his employer growling under her breath as she pushed the chair back as well. "Gh- Kaiba-sama!"

"Keep the peanut gallery from interfering," she muttered, the group tensing at the comment. "And try to re-establish connection with 'Alcatraz' in the meantime," the woman added, the pilot hurriedly nodding and rushing to the computers near the frong.

"P-Peanut gallery," Honda shouted incredulously.

"Since when were we a 'peanut gallery'," his friend muttered Shizuka merely narrowing her eyes and tilting her head in confusion.

"..._Alcatraz,_" she asked, turning to the side. "Wasn't that a high security prison in the USA?"

Mokuba nodded at the last comment, a few of the others staring as Seto attempted to take the controls into her own hands. From what he could tell, the woman was about to hot-wire her own ship... However that worked. The boy beside them pointed out through the window, the others following his gesture as a tower became visible in the distance. "That's right... Alcatraz was the name of a prison, but it's also what Nii-sama calls an artificial island that Gozaburo built... When Seto-niisama took over," he explained somewhat quietly as the others stared, "He had the factories and buildings on-site destroyed, leaving nothing but rubble where Gozaburo's 'empire' once stood... In its place," he continued, "He built that tower you see in the distance now..." A tower that, looking closely, had a bizarre resemblance to Sauron's tower... Weird. As the others stared Mokuba seemed to shift uncomfortably, rubbing his arm. "That was back before 'Death-T'," he told the others, shaking his head. "Back when nii-sama wasn't himself. So even as a 'duel tower', any memories tied to that place aren't something we like to... Gnh!"

Another shudder passed through the ship, before the sounds of sparks came into the air from the front. The nose of the airship veered violently upward as the screens to the front flickered to life, the pilot turning from the suddenly revealed statistics and scans of the ship with wide eyes. "K-Kaiba-sama, we have a-"

"Got it," the woman muttered, pulling up from the bottom of the control's stand to grab at the stick in the center. "Now, to get out of here..!" As Seto pulled roughly at the stick the ship began to raise from the water, turning as the seas struck against the sides. In a sudden flash he could see some sort of building beneath the ocean... Mammoth in size, with an entrance hidden far beneath the waves. Almost 'ship like' in appearance, with a top that only barely sat beneath the waters. Not that he was saying anything about that as Seto took the controls back into her hands, taking a seat as she steered back toward Alcatraz. "Pallas," she called out to the pilot, the man in question typing frantically at the front. "Are we connected to the building yet?"

From ahead at the computers 'Pallas' seemed to pale, slowly turning back with a swallow. "Ahhhh... We _were_," he said nervously, before an angry and hissing spark had Seto pulling back from her own cross-wired controls.

"Gh-" Smoke rose from the center of the control stand, the woman hurriedly pulling away with wide eyes. "...Tch... Then get the failsafes up to block whoever is cutting us off, before they pull us down again!"

"Hey wait," Mokuba shouted with a swallow, those up front briefly turning back. "How is this guy even hacking into these systems? I thought we had an automated defense system!"

"Another thing that we _did_ have," Pallas responded from the computer, "But as you can see," he continued, "We've been completely run over, and-"

-_**BROUM!**_- A loud thundering boom came through the air as the ship again collided with the water, Katsuya gritting his teeth as he looked forward. "An' what," he shouted, "You tellin' us we're gonna jus' drown!"

"Wait, we're going to die," Honda added incredulously, the airship tilting to the side as they grabbed at the railings. "That's it?"

"Not if I can help it," Seto snarled, watching as the screens ahead began to flash violently. Again she stormed toward the controls, peering at wires and taking a glance at the screens. "Just who are these people..!"

Ahhh... 'People'? "_Hnhnhnhnhn... I believe you mean 'Person',_" a chuckling voice answered, the screens flashing out into nothing but static as the ship rose up from the seas again. Though the screens remained blank Katsuya easily identified the voice in his mind, his face growing pale as the airship veered completely off course and to the side of the distant island.

No way... No way in _hell_ could it be- "We're being hacked by a _kid_," Honda shouted in protest, Mokuba looking up with a jolt as the teen stared. "I mean, I would understand someone like you," he added to the boy, "But... Well no offense..."

"None taken," the boy muttered as he looked back to the screens, "I'm just as confused..."

While most of the crowd were wondering what was going on, Seto took no time to ponder the 'age' of the speaker. Now that the 'attacker' had revealed himself after all she had far more important things to deal with, things that held a permanent scowl across her face as the woman moved from around the 'wheel' of the ship to glare at the screens. "Just who the hell are you," she snarled, fists clenched as she looked toward the large screen above them. "And where do you get the right to hack into this ship and pull us off course?"

More chuckling filled the air, Katsuya staring as the screens flashed violently. White, black, white, black... In an instant the flash settled to reveal an image, the blond paling as the person from his most recent dream came into view. Across the screen was a young boy to match the voice, light hair brushed in a style nearly identical to Seto's own as similarly coloured eyes stared toward them. A clear smirk was on the boy's face, and as it darkened into a sneer a majority of the crowd briefly fell silent with shock.

"He... He looks just like nii-sama at that age," Mokuba whispered with horror, the others staring as their apparent captor grinned. "How... How is that even..."

"_Hnhnhnhnhnhn... Welcome,_" the boy said with a grin, holding his hand out in a gesture to match his words. "_To answer your question dear 'Seto', my name is Noa... The one who preceded your very existence, and therefore, surpasses your own._"

There was something to be said about being hacked by a ghost Katsuya told himself as the crowd stared either in shock or incredulity. It never meant anything good.

Particularly when something ahead of them was opening beneath the seas to pull them in at the same moment.

**

* * *

AN**: Virtual World! Virtual World!

This is going to be much more than computerized card games though, believe me! We have a _lot_ to cover in this interrupting arc (including interruptions), and it'll be one wild, crazy ride as we go! I managed to get lucky enough to find a semi-steady source of episodes for this season as well; lets just hope I get this lucky for the Doma arc, or I'll be stuck using...

_The dub_. Hihhhhhhhhh...

Back on track now, I have art, but I decided I should color it first... So it's not here _now_, but it will be with the next update! In any case, we're back to regular length chapters... Though there's probably going to be a super-chapter or two dotted around, depending on the fights.

Particularly with all I have planned, hehehehe... Very sorry about all the switching above of course, but it was quite necessary; and I won't be doing this with the rest of the Virtual World for the most part either.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Back to our usual number today, and to start us off...

I suppose if e-mail's not working, it's not working then Taffy... Try my MSN. In the meantime, I hope you can catch up, and I'm glad you like the fanfic!

...Wait, if you're behind, why are you reviewing at the latest chapters... *shakes self*

On to the others, and ooooh... Don't even get me started on pain Iona… I'd say he gets a break in the Noa arc since his ability and the 'realm of monsters' can't pierce the technology veil, but thanks to the whole 'computer makes it real' deal, I really _can't_… Hahhh…

Hahaha, yep! I actually mentioned the brothers quite a while ago too, though I can't recall when; I was really vague about it. Kaiba's interactions with others like that are going to be much more in-depth in this fanfic you see… Just wait until I hit Siegfried. Then it gets INSANE.

And ooooooh… Yes and no. Ryuzaki does get his night of sleep you see, but he's stuck on the air-ship with Ishizu, the staff, and _Malik_ in the next chapter… As to what THAT means, hoooooohhhh… We'll get there.

As for abilities, why thank you! Though Obelisk was always involved by means of 'trial/flashback', the hieratic idea actually came just as I was typing… And personally, I'm glad it didn't take any longer!

And- …I suppose you're right CynicalGamer, with something like that, Jou wouldn't have much choice in drawing attention to himself…

I'll take those yeses as a compliment! *pride-face* In any case, you make a good point; Yugi and Kaiba's reactions are going to affect things far more than the others, as they actually duel Jonouchi a few times. Though Kaiba's got _extra_ reasons… And noo! Don't go in there, you'll never come out!

*cough* Any ways, back to the review… Really, with all Mai went through, (the penalty was the same in the anime after all) it's no surprise she was vulnerable enough for Dartz to coerce her in…

And hehehe. You think that's cute, just wait until the next update. I drew colored chibis of almost everyone; you can just _taste_ the diabetes...

Pbbt! I'm too shameless to avoid GI Joe references. And other things. Hehehe.

Yeaaaaa… Jou's pretty bad at mentioning these things. Hold that 'quote' though, it'll prove fairly accurate after the Noa arc ends.

And… YEAAAAAAA that challenge… Not going there.

A bad thing about getting used to it… Well, it means he's more likely to slip, but it also means he's less likely to have a heart-attack at a young age… Which is always good.

In any case, enjoy the above chapter, and that's _right_! YAY NIGHTMARES!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that needs to flex its hands and actually draw the pictures it promised!

* * *

Today's title references a piece of the Illiad, specifically the Lotus Eater's. The Lotus Eater's were imprisoned by their own minds effectively, living their lives in a dream induced by a lotus that they... Well... Ate. These people never escaped, well, _most_ of them anyways. (Obviously the characters of the Illiad got out.)

Now, for all our main characters, this is most certainly not a 'Dream trap' so much as a trap. However, it's fairly implied that _Noa_ was subject to a nice bit of lotus eating when he was uploaded into the computer. Gozaburo placed all that Noa loved in that computer after all, because quite frankly, he really _did_ love his son.

Just that Noa kinda lost it, stopped playing along, and cheerfully told the man '_Hey, did you know I could destroy the ENTIRE WORLD in a few SECONDS?'_

That sort of thing tends to cement the fact that '._..Yea, this isn't working_.'. And not a moment too soon either, as Seto turned thirteen after that. In other words, the age he planned to 'transfer' Noa's mind into her body.

* * *

Obviously in the manga this scene happened in Mai's room, with everyone present. Conversations went much differently too, particularly since it was here that Ishizu asked to see Mai. As it is, Anzu and Shizuka were making last minute preparations for their self-made shift work, Honda and Otogi were ramming on Jonouchi's door (as you can see, he didn't get his shower until after this), and Ryuzaki was setting up a makeshift bed using the chairs in Ishizu's room, rather than everyone joining in.

* * *

For some reason, Ishizu knows what a motorcycle is during the flashback, among many other modern day dealings. This leads me to believe one of two things; one, Ishizu's done this before, and her caution is because 'dad' caught her shortly after that excursion, or two, the people of the Ishtar family need to leave the underground to find a wife or husband, and all of this knowledge came from her mother.

* * *

It would make sense after all if it was the second option, given the disadvantages of in-breeding… Particularly since Ishizu seems to be able to read arabic fluently, despite the language of the Ishtar's being Ancient Egyptian, which would imply someone teaching her before hand.

* * *

Duels aren't so fun when they're on a computer screen huh? Besides that, does anyone find it interesting how _immediately_ after 'Malik' tells Bakura of a way to get rid of Ra, he gets the cards he needs? Or better yet, that Malik, who could read the card, didn't know of all three abilities? Yeaaaaa…

But seriously, watching a duel in the way Kaiba did is just… So… Boring… It really takes the fun out of it hn? Like watching chess online… Moreover, you can see just how much I _expand _these things when it's summed up like that; what took a few paragraphs would ordinarily take a full chapter!

* * *

In other news, Malik and Bakura were playing a different sort of shadow game than in Malik VS Mai; as they lost lifepoints, their bodies disappeared, likely to the realm of duel monsters...

I say this because all of Malik's 'missing' body parts during Ra's summoning merge with the monster, though that might just be because his lifepoints became Ra's attack. Anyways, since Bakura _actually_ disappears, with the ring clattering to the ground…

It's a little disturbing. (Particularly since the only one who _cared_ in the anime was Yugi.)

* * *

Anyways, originally we got another bit from Mokuba here, the boy coming in to tell Kaiba to get some sleep. (With Kaiba almost hilariously saying 'you first' in the most deadpan tone possible.) But since Kaiba sent him to bed a while ago, that would be counter productive, and we instead have late night grumblings. Very angry grumblings too. A tired Kaiba is a very cranky one after all.

* * *

In the original series, Anzu is pretty much just a voice-box for Malik; his expressions are drawn at the side as a 'ghost' of sorts, which is typical of anime possession really. However, since Malik is very much as 'stuck' as he says he is in the fanfic, he's got a little more control over things.

As to the specifics of his predicament, he managed to cut his own soul in half; basically, his use of the Rod puts a part of him in whoever he's controlling at the time. Since he's been keeping eyes and ears open through Anzu for the entire evening, pretty much everything that makes Malik 'Malik' got sapped into her body after his DID kicked in.

Frightening. Of course, he managed to pull off something similar using the ring... Only to be forced back to Anzu's body when Bakura lost...

* * *

Why is Ishizu so quick to accept that it's Malik in there? Well, why else would Anzu be speaking Arabic? More importantly, there are certain mannerisms and speech patterns that she just can't ignore.

And for another matter, 'ohkt' is Arabic for 'sister'. In case you were wondering.

* * *

Ziz is an enormous griffin-like monster in Jewish myth, often seen alongside the Behemoth and Leviathan. It's said to rule the skies and defend all birds, acting against those who killed them in his territory with considerable rage. It's also been compared to Simurgh. _By Rabbis_. In any case, it makes quite the trio when combined with the Leviathan of the seas and the Behemoth of the land.

* * *

Also, Malik's acting is awesome in terms of fooling people Anzu doesn't know too well, and a little creepy, but very much necessary. Breaking Ryuzaki's brain all at once would cause problems after all.

* * *

Normally, I don't make changes to characters like Noa when it comes to wardrobe. Clothes are clothes after all, and I shouldn't complain. But shorts with a long-sleeved jacket irk me. . . . A LOT.

* * *

By the way, that mindscrew Noa just gave (Green-haired Yugi comes to mind…) is NOTHING compared to what you're about to get. BAHAHAHAHA!

* * *

…Anyone else ever wonder why the 'bridge' is called 'the bridge'? I know _I _still do. In other news, Noa originally appeared around sunrise as he pulled the ship in. It's _close_ to it here, but it's actually dawn, making it just twenty minutes before 5:00 AM at that moment.

Which means the most sleep anyone got was about four hours. OWWWWWWCH... (And Kaiba got _none_!)

* * *

Alcatraz, the island's name sake rather, has been through quite a lot. It originally began as a light house, military fortification and prison, and even a federal prison until 1963. In fact, it became a recreational area in 1972, open for tours, visits…

It's well known as a prison of course, but here's an interesting fact. It's name came from the spanish word for Pelican, which in turn came from the Arabic word 'Al-qatras', meaning 'sea eagle' (Bald eagles are sea eagles...). Not sure _why_, other than the fact that there's a largish sea-bird colony on the island now… So there was probably one before it was a prison too.

This has nothing to do with the tower though, and its likely that Alcatraz is only a code name; after all, that island was likely there for a while… But the fact remains that it represents the last of Kaiba's un-dying hate, the final tie to Gozaburo. So sharing the name with such a fortified prison isn't too surprising. It should be noted however, that the tower never has a set build date other than 'after Gozaburo's death', and was supposedly a monument to the future of the company. My confusion here however was how that would hold ties to Gozaburo, and why Kaiba would feel the need to blow it up.

And on a completely different note, look at the top of the tower. Seem familiar?

* * *

In the anime, Noa's fortress is _moving_, and it's a mammoth of a ship that resembles some mess between an aircraft freighter and an airship 'bottom'. However, being the moron I was at the time, I didn't realize this was the case, and kept wondering why the airship was scraping the ocean floor (it obviously wasn't). Of course in the end, I like this option better; because seriously, one, that plane-thing shouldn't have existed in Noa's time, and two, it makes more sense for there to just be a hidden hangar.

* * *

And so the Virtual World arc begins..! As with most others, the duels will hopefully be confined to their own chapters. _Unlike_ the others however, these will be far more action packed, as you likely guessed from what little concept art I manage to spout out. As to what that means, you will soon see!

Though the next chapter doesn't really have a fight though, just more build up. Oh well.

In other news, as this season was pretty well loaded with 'side-character centric' episodes in the first half, I won't be stingy with my POV's during this season; there will be Shizuka POV's, Anzu, Otogi, Mokuba… And of course, Yugi, Jou, and Seto, which is to be expected.

Lets go!


	84. Chapter 83

**Press Start To Begin**

* * *

In the slowly arriving dawn, most of Japan had yet to awaken to the day following the tournament preliminaries, particularly those who had participated in the intense matches that had filled the city. At a head-ache inducing 5 AM after all most would simply be rolling over in their covers, if there was movement at all within the curtain enclosed bedrooms. Sunlight was only just cracking over the edges of the horizon, peaking through the windows... A wondrous sight that only the earliest of waking people could see in the coming dawn, along with a few stranded train-goers angrily mashing the buttons of their cell phone.

But for the moment that beautiful sight was blocked by vicious waves, and ruined by the screams of those inside the Battle City's airship as it came toward an opening 'hole' in the oceans below. The ringing phone of one of the passengers was ignored in lieu of the chaos around, those inside either grabbing at railings or furniture for support. Though at the moment, despite the screams, it was still Seto's voice that was the most apparent, no matter how loud those passengers had gotten. After all...

Noa had just claimed superiority. The woman had already become enraged enough at the failed 'manual' manual override. Tiny but otherwise unnoticeable burns were covering Seto's fingers as a result of having to manually instil the command by means of wire crossing after all, and the fact that even this had been pushed to the side was almost completely unbelievable. To add a personal pet-peeve to the list of issues however... Well, even someone who knew Seto in passing would know that this was a fatal mistake. "You... You _dare_ to joke at a time like this," the woman snarled in response to the claim, leering at the screen above. Noa appeared to merely continue smirking with amusement however, the hole below opening its doors wide to allow the airship within what ever chamber it held.

"_I never said I was joking Seto. Why would I after all, I have no reason to,_" he stated, chuckling as the window's view went black. The seas continued to rage as the boy chuckled, lapping at the sides of the enormous entry-way as the others stared. "_I merely wanted to invite you to my home,_" Noa told them, a few questions of the sort of 'home' it was coming to mind as they came in._ "To the place I have lived for the past eight years... Waiting..._" Eight... That was how long it had been since Noa died though Katsuya told himself, which meant...

The blond grit his teeth, clenching the railing as panicked cries erupted about them. '_We're being pulled in,_' obvious shouts announced, '_What's going on! Let us out!_' This wasn't good... This wasn't good at all, he was a little more accepting of weird stuff by now but if this was really _Noa_... Katsuya continued to tense as Yugi looked at him from the side, bowing his head somewhat as they continued to dive forward. "...Jounouchi-kun," he said quietly, his friend not turning as the airship righted itself for landing. "You don't seem very surprised about what's happening..."

Well... Besides the fact that he tended to get previews of this kind of thing now... "I try not t' question things any more," he muttered, before swallowing as the ship docked into place. Blinding lights clicked on before the windows, a small number of the group wincing at the change in lighting as they were closed in.

"_Ah... It looks like we're here,_" Noa said with a smile, narrowing his eyes as the group before him snarled and leered in response. "_That means I can let you off now,_" he continued on in the resulting silence._ "Of course, by 'you' I refer only to the duelists, particularly the long awaited Seto,_" the boy added, eyes appearing to flash with anticipation as he looked to the woman._ "I'm not rude though... So if you could please heed by my request, I'll try not to impose the invitation..._"

Seto looked about ready to pull the screen off the ceiling and smash it into pieces at the thought of taking an 'invitation' from the boy before her. Or even just because the boy was there. "Gh... And what if we refuse," she 'asked' bluntly, the boy on the screen appearing to frown somewhat in response.

"_Well,_" he muttered, a series of turrets moving out from panels inside the wall across from them to pointing their guns forward in answer. "_You don't have a choice in that matter... Should you refuse,_" the boy continued lowly, "_I'll have to exact force... And we don't want __that__," _Noa 'warned' the woman before him continuing to growl. "_I'll say again... I would much rather not impose this upon you, but should you not come inside, I will have no choice,_" he stated, the screen growing black again as he left his last words hanging dangerously on the air. "_Three minutes,_" he told them, the voice appearing to originate from outside the craft._ "I'm watching you..._"

Silence sat over the crowd as the warning was given, those at the back end of the bridge staring at the turrets incredulously. "Is... Is he _serious_," Honda muttered, eyes wide as he turned back from the window with wide eyes. "Half the competitors are in comas," he hissed, "How the hell are we supposed to-"

The teen cut off as Seto moved past, coat billowing behind her as she stormed up the steps. Rage was beginning to look like the mood of the day as she moved, and for the moment there were none who really planned to argue with her leaving. Well...

Almost no one. "Ah- Kaiba-san," Yugi called out, the woman not even glancing back as the group turned. "What are you-"

"His target is me," she said plainly, punching in the keys to re-open the door before watching them pull back to the dark hallway. "Until I find out what's going on," the woman continued with a scowl, "Each of you are going to be staying on board, with the doors locked completely and-" The woman froze as Mokuba walked past into the hall, tensing as the boy paused to look back. "Gh- Mokuba!"

"Hey, Noa said 'all duelists'," he told her with a shrug, a smirk on his face. "If we're missing three, then I'm coming to keep the image up! Like you said, no casualties, right nii-sama?" Oooh, nice excuse there...

Too bad Seto wasn't buying it. "Tch... You're staying _here_, where it's _safe,_" she growled, narrowing her eyes. "And that's final!"

"Hn!" Katsuya snorted, joining the boy in the hall and looking back. He wasn't saying anything, but when Seto was trying to be angry at Mokuba, she actually looked pretty cute. Not like when she was pissed at everyone else. You were supposed to run when _that _happened. The blond continued to smirk despite those thoughts coming to mind, hands stowed in his pockets as he spoke. "Y' might be able t' tell Mokuba what t' do," he told the woman, "But don' think that I ain't comin' along myself," he finished, Seto merely continuing to scowl.

"That's right," Yugi added seriously, moving to join the two as the others began to follow. "Noa asked for the duelists... And both Jonouchi-kun and I count as two of those, but if you go alone, I doubt he'll be happy about it."

"And I told you before," she growled, looking to Yugi specifically. "I don't _negotiate _with people who make threats on my brother or staff; I'm leaving the ship_ alone_," she pressed, "And the rest of you are staying-"

-_click_- -_BRINBRINBRINBRINBRINBRI-_

With a sudden shattering 'boom' and 'clink' that repeated nearly endlessly the crowd jumped or ducked for cover, the turrets abruptly beginning to fire at the ground before the airship. Bullets ricochetted off concrete and steel both, embedding themselves into the ground or simply clattering to a stop. For the most part however, despite all damage the chaos errupted in an instant, with aggravated shouts and wide-eyed stares filling the room.

"Aahhhh-ahhhh-aaaahhhHH! What the hell," Honda shouted loudly from behind the bridge railing, "He's actually firing at us!"

"We _NOTICED_," Otogi angrily called out in response, those by the door turning as Noa's voice echoed through the speakers once more.

"_Perhaps I didn't make myself clear,_" he announced, the turrets pausing in their attack to readjust their aim to a more vital point. "_I said __all__ of you... All those at the back of this Bridge room,_" he continued in clarification, "_Are to get off and follow my instructions. Unless you plan to test your windows for bullet resistance,_" Noa added 'questioningly', the target of his words gritting her teeth as the sound of re-loading turrets caught her attention.

Well... Given how much of an option they had left... "Tch..." Seto continued to tense, before forcing out her next words with obvious distaste and gesturing to the hall. "Everyone off the ship," she growled, the others trading somewhat nervous looks in response to the woman's own. "Unless you plan on getting shot," she added darkly, all others responding fairly quick after that.

After all; call him crazy, but he had a feeling that no one would really want that happening too soon. The crowd headed out into the hall as quickly as possible while Seto made her way toward the door, the pilot momentarily remaining behind to send a message through his radio. "Well... I guess we don't have much choice," Anzu muttered, swallowing as Katsuya turned to glance at her. "Given the current situation..." Her eyes were still clouded over he noticed, a slight frown on his face as the group stopped outside the door. Did that mean it was Malik speaking, and that Anzu was still 'asleep'?

Why would he bother with that..? "Noa said 'duelists' didn't he," Shizuka muttered, watching as Seto tapped a few buttons on the side to activate the ship's exit. The door before them fell forward in an instant, stairs unfolding from within as they touched the ground. Walking out from the airship unease clung to the group like a thick fog, leaving a majority of them to follow those ahead in hesitant silence. "If... If Noa only wants duelists," his sister was saying again, rubbing her arms somewhat. "Then..."

"It's like Anzu said," Mokuba muttered in response, "We don't really have much choice..."

No... But that didn't mean they couldn't fight back. "We're jus' gonna have t' take 'm out then," Katsuya growled, cracking his knuckles as they walked further out into the large hangar around them. The chamber they were in had closed back over long before, but now that they were outside they could see small puddles of water scattering the ground. Small droplets dripped from the air-tight seals above, and at the sides they could see large ventilation pipes carrying in air from the outside world. What light they had to see these with came from large lamps from the side, and as far as they could tell there was only one way forward; a long and well lit hall guarded by ceiling mounted turrets, each one of them in possession of a motion sensor that would activate at their passing.

Not that he could see the turrets of course, but he was fairly certain they were there. Along with that without Noa's command of otherwise, they'd fire as soon as they took a step inside. As to what was going on _now _rather than in the near future... As the crowd converged outside the ship the pilot poked his head through the door, swallowing nervously as he glanced at the turrets. It was quite obviously not his 'day' to say the least really, and the foreign pilot was more or less sweating bullets as he attempted to attract his employer's attention. "Kaiba-sama," he called out, stepping forward from the ship's doorway as he swallowed. "Kaiba-sama, I've contacted the rest of the staff so that-"

-_whrrr- -click-_

The pilot froze as the turrets adjusted their aim, before again sending a spray of bullets forward.

_-BRINBRINBRIN BRINBRIN BRINBRINBRIN BRIN BRI-_

"H-HAHH! HAH!" Pallas leaped back into the doorway as the turrets again took aim and fired, the crowd ducking as bullets bounced through the room. Metal bounced rapidly through the room even as the devices stopped, the bullets only just begining to stop as Katsuya turned back upward to where his mind told him the PA was located.

"Gh- What th' hell," he snarled, clenching his fists. "Hey NOA! You tryin' t' kill us b'fore y' do whatever y' want with us," Katsuya roared, a few of the others having similar opinions as they looked to where the blond had turned.

"Just what _does_ he want with us," Yugi muttered, frowning somewhat as the others stared back at the ship. "He hasn't even told us that..."

Who knew... Noa was certainly more than willing to explain though, given the slight 'click' on the PA as it turned on its audio. "_I believe I said duelists only,_" the boy said plainly, voice echoing loudly about the room. "_While the loyalty of your staff is admirable,_" he went on, voice almost surprised in tone, "_I intend to make sure that request is fulfilled. There are eight duelists before me now,_" the boy continued seriously._ "I will take no more, and no less. Should I see anyone leave this ship,_" Noa warned as the tone darkened, "_I will __not__ hesitate to fire... So I'll say it again. I am only extending my invitation to the duelists I see here, and no one else. Everyone else will stay on the ship._" And there was no point arguing against it with the turrets pointed at them all...

Though it seemed that this info had taken a bit to sink in in a few cases... "Hold on a second," Otogi hissed, looking back from the PA to the others with narrowed eyes. "He thinks we're duelists? I was under the assumption that he just wanted non-staff off the ship," he protested at a whisper, "I've only played this game once!"

"Yea well I haven't played _at all_," Honda responded darkly, "But you don't see me telling this nutjob that," he continued, his friend merely swallowing at the warning.

"So... On we go," Katsuya 'asked', Seto merely storming forward with a determined glare. The others again traded looks as they were answered with silence, the blond eventually shrugging as he moved forward. "...Yea... Yea I'll take tha' as a 'yes'," he muttered, shaking his head.

"What I wouldn't mind knowing is why this is even _happening_," Anzu stated almost suspiciously, the group slowly making their way through the hall and looking around at the walls in curiosity. Occasionally a window to another room could be seen, or a locked door, but there was otherwise little else to see. Through the blackened, 'two-way mirror' glass they could see dark rooms, some for testing machinery and others filled with nearly dust-less furniture, untouched by humans of any kind for a number of years. For the most part there was nothing to see other than this however... And as they followed the PA-systems and lights along the sides the group held silent, pressing forward through the empty hall.

No matter how much time pass however, Anzu's question however was on everyone's minds, and as the others came to a large door at the end of the hall a number of them found themselves pulling that question back to mind again. From the front, Seto reached a hand out toward the door before them, tapping the handle and watching as it opened a crack. It was unlocked; this enough was enough to bring a deep scowl across her face it seemed, and with clenched fists she took a step back. "Tch... Just what are your intentions with us," the woman muttered, glancing to the sides as a solitary PA-system cracked to life again. "This is clearly a trap- so explain yourself!"

"_Hnhnhnhnhn... All will be made clear soon enough,_" the boy responded, low chuckling clearly audible in the background of where ever he was. "_But for now,"_ he requested politely,_ "Come inside... There are some people in here who are __very__ eager to see you..._" The crowd continued to tense with those words, Seto in particular narrowing her eyes at the mention of someone 'expecting' them. "_Come on now,_" he added as the head of the group paused, turrets slowly turning toward them as they slid out from panels in the ceiling. "_I'd much rather not waste bullets you know._"

Those words were all it took to snap the woman from her suspicious silence, eyes narrowing as she tightened her jaw. "Tch..!" The door pushed open immediately after the snort hit the air, Seto storming forward as blinding light met their eyes. Initially there was nothing to see in the white glare; those near the front held their arms up in defense from what would likely render them temporarily blind if they stared too long, while those in the back ducked somewhat and squinted against the constant glow. As their vision cleared however, the light itself dying down Yugi, the Kaiba siblings, and Katsuya all found themselves staring forward in horror, the expression more or less mirrored by Honda as five shadows appeared about a desk. The room itself was nothing special at first glance. A board room it seemed, with the false image of Tokyo's skyline out of a window and a ring of chairs lining the table before them. There were mutterings behind them in regards to this of course... '_A board room,_' Otogi was asking in particular, '_In the middle of a place like this?_'

'_Just who are those people,_' Shizuka added, the sounds blurring in the back of his mind. Most of them knew quite well 'who' those people were after all, and these people were the last ones he'd ever expected to see or hear from again if at all.

Sitting at the table after all were five figures that almost everyone in the room knew were meant to be long gone, five men whom had long since been dead and 'buried' in rubble. Yet as Seto stood frozen, eyes wide, all they could do was watch as the five stood, stepping forward with stiff expressions and narrowed eyes.

"Hello 'Kaiba'," Oshita spat, wrinkled face curled into a scowl as he leaned against his cane. "I presume you're well?" One ghost was bad enough... Two was pushing it.

But God help them if these were really the 'ghosts' of the Big Five.

* * *

They weren't supposed to _be_ here. And that was the first thing that came to mind after the chilled feeling that ran down her spine the moment she saw their faces, followed by a panicked yet hidden rush of denial and fear. She'd personally pulled the plug on each of their minds, left them to die and demolished the room to leave nothing left once she was sure no ghosts of memory would remain. She'd heard their panicked cries before hitting the 'mute' button and given each of them haunting 'final words', messages to carry with them to the far beyond. There was no evidence of their existence, nothing but whatever mourning families remained and old employment records, along with a hidden room that no investigator ever found.

And yet standing before her now she could not deny who it was addressing her, she could not deny that they had 'returned'. "You..." But they... They were _dead_..! They were dead, she had _killed them_, it was _IMPOSSIBLE! _How... "How are you _here,_" she hissed, slight expressions of amusement flashing over the former board's eyes. They knew who she _was_ now at that! If they... If they said a single thing..!

"I don' think they really are here," Jonouchi muttered from the side, an audible swallow coming through the air as he stared forward with similar thoughts. Personally she wanted to know how he would even realize that... Along with anyone else. But then she was also just wondering why the hell anyone else wanted to come, so she wasn't saying anything. Not looking back the woman instead continued to stare, the five before her chuckling at the obvious discomfort they had her placed in. "S... Kaiba," the blond repeated from behind, voice somewhat hesitant. "I think tha' these guys 'r..."

"Holograms," Yugi finished nervously, the window in the background flashing with the words. From the image of Tokyo's skyline came the ocean floor, the image merely reflecting the outside of the walls rather than imitating the steel wall it likely was. "This entire room is a hologram," the boy behind him continued, a few of the others staring in confusion as he stared. "All of this... It's completely fake!"

"If everything here is a hologram it still doesn't explain how _they're_ here," Honda stated, growing pale as he backed toward the door. "Almost all of us were there that day," he continued with a shaking voice, "You know damn well they should be dead!"

"_Dead_," Otogi repeated, turning with a jolt. "Just why would they be-"

"You can get your answers later," Ota muttered impatiently, narrowing his eyes as the crowd stared. "After all... Death is really a matter of opinion in this case... And I'm sure you'll have plenty of time to explain soon enough."

The others of the five nodded, each one looking toward them as the room appeared to flicker with static. "It's true that our bodies are long gone," Otaki continued on with narrowed eyes, "And that knowing you they're likely rotting where you left them... But our minds have remained locked in that exact state," he barked, teeth grinding. "With not a single moment to vanish with those corpses!"

"You almost lose yourself when you're in a position such as that," Oka stated lowly, the lawyer adjusting his glasses as his form flickered and shifted. "You forget what's real," he muttered, "And what _was_ real..."

"But in a way 'Kaiba-sama'," the next of the group snarled in sarcasm, "Your final words to us are the reason we can still be here..! After all," Daimon continued darkly, "Had it not been for our desire for vengeance, we would never have held a clear enough mind to keep ourselves intact!" _Oh_, so now this was 'her fault'...

Well, while she wouldn't blame them for wanting to get back at their murderers, the larger question still remained. How were they _here! _Not that they were answering that question of course, but until they did she would not likely be able to handle this issue too well. Of course, the five before her were still talking, having evidently not finished. "You're not the only one we want," Otaki stated with a growl, teeth grinding as the others in the room tensed in place. "Yugi, Jonouchi, Mokuba... We'd have gone after that 'beta-tester' we'd hired as well," he growled darkly, "But it would seem she isn't here..."

"Not that we mind," Ota added with narrowed eyes, evidently unaware of the situation on the 'Battle Ship' at the moment. "Even just you four are fine, so long as there are other options available..." Other-

What? "Other options," Anzu repeated incredulously, eyes wide as she took another step back. "Just what do we even have to do with this," she shouted. "Do you even have a clue as to what's going on right now? Or even _why_ we're the ones who came out?"

"I don't think they really care," Otogi muttered, Seto narrowing her eyes somewhat as she listened to Anzu's words. What she had to do with this... Anzu had a fair amount to do with this the woman realized with a frown, eyes narrowing further as she glanced back. She'd been one of the two idiotically creating a barricade while watching over her brother and the others in the pods, forcing the guards back until they finished in the game. As a result, she would be considered an instrument in the board member's deaths, and in the end was one of the few who even knew of their 'end result' if not indirectly...

But shouldn't she have known this herself then? The woman ground her teeth further as she pushed the thought from mind, glaring at the holographic forms of her deceased 'board'. Anzu wasn't the problem right now after all. What was the problem was the five murderous and treacherous men before her, who had more than once attempted a hit on her life and that of her brother's! "You... Just how is it that you managed to put together something like this any ways? Do you even have a 'plan'," she continued, the five merely holding silent as their target snarled. "Or did you pull us here for nothing but talk?"

"Hmp! As impatient as ever," Oshita grumbled, adjusting the cane in his hands. The scowl across his face seemed to deepen even further than likely possible, fists tightening their grip before a smirk slowly came over him. "Of course, you _are_ correct to assume we had aid in escaping to the network system here..."

"That's right... It wouldn't be fair to assume that we were without help," Oka continued, turning to the others. So there _had_ been someone then...

And if her guess was right, she knew exactly who that person was. "So then 'Noa' did this," the woman growled, growing red with rage. "Hn! Typical... To get your 'vengeance' you had to turn to a child..." One that looked younger than Mokuba at that.

"Well, we share a common goal after all," Daimon responded, apparently not affected by the insult. Across from him Seto's frown deepened with confusion, the others as well narrowing their eyes. Common..? Just what did 'Noa' even have to do with her? She hadn't seen or heard of the boy until a few minutes prior, and even then she had no clue what it was that he 'represented'. "Of course... Noa-sama's methods are a little 'slow'," the man admitted as his target pondered Noa's identity, the man narrowing his eyes. "After all... It would have been much easier to simply kill you and be over with things..." Tch...

She'd like to see the 'holograms' try... Though given that they were connected to a series of turret guns, it would probably be best to hold her tongue for Mokuba sake and that of the others for now. "We may desire your swift and painful deaths of course, but we still owe Noa-sama our lives," Otaki muttered, frowning as the others listened in silence. "And in exchange for his help, for the opportunity to return to the world as heads of KaibaCorp, he only requested one thing in return..."

"That we face you, each of you," Ota clarified, "In a battle." A 'battle'? "That we fight fair matches out until the end... A duel," he added almost hintingly, Yugi's eyes widening somewhat at the term.

"A... A duel," he repeated, staring forward. Seto as well frowned at that, staring in silence as the boy continued. "But why would Noa want you to duel us," Yugi asked somewhat incredulously. "What point would that have?" Yes, just what point _would_ there be in that, other than the five before them losing horribly yet again? They would end up facing three professional duelists, one being herself and the other being Yugi after all... And while she couldn't speak for Jonouchi and the others, she certainly wouldn't allow the scum before her the honor of a win.

The five appeared to scowl at the reminder of the duels however, narrowing their eyes in distaste. "Believe us when we say we would much rather kill you now, and be rid of you menaces as soon as possible," Daimon spat, eyes narrowed with considerable rage.

Oka nodded in agreement, nonetheless shaking his head. "Orders are orders however... And if we disobey Noa-sama," the former lawyer went on, "We would be much worse off..."

"The reasoning matters little though," Oshita barked, the room appearing to flicker and reveal flashes of steel in response to the rage. "What matters is that you're right where we want you; and unless you agree to a match played by Noa-sama's rules," he continued with a crazed scowl, "You're _never_ leaving this place!"

"Keh! If it's a fight y' want," Jonouchi snarled from behind, "Then it's a fight you'll get! I'll take y' on," he roared, the woman ahead of him mentally smacking her forehead before a click took her attention from the blond's idiocy.

"Ah... N-Nihan," Shizuka was asking, the others only partially paying attention. "Before you do that..." The girl tapped her brother's shoulder, pointing to the back as the others turned. "Over there... Didn't we leave the door open," she muttered fearfully, those listening quickly turning back with wide eyes as they followed her gaze.

The door... "The _door_-!" The others stared in horror at the steel wall that met their gaze, tiny glass windows fogged completely as the holographic room melted into the remains of a gas chamber. "N-Nii-sama," Mokuba whispered with a swallow, his sister gritting her teeth as she looked around them. "Nii-sama, the door is..!"

Closed. Something thick began to come over the air, Seto's eyes briefly widening as she turned back. This was more than just a trap... A hissing sound was echoing in the room, the voices around her were beginning to quiet... This... This was... "You... Locking us in a room like this..!"

"_Hnhnhnhnhn... _What," the board called out, holograms stretching and distorting as the five figures appeared to flame into shadowed ghosts rather than their now deceased and burried counterparts. "Did you think we would be playing against you right here in this room," they asked in unison, chuckling almost insanely. "Don't be so FOOLISH!"

"The doors... The doors are locked," Otogi was shouting from behind, coughing weakly as he pulled with no result. "They aren't budging, we're... We're..."

"N-Nii-sama," Mokuba whispered from the side, stumbling on his feet as his sister turned back. "I feel... Dizzy..."

"Bastards... What th' hell is this," Jonouchi snarled through his coughs, "Knock-out gas?" Most likely...

"Not too far from the fact," the board cackled, a loud 'thud' coming over the air as Mokuba collapsed. Seto barely caught the boy as he fell, the action quickly followed by Yugi as she placed her brother on the ground. The room was becoming hazed... Falling to the ground next was Shizuka and Anzu as the gas took effect, and while the remaining three boys stumbled on their feet Seto's own mind was spinning as she glared. These monsters... These... More thuds hit the air... Honda... Otogi... "Have a nice stay," the board muttered lowly, ghastly grins barely visible through the gaseous haze._ "Ojou-sama..._"

Bastards... "Monsters... The moment I find the computer you're connected to," she warned with a slightly slurred snarl, unable to concentrate on holding her voice, "I'll... I..." The gas had taken effect... Whatever anyone else had said if they weren't knocked out already she couldn't hear, eyes rolling to the back of her skull as she toppled forward. And the last thing she saw as she finally faded out... As the doors opened and her mind lost its grip on reality... Was some sort of machine pushing into the room to carry them off...

* * *

There hadn't been much to say after his statement of the obvious in the gas chamber really. Probably because he was tired... More likely it was because he'd been standing right under one of the gas nozzles and collapsed around when Mokuba did. Though if anyone figured he'd fallen just before Honda had, that would probably be because he'd fallen backward... And just about knocked him over. Either way, he hadn't been expecting to wake up to see _this, _despite the fact he hadn't woken up yet.

"Nnngh..." Opening his eyes of course, had been difficult to say the least. The gas' effects still lingered, making his body weak, sore, sluggish... Overall 'not healthy' really. Looking around as he finally did rouse himself however, brought more than enough surprise as he pulled himself to his feet. "Wh.. What th' hell..." Trees... Giant ferns and palms..?

"A jungle," Yugi asked from the side, the boy waking up with a short groan. "How did we end up in a jungle..?"

The others as well began to wake, more or less opening their eyes at about the same moment as they stood. All around them and the dirt clearing they stood in they could see trees and shrubs, tropical and extinct plant-life towering above them as a glaring sun burned even higher above it. "I think it's safe to say we're not really in a jungle," Mokuba grunted, stretching himself with a wince.

"Given that a dinosaur just flew past us," Honda added with a swallow, the pterodactyl in question having ducked behind the jungle's trees, "I'll have to agree with him on that..."

"H-Hahhh... D-Dinosaurs..."

"Well... A... At leas' we know it's jus' an illusion righ'," Katsuya said with a quiet laugh, turning to his sister as the woman stared at where the monster vanished. "Nothin' t' be afraid of..."

"Eh..? N-Nihan," she said somewhat confusedly, turning to the blond. "I was just surprised, I never said I was scared..." Moving ON!

The others were also righting themselves, either wandering the field or standing in place like Seto with a scowl. "It's just a hologram," Anzu was muttering curiously, "But even though I know this..." The woman swallowed, sniffing somewhat at the air as she frowned. "It's so weird... I mean, it's not just the sights," she exclaimed, "The sense of touch and smell, they're all real..!" And they'd seen that before...

A rumble hit the air with those thoughts, a number of them growing pale as they turned to the source. "And so are the... _Footsteps_," Honda questioned, before the trees above began to shake. "What the hell is big enough to-"

"_THAT_," Otogi answered fairly quickly, low growling meeting their ears as they turned.

"**Grrrrrnnn...**" From between the trees rose an enormous scaled head, eyes widening with shock as the face of a tyrannosaurus-rex met their gaze. "**Grnn... GREEEEEEEEEHHH! **_**REEEEEEEEEEEHHH**_**!**"

"A... D... Di..." Shizuka grew pale, stumbling back with a jolt as the monster lowered its enormous maw in a threatening gesture. "Dinosaur... It's a..!"

"It... It's jus' an illusion," Katsuya laughed nervously, backing away as he repeated the mantra in unease. "Jus' an'... Illusion..."

The dinosaur didn't quite agree it seemed, instead lowering its head further and preparing to launch the nearest person into its maw. "_**GREEEEEEEEHHHHH!**_"

Yea they should probably not hang around here. "Not helping Nihan!"

"RUN," another voice, likely Honda, shouted in panic.

And really, he couldn't agree more with that plan. "RIGHT B'HIND YAH," he roared, shoes skidding across the dirt as he took off. "Let's get outta here!"

"Good idea, let's- H-Hey," Mokuba cut off, turning from his two-yard take off. "N-Nii-sama! What are you doing!" What? Why, what was she-

The others turned as the dinosaur snarled and widened its mouth, the woman standing before it apathetically as jaws moved to close over. "S- Kaiba," Katsuya shouted, the beast snapping its jaws shut without another word. "A-AAAAHH!"

"Kaiba-san," Yugi screamed, the dinosaur appearing to pause.

"Nii-sama!"

-_fzzzt!_- Katsuya stared somewhat blankly as the jaws of the monster continued to remain shut as they lifted and phased through their intended target. Evidently, _this_ dinosaur wasn't completely real... Leaving Seto in question to smirk rather smugly as the confused beast turned to stomp away from the lot. Somehow, she hadn't been eaten. Somehow.

He was probably going to hear about that for the next month now. "Hn! Pathetic..." Yeaaaaa... You _tell_ whoever locked them in a VR jungle Seto-chan! _That_ was a _great_ idea! "Is this your idea of a fight," Seto roared to the empty jungle, quite obviously unaware of Noa's location but not letting it distract her. "Using the tactics of a small child?" Well... Noa _was_ supposedly only 12 but...

"It didn' work..." Why the hell didn't it work, they'd been slammed around like bean-bags in the last game...

Nonetheless, Seto merely snorted at the statement, likely rolling her eyes. "Of course it 'didn't work'," she said plainly. "After all, while it's a virtual world," the woman continued, "It's still only an imitation of my hologram technology..." Wait, how the hell did she know- "Solid Vision only appears solid," Seto continued, the blond appearing just slightly surprised as a result. "You can't actually be struck by it." ..._Oh_.

He wouldn't know that... But okay. "He's right," Anzu muttered from the side, having separated from the group to study a flower at the side. The woman frowned as her hand passed cleanly through the blossom, shaking her head as she stared at the plant. "Even the flowers are fake- ... ...Eh..?"

"_Hnhnhnhnhnhnhn..._"

"HEEEEEHHH!" The group tensed, watching Anzu jump back as a small girl stepped out from the jungle to stand before her. "W-W-Who!"

Yea... Um... That was a good question, one that the girl appeared more than pleased to hold over the crowd. The girl appeared familiar almost really, despite the fantasy garb she was in. Her skin was about as averagely toned as anyone there, and though her hair was a fair bit longer than the one that came to mind, the face still matched. Evidently he wasn't the only one who thought this either, as upon spotting the small child Seto had grown deathly pale... With Noa chuckling darkly from above as his voice echoed about the trees and plants. "_Welcome,_" the boy was saying, the small girl moving past the group and twirling a large mallet of sorts in her hands as the voice spoke. "_To the virtual world..!_"

"H-Heh... A little girl... But why would Noa use..." Why would he use a little girl, that didn't make...

"Ah- Jonouchi-kun," Yugi whispered with a swallow, Seto looking as though she was barely containing whatever annoyance and rage she so wished to express, "Isn't that... _Her_?"

"I'm pretty sure," he answered quickly, confused mutterings filling the air before a second child appeared. "Ah- That..."

The second child appeared quite similar to the first, but there were notable differences, and all of them disturbingly familiar for reasons completely unknown to him. Despite the near identical facial structure, his eyes were grey rather than blue, and his skin was tanned to almost appear darker than the 'little Seto's' shoulder length hair. More importantly however was that his own hair, _white_ in colour, was hidden beneath a bandanna of sorts, with his clothes designed similarly to his implied opponent as he gripped a sword and shield. "...He's _kidding_ me," Seto hissed from the side, somewhat wide eyes looking to the children in distaste. She obviously didn't recognize the boy much beyond similarities to Noa's own, but she still had a point... "This is completely-"

"_Ridiculous,_" Noa offered, voice echoing through the air as he chuckled from above. "_Preposterous, or perhaps even... Unforgivable? Perhaps I should explain,_" he continued plainly, the two children on the field staring each other down. "_You see,_" the boy explained,_ "While you will each be 'dueling' as I promised, it's come to my attention that despite my greatest efforts, only half of you are at the 'fair level' entered in this game... All others are either recreational players or simply non-duelists, a true disadvantage..._" Yea, well, it wasn't as though they'd really been prepared... Though if the two before him were about to do what he thought they were..._ "Due to this disadvantage,_" Noa went on plainly, "_These fights will be a little different than initially planned... We will be fighting with the deck-master system,_" he explained to the confused crowd,_ "But rather than simply fighting with cards, you will be fighting with your __life__... And whatever weapons are granted to you,_" he finished almost humorously, the children abruptly charging each other with a shout.

"HRAAAAAHHH!"

"GO!"

Sword connected with mallet side as they screamed, 'Chibi-Seto' initially finding her first swing missed before it was blocked and parried by her opponent. The boy in question, quite stuck by this point, found himself forced to push and flip back from the over-sized hammer, swinging his blade off from the weapon as the force blew both back. "_The deckmaster system works as follows,_" Noa explained through the fight, a holographic screen of sorts hovering at the side of each player's head in that instant. "_Upon acting on a challenge to battle,_" he stated calmly, rows of panels streaming past each 'player's vision,_ "Each of the opponents will choose one monster from their deck to assimilate with, absorbing their abilities as their own. Here... How about a demonstration,_" he asked with a sneering tone, the girl before them abruptly swinging her hand at the screen as a panel of light passed her.

"Blue-Eyes White Dragon," she shouted, hammer breaking into pixels as a bright light enveloped her. In an instant the girl appeared to 'grow' somewhat, a helmet resembling the monster's head covering the upper half of her face as wings sprouted from her back. White armor covered her from the neck down, and hair lengthened into a white pony-tail from the back of her helm before the light could even clear to reveal her body. As it did however she nodded, taking a fighter's stance with the enormous great-sword gripped tightly in both hands. "Hn!"

"Tch! As usual," her opponent snorted. "How typical you would pick the power house!" 'Chibi-Seto' appeared to grind her teeth at this, eyes thankfully covered lest anyone connect the expression to the real one. "My deckmaster will actually prove _useful_," the boy before them continued, tapping a card on the screen with his blade. "Total Defense Shogun," he roared, his own armor fading out to shift and mirror that of the monster's. Weapons and shields of all kinds appeared on the boy's back as it was covered by straps, his own sword remaining in one hand as the shield on his arm increased considerably in size. "Let's GO," he shouted in challenge, screen appearing to flash as he charged forward.

"Hn! Draw," 'Seto' announced in response, running after her opponent as the screen again appeared at her side. Constantly the weapons clashed, her opponent's blade throwing her back blow for blow as the screen reacted to her words. "Summon the Lord of dragons," she shouted as the panel vanished from her sights, "And play the Flute of Summoning Dragon as well!"

Down at the side the monster arose in a pillar of light, halting her opponent's advance as the boy leaped back to glare. Bone-lined armor and weaponry would prove just slightly more powerful than himself after all, and while the small 'shield' was in place the monster pulled a flute from a pouch at the side. The flute that appeared in the monster's hand was brought calmly to his lips, a loud and echoing horn's note rumbling through the air as he activated the spell. "Gh- Shit-"

"Two more dragons are summoned from my hand," the girl snarled from the side, not bothering to move for the moment as she made her play. Two 'cards', mere panels of light appeared at her sides, bursting into pillars of white flame and pixels as they began to form. "Blue-Eyes and Blue-Eyes," 'Chibi-Seto' announced, the enormous and majestic beasts hardly doing the real versions justice.

"Blu-" Yugi's eyes widened, the boy shaking his head in disbelief. "But... With the deckmaster system in place," he muttered at the summoning, "That would mean..."

"That kid just summoned three blue-eyes white dragons in one turn," Otogi muttered, eyes wide. "And she could _still_ cream her opponent with Lord of D!"

"Sheesh," Honda groaned, rubbing his head. "She's just as over kill as Kaiba is..."

"Gh..." Probably best to ignore them right now, and not add to things... ...And in their case, not turn around incase she was glaring at _them_...

On the field, 'Chibi-Seto' still had the screen up, her Lord of Dragon now grappling with the boy before her in order to stall him. Evidently the 'life-point' system still applied though, as despite the increased strength, the turn-based point of the game prevented either from dying or even landing a fatal blow. The Lord certainly wasn't trying to make one after all, and given how much luck the opponent was having in landing one...

Well, it was likely just what 'Chibi-Seto' had planned really, as a third panel had appeared on her screen as she continued her turn. "Last card... The spell Polymerization," she cried, vortex appearing in the air behind her. "I'll add my dragon's power to my own," the girl roared, her dragons sucked into the spiral as she grinned almost madly, "Summoning the Ultimate Dragon!"

"Ah-" This time it was Anzu's turn to pause, the woman staring in shock. "But if she's the deckmaster then doesn't that mean-"

Blinding light filled the air as the girl again charged, jumping into the air as her opponent looked up. Again the girl grew, the vortex crushing and flowing into a single stream that coated her body completely with the light of the two dragons she was merging with. Through the light one could see robes replacing her armor, the wings lost in lieu of a billowing cape as the helmet thankfully remained in place. Rather than wielding the oversized great sword now she held a simple claymore, and though she hovered in the air it was plain to see she was making her attack from the safe distance where she stood. "The ability of the Ultimate Dragon," she announced, free hand appearing to glow brightly as flames whipped around it, "Is that fusion monsters can attack the moment they are summoned... This is the end," she roared, pointing her hand forward as the flames blasted forward, "_**BURST STREAM!**_"

"Tch- I sacrifice 1000 lifepoints," the boy announced, hopping away from his battle with the lord of dragons to drop the blade, "To activate my effect... Mirror Force Barrier!"

Mirror force? Shit. 'Chibi-Seto' (Not really chibi by now) paled, grip on her sword tightening with shock as her opponent announced the ability. "Nh! You-!"

The boy before them held his hands high as a shield of shimmering light appeared around him, the blast of white flames his opponent sent forward ricocheting off the sides in an instant. White met white as the woman was struck by her own attack, screaming from the force of the fires while the others were left blinded to the point of turning away. In just moments the light had thankfully cleared the field- the fires from the area were gone, along with the woman who had summoned them... Her opponent in the meantime merely returned to the state he had been initially fighting in, turning to leave through the jungle with a blank expression in place. "Gone," Katsuya found himself muttering, eyes wide as he looked about the field. "She lost..."

"So then... Even if we have lifepoints left," Yugi stated with a swallow, grabbing at as much as he could from the duel's result, "If we, the 'deck masters' are destroyed, we lose no matter what..."

Just like 'real life'. "Gh... Bastards..!" The others turned as Seto began to speak again, the woman beyond livid and murderous by this point. "You told us we would fight fairly," the woman roared, clearly pissed both over her situation and the fight they'd witnessed just now. "Yet you introduce ridiculous rules such as this," she continued, "And turn it into some sort of melee!"

In a sudden flash the jungle vanished, the board room again appearing around them as the big 5 sneered. "But of _course_," Ota chuckled, before a scowl appeared on his face. "After all," he muttered darkly, "So long as both sides play by the same rules, it's only fair..."

"You can consider it punishment for bringing in only half of the duelists," Otaki added, bowing his head as the others nodded. "Given that we would have simply dueled using standard rules if that had been the case..." Yea... Somehow he doubted that...

But really, who was arguing. "So what do you say," the next of the group continued, again adjusting the glasses on his face. "Will you fight... Or will you surrender," Oka 'asked', a dark smirk growing somewhat as the light glared from his glasses.

Seto merely continued to grind her teeth, nails digging into her palms. "You haven't even given us any choice otherwise," her brother roared, his own expression almost mirroring his sister's as he buckled under the emotional pressure. "All we can do is fight!"

"Ack- But I don't even have my deck," Shizuka muttered, her brother merely smirking.

"No problem; there's only five guys here..." And three duelists... Eh... "I'll jus' have t' fight in yer place," he decided with a grin, a number of the others trading looks as the girl stared.

"Hey... And just what does that mean for us," Honda asked, frowning as the blond shrugged.

"Ehhhh... Do what y' wan'," he said with a smirk, his friend choking on air as he stared incredulously.

"Do wha- _JONOUCH_-"

"What's going to happen if we lose," Anzu abruptly asked, the group cutting any conversations or curses short to turn their attentions to the question. "We know that to escape we have to win," she continued seriously, "But what if we _lose_?"

"Ahhh... Someone finally understands," Oshita stated, chuckling as Otaki smirked. "I was wondering when we would get that question..."

"Winners get prizes, losers get punishments... It's only natural to question about what that punishment is," Otaki said calmly. "Of course, as to the answer..."

"Should you lose," Oka explained, adjusting his glasses absently, "You will remain here, your minds trapped in a fate identical to our own..."

"Your bodies in the meantime, will become _ours_," Oshita growled, those before him staring with wide eyes. "_Regardless_ of gender preference," he added with a subtle glance to Seto, "Though it's quite clear that we can still escape this with such a thing intact..."

This... This was... "You _monsters_," Seto hissed, fists clenched as they hinted at what knowledge they had inexplicably held back from the crowd. "This shouldn't even be possible..! This..."

"How could you do this," Anzu shouted, the protests filling the room. "_WHY!_"

"Damn it all..." There was no question as to why, they were dead and pissed, wasn't it obvious?

Across from them the five merely chuckled, flaring into shadows once more as they rose above the crowd. The board room had again melted into the steel-floored room it represented, and behind the 'shadows' was nothing but empty white space and light. "_What can we say,_" they chorused, cackling madly as they loomed above. "_We ARE monsters now! What did you think became of us!"_

"Gh..." 'Monsters'? That was just an insult. "If yer so eager, why don' y' start th' fight now," Katsuya roared, stepping forward with narrowed eyes. "If yer so confident," he continued as he stared the shadows down, "How come you haven' star-" -ted..? The blond cut off abruptly, the ground vanishing beneath his feet in a perfect circle as he scrambled for the edge with no luck. "H-Haaah-haaah-HAAAAHHH! _SHIIIIT_!" WHY DAMN IT. "SHIIIIIIITT!"

"Katsuya-nii," Mokuba's faded voice called out, the others shouting almost in unison as he toppled through streams of data and code.

"Nihan!" Shizuka...

"Jonouchi-kun!" Yugi..!

"_JONOUCHI!_" ...Wait... _Seto_? Katsuya found himself pushing the thought from mind rather quickly, instead screaming and holding his arms up in defense as he fell forward. Light was stabbing at him... Darkness surrounded him, and above, the hole above him had disappeared. Both his clothes and 'body' were being peeled away by lines of zeroes and ones, leaving nothing be a spectral, glowing version of himself similar to the last virtual game he had played. Dark...

It was completely dark, and yet as he landed in the middle of this darkness, a screen appeared before him. It was a simple screen really... A game screen it looked like, complete with a stat sheet and a level. And in addition, just beneath the words 'Tap Start to Begin'...

"Ah- This is..." This was the same sheet he'd had before! In the last virtual game the blond realized, when he and the others had to save Seto! Katsuya stared confusedly at the screen, narrowing his eyes as he looked it over. Same stats, same level, same- ...Class and armor... "Oiii... I thought I picked th' warrior class," he muttered, tapping the screen in accusation before jumping as the darkness vanished. Instantly his 'clothes' were returned, a new outfit covering him as a weapon appeared in his hands to begin the game. The menu before him as well vanished from the darkness, and from beneath him a vast wasteland appeared as he fell. "Ah- H-HAAAHHH! WHAT TH' HELL IS WITH-"

-_fmmp_-

Great. Sand. "Gn! Pbt! Plleh! _PLEEEEEH..._ Bleeeeeh..." The blond spat any sand that landed in his mouth from the fall as far out as possible, staff somehow still gripped in his left hand as he groaned. Shaking hands pulled his body to his hands and knees after the failed and near instant landing, clumps of sand stuck to his mouth as he attempted to wipe it off. "Ugggghhh 'f all things t' end up in... Why th' hell did it have t' be sand..."

"Hnn... That's a good question," a familiar voice stated, the blond jumping as he turned. Before him stood Noa, in the same form he had seen from his dreams and with not a hair out of place. "I suppose that it has to do with something in your head..." In... In his head? Noa nodded, as though hearing the thoughts within his mind before speaking. "Well... I sent _everyone_ to chain of memories after all," the boy explained, "And its their job to get out. I mind as well make it easier to balance the field after all..." Well... He supposed that the balancing thing made sense but... To get out...

Well he'd never even been in a desert befo- Katsuya froze, looking around as he cut the thought short. No... That wasn't completely true, there were still his dreams weren't there... "Then... Th's place..." Sand... A stable house...

Goats. Lots of goats. Crap. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Good... You've got the idea," Noa said with a smirk, slowly fading from existence. "Memories are fragmented into dreams after all... So why not end up trapped in one? All you have to do now is find your 'meal ticket'," the boy continued, eyes narrowing in mirth as his target continued to look around. "Good luck with that..." Yea, yea, like he care-

Wait, Noa was right behind- "Ah- O-OIII," he shouted, turning to the empty space Noa had filled moments prior. "Wait! Get back here so I c'n beat th' shit outta y'! NOAAAAA!"

It was probably expected that he wouldn't get an answer he supposed. Noa was the 'enemy', and probably not going to trust him anymore than he did now. The blond sighed, shaking his head before looking himself over in the meantime. He mind as well get used to what he was wearing after all... And from what he could tell, the armor he had was fairly similar to what he'd seen 'Chibi-Seto' initially wear, sans various golden accessories. Of course, he couldn't help that note that his own 'tunic' was more likely a 'wrap' of sorts, the fabric tied in place by a sash. So he had a tunic on then... But what else? His feet were completely bare, as were his legs, but while the tunic barely came to his knees to make up for the fact he also appeared to be wearing a billowing and large sleeved cloak... The fabric a bright and flaming red to contrast the scenery and the rest of him, with a few lines of white along the edges.

Yet even with this colour contrast he still 'fit' his location, the cloak seeming just as familiar to his subconcious thoughts as the rest of the area. "Shit... I look like something from a god-damned nativity scene," he muttered, tightly gripping his staff in his free hand while pulling at the cloak with a scowl. Seriously, what was going on with that..? The blond continued to frown, looking around in confusion. Somehow, as he'd looked down, the goats had all vanished, replaced with a vicious sand-storm that ended a few feet from where he stood. There was now nothing but endless sand and an empty stable house around him, not counting the blistering heat from the sun above... And there was supposed to be a way out of this? _Really_?

"_Try looking for a door you moron,_" a voice muttered, Katsuya rolling his eyes. Hah! Oh great... He was talking to himself. As if seeing everything else didn't make him crazy already! "_Hn! To others maybe... But __you're__ not talking to yourself._" Not ta-

Waaaaiiit this voice was... "H-Heh..? It... It's you," he shouted with a jolt, looking to the air on reflex with wide eyes. "Th' ghost..!"

"_Yes, yes, the 'ghost',_" it muttered sarcastically, voice seeming to echo about the back of his mind._ "And stop staring at the sky like an idiot,_" the spirit added, presence still unseen to the blond as he looked down with a red face. "_Honestly... I would think that this sort of conversation was impossible without unconsciousness,_" the ghost pondered curiously,_ "But evidently being placed into a virtual dream is close enough to it for this to work._" Errr... Kay...

_Man_ this was weird... Though he supposed it made sense if- Wait... "Wh- Hang on... If yer still in my head, do y' know where we are," he asked hopefully, a grin appearing on his face as he reminded himself not to look up.

"_Of course not idiot, you're unconscious._" Thanks...

Katsuya shrugged, scratching his head at the blunt response. "Well, it was worth a shot..." Another snort came from the spirit in his mind at the comment, the blond sighing as he looked around. "So... What 'xactly _can_ y' see then," he asked, squinting through the sands around him.

"_Nothing actually; what I can 'see' is merely a transfer of your memory._" Memory?

"Wait, yer searchin' through my head!"

The spirit balked, the image of the flustered ghost coming to mind as it snarled. "_Of course not, fool! These are your 'present memories', thoughts and recollections of what you see and say mere moments before! Haven't you ever wondered why you think about what you say __after__ you say it? Well don't,_" it continued, "_Because it's the only reason I can even communicate with you!_"

"Ack- Got it, got it," he said quickly, ducking under the words as he winced. "I won' argue..."

"_Good. Now then... Grom what I can tell your memory here in this game, the one you're trapped in,_" it clarified, as though waiting to see if his 'friend' would correct him,_ "Is merely another 'memory' entirely. Though it's certainly not one of this time,_" the spirit added somewhat sourly._ "Hnnn... I wonder..._" Eh..? Wonder what? Katsuya blinked, subconsciously turning back to glance at the stable house before jumping and looking back as the spirit spoke again. "_Go due north,_" it said somewhat quietly, voice sounding tense as it gave the order. "_This storm is likely a representation of whatever is fogging your memory... It shouldn't harm you,_" the ghost continued,_ "Not unless this 'Noa' person is as sadistic as certain other people._"

"Certain others," he asked with a frown, raising his eyebrows as the ghost shook his head in that same back-of-mind vision.

"_Later,_" the spirit muttered, still crossing his arms as it spoke. "_For now, just do as I said; I'll see what I can do to help you from there,_" it continued seriously,_ "But as 'Noa' told you, these are __your__ memories; while I can help with what both our minds experienced, there are certain things that you'll have to figure out on your own._"

Hn! This really was like a video game then! "Got it," he found himself answering, walking forward through the sand and wincing as he passed through the storm unharmed. All that happened was that his vision was blocked, and his legs somewhat burnt from the contact with the ground. "_Man_ I wish I had shoes," he muttered, idly looking down as he continued forward.

"_Hn! Learn to live with it,_" the ghost told him with a smirk, Katsuya rolling his eyes. Of _course_...

In the meantime, he'd be pondering how similar this was to conversations between the two Yugi's to pass the time it would take walking through the desert.

* * *

While Jonouchi Katsuya was traveling through a desert his own mind had locked from him for some reason, others found themselves in stranger situations, situations that most would find themselves barely able to keep track of. It was a bit of a 'gift' he supposed, being able to see and comprehend those very situations all at once. Had this been eight years prior, he'd still be fumbling over the programming of the system entirely, raging over the inability to even re-program the silly loops and 'single options' his father had locked into the reality he was forced to accept. But that was then.

And this was now. And right now, with his eyes closed, he could see many 'realities', each one as 'real' as the last. In the fields and parks of a simple riverside district in Osaka, Shizuka Kawai was watching a younger version of herself bicker with a boy she had met only that day. The two had been forced into partnership as they floated in one of many swan boats, and neither wanted anything to do with their twelve year old counter-parts. In the Grand Canyon of Arizona however, from another memory of a time long before, Anzu Mazaki was walking a path that mirrored the one she had taken as a small and confused child, when her hand had been held by her Grandfather rather than gripping a staff in tense fear from what monsters had been entered to the system.

Further 'away' in terms of memory and distance both however there were Hiroto Honda and Ryuuji Otogi, whose memories had merged to create their next and combined challenge; from Honda's vision of the middle school's 'Kyoto field trip' and temple came the building and location both, and from the depths of Otogi's very own nightmares and childhood stories came the mood and opponents. It would be quite a while before they escaped, from both the building and the monsters that filled their hall... And even then, Honda was not the only one who affected the memory's 'location', with a dark and chilling surprise waiting for them at the end.

But the whereabouts of those people mattered little to him, almost as little as Yugi Mutou awakening at the peak of a waterfall did. All that caught his attention with that particular situation really was the distance between himself and his opponent, the digital form of Oshita's 'Deepsea Warrior' lurking in wait beneath the enlarged shoumyou river's depths. Their fight would be soon, but not just now... He'd watch them when it did.

For now however there were two groups he would keep an eye out for, and two only. Seto Kaiba and _her_ brother would be the the first of course, Noa's mind extending an eye out to watch as the pair trekked through the thick trails of a Mountain they hadn't seen in four years. It was a tall mountain, a well known portion of the alps and known to the world as its tallest point. According to their memories, they had only been there because of a business agreement between their own family's War Arms business and that of the former German Arms and Defenses company known as 'Schroeder Corp'... A company that had been creating weapons and systems since the time when blades were the weapon of choice, a clear reference in their name's meaning.

As to what the pair thought of the location, the reactions couldn't have been more varied. Mokuba had been too young to really remember much, and all he could do was ponder how familiar the terrain was as he and his sister cut through small waves of duel monsters. His reaction to the location was a mix of dull curiosity and indifference, his own drive to move forward increased by the monsters ahead. Seto on the other hand, had only served to become more ruthless in this pursuit the further they went, as though spurred on by a hated memory...

And if he was correct, that memory would do just that, even if it hadn't been the intended memory for them to become entrapped in. There were certain things he wanted them to relive, specific moments... But really, he could deal with that in just another moment. For now however, he paused in his observation of the woman he so hated, of the woman whom he had spent so long detesting for her lies. For now, there was someone more important than even her- and as he turned his eyes back to the deserts of Ancient Egypt, where Katsuya trekked through the desert, Noa found himself frowning in what was, for the first time in a long time, the sensation of confusion. His memories... Even to him they were unknown, a fact that would cause problems within the program. They were scrambled, confusing, and more importantly those of a nut-case. Monsters battling in a blood soaked street, Gods arising from cards... These memories would cause problems he told himself as he opened his eyes, frowning as his plan reformed. Problems he had no time for. Problems he had no _patience_ for.

"A program then," he decided, pushing in through the vulnerable and defenseless memories of the mind he had focused on. "One who knows him," the boy continued, seemingly floating through space as an image came to mind. Humanoid, for familiarity... With key points to make it identifiable as 'inhuman', and as a being under his control. And of course, a few portions would have to allow it access to the rest of the program, that was for sure. There were just a few things he would have to do to make this program- and while he was at it...

Why not make a second? A 'spy' of sorts, something to handle the data that was so scrambled within the human mind. Something to make sure his two most 'prized guests' on the mountain didn't stray from the path, or attempt to break free from the net that was slowly closing in on them. Something to probe their thoughts with more focus and detail while he busied himself with everything else... Yes, he told himself with a smirk, the boy crossing his arms as the plan locked into place. Something that could break even _her_ defenses, finding a weak-point more vulnerable than even her brother! Yes, that was perfect...

And from behind two figures in white appeared from nothingness, neither one any taller than their creator before them. Their outfits almost mirrored that of their creator, but despite the child like appearance their were more bestial traits about them that set them apart. These would work he told himself as he turned. These would work perfectly... "Your names," the boy asked as he looked to the programs, one 'male' in appearance and one 'female'. The two stood with blank expressions in place, eyes glazed and unblinking as their creator gave the command. "What are your names," he repeated, wishing to see just what memories had been used to build the pair to form them.

"Kisara," the first stated, blue eyes somewhat shadowed as she stared toward her 'creator'. The second as well showed no signs of life in that regard, grey eyes appearing almost dead as he gave his own answer to the boy.

"...Seraph."

**

* * *

AN: **Saraph! What are you doing here? ...Evidently being confusing. Very VERY important that you realize now that these are _programs_, and _only_ programs; they aren't going to be channelling any spirits or something weird like that. More importantly, they won't actually look the same; as you can see below, their colouration is mostly white, and while that makes sense in Kisara's case, the reasoning isn't going to be revealed in a long time when it comes to Saraph. Or... 'Seraph', which came from that word.

Now the wings make sense don't they! (Seraph being what certain angels are called... Specifically 'Seraphim'...)

As you can see already, things are going to be very different in the fanfic compared to the anime; with that in mind, expect a battle beneath the waters of a river next chapter, combining the fighting from the fanfic with the cards of canon with Yugi's puzzle and game playing prowess!

Also, you can bet millions that I'll be listening to 'Bossdeath' and the 'Stray Girl in Her Lenses' songs from the vocaloids for most of this arc. Even though the only connection is a video game theme. UM. (Maybe throw in some video game soundtracks...)

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Glad you like the art RandomProjects! There's some more just below in colour if you're interested.

Yessssss… Jou and Noa's encounter was very, _very_ creepy; we'll have to see if it meant something or not though. Not to mention how he'll top it. (Be glad he didn't confront Jou on his 'dreams'. VERY glad.)

OH! Malik killed the doctor because he was there, plain and simple. He was there, he wasn't leaving, he was a problem. As Malik has no qualms in the matter, it was easily done thanks to the Millennium Rod; this is actually why he had not time to kill Rishid in terms of the fanfic; by the time he ensured the doctor was silenced and dying, it was time to duel.

As for why Bakura and Malik (Both being the 'Yami's in this case) duelled, it was out of a deal made between the real Malik (who was possessing Anzu at the time); Malik needed help to get his body back, and Bakura agreed to act as this help, provided he receive the Millennium Rod as a result. So yes… Dark Bakura the entire time, even as he vanished off.

Annnnd… Oooooohhh the more people guess the more I want to reveal… But I can't! ACK.

Actually, the ghost's identity will be revealed fairly shortly compared to everything else, along with a _second_ reveal later on… In other words, we'll figure out his name, but we won't figure out what face goes with the name until later.

OH. That was just me spouting theories. It would probably be a kidnapping deal though, as the Ishtar clan is fairly closed off…

Ooooh, don't get me started on interviews Iona… I got a 'job' of sorts interviewing people for a friend of the families' business, and for some reason no one's showing up. I'm more than glad that this fanfic is a source of cheer though; I know that when I feel particularly down I tend to work on typing the next chapter, or simply plotting out various things that will or won't happen. Not to mention pending doodle comics.

But yes… Many many many disturbing things, though in regards to Malik I think he was just in shock…

Noa will be using _everything_ to his advantage, guarantee it! He's going to be taking advantage of his semi-omnipotency, I can tell you that… Until we really see that happen though, I'll just let you enjoy this chapter- see you soon!

Oooooh yea… The next duel will definitely be a problem CynicalGamer… Particularly the one following; a shadow game _and_ the ability? Someone put him out of his misery!

I'll never stop preening! I am the great peacock (Hen?)- Usagi now! AHAHAHAaaaa wait only the males get the feathers…

I personally have to figure out just _how_ Kaiba will be able to wrap her head around this; the supernatural _really_ tends to screw with her badly!

I'm praying, I'm praying!

And the dub pretty much erased Kaiba's character development from the field completely; he was far more civil by the time Doma and World Prix rolled around, I can tell you that.

Chibis are below~ (Enjoy!)

Hnnn… When you put it like that, I'd have to say the latter, hehehehe… In any case, I'm glad you liked the chapter! As for intentional nightmares, Jonouchi's dream was just that; a dream. While it _will_ tie into the coming chapters in some way, the actual Noa had nothing to do with it.

It was just Jou having an overly creepy dream. With obligatory Yay. Hehehehe.

In any case, I hope all of you enjoyed this chapter!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's wondering... What's Ryuzaki doing in the meantime?

* * *

'Press Start' is obviously just the beginning of the silly game references, but believe me, once I get going on this... You're going to want to beat me with sticks.

* * *

Something I forgot to mention last chapter, but Malik, rather Malik-in-Anzu (that came out weird), sought out Bakura shortly after the issues with Yami Malik began. He gave him the ring back, and, after making a deal, Malik temporarily partnered up with Yami Bakura to challenge Yami Malik to a 'shadow game' with the intent of getting Malik his body back in exchange for the Millennium Rod.

Unfortunately, their bodies were tied to their lifepoints; as each player lost points, portions of their bodies vanished. So, when Bakura lost, he actually _disappeared_ completely. In the original, Bakura remained alive because of the bit of soul he planted in Yugi's puzzle… In this case…

He really _did_ disappear, and getting him back will _not_ be easy! As to where he went, it wasn't the puzzle... But who knows where he is now.

* * *

Ahhhh, Kaiba's billowing coat of amazing… The fact is, so long as Kaiba is moving, that coat isn't defying any gravity laws. Coats really do billow like that; a friend of mine tested it with thief king Bakura's coat.

* * *

A small bit of dialogue changes and such here; two random mooks became the pilot charging out of the ship for one, and scenes with Shizuka being nervous and frightened were altered to fit the fanfic's version. Shizuka's scared yes, but looking back, I actually wonder if she might have been a bit younger than I thought… Of course, fanfic-Shizuka is quite a bit more tsundere than her canon counterpart, though I suppose anyone would be after spending Middle School with Ryuzaki.

In any case, other, more major changes are on Seto's part; she actually stole one of Yugi's lines in order to question Noa! Mostly because I realized that it wouldn't make sense for Yugi to repeat his line, which had been moved closer to exiting the ship to make sense… Eheeeeee… Also, you think Kaiba's taking this silently? HAH.

* * *

You'd think that Noa's fortress would be dusty, but you're _very_ wrong. The air is filtered completely for one, and since no one's breathing it or walking around, there's no hair, skin, no transferred particles of any sort of material hanging around.

And this means no dust. This also helps to actually enforce the creepiness of the situation; this means nothing _living_ has been hanging around, and for a very long time.

* * *

Originally, we just got a trippy light show and everyone falling into holes for the entry into the Virtual World, with the demo duel dividing those two. However, this obviously makes no sense, and the question remains, _how the hell did everyone get in those pods! _Because seriously, we never found that out! Thus the fanfic version... Combining gas with the fact that Japan's been working on a robot to move hospital patients from bed to bed lately. (Like a forklift! ...For people.)

That would do the trick here I'd think.

* * *

It's important to note that Noa, while having many options on hand, was literally on his last leg with the 'gassing plan'; the fact is after all, he needs to knock out eight people… At once. Thankfully, they're all between twelve and seventeen. Unfortunately, they vary between Mokuba's 4'6'' and Yugi's incomplete height at 4'11'' (He'll be 5'0'' even soon enough) to Seto's _six freaking two_.

Luckily, Fanfic-Seto's a lady, a slim one at that, which means less muscle mass to deal with... So this still works, as she's knocked out just moments after the last few guys, particularly since most of the older ones are sleep deprived already. Gasses like these take different amounts of time to work on different people after all, and often take a minute or so to work (same with tranqs, those can take up to _fifteen minutes_ though.)... More importantly, women and children are out much quicker than men, due to size, resistance, etc...

In any case, why is this so lucky? Because it's quite likely that if it took much longer to take effect, we'd have had two deaths on our hands; too much gas is kinda fatal, and Yugi's not exactly the biggest seventeen year old given that he's only five inches taller than Mokuba... And a skinny one at that.

Now go picture the cast of Yu-Gi-Oh dropping like flies!

* * *

Also, it was originally the big 5 explaining this part (the demo-duel that is), but I liked Noa's take more... Because he's a prick about it. They still got their last word in, as creepy as it was.

As for who the opponent to 'chibi-Seto' was, it was the apprentice from that 'Priests' image I showed you before; originally he didn't get much of a part, but I decided that since he disappears anyways that a childish rivalry is okay. As for his resemblance...

Yes, as a matter of fact, it _is_ a shout-out to Noa; Akhnaden draws a fair number of ties to Gozaburo in terms of 'evil dads' after all. (Ironically, the situation is reversed in Egypt; Set is the real child, and the OC is merely in a son-like situation due to apprenticeship. He disappears just as quickly as Noa though.)

As to why I can say this, it's because it's not a spoiler; just a silly little fact that I doubt would end up revealed in the fanfic for a while.

* * *

You know that whole 'your mind makes it real' thing? Combined with Kaiba's scepticism, things would have been _awesome_… Except that Noa just altered the code so she wouldn't get squashed this one time, and it would have failed horribly if she tried to work by it a second time around… (Kaiba, stop thinking of the VR game you fixed!)

_

* * *

Yes_, Lord of D. is more powerful than that Shogun, and the duel could have ended right there. But Kaiba is Kaiba, even when formed as a copy, and can't help but show off when the opportunity arises. D'OH.

Funny thing; there really are _just enough_ guys for the Big 5 to steal if we think of Noa still hounding Kaiba; Shizuka, Anzu, and FanficKaiba make three girls out of eight people.

Try not to think to hard about who got who, the Big 5 lost in the end.

* * *

For specifics on how _this_ deck master system works... Players have the option of, while dueling, attacking 'directly', using themselves as the weapon. Basically they turn it into a boss fight. However, monsters summoned will try their damnedest to get in the way, and the fact is, the Big 5 are going to be _really_ good at dodging... So while in this case, it's like the deckmaster is always on the field, it's still just as hard to finish a fight like that.

Of course, given that the deckmaster system is how pretty much _all_ of the duels are lost, you can bet this makes for some crazy-awesome fight scenes yet to come.

* * *

Where the heck is Jonouchi? You'll find out… Soon. As for everyone else, Shizuka and Yugi are the only ones whose locations are completely unchanged, albeit with a waterfall being added in Yugi's case. This is partially for the sake of the memory fun, and partially because Seto and Mokuba end up going through _lots_ of memories… And I'm not particularly in the mood to centre on the ones covered completely by Death T... (Though it will largely center on backstory and Gozaburo despite this.)

Anzu's memory is just of a vacation to the USA, specifically the Grand Canyon. More info on her memories when we get to her though, along with everyone else when we hit that…

I _will_ get specific with Yugi's though, as his fight is next. Yugi's currently at the top of Shoumyou Falls, a neighbour to the Hannoki falls, and twin to it. They're the largest waterfalls in Japan (Though Hannoki only has water in april and july, due to the melt of snow from the plateau at Mt. Tate...), and I _think_ the tallest in Asia as well… They're located in Tateyama, a town that is in turn located in Toyama, which is in turn located in the Hokuriku region of Japan. Where does this put it? A fair distance from Tokyo, but really, it's just on the other _horizontal_ side of Japan.

As to the importance of waterfalls for Yugi's fight, _believe me_, you WILL find out in the next chapter. _OH_ you will find out…

* * *

And onto Kaiba's memory... (Kinda.)

'Schroeder', a German name in origin (which makes sense; Siegfried is German after all) originates from the term 'to cut' in the same language. Normally it referred to a family of tailors, but the Schoreder company was explicitly known as a war arms company in the anime.

At least until Siegfried's parents died and he took over. Managing to parallel Kaiba _completely_ until Kaiba finished a deal with Pegasus before he could. Whoops!

Irony? Siegfried is hinted at coming across Solid Vision himself, creating it so his brother could enjoy the game more. In Kaiba's case, due to this being fused with the manga, she created it purely to inflict the same punishment on Yugi that he inflicted on her. So if Yugi hadn't done that...

Would that mean Siegfried invented duel disks? _Weird_ isn't it? So many 'what if's' floating around...

* * *

Kisara and Saraph! _What_? For specifics on their programming, they're both guides; one to make sure Seto does what she's 'supposed' to do (Namely go through memories centred on Gozaburo… Ick…), and the other is both to make sure that neither Noa nor Jonouchi lose the latter in his own memories but to also figure out how that could be possible. Hoorayyyyy… (Basically, his purpose is to get him to Oka, AKA the Lawyer.)

Again, I cannot stress enough, as I did just above, that they're merely programs created from memory fragments; in fact, the 'fragments' are partially why they aren't completely human... Though you get to guess what the heck I'm talking about on that point.

**FanArt And My Art Section**

Psssst... Take out the spaces for your link...

Also I like fanart... If any artists are out there and listening...

Today we have lots of costume-references, along with a single concept sheet. There'll be more 'realistically sized' references as the chapters come and go though, mostly for the deckmaster references.

Concept-Reference: Demo-Duel Deckmaster (Chibi-Seto) – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Blue-EyesExample. jpg - I have to say, never has drawing child-sized fem-Kaiba been so fun. ...Though I do find it a little disturbing at how easy it is. Mrnnnn...

Chibi-Reference: Shizuka & Honda – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ ShizukaHondachibi. jpg - In which we see the Blue Mage Shizuka (who gets to keep her deckmaster after battle) and Gunman Honda (who gets five million designs thanks to the big five. FFFFFF)! Shizuka's staves are unfortunately quite useless at the moment, as they break _really_ easily.

Chibi-Reference: Anzu & Otogi – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ AnzuOtogichibi. jpg - What's with the snake? If you can't guess, you'll probably get it during Anzu's chapter... Anzu by the way is a Black Mage, and the stone in her staff is a Carnelian. Normally this wouldn't have anything to do with her... But it will. Trust me. In any case, Otogi is a 'dancer'. Make fun of dancer's all you want, but he's going to be kicking ass with those daggers...

Chibi-Reference: Jonouchi & Reference: 'SERAPH' – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ JouChibiSaraphProgram. jpg - What's this? Jou's outfit changed? And to those familiar with certain other arcs and characters, that outfit looks oddly familiar too, doesn't it? I wasn't lying when I said there'd be small reveals as the questions were raised guys! In any case, at the side we have 'Seraph' as the program is called; his tan is gone, but that's because the program wasn't created from a memory of Saraph, he was created from a _mix_ of memories in general. Saraph just happened to be the more prevalent one, and thank god for that or we'd have three Yugi's running around.

Reference: 'KISARA' - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ KisaraProgram. jpg - And thus the program that will be stalking Kaiba, meet mini Kisara! Complete with Blue-Eyes parts, to make up for the fact that I pulled her out from a later appearance. Mostly. She'll still show up I think. It's complicated...

Concept: Schroeder Family 4 Years Prior – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ SchrodinerFamily. jpg - In which I replace the guy Gozaburo met at that dinner party with a lady, for both lulz and awesome. (No really, that lady is BADASS)

Hey... It was a two second flashback, I can take creative jumps here! I do admit failure on Sieg's hair though; evidently, I gauged the length wrong, as it was shorter when he and Kaiba met, but oh well. This is from four years prior (Seto was thirteen), not six years (when they met). I figured I mind as well post this now despite those flashbacks not being due to appear until the Grand Prix arc though, as the family was mentioned just above and... Yea.

As a side note, for the fanfic, Schroeder Corp and Kaiba Corp are working in a partnership rather than competing; whereas Gozaburo's company focuses on the offensive dealings, Schroeder Corp will be focusing on defensive and locative systems, meant for precautionary and protective measures, meaning that there's an advantage on working alongside the other. More on that when that arc actually arrives though, along with what that means for the relationship between Sieg and Seto.

* * *

And for now that's all I have for you! As we go, I'll be posting more serious design art for current and future chapters, along with some doodles on the side. I hope you enjoyed the chapter everyone, and until then, I'll see you later!


	85. Chapter 84

**Into the River**

* * *

The path they had been taking for the last hour or so was long and rugged, with bushes and stones littering the way. There were patches of snow lining the sides, and above them the great pines of the forest towered like skyscrapers, blocking out a majority of the sun to give the area a more secluded feel. As with most forests, this one was inhabited, though not by the expected boars and squirrels of the country. Instead she and her brother had found themselves fighting duel monsters, rushing down the trail and occasionally blasting back whatever wave attacked from the trees. Despite the implied and illusionary sense of time that passed, and the heightened strength that allowed them to barrel through what kuriboh and watapon appeared however, she could not help but think back to a time before all of this.

A time in a place not at all unlike this one. Mokuba had asked her if they'd been here before of course, shortly after they'd fallen for the second time, from the 'darkness' they'd landed in. The first time after all there had been nothing to ask about, nothing to question. As they'd fallen from the virtual room she'd held him close for protection, eyes filled with rage for their captors. As she muttered curses in the back of her mind though they'd found themselves landing in mid-air, glowing and almost 'formless' in appearance, just as they had been during the start of the Virtual Reality game they played half a year ago. There had been screens before them once they righted themselves in the darkness... Screens depicting things they hadn't seen for a long time... On Mokuba's there was an impressive series of stats, combined with an image of himself in the same blue coloured ninja-garb he'd worn before. On hers a similar image, albeit instead with her own (unfortunately) red armor.

It was after touching 'start' that they found themselves here in those very clothes however, and while she'd told her brother that it was 'nothing' when he'd asked where they were, and that they needed to press on to find an 'escape', the memories refused to leave her thoughts. It was probably 'Noa's fault she told herself, venting her anger on the nearest weakling of a monster by means of a completely overkill 'FIRE' spell from her sword. The mountain they were on, the one she could remember hiking up during those few summers, skiing on even, before _that_ happened...

Something she wanted to forget. Something that, though already a mere fragment in the back of her mind, carried with it a feeling of nausea and dread. Something bad had happened, and it tied to this memory... But how... How-

"How many of these things are there," her brother shouted from behind, the pair momentarily spinning back-to-back to be rid of the pests swarming them. In spirals of blood and fur both the attacking watapon were dispersed, Mokuba gritting his teeth as a horde of more yellow furred cotton puffs appeared in their place. "They just keep coming!"

Yet another wave of monsters were destroyed, blood staining the snow and sword as Seto spun the blade through still another kuriboh. Tch... This wasn't doing anything..! "We'll just have to burn through them all at once," she snarled, teeth grinding before the screen at her face's side appeared. Throughout the trek up the mountain both siblings had caught sight of this screen; level ups, stat bonuses... Thankfully there were no 'inventory' dealings, which proved that this would take a shorter amount of time than it could. ...Hopefully. A small window opened at the screen, the woman raising her eyebrows as a dark look came over her face. Ahaaaa... Now _this_ would work. "Get down Mokuba," she shouted as she ran through the commands on screen in her mind, the boy doing just that. The monsters around them appeared to converge just ahead of them, gathering into a swarm of white and brown as she took in a deep breath. In... And... Go! "_AERO!_" The wind escaped her lips with enough force to cut down the nearest row of trees as she cast the newly received spell, her brother staring in wide eyed horror as the monsters before them were cut into pixelated light, blood, and bone. The beasts were killed so quickly that there wasn't time to render the damage after all, and as the woman wiped her mouth she slowly helped her brother from the ground. "Hn... That should keep them away for a bit," she muttered, her tone somewhat lighter than normal after the wind-based attack.

The boy merely nodded somewhat nervously, blinking a few times as he looked down the path. Eyes could be seen in the distance, past all the trees... Nothing was approaching just yet, but they were there. "Yea... A _bit_," Mokuba muttered as he caught sight of the beasts, slowly shaking his head before turning back to his sister. "Nee-sama," he asked, the siblings standing in place for the moment as they caught their breath. "How are we going to get out of here anyways? It feels like its been _hours_..." Yes... It _did_ feel like a long time, particularly given the ground they'd covered on the mountain. But if Noa knew as much as he did, that was all fake... It had probably been only as much as ten minutes really, providing plenty of time for whatever plan the boy had in store for them. Even so, Seto found her gaze refusing to soften in regards to the slight relief of pressing time, momentarily closing her eyes as a memory persistently flashed.

'_Come on,_' he was shouting, pulling her forward with a grin. '_Mutti's going to be busy with your father for at least the day,_' he continued as he laughed, Seto rubbing her head as the memory pushed in her mind._ 'We have all the time in the world, lets have some fun for once!_' Damn it... Get out, get OUT! "Ghhh..." Get _OUT!_

"Nee-sama," Mokuba asked hesitantly, tapping his sister's arm. "...Are you alright..?"

Seto steeled herself, shaking her head and looking down as the memory faded. She knew that voice somehow; more importantly, that voice had belonged to someone close... But she didn't want to know who, and in all honesty, she shouldn't care. "I'm fine," she muttered, gaze softening somewhat as her brother stared. "I'm fine... I'm ust thinking about how to get out," the woman continued, taking a few steps forward as she looked toward the distant trail. "The closest thing I can think of likely applies only to the game I'm working on at home though," she growled under her breath, crossing her arms somewhat while keeping a firm grip on her sword. That game... After the 'Legendary Heroes' fiasco, she'd been sorely tempted to scrap the VR project altogether. But the prospect of expanding to something that didn't rely on I2's card industry was too much to pass up, particularly with the possibilities in the software.

Provided she get rid of all the possibilities of fatality. And comas. And so on, so on... "I programmed a specific way to locate an 'exit' after that fiasco in the game," Seto explained as the game's hardware came through her mind, "A 'door'," she added. The pair walked forward somewhat before turning to look back down the mountain, the woman continuing with a slight frown. "...Just a normal door," she repeated almost distantly. They'd almost made it to the peak... Looking back now there was no sign of all the battles they'd participated in, of the monsters they'd encountered. How interesting... Everything here was an illusion, but while she knew this, it was all too easy to forget what was real... Reminding her of the Big-5's own chilling words before Mokuba's voice pulled her from the slowly drifting memories.

"...A door," he asked somewhat plainly. "You mean like that?" The woman turned back at this, eyes widening just briefly as they stared at the oaken door before them. As she had said... An 'ordinary' door...

Just... An ordinary door, with a turn handle, no markings... "_Exactly_ like that," she muttered, narrowing her eyes as she approached the structure to peer around it. There was nothing to be seen on its opposite side, nothing but the other side of the door as it stood on the mountain. "Hn! How convenient," the woman muttered almost bitterly, "I start talking about exits and one appears right before us." It was so obvious a trap she could puke.

And yet there was apparently more to it than that. "I merely assumed it would be the preferable option, as opposed to the others," a somewhat monotone voice stated, the siblings turning with a jolt.

"Gh- Enemy," Mokuba shouted, only to be held back by his sister. The boy swallowed, looking upward as the one before them stared. "I- ...N-Nee-sama?"

Seto didn't answer, instead stepping toward the girl that stood before them with wide eyes. White hair and skin, along with blue eyes, garbed in a skirted version of Noa's own clothing... The girl was likely younger than Noa and Mokuba both, resembling a ten-year old at the oldest with the facial expression of a possibly depressed adult. But that wasn't what caught her attention, despite the oddities of everything else. A tail and wings, small fin-like ears... The white scales of these limbs shimmered in the fake sunlight, creating a slight and subtle sparkle that danced with the trees that blew in the wind. "This..." Pieces of _Blue-Eyes_, tacked onto a girl she had only seen in a nightmarish hallucination, did Noa have any gall at all-!

"Noa-sama did not intend for me to take this form," the girl stated, her observers raising their eyebrows. The girl fell silent just as quickly as she'd spoken up, expression unchanging and undaunted in the face of the two she addressed.

This courage however, was passed off as a 'computer' related detail, and served to only further incense the taller of the pair. "I never said anything," Seto growled, narrowing her eyes as she looked the girl over. This girl... "Who are you anyways," she asked, the child before them holding her arms firmly behind her back as she looked up.

"I am a program," the girl stated flatly. "I am called 'KISARA', after that which was present in the memories which formed my body." Memories? Seto's eyes narrowed somewhat in confusion, the woman listening as the 'program' continued on. "I was created by Noa-sama to guide you to your proper path," 'Kisara' explained, the siblings merely staring in suspicion. "More specifically, I am to create proper paths should you stray off the first." Hang on...

She was supposed to _guide_ them? "Like I'm believing that for even a _moment_," she hissed, narrowing her eyes as the girl turned somewhat to stare. Kisara... She'd heard that name, in that bizarre hallucination on the deck field, seen her face. Seen the white hair, the pale skin, the blue eyes... She'd seen all of it, in that feverish day-dream that defied all logic and all imagination at the same time. It couldn't be real... Yet it couldn't _not_ be real her mind told her, the resulting conflict sending waves of pain through her mind. And now standing before her was something supposedly formed from those 'dreams', something that for some reason she found herself wanting to trust despite better judgement.

She was beginning to hate that side of her. A lot, to say the least. Mokuba slowly stepped off to the side, looking from the door to Kisara before speaking. "You... You said you made that door appear," he asked, pointing toward it as the girl stared.

Kisara briefly looked over Seto in her continually blank stare, before curtly nodding and answering the question. "Correct," she told them, eyes honing in on the door. "I was given the order to guide you toward the proper path of 'memory', that you might find your opponent quickly. As per Noa-sama's request, it will be two-on-one," she continued to explain, "Forming a slight balance in powers." Hn! Slight indeed, they would win by a landslide... And when she got out, she was getting rid of every trace of this idiotic 'VR program'. As Seto turned however the girl went on, tail twitching somewhat as she spoke. "I must warn you," she stated clearly, "Before we find this match location, you must first pass your challenge. You will not get there simply by moving door to door. You much also finish the challenge."

"Challenge," Seto repeated incredulously, gripping her sword tightly as she turned back on the child. "As I recall," she spat, "We were told that we would be dueling and _nothing else_!"

"Indeed; you were told there would be duels to discern your fate," the girl announced, blinking slowly as she stared forward. "However," she continued, "Noa-sama has never said what would occur prior those events. Until you have traveled your 'mind' as long as requested from him," Kisara explained, "You will be unable to meet with your opponent." Wh- They wouldn't even... Well wasn't that typical... "It is your choice of course," the strange 'dragon-girl' told them, eyes flashing for a moment as Seto ground her teeth in rage, "But it would be preferable that you heed by these words." Preferred preferred preferred...

Just say they had no choice already damn it! "Hnp! And I suppose that door will take us to that 'path' and challenge," she growled, pointing back toward the door. "Leading to whatever _else_ your 'master' has in store?

Kisara nodded, bowing her head somewhat as she closed her eyes. "It will. Provided you follow that path, moving from door to door," she added in explanation, "You will complete your quest."

"Is that true," Mokuba asked hesitantly. "It's not a trap," he pressed, Seto merely narrowing her eyes at what was considered a 'stupid question'.

"Of course not," the girl answered, again staring blankly forward. "Noa-sama has great plans for both of you; there are eight people here after all. It would be foolish to assume that he intends to decide on the 'survivors' at random. There will be a process after all." Hang on... _What_..?

"Then why make sure that we come," Seto growled, eyes somewhat wide as she slowly took a fighting crouch. "If he doesn't plan on attacking us, then why involve us in the first place?"

The girl merely continued to stare, eyes unblinking in response to the growing threat. "I never stated that you would both be survivors," Kisara told them, tilting her head. "While it will not be random, it will certainly not be decided just yet, when so many have yet to pass through their challenges. Noa-sama has plans; that is all I am able to reveal. In order to discover these plans," she continued, holding a hand out to the door, "You must complete your journey."

Journey... Seto turned to leer at the door, pulling a face in response as it seemed to give off the air of suspicion and dread. This or nothing. There was no choice then... She detested that fact, but there was no choice. "Fine... Mokuba," she said almost quietly, the boy running behind her as she grabbed the door and pushed it inward. "Let's go."

"Ah... Right!"

* * *

The trail he'd woken up on was a familiar one, at least it was to him. It was laden with flattened and somewhat damp ground, lined with grasses and stones as the sounds of a waterfall echoed slightly to the distance. Above him, trees at varying heights had grown, somewhat blanketing the sky above in green as he traveled. He'd been walking only a short while through that forest it seemed; it was as though he'd lost all sense of time, and despite the urgency of the situation he couldn't help feel calm and at peace with the area. Perhaps it was his other self's presence that helped though... Even without the puzzle after all, he was still there, ever present and ever cautiously curious in the back of his mind.

"_Where is this exactly,_" he asked, only barely able to see through his hosts's eyes. It was strange, being unable to see his other half again, but he supposed it made sense. How could a ghost project themselves into a videogame after all he asked himself. He hadn't been able to last time... It would be foolish to expect him to now.

These thoughts however would have to wait, and with that in mind he pressed forward. "This place... They're the trails of Shomyo river, on Mount Tate," the boy responded, looking around as he held his three-bladed 'boomerang' at the ready. "I came here a long time ago," he continued somewhat nostalgicly, "Back when my father was home more often... Before he was promoted," Yugi went on, "And my mother and I had to move in with Grandpa. We'd come here to see the falls," he continued, eyes slightly distant as he walked quietly. "The twin falls of the Migadahara plataeu... 'Hannoki' and 'Shomyo'."

His other paused for a moment, as though nodding in understanding. "_...I see,_" the spirit muttered after a moment._ "...It sounds like those were happy memories,_" he finally said after a few more pauses, sounding almost depressed about the fact from where his mind resided.

"They were," he said somewhat plainly. The boy smiled somewhat as the memory became clearer, before briefly closing his eyes in thought. "But you know... I'm not upset about what happened," Yugi told his other, walking onward through the path as quiet birds chirped in the distance. "If none of that happened," he continued as the smile grew, "I'd have never found this puzzle... And even with all that happened as a result," he stated plainly, "I'll always be glad that I met you, 'Other Me'."

The spirit seemed to be rather caught off guard by the statement, a wave of what was probably nervousness rushing out abruptly. "_..N...Nn... Of course..._" Hahaha...

He still didn't feel better. Yugi smiled somewhat sadly, pausing in his trek to stare at the sky. He didn't tend to drop things like that easily... His 'other' was strong yes, but he was easilly guilted when it came to himself, and his friends. They both had their sore points really... And in this case, they probably shared. "...Where are we 'really'," he found himself asking after a few more moments in silence, expression falling somewhat more into depression as the subject was changed. The last thing he remembered, after the gas knocked them out, was shouting at the Big five... They'd taken Anzu after Jonouchi, followed by Shizuka, Honda, Otogi, each calling out each other's name, each ignoring the first 'slip' Kaiba herself had made earlier on... And when they'd all fallen she'd seen no use in hiding her voice any more, simply turning on the looming shadows in rage. '_You SCUM,_' Kaiba had roared, voice sounding oddly more powerful in its natural form than its disguised tones. '_You pathetic SCUM!_' Mokuba had run toward the woman at that... He'd realized they were likely next, and didn't want to be separated. But as he ran the hole opened below the pair, the boy falling forward with a panicked shout. '_N-Nee-sama!'_ '_Gh- No!_'

And they were gone... But more importantly...

He was alone. '_What do you want with us,_' he'd asked them in his final moments, watching as shadows danced and cackled before him. '_What do you want?_'

'_We already told you that,_' they'd sneered, the boy's eyes widening in response. And then he'd fallen... Fallen into a dark realm, with nothing but a screen to show for it. A screen identical to that of the 'stat window' from the Virtual game they'd played in before, with the black leather gauntlets and oil-stained shirt staring back. And after touching that screen, falling through the darkness with a shout... He'd appeared here on the grounds of Mount Tate, within his own fond memories. Yugi found himself narrowing his eyes in thought as he recounted all of this briefly, the boy only loosely holding his weapon now. Where... Where could they be, 'really' he wondered before finally speaking. _Where_... "...Other me," he called out, the spirit's presence already accounted for at the back of his mind. "Do you think... Do you think you could try seeing where our body is," he asked, lowering his head to stare forward

"_Our body,_" the ghost repeated, likely crossing his arms at the moment in his confusion.

"Yea; we've managed to extend the distance by a lot haven't we," he added, a small smile on his face. "I mean... There's Kaiba-san's airship for one," the boy began, quite vividly recalling the sudden vertigo he'd felt as a result of his 'other' opting to attempt the 'air-ship loop' regardless of warning. "And there's also a few of the skyscrapers along our bus route..." In fact, they'd been utilizing the latter quite a lot since then; being able to scout for the bus was a useful trait, and meant that he'd been able to get more things done while they switched back and forth to check. They could probably visit Jonouchi at separate times as a result even; though given all that was going on, it would probably be best to hold that back. Besides; what was important now was this. "I suppose what I'm trying to say... Is that if we can manage that," he stated with a swallow, "Then maybe..."

"_Hnn..._" The other Yugi seemed to frown with consideration, before slowly nodding._ "Well, in theory we wouldn't need to get too far from our body so... ...I suppose I'll try,_" he decided, presence fading from the back of his mind a moment. "_I'll be right back._" Phew... Okay then.

'Trying' was really all he could ask for after all, so really, that was perfectly fine by him. Yugi began to walk yet again, passing a few trees as he waited for his response. There wasn't much else to see on the trail... The sound of the falls was growing louder, and with a sudden jolt there was again another self in the back of his mind. "Ah-! That was quick," he announced alarmingly, blinking his confusion off as his other self 'nodded'. "How come..."

"_That... Well, while we have admittedly improved our 'extension',_" the spirit admitted, "_It would seem it doesn't help here. Unfortunately you see, I was only able to make it an inch from the body; and I don't mean by sitting out of it either,_" he continued with a frown._ "I literally mean 'an inch', if not an actual 'centimetre'; I was effectively a mirror of our body,_" the boy explained, arms crossed in annoyance,_ "And even then, I was only there a few moments before becoming locked within the confines of my soul-room._"

Locked- "You were locked in," he repeated, eyes wide. Within his own _soul_? But why would that...

"_That's right,_" his other responded, shaking his head._ "I did catch a glimpse of the real world of course, but I doubt it's useful,_" he continued with a sigh._ "All I could see were the insides of the last VR pod we were in, and through the glass, a metal ceiling... Nothing to identify the location at all,_" the boy muttered, quite clearly upset about not proving more useful after all the practice they had done.

"Hnn... At least we know we're in the Virtual World," he muttered, shaking his head as the pair continued on. "With how real all of this is," the boy continued with a sigh, "It's easy to forget... Or at least not realize that this isn't 'magic' of some sort, like Dark Bakura's game board..."

The other Yugi again seemed to nod, frowning as he skipped over the latter topic. "_Yes... Well, with science and magic as advanced as they are now,_" he explained somewhat wisely,_ "It's a little difficult to decide which has a tighter hold on reality now..._" That was true... Magic was a 'hidden' art now, feared and considered myth. But while science and technology had their pluses, the majority of their 'adventures' hinged on it anyways._ "...Still... The question is,_" the other Yugi muttered, "_Is how did Noa obtain these pods..?_"

Ah- Yugi blinked, frowning somewhat. That _was_ a good question. Kaiba had looked as though she planned to destroy all the devices piece by piece before she kept them, but for the moment he wasn't sure that was the answer. Instead, as he turned the corner to change the subject, he found himself freezing and staring with wide eyes. "Ah... The river..."

His other was well stared, taking advantage of their somewhat shared sensations in confusion. "_...I wasn't aware Japan had such large rivers,_" the spirit of the puzzle commented, Yugi merely blinking slowly as he pieced together an answer.

"I... We don't," he responded, stepping toward the side of the bank. The river they stood before was enormous in size, the falls that it created roaring with enough force to rival niagara. It was more than evident that these falls were neither Hannoki or Shomyo but..."It must have been enlarged by the game..." Increased in size by Noa's hands, length, depth, power... "But why," he found himself asking, traveling along the sides with a frown. "I mean... Even the trails are different, I shouldn't be able to get this close..."

"_Not to mention __that__,_" his other stated as they turned, looking down the river with near identical frowns. ...Yes... Yes, there was 'that' too he told himself, swallowing as he came to the edge of the falls. Standing about ten feet from him, and another five from the falls edge themselves after all, were a series of ropes. The ropes each streamed to the middle point between himself and the falls to embed themselves in the ground and river both, each one pulled taught and strung with an alarming amount of protective seals. At the center of these ropes, each one about as thick as two of his fingers held together in the meantime, was an enormous spear, greenish in hue and bladed on both ends. "..._Just what __is__ that,_" his other asked, Yugi stepping forward to look at the ropes and weapon with a frown.

"I looks almost like a 'sealed object'," he stated after a moment, "Like in video games and myths... Normally I would say it's better to avoid them," he added, pulling one of the ropes somewhat close before releasing it with a twang, "But in games, often the stupidest idea is the only right way forward..."

"_Even if it involves unleashing great evil then,_" the 'Other' questioned, Yugi looking back at the spear.

"Pretty much," he said with a laugh, scratching his head. "I guess that without chaos, there isn't much of an adventure. In any case..." The boy pulled at the rope, before raising the boomerang up in his hands and tearing it through the string swiftly. The rope fell limp into the water with ease, and though an odd breeze passed by them about that moment, it seemed as though the tear had effected nothing. Yugi looked around in silence for a few moments in case there was more, eventually squashing back the unease and continuing on. "We mind as well cut these ropes down," he decided, moving onto the next one before habitually turning 'back' to where he'd come from. "After all," the boy began, "We-"

"_Erm... Aibou,_" his other asked, giving a slight cough. "_Didn't you cut that one..?_"

The boy blinked, looking back at the rope he'd cut just previously only to jump. It had seemingly repaired, fibers rewinding into the charmed rope he'd seen before and each thread appearing as dry as it had been to start. "It... It repaired," he shouted in alarm, stepping back from the shore somewhat as he stared.

"_And not just that one either,_" the spirit muttered, Yugi looking back at the second one he'd just recently cut. It too had woven itself back into place, leaving the sealed spear as intact as he found it and pulsing just as dangerously. "_It looks as though we'll have to cut it down all at once,_" he continued, looking to the spear in suspicion. Hnnn...

It seemed so... Yugi nodded, stepping back somewhat as he unfolded his boomerang with a swallow. "Well... This should work then," he decided, pulling it back for a throw. "I just hope this doesn't end too badly," he shouted. "Here goes... Other Me, wish me luck!" The blade was tossed forward in an instant, Yugi watching as it tore through and carried with it the first few strings and moved on. He hoped this worked...

"_As do I,_" his other self muttered, both boys staring as the weapon tore along its path. "_Just remember that I'll be ready to help when needed,_" he added, lighter half nodding in response. Five ropes left about the spear, and the boomerang was heading back... Four... Three... Two... "_Ghn!_"

With the destruction of the last rope the strings seemed to swirl, water converging and rippling beneath the hovering spear in a small torrent of water. An old man's chuckling filled the air, and in a spray of water a green scaled hand tore upward to grab at the weapon in a tight grip. The strings attached whirled into one cord, twisting and pulling back on the weapon they held... They each wrapped about the handle of the boomerang and pulled it back to a folded position with a single smooth clack, the monster who'd caught it pulling it back with ease as he arose from the river's water to stand atop it with a smirk. "Heh! And so our battle begins," the monster cackled, bringing the cords to his teeth before ripping through with shark-like ferocity. With one quick toss the boomerang was thrown over the edge of the falls, Yugi swallowing in unease and fear both as he was disarmed. "Hnhnhahaha... As a loyal employee to Kaiba-Corp," the man explained darkly, "I merged with and bought out numerous others, using skill and abilities that none could contest with... I did my duties well, I did them in the name of the company, and I WILL do so once again! Mutou Yugi," he roared over the sound of the falls, the boy swallowing as he realized just how much of a disadvantage he was at now. "I am the one formerly known as Oshita Konosuke... And I will be your opponent!"

Ah... Ahh..! This was one of the Big 5..! "You... But you're a _duel monster,_" he whispered in alarm, staring as the 'Deepsea Warrior' hovered above the river. "Why would you..."

"Hn! '_Observant_' of you," Oshita snorted, gripping his spear tightly as he entered a psuedo fighting stance. "This monster you see here is my 'deck master'... As one without a body it has nothing to assimilate with," he explained, "Leaving its skills and its powers as my own. I lost _my_ body," the old man snarled, again revealing shark-like teeth behind the curved black visor he wore. "This is all I have left... But soon enough I'll reduce you to the same state," he spat, "Taking yours as my own to return to the real world... The youth I'll experience again... This 'second life' I'll have," the man continued with a grin. "I think I'll quite like it, even _with_ such a ridiculous appearance," he chuckled, Yugi tensing as the laughter echoed about the arena. Gh- Ridiculous? Just what was it that was so wrong about his hair! "Do you know what's even better though," Oshita announced, twirling the spear in his hands. "Soon enough, four others of your comrades will be host to _mine_... We'll all be 'young' again," he went on with a laugh, "All of us, all while exacting our vengeance simultaneously! Incredible! HnHaHAHA!" Gh...

"_Not good,_" his other whispered, Yugi swallowing as he stepped back from the river's edge. "_We barely know how this game works,_" he went on darkly,_ "But if they've split us up like this they'll target the weak duelists first... Especially if this game still compensates for physical ability,_" he continued, his friend growing pale. Gh...

"Then, Mokuba, Anzu, and Honda... All the others," he continued, narrowing his eyes as the words sank in.

The boy's other self tensed, nodding somewhat as he growled. "_We have no choice,_" he muttered, staring at their opponent through his partner's eyes._ "We'll just have to beat this man down and follow whatever path that takes us on until we find them again!_"

"Right!" No choice... They had to fight! "I might not like this," he muttered, before taking a somewhat defensive stance from the shore, "But we don't have much choice... Are you ready other me," he asked, pulling up as much of the martial arts from his PE class as he could to his mind while taking the stance.

"_I am... Are you sure you wish to do this fight yourself,_" the spirit added worriedly, his partner nodding almost fiercely.

"Of course; you've duelled enough for today," he continued, subconsciously glancing to the side his partner would ordinarily stand. "Take a rest, alright?"

The spirit seemed to give off a strong feeling of unease at that, nonetheless nodding in response. "..._Alright._"

As the spirit's presence vanished from his mind Oshita seemed to stare, a grin coming over what little of his face the boy could see. "Well well," the old man sneered, voice contrasting the slim form of the scaled warrior considerably as he spoke. "So it will be the 'Type A' Yugi that I fight then," he asked, his opponent narrowing his eyes with a combined look of slight fear. "Hn! Before we start," the man continued, "You're required to create your deck... You might not use it against smaller monsters," Oshita growled, "But this will be more than a 'fight'! It will be a battle of strategy," he roared, "And one that requires far more than sword play! For you especially, these duels are mandatory!"

"Gh..." The boy continued to tense, gritting his teeth as he looked toward the warrior. "How do you even know about the other me," he shouted, not shifting from his stance as he held a hand out in a weak pose. "'Type A' me... That's what you're referring to isn't it?"

The warrior continued to smirk vilely from across him, chuckling at the question. "Who else could it possibly be," he shouted with a grin, eyes unseen from beneath the visor. "It would be foolish to enter a battle without researching my opponent wouldn't you think? _'Know all and win all'_, as I like to say! Now," he continued, waving the spear as an enormous and dome-like screen appeared around the boy. Various lights seemed to shimmer about him, filling the boy's vision as Oshita's voice bounced across it. "Choose your cards and deckmaster... And keep in mind that without your weapon," he laughed, "You'll be relying completely on your cards, and nothing else!" Ngh...

Damn it... Yugi swallowed from behind the screen, watching as various cards hovered around him. These cards... Old and new they were all the cards in existence with the exclusion of the Gods. From Kuriboh to the Dark Magician of Chaos, to the more recent 'White Horn Dragon'... He should probably make something similar to his old deck then he told himself, but in addition to that...

Some of these cards were ones he and his other Yugi had been looking at before, at the large department store's card section. Ones they had planned to save for, and add to their deck... Perhaps, he told himself, if they added those... The boy found himself tapping at the cards, each one slowly vanishing from sight to reveal holes in the dome. With each card the hole's grew. They created a stained glass mosaic of sorts, shimmering light reflecting about him. In the end, with a strange 'speckled' cage around him he nodded his head, swallowing back the wave of unease he felt in lieu of beginning the fight. "Alright... I've completed my deck," he shouted, the 'cage' vanishing in response.

"Good," Oshita announced, appearing oddly patient when it came to the time it had taken. "And your deck master..?"

Ahh... The monsters of his deck hovered before him on screens, the boy frowning in response. Right, he told himself, deck masters... They were supposed to 'fuse' with one of the monsters. Well... He knew he had to pick one of course, but he didn't have much time to really decide now. There was Kuriboh, Dark Magician, Baphomet... Watapon, Curse of Dragon... There were so many monsters he told himself, but how was he supposed to know their ability..?

"_Perhaps we should go with something familiar,_" his other whispered, Yugi staring at the cards as his eyes were briefly drawn to the first few he'd spotted. "_The Dark Magician maybe?_" Maybe... The boy stared at the Magician in question, frowning somewhat. But... For some reason, that one didn't seem right for this match...

Instead... "I choose... Kuriboh," Yugi announced, both his other self and his opponent jumping as the screen vanished. Briefly the form of the monster appeared before him, a loud '_kurii!_' squealing through the air before it vanished into light. Around his arms and shins came furred gauntlets and grieves, each tipped with golden claws as the light spread. The boy's hair became more wild, even 'brownish' in appearance, almost similar to his other's own as his eyes as well gained an odd sheen to them. The vest became furred, nails sharpened, goggles appeared over his brow... Pupils even became slit, his vision seeming to increase in ability as he looked forward...

Despite this however he couldn't help but feel somewhat weaker, the boy unconsciously rubbing at his shoulder as his opponent stared. "Ku... Kuriboh," Oshita shouted incredulously, before bursting into laughter. "HAHAHAHA! AHAAAA! Well now," the man howled loudly, "It looks like this battle will be easier than I thought! It's true that '_the weapon is only as good as the wielder_'," he continued with a laugh, "But even those rules have limits! I don't even need to use this spear to defeat you," the man snarled, grin growing with ferocity as he gestured toward it. "I'll simply summon an army and watch as you destroy yourself!" What? Destroy _himself_? Yugi frowned, before swallowing as his opponent continued on with a sneer. "Of course... You'd have to reach me first to lay any form of damage," he was saying with a grin, both of the Yugis narrowing their eyes with the knowledge. "And with your weapon gone, that will prove difficult, won't it..?" Gh..! So then getting rid of the boomerang had been part of some sort of plan..! "Hnhnhnhnhn... Here... I'll set a monster in defense," he announced, rippling appearing beneath the waves as the beast's card shimmered beneath the surface. "Who knows what it'll be... But if you attempt even the slightest move against me," the warrior warned with a smirk, "This shield will take the blow."

Hng... Perhaps... But there had to be more. More to this move, more to why Oshita was going through with the duel rather than trying to fight. This was a completely basic move, a simple stall strategy... A monster in defense to be cautious. So why did he feel 'off'... Uneasy? "Hng... Draw," he shouted, moving about the shore of the river in slow and pacing motions as he kept his eye on the ripples. All questions aside, he needed to get rid of that monster if he was going to get his weapon back from over the falls; Shomyo was 'three tier' after all, so there was a chance it landed partway down the cliff... More importantly, he needed to be as ready to bolt as possible, ready to jump for an opening to the falls, to jump away from an attack...

He needed 'help'. Six cards were embedded into his mind, six cards that he knew were in his 'hand' despite both being empty as he stared toward his opponent. Monsters, spells, traps... "I summon the Retrained Elf Swordsman," he cried, throwing his hand forward abruptly. Sparks of electricity seemed to fly from the hand, forming a screen before cracking into a shower of pixels. The pixels converged... Folded into each other, forming armor and cloth, and as the warrior swung his sword forward its summoner pointed the elf toward his opponent. "I might not be able to reach you," Yugi announced with a frown, "But I know that he can! **ATTACK**," he announced, the elf charging forward with a nod.

Though unable to walk across the water as their opponent could, the retrained elf was certainly agile enough to complete his task. Leaping into the air he dove toward the rippling location on the water, sword spearing the card it hid completely. Water burst from the glass-like card, the swordsman hurriedly pushing off from the bird-like creature that surfaced before he was taken below with it. The water was dyed red as the bird's corpse floated... But within seconds it was taken by the river's current, the water cleared of the blood and again smooth save for the torrent beneath the 'Deep Sea Warrior'. 'Ashinigray'... That was a fairly weak monster though he told himself, so why did Oshita summon- "Heh!" A short laugh came from across the boy, Yugi and his swordsman both narrowing their eyes in suspicion. "Ashinigray's effect activates," Oshita shouted, pointing forward with a grin. "When flip-summoned in any manner, the player must discard one card," he continued, the boy across him jumping as his 'hand' appeared before him.

"Ack-" The screen flashed intermittently, an odd light glowing near the bottom of the five cards sitting in view. 'Choose 1 Card' the menu stated, voice almost monotone in the usual 'female' computer voice. Choose one card... "...This one then," he decided as he tapped the screen, the 'Exchange' card vanishing from sight before his 'hand' returned to the back of his mind. He didn't think there would be anything in Oshita's hand to help really but...

At this Oshita continued to grin, crossing his arms while his opponent frowned. "Hehehehehe... In that case," the man stated with a smirk, "Allow me to continue my move; when Ashinigray is _destroyed_," he explained, a shimmering 'glass' pane again appearing beneath the water, "I am also allowed to special summon another in face-down defense mode... And since it's now my turn," the man continued, baring his shark-like teeth to his opponent, "I'll not only flip-summon him to discard another of your cards, but I'll summon a second monster, Ipiria, whose own effect allows me to draw yet another card!" Tch... Yugi continued to grimace as the two monsters both rose from the river, the 'ashinigray' flapping above and the lizard 'Ipiria' merely content to poke his eyes atop the water. "Don't feel so bad," Oshita was announcing, opponent biting his lip as he tossed away 'De-Spell' from the menu that appeared. "After all," he continued, "It's only natural I should gain the upper hand... An Italian and political mind of the Renaissance once said after all, that '_there are three specific conditions for success. First, seize chance,_'" he began, gesturing to the field with a dark gaze. "_The second_," he went on in continued gesture, "_Utilize the abilities at hand_... As for the third... Well..."

The man trailed off, leaving Yugi to stare at both the Ashinigray and bearded Ipiria as the two returned the gaze with wide and bulging eyes. Ashinigray was in 'defense mode' of course... It was hovering near its master, ready to take an attack should anything happen. Ipiria however was swimming through the river, lips peeling back to reveal retractable teeth as Yugi grew pale. He had no weapons... The elf could easily take it out for him, but if that lizard moved as quick on land as it did in the water... '_End turn,_' Oshita had called out, a card abruptly appearing in Yugi's mind for his draw. Ah... Baphomet...

Wait... The boy's eyes widened as he looked over his hand, before a small and fairly 'other Yugi'-esque smirk came over his face. Of course! In the last turn he didn't have monsters that could make it further than a few feet from shore... But if he used something like this, he could easily get to the falls, and at the same time take out a large number of Oshita's life points! "I play the spell polymerization," he announced, raising his hands and charging forward as the spiral appeared behind him. "Summoning two monsters from my hand in the form of Chimera the Flying Mythical Beast," he roared, both Baphomet and Gazelle vanishing from his mind as sparks flew and scattered from the spiral. The boy leaped into the air as the monster formed, gripping the horns of one of the heads as the monster continued to charge. "And now," he continued, Chimera taking to the skies by a considerable amount as 'Ipira' attempted to attack, "Activating the spell Quick Attack," the boy roared, "He makes his move! Attack Ipiria," he commanded, the monster diving forward as Yugi swallowed. "And while I do that..." Carefully and nervously he stood on the monster's back, coming closer and closer toward the ground. Two seconds left... One... Pushing off from the lion's head as it came near to the ground he dove forward, easily passing over his opponent with outstretched arms. The falls were just behind his opponent after all... And if he made it there while Chimera distracted him, and if he was able to retrieve his boomerang...

But as he fell toward the edge of the falls a wave of water struck him from behind, knocking him off course and forcing him to grab at the cliff. Hands flailed, and from above a sword fell toward him... And as he looked up, grabbing the sword and falling back, he could see the water destroy the elf completely. "Activate my effect," Oshita had roared, his opponent barely managing to catch the cliff with the swords as it sparked and skidded down the side. "By sacrificing two of my monsters," he continued, voice drowned out by the sound of falling water and scraping stone, "All battle damage is reflected on the opponent!" Gh... Water burns seared through his back in response to the attack dealt, Yugi weakly attempting to pull himself up and loosen the sword from the cliff wall. The elf... It wasn't dead yet... It was in this blade, he told himself, in the sword...

He could _feel _it, even from in a computer... "Gh..." He just needed to get the blade out, and get to solid ground... "Ngh..." Just... Needed to get himself out he told himself, weakly pulling his arms over the flat of the blade. Just...

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Uh-oh... "Attempting to _run_," a voice hissed, Yugi turning to the side to pale considerably as his eyes met with the source. 'Standing' in the middle of the waterfall his opponent leered, nasty grin permanently placed on his face as he raised his spear. The waters had converged around him completely, enveloping him to his waist to make it appear as though he had simply risen from the stone itself. Amid this however, nothing was more terrifying than the detail of the sharks teeth he could see in the man's mouth. "Perhaps you should have studied great thinkers as I had..! The third condition for success is this after all," he shouted with a grin, adjusting his spear and hurling it forward with a cackle. "_Tempting the enemy into their own destruction_!"

H-HAH! Without another thought the boy somehow swung himself up on the sword, the spear passing beneath him as he looked toward his opponent. Wobbly feet stood on the blade, Yugi quickly spotting a bit of cliff wall to grab on in his panic. "Ngh... That may be true," he managed to shout, moving his grip to the cliff as he forced his blade out from the stone, "But that doesn't mean I'm giving in..! You don't have any monsters to defend you anymore," he continued, holding the blade forward and kicking off from the cliff's wall to run along the rocks. "Which means I... Rather, the Elf Swordsman," he roared determinedly, "Can attack directly!"

The grin fell immediately as he charged forward, Oshita left without even a weapon to block the strike. "Gh- The elf..!" The monster stumbled back as Yugi brought the sword down on his opponent, before a vicious grin appeared over the warrior's face. From the seas rose another monster to come between the two, a strange and haired lizard gripping the sword in his hands. He should have fallen by now... One would think that the monster's hands would be bleeding at least, but instead Yugi found himself screaming as he was thrown back by the sword itself.

"H-Hhah..! HHHAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Falling, falling, falling..! Fingers and sword both scrambled at the sides of the cliff as he fell, before finally the boy skidded to a stop. His sword was dangling almost loosely in his 'free' hand as the stones dug into the sliced and torn tips of his other, the boy staring at his hand in fear. Blood spilt freely over the rocks and slowly dripped down, with Yugi looking down at the extended length of the falls with a swallow. "Gh... Not good..." The falls had already been 350 meters tall... Did it have to be taller?

"It's my turn again," Oshita sneered from his position, looking over the blood that Yugi's attack had spilt on his own form. "As you can see," he shouted clearly, ignoring the gaping wound on his chest, "By taking over 1000 points of damage from that attack, I was able to special summon this monster to my side; Ruklamba," he announced, the lizard grinning from its master's side, "The Spirit King! More importantly," Oshita continued loudly, "For my turn, I summon another monster, 'Yowie', in attack mode!" A second lizard poked its head from the river's water's, six insect like legs taking grip on the nearby stones. "Yowie also has an effect," its master announced, Yugi swallowing from where he gripped the wall. "Preventing you from taking your draw next turn... Moreover, by sacrificing 800 of my lifepoints," the man explained coldly, "I can activate Pre-Mature Burial, bringing Ipiria back from the dead in attack mode!" One, two, three... Yugi's eyes widened briefly, the boy shrinking back as much as he could while hanging from a cliff. S...So many...

"You... You..." The boy squeezed his eyes shut, gritting his teeth as a powerful wave of fear came over him. "All you do is defend..! You never attack! How can you win like that," he asked, shaking his head as the monsters began creeping toward him from the falls. "How!"

"It's quite easy," Oshita muttered with a smirk, the warrior as well beginning to rise from the fall's side. "After all, a defense is the strongest way to fight off an attack... But to maintain such a defense at all times, 'it's too troublesome', or so people say... And so few know of the true power behind it," he explained darkly, "Of the power they so misunderstand... But you," he continued, sneering as his army stood around him. "You'll understand soon enough," he chuckled, opponent swallowing in unease. "Perhaps now you're still unsure... Still under the naive belief that you'll escape this place and that you'll win," Oshita continued, his opponent continuing to flush and pale as he struggled to hold his slipping grip. "But those are childish thoughts, from a childish boy with nothing on his mind but games and toys! And it is thoughts such as that which will bring your end," he roared, "Which will allow me to win! So what's _wrong_," he called out, holding his hands out toward the boy with a grin. "Are you frozen with fear..? Or are you simply quaking under the truth? You should never have come here, and you should have known that long ago! Because this domain... This is the realm of 'warriors', such as your 'Type B' self," the man sneered, Yugi bowing his head as tears began to fall. "Not for 'children'..."

Gh... Ghn... "Stop..." His hand was on fire... If he tightened his grip it hurt even more, but if he loosened it the blood would make him slip. "...Stop..." There were so many monsters across from him, so many who could attack while he was in this prone position. And if he attacked, he didn't know what would happen as a result, with nothing but the Elf Swordsman's blade in his hand and Chimera looming above. He didn't know if Chimera could catch something under the water... Didn't know if he'd move in time. So... So... He...

"_Aibou,_" a calm voice whispered, the boy looking up with a jolt. "_Calm yourself,_" the spirit of his other half continued, his 'light' sniffing somewhat as he bit back the pain._ "I believe in you and your choices this fight... And that's all that matters, isn't it?_"

"Other me..." All that mattered... As he continued to stare he realized why he'd been able to grip the ledge, the second tier of the falls meeting his eyes. This... "...Right," he said clearly, steeling himself with a swallow. With shaking limbs he pulled himself up, adjusting his grip on the sword and looking toward his opponent. "In that case... Even with all these monsters there," he roared, hopping along the various foot holds of the waterfall as he somehow ran along the sides, "I'll still attack! HaaaaaAAAAAAHHH!" Wait...

Wasn't he forgetting something? "Heh!" Yugi's opponent snorted as he came near, two of the monsters guarding him now appearing translucent and aqueous in form. "My effect activates," the monster announced, arms still crossed as Yugi was charged by the water-like beasts, "_**REFLECTOR HOLE!**_"

"Gh- GHNAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Torrents of water burst from the monsters, sending him back in a wave of pain. "GRNAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Friction burns scattered his front... And as he hit the water, plummeting toward the bottom, it only increased tenfold. Water... He was underwater... The boy's eyes widened as he pushed past the pain, grabbing at his throat as he attempted to swim upward. "Mmm... Mmmngg..! MMMN!" Drowning... He was going to drown here..! "MMNNGGGH!" He was under water, if he tried to breath, if he couldn't breath, he'd- "MngG... GhaaaaAAH!" He'd... "Hah... ...Hah... ...Hah..." Yugi's chest raised and lowered as he again sank beneath the large 'bowl' at the bottom of the falls, swallowing painfully as he brought a hand to his throat. Impossible... He could... "I... I can breath," he whispered questioningly, slowly blinking as he sat up. Roars sounded from above, the noise faded and almost more of a dull whisper... Chimera couldn't enter the river or go underwater of course, but even if he could, Yugi wouldn't have seen him, let alone heard him clearly. The water was too murky... Too clouded to see beyond the first foot or so of his blade, which was laying beside him as he grabbed at the hilt.

Dark... Despite the light illuminating the 'smog' around him, it was so _dark_... A rush of water passed from behind, the boy swiftly turning with his blade at the ready. Nothing was there... He couldn't see, it was just nothing but brown-yellow all around, but even so he knew that something that was 'there' no longer was. Another rush of water from behind, and again he turned, looking around with wide and panicked eyes as the process repeated about itself. '_How does it feel,_' Oshita was muttering, voice distorted and echoed by the waters around him as he turned. '_The damage dealt by your own hand..? You won't last much longer,_' the warrior chuckled, sound echoing painfully around the boy. '_Not after that..._'

"Gh... Show yourself," he shouted, eyes wide with fear. "Where are you!"

'_Poor little 'Yugi'... Almost out of highschool and he looks the same age as his friend's little brother!_' Gh- He didn't look-_ 'So __weak__... You're __NOTHING__,_' Oshita spat, '_Nothing but a weak little boy hiding behind his shadow!_' Shad-

"Stop that," he shouted with grit teeth, turning to where the voice had come from again to find nothing. "_Stop_!"

'_Are you afraid,_' the opponent asked, Yugi shuddering as he backed away from the 'source'. '_Are you scared? Of losing, of dying perhapse? Don't be... You should have seen it coming after all,_' he chuckled, his opponent breathing laboringly as he searched for the fish-man. '_As a General of Prussia once said,_' Oshita growled, '_The master of loss knows well when he's lost again, before the battle has even begun..._'

"Gh... You..." 'Master of loss'? He wouldn't lose! He wasn't...

But he couldn't see... He couldn't attack, he couldn't see, he couldn't do anything, and if Oshita took him out now..!

"_Aibou,_" his other half whispered quickly, snapping the boy from his panicked stupor. "_The goggles..!_" The goggles? But they were probably filled with water and if that was the case how were they going to wor- "_Do it anyways,_" the spirit shouted from the back of his mind,_ "Trust me!_"

T... ...Alright... But... As Yugi pulled the goggles down, he could hear Oshita's voice again, the boy's eyes squeezed shut as he attempted to block the sound out. '_So Yugi,_' he asked, the boy before him slowly opening his eyes as his hearing and vision cleared to a completely cleaned river.

"...Do you surrender?"

"Aaaaaaa... AAAAHHH! HAAAAAAAH!" The boy stumbled back in shock as large and unblinking red eyes met his, wide, fish-like, pupil-less and set on a scaled green face. Beneath the seas the warrior had no use for his glass visor; he saw as well as any other creature born to the seas, and didn't need something like goggles. Unlike above where his eyes were sensitive this was his domain... And as Yugi fell back in fear the monster grinned, shark's teeth making the image all the more frightening as he struggled to breath.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... That body is as good as mine," the monster sneered, 'Ruklamba' swimming around him in a swirl with matching expression. "While you were swimming in panic I was able to make my move... While you cowered in fear I brought two more monsters to the field, with Ruklamba's effect and now I'm ready to attack! Watch," he roared with a grin, pointing a second monster forward as Yugi swallowed. "Melchid the Four-Faced Beast attacks the Retrained Swordsman!"

A-Attacks the swordsman! Yugi hurriedly brought his sword up in defense as a large 'clawed' egg tore through the waters above, his feet skidding back from the force to leave deep trails in the thick mud. The attack was blocked... Mostly. Yugi's eyes widened with horror as he looked over the blade, staring down at where he'd been pushed up along the river bed. Cracks were appearing along the blade as it blocked Melchid's claws, the sword seeming to almost glow in protest to the blow. This... This... "I don't even need my weapon to destroy you," Oshita sneered from across him, the blade brightening to a blinding extent as Yugi shut his eyes. "This monster is enough even for you!"

"G-GAAAAAAAAAHH!" In an instant the blade exploded, shards of metal embedding themselves in his skin as he was launched from the waters. The goggles flew back on his face with cracks in the lenses, the sword's hilt vanishing from his hand in a shower of pixels as he was left with a burn. Sharp pain rushed through his body as he landed on the rocks on shore, coughing and moving his goggles up to a more comfortable position as he weakly gripped the stone he landed on. "Un... Unggh..." More coughing escaped him. The boy slowly looked up, pulling himself to his feet and biting his lip in tear-filled agony before turning his attentions to the falls. His opponent was there again... Standing at the very top, arms crossed with a sneer on his face. "Y-You..." Chimera roared as its master returned, flying to Yugi's side as the boy continued to stare forward. All along the falls monsters had appeared, with their master rising to the second tier to stand by his fallen weapon. Melchid, Ruklamba, the 'Wall of Illusion'... And below them... "My boomerang," he whispered in disbelief, blood draining as he realized how far from him the weapon was. This was bad... Really bad...

"So you can still stand," Oshita sneered, visor again in place as he stood above the roaring waters. "Truly a pity... It seems I'll just have to beat you down until that body is mine! '_The crown of honor belongs only to the winner'_ after all... And _the ends justify the means_'," he roared with a laugh, smirking as the quote was given. "So said a Prussian General, along with this; '_In good times, morale can be improved... But in bad times_," he continued darkly, "_Your power will simply be gone_'... It doesn't take much, to realize what 'time' this is..." More quotes, more quotes...

Just what was his power..? How... How was he able to do all of this? Yugi swallowed as he stood on the rocky banks, staring upward in nervous fear. No weapons, no way to attack... The 'Wall of Illusion' would return any monster that attacked back into his hand... And even if he did attack, Oshita would just activate his effect, killing him before he even had a chance to catch a break. He... He... A card appeared in the back of his mind, one that arrived just as it came to his turn to draw. 'Rainbow Blessing', his mind told him, the description of the spell following with. If he had a monster on the field, he could attack directly using this... But until then, and until the wall wasn't there to simply ruin that opprotunity... "I'm not giving up," he managed to shout hoarsely, despite the cuts and gashes across his body. He could hear cries from his 'other' in the back of his mind, begging him to switch out. But as he'd said before, he wasn't going to do that. "I'm still fighting," he announced, waving his hand as a flat and nearly translucent panel appeared to his side. "I set a card face down... And I end my turn," the boy finished, Chimera growling threateningly beside him before crouching to a defensive pose.

Now... What to do about this effect. "My turn then," Oshita was saying with a grin, a screen never once appearing with his 'cards'. A similar 'glass panel' appeared at his side, bandages tearing forth as Yugi ducked. "First," his opponent announced, "The card Offerings to the Doomed, destroying your Chimera!" With those very words the bandages wrapped about Chimera completely, pulling it into the panel before disappearing under the waves of the waterfall. The monster's effect still activated of course... Baphomet or Gazelle would take Chimera's place now, just as soon as he made the decision between the two. But before he did make the decision, Oshita had something else to say, something else that caught Yugi's eyes and filled him with horror.

Or rather, something he did was what filled him with such fear. "Wall of Illusion and Mechlid are sacrificed," the man announced darkly, the beasts scattering into light as Yugi silently made his decision for fear of death. "Summoning the Rainbow Snake Eingana!" Ei... Ein... "_ATTACK!_"

Water burst from the river at the side with the beast's summoning, Yugi ducking under as mist and spray filled the air. Coated with iridescent scales Eingana towered above him, blocking his opponent from view, and it wasn't pleased. At his side stood Baphomet, the demon having successfully been summoned in defense mode... But it was all for naught, and despite the enormous, oversized fangs of the beast it was easy to see what would happen. "Hng... No! Baphomet..!"

"That's right," Oshita roared, cackling as his serpent swallowed the monster whole. Baphomet's legs and arms flailed as the monster was tossed into the air, wings injured by the snakes fangs and unable to grant it escape. Eingana was pleased now... It had its fill, and it did its master's bidding. But now... "Now," Oshita announced, "With your defenses left wide open, Ruklamba attacks directly!" No... No..! The boy closed his eyes and continued to cringe, biting his lip. It couldn't... No!

There had to be something else! Something else he could do! Something-

"ACTIVATE EFFECT!" A thundering voice rang through the air, the boy opening his eyes with a jolt.

The... The other... Him? Yugi's eyes widened as the voice seemed to echo off the mist in the air, his gaze widening further as his vision was filled with a swarm of kuriboh. "T-This..."

"Kuriboh's ability as deck master," the other Yugi announced, still nowhere to be seen among the swarm of fur-balls, "While on the field, just once per match," he continued with a snarl, "A single direct attack can be negated!"

"That voice..." The monster across from them glowered, clenching his fists in rage as the kuriboh slowly began to fade. "Impossible... This can't be! The 'Type B Yugi!"

One of the kuriboh turned, winking somewhat as the others slowly disappeared in Ruklamba's blast. It looked somewhat... _Different_ from the others, he noted. Though it was just as brown as the standard, there were tips that seemed more 'red' than brown, and its eyes... "A-Ah... O-Other me," he managed to mutter, coughing with wide eyes. "Did you... How did you..?"

"Ahh... Well," the other Yugi muttered from the kuriboh, mouth mostly hidden by fur, "I had only intended to switch out and re-direct the attack, to give you a break," he admitted, sounding incredibly odd with his voice coming out of the beast. The 'monster' gestured to himself, shaking his 'head' as he sighed. "Instead... Well... It would appear the program didn't completely know what to do." He... The other him tried to switch...

And got stuck in a kuriboh. _How_..? Yugi nodded, still clearly surprised but nonetheless steeling himself in lieu of more important things. "I understand... We can talk later; for now, we need to finish this," he continued, turning toward the field with a swallow. "Got that?"

His other-self, the kuriboh it seemed, nodded, hovering by his side. "Of course!"

"You hear that, Oshita," he shouted, confidence more or less renewed as he looked up toward his opponent. "We'll never give up..! Even if we have to climb this waterfall to reach you!"

Oshita's response was, to say the least, more or less expected. "Hnhnhn...Hnhnha... HAHAHAHAHAA! OH! This is just WONDERFUL," the man howled in response, holding his head as he leaned back. "You wall is gone now, your only defense a _kuriboh_," he cackled with a laugh, "And you believe you can somehow win? In the next turn Eigana will attack," the warrior announced, the snake in question hissing threateningly. "And then, it'll all be over!"

Hn... So that was it then... But in all honesty the boy told himself, he didn't fell like it was. A card appeared in his mind, a card whose name and effect was burned into memory in an instant. This monster... 'Swift Gaia the Fierce Knight', a monster who could be special summoned when no others were in their hand. This monster...

This was perfect..! Yugi summoned the monster immediately as it came to his turn, waiting for the monster to appear it only to feel a rush of energy float over him. There was no room where they stood for another monster... No room for a horse and knight, or even simply a horse to say the least. In spirit and power Gaia was there however, and he was ready to fight along side his summoner. "Oshita... You know a lot of things, don't you," Yugi asked from beside his partner, the monstrous opponent appearing to frown in response. "Many quotes from many people... But knowing lines and experiencing the things that inspired them... Those are two completely different things," he shouted up, light streaming from the card before the two as he continued. "'The crown of honor goes to the winner'... Oshita," he called out, jumping forward from the rock as his other-self followed, "That crown isn't yours to take! I activate my spell," he continued, the light wrapping around himself and his 'other' both as they briefly flew beside the other before merging once again. "Rainbow Blessing! Allowing the monster I summoned to attack directly," he roared, both himself and his other half making the attack from within the vessel. "HRRRAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

"Monster," Oshita roared, pulling as much water as possible about him while Yugi paused a moment at the first tier. "There's no other monster here! What sort of nonsense are you spouting," he continued, blinded by the streams of colours now filling the air. There was no answer as the light bounced from the hovering mist, the warrior grinding his teeth as he lost sight of his target from below. There was nothing but a pastel rainbow, a ray of light... Nothing but a mist, surrounding him. "The 'crown of honor'... You cannot WIN boy, you know this," he spat in rage, "You-"

"I've already won," he said almost regretfully, the mist abruptly clearing from the field as Oshita slowly turned.

Fear was more than evident in the fish-man's eyes, just slightly visible behind his visor in the blinding light. "Y-You... How..."

"I summoned Swift Gaia, the Fierce Knight," Yugi explained, light seeming to emanate from every portion of his being in the remaining power of the 'Rainbow Blessing'. "But for some reason, the monster never came; _I_ was the one attacking, Oshita. And now," he continued, the warrior growing pale as blood slowly seeped from a deep wound across his chest, "You're dead... I'm sorry," the boy stated, the garb he wore shimmering brilliantly in the light that filled the air as he bowed his head, "But you've lost."

Oshita merely clutched at his wound, staring dully at the bloodied, three-bladed boomerang in Yugi's hands as he fell to his knees and gasped. "You... You never aimed for _me_..."

"...No," the boy admitted, biting his lip. "All I needed was to defeat you, right," he asked, eyes far betraying the impersonality he had attempted to use as a mask in front of the man. "All I needed... Was to reach past your monsters and grab my boomerang... I never expected to make it all the way up the falls in addition to that," he continued, shaking his head. "I never expected to make the hit before the boomerang opened..."

Blood began to fall from Oshita's mouth... The mask across his face pulled back, and slowly the warrior began to fall toward the edge of the cliff. "You... It looks like you taught _me _something, _brat_! Gkh... Gk..!" Ragged chokes met the air, blood dropping to the ground and staining his teeth as he growled. "You..." The man scowled, rage again filling his face as he gave his final words. "This isn't over... _Boy..._"

Time suddenly seemed to fall back in place with those words, with the disappearance of his opponent. As colours and fur blew off his armor, his appearance restored to normalcy Oshita's body toppled into the river below, and as it toppled across each tier Yugi found himself staring over the side with dull eyes. The blood on his blade was cleaned off by water and the 'end game' both, and despite the fact that the cape appeared with his spell card, it remained behind, dying itself in a colour to match his once more leathery clothes... The energy from Gaia, along with the presence of the giant snake Eingana, had both vanished completely from the field, and in the absence of the rainbow's blinding light it seemed as though clouds had settled in. The fight was over he told himself, somehow managing to sheath his boomerang on his back before falling limp on his feet. It was...

-_patcht- -patcht- -patcht- ..._That sound...

...Clapping..? Yugi slowly turned, eyes narrowing as they met with the form of 'Noa'. Now that he could see more than the face, his assumptions of the boy's age were immediately confirmed. The boy that stood before him was most certainly younger than himself, and not merely 'young' in appearance; yet while he was only barely shorter than Mokuba was, it seemed to him that Noa would be the older of the two however. It was strange... He seemed to radiate both maturity and immaturity both, fluxuating between the two constantly. More importantly he told himself, staring at the light-haired child before him, this boy, looking at him now, more than ever cemented a resemblance to Kaiba. "You... ...Noa," he said with a swallow, catching himself before he backed off the waterfall cliff.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... That's right..." Noa seemed to hover in mid air, a look across his face that far betrayed what dark intentions all those he'd trapped suspected. "I must congratulate you," he said with a smirk, stepping down from where he 'hovered' to walk over across the surface of the river. "Oshita, while a novice duelist," he admitted calmly, "Was still a master of strategy in his own right, a true 'threat'... Had you drawn any other monster," he added with a small narrowed grin, "You might have been _killed_..."

Yes... Yes he could have... But just what was he doing, going on about that... "...What are you up to," he asked, swallowing nervously as Noa continued to stare toward him. "All of this... Is this just a game to you," he continued almost angrily, "Did you even intend for Oshita to win this fight?"

Noa merely smiled, shaking his head as he sighed. "Ahhh... Such concern, even for someone who just recently intended to kill you. An admirable trait," the boy said calmly, arms crossed loosely before his chest as he went on. "The sort of thing that makes yourself and your 'other' such great friends to all you know..." The sort of- What..? As Yugi narrowed his eyes in confusion the boy continued to chuckle, moving on with what he was saying. "There's you, the 'real Yugi'," he began, "Kind, trusting, loyal to a fault... Always forgiving, always willing to believe in those around you no matter what could have possibly happened... And then your 'other'," he continued with a somewhat sinister smile, "Strong, fierce... Always willing to fight for what is right, to fight for the justice of those close... It's a tight bond," he stated quite plainly, "But do they really return it," the boy asked, Yugi tensing in response.

"Return..." He was trying to make him doubt his friends! "What are you getting at," he shouted, eyes wide. "What on earth are you talking about?"

"Me? I'm talking about your '_friends_'," Noa whispered, vanishing into a mist only to reappear behind the boy at the edge of the falls. Yugi turned with a jump as the boy spoke once more, backing away in fear as he grit his teeth. "There's Anzu Mazaki," he started off, "Whose crushes on you or your other are never quite certain... There's Bakura, and his own 'other half', and who _knows_ what they're thinking," he chuckled, dark smirk in place as he again shifted to another location. "Then of course there's dear 'Kaiba-san', whose secrets you had to find from your own best friend... And I wonder," Noa continued with apparent curiosity, narrowing his eyes in mirth as Yugi struggled to find his appearing and disappearing form, "Who does Jonouchi care about more... You? Or '_Seto-chan_'..?"

This... How... Not only did he knew everyone's names, he knew about Kaiba... He... "How do you know all of this," he whispered in horror, stepping back. "How..."

"Now now," the boy said with a smirk, misting closer to the boy with a grin. "That wasn't the question..."

Gh..! "You... It doesn't matter who he cares about more," he shouted honestly, narrowing his eyes as he again backed away. "That's his choice, not mine! And no matter what that choice is," he continued with a shout, "He's still my friend! No matter what!"

Noa's smirk shifted into an odd smile, the boy chuckling shortly as he turned away. "Hnhhnhnhn... Ahhhh... The words of a 'true friend'," he said calmly, seeming to sigh in 'understanding'. "And honest words at that... They make me wish I had known someone like yourself all those years ago," he continued, Yugi frowning at the cryptic words. "But ahhh... Even I can't change the past. And besides," he continued, a door appearing at his side as he held out a hand, "There's something else I was supposed to do."

"_Wh- A door,_" his other asked in suspicion, Yugi as well narrowing his eyes.

"That's right," Noa said with a smirk, his target jumping as their unanswered questions were responded to. "More specifically," he explained, "This is the 'correct' one. Beyond this door lies the riddle to your friend's location," he continued, stepping to the side. "And beyond her location, that of the next one. But before you embark on this journey, I must warn you Yugi... Each path is fraught with danger, with secrets and nightmares formed from the depths of your friends minds. Their paths are out of my control," he continued, "And quite confusing at heart. So before you move on, consider this... Do you find yourself strong enough to break the defenses of your own friend's minds?" His friends..? There was only one answer to that...

And as he gave that response in the form of a nod, passing through the door, Noa continued to grin... Before the entirety of what lay behind Yugi's now closed exit vanished into nothing but zeroes, ones, and darkness.

* * *

Beyond the door, there was nothing but darkness, a darkness that pressed upon them both and left a cold feeling of dread in its place. 'Kisara', who remained so silent as to remain somehow unnoticed by the siblings, merely stood in the doorway as it closed shut in fact, and as Seto and Mokuba walked the woman found herself no so much frowning as looking around in unease with narrowed eyes. For some reason, this place seemed familiar, more so now that the light from the mountain and the door had vanished into space. Even without any noticeable traits, without any key points to discern it from... _Anything_ really, she knew...

She knew that she'd been here before. The sound of sirens slowly hovered through the air, and as they continued to walk the woman had to pause. Beyond the sirens... Beyond the sounds of panicked shouts and laboured breathing that were slowly but surely growing louder in the air...

Crying. She could hear _crying_. Seto froze, her brother slowly turning back from where he'd been walking ahead. Amid the darkness a small light could be seen, growing in dull intensity. Slowly but surely the halls of a hospital were coming into view with this light, merging with the darkness... And with dim lighting there were running doctors and nurses, seeming to ghost in and out of memory around them.

"_We've lost her,_" someone whispered, before the crying continued on. "_I'm so sorry... But there's nothing we can do..._" This...

"Nee-sama," Mokuba asked, slowly looking up in confusion. "Where is this..?"

This memory... She knew where she was. She... "Mokuba I want you to close your eyes," she said clearly, not looking down at the boy. "And plug your ears... And no matter what happens," the woman hissed almost dangerous, "_Do not open them until I tell you to_..!"

The boy frowned, looking forward as the memory became more clear in appearance. A small girl pulling at a bedside... A woman with white hair, covered head to toe by a covering for modesty and respect... "...Who is that..?"

"Just close your eyes," she repeated, grabbing her brother's hand as a shadow moved in the dark, a bundle in the person's arms as they passed. "I'll look for the door," she whispered under her breath, "Just..."

"...Nee-sama," he asked worriedly, voice seeming distant as the woman closed her eyes. "...Are you alright..?" Sirens... Crying...

'_Wake up... Mom... Wake up... Why won't you..._'

No...

"...Yes... I'm fine..."

No she wasn't.

**

* * *

AN: **I know I wouldn't be...

And thus we have proof that Noa is going to be a _much_ bigger prick in the fanfic than in the anime. Not to mention a creeper; is it just me, or was he trying to slip into Noa's good graces?

In any case, this chapter was more of a Yugi & Kaiba deal than anyone else. I'll be trying to keep things to two POV's per chapter you see, and to prove this, the next one will either be Yugi and Anzu followed by Shizuka, Otogi and Honda, or Jonouchi and Kaiba followed by those two sequences. It all depends, but I'll more likely start with the first two... Which means we won't see Jonouchi for a short while.

_Or will we_? I tend to plan out things like this before I start on it (for obvious reasons), and besides planning details this includes planning the order, so as to make it mesh properly. This order is actually why we won't hear from Ryuzaki for a while.

For a _long_ while, I might add.

And in other news, the song I've been listening to constantly, 'Shiningray' from Miku, is... Really, _really_ sad.

And possibly the reason why I felt like crying while figuring out not only the scene above, but for future scenes that are probably going to be a million times worse and make you want to throw tomatoes out of misery.

Uh... Yay? Don't worry though, those scenes (not counting the one above) do not concern death. You can take solace in that.

Of course, there's yet another song I'm listening to, which largely helped out with Yugi's scenes. It's much cheerier, and as usual with me, it's another Vocaloid song; 'Hakobako Player'. It's not bad, go give it a listen. (Note that it has nothing to do with anything in this chapter. Yaaaay~)

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Glad you like the updates Iona!

As for Kisara, the important thing to remember is that she looks about ten and that she's not really her… As to how that will play out, it will be VERY CONFUSING.

Though I'll be making Kaiba's involvement make a lot more sense really. As for Blue-Eyes, not really actually; since the monsters in the system aren't tied to the actual cards, they're actually rather 'soulless'; this is partially why Yami got… Well, 'stuck' when he attempted to utilize Kuriboh's 'multiply' ability as deck master. Whoops~

No breaks for Jonouchi! Though trust me, the weird is about to get very depressing, so… You might want to watch yourself.

Any ways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

Hehehe, yessss, kickass is good right RandomProjects?

As for Anzu, you'll see next chapter…

I'm glad you like the classes! As for the hows, a number of them are derived from either their weapons/outfit (Jou), the classes from the Legendary Heroes (Mokuba, Seto, Yugi), and more importantly, the Monster World (Anzu had chosen Magician, Honda the Gunman.).

As for Shizuka, I wanted something other than White Mage (Which would be expected), but wanted someone who could still heal… Rather than having two Red Mages, I went with Blue; the difference between the two being that Blue copies enemy attacks and spells while Red just does whatever. Otogi is me being stereotypical. Hehe.

And no! Defintiely not; it's just me extending on Kaiba's past; Siegfried and 'Schroeder Corp' as its called make an appearance in the 'Grand Prix' arc of the fifth season. However, while it was _really_ hard for Kaiba to remember him in the anime, it will not be like that in the fanfic…

So yea, plot point I guess.

OH! This is because the duel doesn't have to rely on the duel; basically, while the Big 5 _prefer_ a duel (Hence why, as you can see above, Oshita took pains to disarm Yugi), those with weapons could technically get right in there and take them out, no life-points necessary… The 'Deckmaster' rule is simply reality in place now; besides the extra ability, its every man for themselves, as the 'deckmaster' is merely the player!

And now, hopefully Yugi's fight sheds a bit of light on things… But if it helps, the deckmaster somewhat determines the stat-level; depending on level, attack and defines, the Hit-Points are altered. In other words, life points are one thing, but any attack Yugi received from Oshita directly, _while_ monsters were on the field, would count not to his life points but his actual well being.

And since he picked Kuriboh, he's about as good as a kitten against an ox in terms of trying to fight 'traditionally' while in close combat.

Anyways; Yugi's actually a pro level duelist of course, so his fight doesn't really show how it's 'fair'… Shizuka-Otogi-Honda VS Ota however, _will_, along with Anzu's fight in the next chapter.

Hey don't worry, Kaiba said she would only beat him _half_ to death CynicalGamer- …Wait, that's if he dies _first_…

You're right, he's doomed!

…I'm not talking about the peacock thing right now. *buries head in sand* (Why are the guy birds the pretty ones!)

Yep; though disturbing doesn't even cover it sometimes. The original Kaiba was a little better as well; it's as though, by the time Doma came, he just sort of said '_Fuck it- the cards are REAL damn it_.'

*pats back* You… You can do it..!

We shall say nothing more of the dub, to much bad moods. As for dancing, _isn't he?_ You've actually made the same hilarious connection my friend did; I ended up sitting at the computer and groaning when I realized it myself. I suppose, being the one drawing/writing it, it took a bit to sink in.

As for Saraph, that's ok; unless you're stalking my thoughts, you're not supposed to.

He really _should_ tell them, but you're quite right; there's a time and place, and it's not here… Though once we reach him again, there'll be quite a lot of strange question answering fun. You _are_ hoping a little much here… (Kisara is Kaiba's Blue-Eyes White Dragon after all; one of them anyways.) …But the programs themselves _do_ trigger _other_ memories, so don't feel like they're just useless add-ons!

Enjoy the chapter now!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that would _like_ to give Kaiba a hug... But then would get it shot.

* * *

Hey this isn't a game reference! Nope. It _does_ however get inspiration from a song including the lyrics 'into the river below'. I can't remember who sung it, nor what it's called, by I remember that much, and couldn't help but think it would fit.

* * *

What what, more Siegfried? Actually _really_ important, not that you'll see why until the end of this arc. And possibly Grand Prix. (It's fragmented, complicated, non-canonical… But you'll love it, trust me.)

* * *

Now then! Besides more hinting at the 'distance limit' between our favourite Light-Dark duo, as you know, I'm using subbed dialogue. Oshita (Dub's 'Gansley') did a lot of quoting in his battle, and in addition, has a habit of referring to the two Yugi's as 'type a' and 'type b'. He was the company's president of Business Strategy.

* * *

Why isn't Shizuka on the initial (and short) list of non-pro-duelists? Well, for one, Mokuba is flat out stated as 'not duelling'. Honda gets both this and a 'he's TERRIBLE at the game' response. Anzu in the meantime is good, but certainly not pro-level, and certainly not duelling regularly enough to warrant some unease. (Otogi _didn't_ make the list, as Yugi considers him a far better gamer given all that the guy works on.)

However, Yugi heard Shizuka tell Jonouchi that she 'didn't have her deck' in the last chapter, which leads him to believe she has a little more experience in the matter. And she actually _does_ this time around… But it's not nearly the level that he likely thinks it is.

* * *

Originally, not only was Yami fighting almost the entire duel (Yugi came in for… One move involving Kuriboh being summoned to the field, and then collapsed.), but Kuriboh _picked himself_; Yami had been all 'I should probably pick the Dark Magician', but the Kuriboh decided to hop out of its card instead.

In this case, as Yugi seemed to have a bit more faith in the furball from the start, Yugi simply chose it.

* * *

Silly dub! You named the 'Retrained Elf Swordsman' the _obnoxious_ one. Pffffft.

* * *

There's a number of dialogue changes here, largely because of the fast-paced manner of the fight. The duelists no longer have the time to sit around and ponder everything after all, and as Yugi demonstrates, there's a lot of practicality going into it as well; he really couldn't attack Oshita from above the water… Nor would he have made it to the falls without jumping from really freaking high.

* * *

On another note, a few of Oshita's quotes were cut from the script, as they started the episode in the same manner most continuing manga chapters do; making no sense save for re-cap. That, or they simply involved lots of pausing...

Which again, did not happen _at all_ unless you count that frightening scene underwater.

* * *

How tall is Hannoki falls? 497 meters, which is over 1500 feet. Shomyo (The one Yugi is on) however is 350 meters... Though that's just over 1000 feet too, which isn't that bad in terms of awesome-ness.

To put it in perspective as to just how high up Yugi is (and just how much of a right to be scared he has), Niagara falls is only 52 meters tall; 167 feet. Angel Falls, the world's tallest, is 979 meters, or 3,212 feet...

And Angel Falls is probably about the same height as the super-sized waterfall poor Yugi is fighting on.

* * *

A note on the 'tiers'!

Shoymyo falls has four stages; 70 meters, then 58 meters, then 96, and finally the last 126 meters, though both falls appear to have just as many 'tiers'. The first, obviously, is the 'seventy meter mark', and that's about where Yugi's boomerang is. The second is a fair distance lower, and is where he made his next attack (Oshita was positioned _below_ the first tier by that point.), and since he was thrown back from there, that means he fell REALLY FAR.

Ouch.

* * *

Kay here's where it gets weird, and where _I_ get creative; Wall of Illusion's ability in the fanfic changed from affecting 'anything attacking it' to 'anything attacking'… As the fact is, in the anime, Yugi didn't know what the card 'Rainbow Blessing' did.

Despite the instructions being right on it.

A-DURRRRRRRR… In any case, seeing how I'm pretty sure Yugi can _read_, I needed another excuse for events to play out.

Otherwise we'd never see that snake, and that would just be TERRIBLE. (I got a thing for drawing/imagining fights against giant monsters.)

* * *

On another note, Gaia's _non_-appearance is due to something that I realized as I reached that part. Gaia is a knight. He rides on a horse.

_Yugi was standing on a random rock at the base of a waterfall_. Ergo, there would be no room. Whoops. Besides, the 'Celtic Guardian' randomly vanished into a sword so… Why not?

* * *

Fun fact guys! Rainbows often form in mist… Included in the types of mist this happens in, is that of a waterfall. But really, any form of water will do it; airborne dew, rain, spray… Basically, any bit of water in the air that refracts light.

Also, misty ones look a little paler. Probably because it's mist...

* * *

Also, I was VERY close to ripping off 'Fist of the North Star'… 'YOU ARE ALREADY DEAD'! Ahahaha...

That would take the shout outs too far though.

**

* * *

FanArt And My Art Section**

Remove spaces, paste link; da-da-daaaaa!

Not much today; mostly 'reference art', or me being really happy about what things look like and showing it off like a silly little first grader. How mature am _I?_

In any case, there's still spoilers! As Honda will end up with his body kidnapped away by the entire Big 5, there's obviously lots of deckmaster designs for him... To keep from spamming EVERYONE when we finally get to that point, I'm posting each one as we go.

So here we go!

Reference: Rainbow Blessing/Angry Yami-Kuriboh – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ RainbowYugis. jpg - In which all of you learn why I shouldn't write these chapters after drinking three cups of coffee. And after watching Inception again. And playing Pokemon. And... You know what, never mind.

In any case, the anime's rainbow was two blinding for me to handle, so I stuck with some nice pastels; as to why Yugi's _hair_ went rainbow-y (besides the bangs), well... All of Kuriboh's fur took that colour, and the main part of his hair was affected by the deck-master change. (Not to say it was brown or anything, but it wasn't completely black either.)

Also, Yami the Kuriboh. BAHAHAHAHAHA!

'_We will never speak of this again_.' '_Agreed_.'

Spoiler!-Reference: Possessed Honda (Deep Sea Warrior) – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ SeaWarriorHonda. jpg - That's right. He got a harpoon gun. This actually works out for reasons beyond me... Even though he only got one. ...Aren't those eyes _creepy_? It'll get worse. (Hehehe.)

In any case, that's all for today! Enjoy the chapter, and coming up next... Anzu VS Otaki!


	86. Chapter 85

**Dreams and Illusions**

* * *

"If I see... One more 'bat'... I'm going to _scream_..." Anzu Mazaki was not having a good day. For one, she'd woken up to see nothing but complete and utter darkness, when the last thing she remembered clearly was walking through an alley with Jonouchi and that blond boy they'd just met... 'Namu' his name was. And for another... Well, it was probably better to recount everything quickly in her mind than try and make a list she told herself, rubbing her forehead.

Come to think of it, she told herself somewhat bitterly as she sat on the side of the canyon wall, what kind of name was Namu anyways? Honestly... It sounded like some butchered form of 'name' and- "Not the point Anzu," she told herself, kicking off her shoes and massaging her sore feet in the meantime. "The _point_ are these 'blisters'..." Which were becoming a real pain, and constantly bringing up the thoughts of why she would ever put this sort of strain in her subconscious.

The fact was, she was almost certain that this was a dream. That everything in here was a dream really, from the canyon to the 'game'... After getting knocked out in that alleyway, everything had been a blur after all. She could remember some place dark, someplace she couldn't move... She could even remember a few screams, and someone shivering in her arms. But after that her memory was fragmented completely, with a blank span of time between what she was certain had been late after noon and the current 'evening'.

Or at least, it was evening last time she checked (she was dreaming after all, so who knew, she'd probably gone back to sleep...). She could remember a few things of course. A moment of dinner on what seemed to be some kind of ship, where she'd looked around, about to ask how she'd gotten there before blacking out. Another moment at the top of this airship, during Jonouchi's match, hearing nothing but screams. She'd admit that she'd gotten swept up in the confusion, what with Namu's wailing cries and Jonouchi's apparent and temporary death. It was probably the latter that prevented her from turning to Yugi with wide eyes and asking, in fear, '_where are we?_'. But after that... After that short glimpse of her friends suffering...

It had all gone black. All of it. Leaving her senseless and timeless until that moment in the darkness... That moment where, after a hurried sensation of falling, she had 'woken up'. '_Welcome,_' a boy's voice had stated calmly, sounding almost real to her ears. She'd stood up, looking around curiously to find the source but found nothing, only able to listen as he continued. '_We're going to play a game, Mazaki Anzu. Would you like to try,_' he asked. She'd asked how he knew her name... She'd asked where she was... The boy simply said that they were inside the world of the computer. That they were going to play a duel monsters game, filled with monsters and magic and adventure. It all seemed so _unreal_. So fake, so... Childishly 'dream-like', to the point where it just couldn't be real! She didn't even remember how she'd gotten there, so it had to be that right? So of course...

So of course she had said yes! It was a dream after all, what choice did she have? She was tired... She didn't want to wake up now... And the voice seemed to agree, almost radiating a feeling of positivity as a result. '_That's wonderful,_' he had announced cheerfully, sounding almost like Mokuba for a brief moment. '_This is the most positive reaction I've received so far!_' That was part of the dream though, right? Who else could there possibly be? Anzu had pushed the unease from mind, simply telling herself it was nothing. This was all a dream, that was all... There was nothing more to question, right? '_The game we are playing is very dangerous,_' the voice, introducing himself as 'Noa', had warned. '_If you die, even once,_' he continued,_ 'It's game over understand?_' Okay... That much she understood... And as she had told him that much, the wave of positivity had again swum over her. '_Good. Now; though you will need to use duel monsters in order to challenge the final boss,_' the boy explained,_ 'You will also be using the skills of a specific class of player. This class can not be changed, and each one has their own advantages or disadvantages. Please,_' Noa continued, a series of shimmering and almost holographic panels appearing around her to illuminate the dark,_ 'Study your options carefully, and choose wisely._'

Maybe it was then that she'd realized she wasn't wearing anything. When she'd looked down to jump, realizing that she resembled some sort of ghost, smoking in form and glowing ethereally. Despite her nudity there was no detail in her form though, as though she'd been hand drawn on all but her face... Drawn and then coloured in with a soft, glowing highlighter of sorts. That wasn't the point at the time though, right? It was only expected that a 'game' start oddly. So instead, she had looked over her options, reading over the stats with all the intentions of playing the game. Red Mage, Blue Mage, White... The 'jack of all trades' who wielded magic and sword both, the copy-cat who learned their trade from the monsters they attacked, the healer who could do nothing but improve health and stood on the side lines. None of these caught her eye, and so she turned to the next few. After all, there was also the standard warrior, the monk, the ranger... And even stranger classes, such as the 'Dancer', or even one titled the 'Gambler'. And finally, at the 'end' of the panel wheel, next to the red mage, she spotted it, the one she had passed over by turning the opposite direction. "Ah... Black Mage..." A focus in destructive magic, with no ability in healing. This would work... After all, with that sort of power she could probably make it through quickly right? And that was the point of a dream, wasn't it?

Besides... This was more similar to that 'Magician' class she'd picked so long ago, as opposed to say the 'Red Mage'. Upon tapping the screen to make her decision however, it had unfolded into two, each one depicting an almost translucent form of herself in two variant sets of clothing. '_Choose your armor,_' Noa had requested, the two models slowly spinning in a 360 before her. '_As Black Mage,_' he explained,_ 'You do not have access to the heavy armor. You may, however, choose between cloth or leather._' Cloth or leather... She could choose between the robes, dress-like in appearance, or the tunic and poncho, which came with leggins. She'd chosen cloth in the end, after a few moments of thought. The leather set looked a little too 'unisex' for her liking, and while she liked a deal of practicality in things, the robes had a certain charm. Upon making her choice and tapping the screen, she'd found herself clothed in those very same black robes... But more importantly...

She'd found herself falling. "Ha... HAAAAAHHH! HAAAAHHH!" She'd screamed. Loudly, louder than she even believed possible as she fell. Yet as she came closer she slowed, the screams doing the same until finally as she 'stepped' onto the ground she found herself staring about in confusion. This place...

The Grand Canyon. Exactly as it had been when she was a small girl, travelling on vacation with her Grandparents while her father sorted out yet another moving plan, another argument with her mother. She could remember asking herself, 'what is this', and receiving an answer, seemingly from nowhere '_This is a scene from your memories,_' Noa had said, voice kept curt and professional as he spoke. '_Your task is to travel through your memories,_' he explained frankly,_ 'And conquer whatever challenge may arise along the way. If you do this,' _he continued, '_You will be able to complete the game, and escape to the real world._' So she would wake up then? The dream would 'end'?

The boy had paused, as though pondering something before eventually responding. '_...Yes... Exactly,_' the voice had told her, somehow seeming both honest and dishonest in the same instant. '_That is exactly it. Good luck, Mazaki Anzu._'

That was what he'd told her... 'Good luck', and try not to die, not that the last had been anything but unsaid. And now, looking back, she had a feeling she knew why he'd said 'good luck' really. Over the course of the 'game' after all, she had so far run into many small monsters, each easily taken out with her staff and magic. She'd fought with metal 'Bats', she'd fought with 'Cloudians', small humanoid puffs of the sky, and she'd even come across a few 'Sangan'.

And she swore to god if she didn't wake up _really_ soon, she was going to 'Thunder' the next thing she spotted, or perhaps try out that new 'Fire Ball' spell she'd recently received. Anzu slipped her shoes back on with a sigh, looking up at the air despite these murderous thoughts. "What kind of 'dream' is this anyways," she whispered, gripping her staff at the side before slowly stepping up from the ground. "I don't even have a deck like the 'voice' said... Not even a deck holder..." Just how was that even supposed to work? No deck holder, no deck... Even if she'd had the cards she'd have no way to play the game, no way to fight using the cards.

A rock tumbled past the cliff she sat beside, Anzu raising her eyebrow at the movement. Perhaps she'd ponder the uselessness of cards in the situation for now she told herself, looking around the corner to find the source of the kicked pebble. So far she could see nothing of course; just a small bend in the canyon, surrounded by steep cliffs. After a moment however she could hear grunts, growls of sorts that seemed to form crude words in some foreign language. "_**Grrnph... Phmmph... Mrrrrrmph...**_" Eh... Eh..?

Stomps echoed through the air as the woman narrowed her eyes, the source of the sound still unseen. As a scrap of blue made its way around the distant path however she found herself slowly backing away, the familiar 'stats' screen appearing at the corner of her eye. It had a habit of appearing whenever a new monster was encountered, she'd found. It was a handy trick too, she thought to herself as she continued backing away, the screen flashing red. It was what told her the bat's were small fry, and what told her that the few 'Sangan' which appeared were good to farm for experience. That the 'cloudians' dropped some sort of 'healing' fluid, and that they would otherwise get her nothing else to work with.

It also told her that if she valued her one life, she'd get as far away from these 'cyclops' as possible, as with one already out of her league, an entire tribe would just be suicide. Slowly the woman continued to step back, face growing pale. She just needed to keep quiet... She just needed to keep her distance, and keep-

-_tpff-_

"Gh-!" The woman turned as the same pebble she'd stared at prior was kicked away by her heel, hurriedly looking toward the second path as the monsters she'd wanted to avoid tensed.

"_**Grnnn!**_" With a start the cyclopses turned, red eyes flaring as their raised their clubs. Teeth were bared the moment they'd caught the woman in their sights, and with out a thought more they charged. "_**GRAEEEEEEE! RAEEEEEEE!**_"

"Oh... Ohhhhh crap! OH _CRAP_!" Anzu stumbled back as she began to run, looking back behind her and pointing the staff forward. Something with range, something with range... "Gh- _STONE,_" she shouted, a small quake of rocks rumbling against the on-coming monsters in hopes of tripping or stalling the beasts. With no result however she tripped on the hem of her robes, continuing to run randomly about the canyon with a pale face before sending out more spells. "_FIRE! THUNDER,_ she roared, the various elemental strikes flying through the air to be brushed off by her pursuers._ "BLIZZARD! ...AERO! _..._SOMETHING _DAMN IT!" Spell after spell and nothing was working, and all she succeeded in was further enraging the monsters on her tail. The blisters in her feet were going to burst if she kept this up, and as it was the throbbing pain was only barely being pushed back in lieu of escaping. "Damn it damn it damn it..!" Shadows began closing in on her... Tunnels were littering the sides, and as she spotted one-

Anzu charged in through a nearby hollow with a shout, rolling to the ground before slowly pulling herself up with a wince. The hole she'd entered was narrow after all, and barely large enough for herself. Stepping back into the darkness as the cyclops seemed to pass her by she began to calm down somewhat, letting out a sigh of relief as the final one passed. Alright... She'd escaped, she told herself, backing away into the large and closed in cavern with a sigh. Just needed to wait now...

Just wait for the coast to be clear...

And...

Was that a shadow she saw there?

"_**Greaeeeee...**_" Hissing came from outside the cavern as she backed up against the wall, eyes widening as the monsters began clambering through the hole. Their bodies were large, thick and muscular; far more bulky and troublesome when it came to entering the cavern, particularly with the size of the entrance in question. However, even with this disadvantage they were coming in, Anzu finding herself filled with fear despite her image of the game as a dream. Oh god... A single arm was flailing through the hole, clawing at the sides...

"Oh hell... My luck _can't_ be that bad," she whispered to herself, eyes wide as she pressed herself further against the cavern wall. "It just can't..." Rocks tumbled from the sides of the entrance... "It _can't..._" Clawed hands were coming through, with clubs and glowing red eyes barely visible on the other side, the monsters chasing after her trying their damnedest to burrow their way through. "Oh _come ON,_" she whispered to herself, pulling at her hair with a groan.

What the hell was this! "Pssst... Hey lady," a voice whispered, almost 'hissing' in tone. "Need a hand?" Anzu jumped as voice other than the grumbling caught her attention, turning down to the source to stare with wide eyes. It... It looked like...

"A snake," she questioned blankly, eyes wide with shock.

The snake, which seemed to be a brilliant gold in colour flicked its tongue, rolling its eyes. "Nooo, I'm a lizard that got its legs cut off, _OF COURSE I'M A SNAKE,_" he hissed, hood flaring as his target drew back somewhat. "Come on lady, answer the question; do you want help, yes or no?"

Anzu blinked, shaking her head before narrowing her eyes. "You.. You're a _talking snake_," she protested, "What are you going to do?"

The serpent snorted at this, managing to slither up the roughened edges of the wall somewhat as it spoke. "Come on... You haven't figured it out," he asked, a small bit of light from above revealing odd patterns down the back of the scales. "Every witch has a familiar right?"

Ahhh... "A... A _familiar_," the woman repeated incredulously. The snake nodded, continuing on its way as Anzu frowned. "You're a- This is a video game," she growled, "'Mages' don't have familiars!"

"Well 'apparently'," he answered, "You do! So answer the question, come on!" Ugh...

This _was_ a dream, right? Hell, talking snakes were weird but that just made it more obvious right? Anzu bit her lip, swallowing nervously as she looked back to the cave entrance. The cyclops were still breaking through... the first had freed its head and arm, and was working on the rest... "What do you want me to do," she finally asked, turning back to the snake with a swallow.

The snake seemed to grin in response to the question, violet eyes flashing. "Watch and learn lady... But first..." With break-neck speed the snake struck, sinking his fangs into the woman's bare wrist as she shouted. Venom pulsed through her veins, and as the snake retracted Anzu hissed in pain.

"Gh- OW! What the..." What... An odd pattern bloomed from the bite, slowly but surely forming in small blots from the fang's entry. Around two puncture wounds came rings, followed by coils and spirals from small blocks. Patterns formed, along with strange swirls that seemed almost familiar to her. It was so strange... They seemed to almost form a 'bird' of sorts if she looked closely, but what did that-

"Alrighty! Now it's official," the snake called out, coiling itself around the woman's wrist as she stared. "We're stuck with each other!" Ah- That was what he was going with? Anzu shook herself off, instead holding her arm somewhat to give the small snake some 'height'. "Now... Lets get this moving! Watch! This is what happens when you have a familiar on your side," he announced, hood still flared as he looked toward the entrance. The cyclops were almost in. She could see the torso of the first, the snarling and drooling one-eyed head, his arm as it scrambled to free his club...

"_**GREAAAAEEEEE! REEAEEEEE,**_" the monster roared, Anzu drawing back somewhat in fear.

"Gh..."

About the roars the snake was speaking, calm words filling the air as she held her staff close. "Just trust me Anzu, trust me alright? Take aim at the top of the cavern," the snake told her, Anzu not even bothering to ask how it knew her name as it continued. "Use the most powerful, physical spell you've got," he shouted, "And hit that outcropping of rocks on the ceiling!" The most powerful spell..? But all of her spells were 'level 1' other than 'fire ball' she thought to herself with a wince, so which one would...

Wait, 'physical' attacks... Of course! The woman nodded, holding the snake-wielding hand forward with determined eyes. "Alright... _**BLIZZARD,**_" she roared, magic erupting from the mouth of the snake and the staff both to strike the rocks of the ceiling down. In a resounding crash and muffled scream the entrance was blocked, a large grin appearing over their faces as the cyclops were crushed. "Ah... We... We did it," the woman cheered, watching as the fallen cyclops' arm gave a final dead twitch. "We did it!"

And the experience points she'd gotten! Who cared if this was all a dream, this was incredible, that had made her jump at least two levels and- ...Waiiit... "Hang on," she muttered, looking around the room with narrowed eyes. If that was the only entrance then... "...We're _STUCK_!"

The snake blinked, looking around the mostly darkened cavern with somewhat wide eyes. "Oh... So we are," he said somewhat plainly, hood folded down once more. "Sorry about that."

"Nice... Real nice," she grumbled, crossing her arms as the snake scooted up to her shoulder. "And just how are we getting out now?"

"Hey don't ask me," he answered plainly. "The snake's supposed to get Eve _in_ trouble, not get her _out_!" 'Eve'? She was 'Eve' now? Ugggghh... Of all the things to get stuck with, she muttered to herself with a groan.

_Why_ did it have to be a _snake_?

* * *

In the darkness that they stood in, there were four doors. 'They' would of course, be an inaccuracy; the other Yugi was unable to materialize in the virtual world after all, and given the result of the last attempt they were not too eager to try again. Particularly since there was no deckmaster for him to draw from this time. Nonetheless, what he could see was what his other could see, and with that in mind they stared at the doors before them and frowned.

"What do you think we need to do here," Yugi found himself asking, brushing a hand along one of the doorways as he stared at the empty frame. Above each one there was a mouth of sorts, each one depicting a different animal of sorts. On the first, it appeared to be a swan, or some other form of bird. The next was that of a dragon, followed by a snake-like mouth, and finally on the last was a tiger, a cat of sorts with snarling teeth. The first thing to come to mind really was the four 'beasts', the four great 'gods' in Chinese myth once he'd seen those. Suzaku, the phoenix, Byakko, the white tiger... Genbu, the tortise, and finally 'Seiryuu', the dragon. North, South, East, West...

But just what did that mean? "_Four doors,_" his other muttered, crossing his arms as he looked over their options. "_Perhaps we need to choose from them?_" Maybe...

"But how," he wondered aloud, frowning in thought. "We don't even know what the meaning of the heads above the door are," the boy continued, shaking his head. Slowly walked about the door he stood by, running a hand along the sides and looking over the small engravings across it. "Hnnn... There's something else here," Yugi muttered, "But what is it..."

"Do you request entry," a calm voice asked, echoing about the doorway.

Yugi jumped, looking up as a fading figure slowly appeared above the first door. The first to appear were the bare tanned feet of a woman, followed by legs and a waist that were barely covered by an odd blackened substance. A large, barbed tail of sorts curled upward as she appeared, and with golden eyes the woman who appeared stared downward. "A-Ahh..!"

"_That tail,_" his other muttered, narrowing his eyes in the back of the boy's mind. "_A scorpion..?"_

That's what it looked like at least... The boy stepped back from the door, looking up at the woman with somewhat narrowed eyes at her form. Strange... He could not quite identify her, at least not completely. Though her face was most certainly unfamiliar after all, it still felt as though he had met the monster before, despite no reason to believe such. Pondering this however took time; and as the scorpion-woman sat above the door he found himself swallowing, somewhat red faced before he worked up the courage to speak. "I... How do I enter through this door," he asked, biting his lip somewhat.

The response came swiftly and frankly, the woman gesturing below her. "To pass through the gate, you must pass a trial," she answered, crossing her legs as black scales shimmered in the light.

"A... A trial," he repeated, receiving a nod in response.

"Correct... There are few options for you... One," the woman began, "You may face the beast that lies within this door, that whose expression is trapped in stone... Or," she continued, Yugi mentally muttering a 'pass' with his other half at the mention of another fight, "You can answer the riddle I ask of you."

Oh... A riddle? Well that worked out he supposed. "...Riddles... So I can pass if I answer correctly then," he asked, the 'scorpion' nodding in response. "And if I lose..?"

At that a sneering grin came over the woman's face, Yugi abruptly paling as golden eyes flashed. "Oh... I think you know," she stated with a darkening grin, the boy shuddering as her gaze intensified. "The decision is yours to make though," she continued almost darkly. "So will you fight... Or will you risk my trial..?"

Hnn... Yugi stared in silence, frowning somewhat as his 'other' half considered the options with him. "_If we lose, in either the fight or the riddle, we'll die no matter what,_" he muttered, lighter side nodding in agreement. "_However,_" the spirit continued darkly,_ "We're also still weak from that last battle..._"

"We might 'know' how to fight thanks to this game," he continued on with a sigh, quite vividly recalling the ease he'd cut through Oshita with, "But the riddles will test our knowledge completely..."

"_...Hnp! Then let them,_" his other half decided with a smirk, the image of the spirit standing with crossed arms coming to mind. "_After all... A riddle is just another form of a puzzle, right?_"

Yugi blinked at that, looking up in slight alarm before nodding. Well... That was true he supposed, this _was_ just a form of puzzle, wasn't it. "Right... Okay then," he decided, looking to the woman with a nod. "I'll take the challenge!"

The woman grinned even more with that, taking a more professional position as she spoke. "Very well; listen carefully. '_Ever present I flow, through rivers, through trees. Though unseen, I am there, though small, I am limitless. To the ends of the earth and back I travel, yet through this I never move. To many I am life. To others I am power. To the knowledgeable, I am both. What am I_?'"

E... Ehhh... Yugi swallowed, staring forward with somewhat wide eyes as the words registered. Oh man... What had he gotten himself into... "_Constantly flowing,_" his other half muttered in question, likely huffing in confusion. "_Hnn... This is not quite what I expected,_" he muttered, shaking his head. Ahhhh...

Maybe so... But if they didn't answer, they wouldn't be getting out of here either..! "Hnnng... I suppose we have to decipher the riddle itself first," he muttered, grinding his teeth as he stared at the ground. Ends of the earth... Ends of the earth... Time? End of time? No, that wasn't it he told himself, it was going back and forth, not forward... Ah...

"_Death, perhaps,_" his other offered, Yugi blinking in response as he pondered the statement. Ah...

"Yea," he muttered, "That would work..." Alright... So it died and came back then. It was present in everything, which probably explained why it could 'die and be reborn' without actually going anywhere... But if this was life... The boy frowned, narrowing his eyes and shaking himself at that. No... "It's not 'life'," he told himself, "Only 'some' see it as that..."

"_But what word is there that's synonymous for life and power,_" questioned the other Yugi, both boys just as confused in regards to the solution. "_I certainly don't know of one in our language,_" he continued,_ "Nor one in-_" Ah... Wait, there was..!

"KI," Yugi shouted abruptly, eyes wide as he grinned. The woman above the door stared, tail twitching somewhat as the boy continued. "It's 'Ki'!"

"_Ki,_" his other choked, "_But 'Ki' doesn't mean power!_"

No... But it meant 'motivation'! Spirit, mind, heart... It meant many things, and they all tied to life and energy... And if he was right, then in this case, that counted!

The woman smiled, a calm and soft expression gracing her face as the door became more than a stone arch, glowing brightly to obscure some path up ahead. "Very good," she stated, bowing her head. "You may pass... But remember," she whispered, fading as the smile darkened into a twisted smirk, "There are more trials yet to come before you may _truly _move on..." More..?

Yugi swallowed, nonetheless moving forward with a nod. Alright... So there were more...

They'd just have to keep going until they found the others then!

* * *

How long had she been stuck in here she wondered, a yawn escaping her mouth despite her greatest interests. An hour? Two perhaps?

The woman sighed, leaning a head on her shoulder as she dozed in and out of consciousness. Well... Some dream this was she grumbled mentally, a scowl appearing on her face. Maybe if she went to sleep she'd wake up, and someone would explain what happened to her. And speaking of 'someone'...

"What's your name," she found herself asking, the snake she spoke to currently resting atop her head. "You have to have some kind of name right," she continued, the serpent merely looking down with oddly childish eyes from his makeshift nest.

"Hnnn... I suppose that's true," it responded, blinking a few times.

"...You _suppose_," Anzu asked, raising an eyebrow.

The snake nodded, before turning to leave her head. "Yea! I mean, it's natural to figure everything has a name right? Of course... That doesn't mean I know it," he continued with a grin, hanging his head down before the woman's face as she scowled.

...He was kidding right? "You don't know your own _name_," she asked incredulously, staring at the snake as it returned to his 'nest'.

The snake merely gave off an odd, 'raspberry' sound, apparently unimpressed with the question. "Hey! Your pal 'Yugi's got a 'nameless' pharaoh on his neck doesn't he," he asked, again not seeming too oddly knowledgeable on her memories for some reason. "How come I'm exempt from the name game?"

"You're not an ancient ghost," Anzu protested blankly, the snake's presence vanishing from her head as it slithered off somewhere. "And besides that," she continued with a scowl, "How do you even know about that sort of thing?"

"Familiar, remember," he responded, the woman continuing to frown.

"And what does that even _mean_?"

"It means that we're 'tied', alright? Now..." There was a rustling noise, something thick falling on Anzu's face as the woman moved to stand and turn around. "Here we go! How's this for an exit?"

The woman blinked, following the edge of what seemed to be a vine up to a large hole at the top with her eyes. Sitting beside the other end and draped in his own shadow the snake could just barely be made out, eyes flashing with superiority. "Ah- How on earth did you even get up there," she shouted, the snake in question blinking in the same manner it always did with a grin.

"Ehhh... Who knows," it shouted down, Anzu rolling her eyes in response. "But come on, you wanted out right?" That was definitely true... And she supposed it was as good an option as any really...

Anzu grabbed at the vine, awkwardly stowing the staff on the side of her robe sash before attempting to climb up the rock wall. "Gnhg... Well... I guess I should thank you anyways," she called up, voice echoing about the chamber as she awkwardly continued the conversation. "Since you found this vine and all..."

"Eh, don't mention it," the snake responded, tongue flicking with amusement. "Familiar, remember?" Of course... 'Familiar'. That was _clearly_ the reason she told herself as she scaled the wall. _Clearly_...

Just what the heck was a familiar damn it! Clambering hands gripped at the exit of the room, grabbing onto stone and dirt as she pulled herself out with a grunt. Crawling forward on hands and knees the woman gasped somewhat for breath, her 'familiar' curling up on her arm once more as she looked down at her wrist. Now that they were in the light, she could more clearly see the markings that appeared with the bite. What she'd thought were 'blocks' were individual symbols, each one varied and almost picturesque in appearance, appearing clearer as she brought the wrist close. These... "Hieroglyphs," she muttered in question, looking to the snake on her arm with a frown. "They're covering you too," she continued, her partner appearing to tense. Starting from an enormous vulture carrying a disk, a series of hieroglyphs tracing down the snake's back. Three times, surrounding an 'ankh', she could see pictures of sorts, some kind of... "Hey," she muttered as the snake closed his eyes over, growing more and more lethargic in the blinding sun from above, "Some of them look almost like-"

"_**GREAEEEEEEE!**_" The two both jumped, the snake pulling itself from a sun-induced stupor and Anzu from her own confusion.

"Gh- They're still there," she shouted incredulously, hurriedly grabbing the staff out from her sash and pointing it forward as the roars picked up once again. "How many of these are there!"

"Who knows," the snake responded, already falling to the ground and slithering off rather than hanging around the woman. "But I don't see any cliffs nearby!" Gh- Wha-

The woman turned, balking as her 'familiar' began to flee down a rope-bridge joining the canyons together. "You- Hey! What happened to being 'tied' to each other," she shouted, glancing back at the approaching horde of cyclops before racing after the serpent as she growled.

"Hah! You might be tied to me," he answered, "But I'm sure not tied to you!"

"I'm pretty sure it's the other way around," she argued bitterly, only to pause as she took a step on the bridge. Splinters of wood cracked with every step, and as she gripped the ropes at the side she could feel the fibres coming off in her hands. The bridge she stood on was fragile and collapsing... And she was only two steps in. "Ack... Not good..." The woman looked forward, wincing as she witnessed the snake curling up safely on the other side. Damn it... Something that small, of course it would make it..!

"_**GREEEEEHH!**_" Gh-!_** "REAEEEEEEE!**_" She glanced back, swallowing in unease at the continued sounds of the cyclops behind her. Tch... Either she'd be killed by giants, or she'd fall to her death...

...She would rather pick falling though she decided, hurriedly running across the bridge with wide eyes. Besides... This was just a dream right? Just a dream... Nothing more nothing less, she could do this easily! Wood splintered to the ground from the planks behind her, but as she ran the bridge held firm. One quarter of the distance... One half the distance... Three quarters, she thought with a grin, before the thoughts were cut short.

-_SNAP_-

Anzu froze, a sudden quake coming through the bridge as she gripped the sides. "Oh no..." Behind her the cyclops had followed after... Though barely a quarter of the way in the bridge was creaking under their weight, clawed hands gnawing at the ropes on the sides as she stared at the sinking bridge. The bridge was sagging... Collapsing under the weight... "Oh no no no no no..."

"_**Greeee... REAAAEEEEEEHHH!**_"

"H-HAAAHH!" With an echoing crumble the bridge collapsed, Anzu shrieking as she fell. Her free hand scrambled for something to take hold of as the bridge's splinters and fibers blew into her eyes, hands blindly flying forward before finally latching onto one of the last few planks on the bridge. Rumbling cries and roars from the giants were filling the air... Anzu closed her eyes as she turned away from the vertigo inducing height she was at however, instead fumbling with her staff to store it away and grab the bridge planks for support. Great... Her bridge was now a ladder. A ladder that stood above multiple meters of height. "Oooooohhhhh... Damn it..." This wasn't a dream, it was a nightmare..! Weak hands slowly moved up the planks, short grunts coming from her as she climbed. Hngg... This bridge... It was so long too, how was she supposed to make this length... Of course, given her only option...

The hot sun was beating down from above just now, making it difficult to concentrate. Sweaty palms were slowly losing their grip on already fragile and cracked wood, her mind mentally craving an ice-cream. Half-way there she told herself with a swallow, letting out a short scream as her foot broke through one of the planks. H-H... Half way there..!

Who knew how these ropes were holding her she told herself as she climbed, breathing somewhat labored as she went. How these wooden planks weren't cracking and crumbling into dust, leaving her to fall to her 'death'. As she clambered onto the cliff however, collapsing on her back, she found herself uncaring. Her mind was hazy... She'd gone so long without water, without even a slight 'chill' besides her one 'Blizzard' attack... And the _heat,_ the heat was just so pressuring... So pressuring... If she slept...

If she slept, she asked herself, unaware of the shadows coming around her at that moment... Would she 'wake up'?

* * *

To say that this was a disappointment would be, well... An understatement and a 'disappointment', at least when it came to accurate terms, he decided. After passing through the first door they had come to an extensive and nigh endless hall, lined in stone and filled with carvings of unknown events or places. For a while, he thought one of them had resembled Anzu... But in the end he'd shaken it off, passing by images of aircraft and dancing in order to move on. The carvings hadn't been his reason for being there after all; he needed to leave as soon as possible, and find his friends.

To come to the end of that hallway only to exit from the same door they'd entered in however, with the hall vanishing to render it an arch once more, was just horrible really, and not at all a comforting fact when it came to achieving that goal. "Gh... We're back where we started," Yugi shouted with wide eyes, looking around. "What is this..!"

"_The woman did say there were more challenges,_" his other muttered.

Hnn... "That's true," he answered quietly, wandering to the next door before frowning. "...Maybe... Do you think we have to go through all of them," he asked, unconsciously looking back to where his partner would normally stand. "Before we can really 'move on' I mean?"

"_I don't think I'd be surprised if that were the case,_" the spirit admitted with a 'shrug', shaking his head in the back of his mind. "_After all... There's no indication of which door is the 'right one',_" he continued,_ "So it would make sense..._"

True... True... In that case... Yugi hesitantly tapped the next door, that of the 'Suzaku', before stepping back as the next woman appeared. This time, though the face matched, she appeared different. Rather than black scales she wore a simple ebony gown, the fabric almost translucent much to Yugi's embarrassed shock. Upon the woman's head in the meantime was a basket of sorts, woven from green reeds and shining dully in a nonexistent light. "You have returned," she said calmly, no trace of surprise audible in her tone.

The boy nodded, staring to the woman as he tried not to stare too hard at the sheer dress. "That's right/ But you knew that I'd do that, didn't you," he responded, looking up seriously. "There are four riddles aren't there..? And I have to answer all of them to move on, don't I?"

The woman smirked, before nodding slowly. "True... There is one for each door that you must answer to move on. If you are asking me this," she continued, "I would take it to assume that you are seeking the next riddle then..."

Again Yugi nodded, watching as the monster sat upright atop the door and spoke.

"Very well... Here is your next challenge," she told him, holding a hand out in gesture. "'I_ am the companion to death, the shadow in life. Through me you will often see twin rivers of salt across a plain of white, coated in mantles of black. Pray you do not succumb to my power, for those who do leave me to all the rest in companionship_!"

Ah... This one was worse than the last one! Yugi frowned, nonetheless crossing his arms in thought as he conversed with his other on the matter. Hnnn... Damn it. "_Obviously this one has to do with the effects of death,_" his other was muttering, likely holding a similar pose to his friend. "_But even so, that leaves us little to go on... Do you have any idea as to what 'salt rivers' might refer to,_" he continued, the lighter half shaking his head.

"Not really... Hnn..." Yugi continued to frown, staring at the ground. "It can't be a real river... Rivers are only fresh water, there's no such thing as a salt-water _river_," he muttered, closing his eyes. "Black has a lot to do with death but... How do you succumb to something other than death if death is constantly present with it," he asked, again finding himself turned to empty space.

"_Hnn... It would have to be a depressing topic, that is for certain,_" his other muttered, before a rush of excitement came from his side of the 'link. "_Ah- Hang on now... Yugi, tears are salty right,_" he 'asked', his partner nodding despite the action remaining unseen. "_Well then... If you were to have heard that someone died, what would you do?_"

What would he- "Well... I'd be upset of course," Yugi responded rather quickly, eyes wide with slight incredulity. "Especially if it was someone close..!"

"_Yes, and so would I,_" the spirit continued almost dismissively,_ "But I meant physically; when people are upset, they grow pale, or cry, right?_"

Umm... "Right... But-" The boy blinked, before nodding in understanding as the answer became clear. "Ahhhh... Of course..! 'Twin rivers of salt on a plain of white'- Tears on a pale face! Then, if that's covered in black," he continued, his partner smirking in response.

"_It's the black clothing of a funeral goer- and if one were to succumb to the emotions of that time,_" he continued, plainly,_ "Then wouldn't the emotion spread?_"

"That's right... Of course it would! And that means... That means the answer is 'Mourning'," Yugi announced, looking to the woman as she raised her eyebrows somewhat. "...Right?"

The woman smirked, slowly nodding as chuckling came through the air. "You are correct... 'Mourning' is indeed the answer! Move on," she continued, fading from existence, "And with luck, we will meet again soon..."

With that in mind the boy before her nodded, charging through the door with not a moment to waste.

* * *

She was dreaming... She was dreaming a crazy, dehydration-induced dream of the desert, filled with confusing thoughts and memories that she could only hazily remember at this moment. School... She was at school she told herself, watching as she stood across from Yugi at the boy's desk. It was from a long time ago... When Jonouchi was on 'house arrest' for his eyes by order of the 'all powerful Mokuba' as he'd jokingly been called, and when Honda was too busy with his nephew to deal with anything else... Much to his displeasure. It was before Bakura had come... Before things had gotten quite as complicated as they were, and when it seemed things had finally calmed down from the terror that was the 'Death T Tower'. When it seemed things could finally be 'normal' again.

They were talking about cards... Yugi had been sorting through his old duel monsters deck with recent news of the national tournament, seemingly out of habit. "So which one do you think suits you," she had asked, smiling brightly as the boy looked through his deck.

"'Suits me'," he responded in surprise. "How so?"

"I don't know... Just something that you feel 'matches'," she'd said with a smirk, her friend staring in slight confusion.

Yugi had blinked curiously in response to the request, staring at the cards in his hand before eventually shrugging. "Well," he admitted, "I'd _like_ to say the 'Dark Magician'... But that one's more the other me," he continued with a laugh, grabbing another one. "...Here; this one," he told her, smiling widely. "Maha Vailo."

"Maha Vailo..?" She'd looked at the card after that, before frowning at the robed and horn-helmed monster. "Isn't... Isn't this one a girl," she'd asked suspiciously, pointing to the card with a frown.

At this Yugi had laughed nervously, rubbing his head with a cough. "Ahaha... Y-Yea... It's a little embarrassing but you see, while she's not the most popular or powerful monster," he'd told her seriously, "She has a hidden ability... It makes her a lot stronger than she looks!" Ah...

That made sense she'd supposed. She still didn't understand the connection, but she supposed it made sense. "Right... Then... What about me," she'd asked, pointing to herself with a smile.

"You," he repeated almost blankly.

"Yea... Which one do you think suits me," the woman pressed, leaning somewhat over the desk.

The boy had looked up momentarily, and soon enough pulled a card from the deck to hold it forward with a smile. "Ah... This one," he decided, smiling broadly. "The Dark Magician Girl."

"Ah? That one," she repeated almost blankly, looking over the card in surprise.

"Yea; it gains power when its partners, the Dark Magician or Dark Magician of Chaos, are in the graveyard," Yugi explained, still smiling as his friend took the card in his hands. "By drawing strength from both enemies and friends, she can become a powerful person... Like you; you're really strong... But sometimes I find that when it comes to fighting together, you're at your strongest when protecting us," he continued, Anzu looking back up from the card with a jolt.

"Ah- Protecting-" She'd quickly flushed, choking as she went red. "I... I'm the girl! I don't do the protecting! ...Though I'm certainly not some 'damsel in distress'," she added darkly, her friend shaking his head at his friend's self contradictions. "Well... The Dark Magician Girl... I think I've seen this card before," the woman admitted, holding it in her hands. Somewhere else... She had seen it, though not on a card. It was a few years ago in fact she realized, a memory coming to mind. "Ah, right... While I was in the USA visiting my father... He took me to see a small time 'musical'," she laughed, shaking her head as the memory returned. "Dark Magician Girl, 'Jewel of the Stage'... It was a silly show, meant for kids to get them interested in the cards, but... I couldn't help but want to take part in it," she admitted, Yugi blinking in response. "It seemed fun..."

"Oh... I see..." Then...

Why not, her mind questioned, Anzu blinking slightly as a breeze passed. In a flash the scene changed, and suddenly as both of the two Yugis she knew and cared for were sitting across from her in audience seats she could feel that breeze growing colder. The woman looked down, jumping in shock as she looked over herself. D-Dark Magician Girl... She was wearing..! '_Presenting, for the seventh annual showing,_' a voice announced, Anzu looking up with surprise. '_Dark Magician Girl – The Jewel of the Stage!_' Eh-Ehh! Would they seriously play it until she graduated and moved out?

There was no time to question her dream as she was pulled through the air, cables hoisting her over the crowd as the audience stared. Yugi... Yugi was watching her now, both of them were, with smiles on their faces... "Ah... Aha..." This... She couldn't help but laugh, tears dotting her eyes as she flew through the air. "Ahahaha! HAHAHAHAHA!" This... This was fun!

If she could do this for real, this would be- '_Wake up,_' someone whispered, the pull and the breeze abruptly fading as time appeared to slow. What...

Who was saying that? '_Wake up,_' the voice repeated, Anzu frowning in response. Who was that? Who-

"Hey! Rise and shine sleepy!" Water splashed across her face, the woman sitting up with a jolt as she coughed.

"Gh- Kack! Kahc, Hah! Hah... Ha... Auggghhh..." Anzu shook herself, water dripping into her face as she looked to the snake at her side. Ignoring the fact that she'd somehow been doused in water by something with no limbs... "What... What was that about," she questioned, the snake appearing to 'smirk' with amusement.

"Eh... Penguins were getting tired of carrying you around," he responded, the woman blinking a number of times as she sat up on what she quickly identified as wood logs.

Ahhh... Hold on now, he just said... "Pe... Penguins," she repeated, the snake in the meantime curling around her throat with a nod as it returned to her body.

"Yep; went looking to find you some water and somehow found a penguin instead; don't ask how it works, but hey, it seemed willing enough to help. Of course, since we couldn't wake you up," the snake continued with a yawn, "I guess it figured carrying you would be better, since a giant horde of them showed up a couple seconds later." O... Kay... She supposed that could have been what woke her up then, but...

Well... _Penguins_. "...We were at the _grand canyon_," she said incredulously, turning to the snake as the raft they sat on drifted. "What would penguins be doing-"

"Errr... Yea... About that," the snake muttered with a cough, Anzu currently looking around with narrowed eyes. "We're still there." Still-

"No way," she whispered, eyes wide as she looked around the seas they currently floated on. "This... This looks nothing _like_ the canyon," she shouted, shaking her head. "There's snow everywhere, and ice... We're on a _raft_," she protested, looking down at the snake as they continued to drift toward shore. "I mean... We're-"

A series of odd chirping noises caught their attention, the woman turning as the raft came to dock at a now frozen peak. Penguins... An entire _field_ of penguins stood before her, each one with a different pattern of black and white over them while they cleared a path. Despite the bizarreness of the situation the snake around her neck seemed fairly calm about all of this too it seemed. Of course, said snake was also about to talk, given that he moved to her arm for a better view, ducking under her sleeves with another yawn. "Lots of penguins huh," he said somewhat conversationally, Anzu giving a look that clearly told him what she thought of the statement. "Yeaaaaa... Like I said Anzu, this is the canyon; after you passed out," the serpent explained, "And I went to find help, a great big snow storm hit... Man... You should have seen it," he shouted with a grin, fangs extending in the gesture. "A great big tidal wave tore right through here from _nowhere_! It was awesome!"

Awesome huh..? Anzu raised an eyebrow, smirking somewhat. "You act like you've never seen snow before," she joked, the snake coughing awkwardly as they were led onward by the penguins.

"Yea well... What can I say, I'm a familiar, I'm a snake, we don't mix with snow." Of course... That _had_ to be the reason right?

The woman continued to shake her head, staring forward to keep an eye on the path as they moved. "You still haven't told me what this 'familiar' business means," she muttered, the snake on her wrist snorting in response.

"Hah! Keep waiting for an answer," he answered, 'grinning' cheekily before returning to the woman's neck. "Hahhhhhh warmth... Precious warmth," he muttered, the wrist having apparently not been enough. "I hate being cold-blooded..." Yes... That would probably cause problems in this weather Anzu decided, shaking her head.

Speaking of the weather... Snow was falling just lightly at the moment, and she had a feeling it had something to do with this castle. "_Wow_," she muttered, looking up at the enormous ice sculptures lining the palace they were entering now. "Someone in here _really_ likes Penguins," Anzu whispered, shaking her head.

"Got that right," the snake muttered sleepily, giving off a small yawn as he shivered. "Man... Someone light a fire," he moaned, "I'm going into hibernation here..."

"Do cobras even hibernate," the woman hissed in response, the snake giving another yawn in response.

"I dunno," he groaned sleepily, "Wake me up in spri- OW! SSSSSSSFFF what was that," he roared, abruptly finding himself dangling in the woman's hand.

Anzu merely frowned as the snake flailed in her grip, having flicked his forehead rather roughly in her anger. "For being an insufferable little snake," she told him, narrowing her eyes. "In fact, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you were only six," she continued, ignoring the fairly prominent 'eye' that sat on the snake's brow for the moment.

"Ssssssssfff... Not my fault I'm honest," he growled, bringing his head up to face his 'partner'.

"Uh-huh..." Because that was always an acceptable excuse right? Loud squawking cut her thoughts short, the woman turning as the penguins all gestured to a large door standing before her in the ice. "...Wow," she muttered, looking up at the structure with wide eyes. "Impressive..."

"...I've seen better," the snake muttered with a shrug, Anzu turning on it with a frown.

"Alright. Unless you plan on giving me a name, shut up, before I feed you to one of these birds," she muttered, the snake momentarily turning to glance at the penguins in question with a gulp.

"Ahhhh... 'Ren'," he offered, giving his cheeky grin as the woman stared.

Ren... Hn... "...I guess that works," she decided, shaking her head and pushing through the door with a grunt. "Now... ...Where are we," Anzu muttered, stepping into the room as the enormous door slowly closed behind her.

Ren did the best impression of a shrug that a snake could, shaking his head. "Beats me... If we didn't know this guy liked penguins before though, we sure as hell do now..."

That was for sure... All around them were sculptures of penguins, diving, 'posing', jumping... And at the very back, a pair of penguins actually wearing _clothing, _each one in a waistcoat of sorts, could be seen in fact... And with each one gripping a chain of sorts in their beaks as they pulled a second door before the pair open, somehow managing to tie off the holds before turning toward the two. "...Merk!" Uhhh...

Anzu blinked, staring as the penguins squawked and gestured to the door. "Eh... You want me to come in," she asked with a slight shrug.

"Well, that or they really want to dance," Ren muttered blankly, his partner frowning as she returned the snake to her wrist.

"What did I say," she warned, the snake grinning in response.

"Come on... I gave you a name didn't I," he laughed, the woman only growling further.

"_A_ name," she asked, gritting her teeth in agitation.

Ren appeared to very quickly realize the hole he'd dug himself, coughing nervously in response. "Uhhhh..."

"Mazaki Anzu, sixteen years old," a voice called out, the two hurriedly cutting their argument short. "I wasn't aware you had a companion..." Compa- (Right, Ren...) Ummm... All that aside now...

"Yea... Neither was I," she muttered, walking forward with a swallow. The source of the voice in question appeared to be a large, crested penguin, dressed in a suit jacket and top hat. The penguin held before him a series of papers, a small pile sitting at his side to include what looked to be a resume. In fact she realized, stepping into the room to frown as she looked to the photo clipped onto the resume, that was... "Hey... How did you get my resume," she shouted, eyes wide as the penguin stared toward her.

"Now now, there's no need to panic... How I received your application is entirely unimportant right now," he continued rather plainly, "What matters is that your interview starts now!"

"I.. Interview," she repeated, her partner as well blinking in surprise.

"Ooooh... And just what did you apply for inside a video game then," Ren asked, uncoiling somewhat as Anzu stood before the table.

"I didn't apply for-"

"'Mazaki Anzu'," the penguin began, "In regards to the audition for lead role in the musical 'Dark Magician Girl – The Jewel of the Stage'..." ...Alright, this was definitely a dream then... "You know," the creature continued idly, "That play, despite its beginnings, has gotten quite popular... It's even on broadway now..." ..._Definitely_ a dream. Definitely, definitely... "I have to say," he went on with a smirk, "Kaiba Corporation used to sponsor broadway shows... Gozaburo-sama's late wife was quite fond of the theatre you see, and up until her death she would constantly travel to see them. If I were back under hire in the company in fact, I don't think it would be too difficult to find you that lead role you so want," he chuckled, somehow smirking despite being in possession of a beak.

Ah... L... Lead role- Hang on... "Kaiba Corp..." Why was KaibaCorp in her dreams? That made no sense... "What the hell is..." The woman shook herself, pushing the thoughts back before looking forward with a scowl. "...No... Better question," she decided with a steady frown. "Why would you even do this for me?"

The penguin laughed at that, shaking his head and wiping a 'tear' from his eyes. "Hahahahaha! It's what you want isn't it? A pleasure to meet you in person," he continued with a grin, holding out his flipper to awkwardly shake Anzu's hand after a confusing moment of silence. "Former head of Personnel at Kaiba Corp, deceased at 55 years of age, I am Otaki Shuzo! But enough about me," Otaki added, chuckling at the pale pallor Anzu had taken, "We have an interview to complete!"

Perhaps it was good Ren was there. His bluntness and childishness was allowing her to keep focus. "Whaaaaat," he muttered, before being cut off by the penguin.

"Mazaki Anzu, sixteen years old," Otaki began, "Currently attending second year of highschool. Due to your father's work as pilot, you moved about multiple times when you were younger, until finally your parents divorced and went their separate ways. During summers however you still spend time with your father, during which you often attend musicals and dances, one of which was the aforementioned 'Jewel of the Stage'... Hnnn... It would seem that just recently your father was admitted into the Dal Al Fouad Hospital of Cairo after an accident involving apparent gang crossfire, news you received just on the nineteenth in fact," he added, narrowing his eyes as both Anzu and Ren tensed. "Ironically concerning the 'Rare Hunters'... You held back this information however due to lack of information and inability to check in on his condition, instead choosing not to distract your friends with the matter... When in fact, you're simply afraid he's already gone." W- How...

What... Anzu grew deathly pale, shaking her head and slowly stepping back from the penguin before her. "This... How do you know all of this," she said with a swallow, eyes widening with fear. "How..."

"How..? You mean to tell me you doubt my vast information network," the penguin asked with a grin. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Really... It's easy to gather information! You just need to work at it... For example... I also know that despite exemplary skills in sports and classes," Otaki continued, "You have refused membership in any and all clubs or activities at your school, taking time to instead secretly obtain a job as a waitress to earn money for education overseas. Due to an incident involving an escaped criminal however you changed jobs, ironically coming to work at Kaiba's 'KaibaLand Amusement Park' before quitting for unstated reasons and taking up a part time position at a local engraving store. A truly admirable effort in work I might add," Otaki chuckled, his addressee gritting her teeth. "But you know... To pursue such a dream... Well, even if you didn't bother, the result would be the same," he laughed. "A person like yourself, who only thinks of herself and of one small boy in the corner of the class, one boy whose future is so far out of your reach... He'll never be yours," the penguin continued, both Anzu and Ren staring with confused expressions, "And even if he was," he taunted, "Do you think you would reach your dreams? No! Because in the end, you would simply follow him around as you always do..." What...

What was this..! "You... What kind of dream is this," she burst out, eyes wide with incredulity. These thoughts, these things... She'd never thought like this! So why were they in her thoughts... "Labeling me like this... You can't do that," she roared, only to be ignored as the penguin went on with a sneer.

"Since birth you have littered twelve times," the penguin announced, "Forgotten to turn off the tap 35 times, forgotten to turn off the lights 62 times..." What... What...

"Stop... Stop this," she shouted, grabbing at her head. "How do you know all of this, even _I_ don't know all of this!" Dreams were supposed to take from memory weren't they? So how could this be... How... "You're lying," she finally screamed, the snake on her arm staring and wrapping itself around her arm for support as she shook. "**Lying**!"

"Hn! Mazaki Anzu... If all the people of the world knew these things about you," Otaki asked, "What do you think would happen. Wasting resources as you do... You're causing all kinds of problems," he roared, eyes narrowing in apparent rage. "Global warming, pollution! You're making the penguins suffer you know!"

"Again with the penguins," Ren muttered as he shook his head, "Just what _is_ it with you and the penguins..."

"Those who don't understand this world... You can't even hope to make it turn the way you want if you act like that," Otaki continued, the snake on his target's arm still frowning.

"Seriously, what are you _talking_ about..."

The penguin before them stood, table seemingly vanishing in an instant as the walls themselves began to blow out of existence. Ice fragmented into mere shards, pieces of stone broke holes into an arising sea... "Hnhnhahahahahaha... Welcome to the frozen tundra, the realm of 'my' kind," Otaki sneered, the ice float he stood on slowly drifting away from his opponent. "Mazaki Anzu... You've 'failed' you application, but you needn't worry about a thing..! When I take your body... I'll enter the real world and make you 'reborn'! The kind of woman who thinks everything of the earth," he cackled, "The kind who cares for the world..!" This... This...

"Who the hell says I'll even take that kind of sick challenge," she roared, turning on her heels to run before the ice collapsed into the seas before her. "I'm waking up right now... I'm leaving, and- Gh-!"

"Believe me," Otaki chuckled, "You don't have a choice... And as for your 'dream theory'," he continued, howling with laughter as the woman turned, "Believe me when I say... This is far from a dream!"

* * *

The second hall seemed longer than the last, but nonetheless he tried his best to run the full distance of carved stone. Conversation had only slightly dotted the air as he'd charged, and more or less the points they covered varied completely from the surrounding scenery. From the start there was worry; Noa had said 'she' was at the other end of this first part after all, and that meant that it could be anyone from Kaiba to Shizuka to Anzu, all signs pointing to the latter as they passed the carved images around them. But as to how they were doing he couldn't say, and he wished horribly that he could change that answer so that he would be able to calm down.

Another thing on their mind was Noa in general of course. His mannerisms, his words... They'd only spoken to him, at least directly, once after all but even then it seemed obvious that he was obsessed with something involving them, driven to replace at least one of the people he knew. Driven to replace someone without giving any signs as to who or why.

And then the 'women of the doors', the women with identical faces and expressions. From what he could tell they'd seemed Egyptian, and as he and his other self pondered their identities they had successfully identified both. At the first door after all she had born the image of a scorpion, with a tail and even claws adorning her form. With so few Gods in the former Pharaoh's old religion that were represented by such, particularly the Goddesses, it became clear that it was 'Selket'. And then there was the second woman, completely human in appearance. Rather than any form of animal being she held a basket on her head, and pondering the clue of 'mourning' they'd decided that the woman they had seen that time was 'Nephthys'. As for who the other two were, they were about to find out it seemed, the boy exiting back through the second arch and slowing to a stop.

Back at the beginning... Yugi turned to look at the arch briefly as his path disappeared into darkness yet again, before turning back to the remaining two he had to open. Here they were, he told himself with a swallow, staring for a moment before turning toward the next door. It was time to face the next riddle... "...The Byakko door..."

"Indeed..." The woman who appeared this time seemed identical to the others when she first began to appear. From the toes to her chest she was identically formed, albeit dressed in a sheer white gown that had Yugi coughing rather awkwardly as he turned away. From the shoulders up however, the boy found himself staring in confusion, the head of a lioness meeting his gaze. Fierce eyes, a closed mouth... "I assume you are ready," she asked, the boy before her nodding in fear filled silence as his other did the same. "Alright then... Take your time. '_I have many faces but I go by one name, Many voices, but in the end one word. Many pictures hold me, but I need only two lines; from the body, to a stick, to a pair of legs. What am I?_'"

Hn... This one seemed simple enough... "Many faces..."

"_Something diverse,_" his partner muttered, the lion-headed woman before them sitting at attention as she waited._ "We'll need to be careful with this one,_" he continued, his slight unease transferring to his lighter half.

Yugi nodded, staring at the ground in thought. "Right... That last line though, I think that one is the key," he continued, his other half seeming to frown in the back of his mind.

"_From a body, to a stick, to a pair of legs... ...A stickman?_" Ah- ...Well, he supposed with 'stick' in the middle...

That was only half way though, there was no way that was the actual answer he told himself with a frown. Although... "Hn... The legs of a stick man..."

"_Just two lines; it looks almost like 'hito', don't you think,_" the spirit asked idly, his lighter side shrugging. Yea... It did, he su-

"Ah! Other me," he shouted with a jolt, "That's it!"

"_Humans? ...Ah! Of course,_" the spirit echoed with a laugh,_ "It's obvious now that you've said it..!"_

Then, the answer was..."'Riddler'-san," Yugi called up, the monster looking down with calm eyes as the boy swallowed. "The answer is the 'Hito'... The kanji!"

At this the monster smirked, the door glowing to reveal the next path with a low and rumbling growl. "Correct; one door remains," she stated clearly as she vanished, eyes seemingly narrowed. "Good luck... The final riddle is always the hardest..." So the next one would be hardest then...

"_We'll just have to hope for the best,_" his other muttered, Yugi nodding in response. "_In the meantime... Let's go!_"

* * *

It wasn't a dream, it wasn't a dream... It wasn't a dream, she repeated in her mind as her escape was cut off, the woman nervously pulling out her staff with a swallow. This wasn't a dream, yet it seemed so much like one, but how would her mental decision affect this 'boss fight'? Cards... She found herself thinking of cards in her unease, thinking back to the 'rules' she'd been given. Noa had said she would have to use a deck but...

"Hnhnhahahaaaa... Coming to terms with what I've said," her opponent laughed, standing far across from them above the seas and floating on a single piece of ice. "This fight is life or death, 'Mazaki Anzu'! I lose and you escape... You lose," he continued, "And you'll take my place in this world right here!" Gh... As if she was doing that! The woman continued to stare in unease as her opponent laughed, safely kept away from her range of power by the seas below. "Hehehehehe... This battle... It'll be different from the others," Otaki chuckled, eyes narrowing in mirth as his opponent grit her teeth. "You can fight all you like, but if you don't use your deck your as good as dead! And speaking of your deck," he added, Anzu jumping as a dome of light appeared around her, "Choose your cards! And following that, your deckmaster..!"

"Deckmaster..?" The normal rules didn't even apply! More over, what did she do, tap the ca- Ah, she realized as she did just that, it was exactly like that... Back to business then... "What the hell is a deckmaster..."

Ren grimaced in response to this, looking far more serious as he turned to his partner. "Exactly what he said," he said plainly, looking back to the field. "Deckmaster; for the duels in this game," the snake explained, "Each player picks a monster to assimilate with. This guy doesn't have a body, so he just becomes the monster," he added. "But if you pick something, it should just affect your clothes..." Ah...

Well, as much as she'd like to ask how he knew all that, she supposed there was a time and place... "I see..." Well... She supposed her only option was to try and build as strong a deck as possible with that in mind then really, though given that the last time she'd picked up a deck was in late November she was finding that a fair number of these cards were unknown to her. Hnnn... The woman slowly and hesitantly looked about the dome, tapping the occasional card as she spotted them and deemed their effects useful. One... Two... Three...

"Hey what about this one," her 'familiar' asked, jabbing his tail to the side in an attempt to help build the deck. "You grabbed the Dark Magician Girl right?"

That one..? Anzu blinked, looking over the card. 'Sage's Stone'... "Special summon Dark Magician when Dark Magician Girl is on the field... That could be helpful," she muttered, tapping the card. "Now I just need to find the Dark Magician and- Ah!" The woman balked as the screen vanished completely, turning toward Otaki with wide eyes. "You- I still had one card left to pick," she shouted, gesturing to the empty air. "What was that!"

The penguin merely shrugged, grinning. "Well, it's not my fault you reached your maximum number of cards! Why... Something important in there," he asked darkly, Anzu gripping her staff with a growl.

That... That... Filthy old man..! "Hey, cool down," Ren hissed, tongue flicking in and out as he whispered. "You've got me right; worst comes to worst, we'll just try what we did last time!"

Last time? With the 'double spell'? Hn! "I highly doubt that will be enough," she muttered, the snake rolling his eyes in response.

"Hn! This is what I get for being 'nice'... Better choose your deckmaster now," he added, the woman swallowing somewhat as the screen of cards appeared before her to give her her choices in monsters. Strange way to play a card game but... Well, she supposed it was as good as any. Anzu looked around the screens, arms crossed momentarily before swiping one of the closer ones.

This one! "Dark Magician Girl," she called out, the woman briefly appearing at her side before smoking out of existence. A choking feeling gripped her momentarily, the woman clutching her chest as the change took place. A head band appeared around the back of her hair... Black robes were dyed blue, with a sash and shawl in matching pink to wrap around her shoulders and hips. The staff itself also changed, becoming golden in colour, and as the woman opened her eyes they flashed a steady ice blue with not a single hint of the usual brown 'core' they held. The duel was going to begin... "I'm not going to lose easily," she announced, a wave of confidence passing over her as she stared. "Let's do this! I'll go first!"

"Hoh, that's bold of you," Ren muttered, only to shrink back as his partner glowered.

"NOT. Now," she snarled, gripping her staff as she charged along the icy ground in search of a path toward her opponent. Thank god this outfit came with boots she told herself, five cards appearing in her mind as the 'duel' began. "We can attack through cards _or_ magic right," she asked, the snake nodding in response.

"That's right; you never know when a card might help though," he continued as his partner already formulated a strategy, "And-"

"I set a card face down," she called out as she waved her free hand, 'Mirror Force' shimmering like a glass sheet at her back. "And now... Ancient Elf in attack mode," she announced, briefly pausing from her place on the glacier as the black armored woman seemed to arise from out of the ice itself. The elf, though strong, was not nearly close enough to make her strike, and though she chased behind her summoner best as she could it was evident that the 'first move' rule was in play. "Now then... While the Elf can't attack," she continued, taking her run across the glacier once more as she charged up a nearby structure of ice, "I can! _FIRE_," she roared, pushing off the ice and pointing her staff forward with narrowed eyes. Steam filled the air in the resulting strike, fogging up the entire field as he ice where Otaki had stood disappeared. The ice, though quickly replaced, was completely gone, and as she twirled her staff the woman had to smirk. "Hah... Easy!"

"Errrr... You might want to re-think that statement," Ren muttered uneasily, coiling around his partner's neck as the woman paled.

"What..."

There... There was nothing on the melted ice, not even a charred body, but that meant... "MY turn," Otaki cackled, Anzu turning with a jolt as her penguin opponent shook himself off and steadied himself on the ice. The penguin momentarily pulled off his hat as he grinned, shaking it of the water it had absorbed during his dive before replacing it upon his head. "Too bad for you," he chuckled, clapping his flippers dry with a sneer. "I might be an old man, but I'm still extremely cautious! Take that card for example," he shouted with a grin. "I know full well that its a trap... So with the monster I plan to summon to the seas" he continued, flippers spread wide, "I would probably just hurt myself... Unless," the penguin announced, "I do this first! I cast the spell cold wave," he roared, voice almost drowned out by the sound of wind and snow as he pointed toward the woman. "And following that, I summon the Giant Red Sea Snake in attack mode, with your face down card unable to be summoned this turn!"

Oh was that all it was she asked herself, glancing back at the frosted glass as she hid behind her arms. Well... That didn't seem... Too... Bad... Um. "Gh... I can't see anything," she shouted with a start, looking around with wide eyes as the snow continued to fill the air. "Where..."

A shadow began to loom overhead, a tall and glowing shadow that resembled a twisted mix between a fish and a worm. "_**Grnnnnnnn...**_" Ah... Ahhh...

That was a lot bigger than it should have been..! "S-Sea..!"

"Gh- This guy must have a power-raising ability! Run for it, run for it!"

He didn't have to tell her twice..! But all the same, she couldn't tell which way was wall and which way was- "_**GRAAAAAAOOOOOOO!**_" Oh no...

"_**HAH!**_" As the sea-snake launched itself forward Anzu felt herself being pushed violently to the side, grunting in pain before looking to the one who had done so. Violet armor... Or that was what had been there a split second ago. With a sickening crunch her Ancient Elf was being killed... Blood was dripping from fatal and shock inducing wounds, and as the snake swallowed the elf's body she felt nauseous. Not a dream... This...

The woman slowly picked herself up as the screen at the corner flashed her life-point count, only to bite her lip in pain as a sudden and sickening sensation came over her. "G-Unhg... What..!"

Ren as well turned, staring with wide eyes at the woman he claimed 'familiar' status to. His partner had collapsed to her knees... Gripping her arm close, biting her lip in pain. As the serpent stared however he found himself choking, slowly looking up to his partner's face with a swallow. "H-Hey... You might not want to look now Anzu... But I don't think you want to stretch this match out for too long," he said nervously, Anzu in the meantime biting her way through the pain she had. W... What..? What was he talking abo-

The woman looked back over her hands, eyes wide with horror as the fingers of her left one began to fuse together. The nails had already shrunk back in fact, covering themselves with flesh, and as she was left with a thumb and 'two fingers' a thick and dense coating of black feathers sprouted over them in seconds. "This..." All of this... It couldn't be real... It couldn't... And yet, as she stared, she felt as though a curtain had been lifted, as though everything up until that point had regained astonishing amounts of clarity. "This isn't a dream, is it," she whispered fearfully, slowly turning to the snake on her arm as it looked away.

"No... No it's not," Ren admitted. "Kind of hoped that if you kept thinking it was a dream that you'd feel less afraid, and get out of this easier," he went on, "But no... You're not the only one stuck here," he continued quietly, looking back to where their opponent stood. "Yugi, Jonouchi, and five others... There're trapped here too," he explained, his partner paling as she followed the serpent's gaze. The red coloured sea snake was sitting quite comfortably in the seas at the moment as the snow cleared, top half raised above the water in an almost cobra like fashion. And as Anzu stared, not noticing that her left eye had also changed somewhat in appearance, she found herself gritting her teeth in a rekindled rage.

"You... What is 'THIS'," she shouted, holding out her left 'hand' in the now cleared air. "What are you doing to me?"

Otaki merely chuckled at the rage the woman was in, the laughter quickly growing into an all out maniacal cackle. "What am I doing? It's obvious isn't it," the penguin roared, 'shrugging' from behind his own serpent. "If you lose you have to stay here... So why not match the scenery? In fact, it's almost better this way... Aren't you 'cold'," he asked, the woman continuing to grit her somewhat chattering teeth as Ren huddled in her cloak. "You can't tell me you aren't... At least this way, you'll be able to adapt," he continued, chuckling darkly. Gh...

Monster... This MONSTER... Anzu clenched her fists, bowing her head somewhat before a card appeared in the back of her mind. Her move. Her draw. Alright... If he was going to play it like that, then she was just going to have to ramp things up herself. Starting now! "I set a card face down," she roared, charging along the strip of ice toward where Otaki stood as a panel of glass shimmered behind her. "And I end my 'TURN'," the woman spat, hopping onto the icy cliffs above as she swung her staff toward the penguin in rage. "HRAAAAAAHH!"

"Hehehehhe! Then I'll set these two cards here," the Penguin responded, hopping back from the woman's frenzied and non-cast strikes with a laugh. The shimmering panels sunk beneath the seas as he grinned, easily dodging the predicable movements. "You know, I was almost afraid," he laughed, eyes narrowed in mirth. "After you picked the Dark Magician Girl... I had to wonder what strategy you were trying to pull!" Otaki gave a final, gravity defiant hop from the woman, landing on a nearby iceberg as his opponent glared. "But in the end, on her own, the Dark Magician Girl is nothing... And you yourself must not have much power for attack left at all," he cackled, grin widening as Anzu tensed with rage. No... She'd used it all on those cyclops when she was running... And besides that, if she jumped now she'd just slip from the edge of that ice... Gh... "Of course... If you have the Dark Magician," Otaki muttered, only to grin once more as his opponent paled.

"Tch... That was the card we were about to grab when the dome vanished," Ren hissed, flaring his hood in agitation as the hieroglyphs on its back stretched. "That prick... No wonder we didn't get the chance to switch a card out, he knew what we were planning!"

"Ghnnnng..." This... This monster...!

More laughter filled the air, Anzu gripping her staff tight with rage as a new card appeared in her mind. "Hahaha... HAHAHAHAHA! You don't have it," the penguin howled, holding his head with one flipper as he 'cried'. "I don't believe this..! Not only can you not attack with your staff," he laughed tearfully, "But you've made the most ignorant of mistakes I've ever seen... To put the Dark Magician Girl in a deck with the Dark Magician is only common sense, a deck with only the girl in it is like curry without pickles!"

"Curry without- what," the snake on her arm hissed confusedly.

"Not now," she growled to the serpent, Ren hurriedly ducking down as the woman paced toward her opponent on the ice surrounding their small patch of ocean. "You... You're a really, _really_ annoying old man," she snarled, the fingers of her right hand digging into her staff as it splintered in her hands. "I'm going to make you eat those words right now..! Go..! **CYCLONE**," she announced, holding her staff forward as the card took effect. "Destroying the first of your face down cards!"

Vicious winds blew from her staff in a familiar conical formation, the woman's normal eye seeming to glow with power as she made her attack. Rather than continuing forward as expected however, catching water and ice in its grip, the woman found herself growing pale. "Counter-trap," Otaki had announced, Anzu finding herself blown back to land roughly against an ice wall as the cyclone was blown viciously back by a blizzard. "_**DRIVING SNOW**_!"

"Ghn!" The woman's body left a small 'crater' of sorts in the ice, sliding to a cliff on its side as she weakly pulled herself forward. "Ahck... Gh... I... I cast another spell," she spat, clambering back to all fours before standing to take aim at the penguin that now stood below her. "_**Offerings of the Doomed**_!" Bandages sprung from an orb at the top of her staff with those words, barrelling forward to wrap tightly around the serpent before them. In an instant it was completely mummified, writhing against the bonds as it was pulled back with dull screams. Closer... Closer... And now...

-_snap_-

The bandages dropped as a sick crack came through the air, both Ren and Anzu watching as the serpent's mummified corpse fell into the seas. The spell had completed, snapping the monster's neck and allowing it to die... And now... "My turn isn't over yet," she announced, glancing back as she spotted a nearby cave. If she hid in there... If things began to get too rough, and she hid in there she told herself, maybe she could find a way to restore her magic power... Until then though, this cold... The woman shivered violently, blowing on her trembling right hand with a wince. "Gh... I summon... ...I... S-s-s-summon..." C-Cold...

"Hey... Take it easy alright," Ren warned, curling around the woman's hand as she stared. "Here... You're freezing. Let me be your hand for a moment, alright..?" Let- Her hand..? The two shared a glance, the woman eventually nodding before she felt her mind go 'numb'. Before she found herself dully watching from the sides of her own body, mind cleared... She was speaking but... How? With the hand Ren sat upon she was gesturing to the field, to her hidden card, and as he did this, somehow moving the body through his own will...

"**I reveal my set card,**" 'she' announced, somehow unable to care that she wasn't truly speaking. "**The Fire Sorcerer!**" In a blaze of flames the woman leaped up, 'Anzu' bringing her hand to the side before pointing the monster forward with her 'flipper-hand'. "**Before she attacks, I activate her effect; since the Fire Sorcerer was flip summoned,**" she stated, an uncharacteristically sadistic grin on her face in regards to the roaring flames, "**I can inflict 800 points of damage directly, by discarding two cards from my hand! So... Let's do this,**" she continued with a laugh, the penguin below looking up with wide eyes.** "ATTACK!**"

With a curt nod the sorceress struck, charging forward with her staff at the ready. "_**FIRE,**_" she roared, the first hand striking and blowing Otaki back against the ice in an instant as steam filled the air. "_**FIRE-BURST,**_" she continued viciously, sending in her next attack as a flaming hand drove deep into the penguin's gut.

"G-LAAACHK!"

"Hah... Yes," Anzu hissed, the heat allowing her to clear her head as 'Ren' returned to his coiled position. The woman ducked down by the ice as her opponent was sufficiently distracted, heading into the cave to take refuge should the penguin make his move while she planned her own. Mist had cloaked the air completely now after all, leaving both subject to the element of surprise... Climbing down into the cave to take position near the sea-level entrance, she was able to look outside in secret to see what had happened now. Or so she'd hoped. The fire sorcerer was still out there of course; waiting patiently as she stood at the 'shore' of the seas. Otaki however, was nowhere to be seen, cloaked completely in the every thick mist. So where...

"Hehehehehe... Not a bad move," an echoing voice muttered, Anzu tensing somewhat as the penguin's rough call came from far across the field. "I don't think I can feel my feet anymore," he muttered idly, his opponent gripping the ice wall in her left hand as she frowned. He couldn't feel..?

But he was a penguin, and besides that, if the 'loser' started turning into a penguin, then what could possibly be happening to him..? "...Tch... What's with you and penguins anyways," she shouted, voice echoing about the cavern enough to hide her location.

"Yea," Ren added, "What, were you raised by them?"

She was pretty sure that wasn't possible, though neither was all of this really. Even so she was apparently getting her answer, Otaki taking his turn from behind the fog curtain as shadows arose before them. "Nothing so ridiculous," the man answered rather bluntly, "Though I imagine it would have been far better for me if I had... When I was young my parents were always fighting," he explained, his opponents raising their eyebrows at the openness displayed in regards to their comments. "Constantly bickering and throwing things, even when I was in the same room," he roared, echoed footsteps coming through the air. "So rather than go home after school, or remain there on weekends, I would sit by the zoo in my town... Doing my homework by the animal pens and spending as much time as I could there. It was there that I learned about penguins... Did you know," Otaki 'asked' as the others stared, "That the father and mother will take turns watching the egg, feeding the chick? Penguins... They don't fight like humans do. They care for each other, and they'll even wait until the plentiful months before letting the children go out on their own! They protect their own, no matter what! And to me, the idea of such a family was a dream," he shouted, opponent's confused scowl softening somewhat with pity.

"A broken home," she muttered, the snake on her arm shifting somewhat uncomfortably.

"...I've heard worse," Ren muttered, Anzu not even bothering to send him a glare with the tone in the serpent's voice. Shadows could be seen amid the fog... Moving closer, and closer... One with wings spread on its top, carrying a blade... The other wearing a hat, likely that of her opponent.

"I doubt you could ever understand my dream," the penguin was muttering, seemingly stumbling through the fog in some sort of daze. "The dream I had... The dream to work and live with penguins no matter what... Simply gaining a job at a zoo would not be enough," he spat, voice sounding hoarse and ragged as he coughed. "With the way they're treated there... Forget it! No... I had plans to create a sanctuary," he went on proudly, "A place where people could truly appreciate the beauty of the bird! But time passed... And instead," the man went on morosely, "I found myself under the employ of Gozaburo Kaiba, working in arms distribution..." Arms..?

"Eh... Doesn't KaibaCorp deal with game hardware," Ren asked with a frown, narrowing his eyes.

"It does _now_," Anzu responded, swallowing as Mokuba's story at Death T came to mind. "But before that... ... ...If you wanted to make a park so bad, why did you keep working there," she questioned, standing up somewhat to peer out of the cavern at her opponent's shadow. "Why not just change jobs?"

"Because I needed _funding_," the man growled. "Because to achieve my dream I would need help, funds, money that KaibaCorp could give! And when I heard that Seto Kaiba, who had planned a coup-detat in order to take the company under his own name, was planning on building a theme park," the penguin announced loudly, "I thought I had gotten my chance! So while the others I worked with became embittered, I took it! I worked hard, I did all that was needed, even after we were effectively demoted to a figure head status," he mourned, shadow continuing to stumble almost blindly. "But in the end_..._ When I finally gained the courage to make the proposal, emphasizing how much children and their families would enjoy the park, I was turned away! '_If it's about black and white, and being 'cute'_', I was told, '_Then why not pick a panda? They're far cuter than penguins!_' So after all my work... After all that, I'd been refused... By that _BITCH,_" he snarled, sounding almost garbled in his rage. "By that filthy, lying-"

"Ahhh... Did he just say 'Bitch'," Ren asked somewhat blankly, Anzu merely shrugging somewhat.

Probably not the time really... "I have to side with Kaiba on this actually," she admitted, shouting out toward her opponent with a shrug. "Pandas _are_ cuter, and-" Wait wait wait, back up there... "...H... Hang on, _KAIBA_ said this," she asked, eyes wide as she looked out toward the fogged field. "Since when did Kaiba-" The woman cut herself off as the fog began to clear, backing back up into the cavern with horrified eyes as the shadows in the fog were identified. The first figure was perfectly fine; a penguin with feathers similarly styled to its summoner, it wielded a sparking blade. With the feathers on its head however it seemed the penguin flew, the monster charging forward with a loud cry and cutting through the fire sorcerer cleanly... Her master doubling over in pain as it disappeared, muffling her shouts with her hand as she collapsed to her knees in the entrance of the cave. Even through this however she could see it... See the stumbling form of the penguin she'd struck down, the frayed moth-eaten clothes revealing a slowly rotting beast. One of Otaki's eyes were missing, hanging limply from the nerves in the socket... And his feet, though still able to hold him somehow, were naught but clattering bones and bits of muscle. For Otaki after all, this was his last chance she realized, the pain slowly escalating through her body. If he died, he would die, and permanently. Herself on the other hand...

"H-Hey... Anzu," Ren asked nervously, turning as the woman finally surrendered to the pain.

"Gnh... Nggh... GHAAAAHH!" The woman's staff clattered to the ground, arms around her middle as they began to grow stiff. "GHAAAAAAAAHHH! MNGGGgg... GaaaaAAAHH! AAAAAHHHHH!" Pain... Pain..! It hurt so much, but why did it have to hurt she cried, her screams making no sound in her mind. "AAAgghh... Gggh... MNNGG!" Anzu's hands, 'flippers' by this point, flew toward her mouth as a burst of pain shot through, no sound coming out other than grunts as she attempted to hold back a scream. Her teeth... Her teeth were _fusing together_, pushing forward... And the pain... The _pain_...

"Anzu," Ren warned, "ANZU! He's coming this way..!"

"Ghhh... Ghh...!" Hurt... It hurt...

"Anz... Damn it," her snarled, abandoning the woman's wrist with a hiss. The snake hurriedly coiled around its 'master's staff, aiming toward the entrance of the cavern as the 'Flying Penguin moved toward the path leading to it. "The things I'm doing for you... '**I set a monster face down,**'" he announced, a shimmering bit of 'glass' appearing as 'Skelengel' vanished from the hand of cards in her mind. He couldn't cast any magic without power after all. But if he could at least do this... Ren turned back toward the woman, brushing against her now feathered face in apparent worry as weeping grunts of pain came in response. "Hey... Come on," he muttered, tears running from the woman's now brown eyes. "Get a hold of yourself... It might not be a dream, but it's not real," he shouted, his 'partner' staring back with weakened eyes. "It's only virtual, you just need to win this and get out of here alright..? Alright..?"

"Ghnn... Hnn... Gh..." Fingers... Her 'fingers' were still there she told herself as she moved, swallowing while she pulled herself to her feet. Fused into groups of three... And her feet were still normal too it seemed, even though feathers coated her body... So that was good. A crashing sound came from outside the cavern to pull her from her thoughts, the woman attempting to bite her lip only to find nothing there as her 'Skelengel' was summarily cut in two by her opponent's flying penguin. Beak... She had a _beak_... And as 'Skelengel's effect allowed her to draw another card she found herself wincing, watching as Otaki's 'flying penguin' came closer with his sword in hand. "My... It's my turn, isn't it," she rasped, the snake on the side nodding as the distance was slowly closed between the trio. Anzu slowly bent down, grabbing the staff from the ground with narrowed eyes as she swallowed. "In that case... I summon..." What could she do... "Summon..."

The card she'd drawn was 'Dark Pendant', an equip spell of 500 points. The monster she'd drawn after was 'Maha Vailo', a monster with 1550 attack points. And with those two cards an idea had formed, staff held forward with rasping breaths.

She was only half there really... '_I summon Maha Vailo in attack mode,_' she'd announced, the monster coming to stand before them as a 'shield'. '_And equip her with the Dark Pendant... And,_' she continued, not wanting to listen to any complaints her opponent might have, '_Using her effect, she gains another five hundred points due to the equipped item..._' She remembered this monster she told herself, Maha Vailo rising from the ice before her to hold a hand of energy above the oncoming penguin. She remembered talking about it... In a dream...

An echoing blast filled the cavern, ice collapsing around them to lock them in as Maha Vailo did just as ordered. '_The Flying penguin is destroyed,_' Ren was shouting eagerly, slithering up to his partner's side with a grin. '_We're almost there, we're-_'

"...Tired," she rasped, standing on her toes. "I'm..."

"A-Anzu..!"

She couldn't move, she told herself, falling to her 'hands' and knees. She couldn't... She needed... "...Help..."

* * *

With each hall they passed, Yugi wondered what would happen next. By this point after all, they had long since passed the fourth door; they had come to the final riddle, the final Goddess, and with its completion, moved on. 'Embrace', as the answer was, from the Goddess 'Isis'. Something that 'could not be made alone,' and 'could not exist with anger.' Present in times of happiness and despair both, expected between friends, desired from the forgiven, absent to the detested...

It was in that hall that this riddle continued to come to mind, a woman's screams echoing around them as they ran. "_That bastard 'Noa',_" his other had hissed, the two forced to listen to their friend's agonized screams before they finally melted into pitiful pleas for aid. "_Forcing us to listen to this..._"

"We're almost there," he assured his partner, swallowing in unease. "We'll be able to help her soon enough, we just need to-" Yugi's word fell short as they left the fourth hall, the doorway becoming dormant behind him as he stared. "T... This..."

"_We're back where we started,_" the other Yugi hissed, his partner looking around with wide eyes as the four doorways stared them down. "_But __how..!_"

"Not good... Not good! We've tried all of the doors," Yugi continued with a swallow, panicking somewhat as screams continued to echo in the air. "How are we supposed to move on..." There had to be something else here... There had to be...

"_We're forgetting what kind of game this is,_" his friend muttered darkly. "_Noa's sent us into a maze of riddles, it's natural to find we wouldn't escape so easily..._" Then...

"Then there's one more riddle," he concluded, frowning in confusion. "If we've tried all of these, there's one more that we can't find right? But if that's the case, there should be a fifth door shouldn't there?"

His other self seemed to nod, before speaking. "_Right... Lets go over what we know,_" he decided. "_Perhaps it will help... We passed through four doors, correct?_"

"Right," he responded with a nod. "Each one had a different riddle. In addition, each one was represented by one of the four- Ah..." Yugi blinked, bringing a hand up somewhat. Of course... "That's right... In Chinese Mythology, there's a fifth beast..!"

"_A fifth? ...Ah, I see,_" the spirit responded, momentarily gleaning his partner's memories for the answer himself, "_The 'Yellow Dragon', the 'center'!_"

"The perfect balance between the four others," Yugi continued, looking toward each of the doors with wide eyes. "Which means that to move on, we can't just fight one door at a time..."

"_We need to fight all of them..!_"

"Right..! Goddess-san," he shouted, seemingly receiving no answer from either of the four. "I'm challenging the four doors all at once; I'm challenging you against the riddle of the 'Fifth Door'!"

For a moment, there was again no answer. Just complete silence, with Yugi feeling somewhat embarrassed about the lack of results. With a sudden rumble however the four doors collapsed, an enormous arch rising from the ground. Carvings covered the arch completely, and carved in position about the sides were the four Goddesses he had seen. Beneath their feet were four more statues as well, a scorpion, a lion, an eagle, and a woman... At the top however, with wings wide and spread stood a great and imposing chimera, long hair trailing down her back and over her shoulders to form a bare minimum of covering over exposed breasts. "I am surprised," the sphinx stated with a regal smile, sitting on the haunches of her lion's body. "I did not expect you to come to this conclusion so quick... I suppose that as one who solved the riddle of the 'puzzle' it is only expected," she admitted, before gesturing to the door. "You wish to move on," she asked, Yugi nodding seriously. "Then you must answer this riddle," she continued, "Using the knowledge gained from my four children. Hear me well," the sphinx shouted. "'_Separate we mean nothing, together we mean everything, alone there's too many, doubled, too varied, name us as one, or be lost._' Answer wisely," the sphinx warned, crossing her arms. "I await your response..."

Separate and together... Yugi nodded yet again, bowing his head in thought. "Alright... She says to use what we learned from the others," he muttered, closing his eyes.

"_Right; the answers to the other riddles. 'Hito', 'Mo', 'Da-ku', and 'Ki',_" the other half repeated, also closing his eyes in thought. "_Though Hito has many variant readings, as does 'da-ku'..._"

"And 'Ki' is known around the world as 'Chi', the Chinese term," Yugi added, narrowing his eyes. "Hnn... The first to lines make me want to think 'friend' is the answer, but-"

"_Ah- I think it __is__ friends,_" the other Yugi abruptly shouted, his partner blinking in response. "_Think; 'Hito' can read 'To'..._ _Following this we have 'Mo', from mourning..._"

"Tomo... Then, taking the 'ku' off of 'daku', we would have 'Tomoda'... And if we used 'chi' instead of 'ki'..." A grin slowly came over his face, the boy turning upward with a grin. So then it _was _the answer..! "Sphinx-san... We have the answer," he announced, the beast looking down with a slight smirk. "'TOMODACHI'... Friends!"

A wide grin abruptly appeared on the woman's face, and from the stone arch came a pair of doors. The gates swung inward with a resounding clatter, and before them came wind and snow that blew past with all the ferocity of a northern wind. "You have answered correctly," the Sphinx announced, arms spread outward as she began to fade from existence. "Now... Move on, but be warned! The mind of Anzu Mazaki is home to more than one being at this time," the monster announced. More than one being..?

But that would mean... "_...Oh no... Malik might still be controlling her,_" his partner realized with a jolt, the pair growing pale. Malik... They didn't have time then he told himself, bolting through the door with a swallow.

No time at all..! "Oh no... ANZU," he shouted, running into the frozen wasteland with wide eyes. Where... Where was she in here? "ANZU, WHERE ARE YOU!"

"_This place... It's huge,_" his other whispered, Yugi looking around as the door vanished, leaving still more of the icy and watery plain. "_How are we supposed to-_"

"There," Yugi shouted, cutting the spirit off as he came to a wall of ice, a figure visible in the distance. "Past this wall... That's her isn't it?" It certainly looked like her at least; they couldn't tell beyond the robes and hair though, and it seemed that at the moment she was barely recovering from some form of attack, clutching her middle in pain. "ANZU," he shouted, slamming a fist on the wall. "ANZU!"

No answer... The wall was too thick. Yugi pulled out his boomerang, raising it in front of him to hack at the ice with grit teeth. Come on... Come on..!

"ANZU," he shouted again, tiny scratches appearing with each strike. "ANZU, I'M HERE!" And then, as a small crack finally appeared and spiderwebbed through the wall, he saw the woman turn slightly...

And suddenly, the gravity of whatever was beyond the ice became all the more frightening. "_Oh no..._"

"Anzu..."

What happened..?

* * *

She thought... She thought she'd heard someone for a moment she told herself, 'hands' gripping at the ice and staff at her side. She couldn't well say she had hands any more of course... Quite honestly she was surprised she could hold the staff, and in all honesty she wasn't sure how she was even moving, when all she felt like doing was collapsing on the spot. Maha Vailo stood in the cavern with her at the moment, pendant hanging around her neck. She felt exhausted though... So how was she...

Wait... Where was... "Eaaaasy there Anzu," she heard Ren mutter, her feet moving on their own accord toward the same steep tunnel she'd initially taken into the cave. "I got you... Come on," he continued to whisper, "We're just going to get out of this cave before he gets back now... Hey Vailo," the snake added, pointing to the side by means of Anzu's own hand. "Blast a hole over there will you?"

As the magician gave a nod to do just that the woman groaned, beak clacking as she attempted to grit what wasn't there. "What... What's going on," she muttered weakly, stumbling forward. "I can't move my..."

"Ghn... Don't bother... I'm reversing the connection," Ren told her, the body moving somewhat jerkily toward the hole in the ice above. "You're still you," he continued, "But I'm moving your limbs for you until you can focus again. That last attack really did a number on you..." Focu-

"W- You're controlling my body," she yelled, looking down only to pale. The robes fit oddly over her form now... In addition to that the feathers added considerable bulk, leaving her to swallow in unease as she looked back up toward the exit. That... That was right, she was getting pretty far gone wasn't she...

The snake looked up from where he was moving her arm, frowning. "Hn! It's either that or wait for an ambush," he muttered in excuse. "I know _I_ don't plan on dying!"

"And what happened to 'you're not tied to me'," she 'asked' raising her thankfully present eyebrows as the snake stared.

Ren fell silent, looking forward before again doing his odd 'shrug' impression. "Eh... Decided it worked differently. Now... You feeling a little more like yourself," he asked, looking back at the woman as she nodded.

"Besides 'this'," she muttered, gripping her staff oddly as she grabbed the edge of the tunnel exit. "Yea... I'm ready..." She didn't know how much more she could take... But she was ready.

"Good- you're in your control again then," the snake announced, eyes dimming somewhat as he appeared to collapse over her arm. "And for now... Lets see what our fat penguin friend looks like," he said with a grin, his 'partner' nodding as she climbed over the edge. While she wasn't as particularly eager as Ren was, she could probably do with seeing the results of her last attack.

Alright... The woman looked over the cliff, leaning on her staff with narrowed eyes. Snow... Snow... "Hffff!" There he was. Down below them on the cliff stood what remained of Otaki's body, bits of muscle flaking off the rotted half of his face as he stood. Anzu tensed and drew back as the view of the penguin became more evident, audibly gulping as Ren merely stared in amusement.

"You..." His voice seemed even more haggard now as he looked up to the woman, single eye narrowing in rage. "It looks like I underestimated you," he spat, Anzu swallowing nervously as Maha Vailo joined her at the cliff's edge. "But you'll _regret_ that," the penguin continued, odd gargling growls coming from his throat as a shadow appeared under the water. "_You'll regret it... _I summon the Bolt Penguin in defense mode," he announced with a haggard cough, a shimmering plate of glass appearing to the side as the arm-less, whip-wielding bird arose from the seas, "And before I end my turn, I set a card face down!" Hnnn...

Well... "It doesn't seem like too much of a problem," she muttered, nonetheless taking a defensive stance with her staff. That didn't seem like a problem at all actually... "Hnn... Maha Vailo," Anzu ordered, the mage nodding curtly as her summoner pointed. "Attack the Bolt Penguin!"

With incredible speed the sorceress moved, skidding down the side of the cliff before hopping off the edge toward her opponent. Thunder developed at her finger tips... The magician was flanked by whirling winds and snow both, and with a single strike she ended the penguin's life by means of a solid knife-hand strike. However, as the bird began to disappear a series of red chords wrapped around Maha Vailo's body, the woman struggling as her master stared.

"A-Ah..! W-What," she exclaimed, before abruptly covering her 'mouth' as a squawk escaped instead of the expected shouting sound. "What..!"

"Hehehehehe... I don't believe it," Otaki cackled, bits of skin dangling from his flippers as he 'danced', "To think my chance came so soon! The spell you triggered was 'Revenge Sacrifice," he explained eagerly, Maha Vailo screaming before she was pulled beneath the seas. "Not only do I destroy the monster who attacked me, I can replace my lost monster... Think you can take this guy on," he roared, the ice rising from below him as low rumbling came through the air. "Say hello to my friend... THE DEFENDER ICEBERG!"

Defender... "Ohhhh shit," Ren hissed, drawing back as Anzu did the same. The enormous golem stood before them with no visible emotion, merely blotting out the sun with its immense being. It was huge... And it had no attack as her 'menu' told her, but in its place was a sturdy shield that would remain in place for as long as the ice could hold. "Defense mode... We can't take that thing out like this..!"

With a rumbling roar the iceberg's fist came forward, crashing into and destroying the cliff as Anzu and Ren both leaped to the side. "Gh! This... How are we supposed to beat this," she shouted with a swallow, turning as Otaki continued to cackle. "How..." It hadn't even officially attacked, and so long as she was the 'only thing there', it didn't have to!

"Hehehehehe... Isn't it obvious," the penguin laughed from across her, both now at approximately sea level once again. "You aren't! And now, for my turn," he roared, a shadow appearing beneath the waters at his side, "I summon the Penguin Torpedo- and while not the most powerful monster," Otaki explained, "This monster can attack you directly..! SO! Get used to that 'body', Mazaki Anzu," he cackled with a sneer, "Because soon enough, I'll be in possession of _yours_!"

"Hah... Hahh..! I-!" Before she could even speak in protest the attack was launched, the penguin faced torpedo launching from the seas to face her from above. Three... Two... In an instant the attack connected, explosive force blowing her back and far down into the icy ground. "GH! AGHhh..! Hgn..." Ow... Ow... Burns covered her skin, and slowly the woman attempted to climb out of the crater created, silently pondering how she was still alive. "Ow... Ahhh..." Pain... A steady pulsing pain was coming over her as she reached the edge, but as she did so... "AHHHH... HRAAAAAAAAAAHH!" Oh god... That attack... That attack had..!

Cracks were coming through the air as she screamed... She could feel her insides twisting on themselves, her bones shifting and morphing... What little she had to call hands extended into the flipper a penguin had, and her legs were shortening... "Anzu," Ren called out, tears falling from the woman's eyes until the change prevented even that. "Come on Anzu, hang in there! We're missing our turn," he shouted, the woman before him not caring. Pain... PAIN!

"Correction," Otaki shouted over the cries, mad cackling filling the air. "You _HAVE_ missed your turn! And now that it's mine again," he announced with a grin, "I'm going to play the card Ocean of Regeneration to bring back that same torpedo! Say good bye to the life you once knew," he shouted, Anzu slowly turning to look up with still tear filled eyes as the torpedo approached from the air. "Like a fading candlelight, it's about to disappear! NOW... ATTACK," he roared, Anzu closing her eyes with a wince. This... This was it... Even if she had life points left, she wouldn't be able to withstand...

-_**BROUUUMMM**_-

Wha...

The woman slowly opened her eyes, breathing raggedly as she looked up. Above her... Her staff was pointed toward the air, as though standing on its own... Wrapped around it she could see the snake, hood flared to reveal quite clearly the 'vulture' portion of the hieroglyphs on his back. "R... Re... N... Ren... n..." What happened... He'd... He'd saved...

"Gh... Look," he said almost angrily, wrapped around the woman's staff. "I might have kept that last one from hitting," he snarled as he turned on the woman, "But that doesn't mean we're in the clear... I know you're in pain... And I know you're suffering..! But you need pull yourself together," the serpent continued in rage. "There's only one card that can get us out of this mess... We need to be able to attack _twice_, got it? That sage's stone... It might not be able to call up the real-deal Magician," he pressed, "But it'll have enough juice to get us going again... But we need to draw _that card_," Ren hissed, dropping the staff and slithering toward the woman. "We HAVE to!"

Anzu coughed weakly, resembling more of a giant, slimmed penguin than a human by this point as she rolled over. "But how," she croaked, wheezing as she began to stand on what were now webbed feet. "How can that card..." She cut herself off, shaking her head and looking toward the snake sadly. "What if it's not even the next card, then what will we..."

Ren appeared to stare, eyes unblinking as he slithered up to Anzu's arm. "There's always a 'way' with you people," he said somewhat plainly, closing his eyes with a nod. "And in this case... There's an ability that you have, one that we haven't used yet. The Deckmaster ability," he pressed, his 'partner' frowning somewhat as she thought about that. "And beyond that, your own!"

The deckmaster ability... She had one..? '_That's right,_' a voice seemed to call in her mind. '_You do... It's..._'

"Ah..." Anzu blinked, slowly nodding as she turned toward her opponent with narrowed eyes. That was right... The second reason she'd picked this monster, the ability it had... "Otaki... I'm going to end it all this turn," she shouted, her opponent in question raising his 'eyebrows' as she stepped forward from the crater. "I'm using my ability... BOTH of my abilities" she roared, holding her 'flippers' in the air with the staff she could somehow still hold. "FIRST! By removing from play each monster in the graveyard... By borrowing their power," the woman shouted, "I'll draw four more cards!" Yet as that happened, each one flying to the screen in her mind, something else also occurred. The energy that appeared to fill the air for each card glowed, wrapping around her in a smoking embrace... And with it, the pain in her body was relieved, lifted like a curtain as the damage was undone. Feathers were vanishing... Her lips were lips again, her teeth normal teeth... Fingers... Toes...

"H-Hey," Ren muttered in surprise, Anzu momentarily ignoring the change back as she stared her opponent down. "I didn't know they could do that..."

For now there was something more important. The cards in her hand... And among them... Anzu shifted through the new cards in her mind, before grinning. It was there... YES! It was there! A somewhat dark smirk came on her face, the woman looking forward as Otaki shuddered under the image of the restored opponent. "You... You can't... That's not possible," he cried, only to be over powered by the sound of his opponent's voice

"Cast the spell '_**SAGE'S STONE**_'," she roared, thunder striking the ground as clouds filled the sky. And as to the result... A seal appeared beneath her feet, wind seeming to blow from beneath her. The storm clouds above darkened with rage, and winds howled despite no rain falling. Rather than summon a monster to her side however a stone appeared before her, a stone that fell into her now outstretched hand before melting into the skin. Power... An intense power beyond anything she'd ever felt rushed through her body as she took a sudden inhalation, eyes widening before she turned on Otaki. The spell had worked... Though not truly the 'Dark Magician' it had worked, and now it was time for the final move.

"Dark Magician attacks," she said almost monotonously, holding the hand forward with narrowed eyes as shadowed flames sprouted around the hand. "_**BLACK MAGIC!**_"

Thunder continued to echo about the air, Otaki shaking his head rapidly as the black flames burned forward to encompass his shield. "NO," he screamed, backing away with a wide eye as the monster groaned in defeat. "NO, that's not possible! You never even put that card in your deck," he wailed, ice collapsing into the seas with an immense splash. "How..!"

How... "...Hn... Because as childish as it sounds," she said calmly, the power in her hand dissipating as she took the second part of her 'turn', "The 'power of friendship' always has a way of coming through... And now," the woman continued, eyes widening further with rage, "My second ability... With the sacrifice of a few lifepoints, I can restore my magic power... And by doing that," she went on with a roar, "I can get more than enough power to attack!"

"**In fact,**" Ren's voice added, increasing in strength and volume as the snake grew and coiled about her, his form growing intensely in size, "**How about we demonstrate the power of the attack your final strike allowed us to learn?**" Fire... Fire was all around her... The enormous cobra coiled and rose above the air, mouth wide and spitting venomous sparks as still violet eyes turned downward. An eye blazed on both of their brows as the flames continued to roar, and it was under that same eye that Otaki shrank away from in fear. "**ANZU,**" Ren roared, sounding all too eager to strike the old corpse down, "**ARE YOU READY?**"

"Always! **_INFERNEO,_**" they roared simultaneously, the snake striking forward with a roar of flames as Otaki screamed. Smoke and steam both filled the air beneath the cobra's attack... Otaki's screams, though pained and agonizing in tone lasted only a moment however, and as his shadow vanished so did parts of the scenery. The waters of the sea receded, falling back until they were left with the vast and deep canyons from before. The ice and snow melted and washed away with it, and the clouds above parted in response. Snowstorms and hail cleared in lieu of a beating sun, and as she took her last breath, the colours fading from her outfit to return to the former black and gold she thought she heard a voice... '_Anzu_,' he was calling. '_ANZU!_' That voice...

She'd recognize it anywhere, she thought in relief.

Ahhh...

He'd come for her...

**

* * *

AN:** Holy super-chapters Usagi! Or rather, double posts. See, normally when I start editing, there's about half this number of words. But sometimes, I start editing when there's '12,000' words... And when I started on this one, it was only a few pages over that number. So in the end, I decided '_why __not__ make it a super chapter_?'

After all; it's only a page longer than the last super chapter we had! As to why it ended up so long in the first place, well...

As I realized moments before, Yugi was literally right at his duel site, so while everyone else had to do stuff, _he didn't. _D'OH.

And as for the conclusion, don't worry, you'll get it. It'll tie in rather nicely to the next chapter too, especially since it's Jonouchi!

Also coming up next chapter are a number of memory scenes with Seto... Why is this? Because Jonouchi's duel doesn't happen next chapter.

It happens in the one following that.

In any case, there's a fair bit of art below relating to this chapter (including Penguin!Anzu), along with points that should clear up any confusion... However, as I'm about to leave for a trip (in like... ten minutes), they aren't coloured yet. You'll get those _next_ chapter.

Also, if enough reviewers figure out who that snake is quick enough, I'll refer to it by its real name down here. Because if you haven't guessed, it's _not Ren_. Far from it in fact.

COMPLETELY DIFFERENT NOTE: Anime North, happens in late May... I'm going. I _WILL NOT_ be in Yugioh Cosplay though. As it is, only sunday's has been decided on. Namely Virgo from Fairy Tale, hehehehe.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Yeeep. I was _this close_ to cutting that Iona! _This_ close. In the end, I decided that as bizarre and random as it was, it was still worth it.

OHHHH you haven't seen anything yet! Noa's quite a lot crueler; partially due to something we'll cover in the next chapter (De-sensitization YAAAAAAY), and partially due to overall rage; because lets face it, a _girl_ replaced him. Also other reasons that are spoilers. So yes, patience is golden~

There will indeed be a lot of psychological screwing around though, which Noa considers, at least until he gets directly into things, 'fair'; he doesn't talk to anyone other than Kaiba until after their matches after all… Because he's not trying to screw up their games; he's trying to do something _completely_ different.

Oh! Not a problem with the explanations there; as for the personalities and movements of monsters you're quite right; the Big 5 gave characterization to those monsters, so that they could actually sell the game after getting rid of Kaiba. In Noa's world however, as there's minimal interaction, he hasn't bothered.

Though Kisara and Seraph's bland-ness is just due to being programs. So no spoilers with that question.

In any case, enjoy the penguin-ness above, and I'll see you soon!

Oh god RandomProjects, don't even get me started on how much he's enjoying the mind games… As for breaking the defences, yes and no. As you can see above, it wasn't so much breaking as 'easing their way through'. Specifically, it represents Anzu's semi-open-ness around her friends.

While Noa will definitely be using lots of these tactics later on, he won't technically be _relying_ on them. That would imply using the skills for the sake of winning a fight. He's using them for something much bigger, and much creepier, trust me on that.

But yes… This is one of the darker scenes they'll have to watch, but there are actually worse ones to come; one that they'll both share, and one that Kaiba herself will witness _alone_.

And oooohhh Siegfried… They barely knew each other in the anime, but I extended (heavily) on it in the fanfic. As to the specifics of their relationship, I can't say… But you're right in guessing that something very, VERY bad happened, and there's a damn good reason Seto's having trouble remembering what that 'something' was.

As for Malik… … … I'll let you take a wild guess at what happened. As for Shizuka/Honda/Otogi, their match is after Jonouchi's, so you'll have to wait two chapters before we hear from them. Patience is a good plan for that I would find.

Oh! Their mom just had prematurely white hair. I know my friend's mother went grey and white when she was 15 actually; it's somewhat common. She's not a reincarnation though; it's just a fluke. (In fact, she looks nothing like Kisara other than the hair…) And… Ohh! I didn't know the kanji for 'blue' was 'pale' as well! That's cool..!

Oh! And not a problem. It's technically still mandatory with the cards, but here's how; basically, they have to set up a deck and deckmaster. After that however, it's all up to the player. And you're quite correct in how suicidal the challenge is when it comes to those three; but the match-ups were actually quite random for all but Jonouchi and Anzu- Otaki specifically searched Anzu out (-shuddershuddershudder-), and for some reason, I get the feeling that Oka sought Jou out as well…

As for Yugi, his match was random, and Kaiba just managed to have the 'luck' of passing through Daimon's area.

…Yea. Yea the big five are pretty arrogant… Tends to happen I find.

Anyways, that's all for now… Hope you enjoyed the chapter, and I'll see you later!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that hopes Ren can wipe minds; it would probably help Anzu out.

* * *

Today's chapter is just focusing on the fact that poor Anzu was strung along on the belief this was all a dream... Well, Ren strung her along at least. Mostly because he figured it'd get them out faster. WHOOPS.

* * *

By the way if you haven't guessed, the chloroform kinda put Anzu through a bit of a loop; she's got retrograde amnesia. The _real_

kind.

The kind that pretty much cleans your head out from around and just before the time of the accident and keeps you from making new memories for a short while after that fact. These sorts of issues are the result of either head trauma (K-BONK!) or drugs.

Like Chloroform.

Don't worry though, she's perfectly fine now, and able to remember things again; just that Malik's constant control has been locking her out. A lot.

So she's a _little_ confused, and just a _little_ upset.

* * *

In the Japanese, 'Hitotsume Giant' is the Cyclops. Because 'Hitotsume' means one eye. Get it? Get it? YEAAAAAAAA.

* * *

You'll notice that this snake doesn't speak with a snake-y lisp. This is partially because he's speaking Japanese... And really, I don't know what words would deserve emphasis as a result. Besides, if anything, a snake would constantly go 'tttthhhhh', since their tongue is going in and-

I'll shut up now.

* * *

The four sacred beasts, as the fanfic stated, represent the four directions, seasons, and elements. However, as you see later on, there was a fifth; the 'Yellow Dragon', the 'Center', and the 'Balance' of all these four.

Of course, the animals showing up above these doors have nothing to do with the sacred beasts, and are instead related to something else... Specifically, they're representations of the goddesses who protect the four sons of Horus in Egyptian myth. The four sons are the guardians of the organs held within canopic jars; the goddesses protecting these sons are Neith, Nephthys, Isis, and Selket.

Above, Selket was of course represented by a scorpion, and the 'odd one out' when it came to making the fifth door's chimera. Neith on the other hand, though ordinarily human, was occasionally represented with the head of a lion, and therefore took the lion part.

Next we have Isis, who, as someone who is depicted with wings a fair amount of the time, who got the 'bird' part, and finally Nephthys, who represents the human portion.

And then there's that Sphinx, which merged all four of them. Yaaaaay.

* * *

Just a dream? Just a dream? Poor Anzu is about to get her bubble burst OH so painfully… In any case, with that in mind, what were originally lines of 'they're in trouble too, I can't complain!' became 'Just a dream… I'll just push forward!'

Ooooh boy… Of course, it takes quite a while for Anzu to realize it isn't a dream due to all of the outlandish parts of what's going on. Seriously. Talking snakes, perverted penguins, and magic staves? It's hard to believe it's 'real', or at least not some figment of the imagination.

* * *

As you can see, I really changed the 'four door' issue. Originally, they kept picking the 'one star' door out of the 'one' 'two' 'three' 'four' star ones… So of course, they didn't get anywhere.

Eventually, they realized 'OH! Go 'one-two-three-four'. WHOOPS.'

* * *

And yes, I just replaced a penguin with a talking snake. Go me! Speaking of penguins, they're all the same species (Besides Otaki), the ones we see there I mean. Specifically, they're all banded penguins; there are four subspecies of this penguin, and it seems we have all of those there.

* * *

Yugi! You're WRONG again!

Though a common misconception, not all rivers are freshwater; it's _rare_, but there _are_ in fact a few that form brackish water, as a result of entering the ocean. Brackish water of course, is water with less salinity (saltiness) than sea water, but more than freshwater.

* * *

As you can see, I merged the dream/flashback sequences involving Dark Magician Girl and Maha Vailo. Mostly because the fight leaves little time for that sort of thing.

* * *

The scenes involving how Anzu got to Otaki's… Castle… Are obviously highly altered. In addition, the 'interview' scene is changed somewhat, making it a little more straight forward. Not to mention shorter; Anzu's chapter is a super chapter after all, and I didn't want to go and make it 'two chapters' instead!

* * *

Though 'Ren' is right to believe some snakes hibernate, the Egyptian Cobra is not one of them. In fact, the only hibernating snakes are rattlesnakes last I checked, and only a few at that.

However, they _do_ participate in something called brumation, which shouldn't be confused with hibernation. See, the difference is that while in hibernation the animal sleeps, brumation, triggered by cold weather, lack of heat, and a decrease in daylight, is simply the slowed metabolic rate and activity of a reptile to lessen the need for food(they still need water). Some reptiles can go months like this in fact!

* * *

Anzu just got ripped off! 'Ren' is Egyptian for 'Name'. Hey, she asked for a _name_ after all…

* * *

By the way, this really _was_ all about job interviews for that play in the anime. Or at least the Japanese. Can't speak for the dub.

* * *

Oh, um… Anzu's got a dying dad now? Who's a pilot... I guess? (This is probably worse than me giving Haga three sisters!)

Truth be told, we never really see Anzu's family (though I think we _hear_ her mom at one point...) All we find out, from the anime at that, is that they move a lot, which means she's had troubles with getting friends in school. However, given that she's still in the same highschool she started out at, I'd say they figured that one out… And it makes sense. First off, if Anzu's grades are so incredible, it wouldn't make sense for her to be in the 'lower rung' school of Domino. Second, while she _could_ transfer now, I'm pretty sure that moving around a lot doesn't really make it easier on the entrance exams… Though I could be wrong.

Either way, it could very well just be a parental intervention saying 'Damn it, she has friends, leave her be!'.

And as a matter of fact yes, this _will_ have some bearing on the story, particularly in regards to Anzu's little mental stowaway… Who is currently stuck finding these sorts of things in her head when he least expects it.

* * *

You'll notice there's no mention of Otaki's deckmaster ability in the entire chapter, save a question of what it is. This is because more attention was brought to the deckmasters in terms of battle, rather than the lifepoints aspect. So really, a 'power up' isn't going to need as much a description; Anzu just needs to know that it's 'going to hurt' really.

* * *

PENGUINS! Turning into ice, while bad for a fight, is also bad for the entertainment level of said fight.

So I decided to be a prick instead. Yayyyyy~ As to how she's normal at the end, that's easy; all the energy from the other monsters cancelled it out. (The power of... Friendship?)

* * *

For some reason, the card Cyclone was re-named 'Mystical Space Typhoon' in English. WUT.

* * *

Lots of minute move changes; mostly for legality's sake in terms of gameplay. For example, Otaki's 'Drving Snow' can't be played at any time other than the beginning of a turn. Magic Formula, the card Anzu equipped to Maha Vailo in the anime, can only be equipped to Dark Magician Girl or the Dark Magician. Hence the use of a different card. (Namely Dark Pendant, which inflicts 500 points of damage to the opponent on its destruction, but really, that doesn't change the final move.)

* * *

I just realized it, but snakes with glowing eyes controlling bodies as they shoot things from their hands sounds an awful lot like Stargate. Or at least like Goa'uld

.

You're going to picture Anzu with a super deep voice now. And it's all my fault. AHAHAHA!

* * *

ROTTING PENGUINS! Actually gives me a bit of an excuse for Otaki's useless (but admittedly depressing in the original) exposition... Because do you think his brain is immune to rot? Nooooo. No it isn't.

* * *

Also; no one. Can resist the power of a panda.

Not even Kaiba. Of course, the chances of seeing the reaction to the panda are slim to none, and she's not exactly the 'squee' type… (She'd probably just smile slightly.)

* * *

RIDDLES. I'm very sorry… I'm bad at making them.

For those who missed it; Ki, which was defined above, is more commonly known as Chi or Qi in China and pretty much the rest of the non-asian world when referring to the term. 'Da-ku' on the other hand, which means 'Embrace', is the verb form, which means the 'ku' can come off.

Following this is 'Mo', which means 'Mourning,' and of course, 'Hito', which can occasionally be read as 'To'.

* * *

And on another 'riddler' related note, each of the answers ties into the 'goddess' watching the door. Nephthys for one is the Goddess of Night and Lamentation, hence 'Mourning. Isis, considered the Goddess of Motherhood, magic, and fertility, guarded the answer 'embrace'.

Neith on the other hand, being a creation Goddess, received 'human'... And finally Selket, who governs poisons and healing, received 'chi', due to its life supporting beliefs.

* * *

As usual of course, a lot of dialogue has been cut and replaced. Again, its because of the action involved, but I actually kind of regret it; there was a lot of perverted leering from Otaki and a lot of shuddering and disgust from Anzu in the original, emotions that I didn't get to really touch on here. Oh well...

* * *

Oh, and since it's not listed above, Iceberg has no attack points and 2450 defense points. Barely in the Dark Magician's range in other words. (Of course, the Dark Magician came from Yugi's deck, but we're touching that next chapter!

* * *

And for those curious, Anzu was turning into a King Penguin. You can see how far she got below.

**FanArt and My Art Section**

Have fun pasting links and removing spaces!

As per the 'standard' for this arc, we not only have references for this chapter, but also what Honda's body gets to look like when Otaki possesses it.

In contrast to Otaki himself, I have to say, Honda actually looks quite dapper. I'm very glad I'm taking advantage of this rare moment to draw Honda looking _cool_... You'll see all this in colour next chapter by the way.

Spoiler!Reference: PossessedHonda-Nightmare Penguin & SPOILERConcept: Gym Uniforms and Killer Puppies - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ PenguinHondanConcept. jpg - Clearly I've been watching too much Inception, but seriously! WAISTCOAT. And on the other hand, not only do we have a chibi Seto being adorable (And OOC-ish), we also have a... Thing... Which should make its appearance sooner or later.

Reference: Penguin!Anzu & Deckmaster (Dark Magician Girl) Anzu - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ AnzuDeckmasternPenguin. jpg - If you thought I'd been doing silly things _last_ chapter, with Kuriboh!Yami, you have much to learn. I have a nasty habit of pulling things like that, and while I normally held back (To the point where I was actually re-writing Anzu's penguin scenes into complete numb and useless limbs to mimic the ice coating), I couldn't do it with this one. For some reason, I just... Liked the penguin idea more. Also, a standard deckmaster reference is there for you.

INFERNEO - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ AnzuFireStorm. jpg - GIANT FLAMING SNAKES! Also Anzu being fairly awesome. Quite the change from the anime eh..?

DoodleSheet: Yug's Heads, & Concept - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ DoodleHeads. jpg - On the right hand, me comparing all the weapons everyone got (Shizuka gets spears later on)... (Blade, blade, blade STICK)... And on the left, me FINALLY getting a decent habit with drawing Yugi's hair. The note you see there is just me rambling about how I realized it didn't start off looking like a 'star'. It just went up.


	87. Chapter 86

**Where It All Began**

* * *

Blistering heat was a comfort by this point, she told herself as she slept. It was nothing, after all, compared to the frosted hell she'd just escaped, and the combined trauma of a near body-snatch she had gone through. A small smile graced Anzu's face as again human hands were caressed by a dusty breeze, hair blowing in her face beneath a brightly shining sun. It was peaceful now... A drowsy period of time that made her want to simply stay there for hours on end. She'd won after all; she deserved a break, didn't she?

Yet for all that had happened, there wasn't time to sleep she told herself, that fact knocking just lightly on the back of her mind. And as her senses slowly returned to her, she could feel a hand on her shoulder, and feel herself being rolled over somewhat. '_Anzu,_' someone called, her eyes slowly opening as the source of the voice continued. '_Anzu... Anzu!_' Faded... Distant...

And suddenly, it cleared completely. "Anzu!"

"Hnn..." The woman slowly sat up, blinking as the vision of her friend came into view. Yugi... It was... ...Ah! "Y...Yugi... Hng..." He was here... She had to get up then, she had to- A rush of dizziness swam over her as she attempted to stand, finding herself collapsing rather uncomfortably atop the boy instead of helping him up as intended. "Hnng..."

"Ahck! Ah..! A-Anzu," Yugi rasped, coughing as he was pushed against the ground. "Anzu, you probably shouldn't try to stand but... I... I think you're crushing my... Ghk..." He cut off with a wheeze, looking away awkwardly as his friend held silent.

...Oh... She was on top of him now... For some reason, she couldn't feel upset about that; if anything, she was glad. After all, he was here right? He was here... He had come for her, and she was... She was... "Yugi," she choked somewhat, her face currently nestled on the boy's vest. "I... ...I..." Why... Why did she feel like crying..? Why was she... The woman's hands clutched at her friend's vest as Yugi managed to squirm out somewhat, only to freeze and remain in place as Anzu cried at his lap. "Ah... Ahhhhhhnnn... Uaaaaah... This... All of this..!" Anzu continued to cry, arms wrapped around her friend's waist as she choked. "I couldn't remember anything," she wailed, the boy staring in confusion. "From the alley where I was taken with Jonouchi and up until just a few hours ago," she continued miserably, "I couldn't remember anything..! On the air ship, and at dinner... What's _happening_," the woman choked, her friend slowly attempting to comfort her in regards to the sudden and unexpected breakdown. "What's going on..? I... I'm so _scared_... I'm so... I've never felt so..."

Yugi frowned somewhat, recovering from the fall back as he looked to the woman. She was right... She'd... _Never_ been like this, at least not when he'd last seen her, but... "Anzu..." The boy swallowed, before working up the courage to pull his friend close in response to the 'cling' he was under. "It... It's okay, alright," he said honestly, feeling somewhat nervous himself. "We're going to get out of here and... We'll find out why you can't remember anything alright," he continued, clearly not sure as to why that might be happening in the first place. Just what reason would Anzu have to just... Forget all of that? "We... ...We'll..." Yugi quieted as his friend continued to shudder in his arms, the boy looking around the now dry and arid canyon cliffs blankly. What did he say... He didn't even know what to say, so what could he possibly... "...This place..."

Anzu sniffed somewhat, pulling herself up to lean somewhat against her friend in a more stable and seated position. "It's the grand canyon," she said quietly, looking out at the sky as she swallowed. "I came here once, when I was little," the woman continued. "My dad was busy with another move, so... My grandparents offered to take my mother and I on a vacation while that was sorted out..."

"Your dad..?" Yugi stared, as though just realizing that he'd never heard about the man until this point. "That's right... I've only met your mom," he muttered, shaking himself. "What does your dad do Anzu?"

What did he do..? She wiped her eyes, lowering her gaze. She hadn't spoken about her father to anyone really. Then again, no one had ever asked, so why would she bother? "Dad... Dad's in the Air Force," she said with a swallow, turning to her friend as she continued on. "He's been in there a long time... Because of that we had to move a lot though," the woman told him, shaking her head. "And in the end, Mom couldn't handle it, so she divorced him... I still get to see him of course," she added quietly, holding her arms close as she spoke. "During his small bit of time off, he'll take me on a trip to the US to see a dance show, or a musical... But recently..." Tears began to fall down her cheeks, and she shook as she bowed her head to hide the expression. "Dad was part of a team sent to Egypt for an 'Airlift' mission... I didn't know the location until now, because he couldn't say, but he'd told me he'd be able to visit a few days ago... But instead of getting a call from him," she explained, voice reaching a fever pitch in panic, "I found out that he... That he... Gh..." Anzu continued to shake as the call came to mind again, holding her head in her hands.

'_Mazaki-san,_' they'd told her... '_We're sorry to say that we are calling with upsetting news... But your father was recently injured on duty. He's been admitted to the hospital,_' they continued quietly,_ 'But he is in critical condition, and we're not sure that he'll-_'

A small hand was placed on her shoulder, Yugi looking to her with worry as she turned back. Yugi... "Anzu," the boy asked, clearly sympathetic of the situation. "Why didn't... Why didn't you say..."

"Is it childish to say that I used to think he was 'invincible'," she whispered, a sad smile on her face as she turned away. "He was always so proud when he was sent out for a post in a peace-keeping mission, or even just to help out with some problems elsewhere in the country... But he was never injured," she continued, shaking her head. "Never... And then, just last week, it turns out he was caught in 'Gang Fire', with the rest of his team and whatever he was supposed to guard forced to leave without him! It's just... It's not fair," Anzu cried, curling up slightly as she bit her lip. "After all that time, he was finally going to be somewhere close... And now... I'm _scared_," she repeated, realizing now what was truly forcing the tears. "I don't know if I'll ever see him again... I don't even know if he's dead, or... Or..."

Yugi stood, slowly pulling his friend's hand up with a worried stare as the woman again turned to look at him. "...Anzu," he whispered, the woman in question staring back in silence. ...He was worried... Then again... Of course he was worried she told herself; when did she ever act like this? Rather than the 'boyish' manner she was so known for? She wasn't the sort to cry about things, she wasn't...

Anzu nodded, pulling herself up and grabbing her staff from the ground for support as she turned away. "I'm sorry," she muttered, shaking her head. "Seeing me like this..."

The boy shook her head, smiling sadly. "It's fine... Really," her friend said with a nod, looking up at the woman. "I'm just worried..."

Yes... She knew that. But right now, there was something else to do. "I'll be fine," she assured the boy, nodding her head with another sniff as she calmed herself. "Really... I just needed to get that off my chest. To tell someone... And..." Anzu slowly paled, eyes widening as she realized something else about the situation. She was here... And so was Yugi, but then that would mean- "And oh god... The others! Yugi," she hurriedly asked, her friend jumping at the renewed strength in her tone, "Yugi, the others, are they al-"

The boy nodded, biting his lip. "Yea- They're all here," he answered, quite clearly upset about the matter. "Jonouchi-kun, Shizuka-san, Honda-kun... Otogi-kun, Mokuba-kun and Kaiba-san... Besides us, they're here as well," he explained, "But I can't find them..."

All of those people... Oh god... Anzu swallowed, bringing a hand to her face as she paled. Jesus... "Just what kind of thing are they going through then," she whispered, shaking her head. "I mean... After _that_ battle..." The woman turned to the side of the cliff, staring at the ashen remains of her opponent. After the business with the penguins, and the fight... Speaking of the battle... "...Ah! That reminds me!" She hurriedly ran over to the pile of ash at the edge of the cliff, Yugi blinking and following behind. Just at the edge the woman knelt by the pile, shouting as she came to it. "Ren..! ...Ren!"

Hands lightly dug at the ashes, the small golden cobra giving a yawn as the ashes were removed. A majority of them appeared to have stained the markings on his scales; the hieroglyphs were now a solid black, and easily identified. Ren however seemed to not notice, instead turning as Yugi came over before tensing considerably- his hood nearly flared completely, partially revealed in the face of the boy, and as her friend skidded to a stop the serpent refused to turn his gaze. Thankfully however, he seemed to calm on contact with her arm, and within an instant he had settled around her wrist in his usual position. "Ah... A snake," Yugi asked, the cobra in question looking to the boy with rolled eyes.

"Great; _another_ genius," he snorted, the woman he clung to feeling much better for reasons unknown to her.

She fixed the serpent with a look, quite clearly unimpressed. "Ren..."

"Whaaaaat," he asked, turning back up. "Just saying; you see a cobra and that's the first thing you say? Come ON!"

Yugi blinked, staring for a few moments before shaking his head. Evidently talking snakes were simply beyond his understanding at the moment, and not something he needed clarification on. "Eh... Anzu," he instead asked with a cough, scratching his head. "Who is this?"

Hn? Oh, the snake... "Ren," the woman said with a small smile, lightly stroking the serpent's head. Surprisingly or unsurprisingly he responded quite well to this, initially tensing with a shocked scowl before melting into peace as the woman continued. "This is Ren," she repeated almost happily, "And he's apparently my 'familiar'... Whatever that means. I took the 'Black Mage' class," she added with a shrug, the snake continuing to hiss in comfort as the woman lightly rubbed his scales, Yugi merely tilting his head.

"Ah... Familiar," her friend repeated, Ren appearing to glare lightly at the boy in response. "...Are you sure," he continued, "Noa has been doing a lot of strange things, trying to get into our heads... I don't think that any of the classes come with 'pets'..."

"PET," Ren hissed, his hood successfully appearing in full before he was cut off.

"Oh believe me," a fourth voice chuckled, its owner evidently amused by the entire event. "_This_ is most certainly not my doing..."

"Nn!"

"Noa!"

The group turned, Ren immediately becoming alert as the serpent and the boy shared looks. Evidently 'Noa' was considered more of a threat to the snake; besides a flared hood his fangs were bared and dripping with venom, threatening hissing filling the air. "Sssssssfff! You!"

Noa merely smirked, shaking his head as he hovered before the trio. "I see that you've realized the true intent of this game," he said calmly, looking to Anzu as the woman scowled. This 'boy'... He'd strung her along this entire time, and he dared to throw that in her face? Gh... "I also see that you haven't quite figured out everything else... Such a pity about your father," the boy added darkly, Anzu tensing even further in response. "Who knew a gang centered on _cards_ could be so... 'Violent'," he continued, seeming to glance at 'Ren' as the serpent continued to hiss.

"Why don't you just stuff it in your tiny little receptacles," he growled, the boy chuckling as Ren was habitually 'shushed' by the woman he was partnered with.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Seems to me that your 'familiar' is quite the concentration of your rage," he laughed, narrowing his eyes in suggestive mirth. "Why, if I didn't know any better," the boy continued on, "I'd say he's either mimicking the emotion from you or _stealing_ it outright!" Stealing..?

"What are you talking about," Anzu hissed, Noa merely smirking darkly in response.

"Ohhhh... Who knows really," he chuckled, a large stone arch appearing behind him with the words. "But you know 'Yugi', if you hadn't thought it was easy coming into your friend's mind," he continued, "You certainly will in a moment. The relationship between you two is one thing," Noa added, crossing his arms as Yugi frowned, "But between your other one..."

"Other," Anzu repeated, narrowing her eyes as the others stared. "What do you mean," she shouted, "There's six other people here..!"

Noa continued to smirk, seemingly fading out in a flash of smoke before appearing again at the top of the enormous archway. "Well, that's for you to find out, now isn't it," he chuckled, narrowing his eyes. "You two are open with each other," the boy 'explained', "Or at least enough to pass through with the bare minimum of trickery... _This_ mind on the other hand..." He rapped on the entrance with the toe of his shoe, grinning almost wickedly. "Hard as _stone_..."

"Gh... NOA," Yugi shouted, narrowing his eyes. "What are you doing with the others?"

Still more chuckling came through the air, Noa merely shaking his head. "As I said before," he told them, fading from existence while he spoke, "That's for you two to find out for yourselves... Hnhnhnhnhnhn..."

And with that, he was gone. "Gh- Bastard," Ren hissed, the others holding expressions that said just as much about what they thought of the boy. "Come on! Let's get him," the snake spat eagerly, "Show him a taste of the 'inferno'," he continued, turning to Anzu as the woman flushed.

"A-AH- Hey," she responded incredulously, "We don't even know where he is..!"

"No... But we know that one of the others is past this door," Yugi continued, looking to the arch with a swallow. The woman turned, looking from Yugi to the door with a nod. That was right... ...Ah...

"Hey... Do most of your friends even know how to duel," Ren asked somewhat dryly, currently coiled around Anzu's shoulder for a more easy view of things.

"I think that Ryuzaki-kun taught Shizuka-san," the boy responded, turning somewhat as a slight breeze passed. "In fact, Shizuka-san seemed more worried that she didn't have her deck with her, so I think she might actually duel regularly." A small sound seemed to come over the air with those words, Anzu as well turning with a frown. Somewhere far in the distance... Was that...

"Did someone hear a sneeze," Anzu muttered, Ren 'shrugging' in response.

"Nah," he said plainly, "That was just you. Now then! So that's one down," the snake decided with a yawn. "What about your other two guys," he continued, "Black-hair-guy and brown-hair-guy?"

"Um... You mean Otogi and Honda," his partner asked dryly, the serpent again 'shrugging' in response as his tongue 'flickered'.

"Hey, not like I'd know," he offered in defense.

"Well you know," Yugi began, cutting the two off, "Otogi should be fine... He's pretty good with most strategy games," the boy explained, "And actually created a few small-time ones himself. In fact," he added, scratching his cheek almost nervously, "If it hadn't been for the 'Black Clown' disaster, I think his 'D-D-D' game would have done fairly well..." Very true... After the black clown, Otogi was put in a pretty bad spot, but if it hadn't been for that... "On the other hand," Yugi continued, "When you think about Honda..."

Anzu blinked, before biting her cheek with a wince. "Ah... That's right," she muttered, "He doesn't duel at all does he..."

"He's terrible," Yugi added with a moan, shaking his head.

Ren appeared to stare at the two in response to this, before turning to face the door that stood before them. "Hohhh... In that case we better move, shouldn't we? Given that these guys came close to beating you two," he added, looking to the pair for their reaction. The two both nodded in agreement, moving toward the arch as the snake continued on. "By the way," he said somewhat idly, looking away from Yugi as I spoke. "I like the vest; black leather. Suits you. It's pretty 'bad-ass'."

Yugi's response was the expected red-faced blush of embarrassment as he opened the door, needless to say.

* * *

"This... Is the wrong one."

For the past few moments Seto had been more or less shocked silent, standing motionless as the sounds of weeping passed over her and faded into darkness. Mokuba had placed all of his own attention on her as a result of the incident in fact, and whether or not this was a good thing could be debated really; after all, while it meant he didn't see much more of the hospital scene, it did mean staring at his clearly _not_ fine older sister, wondering just what it was that could have possibly shaken her. With Kisara's words however she was snapped back into reality, fists clenched as she turned on the girl in a more than evident rage. "_YOU,_" she spat, drawing her blade and running toward the child in an instant. "You _MONSTER_!" The blade was raised high, prepared to cut the girl in two as she screamed... Mokuba was staring in shock but saying nothing, merely standing in place as the sword was held high. But as Seto stared at Kisara with rage filled eyes she was met with blank, dull blue ones, staring, piercing... And in the end the blade fell to the ground in a clatter, shaking hand brought down into her steady one's grip as she ground her teeth. "Ghh... Hng..." She couldn't...

She couldn't... '_You... You saved my life,_' a young voice whispered in the back of her mind, sounding more like a young woman than the girl before her. '_Who are you?_'

'_...Set,_' a voice answered. '_Set, of the village Ash._' Tch... Those memories...

They weren't hers she told herself with a wince, and yet... Yet... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." Chuckling echoed through the air as Seto held her head, shaking somewhat in the darkness. "_Hard_, isn't it," a voice whispered, misting behind them into the form of a young boy. Mokuba jumped back into his sister as Noa appeared, a grin in place as he hovered in the air for the added 'height' required to speak above his 'guest'. "To kill someone you cared for... You just can't do it, can you," he continued, narrowing his eyes. The boy smoked from existence and into the air as the woman pulled herself from thought, snatching her blade off the ground with a growl.

"Gh... Hold still and you'll find out just how much I 'care' about you," she spat, blade gleaming in unseen light as she renewed her stance. "Now show yourself!"

"Now now," the boy warned with a sigh, smoke seeming to seep through the area. "Let's not be rude... She was just trying to help," he chuckled, appearing high above the siblings. Help?

Hah! She swore to hell itself that when she got to this kid, nothing was going to stop her from tossing him into the nearest patch of shark infested waters... "Noa," she snarled, tightening her grip on the sword. "Come down here and face me directly!"

Noa appeared to raise his eyebrows, a faux expression of consideration over his face as he looked down. "Hnn... With that sword," the boy questioned, raising his eyebrows. "I don't think so," he decided with a smirk. "Besides; there's something you need to see before you can meet your opponent," he told them as he shrugged, "And Kisara is going to find it for you." Find it..?

...'This isn't it'... Her memories then! Ugh! "In other words," Seto growled, fists shaking with anger as she nonetheless held her stance, "You're going to dig through our heads until you find it..!"

"Hn... It sounds so _violent_ when you put it like that..." It _was_ violent, it was invading her subconcious! The woman's thoughts were cut short however, as Noa continued to speak. "I suggest you listen to what this girl has to say," he warned, a dark smirk appearing as he vanished into smoke once more. "After all... I don't see any other way out of this place, do you..?"

A door appeared to Kisara's side at that, Seto's teeth grinding while their captor vanished completely. "Bastard... BASTARD," she roared, grip on her blade tightening further as the sword shook. "COME BACK HERE NOA!"

Mokuba as well appeared more than displeased, a thick scowl on his face as the 'room' fell silent. There was no response... Noa was gone, and they were left with a mute guide. "Tch... Great," the boy muttered, "So our only escape is through these doors then..."

Those doors... Hn! "There's probably _something,_" she growled, crossing her arms as the sword was replaced at her hip. But what... What other way did they possibly have...

"There is no escape," Kisara stated plainly, apparently unaffected by the words. "As Noa-sama said; you must witness the correct 'memory', and you must follow me until I find it." The girl before them took hold of the door handle at her side, pulling it open as it increased in size to encompass the front of the room. "Perhaps... This one," she said monotonously, Seto going white as the familiar sound of a truck's horn came over her ears. That sound...

"Gh-!" Mokuba was snatched from behind without another word, face pulled into her robes and armor as the woman covered her brother's ears. "Nee-sama," he protested, pushing against her grip as the woman held him close. "Nee-sama, what-"

"Trust me," she muttered, eyes wide as she stared at the ground. "You do not want to see-" This. A rush of wind blasted through her, the truck slamming in, through, and past the two as it smoked around their form.

'_NO! MOKUBA,_' a voice shouted, '_SERI!_' Seto bit her lip, bowing her head as the familiar scene replayed before them. The sound of screeching tires filled the air... And the truck's cargo capsized, falling on its side as multiple other cars drove into its rear or even the sides. And fires lit the area, springing from the candles that had lit the streets, from the gas that dripped from the vehicles... She could see herself, pushed to the ground among the wreckage, Mokuba held close, as her father lay prone at the front of the truck.

"D...Dad," she'd whispered fearfully, her eyes just as wide as her present counterpart's were.

"Nn... Hn... S... Se... ri," the man rasped, eyes growing dull. "Protect... ..." She'd remembered it differently, the woman noted with weakened eyes, grip on Mokuba slipping as the boy moved to turn. Her father... Her 'dad'... He'd died before he could finish his sentence. He'd...

"Wrong," Kisara said plainly, Seto slowly turning on the girl as the scenery shifted. "This one then." Another-? Mokuba and Seto both turned with a jolt, eyes wide as they were suddenly standing before a coffin. Incense burned before them, filling the room, and just ahead they could be seen with their aunt.

'_We're sorry for your loss,_' everyone was saying. '_So sorry..._'

"This..."

"This is..."

Themselves. They were witnessing themselves, at their father's _funeral_..!

And Kisara had no reaction. "Also wrong," the girl repeated, the mutterings of Buddhist sutra disappearing from around them as they moved to a crematorium. In the place of a sunlit room were now almost pure white walls, and the majority of the crowd had vanished in the place of their Aunt and Uncle. Her aunt's hand had been on her shoulder, in the appearance of comfort... Yet while she held her hand there it was quite clear that she was more depressed over the loss of her brother than willing to aid her niece and nephew in that time. More horrified at the loss of her brother to such an accident. The casket was slipped into the chamber... Flames wrapped around the box in the chamber, and in her minds eye she could see it lapping hungrily at the sides quite clearly, even now. '_Why are they burning him,_' Mokuba was crying, the current one biting his lip as tears developed in his eyes. '_WHY? Why are they burning him! Daddy! DADDY!_'

Seto tightened her grip on Mokuba's hand and shoulders, her brother struggling not to cry as Kisara continued to stare in indifference. "Still wrong," she stated almost coldly, before they stood at the front of a grave. There was another stone just a short distance away from them... 'Honda Kimura', 'Honda Hisao' it read, the words only coming to her mind because they had passed them on the way to their 'place'. She didn't remember much of this day... Mokuba and herself were both still gripping each other's hands, as the smaller version's of themselves did the same. All she knew was that it had been the last time they visited the tombstone, and that...

That they weren't alone back then. '_Hey,_' a young woman asked, coming up beside them with a sympathetic smile on her face. They'd turned, blinking as the likely just twenty year old woman held something out for them. It was a rice ball... Mokuba had quite eagerly taken one already at that time, and at the moment the past version of herself was hesitating. In the end, the woman had given her a look of understanding, eyes sad and quite clearly moist themselves. '_Did you lose your parents too..?_'

The boy behind her had turned to look at them... His face seemed familiar, and his sister turned back with a worried frown as the younger version of herself took the riceball. '_Hiroto, come over here,_' she called out, not standing from where she knelt down. '_I don't want you wandering off..._'

'Hiroto' had scowled in response, crossing his arms in rolled up sweater sleeves. '_I'm not going to get lost!_'

'_No, but I don't trust that blond kid hanging around your school, and I spotted him by the entrance earlier,_' she told him with a frown, the boy merely groaning as he looked back to the gravestone he stood before. '_Don't think I didn't catch you calling him to do that, you know what I think of him!'_

'_Aggggh, come on ane-san! We're in the same class, just because he's blond doesn't mean he's a creep or anything... Honestly!_' Hn! Try explaining that to the majority of Japan... ...But hang on, Seto thought to herself, looking closer at the boys face as he scowled. This face... The mentions of a blond 'delinquet'... And 'Hiroto'...

"_Honda_, Hiroto" she muttered, narrowing her eyes in thought. In the memory, 'Noriko' as she was called gave them a few more rice balls, the two siblings taking them soberly before giving their thanks. She told them not to worry about what happened to their parents, and that no matter what, they had to look up to things... That things would look up. They'd never seen them again... And after that...

"Wrong," Kisara's voice hissed again, and once more, the scenery shifted. Noriko and her then eight year old brother disappeared into smoke on the wind, and as Seto closed her eyes in the face light that resulted both herself and her brother had to grind their teeth. This... All of this, these memories... Their worst memories, supposedly hiding something 'else'... The vision cleared, and in an instant both of them found themselves staring with wide and blank eyes, tongues held in shock.

"N-Nee-sama," Mokuba whispered, hesitantly stepping forward as they looked to the gates they now stood in front of.

"This..." This was...

"The orphanage we stayed at," her brother continued, watching as a pair of children walked on their own to the gates. The orphanage...

"...Damn this 'Noa'," she cursed, narrowing her eyes. "Damn him..!" And behind her, Kisara said nothing.

* * *

The desert was known for its harshness, that much was true. It was also known for the great beating sun that was both loved and cursed by its denizens, a place where water was as rare and treasured as gold in the furthest regions. It was known for howling jackals that prowled its night skies, and for the eerie barks of the fennec fox, for the slithering cobra and the scraping, rasping sounds of the saw-scaled viper. It was home to what some of the world considered the most feared arachnid, the scoprion, and it was known as the largest region of its kind. But mostly, it was known for sand.

Lots. And lots. Of sand. As he walked through this sand however, he could see flashes... Two children running along side him, with one or two goats with them as the rest walked behind. Each time he paid attention however, each time he stared, they vanished, leaving him standing with his staff in the middle of a 'sand storm' as a faded mirage and the sensation of a happy memory vanished. "_Keep moving chabar,_" the 'ghost' told him when this happened, Katsuya staring at where the last illusion had stood before nodding. "_We're almost there, just keep moving._"

"Righ'," he muttered, taking a step forward only to freeze with dull surprise. All about him the sands vanished, as though simply 'deleted' from existence. And for a brief moment, great and almost draconic cliffs stood before him, clawed stone reaching out from around a number of ancient styled clay buildings. A village of yellow-white stone, filled with people in robes with smiles on their faces as they went about their business. But it was only a moment... And in an instant all but a small outcropping of stone vanished from the cliffs, with the buildings reduced to near ground level rubble amidst shards of broken pottery and rusted blades. Katsuya swallowed as he entered the ghost town, looking from building to building as their forms flashed in his mind. He could hear children laughing as they played with clay horses and cheetas... See ghosts of them running through the streets before each vanished in a blaze of fire. Before they turned toward him and shouted for someone with the tone one would use to tattle on a sibling.

'_Leave, TRAITOR,_' someone roared, their angered face hidden in shadow as the sensation of something wet came across him. '_You're not welcome here, with your LIES!_' The blond wiped his face, frowning as he found nothing there. That... Felt almost like he'd been spat on he told himself in slight aggravation, and yet...

A dull wind passed, and he looked around with a frown. There was nothing but dust there. Nothing but dust and a deserted ruin. "Where is this place," he whispered, wiping the sand from his fingertips. "What is th's..?"

"_It is an old and long abandoned village,_" the ghost said plainly, voice tight as Katsuya looked around. "_Hidden from the outside world until just recently... It was a village of trade, and at the same time, a village of outcasts... You seemed to manage better than most though,_" he added, his 'friend' merely walking through the sifting sands. "_Perhaps that is why they detested you so._" Detested eh...

The blond said nothing in response to that comment, merely continuing on his way with a confused and altogether out of place expression on his face. All these ruins... He could hear the bustling of a haggling merchant on the side, attempting to convince a man to sell the gold he was peddling from a raided tomb. He could hear the surprised screech as a woman carrying wheat was almost toppled over by her running children, and the resultant giggles from the pair as they were cursed at from afar. And a well... He could see- Katsuya froze as he came to the large hole in the center of the ruin, frowning at its appearance. Alright... There _used_ to be a well there, and closer toward him just ground in general but... "Ah..." There was something there... "...A cavern..." The blond knelt down, peering into the well lit hole with squinting eyes as he attempted to make out the bottom. It looked almost as though something had burst out from there really, and that the well had simply been a casualty in that line of fire. There was a small wall dividing the cavern in two after all, or at least the ruins of one, and from the rocks along the ground it was fairly obvious the wall had been broken from the 'inside'. As for stairs that would take him there... He looked up, moving around the gaping hole toward the half sunken cave at the side. There were two entrances from what he could see in there, but given that this was closest... Not to mention more familiar he thought idly, frowning somewhat. Hnn... "I've been here before, haven' I," he asked, approaching the hole to look at the 'stairs' leading downward. "Th's place... 'Ve been here, haven' I."

"_That's right,_" his 'friend' answered promptly, almost seamlessly following the blond's thoughts in order to pursue the conversation. "_Not often though,_" the ghost added, "_For as honest and honorable as you were, you were more often than not chased out of the boundaries of the village whenever you came close to the center. Lucky for you,_" he added somewhat dryly, "_You only came during the wet season; which thankfully meant no problems with water, a fairly high source of importance in such a place as this._" Ah...

Yea, water was probably important in the desert, wasn't it. Katsuya kept silent as he walked down the steps, hand tracing along the sides of the spiralling path until he came into the first cavern. The hole more or less centered around this area; it had been broken out from the inside and in the center, and in his minds eye he could tell that in both the past _and_ future it was resealed, covered with sand within a short amount of time. The moment in time that he stood in now was merely a half way point, a brief period of ruin and misery that reeked of unrest. This was what made up the chamber as a result; sand, dust, and fallen brick. The rest of the chamber however was strange, and out of place. To the side there was what seemed to be a funeral pyre, topped by an enormous vat meant to hold molten metals. To the other side was a ruined altar of sorts, and a hall that passed to the other room. A hall that was more or less made useless by the lack of a wall in the room. Closer to the center however, and just before the funeral pyre, was a great domed stone, carved into the shape of some strange sarcophagus mold for seven items. Stone blocks sat to the side as well- stone that had only slightly weathered, which had been pounded into bits to free whatever the mold had created. As to what those were...

It was blurred. "Hn... Well tha's a lil' anti-cl'matic," the blond muttered, passing the stone by as screams came through his mind. Katsuya held his head a moment, wincing before moving toward the other room. Maybe he'd find out eventually... Find out what connected the screams to the mold, what made this place so important. Or maybe... "...Hey... You know what this thing w's used f'r," he asked the ghost in his mind, receiving a pause in response.

"_...Something terrible,_" the ghost said plainly, Katsuya frowning somewhat at the cold and flat tone used. "_Not something I would enjoy speaking of,_" he added, quite obviously wanting nothing to do with the subject. Oh...

Probably something personal then he thought to himself, looking around the second half of the chamber as he approached the fallen wall. What little remained of the hole was more than enough to illuminate the area, despite the sun suddenly trading places with the moon when he'd come down the steps. Passing the ruined and nearly vanished well that had once traveled up to the grounds above he could see carvings of all kinds along the walls, depicting dragons, eagles, and monsters beyond any he had seen even on tv. Unlike the tablets of Egypt however, or of the field, the monsters were not bound it seemed. In fact, as he brushed a hand along the wall, he couldn't help but think that they were not even true 'monsters' at all... That they had been a 'people' in their own right, not bound to whatever 'other realms' his own had spoken of. "I've seen these b'fore," he found himself whispering, remembering a hand far smaller than his own brushing against the stone in the same fashion. "These carvin's... I've seen 'm," he muttered, the monsters appearing to flicker off the stone in simple and flowing movements.

"_Indeed you have,_" he received from the ghost in response, the spirit apparently over whatever caused him to tense previously. "_But only a few times. While it's true you came down when you could,_" he continued softly,_ "That was long ago, and soon enough an impossibility. After adulthood,_" the shade explained,_ "You came here only twice before death..._" Death..? The spirit snorted at the sudden thought he'd gleaned from the blond, likely shaking his head. "_Hn! You didn't think that you lived for so many years did you,_" he asked, Katsuya frowning while the spirit went on. "_I don't even know if you are who I think; certainly you look and sound like him, but the fact remains, it is still you. I can't begin to fathom why such a reincarnation would happen... In fact, I had been almost certain it was someone __else__ until recently..._" Eh-Ehhh... Someone else out there looked like him?

Damn this was confusing. The blond sighed, shaking himself. In all honesty, he'd be better off not asking he supposed. He'd just end up more confused, and really, he didn't want _that_... "Righ'," he muttered, taking a seat along one of the far walls by a ruined pillar as he continued to shake his head. "'F course..." Of course...

Katsuya closed his eyes as a breeze blew a few bits of sand into the hole, the light shifting from night to day as walls appeared in his mind. As carvings restored themselves, light returning to the rooms. Slowly he opened his eyes, the sand falling from his shoulders. The well was repaired... Standing tall, like some enormous pillar in the center of the room. And standing before him, with his back turned to the blond... "...Me..?" No... That 'other' him, from his dreams he realized, narrowing his eyes at the darkened skin. But he was younger here, younger than even Mokuba. He wore nothing but a tunic tied down with a sash, and he sat before the somewhat worn halls in curiosity as he stared at the immense and varied carvings of what looked to be three great deities dividing from a fourth. He didn't find himself questioning why he was alone in the chambers though; from what he knew, these caverns were always empty...

"_Or at least,_" the spirit added, "_They were for all but one week of the year._" One week..?

The blond found himself standing, narrowing his eyes as the smaller 'him' continued to stare at the wall. Despite the presence of the ceiling, the room was well lit, more so than even the version lit beneath an evening sky. Mirrors, curved and formed of polished bowls were positioned about the room in tunnels it seemed; and with these mirrors, light was reflected into the chamber, filling it with enough sunlight to spread across an entire village. He could hear... A voice, Katsuya told himself, frowning somewhat. He could remember a voice in his mind, and from the shadows beside the boy seemed to come eyes, staring in curiosity. A set of golden cat's eyes shimmering from the corner... Gleaming orange metal, encasing similarly coloured glass ones, glaring out at the very edge of the darkness the mirrors could not reach. and, seemingly from solidified shadows a set of blazing red ones. '_What happened here,_' the boy asked, the shadows seeming to answer despite them not facing each other.

'_**Refuge,**_' spoke the first, with a growling tone that stirred the depths of the waters in the well.

'_**Sanctuary,**_' whispered the other, his growls drifting across the sands like a breeze.

'_**Flight,**_' the final stated,_** 'Hiding. This is where they were protected. This is where it happened... 'What' happened,**_' it clarified, deep rumbling seeming to shake the earth and the skies themselves.

And the boy continued to stare at the carvings, a curious expression on his face. '_But why,_' asked the boy, the shadows in the corner seeming to shift among themselves before the second one vanished from view.

'_**There are many names for these reasons,**_' whispered the first, seeming to shrink back into the darkness in some sort of fear filled reaction.

'_**However we do not speak of them,**_' the final muttered, the boy tilting his head in confusion.

'_...But why,_' he asked, the shadows merely answering with patience and calm as he reached a hand out to the walls.

'_**Because to speak of them would mean their release,**_' remarked the last shadow, the boy before them still staring at the stone. There was more silence in the air, before yet again that same word was uttered.

'_Why..?_'

Chuckling came about the room, and Katsuya stepped forward as the conversations continued before him, only faintly finding them familiar to him. '_**Hnhnhnhnhn... You are a curious child,**_' the shadow muttered, now alone with the absence of the first. '_**But how is it that you speak with us? It has been many years,**_' it continued curiously, '_**Since a true connection has been achieved.**_' A true connection, he found himself wondering, narrowing his eyes. But what did that mean? The draconic shadow continued to speak, thick hide seeming to melt out of the darkness to arise above the boy from the corners between the ceiling and wall._** 'Our ways have been lost to time,**_' it explained, red eyes blinking down at the boy below._** 'There were once days when we walked along the sides of men, accepted as their equals and companions. But these times are gone,**_' he lamented, the boy before him staring. '_**And so we are cast to the shadows, if even that.'**_

The answer was expected really, but even so it seemed too serious a question to pull a smile at. '_But... Why?_'

More chuckling, followed by a gloomy sigh as the creature closed his eyes and slipped down the wall. '_**Ahhh... You are still but a young child I suppose,**_' the shadow whispered, seeming to draw closer to the boy as he stared. '_**Come here young one,**_' it continued, the boy doing just that as he curled up into the darkness with a childishly oblivious smile. '_**Rest your eyes... We will send you back to your village later,**_' it went on,_** 'When the storm above has passed...**_'

The boy continued to smile at this, and in an instant he faded away to a cloud of dust, along with the light around him. The ceiling above remained of course, blocking out whatever time of the day it could have been. But there was no light, at least not much, falling into the room, and it was because of this that he was placing a hand on the well at the side for support, squinting in the darkness. Now, from the other room, he could hear screams... The very ones from his dreams, the lamented cries and curses of men and women as they watched their children fall into a bottomless pit. He could see someone peering around the corner in front of him, body locked with horror before fleeing through a second exit to the side. And then with a jolt the well, seemingly out of anger, collapses on itself, forcing him to draw back with a shout... And the light above is sealed, the hole where the well once traveled to blocked by a stone that no one else will ever find. And the room was left in darkness yet again. "...What happened here," Katsuya whispered, gripping his staff as a doorway appeared just behind him in the form of an old and stone archway. "What happened..."

"_Tragedy, chabar. Tragedy..._"

* * *

Unlike with other memories, Kisara did not simply 'change channels' after finding that it was the 'wrong one' to Mokuba's surprise. Not to say he wasn't a little relieved of course, given the hell that constantly jumping memories seemed to be putting his sister, not to mention himself through, but the fact was...

This was far from the one that he wanted to see, and if they could have 'switched' to anything else he was almost certain he would prefer it over this. Before them he could see himself, and the form of his younger sister. Standing outside the gates beside them, and as he stared it felt almost as though they were children again. As though their dad had died eight weeks rather than eight years ago, as though they were being abandoned by their aunt once again, with that final stony request only fulfilled with a grudging heart.

This was where it all began. This was where the true problem struck, where the crossroads really appeared. And as smaller versions of themselves passed through them like ghosts, guided by the orphanage caretaker, they found themselves forced to follow. They found themselves taking small steps forward with Kisara right behind them, the strange and almost draconic girl warping reality simply with her thoughts it appeared. The scene shifted... They were at the park he'd played in as a younger child, or at least he was. Seto wasn't there, and he could remember why that was as well. It had been the day they entered the orphanage... The day that their records brought up nothing, that they were deemed 'orphans' simply due to the lack of evidence otherwise. He'd run off after being shown the room he'd be staying in, afraid of what would happen, wanting to just go home back to his dad...

But dad wasn't there. No matter how much he wanted to be playing with him, like the other boys and girls were playing with their parents, he wasn't there. He wasn't there, and what was worse, he wasn't coming back, a fact that had left him miserably clinging to the chain on the swings as he forced himself not to cry. '_Hey,_' a boy about his sister's age asked at one point that day, militaristic hair-cut standing out from the usual messy mops of the other boys. '_You lost?_' He'd shaken his head and lied, saying that his sister would be coming for him soon. That he was just fine, even though there was no one else in sight And though it looked like the boy was about to say something more, a loud '_Hiroto! We're leaving!_' came through the air and summoned him away... With the vision rendering him naught but dust in the wind.

And it began to get darker... The sun began to set, and eventually they were left with nothing but a red sky, bleeding across the horizon. No one else was left in the park, so no one was there to see him finally cry. He wasn't coming after all; he'd waited all day... But in the end- "_Mokuba,_" a voice called out, the real one watching sadly as his sister, or the memory of her at least, ran forward with a momentarily worried and red face. He remembered... Just how afraid he was that day, when they'd been left at the side of the road to walk to the building. How shocking it was when his sister's hair had been cut down, shaven into the typical style of most other boys that age, clipped to match their cousin's spare and old clothes. Even from a 'mop' that had been left after the 'bubblegum' issue it was frightening, something that still scared him now. "_Mokuba,_" the girl repeated, running forward as he'd looked up from the swing set. "_Mokuba, I was worried..._"

"_Ah... Nee-_"

He'd quickly been cut off with those words, the girl frowning just slightly. "_Hey- remember what we said,_" she'd told him, giving the boy a somewhat warning look as he nodded slowly.

"_H-Hn... Right. ...N-Nii-sama... ...Am I in trouble,_" he'd asked through his tears, receiving a sad smile in response before getting a hug.

"_Of course not... I was just worried about you,_" she'd answered, helping her brother from the swings. "_You ran away... I didn't know where you'd gone, so I had to think of all the places you could be..."_

Mokuba, the 'younger' version at least, had wiped his eyes, staring at the ground as the tears were quickly replaced. "_I'm sorry,_" he cried, sniffing loudly as he held his sister's hand._ "I just... I thought if I went to the park,_" he continued,_ "That he'd come back! That I'd see daddy coming and... And... Ngggh..._"

The smaller Seto stared, taking his hand. "_...Mokuba... I know... I know it hurts,_" she began with a slight choke,_ "But... Come on," _she'd said, turning to him sadly. "_Lets go home... Remember what I said? __From now on, 'I'll be the father', okay,_" she told him with a smile, eyes just barely betraying the emotion._ "I'll protect you, and make sure you live happy for the rest of your life, so don't worry about anything, and don't think about what happened! Alright?_"

"_Ah... Ne- nii-sama... ...B-But... But nii-sama,_" he'd cried, shaking his head._ "You can't be a 'dad', only boys are 'dads', and-_"

"_And that's just what I'll be,_" she interrupted plainly, still smiling sadly as she led the boy to the orphanage along the sidewalk. "_Alright? I'm your 'brother'... So stop crying... If they see you like this,_" Seto had warned,_ "If you show them weakness, they'll only try and hurt you more. So you have to be strong, okay,_" the girl told him seriously, "_Be strong. We aren't 'dogs'- so no whining, alright?_"

He'd hurriedly nodded in response to that, swallowing back his cries as he sniffed. "_A-Ah... R-Right,_" he said with a swallow. "_Not a dog!_"

"_Good... Now lets play a game, okay,_" 'Seto' whispered, before vanishing into smoke along with the memory. "_I have just the thing..._" A game...

Mokuba looked up at his sister as the scene whirled again, the woman's head bowed somewhat as she closed her eyes. Those words... Those words that she still lived by even today... That was 'nii-sama' for him he supposed, eyes softening in sadness before he looked back to hide his tears. That was his big sister...

Somethings, he supposed, just never changed.

* * *

"_Checkmate_," someone said as the memory stabilized itself, the two siblings looking back as they were met with the outside view of a classroom window. Birds were chirping in the trees at the side... A few remaining sakura petals were falling from the trees, but by this point a majority had been replaced by green leaves. Ah... This was the elementary school by the orphanage she realized, face somewhat torn between emotions at the moment. Because they were so close to this building, because the school and the orphanage were on the same grounds, they would often play games there... This time she noted, it was chess.

Something they'd done almost every day. "_Wuaaaah,_" the younger Mokuba cried before them, face wide and grinning as he laughed. "_You beat me again! Nii-sama,_" he shouted, no longer slipping over the honorifics,_ "You're so good!_" Two years... It'd been two years since the last memory Seto told herself, staring at the tired version of herself through the window. Two years of hiding behind a curtain and praying she wasn't caught. And even now she felt dizzy... That the lines of reality were blurring, more and more before her eyes right now, that the exhaustion she'd hidden so well back then was resurfacing. '_You don't deserve this,_' a nasty, hissing voice whispered in her ear, coating her thoughts in despair as she stared through the window. '_This adoration... You aren't worthy of it at all..._'

Seto immediately shook herself of the thought, still staring through the window in silence. She couldn't think that, could she? True, she didn't deserve it but... With the sounds of that voice, it was almost asking her to 'disappear'. That couldn't be the answer... Instead she thought back to those times, those happier times she could recall only faintly. In that classroom... They'd play so often, whenever Mokuba felt bored really. And no matter what she would put on a smile for him, and tell him that everything was alright, so that he didn't realize anything was wrong. But that day, as the TV flashed behind them, she wasn't smiling. She'd dropped her facade, not focusing on it as she looked to the screen. On the TV, Gozaburo Kaiba was giving an announcement. He was being awarded a large sum of money for his participation in a renowned, World Wide chess tournament. And in just one week...

He was coming to their orphanage with as many gifts as were worth this money for the children there. Coming, in person, leaving enough time to possibly speak to him... This was her chance. This was her one chance, her opportunity to change everything, or so she had told herself then and there. Gozaburo Kaiba had one of the most powerful companies in Japan, a billionaire in his own right, unchallenged in power. With that, her promise could be fulfilled. No one would hurt her brother. Nothing would stand in their way to make that amusement park for kids like them. For kids like the two she'd met at that cemetery, for the kids that lived with them. They'd play as much as they wanted... No problems at all...

"That's right," she found herself muttering under her breath, cloak blowing in a slight breeze as her gaze faded with her thoughts. "I started my plan here..." And she never looked back... Never...

And with those thoughts they could hear the sounds of a car pulling up, the scenery again changing so that they were turned in the opposite direction. The familiar black, rolls royce car arrived... The staff of the Orphanage, or at least the head, was waiting by the gates, holding them open with a nervous and white palor. And then he appeared, visible for the first time since he'd jumped out that window. Standing there, identical in every detail to the man she'd known from that time. "It's him," Mokuba said with a quiet swallow, watching the man crush his dying cigar before coming forward to greet the Orphanage owner.

Yes... "Kaiba Gozaburo..."

The smaller version of herself was watching, as expected. Staring out the classroom door with an odd look on her face. "_Mokuba,_" she'd whispered, looking down at her brother as they watched the man vanish to another room. "_Remember my promise,_" she'd asked._ "What I'm about to do now will make sure it happens. That man is Kaiba Gozaburo,_" she'd explained to the boy,_ "And he's the owner of Kaiba Corporation... If we get adopted by him,_" the girl told him, swallowing back her unease as she enacted the plan she'd prepared long ago,_ "If this works... We won't have to worry about a thing..._"

Mokuba had looked up curiously, still too young to really understand what he had heard. "_Adopted,_" he asked, his sister nodding as she stared down the walkway.

"_That's right; and even if I have to force him,_" she'd muttered darkly,_ "I'll make sure this happens..!_" Even if she had to cheat. Even if she had to do something drastic... Time passed once again. As Gozaburo returned from his publicity stunt, he was stopped by the two small children, the younger hiding behind her as she looked up.

"_Can I help you boys,_" he'd asked, looking down at them oddly.

And she had immediately, without bowing, looked the man in the eye, holding the stare. With all the gall in the world she'd held that gaze, and made one single request to the man. _"Please_," she insisted, watching as the man raised his eyebrows in slight confusion. "_Adopt us!_"

Gozaburo's reaction was almost expected really. "_Adopt you,_" he'd repeated, narrowing his eyes. That was all he said, and yet the second message was obvious. 'you're kidding'... 'you can't be serious'...

She was... Most definitely, she was. "_That's right... We ask that you take my brother and myself in as your sons. Of course,_" she'd added, the present day counterparts both watching with frowns as the past unfolded before them, "_If you don't wish to do so... We could always have a match of chess on the decision; if I were to win,_" she continued in explanation,_ "You would have no choice but to take us in! And if I lost, then nothing would happen,_" the girl finished almost plainly,_ "And we would stay here._"

She would always remember, always, what that man had said in response. "_Hnhnhnhnhn... What an interesting boy you have here,_" he'd told the man behind him, the caretaker currently wiping his brow in unease as he narrowly escaped an awkward position that could have otherwise unfolded. "_Interesting... But foolish,_" he continued, a frown still sitting on his face._ "Boy, I've won six world-championship titles in the game of Chess; to challenge me is to challenge God himself! Impossible!_"

"_But there are no impossibilities when it comes to competition,_" she'd answered, using one of the man's own quotes in response as she narrowed her eyes. "_Are there?_"

At this the man hid a slight smirk, narrowing his eyes in thought. "_Hn! In luck and chance perhaps,_" he eventually told her, arms held loosely at his sides._ "But Chess is not luck... Yet you still challenge me?_"

Why hadn't she relented? She was too stubborn really, that was part of it. But perhaps if she had simply been called on her cheat, or even just pulled out of her ruse those years ago, none of this would have happened. None of this...

But it was impossible to change the past. So "_Of course,_" she had responded. Of course...

It had all been for Mokuba after all, it had always been for Mokuba. "_Well... It's clear from the look in your eyes that you don't plan on backing down anytime soon,_" Gozaburo had decided, nodding his head._ "Very well! I'll fight you- and if you win,_" he continued,_ "I'll uphold this agreement of yours. But I won't be holding back,_" the man warned, the younger version of herself nodding in response.

"_I'd expect nothing less._" She'd planned only for that after all...

And at that age, she'd never realized just how obvious she had been. "_Good! Now... If we could borrow one of your classrooms,_" he'd asked the man behind him, the trio quickly being led off to the classroom at the side. The door was closed behind them, and sitting at one of the desks, the game was set up...

And the game began, as the scene before them changed in a whirl of smoke. "Nee-sama," Mokuba whispered from outside the classroom, the room having shifted to that scene already as pawns and knights flew across the board. "That day... You'd already known what you were going to do, didn't you," he asked quietly.

"Of course she did." The two turned, frowning as Kisara stared blankly toward them with those words. All these memories... She'd almost forgotten the girl was there, watching their every move and gauging their reaction. "Seto-sama studied all of Gozaburo-sama's movements, all of his strategies," she explained, "Until, before the match, she had formulated a plan for each and every move he could make. It was the ultimate cheat," the girl continued blandly, "And it was such intelligence that earned your place in the Kaiba mansion." This girl...

Tch! Inside the room, the game had passed its half-way point, with the occasional idle comment on the quality of the board, or the intelligence of the move arising during the time coming to that moment. But as the game progressed further, Gozaburo began to fall silent. He narrowed his eyes, even pausing at some of his moves before staring at the board with both incredulity and shock...

And possibly even awe. "Gozaburo-sama knew that you cheated," Kisara said plainly, repeating the fact that had remained unsaid for so long. "And yet, he took you in... Why is this, I wonder," she continued, both Seto and Mokuba staring with narrowed eyes as they turned from the window. "Why would such a man take in one whom he knew had attempted to fool him..? This is where it all began," she continued, holding out her hands as she looked to the two. "This is the path that leads to 'that memory'. It is an important one," the girl told them, the siblings gritting their teeth in annoyance. "One I must find, for that is Noa-sama's wish. It is his wish that you see this memory," she pressed, "That you remember, before it is too late." Too late..?

What... "What the hell are you talking about," she muttered, staring at the girl. "What on earth..."

"There is a time," she told them in her same flat tone, eyes appearing almost shadowed. "A time you have forgotten. And even if I must repeat every occurrence within your mind," she told them, "I will find it." Every... Single... What...

What..!

And with that another door appeared, a field of darkness replacing most of the scenery in a blast of wind that knocked any clear words from her mouth. Arms were brought up as a shield, eyes covered by the hat she wore, until finally the gale died down for a small light to appear in the corner. "This..."

As the door opened, the girl gestured to the side, blank face still staring toward them with half-lidded eyes. "Welcome home..."

It was the mansion... From over seven years ago.

* * *

The door behind him, made simply from a hanging cloth that was nailed and forced into a stone archway, appeared about as oddly placed as anything else he'd seen that apparently resided in his mind and subconscious thoughts. Whatever was beyond the cloth was clearly different from what was around them it seemed though, as the other side of the arch was unchanged, and made of empty space. All the same...

Something told him this was the 'meal ticket' that Noa had mentioned, and that if he didn't take it, he wouldn't be finding a way out anytime soon. "_So you're going in then,_" the spirit in his mind asked, Katsuya nodding in response.

"Not like there's anything else to do..." There was no answer in that regard to that comment, the blond moving forward and beyond the cloth curtain as he pushed it back with his free hand. In an instant, the change was apparent, even as his eyes closed over. The sanded ground was replaced with soft plush carpet... The beating sun swapped out for chandelier lighting, with stairways and lusciously painted walls taking the place of the stone. Dust and grime seemed to clean itself off his skin in an instant, and the clothing that had grown stiff with dirt now floated as the waving robes were meant to do. Despite this change however, it was not the numerous 'what's that surprised him.

Rather, it was the 'where', something that caused the blond to freeze in place and look around the room with wide eyes. "_You've been here before then,_" his partner asked with evident surprise, Katsuya nodding in response.

"Hah! Try 'live'... Th's 's Seto-chan's house," he muttered with a swallow, the ghost appearing to pause with the words.

"_Seto... Chan,_" he asked somewhat blankly, Katsuya rolling his eyes.

"Oh c'mon, it ain't like y' knew her b'fore t' know abou' any name d'f'rences... 'Nless there's somethin' y' wanna tell me," he added dryly, glaring at midair as the ghost again paused.

"_Yes... Of course not... Still,_" the spirit muttered,_ "From your interactions with others, I'd have thought... Hnn..._"

The ghost appeared to trail off in his mutterings, Katsuya rubbing his head as he wandered the halls. Secretive ghosts aside... Time to figure out where the hell he was in this whole 'memory/computer' scheme. "Damn this is some weird shit," he muttered, shaking his head as he passed a painting of the year's 'hanami' trip. Way too damn weird.

"_Ohhh... I don't know about that,_" his 'friend drawled. "_It's probably not as weird as everything else you've experienced..._"

Everything else? "An' jus' how would you know," the blond asked somewhat accusingly, again turning to thin air on impulse. "You told me y' couldn' see my memories," he continued, "Jus' th' top thoughts."

"_True,_" the spirit answered,_ "But if this __was__ beyond your comprehension,_" he continued with a chuckle,_ "You'd likely be holding a conversation with that suit of armor, wouldn't you._" Suit- Katsuya jumped as his attention was drawn to the suit in question, the blond nearly crashing back into the massive set of red coloured armor in his panic.

"N-NHYYY! Tha- That wasn' there b'fore!" And neither was that blue one... Or the green one for that matter! Damn it! Dull laughter continued in the back of his mind as he continued to panic, the blond swallowing as he stepped away from the red and silver suit. "S-Sheesh... Don' creep me out like tha'," he growled to his partner, "'m havin' a weird 'nough day as it is... Lost in my own head..."

"Perhaps then, I could assist you." Ah what?

The blond turned toward the source of these words, eyes widening as they met with a small boy in white. The boy looked almost familiar in fact, despite his obvious young age. A mop of silvery white hair, along with grey eyes that seemed to come from his memories... However, the rest seemed all too out of place he realized fairly quickly. The skin was as pale as his clothing, and sprouting from his waist and back were four brilliant and feathered white wings that matched in complexion. Even odder however, were the odd metal protrusions in the place of his ears, a small bit of the devices covering over his forehead to point a horn forward in the shape of some sort of bizarre helmet. It was as though he'd been mashed together with some sort of monster, incomplete in design and juvenile in appearance. As though something was missing...

Yet he couldn't help but think he knew this boy. "Y-You... Who are..."

"I am 'SERAPH'," the boy stated plainly, bowing his head politely before staring forward with dull and faded eyes. "I am a program created by Noa-sama," he continued, "Formed from your thoughts with the intent of leading you throughout your fragmented memories." Woah... This thing came from his head?

And more on that topic, his memories were... "_Fragmented_," he repeated, raising an eyebrow. Just how the hell were they-

His thoughts were cut short by a snort in the back of his mind, the spirit evidently finding something inaccurate about the situation. "_'Seraph',_" he burst out in surprise, looking over the thoughts the blond had on the boy._ "...Oh PLEASE,_" the ghost muttered as he rolled his eyes, "_He looks nothing LIKE-_"

"What w's that," he asked somewhat innocently, the ghost tensing. He knew something?

The ghost immediately choked, shaking himself off and choosing to save his rant for another time. "_Nothing,_" he muttered, voice quieting. "_Nothing at all._" Yea...

That was bullshit and he knew it. But besides that, it was probably better to pay attention to the 'program', given that the 'ghost' was probably going to be there for a while. This kid... "Seraph righ'," he asked, the boy staring blankly in response as his charge continued. "Y' said my memories were... Fragmented," he said again, adjusting the staff in his hands.

The boy nodded, before turning to gesture down the hall as he moved. "Correct; if you could follow me," he told him, Katsuya shrugging as he did just that. "I will explain... As I stated moments before," the boy began, "Your memories are fragmented. Though most are straightforward, fitting perfectly into the life that you live now," he continued seriously, "Many appear to be from a time not accessible to yourself. They depict things that reach beyond the laws of physics, and beyond my own understanding. More over," Seraph continued, looking back at the blond with his default blank-eyed gaze, "They are divided into fragments, locked in the depths of your subconscious." Locked in his-

Hold on... So these weren't visions, they were _memories_? (Or the past ones at least..?) Katsuya stared, frowning somewhat as he stopped half way through the hall. Thinking about it now, he supposed it made sense; why the heck would he see visions of the 'past' right? Useless. But if they were memories... "If they're locked away... Then how c'n you get t' them," he asked, frowning as the boy turned.

"I cannot access what is locked away," Seraph answered, blinking slowly before continuing on down the hall. "I can only know that they are there, and that they are inaccessible. As I said," he continued, wings seemingly casting light against the shadows of the hall, "Your memories are fragmented... There, but not there. It is all very strange," the boy told him, "And it is for that reason I was sent to guide you."

Eh? This kid was to keep him from losing himself! "O... Oh..." He blinked, rubbing his head as he looked around the halls they were walking down. Creepy... Though looking around, he supposed he could see why. Portraits of sorts were hanging on the wall he noted, despite the real counterpart normally being bare. They seemed to flicker as he passed, shifting in imagery, from 'memory' to 'memory' regardless of whether or not he considered it his. Christmas dinner... Summer with Shizuka and Mokuba... Someone striking a crocodile down with fire as a small boy screamed, claws tearing the side of the boy's face... And someone commenting on... Well, 'something' he was wearing. A 'hat' it seemed. And following this, conversations of scars...

'_Yeeeeep,' _he heard himself muttering, the image of himself dabbing the side of a boy's cheek with brine water coming to mind._ 'That'll probably end up as one,_' he muttered, the boy holding back a wince in the sting of the salt water to frown.

'_What? A scar on my face,_' he shouted, before crossing his arms._ 'Maaaaan..._'

At this he could hear himself snorting, ruffling the boy's hair. '_Hey hey now, don't be too upset... It looks cool,_' he shouted with a grin, laughing loudly._ 'And if anyone asks where you got it, you can say 'I got in a sword fight,_' he continued, receiving a groan in response.

'_But I got this from a rock running from that crocodile,_' the boy muttered sheepishly, the memory of his 'other' self merely grinning. '_It wasn't even something cool, like the crocodile!_'

'_Well. They don't know that, now do they?_'

Just where were these conversations coming from he asked himself as the voices ended, the group turning into another hall. These memories in his head, where were they _from.._?

And this Noa guy... There were so many similarities to the one he'd heard about in December, but that just couldn't be right! "...Jus' who _is_ Noa," he asked his guide, Seraph turning with blank eyes as they turned down another hall.

"You know who Noa-sama is," he said plainly, Katsuya frowning in the resulting confusion.

He supposed so, but... That just raised more questions on the matter entirely! "So I know who he is... He's tha' kid Hobson told me abou' then," he continued, "But that doesn' explain how he's here."

Seraph briefly paused, turning to look up at the blond with blank eyes. "Ah- Of course; I understand," he told him. "I will explain; Noa-sama resides within this realm as a program," he began, Katsuya's eyes widening with the words.

"A... A program," he repeated, the boy nodding in response.

"That's right," Seraph told him. "Noa-sama has been coded into this device for almost nine years now," he went on, eyes showing no emotion in regards to what he said. "He has been unable to die since the day of his accident."

* * *

The Kaiba Mansion looked almost identical in appearance to what it looked like from the real life counterpart, even after the six years that had passed. There had been very few changes since Gozaburo's death after all; the paint still gleamed regally, and the carpet was still plush and vacuumed, with marble flooring creating an echo beneath their feet. Things like this held no specific memories of the man; so why bother changing them? The company had been what represented that man, that company and all that she had sought to destroy. By this point, there was only one thing remaining of that... The mansion was not it.

But the mansion they stood in now however was not the mansion of their time either, and as they moved, it seemed that the house did the traveling 'for them'. Without moving an inch the halls passed by them... And in just moments they realized what was happening. "This... It's the day we were adopted," Mokuba whispered, watching as from across them a slightly younger Hobson led the two children down to their rooms.

'_You will live on a tight schedule,_' she'd been told, Mokuba having been given a room on the right wing while she received one surrounded by class rooms on the right wing. '_There is much you need to learn after all. You will take an assessment class and test in one hour as well,'_ he'd continued seriously,_ 'So be warned._' Assessment... Hah!

As if it could be called that! As if being grilled for all the knowledge of her current classes and then so could be considered 'assessment'! The only reason she did so well in her English that day, earning the right to an 'advanced' teacher beyond most of Gozaburo's control was because of her father... With everything else it had simply been a 'we have much to work on', and endless hours of studying! The room shifted in response to the thoughts it seemed, taking them to the small section of a library where she'd spent so much of those years in life. By this point she could tell it had already been a number of hours since her 'assessment' of that time; she was nodding off as the teacher explained what sorts of things to expect from her next classes for physics, head snapping back each time she caught herself from sleeping in the midst of a class meant for those at least four years older. And then...

-_SNAP!- _

A great, stunning crack came through the air, a switch having landed on the table to jerk her from her approaching slumber. The 'small' Seto looked up with shock, staring at the 'assistant teacher' Gozaburo had hired into the room with wide eyes as the man sneered. '_Listen closely,' _he warned, lips curled back with distaste._ 'You were adopted to surpass Gozaburo, so that you can successfully further this company. And until then,_' he went on,_ 'There will be no sleep, not unless you plan on leaving here with your brother..._'

That threat had been all that was needed to put fear in her eyes, and with a stiff nod she'd given her answer. '_I understand,_' she'd responded fearfully, hands clenching her knees as she stared at the switch. '_It won't happen again..._'

'_It better not... Unless you want the next snap of the switch to be on your back..._' The teacher in front of them had seemed to stare at them oddly through this exchange. And in the coming days, when the switch did indeed connect, it seemed none of those staring teachers would open their mouths, plenty of money lining their pockets to keep them silent. Her only escape had been that English class... Where they had felt no need to worry about her skills.

Where there was no 'assistant', no ragged and break-neck schedule planned out by her new father, no watchful eyes to send her into a paranoid fit looking over her shoulder, wincing with the expectation of the next strike. She hadn't realized she was in the 'right' back then though. She'd had a suspicion, but she'd never realized... That she could have actually fought back even then, rather than waiting those few years.

"This is the wrong one," came a flat tone, pulling Seto from her thoughts abruptly.

"N-Nn!"

The scenery shifted again, smoking from existence. Dinner, first night she realized immediately, the elaborate and over-the-top banquet of food that would forever be their dinner so long as the man lived meeting their eyes. "_So Seto,_" her 'father' had asked, sitting at the far opposite end of the table as the children turned from their end. "_Tell me... What are your plans for Kaiba Corporation?_" Hn!

Even now she couldn't help but snort, despite the fact that she had held a completely different reaction that day. That kind of question was obvious after all... There was only one possible answer in the end. "_Ah..._" But even though she'd known the answer, it had still caught her off guard as she ate. "_...I plan on building amusement parks,_" she'd eventually said, Gozaburo visibly tensing at the words.

"_...Amusement parks,_" he'd repeated, narrowing his eyes. It was almost as though he'd truly expected her to say something else really... Almost as though for him, he'd had the conversation already, and that he had only just realized it was someone else he was speaking to. She'd chalked it up to expectations back then.

But something seemed off. Something seemed dangerously off about the look that she'd missed in his eyes... "_That's right,_" Mokuba, the false one, was saying now, his voice merely hovering in the background as she observed the man before her. "_Nii-sama hopes to build theme parks all over the world, a place where orphans like what we used to be can go to play for free,_" he cheerfully announced, fully expecting their new father to share their beliefs.

Gozaburo had stared at them in silence, as though expecting them to say 'just kidding' within any moment. But there was nothing else for them to say... So in the end he'd snorted, and returned to his meal. Returned with apparent hopes to cast the topic aside and force it out later on. "_Hn! How boring,_" he'd muttered, both children staring incredulously at what had been their dream for so long.

"_Boring..? Games aren't boring,_" she'd shouted, narrowing her eyes as she stood from her seat. Her fists had smacked against the table to send a slight shudder through the furniture as their 'father' paused once more. "_Games bring people together, purifying the soul! They allow people to think clearly,_" she continued with an argumentative roar,_ "To take a break from the stresses of the world... How can you say something so important is boring,_" she continued, eyes widening as her 'father' stared.

"_How? Hn! The world doesn't turn for games and amusement parks,_" the man growled in response, placing his silverware down as he turned on the girl with grit teeth. "_The reason I adopted you was so that you could further this company, not scrap it down for 'toys' the moment I hit the grave! Hobson,_" he shouted, the old man bowing from the side at that moment before stepping forward. "_Confiscate any and all playthings you find in Seto's room and luggage,_" he'd ordered, the Seto of that time left watching with a shocked and confused frown. "_And until you realize the meaning of this company,_" he warned the girl, "_You won't be seeing those again..._"

She never did get those things back... And as the scene shifted once again, the girl having been taken to her room to help find all of these things, Seto found herself narrowing her eyes. "_How incredible,_" she could remember Hobson muttering, arms laden with the numerous things he'd found stowed away in her one bag. "_After taking all of these, there's barely any clothing at all... We'll have to take you in for some new clothes,_" he'd told her, the girl merely sitting stubbornly and silently at the side. "_So that you can be prepared for whatever events Gozaburo-sama has in store. ...Your next class begins shortly,_" he'd continued, giving a warning bow before leaving the room. "_Prepare yourself..._"

Her response was merely to sit on the edge of the bed as she had been, staring at the wall with narrowed eyes. And at this point, the scene moved to a completely different location yet again, only one that she couldn't recall. At least not for a moment. "Nh- this..." Seto blinked, looking up from the balcony they stood on to stare at the far right wing. Over there was her window, where Jonouchi had peered in on her long before... And that meant...

"This... My balcony," Mokuba said with a swallow, turning back to watch as his own young counterpart stared longingly toward his sister's room. The younger form was considerably shorter than her brother, if that was even possible... And despite the young age, it seemed as though he understood just what was happening, and just what their 'father' was doing. "...I remember this," he whispered, eyes growing distant and misty as he spoke. "I'd wanted to help so..." So he'd taken a knife from the kitchens, she realized, the images flashing through her head from the likely interference of either Noa or their guide. He'd cut out the pages of one of the library's books, some old 'Ancient History' novel ironically, and slipped in his entire deck of cards before pulling the book shut using another book cover. And after that...

"_Hobson,_" he'd called out, meeting with the man in the hall. The old man had looked down, staring at the small boy with an odd expression as he returned from where he'd locked the toys away, expression more or less neutral as he bowed his head.

"_Hn..? Is something wrong then, Mokuba-sama?_"

The boy shook his head, swallowing nervously. "_Ah... No... It's just... It's just that nii-sama forgot this book,_" he'd told him, holding it out as Hobson looked it over. "_I was wondering if you could give it back to him._" The relief he must have felt when the man nodded and walked away... When rather than opening it, he'd simply held it closed...

The scene shifted to one she was more familiar with, Seto staring almost blankly at her collapsed, couch-ridden form. At the exhausted form she held, even with a few hours left before what would become her standard 'bed time'. The book was dropped in front of her face... And as she looked to it in disdain, she found herself only dully listening to the butler's words at that time. "_Seto-sama,_" Hobson warned softly, placing a hand on her shoulder in a calming gesture. "_Classes begin in an hour; try not to sleep too long,_" he'd continued, the girl nodding stiffly in response.

"_I understand,_" she'd told him with her usual, stubbornly masked tone, waiting for the man to leave. "_I won't be late._" And as soon as he was out of sight, as soon as she looked over the cover of the book that was it. She'd had enough... Her face had twisted from her indifferent mask into that of a demonic rage and she'd turned on the device with all the anger that had built up throughout the day. "_AHHHHHRRRGH!_" The book was tossed to the side of the room, even leaving a small and pinprick dent in the wall to the side. But when something fell from its covers she'd paused, picking it up off the ground and opening it with surprise as she ignored a papercut the crudely shaped hole within left her with. "_Eh... This..._"

There'd been a letter in there... A crudely written letter that spoke of writing through memory rather than proper structure. '_Nee-sama,_' Mokuba had written, '_I know things are hard, but we'll pull through right? I'll try to visit in class,_' he continued cheerfully,_ 'But until then, use these to relax, okay? I love you... - Mokuba_' All hiragana, nothing else... Mokuba was still learning how to write let alone know any kanji after all, so it was only expected. Flipping through the cards she could remember laughing, shaking her head at the images that met her eyes. 'Kid cards', she'd told herself. Weak ones, the only kind that weren't snatched away from the 'toy pile' at the orphanage really. And at the end...

Her smirk had fallen for the emotion of slight shock, eyes widening in surprise as she picked up a crudely cut piece of paper. "_Ah..._" Drawn in crayon it sat before her, hiragana characters sitting at the top to name what would be written in katakana. A great big, blue-white dragon with a ridiculously large blue eye, blasting out a torrent of equally blinding flames in a scribble. '_Buru-Aisu Howaito Doragon_'. Hahaha... 'Blue-Eyes White Dragon'... He'd made her a blue eyes... He'd made... "_...Just wait,_" she'd promised herself, holding the cards close and replacing the deck and book on a shelf in the room, "_Someday, I'll get the real dragon... I promise... No matter what..._" She'd promised...

"And you '_always_' keep your promises, don't you," Noa asked, a smirk on his face as the others turned toward his form.

"Gh- You," the woman snarled, quickly finding herself cut off by the expression on the boy's face.

The boy smirked, taking a step behind the program he'd created as he brushed a hand across the back of her head. "I see that Kisara has been working hard," he chuckled, watching as the other two glowered. The boy almost seemed to interact with the child as a parent would a favoured daughter, an image flawed only by his height. And as he brushed the girl's head he shook his own, smirk still in place as his eyes closed over somewhat. "So many memories," he muttered, the words triggering a response from the program.

"This one wasn't it," the girl responded, continuing to stare ahead despite the slight worry laced in her tone.

Noa merely continued to smirk, evidently perfectly fine with this fact. "Oh... Don't worry," he assured the girl, moving back from her to look toward the others. "I'm sure we'll find it eventually," he stated, the voice almost taking a threatening turn as a result.

Gh... This bastard... "What the hell do you want," Seto spat, eyes wide with rage as she stared the boy down. "Showing us all of this... What is it inside my head that's so important to you," she roared, drawing her sword but nonetheless standing in place. "What do you WANT from us!"

The boy snapped his fingers, taking them to an office hallway within a wave of dust as he shrugged. "Important to me," he asked, feigning surprise on his face. "Absolutely nothing. But to you," he whispered almost threateningly, "_Everything_. There's something important you need to know," he warned, raising his voice as he drifted back with an almost insane gleam in his eyes. "Something you've forgotten... As to what that is," the boy finished, vanishing from sight completely as Seto grit her teeth. "..._Allow me to refresh your memory_," he whispered, briefly appearing behind the woman as he whispered in her ear.

"Gh- Noa..!" The woman turned instantly as she was met with thin air, eyes widening with rage. "NOAAAAA! Get back here," she screamed, clutching her blade in her hand as she looked about the hall. "If you want to tell us something then TELL US OUT RIGHT! Stop forcing us to fish through our own minds!" Their only answer was a series of chuckles though, and with that, the woman turned away with a thick scowl. Before them, another door had appeared... Kisara stood at the side of it, waiting expectantly as the others stared, waiting for the rage to pass and the silence to be broken. This door... "Tch... Mokuba," she told her brother, reeling in her anger as the boy stared. This wasn't the time... They needed to get out, and for now, that meant listening to the bastard that had them cornered. "No matter what," she continued, "We can only move forward understand? There is no looking back, no matter what lies beyond this door..."

A short silence was her answer, before the boy nodded determinedly. "Right," he said quickly, his sister reaching for the door handle. "...Let's go, nee-sama."

The door was opened. For a moment blinding light filled the air, both of the siblings shielding their eyes in the glare. A wind blasted past, disintegrating the door and bringing them within whatever room lay beyond. Within seconds however it had cleared, with both staring in slight shock yet again as the memory beyond the door was revealed.

"This..." Mokuba's eyes widened as he stepped forward, staring in shock. "This is..."

"CEO's office of KaibaCorp..." But it wasn't the same she realized quickly enough, staring toward the chair that faced them back first. For one, the chair was completely different... But for another the computer was gone, papers littered the desk almost haphazardly rather than sitting stacked beside a bamboo plant. But more importantly, as a shadow was cast across the floor...

"_Can I help you,_" the man had asked, Seto taking in a sharp intake of breath at the sound of her 'father's voice.

Just ahead of her 'she' appeared, the form she'd held at a mere fourteen, ghosting through the real life counterparts with a scowl across her face. "_It's about the Virtual System I developed,_" she'd said stonily, eyes wide with evident anger. Vocal lessons... The vocal lessons had just completed she realized, her past voice sounding just slightly higher than the cover she used now, combined with the high-collared jacket she'd used for fear her lack of an adams apple would be discovered. But if she was right...

Then that meant she knew what this day was. "_There's nothing to talk about Seto,_" Gozaburo told her plainly, turning on the chair as he gripped a number of papers tightly in his hands. "_We've talked about this before,_" he continued,_ "Now leave the room before I have you sent out._"

But she didn't leave the room. Instead she held her ground, an icy glare forming in a close predecessor to the one she so knew now, fists clenched in determination that was so typical of most her age. "_No; you know why I created that program,_" she'd roared, shaking on the spot._ "'Virtual Reality' is meant for entertainment, not weapons systems! And yet you want me to hand it over so you can test some kind of... 'Satellite',_" she pressed incredulously,_ "Something that could potentially set the entire world against itself?_"

Gozaburo, needless to say, had had enough of his 'son's arguing... And as the man stood from his chair to push a button on the phone at the side, Seto felt herself wince despite the knowledge that it wasn't there. Despite the knowledge that all of this had already happened long ago, and frankly, that if she wanted she could punt the fool through a window had this even begun to happen again. She still winced; the scars on her back didn't want others after all, and the memories of fear and paranoia were more difficult to cut off completely than she'd thought. "_I asked you to leave,_" the man was warning, eyes narrowed as his voice hovered over the air. "_Did you not hear me properly? We have discussed this- I will be taking the program you developed for your 'test',_" he explained with a finite tone,_ "And I will use it to further the company that you will soon take over, do you understand?_"

"_Do YOU?"_ Maybe it was the shock that allowed her to continue as she did, shouting with as much gall as she had. She'd never shouted at Gozaburo like this. Never. True, she had clearly shown her anger and hate for the classes, but for some reason the back of her mind had told her to just bear with. But now she didn't care. He'd taken everything by this point after all... Her voice, her name, her identity altogether... Yet he'd never even once threatened to make Mokuba leave, even at her worst moments. What worse could he do? What more could he have possibly done? "_This isn't meant for war,_" she'd snarled with that in mind, reassuring herself that Mokuba would be safe._ "It's meant for games! For children and their families to calm down after a long day of work and spend time with each other, you can't just twist it for you own ide- Gnggh!_"

Papers scattered across the air as Seto closed her eyes, her younger self ducking under the sheafs tossed her way. "_Don't make me LAUGH,_" her 'father' had spat, throwing the papers across the room and in her face._ "Your foolish dreams of amusement parks and video games mean nothing to the world Seto! MEN don't sit around playing with cards all day, and neither does any SON of mine! Now you listen,"_ the man growled, look almost demonic from where he stood before both her younger self and her present one, "_As my son you are going to take over this company in my absence... A company devoted to dominating the world through military trade, something YOUR program can help attain. Not just in weapon systems either; defense systems, observation... You WILL give me that program Seto, if you expect to succeed in anything!_"

No... That was the last straw. The final load she refused to bear. No... No... "_NO! You're wrong Tou-san... Wrong,_" she'd growled, shouting her rage and venting all that had built up over the years._ "This is just twisted, sick, and- Gh- HEY!_" At that moment Gozaburo's two security suits had come in, grabbing her by the arms as she pulled roughly from their grip. "_G- Let me go!_"

"_I said 'Get out',_" the man said plainly, taking a seat as he gestured to the door. "_You wouldn't listen; so, I'm doing it for you,_" he continued, bowing his head. "_Take him away; tell Hobson to send him to his room and brief him on his return to class. We'll speak when I get home,_" Gozaburo added, sending his 'son' a dangerous look as the girl continued to struggle.

"_Wh- Let go,_" she snarled, tugging at the arms as she was pulled back and toward the door. She could remember her thoughts... Her shock at all of this, the surprise that her 'father' would go so far as to remove her from the room to force his way. She should have expected it all, and yet all she had been able to see in the back of her mind was the man that pulled her out of 'Kuma's strike, the one who had given her those days in the summer off at that business 'party', the man who... The man who was a monster, and a master of manipulation, one that she had seen the true colours of from that point on. "_Tou-san,_" she screamed,_ "TOU-SAN! Please, just listen to me! You can't do this,_" she roared with wide eyes, "_You can't..! Tou-san... TOU-SAN!_"

The sound of slamming doors filled the air, and as Seto opened her eyes to the empty black space before them she could see Mokuba looking up at her almost miserably. "...That was the last time I called him by that name," she said quietly, staring at the ground despite her face seemingly looking ahead. "While he never took all of the program data," the woman continued bitterly, "He was still able to attain enough to jump further ahead than he already was. He cut his ties to his partners," she whispered, "Having no more use for them... And behind him he left a bloodied trail on both sides of the battle field..." So she'd made a plan, a voice whispered in the back of her mind, a breeze passing as they were left in thick darkness with Kisara once more. So she'd decided that, before everything went to hell, she would take matters into her own hands...

And in her obsession to succeed over the man, and in her obsession to win, no matter what, her obsession that was created with the realization in regards to Gozaburo's final, erroneous message... Everything was lost. Everything...

_Everything_..!

"This is still the wrong memory," came Kisara's usual words, the woman no longer caring about what the girl said. Bring what memory came next, bring the screams and the blood she'd spilt, she would take it all. She didn't care any more... At the side however, Mokuba seemed to fix the girl with a gaze of fire, his hands gripping the wakizashi at his sides as his sister stood limp. "Perhaps another one... December 5th, 2010, 12:41PM," Kisara began, Seto's blood draining from her face as Gozaburo's mad and dying cackle met the air. That date... The woman forced herself to stand still, pushing the memories to the back of her mind as her thoughts from mere moments prior were proven wrong. "Or May 7th of 2011," she continued, Seto's eyes widening further as her sword fell to the ground. "...December of the same year... January of the next... Or maybe-"

"That's ENOUGH," Mokuba roared, both blades held tightly in his grip as his sister lost herself in the screams around them. "You... I spent so many years, dreaming, wishing to see my sister smile again... To see her make friends with someone who 'knew'," the boy cried, charging the girl before him as tears ran down the sides of his face. "I won't let you do this any more," he screamed, charging the girl as Seto snapped herself from stupor. "I won't let you keep us here!"

"Nngh!"

"MOKUBA," she screamed, realizing what the boy was doing. "N- DON'T!"

For the first time since they'd met, they saw emotion on Kisara's face. A flash of fear, with wide and horrified eyes as Mokuba's blade struck her at an angle and cut her cleanly in two. For a moment, she seemed to hover in place, a thin line dividing the two halves as Mokuba took shuddering and ragged breaths... And then, without warning, the girl burst into a collection of white pixeled light, vanishing in streams of zeroes and ones with a quiet scream.

And then it was Mokuba's turn to shout, his eyes widening as a deep rumble passed from below. "Ha-HAAAAAHH!" Crumbling had erupted around the area... Seto charged, skidding on her front to just barely catch her brother's arm as the ground beneath them fell away, fingers wrapping around the boy's wrist as his swords fell to the chasm below. The screams were continuing... Monsters were eating at her body, the same as that old nightmare she'd thought she'd shaken away with her 'revival'. Mokuba's screams joined in from the events of Death-T as she remembered, but rather than helping, rather than saving him, she had laughed... She'd...

"Mokuba! Gh..." The woman tightened her grip, her brother staring down at the chasm in horror as tears began to dot her eyes. Her brother... How had she ever done that to him... How? How could he look at her as he did, how could he ever speak to her as he did..! "Mokuba... I've got you, so don't let go," she told him, swallowing as more strain and emotion than ever seen on a regular basis entered her tone. "Don't let go... Don't..."

"H-Hahhh... I... I'm sorry," the boy cried, weakly holding on as tears flooded his face. "I just wanted her to _stop_," he whispered, slowly being pulled up the cliff of darkness that had appeared. "I just wanted the screaming to _stop_, to keep it from going back to... To..."

The boy was pulled close, though for whose comfort it was uncertain as his sister's arms wrapped around him. "I know," Seto whispered, slowly standing up as she looked over the side of the cliff. "I know... It'll be alright though," she continued, partially to herself. "We... We'll just find our own way out. We just need to be cautious... We need to..." She trailed off, holding the boy close as the screams continued to erupt around them, bringing forth emotions she had long since worked at forcing back. "Nggh..." Pain... "Hnggg..!" The monsters were back, gnawing at her bones, peeling the skin from her very flesh, and yet nothing was happening, it was all in her mind...

"N-Nee-sama," her brother cried, tears visible in his eyes as he forced the woman to open her own and look down. "N-Nee-sama..!"

"It's not there," she told him, looking at him as the realm continued to collapse, screams echoing around them. Was he seeing these things? Was... Was he in danger..? "It's not there," she continued despite her own pain, "Just ignore them... It's not..."

"But it _is_ there, isn't it," a voice muttered, Seto pulling her brother close only to tense as a 'spotlight' fell around them. Beside them, and somewhat to the distance stood Noa, but unlike his previous appearances his eyes were filled with rage. They were wide and maddening, and as he hovered above them it was plain that he was done 'joking' with them. "You... To think that someone with such a close bond, and such a difficult life... You _killed_ her..." The two swallowed, looking to where Noa was staring down as he continued. "I created that girl from your dearest memories, and you killed her... Of all the things..." The sky appeared to disintegrate behind the boy... Vanishing into nothing but darkness and the occasional string of code, leaving them to hover in place. It was darker than the black around them, darker than any void in space, than anything possibly seen by the human eye... There was nothing there. It was simply empty. Nothing. And Noa stood at the center of it all, like some demonic god of shadows. "You... Find your own way through your memories," he told them, snapping his fingers as a vast and barren wasteland appeared around them, no wind blowing about them as they looked around in shock. The screams were gone... But Noa still spoke, and any humor or charisma that he'd held before had vanished from his words. "Until I decide what to do with you," he growled, "You won't find anyone... No monsters, no humans, no _life_... You will be alone," he sneered, eyes narrowing briefly before regaining the insane expression from before. "Left to find your own way... So good luck," he called out, disappearing into a shower of pixels as a crazed and rage filled grin came over him. "And enjoy the prison of your own memories," he snarled. "Because you can't ignore the past... _Seri_!"

Those were the last words he left them with and it was with those words that Seto found herself standing by her brother in silence, eyes still as wide as they were with the arrival of the screams and nightmares. A breeze was passing now, and the wind was blowing just enough to bring a gust of wind beneath her cloak... But for the first time in a while, she found herself wondering...

Just what were they supposed to do now?

**

* * *

AN:** _Ummmmmm_... Find a map? (That wasn't funny. I'm sorry.)

Alright! So following this we get Jou VS Oka, which should be fun... We'll also get a small bit from Noa at the start, so heres to that... Following that chapter, expect some lead up into Shizuka-Otogi-Honda VS Ota, annnnd, depending on the amount of space in the chapter, a bit of the outside world as well.

On a MUCH more important note, I have a job now! What does this mean?

Well, I'm working five days a week, and I spend the sixth one with a friend... In other words, SLOW UPDATES. It'll probably take about a week per, given that I have long hours (And awesome pay, hehe), and would rather not tick my friends off by spending every free hour outside that on a computer typing fanfiction. It's called life.

You never know though; I've warned everyone about slow updates before and in the end nothing changed. And the fact is, I don't actually spend that long typing (Probably takes... 4, 5 hours for a full chapter, start to update?)... So who knows.

Also, the song 'Kagefumi Etoranze' is awesome, but not subtitled. Right now, I'm kinda picking apart a google translation to make decent lyrics (it couldn't translate _pebble_, how pathetic is _that_?)... But hey, it's good for what I'm typing up next chapter in terms of mood.

With all that out of the way, given the timing of things, there are NO COLOURED PICTURES. And probably won't be for a while; timing and all you know? I'd rather get the chapter out to you within a week rather than delay it a full second week to colour something all crude-like.

I do however have a screenshot from the anime for Noa's crazy face, right here. Remove the spaces, paste the link: http : / / naraku. us/ noa/ 103/ 103x40. jpg

**Anonymous Review Responses**

First off, hey there Crazikido2! First off, keep at the reading; I'm always happy to get new readers, and hopefully by the time you get here to see your response you aren't brain dead… The length is a little intimidating I would imagine. (Very sorry about that.)

But why is it cold in LA? I would think it's colder here, in Southern Ontario, though that's not really true any more now that spring is finally here… In any case, given that your latest review was chapter 59, I'd say that you'll make it to the end fairly soon... So until then, happy reading! (And yes, he kinda is whipped...)

Thank you Lurkerella~ Thank you~

As a matter of fact RandomProjects, yes. Yes Ren IS Malik. I'm glad you like the riddles as well, as that was a fairly self conscious point for me.

Of course, so was 'Ren', hehehehe.

And yes! Right up there, a nice update mixed with mindscrew on the past and answers on the present. And of course, for Seto's memories, we just get 'BAWW.' Because those memories are no fun.

And trust me; Anzu might not get it, but Ren certainly has a sneaking suspicion on things… (I had far too much fun with the panda deal)

Actually, what I meant was that it means BOTH; the kanji can mean either blue _or_ pale, it just depends on how its used. You probably _should _stop using the Chinese kanji like that though, ahahaha…

This is true. But clearly Cornelius brings up nasty memories Iona, along with Cornelius… THE SECOND!

Yea, I always found it hilarious that the penguin guy was not only the one going after more than plain old vengeance but also the most expressive of the big five… (Seriously, the others have faces of STONE.)

I'm glad you like the background! Most of it actually came from the anime; the only exception is 'Dad', who somehow got stuck in the line of fire trying to get Ishizu back to Japan… After all, there were a few months between her arrival and the competition; she'd have had work in Egypt still.

Back on Anzu though, I feel like I was a little too happy about making that happen… …Oh well. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I'll see you soon!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's going to beat you with a MAGIC STICK.

It'll make sense next chapter.

* * *

The chapter title 'Where it All Began' kinda speaks for itself I would think.

* * *

Anzu really does say 'I was scared' in the anime. I figure this situation would probably warrant that same line still.

* * *

Also ship-tease! (Even though we already know this fanfic ends in Peachshipping… Why the heck is it 'peach' though, ANZU MEANS APRICOT.) Along with... Not-Shiptease. (Erm... Manipulashipping anyone?)

And now that you all know Malik is Ren, you're gonna be picturing some weird crap.

Like Anzu stroking his hair. Which is pretty close to what she's doing now by rubbing his snake-y little head. It's like the Shizuka-RobotMonkey!Honda situation! AHAHAHA.

* * *

Originally, we had two sneeze takes here in the anime, referencing the joke the Japanese have in that if someone is talking about you, you'll sneeze. First, Yugi mentions that Honda can't duel (Honda sneezes, and Otogi asks if he has a cold, as they've just escaped the dinosaur attacking Shizuka… Which Honda drove into a lake.)…

Then Yugi mentions, after Anzu agrees, that Shizuka doesn't even know the rules… (Shizuka sneezes, and Otogi pushes Honda away for giving her germs... At which point Honda's all 'Then I'll give you germs!' and tackles him. IT GOT PRETTY WEIRD.)

Of course, things are different here, but nonetheless. Oh Malik, you line stealing snake! (PUNS.)

* * *

Speaking of Malik, Noa's actually brought up a good point here, albeit in passing; see, Malik's hate and anger are all being used up by, well… The embodiment of his hate and anger (cough'Yami-Malik'cough). His is all gone! In other words, he has to borrow it off his host… While this worked fairly well with Bakura (Lets face it, Bakura was pissed too), this gets a little weird with Anzu…

And Noa's right; Malik's pretty much starving the woman of those emotions unless he's touching her, which is part of why she got so weepy. (And also why she's capable of mad cackling while that thing is on her wrist. Yeaaaaaaaaaa… He's a little bit of an amplifier given that his own present emotions get to double back...)

Yugi's still not sure about 'Ren' of course… He just can't prove anything right now. So until then, enjoy the former antagonist being the team pet. (This will actually help him not end up dead by the end of Battle City...)

* * *

How good of a duelist is Otogi? It's a good question. He never duels in the manga, but the fact is, in the anime, he and Jonouchi _did_ play each other using booster packs picked at random… So he's probably not someone to mess with.

* * *

In Japan, the wake and funeral are generally in the same date; this is because, what with it being Japan, most people (98.2% actually) are cremated. Even with this, funerals in Japan are among the most expensive world wide! (Can cost up to the equivalent of 25,000$!)

Generally, the wake will go like this; guests wear black, and will bring condolence money to the next of kin, with the amount being anywhere from 3000 to 30,000 yen. Guests are then seated (next of kin closest to the front), and the Buddhist priest will chant a section from a sutra. Family members then offer incense three times before the deceased (currently in a coffin on dry ice, with six coins, a white kimono, and burnable items they liked sitting with them… They are NOT wearing the kimono, they're wearing their 'last clothes', in this case a suit!)…

The wake ends when the sutra is complete; each departing guest is given a gift (worth about half or 1/4 of their condolence money), and the next of kin may or may not find themselves sitting vigil with the deceased over night.

The funeral procedure itself is fairly similar to the wake; a priest will change a section of sutra, and in addition, provided the deceased was of Buddhist faith, the deceased receives a 'precept name', a 'kaimyo', to superstitiously prevent them from coming back by speaking their old one. These names vary depending on payment for the funeral, and the fact is that these kanji involved are very old, and very rare; with the exception of the Chinese, very few people can read them.

Any ways… At the end of the ceremony, flowers might be placed in the casket, before it's closed off and taken to the crematorium. The family watches as it's slid into the chamber, and afterward pick out the bones from the ashes with chopsticks (in what is the only acceptable time to have two people holding the same object in their chopsticks at once) before putting them in the urn.

* * *

On another note, (as you all say 'Wait- HONDA!') in Japan, a tradition that's growing less common is that when the spouse dies, the name of the living one will be carved on their tombstone and covered with red ink, which is removed when that person also dies. This is both to save money, and also to show that they will eventually follow their spouse into the grave. As I said though... It's not followed nation-wide anymore.

* * *

Honda? _HONDA_? That's right; they actually met in passing back then now. Because I'm a prick. And a weirdo. Not that we didn't know this… Since Honda wouldn't have really paid attention to Mokuba at that time (and since Mokuba, despite his mop, would still look VERY different after seven/eight years), and since Seto was still 'Seri' at this point (complete with a dress actually…), he wouldn't have recognized them years later. This is similar to what happens in Mokuba's swingset flashback; Past!Honda doesn't link the two, because it was such a short meeting back then, and he didn't really bother remembering.

Honda's sister likely would of course… But she never sees Kaiba after that, not even once. In any case, what with high-school not being a requirement in Japan (albeit highly recommended), the legal age a person can live on their own is 15. This requires the consent of a 20 year old though…

Luckily, 'Noriko' is _not_ fifteen, she's _twenty_ at this time. Think about it; she has a three year old son, four by the time Battle City comes around. Anyways; so yes, this makes her quite a deal older than Honda (by TWELVE YEARS)… An oddity, but not so uncommon as one would think.

* * *

Hey! A note on 'dad' related terms. First off, a few chapters back we had Siegfried refer to his mother as 'Mutti'; this is, in German, about as formal as calling someone 'Mom', or in Japan's case 'Kaa-san', and is fairly 'in the middle'. If used with a more childish tone though, it takes more of a 'mommy' sound to it. ('Kaa-chan', or 'Haha'.)

As for the 'Dad' fun, Seto referred to Gozaburo as 'Tou-san', which is pretty much the same as 'Dad', and _definitely_ not up there with 'Father'. So it's safe to say Kaiba was pretty comfortable with Gozaburo, up until that 'one day'. Now, while Seto and her male counterpart called him 'Tou-san', Noa one ups this with 'Chichi'; this is VERY informal, and is borderline 'Dad/Daddy'… Though given his attachment to the man, and the fact that Noa died when he was 12, it's understandable. In terms of Anzu, she's probably using 'Tou-san' as well... Though who knows.

* * *

Originally, all of Jou's scenes (until the end) were filled with him shouting threats to the Big 5 in the anime. He's kinda distracted by Seraph this time around… Though all the direct lead up into his duel comes next chapter. (It's short enough, I checked.) Of course... As to everything else, you now know that the 'ghost' has a living counterpart; how else would it know about 'Kaiba'

?

* * *

And back to Kaiba already, the cliff scene was moved; it originally came when Mokuba tried to open the door of the orphanage classroom, wishing to 'change the past' so that his brother wouldn't end up the way he did.

He fell off a cliff instead. D'OH.

* * *

And speaking of that, I altered a bit of his line; in the original, he mentions that after that day, Kaiba never smiled. In the fanfic however, she _does_ smile… Just really, REALLY rarely. The fact is, Mokuba feels that's partially due to Jonouchi's involvement, but that's besides the point; he doesn't want that to disappear, so he's fairly ticked at all the trauma Kisara is visibly putting her through. And that trauma is canon too; Kaiba was more or less frozen in place during most of this, speaking only rarely and otherwise watching as it happened... But he really did tense up a few times in regards to what they saw.

* * *

Well, that's it for now; there's no art today, so until the next chapter, enjoy!


	88. Chapter 87

**Hold Your Tongue**

* * *

He wasn't completely sure why he 'felt' anything for this program that now sat before him. In fact, he wasn't even sure why he'd reacted as he did, banishing the two siblings who had intruded on his family to the farthest reaches of his virtual 'world' while bringing this girl back for 'repairs'. He could not find out what made him even bother to appear before them to take her away, nor could he decide whether or not he was upset with the program for failing its task. And above all, he found himself worried about the 'back-up', and wondering if the program would be the same as it had been in those moments before Mokuba's blade cut through its updating form.

Perhaps this was what it was like, having a 'sister', or a 'daughter'...

Either way the programs, both 'Kisara' and 'Seraph', were quite unlike anything he had built before, and it was with that in mind that he attempted to repair the damage done to the girl before him. The damage that, despite all its fatal implications, still left the girl able to speak and comprehend her own 'design', reacting with slight emotions that had been granted in her final moments. She'd been given the sensation of feeling after all, so as to interact with the scenery properly. It was only natural that, on the first encounter of pain, the first signs of fear would come into existence.

And in the relief of that, the emotion of gratitude, and sorrow. "Noa-sama," Kisara rasped, despite the inability to breathe and the lack of a reason to even do so. "Forgive me, Noa-sama... I couldn't find it..." It took only a moment to realize what the girl was talking about of course. The memory... The memory that should have been there, that he knew _had_ to be there after all that went on. The memory he wanted to see relived, the one that he wanted to use to make that woman realize just who she was dealing with..!

Instead of berating the white haired girl for her failures however he stared, placing a hand above the girl's sliced and slowly repairing abdomen with narrowed eyes. "It's fine," he found himself muttering, healing as much damage as he could whilst the pixels re-appeared and formed her body. "You did your best. I will just need to think of another strategy."

Of course, for a program, or even a human he supposed, that was never good enough. "I should have found it," Kisara told him, sounding almost like a depressed child berating themselves for a loss. "I looked through everything you offered," she continued, "And yet I still failed. But I shouldn't have."

Yes... Well. "It is not your fault that the memory is repressed," Noa told her quietly, bringing his hand back to his sides as the damage continued to heal. "But for now you need to repair, understand? I will have new codes for you in a few moments," he continued, Kisara closing her eyes in response. "Perhaps that will make things easier. Until then, enter 'repair mode' until your wounds and upgrades are complete."

With a single blank tone, the girl nodded, the glow about her seeming to fade. "Hai..."

That was all he needed to hear. Noa vanished from the 'room' in an instant, walking along the 'floors' of circuitry that depicted the computer he was trapped inside. Why? Why was this memory so difficult to find he asked himself, 'vanishing' to another realm with narrowed eyes after looking over his circuits in distaste. He knew the timeline where it happened; he'd even placed her almost directly before that moment, and had Kisara search through any and all important events in her history up until that last 'attack'. He knew it happened, above all, he even knew when... And the event was most certainly life-changing, one that would have attracted Kisara's sensors, but why hadn't he found it! It was as though it had been carefully locked away, hidden within a box that not even Seto herself could open.

A box that she probably didn't even know about. The boy continued to frown with these thoughts, before shaking them off and stepping into one of the many 'realms' he'd created about the network. He would have to work on that in the back of his mind he decided, regaining a slight expression of calm. Set a small 'program' in his mind to search through for ideas on how to deal with this. For now, he would need to address another issue. And it was with those thoughts in mind that he entered one of the five virtual 'rooms' his 'employees' had been given on their arrival, the room in question almost resembling a closed in library study filled with books on law and myth both. As for the man he had come to visit...

He sat in his usual position, the one that he tended to take after finally choosing to take advantage of the near god-like powers of the Virtual World and it's information. Everyone went through that stage after a while he supposed...

The question was merely when they would desire being mere mortals again. "Noa-sama," a surprised voice muttered, Oka turning from the desk he held behind a large stack of 'books'. The man hurriedly stood to bow politely, before adjusting his glasses and staring forward. "I... I was about to contact you," he stated almost humbly, swallowing an evident wave of unease. "Please... I must ask that you forgive the failures of my partners, I recently obtained the results of their battles... I was afraid you would be 'displeased'," he continued, more than obviously out to save his own skin rather than that of his partners. The boy had to chuckle nonetheless though, hands stowed in his pockets as a smirk came over his face. Really...

With a tone like that one would think he was about to smite him where he stood. Hnhnhnhnhn... "Now now Oka," he said with a chuckle, pacing toward the desk with a sigh. "I never said I was angry... I'm merely surprised," the boy drawled, shrugging dismissively as the former lawyer winced. "After all, I had thought you and your co-workers would prove useful to me," Noa went on as he continued to sigh, "But so far you're merely providing menial sources of pointless entertainment... Personally, I think I'll be cutting this deal short," he muttered, turning to Oka with a menacing grin, "And sending you and your 'friends' back to that computer system on the mainland..."

At this the lawyer paled, glasses slipping somewhat as he choked."A-Ahh... W-Wait," Oka begged, shaking his head as his 'employer' moved to leave. "The last two... They're useless when it comes to games like this, really, their loss was practically guaranteed," the man shouted, Noa watching in hidden amusement as Oka continued to beg. "But me... I'm different," he continued, leaning over his desk with a desperate look in his eyes. "Completely different... I'm not like those two, I'm much better... So please, Noa-sama," he begged, "Please, just give me a chance!" Hnn... Well...

Obviously the threat had worked... He'd been wondering just how much he'd have to do before he separated the man from his internet resources and sent him into a duel. "Hn... Very well," he said with a sigh, snapping his fingers as they were 'transported' to a separate area of the system. Stacks and shelves of books and trinkets scattered through the wind, replaced with a wide and expansive darkness that led from a door to nowhere. An 'empty folder', ready for whatever arena Oka chose to fill it with... Along with whatever challenges he saw fit to add in. "You have five minutes to build your 'realm' for your next battle," Noa explained, stepping through the darkness to take his leave. "I trust you know of your opponent," he asked as he glanced back, the man nodding with a dark smile in place. Hmp! Lawyers... Once they opened their mouths not a word of truth passed their lips... And if they weren't talking who knew what they were thinking.

"I've decided on the blond," Oka told him, a glimmer of distaste appearing in his eyes at the mention. "He should be here any moment now I would think... I'll be taking his body as my own." Well, well, _well_ now...

"Jonouchi Katsuya," Noa 'repeated', eyebrows raising slightly. Otaki's choice had been understandable, if not somewhat cringe-worthy to the weak minded; non-professional duelist, female, the only one of the entire group. Ota himself had targeted no one in particular, merely setting his 'lair' up so that many of the 'guests' current locations eventually fed into his own realm. Oshita had taken Yugi as part of his personal desire for vengeance... Daimon had chosen to wait at the end of Kaiba's memories... This however, was the first one that seemed to center on more than a drive for a vengeance of sorts. "You're fairly confident..." Choosing to take down Jonouchi... Like his friend 'Yugi', his rank continued to rise. Unlike Yugi however, he hadn't gained it almost 'over night' in terms of world view, as with the 'Death-T' match of 2010. If anything, it was probably the most interesting case of honest growth he'd ever seen... At least next to a few examples in the USA. Nonetheless a smirk continued to play across his face, eyes narrowing with mirth as he pondered what would happen next. "Hnhnhnhnhn... I suppose I'll have to watch and see what happens then," he continued, fading out of existence. "Don't disappoint me," he warned, smoking away completely with those last words.

"I won't," Oka assured him, vanishing from sight with narrowed eyes. "Believe me!" Hn. 'Believe' in a lawyer, really! What a crafty guy...

He already knew that this man was up to something... Perhaps it was something worth looking after, but there were other ways to keep tabs. Ways such as 'Seraph'. The boy nodded to himself at the idea, opting to simply put the rest of his thoughts elsewhere as he traveled back through his cybernetic realm. After all, he had other things to deal with right now, other things to be bothered with dealing with. And if things got out of hand, he'd just have to cut in before it became too serious. For now however...

He had his 'daughter' to look after.

* * *

A program. That was what Seraph had called Noa. It was probably the bluntest way to put it, but that was still what he had said.

'Program'. "How," he muttered, shaking his head as he took a step back from the boy. "A 'program'... How is tha' ev'n-"

"Perhaps I should clarify," the boy responded, feathers shifting slightly as he spoke. "Noa-sama is a 'program' in that his mind, during the time of greatest weakness," he explained plainly, "Was completely uploaded into an electronic device nine years ago. It was a risky process back then; and more importantly," he continued, "A final solution. However, it worked, and so he has lived on through those times." And 'those times', if he was right...

Were probably _nine years_. Which meant that for all that time, Noa was... "Why... Why would anyone do that," he shouted, shaking his head as he turned back to the 'guide'. "If someone's dyin'... You have t' let go don't yah? Y' can't jus' force 'm t' live like that," he pressed, "He isn' even human any more, with something like that!"

"Wrong," responded the guide, his charge narrowing his eyes with confusion.

"Wh-?" Wrong..?

Seraph's monotonous stare seemed almost angry with that statement, the boy continuing on with his explanation. "Noa-sama is within the computer, that is true, and placed deep enough to say that his will controls all within this world. But, Noa-sama is still human," he continued, not looking away from the blond. "He holds within him human emotions, anger, betrayal, and rage, such as that which a program such as myself cannot comprehend. He has a goal," the boy explained, "And if he were truly machine, he would fulfil that goal without question. However, he instead formed a convoluted and failing plan, from base emotions of guilt and neglect. That is why you must realize, no matter how hard he tries, that Noa-sama is 'human'. And even at the ends of time," Seraph continued, "He will still remain as such. Noa-sama is not a machine," he repeated. "He is 'human'.

'Human'... Katsuya stared, narrowing his eyes at the boy before him. And he was taking this from the words of a computer created by the guy? "_A good point of caution. Then again,_" his 'friend' muttered, "_Is it possible, for a computer to lie, even about this?_"

Was it possible for a computer to be wrong he countered, receiving no response. Katsuya continued to stare as the boy before him turned to the side of the hallway, placing a hand on the wall. "Your opponent has completed his preparations," he said plainly, fingertips appearing to almost glow as they reacted to the contact. "Our conversation has ended. I will guide you to the entrance of the field, and take my leave. Now," the boy told him, eyes glowing white as he pushed lightly against the structure. "Watch." Crumbling filled the air, spiderweb cracks spreading from the boy's hand to form an intricate spiralling pattern before the wall crumbled completely into pieces. Meeting his gaze was a long metal hall, with only one clear exit...

The airship hangar from the real world.

"You will find your opponent within the depths of this 'room'," Seraph told him, slowly scattering in a flurry of pixels from the bottom up. "He will test your skills first," he explained while his charge stared down the hall, "And then, provided you succeed, he will begin the fight."

"Test my- ...Wait," Katsuya called out, turning back as he spotted the fading pixels in the air. "Where'r you goin' then," he asked, looking to the boy with a frown. "You aren' stayin'?"

Seraph shook his head, looking up at the blond. "My duty is complete," the boy said blankly. "I will now 'end' the program. Such is my code, and the existence of a program," he explained, the disintegration already reaching his knees. End pr-

"W-Wait! Y' mean yer gonna die," he shouted with wide eyes, "Yer gonna die an tha's it?"

Seraph merely continued to stare off blankly, seemingly looking past the teen before him rather than at him. "I was never 'alive' to begin with, Katsuya-sama." Erm... Sama? Since when was he the 'sama' type, hell... The blond stared, shaking his head as the boy gestured to the hall with his still present hand. "Now, go... Please," he 'asked', before turning away. "I am done."

Go... He looked back down the hall, biting his lip as the almost ghostly lights of the dead hall greeted him. It was altogether more frightening than the real world's counterpart, with emptiness staring him in the face amid a flickering and dying light. Alright... He was g- "Ah-" Katsuya turned, jumping as the boy grabbed the hem of his cloak. "Didn' you jus' tell me t' le-"

"...Re... Set," the program whispered, not looking toward his charge. His body was almost completely gone by this point, his eyes shadowed by grey hair as the wings and helm vanished into dust. "Please," he repeated, voice filled with an emotion that far betrayed his former monotonous speech patterns. "'Reset'."

"Wh..." What...

The boy turned his head upward as he continued to vanish, eyes briefly filling with life as he spoke. "Don't save the 'game'," he told him, his hand vanishing as he drew back through the air. "Reset."

"What... What are y' talkin' abou- S-Seraph," he shouted, reaching forward to grab at the boy. "Oi! What do y' mean by r'set! Oi!" With no further words the boy scattered completely into shards of light, Katsuya's outstretched hand touching nothing but air. No... He was... Gone... But why did he even feel like this, it was a 'program' wasn't it? Wasn't it? "Seraph... SERAPH," he roared, the spirit in the back of his mind seeming to observe in brief silence.

"_I doubt we'll see him again,_" his partner muttered, Katsuya nodding in response. "_Though who knows; for now, you need to focus on escaping this place chabar."_ Escape... Right.

Then, with that in mind... The blond turned back to the rest of the hall, walking forward with a nervous swallow. Creating the airship and the hangar... Which ever one of the five he was fighting, they were obviously the more 'asshole-ish' of the group, that was for sure. Though as to which one of the five was more of an ass than the other was fairly hard to tell. Briefly, he wondered how the others were doing. What kinds of things they'd wound up fighting, what kind of place they'd woken up in... Seto... Yugi... And... "Shizuka," he whispered, biting his lip. Seto could handle herself, that was for certain, and between herself and Yugi not a single member of the 'Big 5' stood a chance in hell. He could get worried all he wanted about them, but thankfully that fact wouldn't change, and in the end he knew that they'd both pull through.

But as to how Shizuka was doing... Not to mention Mokuba, Honda, and the rest. The blond shook himself as he came into the darkened hangar, stepping aboard the open airship and looking around in the dark. This place... The airship... For some reason he noted, one of the doors were still open at the far end of the hall, one very specific door. No one was here... But all the same. "Why that room," he muttered, receiving no answer from the chilled hall. Katsuya walked over toward it in silence, cold metal chilling his feet as he looked inside. This room...

Mai's room. And to get there, pass Malik's room...

Someone who despite never following them into this realm, still managed to bring shivers down his spine. Katsuya peered inside the room in question, nervously stepping forward as the silence drilled at his mind. As with the rest of the area, the room was dark. The steady sound of monitors and machines could be heard as he drew close however, creating a low hum. And there she was...

Or at least, an illusion of her.

She was laying in her bed, as motionless as the real world's counterpart, but had it not been for that knowledge he'd have almost believed she was really here. Believed that he'd come back to the real world, woken up only to return to find everyone gone. Katsuya stood at the woman's bedside, narrowing his eyes somewhat as he recalled Malik's words to him. '_You have twenty four hours... If you don't kill me before then, then this woman will never wake up_...' He had less than twenty hours now before she died... Less than a full day, and he was trapped in here.

But he wouldn't be for long. "...Wait for me Mai," he whispered, gripping his staff tightly as he bowed his head in silent rage. "I'll d'feat Malik... An' I'll get y' outta whatever hell he's stuck you in!" The blond turned away, briefly glancing back before looking toward the door. "Now... T' get outta here an-" -_sffff- _ "Eh..?" Katsuya hurriedly stepped back as he turned to face the bed again, watching as the blanket shifted before him. With complete silence 'Mai' had sat up, turning her head toward the blond and slowly getting out of the bed with all the subtleties of a stripper. Really, it was things like this that made him remember that Mai's clothes were on the side so that the machines could be attached properly, so that the woman could breath properly, and so that... Um... "F-Fuck..." Yea. She wasn't wearing anything right now. And he'd looked down. Damn it. "Alrigh'," he growled with a red face, "Th' airship w's one thing, but puttin' a fake Mai in here's a whole other story..!"

"Oh," a deep, and clearly male voice asked, 'Mai' raising a coy eyebrow. "So you saw through all of this then?" S-S-Sfff...

"H-HIHHHHH! What th' hell," he screamed, voice raising considerably with awkward fear. "Wh-What... WHAT! That ain't right," he protested, "Holy SHIT that ain' right!"

'Mai' chuckled, before shifting seamlessly into the form of a familiar 'lawyer' that had more or less been the bane of his existence before, adjusting a tie around his neck before continuing to laugh. Oka... This was- "Hnhnhnhnhn... You'll have to forgive me," he stated politely, holding out a card as he bowed his head and smiled, "I was merely checking to see if you would be foolish enough to believe you were- Gh!"

A crack sounded through the air, Katsuya holding his clenched fist with narrowed eyes as he threw his 'opponent' across the side of the room. The bed smacked solidly into the machines from the force, clattering echoing about the ship. "Asshole... What kinda moron would fall f'r that," the blond spat, Oka slowly pulling himself up from the floor while he continued. "I w's in a mansion two seconds ago, you think I'd be tha' stupid!"

"_Wellllll,_" muttered the ghost in his mind, quickly quieted by a rush of anger from his 'host'. "..._Never mind, go on._"

Oka merely wiped the side of his mouth, cracking his jaw and adjusting his glasses in an attempt to make himself more 'presentable' despite the fractured bone and bleeding lip. "Hn! Nice to see that things haven't _changed_," he muttered darkly, Katsuya merely scowling from across him.

Tch... _Lawyers_. "Keh... Trus' me... Given what I know abou' lawyers, tha's th' least I could do- Las' I checked," he continued bitterly, "Yer job was t' find th' truth... Not cover it up an' hope no one found out!"

The lawyer smirked, shaking his head as he gave an almost dismissive sigh. "Ahh yes, the 'truth'... What did you define it as during out last meeting again? 'The cold facts'?" Something like that. Oka chuckled as he was met with a blank scowl however, crossing his arms. "Hnhnhnhnhn... I suppose that to you that was too difficult a question really. After all, I _am_ the only 'truth'," he continued, "Turning even black into white... Such is my power..."

"Tch... Shut up already an' fight," Katsuya roared, hangar light barely illuminating the rage in his face. "That's what we're here for ain't it? You're my opponent righ'?"

Oka's smirk grew in response, glasses gleaming in the dull light of the room. "Very true... But you know," he 'warned' with a grin, "If you lose, your body will become mine... You'll end up turning into what you hate," he chuckled, "And do you really want that..?"

The blond narrowed his eyes, gripping his staff as he took a fighting stance. "Doesn' matter," he growled, "'Cause I ain't gonna lose! An' t' get outta here, I gotta beat you anyways... So I don' have much 'f a choice, now do I," he asked, waiting for his opponent's reaction.

The lawyer shook his head, crossing his arms as the scene appeared to whirl. "True," he muttered, "Very true... In that case," he announced loudly, flying back through the air as his body began to shift, scents and smokes spiralling to form a field, "Welcome to the grand court, the gates to the realm of the great judge 'Enma'! I stand before you as the judge of your very soul," the 'demon' roared, "And as the judge of your worth in escape! So Jonouchi Katsuya," he ordered, hovering in the air as he came to rest on a skyborne 'stand' amid flame filled lands and mountains of knives. "Choose your cards!"

Tch! "Same t' you..!"

* * *

"Woah..." Little words could initially describe the place they stood, and the 'mind' they were in. Where _was_ this, he wondered, looking around them with wide eyes. Where _was_ this desert, with a shack of a stable house to one side and a series of distant cliffs in another. The stone arch that they'd passed through had crumbled into dust the moment he and Anzu had entered this place it had seemed, leaving them stranded on the sands of some great and enormous desert. There was no way to tell why they were in the desert... Or even how. But as they stood together in the sands 'Ren' himself seemed to look about curiously, head bobbing as he attempted to gain a better view of the area.

"Damn," the serpent muttered, shaking his head after glancing at the stars above. "We're right near Memphis... Probably not to far south from where it should be even," he muttered, eyes wide, "But all I can see is sand..."

Anzu blinked at this, holding the snake out on her wrist to speak with him easier. "Ah- You know where we are then," she asked, the serpent scoffing in response.

"Hey, I'm an _Egyptian_ _cobra_, of course I do! ...Well... Mostly anyway," he added, looking back up at the sky to squint before turning. "Normally I can find my way around a desert easy by looking at the stars and such," he explained, Anzu momentarily ignoring the mention of a thought that likely wasn't hers, "But those cliffs over there don't look familiar at all, not to this area... And hell, don't even get me started on this stable house..." Well, the stable house was understandable, not to say anyone couldn't just pass over it walking on the hills around them. But the cliffs..? Other than the far distant ones then?

The others turned around to follow Ren's gaze, blinking as a triad of large and fairly conspicuous stone walls came into view. "Wh- Hah... They... They're huge," Yugi cried, the somewhat distant cliffs appearing almost the size of the stable house from the distance they were at.

"Yeaaa... And you know what," the snake said with a drawl, "I hear they're even bigger _up close_!"

"Ren," Anzu warned, Yugi merely tensing somewhat as his other growled.

"Whaaaaaaat?"

"_This snake is beginning to annoy me considerably,_" the spirit muttered, likely grinding his teeth. "_And you're sure you can't just kill it?_" Not if they didn't want to upset Anzu...

Yugi sighed, rubbing his head before looking back toward the cliffs and ignored the sarcasm from the 'team pet'. "Well, they're our best sign of what to go after here I suppose," he decided, the other two nodding in agreement. "Are those sorts of cliffs normal here though," he asked, the snake blinking in response.

"Those ones? Not really," Ren said plainly, pulling as much of a frown as was possible. "Most 'cliffs' here are formed because of the nile, or some other body of water... You don't find rocks just sitting in the middle of nowhere," he went on, "They're either sand by now or ruins from some kind of temple. And even if those _were_ Nile cliffs," he continued knowledgeably, Anzu looking fairly surprised about the fact that this was supposedly coming from a fragment of herself, "There'd be a lot more rock! ...Not to mention _water_," he added dryly, the others again shaking their heads.

Sarcasm and annoyances aside, it looked as though the snake had a point. "Like Yugi said then, it's as good a guess as anything," Anzu repeated, making her way forward as her friend followed behind in the drifting sand. "So whose memories do you think we're in any ways," she continued, looking around with a frown. "I mean... I don't think any of us have ever been to Egypt, and if anything," the woman continued, sliding down the side of a sand hill before moving on, "I'd have expected that from your mind Yugi... No offense or anything," she added, "It just seems more like 'your thing'."

Ahahaha... The boy shrugged, a smile on his face as he slid down to continue after his friend. "It's fine... Actually, it might be Otogi's," he mentioned, the footprints they left behind vanishing in the winds around them as sand whipped past their faces on a dull breeze. "Otogi's tou-san made him do a lot of research when it came to Ancient Egypt, and even something that came _before_ Egypt," he added, the smile replacing itself with a slight frown. "I wouldn't be surprised if they actually travelled here."

"Ehhh... I don't know," Ren muttered, 'shrugging' from his again moved position atop Anzu's head. "This doesn't feel like dice-boy's head..."

"And you would know that _how_," Anzu asked, the others turning to look rather accusingly at the snake as it cringed.

"Uhhhhhh..."

A great rumbling sound broke through the air, cutting the serpent's excuse short as a voice followed behind it. "**You who trespass on sacred lands**_**,**_" a booming voice demanded, the sound of crumbling rocks and stones piercing the sky._** "**_**STATE YOUR BUSINESS**_**.**_"

"You know," Ren coughed as he looked up, "I don't know about you, but I think that matters more."

"Wha-" The others frowned, before jumping as the words sounded once again.

"**STATE. YOUR. BUSINESS**_**,**_" roared the great beast that seemingly came from no where, Yugi and Anzu both turning to follow Ren's gaze with wide eyes as they realized what the source was.

"The cliffs," Anzu whispered, stumbling back with a pale expression as shards of stone continued to fall from the bipedal and dinosaur-like dragon before her. "The cliffs have..."

"RUN," Yugi shouted, pulling Anzu out of the way as a massive and draconic 'foot' slammed down on where they'd stood moments before. "Just run!"

"Run? Oh come on, we can take these things," Ren shouted, the other two busying themselves with ducking under a blast of sand as the monster behind them gave another roar.

A crater formed just inches behind them as sand poured down in a shower of dust, the humans of the group covering their ear as another snarl came from behind. "Are you _INSANE,_" Anzu screeched, looking to the snake as it hung off her arm. "That thing's the size of Tokyo Tower!"

At this the snake snorted, shaking his head. "Yea? And how big did I get during that last match?"

"The match-" The woman blinked, eyes widening with realization as she and Yugi took refuge behind a piece of some stone ruin hidden amid the rocks. "Ahh... Right! The duel!"

"Ah? Anzu," her friend asked, goggles momentarily pulled on in the monster-created sandstorm "What are you talking abo-"

"Hang on a second," she quickly said, closing her eyes as she pulled up her 'menu'. To a slight extent, he could see the spells on the list, the screen hovering before his friend's left eye as she muttered to herself. Level one spells including 'thunder-blizzard-fire-quake', level two 'lightning-hailstorm-fireball and fissure, level th-

"A-AH!" The boy coughed, eyes widening as he looked over the impressive series of spells. "You have a third tier of spells already..!"

"For one of them at least," the woman's familiar muttered. "I don't know how much experience we got from the fight... And if we don't have the upgrade for the other one..."

"Got it," his partner shouted, a wide and somewhat uncharacteristic grin growing on her face.

"Oh! Well, never mind then," the serpent said with a grin, his partner turning to face the dragon with an odd laugh as Yugi frowned. "Let's do this! Should be fun!"

"RIGHT!" Um, Anzu? "Let's GO!"

"Erm... A-ANZU," he called out, turning with wide eyes as he caught the look on his friend's face Without another word the woman had hopped onto the stone they hid behind, hand held toward the stone dragon with a near maddening stare, the grin across her face far betraying her usual emotions. "Anzu," he repeated, watching his friend charge toward the dragon. "Hey!"

"_This- What is she __doing__,_" his other self muttered, "_She's going to get herself-_"

Light erupted from at the woman's feet, sending a gale up from its source to blow the robes in a constant and strong spiral. A seal appeared beneath her, and as Ren dropped and swirled around the ground he grew in size once more, scales taking an icy tone as the glyphs on his back became caverns in the ice. _**"HAHAHAHAHAHAH! NOW THIS IS WHAT I CALL A FIGHT,**_" the serpent roared, Yugi's blood draining as the laughter was mirrored by Ren's charge.

"_**AVALANCHE,**_" the woman roared, a golden eye seeming to arise on both her brow and that of the snake's, her familiar charging the dragon as it grew beyond the cliff-sized monster's height.

"**Gh- What-**_**!**_" Ren struck immediately as the dragon froze in shock, his form increasing in size and power both as he opened his mouth to deliver his blow.

"_**Open WIDE,**_" the snake cackled with a grin, the expression mirrored to a frightening extent by his partner as Yugi stared. "_**IT'S DINNER TIME!**_"

"_Oh my..._"

"_**Ha- HRAAAAAAAHHHH!**_" -_crunch- _Ren's jaws closed over the maw of the dragon, hoisting it off the ground before opening his mouth wider. Stone limbs pushed and pressed against the mouth but to no avail; succumbing to gravity the beast fell forward, squeezed tight by the serpent's muscles and in the end limply falling further inside it's maw. A lump formed in the serpent's throat as Ren closed his mouth, the form traveling slowly downward as it swallowed. Further... Further...

Ren lowered his head, the grin still on his face as the glow faded. "Man," he said with a grin, his partner appearing to shake herself from some unknown mental freeze. "That was great..!" Within seconds of saying this however the expression of elation followed the same fate as their opponent, the serpent shrinking back to his original size as he screamed and writhed upon the ground. "Gh- GRAAAAAHHH! FUCK! FUUUUUCK! AUGH!"

"R-Ren!" Anzu paled, running over to the snake with wide eyes as Yugi hurriedly followed toward him. "Ren, what's going-"

"AWWWWWW... I feel like I'm going to puke a mountain," he moaned, rolling on his back as his tail thumped the ground. "Sweet mother of all, just end it now!"

Yugi and Anzu both traded glances, the former briefly holding back his question on the 'eye of wdjat' as he looked back to the snake. "It must be because of the dragon you ate," he muttered, biting his lip. "There's probably something in the game that prevents that from being acceptable..."

"Ghhhhnn... Would have been good to know _BEFORE_," he hissed, fangs bared and hood wide as he thrashed. "Augggggh..! GET ME PEPTO-BISMOL DAMN IT!"

They were in a virtual world though... "Hahhh... Well look on the bright side," Anzu assured him, picking the snake up in her fingers as it continued to groan in pain, "That was all there was, and now we can just let this pass and-"

-_**BROUM. **_

_**...BROUM. **_

_**...BROUM!**_-

...Uhhh...

The trio turned back, swallowing as a pair of shadows arose over them with great sunken sockets eyes set on stone faces. "Gh... What was that you were saying again," Ren asked, grunting through his pain as he hissed "I didn't hear you over the sound of these two GIANT STONE DRAGONS CORNERING US!"

"REN... NOT now," Anzu snarled, glaring at the serpent before looking back to the two quadruped dragons.

"_**Hn! So you have defeated our sister... Do you feel you can defeat US,**_" the first roared, rearing on its hind legs with a snarl as it revealed multiple razor rock teeth. "_**Or are you a coward,**_" he spat,_** "As shown moments before?**_"

"C-Coward?"

"...Wait, _sister?_"

Needless to say, as he drew back with Anzu's hand in his own, he had a nasty feeling that his wasn't Otogi's head they were in.

* * *

Choosing cards for his deck had been relatively easy, in his opinion. The giant screen had appeared around him, shielding him from the view of the endless and dreary plain of shadows that made up 'hell', with each card more or less recognizable in an instant. Gone were the views of 'Naraka's mountains of knives, the somewhat close swamps of fire and stone, along with the distant plains of ice. Like the screen before, from the game start, it took only a tap to take each card. A spell here, a trap here... For the most part he didn't pick anything he didn't know from his real deck, keeping his eyes on the field as it slowly came back to view. Avoiding the mountains in the fight was probably a good idea he told himself, same with that cliff. Now... What other cards to take..? (He certainly wasn't taking Red Eyes...)

"_Jonouchi,_" his 'friend' muttered, the blond pausing as he looked at the cards. "_I'll keep out of the fight from this point on... But that card..."_ Ah?

'The Burning Soul – Ally Slaying Sword' "This one," he repeated, pointing toward it with a whisper. There was no answer, and for a moment the blond stared. It certainly looked handy, provided it was the one the ghost referred to; it would add the attack of a tributed monster to whatever it was equipped to after all, and given the kind of power that could bring... "Alrigh'," he decided, tapping that last card as the dome vanished around him in a flash. "I'm ready, 'Oka'! Bring it on- I'll punt y' righ' back t' hell if I have t'!"

"Hn! Appropriate words," his opponent rumbled, gavel in hand as he slammed it against the stand before him. A cold wind blew against the blond, Katsuya shivering as mire formed of decayed corpses clung to his feet. "I wonder though... Just how will you do this without being able to reach me?" Gh..! The blond tensed at the reminder, clutching his staff as he looked above at the storm cloud his opponent stood on. "I hold the advantage... And no matter what monster you choose to assimilate, that won't change! Now... Choose your deckmaster," he ordered, slamming the gavel on the stand with a fanged grin, "And prepare yourself!" Deckmaster...

Right, he had to pick a monster..! Again the screen appeared before him, various monsters hovering before his eyes. Alligator Sword. Panther Warrior, Rocket Warrior... All the monster's he'd fought with over the months since he'd taken up the game. And in the middle of the list...

"Ah... Flame Swordsman," he muttered, blinking somewhat as he passed the card. This guy... He'd been in his deck from the very start, hahaha... Heck, by this point he probably had one of the few 'legal 'non-fusion' ones, seeing how most people had to fuse it to create the monster now. Well... Seeing how he'd fought by his side that long, it was his turn to return the favor he decided, tapping the card with a slight nod. As the screen flashed out of existence the effects arose instantaneously. A rush of heat filled his body, breath growing hot as his eyes glowed gold. Fire... His cloak sprung into flames, flickering with his very heartbeat as his hair as well seemed to shine, and ashes fell from the embers of his clothing. Fire... He was _fire_, he _was_ the swordsman... Hurriedly the blond contained himself, giving off another smoked breath of air before turning upward. Alright... "I've picked my deckmaster," he shouted, instantly aware of the abilities that came with his position. "Now lets do this!"

Again the Judgeman nodded, gavel's pound echoing through the air. "Very well! Start the fight; I summon to my aid the Hysteric Angel in attack mode," he announced, the business dressed woman shimmering into existence as she soared forward on the air. Despite the lack of weapons it was evident that the angel could fight; gripping a clipboard in hand she adjusted the glasses on her face, and with a maddening laugh pointed a finger forward, evidently choosing to attack out of turn by means of the 'battle' rather than the duel.

"_AERO,_" the business woman screeched, Katsuya's eyes widening. Aer-

"Gh!" The blond rolled to the side as the blast of wind came, gritting his teeth and watching as the attack blew filth and grime into the air. "Tch... Gonna play like tha' are y'," he shouted, cards appearing in his mind as he regained his footing. Lousy bitch... He'd almost run into the damn mountains! Alright... Time to see how his ability fared! "Tha' case, I summon Gearfried th' Iron Knight! An' while I'm doin' that," he continued, the monster in question appearing from the sand rather than the standard tablet at his side, "I activate my ability; I take five hundr'd of my deckmaster's attack power... An' my own," he added with narrowed eyes, "T' give it t' Gearfried!" As Gearfried completed forming from the remains on the ground the etchings of his armor seemed to glow. A wave of weakness passed over him, and just ahead the knight clacked one of the blades from his arms to take aim at the woman above. "Now," he roared, briefly stumbling forward on his staff as the iron knight at his side clenched his blade-covered fists, "ATTACK!"

Had this been real, he'd have heard the knight grunt, along with the phrase 'with pleasure'. He'd have bit his lip as a metal 'spear' gouged the Hysteric Angel's stomach, spilling bile and blood both to the ground. However, this was not reality he told himself, and though it was oddly bizarre to see the monsters acting as mere programs, it was at least proof of the fact that this was fake. As the blade cut through Hysteric Angel in fact, it was even a relief. For once the usual spray of blood was minimized, and the screams mere cries of shock as the feathers scattered into pixels rather than falling to the ground in a sticky mess. "Hn! So you already know how to utilize your deckmaster ability," his opponent muttered with a snort, Katsuya merely looking up with narrowed eyes from the side of his knight. Hn! Of course he did... Did he seem so stupid? "I'll set a monster face down," the demonic lawyer/judge added shortly, crossing his arms as a glassy panel appeared before him before fading out of sight. "And with that, my turn is over..."

Defense eh... The blond briefly closed his eyes as a new card appeared in the back of his mind, menu already scrolling as he made his decision for the next 'move'. He still had 1300 'attack points' left... In that case, it would be best to play it safe, at least until he had something that could get him to that cloud. "I summon th' Little Winguard," he decided, gesturing to the side as the monster appeared. Rising from the mulch at the side it was again 'different' from the one he knew, wrong in every manner of action. The 'real' Winguard acted like some child soldier, constantly worrying about what the monsters of the deck thought of him or whether or not he would be useful. This one merely stood, ready for battle with unblinking eyes as it peered toward their opponent.

But hey; he could 'fly' to some extent, right? The monster seemed to nod with that mental question, Katsuya looking back to his opponent. Alright... It wasn't like he could use this thing to fly himself up, but in that case...

"I'm activatin' my effect again," he announced, rapping the bottom of his staff against the cold and barren swamp ground, managing to create a loud 'clack' despite there being nothing but mush at their feet. "I give three hundr'd attack points t' th' Winguard," he continued as the weakness and dizziness struck him, "An' after tha', he attacks your monster!"

The winguard acted immediately as his master leaned on his staff, jumping forward with considerable strength before bringing the sword down through the shimmering panel before them. Spiderwebbing cracks appeared in the air... Until shards blasted across the air, the faded after image of a cherub-like angel following within seconds. "Hng! Skelengel's effect activates," Oka responded, unphased by the attack. "Allowing me to draw one card..."

Hn! "Well, tha's jus' great," the blond called up in response, "But 's that card gonna help wi' this? Gearfried attacks d'rectly," he roared, his knight charging forward to toss one of the two detachable blades from his arms toward the demon. "Le's see y' _not_ get hit from yer throne in th' sky!"

The blade did not appear to hit the Judge before him despite these words. If anything, it embedded itself into the wooden stand instead, driving itself deep into the front to completely destroy the wooden table before the target. With a sudden scream however Oka dropped his gavel, grabbing his leg in pain as the wood before him collapsed and burned away to reveal evidence of a strike. Blood was flowing freely from the wound, spurting with every beat of his heart, even more so after he tore the blade out and threw it to the side. "Gh... Go right ahead," he spat, fanged teeth scratching his skin as solid white eyes leered down at him. "It won't matter in the end... I set the Holy Elf in defense mode," the demon continued, pointing his hand forward with a snarl. "And lastly, a card face down." Ohhhh...

He was so _'scared'_... Katsuya gave a long and sarcastic whistle, shaking his head as the elf in question appeared cross-legged at the demon judge's side. "Yeaaaa... A trap, scary! Yer jus' runnin' an' hidin'," he shouted, pointing up toward the demon's cloud with narrowed eyes as his opponent snarled at the taunts. "Try fightin' like a man instead 'f hidin' b'hind tha' stupid 'desk' 'f yours!" Trap card... It could be dangerous, or it could not, but there was obviously only one thing to do! Press forward... Fight! "I'm summonin' th' Rocket Warrior," he called out, again slamming the bottom of his staff on the crackling and rotted ground as a pillar of sand arose to form his third monster. "An' t' start off my move, Gearfried attacks- too bad y' had t' stay up there th' entire match," the blond shouted with a smirk, brushing a bit of hair from his eyes as his new warrior joined in the others silent stare toward the opponent. "Maybe you'd 've gone out better!"

"Hn... That's what you think," Oka snorted, now standing atop the empty cloud as a clap of thunder came through the air. Storm clouds moved in on the sky, further sending the field into darkness despite the occasional illumination from the lightning. "I activate my own ability," he roared, clawed hands outstretched as the water-less storm continued to rage, "_**DEATH SENTENCE!**_ All of your monsters," he continued at a roar, "Excluding your own self, are removed from the field... And for each one destroyed," the man shouted, Katsuya mentally berating himself for forgetting that both sides had abilities such as this, "You lose 500 points of damage!" Five hundred-

An explosion threw him back against the mountains at the side, blood filling his lungs and throat as he gave an agonized cough. "G-GHAAAAHH! GHK!" Sand tore at his form as his monsters burst into dust, the grit scratching at his skin and dampening the flames of his cloak. Dirt and grime coated his throat, and as he managed to force himself off the bladed mountains he found himself collapsing on his staff for support. "Ghhhaaaaaahh... Ahhhh... Ghk... Hnggh... Y-You..." He took a weak step forward, narrowing his eyes as the storm battered his opponent as well. Blood coated his back, covered by the flames of his cloak... It ran down the sides of his mouth, sustained only by his 'life points'. "You bastard..."

"Now now... Don't look so distraught..." Distraught? He'd show him distraught damn it... "...That cost me 1000 life points," Oka chuckled, demonic grin made even more fearsome by the storm around him as his opponent leered. "You can figure out how much damage that is, can't you..?" How much...

It was a whole damn lot, that was for sure! That meant Oka only had 200 life points left... And with that in mind... The blond closed his eyes, heaving another splatter of blood to the ground before forcing himself to his feet. His next card was appearing in the back of his mind just now- 'Bottomless Trap Hole', perfect for anything that Oka used his Holy Elf to bring to the field. And seeing how there were no other monsters in his hand, it was all he had. It was this or nothing... "Hahh... I set a card face down, an' end my turn," he rasped, hands clutching the staff tightly as he attempted to regain his strength. "Your move!"

* * *

For the past number of minutes, Anzu and Yugi had spent a lot of time together. And he really enjoyed that, he really did! Hell, he would have given _anything_ to hold Anzu's hand like this. It was just... Really a pity that they couldn't spend it _walking_ together rather than running for their lives. Not to mention the fact was that if it hadn't been for the computer's mysterious ability to increase their stamina they would have long since become 'mountain food', and any background and hormonal driven thoughts of romance would have been even more squashed than before.

In fact, he wasn't even sure why those were coming to mind, and- The boy blushed as Anzu pulled him to a quicker pace, hand gripped tightly in hers. Right. That was why.

As it was, the carvings on the dragon's legs, along with their manner of speech said quite clearly that it wasn't Otogi's mind they stood in now. In fact, he realized, ducking behind another cliff with ragged breaths, he was having troubles convincing the others of just whose mind it was... And when he shouted it over the snarls and growls from the monsters, the group managing to find the cliff lined shores of the nile for cover, it took a bit before they answered. "Alright," Anzu said with a gasp of air, having spent another fair chunk of 'magic' power firing 'Blizzard' attacks at the monsters to gain enough time to hide. "Tell me again whose head you think this is?"

"Jonouchi-kun's," Yugi said seriously, gaining an odd look from Ren as well as his 'master' in response to the blunt response. "I... I know it's strange," he continued, rubbing his neck as a similar feeling of awkwardness came from his other half, "But it's definitely his! The dragons have his sense of honor... And the desert... Ah..." He cut himself short, turning away with a small frown. That was right... Outside what Jonouchi had trusted him with, he showed no interest in Egypt, so he couldn't well say anything... Although...

Ren seemed to narrow his eyes, tongue flickering in and out with annoyance before he shook himself. "I'd say 'aaaaand', but we don't exactly have time," he hissed, slithering over Anzu's arms to look off to the side. The thundering continued through the air, shaking the ground as the snake winced. "Heck, I'm surprised we can still talk."

"_**RAAAAAAOOOO!**_"

The dragons fearsome roar rumbled over head, Anzu's eyes widening as she peered over the rock wall at the source. "Gh- Crap!" The mage of the group stood, immediately pointing her staff forward with a swallow. "_**HAIL STORM,**_" she cried, the stone of the staff dying blue. Pellets of ice comparable in size to boulders erupted from the tip of the staff, pounding into their attackers in an instant as the beasts snarled in displeasure. "Hurry," she cried, Ren curling about her wrist as the woman grabbed Yugi's hand to pull him away. "That won't last long, and I can only do this so many times!" Gh... That was right, if they didn't think of something soon they wouldn't last much longer...

Another cliff appeared ahead, the waters of the nile coming closer and closer as they ducked behind and under the next overhang. "We need a plan," he muttered with a swallow, looking back at the stone dragons as they continued their search with faint growls. "The third-tier spell won't work if what Ren-kun said is any sign, and your second tier ones are having no effect..."

"Hey," Ren muttered, still grumbling about the stomach pains, "Sorry for having limits..."

"We're not blaming you," Anzu told the snake.

"A-huh..."

"Ah- Really! We're not," Yugi shouted hurriedly, hands up in slight defense as the snake scowled. "I didn't mean anything like that! I'm just saying we need a plan..!"

"Well... If you think of something, let me know alright," Anzu said weakly, giving the boy a worried smile as she peered back over the cliff's edge again. "Because unless you can tell me a way to take down a _mountain_, I'm stuck..."

"Hah... Well, in our defense," her partner laughed, managing to coil around a few strands of hair, "I'm pretty sure most people in this situation would be just as stuck. Heck, since when do mountains even _move _like that," he continued, shaking his head as Anzu shrugged. That was a good point, Yugi thought to himself, there was probably not a single monster in existence that was... That...

Big.

Hold on now...

"Ah..." The boy's eyes slowly widened, and as he stood the others frowned. "I... I think I have an idea," he told them, a grin coming over him as he looked around the cliff, staring at the moving dragons. "There's a game I played before... 'Wander and the Colossus," he continued, the grin widening as he recalled the game. "As the main character the goal is to defeat the sixteen colossi, some of which are almost 250 meters long! Normally," he admitted with a nervous cought, "I wouldn't have compared it to this but..." He paused, pulling his boomerang from his back as he swallowed. "The main character has only a sword to kill the monsters; and even then, he can't wield it properly... The strategy to take them down involved finding and reaching their 'weak points', climbing up the monsters to do so," he explained. "So... If we can get on the backs of these things," Yugi went on, trailing off as the others stared. "Well..."

"Then... We might actually stand a chance," Anzu whispered, before biting her lip. "But Yugi... I don't have anything to store this staff in," she muttered. "Moreover," the woman continued with a gesture, "These robes aren't exactly roomy enough to climb in..."

Ah... That was true but- "_Well, there's still a matter of getting close enough to climb up __anyways__,_" his other self muttered, the boy blinking in response. That was...

He swallowed, rubbing the back of his neck as an idea formed. Ohhh... This wasn't going to come out easy... "Erm... Anzu," he asked, his friend turning from where she'd been keeping an eye out for the enormous beasts. "About that... I actually had an idea and-"

The snake evidently caught the idea much quicker than his partner, immediately flaring his hood as the boy trailed off awkwardly. "Heyyyy... Hey, you better not be about to say what I think you are," he spat. "I'm not going for this!

Erm... Yes. Yes well, he probably was if Anzu agreed, but that was besides the point. "Well... I need to climb up the monster's back," he explained, still holding the boomerang in one of his hands. "And while I didn't want to ask you of this," the boy continued with a cough, "It would probably be better than waiting for one of these things to attack..."

Anzu stared, blinking a few times as she ran the words through her head. "You... You want me to be a _distraction,_" she asked incredulously, her friend wincing in response.

"Eh... W-Well," he choked, stepping back as he flushed, "I just thought..."

The woman nodded, standing up and giving her staff a twirl as her friend blinked. "Alright!" ...Alright? He stared, watching as his friend seemed to flip her mood around completely before preparing to hop the cliff. "Make sure you're quick though," she warned, the snake on her wrist seemingly collapsing in disdain and grief both. "I only have enough magic for five attacks," she continued, "And after that there's no telling what will happen!"

Five attacks... Alright. "Got it!" The boy sheathed his weapon again, flushing somewhat as he pulled up the resolve to go through with his plan. "Let's go..!"

"Right... _**HAIL STORM,**_" Anzu roared as she hopped over the small rock wall, the pair of dragons easily spotting her black robes among the sand. "Come and get me," she shouted with slight unease, "You sorry excuse for mountains!"

The dragons appeared to turn to each other at this, Ren shaking his head with a sigh. "Weak," her partner muttered, "_Weak_..."

"NOT NOW," the woman spat, turning and bolting as the insult proved effective enough to gain their full attention. With the monsters eagerly chasing after Anzu their attentions were drawn away completely from Yugi, the boy hopping out of the hiding place and staring at the field through his goggles.

Alright then... The boy hurriedly broke into a sprint, running against the sanded ground as dust flew out behind him and behind the monster's both. The first dragon's tail was dragging through the sand, leaving behind it a miniature canyon that he now struggled to keep from falling into. At the back of the monster's neck however, he could see it, shimmering slightly amid the monster's manufactured storm. A crack in the armor, a small niche he could use... "_You won't be able to throw the boomerang into that spot,_" his other self muttered, Yugi nodding as he picked up speed to chase down the beast. "_We're going to have to run to it; regardless of its awareness!_"

Got it! The boy pushed off from a nearby stone ruin, grabbing at the rocky hide of the beast as it gave a shocked roar in response. "Gh!" The tail he clung to swung violently as he held on, teeth grinding as he heard a shout-

"_**HAILSTORM,**_" he could hear her cry, a frosted gale blasting by the stones as the dragon was momentarily distracted. This was his chance. A third 'Hail Storm' was released as the second wore off, Yugi stumbling and charging up the enormous creature's back. A fourth one was formed, and he passed the hips stumbling toward wings... A fifth, and he'd made it to the dragon's neck... Ice filled the ground only to melt almost immediately, and as he reached the niche in the stone the dragon turned its attentions back to the boy to rear on its legs and knock his footing out violently.

"_**GRAAAOOO... RAAAAAAOOOOOOOHHH!**_"

"Gnh..! Hah... GHAA!" Yugi's first hand was torn from its grip, dangling almost limply as he attempted to grab his boomerang with the arm. Come on, he told himself, the third dragon still chasing after Anzu as she screamed. He needed to get it into this slot, come on... Fingers wrapped around the handle of the blade, and with a triumphant shout he pulled it free before driving it through the crack in the stone. "HAH! HRAAAAAHH!"

"_**Ghn-**_" The monster stumbled, tripping somewhat as Yugi tore the blade free from it's spine._** "Rooooo... Roaaaaaaaaooooo...**_" Please... Please let that have worked, ple-

"HAAAAAHHH!" Sand blew in a violent wave from the beast as it collapsed, Yugi holding on for his life as the monster's corpse took a fully stone form. Sliding down the side of the stone it was easy to reach the ground safely... But as he looked forward to the final dragon he found himself paling, looking to where it had finally cornered its target. Anzu was directly below it's head, trapped by stone ruins... The dragon's maw was hanging open, now charging a blast of sand and dust, concentrated to a paint-peeling attack that would easily reduce the woman into mere ashes. That attack...

"No," he shouted, running forward with wide eyes as panic rose. "No... NO!" He couldn't-

"_NO! _ANZU," the other Yugi cried, reactions merging with his lighter half as he screamed. "_ANZU! _ANZU!" A switch... The other Yugi didn't bother to wonder why it had worked this time, continuing to charge toward the dragon as it loomed above his friend. "ANZU!"

At that moment a remarkable thing happened, to say the least. The dragon could have fired that attack. It could have destroyed Anzu and moved on to him, and yet it instead closed its great mouth and turned to look toward the boy approaching it. It turned its tail, folded its wings back and stared in what appeared to be both shock and awe. For a brief moment, Yugi found himself frozen, fierce glare widening into a look of fear rather than the usual shine of determination it held. The dragon was huge after all... And it radiated with power, the land itself seeming to react to its will. And yet, as if to complicate things further the dragon lowered itself before the boy, laying its head on its forelegs as it closed its eyes...

And bowed. "**Young King of the Black Lands**_**,**_" the dragon rumbled, rising to stand on its haunches as Yugi slowly came to Anzu's side in shock. "**I have waited long to see your face**_**,**_" it muttered loudly,_** "**_**But alas, it is not yet time for us to meet..**_**.**_" What... The dragon... This thing of such power had just...

"And you said that this was _Jonouchi's_ head, right," Anzu asked yet again, Yugi merely nodding slowly as he stared up at the monster. Yes... Yes he had...

And for some reason, this only cemented that fact, despite things making no sense at all. "Ohhhh geeze," Ren was whispering, shrinking back against his partner's neck with a swallow. "Ohhhh hell, I know what this is and this is _not_... Ohhhh..."

"What... What is it then," Anzu hissed to the serpent, not taking her eyes from the dragon, "What-"

"**We**_****__,_" the dragon announced, "**Are those of the long forgotten past, those whose final remains are but a strained bloodline from our descendants... We are the guardians of Time, of Light, and of Peace,**" the beast continued, those below staring up in awe. "**But as to our full identities it is not yet time to say, much as our appearance to the one who bears OUR blood is not yet to come...**"

Their... Their blood..? "_What does he mean by that,_" the lighter Yugi asked, his darker side shaking his head in response. "_What..._"

"Who," Yugi called out, swallowing a slight wave of unease. "Whose blood are you talking about!"

The monster before them shook his head, great wings spread wide to block out the sun. "**Do not fear... All will be revealed in time young ones,**" the dragon rumbled, cliffs and stones seeming to arise to reform the initial pair that had been defeated moments before. "**But for now,**" it continued calmly,_** "**_**We will grant you passage to our guardian's present location, provided you fulfil our request.**"

"Request," Anzu repeated, answered by the dragon that had just moments ago been swallowed by her familiar. "What do you mean..?"

"**As my brother has told you,**" the first dragon began,_** "**_**It is not yet time for our presence to be known. We are mere shades of our former selves**_**,**_" 'she' continued,_** "**_**Carried through time by the bloods of those we gave rise to. Our true spirits lie elsewhere,**" it explained, tone tinged with a tone of sorrow. "**And they are hidden in the realms far beyond your own.**"

"**For that reason, we must ask that you hold your tongues in regards to our beings**_**,**_" the second asked, bowing its head as it came to all fours before the three. "**That you allow more time for people to 'heal' before old wounds are re-opened.**"

"Old wounds," Yugi questioned, narrowing his eyes. "But what to you mean, 'old wounds'!"

The dragons merely crouched down alongside each other, forming a ring of cliffs as the one in the center opened a clawed fist to reveal a doorway. "_**You will know when the time comes,**_" they whispered, growing motionless as a desert breeze passed by, the cracking and rumbling of stone slowly coming to a stop. "**Until then, we wish you luck, 'til next we meet...**"

And as the breeze blew again the desert was filled with silence, leaving Yugi and Anzu both to turn to each other as they considered the message they'd been given. 'Ancient beings'... 'Ancient _blood' _even he noted in his mind, slowly turning back to the cave in front of them. It was strange... So horribly strange, and looking at the cave now he realized that the carvings were not even Egyptian in origin. It was some other language, completely foreign to him.

But as they walked into the tunnel, it seemed that all three of them agreed on one thing; this secret would be safe with them, no matter what...

Even if, past the blinding light that graced them at the end of the spiralling stair case of the cavern, Jonouchi stood beyond the door they passed just now. "A-Ah..!" And conveniently enough...

He did. "Jonouchi," Yugi shouted, running forward as they entered the smog covered, blackened haze. He coughed somewhat, freezing in place as he took in the scenery. Mountains made of sharpened knives loomed around and behind them. Beyond the edge of the cliff they stood at lay fields of boiling oil and water, filled with falling stones. And even further lay a barren wasteland of blue ice, above all of which a thick series of poisonous looking storm clouds hovered. "Gh... Jonouchi," Yugi found himself asking, bringing a hand to his face as he removed his goggles. "Where is this..?"

Jonouchi appeared to only just notice the three really... And as he followed his friend's gaze to the others, it seemed that they were having similar reactions as opposed to the blond's apparent indifference in the matter. "Gh... Shit..! It smells worse than a crypt," Ren wheezed, his partner covering her nose with her robes. The serpent's tongue instantly stopped flickering sitting rather prominently between his teeth as he continued to grumble. "I thwar tu gawd," he snarled, lisping almost amusingly as the others plugged their noses, "I'm noth bwinging thith tongue back in mah mouwf!"

"You'd better hold it then, because that lisp is already grating my nerves," Anzu could be heard muttering, waving a hand in her face as she came forward. "Gh... God, it's worse than a sewage drain..."

Jonouchi gave the others a sympathetic smile, straightening himself from his formerly weakened and hunched position. If they looked close it looked almost as though he'd managed to shave his back off... In fact, Ren himself was holding his tongue at the sight, only shaking himself off as the blond turned to face them. "Yea... Hahaha! Welcome t' 'hell'," he laughed, scratching his head. "An' I really do mean '_hell_'," he added seriously, coughing as the sound of a gavel came from above this.

"Hn! What is this," the judge snarled, having somehow created the sound without a single thing in hand. The others turned, Jonouchi rolling his eyes as the man continued to complain. "What are you two doing here..? This area is supposed to be impenetrable..!"

"Yea well it looks like it ain't, y' creep!" The blond again rolled his eyes, adjusting the grip on his staff with a scowl. "Sheesh... You see this guy here," he snorted, turning back to the others as he jammed a thumb in the man's direction. "Firs' he spends 's livin' life tryin' t' boot me out an now he's tryin' t' kill me! Th' nerve righ'?"

"J-Jonouchi," Anzu laughed, rubbing her head. "Is this really the time for..."

Yugi as well seemed to stare at the blond awkwardly for a moment, eventually clearing his throat and finding something else to say. "Well... It's good to see you're alright..."

"I'll say," He shouted back with a grin, free hand giving the group a beaming thumbs up from the flaming cloak. "'F course I am! You think I'm gonna let somethin' like this take me down," he continued, adjusting the staff in his hands. "Jus' watch," Jonouchi muttered, renewing a battler's stance as smog furled around his smoking cloak, "I'm abou' t' slaughter this guy!"

"Tch! Believe what you like," his opponent called from above, "But your friends are going to have no part in it! TO THE SIDE WITH THEM," he roared, great and monstrous arms grasping the pair from behind, "And be sure they can watch as their friend tastes defeat!"

"Gh- What the," Yugi shouted, large and blue tinged arms snatching him below the neck as he was pulled off the ground.

"H-Hey," Anzu shouted, pulling at the demonic creature who now held her by the throat, "Let me go! Let me- Ah... Ahhh..."

The face of the monster looked down as the woman cut off, Yugi himself looking up at his captor with a swallow as well. Demons were one thing- perhaps they were even expected. But the faces of the one's holding them now were that of a horse and an ox, with large tusks and dead eyes. True, they were masks; but even looking at the wooden faces one could tell that the images beneath them would be worse... And as it was, the masks were more than enough to instil fear in him as his lighter half's mind connected the dots. "N-Niu-Tou and Ma Mian... Ox-Head and Horse-Face! Guardians to the gates of hell!"

"G-Ghh... Heww gwadianth! Wha tha heww ith wong with tha Athian mytholowogy thythem," Ren hissed, half of his body quite firmly crushed in Niu-Tou's grasp as he continued with his lisping attempts at avoiding the realm's scent. "Thewiouthly!"

Ahead of them on the field their friend turned, eyes wide as he turned to look back to his opponent. "O-Oi... OKA! LET 'M GO," Jonouchi roared, the others merely gritting their teeth at the strain being put on their arms. "C'mon, they don' have anythin' t' do wi' this match!"

"Hn! Regardless of what they have to do with anything, you'd better _win_," his opponent cackled, sounding almost goat like as he did so. "Because otherwise you'll find they have everything to do with what happens _afterward_!" The demons tightened their grip with these words, Yugi wheezing as his air was mostly cut off. Oka continued to chuckle at the sight, his opponent's nails digging into his plams as he looked back upward in rage. "Hehehehehe... It's still my turn... Prepare to face true hell," he anounced, the holy elf at his side bowing her head in agreement. "I summon 'Curtain of the Dark Ones'," Oka began as the furling cloak blew forward in the wind, "And then, using Polymerization, fuse it with my Elf... Behold," the judge shouted, gesturing forward as his opponent swallowed. As the swirling clouds shrouded the monsters from view, lowering to the ground before him to reveal a menacing masked grin and a scythe-like axe... "The chaos wizard, 'Kamion'!"

"Gh..." He didn't know what it was that Jonouchi had at his defense with no monsters on the field really...

But given the look on his face now, it was safe to say they were in trouble. All of them.

* * *

When Oka had said 'polymerization', he'd gotten hopeful. Fusion monsters were more often than not powerful after all, which would mean matching the minimum power needed to fall into his trap. Heck, '1500' wasn't even that high compared to a lot of monsters now...

However, when Kamion came to the field, spinning a wicked looking 'axe' in his hands whilst staring through a smiling psycho's mask, the blond had to pale. A monster needed at least 1500 points to fall for his trap.

Kamion only had 1300. And with the judge far up in the air and out of reach, it was safe to say he'd be going through this guy before anything happened... At all. Provided he could get past the damn axe in the wizard's two hands. "In addition to summoning this monster," his opponent was shouting, either ignoring or relishing in the blond's unease, "I play the spell 'Sinister Justice', while setting yet another card face down... Following that," he roared as the spell took effect, "I attack directly! GO, KAMION!"

The only sound in response was the 'swoosh' of the air as the blade swiped against emptiness, Katsuya hurriedly dodging the strikes as the former elf charged. "H-Hah! Ah- Gh-!" Jump, duck, swerve, duck, the blade cut fragments of hair and fabric both as he barely avoided each hit, before finally with a fifth strike he found himself blocking the blade against his staff. With wood however the blade was barely held at bay, slowly being pushed back with a wince. "Gh.. Like... Hell... Yer beatin'... Me..!"

"Jonouchi," he could hear someone shout, before being thrown roughly back by the force of the blade he blocked. "JONOUCHI," Anzu screamed, "WATCH FOR THE-"

"Gh- GRHAAAAACH!" As with before a dozen or more knives dug into his back, blood dripping and spurting from his mouth as ordinarily fatal wounds reaped another portion of his lifepoints. The blond stumbled forward as he pulled off the knives, falling against his staff with pained coughs as his back burned and scarred the wounds sustained. "Gh... Fucking rat... You..."

"Jonouchi," the 'other' Yugi shouted from the side, Katsuya clutching the bleeding wound he'd sustained as he looked to the boy. Before, he'd been wondering why the other Yugi was there... Now... Well, it probably wasn't that important right now. "That card adds 800 lifepoints to its owner during a successful attack," he called out, blood draining from the blond's face as he pulled himself to his feet. "Be careful!" 800...

The lawyer had 1000 points again..! "Oh you're _kiddin'_ me," he hissed, before ducking under another strike from the Kamion wizard as it cackled. This guy was getting healed up for this? "D-Damn it..!" He needed 'help'! A card appeared in his mind, before escaping it through a pile of rising dust on the ground. "Summon th' Panther Warrior an' set a card," he roared, rolling to the side as the Wizard's sights moved to his now summoned monster.

Please work please work please work he chanted in his head, the black leopard standing tall before him with his blade ready. Please please _pleaaaaaase_... "I suppose it's my turn then," Oka was muttering, his opponent merely wincing as he attempted to get over his wounds. "Then for my move, I'll play this; Leading Question," the demon announced, the Wizard's curved and cruel blade appearing to glow as it approached both the panther and Katsuya both. "Increasing all level 4 or lower fusion monster's power by 800 during the battle phase!" W- Was he serious! "NOW ATTACK!"

But that meant he couldn't use his trap..! "Aggggghhhh... Shit! Act'vate trap," he shouted, pointing his staff forward as a smoked, red imp appeared from the top. "Skull Dice!"

The imp soared forward the monsters before him clashing blades in a slightly one-sided brawl as he did so. "_**Hehehehehe!**_" With a malevolent chuckle the imp threw his die, both battling monsters ahead freezing as their attacks were interrupted. "_**Dice Roll,**_" it called, the block falling between them. And with luck...

The die clattered to the ground, Katsuya grinning as the result appeared in his mind. "A-AH! Six," he called with a grin, only to pale as the number on his 'screen' plummeted. Now hang on, _what_..? The die ahead spun viciously on itself, clattering to an abrupt stop as the imp it came with vanished into a pile of ash. No... No no no... "W... _ONE,_" he roared, before ducking a spray of blood as his Panther was cut in two. The two halves scattered into pixels and dust both, and as the Kamion wizard charged he found himself rolling out from under anther strike. 1800 now... "FUCK!"

"Hey, Dyonouthi," a lisping voice snarled from the side, "Yu going thoo do thomthing uthfull!" That voice... Who...

Katsuya turned, gritting his teeth as his eyes met with a small gold snake. Oh- so that was who it was. "Gh- Shut up," he responded, before fleeing another strike. "Do I even know you?"

"Probably not," came Anzu's own ragged and strained response, whatever words that followed drowned out by clashing metal as Katsuya ducked under yet another strike. A small break was earned as the monster's blade became embedded into the dagger ridden mountains at the side, the blond running as far from it as possible with grit teeth. Hah... Hah... He turned toward the others, swallowing as the two continued speaking.

"Gh... Jonouchi," Yugi shouted, "I hate to say this, but he's right... You need to do something!"

"And fast," Anzu screamed, the blond in question gritting his teeth.

"Hnnnngg... I'm thinkin' damn it..!" He was thinking but there wasn't much coming into view right now..!

"Hehehehehehehe..." Oka's bleating laughs echoed through the air, Katsuya leering up at the demon's 'cloud cover' as a growl developed in his throat. "Is something wrong," the demon sneered, tusked grin in place as Katsuya shook. "Perhaps you shouldn't have abused your ability so much... Maybe then you'd have been spared all of this," he laughed, receiving aggravated growls in response.

Tch... "Bastard..!" It was his turn again. He could at least take solace in that while his opponent's pawn was stuck. A card appeared in the back of his mind for the draw, the blond swallowing nervously as it appeared on the screen as well. 'Graceful Dice'... So he had a second shot at this then, he told himself. He could power up a monster and keep moving. "I summon th' Swordsman 'f Landstar," he announced, pointing his staff forward as the Kamion Wizard freed his weapon to turn toward them. The rotted mush rose and took form, the alien-like warrior spinning his blade with a shout as he blocked a sudden strike from the Wizard. "An' then, I play th' spell 'Graceful Dice'!" Now... Before Kamion overpowered Landstar, and before Landstar was sacrificed... "ROLL TH' DIE," he shouted, the tiny angel that appeared doing so with a nod. The angel soared upward and threw the die... The die spun, tumbled through the air and bounced off the ground before clattering to a stop. And for just a moment, a grin appeared on his face.

But once again, he was wrong. The die spun once more, as though possessed by some other thing. It clattered to the ground a second time before coming to a stop, and with wide eyes Katsuya's face plummeted in horror. One... Another _one..._

"He lost _again_," Anzu shouted from the side, eyes wide. "He..."

"Twice... Twice in a row," Yugi muttered, his friend merely standing in terror as the Kaimon wizard approached.

"How... How th' HELL IS THAT POSSIBLE," he roared, only for his question to be drowned out by the judge's cries from above.

"_**DEATH SENTENCE,**_" the demon roared, sacrificing 1000 of his 1800 to repeat his tactic of clearing the field.

Crap. "GHAAAAAAH!" The wave of dust that had formed his newly created monster blasted Katsuya hard in the stomach as the beast exploded, sending him skidding on his back to the edge of the barren cliffs of the underworld as he choked. Weak hands grasped at the clifftop and staff both as he skidded off the side, choking as he attempted to pull himself upward. "G-...Ghnng..." Sand stuck to his robes where the blood had stained them. And inside the wound the 'sand', which looking now appeared to be the dust of rotted remains, was sending sharp, stinging pains through his body. But it was still his turn... It was still his turn... And although Kamion was walking toward him in no hurry, he at least had a slight defense at his side... "Gnhg... I set two cards," he rasped, the shimmering 'glass' almost creating a shield before him as he clambered onto the field again. "An' I end my turn..." His last chance... This was his last gamble, his last... His last chance

The cloud above turned somewhat, Oka smirking wickedly from his 'throne' of smoke and fog. "So then it's my turn," he laughed, a cloud of smoke misting in his hands as he held up a card toward the blond. Ehh... That card was... "You see this," he called down, his opponent looking up weakly with narrowed eyes. Ah... Pot of Greed. That card... "You want this card, don't you," the demon taunted, receiving no further response from the blond as Katsuya stared. "Hnhnhnhn... I play 'Pot of Greed'," he called out, the card evaporating into mist as its results remained hidden completely. "Pity you couldn't use it yourself, with no cards in your hand," the lawyer continue to taunt, chuckling darkly. "I imagine it would have helped..." Hn!

"Not as much as your move jus' helped me," he muttered, smirking as the judge stared in confusion. The smirk grew, and as Katsuya held his hand out the first of his glassy 'face down cards' shimmered into reality. "Act'vate my trap, 'Gamble'," he announced, narrowing his eyes. "You got six cards in yer hand now righ'? Well lets even the score! I'm gonna flip a coin," the blond continued, snatching at the air as one such coin appeared before him, "An 'f I call it right, I draw five cards!" And if he got it wrong...

He'd rather not think about that, given how much each move counted. Oka merely continued to stare from above however, Katsuya gripping the oddly carved bit of gold in his fingers tightly. Here went nothing... One side was engraved with a circular design, the other with the head of an eagle. 'Goddess of Luck'...

Don't fail him now! The coin was tossed high into the air as it flipped side over side, the blond snatching it once more from the air as he closed his eyes. "Alrigh'," he whispered, before slapping it over on his palm with a swall. "I'm callin' HEADS!" With those words he opened his eyes again, only to feel his blood run cold as the flames on his cloak blew down to an ashen state. "Oh hell..."

The circle side. He could have sworn he'd felt the eagle's side and yet... "No... No, he loth AGAEN," Anzu's snake roared, tongue still firmly viced between his teeth as it thrashed in anger. "WHA ITH THITH BU-THIT! WHATH WONG WITH YU BATHTARDTH?" ...Could anyone tell what that damn snake was saying?

"Hehehehehe..." Gh..! Chuckling echoed over the snake's snarls, Katsuya looking up at the source with shadowed eyes. "All three gambles, and you've _lost_ them... Hehehehe..." Oka grinned from above, his personal monster looking onward with a sneering mask as Katsuya swallowed. "What bad luck you must have..!"

Gh... Bastard... "Damn it damn it damn it..." No choice! "Act'vate th' spell 'SCAPEGOAT'," he hurriedly shouted, waving the staff in his hands as four great wooled sheep came to his defense from the smoke and clouds around them. "End turn!"

"Hehehe... How awkward you are when you're in a bind!" Awkward? Come on... "It's almost pathetically amusing," the demon chuckled, ignoring the growls from below. "I'm not done my turn just yet though... First, 'Reinforcement of the Army'," he called out, "Adding a level 4 or lower warrior monster to my hand." A breeze passed as the shimmering panel vanished, effects unseen as Oka continued to speak. "Next," he announced, "I'll activate polymerization... Taking both this monster and the 'One-Eyed Wicked Knight' from my hand to fusion summon this! Dragoness," he roared as the thundering portal appeared, "The Wicked Knight!" The spiralling portal behind Oka swirled into dust on the ground, a spear wielding warrior pulling himself forward with narrowed eyes. It was strange; it looked almost like Seto's 'Lord of D', the bone lined spear sitting with one end buried deep in the ground with near identically rimmed armor meeting Katsuya's eyes. "And yet the look in this monster's eyes, despite it being a program, seemed more...

Menacing...

And as the orders to attack were given he found himself blown with more and more force with the treat of falling off the edge, his missed turn making his scapegoat's completely useless. As it was the blows left him on his back and at the cliff, Katsuya's neck held upward by a spear and an axe both... With Oka himself lowering the cloud he stood upon to come forward and laugh. "Hehehehehe... You should have known that the winner of this match would be decided at the end and not the start," he chuckled, his opponent gritting his teeth as the two monsters 'grinned' above him. "And by this point," Oka chuckled, "I would say we're there. No monsters... No spells... You have nothing to protect you," he laughed almost madly, "Nothing at all..!"

Gh... Hng... "Come on," Anzu shouted from the side, pulling at her holds with narrowed eyes. "You have one turn left, there has to be something!"

"YEA, WE'WR GONNA GE' EATHEN IFTH YOU DON'TH DO THOMTHING," the snake howled, the monster holding his partner giving an odd 'slurping' noise in response.

"Not helping," Yugi muttered to the snake, Katsuya closing his eyes as the shouts persisted. Damn it...

Damn it! Stop shouting..! Sure he had one move, but there wasn't a card in his deck that could turn this around right now, not with his luck going down the drain! Nothing, not even... Even... "_Don't be so sure of defeat,_" the spirit in his mind muttered, his friend opening his eyes with a start. "_In fact,_" he continued with a grin, "_If I were you, I'd hold on for just a moment longer..."_

Hold on..? With a voice like that, it seemed almost as though he knew something would-

"This duel is invalid," a monotone voice stated, those on the field turning with a start. Shimmering light was filling the air, and from above white wings spread wide to reveal the mould ridden plain in full reddish flesh colour. And at the center of that light, with pale skin and hair was Seraph. He...

The Seraph program was- It was still alive..! "Y-You," Oka muttered, taking a step closer with wide eyes as he left the cloud beside him. "You're one of Noa-sama's programs..! By why wouldn't he have told me," he roared, Seraph not bothering to look at the man. "Why-"

"This duel is invalid," Seraph repeated dully, the others still staring in shock. "Oka Chikuzen-san; you have been found guilty of cheating... As a result," he explained monotonously, "This duel is unable to continue."

"Cheating..." The two monsters at his front slowly stepped back in silence, Katsuya shaking his head as he looked toward his opponent. "You were... _Cheating_..?"

Seraph nodded, eyes still seemingly glazed as he explained further. "That is correct; from the beginning of this duel," he told them, Kastuya pulling himself to his feet with a look of incredulity, "Your opponent has been fixing each randomly generated card effect in his favor." Randomly g-

"You... You were riggin' my rolls," he roared, lunging at the Judge only to be held back by the two monsters as he snarled. "BASTARD! All those attacks an you were CHEATIN'!"

Oka seemed to ignore the angered shouts, instead looking to Seraph with a stubborn scowl. "You... But this was a part of my plan, I _needed_ this to work," he protested. "It's just a game of cards, what harm could possibly lie in this, you must understand! There's nothing wrong with-"

"You _fool_," hissed a familiar voice, Noa's form now appearing beside Seraph in a mist. The boy was more than obviously upset, eyes revealing a glimmer of rage and madness both as he looked down upon his 'tool'. "You _dare_ to argue against my words? If you wish to surpass the head of Kaiba-Corp, to reach your goals," the boy snarled darkly, "Then you need to defeat those beneath that person as well! If you can't face this boy in a fair battle then what hope could you _possibly_ have against Seto," he spat, the demonic judge pulling back with a wince.

Oka continued to pale, white eyes staring upward in horror. "H-Hng... I... ...I..." Heh... So luck was on his side after all was it...

"Oka Chikuzen," Seraph announced dully, looking down at the man with no visible emotion as Katsuya calmed to a slight extent. "Due to your attempts to falsify the true results of this match," the program explained dully, "You are ordered to take responsibility for your actions. Consider yourself 'defeated'," he continued, holding a hand out in a deceptively passive gesture. "As such, Jonouchi Katsuya wins this match."

The demon paled even further if it was possible, eyes widening as he shook his head. "H-Hah... P-Please," Oka shouted, the others staring as the normally calm man began to beg. "Please, Noa-sama! Give me one more chance..!"

"Hnhnhnhn... Oka... You lost that chance with the 'Skull Dice'," Noa stated with a grin, Katsuya swallowing. "You should have known better..." Yea, he really should have...

But regardless, he didn't want to win like this. "...Hold on a sec'," he shouted, the two above them turning as Katsuya began to speak. "...Let me finish th' match first," he continued, Noa raising his eyebrows in response.

"You... You want to fight even after all of that..?" The blond nodded, Noa seeming to stare in confusion as they stared at each other. "...Why," he asked bluntly, narrowing his eyes.

Katsuya merely smirked, bloodied hands taking his staff from the ground as he smirked. "Heh- It's obvious isn' it? What's done 's done after all... An it ain't like there's no cheatin' in gambling," he shouted, laughing somewhat despite the grievous wounds on hsi back. "A battle like this needs to be taken seriously," he continued, "It isn' somethin' you can jus' cut b'fore th' end. You'll step in if he tries t' cheat again... So let me take my next move, alrigh'," he asked, his opponent blinking in a similar vein of confusion as his 'friends' sighed.

At this Noa appeared even more confused, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. However, after a few moments he merely smirked, shaking his head. "Hn! Eager to die are we? Very well," he shouted, snapping his fingers as Oka's 'cloud' vanished to dust to leave the demon stranded. "If you wish to throw away your largest chance of a win, then so be it. Until then," he continued, chuckling as both himself and Seraph began to disappear into fragments of pixels. "Sayounara, _Katsuya..._" Katsu-

"G-Gh..." That voice... That same voice, he'd heard it in the game..!

"Tch..." Katsuya's attention was pulled back to his opponent as the brilliant light faded, growling coming from the demon before him. "To think you would make such a foolish decision," Oka spat, turning on the boy before him with narrowed white eyes. Now that he stood on the ground his size was far more than expected, the judge easily standing at three times his height. And even though there was no weapon in his hands, it was still clear that the match up was not going to go well. "Heh... You just traded my name on a death certificate with your own... I'm almost tempted to _thank_ you..." Really now?

The blond snorted, narrowing his eyes despite the towering threat before him. "Heh... We'll jus' see abou' that- Luck hasn' abandoned me yet, an' I know tha' now," he said with a grin, spinning the staff in his hand as he pulled up the 'card' screen. "So les' see... It was my turn, wasn' it," Katsuya 'asked' with a grin, Oka grinding his teeth somewhat from across him. "Then allow me t' take it! R'member th's card, he asked, tapping the staff end on the ground as a pot arose to his side.

"...Hn... The pot of greed... How convenient for you," the Judgeman muttered, his opponent merely grinning as the spell took effect.

"Got tha' right," he responded with a smirk. "An th' draw I got ain't half bad either," he added, the pot vanishing as two cards appeared in his 'hand'. With cards like these he knew exactly what he was doing next... Heh! "Here goes! I'm fightin' w' myself from here on out," he roared, a vicious gale erupting about him as sand and dust blew around him in a spiral. The lands appeared to melt and bend to his very will and mind as the demon across him stared with narrowed eyes. Sand replaced swamped piles of rot... Dunes and cliffs took the place of bladed mountains, and despite all this he continued on without even missing a beat. "T' help wi' that move, I'm equipin' myself wi' th's! Th' cursed blade... Th' _Burnin' Soul_," he snarled, the staff in his hands glowing with dull heat as the sands around them were blown back by a wave of energy.

"Gh... Burning soul..?" The judgeman scoffed, shaking his head. "Hah! That card's useless without a tribute," the man sneered, "You don't stand a chance..!"

Oh really now? "That what y' think," he continued to shout, golden sands of a whitish and moonlit hue coloured eeriely in the fire-light of his cloak. "You think I'm done? Think again," the blond roared. "Thi's th' card I added t' my deck b'fore," Katsuya announced, holding a hand out as the winds howled about them, dust flying into a central location before it. "Ardous Decision! I've drawn two cards just now," he snarled, "An' yer gonna pick one... If it's a monster," the blond explained, "I special summon it t' the field, an you lose... If it's a spell," he continued, "I d'scard both, an you win! So here are your choices," Katsuya announced, Oka shielding his eyes from the sand blowing forth as he leered at the boy. "Goblin Attack Force, or 'Shield and Sword'... One monster," he announced, shimmering 'two way' panel appearing at his side, "An' one spell," he finished, a second appearing to his left. "Make yer move... Left, or right?"

Oka seemed to freeze with the decision, mouth hanging open somewhat as he held back his words. After all; he was used to asking the questions himself, and creating situations with only one possible answer. Not something that relied entirely on chance, and luck. "You... I..." Come on, Katsuya told himself as he held a blank expression. This was still 50/50, but if he pulled this right he'd get it no matter what. Oka was cautious... But easily fooled when it came to things like this, he _knew_ that! If he'd just make his choice... "Th... That one," the demon called out, pointing toward the spell card. "The one on the left!"

"Oh? This one," Katsuya asked, the winds settling momentarily as the choice was considered. "Are you sure about this," he asked, receiving a nod in response. "Really," he repeated with raised eyebrows, "You're sure?"

The demon glowered, fists clenched. "Tch- I know this strategy all too well," he snarled, his opponent barely able to read the nervousness in the lawyer's blank eyes. "Trying to fool me into picking the 'other one'... Well it won't work," he spat, others on the field holding silent as they watched the final move unfold. "I won't fall for such a-" Oka fell silent, only just noticing the look on his opponent's face. Hidden beneath his hair, just barely visible, a smirk... A slight quiver coming from a chuckle, the speed of wind intensifying... "Gh... I pick the one on the right," he shouted, eyes widening with fear. "That's my final decision! The one on the right!"

"This one then," the blond 'asked', the spell card on the left vanishing without a trace. Within an instant the panel turned around, a horde of goblins arising from pillars of sand to stand by their summoner as Oka paled. "Hehehehe... Too bad," Katsuya shouted, shaking his head with a menacing grin. "You picked th' wrong card!"

"Gh- Impossible," Oka muttered, "The mon-"

"Tha's right! An' now I tribute that monster t' activate th' 'Burning Soul'," he roared, sands appearing to pull toward him as the winds picked up in intensity. The goblins disintegrated into dust, whirling about him rapidly as the blond gripped the staff in both hands. Power was gathering. Heat, energy, wind... "All 2300 attack points are added to my own power," Katsuya announced through the howling winds, "And with that I'm ending this now! _TAKE THIS OKA_," he roared, staff glowing white hot as he slammed the end down on the ground, "_**THE BURNING SOUL!**_"

With a sound similar to a sonic boom a wave of darkness and sand blasted forward, Katsuya's sending a single crater-like ripple through the desert as a result. Winds scattered away from him as the 'wave' sliced through each monster, cutting and destroying Kamion and Dragoness both before moving onto Oka within mere milliseconds. For a brief moment, the blond's eyes glowed a fierce red... And though the sand swirled in the air to create almost a curtain, his flamed cloak remained unaffected, billowing in a wind that had already passed. And as the sands cleared, the damage could be seen. The first two corpses were gone... Oka however had fallen to his knees, arms held limply at his side. "How," Oka rasped, blood spurting from his wounds as he fell forward. "I was a master at seeing through those strategies," he choked as his blood stained the desert sands, "How could I lose to a- ..."

Child? The wind died down as Katsuya let out a sigh, flames vanishing back to the cloak's red wool as the heat in his body as well cooled. Oka died before his words could even be finished, blood staining the sanded fields of his 'past memories'. But while that was all fine, and while the demons holding Yugi and Anzu vanished into dust and locusts to the shock and surprise of the captives, there was more to deal with. "Noa..." That 'boy'... Hell, if he was still alive he'd be of drinking age! No way someone connected to a computer for that long could be considered 'some kid'. No... This guy was dangerous... "Where'd tha' brat run off to this time," he muttered, walking toward the others as he looked to the side. They needed to find this kid...

Something the others agreed with it seemed. "Knowing him he's likely preparing the next duel," Yugi muttered, crossing his arms. "He seems to be setting these up 'chronologically', at least that's how it's worked so far." The next duel hadn't started yet then eh.

Hnnn... "There's only two members 'f th' Big 5 left it you guys 'r here," the blond added with a frown, narrowing his eyes in thought. "So who's fightin' who..."

"Well... Chances are, Kaiba's one of them," Anzu muttered, crossing her arms as her snake nodded in agreement. "That leaves Otogi, Honda, Mokuba, and Shiz-"

"Shizuka..." The pair looked up, watching as their friend paled and bolted. "Oh shit," Katsuya shouted, running past the others with wide eyes. "Shizuka! I gotta find Shizuka," the blond repeated, stumbling through the sand as he headed toward whatever direction he faced.

"A-Oi oi! Blondie, we don't even know which way to go," Anzu's snake shouted, violet eyes flashing in the moonlight as it hissed, no longer holding his tongue in place thanks to the return of bearable air. "How are we supposed to find... Her... Eh..." A door appeared before them, similar to the same one he'd found before as the others stared toward it. "Well that's convenient," he muttered, Katsuya pulling the doors curtain to the side.

"We c'n talk abou' how weird my head is later," he muttered, gesturing toward the door. "Let's go!"

"We got it," Anzu called out with a sigh, "Just wait up! Jonouchi... Hey, Jonouchi," she repeated, the others running through the archway ahead as the blond disappeared. "J-Jonouchi! HEY!" Katsuya ignored the woman, instead rushing through the wet and cavernous tunnel revealed through the door with grit teeth. They had to move... They had to...

Seto was one thing after all, she could probably take _him_ out if she wanted. But like hell those assholes were targeting his little sister.

**

* * *

AN:** Ooooh, Jonouchi~ Nice magic-looking attack there. But really, shock wave isn't magical.

It just shows that getting hit by that staff would fucking hurt. The next chapter brings us a small snippet of Kaiba before delving completely into Shizuka-Honda-Otogi territory, and though I'm pretty sure that it'll end up with the lead up in one chapter, duel in the other, you never know...

We could have another 'Super Chapter' on our hands, similar to Anzu. (I doubt this though, as the 'lead up' for those three is _much_ longer.)

Also, when Jonouchi says 'take him out', he means physically. Besides a nasty right and left hook, Seto's legs are not just there for show. (Also she's very good with a gun. VERY. GOOD.)

In any case, work was postponed due to snow (for a week. Ffffff.), so there are coloured things for you! I _did_ hold back a bit to save time though. Mostly we have a few things missed from two chapters prior (NightmarePenguin-Possessed!Honda and Anzu's Deckmaster form), along with a bit of art for today's chapter... Specifically Jonouchi's Flame Swordsman upgrade. There would have been more, (as it is, there IS a nice concept picture down there), but sadly the scanner copped out half-way through... Soooo there will be more sketches next chapter. (Including trigger happy Judgeman-Possessed!Honda.)

On another note, I've been listening to lots of things, but a part of me wonders if that section of the note bugs people or not; I get lots of praise for the research section after all, and occasionally the art, but something tells me the music gets a 'why are you telling me this...'

Let me know if I'm wrong though, hehehehe.

Another news point, considering adding a small character section to the TV-Tropes page that this fanfic has. Not for the canon characters (Well, unless people feel there's enough difference to warrant it), but more for the constantly recurring OC's... Kyouko, the Panther Warrior, etc. So that's another question for you!

And with that out of the way, we press forward!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey, glad you like the story Crazykido2! Yea, I was debating including the fillers, but the fact is, between my personal love for Noa's character and the horrible rap the Doma arc got (So much potential… WASTED!), I opted to simply include them with a lot of 're-write work' so to speak.

Oooooh… And speaking of re-writes, if you think Noa's taken an interesting turn, not only have you not seen anything yet but you should pay close attention; this arc is actually going to be littered with references to future arcs as well! And not just the 'canon' or 'manga' ones either!

And, by reviewing all the chapters do you mean- Ahhhh, I get it… You flew through this huh? Well, always glad to hear about what you thought of specific chapters really! (And I'll be the first to say that knowing which chapter you're talking about is a big help when it comes to remembering minor events when they're commented on…) Enjoy the newest update!

Hnn… Venomous things _can_ be a problem I suppose Iona… I'm actually pondering venom involvement in a later incident, but more on that _later_. You're very right, Ren isn't your typical temperamental snake. Hell, he's not even really 'himself' right now thanks to the physical memory cut off. It's more like he and Anzu 'merged' to a slight extent… Which is _bizarre_…

And is also an important fact to remember for later, so just hold it for a moment.

Ooooh! Before I go into this, I must mention that Kisara was in no way being 'cruel', not intentionally at least; the program is simply acting on orders after all, and can't even feel emotions… Not until the last bit at least, but that was actually _Kaiba's_ doing. Remember when Noa said she was formed from her memories? Along with how, if you look carefully, Kaiba's most 'emotional' point in terms of a reaction was around that point?

YEA. It transferred.

Very right in saying that the real Kisara would not be pleased with what the program was being used for though.

As for Kaiba's vulnerability, that's actually quite the rough point for me; how much vulnerability and how little mostly, given that this is Kaiba… The girl/guy's been through a LOT, and it only gets _worse_… So here's to what's planned for later on, hehehe.

Oh, well, as to Seraph, there's your answer! Due to Seraph's much simpler task (Namely helping Jonouchi to his destination rather than scanning Kaiba's head for a memory that's proving oddly difficult to find- which should tell you something about it), we don't see much of him. In fact, when Seraph disappears, he briefly ends up in Noa's 'hands' for a 'reassignment'; keep hidden, watch Jonouchi, and if things go awry (cheating) step in.

The only reason Noa stepped in anyways was because Seraph doesn't have the 'power' needed to smack Oka around when it comes to who's in charge.

Well, here's your update, complete with coloured things that should have been here long ago! Enjoy!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that has a great desire to play Shadow of the Colossus right now... Or at least something with giant monsters.

* * *

What with there being giant stone dragons and demon judges hanging around, I couldn't help but reference at least _one_ thing containing that... I decided that since the chapter focuses on Jonouchi VS Oka though, that it should concern the latter...

So it's again not game related. Rather, it comes from a saying in Japan that goes 'Uso o tsuku to enma-sama ni shita o meka neru', or, 'If you lie, Lord Enma will rip out your tongue.'

(Uso o tsuku means 'tell a lie' or 'to tell a lie', with 'uso' being 'lie', 'tsuku' being the verb for telling one, and 'o' being a particle that denotes action. 'To' is the particle for 'and', 'Enma-sama' speaks for itself, whereas 'ni' is about as close to 'will do' as you can get here. 'Shita' means tongue, and 'me-ka' is the verb to 'remove', or 'pull out'. Neru is just an add on, similar to 'ne', which is used to emphasize, and in this case, it denotes passiveness.)

So yea. Hold on to your tongue's guys, Noa will take it!

* * *

Originally, Jonouchi was obviously on his own, but for some reason, despite having just knocked down a wall, he thought the airship was the real thing.

I'd make a comment here, and say 'OHHHH Jonouchi!', but… Seriously I _really_ don't think that would have happened. It… It's like his IQ just _drops_ during fillers…

* * *

Naked Mai! The fact is, she was wearing a corset and a tight mini-skirt. Mai's body needs blood-flow, not tight clothing... She also needs _clean_ clothing, but we aren't going there save for the fact that the reason why Kuzushi is still alive is probably because she was specifically asked to be Mai's 'guard' due to gender businesses... I'll also mention now that the airship isn't exactly a hospital stocked with hospital gowns, so there wasn't really anything to put the woman in; so really, Kuzushi was also there to make sure none of the guys randomly pulled the blanket off or something... (Not that they would. But Kuzushi doesn't know that.)

* * *

What's this? They know each other? Of course they do! Oka's the one who made it possible for Daimon to kick Jonouchi out of the mansion way back at the start of the duelist kingdom, along with the one who made the Legendary Heroes possible! Moreover, he had been trying to do this for quite some time… So trust me, they've met. They don't know each other like Daimon knows Kaiba of course, but they know enough to recognize faces/voices/names and get pissy with each other.

* * *

As per usual, lots of script parts have been changed. This is either to suit the situation accurately, or, in the case of the latter, for the rule of 'cool' and the sake of smooth conversation before a battle as opposed to a duel. There's more trash-talk in a duel I find. Probably because it's hard to think of a card game as threatening. In this case though, the weapons kill the illusion, so serious business is taken up to eleven.

* * *

Also, Judgeman (who's based on 'Enma', the judge of the freaking DEAD) is sitting in the sky for the sake of making it really, _really_ hard to reach him. Otherwise, you can bet that Jonouchi would have forgone cards and just beat him with his stick. Also, I wanted to keep his stand. I just... Can't see Judgeman really fighting, you know? (This is why the deckmaster version gets an anti-tank gun. You can't really move and fire those at the same time you know.)

* * *

As mentioned above, Jonouchi is depicted really… Idiotically in the fillers, which warranted more script changes. While the deckmaster slip was excused (it's easy to forget things like that when you're ahead), he knows perfectly well he has three monsters on the field at the time of 'Life Sentence', unlike his anime counterpart…

Who was busy figuring out what 3 times 500 was after counting them on his _fingers_. (Ehhhh… )

* * *

Judgeman's deckmaster ability has two names; in Japan, it was called 'Life Sentence', and in the dub, 'Clear the Courtroom'. However, life sentence implies surviving. And clear the courtroom will be a mouthful later on in the 'Big 5 VS Jou & Yugi match...

So here's to the death sentence, which suits poor Jonouchi's constant back-stabbery much more.

* * *

Damn straight I referenced Shadow of the Colossus. See if you can figure out who those dragons represented too... It'll give you a nice bonus of unanswered questions for upcoming chapters. As for why the name is different, this is what it was called in Japan; 'Wander and the Colossus' (Wanda to Kyouzo, as the 'er' sound is left silent. Hallier for example becomes 'Harria

')

* * *

Contrary to popular belief, snakes don't truly smell with their tongues; otherwise, they'd just stick them out all the time. Instead, they pull in air particles with it and stick them into the sensors that _will_ detect scent. Hence constant flickering in real snakes.

Not to mention tongue hate on the part of Malik-with-a-lisp. (The smell is rotting corpses by the way.)

(By the way, fun fact, I actually stuck my tongue out and voiced all those lines to type them properly. It was kinda fun.)

* * *

Ox-Head and Horse-Face (Niu Tou and Ma Mian, in their original Chinese) are the two guardians of the underworld in Chinese Myth, who guide each soul to the Judge 'Yanluo' (Enma in Japanese). They aren't mentioned in Japan from what I tell, but they're big scary demon things so they deserve mention nonetheless. They're also pictured below, though there's no colour. (Picture one in a dark dark blue and the other in dark dark red for full amusement though.)

* * *

For some reason in the anime, Oka summoned his monster first and _then_ used polymerization. He doesn't have to do this though. (Course, I left it anyways…)

* * *

As per usual, script changes occurred for timing reasons. Oh well. It's not like too many of Oka's lines were amazing... (Not like a few other jarring ones in certain duels...)

* * *

No really; listen to Oka's laughter in the Japanese. He sounds like a goddamned _goat_

.

* * *

So why does 'Kaimon Wizard' (Chaos Wizard in Japan) have an axe instead of a scythe all of a sudden? Because scythes don't actually make good weapons.

At all. It's just too hard to do anything when the blade is on the inside... So, I moved the blade of Kamion's curved 'moon scythe' to the outside, which makes it more of a giant axe, or even a Shaolin spade. Actually, _exactly_ like a shaolin spade, except with more curve.

And bigger.

* * *

Hey guys! Can't tell what Malik/Ren is saying? Well here you go!

I thwar tu gawd, I'm noth bwinging thith tongue back in mah mouwf! - 'I swear to God, I'm not bringing this tongue back in my mouth!'

Heww gwadianth! Wha tha heww ith wong with tha Athian mytholowogy thythm! Thewiouthly! - 'Hell guardians! What the hell is wrong with the Asian Mythology system! Seriously!'

Dyonouthi, yu going thoo do thomthing uthfull! - Jonouchi, you going to do something useful!

No, he loth AGAEN! WHA ITH THITH BU-THIT! WHATH WONG WITH YU BATHTARDTH? - He lost AGAIN! WHAT IS THIS BULLSHIT! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU BASTARDS?

WE'WR GONNA GE' EATHEN IFTH YOU DON'TH DO THOMTHING! - WE'RE GONNA GET EATEN IF YOU DON'T DO SOMETHING!

And there you go, a complete guide! …If this sort of thing irks you, just let me know, I won't do it again.

* * *

So why didn't Noa step in on Oka's duel _the first time_ he cheated? Well, he supposedly wasn't aware… In this case though, it's actually Seraph's fault. He didn't catch the cheat until the coin, where rather than just moving the die, the coin's metal was actually altered. D'OH. (In his defense, he didn't really get the kind of programming needed to sense that sort of thing.)

* * *

'_But Jonouchi, Shizuka does duel in the fanfic, Ryuzaki taught-_' Ahhh, and therein lies the _problem_… Accepting that his sister duels would mean accepting that Ryuzaki personally taught her. And to Jonouchi, he's still slooooowly getting over the fact that the two are even friends... Let alone friends on first name basis teaching each other how to play duel monsters.

And now, we give you... Art!

**

* * *

FanArt And My Art Section**

Taking spaces to give you links since chapter... Uhh...

How long has it been again? Quite a while.

In other news, quite the dump here, most of which are sketches. As to why I had time, it's mostly because GIMP was being glitchy in the past few weeks. It calmed down though...

At least for now. Any ways, don't expect too many art dumps like this with the job... Though you never know; seeing as this one is seasonal, I'm still looking for permanent ones, and given that most entry level jobs stick with shifts, I'll probably still have time...

Oh well. PICTURES!

Spoiler!ConceptInk: Deckmasters – Dark Flare Knight – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ DeckmasterDarkFlareKnight. jpg - In which you _might_ have gotten the answer to one question that probably hasn't occurred to you; if the players are the deckmasters, then what's going to happen when Yugi and Jonouchi's deckmasters _fuse_?

Reference- Deckmasters – Dark Magician Girl – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ AnzuDeckmasternPenguin-1. jpg - Hey there Anzu! ...Nice hat. Oddly enough, those robes aren't actually that cold looking... Must have been something in the material that made it so cold during her duel I suppose.

Reference- Deckmasters – PossessedHonda! Nightmare Penguin - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ PenguinHonda. jpg - You think the eyes won't get scarier? Oh trust me, _they will_. We still have Jinzo/Psycho Shocker after all. (Also Robot Knight but that one isn't really creepy...) ...Also Judgeman... (Tie for creepiest eyes is between him and Psycho Shocker so far...) On another note, I have to say; despite being the bad guy, Otaki wears Honda quite well, I have to say. Looking rather dapper there Honda! Erm... Not Honda... Erm... Oh whatever. I'll just have to get another excuse to put the guy in something this snazzy.

Reference- Deckmasters – Flame Swordsman – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ JonouchiDeckmaster. jpg - Oooh... Flamey. For this one I actually just inked and coloured an already drawn sketch, from waaaaay back on that doodle sheet. Why? Because I _really_ liked that pose.


	89. Chapter 88

**The End of the World**

* * *

Finding a television had been the last thing she expected to do in the middle of the desert wastes. Since they'd been left there they had found nothing but sand and the occasional rock after all, and the fact was that if she hand't just about tripped over the damn thing she wouldn't have spotted it half buried as it was... Of course, with everything else happening she probably shouldn't have been surprised to find it there, but it was still strange. More strange however was what was on the screen, something that she noticed shortly after digging a majority of it out from the dirt. "Ah... That's Katsuya-nii," Mokuba shouted, the boy stopping down beside his sister to stare at the screen. "And his opponent..."

"Oka," Seto growled flatly, having a fairly good idea which one of the former board members would pick 'Judgeman' as their 'face'. "Tch... That Noa... What do you want," she spat, turning her head up to the air, gesturing back to the television as it silently progressed through the duel in 'hell'. "Showing me this... What could you possibly hope to get out of it," the woman cried. "Why not just tell me what you want with me, my body, my company... With anything," she raged, "So that you can just be done with it!"

There was no answer, save blowing wind over a desert and a momentary look of confusion and worry from her brother. Damn it... Damn it! The woman grit her teeth, looking out at the desert as Mokuba continued to watch the screen behind them in silence. What Noa wanted... What if 'this' was it she asked herself, scowl vanishing to a slight frown. To simply screw with her head, get under her skin... To watch and revel in the reaction he received as a response... '_This is the wrong memory_', the girl had said. She'd burrowed through scene after scene with no care in the world up until her 'death', and it was still apparently the 'wrong one'.

But if it was such an important memory... Then why didn't she recall it? She could recall almost every point in her life with ease, but why not _this_ one? "Ah- Nee-sama," Mokuba abruptly shouted, the woman turning back as her brother moved aside to make room. "On the screen! Look!" The screen..?

Pale coloured hair on an eerily familiar face came into view, the woman tensing as the screen flashed. "Gh- Noa," she hissed, eyes wide as she stared. Mokuba slowly raised the dial on the machine's volume control, the computerized boy's voice coming over the air as the siblings stared in uneasy silence.

'_If you wish to __surpass the head of Kaiba-Corp, to reach your goals,' _the boy was snarling to Oka, the demonic 'judgeman' quite clearly caught between fear and rage,_ 'Then you need to defeat those beneath that person as well! If you can't face this boy in a fair battle,_' he continued seriously,_ 'Then what hope could you possibly have against Seto?_' Surpass...

With a tone like that it almost seemed 'personal'... "So he wants to completely surpass me does he," she muttered, narrowing her eyes as the conversation and moves both continued on the screen. But who, she thought with narrowed eyes. Who could possibly instigate that sort of competitive streak, there was no one in any circle of relations she had that-

No.

There was one.

But that person was dead, long dead the woman reminded herself, and it would otherwise be impossible for a corpse to influence the living. She certainly wasn't the sort to believe in _ghosts_ after all (though as of late she'd been tempted it seemed) ...So how was this happening then? And who _was_ this boy, she asked herself testily, watching as Jonouchi finishing his final move on the screen. A final gamble, a 50/50 bluff bet, making a decision between two cards... "Hn! A fool's strategy," she muttered, Mokuba smiling somewhat from the side. A completely worthless thing to put faith in...

So of course he'd win using it, blasting the demon of a lawyer across a sanded plain to stain the ground red. Again the woman shook her head, before standing from the television to look past it as it crackled. "...Nee-sama," Mokuba asked from behind her, looking to the woman as she stared out at the desert. "Do you think... Do you think they'll be alright," he asked, Seto not even glancing back.

They? As in everyone? ...Eh... She wasn't going to bother vouching for the three she hadn't seen, but she supposed she could at least assure her brother of the others. "Hn. Yugi's too naive for his own good, Anzu can't fight in a dangerous situation worth _hell_, and the mutt is a complete moron," she began, brow twitching somewhat as her brother sighed almost knowingly. "But that 'mutt' is also on _my_ security team," the woman continued with a slightly calmer tone, sliding down the side of a sand dune before turning back, "So I would expect him to at least get himself and the others out safely enough. Does that answer your question?"

Her only response, of course, was a chuckled sigh as her brother followed behind, along with a smile.

* * *

She knew from the start where she was, she supposed. Just north of Kyoto, at the Elementary Graduation field trip... Visiting Japan's largest lake, 'Biwa-ko'. At lake Biwa, there were paddle boats shaped like swans, with room for two; as part of the trip, everyone would get to take a boat out for a few hours... Which was why she had stood at the side of the lake that day, before getting paired up with a boy from a separate class at the school. '_You'll both be going to Omiya Middle, won't you,_' they'd said, dividing each of the graduating classes first into groups of middle schools and then into pairs of two. '_You're the only two who haven't chosen partners; go on,'_ the teachers continued almost persistently, the boy beside her scowling,_ 'Take the last boat now, and have some fun! Don't waste the money your parents gave for this trip!_

'

At that time, she didn't know much of 'Ryuzaki Keiichi', not outside of rumors at least. And even though it was only two and a half years ago, watching it now brought the memory back quite clearly enough to know that if she'd known more she would have likely already been friends so to speak. She didn't have many friends back then after all; though she'd been living in Asahi since she was about seven, she had been diagnosed with 'Retintis Pigmentosa' that year... They'd gone to the doctor because she couldn't see in the dark any more, and thought that perhaps some sort of virus was going around...

But they went in only to realize that she had an accelerated form of a hereditary disease. She'd gotten rather frantic she remembered with a slight laugh, cutting it with a wince as she sat along the lake shore to watch her memories 'play'. While most would have decades she had years... And she had wanted to find out all she could, solve the problem before it was too late, before she couldn't see anything again..!

Maybe that was why her friends left. Because of all the endless studying and research and classwork. Or maybe it was because they didn't like seeing her like that, quiet and depressed as she had gotten after receiving the news. Either way, all of them had chosen to go to separate schools to leave her alone, and everyone else had picked partners by that point on that day. Everyone but him.

Most people did not like Keiichi back then, at least most at the school she found. To the teachers, he was a 'lazy menace' and a 'disgrace', letting his hair go long and un-cut, managing to skip school right on the 'surprise examination' dates... All while still receiving top marks in the class and grade both. To the students he was a prick, plain and simple; the kid who spent the first ten minutes of class looking up the assignments on the board before completing them and then using the rest of the time to busy himself with his deck of cards. A 'know it all' and a 'show off'... And his attitude didn't help at all, given that approaching him tended to receive a snark and an insult before he shuffled off.

So of course, they'd ended up bickering in the boat within minutes, despite neither of them objecting too much further on the partnership after the mention of the field-trip's cost. They'd paddled off, fighting over which way to go and what they were going to see... And then the boat had gotten stuck; a jammed paddle, leaving them stranded in the lake while her temper had been raised from its usual locked box. '_Great,_' she'd muttered childishly, pouting in the boat._ 'I'm stuck with __you__..._'

'_Oh wow,_' Keiichi snorted, semi-long hair tied back for the moment._ 'That's REALLY polite of you miss 'mousy'. Aren't you supposed to be the quietest kid in your class?_'

To this she had little to say, instead turning away with a snort. '_Jerk._'

'_Pansy._'

'_Moron_.'

'_Ahou._'

Shizuka, rather, the 'young' Shizuka turned around, a fairly Katsuya-like grin on her face. '..._Bakaaaaa~_'

'_Gh- Why you-!_' Keiichi had of course lunged at her in response to that comment, moving to push her over board. In the end, she'd been the one to push him over, toppling in after him and getting themselves picked up to be taken somewhere dry. Toweled up and waiting to warm up until the teachers came back... They weren't 'really' friends, not after that of course... And the fact was, the most conversation they had after that was finding out that one liked dinosaurs and that the other was not nearly as enthused on the subject.

In the end, when they ended up in the same class at Omiya, she supposed they paid more attention to each other. '_Ryuzaki-kun,_' she could remember shouting months after the first year began, walking along the shore of the lake as it melted into the outside view of her classroom. '_Exams are in two weeks,_' she'd told him, a small arm band reading 'iinchou' on her shoulder. '_How can you not study!_'

'_...By... Not... Studying,_' he'd offered, leaning back on his chair with a shrug.

The girl had merely scowled, growing somewhat red-faced as other classmates witness the 'two-faced class rep' in action. '_OOOGH! You MORON!_' -_smack!_-

'_OW!_' The chair toppled back into place, Keiichi rubbing his head with a grown._ 'Sheesh! What the hell, Shizka-san!_'

_'DO YOUR HOMEWORK FOR ONCE!_'

Hahaha... Shizuka shook her head as she watched the two younger selves bicker, holding her head as she laughed. Haha... Yea... That about summed up their relationship in those times, she told herself. The only one not calling her 'class rep', or 'kawai-san'... The only one occasionally stopping by her desk to annoy her for 'no particular reason' when she was feeling particularly depressed about her failing vision... Not that she'd ever told him that. But when did it change she asked herself, a slight wind blowing around her as she stared. When did all of this change, when did they 'really' consider themselves friends..? '_Maybe... That day,_' she thought, the wind suddenly blowing as it came to the end of the school year. Grade 7... She was in grade seven, or at least would be for another few days. The marks for the final exams had been posted, along with the new class lists... They were in the same class again... But that wasn't what they were talking about. '_Top of the class again... Really,_' she'd muttered, looking to Keiichi in disdain._ 'How can you get those kinds of marks without lifting a finger!_'

'_Heh! It's called 'I'm smart',_' he'd responded, looking up from a book he was reading as he leaned against the wall. '_Deal with it._'

She almost shook her head and simply left after that... But she found herself looking at the book instead, staring at it. The cover was what had caught her attention. It wasn't from their library, and she didn't think she'd seen it anywhere... 'Paleontology_,_' she'd asked, after finding out the book's topic._ 'I didn't know you were actually going after that career seriously Ryuzaki-kun..._'

The boy had merely shrugged, turning a page. '_Eh,'_ he muttered in excuse,_ 'You never cared enough to ask..._'

'_Gh- Because all you ever do is play with cards,_' Shizuka had shouted back, bringing down a pile of papers on the boy's head. -smack!-

'_ITEI! Damn it Shizka-chan,_' he growled, rubbing his head. '_How can someone so quiet be so violent!_'

'_I don't know, you just manage to bring out that sort of thing! Honestly!_' Ah... Shizuka blinked, staring at the memory for a moment in silence. That was when...

After that day, she'd let him call her that, using the 'chan' honorific. Soon after, she started calling him 'Keichi-kun' instead of 'Ryuzaki-kun', even occasionally asking about his duel monsters cards when he began running about for the tournaments in the area. Maybe it was then that they were really 'friends', even if they kept fighting over every little thing. She got to meet his aunt that year after all, and traveled with the boy for his semi-final match in Okinawa later that fall, curtesy of that woman.

'Tamae-ba' as she was told to call her worked in the USA at the moment it had seemed. Digging fossils and making notes, a fact that came about when she'd given Keiichi some pack of foreign DVD's to watch in his spare time. She was Keiichi's role model she supposed, given the look on the boy's face when they'd met. And they'd gotten along well... It was something that made her regret not being able to introduce him to her brother back then when it was easy rather than the way it had come out now... But Tamae-ba had taken her nephew on a vacation for the month that summer, so she'd found herself keeping silent. And then... After that summer, when she'd seen her brother again...

'_Hey,_' he'd shouted from the door, her younger self curled up on her bed upstairs._ 'Hey,'_ he repeated worriedly,_ 'Is Shizka-chan in there? She never showed up for school,_' Keiichi continued,_ 'I've got her homework... She sick?_' No. No she wasn't, her mother had told the boy, Keiichi dropping his bag in shocked silence.

She was just too blind for the glasses to let her focus properly any more. She never told anyone how the 'blindness' worked. They'd assumed it was a matter of nearsighted or farsightedness that was beyond technology's control, and even with what her mother had said, most would assume. It would figure then... That he'd known for a while though... That when he came up the stairs after being let in, worriedly calling her name... '_...Keichi-kun,_' she'd asked, turning toward him and squinting.

'_...It's too far now, isn't it?_'

Tears ran down Shizuka's face as she recalled that day, that afternoon that was left in a frightened silence. Keiichi had asked if he could stop by the next day, or even stay on the couch... He skipped school, pulling her out of the house with the carefree excuse '_I can catch up easily; come on, lets do something fun! You can still see, even if it's just a little... So lets take advantage of that, alright?_'

She'd agreed in the end; the teachers would have just sent her home with vision as bad as this, and Keiichi was known for skipping his classes as it was. When they got to his idea of 'fun' however, even near complete blindness didn't prevent her from recognizing the place. '_Keiichi-kun... This is a museum..._'

'_Hahaha... Well..._' The boy coughed, shrugging with a slight smirk._ 'I didn't know what else to do... But hey, there's more than bones in there and-_'

'_Okay,_' she'd decided, pulling her friend toward the entrance before allowing him to lead the rest of the way. '_Let's go!_' It was fun that day... She didn't really understand her friend's interest in all those bones, or in the painted pictures of 'artists renditions', but she supposed that it was fun nonetheless. The size of some of the monsters that walked the earth... The stories that Keiichi told for each one... '_And some of these became birds,_' she shouted incredulously at one point, her friend grinning in response.

'_Haha! Yea! Crazy, isn't it,_' he'd asked, before explaining away what ever stand they were at. One dinosaur did this, another did that... Somehow, it turned into a giant comparison chart, matching his cards to the fossils he so loved.

'_But mammoths aren't-_'

'_They're still fossils right?_' Well she supposed that made sense...

'_But then why are there dragons in your deck!_'

Keiichi had gotten rather tense at that moment, snatching the Red-Eyes he'd been showing her back. '_Hey! Dragons are cool too you know; I don't have to just use dinosaurs,_' he protested, the Shizuka of that time blinking.

'_But-_'

'_You said it yourself,_' he laughed, pocketing his deck._ 'I'm too predictable. A dragon in a dinosaur deck makes sense with that in mind right? For a predictable guy like me._'

'_..._'

But he wasn't predictable she shouted mentally, he was far from it! He was the one who despite all appearances was probably smarter than anyone else she knew, yet still played with dinosaur toys when no one was looking! T-Rex and Stegosaurus walking around the desk at home while she worked on homework... The memory seemed unstable, and yet as she grit her teeth she could still hear the boy speaking to himself perfectly well. ' '_We will rule over all this land, and we will thrive,'' _the stegosaurus was telling the T-Rex._ ''And we will call it-'_' He'd paused, looking up for a moment before continuing._ '...Uh... 'THIS LAND.' 'Really,_'' he had the T-Rex respond, lowering his voice comically,_ ''I think we should call it your grave- Raaa-raaa-raaa~' 'Auuuughh~ Curse your sudden but inevitable betrayal!' 'WAHAHAHA-Raaaa!' 'Ahhhh! Nooooo~' '_

It made studying rather difficult, when the one reading your books was playing with toys. _'...Keichi-kun... What are you doing?_'

'_Uhhhhh..._' Keiichi in question turned, looking decidedly red now that she could properly see what his reaction was._ 'Quoting... Firefly?_'

'_...What?_'

'_I'll just duck out now,_' he'd said quickly, vanishing just as the memory collapsed into ruin. Why...

Why was she seeing all of this again..? Shizuka frowned as clouds began to cloak the skies, eyes growing misty as she sniffed. These memories... Why were they playing in a 'video game'? That was what this was right? She looked over herself, shivering slightly as a breeze passed. She looked almost like the belly-dancers in video games, or some other stereotypically 'middle eastern' woman. Harem pants, a tight fitting 'bra'... In her hands she held two staves, each topped with a small 'head' of sorts, but despite their size it was clear the staves were meant for magic. 'Blue Mage', her class was called. Able to learn from the opponent and counter with similar amounts of damage... Though she'd really expected more clothing she told herself, peering at her reflection on the lake a moment before finding herself in the museum again.

It was the same day she'd just seen, the day they'd skipped together... By this point they weren't so much looking at dinosaurs as they were fossils, but her 'guide' had seemed eager enough nonetheless. '_This one here,_' Keiichi was saying, her little speck of vision staring up at an enormous skeleton, '_Is called 'Elasmotherium', which means 'Thin Plate Beast'. It was one of the giant rhinos that lived millions of years ago,_' he explained calmly, gesturing over the bones with a smile._ 'See how the spine is curved? This guy had a 'hump' of sorts in addition to that huge horn, which caused that curve._'

Huge horn? 'H_-Hehh... Everything about it is huge,_' she'd shouted in protest,_ 'The horn alone is two meters long..!_'

Keiichi laughed of course, given the slight panic in his friend's voice. '_Hahaha! Yep! A lot of things were 'bigger' back then... In the end,_' he explained further,_ 'Smaller helps out more these days though; it means there's more food to go around. Besides,_' she could hear her friend mutter, a snort coming from behind as the memory faded.

'_Could you imagine what it would be like if these things were still around today?_'

"_**Pffffrf...**_" Something pawed at the ground behind her, a hard and rock-like surface pushing against her back as the blood drained out of her face. "_**Prrrrfff...**_"

"A-Ahhhhhh..." Something told her she didn't want to turn around right now...

"_**Prrrfff... RNNFFFFf...**_"

At all.

* * *

There were a number of ways this day could have gone much better, Ryuuji told himself as he ducked behind another wall, examining the butterfly swords in his hands. Laboured breathing echoed slightly through the darkened room of what he'd come to realize was a temple of sorts, and as the shadows that filled the halls passed by the door he slumped to the ground. Snarls were echoing behind him... Footsteps pounding, scales sliding by the rice-paper doors... "Hah... Hah... Hah... ...Hahhhh..."

What was this place, he asked himself once again, loosely holding a dagger in his hand as he swallowed. This 'virtual world'... This temple filled with monsters he'd designed for the games he created. '_Let's play a game,_' the voice called out as he'd fallen in the darkness, finding himself stripped of almost everything, including his headband and hair elastic. '_You're going to be placed in a dungeon with one other person._' He'd interrupted at that point.

'_What is this? What do you want with me?_' These shouts had persisted as panels swirled around him, his slightly long hair 'floating' somewhat in the dark.

The boy, however, ignored him, and continued to explain._ 'This person will not be with you right away, and neither of you will know the other's location,_' he explained, ordering the teen to pick his 'class' and 'armor'._ 'Your task,_' Noa stated darkly as he fell to the ground with those choices made, '_Is to find this person..._

_Before your nightmares DO._'

Another shudder passed through his body as those last words echoed through his memories, hands holding his head in the silence of the room. Those monsters out there... Demons and shades from myths of old, from tales long past that he'd delved into while forced to study the histories of the ancient world. Manticore and Chimera, Basalisk and Ondine... It was probably only the oldest of folklore, the 'truth in the myth' that kept him alive, thanks to how much went into those monsters...

He'd known to run from the Basalisk as it looked at him, because while the eyes were indeed a sight to behold it was their breath that killed their victims, and the powerful venom released with the slightest of cuts. He'd known to run from the sound of a trumpet for that was the sound of a Manticore's growl, and as a beast with ten rows of teeth in a head larger than his own he would stand little chance. The Chimera he knew, did not have three heads; it had one, and while the monster's back was turned he fled, the fires it spewed too much for him to handle. As for the Ondine...

That was another matter entirely, and he was sorely glad that he'd been in a kitchen with access to a drain at the time, because slicing a woman made of water into submission was a messy business. Not to say he'd done that one on purpose... The fact was, as much a 'game' as this was, he didn't trust this 'Noa' to give him a chance... And against the monsters of myth, he didn't plan to take too many risks. Silence filled the air now. Ryuuji stood hesitantly by the wall as he peered out the door, squinting into the darkness in attempt to look for any other monsters. In the darkness of the hall there was nothing to be seen. Nothing but slowly floating flames to light the way, with anything outside the windows of the traditionally styled Japanese building revealing a starry sky and the occasional tree. Nothing was there... Just wood and paper screens.

It was safe for now. He could rest. "Hah... Thank god," the teen laughed, shaking his head as the daggers in his hands vanished into smoke. "For a moment," he laughed nervously, "I thought I'd be-"

"_**Hsssssssssssttthhhhhh...**_" Um... What was that..? Ryuuji slowly turned around, squinting in the darkness as a hissing noise came through the air. Daggers appeared in his hands again, a sure sign of an attack... His barefeet moved slowly backward, and as he squinted he thought he saw something move. "_**Ssssssssthhhhhhh...**_" Something... Some kind of snake...

Red eyes began to glow from the dark, the teen slowly walking back out of the room with horror as he realized just how large the source was. "Ooooh shit..." Horns... There were horns on this thing's head, and as he turned to run he knew of only one thing that could possibly be. "SHIIIIIITT!"

"_**SSSSTHHRREEAAAAAAAAAAHHH!**_" A thundering crack came through the air as the horned serpent struck the wall he'd stood against moments before, Ryuuji rushing down the hall with wide eyes. Angered snarls escaped behind him crunching wood swallowed before the monster continued its charge. Not good, he told himself as the serpent slid across the floors, daggers seemingly multiplying in his hands as he came to a ledge. Not good _AT ALL_..!

"Gh- _**Dance of Daggers,**_" the teen shouted, tossing a wave of somehow replenishing knives toward the beast as he leaped backward in a somewhat spinning motion. Somehow, his reflexes were acting on their own, moving to suit the few bits of clothing his armor left him with. As the snake before him screeched in rage his hands fell back to grab a support beam behind him before he even knew it was there after all, his vest flapping in the air as he moved. He flipped backward on his hands, legs over his head and back again before he gained enough momentum to push off to the other side of what had been a gap between two balconies. And with that... "Hah... Hah... Hihh..." Ryuuji looked back at the snake, watching as it turned from the flurry of knives before screeching with rage.

"_**SSTTTHHHHHHHREEEEEEEEE!**_" With ease the serpent followed his path Ryuuji turning into another run with a shout as the beast continued to shed the knives embedded in its skull. "_**REEEEEEEEEEE!**_"

Crap crap crap crap crap! "Gh- When he said nightmares," he shouted in panic, hopping another barrier only for the serpent to devour it behind him, "I didn't think he meant greek monsters..!" The snake merely continued to hiss and snarl behind him, coiling on itself as it shot down the hallway after him. What kind of place was this anyways? A Japanese temple, filled with anything from ramen stands to school desks... He'd never been in a place like- "GH!"

"OW!" A short crack came out as he turned the corner, rubbing his head as whatever he hit bounced back. Ryuuji bit his lip, shaking his head and turning to the 'whatever' in question only to stare. This...

"H-Honda," he shouted with surprise, the teen in question blinking as he stood as well.

"Otogi..!" His friend grinned, belt of bullet magazines on his shoulder gleaming somewhat from the worn and thread-bared vest and shirt he had. "Hah..! You're here too... I'd almost thought that Noa prick was lying to me!" A smirk came over the teen's face, Honda crossing his pistol wielding arms and shaking his head. "Heh- nice clothes," he commented as he looked over the leather-clad teen before him, "Really- Gh! Wh-"

"We can talk about un-wanted clothing later," Ryuuji muttered, a loud screech coming over the air from behind him, "For now just run!"

"Run," the teen asked, "Why are we-

"_**SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSTH!**_" Red eyes and green scales turned the corner, massive fangs visible to both boys as their eyes widened

"HOLY _FUCK!_" Honda hurriedly picked up the pace as he caught sight of the snake, pulling his friend down a separate hall as he picked up speed. "HAAAAAHH! What the hell is THAT!"

"Cerastes, man-eating serpent from Greece," Ryuuji shouted in response, "Now just RUN!"

"_**SHHREEEEEEEEETH!**_"

"Man-eating- Damn it," the teen snarled, taking aim behind him as the snake snarled, "The clowns were enough!"

"You were fighting _clowns,_" he asked incredulously, before ducking in reaction to a series of bangs.

"_**REEEEEEEEESSSTTTTHHH!**_"

"Rather not talk about it," Honda muttered loudly, before ducking down another hall and pulling his friend into it. It was a tight fit, to say the least, but as Ryuuji found himself at the dead end his friend merely re-loaded his weapons. The serpent out of the hall snarled with rage while the boys stared... While they hid in a hall that its head could never hope to squeeze into. "Hah... That should work..." For now at least he added mentally, saying nothing for the moment. "Now... Help me figure out this thing's weakness," he continued, looking back at his friend as Ryuuji shook his head.

"It doesn't have one," he said seriously, sounds of snarling and chipped wood coming through the air in the meantime. "The Cerastes simply 'was'; kill or be killed, no special weaknesses." Though it seemed his daggers served to only annoy the beast...

Honda appeared to groan at the lack of a weakpoint nonetheless, holding his head in his hands as the revolvers hung from his fingers. "Augggghh... Damn it," he cursed under his breath, "That's no good... These things don't do squat unless it's working at an advantage..."

He turned, eyebrows raised in slight surprise. They did... _Nothing_? "Seriously? Even my knives do _something,_" he muttered, shaking his head as Honda looked up.

"You have knives? I don't even see a sheath on those 'pants'," he snorted, "Where the hell are you hiding-"

Ryuuji brought up a hand, a pair daggers misting into existence as he frowned. "They're right here, dumbass; I took the dancer's class."

This... Only seemed to further irritate the conversation. "Pbtt... _Dancer_," Honda snorted, the sounds and rumblings of the snake outside the hall momentarily ignored for the sake of conversation. "What, do you mesmerize them with your 'moves'?" Of for fucks-

"You know what, shut up; at least_ I_ get a speed bonus! What about you," he argued, the gun-wielding teen staring blankly in response. "'Gunman'? What's that supposed to do?"

The teen appeared to continue staring, before crossing his arms with a shrug. "Well... I don't know about you but... Being able to see _that thing_ from a distance would have been helpful," he countered, pointing to the still raging cerastes as he chuckled. "So all in all, between eagle vision and girl pants, I'm pretty happy right now... Khnhnhnha!"

Ooooh, just go ahead and laugh... Ryuuji scowled, crossing his arms as he turned away. "Hn! Least I don't look like a firefly reject," he muttered, Honda raising his eyebrows.

"Firefly?"

"...Cowboys in space," he said plainly. "Just..."

Honda rolled his eyes, holstering his pistols to cross his arms. "Hn! I might like like a 'cow boy'," he muttered with a smirk, "But at least _I_ don't look like a stripper."

"Wha-" What the- "I don't look like a stripper," he snarled, fists clenched.

"U-huh. Prove it."

"There are plenty of normal people who walk shirtless in vests," he hissed, receiving another set of rolled eyes before looking at the snake. "And are we going to do something about that thing any time soon?"

His friend turned, crossing his arms before giving a somewhat nonchalant shrug. "Welll... I _would _do something," he admitted, "But you said there were no weaknesses. So no. No, we're pretty stuck."

"Huh." Well wasn't that lovely. Ryuuji sighed, slumping into a seat and shaking his head. Trapped in a tiny closet in a temple... "Well... Looks like we're going to be here for a while then..."

"Yeeeeep," Honda responded, stretching out. "A loooong while..."

"Where the hell is this anyways," he muttered, looking up at the ceiling as he frowned. "Noa said these would be memories, but I've never been in a place like this..."

Honda snorted, shaking his head. "Hah! Funny... I got the same thing. He tell you some crap about saving someone from your own nightmares too?"

As a matter of fact... "Yes actually... He didn't exactly tell me I'd be facing _these_ though," he muttered, narrowing his eyes.

"_**SSSSTHHHHREEEE! SSSSSSTTTTTHHHHH!**_" Hnn...

The two glanced back at the thing, frowning. "Yea... Didn't exactly tell me what I'd be doing either," said Honda, the teen turning back to his friend. "Monsters all you got stuck with then?

Ryuuji nodded, face somewhat blank. "Yea; though a few seemed familiar now that I think about it, or at least the humanoid ones..." He trailed off, shaking his head. "Why, what's your point?"

"Hn... I don't know whether to call you lucky or not," his friend muttered. "I didn't end up running after monsters for a pretty decent while... Got stuck in some twisted recording of my memories instead."

His memories..? "What do you mean?"

"Remember when I told you what happened to my parents," he asked, Ryuuji nodding slowly as he recalled the awkward evening that resulted in. "...I just got to see it happen _again_," he whispered, shaking his head. "I mean... Even watching them at the hospital would have been better, but watching some truck cut them off with no warning while waving 'good-bye' from the street? Did I _really_ need that kind of crap?"

Ryuuji stared, unsure of just what to say. He didn't know how many people knew about Honda's parents. They knew Honda lived with his sister... But as far as he recalled, no one asked why... "...Honda... Are you..."

The teen shrugged, looking decidedly detached from everything. "I just had to wonder, if I was the only one Noa was fucking with," he muttered, shaking his head. "Guess I am... But what kind of _moron_ runs into a truck," he snarled, "I mean, come on!"

"...You alright?"

"I'm fine! Just... Haven't thought about this for a while," he muttered, shaking his head. "Mom and dad... They both managed to live just long enough for Ane to reach 'guardian' age before their organs failed... I can still remember the few weeks after even, thanks to that stupid 'video'... You know, thinking back, I think I might have met Mokuba..." Ah..?

"Mokuba," he repeated, the teen nodding as he frowned.

"Yea; not at the cemetery of course, though there was some kid there that looked like him, but at a park a little while after... Thinking back it probably wasn't him though," he added, shaking his head. "Said he was waiting for his sister."

"Ah... I see. ...Did you know you mother that well," he ended up saying after a moment, turning away awkwardly.

"...Kinda. Not really I guess," he muttered, staring off. "Parents were workaholics according to Ane... Hell, the night of the crash they'd been called in for _Christmas_. She... She was pretty pissed, needless to say..."

Oh... "...Sorry..."

"Don't worry about it... Not upset, just pissed. Brat's got no right screwing with my head like that... Even when it's just shit like this," he added, jabbing a thumb in the still snarling snake's direction. "...Tch... You sure this thing doesn't have a weakness," Honda asked, fingering his pistols with a scowl.

"Pretty sure; my daggers didn't even phase it," he added, shaking his head. "Granted, this is the first fight I've actually bothered taking initiative in," Ryuuji muttered. "The only reason I took down the ondine was because the door was blocked..."

"The first-" His friend snorted, pulling himself up. "Sheesh! Well no wonder you didn't do anything, you're probably still 'level one'! Damn... I'm not taking advice from you, you suck at this!"

"W-What! What the hell! I take caution and I 'suck'?"

Honda pulled out a gun, clicking the safety off in a single swift movement as he aimed it toward the Cerastes. "Hn! Whatever... Even if it doesn't do anything, I could use something to shoot right now... What harm can come from this_**,**__"_ he called out, pulling the safety down with a sneer. "I don't know about elemental advantages, but this thing has to at least break down for cold steel! _**Quarter Shot,**_" he shouted, voice drowned out by the sound of the gun. Rather than the standard bullet however a burst of light fired forward, forming from it a cannon-ball that blasted through with and before the sound of the blast. The sphere broke through the snake's hide with ease, and in a cut cry it collapsed to the ground, brain matter and blood scattering the ground. "Hah! Alright," Honda cheered, Ryuuji merely staring at the snake somewhat blankly as his friend climbed over the corpse. "That was easy!"

"Hah... It was..." The teen winced somewhat, dimly hearing a shout in the back of his mind before pushing it back. "...You know... I didn't expect something with the history it has to fall so quickly..."

His friend shrugged, shaking his head. "Hey, not like there's anything much to monsters when you're in a video game..." Well... If you were playing something built around that action yes, but normally there was more of a strate- "So... We've gotten to this point now," Honda continued with a smirk. "Where to next?"

Hnn... "Given that this location is apparently formed by your mind," the teen muttered as he looked around the hall, "I'd guess that's up to you," he muttered. "From what I can tell only the monsters are from my head..."

"Yea, about that," Honda cut in, "What exactly was with those... Some of them were pretty fucked up!"

Gee thanks. "I designed them," he said dryly, crossing his arms with a growl. For the D-D-D game actually... But besides all of that... "What about this place," Ryuuji asked as he frowned. "Just what does this place have to do with you?"

Honda frowned, shaking his head. "Not actually sure; I think I came here for a field trip," the teen trailed off, "Or maybe... ...Oh!" He blinked, before his face went somewhat blank. "This place... This is the temple from the middle school grad. I didn't really remember much of it."

Middle school- "That was less than two years ago," he muttered incredulously, "How did you forget something like that..?"

The teen scowled, narrowing his eyes. "Oh shut up alright? I skipped most of the trip to run around with Jonouchi... Besides! At least you don't see me asking about what a bunch of clown screw-ups are doing in your head!"

Ryuuji winced somewhat at that, looking away. Clowns... He had a fairly good idea... "Gh... You just asked now," he muttered, not looking back as he began to walk away from the snake's corpse. Not that he was answering the 'whys' anyways. "Now... We should probably get moving," he told his friend, glancing back as Honda nodded.

"I guess so..." The teen sighed, spinning his guns on his fingers as he walked along his friend. "I don't think I'll be able to really figure out a way out that easily though," he muttered, shaking his head. "I mean, I've been wandering for hours with no luck, and most of the doors just brought memories really." The doors eh?

Well, given that he'd been running through hallway after hallway, he supposed that made sense. "Hnnn... Something tells me the building's halls are set in a loop," the teen thought aloud, narrowing his eyes. "It's a good way to keep a player busy," he explained, "But most people realize something is wrong before too long."

Honda frowned, the spinning on his fingers stopping as he sighed. Apparently the stealth insult was acknowledged but not addressed. "Right... Not going there." Of course he wasn't. "...Hey, Otogi," he muttered, glancing at the teen as they walked down the oddly sparse hallway. "You think the others are in here?"

The others... He shrugged, shaking his head. "Well... I'd like to think so at least," he said with a frown. "We were all knocked out after all," he continued, "So I'd think we're all in this somehow..."

"Then... That means..." The teen seemed to brighten somewhat, running ahead with a somewhat red face as Otogi stared. "S-Shizuka," he shouted, holstering the guns as he cupped his hands. "HEYYYY! SHIZUKAAAA, WHERE ARE YOU!"

"Gh- H-Honda," Ryuuji shouted, running after his friend with wide eyes. "Honda, what the hell do you think you're doing," he hissed, easily catching up to the teen.

"Looking for Shizuka, what else," he growled, before turning back. "SHIZUKAA- Glk!"

Honda's mouth was quickly covered, a 'sshht!' sound coming through the air as Ryuuji scowled. "Gh- Are you dense," he spat, receiving a glare from the teen for his efforts. "You're going to attract monsters... Not to mention get us both _killed_! Just find a door so we can leave!"

The teen scowled, shaking his head as he forced his friend's hand from his mouth. "Gh- Not before I find Shizuka; she could be in trouble for all we know!"

"WE'RE in trouble," Ryuuji countered, pointing to himself. "We _die_ if we lose, we don't have time to risk getting caught! We don't even know if Shizuka is in this tem-"

"_**Grrrrrrrnnn...**_" Low growls came over the air, the two slowly turning as a shadow fell over the hall. It spread across the floor like some approaching blanket storm, some great storm cloud and as glowing eyes appeared from the darkness, they could see around them enormous and shifting orb. Within the sphere could be seen a sort of skeleton, some corpse... A griffin, with wide spread wings of rotted feathers and decaying flesh to coat the rest of its bones. "_**Greeeeeeeee...**_" Low growling continued to come through the air, the creature approaching at a snail's pace as it shifted into a serpentine like figure._** "GREAAAAAAAAAAEEEEEEEE...**_"

The two teens swallowed, eyes wide as they slowly backed away from the beast. "Otogi," Honda whispered, taking aim at the demon with both guns. "Please tell me this thing has a weakness..." W-Weakness? He couldn't even think... All there was was... Fear...

Oh god... Fear was filling his every being as he looked at the creature, and as Honda's words registered he slowly shook his head. "This... You can't fight this one," he muttered fearfully, continuing to shuffle back with a choke before grabbing the teen's arm. "You need to run," he forced out, Honda glancing at him with wide eyes. "Run," he repeated, shaking his head in an uncharacteristic panic. "RU-"

"_**GRAAAAAEEEEEEEEEEE!**_" Shadows lashed from the sphere and naga-like demon, Ryuuji and Honda both ducking under as gunfire hit the air. The monster seemed to change its form back to the rotted griffin, covering itself with thick armor as it continued to screech. "_**GREEEEEEEEEEE!**_"

"Gh..." Bullet after bullet passed through the beast, Honda falling over himself as he attempted to run. "Nothing..!"

"I told you, don't attack it," Ryuuji shouted, pulling the teen away. "You can't kill this thing!"

"And how would you know," Honda countered, "You said the same thing about the cerastes!"

"That's because it didn't have a _weakness_," he continued, looking back with horror filled eyes as the shadows effortlessly followed at a speed to seemingly match their own. "It was just a monster, just an oversized snake with horns... But this..."

"_**REAAAAAAAAAAAAAEEEEE!**_" Metal clacked and wood burned, and all they could see for their efforts was darkness. Honda turned the corner with choked breaths, but nonetheless they continued to run as it followed.

"'This'? What do you mean 'this'," the teen was shouting, "What the hell does 'But this' mean!"

"It means that it's not even alive," Ryuuji roared, grabbing Honda's arm and pulling him across a narrow gap with minor difficulty. The shadows only briefly paused at this obstacle however, the teen pulling his friend up from the edge before they continued their run. "Gh- It's just an 'entity'," he explained, hopping a fallen wood beam on what was a rather ruined side of the temple, "It's darkness itself!"

Honda choked, momentarily freezing as he clambered and stumbled over the same obstacle to run after his friend. "Darkness- What the hell are you talking about!"

"It's 'ZU'," he shouted hurriedly, breaking into a panic driven sweat as they turned the corner to a seemingly endless hall. "It's the embodiment of evil itself," he screamed, "One of three 'powers' depicted in ancient times... This isn't even it's real name," Ryuuji pressed, glancing back only to shudder with fear as he locked eyes with the beast for a brief moment. "The letters were almost completely eradicated..! 'Zu' is all anyone can get from it!"

"So this is the embodiment of... You've got an embodiment of EVIL in your HEAD," Honda roared, finding himself kicking off from a nearby ledge to keep moving as he fired a series of pointlessly wasted bullets at the beast. The monster again snarled, lashing out as its target ducked and ran. "What the hell! What's wrong with you!"

"Besides the fact that it's not the _real_ Zu, this isn't not just MY head, REMEMBER," the teen countered, ducking under another wooden beam as the shadow chasing them began to warp the scenery around them. "This is just as much mine as yours, so how do I know this isn't a representation from _YOUR_ head?"

"I'm pretty damn sure I don't have a thing called 'ZU' in my head," Honda snarled, again releasing another barrage of bullets toward the beast as the room shook. "Damn it... _**TRIPLE BARRAGE,**_" he roared, a small crater forming across the sphere and body of the beast as before the bullet holes filled in. "AGGGH! FUCK!"

"Honda... We need to get out of here," Ryuuji shouted, tossing a dagger forward for a foot hold on the now tipping wall. "This building was from _your_ head," he continued from his hold, "Think of something!"

"Gh-" The teen looked back at the monster they were still somehow running from, the beast resembling some demonic giant lined with bone. "I'm thinking," he shouted back, kicking off whatever rubble he could as his partner did literal backflips around him to hold the lead. "But it's a little hard with this 'Zu' thing chasing us around!"

"Well then think harder," Ryuuji shouted, looking back with a scowl.

"Think harder! What kind of argument is that!"

"The best you're getting," he responded, Honda balking as a result.

"WHAT?"

"_**GAAAAEEEEEEEEE... SREAAEEEEEEEE!**_"

The two teens looked back as the hall tipped to a complete 90 degrees, Honda barely catching himself on Ryuuji's legs as the teen gripped one of his wall embedded daggers. The grip was strained... Suffice to say holding on was difficult, but as they both looked down Honda quickly turned his attentions back to pointless defense. "Gh- Any ideas yet," he shouted up, firing more useless bullets to the beast before tapping another magazine from his holder.

"You're asking _me_," shouted Ryuuji incredulously, "After what I just said?"

"Well, I thought I'd give it a try at least!"

A try... Yes, let's give defeating 'darkness' a try, that would always work! Nonetheless he bit his lip, watching as the hall seemed to lengthen before them as the demon crawled upward. "Gh... Well even if we could find a door in this loop," Ryuuji responded with a swallow, "We're hanging onto the _floor_ right now..! Any doors will be impossible to enter from this position!"

"Damn it... There has to be some... Ah..!" Honda tensed, his look of fear shifting completely as he looked upward. "OTOGI," the teen abruptly shouted, his friend looking down in response. "Let go of the knife!"

Let go of the- "WHAT!"

"Let go of the knife," he repeated, "I've got an idea!"

Ryuuji stared down incredulously, shaking his head as shadows wrapped about the walls at their sides. 'Zu' might not have been able to reach them, but his magic could... And in moments all that was left was a pillar of 'light' separating their path from darkness. They had little time... "Are you completely insane!" This wasn't going to work..!

"Just do it," Honda roared.

"No!" No way in hell!

"DO IT!"

"I said N- OW, FUCK!" A gunshot rang through the air, Ryuuji's hand falling from the dagger as he gripped his hand. Bleeding... He'd shot his- ...Crap. "Ac- Ah... AHHH! H-HONDA, YOU ASSHOLE," he wailed, the wound in his hand healing over as he looked to the teen. "WHAT THE HELL!"

"Just shut up and head toward the light," he shouted back, diving forward as the demon screeched below.

"WHAT LIGHT?"

"THIS ONE," the teen responded as he came within range of the demon. "_**SOLAR BULLET!**_" In a single instant light blinded their vision. The bullet that fired from Honda's twin pistols combined blasted directly through the darkness ahead, traveling further and further down the hall until it reached the corner. Even then however, it continued onward, seeping into the wood before them. Cracks burst from the wall, debris and dust flew forward... "Get ready to land," Honda shouted, managing to right himself somewhat in the air as he fell. "Because if I'm right, this might hurt..!" La-

"Gh-" Ryuuji's hand caught at the wall as they passed it, the demon behind them giving an enraged shriek followed by the sound of crumbling. The sounds continued, his vision faltered... And all at once the world righted itself, sending the disoriented teens into a confused mess. Honda flew forward to grab the wall of what looked to be an outer balcony, yelping as he narrowly avoided toppling over the edge. He himself fell down to gravity's effects from the side of the wall, gripping it tightly as he attempted to get over what just happened. "That... What the hell was _that_," he shouted, watching his friend climb back onto the wall with a rasping laugh.

"Ahaha... Hahaha... Man... I don't know," Honda laughed, wiping his eyes with a grin, "But if Kaiba ever gets that game working sign me up... Holy _shit_... Yugi and Jonouchi's stories got nothing on this..!"

Gh... Was he serious..? Ryuuji shook his head with wide eyes as he recovered, rubbing his neck for a moment before walking forward. "Hahhh... I'm not even going to address that," he muttered, leaning against the wall with a frown. "How the hell you could enjoy something like that is beyond me... I don't even know where you got the idea to run _through_ Zu before it healed..!"

"Hahh... You and me both," his friend laughed, blood draining somewhat from Ryuuji's already white face. "Now... Where are we," Honda muttered, looking around the area.

Ryuuji frowned, turning to look over the wooden wall somewhat blankly in regards to the comment. Trees... Both tropical and deciduous... The occasional temple, skyscraper and mountain, along with a lake and a plain... "Going by first impressions," he decided with a frown, "Something that looks like a mix between Okinawa and... Probably the Hokkaido region..." Just a guess of course, but given that there was no other place you could possibly get an empty field in this country...

"So we're in Hokkaido and Okinawa," his friend said.

"Yes."

"...On a floating temple from Kyoto," Honda added.

"Yea, a floating te- _What kind of fucked up field trips were you going on,"_ he barked incredulously, Honda jumping back with a shout.

"Gh- It's not all from _my_ head," he protested, "I've never even been to Okinawa!"

"Well neither have I, so then how are we-"

"_KYAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!_"

The two teens jumped, turning toward the sound of a young woman's scream as it came over the air. "T-That... Who was that," Ryuuji muttered, scanning the fields below the 'ground line' of the temple they were on. "I don't see any-"

"Shizuka," Honda shouted, pulling himself onto the castle wall with wide eyes as he stared seemingly at nothing. The eyes appeared almost metallic in hue at the moment, glowing with an eerie light as what was likely his class ability kicked in. "...She's... She's being chased by some kind of rhino-dinosaur thing..!"

"Ah... She's getting chased by a-" a what! The teen cut himself short as a small dot became visible in the distance, slowly growing clearer as it tore toward them at an angle. A cloud of dust... And as they slowly tore toward the lake he paled. "Ah- you're right!"

"SHIZUKAAAAA," his friend shouted, Ryuuji wincing in response as he plugged his ears. "SHIZUKAAAAA!"

"Gh- She can't hear you, dumbass! Your eye-sight's better than a damn falcon's," he spat in annoyance, "She's too far away for that!"

Honda grit his teeth at the comment, edging toward the side of the temple as he reached for his guns. "Gh... Looks like she chose a white mage class," he muttered under his breath. "Nothing but staffs and accented white... She's screwed..! OIII! SHIZUKA," he shouted again, ignoring his friend's wincing. "SHIZUKAAAAA!"

"Did you listen to a word I said!"

"Damn it..! Stay here," the teen responded, Ryuuji balking as Honda bolted down the side of the wall. "I'm going after this thing!"

What what wha- "Wh- What the hell..! Honda, this thing is floating above the ground! Hon-" He winced as gunshots pierced through the air, Honda pushing off the wall to shoot at and grab the bladed ears of the rhino while Shizuka stopped to stare. And of course, right beside where he'd run... "...Damn it Honda, there's a rope ladder right here! ...Ahhhhhh..." He shook his head, hopping over the side and using the rungs as footholds to run down the 'cliff' before expertly flying down the ladder before the force of his feet screwed up the run. "What ever... Hey, Shizuka," he called out, the girl turning as he hopped from the last few rungs to run over. "Shizuka come on, over here," he continued, holding out a hand and pulling his friend away from the raging monster Honda was dealing with. "It's not safe..!"

"A-Ah... Otogi-han," she shouted with surprise, broken staffs still clenched in her hands as he pulled her away. "You..."

"Honda can handle the dinosaur," he said plainly, taking the girl behind a few trees as the dinosaur in question attempted to throw off its captor. "For now though, are you alright?"

Shizuka nodded, a look of relief quite clearly across her face even as gunfire and a surprised shout came over the air. "Hah... Thanks to you two," she said with a smile, bowing politely. "I have to thank you, Otogi-han..."

Ah... Ah... A splash sound came through the air, followed by coughing as the teen laughed. "It... It's not a problem," he coughed, rubbing the back of his head as he blushed. "Right, Honda," he called out, the gunman pulling himself from the lake at the side to shake himself dry. "Not a problem right?"

"Gh..." The teen shook out his guns, sliding them back into the holster as the dinosaur corpse at the lake-side began to mist away. "You're lucky I don't shoot you," he growled, blowing the remaining water from his face as he scowled. "You didn't think I could use help?"

"Ahh... You looked like you could handle it," he muttered honestly, shrugging.

Shizuka laughed somewhat nervously, watching as the two glared at each other. "I... You don't need to argue," she laughed, rubbing her head. "Really, it's fine... No harm done right..?"

"That's right," Ryuuji added with a grin, crossing his arms somewhat smugly. "Everything's fine here!"

"_Otogi_," his friend 'warned', approaching with a look of absolute murder on his face. "I... Am going... To _murder_ you..."

"Really," Shizuka continued quietly, "Please don't fight..."

"Ohhh, we weren't fighting," Honda muttered, looking at his soaked and seemingly useless guns in disdain before looking back to the teen. "Just _talking_..."

"I'm not that stupid," Shizuka muttered almost dryly.

"Trust me, if it was arguing you'd know," Ryuuji responded with a shrug. "There'd be more yelling, and then Honda's sister would come in to tell him off for it."

As Honda grew even more red with the comment their 'rescued' friend scowled, narrowing her eyes. "Seriously... Stop..."

"Yeaaaa well... Now that I think about it," the taller of the boys muttered, "It isn't as though the knives would have done much... What with this being a dinosaur, something that needs a little more 'kick' and 'power'!"

"Guys," Shizuka warned, growing tense from the side.

'Kick and power'... It was _on_. "Ohhh, alright... And this is coming from the one whose bullets only work when they're 'effective', otherwise nothing happens right?"

"_GUYS..._"

"Hah! At least I have a real class," Honda snorted with a laugh, "What are you supposed to do, dance around your opponent until they're dizzy? Or blind them with rings maybe?"

"Hnngg... _**STONE CHARGE,**_" came an abrupt shout, a wave of energy passing through the area.

A sudden stiffness struck Ryuuji's body, the teen tensing and freezing in place as the same occurred to his friend. It was as though they'd been turned to stone and yet... "Gh- What..!"

"A-Ahh! S-Shizuka," Honda wheezed, managing to look to the side with a gasp. "What are you-"

"Hahh... I'm sorry," the girl said abruptly, bowing as she flushed nervously. "But you just wouldn't _stop,_ I had to do something! The petrification should last a few more minutes," she explained further, rubbing her arms, "I just didn't want you to keep fighting like this..!"

"Eh... S-Sorry," the teen coughed. "Sorry..."

"But Shizuka," Ryuuji rasped, finding it rather hard to breath when he couldn't move, "If you could attack," he asked with a wince, "Then why didn't you fight the monster chasing you..?"

"T-That's right... I didn't even know white mages _could_ attack," Honda added, "I thought they were limited to 'white magic'..."

The girl continued to frown, shaking her head with an exasperated sigh. "Hahhhhhh... Honda-han, Otogi-han... I'm a _blue_ mage," she told them, narrowing her eyes. "The attack I used was taken from the monster chasing me, it had no effect on its creator! That's like trying to set fire on fire! Ah, not to be rude of course," she added with a cough, again bowing as the two boys stared. What a switch in personalities... But... Ah...

"So... Blue Mage then," Honda muttered, shaking himself as function returned to his limbs

"So then you adapt attacks from your opponents," he continued, Shizuka nodding as her 'captives' began to move again. Ryuuji flexed his hands, shaking them out with a wince before looking back. "A- Hahh... ...Well," he admitted, "I guess that explains why you were running... I would think you'd have to let it attack you to get something from it..."

Again the girl nodded, biting her lip. "That's right. I _did_ try to take it out physically," she continued, "But... Well..." She held out the pair of broken staves, shaking her head and sighing. "I think I'll have to stick with that 'stone charge' attack for now... Ah- But besides that," Shizuka added, regaining the mousy appearance she held before hand. "How are you both doing? Did you have to fight any other monsters?"

The two shared a look, eyebrows raised. Well... There was the snake... And Zu... "Ahh... Hah! Well... You could say that," Honda coughed, shaking his head.

"We've been running around in that castle up there," Ryuuji added, pointing up and behind Shizuka as the girl followed his gesture to the skies above. "There were lots of monsters inside, and many of them were nigh invincible to say the least of things."

"But it seems to be a lot safer here," Honda continued quickly, acting as though there was nothing wrong about the situation. "We'll probably be fine now," he pressed, looking directly at Shizuka as he said this.

Fine? AhahaHAAAA no. "No... There could be traps anywhere in this place, and the monsters we encountered weren't exactly in plain sight," he muttered, narrowing his eyes as Honda tensed. "I'm pretty sure that's far from 'fine'."

"Gh- Otogi," Honda hissed, turning to the teen with a start. "You..!"

Ryuuji frowned, staring at his friend oddly. "What? You know I'm right..!"

"Yea, but you'll make her nervous," he hissed, Shizuka smiling awkwardly from behind them.

"Erm... I'm... I'm right here you know... And I _can_ hear you," she continued with a wave. "Besides... I'm sure that I'll be fine, and since we're all together it can't be that hard..."

"Ah- That's right," Honda shouted with a grin, looking back to the girl with a somewhat forced looking grin, "So long as you're with us, nothing can go wrong!"

"H-Hey, do you even have proof of that..?" There was no way that was true..!

"Bite your tongue damn it!"

"I'm just saying," he countered, Honda scowling in response, "I think you're being a bit too optimistic about this... You're not exacting any caution at all," Ryuuji warned, "And you might get us in trouble..."

"Gh... You think that eh," he asked, brow twitching somewhat in annoyance.

"H-Hey," Shizuka warned, stepping between the two with a frown. "No fighting!" The two continued to glare at each other, the girl sighing as she moved past them with a frown. "Listen... We have to move on even if there might be traps or monsters, alright? ..._Okay_?" Her friends both seemed to glare at each other for a few more moments, before eventually looking back as the woman continued. "After all," she said with a slight smile, "We need to stay focused to get- Ah... Ahhh... Ach-!"

"A-ch?" Ryuuji blinked, staring as the girl shook herself.

"Sorry," she said with a polite laugh, flushing somewhat. "Must be a cold..."

"Ah, a cold..? In a virtual wor- Ah..." Honda froze, an odd look coming over his face as his nose twitched. " Worl... Ah... AAH-che!"

"E-Eh! You too," Ryuuji asked with a jump, eyes widening. "I thought this was fake!"

The taller of the group rubbed his nose, shrugging. "Hey, don't ask me... And what's wrong with you, you look like you're seeing ghosts!"

"I don't want a cold, that's why!"

"Ooooh," Honda said with a grin, raising his hands as Shizuka sighed. "So then, if I were to give you this cold..."

"O-O-Oi! Stay away from me," he shouted, backing away. "I don't want-"

"GERMS~," Honda shouted, tackling the teen to the ground. "Germs! Join the sneezing, Otogi!"

"AAAHH, LET ME GO, LET ME GO!"

"Hahah..." The two both froze from what was a decidedly awkward position, turning as their third companion sighed. "Maybe one of the others is talking about us right now," Shizuka laughed, voice somewhat quiet as she looked back. "That's what's supposed to happen when you sneeze after all, hahaha... Nnn..." The smile faded somewhat, the girl turning away to hold her arms. "Hah... I wonder how they're doing... Nihan and the others," she continued, her friends both standing to brush themselves off.

"Ah... That..."

"They're probably in duels by now I would think," Ryuuji muttered, crossing his arms as Honda nodded.

"Yea... Dueling the Big 5..."

Ryuuji watched as Shizuka stared, continuing on with a slight frown. "Right... And with five people, that leaves three of us eight to spare. Kaiba, Yugi, and Jonouchi are likely going to duel someone," he continued, crossing his arms in thought, "But after that there's no telling who they'll pick really..."

"Well, so long as there's some way for me to re-build my deck here, we should be fine," Shizuka said calmly, the others staring in confusion.

"E-Ehhh..?"

"S-Shizuka... You duel," Ryuuji asked, eyes wide as the girl nodded.

"Of course! Keichi taught me while I was recovering... It'll take a bit to recognize the cards by sight rather than name of course," she said with a laugh, rubbing her head, "But other than that I don't think it'll be too hard to adapt the rules to this game... I certainly don't see any duel disks to use after all."

Um... Alright... W-Well then... "That... Makes sense I suppose," he said after a moment, Honda merely nodding in agreement. Not to mention it gave them a bit more of a chance at all this. "Well, until then, I suppose we should just move on right?"

"Y-Yea... We should probably go," Honda began, only to stop the moment he turned around to do that. "Uhhhh..."

The others followed his gaze, staring blankly at what had caught their friend's eye. "It's..."

"What... What the hell is this," Ryuuji muttered, the trio staring with wide eyes at the object that had quite literally appeared from nowhere.

"It's... It's a door... Well, I mean, it looks like a door," Shizuka coughed, "But..."

Honda gave a slight tap with the muzzle of his now dry revolver, giving a shrug as he looked back to the others and replaced the weapon. "Feels like one at least."

"True, but everything feels 'real' here," Ryuuji countered, shaking his head with a frown. "Even if it doesn't look like it, it could still be a trap."

A small bit of silence hovered over the air at that, the others nodding in agreement before Shizuka stepped forward. "I don't know... I think this one is real," she muttered, reaching for the handle as the others tensed.

"Ah- Hold on," Honda shouted, "Don't-"

"AH-!"

And with blinding light the door was opened on its own, the scene before them evaporating into a silver mist as they were blinded...

* * *

The cavern that they were walking through right now resembled a tunnel of sorts he thought to himself, staff clacking against the ground with each step. It was a tunnel he'd been in before as well, though where to and from it went he could not say. It was a very rugged tunnel though; stalactites and stalagmites both littered the cavern, and as they wandered they could see carvings all along the walls as well... But unlike the carvings of the last memory, which bore no form of writing, he found himself able to read these ones, taking in lines of a story, of a myth. The creation of the world, of darkness and light...

The sorts of stories meant for 'fairytales' as Seto would say. And of course, he still didn't know how or why he could see everything... Hell, he didn't even know what language it was, but the fact was he still recognized it, from rune to strange carved rune.

Even if no one else around him could. "I wonder what they say," Anzu muttered as they walked, passing carvings of monsters and people both in a single path among the texts. "It looks almost like some kind of parade... Or a procession..."

There was a grunt in the back of his mind, Katsuya momentarily freezing before his mental stowaway spoke. "_...Please tell her she is __far__ from correct,_" the ghost growled, Katsuya laughing quietly as the snake did it for him.

"Pretty sure you're wrong," he was whispering, looking at the carvings almost in awe. "These... These are probably a creation myth, with a _hell_ of a lot of worshipers," Ren continued, shaking his head. "...Damn... I've only heard of these from maybe one of the oldest scrolls in the crypts, and even then they were dismissed as 'stories'... How the hell are they _here_..?"

The later half of the comment was momentarily ignored, the 'other Yugi' turning to Ren with a frown. "...Crypts," the boy asked, raising a skeptical eyebrow as the snake tensed.

"Err... What can I say," he laughed, seemingly hiding in Anzu's hair, "I get around a lot."

The boy continued to stare, blinking a few times. "I thought you were created from Anzu's _soul_..."

This resulted in a fair bit of silence from the snake, before it managed one of its incredible shoulder-less shrugs with another nervous laugh. "Well... What can I say! I pick up a lot of background noise."

Background noise..? "Er... How does that even work," the woman in question asked, a fair bit of chuckling coming from the back of Katsuya's mind as the blond also frowned.

Oii oi, what was it now..? Was there something he was missing? "_Ohhh it's nothing,_" the spirit chuckled, before fading into silence with a laugh. "_Nothing at all..._"

Right... He had a feeling that was bullshit, but what ever... The blond shook his head, looking back at the carvings in an attempt to distract himself from the conversation. So many people and monsters... The amount of text had decreased considerably, occasionally mentioning a 'city', along with 'sealed powers'... "Huh... Tha's weird," he muttered, stopping for a moment as he hit the center of the 'trail'. The blond looked from the left to the right, frowning as he looked to the point where the lines of people and monsters met and began to face opposite directions. In the middle... "Th' carvin's are dif'ren' on both sides..."

The others as well stopped, looking to the carvings in silence. "Hnnn... You're right," Yugi said, turning to the side opposite his friend as he stared at what looked to be a six pointed 'star' around some other form. "It looks as though the three God cards are depicted here," he continued as he traced three of the points, "Along with a disk of sorts..."

"A disk," asked Ren, poking his head out from his partner's hair. "Where? Let me see."

The woman carrying him obliged, taking him to rest on Yugi's head as the serpent stared at the wall. "...Do you know something about that too Ren," she asked, the snake nodding an affirmative.

"Yea, easily; that's the sun disk," he explained clearly, turning to the others as he retreated back to his partner's arm. "It represents light and order... And I don't just mean 'Ra's light either. That thing represents _all_ light."

"But if Ra _is_ the Sun," Anzu asked with a frown, "Then how can the disk represent something else..?"

The snake seemed to look at its partner incredulously, before coiling around her wrist with a pout. "I'm... I'm not saying anything," it muttered, shaking his head with wide and stunned eyes. "Nothing at all..."

"Hnn... If tha's th' sun-disk," Katsuya muttered, "Then th's..." Hell, there wasn't anything _there, _save for 'black'. It was round, like the disk, that was for sure, but all there was... Was this.

"_And that's exactly what it is,_" stated the voice in his mind, sounding almost faded while his friend stared. That's all that there ever had been.

"Darkness," he muttered, the others turning somewhat to stare as he continued to study the carvings. And around it...

A serpent, seated at the top left corner, a 'demon' standing at the right, and some sort of winged beast at the bottom, nigh-identical counter-parts standing at the other three points. Those of importance however, were the three large ones. "'Ziz'," he muttered, a hand tracing over the griffin and moving on, "'Behemoth'," he continued at the demon, "And 'Leviathan'..." The serpent...

"A-Ah..." ...He said that out loud didn't he. "H-Hang on now," 'Ren' choked, eyes wide with complete and utter shock. "You can _read_ that!"

Katsuya tensed, the others staring as he looked back. "U-Uhhh..." Shit. That was all he could think of. _Shit_.

"Well," Yugi muttered, attempting to cover for the blond, "I suppose it's... Only natural..."

"...How is that _natural_," Anzu whispered, her friend continuing on despite the obvious confusion.

"Well... This is Jonouchi's head, right," he asked, the others nodding slowly as he went on. "So, while we ourselves can't understand what's written here, wouldn't it make sense for him?"

"Err... Sure pal," Ren laughed, shock still over his face. "But... This is a little more than 'mental languages' here... I mean, this language is older than-"

"Ah... Y-Y' know what, I'm pretty sure Yugi's righ'," Katsuya laughed, shaking his head in an attempt to cut the conversation. "It's prob'ly nothin'..."

Not that Ren was buying it of course... "How the hell is this no-"

"Aaaaah! Hey," the blond shouted, running ahead as he cut the snake off with a grin. "We need t' find th' others! C'mon! Let's _go!_"

"Ah... R-Right..." Anzu blinked, looking somewhat nervously to Yugi with a frown as they began moving again. "Hey... Yugi," she whispered after a moment, despite being out of audible range, "Do you think Jonouchi is..."

"...I'm sure he'll explain when we're out of this place," he said calmly, the woman at his side still staring at the closed-lip responses she was getting. "We just need to trust him with that..."

Trust him... Right...

Sometimes, he really hated getting flashes of what he shouldn't have overheard.

* * *

When the light from the door passed, it took a brief moment to remind herself that it wasn't real. That nothing they saw, heard, or felt was actually there, that it was all projections in her unconscious mind. It was helped along of course, by the fact that they'd stood in a field mere moments before... There was nothing in the world that could cause this sort of change in scenery. But even so, a buzzing in the back of her mind continued to ask how much of this was really 'virtual', if any of this couldn't be, just in the slightest way, 'more' than a hallucination. "This... Is this the hangar," Honda was muttering, Otogi shaking his head from beside the teen as they walked in behind Shizuka.

"No... This room is different," he answered, the trio slowly stepping further into the wide and expansive metal building. "I don't even think it's a _hangar_... Just look!" At this the three examined the area more closely, a false sun shining through windows in the ceiling up above. Bridges of sorts spanned the stories-high ceiling to bridge door to door, and beneath there was nothing but empty space and floors. The floor in question seemed divided, cut almost, with lines spreading across in such away that it looked as though it could come apart any moment. It was just an enormous, empty steel room... So no. This wasn't a hangar.

But even so Shizuka thought to herself, that didn't mean they'd failed right? It didn't mean that they had to look at this as a bad thing, right? "Well, we're out of that field at least," she offered positively, arms crossed behind her back as she smiled to the others. "So we've succeeded at one thing..!"

"Ah... That's right!" Honda grinned, looking back toward the room as he took a few more steps forward. "Now all we need to do is look for the others," he continued, "And-"

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Um... Who was that..? The three looked up, watching with wide eyes as a figure materialized from a shower of sparks and light amid the sounds of chuckling. The being was enormous, even half formed and more or less shapeless in appearance. As the form _was_ solidified however, they could see that it was made of mostly blackened metal, lined with gold plated rivets in an almost cloth like pattern. They could see green lights, glimmering out from a black screen and mask, and any 'clothes' that the robot wore were simply painted across its body in violet and red. But more importantly was the voice it used, chuckling as it came to tower before them on the floor. "You kept me waiting quite a while," the 'man' laughed, sounding eerily familiar to one of the five who had trapped them there. "I've been waiting for you weaklings to get here for a long time... In fact, I was almost _worried_," the robot chuckled, lens eyes narrowing in an aperture fashion. "But here you are... So all is well."

This... "...Who are you," Otogi shouted, daggers appearing in his hands the moment the machine appeared before them. "One of the 'Big 5'?"

The robot looked down upon the three, lenses shining with mirth despite the 'hat' on its head shielding them from the sun. "Correct; Ota Soichiro, former Head of Technology and Development at Kaiba Corporation. ...At your... _Service_," he added with a low and humored tone, giving a mock bow toward the humans before him as they stared.

"You... What do you want with us," Honda roared, his guns both raised in aim should their captor attack. "Trapping us here, and our friends as well... Just what kind of game are you playing," he shouted, only to receive no answer. "You can't even show your face," he snarled, "All you did was send in some kind of machine!"

Shizuka swallowed at the look on the robot's 'face', paling somewhat as it again laughed. Something told her that wasn't the case... "Hehehehehe... As if I would be so _cowardly_," Ota spat, the windows above darkening to leave the factory lights as their only guide throughout the building. "No... This is the face of my 'Deckmaster'," he called down, "The only body I have to call my own! A form I find reminds me of a time before that accursed 'Kaiba Seto' took command of the company oddly enough," he continued with a nod, "When I managed the Military Factory that _you_ trash now know as 'Alcatraz'..."

"Alcatraz..." Honda and Otogi both traded looks, before looking back up as Shizuka swallowed. "Then, that ruin we saw from the airship..." That ruin was...

"It is _exactly_ what you think," the robot sneered, bearing no visible mouth to show his emotion further than what his 'eyes' revealed. "While under the employ of 'Kaiba Gozaburo', that factory was my domain," he explained lowly, "It was the site of the manufacturing and testing both for any and all large scale devices, missiles, aircraft... Everything! I was _ruthless_ with my work," Ota snarled, "And no matter what the cost, the job was always completed on time and above par. The 'devil's warden' they called me! But they did so with _respect,__" _he hissed, clenching his fists as rumbling came through the air. "And then _she_ happened..."

Ah... She? The trio frowned, before jumping as the ground below began to shake. Panels lowered at the center of the room, pulling back to reveal an enormous gap across the floor as the three hurriedly fled as far back into the room as they could. Below the ground immense heat rose upward in the form of steam, molten lava flowing below as the stiffling heat filled the air. On the sides more changes developed however, changes that were now brilliantly lit in the glow of the lava. Railings and walkways became more complex, separating and joining at awkward points that made no sense in how they supported the building. An obstacle course she realized, narrowing her eyes. The railings and support beams had created an obstacle course and 'net' that only someone with a grappling hook, or a rope could hope to scale...

That or someone with wings... Not that she had any obviously. "Gh... This room," Otogi whispered. "It's..."

"It's _huge,_" she found herself muttering, before looking toward the robot with wide eyes. "But... Who... Who was he even talking about that brought this kind of hate..?"

The robot before them snorted, taking a slight fighting stance. "Hn! My problems are for another time, and for a different 'audience'," Ota growled, fists clenched as he shifted in the partial darkness. "For now it's time to fight! And as to my opponent," he continued, pointing an accusing finger forward from where the shadows hid his form, "It will be the one who stepped into my realm first! The woman; Kawai Shizuka!"

K- Her! He... He knew her name! The girl stared up with wide eyes, swallowing somewhat as the others protested. "N-Now, now hold on a second," Honda shouted, stepping forward to gesture to himself with one of the revolvers. "Shizuka doesn't even have any weapons on her," he argued, "You can't expect a fair fight with that! It's not fair... Let me be your opponent!"

"No," Otogi announced, stepping forward as well. "Fight me! Honda doesn't even know how to duel," he pointed out with a frown, "You can hardly call a fight like that as fair as it would be against Shizuka!"

"O-Otogi," Honda hissed, turning on the teen. "What-"

Otogi frowned, looking to his friend with a growl. "Shut up and let me cover for you before you dig yourself a hole as deep as that one," he snarled, pointing to the chasm below.

"Gh- I'm not-"

"AhHAHAHAHAHA! How incredible... Like a family of squirrels all trying to defend each other..." Ota continued to leer at the three from the far end of the room, shaking his head. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Useless... All useless!" he roared, the gatling gun on his arm appearing to shift as he laughed. "No matter which one of you face me after all, the result will be the same! This armor cannot be pierced by any metal in this world, so in the end each of you will be forced to duel me... And in the end, each of you will lose," the robot sneered. "Success... Is simply not an option for _you_..."

Gh... Shizuka tensed, stepping back somewhat as her friends glared. "Tch... Damn this guy is confident," Honda muttered, holstering his weapons with narrowed eyes. "Figures that he'd only get the guts to face us in a giant robot..."

"Got that right... But we can't just let him pick us off either," his friend added, his own daggers misting out of existence with the distance and 'armor' against his favor. "How about this," he called up to their opponent, crossing his arms. "You fight Honda and I both; our abilities should be enough to balance the field from beginner to novice to 'mediocre' level, and if you win," Otogi continued, ignoring Honda's snarl at 'beginner', "You'll get both bodies, rather than just one... I'm sure your friend 'Noa' could use one after all," he added convincingly, the others swallowing in unease.

The robot seemed to consider this only a moment, stroking its 'chin' in thought. "Hnnn... Tempting. But how about something a little more 'inclusive'," he asked, bringing his hand back down to gesture forward.  "We will fight one on _three_ instead; myself against all of you."

"Th... Three," Shizuka repeated quietly, the others growing pale. All _three_ of them would be fighting..!

"Ah... But two bodies should be enough shouldn't it," Otogi argued, eyes wide with protest. "What would a third possibly do for you!"

"Hn! That knowledge is mine and mine alone," Ota snarled, narrowing the lenses with clenched fists. "All you three need to know is that I want _all_ of your bodies... And when you lose," he announced coldly, "That's just what I'll get!" Three... Noa made sense, provided the being was even real, and Ota did as well...

But why would he need _three_? "The others must have won," Honda muttered, swallowing as the arena seemed to continue to shift and twist in the haunting light of the magma below. "Kaiba, Jonouchi, and Yugi... They must have beaten their opponents," he continued, before jumping back as a panel at his side fell back from the floor. "Gh!"

There was no confirmation on the part of the Big 5 member, but there were no arguments against the fact either. "Scum such as yourselves should be fighting together regardless of reason," Ota was arguing from across them, drawing the thin blade at his side whilst the gatling gun on his arm adjusted and locked into position. "And besides... You should look on the 'bright side'! you can protect yourselves from damage... Why, you should even be grateful for the chance to survive this match longer, and for the chance to ensure you remain together all your lives!"

"Gh... Bastard," growled the boys beside her, Shizuka biting her lip. This... This man...

"You... Don't estimate me," she called up with a swallow, steeling her resolve as her hands glowed somewhat with magic. "I was taught the rules of this game by 'Dinosaur Ryuzaki' after all... 5th place in the Duelist Kingdom and Second Place holder of the Japanese Nationals! Honda-han," she continued, turning to the others, "And Otogi-han... I'll do my best, alright," the girl shouted, eyes set with determination. "We won't lose!"

"A-Ah... S-Shizuka," Otogi muttered, "You can't-"

"But your weapons-"

"We're all as good as disarmed," she pressed, eyes shining in the light from below. "Blades and bullets won't affect him; if anything, as a magic wielder, I have the advantage now... We can only do the best we can in this situation for now!"

"Ah..."

"Hnhnhnhn... Pointless words," Ota chuckled in response, the others turning back with narrowed eyes as they were continually separated by the falling platforms of steel. "Nonetheless, the duel will begin! Pick your cards," he announced, domes of light and screens surrounding each of the three in their vastly spaced locations. "40 monsters, spells, and traps..."

Of course... What else would they choose? "E-Ehhh... ...S-Shizuka," Honda said from the side, the woman momentarily freezing at the variety of images that met her gaze before looking through them to the teen. "Are you sure about this..? I mean... You said yourself that you'd never _seen_ a duel until recently so..."

Ah- "Definitely," she shouted, nodding her head as she smiled. "It's taking a bit to recognize each card since I was blind when I built my deck, but... Well, I'll be alright," the girl pressed, nodding her head. "I just need to plan a little differently; since Keichi and I couldn't play with complete decks using mine, we took out powerful monsters to even the field... Moreover, we revealed our hands to each other, so that I would know what I held..."

The others paled at this, swallowing and trading nervous glances. "Y-You took out-"

The screen around her vanished as she chose her last card, followed by the others own screens when she gave no answer to them. The decks were chosen- "Good," commented the robot before them, adjusting his grip on the shining rapier he held. "You've chosen your cards... In that case, choose your deckmasters," he continued, a somewhat curved screen appearing around each of them. The deckmasters...

Right, she told herself, this was the additional condition of the game... "I pick the Strike Ninja," Otogi shouted shortly after the monsters floated across his screen, tight fitting vest and pants altering themselves to add the golden accessories and red scarves of his monster whilst the screens of light faded around him. The ninja... Able to activate face down cards during any turn and from any player's field, at the cost of 1000 lifepoints her mind told her, before another voice cut through the air.

"As for me, I choose Super Roboyarou," Honda had shouted, his own thread-bared and tanned clothing taking a more futuristic sheen to it as his own vest and 'belt' were replaced with a near knight-worthy breast-plate. Even his weapons were altered by the move, unable to be sheathed as bayonets grew from each revolver. As each 'blade' touched the bottom of the ground, blue tinted armor shimmering oddly in the light. A deckmaster that gained 1000 attack points in battle... And in addition, set a single face down card during that same moment of battle. Useful, that was for sure.

And for hers... The monsters across the screen hovered before her, and as their own abilities came to mind she stared. There were many powerful monsters that would boost her attack, but had little to call as an ability. Then there were weaker ones with exemplary ones, which would cripple her completely. For one with balance... "'Three Eyed Goddess-han," she called out, robes taking a green tinge as an 'eye' gem appeared on her headband. This card would prove handy if she drew the cards for Jean, or even her other fusion monsters she told herself, taking a deep breath as wings replaced her ears. But she would have to be careful, very careful until then, and...

"Shizuka," the others muttered, the girl turning to blink.

"Shizuka," Honda continued, "There was no need for the 'han'..." Well... She turned, sighing somewhat as she shook her head. Whatever! It was just instinct, really!

Across from them the few lights of the 'Robotic Knight' were gleaming with anticipation, tracing the being's location in the darkness as they grew brighter in color. "So you're ready then," he called out, before more whirs and clicks filled the air to send the three off balance. Platforms beneath their feet began to move, taking their place in the bizarre 'obstacle course' in the air as the floor below revealed a complete plain of lava. Railings sprouted from the sides... And as she gripped hers, she found herself looking down with wide and fear filled eyes. "Very well; allow me to explain a few 'rules'," Ota continued, thrusters at the bottom of his feet keeping him in place as the floor beneath him opened as well. "At any given moment," he explained carefully, "You may use your monsters to divert an attack; however," he went on seriously, "You may NOT discuss any strategies, nor can you aid each other further than diversion outside of your turns. There will be no 'rushing' to someone's aid... Not in _this_ battle," he spat, the others nodding with understanding. "We will take our turns in a counter-clockwise fashion, starting from the woman and ending with me... So... Do you understand, 'Kawai-san'..?"

Ah- The girl swallowed, barely catching herself as she continued to look over the platform with a nod. Lava burned from below, swirling in some sort of twisted pumpkin coloured broth... Otogi's 'field' created nothing but a solitary box at the far end, separate from any paths, with Honda's almost as bad thanks to the steep incline to the rafters above...

She was going to be relied on for the offensive then she realized with a jolt, looking toward her opponent with wide eyes. She was going to have to make the first move, even if she didn't have any power to back her up... "Gh... I got it," she shouted nervously, a hand of cards appearing in her mind. This was her only shot...

"Good! DUEL START," the robot roared, pointing toward her as she pondered her options. "It's your move!" Right..!

She still needed a rope to move... Like Otogi, her platform was isolated, bridged only to the wall behind them. But given the more physical nature of this fight she had just the idea, even if it meant opening herself up for attack..! "I summon the devil tamer," she shouted, running forward in an instant before kicking off from the edge of her platform. "Attack mode!"

"A- Shizuka..! What are you doing," Otogi shouted from the side, the girl's monster appearing to catch her in her hand before swinging them both to the support beams above by means of her whip. "That monster's too weak to be in attack mode for no reason," he continued, the tamer's form solidifying from the light that carried her as they charged into the maze of steel and wiring.

She knew that... And ordinarily that would have been a horrible move, but this wasn't for no reason. "_**STONE CHARGE,**_" the girl roared the moment her target came within range, firing the magic blast downward as her tamer took a slight defensive from behind her. "This battle... It's decided through the fight, not the points right," she shouted down, hands glowing somewhat as Ota looked up from below in hidden rage. "So even if we can't use monsters to fight properly," the girl continued with a swallow, "There's still ourselves right?"

"Well... I guess," Honda shouted out, receiving a rather aggravated '_You GUESS?_' from his friend in response. The teen scratched his head, shaking himself with a sigh. "Aaaaah... We'll figure it out," he continued to shout, glancing to their only barely petrified opponent a moment before biting his lip. "Just sit tight until we're ready to go, alright? I don't think your spell is doing much to this guy..."

Well, seeing how her opponent's arm was regaining movement... He was definitely right about that, she thought with a wince. "Got it," she answered, taking a slight crouch in the corner of the maze as her summoned partner. She'd just have to use these spells to stall off any attacks really, she told herself. Or perhaps just get it to attack her so she could learn a new one... (Though at that size, it could be dangerous...)

"I summon Cyber Commander in attack mode," Honda called out, the woman looking down as her thoughts were cut short. Cyber commander..? The woman narrowed her eyes briefly, watching as the 80's styled soldier came to the field in a shower of light. That one... That one was even weaker than hers though she told herself, frowning somewhat. And Otogi seemed to realize that as well, shaking his head in disdain despite the obvious confidence Honda had in the move. Nonetheless, the machine gun the monster wielded could prove handy, she thought to herself, provided they did this properly. After all, Honda was fairly far from the field, which meant he would be difficult to reach. Then again, bullets apparently did 'nothing' so the attack mode wasn't much use...

Otogi shook his head from the far corner of the field, waving his hand as it came to his turn. "I play the 'thirteenth grave' in defense mode," he announced clearly, a sword wielding skeleton appearing at his side with a curt nod whilst the light creating it solidified into darkened shadows. "And that's all!"

"Gh... Otogi, what are you doing," Honda hissed, the teen rolling his eyes at the question. What was he doing?

"What does it look like..?" Well...

In all honesty, something helpful in her opinion! "Good move, Otogi-han," she called out, Honda holding his head with a groan. "We can't just attack outright... So now we have defense, ranged attack, and close attack all ready to go!"

Honda jumped at that, looking up to Shizuka with wide eyes. "Ah- That's not why I'm-"

His protests were cut off, the robot before them chuckling at the sight of his opponent's scramble. "Hnhnhn... HAHAHAHA! So many assumptions," he laughed, shaking his head as he cracked metal knuckles. "I'll show you to make such outrageous guesses! I summon the Giga-Tech Wolf," he announced, Shizuka turning with wide eyes as a light began developing on the beam beside them. "And following that," he continued, he beast solidifying in a threatening crouch across from herself and her monster, "I attack the Shadow Tamer!"

"Gh-! No!"

"_**GHA-**_" "_**GAAAAOOO!**_"

Shizuka shielded her eyes as the 'wolf' charged, throwing the tamer off the side without even pausing as it attempted to defend her master. Sharp claws pierced her form, throwing her against the wall as she chocked and wheezed under the pressure, dully aware of her menu appearing at the side. "Gh-K! Hng..." That... On the side, from the attack... "Hng... _**Steel Guard,**_" she called out with a shout, the wolf abruptly thrown back across the room as a shimmering glass dome appeared around her. The girl slowly stood, lightly holding her scratched stomach with gasping breaths as her monster's death took its toll. "Hah... Hah... Hah..." Second spell... The second spell she told herself, a shield...

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Impressive... Care to test its strength," her opponent taunted from below, the woman turning to the side to pale as clicking met her ears. When she'd moved, she'd come quite close to her opponent after all, in order to gain the distance needed to attack. So while the others were far from near and meters below the level of the enormous mecha's attack range, she was far from that fact. She was in the 'critical' zone. "I set a card," Ota announced coldly, "And then activate my deckmaster ability by discarding three machine type cards..." Oh no... The robot took aim, lens eyes narrowing with mirth. "Go... **BARRAGE!**" Hah..!

The gatling gun on Ota's arm spun in an instant, rapid fire piercing through the girl's body as she stared. She could hear shouts from the others... The clattering of bullets as they bounced off the steel walls... And only then could she hear the sound of the bullets themselves, a feeling of emptiness and stinging pain both rattling her body. But looking down at her bare stomach to see a red and gruesome mess by means of bullet fire, was what made her eyes widen with fear. It was bringing a hand to her form, to the wounds barely made to hold her body in-tact thanks to the shield, that had her eyes watering in horror. "Gh... Hng... Hgaaah..." The pain... If she didn't move much it didn't even hurt, but the pain alone... And the blood... The _blood_ that was covering her hands, her clothes, the ground... "Nggggh... Nnggg..."

"S-SHIZUKA," Honda called up, eyes wide as he coughed for a reason she couldn't identify for the moment. "SHIZUKA," he continued with a somewhat garbled voice, "Hang in there!" Hng... H-Hang... Hang in...

"Shizuka! Are you alright," asked Otogi, his own voice seemingly laced with fear despite the confidence he attempted to instil. "Are you okay?" O... Okay..?

OKAY? Of course she wasn't! Her stomach and chest were filled with holes, she should have been dead..! Her lungs themselves shouldn't have remained in existence, let alone the rest of her body, she should have been a smoking, dismembered mess by now..! "Gh... Nn..." Of course she wasn't alright, she wanted to shout. But instead... Looking back, so were the others. "You... Honda-han, Otogi-han," she whispered in horror, staring at her friend's bloodied and broken forms as they attempted to weakly stand from their own ashen positions.

The two both gave wincing smiles, Otogi being the first to speak despite his leg hanging from his hip by a thread. "Shizuka... Stick to the life-point rules for now," he called up, his friend nodding in response as he examined the blades that had taken most of his attack. "Just until we figure something out, alright?"

The girl continued to stare in silence, before nervously nodding in understanding. "R-Right..." They... They had to win... And then it would be over, everyone would be healed. After all she told herself, the others had been perfectly fine despite their battles right? Then... "...It's my turn then," she choked, drops of blood spilling on the ground as she stumbled forward to grip the railing along the foot's width beam she was on. Defense, she told herself, weakly throwing a hand up as a monster appeared beside her shield in a pillar of light. De... Fense... "...Merciful... Nun..."

"S-Shizuka," Otogi muttered, the girl in question leaning against the wall in pain as the nun turned to her in worry. "Shizuka," he shouted up in panic, "You just summoned the nun in attack mode!"

Shizuka's eyes flew open from their pain induced fatigue, the girl staring toward her nun in horror even as the woman's hands flowed with white magic. "Gh... A... A... But I called defense," she shouted in protest. "I summoned her directly... Directly from the menu," she cried, "She should have been..-"

"Hehehehe... Did you say it out loud," Ota chuckled, the others swallowing in realization as the turn passed.

"Outloud... She can barely _speak,_" Otogi whispered in shock, "But she still has to say it..."

"Gh... BASTARD," Honda roared, gripping the railing at his stand in rage as the guns in his hand hung along it. "I call a re-play! You didn't say anything about this before, nothing!"

"Then perhaps you shouldn't have 'assumed'," the robot sneered, waving the protests off with ease. "As it is," he continued coldly, "All moves are final. Now take yours," he shouted, "Unless you'd prefer to pass!" Gh...

Not good... Shizuka looked down at her injuries, biting her lip as she held her bleeding stomach. The nun beside her was attempting to heal the damage... There wasn't much she could do but form a scar however, and looking at the monster she had to wonder what this meant for her friends. What the others would do in the meantime, when it came to their own injuries. But hang on she noted, frowning as she looked to Honda's corner of the field with those thoughts. The commander was gone... Honda stood calmly and sternly as he hung one of his weapons on the side, but there was nothing else to be seen. So where...

"Block Attack," Honda called out, holding a hand out for the spell to take effect from its wave of light. "And the monster I set in defense mode is-"

"_Staying_ in attack mode," countered their opponent, his face down card shimmering into existence from the panel of glass it was. "Riyoku Field," he announced clearly, "Which means your spell is negated..!"

Negated... Shizuka winced, biting her lip as her friend's attempt to fix her mistake was made useless. "Tch..! Bastard," Honda snarled, narrowing his eyes as both 'spells' vanished from sight. "End turn then," he continued. The teen crossed his arms in agitation, a shadow continuing to move from above as he growled. What... What was that, Shizuka thought to herself, narrowing her eyes as the thing continued to move. That shadow... What was it...

"It's my turn now," shouted Otogi, cutting the girl's thoughts as another pillar of light shimmered at his corner. "I summon another monster, Yaranzo, in defense mode," he stated, Honda again turning on him with a glare.

"Gh... Come on man," he muttered almost desperately, "Help me out here..!"

Otogi however merely frowned, gesturing to his leg before receiving more complaints. "Hah... This is all I can do, idiot... I'm not going on a suicide mission..."

"Well do _something_ damn it!"

"Like _what_?"

"Gh... SOMETHING!"

Shizuka closed her eyes, shaking her head as the two argued. Really... She told them not to argue... _**"Ojou-san,"**_ stated a calm voice, the girl looking up again as her nun stood above her. "_**I've done all I can; there is scarring, but there should no longer be any pain**_." Ah...

The girl looked down at herself, standing up straight with wide eyes at the faint 'craters' across her body and torn clothes. "Ah... T-Thank-"

"Machine King!" Oh no...  "Attack the Nun," came a loud shout, Shizuka's eyes widening as she looked behind the woman. Ota's turn... It was Ota's turn she realized with horror, and in the place of the Giga-Tech Wolf stood a silver and red robot with a cannon pointed directly toward them from the far end of the room. A robot whose power increased thanks to its own presence, to the Deckmaster's even...

Whose power was charging now, preparing to blast them into oblivion... "Like _HELL_," came Honda's shout, the teen pointing forward with a scowl. "Now Commander," he ordered, Otogi's hurried protests drowned out by his friend, "_Take the attack_!"

In an instant the moving shadow charged, tackling the king from it's narrow beam to force it to grip the railing in desperation. "_**HAAH!**_" The sound of a canon came through the air... Looking over the edge, Shizuka winced, watching as Honda's monster fell toward the lava with a singed hole directly through its body, the rest of him catching fire the instant it touched the liquid below. The 'Machine King' however, even after falling from the beam himself...

He survived. Thrusters sent it right back to the beams above, with the robot turning its blue lensed eyes toward her as she shuddered in fear. The robot wouldn't attack any more. It wasn't it's turn, and it was programmed to do only so much. But this... "Gh..." Not good... Her wounds had stopped bleeding and hurting, but as she stood, she knew full well just how much trouble they were in, and just how likely it was that another round was coming. "Honda-han," she called down, watching as the teen bit back a wince. "Why... You.."

"You _IDIOT_," Otogi roared, looking to his friend with a worried and incensed glare. "I was about to use one of my defense monsters to take that attack! Are you _trying_ to get killed?"

Honda merely snorted, forcing a smirk on his face. "_You _defend? And just how were you going to do that," he countered, pointing to the above. "Your monsters are still sitting at your side, Shizuka's on the _ceiling_!"

"Gh... Speed doesn't play into this," Otogi cried in protest, "Both of the monster's are _ghosts_! Didn't you wonder why I was picking undead monsters?" Ah..? Hang on, this wasn't normal? ...Oh...

Oh that was right... Otogi liked dragons, didn't he, she told herself. So then of course the ghosts would be there for a reason, of course... "Gh... Otogi," Honda growled, gripping his weapons tightly as his face grew red, "It would have been really, _REALLY_ nice to know that before hand..!"

"Well it's not like I could have told you," the teen argued with a sigh, "We aren't allowed to strategize..."

"_STILL_... You could have just... I don't know, said _something_, or-"

"My turn isn't over," Ota warned, chuckling echoing through the air with a menacing tone. The trio looked back as the conversation was cut short, listening as a familiar sounds of clicks and whirrs came to the air. "I still have three machine cards in my hand after all. So, after setting this card," he continued with a laugh, the glass panel appearing at his side, "I'll be discarding them! Now... Activating the ability again," he announced, flashes escaping the gatling gun as Shizuka threw her arms up in defense. "_**BARRAGE!**_"

AHH- Rapid sounds of gunfire came through the air, Shizuka ducking and crying as her just barely healed wounds were opened by shots from the side. Again the bullets were falling to the ground, and again the blood was spilling... But this time it somehow seemed more painful, as though each one brought them closer to the edge of death no matter how equal the fatality of the move was. But more alarmingly... As the bullets pierced her shield, shattering it into pieces she found herself holding her middle and crying in response to the pain that caught up to her just now. "Ng... NNGGGH... GHAAAAAAHH! AAAAHH!"

"HRAAGH! DAMN IT!"

"RAAAAAGHH!" The others... Honda weakly pulled himself from the railing he was thrown against by the force of the bullets against the weapons used to block it, Otogi forced to sit almost completely motionlessly as Shizuka coughed. "S-Shizuka," Honda called up, wiping blood from his mouth as he looked to the few places the bullets made it through. "Gh... Shizuka!"

The girl fell to a seat against the narrow railing, tears streaming freely down her face. The others... She couldn't let them worry, she couldn't... "I... I'll be fine," she shouted, weakly placing a hand on her Nun monster before gasping in pain. "I... I'll be fine... I just need to recover," she continued, the nun doing all she could as she stumbled back to her feet. "I... I just need time... To recover... Hng..." Her turn, she told herself, a shaking hand pointed forward as her wounds slowly melted into deep and cavernous scars across her abdomen and chest. Her turn... "L-Lady Panther, in defense mode," she forced out, the leopard rising from a shower of pixels to catch her summoner before she fell forward. The girl gasped somewhat for breath as she was pulled upward, holding the monster's arm for support. Hah... This would work... She would be safe now, this would work... "End turn," she called out, breathing haggardly despite her wounds being healed. Gh... Not good... There was even something in her hand that could stop all of this, and yet without the right spell...

Honda bit his lip from below as it came to his turn, before shaking himself off to hold a hand out and make his play. "Tch... I summon Command Angel, in defense mode," he announced, pillars of lava erupting around them as they made their moves.

As the light showered and revealed the young and female warrior the last of their team nodded, holding out a weakened hand to bring about his third shield. "Dark Assailant," Otogi stated for his own turn, the black-op garbed skeleton fading into existence from a series of lights and pixels, "Also defense mode..."

End turn... Ota's lens-eyes seemed to narrow in the dull lighting, the robot shaking his head at the immense wall before him. "Hn! Is that all you can do then," he laughed, the trio frowning in response.

"All we can do..." What did he mean... What did he mean by that..!

"You... This is an entire wall of defense monsters," Otogi shouted through a fit of coughs, narrowing his eyes as he grimaced. "Moreover," the teen argued, "You've been abusing your deckmaster ability from the start; you don't have any monsters to discard," he pointed out, "Which means you can't attack us with that weapon!"

Honda appeared to frown at this, turning toward his friend with a somewhat odd expression on his face. "You... You thought that far ahead," he muttered, the teen not responding as Shizuka smiled from above. Of course...

Of course... This "Tributes... Otogi-han, you've been gathering tributes haven't you," she shouted with wide eyes, leaning over the railing on her 'bridge' as she cheered. "On your next turn, you can summon a high level monster, even if one is destroyed... That's great! That's incredible!"

"Hnhnhnhnhnhn..." More chuckling came over the air, Shizuka turning to frown in response. Well... She... She'd thought it was great anyhow... Obviously someone didn't though. "You're all just too naive for your own good," Ota sneered, shaking his head from across the three. "You've forgotten that I have a card here... A trap at that! Activate **Backup Soldier**," he announced chillingly, the panel shimmering as his gatling gun began to spin once more in preparation for whatever he had done. "This card brings three monsters back from my grave... But they'll just be used once again, and for exactly what you would expect! I send them back to the graveyard," the robot roared, Shizuka stepping back somewhat as the gun pointed upward. "Again activating my ability! _**BARRAGE**_!" Gh-

"Glhk!" The bullets pounded the air with their noise, the steel scattering across her chest and arm as she fell to one knee in shock. Her shield was no longer there to defend her... Whatever held her together now was merely magic, and had it not been for the 'cloak' over her shoulders there would be nothing to hide the bloody mess that was her torso. "Gk... Hng..! Nhhhggg..!" Her body... She couldn't see the others, she was too busy looking down in horror. Everything, everything the bullets pierced through... "N-N... Gk..." She couldn't even scream... She couldn't move, she couldn't speak, she couldn't... "Nh..!"

"Y-You... You monster," Otogi spat, narrowing his eyes as the ghosts before them shook off the bullets they'd caught. "You _MONSTER_!"

The comment seemed to receive no real response however, Ota merely chuckling in regards to the carnage he'd sown. "Hnhnhnhnhn... I'll take that as a 'compliment'," he sneered, a pair of shimmering panels appearing to the field as Shizuka's monsters hurriedly did what they could about her wounds. "You see, when all this is over, it will no longer apply... Not to _me_ at least. It's now my turn," he stated plainly, his nearest opponent grimacing in pain as the flesh across her body was just barely restored, "And I'll be playing these; first," he began, "Clockwork Night! Turning all monsters presently on the field into machines, while taking 500 of their attack points... Granting each of _mine_ 500," the robot laughed, his 'Machine King' seeming to grow with power at an alarming rate as each monster on the field became coated in metal. The nun's white hands abruptly pulled back half-way through their work, the woman's master staring in horror as she stood. No... Machines couldn't use magic, her nun was...

But then what about her..?

As Shizuka turned to look to her opponent with wide eyes the monster seemed to 'grin', eyes still narrowed with mirth. "Deckmasters are excluded from this of course," he chuckled, watching as his opponent shuddered in fear. "But only yours... I'll still gain the same attack bonus after all. Not that it matters! The Machine King now has 3400 attack points... And combining that with this," he continued, the second panel melting to the air, "The spell 'Short Circuit', I guarantee one of your losses! All monsters are forced into attack position," Ota explained, Shizuka paling in fear as the monsters beside her gained an eerie look in their now glassy eyes, "Unable to defend, or even attack... Unable to divert any move headed toward their comrades! So now," he thundered, the gravity of the situation pressing further and further on the duelists, "Where do you _scum_ think you stand..!" No...

No... No..! "H-H... Hahh... Ahhhhih..." There were shouts behind her as the Machine King rose up, she knew that much. Panicked cries and shouts of anger as their 'weakest link' was targeted, herded toward the crossroads at the bridge with no railing... And as she stepped back she slipped, screaming, falling toward the lava, tears running down her face as the Machine King stared from above... "H-HAAAHH! HAAAAAAAHH! _HAAAAAAAAAHHH!_"

"Command Angel," Honda shouted abruptly, Shizuka's teary eyes catching sight of a blur whilst she fell. "CATCH HER!" Catch..?

As a blast of energy narrowly passed her she could feel strong arms beneath her, a young soldier's face catching her eye. Gunshots... She could hear gunshots as well, but where...

"I'm taking the attack," Honda said coldly, having jumped from the angel's back to stand before the Machine King. There were burn marks over the armor now, where bullets had struck... And as he looked back, he tossed one of the pistols toward them, the 'gun-blade' shifting into a panel of glass before he brought his second one to his defense. "I activate my ability," he shouted with a swallow. "Setting a card face down... ...Otogi," the teen shouted further, Shizuka placed in on a random portion of the bridges as their friend struggled to block the Machine King's angered retaliation. "This is the best I could do... And I'm sorry I didn't think of anything else sooner..."

"Honda," he whispered, staring with wide eyes as their friend forced the Machine King back with the blade. "Honda, what are you-"

"Look after Shizuka before Jonouchi gets here, promise me that, alright," he asked, the robot before him charging his attack. Look after... No...

NO! "HONDA-HAN," she screamed, before the light of the canon obscured their friend's wincing and pained smile from view. "HONDA-HAN!"

There was no arguing... With that the teen closed his eyes, his last gun falling to the lava below as a hole burned through his armor. As fires erupted on his form below, a single hand briefly visible above the 'waves'. "H-HONDA-HAN!"

And in that moment... He was gone.

"_HONDA-KUN_!"

* * *

Someone was screaming, he'd realized in an instant. Someone familiar. But it seemed faint... Faint enough that he couldn't tell if it was a vision or a ruse, leaving him silent.

And then he heard it again.

'_HONDA-HAAAAN!_'

Katsuya tensed as the call became clearer still, head jerking upward with wide eyes. "Hey," he muttered with a swallow, the others stopping behind him as he stared almost blankly to the stalactites before them. "Did you... Did you hear tha'..?"

"Hear..? Hear what," Anzu began, before yet another scream tore through the air.

'_HONDA-HAN!' 'HONDA-KUN!'_ The others tensed as the next screams tore through the air, louder than the last by an incredible feat of volume and clearly despaired in tone. "A-Ah... That... That was Shizuka," the woman realized with a start, looking back down as her friend grew white in regards to the screams. "And then after that..."

"Otogi," Yugi muttered, gritting his teeth as his own eyes widened. "Otogi and Shizuka..."

Then... If they could hear both... "Hey... Don't tell me they're in a fight at the same time," muttered Ren, staring forward with a frown. "Two on One seems great when you hear it, that's true," he hissed, "But there are certain systems that turn that right around... If whoever they're against knows these tricks, they're screwed..." Gh... Maybe so...

But then what did it mean for a larger number? "It's not jus' two," he muttered fearfully, Yugi turning with a slight frown as the blond swallowed. "It's not- We gotta move," he shouted, charging down the tunnel with wide eyes as the feeling of dread he held increased drastically. "I got a bad feeling, we need to find those guys now..!"

"Ah- J-Jonouchi," Anzu protested, nonetheless charging after him as Yugi followed behind them. "Jonouchi," she repeated with wide eyes, "How do you even know where we're going, we've passed at least three forks in the tunnels so far!" He couldn't answer that... Not now...

He couldn't..! "I jus' know," he shouted back, praying that she didn't say anything more. "Trus' me... I just 'know'..! Now c'mon," the blond continued with a shout, "This way! There ain't much time!"

"Not much time? What do you- O-OI! Jonouchi! What are you talking about!" There was no answer as the blond ran, Katsuya gritting his teeth as he charged on. After all...

While he didn't know why, there was going to be a door at the end of this tunnel. And that door would only be open for so long.

* * *

When people told him that it was impossible to understand a soldier's past, she'd never put much thought into it. Wars from times past weren't much her concern outside of class work and medicinal relevance after all; there was no time to focus on such things when her main focus was exams and tests. Fiction always explained that the trauma of war was too much for most people to bear she found. That in the end it could drive someone insane, into depression, madness, or worse. She'd thought that, if she were ever to experience such a feeling, it would be by some freak accident, a chance occurrence that destroyed anything in it's path.

She hadn't expected to experience it this soon, or at all really. And certainly not in this way. Not in a 'game', a creation of wires and mechanics... In a virtual world where her body survived after nearly being severed by gunfire, where her friend's body could keep living after his leg was in tatters and his chest horrifically shredded. That alone would remain in her nightmares, the sight of Otogi's limp body struggling to hold consciousness at the side while she herself stood with a gruesome mess of a torso. But this scene would affect them far more, that was for sure. "Honda-kun," Otogi repeated, swallowing back a scream as he looked to the spot where his body had fallen to the molten sea below. "He..."

"He's dead," Shizuka whispered, hand on her mouth as tears ran down her cheeks. The girl had been dropped somewhat closer to Otogi's 'spot', and even with the teen's wall of monsters he could see the sheer terror in her eyes. "He's dead," she was repeating in horror, "He sacrificed himself... He sacrificed himself for me, he... Hng...! Gnh..!"

"As I recall," a grating voice from above muttered, Shizuka clutching the railing in tears as she doubled over in shock, "It was _your_ turn 'little girl'..." Her turn... Her turn...

He expected her to fight even now? '_Stand up,_' Otogi was shouting, the girl's eyes still wide and unblinking as she cried. '_Stand up, please! We have to fight!' _She couldn't... She couldn't, she could see her own _heart_ through the ribcage, see it beat through tattered flesh and crushed ribs... Her stomach had been healed by the Nun, true, but everything else remained, she couldn't..!

_'__Well,__' _spoke another voice, the girl dully recognizing it as Ota as she gripped her head and cried, '_What's taking so long now?_' She couldn't... She couldn't..!

"Shizuka... Shizuka," her friend shouted, "You need to be strong! Come on!" Strong... Honda had been doing alright, all his moves were done to protect her... Attempting to lure the competition, jumping in the direct path even...

Honda had been strong. And while he might not have been a duelist, he'd at least held himself decently enough when it came to trying to help. And now... "Ng... Nggh..." Now he was dead. She didn't care if it was real or not, she'd watched him fall and burn, and with that his body was good as gone. He was dead. Dead before he'd even reached the lava below, and she'd killed him, if not indirectly. What could she do... What could she do..! '_Shall we pass,_' Ota was asking, the robot's male opponent clenching his fists as he turned back to his partner.

"Shizuka... Come on," he shouted, gripping the railing at the side to pull himself up somewhat. "If we win we might get him back, so come on! Stand and FIGHT! PLEASE!" She couldn't though..! She couldn't she couldn't move, even if she wanted, she couldn't... Move... She was... Shaking her head, she couldn't do this, she just couldn't, and- "...Fine," Otogi sighed, looking away in slight understanding. "It's my turn... It's the least I can do... But I won't waste Honda's efforts! First," he announced, tossing a dagger at one of his monsters, as the painted skeleton vanished from sight, "I use the spell Worm Hole to remove my Assailant from play..!" Remove..?

But why would he do that... That barely did a thing... "100 less attack points makes little difference to the King's power," Ota snorted, shaking his head. "If that's all you have, you're about to be sorely disappointed..."

"Who said I was done," the teen asked darkly, his monsters stepping to the side as he held a hand forward. In an instant, the field was coated with a glass sheet, a grid drawing itself over the glass. With a still outstretched hand the entirety of the lava below was trapped, fogging and smoking up the grid until it resembled a black board lined in silver. "This is the field spell 'Dice Dungeon'," Otogi explained, a dark frown on his face. "Where only one monster from each player can fight, and where the winner is decided by the roll of a die. And believe me when I say," the teen continued lowly, "I know a few things about dice... Remember that card I set earlier," he asked, eyes narrowed as their opponent stared to the field in surprise. That card...

Before there could be an answer the robot across the field froze, landing on the glass floor with shaking hands. "Gh... You... You're Otogi Ryuuji aren't you," Ota spat, shaking his head in shock. "To think you were involved in this... Last I heard your family's business went out of work just months ago... Yet you managed to turn your game into reality anyways," he shouted in question, lenses widening considerably with the call.

Otogi nodded, crossing his arms from where he sat. "That's right; shortly after the game fell through, I sent a request to 12 industries to make some way for it to come into reality... I hadn't gotten a response back, and had planned on using them as a surprise to Yugi... But when I saw the cards on the list here, I realized they'd done it; and I'd be a fool to ignore a chance for myself to use my full ability in a match as important as this. Now..." The glass panel at his side burst into a blinding light, Otogi's voice echoing through the air. "I use the set card 'Dimension Dice'," he announced, "Tributing Yaranzo and the 13th Grave to special summon Orgoth the Relentless! But while the attack power difference is still staggering," he continued, the enormous armed monster appearing with a massive sword on the glass field, "I'm going to attack! Activate the effect of the Dice Dungeon," Otogi roared, throwing his hand forward as a die appeared from it. "And roll the die!"

"Tch... Then I suppose I have no choice, now do I," the robot growled, 'tossing' his own die forward as the opponents looked to the board. Both die, increasing in size as they tumbled, clattered across the ground, clacking and bouncing off whatever was in their way before the falling to a stop. "...Damn it... 1," Ota muttered darkly, the Machine King at his side seeming to shrink. "Lose 1000 attack points..."

"And in my case," Otogi said with a smirk, "I rolled six; which means Orgoth's attack doubles! Orgoth," the teen ordered, pointing forward as the blade in his monster's hand shone with power. "Attack the Machine King; _**DIAMOND BLADE!**_"

The sounds of the Machine King's destruction riddled the air, eerie light filling it from the lava below as the scrap metal monster was torn cleanly in two. Shizuka was still holding her head, not looking at the field. The bullet wounds riddling her body were still bleeding, even though she should have long bled out, even though the shock alone should have killed her by this point. She was scared... She was so scared... '_This isn't the world I wanted to see,_' she whispered to herself, crying as their opponent took his next move. '_This isn't the world I want to live in..!_' She didn't want this, nothing of it, nothing..!

Ota was chuckling now... Coming closer and closer, until he stood just meters away from them. "Hehehehehe... HAHAHAHA! It looks like I'll be fighting you from here on out," the robot laughed, reflection shining on the ashen glass beneath them. "I don't have any more monsters to throw at you... All I have," he continued, metal shifting in colour and form as he held out a hand, "Is this; the spell 'Recycling Plant," Ota called out, metal pulling off and up from the scrap that was his Machine King. "Taking one monster from my graveyard and fusing it with myself! And by merging with the Machine King," the robot thundered, growing in size and strength to break through the ceiling and walls. "I gain all of his abilities, and then some! My attack rises by 500 points for each machine on the field... Another five hundred for my spell... And in addition," Ota roared, now resembling an enormous tower sized 'mecha' as it stood beneath a starry night sky, "There still stands to say what the next roll of the dice will do! I ATTACK," he snarled, new cannon arm swung to his side as he threw his other hand forward. "_Roll the DICE!__"_

"Tch... Go then," Otogi shouted, seemingly tossing a dagger forward as a die clattered to the ground in response. From the glass below a single number could be seen, and as Orogth's power diminished the teen winced. "Gh- Shit," he muttered, biting his lip. "One..."

"And as for myself," his opponent sneered, "A five. My attack power is halved... But that matters little for now," he cackled, rising into the air as he took aim with his cannon. "My power still dwarfs yours completely, and with this I can be rid of your troublesome 'dice'! _**THUNDER BARRAGE,**__"_ he roared, the blast tearing through the air to crack the field with its heat.

"Nh... NRAAAAAAAHHHHH!" Screams echoed through the air... Shizuka shut her eyes, willing herself not to look as Otogi was struck down by whatever firepower his Orgoth couldn't handle. "GHAAAAAAAAAAA!" Screams and pain, screams and pain, screams... The light was almost blinding, hiding the carnage from view as glass shattered and fell to the molten lava below. Screams... Screams... "_GHAAAAAAAAAAAHH!_"

Stop it... Someone, please, stop it..! "Hnhnhnhnhn... Looks like you have nothing else to look to for 'hope'," Ota chuckled, shaking his head from where he hovered in the air. "Your life points are at a minimum, both of you... And I now wield a power you could not hope to defeat. You may have invented 'D-D-D'," he continued, Otogi weakly pulling himself to all 'fours' as he struggled to breathe, "And you may be heralded as a prodigy in the field of games and development, but when it comes to matters of war and strategy I won't take you lightly... I will fight until the last breath, and I will show no mercy... Because to get my vengeance," he spat, Shizuka staring in fear as tears rolled down her ash covered face, "It's more than necessary..." No, Shizuka repeated in her mind, listening as laughter continued to shake through the air. No... Someone... Anyone..!

Please, stop this..!

* * *

The desert they traveled had proved almost completely barren for the past amount of immeasurable time. As Noa had said, there were no living things to be seen, for as far as the eye could see. No 'NPC's, no monsters, no animals... There wasn't even a cactus. Seto and Mokuba had opted to walk rather then run despite the relatively easy to traverse terrain however; for some reason, it seemed that running only made the journey more difficult despite logic pointing to the act making it easier, and it was at least true that with this they could keep track of any landmarks.

Landmarks such as the steel that was beginning to litter the ground, or the remains of weapons and tanks. "This..." Pieces of plastic along with bullet casings, taking the place of rocks and stone cliffs. A few seconds ago, they had been in the Sahara desert.

But now, it was fairly obvious that they were far from the desert. "Ah... Nee-sama," Mokuba shouted, pointing ahead from where he'd run to the top of the scrap-covered sand hill. "Look..!" The woman frowned, moving forward as she peered over the hill with narrowed eyes. A factory stood before them... A number of tall buildings and warehouses, along with a large partially ruined factory, a night sky settling above it as it slowly shrouded the 'city' with fog.

Impossible... Absolutely impossible... "Alcatraz," she muttered, narrowing her eyes as the memory of the place filled the air. As the memory of the hate she'd held for it returned, and as the memory of what she had done to exercise that hate came to mind. She'd been sitting in her new office, just a day or so into her position as CEO over KaibaCorp... Changes were being put into play, no matter what those about the work place said. People were replaced, trained... It was a high cost, but it was well worth it in the end. At that time however, there were still many things to do. And this was one of them. '_Bring in Soichiro Ota,_' she could remember saying. There had been something she wanted to do...

Something that needed to be done... Something that intensified and grew to a complete obsession later on she realized. '_I want you to prove your loyalty to myself and this company,_' she'd told him with a cold, grating tone when the man had come in, clearly confused despite his polite demeanour. '_I want you to destroy the entirety of the island used to manufacture our large scale machines, as soon as possible and as cleanly as possible._'

Ota, of course, stared in shock. The building had been his pride and joy, something he'd worked to upgrade and control for his entire stay at the company. '_Destroy,_' he'd repeated, eyes wide as they met with her own apathetic gaze. '_You want me to destroy my-_'

'_It's __my__ factory now,_' she'd reminded him, leaning back on her chair with a glare. '_Not yours._' There had been no further argument after that, none at all. And as the memory faded she shook her head, realzing that rather than simply 'reminiscing' she'd been shown the entire thing on display. But why... Why was Noa showing them this memory, she thought with a growl. Destroying Alcatraz was something she considered an accomplishment, not a weakness! So why... Why was it- "Tch... Noa... Show yourself already," she snarled, looking up to the sky to receive no answer. Mokuba as well seemed to scowl, before the sound of Ota's voice pulled their attention forward and the scene again melted into a separate image. This day... A fair amount of time later, after final bits of demolition had been completed. After she'd begun school at 'Domino High', after she'd dueled against Yugi for the first time... Needless to say she was worse off than before, and possibly considered demonic by those working for her at that point. It was a similar scene to just before; she sat at her desk, phone in hand... And on the other end, her 'head of technology' spoke.

'_It is done,_' Ota told her, receiving a slight flash of dull approval in the woman's eyes for his efforts. The expression could not be seen of course; Ota was still on site, staring at the ruins in shock, as though having murdered a close friend or family member. '_Alcatraz is destroyed,_' the man had continued stiffly, '_As ordered._'

She could remember the tainted accomplishment she'd had that day... Something that should have furthered her dream was only pulling her back, all for the sake of that 'duel' she had fought without any honor at all. And all through that time she'd never once realized how far gone she was going. '_Good,_' she had said bluntly, simultaneously dealing with whatever else work there was to deal with. '_It's official then; starting today,'_ she had announced,_ 'The Military Department of this company is fully annulled; we begin development on Solid Vision software _now_.'_

Ota's reaction was almost hesitant really. He'd seen this coming of course, and both himself and a majority of the other board members had only barely hidden their distaste. But now was his final chance. '_And... Me,_' he'd asked,_ 'I will be doing..?_'

Absolutely nothing, that was what. '_You can handle the materials for this next project; upon the ruins you have made, I will be building a structure known as the 'Duel Tower',' _she'd told him, preparing to hang up the phone._ 'Don't argue, and don't complain- listen to every word the engineer says, understand? This tower will be __incredibly__ important in the future._'

'_Gh... I..._' Stuttering hit the air, Ota unable to completely respond to the unofficial demotion._ '...You..!_'

'_That is all, Ota; good bye._' With that the phone clicked off, the scene vanishing from sight. Yes... That was all...

And as Seto narrowed her eyes, it took a few moments to pull herself from those thoughts in order to follow her brother toward the 'city' the rubble had created.

* * *

'_Shizuka,_' a voice was calling, the girl still curled into herself as she cried. She'd been frozen this way since Ota's attack. Starin, just staring. There was nothing... There was nothing she could do any more, nothing at all... _'Shizuka... Take your turn,_' the voice continued in the distance,_ 'It's your turn..!_' She hadn't even drawn a card yet... What good would it do, Otogi was going to die now! She was petrified... _Useless... 'Shizuka..._

"SHIZUKA!" Her friend's shouts rang through the air, accented by Ota's chuckling beneath the night sky. "PLEASE," Otogi roared, eyes wide as his partner stood frozen on her knees. "Don't let Honda's sacrifice be in vain, you need to fight..! Please!" And just what was there to do she asked herself, not answering the teen's calls. She couldn't move, she was in pain... Blood coated her hands, stained her clothes, or rather what was left of them... '_Hurry up__,_' Ota was snarling, now blue lenses shuttered in annoyance, '_Or are you unable to fight any longer?_' And again, the shouts... "STAND UP! Please... Shizuka," Otagi cried, "If you give in it's all over! You need to fight to the end, you need to get up..! Please!" She knew... She knew that... She knew she had to do something, anything...

But as she cried, lips viced between her teeth all she could do was shudder under the scent of her own blood. She was scared... _Scared_... More than she had ever been in her entire life, more than she could bare. Another way, there was another way her brother would say, but what other way could there be? The chances of drawing the card she needed were nil... One in 30 at the least. She was dead in the water, good as gone, there was _NOTHING-_

"It looks as though your friend is still unable to fight," Ota chuckled, Shizuka merely holding herself close as her eyes continued to dance with an intense and petrifying fear. "Shall we pass her turn..?" Pass? But then Otogi would-

"No one's passing any turns right now," the teen snarled, looking back to his friend and biting his lip. Otogi... Otogi, he was next... He... "Shizuka... Come on! You can get up..! You've played against Ryuzaki haven't you?" She almost nodded in response to the statement, slowly turning with a swallow. "That's right... And you watched Jonouchi fight outside, against 'Rishid'... Just think," he continued, Shizuka's eyes briefly widening with focus. "Would they have given in, even after this? Would they have let their turn pass over and just 'die'?" They... They would...

No... No. "No," she whispered, slowly standing upright with a swallow despite grievous wounds across her front. "No, they wouldn't... They would never give up," she shouted, eyes wide as she recalled her brother's words from his own duel, swallowing back her fear despite the expression she held giving it away. "Not even if they lost! They wouldn't! I... I'll still fight," she roared, the monsters she'd left on the rafters above nodding with approval. "Until my last breath," the girl announced determinedly, "I'll fight..!"

And at that moment, they heard the door open. "A-Ah... No way," Otogi muttered, an enormous door appearing above them and to their side. "That..."

"Eh..?" What-

"WOAAAHHH _shit!_" The first to run through hurriedly grabbed the edge of the hall he'd come in from, pulling himself up into the door way with a swallow. The door in question was wide, and at least large enough for a truck to pass through. As to the 'door'... Well, it would probably be more accurate to define the entrance as a 'hole' really'. "Man! What th' hell 's tha'," the tallest of the group muttered, Shizuka squinting through the darkness. That... That voice..!

The girl's eyes widened as they met with blond hair and a red cloak, her brother and two others standing in a door way high above them. Yugi stood behind his friend, dressed in a mix of tanned leather and cloth... Anzu gripped a staff, black cloak falling formlessly over her. But more importantly, at the front... "A-Ahh... KATSUYA-NIHAN!" She turned to face her brother, tears running freely yet again as she sniffed. "Gh... KATSUYA!"

"Oh- AHH! Shizuka," the blond shouted with a grin, before the expression fell completely flat with horror. "Oh my... S-Shizuka..! Shizuka," he screamed, "What happened..! What..!"

"Oh my god they're both soaked in blood," Anzu cried, Otogi in question looking himself over with a wince. "How are they even alive!"

"What the hell's goin' on," Katsuya muttered with a swallow, gripping the 'doorframe' to look for their opponent. "WHAT IS THIS," he snarled, pointing down to his friends as he faced the robot above.

Tears ran down Shizuka's cheeks as a smile continued to sit on her face, despite all shouts her brother was giving. He was here... She didn't care what she looked like right now, or what the situation was... Her brother was here..! He was _here_..!"So the 'champions' _finally_ arrive," Ota sneered, still higher in position than the others as he gleamed in the night sky. "Hn! You're just in time," he announced, the three in the door jumping back as a sheet of thick glass came across it to lock them in place, "You can watch your friends die!"

"Di- O-OI! Let us outta here," Katsuya snarled, pounding the glass as the others looked down with wide eyes. "C'MON! This isn't fair! They're DYIN', LET ME OUT!"

"Hey... Otogi, Shizuka," Anzu called down, attempting to ignore the injuries for the moment as she scanned the field. "Have you two seen Honda? He fell through the same hole you two did, didn't he," she asked worriedly.

At this the pounding immediately stopped, eerie silence sitting over the air as they stared at each other. "Honda-han..." It was as though they knew the answer already. As though they had come just somewhat later than intended, having been warned of the events. "...Honda-han was..."

"Honda was killed," Otogi finally said, looking to the lava below. "He sacrificed himself for us to keep going... He..."

"No..." Yugi, as he had been since coming in, was silent, eyes staring down in a mix of confusion, horror, and rage both. Anzu as well grew white with shock, falling to her knees as she shook her head. "No way," she was whispering, a snake on her shoulder merely looking down with wide eyes. "It can't... He can't, it's not _real_..."

"Impossible," Katsuya said with a swallow, voice sounding strained as he looked through the glass with wide eyes. "It... Tha's impossible, he can't... He can' be _DEAD_," he protested, "He can't-"

"I'm sorry," Shizuka cried, eyes welling with tears as the trauma caught up to her once more. "I'm so sorry... I kept making assumptions about the duel... And in the end," the girl screamed, "He sacrificed himself to protect me..! It's my fault," she continued, holding her arms as she shook in fear. "It's all my fault..! I..."

Katsuya merely stared with worry, a few tears rolling down his own cheeks as the others did the same. "...Shizuka," he whispered, bowing his head for a moment as the grief continued to set in. "Shizuka... I..."

...She couldn't lose this... No matter what... She couldn't lose this..."...Nihan," she said with a swallow, slowly calming her nerves with deep breaths. "There... There's still a chance we can get him back! If we win," she continued, bowing her head, "If I finish this match..."

A small bit of silence was left hanging in the air before the blond nodded, standing back from the glass with an encouraging stare. "Alrigh'... In tha' case, you listen up, got it," he called down, Shizuka swallowing as her brother continued. "So long as yer on tha' field, yer a duelist... So long as y' have cards in yer hand, an' a turn t' take, you keep fightin'! You're my sister... An' I know you can do th's," Katsuya shouted encouragingly, "So don' give in, no matter what, you got it," he finished, the girl nodding in response. "I'll be watchin'... So show me what I know you c'n do!"

"I..." Alright! "I will..! It's MY TURN," she shouted, wind seeming to blast about the half-destroyed factory as she steadied her resolve. This was their last chance, their last move... She couldn't screw this up..! '_Remember,_' Otogi was saying from the side, '_Anything Ryuzaki taught you... Remember..._' Of course..! And no matter what, she wouldn't fail! "DRAW!" The menu flashed in the back of her mind as the command was given, escaping the 'pass' status it was in as her hand came to mind. Her next card... It was...

...Heh...

... She could remember the day she found this card she thought to herself, eyes momentarily growing dull as scenes not at all unlike what she'd stood in prior the rhino's attack met her eyes. '_Duel monsters,_' she'd asked, sitting in the hospital bed after her surgery. It was just around new year's; since the surgery, Keiichi had been visiting far beyond the normal hours allowed, going so far as to fall asleep '_That game you're always playing in class? You want to play duel monsters?_'

'_Yea,_' Keiichi had responded cheerfully, having earlier mentioned bringing in his deck. '_It's a fun game, and I think if you gave it a chance you'd enjoy it... Besides,_' he continued with a laugh,_ 'You need something to do while you're here right?_'

'_Well... Yes,_' she admitted, rubbing her neck,_ 'But if I can't see the cards..._'

'_Don't worry,_' he'd hurriedly said, rummaging around his bag for something. '_I'll tell you what each one is! We can play with revealed hands, both of us, that way it's fair; you'll know what I have,_' he explained,_ 'And I'll be able to tell you what you have, so you can play each card._'

She could remember giving him a wry smile in response to that. Playing with revealed hands... That was both easier and harder than a normal game she would think. '_I suppose that works... But what am I supposed to do for a de-_'

'_Here._' A package of foil wrapped packets were placed in her hands at that moment, her fingers fumbling over the covers in the darkness she had yet to be used to. '_I still had a lot of money left from the Nationals, even with the train to Tokyo... So I got you these. I can help you build a deck with them,_' he'd told her confidently, '_Just open them up, and we'll see what you get!_' And so she had... And throughout the day he'd explained the rules if the game, the points to keep in mind, what one card did, what another did... Some cards were given to him, others put to the side for what he called 'trade ins'...

But there was one card in particular she could remember him talking about. '_Ritual cards,_' she'd asked, now at home with the bandages still wrapped about her face that spring.

'_Yea; they're like tribute monsters, but a lot harder to use,_' he explained between reading descriptions of cards in the packs. '_Most are pretty worth it though, as they tend to have powerful effects as well. The one you got from this pack for example, 'Herald of Perfection','_ Keiichi told her,_ 'Is able to negate the activation of any trap, spell, or effect by discarding a fairy type monster, destroying the card in the process. Of course,_' he'd continued with a laugh, rubbing his head somewhat nervously, '_Compared to most ritual monsters, it's not really that powerful... But because of that, it's not as hard to summon either. Each ritual monster has a corresponding spell card you see,'_ the boy had told her. '_These are called Ritual Spell cards... By using these,_' Keiichi carefully explained,_ 'If you offer up monsters equal to the level of the monster you're summoning, while fulfilling any other requirements, you can get a pretty powerful monster on the field fast, even if certain types of summoning has been blocked. I'm not saying __I'd__ use them of course,_' he'd gone on, laughing somewhat nervously as his friend gave him a wry smile. '_But who knows,_' the boy pondered, his friend opening another pack to pull out the next card.

_'Maybe they'll suit you,_'

The 'Herald of Perfection' had been traded in later that week, neither finding much use for the card. But the next pack she opened yielded something else after that, another 'duo' that was rarely found in the same pack. A card she held in her hand. A card that, looking at it now... "Hah... If... If I bring out this monster," she muttered to herself, staring at the ground somewhat. "If I play this..." There was an option for 'Joan', who was more powerful, but it wouldn't be able to defend. If she herself participated in the summon however, and increased her power...

Then maybe... Just maybe... "Shizuka," Otogi was warning from the side, pulling himself up against the railing with a wince as he balanced on his one 'good' leg. "Be careful... If we don't play this right," he continued, "Then we're both dead..!" Right... That was true.

But she had an idea; and she wouldn't fail if she stuck to it! "...My deckmaster, 'Goddess of the Third Eye' allows me to summon fusion monsters without the use of polymerization, by discarding a spell," she began, bringing a bloodied hand to her chest as the menu scrolled in her mind. Around her the others were silent, listening as the girl continued. "However... I have another option, another way to do take this move," she continued with a shout, looking up with an expression not unlike her older brother's. "On the field right now I have two level four monsters... I could sacrifice one to summon the monster I need to fusion summon 'St. Joan'," she explained, her friends and opponent both frowning at the shared strategy, "But instead I'm going to play this! _RITUAL SPELL_," she roared, hands held out as clouds began to swirl into twisted and grey spirals. "_THE END OF THE WORLD!_"

The result of the spell was imminent, to put it lightly. Above them the sky took an almost patterned appearance, runes and hexagon-shaped spirals converging through the of the earth were beginning to rise toward the clouds... The ground was crumbling, physics was becoming no more important than a raindrop on the ground, and as the steel platform she stood upon rose she continued to speak._"_I sacrifice the Merciful Nun," she announced, the monster vanishing into dust from below as the debris joined with the storm, "Along with MYSELF," Shizuka continued, "To summon this monster..! To complete the ritual! Bringing about this... The monster who brings with her the collapse of all, the one with the powers of chaos," she howled, clouds continuing to spin as they wrapped around the girl to hide her from form. "RUIN," Shizuka roared, breaking free of the winds as stones and ruins rose and fell amid the air in a shockwave, "THE QUEEN OF OBLIVION!"

For a moment, just a brief moment, he looked scared. He stared at the sight of the enraged and now vicious young girl and at the apocalyptic ruin resulted and froze, series of stones and steel floating around him almost like a cage. But it was only an instant. For even as the Command Angel Honda left behind gave her an added boost of power, there was still a difference of 2000 points of attack between them, and for that reason he was confident in his success. However, despite this, she didn't feel worried. She wasn't sure why... But she didn't feel worried, now that her body had healed and her summon was complete.

And as the wind continued to howl, she was only barely paying attention to her opponent. "You... Is that all you can do," Ota was laughing, Shizuka now standing on a hovering ruin of stones as her friends clutched whatever bits of land they themselves were on after the destruction of the city. "That isn't nearly enough to defeat me..! Your power is nothing compared to mine... And even if you were to attack me with the spear you wield in your hands now, it would all be useless!" No...

Not yet..! From the side, Yugi was shouting. "Otogi," he called out, "You all have to work together; even the ones who aren't here! Honda left you something, didn't he," he asked, Katsuya nodding from beside the boy.

Otogi blinked, looking to the side where Honda's old and still shining facedown card sat. "That's right," he shouted, steadying himself on the steel platform he was still sitting on. "I haven't used my ability yet..!" Right- that ability... The one that combined with Honda's could very well turn the tides in their favor! "I activate my ability," her friend announced, bringing his hands together with a shout as the panel down below began to glow. "Discarding two cards to use the face down card Honda left for us..! _NOW!_" One hand motion was made... "_**Rin.**_" Another, his eyes closed in focus. "_**Hyou.**_" And another. "_**Tou**_**.**" Another, and another... Otogi's hands moved swiftly through each one, eyes appearing to almost glow as the card at the side did the same, his hands blurring whilst they stared. "_**Sha... Kai... Jin, Retsu, Zai, Zen**_**! **Activate the spell '**UNITED WE STAND,**" he announced curtly, the glass card shattering as a flaming energy arose from about him. "For each monster on our side of the field," the teen stated, "Including ourselves... The monster equipped gains 800 attack points! Now, Shizuka," he called out, the fire wrapping around her as she jumped forward with a nod. "GO FOR IT!"

Time to attack..! "H-Hhaa... HAAAHH! Damn it all... Damn it..! This is impossible," Ota roared, as he watched the girl approach from the air, his attacking opponent slamming him into the ground with alarming force in mid shout. The robot collapsed into a crater on the ground, metal limbs broken and awkwardly positioned on the ruins as he continued to snarl. "Gh... This result... How could it be..? It's IMPOSSIBLE..!"

From her position in mid air she fell forward, landing on a cliff just meters from the machine's face. Fog settled in around them, along with a windless air, and with a look of loathing most would consider far unlike her she stared down at the monster before her. No one could see them... It was just fog, thick enough to obscure your vision from a few feet... But _she_ could still see, and so could Ota. "You..." Her wide eyes swam with tears, teeth ground together as she clutched the spear in her right hand. "I can never forgive you," she hissed, "For what you did..."

The machine narrowed the lenses of its eyes, chuckling rumbling from the speakers it had for mouths. "Heh! I would expect nothing less..." Of course he wouldn't. "But... Don't think you'll be getting your friend back so easily," he taunted, Shizuka's face falling deeper into rage as a sliver of fear and confusion slipped in. "You might have beaten me... But I still defeated your friend, in a completely fair match! This was my mistake," he snarled bitterly, "I shouldn't have used my deck master... But that boy's body is still mine!" Wh... What... No... No, that couldn't... "I've got what I wanted... And believe me, we WILL meet again! And when we do, things will really get intersting," he cackled, the girl before him shaking with rage. "HAHAHAHAHA... AHAHAHA... **AHAHAHAHAAAA- ck-**"

"_**HRAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHNG!**_" A single slash was all it took to silence that laugh, a raged and miserable cry coming in the same instant. The cut from the spear was sharp, and more than enough to cut through the monster... Dropping her spear to the ground as the metal of the now defeated robot fell limp Shizuka collapsed to her knees, fog sitting around her like a blanket as she cried. It hadn't worked. "Ah... Auuuaaaaaaaa..." It hadn't worked..! "_Aaaaaaaaaannnn._.." Gone... Gone, gone, _gone,_ he was gone and it was _her fault_..! "Hnn... Aaa-nn... Nn..." Tears continued to stream down her face, the girl falling forward with her head on her knees even as someone came to hold her from behind. "Nnng... Hnng..."

"Shizuka," Katsuya was saying, pulling her close as she cried, and as events of the duel either reversed or rotted away to leave the ruin she'd created. "Shizuka," he whispered, "It's alrigh'... It's alrigh'..."

"Why isn't he coming back," Otogi was muttering, barely supported between Anzu and Yugi as his wounds healed over, leg slowly and painfully reforming from what little had remained. "Why didn't it work..?"

Because... That was how it worked... That was... "Gone... He's still gone," Shizuka forced out, holding her head in her hands. "Ota... He still got Honda-han's body," she choked, "He still..."

"Gh... That bastard... Damn it NOA," Katsuya roared, turning to the sky as he stood up behind his sister in rage. "STOP SCREWIN' WITH US AN' GIVE 'M BAAAACK! LET US OUTTA HERE AN' LEAVE US ALONE, GIVE 'M BACK!" Noa of course did not appear, nor did his voice echo through the air in response.

But far in the distance, as the lights flickered to life on a screen...

The shouts were nonetheless answered.

**

* * *

AN**: HONDAAAAAAAAA-

Lights? ...It's not what you think! ... Or _is it_. So in other news, I opted for a super chapter; the average length of chapters has gone up to about 20k for words you see (which used to be standard for a super chapter), so this is actually well within the limits.

The length just seems a little longer since Otogi and Honda just KEEP ON TALKING.

In other news, I just saw Suckerpunch. Go in expecting _nothing_ but explosions and insanity, and you will find yourself pleasantly surprised by what else is there, and going 'that was a _good_ movie'.

Go in expecting exemplary plot/story, and you will HATE IT. So don't. Just go in expecting what it's supposed to be; an over the top action flick. And you will _love_ it. (I know _I_ did.)

It actually inspired me to raise the bar for the action scenes here. It's not very apparent here, as I was already half way through before I saw the movie, but when we get to Seto VS Daimon (which _should_ be next chapter) you'll get to see.

I personally can't wait for that. Now then.

I start work on THURSDAY. (As the snow is gone. YAY) This means the next update will take a VERY long time... It probably won't get out until next week, but really, I can't be too sure. We'll find out when I update I suppose, but the point is, I'm working 5 days a week in this seasonal job until I net a permanent (and less 12 hour day) one.

It could take a while... But whatever, moving on, there's LOTS of art for you below, including a few nice concepts, and a majority of them are actually _coloured_... So there's a lot to tide you over until we get Seto VS Daimon!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Just one today, though this _was_ an oddly quick update...

Hey there Iona! Glad you liked the duel! As to what is yet to come, you'll see~

Yugi's surprised yes, but not so much about Anzu's initiative as the fairly Malik-like look that was on her face when she did… Not to say she wouldn't have done this any ways, but she'd have been notably less crazy-looking. (Again though, you can blame the snake) He should consider himself lucky though, you're very right.

Any ways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'll see you next time!

**

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that wonders if it should stick with the robot monkey deal...

_Or go with something else..?_

* * *

Why call it the 'End of the World'? Because that's the spell. It suits this chapter in a weird way too...

* * *

Similar to how the districts all end in '-ku', lakes all end in 'ko'. Rivers, on the other hand, get 'kawa' or even 'gawa' depending.

* * *

Oh hey, I FINALLY found out something that could cause Shizuka's blindness… 'Retintis Pigmentosa'. The symptoms (in order) are night-blindness, tunnel vision, and then lastly in the most unlucky cases, complete and utter blindness. (In other words, Shizuka's glasses were more to help her focus on crap, rather than help her see.)

Irony? While there's no cure, Japan started an intense study on this disease (hereditary) in 2010. Shortly after, in 2008, _OSAKA_ identified a protein that would possibly lead to treatment. HAHAHA. _And_, in the same year, they found that gene therapy for the disease works with mice. You know what this means?

It means that Shizuka was technically testing this crap. Yayyyyyy…

Actually no, it just means that the fanfic is ahead of our time in terms of ocular medicine. YEA.

* * *

'Iinchou' technically refers to a 'head doctor', or a 'committee chairman'. Often, this is what others will call the class rep though, and I'm pretty sure that it still has that same definition…

Though they won't be using that term if they're actually friends with them of course. That would be a little impersonal. In any case, the first 'i' uses the kanji for committee, with alternate readings being 'devote', 'leave to', 'entrust to', etc. This is followed by 'in', for 'employee', 'member', or 'the one in charge', until finally we hit 'chou', which means 'leader' (And also long).

* * *

Sooooo I can't find this monster. You know, the one chasing down Shizuka? Which sucks really, all I get is that it's a 'dinosaur'... It is DEFINITELY based on a Rhino though, despite being a dinosaur, hence the rhino fun.

...Actually, I don't even know if there _is_ a monster that corresponds to this thing...

* * *

And yes I just quoted Firefly. I couldn't resist! I'd been having a conversation with a friend, and we ended up coming to the conclusion that Ryuzaki would do something like that.

He'd be horribly bored before he did of course... But he'd do it.

As to how the both (Otogi and Ryuzaki) know about the series (I don't know if that one season ever broadcasted in Japan...), Otogi actually _saw _it, as he didn't always live in Japan, whereas Ryuzaki got the DVD's from his Aunt.

Aunt isn't american or anything by the way; she's just really good at her job and got a position in the states. Speaking of 'Tamae-ba'...

In my head, she's working on the 'boxes' in California. Basically, a parking lot was being built, and they found this MASSIVE deposit of fossils... So they dug out huge-ass blocks of dirt, leaving them in there, and storing them away. This way, all the fossils can be excavated safely, while the parking lot (now built) can continue becoming... A parking lot.

There were at least twenty boxes I believe, each about the size of a storage container... And I think they got through like... Six.

So they'll be doing this a while.

* * *

Yes guys. Shizuka's dressed like a belly dancer. FANSERVICE HOH!

* * *

The knives that Otogi will _ordinarily_ use are called 'Butterfly Swords', not to be confused with 'butterfly knives'. They're about the size of the forearm, and are pretty much just dual-wielded daggers. Albeit easily hidden, and only sharp on one side (Like a Dao).

These are also the ones he's throwing… And I say 'ordinarily' because if Otogi had attempted to fight with them in his duel, he'd have found kuni knives instead. (That or sai.) …By the way kunai started out as sharpened trowels…

* * *

Funny thing, the basilisk was probably based on the King Cobra; basilisks were said to be killed by weasel musk, and Cobras are often killed by mongooses. More importantly, spitting cobras often shoot venom into prey's eyes, hence the 'killing stare' or 'breath'.

* * *

Ondine are water elementals, said to have beautiful voices. It's said that by marrying and giving birth that they gain a 'soul', giving them the gift of life after death and a mortal life. There's not much else, but they form the basis for the term 'Ondine's Curse', a name for 'Congenital Central Hypoventilation Syndrome'.

It's said that Ondine, after marrying a handsome young man, bore a child and began to age… After this happened, the husband began to lose interest. So of course, when Ondine caught the guy cheating after he vowed faithfulness, she was PISSED…

So she cursed him; '_so long as you are awake you shall have your breath, but should you ever fall asleep then that breath will be taken from you, and you will die!_'

CCHS causes patients to lose automatic control over breathing; they have to consciously initiate each breath... So if they fall asleep, they die.

* * *

The snake that Otogi is talking about is called 'Cerastes', a serpent that is so flexible it is said to have no spine at all. Cerastes have either two large ram-horns on their head, or four pairs of smaller ones… And ordinarily, would hide in the sand, waiting for something to come to the horns under the impression that they are food.

You can guess what happens next. Cerastes are thought to be based on the horned viper actually, which… Well, does the same thing. Except it's obviously much smaller. And is conveniently called, in latin, Cerastes cerastes.

This thing wasn't forced on Otogi though; he just picked up way too many greek myths during his dad's lessons on ancient crap. (It helped with monster designs.)

* * *

Ane? But that's not her name! No, but it's the informal term for 'older sister', similar to 'ani' for 'brother'... Ever heard the word 'aniki'? 'Ani' is where it comes from. Any ways, Honda calls his sister Ane, if you've forgotten (Seeing how her last appearance was Christmas..).

* * *

Zu? WRONG. It's actually 'Ziz', who I mentioned in an earlier chapter… But that thing goes by lots of names in this fanfic, and you'll find out why eventually. 'Zu', who was seen as a massive fire breathing eagle (occasionally with a lion's head) actually has another name…

It's sometimes called Anzu. I cannot stop laughing as a result.

* * *

Hey! More notes on real life! More specifically, the famed 'TWITCHY EYE'!

The 'eye twitch' or 'eyebrow twitch' depending _can_ be a sign of emotional instability as it's commonly used for in fiction. However, things like horror and such may or may not result in that; the real trigger?

Copious amounts of STRESS.

Suddenly, Kaiba's _constant_ twitchy-eye in this fanfic makes oddly large amounts of sense...

* * *

Wh- Behemoth and Ziz Usagi? Wasn't the Leviathan enough!

Actually, those two aren't appearing. Not by _those_ names anyways. They already 'exist' in terms of canon antagonists... You just get to guess who's who.

...You have probably figured out that the Leviathan is still Leviathan though. And _nooooooo_, these things are NOT at the same level as the Gods. Their power balance between themselves and the Gods fluctuates. A lot. Mostly because they kinda rely on negativity in the world.

And there's a hell of a lot more negativity than positivity guys.

* * *

Oh, as to why the guys with weapons are shouting their attacks, it's to activate the magic portion; as you can see after all, the system is a little picky about it. It's even picky when it comes to _vocal commands_... (Poor Shizuka.)

* * *

Confused about the 'han'? Here's a reminder! Fanfic!Shizuka is from Osaka; the accent there uses 'han' as an honorific rather than 'san'... Arguably, you could say that they've simply passed over the 's' to make the 'h' sound silent.

* * *

Interesting fact; in the anime, Otogi refers to Honda as 'Honda-kun'… And I'm really not sure why. I didn't include it here, as they're still pretty informal with each other (Albeit with it being obvious that Otogi is the more polite.) In fact, the only one he doesn't use honorific with seems to be Yugi… Whereas I'm almost certain he omitted honorifics with those he was close to in the manga. (He uses them with people he doesn't know, which is what most normal people do anyways. Yugi's friends are RUDE.)

* * *

In the anime, Honda told Shizuka that he taught Jonouchi how to duel, and held onto this facade until he _lost, _in a pathetic attempt to impress the girl who was already perfectly fine with him (Though he was certainly admirable about how he 'died'). He also taught Shizuka a few basic rules (tribute summoning, defence mode and attack mode…)… _Throughout the match_. Because clearly these things shouldn't be covered before hand. DERP.

Any ways, not only would Ryuzaki debunk any attempts to claim the teacher status, he would obviously have taught those basic rules _long_ ago! Besides; the end of this match went differently anyways! (For the sake of awesome... ...And... Also for the sake of Shizuka getting the last hit.)

* * *

Gatling guns are really great for fast moving targets when the fight itself is fast. Not so much when it's a slow stationary one. This is because with fast moving targets, you need to fire as much as possible to hit the dang thing.

Slow things don't need lots of bullets.

But this is a video game, so Ota doesn't care. It's a good thing those bullets magically shrink though... Otherwise, it would be VERY BAD. See... At _normal_ size, these things can trim hedges, cut trees, some can even _CUT A TANK IN HALF_. As it is, the trees are felled within TWO SECONDS, and _SMOKING_ afterward!

THEY'RE IN PAIN AND IT'S ALL MY FAULT AAA-AAAAAH.

* * *

And thus the reasoning for screw-ups is revealed; Shizuka treated the game like an RPG instead of a duel, and failed to exact caution when it came to voice-related moves. Ta-daaaah!

Also pain and trauma play into this a lot… A LOT. Remember, Shizuka technically blocked the backlash she should have received from Giga-Tech Wolf; this means that Ota's gatling gun did it instead… Which means that she received more damage from that attack than the others did, _without armour_. (Granted, Otogi has no armour covering his torso either, but still. Honda has bullet shells! …Wait that's worse.) And while the wounds were 'healed', it was only bare minimum; by the end of it, she was really, _really_ badly scarred, and in _intense_ pain, at least until those wounds and damages disappeared at the end... Not to mention what the _later_ attacks did.

The costume, however, _did not _disappear so you know; remember? Her ability is to hold onto her deckmaster until she dismisses it for another one!

* * *

Oh, by the way, most bullets are faster than the speed of sound; if you hear the bullet, you're alive... But if it was aimed at you, you've still been hit.

* * *

In the Japanese, the 'Forgiving Maiden' is known as the 'Merciful Nun'. This is why the 'Maiden' looks so weird in the dub; they re-coloured the Nun's habit.

* * *

As a note, Super Roboyarou gained 1000 attack for the battle phase in that scene of the anime. However, the difference in attack power means he would have lost regardless… Even if it wasn't his deckmaster!

* * *

So why didn't Honda just use Command Angel to defend the second time? Well for one, thanks to Ota's spell, she's 500 attack points down and unable to move for any form of battle on her own. (She can be targeted, but she herself cannot target... So basically, they're all 'token' monsters _in attack mode_. Duelists' worst nightmare methinks.)

For another, that would have killed Honda _anyways_. At least Super Roboyarou lightens the lifepoint load. …Kinda.

* * *

As per the usual, scenes have been moved around to preserve flow; originally, Kaiba's scenes and Jonouchi's scenes were scattered throughout the two episodes, rather than crammed into one slightly well sized one.

* * *

Originally, Jonouchi and the others offered to help after coming in. But right now, there's a glass wall in the way.

That makes helping difficult. And also, it means Ota doesn't have to say '_you can't_'. He just needs to say '_not moving that wall_.'

* * *

WHAT. This didn't happen! In the anime, Shizuka fusion summoned Joan as she said she could; also, the card Honda left behind was 'Rare Metal Soul', which only affects fusion monsters... More over, Joan had exactly as much power as Ota did, and they destroyed themselves.

Well, not only would that be a little disappointing in my opinion (Not to say vengeance is healthy but... You know...), but I really... REALLY liked the idea of Shizuka herself attacking.

(Also it's hard to make a knight destroy herself with a gundam without explosions... Which I'm saving for later...)

Any ways, the excuse here is that though there's a difference in power, the theory is that the weaker monster (remember, no one knew what that face down card was!) will still work; basically, if Shizuka summoned Joan, the monster would simply get smushed by Ota. However, by replacing her deckmaster, she's not only healing herself, she's gaining a weapon; which means that as long as she just avoids the attacks aimed at her, she could fight 'out of duel', and actually stand a chance.

* * *

Ruin, by the way, has 2300 attack points, and is level 8. (Goddess was level four, as was the nun.) Adding the 400 point upgrade from Command Angel's effect (All Fairy type monsters gain 400 attack) gives her 2700, still not quite enough to combat the Perfect Machine King. Here's a record of how that guy's points went.

After defeating Orgoth, the halved points Perfect Machine King had returned to normal; (5200) The King gets 500 points per machine monster, and at that time, the only remaining ones on the field other than itself were Lady Panther, the Nun, and Command Angel. (So 2000 of his attack power is from this effect, the remaining 500 from his spell.) After taking only _one_ out (the Nun), this still leaves him with a whopping 4700.

And this is how I can get away with using 'United We Stand', particularly since Shizuka would lose if she simply tied with the Machine King like in the anime. After all… The difference doesn't matter in the face of deckmasters… And after the combined presence of Otogi, Shizuka, Lady Panther, and Command Angel, that's an additional _3200 points_; Shizuka's power level was _5900_!

She needed it too; the reason why attack power was so important here is that without it, the power of the sword or bullet or whatever metal used wouldn't take effect, it would bounce off. And as for magic, it just wouldn't last long enough! (In other words, this was a barrier breaker.)

Best part? Ironically, had Ota _not_ been using a deckmaster here, he still would have lost; Ruin's effect is that, after destroying a monster, she can attack _again_.

And of course, this is her continued deck master's effect, though it's VERY effective with it's 'Blue Mage', or 'out of duel' transfer; it means Shizuka can _double cast_... In other words, send out two spells at once. (So she could create like... A flaming hail storm if she had both 'fire' and 'blizzard' in her repetoire. ... She doesn't.)

* * *

KANJI. They flashed with each hand symbol, and are… Rin Hyou Tou Sha Kai Jin Retsu Zai Zen. In order, they each mean the following: Assistant Soldier Fighting Person All Ranks Split Be Before

Sooo… I'm thinking this is something to do with the fact that it's basically help from another person. Just saying. (Also to look cool.)

* * *

Oh- before anyone gets triangle ideas, Shizuka doesn't feel attracted to Honda. She just cares about him. You know.

Cause they're friends. And also because death sucks.

Mostly because of trauma induced fear and not wanting friends die though. Yeaaa.

**

* * *

FanArt and My Art Section**

As usual! Remove spaces for links, and everyone's happy!

...I think. (Certainly haven't gotten complaints...)

So, without further ado, we have the sketches that we missed last time... Along with some reference art for this chapter, IN COLOUR!

SPOILER!Concept: Robot Dogs – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ RoboDog. jpg - Hey, remember that dog Noa had? The one following Jou around? ..._It got worse._

Reference: Niu Tou & Ma Mian – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Demons. jpg - DEMONS! Yea! For maximum demon experience, picture one a dark blue and the other a dark red.

SPOILER!Concept: Ghosts – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Ghosts. jpg - Well, two of them are at least. Now technically, Seto's wearing clothes... They're just too dang tight to tell unless I stick a belt there. Not to mention sleeve endings. In any case, glowing people aside, we have here a ghostly Malik (you can likely guess from where), and the spirit taking residence in Jonouchi's head for the time being.

You'll never guess who it is! AHAHAHA! Or maybe you will. Never know. Probably won't tell you if you're wrong or right unless you're _realllly_ off though.

SpoilerReference: Deckmaster- Judgeman – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ JudgemanHonda. jpg - And yes. That's an anti-tank gun. He can't really move with it.

But he really doesn't need to. _At all_.

SpoilerReference: Deckmaster- Robot Knight – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/RobotKnightHonda-1. jpg - THERE'S A GATTLING GUN ON HIS ARM! *collapse* To clarify, Robot Knight has a gatling gun in his card art, but, since that would obviously cause duel disk issues, he doesn't have it in the anime.

It's a damn cool gun though.

Reference: Deckmasters- Ruin and the Goddess – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ ShizukaDeckmasters. jpg - In which we see what Shizuka had, and what Shizuka will look like for the rest of this arc.

Yessss, you can really tell I liked that design, can't you?

Reference: Deckmasters- Strike Ninja & Super Roboyarou – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ HondanOtogiDeckmasters. jpg - I had fun with these ones too... That's all I really have to say though, hahahaha...

Well, that's all for now! Who knows when the next update will be, but it'll be shorter (hopefully), and with luck, quicker than we all figure it will be. So with that, until next time!


	90. Chapter 89

**Moments of Dying**

* * *

The last thing he remembered clearly was a scream. Rather, the last thing that he could remember was a scream along with a sharp stinging pain through his middle. Not even 'around' or 'on' as one would expect in such a situation.

Through. Complete with the lack of sensation between it, with his consciousness dully aware that there was nothing to feel. And then there was the sensation of falling... The sight of the steel ceiling above, the cold feeling he had despite the heat he'd been subject to before, despite the heat that should have been surrounding him at that moment as he hit something 'soft'...

And then darkness. Complete and utter darkness that had him wondering if he was really dead, if he would never awaken again. That was what he remembered... But now, for some reason, he could hear... Singing. No, not even that, he told himself as he opened his eyes, an almost static-like film coming over them as he groaned.

Humming. "Hn-hn-hn-hn-hnn-hn... Hnn-hn... Hnn-hn... Nnnn-Nn-n-nh-nh-nh-nh, Nnnhnhn-hn-hnhn..." Definitely humming he told himself. Couldn't recognize the song... But he was pretty sure it was humming. "Hn-hn-hn-hn-hnn-hn... Hnn-N... ..." And then it stopped. The source, a small white coloured girl he noted through the sparking haze, suddenly froze at her computer desk before turning. "...You're awake... How odd," she muttered monotonously, the girl walking toward him. Strange... Eh. He merely continued to wince with a dull pain that was beginning to return in response, not feeling well enough to talk.

Hn! With that in mind, maybe it _was_ strange that he was awake... Honda continued to groan, moving to rub his head only to wince with pain as a sharp shock rand down his shoulder. Acck...

Don't do that again he told himself, letting out a slight grunt in pain, don't ever, ever- "...You're still 'aware'," the girl continued to mutter, Honda tensing as he attempted to turn his head.

Eh? Aware, he thought with a frown, narrowing his eyes. What the hell did that mean, 'aware'..?

The girl, resembling an odd mix between an albino and Kaiba's trademark monster merely continued to stare, half-lidded glowing with a slight curiosity despite their 'faded' appearance. "Yes... It's strange," she muttered, hands folded in front of her, "That wasn't supposed to happen..." Um... O... Kay... The girl seemed to lean in, staring at his face as though it were some oddity before abruptly pulling back in her chair. "...Stay here," the girl decided, moving from the computer she'd been sitting at in what looked to be a bunker of sorts beneath the ground. "I will discern the cause..."

The cause of what? He turned, stumbling as he tried to stand in protest. Ack- He couldn't walk... He looked down, staring at the ground with a scowl before looking back up. Not the point. That girl... "Gh... HEY! What are you-" He paused, blinking as he was met with empty air. "Talking... About... ...Hah. Gone..." She was gone... As though she'd simply evaporated in think air. That was weird. "Man..." So was his voice actually; had some weird, metallic undertone it seemed. Regardless of the oddness of the situation, this probably wasn't the time to complain.

Seeing how he'd expected to die and all that. He sighed, looking around the room with a frown as confusion continued to strike. Hn. Couldn't walk, couldn't speak or see properly... And to top it all off everything around him was at least five times taller than it should have been, he noted, looking up at the desks with narrowed eyes. Sheesh... Just where was this place?

The teen continued his attempts to stand, stumbling somewhat forward with a grunt. Hands, for some reason unseen to him, eventually caught on something, and as he stepped forward he soon came to achieve an odd sort of balance. God... Couldn't even look down properly and it hurt, same with moving his arms... He continued to lay a hand on the wall at the side, moving forward. What _happened_ when he died? If anything he'd think his stomach would hurt, not his joints and head. Honda shook himself despite this, instead stumbling along the metal wall before pausing. The hairs by the back of his neck were bristling, senses on high alert. Something was in the room... Something else he told himself, turning slowly to the side with narrowed eyes. Something- "Oh-" He blinked, staring at the side as his eyes met with a similarly sized 'dog' of sorts. 'Of sorts' being key it looked like; a mask of sorts sat over its face, and the fact was, he couldn't remember the last time dogs stood on their hind-legs...

Still, he supposed in a weird way it was kinda cute, despite being his size. Something he'd say even Shizuka would be interested in actually. "Er... Hey there," he laughed, eyes shut for a moment before he stared at the thing again. It was oddly silent he supposed, but that _was_ a muzzle. "Soooo... How are you," he continued with a wave, before freezing in shock. Hold on, that wasn't... "Ah... Aaah! AHHH!" The dog stumbled back, falling over himself as he scooted away from the reflection on all fours, backing away in horror as he stared at what was his reflection. This... This was... "Wh-Wh-Wh... Holy shit... They... They actually did it," he whispered, shaking his head as he stared at the almost depressing looking 'mask' that was now his face. "Holy fuck..." His body...

They took his body... They'd replaced it with... This! The 'dog' gasped for breath, shaking as he subconsciously took a dog's typical crouching 'fight' stance to pace around the image of himself. Growling was coming through the air, and it was probably his. After a while however he found his heart-rate slowing, breathing calming as he stepped closer. "Ahhhh... Shit... What the hell kind of body did they put me in," he muttered, slowly approaching the shining computer casing to further study his reflection. "W...What am I a puppy..?" Or... A terrier? Something..? Some kind of dog..?

He couldn't well see his face after all he thought with a swallow, shaking and quivering in a mix of fear and shock both. A paw was slowly raised forward, the dog 'grimacing' despite his 'mask revealing nothing of the emotion. "Man... This is just... Ahhhh..." He tapped the side slowly, hesitantly as his reflection matched up with his 'arm'. It was his. The paws, the fur, the _tail_... All his he told himself, before sitting back with a swallow. "Damn it..." Well... This was just _perfect_, wasn't it. Not only did he get to die, he was stuck in a puppy with an S-and-M mask. "This Noa kid has some twisted interests," he growled, tail thumping the ground in agitation as a more feral sound escaped the mask's vents. "Not to mention a sick sense of humor... Ah... Hang on..." The dog frowned, stepping forward to squint at his reflection for a moment. When he spoke... Lines appeared when he spoke, just splitting slightly into four directions from between his 'eyes'. But that couldn't be right... Hell... "What kind of mask is this," he muttered, staring at the lines that just briefly appeared when he did so. Hnnn... This... Just a theory but...

What would happen if he tried to open his mouth 'wide' he asked himself, tilting his head before doing just that. "Aaaaaaaaaaaa- A-AAAAHH! AHHHHH! OH MY GOD! OH MY- AAAAAUUUUHHH!" Honda pulled back from the reflection instantly as he opened his 'mouth' wide, pushing and backing away from the thing that opened from his head as he screamed. The reflection was long forgotten in the noise, but despite this he continued to panic. No eyes... He had no eyes, no mouth, no nose, no tonge, no _nothing_..! "AHHHH-AAAHHH-AAAHHHH! !" Claws scratched at metal flaps as they spread into the air, wires and filaments flailing from within as a small black and empty screen/speaker faced out from the very bottom. It wasn't moving... Attached to his neck by a collar it wasn't moving, it wasn't... "OH GOD WHAT IS THIS," he screamed, rolling back to his feet as more canine instincts continued to fight the thing as though it were a vet's cone. "AHHHHH..!"

This thing... This... _THING_...

Honda choked, slowly pulling his breathing back under control as he caught sight of his shadow. He had to calm down, he told himself. He had to... But his head... The dog continued to 'stare', shuddering as he looked at the thing over his head. It looked more like a 'flower' right now, just slowly pulling back in on itself to reform the twisted mask it was before. It was almost like his entire skull was a giant, multi-petalled flytrap, some monstrous alien _thing _that hid in plain sight...

As horrific as it was to even think about that. "Hahh... Hah..." Alright... He needed to calm _down _damn it! So... So he had a head that split open like a great big flower with teeth for the moment. Alright! Well, he'd just have to live with that and get his body back, and that was what he'd do just now! Heck, this could have been so much worse he told himself, slowly beginning to move again as the head 're-sealed'. After all...

He could have ended up a monkey. Now _that_ would have been horrible Honda chuckled mentally, continuing out of the room before pausing. ...Hang on... Did he hear...

"_Hey," _a familiar voice asked, accented by the sounds of footsteps._ "Do you think... He's somewhere around here..?_"

That sound... Where was it coming from? The dog froze as he heard Yugi's voice continue, a slight 'yelp' escaping him as he looked up to the devices at the side. A... The computer screen..? Voices continued through the air, Honda tilting his head somewhat before hopping on the chair beside it to inspect the device. Yep... It was definitely a screen, but where were the others he asked himself, before 'blinking' as he caught sight of a second one. "A-Ahh..! It's them," he shouted, 'head' opening and closing with the shout as he hurriedly reeled in the volume on his voice. Note to self, don't do that... The dog stared, hopping somewhat in place as he watched the crowd walk through the ruined city. An outfit almost similar to his pervious one, complete with goggles... Otogi's 'dancer' outfit, a different, white-haired look for Shizuka... Robes on both of the others, with a snake coiled about Anzu's wrist. These guys... "Yugi... Jonouchi... And..." And the others... They made it! They lived he told himself, before frowning as he turned around.

"...O-Oii... Is my tail wagging..?" ...Yes. Yes it was, though he should probably just not think about that... Given the fact that he shouldn't have had one at all. Instead he leaned closer to the screen, paws dabbing at the keys as he narrowed his eyes to stare. Yugi and everyone... Sure, it was the other Yugi, but even so, at least they were there. "Damn... Where _are_ they..?"

There were no signs to answer that question, but as he stared at the screen he could see them speaking. They were worried about him... Searching... "_Hey... They might have said they'd take his body, but they never said they'd kill him outright,_" Jonouchi was saying at the moment in regards to Yugi's earlier question, the dog at the screen giving a slight whine in response as he pawed the computer for balance. Those guys... They... "_Maybe he's around here somewhere... Maybe if we look hard enough,_" his friend continued quietly,_ "We'll find him again..._" Guys... He couldn't feel ungrateful about that in any way, and yet...

Would they recognize him at all he asked himself, hopping back to the ground with another whine at the thought. He was barely a foot tall, let along his normal height and appearance both! There was nothing to give him away, nothing at all, and who was to say they would believe anything he said..? They...

The dog steeled himself, shaking his head. They just had to know who he was though he told himself, narrowing his eyes in determination. They had to..! They just... _Had_ to!

And with that in mind he hurried off down the hall with a nod, hopping over piles of boxes and cables as he went in the direction he just _knew _was the way out. He'd just have to have hope... He'd find them, and with their help get through all of this...

No matter what!

* * *

The ruins of Alcatraz and the city around them had changed considerably in the time it took to travel to the outer limits from the desert. In that amount of time, what had been less than a minute it seemed, a violent and brilliantly formed storm had developed, with runes appearing in the sky and patterns etching on the ground in ritualistic patterns. Within seconds the siblings walk had become a rush for shelter, pieces of ground tearing from the earth, buildings collapsing on themselves before scattering into the air to hover in place, the two attempting to avoid being either launched through the air or worse...

And above it all they could hear one loud and miserable battle cry, the sky above them filling with fog and the scent of blood. It was altogether almost frightening, to say the least. Something that had both Seto and Mokuba holding their weapons at the ready, back to back with narrowed eyes for fear of encountering whatever had caused, or possibly released, that scream. As it was, they were not alone. "...Someone's there," Mokuba was whispering, looking around them at the ruined buildings with a swallow. "But where _is_ this," he continued, not looking back.

Seto shook her head, frowning as she took in the ruined and collapsed scenery. The hall was just an entrance to the lower and upper level's of a parking garage from what she could tell, but given the lack of a roof... "I don't know," she admitted, narrowing her eyes in thought. "It looks familiar but..." All the same it wasn't, not in any way at all. More like a mix... There were signs at the side written in what looked to be German that she recognized; and though this was helpful she told herself, it merely served to at the same time further confuse her. Seconds ago they had stood outside of the factory Alcatraz, watching its ruined form collapse- so why was it that they were now in Germany?

-_tpf-f_- A pebble clattered to the ground, the siblings attention instant drawn forward. "Hn! This-" The two turned, narrowing their eyes as the sound of footsteps came over the air, running along the edge of the building above. A shadow arose in the fog of the roofs... A somewhat tall figure, pointing toward them, with something in his hands...

But what... Seto's eyes widened as she heard the tell tale click of a safety being removed, hurriedly grabbing her brother and throwing them both to the ground without hesitation. "GET DOWN," she shouted abruptly, gunfire echoing through the air with the chipping of the ground at their side. You never hear the bullet she repeated in her mind, you never hear the bullet, never... In an instant she turned with Mokuba's arm tightly in her grasp, the two taking slight cover behind a ruined wall as she looked to their attacker with narrowed eyes. Bastard... Try and fight like that would they? She stood, the shots briefly halting as she looked toward her target. "_**FIRE!**_"

As the flames shot forward the figure jumped, moving to the side before the sounds of gun-fire again came through the air. Bullets spun and dug through the ground, the shadow moving closer and closer... "Gh- Nee-sama," Mokuba shouted abruptly, the woman looking around the corner as they continued to hide, "These things are going through the _stone_!" What..!

Seto glanced back for a moment, growing pale as she spotted the hole near their head. Shit... The woman grabbed her brother's arm, both fleeing to another wall for cover as the near blinding shots continued. "Gh... What kind of bullet does that kind of damage," she growled, gripping her sword with narrowed eyes before looking back around the corner. Their attacker was well hidden... Nothing but a shrouded figure in the fog that was now at ground level, a fact that seemed to matter little to the man before them.

A fact that seemed to even work in his favor/ "I know you're out there," a chilling voice called out, sounding almost similar to Honda's own as he moved past their hiding place. "Come on out 'Ojou-chan'..." Ojo-

The woman stood to snarl toward the source, running out with her blade forward as she grit her teeth. "Gh... _I_ am no '_OJOU_'," she snarled, swinging the blade forward at the shadow as it turned in shock. Fog cleared somewhat from the area in the resulting clash, and as the blade was blocked she abruptly tensed with shock. "Ngh-... You..!" It was this guy!

"That... It's Honda," Mokuba shouted incredulously, his sister narrowing her eyes as she stared toward the twin bayonets forcing the block against her sword. "...But what are you doing..?"

'Honda' merely chuckled, clicking the safety off both weapons once more with a sadist's grin. "Hello there 'Seto'... Doing well I assume?"

What..! Seto's eyes widened, momentarily frozen in shock as the first of the guns was moved to point toward her skull. Earlier 'Honda' called her 'Ojou'... That meant he knew... That meant..."Gh... You're..."

"Not who you think," the teen growled, before his opponent kicked back from the ground to duck underneath the shot he'd fired. 'Honda' again began to chuckle however, bringing the weapon back to brush against his magazine belt with a smirk. "Although... I can see how you'd be confused. Believe me though," he sneered, pointing his weapon forward again as the revolver barrel spun, "My hatred for you is quite unchanged..." Hatred..?

Seto's eyes widened briefly as she paced around her opponent, before narrowing them back into a fight for bodies... Honda didn't even duel last time she bothered to listen to the mutt, it wouldn't be surprising if he was the first to go..! The woman scowled, before hurriedly bringing her sword forward to block a fired bullet as the thought came to mind. A chip appeared in the sword... And another, and another as the bullets were fired. "Tch... And just what 'hatred' would that be," she snarled, silently charging up a spell as her sword glowed red. "If you are who I think," the woman added, before steadying her stance as her opponent moved to charge.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Does it really matter," he roared, forgoing the bullets for the sake of close combat. "HAAAAAA-AAH!"

"GH- _**FIRE,**_" the woman countered, swinging the blade to throw her opponent back as he charged. The flames filled the air and the space he'd fallen, Seto snorting at the so called 'fight' that had occurred. "You... You think you of all people can stand against me," she snarled, watching as a shadow rose from the flames.

The teen pulled himself up from the ground almost effortlessly, fog continuing to clear as Seto paled. _Impossible_... Not a speck of ash was on the teen's form, not even a wisp of smoke, and as 'Honda' stepped forward, a vicious grin appeared on his face. Immune.. He was _immune_... "Are you done," he asked, brushing one of the guns against his magazine-packs as he again re-loaded his weapons. Gh...

Far from it she told herself, taking a stance with her blade as she narrowed her eyes and prepared to fight. _Far_ from- "HONDA!" Ah-! Seto turned, eyes wide as the rest of Yugi's usual 'crowd' came running through the fog, panic and worry evident in their expressions. Robes, leather, cloth... Interesting how one was still in 'deckmaster form', not that she had the time to consider that. "Guys," Anzu was shouting, gesturing forward with a snake and a staff both in her hands. "Over here," she was continuing, "I found him!"

"Ah- Honda," Yugi called out, the group stopping as 'Honda' looked over with near rage filled eyes, the group too far to notice the sour expression. "You're alright!" This...

"Yugi..." All of them were there... And in addition... The woman hurriedly glanced down at herself in the corner of her eye, before looking back to her opponent in slight relief. If her armor had been anything else she'd have been exposed... But it was alright; so long as no one got too close they wouldn't see anything, and she would be safe. Besides that though...

"Tch... Backup," her opponent hissed, pulling his guns back with narrowed eyes as he backed away from the approaching crowd and Seto both. "Just what I need..!"

Well if _that _didn't give him away... "This... Guy's, not to complain," Otogi muttered with a swallow, "But I have a nasty feeling this _isn't_ him..." Huh! Really now? What gave him away, the expression, the guns, or his words..?

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Shouts of protest came from the side as they realized what had happened, 'Honda' continuing to laugh as the grin over his face grew. "Did you honestly think you would find your 'friend' in his own body," the 'teen' asked, his weapons appearing to glow somewhat with a hidden power. "This is _mine_ now," he chuckled, spinning a revolver on his hand as he pointed the second forward. "Property of 'Ota Soichiro' and soon to be known as such... But first," the teen continued, firing his weapon as his opponent brought her sword forward, "TO DEAL WITH YOU! _**BLADE SHOT**_!"

"HN!" Metal clashed against metal, the blade easily blocking the attacks only for the woman to be thrown back with a short shout of surprise as the force knocked her against a somewhat distant building. "GHK! Gnh..!" D-Damn it! That wouldn't have happened in the real world, so how- She grabbed her arm, looking up only to grow white as the white spots in her eyes cleared to see the muzzle of a gun. "..Sff!"

"N-Ne... Nii-sama," Mokuba shouted, having come out from his cover only to freeze and step away nervously at the sight of the cornered woman. "A-Ah..."

"K-Kaiba," Yugi whispered, his own friends tensed and frozen in shock themselves as their possessed friend chuckled.

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." The woman grit her teeth as the barrel of a gun met with the center of her face, sword lying at a distance thanks to the shock of the blast. "Don't move, or even _think,_" 'Ota' warned, finger closing in on the trigger as a bead of sweat ran down the woman's face. "I'm going to kill you right now... You shouldn't underestimate the abilities of a marksman's body," he continued, narrowing his eyes. "Sayounara, Seto-oj-"

"_**RAOF! AOF, AOF!**_"

"W- G-" Barking echoed through the air as Seto closed her eyes, before blood-curdling screams forced her to open them again. The gun was gone... Something else had attacked. "GHRAAAAAAAAGGHHH! AAGGGHHH!" Ota abruptly pulled at his face as a creature struck with as much ferocity as possible, the crowd momentarily frozen in shock as Seto hurriedly went for her sword. "RHAAAAAAAAHHH!" A monster... A 'thing' had latched to the man's face, something with the body of a small dog with the head of some twisted metal monster, four panels of steel digging into the teen's skull with all the ferocity of an alligator. Something that wasn't going to let go if its life depended on it, something that likely applied completely.

"_**GRRRRRRRRRRRNN... RRAAARRRRRRNNNN!**__**" **_Snarls continued... Blood dripped from between the jaws but as a third sound cut through the air she turned. "_**RER-f!**_" A yelp shot through the air, Seto bringing her swords up just in time to watch Ota rip the dog from his now sliced and bleeding face with a scowl.

"You... You scum," he hissed, approaching the dog with a snarl. "I'm going to-"

This was her chance. _**"AERO!"**_ Rather than a blade Ota's face and body were met with a solid blast of air, the force alone enough to send him flying into the fog and out of sight. Attacking her... Tch! Did he honestly expect to succeed she thought with a growl, the dog at the side 'rebuilding' its head with a moan as she continued to stare into the foggy scene.

"Heh... Nice one, Se- ...Kaiba," Jonouchi corrected and shouted from the side, a few of the others staring incredulously as the woman gave no response.

"'Nice one'," Anzu repeated dully, Seto in the meantime approaching the area her opponent fell with slow caution, "I don't think that's really a good thing to say when it's Honda's bod-"

_**-RRRRNNNNNNN-RNNNN-**_

Rumbling tore through the air, the group paling as they turned to the source. Um. Shit. A light shone through the fog, Seto hurriedly jumping to the side as a bike spun and screeched out from the wreckage, narrowly missing the woman as she grit her teeth. "Gh- Ota..!"

A bang sounded through the air... "_NII-SAMA,_" her brother cried, appearing almost as stone as the woman looked up from the ground. He'd been moving to charge with his wakizashi, the blade now frozen in his very hands. "_NII-SAMA, I can't-_" Petrification...

"Mokuba..!" The woman turned to charge the bike, only for the following events to move too quickly for her to effect them.

"You took something of mine," Ota called out, snatching the immobilized boy under his arm as the bike spun and revved, "Now allow me to take something of yours!" What... WHAT...!

"You... YOU-" The engine was already roaring as she charged, tearing off through a tunnel at the side as she stared. "Ota..!" Shouts were already echoing through the air in rage... The others charged off to the ruined tunnel Ota had shot down, shouting threats as they squinted into the dark. Nothing, she told herself, shaking her head... That would do _nothing_, she needed something that would _move_- ...Aha... "Take my brother will you," she growled, pushing the rubble from the side of where she'd previously fallen and sheathing her blade. Stones and steel slats were pushed aside as she uncovered a second bike, throwing her leg over the side and taking the handles in her grip. "Bastard... I'll make your death as painful as possible..!" Simply gripping the handles the vehicle roared to a start, the others before her hurriedly jumping to the side as she tore off in the same direction as her brother's captor. "OUT OF MY WAY," she snarled, taking off. "Unless you want to get run over!"

"A-AH- Wait, S- Kaiba," Jonouchi shouted from behind, shouts already fading as she chased after her brother's captor in the darkness of the tunnel. "WAIT! _HEY!_"

There was only one thing on her mind as the voices faded completely, her motorcycle exiting onto an enormous bridge towering above a city scape. The man ahead of her, regardless of identity, had her brother. And so help her she thought, the vehicle glowing with energy as she charged up an attack, the moment she saw that person he was dead.

* * *

"KAIBA," Yugi shouted, frowning as the bike vanished off. The shouts of the others bounced across the walls of the tunnel as their friend disappeared, the boy falling silent as he stared off. "Gh... This..."

"It looks like they... Looks like they really did it," Otogi whispered, lowering his gaze as they stared through the tunnel with similar expressions of despair. "They took his body..."

"But then what happened to his real one, or even just his mind," Anzu asked, turning to the others in worry. "I mean... If each of the big five became their deckmasters," she continued, "Then how will we find him? Honda isn't dueling any more..."

"Not t' mention tha' they aren't r'stricted to th' deckmasters," Katsuya muttered, the others turning as he explained somewhat. "If they were," he was muttering, "I wouldn' have seen Oka b'fore th' duel..." Not to mention everything _else_, he told himself with a wince.

Barking came from the side, the group turning as a 'dog' looked back from the ravaged battle scene before them. Just a small brown puppy, with an odd mask over it... "Ah... Hey... It's the dog that attacked Ota," Anzu noted, not realizing the pale tone that Katsuya had taken upon spotting the creature. This dog...

This was _Noa's dog_..! "Rff! Raof," the dog barked, mask unmoving with each sound despite the otherwise lively body below the collar. "Aof!"

Shizuka smiled at the dog's evident cheer, bending down as the puppy bounded over with a wagging tail. "Awwww... It's so cute," she said with a laugh, scratching the puppy's back as it brushed and pawed at the woman's robes. "I wonder what it's doing here..."

What it was doing... Nothing good, that was for sure. "Must be another program," he muttered, swallowing as he narrowed his eyes to step forward. "Somethin' Noa made..." Something he made to spy on them, or worse... "Hey, get away from it," he added worriedly, pulling his sister back as the girl frowned. "Tha' thing ain't somethin we can trust, believe me!"

"He's got a point," Otogi added, the dog in question whining as it lay on the concrete before them, tail drooping miserably. "Anything is possible here after all," he continued in warning, "And if we aren't careful, someone else might... Well..." He trailed off, the others nonetheless nodding in agreement despite the puppy's growls as an again morose feeling fell over the crowd. "In any case," the teen muttered, "The safest bet would probably be to leave it alone, and just walk away..." Leave it be?

"Heh! I can do y' one over," the blond beside him chuckled darkly, cracking his knuckles as he stowed his staff under his arm, "Le's jus' kill th' thin' righ' here," he offered with a frown, "So we don' have t' worry abou' it followin' us!"

The others seemed to stare with mixed reactions to the idea, Yugi in particular looking as though his lighter half was busy reprimanding him for possibly agreeing. "Ah-! Nihan," Shizuka growled, the dog in question stepping back with a nervous whine as her brother approached. "Don't!"

"W- Why not," he protested, watching as his sister scowled and blocked his path.

"Nggggh... Honestly; it tried to save Kaiba-san didn't it," she asked, the dog's tail appearing to wag with praise as the others frowned. "It's probably an ally if you think about it like that!"

"I suppose that's true," Yugi muttered, lowering his gaze in confusion. "But just why would Noa program an 'ally'..?"

Shizuka shrugged, before turning back to the dog with a comforting smile. "Hahhh... Let's just not worry about that now, alright," she asked, gesturing to the puppy with the same slightly depressed looking expression on her face. "It hasn't tried anything yet, and if Noa was attacking us," the girl continued in defense, "He'd have probably done it by now..." Well... That was true too, but this really wasn't- "Now... Come here koinu-chan," she called out sweetly, the dog bounding over with evident ease despite what was probably a degrading name.

"Rao! Raof, raof!" A 'tentacle' of sorts slipped through the cracks of the puppy's mask, licking the sides of Shizuka's face as she squealed.

"Ah! H-Hey," she protested, the taller ones of the group each tensing in response. "That tickles! Stop that!"

The dog merely 'smiled', eyes shining through the mask as it barked cheerfully. "Rao!"

Gh... Stupid dog... "Tch... You're lucky Shizuka said something," he muttered darkly from the side, "Else you'd be a dead dog..."

At this Yugi shook his head from the side, smirking somewhat at the exchange before dropping it for a frown. The fog in the air had finally cleared, leaving nothing but the layers of smog above. As it was, rubble littered the ground, leaving nothing but the tunnel. "We should find some sort of transportation," he announced, the others turning as he continued on. "Both Kaiba and Mokuba have motorcycles after all; we won't catch up if we chase them on foot."

The others blinked, Otogi frowning as he looked around and nodded. "True," he said after a moment, "We'd definitely stand more of a chance if we did that... But I don't see anything here," he continued, crossing his arms.

"I don't even know how Kaiba found that bike," Anzu added, frowning before a shout came over the air.

"Hey," a familiar and somewhat childish hissing voice called from the side. "Think this will work?" Oh? The group turned, following the shout to where Ren appeared to be sitting on a silvery-green machine, looking rather proud about having found something while they were talking. "I mean... It's not like I know much about trucks or anything, but seeing how a bike is more for one or two people..."

The teens blinked, Shizuka coming over with the dog in her arms as they stared at the mostly covered truck. "Oh... It's a 'Delta'," she muttered, Katsuya and Yugi both turning with raised eyebrows.

"Ah... A 'delta'," he repeated, his sister nodding in response.

Otogi was the one to answer despite this, moving closer as Anzu took Ren back on her arm. "A three-wheeled car," he explained, attempting to clear a few bits of rubble from the machine with a grunt. "Specifically, a vehicle with two wheels in the back and one in the front. Though this looks more like a trike," the teen muttered, before heaving a large boulder from the pile and dusting his hands off to stare. "Oh- And it's got a trailer too," he shouted back, the others looking to each other in silence.

It did indeed have a trailer, and it looked as though without it the device would simply not run. Attached to the 'car', a row of benches lined the sides, along with what looked to be an unfolding canopy and screen of sorts. For the front, there was simply the controls for the device. "Hahh... A trailer... Then we can all take the same thing," said Anzu, her partner staring at the machine with slight curiosity.

The serpent appeared to be looking at the front in particular, dangling somewhat from his partner's hand before turning. "Well.. That's great," Ren decided, "Really. But who's going to drive the thing?" Um...

A few of them looked back to Yugi, the boy raising an eyebrow before bringing his hands up in defense. "...I'm... Pretty sure I don't know how," he muttered, giving an awkward cough as he looked away.

"Well I know _I _don't have a licence," Anzu muttered, the others turning to Katsuya as he blinked. Wait hang on...

"E-Eh! Me," he asked almost incredulously, the others continuing to stare.

Otogi nodded, face kept rather blank. "I'm still working on my licence," he said rather plainly, shrugging as he crossed his arms. "But Honda mentioned that you and he both drove illegally a few times in late middle school, I think it was something about a cross-wired truck..." AH- He swore not to tell anyone about that!

Too late though. "You did _what_ nihan," Shizuka hissed, the dog in her arms giving a nervous whine as the girl tensed. "I thought you told me those burns you had came from a pot," she continued, the blond vividly remembering the letter he'd sent the girl shortly after that trip.

"N-Nyhh... It was only once," the blond protested nervously, "An' we really needed th' transport," he shouted in defense, the ghost in his mind chuckling at the unease of the situation.

"_A nice hole you have there chabar... Very 'roomy'_." Oh stuff it already!

The blond sighed, moving toward the machine to help unbury it as the ghost did as requested. "Hahhh... Alrigh," he decided, looking at the single person car at the front as he pushed aside a few bricks of concrete, "I guess I c'n drive this thing... Looks pretty weird though," Katsuya muttered as he attempted to pull it out, "More like a bike..."

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Yugi assured him, joining in with the others as the trailer was slowly cleared out and freed from the rocks. "For now," he continued seriously, "We need to focus on possibly locating Honda's 'new' body..."

Right... The others nodded, helping to pull the 'truck' out to the clearer parts of the road. "He has to be around here somewhere," Otogi said after a short moment of pushing, the dog in Shizuka's arms barking in response as their decided driver took his seat. "Though we could always try taking Ota out; that might work..."

"Aof! Aouf, raouf," the dog barked somewhat loudly, shaking his head. "Raof!"

Barking... That barking was really, _really_ annoying... "Hey... Can y' get that dog t' stuff it," Katsuya asked, rubbing his ears as Shizuka shrugged from her place at the back of the trailer.

"Sorry," she said with a shrug, placing her spear at the side as the others followed on board. "I don't think dogs are good listeners really..."

"Well tell it I'm goin' back on th' deal if it keeps goin'," he responded as the others took their seats, the blond closing the door on his 'car' with a growl, "It's distractin'!"

"R-Rnnf," whined the puppy in response, Shizuka scowling.

"Gh! Nihan!"

As the engine started up all arguments were either put on hold or petered down after that, the others gripping the sides of the truck from their seats as the headlights on the vehicle lit up a clear path before them. "Heh... Alrigh'," he said with a smirk, pulling back on the gear shift with a dark grin, "Le's see how fast th's baby can go!"

In hindsight, he probably shouldn't have said something like that before pushing down on the gas.

"W-WOAAAAAA-"

"NIIIII-HAAAAAAANNN!"

"JONOUCHI," the others cried, clinging to their places as Ren flapped from the truck canopy in the wind with wide eyes.

"I... REGRET... NOTHING," he forced out, fangs digging into the canopy cloth as he screamed. "AWWWWWWW YEAAAAAAAA!" Well.

At least someone was enjoying this, he thought with a grin. Now...

Off they went!

* * *

"Ota... Funny seeing you here..."

There was nothing funny about the situation, truth be told. That much was likely obvious of course, but even so, as Ota screeched to a halt on the bike, unconscious and immobilized young boy in his arm, the line still fit the situation... Even if he'd already known it would happen. The scenery melted away around them as the bike came to a complete stop, the body of Honda Hiroto stepping off from the machine to swallow. "N-Noa-sama," Ota muttered, tensing as they were left floating in darkness before each other. "Hn..." Mokuba's form was misted out from the teen's arm, the bike vanishing completely as the boy was left on a couch without armor to the side. The former technology head found himself staring, looking to the 'room' at the side before swallowing nervously. "...I... Noa-sama..."

"Just what did you think you were doing," Noa asked darkly, crossing his arms as he looked over to the former board member with a scowl. "Knocking this boy out and taking him hostage..?"

Ota swallowed, bowing his head as he winced. "I... That woman took _everything_ from me," he hissed, not looking up for a few moments as he shook with rage. "My work... My _family_... Even with this body," he continued with wide eyes, looking up as he shook his head, "I'll never see my children again! I'll never see them go through school, not in the way I should!"

"And that's all very upsetting," he continued, quite uncaring for the situation, "But _why_ did you take _Mokuba_?"

"I wanted to take something from her," Ota responded, eyes narrowing with anger as he steadied his resolve. "To force her to feel this pain..."

"So you planned to kill him then," Noa 'asked', the teen before him showing little response to the idea as he shook his head.

"No- just her," he explained, narrowing his eyes as he frowned. "The boy would just be bait... That," Ota added darkly, "And a vessel for one of my own 'friends'..." Hahhh...

And here he'd hoped he would have another 'toy' to play with... Well, he supposed it would be difficult to re-program that 'computer' while everyone carried it around... "As I recall," Noa said with a sigh, shaking his head, "We made an agreement that there would be no such measures involved in this."

"My partners hadn't lost all but one of their matches at that time," Ota countered, fists shaking as he continued with his argument. "This is all I can do," he protested, "They're the only ones who will still know who I _am, _the only ones who can safely know and not consider me completely insa-"

"DON'T MAKE EXCUSES," the boy roared, voice rumbling and echoing as his 'pawn' flinched with fear. The air seemed to rumble with his rage, thundering with each word before it settled into silence yet again. "Really... How _shameless_..." How perfectly useless and shameless... "I'll be taking the boy," he said plainly, snapping his fingers as he and Ota were both returned to the highway and his motorcycle. "As for you... Your 'contract' has been altered. From now on you can consider your days in this world numbered," Noa warned seriously, "As until I finish what I want here," the boy explained "You will be left to wander the same realm as your former opponents. And while I'm sure you would ordinarily enjoy that," he continued on with a frown, "Your immunity has been revoked; if the 'real' Honda Hiroto defeats you in combat," Noa told him, the teen before him paling, "You _will_ lose this body you worked so hard to earn... Have I made myself clear," he pressed, expecting no other response than 'yes'.

Ota tensed, gritting his teeth as he nodded. "Gh... Crystal," he muttered, his 'employer' smirking as he made to take his leave.

"Good... Safe travels then," he sneered, fading back to his 'room' as his final words echoed about his 'pawn'. "Don't let the dog bite..."

"Gh..! The_ dog_..!"

As Ota's unnerved and face faded from view Noa turned, moving toward the couch where Mokuba's body lay. He was unconscious for the moment. 'Asleep' rather, thanks to a second 'effect' bullet from Ota's weapon. A handy bonus he'd received from taking a body with the same class as his own... However this would easily be repaired he told himself, taking a seat on an opposite couch as both Kisara and Seraph appeared at the sides in silence. Easily... It was time to wake up, he thought mentally, hands folding in his lap.

It was time... "H...Hnnn..." Aha...

There they were. "Feeling alright," he asked with apparently genuine worry, the boy across from him wincing as he held his head in pain.

"Ung... Where..." The boy's vision slowly cleared, his head turning before a shout broke into the air. "AH! You-," Mokuba exclaimed, pulling back on the couch with wide eyes before looking himself over. There was nothing but the skin-tight, black suit of the stereotypical ninja, mask and gloves removed along with his armor. All of his weapons were removed, leaving nothing but an almost 'Seto'-like outfit, or even one meant for Yugi in its wake. "Gh- Where is this," the boy demanded, narrowing his eyes into a glare as he turned on his captor. "And what did you do to my sister!"

Noa chuckled, shaking his head as he crossed his legs on the couch. How angry... "Really," he said with a sigh, giving the boy a slight shrug. "I'm the one who _saved_ you... There's no need to be like _that_."

"Gh... I think there's plenty of reason," the boy responded, quickly finding himself unable to leave the couch despite his efforts. "Seeing how you started all of this in the first place..!"

Hn! And of course, the full story was never there... "So that's what you think now..." What everyone thought... Only natural he supposed. But really... "That almost hurts," he admitted despite the smile on his face, again shaking his head as he sighed. "I brought you here as a member of my family, as my 'brother'... I only meant to treat you as my guest, to make you feel at home."

This only served to further unnerve the boy however, Mokuba pulling back against the couch cushions with narrowed eyes. "Family," he asked incredulously, shaking his head in fear. "The only family I have is my sister and my friends! You're no member of my 'family'," he spat. "Don't even say that!"

Not a member of his family? If he only knew... But later, he told himself. Later. For now... "Ahhh yes... Your 'sister'," Noa muttered, glancing to the side as a large screen appeared to the side. The couch he sat on vanished as he stepped off from his seat, moving to the side to allow Mokuba a clear view. "Just how much about you does she _know_ really..? Or care about you," he continued, narrowing his eyes. "As I recall," the boy went on, "She almost had you killed! Not at all the behaviour one would expect from a _sister_... Why, you wouldn't even expect it from a passing friend, let alone a family member..."

Hnhnhnhnhn... Mokuba merely grit his teeth in the fact of the words, sitting up with a growl as he threw up a hurried and failing defense. "That... That was 'before'," he countered, shaking his head, "Not 'now'; things are different now... She remembers who she was," he continued with wide eyes, "She remembers the kind of person she really is! She's not living the life that Gozaburo forced her to any more!"

"Mnnnnn..." The boy shook his head, sighing almost in amusement as he moved toward Mokuba's couch. "Of course... Of course not... After all," Noa continued in a seemingly 'off-handed' fashion, "Why would someone as 'powerful' as your sister be afraid of anything _right_," he asked, his guest tensing at the question. "Hnnn... How about we both watch a video," he decided, taking a seat as his two programs did the same to flank the boys. "I'll even introduce you to my creations; you've already met Kisara," he said plainly, the girl bowing her head as Mokuba drew back in fear, "And this here is Seraph... He was your 'Katsuya-nii's guide," he explained, the winged boy also bowing as their guest stared in slight unease. "Now-"

"Where's my sister," Mokuba growled, not wasting another moment as he flinched away from Noa's arm, the boy having moved to pull him close. "I want to go back to her, to tell her I'm alright," he pressed, Noa momentarily pulling the arm back. "So where's my sister?"

"Your sister..? Hn..." A smirk came over his face, and with the wave of his hand an image appeared on the screen, an image of a night-time highway. "Why don't we take a look..."

* * *

As the motorcycle drove through the bridge the stars themselves had faded from view, leaving her under a blank night sky and an enormous moon. All she could see besides this however, even with that one light, was the passing supports for the railing at the side as her bike ran at top speed through the darkness. There was nothing in sight that she could see or hear, and not even the sound of another bike met her ears as she drove, arms locked in an automatically developed 'armor' from the machine that had wrapped about her head and face. Even with this however, she could see what lay below. Beneath her and the bridge lay numerous buildings, surrounded on the sides by immense cliffs with countless walls and cave entrances. A city, an earth and sea-bound city, that much was clear she told herself. An almost impossibly advanced city she could even say, with the motorcycle she drove moving with more glide and speed than anything she had even dreamed in the 'real world', and the buildings below seeming to radiate with a bizarre mix of renaissance and post-modernism in terms of style. The bike even seemed to match it in that regard when she thought about it. It was loud, true, but there was no 'exhaust', no 'smog' of any kind or pipes to release it, allowing the machine to gain an even smoother appearance than it could ever have had in reality as it ran. There was nothing else there... There was merely the bike and the road, the device moving with such a speed that it was almost as though her very rage propelled it forward.

And then she saw the man. The tall man standing with his back to her in the shadows, the man who now blocked her path. "Gh- MOVE," she shouted, the cinder blocks at the side of the bridge forcing her into a single narrowed path as she hurriedly began to activate the 'un-lock' codes on the bike. The man, cloaked in a trench coat and hat said nothing as he turned to stare, merely watching her through a gas mask of sorts as she swallowed. Damn it... "I SAID MO- GH-!" With added rage the bike sprang forward, even as she pulled at the brakes and attempted to stop.

-_**SCREEEEEEEEE**_- Shit... SHIT!

"GH- HAGH!" The bike skidded past the edge of the bridge as the man faded from existence where she'd hit him, Seto leaping off to grab at the bridge above as the device clattered below. Damn it... That man had completely obscured the bridge's gap, she hadn't been able to even guess that she would be driving to her death..! If it hadn't have been for that last minute decision... "Hah... Hah... Ngh... Gh..." Fingers slipped somewhat on the stone as she struggled to hold on, biting her lip and looking down at where her bike had fallen. Well... There went _that_ option... Stupid, moronic old man... "Gh... Bastard," she muttered, managing to pull one arm up as she winced before falling back. "...Nh!" Seto looked up with an initial glare, eyes widening as the mask-wearing man loomed above her with no visible emotion in place. "...You..." Him..!

"_Hn... __**Hypnos**__,_" the man muttered, Seto's eyes abruptly beginning to close over against her will. H-Hyp... That was... Sleep wasn't... Hn... No... No, she told herself as her grip began to fail, she couldn't... "_Sleep, 'Ojou-sama_'... _And enjoy the ride. Hnhnhnhnhn..._" That voice... No...

No... As her fingers slipped from the bridge, her final thoughts were that of rage, only to be pacified by the sudden exhaustion that numbed her feeling of collapse as she fell backward. That... That voice... She knew who that voice was... It was...

It was...

Nn...

...

... ...

"Ngh! Aah! Hah... Hah... hah..." Seto's eyes flew open with a jolt, the woman pulling herself up from the ground with wide eyes and looking herself over in a panic. Sword was there, armor was there... ...Hat was gone but no matter. And the bridge, she noted as she looked up was...

Up... There...

Her eyes widened further with incredulity, the woman pulling herself to her feet to stare. She... She'd fallen from that distance and survived..! "What the hell..." How was that even possible..!

"I see you've awakened," a voice muttered plainly, Seto jumping to her feet as the familiar voice of her former 'assistant' came to the air.

Even without the face, it was easy to tell who she was dealing with right now. "Gh- Daimon," she hissed, drawing her blade as the bizarrely tall figure stood before her. "It would figure you're the one I have to fight first..." Everyone else had fought already... But Daimon seemed to be just the sort to wait at the end for someone to come to him. Unless... "...Assuming we _are_ fighting," she muttered, holding her stance with narrowed eyes as the man chuckled.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Correct," Daimon stated, the gas mask on his face making him look decidedly 'World-War soldier'-like in appearance. "It's been a long time, 'Ojou-san'... I assume you've been doing well..?" Hn! The woman ground her teeth, refusing to grace the man with an answer. Again with the 'ojou-san'... It was beginning to really... _Really_, grate her nerves...

"You..." There was no time for this bullshit. None at all. "Where's Mokuba," she spat, the man before her merely staring through the glass 'eyes' of his gas mask in apparent obliviousness.

"Oh... Mokuba," he repeated, Seto continuing to snarl. "Hnnn..."

Bastard... "Your 'friend' Ota kidnapped him," the woman growled, shifting her stance as her sword gleamed in the moonlight, "Now where is he!"

Daimon shrugged, shaking his head before clapping leather clad hands against each other and standing from what had apparently been a seated position. The man was _extremely_ tall, or whatever form he'd taken at least was. As to what 'monster' that could possibly be... Seto held her gaze, listening as the man sighed and stared her down. "Really... Roping me into such dirty business. Someone with a child in his arms did pass me on the bridge, but you know me... I don't really care for _children,_" he hissed, soon to be opponent clenching her fists.

"You... Resorting to _kidnapping_ of all things," Seto growled, pacing cautiously forward as her opponent watched. "What did you do with him?"

"_I_ did nothing," the man chuckled darkly, again shaking his head. "It's Noa-sama you should be worried about... There's no telling what he'll do now that he has his own 'little brother to play' with after all! Hnhnhnhn..." His own- This... This...

That couldn't be why..! "Bastard!" The woman charged, only to swing her sword at empty space as her opponent seemingly teleported to the clearing behind her. Seto reeled on the spot, cape flapping in the dull wind about them. "You-"

"Hn! You'll have to do better than that," her opponent taunted, adjusting the cap on his head before continuing to chuckle. "As I recall," he went on, "You were more of a 'kick' type of person... Seeing you with a blade is rather interesting to say the least, let alone anything concerning the upper body..."

Interesting was it?"Not as interesting as it will look when it's embedded in your skull," she muttered lowly, eyes flashing as she turned on her opponent completely. This should work... "Hn... _**FIRE,**_" she roared, a wide plume of flames escaping from her mouth as she faced her opponent. As the fires wrapped around him however a sheet of glass seemed to appear, Seto's mouth locking shut with surprise as he heard the man whisper...

"_**Reflect.**_" Rel-

"Gh!" The fires she'd sent forward rushed over her body, sending wracking pains through her entire form as she was forced to one knee. "Hhhh... Hhhh..." The woman bit back a scream, digging her sword into the ground for support as she looked up with a snarl. "_You..._"

Daimon merely sighed, crossing his arms from where he stood on a nearby cement ruin. "Our fight hasn't even started yet Ojou-san... You need to mind your manners; after all," the man warned darkly, chuckling entering the air, "If you expect to see your little brother again, you have _me_ to go through." Gh...

Damn it all..! "You..." This, all of this... It was ridiculous. "Completely ridiculous..! You think you stand a chance against me," she spat, already returning to her feet as she pulled the blade from the ground, "With the skills you have now?"

The man shrugged, waving off the topic as though the question meant nothing at all. "Perhaps not in an ordinary duel," he stated clearly, a fierce wind beginning to blow through the sea-side city, "But I've already proven capable of sending anything you send my way back on its head. Now..." He snapped his fingers, expression unseen from behind the mask as a dome of light shimmered into existence around Seto. "Seeing how this wouldn't be at all entertaining if I were to merely pummel you with these spells, how about we get things started? I have my deck," Daimon explained, holding his hand out in an open and 'inviting' gesture despite all identities and purposes, "Now you choose yours; God cards are excluded of course," the man stated plainly, "But you'll find all you need for your deck in there... And I'm sure you remember how the system works from _last time_," he continued, his opponent narrowing her eyes in response.

Hn! As though she could forget... The dome of cards hovered and glowed around her almost warmly, the woman quickly and silently picking her cards with a growl as one by one the cards vanished from sight. One, two... Five, ten... Twenty... Forty... And they were all there with that last number, the dome vanishing in a flash as she continued to hold her sword in her free hand. "I'm done," she growled, opponent nodding in response.

"And your deckmaster," he asked, the woman merely snatching at one of the cards as they began to appear before her.

"Also done," she responded coldly, the red of her leather armor replaced with black as it was lined with bone gauntlets and plates rather than leather covering. "I've chosen the Lord of Dragons... And yours," Seto asked, slowly shifting into a more advantageous stance as the duel start approached.

Her opponent chuckled, Seto narrowing her eyes as the man shook his head. "Well... I'd love to tell you," he told her, shrugging as he again adjusted his hat, "But I'm afraid that's a surprise; I don't think you'd be able to stand it if I told you now... Hnhnhnhnhn..."

Unable to 'stand it'? Oh _please_... The last time she was 'here' she'd given herself fifth and sixth degree burns on her own arm, she could probably 'handle it'. "Hn!" Moron... "As though that could possibly happen," the woman sneered, expression tightening as her opponent seemed to 'mist' up the sides of the nearest building and out of reach. "You're just afraid of what this 'blue fire' will burn now that you've given it fuel... Try me," she roared, rushing forward to hop along the sides of a sky-scraper's wall as her opponent hovered ahead of her and laughed. "STAND AND FIGHT!"

"Very well then," her opponent announced, still flying back along the air as he expertly dodged each strike the woman attempted to land on his form. "I set a monster in defense and set two cards," he stated, the three panels of glass appearing before him, "End turn!"

Hn! Hers then! "Spear Dragon," Seto announced, kicking off the glass panels to briefly fall back as the pterodactyl like beast appeared from the air and clouds themselves. The monster soared upward with the woman on her back, Seto's blade pointed downward for her 'move'. "Attack the defense monster," she ordered, the monster rising high above the skyline of the city as she stood at its head. "_HAAAAAAAA-AH!_" Metal clashed with metal as glass shattered behind her, both herself and the spear dragon diving down for alternate reasons as she kicked off the monster's head. Pushing her blade against the leather coated hands she froze however, eyes widening as slight sparks flew from the contact in those split seconds. "Gh- Meta-"

"_**Hurricane,**_" Daimon stated calmly, his opponent squeezing her eyes shut in the attack as the sensation of knives spread across them. Sharper... Sharper...

"GHN!" A blast of wind forced the woman back as they were shot from both hands, Seto flipping onto her feet in mid air before holding her sword up in defense against whatever else came. "Tch... Of all things..." The woman looked over the hand in her mind, slowly circling her opponent as they faced each other on the roof. "I set a card face down," she continued, already forming the virus strategy together, recovering her strength as she stared at where her opponent stood. "End turn!"

"Hm! You're too _naive_..." Naive? The term had Seto frozen just briefly in shock and confusion as the man continued, Seto squinting as she attempted to locate the man in the storm. "The monster you destroyed was Hiro's Shadow Scout after all," her opponent was saying, form slowly becoming more visible in the fading gale, "And you know what that means..."

The woman frowned, a 'notice' appearing in the back of her mind. 'Hiro's Scout'... Typical. "Hn!" Three cards were drawn in the back of her mind, 'Double Snare' and 'Magic Reflector' both sent to the grave thanks to their status as spells. "You don't need to remind me what each card does," she spat, bringing her sword back to her side as she charged the man yet again again, "It matters little any ways!"

"Does it now," the man asked from a distance, holding his place in the oncoming strike "Your attack activated my card after all! 'Solemn Wishes'," Daimon explained, his second panel of glass vanishing into a shimmering dust that faded about him. "Granting me 500 life points as each time I draw a card. And of course," he continued, any damage done to the metal beneath his gloves repairing instantly as he 'swooped' out of the way of the attacking woman's strike, "While that takes effect, I'll be setting another monster and card."

Hn! Like that mattered... Briefly she halted her attack, watching her opponent re-appear across from her at another end of the 'city' with a scowl. "I summon Giant Germ," Seto called out, the air materializing into the large amoeba at her side, "And in addition," she announced, hopping the gap between buildings as she brought up her blade in a spearing motion. "Spear Dragon enters attack mode and targets your monster!"

"Activate trap," Daimon suddenly announced as the woman fell toward his lower roof.

"_GH!_" The woman was abruptly slammed back by some force against her face, body smashing through the window of a lower level building before she stood to cough. "Hn... Agh! ...What..!" Something on her face... What was... The woman pulled at what had locked around her face, opponent's voice coming close as the man seemed to fly near. "Gh... Where..." Where was...

"The _**Mask of Perplexity**_," Daimon's echoing voice announced, "Obscuring your vision for one turn..." Great..! Just wonderful, she growled mentally, giving up on the straps to look down at her surroundings. Shards of glass revealed on her face the beaked plague doctor's mask of the medieval European times, dull brown leather somewhat clashing against the black and white of her current costume. But while the shards of glass revealed this, she could barely see a thing besides that...

She still had an attack to made though she told herself, narrowing her eyes. She wanted this over as soon as possible after all, and nothing was stopping that! "Tch... Resume the attack," she ordered, barely recognizing the form of her spear dragon as she hopped on its back to charge forward. "And just to make sure it connects," she continued, rising into the air as her cape furled behind her in the wind, "I'll be using this; _**AERO**_!"

-_fsst!_- The glass across her mask cleared with that very word, and all at once the woman froze. Before her the blast of air had cut through a target yes, but it had not been her own. "What..."

"Hnhnhnhn... Looks like you attacked your own monster," Daimon laughed, smoke hissing free of the destroyed Giant Germ. "Your 'failsafe' only dug you further into a hole!" Tch...

True... She'd killed her own monster, but nonetheless! "At least you're still the one who suffers," she sneered, poisonous gas beginning to fill the air from the destroyed cell as she leaped forward from the dragon. "Seeing how the Germ's destruction gives me both another identical germ, deals five hundred points of damage to you, and activates my trap in the process," she snarled, swinging her blade forward as the metal proved itself as a separate medium of attack. "_**FIRE!**_"

Even as the flames caught onto the fog and incinerated all in sight, her opponent continued to chuckle. "_Is that what you think now,_" he asked, voice faded and distorted as she landed to a stop on the top of the building she'd charged toward. All at once the poisoned fog cleared, and from the side came a beam of energy that sent her skidding through the nearest building as she attempted to brace herself with her sword and stop the fall.

"GH- Nggghaaaaa!" Face down she landed, pulling up her blade to use as a hand hold as she grimaced and turned to the side. "Gh... Damn it..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Have you guessed who I am yet," Daimon laughed, his opponent throwing her mask to the side as it evaporated into smoke. This monster... The woman narrowed her eyes as the flaming figure stepped through the hole in the building, gas masked tossed to the side as the fires slowly petered down to reveal ashen clumps and holes in the jacket and hat. This monster..!

CRAP. "Tch... Psycho Shocker," she hissed in shock and anger both, using her sword as support as she pulled herself to her feet and back into a fighting position. This building was going to collapse she noted, looking to the cracking pillars with wide eyes... Two panels of glass appeared at her opponent's side as he set a pair of cards, the woman taking a moment to ponder the effects an attack would have on the building. None of her traps were going to work any more... But more importantly, if she so much as moved this thing would collapse on top of her, ending her life regardless. So how...

How would she fight? "How about a change in scenery," the psycho shocker sneered from the other end of the room, Seto tensing as the field was abruptly replaced with her late 'father's board room. "Don't worry... The memory will expand for us to fight, you won't be able to ruin anything here! I might have spent my time selling weapons with Gozaburo," Daimon went on almost approvingly, "But even I have to admit your talent when it came to this virtual software ojou-chan... And besides that... I've been waiting for this for a long time," he muttered lowly, knuckles cracking as he stared forward through glass lens eyes. "The chance to settle the score with you, to end this once and for all! And all while I show you just what brought us here!"

"Gh-" This memory... The woman's expression tightened, narrowing her eyes as voices muttered around her and the room smoked further into existence. "You..."

"I suppose that talent is why you did it really," Daimon was muttering, the man pacing around the table that appeared as they both stared each other down. "Gozaburo was going to effectively steal your work... He already had in fact," the man continued with a cruel chuckle, "Your programing is so incredibly helpful that even after three years, it's _still_ in use by numerous countries! It's only natural then I suppose, that you would pressure the man into death, with all that he used your precious 'game' for..."

Bringing up this day..! "Bastard," she hissed, remembering the event well enough as past selves and images hovered before them.

'_Starting today,_' her 'father' had told her, sitting across from the girl at the far end of the table, '_Your lessons are over. You have now __surpassed__ my expectations; and I am more than pleased... In fact,_' he'd continued, the present day counterpart momentarily freezing as an employee passed by to bring a case of bills to the table, '_I have a gift...For both of you boys,_' the man continued, Mokuba blinking curiously from behind his sister as they sat in the room. '_Two percent of the company shares for one,_' Gozaburo began, gesturing for his employee to open the case, '_And for another, Seto... Your final test..._' Gh...

The woman snapped herself from her stupor as the pacing continued, eyes narrowing briefly before she swung her sword forward. "Enough with the slide shows," Seto barked, hopping the table to attempt at spearing her opponent with the blade. "I already know what happened after this," she continued, "I don't have any time for reminiscing!"

Daimon merely chuckled, misting out of existence to the other end of the room as the blade approached. "Really now? You don't think there's anything you should be thinking over..?" His opponent frowned, turning to face the 'man' as the image of her younger self being handed a pen and paper came to view. "Tch... That test you were given... It should have been impossible," the monster sneered, the scene shifting as Gozaburo explained it to her past life. "'_Take one hundred million yen and multiply 100 fold in a year_'... Most CEO's can't even _hope_ to do that in the time you did," Daimon spat, "And yet you passed in a way that shocked even your father!"

Jealous was he? The woman snorted, merely narrowing her eyes as the IOU on the table was signed. That man... "The man was never my 'father'," she sneered, slowly approaching her opponent as the room melted into the library classroom with Mokuba, hopping off the table to hold her sword forward. "I personally don't see how he could have ever been one..."

"Really now... You'd be surprised," the man hissed, fading from sight as the woman approaced. "Very surprised..."

"Gh- DAIMON," she snarled, only to have her angered shouts cut short as she turned to meet instead with the rest of her memory. "Tch..."

_'Nii-sama,' _a younger Mokuba asked, voice echoing through the air. This library was a familiar room, she told herself, resuming the search for her opponent in the room. A room she'd taken most of her classes in, a room that she actively avoided now. A room that held almost all of her memories from the house... '_Nii-sama, how are we going to do this,_' her brother had asked that day, sitting on one of the stools in worry, '_He said he'll send us back if we can't make it, I-_'

'_Stop worrying,_' she'd said flatly, Daimon standing at the side for supervision as ordered. '_And watch; you see these cards,_' the girl asked, gesturing to a pile she'd made to demonstrate the very principle of her conversation to the boy,_ 'This test is like a game. Like the stocks, each card represents a portion of power over a company, 1 percent._' she explained._ 'The one with the largest share of the company has complete domination. So,_' the teen had continued, flipping over a number of the cards, until half of the pile 'plus 1' was facing them. '_If you own fifty-one percent of a company, what do you think happens?_'

'_You... No one can stop you, right,_' the boy asked, an almost villainous gleam appearing in Seto's eyes at that time. '_Because you'll always have more!'_

Exactly. '_Right; Daimon,_' she'd ordered, the present day version watching with dull and narrowed eyes as history literally repeated itself before her, '_I want you to find the most profitable company that we can afford to by 51 percent of the shares from and do just that; make sure they are a traditionally minded and employee friendly one before the purchase however, understand?_'

Daimon had tensed, looking to the girl in confusion as he ran the strategy over in his mind. '_All... ALL of it,_' he asked incredulously, the girl again nodding.

'_Yes. And remember... It needs to be employee friendly..._'

The results were seen just soon enough, the memory scarcely changing as the real-version of the woman continued to search for her opponent. Cards had been gathered back up and placed in her 'deck holder book'... Daimon entered the room again near to the middle of the day, to announce that he'd monopolized a company successfully. '_It's a ceramics company with over 300 years of history,_' he'd explained, setting up a powerpoint that had been given to him after the transaction. '_A company that is very well known for their employee support._'

Mokuba's face had lit up considerably with that, staring at the screen with wonder as the building and products both came over the screen. '_Ehhh... C-Cool! You own a company already,_' her brother had cheered, Seto ignoring the boy at the time. '_It's all yours!_'

'_True,_' she'd said plainly, '_But even with this, it would be impossible to multiply our former finances 100 fold from profit alone on time._' At this her brother's face had fallen somewhat, the boy staring in confusion while his sister explained._ 'We're going to use another way to 'win',_' she continued with a smirk, the others frowning. '_Daimon... Show me this company's office..._'

"Your intellect of that time was almost _frightening_," Daimon hissed from behind the woman, Seto jumping as the scene melted to that of the ceramic's building. "To pass this test... ...Absolutely horrifying..."

"Gh- Stand and fight," she snarled in response, swinging her blade forward as the monster knocked the strike back with a metal hand. Behind her she was pressuring the CEO of the ceramics company with an ultimatum. Buy back each of her shares for five times the price, or pay the price of firing each and every one of his employees including himself. "I don't need to remember this... I already know how I passed that test," Seto continued, attempting to attack her opponent's middle only to be thrown viciously to the side. "GH! Just what... Just what is it that you really want," she hissed, pulling herself up from the imitated bookshelf.

"What do I _want_," Daimon growled, avoiding each slice and lunge Seto attacked with as the scene around them began to falter. "What else," he 'asked', "Your _life_! I'm going to kill you here," the man announced darkly, "Ending the existence of the thing that took mine! You earned the quota for that test within ONE DAY," he roared, the scene melting and shifting intermittently with the roofs of the buildings from before as his opponent pushed back to frown. "_ONE DAY_, it was something that Gozaburo had never _imagined_ possible! The sheer ruthlessness you displayed in your tactics was incredible, so much that you managed to scare even HIM!"

Scare him? Oh _did _she now? Seto narrowed her eyes, blade glowing with energy as she held it forward. "Tch... Complain to someone who cares," she spat, leaving the spell within her sword as she spun the handle in her hands. "And continue the fight! Spear dragon attacks," she announced, charging forward once more with her sword, now that the scene had come to its end, "GO!"

With the sound of shattering glass the memory 'broke', a vicious gale blasting Seto back through the windows of the building they'd stood in just prior. The bits of glass faded into the air as she landed across the window of the next building over, and with a difficult to make swallow she pulled herself up to glare toward her opponent.

"Gh-! What on earth..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Cyber Jar's effect activates," Daimon chuckled. "All monsters on the field are destroyed," he announced almost with amusement, "And each player draws five cards, special summoning any level four or lower monsters from their hands..." Hn!

"Fine; Blood Vorse in attack mode, and twin headed behemoth in defense," the woman responded, kicking off from the building to re-direct her trajectory off one of the appearing monsters as it fell. "And as for my attack," she continued, the Blood Vorse following her lead as the Behemoth used his flight to effectively turn himself into a jump platform, "I'll end your life long before you end mine! _**FIRE!**_"

More chuckling came through the air, and instantly the woman paled. "Forgetting something..?" Gh- Shit! "I spent an entire year at your side," Daimon spat, mirror appearing around the man as the flames were redirected to blast his opponent into the roof of the building below, "Don't think I don't know you well enough to fight you! Your reliance on yourself and your monsters is going to bring your end," he snarled, the woman coming to rest on the window ledge of one of the many buildings, "And without trap cards, you're nothing! Activate the spell 'Watch Tranquilizer,'" he continued, Seto grinding her teeth as the Blood Vorse grew lethargic on the building across from her. "The spell lowers a monster's attack by 100 points per level... 400 points in this case, correct," he sneered, opponent shaking with rage as she stared at the monster's location.

Tch... "That's right," she spat, currently lacking the access to a decent foot hold to reach the man across from her it seemed. "But that doesn't mean you win just yet! I... _Believe_ in this deck," she stated clearly, mentally kicking herself for using something her rival would more likely say despite the truth of the term. "And regardless of power, the Blood Vorse attacks," Seto announced, pointing the monster forward as it snarled. "GO!"

"And in that time," her opponent countered, "My monster's effect activates!" W- What- ...Damn it all, she thought bitterly, the effect coming through her mind curtesy of the menu. "The Injection Angel Lily can be given 3000 additional attack points with the sacrifice of two thousand lifepoints," Daimon explained with a laugh, the angel in question just now revealing herself from the clouds above. "So how about we level the score! Go," he ordered, the angel at his side pulling back the plunger on the syringe as she charged, "Exterminate them!"

"_**Hnhnhnhn! Time for an injection**_," the girl announced, sending the needle forward with a smile. The expression abruptly shifted into a crazed and cackling grin, water rising from the seas behind her as she cackled. "_**TSUNAMI**_!" Wh-

This thing used spells too? Water threw the woman flat on her back and against the pent house of the building as it fell from the many feet above her, monster drowned in the attack, as her blade clattered to the ground by the force. "GH... GHAAAAAHHH! Hnggg..!" Stinging... The water stung every inch of her body, as though formed from an acid of sorts rather than the seas. The fluids receding helped the matters little either it seemed; the pain remained even after this fact, and as Seto stood up from where she'd collapsed she could to no more than scowl in range.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... My victory will be both over-powering and complete," Daimon sneered, smirk hidden behind the steel 'mask' that made up the Psycho Shocker's mouth. "The Angel's attack power returns to normal of course," the man added, "But I activate the card Sobek's blessing as well, giving me just as many life points as you lost. ...I'll put another monster in defense mode as well I think," he continued, chuckling rumbling through the air as he did so. "...Before I watch what you do now that is..."

Hn... "Kh! Glk! KACH!" Seto coughed, spitting out the water that had poured down her throat before grabbing her sword from the side with labored breaths. Water had flooded her lungs, burning her insides even now... "Hah..." Alright... The 'Angel' couldn't well attack unless Daimon gave it an extra point bonus she told herself, silently pondering her hand over. Any monster she had could easily defeat it otherwise of course; but the fact still remained that this man had a steady loop of healing and it was working far to well than she would like. This monster would work she told herself, mentally fingering the card as her behemoth came close. It would work perfectly... If nothing else happened. "Tch... I set a monster face down," she shouted in the end, pushing from the edge of the building jumping off her remaining and visible monster to the next one. Regardless of how things went she told herself, she was the type to over come anything given time; she wouldn't be impatient about this, nor would she move without thinking... "My turn is over," she called out plainly. "Do your _worst_..."

"Hn. Not attacking are you," her opponent asked, Seto merely narrowing her eyes in response as she turned to face the monster above her. "Well then... Before it comes to my turn," Daimon stated, "My trap 'Life Absorbing Machine' activates; I gain half the amount of life points I paid last turn," the man explained, standing atop one of the ruined buildings as still more of his wounds and clothing patched over. "And now... Let me show you the most powerful weapon Gozaburo ever made," he laughed, rumbling echoing through the air as Seto found herself griping the building for support.

"Gh-" Shaking continued to peal through the air, weakened buildings toppling over each other as she held onto hers. "..What..!"

"Hnhnhnhnhn... I'm tributing my defense monster to summon a weapon that will have you on your knees in seconds," Daimon roared, gesturing upward as the grumbling increased in volume. "The satellite cannon! Just try and defeat it," he said with a laugh, Seto gritting her teeth as an enormous rocket burst through the ground to send the buildings collapsing on each other, "You won't make it without seven levels..!" Seven... The building she stood in began to topple onto its side, her own part facing the ground as she scowled.

"Tch..! _**Aero**_," she spat as she turned around, blasting the windows in her collapsing building and running through to the opposite side as the concrete itself cracked apart. Despite the difficulty in scaling moving objects she made it easily to the nearest building, staring upward with wide eyes.""Daimon," she sneered, pushing out through the other end, to glare at the man, "Believe me when I say this... I'll do more than just 'defeat' _that_!"

* * *

"I don't believe this," Ren hissed, shaking his head as the trike-truck plowed through the darkness of the cavern. The cavern in question was rather roomy compared to what one would expect; if anything, it seemed to have been carved to specifically form a 'street' of sorts, and while the truck was having no problems with it, the others were just a little confused as to how they'd gotten here. "You're incredible, you know that," the snake was complaining, currently coiled on the one of Anzu's arms closest to Jonouchi's ear. "I mean... You turn onto a straight highway, and you _still_ manage to get yourself lost in a tunnel. You're the worst driver I know Jonouchi, seriously."

The blond in question merely growled at the comment, glancing back at the crowd of passengers he had to address the snake as it flicked its tongue in and out impatiently. "Well, it ain't like this was _my_ idea," he spat, expertly guiding them around another rock fall as rumbling hit the air in the distance. For a moment everyone froze, looking up at the ceiling as it shuddered. After nothing happened however they continued on, picking up the conversation where it left off as they exited the tunnel.

"It might not have been your idea," Otogi was saying on the topic as came out along some cliff-face road, "But we're still not safe here..."

The blond sighed, tensing at the wheel for a moment before a sarcastic grin came on his face. "Y' know Otogi, I could kill us all _righ' now_," he argued, "But I'm not, so stuff it."

Otogi merely rolled his eyes at the feeble threat, before a rumbling boom echoed through the air across from them. A shock-wave passed through the cliff, brakes pulled instantly as the others turned to stare toward the cityscape before them. "A-Ahh... What was that," the dancer shouted incredulously, staring off as the others stood to do the same.

"Oh... It looks almost like a rocket," Jonouchi muttered, the white 'torpedo' like device in question shooting up from a plume of white smoke as he said this. "Hell, I think it is..!"

"I don't think so," Anzu muttered with narrowed eyes, shaking her head as the 'stick' traveled through the night sky before them. "Wouldn't it be wider?"

Honda as well stared, lens eyes shining somewhat as he took in the sight. Yea... You'd think it would be wid- Ah! An image appeared in the back of his mind, the dog reeling in his excitement lest his 'mouth' open up. This... This was..! "Wourf! Rouf, Aourf! Auf! AORF!" A satellite, he tried to shout, tail thumping his carrier's lap. It was a satellite cannon, they always looked like that when they were launched in anime! And... And...

The others ignored him for the most part, Shizuka merely scratching his back as he growled in annoyance. Damn it, listen to him! He was trying to answer their questions! "Auf aouf! Aouf! RrrraOUF!"

"I swear t' god SHUT THA' THING UP," Jonouchi shouted from the front, currently getting the truck back on track now that the satellite excitement was over.

"Ah- Sorry," Shizuka shouted nervously, Honda merely giving a low whine as he momentarily gave into being unable to speak. "But nihan... We should probably look for a safer route," she continued, frowning as she looked over the side of the cliff. "Or at least one safe enough to pick up speed..."

"Oh, that's right," Ren muttered, shifting from where he now sat next to Honda. "We need to find that 'Honda' guy right," he asked, turning up as the serpent coiled comfortably on his partner's lap.

Anzu frowned, narrowing her eyes in slight amusement. "Yes... Because that's _exactly_ what we call him," she muttered, shaking her head.

"Ngnnnnnn..." Damn it, he was right there..! If they could just listen... The snake beside him seemed to 'shrug', turning its back to look over the cliff as Honda continued to stare. "Rouuuur-ouu..." Man, this was just terrible... He couldn't speak, and here was this snake that had everyone's attention easily! Not to mention, this thin- Oh... Honda 'blinked', shuffling closer to the snake in question as he stared There were some odd symbols on its back he noted, a 'screen' of sorts appearing in the corner of his eye as it scanned the source. Hieroglyphs, untranslatable, the screen said. Ohh... Hieroglyphs huh...

Wait. Anzu didn't know squat about Egypt, that was Yugi's field! And seeing how this wasn't Yugi, the only other Egyptians were- The dog abruptly pulled himself to his feet, growling viciously as he began to bark. "Grrrrrrrr... ROU! ROUF RAOUF RAOUF!" The serpent jumped as its 'travel partner' snarled, slithering up Anzu's arm for safety with a yelp. "RAOUF! ROUF! ROUF!"

"A-A-AHH! Koinu-chan," Shizuka shouted nervously, pulling the dog back lest it attack her friend, "What's going on!"

"Gh- W-What's wrong with this thing," Ren shouted, pulled back by Anzu with wide eyes as it attempted to slither further and further backward. "I swear, it's mask even moved!"

"Why is it even barking at you," his partner countered, the serpent shaking its head.

"How am I supposed to know, I- I..!" Malik! It was Malik, he told himself, continuing to snarl despite the problems he had with his mouth. It had to be, it just had to! The gold colour, the purple eyes, the speech patterns... The Egyptian hieroglyphs..!

They were all there, and yet no one had noticed! "ROU-ROU-ROUR! RRRRRRRR-RRAAAAAAAGGGHHHGGGG! RRRAAAA_AAAAAGGHHH!_"

"Ahh... AAAHHH..!" The dog was dropped immediately, the crowd pulling back with screams and shock as the 'thing' rolled over on the ground to continue its attack. The truck was stopped immediately with the screams while the driver turned, and in an instant, he could see why the shouts had been made in the first place. "EE-YAAAHHH!"

"W-WHAT IS IT," Otogi was shouting, knives at the ready as the 'dog', head resembling some sort of twisted form of piranna plan, snarled in rage at the snake in Anzu's hands. "What the hell is this thing!"

"Oh HEL- See, this is why I said t' kill it," Jonouchi shouted, ignoring the snarls from the beast as he hopped into the trailer and grabbed his staff, Yugi as well snatching his boomerang as the dog was met with a set of five weapons. He couldn't bring himself to care that he had blades and sticks in his face though really, and despite the appearance of his face he continued.

"RAAAAAARRRRGGGHHH... RAAAAAAAAAAA!" They were morons..! MORONS! He was right behind them, their enemy was right there! Sitting in Anzu's arms, staring at him now! "RAAAOUR! ROUR, ROU! RAOO_RRRGGGHHHH!_!" Open their eyes..! Listen to him, just _listen _damn it, he was trying to warn them! Li- "Y-erf!"

"Ah- Nihan!" The dog cringed as it was smacked soundly on the head with the staff, panels retreating as it whined and curled up. With ease the puppy was snatched up by the collar, Jonouchi holding it at arms length as he looked to the others with a smirk. No one had really moved to attack the thing before; there was too much shock involved, concerning the formerly passive puppy that had suddenly gone 'rabid'. As the blond grinned however there was silence, the dog still growling as he laughed. "Hey; anyone got a rope?"

Minutes, cut robe hems, and much tying later and the engine was continuing to rumble loudly, growling still coming from the monstrous dog as Ren stared toward the beast from a relatively 'safe' distance. "Sheeeeesh," he muttered, looking decidedly pale for a serpent in the dog's eyes. "This thing's _pissed_!"

The snake's response was a rather loud snarl from the puppy, the others still staring at the thing with wide eyes as it thrashed. "I wonder why though," Shizuka asked, crossing her arms in confusion as she gripped her spear. "He was perfectly fine a moment ago..."

"Ah... How do we even know it's a 'he'," Yugi asked from near the front, a slight frown on his face as he again proved quite easily that it was the 'other' and not the 'real' one. "Is there a-"

"Yes," the girl said rather uncomfortably before the boy finished, the dog in question briefly halting its growls as a few feelers seemed to 'check'. "Yes he does."

And thank god for that, Honda thought to himself with a sigh; he was having a bad enough day as it was, becoming a girl wasn't going to help.

"Hn! Stupid dog," Jonouchi muttered near the front, an angry growl coming from the 'mutt' in question as the panels pulled back once again.

"GRAAAAA! GRAAAHHHGGG RAAAAOUR! _ROUUUUURRRRRGGHH!_" Gh..! He wasn't just a stupid dog damn it, it was HIM! HONDA! ...And... And...

The snarls paused just momentarily, low growling held to keep 'Ren' at bay as he winced. And he was very, _very_ sorry Shizuka. Very sorry. About not having pants. What with being a dog and all. Um...

...Well this was awkward. "Hahhh... I still can't help but feel sorry for the little guy," Anzu muttered, shaking her head with a grimace. "It _did_ seem fine until it spotted your hood Ren..."

"Maybe it thinks he's a threat," Otogi offered with a shrug. "Cobras certainly aren't the 'safest' of things."

"But then why not attack earlier," Yugi asked in response, narrowing his eyes. "Ren's hood wasn't even flared, which is the warning sign for a strike," he continued somewhat knowledgeably, again shaking his head. "No... Something's missing..."

Something like their brains! How were they unable to figure this out! It was MALIK! Malik, Malik, _MALIK_! "RAOUR! ROU-RAOUR! RARRRRRGGGHHH!" Come on! Listen!

"Hey... This is weird..." The dog tensed, pulling back as the sides of his head drew backward with the approaching cobra. The snake had gotten oddly curious as it spotted something among the feelers it seemed, and despite the fact that it would likely lose in a fight against the puppy, Honda wanted absolutely nothing to do with the thing the snake represented.

And of course, they were _worried_ about the bastard, seeing how he'd apparently charmed his way into the group as some kind of 'pet'. "AH- Should you really be going near that thing," Anzu asked, eyes wide as the serpent poked his head forward curiously. "It just tried to eat you didn't it?"

"Eh, I'll be fine," he responded, despite the cautious growls and snarls from the dog as he approached. "Check it out," Ren continued, pulling up enough to match the puppy's height and peer within its head. "This thing doesn't have a throat or anything, and the teeth are too spaced apart to even touch me!" Oh really now? And what if he did this then? "Not to mention, I think I see a- AAH! SHIT!"

"R-REN," the serpents partner shouted, standing from her seat as the flaps on the mouth shut completely around the snake.

"HEY! Spit it out," Otogi growled, pulling at the dog's 'head panels' as it shifted into a completely round sphere. "Come on, cough it up you rat!" The dog merely continued to resist against the pulls as the snake's still visible tail flailed, Yugi and Shizuka both watching in somewhat blank silence for the moment.

"_Holy- It's hollow in here,_" came Ren's voice, the shout echoing somewhat about the metal dome as it seeped out into the air._ "And dark too... But mostly hollow! Lots of wires in this thing,_" he continued, pulling in slightly as the tail briefly stopped moving. "_W-What is this,_" Ren shouted abruptly, the slight calm the others had developed suddenly vanishing. What was it? This was his mouth! NOW DIE DAMN IT! "_Get me outta here! I think it's trying to digest me with tentacles!_"

"We're doing all we can," Otogi answered as he continued to pry at the panels, Jonouchi looking back with grit teeth.

"Gh- Do I need t' come back there," he asked, a few of the others shaking their heads.

"We'll handle it," Yugi responded, Anzu moving past him to help at vicing the dog's head open despite the snarling and occasional tentacle like feeler swatting at them.

"GRRRRRRNNN! RRRRNNNNN!" Like hell he was letting this thing out of his mouth!

"_Gh- Damn it,_" Ren cried, numerous feelers coiling around the serpent's body as he was pulled forward. The snake slithered into the dog's head with nowhere else to go, the others losing their hand holds as the sphere sealed completely. "_CRAP,_" the serpent shouted, his captor tilting his head for a moment as the snake began attempting to escape, "_I'm stuck!_"

The others in the trailer traded odd looks, before nervously looking back to the dog with wide eyes. "A-Ah... Well... What do you see in there," Anzu asked, Honda merely scratching and clawing at his head as the snake tumbled around. Damn it, stop struggling...

"_Lots of wires and teeth trying to kill me,_" the snake shouted bluntly, "_What else! Hey, hang on, this looks like it could be a way out..._" What looks like- AHH!

Augggh! A nauseating feeling tore through his body, the dog sitting up again and shaking his head as it snarled. "GRRRRNNNN! RRNRRRRRR!" Get out of his throat damn it! He was supposed to be impaled by sharp wires and teeth, not climbing around his insides! "GAORRRR... RAORRRR!" He couldn't let him out, but damn it, if this kept up!

"_Holy shit, thing is robotic,_" the snake called out with a jolt, the others blinking confusedly. "_Even the flesh, it's all fake! And hey, what's this thing d-_"

"GHRAAAAAAAAAGGGHH! STOP SCREWING WITH MY THROAT," Honda snarled, mouth flying open as Ren was unceremoniously spat out and thrown to the ground by the feelers. The crowd jumped back as the dog continued to snarl, feelers thrashing angrily as it pawed over as far as the leash could go. "Malik... I'm going to slaughter you... Piece by piece... Until NOTHING is left! GRAAAAAAGGGH-"

The snake instantly froze in place as the dog spoke, the car skidding to a halt as Jonouchi turned. The dog was thrown back against the truck wall by the force, mouth 'flapping' somewhat as it shook himself for the others to stare. "That... What did he say," the blond repeated slowly, moving into the trailer with wide eyes.

"Hahhh... Ahhhhh GAOOOORRR! RAOURR! ROUF! ROUF ROUF ROU! Get over here! Get back here," the dog snarled, pulling at his leash as Ren hurriedly retreated with wide and terrified eyes, "He'll kill you all damn it, just listen to me! It can't be trusted! I don't care if you have no clue what I'm saying, but please, just listen!"

"Oh my god..._ H-Honda-han_," Shizuka whispered, the dog turning as the flags of its 'head' pulled in slightly. Hang on, he thought with a 'frown', panels pulling in further as he stared in silence. They...

They heard... "You guys... Understand me now..?"

The group merely stared, Jonouchi slowly moving from the front as the dog stared toward them. "You... You were righ' here this entire-"

"Gh- That's not important," he barked, the wires and cables from his neck flailing with anger, the reason for his rage quickly brought back to mind as the others flinched. "What's important is the other one that's right in front of you," Honda snarled, "How could you bring MALIK around with you and tie ME up! He's the guy trying to kill us all! What's the matter with this!"

"Well we didn't know it was _you_! I mean, you look like something from a zombie game," Otogi protested, Anzu cutting him off with a scowl.

"_Malik_," she asked incredulously, holding the snake close as it stared with wide and clearly fear-filled eyes beneath the dog's accusations. "You think _Ren_ is the madman that's been attacking people with the Rod?"

Gh... "No, I KNOW he is," the dog snarled, teeth seeming to quiver from inside the panels as he growled. "The hieroglyphs, the gold... He's even got that 'eye' on his head," he continued, Ren seeming to duck under Anzu's sleeve with the words, "It's obvious!"

Anzu shook her head, quite obviously not pleased about the accusations as she stood before the dog. "Alright... Listen _very_ closely... _REN_," she emphasized, holding the serpent close, "Is a fragment of my _SOUL_ created for this _GAME_; he's a familiar, Honda, not some maniac residing in my head!"

"Prove it," Honda growled, still pulling at the leash tying him in place as he reared up on his legs, "I bet you don't even believe your own words!"

"As a matter of fact, I do; the hieroglyphs are the same as the tablet I saw with Yugi just two days ago," she growled, "And seeing how Yugi's puzzle is _gold_ and has that same eye on it," the woman continued darkly, "I'm pretty sure that explains everything else..."

"And what about his eyes?"

The group blinked, staring at the dog a moment as Ren continued to hide. "His... Eyes," Yugi repeated almost blankly, the dog continuing to growl in an unbridled rage.

"Last I checked snakes didn't have purple eyes!"

At this Anzu sighed, before Shizuka bit her lip and coughed. "Actually," she muttered, pulling a few strands of white hair behind her ear, "Quite a few cobras have blue eyes... All it would take is a pigment defect to result in purple ones, and given how pale Ren is compared to real cobras..."

"Real _Egyptian_ cobras," Honda muttered under his breath, before getting rapped over the head by Otogi's foot as he was pushed against the ground. "OW!"

"Hey! Cut it out," he growled, crossing his arms as he took his seat again. "We've been looking everywhere for you and this guy's been helping the entire time!"

"Tha's righ'," Jonouchi called from the front, also glaring. "An' b'sides tha', I didn' see y' tryin' too hard t' tell us who y' were when you were in my sister's arms, y' RAT."

"AH-" ...Well he supposed that was true but... "Gh... What was I going to do, use morse code," he protested angrily, clawing at the air against the leash. "Oh and nice way to treat the guy who just died by the way! Really, I'm so glad this is what happens when you reincarnate!"

The others fell silent at this, Honda quickly backing up into the trailer's corner as he realized the line he'd crossed. Ah... This... "...Well... It's better than getting depressed over things right," Shizuka said, holding her spear from the 'Ruin' transformation close once again. "I mean... A lot has been happening," she continued, the truck starting up again as Jonouchi quietly decided to focus on his driving instead, "And if we don't keep our spirits up..."

The sound of the engine almost instantly died down again as they turned the corner, the others looking up with frowns. "We're stopping already," Yugi asked curiously, narrowing his eyes. "But why are we-"

Jonouchi merely pointed forward with a stiff expression in place, ruined buildings and concrete dust filling the air before them as a figure in red charged into the skies far in the distance. "S... It's Kaiba," he said tonelessly, pulling the 'keys' from the device with a swallow as the others crowded around the front. "S... ...He's fightin' Daimon."

At that time, it didn't occur to anyone that 'Daimon' hadn't been addressed by name just yet.

* * *

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Her opponent was chuckling... Again. Seto growled as she pulled herself up from the soaked ruins yet again, having been blasted back by a series of spells in her latest assault attempt. "It looks as though things are in my favor," Daimon was calling down from his position, the woman merely spitting another mouthful of water to the side as she scowled and glared upward.

Tch... Bastard... She'd just gotten used to being _dry _damn it... "What the hell are you talking about," she growled, opponent standing just meters away from her and in the air to keep barely out of reach. Levitation... Such a cheap trick...

How come she couldn't levitate damn it... Her opponent continued to laugh, rising higher into the air before coming to rest on a far off ledge. "I'm talking about 'life', 'Seto'," the man cackled, his opponent narrowing her eyes at the switch from 'ojou' to 'seto' in annoying ways to address her. "I have three times as much power as you right now... And by sacrificing 2000 to re-activate Lily's effect, I'm going to continue with that," he roared. "SO! How do you like the sound of a flu shot," he snarled, the woman ducking as Lily's '_TSUNAMI_' blasted through the area yet again to send her from the top of the building roof.

"G- NGH..!" Thank god for the defense mode she told herself, soaked cape dragging her back into the rushing waters before she clipped it off and let it sink. Thank god... The woman brought her sword back up, eyes narrowed as she looked up to her opponent from the water's surface. "Tch... The Twin-Headed Behemoth's ability activates," she shouted, pushing off a building's flooded roof as her monster re-appeared in a cloud of water to flap its wings in mid air, "Allowing it to come back with cut power and defense!" As the two headed dragon snarled the woman pulled herself onto it's back, turning forward with narrowed eyes as the next part of her plan came into mind. Now then... When the time was right...

She'd make her move... "Hnnn... A resurrecting monster," Daimon was muttering, arms crossed from his position in the air. "Well, I'll just have to kill it again then," he sneered, the woman below gritting her teeth as her dragon pulled up from the seas. "I set another card, before activating the spell 'Emergency Provisions'; I gain 1000 lifepoints," he explained, the glass of the card scattering around him, "But more importantly, as it's the end of my turn, my satellite gains power as it charges! Not that you can see it of course," the monster added with a smug laugh, Seto merely tapping the back of her own monster as they rose through the air.

The satellite mattered little right now. What mattered now was _this_! "I don't need to see your satellite to attack," Seto growled, preparing to jump from her dragon's first head as she held the second for support. "All I need to do is wipe out your 'heal' deck! HN! _**HEAVY STORM**_," she roared, pushing off from the monster's head as her defensive wall of glass pushed ahead of her in response. Wind howled from the second sheet that sprang from her hand, wrapping around her and pushing her upward as she spoke. "This spell wipes out every last magic and trap card on your field," Seto snarled, winds carrying her forward before a sudden wave cut them short. "And I- Gh- Hn!" Seto grabbed the side of a wall she'd flown past as she began to fall again, turning upward with narrowed eyes as the winds abruptly quieted. "You..!"

"I activated the spell 'Imperial Order'," the monster said plainly, clenching his fists as his opponent began to charge and run up the sides of the sky scraper again. "So long as I pay seven hundred lifepoints each turn, you'll be unable to use spells... Of course, now that it's my turn," he continued, snapping his fingers in the face of the approaching attack, "How about I show you this... The TRUE power of this weapon that Gozaburo left to this world! _**FIRE THE CANNON**_," Daimon roared as his opponent leaped forward, the woman's eyes widening as the clouds above parted while she hung in mid air. She just jumped.

She couldn't move after she jumped. Oh _FUCK-_ "HNAHG-" Glass shattered above her as her defense monster was destroyed, the woman blasted back by the laster that followed in mere seconds. Water evaporated from the ground, and as smoke rose from the ground a crater could be seen. Buildings toppled downward in the resulting collapse... Entire sky scrapers piled atop each other like dominos, and as Daimon cackled voices could be heard over the air. "G... Ghg..."

'_KAIBAAA! KAIIIIBAAAA,_' a crowd was shouting, Seto's eyes closed tightly as she winced. Those voices... '_SE- ...KAIBA,_' a familiar loudmouth called out, correcting himself,_ 'KICK HIS ASS!_' That voice..! '_KAIBA! GET UP, KAIBA!_' That... Voice...

Weak hands pulled herself from the wreckage and the crater both, the woman glancing to the side as she spotted a cliff above the lower buildings. "Y... Yugi," she rasped, ashes and grime coating her face and hair as she stumbled to her feet. Those guys... What the hell were they doing here..?

"Kaiba," the boy shouted again, mutterings of 'fairness' and 'difficulty' filling the air behind him as his friends discussed her opponent. "This fight..." The remainder of the sentence was left unsaid, Seto narrowing her eyes as she snorted.

Hn! Really... If he wanted to help, he should have stayed away. "Don't bother," the woman growled, covering up her voice with a slight grunt of pain. "This is my fight; interfere and I'll consider you as much an opponent as he is," she continued, the others on the cliff tensing slightly. Seto looked back to her opponent in question, gritting her teeth as she looked toward where he hovered. Alright... This was it. "...Daimon," she growled, pulling herself from the crater. "Prepare yourself! Twin Headed Behemoth enters attack mode," Seto announced, running forward and up the still crumbling walls as they slowly succumbed to their own weight and fatigue, "And in addition," she continued as the tower behind her crumbled, "I summon the Spirit Ryu!" In a blinding light water rose to her side, the dragon swirling about her before a mask developed for it to fly forward. Good... The monsters were set... "And with that... I attack," she shouted, pushing off the falling building with a roar, "Activating Ryu's effect! By discarding two dragons," Seto announced, "He gains 2000 attack points!"

"Not nearly enough to save _your_ sorry hide," Daimon sneered, pointing his angel forward as the nurse saluted. "Lily's effect is also activated; I give up 2000 of my lifepoints to increase her power by three thousand," he stated coldly, the angel raising her syringe like some great wand, a wave of water blasting forward. "Now... COUNTER ATTACK!" Water filled the air, crushing her and sending her flying backward beneath the stinging acid waves.

And in the resulting crossfire, the scene again changed...

With Seto finding herself standing before the form she held just under two years prior.

* * *

"And so it all begins again... It looks like your friends arrived just in time," Noa was saying from the front of the screen, Mokuba merely biting his lip as he looked at the boy. "Now 'dear' Seto has an audience for her death..." Gh...

No! "Nee-sama isn't going to lose," he said confidently, clenching his fists as the two programs sat motionlessly at his sides. "She's coming here right now, got that?"

"I don't know... She seems rather 'distracted' to me," the boy chuckled darkly, Mokuba shivering as he moved over to brush a bit of hair from his eyes. "Just why _do_ you love this woman so much... She can't even get over a simple secret; do you have any idea how large a problem this will be now? Why... She could have easily passed it off as something my father forced her into had she come outright after his death... But now..." Forced to-

Gh- This sick... "Nee-sama wouldn't lie about that," he spat, narrowing his eyes. "Why she's still hiding is between her and me, it's none of your business!"

Noa tilted his head, smiling oddly. "Ohhhh but it is Mokuba... I care very much about you after all, and this, all of this... I _know_ it's hurting you," he whispered, his captive unable to move away from his touch. "And your friend, 'Katsuya'... He knows to, but what's he doing about it? Just fawning over your big sister from a distance, not even bothering to say anything..." Gnnnh...

"That's enough, go away," he shouted, gritting his teeth. "I know what you're doing... And it's not going to work! You can't turn me against my friends and family... You can't just get into my head like that!"

The boy stared almost blankly, crossing his arms. "Hnn... Really Mokuba, I'm appalled... I'm not attempting any control at all, merely stating the facts; your 'sister' doesn't _really_ care... Not within safe boundaries at least. And you love her, don't you," he pressed, leaning in to look at the boy. "Well if you love her, then give her a break... The real world is just one giant strain, she can't take that much longer..."

"Get. Away."

"Hahhhh... I guess it's only natural you don't understand... You can't remember the 'other' things she did after all, the darker days..." Darker...

Mokuba frowned, bowing his head somewhat. "You... What are you talking about," he muttered, flinching away as Noa continued to move close in what was shaping to be an attempt at 'comfort'. "Just get away from me already!"

Another sigh, Noa moving away to cross his arms. "Hnnn... I suppose I'll just have to show you; Daimon saw through her long ago after all," he said with a smirk, "Perhaps not long enough, but he still knows what happened that day... Your sister _used _you," the boy whispered, Mokuba gritting his teeth, "She used you and tossed you to the side..."

Gh... That... "_LIAR_," he shouted, covering his ears with a shout. "You're lying! My sister never used me for anything..! There was nothing like that!"

"Oh..? Did you forget then," Noa asked, feigning a look of confusion. "It can't have been that long ago after all... In fact, just what day was it, Kisara-chan..?"

"November 10th, 2010. 3:45 PM."

"And where," the boy continued to press, Mokuba growing visibly pale as a memory came to mind.

"Library study, west wing, 12 A Domino District."

"And as I recall... Who was involved again..?"

"Former employees Daimon Kogoro, Ota Soichiro, Oka Chikuzen, Shuzo Otaki, Konosuke Oshita... In addition, Kaiba Seto, and Kaiba Mokuba." No... Not...

Noa seemed to smile darkly, looking back from Kisara with a smirk. "That will be all, Kisara-chan... So tell me Mokuba," he continued, gesturing to the screen as the boy slowly turned to look. "Do you remember..?"

"N... No," he whispered, the scene of a ruined city slowly replaced with the very memory that was coming to mind just now. "No... You're lying," the boy said with a swallow, "Lying... She wouldn't do that," he screamed, turning away. "She wouldn't..! You're LYING!"

"You keep saying that... Yet in the end," Noa said quietly, "You can't fool a _computer_..."

* * *

'_Why have you called us here,_' the men in Seto's memory asked, forms obscured by a fog that arose thanks to the merged attack of Angel Lily's 'tsunami' and the Behemoth's flames. '_As I recall,_' they continued,_ 'You were given free reign over the rest of your life; what reasons do you have calling us now?_'

It was as though the entire fight had come to a standstill with the arrival of that memory; as Seto stood and stared in slight shock the monsters had continued to fight, her twin-headed behemoth and dragon both belching flames at the attacking angel before them as their master stared in a minute moment of weakness. 'Spirit Ryu' as he was called had died quickly, thankfully leaving little damage to its master in the rushing water. As it died however Lily's effect wore off, leaving it open for attack from the Behemoth... And in seconds the flames burned it into naught but ash, floating on the waves.

But now it was Daimon's turn... And it seemed that despite having the advantage, he was more than happy to wait the out, allowing his points to replenish through his cards and destroying the 'Imperial Order' to preserve himself while simultaneously watching his opponent's growing dread. Even so, with all that it was still his turn... And Seto seemed far too shocked or frozen by what stood on the field to say otherwise. "What... _Is_ this," Anzu muttered, stepping forward as the others looked over the 'field'. Before them the entire scene of the city scape had vanished, replaced by some sort of vision of Seto's 'board room', the light of a mid-day sun bleeding through the window. "It... It looks almost like..."

"Kaiba's work building," Yugi muttered, the teen's eyes narrowed as he recognized the room from when Mokuba had taken them in. "But why are we seeing this..?"

"Why are they showing _Kaiba _this," Otogi added, Shizuka coming forward with Honda again in her arms to frown. "If it's his memory he'll remember this clearly right..?"

"Hnn..." The others turned as Ren pulled their attention over, the serpent shaking his head somewhat. "It's probably not something he _wants_ to remember," the snake on Anzu's arm muttered, staring almost blankly. "It's a good way to manipulate someone, that's for sure... If the memory is dark enough..."

The dog in Shizuka's arms squirmed somewhat, apparently forgoing his current detest for the snake to focus on the scene below. "...But this is _Kaiba_," Honda protested, keeping his voice down lest his 'mouth' open again as Ren stared. "Kaiba's not exactly manipulatable..."

"True," the blond at the front said with a swallow, "But somethin' tells me tha's th' point..."

As the others frowned in response to this statement, Seto's opponent again began to speak. "Do you remember this day," Daimon was shouting from below, still hovering out of reach as he seemingly faded from sight. "This meeting... It was the start of Gozaburo's end," he sneered, ashen and burnt clothing hanging from the armor of the Psycho Shocker. "The start of something that will show everyone here your true colors! This plan you made not too long ago... Hn!" Plan..? '_You have ability,_' the younger Seto was saying almost coldly, manipulatively and controlled to the point of near temptation in the eyes of the 'big five'. '_You have power... You could be kings in your own fields if you wanted,_' the girl had told them,_ 'Yet you work for Gozaburo instead..._' The board had traded glances with these words, coughing awkwardly as their guest continued._ 'Why not work for __me__,' _she'd asked, the woman's living counterpart visibly gritting her teeth at the sight of an unwanted scene.

Those men had agreed that day, that much he knew. And as the memory shifted to that of another room, it seemed as though Seto's opponent was speaking to _them_... And only to them, rather than to his opponent. "That day," he began, chuckling darkly from where he stood upon the flag-pole of a tall skyscraper in the half visible city-scape, "That was when the plan began; we began to amass stocks within the company," Daimon explained clearly, "Slowly gathering amongst us more and more of the company's percent count. However, as we came to a full forty-nine percent," he continued, "It seemed someone leaked information to your late 'father'... Leaked to him that you were planning a take over, preparing to oust the man from power. And rumor had it," the man continued with a sneer, the area appearing almost closed and cramped as they were suddenly met with the sounds of a small boy crying, "That 'mole', according to 'rumor'... Was none other than your brother..."

"You..."

"_Mokuba_," Anzu hissed with a frown, "But why would Mokuba-"

"Isn't it obvious," Ren answered darkly, the others listening with cold expressions that nearly matched that of the woman below. "He was set up."

'_GHN!_' A louder shout came through the air, and before them the scene re-played._ 'N-... Nii-sama,'_ the boy was wailing, wiping his cheek as he was thrown roughly against the door. The look on his sister's face was that of cruel rage, not an ounce of remorse in her eyes as she proceeded with her next words and actions, arms crossed in clear distaste. '_N... Nii-sama,_' Mokuba continued to cry, the present counter part of Seto bowing her head in silence as her eyes were hidden from view. '_Why... Why are you doing this,_' he cried, wiping his eyes. '_Why..?'_

The girl had merely snorted, lips curled back in disgust. '_Tch! When will you stop getting in my way,_' she snarled, using the voice that she had just recently been taught to use as the Big Five awkwardly watched from behind the woman. '_You knew this was important... And yet all you can do is screw things up,_' she snarled, her brother cringing under the shouts._ 'Pathetic!_'

'_P-Please... Nii-sama..._' The ten year old boy continued to sniff, wiping his face as he looked to his sister's eyes._ 'I didn't tell him, I swear, I didn't,_' he cried, pulling his legs close before roughly being pulled up. '_I didn't tell... I didn't..._'

'_Tch- Get away from me,_' 'Seto' spat, pushing him roughly out of the room as the door was opened for him. The boy tripped and fell out into the hall turning just in time to hear his sister continue to shout. '_And DON'T COME BACK! UNDERSTAND?_'

'_N-Nii... Nii-sa-_'

'_I SAID LEAVE,_' she roared, the door slamming in Mokuba's face.

And with that sound, the scene dissipated into full darkness. Seto was shaking. Her expression still couldn't be seen, the skull shaped 'hat' from her deck-master armor obscuring it perfectly as Daimon chuckled from above. "Geeze... Was Kaiba... Really that bad," Otogi whispered, Shizuka as well staring in shock as the others found themselves with distant gazes.

"...Worse," Yugi muttered after a moment, turning his attentions back to the field as Katsuya swallowed. "Far worse..."

"Wouldn' 've hesitated t' kill 'm back then," he added almost nervously, watching as the field seemed to roll with flames before coming to the final scene.

The board room again, Katsuya realized, watching as Seto stood to face her 'father' with the Big Five at her side. But this time, there was more than the big five and Seto in there. There was nothing but silence in this scene... A silence that lasted only a moment before Daimon again continued with his taunting narrative, shaking his head in mock pity. "Poor, poor Mokuba... Left with only Gozaburo to turn to," he explained darkly, "The man had exactly 51% of the company stock in his possession... There was no need to bother dealing with your 'attempts' to take control, no need to pressure us out of our own stocks... And yet you still called a meeting," he continued, the memory hiding him from view once more as his opponent was forced to watch the scene. "Beyond all clear signs that it would end in failure you moved on..."

Because that was how Seto did things. '_Thank you for coming,_' the 'little' Seto said calmly, already nearing the height she was now as she stood before her 'father'. '_This is an incredibly important matter after all... We're dealing with the future of this company, hn?_'

'_Hmph! You're just wasting your time,_' Gozaburo sneered from across the woman, arms crossed as he looked to the girl. '_You know full well the difference in power; no matter how much you want to turn on __me you only have 49% of this company... And I don't plan on lending you anything of mine to change that. As for how to put an end to this nonsense,_' the man continued with a snarl, holding out a small pile of papers, '_I'll be applying for insolvency this next week; the business will become nothing but subsidiaries and your stocks nothing but wallpaper _scraps_. You can consider your life mortgaged to ME,_' he roared, no reaction coming from his 'son' as he slammed the papers to the table. '_A debt you can carry with you until death!_'

'_No!_' The door flung open at that moment, the group watching turning as a slightly familiar form of Mokuba's past self ran through with a desperate shout. '_I won't let you! No!'_

"That... He came back," Ren hissed in confusion, the others narrowing their eyes. The cobra slithered up to his partner's head, shaking himself. "He... Why would he do that..."

'_Mokuba,_' Gozaburo muttered, narrowing his eyes as the board and Seto both turned to look back at the boy. '_What are you doing here,_' he warned, '_Your classes begin today!_'

'_I'm giving my stock to my brother,_' he said almost nervously, holding out a small set of papers with a swallow as his 'father' paled. '_You see? You no longer have 51%..! This company is my nii-sama's now, and not yours!_'

Gozaburo appeared almost frozen with those words, standing from his seat with wide eyes. '_You... But after what he did to you, he- How could you..._'

'_That... That was an accident,_' Mokuba muttered, Otogi and Seto both visibly wincing as the memory continued to play with an excuse they both recognized for alternative reasons. '_It was an accident... He got angry,_' the boy whispered,_ 'And... And I..._'

'_Mokuba... Thank you,' _the 'memory' Seto said almost blandly, not looking down. '_Now, you should go home... I'll be back soon enough,_' she 'promised', voice not at all showing any gratefulness.

Even so it was enough for her brother that day. '_Ah... N... Nii-sama..._' For a brief moment the boy merely looked at his sister in awe, before breaking into a grin._ 'Alright,_' he said with a nod, turning from the room. '_Got that, 'Gozaburo'? I side with my brother,_' he told him with a grin,_ 'And no one else!_'

"And you were counting on that weren't you," Daimon hissed as the door shut behind the boy, 'Seto' turning back to her 'father' with a cunning smirk before the scene melted into dust. "All according to plan, with one handy bonus including Gozaburo's untimely suicide just after and a will granting you all of his remaining stocks... Now wasn't that a surprise," the man continued darkly, his opponent slowly raising her head to leer at the monster before her.

"You... What are you going on about," Seto hissed, still shaking as the memory cleared to reveal the ruined field in a slowly blowing wind. "All of this..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn... You told me yourself didn't you," the man shouted with a laugh, hands outstretched as he took his move. "_YOU_ passed on that information, _YOU_ were the one who took advantage of a small boy's trust, sending him to your opponent's arms until at the last minute his childish guilt came to your rescue... You counted on that very result," he snarled, a storm appearing to rage with every word he shouted, "Because you knew that boy thought the world of you!"

"GH... I... I..." Seto couldn't argue against this he realized, a sympathetic look coming over his face in response. She couldn't counter this... Because she knew it had happened. She was muttering something now he noted, head again bowed in fatigue and grief both as the others stared in shocked and awkward silence. "For him," they could finally hear, the woman not moving in the cold gale. "Everything I did... It was all.."

"Say what you like," Daimon countered, crossing his arms from his position on a building's radio tower, "But in the end you can't change the truth! You hurt your brother, sent the man who took you in into hell... And when you were sure it was all yours you became the very tyrant you promised not to become... You were _WORSE_ than Gozaburo," he roared accusingly, pointing downward as he scowled. "And for what you did I'll be making sure you can never wake up again..! It's still my turn," he announced, a sheet of glass appearing before him with the wave of a hand, "And I'm setting a card... And following that," the monster shouted a blinding light coming from above, "The satellite attacks again!" The satellite-

"_GH-GHAA!_" And with that a blinding light tore directly through the clouds and field, sending dust into the air once more as buildings began to fall...

Blocking whatever else happened from view for what felt like all too long to those watching at the sides.

* * *

"GHHHAAAAAGH!" The building she was slammed back into was struck with far more force than the other attacks had been. The woman had found herself pummeled through wall after all of concrete; had she been alive, she most certainly would not have been after the first. Her 'Behemoth' had been disintegrated on impact of course, bearing the exact number of attack points as the satellite had. Her body however, despite being protected by the monster, was left to plummet into a crater-like hole in the wall of a 'final' sky-scraper, the collapsing ones before her leaving little in the area to stand for something to run along. "Gnk... Nnnh..." That memory...

She remembered that day all to clearly, she told herself, sword again making its use as a support for her to pull herself upward. That horrible, horrible day... Her brother's face... The lack of any remorse she'd felt, of any concern. But it wasn't _that_ day she was recalling. She might have hurt and used him then but there had been worse. Far worse, and a few of those on the side knew it. There were no other real words for her 'past self'. She...

She was a _monster_. And as much as she loathed to say so Daimon was right; she had no excuse, none whatsoever, for what she had done.

But that was exactly why she had to keep fighting she reminded herself, looking up at the sky with an almost possessed stare. That was why she had to keep moving. To attempt to make up for it all. To save _him_, to show him that dream they'd made in the sandbox as small children. That was why... "Life," she found herself saying almost plainly as her disguised voice rasped out of existence, "Is a game..." No one could hear her right now, from the bottom of that canyon. No one but Daimon. That was all she needed to know. That was the only one who needed to hear. "...All a game," she repeated, narrowing her eyes as she looked upward. "And I don't intend to lose... Do you hear me," she continued with a roar, voice again covered up as she ran forward and up the tilted side of a crumbling ruin wall to target the man. "I'm not losing this battle! I activate Pot of Greed," she shouted, leaping from the building she stood on as it collapsed from the broken structures the satellite canon left on it, "Drawing two more cards before I summon the Possessed Blood Soul! Now," she ordered, pointing her blade forward from one of the few standing buildings as she came to run along the ridges of a balanced one. "ATTACK!"

"Hn! Not so fast... Dreamsprite is flip summoned," Daimon shouted, snapping his fingers as the wall of glass shattered in Seto's approaching view. "And using its effect," he continued with a shout, "The attack is redirected to the satellite!" But if the satellite couldn't be attacked... Seto grimaced as she came to the roof of one of the buildings, looking up toward the monolith across from her. The attack was useless... And that meant... "Now..! It's my turn!" Shit..! "The Satellite canon increases in power," he explained clearly, his opponent left with no option but to back away and jump as far from the tower across from her as possible. "And now... For MY attack," the monster roared, clouds already clearing above as the woman's demon fled. "THE SATELLITE CANON STRIKES," Daimon announced, Seto's eyes filling with light as she kicked off the building with an unblinking stare. "NOW..!"

-_**BROOUUUUMMMMMM**_-

The tilted towers and skyscrapers were easily scattered into chunks of flying concrete as she slowly turned back, body hanging in mid air as one particular cluster of stone fell toward her. Buildings were falling... All about her time seemed to almost freeze, her body growing limp as the tower at the front crumbled forward almost fully intact. She couldn't... She couldn't lose. She couldn't die, not now she told herself as she stared from her position in mid air. Not now, not...

"Gh... _**AERO**_" she roared, throwing her hands forward at the last minute as the stone came toward her face. And in that moment the building broke apart in her face and landed, rubble pinning her legs to the ground as her monster narrowly avoided being crushed under the pile that clattered over them. Buildings toppled into the center of the 'crater', gravity taking its toll. In the pitch black darkness the flaming monster she'd summoned now sat at the side, staring. Her monster hadn't been the target she told herself with a wince, closing her eyes as dust fell from the rubble below to hover in the air. She still had life points, so it hadn't been the target. But she was trapped.

Trapped, pinned under the ground like a corpse in its grave. And in no better condition either, she added grimly. Mokuba... She couldn't save him like this, not like this she told herself, left arm resting on the stone as it crushed her chest. ...Mokuba...

"Will it really end like this," she whispered bitterly, staring at the sky as black spots entered her vision. "My dream... Lost to a weapon of _death_..?" These ghosts of Gozaburo... Would they ever disappear, she asked herself, unable to move beneath the rocks atop her as her demon sat at the side. Was this the end..? Was this really it..?

. . .

_No_.

The woman's monster appeared to stare, flaming appearance looming over her as she steeled herself, narrowing her eyes. No...

NO! Her menu flashed in the back of her mind, Seto gritting her teeth as her free hand clenched. The flames that sat within this deck... She was going to awaken them now and burn the monster opposing her into a small pile of burning ash. There was one draw left after all, and one card that would help her. And she would summon it! No matter what. This card she'd just drawn... "This... ...Gn... ...Sacrifice two monsters," she muttered under ragged breath, the firey demon at the side melting over her form as a blinding white light began to pulse from her body, "Awaken the ruler of my deck the _queen_ of dragons..."

This was it. It was now or never...

"I summon BLUE-EYES," she roared with a burst of strength, white flames blasting through the wreckage as she shot forward and into the air through the resulting pillar of light. "HAAA-AH!"

No one could miss the white colored 'warrior' standing in mid air, to say the least. "B-Blue-Eyes," her opponent whispered, form illuminated by the light that she now radiated. "Impossible... Im..."

Daimon shuddered below, Seto merely looking down with a menacing glare as she gripped the sword that appeared in her left hand. "You... I made a _promise_," she hissed, white wings spread wide behind her as her just as white hair shimmered in the light created. "A 'bet' to become the 'top' duelist once again, with honor and power both... If you think I'll let scum like you destroy it," she snarled, light seemingly pulsing with rage, "You can think again! Now DIE, DAIMON," she roared, propelling herself higher into the air as a blast of white fire grew within her mouth. "_**BURST STREAM!**_"

"No... No, 'shield'," the monster shouted, holding his hands forward as the glass created shattered on impact. 'SH-SHIELD-' n- GH- GHAAAAAAHHHH! HAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" White fires filled her vision as she landed on the building Daimon fell to, the man covered in flames despite the protections he'd attempted to put up. "GHAAAAAHH! AAAAAAAGGHHH!" This man...

A strong kick send the man flying against the wall of the building, the sword she somehow still carried brought to Daimon's throat as she placed a foot firmly atop the monster's chest. "Now Daimon," she hissed, narrowing her eyes in rage, "I will ask you only once... Where... Is... My. _BROTHER_."

"Hn... Your brother," the man spat, a small bit of blood spurting from his mask as Seto crushed the monster's ribs in response. "GH-! GH... Hah... Hah... Find out for yourself," he sneered, a single dead eye looking up through one of his shattered lenses as the woman grit her teeth, "I certainly don't know... Believe me," he continued, breaking into a pile of dust, "_This isn't over... Ojou-san..._" Gh... No...

No... "Daimon... You..! Gh... WHERE DID YOU TAKE HIM," she roared, her white armor and wings vanishing as they were replaced with her red garb once more, light fading from the air to leave her in darkness once more. "WHERE DID YOU TAKE MOKUBA?"

There was no answer to the woman's luckily disguised shouts however...

Not even from the ones watching, those who were now struggling to traverse the ruined buildings around them. Seto bowed her head in the silence that resulted, shaking somewhat before turning as shouts came from the side. "Se- KAIBA," Jonouchi was shouting, hands cupped from where he and his friends stood on the cliff side. "KAIBA!"

This was as close as they got, she told herself. Briefly she held a look with the group, before looking to the opposite side as a tunnel of sorts appeared. '_I have him,_' a voice seemed to whisper, the woman closing her eyes as an involuntary shudder passed through her. '_I have your precious brother... And there's nothing you can do about it..._' That... That bastard...

She had to find- "KAIBAAAA!" Seto turned, narrowing her eyes as the others ran down the side of the cliff to come over. "KAIBA! Let us come with y'," Jonouchi shouted, eyes filled with worry as the others nodded in agreement and continued to come near. "We need t' get Mokuba... So let us come wi-"

"Stay out of this," she responded flatly, the group freezing in their approach as the woman glared. "This is a family matter... It's none of your concern, understand," she added, switching the grip on her sword to her right hand.

The others stared for a brief moment, the answer coming all too quickly and all too 'as expected' for her liking. "Fam'ly... Tch!" The blond scowled, narrowing his eyes. "In case y' didn' realize," the blond growled, jabbing a thumb at himself in gesture, "I see 'm as family too! So 'your business' ain't gonna cut it!"

The woman merely narrowed her eyes, ignoring an odd stare that one among the number was giving her as she growled. "My brother may see you as 'family'," she muttered, "But as I recall you have your own crowd to deal with," she continued, Shizuka frowning as the woman glanced over her. "This is MY problem," Seto pressed, turning to face the tunnel as she gripped her sword. "And if I catch you following behind me," she continued, hopping from the roof to the tunnel's edge to begin her trek, "I'll show you just what I think of obstacles and distractions!"

"Ob- Gh... Be tha' way," she heard the blond shout from behind her, walking off into the dark tunnel without another word. "IDIOT! SEE IF I CARE THAT Y' GET YERSELF KILLED," he continued angrily, the shouts fading. "GOT THAT! I DON' CARE AT ALL!"

Despite the message most would receive from those words, and the situation they were in, Seto found herself smiling somewhat at the pathetic attempts for the blond to hide his idiotic attachments. Hn... Well.

At least there was someone that wouldn't cheer over her death after all of this...

* * *

"H-HAH! YEA! Kick their ass nee-sama!" Mokuba grinned as he stared at the screen before them, his sister's 'blue-eyes' influenced form remaining for just a second more before vanishing. The duel was over, and Seto was moving on...

But it was strange... So strange! Noa stared, narrowing his eyes at the boy's cheer as his guest continued to shout. This woman... He'd just convinced the boy of all her wrong doings, and yet with that one victory it was as though he'd been completely broken of the 'spell' of despair he had over him! "Mokuba... How can you not _hate_ this woman," he whispered, the boy turning back to frown. "After all she did, how can you not..."

Mokuba merely smiled sadly, shaking his head at what he considered an obvious question. "Nee-sama will always be my sister," he said plainly, the screen blacking out at the side before it faded from sight completely. "No matter how much I suffer, no matter what happens," he continued calmly. "That will never change; I'll always stand by her side... You know that much, don't you," Mokuba 'asked', narrowing his eyes in more than evident anger.

Hn... Such _loyalty_ he had... He could remember his own life at that age, when he was alive. The wealth, the intelligence, the power... He had never been in want of anything, nor had he ever envied anyone. He had everything Seto had now, everything but one thing... And he'd almost gotten it... '_Noa,_' he remembered his father saying all those years ago, the boy's expression carefully hidden despite the tinge of pain it brought. '_How would you like a little brother..?_'

He _wanted _this... He wanted this loyalty, this friendship, this thing that he _did not have!_ He wanted a brother..! A real one, not a figment of his computerized exploits, not a program that acted only out of what was coded and duplicated... He had to... He HAD to..! "You're such a considerate person," Noa whispered honestly, the boy beside him staring in slight and uneasy confusion. "So kind and forgiving..."

"...It's my sister," Mokuba responded, not looking back at the boy as he held his arms close. "Why would I say anything else about her?"

"True, you're supposed to love older sisters... But she doesn't claim that title," he protested, voice kept low as he began his attempts at weaving himself into the boy's mind. "She claims to be your 'brother', at least to the public eye... What kind of sibling _hides_ like she does," he whispered, the boy beside her shifting back with narrowed eyes, "Cowering behind a mask of indifference... Sisters don't force these kinds of secrets on their siblings, not for this long... Just what thoughts do you have on this woman," Noa asked, "That make her so 'worthy' of them..?"

The boy bit his lip, glancing back before giving his answer. "Nee-sama... Nee-sama is strong," he said confidently, swallowing a wave of unease. "Much stronger than you think, _Noa_. She'd do anything for me, anything..! Because we're siblings..! Because we're _family_!" Was that so...

Then he had just the thing, to get this thing that he wanted. "Really now? And yet what about what we saw just now? What about that day after the lessons," he pressed, the event being 'forced' into the boy's mind, "Or every day following that? She never looked to you as her 'brother'," Noa pressed, Mokuba cringing under the words, "Never respected you, nor came to your aid... She even tried to _kill_ you," the boy whispered, sending a flash of the very event where this happened through the boy's mind. "Sisters... They don't do _that,_" he told him, a gleam seeming to come into his eyes as he leaned closer. "How do you even know that what she says of you now is true," Noa continued, finally moving back as the boy turned to stare nervously. "Why," he added, moving from the couch with a shrug, "There's no guarantee at all that it's not just a 'mask'! I could even say the same for your friend, 'Katsuya'... Lusting after your older sister with a nearly guaranteed match as the 'one who knows'... How do you know he really cares about _you _though_.._?"

"That... That's enough," Mokuba shouted, eyes quivering with confusion and doubt both as he gripped the cushions of the couch. "Just stop it... Stop it, alright! These words... None of them are true," he tried to convince himself, "None of them!"

"Is that really what you think," he asked, turning to the side as a door appeared from no where. Footsteps echoed through the air, Mokuba looking to the side before staring with wide eyes as the one who walked through. "Hn... There she is now," the boy stated almost blandly. "Let's see who's right..."

The boy briefly looked to Noa with narrowed eyes, before running forward with a look of relief over his face upon determining nothing was wrong. "Hah... N-Nee-sama," the boy shouted, looking to the woman with a grin as he ran forward. "Nee-sama, you came for me! Hey... Since you won," he continued, hardly able to contain his excitement, "That means we're going home right? Ri-"

"I'll be going home," 'Seto' said plainly, crossing her arms as she turned to look away. "You'll be staying here."

"I-" He froze, footsteps halting briefly as the words echoed coldly through his mind. "W... What..."

The woman glanced back, narrowing her eyes as she 'explained'. "You heard what I said; you'll be staying here. You almost got us killed," Seto was telling him, eyes shining with rage, "And if you'd stayed behind the cover, you wouldn't have been taken. If you'd just _listened_," she snarled, "We wouldn't be in this mess!"

"Li-Lis... But how is any of this my fault," he whispered with an incredulous laugh, before jogging forward to reach out. "Nee-sama," he called out almost desperately, "I-"

-_SMACK_-

Mokuba stood as the sound reverberated about the room, shocked still as he slowly brought a hand to his cheek. She... She'd hit him, he realized coldly, face falling even further. She'd actually... After all that happened... "You... N-Nee-sama... What..." 'Katsuya' was standing in the door he realized. The blond was turned away in what almost looked to be annoyance, and as Seto continued to leer at the boy from above, Mokuba swallowed. He... _He _wouldn't do this right? He wasn't... He'd never been like this, so with his help, maybe... "K-Katsuya-nii... Katsuya-nii," he called out, eyes wide, "What's going on? Why is Nee-sama-"

"Shut up," the blond said bluntly, turning just slightly as blood drained from the boy's face. "Jus'... Shut up, alrigh'," he growled testily, Mokuba staring in confusion. The look on Katsuya's face... It was almost worse than the one on Seto's, his own eyes also narrowed in a look of anger. "Tch... I honestly 'xpected a lo' more from y'," he spat, shaking his head. "Even I ain't stupid 'nough t' run int' a trap like that!" This...

Why was this... "But..." Why was any of this... "I didn't mean for..." The boy shook, receiving nothing but glares in response as his sister snorted.

"Hn! Of course you didn't... You never do," she sneered, turning away. "You ruined everything... As it is, we're lucky to be leaving with only one casualty. We're better off leaving you here," the woman continued with that in mind. "Now... Let's go, 'Katsuya'," she said calmly, placing a hand on the blond's shoulder as they turned to leave. First names... He'd waited so long to hear his sister use first names again, but now that he heard it... The woman continued to pass through the door with the blond at her side, brother's eyes watering with tears. "We won't be worrying about him any more..." Wh... What... What did that...

The door closed off, Mokuba staring in shock as he was left in total darkness. It couldn't have been real, he was telling himself, shaking his head. It couldn't... None of it could possibly be real, and yet there it was... It happened... Right in front of him...

Right...

In front...

The boy fell to his knees, wide eyes staring at the ground as tears developed and fell to the ground. "...Why," he whispered, shaking as he held himself close, small mutterings and thoughts in the back of his mind only confirming the event. "Why would they say those things..? They never say those things," he wept, "So why..."

"Things like this... They bring out the worst in people," Noa sighed, coming up to the boy from behind. "Revealing the monsters of a person's true self... It's sad," the boy continued, Mokuba not pushing him away as the thoughts in his mind persisted. "But you know," Noa told him, "Sisters and even the ones we call 'friends' can be cruel... Seto wouldn't have said those things if she loved you, nor would your friends have agreed... You should forget about them," he added at a whisper Mokuba continuing to stare at the ground. "Just forget about things like that..."

Why did it have it be real... Why did it have to... "But why," the boy cried, shaking his head as he looked back to the one behind him. "It's not like them! It's not..."

"There there..." a hand was placed on his shoulder, the somewhat shorter boy seeming to lock eyes with him as he smiled. "Who needs them..? I can take both of their places," Noa told the boy, Mokuba shivering as his captor pulled him close in an awkward embrace before continuing. "I can be a far better brother than those two fools combined... I'll look after you, help you, care for you... No matter what," he added, looking directly into his 'brother's eyes as the somewhat taller boy sniffed and stared. "I'll _always_ be there, right until the ends of the world itself... So what do you say..?"

'_Do it,_' a voice in his mind seemed to mutter, emotions curling into a spiral as he struggled to make sense of it all. '_Do it,_' it repeated, Mokuba continuing to stare in silence before finally nodding his head somewhat in response. "Hn... I... ...I... ..._Okay_," he whispered, burying himself into the boy's arms as Noa's smirk went unnoticed to him. "Okay," he repeated, unaware of the manipulation already in process on his very mind.

And as those words echoed throughout the virtual world, Seto Kaiba found herself freezing in place in the middle of the tunnel she'd entered, the sound echoing through the air.

"M... Mokuba," she whispered, looking upward with wide eyes as she heard that one word fade across the air. "I... ... ...Wait for me..."

Please...

Just wait...

* * *

**AN:** And back to average (Well, almost average, it's still much shorter than the last) sized chapters! Though it helps that this A) isn't a three way and B) Kaiba's 'build up' was scattered across all those other chapters.

Also fight scenes. Speaking of, I got a lot of comments on the last one, and I have to thank you for them! All in all, part of the reason for the gore was because of a Mythbusters episode I caught while typing it; after realizing just what kind of damage the gatling gun could do, I really felt I should emphasize just how much those three should have died in the first strike. It's depressing...

Not to mention _horribly_ traumatizing.

In other news of trauma inducing things, the 'official' sketch of RoboDog!Honda is below, as I altered it from the last one. Specifically, it's 4 'petals', _hundreds_ of feelers/wires squirming around inside that, and a speaker at the base of his neck beneath it all.

He sees with those wires by the way. And feels. And smells. And touches...

_Yeaaaaaaaa_. Inspired by both 'The Thing' (an alien movie) and 'Resident Evil 5', I will admit.

Until then, I'm listening to music..~

Sayounara Memories, from Supercell, has a very RyuzakiXShizuka vibe to it in terms of the fanfic I find, so I thought I'd share that.

Also in regards to music, besides the fact that Sand Scraper by Kagamine Len gives me a REALLY big 'Malik' feeling, I listened to the 'Legendary' fight theme (Also known as 'Victini's Theme') from Pokemon Black and White for pretty much the entire edit of Kaiba's fight.

_IT WAS PRETTY AWESOME GUYS_. (But besides me shamelessly pushing my music interests on you...)

NOW! In addition to the art listed above, there's also the final... Or rather, final 'single' deckmaster for PossessedHonda down there! Before I deal with that though, here's a note on the Big Five; each one has their own class. This effectively means it _merges_ with Honda's own 'Gunman' class... Double classing in other words.

Of course, 'Gunman' is pretty much the most destructive of the classes in most cases, hence the violence in the last chapter with the gatling guns... So you can imagine what Gunman/Gunman (Robotic Knight) will do.

As to the others, they are... 'Magus/Gunman' for Psycho Shocker (Hence Daimon's _constant_ use of magic compared to the others), 'Lancer/Gunman' for Deepsea Warrior, 'Paladin/Gunman' for Judgeman (As in TANK), and lastly one... Really weird 'Beastmaster/Gunman' by the definition of 'beastmasters are really animal-y'. (Also known as 'Nightmare Penguin doesn't really have a class persay...')

Speaking of Deckmasters, it occurred to me that some might wonder what Ruin was doing in Shizuka's deck, given that her monsters tend to focus on earth and light; what could chaos and destruction possibly have to do with that!

Apparently a lot. Ruin is a light type monster.

Any ways, the next chapter as NO DUELS, and is instead a nice long bit of traveling... Not to mention mind-screw and eye openers, because really...

Did _you_ see any mothers here? (What happened to Noa's! What's with the baby crying? I'M SO CONFUSED!)

Now, to business!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Heh… Yea, it really was, huh Iona?

I'm actually a little disturbed/surprised with myself; I didn't expect myself to type it out in that much detail… (…Whoops?)

But yea! He came back! …Kinda. Hard to say if this is better or worse than a monkey really, as while the monkey served little purpose, that was in a Virtual World with nothing but the Big 5 attacking. This is a little… Different.

…NOM NOM NOM.

Oh! Thank you very much for the opinion on Ryuzaki/Shizuka! I'm actually glad I stuck with that idea… It's turned out to be very fun to run with, not to mention, as you said, very character developing.

They really do go after the smart people, those two… At least Shizuka is smart herself though; if it weren't for Ryuzaki (And soon enough, _Haga_), she'd be the top of her class herself.

As it is, once Haga enters things, he'll be tying with her constantly, studying his ass off… …As Ryuzaki sits at the back, snores, and then beats them all. (You can imagine what their reactions would be I would bet.) I _almost_ wondered if I was going to far…

Then I realized that Ryuzaki would A) probably need those grades for his career anyways, B) his kendo was probably just something he picked out when he was younger, as most students are pressured into clubs or groups for after school meets… He'd have probably picked on just to get them off his back about it, and also to waste time… Given the lack of class work he does…

Besides, if Haga can skip a grade, Ryuzaki can be smart. -bricked-

Anyways, back on topic now, you're very right on the topic of avoiding questioning; thankfully (or unfortunately depending on your view), the next series of events will really, _really_ skew with the time that any one has to comment on it… By which point, it'll all be coming out anyways.

Though that's not happening in _this_ arc. (We DO get suspicions from more than just the 'circle of friends' though; Kaiba's suspicions will be raised soon enough, keep your eyes open wide when we hit the arc finale!)

In any case, I'll see you next time! Enjoy the chapter!

Hey RandomProjects! And… R-REALLY? (Is… Did you put something there..? *shiny eyes*)

Poor Shizuka indeed… Not to mention Otogi and his severed leg… *hurk*

Now that you mention that, 'Mood Whiplash' comes to mind. OWCH! I didn't even realize how much of a switch that was! It's horrible..!

I'm glad you like the change in the reasons for everything as well! As for the attack, she actually _did_ need that much help; Ota was attacking the nun, which would have killed her. More over, none of the monsters could be used to re-direct an attack. He literally had no choice but to take it himself…

Though if Command Angel had gone up there, Honda would have lost _anyways_… But yes; very true about the disadvantage they had there.

Ohhhh, the dragons are doing more than being Mysterious, trust me; they're being _honest_. These aren't _really_ the dragons after all; the real ones are still sealed up somewhere. This means that these are just vague memories built from Jonouchi's still incompletely revealed subconscious, which means that they really _can't_ say who they are…

Not until the 'right time', when the rest of them are unlocked at least. Otherwise, they would have likely said something more, you're quite right. (But really, would it have made sense for these dragons to know everything from Jonouchi's head? Not really…)

Ohhh Ren… These things _will_ be revealed, but not all of it is revealed in the Noa arc. It's not much a spoiler to say when, so I'll say this; Malik will be revealed sometime near the end (much to his displeasure), though the 'how' will obviously be held back until we actually get there. Jonouchi on the other hand, will be holding back until the Battle City finals.

Oh- It's the nine word seal? Well that makes sense now… A lot more sense! Thank you very much for that fact!

And… Oooooh, he might not have only been a prick last chapter, but he's still a prick here… Of course, he's still a little fleshed out here, so I suppose you're right to say it's a little better.

As to memories, I'll tell you that it's _not_ from a past life. It's from the past (Obviously), but it's not from a past _life_…

I _will _concern Seto and Noa both in the end… And to a shocking extent I might add.

Well, that's all for now… With that, enjoy the chapter, and I'll see you next time!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that would like to apologize in advance for any queas- Wait too late. In that case, it will apologize in advance for any unnecessary anime/sci-fi shout ou- Wait, too late on that one too? CRAP.

* * *

Moments of Dying, our amazing title for today, refers to... Well, dying moments. Specifically, the one Honda mentions, the brief if not humorous one involving Malik, and finally Kaiba's own.

She actually has twice when you think about it; but the only reason Daimon forced the woman off the bridge was to 'level' the playing field, he enjoys taunting her and slaughtering (attempting at least) her more than making her fall asleep before slitting her throat.

Also Noa would probably get on his case about that...

* * *

The song Kisara was humming is called 'Lynne', from Hastune Miku. Think that's not creepy?

It's about a de-flowered young woman who, after the guy who did it leaves to date some other lady, ends up killing said guy. YAYYYYYYYY _that's not creepy at all~ _As to why she's singing it. Um. Er. There's actually no reason; I just needed her to be humming._  
_

* * *

AHHHHH PIRANA PLANT- ...Dog... Things.

Kisara's not coming back by the way; Noa sent her elsewhere. She was originally supposed to convert Honda into a separate program altogether, a point I'm making based off his actions in the later half of the arc, where he slipped just briefly into some really, _really_ half-assed 'guard dog' or sorts; however, at about the moment this exchange happened, Noa got wind of Ota's plan and put it on hold… Had Ota spontaneously changed his mind and done nothing to Kaiba, Honda would have effectively been brainwashed until Ota's defeat.

* * *

Bayonets on revolvers? Actually very possible; there are many handgun-bayonets out there, commonly used with army knives. They're obviously smaller and more 'desperate times-desperate measures' than the normal ones (On BIGGER guns.)… Also kinda a compensation thing. Hee.

* * *

In the anime, Ota attacked Kaiba and made it appear as though, despite all words pointing to other things, it was still 'Honda'. It wasn't until the others appeared and rather bluntly said '_NOT HIM_!' that he revealed himself… And attacked Kaiba with a wooden sword, or 'Boken' (Where he got it, who knows)...

…Which was, on the first attack, blocked with a _card_ in the anime. A-DUR. No. Swords on guns and bullets this time around!

* * *

Speaking of kendo, Honda is stated as, in the Japanese, a 'level five' in Kendo. It takes six levels, or 'kyu' to reach the first 'dan' level; the requirement for first 'dan' in addition to this is a minimum age of 14 years old. After that, the succession of 'dans' depends on the number of years spent training in the field and the ability at the time tested through an exam; one more year of training after 'shodan' or 'First Dan' gets you to 'Nidan', or 'Second'. Two more years following 'Nidan' brings you to 'Sandan' (Third), and so on so forth… Though in the case of the final, eigth dan, a minimum of 46 years of age is needed.

But here's an important thing! The 'kyu' are numbered _backwards_ from the first 'dan'! This means that, unless Ota is specifically referring to Honda's level by the number of 'belts' rather than 'kyu', that he's really only at 'go-kyu'… Which isn't that impressive, and kinda like saying '_don't worry guys, IMA YELLOW BELT'_. Given that obvious fact however, it's more likely he's 'nii-kyu', which would be about the equivalent of say… Blue belt. Impressive, but not quite the brown belt that comes before 'black' (Or in this case 'Dan') Any ways, given my obvious confusion, I went and checked again...

He said he was _Go-DAN_; that's like saying 'Fifth-Degree Black Belt'! But the thing is, it's impossible for him to be at that level! He's only seventeen, to be a 'Go-Dan' you'd have to be a minimum of 24 years of age! (If anything, he'd be 'San-dan'...) Needless to say, I stuck with the guns. Because we actually _know_ that Honda's freakishly well acquainted with firearms.

Also, a random fact that will be coming into play soon, but Ryuzaki is actually already a 'Nii-Dan' himself in the fanfic; in other words, he got to '1-dan' at 14, and made it to '2-dan' REALLY FAST. (It also means he's pretty much as good as he can get officially for the moment; 'San-dan' requires two more years of training.)

'Dan' are the equivalent of the 'Black Belt', with each successive one the equivalent of the next 'degree'. Now… Before any one says 'there's no way he's already at that level', _trust me_… I know a fair number of people who reached black-belts in their fields by that point with only their evening classes, which tended to be bi-weekly. Seeing how Japanese clubs tend to take a hell of a lot more time and take place almost daily in some cases, there would have been plenty of opportunity for Ryuzaki to get there... And even if it _was_ bi-weekly, Japanese clubs put a LOT more than just one or two hours into these things... So it'd be at least three times the work.

Of course, you've probably guessed that this means each 'kyu' is the equivalent of the coloured belts in karate… So you can probably guess how it works from there.

* * *

Go Kaiba go! The bikes those two are using are fairly standard in the anime, if not a little blocky in terms of 'standard Japanese bikes'. However, due to the time differences, the bikes they're using are a little more 'special'; specifically, both Ota and Kaiba are driving what are considered sport bikes; speed for the sake of comfort. As for appearance, think of something more unconventional and 'game-like'… Perhaps the bike Cloud rides in Advent Children? (Albeit smaller. And less of a sword cabinet.) I have some loose sketches below... But they're loose.

* * *

Besides the obvious squick on the audience's part given the knowledge of Honda's head that the crowd doesn't have, Shizuka's calling Honda 'puppy-chan' to put it literally. 'Ko' is added to words to make them 'children' (As that's what it means. That and small), wheras inu is dog.

You know what the 'chan' is for, I assume.

* * *

The truck that Jonouchi ends up driving (Now hang on, _he can drive now_?) is a three-wheeled truck, and actually exists; most likely the one in the anime was a Mazda t2000. The one here is more smooth in appearance however, and less 'real-world'-ish in appearance… Largely because I don't know/can't figure out what three wheeled vehicles Japan is actively producing right now. At least in terms of ones that are trucks. (Again... Loose sketches below!)

* * *

I don't care if it makes me a dick, turning one of the big 5 into a sympathy object; I had to bring up a point, and there's never really 'good and bad' in real life anyways!

Think about it; Kaiba _was_ a prick back then. Besides completely screwing with the big 5's jobs, both counterparts also went back on their deal. They treated them _worse_ than Gozaburo had, and while you never see what Gozaburo treated them like, I doubt greed was the only fact here; Daimon had, after all, witness the kind of ability Kaiba had, so this was far from a matter of either '_hey we can exploit this kid after it's done_' or '_this gets us more money period_'... True, money would obviously factor in, but I have a feeling there was more.

Now here's step two. Unforgivable as the Big 5 are in their approach to things in regards to vengeance, I have to ask myself, _did these guys have families_? It wouldn't surprise me if at least two of them did! (And ironically, it would likely be Ota and Oka. _Maybe_ Oshita, but he'd be a grand-dad then.) Just a little upsetting when you think about it...

Course, this is about as sympathetic as Pegasus got in earlier chapters. '_Oh hey, his fiance died of cancer... Doesn't make you forgiven!_'

* * *

Damn straight I put in a reason/reference for 5Ds here. THAT SHOW WAS AWESOME (in Japan). So yea; I always wondered how they figured out about duels themselves creating energy… While this obviously isn't how Kaiba gets to that point, she's got the building blocks for what happens in like twenty years. Yay~ (And for those who missed it, I was referencing the bikes and energy source on the show; the energy utilized is called 'Ener-D'... And is literally created from the energy spawned in duels.

* * *

SWORDS! But no spells, at least not to an advantageous point; otherwise, Kaiba would rely _only_ on the fight. Why? Because if she enters a duel situation, she becomes tied to the lifepoint system. While this is handy in a few cases, such as the last duel where it kept Shizuka, Honda, and Otogi alive despite injuries, this is also a very big _dis_advantage, what with even the most minor of wounds causing death in that case.

* * *

Silly Daimon! The reason you're not pummelling Kaiba with spells is because Noa told you to beat her in a duel.

Of course, if he said that, Kaiba would have effectively said 'SCREW IT' and just charged the sucker by blasting buildings on top of him. (That would have actually taken longer though.)

* * *

In Japanese, it was no business of 'two shares' like the dub; a company like Kaiba Corp would have far more than that. Instead, it was a matter of two _percent _of the shares.

Also, the amount of money Seto seems to have received there, one billion yen, is approximately twelve million dollars. 100 times the amount is one _billion_ dollars, and two hundred million. Now, since there really aren't _that_ many billionaires in the world, I'd be hesitant to do this…

But the fact is, getting a million yen, or twelve thousand dollars, isn't nearly as impressive (or in this case difficult to multiply), and the fact is that Seto could very well snatch all this money in the way that they did in the anime. It's scary as _hell_, but they could do it…

With _one hundred_ million yen at least. 100,000,000 yen is about as much as a million two hundred thousand dollars; the goal here is just over ten million dollars as a result, making the dub _right_ for once.

* * *

How is Honda the only one onto Ren? Well, Jonouchi's on to him too, just not enough to bring it up just yet without screwing everything up. But the fact is, Honda is _directly linked_ to Noa's computer; he has access to all of his files, however unintentionally! When he spotted the scales, the database compared them to whatever was in the memory…

Including Malik's own memories of his back. WHOOPS. Of course, Honda doesn't realize this; so all of his excuses are based on instinct, poor guy... Thankfully, it won't activate on Kaiba; because Honda isn't studying Kaiba's ass or something weird like that.

* * *

Speaking of Honda and Malik... Malik/Ren's moment of 'squee' was kind of based on the fact that at Ren's size, riding on the top of a truck is pretty much a dream come true for the motorcycle nut. Malik likes speed guys. A lot. (Also, he's kinda on the high of not having any hate or rage to turn to... And as someone who spent pretty much all of his recent life living by hate and rage, that's a really REALLY light-headed feeling.)

As for Honda's freak out, this will actually play in later on; remember how earlier I said that Honda was _supposed_ to be programmed out?

Part of him already _has_ been; he's got guard dog instincts! (Which isn't the best thing at the moment really...)

* * *

In the Japanese anime, Jonouchi doesn't say he doesn't _trust_ Honda; they tied him up because of what he said while in Shizuka's arms; he was commenting on how soft her breasts were…

_Right as he flipped the translation switch on his head_. Nooooooo...

Needless to say, no one was particularly pleased by this, though in this case the situation was ramped up considerably thanks to the 'Malik attack'... Though they thankfully untied him after he promised not to attack Ren. (That scene will either be covered later, or drawn for you.)

* * *

Good thing the Behemoth was in Defense mode when it died first time around; Kaiba would have lost despite the monster's effect otherwise!

* * *

LOTS of dialogue changes for obvious reasons. Less obvious ones again concern flow and pacing, along with the point of view actually; the anime switches a lot more you see. Basically, the reason why we skipped their conversation on Psycho Shocker being a difficult opponent is because Kaiba couldn't hear them. This also means you don't hear why no one's commented on Kaiba's voice during earlier shouts, but I'll explain that now.

Basically, besides the fact that Kaiba's normal voice is extremely unisex (Still a lady's voice, but it could _pass_ as a younger male), the shouts are being blamed on distance and echoing… After all, doesn't that echo always sound a little different? (They'll hit themselves over the head for this later, _trust_ me.)

Scenes have also been moved around, which of course affects the dialogue as well; in particular, Yugi and the others arrived 'early', spoke 'late', and Noa's scenes were crammed into two tiny spots in the middle and end. In addition, a fair amount of Kaiba's lines were moved past certain… Well, moves, as was the flashback scene to better suit the timing of things. Hooray!

* * *

What! This ending is different too! Actually, this one was changed to make sense; see, with the new deckmaster rules, there's no 'summoning' when bringing the deckmaster to the field. They _are_ the deckmaster, so they're _always_ on the field. This means that Seto always had enough monsters for a seven star sacrifice though. Which also means that using her deckmaster ability would be pointless, as it would cost her lifepoints when she could just do what she did in the fanfic.

Another big difference is Daimon's attack; he didn't do that in the anime, as the cannon was less powerful than the demon at the time, and during Seto's turns, the satellite has no power. _However_, monsters can still attack out of turn if Daimon wants, so long as they target the player, and ignore the rules of lifepoints…

Which means Seto just got very, VERY lucky.

* * *

**FanArt & My Art Section**

Remove spaces, past links! Hw-cha!

We have two coloured references for you, along with another sketch reference, and yet a few other sketchy, conceptual things that won't ever show up again since they're vehicles.

_Or will they..?_

Concept: Trucks & Bikes & ReferenceSketch: Honda-Dog – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ DoodleSheet. jpg - Poor Honda... Is this better or _worse_ than canon? I suppose worst comes to worst, he can eat someone's head... As for the bikes, not much more to say on the matter, haha~

Deckmasters: Blue Eyes White Dragon (Leather-Armor) – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ BlueEyesSeto. jpg - The last reference you got was for 'cloth armor' you see; this is for Seto's actual armor. And I have to say, it looks _beautiful_ in my opinion... I _really_ like how this came out... Even if I realized later that I have Seto carry her sword in her _right_ hand. D'OH. Fixed in the fanfic though...

Deckmasters: PossessedHonda! - Psycho Shocker – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ PsychoShockerHonda. jpg - As a matter of fact yes those are Goa'uld bracelets. ..._Shhhhhhhhh_...

That's all for now! I hope you enjoyed your chapter-ly dose of mind-screw and horror, and you can look forward to a chapter with no card-games next update!

Until next time, enjoy!


	91. Chapter 90

**Morton's Fork**

* * *

The night sky had only just begun to fade on the ruined city they stood in. Crumbled buildings littered the ground and towered above them like the ancient remains of a long forgotten land, and as what was left of the ocean's water dripped across the ground beneath the bridge the blond found himself staring out at where a tunnel had now just appeared. It was strange; and not the tunnel either. He felt almost like he knew this place after all, and yet despite that feeling it seemed so completely foreign that he couldn't wrap his head around any of this. That while the carvings were in his mind the buildings were not, and that the buildings themselves were older than even his memories. As it was, the past few incidents were so completely confusing, battling each other in his mind for importance and relevance...

For one thing, Ren was Malik. An ironic choice in names given that his mind kept trying to convince him the word meant 'name', but nonetheless, they were still one and the same. He was almost certain of that fact, and though Honda (who now that he thought about it, was having a much worse day than he) had been unable to find any proof that did not change his mind. Ren was Malik, plain and simple. He had the same eyes, and was travelling with Anzu, whom he had been possessing constantly throughout the evening... Something that looked to have backfired upon entry into the game. He could have said something. What kept him silent however, was the same problem Honda had; how did he prove to them that he knew? Prove to them that the snake that had as of yet done nothing wrong was in fact an ally? Particularly with how... _Civil_ the snake was acting at the moment. He couldn't tell if it was a ruse or not at some points even; after all, no one would fault the snake for _not_ having fun right? No one would mind if the snake didn't show endless curiosity for whatever they were talking about, or if it didn't cheer and fight alongside them.

Yet he was... Absolutely ecstatic outside of the horrifically gruesome sights they'd seen along the way. Hell he was acting like a _kid_ at some points of the journey thus far... And it was actually scaring him, to tell the truth. It was unnatural after all, to think that the same one who had forced him into a 'to the death' match with his friend would be the same 'thing' that was innocently chatting it up with everyone they traveled with. Not to say that the childish '_so, are we cool now_' that Honda responded to with his teeth wasn't amusing of course... And as it was, 'Ren' as he was called was quickly spat out and apologized to after the others glared at him, but seemed to show no other discomfort than slight rug burn from the wires. But the question was...

Well, would Malik _do_ that he wondered? Really..? It was like someone was actually screwing with their heads... More than he already suspected, more than what he'd thought possible

He sure as hell knew that this 'Noa' guy was messing with Seto's after all, given the look on the woman's face as she left. Given the memory that they'd seen, and the momentary slip in tone as she spoke with Daimon. There was probably only one thing saving her there, and it was the fact that when she spoke with a low tone it sounded male... It wasn't nearly as easy to spot as her false one granted. But it still passed. At the moment though, no one was commenting on voices, nor were they commenting on anything else that had been possibly seen or heard, such as Daimon's faded and broken 'O... ou...' that he'd recognized as an 'ojou'. Instead, they were staring off at where the woman had vanished into darkness. "...Yugi," the blond began after a moment, convincing himself of the same words he whispered, "Don' worry abou' S... 'Bou' Kaiba," he corrected, looking away from the tunnel as his friend stared past in agreement.

"What he said," Otogi added with a nod as he pointed off to the tunnel in gesture. "He should be fine if he made it this far on his own right?"

"Yea... Not to mention," came a somewhat annoyed mutter as Anzu rolled her eyes at her partner. "I'd like to leave!" Yes, he probably would wouldn't he... In fact, Katsuya noted with a blank stare, the serpent was already making his way over to the truck at that moment.

A slight growl came from the side in response to the statement, the others turning as Honda's bizarre and round head opened somewhat to complain. "Before we deal with that," he protested, a few tendrils of wire gesturing to himself. "What about me? I want my body back..! I mean... I feel worse than those weird-ass dogs in Blade!"

The others stared, frowning as they mentally and unwillingly compared the gaping mouths their mind. Yea... This would be something to get rid of. "That's a good point," Shizuka muttered, adjusting her grip on the dog as she watched the head close up. "We need to fix this... It can't be comfortable can it," she asked, the dog merely laying its head on her arms in response.

Oooohhhh... He had a feeling that Honda had a few more words than 'comfortable', not that he would say anything just yet... Wait until he thought he was safe. Then he would strike. Yessss... "Ahhhh... Shizuka~" Katsuya tensed somewhat as the dog continued to make himself comfortable, hand twitching as he resisted the urge to kick him out of the girl's arms. "You're so considerate," the puppy sighed, rubbing its head against the woman's robes as she stared somewhat blankly. "So much nicer than Otogi, and that snake-prick..." Uh... This wasn't his territory any more. "Y-erf!"

The dog was pulled up by the collar, Otogi in question giving him a pointed glare. "Word to the wise," he warned, before dropping the dog as it yelped in shock, "The 'snake' might not hear you, but _I'm_ right here."

"Erf! Hey! Watch it!"

Otogi merely rolled his eyes, Shizuka holding her arms close as the dog took his seat. "So, he said after a moment, looking to the others. "What now..?"

A short sigh cut off any thoughts of response, the others turning to the source as Yugi stared down the tunnel. "Hnnn..." The boy narrowed his eyes, wind blowing just slightly across the ruins and into the hole before him before he made his decision. "...I can't let him go alone," he eventually said, turning to the others to share a 'look' with Katsuya before pulling out his boomerang in case of attack. "I'm going after him."

"Ah- After sh- After he told us not t' come," Katsuya questioned, the boy merely walking off already as his friend protested. "AH- Yugi! Hang on!"

"Yugi," Anzu shouted, running after as Ren turned from his place far off toward the truck, "Wait for me," she continued as she stumbled on her robes with her staff in hand, "I'm coming as well! Just hold on!"

"W- You too Anzu?" The woman also didn't answer, merely vanishing into the darkness as the blond sighed. "Man... What's with that..."

"Hey! I'm still up here! She can't just leave me here! Our lives are tied together here," came Ren's faint and distant shout, "That's no fair!"

Yes, well, as it turned out she just did so... There was nothing to do about it really.

The others stared down the tunnel for a moment after Anzu's form completely vanished, eventually looking away while the same cold breeze continued to blow. "Do... Do you think we should follow them," Honda asked, looking up from the ground as the others turned to stare. "I mean... There's not much else where we can go," he added, shaking his head as his tail thumped the ground.

"Really? ...Wait. ...How do _you _know that," Otogi muttered confusedly, before Katsuya's response cut him off.

"Ehh... They'll be fine on their own," he said honestly, scratching his head as the others looked back. "'Sides," he added with a slight smirk, starting on his way back toward the truck, "Gotta find yer body righ'?"

The others nodded, a cheery 'erf' coming from below as Otogi snatched the dog up under his arms. "That's right- like you said," he continued as the dog's tail wagged slightly in anticipation, "They're perfectly capable of-"

"I'm going too," Shizuka decided, pausing briefly as she ran past from grabbing her spear out of the truck. "When you think about it," she continued, backing up somewhat as she faced the boys, "Wouldn't Ota have gone this way with Honda-han's body?" ...Ah...

The boys blinked, turning to each other somewhat awkwardly. ...That... Was a good point. "Ahhh... That is... Yea... Well," Otogi muttered, before Katsuya sighed and shook his head.

"Ahhh... Heh! What th' hell," the blond laughed, "I guess tha' works," he 'admitted', before a shout from the ruined wall at the side distracted them.

"Hey hey... Don't forget me either," Ren hissed, falling from over the railing as he slithered over with wide eyes. "I'm here too! Don't you leave me behind either!" The others blinked, watching as the snake hurriedly wound his way over to the group with panting breaths. "I'm... I'm coming too you know..!" Huh... ...That sounded almost scared...

But whatever. The blond shook his head, scooping the snake up with his stick as the serpent gave him an odd, but clearly thankful nod in response. "_Oddly trusting,_" muttered the ghost in his mind, Katsuya watching as the cobra coiled and came to rest at the top of the staff. "_Any particular reason?_"

Well... The snake trusted him didn't he? Besides... How did that saying go he asked himself with a slight smirk, 'friends close and enemies closer' or something like that? Well, his staff certainly applied... "Alrigh," he laughed, turning to face the tunnel with a grin, "Le's- ... Uh..." O... Kay...

Where did the tunnel go? "...The... The tunnel," Shizuka muttered, eyes wide as they looked over the empty ruin space in shock. "It... It vanished... Just vanished."

Silence settled over the crowd for a moment, before the dog under Otogi's mouth began to squirm and shout with outstretched panels and tendrils. "AWWWWWWW! FUCK! I'll never get my body now!"

"Gh- Shut your mouth," Otogi roared, dropping the dog and backing away as he paled, "That's scary as hell!"

"THIS ISN'T FAIR," his friend wailed as he ignored the request. "DAMN IT!"

"Seriously," the dancer argued, "Shut your mouth, NOW!"

Hahhhh... And they told him he got into arguments to easily... "Well. This sucks," Ren muttered from the staff, the blond merely groaning as he smacked his head against a bare patch of wood on the stick.

"That, '_Ren_' would be puttin' it ligh'ly..."

* * *

"Oh darn it... I forgot Ren!"

Yugi gave a somewhat wry smile as his friend turned to look back down the road they were on, the entrance shrouded in darkness as she fretted over her 'partner's missing form. Truth be told he had to admit to himself, after what happened on the truck between the serpent and Honda, he wasn't too upset about the snake's absence. There was something off about him... Something dark, and sinister despite all actions arguing otherwise, and although Honda hadn't been able to offer any proof of the serpent's identity all they had to counter his own attempts to support the matter were words themselves. And given Jonouchi's discomfort on the topic, and how quickly he'd cut it short and simply stayed out of it...

Well, he had a bad feeling this was another one of his 'abilities' kicking in, and regardless of what sort of 'vision' his friend had gotten, he couldn't help but think of his conversation with Ishizu. Of the chilling and tragic story she'd told of her brother. '_Isn't it strange,_' he told his other self as he mulled over this, narrowing his eyes in silence, '_That the snake Anzu has bears hieroglyphs on its back, in the same fashion Ishizu said her brother had?_'

"_Yea... And Honda made a good point about eyes as well,_" the spirit of his lighter half continued, a wave of unease coming from his side of their bond. "_Malik has violet eyes I think; in addition,_" he continued with a nervous swallow,_ "The snake sounds somewhat similar to him... Or at least, similar to 'Namu',_" he added._ "But why hasn't Anzu noticed that? She was the one who met Namu wasn't she? So why not recognize him?_"

Why indeed he thought to himself, before opting to pay attention to the road ahead. Lights could be seen far in the distance, the straight road going on and on and on again as they walked, having given up running for the moment. "This road goes on forever," Anzu muttered, frowning somewhat after a long span of silence. "How much farther do you think we have until we reach the end?"

Yugi turned from what had been another conversation with his lighter half, blinking as he was pulled from idle comments concerning birthdays and lost memories. "Ah-" Oh. That was a good question actually... He looked back to the front, shaking his head. "I'm not sure," he admitted, continuing to walk through the dark before pausing as something caught his eye. Something small... "Ah... Hang on..!" The boy broke into a run, a small light visible in the distance as his friend chased after with an alarmed shout. It was definitely a light he told himself, boomerang sheathed on his back once more. And as they approached it slowly it grew in intensity and shine... Becoming larger... And larger...

And then with the same abruptness as before he'd begun he skidded to a stop, eyes wide as he came to that which the light illuminated. "_Ah- it's a crossroads,_" the 'light' Yugi shouted, gleaning the sight from his other's memories as he swallowed. "_But which way..._"

"Which way do we go," the other finished, eyes somewhat wide as he repeated the question in his mind. "Whic- Ah! Anzu," he shouted with a jolt, watching as his friend barrelled down the left path with no worries for what lay beyond.

The woman continued at her steady and hurried gait, looking back with a smile as the boy coughed. "This way," she called out, her friend hurriedly running after her with wide eyes as he was slowly left behind. "Kaiba went this way!"

"But... How do you even know that," he responded incredulously, the woman merely winking in response.

"It's woman's intuition of course!" Woman's intu-

"Ah-... That sort of thing really works," he asked almost blankly, turning to look at the woman as she nodded.

"Of course!"

"_...Um..._" His lighter half laughed somewhat nervously, likely rubbing his head mentally at the moment._ "...No... No it doesn't... But don't tell her I said that,_" he added, Yugi's confused expression turning into a somewhat forced smile as the boy laughed. Ahahahaha, _but then what if they were wrong about this_!

A blinding light appeared at the end of the tunnel with those thoughts, Yugi's attention pulled from his mental arguments amid himself as he stared. "Ah- light," he gasped, the woman beside him merely laughing at his surprise.

"I _told_ you it was the right way," Anzu cheered, gesturing for him to follow. Well... Yes, he supposed so, but- "Come on," she continued, running into the light, "Let's go!"

"A-Ahh! W-Wait! Anzu," he protested, face reddening slightly, "You're faster than me, I- ...I..." The boy paused, slowing to a walk as his vision cleared. "...This place..." Light faded out as the pair stepped out into what almost looked to be a section of the black forest, great tall firs and pines standing above them. It likely wasn't that famed wood of course... Not with the light in the area and the path that sat there, but it was plain to see that this was a location that was well out of the way of civilization. "...Where is this place," he muttered, narrowing his eyes in thought as he stepped forward.

"_It doesn't look like anywhere in Japan,_" his light responded, also confused at the imagery he was receiving. "_What else do you see though? Maybe it's just something I forgot..._"

Something he forgot? ...Well... There was a path he noted, stepping forward on the somewhat smoothed soil in silence. Anzu was already walking slowly ahead on the path in fact, looking around with wide eyes at where they'd found themselves. "Yugi... Look," she whispered, pointing through the trees as the boy came closer, turning a corner to stare. "It's a mansion..."

And what a mansion it was... The enormous building before them resembled a castle almost, easily standing at an appearance that rivalled Kaiba's own in regality, or at least it _had_. A mansion in the middle of the woods... And ruined too, with a rusted gate bearing a large rose-like symbol across the front and peeling paint beneath walls of thick and uncontrolled ivy. The gate itself hung half open as it was, as though broken from the inside. And before them, the building sat in clear disuse beyond mere paint and plant problems, former splendour stolen away and left to sink the building into a haunting state of disarray. All in all even his memories did the building no justice he realized, and it was with those thoughts that his partner's voice came to mind. "_...Other me,_" his lighter half whispered, hesitantly probing the back of the boy's thoughts. "_Can I..._"

'_Of course,_' he responded, switching back with the boy without even asking what the question was as his vision was filled with darkness yet again. "_I have to thank you for letting me out for a little... Despite the circumstances, there are parts of this that I've enjoyed quite a lot._"

'_Haha... Not a problem,_' the light Yugi, again in control of the body responded, laughing somewhat as he moved to join Anzu at the gate. '_You needed a break right..?_'

"_Right,_" his partner responded somewhat sleepily, before sinking into a more 'dormant' state.

"...It's so _big_," Anzu muttered, standing beside her friend before jumping as she looked down to the boy. "A-AH! Yugi- You switched..."

The boy flushed, bowing somewhat in apology as he rubbed his head. "Erm... Haha... Sorry Anzu," he said with a nervous smile. "I probably should have said something I guess..."

The woman shook her head, laughing quietly as she held her hands out in a calming gesture. "No... No it's fine," she coughed, the smile somewhat forced in lieu of the shock. "Just a little bit of a surprise, you know?" The woman continued to smile despite this however, looking to the mansion with a nervous swallow as she held her staff close. "...This building... Do you think Kaiba went inside," she asked, unconsciously moving to grip her arms tightly alongside the staff.

Maybe, he thought nervously, an odd feeling radiating from the building's form. But rather than say so the boy frowned, biting his lip and shaking his head. Or maybe not. "I... ...It feels like we shouldn't go in," he said quietly, friend turning to stare confusedly as the boy continued. "I don't know why," he whispered, "But I... I don't think..."

A sound came over the air before Anzu could respond... A soft one, very soft, almost quiet enough for them to miss it completely...

-_shk... Shk... Shk...-_

That sound...

A frown came over his face as the sound faintly rumbled from inside the house, a wind seeming to pass from the building itself. "Do... Do you hear that," Anzu asked, the boy nodding hesitantly as the sound grew louder.

"_It sounds almost like crying,_" commented his other, the unease of his partner having pulled him back to attention. It did...

Maybe it _was_ crying... "A baby then," he asked somewhat, before stepping closer as the sound altered in level and pitch. This sound... The boy's eyes narrowed in confusion, a hand brushing against the gate as he tapped it inward. "Or maybe..."

"A woman," his friend finished, following after her friend before hesitating. "...You don't think it's another of Noa's tricks do you," she asked, swallowing nervously. Maybe, he thought to himself. But...

"_Aibou,_" his partner whispered worriedly,_ "I know that she isn't the type to succumb to this point, but you don't think that maybe... Inside this mansion..._" That maybe it was... Her?

Yugi swallowed at the thought, stepping forward to push the gate to the side completely as his friend stared. "We should go see what's wrong," he said almost nervously, looking back with shivering eyes as he bit his lip. "Just in case..!"

The woman beside him stared, before nodding and following the boy's lead despite her obvious confusion. "Right," she said with a nod, the pair moving up toward the mansion's massive doors to push inside. "It can't hurt I guess," the woman continued, wincing as a large creaking noise rang through the foyer before them.

Upon entering the mansion the scene of a typical abandoned home met their eyes, thick dust clouds springing to the air as Yugi coughed and waved a few motes from his face. Marble floors were completely grey now, and above them, spiders had made their home along every corner available with cobwebs clinging to their bodies as they stepped inside. "Gh- Kah-ah..."

"Unng... This place hasn't been used in a long time," Anzu wheezed, using her sleeves as a mask of sorts as they walked forward through the musky air. "Just whose house is this do you think," she continued, looking to her friend as the boy frowned.

"It's definitely not Kaiba-san's," he responded confidently, walking up the stairs as the sound of crying seemed to increase in volume and intensity both. "Her mansion is shaped differently, with two separate wings on either side... This house is more of a 'block' I think."

"Well... We definitely don't know any one else with houses like this," the woman muttered, poking her head into one of the rooms as they went down the hall upstairs. Slight coughing came over the air as she ducked back out, waving a cloud of dust from her face with a wince. "Hnn... Just where _is_ that crying coming from," she asked aloud, looking up and down the hall with narrowed eyes.

Yugi frowned, shaking his head as he glanced back from the room he'd been checking himself. "I don't know... It's not in this one," he added, looking back into the dusty bedroom as he sighed. Nothing but un-used and white-sheet covered furniture, with a thick layer of dust over each one. "Did you find anything," the boy asked, a hopeful smile coming over his face.

"Nope," she answered, closing another door as the smile dropped. The woman moved on to yet another room as the crying continued, biting her lip in annoyance. "I _thought_ it was the right one, and I think there was even a rattle but... Well," Anzu sighed, "It was just empty..."

Hnnn... That wasn't good.

_-Shk... shhk... Shku... shk sk... Nsk...-_

The boy looked down the hall as crying continued, slowly walking toward the next room with a wide-eyed frown. "Anzu," he whispered, the woman following behind as they came toward the door. "Over here... I think it's-"

The door creaked open, and with a rush of wind everything changed. Sun floated through the window, a slight breeze blowing against the curtain. Rather than white sheets covering the furniture there was warm and comforting blankets, picture laden tables, ticking clocks... '_Rota,_' a nervous voice called out, slow and steady as though approaching a rabid hound about to strike or flee. '_Rota,_' the shaking voice of a middle aged man begged,_ 'Listen carefully... Please... Just don't... Don't do this,_' he wept, form unseen as a chair sat in the center.

Yugi froze as he and Anzu attentions moved to the chair, walking in to stare at the sloppilly dressed woman before them. Steady tears were running down her face, with wide eyes and a broken smile in place. She was an extremely tall young woman, that was certain. Fair in appearance, with hair that was as pale as Noa's own despite foreign appearances telling her otherwise. But it was not her face, nor her beauty that caught their eyes as a man who sounded almost like Gozaburo begged her to listen to his words.

It was the gun she held to her chin, as shaking hands made to squeeze the trigger at any moment. '_You're insane,'_ she was whispering, shaking her head. '_Completely... Insane..! Dead... They're... All dead... All..._'

'_Rota please just put it down,_' the man in the background continued desperately, both of the teens in the room simply staring in shock as the woman shivered.

She shook her head again... And again... And again... '_He's gone... My boy is gone! And now my baby... I... I'm not letting you talk about how you can bring him back... I am not letting you tell me he's in some kind of... Special 'machine',_' she cried, crazed smile still on her face._ 'I'm not... Because you... You took him __away__, you __killed__ him, just like you killed my __baby_...'

'_Rota... Listen to me Rota... That was a miscarry, that wasn't your fault... And no one saw that car,_' he wept, '_No one... But please just put the gun down Rota, we can talk later... Please,_' the voice wept.

"Oh my god," Anzu cried, tears dotting her eyes. "She's going to-"

'_I'm sorry... But I want to see my son again... If you're telling the truth... You'll put me in that machine with him, won't you?_'

'_Rota... Rota listen, ROTA... **ROTA!**-__'_

The bang echoed through the air, Anzu letting out a slight choked scream as she covered her mouth and shut her eyes. With the explosion of the bullet 'Rota's head had blasted back on her neck, body erupting into mist and dust as the gun fell on the ground and vanished with it. Yugi and the others both stared in shocked silence even after the scene was gone... After the man's screams echoed through the room, after the blankets and sunlight were replaced with dust motes and white sheets.

"That... Who was that," Anzu whispered with a swallow, breathing heightened to an alarming extent despite all attempts to calm down from the scene. "She looked almost like _Kaiba_, she- Oh my _god_ was she-"

"It wasn't Kaiba-san's mother," he said weakly, standing numbly in the room as he continued to stare at the curtain cloaked chair. "Kaiba-san... He was adopted remember," he choked nervously, "And Mokuba said she died giving birth to him..."

"But then who _was_ that," the woman whispered, backing up and away from the door and chair before bumping into a table at the side. "Gh! Nnn... ...That... Who was it..."

Yugi slowly turned, shaking his head as Anzu continued to shake off her shock with no success. "I... I don't know," he said with a swallow, staring toward the mostly empty table. "I don't...

"_...Aibou,_" his other self whispered softly,_ "What's that thing on the table..?_" The table..? The boy blinked, walking over to where his friend stood to look at the object his partner spoke of. On the table...

The boy reached out, grabbing the object in question with somewhat narrowed eyes as he looked it over. "A picture frame," he muttered, Anzu looking over her friend's shoulder as the boy hesitantly wiped it clean of dust. "Then this must be- Aaa-Aaaaahhh..!"

"_H- This is-_"

Yugi and his friend both stared at the picture with wide eyes, the former almost dropping it in shock. "That's... That's _Noa_," Anzu whispered in shock, eyes wide as she looked at the image. "And beside him... That's..."

"_Kaiba Gozaburo..."_

* * *

On the ruined plain of collapsed buildings and stone, Katsuya and the others had been having an interesting time to say the least. After the tunnel had disappeared, a fog had begun to set in mere moments after the fact, bringing with it a depressing air and a cool wind. An unanimous decision had been made to get back to the truck as clouds began filling the air as well, and shortly after starting the machine up, it had even begun to rain. For a moment, he'd been set to grumble and duck under his cloak, the others making to sit under the canopy in the meantime.

And then the 'field' appeared, and suddenly they were all too eager to sit on the uncovered half to watch water spill on the 'glass' above. "Woaaaaaahh... That is _cool_," Honda muttered as he sat on one of the benches, Ren somehow managing to find himself coiled around the puppy's neck as they both watched the 'ceiling' absorb each droplet that struck it. "What is that," he muttered, "A force field..?"

The others merely looked up at the field and shrugged, staring with wide eyes as a pale, green-tinged film appeared overtop of them to block any and all rain as it fell. "I dunno," Katsuya muttered, shaking his head as he forced himself to pay attention to the roads. "I mean... It looks like somethin' outta a sci-fi 'r somethin'," he muttered, swallowing nervously.

"There's more stuff back here too," Otogi added, he and Shizuka both studying some sort of 'screen' at the back as the truck trundled up the cliff to reach a dam and bridge. The vehicle moved to travel from the stone ground to the smooth and paved highway, rain continuing to spill as they slowly made their way onward. "It wasn't on before," the teen was continuing, "So we thought it was a table but..."

"But what," Katsuya asked, turning back to look as the other humans stared at the device in question. "What is it?"

"It's some kind of... _Map_," Shizuka said with slight surprise, tapping the screen as various portions were either enhanced or brought to the background. "It's a GPS system I think... I can even tell where Anzu and Yugi are," she added with surprise, before frowning. "Erm... Though since everything is connected through those 'doors' we keep finding, that's largely useless right now..."

At this Honda walked over to peer at the map himself, rearing on his haunches and sending a few 'feelers' up to stare at the screen as the others stared. "Cool," he muttered cheerily, the others swallowing in unease as the tendrils moved across the map. "It really is like something from a sci-fi!"

"Alright... No offense or anything," Otogi laughed nervously, "I mean... I get this wasn't your choice of appearance, but..."

"Honda-han," Shizuka asked somewhat nervously, a few feelers turning in the air to point toward the two, "Are you _sure_ there's no other way for you to see..?"

The dog turned completely, head still resembling a metal 'sphere' of sorts as he 'shrugged'. "Pretty sure," he admitted with a slight grimace. "I think I had eyes _before_ but... Well..."

At this, Ren frowned, sliding up from where he'd settled around Katsuya's staff to examine the dog's 'mouth'. "Hn... Maybe it's something I did," he muttered, the dog's fur bristling in response

"Ah- It better not be," Honda growled, his passenger hurriedly fleeing to a safer location with a short 'eep'.

"Ahh! Just saying," he hurriedly shouted in defense, laughing somewhat nervously. "Maybe there's someway to just change it! I mean, hell," the snake continued as he frowned, "Did you even _try_ making it look like that mask thing?"

Honda paused, Katsuya as well turning back as the truck slowly moved down the road ahead. "...That... Ah..."

"That's a good point," Otogi muttered, blinking a few times as he and Shizuka both took seats near the map. "Until you turned on Ren," he continued quietly, "It looked like a muzzle of sorts... After that... Well..."

A short silence seemed to settle with those words, the dog looking down a moment as an odd 'hnnn' sound came from him. "Well... That's true..." He looked back up, a few more tendrils curling through the air as he continued to grumble. "But even so, what do you think this is, some sort of 'thought trigger'?"

As Ren managed yet another of his impossible shrugs the others stared, Shizuka the first to answer. "Well... It can't hurt to try right," she said, pulling her legs up to sit cross legged as the truck stopped along the side of the bridge.

"I guess," Honda muttered, Otogi in the meantime looking to the front with a frown.

"Wait why are we stopping..?"

Katsuya hopped back into the trailer, smirking as he leaned back against the 'map desk' with a laugh. "Hah! Like hell I'm missing this," he said with a grin, giving his currently in-human friend a thumb's up. "Alrigh' Honda, let's see what happens!"

"Oi oi, you say that like I'm going to explode," the dog whined, cringing somewhat as his tail abruptly stopped its slow wag. "...And... So does the look on your face..."

"Nihan," the blond's sister warned, narrowing her eyes as her brother continued to grin.

"Shizuka, he's been sittin' in yer arms f'r a few hours, I'm not gonna jus' sit back an' smile about it."

"W- H-HEY," Honda shouted, yelping as his 'mouth' again opened wide. "What does that even mean-"

"You know," Ren offered somewhat smugly, chuckling from the side as the dog continued to growl, "You might want to try now."

The dog stared, as though considering a third option on dealing with the snake before nodding. "Right... Um... Thinking of dogs then," he muttered, the serpent at the side seeming to grin.

"Aaaaand." he asked, the dog snarling in response.

"Stuff it snake-boy, I'm thinking!"

The snake in question hissed, shaking his head in mock hurt. "_Really_," he 'moaned', "So mean and-... Ah-" Ren blinked, looking up as Katsuya pulled him forward on the staff without any warning. "Hey... What's with that," he asked quietly, hanging upside down from the stick as it was brought back to an upright position.

"Trus' me, I gotta feelin' yer safer up fron'," he told the snake, Ren in question making himself comfortable on the bridge railing at the side as he was dumped there. "Now..."

As Honda sat before them it seemed nothing was happening. There was merely silence in the air, a small breeze passing them by as the dog held completely still. After a moment however, a change occurred. A shift in the metal, a bend in the form as small dents began to appear. Fur melted out from the metal, a small snout pointed forward, and as pricked ears pointed to attention a pair of eyes opened. And then closed... Opened... Closed...

A few more blinks and the dog 'yawned', stretching somewhat as it stood again. "Well," Honda said with another yawn, shaking himself and looking around. "I don't feel any different, so-"

"Ah- Honda," Otogi coughed, shaking his head as the dog continued to look about the trailer. "What are you talking about?"

The dog turned, now 'normal' head staring up with a slight frown. "What do you mean, 'what am I talking about'," he growled lightly, "Nothing happened, that's what!"

Nothing? "Honda-han," Shizuka said from the side, grabbing her spear to let the puppy see its off colored reflection as she laughed. "You're kidding me... It worked perfectly," she continued with a smile, "You look perfectly fine!"

"Not t' mention '_adorable_'," Katsuya chuckled teasingly, receiving a fairly unamused sigh from the ghost in his mind. What! It was true!

Honda for his part, seemed to have ignored the comment in lieu of the positives however, tail even wagging as he stared in the spear head. Sitting, standing, sitting; he could barely contain himself! "Ah- AHAHAHA! This is great," he cheered, finally jumping to his feet as he barked. "Well... I'm still a dog of course," he added with a cough, "But this is awesome! I don't have that head thing to worry about any more!"

Another cough met the air, the others turning to share looks before looking back at the puppy. "Ahh... Hang on," Otogi muttered, "Are you _sure_ about the..."

"Of course," Honda argued, sitting down again with a nod. "Just watch; aaaaaaaAAAAA-"

"AAAAUGH! AUGH!" The others pulled fairly disgusted faces as the flesh and blood head seemed to split, the feelers and tentacles still quite present within the now organic mouth as teeth jutted forward. "AUGH! Close your mouth," Otogi screamed, looking away, "Close your mouth!"

"W-What... Hey, it can't be that bad!"

"Are you kiddin' me," the blond responded, holding back a wave of virtual lunch, "Tha's worse than even b'fore..."

"H-Honda-han," Shizuka said nervously, "P... Please keep your volume down from now on..."

The dog hurriedly pulled the sides of his mouth back in at that, a clear expression of shock and worry on his face as the others sighed in relief. "Eh... Sorry about that..."

"It's fine," Otogi coughed, looking back to the 'map' for something to distract himself with as he pushed the image of the 'mouth' from mind. "Just... Don't... Open your mouth..."

"Alright," he said calmly, "I'll-"

"Ever," Shizuka added quietly, the dog faling forward on its front.

"_Okay_," Honda muttered, "I-"

"Seriously," Katsuya continued, hopping into the front, "Or I'll shoot y'."

"Gh- I got it alright," he snarled, mouth flying open again as those watching pulled faces.

"GH- Honda-han," the girl muttered, the dog below closing up once more.

"Right... Sorry."

"Hahhh..." Otogi leaned back on his seat, shaking his head. "At least we _know _how this works now," he muttered, shaking his head with a sigh. "Better than dealing with things like Kaiba's stupid hips..."

"Uh..." Katsuya coughed, looking back with narrowed and confused eyes. "'M sorry, what? Yer gettin' confused abou' _what_?"

The teen frowned, turning from his seat. "Oh come on... You can't tell me you didn't see his HIPS in the last fight," he protested, the blond's eyebrows raising somewhat at the reminder. "They... They were like..." He made a curved gesture with his hands, the others staring rather blankly as he fussed. "W- Come on! Do you have any idea how creeped out I am about this," Otogi shouted, hands shaking as he looked to the others. "It... They weren't _normal_!"

The others shared awkward looks for a moment, eventually looking back with blank stares. "...Well... Not sure about everyone else but... I didn't see _anything_ like that," Honda muttered after a moment, looking over at the others. "...I mean... What the hell are you talking about... ...Did you guys see that kind of thing?"

"Nope," Katsuya said quickly, as Shizuka gave an honest shrug from the side. "Nothin' at all," he hurriedly continued, "Yer losin' it Otogi."

"I... I'm not losing it," he snarled, gripping one of the sides of the railing.

Shizuka smiled somewhat wryly, shaking her head. "Sorry Otogi-han... But I really don't think..."

"Ah- You too," the teen cried, looking to the girl. "Really..?"

"Well it's not like anything you're saying makes sense!"

"Heeeeey guys," Ren asked from the side, the serpent's head bent over the side of the bridge as he coughed. "I think I spotted something and... Um... You should probably look. Right now." The others turned, watching as the snake abruptly drew back and scooted off to the truck. "Or maybe we should just leave. That would probably be better," he continued in a slight panic, sliding back into the truck as Honda moved to take his place at the bridge.

"Weird, I don't see anything..."

"Leave," Shizuka asked as Honda muttered about nothing being there, "What are you talking about..?"

"Leaving, living, they sound the same right," the snake responded, the others raising their eyebrows.

"Oi oi," Katsuya muttered in agitation, "If you don' explain what th' hell you're talkin' abou', I'm gonna dissect you damn it..!"

At this a scream suddenly broke through the air, Honda jumping back as his mouth opened wide to compensate for the amount of noise being made. "AAAAAA- AAHHH! ROUF! ROUR! ROU-ROU-ROU-ROU... ROURF!"

"Hondaaaaa," Shizuka moaned, ducking down as the teen had another momentary 'canine relapse', head splitting open to the others.

"Honda, if you plan on impressing someone," Otogi muttered dryly, "You're not doing a good job of it..."

"GH- The snake was right," the dog exclaimed in a panic, mouth thankfully closing somewhat as he scrambled about the bridge railing.

..._They agreed_! "Eh?" The others blinked, Otogi hopping out of the truck with a blank stare as he went to inspect the location himself. "What do you mean, 'right', you said yourself you didn't see-"

"That was before, this is now! There are monster's in the water," he continued in panic, "MONSTERS DAMN IT!"

Otogi hurriedly pulled back as the alien and fleshy head opened yet again, eye twitching as the dog's many feelers again began flailing centimetres away from him. "Gh... H-Hey, calm down..! That's disgusting..!"

"How am I supposed to calm down," the dog whined fearfully, "We're screwed! I saw at least four pairs of eyes in there, we can't take down those things!"

"Ahh... Four monsters," Shizuka asked, her brother merely growling as he hopped out of the truck to snatch the dog by its collar.

"Y-erf!"

"Tch... You're th' monster y' moron! Now shut your mouth!" The dog did as told, Honda giving a somewhat nervous swallow as he was tossed back to the truck.

"Hey, I don't know about you," Ren called from the rear of the trailer, "But we were both telling the truth... Oh hey, that reminds me," the snake added, looking over to Honda as he laughed. "What was it you said earlier by the way," he asked as he grinned, "That it'd be a 'cold day in hell' before you agreed with me?"

"I swear to god I'm going to swallow you whole," the dog snarled, Shizuka's face twisting at the thought.

"Ewwwwwww..."

"Damn it Honda stop scarin' my sister!"

"I'm not scared," she muttered, "I'm nauseated..."

"Are we going to go back to looking for the others now," Otogi asked 'idly', leaning against the truck with a yawn, "Because while the rain might have stopped, it's still pretty wet out here, and I'm wearing leather so-"

"Shhhhhhh," Ren hissed, the teen blinking as the serpent continued. "I'm waiting to see how long it'll take before they notice that noise..."

"...What noise?"

As Otogi asked Ren about 'the noise' the others froze, Katsuya and Honda both turning to look over the bridge rather slowly as the water began to move. The dog was dropped immediately, loud howling barks tearing through the air as it fled while the others jumped back from what were now raging seas. "H-HAHH! What th' hell!"

"ROU! ROUF ROUF ROU," the dog barked angrily, "ROUROUROUROUR-

"Honda not now," he growled, the puppy yelping in surprise.

"AH- Sorry!"

"_Hehehehehe..._" Water burst from the waves below, spiralling higher and higher into the air until it formed a massive and swirling platform of water above them. There were four monsters there... The 'Psycho Shocker', hands placed on the water's surface in some sort of control motion... The Judgeman, a massive gavel in his grip, teeth ground and sharp. A penguin, gripping a whip in its fins, and a fish-like warrior with a spear... "_Found you,_" the four called out all at once, their identities made known simply with those words

Katsuya continued to stumble back before hitting the truck's side, the others swallowing nervously as the four hovered before them. Oh shit... Oooohhhh shit... "Y-You guys again," he protested, Otogi and Shizuka both gripping their weapons tightly as the monsters hovered in the air.

"What... We already defeated you," Otogi shouted, knives in his hands as he took a stance on the side of the truck, somehow able to keep his footing on the railing. "What do you want?"

Chuckling echoed from the monsters above, each one merely sneering as they laughed. "Hn! Isn't it obvious," the Deepsea Warrior, voice recognized as 'Oshita' asked. "We're here for your bodies!"

"Bod- Hey! You can't do that," Ren shouted, poking his head out from the trailer despite what looked to be nervous shivering. "Like the dancer-guy said," he continued, Otogi deciding to ignore the nickname momentarily, "We beat you all fair and square!"

"And I want my body _BACK_," Honda added as he snarled, those above apparently ignorant of the mutation his head continued to show. "I don't even have one to give, you can't take mine AGAIN!"

The four above them merely stared, narrowing their eyes if visible at all. "Hnn... True," Oshita muttered darkly, "We lost to your friends... But that doesn't mean we can't have a re-match..." A re-match..?

Shizuka paled at the words, stepping back somewhat before bumping into a turret-like structure on the side of the truck. "N-Nihan," she said with a swallow, "I know there's technically five of us but..."

"Only three of us can fight," Otogi finished, clenching his daggers tightly. "And only _two_ of us can properly duel, with none of us having _that_ kind of advantage," he finished, gesturing to the water.

Yeaaaaa... Levitating water was kinda out of their reach. The blond swallowed, looking up as he stepped forward. "Tha's fine," he said clearly, adjusting his grip on the staff in his hand. "You two jus' sit tight... I'll handle it!"

"Uh... You're gonna fight _four people_ at once," Ren asked incredulously, the ghost apparently agreeing.

"_Chabar,_" he muttered with a cough,_ "I understand your math skills are less than favourable, but you should probably take my advice when I say... Reconsider. Right now,_" he added flatly.

Katsuya ignored the two, instead staring the monsters down with his staff in hand as they chuckled. Hmp! He'd teach them to laugh at him. "Heh... So! Who's first then," he said with a grin, cracking his knuckles as he moved into a fighting stance. "Fish-guy? Penguin? Maybe even you Oka, not tha' we don' know how that's gonna end," he added with a dark smirk

He probably should have realized something was wrong when the monster's continued chuckling, given that the monsters had drawn back further to prepare a series of attacks. "Ohhhh... There won't be any ridiculous games of cards this time," Oshita chuckled, twirling his spear as a small pillar of water arose from the platform created. "We'll be taking a more direct route..."

"Wh... What..." As Katsuya froze the first attack was made, Daimon throwing a hand forward as the blond paled.

"_**TSUNAMI,**_" the cyborg roared, the 'pillar' blasting forward in the form of an enormous beam of water.

"Ah- _**STEEL GUARD,**_" came Shizuka's voice in defense, a ray of light blasting from the end of her spear. An immense sheet of glass appeared at the end of it, gleaming before them as it forced the raging waters up and around them. "Gh... Nihan," she shouted, the glass beginning to crack after mere seconds, "This spell won't last long..!"

"And there's no way we can take these four down as it is," Otogi added, knives fading from existence as he hopped in the trailer with a swallow. Katsuya nodded, running for the drivers seat as he turned the keys.

"Got it," he called out, "Let's g-"

-_Bssssssst_- What.

"Uhhhh... Not that I'm much for trucks," Ren offered with a higher than normal tone, "But that didn't sound healthy." Gh! No shit he thought to himself, tell him something he didn't know!

"_How about it's not a truck,_" offered his ghostly stowaway, the blond grabbing his head as he chose to focus on more important matters. Come on... Come on!

-_bsssssst- ... -bssssssssst_-

"Aggggg... C'mon y' piece of CRAP," he hissed, turning back as the others attempted to hold their position and shield from the back.

"Ngh... Not much longer," Shizuka cried, the others biting their lips as the girl broke into a sweat. "Hah... N-Nihan," she continued, "You need to hurry! It takes five seconds for me to re-set the shield..!"

"Aggggh- I'm goin' I'm goin'," the blond shouted, smacking the steering wheel with a snarl. "NOTHIN'S WORKIN'!"

"Damn it... This would be so much easier if we had everyone else here," Otogi shouted, spinning a knife in his hand as Shizuka shook.

"Well we don't," Honda countered angrily, "And I'm about as useful as dirt here..."

"Yea," Ren snorted, "Seeing how even killing you wouldn't do anything to them."

Ah. Katsuya reached back, snatching the dog up before it could respond to the comment as a flash came to mind. An explosion... A shout... Rushing waters and thundering skies. And if he didn't move now..."...Ahhh..! Screw it," he snarled, turning back as the others stared.

"Wh-Wh- What the hell! Jonouchi," Honda protested, the blond reaching over the side, "What are you-"

"Got a feelin'," he shouted, gripping the collar tight as the dog flailed in his grip, "You better not fail us Honda!"

"Fail us," he shouted incredulously, the blond pulling the puppy back with grit teeth. "What are you talking aboAAAAA-AAAA-AAAAAHHHHHH! FUCK YOU JONOUCHIIIIIIIiiiiii!" As the dog sailed through the air Katsuya went back to work with grit teeth, the others shaking off their shock at the sight to turn on the blond.

"N-NIHAN," Shizuka protested, her shield faltering as the Big 5 also paused in confusion. "What are you-"

"Jonouchi," their friend cut in, "You just _THREW HONDA_-"

"DAMN that's a good toss," Ren shouted cheerily, the others in the trailer fixing him with a frown. "Well it _was_."

And a couple seconds later, there was a 'damn good explosion' too to the other's surprise. As the dog flailed, falling forward, something had happened, that much he knew. A program... Something Noa had already laced in his mind. Something he'd seen...

And about half way through the start up of the truck, that 'something' activated. "-ASSAULT MODE ACTIVATED-," a robotic tone announced, Honda's already open mouth locking into place as he curled in the air. "-FIRING-"

"Firing," one of the monsters shouted with a start, a glowing light developing at the end of Honda's throat.

"Gh- This is one of Noa-sama's-"

A mushroom cloud seemed to erupt in the air, the engine finally roaring to life as Katsuya turned to look at the side. Nothing but dust and smoke.. Along with a speck flying back in the distance. "C'mon," he muttered, the others silent at what had apparently just been their friend's second death as the blond swallowed. "C'mon," he whispered, "We ain't leavin' till y' get here..."

"H-Honda-ha- AHH!"

"Gggggg... Jonouchi!" The group's eyes widened for the most part as a distant 'spec' cleared up, paws flailing in the air as he sputtered. "Pleh! Glach!" More choking and sputtering came from the distance, along with the slight whirr of a 'helicopter' as what looked to be the metal panels of the dog's head spun in a circular motion. "I swear it if that hadn't of worked," he snarled, tendrils and wires lashing in rage amid the spins.

"Wh- HE FLIES," an incredulous roar from the back called out.

"Not now 'Ren'!" The blond stuck his staff out as the dog latched onto the side with the wires, smoke beginning to clear from the air as the truck tore off on the highway. "We ain't outta here yet..."

The others blinked, frowning. "Not out of here," Otogi muttered, looking back at the disappearing cloud. "But that explosion..."

"Nihan," his sister whispered confusedly, "How did you even know that explosion would-"

"Would be some kind of cannon from my face? I don't know," Honda shouted with a swallow, "But as much as I'd like to know why, I can tell you that's not going to kill them! All I did was destroy the platform!"

"But isn't that how they travel," the tallest of the group muttered, Katsuya not looking back to check.

There was a short silence, Shizuka's gasp answering the question for them as she gripped her spear. "Um... I don't think so," she whispered fearfully, pointing through the 'back window' of the canopy trailer. "Look..."

"...Oh. Shi-"

"_**HURRICANE,**_" came a rage filled cry, Shizuka's spear hurriedly pointed through the trailer window as she swallowed.

"Nn! _**STEEL GUARD!**_"

As those in the back turned around to focus on the battle, Katsuya already knew what they could see. And as he continued to drive down at top speed, he really wished that there was a cave somewhere up ahead.

* * *

The tunnel she traveled in had become... Something else she noted during the travels along what was a former highway. It had roughened, turning into a cave- Not even that she told herself as she stepped through the dark, stones seeming to vanish as she continued on. She was simply walking through a void, and had been since taking the right-hand path off the highway. Nothing but darkness, endless darkness, along a path she somehow knew to take.

She was not alone though. Not completely she realized soon enough, sword in hand in the windless air. '_He's mine now,_' a voice whispered, brushing against her ear as an uncontrolled shudder came over her. Narrowed and paranoid eyes flicking to the side with each sound as the whispers passed her by, seeming to almost bear solid form. '_Mine,_' the whispers were repeating,_ 'I have him now..._'

The woman grit her teeth, continuing down the 'hall'. She had to ignore it, she told herself. Ignore the mutterings and keep going...

'_I've always wanted a brother,' _the voice was muttering, Seto closing her eyes with a growl.

Shut up...

_'How about a sister as well,' _it asked as she covered her ears,

Shut up..!

_'Or perhaps you'd like to stay here instead..._' Gh..!

"Ngh... Let him GO," she shouted into the darkness, breathing rapidly as she momentarily paused in her run to bring her hands to her sides. "Hah... Hah..." Tired... She was attempting to ignore it but she was... Tired... "Hah... ...Hah... Tch..." First the crossroads, then this... "Taunting me like this... Why don't you just face me now," the woman snarled, tightening her grip on her sword.

"Hnn... Like this?" Seto's blood ran cold as she turned around, Noa's smirking form visible before her. He...

He was right there..! "You..." Only a moment's pause and her energy returned, face flushing red as the woman steadied her resolve. "You _MONSTER_," she snarled, pulling her blade forward and charging the boy. "_HRA-H!_"

"_Gh-!_" As the blade connected the woman's scowl fell, replaced with horror as what shifted into her brother's body stumbled backwards. As white clothes became the very striped t-shirt he wore in the real world, light hair darkening to a black mop. No... "Hn-nn... _Nee-sama_," he rasped, blood spilling from the long and well placed wound, dribbling from his mouth with each breath, his nose, staining the hand he'd brought to the wound in pain... "Why..."

"Ahhh..." No... "AAA-AAAAAAAHHHH-..!" NO! The sword clattered to the ground as she stumbled back, the body falling to burst into flames before her very eyes as she screamed. "M-MOKUBA!"

"Oooh... Sorry about that," a smug voice muttered, Seto turning yet again as the 'real' Noa stood before her. Wide eyes merely stared with horror and shock as the boy continued to chuckle, breathing quickened as she struggled to regain composure. "Honestly though," he muttered, the clothes he wore identical in appearance to that which 'Mokuba' had been wearing seconds before, "That _hurt_! You should be careful with that thing," he continued, chuckling darkly as he brought up a bloodied hand. "Someone will get _hurt_..."

"You... ..._You..._" This... This... No words could describe this boy! None at all, even demons would be considered compliments! There was still blood on her hands, blood on her sword... Blood on the clothes of the boy before her, her 'brother's face still burned into her mind... "What did you do with my brother," she hissed, eyes still wide from the shock of what she'd 'almost' done. "Where have you taken him!"

The boy before her tilted his head, the smirk still in place as he watched the woman panic. "What did I do," Noa asked, "Absolutely nothing... But I suppose a reunion is order," he continued, snapping his fingers as all light, including himself, vanished from the area. "So here we go then..." Wh...

What- "H- Hnn!" The ground vanished from beneath her feet, knocking the wind from her lungs as she sank downward. "H-HAAAAHHHH!" Falling... She was falling now, and- Ah-! "Gh!" The woman landed with an abrupt 'thump', unable to hide the grimace that it resulted in as she groaned. "Hng..." This placed... "Noa," she spat, pulling herself to her feet with still ragged breaths as she looked around, "If you think that doing this will save you from what I intend to do with you once I escape, I-"She cut herself off as she looked to who was standing behind her, eyes widening as the boy's partially armored form met her gaze. "M-Mokuba..." He was alright... He was perfectly fine, he was alright..! He was standing there, simply staring from beside a cough... Which meant... "Gh... Noa," she hissed, looking to the side as she attempted to locate the fiend. "Do you honestly think that by taking my brother you 'surpass' me? That this somehow makes you a better 'person'?"

"Ooooh not at _all_," the boy answered, appearing at Mokuba's side as the woman glared. "One of your former employees were the ones to do this... Not _me_. If anything," he continued with a smirk, crossing his arms as Seto sheathed her blade and walked toward them, "You should be _thanking_ me for saving him..."

Thank him? Hn! "As if I would do that," she spat lowly, before moving to grab her brother's arm. "Come on Mokuba... Let's get away from this maniac and-" She paused, receiving a tug instead of a 'glide' from the arm as expected. He wasn't moving..? "...Mokuba..?" The woman turned back, frowning as she held her loose and protective grip on the boy. "...Mokuba what's wrong," she asked, her brother pulling his arm back as he stepped away. Why was he... "We need to leave," Seto repeated. "Come on... We need-"

"I don't want to," he said plainly, the woman's eyes widening as her brother shook his head.

Why... "But why... Jonouchi, Yugi, myself... All your friends are waiting," she told him, "_I'm_ waiting, I've been looking for you..!" And she'd found him, while everyone else wandered elsewhere, found him because she _cared_-

"I want to stay with Noa-niichan," the boy said plainly, sister continuing to pale. Nii... Chan..?

The woman's somewhat calm if not confused expression fell flat, Seto turning on Noa with grit teeth. "You... Sick _BASTARD_," she spat, eyes wide as she pulled out her sword once more. "What kind of 'brainwashing' is this," Seto roared, pointing down to her brother as the boy at her side frowned. "You have no right to play with my brother's mind... Un-do whatever you've done _NOW_!"

As Mokuba flinched under the shouts, ducking away, Noa sighed and shook his head. "Hn! Just when I thought you couldn't be more accusing... _I _haven't done anything to him! You said it yourself didn't you," he sneered, the taller of the three shaking in rage. "'Hypnosis can't make you do what you absolutely don't want to'... Which means this was his decision," the boy continued darkly, "Plain and simple..."

His decision... But it couldn't be! It wouldn't, this wasn't... Mokuba wouldn't do that! "What the hell are you going on about," she growled threateningly, sword shaking some what as she stared the boy down. "I know damn well that this is your doing... Reverse it- NOW!"

"Hahhhh... You really are a fool aren't you..." What? "We heard everything from your battle you know," Noa told her, crossing his arms with a look of 'knowing' as the woman stiffened. "Every single thing you said and Daimon said. We know you used Mokuba for your own selfish gain, and we _know_ what you did," the boy hissed, lips curled back with distaste. "Which reminds me... Mokuba," he asked 'curiously', a bitterly sweet smile on his face, "Did you ever get those stocks back..?" Gh... The stocks?

The stocks were owned _jointly_, they weren't- Slowly, her face continued to fall, the woman staring at her brother's still and determined form as she was met with an expression of calm rage. "Mokuba... You _believe_ those words," she whispered in horror, pointing toward Noa as she stepped toward him. "You believe _DAIMON_, the one who sent you to Pegasus?"

The one who did so because of what she'd done to him, a nasty voice hissed in the back of his mind, the woman hurriedly banishing the thought. Noa chuckled from the side as he watched the exchange, narrowing his eyes with a shrug. "Well... Are any of those words false..?" F-

The word caught Seto off guard, the woman's eyes frozen on her brother's face. False... To even ask such a question would mean... "...You... You can't really believe him," she whispered, shaking her head. "You can't..."

For a moment, she thought she saw something in her brother's eyes. Something small, subtle... Forgiveness perhaps, or even (if it had to be) pity. But in an instant it was gone. Gone and replaced with that same stubborn frown, Noa placing a hand on the boy's shoulder as he spoke. "How _pathetic_," he chuckled, the two turning to walk away as the shorter glanced back. "She's completely terrified that you've abandoned her... We should just leave," he continued, Mokuba nodding in agreement. Gh...

All of this... "Are you so _desperate_ to 'surpass' me," she hissed, sword glowing with heat in a mere instant as her rage returned. "Are you so eager to 'defeat' me in my own life that you would do this?"

"_Defeat_," Noa repeated, a humored smirk on his face. "Hnhnhnhnhn... You know, I realized long ago that you were a _proud_ woman, despite all the hiding you do in your life... But to think. You're so conceited and arrogant to the point you're nothing more than a joke!" Gh... This little, disgusting,- "Of course I 'win' over you," the boy was continuing with a laugh, he and Mokuba taking a seat on the couch before them. "You were nothing more than a 'failsafe' after all..." A...

"A _failsafe_," she hissed, eyes wide as the sword went dull once more. "What do you mean, _FAILSAFE_?"

At this Noa gained a look of faux-surprise, bringing a hand to his face. "Oh? He never told you then?"

"_HE_?" Who was 'HE'!

Chuckling filled the air, and a dark look came over the boy's face as he looked over the woman's fretting form. "You... You were never supposed to last this long; that's the truth. You should have died long ago... As for the rest... I think _all _of you deserve to see that, don't you," he said somewhat louder, Seto looking back with wide eyes. 'All'?

A door had appeared in the darkness... It had opened just a crack, right as Noa said those words in fact, and as two figures stepped out she quickly made to shield her voice and tone from those before her. "H- Yugi," she shouted in surprise, watching the worried boy run forward.

"Kaiba-san," the boy shouted, hurrying toward the woman with something tightly gripped in his hands. "We thought you might have come this way..! We've been looking for you," he continued, "And-"

"Kaiba," Anzu continued, swallowing somewhat nervously as she gripped her staff and stood to the sides. "There's... There's something you need to see..." Something she needed to-

The woman narrowed her eyes, before looking down as Yugi held out a picture out toward her. "Kaiba-san, we found this in another area of the world here... I'm not sure completely," he continued quietly, "But is that man-"

"Gozaburo," the woman hissed, taking the frame with narrowed eyes as she looked over the man's form. A younger version, and dare she say, possibly less 'bitter' about whatever it was that so caused him to scowl all the time she knew him. "And beside him..." Seto turned, wide eyes looking to Noa as the boy smirked, the couch and Mokuba both vanished from sight while her back was turned. "You... How can this-"

"How about we watch a short video," the boy said 'cheerfully', eyes narrowed with mirth as the others frowned. "Watch..!"

'_Who is this..?_' The area had melted completely, revealing what looked to be a young boy's bedroom. The walls were oddly sparse despite this, the room kept meticulously clean... No toys littered the ground, no clothes hung out of place. At the side however, next to a dog's bed, was a computer of sorts, a young boy pulling an image from a printer and staring at it as those watching looked over it themselves. That boy...

Noa. Identical to his present self in every way, save for a set of pale pyjamas in the place of the outfit he wore now. The picture he held in his hands was more alarming however, being the exact pair of 'profile images' that had been taken upon adoption for their health information and schooling. Pictures of herself and Mokuba, age ten and five... '_That is the one I've chosen for you,_' Gozaburo was saying, his face on the screen of the computer in what was obviously a web-cam chat. '_He looks like you, doesn't he?_'

The boy nodded, placing the picture at the side of his desk as he stared to it. '_Exactly like me,_' he stated after a moment, before looking to the man in silence.

'_And he's just as smart; possibly smarter than you. So how about it... Care for a challenge, before we put the process underway,_' the man asked, Noa seeming to perk up immediately as the dog at the side yawned.

'_Of course,_' he responded, Seto momentarily frowning as the 'process' was mentioned. '_Of course!_'

'_Good! Prove to me you surpass him... And not only will your wish to come home be granted,_' he said cryptically, the boy's eyes widening with anticipation, '_But you'll get to meet your new little brother..._'

A brother? '_Ah... The baby that Kaa-chan was going to have,_' he asked, grin widening further. There was a slight grimace in Gozaburo's expression with those words she notied, narrowing her eyes in suspicion. A wince, but nonetheless the man nodded in agreement.

'_Exactly,_' he told him. '_Exactly._'

There was a small bit of silence, and Noa's expression as well seemed to fall somewhat as he studied his father's face. '_I see. ...Thank you... Tou-chan...' _Tou... The video cut off, faces falling in shock as the last word rang over the air.

"E-EHH," Anzu remarked with a shout, the scene melting into space as they turned on Noa with wide eyes. "T-TOU-CHAN?"

"_What_..? What is this..!"

Noa smirked, hands stowed in his pockets as the three continued to pale and sputter with confusion. "Hnhnhnhn... I told you already; this is the 'truth'. My name is Kaiba Noa," the boy said coldly, "First and only son to Kaiba Gozaburo. My father... He wanted to make sure I was up to par in my studies," he 'explained', shaking his head. "Wanted to test me, challenge me to prove I was worthy of returning to him... So he took you in," the boy continued, looking up to the woman somewhat darkly. "You who resembled me in every way... Of course," he trailed off, shaking his head, "I would imagine things changed sometime after 'that day'..." 'That' day..?

"What day," the others were muttering, Seto narrowing her eyes as she herself asked the question in her mind. "What day is he talking about," Anzu whispered, "I don't understand..."

Yugi as well frowned, the boy before them sighing as he shook his head. "Oh don't bother asking," Noa chuckled, arms crossed as he hovered before them. "This one's managed to forget all about it... A pity that. Because you've _always_ been the 'Back Up'," he sneered, a wicked grin on his face as he began to laugh. "The 'Fail-Safe', the 'Last Resort'... And if you hadn't have killed my father before I could prove myself you wouldn't even exist!"

Killed- That again? Seto continued to stand in tense silence, narrowing her eyes. "Then... The reason we're here," Yugi said with a swallow, the tallest of the three merely frozen at the moment, "The reason you pulled us in..."

"Exactly! I'm going to prove myself the better of us," Noa announced, "Once and for all... And while I'm at it," he chuckled, narrowing his eyes, "I'll be getting myself reacquainted with those of the 'real world' to prepare for my 'prize'..." Wh... This... All of this...

"_Impossible_," Seto hissed, eyes wide as she regained her voice in the face of all that was occurring. "This is NONSENSE! Even if this was true, and you were set up in some sort of 'challenge'," the woman snarled, "There's no way you could possibly be related to him, in any way!"

"And here we go _again_," the boy muttered, rolling his eyes. "Here they told me you were smart... Now just why would you say-..." He paused, a sudden 'click' echoing about them. "Hnnn..."

A shimmer of light appeared in the air, a small boy appearing to Noa's side as the taller of the two turned. "Wh... Who's that," Anzu muttered, frowning as the boy stood with a blank expression in place, white clothes nearly blending in with his skin. "Who-"

"Noa-sama," the boy said blandly, his creator turning with a frown as the child's white wings folded in. "Subjects Jonouchi Katsuya, Kawai Shizuka, Otogi Ryuuji, and Betas 01 and 02 are each under fire from the defeated members of the 'Big 5'. Are there any actions you wish for me to take," he asked, Noa merely gritting his teeth as the child explained the brief situation.

"Hn! Such a pain," he muttered, the others frowning as boy scowled and looked back. "Well! It looks as though I have other things to deal with... Seto," he said with a smirk, looking to the woman as she gripped her blade tight. "We'll be speaking again later it seems... Until then," he continued with a sneer, chuckling darkly, "_Safe travels_."

What... "Tch... You're not getting away this time," she hissed, running forward to swing her sword toward the vanishing boy. "NOA-! You aren't- H-" Her next foot fell forward completely as screams cut through the air, wind rushing past her as darkness surrounded both herself and the others behind her. "Gh- Damn it..! NOAAAA!"

"W-WHERE DOES THIS THING EVEN GO," a panicked woman behind her screeched, Anzu barely gripping her staff as they fell.

"I don't know," her friend responded loudly, shaking his head. "I-" Yugi's voice cut off as darkness shrouded him from view, a panicked scream coming from Anzu as they fell.

"H-Hah... Y-Yugi," she shouted, eyes wide as empty space met her instead of warm violet eyes. "YU-" The woman as well was cut off, her own form enveloped in black as Seto grit her teeth.

Tch... So she was next was she..? Darkness closed in toward her, and as she continued to scowl she nodded. Fine then. "Bring it on," she spat, gripping her sword as more darkness covered her vision. "_Noa_."

And the world went black, her thoughts ending right there.

* * *

"Anyone see a sign for a hotel," the snake on the side of the trailer asked as they fled the charging monsters behind them, a majority of the others turning from their 'posts' as Ren made his odd request. It was really bad enough that Shizuka's only effective 'offensive' spell was too powerful for her to cast more than once. And also upsetting enough that Otogi's own attacks did next to nothing from a distance, particularly compared to that 'Wemko Bombard' Shizuka had blasted toward the opponents.

But he could really live without these weird comments the snake seemed to pull out of his hat. "A _hotel_," Honda repeated, 'mouth' still pulled back from where he'd been firing 'lasers' of sorts out the back of the trailer. "We're running for our lives and you look for a _hotel_?"

The snake rolled its eyes, sighing as it collapsed back on the cushion. "Hn! You guys have no music tastes... This is the last time I try joking around with you guys." Hahaha, of course... Something they'd never heard of.

"Hn... Well if y' see one anyway lemme know," Katsuya muttered from the front, hurriedly swerving to the right to avoid a blast of ice from Otaki's whip, "Could use th' sign f'r cover..!"

"Hnng... I'm sorry I can't do more than defend," Shizuka said with a wince, another shouted 'steel guard' blocking an attack from hitting as Otogi busied himself by hurling throwing knives at the beast. "I know that when I fired that 'Bombard' attack it looked good but..."

"Hey, don' be sorry," her brother responded proudly, "You're savin' all our asses here..."

"What we should be sorry about is not having anything for a decent long range attack," Otogi added in response, yet another wave of knives falling just short the distance their opponent's were at. "Tch... This is a real pain," he hissed with narrow eyes. Yea... Tell him about it...

"Well there's got to be something here," Ren hissed, slithering behind Honda as the dog again paused his 'firing' to speak.

"Define something," he snorted, 'mouth' closing only somewhat as the serpent stared. "Because as I recall, you're more useless than _me_."

"Nice way to insult yourself there Honda," his friend called from the top, the dog nodding.

"Thank- WAIIIIIIT-"

Ren again rolled his eyes, sliding up to one of the turret looking devices on the side of the truck. "I'm just saying; these look like guns," he said with a frown, "So you'd think they'd be guns! You guys didn't even try using them though!"

"Well in that case," the dog retorted, returning to his firing, "Let us know when you can aim one snake-boy."

At this the snake gave a rather childish hiss, blowing his tongue out at the dog."Hn! As a matter of fact," he shouted somewhat angrily, wrapping around one of the handles as he pulled back, "I think I-"

-_**BROUM!**_-

The snake jumped as a shudder passed through the air, the 'bullet' fired forming an enormous hole in the highway as Katsuya screamed. "A- AHH-AAAAA-AAAHH! What th hell!" The truck rumbled and clattered about as they were driven off road, the blond looking back with wide eyes before turning back to pay attention to the rock-littered desert about them. "H-Hah..! Jus' what w's tha'!"

The others said nothing, instead momentarily turning to the turret Ren had before scrambling for them as Shizuka held the defense. "Of course," Otogi shouted in agravation, pulling on and aiming it toward the opponents as he stood along and almost outside the truck, "_Now_ they work!"

Ren seemed to beam with those words, shaking his head smugly as he grinned. "Well! You can all thank me la-"

"Move," Honda barked, pushing past the serpent.

"A- What the- You don't even have thumbs," he protested, "How are you-" The snake cut himself short as the handles were gripped in a few of the feelers from Honda's neck, looking decidedly nauseous about the entire deal as he stared.

"You were saying," the dog said smugly, Ren giving an involuntary shudder as he backed away and listened to the bullets released toward their opponents.

"Hihhhhhhh that's _never_ leaving my head," he muttered, curling on the bench with a swallow. "Never..."

-_**BROUM!**_-

Another rumble charged through the air, shudders passing through the ground as Otogi and Honda both fired as much as possible at their opponent in retaliation. It mattered little what they did after all; regardless, the opponent would continue his attack. "Gh... Nihan," Shizuka was shouting from behind, the monsters following them seemingly unaffected by whatever they threw toward forward, "I can't last much longer..!" Gh...

"Jus' a little more," he assured the girl, spinning the wheel rapidly as one of Daimon's '_Thunder Shot_'s destroyed the ground ahead of them. "Jus' a li' more," he shouted with a swallow, "We'll be al-"

"_**THUNDER SHOT!**_" Shit.

The explosion that occurred likely happened when the attack struck the place directly in front of the truck, needless to say. The resulting charge overpowered the machine, sending smoke every which way as the power forced their vehicle upward, screams coming from those inside as the truck toppled to the ground and tossed its passengers violently about. "Gh- GHHAAAAAAHHHH!"

"Y-ROUUUUUU-R!"

The truck came to a rest, skidding along the ground... And all about them dust filled the air, coughing coming shortly afterward as stones fell around them in a sort of twisted rain. "Gh... Kah... Kah! O... Otogi," Katsuya shouted, the teen and Honda both having been knocked up into the air under the strike on the truck. "Otogi, Shizuka... Honda! Are you... Are you..."

"I'm fine," Otogi wheezed from a distance, slowly pulling himself from the ground with a cough before sending them a thumbs up. Despite the clear shock he had in falling from so far he seemed relatively fine, grabbing a nearby rock for support. "Hah... It's just a bruise," he continued, before looking to the side. "...Shizuka..?"

"F-Fine," she responded with a wince, climbing out of the trailer with her spear in hand. "I'm-"

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." The five shuddered as they looked up, Ren scurrying around Shizuka's ankle as the four monsters slowly approached. Daimon was the first, the Psycho Shocker landing to the ground to tower above them as he walked forward. "Now... Which one should I take," he 'wondered' aloud, chuckling darkly in response to the nervous looks he received from the siblings and 'pets'. "I could take one of you boys of course," he muttered, narrowing his eyes as he stared at the blond. "But then there's the girl..."

"Ah- W-WHAT? But you guys 'r all... Well, _GUYS_," Katsuya shouted incredulously, shaking his head in confusion. "What th' hell!"

"Trust me," Ren laughed, before collapsing with a groan. "This could be wor-"

"Gh- Daimon," a second voice snarled, a penguin running up to the man with narrowed eyes. "I saw her first damn it! The young girl is mine," he squawked, barely coming to the cyborg's knees, "MIIIIIINE!"

"I take that back," the snake muttered, hiding back around Shizuka's ankle.

Daimon turned on 'Otaki', expression unseen thanks to the lenses and respirator. "Hn! I thought you were taking the _other_ woman," he sneered, the penguin showing no more response than rage as he spoke.

"That's right! _All_ the girls are mine," he retorted, before finding himself getting strangled by the man as he squawked. "G-GLK!"

"You moron... Just how the hell do you think that would work," Daimon hissed, the penguin merely continuing to flail.

"I'd _MAKE_ it work!"

"You-"

"What's wrong with the both of you idiots," Oshita spat, the fishman stepping forward. Otogi was thrown to the 'group' by a silent and towering 'Judgeman' Oka in the meantime, the remaining of the four turning as Otogi wheezed. "Fighting right now... We don't have time for that kind of idiocy!"

"Ah- But, Oshita-"

"I said no," the old man sneered, cutting Otaki off and pointing to the three humans as their 'pets' glared. "Now take a body and go," he continued hurriedly, "We can pick up the fourth on our way out before Noa-"

Blinding light suddenly pierced the sky, those on the ground looking up in shock as two figures in white appeared. One resembled a girl, one he recognized that had no name... And the other... "Gh- Seraph," Katsuya hissed, eyes wide as Ren looked up himself.

"Eh... W-Who are..."

"OH! It's the girl I saw when I woke up," came a surprised bark, the sentence ended with a fairly high-pitched 'aru!'. Briefly the blond turned, frowning. Honda knew the girl?

...Probably not important right now. The two programs looked down, expressions blank enough to almost appear disappointed in the ones below. "Daimon Kogoro, Chikuzen Oka," the boy began, the Judgeman and Psycho Shocker both swallowing.

"...Shuzo Otaki, Konosuke Oshita," the girl continued, the others staring in unease as the duo continued. "All four of you are in violation of the agreements made with Kaiba Noa-sama in regards to your possible 'escape'," she said clearly, a number of the crowd gawking at the words.

"K-Kaiba!"

"Hang on," Honda yelped, shaking his head, "They're related-aru!"

A short span of silence came with that, Otogi narrowing his eyes in slight confusion for a moment. "...Actually," he muttered, "This explains alot..."

There was no response to that, though Shizuka soon turned as she realized her brother was still silent. "Nihan," she said somewhat confusedly, "You don't seem surprised..."

Katsuya swallowed, choosing to not answer to the statement. "I'll explain later," he muttered after a few seconds, backing up against the capsized truck as he gripped his staff. "For now, I gotta bad feelin' abou' this..."

_As you should,_ he thought he heard someone say, Noa appearing between his two programs with that very thought. "N... Noa-sama," Daimon sputtered, stepping back from the humans he'd cornered as the light-haired boy narrowed his eyes from above. "We-"

"Will be speaking about this elsewhere," the boy said coldly, gesturing to his 'programs' as both they and the monsters vanished without warning, the only signal to their leave being two bows from both children. "Now then," he continued, crossing his arms in thought. "You five..."

The 'five' in question tensed, looking up as Noa smirked. "N... Noa," Katsuya hissed, gritting his teeth. Just what did he want now?

"Hnhnhnhn... You lot should be thankful," the boy said with a grin, apparently amused by the agitation in the air. "I just saved all your lives... That puts you in my debt, doesn't it," he asked, the smirk growing sinister. Debt..?

"Gh- Seein' how you tried t' kill us first," he snarled without thought, "I'm sayin' hell no!"

"Yea,_"_ Honda shouted up in agreement, Noa having briefly appeared to consider saying something before being cut off. "I don't even have a body anymore now! Hell, what IS this thing anyways-aru," he called up, mouth open and 'flailing' as the others stared uncomfortably. The flaps stiffened to the sides, teeth facing forward on twisted mouth roofs and bottoms as the now tongue-like wires flailed through the air. "What kind of twisted freak are you-aru, sticking me in this thing!"

Noa appeared to stare with slight surprise at the dog's head, blinking a few times in what looked to be honest shock. "Ohh... Well_ that's_ interesting," he muttered, receiving a snarled growl in response. "I told her to up the 'threat level' in your programing," the boy continued quietly, "But I hardly expected this..."

"A- PROGRAMING," the dog snarled, hurriedly snatched up by Shizuka as he scrambled to find someway up. "WHAT DO YOU MEAN, PROGRAMING!"

The boy again gained a nasty smirk, chuckling as he began to fade in the desert air amid the passing breeze. "Hnhnhnhnhn... You'll find out eventually... I'll have to congratulate Kisara though," he continued, a menacing gleam appearing in the boy's eyes. "Despite being almost entirely incomplete, you're quite the diamond in the rough..."

"H-Hey," Honda muttered nervously, a slight whine escaping him as his mouth closed. "Stop talking about me like that-aru..."

"Yea," Ren added from Shizuka's ankles, "You'll make him blush."

"WHY YOU-"

"HnhnHAHAHAHA!" Mad cackling tore their attention back to the sky, Noa shaking his head as the attentions of those below were pulled upward yet again. "Hnhnhnhn... How amusing..! I might just let you leave simply because of this!" Yea, because they wanted to be permanent sources of comedy right? "Hnhnhn... Your game is hardly over yet though," the nearly transparent boy warned, narrowing his eyes as a door appeared far past him in the distance sands. "But I think I'll leave it at that... For now," the boy finished, finally fading from sight completely, "I have a few things to deal with... _Ja-ne..._"

Gh... Hihhhhh... Katsuya gave a shudder as the small boy vanished, the others shaking their heads in variant forms of unease in attempts to resume some form of normalcy in the already bizarre realm. "What a creepy kid," Otogi muttered, Ren nodding in agreement as Shizuka pulled both he and Honda up in her arms with a small frown.

"At least the 'Big 5' are gone," she said quietly, before turning as a shout came from by the door.

"Heeeey! GUYS!" Ah... That was..! The others followed Shizuka's gaze, eyes wide as a familiar if not oddly coloured head of hair came into view. "GUYS," the 'normal' Yugi shouted, running forward as the others followed behind him at a walk. "Guys," he repeated, "Are you alright?"

"Ah- Yugi," Katsuya responded with a grin, the usual 'waist tackle' coming after a moment before he answered the hug with a noogie and a laugh. "Hah! Y' made it!"

Anzu as well ran over, Ren and Shizuka both coming over with a smile as the serpent slithered out from the younger woman's arm. "Maaan! Took you long enough," the snake cheered, 'hopping' onto Anzu's arm before coiling into a comfortable position on her shoulder. "It's just not the same on a trailer bench..!"

The woman rolled her eyes in response to that, before looking to Shizuka and studying her expression a moment. The girl hid most of her unease well... Most, being the key word of course. "Hey... Are you all doing alright," she asked optimistically, both the girl and the dog nodding in response.

"Yea... We're fine," she said confidently, a small smile on her face as she again nodded. "Just a little shaken," the girl continued as a knowing nod was received in response.

"Heh... But besides that," Honda laughed, "We're better than ever-aru! Like my new look," he added with a grin, his friend shaking her head with a slight laugh.

"Very _cute_," she answered, the puppy's fur bristling in response. "Nice to see your voice matches the face."

"Gh- Voice? And I don't look 'cute'," the dog snarled, "Why does everyone keep saying that!"

As arguments and reunions continued Katsuya and Yugi looked back toward the exit of the door, where Seto was slowly making her way forward with a near-completely hidden expression of blank thought. There was something in her hands... A picture frame he noted, walking over with his friend as he waved. "...Oii... S... Kaiba," he called out somewhat, receiving no answer as Yugi pressed on with the conversation.

"...Kaiba-san," he began, the others turning their heads to tune in on whatever it was going on. "...You said that Noa couldn't be Gozaburo's son but... _Why_," he asked, the woman giving a blank and agitated glare in response as she tossed him the picture.

The somewhat glassy image was clearly visible to the others, light-haired boy standing beside the black-haired form of a younger Gozaburo. "How old would you say he is in that photo," Seto asked plainly, the others leaning over to stare closer at the image.

"...He's the same age he is now," Shizuka responded, before her frown was hurriedly replaced with shock. "Ah- But didn't that man have grey hair at the city? Hair takes at least a few years to go from black to completely _grey_..."

There was no response concerning Gozaburo's appearance on the field 'hours' before, Seto merely nodding as she narrowed her eyes. "That's right," she said plainly, a slight scowl on her face. "That picture was taken before my time, by at least six years and possibly more."

"But then Noa hasn't gotten any older at all," Otogi muttered, narrowing his eyes. "And that would mean..."

That would mean something very bad... "_...You know something of this, don't you,_" the spirit in his mind hissed with those thoughts, Katsuya staring as the others muttered comments of confusion. "_You knew something about this boy, before we even got here..._"

Yes, he thought with a slight grimace, yes he did... "What on earth does this all _mean_," Anzu was muttering, crossing her arms. "If he hasn't aged-"

"Noa's dead," he said bluntly, the others turning as he looked away awkwardly. "...He died almos' twelve years 'go," he added, biting his lip.

It was probably with that line that his hole _really_ started getting deeper.

* * *

"You five truly _are _sad pieces of work," Noa snarled, pacing around the darkness of 'space' as his pawns each stood before him. Each of them were on their knees, having fallen from some immeasurable height within the dark to reach this point, and as they slowly recovered the boy continued. "I give you chances of life with clearly specific conditions, you agree, and then the moment you lose you decide to go around behind my back and 'try again'... Now I wonder how that should make me _feel_," he muttered darkly, the four 'adults' of the five each tensing as Ota stood off to the side in mild amusement. "After all... Ota at least had the decency to _win_ before he pulled any of that," he spat, the 'teen' wincing somewhat at the comment.

"Ota-" The four turned, each one scowling as the now teen smirked from the side. "Hn! Nice to see you're getting used to your body," Oshita growled, receiving a wider grin in response.

"Well, it's my right isn't it," he 'asked', narrowing his eyes with mirth. "I beat the owner of this body," he continued, "Therefore, it's mine to keep..."

The men tensed, Otaki in particular shaking. "Nggh... But you still _lost _your match," he moaned, slamming the cane in his hands on the ground as he stood to his feet. "It's not fair at all!"

"That's right," Daimon snarled, pointing an accusing finger forward at the smirking teen. "We fight against _real_ opponents, while you take down some poor beginner so you can see your so-called family?"

Ota narrowed his eyes, turning on the men as Noa watched in slight amusement. "Please," the man spat darkly, "At least I _have_ one." The teen continued to glare at his 'partners', crossing his arms as he went on. "Besides... While I might now be only a year or so older than them, I still won quite fairly; the deal was to defeat a single person to get their body," he argued, "Not win a complete match!"

Hnn... And now this was getting boring... "Gh- It was supposed to be with duels in mind though," Oshita hissed, unaware of the annoyance increasing on his 'employer's part. "Not-"

"_SILENCE_!" The men tensed, each turning toward their 'boss' as the boy stared down almost apathetically. "You've convinced me," he stated calmly, the four of the five brightening considerably as Noa went on. "I'll give you another chance. Your goal," the boy told them as a screen hovered before them with the information, "Is to defeat Mutou Yugi; he's defeated Seto time and time again after all... So if you five can prove yourselves capable of defeating him," he continued with a smirk, "I'll grant the remaining four of you a body of your choice... As for you Ota," he added, the former technician swallowing nervously as attention was brought to him, "I'll release your mind to the real world without question, rather than forcing you to wait for my own success."

Ota instantly looked up with surprise, a slow nod coming from the teen as he muttered something in thanks. "I... Thank you, Noa-sama," he whispered, bowing his head. "Thank-you!"

"We won't fail you Noa-sama," the others continued,

"We'll do our best," they chorused, "We won't disappoint you..."

"Hnhnhnhn... Wait until the duel's end to tell me that," Noa said with a smirk, beginning to fade away as he stepped back. "Now... I'll give you five minutes to sort out your tactics... After that... _Good luck_."

* * *

He supposed, for the moment, that simply coming out and saying 'Noa's dead' was probably not the best way to start this conversation looking back on the two seconds prior.

At all, really.

"..._Repeat _that_,_" Seto said almost coldly in response to Katsuya's words, the blond clenching his staff tightly as he made to explain.

"I... On Chris'm's," he began, looking back to his friends with a deep breath, "When I w's decoratin' th' house w' Hobson, I had t' help feed th' horses. One w's th' one that y' never took," he said with a nervous swallow, "Th' 'mad' one... An' it b'longed t' Noa when he w's alive. I... I don' get everythin'," he continued, shaking his head and looking at the ground as he attempted to think of how else to explain, "But s'pposedly if this kid was alive he'd be 21, 22 by now," he muttered, "And... ...Hah..."

The blond sighed, cutting himself off as the others looked from him to Seto to gauge the woman's response. For the moment, she wasn't saying anything... Merely staring at him with an odd expression on her face, eyes narrowed and 'twitching', as though the woman were debating whether or not to say something. Finally however she moved to leave, walking around Yugi and Katsuya both with narrowed eyes as the others stared. "A- Kaiba-san," Yugi called out, turning around as the woman walked off. "Kaiba-san," he repeated, "Wait-!"

"..." The woman paused, both boys continuing forward as she frowned. "...What do you want," Seto stated somewhat coldly, Katsuya moving forward to stand in her way as she glared.

"Well I'm jus' wonderin' why y' suddenly wanted t' leave once I mentioned I knew who Noa was, tha's all... He's got Mokuba righ," he asked seriously, the woman giving no answer as he frowned. "So I'm guessin' yer goin' after 'm again then, jus' like las' time," he continued, hands outstretched in a 'wall' gesture.

The woman narrowed her eyes, distaste evident on her face as she looked over the teen. "Get to the point," she growled, the blond crossing his arms as he did so.

"You wanna help Mokuba," he stated almost obviously, "An' so do we. He might not _be_ my brother," the blond continued, jabbing a thumb to himself in gesture, "But he's th' closest thing t' one I've got."

"Not to mention," Anzu added, the others walking up to stand behind Seto as well, "He's our friend. We were all brought here as well," she continued with a frown, "And not just you... You can't say that we aren't involved, and that we have to 'but out' of this!"

The woman narrowed her eyes, looking back with a fairly intense glare. "Then it looks as though you're about to be disappointed," she muttered, adjusting the grip of the sword still in her hand before again stepping forward to leave. "Because that's exactly what I'm saying now."

"Really now," Anzu's partner asked dryly, Seto giving little reaction to the presence of a talking snake. "And just where are you going to go then?," Ren asked.

"None of your business," she responded, pushing past Katsuya as she continued her way forward. "Now leave me alone."

Damn it... "Tch- Jus' let us help y' already," Katsuya shouted, gritting his teeth as the woman again turned her head back to leer at the blond. "Jus' stop actin' like an idiot an' let us help!"

"Yes, because _that_ will convince him," Otogi muttered under his breath, Honda looking up from Shizuka's arms.

"Eh... He's done things for worse from what I heard," he commented, friend turning with wide eyes.

"Really..?"

Hahhhh... Not now damn it..! As Seto stared Katsuya took another step forward, a look of determination on his face as he continued his attempts to make the woman stay. "S... Kaiba," he called out, a small breeze blowing through the dusty highway. "C'mon... Jus' this once! I won' ask again after this, I swear!"

"Hn! As though I would believe that," she snorted, moving to walk away yet again as a breeze blew over the lonely desert road. "Besides... You have other problems," the woman called out, pointing her sword to the side as they turned.

...Other... Problems..?

As dark chuckling came over the air they looked up, swallowing nervously. Above on the cliffs it seemed there was a shadow after all... A tall, familiar shadow of a friend whose body was no longer his own, a distraction that proved more than enough for Seto to make her leave. And as a series of monsters appeared around the teen, the crowd had to restrain themselves from charging right there...

Some with less success than others. "Gh... AOUR! ROUR-ROU-ROU-ROURRRrrr... ROUF! ROUF!"

"Honda-han," Shizuka cried, ducking back from the flailing wires, "I'm _right here_..!"

"AH-" The dog coughed, mouth hurriedly closing back up. "Sorry, Shizuka..!"

"Gh... Ota," Katsuya shouted up, clenching his fists as the teen looked down. "What do you want?"

'Ota' merely smirked, crossing his arms. "Depends; in his case," a less familiar one of the 'Big 5's voices stated, "Probably to visit his little bratty children... In mine," 'Oshita' as the voice seemed to identify, "I'd like to get back to my job and wife. Oka on the other hand has a sister to care for. Otaki," he continued, "A dream, and Daimon a grudge... We're all here," the voice spat, hurriedly joined in by four other altering tones, "Every last one of us!"

"Gh... They're _all_ in there," Otogi repeated incredulously, the dog in Shizuka's arms looking as though he was going to have a stroke.

"Bastards... GIVE ME MY BODY BACK ARU!-"

"H-Honda-han," she shouted once more, "Every time you do that, your face-"

"...S-Sorry! I-"

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Chuckling came from the body before them, the Big 5's body narrowing their eyes as the group stared. "As much as we'd love to watch you torment yourselves over this," the body laughed, "We have business to attend to. Mutou Yugi," they shouted fiercely, the boy in question swallowing somewhat nervously. "We, all at once, challenge you to a battle... With the bodies of each of your friends at stake," they finished, before the expression changed to a lecherous and cruel smirk for a single voice to call out. "Hnhnhnhnhn... And when we win," a somewhat oddly accented form of their friend's voice muttered, tongue running along his lips in a rather frightening gesture, "I'll be taking that _mage_ for myself..."

"Gh-! O- Otaki," Anzu hissed, the woman tensing as her snake did the same.

"Hihhh... The penguin freak," he squeaked, drawing back in disgust. "AuaaAAH!"

"Ah- Freak," Otaki hissed, before his tone and expression again switched to something else entirely. "Hn! An accurate description," chuckled the voice identified as 'Oka', those below holding their heads in confusion as the personalities constantly switched.

"AAAAUGGHHH! My body is not a microphone -_ARU_!"

At this the others nodded in stony agreement, Yugi swallowing as he stepped forward with narrowed eyes. "You... I accept your challenge," he stated, pulling his boomerang out as he took a more battle ready stance across from the somewhat distant cliff. "But if I win," he continued with a shout, "You have to return Honda-kun's body!"

"...Hmp! Very well then," the Big 5 muttered after a moment of silence, a variety of emotions briefly flashing over the man's face. "That won't be a problem... Now then-"

Katsuya ran up to join his friend's side at that point, cutting the voices above them off as he scowled. "Oi oi oi- b'fore tha', I gotta say something..." The body looked down, narrowing his eyes as the blond continued. "You five are fightin' all at once righ'," he shouted, staring up as the teen slowly nodded. "Well that ain't exactly fair nyh? Let me fight y' as well, got it," he demanded, the soon to be opponent seeming to pause in consideration.

"Ah... Jonouchi-kun," Yugi muttered, the others staring as well.

"J-Jonouchi..."

As the rest of the group blinked in slight surprise the blond smirked, looking over to the dog in his sister's arm with a grin. "Hey; it's your body at stake here," he said with a laugh, shaking his head. "I can't jus' sit on th' sidelines righ'?"

"AHHH! Jonouchi..! Thankyouthankyouthank-ar- Y-rf!" A quick thump sounded through the air, Ren frowning from where he sat on the shoulder closest to Shizuka. By all appearances, it looked as though he had smacked the puppy with his tail, and as his tongue flicked in and out Honda growled more than loud enough for the serpent to catch his anger.

Not that he cared of course. "Your crying was getting on my nerves," he said bluntly, the dog at the side breaking into a snarl and a roaring bark.

"G- Why you..!"

"Hnnn..." The 'five' above on the cliff seemed to frown, before a smirk similar to that of his former opponent came into view from those paying attention. "Well," 'Oka' said plainly, the others looking back up as their opponent nodded slowly. "I suppose that's fair... With this," he continued calmly, "It's more similar to a one-on-one match outside the duel after all thanks to that..."

The crowd blinked, narrowed eyes looking up in confusion. One on one... Well, not counting 'Ren', there would be Otogi, Anzu, Shizuka and Honda remaining but... "Ah... 'outside'," he asked almost hesitantly. And that meant..?

Oka grinned, arms crossed as he explained from the cliff's top. "Well... For each player there can be only one deckmaster at a time after all," he chuckled, a finger brushing his nose despite there being nothing there. "And there's five of us here... So while one of us face you," the teen continued with a gesture, "The rest of us will be challenging your friends... In combat _only,_" he said darkly, the crowd swallowing nervously. Only combat? H-Hey... C.. Come on now...

"I... Is tha' ev'n _allowed_," he hissed, clenching his fists as the others held back shouts of rage.

"Hnnn... So we'll all be fighting then," Otogi muttered, knives appearing in his hands. "This might actually help you guys out," he decided with a smirk. "If we knock out one of them in the middle of the fight," the teen offered in defense, "They won't be able to duel properly right?"

"I'd like to think so at least," Ren muttered, hood partially flared in agitation as he stared at the teen above. "But even then..."

"We have one more demand for this duel," Oka announced, the decided duelists looking up again with narrowed eyes as the crowd continued to listen. "This is a two on one match... Ordinarily all three players would have 4000 life points," he explained calmly, "But against a pair of professionals, that's hardly fair..."

"So what do y' wanna do then," the blond below snorted. "Double _yours_?"

An odd look appeared in Oka's eyes, and his smirk grew as he pulled out a pair of revolvers from his sides. "As a matter of fact," he announced, skidding down the side of the cliff as the others hopped back to put space between themselves, "I _do_... Now," the lawyer shouted, snapping his fingers as domes of light swirled into the air. "_Pick your cards."_

Alright then...

It was on!

* * *

**AN:** Hoooly- the chapter is normal sized again! As in... 16-17k-ish. (The super chapters all hit 25, with the notes obviously somewhat longer to cover that and bring the total update count to 30k.) This is probably because there's no duel here, and I wasn't stupid enough to start on Yugi's and Jonouchi's in this one.

Because that's what's next; and you won't be getting _any_ shots of Kaiba throughout it. You _will_ get lots of nice art when that happens though, so look forward to that.

As you might have guessed, my work was postponed due to snow again; as it's gone now though, I finally do start working for real on Monday, so chapters after this will be slow and patience eating. ...At least I'm honest?

The weather is calling for snow again... This had BETTER NOT HAPPEN.

On the bright side, I tend to get lots of ideas when I do things like lawn work and cleaning so... Yea.

Oh! In the meantime, go listen to Torinoko City from Miku Hatsune... It's pretty VR-ish (at least until you hit the romance and realize that the song is about... Well... Romance.)...

As for everything else, there is, due to the quick update this chapter, a coloured surprise for one of the next chapter's deckmasters.

Now, onto everything else!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hahaha, that'd be pretty cool RandomProjects… If a troper did that…

I don't count, that would be turning my fanfic into a horrible thing of self-promotion… Bawwwwww…

Any ways, it's not that they couldn't see the duel, it's that they couldn't see _her_ at the end. Ordinarily, her Red-Mage costume is quite unisex, as the tunic and leather not only push down on her breasts (which are obviously no longer tied down with binding), but don't conform to her hips and waist, instead simply falling down, and being belted inlace just above the hip-line…. Which is how she wears pants now, with a second belt on top, to create the illusion of a more masculine waist. (Not so much now though.)

With the Blue-Eyes upgrade however, there was a problem; one, her cape was gone, something that naturally draws attention both to her top, but also _away_ from her hips. In addition, the Blue-Eyes deckmaster uniform has a _corset_; which REALLY conforms to her waist, despite compressing her breasts to a severe extent.

Thankfully, Blue-Eyes also radiates light; she literally became too blinding for anyone to see her properly. This is actually what saved her here; though Otogi could see the hips, and Jonouchi as well, everyone else was more concerned with the match… And Yugi already knew. Honda, on the other hand, couldn't see; the light overpowered the sensors in his feelers.

As for Malik, he's not saying squat, whether he knows or not. (He was on to her with Otaki's 'bitch' comment though.) Also, as they were about five hundred meters away from Seto at the time, they didn't hear Daimon's words, not clearly at least; though it helps that his ribs were kinda crushed before that point.

And hahaha! Yep; it's about time someone noticed, even if it's a programming deal. Very true though; Honda isn't listened to that much…

Poor Mokuba indeed… It took a lot of work, that scene; it seemed far too quick to me in the anime, and far to… 'what is he, 7?'. Mostly because of Mokuba's normally unshakable faith in Seto, which, of course, both canon and fanfic counterparts of her can attest to; Mokuba might have 'naturally' come to the decision, but there was still lots of manipulation involved. Glad you like it so far; trust me, it gets worse (Better?)…

As for the 'who knows', that refers to Jonouchi's knowledge of Seto's gender. It's been implied before, but Mokuba pretty much clung to Jonouchi not only because he was nice, but also because it was the first guy his sister's age 'in the know'…

Translation: Mokuba's a shipper on deck. And also a matchmaker.

Glad you like the humanization there! For some reason though, I keep honing in on Ota… And while normally this would be _great_, his character is starting to grow on me, and he's supposed to die in like… Three chapters.

It's very unsettling, as at least with Noa I've known all along that he's a character I like that I will have to kill. Ota was supposed to be a character I hate that dies and is never touched again. DARN IT.

And OMG Iona, I JUST finished that episode… Stop making me smile spontaneously! -snrk-

Noa is very very very selfish… Probably helps that he's a twelve year old with no ability to really grow naturally; everything he learned and matured through was INTERNET. That can't be good. You're very right; these two are pretty well 'past-future' mirrors to the other, with Seto on the path to recovery while Noa represents everything she _could_ have been; because after all, while both are/were pricks, Noa is MUCH more charismatic about it as opposed to Kaiba's former '_do this or I shoot you_' ones. Hihhhh…

Glad you like all the turns and such! I hope you enjoy what comes next!

Until next time!

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that screams for more holographic nonsense! And also looks forward to 'Zexal', which starts broadcast in Japan this month.

Today's title is another rule, called 'Morton's Fork'. Basically, the character is presented with two options… Chose A, and something bad happens. Choose B, and something similar or identical happens, but for a different reason.

For example; if you had a choice between 'saving money by not buying a horse and being robbed by bandits when walking home' or 'spending your money on a horse and then having it stolen by bandits when riding home', then either way, when you get home you have no money and no horse. That's a Morton's fork.

Anyways, it applies here because, despite there being a fork in the road, with Yugi and Anzu going one way while Seto takes another, the end result is the same; they get creepy Noa interactions and in addition find themselves on a long desert highway. ….

Hotel California anyone? (And yes, that's what Malik was talking about. Silly Malik, making references to HELL.)

When Honda references 'Blade', he's specifically referring to the vampiric dogs that appeared in one of the movies.

Admittedly another inspiration for that head. (Mostly because of how damn much I loved that tiny little pomeranian vampire.)

The 'idle conversation' by the way was Yami wondering when his birthday was; it's not the same as Yugi's of course, but as he has no memories, he doesn't know when it is.

_I wonder when it is..._ (-hinthinthint-)

Originally, it was in fact a baby they heard crying in that mansion; Anzu was also the one to suggest running in, so there's your first dialogue change. But here's the question…

WHAT WAS WITH THE BABY CRYING? Seriously, they wound up running around the house until they found a dusty rattle and a picture of Gozaburo and Noa. What was _with_ that… There was... No other meaning to that baby. _None_.

'Shk', the sound I used for crying here, comes from 'Shiku', the onomatopoeia for crying... Specifically, 'sad crying', the one that you're trying to keep quiet, or simply snuffling and sniffling with.

For loud crying, and whiny crying, it's 'Gyaa'.

Damn straight I gave Gozaburo a wife with a name. But wait? A german wife! And a rose!

WHAT DOES IT MEAAAAA- you probably guessed already, but I'm not telling until the end! Also, for some reason whenever you get foreign marriages in anime and such, it's either with a german or an english woman… _Occasionally_ french too. Still.

The point is, you very briefly see her (the mother) carrying Noa's photo out from the funeral video... She's veiled in the Japanese though, so the edit in the dub was a little 'eh'. In the Japanese, she has a hairstyle that's ironically quite similar to the one I've been doodling... Or at least, it looks that way on the bottom. (Though I have yet to scan in a comparison...)

It is probably far more professional looking in reality, but the point is, by the time that gun went off her hair had grown and she was crazy.

I'd be crazy too if my husband told me our son was in a computer.

On another note entirely though, what _happened_ to her? Did she... Divorce after Noa's death or something? I just don't... AGH.

But Noa you're not using hypnosis; you're cheating and increasing brain chemistry reactions to your will! In other words, part of why Mokuba is so willing is because his emotional side was being flooded and tampered with. NOA YOU PRICK!

And he's doing this to _EVERYONE _too_; _basically, he's making it impossible for them not to have an emotional response and hide it, or at the very least, making it _excruciatingly_ difficult. Jerk.

Keep in mind, this is the most BASIC of what he can do; the brain runs using constant electric signals to neurons. If he alters those, he could change _everything_ about a person… Hihhhhhh...

In the anime, the scene Seto and the others watched involved Noa and Gozaburo… _In the same room_. Now unless Gozaburo decided to program a fake him to act as him in that world for whatever reason, I would say that was Noa being silly.

So, hence the web-cam system; because that's… Pretty much how it worked for them too.

Honda's 'aru' tic is based on something in the anime. As his time as a robo-monkey went, he added more and more 'ooki' sounds to his sentences, the sound being the onomatopoeia for a monkey. Anzu comments on it later on during the next duel in fact (It was somewhat replaced with the scene above for the reasons below), and it's only then that Honda realizes he's pretty much losing it.

'Aru' by the way, isn't the onomatopoeia for a dog's bark. That would be 'wan', but 'aru' sounds better here.

You know what this entire body snatching deal reminds me of? The ring of the hell in Dante's Inferneo that is reserved for 'fraud'. More specifically, one of the areas of that circle reserved for thieves; in it, victims are chased by snakes and lizards, and '_just as they __other people's substance in life, their very identity becomes subject to theft here, and the snake bites make them undergo various transformations_.'

For some reason, a lot of other people interpret this as the people turning into whatever the heck bit them, and the process going on and on and... Yea.

Whatever. BODY SNATCHING!

What! More fighting? Even while the duel is happening.

Well I'm not having them sit around doing nothing! In other news, the episodes covered here originally had a few shots of what Yami Malik was doing. However, since nothing else happens concerning him for _ten more episodes_, I moved the scenes to a later chapter.

Otherwise, we would be waiting for a VERY LONG TIME.

So yea. Any ways, as the next duel took... Lots of episodes (three. So I guess it's not _lots_ but _still_), and I'm throwing in additional fighting, you might have a 'double post' on your hands. Because chances are, I will type _all_ of it...

And then gawk at the length before chopping it in two.

In other news, Oka's tapping his nose out of habit; if you wear glasses you already know why, but even without them there, it's a constant habit to go up as though to adjust the damn things... Even though they're gone.

It's a little weird actually, and it doesn't help me deal with not doing it when I'm typing about it. (Like talking about itches; feeling itchy now?)

**FanArt and My Art**

In which spaces are removed and links are given!

So we have just one thing for you today, namely the coloured version of one of the deckmasters appearing in the next chapter. I figured I mind as well do it _now_, since my time will be cut down A LOT starting this week. Enjoy!

Deckmasters: Dark Flare Knight - - And just wait until I hit the Mirage Knight! And the Dark Magician Knight too, now that I think about it... ...Actually, Yugi has quite a few other deckmaster drawings to get done. HMMM.


	92. Chapter 91

**Ryuuseigun**

* * *

It seemed that the moment the domes of light spread over the two, the sky had began to darken about them. The former clouded mid-day sky slowly shifted into dusk, the field encased in a dull grey, and as the clouds set in from above it was impossible to tell them from a clear twilit sky. It was an isolating feel... And though all seven of them stood before the body of their friend it seemed almost as though those two domes separated them from everything as the darkness came over them, even though it was only for a moment. The cliffs 'disappeared', spreading out in distance as cards spun about them in a dizzying motion. Spaces between each person extended somewhat, and soon enough the field began to clear... And as he moved across the screens of cards to form a deck that would help him with the fight on the terrain, he found himself picking cards both from his own deck and that of his friends.

His friends... In the real world, where Malik's _other_ side was still wreaking havoc. Back out there...

"_...Three hours,_" the spirit in his mind muttered this time, when the question of how long it had really been again came to mind. "_It's been three hours,_" he repeated, the blond mentally nodding as he put that information in the back of his mind. Three hours...

Which meant that it was now seven AM at the least, and that he had a little over twelve hours left to leave and deal with Malik. Just over twelve hours to either 'defeat' or simply kill the monster, or else she would die. ...Mai...

Fingers brushed against the 'Harpy Queen', and he swallowed as he realized what card now stood before him. Just hang in there he told himself, tapping the card to add it to his deck with a swallow. He'd get her out soon enough... "_I certainly hope so,_" his stowaway muttered, the blond not bothering to ask why he cared as the dome around him vanished. After all...

That didn't matter right now. "We've picked our cards," Yugi said clearly, sand blowing against them as the domes dissipated. The wind-storm around them seemed to increase in ferocity with those words, the distance between each person growing further and further despite the wind never blowing against them with the force to do so. Even the cliffs in the area had remained however, seeming to grow closer to form an obstacle course of sorts... The perfect battle field for someone _other_ than them. The body before them, now standing a good number of meters away chuckled, opponents narrowing their eyes. "We're ready to fight... As for our deckmasters," he continued, clothes altering even as his hair blew wildly to mark the switch between personas, "I choose the Dark Magician."

"An' I'm pickin' th' Flame Swordsman," his friend added, cloak regaining the same flamed appearance as before while the other Yugi's own clothes became both skin-tight and 'lengthened' in appearance to mimic that of his monsters. "So who we fightin' first?"

The teen across from them again chuckled, somewhat faded vest replacing with fine-blue scales as a suit of similar texture appeared over him. Eyes shifted and coated themselves in red, not a single pupil or iris visible on the sclera. "Oshita," Yugi hissed, shifting the grip on his weapon with a swallow as he unfolded the device for the three blades to shimmer in the light. "Be sure not to attack this one when he has two or more monsters," he whispered, his partner nodding in response.

"Got y'," he responded, taking a step back as he prepared his staff for the fight. Red eyes were facing them now as Oshita as well took a fighting stance, a pair of harpoons seemingly latched to his wrists by means of a pair of 'cannons'. '_Be careful,_' the others were shouting, each of those behind them looking for where their own opponents would strike from, '_What ever you do,_' they continued loudly,_ 'Don't lose... We're counting on you!_' Briefly Katsuya looked back, giving the others a thumbs up as he smirked. 'Don't lose'... As if he would! "Hehehe... Don' worry," he called out, the others briefly turning their attentions to the blond. "You'll have yer body back in jus' a bit Honda!"

"AHH! Th-Thank you-aru!" The dog gave a cheerful yelp from where it stood, mouth managing to keep closed despite the volume of his voice. "Do your best-aru! And try not to hurt my body-aru!"

Er... That one would be a little hard but... The blond nodded nonetheless, before a snort from the side caught his attention. "Heh! You lot are far too confident for your own good," Oshita chuckled, crossing his arms as a sneer came over his face. "We haven't even begun yet!"

"Then why not start now," 'asked' Yugi, narrowing his eyes as their opponent grinned. There was no further response to the comment, but as a sudden 'crack' passed through the air Katsuya had to frown. A rumbling noise was moving through the air, slowly growing louder as the earth as well began to shake. Sand was bouncing off the ground, along with pebbles... Even _he_ was bouncing off the ground he realized with a swallow, looking toward his opponent with wide eyes.

"Er... Yugi," the blond said with a swallow, his friend as well paling as the source made itself clear. "I think it has," he continued somewhat loudly, before a geyser rose up in the far distance to cement the theory in place. "Hell I think it started a while ago! YUGI, RUN," he roared, turning tail as the torrent of water towered to block the sun and moon before crushing forward. The sound of water pounded out their shouts, moving forward from the edges of the desert as he continued to scream. "RUN! RU- _BLRRRRBBGGGHHHH_!"

"GLHHHHH-"

"Y-RF!"

Water threw the group far down the 'field', those behind them flying even further as they clattered against the sides of a cliff with all the force of a bullet. Briefly he found himself blacked out, spinning through the waters until his panicked form realized he could still breath. Looking back over his shoulder he could see the others, their faded forms clambering onto an immense plateau. His hearing however, was not as good as his sight beneath the waters... And as he looked back, he could only hope that they did alright, while praying that the now extinguished cloak he lacked didn't affect his fighting. As it was, Oshita's move was quite obviously not finished, with the teen hovering and swimming in place as his opponent identified the first portion of it. "Tch... 'Umi'," he muttered, voice echoed and garbled amid the waters as he and his partner floated next to each other. "There's no way in hell we c'n fight properly in this," he continued bitterly, "Not 'till we hit th' bottom in any case..."

Yugi nodded, narrowing his eyes as he looked toward the fish-warrior. "Not us, that's for sure... But he'll be right at home in here," the boy muttered, before their opponent cut him off with a shout.

"Summon the Legendary Fisherman," he announced, the harpoons on his arms seeming to shift and change as he took aim with one of them. "'Weapon' mode," he finished, blackened tattoos shining over the worn spear head. W-Weapon form..? "HAH!"

Without warning the harpoon was launched toward him, the blond's hand of cards coming to mind in an instant as he threw his staff forward. "Gh- Alligat'r Sword," he announced in panic, the monster literally blasting from the staff's top to block the harpoon with his spear while his summoner dove down toward the sea floor, "D'fense mode!"

"Gazelle," his partner added with a similar shout as the second harpoon was fired, spear piercing through the seas with remarkable ease. "Also defense!" As the boy was blown back somewhat by the force of the attack a spirit-like mist formed before him, a growling lion barely visible from the form. The lion snarled, the roar passing through the seas as its master floated toward the ground, before it shifted into an encompassing mist about the boy. "Ah... This..."

"Must be b'cause it can' breath down here," Katsuya muttered, looking to the mist as his Alligator swam above him. "This shouldn' be a problem though..! I took down th's combo b'fore when I fought Kajiki, an' I can do it again," he snarled, landing with a slight 'thump' on the ground. Sand misted through the waters as Yugi did the same, the boy having folded his somewhat useless boomerang for the moment. The waters around them were remarkably clear to say the least though; as the sand 'blew' in the current to sink to the ground he could watch as their opponent retracted the harpoons by means of the cannons themselves, before turning to his friend. "...Eh..." The blond stared at him a moment, before narrowing his eyes in confusion as Yugi also stared. "Dude... You wearin' goggles..?"

The boy blinked, a pair of goggles indeed positioned on his face as he nodded. "Erm. Yes. I didn't expect to be able to see," he admitted, pushing them up before looking toward their opponent with again clear eyes. Chuckling was filling the air... But rather than blue and green scales, the one floating above them now was dressed in jet black dress pants and a matching waist coat, adjusting his tie before pulling out a sleek and modern looking hand gun. A switch, he realized.

Their opponent had switched while they were talking. "Hnhnhnhnhn... My turn," the teen sneered, a smirk on his face as rumbling echoed from above to shake even the waters around them. "That girl of yours... She's _feisty_," the teen chuckled, the others tensing as 'Otaki' revealed himself to the pair. "I can't wait to take her as my own..!"

"Gh... Otaki..!" 'Take her'? Did... What did he mean, her _body_!

"What's wrong with this man," Yugi muttered with a somewhat nauseated tone, going a little green as their opponent continued to cackle.

A sneer of seemingly impossible proportions came over his face, the teen pointing his weapons forward and pulling back the safety as he prepared to attack. "HN! What's wrong with 'you' more like! It's my turn... _**FROST BULLET,**_" he announced, a shot of ice in the shape of an almost penguin-like torpedo blasting forward as Katsuya ducked. A water trail was visible in the wake of the bullet, the blond barely catching the bullet off the side of his staff as he clipped it off track before looking back to the 'penguin'. "Heh... And while that happens," he continued with a laugh, holding out the second weapon to aim at Yugi as the boy tensed, "Legendary Fisherman attacks..!"

As the next gun fired a ghost seemed to appear around the bullet, resembling a larger form of the very torpedo that had almost struck him down. Yugi's defense 'monster' swirled before the bullet in a violent whirlpool to banish it from sight, a howling cry echoing from far behind them as mad laughter and explosions followed. "GH..."

"Somethin' bad's goin' on up there..." Katsuya swallowed nervously, the voice of his opponent pulling him back to attention as he stiffened.

"Hehehehehe... Of course," Otaki continued darkly, the boys looking back up as sands arose below him, "I'm not done... I summon the Catapult Turtle in defense mode," he announced, gesturing below him from the calm and hovering stance he held. From the sands below rose the great steel monster, mouth dropping open to release a croaking roar as bubbles escaped from its cracks. "End turn!"

Hn! And of course, between Otaki's water power up and the effect of Umi... "We gotta do somethin' abou' this card," Katsuya hissed, his friend nodding in agreement as they looked toward the turtle. "F'r now though," he continued at a louder tone, silently assuring himself of the advantage in using the cards of his friends, "Another monster... Th' Harpy Queen," he announced loudly, sand and water seemingly shooting up from behind him as a screech tore through the air. "In addition," he continued, unable to see where the feathered woman had appeared, "I'm switchin' th' Alligator Sword t' attack mode, an settin' a card," the blond shouted, looking to his friend whilst the sheet of glass came to his side. "Now... Your turn Yugi!"

"Got it," he responded, hand outstretched as a white and ethereal mist rose up from the sands at his feet. "I summon the Holy Elf in defense mode," he called out, the mist seemingly swirling into a ring, "End my turn!"

"Hn! Is that all you can do," Otaki laughed, professional appearance ruined by the expression on his face. The obnoxious laughter continued, both opponents tensing as they prepared to set their plan into motion. "Well! Then I'll attack again," he announced, kicking off in the water as he swung his weapon forward to grin. "ATTACK THE ELF," Otaki roared, "_**FROST BULLE-**_"

"Kunai with chain," Katsuya roared, sending his staff forward as the glass before him shattered in response to the shout. The chain and blade spun forward in an instant, the blond narrowing his eyes as it closed on their target. "Hn! You guys wanna fight... Try not f'rgettin' that I'm yer opponen' too!"

"You-" Otaki's words were cut short as the blade connected, chain swirling to pull his arms close and lock them into place. "_**G-GYAAAAAAAAHHHG!**_" The penguin inspired fighter howled as the blade dug into his stomach beneath the chain's force, blood seeping out and mixing through the water as the blond below him winced. Sorry Honda... But this... "GH... You... You would actually harm the body of your friend," the monster hissed, kicking in the waters as he looked to his opponent, "You would do this to the people you so care about?"

"_Well,_" his stowaway muttered, Katsuya finishing for him with narrowed eyes as he looked to the teen calmly, "This ain' Honda's real body... Is it?"

As the teen's gold and orange eyes widened, chain wrapping even tighter around his body Katsuya pulled the chain taught, forcing anther scream and wave of blood as their victim choked and snarled. "GH! Fine," he spat, breathing laboredly as blood escaped from his now punctured lungs. "I set a monster and end my turn," he snarled, sheet of glass hovering at his side. "Now... _YOUR MOVE!_"

* * *

As the waters blew them back, it was somewhat difficult to really feel everything around them. The pressuring waters stung fiercely, but all the same numbed any sensations of true pain until the moment they struck the stone cliffs at the side. And when those cliffs were hit... Well, they were hit hard, that was for certain she thought as the stone pounded against her back. "GH!"

"Rerf," came a yelping cry, followed by the mutterings of the lone human male of the group.

"Kh... Shit..."

As the group pulled themselves above the waters with coughs the seas continued to rage, Shizuka looking back as she pulled herself up the cliff by her spear. The water was clouded at the surface, with the vicious winds and storms not helping to clear it at all. She couldn't see beyond the first two feet let alone to the bottom, leaving her with no way to tell how her brother was doing. Even so she told herself, looking back with a nervous swallow as she and the others steadied themselves, that probably wasn't the problem right now. In fact, had it not been for the fact that one of them happened to climb in just the right direction, nothing would have mattered. "Ohhhh _fuck_," Otogi hissed, a blast fired from the first of their four opponents as they scattered across the plateau to cover each possible escape angle. "RUN FOR IT!"

"Righ- Gh!" Burns scattered across her side as clouds of dust filled the air, Daimon's '_WILDFIRE_' attack blazing through the sky as the girl tripped over a nearby rock. Stones blew up against her face, scratching her arms and cheek as the cuts became covered in ash. Hngg... "GHAH-hh!"

"Aorf..! Shizuka," Honda called out from the side, the puppy having somehow managed to get himself cornered by Oka just seconds after fleeing from the flaming strike. "Are you alright-aru? I-"

A second rumble hit the air as a gavel swung down on the ground, Honda yelping as he narrowly dodged the strike. "Watch yourself," the judgeman roared, swinging his gavel toward the dog once more as it leaped out of the way to snarl.

"Tch- **ASSAULT MODE-ARU,**" Honda's 'robotic' side announced, his opponent momentarily freezing as the dog's mouth opened to reveal flailing filaments and a bright light at the end of a small speaker. "**ENERGY SHOT-ARU!**"

"En- Tch! **REBOUND,**" the demon countered, weapon glowing with power as he skipped back to increase the distance between himself and his opponent. As though simply playing ping-pong the giant swung his mallet forward, smacking the fired blast back to the puppy as the dog jumped in surprise.

"E-Ehh! Gh- **ENERGY SHOT-ARU,****" **the dog shouted again, wires catching the blast as it returned before sending it back with as much power as had been lost. "Take that, you oversized oni!"

"Rebound," his opponent responded, narrowing his white eyes as the puppy continued to bark and snarl before him. "HN! You really have turned into a dog haven't you," he 'asked', a nasty smirk on his face. "Barking the way you are..."

Honda merely growled, tendrils again catching the sphere of electricity to send it back."HN! Energy shot-Aru! And no thanks to you Aru! A-Aourf..? ...AHHH!"

Oka chuckled as the dog began to panic about his uncontrolled verbal tick, swinging his mallet once again as the puppy wailed. "Hn! Rebound!"

"AHHROUF! I didn't notice this before-ARU! Energy shot-aru," he added, firing the blast back yet again at the last moment as he jumped across the ground to wail. "...AHHHHH GODDAMN IT-ARU!"

"Rebound," the Judgeman once again countered, all amusement having vanished with the continued game of 'ping-pon'. "STOP SAYING ARU!"

"THEN GIVE MY BODY BACK-ARU! ...ENERGY-SHOT-ARU!"

"_AAAAAUUGGGGHH!_ REBOUND!"

Shizuka smacked her head in her hand as the two continued to fight before her, only to freeze as a shadow hovered over her, patiently waiting for her to notice her impending doom. "Ah... ...Uh oh," she muttered with a whisper, turning to scramble to her feet as the Psycho Shocker loomed over head. Otogi was busy, Anzu was busy...

Of course she got this one. "Hn! _**Thunder Shot,**__"_ he announced, opponent barely avoiding the attack as she skipped away backwards.

H-Haahhh... The sparking energy scorched the ground where she stood moments before, spear hurriedly brought before her as she countered the attack. "Hng... _**STONE CHARGE,**_" she announced, before paling as a mirror-like sheet of glass appeared in the magic's path.

"**REFLECT!**" Refle-

"HNG-GK!" A sudden stony sensation came over the woman, eyes wide with terror as she was struck by her own spell. Legs locked into place, her spear clattering to the ground as her jaw as well locked shut. Petrified... She was... "H-Hnng... Ngggh..!" Petrified completely thanks to her own power..!

Daimon chuckled as the girl struggled to move, unable to even open her mouth as the monster approached with all the patience of the winning opponent. "Hnhnhnhnhn... One down," he said with a sneering tone, "And three to g-"

"_**GRAAAAAAOOOO!**_"

"Wh-What-!"

A snarling roar cracked through the air, and with a start the Psycho Shocker was knocked off balance. Daimon scarcely kept his footing on the stone cliff as a one horned lion sprang to the womans' defense from literally nowhere. A thundering roar sounded yet again through the air, and as the lion snarled at its new opponent a maddening cackle could be heard from behind her, far into her blind spot. If she could just move...

Stone chipped off her body with those thoughts. As Daimon was momentarily distracted by what was seemingly an invincible lion the girl chanced a look back, eyes widening as she witnessed her friend rising into the air with a grin far unlike any she'd seen. A wide and sadistic grin, teeth bared in a mix of excitement and rage both. "A-Anzu-cha-"

"_HAHAHAHAHAAA!_" The woman's eyes were wide and gold in colour, her partner's size unbelievably huge in appearance as its voice mirrored her own. "_**ASTRAPE,**_" she roared through the maniacal cackles, the penguin she faced below gaining a panicked look on his face as he tore back from the snarling and electricity coated cobra at the woman's disposal. "_Try and make that kind of move on me will you,_" the woman snarled with a laugh, staff gripped in white knuckled hands. "_GO TO HELL AND **DIE**__ YOU PERVERTED PENGUIN!_"

It wasn't surprising how many fights paused at those words and laughs. "A-ANZU," Honda shouted from the side, his opponent pausing in shock just long enough to give a loud '_OW, DAMN IT,_' as one of the rebunded attacks connected. "A- ...MALIK! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING TO HER-ARU," he snarled, mouth wide and growls drowned out completely by the laughter above.

Cackling continued to fill through the air as those on the field stared in shock, the penguin giving loud and panicked shouts as it ran from the train-sized serpent. "Switch out," he roared to seemingly nothing, "Switch out switch out switch out!" In a shimmer of light the monster did just that, Ren swirling and coiling above the spot he'd vanished as he waited for the second monster to take its place.

"Tch..." A blue and green scaled warrior took the penguins place with a scowl, spear in hand as he shook his head. "Really! Just what is it that had that moron so-"

"_Hnhnhnhnhn..._"

As Oshita turned to look at the sparking monster in the air, there were no words to be said really. Just a scream as Ren's grin grew wider than anything she had ever seen in any nightmare, and as the serpent licked its lips Shizuka was quite certain she would never quite hear such a common phrase the same way ever again. "_**ITADAKIMASU**_..."

"Gh- GHRAAAAAAAAA**AAAAAAHHHHH!**" As the snake tossed the fish-man into the air electricity danced over its form, frying the monster into naught but well cooked scales as Ren widened his mouth. The monster easily swallowed the creature's paralyzed form, and as those others on the field turned the serpent's partner grinned and turned her own gaze toward all those before her.

"Hehehehe... _Who's next_," she asked threateningly, a loud and inhuman cry coming from the side as Shizuka's attention was pulled back to her own 'battle', the lion that had come to her aid giving a loud and agonized cry as it was captured by its opponent.

"A-AH! G-Gazelle," she cried, watching as the lion's head was blown into pieces by Daimon's hand.

The Psycho Shocker snorted, blood streaming from between his fingers along with bits of brain matter and bone. "Hn..! It looks as though Otaki has proven himself slightly useful," the monster spat, throwing the corpse to the side as it scattered into pixels above the ocean. "But this has taken too long... Time to deal with _YOU,_" he shouted, the metal disks in his hands charging with power as Shizuka grit her teeth.

"Gh..." Shoot... If she couldn't attack this thing with magic, she'd need to get close... And if she was hit by a single spell at that range then-

The monster across from her continued to approach, before an inhuman screech came through the air, followed by teal feathers and golden claws. "_**KEEEEEERRR!**_"

The woman blinked, eyes widening as yet another monster appeared, this time having sprung from the seas below in a spiral of sand and foam. "You're _KIDDING_ me," her opponent roared, before being rather unceremoniously thrown back by the scantily clad harpy that appeared in the air. "GH- Of all the things," he snarled, reaching forward only to miss his shot at the harpy-lady. A... Another monster..?

"_**Over here,**_" a peaceful voice whispered, Shizuka looking to the side and staring as a young elven woman held out a hand. The holy elf she realized, calm eyes staring to her as the blue-tinged hand was held out in wait. "_**Come this way...**_"

"R-Right," she whispered as she took the grip, running off behind the woman to another area of the field as Daimon continued to fire at the incredibly agile bird.

"_**SCREEEEEE!**_"

"Hold _STILL_ you pathetic little BITCH," he snarled, quite clearly loosing his patience with the woman. "Hold STILL!"

Hopefully the bird did just the opposite she thought to herself, following her saviour around the various craters and fallen rocks that already littered the ground. "Hah... Hah... Gh... Ah..."

"_**Hurry,**_" the elf told her, guiding her to a corner of rock, "_**Over here...**_"

Over there? "But what's over- AH!" The woman jumped back in shock as bullets blasted across the ground before her, eyes wide as a red blur charged ahead of them. The wind was knocked from her lungs just a split second later as the 'blur' grabbed her arm, pulling her off in a panic as she choked. "O-OTOGI-HAN!"

"Don't talk, just run," he cried, charging about the field as Ota's Robotic Knight continued to fire its barrage toward them. The multiple bullets broke through surrounding stone with ease, entire cliffs falling and crumbling in the gatling gun's wake as Shizuka swallowed. "We don't have lifepoints to rely on this time around," her friend was shouting, eyes wide, "We need to get as far from this thing as possible!

Gh-! Shizuka stumbled along behind the teen, bullets scattering behind them as she glanced back. As she recalled, knives, bullets, and even magic had little effect, but... "Ah... Then how are we supposed to fight him," she shouted, continuing to run before Otogi's arm forced her to skid to a halt. "Gh-"

A bit of stone crumbled off the side of the cliff they'd come to, the section of rock they stood on towering above the rest and looming over a dark section of water. "Hng..! I really wish Anzu's attack worked on this thing," Otogi muttered with a swallow, turning back as the robot chasing them arose into the air. "I might not feel to comfortable about what the attack _is_, but at least it works..."

The girl silently agreed as their opponent hovered above them, enormous shadow blanketing them in darkness as they stared up. "Nowhere left to run _now_," Ota chuckled, clicking the gun on his arm as another series of bullets were loaded for the attack. "Any last words..?"

"Gh... You... I hope Nihan sends you right where you belong," the girl spat in response, opponent's lens eyes 'narrowing' in mirth. "I hope you go to HELL!"

"OH- Shizuka... That-"

"Hnhnhnhnhn... _**BARRAGE!**_"

"_**TURMA,**_" a calming voice announced as Ota's own attack echoed through the air, the two teens staring with wide eyes as a shield of light appeared to bounce the bullets off and back at their opponent.

"Gh- AGGGH!" The gunfire halted immediately, Ota stumbling back to claw at his face as a few of his bullets embedded themselves in his eyes, an incredible amount already fired and making their mark as the Holy Elf smiled from below. "Damn it... DAMN IT..! My EYES," he roared, pulling at the riveted mask that had formerly shielded them, "MY EYES!"

The shield before them began to fade, both teens trading glances before bolting down the cliff lest their opponent find another way to locate them. "Hah... Hah... You go that way, I'll go this way," Otogi shouted, Shizuka nodding in response as they split up. "Now!"

"Right..!" The woman darted behind a stone cliff, looking to the side to watch as Otogi charged toward a far off and clouded area of the field. It looked as though Otogi would be attacking the 'Judgeman' in a moment... And as for her own opponent... A whip smacked at the ground before her as she stepped around the stone, the woman jumping in shock as a familiar penguin chuckled before her. "G-GH... You!"

"That's right," Otaki chuckled, pulling his whip taught with a grin before holding out a flipper. "Care to dance, _Hime-chan_..?"

Her only response as the waters around the plateau receded to reveal dry land and arid cliffs was to spin her spear in one hand, before pointing it forward with a determined nod. Psycho Shocker was one thing... But she was going to take this thing out no matter what! "Bring it on! _**'Fire Wheel!**_'"

* * *

"HARPIES FEATHER DUSTER," Katsuya announced seconds before the events on the plateau had settled into their individual battles, the blond pointing his staff forward as his Harpie left her fight on the stone cliffs to dive forward with a screech. Winds blew fiercely from the air, and despite all impossibility the oceans themselves were blown back by the woman's wing power, those floating in the water plummeting to the ground against the blast. "HAH! Say good bye t' yer ocean," he snarled, before charging forward with a grin. "Th' Harpy Queen attacks th' Fisherman!"

As Katsuya attempted to find his way up one of the nearby cliffs their opponent cringed, already having just barely come to land on a nearby cliff with the absence of the water. "Gh- Shit," he shouted, his opponents both watching as the harpy launched forward and clawed at the 'teen's face, the monster still bound against himself by chains and blades. Guns eventually clattered to the ground from his hands to vanish into dust, and as he continued to struggle against the constant slashing of his opponent he screamed. "HNNGGG... HGGAAAAAAAAHHH! _GHAAAAAAAAAAAA_!"

"An' I ain't done yet," he continued with a roar, standing at the top of a cliff on the side as he watched their opponent struggle. It was disturbing to watch his friend's body under this pain... But even so he told himself, it was for that same friend's own good! "Alligator Sword attacks th' face down monster," he announced, the gator in question leaping forward to throw his blade at the glass.

"W-Wait," Yugi shouted, eyes wide as he looked from where he himself had been moving to a more strategic position. "Jonouchi," he called out, glass shattering in Otaki's face as even the harpy paused to stare, "That's-"

"_Hnhnhnhnhnhnhn..." _Blood splattered to the ground as Otaki laughed, the boys both freezing as the teen tilted his head forward. "_Whoops_," he chuckled, bloodied teeth revealed in full as he grinned. "Looks like you made a mistake... Magician of Faith's effect activates," he spat, turning to look at the blond at the side with narrowed eyes and struggling to his feet. "Allowing me to take one spell card back from my grave... So... You can just wait until the next turn to reap your mistakes now," he sneered, eyes bloodied and shredded along with a majority of his face despite still apparently being fully aware.

The blond tensed, freezing on the cliffs he'd been running along to reach their opponent. Gh... SHIT! Flip effects... He hadn't even considered..! "Damn it," he cursed, gritting his teeth. "I got ahead 'f myself..."

"Don't worry about it," Yugi called over from the side, narrowing his eyes and fingering the boomerang in his hands. "I've got a plan..."

Ah? He did..? "A plan," their opponent laughed, cackling as he threw his head back from where the chains bound and held him to the cliff at his knees. "Please..! You're both mere _children_," he spat, shaking his head and continuing to howl with laughter. "You couldn't hope to win... I'm _far_ superior to _you, _something you'll find out in just moments!"

Yugi merely snorted, shaking his head whilst their opponent turned to the sound of his voice. "Is that so," he muttered darkly, snapping his fingers as the menu appeared before each of the duelists' eyes regardless of health. "Well then... You won't mind if I do this. Watch... _CARD DESTRUCTION,_" he announced, each player watching as their hands cleared out before refreshing completely with new cards from their decks. "Hn! It looks as though your monster was sacrificed for nothing Otaki... Unless that look of horror you just revealed means something else," he added, the teen bowing his head as blood continued to pour from his form.

"G... Hng..."

"A-Ahh... SWEET," Katsuya shouted loudly, resuming his charge as he sent a thumbs up and a wink to his partner. "Good one Yugi!"

The boy merely smirked, sending a look to his friend and nodding. "Indeed; but we're not done yet!" That was right! "I summon Kuriboh to my defense," he shouted, before unfolding his boomerang and pushing off the cliff to the opponent's body below, "And now... _I ATTACK!_"

"An' so do I," the blond responded, jumping off his own rock only to pale as wounds across the body's face repaired. "GH-!"

"_SWITCH,_" a smirking voice announced, the chains around Otaki shattering as a blinding light came from their opponent. The black two-piece suit faded from existence, replaced with layer after layer of woolen fabric as the replacement stood to adjust his glasses. "Hn... I activate my ability," the replacement announced with a sneer, enormous missile-launcher aimed toward the 'meet' point of his opponents as he stood back on the somewhat large cliff. "_**DEATH SENTENCE...**_"

Shit not this again. "Oh _FUCK_," Katsuya shouted, grabbing Yugi by the back of his armor and pushing back and down the cliff as the weapon fired.

"GH- What-!"

As the missile connected with the ground both boys were blown back against stone cliffs and ground, smoke and dust filling the air as Oka laughed. Stones from the attack's final location collapsed to the ground, sending clouds of sand into the sky amid the laughter and coughs. "Hnhnhnhnhn... HAHAHAHA! Your fields are now cleared," their opponent laughed, before flipping his weapon back over his shoulder to leer down at them from above. "And to continue with my turn," he added, both Yugi and Katsuya wincing as they slowly pulled themselves up off the ground and squinted through the air, "I summon this! The Hysteric Angel!" The angel..?

"Crap," Katsuya muttered, looking around for another cliff and grabbing at his stumbling friend's arm. "Yugi," he shouted, "We gotta hide..!"

"Right," the boy responded, jumping to the side as a loud '_AERO_' was released through the air. Wind and dust both slammed against their backs, throwing them forward as stinging pain erupted across their bodies. "GH!"

"Hgah!" The blond skidded across the sand, pulling himself and his partner up to duck behind a rock as chuckling littered the air. "Hah.. .Hah... Hah... Yugi," he said with a swallow, "Get somewhere else so you c'n make yer move... We can' jus' sit in th' same spot, we'll be dead meat..."

Yugi swallowed, narrowing his eyes a moment in response. "I..." He quickly nodded, sheathing his boomerang and putting his goggles on in the face of the synthesized storm. "Got it; be careful Jonouchi."

"'F course!" When wasn't he? The boy quickly vanished into the dust to the side, Katsuya standing up in the meantime to slowly make his way out from the rocks. Alright... He had to let Oka take his turn before setting cards, but that didn't mean he couldn't look for that angel... So... ...What was that sound..?

"_**Hnhnhnhnhn...**_" W- Laughing? Katsuya turned to slowly look up, before stiffening as he again ran out of the way from a fired blast of solid wind. "_**AERO.**_"

"SHIIIIIIIIITT," he cried, blast of sand erupting behind him to cloud the air further as he skidded and slipped across the ground. "SHIT SHIT SHI SHI-"

"**SHOCKWAVE**_**,**_" the angel screeched, pointing her fingers forward with a snap. A rumble came through the air as he looked back, eyes widening as it connected with his body. CRAP.

"G-HHAAAAAAAAAH!" The wind threw him off his feet easily as Yugi shouted from where he'd run to, body thrown roughly against the wall. Stones held him in place now... The blond sent a severe look toward his friend as the boy made to move toward him, the look telling Yugi all he needed and might not have wanted to know as he vanished from sight. He wasn't letting him get dragged into this... Not... "Gnn... Hnggg..."

He couldn't move... "I activate Catapult Turtle's effect," came a somewhat faint shout, Katsuya slowly looking upward as he spotted the monster in question from a distance. Oh hey... The turtle... He'd forgotten about- "Sacrificing the Hysteric Angel for another attack!" Wait what.

Another one! The blond's partially closed eyes widened with shock as the sound of a whirring engine came over the air, followed by a screech as a hand coated with 'sharpened' air stabbed into his stomach. "GH- GLACK!" Blood burst out of his throat, a few bits of flames from his renewed cloak catching onto the oxygen covered monster as it fell into ash before his very eyes, ragged breathing meeting the air as he sent a frozen and blindly aimed look to the skies. "GH- GHAHHhhihhhh... Nghhh..." It was still Oka's turn... Still his turn he realized through the wave of pain, eyes quivering as he attempted to bite through it. '_I set a card,_' he was saying, the blond sliding down the side of the cliff as he clutched his bleeding left side, '_And in addition,_' the teen stated,_ 'I activate Altar of Mists..._" Altar of Mists...

"_Add one ritual spell to your hand after three turns,_" his 'partner' muttered from the back of his mind, the blond merely giving a choked and garbled cough in response. "_This could be problematic if you don't pick things up,_" the ghost whispered, his friend continuing to gasp as he rolled to the ground and continued to bleed. Gh... Tell him something he didn't know, he mentally choked, weakly raising a hand as it came to his turn. This... He had to do something... This...

"Hah... Hngk..!" His... Turn... His turn now he told himself, fingers shaking and falling on themselves as he attempted to hold them straight. "Summon... Th' Rocket Warrior," he rasped, pulling himself up to lean on his staff as the sands arose to do just that. "An'... Usin' my ability," he continued, blood dripping from his mouth, "I give it a thousan' more attack points... Now," he shouted with a slight cry of pain, body shaking as more of its already weakened form was sent into pain. "Hah... Gh- Attack th' turtle!"

With a curt nod the rocket took off, an explosion sounding through the air and sending a ringing white noise through his ears. Sand and metal blew in a wave from the ground, scattering about the field as Katsuya closed his eyes and continued to clutch his wound. "Hn! Activate the trap revenge sacrifice," his opponent countered with a barely audible voice, the blond gritting his teeth and looking up at where their opponent stood with rage filled eyes. Tentacles broke free from the ground at the side he knew, wrapping around his rocket warrior completely despite its summoner being unable to truly see what was happening... And from the sands above a robot was formed in its place, thrusters pushing it from the ground as it took aim with a pair of blasters on its arms. Machine King he realized coldly, eyes widening as adrenalin pumped through his veins. Shit... "Run while you can, 'Jonouchi'... But I'll be taking you out long before I target your _friend," _the monster's summoner shouted, his target struggling to stand with the severity of his injuries. "So," the judge cackled, adjusting the glasses his armor had graced him with, "Try not to take too long to die... Hnhnhnhnhn..." Ohhh shit he thought to himself, the guns above him glowing with a charge.

_OHHHHH SHIT._ Gunfire sounded through the air, the blond rolling to the side and stumbling to his feet despite the immense pain it caused. Casings and shells struck the sands as he broke into a run, geysers of dirt filling the air behind him as he attempted to escape. Shit... SHIT... "Shit shit shit SHIT SHIT!" This wasn't good, he told himself, sand spraying behind him as he hurriedly found a rock to duck behind through his pain, "Not good at-"

"I summon Des Volstgalph in attack mode," his friend shouted from a short distance away, a thundering roar shaking the air itself as a shadow appeared over himself and the rock both. Volstgalph... But that didn't have enough power that... It... The blond pulled himself up and over the rock, grimacing as dirt entered his wounds and as stones scraped away at his nerves. That monster... He couldn't do this with that monster he told himself, pulling himself over and onto the cliff before rolling on his front with a grunted cry. He couldn't... Yet he was... "Lastly I set a card, and end my turn," Yugi was saying, standing on the shoulder of the dragon as the beast snarled. That monster...

"GH- YUGI," he protested with a shout, the boy not looking down as Oka seemed to stare with narrowed eyes. "Yugi what're y' doin'," he wailed, "You'll lose like that!" This strategy was way too obvious... He was practically _shouting_ to their opponent that this thing was a trap, this wouldn't work against even the newest of duelists! "Don' mess around damn it..! Y' can'... Don'..." Hell, unless this was another of those bizarre 'I had something hidden there all along' moments this was going to turn out horribly..! "YU-"

Roaring laughter broke from across on the field, the blond looking forward as their opponent's form again shifted. Thick and billowing robes were replaced with tight boots, a black coat covering most of the teen's form as a hat appeared on his head. Electric green eyes, the first to reveal an iris of any sorts stared out to the field, with lines of circuitry scattered across them. "HnhnhnhnHAHAHAHAAA! _My_ turn," Ota chuckled, the anti-tank gun on his back replaced with a revolver in one hand and a mounted gatling gun on the forearm opposite. "And if you think I'll be so moronic as to fall for that trap you have," he chuckled, adjusting his gatling gun idly as he continued on. "Well, you're far denser than I thought!"

Yugi merely said nothing, Katsuya growing pale as a stiff look appeared on his friend's face. That expression... That... This wasn't... "AAUHHHHHH Yugi," he shouted, not caring about how subtle he wasn't for the moment. "This isn'- Th's is... Damn it! OTAAAAA," the blond snarled, pulling himself to his knees with wide eyes, "I'm gonna SLAUGHTER y' when I get th' chance! Glk-!" OW... Ow, don't shout any more...

Ota merely smirked at the futile threats, the 'vest' the others had worn replaced with a long knee-length duster coat as he pointed his machine king forward for battle. "Hn! You should have listened to your friend," he laughed to Yugi, before a short click came through the air as his pistol's safety was removed. "Spell card; _**HEAVY STORM,**_" he announced, firing the revolver toward the sheet of glass in front of Yugi's face and scattering it into pieces. An image hovered through the air for a moment as the boy appeared to wince, his opponent chuckling in response. "Hn... 'Mirror Force' eh," the teen sneered, Yugi appearing to frown as he nodded.

"Right- had you attacked," the boy explained somewhat plainly, "You'd have destroyed yourself... ...Sorry, Jonouchi," he added, looking toward his friend with a still blank stare. "It seems that this is all I could come up with." What...

Wh-Wh- "Sorry... But this ain't a 'sorry' situation," he whispered from the cliff as he choked, shaking his head. "I mean... Yer monster's abou' t' be-" De... Stroyed... The blond's eyes widened as Yugi held out his hand, winking as his dragon began to glow with an odd energy. As the dragon's eyes gleamed with rage, clawed hands flexing in anticipation. "H-Hang on..." Vorstgalph, 2200 attack points... Gains power whenever...

Whenever a spell was cast. A spell like Heavy Storm, for example. As Yugi continued to hold out his hand the blond could see the Machine King rise up behind them, blue glass eyes shining in some unknown source of light. He could see the dragon whose clawed hand Yugi stood upon turn its head to fire a blast of flames upward, the monster snarling in rage at the attempted strike to its summoner. And more importantly, as he threw his hand upward with a weak and pained grin, he could hear Ota cursing in light of the destruction of his monster.

"Gh- Damn it," he spat, throwing his pistol to the ground and clicking something on his opposite arm into place, "DAMN IT!"

"Hah..." Molten scrap fell to the ground as he leaned back agains the dragon's claw, unable to contain his laughter and cheer despite the fatal pain he felt. "Heh... Yugi! Tha' was g-"

The boy smirked, his dragon taking off into the air as both of them clung to the sides of its claws. "Hold that thought," he said plainly, Katsuya just noticing that his friend's weapon was gone for the moment. "Boomerangs attack twice after all; and when _Vorstgalph_ attacks," he went on, turning to Ota as the teen narrowed his electric and glowing eyes, "500 points of damage are inflicted directly to the player!" As their opponent paled a slight 'buzzing' noise could be heard, the 'attack' Yugi referred to revealing itself in an instant; the triple bladed device cut deep into Ota's left arm as he moved it from his gatling gun, and as he cried in pain the weapon continued to travel until it was gripped tightly in its owners hand.

"GH! You little rats...!" Laughter and cheers were cut short as another series of clicks met the air, gatling gun spinning as its owner cursed. "_**BARRAGE**_," he snarled, pointing his weapon forward and firing. "You can all just burn in HELL!" Smoke filled the air as their opponent grinned in rage, only for the expression to fall as a shield of dragon's wings were revealed to the teen. " Gh... Damn it..!"

Volstgalph... The dragon had blocked the attacks, and there wasn't even a scratch..! "H-Hah! HAHA! Tha's great," he choked, before biting his lip as another wave of pain came through him. Yugi stooped down examining the wound in worry as his friend attempted to speak. "Hng... Yugi, th- This..." The blond paled, swallowing as his friend continued to stare in worry while the dots in his mind connected. Yugi had... "Oh man... ...Yugi... You got 'm t' attack you instead 'f me," he whispered, shaking his head with wide eyes. "Tha'... You saved..."

Again Yugi smirked, shaking his head despite the pain his friend was in. "It's nothing," he said calmly, quite clearly just glad to see his friend was alive. "You'd have done the same for me! I have to say though," he chuckled, leaning back on his dragon's claws a moment as the smirk grew. "You're an _extremely_ good actor..." A-Actor! He thought he was- "...I have a feeling that if you hadn't sounded so sincere about no knowing Volstgalph's effect my ploy wouldn't have worked," the boy continued, Katsuya slowly nodding in response. AH- AHA... Of course...

"H-Ha...Hahaaha! W- What," he laughed, grimacing through the pain and continuing on, "Y' think I wouldn' know when yer doin' somethin' like tha'? Really?" Hahaha... HAHAHA- _Oh god he'd almost gotten turned into a dog-thing_!

Below them Ota had given up on firing his weapon, the gatling gun adjusting itself as he pulled it back to snarl. "Hn! So you've saved yourself for one turn," he growled, narrowing his eyes before adjusting the cap on his head. "That won't save you next time!" Hn...

"Yea... I figur'd," he muttered in response, Volstgalph shifting somewhat as its passengers made their move from its claws. "So I'm settin' a card, an' bringin' out th' Panther Warrior in d'fense mode," he called out with a choke. "An' wi' that in mind," he continued, Yugi summoning his own defense monster as they kicked off the dragon to charge forward despite any and all injuries sustained, "Let's DO THIS!"

"Right! VOLSTGALPH," Yugi roared, kicking off a few nearby cliffs below them before throwing his boomerang forward, "_ATTACK!_"

And with a roar of flames the standard for the final half of the match was decided.

* * *

When it came to penguins, one would think that fighting one wouldn't be too difficult. They were hardly agile on land after all, and when it came to running, the creatures had barely enough legs to even walk properly. They had no fingers with which to hold any kind of weapon, and did not look like the sort of animal to be feared as opposed to loved and hugged.

And yet as Shizuka's spear was entangled in Otaki's whip once again, this time proving immobile and caught completely, the woman had to grit her teeth in annoyance. "Gh... You..." This was the third time this happened, and each one ended in the same thing damn it!

"Hehehehehehe.. Feeling stuck," the penguin cackled, eyes narrowed in mirth as a fruitless tug of war began and led into the usual attack. "How about you loosen up? _**BRINE**_," he roared, a blast of water shooting from his mouth as Shizuka squealed. AH-

That wasn't the electric- "GYAH-GH!" The water flung her back a few feet, ragged coughs and sputterings escaping her throat as she attempted to spit out the salt water Otaki had launched in her face. "Kh- Blech..!" Auggh... Brackish water... He'd attacked her with brackish-

"And again, with a little twist," she heard, blood draining from her face as she looked up. "... _**Shock Whip,**_" the penguin coldly stated, his opponent looking up with wide eyes as the sparking weapon tore toward her. Gh... That weapon... Before she was fine, but covered in _SALT WATER_ she'd be-

Shi- "Ohhhh Oooootaaakiiii," a haunting voice called out, low chuckling accompanied by a loud hissing noise.

"_**Forget about us..?**_"

Shizuka swallowed in terror as the whip stopped a mere centimetre from her face, the penguin pulling his weapon back to turn to the voice with wide eyes. Towering above him now was the still sparking form of Ren's massive 'Astrape' form, fangs bared and sparking with an electric venom. The form that Shizuka was considering as possibly a larger threat than even the opponents, a form that was now shadowing them both completely. "H-Hihhhh... SHIT," the penguin squawked, running off only to be blocked by a massive sparking tail as Ren laughed.

"_**HAHAHA! Guess that's a yes,**_" he howled, coiling tightly around the monster as he shocked it into submission._** "SAY 'AAAAAAHH!**_"

"H-HAAAAA_**AAAAAAHHH**_!" In seconds the serpents coils were wrapped around an ashen and smoking corpse, Ren snapping it within its jaws as Anzu ran over with a just slightly crazed gleam hovering over her look of concern.

"Shizuka," she shouted, an eye of sorts glowing across her brow as she held out a hand. "Shizuka," she repeated, "Are you alright?"

The girl blinked, slowly standing up with a nod as she ignored the outstretched hand. "Y-Yes... Yes I'm fine," Shizuka answered with a choke, "I just..." She swallowed, shaking her head as she looked to her friend. "Well... Are _you_?"

Anzu stared a moment in confusion, before smirking almost boyishly as she laughed. "HAH! Of course! Never better!" If this was 'never better', what would happen when it _was_ better..? "Now, Ren," she called up, the snake grinning viciously as his fangs dripped a sparking fluid to the ground. "Who's next?"

"_**Hehehehehe... Well,**_" he called down with a rumble, "_**I see a pesky cyborg I'd like to deal with...**_"

His partner nodded, hopping up the coils as her smirk grew. "Then lets go! Shizuka," the woman added, hopping onto her snake's head and looking down at the girl with a wink, "Hang in there alright?"

A-Ahh... ...Really, it was like talking to a completely different person, but- "R-Right! I'll do my best," she shouted up, before a shout cut her following words short.

"_HAAAAAHHH _what kind of match up is this," a familiar teen cried miserably, bolting toward the snake and Shizuka both with a scream. "This is BULLSHIT!"

The girl blinked, watching in mild shock as Otogi barrelled past her and the others with Honda yelping behind him as they ran. "DAMN IT-ARU," the dog barked, machine gun fire blasting behind them and forcing Shizuka behind a rock for cover, as Anzu's snake darted to the side as well, "We were JUST about to get some damage in-aru!"

Just- Shizuka glanced back from where she'd followed the boys, holding her tongue with narrowed eyes. Oka was here again... But that would mean that he could see again, which was impossible..! "Hn... These guys certainly have a nasty habit of switching out when it benefits them," the teen growled bitterly, flipping over another stone as explosions shook the ground behind him and forced the trio to flee yet again. "Heck," he continued to Honda, Shizuka managing to find a nook in the rocks to hide in, "If Oka had just stayed put one moment longer we'd have gotten that stupid giant before he swapped out!" Another wave of machine fire pounded the air, Anzu long gone as the targets of Oka's rage were left huddling in fear. "Gh... But this isn't good," he muttered, looking around the stone. "Electric attacks and blades don't do anything on this guy..!"

"Not to mention _my_ attacks-aru," the dog added with a nod, before shaking his head with a confused growl. "And just _how_ did this guy find us again!"

"WELL," cackled the robotic Knight, appearing in front of them as the pair skidded to a stop and looked at the enormous machine above them. "It's fairly easy when you have heat sensors as a back up..."

H-Heat... "Heat sensors," Honda exclaimed, smacking his head with a paw. "Why didn't I think of that-aru?"

"Besides the fact that you wouldn't have thought of it when you were human... I'm sure there'll be plenty of time to find out later," his partner said with a fear filled swallow, only to frown as the robot turned to the side. "...Hang on..."

"...He's not firing-aru..."

"I know," Otogi hissed, "Now _shut u_-"

"...That _fool_," the mecha hissed, before fading from sight as his opponents stared. "HNP! I'll be right back..." Right back..? But then what-

In a swirl of dust a gavel pounded the ground, Honda and Otogi leaping back in separate directions as the mallet wielding warrior 'Judgeman' appeared before them. "Ha- They switched out again," he shouted, knives gripped tightly in his hands as Honda snarled and fell to the ground.

"You bastards-aru... MY BODY IS NOT A TOY-ARU! GIVE IT BACK! ROUR! ROUF ROUF AOUF!"

The giant merely chuckled, swinging its mallet back on his shoulder to leer at the two 'ants' before it. "Hnhnhnhn... While I agree with your statement," Oka laughed darkly, "I can't say I agree with the reasoning behind it... Now... My turn to attack," he snarled, swinging his hammer down on Otogi only for it to be blocked by the teen. The mallet shook in the giant's hands, eyes widening as he looked down in horror. "GH- WHAT!"

Small craters appeared in the ground beneath his feet from the impact of the block, Otogi wincing as he held the easily car-sized mallet off using naught but his two knives. "H... Heh... Moron," he laughed, a somewhat dark grin appearing on his face as he pushed the mallet away to leap on top of it, "The level system still applies here... And now that I'm a higher level than you," the teen continued in the face of the monster, "It doesn't matter _how_ big you are! And now," he shouted, launching himself forward with the daggers as he ran along the monster's arm. "It's MY turn; _**RED RAIN!**_"

In a flash of colour matching the name Otogi struck, Oka seemingly frozen as the teen appeared on the opposite side of him. There was no injury that could be seen. No sinking sensation as his body split in two or simply collapsed, not even a scratch. "H... H... You..." The giant appeared to look himself over in fear, laughter sounding almost unbelieving as he gripped his gavel. "Hahahaha... HAHAHAHA! You _MISSED,_" the monster cackled, turning on his opponent before freezing in shock. "GHK-" Stumbling the demon fell to his knees, gripping his stomach with a shout as blood sprayed from his mouth. "GHAAAK! AAAAAAGGGHHH! Wh... WHAT!"

What indeed... "It's the ability of the 'Red Rain' attack," his opponent explained coldly, standing before the giant as it collapsed in agony. "Rather than attacking from the outside in," the teen explained, eyes dim and detached as he went on, "A single 'dagger' is sent inside the body... And while there," Otogi continued, "It multiples... Until finally," he stated, skin reddening over the giants form as he struggled to move, "After it's filled every empty space it can..."

"G-GHA- G**RAH-**"

-_splt_-

"...It can't take any more." A scream cut off just as quick as it started, the monster before them having pulled up with a snarl in an attempt to attack before 'exploding'. A shower of blood and flesh poured to the ground in its wake, and as the teen stared at the bloody mess that Oka's 'judgeman' body had been reduced to Honda shuddered.

"H-Hahhh... Remind me to never piss you off-aru! That's scary as hell," he choked, stepping away from the mess with a quivering body.

Otogi smirked, shaking his head despite the sheer gore that had just occurred before him. "Hn! It's not like this will all transfer to the real world anyways; what do you have to fear?" Honda merely swallowed at that, his friend walking over as Shizuka as well began to step out from her hiding place. "Now... Come on," he continued, smiling lightly. "There's still one more left after all,"he shouted, a bark of agreement coming from the dog beside him as they turned to the center of the field.

"Ah- Right" Honda called out, pushing out from his friend's arm as his head opened wide for attack. "Let's do this, ARU!"

"_**Only one left now,**_" Ren hissed loudly, the cyborg he'd been fighting finally forced to the center of the field.

"That's right... 'Daimon'," the woman on his head shouted, pointing her staff forward as Shizuka watched with narrowed eyes, "Prepare yourself! _**ASTRAPE!**_"

"_**RED RAIN,**_" Otogi added in as he leaped forward,

"_**ENERGY-SHOT-ARU!**_"

Wait... WAIT! "GUYS," Shizuka shouted with a jolt of fear, "WAIT!"

The four froze mid attack as Shizuka's panicked shout came from the side, nothing but smoke and dust filling the air where Daimon's Psycho Shocker had stood moments before. They couldn't see more than a foot before them in the explosion, Daimon's 'hurricane' having attacked the ground rather than his opponents for reasons beyond them. Nonetheless, it was Shizuka who was now the target of confusion. "..._Wait_," Otogi repeated, eyes wide as he looked back from the center field.

"What do you mean 'wait'," Anzu protested with a frown, "Once we defeat Daimon-"

"Hnhnnhnhn..." The crowd's blood ran cold as a figure appeared in the dust, each of the fighters stepping back with wide eyes as what had been Daimon's 'Psycho Shocker' tripled in height to hover in the air before them. "I believe she said to wait... Because none of your attacks would have any effect..."

"Ohhhh god... One word," Otogi said with a swallow, stepping back as Honda nodded.

"_SHIT__._"

* * *

Volstgalph's flames were a powerful strike to behold. They formed an attack so booming that the crackling fires blocked out even the sounds behind them after all, shrouding all that lay on the field before them in a blinding haze. As the fires died down however, with Yugi and Katsuya both charging their opponent alongside ghostly forms of their defensive monsters, they found themselves staring and shock and wishing quite horribly that it was possible to move in mid air. "Gh- This-!"

Their opponent had switched. Dead eyes stared up from the face of their friend's body, along with a wicked smirk and a hand-device that was beginning to charge on each palm. "_My turn_," Daimon hissed, the Psycho Shocker's green leather and latex clothing stretched over his body. "Care to face the 'demon'? _**HURRICANE!**_"

"Gh- SHI-" Wind blew both boys back with pained shouts, Yugi skidding along the face of a cliff while his friend clung to an opposite rock, blood spurting from his still open wound as he choked and cried out in pain. "D-Daimon! ..GH... Activate trap," he shouted with a wheezing cough, his opponent's smirk growing even more menacing in appearance as the blond continued. "Drop Off!"

"_**Negated**_," the teen hissed, snapping his fingers as he jumped from his cliff toward where the blond hung. Negate- Oh hell... "And since it's my turn," the monster continued to sneer, "I'll play pot of greed and summon this..! Injection Angel Lily! As for you," he snarled, hands held toward his opponent as he cackled, "_**FIRESTORM!**_"

Shit, magic..! "GHA-" The blond ducked under the flames as Daimon hovered through the air, only to gape as the blond looked over himself and laughed. As the fires were absorbed into the cloak on his back, his wounds sealing before the levitating cyborg's eyes as Daimon grit his teeth. "Ah... Ahahah... HAHAHAHAHA!" YES! "IDIOT," he snarled through a grin, kicking off the stone to swing his staff toward the teen. "I'm _made_ 'f _FIRE! _All you've done is screwed yerself over! HAHAHAHA!"

"What-! GH... I activate my effect," the monster shouted as he was beaten back into the ground, choking on his words and rolling to avoid the falling strike from the blond. "Sacrificing 2000 lifepoints to raise Lily's attack by 3000!" Wait three thousand! "LILY," Daimon snarled, pushing his opponent back with a block as Katsuya continued to swing at the man with his staff, "Attack Volsgalph!" Th-Three thousand...

Lily's attack was only four hundred so... "_**Hnhnhn... Time for your injection,**_" the angel that had appeared above them chuckled, Yugi swallowing as the dragon at his side moved to protect him. The angel's serene smile took a dangerous turn, eyes narrowed to slits as she pointed her hypo forward and cackled. "**DUST BOWL!**"

From just below the angel a wave of sand blew toward the boy, Katsuya scrambling toward his friends before skidding to a halt as his opponent ran to block his path. "Gh-! You..!"

"Hnhnhnn... He won't be needing you," Daimon chuckled, taking a fighting stance as his opponent did the same. "Activate Sobek's Blessing," the teen announced almost off-handedly, ragged coughs coming from behind as Yugi was left with nothing but a swirling dust storm in the place of his monster. "And in addition," he muttered, pacing before his opponent as the blond narrowed his eyes, "I set one card... So tell me," he sneered, smirk widening as his opponent swallowed. "Just what do you plan to do _now_..?"

Tch... What would he do..? A card appeared in the back of his mind, and Katsuya smirked. He knew exactly what to do. "How abou' give y' a taste 'f yer own medicine," he spat, the mist around him blowing into the sands behind him as cliffs and stone began to collapse around them. "Tha' thing there's a trap ain't it," Katsuya 'asked', his opponent paling as the scenery began to crumble into another realm entirely, "So how's this! I tribute th' Panther Warrior an' summon my own Psycho Shocker," he snarled, Daimon looking up with wide and milky looking eyes as the cyborg arose behind his opponent from pillars of sand and the dust of his former monster both. "So! N'gate th' trap," he shouted, a laser blasting past him from the tower as he charged his opponent and roared. "NOW!"

"Gh! You think that's all it takes," Daimon snarled, ducking a swipe from the staff and firing a dodged shot of energy as the blond aimed a kick toward the teen. "Lily is still the most powerful monster on this field..! While you fight me," he continued with a grin, "I'll finish you off using her attack against that monster you foolishly summoned!"

Katsuya froze with that, skidding to a stop as his opponent stopped a few meters away to continue chuckling. "GH..." That... That was right, Lily's power would last until it was Daimon's turn again..! "Shit," he hissed, turning to look at his monster as the angel prepared her attack and cackled. "That-"

"Jonouchi," Yugi called out from the side, his position creating a sort of triangle from the trio of duelists as he stood from the hill of sand he'd almost been trapped under. "As I recall," he shouted out as he coughed, "Attack wasn't the only thing that determined a battle's win, correct?" That...

The blond blinked, before his eyes widened with realization in regards to the advice. Only the attack... "AH- Right!" And he had just the thing for that too he realized with a mental laugh, kicking away from another swipe his opponent had made before the grin widened. "Heh... Block attack," he announced, turning to look up at Lily as he pointed his staff toward the angel. "An' while tha' happens," he continued, his opponent freezing to look toward his monster with a shout, "Do yer thing, Psycho Shocker!"

In a blinding beam of light the monster destroyed the woman, the angel having gone from aggressive to fearful in the span of mere seconds. Light seared over the angel's face, causing the monster to glow, brighter and brighter, until finally with a short and cut scream ashes fell to the ground. "AH- DAMN IT," Daimon snarled, clenching his fists ant turning back on his opponent. "You damned _scum..!"_ HAH! Was that the worse he had?

"Your turn Yugi," Katsuya laughed, hurriedly ducking a 'thunder shot' as his angered opponent moved to strike him down again and again for each laugh he let out. "I leave this t' you!"

"Right," the boy announced, his own misted defense monster vanishing to the air as he took his turn. "Sacrifice the Shield Gardna," Yugi began from the cliff's bottom, "To summon the Dark Magician Girl!" As sands rose up beside him, forming the young woman a smirk appeared on his face, the summoner pointing his monster forward with a nod. "Now... ATTACK!

_**BLACK BURNING,**_" they both cried, the magician sending her attack forward with an echoing cry. Before Daimon could even say a word the attack connected, flames of black and violet 'light' catching onto his body to shroud him from sight. Katsuya distanced himself from the teen as quick as he could whilst the flames continued to burn and spread, shouts of pain coming from within them as the realm collapsed further into. Stone eroded into sand... Sand piled into distant hills and plains, forming the realms of a desert long past...

But over the sounds of crumbling the screams changed, and the more they realized this the more the blood drained from their faces. "Hnhnhnhnhn... HAHAHAHAHA... **HAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!**" Cackling met the air and with a nervous swallow Katsuya glanced over at his partner, the boy exchanging a similar wide-eyed look before turning back with his weapon ready. After all... If it was one thing you learned after a few run ins with this sort of thing, it was this-

Crazed laughter in the place of agonized screams were never a good sign.

* * *

Before Daimon had been set ablaze and before his 'Angel' had taken down the dragon on the 'duelists' field', had been a fair amount of panic on the high stone plateau far beyond it. Once Ota returned to the field after all, even with his partners each defeated long before, the robot easily dominated the group attack him. "_**BARRAGE,**_" he roared, Ren tossed back and reduced to his tiny and nigh-useless form when his lightning proved useless in the face of the beast. "**_METAL SOUND,_**" he continued with a second, new attack, a wave of sharpened wind coming from the rapier he swung toward the others. As the blades scattered through the air those fighting moved similarily, Honda snatched up in Otogi's arm as the teen hurriedly leaped to avoid the attack below him.

"GH- Damn it... How do we take this thing out now," he snarled, the dog in his arms barking similar comments as Shizuka swallowed from behind the rock. Bullets were shattering the stone before them, sending dust into the air and chipping craters into the cliffs. Lighting failed, blades failed, bullets failed... "We can't just do nothing," Otogi was shouting, attempting to dodge the attacks as he bounced off each stone cliff, "We can't-"

"_**METAL BARRAGE,**_" Ota roared, bringing a blade through the air as a wall of steel met the gazes of all those on the field.

"W- This guy double casts," Ren protested, the combined force of 'Metal Sound' and 'Barrage' both firing down upon them. The bullets pounded the air with the wave of a hand, a pained shriek coming from Anzu as she was clipped in the side during her escape. "G- Anzu," the snake cried, the woman slumped on the ground and looking to her now shredded right side with shaking breaths. "Anzu..!"

"H-HN... HGGGAAAAAAHH... D-Damn it," she cried, looking up at the robot above her as it approached. "Hn... _**B-BLIZZARD,**_" she screamed through her shuddering breaths, staff pointed upward as the ice blasted forward. "**_H-HAIL STORM!_**"

Screams were filling the air... As Anzu's attack connected nothing happened save a slight scratch of paint, the stones continuing to fall from the sides of the cliffs as Ota laughed from the air. There had to be something they could do she thought with a bit lip, slowly climbing her way atop the higher stones behind the opponent. If she used her 'Barrage' it wouldn't do anything, it wasn't powerful enough as normal bullets but-

...'Double Casting'... Ren mentioned double casting she remembered, information on her own 'ability' coming to mind as she took a shuddering breath. "H... Hahhh..." Yes... This would work! Shizuka's eyes narrowed, and with a nervous swallow she rushed further along the cliffs where she'd been hiding behind her opponent. She had an idea... It had to work she told herself as she ran, it just had to..! And as the woman charged shouts were filling the air from the field at the side, with her brother making his own move. The cliffs were dissolving into sand, falling down beneath her feet as she ran before kicking off the last bits of stone to face her opponent in battle. This was it..! "_OTA_," she roared, the robot halting its fire as the others fell down the collapsing sands, his own form still supported by the thrusters on his feet. The monster turned, and with her spear in hand Shizuka swung forward with a narrowed glare. "Recognize this," she asked, before bringing the blade upward. "_**DOUBLE CAST... HAILSTONE FUSILADE!**_"

From the edge of the spear blade blue ice formed, the combined power of Otaki's stolen frost attacks merging with the very barrage she'd taken from the monster before her. In a swift arc she brought the weapon through the air, and with the movement came an endless series of hailstones to blast toward their target in the form of various carved torpedos. "Gh- This- A- AAAH! HAAAAAAAAAHHH!"

"Hah..." The others stared only momentarily as the monster was thrown back against the collapsing stone and sand, hurriedly regaining their own resolve to attack. "Hn! _**Red Rain,**_" Otogi added in as he charged the monster, the ice breaking through Ota's prized metal structure to leave him vulnerable to attack. With a swift movement a dagger was dropped into the hull, Otogi pushing off lest he be carried away with the sands himself. Nothing seemed to happen... But within moments the machine was clawing at its own hide, pained screams raging through the air.

"G-GHHAAAA-!"

"Alright-aru... Don't forget about me-ARU _**ENERGY SHOT,**_" Honda snarled, hopping from the few stones he'd found solace on to fire their opponent further against the collapsing ground. "That'll teach you to take my body-ARU!" Another blast tore through the air, forcing Ota further as the steadily collapsing and eroding ground beneath them continued to prove uneasy ground. Already half of the monster was buried, wires shredded, hull dented and smashed.

The monster however, still wasn't down for the count just yet. And as Shizuka landed to the crumbling sands at the side the robot snarled, taking aim from where it fell. "You _bitch_," he spat, 'breathing' raggedly as he narrowed his eyes. "You're worse than HER! Hahhh... **B... **_**BARRA-**_"

The gatling gun began to whirr as Ota prepared to attack, only for another shout to cut through the air. "Our turn," Anzu cried, shooting forward on what looked to be a serpent made entirely of water as she held her side. "We aren't through just yet!"

"_**That's right,**_" her partner roared, cackling almost madly as he swirled above the robot.**_ "How about we find out why computers and water don't mix!_**

"_**DELUGE!**_"

The serpent did not attempt to swallow or suffocate the robot as he had the others, Shizuka noticed as the attack was called out. Instead it appeared to simply burst into nothing but a tidal wave, Anzu diving forward with all the force of a great and powerful tsunami as she struck their opponent down by the 'staff' in her hands. The attacks had all merged, with Ota sputtering and sparking in the aftermath, but even with this there was more, just in case the robot had survived even that.

The sand had continued to collapse through this after all. "H-Hey," Honda yelped in surprise, hopping out from his spot with wide eyes. "I think we're sinking-aru!" Their legs were getting caught in the sands, and in her own case the stone she fell to simply dropped below, Shizuka's eyes wide as her 'seat' began to slowly tumble toward an endless fall through the sands. "Th- We... We've gotta get out of here here-aru!"

"Tell us something we don't know," his partner shouted in response, hurriedly pulling his legs from the sand as he began to sink. "You can fly can't you," Otogi asked, the dog turning. "Well_ do _something!"

"Fl- There's no way I can carry you all-ARU! Are you crazy-aru!"

The teen scowled, fixing his friend with a glare as the dog made his excuses. "Hng... Try it anyways," he shouted, the dog shaking his head.

"I can't-aru! I'm barely the size of your head as it is!"

Well if he didn't try then what did he think would happen! "Ngh... HONDA-HAN," she screamed, the dog yelping as the girl pulled herself up the collapsing hillside. The woman grit her teeth, the robot behind her sinking further and further into the sand as she stood a few feet away. "Hah... D... Do it _NOW!_"

"A- Got it," the dog hurriedly shouted nervously, nodding in the face of an enraged Shizuka. "No problem!" She didn't know how Honda knew to activate this 'mode' of his. Quite frankly, she didn't really want to know, given how it manifested. But as the appearance of a fleshy and furred head was again replaced with metal she grabbed onto one of the hounds fore-paws in an iron grip, Otogi already gripping the hind ones as panels began to spin in a vicious and beating cycle. "Hold on tight-aru," the dog said with a swallow, expression unable to be determined now that his sensations were restricted to the tendrils from his neck. "If this works-aru, it's going to be a bumpy ride!"

They got it, they got it... "Just GO," Otogi shouted, their legs already beginning to sink again.

"Erf! Alright-aru!"

The whirring sounds of a helicopter started instantly as the dog awkwardly took off, the others pulled out from the sand as they watched it disappear below. Anzu... They had to find Anzu she told herself, soon spotting the woman from atop one of Ota's barely visible fingers. "Hey! Guys," she shouted up, her snake wrapped around her arm as she gestured down. "Down here! Hurry, I don't have much time!"

"Ah-" Not much time indeed; Anzu was literally on the 'edge of her rope', standing atop the middle finger and waving as it began to sink. "Ngh- Grab on," Shizuka called out, holding out her spear with wide eyes. "Hurry!"

Without another word the woman nodded, jumping from the finger to cling on the spear end as they were carried away. "H-Hah... Dang Honda... You can really pull your weight," Ren commented from the woman's head, looking up as a few feelers pointed their way down to stare and respond.

"Aouff! I'll take that as a compliment, snake-boy!"

The serpent blinked, slowly nodding as he pulled back. "Errm... Good for you," he coughed, the tendril continuing to hover before him as he paled. "Just get that tentacle outta my face..."

"Well... After you did all of that crap on the field-aru, I have to make sure you don't do it again," he said rather plainly, Ren tensing in an instant.

"C- What the hell are you talking about," he hissed, a low growl coming from the speaker above.

"Tch- Anzu doesn't ordinarily break into mad cackles-aru! You know damn well what you did-aru!"

As the yelps and barks continued to sound the others stared, Anzu in particular blinking a few times in confusion. "...Wow Honda... You really _are_ sounding more like a dog," she said rather nervously, the puppy's fur bristling in response.

"AH- S-Stop bringing it up-aru, I'm getting selfconcious about this!"

"Well it's true," she muttered, only to wince as the growls continued.

"R-RERF! Seriously-aru! Stop! I'm starting to- Y-YRF!"

With a sudden blast of wind and sand the four were blown off course, yelps a shouts filling the air as they looked to the approaching ground below. "Ah- Quick," Ren shouted, coiling around a clump of his partner's hair. "Jump!" Anzu hurriedly dropped off the spear as the others collapsed and did as told, dropping to the sand with wide eyes. The sky was darkening... It was as though it were the middle of the evening, or the presence of an immense storm that they had somehow missed. However, that was not what caught their attentions, and as they looked out into the distance they paled.

Laughter was filling the air... Storm clouds converging, and as runes appeared across the ground the earth began to shake. "I've been WAITING for this," Daimon was cackling, Honda's body effectively in monopoly thanks to their own actions on the field. "It's been three turns since this spell was played... I add one ritual spell to my hand, and with this," he continued, armor evaporating into nothing but complete shadows of the body's original garb, "_WE WILL WIN!_"

"W-We," Otogi repeated, eyes wide.

"They're all in there-aru... They're using it at the same time," he snarled, attempting to run forward before being snatched up by Shizuka as the others stared in frozen shock. "BASTARDS! YOU SAID ONE AT A TIME-ARU, KEEP YOUR DAMN PROBLEMS ARU!" Hah... Hah... Keep...

"I think... I think this _is_ one at a time," Anzu muttered with wide eyes, the others swallowing as the ground continued to shake violently. A fissure appeared to separate the ground between them and the field, sand pouring into cracks as the woman swallowed and stepped back from what had almost swallowed her in an instant. "H- Hhh... This... This is..."

"This is going to be hell..."

* * *

There was only one word to describe this situation really. And though it wasn't only one word, what Otogi had muttered off to the side was close enough to it. No one else was saying those words though. After all, as their opponent stood before the, it was taking all they could not to succumb to the effects of the ritual, all they could not to be blown away by the sand blasting past their forms as their monsters were eroded away into nothing by the razor-like force.

"_WE ACTIVATE THE RITUAL SPELL DRAGON'S REVIVAL,_" shouted the body before them, light bursting in patterns of all kinds around the field as the teen's voice seemed to distort. As runes and inscriptions circled at various points of the field, releasing a tall light as they were connected into a circle and pentacle. "_And we offer up the proper tribute! Sacrificing a monster of WATER,_" they began, the 'Deep Sea Warrior' rising into a pillar of the material in the far distance from that same circle, "_Of FIRE,_" they continued, the Robotic Knight appearing in another ring, this one of flames. "_OF WIND, EARTH, and DARKNESS,_" the twisted voices called, the remaining deckmasters summoned to the five points of the immense star, surrounded by the immense pillars of their elemental choice. "_And from their sacrifices, we summon the monster forth,_" they roared, the body before them beginning to twist and change as cracks filled the air. "_The KING of DRAGONS, the GO**D OF ALL,**_" they thundered, voice deepening as sands and elements swirled about them in a vicious cyclone._** "FIVE GOD DRAGON,**"_ the monster before them snarled, bones cracking and rearranging as the body of their friend slowly mutated into the enormous beast. Sleeves were torn, body formed, before sands shielded them from the sight of their friend's body doing anything more than growing oversized wings and clawed arms. The cyclone's light began to dull... From one head on an enormous quadrupedal dragon came four others, the cyclone shattering with a feral and echoing it roar. A blue-scaled one of water, a blazing one of flames... The metal, wind oriented one, along with the mire coloured 'earth' head. And in the center of it all, as the ground cracked and fell apart in massive fissures the head of shadows stood dominant...

Whilte beneath it, head slumped forward as though asleep, they could see their friend's body, his entire form from the waist down and his shoulders on pulled back and merged with the dragon. His eyes were closed, seemingly at peace... His clothes were that of what he'd worn from the game start, the only thing absent being the belt of magazines he had carried with him. But as the five-god dragon stood before them the body continued to speak regardless, mouth moving emotionlessly as the five draconic heads snarled. "_**HnhnhnhnHAHAHAAA... Witness our TRUE power,**_" the monster sneered, voices echoing through the mouth of their friend with all the sounds of a demonic legion. "**_With this form we are UNTOUCHABLE! Only LIGHT monsters can attack us, and only those surpassing our power will make it as it is! Of course, with what happened last time,_**" they spat, the five heads hissing and growling to match the emotion, "_**We'll be setting a card... And as for the rest,**_" they laughed madly,**_ "As we cannot attack this turn, we will give you a chance to prepare for your DEATHS! HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!_**"

Gh... Shit. Five thousand attack points and even then there was only one thing out there that could beat it out right... "God damned bastards..! How th' hell are we s'pposed t' beat this thing now," he hissed, staff held forward in futile defense.

"There's always some way," his friend muttered, biting his lip as he looked to the ground in thought. "...And... As to that way..." He swallowed, looking to his friend with an odd look before continuing on. "There is a card that can defeat this monster; it's a complicated summon, but we have all we need here," the boy explained, slowly nodding his head. "Flame Swordsman, Dark Magician... And this," he continued, a small card misting into his hands. Polyermerization. Those two monsters... A flaming warrior came to mind, in robes of black with a blade of red. A monster made of shadows...

And from their deckmasters. "_...A fusion summon with yourselves,_" his friend hissed incredulously, "_Are you completely insane_?" Katsuya's eyes widened briefly as he ignored the spirit, mine merely going over what he'd just seen as he swallowed. Fusion..! Then...

...Just in case that couldn't work... "...I set three cards," he shouted, waving his hand forward as three glassy mirrors appeared above the sand to his command. That would make sure nothing too bad happened in the end, but... "Gh... ...Yugi," the blond said quietly, turning to his friend and staring at the polymerization card in his hand. "Th's summon... If it works... What's gonna happen t' us..?"

Those who could hear stared in confusion, narrowing their eyes as the shorter of the pair smiled confidently. "We'll just have to wait and see," he said quietly, still holding the card out for his friend. "As it is," Yugi continued almost plainly, "There's little other choice..." Little choice... It was true they were on their last leg...

But to _fuse_ together..! Katsuya swallowed, looking to the side in unease as snarls echoed from before them '_SURRENDER,_' they hissed, thundering roars calling about the sky as lightning cracked. '_Just SURRENDER! Your fighting is FUTILE!_' ...This was their only shot, he told himself. He knew that much. "Alrigh'," he said after a moment, taking his friend's hand in his as the polymerization card shattered in their grip. "Le's do this! Le's show these guys they ain't th' only ones who c'n fuse!"

"AH- You guys are going to fuse-aru!"

The crowd at the side balked, looking among themselves as both duelists slowly turned to face their opponents. "But that... You're just a smaller target if you do that," Otogi called out with wide eyes.

"Screw smaller targets," Ren hissed, "What the hell does this guy plus that guy get you anyways!"

The duelists ignored the crowd for the moment, Yugi steadying himself as well as he prepared to make his move, light from the spell already forming around the duo's bodies. "Alright... Let's do this! Activate the spell _**POLYMERIZATION**_," he shouted, a sheet of glass shattering behind him with those words, "Fusing the Dark Magician..."

"With th' Flame Swordsman," Katsuya finished, a wide vortex appearing as wind swirled around them and blew sand into a curtain to hide them from sight. "AN' AS A RESULT," he continued over the howling winds, "WE SUMMON..."

Summon...

They... He could feel nothing. And everything. He was there and yet not there, in some strange moment of duality. He was dissolving, that much he could tell, and all he could see was a blinding and colourful light before him, blocking the sands of the desert, blocking the night sky...

And suddenly, it was as though he was in two places at once, body and soul both. In his body he could feel his hair grow shorter, body more slim than muscled as a resulting illusion of added height came into being. The cloak on his back was no longer made of flames, merely black and red and made of leather. He was wearing a pair of boots, a vest, pants even, and rather than a staff in his hands he felt something else beneath his new pair of elbow length gloves. Yet all the same, he wasn't there at all, and he _couldn't_ feel any of this. He was simply 'light', some sort of 'spirit' hovering at the side, glowing as he stared toward his 'two halves'... "_This... This is..._"

The spirit form of himself seemed to look over his glowing form in confusion as the body examined his hands in silence. Sprouting from the opposite foot as he did his friend seemed to do the same, looking over one hand as those around them seemed to become aware only of the body before them. "_...Jonouchi,_" the voice of the other Yugi called out, a shadowy, black counterpart to the boy staring at him from the other side of the body. "_What-_"

"_Oh well isn't THIS lovely,_" the ghost in his mind muttered, likely rolling his eyes as his words echoed into Katsuya's thoughts. "_It's a double connection!_"

"_Dou- Jonouchi,_" the other Yugi protested with a slight and shocked scowl as the body shook itself out,_ "Who is this?_"

"_Uhhh..."_ He coughed, turning away somewhat awkwardly as he laughed. "_Hahaha... I'll... Erm, I'll explain later Yugi, I-_"

"_Jonouchi-kun,_" the familiar voice that was the 'real' Yugi asked, form unseen despite his obvious presence._ "Is that you? ...Wait, how are we connected,_" he hurriedly added, partner crossing his arms as he gave his answer.

"_We fused our deckmasters aibou._"

"_Fused- But how does that even work,_" the boy muttered, "_I mean, if you're here, then-"_

"_I don't know about you three,_" the drawling voice of the 'stowaway spirit' muttered,_ "But I think we should pay attention to THAT..._"

The body looked up with those words, eyes widening as their still solidifying form came to meet with a combined blast of fire, water, mire and wind. Shadows as well they noted, the darkness seeming to serve as a 'center pillar' to the attacks. But that didn't seem to worry them at all they realized, wills and thoughts momentarily merging as they were forced to act. Instead they narrowed their eyes, casting individuality to the side for cooperation as they pushed back into an almost flight-like leap backwards, flipping back in the air to land on their feet a fair distance away on the sand. "**Hn! Nice to see you're patient enough to wait for the end of the turn,**" they growled, the dragon ahead choking on their own words as the teen held his weapons ready. "**Nervous are we?**"

"_**W-Wh-What... You two... You actually managed to move..!**" _Did they really expect anything less?

"Y-YUGI! JONOUCHI!" The body turned to look at the crowd at the side, giving a slight saluting wave despite the severe and blank look across their face. The others seemed to freeze at the gesture, nonetheless continuing with their cheers despite it. "Ah... You guys... Are you alright," Anzu asked with a swallow, stepping back somewhat under the combined red-eyed stare of her two friends. "Do you feel okay..?"

"**Jus' fine,**" they said with a nod, an odd mix of tones, voices and accents both coming through their voice rather than a doubled echo as with the big five. "**F'r now though,**" they continued,** "Just sit back... This'll be over in jus' a moment,**" they roared, spinning the 'deer horn knives' in their hands off a pair of chains on their wrists. "**HA! Time t' attack!**"

"_**ATTACK! Gh- You two... Are you OUT OF YOUR MIND,**_" the dragon snarled, the body before it merely charging forward to kick off the ground and throw one of their knives at the beast. "**_You cannot face US! You aren't even a light type monster,_**" it protested with a snarl, body running up the sides of a nearby hill as it gained momentum. Light...

That's right, they weren't light. "_Oii... Yugi, he's got a point,_" Katsuya muttered with a swallow, the knife they'd thrown digging into the yellowed 'earthen' head at the side after the bladed chain and wire wrapped about the base of its neck. "_If we're a weaker power'd dark monster, how 're we s'pposed t' do this?_"

Yugi merely smiled, the shadowed spirit charging forward with their body as it pulled on the chain to swing toward the snarling dragon's body. "_Don't worry,_" he said confidently, the body ducking under blows of wind and mud both as they landed on the monster's back and climbed upward to the shoulders and necks. "_There's a plan here... We'll make it through..._" A plan... Well...

If he said so. He certainly felt just as confident as his friend once those words came, which was interesting given the paranoia he had moments before... "_HN! Interesting doesn't even cut it Chabar! Your minds are merged,_" the ghost snarled, Katsuya frowning as he pondered the words.

"_Merged..?_"

"_...Chabar,_" the other Yugi asked as well, their body momentarily hiding behind the mire head as flames and water came from the earthen target's 'back up' force, "_What is..._"

"_Hn! Look it up,_" the ghost spat, Katsuya sighing in response as he was pulled back to the conversation.

"_Jus' ignore 'm,_" the blond muttered, shaking his head._ "He gets pretty testy..._"

His friend seemed to pause, nodding slowly as he stared to his friend. "..._I... I see... AH- ...Gh!_" With a jolt they were back in the body, kicking off from the mire head with knives in hand as a blast of flames seared the monster's neck with burns. Inflamed cuts oozed with mud and grime, and as they pulled at the chain that had looped its neck the acidic sludge continued to pour from the wound, catching fire with twisted ease whilst the other dragon's watery head served only to further irritate the slice.

"_**GHH... GHHAAAAACK... THIS...**_" The earthen head gave strangled roars, their friend's own mouth and throat voicing the cries as his body seemed to suffocate on mere air. "_**THIS... THIS ISN'T...**_"

The duo's body smirked as it dodged a physical blow from the metal head on the side, flipping back onto the ravaged neck before pulling his chains taught and free. Blades cut completely through the earth-based beast, and as it fell they jumped off the severed neck with ease. "**HEH! You forget,**" they shouted clearly,** "The reason you need light to fight the Dragon is because that's the only element not making up the beast... Which means,**" they continued, chains wrapping about the watery head's open mouth to take control of it in an almost 'reign-like' manner, "**That as long as I turn your other heads against themselves, I can take you out even before I get that 'light monster! NOW WATCH,**" the body roared, pulling tight on the chains and forcing the dragon's open mouth to blast toward the flaming one on their side, "**AS YOU DESTROY YOURSELVES!**"

"Wh- H-HAHA! ALRIGHT-ARU," Honda barked from the side, hopping on the sand with intermittent yelps. "GOOD THINKING!"

"Hah! If you keep that up there'll only be one head to deal with," Shizuka continued, Otogi drawing his knives with a nod.

"And if we help out..."

Water hosed the fire head down with ease, and with a mighty snap the dragon's maw was dislocated and left hanging limp on useless muscles. One of the chains were retracted, blade pulled from deep inside the water-dragon's now bleeding throat... And as the metal neck snapped forward in an attempt to bite at the teen the second was embedded in its steel jaw, the body falling back to the ground to pull both chains taught as the two captured heads stiffened and struggled in the teen's oddly tight grip. "_**GH- T-This... What are you doing,**_" the dragon muttered in shock, only three of the five voices remaining for the moment. "**_This is... What are you DOING?_**"

It was obvious wasn't it? But first. "**Don't interfere with this battle,**" they said flatly, looking toward their friends in the corner of their eye as they froze.

"Wh- _DON'T_ help," Otogi shouted, nonetheless remaining in his hands regardless. "But you don't have a light type monster on hand," he protested, "You'll kill yourselves-"

"**We have it covered,**" they responded, slight confusion and doubt coming from the ghost in Katsuya's mind before instantly being squashed by the sensation of complete assurance from his partner. "**Don't worry about us... If anything,**" they snarled, pulling tight at the chains as the dragons gave out an agonized roar, "**Hope that Honda's body is alright after this!**"

"My bo- AHH! WHAT DO YOU MEAN-ARU!"

There was no answer as the two dragon's heads were snapped from the body, the only thing attaching them now being scales of metal and shagreen both while the dragon was forced to its stomach. Gripping the chains tight in their hands the body ran forward to hop onto the monster, the necks before it forming a crossed bridge of sorts as they jumped to the middle point. With one step the knives were removed from the necks, chains retracting as they shredded the insides of the now defeated heads. With a second they leaped off the mid-point of the dragon's necks, eyes narrowed in determination as they looked forward at the final target. "**Daimon,**" they announced, the shadowed head reeling back to charge a blast of the very element creating it, "**This is it!**"

"_**HN! I couldn't agree more... But it certainly isn't MY end! NYCTO,**_" he roared, the black flames blasting forward to set the body on fire as it fruitlessly brought its arms up in a block, "**_Let the 'night' take you to hell itself!_**"

Gh... This was it... "_Yer plan... I really hope it works,_" he shouted with a grimace, the body blasted back into an arc as it seemed to almost flip backward in the air in a ball of black and violet flames. "_Cause if it doesn'..._" And if they died... "_GH... Nghh..._"

"**GHHAAAAAAAAAAHHH!**"

"_Just hold on,"_ his friend called out through the pain of the flames, body's screams rising in volume before fading out as they fell through the air. "_It'll only last a moment... Hold on, this is it..!_" This was it... This... This was...

Darkness met his vision, and his feeling vanished. Endless darkness in his sight and around his body, and for a moment he was himself again. He was standing in nothing but an empty black space, unable to see even himself amid the blankness. And then, the sensation of duality again returned... And as he looked over his body, the form landing to its feet in a burst of light and sand on the field, his eyes briefly widened. "_Ah... AHH! I'm short,_" he wailed, spirit-form gripping his head as the body curiously looked himself over.

Yugi frowned somewhat, the body still largely hidden from view by the sand and flames scattered from the attack. "_HN! Really- Just because I haven't reached five feet yet..._"

"_Are you even going to,_" snorted the 'stowaway ghost', both Yugi's growling in response.

"_That- Hey! How do you even know how tall we are,_" the original Yugi snarled, his other seeming to tense and nod in response.

"_AH- That's right,_" he shouted, eyes narrowed,_ "Just who exactly are you!_"

"_Errr... Focus on th' battle,_" Katsuya offered awkwardly, the others 'turning' despite two of the three not truly being present.

A small bit of silence resulted, before the other Yugi grit his teeth and nodded. "_Right... Let's go,_" he muttered, before the body was again within their control and smirking wickedly.

"**Time to 'duel'...**"

The smoke and sands cleared as the crowd stared, jaws dropping as the impossible met their vision. Katsuya was right; the body _was_ shorter now, about Yugi's own height rather than the 5'8'' of his friend. His hair, however, was still his own length; an interesting effect actually, given its attempts to mimic that of Yugi's usually shorter and gravity defiant style, not to mention the tan and eyes that came from neither form. That however wasn't the point, and as he gripped the flat of the gold, saw-blade like disk they'd received in one hand the competitive smirk on his face grew even further. "_**Im... IMPOSSIBLE,**_" Daimon roared, the dragon rearing back in shock as its single shadowed head stared at the boy. "**_HOW! You should have died!_**"

Chuckling came through the air, eyes shining with the light so recognized from that of the 'light' Yugi and Katsuya both. "**Hehehe... Yea... In fact, we _did_ die,**" they shouted up with a grin, shrugging somewhat as they continued to laugh. "**But when the Dark Flare Knight is destroyed,**" they continued seriously, "**Two things happen; one, no damage is taken from the battle... And two,**" they announced, pulling the discus back and charging toward the monster with a triumphant shout, "**The Mirage Knight is summoned in its place!**"

"_**But... But even as a Light monster you're still less powerful,**_" the monster snarled desperately, two limp and severed necks dragging uselessly as it backed away. Well...

"**You would think,**" the boy shouted loudly, jumping forward to push off of the very set card the dragon had placed in a sheet of glass before him, "**But you're wrong..! Because We have our own ability,**" they chorused, the blade in their hand glowing with power as they pulled it back, "**And when we attack, we gain the power of our opponent! SO DAIMON,**" they roared, throwing the weapon forward in a flash of light as the body itself was thrown back in the force. "**HERE'S TO THE END! FROM DARK TO LIGHT... _HELIOS_!**"

The attack from the blade was blinding, just as its namesake the 'sun'. In a single cut the dragon was split in two, shadows filling the air as their body landed and skidded back on the ground, torrents of sand and air blowing past them as the monster screamed and as glass shattered. An odd feeling came over him... Splitting, separating...

And as the body cut in two, misting into two halves, each of the boys found themselves taking a rasping and shocked breath in reaction to the sudden return of their own forms and functioning selves. "Hhaaahh! Hah... Ah... Hah... T... T-Tha'..." Katsuya choked, turning to the side as Yugi looked toward him with a similar expression.

"That feeling," he muttered, looking over his hand and staring at the blond. "...I..."

The rest of their words were left unsaid, a single look being all that was needed in light of the strange sensation on the air. The feeling of intense unity and cooperation beyond natural human means... The complete 'fusion', the joint movements their minds had taken without a second thought... The two looked forward, still breathing raggedly as the light slowly cleared. Any second now, he told himself, waiting for it to fade to black. Any moment, and the duel would...

"Oh _HELL_ no," Katsuya roared, a sudden flash of a card's information coming to mind as the earlier shattered trap was activated.

"Deal with the Dark Ruler," his partner hissed, tensing and drawing back as cackling came over the air around them.

"_**Hnhnhnhnhn... We aren't through just yet,**_" a maddening mixture of tones hissed, single body walking forward as they paled. It was Honda's body, that was true... But all the same it wasn't, and simply couldn't in any way have been their friend. Skin had closed tight over the body, tinged blue with necrosis as smoke and ash seeped from his mouth. Hair had taken a greyed tone and mixed with the colours of poison, and from empty sockets came a shadowed and inhuman glow as the body slumped and walked forward. '_Oh my god,_' others behind them were whispering. '_Oh my god he looks DEAD!_' '_I... Is that... My body,'_ Honda was muttering with a whine, the opponents to the approaching being growing white with dread as a black cloak flapped almost like wings on the body's back. No... Far worse... "_**As you can see,**_" the teen rasped,**_ "I activated my trap... When a level eight or higher monster on my side of the field is destroyed,_**" the Big 5 explained with a chuckle, "_**I can summon forth the Berserk Dragon in its place...**_"

Berserk dragon... Katsuya grit his teeth, watching as the sand beneath the teen's feet seemed to blacken and harden into cold rock with each step. The very air around their opponent smelled dead, reeked of decay... And as the monstrous form of their 'friend' began to charge a blast of flames it his mouth, head snapping back to take aim he could hear Yugi's panicked shout from the side. '_I cast the spell Magical Hats,_' he announced, complete and utter darkness settling in over the blond as the hats filled the field, Katsuya swallowing in unease while the boy continued. '_In addition,_' he was saying, '_I pay 1000 lifepoints to spread its effects to my partner! End turn!_' Eight hats... They were covered with eight hats, leaving only a 2 in 8 shot of hitting them. To his sides he could see six lights to correspond with those hats, along with the stiff and battle ready form of his friend and yet...

"_**Hnhnhnhnhn... Then, let us share with you OUR ability,**_" their opponent sneered, a shudder passing through the air as one of the hats was destroyed and the light furthest from the boys extinguished. "**_Because while you hide in a series of four 'hats'... We can attack FOUR TIMES PER TURN!_**" _FOUR!_ Oh hell...

"You're fucking _kidding me_," he hissed, falling back in his hat as angry protests sounded from behind, a rush of flames passing over the second hat in Yugi's row. This... If they could attack all four hats at once... '_There's a 100% chance someone will die,_' he could hear someone shout, Katsuya's own eyes wide as he attempted to think of a plan. '_It's hopeless..! Hopeless..!_' This...

No it wasn't. "_...You're going to do something stupid aren't you,_" the ghost in his mind grumbled, a nervous smirk coming over Katsuya's face. Heh...

He knew him! "It ain't 100 percent if I do this righ'," he 'asked', before the expression fell. And just how _was _he going to do this he asked himself, the sounds of another hat's destruction coming through the air. He knew he had to do something but how... _How... _ The third hat had been destroyed... And with wide eyes he swallowed, turning toward where his friend stood as the next blast was fired. No other choice..! "Act'vate Silver Dollar," he shouted, jumping through the hat as the trap was formed in reaction to his next words, "An' take th' attack!"

Suddenly, he could hear clearly again. "_**HAT NUMBER FOUR,**_" the big 5 were snarling, the body's mouth not moving with his words.**_ "DIE, MUTOU YUGI!_**"

He could feel everything again... And yet the moment he escaped the hat, his vision was filled with flames. His body felt weightless, formless, and it seemed his legs were only half there as the final hat was destroyed. And on the field the flames in his own vision filled Yugi's as well... But for completely different reasons as the smoke cleared in his wake to reveal the flaming spectre shielding him. "J... Jonouchi," he whispered, his friend saying nothing as he absorbed the Berserker's flames. "You..."

"Jonouchi," the others whispered from the side, staring in shock as flames evaporated from his form and into the air.

"Nihan..."

"J-Jonouchi..."

He realized only then that he hadn't opened his eyes really. There were shouts... "_**Impossible... IT'S IMPOSSIBLE, HOW!**_**" **For a moment, he didn't answer, focusing on the mere act of blinking as he found himself staring upward. As he merely looked down to stare over himself, hovering in the air in flames and nothing but flames as his legs melted out of sight. Fire... He was, quite literally, a giant _flame_, a burning figure and shade hovering before his friends like some great glowing wall. Nothing but fire...

Well- he supposed that would make this easier then. The blond smirked, fires whirling around his friend as he rose somewhat in the air with crossed arms. "_Hehehehehe... Miss th' trap I activated_," he 'asked' with a smirk, the almost mummified being before them gritting their yellowed and sharpened dragons teeth as they scowled. "'_Silver Dollar'! Negates an attack against any monsters weaker th'n 1000 points... An' thanks t' earlier,_" he continued, waving a flamed staff with his hand as he explained, "_Tha' works f'r me too... ...Yugi,_" the blond added with a wink, looking down with a two fingered salute as the boy stared. "_We're ev'n now, got it? Hehehehe..._"

"J-Jonouchi... I..." Come on... So he was a giant glowing ghost, this wouldn't be too bad right?

"_**Gh- You little... GH- Kach!**_" the body before them shuddered, gripping their stomach as blood spurted from their mouth. "**_Gh... Hah... Hah..._**"

The others turned forward again, eyebrows raising in disgusted surprise. "H-Hey... What's going on with my body-aru?"

"You mean more than that," Ren asked bluntly, the serpent's eyes wide as his partner stared.

"Well considering they haven't done anything... How could that be happening..?"

The boys on the field stared, Yugi narrowing his eyes. "This... What's going on," he asked them, the body looking up with eye-less, glowing sockets and growling in agitation.

"_**Tch... Our time is limited,**_" they spat, slowly pulling themselves back up to a slouched fighting stance as they walked. "**_Hahn... Each turn... Our attack diminishes by 500 points... Hnnngh..._**" It went down...

So then, from the thirty-five hundred they had... A grin slowly appeared on Katsuya's face, the blond chuckling as the flames he was made of leaped in anticipation. "_Oooh... So you only have 3000 attack now nyh..? Hehehehe... HnhnHEHEHE... Yugi_," he shouted, looking down as the boy returned the stare, his own expression quite blank compared to his partner's wicked grin. "_Y' think you c'n handle th's next plan 'f mine?_"

His friend narrowed his eyes somewhat at that, as though attempting to guess at what the blond was talking about. Within just a moment however his eyes widened in realization, and as he nodded Katsuya's leg-less form seemed to encompass the air above his friend in a blanket of flames. "I'm ready, Jonouchi," he said clearly, the blond nodding as he held his arms out. "Go for it!"

"_Alrigh' then! ACT'VATE TH' SPELL KNIGHT'S TITLE,_" he announced, the final panel of glass on the side shattering as the boy before it was coated in a blinding light of sorts. "_TURNIN' TH' DARK MAGICIAN... IN'T TH' DARK MAGICIAN KNIGHT! YUGI,_" he roared, fires melting into the boy's shadow as his friends armor altered and shifted into the robes of the monk class, "_I'M GIVIN' Y' ALL MY POWER NOW... IT'S UP T' YOU!_"

"Thank you," the boy said in response, his opponent frozen in the presence of the sudden upgrade. "Jonouchi," he continued, split black cloak flapping in the wind as he gripped the sharpened disks he received in place of his boomerang. "I couldn't have done this without you! NOW THEN!" He charged, the teen before them hurriedly bringing up a pair of dusted revolvers in defense as Yugi struck with the first blade, "WE _WIN! **RUNIC STRIKE,**_" he roared, bringing his second blade down onto the opponent's pistols to break through both them and the body holding them. The body stumbled backward under the blow as the blade severed his throat and cut at his chest, ragged coughs filling the air. The deckmaster began to fade... The body repaired itself and healed, and as it fell to its knees Yugi and the flaming form of his friend watched from just a few feet or so away. The sky had cleared, and once again there was a dull sun shining above them... But even with that they were left in a barren wasteland, a destroyed ruin with no proof of their existence save their friends and the ruined truck at the side. "...'Big 5'," Yugi snarled, eyes narrowed as his own outfit reverted to that of the original 'ranger' he'd picked. "We won... Now, return the body," he demanded, shouts of elation and demand both echoing behind them as the others ran over.

"RrrrrrraOUR! That's right aru," Honda yelped, skidding to a slight stop at the boy's side. "Fork it over!"

"_There's no arguin' now_," the blond above them all added with a sneer, arms crossed from his position in mid-air as he continued to flame.

For a moment the body merely sat there, slumped on his knees in what looked to be shame. In an instant however black eyes looked up, the possessed teen stepping back to spit at the ground before their feet. "The day we give up this body," they sneered, shadow stretching and splitting into five as the body took a fighting stance, "Will be a cold day in HELL! _**HRAAAAAHHH!**_"

As the shadows charged Kastuya grit his teeth, darting forward with a snarl. He'd need legs for this, he told himself, cutting the flaming staff through the darkness with a shout before charging the body. Fires would do nothing, he needed a body. And in a split second that demand was answered, a swift round house delivering a solid blow to Honda's human face as he re-materialized from the flames to land on the ground. "HN! Bastards... Y' jus' can't stay down can y'," he growled, the teen that had been sent back merely wiping a bit of blood from his jaw as he snarled.

"Gh... You'd be surprised, the determination of a dead man," they spat, only for their face to drain of colour.

"No... I don't think they _would_," an additional voice muttered, the crowd below freezing as Noa's voice echoed through the air. Noa... He wasn't anywhere to be seen and yet they knew he was there, somehow, watching... "How _sad_," the boy sneered, the Big 5 looking over 'their' body in horror as it suddenly began to crumble to dust before their very eyes. "After all these chances you _still_ turn your backs... I'm done with you," he spat, the body giving slight and panicked screams as the dust in its throat prevented it from increasing in volume to a wail of terror. "_Leave here..._"

"Hah... H-Haaah... _No,_" they whispered, shaking their head as they fell to their knees, legs nothing but mounds of dust and sand as their palms collapsed on themselves with their eyes. "No... _N-_" With a final terrified cry the body crumbled forward, nothing but a pile of whitish sand remaining in its place before the horrified crowd. They were gone... Gone...

"They... He took the body," Anzu whispered, shaking her head as still wide eyes looked at the field. "We won, but they..."

"Gh... Damn it...! Even when we win we don' win," Katsuya cursed, kicking at the sand with a scowl as he turned back.

"Rouuu-rrrrrrrn... N-Not fair-aru... Am I seriously going to be stuck here," Honda whined, before giving a surprised bark as Shizuka picked him up from behind.

"Don't worry Honda-han," she said with a sad smile, scratching behind the puppy's ear as he 'melted' somewhat. "We'll definitely get it back... Right," she added, the puppy seeming to give a comforted growl in her arms as the group nodded.

"Definitely," Otogi said with a determined stare, looking toward the now cracked and 'cliff' ridden road. "As it is," he continued with a swallow, "There's only one way to go now..."

"After Kaiba," Ren muttered, the others swallowing as they stared.

"Right..." Yugi again switched places with his opposite half, hair neatening out to a slight extent as the boy sheathed his blade and looked forward. "In that case," he continued, running over to the truck at the side to attempt to set it right, "Let's not waste time..!"

"Good plan," his friend responded, running forward with his staff in hand. "An' while we're at it, le's find th' creep who got 's in th's mess!"

* * *

The 'creep' as it were, would not likely be found by those looking for him despite all wishes at the moment, regardless of how far the others travelled and regardless of how detailed the map on their current transport was. His location after all, was beyond even the limits of 'out of range', not even truly existing within the realm of the virtual world. He was simply in another area...

As was that of the boy beside him, who was standing at that moment in mostly white clothing in contrast to the black garb he'd worn prior. Mokuba's eyes felt heavy, in all honesty. It felt almost as though he were desperately fighting off sleep, as though he were wandering half-awake in a crazed dream. But this wasn't a dream either he told himself whenever that thought should occur. It was real, very real, and for now, it would be best to watch as his big brother Noa berated his employees.

If they could even be called that. Painful memories were tied to these people, memories that in his desire to forget them Noa had done just that. All he saw of the five before him was a haze... And a man with white hair, with an eye of gold. There was no more pain in his memories save a slight burn that told him not to dig further, and it was that slight burn that kept him from touching the very things he'd asked to be locked away. "Noa-sama," the men were rasping, on their knees from the fall they'd collapsed to in the darkness. "Noa-sama," they pleaded, "We-"

"Hnnnn... How pathetic these losers are, are they not," Noa asked, Mokuba nodding in agreement. He wasn't sure why of course, but doubtless that anyone who cringed on the ground like this matched his brother's description. The nod was more than enough for his brother as well, and the light haired boy turned back to his victims with a cruel smirk as they cowered at his feet. "Really... Scum like this doesn't even deserve to live..."

The men before them paled, drawing back with wide eyes in the face of their 'disappointed' employer. "H-Hahh... N-Noa-sama," Oshita cried, the old man shaking his head. "Please! We beg you, grant us one more chance! Just one more!"

"One more? You've _wasted_ your chances," the boy snarled, silencing the men with the wave of a hand as they clamped their mouth shut. "Did you honestly think you could escape? That you would even _WIN_," he laughed, the ones before him paling in realization with those words. "NOTHING is real here," he sneered, turning to leave with his brother as a menacing grin came on his face. "Not even my _words_ to _you_..."

"Not... Noa... NOA," the men roared, charging forward, realizing only now how much they'd been toyed with. "YOU PATHETIC LITTLE BRAT-" Sounds cut short before vanishing into a mist and leaving nothing behind, the men abruptly turning into naught but echoes on the air as they were reduced to the data they had arrived as.

"Hn! Kisara and Seraph can deal with you five," Noa muttered, a silent breeze seeming to pass through the realm in response. "I'm sure they'll find a way to efficiently scatter those pesky 'permanent files' of yourselves that remain. For now... We have a show to watch, don't we," he said cheerfully, turning to Mokuba as the boy frowned. Something was bugging him... 'Little', they'd said.

The men had said... 'Little' when talking about his 'big' brother. "...Niichan," he said almost blandly, his brother's smile faltering as the boy's eyes drifted downward somewhat. "You're my 'big brother', right," he asked, the smile hurriedly replaced.

"Of course..! Of course I am," Noa said quickly, "How could you ask such a thing?"

How could he? That was a good question... But as Noa placed two hands on his shoulders, before moving to his side to guide him away, he remembered why, even as the burn in his mind re-appeared. "...Niichan... If you're my big brother," he asked quietly...

* * *

"..._Then why am I taller than you_?"

Noa grew pale when he heard those words, smile dropping in what was dully recognized as fear. Taller... Mokuba was taller than him by a full two inches, how had he possibly missed that the boy asked himself with a swallow, attempting to clear the data running in his mind. Well... He hadn't even missed it he reminded himself, he'd simply worked around it, worked around everything that made Mokuba the brother he was, to preserve as much as possible...

He was paying for it now. And badly at that. Taller... He couldn't alter this boy's memories, no matter how easy it was to do, it would ruin everything otherwise! Yet looking into the minds of those in the realm, and the mind of the one before him, he sought to find a solution. Something, anything...

And then it struck him. He... He was only short because of the body he held, because of the 'age' he appeared to be. The form that he had held since his death, since his funeral, down to his 'last clothes' he'd been buried in. The white suit that he'd refused to trade for a 'kimono' after that day. Why though... Why did he bother with such a thing, with such an attachment to his body? He hadn't even done it for humanity's sake, otherwise he'd have aged. So then was it in a stubborn will to live, or was it in a frightened attempt to hold on.

Well, none of that really mattered right, so why fight age now? He was supposed to be an adult now, 21 going on 22, able to drink, live on his own, drive... Anything he wanted, and no one could argue. He wasn't a 'boy'. He was a young man, and with all his knowledge why not accept that. Yes... As these thoughts came to mind he smirked, calculations running through his mind, through his former body's genetic code, through timing and growth... And as he did this his body began to shift, changing from out of his 'brother's sight. Clothes became more adult like to match a growing body, neatly combed hair just slightly changing in style as he came to a full two feet beyond his former height. Facial features sharpened... Muscles toned, eyes narrowed to fit the face, and as Mokuba looked back the now young man leaned over to whisper comfortably in the boy's ear, a hand on his 'brother's shoulder. "Now Mokuba," he said quietly, the boy staring in silence as the seemingly familiar voice continued. "Since when was I shorter than you," he asked carefully.

"Ah..." The boy stared, narrowing his eyes. "I... But you..."

"I've always looked like _this_," he 'reminded' the boy, slowly taking his hand in his own with a smile. "Remember..? _Always_..."

Silence came over the boy, and slowly Mokuba nodded with a slight smile. "Right... Always," he repeated, his 'brother' standing up to lead him away.

"Good... Now, shall we go see your sister," he asked, the boy at his side freezing.

"...Sister..?" Noa held silent for a moment, simply continuing to guide his 'brother' through the dark of a subway station as Mokuba looked up in confusion. "...I don't have a sister, niichan. You're mistaken..."

"Yes... Of course I am," he chuckled, shaking his head. "I was thinking of our cousin; he looks enough like a girl doesn't he," the man continued, his 'brother' nodding in agreement despite not knowing of the 'cousin' Noa spoke of. "Yes..." No sisters... And as the pair appeared in the car of a train, invisible to all those that could possibly reach that location, Noa smirked wickedly.

'_I __WIN__..._'

* * *

**AN: **Well _that's_ not a happy ending Usagi! The battle was supposed to end and have everyone cheer, not Noa be a creeper!

Seriously though, Adult!Noa's pretty damn hot. *hehehehehe*

Back to more serious things, there's no reference for him this chapter; I had three pictures to colour you know! I _might_ have one next chapter though... In all honesty, I have a few to do this, as the next duel is the longest in the _series_ counting the fact that the same life-point streams are used the entire time. By 'longest' of course, I mean in terms of episode count. To put it in perspective, the 'Ceremonial Battle', which is pretty much the most important duel in the series, takes four episodes counting all the stuff that happens around it. ('Stuff' not including the Millennium World of course)

From start to finish, Noa's match is three for Kaiba, and THREE MORE for Yugi. His battle takes **SIX EPISODES**. Seriously WHAT.

Noa's just a game breaker like that I suppose... Hell, he was the first to hit 10,000 lifepoints too! Of course, you never know about the length of the match; duels pass quickly here, _especially_ in fight-form, as fight scenes happen... Well, they happen fast, just look above. I _extended_ some of those scenes. And can you _imagine_ the length if I hadn't had the others fighting as well? Their scenes take up just under half the chapter!

In fact, the next chapter doesn't even have any dueling; it's completely meant to build into the start of Noa VS Kaiba, and you _know_ that fight isn't going to cram into one chapter. I can promise you that NoaVSKaiba is in one chapter while VSYugi is in another though.

In other news, a recent review from later chapters mentioned the song 'Happy Honey Day (By Luka)'... Playing _right during the Valentines day chapter_. For those who don't know, while the song would quite obviously _not_ describe anything Seto said out loud/revealed through actions, the song is about a woman who can't bring herself to properly thank someone she likes... So she makes him a valentines chocolate.

Yea. I see you grinning there.

There was another song (Remote Control; Len and Rin) but that has little to do with Valentines business really. (A very addictive song though.)

Now, as mentioned, there's some art for you below... And all coloured too! So enjoy it while it lasts!

As for everything else...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Oh lord yes Iona! And it gets worse! …WHY AM I SUCH A PRICK IONA? WHYYYYYY…

You're quite right on the implications, but much like everything else people want to ask him, it'll be momentarily forgotten in the excitement… And then solved through a method that would be far less than preferable. (And then solved _again_ in the best 'punishment' from Mokuba _ever_.)

Yea. Noa's mom. Um. Not much I can say myself… A part of me wonders if it's a bad thing that the first thing that came to mind for how to deal with the woman was 'Let's have her _shoot herself_.' Ehhhhh… Of course, this all happened after his death; Noa's rebuilt the scene quite accurately though, thanks to a combination of access to really old security logs, his father's phone, and a nasty amount of skill in calculation.

If he wasn't a jerk, he'd make a damn good criminal investigator you know. Glad you like that I mentioned the wife though; I always wondered where she went…

And hahaha! At least you aren't sympathizing with Ota, like I am. Seriously; I'm still going 'AHHHH I KILLED A DA- Wait, I _made_ him a dad…'… Constantly… In my head. Oh well.

As for what happens next, we'll just have to wait and see! I'll be seeing you next chater, and until then, enjoy!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that wants it to stop snowing without warning. And then melting away before work would have started. AFTER. IT WAS. CANCELLED. (-cough-)

* * *

'Ryuuseigun' means 'Meteoric Swarm'. Given the load of attacks and things in this chapter (Not to mention Shizuka's first double cast...), it suits this chapter rather well I would think.

It's also the name of a mash-up song on Nico Nico, but _shhhhhhhh_.

* * *

In the original, there was lots of obvious exposition and comments on '_wait, Legendary Fisherman needs a sacrifice!_' yadda yadda yadda.

However, in this case, all that info is in their heads. So they already know that Umi lowers the level of all water monsters, allowing Legendary Fisherman an easy summon to the field. It also means that when Yugi says 'there's one way', Jonouchi already knows he means to fuse the deckmasters... So rather than hesitation in the face of doubt, it's hesitation in the face of _fear_.

Because seriously, no one _knew_ what would happen when they fused!

* * *

Astrape is greek for Lightening; I used it here because not only were Thunder and Lightning taken for Anzu's other attacks, but because this is the word that spawned the term for the phobia of lightening; Astraphobia.

And of course, in 'Pokemon' terms, the penguin (Water and flying hehehe) is not enjoying that.

* * *

'Itadakimasu' (The 'u' isn't normally pronounced though) is a common phrase used before eating a meal. Specifically, a meal someone went out of their way to cook for you; you're not going to see too many people doing this at most restaurants, particularly not fast food ones, or booths! It means, quite literally, 'I will receive', and the only reason Ren is using it is because both he and Anzu are speaking at once; in other words, while Ren 'controls' (He's not really controlling so much as putting the woman's emotions on high) the emotional reaction to things, Anzu is picking the words.

Granted, she picks the words based on how she feels, which is Ren's fault, BUUUUUUT...

* * *

And yes Anzu just flipped out; she's got Malik to help of course, but lets just say that Penguin tried a few too many things with the whip.

EEEEEEEEEEEEhhhhh… Either way, VERY disconcerting, and she's about to get cornered and confused about it...

Of course, Shizuka's not actually going to say much on the matter, Honda's already been shouting about this, and Otogi's more likely to be shrugged off with that in mind _but hey_.

* * *

'Turma' is from one of Tolkein's Elvish languages. Specifically, it's Quenderin for 'Shield'.

And yes I'm a nerd. Now hush.

* * *

How did Jonouchi miss Volstgalph's effect if these things are linked to his head? Well, he'd have caught it ordinarily, but due to the speed of this duel, Yugi and Jou are effectively taking their turns _at the same time_…

So while Yugi was summoning, he was a little busy being in pain, shortly after which he was _very _busy with running from the Machine King.

* * *

In the anime, something… Strange happened. See, certain monsters started out in the series without effects. So for the first bit, Jonouchi's Panther Warrior could attack whenever.

And then it was suddenly given an effect after being made a real card; now, you need to tribute a monster to attack with it. ...And Jonouchi mentioned that in this episode. UM. Wasn't he attacking with it perfectly fine about twenty episodes ago!

* * *

Originally, there was obviously lots of dialogue from the peanut gallery… But they're a _liiiiiittle_ busy right now.

Of course, thanks to how I set this up, there's no way they're missing the _AWESOME_ that is the fight against the Five God Dragon... (Though since that was ONE MOVE, there's still not much to say. We'll pretend that they're IN AWE.)

* * *

The dust bowl, or the 'dirty thirties' was _not_ a happy time for the prairies. Needless to say. You can probably guess, but it involved the depression era, a drought, and lots of sand storms.

* * *

Is it just me, or did a bunch of rules just change? I'm pretty sure Lily's attack bonus doesn't transfer to the next person's turn after all...

* * *

Some of you may wonder why 'light' is in quotes for Black Burning. That's because 'black' is the _absence_ of light. So it's not technically light. WHOOPS.

LEEEEEEGIONNNN. That was a horde of demons in the bible that possessed one man… (And were banished to a horde of pigs) He's fairly well known now for pretty much any horde of possessors now, hence '_We are Legion for we are MANY_'… In pretty much every other demon story these days.

Of course, originally it was Daimon they were fighting… But this makes more sense somehow.

* * *

'Shagreen' is 'shark skin', and though it applies to a few other types of un-tanned skin, it still specifically refers to shark skin leather. …This is what the water head is covered with, at least in my head.

* * *

Hey this is embarrassing! So when I go to the YGO Wiki, the heights are listed in centimetres; because really, most of the world uses metric _anyways_. However, I'm still accustomed to measuring height in feet… And for a while, when hovering over things like centimetre heights, the mouse would reveal what it was in feet, and I would happily skip away with that.

BUT IT WAS WRONG.

So, here's another chart!

Jonouchi - 178cm - 5'8'' 3/4… Close to nine inches actually, but not as much as Honda.

Honda - 180cm - 5'8'' 3/4… But he's REALLY close to 5'9'', to the point he mind as well be.

Bakura - 176cm - 5'7'' 1/2

Anzu - 165cm - 5'2''

Yugi - 153cm - 5'0'' (Note that Fanfic Yugi _isn't quite there yet_.)

Otogi - 179cm - 5'8''' 1/2

Mokuba - 142cm - 4'8''; Technically he's '55.9' inches (So four feet, 7 inches... And 11/12ths of another inch)… But seriously, close enough.

Seto - 186cm - 6'1''… Honestly though, I've been using 6'2'' enough that Fanfic Seto will still be 6'2''.

Malik - 180cm - In other words, he's _exactly Honda's height_.

Ishizu - 167cm - 5'5'' 3/4

Mai - 175cm - 5'8'' and… 3/4 actually. Then again, she's still three centimetres shorter than Jou… And _one_ shorter than Bakura.

* * *

Nycto is Greek for Night… Helios, on the other hand, was the Greek personification of the Sun, and one of Egypt's Ancient Capitals was known to the Greeks as 'Heliopolis'.

* * *

Monk? But it's a _knight_! Yes, but Jonouchi's deckmaster ability works on the basis of warriors and class; as the 'Knight's Title' effectively changes Yugi's class, it makes it one that matches Jou's.

Also, Yugi's wielding a pair of wind and fire wheels right now, and they're both based on the symbol of Isis, which is a sun disk with cow horns. I figured that since she's also known as the protector of the dead, it works out for Yami Yugi there.

As for the other weapons, the Mirage Knight had the equivalent of a GIANT GOLDEN SAWBLADE, whereas the Dark Flare Knight had a pair of 'Deer Horn Knives'... They look kinda like two metal deer antlers connected by a handle.

* * *

AAAAHH! ADULT NOA!

As a matter of fact, he's the _exact legal age of adulthood_ in Japan. Niiice. As for how tall he is, well… He _was _4'6'', which, as mentioned, is two inches shorter than Mokuba. Now?

_SIX FUCKING SIX. _He's taller than Kaiba by FOUR INCHES! This also makes him taller than Siegfried. Though Sieg's height is never officially given, he'll be 6'4''. So he's two inches taller than Kaiba, but really, that's not too much of an issue for anyone.

Well, Jou might have an issue, but whatever.

Where I got this height is actually from experience and question-asking. Germans are taller than Americans/Canadians; in fact, someone at six two would fit in quite well there depending on where you walked around (In certain places, you'll still be a bit tall as a warning...), hence Sieg's own height being just two inches higher… All in all though, don't let written averages fool you or convince you; they could be wrong you know. (Apparently the Netherlands in particular is bad at keeping their height records, hahahaha.)

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

Remove spaces, past links, hey presto, you got a picture!

I need to find a set way to draw Yugi's head. I keep switching between round and... Not round really. I'll be sticking with 'round-ish' I think; it's more childlike, and lets face it, teen-Yugi looks... Child-like. Who knows about adulthood... Maybe he sharpens..? Idunno...

Any ways, enjoy your deckmasters, and I'll have more sketches for you in the next chapter!

Deckmasters: Mirage Knight – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ MirageKnight-1. jpg - Green eyes? Tan! This 'composite' is based on a mix of past lives. See, during Yugioh R, Yami has _GREEN EYES_... And I have no clue why. Then I realized something; true, due to how genetics went around there was a fair chance of blue eyes; but throw in arabic genes and it's... _VERY_ likely that he was one of the rare few to get green eyes. And really who knows; ancient frescos show red-heads sooooo...

Yea.

Deckmasters: Big Five-Berserk Dragon – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ BerserkDragon. jpg - IT'S... ALIIIIIIVEEEE. While I can't say I'm 'elated' (It's not one of those 'omg I've surpassed everything I could hope to achieve' moments), I do like how the slump pose came out. Heheee.

Deckmasters: Dark Magician Knight – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ DMKnight-1. jpg - I don't care how weird Yugi's anatomy is anymore~ I just like how Jou came out~ ...I bet that if I didn't say these things, you wouldn't notice these things. Mrrrr!

Well, with that in mind that concludes the update for this 'week' (Who knows if it'll take a week or not to update...)... I hope you enjoyed it! Coming up next...

Seto hunts down Noa, and everyone else tries to hunt down Seto! ...Seto has much more luck.


	93. Chapter 92

**Bifauxnen**

* * *

The train ride took far longer than it could have, moving from one reach of cyberspace to the next. As the 'creator' of this world after all he could have easily just moved to the correct 'location' in an instant of course, but rather than that they simply sat in the representation of both reality and dreams, in the purely private train car built into the hull of a monorail meant solely for amusement park transport. To the hull of a dragon-shaped train with white steel coating. For the moment, there was nothing to see in the windows beside them, which were likely the only flaws in the snake-like 'dragon's design. They weren't really moving after all, merely under the impression of movement, floating along in darkness... But for the moment they had nowhere to go, or at least they wouldn't until Seto reached 'the' location.

Along with the end of any hopes and comforts she still held. Noa smirked as he leaned back on the couch, Mokuba leaning against him to stare at the television screen before them. "Niichan," the boy was asking, appearing to not really care for whatever it was they were watching for the moment, "Why are we doing this?"

"Hn..? Doing what," he 'asked', despite already knowing just what it was the boy was thinking.

Mokuba shrugged, shaking his head as he watched what appeared to be a young woman in red traversing a ruined land. "Watching this..."

"Because... This woman wants to separate us, and hurt us," he explained smoothly, his 'brother' not once doubting his words. "We need to create a trap for her," the man continued with calming tones, "And make sure she doesn't even come close to succeeding in her goals."

There was no question as to what those goals were, Mokuba merely nodding as he fell silent. "Oh... ...Niichan," he said after a moment, narrowing his eyes and turning to the man beside him as he frowned. "Why does she look like you?"

"I don't know," he said truthfully, shaking his head. He probably never would, given how much research he'd done into a family tree that traced generations back with no connections. That, however, did not matter here. "We may never know," he told Mokuba after a moment. "But you need to be careful," the man added, "As this woman will try everything to take my place, just like she took 'Tousan', understand..? You can't listen to anything she says," Noa continued, further encouraging the seeds of doubt he'd planted long ago. "No matter what she claims to know about the house, about Kuma, or-"

"Or Yuki," Mokuba asked worriedly, his brother hiding a smirk with ease at the mention of an apparently treasured pet.

"Yes... Like Yuki," he whispered, feeding off the memory of the second horse as fear momentarily rose in his 'brother's eyes. "You don't want her to take Yuki either, right?"

A short span of silence again arose, before Mokuba nodded. "...R... Right..." Again the boy fell silent, the screen briefly changing and flashing to an alternate scene as Noa checked in on the others in his realm. "...Niichan," he asked quietly, his brother not turning back.

"Yes..?"

The boy pointed toward the screen, the scene of a moving truck of sorts clearly visible across it. "Who is that," he asked, looking to the blond that was turning from the end of a road to shout at those he'd been transporting seconds before the vehicle had stopped. "...He seems familiar..." Famil-

Noa briefly tensed, before easily calming himself to fix the brief 'slip' in memory Mokuba was developing. He could not let him remember these people he told himself, silently easing in a short 'lie' to appease the curiosity. He simply _could not let that happen_... "You met in passing once," he said calmly, Mokuba seeming to frown as his brother continued. "But you can't trust him either," he warned, narrowing his eyes. "After all... If he finds us," he whispered almost threateningly, "Then _she_ will follow..."

And in the darkness of the train car Mokuba again nodded, completely unwilling to argue with his older 'brother' on the subject of those who would take him away.

* * *

If either of the two Noa had warn against known what sorts of things Mokuba was being told, their moods would quite likely have been far more negative than they already were. As it was, while Seto was somewhere off in the distance walking in silent rage, Katsuya was already less than pleased when their 'map' just about led them off the side of the cliff. The fact was, as the blond found himself slamming on the breaks with a shout, he was fairly certain that the cliff hadn't been there a few seconds prior. "HAAHH! Gh- What th' hell," he shouted, vehicle skidding to a turned stop just a centimetre or so from the edge. "Where th' hell did tha' come from!"

"Where did _what_ come from," came an annoyed shout in the back, Ren momentarily quarantined to a jar they'd found on board. "Someone lift me!"

Though the request was quite ignored the others nonetheless peered over the trailer's edge, drawing back with nervous swallows as they looked down the sheer drop. "A-Ahh... The road is gone," Yugi shouted with a swallow, looking back to the snake as it swallowed from behind the glass.

"G-Gone..!"

"Gh- Oii! You guys," he roared, turning back as he killed the engine on the truck. "What is this? I thought y' said that map would work," he snarled, the others scratching their heads.

The 'guys' in question, Otogi and Shizuka, merely shrugged, each one pulling a face as they stared at the map before them. "We're just as confused as you are," the older of the two said with a frown, crossing his arms as he looked to the table before him. "It was fine until the moment you stopped; once you did that though," he continued almost nervously, gesturing to the screen, "It... Well... Stopped."

"Ah... Stopped," Anzu repeated from the back, having momentarily convinced Yugi to come with to give her 'partner' some air from the jar. "What do you mean 'stopped'?"

Shizuka as well frowned, leaning somewhat on her spear as her brother moved to hop out of the truck and look at the map himself. "The map went completely clear," she said quietly, shaking her head as Katsuya leaned over the side and stared. "Almost as though it never existed to begin with..."

Hn! "Well ain't that jus' convenient," he muttered, a slight whine coming from Honda as the dog moaned.

"Mannnn," he groaned, rubbing his snout as he whined. "And here I thought we were getting somewhere-aru..."

"Tell me about it," Ren added from the side, ignoring the puppy's growl as he realized the serpent was roaming 'free' again. "This is worse than you guy's 'quarantining' me in a jar..." Ah, but he wasn't _in _ a jar now, he just wasn't allowed near Anzu.

"Hn... I still don't see why he's supposed to be '_quarantined_'," his partner added in quotes, crossing her arms as the others turned to look back at the woman. "Is it really that much for the snake to be sitting on my shoulder?"

"Well... Not to put it rudely," Shizuka said with a swallow, both of the 'partners' looking her way as she bowed her head, "You were _scary_ out there..."

"Yea; it was like watching the 'Other-Bakura'-aru! Or even that 'other Malik' that showed up," Honda continued, a few of the others shuddering in response. It would be best not to even _think_ of that...

"Malik... Right," the woman muttered, holding her head as the others stared. This, as well, was becoming a bit of a sore point really; apparently, Anzu couldn't remember what happened on the airship. Which meant she didn't know 'Namu' was Malik (not to say she didn't now)... _Or_ about the increasing number of casualties onboard. "Hahhhh..." Anzu sighed, sitting back down as she frowned. "I just... I don't even remember all of this! So just what does that _mean_," she protested, those before her sharing a look. Well...

"It _means_," Katsuya said with a cough, "That yer probably still bein' manipulated by a psychopath, an' until we get proof y' ain't," he continued, "We gotta take precautions!"

Anzu's jaw dropped, the snake's falling as well. "Are... Are you _SERIOUS,_" she protested. "You're going to cast me out like some black sheep!"

"Oi oi, we didn't say that-aru, just don't touch the snake..."

"Right! It's not about you! And... Well, it's not like we'll be here much longer right," Shizuka added nervously, holding out her hands in defense as the other woman scowled.

A few sighs hit the air as their friend continued to glare at them in betrayal, before Otogi and Shizuka returned to 'fixing' the map and Honda stared at 'Ren'. "...Anzu..." The woman looked up from where she'd again fallen silent, Yugi coming over to sit by her with a sympathetic expression. "I'm sorry... That you can't remember anything, and that we're doing this," the boy began, momentarily turning away to look to the trailer floor. "But you know Anzu, we still trust you," he said confidently, a smile over his face as Ren blinked. "Just make sure you know that- we would never think that you would turn on us, or attack us! Because you're our friend, understand?"

"Ah... Yugi..."

"Hey... He's righ', got that," Katsuya muttered from the front. "Jus' cause I said 'pr-cautions' doesn' mean we don' trust _you_; we jus' don' want y' flippin' out when y' don't realize it."

"Ah..."

"...Hey, what about me," Ren asked from the side, receiving a loud snarl in response.

"GH- You're the problem-ARU!"

"AHHHH, _so harsh_..!"

"Hahhh..." While Yugi found himself uncomfortably stuck between arguments as he went to separate the again bickering snake and hound Katsuya sighed, looking back to the 'map' and smacking it with his staff as he scowled. There was no response, none whatsoever from the device; it merely gleamed dully in the sunlight, giving off painful sparks as those near it jumped back. "Tch! Damn it... We're gettin' nowhere w' this," he muttered, the others biting their lips as the blond continued to huff and growl. "Gotta be some other way t' get there..."

"If there was," his sister added with a frown, "We'd likely have encountered it by now..."

"And it's not like we can just look for another path either," Otogi muttered, gesturing to the chasm before them. "If Kaiba really did just keep going straight, we'd have found him by now, or at least his foot prints. There's no wind here," the teen explained shortly, "So they'd have remained just as long."

Hnnnnggg... Short yelps caught his attention, Katsuya blinking as Yugi struggled to hold a snarling Honda away from Ren.

"ROU! ROUR-ROU-ROU! LET ME AT HIM-ARU! RAOUR! RAOUFF!"

"G-HNG... Honda-kun," the boy wailed, ducking back from the open and frankly nauseating 'mouth' as he clung to the dog's collar. "Can't this wait!"

"ROUR! ROUF AOUF AOUF!" Barking was Yugi's only answer for the moment, the boy wincing with each one as the dog scrambled. "RNNNN... NO! NO IT CAN'T-ARU, I'm gonna SLICE HIM TO SHREDS!"

"Oh come on," the snake snorted from just below the puppy's 'wires', "You've been threatening me all day, and I've still yet to see you act on them... Ah-"

"_REN,_" Anzu hissed, pulling the snake out of Honda's reach as the dog bolted forward, "You _really_ aren't helping right now..."

"Hey, he started it," her partner protested, Katsuya rolling his eyes and leaning over the trailer wall as the bickering continued.

"H-Honda-kun..!"

"ROU-ROU-ROU-ROU-R! Y-RF!" The dog was abruptly grabbed by the tail and pulled from Yugi's grip, the others staring as Katsuya pulled the dog over and upside down to stare at him. "Y-Rourr? J-Jonouchi," Honda protested, receiving a somewhat blank stare as he was pulled out of the trailer. "What are you doing-aru?"

The blond merely poked at the inside of the puppy's 'head', narrowing his eyes as the wires and mouth-panels each drew back and shuddered. "Jus' want y' to know tha' I completely understand this not bein' yer choice," he said plainly, the others raising their eyebrows as the dog went largely limp.

"No- A-rour! What does that even have to do with this," he growled, shaken somewhat until he fell quiet. "Rrnn!"

Katsuya switched his grip, grabbing the dog by the tendrils of its head and spinning him slightly as the dog protested angrily. "Well," he said with a shrug, ignoring the yelps and growls coming as he shook the dog rather violently in circles, "Way I figure," the blond said plainly, "We can' jus' sit here an' wait f'r somethin' t' get us righ'? So with you here-"

"With me- WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT-ARU! THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH ME-ARU NOW PUT ME DOWN," he snarled, shaking momentarily stoping as the panels seemed to extend. "GRAAAAAAAAAAA-" The dog was dropped without another word, Ren approaching from the side to peer into the puppy's 'head'. "R-Rouuurrrrrr... Dizzy... ...And what the hell-aru! What are you going on about!"

"Well think about it," the snake said with a grin, Honda turning as the serpent drew closer. "Your body was made here right? _And_ it's a robot..."

"Ah- Which means there might be some sort of source code to get us out," Otogi realized, before frowning as Ren slithered into a snarling Honda's head. "AH- Hey," he shouted, leaning over the trailer wall. "What do you think you're doing!"

"Helping," the snake responded, the dog's head snapping shut on impulse as he began to growl and claw at where the snake likely was. "_Besides,_" his muffled voice continued rather flatly,_ "Not like you care if I die anyways right? I'll be doing all of you a favor!_" Erm...

"R-Ren! It's not like that," Anzu protested, Otogi scratching his head. "They don't think you're-"

"Ah... Actually, it kind of _is_ 'like that'," he muttered. "After all, he-" The teen hurriedly cut off as Anzu leered at him, before nervously hopping out of the trailer to laugh. "Ahahaha... I'm only being honest; the fact is," he explained with a swallow, "Those weird 'fits' you had only happened while you were in contact with that snake, and-"

"Otogi-han," Shizuka coughed, the woman before them growing more and more tense with each word. "I would stop..."

"...Yea... That sounds like a plan," he admitted, rubbing the back of his neck before turning as an echoed voice again cut the air.

"_Dang Honda, how deep does this thing go,_" Ren muttered, the puppy seeming to jump with those very words.

"Gh-! ERFF!" The others turned as the dog in question shook himself, scratching at his head in anger before seeming to roll and run about uncontrollably. "Ge- Knock it off-ARU! It might not be real-aru but that doesn't mean you mess around in there," he snarled, dragging himself over the ground as he growled. "Seriously-aru, stop!"

"_Whatever~_" Niiiice.._. _Really mature there 'Ren'._ "So what do you think we'll find,_" the snake continued, still ignoring the snarls and growls._ "A secret map, a tracking system..._"

"How about you just get OUT-aru!"

A sudden click entered the air, the dog's body locking up into the 'default' and 'muzzled' appearance they'd found prior as the lights of his eyes flicker flickered. "_That work,_" Ren called out, the others staring as the dog appeared to quiver slightly. Er...

"I... I think y' jus' _BROKE_ 'm," Katsuya shouted, hurriedly grabbing the stiffened dog and shaking it. "H-HEY! H-Honda," he shouted in panic, "Snap outta it man!"

"_HEY! I'm still in here, cut that out!_"

"Wake up Honda, wake up!"

"_Seriously,_" Ren wailed, the dog still being shaken wildly as Katsuya swung the thing around by its tail. "_Stop that, I don't know how many switches I'll-"_

'-click-'

"_Hit._"

"Ah?"

The dog's head opened immediately, each individual tendril pointing forward as Katsuya dropped the animal to the ground. "-Assault Mode Activated,-" the dog announced, each tendril charging a laser of sorts as Ren ducked amid the wires and panels. "-Multi-Target Mode-" M-Multi..!

The dog seemed to hover in the air, chasing after the blond as he paled. "AHHHHHHH REN! What the hell kind of switch did you push," he roared, those in the trailer ducking as a few rays of light blew past them.

"I don't know," Ren cried, the serpent in question hanging from a panel on the dog's neck with a panicked expression in his eyes. "Just tell me how to stop this thing!"

-_ssssf! Sssssf ssssf-_

"Ahhhhh..." Duck, jump left right left left... DAMMIT! "Guuuuuyyyyyyss!" The others hopped out of the trailer as the futile game of 'cat and mouse' continued from a distance, staring in silence for a few moments before Yugi coughed.

"E- Ah... Did you try looking for an 'emergency' button," he asked, the snake tightening its coils before responding.

"E-Emergency..?"

"WELL IT'S A GOOD TIME," Katsuya roared, ducking another series of blasts while the snake nodded furiously.

"R-Right! Uh... Emergency, emergency..." Ren slipped between the cracks in the panels, disappearing into the wires. "...AH... Ahh... OH! 'E'," he shouted, ducking further into the head as the lasers cut short. "Hah! There we- GH-!" Katsuya jumped as the dog's system again locked up, head closing in as it returned to the ground before opening once more. "Hhaaah! That-" The wires again flailed, each grabbing at Ren before throwing him back. "What the..!"

-Emergency Mode Active-, came the robotic cry once again, panels around the collar opening in a satellite-like fashion as it continued to 'shout'. -EMERGENCY MODE ACTIVE-

The others moved to walk over, eyes wide as each 'tentacle' in the dog's mouth arranged themselves in a pattern. One cable went up, another went down, another braided in some strange intricate formation... Others spread wide, until the entire thing resembled some odd flower. "What is this," Anzu whispered, her snake moving toward her only to be picked up by a frowning Otogi as it hissed.

"Quarantine," he reminded the snake, Ren merely spitting as the others stared.

"SFFFFFF I'll show you 'quaran-'"

"Ah... Nihan," Shizuka called out, Katsuya stepping back and out of the way as the tendrils and wires began to emit a light of sorts. "Look," she shouted, a faded image coming into view, "I think he's creating something..!"

"Creating," Yugi repeated, before his eyes widened and the light began to clear. "AH! Honda-kun!"

-Emergency Exit Located,- the robotic hound said plainly, a wide and open 'entrance' appearing as the dog's head snapped back into place. -Commence Connection-

W-Wh... "Connecti'n," Katsuya choked, before watching as the puppy wordlessly made his way through the door. "...Gh! What th' hell did y' do t' him, 'REN'?"

The serpent drew back at those words, appearing to shrink under the crowd's stares while he cringed. "GH- I don't know, how about what you all told me to," he growled, baring venomous fangs in a failed attempt at 'defense'. "It was a big red 'E' button, it was the best option!"

"The big _red_ button was your best option," Anzu repeated in mild horror, Ren appearing to just realize what he'd said.

"...Well... Yea... Um..."

"Hey... What is that place anyways," asked the second girl of the group, the others moving to follow Shizuka through the door as Honda continued to silently and robotically walk ahead. "It looks almost like an amusement park..."

An amusement park..? "You're right..." Light and wind blew past as they went through the door, momentarily blinking off their shock as they stared at the scene. "But where is this," Anzu added as she walked through, looking around at the numerous buildings that towered somewhat around them. "I mean... It can't be Japan..."

"Well if you aren't all ignoring me still," a familiarly childish voice drawled, "I think I might have an idea..." The others turned to Ren, watching as the serpent jerked his head upward and behind the crowd. "Take a look!"

The five followed Ren's gaze, before choking as they read the english letters of the sign above. K-A-I... "A-AH- 'Kaiba-Land'," Katsuya shouted incredulously, looking back down the street. "We're at 'Kaiba-Land'! But Kaibaland's a tower!"

"Well this isn't a _tower_," Ren muttered, before finding himself cut off.

"Ah... Mokuba-kun mentioned a building project in the USA right," Yugi asked, eyes wide as the others recalled the event. "So then, perhaps this place is..."

'KaibaLand US'? ...Well, Mokuba did say the promise was 'all over the world'... "Guys, over here," Shizuka called from ahead, pointing down one of the streets with her spear. "Honda-han's going into one of the buildings!" Ah... He was..? The group quickly ran to follow the girl's gaze, turning to watch as the puppy moved toward what looked to be an odd curved warehouse. "He still isn't saying anything," she whispered, the others watching as a few tendrils unlocked the 'door' to move in.

"Hnnn... You don't think I really _did_ break him do you," Ren muttered, an odd look of curiosity in place.

Katsuya frowned, shaking his head to the surprise of the others. "Naw... Gotta be something else," he muttered, standing to follow after the dog. "S... Kaiba must've come by here, tha's why he's walkin'... S... He had t' come by here," he continued, swallowing somewhat nervously. She had to...

"That's right," Yugi added optomistically, looking down the path they were on. "And if we follow Honda-kun," he added, "Then maybe we can find him..!"

The blond nodded, before running after the dog with a shout. "OI! Honda! Wait f'r us, alrigh'," he called out, Otogi giving him an incredulous look from the back.

"Ah- If he can't respond, what use is that?"

"HONDAAA!"

"Did you hear a word I said!"

"HONNNNNDAAAA-Aaaah... Nh-" Katsuya blinked, holding an arm out for the others to stop as he came to a halt and stared forward. "Wait..." In the back of his mind... Snarling...

"'Wait'," Otogi repeated, unaware of the 'daze' his friend was in. "But he's right there..."

Right there... But not in the way they'd want. "Hn! Moron... That's exactly the point," Ren hissed seriously, the others frowning as he continued. "He's turned around and hasn't said a damn thing; you don't think he wonders how he got here?"

"And how do you know he doesn't know that," Otogi spat, the serpent rolling his eyes.

"Would he be quiet about it if he was?"

Anzu stiffened at that, turning back to look at the dog as Katsuya nervously approached it. "Alrigh' Honda... C'mon," he muttered, "Snap outta it..." And for the love of god, don't go rabid on him...

"-WARNING: YOU ARE ENTERING A STAFF ONLY LOCATION,-" the puppy responded, mouth flapping open as the multiple tendrils flared out and pointing forward. "-PRESENT VOICE KEY, OR TURN BACK. COMPLY,-" he continued warningly, the tips of each wire seeming to sharpen, "-OR BE ANNIHILATED.-" Gh...

"Given that Honda almost took down Judgeman I'd say we better watch it here," Otogi whispered with those words, Katsuya nervously nodding from the front and stepping back.

"Righ'..." Keep distance then and get ready to duck. Alright. "Oii... Honda," he called out, before stiffening as the dog growled and snarled.

"-VOICE KEY INCORRECT.-" Voice- Awwww damn it...

"C-C'mon Honda! It's us! Jonouchi, Yugi, ev'ryone," he protested, shaking his head. "You r'member us righ'?"

Evidently not. "-VOICE KEY INCORRECT,-" the dog repeated, Katsuya waving a hand at the air and walking away as the others sighed.

"Well obviously somethin's in there," he muttered, crossing his arms. "G'ven how he's so keen on us leavin'... Anyone got an idea on how t' get through," the blond continued, only to tense as another robotic shout met the air.

"-VOICE KEY INCORRECT,-" Honda stated yet again, his friend rolling his eyes before the crowd paled and swallowed. "-ENTERING ASSAULT MODE 'N'-" Assault mode what now?

"Er... _'N'_," Ren repeated with an almost squeaking tone, those before them slowly looking to the dog with horror as growling filled the air. "As in '_OMEGA_' N!" Errr... Not that he'd really bothered wondering what that meant but... Yes..? "I don't know about you, but that doesn't sound good... _At all_," the snake hissed with a swallow, ducking under Otogi's vest as the teen swallowed.

The dog had begun to grow before them, stomping at the ground in an apparent rage. Fur bristled and grew black, lengthening and almost stiffening even. Size however, was not the only change; the panels of steel had each split down the center to divide into pieces. And from those pieces they again divided as the tendrils braided about each other in a slowly growing shape, and as the once foot tall puppy began to grow to fill the ship-sized hall around them. Another division, and another, and another as the crowd stepped back, watching the tail grow in length to be covered in scales, as each metal flap began to curl and bend and hiss with the eyes and mouths of vipers. As each of the wiry clumps from the neck developed into bone, sinew, muscle, tendons, fat, eyes, skin... Fur...

But with three heads as opposed to one. "_**GRRRRRAOUH-RAOUH!**_" A monstrous and snarling hound... "_**GHREAAAAARREEEEEEEE!**_" The stubbed but just as menacing bulldog... "_**HRAAEEECHHHEEE!**_" And the very 'Akita Inu' that Honda had borrowed for his 'puppy' form moments prior. A face that seemed... Much, much more frightening now.

And angry. "_**GRAAAAAOOOOOOOOO!**_"

Eyes wide and filled with fear the teens watched as a mighty three-headed dog towered before them, feet stomping the ground before them to send tremors about the hall. Snarling pierced their ears, and with each shout droplets of foam and spittle flew their way from rabid mouths. "Ohhhh hell Honda," Katsuya muttered in a panic, still stepping back as he swallowed. "This is _NOT_ th' way t' fix things..!"

The only answer was a snarling roar, along with flames from each of the dog's mouths as the crowd scattered and leaped away.

* * *

If she hadn't liked deserts before, she certainly wouldn't after this she told herself. It was bad enough to be constantly forced to recall every stupid and pestering little dream on the location. Hell, it was bad enough to have those dreams in the first place; but the fact remained that she was here...

And this time it was as close to 'real' as it would ever get, provided no one meddle with _that_ particular decision. Seto's blade hung almost limply in her hands as she walked, blade tip dragging across the ground and digging a line deep into the sand. The blade was covered in just as much dust as herself, and as she dully looked around her a light wind blew still more sand in her hair and face. Ruins stood around her but for once, she noted, they were not 'Egyptian' in origin. Rather she was walking amid the forms of strange and rounded buildings, of vehicles beyond the modern world's achievements... Stones littered the ground, and as she walked up the steps of what looked to be a hill trail she could see carvings on the side. Carvings of a 'stone', of monsters and people alike clamouring over the object as though it were a god...

Only for the 'true one', an enormous serpent of sorts, to strike them down with all the malice in the world.

"Hn! A modern day 'golden calf' myth," she spat, despite her subconscious telling her that the advancements were far more unique in origin than some mere idol. This realm... It supposedly came from her head but she refused to admit it, not just yet she told herself. Even if she had believed these things, there was too much more in this realm to consider.

Things like her captor.

"He said he was 'dead'," she whispered to herself, pausing a moment to look over the lands she'd traveled as her footsteps blew away in the wind. He'd said that he'd been dead for almost 9 years, a full two years before she'd been adopted into the Kaiba family... Which meant that if she were to believe Noa's insistence's of her identity as a 'failsafe' and as a 'cover'... If she were to believe she had 'replaced' that boy... Well. Either one or the other was wrong, either Noa wasn't dead or Noa wasn't the real 'Noa'...

Or this was a ghost.

..._Yea_. RIGHT. "Hn! 'Ghosts'," she muttered, shaking her head as she climbed up to the hill and smirked briefly. "I'm being completely brainwashed by Yugi's supernatural garbage," the woman hissed, before peering over the horizon to freeze in place. Wind was blowing fiercely again; had she still held her cape and hat it would have blocked her vision in the gale in fact, and as it was even her short hair was proving an annoyance. However, for the moment that 'annoyance' would be easily ignored. "A-Ah..." This place... A sturdy wall, an incomplete statue, its pedestal missing a vital centerpiece that had yet to come to mind... "..._Kaiba-Land_," she whispered, stepping forward as she looked over the completed theme park. All of it, she told herself with wide eyes, all of it was there... The stadium, the roller coaster, the monorail station... Even Mokuba's 'capmon' branch. This place... The woman shook her head, tensing as a voice whistled past her ear.

'_Seto,_' an older voice whispered, forcing a shudder down her back as the unrecognizable tone swam through her mind. '_I __WIN__..._' Win..? W...

It was him! The woman's eyes snapped open, fists clenched as she looked toward the sky in rage. "GH... Noa... WHERE DID YOU TAKE HIM," she roared, shaking from where she stood to stare at the sky. "WHERE DID YOU TAKE MY BROTHER! WHAT HAVE YOU _DONE_ WITH HIM! YOU... Gh..! Hah..." Too much shouting... "Hah..." She'd just finished going through a desert with no water, of course her throat would... "GH..." And there was no answer. No answer, no answer, no answer, she told herself, struggling to slow her shuddering breaths. Eyes half shadowed in exhaustion the woman stood, choking on her words and breaths as she took shaking steps toward the theme park she had yet to even finish building. "Mokuba," she called out, voice quieter than she'd hoped as her sword again came loose in her grip. "Answer me..! Where _ARE_ you..?"

A breeze passed, but there was otherwise no response, as with before. Walking forward in her robes of red she stood out almost painfully from the white and blue buildings around her even passing through the gate, her sword sheathed as she walked around in silence. The park was empty, as expected. Rides weren't moving, stores were closed... There weren't even any monsters to face in the large park, and as the wind blew the entire place almost seemed 'haunted'. Another spit in the face of 'logic', not that it couldn't be explained by however Noa hoped to mess with her mind. The woman continued to make her way around the park with these thoughts running through her mind, only stopping as she spotted the entrance to her still tarp-covered coliseum. A coliseum with a locked 'door' in front of it. "...This lock..."

Seto stepped forward as a small pedestal came to view, a chessboard sitting upon it with clear purposes relating to the entrance. Most of the pieces were already taken or moved... Scattered across the board in a seemingly random pattern to the 'average' eye, yet to the trained one it was the path to destruction for one or the other's side. All that remained beside the king were a few pawns, her knights... And her queen, she noted, narrowing her eyes. The king was almost completely surrounded... There was only one point of attack, and she had it. And she'd taken it...

As she would now. "...Checkmate," she whispered as the 'Queen' was moved into position, the door to the side opening as she stared to the board. That move...

If she hadn't made that move she wondered, walking into the darkness of the stadium halls, what would have happened. To her... And to Mokuba. What would have happened... "_**Mrrrnnniinnnnn...**_"

"Hn!" Seto jumped at the somewhat robotized sound, looking down with wide eyes as an armadillo of sorts peered out from the corner. It was metal in appearance, that was obvious; a collective of golden panels, with tiny lens eyes staring forward. A... A duel monster..? ...That was right, she thought to herself with a frown. One of the latest ones being offered up from I2; the 'mosaic' and 'material' series... Now just what was it doing here? The beast seemed to blink, ears twitching before it curled up and rolled across the hall to stop and glance back.

"_**Mirrrrrrinnnnnnn...**_" W-What? "_**Mirriiiiiiiiii...**_" The monster rolled about somewhat, tail thumping the ground as it stared. "_**Mrrriiiiiiiii**_..." Follow it?

Hah! ...Fine. The woman narrowed her eyes, cautiously following after the monster only to find nothing but empty space as the monster vanished. Well... "...Hn! Playing with my mind..." That little rat... And just what was it about the armadillo anyways that convince Noa to use_ that_? Still muttering curses under her breath the woman stepped further into the hall, looking to the side as she spotted an open door. Slightly open rather; there was just enough space to see a light from inside, and despite preferring to act on caution Seto found herself lightly pushing it forward to frown and enter the room. It was a projector causing the light it seemed, connected to a VHS player by a small assortment of cables as it beamed its light to a white screen. Well... She was fairly certain it was that, and- There was a small frown as she looked around the front at the device, suspicions confirmed. "...Hn... Who uses VHS now," she muttered, nonetheless moving over to hit 'play' before standing back to watch.

Crackling met the air, and the projector hummed to life. Timers counted down, static filled the screen, and just seconds after a mostly coloured view of the inside of a mansion could be seen. The typical shaky vision of a camera was expected of course; but just a few moments into it and she realized that it was instead moving as though the camera was simply another person's eyes, occasionally drifting, looking away from those speaking, closing and opening... Or staring at nothing at all. '_Did you enjoy church,_' a woman's voice was asking as the 'camera' moved upward, Seto briefly tensing as a woman whose face was near identical to another in her memory came into view.

'_It was fun,_' a boy's voice cried in response, Seto watching narrowing her eyes at the sound of an almost familiar sound. It couldn't be... And yet as she watched, she couldn't be sure that it wasn't. '_There weren't many people my age,_' the boy was saying almost carelessly._ 'Just one,_' he added, Seto snorting in response. Hn! Of course there wasn't, Christianity made up less than 1% of the religious population... And given the looks of things in that room, this wasn't even that; it was Catholicism. ...

...Well... Didn't that just bring up 'happy' memories she thought to herself, narrowing her eyes before shaking the thought from mind. The video cracked from the woman on screen happily lifting the 'camera' to the air at that moment, switching to a wide scene of foods and a large cake with candles. '_Alright, get ready to blow the candles,' _a middle-aged man announced, Seto stiffening with wide eyes as Gozaburo came into view. This man... Eyes flickered over the screen, not comprehending what she could see. He was _smiling_, she noted coldly, expressions of mixed anger and disbelief coming over her. Smiling an honest and genuine smile that should have been impossible... Impossible..!

'_Happy birthday, Noa!_'

Noa. Her eyes narrowed as the candles were blown out, laughter filling the air before the scene shifted yet again. "Tch... Trying to prove he's who he says," she muttered under her breath, watching as a younger version of the boy's reflection came into view before the 'camera' turned from the seas to Gozaburo once more. To prove her 'wrong'... Laughter and smiles... They were sailing, and having the time of their god-forsaken lives, shouting promises of vacations and altered hours in classes... Of more time together, of more time without work and schooling, because after all '_you've come so far!_'

This was _NOT_ Gozaburo she growled to herself, moving back toward the projector with a clenched fist, ready to crush the device before her into nothing but scrap. This was NO-

_'Shk... Shk... shk...' ..._Crying.

The woman froze, looking back to the screen with narrowed eyes before feeling herself grow cold with dread. She didn't know how she could see this. She didn't know why she was seeing this even, or at least she didn't for a short moment. All the scenes had been from the boy's point of view, from Noa's point of view. Now however, it was a security feed from a funerary home of all places, from a place far more 'well off' than what her own parents had gone through. The last moments... Approaching the coffin, guests and 'friends' of the family paying their respects in anything they had... Leaving flammable objects that would burn with the body into ashes, things like toys and candy...

And then the coffin was sent into the flames, burning away completely. Seconds later the view had changed... And despite the 'mother's tears, that same smiling woman she'd seen before walked out from that building with a framed picture of her now dead son gripped in her hands. A funeral... Noa's funeral she realized coldly. "So you _are_ dead then," she hissed, stepping back with a swallow as the film cut short. But if he was dead...

Then _who _was-

"We've been waiting for you, Serii-sama." Ser- The woman tensed, turning around with wide eyes to see 'Kisara' standing before her in the entrance of the room. The girl's outfit had changed since she last saw her, since she'd seen Mokuba cut the child in two... It resembled the typical station attendant's uniform for the moment, and at her side was none other than the same robotic armadillo she'd seen before. This girl... White wings folded behind her back, blue eyes staring forward...

It figured Noa had 'backed up' the files. "You... _Kisara_," she whispered almost confusedly, the child smiling in an act that caught Seto almost completely off guard as the girl bowed before her.

Kisara stood once again, wings shifting somewhat as she gestured to the door at the side. "Please," she said calmly, stepping to the side as a train station rather than a hallway met her gaze from beyond the door. "Your transport is waiting." Transport...

The smooth 'roar' of a train's track came into being, a white figure blurring past to slow to a stop as a white steel hull came to view. The train... "Expecting visitors are we 'Noa'," she muttered, nonetheless stepping past as the doors to the 'Blue-Eyes Monorail' as its own car door opened up. So she was being moved from _her_ park in _her_ train... "...Tch..." She walked aboard, Kisara following behind to leave her pet at the station as the doors closed and locked tight. The cars, of course, were empty she noted. Each of the two seat rows on the sides of the halls were simply coated with the blue fabric picked out before hand, simple and slightly cushioned chairs facing forward along side wide and clear windows in a pale light. As she moved into the car she took the first seat available, not wanting to bother 'picking' anything else and only dimly aware of the movement the train was already going through.

"_We are now en-route to our destination_," Kisara calmly announced a few minutes afterward, the girl having vanished to some room with access to the train's speaker system while her 'guest' became lost in thought. "_Arrival will be in approximately one hour. Until then,_" she continued, Seto narrowing her eyes with impatience and thought both as the girl went on, "_Please... Enjoy your stay._"

'Enjoy'... Hah! That was far from what was on her mind she thought, crossing her arms as she silently waited for the train to reach that same destination. '_I'm waiting,_' a voice was whispering, hissing in the same tone she'd heard just a few minutes prior the train's departure. '_Waiting for you... You've been invited to my private realms and that's rare... So try not to disappoint me..._

'_...Serii..._'

* * *

Fire was a powerful thing to behold. Man's first 'invention' despite it being naturally created all about the world, the first real 'weapon' to last through the ages. Sure, it granted warmth and all that, making cooking possible and life in the middle of winter plausible, but it could take down entire forests if given the right time and weather; it wasn't something to joke about. It was a 'power'.

And it was especially powerful when it came from the inside of a wet mouth for some reason, but for the moment, he wasn't going there. Because really, the fact was that Honda... AKA 'the cerberus'... Had a tail that was wreathed in flames, three _very_ angry fire-breathing heads that could only be told apart by the fact that the center was the only one with pricked ears, and a mane of at least four hundred snakes. The entire deal of fire breath wasn't really his concern right now, given that the only thing between himself, his friends, and that _thing_ was a wall around the corner. And now that they were sitting at this corner, they were able to let the information finally set in properly. Their friend was no longer just stuck in the body of a 'robot'. He wasn't even just under Noa's control. No... He'd just finished turning into _THE _Cerberus. The Greek's take on the hell-hound, Otogi told them, the guardian to the gates of hades AKA hell...

"It's furred hide is impenetrable," he went on with a nervous swallow as the monster snarled and spat, "And it's said that besides music the only way to take it down is by strangulation. Its poison can burn through anything, and it has the strength of the largest monsters in existence... It only eats live, _human_ prey," he continued, shuddering somewhat, "And-"

"Otogi," Katsuya muttered weakly, holding out a hand as he swallowed back a wave of nervous bile. "...Stop talkin'."

The teen blinked, before hurriedly nodding. "...Right... Sorry about that."

"_You certainly have a way of choosing your 'friends' chabar..._" Tell him about it, he was still talking to this ghost thing... "_...Hn! Don't listen to me then!_" Ehhhh... Damn it.

The blond merely grimaced and nodded, the others looking around the corner of the wall as the cerberus' snarls continued. Flames were singing the steel ground, and before them was nothing but ash and darkness. Red eyes glowed fiercely from the distance, and the light from outside the door was long gone... All in all, a truly horrifying sight, even without realizing that this was their friend. "Hnnn... There has to be _some_ other way to take this down," Shizuka muttered, biting her lip. "Some way we can snap Honda-han out of it without killing him..."

"Well unless you can withstand the fire and venom before you get there to find out, there isn't," Otogi muttered, biting his lip as he stared at the ground. "As it is," he whispered, "We'll be safe if we stay here but..."

"But then we can't find Kaiba-san and Mokuba-kun," Yugi finished, slumping to the ground with a sigh and gripping his boomerang tightly. "This is a problem..."

"Yea..." A round of sighs filled the air, expressions morose and thoughtful before realization came over the black mage of the group. "...Ah! Wait," Anzu muttered, looking toward Otogi with wide eyes as an expression of dread came over her face, "Where's Ren?"

The teen blinked, looking over himself with a slight frown. "Ren," Otogi asked, standing to his feet and looking himself over, "He's righ- ... Shit," he shouted, looking around and hurriedly turning to the side. "Where-"

"HEY _UGLY_,_" _they heard over the cerberus' snarls, the group looking around the corner with wide eyes as the dog momentarily paused to crouch down and look at the miniscule serpent before it. It was as though a mouse were standing next to a whale; and to complete that image Ren appeared as though he were facing the face of death itself for the moment, eyes wide and quivering despite his apparently unwavering voice. "Hng... You want to take someone on," the snake hissed, fangs bared and dripping as the monster stared. "Well here you go! I'm the one you want," he announced, hood flaring as he spat and riled the monster up. "'ISHTAR MALIK' right? THEN GO FOR IT! EAT ME!"

"What..." He couldn't be serious. This was the guy who orchestrated an entire underground ring, what- "What th' hell is that idiot doing..!"

"M-Malik," Shizuka repeated with a swallow, looking back to the others as snarls hit the air, the snake before them easily dodging each attempt at squashing the creature. "Then... He was righ-"

"It has to be a bluff," Anzu muttered with wide eyes, cutting the girl off. "Honda kept accusing him of that after all, so... So it's only natural he'd use that to his advantage but... R-REN," she shouted, running forward as the dog snarled and finally caught the beast in his hands. "REN!" There were no screams... The cerberus tossed the somehow silent snake into the air, and still there were no screams as it fell toward the leftmost head. "REN DON-"

"Gh... THIS BETTER WORK," they heard through the air, followed by the sounds of a screeching halt as Anzu stopped.

"_**GHRAAAAOOOUUUUUUGGHHH!**_" The middle head was arguing with the one on the right, paws raised in an action that almost seemed to be an attempt to fight with itself. "_**ROAAARRRRRROOOOOHHHH!**_" The arguments however, were for naught... And in an instant the snake was gone, tiny body flailing and twirling mid-air until it was swallowed into the head completely.

And there wasn't a single sound following that, even from the monster. Anzu stood in the path of the enormous beast, frozen in shock as the dog padded the ground to snort at its next opponent. "Y... You... ...You..."

"What th' hell was that," Katsuya muttered, stepping out with a swallow even as the cerberus began to growl warningly once more. "What..."

"The switches were inside the heads last time right," Shizuka whispered, eyes wide and quivering in shock. "So maybe, he thought..."

"S-Shit," Otogi said with a swallow, staring at the beast. "Sh-"

"Gh... HAAAAAHHHHH!" The group pulled back as Anzu screamed, charging the monster with her staff in hand despite all common sense arguing against it. "Honda... I don't know now if you're right or wrong," she cried, weapon glowing with power even without the aid of her partner, "But this is for your own good! Here's my latest spell," she roared, kicking off into the air as the hound before her snarled and leaped into action, "_**AEOLUS**_!"

Wind tore from her staff, slicing through the nearest head to cleave it clean in two before it could even give a pained bark. The snakes on the mane beneath hissed in agitation and pain both as the halves collapsed uselessly on those that survived, the remaining canine heads snarling in added rage. "_**GRAAOHHHHH! RHHHOOOOUUURRR! ROUR ROUUURRR RHOUUU!**_" One hit... One-

The middle head wasn't snarling as much any more...

"Hah... Anzu won't be able to do this on her own," Yugi shouted with a swallow, running past the others as they stared toward the carnage incredulously. "Quick, we have to help," he shouted, Anzu in question landing to the ground to stare up at the monster before her with eyes of rage. Without waiting for a response the boy continued to charge, weapon pulled from his back and unfolded into its full form. "Hah... HONDA-KUN," the boy announced, the heads that had been mere inches from Anzu's face turning on him as he ran along the soot covered wall. "Forgive me..! H-AH!" The boomerang in his grip was tossed forward as he kicked back from the wall, a wave of flames wrapping over where he'd stood just moments before. In seconds however the weapon made its mark, regardless of the fires that coated it briefly; the head on the far left was cut from the neck completely and cleanly, and as the head on the right dispersed into shaven tendrils and wires in its death the left head did the same. The collar 'shrank'... Metal surrounded the third and final head in some bizarre control-like panel system, along with lights and buttons that were quickly covered up by any remaining serpents from the mane. "Ah... That..."

"The controls," Shizuka shouted, the beast before them attempting to get over its crippled form as it gave a pained whine. She ran forward, momentarily squinting in an attempt to read the labels. "They're the controls," she repeated, "We can-"

"_**DUCK,**_" Katsuya roared, pushing the girl to the side as fires blasted toward them from the recovered head.

"GH-"

Fires bathed the ground they'd stood upon, nothing but black and ashen ground meeting their gaze. The blond took a shuddering breath, looking back up as the Cerberus snarled. Two heads down, controls to go... "Hah... Otogi," he shouted, raising his eyebrows to the teen. "What was tha' abou' stranglin' th' thing? Abou' 'impenetrable hides' an' all tha'?"

"I never said that Noa would go exactly by myth," Otogi retorted, the others merely busying themselves with dealing with the monster while the boys bickered.

"Well _SAY _tha' next time," Katsuya roared, before looking up to the beast with a scowl. "Tch! Alrigh'... We gotta get past those snakes," he shouted, the others nodding as they fell to the ground once more. "Get t' th' panel an' find th' switch we want!"

"I'm on it," the teen behind him announced, daggers at the ready as he ran forward with Shizuka at his side. The pair leaped into the air, both weapons glowing with energy as they kicked back from mid air. "_**Pine Dance,**_" he called out, spinning around in mid air to send a volley of blades to the snakes.

"_**Meteor Fusilade,**_" Shizuka added in, her own double cast clearing a path for her to land on the metal sheet of the monster's neck. "HaaaaaaAAAH!"

Dozens of serpents heads were falling to the ground in the onslaught of daggers and ice coated bullets, replacing themselves with shards of metal as they scattered before them. Above Honda was reeling... Toppling on his feet, growling under his breath... The vipers on his mane however were very much themselves, and they did not at all appreciate being cut down. "S-SHIZUKA," Katsuya shouted up, watching as the snakes attempted to hone in on the girl before them. "QUICK! FIND A BUTTON!"

"_A_ BUTTON," she shouted incredulously, Yugi answering the to girl's shouts before Katsuya could respond.

"Find an 'override'," he shouted, Otogi nodding in agreement.

"It'll be different from the rest," the teen told her with wide eyes, "More noticeable so that it wasn't pressed..!"

The snakes were still turning on her... Venom was dripping from their fangs and burning whatever ground they hit. Shizuka's spear was cutting through them however, and as fires filled their vision from what was apparently another power from the snakes, it was impossible to see or hear her response to their cries. In an instant however, as the last of the snakes were cut down into steel they could see her reach for a switch... See her slam down on it with one hand before falling back in exhaustion, Katsuya running forward to catch the girl. "S-SHIZUKA! _SHIZUKA!_" He wasn't going to make it... He wasn-

"I got her," a familiar voice shouted, a 'coil' pulling up from the ground to snatch her on its back. The snake, almost horse sized for the moment, lowered the girl down before slowly returning to normal size as he grinned. "Hehehehe..." The golden cobra chuckled as the others stared, Katsuya skidding to a halt and Shizuka staring almost incredulously as Ren laughed. "Hahaha! You can all thank me la- GLK!"

The serpent was instantly snatched up by Anzu, the woman gritting her teeth as the dog above them seemed to lock down on itself and stand motionless. "You... Moron," she roared, Ren wincing in the shouts as he was gripped in her fists. "Do you know how lucky you are that we cut down the right heads," the woman continued as her 'partner' sighed almost exasperatingly. "Why would you use something like that bluff anyways," she continued, something seeming to flash in the snake's eyes with those words. "Did you think you were brave? Did you somehow think that you'd take it out on your own so that the others stopped accusing you?"

"Gh-" The serpent continued to draw back, hood still flared in agitation. "Geeze... Lady, I'm not five," he hissed, Anzu merely tightening her grip.

"Well you certainly act like it!"

"Well _you_ act 50!"

Ummm... "_WHAT,_" the woman hissed, Ren appearing to realize all too soon what he'd said.

"Ehehehe..."

The boys and Shizuka both swallowed, slowly moving back as the the storm before them continued to rise. Best to just leave now... Before anything _really_ bad happened, and- "Hn... Nnng... Wh... What happened-aru," a voice called out, the arguments abruptly cut short as those below turned to look at the enormous dog before them. Honda appeared to look over himself briefly, shaking himself of whatever bits of wire and metal were still in his fur before jumping. "E-Erf! What... Since when did I get this big," he shouted in shock, Shizuka looking up with wide eyes as a grin began to form.

"Ah... H... Honda-han," she shouted up, laughing somewhat as the dog continued to panic. "Honda-han, Are you alright?"

"Eh... Never better-aru! But what happened," he pressed, the sound coming out with an added rumbling bark as a thankfully normal mouth opened and closed.

Ren smirked, coiling around Anzu's wrist and chuckling as the dog attempted to pinpoint his location. "What happened? You went crazy and tried to kill us all," he laughed, the dog above growling somewhat as the snake sighed. "Ahhhh... And you worry about _me_..."

"Ren... That isn't helping your case," his partner muttered, the snake merely holding his grin.

"Still true," he said with a smirk, before frowning. "But hey, besides that," he coughed, drawing back against his partner's wrist, "Do you think you would shrink down? This is a little intimidating..."

Honda merely snorted, taking a seat before them and giving the serpent as close to a grin as he could. "Hn! Now you know how I feel-aru!"

"How you- I'M SMALLER THAN YOU MORON!"

"Not all the time," the dog countered, Ren's hood flaring in agitation as he rose.

"Why you-"

"A-hm!" The arguing monsters turned, Otogi crossing his arms and gesturing forward. "...The shrinking," he reminded, a few of the others staring momentarily.

"Oh..." Honda blinked, slowly nodding his head as the teen before him repeated the gesture. "Right. Uh..." He frowned, looking over himself in confusion as he coughed. "...I don't actually remember how I got here though-aru, so... I don't know if I can... You know..."

You know? ...Oh _COME ON_! "...Yer _stuck_," Katsuya shouted incredulously, the dog whining and cringing despite his mammoth size.

"Hey! It's not my fault-aru! Blame the one who messed around in my head," he snarled, an almost rabid bark being aimed toward the snake in question.

"Oh come on, I was only _listening_," Ren muttered, only to be silenced by another glare from the crowd. "... SHEEESH! Can't win for losing with you guys, and _I _got _eaten_!"

The serpent was pointedly ignored, the others merely looking up as they attempted to think of a way to help their friend. Most of the 'controls' were switches really... But if it was anything like the disguised head... "Maybe you need to visualize it," Shizuka offered, the enormous dog moving to lay on his front as he tilted his head. "Did you try that..?"

A small span of silence was their response, the dog eventually shaking his head and slumping between his paws. "...Nothing," he admitted, tail smacking the ground as he whined. "Man... This day just gets worse and worse..."

Yea tell them about it; the only way this could possibly get any better was if- "Are you perhaps in need of assistance," a voice asked, pulling them from their thoughts. ...Eh..?

The group turned, blinking as a young and familiar white winged boy stood before them. "Ah... Seraph," Katsuya muttered, the boy merely moving to stand before them with his typically 'blank' stare.

The boy held his arms firmly crossed behind his back, looking directly toward his blond 'charge' and speaking yet again. "I repeat; are you in need of assistance," he asked, dressed in what appeared to be a station attendant's uniform.

"Unless you can fix 'this'," Honda whined from 'above', nose barely level with the top of Katsuya's head, "No."

Seraph turned and stared in response to those words, blinking dully before moving past to put a hand on the canine's nose. It was a little strange how the boy could simply start walking in the air actually; nonetheless what he said next was enough to keep them from asking questions. "...Hn. Your coding is blocked," he muttered, the others raising their eyebrows.

"Ah... _Blocked_," Anzu asked, Seraph nodding as he turned to the others..

"It is an incomplete code," the boy explained, landing on the ground with the same emotionless expression from before. "For that reason, it has been blocked off until completion. It is very close however," he added, turning to the others. "If you like, I shall initiate this specific one under the 'safe mode'." Safe mode... Well, that sounded pretty-

"Ah... Wait... Initi- Hey wait a second," Katsuya growled, crossing his arms as the boy stared. "You work for Noa! What kind 'f 'reward' do y' get in helpin' _us_?"

The others nodded in agreement to this, their target merely staring blankly as the dog behind him began to growl. "...I was told to make certain that you reach your destination," Seraph responded, the rest of the group frowning. "Only this. Now..." A slight glow emitted from the boy's hand as he turned back to Honda, and with a loud yelp the dog before him collapsed at his normal size in a split second flash of light. "You will find many sections of code have been cancelled by this action," the boy explained, bringing his hand back to bow to the group politely. "Please, do not wait to find out which ones these are," he continued, before gesturing down the hall. "Now... There are two paths you may take. Which will you choose?"

Another moment of silence, and after trading glances the group looked forward and swallowed. "...How 'bout you decide... Seraph."

* * *

The train ride she'd taken was endlessly dark for a majority of the trip thus far Seto noted from her seat, staring blankly out the window. Nothing but darkness as far as she could see, the train floating through space for all she knew. It resulted in an eerie sensation, almost akin to floating really... And then with a sudden realization she spotted light, and the feeling of unease was banished. The light increased, a heat rising through the air and breeze passed, the woman moving toward the door to look out with wide eyes as she was met with a second wave of pressuring heat. This...

The train began to fall, Seto pushing off from the vehicle with a shout as she skidded to the ground and looked back. All around there was nothing but stone cliffs, lit by a heated glow from below the earth. The train she'd come in collapsed through those very cliffs, and the vehicle was immersed in flames the instant it touched the magma in the caverns below... The moment it struck the heat that, if it were any closer, would send her into nothing but ashes on the wind. It only took seconds to fully comprehend her location after that.

It was hard to miss being trapped in a volcano after all. "Gh... This place..." As the woman pulled herself to her feet she took a deep and shuddering breath, moving to look over the cliff's edge at the molten sea below. A volcanic plain... What a wonderful place to be trapped in. The sensation of being watched came over her at that moment, and with narrowed eyes Seto turned to look across the field around her. Her gaze however, was quickly widened with shock, eyes honing in on light coloured hair and fox-like eyes in an instant. "...You..." Impossible, she told herself, stepping forward on the stone 'bridges' as the one before her smirked. "_Noa_..."

The man before her was tall, that was for certain. He just barely met the half-way point between six and seven feet it looked like in fact, and rather than wear his suit as a professional would his jacket was loosely slung over his shoulders in a fashion not unlike her rival. It was the hair however, and the face that caught her eye. The narrowed blue stare, set in a face that was both like and unlike her own, with sharper angles, more masculine features... And light hair, she could see, her glare intensifying. Light hair that only one other person she knew was in possession of, styled in a fashion far too similar to her own for comfort. "Hnhnhnhhn... Welcome," the man said calmly, holding a hand out as the woman drew her blade, already prepared to attack. "Like the scenery? I built it myself you know..." This...

Bastard... Bastard... "You _BASTARD,_" she roared, kicking off the stone to send her blade toward the man javelin style as her opponent easily skipped back. MONSTER! To think he could speak 'calmly' after all this, that he could simply play with their minds..! "Where's Mokuba," she snarled, pulling herself up as her opponent continued to smirk from before her. "What have you done with him!"

"'Done'," the man repeated, calmly ducking the next swing of a blade only to grip the sword in his hands from the next strike. "My _dear_ 'Seri'," he chuckled, leaning in as the woman's eyes widened with minute surprise, "I would _never_ do anything to harm my _brother_... When I'm through with you," he continued, gripping the blade tightly as his opponent attempted to pull it free, "He'll be released back to the real world in perfect health..." This...

"...And how do I know you're telling the truth," she finally spat, pulling her sword back and distancing herself from the first person to surpass her height in over two years. "Just how can I _possibly_ trust you with that," she roared, shifting into a stance and preparing to charge once again.

Noa merely smirked, shaking his head and sighing. " Well... You can't of course," he admitted with a shrug, brushing a bit of hair from his face. "But it _would_ be _preferred..._"

Of course it would be 'preferred'... But did she honestly care? She wanted to leave; to leave with her brother, the mutt, and if luck would have it anyone else that had manged to get themselves stuck here. And the one thing in her way was _THIS_! "What do you _WANT_ with me," she snarled, sword pointed forward as she paced around her opponent. "Just tell me now and get this over with!"

This seemed to almost be the wrong thing to ask really, given the continued 'positive' reaction. "You really want to know _that_," the man chuckled, narrowing his eyes as he changed the subject. "Just look around... It's perfect isn't it," he asked, "The world at its birth." If beauty could be called 'dead' she supposed... "No animals live here, no plants grow... I wonder," Noa continued, his opponent narrowing her eyes as the rambling went on, "Just how lonely the creator of this world must have been... I can create anything here," the man told her, holding his arms out in an open gesture to the surrounding chasms. "I could take us to the depths of the seas or to the far reaches of space, or even a place only located within your mind. Anything is possible... From here," Noa explained almost with a shout, "I could alter the course of history itself! From here... I 'am' the laws that bind the realm together, and I _am _'GOD'..!" Noa's hands were brought back down to his sides with those words, a menacing grin on his face while his opponent scowled. Hn! Great. She had an 'omnicidal' maniac _and_ a religious nutcase on her hand... Could this get any worse at all...

She snorted at the very thought, focusing her anger onto more pressing matters. "Tch... I'm fairly certain that if 'God' existed, it wouldn't resemble you," she sneered, momentarily standing in place despite her mind telling her to move. "Now... What do you _WANT_!"

Noa sighed, shaking his head and turning from the woman. "Well... I'm just surprised is all," he 'admitted', shrugging as he pocketed his hands. "You have all this _power_ at your fingers... And I doubt that anyone would question or complain against you for too long if you were to reveal yourself, given your 'experiences'," he continued, glancing back to his target. "Yet you_ hide_," the man pressed, "And you _smother_ your ability, using it for nothing but a _children's card game_... Are you _really_ worthy of this power," Noa asked, narrowing his eyes and stepping toward his target. "_Truthfully_?"

Worthy? HAH! "Hn... You're quite the hypocrite," she growled, sword glowing with fire as the pair 'paced' around each other. "You claim not to care about appearances and yet you stand here in that form?"

"Hnhnhn! This... This was just a 'treat'," the man said with a shrug, jacket 'cape' flowing somewhat behind him as he moved. "It's only the truth after all... I thought I should keep things accurate for our 'fight'. Just think; it's almost been ten years," he whispered, narrowing his eyes as he smirked. "A long time... Plenty of time to plan _this_..."

"_This_," she repeated almost incredulously, opponent's smirk growing wider in response.

"This land, this trap... We're going to play a game," Noa announced, holding a hand out in gesture as the field seemed to darken beyond what it already was. "A game that will decide which of us is the one worthy of the power that comes from the 'Kaiba' name... A game that I'm sure you're quite familiar with," he added with a chuckle, a flash appearing in his eyes. "'Duel Monsters'..." Oh were they now?

"Hn!" Seto snorted, shaking her head as she looked away. "As though it would even _matter_," she muttered, opponent's smirk dropping coldly while his opponent turned back. "You're already _dead_," the woman roared. "I saw that much; so tell me now, before even considering a 'challenge', just what are your _real_ intentions!"

She never should have asked.

* * *

The films they were watching weren't 'real', not in the way most would expect at least. True, the scenes had happened, and exactly as shown at that, but it was never really 'filmed', and if it was it hadn't been like this. The 'tapes' they saw were instead pulled directly from a young boy's mind, a boy whose own depressing end had brought pain and suffering to those who surpassed him for years to come. "What is this," Yugi whispered, watching the final moments of the cremation of their captor, a scene with stark contrast to the horse-back rides and somehow enjoyable classes the 'camera' had gone through.

"It... It's h's funeral," the blond beside him whispered, swallowing nervously as the film cluttered to a stop. "His..."

"If this is Noa's funeral," Anzu said quietly, holding her own staff close, "Then who was the 'Noa' we saw here..?"

"Last I checked ghosts don't possess computers and run body-stealing gambits," Ren added from her shoulder, none of the others wanting to try and separate the two for the moment. "And if they did, I'm pretty sure they'd come forward about it.

Would they..? Katsuya shook his head, biting his lip as the projector light went blank and glaringly white once again. "I don'... ...I don' know," he muttered, bowing his head as he turned to leave the room. "Hell," he continued as he shuddered, "W' this kid I don' ev'n know what t' believe..."

The others went fairly quiet at that, before freezing as they stepped out into a wide and open room from the tiny and cramped 'closet' they'd been in. "A-Ah... Where is this place," Otogi exclaimed, the others looking around the pillars and benches of a train station with wide eyes. "We were in 'Kaiba-Land' a few seconds ago right," he continued, familiar posters of upcoming movies or shows decorating the sides along various other advertizements. "So how..."

"We've pretty much been ev'ry where in th' las' 'few seconds'," Katsuya responded, walking around the station as he swallowed. "Th' question is where th' hell we are..."

"You are standing at the crossroads of the mind," Seraph told them, the group turning to stare as 'Kisara' and a small robot of sorts stood at the boy's side. Cross...

"Crossroads," Shizuka repeated in confusion, shaking her head as a breeze blew past the two on the station's platform. "But what do you mean by that..?"

The children stepped to the sides, a train rolling into the station to stop as they gestured toward it. "We now stand at the point in Noa's mind where we come to a conflict," they both chorused, bowing their heads.

"One one hand, he wishes you to die," stated Kisara, a flash of malice in her eyes.

"And on the other, he wishes you to live," finished Seraph, his own eyes appearing still dull despite the momentary life.

"Either way," they both continued, the monorail train's door opening wide, "He wishes for you to move on to his private realms." Move...

"Oi oi oi... If he wants us to do something-aru, then why can't he tell us outright instead of putting us through this," Honda growled, his head no longer the bizarre 'fly trap' it had been before. "Why can't he just figure out what he wants and get it over with-aru!"

The children both smirked, the others tensing up in response to the sudden show of emotion. "Because that," they told them, toothy grins across their faces, "Would be inhuman." Inhu- ...What? The door to the white train locked on the side as lights came on from within the device, the pair bowing before them as they grinned. "There is something you must see," the pair explained, expressions again serious in intent, "And something you must do."

"We cannot help you with this," Seraph continued,

"Nor can we interfere," his sibling went on. "Instead," the girl told them, "We will give you this advice. Though this train will not take you to the full distance with no tracks to run upon," Kisara told them, those before her swallowing somewhat nervously, "There is a way for you to reach your destination, and a way for you to leave this place."

"Shou-kun will show you this path," the girl's 'brother' went on, gesturing to the armadillo that was sitting silently to the side. "You must take this train to the very last station and then step off; from there," Seraph stated, "You must use your own power to move on, with Shou as your guide."

"...Our own power," Yugi muttered, swallowing somewhat nervously as he looked the pair over. "But what power is that..?"

Seraph looked toward Honda, blinking slowly as he spoke. "As stated," the boy began, "Your partner's programming has been altered. No more will he have access to the weapon systems he once did. Instead," he continued, Honda appearing to tense considerably at the thought of being 'programmed', "You will only have access to the form that I connected his programming into."

"AH-" The dog jumped at those words, eyes wide as he grinned. "You mean... I can switch between that form and this one-aru! That great big 'thing' from before-aru?"

The others grew rather pale at that, Ren being the one to voice their concerns as a round of awkward coughing filled the air. "H-Hah... I'm all for a good show," he 'laughed', drawing back still further against his partner, "But don't you think that this might be a little bit much? What with him having tried to kill us and all that?"

Kisara shook her head, before bowing politely to the group as she 'smiled'. "I have repaired the holes in the programming," she told them, her 'audience' sharing uncomfortable glances as they took the words of their very enemy's program. "You will have no problems with the 'assault mode' option any more."

Well... ...Better than... Nothing..? "Tha's good I suppose," he admitted, scratching his head. "Er..."

"Very well then," Seraph stated, he and his 'sister' both stepping further off to the side to leave a clear path into the train. "In that case, please enjoy your travels with this train-line; we will take you to your destination as fast as possible," they both told them, the teens each giving their own nod of agreement before walking into the train itself.

"Righ'..." In they went then he supposed, walking into the car to take a seat as the vehicle began to move. The group looked around the semi-private car they sat in, benches each turned to each other as the robotic armadillo from before stood by the door. The door had locked itself in with a 'hiss'... And seconds later there was nothing but the light from the train itself to see by. "So... What do y' think tha' thing is," he said after a moment, the others shaking their heads as they looked to the dog-sized robot.

"Honestly, as long as it doesn't try to eat me," Ren muttered with a stretch, yawning and curling around his partner's neck, "I could care less..."

"That _would_ be your main concern, wouldn't it-aru..."

The serpent snorted as the train made its way forward, looking to the dog as it sat in Shizuka's lap. "Hn! Just remember who keeps eating me and you'll probably remember _why_," he muttered, Honda merely growling in response.

"Grrrrrrrnnnnggg... Bastard..." Hahahaha- Stop fighting.

"_**Mrrrrrrnnnnn...**_" The others jumped as an odd rumbling sound came from the front, the armadillo tilting its head before rolling toward the door. Eh...

The train had stopped... "A-Ah! H-Hey, we can' be there already righ'," he asked, running to the door and following the somewhat large metal 'ball' off the train with a shout. "O-Oi," Katsuya called out, the others following behind as the armadillo continued its 'pinging' cry. "OI!"

A hissing sound came from behind as the train doors shut behind them, the group turning to watch as their train took off in a blur of white. "...Well... There goes our ride," Shizuka said with a bit lip, before blinking as the armadillo trundled back from where Katsuya had been chasing it. "Ah- Hey, what's it doing..?"

"Ah... Not sure," Otogi muttered, watching it as it jumped down to the track to curl up into a ball on the long metal line. "...We should probably follow it though," he added, crossing his arms as he gestured downward. "After all; this might be the way Kaiba went."

"Don't you think Kaiba would have taken the train though," Anzu added, looking to the others in scepticism. "I mean... This _is _a train station. It would make sense..."

"Noa probably cut the tracks after Kaiba got there though," Otogi answered quickly, waving the suggestion off with a shrug. "Besides," he added, "Those two kids said Honda would be our ride, didn't they?"

The dog balked at this, jumping as the others turned his way to stare almost confusedly. "A-Aru! They said that-aru!"

"You were _there _Honda... An' I don' think they'd 'f brought it up if y' weren't," Katsuya added dryly, the dog blinking a few times in response.

"Ehhrf..."

The others continued to stare for a moment, the dog seemingly lost in thought for the moment. "Well come on," Ren hissed from the side, eyes narrowed as he looked to the hound. "Get... 'Big' or whatever it is you're supposed to do!"

"Wh-What-"

Shizuka nodded, smiling as the others attempted to encourage the dog. "That's right- I'm sure it'll be fine Honda-han..!"

"H-Hey, I don't even-..."

"Hahhhh..." Katsuya sighed, before moving over to punt the thing off the side of the station platform as it gave a loud and shocked bark. "C'mon," he growled, crossing his arms as he scowled. "We don' have all day damn it!"

"I'm going I'm going-aru!"

And a few seconds later, after the 'switch' had been found and passengers 'loaded' on a mane of snakes...

And 'going' was putting it rather lightly. "Hh-hh-hh-hh-hh-hh-hh-hh-" Pounding steps sounded on the air as a dog chased after a tumbling and curled up armadillo. The constant 'in-out' of a needless breath came with each footstep, and amid these sounds the rather panicked screams expected from the passengers of an open seated-120 kilometer-per-hour 'bullet'.

As it was, Shizuka seemed to be far regretting her earlier comments of 'it'll be fine'. "H-HAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" A lot.

"T-THIS... AIN'T... WHAT I HAD... IN MIND," Katsuya screamed, gripping the collar of the now train sized version of Honda's canine self. A mane of snakes proved successful seat-belts to hold them in place, true, but they weren't the most stationary; if anything, he was beginning to realize why Honda hated them.

"GH- HONDA," Anzu shouted, adjusting her grip on the collar as the dog's steady rhythm tossed them up and down in a steady and violent pattern. "HONDA, YOU'RE GOING TOO FAST!"

"Whaaaat? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT," the snake on her arm shouted, tightly coiled and grinning almost madly. "THIS IS AWESOME! KEEP IT UP! GO, GO!"

"GLAD YOU THINK SO-ARU, I CAN'T STOP!"

Woah woah woah _woah_- WHAT. "WAIT, WHAT- WHAT DO YOU MEAN, 'CAN'T STOP'," Anzu screeched, looking to the back of the dog's head in incredulity.

"I MEAN I'M GOING TOO FAST-ARU! IF I TRY TO STOP I'LL JUST CRASH-ARU!" Cr-Cr-

"WHAT!" The mood of the passengers fell considerably at that, Ren in particular giving a good long scream upon realizing his 'ride' was a death trap. "WHAT THE HELL! GET ME OFF THIS THING, IT AIN'T WORTH IT!"

"UM... I don't think that's a good idea-aru," the dog responded, still pounding along the ground as Anzu struggled to keep hold on her now 'suicidal' snake.

"WELL THINK 'F SOMETHIN'," Katsuya roared, the snakes holding him in place shifting uncomfortably. "I'm gonna be sick!"

"I think I already _am_ sick," added his sister, the others pulling slight faces at that.

"Please don't puke on me-aru!"

"Mrnnnn... If I do, please forgive me Honda-han..."

"W-WHAT!"

"Honda-kun," Yugi shouted over the grumbles, the dog momentarily cut from any thoughts of bile in his fur, "Are you sure you can't slow down gradually?"

There was a short bit of silence, the dog seeming to bow his head mid run before nodding. "I can _try-_aru, but isn't that a little counter-productive," he asked, a number of the passengers growing rather red with the protest.

"Gh... IT'S 'COUNTER-PRODUCTIVE' IF YOU CRASH US ALL," came Otogi's angry shout, the dog ducking his head as his fur bristled.

"ALRIGHT! ALRIGHT-ARU, I'LL TRY, but-"

The dog cut off with a yelp, a large rumbling coming from behind them to throw his running off balance. "Uhhhhh... What w's that," Katsuya asked quickly, looking back as the others did the same.

"...Don't look now," Ren answered, comment all too late for the others, "But I think our tunnel is collapsing..."

"C-Collapsing," Yugi repeated, turning back with wide eyes as the darkness seemed to do just that. "A-AH!"

"HONDA! I TAKE BACK ALL I SAID," Otogi shouted with a start, cracks of white appearing and filling the area behind them with an empty space that destroyed all in its path, "_RUN LIKE HELL!_!"

Honda, suffice to say, was more than happy to oblige.

* * *

Back in the heat and steam filled air of the depths of what could well have been hell, little had changed after Seto's accusations. If anything there'd been a short span of silence as they paced each other, the taller of the pair narrowing his eyes in 'thought'. "...So you know the truth then," Noa said almost in disappointment, Seto staring at the man from their positions at opposite ends of the craggy field. "Well... I suppose this simply means I can speak freely then," he chuckled, shaking his head with a laugh. "No secrets, no holding back... Yes. I am 'dead'," he said plainly, the woman before him narrowing her eyes in suspicion as he continued. "This body you see here... It could have been mine, but it's mere ashes now, and never had the chance... But that's only my_ body,_" the man added, a dark smirk on his face as his form seemed to steam and mist. "Just look," he called out as he pointed to the air. "THIS is my _real_ body..." His real one...

The blackened and ash covered clouds above began to swirl and spiral with Noa's words, converging almost in a tornado like fashion. Rather than spiralling down for such a thing however they were pushed aside by an enormous metal 'sphere', sitting amid the clouds almost like a 'sun'. The sphere could barely even be called that however; metal rods and antennae spread out from its form, cracks and crevices lining its form in a circuit-like pattern. Occasionally small lights could be seen on the device, flickering on and off with some unknown message in mind amid the sun-like glow. This thing... A super-computer she asked herself, looking to the device in confusion. But it couldn't be... It couldn't. The woman narrowed her eyes further, looking back to Noa and swallowing a wave of suspicion. "This thing..."

"My 'real' brain," the man 'finished', sinister and nearly maddening smirk in place. "My mind's electric signals and pulses are preserved within this machine, never dying, and always adapting... It's given me quite the power," he continued, misting from sight just as his opponent made to charge and break through whatever mental holds had been placed. "_And I have to say,_" he chuckled, Seto's blade meeting nothing but steam and fog,_ "The advantages are endless, if not even 'boring' at times..._" Gh-

Enough was enough! No more talking..! "SHOW YOURSELF," she snarled, the smoking form of the man appearing behind her with those very words. "I- GH-!" Behind her..!

Noa chuckled as the woman reeled on him, misting from existence once again as a sword sliced through his 'body'. "Really," he sighed, shaking his head and re-appearing far to the woman's left. "Haven't you learned yet? This isn't real... All your energy is being _wasted_," the man continued, opponent pulling herself upright yet again to turn on him, "Spent on nothing but a running 'dream'..."

Dreams and illusions... "Believe me," Seto growled, pointing her blade forward. "It will be no 'dream' when I get to the 'body' you hold in the real world..."

"_If _you manage to get there," her opponent added, crossing his arms as he sighed. ...'If'? He said that almost as though he expected her to win despite his own intentions; a true fact of course, but for him to admit it... "I don't have to take _you_ after all," Noa whispered, chuckling darkly as his opponent frowned and paled. "You're 'imperfect', a failed 'copy' created for the sole purpose of furthering my existence. And I... Well I could be _anyone_," he hissed, body shrinking and slimming before the woman's eyes. Hair grew out, stood on end... Eyes grew wider, yet sharper nonetheless as 'Yugi' seemed to brush a lock of still green hair from his face. As his clothing altered and shifted into more 'familiar' attire. This... "See," Noa 'asked', the voice of her rival echoing through the air. "I could be a partner, a 'rival'," he offered, walking forward and smoking from existence as he changed again. "Or perhaps someone you're more _curious_ about," the 'boy' continued, in an echo, appearing to the side as hair lengthened and flattened to a more 'average' style to match with a taller, clearly feminine build. This... Kisara, her mind told her, blue eyes narrowing in mirth as the body again shifted. And in a shuddering wave of smoke the 'woman' vanished from sight completely, only for a familiar voice to come from beside her ear in a low and seductive tone. "Perhaps maybe even a _lover,_" 'Jonouchi' whispered, the woman he spoke to barely able to turn and stare at what stood before her. L-

He _dared_ to suggest... That... That...

Eyes shook with rage but the woman nonetheless held silent, 'blond' hair before her coloured to match Noa's own lighter hue with a dark expression far unlike the mutt. "Hnhnhnhnhn... I've hit a sore point," 'Jonouchi' chuckled, hands stowed in his pockets with a now white uniform jacket loosely hanging open on his form. "I wonder," the teen began, "Just how much you know about him... Does he know you forgot about him," he asked, Seto shaking on the spot as a growl developed in her throat. "Or does he simply pass off that time as 'coma-recovery'? Perhaps you don't even care," the young man continued, slowly walking around his target as she stared in shocked silence. "Perhaps you're even _confused_, curious about this 'boy' who pays such attention to you... Why, he'd do anything for you," he laughed, a wide and crazed grin on his face for just a brief moment as he laughed. "Even 'die'... So tell me," the teen whispered, walking closer as his target stood frozen in place, unable to move despite her body and mind both screaming for her to do so. "What do you want to 'change'..?" C... Change..? "Perhaps 'tha' acc'nt 'f his'," he whispered in a hauntingly familiar tone, Seto's blade slowly glowing with flames as the fires leaped from the metal. "Perhaps that stubborn intent to do the opposite of what you prefer," he continued, "Who knows... _I can do that,_" Noa hissed, fading from sight to mist directly behind the woman and place a hand on her shoulder. "_If you just let me take his place..._" This...

"You _TWISTED BASTARD-! _Don't even TOUCH me!" Smoke blew out from the blade's path as she reeled on the 'teen', eyes blazing as she ground her teeth and turned toward where he re-appeared in a mist. No effort to take the form of one she knew had been made this time, not that she cared as she charged the again 'adult' 'Noa Kaiba'. "You say I exist, that my pain and life _exist_ because of YOU," she roared, swinging the blade downward in a violent release of rage. "That I'm no more than a 'FAILSAFE'? A 'COPY' meant to REPLACE you! Don't _FUCK _with _me,_" Seto roared, blade cutting through smoke and nothing but smoke as her opponent was steadily forced back against the stone cliffs beneath them. "Don't even think for a MOMENT that you have anything to do with ME! This is _MY_ life," she hissed, "And it has been since the moment I was born. And to those who even think to interfere with the path's I've created," Seto continued with a snarl, "I will exact the most powerful force that this world has ever known," she screamed, bringing her sword forward once again. "_HRAAAAAH-_Gh-"

Eyes widened as the blade in her hands seemed to dissolve, her opponent doing the same as he 'smoked' into existence across the lava filled chasm. "Hnnn... You resist so _strongly_," he sighed, spinning his opponent's sword in his hand as Seto clenched her fists from across the impossible divide between the two. "You should be relieved at what I'm doing," Noa snorted, shaking his head at the woman before him. "To take your body would mean to leave you here, with no worries to distract you, with nothing to hide from... And yet you continue to fight..."

"Words are useless after all," she snarled, clenching her fists. "What use would a life be if everything you did was decided so easily?" A smirk appearing on her 'brother's face with the accusation, eyes narrowing to mere slits as a wind blew past.

"True... Words have a place, and this isn't it... Well then," he chuckled, snapping his fingers as lava erupted into geysers around him, "We should start moving... You still have the same deck from last time correct," he asked, Seto narrowing her eyes and nodding nonetheless. "Then choose-"

"I have my deckmaster," Seto growled, armor already shifting as it became lined with violet scales and coloured in blue. Her cape and hat were replaced, and though the sword she'd held before was not she brought a foot back into a more battle ready stance nonetheless. "The Kaiser Seahorse..."

At this Noa seemed to nod, stance almost carelessly casual as he gave a 'bow'. "In that case," he chuckled darkly, "_Ladies first..._"

Had she received any other cards in her hand at that moment, she'd have attempted to leap the canyon to run her opponent through right then. It wouldn't have mattered that she had no sword to wield; her hands would have been enough, and she'd have strangled the son-of-a-bitch to death if she had to. Or even simply run him through with her bare hands. As it turned out however, victory was already on her side, with the perfect combo already set to come into fruition. "Tch... I summon the 'Giant Germ'," she called out almost bitterly, the amoeba rising from a mist of water that had no source nor place in the volcanic terrain. "In addition" the woman muttered, "A card face down... End turn." This boy had made numerous mistakes in capturing and tormenting her, to say the least...

Challenging her and harming those two would be the last thing he would ever recall having done.

* * *

Light had become visible in the distance as they struggled to hold onto the dog before them, the snakes making up his mane beginning to loosen their hold. They couldn't even see their 'guide' any more now that the run was unstoppable, and by this point it had become apparent that it was not just the crumbling wall behind them that kept Honda running.

He hadn't been lying when he said he couldn't stop. "H-HUAAAAAAAHHH!" And in all honesty, he wished he didn't know that.

"HONDA-HAN," Shizuka was screaming, one of her hands slipping from the ring of snakes and steel.

"HONDAAAAA," the others were crying, those on the edges staring forward with wide eyes. The screams were endless, and the coming destruction behind was devastating true...

But the light, at least, offered them a bit of hope. It was only faint, but within seconds he was seeing more than just a precognitive flash of the image, his eyes widening further as the blinding glare moved forward. "L-LIGHT," he cried, a grin coming over him. "We made it! IT'S LIGHT!"

"It's the exit," Yugi shouted in agreement, eyes wide as he clung to the still present collar of (thankfully) emotionless serpents. "HONDA-KUN," he called out, "WE'RE ALMOST THERE!"

Their ride nodded, a doggish grin on his face. "And not a moment too soon-aru! This is-" The dog abruptly cut off as he leaped forward from the edge of the 'end', eyes widening as his paws met with the air. "AH-AH-AAAHHHRAOUFF!"

"H-HAAHHH!"

"NO FLOOR!" No shit!

It was likely luck that saved them from being turned into burnt ashes really. From where Honda had run through the air a platform of stone had come into view from directly above, and though the shock had shrunk him down to 'puppy' size it had nonetheless saved everyone from falling to a firey death. As to just where they were however, with nothing but heat and an ashen sky to give them an idea for a moment... "Hnnngg..." The blond grunted, weakly pulling himself to his hands and knees as he winced. "Oww oww oww..." That... Was one hell of an exit...

Who the hell knew what Noa's 'realm' was though, if this was even it. "Owwww... That _hurrrrrrts_," Ren hissed, slowly creeping from under Anzu's arm while the woman stood to grimace. "My _everywhere _hurts... Ahhhh..."

"Your 'spine' then," Honda barked quietly, wincing himself as his 'collar' shook itself out. "And here I thought you didn't have one-aru."

The snake instantly pulled himself from whatever pained grumbles he had, hood flaring as he turned on the dog. "I SWEAR IT YOU DAMNED BARKING-RAT, I'M GONNA-"

"Where... Where is this," Anzu muttered, the others standing to look around in confusion as they ignored the arguing duo at the side. "A volcano..?"

"No... A volcano would be different," Shizuka muttered with a swallow, holding her spear close. "This is similar, but it's not a 'volcano'... More of a molten plain, but where it is specifically..." The girl shook her head, biting her lip. "I can't be sure really..."

Well that was just great. Katsuya frowned, before a shout from the side and around a small growth of stone caught his attention, the wall only partially blocking their view of the field beyond. '_Summon Chiron the Mage,_' a voice announced, the blond freezing as he came around the stone to see the sight of an already in-progress duel. '_ATTACK MODE!_' Monsters... "Aw hell," he muttered, the others following his gaze as Seto hurriedly leaped back from the attacking warrior's staff. "This is..."

Noa was _adult_. As in 'his actual age', hovering somewhat in the air with a confident grin and a white suit nearly identical to his old 'last clothes'. He was an adult, and facing Seto in battle at his own mental 'core'. That was never good... Yet as the others came around to stare he found himself unable to speak on the matter, the only one of them with a loose enough tongue catching himself in shock after mere seconds.

"K-Kaiba-san," Yugi had called out, eyes wide as the woman froze from behind her bare-handed block to Chiron's staff. "And Noa!"

"Gh- Yugi," she shouted through disguised tones, throwing her opponent's monster back. "You-"

The duel screeched to a halt as the shout rang through the air, a frighteningly crazed grin appearing on Noa's face as he turned to look at the crowd. "Ohhh... Well would you look at _that,_" the man chuckled, stance instantly shifting to that of confidence and superiority as opposed to the careless and playful one he'd held seconds prior in the air. "Your _friends_ are here," he said almost teasingly, Seto snarling from the side.

"Gh... _NOA..._"

"Now now," the man shouted with a smirk, shaking his head as he laughed. "Don't be so upset... They've barely missed a thing," he called out in 'reassurance', "In fact they're _just in time_..." Just in time..? But for _what_..? The blond's questions were quickly answered as their captor continued to chuckle, adjusting the jacket on his shoulders with a sneer. "This game has a 'plan' after all," Noa was saying, pacing his side of the chasm as he grinned and landed upon the ground. "A 'plan', a 'story'... A 'Genesis'... But before we begin," he continued with an accusing point to his opponent, "There seems to be a problem; while it will take seven turns to complete my heaven and earth, there's a flaw standing before me in the design, a black smudge on my realm! Only _truth_ can stand before me," Noa warned, a smirk remaining on his face as both Yugi and Katsuya paled with cold suspicion. "No _lies_ can remain in my path... I've been sharing nothing but facts with you, and with all of your friends of course," the man went on, throwing his hands out as he shook his head. "And you've been guests in my lands, you've all traveled to my own personal realms... But while I've answered all of your questions," he sneered, the crowd at the side narrowing their eyes as Seto as well paled and dropped her scowl for a chilled look of blank horror, "There's someone here who hasn't been completely honest with you _at all_..."

"What..." Shizuka frowned, shaking her head as the others stared in confusion. "What are you talking about," she managed to ask, the others merely narrowing their eyes further as both Yugi and Katsuya stepped back to stand against the stone wall and trade fear-filled glances. Don't ask don't ask don'- "What do you mean?"

Shit. "_Oh_," Noa 'asked', eyes narrowing in cruel mirth as he looked toward the crowd. "_So she didn't tell you then_..?"

"Ah- She," Anzu repeated blankly, mad laughter filling the air. No... No no no no n-

"Hnhnhnhnhnhn... HnhnHAHAHAA! Really," the man called out, lava rising from the chasms behind him, "How horrible! You shouldn't lie to your friends, _Seri_!" With the snap of Noa's fingers wind blasted across the molten plain, Seto throwing her arms up in defense as a blinding light and a wave of lava blocked her from view. The heat slammed against each of them, and amid the burning lava a shadow could be seen.

"GH- _NOA,_" the woman could be heard shouting, voice still disguised despite earlier comments. "_YOU-_" And then there was silence...

And when the lava fell, Seto's voice had no more need for a disguise, not that she spoke after that fact. For as the woman stood frozen, her armor vanished and replaced with clothing she had never even come close to wearing. The unisex tunic and gauntlets were tightened and slimmed into a white t-shirt, the hat and cape that so hid her figure destroyed completely. Boots were replaced with simple shoes, and as the others stared in a similar shock, mere mutterings leaving their lips, the pants had already long been changed into something else. And as Katsuya held his breath his friend was doing the same, both boys pressing their backs against the stone with bit lips and wide eyes. Ooohhh hell he thought, staring at the woman before him as the field fell silent for a brief moment. Ohhhh shit...

"K-K-Kai..." Otogi couldn't even finish saying the woman's name as the 'hips' he'd been glancing at were revealed in full, the fairly revealing gym-uniform bottoms leaving little excuses to prove him wrong this time around.

"Sh... Shoujo..." Honda momentarily lost his canine 'tic', his own jaw dropping as eyes honed in on a narrowed waist that had been too difficult to discern amid the black cloth of the real world and the blinding light from the draconic deckmaster seen hours prior.

"O-Ojou," Anzu and Shizuka both choked, only for Ren's shout to echo even further above the field as Noa gauged each of their reactions.

"B-B-BNAT!"

And as Seto stood, frozen in the very much revealing women's gym uniform, only one other statement could be heard before the former crossdresser finally snapped.

"Like your new clothes," Noa was cheerfully asking, still fiddling with the sword he'd confiscated from her moments before. "I designed it from _memory_..."

There was only one way to put this he decided quickly, Seto's gaze moving slowly from her own body to her opponent as knuckles audibly cracked in the air.

Noa was fucked.

* * *

**AN:** Yea that about sums it up-

BUT THE REVEAAAAALLLL! How will Kaiba react next? Will it be a 'blue-screen' situation, where the body just freezes and attempts to comprehend everything at once (Because hey, she knows EVERYONE is there.)? Or will she kick ass?

_OR BOTH_? ...Actually not sure how 'both' works. Oh well~

Any ways, ahhh... Remember that job? It was a horrible _horrible_ scam... (-sigh-) I'll be surprised if I got minimum's wage worth from that.

So YEA. Back to looking for a job that actually complies to the labour laws, so expect regular updates for another few days at least.

Also, giving the 'music' bit of this note an official section, as recently I've taken to picking out specific songs at each section. You don't have to read it with the chapter; because hey, you might not like it! But still. It'll be down past the pictures section.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey there Iona!

And YES! BATTLE ROYAAAAALE! Actually, now that you've mentioned 'the chair', I can't get it out of my head...

And yes, the height seems pretty crazy... It's actually not though. To put it in perspective, people from the UK alone tend to be three-four inches taller than those in North America, where the average guy is 5'11''. Of course, in _JAPAN_ this is pretty much _FRIGHTENING_... But nonetheless. While Noa would still be above average in his mom's country, everyone else is likely to assume compensation anyways.

Oh, I meant in regards to Siegfried; when Siegfried appears, he'll be calmed down enough to care, hahaha.

Ahhh... He probably was; the thing is though, Mokuba and Yugi are drawn _really_ out of proportion to the cast. In reality, Yugi should only be about two inches shorter than Anzu after all. Instead, he's drawn a full head shorter, and Mokuba isn't far behind.

Also I needed a reason for Adult!Noa, so _shhhhhhh_...

As for the next part... HOORAAAAYYYyyyy..? Um...

Cynical Gamer! You survived the dive!

...And you're going back for more? NOOOOOOOO...

You can expect _lots_ of 'interesting' chapters in this arc thanks to the levels of mindscrew. I do like being surprising of course, and as for Ren, hey! Someone had to find out, and Honda has a legit reason; he's connected to the computer after all, however subconsciously the connection. VERY glad about the reaction to the Jou/Yugi fusion. I wonder what you'd call those two though... *digs around for ideas*

Ooooh, those stone dragons... You'll be seeing them MUCH later, and then it'll allll make sense~ ...Before we get there though, for if you're one who 'knows' who they are, they're not reincarnation-ally involved. (That a word..? IT IS NOW.) At all. You'll find out how they're _really_ involved though later on.

Noa's going to be a _huge_ prick, and if you haven't gotten that from the above... YEA. But yes, MOKUBAAAAA! You're going to HATE what happens next if you hated this!

Hahaha, I'm not surprised about missed things really; I try to be vague enough that it'll turn into an 'Oh yeaaaaaaaa...'. Glad to be a reference to the original Japanese too; and you're quite right, Kaiba really went through a lot of character development in that series. _A LOT_. And so many people don't realize this...

I wouldn't go so far as to say 'shining armor' though. More that he's a great bit 'tsundere'; he'll help. But _clearly_ it had _nothing_ to do with _you_. (-snrk-)

HAHAHAHAHAH! We're of the same opinion then! ISN'T IT FUN?

Hey, don't be so quick to think the real Kisara won't get a decent appearance; she's actually due for a cameo soon, and while it's not in this arc, it'll happen before Battle City end.

As for reactions, you'll see that next chapter, so I hope you keep enjoying this!

Until then, have a good read!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that foresees 'Street-Fighter' references in the next chapter... Also fanservice.

* * *

'Bifauxnen' refers to _two_ things here! As the standard, it defines Kaiba; she _looks_ 'bishounen' (To the point where valentines day is the plague...), but she's assuredly not.

However, it refers to Noa as well; he's not _really_ bishounen, he's barely thirteen! That's shota silly!

* * *

What? But they've been to KaibaLand! Well not this one; in the anime, it's as though it's the Japan one…

But it's got more than just the tower! KaibaLand-Japan is entirely contained within a tower structure though, so that's impossible…

Needless to say, we've therefore combined elements with the dub; it's KaibaLand-California… But rather than simply being built by blue-print, it's _already_ being built in the states at that moment. The date it'll be finished? Almost a year from the fanfic's date, hehehe.

* * *

'Kaiba Land', or rather, what I'm using as reference for _this_ Kaiba Land, had a map printed out when the Bunkoban (The somewhat edited re-print of the ENTIRE MANGA) was released. (In Japan, of course.)

Here's a guide to what each number is here:

Blue-Eyes Arcade

Future KaibaCorp building

Duel Stadium

Washroom

Kaiba Land Hotel

Blue-Eyes Monorail depot

Kaibaman show

Battle City the Movie

Death-T virtual theater

Blue-Eyes Ultimate World

Kaiba Castle

Blue-Eyes Burst Stream

Washroom

Shop

Blue-Eyes Adventure

CapMon Mokuba building

Shop

Monster Horror building

Washroom

Blue-Eyes Jet Coaster

The map itself, is here, and remember, remove the spaces! http : / / images. wikia. com/ yugioh/ images/ 2/ 25/ KaibaLandMap. png …And for the sake of the fanfic, don't think of it as 'to scale'!

I'm not completely sure why Kaiba plans to put the office in a giant duel disk. I don't think I'm going to ask either… Particularly since there's a GIANT STATUE OF HIM in there. (That's not there in FanficLand; just Blue-Eyes being AWESOME… Mostly because Seto wouldn't want a statue of herself crossdressing up there.)

Note that there's a lot of stuff here that wouldn't have happened until _after_ the events of the manga. This 'Kaiba Land' was finished after the fact… Which means that really, you can just assume that things that shouldn't be there just yet would ordinarily have different things at certain times. 'The Movie' thing would have different films for example. The 'Kaibaman show' (-snrk-) would… Probably have different things as well. The Death-T building on the other hand, is probably just REALLY DIFFERENT.

I would think that things like 'Blue-Eyes Ultimate World' are rides… But you never know right? As for the 'Capmon Building', that's definitely STAYING… In fact, if I decide to work it in enough, you might get another anime filler arc thrown in here. (-wink wink-)

In other news, using the map above, I'm working on the the 'fanfic equivalent'… ALSO not to scale, and not nearly as well drawn, but what the hey. There's going to be a giant dragon in the middle of those three instead of a giant Kaiba. As to why there's a fourth dragon on that sculpture… Well, there were kinda four to start hn? And besides, it's going to be Blue-Eyes Shining anyways; for the fanfic, Tenma and Gekko will end up giving it to Kaiba as a present.

What with her being the only one who could play it anyways, you know? (And also with them kinda trying to take over the building in R. Which hasn't happened yet.)

* * *

By the way, the building they entered wasn't a warehouse; it was the unfinished duel stadium.

* * *

Cerberus aside (Cerberus being the guardian to the gates of Hell in Greek and Roman myth by the way; rather fitting here), it really is depicted with a mane of snakes and the tail of that same animal. Honda's 'secondary' form as this still has a mane of snakes despite losing the two other heads actually; and they're still there in the 'mini' form too! (It's to make up for his lack of metal-head... Stuff.)

Besides this though, the 'code', or 'N' refers to typing shorthand in Japan; the greek symbol omega is used in the place of the n kana. Most likely for scientific purposes though.

Omega by the way is the final letter of the Greek Alphabet, and generally refers to top-power, the end, etc...

So yes, this is why Ren was notably afraid.

* * *

Now, I'm no chessplayer, but I'm _pretty sure_ the move we saw in the anime wasn't a game finisher… At all. The King didn't seem to be in range from what I saw… In any case, leaving it vague and different; for irony's sake, the Queen took the King!

* * *

By the way, the robot is 'Material Armadillo', in reference to a monster that Kaiba had in his hand at one point during Yugioh R.

There is also nothing special about it at all; I just enjoyed toying with the image of Dog!Honda chasing after a ball. Hehehehehe.

* * *

That projector was a traditional film reel in the original. OH HOW TIMES HAVE CHANGED.

* * *

Church? WHAT IS THIS MADNESS! Seriously, Noa's duel is _so_ Biblical, I just… HOLY SHIT. From Noa's ark to his obsession with God in general, I _had_ to stick in another reason. I had to. Because face it guys, Noa's had access to the ENTIRE INTERNET for _how long_? He'd have either debunked his own theories until he entered his own debate, or simply gone weird and bitter thanks to other webpages. He'd be the biggest troll on the internet EVER.

Clearly he is every twelve year old noob you've encountered online.

* * *

Little bitter there Kaiba? Well, the fact is, it's hard for anyone to think of someone like Gozaburo as someone who was ever nice-ish. And even so, there are 'nice' people who are nice to their families and then pull that arms dealing crap with the 'weapons on both sides' thing in the world as it is! The problem here is the contrast between the Gozaburo that she knew, and the one Noa knew. There's a lot that caused this difference, and while Noa's eyes are admittedly somewhat covered with rose-glasses, the man was very different back then, at least in the fanfic.

Of course, that's just unbelievable to Kaiba; both because of the above, and also because that means she missed out on a decent life with her brother. Had Gozaburo acted anything like he did with Noa, I doubt there would have been as much hate…

Oh well~

* * *

What, but these were filmed normally, and- NO. STOP. PARENTS DON'T FILM FUNERALS.

And given that we have slight proof that Gozaburo genuinely loved his son… (Which is ironically the fanfic's reasoning as to why he was SO horrible to Kaiba, but more on that later) …Well, I'm sticking with 'he didn't film that'.

* * *

Ren! Why did you do that! You're not the self-sacrificing type... Yet!

He really _did_ think the switch was in the head; and the fact is, he's good at riling things up.

Granted, he didn't expect to _live_ through it (he's honestly quite sick of hearing everyone talk about him, and the fact is, he knows damn well he won't 'really' die.), but even so, it's been mostly taken as a bluff.

But why? Well, it has to do with Anzu's pestering actually; Malik's voice, at least as 'normal' Ren, is pretty much what he sounded like as a small child. So, despite anything that points to otherwise, Anzu can't help but treat him like one.

As the giant snakes of attack power though, he sounds more like his actual self, but thanks to the echo it creates only Jou and Honda have really put two and two together.

* * *

Oh hey, they got the train but it still didn't work… Well, fact is, while the train made it out in the anime, I kinda crashed it into the lava in this fanfic rather than just... Vanishing. It's one thing for _one_ person to escape that, but the groups is too big to escape like that.

* * *

Also 'Shou'? As in, 'sounds like show'? OH THE PUNNERY!

* * *

Those two? OHHHHH, _I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE_.

* * *

In other news, yes; Jonouchi foresaw the encounter from his point of view rather than Seto's. CREEPY ain't it!

* * *

So many words for girl! But why use them all?

Well, 'Shoujo' is of course simply 'Girl'. Hence the terms 'shonen' and 'shoujo' manga; boy's manga and girl's manga. Shoujo specifically tends to refer to children however, those from childhood to young-teens really. Or at least it does when speaking of a specific person. (It's a little rude with an adult after all; like calling a 'woman' a 'girl' in a professional situation. If at a meeting somewhere fancy, it sounds better to say the 'woman at the desk' rather than 'the girl at the desk' doesn't it!)

Ojou on the other hand, is more polite.

As for Ren's 'Bnat', that's Egyptian Arabic for 'Girl'. (The actual word is spelled and pronounced more like 'binat'... So basically, it's been accented.) What, you thought his shocked exclamations would be in Japanese?

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

Remove the spaces for your fanserv- I mean fanart.

SpoilerConcept! OC & Noa - http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ NoaLyris. jpg - Meet Lyris; her name is written in Katakana, because she's not Japanese. But you probably guessed that. This is the OC that may or may not make an appearance at the end; in fact, consider that a poll. Do you want her to show up or no? It would be around the final arcs if she did.

Also Adult!Noa. And Adult!FEM!Noa... In a Gym uniform. Eeeeeh?

I'd have posted Seto in her own gym uniform, but her ass-kicking pose is coming more difficult than I'd hoped. So...

Enjoy the fem-Noa? ...And Lyris!

* * *

Musical Notes

In which I tell you what I was listening to while I typed, and you decide if you like it, if you don't like it, and if I'm just plain crazy.

You knew that last one though.

Anyways, for here, I was bouncing back and forth between these three songs in particular, along with two 'mash ups' from Nico Nico.

The 'Mash-Ups' are known as 'Nico Nico Medley' and 'Nico Nico Ryuuseigun Chaos' (The one I mentioned last chapter.

Other songs are...

'Remote Control', another song I mentioned last chatper, and

Nowhere from Madlax (Used in the Anime Noir; it's pretty awesome.)...

Along with 'Agent Yoru o Iku', from Makoto of the game 'The Idolmster'! ...Yes I listened to that one during Kaiba's scenes. Shush.

Well, that's all for now... If this chapter seems somewhat iffy, let me know; I'm always open for critiques, and I know that with this arc in particular things likely seem off the map. Part of it is simply from the earlier mindscrew warnings.

Others really are off the map, as this is pretty much the only chance I have at getting away with gravity defiant and over the top moves, ahahaha. Not to mention Seto standing still with Noa right there; if you haven't guessed now, that was Noa's doing. He doesn't much like getting interrupted by a sword you know.

Well, enjoy the chapter! Coming up next, the first half of Noa VS Kaiba! (And yes, this duel is going to be _long_... Though with luck, Yugi's half will still only be one chapter.) See you next time!


	94. Chapter 93

**Sororicide**

* * *

It wasn't real, she told herself with wide eyes, shaking on the spot despite all her mind telling her to snap herself from these thoughts and fight.

It wasn't real, it wasn't real, it was all just an illusion and those behind her would do well to realize this. It wasn't real, it was never real, but there were too many little uncertainties that were made legitimate with this revelation; a billowing coat to hide clearly feminine hips, a turtle neck to hide her throat. There were too many reactions to point to the truth. Silence from the 'mutt', shock from herself, dull horror from her rival at the side as Noa sneered. And as her opponent's monster held his mirrored shield across from her, the glass of her face down trap shattering with her 'giant germ' to disintegrate into the air, the woman found herself frozen in minute shock. Staring... Simply staring, first at her own horrified reflection and then at herself.

There were voices from the side, she could hear them. '_K... K... Kai..._' They couldn't even say her name properly any more... Haha... Hah...

Most weren't even trying to bother with that. '_Shoujo_,' she heard instead, the woman looking over herself as a warm breeze blew past her largely bare legs, a sight she had only ever seen when either showering or simply changing. '_O-Ojou,_' the others cried in a failed attempt of politeness, her body shaking with rage as her eyes quivered over the sight of herself. '_Bnat,_' the childish snake at the side screamed, the word clearly foreign and indiscernible.

Of course, even as unknown as the word was, she had a feeling she knew what that meant. 'Girl', they were shouting, 'Girl', 'Girl', _'Girl_'..!

They knew now. About her gender, about her identity, about this _weakness _created by simply holding up strength and holding the mask. They _knew_...

They... _KNEW_... Everything..!

And this _scum_ was even now speaking..!

"Do you like the clothes," Noa 'asked', Seto's eyes snapping forward as they caught her reflection in the glass once again. White t-shirt, almost navy-blue 'shorts' if they could even be called that, with how similar they were in appearance to a mere pair of underwear... Black shoes, white socks, and the only thing that revealed her deck master's identity was some sort of marking around her upper arms and throat, a 'tattoo'. Her breasts were for the first time in a long time, unbound while in another's presence, there was nothing to hide her body within... This 'man'... This _BOY, _she corrected in silent rage, slowly growing red as she clenched her fists. "...I made them from _memory_... Hnhnhnhnhn..."

Screw the disguise. Screw the voice, the clothes, the disadvantages _meant NOTHING,_ this _brat _was going down if it killed her! "Gh... Hk..." No. Matter. What. Knuckles cracked as her fists clenched still tighter, and with a sudden roar that forced the crowd into silence she charged forward. "_NOAAAAA,_" she snarled, proving to those at the side just how 'real' this 'ploy' was. There was no need to cover this voice now she thought, bringing her fist back for a punch as she made her move and chased the now backing-away warrior. No need at all. "Sacrifice the Giant Germ," she spat, move already underway as thick and almost moth-eaten bandages appeared around her arms and palms, "And summon the Vampire Lord, weapon mode," the woman continued, the wrapping seeming to glow ominously as she ran. "_HHHAAAAAAH!_"

A shattering sound clattered over the air, the glass of Chiron's shield spiderwebbing into a series of cracks. The mirror before her showed only a broken form of her reflection before shattering into pieces, the glass scattering to the ground as Chiron stepped back yet again. "Oh... So your monster regenerates," Noa was saying, the shield dissipating from the sides as his monster hurriedly ducked under a second strike. "Well... That's troublesome..."

Hn! Not as troublesome as this, she thought mid-stirke, moving forward with all the speed and force of a ragefilled tornado. "_HHHAA!_" A second blow to the monster was made, following that punch. Seto's fist coming down as her leg moved to kick the monster swiftly across the face, a sickening crack coming through the air to match the side kick's swift pull back. Even if the blow itself hadn't snapped its neck, the monster's eyes dilating as it became unable to breath, it would have died; from the force of the blow it was sent toward the lava and into the chasm bellow, and as its killer charged forward to leap off the beast as a crude stepping stone its face was even further decided with a voice-less and horrified scream. "TCH... Noa... Just because you have my personal thoughts to use against me does not mean you're the superior one," she snarled, again bringing her fist back as she took aim. "_TAKE THIS!_"

Dust filled the air as Seto's fist struck the ground, Noa having vanished in a cloud of smoke upon dodging. A small crater was all that remained, and as the man re-appeared to the side the woman turned on him with a low growl. To go on and on about 'fair fights' only to constantly teleport throughout the field... What point was it all if she did nothing! Yet the man seemed different despite this; his hair was slightly singed, and his jacket was now missing from his shoulders, apparently lost to whatever flames caught the fabric from the heat. It was only a moment of relief that she had at this sight however; for despite this change he seemed perfectly fine, even clapping from where he hovered above the chasm beyond her reach. "Hnhnhnhnhn..." Seto stared, frozen in shock for a moment as the man laughed, her opponent's eyes narrowed with mirth. "Wonderful... Wonderful," he laughed, opponent continuing to clench her fists in a building rage. "You've made me discard a monster and dealt damage to my lifepoints within one move, despite apparent _disadvantages,_" the man sneered, seemingly emphasizing the last phrase with a grin. "Why... You aren't even _phased_ by what I just did, are you," he chuckled, the woman across from him gritting her teeth. A time and place she told herself, shaking on the spot as she held herself back. A time and place..! If she attacked now she'd fall into the chasm before she even made contact, she couldn't move- "Ah, but you know," Noa sighed, opponent preparing for any attack that the man could make, "Those bandages look absolutely _horrible_ on you..." The- What..? Before she could say a thing a wave of energy grew around the man's hand, Seto's eyes widening briefly as the "_**FISSURE**_," the man announced, a sudden blast of stone and wind throwing the woman back with a shout. "Destroying the Vampire Lord bound to your arms!"

"_GH!_ HCK!" Stone cracked against Seto's back as she was flung against one of the cavern walls, ribs cracking on impact as the bandages on her arms smoked from existence. Her monster was gone... Along the stone wall the woman swallowed back a small bit of blood, hands slowly reaching up to pull herself to her feet. "Hah... Hahhh..." Alright... That didn't work. But the vampire would come back next turn at least, and-

"_Summon Ares,_" she heard her opponent shout, the woman looking up with wide eyes as the monster appeared from the smoke and ground to charge forward in silence. "_ATTACK!_" Shit.

"GNHAAAGH!" Blood spurted from her stomach and mouth both as the warrior's spear was slammed through her body, Seto gritting her teeth as shouts came from the side. '_Kaiba'_, most were shouting, confusion, pity and a whole number of things that would otherwise not exist present in their tones. '_KAIBA-SAN,_' came Yugi's cry, '_Kaiba-han,_' from Shizuka. The spear was pinning her to the stone itself, her body almost hanging limp across the cliffside. '_KAIBA!_'

'_SETO-CHAN!_' The woman's eyes flew open with that shout, gaze honing in on the monster before her as her attentions were pulled back into reality. S... Jonouchi..!

She told him not to call her that damn it! And- "Gnh..." God... Her chest...

"Is this _really_ the best you had," Noa chuckled from before her, standing in mid air behind the monster he'd summoned. Seto merely leered upward as a glass 'set card' shimmered at her opponent's side, blood coating the stone and the spear shaft embedded in her body. "Really," the man was saying with a sigh, "You aren't taking me seriously at all! Maybe I _would_ make a better you," he laughed, body shifting and twisting before her very eyes as she was met with close to a 'double' of herself. As hair lengthened to the point it would have been without the disguise, as clothing shifted into a uniform identical to hers, hips and breasts came into view... "...It isn't like my name doesn't 'suit it' after all," 'she' sneered, Seto's eyes quivering as she looked upon the being. That...

"_YOU_..." That. Was. IT! A hand flung up to the spear in her stomach, pulling at it as she breathed hoarsely. Her opponent's monster was growing pale now, and the bandages from her vampire were reappearing... It was her turn again and like hell she was just sitting by while _THEY_ were watching, and while _THIS_ person had her brother..! "Hahhh... Hahhhh... HAHHH..! I summon the Slate Warrior," she hissed, the spear cracking in her grip as the shoes on her feet 'glowed' and covered themselves with stone, "_WEAPON MODE! _And if you think that I'm through," the woman snarled, pulling the spear from her body and gripping it in her hands, as a sick suction-like noise followed the removal from her chest, "You can think again! I _ATTACK_," she roared, the spear's tip swung forward to pierce the monster's throat as she jumped to leap across the warrior's skull, " AND NOW-"

"Activate trap," Noa stated calmly, eyes narrowed as 'she' easily dodged the next strike kicked from his opponent. "'Earth Shaker'. I'm going to choose two attributes, Dark and Wind," she said calmly, narrowing her eyes as she grabbed the next leg flung toward her. "And you pick which one to destroy. ...Tainting this world with your demons again," the woman growled, sending a kick of her own into Seto's face as her opponent was sent skidding across the ground, "I'd thought you'd have learned the first time..!"

"NGH!" Stones dug into the wound on her chest, Seto pulling herself up to wipe her cheek of whatever blood had run into her mouth before growling. This 'World'? Could it even be called such a thing? "Hn! Demons suit this place perfectly," she spat in response, the bandages on her arms vanishing nonetheless as she made her decision. "But I'll choose the Vampire Lord regardless... You can pretend to be the God of your own little world all you want," Seto continued, running toward Noa once again, "But no matter what you do, you're going to hell!"

Chuckling met the air as the next strikes were again dodged, Noa easily skipping backward before jumping back into the air. "Hn! Hell? Quite accurate," her opponent retorted as the woman charged, "For we've entered the first turn of creation! Verse 5, chapter 6 of the book of Genesis," she sneered, the sound of a thundering storm coming over the air as winds sliced at any bare skin there was. "'_The Lord saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become,_' Noa quoted,_ 'And that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. So the Lord said, 'I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth_...' So he created a flood," Noa continued with a darkening grin, the woman before her growing pale as water appeared from beyond and above the cavern's walls, "And did just that... _**GIANT FLOOD**_."

Oh great. A God-Complex with a _themed deck_... Just beautiful. "_W... Water... WATER,_" those at the sides shouted, Seto unable to even roar in her distaste as she was thrown back by the powerful waves of the sea. Her senses were completely stripped from her being as rocks were pounded from existence and water filled the field... Her hearing was thrown out of synch, her eyes blinded, and her feeling numbed by the cold of ocean waters, leaving her unable to see, hear, think even save for the slight 'feeling' she had in her mind concerning the fight. The bandages on her arms would not return, that much she knew... Nor would the now eroded stone rims from her shoes, the embodiment of the Slate Warrior's power being washed away by the torrent that flung her about. She was underwater... She needed air... Ghn...

Ngghg... "BLG- GHAH!" Seto burst out atop the waves as she gasped for air, taking swift long strokes toward the nearest sign of 'land' before clambering on top of what was a tiny pinnacle of rock. "Hah... Hah... Hah..." Hands shook as they clutched the side of the stone, slowly pulling herself further up as she choked. Tch... Her weapons were gone she realized with a scowl, looking over herself in distaste. And her clothes were soaked, the tight clothing leaving a clear hole from Ares' attack visible for any to see the now cleansed and gaping wound. "...Hn! At least the brat had the decency to give me a bra," she hissed, the white fabric of her t-shirt sticking quite closely to her body for the moment. Because the fact that her 'audience' was almost entirely male wasn't bad enough already, _right_?

Pathetic little obsessive- "_Hnhnhnhnhnhn..._" Seto's eyes narrowed as chuckling came over the air, the woman standing atop her small 'rock' and looking about the sea with a scowl. Nothing, she thought to herself, clenching her fists. Nothing- Or so she thought. The woman turned to the side as a 'splashing' sound came over the air, scowl still set on her face only for it to drop, eyes to widening as an enormous ark arose from the depths below. Almost box like in appearance the waters broke from around the device, an enormous tablet covered in symbols standing tall in the center of the ship. The ship, however, was not what caught her eye, despite its archaic form and gargantuan size.

Rather it was the owner, now dressed in what looked to be almost ceremonial robes from the northern lands, who did so. Noa leaped forward from the side of the ark, still holding the feminine form of her counterpart as she came to a stop above the waves and smirked. "H- You..."

She was _walking_ on the _water_, she told herself with a swallow, staring in shock as her opponent chuckled. _WALKING_ on the... "Meet my 'deck master'," Noa sneered, gesturing behind her with a grin as she came to a stop a fair distance from her opponent. "The Ark of Shinato... The vessel of the Gods and the Herald to the Battle of the Heavens!"

* * *

Figuring out how to deal with the whole 'Seto's a girl' thing was both harder and easier than it could have been, he found. For the moment, Yugi and Katsuya were both holding their distance, Seto fairly frozen on the field for the moment as the others muttered amongst themselves. Maybe they hadn't noticed that they weren't saying anything yet, and maybe they weren't...

But he sure as hell wasn't going to ask right now. "A trick," Anzu was saying with a laugh, shaking her head nervously as an incredulous and possibly crazed smile came over her face. "This... This has to be a bluff," she continued to laugh, "There's... He just _can't_ be..." And yet Seto's voice was not the same as her disguise, what with there being no use for it, so the argument fell short.

The others as well had their own takes on the situation, their own ways to deal with it. "...I _KNEW_ I wasn't seeing things-aru!"

"You-" Otogi turned to the dog at that, eyes wide as he shook himself. "WAIT, so it wasn't just me then!"

The dog merely snorted in response, while the cobra on Anzu's head stared somewhat awkwardly at the field.

"Hey, am I the only one mildly turned on by this," he asked, his partner choking immediately.

"What- Ewwwww, you're a piece of my _soul_ Ren!"

"...Hnnn... And just what does _that_ mean I wonder," Otogi muttered, both he and Honda looking to their friend as she stared.

"Wha- No! NO," she hurriedly shouted, shuddering and shaking her head. "NOOOOOO, AUUUUGH... Definitely _NOT_, I-"

"G-Guys," Shizuka coughed, the others turning forward as the woman before them clenched her fists. "If this is a bluff, then... Then Kaiba-han is taking it quite 'well'," she choked, Seto in question moving to charge as her opponents words came across the field.

"Gh... _...NOAAAAAA!_" Oh yea. That was definitely well. He'd just be hiding behind this rock now...

"Alright, now one of you has to admit that's hot," Ren said with a teasing grin, the serpent quickly grabbed by his disgusted partner.

"REN..."

"Actually, despite most of me arguing against it," Honda said nervously, "I'd have to agree-aru..."

"...Eh... I was joking..."

"Oh."

"H-Hah... But this... This can't be _real_ right," Otogi coughed, he as well going somewhat red as the woman on the field charged and attacked her opponent with a shout. "I mean... This is Noa's realm, he could still be messing with our heads... He probably is, I mean..."

Yea... Yea just keep believing that... "That's right," Anzu said with a nod, laughing somewhat nervously, fingers digging into her staff as she attempted to calm down. "It's all just... One big misunderstanding," she laughed, before drawing back as Seto was thrown down by Noa's spell. "Gh- ...You're right though," she said with a swallow, the woman on field pulling herself up with minor difficulty, "He's taking it oddly well..."

"_Because 'he' is not a 'he', is she,_" Katsuya's stowaway muttered, the blond swallowing as he shook. "_And this... Is no bluff._" No... No it wasn't, it wasn't and...

"...Jonouchi-kun," Yugi whispered with a swallow, the blond not answering as another shout came over the air. "Jonouchi-kun, if something happens-"

"SUMMON ARES," Noa roared, steam and lava rising from the ground to form the warrior as the spearman charged toward his fallen opponent, "AND ATTACK!" Attack...

No... No... "_KAIBA,_" the crowd roared, the woman's own shout cut short by the spear that dug through her stomach and left her hanging limply on the stone "_KAIBA-SAN,_" "_KAIBA-HAN,_" Shizuka and Yugi both cried, Katsuya merely freezing in place as he looked down at the cliffs. She wasn't moving... Her eyes were beginning to close over, and she wasn't moving, she-

"Se... SETO-CHAN," he screamed, eyes wide. "_SETO-CHAN!_"

It was as though the world stood still, that moment. Before the crowd could turn and question him, Seto responded. Her eyes snapped open, and as Noa taunted her she made her move, eyes wide with rage. The spear in her stomach was shattered and pulled free, her attack made as she pushed forward, kicking off the monster in a roar...

And throughout all of this, the others turned back with wide eyes, slowly finding the words to say as they stared. "N-Nihan," Shizuka whispered, her brother quickly realizing what he'd said as both he and Yugi bit their lips and swallowed. "You..."

"...Noa said... 'Seri', aru," Honda muttered, the dog swallowing as the others stared and allowed him to continue. "Seri... That was the name of that girl you mentioned earlier this year-aru... The name of the girl you mentioned on Valentines," he continued, tilting his head as he looked awkwardly away.

"You said the kanji were 'se' and 'hito'," Anzu whispered almost hysterically, holding her head as the pieces fell into place one by one. "And that she was blunt, cold, and tall..."

"You always slip up," his sister added, rubbing her arms and looking away nervously. "You say 'konojou' sometimes, and before you say 'Kaiba' you always say 'Se' or 'Seto'..."

"Sometimes even 'Seto-chan'," Otogi continued, seeming to bite his lip as his friend looked away.

"Gh..." There was no hiding it now, was there... The secret was... "...Guys..."

They didn't say anything. His friends, his sister, they merely stared, waiting for him to explain, to tell him what this meant, and what everything meant, and just where to begin was... "_...Well,_" the spirit in his mind muttered,_ "This is going to be awkward..._" Ah- It was awkward enough _without_ him damn it!

Yugi continued to bite his lip, before stepping forward with a nervous swallow. "I... We can explain about Kaiba-san later," he said quickly, the others swallowing as they stared to the boy in confusion. "It's true," the boy said with a swallow, seeming to almost look away as he spoke. "Kaiba-san is a woman; I found out not too long ago myself," he explained, "But both Jonouchi-kun and I promised to keep it secret... And more importantly... We can't let that get in our way right now," Yugi pressed, shouts covering the field as Seto in question continued her fight. "We can't let this distract her, no matter what!"

"Ah..."

The others again swallowed, looking to each other for a moment. "Y... You say that-aru, but..."

"Like Yugi said," Katsuya cut in, swallowing back a wave of unease as the others stared. "We can' let th's distract 'er! Noa's got Mokuba... An' he's already screwin' with her head enough," the blond pushed, gesturing somewhat to the field. "You might not know much abou' her but... But I..." He... Katsuya paused momentarily, the others watching almost expectantly. "...I don' wan' her t' lose, no matter what," he finally whispered, bowing his head as his face flushed red. "She can' lose... So we need t' make sure tha' no matter what, she _doesn'_! Nothin's changed," he continued, steeling his resolve as the others stared, their friend looking up and stepping forward with a determined gaze. "Seto-chan 's Seto-chan, no matter what we all call 'er. Jus' cause th's is out in th' open doesn' mean she ain't gonna fight," the blond pressed. "So lets cheer her on, got it?"

"J-Jonouchi," Otogi muttered, swallowing as he and the others stepped back somewhat.

"Nihan..."

"_Got it_," he repeated, before a rumbling noise tore through the air. The sound briefly came across almost as a 'snap', a breaking dam. As though a barrier had been broken, and as he looked to the side Katsuya's eyes widened, the others following his gaze before they could give an answer to his words. Something blue was approaching... Something big...

Something...

Wet. The group's eyes widened as they stared at the oncoming waves, stepping back with wide eyes despite there being nowhere to go. "N-Nihan," Shizuka squeaked, grip on her spear tightening as she looked to her brother. "I agree with you completely... But we need to run," she said with a swallow, the others nodding furiously.

Ren laughed somewhat hysterically at the chorus of agreement, swallowing as he turned to the girl. "H-Hah... RUN," he shouted incredulously, rising from Anzu's shoulder to gesture to the side. "That's WATER!_ ...WATER_," he repeated, eyes wide as he coiled back up in fear. "We're on a tiny little cliff," he moaned, "Where are we supposed to RUN!"

Ohhhh crap. Katsuya clutched his staff, the others quickly sent into panic as they looked at the lava below. Nowhere to run, nowhere to stay... "AH... AH... Oh! I got an idea-aru! Quick," Honda shouted, bounding up and down as he barked, "Grab onto my-" Whatever the dog said next was drowned out by waves as the crowd was blown back, water filling their lungs and ears both as they were tossed about in the searing torrents. They were separated, divided by the currents... A dim light could be seen from above, from Noa's 'computer' he knew for some reason. As they sank however, a shadow passed over them. Something sharp grabbed his arms, pulling him upward as he attempted to breathe, and as he attempted to acknowledge the pin-prick sensations in his arms. Everyone was being pulled up in fact... By a series of long, snake like tendrils, rising toward one great and huge shadow...

Wait...

Snake-_like_? "GHAH!" Blond hair broke the water, the pricks in his arms vanishing at that very moment as he looked around in confusion. "W-What..."

"WUAHH!"

"AIR," came Ren's cry, the serpent clambering onto the blackened 'land' they'd been pulled to as still other shouts broke the waters. "I thought we were dead!"

"Hah... Hah... We almost were," Anzu continued, breathing haggardly as she pulled up on the 'land' to spit out a wave of salty seawater. "But where..."

A sigh of relief came from around them, their friend's somewhat robotized voice meeting the air. "Haaaaaaah... Man," Honda sighed, voice seemingly coming from nowhere. "I didn't think that would work-aru..." Ummmmm...

"...Where's Honda-han," Shizuka muttered nervously, looking around only to jump back as something shook water out from the front. "GH-" AH- Water!

A large hound's head turned, somewhat red eyes staring forward as the mane of snakes on his neck pulled the last of their group upward from the seas. "Hey! You alright-aru?"

Um... S-Sure... As good as he could be being rescued by a mane of poisonous snakes... "H-Hah... N-Never better," Katsuya wheezed, staring almost blankly as the others swallowed and looked down at what was apparently the dog's back. "Er... H-Honda..."

"I can't see any land-aru... We'll have to work with this," he continued, paddling forward as Seto herself clambered onto a small spire of rock far in the distance. "Just that-aru, and I don't think Kaiba will be too happy to see us," he added with a whine, ears pulling back somewhat while a reptilian tail acted as a rudder.

"Got that right," Otogi said with a swallow, Yugi sitting beside him to stare forward with a worried and attentive eye. "He... She's probably absolutely pissed," he muttered, shaking his head. Pissed? Ohhhhh...

"Tha's puttin' it lightly," Katsuya groaned, before choking as a shadow rose in the distance beyond the woman in question. "An' ohhhhh hell," he hissed, drawing back as Honda abruptly turned to avoid the waves of water sent scattering by the device.

"T-That..."

"It's a ship," Shizuka shouted with a swallow, answering Yugi's muttered and unfinished question with wide eyes. "An ark..!"

"It's more than that," the snake on Honda's back continued, the dog having turned to allow them a proper view of the device as he himself stared. "Look- Something's coming out of the water," he shouted, hood flared in caution and agitation both.

"More like 'lots of somethings'..." As Otogi said this a number of geysers erupted from the seas, each converging toward the tip of the tablet above before becoming absorbed on its stone cover. Images appeared on its form, carvings of monsters both 'dead' and 'alive'... The Giant Germ in the form of a few circles, the Vampire Lord as a caped 'man'... "What the hell is this," the teen muttered, narrowing his eyes as he looked to the tablet's design. "What..."

"_Hnhnhnhnhn..._" Far in the distance a woman could be seen at the head of the arc, wind blowing hair back in a constant 'cape'. A woman dressed in the robes of a culture that completely contrasted that of the ship's own, a large hat reaching almost to her brow despite the amount of hair that was in the way. There was something similar about her though he realized, narrowing his eyes as the form became clearer in the foggy air. Something... The woman leaped down from the ark, walking forward across the waters as ripples appeared beneath her feet. "_Meet my deckmaster,_" she sneered, the ark floating on the seas behind her, as she gestured back. "_The Ark of Shinato... The vessel of the Gods and the Herald to the Battle of the Heavens!_"

"The ark of shinato," Honda repeated blankly, before his fur bristled and the dog tensed. "AH! N-NOA!"

"He... He turned himself into a _GIRL_," Anzu shouted incredulously, the others narrowing their eyes in confusion as Otogi grew pale and coughed.

"Agggh... ...If I didn't know that, she'd actually be _very_ hot right now," he muttered, holding his head with a pained moan. "Someone please tell me that's not as bad as I think..."

"Er... No... No Otogi, tha's fuckin' creepy," his friend responded, pulling back from the teen with a swallow as the dancer scowled. "Hihhhh... What th' hell kinda monster is tha' anyways," he continued, shaking his head. "It's... A gian' BOAT!"

"It's not even a monster," the snake on Anzu's shoulder growled, hood flaring somewhat more as he spat at the air. "That's a SPELL!"

"But you can't use spells for deckmasters," Yugi protested, shaking his head as the duel's next turn came underway. "Only monsters, so how..."

The answer to that question was left unsaid, and as Honda continued to float on the seas they could do nothing but watch and wait for Seto's reaction to her opponent's words.

* * *

A reaction that was, to say the least, not too pleased. Geysers were rising into the water all about the field, and carvings of monsters were appearing on the stone atop the ark. In response to the eruptions by her side the Slate Warrior, the Vampire Lord, and the Giant Germ were all appearing on the tablet... Same with the Stone Giant that Noa had evidently discarded, the warriors she'd killed... All of the monsters were appearing on that stone, and as her opponent stood a 'safe' distance away upon the seas Seto grit her teeth. "Tch... Hiding from me now," she asked, the 'woman' merely smirking as she twirled the stolen blade from moments before in her hand.

"Please," she chuckled, narrowing her eyes as the blade vanished into dust upon the water. "As if I would need to _hide_... I'm merely standing by my ship's side," Noa stated in a voice all too similar to her own, "Making sure that all those in the grave are safely taken aboard for the use of my 'ability'!" And as to what that ability, her mind told her it wouldn't be good... Tch... "This is the beginning of the end," the woman was continuing on, brushing a small lock of hair from her eyes as she smirked. "Watch carefully; the Seven Turns of Creation have already begun!"

Th... The seven... That was right, she told herself. Noa had said this was the 'first turn'. Tch... Mutterings of 'God', of 'Floods' and of 'Creation'... Throwing her secret into the open, humiliating her as much as possible... All this... All of this..! "Gh... Hnhnhnhn... HNHNHAHA... HAHAHAHAHA!"

She just couldn't believe this all anymore... Noa's eyes narrowed from across her opponent, the light-haired woman staring in confusion as Seto cackled almost madly from her tiny stone cliff. "You... What's so funny," she spat, opponent turning a dangerously enraged stare to the woman. "Why are you laughing!" Well!

Hitting a sore point was she..? "'Seven Turns'..." Like everything else in that damn book, everything else the 'western world' obsessed with... Seven... Hn... Hnhnha... HAHAHAHAHA! "You claim to defeat me in _SEVEN TURNS_," she laughed, already making the summon for her turn as water arose from behind her. "It's nothing but a bluff and a joke," Seto sneered, almost bitterly "A pathetic attempt to shake my resolve... You've succeeded at _NOTHING_," she hissed, shaking her head as the 'Spear Dragon' appeared at her side to hover above the seas. "And right now, you've only killed yourself! Victory is on my side... You're open to any attack I make! Spear Dragon," the woman ordered, flipping back onto the monster's wide head as it tore into the air with a screech, "_ATTACK NOA DIRECTLY!_"

It would have worked, in a 'perfect world' she supposed, if this could even be called a 'world'. As Seto drew close she kicked off from her monster's body, ignoring Noa's shouts of deck-master abilities and perfect defenses while the Spear Dragon grappled with a re-summoned Vampire Lord. Something she'd known would happen thanks to the 'heads up' on Noa's ability, something she had considered and attacked with due to the dragon's own trick. However, as she approached her opponent from above she could see a smirk... She could hear a chuckle as she prepared to land a punch into her opponent's face, the sound causing her eyes to widen momentarily. "_Ahhh,_" the woman whispered with a sneer, narrowing her eyes. "_You've underestimated me..._" What... What was he talking about- "_And thus the second turn begins._"

-_FSSSSHHH_-

Smoke wrapped around her body as the punch connected with thin air, leaving her with nothing to fall against. Cold water was splashing around her as she fell into the seas yet again, seemingly wrapping around her form and dragging her down into pitch black depths. The Vampire Lord had been defeated. As a defense mode monster however, most of the damage dealt had been through her dragon's effect, still affecting her opponent's life points despite the rules of play. And just dimly, as she dove forward against her will she could hear a voice... '_The Second Turn of Creation,_' the voice chuckled, her mind just barely recognizing it as her opponent's. '_The land was cleansed of all sin; and so the flood receded, with the promise to never again cleanse the surface of the world by means of such a thing... Hnhnhnhnhn..._' Receding... The waters were receding...

Ah-! As Seto turned over in the water a sinking sensation came over her body, more so than the plunge already left her with. Her feet touched the ground as it became visible to her, and water sank past her face at the same moment with the sound of rushing waves. The 'sun', the 'computer' gleamed brightly in the air, almost blinding her as she looked up; the soil began to dry, and all about enormous trees grew from shrubs within mere seconds, with grasses coating the ground beneath her feet as she was quickly encompassed in a wooded jungle. Her Spear Dragon was in defense mode now, circling the air in silence... And now, it was Noa's turn.

To add to that, she could see her 'audience' drying themselves off in the distance, their friend having somehow managed to multiply his size by an incredible amount. The dog, in question, was shaking himself with as much vigor as one would expect from a real one, with the added bonus of shouting and barking at the top of his lungs. "Hhhhh! Now there's salt-water all over my fur-aru..! Gh! It smells!"

Those at the sides of the dog quickly flinched away and ducked under the spray, the girls in particular giving out loud squeals of displeasure. "EEE! Honda-han," Shizuka protested, the dog's fur hanging messily on its form. "Stop shaking it on us!"

"GH- Honda, you're getting us covered in wet-dog smell," her friend continued, shaking the water from her own robes as her partner hissed.

"Don't make me hold my tongue out! I'll do it! And you won't like it when I do!" Hn! Really...

Seto scoffed at the ridiculous exchange going on, nonetheless looking to the crowd with narrowed eyes a moment longer before looking back to her surroundings. The 'second turn'... "Welcome to the era of Dinosaurs," a voice called out, both Seto and the crowd looking upward as Noa and her ark hovered in the air above them all. "It's an important time... A time where survival was power, a 'dog-eat-dog' world," Noa added with a smirk, Honda growling darkly at the look and jibe both. "In fact," she added darkly, "My summoned Giant Rex is already showing us an example..." Summoned... Shit!

The others turned, eyes wide as the Spear Dragon that had been attempting to signal its master was snapped up by its neck in the jaws of an enormous Tyrannosaurus-Rex seemingly from nowhere. Blood spurted out and to the ground in wide-spread and small drops, and bones could be heard crushing... Seto looked up with a fairly unimpressed scowl as the monster threw her dragon to the side, the corpse narrowly flying over the peanut gallery's head. "WUAAH!"

"W-WATCH IT-ARU!"

"Tch..." Bullshit... Absolute bullshit she thought to herself, narrowing her eyes as she looked back to Noa as her dragon's corpse disintegrated into ash. 'She' was laughing now, now that 'she' had an advantage again... Typical really. But she wasn't about to just give in just yet...

Not just yet... "Hnhnhnhnhn... Feeling frustrated," Noa chuckled, watching as her 'prey' vanished backward into the woods to 'hide' from her Giant Rex. "Confused perhaps..? I wouldn't be surprised after all," she laughed, unaware of the spell card activated by her opponent as she spoke. "I represent everything better than you... In skill, personality, intellect... I'm a computer after all," the woman shouted, grinning madly even as three face down panels and Seto's deckmaster ability came into play, "A perfect entity surpassing even human limits!" Surpassing her ass, a 'computer' would have been done by now..!

Nonetheless, this apparently surprised everyone else. "A... Comput'r," Jonouchi was repeating from the side, the blond looking up with narrowed eyes as he shook his head. "Wai', so..."

"Well Noa's dead right," the snake beside him muttered, Anzu holding the serpent in her hands for the moment as they stared up at the common enemy. "So there had to be something..."

"No..." The audience frowned, staring up at the woman as she sneered and responded to their mutterings. "I'm alive, and I've always been alive... Revived and existing in a manner you can't even begin to comprehend... Of course, it was hard, even unbearable at first," she continued, shaking her head and trailing off for a brief moment. "But I learned to cope... After all; it was only a matter of time before I realized the gift I'd been given," the woman cackled, "Realized the power that I had! I am a 'machine' now," Noa laughed, expression twisted with insanity. "The perfect being, with all the information of the world at the tips of my fingers. Anything I need to know, I have it within mere milli-seconds where others take years! I know EVERYTHING," the woman cackled, unaware of her opponent's current location. "How the world was formed... How the dawn of mankind began... You can't even hope to become so intelligent as a normal human being! And that _SERI_, is the difference between your mind and mine," she spat, still looking down from her ship even as the glassy panels of traps shifted through the air. "Such is the identity of a FAILSAFE! As a force meant only to drive me forward!"

"A... Failsafe," Yugi repeated, only for the others to hold their breaths. "Ah-"

Yes... They'd seen her, hadn't they. "Repeat that," a cold voice said, Noa turning only to be met with a solid kick against her face as the attacker narrowed her eyes. "_I couldn't hear you_."

"A-AH! YEA! GO SETO-CHAN," Jonouchi called out through the air, the peanut gallery already fulfilling their 'cheering' role as the woman above continued to attack their enemy. "_GO F'R IT!"_

"KICK HIS... HER... UM..." There was a short pause, and then, "KICK NOA'S ASS," Otogi shouted, the injured woman in question flung back through the air as both Seto and her summoned 'Twilight Zone Dragon' charged downward.

Hn! While she could hardly say the 'chan' was preferred, she agreed quite wholly with that plan! "Hn! Heaven-made intellect, beyond human reach'," she taunted, a flip-kick sending Noa's body further toward the ground as she fell alongside her summoned monster. "Claiming to be beyond anything this world has seen," she hissed, kicking off the dragon once again. Another blow as Seto landed on the ground, charging her recovering opponent with a punch that sent her flying into the woods before the woman could even stumble to her feet. "_DON'T MAKE ME LAUGH,_" the woman roared, Noa looking up briefly as her opponent continued her attack. "You're just a pathetic little _brat_," she hissed, another punch slamming into Noa's cheek as the woman gave a short shout, "A whining little boy who can't accept the facts of life! It's not my business to bother with what happened to you," she continued, grabbing the woman by her jacket to pull her forward as Noa choked. "But enough is enough; you're just hiding behind layers of intellect and so-called omnipotence... When the fact is, you're _DEAD_," Seto roared, staring into what could have been her own eyes as Noa grit her teeth and looked back almost in tears. "And you should realize that now! Gozaburo had no intentions of bringing you back to the world like _this_... He'd have told my brother and I from the very start if that had been the case. Face it," she spat, throwing the woman to the ground with a sneer. "Your so called father didn't trust you after you became a computer... That's the real reason why you're 'still here'..."

Something had 'snapped' in Noa's mind at that point she told herself, the woman having collapsed to the ground beneath her hair and robes both. Something important, something dangerous... Whatever the 'thing' was, its restraints had blown. "My father _loved me_," she whispered, hands clutching at the ground before her as her voice rose into the air at a fever pitch. "He saved my life where medical science and technology failed, he risked _everything_ for _me_... But he didn't want me to become 'lazy'," she continued, standing shakily on the ground as her opponent tensed and drew back from the clearly crazed woman. "He didn't want me to fall behind... So he offered me a body," she laughed, eyes wide and quivering as the winds themselves seemed to react with her insanity. "He showed me a body, just moments after you were adopted... '_He's almost the same age as you were'_, he told me, '_Almost thirteen..._'" Thirt-

When her lessons had been at their fiercest... When her vocal lessons had been about to start... Seto stepped back as Noa approached, still walking slowly as the sounds of the jungle echoed around them.

"He created _everything_ for me," Noa hissed, clenching her fists and wiping blood from her mouth as she laughed. "All that I wanted, he would give it to me... But it wasn't real," she screeched, charging with fists as her opponent attempted to duck and return the blows, the first two already striking her face and shoulders with the force of a small car. "The programming was delicate, fragile, and never real! How many children go to MARS for their birthday," the woman howled, nails slicing as Seto's cheeks as a blow struck her face in an almost clawed strike, "How many people can walk anywhere in the world and have everyone know your name," Noa roared, opponent forced to do nothing but block the attacks coming her way as 3 out of 4 each broke through the 'barrier'. "Even the _DOG_ was fake," she spat, another right hook snapping Seto's head backward, "Even something with base instinct that all humans can grasp with _ease_," she snarled, opponent grunting as she was kicked in the stomach and left gasping for air. "But I _LEARNED_... I began to make adjustments," she hissed with a hysteric grin, kneeing the recovering opponent in the face before kicking her to the side. "Fixing things, learning things... Did you know," she asked, wide smile over her face as Seto looked up to breath haggardly, "That if I were to use all of the company's still active weapon satellite systems, I could destroy this world in thirty days?" Th... Thirty...

Seto found her blood running cold with those words, unable to move for a moment as her opponent slowly walked forward. "You... You would send the world into an _apocalyptic ruin_... Within..." Even she knew the chances of survival in that sort of thing... Even she knew that no one would live...

"I told him this you know," Noa 'laughed', shaking her head as she came closer to the standing woman. "I told him that, but after all I'd said and done do you know what he did?" Ohhhhh please don't, don't tell her that he-

"GLCK!" Fingernails dug into her throat with a sudden speed that nearly blinded her, her body pinned against the tree with all the force of a hurricane as Noa continued to 'laugh'. She couldn't breathe... She couldn't move, her throat was bleeding and...

And the crazy _son-of-a-bitch_ was laughing... "He LEFT ME! HE. LEFT. _ME_," the woman screeched, grin falling into a snarl as she cried. "For _YOU_, who had _LIED_ to him all that time! He never spoke to me again, never visited me... And finally, after three years of waiting you KILLED HIM," she roared, throwing her opponent by the neck and into the jungle with a screech as Seto cried out. "He turned all his attentions to you, all his _love_ to you... And you _betrayed_ him..."

"Gh... Hnngg..." Love? _LOVE_! This 'bitch'... _DARED_ to compare it to... "That bastard... Couldn't have loved even _himself_," she spat, pulling herself from the ruined forest to glare at her opponent's battered body whilst the terrain continued to 'crumble'. "Not if his own life depended on it..! But he at least knew where to draw the line," the woman continued, stumbling to her feet as the sky above darkened and clouded over. "Even Gozaburo can't control the growth of the human mind, can't re-create its path... While he could create a paradise for you, and give you a place to live as you were, the real world was beyond his grasp. There's too much chaos," she growled, gripping the side of a tree for support and trying to catch her breath. "Too much to place in random chance, in a world of light and darkness both. The strength to live can only be learned through the pains and frustrations of the real world," the woman went on with a rasping choke, "And when he realized how you stood against man kind he must have been _miserable_... Our fight... HN! It was nothing more than to see who was more _human_," Seto hissed, shaking her head. "The computer, trapped in an endless paradise... Or the human, in constant agony and despair. Perhaps if you'd 'won'," she said with a frown, popping a dislocated shoulder back in place, "He'd have kept this 'promise', and accepted you again. But in the end you're just a small, lost little boy trapped in a cold and isolated realm... Left to become nothing more than an emotionless _machine..._"

She was surprised Noa stood there as long as she did really, listening to her words... She supposed that she shouldn't have been surprised though, with what she'd been saying, with the expression on her opponent's face hidden behind a curtain of light coloured hair. "You... You don't understand me at all," Noa whispered, shaking her head as she clenched her fists. "Lose all my feelings... No... I _surpassed them_," she muttered, smirking darkly as a shadow arose behind her to herald the placing of a 'spell'. "I surpassed every mortal boundary to become 'GOD'," she continued, "To become the creator of a new world..."

A 'new' world..? "Hn! To create a 'virtual world' is within the ability of anyone with a half a brain," Seto sneered, standing under her own strength and gripping her still gaping wounds with a wince. "You can't call yourself 'God' with _that._.."

"So you say," Noa chuckled, narrowing her eyes as she held her hands outward. "Yet I predict that in this very turn," she continued almost calmly, "Something will occur to prove that theory wrong, shaking the very foundation of your existence!" Her- What..? The chuckling grew into a full on cackle, and as the sky began to flash with cracking lightning the sounds were almost drowned out completely. "IT'S MY TURN," the woman roared, fires coming into the sky as Seto stepped back with wide eyes. "THE THIRD TURN OF CREATION; IN THE NAME OF THE LORD I WILL RESET THIS LAND ONCE MORE! _**DEEPEST IMPACT**_," Noa cried, meteors striking the ground and pummelling the summoned Rex into a pulp while the others screamed, "Destroying all monsters on the field!" Destroying-

Meteors continued to fall, and fires were catching the forests while destroying everything in sight. "Gh- Twilight Zone Dragon," she called out, the dragon swooping by as the enormous boulders smashed into the ground around them. "Activate your effect," the woman ordered as she flipped onto its back, "The Different Dimension!"

Not a moment too soon and they did just that, her dragon giving out a loud and affirmative growl as its four wings flapped. Through a pocket in the coding the duo flew, the world coating itself in black and grey as the fiery meteors pounded the earth flat. They could see nothing more of the damage done however. Could see nothing of those outside their realm, and nothing of the time that passed since they'd hidden. What they could hear seemed almost drowned in water, echoing beneath the waves of whatever dimension they were taking shelter in...

But she could hear their shouts nonetheless. '_The sky,_' Yugi's friends were screaming, most other cries largely undecipherable. '_TAKE COVER!_' '_This is bad-aru... REALLY BAD,_' the particularly recognizable 'robot' howled, the dog's cries filling the air around her. Screaming... Nothing but screaming...

But for some reason the next voice she heard wasn't that of Noa, in either form. It was _his_... The voice of the 'mutt', the 'blond'... _His_ voice... '_You see this power,_' an unaccented voice was calling out, a chorus of chokes and gasps coming from below her position in response. '_This meteor shower, that destroyed the earth? The resulting ash and smoke was enough to block out the sun,_' 'Jonouchi' chuckled in explaination, '_Bringing about an age of ice and cold, and allowing the mammals to rise..._' The Ice Age..?

Seto's dragon landed on the ground, allowing its master to slide down and back to the real world as the 'different dimension' vanished from sight. In an instant, change could be seen around them. Where tall trees stood were now enormous pillars of ice if anything at all, and across the frosted plain mountains could be seen only in the far distance, as slightly faded shadows. The crowd was now standing behind her, grouped tightly beneath the enormous dog that was apparently Honda as the frigid winds blew, chilling their bones even from beneath the canine's thick coat. She herself was already struggling to keep the cold from affecting her, narrowing her eyes and gritting her teeth as goosebumps rose on her skin. No monsters... Noa had no monsters, and her dragon returned only on 'her turn'. But despite that, the 'Deepest Impact' spell had halved their lifepoints, leaving her with only 700 to call her own in contrast to Noa's own 1400. It was as though he wasn't trying to use monsters to attack, or even trying to attack at all... Just trying to lock her in a futile struggle, and gauge her reaction and rage. This... "The Third Turn of Creation," 'Jonouchi' announced, Seto widening her eyes as a figure appeared on the snow across from her in the same robes as her previous opponent. "'Ice Age'... 'The Rise of Mammals'..."

"Y...You..." Seto found herself stepping back despite her will and drive to fight, face already red and irritated in the blistering cold. "That's..."

"What th' hell," Jonouchi muttered from behind her, gripping his staff as he swallowed. "What did y'..."

"That's... That's NIHAN'S body," the blond's sister screamed in horror, Seto merely staring as Noa laughed from across them. "You..!"

"What's your problem-aru! First Kaiba and now this," Honda snarled, clawing at the ground as the snakes around his neck hissed just as angrily. "What's wrong with your own body-aru!"

Noa merely continued to laugh, snow whirling around his form in a 'private blizzard' as he grinned. "Well... It's survival of the fittest," he 'explained', holding hand out as he rose on a slowly growing mound of ice and snow. "Weeding out the weak and letting only the strongest survive! You think this is 'jarring'," he sneered, still grinning as the snow beneath him took form and seemingly began to move, "Think again! That moment has yet to come... All this is, is a reminder... I don't _want_ _YOUR_ body," the teen laughed, Seto grinding her teeth from below as the mound continued to rise and tower above her. "Your mask is essentially a permanent fixture, making you _weak_... I'll just take this one instead," he continued with a grin, gesturing to his robed form as he chuckled. "And alter the proper neurons to make you my puppet..!" Alter her...

Oh HELL... "A _PUPPET_," she snarled, eyes wide with rage as the mammoth Noa appeared on began to charge, the snow solidifying into brown fur and ivory tusks. "Like _HELL!_ Twilight Zone Dragon," she ordered, the monster swooping to the side as she grabbed its tail to avoid the strike. "Take us up; I activate two of my traps," she shouted, throwing a hand forward as the mammoth continued to chase them, ignoring the fact that he quite obviously wouldn't be able to follow. "Ring of Destruction," the woman began, the first of her three glass panels shattering to form a ring of grenades around the mammoth's neck, "And Ring of Defense!"

'_But why_,' she could hear them shouting, resulting explosion cutting through the air as Seto landed safely to the side with her dragon, the mammoth across her left as nothing but a pair of hind legs that burned themselves to ash. '_Why bother when the Mammoth has less power?_'

'_Because,_' Yugi explained with a swallow, the Twilight Zone dragon curling around Seto in the meantime. '_When the Mammoth is destroyed, it inflicts damage to both player's life points..._' A fact she'd narrowly been able to take advantage of too... Though with both of those rings gone, it could be troublesome...

The smoke cleared as Noa wheezed from across her, standing limply on the ground before them and still clinging to Jonouchi's form. "HaHAAA! INCREDIBLE," those behind her were shouting, cheers. "That's great!"

"One more hit an' y' win Seto-chan! KICK THIS CREEP'S ASS!"

"But Noa's still got that ark shield thi-"

"Not now Ren," Anzu hissed, the duelist before the crowd rolling her eyes. Hn!

...Fools... Not to say she wouldn't win of course, but nonetheless. "Noa... Your spells and attacks amounted to _nothing_," Seto sneered, her opponent merely staring forward from a pathetic copy of her 'mutt's eyes. "It's OVER, _NOA_; I'm finishing this now," she spat, charging forward with a shout. "Twilight Zone Dragon enters attack mode," she announced, coming closer and closer to her injured opponent as she picked up her pace, "And I discard the Thunder Dragon from my hand! HAH!"

"_GH!_" A kick sent Noa flying back with those words, and Seto continued her charge as the teen was thrown violently across the frosted plain. "Nggh..!"

"I then play the spell Polymerization," she roared, spiralling smoke appearing over her fore arms as she spun forward for added momentum, "Fusing the two thunder dragons I pulled from my deck into the Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon... Weapon mode," the woman continued, another kick slamming into Noa's face as the sparks flew from her arms. "Along with the spell Quick Attack," she roared, punching the teen with a well placed uppercut to send him back yet again.

"_HNG..._ Activate the effect of the ark," Noa announced, pulling himself to his feet to kick back from the additional kick his opponent had attempted to make in the meantime. "Summoning Giant Rex and Stone Golem to my defense, the latter as armor! Your attack changes nothing," he roared, stone lining the sides of his aged looking robes, "Nothing!" Hn!

"So you think! I activate my final card," his opponent countered, leaping high into the air to bring a flipped kick down on the Giant Rex's skull while she spoke, "Dragon's Rage..! Allow me to show you just how wide the gap between you and I is," she spat, pushing off the dinosaur's corpse to again attack her opponent. "You're DEAD!"

"_GHO-_" Yet another fist to the face and Noa was stumbling back with a bloodied nose, with cheers and shouts erupting from the sides as he struggled to stand. "_GNA-_" A roundhouse kick and he was sent flying back, skidding against the tundra and leaving a slightly bloodied trail behind him. And as Seto charged she could see only one thing, one thing in her mind. She was going to win she told herself, bringing her fist forward with the intent of connecting against Noa's disguised face while the teen again stood. She was going to win-

And suddenly, Noa wasn't borrowing Jonouchi's face any more, shifting into his 'original', 'adult' form with a leering grin. And over the air, she heard her brother, and saw a white blur enter her vision... "_HHHHAAAH!_"

"GH-" A sickening crack hit the air as her punch was caught in a 'block', wrist snapping as the woman gave a shout. Shouts from the side had quieted with a resounding hush, and as her wrist was pulled forward and further into the defender's grasp her eyes widened in shock. Impossible... Impossib- "_Moku- _GH-!" Another blow had been landed and her fist was dropped, her brother's knee catching her gut as she stumbled back. Impossible, why was he doing this... "_G.. GHA!_" Another strike to her stomach, this time his fist, and as she clutched the again bleeding wound that was located near the developing bruise she looked up with wide and disbelieving eyes that far betrayed her usual expressions. "M-Mokuba, wh-"

"I won't forgive you, for touching my _brother_," the boy spat, before throwing a fist into the face that had finally been lowered to his level. "TAKE THIS," he snarled, another crack meeting the air as blood rushed from her nose, "_HHHAAAAAAHH!_"

"_GHNH!_" It was probably obvious that Mokuba's power had been increased. That his power was only enough to send her flying across the frosted plain for that reason, that ordinarily, he would never have come close to exacting this kind of force. But as she pulled herself to her feet, blood gushing from a now broken nose she still had to stare for a completely different reason, all injuries momentarily forgotten as she looked across to her brother. "Gh... Mokuba..."

What had once been cheers were now the curses of a bitter and angry crowd, the shouts of a group who could do nothing else but watch in horror as a friend and sibling turned on them completely. Had she bothered to listen she'd have realized that Jonouchi's cries were missing from the crowd... That below, on the sides of the icy plateau, he'd disappeared, vanished into the blizzard around them. But for now she was too busy looking to her brother, the boy now holding a cautiously offensive stance across the field.

"Is this the one," he was asking with enraged eyes, those at the sides erupting in roars of anger as Mokuba addressed their enemy. "Is this the one trying to hurt us?" Hurt...

No... No that wasn't- "That's right," Noa said with a menacing and cunning smirk, his opponent's eyes wide with disbelief and horror both. "This is the one I told you about... Our enemy," he continued cunningly, "The one who'll ruin everything!"

"Enemy," she found herself repeating incredulously, stumbling to her feet as the cold chilled her skin and froze the blood on her face and body. "You... _BASTARD_..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Bad luck," the man across from her was saying with a chuckle, "Horrible! Mokuba _is_ my brother though," the man said with a sigh, "And well... Brothers _protect_ each other," he muttered with a smirk, opponent clenching her fists as laboured breaths fogged into the air. "Of course, you were in the middle of an attack weren't you? We're both waiting you know," he continued with a laugh, narrowing his eyes. "So go on! I _did_ tell you after all," Noa muttered darkly, "That the 'third turn' would shock your very existence..." Nggg... Those words...

He'd planned this from the very start the little rat! He'd planned- "_GHAAAAAHG!_" Seto had little time to ponder what was or wasn't being plotted against her as her brother's 'class' kicked in, the boy seemingly vanishing from the air only to reappear and send a high-kick into her stomach. Air... She was in the air, launched upward by nothing but a kick, and she...

"_Hn!_" She was being followed.

"GH-" The back of her neck was the first to be struck down, made by Mokuba's elbow before she could even see him move past her in the air.

"_HAH!_"

Another blow. "Hng-!" Her stomach, his knee, sending her to the side in mid air as her body was tossed about like some abused rag-doll. "B-_**BARRIER,**_" she finally shouted, delicate bruises and bleeding organs given the shield they needed as she pulled up the first and only 'White Magic' spell she'd bothered with. A shield... This shield would hold, it had to...

And still her brother attacked.

She could hear Noa speaking through all of this... '_Not attacking I take,_' he was laughing, a final flip-kick sending the woman into the ground with enough force to form a crater amid dust and snow. '_Pity that... Of course, you'd have to strike Mokuba down in that case,_' the man continued through ringing ears, shaking arms pulling herself upward as she choked and attempted to see through a haze of frost.

Moku... Mokuba... "Hnng... Hhaahhh... Ahhhh..." Pain... Her body was wracked with pain... Mokuba stood above her, at the edge of the crater... With a look in his eyes that spoke of complete and utter rage. "I... Pass," she rasped, coughing as her brother stared. "Gh... Hgh..." Pain... The blows her brother dealt, they hurt... But more than that... More than that, it...

"_My turn then,_" Noa was chuckling, opponent barely able to breathe as she closed her eyes and struggled to breathe. "_How __weak__ the human mind though... Fragile and pathetic... Mokuba,_" he shouted, sounding almost as though he were underwater, "_Step back a moment; it's too dangerous right now..._" Dangerous... Hah...

Haha... She was still 'dangerous'..? Even like this..? "Gh... NOAAAA," she hissed, forcing herself to her front as she rolled over and attempted to climb her way out. "You monster... I... I..."

As bloodied knuckles pulled their way up her bandages were vanishing... Noa was speaking again... "Hnhnhnhnhn... I'm activating my third deckmaster ability," he was saying softly, shaking hands scratching and slicing themselves across the already freezing ground.

Gh... "Third," she asked in a rasping tone, managing to bring her gaze up toward the ark as she swallowed.

From the ark's tablet a number of symbols could be seen, each representing a monster that had been sent to the grave. Each glowing with an ethereal light as Mokuba stood at Noa's side, each light flowing from the tablet in a slow and cord-like stream towards their master. The wounds she'd inflicted upon him were healing... Clothing repairing, blood cleansed from his form as she stared... And as the glow continued Noa seemed to shine completely with power, a smirk growing on his face as he sneered. "'Absorption'," the man announced, holding his hands out with a grin. "By removing each monster in the ark from play, I gain five hundred life points. And with twelve monsters," he continued, grin growing almost crazed in appearance, "You can't even _hope_ to defeat me..." Twelve times five hundred... That meant he had... S...Sixty...

Sixty four hundred points... He had... '_That BASTARD,_' those at the side were snarling, Seto merely staring with incredulity as she forced herself out of the crater to spit a mouthful of blood to the ground. '_He was just tormenting her the entire time..! He could have done that whenever he wanted...'_ Whenever he wanted... He could have done it from the very start, but he'd waited..._ 'Kaiba-san, you need to turn this around, quick,_' they were shouting, Yugi's voice in particular coming above the others. '_Kaiba-san..!_'

Bastard... Bastard... "GH... HNG..." She forced herself to stand, blood dripping from her face and chest both as she ground her teeth. _Bastard_..!

"I'm not done yet... I activate the spell 'Dark Hole'," Noa said from far in the distance, opponent clenching her fists as she shook on the ground. "Destroying all monsters on the field... And sending them back to my ark..." This... This...

Her bandages had disappeared because of that spell... Eyes snapped upward in rage as a portal of sorts appeared before her, energy seeming to rise from the ground itself as the ice began to melt with it. "Tch... Twilight Zone Dragon enters defense mode," she announced, kicking back from the ground as her dragon appeared behind her, immune to the black hole's effects despite all the power it held. "Noa... Of all the most unforgivable things to do..." She'd made a promise she told herself, watching as her opponent grew further and further away, dragon putting as much distance between herself and the man. A promise... '_I'll look after you_', she'd told him. '_I'll do everything our Dad did; I'll become your brother, alright?_'

But she didn't, in the end. Look after him, she meant. She'd failed her brother... Hurt him, almost killed him in fact. Yet through even that he'd waited, standing beside that _mutt_ and waiting... Both of them just sitting at her bedside...

"You saved me," she found herself muttering, looking down toward the field as the sounds of a jet began to rise through the air. "Now... It's my turn to save you..." '_Keep fighting,_' they were shouting below, keep fighting, no matter what... There had to be something to break through, something. Some sort of trigger, as with Jonouchi's duel...

That was true. There was one thing she told herself, gaze growing soft as she watched her brother rise up in the cockpit of a fighter-jet. Only one. She didn't have it in her hands yet... But there was one way.

And if she had any hope of getting her brother out of this place, that move was going to be it.

* * *

Watching Seto get beaten to the ground was already a difficult thing to do let along stomach. The woman was deadly with a weapon, and just as deadly with her hands and feet alone after all; she was taller than anyone else he personally knew, and the fact that it was by more than say 'two centimeters' was more than frightening at times, and probably _because _she was a woman. He had to face it; as much as he didn't want to admit it, the woman could probably beat the crap out of himself and Honda at the same time if she wanted, without breaking a sweat.

But Noa was treating this as a game. As a sick twisted game, but a game nonetheless. There were moments where he seemed to falter of course, moments where it seemed Seto had the upper hand but even he could tell when someone was letting themselves be hit, letting themselves take a blow to give a false image of weakness. Whether or not Seto did was to be questioned. He knew she was capable, hell, how could she not be given all she did?

But she was also pissed as hell. Filled with rage over the imprisonment of her mind, over the chaos back outside on her airship, the kidnapping of her brother, the revelation of her most private secret, all within one short series of hours... All piled on and on and on with no stopping, no rest, no restraints...

And with each blow to Noa's body, in whatever form, he just knew she wasn't paying attention to the fact that as the 'computer', he should have dodged each strike, that he should have easily returned the fire before the punches were placed. Which was why, as their own section of frosted ice was separated from the battle field, he made his move and ran toward the plateau that the duelists fought upon. "Ah- Nihan," he heard behind him as he ran, the blond gripping his staff tightly as he skidded and hopped along ice-covered ground. "Nihan," Shizuka called out, "Where are you going?"

"Ah- Jonouchi-aru!"

"Jonouchi-kun," Yugi called out, the others calling for him as well. "Kaiba-san won't even let us interfere, and if Noa considers it cheating-"

"Then he'd 'f cut 's out already," the blond spat, running off despite the protests as he looked back. "Jus' don' come after me!"

"J-Jono-"

"Jus' _don'_," he snarled, turning back and vanishing into the storm. Snow was blowing all about the field, sticking to their skin... Most of them were in fairly open costumes, shivering violently... As the blizzard grew however he lost sight of the others, staff tightly gripped in place as he climbed up the ice wall. Dimly he could hear shouts... His bare feet were shaving themselves against the ice as he ran full tilt, bleeding across the ground even while he began his climb up the plateau.

'_BASTARD,_' he could hear Otogi roar, sliced fingers slowly gripping the top of the 'cliff' above him. '_WHAT KIND OF SICK FREAK ARE YOU,_' he snarled.

'_Mokuba... MOKUBA, WHAT ARE YOU DOING,_' Anzu was shouting, voice panicked as it was joined by the others' own rage and horror filled screams. '_WHAT ARE YOU..._'

As to what they were shouting about, he realized quite soon. He couldn't climb up the plateau properly after all. He'd had to 'spiral', move side to side until he was at the opposite end of the field to find a proper way up, something that wasted time, heat, and blood both looking back at the red footprints he'd left behind. But looking forward he found himself feeling sick, almost losing his grip on the ice he'd so struggled to climb up. Seto was strong, that was for sure. Probably the strongest woman he knew.

But she was powerless against her own brother. And Noa knew that. "_TAKE THIS,_" Mokuba was snarling, eyes narrowed in a rage far unlike him as he pounded against the woman's form. "_AND THIS! ...AND THIS!_" Blow after blow after blow... She was either too shocked to move or simply unable to even comprehend what was happening, not even getting the chance to defend herself, not even getting the chance to target the boy's controller.

And finally she got the small window of time for a shield. "_**B-BARRIER!**_" A sphere of glass seemed to appear around her just in time with the words, but even this didn't save her from the final blow. Mokuba's kick sent her directly into the ground, the barrier itself forming a crater as it crackled out and flicked in and out of existence above a scarcely conscious woman.

Noa was taunting her. Laughing, crossing his arms with a menacing sneer in the 'Jiang-Shi' ropes that so clashed against his constant speeches of 'God'. It was his turn now... And even as Seto pulled herself out, the woman appearing as a mere silhouette through the raging snow storm, he kept laughing...

The blizzard vanished with the release of the dark hole, the 'sun' replaced with its incredible pull. All the snow on the field was sapped toward it, and in that same moment Seto re-summoned her dragon and fled to the skies. Be it to escape the storm and hide... Or to plan... Or simply to tend to wounds and attack from above. Either way, Mokuba himself followed shortly after as the jet monster 'Gradius' appeared around his form, while his 'controller' continued to alter the realm around them to his personal desires. "Hnhnhnhnhn... We now reach the Fourth Turn of Creation," Noa announced, hands held high as he laughed. "As evolution takes its course! The land thaws, and man rises as the world's dominant species... Welcome to the modern world," he called out cheerfully, Katsuya merely grinding his teeth as he tiptoed forward on now grass covered land. Heh... 'Welcome'..?

"Welcome t' my FIST," he snarled as he punched forward, only to find his hand passing through smoke and light both as the teen shifted back. "Gh... I knew y' were fakin' it out there," he hissed, sky scrapers and buildings numbly familiar to him rising around him as he looked around.

Vanished... He'd vanished... "Ohhh... Really now, that's just a little presumptuous," Noa sneered, re-appearing to the side of the blond as his second 'opponent' turned to snarl. "All I'm doing is using my skills to my advantage after all," he chuckled, Katsuya aiming a roundhouse at what again became mere smoke as it faded away. Damn it...

How the hell was he supposed to hit this guy! "Gh... Yer 'advant'ge' is you screwing with your heads y' freak! Y' know I was feelin' pretty sorry for yah b'fore," he continued, the hairs on the back of his neck rising with each moment he spent looking for the man, "But now..." He continued to look around with narrowed eyes, a paranoid feeling rising in him as he attempted to locate his 'opponent'. Where... Where... ...That way! "...Heh! Le's jus' say yer one disgustin' piece 'f work," he hissed, before throwing a fist at what appeared to be thin air as Noa appeared. "An' that I sure as hell ain't surprised yer 'dad' abandoned y'! _HHAH!_!"

"TCH-" The man jumped back as the fist narrowly avoided his chest, looking to Katsuya in both shock and mild horror for a moment before narrowing his eyes as his sore point was again ripped at. "_You_... My father _loved me_," he snarled, appearing to flame and smoke before the blond as the distance between the two increased. "He gave me everything, trusted me with everything! And I intend to more than surpass his wishes," he continued, knuckles cracking as be brought a hand forward.

"Oh yea? Well we'll jus' see abou' tha'," he snarled, charging the man with an apparent kick only to punch to his right as smoke met with the feint.

"_HGA_-"

Hehehehehe... "Looks like you ain't as 'all knowin' as y' think," the blond growled, a crack meeting the air as his opponent stumbled back from the force of the blow.

"GH- Gnn... Hah... That..." Noa's jaw cracked once again as he adjusted it, looking to the teen in apparent interest. "It looks as though you're not as 'normal' as you like to think either," he chuckled, narrowing his eyes as the blond paled and stepped back. "Tell me Katsuya," he continued with a wide eyed grin, his 'opponent' swallowing in unease beneath the man's gaze. "How did you know where I would appear?" Appear? That was easy he told himself, easy, he'd-

...Seen it... Before he... "You... You're fuckin' _KIDDIN' ME_," he roared, stumbling back with horror as a grin slowly came over Noa's face. "How th' hell..."

The man merely sneered, the clouds behind him appearing to converge and spiral as an image appeared over his vision. "Well," Noa was saying, the shouts of a vicious and one-sided battle between a cannon armed jet and a dragon coming over it, "I'm connected to you aren't I? So how could I _not_ know about this..." How could he not _screw_ with it more like..! "And besides that, I didn't tell you anything directly... More... _Dangled_ it, just to see how high the dog could jump," he chuckled, Katsuya shaking his head in disbelief.

"You... Y' sabotaged our duel," he muttered with a swallow, thinking back to the cards and moves he'd seen ahead of time in his last match, to the moves he'd known his friend would make. "You screwed with my head and..."

A blood curdling screech hit the air at that moment, animal and instinctual in form as a ray of light pierced the sky, breaking the clouds and forcing them back in a shockwave. He could see her... See her red, burnt form falling from the ground, see the dragon destroyed in the blast and the canon Mokuba wielded from within the ship sending a blaze of fire into the air toward her to burn the woman further, send her even quicker to her death...

That, however, had yet to happen he realized coldly, the sky clearing as sounds of battle continued from above as his vision 'cleared'. It was only then that it really began, that the first strike was planned. That the clouds truly converged, and the ship Mokuba piloted now began to charge its ray directly above his target. That this vision... "Hnhnhnhnhn... Better hurry," Noa chuckled, smoking from existence as Katsuya clenched his fists and turned on him, "We're only one turn away from the end now..."

"Gh... Damn it Noa... YOU-"

"_**GHHRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!**_"

The scream..! Katsuya's gaze snapped to the side, the clouds parting just as he'd seen before. Seto's dragon was coated in flames, barely pulling itself to its hidden dimension to recover. Seto herself was falling however, almost in slow motion as he ran forward and watched another blast charge seemingly from nowhere. She couldn't scream any more, her injuries revealed as much. Revealed that she should have long since died, with smoke rose from her form and burns covering her body almost completely. "_Seto-chan,_" he shouted, staff clattering to the ground as the others ran over with wide eyes, having clambered up the thawed lands themselves. "_SETO-CHAN!_" He reached out, hands wide spread as he jumped...

And as the sixth turn came to an end, he opened his eyes and cushioned her fall, catching her in his arms. Held her close despite whatever she thought, the others thought, anyone...

There was a second Gradius jet he realized coldly, the second blast making its way downward as he lay the woman on the ground, the blast connecting with him and forcing a jolt through his body as he choked. Its fires and energy had seared his back, effectively grafting his very clothes to his skin, and as he slowly stood up from Seto's largely motionless form he found himself fighting off a scream in pain, barely holding the attack from his friend. "Gh... Nh..." He was still on fire right? Still alive right? But how..? How, he wasn't dueling, so how..? "Agh... Nh... g..!"

"Look, Mokuba," he heard Noa chuckle, the blond slowly turning in place to look at the man with undying rage. "Look at the pain our enemies are in..."

"_NOA..._" Kill him... He was going to kill him, kill him, kill-

"Gh... Kah! Kgh!" Coughing came from behind the blond, and with wide eyes Katsuya turned to watch as Seto weakly grabbed the side of the ground to pull herself up, ignoring charred skin and the pain it caused to look dully at the surroundings and those around her. "Gh... What..."

"S-Seto-chan," Katsuya shouted, looking back with wide eyes. "You-"

More chuckling came from before them, both looking forward as the crowd of onlookers held their distance and curbed their charge. "It hurts, doesn't it, 'Seri'," Noa asked, arms crossed and hidden beneath oversized sleeves. "To be so viciously attacked by someone you love, someone you would do _anything_ for," he sneered, Katsuya and Seto both narrowing their eyes as the latter attempted to move.

"No... A... GH!"

Katsuya turned once again as Seto collapsed to her knees, running back to the woman's side and attempting to help the her to her feet. "Ah- Seto-chan," he said with a swallow, ignoring the slight burn and 'stick' from the blood and ash covering her, "You-"

"_SHUT UP,"_ she hissed, pushing the blond back as she stepped forward on wobbling legs. "Hah... Stupid... Mutt," she forced out, looking to Katsuya with narrowed eyes as she coughed. "Don't call me that... Gh... Hah... Hgn..!" The woman winced, clutching the freshly burnt wounds received as she moved past her 'friend' to leer at her current opponent. "This... I don't need you to tell me what to do," she muttered, Katsuya staring with wide eyes. Didn't... He... But she was-

"GH- I ain't tellin' y' t' do anything," he protested, the woman still walking onward despite this.

"Then shut up," Seto wheezed, blood dripping behind her and to the ground as the others stared.

But... She... "Yer gonna die if y' keep goin'," the blond roared, Seto seeming to pause momentarily.

"_If I have to,_" she seemed to whisper, looking back somewhat as Katsuya paled. If... If she had...

"If y'- WHAT!"

"Trust me, _Mutt,_" the woman growled, taking another shaking step forward as she bit back her pain, "It takes more than thi- Gh... ...More than this to take me down..."

S-Seto... "But... You..." He didn't want her to d-

"I hope we aren't interrupting anything," Noa chuckled, the two hurriedly turning their attentions forward with grit teeth. "Though I suppose it's better than simple 'yelling'... After all," Noa laughed darkly, "_Then_ you'd simply be proving how close to crashing you were! Hnhnhahaha!" The laughter continued to hover bitterly in the air, the crowd behind them staring with wide, enraged eyes and grit teeth. "Of course, this is going on for so long," Noa muttered almost sadly, Mokuba appearing to stare at the two before him with narrowed eyes from the man's side. "It's almost boring..." Boring..?

Katsuya's face slowly paled in disbelief, the blond stepping forward with wide eyes. "You... Are you _serious_," he snarled lowly, an expression far unlike any he'd ever held in front of those he knew coming over his face. "Are you... MOKUBA," the blond roared, the boy seeming to narrow his eyes further at the shouts that were filling the field. "Don' you care at all! That yer treatin' Seto-chan like this? Tha' yer doin' all this! We came here together," he shouted, the woman beside him merely watching her brother's reaction as Mokuba frowned, "We... We came..."

Damn it Mokuba..! "Remember last summer," Shizuka 'asked' with an abrupt shout, appearing behind the two as Seto narrowed her eyes and stared. "When you came to Osaka, you told me all about how much you loved Kaiba-han! How much you wanted hi... How much you wanted her to wake up at that time," she cried out with a swallow, "So that you could show her everything! So that you could take her with next time!"

"And the Monster World," Honda added, his tic momentarily vanishing as his still gigantic and canine form loomed overhead with the others in tow. "Do you remember fighting with us against the other Bakura, against Zork," he shouted and howled, the snakes around his neck hissing in 'agreement'. "Do you remember how that NPC, 'KAI' came to fight with us!"

"And what about the tanabata festival, on your birthday," continued Otogi, the dancer moving to stand closer to the crowd as the boy across from them slowly drew back and held his head. "We had bean cake, remember, and you made a wish with us to hang on the bamboo!"

"And your graduation," Anzu cried out with the others, "What about that?"

"What about meeting Rebecca, and playing Capmon" Yugi shouted,

"Ragging Jonouchi out for getting himself into something stupid again," Ren offered with another shout,

"Running from those girls on Valentines and White Day," Honda shouted out again, ears pricked back somewhat, "And what about-"

"...Hanami," Seto muttered, the others falling silent as the single phrase came through the air. That day in the sakura fields, the day that she'd have missed if not for his own and Mokuba's influence... "...I can't offer much to remember positively," the woman whispered, stepping forward at a limp as the deck-master markings on her body began to glow and shine brightly from her otherwise destroyed body. "And I can't say that I know most of what your friends are talking about," she continued almost quietly, "No matter how much I want to..." Mokuba merely stared as the woman came closer, his 'brother' putting a possessive hand over his shoulder to pull him back as the boy bit his lip. They were breaking through, little by little... Ever so slowly... "...This... I can't fight you," Seto whispered, soft eyes looking out to the boy as he continued to frown with confusion. "I can only fight with you at my side, and everything else is just futile attempts at the impossible..."

"...Niichan," Mokuba whispered, looking up to Noa somewhat. "...Noa..."

"...Don't listen to her," Noa was muttering, grip tightening on the boy's form. "Don't listen to her, she's _lying, _she's-"

"I can't change the past," the woman continued on, regardless of who was listening. "The house we lived in was hell... And for those years you suffered for it all. But no matter what... Up until this point you've stood by my side," she rasped, throat still charred and ashen from the previous attacks. "Waiting for my eyes to open... Waiting, and never losing faith. So let me at least clear a path to the future for you," the woman whispered, light seeming to glow over her wounds as wind blew about the field. "Let me show you the card that you gave me those years ago, that card that saved me back then... The card I promised to show you again," she continued softly, "No matter what it took..." That card...

_That_ was why...

"...Nee... Sama," Mokuba whispered, bringing his hands from his head. "You're..."

The words were quiet. Mere whispers on the wind, something he wasn't even sure he'd heard by means of his ability or with his ears. Perhaps Seto as well hadn't heard them. Perhaps she wanted to be sure that he had but nonetheless she continued on, even as Noa turned a wide and disbelieving eye toward the boy at his side in response to the muttered words. "Mokuba," she began, swallowing as cloth repaired on her skin with the rest of her form, "If I don't get this card... Then that proves I couldn't keep this promise," Seto whispered, light continuing to emanate from the field beneath her feet. "It proves I can't be your sister, let alone the 'brother' I promised to be... So I ask you... _Am I worthy of that card_?"

Tears were running down Mokuba's cheeks, and yet the boy appeared to be unaware as to why. He was shivering, shaking, memories appearing with no sign as to their origin or how they came into being. Across from him, Seto was staring across the field, the winds still blowing with Katsuya standing off to the side as light continued to rise from the ground. That 'worth' she was questioning...

She more than had it, he told himself, the drawn card already appearing within both his own and Seto's minds. "I activate my deckmaster ability," the woman uttered lowly, standing almost limp as the light about her began to materialize as an almost water-like torrent at her feet. "Lowering the number of tributes needed for a light-type monster by one... And I tribute the Twilight Zone Dragon," she shouted, the wind and light forcing those around her to slowly be blown back as the dragon soared toward her from behind, "And I summon this..! The most powerful of all monsters," she roared, the shout mirrored as an enormous white beast rose from her shadow and the light both to swirl around her and destroy the form of the green one behind her, "THE BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON!"

"H-Ahhh... That..."

"Gh... No," Noa hissed, watching as his grip slipped from the boy at his side. "Mokuba," he shouted, looking to him almost desperately, "Mokuba-"

The light on the field was blinding, and almost as inhibiting as the roar of the dragon whose head was now sitting above Seto's own. The dragon's eyes were piercing blue, staring forward, watching as Mokuba stepped away from Noa with wide eyes. "YOU..." He shook his head with fear, horror, realization... An entire multitude of emotions passed over his face, and as he looked back to the dragon the gaze widened. "I... Nee-sama," Mokuba cried, stepping forward as he looked to the monster and his sister both. A few stumbling steps... An incredulous look from Noa, the man silent with momentary shock and rage... "S-SETO-NEESAMA," he wailed, still white clothes billowing in the wind behind him. The boy ran forward, wrapping his arms around the woman's waist even as she winced in pain, the injuries sustained in battle still not completely healed over. "Nee-sama... Nee-sama I'm sorry... I'm so sorry, I'm sorry... I'm _sorry_..!"

"It's fine," she answered quietly, holding the boy close as the others stared in silence. "It wasn't you- I know that... This wasn't your fault... Now," she continued, gesturing behind her as she began to pull herself onto the dragon's back. "Stay back with the others... I'm going to finish this _now_," the woman growled, Mokuba nodding as he ran back to stand with the group.

"R-Right..."

"Ah- Mokuba-kun," Yugi shouted with a relieved laugh, the boy running over with a nervous swallow as the others made room. "You- You made it back..!"

"Mokuba," Katsuya continued, the two sharing their own brief hug before the blond looked over the boy in worry. "Oi, Mokuba, you alrigh'... You gonna be alrigh', wi' what Noa did..?"

The response was a shaky nod, Mokuba again swallowing in unease. "I'm... I'm fine. I'll be fine," he answered yet again, looking back to the field. "But nee-sama..."

"..._NOA_," Seto barked, strength somehow restored as she leered at the jets and the man currently standing before her. "Even _CONSIDER_ touching my family and remember that _THIS_ will be your fate! Blue-Eyes," she ordered, the monster opening its great maw as white flames grew in her throat, "_ATTACK GRADIUS!_"

With a howl of flames the blast was released, Blue-Eyes' great roar heard clearly over the field. The machine it struck exploded into shrapnel and flames in the instant the sparks connected; and as the steel rained on Noa, the man glaring through the haze and smoke, the second 'Gradius' exploded along with it, caught in the crossfire of card effects and flames.

"Hah... It worked," Otogi was cheering, clapping a fist in his hand as he grinned. "We made it through!"

"Not only that but 'Gradius Option' is gone too-aru! We're going to make it," Honda barked, Mokuba nodding and swallowing as he watched. They were almost there... They were almost...

Katsuya frowned abruptly, eyes briefly meeting with their opponent's as he growled. "Oh tha' _son-of-a-bitch_," the blond at the side hissed, the others turning in confusion as Noa's chuckling came across the field. "He's usin' th' effect..."

"Effect," Yugi repeated, the others bearing similar expressions. "Wait..!"

"Hnhnhnhnhnhn..." Katsuya fell silent as laughter filled the air, the others growing visibly pale as the man across from them cackled. "Hnhnhaha... HnhnHAHAHAHAHA! Oh _Seri_," Noa chuckled, shaking his head as the woman tensed from across him. "You never cease to amuse me... The fact that you've managed to scratch me again is _amazing_," he continued with a smug laugh, "But the fact remains that I am _INVINCIBLE_... After all... If you recall," he sneered, snapping his finger "I have _five _monsters in the Ark right now... And no 'set card' can stop _this_," the man continued on, the sheet of glass before his opponent glimmering suspiciously from the previous turn in the meantime. "My life points rise by another 2500 lifepoints," Noa announced, any and all injuries sustained again healing as the pulsing light continued to emanate off his robes, "Bringing my total to 7400! AND NOW THAT IT'S THE SEVENTH TURN," he roared, thunder seeming to crack around them, "ALLOW ME TO REVEAL-"

"Activate Trap," Seto called out, glass shattering as the sky began to darken even further with apparent rage. "I'm taking your 'heaven and earth' and I'm dragging them to hell," she hissed, Blue-Eyes giving an angered snarl from beneath her. "I'm bringing out 'LAST TURN'," she announced, the man across from her staring with narrowed eyes. The glass that shattered into the air spread to the side to surround them both, creating a fence of mirrors around them. "You've kept me waiting long enough," the woman snarled, her dragon's wings beating at the ground as they rose high into the air. "You've held me back far too long! THIS is the deciding moment," Seto roared, stones crumbling and rising into the air as a scene almost similar to Shizuka's own ritual summon came into being. "The 'REAL' seventh turn," she continued in rage, "The APOCALYPSE! We're going to face each other with one monster each," the woman shouted, Noa merely seeming to smoke somewhat as those below watched in horror at the disintegrating terrain within the field's limits, "And the last one standing wins this match!" One on one... No lifepoints, no spells and traps...

"A las' gamble," Katsuya muttered, Yugi nodding fearfully from the side.

"One on one... If Kaiba-san loses," he whispered, Mokuba shivering from between the two at the words. "She..." She couldn't lose... No matter what, she could _not_ lose..!

The crowd fell silent at the words nonetheless, lightning striking the ground as Noa as well rose to the air. "Hn! Well then... If it's a battle you want, I choose the Ark of Shinato," he announced, smoking back into existence atop the bow of the ship as it rose further into the air.

"And I fight with Blue-Eyes," Seto called out in response, the dragon giving a fearsome roar from its position above their opponent's ship. "NOW... Witness the force of the combined anger from myself and Mokuba both," she cried, the sounds almost drowned out by her dragon's snarls as white flames licked the air, "_**BURST STREAM!**_"

White light filled the air in that moment, and for just a brief moment in time he could see nothing. Not the flames that devoured the ship to reduce it to ashes in the air, nor the rage that Seto continued to attack in, her dragon snarling and clawing at some unseen force. He couldn't see Ren hissing in some sort of fit to the side, nor a hope filled stare from the others. He couldn't hear what they were saying either...

He could only hear Noa's scream, agonized and pained... Until at the very end, the light cleared and they were met with the enormous figure of some strange angel. Noa's clothing had changed; he wore the robes of a celestial being and radiated with the power of one, with six wings spread wide behind his hovering and almost deadly pale form as they stared, hopefilled gaze shifting to that of horror. It was only now that they realized the scream had changed... That it had shifted, contorted, and faded into a laugh, a mad cackle. Only as they looked at Noa's smirking face, and the gathered energy in his puppet-like hands that they realized how wrong they'd been. "W..." How wrong Seto had been, the woman now staring at the being above her almost in fear. "You..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn... _I lied,_" he whispered, fingers cracking as he spread his hands forward in an attack. "_**Divine Ring**_."

-_VSSHHHHHHHH-_

In a single instant they were all thrown back, the shock-wave of the near galactic proportions forcing them against the ground with a cry. Stones that had littered the sky shattered and clattered to the ground, the fence vanished and the sky darkened more than it already had... Even with the burning pain however, it had been more than apparent that they were the lucky ones in this strike, that they had it considerably easy compared to the actual duelists. Far in the distance Blue-Eyes was dissolving into nothing but ash on the grounds after all, and as Katsuya looked to the crater that had been formed by its fallen form he found himself pulling Mokuba up by the arm. "C'mon," he said with a nervous swallow, the boy nodding almost stiffly as they began to push through their pain and run forward, "C'mon," he repeated desperately, "We gotta get t' her... We..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn... _Did you forget,_" Noa laughed, voice booming and thundering across the sky as Seto slowly pulled herself back out of the crater to collapse on her front at the hole's edge. "_Did you forget what turn this was? This is MY realm_" the 'God' roared, robes billowing in a non-existent wind as he leered at the girl before him. "_And the final turn of creation! The round where my TRUE deckmaster arises, where the almighty SHINATO comes forth... Allowing me to stand as GOD,_" he echoed commandingly,_ "Just as it should be..._"

Just... As it 'should'... The blond bit his lip and pushed Noa's words from mind, continuing forward as the others followed behind them through their own recovery. "We're almos' there," Katsuya was assuring his friend, Mokuba stumbling somewhat on the broken terrain as they ran toward Seto's collapsed form, "We're almos' there," he whispered, "Jus' keep runnin'..."

"Hah... Hah, hah... ...Hah... Nee-sama," Mokuba shouted, the woman blearily opening her eyes to reach out from the edge of the crater. "NEE-SAMA," he screamed, pulling out from Katsuya's grasp and breaking into an even quicker run, "Please, _don't die_!"

The woman couldn't say anything though, despite the fact that she so clearly wanted to try... Her body was battered and broken, her hand shaking as it was held out, her entire form covered in dirt and ash and blood, reddened and irritated, not a single place left untouched by the attack. She...

She... "Seto-chan..." How was she still alive..? How... After all this, how was she...

It was impossible not to weep at the sight. Impossible not to stop and stare, and simply let the tears roll down their cheeks. "_NEE-SAMA_," Mokuba was crying, tripping and falling to his knees as his sister's hand fell short from fatigue. "Nee-sama! I'm sorry... I'm so sorry," he wept, bowing his head as he shook. "So sorry..."

"It's... Okay," Seto rasped weakly, bringing her hand upward as her brother cried. The woman was forcing herself to move. To get closer, to at least be able to touch her brother's cheek, to wipe the tears from his eyes and offer at least a shred of comfort. "I'm... Gk... I'm... Fine... Don't... Cry," the woman continued, tears developing in her own eyes despite the words, her fingers shaking uncontrollably as she brought her hand upward. "Don't cry... Show you're strong... And don't cry... No matter what..."

"N-Nee-sama..." Mokuba choked, wiping his eyes as his sister continued to struggle before him. "Nee-sama," he wept, his sister's hand coming closer to his face. "I-"

They never heard what words followed that. For at that moment, it was Noa's own words who overpowered them both, the two before them seeming to freeze in time rather than fear. "_Stone Gaze,_" the 'God' whispered, Katsuya's eyes quivering as he stared at the now colourless sight before him. No...

No...

"No... S-Seto-chan," Katsuya whispered, looking at the two with wide and tear-filled eyes as he took a step forward. Were tears falling from the stone, the stone that now sat before him..? The statues who were mere centimetres apart from reunion, the boy having just looked up to meet his sister's weak attempt to comfort him..? They... "Mokuba... Seto..." So close...

They'd been so close... "Oh my god," one of the others were whispering, still standing far from their location as their own misery became apparent. "Kaiba..."

"K-Kaiba-han..."

"No..."

"_Hnhnhnhnhn..._" Katsuya's briefly closed eyes snapped open as Noa's chuckling again broke the air, the blond slowly turning back as the so-called 'god' laughed. "_Such a pity, isn't it,_" he sneered, those below shifting through variant forms of rage and despair both as Katsuya grit his teeth and shook. "_So close, yet not close enough..._"

"You... Kaiba-san," Yugi wept, shaking his head as he stared toward the stone figures. "Mokuba-kun..."

Noa did not care for nor bother addressing the group below. He merely held his menacing grin and chuckled, eyes narrowed with apparent mirth. "_This statue... I think I'll call it 'Futility',_" he decided, crossing his arms as the expression grew wider._ "You can guess why I would imagine..._"

"You..." If the phrase was 'straw' breaking the camels back, then this would be the grain of salt that did so. "YOU SON OF A _BITCH_!" A roar of energy seemed to flash through the area, and as both Katsuya and the Other Yugi leered upward Noa appeared to smirk, clearly enjoying the rage he'd put the boy into. "You toyed with us, with her... You humiliated her in the worst way possible before tormenting her before our eyes," he screamed in accusation, red eyes almost flashing in the light.

"You used Mokuba as a shield, y' drew things out f'r no reason jus' f'r their pain... CAN'T YOU FEEL ANYTHIN'," Katsuya snarled in addition, eyes wide and filled with pain as his mind continued to fill with the last few tear-filled whispers he'd heard before Noa cut in. "CAN'T YOU HEAR THEM!"

Noa merely sneered, taking a 'seated' position on the air. "_Feel,_" he asked, the smirk growing darker._ HN! This is simply fate as it stands. I predicted all of this,_" he continued, a shaking his head._ "And it's all for the sake of my victory..._"

"_VICTORY,_" the Other Yugi spat, voice filled with an incredulous rage. "YOU _**LOST**_ THAT FIGHT!"

"What... He 'lost'," Anzu repeated, the woman shaking her head.

Ren nodded, his own hood flared as he answered his partner's question. "Kaiba had the Twilight Zone Dragon even after she set that trap card... Since it comes back after death it would have been a tie," he spat angrily, "But she summoned Blue-Eyes instead!"

"She summoned the dragon so that Mokuba would be able to pull himself back into sanity," Shizuka continued, clenching her spear and bowing her head as she attempted to reign in her anger. "So that she could save her brother..!"

"An' all we're doin' is arguin' with _YOU_ abou' it," Katsuya roared, cloak seeming to furl and smoke off his form as the others jumped back, the blackened flames catching and burning the ground where they fell. "While you laugh an think 'f how t' get rid 'f all us, or how t' amuse yerself..! You want to take her place," he snarled, the others stepping back for reasons beyond him as the cloak continued to dye black and melt into his shadow. "You think you can replace _HER_! _I HAVE NEWS FOR YOU,_" he roared, kicking from the ground to leap upward as shadows filled his vision and covered him from above, "_You can't control anything,_" the blond spat as the darkness swirled behind and above him,_ "Not really... Not when you can't understand it! NOA... I'M GOING TO KILL YOU,_" he roared, his mouth and the mouth of a formless demon's both opening up as 'Shinato' drew back in confused fear. "_AND I'M GOING TO MAKE SURE THAT NOTHING REMAINS OF EVEN YOUR SOUL! HRAAAAAAHHH!_"

He didn't know where this power came from. He didn't want to even ask. "_Chabar,_" he could hear in his mind as he charged, wings spread out from behind and above him on a shadow's flame-like form while he ran on the air, "_Chabar, reel in your anger NOW,_" the ghost hissed, his friend only partially listening? His anger? But why? Why should he even BOTHER with something like that? "_JUST DO IT," _the ghost wailed, sounding almost desperate in his mind,_ "BEFORE YOU-_"

"Ohohoh... Now this is interesting," Noa chuckled, the enormous being of 'liquid' shadow charging toward him as Katsuya himself snarled and ran beneath it on thin air. "Perhaps I've made the better decision after all..." Better decision..? The distance seemed to almost increase between the two but he couldn't notice, he didn't care. He wanted to do nothing but end this... End it now, end it all- "I _do_ prefer keeping my gender intact after all..." Gender..?

The blond momentarily froze, the shadows around him seeming to melt and move through the air like a strange gathering of anti-gravitational liquid. Gender... Noa was obviously a man, or at least a 'boy', it did seem strange that he'd considered Seto's body but... If he was going to take... A different one...

'_I'll make you a puppet,_' he'd said, the words piercing Katsuya's thoughts as he shook. "_YOU... MONSTER! I **ATTACK,**_" he roared, charging forward as shouts from below and within his mind both erupted in protest, the shadows seeming to gather and wrap around his form as he lashed forward. "**HRAAAAAAAHHHH!**_**"**_

"Hnhnhnhnhn... _I don't think so,_" his opponent hissed, seemingly passing through him as the blond choked and froze. Didn't...

"Gh-" The blond fell to his knees as he stopped on the other side of the 'angel', clutching his chest before collapsing even further forward. "_GHN..._"

"_Chabar..!_"

"JONOUCHI!"

"NIHAN!"

The last thing he saw as the shadows dissipated from at his feet was a blinding light... And above him, he thought he saw his own body looking down with a sneer, any remaining traces of the being he'd attacked with vanishing into dust. The last thing he heard however, was a challenge... A challenge of revenge, a challenge from a friend... And the word...

_DUEL_.

* * *

**AN:** NOOOOO JONOUCHI! We already knew the Kaiba siblings would be turned into stone (noooooo... Kaiiiibbaaaaaaaa...)... But what happened to Jou!

You'll find out next chapter... If you haven't already guessed.

As you can plainly see, I ended up with all of Kaiba VS Noa in the same chapter after all! This means all of Yugi VS Noa will be in the next one... And quite likely, so will any 'follow up' before we hit the 'real' second half. (Despite it technically being more like... The third 'third'.)

Anyways, there's art for you below as usual, but other than that there's not much to say...

OH! On a life related note, don't worry about me! I may have gotten suckered by a 'fly-by-night' for a day, but I've still got my temp-agency and apartment! One wasted day isn't much when you didn't have a job in the first place. (Ohohohoh~)

Now then, back on topic, for those waiting on what's going on in the real world, we're _almost_ there... I'd say about two, possibly three (more likely two) chapters. I just need to get the timing right, so that things aren't split up every which way.

So, with all that covered...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hey there Iona! No worries about the job, I'll be fine!

As for 'trouble'... OHHHHH yea. Someone's in trouble, but the others are gonna catch a WHOOOOOLE lot of it first! In any case, enjoy the chapter! Hopefully the next one will come soon enough!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's now quite short compared to the rest of the chapter. Remember when it took like... Half of it? HAHAHAAaaaa-ahhhhh...

* * *

Sororicide by definition is the murder of one's own sister. Technically Mokuba didn't do it, but he came _dangerously_ close to it thanks to Noa's doings...

* * *

As usual, your daily dose of exposition has been replaced with mental knowledge; basically, when a card is activated, the effect is sent directly to the mind of the opponent, and regardless of what they say or do, the effect completes (unless of course they have a counter trap, and they activate it). This means that a lot of this duel moves faster, and smoother as well, as battling isn't taken up with attempts to explain what's going on.

* * *

'Ares'? As in _GOD OF WAR_ Ares? Actually yes. Chiron is also Greek, being the name of a certain Centaur… (Not to mention the fact that he IS a centaur monster!)

For a guy with biblical obsession, Noa had a fair number of… Not-so-Christian/Catholic monsters there. Hehee. Anyways, Ares is mistranslated as 'Aeris', but given that his Japanese name is _Holy GOD Ares_…

Oh... And if you're wondering how those two monsters fit into the 'seven turns', they represent the 'nephlim', the giants that inhabited the earth before the flood of the world in the bible. I'm really not sure Noa should be putting the nephlim and the giants in the same story though. Not in that order at least.

* * *

When Noa says that 'the name suits it', he's referring to the fact that Noa, ordinarily, is a woman's name.

* * *

Damn it Noa, stop it with your God complex already. It was bad enough when you turned into Shinato, now you're WALKING ON WATER.

* * *

The Ainu, the indigenous population in Northern Japan, is a fairly cool group of people whose culture to take a look at in my opinion. It's a little upsetting that it took until 2008 for Japan to officially recognize them however, and the fact is, while 25000 are officially considered Ainu, there's actually about 200,000 in estimate… And even then, thanks to mixed heritage and historical issues, a 'pure Ainu' person is impossible now!

Any ways, I linked the Ark itself to the Ainu mostly because of the 'tablet' that's on the top (Not to mention that 'Shinato' was derived from an ooooolllld Japanese wind Goddess named 'Shinato-be-no-mikoto'. Which, literally translated is... Something about China. 'Shina' is slang for 'China' with the kanji used. UM. A Chinese Goddess then? EH?)…

The symbols look similar to the patterns on traditional clothing. Which is why Fem!Noa has them on her hat, even though her robes are that of a 'Jian-Shi', China's fairly frightening take on vampires and zombies combined. And so does Jou!Noa (Hidden by hair)… And Normal!Noa as well. YEA.

* * *

More on the deckmaster clothing, Jiang-Shi are specifically 'energy vampires' (Though some depictions have them suck blood now), absorbing the life force of a person. They're corpses, so stiff with rot that they cannot move without hopping, and are often seen in Ming Dynasty clothing with a seal of sorts across their face. (That's what Jou has at the side of his headband below) They also have really long tongues, and could potentially turn you into one of them. HIHHHHH...

As to why the clothes are purple this time around, it's because purple is generally representative of evil, and occasionally death in Japan. White is also linked to death, but I'm fairly certain that that one is a more 'at peace' one.

* * *

What's going through everyone's heads… Well, for Ren/Malik, Honda, and Otogi, it's a sad and twisted mix of '_WTF_' and '_…She's actually REALLY hot_' (Similar to Jonouchi's own initial reaction)… Anzu on the other hand is flashing back to all those tampon jokes, smacking herself over the head, and entering liberal amounts of denial; because remember, she's still largely bitter about what Kaiba's done. She 'forgives' her, but she doesn't completely trust her… Throwing in the whole 'Oh and she's been a girl this entire time' just makes certain words and phrases seem more awkward or prickish. Either through double standards (which happens a lot with fem-Kaiba I would think), or simply through… Well, _awkwardness_.

Shizuka on the other hand is just plain confused; she's only known Kaiba in person for about a day after all!

* * *

What? Noa being unaware? But Noa's a computer! Noa also blocked Kaiba's mind from his own to make the duel 'fair'; so for once, Seto has an element of surprise that would otherwise be impossible.

...

He's also faking it just to make Seto completely _lose it_ at some points. (For a large portion however, he is in fact being caught so completely off guard by his own thoughts that Seto's able to beat the crap out of him.)

* * *

Technically, 'D.D. Dragon' (Twilight Zone Dragon) has 1200 attack points, not 1400 like the Anime. OHHH WELLLL.

* * *

Oh, and Noa's temporary reverse mind screw is brought to you by denial and an unwanted flashback- that's right. While Kaiba beat the shit out of him/her, he/she was busy watching the flashback we see in the anime.

Is it just me, or did I just make Noa's 'crazy' a hereditary trait..? He got it from momma! YAYYYY. Though you never know, Gozaburo wasn't all there either I think... HMMM...

Hey, more script moving! Mostly for, as usual, making it run smoothly… Also for scenes like Noa and Kaiba's 'cat fight', though I'd really rather call it a 'tiger fight', as that was far more vicious than a 'cat fight' from what I can tell.

* * *

Tecnically, 'Ring of Defense' prevents _all_ effect damage from a trap. This includes damage to the opposing player. But shhhhhhh… Anime...

Another technicality is that Twin Headed Thunder Dragon is a Thunder monster, not a Dragon. SILLY ANIME~

* * *

OH GOD- Mokuba…

...Yea. Some of you may wonder how I could _write_ that… It was really hard, and rightfully so, given the usual relationship between these two. But the fact is, not only has Mokuba been completely conditioned to Noa's being, he's completely _forgotten_ Seto, with those memories 'locked' away (Noa couldn't erase them, as those memories affect how Mokuba acts. Instead, he messed around with what was accessible and not.)… He's having a 'Kisara moment'.

Kaiba, of course, is having a fairly self-explanatory reaction… Because really, she's not throwing any punches on her brother. Also, she was kinda hit head on by a canon, so she's not going to be all there. At least not enough to do more than growl at Jonouchi and keep trying.

As for later, Noa most certainly did not erase or lock away the positive memories, not completely; rather, he blocked off the memories of the people in them. But of course, simply sticking themselves in his memories fixed _that_ problem...

* * *

Lots of other dialogue changes in other words; a majority of the quick cuts to the side were left out for one, just to keep things moving smoothly.

* * *

Woah! What happened up there while Jonouchi was fighting Noa! Lots of things, things that I will explain here, as they all happened in their heads. Basically, Noa has Mokuba piloting 'Gradius' (A jet fighter monster), which is equipped with 'Cyclon Laser' and 'Matter Leveler', adding attack power. This also allows the damage dealt to affect Kaiba's lifepoints even on defense mode monsters.

In other words, Seto's 'passed turn' happened where it should, but you can't see it… Really, all she did was simply not attack as Mokuba chased her around. And of course, this means that the second Gradius was summoned while there, and that the real reason Seto's in such a terrible condition is that she was fired at in _mid air_, _directly_. (Noa summoned 'Gradius' Option, which effectively clones the monster. It shouldn't clone the attack upgrade though…) Also, I was rather iffy about writing more Mokuba-beats-his-sister-stuff.

* * *

WHAT. Kaiba would never accept everyone's help! Well they're not technically helping… Plus, she can barely stand at the time this happens, let alone bark out another '_GO AWAY, LEAVE ME ALONEEEEEE_'. Another point is that she's a little more conditioned to this friend deal than her canon counterpart; likely because Mokuba and Jou actually make her get out of the house to do things (-coughHanamicough-) with other people… Also, a lot of the things she's hearing are things that she's only vaguely heard about; so she can't help but simply listen.

* * *

Seventh turn? That's right; the sixth turn, (I like to call it 'Warfare') happened in the air, between Mokuba and Kaiba.

Poor guys... (IT'S ALL MY FAAAUUUULLLLTTTT...)

* * *

Speaking of Kaiba, that's not typing mistake up there; Jonouchi really did briefly call her by first name, with no honorifics. In other words, habit is becoming a little more serious.

* * *

Shadows! WHAT? Before you get confused, Jonouchi didn't turn into anything... It just jumped out of his shadow. It also couldn't properly take form... As technically, there isn't any real form there, just what's in their currently shared 'minds/dreams'. So... Things that take form have a little difficulty doing it.

As for why our ghost friend got so freaked, well... That kind of affected him too, since it's a 'real' thing instead of just Virtual. It scared him, in other words.

* * *

**FanArt & My Art Section**

Take out spaces, paste link, and hit GO!

We have some references for you here, along with me experimenting with a different style! Yea!

Reference/Costume: Noa's Programs/Mokuba – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ ProgramsnMokuba. jpg - I got bored with styles... Heheheee. Probably won't use this one again though. Interestingly enough, Mokuba never actually wore that outfit; it was the original plan, but for some reason I really enjoyed the idea of him simply 'mirroring' Noa a lot better. ('Cept his clothes were white.)

Reference: Gym Uniform!Kaiba – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ SetoHighKick-1. jpg - In which Kaiba kicks ass. With little to call pants. There's also a reference to the Deckmaster-Tattoo there... And don't worry, she gets her clothes back. ... Eventually. Oh, and if you don't like _LEGS_, you probably shouldn't look.

Reference: Deckmasters!Shinato's Ark – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ NoaShinatoArk-1. jpg - The reference for Shinato himself is going to come later, but I had a fair amount of fun designing three variants of the same costume. Possibly _too_ much fun...

* * *

Musical Notes:

Never never NEVER read a chapter like this while listening to Rin and Len Kagamine's 'Paper Airplane'. EVER. NEVER EVER. You will _cry_. Even if you don't know what it's about, _you will cry_.

That's all the notes for today though, since most of the songs I listen to are songs you know about by now.

And that's all for this update! Next up, Noa VS Yugi... Along with a bit of extra fun...


	95. Chapter 94

**Valkyria**

* * *

The place that he stood in was not the Virtual World, or at least not the one he knew. Nor was it the real world, or even the world of his 'dreams', the blinding and merging white of the scenery creating the illusion that there wasn't a floor, were no walls... Nothing. Not like the space of his dreams, where there truly _wasn't_ anything. The fact was, he wasn't even sure _where_ he was...

All he knew was that he was there, and somehow still alive after Noa had pulled him from his body. ...(Wait, was that what he did? And how did he know-) "Gh..." A rush of pain ran through him at that moment, the blond grimacing as he stared at the blinding white around him. "Ahggg... My head," he hissed, slowly sitting up to hold it in his hands. "Ahgggg..."

"You've awakened," a familiar voice muttered, the blond jumping as 'Kisara' and 'Seraph' both walked over. Their clothing had reverted to the white 'suits' and uniforms they'd held before hand, and as wings shifted just slightly the pair looked down with arms crossed behind their backs. The programs... The things Noa had made, the-

"Ah- Y-You two..!" The pair merely stared as the teen attempted to regather his thoughts, both blinking at the same moment in an almost eerie manner before speaking.

"It was a close call," Seraph said plainly, dull grey eyes seeming almost dead in appearance as he looked to the blond.

"Very close," Kisara continued, nodding her head. Katsuya continued to rub his brow, frowning somewhat as he looked over. "We almost didn't make it."

"That's because you're 'weak'," her brother responded in monotone, not even looking to the girl as he spoke. "An 'Anag'." Ana- Hang on, he'd heard that phrase before...

And as Kisara responded to her 'brother', he could remember her saying this as well. "I told you not to call me weak," the girl pressed, about as much emotion as a spoon seeping into her voice. "So stop." ..._Had_ he heard this before though..?

"I could," Seraph answered, "But it would not change the fact that you're weak." Yes.

"I am not weak." Yes he had.

"Yes you are- your name means 'weak'." And it was about time to stop.

"No," the girl said blandly, "My name means-" As in now.

"Alrigh' alrigh' alrigh'," Katsuya shouted quickly holding his hands out as he shook himself and walked over to the pair. "I got it..." The blond separated the two somewhat, before stepping back to stare. "Sheesh... You two are... Really creep when it comes t' arguin," he coughed, shaking his head.

"They can't help it," a young woman seemed to whisper, the blond in the white and empty room turning with narrowed eyes as it echoed around him. Where... Where had that voice come from he wondered, turning again as he continued on. "They only know your memories and their programming," she was saying, the sound seeming to reverberate around him completely. "They know nothing else; they are not the 'real' children you know."

But he didn't know them he wanted to say, Katsuya frowning as a breeze passed by. Not completely, not...

Somehow, for some reason, he was correcting himself with that, and agreeing with this 'woman'. "...Who are you," he said after a moment, swallowing somewhat nervously as his mind filled with thoughts and facts that he had never known before. "An' where is this place!"

"...I am a ghost," the voice answered, Kisara and Seraph both saying the same thing as a figure appeared from their shadows. There was no answer to the location, not further response from the two children and as the dust began to form a human of sorts the children took a somehow more lifeless form. "A fragment of memory sealed in time... I could not speak," she continued, almost weeping in tone as her 'guest' frowned, "And I could not do more than watch dully as all that you see occurred... And for that," the woman whispered, shaking her still forming head, "You must forgive me." Forgive...

"But who _are_ y'," he pressed, watching as the dust hovered in the air. "Why would I have t' forgive you?"

The children's shadows and wings seemed to fragment in response to this question, their monster-like limbs scattering into a mist between the two to coat the dust 'woman' before him. A gown was the first to appear, floor length and as white as all that was around them, blending in perfectly. Then shoulders, and arms, pale skinned where he could discern it from the rest of the room... And finally there was a mask, hiding behind it a head with hair that fell almost to the same length of the dress. Hair that was identical to Noa's in colour. Hair that was styled like he had in his 'female' form... "...I am a ghost," the woman repeated, bowing her head to the teen before her. "I am someone who once knew the boy you hunt... But you cannot save yourselves the way you chase him now," she pressed, again shaking her head as Katsuya stared. "To do so is suicide."

This mask... The woman stared forward with a mask that covered her face completely, white porcelain barely standing out amid the scenery. Gold lined the rims of the details, such as hair and eyelashes. It lined the wings that spread high from behind the brow, accenting the gold that adorned the woman's bracelets. _Dis_, a voice told him, Katsuya narrowing his eyes somewhat. _Seer_. _Valkyrie_. But how did he know that... ...Was it her? "...You..." The blond swallowed, silence causing the sound to echo around the room at ten times the usual volume. No, his mind told him. It wasn't her. It was something else... "...Why would it be 'suicide'," he asked, deciding not to continue with the conversational circles as he stepped forward. "An' how do y' know this?"

The ghost seemed to simply stare with those words, a wind blowing the gown about her feet before she spoke. Of course, staring was all she could do he supposed, with a mask like that. "'Noa' is 'God' in this world," the woman stated plainly, hair continuing to blow slowly in some unseen wind. "He sees all, and hears all. Under his eye," she explained, "I have not been able to speak or move." No... It wasn't 'not', his mind told him. It was 'too scared to'. But why... And... "...Until now." Why now..? "Noa placed some of himself in the two you see here," she told him, gesturing to the now 'dead' puppets at the side. "A small part, just enough to connect them to himself," the woman said calmly. "It is enough to give them an individual mind," the spirit continued. "Something that allowed my consciousness to hide within them. This is not the first time we have spoken," she added, a flash appearing in the back of Katsuya's mind. Not...

No. No it wasn't. '_Reset,_' he'd said, Katsuya's eyes glancing over Seraph before moving back to the woman with a frown. He said... "...'Don' Save th' Game,' he repeated, the cloak around him shifting somewhat as he stepped forward. "R'set."

"Correct." Of course it was his mind told him. (As to why his mind was acting oddly smug he wasn't too sure.) "Noa is beyond my reach," the woman mourned, emotions far betraying the blank mask she wore. "For that reason there is something I need you to do," she continued pitifully, "Something important... As the one I have pulled from the battle field," she went on, "And as the one I have chosen to aid me..."

Er- Hold on, pulled from the field? Chosen? "W-Wai'... What," he coughed, shaking his head. "What are y' talkin' abou-"

"Please... Listen to me," the woman begged, stepping forward as the two children stood at the sides and continued with their silent vigil. "I need you to do this, more than anything... Jonouchi Katsuya," she continued, mask clattering to the ground as the blond hurriedly stepped back with wide and horrified eyes at what lay beneath. "Please... Just one thing..."

Just one thing, don't look at the face. Just one thing, but- "W-Well... W-What is it," he choked, staring at the woman's face as he fell back and continued to stare, the woman leaning forward. "What-"

"Kill him."

Kill-

Sometimes, he really hated his luck with these things.

* * *

There were limits to just how much the human mind could take. In some cases one could say they surpassed the limits of the body by a long shot, with the mind able to adapt even to the most gruesome of injury where the body would long collapse; and with all the damage that occurred within this accursed realm he would almost agree, given how many times he'd managed to find himself looking nauseatingly at his own organs.

But then there were those who did not agree, who believed that before the body cracked the mind would long since break into pieces, never to be repaired again. Watching Kaiba's duel against Noa, watching the twisted and copied forms he'd taken, and more importantly watching as her own _brother_, their _friend_ pummelled the woman into the ground, shouted at her in rage...

He would have to agree with that as well, and so had Yugi.

When he and his lighter self agreed on something, there was a strange 'pulse' in their body he found. A surge of energy, as though a point of perfect resonance had been reached between two voices to bring about an echoing chorus that resonated across an entire city, a feeling of unity that was only rivalled by that 'fusion' with Jonouchi in their last battle. Of course, the incidents were more often than not quite simple, and the feeling was more often than not rather brief to say the least. Did they want to go to the arcade? Of course they did, who didn't want to play games at that moment! Was their English teacher too boring to bother paying attention to? Definitely! (But it would probably be a good idea to pay attention to Chono nonetheless, as he was now beginning to regret making her penalty game so noticeable... She had to learn eventually though right?)

It had never been so strong though, the feeling pulsing through him now. Never, not in a single moment that they'd been 'bonded'. He had never heard his lighter half curse as strongly as this either, in or out of the mind; never felt such a rush of anger through their bond, never felt such a desire to do just what the 'light' had feared of his 'darkness'... That wasn't him he told himself, that wasn't his partner. That wasn't Yugi.

But there were exceptions to those rules, and those exceptions were more than realized when such lines as had been present on the field were crossed. The Big 5 was one thing; at least then they could assume the violence in the name of cruel vengeance, and shake themselves off as they struggled to find a way out. They could push through the trauma of each injury, and know, with a sigh of relief, that they would never see them again.

This, however, had no 'reason', and no chance of simply being pulled away. Noa had grinned the entire time he fought, and he'd strung his opponent along like a cat with a string. And Kaiba had little choice but to follow in a blind rage, striking ironically with the closest thing she could bring up for 'claws'. Right until the very end, after her secret of over seven years had been shattered, her body broken, her entire being humiliated and spat upon, her brother as well put through an agonizing mental hell after doing harm to his beloved sibling...

Questions could be asked by the others on how this was all happening, and on those fighting on the field, but the others had no questions to ask anymore. The situation was too grave, too horrific to even stand. So what if Seto Kaiba was a woman? Strange, but for the moment they had been far more concerned with the damage done to that woman's body, to the blood staining her white shirt, to the burns covering more or less bare arms and legs, to the grit determination and rage nonetheless exacted upon her otherwise perfectly healthy opponent as he sneered from above.

There had been jokes earlier on. Comments on attractiveness (And he would idly admit that she was indeed the sort of woman who could have made a career in modeling), comments on Noa's constant shifting... But now was not the time. And even as a monstrous shadow arose from Jonouchi's feet, launching forward and almost clinging to his back with liquified claws with an inhuman screech, he was only dimly aware that he and Yugi were in the same place at the same time. Only just aware that they were both watching through the body's eyes, forming a strange mix of 'souls' as their friend became so filled with rage that his very soul seemed to split before them. It was only after Jonouchi made his last and futile attack that the switch completed, that Yugi's resulting surprise and horror allowed him to take over for the moments following. The shadows melted from existence the moment they collided with Noa's form. But rather than Noa standing amid the destruction as Jonouchi fell to the ground, Jonouchi's body merely took his place. Stood there with an expression far unlike his own, in the robes of their enemy with wings wide spread, shining with the same 'glow' of the 'god'.

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." It couldn't be... "I made the right choice," their 'friend' chuckled, cracking his knuckles experimentally as naught but a set of monk's robes fell to the ground before burning into ash. "In the end," Noa continued with a sneer. "This body is the better choice."

This... Was not just an illusion this time. "Oh my god," Otogi muttered, staring up in disbelief. "He... He took..."

"Nihan," another of the group wept, hands brought up to her mouth as she shuddered. "You... You took my brother's BODY," Shizuka screamed, eyes wide as the teen rather proudly leaned down in a 'bow'. "You stole-"

"As a matter of fact," came 'Jonouchi's voice, laced with dark and sadistic mirth, "Yes... Yes I did... Are you going to do anything about it," he added darkly, eyes flashing as the girl gripped her spear.

"You... YOU..." Anzu hurriedly placed a hand on the girl's shoulder at that, but when Shizuka turned she only saw the woman's scowling face directed to the sky. They'd do something. Just not now. Not now.

Soon... "NOA," the Other Yugi hissed, cutting off shouts and threats as their opponent looked down. The air seemed to shift despite its nonexistence. Seemed to thicken with rage, and with hate... But for once, his partner was not trying to reel this rage in. And for once, that was just fine. "I challenge you in Kaiba's place, to finish this duel," he growled, Noa raising his eyebrows in idle curiosity. "Do you hear me?"

Noa continued to stare, eyes narrowing slightly. "...'Finish'," he repeated, the drawling tone of his best friend meeting the air as he snorted. "Hn! Now that's odd... As I recall," the blond continued with a sneer, "'Last Turn's effects mean that I already won. Your challenge is a little late... 'Friend'..."

Friend..! The boy growled in response, Noa's grin appearing to widen at the obvious distaste those below him held. Nonetheless however he steeled himself, pulling out his boomerang to open it wide and go on with his challenge. "True," Yugi said almost coldly, "Last Turn took effect... But so long as there are cards and lifepoints remaining," he continued dangerously, "There is still a battle to be had- I will take Kaiba's remaining deck," the boy shouted, pointing his weapon forward with a nod, "And mix it with my own... And using her life points against yours," Yugi snarled, "I'll fight you for their lives!"

The grin widened. "Ohhh... A power deck merged with a strategy deck... And with so little life points too," Noa chuckled, seemingly crossing his arms in curiosity. "Well... Are you sure about this?"

The boy merely nodded, narrowing his eyes. "Kaiba's cards, Mokuba and Jonouchi's spirits... With their combined power and will I will fight for their freedom," he uttered lowly, opponent staring a moment longer as the others protested. "I could not be more certain, NOA."

The others however could. "You... You can't," Anzu whispered, shaking her head as she looked to the boy. "You just can't..."

"Seventy four hundred against four hundred-aru... It's suicide," Honda barked, towering and imposing form leaning down on the ground with an almost miserable face as Yugi continued to ignore the protests. "You don't even have any cards in your hand for this, you-"

"As I said," Yugi repeated, giving his friends each a quick look as they fell silent. "I _CHALLENGE_ YOU," he roared, turning to look back up to Noa. "Unless you're afraid of the chances against you!"

Noa's grin fell flat with those words, the teen narrowing his eyes at the cut to his pride. "'Afraid'," he 'questioned', feathers seeming to bristle in anger. "Hn! _Very well_,_"_ he spat, Yugi abruptly pulled upward as the ground at his feet tore from the rest of the earth to rise into the air. "I'll grant your wish and kill you now," he roared, the sky darkening and rumbling as he snarled.

Gh- Stone...! "Ah- Yugi," those below shouted, the boy briefly looking down as large chunks of earth and plant life ripped from the air to form their field. "Yugi!" This... Was going to be difficult. They were rising higher, higher... Though there were enough ruins remaining from the cliff to form a stair case upward the entire field was a mess of floating stones at variant levels. Each and every one of them seemed to form a spiral however... A pattern...

They were all centred on Noa.

The boy did not once flinch as the field's stones locked into place, gripping his boomerang tightly as a screen and a dome of light appeared around him. Cards were swirling around him. But it wasn't the same as before the other duels... These were Kaiba's cards he told himself. Those in her grave, and those in her deck. Nothing more and nothing less, though he could tell that with the Ark of Shinato gone the monsters from before had been returned to the graveyard... Or at least, the ones that hadn't been removed from play were, meaning that Blue-Eyes was likely quite 'lonely' to say the least. For now however, his focuses were on his opponent, the opponent now wearing his best friend's face beneath the robes of a so-called 'God'. The one hovering a number of feet beyond any foot hold he could get to. "...Noa," he began, a counter of cards coming to mind as he was asked to trade out exactly half of the deck with others on the screen. "You cold blooded snake... I hope you're prepared," the boy began, only to correct himself with a sneer. "...No... I think I'll be glad if you aren't prepared for what I am about to do to you!"

Noa merely sneered at the comment, a small sphere of 'cards' in his hands as he spun it through the air. "Hn! You say that now, but the duel hasn't even begun yet... We're going to make this fair," he continued darkly, crossing his arms as the sphere snapped out of existence. "I've traded out exactly half of my deck for monsters of my choosing," he explained, narrowing his eyes somewhat. "And of course, before we begin," he added with a smirk, "You may alternatively change out your deckmaster with another if you wish..."

Yugi said nothing in response to the comment, simply allowing the deck-master's scaled hide to overlay his own leathery armor, spikes and cruel 'daggers' coming from every armored joint. "That's not necessary," he growled bitterly, the weapon in his hands also curving to a more vicious appearance. "Kaiba and Mokuba's cards, along with the hearts of both themselves and Jonouchi both can't fail me here after all; so I'll take my chances," he spat, boomerang twirling in his hand as he jumped forward to toss the device to begin the match, "And I'll fight until the very end! I summon Gazelle in defense mode," he announced, the monster appearing as naught but a thick and protective mist as the weapon he'd tossed seemed to duplicate in the air during his charge. The Gazelle was merely a shield of course, but that didn't mean he couldn't create the illusion of the first attack. So for now, while he was hopping stones in an attempt to reach his opponent... "HAHHHHH!"

"Hn!" As his opponent raised the second, 'real' weapon above him, his opponent merely frowned. Blades were aimed directly toward Noa's skull and yt in retaliation the 'blond' jerked his head to the side, seeming to pulse with energy as the boy approached. "Fool; challenging a computer..." Gh- Shit-! "_**Divine Ring**_," he echoed, a gravitational blast throwing the boy back just before the blades could connect. "I may not be able to truly kill you this turn," he continued with a frown, floating through the air to hover a number of feet from his victim, "But that does not make you immune to my strikes."

"GHHA-HG-" Rocks blew from the path his body took, shouts coming from below as the boy wheezed. Stones had pierced through the weak points of his armor, and the defensive shield he'd held was now gone, having barely protected him from the extensive damage done to the stones... Yet despite this the counter in his mind depleted, and with horror he found himself turning to Noa from his small 'crater'. "You..." Information had loaded into his mind and already he knew what had happened. The deckmaster ability...

To halve his life every time he was attacked... "It hurts doesn't it," his opponent chuckled darkly from above, "To have your life cut in two even with your defense... To watch as its added to my own," he continued with a grin, cracking his ringed knuckles as he laughed. There was little to be seen in terms of what his added strength did to the teen, but he could already tell it wasn't good. This ability... ...Gh..! "Of course," Noa was saying from above as his opponent cringed, "It's your turn... I'm a 'benevolent' God; I'll let you live long enough to make your move..." Tch... 'Benevolence' his ass...

Nonetheless, luck was on his side as he stood, a card appearing in his mind. Monsters... He needed monsters for now, and a monster was what he got. "Hn! I set a card face down," he announced, boomerang at the ready as he took a defensive stance on the edge of the floating rock. "End my turn!"

A cold breeze blew with those words, his opponent seeming to nod. "Hnnn... So _strange_," Noa sighed, pacing the air as Yugi 'waited' for the teen to strike. "You look ready to cut my head off! And yet I don't think it's because of 'this'," he continued, bringing a finger to his chin as his free one momentarily gestured to the body. "After all," he went on with crossed arms, "You know full well this isn't real." That was true, he thought for a moment, narrowing his eyes. This world was fake along with everything they saw, so... "It isn't as though I've _killed_ your friend... But Kaiba on the other hand... She's your _enemy_," the blond pressed almost confusedly, "Your rival... So why..? Am I perhaps 'wrong'," he asked, the boy below staring almost blankly in response. "Is there something 'more'..?" More? ...

Oh. Of course not! "...No," he said clearly, still frowning as he looked toward his opponent. "You aren't wrong. We're rivals and 'enemies' to an extent, that's true. Perhaps it's fate taunting us," the boy went on somewhat darkly, "Playing with our minds that leads us to that point despite friendships and bonds slowly being built, I wouldn't know. But despite all of this," Yugi spat, eyes narrowing much further as his body shook in anger, "We would _NEVER_ bring it to this level..! We would never touch the other's personal lives as you have, never bring such maters to the field! And to not only reveal those secrets but to turn a family against itself..! We wouldn't even _CONSIDER_ such a thing!"

"And why is that," Noa asked plainly, a mist seeming to form from his hand as he shaped it like 'clay' within bored hands. "Just why would you say that..?"

"Because that's our 'word', our 'agreement'," he responded, watching as a three-legged crow moved to sit on the blond's shoulder from where it had been molded from the smoke. "Because it's our promise as duelists, rivals, and should she ever admit it, friends! That's why!"

Silence filled the air a moment before Noa scoffed, shaking his head as he frowned. "Hn! Friends... What a bullshit answer," he sneered, narrowing his eyes.

"To you maybe," he retorted, still gripping his weapon to wait for an attack from the teen before him. "But someone like you, who uses nothing but cheap tricks to win their matches isn't someone I would expect to understand. Kaiba fought fairly," the boy called out in pride, the statue far below seeming to 'shift' despite being completely immobile with those words. "She fought for a just cause, and the promises she made are carried with the cards she left behind. And in her place," Yugi roared, finally forgoing patience as he kicked from the ground, "I _WILL_ DEFEAT YOU!"

"So you would hope," Noa countered, wings flapping back to allow him to dodge the boomerang his opponent had thrown. The blade curled on the air and his opponent gave a short laugh, before pulling higher into the air with outstretched hands. "Hah! Your luck has still run short," the teen chuckled, pointing his monster forward. "This monster at my side might not be powerful," he continued, "But even the smallest shade of death is enough for a mere mortal such as yourself!" Hn!

"Then this 'mere mortal' will have to prove you wrong," the boy snarled, hopping from stone to stone as he came closer with the returned blade for a second shot. "HAH!" As the boomerang flew forward it curved around Noa's attack, the 'God' having released his blast at that very moment. As the glass of his defense monster shattered however a handle appeared in his grip, his body flown back to land on the stone with ease. A blade grew from a silvery hilt as smoke rose from the shattered glass, and despite the pressure and force against the blade it blew against and around the sword to leave him perfectly unharmed. The black and violet wave of energy instead blew harmlessly to the side...

And when the dust from the strike cleared his boomerang returned, quickly folded back at his side. "Y-YOU... _IMPOSSIBLE,_" Noa roared, eyes wide as he looked down through the dust. "How did you manage to-"

"Hn! Think carefully on the monster I've just summoned," Yugi retorted, pulling his blade back with all the intent of an attack, "While I destroy this one! HAH-"

-_fsssss..._-

Metal met nothing but smoke as he swung the blade at 'Yata-Garasu', the boy's eyes widening in confusion. The steam and smoke was all he cut, and even then it did nothing... Nothing at all. "It vanished," he muttered, shaking his head. Vanished into... Nothing. Yugi's eyes widened further as the smoke retreated to Noa's hands, the 'God' smirking viciously as he held it in his grasp. No; it hadn't vanished. It'd returned to Noa's hand. "Of course," he whispered, before the scowl on his face deepened further. "The 'Spirit Series'..."

"_Spirit Series,_" his other asked, before answering his own question as he recalled a much earlier conversation on the matter. "_Ah; that's right... That's the series based on Japanese folk-lore isn't it,_" he asked, his question again being answered the moment it was asked.

The boy nodded as his partner muttered on somewhat, pacing around the rock before his opponent as a drawn card appeared in his mind. Spirit cards... Yugi watched as his opponent crossed his arms, a spell appearing to activate on the field to bathe him in a halo of light. "Exactly," he answered his partner, narrowing his eyes. "Each are cards that can't be special summoned and each are cards that return to the hand at the end of a turn... ...Tch... And I see you've played 'Spring of Rebirth' to go with that," he continued to his opponent in aggravation, Noa chuckling darkly in response.

"But of course," he sneered, narrowing his eyes as the spell gave him a lifepoint boost in response to Yata-Garasu's return. "These are the spirits of the dead, the spirits of the far beyond... As though I would fight with anything else, when I as 'God' have them in my control," he continued darkly. 'God'... Tch..!

It was any wonder Seto hadn't simply forgone cards all together in her match! It was his turn now though he thought to himself, gritting his teeth. This was one of Kaiba's cards in his hands right now, one of Kaiba's cards that he'd just drawn. He could almost hear her voice reading the description, the 'flip effect' of the machine... Explaining to him that this was her fight as well, and that if he thought she was standing on the sides he had another thing coming. '_It'll destroy him,_' she was whispering, '_It'll leave nothing left..!_' This card...

Very well. "I set a card face down, he said almost quietly, stepping forward to stand upon the sheet of glass that appeared in response to the summon. "Now... Do your worst."

"Oh... I'll do more than my 'worst'," Noa sneered, spreading his hands and throwing forth a wave of smoke as legs and arms formed. As a four-faced head stared forward, each with an altered expression of rage and calm. "I summon Asura," the teen announced, stone-skinned monster twirling swords in his many hands as he came to rest on the stone below. "And ATTACK!"

"HN!" Yugi charged the monster as it threw his blade forwards, ignoring the point difference for a moment as he stabbed forward with his 'Fooling Swordsman's blade. It was easily caught by the six armed monster of course, what with a a pair of the blades clearing two hands for the giant's use. And there were many blades to continue their attack from the other hands of course, many blades pointed toward him. But despite this the boy took no notice, merely flipping over the giant using the very sword he'd attacked with to kick off to a run from the monster's back. To run still closer to his opponent, pushing from the stones behind the monster and throwing his boomerang forward as he kicked up into the air. "MY TURN," he roared, the wicked blades of his boomerang spinning through the air only for it to be caught in his opponent's hand with ease as he fell back to the ground. "Gh-!" No...

Impossible! Noa's eyes narrowed in annoyance as the blade quivered, tightening his grip and forcing the blade to curl and distort in his very hands. "Hn! Fool... I'll break through any attack you even attempt! You're a mere speck of dust," he continued, apparently ignorant to Asura's death at the hands of the shattering sheet of glass he'd struck with his blades, a vortex having swallowed him forward. "A worthless ANT in comparison to me! PREPARE TO DIE," he snarled with an almost vicious grin, throwing the boomerang back as smoke began to whirl around the boy from the shattered defense monster, "AND DISAPPEAR FROM THIS EARTH!"

The boomerang did not fly through Yugi's body as his opponent likely expected. Instead the boy caught it firmly in his grasp by the same dented 'point' Noa had held moments before, raising a foot to let it rest on an enormous 'jar' that had appeared to his side from the smoke. "Fell for it," he said plainly, the blond and glowing 'god' across from him staring in shock as the one-eyed 'vase' appeared to chuckle beneath his opponent's feet. "This was one of Kaiba's monsters... The 'Cyber Jar'," he explained, the monster's mouth opening as a powerful force of suctioned air was pulled toward it. "You know what that does..."

Clear all monsters from the field. Including the opposing deckmaster, his mind told him just now. "H-HHAAAHHH! YOU- YOU RAT!" Noa's screams filled the air as cheers erupted from the ground, those below slowly making their way up the stones themselves in an attempt to lend their partner a hand. '_GOOD ONE,_' they were shouting, Noa's appearance fading from sight as the winds from the Cyber Jar became tainted by dust and soil. '_You win! Only two moves and you win,_' they cheered, making their way up what was only a small fraction of their coming climb. It seemed that way, true; it seemed he had won... But... Something told him... That it wasn't quite so easy. "_**ANNICA BEARING,**_" Noa abruptly shouted through the air, the jar seeming to lock and freeze as it crumbled to scrap and continued its effect from the dust pile it was turning into. "Hah... Hah... Hah..." That shout...

Yugi paled and stared at the cloud before him, swallowing almost nervously. Noa had vanished from sight by this point, but not permanently it seemed. As the smoke cleared he could hear the incredulous shouts of those below, the opponent re-appearing before them to stand on the far off 'cliffs' in the air. But something seemed different about him this time he realized; though he was unharmed, he was breathing laboriously, wiping his cheek and gasping for breath as one would following a marathon. The glow, he realized, was also gone. The steel 'sun' from behind his opponent, the shine it radiated... Completely gone, vanished without a trace. But that wasn't the point. The point was that he was there, standing before him... "You... How are you still alive," he finally asked, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. "Cyber Jar destroys all monsters on the field, including the opposing deckmaster... So how!"

The teen merely grit his teeth, wings hanging almost limp on his back as their weight pressed on his body. There was no 'god-like strength' to hold them up now. Though they had muscles to work with the wings would take time to get used to, and time was not something he had for the moment. "I was careless," Noa hissed, narrowing his eyes in displeasure. "I didn't think you would be able to force me to use this ability..."

"'This' ability," Yugi repeated, folding his boomerang back into a blade like form as he studied his opponent. The blades repaired themselves in an instant, with the monsters 'Sangan' and 'Gamma the Magnet Warrior' rising at his sides at the same moment as the Cyber Jar's effect completed and his hand was replenished. A full hand of cards, two monsters for a possible tribute combo... He would not lose here! But that ability... "Just what would that be..."

Again Noa spat at the ground, pulling himself to his feet with narrowed eyes as he adjusted the six wings on his back. "Hn... _Mortality_," he hissed, wiping the spittle from his mouth with a growl. "I fight at your level, with no attack power to call my own for the remainder of this battle," he continued on, wings adjusting once again while he took a defensive crouch. "I'm done with my turn," the teen growled, eyes narrowing further in distaste. "You know as well as I that I can't special summon my monsters to the field... Make your move!"

Hn! Seeing how he wouldn't have to deal with the 'attack point barrier'... "With pleasure," the boy spat, pulling his weapon back like a sword as he charged and kicked off the ground toward the 'angel'. "I sacrifice my two monsters," he announced, Sangan and Gamma both turning into dust on the wind as the swirled about at his side, "And while Sangan's effect activates," he went on, a card appearing in the back of his mind, "I summon the Dark Magician to the field!" Two pairs of feet came to rest on the next rock he landed on, and as he stared Noa down a blade and a staff were both pointed forward. "NOW," he shouted, kicking off another floating stone as his opponent took to the air with grit teeth, "ATTACK DIRECTLY," he roared, boomerang unfolding as he tossed it forward, "_**BLACK MAGIC!**_"

Thunder cracked through the air as the charging Dark Magician gripped his staff, black lightning shooting from the weapon's tip to hurl their opponent backward. Sparks flew from the teen's skin, leaping across golden armor... As he fell back however, a 'curtain' appeared from behind him. An alteration in the light, shimmering oddly as their opponent disappeared through it. "Ah... Where did he go," those beneath him shouted, eyes wide as they looked up past the stones their allies had landed upon. "He's just... Vanished..!" Vanished...

Partially, at least. "That curtain..." That was obviously the 'where' in the matter, but _what_...

"_It's a spell,_" 'Yugi' muttered from the back of his mind, the darker side frowning somewhat. Hn? What was that..? "_Other me,_" his lighter half shouted in worry, voice raising in alarm, "_It's a spell! He's __summoning another monster!_"

"What-!" This was a _summon_!

"_You... Humiliating me like this,_" an echoing voice growled, Noa's opponent narrowing his eyes as his friends slowly came to the field to take positions behind the stones. They'd made it at last, despite any exhaustion it resulted in... But for now their opponent was out of reach, in another 'world' as his spell said. "_How DARE you..._"

How dare... That _SCUM_... "How dare _I_," he responded with an incredulous snarl, looking around with wide and caution filled eyes for any sign of his opponent. "Tch... Compared to what you and your 'father' did to Kaiba and Mokuba, this is NOTHING," Yugi growled, clenching his fists as the handle of his boomerang imprinted upon his hand. To even claim that this was any form of 'humility'... "Don't even try to use an excuse like _THAT_!"

Hissing was coming through the air... Low growls and snarls, seemingly from nowhere, causing those outside to look around in unease. "_Hnmp! This is MY realm,_" Noa spat, his voice continuing to echo through the air amid the snarls and hissing of whatever beasts he'd summoned forth. "_No matter how many ants you bring to your aid, how long you stand against me,_" he raged on, _"I will smite you where you stand for your blasphamy!_"

'Blasphamy? If not for everything else going on he'd almost have to laugh. Tch... Yugi narrowed his eyes, attentions honing in on the curtain before him as it seemed to shift and quake with some unseen force. "I've never heard of a God who acted so cruel to the denizens of his world," the boy hissed, shaking his head. "I've never seen a more foul 'creator'... Noa," he went on, pulling his weapon back to prepare for an attack. "You've been dead too long, desensitized to this world... All souls have a place to go, and this isn't it," he shouted, gesturing to the world and the 'sun' above them. "You need to move on... I'll defeat you," he continued, bringing his hand back down, "But I'll also send your spirit to rest!"

Silence was his answer for the next few moments, the curtain before him shuddering to a stop. "_Rest..?_" The teen's voice almost seemed confused at the term, but in an instant the momentary weakness was thrown back, low rumbling coming through the air as the curtain again furled in a non-existent wind. "HN! I don't NEED rest," Noa spat, voice echoing clearly through the air as the curtain blew back to reveal those behind it. "All I need is the satisfaction of your death! I activate the spell 'Next World' and summon a monster of equal level to your own," he roared, eight great and snarling serpent heads meeting Yugi's gaze as he stumbled back from the curtain's entrance. "A monster whose power _surpasses_ yours! The Yamata Dragon," Noa announced, gripping eight 'leashes' in his hands as he stood on the back of the great and snarling serpent. "And now... ATTACK," he commanded, a thick blaze of fire exiting each dragon's head as Yugi's Magician hurried to his defense. "_**SPREAD FIRE!**_"

Each of the heads took aim and each of the heads struck true, the fires merging in one point to concentrate their force on the relatively small target before them. The fires burned... Burned... "Gh... Ngh... GHHAAAA-GH!" His monster was taking the brunt of the blow for the moment; holding his staff forward and grimacing as the flames ate away at his robes and body. But as the Magician was reduced to ash the force became too much to bear, the strength behind each of the serpent's fires sending the boy back to skid along a stretch of floating ground on his back. He couldn't take another hit like that he told himself in a panic, a card appearing in his mind. Not again..! "Gh... Swords of Revealing Light," he countered, a 'field' appearing around them as a series of golden blades appeared in the sky. "Next time you attack," he continued, each of Noa's wings quickly pinned to the ground by a sword, "I'll be ready..!"

"Gh-! You..!"

"Hehehe... And here we thought you'd need our help-aru," Honda chuckled, the others moving from their hiding places as Noa struggled against his bonds. The dog snapped out another laugh, great clawed paws barely finding a place on a number of oversized and uneven rocks at the side. "Hahahahaha..! Good going-aru! Arou... But... That was close huh," he asked, ears pulling back with an awkward cough as the others nodded.

"Only 100 lifepoints left," Shizuka continued, standing at the dog's side as Yugi pulled himself up from the ashen ground. "That was a lucky draw..!" Lucky indeed... Not many other cards would have saved him, and while he would ordinarily say that it was the 'deck's doing', the fact was that he couldn't feel any connection to any cards within _this_ place...

Yugi turned as the others filled the field as best they could, balancing on scattered stones in the air and taking their positions. "Guys..." They were all prepared to fight... Anzu had Ren at her side, Shizuka was standing beside Honda, and Otogi was finding a position where he could strike with his daggers best. "...Hn! No matter what happens, we have to keep faith right," he said after a moment, pulling the boomerang that had fallen to his side from the ground. The words were partially to himself but nonetheless the others nodded, listening as he went on. "As fighters we might not be able to make it through these blades," he warned, Noa snarling from his prison even as the others took looser stances in regard to the comment, "But we can at least do this right? Kuriboh," he shouted, the monster rising from dust at the call when the card was summoned. "Attack Noa..."

"_Kurriiiiii!_" With considerable vigor the monster 'nodded', clawed feet scrambling forward along the stones before baring its razor sharp teeth as it jumped. A feral cry screeching through the air the seemingly adorable monster's eyes became slit, mouth widening almost as much as the body was wide. "_KUUUU__**RIIIIIIII**_!"

"Tch-!" As one of the swords vanished a wing moved to intercept the beast, Noa appearing to stare with somewhat wide eyes as the monster dug its fangs into his body. There were small bits of blood dribbling from the wound; the wing, one of the top ones, twitched just slightly as the owner stared in distaste, still pinned to the ground despite this action. "Really... Of all the pathetic attempts of attack," he hissed, before throwing the wing forward as the monster was flung off with a shout. "I can't even tell if it touched me or not," he taunted, the others pulling back from the disturbing expression on their friend's face as the teen went on. "Well... You might have immobilized me," Noa spat, those before him silent in the face of 'Jonouchi's sneering voice, "But that doesn't mean I can't do anything... I set a monster face down," he announced, a sheet of glass further protecting him from attack as it shimmered before his face. "End turn! Count your 'blessings'," the teen added lowly, gesturing to the swords in his wings. "Because once these cursed blades vanish your death will be right around the corner..."

Hn... He expected as much of a threat really. Yugi merely twirled his weapon at the words however, eventually spinning it to a stop as his next card came to mind. Dark Magician Girl was in his hand now. A level six monster... Which would be handy if not for the fact that his deckmaster ability only affected _light_ monsters he thought under his breath, seeing how he needed one sacrifice. And the fact was, to pull this off... Well, even to just be safe he'd need more than one monster.

The boy shook his head as he returned to the battle's 'mind set', a mist rising around him as those around him took their positions in the fogging air. His turn he thought to himself. And he couldn't waste it..! "I play Big Shield Guardna in defense," he said calmly, the smoke and mist briefly forming the 'shield' of the beast before sinking to his sides in dormancy. "Kuriboh as well," Yugi continued, the monster in question scurrying to his side, "Will enter defense mode..."

Noa merely continued to growl from across him at the words, muttering curses under his breath as the others stared. "Hehehehe... No where to run now is there," Ren taunted from the side, the group closing in to prepare for their attack as Noa growled from beneath the remaining blades of light.

"There's still two moves left-aru! By that time," Honda barked in agreement, wolfish grin on his face, "You'll be _long_ gone-aru..!"

Silence was again their answer, a few blades pulling from the top sets of wings as Noa pulled himself to a slouching stance. "...Shameful," he muttered after a moment, hair hanging in his eyes as he leered at the crowd. "So shameful... I predict that this attempt to break the rules of our match will only end in _sorrow_," the teen hissed. "That before these blades fade from existence," he warned dangerously, "One of you will 'die'... And my predictions are _never_ wrong." ...Gh... Die..?

Briefly the others seemed to freeze, the teen across from them setting a few more cards before him in a 'shield' as his turn silently came to an end. The tone in Noa's voice was chilling, frightening even, compared to the others he'd used, even as 'Jonouchi'. It was low, grave... Almost murderous. Maybe it was because it was from their friend's voice, a voice they were used to hearing positively, or occasionally just 'calm', but they couldn't help but stare in silence. He himself was having no luck for the moment; his draws wouldn't help him, nothing in his hand could help him... He needed to save his monsters for when the swords vanished, so he couldn't simply sacrifice without thinking either, and with that in mind... "...I set a card," he finally said, gritting his teeth and gesturing over the field as the 'glass' before him shimmered into existence. "End turn..."

With the very sound of his voice Noa's eyes had snapped forward, darkening with that same haunting light they saw moments ago. "Good," the teen sneered, the first of his glass panels exploding with light at that very moment. "Then it's _MINE _now... Activate _**Clock of Destiny**_," he roared, the blades in his wings shattering at that moment as he spread his wings to blind those on the field in a golden light. "You think you can cheat a GOD," he spat, rising into the air with a snarl and a solid wing-beat. "Think again! For each turn we fight now you will lose something dear," the 'god' announced, blinding light piercing their eyes as he continued to fly up into the air. "Including _THIS_ one..!"

This turn..! "W-What," Ren shouted in response, the others confused shouts following after.

"What the hell is he talking about-aru..?"

"He's just going to kill us off..!"

Chuckling met the air in response to the shouts, the light only just beginning to fade as the sound of continued beating wings met the air. "Hnhnhnhnhn... If your 'friendship' is so strong," Noa hissed, "Shouldn't you be able to see it? See the answer right before you? You were foolish to place your trust in this boy," he continued with a laugh, a twisted duplicate of their friend's own meeting the air. "Completely moronic..! Like Seri has Mokuba and Katsuya has Seri," he sneered, looking down at the crowd as one would a pile of scum, "You yourselves have weaknesses that can be taken advantage of! This is what you get for attempting to attack out of 'turn'," he continued, the sound of foot-steps coming through the air as he spoke. "_**STONE GAZE!**_" The petrification spell..!

But then who... The light finally faded as the sound of something clattering to the ground came over their ears, the shadow that had at that moment attempted a strike on Noa stiffening on the ground with a pained grunt. It was hard to see who it was, for at least a moment. The figure had been caught part-way through a fall, and thanks to the position of his legs would be forever trapped in that position. Finally however the fog cleared from the air, and daggers could be seen embedded in the ground from where they'd fallen out of shaking hands. A head of wavy black hair, with a pony tail straightened by the weight of the combined strands... A vest, a screaming face, permanently fixed in stone...

"Otogi," Yugi muttered as he stared, momentarily frozen as the others drew back from the sight.

"O-Otogi-han," Shizuka repeated, spear falling almost limp in her hands as she stepped backward. "He turned him to..."

He turned him to stone. "Hnhnhnhnhn... HAHAHAHAHA!" It was sick, hearing this laugh from their friend's voice, hearing the distorted warble it brought with it. Hearing the words Noa threw to the air, seeing the expression of insanity across his face... The expression that coldly reminded him of the spirit that plagued Bakura's existence, that which he'd faced in a duel just hours ago. "Pathetic... You're all so _pathetically WEAK_," the 'god' howled, laughing almost hysterically as the others looked up to him in wide-eyed rage. "This is the fate of all you _FOOLS_ who stand against me," Noa sneered, hands held out before the group that stood below. "An eternity in stone!" The laughter continued with those words, Noas cards flipping over to reveal monsters and mages before misting out from existence as an eight headed serpent rose up beneath him in response. "Hnhnhnhnhn... A soulless life," Noa snarled lowly, "Unable to truly live and unable to truly die... No pain, no fear... No warmth, no love... I'd almost say he's lucky," the teen sneered, grasping at leashes as the now summoned dragon snapped its jaws and snarled on the field. "Now he doesn't have to watch this! I'm going to turn _all_ of you to stone," he roared madly, pulling at the leashes as his dragon spat venom and flames into the air, "And when it comes to the end you'll ALL regret siding with _HIM_!" Tch... This... This scum... To take advantage of their connections like this, for no reason..! And yet...

...Hold on... Yugi's eyes narrowed as he thought back to the first match in the virtual realm, back to what the boy had said in his lucid state by the 'door'. '_The words of a true friend_', he'd said with a chuckle, just seconds after he and his lighter half had shared their opinion on both Kaiba and Jonouchi. '_They make me almost wish I had someone like yourself all those years ago..._' ...This boy... A boy with no friends in life and no friends in death...

"...Heh..." As Yugi shook his head the dragon's jaws snapped shut, his allies briefly held at bay by the warning glares of the monsters heads. "You're the pathetic one," he said plainly, Noa looking down with intense rage in response. "The soul can't change after all; no matter how many years pass, you're still a child, a frightened and selfish little boy who wants nothing more than what he didn't have... Open your eyes," he said coldly, Yamata's heads reeling and staring in anger as their controller did the same. "Your words don't phase _us_."

"'Us'," Noa repeated, scowl increasing as the others nodded from their positions.

"That's right-aru," Honda snarled, still clinging to the sides of multiple stone cliffs in the air as he growled from above, the serpents around his neck each snapping at the air around their opponent. "Do you think we'll turn our backs on our friend just because of this-aru!"

"Friends don't become friends because it 'suits them'," Anzu continued, Ren beginning to grow in form around her. "They become friends because they trust each other, and care about each other... Because no matter what, they can't live without that other person there! It's a bond," she went on, the snake at her side appearing to listen in silence from behind her. "Like becoming brothers, or sisters... It's family without the genes!"

"Perhaps if your father hadn't done this to you," Yugi went on with an almost pitying tone, his partner quite wholly agreeing, "You would have known this... But Noa," he continued, friends standing around him with determined stares. "Until then, burn this image into your mind; the power of a promise between friends! We won't lose here," the boy roared, spinning the boomerang in his hands and preparing to attack. "No matter what you throw toward us!"

"You... VERY WELL," Noa spat, his expression having slowly soured further and further as the conversation went on, mixing insanity with rage. "You want so badly to go to hell I'll do just that! And your friends can each watch while I do it! _**SPREAD FIRE,**_" he roared, flames filling the boy's gaze as shouts filled the air. "Before you even think of challenging me," the teen snarled as the fires pushed downward on him, "Remember your life is tied to a POINT SYSTEM! This is the END... _DISAPPEAR,_" he heard over the flames, "DIE... DIE! I WIN, MUTOU YUGI!"

That was what _he_ thought. True, one of Noa's tributed monsters had been flip summoned before the dragon appeared, activating an effect that forced his monster into attack mode rather than defense. And true, rather than a mist taking this attack he could see the kuriboh, squealing in pain as fires burned it into mere ash and bone before evaporating completely. But as those around him screamed there was still another card, and despite the grievous burns that were now covering his body he was still able to play it. A needle of sorts appeared in his hands, an injector filled with a red fluid... And holding his breath, he brought the almost knife-like injector to his arm and stabbed downward with as much strength as he could muster. "Gh... GHK!"

Nutrient Z. The trap card that would just barely spare his life and heal him... Noa would already know it activated he thought to himself, the fires still forcing him against the ground and to his knees as he breathed laboriously. Kuriboh as well would be long gone, but despite that the spell was doing its job, forcing his burns to recover to at least a first degree and minor extent. Four thousand lifepoints in reaction to a 2000 plus point attack... And as the flames cleared Noa's already scowling face could be seen, the damage reversed to ironically grant him more 'life' than he'd started with. "You... How did you..."

The teen before him couldn't even finish speaking and as he looked at his 'friend's face the boy merely smirked weakly. The red fluids of the Nutrient trap were slowly entering his veins and taking effect... Finishing the rest of the damage done as he choked on his breaths and attempted to stand. "Heh... Something wrong," he 'asked', crushing the now empty container in his hands as it vanished to dust with the completion of the spell. "I'm alive aren't I... Isn't it your turn..?"

Noa's eyes widened as he stared at the boy, those at the sides grinning almost wickedly as their friend took his weapon up from the ground to prepare his next attack. Scared, his partner was muttering in the back of his mind. Was it just him, or was Noa... Scared..? "You... I..."

"It looks like your prediction failed-aru," Honda sneered, the enormous hound moving to stand behind his friend. His jaw opened wide, and a light could be seen at the back of his throat. Flames were developing... The same flames that he'd been forced to wield against his friends as the cerberus, an undying fire that would serve an invaluable purpose. "Hehehe... Better luck next time, aru..."

Perhaps they should start to watch their words, his other half muttered nervously. After all; as both of them looked ahead, it was becoming more and more apparent that the already fragile stability of Noa's mind was falling...

Very. Quickly. "Heh... Heheha... Better... Better luck," he was muttering, wings seeming to curl around him as he chuckled manically to himself. "Hg... Gh... Hnhnhnhnhn... Hahahaha... AHAHA! So you've survived this turn," their opponent laughed, rising still further into the skies as his wings spread far behind him. "That just means you have to live through more of this world's cruel reality! After all," he continued, a 'spell' appearing on the field as the teen glowed with a power that brought his 'life point' count to an intimidating 11000, "It's perfectly fine that you're alive," he sneered, cracking his knuckles in habit. "It just means I can fight you longer..." Gh...

So that was it then? He just wanted to cause more pain? "Hn! Your power did not intimidate me before, and it does not frighten me even now," Yugi spat, before pulling himself onto Honda's head by means of the dog's mane of vipers while the fires in his friend's maw continued to blaze. "I made a promise," he snarled, boomerang in hand as the dog howled, "And that isn't about to end now! I summon Alpha the Magnet Warrior," he announced, hand thrown to the side as dust and wind blew through the air to form the metal attacker. "And now, we attack... LET'S GO," he shouted, pointing his weapon forward with wide eyes. "Shizuka... Anzu... Honda... ATTACK!"

The resulting strike was absolute chaos. Anzu and Honda were the first to strike, each sending their own equivalent of a 'fire storm' toward their opponent as the 'god' expertly blocked it with a simple shield from his feathered wings. The same went for Shizuka when she leaped from the side, the girl attempting her second double cast spell only to be blocked by the same feathers, ice and stone clattering harmlessly to the ground below. And now, as he pushed off Honda's head, the dog having charged across the stone littered sky to chase after a seemingly fleeing opponent, it was his turn. The boomerang was flung forward, eyes filled with rage. Though the weapon missed its target the warrior at his side managed to catch the blond in the cross fire, slicing his cheek with his blade before hurriedly saving his summoner from the chance of falling to the ground below.

Noa however seemed unphased by all of this. He ducked underneath Shizuka's next strike, flew back from Anzu's 'maelstrom' as Ren howled and slithered away from the retaliation they received... And as Honda approached with snarls and teeth that dripped with venom and flames he had the gall to yawn. "Hahh... You just haven't learned, _have you_," he muttered, holding a hand out as Honda's body abruptly froze in place. "Hn! It's my turn anyways I suppose... Time to count down," the teen muttered with a grin, hands placed on the hound's nose.

"W-Wh... You... What are you doing," he yelped, somehow still able to talk despite the inability to move.

The answer, of course, was simple. "_**Stone Gaze,**_" Noa hissed in response, the grey coloured stone seeming to 'grow' over Honda's canine form from the tips of the blond's fingers.

"S-Stone g- Nggh..! Y-You..!" He couldn't speak any-more, even as his tail thrashed with anger. And within moments, that tail was just as frozen as the rest of his body. The dog's statue was by far the largest 'stone' on the field, given his immense size compared to the others. Somehow he'd managed to balance himself on a number of cliffs, with one paw raised in a swipe as his snarling face looked down at his opponent in frozen horror.

An expression quite similar to the crowd's own. "You..."

Noa grinned almost maliciously as he looked back, eyes narrowed in mirth. "Hnhnhnhn... One by one, this is what will happen to your friends," he sneered, the others on the field watching in horror as moved to take a casual seat on the dog's head. "Until you're left with a garden of traumatized statues... With no better use than furniture and decoration..." Gh... That...

"Bastard... Bastard," Ren hissed, hood flaring as the others growled. "No matter what you do we're going to keep kicking your ass! Remember it," he spat, barely held back by his partner.

"Hn! I'd love to see you try," the blond chuckled in response, narrowing his eyes. "Besides," he continued with a sneer, the smirk on his face growing wide as he looked to the snake below, "I'm almost certain that you'll be alive long enough to show your '_partner_' a few more things..." Hn..? Why did he place emphasis on-

The serpent tensed considerably with those words, and as he did so Yugi found himself studying his opponent with narrowed eyes. 'Ren' had already garnered considerable suspicion from himself and for a few moments Jonouchi as it seemed, not counting Honda's own insistences. After the last battle this had increased, but now... Just _how much_ did he know..? "And just what do you mean by _that_," he found himself muttering, pacing back on the stone that his monster brought him to rest upon. "Just what are you trying to do?"

"Well, I'd think it obvious, 'nh'," Noa asked, 'borrowing' his body's verbal tic and grinning at the foul reaction he received in response. "There are secrets your friends have been hiding from each other... Secrets kept so tightly under-wraps that you've scarcely even noticed. Of course," the blond continued as he shrugged, "To find out what those are, there's only one thing you can do..." He laughed with those words, smoke spiralling around him as his opponent tensed. Cackling filled the air completely, and fog again set in on the field... The 'one thing'... "You'll have to beat me," Noa shouted, a sudden hammer-like object pounding against his form to send him flying to another floating stone far in the distance. "Beat me," Noa repeated, the mochi hammer slamming against his stomach once again as he gave a still louder shout and broke through the next stone. Another strike, and another and another... "Beat me, beat me, BEAT ME! HAHAHAHAHAAAAA!" Stop...

Stop... "Gh- GLN..." Yugi rolled onto his front as the 'Inaba White Rabbit's mallet finally struck the ground instead of his body, the monster having charged him directly through its effect and vanished the moment he missed. Noa gained lifepoints every time he dealt damage. He gained life every time a monster returned to his hand. And each time Noa attacked, his life points were halved. _After_ damage calculation. "Ngh..."

"_**Healing wave,**_" a familiar voice muttered, the boy grimacing as he looked up and winced. What... That voice...

"S-Shizuka," he coughed, attempting to pull himself up to his feet. "What are you..."

"Shhh," she whispered almost panicking, looking to the side with a paranoid swallow. "Noa doesn't know I took this spell yet I don't think," she continued, biting her lip and continuing to hold her hand toward her friend. "So please, Yugi-han; I need you to be quite while I do this, and listen close... I can't heal your lifepoints," Shizuka went on somewhat embarrassedly, "But I can at least do this! You're the one he wants to fight," the girl pressed, Yugi staring with a slight frown as he moved to sit in a less awkward position. "You're the one he's fighting; this is all on you... But that doesn't mean Anzu-chan and I won't help," the mage protested fiercely. "I know you can win," she continued, pulling her brother's friend up almost roughly by the arm as her work was both completed and felt across his body. "So... Are you ready?"

His wounds were gone... Even the damage to his armor, which shouldn't have been possible to repair through a spell, was gone. Yugi stared at the girl for a moment, before looking back toward his opponent as a card appeared within his mind. This one... "...Of course," he finally said, before a small smirk appeared on his face. They would all fight then. "Are you ready, Shizuka?"

The girl nodded, gripping her spear and looking to the front with a look not at all unlike her brother before a match. "Definitely. ANZU-CHAN," she shouted out, a loud and almost deafening roar coming over the field as Noa approached them only to freeze in mid air. "NOW!"

"_**AEOLUS,**_" came the woman's shout as the angel turned back with wide eyes, Ren growing into a massive and air-embodied serpent as it attempted to restrain the opponent before them.

"_**Meteor Fusilade,**_" added Shizuka, the blast of hailstones battering Noa's wings as she charged forward, using the very snake that held the struggling teen in place for her foot holes before jumping back. "Now, Yugi-han!"

"Right," the boy shouted, pushing forward as the defensive mists around him vanished and the Alpha Warrior flew by his side. "I sacrifice Alpha the Magnet warrior," he announced, throwing his boomerang forward as it glowed with power and 'life' both, "Summoning the Dark Magician girl in weapon mode... And with that," he continued, flipping off stones and through the air as the blades honed in on his opponent. "I attack directly! _**BLACK BURNING,**_" he roared, fires coating the 'upgraded' blade.

The next thing he saw as the blade connected was nothing but 'light'...

* * *

There were certain things he needed to get straight after being given his request. One would be why. Also how.

But mostly why. The whole 'just kill him please' thing was a little... Suspicious. Not to mention bizarrely cryptic for all the obvious meaning it held. Also vague. Ech. "Alrigh'," Katsuya coughed, a few moments of awkward silence having passed as he stared at the woman before him. The blond again resisted the urge to turn away as he stared, pushing the feeling back as he spoke. "...Say again what y' wan' me t' do t' this kid," he asked nervously, swallowing yet again as he attempted to control his 'fear'.

The 'ghost' as she claimed to be merely stared, a horribly grotesque ruin of a 'face' staring forward with nothing that could be called eyes or even a forehead left upon the neck and skull. There was barely any chin and jaw, next to no bone, if there was any at all... It was as though her entire face had simply been ripped from it's skull, the jaw blown to nothing and the rest left as collateral damage. Yet despite this horrific condition she was able to speak, the rest of her body greatly contrasting her 'face' as she stood. "You must kill Noa," she repeated plainly, holding out a hand in gesture as she repeated her request. "You must force him to relive that which took him to this place, and kill him." Re-live...

Wait. 'Kill him'... Noa was already dead, but if he re-lived... ...Ah... "...Reset," he 'clarified', shaking his head and glancing at the ground a moment in thought. Don't save the game, _re-set_... "You... Y' wan' me t' _re-boot_ Noa..?"

The woman nodded, a dull yet somehow 'pleasant' breeze passing through in response rather than what would normally have been an approving smile. "Correct. Noa has lost himself," she explained, bowing her head in apparent sadness. "He has forgotten how to feel, and therefore is unable to do so any more. His time without a body has taken its toll. I ask you," she continued, holding out a hand to gesture to the blond before her once again. "What do you feel right now?" Feel..? Uh...

What the hell did she mean by... "Er... C-Confused," he muttered with a frown, scratching his head. "Kinda ticked too, what wi' all these questions an' th' room an all," he added with a slight grumble, "But mostly confused," he finished, "An' why th' hell are y'-"

"Wrong," the woman stated, cutting him off shortly as he frowned. "Again," she asked as the blond blinked a few times. "What do you feel."

What! But he'd already- "I already told y'," he protested, eyes wide as his fists clenched. "Confused! An' as 'f now, screw 'kinda' ticked, I'm startin' t' get royally pissed of-"

"Again, wrong," the ghost responded, cutting her guest off once more. "What do you _FEEL_?"

What did he- He told her already, he felt con- ...No he didn't.

Katsuya paled, his memories scattering as a cold feeling rushed through his body. Where was the 'feeling'? The racing pulse that came with rage, the rising heat, the low rumble in the back of his mind..? Oh god... Oh god oh god oh god... "Nothin'," he finally said with a swallow, eyes shaking with a horror that was only mimicked by a pre-set program. "I can'... I can' feel..." He was scared. But not really his mind told him, whispering nasty thoughts in his ear, that was only what he thought he should feel, what his mind was telling him to do. He wasn't really scared, not at all... How could he be? He didn't have a body to run away in. He didn't have a body to fill him with adrenalin and anxiety and- "What..." The blond found himself looking over his arms, dull visions of ones and zeroes filling his vision as he swallowed. Information was filling his mind like he'd never known before, thoughts that he'd never known and didn't _want_ to know, and- "What is... What is this," he whispered in 'horror', "Why can't I-"

"Your body controls your emotions," the woman before him stated plainly, mask inexplicably returned to her face in the time he'd stared at his arms. "It controls the chemicals that induce reactions such as hatred, rage, happiness, despair... It is what allows you to feel, or at least while you are within this realm. But now, you are no longer connected to your body," she told him, the blond growing even paler with the words. He knew that already his mind was telling him, knew that but not because of his 'clairvoyance' the computer could not define, but because of what that same computer was telling him now without him even asking, even wanting- "Your body is no longer your own," the spirit whispered, "And your mind has become that of this realm. This is why I come to you," she continued, ignoring the mental breakdown her guest was experiencing. "This is why I ask for your aid; because you are now the 'God' of this realm, if at least for now." No... No no no no... He did _NOT_ switch places with Noa, he did _NOT_ lose his body, this stupid electronic voice that wasn't a voice and merely a packet of filed information would stop invading his mind right now, stop affecting his thoughts, stop...

Stop... This couldn't... It just _couldn't..!_ "You... Yer sayin' _I'M _th' computer now," he choked, voice coming out almost hysterically as he shook, the fragmented programming attempting to reel his mind back into a healthy state of controlled emotion lest he destroy himself in his fear-filled realization. "N... No way," he laughed, grabbing his head as he stepped back, seeming to 'smoke' on the spot as he shuddered. "That ain'.. Yer crazy," he protested, fingers digging into his scalp and hair, "Completely crazy!"

"No," the ghost whispered almost snarkingly, despite the lack of any change in emotion other than 'neutral'. "I am dead." Dead... As Kastuya swallowed the woman 'floated' close, placing a calming and almost motherly hand on the teen's cheek. "Calm yourself," she whispered, bowing her head as for some reason beyond him he did just that. "You will survive." Survive... Survive of course he'd 'survive' but it wasn't really- "You will _live_," she pressed, the blond swallowing back another panic attack. "But know that this is what Noa felt in his early times, before the lack of a bond fully deteriorated his memories. He can no longer feel beyond the rage he has honed and embraced," she explained, stepping back somewhat as she brought her hand down to her side. "He has embraced the memories of hate for your two friends completely, leaving behind all others to wither away. You must _remind_ him," the woman continued, looking to him almost oddly from behind the white and shining mask. "You must force him to remember these things," she pushed on, "So that your friends may retrieve their bodies and escape this place." Friends... And himself of course, his mind told him. It was only logical to think she meant him as well but-

Re-set... "Why can't I jus' take my body _now_," he whispered, shaking his head and looking to the woman as he frowned. "Wha's wrong w' jus' doin' tha'?"

"You know the answer," the woman responded, her guest's frown deepening with confusion. "Look within your mind; what do you see?"

See? Katsuya frowned, turning away somewhat with skepticism. He didn't see jack squat, what was he-

That wasn't true. And he knew it. Information flooded his mind and the blond's eyes widened, Katsuya looking back to the ghost almost in fear. Unlike before where it had been randomized, search engines were firing all pistons available and doing their best to explain, explain to the pulses of his mind, the cluster that made up his current being, explain to him... That Noa was beyond 'help' at this point. That he was as good as the ghosts you saw in the movies, enraged and beyond control, unable to think properly even with the 'calm' that the computer's programing brought him. To simply take him out now would end everyone's lives, as the boy would simply delete them all in his seemingly tranquil rage.

If they 'reset' him however, that wouldn't happen. It couldn't happen. Because he wouldn't be able to think that clearly. Because even the computer wouldn't be enough to let him think clearly, and in that moment it would simply focus on keeping him 'alive'. It was a cruel thing to do. But as the computer reminded him, again and again, it was the only way.

There was no other choice. "...Who... Who are you," he whispered almost in horror, information continuing to flood his mind even as his thoughts filed them away in databanks and systems just within his reach, as questions and answers arose and resolved and his snapping mind finally locked the flood out from his head to protect himself from the growing headache and damage that was drowning him. "Why are you telling me this," he asked further, the last scraps of information floating through the cracks in the wall. "I mean... Yer askin' me t' _destroy_ 's mind," Katsuya continued in horror, "So why..."

"You know that already," she responded, gown billowing around her as she moved close. "After all... A mother knows what is best for her son," she stated plainly, his mind unable to be surprised at the words. "Now then," the woman whispered, gesturing behind her as the room seemed to melt into a somewhat more familiar destination, an empty black-ness that left the figures standing in a glowing darkness. "Allow me to guide you during your time away from the living..."

* * *

While the light continued to fill the air, a feeling of dread followed along side it, nagging and pulsing more and more with each second. "_Is that ALL you can do,_" Noa was snarling, his figure barely visible in the shadows as Ren gave a panicked and pained cry. The snake had literally burst into the wind he was made from, shrinking back to the tiny serpent he'd been moments before as he and Anzu collapsed far at the side, their opponent smirking and laughing the entire time. "_Pathetic,_" he sneered, the fog in the air thickening further around them._ "You can't save __anyone__ using this kind of power..._" Save... What was he...

A mallet threw him back once again, Yugi giving a strangled cry as the Inaba Rabbit appeared to attack from the fog. His lifepoints remained unchanged as of yet... The rabbit had been summoned but it hadn't attacked, not yet, which meant he still had time before the beatings truly took effect. "Gh... Activate Trap," he called out, holding a hand forward as his boomerang returned from the far distance to slice through the rabbit's smoking form. "Dark Renewal! I sacrifice my Big Shield Guardna and your own Inaba White Rabbit to bring back the Dark Magician, weapon mode," the boy announced, pulling himself to his feet as the second of three bladed propellers on the boomerang changed in colour and form. The Dark Magician Girl's was pale and 'curved', with an almost comforting form... The Dark Magician's barely changed in colour, all but one of the vicious spikes along the blade's edge smoothing out. He had two monsters so far, and with the spell he'd pulled from his deck... "Next," he began, only for a voice to cut him off.

"_**Stone Gaze.**_" Shit. That came from far closer than expected. The boy looked forward in horror as a ray began to charge toward him, the light already mere centimeters from his face. The fog had blocked it from sight... He hadn't been able to see and now that he was frozen in shock he'd managed to doom himsel-!

"GH!"

"LOOK OUT!" Yugi's body skidded across the ground as Shizuka stumbled into his place, her feet literally glued to the ground by the stone that had formed across them. It was slow moving, the growth of rock that should have covered his own. Nonetheless it was enough for the girl to already find herself largely unable to move, breathing laboriously as her spear clattered to the ground from her violently quivering hands. "Hah... Hng... Y-Yugi-han," she rasped, chest already coated in stone as he stared in silent horror. "No matter what... Bring my nihan back, alright," she choked, closing her eyes as pain spread across her arms and froze them in place. "No matter w... t..." Tears dotted her eyes as she gave a final look upward, the stone encasing her eyes to hold them in place. Shizuka... Shizuka was gone... Anzu was in worse condition than her partner...

And Noa had set a card, not that he cared as much as he normally would about that. From the other side of the field Ren was tending to his partner and looking over with an almost guilty eye. Staring at the statue as though all that had happened thus far was his own fault despite it quite clearly being out of his hands. Shizuka's statue had frozen part-way through movement, hair 'blowing' in the wind as she struggled to hold her balance. And in some twisted, disgusting show of callousness the body of her brother was laughing under their opponent's control. "Hnhnhnhnhn... HahaHAHA! Such is the misery that comes with 'powerlessness'," he sneered, wings beating at the air as he narrowed his eyes and began to rise higher above them. "A pity really... This would have ended so _quickly_ if she'd just let you be..." This...

"Shizuka," Anzu whispered weakly from the side, before looking upward to mirror her partners scowl and staring at the 'angel'. "You... How could you... Gh!"

As the woman hissed with pain her friend narrowed his eyes, tightening his grip on the weapon in his hands as he scowled. "Tch... Don't think that you've escaped," Yugi finished, watching as their friend's body rose higher and higher to the air. "It's my turn now... And I'm going to keep my word! Cast the _**Dark Magic Ritual,**_" he announced as he charged, rushing forward to jump from stone to stone in what looked to be a spiralling column rising higher and higher to the air. It was as though it were created simply to allow his opponent an escape; to allow him a further advantage as the rings of stone grew narrower and narrower despite the accompanying rocks far distant from these. Save them... He'd save them all, even if it killed him, he'd do that much..! "Tch... Your field is open," Yugi spat, an enormous and multi-runed seal appearing in the center of the column as he rose further around it at an un-ending run. "And your healing chain is broken without that rabbit of yours to attack! Now, let me show you my REAL power," he roared, holding his weapon close as it began to glow with power. "I tribute a monster of equal power to my own," he announced, jumping to the final stone above the seal to face his opponent with a scowl. "And as the winds of change appear in this darkness I ask that this monster RISE! I summon the Magician of Black Chaos," the boy finished, holding his weapon forth as a torrent of shadows launched from the seals below to change and warp his final blade, "WEAPON MODE! And with a combined attack of seventy-three hundred," he went on, the third blade of his boomerang somehow growing even darker than it had been before, "You don't stand a chance! I attack directly," Yugi roared, kicking forward from the stone to throw the boomerang at his opponent. "GO! _**Black Magic... Black Burning... Black Chaos..! **_HAAAHHHHH!"

The blades tore through the air and lined their path with shadows of all kinds amid the fog and wing-beaten sky. Flames from one, for the Dark Magician Girl. Violet, black lightning from another, the Dark Magician, and from the Magician of Chaos an almost frosted feel came forth, ice and vapor stinging the air. And as the blades connected with Noa's body to coat him in the substances, with his friend's body as the stretched out elements wrapped at his skin, an expression of horror could be seen his face... Before amid the so called screams of pain he grinned. "Hnhnhnhnhn... _I lied._" Shit. The blades hadn't connected yet he realized coldly, the weapon seeming to fold on its own accord. And as Noa's trap was activated two of the blades turned and curled in on each other, throwing them off course amid this 'fold'. They snapped one from from the handle, clashed against each other, until finally the blade representing the Dark Magician Girl was thrown toward him at an impossible to track speed. "Thanks for the added power," his opponent hissed, before a sudden force of flames and power threw him back.

"_GH-_ HAHG-" Yugi's body slammed against the stone as the single blade skewered him to the stone, remaining shrapnel from the destroyed 'Dark Magician Girl' gouging his limbs as he held back a cry of pain. "Ngggh... Kah! Khk!" Blood... There was blood in his throat, his mouth, everywhere and he could taste it... A terrible taste, like copper... "Ngggh... Hah... Hahh..." He couldn't breath, his heart mind as well have been erased from existence with where the blade now sat, and as he continued to struggle with his breath... "Hn... Hng... Gh..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn... So _naive_," Noa sighed, shaking his head with a mocking laugh "Even in _this_ form... That 'lighter half' of yours really rubs off doesn't he," the teen said with a smirk, landing to the ground as he moved closer to his sufficiently immobilized opponent on the fairly large 'final rock' they stood upon. 'Rubs off'... And just what was that supposed to mean..? "Hn! Come on now... Don't look at me like _that_," his opponent chuckled. "_Your_ power is absolutely astounding," he whispered, the smirk widening as he brushed back a lock of blond hair from his face and moved closer. "In fact... You don't need to use it against _me_," he offered a dark, unpleasant chill traveling up his spine as a result before the 'angel' turned to face him. "There's no need to ruin this body," Noa hissed, "No reason for me not to 'cope' with something else," the teen continued, far too close to the boy than Yugi found comfortable. "Lend me your power," he whispered, gripping his opponent's chin to force him to look at his eyes. "Fight at my side, I'll release everyone you care for," the blond offered, before glancing to the ground. "Well... That is to say, all but _her_," he 'warned', Yugi narrowing his eyes. All but...

'Her'... Everyone had turned to stone, all but Anzu and if she knew what was good for her she would be remaining among the statues where Noa couldn't reach her. Noa had 10,000 lifepoints. He had three hundred. And as he stared at Noa he could see a monster being set, along with two cards, likely in preparation for a tribute, the glass shimmering behind him despite the fog blocking even the 'sun' from sight. Save them all... They'd all be saved... "..._Everyone_," he repeated almost quietly, before narrowing his eyes. No, he reminded himself, a weak cough shuddering through his body as it hung limp on the blade. Not everyone. "...Why leave Kaiba," he asked darkly, his opponent merely pressing forward.

"Does it really matter," the blond whispered, bringing his hand back from the boy's chin. "You hate her anyways and always have; it's fine if we leave her here, and it won't matter when I release everyone else after all... Come on," Noa pressed, his target's eyes quivering as he rolled his mind over the words and what the outcome could possibly be. "_Come on_... What's one life to save _seven_," he hissed, only for a shadow to arise from behind him before the boy could even consider a response.

"_**Ruin,**_" he could hear his friend snarl dangerously, standing at the far edge of the stone 'field' with her staff pointed forward. Anzu's spell had activated...

But Anzu was not the one speaking now that the spell was cast. He was not the one countering Noa's argument with words he had never expected to hear from this being. "_**What is 'one life',**_" he asked, fangs dripping with shadows that burned through the stone itself. "_**HN! It's EVERYTHING,**_" Ren snarled, massive and shadow covered form rising to the ground 'above' before slithering around his partner to hiss threateningly at his opponent. "_**Even ONE LIFE is worth it if you can save them all..! I might not know much about 'friends'... And as you said,**_" he spat, looking down upon Noa as the 'god' glanced upward almost blankly. "_**There is much I need to share, so much I've continued to hide..! But just as the bond between siblings is a powerful thing,**_" he went on, Anzu apparently ignoring the fact that this was supposedly the soul of an only child, "_**I'm coming to find 'friendship' as well to be just as powerful in the face of adversity... And no matter what sets people apart,**_" Ren roared, the serpent shaking his head as the 'flames' of shadow continued to rise, "_**No matter what divides and forms these bonds, WE ARE STILL THE SAME,**_" he howled, charging forward and around to throw Noa into a floating cliffside with vicious ease. The blond gave out a strangled shout as he was beaten against the stone, his opponent continuing on with a hiss. "_**The others would agree... Wouldn't you think,**_" he seemed to ask his 'friends', Yugi staring almost in confusion at the snake before him.

"That's right," Anzu chorused, holding her staff as her familiar arose above the ground and taking a stance from the cliff stone's edge. "I might not like Kaiba... And I don't know if I'll ever be able to completely forgive her for what she's done," the woman admitted, looking to the side with a bit lip. "But that doesn't mean I'll condemn her to the fate you're 'offering'," she snarled, eyes flashing between her usual blue-brown and a bizarre golden hue. "We're going to keep fighting," the woman continued. "Neh... Yugi?"

Yugi stared, body still hanging limp on the stone. The blade took up most of his torso it seemed... 'Good bye internal organs', that was for certain, with his heart gouged from existence in the resulting 'crossfire'. But as he stared forward, he couldn't think of that, or even the pain that the blade was forcing upon him. He could only stare at 'Ren', whom he was identifying as Malik more and more... At Anzu, who was completely oblivious to that fact, unable to even comprehend the possibility..!

But if 'Ren' was 'Malik', that same Malik who had turned friend against friend... Only to now stand with them, fighting along their side with words that he didn't need to say nor was expected to say... Then perhaps... Even despite all that happened, they could trust him right now. Perhaps his words were sincere, or at least, that was what his lighter half whispered in the back of his mind. And as he gave a stiff nod, he found those words more than proven...

In fact, as their opponent snarled and wiped the blood from his mouth, he almost wished they hadn't been. "_Tch..._ I didn't ask your opinion," Noa hissed, holding a hand forward as he shook his wings free of dust and debris. "_**Stone Gaze,**_" he snarled, Anzu hurriedly raising her staff with a confident scowl.

"_**REFLECT,**_" she responded coldly, only to watch the sheet of glass that appeared before her shatter in the attack and allow the distant ray to continued charging. "H-HAH! W-What-!"

No... No, that couldn't- "ANZU," Yugi shouted, unable to move from his spot as he gripped and pulled at the blade and the stone both. "A... ANZU!" Light was filling the air as the shattered glass merged with the fog, seemingly causing it to glow. He couldn't see her, he couldn't-

"_**TCH-**_" When the light faded from the contact attack, Ren was no longer coated in shadows, or even any other element typical of Anzu's large repertoire of spells. His size was still the same but he was now covered in those same golden scales of his 'default' form, large violet eyes peering down as he curled around his partner in some huge and protective sphere of coils. He wasn't completely stone though, and if anything it had barely affected him.

For now at least. "R-Ren," came Anzu's worried voice, her body scarcely visible between the protective coils, each one seeming to form the bars of a 'cage'. "You... Why did you..!"

"_**Gh... Hah... The things I do for you,**_" he muttered jokingly, his voice no longer shrouded in the echo of flames or shadows that prevented his voice and that of 'Malik's from being synonymous. There was no one there to notice this however, other than himself. Anzu couldn't remember. The others were made of stone, and it was only his lighter half that was gasping in shock for the moment as the snake attempted to laugh. "_**Hehehe... HeheHA! You're a real PAIN, you know that,**_" he spat, the stone rising further as he looked about the comparatively small field. "_**Ghn...**_"

"Gh... 'Ren'," Yugi muttered, unwilling to ruin the serpent's last moments by revealing his identity. "You..." This was 'Malik'. If he wanted a body then his best option was to simply let someone die.

So why did he fight for them? "_**Hah... It's strange,**_" the snake whispered, partner unable to hear as he lowered his head before Yugi and swallowed back a wave of pain. "_**I've only spent a few hours, 'days' within my mind, traveling with you. I just wanted to know who you were,**_" he continued, eyes beginning to cloud over with stone despite the curse having barely made it to the middle of his body. "_**I was just curious... It wasn't supposed to be like this,**_" Malik protested almost regretfully, mouth closing over the broken hilt of the blade holding Yuig in place,_** "A few days... Should not overpower a number of years, with what I've done,**_" he rasped, eyes narrowing despite their now lack-luster sheen. A number of years...

"Then... You really are him," the boy hissed, drawing back from the stone and his 'former' enemy both only to watch as Malik pulled the blade roughly from his body. "Gh-!"

"_**I still don't quite trust you all,**_" the snake muttered, looking away to glance at the side. "_**How can I; I barely know you as it is. But even so, despite the knowledge of my hate for you, despite these feelings I **__**should**__** have,**_" he pressed chokingly, "_**I can't help but feel connected to these others... So if you don't fix this soon, I'll be haunting your ass, understand, 'Pr-Ah'..? Don't... Screw this... Up... GH..! Ngh...**_" Malik appeared to shake himself, scarcely able to lift his head back to rest above the remainder of his now stone body. His jaws could barely move now... The weight of the rock was too much, crushing his lungs, his entire being. "_**Gh... An... Zu,**_" he whispered, the woman within the now stone 'cage' holding silent as her partner's voice became audible to her once again. "_**...I'm sorry... For everything...**_" 'Everything'..?

Anzu merely looked up at where her partner's head lay, swallowing almost nervously. "S-Sorry," she squeaked in shock, pulling back from the stone as she clutched her staff. "What are you talking about, 'sorry'..!" She hadn't heard Malik's confession... Hadn't heard him reveal himself... He was _apologizing_... For the mind control, for the lies, the manipulation, the near death experience she'd had... "Ren," Anzu cried, a last breath escaping the air as the snakes head finally turned into solid stone. "REN! _REN, ANSWER ME! _...REN!"

Stone... He was stone... "Hah... Gh-... Hah..." Yugi stumbled forward to lean against the massive stone snake, blood spilling from his wound as he numbly grabbed his now two-bladed weapon from the ground. "Anzu... He's turned to stone Anzu," he rasped, fingers digging into the scales of the beast as a wave of seemingly renewing blood dripped from his mouth and wounds. "He... He won't answer Anzu... He can't..."

"No... No that didn't happen," the woman muttered, shaking her head from within the cage. "We're... We're 'linked'," she protested almost hysterically, "He said it himself... That couldn't have happened, it couldn't, I-! ...I..!" Both teens looked toward their opponent, Anzu's fingers digging between the cracks in Malik's stone scales as she continued to tense. "...Gh... That boy... That... You're PATHETIC NOA," she roared, her friend merely clutching his wounds to glare at his opponent intensely. "And you know what... No matter how smart you are, how 'powerful' you call yourself," Anzu continued to rage, "You're just a KID! You're a scared little boy hiding behind other peoples faces with nothing to show for it," she snarled, unable to do much else from her prison as their opponent stared. "YOU HEAR ME? I'LL NEVER FIGHT FOR YOU!"

Noa seemed to smirk at the muffled cries in the stone, shaking his head. "Really," he chuckled, narrowing his eyes and continuing to stare toward the 'cage'. "I never said I was talking to you," the blond growled. "I'm talking to my 'friend'," he continued as his emotions bounced back to cheer yet again, holding out a hand in gesture to his current opponent. "Yugi... Normal people can't understand this power... But I know _you_ can," he hissed, any convincing and controlling tones flying past their target as he growled in distaste. "So tell me... What's your answer..?" He had to ask..!

"My _answer_," he hissed questioningly, folding the blades into a single 'sword' as he ran forward and jumped toward his opponent. "What kind of MORON do you take me for," he snarled, slashing with the blades as his opponent dodged each blow in a calm side-step in the air. "To join with someone who cares only for power," the boy spat, continuing to attempt his frantic attack as he landed and pushed from the ground again, "WHY WOULD I EVER DO THAT!"

A scratch appeared on Noa's cheek with those words, the blond grabbing the blades and holding them tight as cuts appeared on his hands. His grin had faded. So had any humor in his voice, and as he continued to hold the block his opponent pushed just as hard to cut through it. "Tch... Well... I never called _you_ an idiot now did I," he 'asked' staring at the boy dully. "Really... How imature. _**Groundbreaking,**_" he muttered, a wave of smoke coming from far below the ground. "Adding a spirit monster to my hand."

"_**Card Destruction,**_" Yugi countered, before both teens pushed back against each other to skid along the dirt ground, their hands lost and refreshed of any and all cards. "And now I attack," he snarled, holding his weapon forward as he pulled at the handles. "Hahhhh... _**BLACK CHAOS,**_" he roared, the blades separating into two as he rushed forward with the first. The wave of ice blew off to slice through his opponent's 'shield', the second blade covering itself in electricity and shadows as he ran. "And following that-" Smoke erupted from the attacked sheet of glass, the easily shattered form coating his second blade as it was weighed to the ground to drag the boy to a stop. "Gh-" The monster... It was Otohime..! When flip summoned, switch one monster's position... And given the stony appearance of his 'Dark Magician', he could guess who. "Damn it..."

The boy ground his teeth as his opponent chuckled, his second set card rising upward as he smirked. "Hnhnhn... Too bad," he sneered, eyes narrowing in mirth. "Activate _**Vessel of Illusions,**_" the blond across from him announced, more smoke rising to the air as a a ghostly form in the image of the last destroyed monster came to the field, brushing her hair back before resting in mid-air. "And assuming you're done of course..."

Was there anything else to do..! "Tch... Bastard..."

Noa continued to laugh, wings spreading wide as he grinned. "Oh... Don't say _that_ now," he chuckled. "There's still one person left after all..." Wh- That..! "Particularly since it's _my turn_," the blond hissed, Yugi's blood draining from his face in response. "And you don't want me to remember that..." Still... Still one person...

Oh no.

"Anzu," he shouted, looking to the side with wide eyes as the woman as well paled from within her prison. She couldn't move from in there... She was a sitting duck, she'd- "I-"

He wouldn't be able to- "Oh don't worry," his opponent chuckled, looking to the cage in amusement as both teens before him swallowed. "I think I like this scenario _much_ better... Now your precious 'Anzu' can watch you die after all," he continued, voice far too calm than could be sanely possible in the situation. "She can watch as I tear you to nothing but shreds," Noa hissed, eyes wide and far from mentally sound, fingers twitching in some sort of anticipation. This...

This monster... "I'm going to do the same to _you_," the boy muttered with wide eyes, his only support for the line being that the body he looked at was not the true body of his friend.

Noa however merely laughed at the threat, watching as his opponent abruptly retched and forced out another wave of blood with a cry of pain. "Hnhnhn... HAHAH! Of course... But you don't have _this,_" he sneered, snapping his fingers as the weighted blade was ripped violently from Yugi's hands and pulled forward. "_**Change of Heart,**_" he snarled, taking the Dark Magician into his control and looking to the side as he held it in his grasp. "Tell me, 'Anzu'," he shouted, glancing to the shadowed prison as he sneered. "Do you have any last words for this boy before I kill him? Perhaps some complaints," he offered, "Or some curses... You don't know what will happen to _you_ when he dies after all..."

There was no answer from within the stone prison, and as Yugi gripped his single blade he found himself looking to the ground in pain. Silence. She couldn't even speak to him, neither to her opponent or even her friend. Silence...

A rush of flames was appearing before him, forming from a smoke in the air. The blade that Noa had pulled from his grip been tossed into the fires before him, grabbed by a flaming hand as the spirit token's smoke formed an enormous and flaming giant. He knew this monster, somehow he realized, biting his lip as he gripped his last weapon. This monster... "Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi," his opponent announced, the monster rushing forward with a snarl, "Equipped with the flaming fist, and held to the field by 'Spiritual Energy Settle Machine," the teen continued with a laugh, the 'fist' in question merely coating his stolen blade in fire. "Now burn in HELL," he roared, Yugi throwing his own weapon up in defense only to be knocked back with a shout. "HAHAHAHAHAA!"

"GHRAGH-" Blood... He shouldn't have been alive... Blood... He couldn't hear his partner, his lighter half any more... _...So much __blood__... "_Gh... Ngh..." His last weapon had been destroyed he realized coldly, the 'Dark Magician' that Hino-Kagu had continued to fight with after the sacrifice now pinning him to the stone in a fashion not unlike his Dark Magician Girl had in death. The flaming giant before him was leering down at him with a wicked grin, and with nothing to defend himself this next turn would be his last, the blade in his shoulder burning the skin and muscles around it. He was about to lose... Anzu would remain trapped in a cage while her friends held silent and cold company, and-

"_**REFLECT,**_" a strong voice called out, the flames their opponent sent forward rebounding on the monster. Yugi's eyes flung open as he turned to the sound, staring in disbelief as the fires blew both 'Kagu-Tsuchi' and his summoner far across the field. That voice... Anzu's voice, with the woman standing before him now and staring forward with wide and determined eyes. Anzu... At the last moment, she'd escaped. In the moment between 10,000 life points and 100 she'd escaped...

"Anzu," he whispered, unable to move with the blade in his chest and shoulder. "You..."

"Take a break alright," she told him, smiling softly as she looked back to the boy almost sadly. "This isn't over yet... Because I believe in you," she continued seriously, pointing her staff forward and looking back to their opponent. "No matter what! I'll never lose faith in Yugi," Anzu roared, running forward and hopping the flaming giant with ease to take aim at the 'angel' before them. "_**HAIL STORM!**_"

"Tch!" Noa hurriedly took to the skies as his 'second' opponent landed to the ground, a blast of snow and ice narrowly grazing his wings before it fell to the ground in a shattered white rain around her. "So you escaped did you," he snarled, pointing his hand forward as flames rushed toward Anzu from his monster. "Fine! I'd thought of simply waiting for you to change your mind," the teen continued, his monster easily proving enough of a distraction for the woman below, "But enough is enough! _**STONE GAZE,**_" he roared, Anzu turning just as that shout came through the air. "NOW DISAPPEAR!"

No... NO! "ANZU," the boy screamed, both Noa and his monster laughing as the pinned boy stared. The light had connected with her brow and acted immediately, and as the stone traveled there was nothing he could do. Nothing but shout... And stare. "_ANZU!_"

She was frozen in fear, just as all the others were once the light had faded and the stone had set. Just as those below them were, and as Kaiba and Mokuba were on the ground far beneath those cliff-like rocks. He couldn't move he lamented mentally, fingers weakly pulling at the blade in his chest as he bowed his head. He was too weak... And he couldn't move... "There's only one left," Noa taunted darkly, the twisted form of his friend's voice only serving to further push him into despair. "Only one mortal piece of scum before my sights... Perhaps it's time to die," he whispered, alighting to the ground and watching his monster step forward to attack. Die...

He was going to die he thought to himself, dull eyes staring to the ground as his hands finally fell from the blade pinning him to the stone. He'd failed the others, failed everyone... He hadn't even taken his turn yet, an action that was now the only thing standing between him and death. Or at least, it was all that stood between himself and a quick one. He was too weak to take his turn... He couldn't move, he couldn't think. He had no monsters on the field or in his hand to fight with. He had no cards in his hand to spare him, and his friends were gone, frozen in a permanent casing of rock. He... He...

The boy bit his lip, shaking somewhat as he continued to look to the ground. Was that really it, he asked himself. Was he going to lose here... After all the trust they'd put in him..?

_Not quite,_ he thought he heard someone say, the boy closing his eyes over as he slowly succumbed to weakness. But he couldn't have heard someone... His lighter half had seemingly been locked off long ago, and the idea of anyone else being here... "_Hnhnhn... Come now 'Pharaoh',_" an oddly familiar voice muttered as his vision faded, his senses growing dull and his body falling limp. "_We __BOTH__ know you're better than that..._" Both...

Both... "Hah!" Yugi's eyes flung open as breath met his lungs, the scent of stale and musty tomb air coming through his body. His wounds had vanished completely, and his senses had been returned in entirety... And as to where he was... "Hah... Hah... ...Hah..."

This place... An endless maze rising upward and growing larger with halls twisted in on themselves like a macabre labyrinth, filled with monsters that shifted in the shadow's recesses and traps for those who dared to trespass. A darkened prison of muddled memories that he had long since given up on making sense of, long since given up on attempting to decipher in the darkness of his 'tomb'. The shadows had lessened as time went on of course, he thought to himself, stepping forward somewhat as he looked around the room of his soul. His time with his other half, and with everyone else had helped considerably in that matter... It was thanks to them that light filled the bottom reaches of his tomb, and that it was now at last slowly making its way upward. '_You've gotten better,_' Yugi told him once, the pair having taken an 'in soul visit' to the lighter one's own childlike room. '_You're more trusting now, I think. That's why there's more light here._' Yes... More light...

A whole lot of good that had gotten him in _now_ though, when a good strong 'penalty game' was exactly what he wanted to do to his opponent. "_On the contrary,_" the voice said with an almost snarking tone from behind the soul room's owner, "_It's helped me considerably._" Gh- The boy tensed, hairs standing on end as his eyes widened. That... That voice! Was that even possible, after what had happened on-

Yugi turned to address the expected spirit, only to frown and draw back as he was met with a form of nothing but white. A form that he failed to recognize completely, and a form that caused him to stare in confusion and silence both. There were no features on the spirit's body to define much more than slight masculinity. There was no mouth from which to speak, and no hair unless the 'flames' that made its body could be considered as such, not that they resembled it at all. So no; this was not who he'd thought. But it was nonetheless someone he knew he realized coldly. Someone to whom he'd spoken with before. Someone who had a few questions to answer. "...You... You were in Jonouchi's mind," the boy hissed, eyes widening further with realization. Just _who_-

The ghost merely rolled its eyes, crossing his arms. "_Very true," _he chuckled almost darkly._ "And now,_" the ghost continued,_ "I'm not. And here I thought chabar's powers of observation were 'impressive',_" he snorted, the boy across from him narrowing his eyes with an annoyed rage.

"You... Just what are you doing in my soul," he hissed, clenching his fists as he took a slight step back. "What am _I_ doing here," he pressed further, idly noting that the clothing he wore was neither the attire he'd put on for Battle City nor the armor from the game he'd been trapped. "I was in a duel moments before," Yugi muttered darkly. "So why am I-"

"_You were being an idiot,_" the spirit said rather plainly, as though the statement answered all that he needed to know. "_But that's beside the point; come now... Over here,_" he clarified with a gesture to the side._ "It took a good deal of energy to bring you all here, and I'd rather not waste time._" Hn! Well if he was going to complain about it then- ...Hold on... _All_..?

Yugi frowned at the statement, nonetheless following after the ghost as it turned away and walked toward a door at the side. Just a simple door at the side of one of the halls... Wooden, not like the stone and cloth he continuously found from the front of his memories. A door with a name-plate not unlike the one at 'his' house in fact, at his lighter half's room. A name-plate that had only recently gained a humorous 'nii' at the end, with the excuse that it was a play on 'ni-ko'. It was just a door... But walking inside he was met with a warm breeze and a group of smiling faces, proving it to be far more than simply that.

"Ah... Other me," the lighter Yugi cried, running forward to pull his second half into a tight embrace before moving back with a grin. "Hah! You're still alive!"

And... And so were they, he thought in shocked relief. So were... "We were worried when Anzu mentioned the last move," Honda muttered, the boys before him walking further into the room as the Other Yugi looked around in wide eyed curiosity. "We couldn't be sure if you would... Well..."

"Die," a childish voice finished, a strange and completely golden shade at the side crossing his arms.

"M... Ren," the other Yugi muttered, narrowing his eyes in confusion as he looked to the 'flame' that formed a small and child-sized ghost. So he was here as well then... But... "How..." He shook himself off, looking around him in silence and confusion as he took in the sights of everyone. White kimono, each one covering their hands and feet... Otogi even had a headband of sorts to match. All clothing aside however, not to mention ambient glow, there were other matters to deal with. "...What is this room," he finally asked after a moment, the two 'spirits' standing to the side as the boy's friends gathered somewhat in the center. "I... I've never seen this one..."

The others smiled somewhat at that, the shortest of the group looking to his partner with a slight grin. "It's a new room," 'light' Yugi answered, the boy's eyes wide with calm and comfort as his other self stared. "I know that we haven't found any of your old memories," he went on, looking to the side somewhat awkwardly. "But that doesn't mean we can't give you new ones to call your own right?" Ah...

A room for his new memories..? "That's right," Otogi said with a smirk, unknowingly answering the silent question at the same time. "No matter what," the teen went on, "We're all here... Not to say we know how of course," he added with a nervous cough, rubbing the back of his head. "All I know is that my vision had gone black... And suddenly, this guy appeared," the teen finished, gesturing to where the white ghost merely 'smirked' from the sides.

"He saved our lives," Honda added, swallowing somewhat uncomfortably as he continuously stared at the 'right over left' style of the kimono he wore. "But... We don't know who he is..."

The ghost continued to smirk, shaking his head as he gave an 'answer'. "_All you need to know is that I'm connected to your illustrious 'Jonouchi Katsuya',_" he told them with crossed arms, the mouth-less smirk widening into a grin. "_Just because chabar's body has been taken and his mind 'disconnected,_" the spirit went on almost plainly,_ "Does not mean I can't stick my nose in Noa's plans. Like I told you,_" he explained almost smugly. "_It was hard, but no 'computer' can defeat a spirit such as myself._" What...

This thing had done... What, exactly? "Yugi-han," Shizuka said after these words, the boy looking back as the girl smiled and pulled him from his confused thoughts. "We just want you to know that we're all here, alright," she told him, the boy blinking as she continued on. "All of us," she repeated, almost appearing to place emphasis on the words. "We're all cheering for you..!" Cheering...

"But..." But that didn't mean anything... That... "But I don't have any cards," he whispered, shaking his head as he frowned. "There's nothing I can do," the boy protested, "I-"

"_THAT_," a familiar voice growled, Yugi tensing as a 'shadow' rose behind him, "Had better _not_ be a surrender I hear..." That voice... That was...

...Kaiba. Yugi turned, eyes wide as the woman stood behind him with a thick scowl. She looked 'different' again it seemed, compared to normal. Everyone in the room was wearing a kimono of sorts, white and almost ghost-like in appearance after all. But in Kaiba's case it seemed all the more noticeable... Though that could have simply been due to the fact that she was, for once, wearing a woman's kimono. (Or even a kimono _period._) Her brother stood at her side as well for the moment, an expression of determination similar to that of his sister's on his face. And like the others he as well was dressed in the white fabrics, the right side inexplicably folded over the left rather than the reverse. "...Kaiba," he muttered, the others staring in silence as the glare intensified.

"Hey, Yugi," Mokuba said with a frown, crossing his arms as he looked to the few-inches taller boy. "Answer her question- are you really thinking of giving up," he asked threateningly, "When Katsuya-nii is out there? When all of us are counting on you?" When they were all... Counting on...

Ahhhhhhh- That didn't help..! The boy bit his lip as guilt rose, and in response the woman standing before him snorted. "Tch... Honestly... You must be losing your touch," Kaiba hissed, arms crossed over her front as she looked down at the boy. "Did you forget," she muttered darkly, "Exactly _whose_ deck you're using..?" Whose deck..? His and hers, that was eas- "Those cards come from _my_ soul and yours as well," Kaiba muttered, eyes narrowing as an odd expression came over her face. "And this isn't the time to give in," she whispered, the room seeming to fill with an odd energy in response. "_Our_ chance still rests in the cards... So don't just believe in _your_ deck," she continued warningly, the energy increasing as the room and the others both began to fade from sight. "Believe in _mine_... And remember that you're not the only one fighting," Kaiba called out, a sudden darkness coating Yugi's eyes as he was flung back out from the soul room. "_There's one more person there... So tell that MUTT to get his head cleared!_" M-

Jonouchi. That was right... Jonouchi was still there, right he thought to himself as he began to awaken. Always there, his mind corrected after a moment, as though a voice had whispered it in his mind. _Always_.

And in another realm, that same blond began his next attack.

* * *

'Being' a computer was taking a bit to get used to. In all honesty, getting used to it would probably be bad, if not worse than 'not' though, so as much a pain in the ass as it was to do all this without the proper knowledge he was holding that 'wall' he'd somehow erected in his 'head' for as long as he could. Noa wasn't 'completely' in his body after all. Just connected, tied in such a way that he would be able to sap from the nerves and emotional twists with the added bonus of a quick getaway if required. And since his body could only take one mind to link up with nerves and things, _he_ ended up knocked off into cyberspace as a result.

Or at least that was what 'Rota', apparently Noa's dead mom, had told him now. 'Rota', who had not once been asked for her name, and had simply been identified by the last clear thought he pulled before erecting that wall. ...

...

... This had been so much _easier_ when all he was worried about was a homicidal Egyptian with a 'staff' of immeasurable power on an airship. Katsuya sighed as the screens of light hovered around him, biting his lip and returning to his current task of moving them about and doing 'whatever' with them. _Supposedly_ this was something his head found 'familiar' enough to work with, these glowing panels of light. Something that would let him do what it was Rota was asking of him.

A 'something' that he wasn't completely sure he shouldn't be feeling sick about. Fingers flew across floating panels as though guided by an unseen force. In a way they probably were; guided by a 'force' he meant. Rota and the two programs told him they'd do their best to make this quick, to keep him from succumbing to the same fate Noa had. Keep him from becoming too 'aware' to pass the point of no return. But time had already slowed for him. What were mere seconds mind had become hours and years for him, and it was with that knowledge in mind, the knowledge that this and being unable to truly feel fearful about this was not _normal,_ that kept him moving.

That made him finally reach out into those well buried files beyond the wall and beyond all of Noa's own great 'walls' and pull them up to begin the connection to Noa's own mind. A knowledge that had his thoughts tracing over them as he did so... As he bit his lip and bowed his head, knowing exactly what he was about to do. All of Noa's earliest memories were in this file. Born as the only son to the Kaiba family, to 'Rota' of Germany and Gozaburo of Japan, with a life that was decided effectively from birth. The classic story of the spoiled rich kid even.

And Noa, unlike Seto, had loved to learn. To study, read, write... His classes went far beyond his parents expectations and quite likely as a result his life was both charmed and cursed. The most elite of university level professors, of tutors in music, arts, horseback riding... He thought he saw Kuma for a moment, the horse nickering and nibbling at his rider's hair. And even with all the lessons, all the multitudes of things that he had to occupy his time, he still had plenty to sleep, plenty to eat, and plenty to spare.

It was as though... Everything Seto had gone through was a cruel joke. All these happy memories, times spent in Germany with relatives from Rota's side, times spent in Japan with his father on cruises, hikes, even just the occasional class he walked in on... Because Noa was a 'perfect' child, intelligent beyond their wildest dreams, which meant that when it came to Noa, he would never 'want' for anything.

You couldn't say that life had been a 'game' for Noa. Life had simply been life, lived in cheer even when his only friends were tutors and a single group of little girls with their brother at a church. A church the girls didn't even want to come to; hardly friends, or at least that had been Noa's opinion. So Life hadn't drawn any strange metaphorical definitions... It had simply been something to enjoy. And when the car sped through the light and slammed him across the intersection that life had come to an abrupt end...

Almost, at least. It was as Hobson had said those months before. He'd been barely alive, with his last 'meals' nothing more than nutrients in a tube, with his body beaten to a pulp and darkened almost black by the bruising on his skin. His organs were destroyed, his bones were crushed... '_FIX HIM,_' Gozaburo was crying, the man's voice filled with a desperate rage as he looked into the room he'd been locked out of. '_SAVE HIM!_'

But as the doctors shank back under the imposing man's shouts they could only say '_We CAN'T!_' He was in the hands of the gods now. He was beyond repair... And it would be best to unplug the cord, and alleviate his suffering.

But Gozaburo had other plans and as he watched the scene, he wondered if Noa had perhaps been a ghost, like Rota, for that time. Simply watching, crying... Unable to speak to his family, unable to understand what was going on... Gozaburo took Noa to a low level, highly enclosed room beneath the depths of the sea, connected to the base 'Alcatraz' by naught but a single 'emergency exit'. There was an immense computer there, something that would have changed the field of technology forever, something that already ran the systems at an incredible pace... Something that could have revolutionized the entire _world._

Had Gozaburo not done what he did now at least. Wires were connected to the boy's skull, the boy whose body was floating in a vat of odd coloured fluid to prevent his form from decay and death both. Electric pulses and synapses traveled into a programmed device and the body was soon done with, the life passing from it completely. They had the funeral that weekend.

And that was where everything went down hill. On the field Noa was feeling the effects of his transfer, watching the funeral through the horror filled eyes of a ghost and a security camera both. He was beginning to feel frightened... Scared... Feel the full effects of being tied to a body once more.

And there was more to come, he told himself with a frown. Far more.

"WHUA!" Noa woke up with a jolt that first 'day' of his new life, illusionary eyes wide and his so-called breathing haggard as he stared up at the ceiling above his bed. "Gha... Hah... Hah... Hah... ah..." The boy, just barely thirteen, pulled himself out of the bed in confusion as he stared at his hands, watching them quiver and shake with his still present unease. He'd been hit by a car hadn't he, he asked himself. Struck down violently on his way to that store with his father, where they were going to get that puppy... Run across the road, left for dead, unable to move as he succumbed to a numb and sleep-like state... Only to wake up now. "H-Hah... It... It was just a dream," he laughed, rubbing his head. There were no bruises after all, no broken bones and bleeding organs. Just his clean, healthy, and uninjured body. "It was just a dream..." The clock at the side said that it was already noon. Noa had stared at the clock and frowned, before moving to the door. "Why didn't anyone wake me up," he asked himself, grabbing the handle. He was supposed to be woken up at eight am sharp, so why- ...The handle had jammed in the door... "What's going on," he'd asked quietly when the door didn't open, only to jiggle the handle and freeze.

The door was locked.

This wasn't just the handle jamming. It was locked. "...What... H-HEY! HEY, WHO DID THIS," the boy shouted, pulling at the door before kicking it in an attempt to gain attention to his plight. "SOMEONE, HEY!"

"Noa," a voice called out, a somewhat forced calm in his tones.

The pulling had stopped at that moment, Noa turning from the door as the computer screen on his desk flicked on. His father's face, tight with some unknown emotion could be seen... But why? Why would he speak through a web-cam program when he was still in the same house..? These thoughts were pushed from mind as he stared, the events of his 'nightmare' coming to mind as he swallowed. "D... Dad," he whispered, running over to the screen as a cold feeling continued to rise in his chest. "Dad, why is my door locked," the boy asked, staring in confusion. "Why..." He shook himself, putting on a slight smile. It didn't matter 'why' right? His father was there... His father would help him, there was no doubt..! "Hah... Dad," he pressed, eyes wide, "Get me out of here..! Someone's locked me in my room, and-"

"I can't do that," his father said with a swallow, a slight wince on his face as he watched the boy before him. Can't... He couldn't...

Something was wrong, Noa's mind had told him. Something was very wrong, very very wrong. His father wouldn't say these things, not without a reason, not without- "...What do you mean you 'can't," he whispered, tears beginning to develop in his fear as he pushed back somewhat from the screen. "Dad... Daddy, let me out of here," he begged, shaking his head as the tears began to fall. "Let me out!"

"Noa, I need you to listen carefully," the man told him, bowing his head somewhat as his son broke down before him. It was the look one had when they were telling someone a family member had died, or even a pet.

It was never something you were supposed to see after _yours _though_, _or at least that was Katsuya's opinion... An opinion softly whispered into Noa's ears as the boy found himself overcome with emotion, and as he gripped his head and screamed from within his stolen mind.

"Your body is dead," Gozaburo stated almost bluntly, though the tone had in fact attempted slight comfort through the words. "There was an accident... You can never leave this place," he continued, as though not completely sure as to how to explain the situation. But what _was_ this place Noa had asked, the computer screen becoming a wall of 'windows' to reveal the room behind his father, allowing the two a clearer view of the other. What _was_ it..? ...It was a computer. "I've loaded your mind into this world," Gozaburo had told him. "You can live on, even if I can never touch you again," the man whispered, fingers momentarily brushing against the screen before he quickly steeled his emotions. "No matter what, you are always my son, remember that," he told him, a small puppy appearing at his son's side in an attempt to offer comfort. "Always..."

_Always... _Noa had broken down with those words, and in the virtual world of present time he'd curled in on himself in his own pocket realm, holding his head. Curled in and shouted to his opponent in rage, defending himself and calling a monster to his aid as he regained... Or at least attempted to regain his composure. _I'm sorry_, he thought to himself, digging through the files even as Noa recalled the moment after, the moment he'd noticed the dog at his side, to calm himself and push forward in attack. He was so sorry... But while it was good that he had a little comfort from that moment...

He couldn't let that happen. As Noa had said, the world was small, fragile, something he pushed through in memory as a reminder. Though there was no limit to where he wanted to go, to what he wanted to see, he could never hold a conversation with those in that realm. '_It's nice today, isn't it,_' he asked the ice-cream saleswoman, not caring any more that the weather was 'always' nice, and that it was always sunny and never once snowy, rainy, or any other variant of season. The woman had simply repeated her request for 'Noa-sama's order. The world wasn't real a nasty voice now whispered in Noa's ear, despite the source telling himself that he should be horrified with what he was doing. It was never real, he pressed, and the insanity began to sit in. The sun was always shining and the rain would never fall. Throw a stone at the dog and it simply continued to wag its tail, barking barking barking with cheer as everyone around said 'good-morning, Noa-sama' and the summer heat continued to push down because _how else will you be able to eat your ice cream and swim whenever you like_?

So he experimented. He broke the barriers of his mind and experimented. He reached out, past the failsafes of his programming, past the codes, past everything, everything that left him so en-trapped... And after he'd bored himself with trying to fix his own world he desperately reached for the one he'd left behind.

"_Kaa-chan,_" he'd whispered, voice filtering through a phone in his mother's house many weeks after his upload. His mother had thought she was hearing things. And then she'd picked up the phone, slowly, hesitantly... "_Kaa-chan,_" he whispered through the speaker, unable to see his mother's face._ "Talk to me... I'm still alive,_" the boy 'shouted', distorted somewhat by the inexperienced bursts of data used to transfer his message,_ "Talk to me!_" The phone had dropped to the ground. His mother had screamed and fled, but he kept trying, voice warbling through the speakers as she cried. "_Talk to me,_" he shouted, trying time and time again in the days and weeks that followed. "_Talk to me!_" His mother held her hands over her ears, unable to escape. Held her mouth shut, unable to believe. "_Talk to me,_" he cried, begging for her to listen. "_I'm still alive, talk to me!_" She didn't want to believe her son was a 'program'. That her son had been denied the eternal rest she'd prayed for him to receive.

That her son was simply a 'ghost', haunting a machine through her husband's very will. And finally, Noa had found a way. As Rota fled to her relatives, fled for a summer of rest after the results from her doctor's testing the horror and diagnosis of her so called growing 'condition', and as she avoided every scrap of technology he'd found a way. While the woman was out, he'd turned on the video phone in her room. The phone that she'd hidden away beneath piles of things, the phone that she had only left in there because of the fact that there had been no chord, no source of power, no reason to shy away from the device. The phone she did not realize was wirelessly connected to the power and internet. So Rota returned, having barely started to recover...

And as she came into the room, so did he. The phone flickered and crackled to some form of life and within seconds his face had appeared on the 'window' that sat there. "_Kaa-chan,_" he shouted eagerly, unable to wait to see his mother again as he grinned. "_Over here,_" he shouted as the woman approached in horror,_ "Move the things away from the screen! I want to see you..!_"

She'd taken one look at the screen after carefully and fearfully removing the piles covering it...

And turned it off.

_But you could still see, couldn't you,_ he told the boy, already kicking himself in the head for being such a prick despite his mind trying to explain that it was the 'logical' thing to do. Man... Rota was right; this thing was really good at desensitizing a guy...

Hell, he was starting to feel like the Other Yugi when it came to matters involving the difference between Ancient Egyptian law and Modern law.

Even thinking these things when a woman had just shot herself, the woman whose ghost stood behind him had just shot herself, and done so with her 'dead' son watching from a blank screen and her husband from the doorway... ...Well...

That wasn't natural.

Showing Noa his mother's death again was only the first step though. Only the first step into a mental hell for the boy. After that incident, he'd completely fallen off the deep end. Gozaburo never told him his mother died. Never even told him that his mother had miscarried, something that the boy had inadvertently caused. He simply took in a pair of children and offered the boy a deal. Simply told him that in two years time, the eldest of the children he'd adopted would be ready to use as a vessel. But he was running out of time now. He had to send these memories in a way that a human mind could comprehend, think over and ponder despite all that was happening. He was skipping scenes, following Rota's path, shipping off memories as quick as possible without paying attention to what he saw now... There was just one more thing he told himself. One more memory that would throw Noa into such despair that it would shake him completely and reset the system. Just one more thing to do...

But at that moment, something else slipped through the wall, and the screens revealed the battle field he'd been keeping track of. Revealed his friend, his best friend, pinned to stone by a blade as blood stained his face. As his body twitched almost lifelessly and as a flaming giant began to walk forward.

The memory was playing at the side, the one that would lead to Noa's 'shatter'. Gozaburo had just been told Noa's 'plan'... His knowledge of just how quickly the world could be destroyed, with one word alone...

'_It sounds interesting,_' Gozaburo had said, clearly disturbed by what his son had become. '_But we'll talk later..._' All he had to do was send him that memory, that was all. Send him the memory of the camera feeds to the buildings he'd followed his father through, the feeds from that _one day_... But as Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi's fist and blade came toward his friend, he clicked the screens off, the battle he witnessed coming into view through a 'window' as it slowed to a near stop. "...What are you doing," Rota asked, the ghost coming forward with a whisper that seemed almost malicious in intent. "Why did you freeze the timing?" Why did he freeze it?

That was obvious wasn't it? "...'M sorry Rota," he muttered with a swallow, fading out in a shower of 'pixels' as the scene vanished from behind for the field before him to grow and clear. "I know tha' this 's th' only chance... But there's somethin' I gotta do."

Because friends were always there for their friends after all. And he was Yugi's friend, his 'best friend', making the statement doubly important. So naturally, as shadows rose from the bottom of Yugi's feet to form a shield, he was more than present.

* * *

He didn't know why the attack hadn't hit him yet. He didn't know why he hadn't died before he could draw his next card, or why the air seemed to thicken somehow. Why the heat from the monster before him had vanished, and why the blade in his side was now gone. All he knew was that he hadn't died yet, and that a shadow had just risen from his feet to block the monster's punch with that very blade in its formless grip. "Hah... Hah..." He could feel his wounds healing he realized after a short moment of panic, the blade the shadow before him held now crumbling into dust. He could feel his energy returning, and he didn't know why. He didn't...

'_M righ' here,_' a voice whispered, sending a cold chill down Yugi's spine as something appeared in his hands, as the shadows at his feet curled and swam about his feet and the air. A single red eye could be seen... Before disappearing and re-appearing at some other position, as though the being couldn't control its own form. _'Don' worry Yugi... I'm __righ' here..._' That voice...

It couldn't be him though, could it? Yugi swallowed as the shadows evaporated with those words, both his opponent and his opponent's monster staring at the blank space in shock. His wounds were gone, all of them, not even leaving a speck of blood behind. His armor had been repaired, and his boomerang sat on his back where it could normally be found. And there was something in his hands... Something flat, something...

A card. '_Look at 'm,_' Jonouchi was whispering, and from where he couldn't tell. His voice seemed different somehow beyond the echo however. Stiffer, colder, and almost 'soulless'... Nonetheless he found himself looking toward his opponent, and listening as his friend spoke. '_Can't y' see... He ain' as strong as y' think,_' he was whispering reassuringly, his friend's eyes narrowing somewhat as he looked toward the stolen body. '_He' scared 'f y'... B'cause he knows you c'n win. He knows there's still a chance...' _Still a chance...

He had one card, and his body was healed completely... "...There's still a chance," he found himself saying calmly, the card vanishing into his menu as he looked forward and nodded. "There's always a chance, Noa... Because I have something to protect," he shouted, his opponent seeming to stare at the boy in minor amusement from where the shadows had forced him to back away to. "My friends... My partners... I play the Card of Sanctity," he announced, arms spread wide as the spell took effect. Discarding their entire hand, something that affected only his opponent...

And giving them both six more in exchange, putting him in the lead once more. He could hear everyone's whispers... The voices of his friends as a series of cards appeared in his mind, one for each complete soul that resided within his mind... And an extra to sit within the graveyard. '_Take it,_' they whispered, the air growing thicker and thicker with the emotions of a battle. '_Take it... Our cards,_' they shouted, vanishing from his mind, '_Our souls..! We'll fight with you, just don't give up..!_'

Noa was breaking, that much was obvious. Behind a seemingly smug grin was a faltering look of fear and despair, confusion thick within the air from where he stood. His eyes were wide, crazed, unstable... Staring forward with manic rage, as though searching for the source of whatever he was going through, with his monster fading into flamed rings on his fingers to take a weapon's form. He wasn't the only one fighting. Nor were those who the 'ghost' had pulled within the recesses of his mind.

Jonouchi was here. And always had been. And as a shadow seemed to hover behind him his opponent continued to pale. "That look... What's with that look," Noa was growling, abruptly holding his head as he stepped back and attempted to breathe properly. "What do you think you're doing..!"

"I'm taking my turn," the boy stated flatly, narrowing his eyes in rage. "The first card," he shouted, 'Ren' coming to mind in addition to a face he'd never seen on Malik's own, an honest smile that spoke of more than the 'Namu' mask while the blond Egyptian gave him a curt and oddly trusting nod. "MONSTER REBORN! I bring back the beast that Kaiba staked her very life upon," Yugi roared, a white mist growing beneath him as a dragon arose from the smoke. "The Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

White scales glowed and blue-eyes shone in the dull and fog covered light, seemingly radiating their own as he held his balance on the enormous dragon's head. '_Don't screw this up,_' he thought he heard Kaiba say, using the same flat and almost warning tone she held when no one was 'looking'. Don't worry, he responded.

He wouldn't. "Noa," Yugi called down, his opponent's wings spread wide behind him as he grit his teeth. "I'm not done yet... This is the last turn, and just as Kaiba wasted no time in her battle neither will I! I activate the spell polymerization," he shouted out, Anzu appearing in the back of his mind as she smiled. Noa was preparing to head for the skies... But Anzu was ready. '_Good luck,_' she was whispering, eyes shining with determination. '_You can do this!_'. The spell had already begun to spiral about him, and it was only now that he was finishing with his words. "I take the two Blue-Eyes from my hands to merge with the third," Yugi announced almost coldly, hands held out before him. "SUMMONING BLUE EYES ULTIMATE DRAGON!"

With a howling roar he could see two other ghostly figures, remembering all too well the sprits who had handed him these cards. Shizuka took the dragon to the right, the monster diving into the vortex behind him with a snarl after appearing in a blinding glow. Mokuba took the one on the left, the beast snarling as it became dust from the ground that it had only just appeared from. And from atop the dragon he could see the body change, shifting beneath his very feet. Scales grew sharp and more metallic in appearance, becoming marked with strange runic symbols... The Blue-Eyes White Dragon gained two other heads, and grew fiercer still in form as the snarls came forth from each somewhat elongated maw. "B-Blue-Eyes," Noa muttered with a swallow, each of the heads taking aim as he took to the skies in an attempt to flee the still growing dragon. "This monster..."

Honda's turn he told himself, the teen giving him a salute of sorts in his mind as the next card vanished from the menu. "_**QUICK ATTACK,**_" he announced, the next card activating as white flames and lightning developed in each dragon's mouth at an alarmingly fast pace. "Now..." Since the fusion monster could now strike at this moment... "_**ULTIMATE BURST!**_"

He could literally _hear_ the flames as they were released, a strong 'hissing' sound striking the air. Noa made no sound despite the powerful blow to his life points however, even as the flaming rings on his hands vanished completely, and if anything the only change was that his sanity was far less present than his mask implied. "You..." Fear flashed again. Horror, terror, despair... And then it vanished. "Hahh... Hah... Even with this... You don't stand a chance next turn," he laughed almost hysterically, the enormous dragon staring him down with each of its heads in displeasure. "I still have more life points... I'll still win," he laughed madly, eyes widening even further. Tch...

"Did I say my turn was over," he asked dangerously, Noa's face falling completely as another 'spell' appeared in the air. Otogi's card he thought to himself, the teen in question giving a nod as he spun a pair of dice in his hands. It was his turn, and it was the last card. "I cast the spell _**De-Fusion**_," he snarled, each neck pulling from the dragon's body to split into its own form as wings and limbs grew into separate monsters. "You HAVE no chances any more... You went too far," the boy hissed, Noa's fear and absolute fragility staring back at him from Jonouchi's face as the trio of Blue-Eyes snarled from above. "You played with our hearts, and our promises... And now, using each of their powers I'm taking you out now.. The spirits of my friends, along with all of my own power; I'm attacking with all of it! GO, BLUE EYES," he ordered, blinding light filling the air as the dragons fired their attacks directly toward their wide eyed opponent. "_**BURST STREAM!**_"

"_**GROOOOOOOOOOO!**_"

"G-GHHRAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The three beams of light converged on Noa's form to fill the air with so much light it was impossible to even see. His screams continued to echo about the field... Never dying, never faltering... And when the light faded...

They were on the ground once more, despite him never having felt even himself move. The statues that lined the sides were crumbling, falling to dust on human forms behind and around him. Honda shook himself off, looking around in confusion after his falling paw swiped at air and caused him to stumble. Otogi finished with falling on the ground, before Shizuka helped him up with a weak smile and handed him the daggers he'd dropped to the ground. Ren, now at his original size was effectively being smothered and strangled by his 'partner', creating a fairly odd image in his own mind as the snake was fussed over. And more importantly, even further back behind him...

"NEE-SAMA!" Mokuba pushed forward from where he'd been frozen, their healed bodies now perfectly able to withstand the force of a hug. "Nee-sama," he cried, his sister pushing out from the crater to come within reach. "Hng..! Ngg..."

Seto pulled her brother close, and whatever she said to her brother he could not hear from where he was looking back. All he knew was that she wasn't going to be letting go, not for a while. "_The ghost is gone now, I think,_" his lighter half told him in the meantime, Yugi turning back and walking toward where Noa's battered form had fallen in Jonouchi's body. "_I'm keeping an eye out,_" the spirit continued from within their mind,_ "B__ut I can't find him anywhere..._" So he was gone was he then? Well, he thought with a slight nod that was probably for the best really... While he had questions after all, he'd much rather not have too many people in his soul at once.

The sky was going dark now... Darker than before at least. Yugi however remained silent and largely uncaring in that regard as he walked forward, the wings of the 'Shinato' robes falling to the ground at his opponent's feet. The clothes were changing... Or were they? It seemed more that the person in the clothes was changing, almost shrinking... All around them the ruined stones were beginning to fall from the air, striking the ground with no pattern to be seen and forcing the others to run for cover in the geysers of dust. Coming closer to Noa however, and ignoring the falling ruin around them, it became more than apparent that he had been right to assume the clothes had undergone no change. "It's not real," Noa was muttering, holding his head as he cried in a childish copy of a younger Jonouchi, eight-year-old hands digging into his skull. "It's not real, it's never been real, never," he continued to whisper through his tears, clinging to blond hair that was by far not his own.

Not real... This boy... ...He was completely insane wasn't he, he asked himself, eyes narrowing somewhat in confusion. Yugi stopped a few feet away from the weeping boy, the storm around them continuing to rage as he looked down upon him. "_What's wrong with him,_" his light half whispered, looking through the memory of his sights with horror as Noa continued to cry. "_What's happening..._" That...

Was a very good question.

* * *

_Sorry about this_ he thought to himself yet again, bowing his head and silently cursing as he stood behind Noa.

Stood behind a copy of his own form at that age, a weeping and almost completely shattered version of the one who had trapped them here. He was invisible to the others, completely invisible, and almost completely connected to his 'victim's mind. No one could see what he was doing to this boy. No one could see what was truly causing their tormentor's misery. Rota stood by his side with her hands in a sleeve of sorts, and as they stood there they watched the final bout of deterioration. He hadn't surpassed Kaiba, Noa was telling himself through his tears, resembling little more than a robed 'ball' with a tuft of blond hair. And he'd also lost to Yugi, who had taken up Kaiba's will and fought both to and from the very brink of death.

'_I've always been alone,_' he whispered to himself, crying as the words were placed on his tongue. '_Always... Always..._' "But it's not real," he hissed, Katsuya grinding his teeth as a repeat of the boy's most despairing memories were forced through the again child-sized boy's mind. "It's not real, it's never been real, it's never been real..!" Noa was holding his head as his 'last clothes' appeared on his body to switch intermittently with the deckmaster robes in static like flashes, tears streaming down his face with the constant reminder that it had been _HE_ who killed his unborn sibling, _HE _who killed his mother, _HE_ who ran out into the road that day when his father had shouted...

Stop.

Yugi was simply staring right now. His eyes were caught between rage and pity, as though wondering whether or not the vengeance would even be worth it on such a mess. As though to ponder whether even justice had moments to sit on the fence, or if this was even just a ploy. But the boy continued to cry... "Gh... Gnggg..." And cry... And cry... ...And _cry_... "Ghhaaaa... _Uaaaaaaaa..._" He didn't like doing this, he told himself with a grimace, teeth grinding in his jaw as he looked forward and pulled all the memories he held that were necessary to make his judgement. Breaking this kid down like this... It was sick. Disgusting. He didn't _WANT _to do this..!

"_It is him or your friends,_" Rota reminded, a small click coming through the air as Yugi continued to stare down at the boy. "_There is no other choice._" Was there? Really, he thought, the realm seeming to dissolve somewhat as they stood there.

Noa had only just now noticed the teen standing before him. And while the others likely couldn't tell as well, Katsuya knew just how much effort it was taking the boy to squash back his emotions in an attempt to remain strong.

The key word being 'attempt'. "Gh... Don't look at me like that," Noa muttered, his former opponent merely staring at the boy in silence. His gaze did not shift one bit as he looked, and as the pair held their gazes. Yugi with confused and somewhat loathing eyes, Noa with a quivering stare mixed with fear and rage both. "You... I said don't LOOK AT ME," the boy screamed, dust flying around the realm as he cried and curled in on himself once more. "I... Hate this world," he wept, Yugi's stare narrowing in confusion as the realm seemed to vanish and take him with it. "I hate it," he cried as white encompassed him completely, "I hate... I..."

"_This is it,_" Rota whispered, another click meeting the air as Katsuya stared at the pitiful boy, remaining silent as the three were left 'alone'. White filled the scene in the same way the room he'd stood in before did. Noa was now hunched over across from him, the boy continuing to cry with mixed rage and misery as the ghostly woman between the boys walked toward her son. "_It's time..._" Time...

To die. A car crash was playing through the realm, a screaming, honking horn and the squealing of brakes. A care was tearing through and against his body again and again and again and again and again. Memory after memory, injury after injury, horror after horror and not once taking a break to consider the momentary happiness in between. '_This will save your friends_,' he was told, the blond standing there and watching as Rota seemed to place her arms around Noa in an embrace. This...

Katsuya's eyes widened as he looked to Rota's hands, the woman now sitting behind her son and holding him close. "_Look,_" she told him, something black slowly placed in his grasp as the click entered the air again. "_We're going home..._" A gun... She was holding...

A voice was running through his mind, like some strange 'left-behind' of someone's thoughts. '_I don't want to die,_' he thought he heard, the boy before him stopping his tears only briefly.

"K... Kaa-chan," he asked hesitantly, attempting to turn but being unable to do so. "Is that..."

"_That's right,_" the woman whispered in response, her son's hands folding over the handle and trigger._ "Calm down now... We're going home..._" Home...

But what was 'home', and how... '_This isn't right,_' the voice was whispering fearfully._'__I don't want to die..._'

"_Just pull the trigger__,_" Rota was whispering,

"Kaa-chan," Noa was repeating,

'_I don't..._'

Cold realization dawned on Katsuya, his eyes slowly widening as the voices muddled around before him and merged into one revealing and dreadfully important thing. Wait... Wait... If the 'nerves' were needed for emotions, then wouldn't that mean...

"_Just pull it,_" the mother whispered, "_And it'll all be over..._"

"But... Kaa-chan..."

...Son of a bitch...

'_But what will happen to my body?_'

He was still connected to the body. And when the brain thought it died it _died_..! With a panicked shout the blond ran forward, grabbing the ghost's shoulder and ripping her off to the side as the gun was flung from Noa's child-like hands. "Gh- This ain' right," he shouted, pulling her back as the ghost gave a screeching wail and evaporated into dust. "This isn' righ'..! I'll find another way t' get us outta here," the blond snarled, a porcelain mask clattering to the ground, "But I'm not killin' 'm twice... An' y' sure as hell ain't killin' ME!"

"Wait," Noa muttered from the side at that, his eyes appearing to clear. "I'm... Dead..?" And with a jolt he was back where he 'started', floating amid his connection to the boy as the white scattered. Invisible on the field, with Noa staring into Yugi's eyes as he shook in fear and horror. _Not enough_, Rota's fading presence sneered, the mask scattering into a chalk-like dust. _Now you'll never escape_... _It wasn't enough..!_ Noa's fear filled eyes shifted to a calculating rage as he continued to stare at the boy before him, and with a snarl he charged forward. "Gh..! Looking at me like that... I'll take your body instead," he roared, 'spirit' fading into Yugi's body as he stumbled back in shock and surprise both. "I'LL COME BACK TO LIFE AND YOU CAN STAY HERE AND DIE! YOU WON'T KILL ME YET!"

"G-GHH-!"

"_SHIT,_" Katsuya roared as he was dragged along, his mind being forced in through the body as his friend stumbled. "_Shit... SHIT-!_" Memories were playing again but this time they were not Noa's. They were not Yugi's, and they were not his. He was outside... He could see pods, machines, cables strewn across every panel in sight, as though from the point of view of a camera elsewhere in the room. He could see the 'computer', an enormous sphere, the screen simply 'white' with power as Noa continued his rage...

And then could see Egypt. He could see stone cliffs surrounding a village, soldiers approaching in the far distance as they were lead by a man in robes... "Where is this," Noa whispered in fear, shadowed and foreign mutterings meeting their ears before the screams began. "Where is this... Where..." Where?

They were in his head. And _that_ was never good. "_I would __LEAVE__, if I were you,_" a voice hissed, white hand thrown forward with a growl as the desert abruptly exploded into memory, the final sight being a single blade thrust through an attacking soldier's middle. "_RIGHT NOW._"

And not a moment too soon! "H-HAHH- GKH! GH_AH!_" With a resulting explosion the three were separated, falling back on their feet in shock. Yugi was still standing, eyes somewhat wide as he brought a hand to his chest and struggled to breathe. Noa had been blasted back across the ground, where he eventually sat up to look himself over with some unknown horror, body again that of his own despite the age matching what he had merely died as. He himself on the other hand skidded to the side, choking as he attempted to stand and support himself with his returned staff. "Gh... Kah-hk..." Noa was clutching his arms close... As though afraid he would lose himself again, afraid he would never wake up, never 'live' ever again. "Hah... Hah..." Heh... Take that 'Rota', he thought mentally, stepping forward as the boy flinched away.

Reset complete! Erm... ...Sorry about that though he thought to himself, the figurative boot in his mouth being spat out as he grimaced.

He could 'feel' again he realized with that thought. There was no more computer jargon floating through his head, telling him 'logical' reactions, telling him how to 'act'. Just his brain, and his own free will. And as he walked over it seemed that Noa was far from realizing that he no longer had a body to leech from, the boy looking to the two and swallowing as he shuddered. "Gh... Ngh... Who are you," Noa was whispering, pulling back in fear as Yugi and Katsuya both stared. "Who..! Who are you..!"

For a moment, it looked as though the conversation could have gone anywhere from that point. The others were coming from behind now, ready to voice their own 'opinions'. Seto was livid, hell _more_ than livid for one, and the others did not seem much different in their approach. Honda was certainly not casting away his over-sized 'cerberus' form... Nor was Ren too ready to do anything other than attack, the serpent coiled loosely around his partner's arm as the woman tightened her grip on her staff. But as the clearly 'broken' little boy watched them approach a voice sounded overhead, pulling them from their thoughts and stopping them cold. "**I'm disappointed in you Noa,**" a gruff and almost familiar sounding man growled through the air, Noa himself tensing with the words. "**You've failed me again...**" That voice...

_No... _A face appeared in the clouds, coloured by the shadows and winds in the air with eyes illuminated only by the lightning. The winds swirled constantly, his face shifting with the wind... But it was more than easy to tell who was speaking, and as they looked forward they found themselves stepping back in terror and horror both. "Impossible," Seto hissed, looking up with wide and almost fear-filled eyes as wind battered against their bodies. "_IMPOSSIBLE_..!" And yet as the clouded face grew above them there was no doubt about it.

Gozaburo Kaiba was staring them down- and no matter what they said or did, leaving his place was about to get a hell of a lot more difficult. No one wasn't looking by now. Even the 'demon's son was staring in fact, his oversized robes still draped over his form. "But... You're _dead_," Noa was whispering in horror, having turned to look up at the face with an expression that almost made the boy appear half his apparent age. "You died," he wept with a quivering tone, "I _saw_..."

"_Saw,_" Mokuba hissed with a horrified swallow, Seto as well gritting her teeth as she held her gaze upward. Rumbling was filling the air, the sounds of thunder and laughter merging together into one twisted roar. Attentions were no longer focused on Noa, no longer focused on the child that remained from their twisted and calculating captor, on the mere fragment of being that remained. Gozaburo was laughing...

And Katsuya was more than remembering his 'former' fear of ghosts. "**Hnhnhn... HAHAHAHAHA! True, you killed me,**" he sneered, evidently more than willing to admit this fact. "**But did you really think I would let that lie? My body may have been burned to ashes but my ghost lives on,**" the monstrous shade roared, Seto clenching her fists and taking a slight step backwards as the cackling thundered around them. "**You can't kill me now... NOT AGAIN...**" Hah... But...

"Gh... But Nee-sama didn't even-"

The boy was cut off as Seto growled, arms locked stiffly at her sides as the storming winds blew past her still largely bare legs. "Really... Persistence is one thing," she spat, forcing a look of stone across her face. "But coming from the grave is an entirely separate matter..!" Hahhhhh, she said it like she believed it... Not to say he didn't but that was kind of new coming from her... And...

Noa's look of fear had changed now he noted, swallowing nervously as he pulled himself up. His face had forced a grin over his features, and stumbling forward on his legs he sounded almost like he would cry. "Gh... All this time... You were here _all this time_," he 'asked', looking up with desperate eyes as he subconsciously gripped the robes around him. "Dad... Daddy... I've waited so long," he cried, breathing rapidly in his excitement and looking up to the clouds with shining eyes. "I've waited so_ long_, just to-"

"**Don't speak,**" the man growled, Noa's face falling as thundering eyes turned to him in rage from far above. "**Looking at me with such a pathetic smile.****.. You've failed me already Noa,****"** he continued darkly, appearing absolutely giant to the boy below him. "**I've no reason to speak with YOU anymore...**"

As Noa's look fell even further, the boy lowering his head in despair, it took all he could not to wince. 'Normal' Noa would have covered his misery up immediately. Possibly even banished his own father in his rage, deciding that he was better off that way anyways. But he'd broken that Noa. The 'fake' Noa that had been part lonely little boy and part machine, created from an inability to survive knowing he was neither living nor dead.

'Reset', she'd told him. 'Kill him'. And while admittedly it was nice to not be stuck dealing with a 'God'-obsessed maniac, the fact that she'd tried to kill him to do it was still bugging him. A lot. More than what he'd done to get the kid to that point even...

Not quite as much as Gozaburo was disturbing him though. Oh... Definitely not as much as Gozaburo was, he decided after a moment. "Cut the crap," Seto was growling to the man, quite beyond caring about the 'dead' knowing her secret to say the least. "Ghost or not, I'm done with this 'GAME' of yours," she snarled, taking a step forward as she continued to look to the clouds. "Tell us now Gozaburo... Just what are your intentions?"

More chuckling came through the air, and amid the clouds a menacing sneer. "**Hnhnhnhnhn... 'Game'? You never changed, did you,**" he laughed, narrowing his eyes as the 'mood' swiftly shifted. "**Nothing but games on your prideful little mind... You want to know what happened,**" the man snarled, sparking eyes wide with apparent rage. "**VERY WELL! You know it was I who brought Noa to this world... That he was expected to live on and surpass me,**" he explained darkly, "**To**** live on so that I could see him at least once more... But this world is FAKE,**" Gozaburo spat, thunder cracking through the air with the shout. "**And you've seen what that does to a human being... Within mere days the gap between morals is irreparable, and what was my son was no longer human...**"

"No longer... But what do you mean," begged Noa, tears running down his face as he looked to the man he had so strived to live for. "What do you mean 'Not Human'! I just wanted to please you... I just wanted... I only wanted..."

Gozaburo merely ignored the boy, and again Katsuya winced as their captor shrank further into an uncontrolled despair. "**How old were you Seto, when I adopted you,**" the man asked plainly, his 'daughter' seeming to narrow her eyes and ponder the option of not answering.

"...Ten," she stated after a quick moment of silence, evidently deciding against it. "Or close enough to it," the woman added with narrowed eyes. That was right Katsuya thought for a moment. They'd been adopted over the late summer of some year, so she'd turned ten while at the Kaiba mansion...

The clouds in the sky seemed to nod, eyes briefly closing over as lightning continued to pulse across the ghost's face. "**That's right... And your brother was 5... Now **_**why**_** did I adopt you,**" he continued, seeming to sneer as the crowd below narrowed their eyes.

"Why," Honda repeated from the side with a mutter, looking down at the woman with a frown as he growled. "But I thought Kaiba used a chessmatch-aru; it was a bet, there was no other-"

Before the dog could finish Seto again answered, her eyes narrowed even further with displeasure. "It was a 'challenge'," she said almost plainly, those beside her tilting their heads in confusion. "Surpass me in all ways and return to the world in my body. If he fails, he remains here," she continued, only for her slight frown to deepen further as chuckling rumbled through the air.

"**Hnhnhnhn... HnhnHAHAHA! A 'challenge'... ****HAHAHAHAHA!**" Alright, stop fucking laughing before he- The man's howls filled the sky, before a mocking snarl came over his face. "**Oh no... T****here was no **_**'challenge'**_** involved,**" Gozaburo sneered, both Noa and Seto looking up with wide and incredulous eyes. "**Far from it... It was simply a matter of timing,**" he chuckled, blood draining from Seto's face and the faces of the others as the message came to their minds in that instant. "**My son was thirteen after all... Once you reached that point, that fatal moment,**" the man explained as he cackled, **"H****is mind would be moved into your body... THAT was why I took you in,**" he snarled, "**And THAT is the real reason why you 'EXIST'!**" Gh... "**And it is for NO OTHER REASON that I allowed your 'CHEAT' to slip by!**"

He knew he'd known... He knew but... "T-That... Just because they looked similar," Shizuka muttered, swallowing in unease as the others looked up in horror. "You took them in just because she resembled..."

"That... No sane person things of that kind of thing when they adopt a child," Anzu roared, subconsciously pulling Ren close as the snake gasped for air. "You... You're not human," she continued with teary eyes, "You're a _MONSTER_..!"

"Hah... And they ask why she hates him," the snake added, shaking his head and just about biting down on his own tongue. "My life might be twisted, but that comes a little too close in itself..!" Very close, a small voice in the back of his mind muttered, if the hieroglyphs on Ren's back and the scars they could faintly see through Seto's damp shirt had anything in common. Dangerously close...

And above them the ghost continued to rage... Continued to storm and darken the sky, scowling on the one who had supposedly 'killed' him. "**I was so **_**CLOSE**_**,**" he hissed, narrowing his blazing eyes. "**So close... But in the end, when I had decided to at the last moment do away with this plan**** and raise you in his place**** you turned on me! You killed me,**" he spat, the clouds forming his body seeming to flare as a ghostly rage filled the air, "**YOU **_**KILLED**_** ME! But not this time,**" he roared as he shook his head. "**Not this time, and not any time... Even if I have to live through a machine, or your very BODY,**" the shade snarled, a visible but nonetheless slight shudder passing over those below, "**I **_**will**_** LIVE!**"

"But why..." The others had to turn at that, frowning somewhat as Noa asked this question in an almost childish fashion, the tears still running down his face. "Why... Why are you abandoning me..." Again, Katsuya's mind added on with a grimace, having a nasty feeling that the boy was doing the same. Why was he abandoning him again..?

The answer... Was not the same this time though. If anything, it was quite the opposite. "**Things have ****changed,**" Gozaburo muttered, the clouds forming his face seemingly growing in size so loom above threateningly. "**You have your 'sister' to blame for that,**" he spat, Seto momentarily tensing at the term. "**Hate her, kill her... Do anything you want, I don't need **_**ANY**_** of you to fulfill my goal..! Anything in this world is accessible,**" the man roared, lightning licking the sides of the clouds that formed his being. "**Anything I desire..!**"

"Tch. And just what do you hope to accomplish without a body," Seto spat, sending a fairly dark look toward the clouds.

"**Take a look for yourself,**" the man responded, the scenery vanishing as they found themselves abruptly floating in space, the ground simply dropping as darkness filled the air.

"H-HAH!"

"ERF! Not fun," Honda barked, his head coming to level with all those around him. "Not fun-aru!"

"Gh- What..." Space... They were hovering in space, nothing but blackness around them and the sensation of some sort of light from behind...

"Nee-sama," Mokuba shouted abruptly, pointing toward a large machine in the distance on his side. "That device... It looks almost like the company's satellites..!"

The others turned to where Mokuba was pointing, staring at the large machine in question as the image of the enormous and silence inducing earth came from before it. Turrets of sorts seemed to be mounted at all sides... An enormous system of missile launchers and radars, identical to a second one that could be seen as a mere spec in the distance. These things... Each pointed at the great and cloud covered planet below, the sun blazing in the distance as they stared. "Satellite 32-B," Noa muttered almost robotically, Seto's eyes narrowing further as they looked to the device. Alright... He wasn't one for codes but...

"That's an old model," Seto hissed, face curling in distaste as the woman shook. "From before I took over the company..." Before?

But that would mean... "**That's right,**" Gozaburo sneered, voice echoing around them as the satellites below seemed to flicker to life. "**Besides housing its own**** system of long range missiles,**" the 'demon' explained coldly, "**Thi****s computer is connected to each and every remaining form of weapons system ever commissioned by this company... And each system has taken aim at the major cities of this world, along with any and all densely populated areas...**" Alright, given how many cities and areas there were, there was no way that he- ...Wait... Thirty days Katsuya remembered coldly, Thirty days of constant fire... "**These devices are all armed and loaded... ****Ready to strike the moment I need to,**" Gozaburo finished darkly, the satellite at the side beginning a count-down of sorts. "**Ready to re-load and continue their strike...**"

The missiles fired. Clouds could be seen parting from the earth in the path of each strike, as enormous and seemingly impossible reactions were formed by the countless attacks. One... Two... Fire after fire after fire was made and soon enough nothing but ash covered each site, nothing remaining of the world below them as it became completely encased with smoke. "You... No... You're going to kill _everyone_," Noa shouted almost incredulously, a look of horror on his face as he looked back to his father's 'voice'. "You'll kill... _EVERYONE_..!"

"**But of course,**" his father chuckled, the ravaged earth left with scarcely anything to call a population before them as the clouds slowly but eventually cleared. "**It was **_**your **_**idea after all...**"

"M-My..." That was right. He'd said it himself, in his fight against Seto; within thirty days, the world would be reduced to three percent the population it had before, and as Noa realized this the blond behind him swallowed in unease. Three percent... He'd gleaned that number from Noa's memories. As to the exact number, he couldn't even comprehend that sort of thing.

He knew that it was nothing compared to the former number though. Given that '25'% was only about a quarter of whatever the original number would be. "This is bullshit," Seto was muttering, looking up slowly with narrowed eyes as the 'voice' continued to rumble. "Complete _BULLSHIT,_" she snarled.

"**Oh don't worry,**" the man stated darkly. "**You won't be affected by all of this... You don't even need to worry about bodies,**" he laughed, those below tensing even further. "**Not when you remain here in this world! There is NO ESCAPE,**" Gozaburo snarled, the world around them abruptly vanishing as they dropped to a solid and cave like ground, stones rising around them as the earth and 'space' were replaced with a cold sky. "**None what so ever... This world is yours to do with whatever you wish while I take the real one as my own! No more pain, sorrow, hunger... Consider this a 'present' Noa,**" he roared with a cackle, clouded face appearing in the sky above their cave entrance with a demonic and snarling grin, "**Now you have friends to live forever with! ENJOY IT WHILE YOU CAN!**" Gh... This bastard... This..!

"GOZABURO," Seto roared, rushing forward as the clouds whirled above them. "YOU-" Whatever Seto said next was drowned out by the thunder and lightning that followed Gozaburo's leave, the sky quickly fading into a nearly blinding sunny sky as the woman was forced to flinch and turn away. Her words however, were fairly obvious though... After all.

What else could you possibly think to say in this situation other than anything close to a curse?

* * *

AN: Woooowwwwww lots of confusing things in THIS chapter huh? There'll be plenty of clarification bits below (especially with how confusing Rota's intentions likely were) though, so don't worry too much. It also explains things like what happened to Jonouchi. And why Jonouchi even partially went through with the plan in the first place. Creepy creepy creepy...

Any ways, lots of art down there for you too! Mostly reference as usual, but you'll also find a bit of a doodle that should grab your interest... Next chapter may or may not take us to the real world again as well, we'll have to see; chances are, it'll get us there, but resolve in the chapter following.

Nonetheless, we'll be watching everyone run around the later half of Noa's 'world' next chapter, and it's likely to be a 'super', like this one. So, with all that...

We move on! (And yes this note was short.)

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Oh hey, oh hey! My first flame! Let's do this!

On the contrary Araghast, it doesn't hurt at all!

I'm just confused; if you find the story so unpleasant/retarted/grim/etc then…

_Why didn't you just review the first chapter you decided this_. I mean, this is chapter 94! NINETY FOUR, in a MILLION PLUS WORD FANFIC.

I'm sensing just a little silliness here, though maybe you didn't know that I get notices for reviews at all chapters. Oh well.

You spelt 'advice' wrong by the way, though I do have one tiny request, provided you're actually reading this. (And if you are, that in itself is a little silly I suppose; why would someone who doesn't like the fanfic bother to read the update!) Deleting a story is not very good advice. Good advice is explaining _why_ it 'oozes of the bitter scene of grim retardation', and just _how_ you fix it.

Not telling a person to scrap it. That's like telling a small child to stop doodling stick figures because it looks like shit. You don't do that. You just help them learn to draw things with proper limbs, or at least you do if the child is actually trying to be an artist and cares about this sort of thing.

In any case, nonetheless, I do appreciate all reviews; in fact, I was wondering why no one had expressed a negative opinion until now. I would think most people get that, if not at least once. (Perhaps it was the 'critique' effect; no one critiques the person who asks for it, it would seem.)

So yea. If you're still there (for what ever reason…) do clarify! And by clarify, I mean explain exactly what points you didn't like, rather than comparing it all to bear shit. Because really, that is no help at all, silly.

(By the way, do you have an FF account, I think I've seen your name somewhere... ...Hm.)

Well, back to our regulars now~

Yep. It's a bit of a head smack for us reading this Cynical Gamer.

Particularly after what just happened above. When we say bad move, we mean BAD MOVE; and Jou's powers didn't even come into play for it all. If anything it was Jou _losing_ his powers and then being dragged around by a ghost… …But… That's besides the point. CLEARLY, Mother was not pleased.

Also, Noa wouldn't have to worry about the memory issues; as they're Jonouchi's memories, he'd effectively just 'recycle bin' everything left in the blond's head. As it is, all he did was rip _everything_ out of his head and toss it away for the computer to deal with. When the programs say they were 'just in time', they aren't kidding; if they hadn't gotten to him fast enough, he'd literally have become a _fragmented file_.

You would have to defrag him. OHHHHHHH- -bricked-

In other news on how abilities would transfer, there's an easy way for Noa to avoid the duel one.

Don't duel. (He'd know about that one from memories) Noa also figures that the clairvoyance would either a) run largely in his favour since he'd be avoiding everyone else/manipulating them or b) was just Jonouchi anyways, and would thus be dealt with when he switched places.

Neither options would have worked, though anything involving a flashback would in fact be gone, as those are technically just blocked off memories that Jonouchi's having troubles reaching out at. …WOW, I just typed ALOT for the first paragraph. AHAHAHA whoops.

It made you laugh? …Oh. I suppose if you think of the part concerning Noa then yea… (Personally, I kept tearing up at Kaiba's scene, which ruined any humor…) …Actually bringing in a fair bit of humor next chapter to balance this out. We cannot have this drama/despair tainting our fair fanfic! (Even though it's not…~)

It IS a serious change; besides the chapter above, the main reason this happened to Jonouchi was specifically so that he wouldn't try and duel Noa; Yugi would be just as determined after all, and while it's one thing to re-write a duel for another person (I have one lined up in a future arc), it's an entirely separate matter to make one from scratch for a one-way tag team… Or even just re-write it to suit a tag team. AHHHHHHH…

Hahaha! Even Honda doesn't know how he put the clues together; as mentioned, it was entirely data-base related. So technically, Honda didn't figure it out. The computer did. It's not that he wasn't there for the possession bit though, but more that he was simply hanging around when Malik revealed himself as… Well, Malik. Also that they learned from Anzu and the others that Malik could control minds. He put two and two together from that.

Interesting fact, but GX's protagonist Judai actually has that kind of first name. As per tradition he has 'Yuu' from 'to play' (The character used in EVERY PROTAGONIST TO DATE) and 'Ki'… Which is an alternate pronunciation of 'Jou', from Jonouchi.

This is actually likely referring to the fact that Judai Yuuki was specifically created using Jonouchi's character and personality combined with Yugi's duelist ability. Suddenly, the fact that Judai acts the way he does makes… A lot of sense.

Another interesting fact about Judai; he's the only protagonist constantly referred to by his last name. Yuma of Zeal is known by Yuma, Yugi was always Yugi, and Yuusei was always… Well, Yusei. Perhaps it's another reference to Jonouchi's character; no one called him by first name (save family) after all.

AND YES. FEAR THE SQUIGGLY GAMER, FEAR IT! I FEED OFF YOUR HATEEEEE…

But also your love~ Love me~~~

Hehehe~ Glad that I succeeded! I'll try and keep this reference section running as good as it is too; I find that it's a fairly useful corner, given my rambling tendencies.

And… Let's just not talk about those fanfics. I would certainly like more people to be realists… Especially since there are two kinds of tsundere; and if the one that Kaiba is classed as (TsunTsun)was written properly, you wouldn't have those fanfics!

(To be specific there's the 'Dere Dere' type, which is lovey with tendencies to slip into violence, and the 'Tsun Tsun' type… Who simply act all aloof and grumpy, and occasionally 'melt' somewhat to show that they aren't such pricks after all. Fem-Kaiba's probably far more noticeable as a tsundere than her canon counter-part in terms of the definition thanks to her relationship with Jonouchi actually; Valentines day anyone?)

And hehehehehe… My statement stands~

And OHHHH. Well! You have your answer up there now don't you? Any memories they have come from what Seto and Jonouchi remember of them. In other words, we get the best kind of argument of all.

A monotone one.

Glad you liked the chapter! I can only hope I did as well with this one; Noa's 'break down' has been quite a nerve-wracking plan through… It's a very controversial thing after all. I mean… I just forced a thirteen year old into depression- by _Jonouchi_'s hand. Not to mention making Jou the computer for a chapter, the entire deal with Noa's VERY drastic regression, Ren proving very clearly to Yugi who he is… (And showing that he's a little more attached to the crew than he'd like to admit…)

Phewwwww… I'll be glad when I know if it's bad or good! Until then, enjoy the chapter!

Yes Iona. Yes she does; I think the best part is that it's _canon_. OHOHOHOH.

I can guarantee that most of the cast who 'know' now will be unable to _not_ stare at her now.

Ohhhh yes, I really really notched up the violence for this one; I was quite worried about what kind of reaction I'd get too. But at the same time, I didn't want to sugar coat it… I mean… We've had people bombarded by bullets and swallowed whole, turning a fist fight back into the anime's stare-down didn't seem to sit well with me either.

Very right in how much it proves though; it was quite the tear-jerker for me… On the one hand, I get to show that the bonds are quite more strong than they possibly were in the anime (thanks to Mokuba simply being a part of the 'group' now), but on the other those same bonds…

-cries in a corner-

OH! Yes and no, but unfortunately I can't well say… It'll be revealed eventually, and hopefully sooner rather than later, but don't expect it for a good number of chapters… In any case, I'll see you next time Iona, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter!

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner

The section that will be over here behind this rock until it finds out if the reception for this chapter was good-or-at-least-neutral.

-hides-

* * *

Hey Valkyries! But that's not until Siegfried I thought! Well... No. But Rota is pretty much doing everything Valkyrie-like right now (right down to 'picking who dies'... HIHHHH!), and is also named after one sooooo...

* * *

Dis are from Norse myth; they're a group of beings tied to fate and the like, including the Norns (Germanic and Norse equivalent of the Fates of Greece and Rome) and the Valkyries.

In fact, as a Valkyrie, Rota was said to choose 'who would live and die' on the battle field. Quite fitting when you think about it. Whether or not it's a 'happy' fit is a little... Sketchy.

Fun fact about Valkyries by the way! They originally road big dire wolves, and while they _were_ beautiful women, they were kinda still blood thirsty murderous war spirits who pretty much caused everything bad on the battle field. Everything.

Which makes Rota one of the biggest pricks of them all I suppose.

* * *

Yata-Garasu was a three-legged raven associated with the Sun Goddess, Amaterasu. It was also one of the first cards banned, hehehe.

* * *

Ordinarily, I would say that Yugi's status as deckmaster doesn't leave him exempt from all of this business of Noa almost losing his deckmaster/dying. However, it would be rather silly if the Cyber Jar's effect killed you.

* * *

Asura are a group of power seeking deities in Hinduism, and are considered both sinful and materialistic… Though in earlier Vedic religion, the Asuras and Devas simply fought a lot from what I can tell.

Any ways. In Buddhism, Asura are the lowest ranks of deities or demigods… They're addicted to the 'passions' to some degree, particularly wrath, pride, boasting (Wait, isn't that pride... ) and bellicosity (AKA… The eagerness to fight. WAIT ISN'T THAT WRATH?)

Now that I think about it, this is probably why they have four faces.

* * *

'Annica' or 'Impermanence' is one of the three marks of existence in Buddhism. It's the belief that all conditioned existence, no matter what, is in a constant state of flux. Basically, it encompasses the cycle of birth and rebirth, the experience of loss… And it applies to everyone and everything, save 'Nirvana' (The reality that knows no change, decay, or death.)

Noa, pick a religion and stick with it damn it. You started with Christianity/Catholicism and then switched to Buddhism/Hinduism/Shinto. WUT.

* * *

The dragon 'Yamata' is based on the legendary 'Yamata no Orochi', the great evil eight-headed serpent that was slain by Susannoo, the god of storms, in Japanese myth. His name literally means 'big snake of eight branches' (Yamata' being the snake part and the 'orochi' being the eight branches part.) Ironically, it's both Yamata and another monster of Noa's, 'Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi', who appear on the card 'Last Turn'.

* * *

Speaking of Yamata, normally, you couldn't special summon him. But the spell 'next world' specifically says to ignore that part. DURP.

* * *

But what about Yami's heart of the cards/kokoro/MY DECK IS ALIVE thing! Also the fact that his puzzle allows him to control his draw.

YUGI YOU CHEATING LITTLE- (It's not a conscious thing actually, so it's... Not cheating..?)

Any ways, as mentioned earlier, since these aren't real cards they're playing with (The Legendary Heroes at least had them using their real decks.), the 'souls' aren't there. Therefore, since they aren't 'real' cards and just bits of 'data', there's really no connection. As we've seen, it's more jarring to Jonouchi, who's used to the guys talking to him mid-match...

* * *

The card that Noa flip summoned to force Kuriboh into attack mode was 'Otohime'; this is the name of the princess of the seas in Japanese myth; you probably recognize her from the tale 'Urashima Tarou'.

* * *

The Inaba White Rabbit refers to a myth concerning a white hare in Japan, which has two variants. In one, (the Kojiki version) a rabbit tricks some sharks into forming a bridge so he can travel from the Island of Oki to Cape Keta, by challenging them to prove whose clan is larger, his or theirs, and claiming that he would have to count them all and asking them to stand in a row.

However, the moron told them that he fooled them at the end, so the last one rips off all his fur and leaves him on the shorts of Cape Keta… (A travelling deity later happens upon the poor rabbit and helps him heal up.)

Another version, which is quite less known, concerns Amaterasu and her traveling party, walking around the boundaries of Yakami in Inaba to find a place to set up a temporary palace… When suddenly a white rabbit appears, bites Amaterasu's clothes, and takes her to the place that would be best. The rabbit then disappears at the mountain plain he takes them to, which is called 'Ise ga Naru'… Now located in Yazu Town and Tottori City. Personally, I would think that the rabbit in the card is from the Kojiki version, as he's far trickier.

* * *

The 'Mochi Mallet' that the Inaba rabbit is using refers to the image the Japanese see in the moon. It's of a rabbit pounding 'mochi', which is a rice that's pounded into a paste and molded, often with a filling of sorts. The mochi is pounded with wooden mallets in a mortar, while people fold, turn, and wet the paste. This has to be timed very well of course... Otherwise, you smash someone's fingers.

* * *

Malik! You… Turned yourself in… Well, mostly at least. His speech is largely centred on confusion actually; but the fact is, this is going to help him not end up getting the crap beaten out of him in the end. Also, if he revealed himself completely now, then I would be unable to have my fun with him later.

Also yes, Anzu's emotions are affecting him back. Hooray unwanted trust?

* * *

Speaking of Malik, the reason he appears as he does is because he technically doesn't own his own body any more, and is simply leeching off of Anzu's. Since it would be REALLY awkward if there were two Anzus, he's basically an orange flame thing, similar to the Millennium Rod's manifestation. Except it looks a hell of a lot more like that white ghost. Also smaller, and more child-like, since he's technically only part of his own soul. (ouch.)

* * *

Hino-Kagu-Tsuchi refers to one of the first Gods, 'Kagutsuchi', the Shinto god of fire. He kinda killed his mom, Izanagi, while she gave birth to him.

Cause he was on fire. His dad wasn't very happy about that and killed him, which somehow created a whole lot of other gods. Yea.

I don't know guys, the Shinto God system is weirder than the GREEKS sometimes..!

* * *

Niko is the 'sound' for a smile in Japanese. For that reason, the number two or ni is often used for a 'smile' as a pun.

In other news, everyone inside the soul-room is wearing a white kimono, which is kinda a sign that you're dead. Especially with how they're wearing them (Right over Left, reserved for... Well, the DEAD), but they got over that a while ago and Yami Yugi simply doesn't know about that particular thing, due to him not really taking any more cultural notes from his host than he 'needs'. Also trying to learn them on his own. Ohoho.

The reason this happened with the kimono thing? They technically _are_ dead, or at least brain-dead. Our ghostly friend quite literally ripped them from their minds to keep them from entering a lock after all. (Or worse, 'fragmented file state'.) But don't worry, you saw how they got better at the end. ...Course Seto still has her uniform, but that's for NEXT chapter...

* * *

You know what sucks? The real card of sanctity only gives you _two_ cards. ICK.

* * *

In the original, Kaiba doesn't know about the duel that went on after the statue thing. This is because when Yugi was talking to everyone in his head, those were only _memories_. They were the actual souls in this fanfic though, so this means Kaiba knew about the second half of the duel. It also means that Kaiba doesn't have a reason to complain about him using her cards (though in the original, there was no complaining, just staring at the duel disk with a '...Oh. Huh.' face.).

* * *

HIHHHHHH Rota..! Scary woman. If you haven't guessed, (I wouldn't be surprised) the 'voice' Jonouchi hears is actually scraps of Noa's own words from much much earlier in his 'computer life', specifically around when he was being told that he'd... Well, died.

* * *

Originally, there was an entire scene about letting them go and getting bodies back that took a little more space due to Jonouchi getting more violent about it. Apparently, it didn't occur to them until now that they were in VR pods. WHOOPS. Any ways, this means a lot of dialogue originally tied to that scene has been moved; you'll see it all in the next chapter instead... Also, if the guilt above isn't any sign, Jonouchi won't be the one trying to pummel Noa. He's kinda getting over the fact that he just broke a kid's brain. A kid who was hit by a car and uploaded into a computer instead of getting the sweet rest he needed (seriously guys, Noa's treatment is just a little inhumane..!)...

He really, REALLY feels like an asshole.

* * *

Fun fact; in the Japanese, when Noa speaks to his father, or speaks to the others as though he's still actually 12 and not some creepy creepy computer mastermind, his voice _rises_ by like… Three octaves. It's a little weird. And amazing. But mostly weird.

Also his voice in Japanese did Sasami and Tsunami from Tenchi Muyo. Also Chun Li. AW YEA.

On a completely different note, Chisa (Noa's voice actress) also made this quote after recovering from a car accident (I'm sensing some irony there)… '_Be careful not just of influenza, but also cars._'

THIS IS THE BEST QUOTE EVER.

* * *

And as a matter of fact, Gozaburo is indeed implying that he'll take boobs over nothing at all. This is what happens when you die. You're scary as hell. Also, while Rota's more of a goal-oriented ghost, Gozaburo... Is really _not_.

The main difference between the two ghosts you see is that Rota kinda died miserable and depressed, wanting nothing more than to see her son actually get his peace; the reason she can't move on is because he's still in that computer, hence her haunting it. However, since she never responded to him while alive, she can't bring herself to contact him properly in death either...

(So heyyyyyy, we'll just make... Jonouchi... Do it... UHHHH... ...Fun fact, he's actually the only one who can technically see her right now. SCARY.)

Anyways, Gozaburo was an angry suicide. Gozaburo is a VERY ANGRY ghost. He's not just gunning for vengeance that makes no sense (but then again, ghosts see black-and-white, so really... It makes sense to him), he's gunning for COMPLETE ANNIHILATION.

...I guess you could call him a poltergeist actually... As for explanations on Gozaburo's character in the fanfic, you'll get them soon! But just know that for all of the time he had Seto, he was every bit the canon prick he was depicted as, and THEN some.

* * *

Speaking of Seto... '_What? NINE? But Kaiba was adopted when he was-'_

Now now, hear me out... Seto is considered five years older than Mokuba. However, as with most birthdays that are a number of months apart with the youngest earlier in the year, there's a span of time where it appears, (without the reference of a birthdate) to be a year less.

This paradox often happens with my sisters, taking this example as a good one; I was born in December, and she was born in August. So, shortly after her birthday, it appears as though she's six years younger, rather than seven.

The same applies here. Mokuba's birthday is in July, on the Seventh. He's 'five years younger' than his sister/brother, supported by the fact that he is considered eleven when she is sixteen. However, since he's had his birthday in the fanfic already and Seto, whose birthday is October 25, is already sixteen, he's twelve at this point. This means that until someone corrects someone asking, anyone simply going by age will look at the fact that Seto is still sixteen, the fact that Mokuba is twelve, and decide that despite the fact that she turns seventeen in a few months, he is clearly 'four years younger'.

Translation? Gozaburo adopted Fanfic Seto and Mokuba between July and October, which means that Mokuba was five and Seto was still _NINE_. Hope that makes sense. Particularly since I screwed up on Mokuba's age WAAAAAAY early in the fanfic.

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

Filled with lots of references for you to remove spaces and paste links~

As an important note though, I recently forgot my tablet at the apartment... After taking a leave that's going to last a week or so. Now, since it's only a week and my career doesn't hinge on the tablet just yet (Oh, but if it DID!), I'm not going to run off and beg for it back. But it does mean that the rest of the reference art will be uncoloured pencil sketches for the next bit, and that's if I scan anything at all. You've been warned!

Reference: Deckmasters- Shinato 'Jonouchi' – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ JouShinato. jpg - It's not _really_ him, but it sure as hell _looks_ like him. Which is pretty much why no one attacked during the swords of revealing light deal until the final moment; it was just _awkward_. (Also Ren's size is kind of affected by the spell usage, so he'd have done squat until Anzu attacked.)

Reference: Deckmasters- Kaiser Sea Horse Yugi – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ YugiKaiserSeaHorse. jpg - Oooooh... Cool. And yes that's all I have to say on the matter! Shush!

* * *

Musical Notes:

Got a few songs today! One can seem either Kaiba-ish or Stalker-ish depending on how you look at the lyrics...

First up, 'Standing in Your Way', the one mentioned just up there, which is by Wowaka P and sung by Hatsune Miku. Really does depend on your interpretation this one.

Also Left and Right, which is also sung by Miku, and is overall just plain 'good'...

Lastly Hirari Hirari, which is just a nice quiet song to listen to after all of the chaos above. (Also from Miku. AHAHAHA...)

In any case, that's all! So enjoy the fanfic, and I'll try and update soon!


	96. Chapter 95

**Epiphanic Purgatory**

* * *

For a few moments in the stormy, rainless sky of the virtual world Seto seemed to simply stand where she had been for the last number of minutes, clenching her fists and shaking with rage. Most of the others were taking shelter in the mouth of the cave, staring at the woman's bowed head. Watching as rain slowly began to fall from the again clouding sky, first as a light rain and soon as a torrent of constant water to continue to soak the already skin-tight clothing and cause it to stick to her form. But rather than moving, be it to get out of the cold or even just to make some effort to hide now clearly visible scars across her back, she simply stood there. Waiting in silence as the others attempted to speak with Noa and leave the girl to her silent rage.

Noa hadn't said anything since Gozaburo's disappearance either after all. But despite the fact that they would ordinarily have never cared, he was likely their only way out. Their only hope, their only escape from Gozaburo's haunting and evidently still existent eye... And it was curled in on himself in silence, with tears running down his face. "...Noa," Anzu asked hesitantly, a few of the others keeping an eye on Seto as she continued to stand out in the rain. "Noa," the woman repeated, reaching out with a hand only for the boy to flinch away in apparent fear. Anzu bit her lip, tilting her head somewhat before speaking once more. "...Are you alright..?"

Probably not, to put it frankly. "This is so _wrong_-aru," Honda muttered from the side, watching as the woman tried and failed to get the boy to speak. The dog had 'shrunk down' for the sake of space, now resembling the strange miniature black dog despite it 'standing' on his haunches. "How is this the same guy we were fighting before-aru? He's... Completely..." Silent. Terrified.

Hell, 'broken' was probably the right one. Otogi shrugged from where he sat beside the small dog, shaking his head. "I don't know... I mean, I know he was 'crazy' during that fight but..." The teen fell silent, looking off to the side where Katsuya was rubbing his head. The blond had been doing this the entire time. Out of guilt, out of worry, out of just about any emotion that he again had running through his body and- "...Jonouchi," the teen asked with a frown, snapping his friend from his thoughts. "You alright?"

The others more or less turned to silently repeat the question with their eyes, the 'Other Yugi' as well staring from the body he still held control over. Everyone was staring... Mokuba, Shizuka... Even Ren. "...'M fine," he eventually said, staring at the ground as he turned away awkwardly. "I jus'... ...When he had my body, I wasn' even in it any more... ...'S a scary feelin'," he muttered, crossing his arms. If it could have been called a feeling... Katsuya shook his head, only just able to turn back to the others as he continued to speak. "Horrible feelin'... Couldn' feel anythin', couldn' think prop'rly... An' I..." The blond's eyes drifted over Noa, and as he stared the others followed the awkward gaze in an almost fearful curiosity. "...All I could think 'f was gettin' my body back," he muttered, eyes dimming as he leaned back against the cavern stone. "...An' abou' th' quickest way t' do it..."

"Then... You think _you_ did this," Yugi asked almost bluntly, looking to his friend with what looked to be concern.

The teen's response was the continued stare toward Noa, not even bothering to look away when Seto finally started to move back inside. She, it seemed, had gotten over whatever thoughts she had needed to clear up. And after all, this wasn't the time to sit around. They had limited time, for themselves and those outside, even without considering the 'shadow games' involved. They had to move... And as Katsuya told himself this he began to walk toward Noa, those near the boy tensing as the blond held his almost dead stare.

"Ah- Nihan," Shizuka warned, frowning somewhat as she reached out to grab at her brother's arm. "Nihan... You aren't going to do anything ri-"

"I won'," he said quickly, stooping down to the boy's level and watching as Noa cringed and pulled back. "...'Do anythin',' I mean..."

The others seemed to take this answer as enough of a defense, going back to their silent staring as they watched Seto continue toward the cave. "He won't say anything," Anzu told him worriedly, gaze growing more and more depressed as she looked from her friend to the boy. "I've tried everything but all he does is curl up tighter... I know something's _wrong_," she continued, the serpent on her arm seeming to lay on her arm in a similar mood, "But to fix it..."

"You won't be able to fix something like this," Ren said somewhat quietly. The two turned as the snake stared, an almost distant look in his eyes. "Something like this... I don't know what you did," he added to the blond at the side, his own eyes almost narrowed in anger if anything, "But whatever it was, it's serious..."

Katsuya grimaced at that, turning away somewhat while the others moved to 'greet', or at least be glared at, by a returning and drenched Seto. The woman looked far less than pleased to say the least and... "...I know," he told the snake, looking back to Noa as he opted to momentarily ignore the woman behind him. "But... I gotta try an' snap 'm outta this too righ'," he continued with a swallow. "Even if it's jus' t' get outta here..." Even if just to leave the kid behind for history to repeat itself... ...Damn it, even _without_ being a computer he was a prick..!

In that moment, Shizuka seemed to tense, as though having suddenly realized something important. She came over, frowning somewhat and looking toward the boy before her while she stood behind her brother. "...Nihan," she whispered, the others following her with their eyes as Noa looked up and stared almost curiously despite still obvious fear. "...Nihan, when you were... ...Doing what you did," she asked awkwardly, shaking her head. "What did you..." The girl trailed off, swallowing as her brother bowed his head. Memories. He saw memories, but he didn't want to share that with them, not these ones. Getting run over by a taxi was a particularly strong one that had been used, and...

And each time the details changed he thought to himself, rubbing his head with a grimace. The driver became clear. The screaming passengers became clear, the horrified faces as they realized what had happened... The two passersby on the sidewalk, who had remained for little more than a split second as the sirens entered the air became clear and- Katsuya shook himself as the details continued to rush into his mind, before tensing as he looked at the hands he'd been holding his head in. Noa was still staring. Looking over each of them, his eyes drifting to and from each person in some strange and twisted curiosity as his fear increased. That wasn't the problem right now though. These hands... "What th' hell," Katsuya muttered hoarsely, voice slowly raising in pitch as he stood to his feet and stumbled back against his sister. "What is-"

"Not real," the boy before them whispered, pulling back with wide eyes as he began to laugh. Um... What..! "Which means... He's not dead," he continued, a crazed smile coming on his face as he stood up and laughed. "Dad... He's not dead... Mom's not dead... I'm not... I'm not dead," he cried, the others continuing to tense and shudder as they looked over their own altering forms. "I'm not dead," Noa continued to laugh, "I'm not, I'm _NOT,_" he cried, those around him momentarily staring at the crazed child in fear. "I'm... Not... I'm... Hehehe... Hnhn... I'm..."

"Oh my god," Shizuka whispered, now childish hands covering her mouth as those around had their own varied reactions to what was happening. She was in that skirt again, with the t-shirt and ribbon, her hair almost the same style as it was almost ten years from the fact and- "I was _there_," she cried, hurriedly holding her arms close as she stumbled back. "I was _there_," she repeated in horror, "We were both..!"

On the side walk. Almost nine years ago, on the sidewalk as they walked to the beach Katsuya realized coldly as the boy before them continued to laugh. But they were just kids, just...

Kids. Exactly like... "What is this," Anzu shouted with a slight tinge of fear, looking over the sun-dress and years younger form she was in, her hair seeming to lengthen slightly as it was pulled up into pigtails against her will. "What-!" Yugi's hair looked almost normal at the shortened length it was... Honda's dog-form had shrunk down to some brown puppy with an almost simplistic design, Mokuba was almost _infantile_...

"Now... Now we match," Noa was laughing, tears running down his wide eyed and grinning face as the others looked over the forms they'd held nine years ago. If the boy had even seemed slightly sane beforehand then the facade had long since broken by this point, and as his clothes shifted to the very outfit he had died in he continued to wail hysterically. "Now we can... We can all be friends," he was crying, the grin resembling a broken cheshire cat's smile. "I finally have friends..! We can stay here forever and ever and ever and ever _and ever and ever and-_"

"HHHHAAAAAHH!" A high-pitched and enraged scream tore the air, the three children standing by Noa forced to the side as a young girl in capris tore past to slam her hand on the boy's throat. Her hair was shoulder length, with a band of sorts behind her ears to hold it out of her eyes... The shirt was just a spaghetti strapped tank-top, typical for the summer wear, easily matching the sandals on her feet. The _eyes_ on the other hand... Revealed everything. "Change us back _NOW_," Seto snarled, pinning the boy to the wall and bringing back another fist to prepare an enraged punch. "Change us _BACK_," the girl continued, all others staring almost incredulously as the boy continued to laugh.

"N-Nee-sama," a much younger voice protested, the now toddler-sized form of Seto's brother stumbling forward in oversized shorts as he attempted to grab the girl's arm. "Nee-sama, don't! Leave him alo-"

"Wait, that's KAIBA," Honda protested with a short bark, still in the form of the puppy he'd been since his body vanished. The dog continued to stare, mouth hanging partially open in shock. "But how- I mean, I've seen you before, I... I..!"

Seto continued to hold her 'brother' against the wall, eyes wide with rage as the nearly unrecognizable girl snarled. Yet there was no response... No response at all... "Hahaha... Hahahahaha..." Laughing. He was still laughing, laughing, endlessly and manically as he stared off. "I don't need to follow my daddy to the real world," the boy rambled through his tears, "I don't need to at all, we can all stay here, stay here and be friends and live forever and play forever..." Let's... _Not_... Please... "It's not that bad," Noa shouted with crazed cheer, the boy dropped to the ground like a scum covered rag as Seto stepped back in disgust and shock both. "It's not bad at all... You get used to it after a while," he continued, moving jerkily and puppet like toward his 'friends' as the others stepped back. "And I won't be bad, just please don't leave," the boy begged, tripping forward in his desperation, "Please don't leave, don't leave, _don't leave,_" he wailed, "I promise I won't tell him you're alive just don't _leave me_, don't leave don't leave dontleavedontleavedont-" Noa's words continued to blur as he reached out with a hand, shaking and wavering before the crowd as they stared in horror. What did they do... What did they do, nothing they said was-

-_crack!_-

The rambling cut off the moment Seto's fist connected with the boy's face, the now 'tallest' member of the group staring at the girl in shock as the others choked. "Cut the CRAP," she snarled, Noa holding a hand to his face in shock from where he'd fallen back to the ground. "So you're _DEAD_," the girl sneered callously, "Well _LIVE_ with it! You aren't going to damn us all just because you're too weak to accept the facts and move on! Even if I have to kill you again to get that message across," she went on, cracking her knuckles, and stepping forward with another growl, "I will do so with _ease_..."

"N-Nee-sama..!" The girl turned with narrowed eyes, her brother grabbing her arm from behind and below with a frown. "Nee-sama," he continued to protest, almost dangling from the limb as he pouted, "Don't... Don't hurt him, he's just a kid..!"

"Believe me," Seto quickly responded, looking back in rage, "THIS is no _CHILD_-"

"It hurts..." The crowd froze, looking to where Noa was now simply staring at the cavern ceiling, laying on his back as he cried. "...It hurts..." ...Hurts... Katsuya swallowed, stepping back somewhat with narrowed eyes. Now what was he talking about this- "Why did he leave me," Noa whispered, Honda tentatively walking over in a far more puppy-like form than before while a now 'hieroglyph-less' Ren did the same. "Why did he leave me again..?" The boy rolled over somewhat to curl in on himself, Ren appearing to tilt his head as he frowned while the dog beside him 'poked' the boy's side. "...Am I useless now," he cried, wringing his hands as tears continued to fall. "Does... Does he not love me anymore..? Does he..."

"...Noa," Mokuba whispered, walking over despite his sister's protests and the slight 'stumble' his feet kept forcing on him. "Noa... Gozaburo isn't the man you knew... He isn't even the one _I_ knew," he pressed, giving a slight shudder as he looked down at the boy to explain a fact he had thought impossible. "But you need to stop thinking like this... He was using you," he pressed, standing over the boy's side with a wide-eyed frown. "And he wasn't doing anything else..! Gozaburo isn't someone you should be trying to impress, you'll just get hurt and-"

"_It already hurts,_" Noa said through his tears with an almost haunting tone, slowly sitting up as Mokuba jumped back and swallowed. Briefly... His hair had almost gone brown, for just a second but... "Gnnngh... Gh..."

The boy wiped his eyes as the others stared, loud sniffles coming over the air. The question of the day was effectively 'now what' but... "Tch... I've had it," Seto growled, clenching her fists despite not moving from her spot. "You might have them fooled," the girl spat in the incredibly contrasting tone to her 'regular' voice, "But don't think you can do that to me! Either you turn us back and let us out _now_," she warned, "Or-"

"Oi- Calm down," Katsuya said somewhat plainly from the side, the others blinking. Seto appeared momentarily frozen in incredulity of course... He supposed his tone had to do with that, given that he sounded 'mature-ish' for once in his life, but nonetheless. "He ain' tryin' anythin' this time," he continued honestly, almost reaching out to hold the girl back before deciding against it. Katsuya looked from Noa back to Seto again, swallowing as he went on. "This kinda thing... Whaddya think he'd get from actin' like this?"

"And exactly how would you _know _that 'trying' didn't involve something negative anyways," Seto pressed, narrowing her eyes as the others nodded in agreement.

"That's right," Shizuka said with a swallow, shaking her head nervously. "How do you..."

The blond bit his lip, looking back to Noa before taking in a deep breath. "I jus'... He's been through a lot more than y' think, alrigh'," he said, a number of those before them looking quite unwilling to take the words as they were. "I-" How did he explain this... All of this..? Ren of all people seemed to be the only one not staring with narrowed eyes, not to say he was particularly pleased about anything but...

"What was it like," another voice cut in, the others watching as Yugi, for once a number of inches taller than Mokuba, stepped forward in a hooded t-shirt of sorts. "When you and Noa switched places," he continued seriously, "What happened..?" What happened..?

All eyes were turned on him right now, leaving Katsuya to shift rather uncomfortably under all the attention. He didn't even know what to say, but they were still turned on him... And... "...We need t' keep movin'," he finally said, moving past the others as cheap brown sandals scraped across the stones. "There's gotta be someway out righ'..?" Some way that didn't involve all of this...

"Well... I... I guess so," Mokuba muttered in agreement, starting off after the boy with a swallow. "But Katsuya-nii," he continued, "You haven't answered our questions and- oof!" The boy again tripped, quickly helped up by his sister before the girl pulled him on her back. "A-Ah, nee-sama-"

"We need to hurry," she said plainly, moving far ahead of the group as the others shrugged at what had almost been an expected reaction. "And Jonouchi..." The blond blinked, watching as she looked back to him. "While there's really 'no need', I would _very_ much prefer it if you explained what the hell was going on," the girl growled, her friend tensing in response.

"G-Gn..."

"What she said," came another voice, the others briefly raising their eyebrows as Otogi ran up in an oversized hooded sweater, his hair more or less cut short. Now that was an interesting sight... Otogi _shorter_ than his _sister_, with _short _hair, dressed in winter clothing... (Wait, wasn't this all 'summer' time stuff-) "If there's anything that could happen because of this Jonouchi, you need to tell us _now_."

Damn that sounded weird with a kid's voice. Either way! "Ah- Nothin's gonna happen," he protested, gritting his teeth as he went red.

"Well then prove it," Anzu said with a slight frown, she and Shizuka both making sure Noa didn't wander off or break into another fit as they moved to pick him up from the side and help him forward to walk on. "How bad could it have possibly been?" How bad..?

Katsuya stopped walking, as did all those others while Seto looked back from ahead. They'd only just started moving but... H-Heh... A question like that... "...When yer in tha' situation... Without a body," he clarified, not looking up from the ground as he swallowed. "...I couldn' feel anythin'," he whispered under his breath. "Even though i's jus' f'r a moment... Yer emotions 'r jus 'gone'," he continued, "There ain' nothin' t' control what y' do... Not ev'n y'rself." Not a single thing to control him other than a pre written 'program'... And a bare minimum of instinct remaining from his thoughts. And that... That... "W' tha' in mind... After all tha', an' after what I did... I might not be able t' f'rgive 'm," Katsuya said with a swallow, turning away to take shuddering breaths. "But I sure as hell can't blame 'm either... Not if he was like tha' f'r this long..."

"...Jonouchi," Yugi said from behind, before the blond cut him off.

"He really did see it y' know," he said quietly, those around frowning somewhat in response. "Gozaburo's death. W's usin' th' security camera's in th' buildin'... Saw his mom die to," the boy continued, Anzu and Yugi both tensing at the mention of the suicidal woman, "An' th' fact is, even if he reacted normally... Knowing th' emotions yer feelin' ain't yours 's jus'... Not..."

"I'm sorry."

The others blinked, slowly looking back as Noa held himself close and looked to the ground from between his 'aides'. "Wh... What was that," Anzu asked carefully, as though expecting another crazed ramble from the broken child that she was attempting to hold upward. "You said-"

"I'm sorry," Noa repeated, dull eyes staring at the ground before he began to walk forward. "...I'll help you find the exit now," he continued, the others blinking in response. An ex-

He was going to help them find a... "So then there's another way out," Otogi asked quickly, turning from the side with an almost incredulous laugh.

The others stared in almost wide-eyed agreement, Honda giving a hopeful bark from the ground as he wagged his tail. "Ah... So then I won't be stuck like this forever-aru! Hahaha!"

Noa seemed to stare at the dog in confusion, frowning as it froze in response. The look he was giving it... "...Sunny..." Sun-

Ohhhhh _right_... "E... Erf!" Before he could give another sound Noa reached over, pulling the dog close as he squirmed. "H-HEY! WHAT THE HELL-ARU!"

Whatever complaints Honda had were completely ignored as Noa continued to hold the dog, staring forward with somewhat dead eyes. "...Daddy closed all the exits," the boy was saying, Honda giving a pitiful whine as Ren laughed in silence while climbing back up his partner's robes. "No one can escape here..." Wh-

WHAT! "W... Hang on..! If that's the case, then don't just say that you have an idea," Ren protested, tensing from his position on Anzu's shoulder while the others stared with almost broken expressions. "Honestly! Don't lead us on!"

The others appeared to be prepared to voice their own responses just as quickly, but before this could happen the boy continued. "Daddy closed all the exits," Noa continued blankly, "But not my 'door'." A door...

Wait, 'his' door? He didn't remember anything about... "What're you talkin' abou'," Katsuya muttered, shaking his head as he stared at the boy. "What door..?"

The boy looked to the side nervously, as though expecting all those around him to attack with no warning. "There's a door," Noa 'explained', blinking multiple times before continuing on. "I..." His grip on Honda abruptly tightened, and as the dog gasped for air he ran forward and past the silent and either scowling or simply staring 'friends' at the sides. "I have an idea," Noa shouted, eyes wide with apparent 'sanity' and 'clear thought'. "Follow me," he continued, "We have to hurry!"

And with little other choice they did just that.

* * *

While hells of all shapes and variant forms were occurring in the minds of the eight, technically ten people, trapped in the Virtual World, there was a more minor form of hell occurring on the air ship that had been left behind. Following the lock down of the ship and disappearance of most passengers, Keiichi had found himself standing against the wall and door of the room he was currently sharing with Ishizu, hand on his head as he bit his lip. On the one hand, Shizuka and everyone else were in the hands of whoever 'Noa' was, given the dull demands that he could hear from within the room. On the other, it was just as dangerous to remain behind; Malik, after all, was still on board, along with any other staff that remained alive. And while they could successfully lock themselves in a room, thereby avoiding his attack temporarily...

There were just things that he wasn't sure about. Things involving the millennium rod, and whatever powers it held. "Alright... I need to ask something," he'd said after a number of moments in silence, Ishizu looking up from where she was tending to Rishid's unmoving form. "You said you used... The 'tauk' to open our door last time right," the boy asked almost hesitantly, face screwed up somewhat in suspicion.

The woman blinked as she turned back to her guest, before nodding somewhat slowly. "That is correct; though my item is not much in regards to the offensive," the woman admitted almost quietly, "It provides... Provid_ed_ rather, a more than treasured protection to my being, acting on either any vision I saw or in neutrality," she explained. Alright...

"So basically... Yours is the only one that isn't _evil_," Keiichi 'asked' as he waved his hands in gesture, Ishizu seeming to pull a slight face at the statement.

"Well... I _suppose_ so, but-" But that wasn't the point; moving on.

"Alright," Keiichi shouted quickly, sitting back up on his seat. "It opens doors... So what about the Millennium Rod then? Or the ring," he added, a scowl of sorts on his face as Ishizu stared. Seeing how the _ring _was in this creep's hand as well... There was no answer, and he went on. "Does it do the same thing then," the boy pressed, walking over from the chair with a scowl. "Is there something I should maybe know now," he continued, "Seeing how they're both in the hands of a _killer_?"

Ishizu froze at that, and the boy crossed his arms. Ah yes... That. Something he wasn't supposed to know before. He hadn't known about the body earlier of course, given that it was in a completely different room... Hell, all he'd known was that Malik was scary as hell and _possibly _a killer. But there had been blood on Ishizu's shoes... Along with Rishid's body, and it hadn't been theirs.

So Ishizu had confessed, and needless to say, it had scared the ever loving crap out of him. "...We will be safe in here," the woman insisted once again after holding a blank and determined stare, Keiichi shaking his head as he scowled.

"No... _No_," he protested, emphasizing the response with yet another wide gesture. "I'm not taking that. I want to know what's out there," Keiichi shouted, pointing toward the door. "I want to know just what kind of thing I'm dealing with here, before I, or anyone else, ends up _KILLED_!" There was again no answer, and the boy threw his hands up in aggravation as he walked over to the wall and the entrance. "Shit..." Shit... All of this... He didn't sign up for this crap! "I... I mean, come on," the boy protested, turning back with an almost pleading look of continued incredulity. "There's a _DEAD GUY_ in the next room, and you're acting like it's nothing!"

Ishizu again held a blank expression, turning away as her eyes closed over somewhat. "...I am merely keeping a cool head in the face of adversity," she stated, her guest taking a few steps and staring with wide eyes. No way... No _fucking way_...

"Bullshit," Keiichi countered, before looking out the window. "Complete and utter-" The boy froze, narrowing his eyes to squint out of the glass as he frowned. Hang on... "...What the hell..?"

Ishizu turned, frowning somewhat as the boy backed away somewhat from the window with wide eyes. "...What is it," she asked, only for Keiichi to run from the window to leave the room without another word. "AH- Ryuzaki-san," the woman shouted out, jumping from her own chair. "Ryuzaki-san, what did you see?"

The woman received no answer as the boy ran, half stumbling into whatever was in his way as he tripped over his own over-excited feet. "Not good not good not good not good," he was muttering, running down the hall to hurry to a stop just inside the stairwell outside. "Not g- Gh..."

As the woman came up behind him both of the two fell silent, staring at the doorway with pale faces and horrified eyes. Malik was standing in the entrance of the building's hall, chuckling as he muttered boasts and insults under his breath. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Trying to take my fun..." H... Hah... _FUN!_ "Only _I_ can kill those people," he chuckled, stepping forward as sentry guns began to fire with all they had toward the intruder. He should have died... He should have died on the _spot _but Malik's mad laughter merely continued while he walked toward the guns, Keiichi slowly and nervously moving to stand at the door and behind the wall as both he and Ishizu watched in horror. "Hnhnhnhn... HAHAHAHAHA!" Bullets were flying off nothing as he cackled where he stood. All he'd done was wave the rod in his hands and the weapons that had trapped them in the ship had exploded into shrapnel, crushed against the sides of the walls with the bullets and bullet casings falling harmlessly to the ground in its wake. "HAHAHAHAHAAAAAA! Is this ALL you have," the blond sneered, twirling the rod in his hands as he looked toward the wreckage. "You'll have to do better than that... Heheheheheh..." Holy shit... The turrets were... Destroyed...

Completely destroyed... "How the fuck is he doing that," he hissed with wide eyes, pulling back from the door as Malik disappeared into the hallway before them and continued to cackle. "How the _FUCK _did he just do that..!"

"I thought it was obvious," Ishizu answered almost immediately, looking to the boy as he frowned and turned back with incredulous eyes. "With the Millennium Rod... He's channelling its powers to force the devices before him back against themselves," she 'explained', the boy staring almost blankly with wide eyes. He... He was using...

"The Rod," the boy repeated. "...The Millennium Rod is doing all of this." The woman nodded, and Keiichi grabbed at his head, groaning before looking back up to shout. "He's using a _GOLDEN STICK_... Which _somehow_ allows him to control MINDS... To deflect bullets," the boy roared incredulously. "I mean... I don't know if this is some weird 'Egyptian' thing that no one knows about," he growled, "But THAT," he continued in rage, "Is _not_ NORMAL!" Ishizu seemed to stare at the boy for a few more moments, before watching as he threw his hands in the air and headed up the stairs in the continued rage. "FUCK IT," he shouted after a moment, face red and hair on end. "I don't even know why I'm bothering!"

"Most who encounter the Millennium Items don't survive the encounter," Ishizu muttered calmly. "I doubt most _are_ familiar with them... It's only natural to be confused about them," she went on, the boy behind her not even turning to the words.

"Hn! Doesn't solve our problem," he called back, Ishizu following behind him as he headed to their room.

"Which problem," the woman asked calmly, as though to imply there was more than one.

"The one where there's a mad-man with crazy psychic-mind control powers in there," Keiichi retorted, running into the room to grab his backpack from the side and swing it onto his shoulders. "You know; the place where everyone else went," he continued with a snarl. "Including Shizka, and Yugi?"

Again the woman appeared to stare, frowning somewhat as the boy fiddled with the straps of the bag. "...You... You can't _possibly_ think to go after him," she muttered, watching the boy adjust his backpack with a grunt.

"It's that or them," he said rather bluntly, cracking his knuckles as he made to move past the final (conscious) competitor on board.

"You... You can't," Ishizu protested, walking after him as Keiichi re-entered the hallway. "He has the millennium rod and ring _both_, his power will be dou-"

"I don't care," the boy pressed, stowing back his fear even as it continued to scream in horror at the back of his mind. "I don't know what happened to the others... And for all I know that 'Noa' guy did something to them already... But personally," he continued with a frown as he stared directly into his 'host's eyes, "I don't know why you _aren't_ doing anything... That's your brother isn't it," Keiichi asked, narrowing his eyes as he pushed on. "So that's your _family_, _killing_ people out there..! And you're telling me you don't want to do something?"

The woman narrowed her eyes, fists clenching in a well hidden rage as she herself met the boy's stare. "You... You _dare_ to think I want this to happen," she hissed, Keiichi continuing on with ground teeth.

"That's not what I think at all," he countered, pointing an accusing finger forward. "I'm just saying you don't want to stop it."

Ishizu's eyes continued to narrow in anger, the woman's hair seeming to bristle just slightly as she went on. "And you think there is anything _you_ can do," she hissed, eyes widening abruptly in an almost 'Malik-like' fashion. "All you are going to do is kill yourself; we have only the Pharaoh and his Priest to trust..!"

"The 'Pharaoh'," he repeated with slight shock, shaking his head. As in Yugi? Come ON! "He's probably the one in trouble," Keiichi growled, continuing back through the hall. "...God! You're such a..." Auggh, it wasn't even _worth it _at this point! He shook his head, moving to leave. "You're just _scared_, that's probably it..!"

"And you are not," the woman countered plainly, Keiichi freezing momentarily on the stairs off the ship.

Scared..? He stood there, looking toward the hallway with a swallow before steeling his resolve once again. "...Of course I am," he responded flatly, turning back with his own glare. "But even so, I'm not afraid to admit it and chase after this bastard any ways..." Again he was answered with silence, Keiichi turning to leave with a shuddering breath as he forced himself to move. "Don't try and talk me out of this," the boy told her, taking a step forward. "No matter what," he continued, "I'm going to make sure that Shizka is safe and-"

"Wait for a moment," Ishizu abruptly said, the boy turning somewhat as the woman looked to the side. ...Wait? And why would he- "...I might not have the power to stop Malik... And neither do you," she continued with a frown, Keiichi's attention momentarily caught as the woman went on, "But that does not mean I am heartless. ...I am... Certain that the pharaoh would allow at least this much," she continued with a swallow, turning to enter the airship again as Keiichi hesitantly stepped back in after her. Allow..?

"Allow what," he called out into the hall, following after the woman as she disappeared to the end of the dark path. Most of the doorways were still open to the darkened rooms for the passengers, having been left as such in the crash. They were hanging either completely to the side or partially opened as Yugi's was, leaving dark shadows in their wake. As the woman disappeared inside Yugi's own room however the boy had to frown, the expression remaining in place as Ishizu returned with something tightly clenched in her hands. "...Ishizu..?"

The woman dropped something over his head, the boy blinking somewhat incredulously as he looked down at what it was. Mostly there was just string, a shoelace probably, tied rather crudely to what would ordinarily make for a latch but... This... Was...

Keiichi choked, stepping back somewhat as the tauk hung loosely on the string, gleaming despite the lack of light in the area. "E-EH! You're giving me the-"

"No," she said quickly, shaking her head before the boy could finish speaking. "I am not 'giving' this to you... I am trusting you with it for until the Pharaoh returns," she explained almost calmly, before continuing on. "Hide this beneath your shirt," she told him, gesturing somewhat at the tauk as she continued on. "If I were to have you wear the tauk completely it would more than likely reject you as an owner... In this way its powers will only act on its own protection," the woman explained, "While protecting you as a side effect. You won't have any ability to use it yourself... But this will at least prevent the Millennium Rod from affecting you," Ishizu told him calmly. It would...

So this was a shield then... This was a shield against... The boy frowned somewhat, slowly picking up the tauk and swallowing at the cold feeling he received from the gold. Ice... An instant freeze that spread across his fingers and seemed to turn them into ice despite them remaining mobile... It felt as though, by simply holding it, he would doom himself... Nonetheless he slipped it beneath his shirt, giving a slight shudder as it pressed against his skin and transferred the deathly cold feeling to his chest and stomach. "H-Hihh... Gn..." Keiichi hurriedly got over himself, looking up to the woman before him and swallowing. "I... Ishizu..."

"Go," she whispered, gesturing to the end of the hall with a calm smile. "I'm counting on you now... Don't let him destroy you," the woman continued quietly, "And be sure that the pharaoh and his friends survive, understand?" He...

He would. "I will," Keiichi assured her, turning away somewhat before looking up again and pressing through the cold numbness against his body. "But first... ...Thank you," he said honestly, bowing somewhat awkwardly despite the honesty of his words. "Really... I mean it."

"Of course," the woman responded. "Now go..."

And with another nod, he vanished from the hall, leaving the Egyptian to wonder if she had just damned him or not.

* * *

The cave they were walking through was far darker and longer than it seemed, though inexplicably 'becoming' seven likely had a fair amount to do with the sudden realization of how large and 'dark' everything was. Of course, 'seven' was pushing it... She was more than close to eight when she looked like this given that it had been July when she wore these clothes... And how she remembered that was the last thing she wanted to know, but regardless...

Well, even without taking into consideration this bizarre and inexplicable 'reset' from Noa's pathetic, broken mind, she absolutely detested the form she held right now and was not above anyone knowing that fact by means of scowling and pushing forward while ignoring as many of the others that were ahead of her as possible. Honda _recognized_ her. He had indeed been the boy from the cemetery, and the fact that he now _recognized_ her was only further sending her into a rage, given the fact that she had been _certain _none from 'that time' had followed her into her current life. To add to that, her clothes were bright and 'cheery', her hair was only out of her eyes because of a _yellow headband_, and the fact was, she was _short_. The only people she was taller than were Otogi, Shizuka, Yugi, and her brother, and the fact was that the last three mind as well have not counted at all given age. True, Anzu was only an inch taller...

But being shorter than the _mutt_ was pissing her off. Bad enough she looked like her younger self but... The _mutt _was _TALLER_! "Tch..." The woman narrowed her eyes, clenching her fists as Mokuba ran up alongside the others after dropping from her back. She hated this form, she thought to herself, grinding her teeth with a swallow. She _hated_ it. She was small, weak, and worst of all...

It brought back too many memories. Far too many. This was what she wore before it all happened, her mind kept telling her. Before Christmas, before the car accident... Before _anything_...

The girl's toes stubbed against a pebble as she continued to scowl, the 'Other' Yugi walking beside her curiously as Seto briefly stopped to kick the stone away. It was strange, the one beside her she noted; his eyes had inexplicably turned 'green', something that she'd opted not to comment on as she walked forward. The fact of the matter was that there were many conversations centered on 'past selves' echoing around the caves, many things that she was finding out about these people that she could have just as easily continued through life without knowing.

Exactly 'when' they were was the first to come up among the crowd ahead, along with 'where'. Most had turned to Otogi with raised eyebrows; apart from him, all those who were _human_ and effected were wearing some form of summer wear, or at least the sorts of clothing appropriate for the season. Anzu had her sundress, Shizuka her skirt, most of the boys had shorts... Otogi however had a thick hooded sweater with splashpants and snowboots... And it was shortly after that, for this very reason, that they were able to pin the 'date'. True, everyone else had been in their neighbourhoods in early August of 2003 for a fair amount of time... But Otogi's father had moved constantly through his childhood. And Otogi had been located in Northern Canada of all places at the time he'd worn all of the winter-wear. Which according to him meant '_lots of sun thanks to the 'white nights', and I didn't get any sleep... I was only there for a week though, so it wasn't_ _too__ bad_.'

Supposedly his father needed to meet someone and discuss something about some other thing... Quite frankly she didn't care less about what was going on, all she knew was that it seemed to have been an important week for a fair number of people. '_That's around when Mom and Dad left each other,_' Jonouchi's sister was telling the blond, her brother merely staring at the ground with a frown. '_And we passed a car accident that day to... You... You don't think..._'

'_I met Yugi that day..! At the park,_' Anzu was saying, as her voice drowned out the more hushed tones of Shizuka. '_That was the first day we met..!_' The first day hn... Lots of 'important' things had happened it seemed then...

But just what was it that kept Noa from turning them back _now_..? _That _would be nice to know... "...Kaiba," the boy beside her abruptly said, Seto turning to look at the boy that was now just an inch or so shorter than herself.

"...Hn..?"

The boy held a somewhat serious gaze, speaking with hushed tones despite the almost cherubic appearance of his eight-year old face. "I need to ask... About Noa," he continued, looking toward where the boy was running off with a still very much uncomfortable Honda gripped tightly under his arms. "...Exactly how many of his words do you find 'believable'?" Noa's honesty? Was that all this was about then?

Seto snorted, crossing her arms as she continued to walk through the darkness. "Hn! And here I thought it was something serious, with the way you were looking at me," she muttered, momentarily regretting just how _not_ serious she herself looked in the meantime.

Her 'friend' merely rolled his eyes, looking back to the front again as he stowed his hands in his pockets. "Something isn't right here," he added on with a mutter, shaking his head. "There's something more..."

"Please... You don't think I noticed that," she growled in response. No... That was _plenty _obvious... But what choice did she have when her brother and 'mutt' were moving along with it? "Hn... I'm not stupid... Now," she continued, the boy at her side pausing a moment as he frowned, "Something tells me we're almost at our 'destination'..."

Or at least, the light at the end of the tunnel did. The 'light' however did not reveal much of anything. In fact, as she ran forward, the 'light' Yugi following a few moments after with again violet eyes, it seemed more as though the cave had been dissolving around them for the room to appear, for the walls to collapse and for the ceiling and floors to merge into it... Most of the others were looking around in confusion, stumbling to a stop with wide eyes... Jonouchi however seemed to be narrowing his eyes in suspicion, and within seconds a pair of children in white appeared from the sides to stand before their creator.

These two... ...Kisara and... Who again? "Noa-sama," the two programs chorused, Noa in question looking to them with a somewhat stiffened gaze despite earlier shows of childishness. "As requested," they both muttered, "The Fire Wall has been erected." Fire wall..!

"What fire wall," Mokuba asked with a frown, voicing his sister's confusion and that of the other's as well as he looked toward the boy ahead of them. "You didn't even say anything, how did you-..!"

Noa merely smirked, the first real show of 'honest' emotion since the break down. "I don't need to," he said plainly, seeming to momentarily hover in the air as he held his hands out in an open gesture. "I 'am' this world, remember?" Hn! Again Seto snorted in response, shaking her head with a scowl. Honestly... Did they really need a reminder..? A door appeared before them with those words, huge and carved from stone to resemble a dragon of sorts, standing on its hind legs with a clawed limb raised forward. A pair of knights flanked each side, with a young man on the left and a woman on the right. One with a blade coated in flames, the other a blade covered in what looked almost like 'water'... And there were symbols all over the stone; symbols of strange an unknown origin that she couldn't ever hope to decipher, no matter how long she had. As the others walked closer to the structure however Otogi appeared to freeze, before running to the first statue to 'read' over the carvings in shock.

"T-This..." He choked, looking back to Noa as Ren also came over to stare and choke. "This is in 'Enochian'," he called out incredulously. "What are you doing with Enochian in your program..!"

"Ah... So that's what it's called then," the snake muttered, Seto raising a dull eyebrow as the others looked back to the door with wide eyes. "Point still stands I mean," he continued with a cough, "But..."

"This door is formed from a collective of your memories," Noa explained almost nonchalantly, stepping to the sides to allow the others to gather in the door way before them. "This," he continued, "Combined with the firewall, will prevent my father from locating us, as well as discovering our intentions..." Oh _really_ now... So was that how it worked? Seto narrowed her eyes, listening as the boy continued. "Beyond this door is the 'city' that I lived in during my first days in this world," he said somewhat quietly, a few of the others seeming to look to the boy in some form of pity as Seto held her glare. "I never deleted the program... And within it is an 'exit' that was created to bring in new and more complex material. It's connected to the pods," the boy went on with a swallow. "All of them... So if I use this program," he continued, "I can return each of you to your original bodies."

Hnn... And wasn't that convenient... "So we just need to go through here," Anzu was asking, adjusting the sun-hat on her head as Seto continued to narrow her eyes.

The boy nodded, revealing no signs of betrayal in his voice. "We go through here," he told them, "And I'll guide you to the exit." Of course _he_ would guide them... Please...

They couldn't _possibly _be falling for- "Alright," Otogi was saying slowly. "Then... We can escape..." Tch- as though it were that easy..!

And yet before she could argue the door had opened, a blinding light filling the air... And in an instant, all she saw was black.

* * *

The moment the light from the door cleared, Mokuba could see the front steps of his Middle School in Domino. Noa knew this, and knew just how familiar the location was to the boy; he was, after all, a computer, ever present in the minds of those he bothered to keep track of. And no one would ever escape this place he told himself confidently, a childish and crazed grin coming over his face as he chuckled to himself. No one... They would remain here, trapped in the world of their own memory until he was long gone...

Until he and _his_ brother were long gone, leaving behind that woman to burn in her own hell with all her friends for company. But he was getting ahead of himself, Noa thought to himself as he looked 'down' upon his brother. Mokuba... He was confused of course, given that he was standing at school in his uniform with no one around him. '..._Katsuya-nii,_' the boy was calling out, frowning somewhat as he stepped forward in the school's entrance. '..._Nee-sama..? Anyone..?_'

So lost, wasn't he, the boy thought with a sigh. So very lost... But not for long he told himself with a somewhat crazed smile, chuckling yet again. He had his eyes on a body, and with just the right move he'd have his brother by his side as well... Just a simple block, a 'lock' on synapses, hypnotism if he would...

He didn't have to know that they wouldn't follow behind them after all. He didn't have to know that they would never wake up, and that he would kill them all while they 'slept' in this endless world... All he needed to know was that even though his dear 'Katsuya-nii' was Noa now, everything was alright... Perfectly fine and never better... But for now...

To plant the seeds that would take them there he told himself, landing to the 'ground'. "Mokuba," the boy shouted, running forward from down the street after allowing himself to appear within the boy's 'world' of memory. "Mokuba," he continued in a seeming panic, _"There_ you are..!"

The boy jumped, turning to the side to blink as the boy approached him. "Ah... Noa..." He watched as his 'brother' approached, frowning somewhat as he peered behind the computerized child. "...Where is everyone," he asked, shaking his head. "I can't see..."

Noa just held the wide and honest smile, hiding his reasons behind it as he took the boy by the shoulder. "They've already taken the exit," the boy told his 'brother', still smiling as he pulled him forward. "We'd thought you were right behind us, and it _does_ go quite quickly... I suppose I should have made sure everyone was in close quarters," the boy continued as an excuse, guiding his brother down the street as the city seemed to close in on itself and shorten the roads to increase the speed of movement. "Come on," he went on, smirking somewhat. "You don't want to be late right?"

"Ah- Of course not," Mokuba protested, coughing nervously as he picked up his speed. "I mean, if everyone's out already..!"

His 'brother' nodded, continuing to smile as they moved. "I thought not," he said rather plainly. "Now... The door was placed in the arcade; there was enough of a convergence in memory to place it there," the boy explained somewhat absently, "So I found it the best place to hide the program for now..."

The boy beside him nodded in apparent understanding, walking along side his 'friend' in silence for the next few moments. Street after street was crossed in eerily empty blocks, with not a single sound traded between them. Signs seemed to blur before eventually clearing... Objects in the windows gained detail... Eventually however he turned, frowning somewhat. "...Hey... Noa," he asked, the light-haired boy turning in response as the boy continued hesitantly. "...Like you said... After we all escape," Mokuba muttered, "You'll have to stay behind, right..? Since we're all going back... There's no 'body' for you, is there," he 'asked' almost sadly, looking to the boy with misty eyes.

Noa nodded, smile fading somewhat despite his inner feelings of mirth and excitement growing. Oh... Don't worry... _They_ would be getting out, but everyone else...

Hnhnhnhnhn... Don't worry... He would make sure that the both of them were the only ones to live... "You're right," he ended up saying in place of his thoughts however, leading the way toward the arcade as the sign for the building appeared in the distance. "Once you're out," he continued, "There will be nothing left..."

"...Really?" Noa paused momentarily as they entered the arcade, the boy at his side turning with an almost awkward shrug. "I mean... I don't know about 'now' of course," he admitted somewhat nervously, "But... If you promise... And I mean _promise_, not to try anything strange or dangerous... Maybe we could... _Make_ you a body," Mokuba said quietly, a small smile on his face.

Make... Make him a... "You would... _How_," he muttered, narrowing his eyes as the thought to investigate the matter himself failed to come to his mind. "How would you-"

The boy smirked, shaking his head and shrugging once more. "Hey... Technology has changed in the last near decade..! It might not be flesh and blood... But the cybernetics behind things like artificial limbs and even eyes is incredibly advanced now," Mokuba explained, crossing his arms as he continued to explain proudly. "And you know we don't have much standing in the way for funding... So maybe... With time, we could have a body for you again. And... Well... It's definitely not some 'dog' or anything," he laughed, Noa pulling a slight smile at the reference to the form Honda was holding at the moment in the world of memories. Ah...

So this was what he meant... "I see..." Poor boy...

He'd done his work too well... But that would all be for the best, wouldn't it, he told himself. "Hehehe... We're brother's right," Mokuba was saying with a slight smile, unaware of the thoughts of the boy before him. "Even if you did all those things... Well... My sister did a lot of things she regrets too," he admitted, shaking his head. "So I want to get to know you a little more as well, alright..?" Ah... This...

To think of him so highly... Noa smiled, nodding as he pointed across the room. Time to get this over with... Time to move..! "Over there," he said calmly. "The exit is on the DDR stage..."

"The DDR stage," the boy repeated, receiving a nod in response. "Right... I can't wait to get out," he shouted with a grin, running over as he laughed and ducked under the guard rail. Of course he couldn't... And when they got out, he'd never be sad again. They'd be brothers... Just like they should have been, even if the genetics wouldn't match... Exactly like... "So... How do I do this," he asked in the meantime, a nasty and crazed grin coming over the face of the boy behind him as Mokuba looked over the game's controls for an 'exit button'. "I mean... We aren't too late, right," he added nervously, looking to the ground in fear. "Right..?"

"Of course not," Noa said reassuringly, stepping up from behind the unknowing boy as he pulled his hand back and grinned. "_We're right on time.._."

And in that instant, it really did go black for Mokuba... Or at least...

Part of him.

As two sets of pods opened in the real world, brown eyes slowly opened to stare at a cold grey ceiling. Dog tags dangled from around a body's neck, and as he stepped out from the pod another, silent boy stepped from his own. Mokuba stood up straight with ease as he hopped from the pod, eyes appearing somewhat dim despite the smile across his face. But on Jonouchi's face...

There was shock for a moment. Awe, and disbelief as the teen looked over his hands as though they were gifts from God himself, treasures that had been hidden away from the face of the earth completely. Fingers twitched. Flexed. Curled into fists before opening flat, once, twice, three times, as many times as it took to realize that _yes, _they could move... "Hah... Hahaha..." A grin appeared over the blond's face, and the hands he'd 'tested' quickly patted down the rest of his torso, as if to see that everything was there before he began to laugh again. "HAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAAAA!" A body.

He had a real body. He had a heart rate. He had a breath. Flesh, blood, hair, skin... Nerves to feel with, eyes to see with, feet to walk with... And it was real, he thought with a continued and tear-filled laugh, Mokuba apparently oblivious to the actions save the fact that his 'brother' was beyond happy. It was real, it was all _REAL_! It was REAL!

"Neh, Noa-niichan," Mokuba said from the blond's side, Noa straightening himself as he looked down at his 'brother' through his _real_ eyes to smile. "...Are we leaving..?"

The now teen nodded, turning to the side at where the door labelled 'Computer' was. "Yes," he said calmly, a silent cheer entering his mind with each somewhat stumbling step he took toward the key pad at the side. "Yes, we are," he half chuckled, ignoring the difficulty he had in regaining his ability to walk after so many years without a body. "There's just something I need to do, alright," he continued with a smirk.

"What is it?"

"Oh... Nothing much... I just don't want this place to ever have the chance of coming back, you understand right," he 'asked', despite already knowing the answer.

Mokuba immediately nodded, frowning slightly as his brother entered the code to the door to the stairs before him. "Of course! I don't want anything more to do with this place..!"

A small smirk came on Noa's face, before the code finished and he was allowed into the 'hall' and stairs downward. The boys walked forward into what was not a hall however, but more a... 'Foyer'. They traveled down the stairs to a room containing what looked to be an enormous control center, filled with devices and wires of all sorts, screens surrounding the room and computers rising all the way to the ceiling... Quick fingers came across the keys of the center keyboard as he stepped before it, Mokuba looking around in idle curiosity as his 'brother' typed away and stared at the screens before him. First, he thought, easily recalling the information his mind had 'downloaded' from within the machine, access the world's systems... Then the satellites he had in his control... Then the one closest to the current location...

'Program M2A5 altered,' a computerized voice stated, Noa hitting one last key with a vicious smirk. 'Missiles set to fire within Thirty Minutes.'

"Hn... Thirty minutes," Mokuba repeated almost dully, watching as Noa cracked his neck to head for a second door across the room. "That's not much time niichan..."

"Don't worry," the blond chuckled darkly. "We'll be fine..." Perfectly fine... And while they escaped...

He would send _her_ and everyone else to hell...

"Let's go Mokuba," he said quickly, taking the boy's hand as the side door to the outside opened before them. "We have a long way to go now."

And with a happy nod the boy followed his 'brother' down into the hall, completely oblivious to the damage they were about to leave behind...

* * *

After the brief 'darkness' had settled in, Otogi and Honda weren't quite sure what they'd been doing the moments before the current one. They weren't sure how they arrived at their location, how they'd managed to start the current conversation...

All they knew to start off was that there were sakura petals falling outside. It was extremely late for that sort of thing of course- already the Golden Week of May- but it was nonetheless a beautiful sight, and an extremely welcome one given the stressful situation going on at the moment. There were very few sakura trees in the area to admire granted, but the fact was that even the single one outside this apartment building was quite fine.

Particularly since this apartment had such a good view of it, Otogi thought to himself with a slight smirk. "And in here you'll find the washroom," the landlord was telling them, showing them around the small 'One K' apartment, that they were planning to rent. "It's a standard shower/bath combo," he explained somewhat blandly, "I can show you how the tap works if you like..."

"That's fine," his friend told him almost too quickly, Otogi looking around the remaining apartment in the meantime and stepping outside to inspect the balcony. Spring was soon going to become summer it looked like... Despite the delay on the 'Petal Rain', the heat was slowly rising more and more, and if it hadn't been for the air conditioning in the apartment he'd be sweating profusely by now. Most questions they were asking involved said air conditioning, along with the water, the other utilities... "How much is the rent again," Honda asked the landlord, receiving a fairly swift response for his efforts.

"Sixty one thousand," the man responded, Honda turning to give his friend a slightly apprehensive look as the teen looked out the window. Honda, for the moment, still resembled a dog, albeit a large snake-covered one that was crouching and taking up most of the apartment. The snakes around his neck in particular were displeased with their current location, and exactly how he was getting out would have been a good question... If, of course, anyone had seen him as anything but human for the moment. "There is of course, the 'reikin'," the land lord was continuing with a cough as the dog before him whined somewhat. "That will be an extra month's pay for down payment..."

At that Otogi looked back to frown, Honda seeming to shift somewhat with anxiety over the matter as the serpents around his neck hissed. "...You... Can't lower the reikin," he asked as his friend walked over, the taller of the two scratching his ears somewhat idly before shaking himself.

"...No," the landlord said somewhat plainly, the dog biting his lip.

"...Will the apartment still be here in two months then," Otogi asked, Honda raising an eyebrow at the request. "Is there anyone waiting for a vacancy..?"

The dog growled from beside him, narrowing his eyes. "Still here- Otogi," he hissed, his mane mirroring the action, "Ane wants us out in one!"

"Well then she'll have to live with it," the teen responded almost darkly, "Because this is the only apartment we can even _afford_!"

Honda appeared to bite his lip further with that, the landlord looking from the two before nodding slowly to cut the argument short. "I can hold the apartment for two months; however," he added with a frown, still holding his papers, "I expect an extra fifteen hundred in reikin to make up for any lost sales if someone else asks for it during that time." Ah- An extra-

The teen beside him appeared to be about to say something, before Otogi snapped and held Honda's jaws shut and nodded. "We'll take it," he said quickly, bowing his head politely. "Thank you!"

"Not a problem... Do you need any more time to inspect the apartment," the man added, gesturing around him.

The two looked at each other, before shaking their heads. "No," Honda said after moving the hand from his mouth with a slight growl. "No, we're good..."

About five minutes later, and they were walking back home, having somehow left the building without breaking through a door and come onto the sidewalk without stopping traffic. "...It's good that your brother-in-law agreed to pay half the reikin," Otogi said after a while, the two continuing to walk along the streets in silence. "We wouldn't be able to afford it otherwise..."

"We'd have been able to move in today if he'd agreed to pay all of it," the hound muttered bitterly.

"Yea," Otogi responded, "But Reikin is a rip off anyways."

"It's gotten cheaper."

"I still don't believe that." At all- though he supposed what they'd gotten away with wasn't bad... The two waited at the cross walk for a few moments, cars speeding by while they stared off almost dully into the distance. "...Why _did_ he offer to pay anyways," Otogi pressed, turning to his friend with a frown.

Honda snorted, shaking his head. "Hn! Probably so he can do more with Ane once I'm gone..."

"...Do _what_-"

"Don't ask," Honda responded swiftly. Er...

"Right," the teen said with a cough, shaking his head and flushing somewhat. Of course... Of course... ...Ah... "...Have we had this conversation," he asked after a moment of awkward silence, walking across the street as Honda followed behind.

"What? About apartments," the dog questioned with a frown. No... Not really...

"Just... This conversation in general," he clarified, shaking his head. "It feels like we've done this before..."

Honda appeared to pause at that as they reached the end of the street, shaking his head, "Hn... I don't think so," he muttered, the snakes around his neck 'shrugging'. A red car passed them by at that moment. A porsche, with a blond woman speeding forward through the intersection as a second blond leaned on the door of the passenger seat. Those people... The two blinked, shaking themselves momentarily. Huh... Strange, Otogi thought to himself, he could have sworn that was...

...No never mind, he thought as he shook his head, following back after his friend as the dog moved on. It was nothing, he told himself. It was nothing...

Just a trick of the light.

* * *

For some reason as they moved, he felt numb. As though to get there he'd somehow lost a piece of himself. And yet the more he thought about it the more something corrected his thoughts, corrected his- "Where are we," he found himself muttering suspiciously, watching as clouds and buildings blurred past the sides of the vehicle.

'_You're in a car_,' a voice reassured him.

That was right; he was in Mai's car he told himself, and she was sitting beside him... The blond turned, blinking as they passed a crosswalk while the woman drove silently forward. He thought for a moment he saw his friends... Saw Honda and Otogi... But instead it seemed to just be a trick of the light, nothing more nothing less. The car came to a stop briefly... "Where do you want to go," Mai asked, turning to look at him with a slight smile as he stared. Where...

A flash came to mind. Screaming, and mad cackling... This wasn't right, he told himself, turning away to hold his head. Why was he with Mai... Alone? Wouldn't the others have come? He should have been drenched in water, he thought to himself as he recalled such a time, a time with all the others in the car as well. That was right, he'd been wet at the time... And Mai hadn't been asking where he _wanted_ to go, his mind continued to correct himself, she'd asked if he was _willing _to go... '_Are you sure you're okay? Do you need to see a doctor,_' she asked, Katsuya still shaking his head. This already happened... He... He was supposed to be at the-

_'Well obviously you aren't there yet_,' he was assured, a sudden sensation of calm coming over him. _'Clearly 'where' was supposed to be that place. You should answer._' Of course...

Of course, nothing to worry about. And he was probably just late after all, as he often tended to be. And just mistaken... Just... "...Where do you want to go," Mai repeated from the side, still smiling calmly. Answer her...

"...Anywhere," he found himself muttering. He didn't know where 'anywhere' was of course but... The phrase felt right, given that he didn't quite know where to go. Perhaps that was where the others were, he told himself as they passed a canal. Perhaps that was the place where he'd duel Malik and- He froze, looking back to where Mai was sitting only to blink when the woman he had vowed to rescue from the penalty game failed to meet his gaze. She wasn't there- it was Seto now, with the small smile he'd only seen once, maybe twice. "Seto-chan..?"

The woman said nothing, merely continuing to drive despite acting nothing like the woman he knew. This...

Nothing, his mind told him. This was nothing, this was... Normal...

The blond blinked off his confusion, turning to the canal briefly as a roar pierced the air. A snarling roar, with words laced within... Osiris, he asked himself, blinking and shaking his head as he looked toward the scene to see the red serpent-dragon swirl through the sky. And... Yugi?

_'Don't be silly_,' the voice told him, Katsuya still frowning. _'They're waiting at 'anywhere', remember?_' Of course... Of course... After all, he told himself as he stepped out of the car, walking forward from concrete to sand with dull eyes.

That was just a trick of the light. _This_ was what was real now...

* * *

The 'doll' as he was called was staring with the same limp eyes he was so familiar with right now, hanging forward on the invisible strings that had yet to be cut again. Yugi choked back a few tears of pain as he struggled to his feet, attempting to recover from the most recent attack. Osiris was standing across him, roaring loudly... **'Do you think you can WITHSTAND this TRIAL LITTLE KING,**' he snarled, the boy looking forward with only dim awareness as to what was going on. This trial... This trial...

"_**THUNDER FORCE**_," the possessed body cried. Osiris' jaw dropped from across him... Flames began to tear towards him, and as he closed his eyes Yugi grimaced and waited for the inevitable.

But wait...

His eyes flung open and he shook himself, eyes wide as he frowned. The flames froze in place. Time came to a standstill and he looked up toward the attack and swallowed. "This isn't right," he said quickly, the scene abruptly shattering as he stood across a storming dock. This duel...

Jonouchi was laughing across from him but his memory had changed, altered to suit what he now knew; flames wrapped around his friend's form and teeth gnawed at the blond's spirit, the 'real' Jonouchi trying in vain to regain control amid the taunts of his body, amid the tear filled cries to 'snap out of it' from his lighter half. _'Don' lis'n t' him'_,' his friend was crying, begging through the snarls of the millennium rod. _'Don' lis'en t' him,'_ he wailed almost pitifully,_ 'This ain' me!_' This duel...

"This isn't right," he said again, eyes widening further as time froze once more, the chains of the anchor snapping to scatter through the sky.

And again, the scene shattered with them. Flower petals scattered to the ground amid the trees on Hanami, the air filling with the dark shades of a night sky and the scent of cherry blossom trees. For a brief moment, Jonouchi and Kaiba were sharing a smile, differences and past encounters cast aside, if only for a moment... But this moment... This calm and almost dream-like moment that now froze before him, trapped completely in time...

"Hasn't this happened already," he whispered, pulling back somewhat as he shook his head.

_'Of course not_,' a voice whispered in his mind, the scene before him shattering to replace with yet another of his modern day memories. _'It's just a trick of the light._'

* * *

Everything was just 'a trick of the light', they were being told. Tricks of the light and sounds of the wind, nothing out of place and nothing suspicious. Or at least, this is what they were being told when they bothered to feel confused, or out of place, or fearful of their situation. So long as they 'believed' however, and trusted in what they saw, it was always real after all. Always real, always everlasting, and never, ever, unwanted.

Or was it? "Alright," the girl could remember calling out with a scowl, pushing through the door at the lunch break to storm forward. "I found you! Now give them BACK," she shouted with a huff, watching Keiichi spin the glasses in his hands as the currently thirteen year old boy laughed.

"You have to come and get them first," he chuckled from the table he was at, his friend continuing to scowl. "You can see me fine anyways right?"

She never said anything about why she wore the glasses. Keiichi knew though, more than anything he knew. But as she pouted angrily the boy smirked, tossing them over before she could bring up that point and snatch them back herself. "A-Ah..."

Keiichi chuckled as the girl took the glasses, slowly putting them back on her face to stare forward with a slight frown. "Hehehe... What, did you think I'd keep them," he asked, smirking as he moved from the desk he'd been sitting at. Shizuka fell silent at that, and the boy shook his head and rolled his eyes. "Hn! Yea right... Only bullies do that, didn't you know?"

Bullies? The girl tensed, shaking her head. "I never said you were-"

"And I'm not," the boy said plainly, crossing his arms a moment before gesturing to the glasses. "I tightened the screw on your glasses by the way," he told her, his friend taking the glasses off a moment to stare at them. "It was loose." The screw?

Shizuka looked over the screw in question, blinking as she looked at it through the tunnelled vision she was beginning to have. Keiichi had snatched her glasses away when she put them on the desk after they'd fogged up from the steam in the change rooms behind her, when she'd put them to the side to clear. She'd looked up from the window ledge at the side when she heard a noise, and suddenly they'd been gone... She'd figured Keiichi was just being a moron but... But they were in the 'shop' classroom now and... That was a screwdriver on the desk and... "...Thanks," she ended up saying, bowing her head somewhat as she flushed with embarrassment.

The boy merely grinned, laughing somewhat. "Hehehe... No problem," he laughed, putting an arm around her shoulder as they moved to leave the room. "They're important to you right..?"

_Right..?_

Suddenly, Shizuka wasn't so sure of herself any more. Of her memory, of what was happening. She was standing at the side, watching an event in time that she could only paint with her imagination for visuals, only watch from the side in a mental animation. Because at this time, as Keiichi fingered the now useless glasses in his hands and bowed his head, she was blind... Lying in her bed as tears rolled down her face despite herself, and despite the courage she had tried so hard to gain for this time. "I guess... You don't need me to fix these anymore... Do you," he had asked, looking to the girl as she attempted to stop her tears.

"It's alright," she'd reassured him, wiping her eyes as she sniffed. "Really..."

It was December now. "I wanted to help," Keiichi had continued quietly, still holding the glasses in his hands. "I'd thought... If I'd won that tournament..."

"You tried your best," she whispered, shaking her head as she took her friend's hand. "Really... It's fine..."

But it wasn't fine, the present day version of herself reminded herself, tears beginning to roll down her own face as she watched her memories 'roll' on some endless film reel. Even after the surgery, after her brother used his tournament winnings to pay for her eyes, after everything had been 'fixed'... Even when she'd slept at the hospital, with Keiichi sitting at the side like some physical guardian angel...

"I'm so sorry," he would whisper, Shizuka still crying as words she hadn't been able to hear came to mind, the words that he'd used as he prayed for her to remove the bandages came to mind. "I'm so sorry... If I could just tell you how much," he told her, holding her hand as she slept in a drug induced and painless sleep, "How much I..." She... She... All of this...

None of this could ever possibly be a trick of the light she cried to herself, wiping her eyes as the scene continued to play with no one to comfort her. Never... Never..!

* * *

Tricks of light and illusions that danced... Voices on the wind that blew past her ear, as though sent by someone far away.. Memories that were once faded now passed clearly before her eyes, and as Anzu watched she could numbly feel a second presence watch with her. Jealously. Greedily. As though all she saw before her was nothing more than a dream, a highly coveted dream to this being, something that they could reach out to but never touch.

However, a voice told her in the back of her mind, this presence wasn't _really _there. So it would be best to ignore it really. She could remember playing at the park that day, those many years ago. She was wearing that stupid yellow sundress that her mother dressed her in, along with the hat, and the pigtails, and the shoes, and _didn't she look __**adorable**_, her mother had squealed, her daughter having wanted nothing more than to run around in her overalls that day.

_'It looks nice though_,' she thought she heard someone say far off in the distance, but as quickly as she heard it, the voice was gone.

_'Just the wind,_' her mind whispered soothingly, Anzu holding her head as she moved the memory-matching hat from her eyes. _'Ignore it._'

She was playing on the swings at the moment, but not really. Her feet were just kicking at the dirt at the ground, and her eyes were moving everywhere. There was a small boy nearby with odd coloured hair trying to play with a puzzle of sorts she noted, staring off at the scene almost blankly for a few moments. There was one boy though, one mean young boy with almost snake-like eyes kicking sand in his face, the smaller of the two pulling back as Anzu frowned. "...Hey," she shouted after a moment, receiving no reaction to the call. So she'd gotten off of the swing, walking over with a clenched fist and raising her voice. "I said, 'HEY!'"

The older boy turned, unable to ignore the shouts for the moment. "What do _you_ want," he spat, the smaller boy cringing as he was faced with a threatening glare to keep his mouth shut.

"What do you want with him," she asked plainly, the taller boy shrugging.

"He's in my spot."

"Your 'spot'," the girl muttered incredulously.

"Yea; this is where I come to play everyday. And _this_ brat needs to learn what that means," the boy continued, looking to the smaller one as he pulled away and swallowed.

"E-Erm... Please don't-"

"Well, _I_ think _you_ need to learn that _this_ isn't _your_ spot." She'd drawn closer with almost every word she said at that, the boy before her scowling as she narrowed her eyes. Eventually she'd shoved him away, coming to close to him to do so any more, and as the boy stumbled back somewhat she smirked. "Got that?"

"Tch! As if!" The boy had attempted to strike her with that, a fist raised and heading toward her; she was too fast.

"Stupid!" A kick to the crotch was all it took really- the boy doubled over in pain, giving the girl a threatening look before evidently thinking otherwise of whatever he'd planned to do as he wheezed through the pain.

"You'll regret this," he shouted out angrily, running off after considering his options with the girl. Anzu merely stuck out her tongue in a childish but fairly age-appropriate response, before turning to the smaller boy as he gathered his foam puzzle from the ground.

"Are you alright," she asked, dully aware of a mother on a bench pausing from where she'd been about to intervene.

The boy nodded, slowly pulling himself up with a swallow before bowing his head toward the girl. "Y-Yea... Th-Thanks..."

_'I'm Yuugi'_.

They'd promised to be friends after that she told herself, watching as her past self continued to play in the sand with her childhood friend. Always friends. But something happened to the memory at that moment for some reason, despite her not noticing initially. As she looked up at the night sky that evening, leaving the park with her parents, it changed... The memory...

"_What's it like out there_," she felt herself say, staring up through a well-shaped hole in the ceiling, the stars changed and shining far brighter than anything she'd ever seen. _"What's it like_?"

'_Big_,' a young girl whispered from beside her, unseen in the darkness of the evening. _'Bigger than you could ever dream._'

_But that's not right_, she told herself, shaking her head and taking it in her hands with a confused frown. This wasn't her memory...

_'Isn't it,_' the voice in her mind asked.

No... It wasn't, it was- '_It's mine_,' a surprised voice from far in the distance whispered, but again it was just the wind.

She was starting middle school now, and the memory had returned to normal. She was dressed in her white sailor's uniform and cheerfully running outside to join her father in the car, in their new house in Domino. They'd moved away from Domino shortly after she met Yugi... But now that she was twelve, her mother wanted a sense of stability, so she'd moved back, enrolled her in school... And her father, unbeknownst to her, wouldn't be there to drive her to school after today, only her mother. This was his last day.

Yugi went to her school as well. But he was in a different class, always in a different class, in the first year, the second year, the third... She'd occasionally see him, visit him in those early months during lunch break but as time passed they grew apart... She had friends to spend time with, so she stopped visiting. Stopped saying anything more than 'hello, how are you?' in the mornings, paying more attention to her own life...

And as she visited her father for her last middle school year, boarding the plane to the USA and listening as he told her about a new 'musical' they would see...

_She could hear the sound of gunshots, each one fired by the men at her sides, the men under her co__n__trol. She wanted to know where her sister was going, where she had taken those tablets, what she planned in Japan... As the people fled into the plane one man stepped forward, one man, and the bu__l__lets pierced the skin, and the hospital's ambulances arrived as the plane took off and she spat on the ground, leaving in a swirl of dark violet fabric..._ Hang on, she thought to herself with a jolt, this wasn't-

Real? _One man spoke from the hospital bed, a golden eye across his brow. __**'July 19th, eight AM the tournament will start. The pharaoh will be there, as will his priest.**__' The nurse tending to him nodded __robotically as the eye shone from her own, and she left the room, left the building, walked into the park with her phone in hand... __**'We move now**__.'_ No... No it wasn't..! This wasn't right, Anzu told herself, shaking her head even as her 'body' nodded and grinned viciously at the knowledge that 'her' plan would be carried out soon enough. No..! This wasn't her memory, this wasn't it...

_'It's not_,' a shocked whisper told her, somewhat stronger than it had been before. _'It's not,_' it pressed fearfully,_ 'It shouldn't-_'

What was that?

Just the wind.

She was back in school, Middle School, second year instead of third this time, and she and Yugi were both staying after school to clean... Talking again, catching up on old times... As they walked back home before taking their separate ways they passed a sandbox, staring momentarily at the place they used to play and _there was sand everywhere, everywhere she looked, nothing but sand and the stiff stench of the underground, and did she hear hissing?_

Her father stopped by at that moment; he was on a motorcycle, a rental for while he was in the area. _'Anzu,_' he called out with a laugh, pulling his helmet off as the girl looked over._ 'How's my little peach?' _

She'd huffed, crossing her arms. _'My name means 'apricot' tou-san!' _

_'Ahahaha, but peach sounds nicer hn?_' Anzu continued to huff, before her father held out a helmet._ 'Do you want to go for a ride before I go?_' Ah...

She'd agreed, said good-bye to Yugi after that... After all how often did her father visit outside the Golden Week, and _didn't the wind feel nice through her hair, feel just wonderful as the wind blew and the sound of the motor rumbled on the cycle beneath her body, and wasn't it great now that she was finally free, now that it was finally..._

Hers? "This isn't right," she told herself, clinging to her head as sand penetrated her vision, and darkness filtered in, blinding her eyes as they became familiar to a lightness that she would never have been able to see through before. Not right..! "This isn't my memory," she whispered in panic, candle light filling the air around her as she curled in on herself. "It's not..!" So then whose..!

_'Stop thinking_,' that same voice from beforehand begged, sounding like nothing more than a faded shout from behind her. _'Stop thinking about it,_' it cried desperately, warningly,_ 'You'll only make it worse-_'

Scared. She was scared she knew that much, but what of? And where... Where was the voice, she asked herself. Where was the voice, _it's just the wind_ she was told_,_ but it was there wasn't it, _stop thinking about it _he cried, where... Where..!

"I'm scared," she whispered, but not to herself. A tall man stood before her, a tall young man holding a candle as she sat on a bed of stone and hay. "It's coming... And I'm scared," the girl continued to whisper despite these not being her thoughts. "I... I saw his back. Have you seen it? There are many lines, and many writings... They told me it will hurt," she continued with a choke. "That it will hurt for months. I don't think I can do it brother. I'm scared... I'm..." Why was she scared? Why was she talking about brothers, she didn't have one, she didn't, _stop thinking about it,_ the voice warned, _stop thinking, this path is too-_

She wasn't wearing anything now she realized coldly, a sudden sense of immobilization pulled over her as she stood there and held her arms close for warmth. She couldn't move her arms... She couldn't move her legs... Something was in her mouth, and yet there wasn't...

Fear fell over her, endless fear, she couldn't move, she couldn't move _she couldn't move_-

"_Great Gods and Goddesses who watch over us_," someone chanted, the fear increasing as words in a language she should never have known came through the air, "_We ask that you guide this blade as we follow the commands of your children, as we follow the commands of the Great King and Queen_..." Who... Who were they talking about, she asked despite herself, eyes dancing around the darkness in terror as she stood immobilized, who were they-

Suddenly, who they were and where she was didn't matter, not at all as her back arched and she fell to her knees. "GH-GHHHHAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Burning pain seared across her back, and as a candle burned at the side the hot knife dug into her skin, despite the weapon never once appearing in reality while the blood dripped down her back. "HH-KRAAAAAAAHHHH!"

"_We carve into our flesh these memories,_" they continued to chant around her, the blade digging further and further and further... _"These words, that they remain immortalized_..."

"KHAAAAAAAAHHHH!" Stop it... Someone stop it, please stop it _stop it stop it stop it-_

_'Anzu...!_' Who was that she thought dimly through her screams, who was calling her, who was-

"_We swear by our blood and souls to always serve,_" they were hissing, _"To always guard these r__e__cords_-"

The pain didn't stop, never stopped as she cried and as her fingers dug into her arms. The burning never stopped, the dagger kept coming and coming and coming and _coming and coming_-

"Anzu," a voice shouted as she wailed, and as the fires seared the wounds, and as skin was pulled away to force a scar that blackened and darkened under the flames. "ANZU," the now clear voice cried. "**ANZU!**"

Strong arms were pulling her close as she screamed, wrapped around her shoulders and torso. Strong and tanned arms as her head continued to tilt upward in her screams, unaware that what she thought was there were simply coiled scales. She could hear crying as the pain continued, and as the blood dripped off her skin... The knife had begun to cool now... The chanting paused, and slowly, slowly she opened her eyes to stare up at the darkness, the blade having momentarily retreated. "G...Gnn..." This voice... He was muttering, muttering apologies, muttering... "R... En," she whispered, recognizing the sound. But... No, she told herself as tears continued to pour down her face. It wasn't... Blond hair came to the back of her mind along with tanned skin in the place of scales despite the serpent that was coiling around her protectively, and still the quiet weeping continued. "...Malik..."

"It's not real," he tried to assure her, the serpent's head bowed down to lay on her shoulder. The snake's coils tightened... As did the second grip, the two arms that brought with them a head in that same place on her shoulder. "I'm here," Malik whispered again, "But it's not real... These aren't your memories... You weren't supposed to see this," he rambled on as he pulled her back and into his arms in comfort, "Never supposed to see... This isn't real," he repeated to the woman, still crying. "It's not real..."

Malik. The one they had warned her about. The one who had done all those things... The one who was 'Namu'... "You're... You're him," she choked, still looking up at the sky as the feeling of scales vanished and left her with the tanned Egyptian behind her.

"I know," he whispered, "I know... And I'm sorry," the blond continued, "I'm so _sorry..._ But you need to realize it's not real," he pressed hurriedly, "And that this isn't-"

The chanting began again.

"_Hear our words o Gods above,_" they whispered, Anzu's eyes widening as what was about to come came to mind again. "_Goddesses who watch over our tribe, we carve into our children the words of hi__s__tory_,"

The knife dug into her flesh and screams pierced the air again, the woman unable to block out the memories that were not her own. "It's not real," Malik whispered panickedly, pulling her tightly close, "It's not-"

But to her, it was. It was all real, just as real as everything else that had happened and... And... "GHHHAAAAAAHHHHHH!" Just as real as the warnings she'd received, as real as the blackouts she'd been having all evening. "AAAAAAAUUAAAAAAAAA!" Just as real as the mind-controlling man holding her close, telling her to just calm herself, to clear her mind. It was _all_ real.

"Don't cry Anzu," he wept, head still laying on her shoulder, "Don't cry..." _He was still holding her, telling her he'd never leave-_

"UAAAAAAAAAAAA!" As real as the blackouts and the gunfire that took down her father.

"Don't cry..." _He was crying, his tears were falling on her shoulders and her blood was staining his clothes in return-_

"AAAAAAAAAAA!" As real as the lies that Jonouchi told her, as the lies he'd used when he could have just told them 'she's still possessed', the lies he could have tossed away to save her.

"Don't..." _She couldn't hear herself think, she couldn't, and was it just her or was someone else there-_

"KRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!" Who, she asked herself as the blood continued to stream down her back.

Who was she supposed to hate?

"UAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!"

* * *

"Hnhnhnhnhn... HAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

Keiichi watched in silent horror as the madman far ahead of him laughed, continued destruction filling the air as turret after turret that appeared in an attempt to thwart his efforts was forced to crush inward on itself by the power of the millennium rod. None of this should have been possible he told himself with a swallow, following silently behind as shrapnel littered the ground, forcing him to dog his steps in an attempt to avoid detection. None of it, nothing should have been possible. Magic didn't exist except in fairytales and answered prayers, there was no 'dark power', no 'evil force' in the world of 'today'.

At least, that's what he wished he could believe. It was a little hard though, given what was going on directly before him. Keiichi swallowed as the millennium rod twirled in Malik's hands, footsteps silently moving across the ground while smoke arose from the littered scraps at their sides. He had his bag on his back right now, and his deck and jacket were still inside... But his duel-disk, completely empty, was now sitting awkwardly and incorrectly on his arm in its 'dormant' position, gripped tightly like some bizarre hand-blade. Sweat was pouring down his face and sides... Probably more from fear than anything really, but even so he found himself wiping it from his face with a swallow. The boy forced back another wave of fear despite this however, moving forward as sudden cursing met the air from the room before him.

"Of all the accursed- a LOCK," Malik seemed to laugh in incredulity, sounding almost enraged despite this apparent amusement as he held his head. "They think to keep me out with a mere _LOCK_?"

Keiichi again swallowed as he moved forward, slowly entering the room where Malik now stood. It was a large room that was for sure. A wide and expansive glass window stood at the side directly across from him and a multitude of now out-of-date and somewhat weakened looking machines lined the wall both beneath it and at the side. Directly across from him however, between these machines and himself was Malik, standing with the rod in hand, holding it toward the large and steel built door as he prepared to-

"Stop." Malik turned at this, Keichi swallowing a rush of fear as the teen faced him with a growing and manic grin. What was he doing, a voice in the back of his mind shouted in fear, limbs trembling as he bit back a swallow. What did he think he was doing, standing before this-

_'Fear not_,' another voice whispered, an almost ghostly presence flowing over him as he held his breath. _'You will be safe'_. But who said that, he asked himself, the cold across his chest increasing as he shuddered. Who...

Malik chuckled as he stared down the shivering boy before him, stepping toward him to hold out the accursed rod and spin it in his hands. "'Stop'," he repeated, the grin widening as his eyes did the same. "And what makes you think I'll do that?" Yes what did make him think that he stood a chance here? Hell he was screwed, screw-

_'Fear not,_' the voice was repeating softly, a second wave of slight calm washing over the boy. _'Fear not, for you are safe..._' Don't be afraid he told himself alongside this voice, don't be afraid, don't be afraid, _don't be afraid_...

"I don't just think it," he said with a swallow, shifting into a battle ready stance with his empty and bare arm forward in challenge, somehow able to bring up the boast despite his obvious terror. "I know you'll stop... Because I'm going to make sure of that."

Malik appeared almost frozen in shock at the statement. His grin stiffened on his face, and all at once he howled with laughter, his 'challenger' tensing in response. "Ahaha... AHAHAHAHA... HAHAHAHAAAAAA! YOU," he cried out, holding his head a moment as he cackled and tightened his grip on the rod. "_YOU_ think you can stop me!" Impossibly the grin became even more crazed, eyes widening as the millennium rod seemed to glow, held forward in a tight grip and shining in an unseen light. "Hnhnhnhnhn... You're nothing but an _ant_," he sneered viciously, "A mere-" Malik's grin faded part way through the sentence, the blond freezing a moment. Keiichi as well found himself narrowing his eyes as the teen suddenly frowned, the Egyptian looking to the item in his hands with wide eyes. "Impossible," he spat, a faint chuckling echoing over the air as the voice calmly reminded him of his safety once again. "_IMPOSSIBLE_... Why... Why isn't it working..?"

Because. Because he was 'safe', he told himself, a small smirk coming on his own face as his confidence returned. "Hn... Who knows," he responded, his stance steadying as the smirk was replaced with a frown. "But it doesn't change what I said; I'm going to stop you!"

More shock, but this time the amusement was no longer there. "You... Stop ME," Malik roared, all humor lost as he pulled the end of the millennium rod off to reveal the gleaming blade to his opponent. "You stand here with a duel-disk, having never even qualified for the final rounds," the blond hissed, "And you think to stop me..? _I THINK NOT_!"

...Now, he thought to himself as the taller teen ran forward, blade pulled back just briefly before he swung it forward. Now, he thought as he kicked backwards with a slight grunt, a slice appearing across his cheek as he pulled back to avoid the blade, the rod swung backward in an arc before making its return.

Now!

With a swift click the duel disk was activated, his arm thrown forward as Malik moved to make the second strike, from a slightly weaker position. And in a single moment everything changed. The blade was caught between the sides of the disk as they slammed forward, attempting to lock in on themselves only to vice the blade between them. The disk pulled back, ripping the Millennium Rod from a somewhat loosened and shocked grip while the arm holding the disk pulled back as well. And as Malik prepared to retaliate Keiichi's fist flung forward, striking the nearly half-foot taller teen in the face with one quick and enraged cry.

The blond stumbled back just slightly under the blow... But he wasn't done. With a shout the duel-disk, the long end pointed forward in its 'incorrect position', struck, slicing the side of Malik's cheek as the blond again stumbled back in an attempt to avoid the blow. Briefly, just briefly the teen seemed surprised... Horrified even... But as he touched his cheek, looking over the small bit of blood that resulted from a cut that was far less severe than that of the one on his opponent Malik grinned, rubbing the blood in his fingers with wide eyes. "Hnhnhn... Hnhnhahaha... You... You _cut_ me," he hissed, slowly continuing to chuckle as the millennium rod clattered to the ground. "You-"

"HAAAAAAA-AH!" A swift roundhouse kick struck Malik mid-sentence, throwing the blond back against the computers as weakened and possibly corroded metal caved in beneath him as a result. The teen coughed somewhat... But as he pulled himself forward, Keiichi continued to strengthen his resolve, preparing for what was next. "Maybe I should have mentioned '_how_' I was going to stop you," he hissed, spinning his now bloodied and somewhat dented duel disk as he held it forward like an oddly shaped blade. "As a duelist, I have my pride," he growled, eyes narrowed. "But as a second-dan Kendo master," the boy snarled, "I have at least the knowledge that I can take you down without sullying that duelist's pride that I have! HRHHAAAAAAHHH-"

He should have known, he thought as he charged, his opponent hurriedly pulling to the side as the blade sliced through a number of metal panels and ruined but sparking cables. He should have known that this wasn't it, that this wasn't how it would end. That it had gone too quickly. And that Malik would retaliate as well.

In a single instant as Malik moved from the blow that was now being pulled back, he held his hand forward. And as Keiichi brought his arm back and up to strike yet again, something sliced against the side of his arm, forcing him to pull it back with a hiss and clutch it tightly as something wet met his fingertips, as his own fear forced him to stumble backward in shock. This wetness... Blood, he realized with wide and terrified eyes. Blood, like what was still dripping down the side of his cheek, this was...

And as Malik stood before him, and as he stepped back, the two soon 'pacing' around the other as the taller licked the blood from the Millennium Rod's blade, he could hear laughter, endless laughter echoing around the room. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Hnhnhahaha... This is just the beginning," Malik hissed, spinning the rod in his hands as his opponent hurriedly took a defensive stance and continued to pace around his opponent. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Are you hurt...

_Little mouse_..?"

* * *

"Are you hurt, 'ze'eyr ackbar'?"

For some reason, he knew what these words meant as he stared down at the small boy before him, stood with his back to the now mutilated corpse of the crocodile as the dragon in his shadow took his meal. As he stood in the place he'd walked to from the car (car..?), from the canal (canal..?), and from everything else he'd been questioning. The boy before him said nothing however, merely staring up at him in apparent awe and horror both.

So he repeated his words. "Are you hurt, 'little mouse'?"

The boy shook his head, swallowing uneasily. There was a large gash on his face from where the rock he'd fallen upon had torn the skin, the reddened rock just a pace or so away from his feet. Blood was dripping down his face now... It was really quite the wound. However, the boy insisted. "I'm... I'm fine," he said with a swallow, grey-white hair sticking to the bloodied tissues as he edged away from the young man standing before him. "I'm alright, really, I..."

"What's your name," he asked, stooping down as he held his staff loosely and met the boy's gaze. "You're from the village right? The one just west of here?"

He nodded shortly, seeming to attempt to listen to his rescuer. But his eyes kept drifting back to the disappearing corpse behind him, to the vanishing crocodile that the unseen dragon continued to devour. "...How are you doing that," he whispered in horror, unable to tear his eyes from the sight any longer. "You... Are you the 'demon'," he asked with a panicked whisper, "Are you the one they warned us about..?" Us..?

Of course, he thought with a sigh, shaking his head. The village children. The parents of the children. Everyone... Katsuya shook his head despite the memory not truly being his, pulling the dragon back within his shadow despite not really knowing how he could do such a thing. "I am," he said shortly, the boy drawing back with horrified eyes, "The one they speak, of I mean."

"Then," the boy whispered in horror, "You're going to kill-"

"I am no demon," Katsuya responded quickly, cutting the words off.

The boy swallowed, as though confused. Staring with mixed fear and bewilderment as the man before him sighed. Shaking his head Katsuya stood, leaning against his staff somewhat while the boy spoke. "They say that you're a demon," the boy said with fear, slowly pulling himself back. "The elders, I mean."

"That's because the elders are senile," Katsuya muttered under his breath, before looking down and crouching yet again to peer worriedly at the boy's wound. "They seem to think that if they can't hear the voices of the souls within that it's all 'dark' and 'evil' magic at work... Fools."

"Souls," the boy asked curiously.

Katsuya nodded, placing his staff at the side. "That's right; everyone has a shadow," he explained carefully, "A part of their soul that protects them from harm. It grows with them, changes with them... And some," he continued, pulling out some cloth and dipping it in the waters beside them, "Are stronger than others. But most people don't know themselves enough to see their shadows anymore," the young man continued, shaking a few droplets of water back into the river. "They live their entire lives and never see it. My shadow," he continued seriously, the dragon in question poking back out from beneath him to curl around the grounds, "Is the one who saved you. I helped- but my shadow is the one who did it."

The boy swallowed in confusion yet again again, bowing his head before flinching as his savior attempted to clean the wound on his face. "Gn-!"

"Hn... I'm thinking that's going to scar," he muttered, shaking his head before continuing to try and clean the boy's wound. "...What did you say your name was now?"

"Saraph," the boy muttered, batting the cloth away with a wince as he frowned. "And what do you mean scar?"

"I mean scar. I'll even check again," he continued, squinting at the wound before smirking light heartedly for a moment. "...Yeeeeeep. That'll probably end up as one."

"What? A scar on my FACE," the boy protested loudly, before leaning back to groan. "Maaaan..."

Katsuya laughed, shaking his head as he ruffled the boy's messy hair despite protests. "Hey hey now, don't be too upset, it could have been worse! Besides... It looks cool," he continued with a grin, pulling a scrap of fabric from his pouch, "And if anyone asks, you can say 'I got it in a sword fight'!"

"But I got it off that rock, running from the crocodile," Saraph protested, the long line on his cheek still somewhat bloodied even as Katsuya tore up a side of his sleeve to bandage it carefully. "It wasn't even something cool," he continued with a scowl, "Like the crocodile itself!"

"Ah, but if it was the crocodile, you wouldn't have lived. Besides," he said with a still wide grin, quite glad that he'd managed to save the boy, "They won't know that right?" Saraph appeared largely unamused about this, crossing his arms as Katsuya stood before them. "Now... Just what is a small mouse like you doing alone on the river banks," he asked, crossing his arms as his dragon inspected the child in silence. "There are lots of crocodiles here this time of year; if not for me," the man continued seriously, "You'd be long gone 'chabar'."

Saraph's scowl deepened, the boy crossing his arms. "Hn! I'm no friend," he snarled, huffing as he looked away. "And it's none of your business!"

"Ahhh? Is that how you repay the one who saved you," he joked, prodding the boy's face with his staff as he scowled.

"Hngggg..." Still Saraph huffed, before muttering a curse under his breath. "Tch... I was going to follow the river to the capital," he shouted angrily, going somewhat red as he looked up at the much taller young man.

Oh... "The capital," he repeated, eyes wide.

Saraph nodded, biting his lip. "My uncle... Well, 'mostly' uncle, Neker... He's worked there for a long time... But recently," the boy continued, "He moved there permanently. He said he'd send a letter... But he never did," he protested, narrowing his eyes and kicking at the ground. "I waited and waited, but he never did! He lied..!" Maybe, maybe not... But the capital...

The man sighed, shaking his head and continuing to lean on the staff. "Ahhh... So you thought you'd find him yourself, not thinking that perhaps it would be a little difficult to find someone willing to deliver your mail from the capital to the village 'elna-am' any way... Which is hardly as pleasant as the name would imply," he added, leaning on his staff as Saraph bowed his head in embarrassment.

"Mggnnn..."

"What was that now," he 'asked' idly, raising his eyebrows.

"Thank you for saving me mister... Um..."

Katsuya rolled his eyes, sighing as he began to walk past the boy. "Names give power you know," he said idly, smirking at the boy behind him as a short bleat came out from ahead where he'd left his goat herd. "Don't think I'll be giving you mine so easily!"

"E-EH! But I gave you mine," the boy protested, "And-"

"Ahhh, but you weren't thinking now were you, 'chabar'," he continued with a chuckle, Saraph growing quite red in response.

"Oooooogh... You call me 'friend' after that!"

"Now come on... Don't be like that," Katsuya laughed, shaking his head. "And pick up the pace hm? You don't expect to see your 'uncle' by standing there do you?"

"AH-" Saraph jumped, running after his new 'friend' with a grin the moment he heard those words. "You... You mean you'll take me to the capital," he asked, a few goats meeting his eyes as he chased after the young man, Katsuya merely walking calmly as his dragon floated in the air behind him. "You'll bring me there?"

"Well, I'll be speaking to your mother first," he said with a smirk, looking down at the boy with a wink. "And we won't be going to the capital right away. See all this," he continued, gesturing to the goats that were slowly surrounding them in a cluster. "This is my herd; after your lovely elders banished me," Katsuya said almost bitterly, "This is what I started working on. It has its advantages," the teen continued, laughing as Saraph stared, "As now, I'm welcome everywhere!"

"Ah- everywhere! And they don't call you 'Itja'?"

"Nope. And they don't call me 'gannab', or 'kleftis' either," Katsuya told him as he grinned, the boy's eyes widening further in awe.

"Waaaaaaooooowwwww..."

"I have a 'route'," the teen continued to explain to the boy as they walked, bleats and hoof-beats surrounding them at all sides. "I take my herd from here through the south, as far as the southern kingdoms can reach... And once I'm done there," he told him, as he gestured about the area, "And once the year begins to reach its fullest season, I cross the nile and head back."

"AH- You cross the river," Saraph shouted in shock, his friend continuing to grin.

"Hehehe... That's right," Katsuya laughed, crossing his arms somewhat. "I travel along the other side of the river all the way to the delta for the dry season, and once I hit the middle of that one," he went on with another laugh, "I start making my way back... After crossing the nile again," he continued, looking down at Saraph with a smirk.

"Then... On the way back, if you're on this side again..." Saraph seemed to pause, as though factoring in what this meant. "AH... But that's an entire YEAR," he protested, eyes wide as he groaned. "How are we going to-"

"Well... I'm sure I can find a way to send word to your Uncle while we're at it," the young man chuckled, the boy swallowing as their village came into view in the distance. Great stone cliffs surrounded it... Almost dragon-like in appearance, sheltering it with their great and huge bodies from sand and harsh winds. 'Elna'am', the 'Pleasant Village'... Known for welcoming those of all races all professions... At the cost of becoming outcast themselves. He knew this village somehow... But... "Now... Just where is your mother," Katsuya asked, looking down at the boy as they came to the small village gates.

Saraph was only too happy to show him. Even as he received glares and jeers from the crowd for bringing back the 'monster'. Even as people spat in his friend's face, calling him demon and traitor as they went.

Even as his mother gave him a narrowed glare from the entrance of their home, arms crossed as she _dared _the man before her to attempt to enter her home. Zamarel was a fierce woman. Beautiful yes. But fierce as well, very fierce. She had narrowed eyes that almost reminded him of someone else, of someone... With a ring...

His mind had thrown it out of his thoughts as they spoke however. As they discussed what happened at the river, with the crocodile and with Saraph... As they discussed the _real_ reason he was called 'demon'.

The elders of Elna-am knew what he knew about shadows, and about the souls that protected them. They knew their shadows and could call on them for aid, but to them the shadows were little more than tools. It was one thing to claim to converse with them, and to claim that they were more than mindless beasts.

It was another to claim that they had revealed to him the future, be it in a dream or a flash of light. And in this case that future, what he had seen moments beforehand, had concerned Zamarel's son.

Saraph was supposed to die in that moment. However, he did not, not after his shadow had been ordered to do away with the crocodile that would have done the deed, not after his own guilty conscience forced him to turn against his dreams. Katsuya didn't know the effects interference would bring. He didn't know if it would curse the village or not, so he asked... _'Just to be safe... And to give your son a chance... Will you allow me to take him as my apprentice?_'

Zamarel, having little other choice in her mind, agreed to the request, and with that Saraph's fate as a tomb thief and guardian to the village had changed drastically. The boy was ecstatic. All his life, people called him nothing more than monster, thief, scoundrel, save for when he was inside the village... Now however, he had a chance. He had...

As memories of travels passed, as growth passed, as dragons became visible and as laughter was shared, and as names became known, Saraph froze behind him, the desert air blowing coldly about them as the laughter died. _'What will happen to me_,' he asked, face growing plain and almost emotionless as Katsuya turned to frown, eyes narrowed in confusion. This wasn't a memory, he told himself. This never happened... This never... So why... _'They call me a thief. You and I say this isn't true. That we are destined for more in this place._

_**But what will really happen in the end?**_

They were at the stables on the exact opposite side of the village and the nile now, having managed to travel for almost two thirds of the year already. The sun had long since set beneath the horizon, and it was time to sleep... They were laughing as they approached the stables, talking about something, and then...

"AH- Chabar," Saraph shouted in surprise, looking toward the small light in the 'house, "There's someone inside-"

A shout pierced the air as they came over, and all at once a small girl fled from around the boy in fear. She screamed... Her white and tangled hair flew behind her, and in a single moment she found herself blocked by goats, by a staff... And by a tall tanned young man with white-grey hair. "Ah-ah ahh... Now what do we have here," Katsuya asked, looking down at the girl with a frown. "A run-away..?"

The girl, who was abnormally pale for someone in the area, immediately shook her head. "N-No," the girl whispered in fear, backing away as she swallowed, "I'm..!"

A few moments of explanations and panicked mutterings later and they were seated in the stables, the shadow at his feet watching over the goats as the others sat along piles of straw in candle light. "So... 'Kisara' is it," Katsuya asked, the girl slowly nodding as she bowed her head and looked at the ground nervously. "And just what brings you to the middle of nowhere?"

"They... They won't let me anywhere else," the girl admitted, biting her lip. "I..." She pulled away, shaking her head and hiding behind another pile of straw in the back room. "I... I won't tell you! You're both thieves... White hairs," she shouted, "I can't trust you!"

"AH- But you have white hair too," Saraph protested, the girl merely sticking out her tongue as she huffed.

"I don't have dark skin though!"

"WHAT!"

"Alright, alright," he shouted, rapping both on the head with his staff, "That's enough..!"

Kisara and Saraph... Never did get along really he told himself with a sigh, the memory of the rest of the evening rather small and faded from that point onward. But even so, she traveled with them, that much his mind told him. She had nowhere to go after all. She was too pale for the desert, but too pale for those of the north, of Greece, as well.

She was like them. Outcast, from everywhere. But they always argued, those two..! "You burn too easy," Saraph muttered as they traveled the delta, the girl clutching a large and oversized shawl they'd purchased for her while she waited outside the city they were in. She'd been sitting outside each village they entered due to her pale-skin attracting more attention than their own darker tone... After the stones had begun flying they'd decided it'd be safer.

The sunlight, however, was not helping things. "Well, she can't help it," Katsuya responded as the girl frowned at the earlier comment, before running ahead with the sheep and the dragon that she could now barely see the outline of in the shadows. "She's pale."

"She's an anag," Saraph retorted.

"No, just pale. That's rare," he continued wisely, looking down at the boy and shaking his head. "Her soul is very pure... She's special, and powerful."

Saraph seemed to fall silent at that, looking to the side awkwardly. "...Then... What about my soul," he'd asked, looking up hopefully. "My shadow?"

"Yours is powerful too," the young man responded honestly. "Very much so in fact; it's like you."

"Like me," the boy asked.

"Yea; open to change... Open to anything... Freed from fate, and able to decide wherever and whatever it does... That's your soul," Katsuya told his friend, still smiling as they traveled on.

"Ahhh..."

There were so many memories of these children, so many that were blurring through his mind as they walked... Until finally they settled on one other one. "This is the tale of the 'Dragon Knights'," he started late one evening, the trio having come to rest just a day or so outside of the capital they had so strived to reach. "It's an old story," he continued with a narrator's voice, "Passed down generation from generation..."

"AH- I've heard this one," Saraph shouted with wide eyes, looking forward in expectation. "This is the one where-"

"Shhhh! Don't spoil it," he laughed, shaking his head. His shadow rose from his feet, but rather than taking the form of the familiar black dragon it shifted, changing as he moved his hands with it. Changing to create a flowing image as his staff twirled. "Now... This is a story from long ago... Before you were born, before I was born...

"_Before much of the world was born... Long ago_," he explained, "_There was Light' and 'Darkness'... Two beings created out of chaos, each in constant battle... And between them, for despite their hate they could never pull away, they created their children, the 'shadows'..._

_The shadows were a powerful people. Not one was the same as the other, and they were always figh__t__ing, much like their parents. However, they did so with honor, as though it were nothing more than a game to them... But while the Shadows lived peacefully, Light and Darkness grew tired of the other... Separating from the other... And in her spite, Light took the shadows from Darkness, and from them created a new race and realm to mirror them._

_Her own race; the people of light. Animals of all kinds and humans to care for them, all in a world much like the one we live in now..._ That is how our people came to be... Darkness did not like this though," Katsuya explained, unsure of how he knew this old and oral tale that he was so easily spinning with shadows in the air. "So in spite, he planted a seed in each of the light one's hearts... _And as Light found this, he told her bitterly that one day, all that she owned would be his._

_But Light had another idea; she bound each of her children to a shadow by creating a path between the realms, tasking them with the continued creation of each other, one to protect the other and live on. This way, she told them, they would be safe from the darkness._

And it was through this that they thrived," Katsuya went on, the shadows dancing as the children stared. "That they formed a great and powerful civilization, conquering even the seas with their power. But it was a peaceful civilization," he stressed, the image of the city briefly appearing in the shadows in the air. "One without wars, at least not 'real' ones. They had their fights for the sake of the shadows, but it was all a part of their game, and all a part of the fun they had in life."

"And the knights," Saraph began impatiently, before being cut off by a hand.

"I'm getting to it..!" Katsuya chuckled, shaking his head as more memories than he'd ever hoped to unlock flowed through his mind. "Among the warriors of this civilization, there were two who stood tall and proud, two who guarded the wise family that reigned over them. _The Knights of Fire and Ice, of Water and Wind... Two great and powerful warriors who trained under one of the few unbound sha__d__ows of their time, the 'Dragon', 'Gaia'... _In training with him," he explained mysteriously, "They themselves became dragons... _Merging with their shadows to become something beyond themselves, to b__e__come 'whole souls'... Humans with the ability to become dragons in their own right, to soar among the skies with shadows..!_

_But it was in this time that darkness arose._ For Darkness created his own children," the goat herd went on, "Three powerful beings to fight those of the light. _And as a result, there were many battles to be had... One would cripple both sides completely, scattering the Light's forces to leave her people to d__e__fend themselves... And another would be lost to the depths of time, but the one that we know of was far worse_. Darkness created three powerful beings from himself," Katsuya explained. "_Ziz, the shape-changer, he who was 'divided' with Light in one great battle that is so drastic in origin that it is forbi__d__den to speak of... Behemoth, the giant, he who was cast into the depths of the earth, sealed away by the 'Ancients', the people created by Light... And finally the third great evil, who chose to bide his time to corrupt each seed within the Light's hearts... A great and vile serpent, against whom none realized his plans until it was far too late. Nonetheless as they fled with what few people they could save the dragon knights rose up against the monster, and with their blade, banished the villainous and mighty_-"

"LEVIA-"

"APEP!" Saraph jumped at that, Katsuya's shadows briefly melting down as Kisara looked forward with a grin. "The endless serpent... Apep! They fought that thing," she asked with shining eyes, hands held to her face. "Waaaaaaoooow! That's amazing, that-"

"It's called _Leviathan_," Saraph grumbled, crossing his arms as he looked away with narrowed eyes. "Not 'Apep'..!"

"Of course it's Apep," his friend protested loudly, "He said it was a great and vile serpent! That's what Apep is!"

"It's Leviathan!"

"Apep!"

"Leviathan!"

"APEP!"

"LEVIATH-"

"ALRIGHT! We have a long day tomorrow," Katsuya laughed, 'herding' the children into the small 'stable' he'd set up in the area as he sighed. "How about we sleep..?"

In the end, that was what had happened really. They'd still argued before finally getting their shut-eye of course, but at least they were quiet until they reached the capital the next morning. At least until they met with 'Mahaad', and with his cousin 'Mana'. Not to mention with the very _princess_ of the palace, the daughter of the High Priest, the cousin to the recently born Prince himself... The girl known as 'Sett'. Granted, the so-called Princess was only five years old and could barely speak, but nonetheless- it was quite a rare opportunity to say the least...

And the fact was, had it not been for that meeting they'd have never gotten in. Mahaad took them to the palace aide and scribe Nekhetep within the gates, a young half-greek with long and pale hair. Nekhetep took them to the astronomer's office within the palace bounds, where a young, likely barely seven year old boy with hair and skin almost identical to his and Saraph's own led them away to the private study of the man they were searching for.

And there they met with the astronomer himself, the one whose name meant 'stranger', the one who had escaped the fate of all those from the village elna-am in a complete twist of chance. "I greet you, 'friend'," the man said with an honest smile as they entered, standing from his seat to bow as he smiled. "It has been a while... I assume you're doing well if you can wear such a coloured cloak," Neker laughed, Katsuya shrugging as he looked over the bright red cloak in question.

"Ahhh, I only just got this moments ago from a trade," he laughed, shaking his head as Saraph looked up in what seemed to be awe. A very _good_ trade, within the palace he might have added...

For the moment though, the kids took priority, and though Kisara had since been pulled away by the two young five and four year old girls they'd met earlier, Saraph was still at his side. "C-Chabar," the boy said with a swallow, eyes wide. "You... You _know_ Uncle Neker..!"

Katsuya smirked, crossing his arms as he and Neker spared the boy a short glance and chuckle. "I do," he said plainly, the smirk growing. "He's one of the few who wanted me to stay before I left."

"If only because your words had more logic than the spoon-food the elders taught," Neker snorted, shaking his head as he changed the subject. "Now... I see you met my son," he chuckled, hands on his hips as Katsuya nodded.

"I did; a nice boy," he continued, "Though his eyes seem a little..."

"Blue? That would be his mother," the astronomer explained, chuckling somewhat. "A wonderful woman, she came from the northern lands as a 'gift' initially... Though she was not particularly pleased about this." Oh boy. That must have been... Neker quickly caught the look on his friend's face, shaking his head. "There's a happy ending, don't worry... She appeared just shortly after you left, having fled the capital all together; we met, married, and... Well," the man went on, coughing somewhat awkwardly, "You can see what happened. Eventually soldiers from the capital caught wind of where their 'ambassador' went, and after a number of passed messages we came to an agreement. Which, I am sure you can see the result of," the man chuckled, Katsuya shaking his head.

A job, house, and life... He could see the results _indeed_. "I can- out of curiosity though," the goat herd continued as he gestured to the son in question, "What is his name?"

"Anesi," his friend responded, looking back up from the sky charts he'd moved to gather from the table. "Chorona's language... It means 'comfort'," he continued with a slight nod and chuckle, Katsuya blinking in response. Comfort..? Hang on...

He looked back to the boy that was sitting at the window at the far end of the room, who had taken off his protective keffiyeh to reveal more of the white hair they'd spotted beneath the folds of fabric. This style... This face... "...Comfort," Katsuya repeated, almost shaking his head in confusion as the scene appeared to freeze. "In our language," he continued quietly, "That would be..."

Would be... "Do you remember now," Saraph asked blankly, Katsuya turning back to him in fear as his image flashed between himself and white, himself and 'Seraph', himself and- "What will happen to me?" This... Sand-beaten clothes finally died out to become replaced with a white suit, and Seraph's grey and emotionless eyes stared forward as a dull breeze blew. This feeling... The boy continued on... "What will happen to _you_?" This..!

With a rumbling cry he could feel his memories scatter as he realized just how and why he had been able to recall so much of this 'past' that he had never known. As he realized just why his mind was suddenly flowing in a proper order, devoid of confusion of surrealism... His feelings... His memories his feelings his thoughts his feelings, his feelings, his _feelings__._.!

And the name... "Noah." The scene scattered and vanished from sight as the word ran through the air, and the blond clutched at his head as he breathed laboriously. That name...

Noah. The name sparked in the back of his mind, from which there was no connection to the white ghost, to his head, to his real body... To the thing that had been roughly torn from his grasp... To any sense of feeling, to any sense of self, to anything... Noah...

Noa...

_NOA..!_

* * *

Though Noah was not a name that this mind was familiar with, there was another, far more annoying one that was coming to the mind of a completely memory entrapped and confusion ridden one.

She was running. She was late for something, something important she told herself as she entered the dream-like state of memory, messily cut shoulder length hair flying in the wind as she ran in her new white and linen robes. They were nice robes, that was for certain. Far nicer than the sand-worn cloth she'd worn before. They were gift from her teacher, along with the materials in her arms and the building she was to stay in. A gift from the one she would now be apprenticed to, if only because he used this as the 'deal' to keep her secret. Her precious secret, the one that he had found out from where she had been studying in priesthood rather than that of the priestess' role.

Because _that man_ could never know. Not about this.

Distracted by these thoughts a quick shout came through the air, ankles catching on each other whilst she ran. The black scale that was braided and woven into a lock of hair clacked against the ground as she fell, papyrus scrolls and a small package of ink-stones and reed brushes scattering across the ground as she hissed in both anger and slight pain. "ACK- Shit, shit, _shit_," she cursed under her breath, hurriedly attempting to gather her things as a somewhat amused young teen stood across from her with a smirk

"Well if this isn't interesting," he said with crossed arms, white hair barely visible from beneath the keffiyeh over his head as he looked down from an already taller height than the girl. "Hello there little 'Set'... Funny how someone with a 'God's name can be so pathetic," the teen chuckled, eyes narrowed in apparent mirth as the girl scowled.

"Tch... Not now," she growled, pulling her things back as she stood up with narrowed eyes. She was twelve now. It had been two years since she moved from her already advanced classes of becoming a scribe to the demanding and constant lessons of a priest. One year since the visiting Priest Nekhetep of the Millennium Rod visited the temple and caught her secret. And it had been just a few weeks since, after receiving her apprenticeship, she moved to the capital to stay in the palace for her training.

And met _this_ pain in Ra's ever sunny ass (forgive her for that one, Great Ra.). "Ohhhh... Is that all you have to say to me," the teen chuckled, crossing his arms as he leaned against the wall. "Don't tell me you forgot my name," he chuckled darkly. "Anesi, remember? _'Aaaaa neeeee__n__ si_! It's easy to pronounce you know..."

Hn! "I know," Set muttered, narrowing her eyes. "I just don't care."

"Oh really? So the one with 'God's name is better than me then," Anesi taunted, snorting as the smirk fell somewhat. Really... It wasn't as though she could help having such a name; cutting off the 'woman' part of it was one of the first steps to pretending to be a man while still protecting herself, but...

"Hn!" Regardless of reasoning this was one real piece of work..! "As if you're so much better," she spat, Anesi rolling his eyes.

"Hn! Well... Let's just see, the list can go on and on... There's you, who came without warning from some hick-village in the far north of the desert," he began, bringing a finger to his chin in thought as the girl before him glared, "As opposed to _me_, who has lived in the capital my entire life. You started your apprenticeship... Oh, a few months ago... And I've been in apprenticeship to the great High Priest Akhnaden for almost six years," Anesi bragged, apparently quite proud of the fact that he'd been working with the man since he was barely of schooling age. "And speaking of 'apprenticeship'," the boy chuckled, his 'friend' and 'rival' scowling darkly as he continued on with a smirk, "_My_ master is the King's very brother, and earned his role legitimately... Not like _yours_," the boy hissed, "Who was a mere scribe before receiving _his_ item..."

"But it is still an item," she bit out swiftly, eyes narrowing still further in defense of her current teacher. "Therefore, given all that you said, and all of the obstacles myself and Priest Nekhetep would have surpassed, _I_ am the more powerful." Ordinarily, she would have expected anger in response to such a remark.

That, however, was not Anesi's style. "OHOHOH! You think so," Anesi laughed, pulling back from the wall as he grinned. "My father is the palace's most knowledgeable astronomer... My mother a woman with equal status to the Queen herself, bearing none other than the Tauk! _My_ path," the teen emphasized, "Has been set in stone... Yours," he snorted, the girl before him biting her tongue to hold back truths that would more than freeze her rival in place, "Is unlikely... I don't know _why_ Nekhetep picked _you_ of all people as his apprentice," the boy spat, "Particularly so soon after little 'Ru' was killed... Ironically by a 'Ru'," he added with narrowed eyes, the idea of a lion eating his namesake sending a slight shudder down Set's spine as she stared in distaste. "But if you think in any way that you 'belong' here..." The girl continued to narrow her eyes, clutching the items in her arms. Tch... So that was why her 'master' was in need of an apprentice... That was why he'd been so quick to make this deal...

Well... No matter then. "I still have a chance," she hissed darkly, eyes narrowed to mere slits. "If not more than you," the girl continued, "Who has yet to prove himself beyond 'royal life'..."

Anesi snorted, shaking his head. "Hn! We'll see about that... But when the time comes," he continued with a darkened smirk, "You'll know all too well who the superior one is! Who the 'real' Priest is, when I'm staring down at you with the Golden Eye!" The eye...

Gh..! She couldn't suppress the shudder for that one, despite her hatred for the motion and the show of weakness it brought with it. That eye... When she'd first come into the temple, first come into that building after fleeing her destroyed village... When she saw _that man__, _standing there as though nothing had happened... When she saw _that eye_, that _horrible_ eye staring forward, seeming to radiate with a darkness even without looking down upon her... "Tch... You're a freak," she hissed, holding her scribal materials close as she shook her head and stepped around the teen. "To look forward to that kind of mutilation!" The girl hurriedly began to walk off after that. She was late she told herself with grit teeth, late for her classes, late for-

"At least it'll be an _hono__u__rable_ one," Anesi shouted after her, the girl pausing as she looked back with narrowed and incredulous eyes. An honourable... "Unlike what _you_ do!"

Set continued to freeze, swallowing a wave of fear as she stiffened and looked toward the teen. What 'she did'? She did nothing of the sort but... Why was she scared she asked herself, standing stock still as the teen growled from across her. Why...

Anesi moved closer... "I've seen you you know," he sneered, a wicked smirk on his face as he loomed above the girl. "Washing those clothes... Covered in _blood_... So where are the scars then," he hissed, leaning in somewhat as she stared. "You're the only boy I know besides 'Mahaad' that wears a shirt," he continued, "And he at least takes his off once in a while. But you _never_ take yours off... So what are you doing to yourself..?" Never- He... He dared...

She was washing something that happened every month... Something that he would never come to assume should her facade hold, but for him to _dare_ assume that she would scar herself so disgustingly..! "You... WRETCH," she roared, throwing herself at Anesi as scribal materials clattered to the ground for her to send a fist into the teen's face. "You VILE, INSULTING-"

"That's enough," a strong voice called out, the two quickly separated by a somewhat older teen's strong arms as they both struggled against the grip. One with a bloody lip, wiping his face as he was shoved off to the side... The other, herself, breathing laboriously as Mahaad shook his head and let her down as well. "Honestly... Act your ages, _both of you_," he growled, dusting his hands off as he looked to the pair with narrowed eyes. "This is hardly what I expected of _Ne__k__hetep'_s new apprentice..."

Set said nothing in response to those words, merely swallowing as she looked away somewhat awkwardly from the teen. She remembered Mahaad, if not barely. From many years ago, many... Just a faded memory though, so faded...

It was enough that she ended up with an incredibly large sense of awkwardness around him though. She left without another word to continue her classes after that. And following her classes, she went home in a still continuing silence, waiting for the sun to set... And then that evening she went to the banks of the small nile inlet near her home, taking clothes in hand as she took her bath-

"...May Isis correct my vision now," a voice whispered from the side, the bag of forgotten ink stones she'd somehow left behind clattering to the ground. "You're-"

Set had given one look to the young priest's apprentice, the one who would receive the ring, the one she dimly remembered...

And forgot what happened next. Completely, and she wasn't sure why... Time had passed from that moment though. Mahaad kept her secret it seemed, though it developed a strange if not bitter relationship between the two. A rivalry perhaps; Mahaad, after all, knew what her identity meant. Knew just why she hid. Knew who she _really_ was... So he would say, '_You could go to the Pharaoh, and co__m__pletely avoid this sort of da__n__ger. So why__ hide__?_'

_'Because with this, no one will accus__e me of reaching for the throne,_' she whispered in excuse._'__I can be the shadow of the king, and fight, rather than acting as a vessel for the next line_.' _She_ knew what would happen if she revealed herself. _She_ knew how pure the line was meant to be.

And Mahaad, evidently deciding that it wasn't yet time to argue against such excuses, appeared to agree.

But then one night... As she returned to the palace, having forgotten her materials of study for the evening someone bumped into her. Someone with dark skin and white hair, his keffiyeh falling to the ground to reveal the locks of white gray hair that were so often hidden beneath the hat. They'd spoken little after her first few months of tutelage, she and Anesi. She'd proven herself more than capable of the lessons learned after all, and of the tasks at hand. She was more than proving to be a challenge to surpass.

But despite what strange rivalry she and Anesi held, and how little she saw of him now, she knew him enough to still 'hate' him. If not somewhat. "Hn! And you call me clumsy," she growled, the fourteen year old girl watching as Anesi hurriedly looked back to his 'home' in a fear far unlike him before pushing the girl into the shadows and against the wall with a swallow. "G- WHAT-"

"Shh! Shhh," he whispered hurriedly, moving frantically as he absently stepped over the prized keffiyeh he so cared for. "You... I know who you are," he warned, eyes wide with fear as she herself stared in both shock and disbelief. "I know of your origins," the teen continued with a frantic hiss, "And what you plan to do... But if you hope to live," Anesi pressed almost pitifully, "And if you know what is good for you, _you will leave this place and you will run_," he hurriedly told her, stepping back as shadows came around the corners. "You'll run and you'll never look back..! He's already gotten my family," Anesi cried, stepping back in panicked flight as the shadows came closer. "_You're next..!"_

She never saw him again. The soldiers had come by shortly after he vanished over the horizon and beyond the distant buildings, asking her if she'd seen anyone pass by... "No," she told them dully, using a voice that she had slowly been working at with her teacher's guidance. _'He'd have been strange,_' they responded quickly, as though to test her for information. _'Dark skin, with white hair-_' "No," she repeated. "Particularly not anyone like that."

Why did she defend him... And why...

Did she want him to come back? The morning came all too soon after that. And as Akhnaden called together the council and their respective students, the Pharaoh seemed to stare at them all with blank and half dead eyes... Listening as his brother spoke, and staring at a now very much thinned crowd.

"I have called you all here to share with you a most grievous of events," he began, seeming to pace about the front of the room. "Most recently the palace astronomer known as 'Neker'... '_Tragoedia_'," he continued, arms folded across his back, "Was, as you know, taken in for questioning in regards to a possible threat against the Pharaoh. He was found more than guilty," the man went on stiffly. "And after killing both of those whom accompanied me, it took all the strength of myself and Priest Nekhetep, to whom I currently owe my life for his 'intrusion', to seal his monstrous soul into stone. Yet even with this defeat of a great evil, there is still more foul news..." More news..?

And just why would Neker, who had pledged a complete and honest alliance to the Pharaoh suddenly decide to attempt murdering him..?

Before these thoughts could be answered the High Priest continued to speak, Set swallowing almost nervously as she listened. "It was decided that, due to familial relations, the High Priestess Chorona and her son... My apprentice, Anesi," Akhnaden was saying, "Would be confronted for questioning on their knowledge of the matter. However I regret to say that we were... Too late," he continued, bowing his head in apparent grief. "It would seem that before his capture Tragoedia killed not only his son but also his wife... I regret to say therefore that we are here not to celebrate the destruction of a threat... Nor the succession of the priests and priestess involved," Akhnaden went on, "But instead to mourn the souls of four members of our court..." . . .

...Lies.

As Isis, who was just a year or so older than herself bowed her head and shook, tears running down her face as she clutched her newly received Millennium Tauk, the word repeated in her mind. Lies. Chorona had been murdered. She'd foreseen the event and handed her item to the girl before allowing herself to die to distract the soldiers.

Lies. Anesi had fled, fled for his life and warned her before vanishing without a trace, spared only by his mother's sacrifice and his own clear head.

Lies. Though Nekhetep seemed to accept these words he forever looked to Akhnaden with narrowed eyes when the man seemed to not be looking, taking caution when it came to her secrecy... And always making sure to never be caught alone with the man.

Lies. Lies. _Lies_... "Why did this happen," she found herself muttering later on that day, standing in the hall with Mahaad as he fingered the ring that had formerly belonged to his father. He looked strange in the garb of the High Priest. With the head dress and gold accessories... It seemed to suit him nonetheless though, for some reason, and it almost made her feel miles behind her goal despite the teen having only received his item because of his father's death. "I saw him... Anesi," she clarified as her 'friend' frowned. "He was running for his life. Why would Anesi, _Akhnaden_'s apprentice, be forced to flee, when he scarcely met his father as it was? Why would he feel threatened by the man who effectively raised him for most of his life?" Why...

_Why..? _"...I don't know," Mahaad muttered after a moment, not looking to the young woman beside him. "Paranoia perhaps? Chorona seemed to be avoiding the High Priest as of late... There was fear in her eyes, and she was consulting her item more and more..." The teen dropped his ring, shaking his head as he continued to stare at the gold in silence. "...There is... A darkness within these items," he said after a moment, Set looking up with a frown.

"...Hn?"

"Something dark lies within these so-called treasures," Mahaad repeated seriously, staring at the object with narrowed eyes. "Something dangerous... Shada always mentioned these things after Adviser Shiamun passed his 'key' onto him... But it's a completely different matter when it's in my hands," he muttered, shaking his head as he looked to the ground. ...Was it now...

"So then... You don't wish to serve the pharaoh," she asked darkly, narrowing her eyes as she looked to the teen.

Mahaad instantly turned to her with narrowed eyes, shaking his head. "Not at all," he protested, looking to the side with the words and biting his lip. "Particularly not in 'these' times," the now 'High Priest' muttered. "...However..." He trailed off, staring down the hall with narrowed eyes before moving from the wall. "There's something I need to check," he muttered, shaking himself. "Something important..."

"Something..." Something important..?

And like Anesi, she never found out what that something was. She never even came close. But shortly after Mahaad's time in classes turned to time spent in the records hall, the Pharaoh left the kingdom in his wife and brother's hands, taking his son with him on a pilgrimage south to pray. Where they went was unknown. What they did was unknown, and the journey lasted a small number of months.

But the Pharaoh returned with a grim look upon his face, and never spoke to his brother from that moment on. He fell ill... And he requested an audience with each member of his council, along with the apprentice to the sole 'student rearing' member of his council. All others had succeeded their masters after all. Isis, Karim, and Mahaad on that one day. Shada long before... And Anesi was long gone, never to be seen and leaving none to take Akhnaden's place should the man have mysteriously passed on.

In addition to all this, on the day Nekhetep was called he too was gone.

For good.

She found his body when entering the 'classroom' as it was called, a simple and open spaced room where Nekhetep would conduct his duties as priest and train her in those same roles. He was a 'High Priest' now after all. Her chances of success had risen, her goals and trials had risen in difficulty...

As had her risks.

And the threats. Against herself...

And against her teacher.

"Hah... Haaahhhh..." Her materials fell to the ground as she came into the dark hall, the girl stumbling back as Mahaad came behind her only to stare. "Ahhhhh..."

"...Set," he called out, the now fifteen year old girl across from him frozen in horror and unable to turn back to respond. "...Set," he repeated again, walking closer before freezing as well.

Nekhetep was dead, and had been for a while. His body lay sprawled on the ground and the Millennium Rod was embedded in his chest, his head bowed over as if to pray for whoever had killed him. Her memories flashed... Switching between a pair of scenes... She was fifteen...

And then she was twenty five. Staring at a shaking teen with darkened skin and white hair. Fifteen. The corpse of a pale man with equally pale hair. Twenty five. The shaking continued, as did the ragged breathing as she attempted to calm whoever this man was down. Fifteen... She was staring, shaking, and she just hated feeling this weak..! Twenty five...

"I can't do it," the young man whispered in fear, the Millennium Rod gripped tightly in his hands as he held the blade toward himself. "How can you ask me to wield something created from the blood of my very _ancestors_..!"

Blood spilled on the ground amid a shout. Fifteen. The blood had already pooled and was long cold. Twenty Five. "_No..!"_ The dark skinned man across from her, the last tie to the lost 'Anesi' thrust the blade into his chest... Blood was warm and fresh and staining her robes...

Fifteen. Someone had done this to her teacher, someone had killed him... But _who?_

Twenty Five. If she had just buried these items away none of this would have happened, and this time the 'murderer' was-

Fifteen. She was falling to her knees, Mahaad standing stock still as his apprentice, his cousin Mana, appeared around the corner before turning back to run for aid.

Twenty Five. The 'man', really just a 'boy' in his late teens, had collapsed to the ground bleeding, as she herself fell to his side with a shout only to find herself too late.

Fifteen. It was too late... Too late too late too late...

Too late, and the face of Anesi's brother stared blankly forward as she closed her eyes and-

"Come here," a rasping voice muttered as she opened her eyes, still commanded by the memories of a life she completely denied the existence of a number of times before. The room she stood in now was dark, despite the sun shining. Curtains had been pulled across the windows, as the heat was far preferred compared to the sun in the eyes of the dying King. She was the last one to see him, besides the Prince. She was the last one called forward, and garbed in the somewhat ill-fitting clothes of the High Priest she came to the Pharaoh, her uncle's, side.

"...You wished to see me," she asked, the voice of a 'man' meeting the air as she continued on with the facade that Nekhetep had taught her to uphold.

"I regret never doing this earlier," the man whispered, eyes somewhat glazed as he stared to the woman. "But it's too late for that sort of thing..." Too late..?

"What is it," she asked, frowning somewhat. "...What sort of thing, my Pharaoh?"

"Ohhhhh... You need not hide from me anymore," the Pharaoh whispered in response, shaking his head as he sighed. "Sett... If you refuse to stand in the place you were born to stand in," he rasped, "Then at least humor my final wishes..." What... The Priest swallowed, unable to do more than nod as she stared. He knew... All this time he'd known and... ...And the man continued. "Look after my son," he whispered almost pleadingly. "Look after your cousin... No matter what, keep him safe... For I have done the same for you," he wheezed, eyes briefly closing over in some unseen fit of pain. "...Always remember that..."

She left shortly after. And the Prince followed, for what would likely be the last time he saw his father breathing. And finally as her subconscious thoughts continued to bite and scream, continued to wail _'it's not REAL!_' she could see the face of the cousin she had chosen to serve. She could see his tanned skin as they, the council and the royal family, were led through the funeral procedure... See his green eyes as he stared forward in grief... See the face...

Of her rival... As green eyes dyed red, as tanned skin paled to a white shade, as white linen became black leather, and as narrowed eyes turned toward her in recognition- "This isn't real," she hissed, the memories around her freezing in place as a fierce wind began to blow around her. They seemed to almost glare at her as she spoke, and as Seto clenched her fists in rage a 'crack' echoed in the air. These so called 'memories'..! This..! "THIS. IS _NOT_. REAL!"

Thunder after roaring peal of thunder cracked through the air, and as though behind a series of mirrors she could see each shard of this 'reality' shatter before her. One mirror, two mirrors, three, four... One after the other as clay bricks vanished, as white robes were destroyed...

She was a child again, dressed in those stupid capris and that moronic tank top she realized as the final mirror 'cracked'. She was standing in the kitchen of almost nine years ago, while her brother watched t.v. in the next room. She was trapped in a memory, a 'real' memory, and her body was forced to smile as she watched her father, her _real _father cook dinner. She was trapped in a memory and her brother was probably not even her brother. She was trapped...

And she was right back where she started.

* * *

**AN:** WHAT. WHERE. WHO-

Find out in the NEXT CHAPTER..!

In other words, this is a **double post**. (Mostly because I had to type this chapter in sections, and could therefore not edit it right off the bat... So I took the time to get started on the next one.) The next chapter should be up give or take a few minutes/hours, which means that the review responses will also be there.

So no, I haven't forgotten all of you lovely reviewers.

However, notes, pictures, and 'sound track' (IE: songs I listened to while typing that I shamelessly advertize now) points applying to _this_ chapter will be _here_.

What with it being 'this chapter' and all that.

SO! Without further ado...

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that can't quite remember the last time it updated like this. But that's okay; double posts extend the update date by about a week anyways really.

* * *

'Epiphanic' comes from the term 'Epiphany'. In other words, that handy thing that happens when you realize something... However, in this case, an 'Epiphanic Purgatory' will not necessarily lead to an epiphany. All you need for one of _these_ is a crap load of memories and a need to break through those memories to get out.

So yes, they're pretty much all trapped in one of these. Seto came close to breaking. But she's not quite there, poor girl.

* * *

OHOHOH. Yes, they're all kids again! For a little bit at least. Specifics on how this happened however are probably different than what you would expect; Noa was sort of 'skimming' everyone's top thoughts, since he's obviously connected to the computer again (this is partially why he was starting to get more curious than scared)... However, this meant he got all of the car-crash from Jonouchi AGAIN... So his mind added details and 'corrected' Jonouchi... Which forced Noa to add _more_ details, and so on, and so on...

Owch. In any case, after a short bit, reverting everyone to that 'date' in time was part of a defense mechanisim to convince himself he was still alive; after all; they looked like this at the time, so if they still look like this, then clearly that car crash was all just 'a dream'.

Even though he keeps being reminded otherwise. OWCH.

Oh, and there's a picture of all the 'kids' below. Can you tell I had fun?

* * *

The dog that Honda took the form of is the dog that Noa was given on his first day in the Virtual World. If you hadn't guessed I mean.

* * *

You can _probably guess_ why Ren's a little more sympathetic to Noa's plight. As for Honda's own curiosity, it's partially the still remaining programming; it reverted to the '_Sunny_ program'. In other words, the dog that was supposed to make Noa feel better. Not to say there's enough there for him to act weird, but it's enough to get him within range for 'capture'.

* * *

Noa calls Gozaburo 'daddy' partially because of his regressed mindset (desperate twelve year old) and partially because of the term he used in the anime; 'Chichi'. Which is pretty much as informal as you can get.

* * *

The white nights are a phenomenon in the far north that occur around the summer time, where twilight lasts HOURS on end... So it's as though the sun hasn't even set. You know that whole 'sunlight for six months' thing? That's the white nights.

* * *

And yes I'm still going with that 'the pharaoh had green eyes' thing. Deal with it, according to 'R' it's canon~ (Ohohoho~)

* * *

AHHHHH NOAAAA! That's right... He's taking Jonouchi's body! As for why he needed to do that stuff with Mokuba while he was at it, it's largely because of the focus/'connection' needed to do what he was going to do...

Also he's a bit of a clingy-jealous prick. Just saying. ...(Ohhhh but I feel so sad for him... Unuuuuuuuuu...) Any ways.

Currently, Mokuba is completely unaware that everyone is about to die. YAYYYYYYY ick.

* * *

You know how certain things trigger certain memories? That's what happened just now. They saw flower petals, remembered something, and it went from there.

* * *

In Japan, apartments are coded using this letter system here, since most are, at the base, one bedroom and then a crushed kitchen (which is standard small apartment size) and a crushed bathroom. '1K' means one room, one kitchen. 2K would be two rooms one kitchen, but you'd more likely find '2DK'; two rooms, dining room, and kitchen.

Then there's LDK; Living Room, Dining Room, Kitchen.

Any ways, the average price of a 1K room in Tokyo is about 61 thousand yen I believe... Which is around six hundred per month last I checked.

Reikin however, is a bit like a down payment... And though it's gone down recently, the places that charge it still charge about two-three month's rent for it. Ick!

* * *

In the anime, Jonouchi broke free of his own memory mind screw after a scene that was cut, involving Mai and Jonouchi; her words had jarred him, but not because of that silly '_I want to stop dueling_' business in the dub.

She had said '_Like you, I made a stupid mistake_.' This caused Jonouchi to think of Mai's comatose condition for the second time, and he abruptly snapped himself from the 'memory'...

But he snapped everyone _else _out too, so I couldn't do that yet..! (Or 'ever' actually...)

* * *

I see the divorce of Anzu's parents as oddly peaceful actually... And hey, peaceful divorces can happen you know..!

* * *

Something that bugs me SOOOOO much... 'Anzu' means 'Apricot'. Not _peach_. APRICOT. Yet people think it means peach. And they call YugixAnzu 'Peachshipping'.

You know what the word for PEACH is? IT'S MOMO. This doesn't even use the same kanji guys..!

...Alright, rant over. You can enjoy the rest of the crazy now.

* * *

For those confused about the snake deal, Malik was, for a few moments, still Ren... But Anzu's memory and thoughts were what was affecting that. So while she still thought of him as Ren, he was the snake... But when she accepted that Ren was Malik, it became... Well, Malik.

As to what _this_ means... Well, that's for the next chapter to reveal. (And yes, anything from Malik's memory is in Arabic. And Anzu can indeed understand it in the memory.)

* * *

Remember when the Tauk said it often appeared to people in dreams, but in forms they could handle? This applies to voices as well. The tauk is quite aware of what's going on; she's not acting in Ryuzaki's favor though, merely putting more 'neutrality' on the field.

She's good at that. (And no, the tauk isn't really a 'she', it's an 'it', but it's easier to say 'she'.)

* * *

When Ryuzaki says that challenging Yami Malik by the sword will keep his 'duelists pride' intact, he's not refering to the fact that Malik would _totally _smoke him. He's insulting Malik, by implying that he's so disgusting that simply playing the game against him would be a crime.

Of course, Yami Malik could care less about _that_...

* * *

Why didn't Ryuzaki end up shocked to hell when he hit the cables? Because the duel-disk has a safety feature against that. Namely that it's kinda coated in a non-conductive material. HOORAY~

* * *

'Ze'eyr' is Hebrew for small. 'Ackbar' is from the same language and means 'Mouse'. However, I have this nasty feeling that I have still made a mistake somehow...

* * *

Oh, yes, I decided that the museum can have the village name wrong; 'Kul Elna' will have originally been known as (to the villagers) 'Elna'am, 'God's Pleasantness' or 'God is Pleasant' in other words. Or it could just be 'Pleasant', with the 'El' there as an emphasis of how pleasant it is (supposedly).

After all, why would they name it as a village they needed to pray for..?

* * *

Itja is Egyptian for Thief. Gannab is Hebrew on the other hand, and Kleftis is Greek. In other words, Past!Jou isn't called 'thief'. (He used to be, but he's had this run for a few years by this point so most know him as an 'exception'.)

* * *

Can y' tell I had fun with the creation myth? THE PLOT THICKENS! You can probably guess where it's headed too. Maybe this WAS a chapter of answered questions! ...Or I could have raised more. Never know.

* * *

Leviathan! We know that guy! We know Apep too, but that's because I mentioned him before, in another note...

After all, remember how I said Apep appears as both a snake and a crocodile?

Guess what the Leviathan actually is. The description given in the book of Job in the Bible is that of a crocodile. And in the anime, Leviathan is a giant snake. …I just love when I find similarities like this.

Could they be the same though? Kisara makes a point, and in the case of the fanfic, they _are _both huge evil serpents...

* * *

Anesi is Greek. It means 'Comfort', as does Noah, which is Hebrew.

In Japanese however the similarities end, as Noa DOES NOT mean Comfort. It means something completely different.

Oh! On the other hand, Choros, where 'Chorona' came from, means 'Dance'. First person to guess where I got this name gets a large cookie.

* * *

AGES! I had a picture a while off with ages, but for a reference...

Mahaad is four years older than Set

Anesi in the meantime is two years older, the same as Kisara.

Mana is one year younger in the meantime, whereas the Pharaoh is _three years younger_... Or so it would seem. Its closer to two actually.

And yes this means the age of each character is very different compared to the anime.

* * *

Neker means Stranger in Hebrew... But it also means 'Despair', or Calamity. Similar to the greek 'Tragoedia'... Or Tragedy.

You can probably guess who Neker is if you've read the YuGiOh GX manga now.

* * *

Speaking of Tragoedia, in the manga, the priests vow to take the event to their graves... Namely the entire deal with the HUGE and VERY powerful Ka that Tragoedia had. However, I would think the sudden disappearance of an important court astronomer would alarm the pharaoh a little more than being told that he was planning to kill him so he was dealt with. Just saying.

So for the fanfic, the secret taken to the grave is more of just _how powerful_ the Ka was, along with the reason behind the judging... Not to mention everything else that was covered up. And by the way, while the former Priest of the Scales _was_ killed by Tragoedia, the one for the Ring was killed by Akhnaden's hand shortly _before_ the judging...

Which is why Nekhetep was all leery; he'd come in after all this had happened... As Mahaad's dad's death was kinda pinned on Tragoedia, since... Akhnaden was the only witness. Specifically, it happened before Tragoedia was even cornered and pulled away for judging. Why?

THAT is a mystery that will be revealed much later! So yea; those who read that manga, fear not; I'm not ignoring the facts! ...Just tweaking or changing them to better line up with the fanfic.

* * *

What was Mahaad running off to check? The records hall; Mahaad was the one who alerted the Pharaoh of the origins of the Millennium Items.

So many confusing things... They'll be cleared up eventually but not for a while unfortunately.

And now…

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

Remove spaces, get your link! Go!

Reference: Children - .com/albums/y153/natasha_unos_1/YGO%20Fanfic%20-% - Aren't they _adorable_? Ren and Honda are missing because they look pretty much no different. Also, Noa just looks as he does in the anime. (When he dies, when he dies!)

From left to right (just for shock value) we have... Shizuka, Otogi, Jonouchi, Yugi, Mokuba, _Seto_ (Or... Seri I guess), and Anzu. That's right. Anzu's as tall, possibly _taller_ than Jonouchi at this age. Because... Of... Something. (It's intentional actually; not an art mistake, so hah!)

Malik the Snake – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ MalikSnake. jpg - With CLOTHES! This is what Malik gets to look like during his final moments in the Virtual World; the only difference will be something that happens next chapter really, when all of their clothes are temporarily dyed white.

Reference: Dead-Yukata Parade – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ DeadYukataParade. jpg - Some chibis of the 'crew' in their white Yukata. Also Malik the flamy ghost. Hooray!

Sketch/Reference: Broken Noa-Jou – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ CobrasPossession-1. jpg - Because before he was broken Noa, he was broken Noa in Jonouchi's body, and during that time, it was broken Noa in Jonouchi's _eight_ year old body. ...Crazy huh. Any ways, I tried _many_ times to draw this scene (along with the above involving Anzu and Malik) but... Nope! Just refused to come out properly. This sketch is as close as I got...

I should learn to draw mentally unstable people more- ...UM. I MEAN...

The hyperlink says 'cobras' because I had the sketch of Malik on this page at one point. But then Malik got coloured.

* * *

Musical Notes

This is where I shamelessly show you what music I listen to while I typed these chapters!

First up, something I only listened to for the 'PastJou' scenes, 'Wonderland and the Sheep's Song', from Hatsune Miku. If not for the fact that it involves a traveler with a sheep who meets two kids, one of which is revealed to look frighteningly similar to the traveler than just because it's a happy song.

Also 'Time Machine', which is another Miku song, but I was listening to a chorus from Vocalight. This song has nothing to do with the chapter. I just happen to like it.

Any ways, there are lots of songs I listened to _here_ that I listened to in the _next_ chapter, so you'll find those ones over there. Whoo~

Remaining pictures will be found in the next chapter, same with remaining notes, music, etc... Since... They're for that chapter.

And with that, I say, enjoy your double post!


	97. Chapter 96

**The Final Gate**

* * *

In the world of her past, Seto couldn't help but find herself catching details that she had long ago missed during the time she had initially lived through the moment. Just little things, tiny things… Comparisons she couldn't help but make at the moment, comparisons between things that she wanted to do nothing more than ignore. But as she moved it simply became even more impossible to do such a thing. She kept finding similarities between the people she knew in the present and the people she saw in those 'dreams', between people she saw in the 'memories' that didn't exist, and simply _couldn't_ exist…

No matter how 'real' they felt..!

She hated this… Hated the feelings her past was throwing back at her, and the visions that she had long since forgotten as a child and was just now throwing from thought with the excuse of an overactive, childish imagination that she'd long since lost. Shadows arose around each corner where they shouldn't have, staring at her from afar... And as she looked at her younger self she thought one of them spoke, whispering to her, speaking to her as she stared. Were the dragons always there, a naïve portion of her mind dared to ask. Were they always there, and was that one always in her shadow… Following her..? Speaking to her..?

Waiting for her to answer..?

The shadows vanished after one single event, one simple event it seemed. That car crash… Her father's death, with the truck toppling over as vehicles behind it squealed to a stop… It was all just childish fantasizing then she told herself with a snort, shaking her head as she continued to move through her past in a body she'd long out grown. Nothing more and nothing less.

A 'trick of the light', one could say. The wind, even. These things that she 'missed' were of no use to her, she continued to tell herself calmly. No use at all. Even later on however, there were other things she missed…

But these things were far too serious to ignore. Things like the look on Gozaburo's face when she'd 'won' her match, the glimmer of some twisted form of success across his face as she prepared for what was yet to come. Things like the mutterings of the servants that she'd passed off as nothing to bother with, mutterings of a boy named 'Noa' and of resemblances, resemblances that she'd thought were being drawn between herself and her brother. Things like the clothes she had been 'given' already, some of which still seemed warm despite the intense cold they brought to her skin, and the strong scent of some other child. The seemingly pointless questions of hobbies, likes and dislikes, the constant _disappointment_ expressed whenever those likes and dislikes were voiced at the dinner table…

The line of slightly paler skin where a wedding band would have sat, and the dust that had sat on the switch until the moment it was used. The case that had held it, about which maids had whispered 'was always closed before they came, do you think it might be that the latch has broken?'

Her memories were fragmented, it seemed. Scattered across time and ordered in no particular path of chronology or importance. Maybe that was her own fault; how much did she truly want to remember after all? How much had she blocked from her mind, wishing for it to have never happened? ...Or maybe it was something else, her mind muttered. Who knew really. But for some reason, as she sank further into these thoughts…

Her memory cleared. And rather than fragments, an entire scene opened before her.

She could remember Germany. The 'dinner party' she'd been stuck attending, the one that they'd been invited to in regards to a recent agreement that Kaiba Corp and Schroider Corp came into. "Seto, this is Siegfried," Gozaburo had told her at the party, a boy around her age and height standing before her with somewhat narrowed eyes as he studied the two 'boys' across him. "You will be working with him a lot in the future when you take over the company," the man had continued. "I expect you to get along well with him." Or rather 'learn how he acted so you could take advantage of him'. She wasn't stupid... She knew how Gozaburo worked.

Or at least, she somewhat knew at that point.

Siegfried was the son of the woman CEO of Schroider Corporation, a company dedicated to developing battle ready defense systems and precautionary devices. His mother, Herja, seemed all too willing to let her son do as he pleased however- if anything, it seemed almost that as she led Gozaburo away to discuss a recent agreement their companies had met, that she supported it. As the woman conversed with her business partner at the side the children had scattered, the youngest two taken away by a pair of maids to a room they could play in and Seto herself pulled away by the pale haired, pink clothed boy she'd only just met.

"Want to see something _cool_," he'd asked in Japanese, Seto not wondering why the German boy would know the language at the time, or how he'd decided on that one over English. She'd supposed there'd been nothing better to do really though; so she agreed, deciding that she would likely cause more problems if she refused for the moment. And with those words Siegfried had led her to the side with a grin, plugging a small netbook into a panel on the side of the hall to the room. The pair were more than hidden in the dark of the hallway, illuminated only by the light of the netbook. And as Seto stared, she watched as the boy tapped a few keys and…

"AH!" The lights blew out instantly, Siegfried quickly disconnecting the laptop and closing it over before the light gave him away. The guests continued to scream...

"The power is out!"

"What's going on," others cried.

"Who... How..!"

But... He'd only touched a few keys... And the screen had clearly revealed that he wasn't being granted access to the system so- "Ah… Siegfried," she muttered as her arm was pulled, eyes somewhat wide with surprise at the boy's apparent hack. "You…"

Siegfried chuckled at the reaction all the party goers were having, before pulling his 'friend' off to the side and up the stairs as she frowned. "Shhh," he whispered, still laughing quietly as they came out to the 'third' level of the building. "It's more fun to watch from up here, so keep quiet..!"

"Up th- _What_," she hissed, before cutting her words short as her question was answered. This...

The ballroom balcony. The moonlight from the skylight illuminated both it and the panic below them in full, with people tripping over their dresses, spilling cocktails on the other… "Isn't this _so_ much better than just waiting for our parents to finish talking," Siegfried laughed with a grin, the light easily showing them who was who as those below scrambled.

She'd said nothing for a moment… In fact, she didn't say anything for the rest of the black out. But she had smiled at the chaos below, or so it seemed. She hadn't noticed it… But the boy was right, it was fairly amusing, given that she wouldn't be blamed for the event. And while they sat there in the dark, a number of minutes passed, with the two staring down at the chaos and occasionally cracking a smile. Only a short number though; "I should turn the lights back on," Siegfried had said after a moment after all, smile fading only slightly. "Before they realize it was done digitally." Yes… That would probably be a good idea…

Seeing how there was a maid whispering in Herja's ear at the moment.

The power out had caused a number of problems for their parents it seemed, or at least for Gozaburo. Herja didn't seem to be particularly affected by the event, though she did give a raised eyebrow to her son. Regardless of whether or not she knew however, the damage from the temporary outtage had been done. The garage had, as a result of it, locked up completely… Which meant that their transport, which had been parked inside rather than outside, would be stuck in there for the evening, when the failsafes turned back off.

Their 'father', needless to say, wasn't pleased. "We'll have to spend the night in their guest rooms," the man had told them with distaste, pulling them to the side to give them, or at least her, their warnings. "You had _better _behave…"

"Of course, Tou-san." Of course she would- what did he take her for? She would stay in the guestroom for the night, and in the morning, they would leave. As it were, Siegfried had other plans- apparently _his_ bedtime had been 'cancelled' for the moment.

Which meant he would be bugging them for the evening. "Niiiiiiii-samaaaaaa," Mokuba was shouting, running down the hall with Leon, Siegfried's brother at his side. "Nii-sama," he continued cheerfully, having been completely assured that their 'father' would be in an opposite wing. "We're gonna go swimming," the seven year old shouted, "They have an indoor pool with a waterslide and everything, and-"

"...Oops?"

The door had slammed open with those words before she could even protest, having barely pulled up her underwear as the three boys looked in the room. Leon's innocent comment was completely ignored, as was Mokuba's flushed apology- Siegfried's own statement had taken most of her attention. "Aaaaah… So you _are_ a boy then," the tallest of the trio had laughed, eyes having honed in on clothing clearly meant for that very gender as Seto went red. "I had my doubts," he continued with a smirk, "You act a little like a-"

Girl? As if! "If anything," she'd growled dangerously, turning toward them with narrowed eyes as she caught the end of the sentence, "I would think that the one with _PINK HAIR_ is the girl..!"

"AH- N-Nein," Siegfried shouted in protest, hurriedly clutching his head almost protectively. "I'm definitely a boy, this is just-"

"GET OUT!"

The door had slammed fairly quick after that, not to say she didn't end up at the pool in swim-shorts and a t-shirt curtsey of nosy Schroider brothers and the refusal to leave her in peace. "Hn! Calling me a girl… How do I know _you_ aren't one," she'd grumbled to her 'friend', the boy rolling his eyes from where he was carrying his brother around in the water.

"Oh _please_," he muttered, Leon sliding down the boy's back to swim off to the nearby slide. "My hair is not that _'girly_'…"

"It's _pink,_" Seto countered flatly, arms crossed from the lawn chair at the side.

"Blame my Vater," Siegfried responded. His father? Hah!

"It's grown to your _back,_" she hissed.

"It's tradition!"

"You could at least tie it back or something," she muttered under her breath, the boy rolling his eyes and turning away with a groan.

"Aaack! Mein Gott," the boy sighed, swimming away. "It is useless, trying to reason with you!"

Maybe. But that was just how she was. Which was why she left the pool early, finding no use in watching as her brother splashed around with the two German boys from the sidelines when there was a trained servant at the side to act as a lifeguard. What was the point in it all anyways, she muttered to herself as she re-entered her room. They'd have to dry off, they'd get water over everything before that point, and in the end, their 'father' would yell at them for acting 'childish' when he found out that they'd stayed up late to go swimming.

Because _shudder_ to think a _child_ would do such a thing, and want to _play_ for once in their life..!

Yet that never happened. Gozaburo never came across them, never found out what they were doing. So as she stood in the room she was going to use for the evening and changed out of her clothes, she felt herself relax for the first time in quite a while... Feeling prepared to have her first peaceful night of sleep in a long time...

Big mistake. The door swung open as she grabbed her pajama pants and underwear from the side, and once again someone ran into the room before she could even make a sound.

But this time, she wasn't wearing anything that would tell them something other than the truth. "Seto," a somewhat accented voice cheered, "Hey, Seto! I was talking to Mutti and I wanted to know... If..." Siegfried's words fell short as he stared at the girl across from him, the twelve year old's face going beet red as he choked. "You wanted... To..." The boy coughed, finally halting all attempts at speech as the girl turned toward him with wide eyes. "...Ah... F-Frau... Lein..."

"GET... OUT," she managed to hiss almost murderously. "_NOW_."

The boy had done so without another word, and for the rest of the evening after her pajamas were on she waited on the bed with wide eyes. Waited for someone else to come into the room as she stared at the ceiling and clutched the blanket in fear. Waited for someone to shout, roar, to do anything, _anything_... Waiting for Gozaburo, waiting for the switch, waiting for the deal to be cut short right then and there... Waiting for Mokuba to be sent back to that place with her, where they could possibly be separated..!

But no one came. She spent a number of hours in fear before exhaustion knocked her unconscious, but no one came. And in the morning, despite all the threatening looks she sent to the boy who now knew her identity, and all of the narrowed glares Siegfried was subjected to from those same eyes, she could not have felt more frightened. Her heart was racing... She was barely able to focus on what was happening around her, and then as the boy's mother left the table with Gozaburo she felt it stop for just a single moment. There... He'd told his mother. And now she was going to tell her 'father'. And after that...

Everything would come to an end, she thought to herself in panic. Everything..! "Seto," the man called out from the other room, the girl walking in as she tried desperately to remain calm, or at least appear as such. "Frau Schroider would like to offer you a deal," he stated in English, any of those outside the room unable to completely understand them further than the name as a result. "Listen carefully." A...

A deal..? They weren't talking about who she was..? They weren't...

Then what were they...

The girl bowed her head shortly as a multitude of thoughts whirled through her mind, looking up toward the tall woman that was Siegfried's mother as narrowed but somewhat calm grey eyes stared down. "Seto," the woman stated with a just slight accent, arms loosely crossed over her waist. "Your father and I have decided that it would be beneficial if you were to spend the next three weeks in my home to learn more of the Schroider Corporation," she told her curtly, expression not once changing save for a slight change of the 'light' in her eyes. Three weeks... ...W... What..? Seto's eyes widened only slightly at the 'proposal', and the woman continued. "You will be made to keep up with your schooling while away of course, as per your father's request... And during your stay your brother will remain as well, so as to lessen the pressure on him." Pressure? What pressure? Not that she was complaining of course, but-

Gozaburo turned at the last portion of the agreement, frowning. "Mokuba as well," he hissed, narrowing his eyes. "We never agreed on this, he'll only distract-"

"I already told you," the woman hissed in German, the language somehow translated through her memory by some unseen force as Herja's eyes narrowed even more than they already were. "I will make certain that your son keeps his lessons in check. I will make sure to abide by the rules and 'guidelines' you have given me," she continued fiercely, "But I will not separate a pair of siblings... I will not betray your trust," Herja warned. "But remember just whose home you are standing in, and exactly _how_ our companies came to be connected..."

At the time the memory actually occurred, Seto had simply thought that whatever Herja had said had 'impressed' her 'father'. That she had added something else to change the man's mind, to bend him to her will. Gozaburo however had tensed somewhat as the woman spoke she noticed now, before giving his usual curt nod and regaining an apparent image of superiority despite his 'opponent' appearing taller than himself with her heels raising her above their near equal heights. "...Very well..." Ah- He agreed..! "I will be leaving within the next hour," he said curtly, looking down to his 'son' before lowering his voice to a hissing whisper. "You had _better_ behave..."

Ah... She would..! No matter what, she... "I will," she had responded, swallowing nervously. "No matter what, I will," she told her 'father' in an apparently confident tone. No matter what, no matter...

An hour passed and the car left with Gozaburo inside to leave for his private jet. Seto stood in the entrance of the mansion to watch it vanish before turning to the woman who had instilled this agreement, preparing for a repeat of what she received in her home...

But instead a hand came to rest on her shoulder, that same woman bending down somewhat to look upon her. And as she looked up, Herja's eyes had softened, despite the severity that still lay behind them and in the apparently narrowed gaze. "I am no fool," she whispered almost warningly, the girl beside her narrowing her eyes somewhat in confusion. "You would do well to realize this..." Of course..! But why... Why was she telling her... "I have created a schedule for you," the woman continued curtly, a maid moving from the side to bow politely as her mistress stood. "It will be sitting upon the wall within your room for the next three weeks. Do your work according to schedule," Herja explained, "And you will be allowed to use your remaining time as you wish. Lunch will be in one hour; I expect to see yourself and your brother at the dinner table in that time."

Ah... Very to the point. How.. 'German'... Of her... "...Of course," Seto said after a moment, bowing her head politely. "I'll be sure to follow these requests."

"...Good," the woman responded, before walking out of the foyer.

She expected that schedule to be as ridiculous as her lessons were, having proceeded to walk back to her 'room' with a thick scowl on her face with eyes wide with rage. A schedule with time forced for tasks she had learned to complete within moments, but was still left to complete in the 'time frame' lest she be stricken for 'slacking'. A schedule that would leave her locked in her room for hours with nothing to do, nothing to say...

However, she was again proven wrong. "...Why are they doing this," she muttered to herself, staring at the schedule in disbelief, eyes wide and quivering as she looked over the neatly handwritten tasks on the board. "..._Why_..." There was... Next to nothing... Nothing...

Each 'lesson' had been divided appropriately into slots, each day only holding approximately four hours of school work, and yet... Everything was there. Nothing had been cut, her lessons had merely been slipped into times that would 'make sense' for someone of her current education. And moreover... There was a note at the bottom. '_Should you complete your lessons early,_' the note read, her hands shaking as she held it,_ 'Consider them complete for the day. There will be no additional work,_' it continued,_ 'Provided all is correct and in order._' This...

She would have at least five hours of free time each day. She would have. Five hours... Of time each day... Five hours each day, but Mokuba wouldn't want to spend _that_ much time playing chess or capmon or whatever, and she wouldn't be able to handle running around as much as he did so... So...

So what was she supposed to do during that time, what was she supposed to do when she and her brother 'ran out' of things to do..!

"Hey," a voice from the doorway said with a laugh, Siegfried leaning against the frame with a knowing smirk as she turned to face him with narrowed eyes. "You coming for lunch or not?"

...She...

She'd just have to 'manage', she supposed.

Somehow, that moron managed to get her in that dress on the second week there. "You're _kidding me,_" she growled, looking up from the book she'd been reading in their library when the boy suggested the act. "You expect me to wear _that_?"

"Technically," Siegfried responded curtly, gesturing to the somewhat lace-lined sundress, "_I'll_ be wearing this one." He...

He was going to wear... Seto blinked, putting the book down and staring almost owlishly at the boy in a momentary slip of emotional control. "...And you say you aren't a girl..."

"A- HEY! Watch it now," he retorted, eyes wide. "It's not like I do this _all_ the time!" Oh really... "Now," the boy continued with a confident smile, "I got _this _one for you," he said with a grin, holding out a similar dress and hat. "It's even got a hat, so-"

Seto rolled her eyes as the boy looked down from the dresses in his hand, blinking at the snort she'd given in response. "Hn! Just what makes you think I'm going to even _consider_ putting something like _that_ on," she growled, putting the book to the side before crossing her arms. Seeing how she assumed only Siegfried was aware at the moment...

Which was hopefully an accurate assumption...

The boy merely smirked, pulling the dresses back with a grin. "Because _we're_ going _outside_," he said with a grin, his 'friend' frowning in confusion. Outside..?

It was true, that Siegfried in fact had rules to obey; one of the only restrictions as it were, if it could be called such, was that they remain within the property's boundaries. All of them; she and her brother were no exceptions. The property, however, was more than expansive. Forests, fields, a pond that they could _dive_ in... It was more than enough to simply sit within the grassy plains of those 'restrictions' to do her work in peace, or simply read a book as she was doing now. _More_ than enough.

And this idiot still wanted to play 'hooky' and run away? "Come on~," Siegfried continued to whine, the grin still on his face as he attempted to convince the girl. "No one's going to be looking for two girls..! And besides," he added, leaning in with a whisper as Seto frowned. "When are you going to get another chance to wear one of these..?" One of _those_..?

"Tch! I don't even like dresses," she growled, pulling back somewhat as she shook her head.

Siegfried appeared to deflate somewhat, pouting. "Awww... But you're actually a really pretty girl," he continued despite the girl's scowl, "I bet you'd look nice..."

She supposed she did... She still couldn't quite remember how he'd convinced her to wear it Seto thought dryly, unable to feel completely enraged about the embarrassment of her younger self wearing something so ridiculous, but she supposed that looking back it was indeed _somewhat_ nice. And the country they were traveling through...

That was more than worth the embarrassment that had no true legitimacy behind it.

Garmisch-Partenkirchen was a small town that thrived on tourism for the nearby Alpine range of Germany. It was just a kilometer or so away from the mansion that Siegfried's family lived within, and it was a town that the boy was more or less familiar with, having apparently gone down a number of times before. "So then you crossdress often," she'd asked smartly as they hitch-hiked on a passing truck's trailer, the boy snorting in response.

"Hn! It beats sitting around inside..!" Well...

...She supposed so. (And it wasn't as though anyone could recognize her now, given what she was wearing...) But thinking back as her mind 'translated' those occasional words she caught as they ran through that town... The words of passing town citizens and common residents of the downtown streets... '_Ahhh, there he goes again,_' one would mutter, giggling to her friend. '_You don't suppose his mother plans on bursting his bubble anytime soon..._'

'_Ooooh, not as long as he looks like that I don't think,_' the friend answered._ 'I should think she gets quite a laugh about that..._' Something told her, now that she understood their words at least, that she knew who that 'She' they spoke of was.

"And just who exactly is your little friend," the ladies at the cafe asked as they stopped for a snack, Seto having decided to simply hold a look of indifference to hide any excitement her eleven year old self might have had at that time.

"She looks _very_ nice," another of the ladies continued as Siegfried looked at the menu for ice cream, Seto in question momentarily breaking from the memory's hold as she closed her eyes and grimaced. Please stop talking about what she looked like...

"Ohhh, and such _beautiful_ eyes as well," they crooned, Seto's eyebrow twitching somewhat from beneath her hat. Stop talking about her eyes...

"Is she from the East," one of the gossiping women asked in a hushed whisper as Siegfried impatiently waited for the sundaes he'd ordered, "She looks _very_ exotic..." Stop talking about her NOW.

She was beginning to wish she couldn't understand what they were saying anymore... Particularly since these weren't the words you used to describe an eleven year old girl..! "Hey, Seto..." The girl looked up, blinking as Siegfried held out a styrofoam bowl. "You like vanilla right?"

"...That's fine." For now, she supposed...

...(Looking back, it _was _good ice-cream, and she wished she'd said something about that...)

They'd gotten back just in time for supper it seemed that day. They'd changed back into their ordinary clothes, and somehow, Siegfried had convinced her to join him again the next week, as a 'last day' sort of deal. They went to a river beach this time, taking a train to 'Fussen', on the western half of Bavaria in the same dresses that the moron had held out before. She couldn't fully recall what they did while they were there at that river and lake... It was a faded memory, a long since faded memory...

But it was a nice one, she knew that much. One she hadn't wanted to end, one that she had found herself cursing as she left for Japan at the end of those three weeks, and as Mokuba gave somewhat saddened good-byes to the family that had looked after them over the summer. It was useless... Pointless..! What good were those days after all she told herself bitterly over the next number of weeks, if they would never happen again? Yet that next summer, Herja made the same request she had the year before. Only this time, it was for the full month of the summer, something that Gozaburo hadn't argued against despite narrowed eyes and something that had caught her so off guard she'd been unable to speak for almost a half hour after the fact. Things had changed by that point, that time that she'd gotten there for the second visit... Siegfried was certainly getting taller, much to her distaste and annoyance; after all, weren't the girls supposed to grow first? Evidently not... Moreover, his mother had apparently given him the right to leave the property, something he and only he alone had the privilege of in terms of the other children in the building.

Though now that she could understand what the maids had been muttering about, that was likely because it was no longer 'cute' to see the moron run around in a dress that he'd gotten the right to do so. "So," he'd asked suggestively that first week back in Germany, "Care to join me on another 'trip'," Siegfried chuckled, Seto looking over the next book she'd started on almost blankly.

"I'm not wearing the dress," she said curtly, already spotting the hanger in her 'friend's hand. "You don't need one, _I _don't need one.

"Oh come on... Bitte," he whined, holding the new and somewhat more 'personalized' dress forward.

"No."

"_Bitteeeeeeeee_? Bitte-bitte-bittebittebitte-"

"I said no," she growled, cutting the annoying string of German pleading short as Siegfried looked back up. "And the fact is, you're allowed to go out on your own anyways," she stated curtly, "So what would the use be in the dress?"

The boy shrugged, brushing back a lock of hair and continuing to hold out the dress. "Well... _I_ might be allowed," he offered with a 'cough', "But as for _you_..."

She still didn't remember how this idiot was able to convince her to wear a _sundress_ of all things... Let alone three times, one of which was after a full year of classes and practice in 'masculine speaking' on her own time. (Ore, she reminded herself, _use 'Ore'!_)

The countryside likely had something to do with it though. The rolling hills, the towering mountains... There were no 'trips', no _real_ ones at least, during the rest of the year, or in any of the years she had spent at Gozaburo's so far. Perhaps another dinner party here or there, but for the most part any other event that her 'father' was invited to was for Gozaburo and Gozaburo alone, with herself left in the care of maids, butlers, and tutors wielding (for the most part) a switch. "Honestly," Siegfried had asked during one of the days they were outside of the property, wandering the town's botanical garden as she hung back in silence. "You act like you've never had any fun in your life!"

Hn! Really... "Not since I was a _kid_," she muttered dryly, sounding more than a decade over her age as her partner snorted.

"Hah! Some excuse," he'd laughed, pulling her off by the wrist as she shouted in protest, "You still _are_ a kid! You need to live more," the boy shouted, his friend stumbling somewhat as she scowled.

"Li- And just what's that supposed to mean," she asked angrily, eyes wide as she frowned. She had lessons... A company to learn to run, not to mention that she needed to figure out how to turn that same company away from the arms machines it so constantly produced. "'Having fun'... Don't you plan on taking over your mother's company," the girl continued, pulling her wrist back even as she continued to follow the boy.

Another snort had been her response, and they continued to run through the flowered bushes of the garden. "Hah! Of course I do," he countered, coming to a slow walk as he smirked. "In like... Twenty _years._ You shouldn't be worrying about these sorts of things," Siegfried told her seriously, the smile seeming more 'honest' than joking as he looked to her. "Not now..!"

She couldn't remember what she said after that. There were lots of holes in her memory it seemed, and she wasn't sure why. But for some reason, as she stared out at the sunset 'above' the garden, the pair having eaten long ago before leaving... Well... At the time, she'd wondered if the moron beside her had been trying to make a move on her. Date her or even 'court' her or some other stupid thing, but...

This didn't feel like that she realized, looking back with narrowed eyes. He wasn't looking at her like that, not at all. If anything, it was more like how he would look at his brother. There was _concern_ of all things in his eyes... A concern she didn't want, and didn't need, and more importantly, _why_, Seto thought with a growl, clenching her fists as she momentarily jarred her thoughts from the constant rush of memories and feelings yet again. Why, _WHY_ was she remembering this now, and _WHY_ was she caring..! And _WHY_ did _HE_ care, like what the 'Mutt' did..?

"I'll see you next summer _ja_," he asked as she left that summer, the dresses discarded and the bags backed and ready for the plane. That was the plan... Bring up the deal once again, and visit once more... It would be a long time, and it would only be for a month but...

"...Yes," she responded honestly. "You will."

She was sure of that... Completely sure, and no matter what happened she told herself, she'd make it. For Mokuba, who was finally enjoying time with someone his age. For herself, admittedly, not that that mattered as much... And more importantly, to escape from-

"...You seem oddly cheerful about these visits," her father asked her as that summer approached, the now thirteen year old girl swallowing nervously as Gozaburo approached her on the subject of Herja's repeated request. He sat behind his office desk, having called her into the mansion room from her English class. And as always, the mood of the room made it considerably difficult to stand, even with the slight gain in height she'd earned throughout the year. None of this made any difference to her 'father's words. "...You're far too cheerful in fact," the man muttered, "And I've noticed that you've been acting more brazen lately as well," he sneered. "It used to be that this," he growled, holding out the _switch_ in his hands as he flapped the end in gesture, "Would scarcely meet the air... I was almost pleased by that fact," he continued, "Almost... But _this_ year," the man hissed, slamming it to the desk as his 'son' reminded herself not to flinch. "I'm almost _certain_ that these 'visits' are the source of _this_..." Maybe... Maybe not...

But he had no right, no right to do this, _but if she said anything, her brother would be GONE, _it wasn't worth their lives though, it wasn't, _he's not in danger, she is,_ and if she died,_ so long as she held her tongue that __wouldn't happen, and-_ "I was distracted," she said 'plainly', coming up with a lie on the spot as she swallowed back mental strings of fear and panic. "I had been thinking," she continued, "Shortly after the end of last summer's visit, that perhaps I was not learning 'enough' from the Schroider family about their company..." So... If he could please take that excuse now... Gozaburo's eyes seemed to narrow somewhat with those words, but this was not anger causing the shift for once. There was only curiosity... Which meant that she had his attention. So she continued on. "I wished to surprise you Father," she told the man with a swallow, a bead of sweat running down the back of her neck. "I planned to spy on the company's inner workings," Seto went on, "Going beyond what the family revealed, so that we could further our own company's development and possibly discard the need for a partnership..." That was her excuse... So... Please work, she whispered to herself, looking to her 'father' with apparently emotionless eyes. Please...

"Hn..." Her 'father' sat back in his chair, eyes narrowed in thought as he stared toward the girl. Waiting. Waiting for something to snap, for the 'lie' to be revealed. But there was nothing, and with that the man's glare vanished completely. "...You're finally beginning to think like a Kaiba," he finally said with a smirk, the girl before him suppressing a wave of nausea at the thought as Gozaburo chuckled. "Good... Good. It's about time... I'll speak with Herja," he continued, eyes narrowed in expectant mirth. "In the meantime, I suggest you pack your things..." Pack... ...It...

It worked...

…...

…

..._YES_..!

That summer... She could spend time with her brother again, just as she had the summers before. Spend time with someone _her age_, without worrying about _secrets_, about... Anything..! Nothing..! All she needed to do was remember the salve for the again raw wounds on her back, the wounds that were well worth the time she got with her brother for that price, well worth the few minutes of sleep, and- "...Why haven't you said anything yet," her friend finally asked during the third week of that summer, Seto turning from the game of capmon she was playing with her brother with a somewhat curious blink. "About your back," he continued, the girl's eyes widening. He...

He saw the- She tensed. What other option did she have but to do that, she was in front of her brother right now and- "My... My b-"

"Nii-sama," Mokuba asked, eyes wide with slight curiosity as the nine year old looked forward, "What's he talking ab-"

"Nothing," she said quickly, standing from the table despite her brother's frown. "Hang on a moment..."

Siegfried might have caught a glimpse of her back thanks to that stupid gardner drenching her with a hose as she passed by the bushes in her white shirt, but regardless of what the boy saw, her back was for her to worry about. "But 'Fathers' don't do that to their children," her friend protested angrily, eyes wide. True... But it was all for Mokuba's sake. "Getting yourself beaten so that he can be locked away in a room," the boy snarled, "_That's_ for 'his sake'!" It could have been worse. Far worse, he had to understand that. "But it could be _better_, kusine..." Kusine...

That word... She'd misheard him last time, and asked what he'd just said. Had he said... Something about his teeth? What? This time she could understand him though. And even if she hadn't, she'd have made the connection, the word sounding far to close to its English counterpart than could be safe. 'Cousin'. He'd said... Seto's eyes widened still more as she stared at the boy, her blood running cold as she studied Siegfried's worried face. Those eyes... Narrowed to slits by heritage, but those _eyes_... "..._Noa_," she hissed, stepping back from a 'ghost' of herself and watching her memory continue to play as she again snapped free of her own thoughts. Noa... This was _NOA_'S cousin, this was-

Siegfried was only a few months older than her she thought coldly, the scene seeming to pause just briefly as she held her head. He would have been eight when Noa died, and if they'd visited even once or twice in the past... Then he'd known who he was, and he'd know...

Exactly... Who that boy was... And who he looked like. "...I doubt it could be 'better'," she had lied that day, looking to her friend in blank indifference. "Now... ...Lets go home." When had Siegfried's house become 'home' she wondered, frowning as she thought back to her words from that time. It certainly wasn't 'home' a week later... Not after... Everything else...

...She could only barely remember this though... "Gozaburo will be here for the final three days of the summer," Herja had told them that evening, after she and Siegfried had returned from the town that both were now allowed to wander through alone. "During those days nothing will change, understand," she said plainly, fixing the children with a steady look. "_Nothing_." Nothing would change..?

And just how was that supposed to work! She'd prepared a 'back up' of information to show her 'father', that was true, but for him to come _now_..! She couldn't do anything while he was here, she couldn't simply act as though he didn't exist...

But evidently Siegfried thought otherwise. "Come on," he hissed from the doorway to her room, Seto looking up from the desk that she was sketching things upon in her spare time. "We were going to take the cable car up to hike along the mountain, remember," he continued, the girl gritting her teeth in response as she looked away. Tch...

Of all the selfish- "My _FATHER_ is in the room across this hall," she hissed, eyes wide with a mix of rage and fear, "So just what do you expect me to-"

"Oh _please_," the boy muttered, running over to pull the girl from her chair as he gripped a hanger in the other. "Mutti's going to keep him busy all day," he whispered quickly, "So let's _go_!"

One day, she was going to ask where he kept finding these dresses. If she ever decided to speak to him again, and if he ever decided to speak to her. "_You're real clothes will get too dirty if you wear them where we're going; come on,_" he'd said, holding it out. "_Just for today... Alright?_" Maybe she was just protesting for the sake of her image back then, before throwing on that outfit, which had been made to suit the somewhat chilled weather they'd encounter on the mountain. Why... She'd have certainly protested now!

But that day... It really had been fun, hadn't it, she thought with somewhat dimmed eyes, a snowy breeze passing her by as the memory again overwhelmed her. Or at least, that was what she'd thought back then... They'd gone up the cable car to reach the snowy peaks of the mountain after hiking up to the building first, jackets stowed in bags along with ponchos and in the case of the hike, hats. Even in nothing but a pair of borrowed boots and a jacket or poncho however it was perfectly fine to stand on the snow covered mountain. The view was _incredible_... The air was so _clear_, so devoid of cigar smoke like what Gozaburo so constantly filled the air with. And even though Mokuba wasn't there... Even though he wasn't there to see it... She'd found herself wanting that day to last forever she thought miserably. Mokuba was still playing with Leon, likely chasing the family's dog around but...

These weeks...

In the end, they had to come to an end right? They had to stop... They went back at sun-down, having eaten supper while at the mountain, looking out over all that lay beneath them. The food had been 'different' of course, given where it came from but... For some reason she hadn't minded too much. It was... Nice. And for once, not as awkward as most other times would have been, as when they'd had that first ice cream. They'd gotten back with time to spare even; Herja was still speaking with Gozaburo it seemed, as she had been a number of hours prior, with the door open only a crack as they slipped past in silence. She'd been able to clean up, get changed, dry her hair from the shower she'd taken to eradicate any still lingering 'mountain scent'... Her work had long since been finished after all, and now there was only one thing left to do.

"Hey, should we find Mokuba," Siegfried asked, Seto looking up from where he'd been waiting in the doorway for her to finish changing in the washroom. "It's his and Leon's bedtime isn't it," he continued, the girl looking to the clock at that comment.

That was right, it was she told herself somewhat blankly, but...

Shouts were coming from the room across them, the initial outburst jarring them from their thoughts as they looked toward the room. The two both narrowed their eyes, walking toward it as the foreign shouts continued... And at the time, when she'd first experienced this, she hadn't understood what they were saying. Their words were in German after all, a language she had yet to learn. But Siegfried had understood it perfectly. And as he swallowed, growing pale in the face he quickly stepped back to mutter something under his breath. "...What was that," Seto asked, looking to the boy. "What are they saying..?"

"I'm going to go find Leon," he whispered, stepping back with a nervous swallow. "You should probably come with," he continued in panic, "I-"

"_Du HÖRST MICH NICHT!_" He wasn't listening to her, her mind told her as the line was translated. "Wenn du dieses Theatre noch weiter spielen würdest," a woman, Herja she realized, screeched in rage, "Hättest du ein mädel, das so verwirrt wäre, und du ihr so weh getan hättest, Gozaburo... Du weiß es doch! Sie ist weder dein SOHN," the CEO snarled, "Noch deine FRAU. Es wäre besser wenn du diese Einsicht käme, sonst wäre es zu spat!!"

Seto hadn't known what they were saying, rather, what Herja was saying that day. She hadn't known at all, not at all she realized with cold horror and rage as everything began to fall into place before her eyes. Siegfried had though. He'd frozen up behind her as she stood outside the door, which had just been tapped open by her outstretched hand, by the hand she'd found herself reaching out with in her hesitancy...

'_You're not LISTENING!_' She didn't know... '_If you continue with this facade,_' Herja had roared with wide eyes, '_You will have a very confused and very hurt little girl on your hands Gozaburo... And you KNOW this! She is not your SON,_' she screamed, a flash of light hair and a sneering grin coming to mind as Seto thought of her captor, '_Nor is she your WIFE,_' the woman had gone on, a faded photograph coming to mind as she stared forward in silent fear. '_You would do well to realize that now, before it is too late!_' That... This...

Gozaburo had said nothing in response, instead turning with narrowed eyes as Seto stood in the doorway near the stairs. This was... "...Seto," he'd said curtly, switching back to Japanese as his 'daughter' looked forward in mixed betrayal and shock. "...I thought you were supposed to be in your room..." The girl couldn't help but swallow at that, despite merely narrowing her eyes and nodding in response.

"I... I heard shouts..." But there was nothing else left to say from that, was there, even though she now stood in the doorway. Even now, as she realized just how much of her 'disguise' had been in vain, how much _everything_ had been in _vain_..!

Silence was settling over the air... Herja gave Gozaburo a single cold look before walking past to leave the room, hissing something to the man in German... "_Wenn du diese ihr diese Details nicht erklären wirst ,_" she muttered darkly, eyes narrowing to mere slits, "_Dann sage ich ihr alles Bescheid... _..."

She left the room after that, taking Siegfried downstairs. Took the last 'witness' away, leaving Seto standing just before the staircase and the doorway as Gozaburo looked down upon her from the other side of the room. She was thirteen by this point. She'd learned how to act around this man, and just how to keep her own mind 'intact', or so she had thought back then. Maybe she _was_ more 'brazen', more of a 'pain' to deal with who knew... But as she steeled her resolve, forcing herself to cast any fear of this man aside, she found herself failing horribly in the back of her mind, that small part of her that held a fear of this man deep inside simply unwilling to die.

"Why weren't you in your room earlier," the man growled, Seto unable to keep herself from stepping back as her worst fears were confirmed in regards to being caught in the act.

"I had... I had finished my class work," she said truthfully, clenching and unclenching her fists. "...Herja-san allowed me to leave the room following this... So I did..."

"I told you to stay in your room," Gozaburo continued almost dangerously. Stay here, stay there... A 'boy' did 'this', did 'that', did...

That was it... He'd known all along just who she was, and he'd strung her along like some pathetic little fish, attacking the baited line. That was it..! That was... "There's nothing to do in 'my room'," she hissed in response to the man's words, shaking on the spot. "What do you expect me to do when the lessons are done? Find some _more_ school work, when I've already surpassed a high school student's level! What do you want from me?"

"_Why are you like this..._" Her 'father's words were almost whispered, and slowly they raised in volume as Seto narrowed her eyes and took yet another step back. "You don't listen," he growled. "You talk back when others speak, you hate the _horses_, you hate the _winter,_ you hate the _suits_, you hate the _classes_..!" What...

What the hell was this..? What the hell did any of that have to do with this..! "So sorry I don't meet with your expectations, _Father_... But not everyone is exactly what you want them to be," she snarled, face growing red as her 'father' held his head in his hands.

"It shouldn't have been like this," he continued to ramble, the scowl set on his face as he stepped toward his 'daughter'. "You looked exactly... ...Your intelligence was... ..." Was...

What? What was it? What did she look like? What was this..! "Tch... Were you expecting someone else," she spat, hair standing on end as she gestured to herself. "I'm my own person 'Father'..! Haven't you realized this? Can't you just accept what I've done and live with that," she roared, the few years of abuse finally cracking as she shouted to the man. "Can't you just do that much!"

"You..." Shit. She'd gone to far she realized, stepping back yet again and swallowing as Gozaburo approached her with clenched fists. "Everything you talk about... It's always card games, dragons, so-called 'peace' and 'honor'," he hissed, his own face red despite the reasoning being drastically different. "All those words... They're nothing but toys and DREAMS," Gozaburo snarled, "What kind of SON ARE YOU?"

What kind of 'son'.? "Isn't all of this normal for a 'son'," she retorted, no longer bothering to keep her voice down. "What kind of FATHER uses a switch when their 'son' finishes classes ahead of time," Seto continued, looking forward in rage. What kind of 'FATHER' puts all of his attentions on one son while locking the other in their _ROOM_! What kind of FATHER-"

"That's ENOUGH," Gozaburo roared, eyes wide with rage as the girl cut her words short and stepped back yet again. "Why... Why are you LIKE THIS," he continued, holding his head before finally snapping as Seto grit her teeth and waited for a switch, or even a belt to fall. "Why... _**WHY AREN'T YOU MORE LIKE HIM!**_"

The girl's eyes flew open with that, and in a moment both of them had frozen, the girl standing in horror as she slowly stepped back to prepare to run. "Who," she whispered, eyes wide as she began to fall. "Who is... _Him_..?"

She'd stepped too far back. She'd fallen backwards on the stairs, unable to think any further than the fact that she could now see the ceiling above her. Who was 'him' she thought in her mind as she fell back, and as Gozaburo's shout of 'SETO!' came through the air and as panicked cries from the floors below filled the area. Who was 'him', who was...

Noa...

'_This isn't the memory,_' they'd told her as they ran through her mind. '_This isn't it..._' No...

This was.

'_What do you remember from yesterday,_' she'd been asked when she woke up, the girl holding her head as Gozaburo stood at the side with narrowed eyes, '_What do you remember..?_'

'_I was doing my school work,_' she whispered, frowning as she attempted to clear her thoughts. '_That's all and... And then... I..._' Then she'd left with Siegfried... But it was all a blur, all fragmented, all... All...

'_Don't strain yourself,_' Gozaburo warned. '_You fell on the stairs.'_ Fell... Haha. Ha...

Hahaha... HAHA... This... THIS..!

"_If you continue with this,_" Herja had snarled, "_You will have one very confused and very hurt little girl on your hands..!_" She was hardly 'little' she thought, the world around her shaking and crumbling as her eyes met with that of her past counterpart. Hardly 'hurt' and 'confused' she told herself as she clenched her fists, glass shattering around her as her eyes widened with rage.

But angry...

Oh _yes_. "GOZABURO," she snarled, breathing heavily as she looked upward at the virtually created tower that appeared before her as the last of her memories were cast aside. As she was returned to the clothes she'd worn coming in, the only thing missing being her coat and binding. This scum... This god-forsaken... "I'm coming for you," she roared, eyes wide as the scene seemed to rumble around them. "And when I find you... I'll make sure there isn't even a scrap of you remaining..!"

Her only answer was cackling laughter...

And a door appearing behind her.

* * *

For a moment as he held his head everything was swirling. The data was swarming his mind now that the walls of his memories had been shattered, and the walls he was attempting to put up in defense were nothing without the guidance of the ghost he'd met before. They were falling without her aid, collapsing each time he attempted to erect them. He needed... He... True, he remembered dimly, she'd tried to kill him...

But the walls... They'd helped... So much, they'd helped, and if he could put those walls back up he'd stop watching everyone else's minds, stop seeing everything they saw all at once as though he had numerous eyes _EVERYWHERE_, hearing everything, feeling everything...

Honda and Otogi were still arguing over rent prices as they walked back home, unaware that Honda's appearance as a still enormous hound was anything but normal. Yugi was jumping from memory to memory... shaking his head, attempting to re-establish the link he held with his lighter half, attempting to grasp at the one bit of 'sense' he could make in this place... Anzu was being held close by none other than Malik at the moment while she cried out in pain, but for the moment his mind wouldn't let him lash out at the teen- it wouldn't help, his logical mind told him, and besides, didn't it look like he was... Comforting her? Helping her..?

Seto was gone, having torn herself from the system with her own free will and spite. Mokuba and Noa as well, but Mokuba wasn't even connected any more, they were both outside the system, and-

Shizuka... ...His sister...

She was crying... She was crying and he had a voice in the back of his mind telling him not to care..! "Damn it," he snarled, holding his head as cracks appeared across 'reality', as he stumbled back and screamed. "DAMN IT!"

-**End Program,**- his mind snarled. -**Returning to Main Menu.**-

He didn't want to feel like this again, he didn't, he... "...HRAAAAAAAAAHHH!" And with one fell strike the illusions had broken, shattering across the entirety of the computerized realm. The city streets came back across the land, along with store buildings and highrises... The Domino Ward, the 'Main Menu', their 'home' had returned, but even with that he couldn't feel a shred of relief, not anything... "Hah... Hah... ...Ghnn..." His head... "Hn... Hah..." His _head_... The blond stumbled forward as he bit his lip, fingers digging into his skull as he forced a wall up once again, doing all he could to cement the block on the information in place. He had to stop the data, had to stop everything, before he was too overwhelmed to think, to exist, to... Even _pretend_ to feel, in even the slightest...

"Jonouchi," a familiar voice shouted, the blond collapsing on the side of the road in his jeans and 'tunic-shirt' as he grimaced in apparent pain. "JONOUCHI," the other Yugi cried, running over in his own slightly altered costume, eyes wide with worry while numerous shouts filled the air.

Katsuya looked up with ragged breaths as the others came over, swallowing as his vision cleared. Yugi... Honda, Otogi, Shizuka... All in clothes that looked like some mix between their former 'class costumes' and their actual outfits but... Wait...

"Honda," he muttered, slowly pulling himself to his feet as he looked at the teen. He must have done this when he 'shattered' the memories... When he told the program to 're-set', to come back to even slight normalcy... "Honda," he repeated, "Yer..."

"Human," he laughed, crossing his arms with a grin. "Yep! Great isn't it-aru?" ...Aru?

...Crap, he must not have 'reset' completely... "AH-" Otogi blinked, looking to the teen with somewhat wide eyes. "You did it again..!" This was happening often then..?

"Did what-aru?"

"Bark," the teen protested, "You're barking at the end of your sentences!"

"What? I am not-aru!" Yes he was... "What are you-" Honda paused, bringing a furred sleeve up to his neck as he choked in apparent realization. "Erf!"

"H-Honda-han," Shizuka coughed, her hair still snow white from the 'Ruin' costume she was only slightly wearing now. The teen held his head, groaning as a slight canine whine came out with it. "Are you alright..?"

"AUGGGGHHHHH... I just got over being a dog-aru, how can I still be one," he whined. "This isn't fair-aru..! I thought I'd finally gotten my body back-aru..!" Well, his clothes were kinda covered in fur but... ...Hey, this was close enough anyways. It wasn't like it was _really_ his body, the computerized side of him muttered.

Memories had other things to say however, bringing another problem forward, another problem that the computer continuously told him not to bother with. Something that was taking all he had to push back with that 'wall'. "...Where'r th' others," Katsuya wheezed, standing and leaning against the wall as the others turned back from Honda. "Where..."

"Ni-Nihan, should you be talking in this condition," Shizuka asked, biting her lip as she looked to the clearly weakened blond. "I mean, you're..."

"...Jonouchi... What happened," Yugi muttered, narrowing his eyes as Katsuya coughed again. "How did we get out of the-"

"Noa's gone," he said bluntly, still holding his head as the others tensed. "Bastard cheat'd us all... He's got Mokuba... But he didn' take Mokuba's body," he rambled on, closing his eyes and biting his lip. "He... He took..."

His. The others paled as they realized what their friend was trying to say, what the _computer _was saying, each one swallowing as they traded fearful glances. "He... Nihan... Don't tell me he took your _body_," his sister whispered, shaking her head despite her own subconscious thought being told otherwise. "Don't..."

"The computer... You're the computer again then, aren't you," Otogi muttered, sweat dripping down the side of his face as he stared at his friend. "You're..."

"...If you're the computer why did you ask where the others were..?" Honda shook his head, biting his lip before continuing on. "You're 'connected' to all of us now aren't you-aru? So why can't you? Hell, couldn't you just get us out yourself-aru?" Why couldn't he get them out..?

Because his mind and memory kept telling him that something was happening outside right now, something that they couldn't interrupt. But for now, his 'mind' told him, be half-honest instead of completely. "I put up a wall," he muttered almost darkly, still staring at the ground with shadowed eyes as he attempted to regain even a small sense of himself. "T' block out th' rest 'f th' computer, an th' thoughts 'f everyone else... So tha' I could jus' stick w' my memories an thoughts instead, so I could still be 'me'..." And even then, not even that... "I..." The blond swallowed, taking in a deep and shuddering breath. "'F... 'F I break tha' wall," he whispered, slowly standing up straight, "'F I let all tha' through... I don' think I'll ever be able t' be me again..." He'd just be another Noa... Another broken human being that was reduced to nothing but a cold-hearted and unthinking machine... Unable to do nothing but act on the basis of his last 'dying' thoughts and drive to escape, sacrificing anything and everyone he knew to reach that end.

...But...

Even so... "...They can' be far," he muttered, moving past the others with a determined and almost dead stare. "I broke all 'f y' out, an y' weren't tha' far from each other," he continued, those behind him trading worried glances as their clearly 'different' friend spoke on. "They should be... ...Down th's road," he decided on a whim, nodding nervously. Yea...

This one seemed like a good idea...

* * *

As they sat in the middle of the street park benches, neither knew what to say to the other. Their clothes were different. Her robes didn't have sleeves any more, and the skirt was divided into pants it seemed... But across her back...

Her burning, _bleeding _back... "Anzu," Malik began from across from her, reaching out with a now human hand as he swallowed. "I-"

"Get _away _from me," she hissed viciously, pulling her legs up against herself as she looked up from the bench with shadowed eyes. "And _STAY_ away..."

The blond swallowed, nonetheless doing as requested as he lowered his hand and turned his eyes downward. "Anzu... I'm truly sorry... For everything that happened," he whispered, shaking his head and biting his lip. "But..." Briefly he paused, before looking up again with empathy, worry... "But I..."

"How can you even _look_ at me like that," the woman spat, eyes wide with a rage that was only partially her own. "How can _I _even look at you now..!" There was no answer for a moment, and as tears rolled down her face she continued on. "You're HIM," she roared, holding her legs close as the Egyptian stood before her, tightening her grip as though the 'smaller' she got the less likely she would be spotted. "You're the one who _caused_ all of this..!"

"I know," he responded with an almost broken tone, "And I-"

"What do I even _CALL YOU_," she screamed in rage, turning her head up toward the blond as memories that weren't hers continued to pound her skull, her back still stinging from the pain inflicted by those same thoughts. "I _TRUSTED_ you... The one who put my _father_ in a hospital," she cried, "The one who tried to kill all of my friends... I _TRUSTED_ you, and you turned out to be _HIM!_ You... You're a _MONSTER,_" she shouted, voice breaking under the strain of her tears. "A _monster_..!" And she'd fallen for him, she thought as she brought her face to her legs in tears. Completely fallen for it, never suspecting...

"I know." What... Anzu looked up at the blond, her scowl fading somewhat with the words. He wasn't denying it...

Any of it... But why..? "You..."

"No amount of apologies can make up for what I've done," Malik whispered, attempting to come close once again before stopping as the woman before him flinched away. "I deserve anything you and your friends decide to do. Beat me, leave me behind, or kill me outright," the blond 'offered', "Do what you will. Because against better reasoning," he continued, expression torn as he stood there, "I've come to think of you as friends, if not partially as a family of sorts... Maybe it's because of what happened; I can't feel everything right now you know," he explained. "All of my hate, all of my anger... It's gone, using my body as its vessel and it's beyond my control. But that doesn't change what I did... It doesn't change what I've seen and experienced here, what I've felt while here... And nothing will erase the guilt of what I've done to all of you," the blond told her, taking a seat on the bench as he clutched the sleeves on his arms. "Nothing," he repeated, bowing his head.

She didn't respond for a moment. Her back still burned with pain, still _bled _after all, leaving markings identical to Malik's own but... In the end, she merely lay her head on her knees, eyes dimming as she attempted to make sense of it all. There were 'two Maliks' now. One was worse than this one, and this one was the one who had done all those things. But at the same time, it wasn't. There was no hate or anger left for him, not beyond what he re-created... Or beyond what he could leech off of her, her memories told her. "...What do we even do now," she eventually muttered, wiping her eyes and continuing to choke on her words. "What... What do you call 'us', what do you call 'this'," she continued, attempting to rub her back only to grimace in pain and pull her hand away with a hiss. The pain... It still burned, but touching it just made it... "...What... What do I..."

What did she do..? Malik's arms were again around her, pulling her close from the side even though she more or less resembled an 'egg' at the moment. "I don't know," he admitted, still staring at the ground. "I know my memories flooded your mind... But your memories did the same to me," he went on with a confused grimace, "And I don't know... Would this be a form of friendship," he asked, Anzu shaking her head immediately.

"It's more than friends," the woman said almost bluntly, before just as quickly clarifying. "But it's certainly not some kind of relationship... Nothing like that."

"...Siblings then," he offered, gently rubbing his 'friend's shoulder as she turned up and frowned.

"But we aren't even relat-"

"Rishid isn't related to me," Malik countered quietly, still not looking at the woman. "I still consider him my brother though. For as long as I remember, he's been my 'brother'." Ah...

A small bit of silence settled in, Anzu doing nothing more than sitting in the blond's arms with those words. 'Rishid'... That was... The tall man, the one she'd caught a glimpse of during Jonouchi's fight... Wasn't it? Silence continued to hover over them, a few birds chirping in the distance as the sun shone from above.

"You know," her 'friend' whispered, looking around the street they sat in with almost dull eyes, "I find whenever I pass this street, I think of that street in California..." Cali..?

"You've been to California," she asked idly, only to feel Malik shake his head.

"No. You have. It's the same with this street... I'm... Sorry," he admitted, Anzu merely nodding slowly in understanding.

"It's fine," the woman responded, before bringing up her earlier thoughts. "I... ...Rishid... He's the tall man, with the carving on his face, right..?" The blond nodded, and she swallowed, memories she should never have had on the man coming to mind. "He... He did that ritual when... This happened right," she asked, gesturing to their backs. "With the coming-of-age ceremony, and..." Another nod, the woman again looking down at the ground as she slowly brought her legs back down. "...And the woman... Ishizu," Anzu continued almost questioningly. "She's-"

"Our- ...My sister," Malik answered after a quick correction, the pair both standing at the ground as they attempted to make sense of the still present 'link' between the two.

Why did she know all these things... Why... She wasn't reading Malik's mind, and he wasn't reading hers, but these memories... "I'm so confused," she hissed, holding her head as she curled up somewhat.

"I know." Of course he knew... "...I'm sorry," the blond beside her repeated, neither looking directly at the other as they spoke. This... All of this...

"I don't... I just don't understand _any_ of this," Anzu cried softly, still shaking her head as she shook, the pain on her back still burning like some raging flame. "I-"

"I'm sorry... Anzu, I-"

"It _hurts_," she finally wept, curling forward as a few corners of her still bleeding back faced the sky from beneath Malik's arm. "It _hurts_..!"

"I know," Malik whispered. "I know, but there's nothing I can do about it, we can't-"

"But how did you _live _with it then," the woman cried, looking back with tear-filled eyes. "How did you-" She cut off as she was met with a saddened gaze, already knowing the answer.

"I didn't."

* * *

They found the pair just moments after that exchange between them occurred, and after the duo had fallen into another span of silence. Thundering footsteps had filled the air in a stampede down the street, and as they turned the corner Anzu and Malik both shifted toward them, Katsuya himself merely slowing down with a slight frown.

"There she is," Yugi shouted, eyes wide as he looked to the woman in black. "Anzu... ANZU!"

"Who's sitting beside her," Otogi added, the group slowing to a stop a few feet away in confusion as he looked to the blond beside their friend. "The one in orange?"

At this the two on the bench looked up, Malik pulling back only slightly as an audible growl came from the former 'dog' of the group. "Rrrrrrrrrr... _You_..!"

"M-Malik," Shizuka whispered, eyes wide as she froze in momentary horror at the sight of the blond. "But how-!"

"He must have been controlling her mind," Honda snarled, teeth grinding as his hair and the fur on his clothing both began to bristle, his fists held in almost scratching motions as rage built amid the crowd. "Bastard..! I should kill you right here-aru..!"

"Then why don't we do that," Otogi added, his own eyes narrowing in a calm rage. "Anzu," he shouted, gesturing to the side. "Get away from him, he's-"

"Not going anywhere," she responded curtly, standing up from the bench as the others stared in confusion. "You're not going to even _touch_ Malik, understand," the woman continued, the two who had been about to move for an attack frowning. "He's our ally! No matter what happened before, he's on our side!"

"On our- Bullshit!" Growls again floated through the air, a majority of the crowd narrowing their eyes whilst Yugi and Katsuya both stared in silence. "Is she still being controlled-aru," Honda asked, his friend shrugging.

"I don't know, is that possible through the computer," Otogi muttered confusedly, "I mean-"

"Well if Anzu's acting like this it's the only real reason we have right," Shizuka whispered, only for her brother to shake his head as he stepped forward and cut her off.

"No," he said quickly, expression far more 'blank' than it normally would have been "It ain'." The others turned, Yugi in particular raising a suspicious eyebrow as Malik stared. "We c'n sort th's out later," he continued, mind still running on the logic of the computer system, "But f'r now we gotta find Seto-chan an' Mokuba. B'sides," the blond went on, looking back to the pair with narrowed eyes as both tensed under the stare. "They're both 'them'... I c'n tell y' tha' now."

Silence hung over the area, with a majority of the others appearing to barely be convinced by the move. In the end however, any possible comments were stopped before they started, the look on Katsuya's face along with the combined and subconscious mental prodding giving them enough of a headache to put a stop on the argument. "Man," Honda muttered, shaking his head as he looked toward his friend. "You weren't kidding about the computer thing..."

"Thanks," Katsuya said almost automatically, the teen giving a slight shudder in response.

"That wasn't a complime-"

"We need to get out of here," Yugi said plainly, still fixing a suspicious eye on Malik as he cut the teen off. "Come on," he continued swiftly, "Lets move..."

The others nodded, Katsuya stepping forward to lead them down the road. "Righ'," he began, nodding somewhat shortly as he attempted to regain his bearings without losing track of where they were. "I think there's somethin' over here..."

"You _think_, or you _know,_" Malik asked smartly, before rubbing a bruised shoulder when Anzu smacked it as a response. "Ow!"

"You're not going to be helping your case with that," she muttered.

"It's only the truth..! I-" The Egyptian cut his words short as they moved past the next series of buildings, the group having walked through a strange 'round about' street only to freeze. Despite his 'computer side' telling him there was nothing to worry about, Katsuya had to really 'feel' for the shock that had caused this tension actually. After all...

The city had just been replaced with a bi-coloured, checkered lawn, possibly the size of Mongolia. It spanned for a seemingly endless distance, and where they now stood marked the 'line' between two rows of enormous white chess pieces. "Holy _shit_," Honda muttered, shaking his head. "Kaiba's 'dad' _really_ likes chess-aru..!"

Ohohoh... If they only knew. "That's... That's putting it lightly," Otogi muttered with a cough, the others unable to do more than look up as they walked between the two rows of white pieces. "That... Yea..." Not much else to say on this...

"What do you think we'll need to do here," Anzu asked, the pieces towering above them as buildings in their own right from where they slowly walked between them. "I mean, these things are huge..."

More than huge; it was almost as though Tokyo tower multiplied. And yet he apparently wasn't the only one thinking 'clearly' despite this. "We'll obviously have to play through this," Yugi said almost quietly, the boy looking up at the pieces and narrowing his eyes. "Somehow, at least."

Yes... 'Somehow'. "Eh- Play? With these," Malik protested with a frown. The Egyptian gestured up at the pieces, a frown on his face. "And what makes you think that? Do you have some sort of psychic powers we don't know about?"

The boy chose to ignore the comment, instead pointing between the pawns to gesture to a number of black pieces opposite them as Shizuka examined the Queen behind her. "We can't pass through these pieces," he answered, bringing his hand back. "So I doubt we'll be able to pass through the black side. But what do you see between the King and Queen of that side?"

The group squinted at that, leaning in somewhat to look at the hazed structure between pieces. Between the king and Queen... He knew without even having to 'look'. "A tower," Otogi answered, the teen narrowing his eyes even more. "In fact, I think it's..."

"KaibaCorp," Katsuya muttered, eyes widening somewhat as the others stared. The shine across the building's glass, the oddly shaped helicopter pad... There was no doubt about it. "'S KaibaCorp." And if they were lucky, perhaps it was also where Seto w-

"**A-AH! W-What!**" The teens each jumped as a rumbling, robotized cry erupted from behind, seemingly originating from above and operating with a tone almost similar to Shizuka's own. "**W-What happened..!**"

They turned, Katsuya looking up with wide eyes as the 'Queen Chesspiece' seemed to move, the blank-faced head looking down as its 'arms' stretched out in apparent shock. This... The skirt had divided to reveal a balancing 'point', and shards of the piece now hovered around it but... "W-What th' hell-" His mind told him he shouldn't have been surprised; this was 'normal'. But the wall prevented him from knowing how this had happened, and exactly _what _had-

"**N-Nihan,**" the Chesspiece shouted, looking down with wide and terrified lens eyes. "**I think I... Ah... ...I think I'm stuck...**" Oh _HELL_... That was...

"S-Shizuka..?"

As the piece nodded, the others had to swallow. This... Would be an interesting game.

* * *

She supposed that a door that took her directly to where she needed to be would have been 'asking too much' really. If Noa had been content with leading her around pointlessly after all, then why wouldn't the man she had once called 'Father'? An endless staircase had met her vision when she opened the door, and it was with grit teeth that she had begun to run up the stairs. For herself. For Mokuba. Hell...

By this point she felt like she was doing it for just about everyone stuck in this hole! And as she ran she could hear his endless and cackling laughter, taunting her as she panted and charged up each step. "_Hnhnhnhnhn... HAHAHAHAHA... Come and get me,_" Gozaburo sneered, flames seeming to line the sides of the staircase as she ran. "_Come on, Seto..!_" Tch...

"Leave," she hissed, continuing to run up the stairs even as a vicious draft of cold struck her from the side. She could scarcely see the stairs she ran upon, and if she looked over the side there was nothing else. And each time she took in a breath the cold wind blew, seeming to slam against her with all the force of a living human being. "Leave," she repeated with a growling tone, her locket slamming against her chest with each step. "Leave me..!"

The cold wind blew once again... "_You're too LATE,_" a woman's voice hissed, a winged mask floating past on a wind of white, the breeze seeming to form a gown in the dust at her side. "_Too LATE,_" the woman snarled,_ "TOO LATE!_"

Damn it all... She didn't know who this woman was, but if this wind kept blowing... The mask hovered just ahead of her, and she grit her teeth. "Tch... _LEAVE _me," Seto roared, throwing her arm through the mist and continuing to run up the stairs. She didn't have time for this... She needed to get out of here, she needed to get her brother out of here, and she needed to get everyone else-

"_Too late ojou-chan,_" the voice whispered, mask returning in a mist as its porcelain expression of serenity twisted into a snarl at the side. "_TOO LATE! Your brother is gone and your lover is DEAD,_" she screeched, the misted body furling into a white flame. "_TURN BACK!_" Gh- Lover!

Seto paid no attention to the rest of the spirit's warnings, merely continuing her run and throwing a knife-hand toward the shade. "I said _LEAVE,_" she snarled, cutting through the mask as she charged the steps. "NOW!"

At that word the stairs suddenly disappeared, the woman stumbling into darkness as her body seemed to glow. She tripped, stepping forward once or twice, before looking beneath her and finding herself hovering in place. Gh- This... This place. "_Hnhnhnhn... Hnhahahaha..._"

She was at the 'top', she told herself. There was no where left to run, and no where for her target to hide. "Tch... Gozaburo," Seto hissed, narrowing her eyes as the man appeared across from her in a brief pillar of flames. A reddish coloured suit met her gaze along with a scowling expression and a smoking cigar. He looked no different than the day he died... Go figure.

"Well... You certainly took your time in coming here," the ghost muttered plainly, Seto narrowing her eyes as she walked toward the man with an unimpressed scowl. "I've been waiting... We need to have a talk," he continued, raising an eyebrow slightly.

As if she would be bothering with something like _that_... "Tch! Hardly," she growled, fists clenched as she stopped just a few feet away from the man. "If I didn't know just who you were I'd almost laugh at how ridiculous all of this was..!" At how pointless this entire realm was, at how pointless it was for a _dead man_ to attempt the destruction of _anything_... At least Noa, at the pathetic core, had a reason!

But the 'man' merely snorted at her words, shaking his head. "Now now Seto," he 'sighed', tapping some of the ashes from his cigar to the ground. "Don't be like that... We have plenty of time after all," he continued, the darkness below vanishing as a chess 'board' appeared beneath them. "See?"

Seto looked down briefly with those words, frowning as she looked to the pieces that were there. Some were moving... Others were changing, shifting... The two rooks at the sides had shifted into some sort of moving tank, with the knight closest to the Queen resembling some sort of mechanized vulture, the second seeming almost similar to her dragon. The Queen itself looked like some skirted 'Gundam', the King a 'control tower' and the Bishop's large round 'hat' opening up like a flower to reveal a large glowing stone, a figure hidden within. And as she stared at the bizarre scene, watched as the counterparts to these pieces mutated into monsters on the oppsoite end of the field, she heard a voice...

"_Game START,_" Yugi roared from inside the King's Chesspiece, the boy flipping a wide number of switches before hitting a single button. "_PAWN TO D-4!_" A chess game... As the pawn moved forward she frowned, shaking her head. It was all... A chess game.

Gozaburo's Knight was the first to move in response, hovering through the air before landing on F6. This match... These first two moves, almost identical to- "Tch... Even if we had eternity my words would be short," the woman hissed, looking up as the image of the chessboard vanished from sight below them. "Listen to me," Seto continued darkly, "And let us out, _NOW_," she snarled, pointing toward the man with grit teeth.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... I don't think so," the ghost chuckled, pacing around the woman as she glared at the spirit from her floating position. "Your little friend seems more than 'capable' of fighting... Why not let _him _decide for you, like how you decided I would adopt you," he sneered, Seto continuing to narrow her eyes in response. Hn! Chess, chess, nothing but chess...

But those few moves had revealed all she needed to know about how this man thought. "This really _is_ a waste of time," she hissed, narrowing her eyes. "You think you can defeat _Yugi_ in Chess? Please... I defeated you as a _CHILD_," the woman spat, eyes widening as she continued on. "And with that in mind just how do you think you'll fare against my current rival?"

The ghost's smirk fell instantly, a scowl appearing on his face. "Oh... Believe me when I say that I will be _more_ than a 'challenge' for your precious 'rival'," he growled, seeming to 'flame' before Seto as he spoke. "And you would do well to realize that you are not as 'powerful' as you think... Besides," the man sneered, revealing the board again as the Knight which resembled a vulture was crushed beneath the black 'demon' which attacked it, "No one said we had to continue fighting... I don't need the 'real world' after all," he chuckled darkly, the knight's rider below being spared by the pawn that saved it shortly thereafter. "All I ask is that you stay here, as my son... Or my daughter... Whatever your choice," he continued, "And I'll let the others escape." _REALLY_? He thought he would get her with _that_?

"Tch... Bullshit," she growled, not even allowing herself a moment to consider the offer. "I know what you're trying... And it won't work. I would much rather _die_ than remain here with _you_," the woman spat with another accusing point. "Particularly when your 'word' is worth as much as the filth in the horses' stables! If you want 'me' so bad," Seto continued darkly, "Then fight me yourself, _COWARD_!"

In that moment the ghost before her erupted into a tower of blood flames, the woman below clenching her fists as she stared up to the demon with narrowed eyes. "_YOU... Very well,_" he snarled, a familiar stream of 'cards' swirling around his 'daughter' as she continued to look forward. "_We're going to play a game you're VERY familiar with,_" Gozaburo snarled, voice twisted by the crackling flames. "_I'm going to defeat you in the one game you pride yourself upon, like you did to me..!_" The game she prided herself upon-

He was going to challenge her to _that_..! "You... You're challenging me in _Duel Monsters,_" Seto muttered incredulously. The game that she considered herself the 'Queen' of... And with Gozaburo's words in mind her scowl deepened. "...Tch! As I thought... This is just one big vengeance ploy..! All this work... And _THIS_ was your grand scheme," she roared, looking up with narrowed eyes. "Really?"

"_Hn! You can thank your 'brother' for the complications of things,_" Gozaburo sneered, the flames still swirling without any sign of permanent form. "_If it hadn't been for his mind snapping into a pathetic little child I'd have never broken free..! And you can thank your 'Katsuya'_ _for that,_" the man added, Seto narrowing her eyes as cards she 'picked' slowly vanished from the screen around her. This...

She didn't even _think_ of him by his first name..! So stop speaking of him as though they thought of each other like that..! "Well... So you were 'trapped'..." Trapped by none other than the one they'd have had to break to escape in the first place... "Hn! A 'ghost' trapped... How pathetic," she sneered, the flaming specter merely snarling in response to the words that Seto would ordinarily have never brought herself to say.

"_HN! We shall soon see who the 'PATHETIC' one is,_" Gozaburo hissed._ "You... I __HATE__ you,_" the demon roared, no longer even remotely resembling a human being as razor sharp teeth flashed from the fires. "_More than anything, I HATE you! You took my company,_" he snarled,_ "My life..!_"

"You took your OWN life," she retorted, eyes narrowed even further as the cards spun about her. "And if you think that this gives you the right to trap us in this world you can think again... Make your move, Gozaburo!" It was time to get this over with..!

* * *

Now that the mental wall he'd created was in place and he'd mostly gotten over no longer having a body, it was easy to act like himself. Perhaps even too easy the memories thought he should know, but for the sake of the others, he'd continue anyways.

It was the least he could do right?

And even if there had really been no reason to freak out about the 'Chess Piece' deal, (or so his computerized mind told him) he would at least act as though it had and move on. "Alrigh'," Katsuya said as he cracked his knuckles, the initial panic having calmed down considerably. "Looks like we know how we're gonna play th's game now," he said with a grin, the others nodding in response. A person would take a piece, and they'd move on... "Oi Yugi," he shouted, gesturing to the piece in front of him, "You think you c'n take th' King?"

"Ah- The King," the boy responded, turning from where he'd been about to take a Bishop. "Why the King?"

"Yea... The King can barely _move_," Otogi continued, "Why would-"

"Cause th' King's gonna be controllin' th' players," he countered, the others raising their eyebrows. "We each gotta take a piece, yea, but someone's gotta move each 'f us! 'Nless y' want t' face Gozaburo w' a computer d'ciding yer moves," he added, the others swallowing in response.

"And how did you know the 'king' would be the one to do it," Malik asked somewhat suspiciously, crossing his arms from where he stood a slight distance away.

How... "I jus' do," he grumbled, scowling as he looked away. "'S a c'mputer thing..." And not easy to avoid either. "Anyways... Oi, Shizuka," he shouted up, the 'Queen' looking down with a slight nod. "I'm takin' th' King's Knight, got it," he told her, the Queen seeming to nod.

"**Alright Nihan,**" the Queen responded, before looking to the side to stare. "**Ah...**"

Yugi tapped the 'King' piece beside the woman, the piece in question giving a shudder as the boy vanished from sight. Unlike the Queen however no limbs appeared, nor did any sign of humanity about the device. Instead, a large 'window' opened near the 'crown' at the top, a voice coming over a speaker system in the 'tower'. "...I'm in," Yugi said almost plainly, the boy looking around the room he now sat in with mild indifference. "It looks almost like an Airport control tower..."

"Airpo- Wai'," Katsuya muttered, before shouting up, "How th' hell d' you know what a-"

"Aibou told me," he said plainly, before continuing on with his usual voice of authority to guide the group through. "Now... Honda," he started, the teen blinking as he looked up and nodded. "I need you to take the Rook on Shizuka's side."

"Ah- Shizuka's-" The teen flushed, before receiving a fairly quick swat from the blond beside him. "ERF!"

"My sister is off limits," he said bluntly, eye twitching somewhat. "Jus' take th' piece."

The teen hurriedly nodded, running off as Otogi turned toward the King. "And us," he asked, frowning somewhat.

"You can take the second rook," Yugi began, his friend doing just that as he headed for the one on the King's side "As for Anzu, if you could take the bishop..."

The woman nodded, moving toward it with another nod. "Right- I'll take Shizuka's then," she began, before turning to Malik to frown. "Ah... But..."

"I'll take Shizuka's knight," the Egyptian said plainly, giving the woman a smirk as he gestured to the piece beside hers. "I can hardly sit on your wrist like this, hm?"

Anzu stared for a moment at that, before nodding in silence. Each one of them were now standing before their pieces... And with deep breaths each one stepped 'into' them, eyes shut in anticipation as the newly activated pieces shifted and twisted under their new 'hosts'. The rooks responded first. Claw-like legs spread out from the bottom, and rising out on the tops of both were two manned turrets, Otogi and Honda each looking down at their 'tanks' in a mix of shock and approval. The Bishop was next, the top breaking into a flower of sorts as the panels fell to the side, revealing in the center a great and glowing sphere... Under the control of the woman inside it. And finally the knights.

What were once horses reared their heads and shook off shards and chunks of stone, a large white vulture rising up at Anzu's side while a dragon snarled beside Otogi's rook. Metaloid feathers and scales shone in the air, shifting and clacking as each beast gave their own snarl... On the head of the Egyptian Malik stood, gripping a set of reigns tightly as he gave a quick nod to Yugi- And as the Blue-Eyed dragon beneath him gave a rumbling cry Katsuya did the same with the reigns in his hand, barely finding his foot holds on the head as the dragon snarled. They were ready now, he thought to himself, swallowing as the Black Chesspieces that countered their own chosen ones each shattered into demonic and fiendish forms from across the field. They were ready...

"GAME START," Yugi roared, one of the pawns ahead seeming to hover in the air at his command. "PAWN TO D4!" In a moment the piece responded, and just as swiftly the first of the blade armed knights across from them began to move for its play.

_**Knight to F6,**_ a shuddering and bodiless voice seemed to sneer, the King's eyes gleaming as he spoke. The knight easily leaped over his army's barrier, blade at the ready as he hissed and spread gold gilded wings behind him. The message was fairly clear; it was their move.

Yugi seemed to narrow his eyes from within the tower, arms crossed at what was a somewhat unusual start off move. "...Pawn to C4," he eventually decided, the next pawn moving its start off of two-spaces forward. Now...

Another pawn floated outward from the other side, taking a rest beside the Knight as the grating and rumbling voice of their opponent again came over the air. _**Pawn to E6,**_ the King stated, their own continuing to stare through the window in thought.

His friend looked over from the window, giving the teen a slight look as his friend turned. "Jonouchi," he said clearly. "Are you ready?" Rea-

The blond nodded, smirking somewhat as his steed snarled and roared with anticipation. "Heh! Would I be here if I wasn'," he laughed, pulling at his reigns. His friend merely returned the expression as Katsuya looked forward, pointing his dragon toward the field with a grin. "Go!"

"Knight to F3," the boy beside them called out, their opponent taking the next move as Kastuya's dragon snarled. Wings beat at the air and the monster tore upward, leaping over their wall of pawns to come to rest on their appropriate square. "Now..."

_**Pawn to B6,** _the King snarled.

"Knight to C3," Yugi countered.

"Knight," Malik repeated, before looking forward from the head of the buzzard he stood upon. "Understood, Pr'ah! Let's GO," he shouted, the bird he was on taking off through the air to weave over and around the pawns in his way before alighting in its new position. "Your turn!"

Heh... Whoever said Chess was boring was probably only half right Katsuya thought briefly, watching as the Black Side's zombie-like pieces began to move again. _**Bishop to B7**_.

"Pawn to A3!"

_**Pawn to D5.**_

"The first pawn attacks," Yugi announced, the black one having come into range. Standing at a diagonal the white pawn shuddered, before slamming into and through the black one from its position in the 'C' column to the D one. Dust littered the ground, and Katsuya swallowed as he looked at the wreckage now scattered across the field. Well... He knew what would happen if they lost now.

_**Knight to D5, **_the Black King responded. Shit. With a blinding slash the knight struck the pawn in its way, stone scattering across the field as the demon cackled viciously. The blade on the Knight's arm was almost blood-red in colour, his armor a rusted gold. And the eyes that it had... Rather didn't have...

Yugi remained unphased by the demon as he stood at the control panel of the King's tower, merely continuing on. "Pawn to E3," he ordered, the others paling. Ack-

"_YUGI,_" Anzu shouted abruptly, "_But Malik is still in the way of-_"

"OHHH SHIT," the blond shouted, his steed rearing angrily as the winged 'Shadowknight' jumped the pawns in his path to cackle. "SHIT," he repeated as the bird screeched. "SHIIIIT!"

_**Knight to C3,** _the bloody King announced coldly, Malik's steed narrowly dodging each strike from the monster.

"Shit, shit, shi-"

"Pawn to C3," Yugi shouted immediately, Malik knocked from his ride as the Knight's blade finally tore through his monster's throat. "Now Malik," he called out, the Egyptian looking back as he fell amid the dust. "Take the Pawn!"

The pawn..! As dust filled the air from the destroyed white Knight the field fell silent, nothing but the shadow of the Black one remaining. There was no sign of the remaining chess pieces, of Malik... As it began to clear however, a cackle could be heard... Growing louder... And louder...

"Hehehehehe... Let's DO THIS," Malik roared with a somewhat digitized voice, face barely visible in the cockpit of some strange mix between a gundam machine and a pawn. "ATTACK!"

"_**GN-!**_" The Black Knight froze as Malik struck, metal fists knocking the demon's head from place with ease to reveal naught but dead bone and sinew. The rest of the body soon followed into ashes after the attack... Collapsing into nothing but dust below, and with a slight smirk from the one controlling it the 'Pawn' turned to give the team's 'King' a small salute.

"Keep it up," he shouted, giving their friend a curt nod. "We can't take too long after all..!" No... They couldn't, his mind whispered, the reason kept well hidden at the back of his mind.

So they'd just have to continue playing. _**Bishop to E7,**_ the Black King ordered, the 'normal' of the two Bishop pieces hovering one square downward.

"Bishop to B5," Yugi countered, his own 'faceless' piece doing the same. Time to play the waiting game Katsuya thought as the Black team sent a pawn to C6 to end its turn. The waiting game that came between attacks... The bishop was forced to retreat to D3 and the black pawn had since moved a space forward... And now... "I 'Castle'," the boy shouted clearly to the crowd, the tower seeming to move toward Otogi's rook as the tank did the same. "Otogi..!"

"Got it," the teen answered, the two pieces charging the other as the tank and King both skittered forward on robotized legs. "Haaaah!"

And as the two pieces switched, and the remaining Black Knight took its move, those on the field continued to stare, waiting for what would happen next. Time to play the waiting game...

And pray that it ended well...

* * *

As they walked along the tunnels to Alcatraz island, there was more than enough silence to be left to their own thoughts. Mokuba's thoughts were stinted of course, what with a large number being blocked to hold him at his side. But that would change over a short amount of time; after all, it would be easy to 'replace' those memories in the end, so what few thoughts Mokuba had right now mattered little. His own thoughts however, had never been clearer, even during his time as a computer.

His father had abandoned him. Like he had in life he'd abandoned him, casting him to the side like some discarded doll. His father had come back, only to abandon him... But all the same, his father was also dead. He'd jumped out a window and left nothing of himself behind. But ghosts didn't exist right, he asked himself as they came to the end of the hall to enter the next passcode. Right?

The door to the outside opened from beneath a light pile of rubble, and as the door was pushed off completely. the two 'brothers' stepped outside. The rubble littering the ground even after these years shimmered in the late morning sun, with Mokuba running forward with a shout as he finally felt some real sunlight after the terrors of the Virtual World. "Ahaha! Alright," he cheered, the ocean near the edge of the island giving its 'back-and-forth' rhythm of waves in response. "Finally! We made it..!"

"Hnhnhnhn... Excited," Noa asked with a smirk, walking out behind the boy as his 'brother' turned back.

"Of course..!" Hnhnhn... This boy...

Such a nice boy... It made him almost regret blocking all of those memories, when he'd offered him a body that was truly his own. But his plan would never have worked he told himself, recalling Mokuba's words from within the computer as his eyes dimmed. Never... It would never have worked, it couldn't have... "...How about we leave this place," he said with narrowed eyes, staring past his brother and to the ocean around them. They needed to leave... Leave all of this behind, forget about everything... Forget about the emotions he'd gleaned from his victims minds, the loyalties each person held for the other...

Mokuba turned toward the center of the island, nodding furiously as he looked up to Noa. "Right; we had a plane didn't we," the boy shouted with a grin, his brother blinking somewhat confusedly. A plane..? So they wouldn't have to find a helicopter or a boat in these ruins? "Let's go," Mokuba continued, pulling the blond off toward the tower in the distance with a smile. "We were supposed to leave during the explosion right..?" Explo-

Ahhhh... His memories were already merging, he thought to himself, a relieved smile coming over him. Of course... That was all. '_Tch. You're twisted,_' he thought he heard someone say, Noa frowning as he was led over the wreckage of the artificial island. Who...

Who was that, he thought to himself, briefly looking back with a frown. Who... "Over here," Mokuba was saying, pushing the keys to a staircase door in the tower. "Let's go," he continued, "We don't have much time right?" Twenty minutes actually... But really, he thought to himself, who was counting any direction other than down? It took just a little under ten minutes to get here after all, so to say they were low on time wasn't at all a stretch.

The next code was entered and the door clicked open, the duo entering the staircase to walk down through the darkness. Mokuba was already running ahead down the stairs in apparent excitement. The boy had no reason to believe that Noa wouldn't be right behind him after all, but even with this the blond was still hanging back, holding his head in a slowly increasing sting of pain. Why, he asked himself, biting his lip as he stared forward. Why did it hurt... "_This isn't YOURS,_" the voice hissed, Noa narrowing his eyes. That voice...

The voice Katsuya called 'the white ghost'... But... "...Ghosts don't exist," he said bluntly, seemingly to himself. "They can't exist..." Even if Gozaburo seemed to be one, it was still impossible..!

"_Hnhnhnhnhn... I am no GHOST,_" the voice countered with a sneer, likely narrowing his eyes in the back of his mind. "_Merely a 'presence', forced to reside in another body with the absence of my own. And YOUR presence,_" the ghost spat,_ "Is not welcome here..!_"

Please... So now he was arguing with a voice in his head? "Tch... Get used to it," he growled, briefly wondering if he was losing his mind again. He'd done it while down there hadn't he? Gone insane... Not knowing how to cope with regained feelings, regained emotions... Mokuba and Seto snapped him out of it somehow though, and in that moment he'd made his decision to take a body and live. To take a body and flee to the real world. But Katsuya... Even after the _first_ body snatch he hadn't shown any real anger for him. None at all... He was... "...Such an idiot," Noa muttered, walking slowly down the stairs and continuing to grip at his head as another headache shot through his mind. "Ghh..."

"_Perhaps you're right,_" the ghost responded, crossing his arms in the back of his mind. "_God only knows how someone with at least average intelligence can act so moronically half the time. But at least he has HONOR,_" the spirit hissed, eyes narrowing further as Noa leaned against the railing to collapse somewhat. Shut up, he thought to himself in response, only to flinch as a shadow passed him by. Shut u-

Another shadow...

What was that..? Noa held his head once again as the shadows swooped past, the pale and nearly translucent image of a black dragon and a ball of fur meeting his eyes, accompanied by a four winged 'eagle', a white dragon... Red-Eyes, and Kuriboh, his mind told him. Simorgh, Blue-Eyes... The creatures each stood before him, eyes narrowed in apparent rage as they blocked his path. "This... What is this..."

"_This isn't your power to control,_" the ghost hissed, growling in the back of his mind. "_Leave..._"

"_**Grnnnnn...**_"

"No..."

"_Leave..!_"

"_**GRAAAAAAHH!**_"

"No," he shouted, the sound echoing over the air. The white ghost cut his snarls short momentarily, Noa looking forward with crazed eyes. This... He wasn't giving away this body..! "And as for you," he hissed, looking to the small spirits before him. "_HRAH!_" A knife-hand strike was thrown through the beasts, each one vanishing with a short scream and a burst of shadows as they were cut in two. "Tch... You aren't getting rid of me," the blond growled, the ghost in his mind silent as Noa chuckled darkly. "Not for a while..."

"_...Tch. ...And here I thought I was a monster..._" A monster..? Please...

This was just human nature. "Noa-niichan," Mokuba shouted from downstairs, the blond looking over the railing as his brother looked up from a few flights down. "Are you coming?"

"I'll be right there," he called down with a somewhat unnerved tone, still clutching his head tightly. Right there... He would leave with his new brother, he would never go back... "...Who are you," he hissed, running down the final length of the stairs with this in mind.

"_...No one you should concern yourself with,_" the ghost snarled in response. "_Seeing how I'm 'not getting rid of you' for a while..._" So the ghost couldn't do anything but talk then could he?

...Hnhnhnhn... That was right... He was free now, wasn't he..? Noa continued to smirk as he speed-walked into the basement hangar, eyes widening as Mokuba ran toward their escape plan. The jet before him was huge... And had obviously been modeled off of a fighter jet, but with added details and extensions to shape it into something 'else'. The hull, the glass... Everything was white save for the cock-pit, which was obviously meant to remain completely transparent, but this... "...Blue eyes," he muttered, looking to the plane and shaking his head as he stared at the delicately painted jet. She was far too obsessed with that thing he told himself, and...

...Well, he supposed he could fix these things later he decided, climbing up the steps that were provided for entry into the jet. Now that he had his own life to live. His own company to run. It would probably be a bad idea to try and return to the arms force, but no one said he couldn't sell the virtual technology for training programs right..?

...Yea... "Come on Mokuba," he said after a brief moment, helping the boy into the cockpit as he gave him an honest smile. "Buckle in... We have a long ride..."

"Right..!"

A long ride... Very long. He took his seat, buckling himself in and tapping a button on the controls as the cockpit closed and sealed over. One switch was flicked, two, three, and the engine was starting as the exit from the place opened before them, a long runway ramping before them toward the hole where they would be launched forward. More switches were flicked, the engine roaring at its steady pace... The steering was ready, the catapult was- '_He's been through enough,' _he could remember Katsuya saying, the blond freezing momentarily as he continued to go through the 'motions' of getting the jet to leave._ 'Maybe we can make you a body,' _Mokuba, the 'real' Mokuba had said.

_'I trust him, other me.' _

_'He's just a boy! Don't hurt him-_'

'_Y' can't feel when yer like tha'. Y' can' think properly, y' can' act properly... I might not be able t' f'rgive 'm... But I sure as hell can' blame 'm either, not if he was like tha' f'r this long._' Not if he was...

…...

…

Noa's hand paused as he came to the final switch, eyes dimming. This was it. He pushed this and the catapult would take them forward, and all that would remain would be controlling the aircraft. One simple action, that was all it would take but... "...Niichan," Mokuba asked from behind the seat, a frown on his face. "Is something wrong..?"

Of... Of course not..! "Nothing... Just..." Everything was fine, he told himself. Everything was fine. He had Mokuba, he had his brother, he-

"_Please... As though it's even 'really' him,_" the ghost hissed, Noa's hand still shaking above the switch.

He was going to destroy it all though, he thought to himself. Friends, family, everything, everything... "Everything," he muttered under his breath, "I... Hngg..." His hand fell to the side, the blond gritting his teeth as tears began to run down his face. "Everything..."

All the thoughts he'd gleaned from their heads...

There were some that he'd missed... '_...I'm sorry,_' Katsuya was whispering behind the scenes of his old memories, the ones he'd so locked away. '_I'm sorry about this..._' And all the memories...

'_She is NOT your SON,_' his aunt screamed, Seto standing just outside the room without any clue as to what they were saying. Without any suspicion that she'd been found out... All because...

_'...Dad_,' he had said that day. _'This person... I did some research..._

_'Did you know she was a woman?_' Gozaburo found out because of him. But Aunt Herja, and his cousins... They'd found out on their own, because they'd cared enough to question his father's actions, his crazed and depressed attacks. All of them... That family he'd left behind in that country... There were people who cared but they'd moved on, they'd all moved on, they never even suspected that he was still alive..! "Hnggg..." And it was like Ota had said... He couldn't really go back... He couldn't go and tell them he was alive, because he... "Hnnn... Hnnhhh..."

'_Even ONE life is worth it,_' Malik had snarled, even with the knowledge that the ones he'd come to know detested him above everything. '_We are still the same..!_'

"...Niichan," his brother asked again from behind.

The switch was pulled down but it was not the one that would control the catapult. All of the switches that he'd flicked on were pulled back off as the engine was killed, the cockpit opening wide as he hopped out of the jet. Mokuba did the same albeit with hesitancy, and as the ghost in his mind held silent the blond swallowed, charging down the steps to run for the hall.

"N-Niichan," Mokuba shouted, hopping out to run after the teen. "Noa-niichan," he shouted out, "What are you-"

"We're going back," Noa said almost stiffly, head still pounding even as he re-opened the door out. "We're stopping the explosion and we're going back."

"Wha... But Niichan," his brother protested, "Why are we-"

"Because even one life isn't worth losing," he responded, running off with the boy just barely catching up behind him as they charged up the stairs. "Even one life... ...If you can spare them all..." This wasn't friendship, he tried to convince himself. It wasn't, it wasn't..!

But every time he looked back at the brother he'd so dreamed of having... And every time he looked at the dog-tags around his body's neck... "...Niichan..?"

"Just run," he shouted back, looking ahead once more as he rounded a corner on the stair case. "We don't have much time..!"

"_You don't have any time at all,_" his 'stowaway' added. That was true he supposed...

But they could still try, right?

* * *

The pacing probably lasted a few minutes really. One step around the other, slowly... Very slowly, only further increasing his fear as Malik's grin continued to face him and as the bloodied millennium rod sat in his hands.. 'Mouse'... He called him a mouse, but for the moment he was a little too distracted to feel insulted really. The fact was, he felt like a mouse for the moment. Possibly something smaller than that even, such as a mite, or a flea...

Malik's back was to the hall now. Keiichi's was to the ruined computer. And for a moment he'd contemplated attacking before deciding against it. They continued pacing... The door was behind him. Then the hall again... Now the wall...

A clicking sound came from behind the door behind his opponent, and with the slight distraction it brought the Egyptian Keiichi charged, duel disk gripped like the blade he would use it for. Now... Now, he told himself in panic as he brought the 'weapon' forward, face twisted with rage as he shouted. _NOW!_ "_HRAAAAAAAHHHH!_"

The blades clashed, the millennium rod easily scraping over the duel disk to slash past and forward as Keiichi ducked and kicked back from the blow. He charged again. Ducking under another strike from the rod with alarming flexibility, attempting to slash at his opponent only to be forced to jump back once again, rolling back on the ground and running forward to try again. And then, _finally_, there was one opening... One he could use to simply impale the son-of-a-bitch on his duel disk and-

-_fst_-

"What..." For a slight moment, just a small one he stopped mid charge, time seeming to freeze as his eyes widened. Something had passed by his other cheek... Something sharp... And his cheek, the un-injured one, was now stinging... "Wha- GHO-!"

That moment was all it took for the tables to turn and turn violently. Malik's blade had more than enough power behind it to throw him back as he was slashed across the chest and stomach, not that the rod itself wasn't likely helping to increase the weapon's power. Keiichi stumbled back as Malik cackled, hand flying to his stomach in response as an ugly and bleeding gash met his vision through a torn shirt and a partially severed shoelace holding the tauk. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Not done yet I hope," Malik sneered viciously, walking toward the boy as he looked back up. "_We've only just begun..._" Please... Don't...

The Egyptian charged again, Keiichi hurriedly bringing up the dueldisk for a block only for it to be knocked from his grip as the Rod swung forward. In one swift movement it was slashed back down, the blade sending a burning pain over his body and- "Sh- KGA-AH!"

This one threw him against the wall with all the force of a bag of bricks and throughout all the damage done his opponent laughed. Another gash across his chest had appeared now despite it being a much smaller one in size, and as he stumbled forward from the wall there was a second blow to slam him violently into the structure yet again. "HNHNHAHAHAHA!" Stop laughing... "HAHAHAHA!" Stop laugh-

"GH... GHAAAAAHH!" His wounds were filling with fire, and pain was coursing through his every vein and artery... What... WHAT THE HELL WAS ON THAT BLADE..! What was it that was forcing this... This kind of... Keiichi bit his lip while his thoughts began to merge and run in circles of each other, the boy looking forward as the shoelace around his neck fell lose. "Hngg... Ngghh..." What was on that...

Blade. "HAHA_HAAAA!_"

Malik was coming back, and this time the millennium rod's dagger tip was coming directly toward his throat. With wide eyes however it seemed to slow. His heart rate slowed. The blade slowed. _Move_, he thought to himself, eyes unblinking as it came closer, as the blood that had stuck to the blade slowly wicked off drops of the fluid to the air. Move, he repeated in his mind, _MOVE_!

-thnk- "Gh- WHAT!" All he'd done was shift his head to the right, snapping past the Rod's effect of paralyzing fear at the last instant. That was all he'd done and the blade grazed his neck, just at his collar, narrowly avoiding the precious artery located there. And as he ducked out of the way, snapping himself from his stupor Malik pulled at the blade in rage, steel and concrete serving to lodge it in place with alarming ease. "Gh... Of all the... You SCUM," he snarled, turning on his opponent as the boy fled around him. "_FILTH!_"

"Hng... Hgk..." Keiichi merely ignored his opponent's words, grabbing his duel disk from the ground before choking for breath. "Hng..." His neck... He had to stop the bleeding on his neck... It wasn't an arterial bleed or anything but he needed to stop it, and fast... The boy looked down at his shredded shirt, numbly ripping off a large scrap between the slashed ruins to tie around his neck in a frenzy of tangled and bloodied hair. It had to work he told himself, just for a moment, just for...

"Get OUT," Malik roared at his weapon, still pulling at the millennium rod as Keiichi turned with his duel disk. The wound was bandaged... His other ones were still bleeding somewhat but for some reason or other he was still standing, and still willing to fight this madman. "AAAAAAGGGH... Get OUT GET OUT _GET OUT_!"

"Heh... Little... Stuck there," he rasped, gripping his disk tightly as he ran to take advantage of his opponent's 'imprisonment'. "Let me _HELP_!"

He shouldn't have charged.

In that moment the rod was pulled free, and a flash of gold met his eyes. The tauk, loosened by the torn shoelace had fallen from its place but remained caught by the loops holding his belt... And though the crushing pressure of the millennium rod was still not at full power with it caught in the folds of his shirt it was enough to leave him gasping for air as he landed on the corroded and crushed computer at the side, sparking wires stinging against his face as he attempted to recover from a 'magically' improved attack from the blond. The millennium rod hadn't even _touched _him, he thought with rasping breaths. Malik had simply held it and he was thrown back, he... "Gn... Hnk..." He was losing his 'advantage', if it could be called that... "Hnaa... Ah..." And the pain... It... Hurt... So much...

Pain... "Hnhnhnhnhn... That was almost _fun_," Malik hissed, walking over as he twirled the rod in his hands to look down on the bleeding and crippled boy. "Why... That was more amusement than I'd ever expected from a mouse like you..." Gh... Ngh...

"Not... A mou- gk!"

The blade was brought under his throat, and Keiichi gasped for air as his head was forced upward, the dagger poking against his neck as he willed himself not to swallow, not to speak. "Why do you _fight_," Malik sneered, narrowing his eyes. "Why don't you tell me..?"

Why..? Why did he fight..? "M... Friends," he wheezed, narrowing his eyes before squeezing them shut in pain. Blood... He was bleeding too much, he realized, attempting to clear his vision as he opened his eyes again. The adrenalin had kept him going through the cuts and slices, but now that he wasn't moving... He was weak. So weak, he told himself, he just wanted to... Just wanted to...

Malik snorted at the excuse his victim had given him, leaning in as he pressed the blade closer to Keiichi's throat. "HAH! Friends... You mean that 'blind rat' in the other room you have eyes for," he sneered, the grin across his face widening. "You don't _really_ care for the others..." That... That wasn't true he told himself. He didn't know them, but that didn't mean he wanted them dead..! And...

...Blind...

"Not... Blind," he wheezed, eyes almost completely closed in his weakness. "Not... A ra- GRAAAHHH!" The blade dug deep into the already bleeding gash on his arm, before being pulled out as an almost fire-like feeling spread across the limb. The re-opened wound would be more than something to worry about, and as sparks continued to dance around him he flinched with pain. "Gh... Hah... Hahgg..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn... So funny," Malik chuckled, licking the blood from his weapon with wide and amused eyes. "Only one cut and you scream like the mouse you are..!" Gh... Stop... Tha- Stop-

The blade came back. "GHHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHH!" He'd gone again. Carving at the first slice on his chest to widen it further, but _why wasn't he dying yet_, he was bleeding he knew that much and yet... "Gh... Hggh..."

"Hnhnhn... Hnhnhahaha... You claim your friend isn't blind little mouse," the teen was hissing, Keiichi's eyes drifting weakly across the panels and cables beside him as he continued to bleed out and weaken. "Perhaps so... But when I'm done with her," he continued, his victim's eyes drifting on a severed and sparking cable at the side before snapping back, "_She will be_..." Gh... Not...

Not if he could help it..! Weak fingers reached out to his side as he closed his eyes and bit through the pain... As he reached around the plastic coated cable, gripped it in his hands and-

"GH-LK- HHH!" The blunt end of the rod slammed on his throat, crushing it and forcing him to drop the cable as he wheezed. "GK... Ghhaaaahhh... Ahhhh.." Air... Air, he couldn't get any air, not enough air, not... The trachea was crushed, not completely thank god but it was enough that... that...

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." That bastard... Was laughing still..! "You know what," Malik chuckled maliciously, again spinning the millennium rod in his fingers. "I'm now _glad_ you stopped me... You've given me a _wonderful _idea... Because the last thing your 'friend' is going to see is your mutilated corpse," the blond spat with his wide eyed grin, "Before I do the same to everyone else in this building..!" No... No...

He couldn't let him..! His fingers were wrapping around the cable... He still couldn't breath, but he had to, he had to, and Malik was fingering the blade as he kept his eyes on the carnage rather than the minute resistance.

"_Any last words, little mouse..?_"

"Y... s..." There was... This, he thought, bringing his hand closer as he pulled the live wire in, tightening his grip as he looked up weakly. This, and only this... "Gd... 's... C'nd'ct..." His words were caught in his throat. "B'ch..." He needed to clear his voice, say this one last thing...

The millennium rod was pulled back in preparation for an attack and for just one short instance he felt a rush of energy fill his body. "What was that," Malik asked 'humerously', wide and menacing grin looking down upon him from above as his victim wheezed. "I can't hear you," he roared, bringing the blade toward the boy's face.

And then as he brought his arm up in defense it stopped, caught against sparking cables as electricity before it could come close. "I said," he rasped, Malik's body jerking and tensing as the live wire glued itself the the blade in his hands and shocked him completely, giving him no chance of escape from the sparks hold, "That gold... Is a super-conductive metal... _Baka'yarou_." With a strong tug the cable's other end was ripped from its socket, Malik's limp body collapsing to the ground with the rod in his hands. A few more twitches came over the air from the somehow still living... Sparks still danced along the golden blade, and as Keiichi stood he slowly pulled out the tauk that was somehow still on his person, the cord having somehow looped around his belt. There it was... Shining blankly... And he...

He'd won. The boy wheezed as he collapsed to the floor from the 'table', before weakly pulling himself to his feet as he continued to choke. He had to get... Malik back to the ship, he told himself, grabbing the violet coloured cloak that the teen wore around his shoulders, pulling it forward as he stumbled down the hall. He needed... To get to the ship... Blood was falling everywhere he thought dully to himself, the room he left behind resembling a scene from a horror film as Malik's unconscious form spread what fell to the ground in a sick trail. Falling everywhere... Staining his clothes, the 'bandage' he'd made on the fly... His duel disk was somehow still attached to his arm, along with everything else on his person, not that it resembled a duel disk any more. And he was... Alive. And he was... He felt... So...

Weak...

As he collapsed in front of the airship's steps, the last thing he heard was a shout for a doctor and a calm voice as Ishizu's blurred form ran close. '_Congratulations young one,_' the voice whispered, hands of light seeming to brush against his bleeding face in a show of comfort._ 'You have succeeded... By your actions... The Pharaoh is safe..._'

By his... ...Hn..! Whatever, he thought dimly, closing his eyes over. He... He better get a new dueldisk for...

This...

…

_It hurt..._

'_Quick... Stop the bleeding!'_

* * *

They'd cut a few minutes of time from the ten it would take to return, running as fast as they had been able to through the halls. The speed differences however were becoming somewhat painful, and as he looked back Noa grit his teeth.

"Hah.. Hah... Hah... N-Niichan," his brother whispered, breathing becoming laboured. "I can't... I can't keep running, I..." Mokuba was quickly grabbed around the waist, Noa not even looking down as he took the boy under his arm and picked up speed.

They needed as much time as they could get..."I'll carry you then," he told his brother, still running as fast as his body allowed. Five minutes down, plus the few others spent outside... "We need to hurry," he'd told the boy as they entered the main computer room, "Before-"

-_**BRAM!**_-

The two both froze, Noa looking up to where the glass window above the computer room sat. The windows encompassed two different rooms... The pod room, which was locked to the outside...

And the _power_ control room outside it. "No," he hissed, watching as sparks flew from behind the red-flecked glass before disappearing from sight as the lights dimmed with it. "_NO..!_" Mokuba was let down to the ground, the blond running to the computer as he turned on the devices in panic. Please, please, please don't be-...

-_Entering Safe Mode,-_ the computer announced monotonously._ -All wireless communications disabled for power conservation. All primary functions locked. Manual Override disabled for power conservation._- And so on, so forth and...

If he tried to hack into the device it would simply shut down. 'Primary Functions' included power and settings for the wireless network. The wireless network was the only way to reach the satellite. And now he couldn't do even that. "No no no NO," he repeated under his breath. "No, no, _no_..."

"Niichan..?" Noa continued to stare at the screen in horror, stepping back as he held his hands over his mouth as his 'brother' approached from behind. "Noa-niichan," he asked, not looking directly at the screen which now flashed a timer for attack. "What's wrong..." Everything. Everything was wrong, everything, he couldn't stop the launch, he couldn't..!

"_Then what do you plan to do brat,_" the ghost in his mind hissed.

…

There was only one thing he could do, was there. "Mokuba," Noa said slowly, bowing his head as he swallowed and gripped the table. "I need to do something... Something important," he whispered, taking a shuddering breath.

"...What kind of thing," the boy asked quietly.

That thing... "When we left the Virtual World," he began, taking yet another shuddered breath. "Something went... Wrong..."

"...With me," Mokuba asked aloud.

...Yes. Noa nodded, biting his lip as he shook. "Both of us, really," he added 'honestly'. "Listen... ...I'm sending you in again so that I can fix it, alright," he continued with a somewhat broken smile, turning to the boy with yet another swallow. "You... You trust me right..?"

Mokuba nodded, but it was with the blocked memories that he did so, and not with the memories he originally had available. So no... Not after this... "Of course," the boy shouted. But not really... "I'll always trust you..!" No he wouldn't... "What kind of question is that?" Please...

Stop talking...!

The blond forced a smile on his face as he guided Mokuba back up the stairs, whatever carnage occurring in the other room unable to affect them for the moment. He guided him to the pod that had been left open in his wake, closing it over as his 'brother' lay back and got himself comfortable... "It'll only take a moment," he whispered to the boy, holding the glass panel. "Just a moment..."

"I know," Mokuba said with a smile, lying back and closing his eyes. "See you in a bit, Noa-nii..."

No. He wouldn't. And as the pod sealed the boy fell into a deep 'sleep', Noa again swallowing as he turned away. There. He was in. Noa swallowed, taking a deep breath as he turned to the computer the pods were connected to. There was no use in using the 'Military' computer to access all of this... The basic system the pods were set upon would be more than enough, he knew that much, and if he went back downstairs it would just seem like he was hiding anyways. And he couldn't do that.

...But would there be enough time..? A clock came onto the screen at the side as Noa took a seat at the computer, flicking the monitor on and beginning to work on the program. Eleven minutes left... Soon to be ten. "They're going to be pissed," he muttered, swallowing nervously as he set up a headset. "More than pissed," he continued to whisper, "They'll..."

"_At least you're doing something 'good',_" the ghost in his mind muttered, before again falling silent. Yea...

There was... That... "...I certainly hope it's 'good'..."

* * *

_**Knight to C6,**_ the Black King announced after Yugi's 'castling' move, the second demonic figure coming forward as it hopped over the equally frightening bishop that had stood in place for a majority of the match. The blade gleamed under a falsely created sun, and as it stood before them the 'team' narrowed their eyes.

"Hnn... Anzu," Yugi called out, the woman nodding from within her 'sphere' as they both looked toward their opponent. "It's your turn..! Bishop to B2," he announced, the structure Anzu stood within abruptly ripping from the ground like some great plant.

"_Alright,_" she called out, the panels that made up the bottom of the hovering device spinning as she moved. "_I'm ready..!_"

And good thing too. _**Rook to C8...**_ The skull and bone lined tower moved across the ground at the order of the King, almost slithering to the monstrous Queen's side as both pieces leered at their opponent.

"Hn... Queen to E2," their own King countered, Shizuka seeming to hover in the air as she did just that.

And as the queen came just a few spaces forward the black King saw his approaching threat, making his next move. _**CASTLING,**_ their opponent responded, thunder cracking across the air. The clouds above blocked out the sun, filling the air with cold winds and vicious winds.

"Ack- What the-" Those on the field looked up as thunder continued to boom, lightning striking nearby as rain began to fall. "What is this!"

"Since when was the weather affected by this-aru!"

"Awww hell," Otogi muttered, ducking somewhat from where he stood on his own chess piece. "I'm all wet..."

"Hnn... Honda! Move your Rook to D1," Yugi called out, the teen nodding from atop his legged tank.

The weather might have been crummy after all, but there was work to be done. "Got it," he called out, pulling on the turret controls as the tank began to move, other pieces following after in a mix of demonic visage and blank black stone.

_**Queen to C7...**_

"Malik! C4!"

"Going," the now armored teen responded, the pawn charging his one step forward. "And now-"

_**Pawn takes D4,**_ the Black King snarled from his spot, one of the pawns shattering into a boned foot soldier as it charged to come at Malik's side.

"Tch... Suddenly, I hate being a pawn," the teen muttered, looking to the opponent that he could no longer attack or block as it snarled at him and gestured with a gilded and clawed hand. "Damn it..."

"That's fine Malik," Yugi shouted from the tower, flipping through another row of switches to move another of his available pawns. "Pawn to D4," he roared, moving the piece in question to completely crush the opponent beneath stone.

_**Knight, A5.**_

"Pawn, D5!"

_**Pawn, D5.**_

"HEH!" The teen grinned from within his 'gundam', rushing forward with a clenched fist as the black pawn sat over the ruins of their last piece. "My turn then! Pawn to D5," he cackled, jumping the diagonal as he sent a fist forward. "ATTACK!"

"Wait, MALIK," their 'King' cried, eyes wide.

"MALIK," the others shouted.

"Eh?" The 'pawn' blinked, slowly turning as the formerly motionless and horribly disfigured 'Bishop' turned its head from the side to grin from its skull and skin face. There was a perfect line between... Them... "..._SHIT..!_"

_**BISHOP ATTACKS THE PAWN- D5!**_

"MALIK, JUMP!"

There was not another word to be said in regards to that particular comment of course, at least not to argue. As the glass shattered across the 'mecha' of the Pawn Malik pulled himself away as quickly as possible... And as to what he landed on...

"Bishop, H7!"

_**KING, H7,**_

"Rook," Yugi shouted, Honda driving the tank forward as multiple guns began firing toward where Malik fell, "D5!"

"H-HHAAAAHHH! SHII- OOF!"

"Stop screaming damn it!" A clawed hand snatched Malik up from where he'd been clinging to the Bishop's staff, the bishop in question having been taken out by the fired ammunitions when Honda had charged. "You're hurting my ears!"

"They can't be that sensitive," the former snake muttered, clambering up to the 'bridge' of the rook with a frown.

"Well they ARE," Honda retorted, Malik staring at him somewhat blankly.

"What are you a dog?"

"ERF! NO," he protested. "No way-aru!"

"..." Malik apparently found laughter the far more amusing option this time around, but needless to say, Honda's response had the others fairly silent as they stared at the teen in incredulity.

Whatever other comments that could come in response were cut short however, as the game continued on. _**King, G8,**_ the Black King rumbled from far off, the frightening and imposing monster returning to his square as Malik looked up from where he now sat on the multi-limbed tank.

"Oh come on, _seriously_..? We have him in check and he does that?"

"What the hell-aru... How are we supposed to get anything done," Honda growled, before another one's words cut his own short.

"Hnnn... Bishop, G7," Yugi called out, the others widening their eyes in response. The 'Bishop' was Anzu though... And G-7 was right beside...

"Ah- Y-YUGI," Otogi shouted incredulously, the Bishop that was Anzu having no choice but to move as it hovered through the air with her inside. "That's suicide, she'll-"

The look on Yugi's face quite clearly said to 'shut up' for the moment, and as Anzu's bishop moved forward it seemed that the woman knew just what Yugi was planning by this. "_Gh... I'll see you soon,_" she shouted hopefully, biting her lip as she turned back. "_Got it!_"

"See- WH- WAIT, WHAT," Malik roared, gripping the railing of the rook he was on. "WAIT! ANZU!"

"_Anzu!_" Shit..!

The King's blade cleaved the Bishop's structure cleanly in two, sending both thankfully horizontally sliced halves to the ground. Stones littered the field, and Anzu clung to the prison she'd been kept in until that point, her eyes squeezed shut as the 'gem' she was inside clattered against the plain. And when the smoke cleared...

The Bishop's stone was too coated with dust to see or hear if anything was alive in there at all, with no sounds coming forth. "A-Anzu," Katsuya muttered, swallowing as the others looked to Yugi's chesspiece. "She..."

"Yugi," Malik hissed, looking off to the side. "What do you think you're-"

"Knight, E5," the boy called out before the sentence could be completed, not looking up from the panels before him. "...I'm trusting you, Jonouchi..." Trusting him...

...Right. He knew what this was then. "...I got it," he responded, the white dragon he stood upon charging forward with a snarl as it leaped into the air. "But y' better hope tha' she comes back when we win..!"

Don't worry, his mind told him. She would. And Yugi seemed to nod at that, the Black king's faint 'Rook-D5' echoing in the distance as the bone 'tower' crawled forward. "Don't worry," he said seriously, fists clenched as he tapped a few more keys. "She will..! Now... Queen to G4," the boy called out, Shizuka again moving at a diagonal in her seemingly hovering form as she narrowed her 'eyes'. This game was getting uneasy...

The King had moved himself back further, to F8... But Yugi wasn't done with the Queen just yet, placing her in another place. "Queen to F5."

_**Pawn, F6,**_ the opponent muttered in response, as though to goad Shizuka into an attack.

The Queen however, did nothing, and a second later Yugi's next order tore across the field. "Jonouchi," he shouted clearly, "Get ready to jump..!"

"W-What!" Oh shit, don't tell him...

...Actually, now was a _really_ good time to take advantage of the impersonal-ness of being a computer. Who cared if he died, he could just... Re-boot himself... … Right? Yea just keep thinking that, he told himself. "KNIGHT TO D7," Yugi roared, the dragon rearing as it charged forward.

_**ROOK TO D7,**_ the Black King countered, the dragon beneath Katsuya's feet barely landing to the ground before the Rook's eyes gleamed with light. **_ATTACK!_**

The jaw of the monster across from him snapped open in an instant as the blond kicked off of his dragon, dust and stone flying through the air as his hearing was momentarily destroyed in the face of the explosion. '_Rook to D7,_' he thought he heard Yugi shout at that moment, Katsuya tilting his head back as two others 'waved' from an attacking tank. '_Hurry!_' Those two...

"Hey! Blondie," Malik shouted, stepping back as the blond in question landed flat on his back with a grunt. "Nice landing." Ugh... _Yeaaa..._

"_Thanks_," he grunted, pulling himself up with a slight wince, "An' who th' hell 'r y' callin' 'blondie', _blondie_?"

"Psh, mine's at least more white than gold," the Egyptian 'bragged' with a nonchalant shrug. "It gives me a more 'exotic' look..."

"Exo- I'll show you exotic," he muttered, Honda rolling his eyes behind them.

"Are we seriously arguing about this-aru..?"

"YES."

"NO-"

"_Can everyone hear me?_"

All conversation ground to a halt with those words, those on the field looking upward with wide eyes. The sky hadn't cleared one bit... But even so it seemed to have almost been divided with those words, the others looking up in incredulity as 'Seraph' hovered above to act as a mouthpiece. "That voice..." Malik swallowed, clenching his fists as he looked up at the program. "But that's... _Your_ voice-"

Katsuya instantly gained a look of rage as his own voice echoed through the air, face growing red despite the emotion not truly being there. "Gh... Noa..!"

"Ah- NOA," a number of the others shouted.

"Bastard," the shorter blond growled, looking up to the sky. "Gimme my body back y' prick!"

"And the others too while you're at it," Otogi added from the side, still positioned beside Yugi's King piece.

There was a short sound of exasperation, Noa evidently in a tight spot from wherever he was outside. "_There's no time to deal with this,_" he said curtly, his voice echoing over the air. "_You already know that I'm in Katsuya's body right now,_" the 'boy' continued seriously, his voice sounding rushed, "_But I intend to return it... However, there are missiles aimed toward this fortress. They will fire in ten minutes,_" Noa shouted in near panic, "_And I cannot stop them! It's one thing if your bodies are the only things destroyed,_" he went on with an audible swallow. "_But if everything is destroyed that world goes with it; you'll all die," _the teen continued, "_And not even technology will save you at that point..!_" Mi...

A flash came to mind, along with a burst of data as Katsuya slowly looked to the ground. Missiles. Aimed directly at their location, hovering thousands of kilometers above... This... "This... Tell me he's bluffing," Malik muttered with a swallow, slowly turning to the blond at his side. "..._Now.._." He wished he could... He really did, now that the computer itself was in danger but...

"He ain't bluffin," Katsuya muttered with wide eyes, shaking his head in 'fear'. Not at all... "We got abou' twelve minutes t' get out an' fly th' hell outta here," he swallowed, looking back to the sky and shaking his head.

"Twelve," Honda muttered from the side.

"...The time it takes for the missile to reach earth can be added on," Malik muttered, narrowing his eyes and continuing to grip the railing. "But why would there be missiles aimed at this place any ways?"

There was silence in response to that. Those below began to pale with realization and in the end it was Shizuka who spoke, the Queen piece looking up with wide lenses and hovering panels. "_**You... You were going to leave us here... Weren't you,**_" she asked with a shuddering rumble, seeming to pull back with a choke as she clutched her 'chest'. "**_You were going to leave and destroy anything you left behind..!_**"

"This..."

"_BASTARD,_" Honda hissed, Malik as well narrowing his eyes. "You were just going to kill us all?" Silence was their response, and the former hound continued to snarl. "You... Why the hell should we trust you-aru!"

Well... "...I trust 'm," Katsuya said shortly, arms crossed. The others turned at that, and the blond continued. "I mean... Y' came back f'r some reason righ'?" Because it wouldn't make sense for him to come back to deliver the message in a _panic_ if he wasn't trying to help, the computer told him. "So y' can' be tha' bad f'r th' momen'... ...But I ain't gonna f'rgive y' if this really is a trick," he warned just as quickly, scowl deepening as he looked upward. "Got tha'?"

"_...I understand,_" Noa said calmly, after holding his silence for a number of seconds more. "_Alright... Now... For you to leave, you need to complete this fight,_" the 'boy' told them, those on the chesspieces looking toward the King in response as the demon snarled. "_Bring the King into Checkmate and you'll be able to escape!_"

Alright... That was easy enough! "_**But... What about Kaiba-han,**_" Shizuka called up, large and 'faceless' metal head looking upward in apparent fear. "**_And Mokuba-kun?_**"

"_They'll be fine,_" the 'boy' responded, almost too quickly for Katsuya's liking. "_I can track their locations with this computer... I'll make sure they escape as well,_" he called out, "_Trust me..!_" Trust him...

Most would say otherwise but for the moment... Alright! They would do that! The Black Queen stood beside them already despite this confidence though, but while they spoke it had thankfully moved two 'spaces' south. It was now their turn... Their time to continue the game... "...Noa... You had better keep your word," Yugi warned, before making his move. "Queen to H7," he ordered, Shizuka doing so with a curt nod as she vanished behind a majority of the black pieces. "Let's go!"

And now... For the game to continue! _**Rook to C7...**_

"Queen to H8."

_**King to F7.**_

"Rook to D3."

The tank gave a loud and shuddering rumble with those words, Honda spinning the turret on its point as the many limbs began to spiderwalk their vehicle toward the designated area. _**Knight to C4,**_ they heard in the distance, the black Knight in question storming toward the space that was only just one block from them. It was a little strange actually... How the Knight couldn't attack them at close range with a blade.

Not to say he wasn't appreciating that fact or anything (damn it computer brain...)... But the end result of this match was slowly revealing itself to him, a multitude of data-bursts forcing their way through the wall. "Otogi," Yugi called out as the move from their opponent was played. "D1."

"Got it," the teen responded as he moved his turret over, stopping just a space away from his allies. "Hey, Honda! Jonouchi," he called out, waving as Malik blinked.

"And me," he asked semi-hopefully, the teen merely giving a completely blank look in response.

"...I was ignoring you."

"Nice," the Egyptian growled. "Real _nice_..."

The black Knight behind them had moved to E5 while they spoke, but for the moment they were ignoring the fact that it was again a threat to their well being and again within the range of attack. "Happy t' finally move Otogi," Katsuya shouted from the Rook's rail, the teen snorting from where he was manning the turret.

"Depends on your definition of 'happy'," he shouted back, before Yugi's own call drowned him out.

"Queen to H7," the boy announced, Shizuka moving to put the Black King in check for the second time that battle as the demonic being gave a shudder.

_**King to E6...**_

"Oh come _on_," Malik groaned, "Stop running!"

"It's only natural-aru," the teen beside him muttered under his breath, "It doesn't want to lose-aru."

"Errrrggghhh... I don't care," the Egyptian growled, "I want it to stop..."

"Queen to G8," Yugi roared.

_**King to F5.** _Be nice to be a Bishop about now... ...But sadly they weren't.

"Pawn, G4!"

_**King, F4,**_ the monster countered, those on the Rooks staring with narrowed eyes. The play was clearing up... The trap was making itself known, and slowly but surely the final moves were coming into view.

"Hang on," Otogi muttered, watching as the paths around them began to clear, and as the King continued to move. "Is it just me or..."

"Honda! D4," Yugi called out, the turret doing just that as the driver took aim toward the king.

"CHECK," the teen announced with a barking snarl, the gun locking and loading as he narrowed his eyes.

"You think it'll last," Malik muttered dryly from the railing, the blond beside him shrugging.

"Eh, don' ask me, I'm jus' th' computer," he answered 'smartly'.

"Helpful."

"Heh. Yea," the blond laughed, before a somewhat dark and detached smirk came over his face. "But take a look..."

The final move was here. _**King to F3,**_ the monster called out, standing before one of the pawns as Yugi's chuckling came over the air. **_…Gh... Shit..._** Yea... He saw it now too, didn't he..!

"Hnhnhnhnhn... I win," the boy within their King Piece said clearly, those on the Rooks turning abruptly as Shizuka's Queen bolted around the backs of them to point an authoritative arm forward. "QUEEN TO B3!"

"B- _B_ 3," Malik repeated, looking behind them with wide eyes. "But how is that-"

"There's a path," Honda muttered incredulously, turning to stare himself as Katsuya smirked darkly. "There's a perfectly diagonal..." A nice long path that had been cleared up since Shizuka came to that last square, waiting for the King to come within range...

"**CHECKMATE,**" Yugi announced, the 'tower' he stood in opening with those words as he looked toward the sky with narrowed eyes. "Gozaburo," he continued loudly, the clouds above reeling in rage as the rain stopped, "You _LOSE!_"

Which meant it was time to leave. But how exactly would they do that he wondered, before freezing as an odd sensation of 'power' came over him.

-Begin Download-, a voice in his mind muttered.

"E... Eh..?" Katsuya blinked, before paling even more as the wall he'd erected began to whittle away, slowly but surely allowing a steady stream of data and programming to fill his mind. Ohhh hell, he thought, hurriedly attempting to keep hold of the memories that allowed him to act like himself, ohhh hell..!

"Hn? Jonouchi," Malik muttered, turning with a frown as he stared at the blond with narrowed eyes. "What's going on..?"

Damn it... Katsuya showed no visible sign of emotion as he looked to the Egyptian, eyes somewhat blank as the 'computer' took over. Hn... As if knowing things before they happened was bad enough, this... Well... The blond turned to the others, slowly raising his hand with the same expression of blankness that was so unlike him. "Sorry 'bout this," he said clearly, those on the field frowning as the field seemed to scatter and dissolve into dust from around them. "But you guys need t' wake up..."

* * *

"_An' I ain't comin' with jus' yet._"

That was the last thing he heard before the field vanished from sight, before his connection to the Millennium Puzzle was fully restored, and before his real eyes began to open to take in the scenery.

Well... His lighter half opened his eyes. He himself was more than content to scan his soul for any sign of that white ghost that had intruded upon it before, searching as many of the halls as he could without losing himself within them. It felt like there was something there... Something dark, albeit small but...

Nothing. There was nothing there, and in the end he settled for misting back to his partner's side to watch and listen to whatever was going on. In the real world after all, Yugi, the 'light' Yugi was slowly sitting up as the glass from his pod rose up, looking around with somewhat wide eyes as the others as well moved to awaken. "We... We're..."

"So these are the pods," Shizuka muttered, slowly climbing out as she looked around. "This..."

"We're back," Yugi whispered, stepping out of his own pod. "We're...

Honda was the next to speak beyond surprise and relief, hurriedly looking himself over with wide eyes as he choked on his words. "H-Hey... Do I still seem 'dog-ish'," he asked in panic, checking every possible part of himself with fear before looking toward the others. "I mean... I don't want to-"

"You're _fine_," Otogi said with a slight wave, leaning over the pod with a wince. "Just don't go looking for a tail and you're fine..."

"Perfectly fine," Mokuba added from his own pod, giving a stretch and a yawn as he moved to step out. "Hnng... Took a while for Noa to get me out though," he muttered, cracking his neck as the others stared. "I feel like I was out for half an hour..." Erm...

_Close_, Yugi thought with a somewhat nervous laugh. It'd have been fairly dangerous if it was really a half hour though... '_Still,_' he muttered to his other self in the back of his mind,_ 'I can't believe we escaped by playing GUNDAM CHESS..!'_

_'Hnhnhnhn... It was quite fun actually,' _the spirit chuckled, his partner mentally groaning.

_'Yea, but I missed it..! How often would I have gotten the chance to play something like that!'_

_'Pray you never do,'_ his partner said honestly, the horrors of the game only dimly coming to mind despite how recent their escape had been. '_Now..._'

Anzu held her head as she stood from the pod behind the group, the others turning with somewhat cautious eyes as the woman looked over to stare at them in response. "...Hn!" The woman snorted, shaking her head. "I don't see any difference between you and the dog," she said after a moment, stretching her arms as Honda growled in response.

"Gh- You..!"

"Wait," Otogi muttered, eyes widening. "Does that mean you're..."

The others paled, 'Anzu' crossing her arms as her eyes flashed gold from the side of the VR-Pod. "She's perfectly fine," Malik muttered, narrowing the body's eyes as the more masculine pattern of speech came through. "She's just tired; being 'killed' does that to you," he added dryly, Mokuba staring incredulously as the others merely frowned. "I really am fine though," the woman abruptly shouted out, a somewhat more feminine pattern of speech hitting the air as eyes went blue and brown again. "Just... Hwaaaah... Like he said," she muttered, before her expression again switched out completely. "...Tired." Golden... Her eyes were golden again, so then...

"Ahhhhh... This is so confusing," Otogi muttered under his breath, holding his head as 'Malik' made 'her' way over.

"And this is going to last how long again," the taller of the group muttered, Mokuba only just managing to snap himself from his frozen shock.

"Wait," he shouted, looking at the others, "_MALIK_ is here!"

"He is," a clear, if not familiar voice stated from the side of the room, despite all traces of an accent vanishing to be replaced by more 'polite' and 'upperclass' terms. "...But he's your ally," the voice continued seriously, "No doubt about that..." That voice... The others turned to where it seemed 'Jonouchi' was typing rapidly on a keyboard, headset firmly placed upon his head as he stared to the screen. The blond's expression was just as foreign as the 'real one's had been within the computer, set in a severe gaze that was locked with the screen across him. "For now, you should be getting to the airship," he was telling them, still typing away as his eyes occasionally narrowed in focus. "I don't know how much longer I'll be... But if it comes to the worst I have two re-breathers in the building for emergencies," he added with a look back to the others, "And the explosion won't reach the exit tunnel."

"Exit tunnel," Mokuba repeated, before shaking his head as he recognized the speech patterns he was hearing. "Wait... You..!"

"Noa," Yugi said with a swallow, the blond in the seat nodding as he briefly paused to look back. "...But... What about..."

The others looked to the side at the single occupied pod, the unspoken question easily caught as the timer ticked down to 'six minutes remaining'. "Katsuya can't leave until I go back into the pod," he said plainly, typing as quickly as possible on the keyboard while he looked back to the screen. "He knows this," Noa continued seriously, "But the problem is Seto's location. My father forced her into a game," he explained, swallowing in unease and biting his lip. "And until it's complete, she's not getting out..." Trapped in a game..?

"Then... Jonouchi-kun is..." Yugi swallowed, before narrowing his eyes and stepping forward. "...Noa-kun," he said quickly, the others blinking as their former captor looked back. "Put me back in the machine!"

"E-EH!" Mokuba coughed, shaking his head and looking at the boy incredulously. "Y-Yugi..! We have to get out though," he shouted, "We don't have time to-"

"I need to help him," the boy said determinedly, the others staring as an oddly fierce look appeared on their friend's face. "No matter what, I have to-"

"I understand," Noa responded plainly, "But Mokuba is right- there's no time for something like that," he warned the boy, "And-"

Text began to flash across the screen, Noa pulling back with wide eyes as both he and the others turned to read it and choke.

"Ah..."

"This..."

'Daijyoubu-dayo,' the text read clearly. '_I'll be alright._'

'...Nigero,' it went on, the few characters staring forward one the screen. '_Run._' And again. 'Nigero.' And again. 'Nigero.' Again... Again... Again... 'Nigero... Nigero... NIGERO!'

"R-Run..." Noa's fingers weren't touching the keyboard... Noa looked just as frightened as they were... Yugi swallowed as he and his other self stared at the screen, the message repeating in an almost insane mantra before another line appeared.

'Mitte yo... Nigero!' What... 'See'..?

"He... He can _see_ us," Malik hissed, the eyes he was sharing with Anzu widening considerably as he turned on Noa in horror. "He can SEE us..!"

"The cameras..." The others looked down at Noa, watching as the blond swallowed and continued to stare at the screen. "He's connected to everything in this building right now," the teen went on nervously, "He's using the cameras... But that means..." He shook his head, gritting his teeth and turning to the others with narrowed and serious eyes. "All of you, get out of here now, got it," he said quickly, the others staring a moment before he pointed to the clock. "We're wasting time- Go!"

"Right," the others agreed, turning to leave before Yugi paused and looked back. "...Jonouchi-kun," he called out, looking to the screen as it went blank, as though waiting for the boy in the room to speak. "If you can hear me... Make sure you get out," the boy went on, "And that you bring Kaiba-san with you, alright?" Yugi swallowed as he continued on, biting his lip. "We... We have a match right," he asked with a somewhat weak smile. "So... Make sure you get out... And..."

"...Why are you doing this," Mokuba asked, he as well staying behind as the others ran off, the scene behind him unknowingly hidden behind holograms as the one within the computer shielded the gruesome scene in the next room from the sight of those he knew would care. "Noa," he whispered, staring at the 'teen' in confusion. "You said you hate my sister... But you..."

The blond was silent for a few moments, not looking back. "There's something this body keeps telling me," Noa whispered, subconsciously grabbing at the dog-tags still hanging around his neck. "Something important... ...I don't want her to die," he continued, bowing his head as he shook. "...No matter what. I don't want her, or anyone here to die... I..."

"Noa..."

"...I... ...Noa," Mokuba said with a swallow. "...I'm sorry we didn't listen to you before," he said quietly, "I..."

"Hn!" The blond snorted, shaking his head. "It's only expected that you wouldn't believe me... But there's no time for that sort of thing now," he continued, gesturing to the clock that now read three minutes. "You need to run... Understand? Get back to the ship..!"

"Got it," Yugi shouted, running for the door.

"Make sure you escape too," Mokuba added, Noa merely smiling sadly as he turned back to the screen. It was all fine to say something like that after all...

But he couldn't simply 'compress himself' and email himself off. The mind was too complex for that, and who would be able to 're-open' him? Besides... He was already dead.

This was just his last act before going 'home'.

* * *

Many moments before the others had escaped and the Chess match ended there was another battle that had started in the middle of the empty space of the computer. The competitors were 'normal'-ish in appearance again... Seto still held her ghostly glow but her 'father' at least appeared as the man he had been when he died, not a single hair on his mustache out of place...

A fairly misleading form to take, to say the least. "Let's get this over with," Seto hissed as the cards around her vanished, the image of her deck appearing in her mind as a hand of cards appeared to spin around her like some orbital and planetary ring. "I plan on leaving this hell as far behind me as possible..."

"Hnhnhnhn... Don't be so hasty," Gozaburo sneered, eyes narrowed from across the dark field. "After all... This fight will decide on your life... I'll move first," he continued, snapping his fingers as a holographic card appeared behind him. "Any person in charge of a company," he explained, "No matter the size, must make a difficult decision at some point in their life." And the point..? "I play 'Painful Choice'," the man announced, "Which allows me to choose five cards from my deck and-" OH he had _better_ not waste his time with _THAT_!

"If you plan on fighting seriously," Seto warned, wisps of smoke seeming to blow off her form as her anger grew, "You will end that sentence _there_, rather than taking me for a fool in the game that I excel at most..." Honestly... She knew full well what the card did..! Gozaburo would pick five cards from his deck... She would choose one to be added to his hand, while the rest were discarded, but-

"Here then," her 'father' chuckled darkly, five panels taking the place of the spell he'd activated as his opponent continued to hover in space. "You know so much... Make your move!" Gladl-

The woman paled as she looked toward the cards, each one pulling from her mind a horrifying memory she had long since attempted to push to the back of her thoughts. These cards...

The Left Arm. The Right Arm. The Left Leg, Right Leg, _EXODIA_..! He had all five of the cards there, and he'd now given her the option of discarding all but one but...

This monster... '_A moment of atonement,_' she could hear in the back of her mind, heart beat racing as she stared the cards down. The other Yugi's hand was thrown forward and with the motion to 'squeeze'... '_MIND CRUSH-_'

"Did you think I hadn't done my research," Gozaburo sneered, grin seeming far more inhuman than it should have been even in death. "I know what monsters defeated yours... And I know that the last time you fought with your 'rival'," he continued, "This was what defeated you..!"

That- Then... He was playing with a _cookie-cutter deck_? _SERIOUSLY_? "Heh..." That was just... So damn ridiculous... So... Ridiculous... "Hnhnhaha... HAHAHAHAHA! I don't believe it," she snarled, shaking her head and looking to her opponent in disbelief. "You think that by duplicating the strategy of my rival, that you'll defeat me? Think again," the woman spat, pointing her finger forward as her opponent remained silent. No choice. She didn't know why Gozaburo was throwing this chance away but she had no choice but to decide on a card. "I pick the Right Arm," Seto announced, each of the panels vanishing into a rain of light. "Now finish your turn..!"

"Hn! I set a card face down," her opponent stated, crossing his arms with a nod. "End turn." That...

That was it..? Seto frowned, still floating in space as she looked to the shimmering plane of light on the ground. For each of them, their hand floated about them like some sort of 'ring'. They couldn't see the image on the other's cards, but they could see somewhat through them to the opponent. She had no way of knowing, for that reason, if her opponent had been left with no choice but to use the arm but...

...There was no time to think. If it was the arm, then it was the arm. "Hn! I summon the Blood Vorse," she called out, swinging her arm forward as one of her cards scattered forward to form the monster. The Vorse raider swung his axe-like pole arm with a snarl, hovering in a manner not unlike his master. And to follow that..."Attack the face down card..!"

The monster did her bidding immediately with those words but rather than merely charging forward as the monster it was it stretched, faded into a sort of ghost before cutting through the panel before it. And as the panel was cut in two, the ghostly haze reforming at her side as she pulled somewhat away, a single arm could be seen reaching out...

"...Exodia's right arm," she muttered, narrowing her eyes. So it _was_ the final piece... But why would he throw away all five pieces like that..?

"Hnhnhnhnhn... HnhnHAHAHA! Just as I planned," Gozaburo sneered, Seto continuing to frown from across the field. As _planned_? How the hell- "It's my turn now," he continued with a grin, "So how about you take a good look at what I'm about to do..! I activate Contract with Exodia," he roared, five pillars of flame erupting around him in the familiar symbol of a pentagram as his opponent paled. "Using the destroyed pieces of Exodia... And paying 2000 lifepoints to summon the demonic counterpart, EXODIA NECROSS!" Exodia...

_Necross_..? As in _death_..! Smoke wrapped around from the pillars of flame, and as Gozaburo grinned manically he soon became shrouded from view by the thick mantle of dust and ash. Limbs began to form... Arm, shackled with a broken chain... Arm, with joints that creaked like a puppet... Leg... Leg... Rotted and mouthless, eyeless head... Body... And in the place of its familiar gold hue this Exodia was completely black... And despite her confusion she felt a wave of relief come over her as the blackened monster stood before her. A number had appeared in her head after all; 1800.

That was his attack power. Yet the man before her seemed to care little for this. "_Hnhnhnhnhn...Watch,_" her 'father' taunted, voice echoing through the enormous and mummified beast before her as he took a thundering step forward. "_Watch... I have brought Exodia from the grave to the field,_" he cackled with a roar, "_And with more power than you could ever hope for..!_" More... More p...

"Hn! Bullshit," she muttered, clenching her fists at the 'insult'. "Complete bullshit! With a monster as weak as yours, do you honestly think you can defeat _ME,_" the woman snarled, eyes wide and filled with rage.

"_Hnhnhn... You obviously don't know as much about this game as you think then, do you_," her opponent responded, opponent's brows furrowing in confusion. "_I **ATTACK**!_" A... Attack! But it was obvious that something like that wouldn't work she thought incredulously as the demon's fist shot forth a raging ball of flames, such a play was...

...Impossible...

Yet as the smoke cleared from Necross' flaming attack there was nothing on the ground but her crouching monster, even with a hundred of her opponent's lifepoints seeping away. Necross still stood across from her, and with a leering grin it continued to look down, power increasing along with its size as she stared. "Im... Possible... Why," she muttered to herself, shaking her head as she looked up at the demon. "Why did it..."

Chuckling rumbled through the air, along with clanking chains as the shackles on Necross' arms shifted. "_Hnhnhnhnhn... Necross cannot be destroyed by battle,_" Gozaburo sneered, Seto swallowing as she looked up at the monster. "_In addition,_" he laughed, the monster's rotted grin widening in response, "_It gains 1000 attack points during the battle phase... More than enough to destroy **yours **in the next turn..."_ Gh...

Sh... Shit... That meant it had 2800 points. Eugh... Seto grimaced, stepping back somewhat to bite her lip. Shit... And if it wasn't able to be destroyed in battle... Well, the woman told herself, if she was going to destroy it, it would have to be through some other means... And in that case... "...My turn," she growled, hair 'floating' past her eyes as another panel of light appeared at her side for her draw. The card she'd just drawn... ...That would work. "I summon Spirit Ryu," she announced, throwing her hand forward as the next card in her hand shot forward to mist into the dragon's form, ethereal form slithering through the air. "And in addition," she called out, "I activate Burst Breath! Tributing the dragon to destroy any monsters with less defense than the dragon's attack!" And since Necross had '0' defense she thought to herself, the dragon's glow increasing to a blinding extent as she averted her gaze from the explosion, this card would have to...

Be...

Destroyed... The light cleared and in its place the dragon was gone, with a menacing cackle sounding from above her. "_Hnhnhnhn... What did I tell you,_" Gozaburo snarled from above the woman, towering in the form of Necross as she again made to step back in slight horror. "_You're not as SMART as you think..! Necross is invincible... You can NEVER defeat it,_" the monster continued to roar, laughing manically. "_The Left Leg grants immunity from Spell cards... The Right from Traps... The Left arm protects it from monster's effects, and you already know what the right arm and the head does... You're going to die here,_" the monster chuckled, leering above the woman as she stepped back still more with an uneasy swallow. "_You're going to **DIE**..._" This... This...

Not if she could help it she thought, narrowing her eyes and steeling her resolve. Not if she had anything to say about it..!. "Set a card," she muttered, stepping back once again as the face-down panel of light glowed before her. "And switch Blood Vorse into defense mode... Make your move," she snarled, "You won't kill me here-"

"Can everyone hear me," a voice called out, those in the empty space tensing at the sound. W-What..? Seto turned her attentions upward, narrowing her eyes in confusion as she sought out the source. Where, she asked herself with a frown. That voice, the voice of a...

...Girl..? But she'd heard- "Kisara," Seto hissed, the girl appearing in a small pillar of light as her wings floated somewhat behind her. That stupid armadillo was still following her as she came forward in the darkness as well, like some guard dog... But for what reason was...

"Strange," the girl muttered, shaking her head as she looked to Seto with her usual blank stare. "Noa-sama's voice cannot reach you here..."

"N-Noa," the woman growled, widening her eyes. But that was Jonouchi's voice... Which meant- Seto steeled herself yet again, gritting her teeth. "And just what does he wan-"

"I will replay the message," Kisara stated, titling her head somewhat as those in the darkness stared. "So please, calm down." Calm down! How was she supposed to calm down when- "Repeating the message to 'Seto Kaiba-sama'," the girl continued dully, bowing her head as Seto in question stared. "Seto," the girl began, using the voice of Noa's 'normal' self. "Though you cannot likely tell from this recording, I am speaking to you from Katsuya's body," the girl's 'creator' admitted, Seto growing pale as her suspicions were confirmed. "I know for a fact that this knowledge will not sit well with you..." Hah... _NO SHIT..! "_But I intend to return it." ...What? The woman before Kisara blinked, listening as she continued. "There is no time to argue about this; I must deliver to you a warning." A warning..? "At this moment, there are missiles aimed toward this fortress. They will fire in ten minutes," Kisara explained through a monotone form of Noa's voice, "And I cannot stop them. It's one thing if your bodies are the only things destroyed," she went on, "But if everything is destroyed that world goes with it; you'll all die, and not even technology will save you at that point. You have limited time," the girl continued on. "And until you complete this fight, you cannot escape." What..!

She... She would... "...Noa," she said with narrowed eyes, Kisara blinking in response. "Is my brother alright..?" If Mokuba was safe... If he was safe and out of harms way... It wouldn't matter, she told herself. She needed to get out yes, but so long as he was alright...

"He is safe," Kisara responded in her normal voice, bowing her head politely. "His mind has been separated from the Virtual World; he will awaken shortly." Hah... Good, Seto thought with a small sigh of relief.

That was... "_Noa... What have you DONE,_" Gozaburo roared, the 'Exodia' shuddering as eye-sockets seemed to 'widen' with rage, the monster turning to the program in horror. "_To fire missiles at this base, to destroy everything... WHY WOULD YOU DO THAT,_" he cried almost panickedly.

There was a short span of silence, Kisara closing her eyes for a moment. In the end, she turned to the monster, looking up with seemingly calm and even pitiful eyes as she again spoke with Noa's voice. "...Father," Noa said sadly, Kisara shaking her head with a sigh. "I'm sorry... But you are beyond control," he said clearly. "You are beyond hope... So, to save these people..."

"_You... You would BETRAY ME,_" the demon roared, slowly becoming more and more enflamed as the form of Necross seemed to crumple to ash beneath the fires. "_DESTROY ME! You would KILL YOUR OWN FATHER!_"

Again, Kisara bowed her head, a few tears appearing to run down her face as she bit her lip. "...I'm sorry, father... I..."

"You've made the right decision," Seto said plainly, looking down at the vessel for Noa's voice as she blinked, the armadillo at her side also nudging Kisara on the side. "You have no need to apologize..."

"...Right... ...Seto," Noa continued quickly, Kisara's expression becoming more severe than unnerved. "Time is of the essence; hurry, alright?"

The woman nodded, only for a thundering roar to come from before them as she jumped back. "_**You... YOU... NO,**_" the monster roared, bursting into flames and charging toward Seto as the woman found herself locked in place. "**_NO! I'll just take your body as my own,_**" the ghost snarled, mouth widening to reveal flaming teeth as it spiraled forward. "_**I'll take your body and escape with my life... And I'll leave you behind,**_" he roared, his 'daughter' swallowing as she looked upward.

What..? Fires closed in toward her, filling her vision. Seto's eyes widened in slight surprise, but despite this she found herself unable to move, locked completely in place as the fires came near. Closer... _Move..._ Closer... _Move damn it..!_ Closer...

"_NO,_" a fierce and screeching voice cried abruptly, white filling her vision. "_YOU WILL NOT HARM ANOTHER CHILD..!_" C-Child! Seto blinked, eyes widening as the flames were repelled by some unknown white light. The mask... The mask from before was sitting before her, as were the two programs, each facing the monster before them as the flaming demon snarled.

"This fight will continue," Seraph was shouting, showing more emotion in his voice than ever before as a light shined in his eyes.

"This fight must come to a fair end," Kisara continued, her own eyes wide with determination far unlike her own or even Jonouchi's as the white mist swirled angrily between them.

"_And YOU,_" the shade snarled, pushing Gozaburo's flaming form backward as it evaporated and disintegrated back into the ashen form of the monster it had spawned from. "_YOUR TIME IS LIMITED..!_" That voice... Seto frowned, recognizing the tones from the staircase up to this place. She'd heard this voice but...

Who was that woman..? "_Gh... RAAAAGHH.. GET OFF,_" the demonic being was snarling. "_GET OFF..!_"

"...You," Seto muttered quickly, turning to 'Seraph' as the boy blinked. "...How much time remains?"

"Eight minutes forty seconds," he responded plainly, Seto nodding in response.

"Alright then... GOZABURO," she shouted, looking forward with narrowed eyes as the programs stepped to the side, the white spirit of his late wife having vanished into nothingness. "We will continue this fight," the woman stated clearly, her opponent still growling from across her. "And should you 'win'," Seto continued, visibly grimacing at what she was about to say, "You'll get your 'wish'..." As disgusting a thought as that was...

Not that he would win anyways of course but the words nonetheless calmed the demon, and again the ashen form of 'Necross' stood before her to make his move. "_You... Very well,_" Gozaburo snarled, the monster's fists clenching. "_But I won't forget your words... It's my turn now,_" he snarled, throwing a punch forward, "_And I ATTACK!_"

Hn! "Not if I can help it..! Negate attack," she announced, kicking back from the empty space as a vortex appeared to absorb the flames before her. "And now its my turn..! I activate 'Shrink'," Seto shouted, throwing another hand forward as panels in her hand began to flip forward and vanish into dust. "Halving Necross' attack for this turn! I then tribute Blood Vorse to summon the Emerald Dragon," she continued, running forward as the monster appeared beneath her feet in a green mist, rising in the same shade of colour she was currently glowing with. Alright... "Now... _**ATTACK,**_" she snarled, the dragon halting its run to charge a blast of flames in its mouth.

"_**RAAAAOOOOOOOOO!**_"

Fires blasted past Necross in an alarmingly wide-scale attack, the opposing monster snarling in rage as his lifepoints plummeted. "_GH- You... Even if your spells still work, my POWER still surpasses yours... You haven't changed one bit,_" Gozaburo spat, his opponent merely glaring in response. "_Always refusing to admit defeat in the face of even the invincible..._"

"Nothing's 'really' invincible," Seto sneered, narrowing her eyes from the back of the dragon as she stared the demon down. "You shouldn't underestimate me... Your monster might gain '1000' points for each battle," she spat, "But you can't defend either..." And that was going to hurt him in the end. "You might be 'immortal'," the woman continued, "But you're certainly not 'undefeatable'!"

"_WE WILL SOON SEE,_" her opponent retorted, the shadows released with his roar throwing his 'daughter' back as the dragon evaporated into a mist as a result. "_I ATTACK,_" he snarled, mists surrounding the girl before him as she fell.

HNG- "HRAAAH-G!" Gh-! There was no wall or floor to land on in this place, but nonetheless it hurt for some reason when she finally came to a stop far in the distance. Necross' flames burned across the darkness, illuminating a single path to her opponent... And as she stood her hand returned to view, the holograms floating around her hovering form as she attempted to breath. There was a timer in her mind... Telling her how much time there was before the missile fired... Necross had 4800 attack points, and she had three minutes. He'd made his move...

It was her turn now.

A hand rose up to touch one of the cards at her side, eyes narrowed as she stared across the field. This latest draw... It was definitely one of those 'last minute' ones, that was for certain. "Activate Pot of Greed," she announced, the extra panels of drawn cards shifting into existence at her side as she skimmed the cards she'd drawn. "Next, set a monster face down," the woman continued, "And set a card..." And with this strategy...

If she made the right draw next turn... Flames blasted past her as the lamp she'd summoned to her defense was destroyed, Seto ducking under her arm as the resultant explosion shattered her card and threw molten gold in her face. Gh... 'Phase one' complete she hissed mentally, squinting over her arm. She just needed the right card now, and...

"_Hnhnhnhnhn... Is that all,_" Gozaburo sneered, chuckling as he began to make his slow approach toward the woman. "_I **DARE** you to find a monster more powerful than this... I **DARE** you to even **STAND** for another turn,_" he taunted, Seto merely holding a cold expression of hate and indifference on her face. "_You... You don't stand a chance against this power..!_"

They would soon see... Hn..! "Power, power, power," she muttered, narrowing her eyes as she looked upward. "You keep saying it as though the attack is the only thing that contributes to such a thing. ...Hn... You really _are_ a pathetic fighter," Seto hissed, her next card appearing in her hand as she leered forward. This card... ...Gozaburo had 5800 attack points on his monster. But she'd at last gotten the card she needed. "You... I'll show you to rely on a monster like this," she muttered, narrowing her eyes.

"_Show me,_" her 'father' taunted, before cackling almost madly from across the woman. "_And again, your bluffs remain as strong as ever..!_" Hn!

"They were never bluffs." One minute left. "WATCH, Gozaburo... I activate the Monster Reborn to bring the Mystical Lamp back from the graveyard," she announced, the clawed lamp appearing to the field and skittering before her in an almost ghost-like form. "I then activate its effect, special summoning La Jinn to the field... Your monster can't be destroyed, not physically," she continued, narrowing her eyes. "But then again, you don't have a body of your own, _do you_," Seto hissed. "You're DEAD... Nothing but ashes in a forgotten urn..! You think you can fight," the woman snarled, "Think again... In a battle like this, the soul is what's tested! So let me test yours before I show you mine! I activate the trap Soul Crush," she roared almost triumphantly, "Allowing me to remove monsters from either graveyard at the cost of 500 life points each... I have three," she continued with narrowed eyes. "But you... You have _Five_," Seto growled, pointing toward her opponent. "The Left Leg," she began, shadows evaporating as shining gold met the air and Gozaburo tensed. "The Right leg... The Left arm," the woman continued as the shadows continued to vanish and mist away to nothing, "The Right arm..." She had six hundred points left... Time to make this count..! "And finally... The Head!" Thirty seconds. "Your so called power is useless without those remains in the graveyard," she sneered, "So let me show you your 'reward'... I sacrifice my two monsters," Seto announced, her lifepoints depleted to a mere 100 with the trap card's effect depleted. "And I summon up the very monster of my _soul_... I summon BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON," the woman roared, white mist filling the air around her as the monster's enormous maw appeared above her to roar. "And now that your 'power' has been put in its place, I attack... This is it Gozaburo," Seto continued. "_**CHECKMATE; BURST STREAM!**_"

"_**GRAAAAAAOOOOOOOOO!**_"

White light tore forth as her 'father's' face seemed to appear over the Exodia, and even through the flames she could see the monster's burning form. "_W-WHAT,_" he was snarling, arms raised in defense. "_NO! NO, THAT ISN'T-_" The shouts of her former father were cut short by the sounds of crackling flames, and in a moment her dragon settled to the ground to vanish to a mist at her side. The fires as well vanished just shortly thereafter... But as she stood there, looking toward the mere shade that remained of Gozaburo a cold feeling began to fill her. This wasn't the end, she thought to herself, even as the programming around the room began to shift around them. This was far from the end she realized as she stepped back and tensed, far from it...

Ten seconds until fire.

Seto walked forward in the darkness despite her mind telling her to do otherwise, stopping a number of feet away from where Gozaburo seemed to stand. He was as he appeared on his dying day yet again... Dressed in the suit that smelled of ash and looking toward her with eyes filled with hate, sneering from where he stood. And now...

"HOW," the man growled from across her, shaking with rage. "How could I LOSE! It was the perfect strategy," he roared, looking toward the girl he'd taken in those years ago as the 'ante' in a bet. "PERFECT! I calculated everything," Gozaburo snarled, "Everything..!"

Calculations..? _Please._ "You can't measure _my_ strength using a computer," she scoffed, looking to the man in disgust. "You can burn in hell where you belong now..."

"You... I **don't _THINK SO,_**" he roared, rising upward in a pillar of flames as a vision from nightmares only just passed came before the girl. An enormous and snake-like crocodile, made of nothing but flames... Nothing but... Seto froze in place as the monster towered over her, eyes naught but slits in the fire. "_**I WON'T FORGIVE YOU FOR THIS,**_" Gozaburo was roaring, already coming from above to devour her completely. "**_I'LL TAKE YOU TO HELL WITH ME... YOU AND EVERYONE YOU KNOW..!_**" Five seconds...

"_Grab my hand,_" someone whispered as she stared upward, the woman unable to move in the face of the demon. Who said that... "_Grab my hand,_" the voice repeated, the flames coming closer, licking the sides of her face as Gozaburo's fires held her in place. Who...

"Damn it Seto-chan," Jonouchi roared, the woman above suddenly finding herself falling as the flaming monster's jaws closed over on nothing. "_GRAB MY HAND!_" She didn't know why she reached out as she fell... As the fires began to close in again from above, and as she turned around to look downward, but...

Lift off.

In an instant, the shadows were gone, as were the fires, Gozaburo... Everything. There was nothing but empty blank space, feeling almost 'grey' rather than black or white. They were still falling... And Jonouchi had pulled her close she realized after a moment of shocked silence, her eyes narrowing with annoyance. He'd pulled her right against her in some 'protective' embrace, her arms pinned against the blond's body and-! "Gh... Jonouchi," she growled, looking toward the blond as she moved her hands to push off him somewhat, "What are you-" The woman froze, looking down as her hands brushed against something 'rough'. Something underneath the blond's shirt, something... Some sort of 'impression', a mess of ruined and calloused flesh and- "...What the hell is this," she muttered, narrowing her eyes as an impression of a scar appeared in the shirt beneath her. "Where the hell did you get thi-"

Jonouchi merely smiled sadly as he let the woman go, Seto 'sinking' upwards in protest as the blond fell downward. What... What was he..! "Time t' wake up, Seto-chan..." What... What...

And he wasn't..! No, she screamed, only for nothing to come out as she reached back, eyes wide. NO, damn it, she wasn't leaving without-

"Hgh!" Seto's eyes flung open as the pod above her slowly began to click upward, allowing her the room to sit up. "Wh... This..." Slowly the woman stepped out of the pod, taking in the rest of the room. The opened capsules at the side... The flashing screen that read 'Missile Fired; Five Minutes to Impact'...

The bloodied room at the other end, where sparks still flew from some sort of battle that she hadn't seen. And more importantly, across from her own pod... "...Jonouchi," she muttered, walking toward it to stare at the glass shield. This idiot...

She could leave him here, a nasty side of her mind thought, but that thought was quickly squashed, the woman scowling momentarily as she did so. Mokuba would hardly enjoy it. But neither would she, no doubt about it. And besides that, he saved her life... Noa was the one who took his body, so...

Yes. That was the reason she would wait, she told herself. She was in this moron's debt; no other reason. She would wait to make sure the idiot made it out alive, rather than simply leaving and counting down until it was too late.

So with that in mind... She stood beside the pod, and waited for her friend to wake up.

* * *

The field was white again. It seemed to be a popular colour for these sorts of things but... At least he wasn't a computer any more, he thought to himself with relief. Heck...

That much was obvious when he tried to figure out how much time was left before 'impact' only to fail horribly. Katsuya looked around with somewhat dim eyes, hands stowed in the pockets of his jeans. Those last few moments... He'd almost lost himself, if not for a moment, but he'd come back somehow. Honestly, he wasn't really sure what held him steady in the end, what was allowing him to come back to being himself so easily. Maybe it was wanting to get out. Maybe his friends...

Maybe...

"Erf!" Katsuya turned as a small puppy sat before him, frowning somewhat as the cheerful dog wagged its tail in an almost predictable pattern. Round brown eyes sparkled as they looked upward, and again it barked, ears twitching cheerily as he stared back.

This dog... This was Noa's, right? "...You... You don' need tha' form anymore though, do y'," he asked, looking down at the dog as it continued to 'smile' and bark.

"No," another voice said almost plainly, Katsuya slowly turning around as Noa's smiling face met his gaze. "But then, he was my first friend in this place," he continued, the dog running past Katsuya to join his owner before being picked up into fabric covered arms. "I thought it would be appropriate to have him here when I say good-bye."

Of course... But... "...Yer clothes," Katsuya whispered, the boy continuing to smile as the long sleeved, white kimono hung over his form.

"I thought I should try it on," he 'explained', scratching his puppy's head. "What with me being... ..."

"...Dead," the blond offered almost sadly, Noa still smiling as he looked toward the blond.

"Yes... Dead." No other word for it... Was there? "...Katsuya... Before I go," Noa continued quietly, placing his dog on the ground to step forward, "I want to thank you... For what you did to me..."

For what he... Ah... "But... But I _broke_ you," Katsuya whispered, face pale with the memory of his actions. "I-"

"No," Noa said with that same smile, shaking his head. "You _saved_ me." ...Oh...

"...And th' others," he asked, eyes dimming as he recalled everything else that happened, recalled the 'memories' that had briefly flooded his mind only to be deleted from it just as quickly. "Did we save them from whatever happened here..?" He certainly hadn't bothered to try, despite the 'real him' wanting to have done that. Despite the real him wanting to erase everything that had been done, all the damage, all the trauma... It had always been passed off as useless though. Always...

"...I did what I could," the boy across from him said, still smiling sadly as Katsuya stared. "I've dulled the pain as much as I can... Lessened the clarity of images that shouldn't have occurred, so that all they will remember upon thinking back is that it hurt and that it'll never happen again. But no matter what I do the scars will always remain," he continued, his friend slowly nodding in understanding.

Yea... "...Th' memories..." What happened that was inflicted from their own minds, from their own thoughts...

That wouldn't leave, never leave, and they both knew that. Noa nodded, smile dimming as the words sunk in, the boy turning away. "For some, it'll be worse than others," he whispered, shaking his head. "And for some, the damage that's left behind will have a lasting and possibly dangerous effect... But I can't fix that," the boy continued sadly, shaking his head as he looked back. "I can't, and I..."

"...Tha's alrigh'," he told the boy, nodding his head. "Y' did what y' could righ'..?"

Another nod from Noa. "Yes... I suppose..." Another short span of silence, taking advantage of the altered timing the computer had placed them in. "...This... This is my last moment," Noa eventually said awkwardly, rubbing his shoulder as he turned somewhat away. "But in the end," the boy admitted, "I couldn't take anyone with me." Take...? "Your friend, 'Malik'," he continued, Katsuya staring in confusion. "He'd said..."

"'One Life' is everything," the blond finished, a slight vision coming to mind despite the continued digital barrier that prevented anything serious from getting into his mind. "Even one life is worth it if you can save them all..." And then... A little bit afterward... "...We are still th' same..."

"There are some people who didn't deserve to die," Noa whispered, smiling sadly as he wiped his eyes. "And others who have yet to truly live... I managed to create the first AI with real 'personalities'," he 'laughed', shaking his head as he continued to speak about the programs. "How is that even possible..?"

Katsuya could do nothing but shrug, still looking to the boy with a sad frown. "...Who knows," he whispered, eyes growing somewhat dull. "Yer a special guy, Noa..."

And still, his answers were nods. "Yes... I... I suppose so... But I still couldn't kill them," he told his friend, shaking his head and looking up at the blond across from him. "I couldn't... I've sent them somewhere safe," the boy continued, "With a 'parent' to guide them," he added with a small smile. "Someone to keep them safe, and raise them..." A parent...

But if Noa wasn't creating more programs then... "Th's 'parent'," he muttered, frowning somewhat. "Who..."

"You won't see him again," Noa assured him, shaking his head with a slight smile. "At least, I don't think so. I just wanted you to know... I... ...I'm still scared," the boy cried somewhat, looking down as he choked. "Of death... Of 'moving on', but I..." He sniffed, wiping his face with the long sleeves before facing Katsuya with a smile. "But I'm ready... So... Thank you, alright Katsuya? You're going to wake up now... In your real body but... Even though you still have three minutes," he explained, looking at him seriously, "My father... He's not fully bound to this world. Once its destroyed... Once his rage allows him to return," the boy trailed off, "I won't be able to..."

"Don' worry," the blond assured him, closing his eyes as the scene faded from around him. "_We'll figure somethin' out..._"

"_...Okay._"

Time to wake up...

* * *

'_Jonouchi..._' Someone was calling him...

His limbs were numb and feeling was only barely returning, and he thought he heard someone whisper his name.

'_Jonouchi..._' Someone was calling him, and they weren't stopping...

But there was a small rush of air around him, as though something had rushed out from wherever he was. And that voice... Where had he heard-

'_Damn it MUTT,_' the voice snarled,_ "WAKE UP!_" Wait... Seto!

"Nyh!" The blond jolted from his seated position, eyes flying open as he rose toward the source of the clearly aggravated shout.

-CONK-

"ITAAIIII!" The glass of the pod hissed completely open as Katsuya rubbed his head, groaning in pain. "Ow ow ow... Damn it," he growled, clutching his head, "Why can't these things open fas'-"

"Not now mutt," Seto hissed, grabbing the blond by the arm and pulling him roughly from the pod as he choked. It really was Seto he told himself mentally, it was- "We need to leave..!" Leave?

"Ah-" Katsuya blinked, hurriedly recalling the time they had. He didn't have to look at the screen to know it was few. Didn't have to look back to know that the computers were already beginning to go haywire under the pressure of two opposing 'CPU' intelligences... His mind was back to its usual fore-warning self, and as the seconds ticked away his face grew pale. "S-Shit," he shouted quickly, running off with a stumble as he was half-dragged into a start off by the woman who had waited behind for him. "SHIT!"

He didn't really know how fast they ran. How long it took them to get through the blood-trailed hall, or onto the already prepared to leave airship, ignoring the shrapnel and the bloodied path that led inside the vehicle. It was already rising after all, and the others were shouting from the sides, gripping support poles as they held out their hands... "HURRY," they cried, eyes wide. Ryuzaki was missing, Katsuya noted. So was Shizuka, and Mokuba... "HURRY," the four teens on the steps shouted in panic, "It's almost here..!"

And indeed it was, given the flash of the furling clouds..!

Seto was first. She leaped onto the platform and grabbed at the bar, turning back as Katsuya himself scrambled to snatch at the rising support rail that was just out of reach. But while Seto had managed to jump onto the device he himself had barely caught onto the bottom, his fingers slipping in sweat as he choked. "Gh- Ngh... Shit," he hissed, fingers beginning to slide off as the ship took off, his only attachment to the door being that one hand. "Shit," he repeated, his other arm failing to catch hold of the door, "I'm sli-"

A strong hand snatched him by the wrist, pulling the shocked blond upward as its owner scowled. "I haven't fired you yet," Seto growled, the others staring with wide eyes as the ship continued to take off. "Don't even _think_ of getting yourself killed until you give me a reason to do something like _that,_" she added, pulling her 'friend' inside as the others stared.

"Ahhh..."

"S-Seto-sama..!" The others turned as they hurried in from the outside of the ship, Kyouko breathing raggedly as she stood at the top of the stairs before them. "Seto-sama," she repeated, those behind hurriedly closing the door behind them, "The ship is being blown off course... We might not make it out of missile range in time," she continued, "We-"

"Tch..." The woman charged forward, the others following behind as they headed for the bridge with nowhere else to go. "Direct all controls to the main wheel," she announced through the 'male' tones they were familiar with, heading for the very stand she'd hot-wired earlier that morning. "This _ghost_," she snarled to herself, barely keeping her voice down even with the controlled disguise as she took up the 'wheel'. "I won't be swallowed by him..!" A button on the side was slammed down as the missile struck the water and base behind them. As flames rose from the waters and snarled with crocodile's teeth, and as a firey maw opened up and screamed

"_**SETOOOOOOOOO!**_"

With a loud 'crack' the airship abandoned the balloon like structure it carried, jets blasting the plane forward as those at the back were thrown to the ground by the force. As the fires behind them were left with an empty shell to feed off of, before falling back to the seas. Soon enough however, the shockwaves had passed... And as the plane doubled back in the air they looked down, unable to see anything but smoke... There was nothing but the flames of a dying ghost, of a ruined shadow of the past... And then...

Though he wasn't completely sure if it wasn't just him...

There was a light.

A white mist, a light, blowing over the smoke to form a smiling woman with a child, the pair waving up from the seas with relieved smiles upon their faces. "_Thank you,_" Rota called out. "_Thank you...And goodbye,_" she continued on, holding her son close as she cried, her mask abandoned and her face repaired. "_We're going home..._" They were leaving...

They were finally going to get some rest... "...Sayounara, Noa," Katsuya found himself muttering, looking down at the wreckage as the others stared almost sadly at the sight outside the bridge window. And as the mist vanished, it was almost as though the others could hear him as well...

"_Sayounara... Everyone..._"

* * *

**AN:** *sniff* S-Sayounara Noa..! U-UAAAAAAHHH...!

We've reached the end! It's been a while, but it's over..!

Which means we go back to Battle City. Yea. Remember that, with the tournament, and the thing...

And the destruction obsessed psychopath who just put Ryuzaki in a coma despite getting shocked unconcious himself? (Dark Malik will be waking up soon... Unfortunately...) We'll be covering that next chapter, but before I get any panic, at least know what Ryuzaki lives.

Wait, Ryuzaki has to appear in the Doma arc, of COURSE he lives! But yea. Remember WAYYYY back, when I mentioned to a reviewer that Ryuzaki's traumatic incident hadn't happened yet?

_It just happened_.

In other news, there isn't much art for you since I spent most of my time editing; also because something recently came up back in BC, so I'm moving back. Now... In my family, that involves driving there. Which means one of two things.

One, there will be LOTS of chapters when I get back, since I'll have nothing to do. Or two, there will be lots of ART. It all depends on if I can save enough money from odd-jobs for a netbook before then, so here's hoping... Though either way, there will probably be piles of sketches by the time I'm done. I'm not leaving until the Sixteenth of May though, so there should be updates before then.

Heck, who knows, we might make it through Jou VS Malik... Which is as far as I'll estimate, since I have PLANS for what happens after THAT one.

Of course, since I'm going to BC, this means I'm NOT going to Anime North this year. Might make the next TsukinoCon though. Little early to tell though.

Now then, though there isn't much art (At least, not _finished _art), I have _lots_ of songs below, as there were... _LOTS_ of songs that I picked out while typing this all down. So here's to likely unnecessary music suggestions, and with that out of the way its time for reviews!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

We have A LOT today! And I mean A LOT.

So first!

...Hihhhhh... Yes... Good thing is putting it _veeeeerrrry_ lightly I would think Iona...

I doubt you'd go over the limit of characters though; I get some pretty long reviews... Of course, my e-mail is on my profile, so if you ever need to say more than the limit there's always that; and I'll still respond to it as a review as well!

I'm glad you enjoyed Noa's take-down! As for spoilers, like I said; if you feel a burning need to speak, e-mail is always an option. (Can you tell I like to talk about these things? I'm a bit of an approval hound I'll admit, ahahahaha... -hides in a corner-)

As for the next chapter, YOU GET TWO! Bet you were wondering what took me so long eh?

Hey Taffy! Yea, I figured he was a troll... But hey, it was still fun responding to him!

And Anon Helper! Never seen you around... Glad to see everyone cares so much myself. I feel so loved, ahaha... *sniff*

OH! MaggieMay! It's been a while, hasn't it! I'm glad you enjoy it so far, and also glad you managed to catch up! As for a 'hug'... Well, if the 'I caught a falling body' wasn't enough (Which it likely wasn't, ahaha...), there's something in the chapter just above that should tide you over until what happens next...

Though it's not hentai, I will say that much. I'll keep working at it though!

Well, I re-read these to edit them, so… …Still… A head smack? …I don't know anymore Cynical Gamer! AHHHH…

AND OOOOOOHHHH YEA. Bad move! Heck, it looks like anything sets this ghost off looking at the finale…

At… Least she's moved on? In truth, I often write ghosts with 'black VS white' personalities, since that's supposedly what a 'real ghost' is stuck with. You'll see an example of this again in the Doma Arc actually; there's a reason why Yugi is 'the kid with the leash' when it comes to the Millennium Puzzle, and I'm pretty sure it's so that we don't end up with another Malik situation.

It really _does_ put a new twist on things doesn't it..? Jou the Compy is probably the hardest thing I have EVER had to write. On the one hand, it's all logical and emotionless… But on the other, all his memories keep coming up in little files with handy points on how he 'should' act based on those memories. Recently, I wondered… '_Does this make Computer!Jou a Heartless?_' Hnnnn…

And OHHHHH Shinato Jou… I LOVED how Shinato Jou came out, and it makes me wish that I had a reason to slap costumes like that on everyone in the rest of the series…

But I don't. Which is why the VR arcs are so heavily altered admittedly; in addition to my desire to write something more action oriented, I have this burning need to put everyone in 21st century inappropriate clothing.

Ohhhhh, you got your answer for Noa..! It's a _very_ good thing Rota intervened… But yes; that handy memory-logic kicked in again and saved Yugi big time, hehehe.

Any ways. Millennium Psycho's aside (Which Noa would have ironically avoided…)… OHHHHH… THAT chapter. I completely understand your laughter then. And I suppose Honda _does_ deserve _some_ credit… Mostly for turning out to be fairly cool while stuck in the 'not-body', but yes. Yes he does.

And I know right? I was fairly surprised to find all this out; it's actually part of what cemented how Jonouchi acts when _he_ gets depressed. Obviously most of it is based on Jonouchi's actions himself, but there was an entire _arc_ in GX that pretty much put Judai's head in a depressive blender… Which is partially why my brain constantly brings up this frightening fact; Jou and Kaiba are actually more similar than one would think… And if just a few things went differently in the past, Jonouchi could have turned into one SCARY S.O.B. (Thankfully, he did not.)

And yessss… The Yu-Jyo card… If you have 'Unity' in your hand, that one loses its point completely, hehehehe… (Unity actually makes me a little sad; again, Bakura is gone… But Otogi isn't. Poor Bakura. )

AND NEVER! NEVER!~~~

I will take… ...Love?

And hnnnn… Good point… Ah! Thank you for the compliment! I'm glad she comes off as accurate! …

I thought we agreed that you'd give me love instead of hate!

And it really _does_, doesn't it. Ironically, all of this equates to exactly what Noa said; those two are the first 'real' AI programs with their own personalities. Granted, they're still logic driven (… Spock? -shot-), but hey.

And… *takes a bow* It was one of the most fun to type, next to these two for the finale! Harsh barely describes it though… Each time I got through a paragraph I'd look up and think 'Dear LORD, what am I PUTTING him through!'… And Ren… Oh Ren…

The question now is more what everyone _else_ will do now that the pair are… Cooperating. Normally I would say that such cooperation is OOC, but right now they pretty much went through a full on mind-meld; they've got each others memories. Heck, Anzu can likely hold a conversation in Arabic now, so long as she focuses _really_ carefully on the words. We'll be touching a lot more on that (the reaction to possession) in the next chapter though, seeing how Computer!Jou isn't holding it back now.

No… Now we'll just have poor Ryuzaki… (AHHHHHHH WHAT HAVE I DONE..!)

Well, I hope you enjoyed these next two chapters; they've put me through more unease than the last one really, since there was… A LOT of stuff here.

Mostly past lives and sword fights. Those are the big ones on my worry list, though Anzu's pretty high up there as well…

Any ways, until next time, enjoy!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga And Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that has a nice bunch on Germany today! And... It's over! THE NOA ARC... IT'S... ALL...

…

This section will just have to start gearing up for the next arc really.

* * *

The 'Final Gate'? Well it pretty much is. It's the last part of one arc, entering the final half of Battle City... And entering a number of 'final challenges', or at least, a number of 'final' ones for that year.

* * *

Originally, Seto barely knew Siegfried; in fact, he only remembered him after an _intense_ show of hacking into his system during the KC Grand Prix arc. In the anime, Siegfried and his father were invited to a dinner party of Gozaburo's, rather than the fanfic version of the opposite. Moreover, Siegfried had set a program to work on the lights while he was talking to Seto _beside the businessmen_. (And yes, Herja was essentially created just because I didn't want another businessman. Quite frankly, it's not impossible by a longshot; heck, as I recall, Germany's Chancellor, or 'Head of Government', is a woman.)

Also for some reason, Seto looks pretty scared in that scene. I mean, I get that he's only about 12ish or something like that, but… Come on.

Any ways, Siegfried, or rather, _young_ Siegfried, comes across as fairly smug, not to mention used to doing whatever the heck he wants regardless of what others say. And while I'm pretty sure he's a bit (A LOT) of an ass when he actually shows up like… Six years later, there's something one must remember; it's implied that Siegfried pretty much got all of the _good_ points of rich life that Seto _didn't_, while Seto beat Siegfried out on all of the good _business_ points…

Also, if you go by the anime, had Seto not been adopted it's quite likely they'd all be playing on duel disks made by Schrodiner Corp, as Seto very narrowly beat Siegfried to the punch when it came to clinching that deal with Pegasus. Ooooooh, no wonder Sieg was so pissed.

Any ways, seeing how none of that has happened yet, and how I'll be throwing in _another_, _additional_ reason for the hate, he's a lot nicer as a kid. …Then again, so was Seto.

* * *

Herja, by the way, is pronounced 'Hair-yah'. 'J' in Germany is pronounced like a 'Y'. Herja's name actually spawned a Germanic Goddess of War by the name of 'Hariasa', but Herja itself is the name of another Valkyrie. Specifically, she's from the longer of two lists of Valkyries… Also, her name means 'Devastate'. Oooooh.

Also, Herja is officially the coolest mom EVER. She knows EVERYTHING.

EVERYTHING! That wasn't even intended! Damn you OC's, writing yourselves..!

* * *

Also, 'V' is pronounced more like 'F', whereas the 'W' sound is pronounced 'V'. In fact, Germany doesn't _have_ a 'W' sound. We were out there once, and Judith, a friend of the family was talking with us… And while we joked around, we called her a 'wimp'. Later on, still joking around, she shouts 'VIMP!'. But not because she was taking advantage of the 'W'. It was _actually_ because of the fact that she wasn't familiar enough with the sound.

This is what accents do to your brain.

* * *

'Frau' means 'Woman', and refers to adults specifically. However, it was originally only used for _Married_ women. Now adays, it's used as a courtesy title for unmarried, adult women as well, in the place of Ms. or Mrs.

And of course, 'Frau_lein_' means 'Girl'…

* * *

No seriously, _WHAT DID GOZABURO DO WITH MOKUBA_? We're never told what they did with him, and the fact is, the only reason he was there was because Seto wouldn't come without him. Heck… I have a feeling he was pretty much just a 'ghost' in the house, or worse, locked away in his room, at least outside of likely tutoring given that Fanfic!Gozaburo _did_ at one point intend to have Mokuba act as an actual sibling to Noa…

* * *

Seto's mental reminder refers to the common speech pattern differences between girls and guys in Japan. Girls for one, tend to be more polite about their speech, and will normally use 'watashi', or 'atashi'… In fact, those are just about the only way they can refer to themselves without seeming weird!

Boys on the other hand, have boku, and 'ore' and many others… The latter of which is VERY masculine and will NEVER be heard from a woman's mouth! …Which is exactly why little Seto is training herself to use that one in regards to herself. As it is, had she still been raised a woman, there's… Really little other option for her, as 'Boku' wouldn't sound at all professional _or_ 'higher-than-thou. I _suppose_ that as a stretch she might have used 'watakushi', as I'm fairly certain Gozaburo would have raised a woman to be more polite than 'battle ready' but…

Well, to put _THAT_ in perspective, _ISHIZU_ uses _that_ one, so it's not likely… …Actually, non-crossdresssing Fem!Kaiba would possibly have used 'Jibun' as well; it's a fairly detached way to refer to oneself, and actually _very_ militarized given the fact that it indicates a selfless devotion to duty but… It's also technically gender-neutral, making it very useful in that respect.

Speaking of this, there's an Osakan dialect specific one for ladies; Uchi. Shizuka quite likely uses this to refer to herself actually, seeing how Fanfic!Shizuka is Osakan herself.

* * *

Sad sad irony is that Siegfried took over his company the same time Kaiba did.

Which means Sieg's parents are dead too. Poor guy…

* * *

Dating is when you try and get to know that 'one' you like and hope to heck it works out, or that you get laid. We know this. _Courting_ however, is done with the pure intent of marriage.

Thankfully, Siegfried was doing neither. Ohohoho…

* * *

In Germany, the summer holiday varies from state to state (the one Siegfried is in is Bavaria), but generally it's six weeks. In Japan however, it's only four… (Though Japan has a lot more holidays scattered elsewhere.)

* * *

Also, in Japanese, 'Kusine' sounds similar to 'kuji-ru', or at least an alternate pronunciation of the verb… Which means 'to pick'. As in picking at one's teeth. Ohohoho…

Yes, the computer is translating their memories.

No, this isn't always a good thing. Poor Kaiba…

* * *

WAIT. A. SECOND. Cousins! That's right! Noa and Siegfried, in the fanfic, are biologically related. Herja is Rota's sister; this is how she knows Gozaburo, and also how she has a _slight_ bit of leverage… Key word being slight.

This is also why Herja spotted Seto as a woman (Siegfried actually DID keep his mouth shut.); rather than seeing Noa, as everyone else did, she saw her _sister_.

* * *

Garmisch-Partenkirchen is a town of about 25,000 people near the mountain 'Zugspitze', which is the tallest mountain in the Alps. It's a fairly nice town from what I can tell, but I've unfortunately never been there… (I say unfortunately because I actually _have_ been to Germany; I just happened to be in the Manheim area instead. Mrr.)

* * *

I bet anyone mentally shipping SiegxKaiba right now is sort of tripping over the fact that Sieg likely sees her as a cousin. Because he _was_ alive when Noa was after all, and he was probably _very_ aware of what Noa looked like. You can bet that he's kept his mouth shut about how similar Seto looks.

* * *

Why did Seto miss 'Kusine'? First off, pronounced with the nice thick German accent, it sounds more like 'koo-zine' (possibly with an 'ih' at the end depending on accents) than cousin, so she sort of missed it… As she doesn't think in English. In Japanese, cousin is 'Itoko'.

* * *

If Seto seems OOC, it's for a good reason; she's being completely overwhelmed and affected by the emotions she had in the past. And mini-Seto really _did_ enjoy those summers.

(As for how she got in those dresses, it was a mix of the excuse that the maids would spill the beans if dirt was found on her own clothing, along with the initial 'they'll be looking for two boys'. At the second summer, the clothing comment was enough, because she was subconsciously looking forward to it. On the third one, she was just putting up a front.)

And by the way, she turned fourteen that year. You can guess really quickly just how fast it went downhill from there... Though an additional reason will be brought up MUCH later.

* * *

OH HEY. GERMAN STUFF.

_All_ of the German is accurate by the way, and not translated by means of a translator... Instead I asked my dad. Who actually used to teach it. And also speaks it. Huzzah! Granted, if I have a native speaker making complaints I'll be listening; native tops teacher after all.

* * *

AHHHHH. AHHHHHHHHHHH- You know what this means? It means Gozaburo knew, ALL ALONG.

AHHHHHHH-.

* * *

Now, I don't play chess, but that doesn't mean I can't cheat and find a recorded match online. This one is Garry Kasparov VS Lajos Portisch, from 1983; Garry was, ironically, using white. He also won _with the Queen_. Handy isn't it?

I skipped a number of moves in the middle for the sake of speed though. You can find the entire match here: http : / / www. chessgames. com/ perl/ chessgame? Gid= 1070074

And also yes, they are essentially playing GUNDAM CHESS. Normal Yugi is kind of having a spazz about it right now in his head while the Other Yugi gleans the rules from him and takes off. (They didn't play Chess in Egypt… Granted, it takes a split second for him to get the rules…)

* * *

The bird that Malik is using is an Egyptian Condor, and it's the second animal that represents Egypt; specifically the lower region. In other words, it's another Goddess from the double crown. I just thought it worked more here, since Nehkbet (The Vulture) was white, whereas Wadjet was… Well, green.

* * *

Something I forgot to mention, but 'Pr-ah' or 'Per-aa' as some spell it, is the Egyptian term for the Pharaoh. Hooray!

* * *

Interesting fact, but in the manga, the jet that the Kaiba siblings left in was actually just a fighter jet painted like Blue-Eyes. No really!

* * *

Oh_ Noa_…

The sprits aren't dead, don't worry! As for that 'eagle', it's Mai's bird actually. Ryuzaki's raptor would be there, but his raptor is a little… Um, distracted at the moment.

* * *

You've probably noticed that the tauk isn't doing a good job of protecting Ryuzaki. That's partially because it's falling loose on the shoelace, and also because the Millennium Rod is REALLY POWERFUL and kinda actually meant for battle.

Baka yarou is a slightly more insulting form of 'Baka'. Now, normally, that would bring a moment of 'is that _all_ he could think of' in terms of insult quality, what with baka normally being about as serious as 'moron!'

But then you remember the fact that in the Kansai region, the insult severity switches with 'ahou', giving it a level similar to 'asshole'. So add in _another_ level of insult to it...

Oh, and he was trying to say 'bitch' the first time around.

* * *

When Ryuzaki say's gold is a 'super-conductor', think of it this way. A _normal_ conductor has a low resistance as it is, and can conduct electricity with ease. Silver, by far, is one of the best conductors. On a chart, it has a conductivity of '6.30×107'.

Then there's gold. Gold is a good enough conductor that it's used for high-quality surface-to-surface contacts, and it's level is '4.52×107 Copper? It's at 5.80, which is why it's used in cables. So yea. You don't want to be connecting those two things, you'll electrocute yourself!

* * *

Castling is a move where the King and the Rook can, provided they haven't moved until that point, scoot together and switch places. It's pretty handy actually, since you have a nice rook there for protection…

* * *

For some reason, when Noa spoke through the virtual world and… Even in Mokuba's _body_, he used his _normal_ voice. I mean… I suppose if there's only a slight difference in pitch it's possible but…

Needless to say, it's still a Jou voice.

* * *

Originally, Yugi had this line of 'I trust you', because it was the 'light' Yugi in control. But at the moment, it's still the other Yugi… So no.

Also, Jonouchi's brain is still a compy, so he knows that Noa at least came back and did all this stuff, which kind of says he's trying to help. Also, Mokuba's back in the system, sooooo…

* * *

Hey, re-breathers! A little older than you think, though it still needs a tank of oxygen to get going. As to why Noa thinks he can get away with using an oxygen tank that is _THAT OLD_, he doesn't; he's just hoping no one else catches on, and that they get the hell out of there.

* * *

'Daijyoubu' is a common phrase that essentially means 'it's alright'. It comes from 'dai', or 'big' and 'jyoubu', which means 'healthy', or 'strong'. The 'da' at the end of Jou's statement is a masculine (and outside of informal situations rude) form of 'desu' that boys tend to use (girls would ordinarily not), whereas 'yo' is a particle meant to 'convince'. In other words, the 'yo' is Jonouchi saying 'it'll be alright' in a situation where most wouldn't believe him.

As for the 'mitte' (Nigero is a form of the verb 'to run away' if you haven't guessed.) term, I've probably mentioned it before, but you very rarely refer to a person who's right there in a sentence. It's a given that if you're speaking, you're either talking about them or yourself. So if it's something like 'see', then it's obvious to the Japanese that you aren't talking about seeing yourself, you're talking about seeing _them_.

Of course, Jou still has to convince them. (And yes, his wall broke again. Poor guy. What this meant though was that he was actively able to use all that he was connected to though... Not to mention reach Seto INSTANTLY... )

* * *

Despite being divided over the course of two episodes, Gozaburo VS Seto was actually a fairly pathetic match. It only lasted five turns.

* * *

Remember those times where I said _'wait until I go into detail on Gozaburo'_?

GUESS WHAT TIME IT IS. So we're going to work 'chronologically' here. We start at the beginning, with a Gozaburo that is _drastically_ different from our current one. Maybe has a bit of a temper, a little high-strung, but for the sake of the fanfic he's otherwise a loving father and a good husband. (He just happens to be a really big jack ass when it comes to supplying weaponry to both sides of the war front.)

Noa, at this point, is his perfect child. He's brilliant, he's happy, he's _more_ than a bit of a 'daddy's boy', and in addition to all of this shares (apparently) similar tastes with dear dad. I'm pretty sure we wouldn't have seen them sailing if that wasn't the case.

Then Noa dies. Like any grieving father there's that moment of 'I would give anything to have him back'; and what do you know, he has an option. Noa is hooked up, but what he fails to realize is that his mind will deteriorate to a computerized state. Failing to realize this, Gozaburo continues as though he's got two lives; there's his wife, along with the possibility of a second child. Then there's Noa. But Noa wants back in that life, and doesn't have time to wait for Gozaburo to fix that for him. And because of what he does, he pushes Rota right to the edge…

So Gozaburo loses his second child before its born, along with his wife, leaving him with only Noa. This means _all_ of his care goes into this boy; so when he sees _Seto_, who is identical in appearance and possibly just as intelligent, an idea hatches… He starts training Seto frantically to Noa's level, trying to 'replace' Noa, just in case those memories don't transfer. So we get the violence when Seto refuses, we get the distaste when Seto's interests don't match, and more importantly, Seto is viewed not as a son, but as a vessel. And then, shortly before Seto hits that 'twelve year mark', the deal is made with Noa.

But Noa does some research and spills the beans; Seto's a girl. Before Gozaburo can even _react_, Noa pulls his creepy side up. '_It doesn't matter anyways; a body is a body, right..? Or maybe I could take the little boy…_' More creepy business happens, and in the end Gozaburo abandons the computer, refusing to acknowledge 'it' as his son.

By this point, Gozaburo is a very broken man. He's lost his wife, and, in his eyes, his son. The 'son' that would replace him is a daughter, and needless to say, that stings like hell. But, regardless, Seto resemble's Noa completely, and Gozaburo's twisted and shattered mind cannot handle the truth that his son is gone. Therefore, the negative treatment continues, with the reactions to even the _slightest_ difference between the two filled with rage because of that refusal to accept the truth, the frustration that Seto is not and _cannot_ be 'his son', and more or less a defensive reaction to the grief that fact likely causes. In the end, we get the Gozaburo we know… The heartless, war-focused man who constantly tried to push Seto into that same path. It's like TVTropes says; about the nicest thing you can call Gozaburo is a 'Knight Templar Father'.

As for Ghost Gozaburo… Basically, you take all of those negative traits and raise the bar to eleven, with no moderation. There's your ghost.

AND THAT IS HOW YOU MAKE A GOZABURO.

…Dang that was long. Sorry about that.

* * *

Fun fact; Contract With Exodia doesn't actually require a lifepoint cost. Another thing that's different is Necross' attack point gain; it's 500 points per standby phase.

* * *

_Obviously_ Exodia wasn't the last thing for Yugi to win with against Kaiba, but the match at the Duelist Kingdom wasn't official, so Gozaburo can't tell.

* * *

Hey, you know the Luster Dragon? How there's TWO? One is actually called 'Emerald Dragon'. The translators just forgot they already had a luster dragon (Originally Sapphire Dragon I think.) so they ended up with a second one.

* * *

And yes some of the dialogue was still moved and or cut from the battle. A-durp-durp-durp…

* * *

If you look close, this last encounter with Noa was predicted as well; namely the part with the dog _not_ being him in Jonouchi's last dream. (Remember that?)

* * *

And AHHHHHHH these scenes… So depressing… And sad…

But it had to be done; and look, Noa gets his eternal peace now! So happy endings…

Mostly. But we'll be covering that in the next chapter, when we return to Battle City.

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

Remove spaces, paste links; easy!

Lots of sketches for this chapter, but there _are_ a few in colour...

Sketch/Reference: Shizuka, Yugi, Katsuya – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ KatsuyaYugiShizuka. jpg - This is what these guys looked like after snapping out of the memory prison; Yugi basically got more leather (and his Puzzle!), Shizuka ended up with a weird mix of her actual clothes and the Ruin costume, and Jonouchi got half-and-half. Regardless of colour however, they were all wearing white during the chess match.

Sketch/Reference: Otogi, Anzu, Honda – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ HondaAnzuOtogi. jpg - Hey look! I finally figured out how to draw Otogi without making him look like a complete tool. (Seriously, every time I drew him it was like 'AWWWW Usagi, you screwed up his nose AGAIN.') Which is good, because I was beginning to wonder if people were noticing... Ahem. Any ways. Otogi as you can see is pretty much wearing his real clothes... Though he's missing his shoes. _Anzu_ on the other hand, actually got a mix of her clothes and Malik's... And _Ishizu's_. Her memories are _so_ muddled now that the computer couldn't get a hit on her outfit.

And of course, Honda's is a furred mix of his VR costume and his real clothes... … Woof.

Sketch/Concept: Ghosts – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Ghosts1. jpg - In which we have a flaming alligator, Rota's mask, and Noa. Yaaaaay~

Spoilers!Sketch Sheet: Chess and Capmon – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Sketch. jpg - There's a cast for the Capmon arc there! ...You can already tell how different it'll be. Any ways, here you go, each of the chess pieces; you can probably guess which one is which. As for the capmon crew...

No comment! Also, Ryuzaki's aunt. Yay~

Sketch: 'After the Battle' – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Ryuzakihalfdead. jpg - Oh GOD Ryuzaki... I'll make it up to you I swear! -cries-

Summer Memories – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ SiegKaiba. jpg - Look it's Seto! ...In... A... Dress. Times like this when I remember who Seto _is_, and then snicker inwardly. It's actually really _weird_ drawing Seto in a dress; probably because I know that the canon one is a guy. Ohohoho~ (She doesn't look too bad in the middle one; which is good, as Sieg actually had that one _made_ for her, not that she knows. The others were all last minute.)

Siegfried on the other hand... I have no problems drawing him in a dress, and frankly I am not surprised. (Though I think his head might be a little big...)

* * *

Musical Notes

So... Many... SONGS!

I added lots of songs during this chapter; most of my music wasn't suited for it so... Yea.

First off, from The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya is 'God Knows'... But not the original. Instead, it's this one, the 'slow' version... I have two links here though, for this reason. The slow version isn't subbed. _BUT_... Someone created a kareoke version for a dubbed version.

And quite frankly, I LOVE this translation. You can find the Kareoke here: http : / / www. youtube. com/ watch? v= efSgaC19VfQ

And the actual music _here_: http : / / www. youtube. com/ watch? v= v4uxniWcmj4

There's an even _slower_ version as well; you can find it by searching 'God Knows Sad version'. (It'll be the one that's seven minutes.) I listened to this one as well... It's _really_ good for the tearjerker scenes.

Other songs I listened to include 'Just Be Friends; Piano Version', specifically a cover by Yamai, along with The Last Revolver by Gumi...

And for the _Battle_ scenes, something more peppy. They don't have _ANYTHING_ to do with the fanfic, but 'Rhapsody of the Loup Garou' (Vocaloids Megurine Luka and Kamui Gakupo) and 'Harvest' (Kagamine Rin) are REALLY fast, really peppy, and thereby pretty awesome for fight scenes. Well, unless you're talking 'Ryuzaki VS Malik'. For that one, I pretty much stuck with siGrE, the 'Banana Cream' chorus version.

Because Banana Cream actually _subtitles_ their covers. So you can still understand what they're saying if you search 'siGre Banana'. (Don't search 'cream'; that part is written in Katakana, so you'll screw the search.)

Next, 'Black Paper Moon', which most will know as the second Soul Eater opening... And...

Last of all there is 'Dancer in the Dark', which was used during the Seto scenes. The chorus version is _really_ good... But the original is by Luka.

Well, that's all for my shameless (And for once, LONG!) music recommendations... The next chapter might be a bit, but it should be out before I take off.

Until then, enjoy this double post, and I'll see you next time!


	98. Chapter 97

**Reset Button**

* * *

In the wake of disappearing ashes of the ruin beneath them, there was nothing but silence among them. Each of those who had just fled from Noa's 'world' were in that bridge room now, staring through the window with nearly identical expressions across their faces... With looks of dull depression and faded eyes, watching as scraps of metal from the airship sank to the depths of the ocean while the now 'jet' transport they were being carried within flew over it with ease. "Noa," Mokuba whispered, looking through the window. "I guess... ...He's gone now..."

Gone. Dead. They were the same thing but... The fact was, for Noa, it was probably best. "When you think about it," Yugi whispered quietly, "He wasn't so much 'evil' as he was..."

"Confused." Anzu, golden eyes revealing it to be Malik for the moment bowed 'her' head, staring through the window as a few of the others turned to the somewhat altered pattern of speech. "He was just... Confused. He wanted his father back," the teen continued quietly, "And he wanted to see the real world again." "He was just a scared little boy," the real Anzu continued as she looked up with again blue-brown eyes. "Just..."

"They were both idiots," Seto's growling and disguised voice muttered, the woman standing behind them with crossed arms as the group turned. "Noa _and_ Gozaburo." There was a large amount of distaste visible in her expression. Seemingly endless amounts of hate, rage... Though they'd escaped from the fire after all, they had yet to escape everything else. As it was however, she wasn't yet finished with speaking. "Both of those fools wasted our time completely... And if you know what's good for you," she continued almost threateningly as she looked to the group, "You'll forget that whatever happened down there even occurred..."

Katsuya and Mokuba both frowned, the others following their actions. After all. It was one thing to tell them to forget what happened to them... But what the others learned there was an entirely separate matter, and though the initial shock of hearing a 'familiar' and male voice from Kaiba's mouth kept them silent for a moment, the knowledge that it was 'wrong' opened their mouths back up. "...You... You can tell us to forget all you want," Otogi said somewhat quietly as he looked to the woman, eyes narrowing somewhat as he shook his head. "But... That doesn't mean you're right..."

"We know what we saw in there," Honda continued with a similar tone, silent and seemingly invisible tension rising in the air as the teen swallowed. "And you can't change that... You..."

"Seto-sama," one of the pilots called from the side, cutting Honda off before he could finish. The man gave a slight gesture to the screen before continuing, hands firmly on the wheel. "We're now back on course," he said somewhat plainly, "And we should arrive at Alcatraz in approximately 45 minutes."

The woman turned, nodding somewhat curtly before looking down upon the others once again. They were going back to the tournament now... Back to what they had yet to finish, but- "...This bridge is for staff only," she said stiffly, arms still crossed as the others stared almost incredulously in response. "I suggest you each leave and find some way to entertain yourself until we land..." Enter-

"Gh- An' what's that s'pposed t' mean," Katsuya growled, narrowing his eyes as the woman moved to stand near the 'central' controls. "You jus' gonna ignore all this then," he asked, growling under his breath. "That it?"

The look they received in response was far colder than what he'd gotten used to in recent times, and far more threatening than he'd have liked. "When this ship lands," the woman said darkly, seeming almost reminiscent of the 'her' from before even Duelist Kingdom, "This tournament is going to continue as planned; it is currently fifteen minutes after nine," she continued as the group stared. "By the time we reach Alcatraz it will be ten o'clock, half an hour from the expected continuation of the tournament. From that time however," Seto growled, "There are still four hours before a helicopter with the equipment and space required for each of the unconscious on board will reach the island." Four... Four hours..? As the others slowly realized just what the woman was getting at, she turned away, leaving to stand at the bridge 'head' to look to the approaching tower of Alcatraz. "If I were you," she hissed almost under her breath, "I would take as much time to _prepare_ for your next match as possible... Because regardless of what happens," the woman warned, "This tournament will go on."

"You're kidding," Otogi muttered, "You-"

"Leave the bridge," she said stonily. "Now."

They'd left the room after that for obvious reasons; no one wanted to argue with Seto at the moment, and frankly, they had other things to check on. And the fact was that though there was no real way to tell _what_ was on Seto's mind, whatever it was was most assuredly important. Which was likely why it was such a relief when they left the room, or so it seemed to Mokuba as he stood at his sister's side in silence. The woman beside him still had a stony look across her face, and as the others cleared the room both siblings stood in silence, Mokuba briefly watching as his sister's expression and stiff posture slackened somewhat to the more stressed one she held after coming back from a long day at work. Seto was more shaken than even before, even with everything over it seemed. Even though Noa was dead now, the boy muttered mentally to himself, the light-haired 'boy' coming to mind at that thought. He couldn't remember much from their final moments, but he thought that when he was about to wake up he could hear him apologizing... And then when they'd left, he'd told them 'I'll make it', that he would find a way out...

But that had been a lie, hadn't it? Mokuba bit his lip, looking down at the ground as a few tears dotted his eyes, recalling the expression Noa had given them when he looked back to him. He'd known he was going to die... But he'd also known that to stay would mean the same fate for Katsuya, and that it was him or them. So then he... He...

For their sakes...

Mokuba wiped his eyes, shaking himself with an almost shuddering swallow. He needed to pull himself together he told himself, still staring at the ground. He had to keep living and... ...And for Noa's sake the boy decided, he'd live for him too. No matter what... And he couldn't just rely on everyone else either, he thought to himself with a swallow. He had to stop letting everyone get hurt trying to fight him... Stop pulling people in for his sake, like what Seto did trying to get him back, when she'd pushed herself past the point of death... Which meant, he thought somewhat nervously, not simply following people around either. He couldn't blindly follow his sister with whatever she wanted to do... He had to help her too, didn't he? And the same with Katsuya- he couldn't just tag along with him whenever he was bored. Katsuya needed his own time too, and he'd done fine without him before, and...

And the fact was, no matter what either of them thought, they couldn't be strong all the time. Not really...

"Mokuba," Seto said at that moment, the boy turning upward as his sister looked down in slight worry. "...You're quiet... Are you alright," she asked, her brother blinking again.

The boy hurriedly nodded, smiling nervously as he searched his mind for an excuse to give. "A-Ah... Y-Yea," he said with a cough ,"I'm fine..." At least as fine as he could be after that mess below... So... "I'm just nervous..." Very nervous, he mentally corrected. There was still the rest of the tournament and it all involved that same maniac that was still on board. Speaking of which... "...We're almost there," he said after a few moments, momentarily wondering just where 'Malik', the 'dark one' at least, had disappeared to. "At Alcatraz..."

Seto nodded almost absently in response, her arms still crossed. "That's right..." His sister continued to stare through the window, eyes seeming to grow dim. "We're almost at the tower..." The tower that had originally been built with the intent of flaunting power over the others. The tower that was now the last thing that remained of the time influenced by Gozaburo. The tower that held the last memory of a time before 'Death-T', a darkened time that was filled with something that only one simple, tiny and seemingly harmless word could describe.

'Wrong'.

Once they got rid of that tower he told himself, they would focus on happier times... Maybe, no matter how long it took, Seto would start to open up... She and Katsuya would get closer, and his friends would become her friends, if not just slowly. But right now, the boy thought to himself, that wasn't what mattered, at least not immediately.

Because right now, their tournament wasn't even continuing because of the fact that it was a tournament, or because of the fact that its end would herald the beginning of a new and better story. Now it was continuing as a way to pass time and keep the others alive, keep them in at least somewhat livable conditions until their escape came. But as the radio crackled, even that had failed it seemed, as both he and his sister paled with the severity of the words they heard. "**Sir,**" the familiar voice of their doctor said somewhat choppily, "**There's something we need to speak about. In person.**"

Whatever it was that Mokuba had expected Kuzushi to tell them as they left for the doctor's office was certainly not good... But it would have been absolutely foolish to think it had been anywhere near as 'good' as he'd expected, he told himself later on.

* * *

Shortly after they left the bridge, it seemed as though a mantle had been lifted from the crowd. As they walked down the hall of the upper floor of the enormous jet they had, for the most part, remained silent. But even within a few steps the feeling of unease began to vanish, along with the sensations of fear, of trauma and nervousness that had been instilled by the combined horrors of Noa's Virtual World. And finally, after a few more moments in silence, there was one long and loud release of held breath from one of the teens around them, the group pausing momentarily to turn. "Hahhhhhhhhhhh... I swear to god Jonouchi," Honda groaned, shaking his head as he looked to the blond with a slight laugh. "I don't know... _How_ you can live through that, but..."

"There's no 'but'," Otogi added with a swallow, his own expression not quite as 'amused' as his friend's as it was somewhat disbelieving. "How do you _live_ with that..?"

Katsuya blinked, staring at the others with slight surprise. "Er... Live w' what," he asked confusedly.

Yugi as well seemed to stare, before the hovering 'other' half beside him caught on. "_Ah- I believe they're referring to Kaiba's use of ventriloquism,_" he muttered, before smiling in slight amusement as his friend blinked. "_And I have to admit,_" he laughed, rubbing his head somewhat._ "It's more than a little disconcerting to start..._"

What..? Oh come on... "Nyyyyyyh..."

"Hahaha... The other me has a point," Yugi laughed, the rest of the group turning as Yugi went on to somewhat 'explain' what they'd been talking about beyond most 'normal' ears. "When Kaiba-san uses her fake voice..."

"Well," Honda 'cheered' with a sigh, "At least we _know _what the hell was going on now."

"Er... What..." Alright, what were they talking about..?

"That's right," Otogi added, nodding with a somewhat amused smirk as he continued with the comments on whatever unknown topic he and his friend was on. "There's no need for us to question who your mysterious date is- now we know it's a lie to hide your crush," he continued, chuckling somewhat as the smirk grew. WH-

"EH? I wasn' even' sayin' anythin' abou' a date," he protested loudly. "You guys 're th' ones tha' did tha'!"

"And I'm sure that _eventually _you'll find a way past the pride, the antagonism, the low tolerance for 'loss'... Well... Everything," 'Malik' added, with a somewhat awkwardly placed smirk given Anzu's usual expression. "To make things work out." Work-

A-AHH! Katsuya continued to tense, growing red in the face. "GH- I AIN' DATIN'-"

-_SMACK_-

"ITEEE_EEEH_!"

Shizuka sighed, crossing her arms as the blond beside her rubbed his head. "Hnnn... _Nihan_," she muttered, shaking her head and rubbing her somewhat stinging hand somewhat before crossing her arms. "Honestly..! Is this _really_ the time for that kind of thing," the girl continued, looking at her brother with narrowed eyes

The blond merely frowned, grumbling to himself as his sister again sighed before beginning to walk away.

"Hahhh... I'm going to go see Keichi," she decided, moving past the others to go upstairs before glancing back at the others with a frown. "You should probably do what Kaiba-han asked and check over your deck," she added, "Just incase you have to fight... ...'Him'," the girl said with a swallow. Well... That was always a good idea he supposed, given who 'he' probably was, but-

"Hard to believe we've still got _this_ crap to deal with," Honda muttered, crossing his arms with yet another sigh as Shizuka disappeared upstairs.

"I know," Anzu added, her eyes and voice identifying her as herself once again as she shook her head. "We just got out of Noa's computer... And there's still the tournament, and 'Dark' Malik..." The woman's eyes flashed over, a far more guilty expression coming over her face as the lighter and original half began to speak. "...This is all my fault," 'Malik' muttered, leaning against the wall and against shaking 'his' head. "If I'd just done things differently... If I'd realized who it really was that killed 'him'..." Ah... 'Him'? A flash came to mind, the blond holding back a slight wave of nausea as a blood-spattered wall came to mind along with a scream. ...Erm...

Never mind... A few of the others blinked, trading looks as Otogi voiced the other's likely opinion on the situation. Namely the one standing before them, which had nothing to do with whatever was running through Katsuya's head. "Ah... ...Malik," the teen said somewhat hesitantly, 'Malik' in question turning as his 'friend' coughed. "...You seem oddly comfortable with this... Ah... This..."

"What," Malik asked somewhat flatly. "What is it?"

Well, they were staring at Anzu's breasts and Malik wasn't so... "Dude, you're in a _girl_'s body," Honda blurted, the apparent woman blinking once again in apparent confusion as the others stared. "How are you... I mean... Functioning... And... ...Uh..."

And... Yea that covered it. Malik narrowed 'his' eyes, crossing 'his' arms as a very much Anzu-typical expression came over the body's face. "There's _how_ much going on," 'he' growled in a manner almost similar to the body's own despite obvious gender-differences, "And _this_is your main concern?"

The two teens shrugged, gesturing awkwardly to the woman's form as Malik continued to scowl. "Wellllll..."

"Hah... Ahahaha... L... Lets just leave things as they are," Yugi laughed somewhat nervously, shaking his head. "The important thing is that we're all alive, right? And once we deal with the 'other' Malik," he continued, "You can go back to being... ...You," he finished somewhat lamely. "...Right?"

There was another awkward cough and look toward 'Anzu' at that, Malik turning away somewhat as he himself caught on to the strangeness of the situation. "Right," he said with a cough. "I'll just-"

The door to the bridge slammed open, Seto storming past with wide eyes and a somewhat uncharacteristic expression as the others stumbled to the sides. "W-What th' hell-," Katsuya began, only to find himself cut off by a billowing white coat.

"_Move,_" Seto said stonily, Yugi and the others scarcely doing as told in time for the woman to head for the stairs upward with eerily out of place speed.

"H- What th' hell," Katsuya muttered, shaking himself as he stared toward the staircase. "What's going on..?"

"Nothing good, that's what," Mokuba answered, the others watching as the boy briefly paused from following his sister to swallow and stare at them pale-faced. "...Follow me..!"

There was really little other choice than that they decided, nodding hurriedly as they did just that, nodding and rushing up the stairs to come outside the door to the boy's room. No other choice...

But as they came to look at the hall outside the stairs, Katsuya found himself growing pale, freezing in place as the others gathered around him.

Shizuka. Shizuka was... "Ah... Uaaaaaaahhhh... Uaaaaaa_aaaAAAHHHH_... Why... _WHY,_" she was crying from across them, the blond running to his weeping sister to reach out with a comforting hand. "Why did this..."

"Calm down little one," Ishizu was whispering to the girl, pulling her close as the teen beside her momentarily looked at the woman in confusion. "It'll be alright, he'll live... I assure you he'll live..." He..?

But who was... "Shizuka," Katsuya whispered, the girl turning from the Egyptian's side as the others looked into the room Seto had just rushed into. "Shizuka," he continued as his sister trembled violently, "What happened, wha's-" Before she answered... Before she could say a thing...

"...Jonouchi-kun," Yugi said weakly, swallowing as he looked into the room across them with wide eyes. "I think... I think you should see this..."

The room they stood in front of was Mokuba's room, strangely enough, though he'd known that before even realizing it was their destination. Maybe it was because of the security involved... Maybe it was because of all that had happened downstairs, but for the moment, as he walked inside, he could see Seto was giving orders to staff over a radio. He could see Kuzushi with all of her standard equipment and papers, the blond watching as the ship's female doctor tended to someone on a bed. As to who that someone was however, it took a moment, one extremely long moment, to tell. Numerous machines were connected to the form in the room, the one who was currently covered partially by a thin blanket on what was once meant to be Mokuba's bed. Katsuya stepped further into the room as he caught sight of this form however, swallowing while he came closer to the side. Heart rate monitors were on the side... Along with machines to record the organ function, to record breathing... The latter of which was being regulated by a large machine of sorts at the side, and while there was a muttering in the back of his mind concerning how prepared Seto had been for the absolute worst he had no time to pay attention to that.

Because for the moment, he still couldn't tell who this was. There were nothing but bandages on this person after all, or at least until you reached the top of the figure's head. Past the cheeks and mouth, where the nose, eyes, and hair were still clearly visible amid the tube allowing air to pass through and the gauze patching the sides of his face. Closed eyes, appearing as though in a sleep... And messy, somewhat long hair that was partially obscuring a thoroughly bandaged shoulder and neck in two separate tones. This person... "...Ryuzaki," Katsuya muttered, eyes wide as he stared at the bed. Almost dead, despite the fact that just 'moments' before he'd been... "...Oh _god_ Ryuzaki..."

A phone at the side was vibrating. It was flashing constantly, and in his mind there were numbers and letters mixing around in the back of his mind. Ryuzaki's phone had been buzzing for a while now as those numbers increased. The counter of missed messages rose, higher, higher, higher... "For the love of... Honestly..!" Doctor Kuzushi snatched the phone up and clicked it off, stowing it away in a drawer with a scowl before going back to work. "There is a limit to texting for worry, and I don't have time for this..!" Texting..? It didn't seem like... The blond looked toward the drawer a moment, before looking back to the doctor on the side as she went to the other end of the room to speak with her boss.

All the others in the room were standing in silence for the moment... 'Anzu' had backed away with wide and almost guilty looking eyes, Malik relinquishing control as the woman who actually owned the body bowed her head and shook. Honda and Otogi had quickly lost the joking attitude they'd been using in an attempt to get over the events they were now leaving behind, both looking forward almost in terror as those feelings of dread they'd abandoned were pulled screaming to the front of their minds. Yugi was silent. And the ghostly form of the other Yugi hovered beside him in a similar state, both coming further into the room behind their friend.

"What... What happened," the physical one whispered, turning back to the others as Seto crossed her arms and stared stonily toward the bed from where she was still speaking with Kuzushi. "What happened here..?"

Ishizu came into the room with that statement, Shizuka only briefly hesitating before following and moving past to better see her friend on the bed. The others only somewhat followed themselves, and though they remained near the entrance the area was soon enough completely filled with people. "...Malik tried to follow you," she stated, holding the same calm tone she somehow managed to hold at all times as those in the room more or less turned their attentions to the woman. "He did so with intent to kill," she added, not that the comment was needed in the other's opinions. "And... When Ryuzaki-san saw this," she continued, her eyes dimming as her explanation fell oddly short,."...He..."

"I've called in a second helicopter," Seto muttered from the side, her brother as well looking to the bed in silence. The crowd instantly looked toward the woman, staring as she fixed a steady and almost aggravated glare toward them all. "However," she continued stiffly, "...My earlier statement still stands." Earlier... As the others continued to frown their 'host' spoke, seeming to move closer to the door as she did so. "This tournament will continue on... Once we land, we begin."

"You..." A low growl came over the air, followed by a rage filled shout. "You plan to fight after all of _this_!" The others jumped at Shizuka's outburst, the woman stepping forward with wide eyes as the tournament host stared back in indifference. "He's barely alive," the girl hissed, tears dotting her eyes. "Mai-han is barely alive, and Bakura-han is _GONE _even... And you're still holding this tournament..!" ...

But of course. "I've explained the reasoning behind this before," Seto responded rather coldly, Katsuya in the meantime finding a growing headache approaching as he grimaced. "And as it is," the woman hissed further, "I will be doing everything possible to make sure we don't have _another_ death on this ship."

Death..?

The crowd froze at that, giving plenty of leeway for Seto to move toward the door even as the others swallowed and stared. "There... Someone is..? _Dead_," the shortest of the crowd asked with a swallow, eyes wide. Again Anzu shifted on the side by the door, Ishizu herself standing in silence as Seto left the bedroom to head for her own. "...Someone _died_," Yugi repeated with a swallow, eyes widening even further as the spirit at his side mirrored the expression.

"_I... I knew he was capable,"_ the other muttered with a swallow, shaking his head, "_But then who was-_"

The headache just passed. Ohhhh _hell_... Katsuya looked back to the doctor at the side, shaking himself before looking to the others. A blood-spattered wall appeared in his mind again but this time the screams were dulled by a crushed throat. "Yugi," he 'asked' as the others looked over, watching the blood drain from their friend's face before Katsuya continued. "...How long's Kuzushi been here..?"

Kuzushi in question seemed to tense somewhat from the other side of the room, before passing off what she'd heard as 'nothing' and turning back to her work. Ryuzaki was, after all, in no condition to be left un-attended to... And Kuzushi had two other patients to look after. Alone. "...Syn-san is gone," Yugi whispered in realization, the others swallowing as Ishizu nodded from beside them.

"Yes... That's right," the woman said with a slight shudder, shaking her head. "...Doctor Syn was the one tasked with looking after Rishid," she explained, "And as the dark Malik's existence relies on that of Rishid's..."

The crowd continued to pale, Yugi speaking first. "He's his target... Then... Rishid is..?"

"My dark half killed the doctor before attempting to do the same to Rishid, that's true" 'Malik' muttered hoarsely, the others turning with wide eyes as the voice hissed from their friend's body. "Before he could do so however," the teen went on, "He was called for his match against Mai." And after that... "On the second time," Malik said quietly, "He was stopped by Bakura... But despite this, Bakura lost." Yea... He had but-

Wait, hang on..! "_Bakura_," Honda repeated, eyebrows raised as he shook his head. "Why the hell would Bakura-"

Otogi shook his head, interrupting the teen. "No, better... How do you _know_ Bakura did this..?" Malik's response, needless to say, was probably enough to throw any hope of calming down for the next forty or so minutes off the jet.

"...Because I was there."

Again the others fell silent, Ishizu taking the conversation from that point on. "My brother came to me using Anzu's body last night," she began quietly, "Asking for help to hide Rishid and claiming to have failed to stop his dark half with Bakura-san's aid; we moved him to my room initially," the woman continued with dim eyes, "But after Ryuzaki-san came back with Malik's body-"

"W- Hold on," Katsuya choked, eyes wide. Alright, he hadn't gotten a heads up on that one..! "Malik's _body_..?" Hell he knew there'd been a fight but...

As the others turned to 'Malik' in question the body he was possessing shook its head the face's expression still caught in stony grief. "My body is still alive," 'he' said plainly, if not even hopelessly from where he sat at the side. "If it wasn't," he continued almost quietly, "I would cease to exist." . . .

OH... Well... _That_ was cheery...

Ghostly chuckling came from the back of his mind, Katsuya finding himself looking up before gaining a somewhat exasperated expression. "_Hnhnhnhnhn... 'Cheery'__ doesn't even begin to cover it chabar..._" Ahahaha, he was wondering where this ghost went.

Now if it would only _leave_… The blond sighed, holding his head and continuing to look to the beaten body on the bed before him. "Augggghhh... Damn it," he groaned almost quietly, "What th' hell is going on w' everythin'?" Like Shizuka had said, Bakura was gone, Mai was dying, Ryuzaki was close enough to it... "Hell," he added with a mutter, "Do we even have t' bother w' th' tournament if Malik's out?" Maybe he could convince Seto otherwise or-

Ah... Headache... That was a big no... Immediately after he said those words Ishizu nodded, the group still more or less converged in the entrance of the bed room as they looked to the Egyptian. "There's always the chance that he recovers," she said tensely, looking decidedly upset about that fact. "If he were to awaken before we land..."

"I'd say 'what're th' chances', but somethin' tells me I know," Katsuya muttered under his breath, the others nodding. Hell for something like this who needed precognition... The blond sighed again, watching as his sister moved to sit at the side of her friend's bed with her backs turned to the others. She was still crying... She was trying to hide it but she was still crying... "...Damn it... Th's 'Malik'..." Of all the things... He'd already done enough, but to do this..! "No 'ffense," he growled to the 'Malik' behind them, "But yer other half is a complete monster."

"None taken," Malik responded shortly, before moving to leave the room instantly thereafter. "I... ...I need some air," 'he' muttered shortly, a few of the others nodding at that.

"That sounds like a good idea," Honda decided as he gave a final look around the room. "Given all of this..." Another round of nods.

"I'll come with," Otogi muttered. "Some air outside the room sounds..." Good. That sounded good.

"I need to check on Rishid," Ishizu continued as she followed after the group. "Anzu-san, I'd actually like to speak with you later alright..?" Anzu nodded in response and split from the other two who had left to do just that it seemed, and soon enough the room cleared... Soon enough, it was just himself, Yugi, Shizuka...

The blond continued to stare at his sister, swallowing as he moved close to look down at the crying and praying young girl. "...Yugi," he muttered after a moment, looking back to his friend with somewhat dim eyes. "Do y... Think tha' you could..."

Both boy and spirit nodded, turning to leave without a hint of arguement. "Right," the lighter half said in response.

"_We'll leave you be..._"

"Thanks..." The door was closed shortly afterward. Kuzushi was looking over the vital signs of the patient before her again, giving the two a cautionary look... Katsuya walked over to stand behind his sister, a worried frown over his face as he placed a hand on the girl's shoulder. "...Shizuka," he asked after a moment, the girl not looking back as he swallowed. "...You... Are you gonna be alrigh'?"

There was silence for a moment. "...No," she said bluntly, shaking her head. "No, I'm really not." ...Damn it, that wasn't going to...

The blond sighed, pulling over the second chair to sit beside his sister. "Lis'n... Shizuka..."

"He wasn't even supposed to be here," the girl whispered, holding herself as she looked to the boy miserably. "_I_ wasn't supposed to be here. And if I wasn't," she cried, a loud sniffling sound coming over the air, "He'd have never followed that... That _man_ and..."

The doctor looked over at the pair, before moving over and placing a somewhat comforting hand on the girl's shoulder. "He's already out of the 'danger zone'," she assured her, a small if not severe smile on her face. "He might be unconscious, and I might not know for how long, but his vitals are still stabilized. He'll live," Kuzushi continued positively, "You have my word on that." Well that was one, but...

"...And Mai," Katsuya found himself asking, the doctor looking back up. "How's she doin'?"

Kuzushi's already morose expression fell further with that, the woman sighing as she fingered her clipboard. "Kujaku-san is... ...Still non-responsive," she admitted before continuing. "Provided she is taken to the helicopter and hospital in time she should be fine but..." The doctor bit her lip, before shaking her head with a sigh. "I wouldn't bring your hopes up too much; all I can say is that if and when she awakens, she will likely be just as non-responsive then as she is now." Just as..? Before he could ask the question his mind put two and two together, Katsuya nodding as he looked over the doctor's expression. Right...

...Mai was probably going to be scared as hell when she woke up, huh... "...I understand," the blond muttered, turning away as Shizuka looked to him sympathetically. "...Thanks... ...I..."

Damn it all... Mai... Ryuzaki... Rishid and Bakura, and the 'good' Malik as well..! All of them... All of them were suffering and that 'monster' was still alive..! "_You realize,_" the ghost in his mind muttered, "_That to stop this from getting worse you would have to defeat the 'other' Malik first, correct?_" Of course he did..! And moreover...

He _would_ defeat Malik..! He would..!

Even if it was the last thing he did...

* * *

Her tournament was crumbling.

Falling to pieces in her hands, becoming nothing more but shrapnel, like the shattered steel ruin of Alcatraz. Nothing but ruined concrete and fallen ashes, floating on the seas for a split second before sinking downward. The ghouls of Egypt were one matter. One matter that she'd thought had been prevented by creating a mobile location for the finals, and a matter that she had never even dreamed would reach this point. It was supposed to 'fix' things and get her the God cards and a destined fight all at once.

Instead however, it seemed to have made things far, far worse. Now they were locked in the air with the psychopath that controlled those ghouls. And in a few moments, though those left on the airship would be safe, it would become locked in a _tower _with that psychopath. It was plain to see after all that Malik Ishtar was dangerous, and more than capable of killing a man. There was more than enough reason to be leery of any 'locked room' situation involving him.

But she'd hardly expected the first casualty to be her private physician, and she had _never _expected it to be as gruesome as she'd found. "_Damn it all,_" she hissed, slamming a fist into the computer's 'counter' in her room, the sound thankfully blocked by momentarily sound-proofed walls. She was keeping an eye on these cameras until _at least_ a few minutes before landing, mark her words. There would be no more accidents... No more casualties...

No more 'Ryuzaki's she told herself, already pondering just how close the body count had been to becoming 'two'. Seto grit her teeth as she stared at the footage of Malik Ishtar's room, where the blond Egyptian was still out cold from his apparent battle. There wasn't even a scratch on him from what she could see from the screen, staring at the 'duelist'. Nothing but a slightly bruised cheek...

Compared to the dinosaur duelist borrowing her brother's room for the sake of the room needed for machines... It was absolutely disgusting. The boy was barely alive... But thankfully enough it seemed Ryuzaki only had minor damage to his organs. In fact a majority of his wounds, though deep and graphic in appearance, would heal albeit with scars. A few would need to be surgically repaired, with whatever material embedded in the skin pulled out and any nerves or muscles involved stitched together however... Something that simply couldn't be done here. Something that the hospitals would worry about.

But the fact was, she never did like being in anyone's debt. And had it not been for the moron, both herself and everyone on the ship that had escaped Noa's virtual world would have likely died. They'd have been killed in their sleep and left with nothing but the computerized world to live in, waiting for the next pod to be built, for the next victim to come along and-

"Tch!" The woman shook her head free of now 'pointless' thoughts, standing back from the computer as she looked to the clock. Thirty minutes left. All of this... This tournament was becoming a disaster. She wanted to fight Yugi... More than anything she wanted to fight him, defeat him, leave that tower behind to throw back that last screaming portion of her past _and it was the only way_!

And now it seemed that the past was fighting back. Everyone on the ship, save the trio of 'Ishtar's, and the missing or comatose _males_ on the ship, knew of her gender now. It had very clearly not been 'reset' nor 'erased' from their minds when they were released from the virtual world, and it was even more obvious that Yugi's precious 'friends' weren't going to drop it for a while.

So where were the jokes then? She'd half expected a truck load of spite filled pokes at how she hid, at how she constantly disguised her voice and appearance to suit the business world and the now half-useless shield from her past. At how she had always gone on about being the 'King' of games when in all honesty she would be nothing more than the queen (but really, the most powerful piece on the chessboard was...)...

But there was nothing. If anything, she thought with disgust, they'd looked to her with _pity_. Stared at the scars on her back and-

Seto looked down from the screens, eyes dimming as scars came to mind, scars that were by far not her own. In the virtual world, one could never tell what was real. If what they saw or heard was real, or if it was just fiction. Hell... She was _still _willing herself to forget one particular 'vision'. To forget everything of 'Egypt' and of stupid, moronic dreams that held no reason to exist within the back of her mind. But she knew, no matter what, that the memories from just a few years back weren't fake. That what she'd heard in that memory...

...To think that bastard had known, she thought bitterly, an almost demonic scowl coming over her face at the thought. Well..! It would make the destruction of this island all the more better, she supposed, pushing the thought from mind. That much more... But what she'd felt in that realm... That _scar_...

She'd given Jonouchi CPR just a few hours before and there had been nothing there. Nothing but the dog tags that she'd expected him to lose within a few weeks, and the jacket that he'd clung to for all these months. Moments later, she received a report from Syn (she'd have to contact his family, explain what happened and...)... A report on exactly what kind of condition her mutt was in.

Bruises covering his chest, inexplicably shaped like some giant's fist. A cut on his arm, explaining the earlier bleeding, which would scar slightly but was otherwise nothing to worry about. And other than that, other than the one he'd received in December on his head, there were no scars, no mentions of anything similar... Hell, with the way the bruise was described it would be _impossible_ for a scar to exist there!

But what she felt in the virtual world, beneath her finger-tips...

She didn't think that had been fake. In fact she was almost certain it had been real, and as the clock ticked down to ten minutes before landing, as Malik Ishtar began to stir in his room on the screen, Seto found herself biting her lip. The duels would go on, no doubt about that...

But when this was over, she and her mutt would be having a bit of a '_talk_'.

* * *

"...Malik," Ishizu asked quietly as she entered Bakura's room, looking toward the figure that was sitting on the bed. Anzu Mazaki's body seemed almost hunched over in the darkness, careful not to move to close to the body laying on the bed. "...Malik, are you still..."

"It's Anzu right now," the woman beside Rishid answered, not looking up from the ground. "...You can come in though," she added, turning somewhat away in apparent unease.

It was strange, to see such seamless cooperation in sharing the body before her she thought to herself. Earlier that morning Malik had come to her in a fright with no signs of ever letting on that he had taken Anzu's body as a temporary refuge. Now? It was as though they held the same form of bond that the pharaoh held with his vessel, shifting with the moods to suit the situation.

Quite frankly it scared her. "...What happened in there," she asked, taking a seat beside the woman on the bed. "Between you and my brother?"

"...It's complicated," Anzu responded almost at a whisper, still looking away. "I..." A hand was brought to her shoulder, the woman rubbing it absently as she shook her head and closed her eyes. "...Our memories," the body went on, 'Malik' revealing himself despite holding onto the Japanese language as golden eyes opened up again. "While in the computer we were separated briefly; but since we were in the same body," he continued with a whisper, "Anything drawn from memory affected both of us." What..? Memory?

The Egyptian woman blinked, frowning somewhat. "The... Computer," she asked, staring somewhat. Ishizu continued to frown, shaking her head. She wasn't even going to try and make sense of that just yet... "Maybe you should start from the beginning..."

"Ughh... That would take _way_ too long," Anzu muttered, before her head snapped back up with golden eyes to rebuke the comment. "To sum it up," Malik began quickly, "We were locked inside a virtual computer game by an omnicidal twelve year old who liked messing with our heads. A lot; he locked us both in a repeat of our memories," he continued more seriously, voice beginning to quiet to a less sarcastic tone to prove his honesty. "And one of the memories," Malik whispered, rubbing his back. "It was..."

Ishizu's eyes narrowed as the light came over a corner of Anzu's shoulder, the woman taking hold of the body's hand as Malik and Anzu both turned with a slight frown. "Malik... Anzu," she continued, carefully placing a hand over the woman's back and pushing the confusion of the 'computer' from mind. Ridges... There were ridges on her back but they weren't digging _inward_, they were _raised _she noted in disbelief, but that should have been impossible unless... "...What is this," she whispered, pulling her hand back in horror as the familiar lines appeared within her mind from her fingertips. "Those markings... The carved history," he hissed in shock, "But how-"

They shook their head, and as the two beings shifted through control of the body the alternation between confusion and unbridled fear was more than obvious to them. "I think... When Anzu's body thought it was getting cut," Malik began, rubbing an arm with a swallow, "That it tried to heal... ...But instead of healing a cut..." Gh...

Hypertropic scars... The body created too much scar tissue and it gathered... More over Ishizu realized coldly, if Anzu as well had seen that memory... "...Anzu- did you _see_ the memory," she asked seriously, swallowing back a wave of unease, "Or did you feel-"

There was no answer, but at that moment the body's eyes flashed golden and snapped toward the door. "...Sister," Malik said fearfully, straightening up from 'his' seat as he cut his sister off. "Outside the hallway," he whispered. "He's..."

Ishizu immediately knew what her brother meant, looking toward the door with a swallow. "We can talk later," she decided, standing from the bed with her eyes closed in sympathy. "Anzu," she added honestly. "Whatever you saw... Know that I am _truly_ sorry for whatever you-..."

Anzu shook her head, not looking up. "It's alright, okht." O-

Okht..? The woman paled, turning back briefly from where she'd headed for the door and watching as the one on the bed again turned to hold her silent vigil at Rishid's side. The eyes hadn't changed from blue-brown this time. And when Anzu spoke this time, it was with her feminine tones, with the speech patterns of the typical teen-aged girl... So then... When her brother said _all_ their memories... Could he have possibly meant...

Ishizu stepped outside of the room, closing the door tight behind her and looking around the hall. Malik had obviously felt _something_ from that 'darkness' that came from him, that thing inside his body. As to what it was however she wasn't sure, and until she took a step down the hall the reason didn't come to mind.

Not until she heard _him_.

"Hello, _okht_."

In reflex her hand flung toward her neck, reaching for where the tauk around her neck would ordinarily be. It wasn't there though, she reminded herself. Not any more, and so long as that was the case... Ishizu stepped back with wide eyes and watched as Malik, the 'Dark Malik' stood before her, the millennium eye blazing across his forehead and the rod gripped tightly in his hands. Blood still stained the blade... Still stained the arm that held it, along with anything that had been within range of Ryuzaki's spurting blood, having dried to a sick black shade that cracked and dusted when brushed against. It was all the makings of a horror movie antagonist, and it was standing right before her. "H... You..." She refused to call this... _Thing_ 'Malik'. She refused to call this _thing_ her brother, when the spirit of her brother currently shared a body with the woman in the room behind her. Refused... "_You_..!"

"Poor _poor_ okht," 'Malik' sneered, fingering the rod in his hands as he began to step closer. "You lost the fight... You get to live," he continued with a chuckle, "But at what cost..? Now you get to watch hell occur on earth itself," the teen hissed, stroking the item in his hands, "And you can't do a thing about it... Hnhnhnhnhnhnhn..."

Ishizu backed away, hand still over her neck despite having placed the tauk back on Yugi's table in his room long ago. "You... What do you want," she hissed, soon coming to a stop against the lift doors as she ran out of space to go. "You've already done enough you _monster, _so what do you want..?"

"What I want," the teen sneered, "Is to know where Rishid is..." Rishid..! She steeled herself, clenching her fists as she brought them back to her side. Never...

She would never reveal... "Who knows," she said plainly, narrowing her eyes as Bakura's room was pushed back from mind. "There are a number of rooms in this jet. He could be in any."

The Egyptian across from her growled, pointing the rod toward her threateningly as the woman swallowed. "Don't _toy_ with me," he spat, stepping closer as Ishizu tensed. "I know for a fact that you've hidden him... And without your item," he continued with a sneering grin, his 'sister' continuing to pale as her hand gripped at empty space, "You can't protect yourself from _me_... This face filled with terror," he hissed, a look of 'pleasure' across his face as Ishizu swallowed back a wave of bile from the approaching blond, "How I've _wanted_ to see this... You're vulnerable to whatever I wish of you under the Rod's command now," he continued with a chuckle. "You know that much... Hnhnhnhn... Hnhnhnhnhnhnhnh..."

-_**Attention,**_- a sudden voice called through the air, 'Malik's eyes flicking to the side as Ishizu held her breath and looked up to the side. -_**We are approximately five minutes from landing at our destination. We now request all semi-finalists to finish with what preparations remain for their next match.**__- _That...-_click-_

Ishizu's eyes looked down from the speaker on the side to her 'captor', 'Malik' stepping back with a slight scowl. "Hn! So we've arrived already," he muttered, adjusting his grip on the millennium rod. "Well then," he chuckled darkly. "It isn't as though he'll be going anywhere... In fact," the psycho continued with a grin while he walked further backward, "I don't think he'll be waking up at all..! Your pharaoh and priest stand no chance against me," he continued with a hiss, narrowing his eyes. "And against Ra they will **both** fall..! I'll take my leave now," the teen chuckled, giving his sister a mock bow. "I have a few last minute things to grab... But I implore of you _sister_, watch the show from your bedroom window... The blood sacrifices I make are all for _you_... And your last 'hope'," he continued with a wide eyed grin as he left for his room, "Is about to become swallowed in darkness..."

As 'Malik' disappeared down the hall Ishizu could do nothing but stare, frozen with fear and terror both as she stiffened against the wall. It was only until after the door to his room closed over in fact that she could release the breath she'd held, only dimly aware that she was shaking. This... This thing possessing her brother...

"May the Gods protect them," she whispered with a trembling shudder, before slowly moving back to her own room with quivering breaths. "May they protect them _all_..."

* * *

In the darkness of his bedroom, the window currently shadowed by the clouds overhead in the bright July sky, Yugi lay on his bed and stared at the ceiling. There were lots of things on his mind, for the moment, not that this was surprising. Some of them were menial, almost to the point where he was berating himself for thinking of them. They were stupid things really... Things such as what Anzu's feelings for Malik were given her treatment toward him in the Virtual World. Did she maybe like him? Did something happen in there..? Did girls _really_ flock to the 'exotic' or 'foreign' types? He knew that this 'light Malik' was on their side, or at least enough to act in their benefit for now but... Did Anzu...

The boy shook his head violently, biting his lip. No..! He shouldn't be doubting his friends..!

There were more serious matters... Like the white ghost in Jonouchi's mind, which had a mind of its own, an unknown identity, and a power that had himself and his other frowning with worry. Like the visions he was still having, the moments where he'd pause, turn oddly, and ask to be alone, _because then no one would know what he knew and_-

"...I'm worried other me," he said after a while, holding his puzzle as the spirit sat in the air at his side. "I don't know what's happening to him... Neither does he, or Ishizu-san," he continued with a whisper. "And with everything that's going on now..."

"_You think there's more to it,_" his other self finished, his expression telling him he thought the same. "_That there's still something else he hasn't mentioned..._"

Yugi nodded, hesitating a moment before continuing on. "On the field... You said... That the monsters acted like they knew him," he began as he looked to the ghost, "But you also said that it was different from how we play, didn't you," he asked, the spirit nodding.

"_That's right; in fact,_" the ghost continued, furrowing his brows in thought,_ "One of them mentioned the 'rules of play'... He refused to attack,_" the spirit explained,_ "Even turning on one of the other monsters rather than waiting for the 'shield arm' trap to activate..._" Something that shouldn't have been possible... Not at all... "_Moreover,"_ he whispered,_ "I could see tablets..._" Tablets..?

The boy sat up, frowning and shaking his head. Hang on... "You saw _tablets_..?"

"_That's right; and now, with all of this... A part of me wants to question him on it now before something __happens, but all the same,_" his partner admitted,_ "With all that's going on..._"

"Right now he's probably focused more on the tournament," he added, staring at the ground. "Something we shouldn't distract him from... Jonouchi-kun... He really likes Kaiba-san," Yugi continued with a mutter, "So with both of us and the 'other' Malik as the finalists..."

"_He'll be more than determined to take Malik down in our stead,_" his partner finished, knowing their friend well enough for that. It was in his nature after all; Jonouchi was a loyal person... A strong person.

And Jonouchi would damn himself if he didn't do anything for those he cared for, and if he simply stepped back to 'wait'. Yugi sighed almost hopelessly on the side of the bed, leaning back against the wall. "What do you think happened," he asked after a moment, thinking of the other victims of 'Malik's violence. "To Bakura I mean..?"

"_There's no sign of him anywhere on the ship,_" the spirit muttered with a frown, having searched around earlier. "_Even in engine and 'staff only areas'... __But__,_" he went on, catching the worried looks and thoughts when the image of the destroyed building they'd just finished escaping came to mind, "_There was no sign of him on this ship __before_ _we landed last time as well,_" he warned, looking back to his friend. "_Which means he wasn't in the fortress Noa captured us in._" Well... That was always good, but-

"H-Hold on..!" Yugi sputtered, turning to his partner with wide eyes. "W-W- He's been gone that long!" There was a nod, Yugi biting his lip and turning away with a bit lip. "Hnn... Bakura's last fight was with 'Dark Malik' if what Malik said is any sign," he muttered, looking down as he gripped the puzzle. "So if Bakura lost..."

"_He's probably somewhere in the world of 'shadows',_" his other half muttered with narrowed eyes, "_That place where the power for shadow games come from... Until we defeat Malik's dark half,_" the spirit continued, "_It's likely he'll never come back, the same with Mai. Ryuzaki is probably spared that fate,_" he added with a slight shrug, "_Given that he remained conscious enough to drag Malik's body back to the ship and therefore 'won' the fight, but..._"

The boy on the bed sighed, still looking down as his partner fell silent. With all that was happening... Shizuka's panicked screams came to mind. '_You're STILL going to fight? He's barely alive... And you plan to keep fighting!_' All of this... No matter what everyone said, he couldn't help but notice a guilty, if not grieving tone to Kaiba's eyes through all of this. Her doctor of apparently six years was dead. And the fact remained that once Ishizu mentioned the reason Ryuzaki was in such dire condition that guilty and (in Kaiba's likely opinion) unwanted look had again creeped into Kaiba's face. Kaiba wasn't the type to leave a so called 'debt' withstanding. She didn't believe in favors for the sake of friendship.

So now that Ryuzaki had all but killed himself to make sure they lived on... And now that they were again in a situation where time couldn't be wasted, lest the psycho that was Malik's 'hate and rage' do worse to them, she had little choice but to fight on and put a stop to it herself. And the fact was, she'd rushed down to Ryuzaki's room just moments after they'd left. She'd contacted the same people she had for Mai and Bakura, likely to obtain a more properly equipped vehicle for Ryuzaki's transport. And beyond that... "_Aibou,_" Yugi's 'other half' whispered, the boy looking up as his friend bit his lip. "_All of this... The sacrifices occurring here..._" The ghost sighed, shaking his head and turning away in obvious and guilted despair. "_This is my fault; it's my lost memories that caused this hate to arise- had it not been for me-_"

"Stop," Yugi protested, scowling at his partner as a severe glint came into his eyes. "This isn't your fault..!" The spirit turned, and Yugi continued. "You can't remember what kind of person you were, true... But you can't be held responsible for what happened between that time and this one either," he went on with a stern frown. "And even without your memories... I know, no matter what," he told him, "That you _were_ and _still are_ a good person... You try so hard to protect everyone, no matter what... And even before, when I didn't know who you were," the boy whispered honestly, "You still protected my friends and I..." As the ghost continued to stare at his partner Yugi smiled somewhat weakly, standing from the bed to continue. "Other me... We still have a chance to save them all- it's like you said; we have to defeat the 'Dark Malik'," he went on, "We have to fight..! Got it..?"

Again his other half was silent, staring at the boy before him before finally meeting the smile with one of his own. "_...Of course. You're right,_" he continued with somewhat more confidence, 'standing' in the air to give his friend a confident nod. "_A warrior doesn't quit in the middle of the battle after all... We'll have to press on..!_"

"That's the spirit," the boy laughed, the pair sharing a smile. "Now-"

"Ahaaah! Found you," a somewhat masculinely patterned woman's shout announced, the spirit and duelist both turning as 'Anzu', gold eyes staring forward, poked her grinning head in. She was wearing her jacket again despite the heat they noted, front hanging wide open as the 'woman' grinned. That was... Odd... "Yugi," 'Malik' continued, walking in with Honda and Otogi just behind 'him' as 'he' waved. "The airship's about to land..!"

"Yea! We've been looking for you," Honda continued with a grin, hands stowed in his pockets. "If we have to continue on with this tournament thing, we mind as well make sure that you're up to it right," he 'asked'

"And with Bakura as 'missing' as he is," Otogi added with an uneasy swallow, "Well... ..." An awkward silence fell in over the crowd, and the teen frowned. "...You don't... Think that the ring ties into that do you," he added, rubbing his arm nervously. "I mean... We never _did_ find it after all that happened," the teen went on, Anzu almost suspiciously looking toward the wall with that. Well... That was...

Yugi forced a smile onto his face nonetheless, shaking his head. "We can't worry about that," he insisted, grabbing his jacket and dueldisk while making sure his deck was still in his holster. "No matter what, he'll come back, alright? We just need to defeat 'Dark Malik' right?"

"Right," Anzu, the real one, called out in agreement. "Now-"

-**ATTENTION**_**,**_- a voice called out overhead through the loud speakers, -**The Battle City Airship has now arrived at Alcatraz Island. All remaining participants are required to exit the ship.**- -_click-_

The others turned back to each other, a few giving somewhat calm shrugs in response to the announcement. "Well," Honda said, "You heard the lady..."

"Are you ready to go," Otogi added, Anzu also looking toward their friend.

Yugi in question turned to his partner at that, his own face conveying the message he held in his mind. Well..? Didn't he want to answer their question?

A slight gust of 'wind' and the spirit nodded before switching places with the boy. Of course, he thought to himself. "Of course... Lets go..!"

* * *

The island was as unchanged as when she'd left it a few weeks prior, having personally inspected the building to make sure it was 'up to snuff' for the tournament. Stale air hung around them, thick and stagnant, and as she stood in apparent confidence on the path amid the barely cleared rubble she found herself looking back to the entrance of the ship behind her. The others... The mutt, Yugi, and their 'friends'... They hadn't left the ship yet she noted, narrowing her eyes somewhat. They were simply looking at the barren and ruinous field before them, and the small path that had been cleared to make way to the tower. "Tch..." Wasting time... "What are you morons waiting for," she finally grit out, those in the doorway seeming to tense in response. "An invitation? 'Permission' to take a step on this god-forsaken island," she added, voice just as heavily disguised as it always was.

Those on the ship merely steeled whatever resolve had slipped enough to hold them back, Yugi and Jonouchi in particular walking over as the usual 'cheering crowd' hung back somewhat behind them. A cold wind blew and a number of the teens shivered, looking around the destroyed island with somewhat wide eyes. "Damn," the taller of the two was muttering, looking up at the tower behind her. "That thing is..."

Silence. Obviously whatever he said was picked up on however as he was soon answered. "...Nhn," the 'Other' Yugi said from beside him with slight indifference, looking up at the structure with only slight amazement in comparison to most of the others. "...It's bigger up close," he decided somewhat lamely, Seto rolling her eyes as Mokuba and the others pulled slight smiles. Hn..!

Honestly, was that all he had to say? "This is where we'll be fighting," she muttered somewhat stonily, looking back to the tower before them with narrowed eyes as the group stared. "Where the next 'King of Games' will be decided," the woman continued. "You and I will be fighting at the very top," Seto added, looking back to Yugi with somewhat narrowed eyes. "_No matter what_."

"...Kaiba..."

"Oiiii... Don' f'rget abou' me," Katsu- (Jonouchi, her mind corrected. ...Damn 'Noa' must have done something...)... Jonouchi countered with a smirk, cutting off any argument that had been about to rise short as he laughed. "We're gonna fight too," he said with a grin. "No matter what happens," he continued, "We're gonna fight! I'm a threat too, y' can't f'rget tha'!" ...Him? _A threat_?

Seto snorted at the thought, shaking her head. "Please; you're as much a threat to me as the scrap around us," she chuckled, her brother merely sighing from beside her. "I'll just bury your pride in the ruin around us if it comes to fighting _you_."

The blond predictably tensed at that, hurriedly grabbed from behind by the taller of his friends as he made to run forward. "GH- SETO-CH-" WHAT- "MMMPPHH!"

"Don't open your mouth, don't open your mouth, _don't. Open. Your mouth_," Honda hissed, as though repeating a spell over constantly. "You think 'Malik' won't notice a first name basis," he warned lowly, Katsuya growing pale as the hand was pushed away from his face. Tch...

Did the idiot think Malik would miss the 'chan'..! "We'll figure this sort of thing out through duels alright," Anzu decided aloud, Seto briefly narrowing her eyes as a flash of gold seemed to go through the other woman's own. The woman crossed her arms, before continuing on with the change of subject. "Also, before anyone asks," she began, "Shizuka-chan decided to stay behind... She'll be keeping track of the duels using the recorder in the room, but she didn't want to leave Ryuzaki..." Recorders? Please, Seto thought dryly in response to that, as though the '_recorder_' was anything compared to seeing it in person...

Not to say she didn't at least partially understand the girl's reasoning for remaining behind... "Tournament starts up again in just a few minutes," her brother was saying from beside in the meantime, the others turning in response. "Anzu's right; the duels will decide who's best in just a few moments," he said with a slight smirk, "So follow me and-"

"Hnhnhnhnhn... What a _pleasant_ view," a deep, grating voice hissed, the others tensing in response. That sound... The group turned to the side where 'Malik' stood, cloak billowing in the wind as he stood upon a pile of rubble with a sneering grin. "Hnhnhn... Wouldn't you agree Pr'aah... _H'm-Net'r_..." P- Those words... Pharaoh... And...

Priest..! She scowled, going somewhat red in the face as the blond before them continued to chuckle. "Gh..!"

"_Malik_," Jonouchi hissed dangerously from behind, the others growing red.

"_UNU,_" the blond's friend shouted almost accusingly. W-Wait... …

What.

"What th' hell man," Jonouchi muttered from behind, turning to his friend for a moment, "What was that, a bark..?"

"E-EH! What are you talking about, that was nothing like a bark..!"

"...Yes. Yes it was," the blond responded, "An'-"

"_Hnhnhnhnhn..._Barking suits _both_ of you," Malik hissed, grinning as he slid down the side of the pile of rubble. "Nothing but dogs following the 'King'... So tell me '_Priest_'," he continued with a sneering and maddening grin, standing just a few feet from the tower door with a crazed grin on his face. "Who will be fighting _whom_..?" Priest..?

"Gh..." This... Wretched... Egyptian... Snake..!

Tension was building, that much was certain but it seemed her brother of all people would be the one to cut the problem short while the rest of them growled curses under their breath. "You'll find out your fate in just a few moments," the boy snarled, standing almost 'protectively' in front of his sister despite the near foot of difference between the two. "When you get inside the tower- got that?"

There was a 'chorus' of nods at that, but nothing was erasing the grin from Malik's face. Isono stood ahead at the moment while the door opened however, and with a slight cough gestured toward the entrance. "The preparations are complete," he said somewhat stiffly, stepping to the side and away from Malik as the others walked forward. "The rules will be explained inside..."

Another chorus of nods, and keeping silent, Seto walked in with others following somewhat close behind. As planned, the room they entered was nothing more than decently sized and somewhat echoing chamber with five doors; one at each 'corner', cutting the square shape's corners from each point, and another at the far end to the stairwell up above. "There's nothing here," she could hear Otogi mutter behind them, the woman only dimly paying attention to the peanut gallery at her rear.

"Where are the duel's going to happen," muttered Anzu, only to be answered by a chuckling Mokuba.

"You'll find out soon," he said with a knowing grin, the corner of his sister's mouth twitching up somewhat in response. Yes... They would wouldn't they...

And with _this_ system, Malik would be _forced_ out of the hair of everyone below for at least an hour... Before being distracted long enough with following matches, as the timer until the end of the island ticked down. ...Maybe she could blow him up with the tower she added mentally, expression revealing nothing of her thoughts. _That_ would be nice.

Isono's words jarred the woman from her mental ponderings, Seto turning her attention back to rules she already knew. "Welcome duelists," he announced clearly, somehow holding the facade of 'calm' in the face of a murderer who was still in possession of a weapon. "To the 'Duel Tower'. Before we begin with the Semi-Final matches," the man continued on, "We will be holding a 'deciding round', a 'Battle Royale'. Inside each of these doors," he explained clearly, "You will find a 'lift' with a screen and cable attached. Each of you will choose one of these lifts and enter them, connecting the cable provided to a slot built into the bottom of the duel disk," Isono went on, both Yugi and Jonouchi examining the disks in question as Seto listened on. Honestly... It figured that they'd be looking _now_...

The tournament assistant continued however, and Seto decided to instead wait for the moment she could 'leave' than pay attention to such things. "Standard tournament rules will apply of course," he was telling them clearly as he held a professional stance before them, "However, in this battle it is 'all or nothing'; you may attack which ever opponent you like, and by the end, the first two to be eliminated from the match will hold the first battle of the semi-finals, while the remaining pair hold the second. Further instructions," Isono went on, "Will be given in the next room... Until then, I ask that each of you pick a door, and hold any questions you may have concerning anything outside the lift properties until that time. No matter which door you decide on," he added, "You will begin on equal footing. Realize that."

Hn! Of course they'd be on 'equal footing', what kind of battle wouldn't have that? Each of the doors to the side hissed as they opened, those around looking at them almost curiously. "Four doors," Yugi was muttering, Seto already making her way to the side as she gave a nod toward her brother. "Hnn..."

"Which one... He says it makes no d'ff'rence," Jonouchi muttered, apparently ignorant of the fact that his employer was already making her own choice, "But I still can't decide... O-Oii, Yugi," he said loudly, looking to the boy as his friend glanced back. "Which one 'r you pickin'?"

"...I don't really mind which door I take honestly..."

"Nyhhh... Damn it," the blond muttered, looking to each door and pointing to them as he continued talking to himself. "Alrigh'..! Eenie, meenie, mienie, moe, catch a tiger by th' toe..." Oh of all the most _idiotic_ things...

"Ugh... He'll be taking the last one in the end," she muttered to herself, stepping into the room she'd picked as the blond's loud 'that one!' came over the air.

"Aha! That's the one I'll- AH! M-MALIK," Katsuya (Jonouchi damn it!) shouted incredulously, hopping back as the cloaked figure entered one of the doors.

"_Hnhnhnhnhn..._"

"D-Damn it... Then maybe-"

"Jonouchi," Yugi said clearly as he moved for the other door that Seto couldn't see, "I'll take this one alright?"

"EH-EHHHH!" Seto smirked, shaking her head as she stepped into her lift to watch the blond outside run frantically to the other side of the room. "D-Damn it, I really am in th' las' one..! I-" Sound cut out as the door before her closed over, and after turning her disk on and connecting it to the device before her she leaned back against the 'lift' and lost the smile. This tournament... No matter what, it would hold together, and nothing else would happen. Mark her words...

It was time to fight.

* * *

**AN:** LET THE DUELS BEGIN!

By the way, this one's _another_ double post! Aren't I nice... I think?

Originally you see, this chapter wasn't split in two. You see, the average length of chapters has jumped thanks to the Virtual World arc; maybe I'll be able to pull it back down, but the fact is, the average is 20,000... With 18,000 of that being the chapter. The above in addition to the next was a super chapter; those average out at 30,000 words, 25-26,000 of which is chapter material. Which, divided in two, is a mere 12,500-13,000 words compared to the current average... Which only happened because of how loaded with information the Noa arc was; seriously! Until it started, the average for chapters was still 10,000-13,000 words!

In any case _trust me_, that _small_ difference makes _a big one, _and a good one at that. The world isn't ready for how the next chapter ends to come slamming down right after an arc ends!

Needless to say, this became another 'double post', but updated about the same speed as a normal one...

Any ways, no art today, but there's lots of music at least... Moving right along.

What with how quick this 'double post' is coming out, review responses are in the second half again... So is all the music and art (one picture!)!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that made another double chapter..! ..._But why_?

* * *

For this chapter, I would think the 'Reset Button' a little obvious neh? After all; for a lot of characters, events after the Noa arc effectively just scrubbed it from mind. I mean...

For the fanfic, I wouldn't blame them but still. Regardless, 'Reset Button' makes sense- they've come back to Battle City, and back to finishing that off.

* * *

Hey look, the side effects of the mind meld. Basically, it's like this; they subconsciously use each other's mannerisms. So they're still _them_…

They'll just have this weird habit of suddenly completely getting where a guy is coming from on a topic a girl would normally hate (Anzu) or be completely disgusted with guys for no apparent reason (Malik).

As mentioned before, certain skills transfer as well, since they're… Well, learned skills and habits. For the most part, things like entire languages require more focus however… Though Malik has the added advantage of having studied the language prior all this, which pretty much just means he'll never have an accent again. (Also he'll pick up on the cultural points quicker. Which is always cool.)

Um… I suppose this means Malik would be able to dance if he wanted as well. But really, for all we know, he could dance anyways. And it's not like we'll ever see, seeing how he's not interested in that in any way last I checked.

Course, with that same logic, Anzu would probably _fly_ through a Motorcycle test for a license...

As to what this means for romantic preferences, I'm pretty sure they're both still straight. Well. …One can never tell with Malik… But for the sake of keeping arguments and yaoi-haters at bay, we'll go with straight.

Anyways, for an example of a momentary slip between the two, the 'THIS IS YOUR MAIN CONCERN' line was very Anzu- not really a Malik line. Malik would actually have more likely either said something sarcastic, or simply waved it off with a bit of deadpan snark.

On Anzu's end… Ohkt. That is all.

* * *

WHA WHA WAH- Anzu has the _SCAR_!

This is where I explain. There are two kinds of scars. The ones Ryuzaki is about to have, and the ones that Malik and Jonouchi have, are called 'Atropic'. This means fat, skin, and possibly muscle, was taken and unable to be repaired, leaving an impression.

'Hypertropic' however is when collogen, (which is the protein that creates skin tissue) develops in reaction to a wound… But it's over produced, so it rises above the wound rather than creating a smooth surface. Now… The whole 'your mind makes it real' thing can only go so far. Just because Anzu _thinks_ she's getting cut to bits, doesn't mean she is. Quite the opposite actually.

Her brain sent signals to the body to start repairing a scar that wasn't there, so now she has a 'reverse' of Malik's scar; a 'braille' version if you will. It also _hurts like hell_ right now, as her brain still thinks its healing.

* * *

And if you've forgotten, 'okht' is Arabic for sister. Hooray! Poor Anzu, her brain is _really_ confused right now… And so is Malik's.

* * *

Also Yami Malik is the scariest SOB since ever. Just saying'.

* * *

Dialogue change! Mostly because no one found out about Malik's little soul-stow-away in Anzu's body until the duel between Yugi and 'Marik'. Hihhhhhh…

Biggest dialogue change though? KAIBAKAIBAKAIBAKAIBA_KAIBA_. This part of the arc is going to be much much _much_ less of an ego-stroker than canon thanks to the events and nature of everything; sure, Kaiba will still be blinded by her hate just as much as her canon counterpart, but believe me when I say there won't be any over-the-top ridiculousness in regards to being overly smug.

* * *

'H'm-Net'r', or 'Priest', is otherwise known as 'Hem-Netjer'. This is because, in reality, there aren't really any vowels in Egyptian. In fact, properly 'spelled', 'Hem-Netjer' is 'Hm-nTr', which translates to 'God's Servant' (Hem being 'Man' and 'Netjer' being God, making this 'Man of God'.). For the _High_ Priest, add 'tepey' or 'tp.y' at the end. That word means 'first'.

* * *

As to why none of the Ishtar's realize that Set, in Egypt, was a woman, it's because of how the 'accession to the throne' occurred. It pretty much just looks like the Queen came from nowhere while the High Priest _vanished_… In fact, this will be touched upon later, because you can bet that the Ishtars, thanks to what Malik himself knows, will be putting two and two together in terms of the King, Queen, and Priest.

* * *

Kaiba's annoyed '_what are you waiting for_' is a reference to the original's line in the anime and manga. He gives them 'permission' to come onto the island that his pride built.

I am completely serious.

Needless to say, some lines get cut for size. Others get cut for being too ridiculous and out of place for the situation.

* * *

In other news, we're back to Yami Yugi being as clueless as he probably is without looking through the normal one's mind. Since Yugi's just as surprised as anyone about the size of the building though, all Yami can really do is sort of stare and go '…Yea. I guess. …Meh.'

Mostly because tall buildings don't really seem to be the sort of thing that would impress Yami that much. Of course, it can get a little hard to impress that guy with much of anything outside of game skills in any field. Not to say the size still didn't catch him off guard (IT'S HUGE!), but he's not _impressed_.

* * *

What's the recorder? It's the same program Seto used to watch Bakura's fight with Malik, and what Mokuba used to keep tabs on the first part of Yugi VS 'The Doll'.

* * *

Heee snake. If you only knew how true that was Seto. (Remember; she's now the only one unaware of the Anzu-Malik-Body control situation.)

* * *

'Unu' is actually a proper way to say 'You' in Japanese… But in reality, it's much more polite, and VERY archaic. This is just a reference to the same joke in the anime, where Honda made a monkey sound rather than saying 'you'. In any case, it really is Honda slipping to a bark while trying to say 'You'. Doesn't happen again though thankfully.

* * *

Big dialogue change in that most of the match rules were explained at the 'lift explanation'. It just seems silly to wait until afterward to do more than explain the purpose of the life-points on the wall and such.

* * *

And that's all for the notes in this chapter; tune into the next one for the next part of Battle City!

Enjoy!


	99. Chapter 98

**The First and the Last**

* * *

When the door closed over to the lift room, he had yet to get inside of his own. It took only a few seconds before he did so of course, but for a moment he couldn't do more than stare at it in silence, the cheerful panic and rush that adrenalin was leaving him with now gone. This match... This match would decide everything after all, and...

"_You have the chance to decide on your opponent,_" the spirit in his mind whispered, Katsuya stepping into the lift and connecting his duel disk as the screen before him clicked on. 'Ready', the screen flashed. He sure as hell wished _he_ was... "_How you play this match__ will decide on a vital decision..._" Of course it was vital, he thought to himself. Depending on who fought who, everything would change. The problem was, however, that the others could do the same thing he could; no single person would be able to 'decide' these matches... Not completely at least. "_...Hnn... True,_" the ghost muttered with a shrug._ "And then again, In a Battle Royale it's more often than not that either the detested will be targeted, or the weak one..._"

Katsuya nodded at that, the lift slowly beginning to move upward in the dark. His decisions were made of course. Malik was the detested one. And in his mind, none of his opponents were weak. But then there was the others. To Malik, he was the weak one, that was for certain. To Seto, he was someone who was likely 'weak' as well, if not someone she didn't want fighting at all for reasons he didn't completely know. To Yugi he was a friend who had promised him a match, and to Yugi there were no 'weak' opponents... And hell, while Malik hated Yugi, _everyone_ hated Malik.

Of course, there were views of others from others' perspectives to think of too. To Seto, Yugi was a rival, and one with a God card; something Seto wanted more than anything from this tournament other than for people to stop coming close to death or simply dying. To Seto, Malik was the source of the endless terror on her ship and in her tournament, sowing seeds of discord without care. He was another with a God card, and one who needed to be stopped... But he was also a threat that could not be taken lightly, a threat that had and would kill without hesitation.

The lift came out into the open 'air' of the rest of the tower, but for some reason that he felt he knew the origin of, he wasn't surprised with what he saw. And as Isono and the others appeared, and rules came to mind, he had a feeling he knew where 'that' came from as well, making a note to at least pretend to pay attention once the rules actually began to be explained. The tower's 'top' was far from sight, each 'lift' stopping about twenty feet from the floor with a large number to spare. There was nothing but darkness above them... And despite everything, he had to swallow in unease. "Damn th' ceilin's tall," Katsuya muttered, looking up as the others entered from below. Ah- They...

"Hooooiiii, Jonouchi! Yugi," Honda called from below, shouts from Anzu and Otogi both coming in addition to his own cries.

"Nii-sama! Katsuya-nii," Mokuba added with a shout. "Good luck!"

Waving came from below, the four competitors looking down for their own reasons as Yugi blinked. "Ah- Guys..!"

"_Is that Anzu,_" his lighter half asked as he looked down at their friend's eyes,_ "Or M- ...Nevermind._"

"So Jonouchi," 'Malik' shouted from below, the slight double from the Millennium Rod's 'spirit' telling him who it was as golden eyes flashed. The typical Egyptian's grin was in place across the woman's face,hands behind her head in another more 'Malik-like' action. "Any idea what you'll be doing now?"

"Errr..." The blond blinked, looking toward Seto before plastering a somewhat pathetic grin on his place with a laugh. "Hahaha... ...S- Kaiba_aaaaa_? What's goin' on..?"

The woman promptly rolled her eyes, arms crossed as she fixed her 'friend' with a partially annoyed glare. "Hn! Try waiting for the instructions, _moron_."

"GH!" Oh come on, he was just playing along..! ...Stupid flashes and crap... Fine! He'd listen damn it, and-

"Alright," came a shout from below, the four looking down as Isono again began speaking from the center of the room. "A final briefing before we begin; as you know this will be a battle royale playing by standard Battle City rules! The screens before you," the man explained, "Should your disk be connected properly, read 'Ready' at the moment," he continued, Katsuya not even glancing down to check. "These screens will show an organized view of whatever is on your opponent's field once this match begins. The more lifepoints lost," Isono went on, gesturing to the marked lines along the lift carriers on the wall, "The further your lift will rise up the side of the tower... By the end of it," the announcer told them, "The first two to the top will be the first to fight. Now... In order to decide who moves first," the man went on, "Each of you will choose one monster card from your deck!" One card..? "This card will be removed from the deck for the remainder of the battle," he explained loudly, "And the order of turns will be decided by the attack power of the card chosen! So..."

_Make your decision!_ Each player pulled out their deck at that, Katsuya narrowing his eyes somewhat as he did the same. Down below, he thought he could hear muttering despite it all being out of audible range... '_If it's like this,_' Anzu was saying during a momentary return of control, '_It should be easy right? Even if they lose, they'll just be eliminated so-_' The woman abruptly cut herself off, eyes flashing gold as the somewhat hopeful expression replaced with a frown.

'_No__,_' Malik said quickly. '_It's not that easy... This is going to be one psychological mess after another with the way it's set up now..._' A psychological mess? Eh? As Honda had asked why that was, Otogi continued for the Egyptian, his eyes narrowing in slight anticipation.

'_Jonouchi wants to fight Yugi for a promise,_' the teen began._ 'He might cover for Yugi with that in mind, in an attempt to preserve both their lifepoints. However,_' he added, Katsuya attempting to focus on his cards despite the bad habit of picking up on distant conversations coming to play, '_Jonouchi also likes Kaiba __a lot__ from what I can gather... And with Malik there, he'll probably not want Kaiba __or_ _Yugi to fight him..._' Absolutely right..! And..._ 'And of course,_' Otogi continued with a cough, '_The trend in most battle royales is that one person will be targeted by all the others, so..._' Wait? ..._So_? So 'what', what did 'so' mea-

"'_So' it would appear they are thinking of __you_ _chabar,_" the ghost chuckled, Katsuya tensing as his friends slowly looked toward him with somewhat worried eyes. W-What!

Oh come on! "O-OI," he shouted angrily, "What th' hell are y' lookin' at me for!"

Honda tensed, laughing nervously and throwing his hands up in a mock 'shield'. "Nothing! Just keep an eye on yourself alright," he shouted, laughing again as the others shrugged. Ghhh...

"What th' hell... I'll be fine," he growled under his breath, "Morons..." He went back to his deck, grumbling to himself as he looked through his cards and fell back into the thought of who fought who. Seto wanted Ra, the most powerful of God Cards, which was in the possession of a psychopathic sado-masocist. But Seto would also want Osiris he told himself, and more than anything she'd want to fight with Yugi. Yugi would probably be torn between all three though; no one could deny he enjoyed fighting against Seto after all, but he'd also made a promise with him to duel him in this tournament. And then of course, there was Malik, who was the source of all their problems...

And that same 'other' Malik of course, could probably have cared less so long as someone died in the end and he got his fight. As for himself... He wanted to fight Yugi, he told himself with a frown. But...

"_But,_" the ghost in his head asked, narrowing his eyes.

But this thing needed to shut up, he grumbled mentally, the ghost giving a somewhat innocent shrug in response. And besides that... Mai was counting on him, he told himself with a swallow. And moreover, Ryuzaki had sacrificed himself to try and stop this guy, and to ignore that would be an insult. Payback, he thought bitterly to himself. Revenge... And more importantly, to keep Yugi or Seto from falling to the same fate... So, for that reason...

_Sorry Yugi_, he thought to himself, cards coming to mind as the others made their decisions. But he had his target. He knew he made a promise... But he was going to battle Malik, regardless of those words. A card, the swordsman of landstar was pulled from his deck, and as the others held their own cards out Isono nodded from below. The weakest monster would put him in last; he'd be able to better figure out how to attack if he knew what everyone had played, even if it put him at a disadvantage... "The decisions have been made," Isono announced, before continuing on as cards came to Katsuya's mind. Seto's card was the 'Masked Beast Des Guardius', taken from the masks of light and darkness as ante. Yugi's was the feral imp. Malik's was, just a few hundred points ahead of Yugi's, 'Rekunga'. "The order of play is the following; Kaiba Seto, Ishtar Malik, Mutou Yugi, and finally, Jonouchi Katsuya!"

"_You're last..._" Of course he was last._ "...You did that on purpose,_" the white ghost muttered, Katsuya merely smiling wryly as Seto gave him a somewhat suspicious look from across him. Yea... He did...

But it wasn't like any one would- ...Notice? "_Hey,_" a voice asked._ "Jonouchi-kun..._" Eh! The blond blinked, looking to the side as Yugi's lighter half hovered in the air beside him with a somewhat blank stare..

Ah... "Y-Yugi," he hissed under his breath, the call for each player to draw their hand coming as the blond coughed and attempted not to draw attention to his conversation. "What'r you..."

"_Other Me is still trying to decide who he wants to fight against,_" the boy admitted, biting his lip with a slight shrug. "_I decided to give him some privacy... ...Ah..._" He tensed somewhat, as though just realizing the slight bit of hypocrisy in the words._ "Um... I'll leave you to do the same if you want,_" he admitted with a slight swallow._ "I mean, the duel's about to start and all,_" Yugi continued somewhat nervously,_ "But I wanted to wish you luck before going back to the puzzle and-_"

"Hey," the blond said with a smirk, "'S fine." His friend stared somewhat, and Katsuya's smirk grew. "Bounce around all y' like," Katsuya told him, "I know y' won' cheat. Sides," he added, crossing his arms as he chuckled to himself, "Not like I look at m' hand anyways righ'?"

The spirit blinked, before rubbing his head with a nod. "_Well... __I guess not... It definitely makes it easier to cheer you on when I don't worry about your plan potentially slipping through to the other me's head,_" the boy admitted quietly._ "But... Do you really not look at your hand __at all__,_" he shouted incredulously. "_Seriously? You said you could see your draws before it happened,_" he continued with wide eyes,_ "But that..._"

Again the blond shrugged, his hand folded under his arm already as his hand of cards floated around his mind. "Eh... Comes w' weird psychic abilities I suppose. I got used t' it by th' fight I had w' Kajiki really," he continued with a grin, the spirit beside him pulling a face.

"_Ehh..._"

"LET THE MATCH BEGIN," came a shout from below, cutting whatever Yugi planned to say off as the spirit sighed moved to a more 'middle' point between his friends. Katsuya immediately stood straight, watching the field with those words as he prepared for what was yet to come. "_DUEL!_" Alright...

Lets do this! "My turn," Seto announced first, Katsuya narrowing his eyes at the field in slight expectation. "I set a card," she began, a searing light growing from the wall behind her to outline a blank-faced tablet, the outline appearing to almost be traced by two glowing and moving points. "In addition," the woman announced, two other 'lights' tracing along the wall, "I summon the Blood Vorse in attack mode!" Alright, now how was the monster's summon going to work with-

The blond tensed as another tablet appeared in the confines of the wall, stone slowly edging its way forward from the edges of the wall they were leveled with. It grew first along the lifts... Then forward to form a 'net', and then a floor... Until, by the time the demonic axe wielding warrior appeared from its enormous and somewhat curved tablet at the side, there was nothing but solid stone meeting his eyes. An arena... And given the 'lines' between each player, each side would move with them, possibly curving the stone to match each height. This...

Briefly, the light Yugi seemed to look at him oddly, floating slightly closer as he opened his mouth to speak. "_...Jonouchi-kun,_" he asked, Malik summoning a monster in defense as the stone carved at his side to reveal the etchings of a demon of sorts, "_You're not looking at the field..._" No, he thought to himself as the 'Other Yugi' as well summoned a monster in defense before setting a card. No he wasn't...

But by this point, that hardly mattered, did it? "'S nothin'," he muttered quickly as he drew, "My turn!" His hand was fairly bad of course, even with this draw... Not that that mattered. He'd manage nonetheless, mark his words..! "I set a card face down," he called out, biting his lip as the ghost in his mind watched in silence and as those below attempted to ascertain whether or not he'd looked at his hand. The tablet appeared in the wall at his side, blank-faced and hiding behind it his only real option for a play as he frowned. "End turn..!" Now...

Here came the first wave... "Hn... Jonouchi," Seto called from across the blond, Katsuya watching as the Vorse raider at her side twirled it's weapon and sneered, "Allow my to show you exactly how far out of your league you are here..! Blood Vorse," she ordered, the monster halting the spear's movement in his hands before charging toward him. "ATTACK!" Gh... Here it came..! Three he thought, the Vorse's grin widening.

Two, and he could tell that this field had either been lengthened by his mind or that the raider was slow...

One-

"_**GH- WHAT,**_" the monster snarled incredulously, a shout mirrored by his summoner. "_**What the-**_"

"ACTIVATE TRAP," Yugi roared from the side, Katsuya throwing his eyes open as the monster before him was suddenly wrapped tightly by a net of chains. The tablet at Yugi's back was glowing, almost 'spinning' in the center as the chains twisted around themselves, pulling tight on the monster before him. "Regulation of the Tribe," the boy continued as the chains twisted and pulled even tighter, "Allowing me to decide on one type of monster to keep from attacking... And in this case," he announced with a wide grin, "That's Beast Warriors!" Ah... Then...

He made his decision, Katsuya realized with somewhat wide eyes. "_**Grrrh... Foolish 'KING',**_" the Vorse spat in response, struggling against his bonds as he snarled._** "Our master will have her match damn it! RRGH... Let... ME... Out..!**_" Katsuya raised an eyebrow at the monster's antics, the Blood Vorse turning briefly as the blond stared somewhat amusedly.

"...Y' done yet," he muttered under his breath with raised eyebrows, Yugi's own spirit momentarily distracted by whatever move Malik was about to make from the side as Katsuya continued to stare. "Cause I _really_ don' have time f'r th's crap..."

The monster instantly froze, 'hovering' in place as the chains around him stiffened. "_**W- Y-You... An Ancient,**_" the Blood Vorse muttered, single colour eyes widening with alarm. "_**But how...**_" Who knew; he didn't even know why they kept going on about all this 'ancient' crap quite frankly. All he knew was that Yugi was trying to protect him. Which meant Yugi wanted to keep their promise, and wanted to fight him in the next round. Which meant that he... Well... Damn it...

He'd have to break that promise.

* * *

That... Idiot. Seto's eyes narrowed as holographic chains wrapped around her monster, the woman's arms still crossed as she ground her teeth. Defending someone other than himself... Tch! "You... Yugi... You _dare_ interrupt my attack," she hissed, the boy giving no response other than to stare at the field indifferently before smirking somewhat. "...Tch..!" Of course, she reminded herself, the traded conversation from the helicopter a day prior coming to mind. That stupid promise between the two... That 'promise' to duel each other. Though admittedly, she thought to herself, that would be the best way to keep him from potentially getting himself killed against Malik... But at the same time, she knew for a fact that Malik would want to target Yugi above anything. Which meant he would be trying to whittle Kat- _Jonouchi_ down anyways. Which meant, that if Yugi targeted herself and Malik in the meantime, while Jonouchi targeted Malik himself (she was fairly certain the moron would have some excuse like feelings or whatever to not go after her...)...

Tch. The fact was, whoever lost was facing Malik, and as far as things went, she'd rather no one other than herself face the bastard at all. And since it looked as though the 'promise' would be in the way... Well. There was always provoking to try. "Y-Yugi," Jonouchi was muttering at the moment, looking to his friend in apparent shock before turning away almost guiltily. Hn...

Now what was that about... Almost as though he had _wanted _to be attacked... The woman narrowed her eyes, before shaking it off and steeling her gaze. Whatever. She needed to get her priorities straight. She'd need two God cards to take down Malik. She needed to, no matter what, fight against Yugi to do that- otherwise, no matter who it was that challenged Malik, it would end in disaster. There would be a twenty minute break between this match and the finals for each player to prepare their deck (not to mention stall for the helicopter...)... She would have to make sure she matched the blond against Malik and then somehow convince the idiot to forfeit (somehow) during that time. So... "Hn! What kind of security guard are you," Seto growled, Katsuya instantly honing in on the insult as she gave him a sneering grin. "Relying on your friend's protection... I suppose when it comes to dueling," the woman went on, "It's almost expected..."

The blond tensed, gritting his teeth as he reddened. "GH- What was tha'..?" Already getting a reaction hn..?

That was good... "Hnhnhn... You heard me," she chuckled, a dark smirk coming over her face as she thought of the following matches she had in mind. "I told you you're _weak_. _Useless_ at this game," she continued, watching as the blond more and more visibly enraged. "But I digress... I'll just let you continue on as though you're all friends in this 'Battle Royale'," Seto 'decided' with a laugh, "Because no matter what, I'll still know this; I'm a challenge to Yugi. Malik is a challenge to Yugi. But you," she went on, eyebrows raising as Katsuya continued to growl, "Well... I can't even count the number of times you've lost to him... And Yugi isn't going to 'save you'," the woman laughed, gesturing toward the blond across from her as her grin grew. "He's going to use you as a stepping stone to the final arena, as an easy way out! THINK," she roared, slipping the hidden message in her words with a grin. "The three you face each carry _God Cards_..! And you just hold a half-baked deck of luck and chance..! Whoever fights you is guaranteed to make it into the finals... Call it 'sympathy'," she 'sighed', the grin lessening to a smirk, "But I-"

"Kaiba..!" Ah- so much for Katsuya going first. "That's enough," Yugi growled, the opponent whose turn it was currently leaning against the wall in impatience, "Jonouchi and I made a promise... He's more than worthy of fighting anyone here," the boy continued bitterly, "And more than strong enough to defeat whoever he fights against! And no matter what," he shouted clearly, "I-"

"Oi, Yugi!" Hn? Katsuya..? Seto and Yugi both turned, the woman in question frowning as the blond, still red-faced, held a look of apparently calm and contained rage. "Tha's enough," he said with a slight smirk, hand of cards only loosely held in his hand. "I already know what's goin' on here... An' y' don' have t' worry abou' takin' Se-" She tensed; don't say her name...! "...Kaiba's words t' heart..." Thank god... The moron had gone through the equivalent of a few days with nothing but that 'seto-chan' bullshit, and if he slipped even once... A slight chuckle came over the air, the woman pulled from her thoughts. "...Heh..." A smirk came over Katsuya's face, Seto frowning somewhat as the blond went on. "You don' need t' worry abou' me," he said with a slight grin, eyes not moving from her own location. "I'll be jus' fine..." Those words...

He was looking directly at her but...

Were those words for his friend, or for _her_..? Briefly her eyes narrowed, more than they already were, but in the end the woman snorted and tossed the thought from mind. Fine. He could do what he wanted she told herself with a quiet growl. She'd just have to find a way to make her plan work regardless. No matter what she would fight Yugi in the next match... No matter what, she thought as the time for her turn ran out, she would defeat him, and using the Osiris card she received she would- "My turn," Malik drawled, a somewhat amused expression on his face as the Egyptian pondered what would happen after this. "I set one card on the field and summon Lord of Poison, attack mode," the blond announced. The barbed tentacle beast appeared in a slight shower of holographic light to hover through the air, and their opponent continued on. "In addition," he called out with a grin, pointing his other monster forward as it shifted into the same mode of play, "Newdoria attacks the Blood Vorse!" …

What.

The hologram of the strange zombie-like monster threw up an arm, charging forward as Seto narrowed her eyes. "Interesting," she muttered, those on the field as well staring. Attacking with such a less powerful monster... Now that would mean death for him but-...

Newdoria exploded from existence upon contact with her monster but with it her Vorse raider scattered into pixels in the air, Seto finding herself stiffening as she was caught off guard. "Activate Newdoria's special effect," Malik had shouted, his opponent's slightly curious smirk falling flat as the woman's eyes widened in shock, "When sent to the graveyard, he can destroy one monster on the field... I picked your Blood Vorse," the teen cackled, before the hologram of a spell appeared on a field to continue with the turn. "And in addition," he continued, Katsuya's momentary grin at what would still be Malik's loss quickly fading as he turned to look at the spell with apparent knowledge, "I activate this... Spell of Pain," he announced, the rest of the duelists staring at the card themselves. "Transferring the battle damage I take this turn to another player... And I pick Jonouchi!" Huh. Well.

That worked out too she supposed. "E-EH!" For a brief moment, Seto had to smirk as the spell took effect and as Kat- (JONOUCHI!) paled. It looked as though her opponent's attempt to destroy Jonouchi would work in her favor after all, allowing her to get both blondes closer to defeat. But as the hologram flashed out of existence and the lifepoints fell, the blond seemed to buckle in an unseen fit of pain. His lift was raising up to almost the '3000' line so it was hard to tell from her position of course... But it looked almost as though some invisible force had constricted him. As though something was coiling around him, squeezing him tightly beneath an undying and pressurizing force. And as the lift came to a stop and the blond looked downward with a still pale and laboured looking expression she couldn't help but mutter under her breath, eyes somewhat wide with confusion.

"You... ...What's happening to you..."

* * *

As tendrils of shadow wrapped around his body from the spell of pain it took all he could not to reveal any form of reaction to the attack. For the moment, his thoughts were whirling. He knew what Seto was trying to do for match ups now. She was going to fight Yugi, then fight Malik with two gods, that was her plan. And between that, before his own match, she was going to try and somehow convince him to pull out of the match against Malik. Hell, he'd even seen a snippet of that conversation, the raged yet fearful look in her eyes as she shouted at him! As she said...

'_He'll kill you._'

He hadn't heard much of the conversation obviously. But it was more than enough to catch on. A part of him almost wanted to say '_awwww, she cares..!_' Another wanted to cheer and scream and shout that she was at least _somewhat_ returning some affections, regardless of whether they were as a friend, family member, or simply a member of the staff. Just wanted to say 'maybe, there's a chance...'

But the pain that was now squeezing at him was more than enough to take his attentions away from this, and as the chains that had once held the blood vorse fell limp and vanished, he had a feeling Yugi noticed. "..._Jonouchi-kun,_" the boy was whispering, his friend gritting his teeth as he appeared to 'look over' the side of his lift. Fact was, he couldn't see shit over this... The 'stone' that took up his field was too far out, and the most he could see was around the edges of the tower where each opponent sat. All he could see was rock. But it was better than looking _up_ through this pain. As he noticed the 'ghost' standing at his side however he steeled himself, swallowing back the wave of intense pain as the tendrils finished their constrictions and vanished with the wall carving it came from. "_Jonouchi-kun,_" Yugi was repeating, his friend breathing somewhat haggardly as the screen made its corrections to the field and as tablet dust filled in the etched carvings on the wall. "_Jonouchi-kun,_" Yugi called out,_ "Are you alright..?_"

"H... Heh..." Suck it up, he told himself. Suck it up..! "Gh... Never better," he said with a swallow, the other Yugi making his own move as he tribute summoned the 'Demon Gilfer' below. This monster didn't need the stone arena for his support he noted as the etchings appeared along the wall; in fact, rather than settle with stepping out to the stone it flew out into the upper reaches of the tower from a burst of dust and sand, its form chuckling and laughing as Katsuya's eyes followed it through the room. "...Never better," the blond repeated somewhat quietly as the demon chuckled, taking form and stretching its wings with a roaring laugh. Never...

Better. ...And here he'd gotten somewhat used to not hearing them go all out like this... "_**Haaahahaaaaaahhhh! This is nice~,**_" the monster roared, a toothy grin in place as it swirled through the air._** "I've never been able to fly **__**this**_ _**high in a match before Normally there's a roof, or some kind of stupid field limit, but damn! HEHEHEHE... This'll be fun..!**_" Er... Glad to hear, he thought to himself. And seeing how Yugi ordered an attack...

Should probably get moving he muttered mentally, watching as the monster charged a blast of fire within its mouth. "_Jonouchi-kun,_" Yugi asked worriedly as the blond watched flames blow down toward Seto only to be pulled toward Malik's monster by the activated trap she retaliated with. Seto was of course amused by the fact that the attack from her rival would be used to bring Malik closer to a match against the one she planned to talk into forfeiture, but as yet another trap was activated there was a brief scowl... "_What are you looking at..?_"

The blond blinked, shaking himself off and looking back to the spirit at his side as his friend's other half used a 'Seven Tools of the Bandit' to allow Seto's attack through regardless, despite the fact that it had been his attack in the first place. The machine rose... Malik's lift was now even with his own, creating an even slope between one half of the field and the other. But no one else could see this, he reminded himself. No one! He shook himself, drawing a card and setting it on the disk as a tablet began to carve beside him from the curved 'steel' wall. "Nothin'," he said with a forced smile, making sure to keep his voice down while he spoke to the spirit. "Nothin'..."

Dust and smoke rose along the cracks of the carving, and without looking he could see steel forming. "_**'If by 'nothing' you mean 'me',**_" Gearfried muttered with a stretch as he stepped out onto his summoner's currently sloped arena, "_**Then I suppose it's not a 'lie'.**_" The monster cracked his neck, looking out to the rest of the field before gesturing around them._** "Hnn... … Are you going to announce the summon anytime soon,**_" he asked somewhat absently, "_**Because I'll be completely useless until then you know.**_" Wh- Oh come on..!

Katsuya instantly gave the monster a pointed look from the corner of his eye before looking forward, leaning somewhat against the stand and choosing not to give him a verbal response. "My turn," he announced, the others watching with varied expressions as the blond went on. "I summon Gearfried in attack mode," he shouted, before narrowing his eyes and staring at the field. And now... To make sure he fought Malik instead of her... "ATTACK S- KAIBA," he ordered, the woman in question tensing somewhat in shock.

"W-!"

"_**Got it,**_" Gearfried shouted, blades sharpening against each other as he grinned. The monster skidded down the stone 'hill' that the raised arena had formed, blade held at the ready as it cut toward the woman before him. Keeping to the strangeness of the 'nature' of these duels the blade passed through without a single mark. There was a slight grimace from whatever holographic reaction occurred of course... Not to mention a look of absolute rage, but in the end all he could do was grin even as the woman muttered threats and growled in anger. This kind of duel...

Even with everything at risk, it was still fun, wasn't it? "Hehehehe... Am I still 'useless'," he 'asked', a smirk on his face as the stone field around Seto's lift rose into a hill that moved high above the '1000' mark to hit '2200' lifepoints. "Am I still a 'make-inu'..? Someone who can't stand on their own two feet?" There was no answer, and as he folded his hand again he crossed his arms. "My turn's over," he continued with a laugh, leaning back as he grinned. "So do yer worst, Se... ...Kaiba..."

"You... Moron..!" Ooooh, she was pissed... Three new blank tablets were carving themselves out as Yugi continued to stare at his friend oddly, and as Seto took her turn with grit teeth. "Set three cards," she snarled, before a fourth tablet formed among the trio to etch into its form a masked swordsman. "And next, I summon the Blade Knight in attack mode..!" From the blade knight's carving smoke poured forth, and as the blue metal formed and glinted from the dust the knight's summoner continued. "As for my target," Seto snarled, briefly looking down upon the blond with a snarl. It was... "I ATTACK..." Not him. "YOU! MALIK," she snarled, the blade knight charging toward the teen before 'cutting' him through with a shout. The lift began to move in an instant as the summoner chuckled, relishing in her opponent's aggravation; they'd hardly expected _that_ after all... "Hnhnhnhnhnhnhn..!"

Malik was silent as his lifepoints fell, a leering glare upon his face as he looked down upon the woman who had attacked him. His own corner of the arena rose far from its previous position, higher than the blond beside him, higher than the hill that Seto's own arena had formed... And the expression of distaste didn't change one bit. "...My turn," the Egyptian finally sneered, Katsuya only just now realizing that any cheers below had been muted out by the stone arena beneath them. Craaaaap... "I summon Dark Jelloid in attack mode," he cried, smoke searing from the tablet that carved behind him to send out a mess of flesh and veins. "And now..."

Seto had two trap cards, his mind told him. And Yugi's monster was more powerful that the summoned beast. But even without that knowledge, he knew who Malik would have picked for a target, and the fact was that he would have to wait before he used this trap. "Brace yerself," he muttered under his breath, briefly forgetting the fact that 'light' Yugi was still behind him and listening as he warned the monster on his side. "This'll hurt..."

The steel warrior at his side merely snorted as the demon above them pawed at the ground, taking a defensive stance and preparing to counter. "_**Hn..! ...**__**No shit..!**_" Three... Two...

One! "ATTACK GEARFRIED," Malik cackled, a wide grin on his face as the mutated and 'centaurian' monster charged. "And activate his effect..! Lowering the opposing monster's attack by 800 points," he roared, the monster he was attacking hurriedly ducking a strike even as the demon lashed toward him. Gearfried was weakened by a poisonous mist from the charging monster's mouth, the smoke filling the air... Katsuya closed his eyes, covering his mouth as he attempted to hide a rasping cough, the poison entering his own lungs as well...

"_Jonouchi-kun,_" he dimly heard, the blond reaching out with his mind as the tablet beside him 'rumbled'. "_Jonouchi-kun,_" he heard someone calling,_ "Are you..._" Now...

Now, the ability had been used, he had to act now..! "Hehehe... Try again," he shouted up with a slight cough, "I act'vate my trap!" The tablet beside him began to carve its image forth, and instantly the poisonous mist vanished. "Sword an' Shield," the blond announced, still laughing somewhat as his lungs began to clear. "You mighta lowered my attack... But not my defense! Gearfried," he ordered, the monster holding a blade forward as he resumed attack, "NOW!"

"Alright," the other Yugi and his partner both shouted, "Jonouchi..!"

"Jonouchi-kun!"

"Go for it, Katsuya-nii-!"

. . .

Crap.

A sudden vision flew across his mind at that moment as Gearfried charged. As Malik paled and as another tablet far at the side began to mist into existence, before smoke poured forth from its form and those below widened their eyes. This card..! "_G-Gearfried," _the others were whispering in shock,_ "Gearfried is..._"

"_**Gh- This... **__**Shrink..!**_"

"Shrink," Katsuya repeated, eyes wide as a wave of acidic smoke blasted forth from their opposing monster, taking advantage of the now halved power and size of it's target. "_SHIT!_"

"HnhnHAHAHAHA!" Oh come on, was it really that funny! "That should teach you to overestimate yourself," Seto cackled from above with a triumphant grin. "Shrink has been activated," she continued, the grin widening as he scowled. "So much for your 'attack'... Mutt!"

"GH-" Ghhhh... Damn it... While he had the feeling that this was the only way to fight Malik now, this... Ghhh... They couldn't see it thankfully... Maybe the 'light Yugi' could, depending on how close he was to him right now, but the light burn resulting from the mist simply left his skin in a slightly irritated, reddened state despite the incredible damage to his lifepoints. Of course, the mist he'd inhaled was dealing with that just fine... Burning his lungs just as quickly as he recovered from the attack... "Hah... Hahh... D-Damn it... S... Se..." Couldn't say 'Seto-chan', he reminded himself. He couldn't...

"_Jonouchi-kun..!_" Ah... That was..._ "Jonouchi-kun,_" Yugi shouted, still hovering worriedly beside him,_ "What's going on..!_" S-Shit... He was still there...

"Heehhh..." If he saw too much more... They wouldn't be able to duel, and... The blond took a rasping breath, looking down upon the field and swallowing. "...Hahh... ...Hahhhh..." Yugi still had all his lifepoints... That was good... So for now... "Yugi," he whispered, the redness vanishing from his skin as it rehealed. "Hah... You should go sit w' yer other f'r a bit, alrigh'," he wheezed, standing up as he rubbed his throat. "'S 's turn... So..."

"_Jonouchi-kun..._" The boy seemed to hover backward somewhat, a look of confusion increasing over his face as he bit his lip._ "...What's going on,_" he repeated, eyes dimming somewhat._ "You're... ...Your skin was..._"

That was the thing though. It 'was'. ...And now... It wasn't. "'M fine," he said flatly, looking at the field as a tablet with Kuriboh's image carved out behind the other Yugi. "But I-" The blond froze, stiffening as the sound of a shout rang through the back of his mind. '_Gilfer attacks,_' he could hear his friend roar, Katsuya turning downward with wide eyes as the demon stood beside his summoner with crossed arms. Gilfer... The monster hadn't moved yet though so... '_NOW, KAIBA..!' _No...

No! He couldn't let that- "Now... GILFER ATTACKS," the other Yugi was shouting, pointing forward as Gilfer spread his wings and launched into the air, "AND THE TARGET IS-

"YUGI," the blond shouted, cutting his friend off, those below and above both turning in shock. "WAIT!" The boy frowned, looking up as his friend swallowed. This... He couldn't let this happen..! He wasn't letting Yugi attack to avoid him, not today..! "Yugi... What is a 'real duelist'," he asked cryptically, the burn across the inside of his lungs only slightly fading in comparison to the already healed skin over his body. The other Yugi appeared to stare up quizzically, those around doing the same as the blond held his serious gaze. "R'member tha' question," he 'asked'. "I stayed in th's competition t' find that out... But more importantly," Katsuya went on with a slight frown, "While I was fightin' t' find tha' answer, I was aimin' t' fight w' you in an official match instead 'f some table-top game..." And Yugi was confused... And Malik didn't care... And Seto thought this was sappy as hell, her expression said it all, but who really cared any more? And Honda was questioning why he was bringing this up, and Otogi was calling Shizuka to find out how the others were doing while Anzu and Malik both looked up through golden eyes but this wasn't the time right now. "Yugi," the blond shouted, decision made. "No matter what, I never back down from a challenge... You know tha'! I fight w' th' monsters in my deck no matter how bad it looks..! So tha's why I'm bringing th' words 'f another friend in here," he continued, Mai appearing in the back of his mind as he bit his tongue. "'_Besides yourself, everyone is th' enemy here_'! An' tha' applies here too..! YUGI," Katsuya roared, eyes wide as he continued with his request. "Don' hold back jus' because 'f our promise. My field is empty... And my life points 'r low. So don' waste this turn! Make th' righ' decision... ATTACK ME," he shouted, his friend looking up with somewhat wide eyes as others stared with narrowed ones. "No matter what, I'll win th' next match I have... An' I'll face you in those finals, so ATTACK," Katsuya shouted.

The other Yugi and 'light' Yugi both looked up as the blond grinned from above. As Seto's expression of incredulous and almost haughty mirth in the face of a sappy speech faded to a slight expression of confusion and possible realization. Yea... He knew what she was trying to do. But now _she_ knew that he wasn't trying to fight Yugi any ways.

He was gunning for Malik the entire time, and unbeknownst to them they'd just been helping him along. Malik was close to 'death'. And so was he. So rather than target the others now... Why not target himself? '_I understand, Jonouchi,_' he thought he heard Yugi say, before his vision was 'corrected'. "GILFER! ATTACK JONOUCHI DIRECTLY," Yugi shouted, the demon taking to the skies in an instant. "...Jonouchi," he continued, the blond biting his lip and closing his eyes as he waited for the flames to strike, "I'll see you in the finals!"

Yea..! Alright he thought, the sensation of movement coming over him as his lift began to shift under the hologram's already decided damage run. Alright... But...

Where was the attack? "_**Yo,**_" a somewhat gruff voice said, the blond opening his eyes to stare at the source. That sound...

"E-Ehhh..." Katsuya blinked as his lift slowly continued to move in response to whatever attack hadn't happened, before shaking his head as the demon in front of him crouched on the lift end and stared. "...Wh..."

More silence. The demon seemed to study him for a few moments before bringing a finger up. W-What... That...

-_poke_-

"Wh..."

"_**There,**_" the demon said almost plainly, pulling his arm back with a somewhat cheeky grin._** "I **__**attacked. See you later.**_" What...

_What the fuck..?_ The blond looked over the bottom of the lift as the demon tipped off backward, giving a slight salute as he flew back to his summoner to allow Katsuya's move to come through. What...

He didn't... Katsuya continued to stare as the lift shuddered to a stop, looking down with somewhat wide eyes. The monsters...

They could choose how severe the attack was... So then... Back on the pier... '_Hey man,_' he could remember the Alligator Sword warning him, the Millennium Rod forcing the attacks through despite his cries. '_Watch it... I think we caused some real damage there..!_'

Was that what they meant? Was it the will of the duelist that controlled the damage..? Or was it something else? Did they just act this way because they knew he could feel the pain..? Heck, he didn't want anything to happen to Seto, but Gearfried certainly had no qualms in running her through with a sword...

Katsuya mentally shook it off, steeling himself as he sent a look down toward Malik's position. Malik... He wasn't far from him now, but at the same time he had only a one chance left. He wasn't sure why, but he knew this..! The blond narrowed his eyes, teeth grinding as he clenched the sides of the lift. He'd better prepare himself... And as for Malik... He'd be getting what was coming in just a moment! "...My turn," the blond announced coldly, hand reaching for his deck. Draw..! And in his hands... A smirk came over his face, and again without looking the card was placed on the disk. "I place one card face down," he announced, a new tablet carving appearing behind him to slowly seep smoke into the air as it prepared to launch its effect. "And next," he announced, yet another tablet etching its carving out on the stone behind him, "I summon the Legendary Fisherman in attack mode..!" Now...

Though the killer whale appeared on the tablet's surface it was only the man who rode the beast that stepped forward, much like he had on the field against Rishid. "_**This place... A tower,**_" he asked almost confusedly, looking around as the blond nodded and smirked. Man... He'd been wondering why he missed this when the poison hit, but now that both Yugi's were on the 'main floor' and he was way up here...

It was nice, being able to talk to these guys again. "Heh... Yep," he whispered, careful to keep his voice down and mouth more or less closed as he spoke. "This shouldn' take too long though, alrigh'," he added more seriously. "Jus' one turn." That was all they had... And all they would need.

The fisherman turned at that, seeming to study his summoner's face before nodding. "_**I understand... I'll fight until the very end," **_he continued determinedly. "_**No matter what lies in store..!**_" Good..!

"An' so will I... So," he continued, raising his voice, standing up straighter as he looked down upon the field. "The one I attack... I CHOOSE TH' BLADE KNIGHT," he announced, looking down as the woman below him smirked victoriously from below. "S... KAIBA..!"

As the fisherman threw his harpoon forward, he already knew what was coming. Chuckling came from far below him, and as the woman's triumphant grin came into place she laughed. "Activate trap cards," she announced, her plan supposedly coming into fruition from the blond's 'stupidity'.

"_Ring of Destruction,_" those it the tower heard as the grenades launched forward,_ "And Ring of __defense._"

Had Seto been paying attention, she'd have realized the blond across from her was muttering the same thing she'd just called out, having seen both traps in his mind before even attacking. Had the spirit of the 'real Yugi' been standing closer, he'd have realized his friend was literally counting down for the moment the tablet released the ring of grenades forward, and the moment that the shield-laden one sprung forth to protect its caster. As it were however when the ring latched around his monster the Fisherman gave him a sad nod, eyes filled with understanding despite the grave situation he was currently in.

"_**I'm ready,**_" he said plainly, the bombs beginning to shudder.

He as well nodded, before closing his eyes. "Alrigh'..." And in the light of the explosion, the shrapnel seemed to pass through him completely, the trap behind him releasing a thick wave of smoke to both shield him from harm and shoot toward the stones of Malik's own field. The bits of flesh and bone remaining from the Fisherman's charred body fell to the ground harmlessly in the aftermath, but with a jolt it was Malik's lift that began to move upward, the smoke from the tablet shrouding him from view. And in his hands, Katsuya held a card forward, smirking with narrowed eyes as he laughed. "Hihihihihihhh..."

"What is this," Malik was hissing, a slight wind seeming to pass through him as the dust vanished and left his lift sitting at the very top of the structure. "My lifepoints... Are _zero_..!" Heheheh... This situation...

He just had to laugh... "Hnhnhnhnhnhnhn... Hnhnhahaha... HAHAHA..! Damn straight," Katsuya said with a smirk, those below staring up in incredulity as the stone around Malik's field and all tablets he'd summoned into existence faded from the walls and scene both. "I act'vated th's! Graverobber! R'member tha' card y' used on me," he bragged, the hooded robber twirling his tools in hand as he chuckled at his summoner's side. "I used it righ' back on you... 'Th' Curse 'f Pain'..!" Sending all that battle damage right back at him... "...Word t' th' wise," he continued with a quieter tone, his lift and Malik's own just close enough that all those beneath him would hear was incoherent muttering. "Don' mess w' someone who c'n pr'dict yer moves..."

"Predict," Malik repeated, before a dark grin came over his face in response. Well... He certainly pieced the dots together quickly with that. "Hnhnhn... Hnhnhahaha... You're more interesting than I thought," the Egyptian chuckled. "I'll be waiting," he hissed, the door above his lift clicking open as he sneered. "You'll be the first to enter the world of darkness..! Hnhnhnhnhn..."

The lift vanished up through a hole in the ceiling with that... His field was empty thanks to that move too, but as he crossed his arms and looked down to his remaining opponents with a smirk he still had to laugh. Exactly as planned... It went exactly as planned..! Fighting Malik... It was going to be scary as hell he thought to himself, a somewhat frightened gleam entering his eyes, but at least he'd made it this far. "End turn," he called down, hand folded back into his hand as he looked down at his opponent's eyes. "So... Le's get th's over with," he shouted louder. "C'MON!"

Somehow Seto's grin seemed half hearted after he'd said that. As though only now she'd realized that it was awareness and not stupidity that led to that attack. But to ignore a direct attack that would kill him would be foolish... Not to mention, 'out of character' if such a thought had ever really come to her mind. So with an apparent grin, the woman drew her next card and pointed her monster forward, the faceless knight taking his blade in hand with a curt nod. "BLADE KNIGHT," she ordered, the knight in question looking up the immense hill before him with a battle ready stance. "ATTACK KA-" Ka? "-JONOUCHI DIRECTLY!"

Did she say 'Ka'..? As the knight charged Katsuya stared, blinking a few times as he waited for his opponent's attack to connect. "O-Oi," he muttered under his breath, shaking himself as he swallowed. "Did... She jus' pull a... '_Me_'..?" There was...

No way she'd slipped on his name right..? "_**Who knows,**_" the knight responded fiercely, appearing in a flash before the blond as Katsuya stumbled back from what had moments ago been empty space. "_**But if you even consider breaking what little has been rebuilt,**_" he snarled, blade abruptly raised to the blond's neck as he swallowed in growing fear, "_**Know that we won't hold back next battle... None of us!**_" N-None... Eh-EHHH!

The blond continued to swallow as a slight cut came at his neck, but as a shout came from below the monster slowly began to vanish, along with any sign of stone and dust on the field. "H... Hahh..." That...

That was way too close damn it..! "_Jonouchi-kun,_" Yugi called out worriedly, floating up as Isono announced the match end from below. He was going to fight Malik... Yugi was then going to fight Seto, and then the final match would begin... "_Jonouchi-kun,_" his friend pressed, the door above them clicking open as Katsuya stared._ "You... Did you know that would happen, that last move..? Did you know,_" he continued on, "_That when you attacked..."_

The lift was going upward now... As the ghost beside him looked to him with more worry and fear than he'd ever seen in a long time the blond nodded, smiling weakly and answering as honestly as I could. "Yea," he admitted, putting his cards back in his deck with a small smile. "I did..."

The worry in his friend's face increased, and Yugi grew pale. "_But-_"

"Hey," Katsuya said with a grin, giving a somewhat 'corny' thumbs up as he continued to rise upward. "Don' worry... After all," he said with a weak smile, the lift disappearing through the hole above. "Shadow games... They don' mean a thing t' me..."

And with those words he left the ghost to stare at where he'd vanished from in horror, with the door closing over to leave him in some unknown dark room...

A room which filled with light from a lamp above him just seconds later. "Hnn... Th's place..." Yugi had returned to the puzzle with his other half for some reason beyond him; that was the only thing that would explain why he'd suddenly stopped following him after all... But this room...

The lift had risen along the edge of the wall and room, as expected. It would probably do that until the end of it as well. Not as expected however, it had also _stopped _before its apparent destination. There was a hole above that was closed off for a moment in fact, a door which the lift was clearly meant to pass through at some point. But for the moment he was inside a curved, quarter-circle room with the 'corner' cut off from in front of him, a corner that was replaced by a door in the middle of a long flat wall. There was a speaker on one side of the room he was in, along with a table, a chair...

"-**Attention Duelists,**-" a voice announced through the speaker system at that moment, Katsuya turning to step out of the lift as Isono's voice carried through the air. "-**We now enter an intermission between ****now and the following semi-final matches. For the next twenty minutes,**-" Isono stated clearly, "**-You will be given time to rest, look over your decks, and use provided facilities if needed. Visitors will be allowed during this time,**-" the man continued, "**However, entry into each room will require either admitance from the inside, or the pass-code, which is provided on the desk in each room. With that, I wish you good luck..!**-"

And that was done. Katsuya stared at the speaker for a moment as he disconnected his duel disk, looking over at the table to blink at the card with neatly written numbers on it. Not that he could read it from here but... '0125'... "Hahaha... They used m' birthday," he muttered to himself with a sigh. Clever...

But wait... How did they know he'd be in this room! The blond shook his head, taking a seat on the chair and pulling his deck from the duel disk with a sigh as he pushed the thought from mind. Ahh... Probably just a coincidence, he told himself. Nothing more than that...

"_Hn. If you believe in 'coincidences',_" the ghost in his mind muttered, the owner of said mind briefly closing his eyes as the image of the spirit came through his head.

Katsuya sighed in response to the words, idly looking through his deck as he frowned. "Hnnnggg... Can't y' jus' leave me alone already," he asked, rubbing his forehead as he put a few 'sorted' cards on the table. "I mean, bad 'nough I don' know who y' are," he continued, the ghost seeming to frown with the statement, "But-"

"_Jonouchi-kun,_" a faded voice shouted from outside, the blond looking up in slight confusion. "_Is it alright if I come in?_" Ah?

Hah... So that was the reason why he hadn't followed... He was being his usual polite self. The blond put his deck on the table, nodding before giving his answer with a smile. "Eh... Sure," he called out, the smile widening into a grin. "C'mon in..!"

At those words the spirit poked his head in, a somewhat worried frown on his face as he made his way further into the room. "_Hi... ...Um.."_ There was a somewhat awkward pause, the spirit looking to the side and flushing somewhat as he attempted to properly phrase his thoughts_. "...About earlier..._" Errr... Earlier. Right. Mentioning shadows... _Yeeeaaaaaaa,_ he didn't exactly leave with the best line did he... "_When you said the shadow games wouldn't mean anything,"_ Yugi began somewhat nervously. "_I...__ ...What exactly did you mean by that,_" he asked, biting his lip. "_I mean... I know I said I wouldn't bug you about this... And that you've already shared what you can,_" the boy continued, rubbing his arm with a frown,_ "But with everything going on, I'm worried and..._" Aww Yugi...

Stop making him feel guilty damn it... He... He'd say something, honest! Just _not now_, not before this match... Not when everyone he knew would want to pull him out with that knowledge... "...'S nothin'," the blond lied, mentally kicking himself in the crotch for his words before continuing. "Heck... It ain't so bad righ'? I figure tha' if th' shadows weren' suff'catin' me b'fore," he went on with a smile, "It'll be abou' as bad as if you were playin' righ'?"

Yugi pulled a face at that, looking to the side in worry for a few moments. "_Jonouchi-kun,_" he began, hesitating somewhat before continuing on. "..._That... That may be so but... Why would you put yourself up against Malik,_" he asked, biting his lip._ "Why..._"

That... The blond smiled sadly, looking back to his deck and staring at the few cards that were looking up at him. "Truthfully," he 'asked', before looking back to the boy. "B'cause... When you were out cold on th' airship, an Malik stood above me... What he said..." What he didn't tell anyone he said... "...I can' live w' myself if I pass up th' chance t' beat him," Katsuya said quietly, eyes growing dim as they moved toward the floor. "F'r Mai, f'r Bakura, f'r Ryuzaki... Hell," he added with a slight snort, "F'r everyone..! I know I said I'd fight w'th y'," he continued, smile dropping as he looked to the boy seriously, "But I stand by m' word... I'm gonna win agains' Malik... Mark my words! An' while I can't _read_ tha' card," he added with a grin, tapping his head as it twisted into a darkening smirk, "He'll be in f'r a nasty surprise when he tries t' summon it," he laughed, his friend pulling a slight but sad smile in response.

"_Jonouchi-kun..._" Come on Yugi... Don't be upset about this... He'd be fine... He'd be fine..! The boy nodded slowly as he studied his friend's face, before making the action again and with more confidence. "_Alright,"_ he decided, forcing a smile to appear. "_I understand. I can't change this anyways so... Jonouchi-kun, no matter what you have to win okay,_" he told his friend determinedly, Katsuya nodding in response. "_I'm counting on you... Keep your promise,"_ he called out seriously,_ "No matter what..!_"

"I will," the blond said with a grin, giving a slight 'salute'. "Count on it!"

"_Alright... ...I'm going to go check on the other me now,_" Yugi said quietly, fading from sight with the smile still in place. "_Jonouchi-kun... ...Good luck..._" …

Yea... Good... Good luck, he told himself. He...

"_**Oooooiii...**_" . . . That... That sound...

Someone please tell him he didn't hear that.

"_**Psssstttt,**_" the voice repeated,_** "Katsuya-jun..!**_" Tell him. PLEASE. Someone tell him he wasn't-

Wait 'jun'? "_I'm fairly certain that it's 'real' chabar,_" the ghost in his mind muttered, more noises coming over the air before he could complain about stow-away spirits.

A slight rumble came from the cards he'd placed on the table, Katsuya looking back to them with a swallow as the hissing sounds arose again. What was this... ... "Errr... ...H'llo...?"

"_**FINALLY,**_" an annoyed, if not slightly familiar and high-pitched voice called out. "_**MAN! We've been trying to talk to you for AGES,**_" the voice groaned, a shaking head with glowing gold eyes coming to mind. That face... That was...

Hey wasn't this the voice of- "...L... Little Winguard..?"

"_**Yea! Yea it's me,**_" the Winguard shouted cheerfully,_** "And-**_"

"_**And we're ALL here,**_" a somewhat more mature voice said gruffly, Katsuya narrowing his eyes somewhat. Okay... He didn't know that one, so who... "_**Flameswordsman by the way- you haven't summoned me long enough for us to have a chat,**_" he continued plainly,_** "So I don't expect you to **__**know who it is.**_" Oh.

Um. That made sense he supposed... "O... Kay..." The blond coughed, looking around somewhat awkwardly. Man. He sure as hell hoped there wasn't any audio in this room... ...Course, by this point he looked crazy enough as it was, so he'd mind as well heap on some more right? "...Ah... How are you guys talking," he asked, shaking his head. Because he was pretty sure he had to summon for that. Just a thought.

"_**Well,**_" the somewhat lax tones of the Alligator Sword began with a stretch, "_**It wasn't easy...**_"

"_**That's right,**_" the Flame Swordsman continued. "_**Even with how close you are to the realms,**_" he went on seriously,_** "Piercing the veil without a summon takes some serious skill.**_"

"_**Lucky for ussss however,**_" the familiar voice of the Insect Queen muttered, Katsuya staring at the deck with a fairly odd and disturbed expression, "_**We managed to gain a verrrrry powerful ally from your lasssst battle...**_" Erm...

"Th'... Th' las..." But how was that even po-

"_**Hello **__**boy**__**..~**_"

"N-NYYHHHHHHH!" Katsuya hurriedly fell back from the chair, the sound of scorpions skittering through the air amidst the clattering chair as he choked and sputtered. "Y-Y-YOU!" That monster... The one from Rishid's deck, it was-

"_**But o**__**f course,**_" Selket drawled, the image of the currently humanoid 'scorpion' coming to mind as she yawned and stretched almost seductively. "_**You defeated my master in a battle... It's only fair that I join your deck,**_" she continued, giving the blond a smirk as a 'third eye' peered forward from her brow. H-Hah..

Hahahaaaa... "B... But I... I didn' ev'n take th' card," he laughed somewhat nervously, scratching his head and putting the chair back up as he gathered the cards in his hands. "So how..."

"_**Oh... Well I'm not **__**really**_ _**in the deck,**_" the 'goddess' added as an apparent afterthought, shrugging as her extra limbs adjusted their positioning. "_**I just thought I'd drop by before your match... Your opponent has been causing some **__**incredible**_ _**problems I hear,**_" she added, a smirk coming over as her 'new summoner' frowned.

The blond's scowl deepened somewhat, Katsuya looking at the deck in his hands almost incredulously. "...Tch... 'Incredible' ain't quite my words for it," he said after a moment, deciding to ignore the fact that he was talking to his deck for the moment so that he could keep himself sane. "An' what're you all doin' 'here' anyways," he added with a frown. "I'm s'pposed t' be gettin' ready f'r my next match."

"_**Believe me,**_" the sarcastic growl of the Panther Warrior muttered almost 'painfully', "_**We know...**_" They knew? And what was with the tone, last he checked they enjoyed these fights and- "_**The thing is**__**,**_" the monster added somewhat stiffly, "_**You need to get your bearings straight before you start; we don't plan on entering a shadow game without **__**you**_ _**being prepared!**_" AH...

Wait what? "H-Hang on..." They knew that it would be a shadow game? And they knew what that meant? Wh... "What?"

"_**Shadow games are dangerous stuff,**_" the Little Winguard piped in almost worriedly, adjusting his hat with a sigh. "_**They've always been dangerous of course,**_" he added 'knowingly',_** "But in this case it's especially so..!**_"

"_**We won't be on the field with you this timmmeeee imago,**_" the Insect Queen added, her usual slur creeping across the air to leave a chill down her summoner's spine. "_**Your opponent fights with souls... Though our formssss will be there,**_" she assured him with a scowl, "_**The battle will be only yourssss...**_" Um...

O... Okay but... "Wh... _Why_," he asked, shaking his head as he neatened the deck out and held it. "Whatdya mean, 'fight w' souls'," he continued almost in protest, "Why 'm I on my own!"

There was a short span of silence, before one of them answered. "_**Your opponent plans to do to you what he did to your friend right,**_" the Flame Swordsman asked, Kastuya nodding in response. The action was evidently picked up upon by the monsters before he could voice this however, and the Swordsman continued. "_**What he did to your friend wasn't the same as normal summoning,**_" the monster explained._** "He pulled the monsters out using their 'human' souls, instead of activating our contracts.**_"

"Uhhhhhh... ...What..." Contracts..? ...Seriously... Guys...

Stop filling his head with confusing crap, it was- "_Hahhh... Allow me to explain._" Ex- Ah! This guy!_ "The cards won't have any effect,_" the ghost growled in the back of his mind, ignoring the mental shouts to leave his head as he continued on. "_Remember those tablets,_" he asked, the blond pausing his mental protests to listen._ "They won't appear, because your __**monsters**__ won't appear either. All you'll be doing is throwing your own life energies onto the field in a pathetic excuse for your monster's form..._" ...Cheery. Really... Cheery..._ "Think of it like this,_" the spirit continued, Katsuya snapping himself from his thoughts to pay more attention. "_You're playing another video game; the monster is your player. Your mind is the controller. Lose,_" he continued bitterly, "_And you're__** fucked**__._"

Eh... "...That... ...That is..."

"_**Actually really accurate,**_" the Alligator Sword said pointedly, his summoner sighing in response. "_**You'll basically be in as many places as there are monsters on your side of the field, plus yourself... At once,**_" he finished, the Little Winguard seeming to frown.

"_**Hnnn... **__**Well not **__**really**__**,**_" the child-soldier continued with an uncharacteristically serious tone._** "It's more like you're controlling up to five people at once using a remote control in your head, that's a little different...**_" Yea just a little but- Hey wait a second!

"Th... How th' hell is th's even possible," he muttered to himself, before abruptly looking back to the deck with a frown. "Wait... But tha' didn' happen w' Mai," Katsuya protested. "Tha' didn'-"

"_**Hn! Of course it **__**did**__**,**_" Panther Warrior snorted, apparently more than happy to prove his summoner wrong. "_**You don't think her mind filled in the blanks? Attack means 'attack', in whatever way possible,**_" the warrior explained shortly._** "Imagination runs rampant when you're influenced by your emotions... Once you lose yourself,**_" the cat hissed darkly, "_**You never go back...**_" Then...

The reason they were giving him this warning... "...Yer sayin' tha' 'f I go in thinkin' you'll do all th' work..." That they wouldn't...

"_**Bingo kid,**_" the Swordsman shouted out, answering the mentally asked question with an approving frown. "_**Nothing would happen! Because we won't be there..!**_"

"_**We know of course, that you won't want to back down regardless,**_" the Alligator Sword added with a smirk. "_**That just ain't your style Katsuya-jun.**_"

"_**We just wanted to give you fair warning,**_" Little Winguard shouted.

"_**That's right; we're 'your' monsters after all,**_" the Panther told him with a smirk. "_**If you think we'll just sit by and let you kill yourself,**_" he continued,_** "Then you have another thing coming!**_"

"_**And while we aren't on the field, we're **__**always**_ _**just a realm away, sitting within your shadow darling,**_" the scorpion from before chuckled, Katsuya giving an involuntary shudder in response as Selket gave a frighteningly coy wink. "_**Keep that in mind, hmmmmmm..?**_" Stop that.

As the other monsters began throwing in their own two cents Katsuya had to drop the uneasy frown that was still on his face. This... Hell, getting a pep-talk from his deck was weirder than normal but even so... "You guys," the blond began, staring at the deck of cards in his hand. All his monsters... He could see all of his monsters, however faded, looking up from that deck of cards and... "...Thanks guys," he said with a small smile, before locking the cards in his disk. "You really..."

"_Ten minutes left chabar,_" the white ghost warned, his friend pulling himself from his emotions with a nod.

"Righ'! Okay... Lets do th's then," he said quickly, making sure each of the cards were in place as he moved for the lift. "Off we-"

-_fzzt_-

Eh? Katsuya turned, blinking as Seto walked in and closed the door behind her. Her expression was more than steeled in appearance, cold blue eyes looking forward as she walked toward the blond. Whatever was on her mind, he probably didn't want to know but...

Well, that was quite obviously not going to happen. "We need to talk," she said flatly still walking toward him, "Now." Oh. Talk..? Right! That 'flash' earlier...

"Kay," he said somewhat laxly, calming down from his initial 'freeze'. "Whatdya wanna talk abou'..?" ...Probably shouldn't have _asked_, but oh well.

"Your upcoming match for one," the woman began, eyes narrowed dangerously as Katsuya abruptly paled in response to a sudden flash of words. "And for another... I want to know _exactly_ how you got this scar, _MUTT._" A-Ahhh...

Shiiiiiiitttt! "S-scar," he said with a nervous laugh, stepping back to bump against the wall as an accusing and 'pointing' finger pushing against the scar in question. Searing pain ran from the spot, the blond wincing as he hissed. "Sfff!" Crap not helping.

"That's right," Seto growled, albeit lessening the pressure on the injury. "Your _SCAR_. I know what I felt in the Virtual World," the woman hissed lowly, "And it's more than evident that what is under _this_," she continued in gesture to the shirt, "Is no different. There was no scar when you were looked over on the air ship," she added darkly, "So explain... NOW!" Erk... This wasn't good...

"It's nothin'," he said with a slight laugh, rubbing his head. "Jus' th' lightnin' fr'm earlier I bet, nothin'- GLK!" The blond was slammed against the wall, shaking himself as Seto continued to hold him in place to shout in what was apparently a sound-proof room.

"THIS," she roared, holding the blond up with her forearm and hand both, "IS NOT NOTHING! Your neck _BLEEDING_ after a match is not _NOTHING!_" S-Shit, she saw the cut- "An all encompassing SCAR resembling a CRATER is not NOTHING! You will explain to me what the _hell_ is going on Mutt, RIGHT NOW!"

The blond's face fell, becoming one of eerie and almost cold severity to throw off his 'captor' as he stood partially on his toes. "...'S nothin'," he repeated, the woman before him looking to him in almost shocked rage as he continued on. "Tha's all there 's. Nothin'. An' nothin' y' say will change tha' either Seto-chan," he added with a smirk, the woman's grip loosening from his shoulder. "Got it?"

"You... You're a complete _MORON_," she spat, clenching her free hand as she looked darkly to the blond. "I want you to forfeit this match," the woman continued stiffly. "Right now, before it starts..!" Wh-

Forfeit! Katsuya's face immediately twisted into a scowl, the blond's eyes narrowing. "You know damn well I ain' doin' _that_," he growled, growing somewhat red as the time until 'match start' ticked away in his mind. "So what th' hell gives you th' right t' tell me t' do tha'? You got yer fight with Yugi didn' you," he continued, the woman before him scowling herself in response to the comment, "So what's yer probl'm?"

"My problem," she snarled, "Is you! You crawl into _my_ life like some pathetic homeless mutt... Make yourself at home in _my_ house, with _my_ brother... You..." She was shaking, Katsuya noted with a less agitated frown. Trembling even. So why... "_Katsuya,_" she hissed, the blond's eyes widening at the use of his given name. "I made you swear not to die and I will make sure that you keep that promise..! You cannot win this match," the woman warned him gravely. "Even _GOD _himself would not be able to win you this match... So _forfeit_. Now."

There was silence for a moment. In the back of his mind, he wondered if Seto would have bothered with this if they hadn't met. If she'd have even cared. Hell... She'd have probably put 'honor' in front of 'safety' in that case, throwing him in regardless but... "...Tha' all there is," he asked, the woman pulling back slightly as her 'friend' stood before her.

"All there- You... You _dare_ joke about this," Seto hissed, staring as Katsuya gave a somewhat flippant shrug.

"Eh... Maybe. I don' plan t' lose after all," he said with a slight laugh, ignoring the steadily growing, albeit oddly displayed rage from the woman before him. "I told y' tha'... So you don' need t' worry, okay, Seto-chan?"

He supposed that by this point she'd given up on correcting him really. "Gh- Who told you I was worried," the woman growled, the 'five minute' marker passing in Katsuya's mind. "You made a promise... I expect you to keep it..! That's all there is!"

"An' I will," he said honestly.

"How do you know," Seto spat, "He has _GOD_ in his deck..! Even your friend can't defeat him right now..!"

"Then I'll beat God," the blond responded.

"He's _KILLED_ someone already-"

"So've I," he added weakly, looking to the side somewhat awkwardly as his 'employer' grit her teeth. "So stop tryin' t' convince me t' quit." He knew the risks damn it...

That was why he was fighting. "You..." She was still shaking. Why... "You complete and utter moron," Seto hissed, leaning in as the blond was again pushed against the wall while backing away, "Is there _NOTHING_ that will convince you to pull out of this match..?"

Nothing..? As he was held up somewhat by the woman's forearm again, Katsuya found himself drifting off into thought. ...Seto couldn't kick him out of the house anymore, not really. Mokuba would fight her on it, and she would cave. He probably wouldn't be fired either, and even if he was, Mokuba would likely find some excuse to keep him there. And if he didn't... ...Well... Maybe one of the others would take him in for a bit, he'd figure something out but. He wasn't going to rely on this after all. And...

Hehehe... He... He could really die here, couldn't he? "'Could give me a kiss," he joked, a somewhat goofy smile on his face as he was answered with a look of disgust.

"I wouldn't kiss you if you _died_," Seto retorted rather bluntly, despite the fact that her face was probably a few inches from his own at the moment anyways. "The fact that you would even _suggest_ that is frankly disturbing."

"Heh." Of course it was. "...What abou' '_about t' die_' then," he continued, the woman across him stiffening as the possibility of the blond being serious came to mind. Just as quickly however the scowl returned, her eyes narrowing.

"You... What did I just s- Nh-!"

For a brief moment, there was nothing but silence in the room. Seto's eyes widened further than she would likely think possible, while Katsuya's were simply closed in a sense of calm. While his fingers dug into the white jacket the woman before him wore, while Seto's own arms fell somewhat limp, and as his lips pressed against her own for just one simple...

-_crack!_-

Yea. He expected that reaction. "WHAT THE _HELL_ WAS THAT," Seto snarled, backing away with wide eyes as Katsuya rubbed his nose and head, a slight bit of blood coming through the injury the woman had inflicted. "WHAT... You..! You..!" Nose wasn't broken... That was good, and it wasn't really bleeding so...

"If I'm abou' t' die," he said seriously, bringing his hand back down after wiping the blood away, "Then... I don' wan' t' die w'thout knowin' what a real kiss was."

"So you pick _ME_," the woman growled, still a brilliant crimson in colour from where she stood in the middle of the room. "You're a hell of a lot more _idiotic_ than I ever thought," she hissed, neither moving from their spot as the time ticked down to one minute remaining. "You..."

"Of course I picked you."

Silence. Seto's scowl fell for shock, and she stared confusedly at the blond. "...What..."

He could die out there, he thought to himself again. He could die. So... Here... Here it came. He didn't really know if he'd live against Malik, truth be told. He'd gotten himself all fired up, and ready to go, ready to win that fight..!

But in the end, he just didn't know. And while he'd normally charge in anyways without worry... There were things he wanted to do first. At least while he had the chance. "I..." Which was why... Before he left... "More than anything," he began, swallowing as he looked to the woman with a serious gaze. "I really... Really love you. And... 'F I die, I want t' make sure I got t' say tha'," he continued, barely keeping his voice steady as he continued on. "I... I wanted t' make sure tha' b'fore I die, I got a chance t' say tha', and t' show tha'... So for you," Katsuya told the woman, "I'll make sure I reveal as much about Malik's cards as possible. I'll make sure tha' no one else can suffer from th's guy. An' if I win," he said with a weak smile, "And if I don' die," he continued, eyes growing somewhat teary, "Then we can act like it never happened... We can... Go back t' when I didn' say anythin', and back t' b'fore tha' kiss. But until then... Well..."

The hole to the side had opened up already, and glancing at it on the side the blond slowly stepped into the lift beneath it. His time was up. And Seto was silent. Whether in shock, rage, or anything really, she was silent, for at least a moment.

"Moron," she finally hissed, the lift clicking on and starting to move as the woman snapped out of her stupor. "_MORON..!_"

"Heh.. Yea," Katsuya responded with a small and sad smirk. "I really am one, aren't I?"

"Gh... Katsuya..!"

The lift began to pass through the door...

And a few seconds later, it didn't matter what Seto had said, because he was outside and standing on the arena across from Malik.

And Seto could hardly complain about a kiss in front of _him_.

* * *

**AN:** . . .

N... No comment.

What's Seto's reaction? We get it next chapter of course, but the fact is, it may or may not be what you expect..!

Continuing on, most of the music notes and things are in this chapter, as they kind of apply more to this half. You also get your usual 'battle plan' for what happens next, and speaking of that...

Though I compress duels into one chapter (Meaning that all together, there's not much time left), there's going to be a lot of stuff on the side..! Semi-Final matches will still be one chapter... _Mostly_. Yugi's may or may not end up cut in two, or even end up a 'mammoth chapter', like the last one was, depending on how I split up the occurrences around it.

And I think you know what I mean by _that, _or at least , those that watch the anime do.

Of course, then we have Yugi VS Yami Malik, which is horrendously long in comparison to other duels I find. That one will _definitely_ end up a super chapter, though whether or not it'll be mammoth is really just time's decision. So... The game plan?

Jou VS Y-Malik, Yugi VS Seto (1), VS Seto (2), The Aftermath (You know, with Ishizu and all that?), Yugi VS Y-Malik (which will probably end up 'mammoth' in size, like the second half of the Virtual World finale), annnnnnd... Finale!

Normally the finale would be tacked onto the final battle. But this finale is... REALLY finite, given just how much everyone wants to go home now.

Speaking of this, the chronology has been fixed for all but the final arc, which is still bouncing around... A lot. (See, in the manga, the Ceremonial Battle happens a full month after the Millennium World arc.)

HOWEVER. Certain dates have been set; for example, the only reason why Yu-Gi-Oh! R ever happened was because Seto and Mokuba were in the USA; this is because of that jet trick they pulled at the end of Battle City, where they flew off... For the US. For that reason, 'R' will occur just shortly after school starts again (they kind of need to be in school for it.).

Following that however, the next arc is 'Capmon'... Which will be _DRASTICALLY _different from the original, and happen during the short holiday they get between the middle of March and April 1st; Japan's school system runs in three terms. April to July, after which you have the month long summer break, September to December 24th, and then January 7th to _EARLY_ March, leaving, and I quote, 'several weeks of spring break'. (Given that 'White Day', or March 14th, happens in school however, I would say it's a two week break. Really though, it depends on the school; they'll all be in full swing by the 20th though.)

That's right guys, my graduation ceremony was off. However, I can still get away with it; Mokuba started Middle School in the chapter I screwed that up, which means he would have still had his enrollment ceremony. Yay~ Now quick, hide the inaccuracies...

Any ways, Doma should happen around the summer of that year, so you can probably guess where the KC Grand Prix goes from that. After that... There's just the Millennium World left.

And I need to organize that fast; the next year will be the last year they have highschool..!

With that out of the way...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Ahahaha, I just got the review from chapter 96 CynicalGamer…

Yea, I'd been wondering if anyone would be worried; it was like 'ahhh, need to finish editing..!'

I probably should have just cut my losses and not done a double post, but oh well. Glad you liked both chapters! Time to respond to your other super-long review now…

It was pretty epic huh..? I have to admit, I really went nuts here. It _almost_ makes me regret the fact that we're going back to the 'real world', which has a fair amount of restriction on it, but while my limits are a lot heavier there, I _do_ have a _few_ things in mind…

Hahaha, more like Malik revealed to everyone, but yea. And if you think she's showing emotions now, just wait; maybe not in this post, but the chapter after the duel should have something interesting in store for you. I'm quite glad at how everyone is receiving the ghosts here; it's making me really anticipate the Doma arc, despite that being a whole year away from this point chronologically (I think I explained that above…).

And… RIGHT. Nobody, not Heartless. And it's true; he was trying _very_ hard not to lose those parts, he did a fairly good job while still holding the ability to help everyone escape period. I wish there was a way to get Shinato Jou back out… But there really isn't I don't think… I think the closest I'll get isn't coming until much later either, so 'ick' to that I suppose. While there aren't many occasions to wear costumes, that doesn't mean I can't draw them any-ways! Not to mention that after this, everyone has to change their clothes.

Normal clothes are fun to draw as well.

That chess game was so damn fun to write...

It is a shame really, but without their 'summoners' to draw power from, the shadows are really… Really weak. Though I should probably rephrase given how similar to the 'ka' system that sounds. More that those things are just the favourites of the deck, or in Mai's case, the 'guardian' of it.

And… Hohhhh, you've got a point, they could have killed Malik… …Oh well. And hey, what'd I tell you? I'm focusing on keeping the partial side-characters from being side characters~.

I should think it's scary; I've already hinted on it a number of times! If it's hinted at again, it will likely be during a mindscrew. And ooohhh… Bakura…

He'll get more love from meeeeee…

.. … Fine you. You win. No more squiggly.

NOW GIVE ME YOUR LOVEEEEEEEE…

Hehehehehe… I'll just say that the Parent _isn't_ an OC and leave it at that. As to roles, who knows, but don't expect them to show up for a good long while… And SECRETS! They came so close, but the matches just pulled him away…

And if you think about what happens in the next match (unless of course you don't know), that's really not a good thing. At least we know (thanks to that hilarious move on Gilfer's part) that the monsters don't necessarily have to move with motive to kill though. But yes. If she isn't now, she's going to kill him, and possibly regret what she said above.

Awww, hey… Least I can do for such a loyal reviewer! He's very huggable I must admit. And… I _know_… Sometimes, I'm disgusted with myself… They get a _slight_ reprieve; they can't remember the full severity of how graphic the world got, and how intense the pain was. Think of it as the difference between holograms and what Jonouchi sees on the field. Of course, it's like Noa said; he can't change what they saw in the memory. And as you can see above, Anzu got a lot more than she bargained for with Malik…

Heck, even without the Arabic, this will make things _really_ awkward for her for a fair bit. Definitely _not_ worth it.

And oooooh… Wait until I get Haga. Not quite the same in terms of forms of trauma, but in Fanfic land Haga's trauma _has_ happened… And it'll be quite depressing when I get there, despite it being drastically different in tone from poor Ryuzaki.

Again, I'm glad you liked these two chapters… I hope you enjoy this next pair, and with that, I say good-bye!

Hahaha, not a problem Iona! (Two reviews! WHOO!) Actually, if you do that again after the update I post after this, that's probably safer than waiting around; I won't be able to do much on the fanfic from the 16th to the 22nd, as I'll be going through another move. (Back to BC~ In the end, it's likely I might have a job there so…)

A lot did happen huh? I really have fun with finales I admit… Though I try to do just as much for regular chapters as well! (I need to watch myself though, these last ones have sent the fiction spiralling into horror/gore levels.) Adding things like this are only possible because of the responses from you and everyone else reading though; they give me the confidence to deviate from the original more than I normally would, and the better the reaction the further I go..!

Valiant indeed… I don't know about you but I find the tongue pretty damn creepy myself.

AND… A very good question! I won't answer it now, because you'll get a small hint as to which 'past' it refers to before the end of Battle City. I say this because while the Millennium World was created from Yami Yugi's forgotten memories, I'm pretty sure he didn't just disappear after giving the Priest the puzzle.

Actually, I have a feeling he just died. Owwwwwwch… Very right though in that the second half of the past is a hint to the future! But that's another story altogether, and one that isn't due for a little bit now.

Gozaburo was a scary scary man… Somewhat interesting to get behind I admit though. You're right though; she _could_ do that, but since it's already been over a year she'll either see no point (probably that one), or refuse because it would involve playing a 'trauma' card. Which she will most certainly not want to do.

Yessss… Gundam Chess… Kaiba would probably love that actually, though neither incarnation would admit it.

Ohhhh it was a fun perspective too, that computer version of Jonouchi. I always found programmed emotions to be a little silly; after all, in certain circumstances, those emotions could end up completely turned on their head, but with a computer, you can't do that. So it's like having no character development at all. That was a mouthful wasn't it though? I do like how well it's being received though, particularly in regards to the 'less than main' characters. They all got their development, that's for sure…

Even if it was a little painful. Knifed is putting it lightly, look at the sketch below! Ryuzaki is a nice mix of brave, stupid, and in love. He won't admit the last part, but there's really no denying it… Very smart too; how many people would have thought of that cable trick?

Gozaburo should have, but I suppose this is what happens when you're a ghost. You don't think, so you don't consider the fact that Naked!Jenga (Hihhhhh!) would put things in your favour.

Bittersweet and rather gloomy with what they went back to… And again, I'd have never gotten as far as I have without you and all those reading; so here's to everyone! We're almost at 100 chapters, WOWWWWWW!

Enjoy the reading; and here's to the next update!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that wonders which is worse; being Jonouchi in a duel, or being a normal person in a shadow game?

* * *

This chapter? . . .

No comment, no comment! The 'First and Last' refer to Jonouchi's thoughts on this kiss, and also _Seto_'s. Seto's pretty much _certain_ that Jonouchi will die. Jonouchi's just not completely sure, is hoping to hell he beats Malik first (he's worried about injury transfer; it's actually possible for him to win and still 'die'.)... So it's still a 'now or never' situation.

One that has Seto absolutely _FUMING_.

Of course, I will also point out that Seto moves _first_ and Jonouchi moves _last_ in the featured duel here, but we'll just smile and nod at that one.

* * *

So many scenes cut out! Mostly because they're flashbacks from Ishizu, or cuts to the events on the airship. But really, do you need a reminder that things are going crappy? I can do that at the beginning of the next one.

Also most of the scenes were inner thoughts. From EVERYONE. REPEATING.

* * *

Yugi's words are kind of a reference to why the promise exists in the first place; namely to give Jonouchi the chance to win Red-Eyes back and prove himself (which was his reason to enter the tournament in the manga/anime- to prove himself as a duelist.). And yes Seto is getting carried away with her words; but only a little. She's also a very good actress, remember?

Clarification on things here though, the fact is that in her head, it's like this. She sees herself as better than Yugi (of course she does, she's determined to beat him), BUT… Malik is an incredible threat. Add in the knowledge of Ra's effects, and she really is quite wary of that card, just as in canon. So she believes her best shot is essentially the two gods (and later, the one card).

This is where things diverge. In canon, Seto wants to fight Yugi to get Osiris, and doesn't care what happens to Jonouchi; if anything, he's more than happy to watch Jonouchi fight Malik, and tells the blond to draw out the fight so that he can see all of what Ra does.

But fanfic Seto cares. A _lot_. Heck, she's reminding herself not to refer to Jonouchi by last name in her head. Given how many people there are on a first name basis with Seto that's… Kind of impressive. In any case, at the same time, Seto's not about to challenge Malik when she doesn't think she'll win. Nor will she let Yugi challenge Malik, since she doesn't think _he'll_ win… And if Yugi loses, Malik has another God card.

Her solution? Force Jonouchi to forfeit after the matches are decided. It… Doesn't _work_, but in her head it's a good plan. Of course, with that in mind, most of the crazy grins she uses with Jonouchi aren't actually honest. The anger is though. Mostly because Jonouchi has that way of ticking her off though.

* * *

Fanfic!Jou _always_ fumbles with not calling Seto by first name. You can probably guess what he means by pulling a 'Jou' for that reason.

* * *

Facilities? Well… I was typing this, and it suddenly hit me.

What happens when a duelist has to pee in the middle of a match? Like. Really bad. What, is it put on hold? Do they forfeit? I DON'T KNOW!

I would think that to prevent such a tragedy, a break would be crammed between major match ups.

* * *

S-Selket! What's she doing there? Well, it's an Ante tournament...

Technically, Selket is Jonouchi's now. He'll never get the card, but she'll be a fairly large pain in the ass during deck conversations from this point on. Also, there's a sketch of her below. (I know I said no art, but the sketch happened fairly quickly between updates so... HUUUGE sketch sheet which includes a line art of her)

* * *

Actual line from the original guys; _'even god can't save you'_… And not God as in God card either.

Japan does a lot of referring to God despite 99% not believing in the guy I find, but really, who doesn't? Even if you don't believe in the omnipresent guy/thing/IDFK, it's easy to refer to one single being when it comes to fate.

* * *

WOAH.

WOAAAAAAH.

HOLY SH- Yes, they did. And yes, Seto's going to acknowledge that.

She will not do that easily though, but that's a given. On a somewhat more amusing note (because frankly this chapter ended up far more depressing with that ending than intended), it's possible that not only did Jonouchi's entire deck see all that (they're technically with him!), but _Yugi_, who likely came back to wish his friend luck again, could well have seen the entire thing...

_And Seto would never know..._

(By the way, no he didn't.)

And of course, we know what's going to happen next...

* * *

**FanArt and My Art**

Cut the spaces, paste the link!

A bit of technically nude reference work here (), but there's some good stuff too! Also kissing.

Because I got bored.

SketchConcept: The Monsters of the Deck/Realm+ SketchReference: Ryuzaki's Scars, Anzu's Eyes, & Kissing – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ sketch2. jpg - _Technically_, Selket isn't a member of Jonouchi's deck. She's just _there_, being a pain. And of course, we also have Little Winguard, who, having no visible head, was kinda fun to mess with. Eventually, 'she' (Yeaaaaa I got bored. Also, Winguard sounds young enough that 'she' passes far too easily as a boy. I'm just throwing this here now because I don't want it to be a 'drama' point.) ended up a jackal oddly enough...

As to why Winguard is still referred to as 'he', it's simply because she hasn't done anything to reveal herself as a girl. Particularly since most of the monsters (save the smug ones like Panther warrior, or the 'foreign' ones, like Alligator Sword) use 'Jibun', the unisex, and fairly militaristic personal pronoun. (Panther uses 'ora', a somewhat older deviant of 'ore', whereas Alligator Sword uses 'Wo', the Chinese equivalent of 'I' or 'Me'.) The fact is, Winguard is admittedly female just because of how many of Jonouchi's cards are male.

Which is pretty much all but like... Two. I wanted to throw in some variety, while putting a slight twist on things. (And yes the others know that Winguard is a girl. Well, most of them do. Like I said; it's not supposed to be a big deal, not like with Kaiba.)

Ryuzaki has fairly extensive scars but that's not the only damage! His eyes will be golden after this. Partially because of all that fighting and getting shards of cursed gold in his freaking bloodstream... But also simply because of the powers involved leaving their mark. He doesn't have any special abilities or crap (though he /does/ feel a little more connected to his deck after this), but the Millennium Rod left a DEEP mark on him, and I'm not talking scars. Of course, it would be silly to think otherwise...

The rest of these are kinda self explanatory I would think.

* * *

Musical Notes

Time for shameless music sharing!

Not much this time; worse, almost none of it is subbed! _Ahhhhh_…

On the 'Not Subbed' end, we have the following covers that Ciel did on Youtube; 'If' by Megurine Luka' (But not the quiet one; the one you're looking for starts off with an almost scream-y tone, but there are TWO SONGS by Luka with this same name!), along with Honaka (Hatsune Miku) and Hachimitsu Honey (Gumi)

On the subbed end however, we have 'Tsumi to Batsu' or 'Sin and Punishment'. I was still listening to a cover for this (Ciel!), but it's easy to find this song subtitled if you look for it. It's sung by Miku. This song started off in a way that had me thinking of Jou and Seto… But then it took a weird turn, and that idea vanished quickly.

Any ways, that's it for now! Hopefully I'll have the next chapter up before the 16th; leaving to move back to BC on that day, and what with the fact that I'll be in a _car_ for four-five days... Yea.

If I can get a hold of a netbook by then I'll probably just spam you all with multiple chapters when I get back, but if not then expect a week break with nothing to show for it in terms of writing.

Until then, see you next time! And enjoy!


	100. Chapter 99

**Solstice**

* * *

The air at the top of the duel tower was cold and stagnant, filled with the scent of corroded metal and dusted concrete. Ruined buildings littered the ground in scraps and pieces, creating nothing but homes for whatever seagull hoped to make a temporary nest in the rubble. As the current competitors for the duel, he and Malik were currently the only ones standing on the tower top. The lifts locked into place, and as he stepped out of his own Malik did the same, the former wiping a last bit of blood from his nose before looking around. The sky was clear of any and all clouds by now, despite the weather earlier on. Moreover, the ocean surrounding the island was oddly calm he noted... A smooth sheet of water, resembling an all expansive mirror. And with nothing but rubble surrounding an otherwise wonderful sight he was still frowning, looking to the ruins in distaste.

"Really," Katsuya muttered as he looked over the side, a slight breeze beginning to pass over the heavy air. "What a waste 'f scenery..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." The blond turned, narrowing his eyes as Malik grinned from the other end of the field. "In a few moments it'll look just fine," he chuckled, eyes narrowing in sadistic mirth as he fingered the end of the millennium rod. "Provided I add the right... _Accessories_..." Accessories? Ughh.. Given the look he got...

Yea... Like hell _that_ was happening. The sound of the other lifts coming up arrived, along with footsteps as the rest of the crowd followed from the staircase below. "If the duelists could stand on the arena now," Isono's voice called out, the others having no time to do anything other than give Katsuya an encouraging stare and a shout of victory as the pair did just that. "We will now begin the first battle of the Semi-Final Rounds! ISHTAR MALIK VS JONOUCHI KATSUYA!"

The arena 'clicked' somewhat with those words, and briefly as they stepped on the lift he heard Malik say something. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Are you ready to fight, '_alarraf_'?" Hnn..? Seer..? Wait...

Did that mean he'd taken him seriously back there? As the arena rose up high from the ground Katsuya narrowed his eyes, those around either staring in well hidden expectation or giving shouts of encouragement. Everything was riding on this battle after all... Everything. But that word... Well, he decided. Even if Malik decided to believe him, it wasn't as though anything could really come by it right? ...(Oh who was he kidding.) "Tch... I'm sendin' y' straight t' hell," he hissed, disk locking into position as he looked forward and took his 'dueling stance'. "Got tha' Malik?"

His only answer for the first few moments was laughter, and seconds later the arena locked into place with a short set of stairs at the side in case the referee was needed. '_You can do this,_' they were shouting below, Katsuya swallowing somewhat nervously as he looked forward. '_You can beat him..! You can..._'

'_You're going to die._'

Seto's words came to the back of his mind as darkness filled the air and blocked out the sun, Malik holding out the millennium rod as those below began to stiffen. "Hnhnhnhnhnh... I certainly doubt that you'll be doing as you say..." Shadows seemed to spiral out from the single blot blocking the light above them... Swirling, slowly sinking to the ground to cover the entire arena... "The game of darkness has already begun," Malik continued with a hissing grin, the blond before him biting his tongue as shouts and screams filled the air again. "You want revenge so badly," he sneered. "Here's your _chance_... I'm _trembling_ with anticipation now... Now that I have the chance to test these claims of yours... Why do you _bleed_ in battle," he asked somewhat louder, eyes widening with his insanity. "Why do you choke on the poisons of the duel monster's game! I'm so close to finding the answer that I can barely contain myself, thinking of the endless possibilities of torture..! HAHAHAHAHA!" Oh... So was that all then?

Gh... Damn it... The blond across from him merely narrowed his eyes with a scowl as questioned mutterings came from the sides, drawing his hand of cards and not once looking away from the Egyptian. The duel was about to begin; technically, it already had. No one would pull him out, no one _could _pull him out, so for now he had a bit of comfort in that fact despite the possibility he could die. "Tch... Let's just _fight_," he snarled, his opponent holding his disk ready with a short nod. "DUEL! And if you think your 'shadow game' scares me you can think again," Katsuya continued, slipping his two cards of choice on the field as the familiar smell of arid sands and dust arose beside him. "Set one card," he began, the blank tablet coming up from the side as a suctioning sensation came through his body. "An' summon th' Panther Warrior in attack mode..! Th's game 'f darkness," he hissed, the feeling that came over him increasing in pressure as his shadow stretched and rose up ahead of him into the shape of his summoned monster. "I'll take yer challenge... An' I'll beat you..!"

"You keep saying that," Malik chuckled, drawing a card to take his turn as the shadows converged and thundered amid the ever constant screams around them. "But I wonder... Did you _predict_ that," he asked with a grin, "Or is it all just a bluff..?" No response. The blond gave no response and soon enough the grin grew, his opponent taking a pair of cards from his hand to set them on the disk. "My turn," he snarled, those below again muttering questions of foresight among the oddly persistent question to the 'real Malik' on 'what he was saying'. "I summon Helpoemer in attack mode," Malik began, his shadow stretching forward with the words to slowly form a stone bound zombie. "Next," he shouted clearly, "I place one card facedown on the field... End turn..!" The Egyptian's shadow taken even more definition as he said this, a blank stone tablet arising at the same moment. The stone cross with its bound victim stood before him in perfect detail just seconds later, and just as his monsters had warned him there was nothing but silence. The bottoms of each monster seemed to melt into each duelist's shadow, and as a cold wind blew and as screams filled the air there was nothing else but silence. This battle... "You don't seem very surprised 'alarraf'," the blond sneered, Katsuya narrowing his eyes further. "In fact, I'm surprised you understand me at all... But I digress," he laughed, the blond's eyes narrowing further at the comment. "It's not as though you have any real idea as to what you're doing..! And it's your turn now," he continued with a glasgowian grin. "So why not do what you promised and give me as much pain as I gave your _friend_..." Hn..! That..!

...Mai... "Gladly," he snarled, drawing his next card with a growl. "Like I told you b'fore... I ain't afraid 'f you..!" Not in the slightest, and-

'_How can he tell what he's saying',_ he thought he heard below as he prepared his move. What did they mean 'how', he was speaking perfect Japanese..! Not even an accent! And yet still the questions filled the air. '_How can he tell..._' But the voices at the side were faded by the curtain of shadows, and by the screams of passing spirits as elongated faces wept and cried.

'_**REDEEM US,**_' they roared, seeming to bounce off an invisible barrier between the arena limits and the shadows before wisping back in a wave of smoke. '_**YOU PROMISED US!'**_

'_**It hurts... It hurts,**_' he could hear a child whimper,_** 'So hurry..!**_'

'_**REDEEM US... AVENGE US,**_' the louder ones screeched,_** 'NOW..!**_'

"Gh..." Shut up... Just shut up damn it, stop it..! "Summon th' Rocket Warrior," he shouted, shadow seeming to split in two as the needle-headed soldier sprung up from its form. Rocket Warrior couldn't speak... He'd never spoken in fact, as he had no mouth, but even without that it was obvious that the shadow was only that. Each one was directly connected to his own... Each one held a battle ready stance more suited for a fist fight...

And each one was mirroring his voice, a somewhat dead gleam in their eyes as they partially copied his own position.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Activate trap," Malik countered with a sneer, the tablet at his side carving forth before vanishing into the Egyptian's shadow in a wave of almost rotten smelling dust. "Ambush!" Ambush..! "Summoning Viser Death from my hand..!" Viser-

Oh _FUCK. _Katsuya froze as the shadow shot forward, latching onto his Panther Warrior's skull like some monstrous snake and seeming to duplicate to do the same on his own. The points were just barely latching on as they formed from the black substance... Just barely he noted as he continued to tense in his dread. But all the same... The 'Viser Death' clamped upon his head and that of the Panther from his shadow, and while it did that his head was slowly beginning to throb with pain. The drills were ready to spin... "Hg..." And regardless of shadow games, this wasn't good..!

"Thanks to the use of this trap," Malik was sneering, a sudden groan coming from the creaking metal of the machine on his head, "I can activate this monster's effect right now..." Shit. "And following that, at the end of each turn," he continued with a sneer, "Your monster will lose 500 attack points until death..." SHIIIT. "SO, JONOUCHI," Malik cackled, eyes wide with expectation as the drills clicked on. "Can you withstand _THIS_ pain!" Gh... SHIIIIIIIIT..! _SHIT!_

-_RRRRRHHHHHNNNNNNNHHHHHHHHH_-

Drills began to spin with those words and the moment they viced into his head his hands flung to the metal, cards falling to the ground as he ducked in pain. "G-GHHRRAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!" The sound of the drill filled his head, and amid still constant screams he could hear the shouts of the crowd.

'_JONOUCHI,_' some shouted. '_JONOUCHI!_'

The drills continued to spin, moving slowly, at scarcely a snails pace against his head as he attempted to pull the vice away. "RRRG... RRRAAAAAA_AAAAAGGGHHHH_!" They were still shouting... They were still shouthing..!

'_What's going on,_' Mokuba cried out in worry. '_He's... I think he's BLEEDING..!_'

There was a small bit of blood coming from the vice but it had only barely pierced the skin, nothing more, nothing more than that he assured himself as he gasped for air. The pain came from the pressure behind it... A constant throbbing pain but even so he did not move an inch further than he already had, instead opening his eyes as low and growling breaths escaped him. He held a steady glare across the field, stood against the pain, unshaking... Watching as his opponent laughed through the sounds of the roaring drill. "Hnhnhahaha... HAHAHAHA! Don't fight it Jonouchi," Malik cackled, eyes wide as his opponent pulled at the device only to shave his palms. "No matter how loud you scream, how much you struggle," the blond howled, "You can't avoid death..!" Hah... Try him, he wanted to say. Try him..! "Increase your _hate_," the Egyptian sneered, Katsuya gasping for air amid the struggle against his pain. "Fuel your anger, your _rage_," Malik hissed, "So you can fall even further into darkness..!" Further eh..?

"Hahh... Hahhh..." No, he snarled mentally, still holding the vice around his head as he looked forward. No... Like hell he was giving in just like that..! This was what Mai went through, maybe not in the same way but... Her mind had told her she was going through it. And that alone was enough..! And with that in mind he continued to stand, even as the pain reverberated through his skull. Malik's face went pale for a brief moment. Just a brief one... But even so Katsuya held his gaze, eyes wide with a stubborn will to continue on. "Too weak," he hissed through grit teeth, hands bleeding somewhat as the drill finally came to a stop. "Yer gonna have t' try harder than tha'..."

Malik's eyes widened, the Egyptian swallowing as he looked across the field. "But how... You shouldn't be standing with this kind of pain," he hissed, shaking his head. "_HOW_..."

Katsuya brought his hands down from the drills, taking in a shaking breath as he slowly gathered his fallen cards from the ground. Blood... He was getting blood on them. Sorry about that... As for this asshole... "Who knows," he snarled, sounding far more grim than his usual self. "I'm jus' _tha'_ 'special'... I activate th' Rocket Warrior's special ability," he continued with a roar, the shadow before him doing exactly that as the sensations of movement rushed across from it. "Attacking Helpoemer! Yer gonna r'gret givin' me free range 'f attack," the blond snarled, watching the monster alter its shape into the familiar 'missile'. "Trus' me on tha'..!"

The rocket shot forward in a blast of shadows, ripping through the midsection of the monster before flying back to his side of the field and leaving a trail of smoke behind it. And in a similar instant a hole appeared through Malik's own midsection, the blond snarling as he gripped and clawed at where the hole was. Or where he knew it 'would' be, and where his mind had told him it 'wasn't'. Because though Katsuya could see that his opponent's innards had more or less been forced to the side, now spilling forth from the gaping wound, Malik's mind had more than been able to handle blocking out the physical portion of this dangerous game. Despite this however the cheers from the side had began once again, and as he pushed through the headache the blond continued on with his move.

"Th's attack ain't over yet," he hissed, throwing a hand forward in 'gesture' as the order to attack shot through his shadow and pulled it to life. "Th's is f'r everything you've done t' us..!" To Mai, to Bakura, to Ryuzaki... And as a side effect to his sister, his friends... "Panther Warrior," Katsuya commanded, the blade wielding monster charging his opponent. "Finish 'm off..!"

"_GLKACK-!_" One slash and Helpoemer was down for the count, his arm movement mirroring the blade's fall as the monster's corpse smoked back into Malik's shadow, not even leaving time for the wound to take much more effect than a partial slice on his opponent. The Egyptian held a hand to his mouth as bits of bile escaped his throat in the shock of the pain, blood still spilling from the wounds on his chest. "Kgh..." The shock, however, was evidently not enough to phase his opponent for too long. "Hehehehe..." Awww crap. "Hehehhahaha!" AWWWW crap. He was _laughing_. Damn it. "That..." Laughing far too loudly than could be safe... "That felt _GREAT_," Malik roared, his opponent swallowing in unease as the Egyptian grinned. "And it's all going just as planned... Hnhnhnhn..."

Dust and smoke arose from the ground, and as it seeped into his duel disk the blond tensed, watching the white mist curl around the sides. Shit..!

He knew what this meant..! "Helpoemer's ability activates," Malik sneered, holding the card in his hands as the smoke continued to sink through his opponent's duel disk, cackling echoing through the air as it did so. "In death he becomes buried in the enemy's grave... Forever to sing his 'perish song'... Can you hear it," he chuckled, eyes narrowing as the screams around them suddenly cut short to watch in 'curiosity'. "I wonder what will happen now..." What would happen...

He didn't need Malik to explain that! The dust converged from within the disk, shooting forth as a song resembling nails on a chalkboard screeched through the air. As mad cackling pierced his ears, a ghostly wail behind it. "_**Hnhnhnhn... Hnhnhahaha! A TITHE FROM THEE..!**_" CRAP. A hand formed from the air, boned and clawed, wide and outstretched as he held his arm back from himself. "S-SHIT-!"

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Here we go..!"

"Crap-!" A slit appeared on his palm as a card was ripped from his hand, the ghostly shade pulling it deep into the graveyard as it continued to chuckle faintly. Card was gone... The crowd probably noticed that, but for the moment, did that really matter? "Gh... One per turn," he muttered, apparently loud enough for his opponent to hear.

"Ohohoh... So you know that then 'alarraf'..?" Bastard... Of course he did..! "How interesting," the Egyptian hissed with amusement. "That just makes me want to know even more... What do you _see_," he chuckled, eyes widening in his excitement. "Monsters, holograms..? The damage is real for you, more than even a shadow game isn't it," he laughed, crazed expression growing still maddening if it was possible. Don't answer, Katsuya told himself, even as mutterings came from the side. "Well? Am I wrong?" Don't answer..!

The clouded finger just flipped him off from inside the duel disk, he noted idly. Should probably ignore that. Even so, the cut from the card stung, and briefly switching his hand to the 'draw' one he brought the wound to his mouth and scowled. Ow ow ow... "Sfffff..." Damn that stung...

Stupid fucking 'hell poet'. And to top that off it was Malik's turn now... Wasn't it? Katsuya looked to his opponent with narrowed eyes as the teen chuckled, drawing his card from across him. "Hnhnhnhnhn... I set a card face down," he sneered, the tablet rising tall behind him as dust and stone flitted about the air. "Next," he announced, shadow splitting and stretching in the fashion needed to bring about a second monster, "I summon Gil Garth in attack mode, and end my turn!" End-

_End _turn? For a moment he was confused. Gil Garth was more powerful than all of his current monsters, a goliath of steel with a spear twice his size in his hands. But in the end, it was his turn after all... And the card he'd drawn just now, having moved his hand back, was Psycho Shocker. More than powerful enough to destroy the ones before him, particularly before his opponent summoned another monster as tribute for Ra..! He couldn't tribute Panther Warrior because of that brace of course he reminded himself, blood still trickling down his head in a single thin line. But next turn... "I summon th' Baby Dragon in d'fense mode," he announced, a third shadow stretching forward into the shape of a crouching dragon. "Switchin' Rocket Warrior t' d'fense mode as well... An' now-"

"Hnhnhn... Forgetting something," Malik hissed, a wide grin on his face as Katsuya stiffened, a sudden clack of gears taking his attention as a whirring sound filled the air. "It's your battle phase now..! So lets see if your monster's brains or your own spill to the ground," he cackled, blood draining from his opponent's face. Sh... Shi-

SHIT! "GH-GHHAAAAAAAHHCK... _AAAAHHHHHHHGGGGG_!" The vice was squeezing tighter against his skull, the slow drone meeting his ears amid screams. The drills were spinning, grinding away at bone, at skin, at hair, and he was bleeding... If they went too far he'd die, he'd die and there'd be no going back, there'd be no reason for what he'd tried to do, nothing..! '_Jonouchi,_' they were shouting from the side. '_Katsuya-nii!_' '_JONOUCHI-KUN!'_ He pulled frantically at the spinning drills, cards again fluttering to the ground. He pulled at the bonds holding them to his head, and at the steel controlling the piece, anything, anything to just take away this _PAIN!_ "GHHAAAAAAAAAHHH! AHHHHH... HHAaaaah... Ahhhhh..!" Breathe... Breathe, he told himself as the drills finally slowed to a stop, hands falling to his sides to let him pick his cards back up from the ground. Breathe, just breathe...

"I'm not done yet..." Shit..!

"_**Hnhnhnhn... HnhnaHAHA!**_" The ghost hand pulled another card free as Katsuya brought them up from the ground, re-opening the slit in his palm as he grimaced. But even as Psycho Shocker was taken, that wasn't why he'd grown so pale, nor was the look on Malik's face. "That expression... That card must have been important," Malik chuckled, receiving a short tempered growl in response. The drills had stopped... The drills had stopped but the vice hadn't, and it was pounding pounding _pounding_...

It was a constant pounding at his head and, "SHUT UP," he snarled, eyes wide as he gasped for air. Blood was running down the sides of his head, the weight of the head brace was unbearable, he wasn't even sure how he could 'carry' it...

"Your suffering isn't over yet," Malik sneered, grin wide and frightening. "I activate 'Coffin Seller'... Every time one of your cards is discarded," he continued with narrowed eyes, "You'll lose a little more of your life..." A little more...

The ghost hands returned, and Katsuya grew white, a face following the arms and claws with a nasty and haunting grin as the screams of the spirits to the side picked up once more. Shit. Not good. "_**Hnhnhnhnhnh... It's been a while since we've toyed with your folk,**_" the shade chuckled, Katsuya barely preventing himself from taking a step back as the ghost's words sent a shudder down his back. "_**Let's have some **__**fun**__**...**_" Shiiiiit...

Clawed hands reached forward with gaping mouths and idly he found it strange that the only words coming to mind weren't curses.

Not good.

* * *

When the shadows appeared he had a feeling he knew what to expect. Jonouchi had mentioned being able to see the violence as though it were real after all; so at first, despite the worried screams of himself and the others as Malik's 'attacks' struck, he had passed the blood off as nothing. Something that they could see because of that strange 'hypersensitivity' the blond carried with him.

But then... Other things happened. Something _ripped_ Jonouchi's card from his hands, resulting in a cut. And when he attacked, it almost seemed as though he had to move to make his monster do the same. Soon enough it became more than obvious; something was wrong, he thought to himself. Something was very, very wrong, and not only were these injuries _not_ illusions Yugi realized...

And the others were noticing as well. "What's going on," Mokuba whispered fearfully, shaking his head as he stared at the scene. As he watched blood covered hands picking up the cards again... And again... As holograms fizzled and cracked, blood interfering with the sensors on the paper... "What's happening..!"

"He's... _Bleeding_," Anzu continued with a swallow. "Look at his head, look at his hands," she whispered in horror, "He's _bleeding_..!" Being able to voice such things was an impressive feat for the moment.

Most were completely lost for words. "Is... What is..."

Sounding just as coherent as their friend on the stage. "_Ghah... Ahhh..._" Jonouchi was still standing somehow, and again a card was ripped from his palms as he regathered the small 'hand' together. As Marik activated his trap however, the hologram of the Coffin Seller meeting the air, and things got even worse. "GHAH! SHIT- Get-! GET OFF! GET-" Get off?

But who... _What _was he shouting to?

Cuts were appearing they noticed. As Malik explained the effect of the Coffin Seller cuts were appearing on his arms, small ones, some longer than others and each of them appearing almost as though inflicted by a series of nail like claws... "Where are those cuts coming from," Otogi muttered, the crowd rendered silent with shock as they remained immobile. "That... That didn't happen in the last fight Malik had so how..."

At those words most turned to the 'real Malik' in confusion, watching as Anzu seemed to tense. Watching as Anzu's eyes turned gold and as the 'woman' shook her head in shock. "This can't be possible," Malik muttered, shaking 'his' head with wide eyes. "It's not possible, shadow games can't..! They can't do this sort of thing..!"

"N-Nee-sama," Mokuba whispered from beside his sister, those on the field unable to hear and those around already aware of identities that would ordinarily be hidden completely. "Nee-sama... What's going to happen to him," he cried, eyes filled with fear. "Will he... Will he be alright..? Will he..."

They didn't know... No one knew, but... "...I hope so," the woman muttered, the words bringing no surprise to the crowd for some reason. After all... Above anything...

That was everyone's hope. No one wanted him to die, wanted him to lose, not at all. But the fact was, now that it was only the darkness of the shadows causing this 'light' around them, they could see everything clearly, even without the light of the sun. They could see Jonouchi's fingers shredding themselves on some unseen surface, his opponent even frowning for brief moments before resuming his sadistic grin in regards to the pain before him. They could see the cuts appearing from no visible target and before them they could see that even Malik, the 'dark' Malik, was confused. He was confused. _Everyone_ was confused. But more importantly...

"Why does he keep calling him an '_alarraf'_..?" Alarraf? That was right, the one word that was standing out Yugi noted. 'Alarraf'... "That..." The woman beside him frowned, arms crossed. "That's what seers were called in the past right," Anzu asked. "Alarraf..?"

"That's right," Malik answered, the resulting appearance giving the impression that Anzu was speaking to herself. "Things such as Seers and Oracles were fairly common during the times before and after the Millennium Items," he explained plainly, "Though after they were scattered they slowly faded into obscurity, rather than flourishing as they had before. It was said," the teen went on, "That a seer could never choose their vision... And that for a seer to break their own prediction would bring misfortune to all involved... But that doesn't explain any of this," he continued, shaking his head as he stared at the field. "And furthermore, there were _no_ seers mentioned in the records of those times, so..."

"So then why does he keep calling him that," Anzu finished for him, the gold fading as she swallowed.

"Forget about _why_, how is he understanding him," Otogi muttered, his eyes widening. "There's a difference between guessing and _understanding_... Jonouchi should be clueless right now," he continued as he stared at the field. "I mean this... This is..." Neither Japanese nor Arabic...

_Egyptian_.

As storm clouds of shadows continued to converge those on the crowd swallowed, a few of them shuddering under the cold. "Isn't there... _Anything_," Honda asked as he watched their friend fight, "_Anything_ that can help to..." To do anything..?

"No," Yugi answered almost bitterly, the boy's eyes still staring fearfully at the field. "There isn't."

They just had to hope that no matter what Malik's darker half did... It didn't kill Jonouchi in the process.

* * *

He was having trouble hearing.

He was fairly certain that the drills hadn't broken through his skull of course (he was... pretty sure he'd die then..!), but the constant pounding and rumbling it made was giving him a headache. It was pounding an endless drone through his head and it was making it impossible to hear past the arena limits. Moreover...

The blond frowned as his opponent began taking his turn, taking a pair of cards from his hand. A flash had come to mind. On the card to the right but not to the left. But why...

_Why could he see what he was playing..?_

This ability normally stayed out of the duels. Completely in fact, as though to realize he'd never pick up another card if that were to happen. He understood it coming in play at the last match, where the result would alter match ups rather than 'rank' but now! "I play two face down cards," Malik shouted, the two blank tablets rising to his side. The one on the left... He still didn't know what it was, but the one on the right was revealing itself clearly in his mind despite the blank face looking toward him. 'Malevolent Catastrophe'... Destroying all monsters on the field and inflicting damage while it was at it. If he attacked it'd be over for him of course, but why could he see what the card- "Next," his opponent announced, shadow shifting and melting as it twisted into a fiendish monster from the formerly metalloid shape it held, "I sacrifice Gil Garth to summon the Legend Devil!" Ah- Legend-

"Gh... Yer kiddin' me," he hissed, taking a step back as he looked over the monster, twisted limbs and shark-like teeth meeting his gaze. 1800 attack points... But more importantly its effect..! "700 attack points per turn... What th' hell..!" If he didn't deal with this thing fast enough he was screwed!

His opponent merely laughed, a vicious grin over his face. "Hnhnhnhnhn... You can blame the designers for that," the Egyptian chuckled, "But it doesn't change a thing; if you don't defeat it now it'll get stronger and stronger and then you'll _die_..." No...

"'F I attack _period_ I die," he growled under his breath, opponent muttering an 'End Turn' as he drew his next card. Not that he was supposed to know that of course, he added idly. The blond nonetheless smirked, straightening himself out as he looked toward his opponent. "Hehehehehe... Y' know what though," he decided, "I could careless abou' th' trap y' got on yer field... I got a trap 'f my own," he continued as he grin, his own blank tablet beginning to carve out as he slammed his hand back upon it. The bloodstained hand stained the stone, and the carved rock began to change in colour. Shadowed tendrils oozed from within it, emanating from the bloodied focal point... "Looks like y' played right int' my hands," Katsuya laughed, his opponent tensing in response as the tablet continued to bleed red. "R'veal trap..! QUESTION! We have t' guess th' monster card on th' top of each other's graveyard," the blond explained, pulling his hand back from the stone. "Guess right, an' nothin' happens," he continued with a smirk. "Monster stays dead. Guess wrong..." Katsuya trailed off, leaving that part of the trap to the imagination. "Hehehe... Now th'n," he continued, Malik's expression of shock increasing, "I'll guess first! You jus' sacrificed a monster after all... Tha' means yours 's Gil Garth," he said clearly, the scowl his opponent gave in response quite unnecessary to know he was right. His grin widened as the Egyptian continued to growl, eyes narrowing in mirth. "Hehehehe... Don' need t' be an 'alarraf' t' know tha'... So tell me," the blond shouted, raising his voice and gesturing around him. "How abou' mine- got an idea on what's in _my_ graveyard?"

The look on Malik's face was absolutely priceless. Rage... Shock... After all...

"Would y' look at tha'," Katsuya taunted, smirking darkly as he was responded with a desperate growl. "Y' can't can' y'? B'cause you don't know what card was d'scarded... Not like _I_ know what tha' trap on yer righ' is," he sneered, pointing almost accusingly forward as his opponent again stiffened. "Y' got five seconds t' guess," he continued loudly, his shadow already stretching forth to form a monster as the tablet at his side crumbled into dust. "Five..." Nothing. "Four..." Still nothing. "Three..." The shadow rose taller. "Two..." Arms defined themselves along with a mouth-like respirator mask. "One! Times up," the blond announced, the fourth shadow-monster taking colour as he spoke. "You couldn' guess... So your monster won' be summoned! But mine on th' other hand..." Low rumbling filled the air and the Psycho Shocker cracked its neck and knuckles, preparing to fight in a manner quite unlike the ordinarily stoic monster. "I summon th' Psycho Shocker," Katsuya roared, glare intensifying as the monster's laser and effect activated. "An' not only tha'," the blond continued, a glint appearing from behind him, "But his effect kicks in... Blowin' up all 'f y'r traps! So much f'r tha' plan t' make me attack," he continued with a grin, his opponent ignoring the direct jab at the apparently unhidden trap.

"Rgggh..! You..!" The lasers connected instantly. "You pathetic-!" Stones blasted from the field, scratching the sides of the arena as Malik's words were cut in the crossfire. The tablets on the field, save one, were now in pieces. Dust flew through his opponent's wounds and while there was still that blank stone tablet remaining he continued to grin.

Hehehehehe... "How's it feel," he 'asked', crossing his arms. "Yer shadow game backfirin' in yer face I mean?" There were cheers from the side again, he realized. They were confused as hell, but there were still cheers. And that... That was the point. Because no matter what they were seeing of this match he wasn't stopping; no matter what. No matter what... And as long as they realized that and supported him on that, he'd pull through. That's what he told himself, at least. "Lets bring th's battle t' th' next level," Katsuya shouted, hands spread outward in apparent gesture as the Psycho Shocker did the same. "Here I come Malik..! PSYCHO SHOCKER ATTACKS," he and the shadow snarled, glowing energy developing around the latter's hands, "_**LASER ENERGY CANNON! **_D'STROY TH' DEMON!"

The blast of charged electricity shot forward as both voices rang across the air, the momentary thought of how odd it sounded to hear Psycho Shocker speak not coming to mind as he watched the sparks fly. As he watched them connect with the shadow before his opponent, sending crackling light off both the demon and its summoner as Malik momentarily tensed and jerked with a stiffened pain. "G-GHHHAAH! HNNGGG... You... _Dare_..." Yea.

He 'dared'. Katsuya merely held a look that said 'of course' in response to the words, raising a hand in 'gesture' as the rest of his monsters entered attack mode. As the field cleared of monsters at his opponent's disposal, leaving him with nothing but the spell and the brace that was viced across his head and that of one of his monsters. This was still his move after all... And with that in mind... "Alrigh'..!" It was time to finish this. "Rocket Warrior, Baby Dragon, Panther Warrior... All three 'f y'," he announced, the shadows responding to his mental commands and movements. "ATTACK D'RECTLY!" In hindsight...

He probably should have figured that wouldn't work.

* * *

When Psycho Shocker was summoned to the field, there were nothing but cheers all around from those who bothered to 'speak'. Cheers to hide the fear of loss. Cheers to hide the fear of Malik succeeding. Cheers to hide the confusion in regards to what could very well happen to their friend, to hide the horror of what was occurring on the field right before them. Because with what they could see now there were scratches over his body and two tiny, tiny holes revealing bone on his head, as though drills were piercing it as they spoke.

Something that should never have happened, never in a thousand years of holographic advancements, but despite this they could not cancel the battle. That much was clear... Katsuya didn't want to stop, Malik didn't want to stop... And in the end, despite all thoughts of fear and worry they were held frozen in place, as though glued to the spot by their own cowardice.

But Katsuya had to win, Mokuba told himself. He had to, above everything..! Even though his hands only touched the duel disk to set a card and nothing else. Even though his eyes only passed over his hand when he was moving the cards off the ground after dropping the,. Even though he never _once_ looked at his draw, or at the position of the cards, even though his hands shouldn't have been functioning properly...

And even when, to activate a trap, he slammed his hand on some invisible surface while somehow making it through regardless. Even Isono was frozen in shock, unable to shout out the number of rules it seemed he was breaking. Unable to shout at him to use the disk controls, or to look at what he was putting on the field. And besides... Katsuya's action to summon Psycho Shocker was only logical for getting a more powerful monster on the field; so what if he knew the severity of the trap before him while he summoned it? True, they hadn't heard him say anything that would prove this but...

Somehow, amid the shouts of 'alarraf', and among the inexplicably understood words from Malik on the field, he had a feeling that Katsuya really _had_ known. That he'd not only known the card was a trap, but exactly what it would do and what was needed to trigger it. And now, as each of the holographic monsters at his side moved to strike in the form of rocket, dragon, and injured panther, Mokuba had to shudder. Malik was grinning...

And that was never good. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Spell card activates," Malik cackled, a wave of shadows whirling around him as a holographic spell lifted upward. "DARK AURA SHIELD! You dare to even _think_ you can scratch me," he chuckled, narrowing his eyes as he continued to shout in the foreign language that was for some reason becoming understandable by the shadows around him. "Hnhnhnhn... When this game ends," he taunted from behind his ashen shield, "I'll leave you in the ultimate state of suffering for this pain you've inflicted on me... But first," he shouted with a grin. "It's the end of your turn..!" The end..! "You know what happens next..!"

"GH-" The sound of drills entered the air. "HGGGAAAAAAA_AAAAAAAAAGGHH_!" For the third time that match Katsuya's hand of cards fell to the ground, drops of blood following as the blond's fingers were shredded, pulling at nothing. More blood was being spilt, more screams filling the air... "GHHHAAAAAAAAGGGHH!"

"J-JONOUCHI," Yugi and most of the others shouted, Seto visibly stiffening as palms were shredded and screams slowly quieted. " JONOUCHI, HANG IN THERE!" Hanging in there was one thing...

But how was he supposed to live, when all they could do was shout! "KATSUYA-NII," Mokuba screamed, eyes wide with terror as he shouted at the field. "_KATSUYA-NII_!" Dying, the boy thought to himself through his tears. He was dying and bleeding and screaming and there was nothing they could do about it except watch and wait and cheer as though this was just some rut in a match that could be pushed to the side with ease..! Katsuya only had two cards left from what they could tell, two cards which he gathered up from the ground just now as one mysteriously shot into his duel disk's graveyard. Worse, as the blond looked forward with rage filled eyes, it was Malik's turn now.

Which meant the opportunity for even more pain to arise. "I draw," the Egyptian said calmly, a low smirk coming over his face as he did so. "You've survived this long... I'd have to say I'm even surprised. You're actually _bleeding_ aren't you," he asked, grin widening to a frightening extent as he voiced the very horrific truths they so wanted to ignore. "Well... Lets test your stamina shall we," Malik cackled, his opponent stiffening as a hologram destroyed two of his monsters in familiar tribute styled pillars of light. "I summon the LAVA GOLEM... Using your monster's as sacrifice and allowing _your_ control of the monster..!" La-Lava...

As molten rock arose above the ground behind their friend, encasing the blond in a cage, he paled. "But that monster has 3000 attack points," Mokuba whispered, eyes wide as he stared toward the beast. "Why would Malik give him such a powerful monster..?" Why would he do something like that..?

His only response was the stiffness of his sister at the side as the crowd grew even more white, and as Katsuya reacted to apparently hot steel, shifting his feet to avoid something that left his shirt smoking and sweat dripping from his body the group fell silent once more. Please, he whispered to himself, unaware that everyone around him was doing the same either in their minds or under their breaths.

Please, _don't die..!_

* * *

He probably should have realized what kind of hell he was in for when his shadow caught on fire and glowed a brilliant orange and gold rather than black. When, as Malik summoned the monster 'Lava Golem' to his side of the field, two other monsters from his shadow became bathed in flames, crumbling into ash... And from the dust below a cage surrounded his form, rising upward and locking over itself to pin him into the cramped place. His shadow twisted around him, grew hotter and hotter... It rose far above him, and seared his still stinging wounds. And even worse...

No one could see what it was doing to him. No one could see the lava pouring off the sides of the cage, a single drop sweeping by to set his shirt sleeve aflame before he hurriedly put it out. And no one could see the monsters and shadows he fought with... Not like this. And in this heat... In this incredible heat that was already blanketing him in sweat... "HaaaahH... HaaaaahH..."

"_Hang in there chabar,_" the spirit in the back of his mind was shouting faintly, crying out as the voices of shadows and ghostly hands alike taunted him. "_Hang in there.._"

"_**REDEEM US,**_" the spirits roared,

"_**Are we having fun yet~,**_" the hands chimed in,

"_**YOU PROMISED US,**_" they cried, "_**WHY HAVEN'T YOU HELPED US?**_"

The hands again... "_**To see an ancient after all these years... Hnhnhn, so delightful...**_"

And the spirits. "_**SAVE US! SAVE US!**_"

And the drill continued to vice his head amid all of this chaos, causing a burning pain to reverberate through his skull as he ground his teeth. As the soles of his shoes slowly began to melt against the heating metal of the cage, melted rubber sticking to the bottom of the steel prison. He couldn't touch it... If he touched it he'd burn his hands, burn anything it touched...

"Being granted a monster with so much power..." That voice... Who- "You should be grateful," Malik taunted, sweat already pouring down the sides of Katsuya's bloodied face and body as he looked forward with half dead eyes. Psycho Shocker was gone... His Baby Dragon was gone... He was left with the two monster's he'd had at the start and a pile of molten lava that caused more harm than good. "That expression," Malik continued, sneering even further as he laughed. "Perhaps you know of this monster's power," he 'asked' with narrowed eyes. Yea... Maybe he did. Each turn... Each turn the monster's rolls of lava would slide off and burn the cage with him inside, and besides causing damage to himself this meant that if he stopped moving his feet and got himself stuck...

Well.

There was really no reason to think of _that_ right? "Now that your troublesome monster is gone I'll set a card face down," Malik decided, pointing his hand toward where the hologram would appear as a tablet rose at his side. "So Jonouchi... What will you do now..? You could attack me and win the match," his opponent 'offered', ignoring the constant shifting feet the blond was moving, "Or you could wait and let the flames of your newest 'ally' burn you to ash... It's your choice," he added with a sneering grin, his opponent merely shifting his feet as the rubber soles of his shoes continued to melt down.

His lifepoints were keeping him alive, he knew that much. He'd have already died breathing in 'boiled air' otherwise, but given that the worst he got was the reaction he'd have to the worst sauna on earth he was still alive. Games had to finish 'fairly' after all, no matter how close to death and beyond it he came. And now... '_It's YOUR TURN, alarraf!_' Heh.

Now it was his turn... If he could get the Hurricane card the blond told himself, he'd fix this easily. But the fact was, that thing was so far into his deck that there was no point waiting on it, and he knew that. Lava Golem was right here after all, and his mind told him Hurricane wasn't coming out this match, not from the bottom of the deck. So if the Lava Golem's effect wasn't going to wait...

He wasn't waiting either. Even so however, as he placed his next card in his hand he closed his eyes to think, desperately searching his mind for a way out. Not a single monster in his hand... Viser Death was still attached to him- Er, his monster he corrected as he and the panther both shook their heads at the moment, and moreover there was a trap beside his opponent. Attacking now would be suicide. Not doing anything would be the same though he reminded himself, wiping a thick sheet of sweat from his face as he gasped for air and steeled his resolve. And damn it...

Fine! "MALIK," the blond finally shouted, pointing forward and between the bars with a shout as the golem at his side raised his arm. "You'll get your wish..! I ATTACK!"

"You attack, do you," Malik chuckled, eyes widening briefly with mirth. "And here I thought you were afraid..!" HAH!

"WHO'S AFRAID," he snarled in response, throwing in a taunt while he was at it. "I'm not hidin' b'hind a trap that'll only last one turn!" He at least knew that much of the tablet behind the blond...

Right? "Hnhnhn..." Right. "Your foresight still hasn't abandoned you... You're right," the Egyptian said with a grin, "This trap will only be in effect for one turn... But that's all it needs! So go ahead and shout your attack to the world," he cackled at the top of his lungs, "The name of the Lava Golem is called 'GOLEM VOLCANO'... SO ATTACK!" Giving him the attack was he?

Smug fucking prick... "I'll do more than tha'," he snarled, throwing his arm forward as a blast of molten rock shot forth from the arm of his monster. "I name my own attacks..." And a good name for this one was... Was... ...Oh! "_**JONOUCHI FIRE,**_" he roared, the lava blasting over the top of the cage.

"_J-Jonouchi fire,_" the spirit in his mind muttered incredulously, momentarily pulled out of the mix between worried shouts and complete silence as he blinked. Yea... He have a problem with that? "_N-No..."_ The ghost seemed to stare out from his mind, before repeating himself. "_No... It's... It's a good name,_" he coughed, shaking his head.

_Exactly_. It was _perfect_. And of course, as expected, the attack didn't make it through _anyways_... "Activate trap," Malik said flatly, the lava charging toward him and swirling about his form as the tablet ground into a repellant dust against the attack. "Monster Relief... Returning one monster from the field to my hand to special summon another in its place..." And as to that monster... Katsuya swallowed, biting his lip. There it went... "Viser Death returns to my hand," Malik announced, his shadow reeling back to his feet like a high-powered yo-yo as the clamping pain retreated along with it. "And is re-summoned on my side of the field! And now, thanks to your golem's attack," he bragged, the lava honing in on the 'monster' immediately as it rebounded against the metal shield, "I have an indestructible shield..!" Gh... Damn it he growled mentally.

He'd fallen for this trap completely..! How could he fall for something so easily just because he wasn't 'warned' about it! The growling continued, only for it to cut short as a flash came to mind. And what was worse... It was the end of his turn. "H-HHAAAHH!" Crap! "HOT HOT HOT HOT _HOT_!" Lava began to pour into the cage from aboce, his shadow _melting_ as fires leaped from the ground around him. With nowhere else to go he hurriedly locked his duel disk around the corner of one of the cage rungs, jumping up to position his legs on a higher bar while the lava sat beneath him and boiled away at quickly heating metal. "Hihhhhh..." The vice was gone, but the Lava Golem was still there... But along with all that...

The hands returned as well. "_**We're BAAAAACK,**_" they cheered amid the screams of the dead, Katsuya grinding his teeth.

The screams were getting louder... "_**YOU PROMISED!**_"

"_**Which one,**_" the hands pondered,_** "Which one...**_"

"_**REDEEM US! SAVE US! AVENGE US,**_" they cried,

"_**HnhnHAHAHA!**_"

"MY TURN," Malik roared over the screams and cackles, Katsuya barely holding himself up in the cage with his duel disk. "I play one card face down," he announced, the blank tablet appearing at the cloaked Egyptian's side in a swirl of dust, "And then, I play this... The spell 'Machine Duplication'!" Machi- Crap. "Summoning three more Viser Deaths... And do you know what I'm going to do with them," he continued with a sneer, shadow splitting at the center as they shot forward. Each shadow swarmed the head of one of his monsters, another appearing on his own once more to begin the crushing sensation of pain across his skull. He knew what Malik was going to do... "I'm going to lock all three on your monster's heads..!" ...But he didn't have to repeat it..! G-Ghhhh-!

Rocket Warrior, Lava Golem, Panther Warrior... His head had already begun to heal over with the absence of the brace, but now that it was back the mere thought of all three transferring to his skull was horrific. Worried shouts came from the sides and the cackling continued on, with Katsuya left standing awkwardly in the top of a cage..

"Your turn now Jonouchi," Malik was chuckling, the shadowed grin growing still darker. "Hurry up... I want to hear your screams, I want to watch you _bleed_... Show me," the Egyptian cackled madly, "SHOW ME! Show me the pain and screams of fool at his deathbed! HAHAHAHAHA!" Shut up... "HAHAHAHAHA!"

Shut up...! He couldn't tribute summon with the braces there... And the card in his hands wasn't Hurricane either he thought with a grimace, bowing his head as he attempted to keep his balance. But... And it was a big 'but'...

The blond drew his card, shirt soaked in sweat and sticking to his body as he tried as best he could to hold his grip on the paper with slippery fingers. He made a promise, he reminded himself through labored breathing. A promise to fight Yugi, and a promise to defeat the monster standing before him. He'd seen bits and pieces of the one who really owned this body. During the rush of data in the computer, he'd seen flashes, snippets of memory that wasn't meant for his eyes... And despite all that happened, and all he'd done, the 'light' Malik could be forgiven. It would take a hell of a long time before he trusted him, but he'd forgive him nonetheless. Besides.

'Malik' hadn't done these things to Mai, to Bakura, and to Ryuzaki. The other one had. The one standing before him.

The one he had to defeat. The card in his hands was strong, he told himself weakly. A new one as well, one he'd only recently managed to save up for and purchase in the recent weeks. He'd forgotten about it... It was a powerful card, but because he'd received it only recently there'd been no record of it being his most powerful card. It was stronger than even his red eyes but...

"_**Yo,**_" he heard, the blond's eyes dimly looking at the card as the image of the monster smirking in the back of his mind came to his thoughts._** "Nice to meet you.**_" This monster...

"...Gilford th' Lightnin'..."

In his minds eye he could see the monster nod with that continued smirk, and adding the card to his hand a strategy formed. The Viser Death's 'metal replicator' only worked on weak monsters, monsters with 500 or less attack power. While on his side of the field he continued mentally with narrowed eyes, he could use his spells to affect them. After that, after freeing his monsters he told himself, he would have three tributes. And with three tributes, Gilford would...

"Hehehehehe..." Malik appeared to freeze somewhat as he began to chuckle, the blond across from him still balancing oddly in a metal cage. "Act'vate spell card 'Angel Dice'," he announced, the tablet appearing tall at his side as the imp flew forth. Snow white wings carried the small being into the air, and as the die fell Katsuya grinned. "Yer monster's... How much power will they take b'fore d'stroyin' th'mselves..? Five hundred..? Two thousan'..? The dice rolls SIX," he shouted with a grin, hopping down from the cage walls as the shadows and lava already began to melt with the move he was preparing. "Yer Viser Death's 'r d'stroyed," the blond continued, all three of the head-shaped vices melting into a corroded ash on the ground around them. "An' now," he went on with a dark smirk, "Since I have three monsters on my field, how 'bout I show y' somethin' good... I'm comin for y' Malik- I told y' b'fore I'd send y' t' hell an' I'm keepin my word," the blond snarled, thunder cracking above them as the trio of monsters in his shadow fused and merged behind him. "I sacr'fice all three 'f my monsters t' summon my most powerful monster," he announced, the shadow behind him stretching into darkened and armored skin under deep red robes and silver armor. A massive claymore sword sat on his back... And with the monster's summoning he narrowed his eyes even further. Gilford's power was running through him now, still working at healing his bleeding head... And right now he was going to use that power to win. "This is th' end Malik... Meet th' Legendary Warrior who controls th' storm," Katsuya announced, "Th' monster wieldin' th' blade 'Odinson'... Have a taste of 's power," he roared, holding his hands out as the monster pulled out his sword in a similar gesture, "_**THUND'RING LIGHTNIN'**_!"

The bolt of lightning flew from the tip of the blade as the attack was called, striking Malik's apparently invincible shield and blowing it into pieces as its summoner screamed. "GH- _WHAT_!" Metal scattered across the field and Malik snarled with rage, sparks bouncing off his own body as his fingers twitched in the aftermath of the shock. "Im... Impossible," he growled, shaking his head in shock. "Viser Death is invincible..! This can't be..!"

"Then think again," Katsuya shouted with a grin, wiping a bit of sweat-soaked hair from his eyes and still lightly bleeding head. "When summoned w' three sacrifices, Gilford d'stroys all monsters on th' field... R'gardless of effect! An' wi' that outta th' way," he continued, pointing his hand forward as the bleeding wounds from the Viser Death reached an almost completely healed state, "I attack! _**LIGHTNIN' CRASH SWOR-**_" Wait-!

As the smoke from the Viser Death's destruction cleared he froze, his 'shadow's blade already plunging forward in a stabbing action. A flash came to mind and the stone before him began to crumble. The tablet, he thought to himself in horror as the dust shifted to re-form the 'wall' before him. The tablet, the tablet, the-

"Shit," he shouted, arms still held somewhat forward as he stared. "Trap..!" Trap..!

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Damn it..! "You deserve a round of applause for lasting this long 'alarraf'," Malik chuckled, the blade crashing through stone as it slowly tumbled away from the tablet's form. He couldn't see the image on the stone... But it was flaking away, piece by piece and the blade was digging deeper without any sign of stopping... "It's been fun... But play time is over," his opponent roared, "Because this trap card is-"

The nightmare mirror!

Shouts dimmed before Malik's words even finished, and before Katsuya could even take in the detail of the object uncovered by the tablet. As he stumbled back with a choke all he could see was Malik's mouth moving, and the enormous mirror that had appeared before him. The mirror his shadow had run into, blade first, with one half on one side and the other seemingly vanished. Well... Mostly. "GH-OH... Hhhaa-AAHH..." It was hard to ignore the fact that it had wound up embedded in the side of his chest, pushing him back with all the force behind it. "Ghahh... Hahh... D... Don' move," he rasped, cards falling from his hands as he hurriedly grabbed the blade in his chest to continue choking. Just his lung and organs pieced, his heart was fine thank god, but if the blade moved even _slightly_ then the sutured burn from the electricity that was now sealing the wound would mean nothing and- "Don' move," he repeated, voice weak with the useless position his lung was in as he choked on his own words. "Don' move th' blade..!"

This time, the crowd had fallen deathly silent in response to what was happening on the field, those on the sides unable to even scream. '_What's he holding?_' They couldn't see the blade in his hands. '_What's he doing?_' The only blood on the sword had already fallen, there was nothing else so long as the sword didn't move- they couldn't see him cutting his palms trying to clutch his wound out of reflex. But even amid the pain and shock of injury, he could still hear.

'_What's happening to him..!_'

"Haagh... Ghaaagh..." He was scaring them he realized coldly, choking on his breaths as he attempted to continue to stand. Scaring them all... He wanted this over as quick as possible, and he knew he had the power to do so, he would in next turn, that was certain even without a vision but... Even with this...

That bastard continued to laugh... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." He could barely breath... And he laughed... "How does it feel," Malik shouted with a grin, responded to with a murderous glare. "To be impaled upon by your own sword?" Shut up, he wanted to shout, finding nothing but blood clogging his throat. Shut up... Shut up..! "Now you've lost 1000 lifepoints," Malik was continuing with a cackle. "And of course... The price to pay for this 'mirror' trick is discarding one card..." One card..?

An image came to mind. The image of a single move, and of Bakura's shouting form as the flames of the sun eradicated him into nothing but dust in the wind, the ring clattering to the ground. As Ra became coated in flames, risen without a single sacrifice and... ...Shit.

"RA," he spat, hands bleeding as they clutched the blade. "An' how's tha' gonna help you..?" The monster would have no attack power... It could get rid of his monster but he'd still have a chance to win so long as he drew another monster on his turn- Malik's attack would be for nothing..!

But Katsuya's questioning growls seemed to only further excite his opponent. It was almost strange actually... He'd spent this long keeping his mouth shut on anything to do with the duels, and with what he saw, and yet from the start of this match he'd tossed everything to the wind... '_Because it won't matter after this match,_' he found himself thinking, breathing still ragged and weak as he held his determined gaze across the field. Because all along he'd known the end result hadn't he..? He'd known...

That in the end... "I have to say," Malik chuckled, his opponent's turn ending as the blond slouched somewhat on the sword still jutting through his side, "I underestimated you, Jonouchi... I should have realized I wasn't going to be able to end this without bringing forth GOD..!" He really should have, hadn't he..? "To think... You _knew_ this too," he laughed, shaking his head almost in incredulity as his opponent kept silent. "This ability of yours... It's been a pleasure to toy with it," the Egyptian laughed, "But it all ends now..! BEHOLD _**GOD**_," Malik cackled, his opponent weakly bringing a free hand up to his head and biting his lip as a raging headache began to strike with the words. "I use the spell Monster Reborn to revive him." he continued. "Now COWER from the God of the SUN, THE FORM OF RA, AND-"

And nothing else mattered any more as Malik taunted him from across the field, the Egyptian's voice fading into a mere echo at the back of his mind. His thoughts went completely blank and his breathing calmed despite the crippling pain through his side. The ankh's light had filled the arena for only a moment before 'God' was summoned as Malik had said. But 'God' was not one to be copied with a mere 'shadow'. With dull eyes he looked up toward the enormous and majestic being of gold that hovered behind the tower's edge, the nearly blinding monster before him 'standing' on its hind legs and spreading his wings to completely block out Malik's 'half' of the sky. All he could see was the top half of this being, see the wings, fore-arms, and head. The rest was resting on the ground of the isle itself, scarcely able to fit within the boundaries of the island. This was 'Ra'. This...

As flames began to lick the monster's sides, seemingly taking the metal with it, Malik was not the only one speaking. "_Great God of all he travels,_" Katsuya began under his breath,_ "Who creates all he sees, whose eye is the warrior Sehkmet, whose knowledge is unsurpassed,_" he whispered among Malik's shouts, the oddly familiar chant passing through his lips with blank eyes and monotone words. "_Who sails on the evening barge of a million years, who is accompanied by Command, Perception, and Magic,_" they 'chorused',_ "Whose Father is Nun, who passes life and death each day... Who battles with the dark serpent along side the God of Storms,_" the blond went on, the closest to his sides slowly turning with wide and likely terrified eyes as his words mirrored Malik's own, those same words rising in volume. "_I ask that you arise to my side,_" they boy continued,_ "That you illuminate my path with your LIGHT..._"

And suddenly without warning the chant changed, as Malik continued to shout and as Katsuya's words rose to a standard speaking level rather than the whisper it was, neither one slipping in their pace. "_I ask that you guide me in the form of the great bennu bird,_" the continued,_ "That you accept this tribute of my very soul and eradicate all those before me. That you cleanse the souls of those who oppose me, and shield me from all harm in these moments... I ask,_" Malik finished, just a millisecond faster than his opponent as he looked to the blond teen in mixed curiosity and fear,

"_**AND YOU ARE ANSWERED!**_"

Flames roared and rose above the tower, illuminating the shadows around them and creating a 'sun' above them in the sky as the metal 'griffin' that had been Ra melting into the air with the fluidity of the wind itself. Ra had risen, his mind told him dimly, senses returning as he gripped the blade in his side and looked upward. Ra, in the form of the burning phoenix, having abandoned the metal, golden shell he'd worn. Ra, the Sun...

And amidst it all it seemed the power was enough for his opponent to forget that he had only barely retained control of the God he so favoured. "You should be honoured," Malik shouted amid the crackling flames, laughing madly as the phoenix burned above and behind him. "To set your eyes on God's form... His TRUE form," the Egyptian added, cackling despite the blank stare he received from his opponent. "HnhnhahahaHAHAHA... THIS IS THE END," he laughed, arms held out as he gestured to where he likely perceived Ra's form to be. "THE END..!"

He wasn't listening. Malik had turned to taunt those in the crowd for the moment shortly after those taunts, and as he did so Kastuya looked up from his already weakened form to grit his teeth. Ra was looking down on him, the flames licking the sides of the arena as he stared. But he'd said nothing so far. He knew that it was really _him_... But he had still said nothing. "Gh... Hgh... Ra," the blond spat, biting on his lip as he fought to continue speaking. "...You gonna kill me then," he 'whispered', voice held low in fatigue. "Gonna take tha' sacrifice..?" That sacrifice of 1000 life points... "An' burn me outta existence..?" Like the monster on the field..?

Ra merely beat his wings a moment, the fires slamming against the sides of the steel tower as his toothy beak opened wide to chuckle. For a moment, Katsuya had to stare at the bird in confusion because of that. And then as he spoke his gaze reverted to a slightly agitated expression, eyes narrowing as Ra spoke. "**You have done WELL to travel this FAR, young ANCIENT... VERY well...**" To do... ...What..?

"...You..." The blond choked, shuffling forward somewhat and again choking over his words. "Khg... ...You thought I wouldn' make it," he asked somewhat loudly, Malik turning with narrowed eyes in the middle of his conversation as he studied his opponent incredulously.

"_You... What did you just say..?_"

The enormous 'God' above him held the same stern 'expression' he'd appeared with, lowering his head toward the boy to give his response. "**You have been through MANY trials, ANCIENT... Some DESTINED... Others chosen by CHANCE,**" the God told him, fires creating a constantly shifting form outside the monster's face and piercing glare.** "But regardless of the DIFFICULTY,**" Ra praised,** "You have SUCCEEDED... You surpassed my FIRST test,**" he continued, seeming to bare his flaming fangs with narrowed eyes. "**So TELL ME... BOY who knows our NAMES... Do you FEAR this POWER that now stands BEFORE YOU?**"

The answer was swift, and short, and to those around more than likely confusing. They could see Ra, that was true. See the enormous beast illuminate the air, but they couldn't see it in its full power nor could they hear its words. Well...

Most of them couldn't at least. The expressions on both Seto and the 'other Yugi's face told him otherwise after all, and as Malik himself looked across the field with wide eyes it seemed that he'd realized just what his opponent was doing. But his answer...

"No."

"**Not even in the SLIGHTEST,**" the God questioned, seeming to growl as his opponent slowly forced himself to stand straighter than he had been, even as the blade threw his balance off completely and caused him to stumble. And again...

"...No," he repeated, gritting his teeth, looking up with wide eyes. "I need to win this fight..."

"_You... Impossible... ORACLE!_"

They still couldn't see. Or hear. Malik was confused, staring in a mix of rage, fear, and hate... Disbelief as well, the teen clearly forcing the idea that his opponent could possibly see 'God's full form out of his mind. And like that thought the other feelings were quickly replaced with a maddening confidence as he began to laugh. It went without saying after all; this was a shadow game. Whatever Ra dealt out he would feel in full and even if he didn't he'd have felt it anyways. So... "You... I'm tired of you," Malik snarled, eyes wide with insanity. "Of your 'ability', and of your persistence... I'll let God's Judgement burn you to the ground... Turning your mind to ash and destroying every bit of your soul..! WATCH, JONOUCHI," he laughed, eyes wide as the fires increased in intensity. "WATCH, AS THE GREAT GOD RA RISES FOR YOU, AND PULLS YOU INTO AN ENDLESS DARKNESS..! AHAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!" As the cackling continued to fill the air he could only dimly hear the cries of the others. Of Mokuba... Of Yugi... Of Otogi, Anzu, Honda..

Of her...

"_No..._"

"_NO! JONOUCHI-KUN!_"

"_JONOUCHI!_"

"_YOU CAN'T LOSE, YOU CAN'T..!_"

"_This light,_" he could hear her whisper,_ "It can't..._" How could something so magnificent...

Bring...

Death. "**You claim to hold no FEAR of my FLAMES,**" Katsuya heard his executor announce, the blond forcing himself to breathe as he stared upward.** "Yet it is not with BRAVADO you stand before me with. I SEE before me TRUE COURAGE,**" Ra applauded as he rose further into the air, "**A TRAIT which is often LOST to TIME... KNOW THIS,**" he boomed, converging into a single point in the air and launching forward as a single flaming 'bolt' from the heavens. "**It is not the FIRES you must surpass... It is the CHALLENGE you face AFTER- FOR HERE IS YOUR TEST,**" God roared. "**HERE is your TRUE challenge... BOY WHO KNOWS OUR NAMES,**" he announced, mouth wide as he came closer to the boy below,** "**_**THIS IS BUT A **__**TASTE**__** OF OUR POWER!**_"

And all at once the flames struck down, and everything else around didn't matter. "GHHH- _**GHHHRAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!**_" Fire... His shadow was melting and he heard nothing but laughter, the smoke and flames entering his lungs and searing at his insides without leaving a mark. The scream was mirrored by his slowly melting monster and amidst it all there was laughter, screams, screams from ghosts, screams from the crowd... From himself. "_**RHAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH! HHHGAAAAAAAAAA!**_"

His shadow had long since been melted away by this point and at the sides he could hear the cries of his friends growing faint from behind the curtain of flames. The face of Ra looked at him from all sides, staring, almost taunting him it felt, and the sword in his chest crumbled to his shadow as the fires continued to burn. Nothing but fire... Fire... _Fire... _But it wasn't burning his skin or clothes, not physically at least. It was just burning him... Bringing pain, pain, and nothing but more pain, while slowly re-opening the wound that he'd received from his own monster as he screamed.

But no matter what... He could... Not... Fail..! "_That's enough,_" a cold chuckling voice chuckled as the sword in his side vanished completely, not a single trace of the 'shadow game' remaining at his side of the field outside his injuries. "_Return..._"

The flames tore upward, and flew away in an instant, leaving nothing but smoke on the side of the field where he stood. The entity of his surroundings were blocked from view, and the field was silent in anticipation, waiting, waiting to see if he'd died, if he'd lived... But even with this, he stood. On both feet, both melted and torn shoes he stood, hands abruptly clutching his side as he choked and grasped at a now opened wound through his chest. "Gllll... Kllkkk... Hhah... Ahhh..." His lung was collapsing, he realized dimly, the organ finding itself unable to properly hold air all too quickly. And he was bleeding... It took four minutes for the blood to drain to the point of unconsciousness if the carotid artery was cut, he remembered that from some show he'd caught while flipping channels. So...

Now that this sword was gone from his side... How long did he have with this..?

The smoke began to clear, and in the aftermath Malik stumbled backward in shock and terror both, eyes wide as he took in the shape of the shadow before him. "_No_," he whispered, sudden relieved shouts coming from the side as the smoke continued to clear. "No, no, no! IMPOSSIBLE," he snarled. "IMPOSSIBLE, this..!"

"Is that... All you have," he wheezed, taking a trembling step forward as a round of cheers came from the side. Ra was gone, evaporated... And his next card... The one in his hand... "My 'own sword'... Did... Better th'n tha'," he taunted, before biting his tongue to hold back a wash of blood from his bleeding lung. "GL- Lkhhh... Ahhh... Hahhh... It's... It's my turn," he pressed on, taking another step forward as Malik stiffened and paled. "D... Draw," he rasped, pulling a card and setting it on the disk, holding his steady and murderous . "Summon... Gearfried," he continued, taking still another step as he held his still bleeding wound with his free hand, the blood spilling from between his fingers. "And I... ATTACK..!" His shadow stretched forward... His hand pointed forward to move with the blade as he took one third and final step, and as he fell the last thing he saw was Gearfried's blade coming just millimetres from Malik's terrified face, a drop of blood forming across the Egyptian's brow. And he heard, as he landed on the ground...

A scream...

"_JONOUCHI_!"

Bleeding.

Bleeding, he was bleeding he realized dimly, the shadows vanishing from the sky as his eyes stared off to the side while he breathed raggedly. How much time was passing he asked himself. It seemed almost slow... And for a moment, he could see...

A vision...

_'You won that match,_' Yugi told him sternly, his usual smile on his face while the blond continued to stare off, eyes moving rapidly and in no particular pattern as he choked. '_So... How about we fulfil that promise we made..?_'

The 'him' of the vision nodded, a grin on his face. '_RIGHT! Let's duel..!_'

Duel...

D...

Heh...

_I win, Malik._

He still couldn't hear properly. "JONOUCHI," Honda was shouting, the blond's eyes staring off into space as he was rolled over onto his back, looking at nothing. The voice sounded faint... Garbled, as though underwater... His friends were nothing but blurred bits of colour against the sky, and his white shirt was stained red. Blood was coming through his mouth, bubbling at the corners and out of his side as he attempted to breathe...

"Glk... Kh...Gkh... Kg..."

"Oh my god..." Honda raised his hands upward for just a moment as he looked over the blood that was staining them, fingers and palms twitching violently as he attempted to comprehend what he was looking at. "Oh my... BLOOD," the teen screamed, frantically pressing on the wound, "_BLOOD! _HE'S BLEEDING," he screamed in panic, "Get the doctor!"

"Glk... Lkh... Kh..."

"_Get Kuzushi here STAT,_" he thought he heard Seto shout,

"_Jonouchi,_" the others were crying,_ "JONOUCHI!_"

And far at the side Malik was holding a hand to his mouth, bile dripping through his fingers as he heaved in shock and horror both. "_Hahh... To think... To think I almost lost to..._" To..?

Honda was still screaming. "JONOUCHI..!" Loud, but it still sounded strained and distant and he couldn't hear a thing. "DON'T YOU DARE DIE," he roared, having pulled off his jacket to push on the wound and hold the bleeding back. "Don't you DARE FUCKING DIE!" Still shouting...

"_Jonouchi..!"_

"_JONOUCHI-KUN!_"

"_CHABAR!_"

Stop screaming... Stop screaming... "Gkl... I... Saw..."

"Don't die damn it," Honda cried, Yugi's spirit curled up on the side in tears as his other stared in shock at the edge of the arena. "DON'T DIE..!" He wasn't... He wasn't going to... He wouldn't...

"_STAND ASIDE, NOW,_" an authoritative voice snarled, the shadows above shifting around. White... White coats... So... Doctors..?

His vision was fading. Shadows were becoming more blurred, and he was still choking on his breath, staring up at nothingness. Honda was gone but he was still screaming. Everyone was screaming. But he didn't know what they were saying, and he... He...

He was so tired...

If he just... Closed his eyes...

"_JONOUCHI-KUN!_"

* * *

"_Jonouchi-kun... Hey, Jonouchi-kun_," he could hear Yugi calling, a blinding light meeting his eyes as he blearily attempted to see.

Owww... The blond brought a hand to his head, grimacing. "Nnggghh... M' head..." Hurt... Like hell...

A chorus of small giggles floated through the air. Another few shouts, dotted around aimlessly. "Jonouchi-kun," Yugi repeated, somewhat louder this time as his friend opened his eyes. "Jonouchi-kun, class is about to start!" Hnnnggg... He'd sleep through it then, he hated most of his first period classes any... Ways... Uh...

Wait. Wait what...

_Class?_

The blond's head jerked upward as he forced himself to wake up, neck cracking almost painfully as the blond winced. He sat up straighter, blinking almost blearily as he looked around the room. The classroom... Just the classroom but... "Gh... Ahhhhhgggg, my head..." The blond rubbed it over with a hiss, those around his desk looking to him with somewhat wry smirks as they sighed.

"Hahhhh... It's what you get for deciding to face plant into your desk," Anzu said somewhat dryly, crossing her arms and shaking her head. "Really... How tired are you anyways," she asked almost worriedly, receiving nothing more than a groan in response.

"Nggh... Don' talk," he muttered, "Headache..."

The group traded knowing smirks, chuckling somewhat under their breath. "Heh... Guess _that_ answers the question," Honda muttered, shaking his head. "So... Yugi," he continued, "You see that poster for the tournament," he began, quickly hooking the boy in another conversation as Bakura also joined in with the two. Hnn... Tournament..? What tournament?

While the trio began speaking about this Katsuya shook his head, rubbing it with another wince as he attempted to regather his thoughts. Alright, hang on... What was going on here, he asked himself with a frown. The last thing he remembered he was facing Malik in a duel... He'd attacked with Gearfried he'd-

Hell, he'd won! (Last he checked any ways...) But was that... Well... That couldn't be a dream right, he thought, staring at the desk with a frown. Hell, this was...

Suddenly, the conversation at the side was coming to mind, and he realized what they were saying. "Oh that's right," Bakura was saying, "That tournament... It starts after Marine Day doesn't it..?"

"Yep. One week," Yugi said with a smile, bowing his head somewhat. A... A week..?

But that was... Katsuya shook his head again, biting his lip in confusion as he narrowed his eyes. Impossible. Impossible, he was just on the ship moments before, the tournament hadn't been mentioned until about _three days_ before, and it couldn't be possible unless...

Unless...

He frowned, crossing his arms. The Virtual World, the ghost in his mind, the shadow games, Malik, _Malik, MALIK_... Everything that happened, in all its impossibility... "Dream," he muttered, shaking his head with a grimace. "W's all... Jus' a dream..." That had to be it, his mind told him. It had to. It...

Hell it was the only thing that made _sense... _"It sounds like it would be fun," Yugi was saying in regards to the tournament. "I'll have to look over my deck," the boy added as Bakura nodded in agreement. "Oh-" Yugi paused, smiling. "Hey, Jonouchi-kun," he continued, looking to his friend with a grin. "The city-wide duel monsters tournament... Are you planning on entering?" Eh? Well... Of course he was, he'd mentioned it earlier that year hadn't he!

...Right..? (He didn't remember...) Nonetheless the blond nodded, a grin on his face. "Heh... 'F course," he said with a grin, giving his friend a thumb's up. "Wouldn' miss it f'r th' world!"

"I don't know," Anzu muttered with a dry look on her face, "When it takes one turn for me to defeat you..." Ah-

She was still going on about that! "O-OIII!"

"Hnn... Class starts in two minutes," Otogi muttered, speaking for the first time since the blond woke up and pulling all attention to him as a result. "Does anyone find this odd..?" Hn? Find what odd?

Evidently, they found 'this' odd though... Whatever 'this' was. "That's right," Anzu was muttering, "She'd normally be here by now..." She..?

But besides Seto, who didn't even _go_ to school, who the hell would they be waiting for that was a 'she'? "Er... No 'ffense guys, but... Who're you talkin' abou'," Katsuya laughed, the others turning to stare with wide eyes.

Crap. That wasn't what he expected. "Wow... Jonouchi, how hard did you hit your head," Honda asked 'worriedly', "I mean... There's no way you forgot her..!" Well... Yes, yes there was. And who was 'her'! Stop not using names!

"Jonouchi-kun," Yugi asked, "Do you maybe need to see the nurse..?" NO. He- AUGH, stop this!

"Sheesh... Forgetting Souryuu-chan," Anzu muttered, shaking her head with a frown. "How could you-"

Katsuya sputtered at that, shaking his head. N-Now way... That name was... "...S... Souryuu..."

The next few moments told him quite clearly what was a dream and what was reality, and even if they hadn't, he'd have found out rather quickly following that. Because as a tall young woman with blue eyes and brown hair walked into the room, there was one glaring fact that assured him what he saw now wasn't real. The name was one thing after all.

But Seto Kaiba would never have allowed herself to be caught in the school uniform, apologizing to the class for her lateness using 'watashi'.

* * *

**AN:** _You are traveling through another dimension~_

_A dimension not only of sight and sound but of mind~ _

_A journey into a wondrous land of imagination~ _

Next stop, TWILIGHT ZONE! (-cue creepy theme-)

But seriously, given that little sneak peek at mind screw, you can probably guess why I hinted that the next duel would possibly be split in two.

On another note, I know! Seto's reaction, we didn't see it..! The fact is, I originally planned to have the scene where Jonouchi is rushed to the medical room of the airship here (Though in this case they likely stuck him in another room entirely), but in the end decided it wouldn't flow properly.

Which means I just broke my word AWWWWWWWWWWW...! CRAP.

Any ways, no art for this chapter which, while admittedly _very_ fun to write, took a very frightening and depressing turn when suddenly the last two moves did their thing. This 'reveal', while very very VERY traumatic, was actually something I specifically looked into; I researched _all_ of the duels Jonouchi had prior this, and looked for the severity of any and all direct attacks made.

...

Tadaaaaaaah...?

No art today, and no music either oddly enough...

Anyways. Very _interesting_ reaction I got from a few of you last chapter. Hopefully that was a good interesting. It was hard to tell; a lot of you were on the edge of your seats, but a few of you ended up with broken brains from what I can tell, and I really hope this chapter snaps you guys out of that stupor... Because I appreciate your thoughts a lot, and it kinda scares me when I can't tell if the reaction is good or bad.

Course I'm a paranoid little twit, but whatever.

ONWARD!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Cy-Cynical Gamer..? Are... Are you okay..?

AHHH! I'm sorry I broke your brain! Please get better! And... Here, have some seizure pills.

In the meantime, hey there Iona!

Lots and lots of misery souvenirs! And oooooh…

Don't get me started on problems. But yes, Kaiba _is_ admitting to feeling close to the idiot. She doesn't plan on saying friend out loud of course, but like I said; she's close. Kaiba can be fairly caring at the core; just really untrusting and cautious as well… Jonouchi's done enough that he's earned her trust though however, which is not something to be taken lightly. Of course, this means that Jou's subject to a fair bit of stubborn 'YOU WILL NOT DIE' will…

So yes. Yes he IS going to get it. Lots of misery pie though, and now that Jou's out cold it looks like everyone else gets their share… And don't worry, he'll be alright~ …_AFTER _this is over.

I should hope 'brave' has his picture after the above..! The words definitely said more than the action though, you're right; actions don't always say more than words, and this was definitely one of those cases… I hope you enjoyed this chapter now! This should be the last one for until my move is over… Of course, with luck, I'll have internet during the move so…

Well, until next time!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's currently crying at Jou's bedside. Go away!

* * *

The Solstice, while the point in time of the longest night as well as the longest day, refers to both in this case of chapter titles. Granted, the actual term only refers to the longest _day_ part (as while we have the darkness on one half of the world, the southern half gets the opposite.), but in this case, think. The sunny part is Ra.

The dark part is the shadows.

* * *

A lot of the conversation that originally took place on this tower was cut; this is because it was re-scripted for the scenes at the end of the last chapter.

* * *

In the original, it took until Jou's second turn to realize that he was connected to his monster by a life line. That's just a little upsetting.

* * *

Sooooo… As a re-cap on our Arabic, since I have no access to the Ancient Egyptian translation, 'alaraff' is a _rough_ 'trans-vocalation' of 'seer'. In other words, I can't read Arabic, so I'm going by what it sounds like. Oracle however was… Much longer, and I didn't want to end up botching it completely. Ehhh...

Hnnnn... ANY WAYS. Although it's in arabic in terms of the typing, it's supposed to be_ implied _that Malik is actually using Egyptian; hence Katsuya understanding it.

* * *

In the manga, that hand actually did flip Jou off. I had to laugh.

* * *

Honda's comment refers to the fairly hilarious sight of two people arguing in separate languages. They somehow manage to figure out what the other person is saying, and are able to give an answer in response...

* * *

In the original, Marik says 'activate trap'. But Psycho Shocker is there. Traps… Plus… Psycho shocker…

You can see why it's become a 'counter spell'.

* * *

How can Mokuba understand what Marik is saying? It's partially Seto's fault actually; because she can understand it clearly herself. The shadows are helping though… Of course, Mokuba's been around a heck of a lot more creepy shadow business in terms of being a victim compared to most of Yugi's friends… (Anzu has both this AND the excuse that Malik is in her head, Otogi can catch snippets, and Honda's clueless. Now count which ones were directly involved in shadow games outside the Monster World.)

* * *

Supposedly, Marik only summons two new Viser Deaths with this card (Machine Duplication). But he has one on each of Jonouchi's THREE MONSTERS, and another defending him. Last I checked, that's _four_.

So yea. Technically, Machine Duplication only summons two more monsters. But it looked as though it summoned three in the manga. Weird. Oh well.

* * *

That sword really _is_ called 'Odinson'! COOL huh?

* * *

The 'bennu bird' is the closest thing to a phoenix that Egypt has as far as I recall, and is pictured as a heron of sorts with a two feathered crest, or occasionally an eagle with feathers of red and gold. It's considered the soul of Atum (-coughAtem'snamecough-), Ra, or Osiris depending on the context.

* * *

Originally I was planning on using the anime duel, to emphasis Jonouchi 'dragging' the duel out, along with the damage he's taking.

But quite frankly, the anime duel really would have killed him using that logic, so I stuck with the short, manga version.

Also, Jonouchi's wound was, while technically fatal, somewhat slow on the bleed thanks to Ra's attack. While it was opened with the lack of sword, a lot of it was actually sutured shut by his flames. Which is REALLY good, given that… Uh. He would have been dead otherwise.

* * *

Interesting thing here; in Egypt, the Gods were not considered 'all knowing'; they came into knowledge _as things happened_. Therefore, they themselves were not considered clairvoyant… Merely wise enough to figure out what would happen next if you did something.

For that reason, oracles weren't so much prophets as those who would converse with the gods. This is why Malik only says 'Oracle' near the end.

Right when he realizes just who Jonouchi is talking to.

And seriously, if he was scared enough in the manga to _puke_ afterward, when Jou was literally playing on his _knees,_ think about what watching him _stumble toward him, bleeding profusely while mirroring his monster's actions_ _did_… Right after he spoke with his '_GOD_'_._

That's fucking scary right there.

In any case, we'll touch on Oracles again later on… But in Egypt's standards, 'PastJou' was a 'Seer', not an 'Oracle'.

* * *

So why did everyone wait until the end to get Jou? It's an effect of the shadows, or at least that's how I see it. Marik doesn't want the duel interrupted. Neither does Jonouchi. Therefore, between the shock of what's going on and the mental prodding from the shadows, no one can do more than watch.

* * *

This scene was very… Very hard not to cry during. Honda really did run up in the manga to find that Jonouchi wasn't breathing (in the anime it was Mokuba), and at the side, you really _do_ see Yugi essentially curled into an egg, crying as Yami stares in complete shock.

Any ways, that's all for this chapter... The next update won't likely be until after I move, in other words, after May the 22nd. Unfortunately.

_HOPEFULLY_ I can find a way around this though. So...

Until then enjoy, and don't throw any tomatoes about not getting Seto's response to that kiss..! (Because as I said; it was supposed to happen in the scene at the airship..!)

It's... Really shocking, actually.


	101. Chapter 100

**If Things Had Changed A Little More**

* * *

Though there was plenty of chaos through the duel above them by far the worst moment came when they could again move. As though a blanket had been removed from each of them, and the only thing on their minds was _why the HELL didn't we do something earlier,_ with each of them running forward in a minor stampede while the blond on the 'stage' collapsed in a bleeding heap.

She didn't get on the arena though. She didn't need to stand on the arena to know things had gone horrifically wrong and that she should have tried a hell of a lot more to keep this single match from happening rather than letting that tiny, naïve scrap in the back of her mind let her believe it could turn out right. "Get Kuzushi and a stretcher here _STAT_," she snarled into the radio on her collar, screams and cries filling the air. (_'It's not TRUE_,' she thought she heard Yugi scream, but he wasn't moving, simply staring numbly as the blood stained the field, and as it coated Honda's hands and as everyone screeched and cried in fear and-). "We have severe bleeding in addition to a series of unknown injuries," she continued into the radio, "Prepare for the worst."

There was no response as the radio clicked off but that was to be expected in such a fatal situation. Kuzushi had thankfully been waiting in an 'on call' state- it wouldn't take her long to get up here. It'd have taken far too long to get there if she hadn't been after all, and so rather than run from the airship she simply came from the bottom of the tower itself. But in the meantime her brother was crying, standing with the others that he called friends. Screaming as Katsuya gave dying chokes, trying to say something, anything, _anything…_

And that Egyptian bastard on the arena had the gall to laugh when he would have lost, hands held out as he watched the chaos. "Hnhnhnhn... HAHAHAHAHAHA! Another SACRIFICE to the shadows beyond... So," he continued, those paying attention to the teen gritting their teeth, "WHO'S NEXT," Malik cackled, the arena lowering for ease of access despite there being people atop the field. The blond stepped off the side, receiving no answer other than tear filled cries from beside Katsuya's bleeding body and a cold stare from Seto. It was a look that by far wasn't missed- for as he passed the woman Malik turned, crazed grin still in place. Waiting for a bit of conversation.

She couldn't help but answer that 'challenge'. "…Malik," she spat, eyes narrowing further as the Egyptian stood before her. "Know that while you've 'won' the match, you lost this battle... And more importantly," the woman continued, Malik dropping the grin as Seto pulled out a card from her pocket, "He forced you to reveal God's final weakness to me..." And though it could hardly be a weakness, it was just enough for her. "I've seen all I needed," Seto hissed, Kuzushi and a pair of the staff's guards running up from the stairs to clear the crowd to their victim, "The key to defeating your supposedly perfect God lies in this card... Your days are numbered," she warned, slipping the card back in her pocket. "Remember that..."

For a moment a flash of worry could be seen in Malik's eyes. A calculating stare that seemed to question whether or not it was a bluff or not In the end however he disappeared down the stairs, giving Seto one final narrowed glare before vanishing. "Hn... Good luck with that," he hissed, shouts continuing behind him. "Your 'dog' will be long dead before then though," the blond chuckled. Katsuya… As Malik vanished from sight the woman turned, somewhat stiff as she watched the already unconscious blond become strapped to the board on the gurney. The stretcher was being moved... Raised back up, rolled down…

"Quickly, quickly," Kuzushi shouted, the stretcher now carried away by her two 'assistants'. "We need to get him to the airship as quick as possible," she continued almost panickedly, "Go, GO!"

Honda followed. As did Anzu, Otogi, her brother… "Please don't die," Mokuba was crying as they ran, Yugi following with a numb and cold expression as they vanished down the stairs. "Please don't die, don't die..!"

Screaming, crying, screaming, crying... For a few moments she was almost frozen behind the crowd, teeth grinding down in the resulting silence of the arena. From where she stood she could see the blood on the field… She didn't stare long before following after the others however, the cold wind blowing behind her in almost a vacuum upon re-entering the tower. In so much chaos there was nothing much to say on the situation... Nothing at all.

And then she got into the airship itself, where the chaos had somehow multiplied even further in the hallway outside where they'd taken Katsuya. "_YOU_..." Shizuka turned from where they'd been forced to stay outside the room, her eyes filled with misery, pain... She was the first person to spot the approaching woman, and as a result of a silent agreement the first who would 'confront' their 'host'. …And she herself would let them. "How could you let this HAPPEN," she screamed, tears streaming down her face as she pointed to the door. "I told you," Shizuka whispered, choking on her words as she shook. "I told you to STOP this," the girl shouted,  
And you said it was the only way to keep everyone alive..." Yes… That was what she'd said but-  
"_HOW IS THIS ALIVE,"_ she roared, pulling against the ones holding her back as she wept. "How is ANY of this '_ALIVE'_..! HOW-"

Her cries were interrupted by Kyouko throwing the door to the staff room they had Jonouchi in with wide and panic filled eyes. "Do any of you have type B negative blood," she quickly called out, the hall falling silent as they stared. Type... B..?

Seto stared, the others as well freezing in response. She was A... Yugi was AB, and the others were- "I... I do," Otogi said fairly quickly, growing pale despite this. "What-"

"Get in here," the woman hurriedly ordered, pulling the teen in through the door by his arm instantly. "He's lost too much blood, we need an emergency transfusion..!"

"What-? Isn't that ille-"

The door slammed without another word. All rage was replaced with a haunting despair again, and as Shizuka crumpled on herself she was barely supported by the women at her side, Ishizu and Anzu both looking to her worriedly as Seto stared. "Hnnnnnnggg... Nnngggg... This... This can't be happening," she cried softly, fingers digging into her arms as she curled up against the wall. "Mai-han, Keichi, and now nihan..! Why... WHY..." Why was this happening..? She was asking herself the same thing..! He should have won… Beyond everything, that idiot... Right at the end she'd thought he had WON somehow..!

He'd proven himself against all her doubts at the last second... And then, not even one second later...

Seto's eyes fell to the ground as the woman continued to watch from the side, and as they waited for what was occurring inside the room to finish a voice came over the 'PA' system.

-**Attention: There is now twenty minutes before the next match of the semi-final rounds**,- the announcement began, those before her turning up to the speaker as she held her gaze on the door to the staff room. -**Competitors Mutou Yugi and Kaiba Seto will be expected to**- She didn't hear what happened after that.

Not over the shouts around her. "Twenty… _Twenty minutes_," Shizuka was repeating incredulously, pulling out of Ishizu's grip as she walked toward the woman before her. "Twenty... I don't believe you," she wept, a twisted mix of horror and rage both coming through her face as she stared at the seemingly stone CEO, Seto merely staring back in silence and letting the shouts continue. "How can you be so SELFISH," she screamed, almost pulling at her hair in aggitation. "How can you just STAND HERE, while my BROTHER is DYING," she cried, "And POSSIBLY expect to keep fighting?" Seto still remained silent, and Shizuka continued on. "How… Can you even THINK of this," the girl roared, "When your own brother is standing RIGHT HERE!"

At those words Mokuba flinched, looking toward his sister with a confused but nonetheless sympathetic stare as he pulled at Shizuka's arm. "Shizuka-chan," he said quietly, Seto still not moving from where she stood. The girl didn't respond and again Mokuba pulled back, biting his lip. "Shizuka-chan, let's just..."

She was shaking, Seto noted almost dully. Shaking and about to collapse, and as she began to do just that Honda caught her from behind. Pulling her back toward the others and fixing Seto with a narrowed glare that was answered with continued silence. Yugi was also silent, staring at the floor with wide and dead eyes. As was Ishizu, and Anzu, though the latter was holding her arms close and seeming to mutter under her breath, eyes almost seeming to flash between colours as the chaos toned down. "It's not fair," Shizuka wept quietly, burying her face in her hands. "It's not fair..! Why is this happening," she repeated constantly under her breath, "Why..."

Otogi was released from the room at that moment, a small bandage around his elbow from where they'd taken the blood. In an instant he was swarmed by the friends of the blond, Mokuba included as his sister stared from the side, watching and listening to the crowd's panic. "Otogi, how... How is he," Honda shouted quickly, looking to the room, "What's going on in there..!"

"Can they save him," Shizuka pressed, "Will he be-"

"Will he be alright," Mokuba hurriedly added. "Can we-"

"He's not breathing," the game inventor said hoarsely, gripping his bandaged arm. The crowd hushed at those words, and as Otogi stared at the ground he continued. "The ECG flat-lined completely, there's no heart rate. They... They have a machine giving him _CPR_," he whispered weakly, holding his head in one hand as a look of horrified humor came through his eyes, the incredulity of it all striking them cold. "They… They said that his brain activity is the same as a fully conscious person, but his heart just won't beat, and it..." He took a somewhat shuddering breath, looking to the side before turning to Seto. "They want you in there," he continued. "Something about diagnostics," the teen muttered, "I..." Of course… This was her responsibility after all, so-

"Wait..." Wait..? "What about us," Anzu asked, frowning somewhat as she reached forward. Briefly Seto found herself staring with narrowed eyes, shaking her head slightly as she stared. Her eyes... What was with the colour, they almost seemed... "Can we go in at all," Anzu pressed, rubbing her arm in worry.

Otogi shook his head, his own arms crossed lest he agitate the bandage on his elbow in the anxious rubbing. "We can't," the teen began, "They said they're still trying to stabilize him," he explained with a short swallow. "They haven't... They haven't gotten him to breathe or…" Not haven't… They couldn't. He was clinically dead with nothing but a machine keeping him alive and-

She moved past, the crowd splitting somewhat as she forced her way toward the door. "Ah... Ne... Nii-sama," Mokuba corrected as he remembered Ishizu's presence, his sister not appearing to notice the slip as the Egyptian at the side turned to frown. "Nii-sama," Mokuba continued, "When we're allowed to come in, you'll tell us right," he asked, his sister pausing as she reached for the door handle. "You'll..."

Tell them... If what she heard was any sign she herself shouldn't have even been allowed inside yet. If what she'd heard was even close to the truth then... Seto looked down at the boy, her expression still the same ice-coated and half-dead stare she'd held for the last number of minutes. "...Yes," she said plainly, before moving inside to shut the door. She would. Of course she would, they had a right to know after all. Walking forward into the room as she pushed the door open however, a cold and unstoppable shudder ran through her body... And the sight of Katsuya's body still supported on the folding gurney caused her blood to almost freeze in its veins. It was as Otogi had said, and then some. There was a large 'AutoPulse' machine hooked up against the blond's chest sending steady compressions between synthesized breaths, a machine impossible to ignore...

Just as noticeable however, if not more so, was the mess of the body itself. True, the wounds had been bandaged as best as possible, and as quickly as possible to lessen the need for blood, but that didn't mean the areas around it had their damage to show. Even after being cleaned up there was still signs of the battle from the field, small scratches that were slowly fading, clumped blond hair stained 'brown' with blood, thick bandages that had to be wrapped 'just so' lest wounds be re-opened by a pounding machine...

And his eyes were shut as though he were merely asleep... Merely asleep, in a peaceful place that had nothing to do with the chaos and- "Seto-san," Kuzushi said softly, placing a hand on her usual patient's arm. The woman held out a clipboard as her employer turned, before taking down the mask she'd had around her face. The garbage can was filled with rubber gloves and stained cloth from when they were trying to stop the bleeding to cover the wound... The lights were almost unbearably blinding despite the comparable darkness of the hall and- "I've made a record of the damage," the doctor told her, Seto blinking somewhat slowly as she cleared her mind to pay more attention. "From what we can tell the wound looks far worse than it actually is; in fact," she added confidently, a small fragment of relief evident in the tone, "It should likely heal within a number of weeks. The problem however is his heart rate," the doctor continued seriously. "This machine will continue to create it for him, but until he shows sign of regaining consciousness he's as good as 'dead'- I know you don't want to hear that," she added quickly and sternly, catching a sudden tension from the woman beside her, "But I am only giving you the_ facts_; I will do everything I can to bring him back. But I cannot tell how long it will take, if and when," Kuzushi warned, "For him to wake up. You need to keep that in mind, no matter what you may-"

"I understand," she said flatly, taking the clipboard and looking it over with dull eyes as she cut the doctor off. "The shock from Ra's attack would have been incredible... I'm not surprised it threw his heart into arrest," she continued, despite her mind telling her the attack itself had little to do with it compared to the severe and inexplicable bloodloss. But she'd still hoped that he would survive, she told herself as she flipped the paper over to skim the hurriedly scribbled notes. She'd hoped that it hadn't killed him despite that, and why _had_ she...

Seto placed the clipboard on the table at the side at that thought, looking back to the 'duel victim' with the same 'dead' expression on her face as her doctor stared. Katsuya... He..._ 'I'll make sure I reveal as much about Malik's cards as possible,_' he'd told her. _'I'll make sure tha' no one else can suffer from th's guy. I'll...' _"...I'll be right back," Kuzushi said somewhat quietly, receiving little more than a short nod from her employer in response. "There are a few materials that I need to retrieve from my office," she continued, already leaving for the door. Hn! As if that was true...

As if...

Really. She wasn't the type to be sentimental enough to leave time for her alone with a hospital victim so don't...

Don't...

The door closed behind her at that moment, and for a few seconds more Seto merely stared at the bed in silence. The helicopter would arrive in just under three hours. The next duel was due to start in fifteen minutes. There would be ten minutes between the two matches and it was expected that each duel would take between thirty and forty-five minutes.

And once again everything had collapsed right beneath her feet, the rubble of her tournament crumbling into an ash worthy of a funeral pyre's remains. "You_ fool_," she finally hissed under her breath, nails digging into her palms as she leered at the body before her. "You pathetic, barking _DOG_..!" Pathetic... Truly pathetic, he... _'Of course I picked you_,' he'd told her, even after the scar across his chest had been discovered and his face smashed in with all the force of an enraged ox. His nose was still bruised, she could see under the mask. Still somewhat red and... _'More than anythin'_,' he had whispered clearly, _'I really... Really love you..._' He... Of all the things to say damn it..! "You... You god-damned **MUTT**!" Of all the things to-

...

She was shaking she noticed, gripping the side rail on the gurney as she looked down at the blond. She was shaking and as she closed her mouth the room fell silent, nothing but the occasional 'double breath' from the 'Auto-Pulse' meeting the air. Of course there was no answer she thought to herself with a clenched jaw, staring at the motionless and silent body before her. Of course, she snarled to herself, bowing her head somewhat. Of course this idiot would find a way to avoid questioning, to avoid any burning questions about the duel, about the words he'd (and she as well..!) somehow understood from the blond's opponent, about the talking...

_'RA.',_ he'd said flatly. Nothing more, nothing less, not even as though to speak to Malik. Simply...

_RA_.

As though he knew the beast before him. As though he'd known all along that those were his final moments, that there was no looking back, and as her grip tightened on the gurney rail her mind drifted along the vague trail that thoughts of the blond left behind. What did she have to do, she asked herself again, to convince him not to fight... What did she have to _do_..?_'You could kiss me_,' his memory offered with a chuckle, Seto's jaw clenching even further into a 'vice' as she closed her eyes just for a moment.

"_You... _I wouldn't kiss you even if you _died_," she forced through the air, narrowed eyes opening and nonetheless faltering as those moments before the match came to mind. "Even if..." Even... If...

...

Moron...

MORON ..! "_Did you need your stupid first kiss so badly_," she snarled, raising her voice just slightly as her eyes widened, the woman leaning over the gurney somewhat as she shouted at the body. "Did you want to prove yourself so much you had to get yourself killed..? Get this through your head," she roared, despite the fact that no one would answer and despite the fact that none would hear from behind the steel walls around them. "I'm not some pathetic school girl you can 'crush on', MUTT! I'm your EMPLOYER," she continued, still shaking as she shouted at the blond. "So don't even think of keeping secrets from me! You..." She was trembling... (Stop shaking damn it..!) Her palms were bleeding... (What did she care!) "You... Moron... Y..." She'd asked about the scars. Once...

_'It's nothin'.'_

Twice...

_'Like I said. 'S nothin'.'_

And why...

Why was she still_ SHAKING_! Why did she feel this weak..! Why... Why did she care even a little about... Why did she care about something as little as... "Katsuya..." The woman didn't even pause as the blond's first name came forward, merely pushing on with shuddering breaths. "Did you think... I wouldn't believe you," she whispered, closing her eyes tight as the steady compressions and 'breaths' in the air hovered in her ears. "That you would have to kill yourself _twice_ to prove yourself as a 'duelist' of all things?" Even after that fiasco on the docks? Even after that twisted Virtual World, both at 'home' and beneath the seas? Even... "You've already done enough," she snarled, answered with nothing but the peaceful 'sleeping' face of the blond before her. "You saved my brother... Once, twice, THREE TIMES..!" Possibly more..! And in addition... "..You have a scar completely encompassing the area Ra struck... Your cards were being pulled from your hands on their own, and your feet are covered in burns..." And a multitude of other unexplainable events that unfolded on that field before her as foreign languages were ignored and as Gods rose far beyond the limit of the hologram's field. The number of injuries on that chart seemed impossible in fact, even with all that in mind... Fractures in his skull. Multiple incisions on his arms and face, albeit faded and smaller than noted oddly enough. His heart refused to pump and his lungs refused to move, and with one of them collapsed and completely run through by some unseen force that was remniscient almost of a broad sword how could she be surprised..? With all that happened, all that remained... "You... I watched you become impaled... On NOTHING," she hissed, eyes bloodshot as they opened once again. "My _BROTHER_ watched... And you think you can sleep through this as though it's_NOTHING_! As though this is just another battle for you!" Answer her... ANSWER HER... SHE...

There was no answer though. " Moron..."

No answer at all. "_MORON._.!"

Something wet had fallen on the sheet she noted idly, still shaking as she stood at the side of the gurney. Something small and wet, staining the sheet with water... "I _hate_ you," she whispered, still shaking as she gripped the gurney rail. "I _HATE you._.!" More than anything she tried to tell herself, more than anything, she... "Gh... ...This mask... Was flawless until I met you," Seto hissed. "Flawless..! _'Men_' don't cry," she spat, unknowingly repeating Gozaburo's words from years ago. "And they certainly don't let other 'men' _KISS_ them," the woman continued half desperately, rage more than evident across her face. "And _that card_..." That one card... "Gh..." Stop crying..! Stop crying, she snarled to herself in the back of her mind, just stop..! Just...

Stop.

...

Seto's hands fell from the side of the gurney as the room went silent, the woman ignoring any wetness on her cheeks as she stared at the bed. He was dying. His heard wasn't beating and he was _dying_. But he couldn't die, she told herself. He couldn't..! Not for her brother. Not for her, not...

He just _couldn't_ die. He couldn't die, he couldn't die, he COULD NOT DIE..!

But she couldn't control that..! Of all the things in her power there was just one thing...

Just one...

"You should have won that card," she said quietly. Again there was no answer, and she stood with her head bowed as she pulled back with 'crossed' arms, hands gripping above her elbows with almost as much force as exherted on the gurney rail moments prior. "Ra should have been yours," she repeated. "You won that match... And not that scum waiting on the field right now. Do you hear me," Seto growled, raising her voice as her arms fell back to her sides. "I admit it..! YOU WON! So WAKE UP," she shouted, eyes narrowed in the same desperate rage she'd held through most of her words. "Before the end of all of this I want you to wake up..! Understand?" Understand...

...

No answer.

Of course not. He was in a coma, worse than that even. Of course... It was like he'd said.

Exactly like...

"... _'Love'_," she 'sneered', trying and failing to pull a face at the word as she stared at the bed. "You're more pathetic than I thought, talking about things like that... What did you expect me to do in response," Seto 'asked' with a shout, "Admit the same in return? HN!" Though the snort echoed through the air with honesty at its edges her glare softened, arms again shaking her sides as the steady 'thump' of the auto-pulse again continued. "...Wake up," she repeated, quieter this time. "Wake up," she whispered almost desperately. "...If you don't wake up," the woman continued, staring at the bed with an expression that she'd reserved for her brother until that moment, "How am I supposed to give you your answer, 'Mutt'..?"

There was no answer. Not that she expected one, right, her mind reminded her. It would have been... Ridiculous, if he woke up now. And she didn't love him, she told herself, turning away somewhat as she shook her head. That would be stupid, completely idiotic. Ridiculous..! She had no time for romance, and no interest in the matter whatsoever.

Not like hormonal dogs she thought to herself, unable to stop her face from heating up at the reminder of the kiss he'd forced on her. Not that he'd done much 'forcing' outside pulling her in with no warning... It was a light kiss, a soft one and-

And...

She had no time to be thinking of kisses, she snarled mentally, the steady 'thump' of compressions continuing to fill the air. And why did she even need to remember that anyways? He 'won'..! And he was going to wake up... And after all, hadn't he said it himself? _'If I win, and if I don't die, then we can act like it never happened. We can go back to when I didn't say anything, and back to before that kiss. And until then..._' Until then...

"Moron," she repeated yet again, turning away to leave the room as it was again left in nearly complete silence. "How could things _possibly_ go back to before then..?"

* * *

He didn't quite know what to say, standing there in the room.

He'd been there for quite a while actually. He'd followed the doctor into the room, after a quick look to his other self, at the body that was still staring with wide and almost terrified eyes as the shock of what had occurred continued to pound again and again and again at their minds. He'd followed and stared helplessly from his transparent and ghost-like state as the doctor and the two guards from before hurriedly rushed to stop the bleeding wound, to stabilize his vitals, to keep him _alive, period_. _'We're losing him_,' Kuzushi was shouting with wide eyes, blood already covering a majority of their hands as gloves were thrown on and gauze snatched from the sides. _'He's not going to last much longer..!_' They were panicking... He shouldn't have been watching but he was the only one that could, and he couldn't even force himself to turn away anymore..! He...

_'How is this even possible_,' one of the guards was saying amidst the chaos, pushing the gauze on the wound as the others attempted to treat the wound and stop the blood.

'_Doesn't matter right now, what matters is keeping him alive..!'_

_'This isn't good, he's losing way too much blood...'_

_'Dogtags say he's type B Negative...'_ Ah- The dog tags..?

Yugi's spirit sniffed as he was pulled from the echoed reality he was listening to, wiping his eyes and turning to where the tags had been removed from around his friend's neck. He'd never seen those up close but... Looking them now they had his name, his address... "She put his blood type there," he whispered, shaking his head. But... Why would she...

'_Does anyone here have type B Negative blood,_' he could hear Kyouko shout into the hall, the boy not turning back from where the others were bandaging his friend's wounds. '_Anyone?_'

Silence. And then, as the boy bowed his head with a bit lip- '_I do._' That voice... Otogi..?

The teen was pulled in, and Yugi drifted off to the side still watching in silence at what transpired before him. It was almost surreal... They attached some sort of tube and needle to the inside of Otogi's elbow, asking him multiple questions as they went... About diseases, about possible conditions that might be carried with the blood... There was some kind of machine in between the tubes, and soon enough both ends of the clear piping were a solid red in colour. Flowing... From one arm to another and...

Yugi choked somewhat, bowing his head and closing his eyes as tears continued to roll down his face. He couldn't look he told himself, curling inward in the air as he shook. He couldn't, he just couldn't any more and-

-_Breeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-_ And...

That sound...

As he opened his eyes they were met with chaos once again.

'_We're losing him!_' Losing..? He was dying..!

'_But the transfusion-'_ Yea, shouldn't that have-

'_That's not going to be enough idiot..! Get the AutoPulse over here!_' Auto..?

'_Starting CPR... Five... Ten..._' It did CPR..? And why... Why did his heart stop..!

'_This is it right?_' Why...

_'It says AutoPulse doesn't it? Get it over here!' ..._Why..!

_'...Twenty Five... Thirty... Administering two breaths..!'_

'_Now start the machine, attach it like this...'_ Please start breathing...

'_Still no pulse..!_' Please come back...

'_Damn it all..!'_ Please..!

'_You- get out, and tell Seto-sama to get in here..!_' Kaiba..?

'_Machine seems to be working fine...'_ But Jonouchi was dying, he was _dying..!_

'_How long can that thing-_' Otogi was looking around the doctor almost in fear and-

_'Just GO!'_

Yugi continued to stare in horror as the monitor for Jonouchi's heart rate flatlined, frozen in shock even as people ran back in forth with no awareness to his presence, running through his body like the ghost he currently was. Otogi was forced out of the room... The machine was hooked up and only after a few long and painful minutes did things begin to calm from the panic of his friend's cardiac arrest. The bleeding had been stopped, ironically with the help of the very reason to hook him up to the machine. And though Jonouchi still lacked a pulse the doctor appeared to be completely confident that this machine would keep his blood pumping both until that time and until the helicopter had him in a hospital room with better suited equipment.

But even so... With all of this..! With all that was going on... "It's... A lie," he whispered to himself, gripping the edge of his friend's mattress only for his fingers to pass through and fall back to his sides. "It's not true, it's not real," he whispered to himself, "It's a dream..." Please let it be a dream... Let it be one horrible, horrible nightmare, let him wake up, let Jonouchi be there and alive and laughing _please_... "Gh... Hngg... Ng..."He couldn't be dead... He couldn't, he was his best friend..! And... And as long as they said his brain functioned... As long as they-

Outside, his other self had removed his duel disk, taking refuge of sorts in an empty area of the hall as he slammed a fist against the side. They didn't react in the same way, to this tragedy- but they reacted just as extremely. That promise they'd made with Jonouchi... That had helped them keep going in this tournament. Through Battle City, through everything, regardless of what happened to them. But now when that same friend they'd made the promise to was in this condition, it felt more like everything was over. And in its place there was nothing... Nothing but hatred for the 'other Malik', but even with that...

What would happen after, even if they defeated him in a battle of vengeance..? When these wounds had been inflicted not by Malik, but by Jonouchi himself..! But by the events of his own duel..! Because he'd known..! He'd known... '_Shadow games... They don' mean anythin' t' me._' "Why..." He'd known what would happen, all along he'd known... "Why didn't you say anything," he cried, sniffing and wiping his eyes on the side of his jacket while he choked on his tears. "We're friends aren't we?" Best friends... He'd said it himself so... "So why... Why didn't you tell me..." Why didn't he tell them...

That their promise had the potential to kill him..?

Kaiba was at the side of him right now. Speaking to the doctor beside the gurney... '_I'll be back in a moment,_' Kuzushi had just told him, moving back and out of the room to leave them in silence. Alone, Yugi noted as he stood at the bottom end of the bed. She'd left him alone here... Fifteen minutes until they'd be expected to duel but...

For once, it looked as though even Seto was dreading this fight. That she wanted nothing to do with the tournament any longer. And for a moment, there was nothing but silence. And then... Just when he assumed she would turn around to prepare for the match, she spoke. '_You fool,_' she whispered, quietly at first. '_You pathetic barking dog!_' The woman's voice rang through the air with an almost electric 'ting' floating through his ears, the volume throwing him off as he stared toward the woman in silence. Kaiba... He noticed only now but... She almost seemed to be shaking almost and- '_You god damned MUTT..!_'

But how..? Why...

Again, Kaiba fell silent, as though waiting for an answer to the shouts. And again, despite it seeming almost unlike her, she spoke again.

'_You...I wouldn't kiss you... Even if you died..._'

Kiss..? Yugi's eyes widened, the boy swallowing as he continued to stare. He probably should have left, he told himself. Kaiba couldn't see him after all, so she didn't know he was there. Didn't know he could hear her, and that he was listening. It was rude, and out of place... But what was she talking about..? He was honestly too confused to move, too curious, too...

'_Even... If..._'

She was having trouble speaking... That wasn't like her though. She couldn't speak...

But why? Why not, he asked himself. The shouts began again- Almost frantic in tone, despite the fact that it would be better to shout at a wall. He'd never heard Kaiba talk like this... Never heard any mention of such from Mokuba or Jonouchi, not that they would likely say anything like that.

Maybe that was why he couldn't leave. Why he couldn't...

'_Katsuya...'_ He'd never heard her use anyone's first name other than her brother's, at least with this kind of tone Yugi thought from the side of the room. Not when she'd already made constant use of his last name, but...

She was still shouting, shaking, whispering... Acting in a way she'd never have done if she knew he was in there, watching and- '_I watched as you impaled yourself on nothing,_' she hissed, the boy at the side biting his lip the reminder of the gruesome scene. Of the sudden spurt and release of blood as what appeared to be nothing charged through his side. '_My BROTHER watched,_' the woman continued,_ 'And you think you can sleep through this as though it's nothing..?_'

"Kaiba-san," he whispered, watching as the woman continued to shake. This wasn't like her... Stop...

'_Moron..._' Stop...

"Kaiba-san," he repeated, "Don't..." Stop this...

'_MORON_!' Stop..! Just...

'_Gh...Ngh..._'

Kaiba was... Crying, he realized with lowered eyes. Her head was bowed and shadowed by hair that had grown out somewhat during her coma, and her fingernails were digging into the palms of her hands as they wrapped around the pole at the side of the gurney. She was crying... Her tears were staining the sheets and... And... '_I hate you_,' she was whispering, voice wavering somewhat as she tried and failed to leer at the victim before her. '_I hate you..! I HATE YOU!_' She had a mask to uphold. She had a disguise, a company, and a brother to worry about... Kaiba was a private person. She didn't trust many people, not at all.

So when someone she'd come to trust was about to die... When someone she'd finally stopped glaring at constantly, if not only when no one was looking, was dying on the bed before her... '_Men... Don't cry,_' the woman was growling, her jaw clenching between words. '_And they certainly don't let other men kiss them..! And that card..._' The card..?

'_Ra_,' he thought he heard someone say. The third God card. The one that did this to him, the one that...

Kaiba fell silent yet again, somehow calming down the shudders as she stepped back from the bed. He still couldn't see her eyes. The expression of rage she'd held with those shouts, the desperate expression she'd held in the face of the thing that had so violently been ripped out of her control, was gone. She couldn't let that sort of thing affect her after all; that was how she saw it. That was how... She... '_You should have won that card_,' she said quietly, staring almost coldly at the gurney before her. He should have... What..?

Yugi stared, eyes widening somewhat as he looked toward the woman. She was admitting... Well... He didn't think she'd accept Malik as the winner, but even so...

After all she'd said... Could he say that now? '_Ra should have been yours_,' she was continuing on, teeth grinding as she narrowed her eyes. '_You won that match... And not that scum waiting on the field right now... Do you hear me_,' she shouted, tears still dotting the corners of her eyes as she focused her rage. '_You WON... SO WAKE UP! Before the end of this I want you to wake up, UNDERSTAND,_' she howled, as though still waiting for the answer. But she wasn't going to get an answer in the end. Kaiba realized that, and it was obvious but...

As she spoke, he continued to stand there frozen in confusion, pity, and a whole other mess of things he never expected to feel around the woman. '_Love_,' she spat, though the sound was only half-hearted in tone. '_You're more pathetic than I thought, talking about things like that... What did you expect me to do in response,_' she continued with a roar, '_Admit the same?_' Her words echoed through the air almost tauntingly, and still the woman continued as her posture slackened once again into an odd and formerly non-existent state of worry and pity. '_Wake up,_' she whispered, staring at the bed with a broken stare. '_Wake up... ...If... You don't wake up_,' she asked quietly, '_How am I supposed to give you your answer..?_' She wanted an answer; that much was obvious but...

But Jonouchi couldn't hear any of that. He just continued to 'sleep', his blood kept pumping only by the machine giving him chest compressions, with oxygen supplied only by the occasional set of two breaths from the machine. Even when words that were more confusing than anything else he heard came over the air, he slept. Even when, as Kaiba made to leave the room, she said...

'_Moron- How could things possibly go back to before then..?_'

But what was then, he wanted to ask, staring at the door in silence. What was it..! He wanted to know but...

But this was Kaiba's conversation he told himself, bowing his head and biting his lip. Her private conversation with the unconscious, a release of words she would never say out loud.

Which meant that no matter what he told himself, closing his eyes as he shook, he couldn't say anything. Even though no one wanted to fight any more, even though everything was going wrong, wrong,_ wrong_..! "_J... Jonouchi-kun_," he whispered, shaking as tears ran down his face. "_Jonouchi-kun... Why... Why..!_" Why didn't he talk... Why didn't he say something, anything,_ANYTHING..!_ "_You can't die Jonouchi-kun_," he cried, shaking his head. "_You can't die,_" he repeated, "_You just can't, I.._." He was the only one other than his other self... The only one they could both hear and speak to, no matter who was where, he was...

The others were being allowed inside now he noticed. Slowly, quietly, the doctor giving them strict instructions as she took them in. Shizuka broke down at the bedside moments after reaching it, falling to her knees. Honda was begging the doctor to fix this somehow, no matter what, and all Mokuba could say was that with the helicopter now two and a half hours away it would be better to wait things out than attempt to fly back. His other self hadn't come in though he realized, slowly floating out of the room to find him. He hadn't...

Ah. There he was. "There are five minutes left," Kaiba was telling him in the hallway, the boy not looking back from the wall he leaned his forehead upon. His dueldisk was at the side, near a slightly scratched wall... Had he thrown it..?

The other him said nothing in response to both the words and the mental questioning, and so Kaiba continued.

"He will not die- I've made sure of that," she said coldly, as though such a thing was perfectly within her control. There was still no answer, and so she continued. "For now," she told him, "I expect to see you across from me on the arena." Another pause for an answer. And still more silence in response. His partner's eyes were blank, empty, dead, cold... Staring blankly at the wall and ground, and eventually it seemed that Kaiba had given up speaking to him. "I'll be waiting for you," the woman told him as she moved to leave the airship. "Understand..?"_Understand.._!

How could they..? How could they fight..? Even his other self was shaking, again slamming his fist against the wall in defeat and despair. Grinding his teeth in a continued silence in the empty hall. "It's all over," the boy finally said, the spirit beside him attempting to approach only to shrink back in his tears at those words. "All... Over..." All of it... So how...

How were they supposed to fight? How were they supposed to move on through something like this, in a situation where even the doctor had to break a few laws for the sake of their friend's life, how... _How..!_

"_**Grrn... Rrrrnnnn..?**_" What...

Both Yugis jumped at the low growl coming from their side, turning as a 'shadow' seemed to hover before them from the end of the hall. For a split second... Just a short, almost nonexistent moment he thought he'd seen something black, and-

And there it was again... Flickering in and out, in and out like a hologram. Same with the sound, and- "_**Grrrnnnn..**_." A black dragon, likely the size of large dog... Was...

Sitting... Right... In front of them..! "_T-This..._" Yugi swallowed as the image cleared, eyes widening with fear and shock both. "_This dragon is..._"

"Red-Eyes Black Dragon," his other self whispered, staring at the monster in shock. The detail was clearing on the monster and it was standing far too close than a sane man would dare to think. Close enough to see the detail of each scale. Close enough to feel the heat radiating from its form, to smell the ash on its breath as it snorted like some strange reptilian horse. Close enough to see the pupils in what would ordinarily seem to be completely red eyes... And in their stiffened silence the dragon before them moved down to all fours, leaning its head inward to sniff the boy before it and come even closer.

"..._**Snrf... Nfff... Grrn**_..." Snuffling noises, growling noises, as though this was a real animal and- "_**Rrrrrrnnn**_..." This...

"_What's it doing_," Yugi whispered with a swallow, the corporal of the two stepping back somewhat as the dragon moved even closer with the same constant snuffling sounds. "_What_-"

Without warning the dragon's head came forward, large red eyes seeming almost curious as it examined the boy like a possible meal or toy. But despite this, neither of them could move; for as the dragon looked toward the body's pocket, something seemed to glow from their side, and the look in the dragon's eyes seemed to change. And seconds later, even as the teen pulled back, that dragon pulled at the thin gold cord hanging out from the edge and held toward them the tauk, its eyes gleaming in an unknown light as it held the object before them. The tauk.

The brilliantly glowing millennium tauk, the light off its form almost blinding. With nothing else to do, both he and the other Yugi reached out to it, a voice seeming to come through their ears... _'Neh, Yugi,'_ someone asked. _'A true duelist... A true 'warrior'... Tha's someone who fights t' th' end, f'r everyone, no matter what righ'..? Righ'..?_' J... Jonouchi. That was Jonouchi they realized, hand clasping over the tauk's 'eye', that was-

As their fingers closed around the necklace the hallway they stood within seemed to almost melt away completely. They were standing in a street, with the sun setting in the distance, not a single trace of the dragon or the airship remaining... '_I want t' show you_,' he thought he heard, Jonouchi's voice faded and almost ghost-like in the distance. _'I wanna show you... What I saw..._'

This vision... An empty street, and Jonouchi smiling across from him with his duel disk held forward, the device locked into position and ready for play... "Hey, Yugi," he said with a grin, an expression almost unconciously mirrored by his friend. "Our ' Battle City ' ain' over yet... R'member?"

Like a draining sink the vision vanished from sight, spiralling back into the tauk as it hung limp in his hands. For a few moments, Yugi, the 'Other Yugi', stared forward, shaking his head. "That vision," his partner began, shocked almost silent. "That..."

Red-Eyes still stood before him, if only for a few moments. The dragon bowed its head, looking into the eyes of the human boy before it with a low growl. This vision... This message...

As the dragon misted away into shadows he nodded, gripping the tauk tightly and moving to grab his duel disk from the ground. "I understand," he said calmly, clacking the device over his wrist as he made to leave. "I'll fight... For Jonouchi... For everyone..." No matter what went on, it was time to finish this.

Time to duel.

* * *

Japan as a whole was often considered one of the 'politer' countries. There was much tradition and honor in the language, and the complexity of certain phrases and statements could occasionally seem completely bizarre to the passing tourist, beginning student, or really anyone not raised within that same culture.

One large example was the difference in how women and men were raised to speak, with choice phrases and suffixes added or removed to suit the situation. Though certain patterns lessened over the years, certain pronouns were considered 'girls only' while others were considered 'boys only'. Things like 'ore' or 'ora' for example were 'boys only'. In fact, to use the phrase was so assertive that in certain situations it could be considered almost rude... Not that he paid any attention to that. 'Boku' was another 'boys only', not that the nickname 'bokuko' didn't still exist; there were a few girls who would use the term after all, extreme tomboys or even just rude young women.

Then there were the girls who _weren't_ running around using 'boku'. Watashi, a polite pronoun, was most commonly used it seemed, though in formal situations men would use the term as well. This could be shortened to the less formal 'atashi', and even further, to the childish 'ashi', or 'atai', all three of which sounded just plain weird when a guy used them. It was this sort of thing that he'd grown up with. This sort of thing he'd come to know.

But Seto wasn't 'normal'. Seto pretended to be male, and had therefore adapted those habits of men. When referring to herself, she used ' Ore ', no matter what the situation. When referring to someone else, it was either omae, or, if particularly enraged 'kisama' or 'onore'. It was something he was used to. Something he expected.

So it was one thing when he heard the others refer to her by her old last name, 'Souryuu'.

But it was another when he heard her voice, somehow more feminine in tone than it had ever been, echoing from the front... "Sensei- _Osokunatte, sumimasen_..." _O_soku- She... Was apologizing for being late..! And more importantly...

This wasn't weird..! "It's fine," the teacher was telling her, gesturing to the desks. "Please, take your seat Souryuu-san. I will excuse this for today;jJust make sure this doesn't happen again."

"Of course," came the flat answer.

What what what..! Those clothes..! She was wearing the girl's uniform and... Over the PA, the teacher was called down, Seto briefly looking back before watching as the teacher left. Just seconds more and the usual crowd of friends turned on the woman, Katsuya left to stare in shock and mild horror both. "Hah... That was a close call Seri-chan," Anzu said with a smile, causing Katsuya to only further grit his teeth to hold back his groan. Seri... Chan...

It didn't work damn it..! I just didn't work..!

Even so the others didn't seem to notice, instead agreeing with Anzu as the woman stood near the desk. "One minute late... That's rotten luck," Honda said somewhat plainly.

'Seri' merely smiled somewhat, the expression somehow leaving Katsuya with a mixed feeling of confusion and nausea both. "My bus took a detour," she said somewhat plainly, the blond before her wincing as 'watashi' came over the air again. "So it took a little longer to get here than I'd hoped..."

The others nodded, still staring at the much taller member of the group in slight silence. "...I like your hair," Yugi said somewhat conversationally, looking at the apparently 'new' cut. "It's nice."

"It used to be so long though," Otogi added with raised eyebrows, "Why cut it?"

The woman blinked, smile fading somewhat before replacing itself with ease. "Ah... It was getting in my eyes," she answered, the reasoning sounding oddly similar to the reason the 'real Seto' preferred her own cut. "So I decided to cut it. It's better this way anyways," 'Seri' decided, "It doesn't get in the way of what I'm doing now..." Well... He supposed that was true but...

It still didn't look right damn it! The skirt, the neatly brushed hair that was _clearly_ styled to suit a woman, the smile that just didn't seem to be hers, and the 'watashi' 'watashi' '_watashi_' of all things..!

Katsuya stood from his chair without another word, the others turning with somewhat raised eyebrows. "..Ah... Jonouchi-kun," 'Seri' asked, unknowingly sending another sting through the blond at the sound of the honorific. "You look pale," she continued, tone laced in an obvious worry that was doing nothing at all to help. "Are you alright..."

"'M fine," he said a little too quickly, before moving to leave the room. "Jus' need t' do somethin' quickly," he added despite protests.

Very quickly, he thought to himself as he brushed past the others. Very, very, _very_ quickly.

Because, Katsuya told himself, splashing as much water on his face from the washroom sink as he could just moments later, this was more than clearly a dream. Or maybe a nightmare... Hell even a 'vision', who knew. But for some reason he was in some kind of world where he wasn't waking up, where this cold water wasn't shocking him awake, his pinching wasn't sending enough pain to jar him...

He was stuck. And he was aware of it. Which was probably one of the worst kinds of 'stuck', because chances were, he wasn't _supposed _to be aware. The blond groaned, slamming his head into the sink. "Alrigh' 'Ra'," the blond muttered, for some reason thinking of no other 'giant deity thing' than the phoenix that had struck him down. "If I'm dead," he continued under his breath, "An' th's is heaven... Then lemme tell y' now, yer doin' it _wrong_..."

Seriously... This dream... "_Now what is he doing_," he thought he heard someone mutter, the voice almost familiar to him. The blond froze, and again it continued. "_Splashing himself and muttering about dreams... ...Strange.._." That voice...

Katsuya turned, narrowed eyes honing in on the far corner of the ceiling. For a moment there was nothing there. After a few seconds however something appeared, seeming to originate from the dark point of the corner itself. A shadow... Almost completely black in colour, poking in through the walls and- "You," he muttered, eyes narrowing further as the shadow began to clear. This shadow... No- Not a shadow. Not completely. There was colour there, it was just too dark to see. And besides that, in the center of his brow he could see... The 'eye'. This was... "...Th' other Yugi..."

The 'other Yugi' seemed to stiffen with shock, Katsuya as well staring up in confusion as the spirit came forward. "_You... You can see me_," he muttered in surprise, the blond nodding just slightly as the ghost narrowed his eyes. "_You can **hear** me_," he continued, floating before the blond with narrowed eyes. This...

"'F course I can," he said without thought, nonetheless stepping back as he looked over this 'other world' version of his friend. Completely dark, black... Like a liquid shadow... Like...

Darkness.

"_Impossible_," the 'darkness' said bluntly, eyes almost a single shade of colour in the shadows that he was made of. "_Even the one who carries my vessel can't see me_," he continued, Katsuya's frown deepening. "_There's no reason for you to be different_." Vessel..? Waaaaait...

"Y-Y' mean Yugi," Katsuya repeated with a swallow, waiting for a response only to get silence. "Yugi can't..." More silence. But... No... He shook his head, looking away for a brief moment. "No way," he muttered, "Tha' ain't possible... I saw Bakura out there," he continued, recalling the 'change point' between where his friend had started trying to reach out more to the ghost. By this point in time he'd long since been able to see him but how... "How..."

The shadow blinked, crossing his arms a moment as he looked to the blond oddly. There was suspicion there... A large amount of suspicion, most likely in regards to being 'seen', or to his 'friend' acting against the restrictions of the dream, but in the end the spirit shook his head. "_When the Dark Bakura and I fought_," he explained flatly, "_It's true that we became aware of each other... However, due to the circumstances through which they came about, I don't feel that we will be able to meet again..._" The circumstances..? What circumstances..? "_True, Bakura is alive again,_" 'Yugi' was muttering, crossing his arms as he hovered in the air, "_But given all that happened between... ...Well..._" 'Well'? Wait... Wait... He'd have understood if they all swore the 'other Yugi' off from a first meeting like _that_ but...

He shook his head, stepping back once again. "No... No way," he muttered with wide eyes, "You an' Yugi did tha' at... At Death-T, you both came t' terms w' th' other an'-"

And the look on the other Yugi's face said it all, obvious confusion evident even in completely black and shadowed eyes and facial features. "_...Death... T..?_"

Katsuya paled, realization hitting him cold. Seto was 'Seri', that was one 'change'. But there was another; Seri wasn't Seri _Kaiba_ afterall, she was Seri _Souryuu_. Which meant that Seri had never been adopted by Gozaburo, possibly never adopted _at all_. Which meant she'd never taken over Kaiba Corp and turned it over into a game company. Which meant she'd never fought Yugi for Blue Eyes, had never built that horrific tower in an act of vengeance after the penalty game exacted, had never put Yugi through the trauma that would force him to tell everyone that he thought there was another him...

Which meant, in turn, they wouldn't have started trusting each other, when they themselves said rather bluntly that 'two Yugi's were just as welcome as one. Yugi's blackouts would have continued, along with the odd number of victims and- "...Tha'... So y' still give 'm black outs then," he asked somewhat quietly.

There was a somewhat owlish stare in response, as though he'd asked something completely ridiculous. In the end however, he shook his head, sighing almost guiltily. "_I wasn't aware you even knew about that_," he whispered, folding his arms as his friend bit his lip. "_How exactly is it that you can see me any ways..?_"

The blond stared, looking to the shadow before him. What little 'emotion' he was displaying looked almost to be tied to what would be 'expected' rather than what he 'felt' almost... He felt guilty, that was obvious but... It was too extreme. It wasn't in check at all, it was just washing off the body in literal waves of _darkness._ This...

He really was just a 'shadow' now, wasn't he... Just following behind, invisible and... "...Hey," he asked, looking to the ghost almost in pity despite himself. Besides the fact that he couldn't answer the question... Just what had gone on here? "How long 's it been since y' spoke t'..." How long since they said a_ single word_ to each other..?

"_Since the Monster World game_," the spirit admitted, Katsuya growing more than pale at the mention of an almost year-long-past event. "_I haven't even been able to access the body since then... All I can do is follow him like some 'shadow'.._." Hell, he looked like one... "_You even began calling me 'Darkness_,'" he added almost bitterly, turning from where he'd looked away with crossed arms. "_Not even 'Dark Yugi', 'other Yugi'... Just 'Darkness'. It's my body too isn't it_," the boy muttered, before falling somewhat limp. "_...Though I suppose... In the end, it's not even that,_" he decided with a sad frown. Not even that... Darkness...

'Yami'. The name sent chills down his spine, not that he'd admit it. Hell... He knew the 'other Yugi' was one dark guy when he was first around but... _Yami_? Sounded like the kind of game for the final 'big bad', the last monster in the video game. Not the name for _him_. ...Alright... Alright he told himself, shaking his head as he tried to clear it. Alright... Besides the fact that this world was way too twisted for him to handle with ease, this...

More silence hung over the air, the pair trading a long and awkward stare before the less physical of the two finally spoke up again. "Y_ou... You'll tell them I won't hurt them righ_t," the spirit asked, Katsuya blinking. That he wouldn- But why would they have to know that, it should have been obvious that- "_Before, when he met with Otogi... With all that happened,_" he continued with a swallow, Katsuya knowing just what he referred to, "_Well... I think my absence affected him somehow, and negatively. He won't acknowledge me... But he won't abandon me either_," the spirit continued almost in lament. "_I think he's still afraid. Of me, of my intentions... So if you could tell him_," the ghost asked, "_Even just to let him no that no matter what, I still protect him, I.._."

Katsuya stared, before nodding somewhat guiltily. Try as he might to pretend this didn't matter because it was a 'dream', it still felt all too real to ignore really. All the same, if it was this far... He had a feeling that whatever he said would make things a hell of a lot worse... Even so. "Y... Yea," he said quietly, rubbing the back of his neck. "I'll let 'm know next time I visit 'm," he decided. "When it's jus' us tw... Three," he corrected.

'Yami' seemed to sigh in relief at that, a small smile even appearing. "_Hah... Thank you. I can't even describe how much this_-"

-_breeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..!-_ Ah-

The blond jumped, looking up at the ceiling. That sound... "Ah... Fire alarm..? We havin' a drill then..?" What the hell was the fire alarm going off fo-

_"Hn... An alarm for fire... But where..._" The blond stared at the ghost a moment, shaking his head. Wow... The other Yugi not being tied to the real one was... Really putting a damper on this one's knowledge of things. _A lot_.

Regardless Katsuya simply shook his head, grabbing the spirit's arm and pulling him through the door before dropping it as he ran through the already developing crowd. "You c'n ask Yugi abou' it later," he said quickly, holding his voice at its usual 'secret whisper'. "If I ain't out there fast enough I'm screwed..!"

"_Ah, right._.." 'Right' indeed. Now...

If he could just figure out everything else about this weird 'dream' world...

* * *

School had passed in probably the most awkwardly slow fashion in the history of any class he'd ever taken. He couldn't say anything, couldn't do anything, and worst of all the others continued on mentioning things, small things, that had happened in the place of all that went on in his 'real world'... Things which he either only _barely_ picked up on, or found himself missing completely as he stared in embarrassed and agitated confusion.

For one, what the other Yugi had said before the fire drill was right. When mentioned (in passing) as the 'other Yugi' during lunch, they'd been confused as hell and wondering if he was alright... Again. It wasn't until he said 'darkness' that they understood who he was talking about. And when, after Anzu decided to ream him out for even _thinking_ that they were the same person, he had asked why they called him that...

_'Because that's what he is,_' Yugi responded with an eerie amount of ease. '_My 'darkness_'.'

Something told him that Ishizu never showed up, with that in mind... Which had him wondering about the 'replacement' for battle city in the end.

But regardless of differences, when the 'other Yugi' appeared, when 'Yami' appeared, no one knew he was there and no one saw. He kept himself as disconnected from the group as possible, lest he provoke still more negativity in his direction. Ironically enough, it seemed that by remaining afraid of the shadow Yugi himself had become more like his other self. A little more confident, a little stronger...

But that wasn't right, he told himself later. It wasn't right, and it wasn't Yugi. This wasn't the one he'd come to know as his friend, and if he didn't wake up soon he'd-

"So, Seri-san," Yugi said later that day as they slowly left the school building. "Do you think you'll enter that tournament..? You have a pretty good deck after all," he continued, "So..."

Seri had turned at that request, blinking. "My deck... ...Hn!" She smirked, shaking her head. "Obviously it's not so good if you always beat me..."

"Eh, no one beats Yugi," Honda countered absently. "Heck, I think he's the only one who can beat you," he muttered almost sourly, "With your three dragons..."

"I don't use those in my deck though," she responded with a frown. "You know that. The closest thing I have is my Emerald Dragon, and that hardly counts," Seri went on, Katsuya again freezing behind the group. That... She _had _the Blue Eyes cards, but she didn't-

Very big difference. Huge difference, he told himself, this was... "Jonouchi," Anzu said with a smile, turning back was he was snapped out of his stupor yet again. "Want to go to burger world?"

Burger world..? The blond's eyes drifted over the shadow before him, the shadow of his friend which was now hovering amidst the crowd unseen. This world was weird... Different... Not... "Nah," he said quickly, shaking his head as the shadow poked out of sight. "I got... I got somethin' t' do," he muttered as he walked off. "I'll see y' later, I-"

"Ah- Jonouchi-kun," Yugi said quickly, reaching out as the blond turned back. "Why are you going that way?" That way?

Katsuya blinked, looking toward the direction he'd been about to walk. What were they talking about, he always went this way, that was where- ...Right, he told himself, growing somewhat pale as he bit his lip. 'Seto Kaiba' never existed, therefore he'd never snuck into the mansion to figure out what was in her briefcase, which in turn meant he'd never gotten hired there which meant...

He still lived in the apartment with his old man. Who wouldn't have been in jail in this world, who wouldn't have been broken out of his alcoholism... Who would likely be irritable, drunk, and ready to throw whatever was on-hand to start up an old game of 'duck, duck DUCK DAMNIT', and agghhh... Damn it all, he thought as he scratched his head. This just wasn't working for him at all... It was too weird, too different, too... Well...

SHIT! "There's somethin' I gotta do in th's direction," he said somewhat flatly, finally taking a deep breath and walking off. "Jus'... I'll see y' all later, alrigh'," he continued.

The others seemed more than confused on the matter... But for the most part, as he walked away they didn't follow. He wouldn't know of course... After all, he didn't look back to check and he didn't want to. Not once. But as he walked he had to fight off the gnawing feeling of confused and worried stares from friends that _weren't his friends_ but were his friends _or at least trying to be_, burning holes into the back of his shirt as he moved...

And an hour later he was on the subway, still trying to calm himself from that fact. This wasn't real, he was repeating through his mind, his panicked breathing haggard and quick as he gripped the hand rail. This wasn't real, not in any way and it was all a dream..! A twisted, fucked up dream that butchered everything he knew! It wasn't real...

It wasn't real...

God damn, he sounded like Noa right now.

He needed to find out what happened, Katsuya decided as he came to the same supposedly random street where he'd found the internet cafe half a year ago. This place was only a 'little' different. But it was those little things that were drastically twisting everything he saw, changing things from mere movie posters to common 'world wide events'. So he needed to find out what happened...

And after forking over what was apparently all of his change for an hour of net time, he found out just how much _hadn't_.

For some reason, while he was looking, a 'poem' from English class came to mind, line by line as he looked through article headlines and clips of video. How'd it go... '_For want of a nail..._'

Ah- Words appeared in his mind- briefly, just briefly as he left the cafe an hour later with a fairly depressed outlook on his situation. '_For want of a nail the shoe was lost, for want of a shoe the horse was lost, for want of a horse the rider was lost, for want of a rider the message was lost, for want of a message the battle was lost, for want of a battle the kingdom was lost..._'

"An' all f'r th' want 'f a horseshoe nail..."

Standing outside of the cafe his blood went cold after those words passed his lips, and it seemed to only now just hit him how much had changed.. Because 'Seto Kaiba' never existed, Gozaburo's Kaiba Corp was still the king of its previous field; weapons and arms, supplying to the highest bidder in an endless war overseas... A war Japan had nothing to do with it. The irony was that it seemed some other company called 'Schroider Corp' had done just what Kaiba had done by transforming their own company over to the Game industry, creating the duel table, and most likely (he couldn't be sure given the date) the duel disk as well. All in all, it seemed as though the technological end hadn't changed...

But because Seto Kaiba didn't exist, the other Yugi faded into darkness, never forced into the open by a series of tragic and ultimately traumatizing events in one single tower. Because Seto Kaiba didn't exist, Pegasus was still alive, as Death T hadn't happened, as Seto had never had her soul 'crushed', thereby allowing the Big 5 to take the company, allowing them to impose that deal on Pegasus with the intent of merging companies... Pegasus didn't need that in this world.

So he never even _heard _of Yugi. Or of Seto. Or Mokuba. Or Bakura. Or any other item holder really- There was no ' Duelist Kingdom '. The Yugi of this world had, for some reason, still not entered the tournament that would have led to the event, and it was likely simply because it was so soon after Bakura's appearance. He didn't become a 'duelist icon'. Pegasus never held his grandfather hostage for a fight between the loss of a soul or an incredible prize.

His sister was still blind. There was no prize from the duelist kingdom, so his sister was still blind. And if she wasn't, it would have been from Ryuzaki Keichi's winnings in a tournament, and not his or his friend's, so in the end it was still as though he'd done absolutely nothing for her cause.

The Ghouls still existed, but they showed no signs of arriving in Tokyo from what he saw because at the moment there was no clue as to the whereabouts of the 'Pharaoh' that Malik would seek out, nor any mention of God Cards as Seto had used to lure them out for Battle City. And as he had searched for the Blue-Eyes White Dragons he found something even more fearful. First- All three of the men whom owned those three blue eyes white dragons had been killed, supposedly in accidents, shortly after online meetings with a similarly composed unknown source. Second...

Gozaburo Kaiba still had a son. But it wasn't Noa. Instead...

It was Mokuba.

"Jonouchi-kun," a calm voice 'asked' at that moment, Katsuya pulled from his fear filled thoughts as he turned. J-? Who was-

Brown hair came into view, along with a somewhat taller young woman currently dressed in something other than the school uniform. Set- "...Ser... K... Souryuu," he finally forced out, the woman across from him staring somewhat owlishly at the mix of names coming forward. She'd been about to give someone a call from her phone... And hahaha, there was a small Blue-Eyes white dragon dangling from the end, that... That was so like her, seriously... But wait- this was way the hell at the edge of the district, so why- "...What're you..."

Seri merely blinked, silent for a few more moments. "I work nearby, repairing computers," she finally said, gesturing down the street as the blond looked around her. "...Jonouchi-kun," she continued, frowning somewhat. "...Did something happen at your apartment again?" Eh- Again..! Katsuya blinked a few times in confusion, and the woman's frown increased somewhat. "As I recall... You had to spend a few weeks at Yugi-kun's last month because of something... You never said what it was though," she added, "So I assumed something happened to the apartment." Right... The apartment, he...

...Shit... If he'd had to spend a few weeks at Yugi's recently... Well there was no _way _it'd be safe right now..! "Hah... ...Yea... It..." It was... ...Damn these dreams were well 'planned'. Ehh... "...Th' plumbin's still shot," he muttered as an excuse, easily catching the 'I don't believe you' look in Seri's eyes before pressing on nonetheless. "I'll manage anyways," he continued. "Don' mind me, I-"

"Hn... I understand," the woman responded, adjusting the bag under her shoulders before turning away to text something in on her phone. "In that case," she decided I suppose you can spend the night at my own apartment." AH-

"W-W-What... At your apartment," he repeated, shaking his head. "Whady'-" Why would she...

What the hell..! "Come on," Seri continued almost flatly, pulling him across the street by the arm as her 'friend' continued to sputter. "This way- I doubt Bakura-kun will mind much anyways."

"Ah-!" Hold on...

Bakura..!

* * *

The wind on the field was cold and harsh and it blew her coat out behind her enough to make it appear as though she was wearing a cape around her waist. A similar effect was occurring with her opponent she noted as he made his way up the stairs, the woman's eyes momentarily freezing on the cold expression he held. As Yugi slowly clicked his duel disk into place the jacket he wore blew out behind him, his eyes narrowed with a steely determination to get things over with. There would be no banter this time around, no traded insults. It was time.

No other way to put it. "You came," she said almost simply, expression cold and nigh emotionless in appearance. The field was rising beneath their feet at that very moment, and even though it had been cleaned thoroughly in their absence it felt as though she was still standing in a puddle of blood, watching as Katsuya tried and failed to make that one desperate final attack...

'_Second match of the Semi-Finals_,' a voice called out, cutting her thoughts short '_Kaiba Seto VS Mutou Yugi is about to start_,' Isono announced, the stage slowly continuing to rise as the two duelists stood in silence. '_Ready your disks..!_' The words weren't even needed at the moment, and as the silence continued Higher... Higher...

The arena locked in place, and for a moment there was only silence. A cold wind blowing past them as they stared across the field at each other. "...Why do you insist on this tournament continuing," her opponent eventually asked, disk held forward as he narrowed his eyes.

"Because it 'must'," she said almost stonily, looking forward with icy eyes. "And besides... Your friend is fighting for his life right now," Seto told him. "It's only fitting that we have our own battle to deal with... Something to distract you from your self-pity," she added coldly, her opponent appearing to hold back a growl in response. "Unless you really aren't trying to blame yourself for not facing him first to prevent this calamity..."

Yugi merely narrowed his eyes, swallowing. "Kaiba... And just what happens afterwards then," he asked, almost turning away with the question. "At the end of this ' Battle City '?"

"The loser sulks, and the winner moves on... What else," she asked bluntly, receiving nothing more than a continued glare in response. "That's all there is for the loser after all- despair, hopelessness. Nothing else." Nothing more than that... And that would never change.

And yet he still thought otherwise. "Is that what you really think," he asked, narrowing his eyes. The boy shook his head, and with not another moment gave his own opinion on the matter. "...You're wrong. You can take that option, true," Yugi went on, turning away somewhat in the blowing wind. "But there's still another option. To continue down that road ahead," he shouted, "Looking onward to what lies at the end..!"

As though there were no losers then, right? As though everyone came out unscathed, as though nothing was wrong... That... "Tch... Pointless," she snarled, gritting her teeth. "POINTLESS! There's only one winner and in the end that person must step over the bodies of the defeated regardless of who they might be..! YUGI," Seto went on. "I will defeat you... I will take your God Card, and I WILL fight Malik..!" She had to fight him... No matter what..! Her spirit wouldn't crumble here... That idiot in the ship would live and while they waited for that helicopter to arrive she would do all she could to end this...

All of it..!

"HERE I COME," she roared, holograms abruptly jumping up around them to form a series of colloseum walls. "DUEL START!"

The cold wind continued to blow and as Yugi looked around his eyes almost seemed to dim, taking in the scene that had replaced the ruined plain that was Alcatraz Island. The walls around them were cold, stone... And silent. Not even a single holographic person sitting within the seats. "Empty," Yugi said after a moment, shaking his head almost in surprise as he took in this fact. "The halls are..."

"This is merely a wall," Seto said almost dully, not willing to activate the 'second half' of the colloseum program. "To block out any distractions while we fight." Distractions such as Malik, such as the airship in the distance that she kept looking to, the image of Katsuya's broken and dying body, the feeling of that...

Kiss...

"I see," her opponent said stiffly, drawing his hand of cards while Seto did the same. "In that case, I'll move! ARE YOU READY," the boy roared, the shouts more than pulling his opponent from her thoughts as she stared across the field. "I summon the Queen's Knight, in defense mode! In addition," he continued, the holographic knight standing at attention as a second card appeared, "One card face down!" Alright then...

Her turn..! As she drew the card she couldn't help but let a smirk come over her face, looking back over where the light shimmered over Yugi's blond and red armored knight. Victory was on her side already... The first card she drew and it was Obelisk..! Another card was grabbed from her hand, and the smirk remained in place. "I summon X-Head Cannon," she announced, the holographic monster shimmering into existence with a metalized snarl as the card was placed. "I also set a face down card, and end my turn!"

"I'll summon another monster then," her opponent countered, familiar holographic form of Kuriboh appearing before her to croon as she snorted. "Kuriboh in defense mode!" Kuri... Ugh. Her only comfort was the lack of animations this one had... "Turn end!"

Tch! Always summoning _this _one... She'd teach him how foolish it was to play something like that against her..! "My turn then..! I use the spell 'Soul Exchange' to switch our monsters and use yours as tributes... In addition," the woman continued with a dark grin, the monsters already trading places in various showers of light, "Another spell! ENEMY CONTROLLER! Allowing me to control 'your' new X-Head Cannon," Seto shouted with a continued grin. "And for a small price of life points," the woman continued, the controller briefly hovering before her to enter a code that would bring the monster back to her field, "I have not two, but three sacrifices... So," she announced, grabbing the card from her hand as a storm began to brew, "I SUMMON-"

"TRAP CARD! LIGHT FORCE SWORD," Yugi roared, the holographic panel swinging upward as a sword of light swung through the card her hand. Blinding light seared from the ground, the blade appearing to impale a holographic duplicate of her card to the field. The disk locked... She wouldn't be able to summon this for another three turns, regardless of the card she held..! Damn it... "Hn! Don't get hasty," Yugi said from across her, a smirk on his face despite all that was going on. "This game's just started after all..."

Hn! "So has the count down to your defeat," she responded with a small and sneering smile. The monsters returned to their respective sides of the field with those words, but even with the lock on her God she wasn't worried. She had a strategy after all... This wouldn't stop her! "My turn is over," she continued aloud with that in mind, arms crossed as she gave a gesturing nod to her opponent. This was her battle. Her tournament. And as such she would be taking the reigns back if it killed her..! "Your move, Yugi!"

Her opponent nodded, looking to his deck as he drew his next card. She had her God. He didn't. And despite Light Force Sword being in play that fact alone had Yugi at a grave disadvantage, with the boy staring at the field with narrowed eyes before finally making his move. "One card face down," he said clearly, holographic panel shimmering into existence beside the revealed Lightforce Sword. "And that's all!"

Defense monsters and face down cards... Hnhnhnhnhn... Of course that was all. "Keep running like that and the three turns you saved yourself will pass by in an instant," she chuckled, eyes narrowed in mirth. Of course, she thought as her smirk widened, she wouldn't even need three turns if she played her cards right... And if she could defeat Yugi with enough speed... "Hnhnhnhnhn... My turn," Seto called out, a second monster card appearing at her side. "And my next card is the Y-Dragon Head in attack mode!" The holographic pterodactyl appeared before her from in front of the card, red-metal armor gleaming in the sun as her opponent paled. That look in his eyes... "Hnhnhnhn... I see you've already guessed what sort of monsters I'm summoning," the woman called out, the energy of the duel more than enough to hold at least a somewhat positive mood through her being. "That fear in your eyes... You've guessed right, there's no doubt! Watch; as two of three magnet monsters fuse together..! And the moment I summon the part of 'Z'," Seto continued, "They'll form the ultimate being... But until then," she shouted with a grin, the monster at her side taking aim with both the cannons on 'X's' shoulders and the gaping mouth of 'Y', "The XY-Dragon Cannon takes aim..! READY... ATTACK KURIBOH! _**HYPER DESTRUCTION**_!"

For a moment, she almost thought she heard a scream when the monster died. A high pitched wail, surpassing the pitch of the duel disks' sound system as the monster curled away in pain. In the end however she passed it off as nothing, instead studying her opponent's scowl with a smirk. "Gh... Kaiba," he hissed, absently rubbing his arm.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Scared, Yugi? I imagine you're counting down the three turns to the end right now aren't you," she continued, smirk widening. "But what if I told you I didn't have to wait..? After all... The God Cards only choose the ultimate of duelists; so watch! I play the spell Voice of the Heavens," Seto roared, pointing forward with a wicked grin. "Allowing me to take one of your most powerful monsters..! All I need to do is say the name," she continued with a hissing laugh, "And it's mine... The name of 'God'... '_Saint Dragon Osiris'_! SO, YUGI," she 'ordered', the boy tensing considerably more as he looked to his deck. "Pull out your God and give it to me..!"

Yugi swallowed, still tense as he did just that. Card after card was fanned out while the deck sat upside down, the boy searching for the card... In the end Osiris was the third from the bottom, Yugi grudgingly walking forward with the card while his duel disk re-shuffled the deck. Well now...

"It was hidden deep within wasn't it," she muttered almost dryly. "How unfortunate... It looks as though you wouldn't have drawn it in this duel after all... Not that it matters," the woman laughed, holding a hand out to take Osiris. "After all; the Gods listen only to me..!"

"Actually," her opponent said with a smirk, "I think you should look back to my side of the field..." What... The grin fell, and as her eyes drifted over to where the face down card had been activated she tensed. Oh _SHIT._.! "Hnhnhn... You must have been thinking the same thing I was," Yugi continued, holding out his hand of cards. "That the moment Obelisk came free, I'd activate this card. But right now seemed like a better time; the spell Exchange," he continued with a grin. "So... I'll be keeping this," he went on, gesturing to the Osiris card in his hand. "And as for you... ...Pick a card," he chuckled as he waved the remaining ones forward. "_Any card_."

* * *

It took a few minutes for him to fully realize what it was that 'Seri' had told him.

"You... Y' live w' Bakura," he asked once again with wide eyes, Seri blinking as they stood to wait at another crosswalk.

"Of course," she responded, giving him an almost incredulous look. "Since I turned fifteen..." Fifteen...

Ah- that was the minimum age to own an apartment wasn't it? Provided there was guardian permission? So then why... He shook his head, attempting to focus on walking while he thought of the questions. Alright... So she was staying in an apartment. In that case... "...Why Bakura..?"

"It helps with the ring," she said somewhat bluntly, not even hesitating as she answered a text from her phone. The ring..? Briefly the blond stopped moving before mentally nodding with understanding.

_Right_. It was probably a little harder to put that thing on when Seri was around huh... But... Well, not that they didn't care, but why would this one difference mean actually having someone mediate the mess? And... The blond shook his head. Push it from mind, he told himself. It wasn't real... Just push it from mind. "Hey... ...Souryuu," he said after a moment of trying to clear his thoughts, the pair crossing the next street as the light changed. "Those three Blue-Eyes cards... Where did you get-"

"I already told you all 'where'," the woman answered flatly, only a slight hint of anger visible in her eyes. "I received them in an envelope on my birthday. There was no return address, and all I could find was a note that stated it to be 'repayment'. I..." There was a short pause, Seri turning away somewhat with distant eyes as she fingered what looked to be a small card sleeve around her neck. "...That's all there is to it," she eventually said, dropping the packet to cross her arms around her bag as she continued to walk. "Nothing more." Nothing...

Nothing more. ...Well obviously _something _weird happened here. "Righ'... Kay then..." What he wouldn't bet that the card sleeve 'locket replacement' held those cards... ...New subject! "...Hey, Souryuu," he asked, Bakura's apartment complex already in view from where they stood. There was something he needed to know... Hell there were lots of things he just needed to know, but for this one... "...Why 'xactly did y' start hanging around w' us," Katsuya asked, the pair walking through the building and up the stairs. "I mean... On a 'p'rmanen' basis," he added with quotes, attempting to hide the unease with a grin only for it to falter. They were outside of the apartment now, and as Seri put the key in the door she'd frozen completely, not turning as she fell silent. When she did give her answer however, it was just a little...

Disturbing.

"...'Darkness'," the woman muttered, narrowing her eyes. Darkness...

Wait, what..? As in the other Yugi? As in... "'Yami'..?"

There was a short, small nod but she still didn't turn away, merely turning the key in the lock to open the door. "I'm not proud of what I did to warrant his attention," she muttered lowly, slowly turning her attention back. "You understand that, don't you?"

He... Well... "'F course," he said without thinking, nonetheless meaning what he said as he looked to the woman with a slightly suspicious stare. "You... ...Y'r talkin' about Jii-san's card," he continued, attempting to hide his shock as best he could. "...Aren't y'..." When she'd apparently tried to take it right from under Yugi's nose... But for her to do that... Hell...

She'd still tried that, even in this world..?

The woman nodded yet again, eyes growing dim as she walked into the apartment. "Come inside," she said quietly, still not looking back. "We can talk in the living room." Living room..? Oh yea, Bakura had an 'LDK' apartment didn't he? It was a pretty big one for what he had... Of course, he used the dining room for his Monster World kit last he recalled- Or had that been the random second bedroom he'd had here? He was assuming Seri used that and- ...Well, even so he said nothing, simply following the woman in and taking off his shoes. Over all, it didn't look much different from Bakura's apartment in his own reality. Maybe a little 'brighter' (which felt weird some how), and there was obviously an extra pair of shoes and related to show there was another person there, but otherwise...

The only real sign was that the second bedroom actually had a bed in it, with the Monster World equipment moved to join with the rest in the dining room. Not to mention a fairly large amount of paper sketch piles in said second room, along with a computer, a small bookshelf... "Huh... Nice room," he muttered, slowly taking a seat on the side as Seri shut the door behind them.

"Yes... ...I suppose..." A somewhat awkward silence hung on the air, and as Seri put her bag on the side it seemed almost like she didn't even plan to speak. "...Did you know," she muttered almost softly in the end, evidentially making the decision anyway. "I had a brother once..?" Had..? The woman took a seat at the desk chair, pulling out the plastic card-sleeve around her neck to open it up. "At the orphanage where I stayed until recently... I had a brother there," she whispered, Katsuya frowning.

Alright, he knew the kid wasn't _dead _at least so... "Y' mean... ...Mokuba," he asked, Seri looking up in slight surprise to blink a small number of times.

"Ah... ...Yes... That was his... Name... That..." She sighed, opening the sleeve a little more as she pulled out three cards. "Mokuba... While we were at that orphanage, there was a rule," Seri explained, "Boys in one side, girls on the other, save for 'free time'. I wasn't able to protect him from anything that happened because of that," she said quietly. "So everyday, I would find myself hiding him from other boys he shared his room with and..." Seri cut off, pausing a moment more while her guest continued to frown. This... ...Just because she wasn't there, he... Things got that bad..? "In the end," she continued, "I spotted something on the television while we were playing chess. About KaibaCorp's CEO,"

"Kaiba Gozaburo," Katsuya whispered, shaking his head. And history came close to repeating... He blinked, catching a blank stared from the woman before rubbing his head. "Er... Sorry," he added with a cough, "Keep goin'..."

The woman continued to stare a few moments longer, but nonetheless did so with a short nod. "Right... Kaiba Gozaburo had supposedly had a son at one point," Seri began. "When I found out that he had lost his life in a car accident a few years prior I wondered if Gozaburo would possibly be willing to adopt a child again. A home like that... There's no way it can be bad right," she asked, sounding almost as though she expected an answer to it. There was no answer to give however, and so the woman went on. "So... When Gozaburo appeared at the orphanace, I made a bet with him... I could handle the orphanage. But for Mokuba's sake, I told Gozaburo 'If I win, you will adopt my brother, and raise him as your own.'"

"And y' won... Didn' you..."

She nodded. "Correct. It was difficult... I was almost tempted to cheat," she continued, brushing a bit of hair back with a smirk. "But I won. I helped my brother pack, and we spent one last day together. We walked around down town, visiting arcades, stores..." The woman leaned back against her chair, looking up at the ceiling almost wistfully. "Duel Monsters at that time was very new," she muttered, almost to herself. "So there were lots of posters advertizing the powerful cards, and even the ones that no one would ever have... Blue-Eyes was one," Seri continued, fingering the cards in her hand. "We stared at that poster for so long... I..." She sighed, looking back down at the card's surface. "I made him a promise," she whispered with dull eyes. "That some day, I would get him that card... But in the end, it was impossible," the woman continued with a shrug. "I offered all I had to be rejected, and then tried to steal it out of some pathetic desperation... I..."

Katsuya swallowed, looking away somewhat. He knew what happened after that- After that match in the real world... But the penalty game; what was it again..? "...Sou... Seri," he said, the woman before him briefly staring in confusion as he continued on despite not bothering to address his overall annoyance at the different names. "...After tha' game... What did th' other- ...I mean, 'Yami'," he corrected with a slight wince, "Wha'd he..."

"The illusion of death," she whispered, pulling her arms close with a slight shudder. "For an entire evening, there was nothing but monsters attacking me... ...I spent a few days at Anzu-chan's shortly after while trying to explain what happened," Seri went on, shaking her head with a swallow. "And though she didn't believe me at the time... Well... It's likely the only reason why I can sleep even now... After all, something like that, even now I..." Wait...

Anzu's house? So then the other Yugi's penalty game actually worked this time..? Katsuya rubbed his head, wincing before realizing that the woman had cut off. Ah- "If... If y' don' wanna talk abou' it," he began with a slight wince, pushing the mental question of Seri knowing Anzu beforehand out of his mind, "I..."

She nodded, giving the blond a small smile. "It's fine, Jonouchi-kun. What 'Yami' did had nothing to do with you... But when I received these cards in the mail only to see the deaths of those people in the news," the woman went on, cards shaking in her hand, "Well... In the end, I can't use cards that caused such a thing." Hnn...

That was why then... But who sent her those cards then..? Hell, why, the only one he could think of here that knew was...

...Mokuba. But why would he...

Hell, if people had died this time around then- Katsuya bit his lip, shaking it off and attempting to change the subject to something more positive. "Er... S... So," he said after a short awkward moment, rubbing his neck. "What kinda food y' got here?"

Seri seemed to stare almost incredulously for a moment, as though having expected something far harsher in response. In the end however, she merely smiled. "Bakura-kun isn't much for making anything beyond simple meals... At the moment you have the option of ramen noodles or leftover rice." Ramen or rice... Well!

Sounded good to him!

* * *

Bakura had arrived sometime between when he was about done the left over rice and when he'd plowed through their leftover ramen. Ironically, Bakura had gone grocery shopping... So he'd been pleasantly surprised to find his fridge cleaned out for whatever he was about to put inside. The rest of the evening passed fairly calmly as well; Bakura vanished off after he'd finished eating for an online Monster World campaign and, after a fairly blunt and almost rude check over concerning the ring, Seri had simply taken her sketch pad and sat back on the futon/bed in her own room.

Having nothing else to do, he ended up following. This version of Seto... She drew a lot he noted later on as he lay back on a borrowed futon in the living room. He hadn't seen too much of what was there of course... But a lot of the papers had things like dragons, Egyptian soldiers and workers, items however small...

He supposed that a 'Seto' that hadn't been conditioned against anything supernatural would do that really. It certainly made sense, he thought with a yawn the next morning. All in all however... Now that it was Saturday, there wasn't much to do outside of Bakura doing whatever it was he did, and with Seri going to her part-time job for a few hours...

And him following, since she was more than capable of replacing thermal paste and graphics cards while talking, and her boss didn't particularly care so long as they didn't do anything stupid. "So... Th's 's where y' work," he said idly, the woman currently poking around an old laptop with a frown that likely had nothing to do with his presence. It was just a simple maintenance place but...

There really weren't many people working compared to the number of computers hanging around to be fixed. "That's right," Seri said somewhat plainly, voice still a number of notches warmer than he was used to even with the slight annoyance at whatever she was fixing. "I've been fairly adept with computers for a while now; it's second nature really." Hoh...

That was cool... Add that to the list of similarities he supposed. "Guess tha' means you c'n always e-mail Mokuba when y' wanna talk t' him," he supposed under his breath, before paling as he realized the woman had heard him. The look on her face in particular... Well- given that it wasn't happy, it probably meant she didn't have said e-mail and... Well... "ER- I mean..."

"It's fine," she responded flatly, before carefully screwing a small fan into place and putting the cover back on the device she was working on. "I haven't seen my brother in six years," she continued. "It's fine." Six...

Six years...

That... "...I used to pass by that house after school though," Seri continued later on, when they were walking back from the work building at the end of the day. "It was a bit of a short-cut from my middle school, so I would have a few minutes to stop there before and afterward. I'd wait by the gate to see if maybe he would have to go somewhere and I could catch a glimpse but... ...Hahhhhh..." She sighed, a weak and almost broken smile on her face as she looked down somewhat to the blond beside her. "In the end, I received a mysteriously funded bus-pas with enough money behind it to get me through college, along with strict orders not to come any where near the building..." T... That...

They actually threatened her to stay away? For that long..! But then... When she said 'see', she didn't mean as in speaking to...

She meant... "Six years," he whispered, stopping for a moment beside the woman. "You haven' ev'n seen yer brother... F'r six years," the blond rasped, barely able to comprehend his own words. For that long...

Seri merely looked to the shorter blond, adjusting the bag on her shoulders. "It doesn't matter," she told him somewhat quietly. "This doesn't concern you." 'Didn't concern him'... Hahaha, as insistent as ever but...

He stopped walking, Seri making it about two steps forward before looking back in confusion. It was the middle of the sidewalk really. No big deal but... "...Seri," he said after a moment, the woman frowning lightly. "What 'f I told you... I could help y' see yer brother again..?"

The look on her face was all the answer he needed.

* * *

The fact was, she'd have to be a fool to think that her opponent wouldn't have found someway to make things somewhat more difficult for her. In all honesty, it was what he did best; and probably why she was so driven to defeat him. (Though it would always be a challenge to defeat...) '_I have to thank you_,' he'd said with a small smirk, almost waving the card in his hand as she frowned. '_Osiris is in my hand now..!_' And so it was...

But good luck to him in playing it; she would have Obelisk summoned in two more turns, and her Dragon Cannon would obliterate any chance of three tributes appearing on Yugi's side of the field. She had the 'numerical' advantage over him, no matter what. She had the advantage, and that was that. More over...

The card she'd taken from Yugi... 'Life Shaver'. Well, with Osiris across from her that trap would make even God harmless! So...

"I play Big Shield Guardna in defense mode," her opponent announced upon reaching his end of the field again, the holographic warrior appearing behind his shield to guard the duelist. "Following that," he continued, "I play a face down card and end my turn!" More defense monsters and traps?

"Hn! Is defending yourself all you can do," she sneered, narrowing her eyes. The still face down holograms were almost taunting... Not to mention pathetic, albeit a good shield against most. ...Of course... That was 'most', not _her. _"Really," Seto muttered. "At this rate I won't even need Obelisk to defeat you..!" Not that it mattered of course! "My turn," the woman shouted, drawing her next card. After this, two turns left... And this card... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." Just what she needed. _Exactly _what she needed. In one turn, she'd have Obelisk...  
And even better, until then this new monster would allow her to unleash the Dragon Cannon's full power..! Get ready, she thought mentally, the smirk on her face growing. God would crush him..! "Set a card face down," she stared, making sure she had the her 'first' trap for if Osiris were to appear. "And now, I summon the Z-Metal Tank," Seto announced, the holographic and one-eyed tank appearing in an instant. "And of course," she continued with a grin, each component of the device clanging and clashing together as sparks filled the air, "X-Y-Z fuse together... Forming the XYZ DRAGON CANNON! Now... I'll destroy your Guardna! _**XYZ HYPER CANNON**_," she commanded, all weapons firing forward. "This match will be mine..!" Powerful lasers, flames, and explosions filled the air from that side, completely eradicating the defending shield. The monster was destroyed... And now... "HnhnhnHAHAHA! Just one left," she laughed. "Next turn I'll crush you out of existence completely!" And then-

And...

God. Fucking. DAMN IT YUGI! She hated that smirk..!

HATED IT. And as his grew her own faded, one of his traps swinging upward in response to the blow. "Hehehe... You just love an easy target, don't you," he chuckled with crossed arms, shaking his head. "I knew you wouldn't resist attacking my shield." Oh haha, rub it in Yugi. Stupid, smug little- (Why? Why did he always have to have 'just' the right card..!) "You've given me a chance to win," Yugi was continuing loudly, clicking the side of the duel disk. "Face down reveal! SOUL ROPE!" Oh come _on_! _That one_? ...And what she wouldn't bet that the monster he summoned would be something she'd been trying to prevent... "I summon a four star monster in the place of my last one," her opponent was shouting, "At the cost of 1000 life points... And I choose the King's Knight," he went on, the holographic and bearded warrior appearing at his Queen's side. In response to the pair entering the field a third figure arose, a card spitting out of Yugi's deck. The knight trio's effect had kicked in... Shit. "You're not the only one who has monsters to help summon God to the field," the boy announced, the holograms gripping their swords tightly as the storm above again began to brew. "And with the King and Queen at my side I gain a third monster for sacrifice! The Jack's Knight! It's MY TURN," Yugi roared, his opponent gritting her teeth as he announced the move. "AND I OFFER THREE SACRIFICES TO THE HEAVENS... SUMMONING THE DRAGON GOD FROM THE SKIES, **_OSIRIS_**..!"

Osiris... A howling roar came over the air, and red scales peaked over the walls of the holographic colleseum, seeming to form individual and rolling hills. Up and down, up and down, and the dragon roared and snarled as storm clouds converged and lightning shot through the air. As its double jaw arose tall behind its summoner, dagger-like teeth bared and ready. "_**GRAAAAOOOOOOOOO**_!" So loud... "_**RAOOOOOOOOOOOO**_!" Powerful... As the monster settled into its place in the sky the woman continued to stare, watching the jaws lock up in wait. "_**GRRRNNNNNNnnnnn...**_" The sound of breathing was even filling the air, audible even over the storm's thunder...

As though it were _real_... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." And yet despite Osiris' summoning, she couldn't help but grin with anticipation, pushing the thoughts of awe aside with ease as she prepared her own move. Interesting, she told herself. So interesting. So he'd summoned God first then after all?

Well... "It looks like the tables have turned," her opponent shouted toward her. "So much for defeating me..!" Oh...

She wouldn't say that... "Hn! Take a look at your hand," she chuckled, her own smirk widening slightly. "You have three cards; only 3000 attack points."

"Only," Yugi repeated with a smirk, completely confident in the power backing him. "Your Dragon Canon 'only' has 2800 points; I know for a fact that you wouldn't have missed that..!" It was those words that almost caused the boy to trip up; as though he'd only just realized what it meant. And just to push it along, she'd voice it.

"Well..? Go on then," she taunted lowly, eyes narrowing to mere slits as she gestured to the field. "Try it... Attack my monster and destroy it... If you can." That seemed to freeze her opponent in place. His eyes abruptly widened, before narrowing once again to hone in on the face down card she'd set. Trap or spell, he likely wondered. Trap or spell or both? Silence... More silence... "What's wrong," she 'asked', still smirking as her opponent grit his teeth. "Go on... ATTACK!" Osiris was oddly silent amid this she noted... Not even growls could be heard over the storm, and breathing had quieted completely, not that it mattered. And either way... Regardless of if Yugi attacked, she wouldn't be stopped this turn. Her opponent's eyes widened. Osiris' jaw dropped and electrically charged flames began to develop, and in a split second the appropriate retaliation came to mind.

"Tch... OSIRIS," Yugi ordered, the enormous beast raising its head just slightly as the blast became blinding in form. "FIRE! _**THUNDER FORCE**_!"

"REVEAL TRAP," she countered, tapping the disk as her holographic card swung upward. "Interdimensional Matter Transporter," she shouted, opponent paling. That was right... It wasn't Life Shaver. Moreover, she thought with a grin, her monster vanishing from sight as the transporter briefly appeared on the field to pull it from sight, that was the 'last move.' "Hnhnhnhn... Too bad," Seto called out, the transporter slowly fading away in the light around them. "Thanks to this spell Osiris loses its target, and the attack is wasted..! Pity," she taunted, her monster reappearing to the field as the holographic card dispersed completely. "Your turn was pointless..!"

Despite this, that smirk was _still _there it seemed. "Hn... Not completely," her opponent responded with a competitive smirk, taking a card from his hand and nodding. "I play a card face down," the boy continued, "And end my turn!" End-

He was playing a card, when it brought Osiris down to 2000! When she would have OBELISK in the next one? '_Come on,_' her opponent was taunting in silence, the look on his face seeming to attempt at goading her into attack. '_You tested me, now I'll test you... It's your turn..!_' Tch...

Say what he liked, she already had a plan! "Fine then," she decided, taking Obelisk from her hand as the holographic counterpart faded from existence. "Fine! Your lightforce sword is gone now anyways," she laughed, the storm growing even more vicious about them. "Which means your end is already here regardless..! HAHAHAHAHAH!" Watch... "I'll show you_ GOD_," she roared, the storm seeming to increase still more in strength as the sound of roaring waves dividing and parting met her ears around the tower. "I sacrifice my XYZ Dragon Cannon," Seto announced, setting the God card on the field as lightning continued to crack and strike even the walls around them. "SUMMONING FORTH THE GOD OF THE DESERT AND STORM, THE SOLDIER OF THE OBELISK..." _Her _God card... 'The' God card, the one that would far surpass Osiris in this match. Now... "DESCEND TO MY DOMAIN AND FIGHT AT MY SIDE... BRING ME VICTORY," she roared as the clouds continued to swirl, and as necrotic armor formed behind her "SHAKE THE HEAVENS AND EARTH WITH YOUR POWER..! COME FORTH..." Sutekh... 'Set'... "_**GOD-SOLDIER OF THE OBELISK**_!"

"_**RAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNN**_!" Thunder heralded the monster's arrival, and her grin widened. Obelisk... Was bigger than last time, she realized in the back of her mind. He stood behind the tower, with wings wide spread and arms crossed, his chest easily coming above the edge of the holographic coliseum. He stood at a height to match Osiris' length, lipless mouth and eye-less sockets staring toward his opponent as the dragon screeched. Two Gods stood on the field. Two Gods...

"This is it," she said with a grin, the multitude of power in the air flooding her being, rushing through her veins and making it impossible to remain calm. "The clash of the Gods has come..! SO, YUGI," she continued, yet another thunderclap piercing the air, "PREPARE YOURSELF... MY GOD WILL DESTROY YOURS WITH EASE..!"

And as her opponent stared and the storm converged, the Gods themselves seemed to agree; the battle had only just begun.

* * *

The situation that he and Anzu were in was an odd one, though that much was likely obvious to anyone around them. After all; it was one thing for someone to say they were either possessed or 'a man in a woman's body' but... Well, this brought it to an interesting level. For the moment, Anzu was the one in control of the body. Whoever wasn't in control got to sit in the back of the mind, formless, as though they were half there- it couldn't even be called possessing the other, simply handing someone the reigns of the horse while sharing the same seat on a carriage. It made it easy to switch as well; like blinking really. Switch, switch switch... Easy.

But not having a body to speak of for himself was an entirely separate matter. It was a scary thing to put it lightly, and even though this one wasn't his own it was at least a relief when he was in control of the sensations of touch taste and smell rather than nothing more than dull sight and hearing. It had been half an hour since Yugi had left with Kaiba, Malik noted. Anzu had chased him down, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him back screaming '_WHY_!'... Why? Was his memory so important that he would leave his best friend's bedside to fight..? Were these battles really the only thing that mattered to him..?

...Did he even care about what had happened to Jonouchi out there?

The boy had stiffened, but in the end forced his arm free from his friend's grasp. '._..I'm not doing this for my memories, or to fight_,' he'd responded, looking to them both with nothing but honesty. '_I'm doing this to uphold a promise to a friend. Our ' Battle City ' isn't over yet... And we all have something we're reaching for,_' he continued quietly. '_While I don't remember the past... I can still look forward to the future. Jonouchi will live_,' Yugi said flatly, leaving no room for argument had there even been one. '_No matter what... He'll live_.'

He'll live... At the moment, thunder had cracked outside, the clouds darkening the sky to the point where it looked more like a stormy evening than a storming 'early afternoon'. They'd been allowed to come into the room only minutes before despite this however, after much begging on the part of Shizuka and to a more 'subtle' extent all those others around him. The door had opened, and seats were prepared, with the strict order given to not touch anything, not say anything too loudly...

They could only sit, stare, and if they felt up to the task look out the window at the somewhat distant holograms on the field of the tower.

Jonouchi was a wreck. Otogi's description from before was nothing compared to the reality of the situation, and coming into the room had been a feat in itself as a result. It took all they could to respond an affirmative to the doctor's words. All they could not to simply stand and congest the doorway, staring at the limp form on the gurney. His heart wouldn't beat. His blood wouldn't flow. But his brain was still firing all pistons so to speak, despite all of this.

And in addition to that, all minor injuries had already healed, including both the slits from the single trap his dark half had activated and the impressions from the 'Viser Des'. '_It's incredible,_' Doctor Kuzushi had told them, going over Jonouchi's current state of being as they stared. '_Despite the severity of his wounds, the only remaining injuries as of now are light burns across his back and the stab wound through his right side. And even these are healing at an alarming rate_,' she went on with visible disbelief, '_As though they never existed to begin with. By the time he wakes up, assuming he does so...'_

"Only the scar will remain," he muttered to himself with Anzu's body, the others turning in confusion.

"What was that," Honda asked. "The scar..?" ...Right... Kuzushi didn't mention the 'healed' scar, only his current wounds so...

"Ah- It's nothing," Malik responded, shaking 'his' head as 'he' leaned against the wall. "Just thinking out loud. I-" Thunder clapped once again and as they looked up the lights began to flicker, each of those within tensing. The storm was getting worse... Even the 'plane' seemed to shiver against the wind, vibrating somewhat in the force. Until now, that had been the only worry...

But that was 'then', after all. "Gh- The power's failing," Otogi hissed, gritting his teeth and looking up with wide eyes. "If that goes out, what will happen to..."

"We have enough back up power reserved for three hours," Mokuba said with a swallow, answering the question as the others turned. "So even if it goes out, they'll be alright..." Right. 'They'. Not just Jonouchi... It was also Mai, Ryuzaki...

And Rishid... "How much longer," he found himself asking, Mokuba turning toward him as he continued on. "Before the helicopter arrives, I mean?"

The boy blinked, looking to the clock on the side. "...Two and a half hours," he said after a moment. "After this next match," he continued slowly, "There's a break to clear the field... But unlike the others, that one's only ten minutes," he added. "Not much time..." Which meant that if no one stopped his dark half before then...

They'd all die. Regardless of time limits and rules, they would all die one way or another. And there was nothing they could do about it. "Damn it Jonouchi," Honda was whispering from the side, gripping the gurney rail as the depressing mood continued to sour and fester around them. "Wake up... You're missing Yugi... _Our Yugi's_ match, so just wake up-!"

-_**BROUWM!**_-

More thunder claps. They seemed louder this time, and the wind now rattled the 'plane' with enough force that the clock shook on the wall. And another clap through the air, and another, and-

"-_**GROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_-"

And a roar.

The crowd turned, staring out the window. High above the tower, seeming to hover around the colliseum walls was- ...No... No he told himself, they weren't simply hovering... They were bigger this time, they were...

"How is that possible," Anzu whispered, Malik again losing control despite being able to see what she did with ease. "The holograms can't possibly be that big," she repeated in horror, "They..."

Gods stood before them on this island. Osiris and 'Obelisk', the Gods, the dragon and warrior, the-

...They had names, his mind corrected despite himself, blood draining from the body's face. Osiris and _Sutekh_, the eternal _rivals_, the _brothers_, one killing the other, this entire battle would be one enormous-

"...Can we move the bed by the window," Honda asked at that moment, Kuzushi looking up from the side of the room with a frown.

"Move the-"

He nodded, the others watching as Honda swallowed and continued. "He needs... ..._Wants_ to see this fight," the teen whispered, expression half dead as he looked to the doctor. "Please- let him watch."

The doctor seemed to stare, mouth hanging slightly open as she froze on her original words. "I... ..." Silence... And then finally she stood, moving the gurney and turning it with the machines to face the window as the others moved to the side and stared. "...I can't raise his body," she said quietly, the blond's face still 'staring' up to the ceiling in silence with the new positioning. "His wounds could re-open, or worse, it would simply kill him. But I can do this much," she continued, giving a slight nod to the group. "So..." So even this...

At that moment- it was probably just a fluke but he could swear...

The monitor made a 'beat' noise.

* * *

Most would ask him how he could stand and fight at this moment in time with all that had happened so far. How he could stand there while his best friend's heart refused to beat, while his lung was collapsed in its own blood. How he could fight with a growing smirk during moments of this battle, and focus on the strategies that he threw out to the field and his current opponent.

And he would answer that he had a promise to keep, above anything. After all; they all had their secrets. When and if they said anything depended on both those around them and their own confidence on the matter. '_I didn't want to say anything,_' his lighter half had told his friends, long ago, before anyone had truly been made aware of his presence. '_Because I was scared… I was…_'

Jonouchi did not fear the truth in the same way that Yugi had. Yugi had wanted friends more than anything; he was afraid that they would leave him out of fear or disgust of he himself, the spirit of the puzzle, the so-called 'pharaoh' of years before. Afraid that the wish he'd made would shatter, and things would go back to the way they had been before...

Jonouchi, however, had feared the truth because of a promise. A promise he wanted to keep more than anything, treasuring their bond above even his own life. He did not want to be forced to break it simply because of this ability he could not control. He did not want a life where even a simple card game could spell his doom, where he could not join in with the game because of a freakish and highly unusual ability. But things had gotten out of hand, far far out of hand. And in his final moments on the field, it seemed he'd realized that, caring no more about secrecy. But despite this…

'_Saw,_' he'd whispered, chocking blood onto the field. '_I… Saw…_' Saw them dueling. Saw their duel.

Jonouchi's predictions _did not fail..!_ He would survive. That much was certain. And for that reason he told himself he would continue to fight, reaching the one who had done this to his friend. ...Even if it meant facing the Gods themselves in these dire times. "**So we MEET at LAST young KING_,_**" a roaring voice called out, the 'other' Yugi looking up at Obelisk's form with a slight swallow as glowing 'eyes' leered down. "**It has been LONG since I laid my EYES upon your FACE… You have CHANGED,**" he continued, the boy just now noting that what seemed to be a malice filled stare was in fact calm indifference, "**Though be it for BETTER or for WORSE,**" the giant decided,** "We will soon SEE… Only THEN will you pass your SECOND major TRIAL… Only THEN,**" Obelisk roared amid the thunder claps, "**Will you have EARNED my POWER…**"

"**But until THEN,**" Osiris countered, gleaming ivory teeth bared as he growled, snarling at the representation of his very murderer, "**PAYMENT for our PREVIOUS battle,**" the dragon announced. Previous battle? The boy shook his head, deciding not to try and understand lest the duel grind to a halt. After all...

The Gods were arguing. What point would there be in mere mortals to try and understand the reasoning behind it? Instead, he told himself, it was time to focus on the _current _battle. "Kaiba," the boy announced, lightning and flames blazing from the second jaw of Osiris as the dragon's words came to mind. "Need I remind you… That by summoning Obelisk, you've activated Osiris' special ability..! GO," he roared, the flames belting forward as Osiris snarled, "SPLIT HIS POWER IN TWO, AND EVEN THE PLAYING FIELD!"

"**With PLEASURE, Little KING! NOW, BROTHER,**" the God roared, fires already streaking across the air as Obelisk shouted in apparent 'shock', "**A TASTE OF WHAT YOU DID TO ME!**"

"**GH-**" the seared the shadows and clouds, filling the air with an eerie light as Obelisk ducked the attack only to be caught across the side. The scent of burning rotted flesh hit the air, and with narrowed 'eyes' the monster growled. "**YOU..!**"

"**HN! Next time,**" Osiris snorted, his opponent nursing a fallen wing with grinding teeth as his summoner stared across the field with narrowed eyes, "**I plan to aim LOWER…**" …Lower?

Whatever it was that they were talking about, Obelisk chose to say nothing in response, merely clenching his fists in rage for a moment. "**Tch… We will see NEXT TURN,**" he hissed, standing straight yet again so as to stare his 'rival' down. "**Your time is NUMBERED, OSIRIS..!**" True… Time was limited… (But what sort of battle did they-)

Both Gods had even attack power right now; Osiris from his two cards and Obelisk from the '2000 point-summon attack'. However... If they attacked, both Gods would be lost. Next turn, he'd draw a card, bringing Osiris' power up, but in the same manner, the effect he'd induced on Obelisk would vanish. Obelisk would return to full power…

And he would then be a full thousand points above his monster. Not good. But neither was foolish enough to attack either, and so the attack never came. "Tch… I put one card on the field," Kaiba announced, the holographic card appearing almost stone-like as it hovered in the air before her, stiffening and thickening in the air. "END TURN!" Alright... That was it...!

"My turn then," Yugi called out with a swallow as he drew a card, the dragon behind him raising his head and growling lowly. "Osiris' power rises by 1000 points-"

"And Obelisk's returns to full power," Kaiba finished, the God inquestion re-growing his limb with a pained growl before leering at his opponent. Obelisk was now seemingly 'taller' than Osiris... But while neither shrunk back things didn't look good with this imbalance.

And that was almost just as troubling as the trap… He couldn't use any cards to defend himself- he was already behind in power as it was. Worse, that trap could very well be the 'life shaver' he feared, and who knew what Kaiba was thinking with that usual smirk on her face.

"Hnhnhnhnhn…" Particularly since he was more than obviously struggling to decide what to do, which simply increased his opponent's confidence. "You're on your final moments in front of 'Obelisk'," his opponent taunted, making no effort to hide her natural voice over the field. It wasn't as though anyone was watching. It wasn't as though anyone other than themselves and the maniac they were stuck dealing with really cared. Nonetheless, they continued on, and for the sake of battle the banter increased. "Osiris can do nothing against Obelisk's full power," she was bragging, the grin widening beneath the power of her 'god'. "And those who think in the short term stand no chance! So… Anything else you plan to do," the woman continued, Yugi merely narrowing his eyes in response.

Hn… …Not for now. He still had his own face down after all, not to mention this hand… But that was all he could do. And there was nothing he could do to add to that for this turn. So… "No," he responded clearly, "I end my turn..!"

"**Let the BATTLE begin..!**"

"**Reminds you of OLD TIMES, doesn't it, BROTHER!**"

"HN! Very well," Kaiba roared, "HERE I COME… OBELISK ATTACKS," she announced, the god reaching forward with a thundering shout, "PULVERIZING OSIRIS..! **_GOD HAND CRUSHER!_**"

"Gh- ACTIVATE TRAP," Yugi called out, ducking under the force of Obelisks' fist smashing into Osiris' jaw above him. "POT OF GREED! Allowing me to draw two cards," he continued, the dragon's teeth clamping down on his opponent's fist as the second opened up above his attacker's face.

"**Hn hnhnhn… WELL DONE, young KING,**" he rumbled almost humerously. Fires were already licking the sides of the open jaw's mouth, preparing for attack.** "NOW THEN! TASTE MY FIRES, B-**"

"ATTACK!"

"**I THINK NOT,**" Obelisk roared, teeth ground sharp as his summoner countered as well.

"ACTIVATE TRAP! LIFE SHAVER!" Life shaver..! Shit..! "Try again Yugi," Kaiba snarled, pointing forward while the dragon before them hissed in annoyance. "I destroy one card in your hand..! WE'RE EVEN NOW!" Even..!

Four thousand against four thousand. "**HERE, BROTHER,**" Obelisk taunted, fist clenching within his opponent's mouth. "**You have something in your TEETH!**" Blood pooled to the ground in torrents as Obelisk ripped his fist through both jaws of the great dragon, Osiris moaning in pain. "**And NOW… To do as I INTENDED,**" he continued, slamming a fist into the ground as the dragon shook itself. "**Though the BATTLE CONTINUES,**" the giant announced,** "Our TIME has COME!**"

"**FATED to fight with no END... That is NOT your FATE! This BATTLE ,**" Osiris continued, the expression on Kaiba's face telling him that she as well could hear their words, "**Has no NEED for GODS!**"

"**But you must REMEMBER,**" they chorused, "**IF NOT SLIGHTLY…**"

'_The events of another time…_'

And as blinding light filled the air, he could swear he saw the Red Eyes Black Dragon again.

* * *

Standing outside the wall to the side of the Kaiba mansion, Katsuya couldn't help but notice that the woman beside him was both more different and more alike to her 'real' counter part than he'd initially thought.

As for what those differences were... Well for one, no crossdressing, though that was a given. She spoke as a woman because she was one, and dressed as such... Though there was still a slight masculine flair to what she wore now, despite it being something like capris and a tank top. She wasn't as hesitant to show her emotions either... Though it was more like they were just more subtle rather than 'hidden' somewhat. A small smile could have been as important as a grin. Simply looking away could have equated to bursting into tears for all he knew. But despite this, they were there at least. She didn't hide them.

Because she trusted them. Because she'd made friends with everyone in this 'world'... She'd never had to experience the betrayal and abuse she had from Gozaburo in the real world, never had to deal with the scars from whatever had been done during those times. But that same strength she'd gained...

Had come at a horrible price. A price that now lay over this wall before them, lit just dimly by a soon to set sun. Katsuya didn't know how different the Mokuba of this world would be; for a while, he didn't know if he was even alive despite what the internet spat out for him to read. But in the end, Gozaburo _had_ adopted Mokuba, even if he left Seto behind. So over this wall, if he had his timing right, that version of Mokuba would likely be taking a riding lesson. Which meant that even though they couldn't get past the wall without getting shot by much more heavily armed guards, they could at least watch from the wall before them to catch a glimpse of him riding past.

This 'Seto' was afraid right now. Afraid of if they would be caught, or that if her brother would see her he would simply hate her for what she'd done.

But she, like the real one, cared for Mokuba above everything. She _needed _to see him, more than anything. So despite all their differences, it was with that in mind that he was reaching a hand out for this fragment of his imagination, even if in the back of his mind he tried to remind himself that it didn't matter.

And if she didn't come with now... If she turned back now... "...Seri," he asked after a few moments of silence, the woman beside him still looking up the wall with somewhat wide eyes. "...Are y' ready? ...Are y' alrigh' w' this..?"

There was silence for a moment. But 'Seri' did indeed have Seto's courage, even if it was displayed with somewhat wide and life filled eyes that almost reminded him of another person entirely. "I'm ready," she said curtly, looking back down to the blond beside her and then looking back to the wall with a determined frown. "...Let's go."

Katsuya nodded, smiling somewhat. "Alrigh'. I'm gonna help y' up firs'," he told the woman as he cracked his knuckles, "But y' gotta lis'n carefully, got it? I'm gonna give y' a boost," the blond explained, Seri listening in silence, "And y' need t' keep as close t' th' wall top as possible. Righ' now," he continued, "We're righ' b'hind th' trees b'tween th' two halves of th' backyard. At th's time 'f th' day, it'll give us enough cover t' avoid d'tection... So long as we keep low, understand," he finished, sounding oddly intelligent compared to normal.

Again the woman nodded, putting her bag at the side. Even in this world, 'Seri' was obviously not the type to take orders; but she at least knew when it was best to listen. "Understood," she answered, looking back to her friend. "Now..." Katsuya held out a hand for the woman to step on, Seri gripping the wall and quickly 'climbing' upward as she was given a quick boost to the top. As instructed, she was laying flat across the top, shuffling to the side to make room... A few moments later and Katsuya had made his own way up, keeping beside the woman. "...So..."

"Follow me," the blond whispered, gesturing toward where a number of trees hung over the side of the wall with a careful and hidden wave. "We'll be better hidden over there..." Seri nodded, slowly 'seal crawling' behind her friend until they were at that very location. Just enough that they could see the stables… Just enough that someone would have to look directly at them to see…

Katsuya bit his lip as they were met with empty air, the woman beside him merely looking around somewhat curiously. Nothing… There was nothing…

"Damn it," he muttered under his breath. "I'd thought-"

"What's that sound," Seri whispered abruptly, cutting the blond's words shout with narrowed eyes. "It's almost like-" Like..

Hoofbeats. A snow white horse came into view over the field, jumping a set of fencing with ease as its rider stood somewhat off the saddle. "WONDERFUL," came a somewhat aged man's voice, Katsuya wincing as a chilling amount of cheer that he'd have never expected to hear came through it. "Wonderful Mokuba," the voice repeated, the horse trotting over at the sound. "You're learning so quickly..!" Wait...

Mokuba..! The horse slowed to a stop, the twelve year old on the saddle pulling off his helmet to free a bit of his long black hair as Gozaburo approached from the side. "Ah… Thank-you Tou-san," he said with a grin, those far off at the fence merely staring with mixed reactions. "It's only because of the lessons though; without it," he continued politely, "I'd never have made it this far..!"

"Hnhnhnhnhn… Well, regardless of lessons, you're doing amazingly well," the man complimented, helping his 'son' down from the horse as another wave of nausea struck the blond witness on the side. "If you can get the rest of your university courses done quickly in time," he went on, "I might even be able to take you somewhere special…"

"Special," he asked.

"Ah- you have to finish your classes first," the man countered sternly, a hand placed on his 'son's shoulder as he guided him away from the horse. "I can tell you that it begins with a 'D' however, and-"

"Doitsu," Mokuba guessed, his 'father' turning at the sound. "Deutschland? We're going to Germany again?"

"I thought I told you classes first," he growled, Katsuya idly noting that there was little to no malice in the tone.

Mokuba merely grinned, grabbing the reigns from his horse. "Hehehe... Right away Tou-san!" 'Tou-san'... This…

Though he himself had a stone look upon his face in response to the almost insulting image that spat in the face of his 'reality', Seri was merely staring with a somewhat relieved if not teary smile, watching as Gozaburo left the field to leave Mokuba on his own. "He looks so happy," Seri whispered, the two looking at the boy with now neatly brushed hair as he made to lead his horse back to the stables. "I… I always wondered how he was doing," she continued, "And what had happened but… He's happy... He's really..."

It looked as though, with all that happened… Mokuba ended up conditioned enough to fill the void Noa did, Katsuya noted almost coldly. Gozaburo was no different than from when Noa had gone if anything. In fact, this version of Mokuba was, if at all different from the Noa of that time, likely just more willing to dirty his hands rather than traumatized.

And just because they looked nothing alike, his mind told him. Just because he'd been younger than Noa had been when he started his schooling, and therefore a completely clean slate to work with. He almost felt sick, he thought to himself, eyes growing dull as he stared at the boy below the wall. He almost felt…

"Ah- Hang on," Mokuba called out abruptly, the stable hand helping him tensing as the shout entered the air. "Who is that?" Who was-

...

Crap. The two on the wall tensed, both the stable hand and the nearest guard reacting as soon as Mokuba's eyes turned on them to reveal their location. "GH- What th'-," Seri's shout was quickly cut off as she was pulled up on the wall, her arm having been quickly snatched up by the blond beside her. "What are you-"

"RUN," he called out in panic, the woman at his side growing pale as a bullet was fired beside her shoulder. "RUN FOR IT!"

"A-AHH!" The fence was probably about two meters tall. Nothing to really worry about when jumping down. Nonetheless, as they landed on their feet it took a few seconds to get running off again down a nearby street, particularly since there were probably guards on their tail and one of them was still stumbling and hesitating and trying to talk. "J- Jonouchi-kun," Seri repeated in protest, "What-"

"JUS' RUN FOR IT," he called out again in panic, turning the next corner as the pair quickly attempted to out run their pursuers. "RUN..!"

"RUN!"

"THEY'RE GONNA KILL US F'R TRESPASSIN'!" He didn't care how dreams worked, he wasn't dying in it and-

"Kil- ...Gh... Jonouchi-kun," the woman protested, pulling her arm back with a scowl as they came near the side of a canal. "Those are just rubber bullets! They're completely non-fatal!" Ah…

Rubber? They were using...

Rubber? The blond turned, blinking as they stood near the canal in the dying sunlight. "H... Hahaha... Really..?"

Seri sighed, smiling somewhat. "Really. ...Hahh... Jonouchi-kun… Why would Kaiba-san kill someone for trespassing," she asked, Katsuya opting to hold back how absolutely bizarre it was to hear her say 'kaiba-san' at all. "It's more trouble than it's worth..! Just because he deals in arms," the woman continued, "Doesn't mean he's a ruthless killer..!" Ah but that was what the _public _thought, but what about- ...Wait...

…Wait, she... She actually had a point, the blond realized blankly. Gozaburo could easily get more out of arresting an intruder than killing them, and even then…

Back in the time of 'Noa', Gozaburo completely detached the matters of war from the matters of his home, unless it was directly work related. So with that logic… Though the guards would be trained to use force, the first matter of attack would be the equivalent of riot control, taking down the intruder and bringing them in for questioning, not for killing them. So... With that in mind-

"Jonouchi-kun," Seri asked, waving a hand in the blond's face as he blinked. "Are you alright?" Al-

Oh. He spaced out again he realized, nodding as he looked back to the woman. "Er... Yea… Yea," he repeated awkwardly, "I'm… Ah... Heh..." That was scary actually... But in the end... "Hehehe… HAHAHAHAHA!" D-Damn… Now that it was all over, that was pretty hilarious actually..! "AHAHA! PHEW," he shouted with a grin, collapsing on the side of the canal as Seri stared. "That was… Tha' was crazy," he chuckled, shaking his head. "That…"

"…Hahaha…" Katsuya paused, blinking at the slight chuckle beside him. "Yea…" Laughing... It was weird, not hearing her laugh sarcastically but... "It was crazy, wasn't it," Seri admitted, taking a seat beside the blond as he continued to stare. The woman smiled, looking decidedly more like her 'real' counterpart as she stared out at the canal with a dim look in her eyes. "Six years… …I always wondered what he'd look like now," she whispered, looking down at the water with the sad smile still in place. "He was always right there, just in reach, but I could never find out… …Katsuya," the woman finished, turning to the blond beside her. "…Thank you, for everything, alright?" Ah... Thanks..! She was thanking him, what..!

"H-Hey," the blond laughed somewhat nervously, rubbing his head. "'S nothin'," he said with a shrug, "I-"

"I'll always remember this," the woman continued, her friend suddenly realizing how close she was sitting to him. "Thank you." E... Er...

"It's… Like I said," he whispered, face burning somewhat as his face came within a centimeter or so of Seri's. "I…" She was coming closer… Closer…

"I mean it..." Closer… "_Thank you._"

And as he closed his eyes, moving only slightly, he could feel her moving closer still in that world of the dream... Unable to tell if he wanted it to end or not.

* * *

**AN: **Another kiss! WHAT. ...Maybe? Hey, I could be a dick and wake him up, _right now_ for all you know.

Or do you? AHHHHH NO...

So here's to chapter ONE HUNDRED! I didn't count the prologue...

But even so, so many people sent in congratulations..! I'm almost in tears here, it's been such a long run so far and I'm so happy...

I just wish I had the scanner unpacked; as you know, this chapter (SUPERCHAPTER~) was delayed due to my moving to B.C.; the trip didn't take until now, but the fact is, it's three timezones and I had literally _nothing to do _in that car; inverter broke so typing was out, and trying to draw in a moving vehichle is absolute insanity. On the bright side, this time while driving through the states, I got to see two coyotes.

I've never seen a coyote, so I was quite pleased about this. (There were actually a few in the area I used to live in... But since I was downtown, I never saw them.) ...They sound kinda like they're laughing when they bark.

Anyways! VERY sorry about how long this took, particularly since, with the scanner still not set up, the art can't be posted with it... But I figured that it was either no art or supremely late chapter, and I don't like doing that.

At all.

Nonetheless, you've all stuck with me even this far... And I can't thank you enough for that! I'll have that 'hundred chapter' picture, along with some other reference art soon hopefully. Also, I'll be going after a degree soon enough, and since that's online, updates will start slowing down when I start... But not _too _much. I will say this again; thank you for reading it! This fanfic couldn't have made it so far without all of you, and the fact is, it is because of you that I might even have a _novel_ in the works. It's still rough going, and I'm just fleshing out the plan... But the fact is, there's a beginning middle and ending to it, there's characters, and there's a chance; and I owe this to all of you reading! Not just reviewing... Reading. Because every time I look at those numbers...

It really helps me to keep going with this guys. It really does.

On another note, it was brought to my attention... That this fanfic has a fairly 'bad' summary. It really doesn't do it any justice, and apparently actually steers people _away_ from the fanfic; so...

Here's your next contest! The title will always be Skin of course; it'd be rather silly to change it _now, _after _100_ chapters. BUT... That doesn't mean the summary can't be fixed up. Summaries are a limit of 255 characters, or letters for those not text savvy. (You'd be surprised; I didn't know what 'characters' meant until the middle of Highschool. I'm a fairly oblivious person believe it or not, which is probably _why _I do so much research. I don't like missing things) Your task? See if you can come up with something better than my summary...

_And this contest has a prize_; The winner will receive one request of art, for ANYTHING. It'll be flat coloured, with no background, and the limit of characters will be two... Three if they're all ridiculously simple or something. It could be for the fanfic, for another fanfic, for your favorite anime/book/daydream... Anything! So help me out, kay? Just enter it in either an anonymous review, an e-mail (You'll find that on my author page), or in a PM for those registered here... So...

And now, without further ado... Reviews, Notes, and Music! (Also, go watch Zexal; it's good. )

**Anonymous Review Responses**

A lot more than normal this time; this section REALLY doesn't do it justice, I got a lot of registered reviews for the last chapter as well!

First, Imadork! Thank you for the congratulations, and the praise~ (Praise is always good, even if it gives me a big and overinflated head, ohohoho.) I suppose all the effort I put into this is mostly because I don't want it to turn into just another 'rewrite'... And whenever I come across a pot hole, my stupid obsessive mind says '_NO USAGI, IT MUST BE FIXED._'

I'm glad you like it so far; here's to the next hundred chapters! (Because given that I'm including all the arcs, and this is just before the end of Battle City... I'd say there will be another hundred chapters. Whoops.)

Ooooh Iona... Bakura-esque wouldn't even cover it. Bad pun indeed!

It's beginning to feel like everything is futile against Yami Malik by this point... Jou certainly gave the bastard a run for his money though, that's for sure; scared the shit out of him as well, wait until later when he shows up for Yugi's match!

Over all, I found that the reaction in the manga was complete and utter devesation; even Kaiba showed shock for a short bit... But sadly, manga Kaiba was so obsessed with beating Yugi that he ended up being a complete prat about things. I can't really speak for Mokuba in the manga either... But fanfic versions? HAH. Look up and there's your answer... Care of the majority indeed, though the manga is still accurate on the part of Yugi, Honda, and Shizuka. 'Little' Yugi and Shizuka were in tears, Yami Yugi was in complete shock and unwilling to go on until he got that vision (And saw Jou's... Ghost? I dunno, but that's why there's a dragon there.), whereas Honda was actually _shaking the body at one poin_t on the field...

Later, in the actual medical room, he _bowed down_ before the doctor to beg him to keep Jonouchi alive. And the fact is, Honda and Jonouchi have been friends for far longer than he has with the rest of the cast; this reaction... Isn't actually surprising.

Happy 100 indeed! I'm now safe and home in BC (With a wonderful cedar loft... My dad BUILT my fiance and I a bed; evidently, he was aiming to have it done before we got there as a surprise. It wasn't done, but it was two days later, and for that I am happy.), and though things will still be slow as I run around gathering my bearings the update will hopefully be quicker than it was this time.

Oh! Cynical Gamer! *hugs* It's good that you're alright, I was worried.

And... Yes. Yes it was a shocking bit wasn't it... Even _I_ don't have words, and I _wrote_ this..! As for your reaction... Well. You have it. All of it. And boy is it grim... The fact is, that scene alone is what took this chapter so long; I can't even _begin_ to tell you just how hard that scene was to write. The despair, the feelings from everyone... And Kaiba...

OH Kaiba..! What would be OOC and IC by this point was a heavy, HEAVY stressor; as it is, the relationship will be taking a rather awkward turn for the next number of chapters... Largely because Seto knows nothing about things like that, doesn't want anything to do with things like that, but all the same can't help but love the idiot mutt.

Like I said WAAAAAYYY back in the prologue; fluff only. So thankfully... This means I can't feel TOO guilty about not having anything like that kiss scene for a bit. Just awkward. Endless awkward...

But first, DESPAIR. WHY, WHY DID I DO THIS? WHY DO I HURT THE ONES I LOVE AAHHHHHHHH...

And ooooh! I have your love? Yay~

Hehehe, keep guessing, but eventually you'll get your answer... I say eventually because it happens a full year after these events though, so... Lots of stuff.

Poor Anzu indeed. As for Haga, it _does_ involve one of his sisters, but not at all in the way you would likely expect; as a quick hint/warning so that the epileptic trees don't start sprouting in anyone's heads, the sister was not the cause of the incident, or at least, they did not instigate it. If anything, she was just as much victim as Haga was in the situation. So have fun guessing now... It'll be revealed _before Doma_, and _after_ the Christmas arc. (That leaves you with about six months for a window of time to guess and point at. Yay...)

Yes... Yes I HAVE left you with a mind-screw haven't I? Entering the TWILIGHT ZONE~~ And hopefully, this dream isn't lame either.

It's certainly cliched now that I think about it. Oh well~ (Hooray for the Seto that never was~)

Thanks for wishing me luck on my trip by the way; I'm now safe at home! And my cat... Lost all his weight... (He's underweight now! NO. CAM, GET FAT AGAIN. GET FAT SO THAT I STOP WORRYING. ...Poor cat...)

Well, enjoy the chapter!

Maggiemay! You're back!

And hahaha, I THOUGHT you might like this. I'm glad you'll be good for another few chapters Maggie; because besides the overdose of despair we have coming (though Malik's neck is indeed sexy), this relationship is going to be a LOT more awkward; after all... Go back to normal? HAH, no. If anything, it creates the kind of rift that comes before the incredibly indestructable bridge of romance.

You know, the one where one person wants the feelings responded to and the other has no clue what the hell she's supposed to _feel_ about anything? Doesn't help that Seto's kiiiiiiinda trying to keep her gender underwraps, and hasn't learned diddly about this sort of thing as a result.

Actually, that part probably makes it worse, since any sex-ed classes she'd have had would have come with the added bonus of her tutor believing she was male... (OH BOY) Oh well. I'm always up to a challenge.

With that, I hope you enjoyed the above, with the 'Seto-that-never-was'!

Until then...

Enjoy the hundredth chapter everyone! Here's to the next half-and-a-bit of SKIN! (Which could use a better name. And a summary.)

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

See, this is where Japan's obsession with blood types is REALLY handy. Jonouchi has type B blood. However, we don't know if that's B positive or B negative. As a whole however, 'O Negative' is the universal type that they can use for this… Similarily, O _Positive_ is _not_ the universal donor; instead, only positive blood types can take it.

Now, if Jou was B-, I would have to give him either B negative, or O negative. I had actually been thinking at one point how cool it would be for the oh-so-cliched couple's blood transfusion, but Seto's type A, and that would be silly and fatal. But the thing is, it can't be Yugi either!

Yugi's the universal recipient; he's type AB! AB can only donate to AB! (And even then, Positive ABs can only donate to… Well, positive ABs.) Honda's an A type himself, which knocks him out of the running,

On the other hand… Anzu and Ishizu are O type. And Otogi is B type. And Mokuba's O type as well! (We don't get Shizuka's type.) Which is why, for the sake of accuracy, Otogi is the one who donated; see, the 'universality' only applies to the red blood cells here.

It's reversed for the plasma, and they aren't exactly filtering right now. Plasma makes up 55% of blood… Yea…

Also, I don't think that any of this blood transfusion was legal in any way. For one, there's no testing, no filtering… Nothing. All they had to go on was type. But Kuzushi pretty much just threw everything out the window and said '_screw it; I'll take this kid's word that he doesn't have any diseases and to a transfusion to save his life_'.

See, it's kinda hard to carry oxygen through the body when there's no blood to do it. So it's a matter of '_well, we don't have time to dick around waiting for an actual blood bag, so let's move it._'

* * *

What! Yugi can see Red-Eyes? Not because of anything Jou did! And not because of some weird power thing; remember what I mentioned earlier about the others having their own weaker forms of this ability? (Seto with Blue Eyes ON the field for example) Since Red Eyes is technically part of Yugi's deck at the moment, and because the entire freaking island is being super-charged by God Cards, it's completely within his power to show up before the kid.

* * *

Hey look, we're back in the twilight zone! The reason why most of the others call this 'Seto-That-Never-Was' 'Souryuu-chan' is mostly because this version of Seto is… Really… REALLY… Polite. Also very impersonal at first glance; after all, she's still the same height, and that makes an obviously female Seto possibly more intimidating than if she was crossdressing.

In any case, Yugi being Yugi, he's likely the only one who uses her first name, besides Anzu… Though Anzu's reason was explained later on as you see; in this incarnation, Seri actually attended Middle School with Anzu. OH AU'S. HOW FUN IT IS TO SCREW WITH REALITY.

Sadly, no pictures of the AU cast for you yet.

* * *

HEHHHH '_Usagi, how can they possibly be happy during this duel, **omg**_!' First, don't use chatspeak in your words, hypothetical reader, it ruins your maturity level. Second, it's easy! They're both the sorts of characters that get easily caried away with this sort of thing, and _the duels themselves _have that effect. (How else would Jou be able to continue with all those grievous wounds?) Besides that, Seto's good at pushing negativity from mind. Which isn't actually a good thing... As we found out a few chapters prior...

* * *

Funny thing; Seto seems to have two completely different reactions to things when something happens at the end of the chapter in the manga. At the end of the chapter where Osiris is summoned, Kaiba smirks and says _interesting_. In the start of the next, he's pissed, going on in his mind about how detestful it is for Yugi to summon a God Card first... Even has his rage face. DAMN IT KAIBA, MAKE UP YOUR MIND.

* * *

All of Seto's summoning lines came directly from the Manga. JUST SAYIN'. It wasn't me making Seto more 'hammy'. I don't need to do that. Seto can do it for me.

* * *

There aren't too many notes here, but here's a long one on Osiris and 'Set', 'Sutekh', or whatever you want to call our Desert God. Osiris and Set were both brothers, (Their sisters being Isis and Nephthys) sons of Geb and Nut specifically. Set, at one point, kinda killed and dismembered Osiris however, because he was jealous of the guy's respect and happy marriage with Isis. He then took all the pieces and threw them in the nile...

And this is where the in-joke comes in. Isis regathered all the pieces and put Osiris together you see...

But he didn't get his penis back. A _catfish_ ate it. Needless to say, if he wasn't depicted fighting Osiris, he was depicted fighting Osiris' _son_, Horus.

Even... Though they're depicted together to represent Lower and Upper Egypt... (WUT.)

Any ways, fun stuff there.

Oh, more on how Set killed Osiris... He tricked him into getting in a box. And THEN threw it in the nile. So technically, Set didn't do the dismembering; yet. See, Isis went and found the corpse, got pregnant, and then hid the body. Set, in the meantime, went along his merry way while Isis was off raising Horus.

Then Set found Osiris' body. And _then_ he got ticked off and dismembered it. (14 pieces I believe.) Isis however, went off and found all but the last piece, and as a reward for being so determined to give the poor guy a proper burial, Osiris was revived as the god of the underworld. Yayyyyyyy...

* * *

WHAT. MOKUBA'S HAPPY? WHAT. Hey. It's a weird-ass dream, alright? As for the actual explanation, a large amount of Seto's grief in this fanfic originated from Gozaburo wanting Noa back... And from Seto simply not being Noa, but resembling him completely. (Well, in the face at least.) Mokuba however, looked nothing like Noa. In addition, not only would he have had to start at the same point Noa did for schooling, but this means the schedule wouldn't have been nearly as demanding, and more importantly, he wouldn't be seen as a vessel nearly as much. In fact, given how many years it takes for people to adapt to each other, it's quite likely that crazy-dream-world Mokuba and Gozaburo... Actually get along fine. Particularly since Mokuba would have tried his damnedest to not screw up what his sister gave him, which involves paying attention in class...

Given that Noa completely flipped out and lost it a year later, that leaves _plenty_ of time for the pair to grow on each other and _not be complete assholes to each other either._

Of course, this makes Jou extremely sick to his stomach as a result, but whatever, it's a dream. Or something.

NOW THEN...

* * *

Musical Notes

Music music music...

Time for some shameless song advertising!

First...

Pretty much EVERYTHING on 'Ciel's page on Youtube. I mentioned her last chapter, but a large number of her covers are quite good. In particular, there was lots of 'Sweet Devil' (Ironically... During the DUEL scenes. AHAHAHA), Zeijakukei Shounen, and 'If'... Lots and lots of music! I basically cycled through this playlist of her solo covers.

And of course, by directing you to said page (Her username is izaya1380 by the way) this section is much shorter than the norm...

So until the next chapter, enjoy the above! Today's update took... Oh... Two weeks... (-wince- ...The fact that it's LONG probably helps.) BUT... From now on, unless I say otherwise, expect about a week between updates depending on length, okay?

Off we go! See you!


	102. Chapter 101

**Red Soul**

* * *

It was incredible, the power that two words could have. '_Thank you._' That was all she'd said.

'_Thank you._'

And yet it had Katsuya's heart racing. It had his face flushed red and his eyes wide with confused and even horrified hesitancy as a dream-like, fragmented figment of imaginative representation of Seto Kaiba continued to lean in toward him. Her eyes were closing over. His as well he realized, swallowing nervously as his breathing became audible. In, out... In, out, in, out in out in, and he could hear each one...

His heart was still racing.

-_b-dmp-_

Or was that her heart that he could hear coming closer?

-_b-dmp_-

This was a dream, he tried to tell himself.

-_b-dmp-_

It was nothing but a dream, nothing good would come of this if his eyes stayed close.

-_B-DMP-_

Just a dream..!

-_B-DMP-_

A dream, where everything had apparently been sacrificed just to get this woman to respond to-

-_B-DMP-_

To...

-_**B-DMP**_-

His eyes were closed.

_**-B-DMP**_-

His breathing was slow and almost anticipatory, and he was beginning to lean in as well, face flushed red and heart pumping louder than a bass drum.

-_**B-DMP**_-

Just a dream.

-_**B-DMP**_-

Just a dream...

-_**B-DMP**_-

Nothing more.

-_**B-DMP**_-

Nothing less.

-_**B-DMP-**_

Wake up he told himself.

-_**B-DMP**_-

Wake up..!

_**-B-DMP-**_

WAKE...

-_**B-DMP**_-

UP..!

His heart was racing. So was hers.

But it was all just a dream (_was it really_, someone whispered), it was just a dream (_maybe you were dreaming until now_), this world was twisted (_but she loves you here_), it wasn't right, it wasn't...

It wasn't...

It WASN'T..!

-_**b-dmp. B-Dmp. B-Dmp. B-Dmp. B-DmpB-DMPB-DMPB-DMPB-DMPB-DMPB-**_

He wanted...

With a jolt, head still bowed he grabbed Seri's shoulders, pushing her back. His eyes flung open and he found himself staring at the ground, hair shadowing his face as he choked on his breaths. Just...

Just a dream... Nothing more nothing less he told himself as Seri tensed, just a dream... "Gh... What..!"

Katsuya grit his teeth, shaking his head. "It ain' right," he muttered, shaking as he gripped the woman's shoulders tight. "It ain' right..! This ain' you!"

"Not me..?" The woman continued to stare, shaking her head. "Jonouchi-kun," Seri muttered, half scowling and half confused as she looked at the bowed head before her. "What on earth are you talking about..?"

"It ain' righ'," he repeated, looking up with almost crazed eyes. "Everythin's wrong here; you aren't who you are, Yugi isn' who he oughta be... An' th' Other Yugi's nothin' but a shadow. It's _wrong,_" the blond continued, getting to his feet to turn away and ramble on in apparent insanity. "I jus'... Damn it," he roared, voice echoing over the canal as he held his head, pulling at his hair and grinding his teeth. "I wanna _WAKE UP _damn it... I wanna wake UP_!_"

But he wasn't waking up... He wasn't, and as he breathed almost raggedly, hands falling back to the ground Seri stared at him in an obvious concern that was again 'not right' in his mind. "...What's wrong," she said calmly, standing up to look at him with a frown as her 'friend' remained silent. "I'm not 'me'? What are you talking about?"

Tch... Great. He wasn't waking up, so now the person he'd been about to kiss thought he was crazy. (There went _his _chances...) Then again...

This was just a dream; nothing more nothing less, so what the hell did it matter any more? He couldn't care about this... He couldn't, not unless he wanted to be stuck here! So he would say it again. "I'm talkin' abou' everything," he muttered, not looking back to the woman beside him. "Th' real you... She'd as soon deck me in th' face before ev'n thinkin' of a kiss. Heck, she already did! An' the real you," he continued, turning to the woman with a swallow, "Uses 'ore', and 'omae' and 'onore'... She wears suits an' coats an' pants, she _stayed_ w' her brother, she didn' grow out her hair..! Th' real you has three Blue-Eyes White Dragons in 'er deck," he went on with a rising voice, "She wants t' beat Yugi above anythin' in Duel, the 'other Yugi' in a duel, an' she... She..."

She probably hated him, for what he'd done Katsuya realized. But in the end...

That didn't change what he thought. "I love 'Kaiba Seto-chan'," the blond whispered at an almost inaudible tone. "Not 'Souryuu Seri'... An' ev'n if she never feels th' same way... Ev'n if she hates me, an' never trusts me again," he forced out, Seri simply staring in silence, "That'll always be my answer... This world isn't real," Katsuya told her. "An' it ain' right. Dreams," he laughed, shaking his head. "They're dreams f'r a reason righ'? They have t' end... 'Cause the aren' real. So no matter what," he continued seriously. "No matter what it takes, I will never accept 'this' as reality. No matter how long it takes... I..."

Seri was still staring, and for a moment a flash of worry came into his mind. Even with what he said after all, he still had to live with it until that moment where he was finally able to 'wake up'. What if that moment wasn't until the time where he went up against Malik's dark half again in this world? Or even afterward? What if...

He never... Seri was chuckling he realized, looking back to the woman with a frown. A wind was passing through the air and she was chuckling, and as Katsuya stared the woman smiled with an almost cheshire-like grin. "And that, _**Black One,**_" she told him, eyes narrowing as colours seemed to bleed out from herself and from the scene, "_Is the correct choice._" Wh...

What... The scene shattered and without warning an almost collapsing sensation fell over him. The canal, the street, the trees, all of them were gone, scattering into fragments on the wind and the woman before him seemed to shrink down as the colours continued to vanish to leave nothing but white.

The only thing remaining in the blinding light was a pair of blue eyes... And when the girl spoke again it sounded almost as though a dragon was singing at the back of her words, her form changing still as the wind blew his clothes in every direction. Hair lengthened and the face changed, the smile never altering. Colours continued to fade and soon enough there was nothing but white, white... White, on a familiar face...

"Kisara," he whispered in surprise, the name coming off his tongue before he even realized who or what he was talking about. "You're..." Why was _she_ here though..?

The girl smiled, bowing somewhat as almost comical wings stretched out from her back. "Correct," she said with a smile. "You broke the illusion faster than I thought, 'Black One'." Black one..? What... "I underestimated you," she added, the blond coughing somewhat. Underest-

And hold on a second, this was 'Seri' a few seconds ago..! "Wait wait... So... Then... I was abou' t' kiss..." Kisara merely continued to smile as her guest sputtered, bringing a hand to his head as he groaned. "Auggggghhhh... What th' hell... What th' hell is this..." And 'black one'? What did that even mean...

Kisara chuckled, shaking her head. "Hah... You really don't know anything at all do you," she asked, smiling almost sadly. The blond looked up, frowning as the girl moved closer. "Really... If I look like this," she continued, gesturing to the white dress she wore with the almost 'monstrous' appearance she'd taken, "You can't possibly remember who I was..." Who she was...

Besides a name and a face he didn't know, and with that Katsuya bit his lip, turning away. "I don'... Sorry kid..." He really was... But the fact was there was nothing but a name and a distant memory. To think though; it'd been so clear in the Virtual World..! But in the end, the memories he recalled having while within that memory... He hadn't really recalled them. He hadn't seen what happened, or heard what he'd said. He'd just known that he'd shared 'his' name, that he'd traveled far throughout those ancient lands with those two kids on his side...

And nothing else. Because it was just a dream... But... Even so, he could have at least tried to remember who- "That's alright," Kisara told him, smiling almost sadly as she caught the look on her guest's face. "It's a given really... Memories like these become strained over the years... And you waited a long time for this you know..!" Had he now? The girl laughed somewhat, shaking her head. "You'll remember me someday," she decided with a confident nod. "And that's besides the point... You passed the test," the girl announced with a grin. "When offered life or death, heaven or reality," she continued, "You picked 'reality'... I could probably have done better on the illusion though," she admitted with a wince, Katsuya snorting in response.

"Hah! Jus' a little... Wasn' so much heaven as a nightmare," he muttered, crossing his arms with a slight scowl as the white girl scratched her 'ear'.

"True," Kisara admitted with a sigh. "But... ..._You almost said 'yes', didn't you,_" she added, tone abruptly taking a far more chilling ring to it.

The blond froze, words caught in his throat as he looked back to the smiling girl. Almost... ...That was right, he had doubted himself for a moment in that dream. At the last minute, he'd been about to change his mind and give in, letting the illusion continue, but... Did that mean...

He would have _died_..? "**CORRECT, young one of the ANICENT line...**" Katsuya stiffened as still more light filled the air, dying the scene almost gold in colour as 'Ra's voice echoed about the air. 'Correct'..? As the blond turned, squinting in the light he found himself stepping back under the monster's presence, even when it had yet to appear in his sights. **"You would INDEED have PASSED should the wrong choice have been MADE... HOWEVER,"** Ra continued, still failing to appear as he spoke, "**You have PASSED nonetheless... If you are so WILLING to CORRECT the fallacies of REALITY... If you can SURPASS the ILLUSION of a better LIFE,**" he continued, gleaming eyes slowly appearing through the glare,** "Then I will GRANT you THIS REWARD...**" Re...

"R'ward," he repeated, choking somewhat. H-Hell... All he'd done was get fed up with the illusion, so how...

How did that come into 'you win a prize'..? "**You who bear the FACE of the ANCIENTS,**" Ra commanded, his voice pounding through Katsuya's ears. "**Do you UNDERSTAND the GRAVITY of this VISION you held..?**" Vision? And the gravity of it..! It was a dream, a nightmare a...

There was a point..? … "...No," he admitted, bowing his head with a whisper. "I don'..." He... Tch. Watch. He'll have just failed like the idiot he was, rather than picking something he should have paid attention to from the mess... He'd die anyways...

Evidently however, that wasn't the case. "**I did not think you would,**" the God said lowly, an almost ghostly vision of the monster appearing before him as Ra alighted on the 'ground'. "**But in TIME,**" he whispered, "**In TIME, when you need it MOST... You will REALIZE that this CHALLENGE is MORE than a matter of PREFERENCE, and of LIFE and DEATH! IT IS A MATTER OF YOUR VERY FUTURE,**" the god roared severely, "**OF YOUR PAST... And as of NOW,**" he rumbled, the sounds of an explosion seeming to pass through the air as he spoke, "**Of the very SOUL and MEMORY of those CLOSE...**" The souls and memories...

Wait... WHAT! "Th's... Th's is abou' th' other's _souls_," he asked incredulously, eyes widening. "What... What th' hell do you mean by that," Katsuya roared. With something like this... "If it's somethin' like tha', it's important now isn' it!"

Ra did not answer this question, merely shaking his head and continuing to look down at the boy from far above. "**Your TIME is SHORT,**" he said flatly, Katsuya's scowl slowly falling flat to replace itself with shock. "**We can hold you here NO LONGER... HOWEVER,**" he continued, bowing his head.

"...Your body is not ready yet," Kisara finished bluntly, the teen across from her staring in confusion. Not... Not ready..? The girl nodded, as though having heard his thoughts before answering. "Your wounds still haven't healed... If we return you to your body," she warned, "You'll die." He... He'd _die.._?

"N... No way, jus' like tha'," he asked nervously, coughing as he took a step back. "I'd be dead..?" After all that... From his own damn sword..! "But... What th' hell..." They... Because he'd broken the illusion too soon, he was going to _die_..!

"**SUCH is the COST of SHADOWS,**" Ra 'responded', wide and golden wings spread before him. The monster again shook his head however, standing on his hind legs to motion downward with one of his forelimbs. "**Do not FEAR ANCIENT,**" the god commanded, Katsuya frowning as the monster went on. "**Though we can no longer HOLD you within your MIND,**" he continued,** "There is yet ANOTHER option...**"

"And that," the white girl beneath him continued, "Is the option we will now take." Well, if it kept him alive he supposed, but...

Well. "...An' that option is..?"

"**A GIFT,**" the God roared, pulling Katsuya's attention back upward. "**You may SHARE your ABILITY, if only for a MOMENT in TIME... UNTIL YOU AWAKEN,**" he finished, wings closing over the blond to shroud his vision in darkness. "**We will GRANT you this MUCH...**" This much..?

But wait... "W-Wh-... Wait," he shouted, somehow finding his voice again. "What..!" What was 'this much!

There was no answer from the beings, the pair instead fading from sight with those words. And mere moments afterward, he found himself falling forward through the sky with only a short word in the back of his mind giving him any clarity on the situation that he'd abruptly been thrust into, the white vanishing to replace itself with the clouds of the atmosphere as he found himself screaming.

'_Ghost._'

Hahaha. Ghost. Hah. (How was that any better than dead!) There was no answer, of course, save his own screams...

But in the end, even those had to stop, and with a light swallow he continued to watch as the ground came closer. Well, he thought with a pale and notably uneasy shudder. Wasn't this just _pleasant._

* * *

It was taking just a bit of effort not to scream as the light filled the air around them. As the destruction wrought between Osiris and Obelisk exploded between the two, their words echoing in her mind while the entire arena collapsed from beneath her feet. But holograms didn't speak she tried to tell herself, eyes wide as she felt herself tumble forward through the air in the blinding light. They didn't speak, nor did they make things real or...

Or...

Yugi's puzzle was drawing her attention, the pair seemingly flying through darkness with no source of direction. It was emanating a blinding, golden light and throughout this the storm clouds began to spiral around them as they fell... Lightning struck the ground and from the center of the vortex they were seemingly thrown from was nothing but empty space, a void, a black hole from which nothing came and went. The amount of time that she had to ponder this however was minimal; just seconds later she slammed against the ground, a loud shout escaping her lungs as her face smacked against solid ground before she pushed herself up. Darkness met her vision. Nothing but darkness and shadows, and yet as she looked forward across the sanded and ruined scene her vision slowly began to adjust. This place...

"Where is this," she found herself muttering, eyes narrowed as a scene almost familiar to an age old dream came into view. Sand... There was nothing but sand around them, sand, fires, and the ruins of a kingdom long buried beneath the ground. And then a stone floor came to view from the blowing shadows in her eyes. The collapsed ruin of a temple, the roof long since destroyed in whatever catastrophe came over this place, with only half the pillars standing tall at the sides while the others lay in pieces. But the people standing on it... And the carvings on the walls, which bore inscriptions her mind could dimly recall reading...

"That... That's... _Me,_" she heard Yugi whisper, the boy's eyes widening as three figures came into view across from them, the shortest barely identified by a familiar silhouette of hair. "And fighting him..."

"_Hnhnhnhnhnhn... The Black Lands of the North have fallen into ruin, 'King',_" she heard the tallest of the three taunt, a shadowed figure in flames behind 'him' as what looked to be a more tanned and regal form of her rival ground his teeth. Her vision cleared more... Gold and cloth came into view, and shadowed eyes wide with madness met her gaze, a grin on the one with a broken mask behind the figure. This person...

"Impossible," she hissed, eyes widening briefly as she looked upon the one who was not a man but a woman so familiarly in disguise. Impossible... The same as from her dream, the so-called 'Pharaoh' representing her rival, the 'Priest' with her face, the monstrous man whom the 'Priest' fought in the dreams but...

Why..? WHY!

"_Set,_" the 'other Yugi', the 'Fake Yugi' rasped, puzzle hanging around a grime covered neck that matched the rest of the body in its coating of dust and blood. "_Please... Open your eyes,"_ he seemed to beg, both of those watching rendered silent with confusion and shock both as he reached out a hand. "_You don't want to do this Set... You don't want to do this..!_"

The Priest merely continued to grin. "_Hn! Pathetic,_" she responded, voice well hidden as she fingered the blade in her hands. "_You're nothing more than a broken King,"_ the woman laughed,_ "Reduced to begging in the same manner of a mere 'dog'... The High Priest has taken your land,_" she chuckled, still running a finger along the side of the dagger, "_Conquering the powers of Heaven and Earth combined... Your Millennium Items are gone, and your so-called 'Divine Right' is WORTHLESS... AND I,_" 'Set' cackled,continuing to grin as the others stared in horror and shock, "_AM ALSO YOUR ENEMY... From now and FOREVER,_" she snarled, charging forward, "_All I need is to defeat you with my hands... DIE, PHARAOH!_"

"_Gh..!_" The King barely managed to dodge the blow, rolling away before gripping the cord around his puzzle. With one hand forward he looked to the priest with both fear and regret, before opening his mouth to shout. "_MAHAAD!_" Mahaad..?

But that name...

With a whirl of shadows a figure appeared, and through it she heard a voice; "_**BACK AWAY, CORRUPTED PRIEST!**_" From nothing but stone a monster appeared, garbed in the robes of the Dark Magician as he stood upon the stone. Wand held forward he blocked the next strike from the dagger their attacker held, throwing their attacking opponent back and against a tablet that stood far to the side. But on the image of the tablet...

"_Set, PLEASE,_" the Pharaoh shouted, weak eyes narrowed in a mixture of rage and despair both as he gripped a broken pillar for support. "_Please... You came to my aid against the king of thieves... You helped me in my battle against Akhnaden, so why do you side with him now..!_"

At this the Priest seemed to freeze, a snarl coming over her face as she stood beside the tablet. "_Side with... Him! AKHNADEN,_" she roared, pulling herself up to lean against the tablet for support. "_I would rather DIE, 'KING'... But know THIS,_" the woman continued, "_This will be our last fight..! And with the power of this dragon at my side, I will destroy you,_" the Priest announced. _ "And this darkness,_" she continued, running forward as a white smoke pulled forth from her side to form a mighty and dragonic beast,_ "Will be the next to follow..! NOW! WHITE DRAGON,_" Set commanded, running forward with the monster. "_ATTACK!_"

"_Gh... Damn it.. ...'DARK MAGICIAN',_" the Pharaoh countered, the magician in question biting his lip as the enormous and gleaming monster shot forth from her stone with a roar. "_FIGHT..!_" With a nod the monster charged, ducking around the first strike from the attacking Priest to again block with the staff. Set was thrown back but she charged again, and in response, so did he...

"_**HAAAAAAHHHHHHH..!**_"

And in the clashing light that filled the air as a result they could only see one last thing. The dragon as it gathered a blast of flames in its mouth. The magician as he pointed his staff forward, a cry of both rage and regret filling the air as he took aim at the priest that charged for a fatal blow. And then...

The tablet. That stupid, giant stone tablet haunting recent dreams and nightmares with the puzzle in the center and the monsters rising forth from stone... The hieroglyphs that she could read and yet _not_ read, the carvings blurred in her mind as she began to loose sight of her surroundings, with words long forgotten remaining unclear. As darkness cloaked her vision, her body, her mind...

"Impossible," she repeated to herself, shaking her head as she gripped it tightly in her hands. "IMPOSSIBLE... This isn't..!" What did this mean? What was going on, what did it all mean..! She'd had enough of this... Enough of this business with Ancient Egypt, with 'Fate', with everything..! She wanted it to end, for it to at least make a fragment of sense..!

There was no answer though, as she continued to scream within her mind. Only darkness.

* * *

What was this scene he asked himself with wide eyes, unable to fully comprehend what he saw. Was it an illusion? Or a memory from his past? When the Dark Magician was summoned, he'd thought he heard a name... But in the end, though the 'King's mouth moved, nothing came out, not even a whisper. The monsters shot forth from ground and stone, acting as real as possible, moving as though made of flesh and bone rather than the shadows of another realm...

But the regret filling the air... The despair... Even from the attacking Priest, actions were twisted, her motives distorted by an invisible force. 'Her' eyes, assuming the Priest and Kaiba herself were the same in that respect, had been shadowed when he finally saw them. Though they widened and closed with rage and emotion the colour had dulled, and though the shadowed High Priest, the one named 'Akhnaden', seemed to growl at the mention of disloyalty he held for the most part a frightening and leering grin beneath the shattered mask he wore, watching the event with nothing but maddened glee.

This battle was supposed to repeat itself though, wasn't it he asked himself. A destined battle, waiting thousands of years to occur... And he was sure of it... He was sure it was real, sure that it had happened at one point..!

But why did he see nothing but darkness right now, instead of the answer to this battle, instead of the conclusion to the strike Blue-Eyes prepared to fire. Why did he see...

"_**Rrrrrrrnnnnnnn...**_" Red eyes. A pair of gleaming red eyes, opening and blinking in the darkness. Yugi's eyes widened as a dragon melted out from the shadows, seemingly wrapping the boy in waves of a liquid blackness to 'lift' him from the ground. "**_Rrrrrnnnnn... Nnnnnnn..._**" All it was doing at this moment was breathing, he noted with a swallow, the head materializing around the eyes to bow forward. But why...

Why was it...

'_There's more you need to know,_' he thought he heard someone whisper. '_Look again; there's more to this tale that you need to know._' ...What?

Shadows melted away and Blue-Eyes fired the blast of white flames with a snarl. But rather than strike the Magician, or even the past incarnation of his own self, they took aim at a different target, resulting in just as much shock from the one watching as those in the battle itself.

The Priest. "_G-GGHHHHHHAAAAAAAAAHHH!_" Screams filled the air... From both the shadow behind them and the woman to the front, and as the fires sank deep within the woman's body the dragon soon began to fade out of existence. The magician at his previous self's side stared with wide-eyed horror, and the Pharaoh himself merely gripped a small bleeding wound he'd sustained from the dagger 'Set' still carried in her hands, the dagger that was still held above the boy in an attempt to attack even as the priest gripped her head in the same mmoment. "_HHHHAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHGGGG!_"

"_S... Set,_" the Pharaoh cried in panic._ "SE-_"

At last the blade came down, but rather than striking the boy before her it sank deep into her own arm, the Priest breathing raggedly as blood trickled from the wound. She wouldn't be able to move it properly after this. Lift maybe, but if she tired anything else it would fail, likely for the rest of her life. That didn't matter right now however, as the colour returned to her eyes. It didn't matter, and as her now narrowed and severe gaze moved back to her King she grit her teeth. "_Gh... Flee,_" she hissed, fires blazing around them as the shadowed figure collapsed into dust. "_Khemet is lost... And we. Must. Flee..._

_Flee..._

A whirl of shadows, and of darkness, Yugi closed his eyes for only a moment. Scraps of red flew along the sides within the blaze and suddenly there was nothing but light filling his vision as he looked again. Light, screams, roars and snarls, the sounds of dragons across the air... And amidst the chaos Yugi's eyes widened, a strong and clear voice pinpointed from the mess. "_REMEMBER THESE WORDS,"_ he heard 'himself' cry, his figure barely visible through the blazing light as he held his puzzle forward. "_FOR THIS IS THE NAME OF THE ONE WHO SEALED YOU..! AND THE NAME OF THE ONE __WHO DEFEATED YOU IS..._

Is...

_- - -..!_" What was that..?

The light cleared and another vision came into being. The priest, arm still bleeding but recently bandaged running forward from the rubble of the sanded desert, cliffs that he could swear he'd seen before surrounding the pair. She stumbled... And looking forward both watched as the Pharaoh collapsed from ahead of them, the puzzle slowly crumbling into pieces around his neck. "_Pharaoh... Pharaoh,_" she called out, running forward again with her limp arm gripped tight. "-..!" Again...

He missed the name again, so what... The woman came to the collapsed boy's side, eyes wide as she slowly rolled him onto his back. All of the ferocity he'd seen prior was gone, along with most of the emotion... These eyes... They were almost like Yugi's eyes even... And as the boy looked forward he frowned somewhat, speaking with barely more than a whisper. "..._Who are you..._"

The Priest stared with wide and almost incredulous eyes with those words, before bowing her head... She... She was crying, Yugi realized coldly. Not loudly, not hysterically, merely quietly, with no words to say as she shook. In the end however she merely continued to let the boy lay in her arms, biting her lip as she answered his question. _"I am... The High Priest, Set,_" she whispered hoarsely, grip on the boy tightening._ "Wielder of the Millennium Rod in the court of the Pharaoh..."_

"_...The Pharaoh," _he asked, eyes closing over slightly with confusion.

Set seemed to stiffen, nonetheless nodding as her eyes became shadowed behind her hair. _"You, remember,_" the woman asked._ "You... You are the king of this land,_" she whispered, biting her lip until blood began to peek through the cuts that resulted. "_A great... And powerful king..._" ...She admitted this..? And moreover...

"_..Really..?_"

Why didn't his past self remember this anymore..? The priest seemed to know; she was looking to her king almost pitifully, as though she knew what would come next...

As though she knew he was dying... _"It's true_," she whispered to him, nodding slowly. "..._ Really... A 'king of games', some would call you... 'The King of Strategies, and of Battles'... You..._" The woman shook herself, choking over her words as her face twisted into a frown. "_You can't forget..! Understand..? You... ...There are many things you can't forget about yourself... You like onions,_" she rambled, "_And beef, and turtles... Swimming in the nile... But all the Gods in the world wouldn't be able to convince you to drink milk,_" she continued with an almost growling tone, _"Nor could they force even one seed of Mustard into your meal... And I... ...And I..._" Why couldn't she speak... Why couldn't..._ "You can't die," _she demanded, clutching the boy's shoulder as he stared up dimly, the 'ghost' at the side continuing to stare in confusion. "_Understand me,_" she roared, tears flowing freely in a mix of rage and misery both._ "You WON this battle, you CAN'T DIE, YOU..._"

"_...Were we friends then,_" the Pharaoh abruptly asked, Yugi's eyes dimming as the Priest froze.

The answer... Though the two were obviously close he had still seen these two as mirrors to himself and Kaiba, to himself and his 'rival'. Two endless rivals, fighting... With one raging at the other for daring to leave before they could finish. But the answer was hardly what he expected. For instead of continued rage it seemed that the Priest instead continued to crumble on herself, expression softening as tears continued to stain her cheeks. "_Of course,_" she instead whispered, bowing her head further as the body grew cold. "_No matter what I say... No matter what I do,_" the Priest continued, looking into the King's eyes with a swallow as the boy at the sidelines tilted his head in confusion. "_I will __always__ be your __friend__._

_Remember that..._

_Remember..._

_Remem..._

_No matter what..! _

Without warning he was on his knees in the cold storming air of the Battle City tower, gasping for breath while his opponent did the same. Staring at the ground with wide eyes, a hand brought to his throat as he attempted to calm himself, and as he attempted to regain his thoughts and comprehend just what he had seen and just what had happened. That vision... That scene...

_Do you understand now,_ he thought he heard someone say, a low growl in the air behind it as someone laughed. _Do you understand?_ Understand..? No... Of course he didn't, how could he..!

The Gods were gone, their words faded on the air as they left both of their summoners to their final challenge. And in their wake, the sky had almost cleared completely... The clouds were vanishing from the air, and the scene around and above the 'coliseum' was slowly reverting to the sun filled state that the battle started off in. Not at all befitting of the situation he noted dully, and as the two looked across the field at each other there was naught but silence. Both players pulled themselves to their feet, staring at each other with shadowed eyes, their thoughts kept to themselves and kept in silence.

Kaiba... She hadn't seen that part of the vision, had she, he realized with a swallow. Just the scene where she prepared to strike him down, for neither light nor darkness, with an expression nearly identical to what he could see now. The vision of the past life that fought for herself... Only herself, with only a fraction of motive breaking through the possession the Priest seemed to be under. It was a battle immortalized in stone. A battle that had been recorded by... ...By...

...Who _had _carved that stone he wondered, looking across the field with narrowed eyes. Who was it..? If 'he' had died that day, or come close to it... Then who carved that stone?

There was no way of knowing... But in the end, he told himself, there was still a battle to be had.

A battle that could do nothing other than continue on.

* * *

There was no such thing as magic she repeated in her mind, constantly and endlessly. No such thing as magic, the mantra continued, pounding against her skull with as much force as the lessons from years since past. Shadows did not become monsters, dragons did not exist, possession was impossible, and more importantly the switch between 'Yugi' and the 'Other Yugi' was just some bizarre case of DID that should have been looked at a fairly long time ago... It was not, and never was, the switch between two completely different souls.

But then how, her mind asked, do you explain the first time you fought him? How do you explain the shadowed realm that you disappeared within, the monsters that rose from the cards, the monsters who devoured your very flesh for every night following? How, her mind pressed, do you explain that coma you took to after your game, and the dreams that vanished from the moment you woke up? How do you explain the 'soul cards' Pegasus had, the Millennium Rod and its control over Katsuya, the storms that arose in God's presence, and the movements that Blue Eyes gave when summoned to the field?

How would she explain the vision she saw the other night, how would she explain the hieroglyphs, the voices of Obelisk and Osiris, the wounds that appeared on Katsuya's body as he...

As he...

Seto grit her teeth, leering across the field at her opponent. Screw it, she decided, clenching her fists. Screw the rules of reality and physics, screw everything she learned the damn 'illusion' was real! This Yugi was a 'ghost' and the other was his 'host', the stones depicted real events and this god forsaken duel had essentially been predicted by that moment in time. Like hell she would say it out loud... Like hell she would ever admit to it at all but it was real and it was _there._ But this battle... Regardless of past or future it was clear. This battle was meant to happen, no matter what the circumstances...

And regardless of how the 'vision' ended, she would _WIN, _and finish this match as it should have long ago! "Tch..." The gods were gone now... But this battle wouldn't need Gods..! She would fight with her own methods, her own reasons... Not for some stupid rock on display in a museum, not for some ghost of the past... She had to win; it was simple as that. And with that in mind, she broke the silence that now settled over herself and her opponent. "...We're right back to square one," she 'noted' aloud, narrowing her eyes as she looked stiffly toward her opponent. "I hope you haven't become too _distracted_ by those illusions," Seto continued, holding her disk ready as she took a card from her hand. "Because regardless of useless visions," she warned, "I intend to bring you crushing defeat..! SO! It's still my turn," she announced, setting a card on the disk as a hologram appeared in response. No stone like texture to the image, no strange weight beneath it... 'Normal'. _Normal_, she told herself. "...The Gods might be gone," Seto muttered, smirking as she crossed her arms. "But I'm not done yet... I play one card face down... And I end my turn!" She needed nothing more after all...

Nothing more than the card in her hand right now. The one that would bring her victory... The monster treasured more than the gods, her dragon... "Hn! Alright," Yugi called out in response, drawing his next card with a curt nod. Briefly he appeared lost in thought as he stared over the field, but soon enough a card appeared before him and he made his move. "I summon Baphomet," the boy announced, multi-limbed and white winged demon rising in the light with a snarl before hovering through the air with a leering grin. "And then I atta-"

Heh. "Activate trap," she announced, tapping the disk with a laugh as her opponent frowned. "CLONE REPRODUCTION! Just try and attack," Seto continued with a smirk, the trap's image soon sending out an exact duplicate of the monster across her as both holograms flexed and sneered. "All you'll do is clear the field again after all..." And then it would be square one yet again...

"Gh..." Her rival tensed, nonetheless taking another card and setting it on the duel disk in response. "Baphomet enters defense mode," he called out, the monster crouching in midair as another card appeared beside it. "And in addition I play one face down card... End turn..!"

"A wise move," she 'responded', smirking darkly. "But now... I'm going to sacrifice this clone you see now. It's my turn again; and I draw," the woman continued, gesturing over the field before moving to grab her next card. "You've probably guessed that Blue-Eyes is in my hands," Seto chuckled, narrowing her eyes as her opponent did the same. "And you may believe that I can't summoner it this turn... But thanks to this spell," she continued, the card coming down on the disk as a hologram of its image came to the field, "I'll be doing just that! Cost Down," Seto roared, before putting her ultimate monster on the field and watching as the card shimmered into existence. "I offer the clone monster as sacrifice and with this spell even that is enough! LOOK CAREFULLY," she called out, smoke seemingly furling from the ground itself as the scent of stone and flames came over the air in the scattering light that was her cloned sacrifice, "Because THIS... IS _NOT _AN ILLUSION..! This is REALITY," Seto continued, white scales coming forth with an ear splitting roar as a dragon stood behind her upon its hind legs, "And this is the ULTIMATE BEING... I summon BLUE-EYES WHITE DRAGON," the woman cried, mirrored by a magnificent and almost song-like roar from a monster who barely stood beneath the height of her coliseum walls. "AND WITH THAT... IT'S TIME FOR YOU TO MEET YOUR END! HnhnHAHAHA! ATTACK," she ordered, the dragon raising its head from where it had leaned down beside her summoner with a nod. "Burn Baphomet to ash," she continued as the flames developed, heat burning behind and above her as a rush of energy began to fill her veins once more. "_**BURST STREAM OF DESTRUCTION..!**_"

The result of the battle was more than obvious. Almost a joke even. As fires that seemed to radiate a heat as powerful as the sun struck the ground before her she almost saw ashes appear on the ground... And she could see the hologram fade from sight, but only barely with the remaining smoke on the field clouding her vision and singeing the ground where it had once hovered in place. Yugi grimaced under the force behind the white flames, and yet despite the realism that shouldn't have been, and despite the reason they were there, and the dismissal of a reality she had so clung to until a few grudging moments before she couldn't help but continue to smirk. Perhaps it was the dragon. This was _her _monster after all. And now...

"My turn," her opponent hissed, pulling his next card free as he continued. "Kaiba... You saw what I did, didn't you," he asked, the woman showing little reaction toward the comment besides narrowed eyes. "Pharaoh or Priest... Enemies or even friends," the boy continued with a shout, "It doesn't matter who they were or how they came to that field," he announced clearly. "What was carved in that stone were their spirits as duelists and warriors, carrying with them the battle itself..! And that battle," he continued, setting the card on the field before taking another from the grave to do the same as it appeared in a blinding green light, "Has been passed through the years to us now! What we saw... Was NOT an illusion," the boy called out, shaking his head. "I know that... And so do you! SO NOW," he shouted across the field, "I activate this spell card... Monster Reborn! Awakening the soul of the mage that sleeps in my grave yard..." The 'mage'... Wait, that could only be-! "DARK MAGICIAN," Yugi roared. "ARISE!" Dark Magician..!

The card he'd lost from 'Life Shaver' she realized, eyes widening only briefly as the hologram appeared only to stand just as the dragon beside her now did. As the monsters seemed to bow their heads to the other in recognition, and as the Magician turned with a face she almost recognized from a dream she refused to acknowledge...

And...

"_**We meet again, Priestess,"**_ the magician stated calmly, nodding his head in recognition as she stared.**_ "It has been many years_**." Wh... What... Wide eyes that opened briefly with shock quickly narrowed as she steadied her resolve, the Magician before her seeming to cross his arms and smirk from across the field in response to her stiffness. Speaking... The monster was speaking...

She must have been completely exhausted... To hear something like that..! Ghosts and repeating history was one thing, holograms becoming 'living beings' was entirely different..! But regardless... That tablet, that 'vision', never revealed the outcome of this battle she reminded herself curtly. And the end... Well... With '2500' against '3000' it was obvious! She had to win this match she told herself yet again, and no matter what occurred she would! With the aid of this dragon beside her. With the power of the dragon that now stood beside her and-

"_**Rrrrrnnn...**_" With those thoughts Blue-Eyes brought her head near to her side, opening its mouth just slightly to let out the near 'hum' that was a low growl. It brushed against her arm as a cat would when asking for attention, and then pulled its head back somewhat to wait for a reaction.**_ "Nnnrrrrnnnnn..._**" How..?

How could any of this possibly be real, she asked herself, forcing herself not to attempt to touch the magnificent beast's head. She wanted it to not be real; reality was easier to deal with when there wasn't the nonsense of magic and dragons and wizards and shadows and yet...

With things such as this, how could she ask that? Blue Eyes gave a low rumble, far softer and kinder than the hologram left room for, calm blue eyes looking directly into her own as it continued to 'hum'. She could see... Every detail of its... Of _her_ iris, of _her _eyes, her mind corrected for some reason. Every single scale in the thick armored hide, the tiny wisps of smoke slowly furling from its nostrils as it snorted and... The seamless reality of it all, the complete fluidity of each motion. How could it possibly be real, her mind wanted to know. How could any of it...

"My turn's not over yet," Yugi had said through these thoughts, his next words pulling her attentions back to the field as another hologram came from before her opponent. "I set a card face down," the boy continued, "And end my turn..!" Hn.

So that was it then, she thought with a small snort, staring at the cards with crossed arms. Well. So he did see that vision she thought to her self, smirking darkly. Another point that made it impossible to ignore the laws of reality this broke, but something that for some reason sat well enough in the back of her mind nonetheless.

A fact that, unlike the event itself, did not sit well with her mind in any way. "Hn... Alright then," she responded coldly, drawing her next card and narrowing her eyes. "Let's assume this 'vision' of yours is 'real'... Let me tell you what that would mean," she sneered, continuing to push the 'reality' of the carving in the museum from mind. "That carving of the 'Priest' and Pharaoh'... To me, those are nothing more than stress induced illusions thanks to subliminal suggestion... You think you're a 'King' from thousands of years ago? Don't make me laugh," the woman shouted her grin fading as her eyes widened in a desperate rage. "As far as I'm concerned you're just a prisoner, bound to he past! There's no light for people like you... No light for the people who turn their backs to wander through useless paths of nostalgia and memory! All there is for you and those like you is DEFEAT," Seto continued, shaking her head once again as she fought against the truths that a simultaneous vision granted, the truths that a living and breathing form of her great White Dragon threw in her sight. It couldn't be real and yet it was, it couldn't be real and yet if it was she needed to win more than anything... And so...

And so...

"That defeat," Seto spat, "Won't come soon enough for you! I play the spell Card of Demise," she announced, drawing until she had five cards in her hand as Yugi growled across from her. "I then play one face down card... And following that," Seto continued, a small smirk coming over her face as the thought of her opponent's usual strategies came to mind, "I summon this! The Lord of Dragon... Making Blue-Eyes invulnerable to magic," she added with an almost shark-like grin, holographic and bone covered monster contrasting the realism of her dragon completely as her opponent tensed. "Hnhnhnhnhn... End turn," she said with a sneer, again crossing her arms. Now...

This strategy... Yugi used spells and traps to bring down the opponent's power and protect his own, but against Blue-Eyes it was always the same thing. Spellbinding Circle and Magical Hats or cylinders, de-powering the dragon so the Magician could strike in retaliation. And if he thought he could think ahead of her... He had another thing coming. She'd fought him more than enough times to know his moves, to know his plans...

It was as though he was playing with a deck of glass... With all the cracks clearly visible from across the field, and ready to be shattered into irreparable fragments.

"Ngh... I summon Beta the Magnet Warrior in defense mode," her opponent decided in the end, the magnetic being appearing in the familiar light of the hologram to again contrast the other monsters on the field. "And then," he continued, tapping the disk again. And then..? Would he fall for this trap, she thought with an anticipatory grin. Would he perhaps... Attack..?

Yes. He would. '_**BLACK MAGIC,'**_ she thought she heard the Magician shout, the sound overlapping Yugi's own declaration of attack as the boy pointed his monster forward. But despite the speech from the monster across from her she merely grinned, laughing as she clicked the button on the duel disk.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Activate Trap," she announced in retaliation, the card's image swinging up as a series of storm clouds abruptly began to develop. "Magical Trick Mirror..! Activating the Monster Reborn from your grave as a result," Seto continued with a grin. Storming winds and striking lightning, with clouds of dust and sea water rising into the air... "And the monster I choose to revive," she roared amid the sudden raging storm, "Is none other than this... THE GOD SOLDIER OF THE OBELISK..!" _SUTEKH,_ her mind announced with a shout.

Thunder cracked to the ground and as shadowed magic rushed toward her it was blocked by a slamming armored fist. Her opponent's eyes widened considerably with the re-appearance of the 'god', and even the Magician's reaction was one of shock and partial fear as Blue-Eyes carefully moved back to avoid the God's hand. Her smirk widened even more, the power and drive to fight continuing to flood her being...

And as the Magician lowered his staff it became a grin, almost reminiscent of a time she should have long since overcome. "Hnhnhn... HAHAHAHA!" And despite this relapse in judgment that she'd missed, despite the drive and rage that fueled her almost insane need to simple win this fight, she continued to laugh. "A pity, isn't it," she laughed, gesturing to the great god around her with wide eyes. "Though he can't attack, and he's here for only one turn, Obelisk has become an unstoppable shield for this move..! Your attack rebounds on yourself," she continued, crossing her arms as her opponent seemed to buckle under the flames of shadow now wrapping around his form, "And you're left with _NOTHING..._ This foolish belief you hold in so-called memories and illusions of the past," Seto sneered, Obelisk and the clouds both vanishing from around her in waves of sand and sea as Yugi grit his teeth and looked up with choking swallows. "All it does is make you weak..." Nothing more nothing less...

Simply _weak... _Unable to move on and put the past behind them... "Gh..." Yugi took a stumbling step forward, attempting to steady himself as the Dark Magician seemed to move to help him back to his feet. As almost deathly pale skinned hands gripped her rival's arm and lifted the boy carefully up, Yugi looking forward with narrowed eyes. "Tch..." Resisting defeat, was he..? Seto narrowed her eyes, her opponent breathing raggedly before straightening himself up. "Kaiba," Yugi hissed, taking a card from his hand and setting it on the field. "...I play a card face down... And end my turn." Hn. So that was all then...

In that case... "Hn! I'll crush you now," she hissed, almost frowning a moment before she drew her next card. "Along with all these visions of the past that crawled into this duel..! My future lies _ahead_ of this," Seto announced, taking the card she'd drawn and continuing to rant to her opponent with grit teeth. "And this..." This turn... "This is the final turn! I play a spell card," she continued as her 'Lord of Dragon' stood, "The Flute of Dragon Summoning..! And no matter how deep within this deck they lie," the woman sneered, the Dragon Lord's hologram giving a loud blow on the 'horn' he now held in his grasp, "No matter where they are, my dragons will answer..! I summon the remaining two Blue-Eyes to my side of the field," she announced, more white dust filling the air as roars and snarls threatened those across her. "Giving me four monsters on my side..! And with nothing but your pathetic Dark Magician," she continued, ignoring the snarl that came from the monster in question as he took a defensive stance, "Your end comes now... YUGI," she laughed, the boy across from her growing paler and paler in the face of the trio of dragons before him, "THIS IS IT..! ALL THREE DRAGONS ATTACK," she called out with a laugh. "AND YOU CAN CARVE _MY_ NAME AS THE WINNER INTO YOUR MEMORIES... NOW... _**BURST STREAM OF DESTRUCTION..!**_"

And as the blinding light seared across the field, her laughter almost leaving her with a hollowed and rage-filled emotion rather than the elation it should have brought...

She thought she heard someone sigh.

'_Really,_' someone seemed to whisper._ 'Y' can't win if y' act like tha'..._'

* * *

He wasn't foolish enough to believe that he could defend himself against this attack. Against the combined force of three immense white dragons with an immunity to spells and traps both. The Dark Magician at his side had no such hopes either, and stood at his side as an almost human being, crossing his arms and narrowing his eyes. Earlier... He'd 'helped' him earlier somehow, despite having being nothing more than a 'ghost', a 'spirit' at the most those few times he saw him outside battle.

Even as holograms, the dragons across from him were beyond imposing. Enormous in size, with growls that seemed to shake the heavens themselves despite never reaching reality. But as 'real', enormous fire-breathing monsters, with shimmering scales and gleaming, fierce eyes? When nothing but holograms surrounded everything else..!

His eyes were beginning to close over with weakness from the last attack, from the strike that only one dragon made... And Kaiba's laughing voice began to almost fade amid this weakness. He was feeling tired... 'Dead' even... And now, as he stood here, about to lose...

His vision was fading...

He could hardly stand...

He thought he heard screaming in the distance but it was nothing.

He thought he heard something fall behind him, but it was nothing. It was...

Was...

The Dark Magician was gripping his arm, mouth open as though to shout something, but something made him stop. He wasn't sure what but...

'_HEY,_' a distant voice shouted, a mix of a whisper and a scream both. '_Don't tell me... Don' tell me you've given up..! YUGI!_' Given... Given up...

Eyes flew open and he looked to the side, the faded voice all too clear to mistake for anything else as the words repeated over the air. Standing right beside him he realized almost coldly, eyes wide with both horror and confusion as the teen smirked... Standing right beside him as though nothing were the matter... "Jonouchi," he whispered, swallowing as the blond crossed his arms and smirked. Wearing the same things he wore in the airship... Hah... His shirt was gone, cut off by the doctors so they could treat him, gauze wrapped around where his wound would be, and what there was outside of that...

Was a large and twisted scar, directly where Ra had struck him down long before, a scar that had likely been present for a number of hours now. But there was nothing else there. There was a healing cut from the Millennium Rod on his arm... Perhaps a small bit of recovering bruises dotted around his body...

But there was nothing else he realized, the Dark Magician releasing him as he stood somewhat straighter. Nothing else... And this...

This... "Jonouchi," he repeated, time almost seeming to freeze as the white flames came toward him in a slow, blossoming fire from the mouths of the dragons before him. "You're..." A ghost... A ghost, standing beside him, he was...

"_Heh- No worries,"_ Jonouchi dismissively laughed, waving a hand with a grin as he seemed to guess what his friend was hesitant to say. "_I ain' dead... Y' aren't getting' rid 'f me that easy..!_" That... He could joke about something like that after all that happened..! When he was standing here in the same condition that his other half would ordinarily be when not in control of the body..! "_C'mon Yug',_" the blond 'whispered', voice still faded as he stowed his hands in his pockets._ "Y' gotta hear me out here,_" he continued with a sad smile. "_I gotta wake up soon, don't y' know? I gotta see th' others too... Can' leave 'm waiting..._" That...

Of course he couldn't... Of course, but...

But... "How are you here," he finally forced out, ignoring the fact that time really _had_ apparently stopped for the moment. That the fires before him had slowed to a nearly complete stop, freezing just meters away from his field. "How..."

Jonouchi snorted, a calm smile replacing the more depressed one as he shook his head. "_Really... Y' didn' think I wouldn't come an' watch you fight..? Give it just a minute... I'll watch for real, in person,_" he told his friend with honest eyes. "_But for now..._" For now... There was something else..?_ "Look across the field,_" Jonouchi said seriously, eyes dimming somewhat as he turned to look toward his friend's opponent. "_Look at who yer fightin'..._" Who he was fighting? This... This couldn't be about his own feelings right? Jonouchi wouldn't do that, he wouldn't- At the look the blond received Jonouchi sighed, shaking his head and gesturing to Kaiba once more. _"Damn it... That ain' it Yugi... Jus' hear me out,_" the blond pressed._ "Look at her... I mean really look; look close,_" he repeated, Yugi frowning somewhat but nonetheless humoring his friend. Look close..? Now just what-

It took a moment before he saw what his friend meant... But she was shaking. Pale, breathing shallowly as sweat gathered across her brow. The moment he noticed this his eyes widened somewhat, the boy stiffening as he looked still closer at who he was fighting, at the time-frozen image of his rival. Though she laughed it seemed almost torn, as though it could go both ways. As though this battle was nothing more than a cruel joke, a mockery of all she'd worked for, as though there was a part of her that relished in this fight she fought and another that simply wanted it over. Because in the end... The winner would face Malik. The one whom even she had considered a threat that could defeat them both. The one behind him death followed, even for those who did not face him in a duel monster's match.

If she were to enter the battle with that in mind he realized. If she were to enter this fight believing that there was no hope, that it was life or death as she'd believed before in the past... Then... The 'Kaiba' he faced now... Torn between the slowly recovering woman he caught a mere glimpse at during the earlier holidays, between this and the deluded and self-sacrificing _killer_, who had been ready to sacrifice _everything_ if she was proven unable to move on...

If she were to fight Malik now... Regardless of strength...

"_She looks tired, doesn' she,_" Jonouchi whispered, his friend looking back with a small and wide eyed frown as the blond continued to stare at his crush with a worrisome gaze. _"She's tired... An' y' know what,_" the blond asked, weakly turning back to his friend._ "...I think she really expects t' die here,_" he continued, shaking his head. _"She might not say it... She might not ev'n be tellin' herself tha'... But righ' _now..." He bit his lip, bowing his head before continuing on with a swallow. "_Th's battle..._" He looked back up, jaw clenched. "_This battle..! If you guys are gonna fight, it shouldn' be like th's, alright..? She ain' fightin' for th' right reasons any more,_" he cried, shaking his head almost in desperation._ "Righ' now... Righ' now, she's not paying attention th' why,_" Katsuya whispered. "_She's jus' payin' attention t' th' same reasonin' she had before... She's payin' attention t' beatin' you, not lookin' at what comes next... So jus' like b'fore,_" he told the boy._ "Jus' like b'fore, you need t' get past this, righ'..? You need t' beat her... Alrigh'?_" Both to defeat Malik and to 'help' her then? Well...

He said that now he thought to himself, looking back to the frozen field. But in the end, he was facing down three Blue-Eyes, with no hope of-

"_Hey, hey, hey,_" Jonouchi interrupted, smirking somewhat as he lightly 'rapped' his friend's head. The boy jumped somewhat, bringing a hand up to rub the spot as his friend laughed lightly at the reaction. _"Sheesh... Don' go thinkin' things like tha'..!_" But... He didn't say- "_You were gonna,"_ the blond laughed, grinning at his friend's confusion. He wasn't going to..! Jonouchi merely shook his head again, still smirking as he gave the boy a wink. "_C'mon... Didn' you always tell me tha' as long as you had cards in yer hand, there was always a chance?_" A chance..? In his... Hand..?

Right now..?

"_**Rrrrrnnnn...**_" That sound... Yugi paled, eyes widening somewhat as he slowly looked toward the cards he held. That low growl, almost musical in tone... Hadn't... Hadn't he heard that sound before..?

On the airship..?

"_Th' flute's taken effect,_" Jonouchi said seriously, hands removed from his pockets as he again crossed his arms. "_But y' gotta put th' card there for him t' do anythin'. Don't give up Yugi,_" he continued, Yugi's eyes widening as he looked from his hand to the blond beside him. "_A true 'duelist'... That kind of person never gives up right? You told me that,_" he went on slowly fading from sight. "_An' now... For you,_" the blond shouted, an energy seeming to seep and melt from his form as the field itself began to change. As he seemed to smoke into the air itself, colour washing into one solid and golden hue over his body while he faced his friend and smirked. While stone seemed to crackle and form from beneath his feet, while monsters ordinarily hovering through the air seemed to _vanish_ into stone... "_Let me do at least this,_" his friend announced, hands held out to the field around them as his smirk became an almost frighteningly determined grin._ "Cause this next fight... This battle y' have comin' up... Ra's waitin' for yah at th' end of it,_" the blond told him, his body fading from sight within the light he seemed to emanate. "_He's got one more test, and you still gotta pass it... So I'm givin' you all my strength,_" he roared, eyes widening with the next surge of energy to hit the field as tablets began to rise from the ground and the sky seemingly clouded in a film of sorts. As he continued to fade into light and as the monsters took an even more 'alive' appearance to their forms, a shadow almost passing over their faces... "_Yugi,_" he could hear Jonouchi roar. "_LET ME OP'N YOUR EYES!_" His eyes..!

As the spirit faded from sight and he looked back to the field Yugi's eyes widened with shock, the boy almost falling back at what was slowly creeping into his vision. What had formerly been already incredibly detailed and realistic dragons were now tall and proud in appearance to contrast a formerly frozen scene, standing on their haunches across the field in an almost protective position around their master. What had once been a series of holographic cards were stone tablets arranged in a semi-circle behind his opponent, and the hologram of the coliseum around them had become the ruins of some great stone structure that he could not recognize. Anything on the defensive had been sealed within stone... Anything face down was a tablet with no face, seemingly formed from the ground itself, and as he turned to look at what had been an already impossibly realistic magician, the man now holding out a hand for aid...

"_**My Pharaoh,**_" the Dark Magician at his side asked, his summoner holding back a shocked sputter at the words. "_**...Are you... Are you alright..? Can you hear me,**_" he added, his own expression almost as surprised as the 'summoner' nodded. This... The field he saw now...

Tablets of stone bore the carvings of the monsters both on and off the field, those with summoned monsters seeming to smoke with power, shadows, and light both. From the Dark Magician's stone he could see hieroglyphs carved on the sides, their meaning coming to his mind as the very description of the card itself while each of Blue-Eyes' tablets did the same. But more importantly was that just now, misting to existence from where Jonouchi had stood were ebony scales that radiated heat, with an almost skeletal frame taking form. Spiked armor and flaming red eyes, gleaming through the darkness around it as enormous black wings stretched into the air and a snarling growl followed. This sight... This sight before him...

The White Dragons were still charging their blast, and though the holograms may have fired he still had time..! And as he looked back to his hand at where the cards sat, and as the song of the summoning flute hovered through the air he understood. The rules... They didn't work like this, not ordinarily. He shouldn't have been able to do this, the card was only 'supposed' to work with the dragons of the one who played the card. But with Jonouchi's help... With the help of _his_ power, which he had so hidden from him until now...

The card was set on the field and with a powerful roar the dragon announced its presence, joined in a chorus of snarls from the Blue-Eyes across it as they acknowledged his presence. A wave of energy filled the air, filled his being... This power... "What is this," he murmured, unable to even shake his head in disbelief. "This power..."

"_**The power of an 'Ancient',**_" the Magician said almost quietly, pulling Yugi's attention to the monster that could just now speak. "_**It's an old power,**_" the man explained softly,_** "Long since lost to time... As to why your friend has it who knows,**_" he admitted with a shrug, narrowing his eyes and staring across the field._** "But the power allowing him to grant it to you for our fight... I think you know what that is, don't you,**_" he asked, his summoner looking to him almost in confusion for a moment. The Dark Magician... Speaking...

The cards had souls. This was something he personally believed, he told himself in the back of his mind. But for the cards to have voices, with which they could speak...

And Jonouchi always experienced this? Always spoke with his monsters, always felt the pain on the field..? Another roar pierced the air and across from him Kaiba's eyes had widened with shock, the appearance of Red-Eyes finally meeting her gaze. "This... WHAT!"

Yes. That was right... He had a strategy now, and because of it he would not lose..! "No dragon can resist the Flute of Summoning," he said almost flatly, Red Eyes standing protectively behind its current master as he growled. "This doesn't just affect your dragons," the boy continued darkly. "It affects the dragons in my hand as well- The Red Eyes Black Dragon... The power that Jonouchi has lent me..!"

"_**GRAAAOOOOOOOOO!**_"

* * *

When Katsuya opened his eyes again after fading into darkness, the blond found himself both surprised and not at where he was. It was... Effectively what he'd found himself fading into after all. So really, to wake up to anything else was surprising. As it was, that was all that was there. Darkness.

"Well," he muttered, scratching his head, "Looks like I'm early..." Yes. Very early, thought the one watching him.

But at the same time, not really. There were mere minutes before he would wake up after all... This was merely his 'place', his 'slot' between life and death.

His 'place' between his realm and that of 'the others'. A fact that was what allowed him to come here. _"Hnhnhn... You came early, true,_" he responded to Katsuya, the white spirit crossing his arms as he appeared behind the blond. "_But not so much that it's dangerous; you need only wait a few moments more, and you will be able to wake up._"

Katsuya turned, jumping as he looked to the white spirit before him. Shock, and a small bit of anger...

He still didn't remember him, the ghost thought idly. Then again, who knew what kind of reaction he'd get when he did... He almost didn't want to be there when he remembered because of it.

Almost. "Y-You," Katsuya shouted, before scowling as he took a step back from his 'guest'. "Sheesh... Don't y' have your own body t' haunt?" His own body? Well...

He did, he supposed, but at the moment it was probably being tormented by whatever things held it captive in the other realms. So no. Not really, unless he wanted to risk bringing that torment in _here_. Regardless of that however... "_Hn! If I could return to m body 'Chabar', believe me when I say I would._" It would get him out of here... Away from the mind that refused to remember _him, _only recalling those other pointless things from the past. And only that...

Nonetheless, it seemed his temporary host and 'mind-mate' was in a chatty mood. "So y' do have a body then," Katsuya was saying, the frown still set across his face as he stared at the ghost. "What's keepin' yah then? Or better yet," he decided, narrowing his eyes. "When d' you plan on tellin' me who y' are?"

Who he was..? He remembered it clearly, who he was. Down to the very last scar, he could remember every detail about what he looked like before he became tied to his current vessel. Yet all the same, the memory of how he came to this place, of how he came to this time... Of what happened during his death. That was still foggy. Blurred... And in the back of his mind, he already knew Katsuya couldn't help with that. "_I already told you,_" he eventually decided to answer, shaking his head. "_Someone you once knew._" So if you would just remember, he snarled in the back of his mind, clenching his fists while the blond stared. If he would remember...

Even if just a little...

Katsuya merely snorted however, shaking his head as he turned away. "Tch... Yea... Tha's helpful," Helpful no...

But he wouldn't remember if he simply told him. He wouldn't... '_**Th**_**eN****w**_**h**_**y D**_**o **_**yoU**_** BO**_**TH**_**E**_**R**_**,**_' a chilling and haunting voice asked through the back of his mind. '_**He **_**woN**_**'t r**_**E**_**me**_**mB**_**er Y**_**ou**_**, sO **_**wHy **_**do yOu B**_**OT**_**H**_**E**_**R?'**_ That voice...

A pounding headache struck him down the moment he acknowledged the sound, and dimly he could hear Katsuya muttering from far ahead of him. Was he still there, was he still watching... He'd turned around, he wasn't, he didn't care- The spirit gripped his head, 'eyes' narrowing as he clawed at his skull. '_Get out,_' he hissed mentally, shaking himself. '_You don't belong here... Leave me you snake..!_' He didn't know what this voice was, honestly. And there was nothing to tell him what it was either, nothing to tell him if this was an ally or an enemy. All he knew was that even now it was clouding his thoughts, twisting his memories, destroying his mind, the mind that had only just become clear enough to think, to remember-

'_**H**_**e**_**'s F**_**OR**_**GOT**_**T**_**EN y**_**O**_**u,**_' the voice hissed, twisted and distorted as it pealed in his mind, '_**A**_**n**_**D **_**h**_**e'**_**L**_**l **_**N**_**EV**_**ER**_** r**_**Em**_**eMBe**_**r****y**_**oU..! H**_**e**_** dOe**_**sN**_**'t **_**e**_**vEn s**_**I**_**de W**_**iT**_**H yo**_**u a**_**Ny**_**Mo**_**r**_**E**_**, **_**j**_**u**_**s**_**T **_**l**_**o**_**O**_**k a**_**t**_** h**_**Im**_**,**_' the demon spat, the ghost breathing haggardly as he clutched his head. '_**L**_**o**_**O**_**K****a**_**t **_**h**_**i**_**M**_**, **_**p**_**La**_**yI**_**Ng h**_**is**_** gAm**_**es**_** wI**_**t**_**h tHe **_**Pharaoh****a**_**nD **_**Priest.**_**.. He eVe**_**n**_** k**_**no**_**wS **_**wh**_**o **_**t**_**hEy arE, a**_**nd**_** wHat **_**do**_**Es h**_**e****d**_**o..!**_' He lets them _live._ But...

But...

But he couldn't help that, he tried to tell himself, nails digging further into his scalp in an attempt to banish the words in his mind. He couldn't help but do that, he'd known them so long that he'd simply become... Accustomed to them, adapted to them, he'd _befriended _them, he didn't really remember _them_ either, he...

He... "I'm sorry," the blond was muttering, unaware of the torment his guest was going through behind him. "About not r'memberin' you 'r anythin'... But y' should really stop trying t' make me figure it out myself," he continued quietly. "I mean... If I haven' gotten it yet," Katsuya muttered almost hopelessly, "I ain't gonna remember any time soon... An' by this point," he went on, "You should take a break in your own body, y' know..? Figure out how t' get back there an' get some rest..." Rest in his own... His own... Body...

How could he even ask that...! '_**Be**_**cA**_**uS**_**e****h**_**e d**_**Oe**_**sN'**_**t**_** C**_**A**_**RE **_**aB**_**oUT y**_**Ou **_**a**_**nY**_**mOrE,**_' the voice taunted, sliding through his ears like oil. '_**NO**_**t l**_**IkE **_**I **_**d**_**o**_**... A**_**l**_**L **_**he**_** c**_**a**_**rEs foR **_**ar**_**e **_**h**_**Is pRe**_**ciO**_**Us f**_**rI**_**enD**_**s**_**, th**_**e****ro**_**YalS yo**_**u **_**so d**_**e**_**sPi**_**se**_**..!'**_ The voice pounded these words into the very fabrics of his mind and in vain he continued to try and vice them out of his thoughts. Stop it, he hissed in his mind, almost crying with rage as his thoughts continued to twist against what he knew. Stop it, stop talking..! '_**W**_**h**_**Y w**_**O**_**u**_**lD**_** h**_**E **_**nE**_**ed **_**YO**_**U**_**,**_' the monster continued to roar. '_**Wh**_**y****wO**_**Uld he **_**h**_**Av**_**E****a**_**ny c**_**ar**_**E fO**_**r**_** a f**_**r**_**Ag**_**mE**_**Nt o**_**f****s**_**oU**_**l**_**, s**_**E**_**aL**_**ed**_** aWa**_**y****t**_**o t**_**H**_**e d**_**e**_**p**_**Th**_**S o**_**f**_** tI**_**m**_**e..! He dO**_**es**_**N'**_**t ****k**_**No**_**w**_** yO**_**u**_**,**_' it hissed, taunting, encouraging. '_**N**_**oT**_** lI**_**k**_**e **_**me**_**... H**_**e**_**'d **_**b**_**E b**_**eT**_**t**_**e**_**R oF**_**f **_**D**_**E**_**a**_**d **_**aT t**_**h**_**E rA**_**tE**_** wE'**_**R**_**e gOi**_**ng**_** nO**_**w**_**, **_**s**_**o w**_**hY****n**_**OT **_**jU**_**St kI**_**l**_**L h**_**Im**_**..?**_' Because he couldn't kill him... He could never kill him, he...

"I mean... ...If y' can' r'turn t' yer body... ...Doesn' tha' mean yer dead..?"

Something snapped in the back of his mind, and he shook himself, stumbling back with wide eyes. No, he snarled, fingers digging into his skull. No, he wasn't dead... No, he wouldn't kill him, he couldn't kill him, he couldn't..! '_**K**_**I**_**LL h**_**im**_**,**_' the monster pressed, his voice becoming clearer and more embedded within his mind as he screamed in silence. '_**D**_**e**_**St**_**rO**_**y h**_**iM**_** b**_**Ef**_**or**_**E**_** h**_**e c**_**An **_**eV**_**eN **_**rE**_**Ac**_**H**_** h**_**Is**_** bo**_**Dy**_**, a**_**n**_**d iT'**_**Ll**_** aL**_**l **_**b**_**e **_**y**_**o**_**Ur**_**S**_**..!**_' His... All his... A body of his own...

A body of his... ...But it wouldn't be his..! '_I won't,_' he snarled, the flat where a mouth should have been slowly hollowing inward as he ground his teeth, eyes curling in on themselves as he squeezed them shut to block out what he saw. '_I won't... I won't! Monster... DEMON! Get out of my head! LEAVE ME,_' he screamed, the 'skin' over his mouth stretching with each movement of the jaw.

'**LEAVE,**' it asked, almost chuckling in response. '_**B**_**uT**_** I'**_**vE**_** d**_**O**_**ne nOt**_**hI**_**n**_**g b**_**Ut h**_**e**_**Lp **_**y**_**oU,**_' the voice soothingly replied, almost wrapping around his mind in 'comfort'. '_**I'**_**m y**_**O**_**u**_**r al**_**Ly**_**, aN**_**d**_** I'**_**m**_** o**_**N y**_**oU**_**r**_** sId**_**E**_**... H**_**E**_** d**_**Oe**_**sN'**_**t**_** e**_**v**_**En r**_**Em**_**eMb**_**e**_**R yo**_**Ur**_** NAME!**_' He couldn't help that... '_**W**_**hA**_**t yO**_**u**_** LOOK LIKE,**_' he couldn't help that, '_**W**_**Ha**_**T y**_**o**_**U SOUND LIKE,**_' he couldn't help that...

'_**YoU'**_**Ve**_** b**_**e**_**En **_**hE**_**rE t**_**H**_**e eNt**_**iR**_**e t**_**i**_**Me a**_**nD**_** he h**_**A**_**s**_**n'**_**T nOt**_**iC**_**e**_**d **_**t**_**h**_**E c**_**oN**_**n**_**e**_**Ct**_**iO**_**ns, **_**m**_**Y deA**_**r**_** bO**_**y**_**, I tHi**_**nK**_** i**_**t o**_**bVi**_**o**_**Us wH**_**a**_**t y**_**Ou**_** nE**_**e**_**d **_**t**_**O D**_**o**_**..!**_' Get out of his head... Get out, get out, he tried to scream, thrashing behind the blond as he continued to stare away in thought. Get out, he wept, get out... '_**K**_**i**_**Ll hI**_**m**_**,**_' the voice snarled. '_**KI**_**lL**_** h**_**i**_**M, **_**kI**_**ll Hi**_**m**_**, K**_**IL**_**L H**_**I**_**M... I**_**t'**_**Ll o**_**N**_**lY hUr**_**t a**_** mO**_**mE**_**Nt,**_' it continued, the silent screams almost ghosting into the air as Katsuya continued to stare in the opposite direction,_** 'So j**_**Us**_**t gE**_**t**_** I**_**t **_**o**_**vE**_**r **_**wI**_**t**_**H**_**..!**_'

He didn't want to...

'_**Kill him...**_'

He didn't need to... (_Please,don'tmakehimdothis)_

'_**Kill him**__**,**_'

He didn't have to...(_Don'tdothis,hesavedyou,chabar,chabar,friend,FRIEND)_

'_**Kill him, Kill Him, KILL HIM..!**_'

And as the shouts continued within his mind his mouth finally forced its way open, the skin tearing to shreds and flying deep into an endless hole. Blank white eyes sank inward to form naught but empty gaping sockets, and his mouth opened to an impossible width to bare long and dagger like teeth. Claws came through his fingers as they cut into his skin, white and feathered wings from his back, and as the orders to attack coursed through his veins he still continued to struggle, screaming in silence to the heavens above and to whatever hell would hear him cry. '_**Y**_**oU**_** aR**_**e **_**a S**_**NA**_**KE,**_' the voice snarled, the ghost's legs vanished for nothing but white scales and wings at his hips. '_**A **_**S**_**NA**_**KE**_**, wI**_**th**_** e**_**y**_**Es o**_**Nl**_**Y fO**_**r**_** y**_**o**_**Ur PRE**_**Y**_**... T**_**hE**_**y'V**_**e c**_**aLl**_**e**_**D y**_**Ou**_** suC**_**h**_** s**_**o w**_**Hy D**_**E**_**NY I**_**T**_**?**_' Why... Why...

'_They don't even call me 'Itja'._

Why... (_What was his name?)_

'_Or Gannab..._'

Why..! (_WhatwashisNAME!)_

'_Or even Kleftis..._'

Why, why, every reason he pulled to his mind was being devoured, eroded away into the darkness of his mind..! There was a reason... He knew there was a reason damn it, but _why_..! An armored helm appeared beneath his fingers, a horn above his brow, and his eyes were nothing but endless black holes. His hands were falling limp to his sides, and his mouth was opening still wider as he charged forward, jaw hanging in its socket as he took in his prey.

"Y'r probably still there," Katsuya was saying, the monster behind him ignoring his words in the one-shot attack to end the source of the voice's taunting, to simply banish this presence that refused to acknowledged his identity. "Waitin' f'r me t' wake up, or jus' figure you out..." He didn't care any more, the voice in his head provided. He didn't care, he didn't care just _die_...

Die...

"Your voice..."

DIE...

"I don' recognize it but..."

DIE, DIE, **DIE, DIE!**

". . ."

The mouth opened further and as they came just behind his victim's neck, teeth prepared to rip delicate flesh from bone to swallow it whole the blond's eyes shot open and he spoke once more.

"...Saraph." Sa...

That name..!

"_**Gh-!**_" Breathing hitched and the monster abruptly pulled back, mouth snapping shut as his eyes widened. His name... That was his name, that was his _NAME! _What had he been doing, he screamed to himself, grabbing his head and again struggling against the monstrous form he'd taken now. What had he been about to do! He...

He...

Snarling orders to kill pulsed through his mind, and with one last scream the ghost vanished from sight; he had to get out of here... He had to leave, before he did something... Something... Before he hurt him... Before he killed him, he would return to his 'body', to his 'punishment', to his 'cell', to...

"Saraph," Katsuya continued to mutter, slowly turning around with his eyes turned to the ground. "Tha's yer name... Isn' it," the blond asked, shaking his head. "I mean, yer voices 'r obviously diff'rent but-" He stopped, looking over the empty space around him with a frown. Gone... The ghost was...

Gone...

Nothing but dark, black empty space...

"What..."

And in the distance, suddenly he heard a roar. A familiar and air splitting roar, shaking the very foundations of where he stood. Felt a blast of flames, and heard his friend speak... '_Thank you Jonouchi,_' he whispered honestly, the snarls of fighting dragons filling his ears. '_This strength of yours... I won't let it go to waste. Now... Wake up like you said you would..._' Wake up...

With a nod and a small smile, he turned to do just that, closing his eyes and smirking. And around him, as the darkness crumbled away to light, he walked forward to whatever awaited him.

* * *

When the snarl hit the air she'd momentarily faltered in her attack, eyes widening as black scales appeared through the air. This card... Yugi had used Red Eyes against Katsuya when he was controlled by the Millennium Rod (a control she was only grudgingly admitting possible), as a piece to snap him from his stupor... But she hadn't realized this was still in his deck. She didn't think he'd keep that card in his deck. This card...

"That... Is _NOT your CARD,_" she hissed, the fires releasing from her dragon's mouth as she snarled. It wasn't his to summon, his to play... It wasn't _his_! "You... I'll destroy you for even thinking you could bring it into our match," Seto roared, fists clenched tight as she continued her attack. "NOW! The first target is the Magician," the woman announced, pointing forward with wide eyes as the closest dragon nodded its head. "GO!" She had to win she told herself, white flames glowing brightly at her side as they increased in heat and size within the dragon's maw. She had to... She had to finally over come this obstacle before her, grind him into the ground, as she would to the one following..! She HAD TO... "DESTROY IT!"

"Not yet," Yugi countered swiftly, waving his hand across the field. Yet despite not even touching the disk the card swung upward, and above the Dark Magician came a pair of tall cylinders. Tall and familiar cylinders, the first absorbing the attack of the white dragon and sending it forward from a glowing bottom of the other. "Activate Trap," the boy announced. "Magic Cylinder..! TAKE AIM AND FIRE," he roared, the momentary tenseness Seto felt quickly evaporating. Why...

What was she worried about, she laughed to herself mentally. "Hn..!" Not bad to counter... But with Lord of Dragons on the field, there was no reason for her to-

What was she kidding..? Of course there was a reason..! "I know what you're thinking," her opponent chuckled, a smirk coming over his own face as Seto frowned and to some extent shook. "As long as Lord of Dragon's is on the field, nothing can touch your monsters... So I'll be taking care of that," he continued with a grin, the fires launching forth from the cylinder and blossoming forward. "I TARGET THE DRAGON LORD!" The dragon-

No! With a synthesized shout the hologram was destroyed on impact, Seto grimacing and pulling back under the heat of her dragon's attack. "Gh... No matter," she retorted, pointing her remaining monsters forward as the other two dragons snarled. "I still have two more dragons ready to attack..! That card," the woman continued stiffly, the heat of the flames leaving her breathing rough and quick. This card..! "Is not yours to control... PREPARE TO DIE RED-EYES," she continued, white flames blasting forward from the second Blue-Eyes as the black scaled opponent reared and snarled. "NOW-"

"ANOTHER TRAP," Yugi countered, again not touching the disk as the card swung upward. As the card revealed its face and as holograms shot around her monsters with no warning. "SPELL BINDING CIRCLE!" The spell- Shit, and she'd known that one was there..! And as the circle appeared around her monster, pinning her dragon in place on the ground where it struggled the woman paled.

"Gh..." Seven hundred attack points down with all of its limbs pinned to the points of the circle by sparks of black electricity... Unable to attack, unable to defend unable to do more than snort and growl behind its teeth as it leered forward...

"And with the monster weakened and unable to move, Red-Eyes will counter," her opponent announced almost coldly, Seto looking back to the field in rage as black and red flames grew from the holographic dragon's mouth. "GO," he roared. "_**BLACK FIRE BULLET..!**_"

"_**GRAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_"

"GH-" Damn it..! The fires blew past with all the force of a raging firestorm, Seto ducking beneath her arm even as another of her dragons shielded her from the brunt of the attack and as sparks flew around her feet. From within the spell's circle she could hear her monster's cry. Hear the dragon's wail of death as it faded into ashes on the wind, white scales stained black with ashes beneath the strike... "You..." To lose... To this dragon, this 'ghost'...

"_**RAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_"

Mark her words she thought, the third of her dragons blasting through Yugi's Magnet Warrior with ease. This meant nothing...

_NOTHING!_

* * *

That was what she said, at least.

-_**beep**_-

But as the monitor began to alter its single toned sound into steadily spaced 'blips' from the side, the others turned back to the bed.

-_**beep**_-

It was just a short heart beat. Just one sound... Just one small trace of a pulse, just enough to instil hope... Just enough to have them staring, waiting for the few seconds that felt like hours...

-_**beep-**_

_**-beep- **_

_**-beep- **_

_**-be-**_

"GH- K-h... KHKKKHH-"

Choking.

Without warning Katsuya's body jerked, eyes flying open as he attempted to breathe despite the tube-like device that had been forced down his formerly unmoving throat. Jerking and twitching as he stared wildly at the ceiling, fighting against the machine that had provided him air. "Calm yourself," the doctor was hurriedly telling him, pulling the machine and tube out as the blond continued to struggle. "Calm down, you're still recov-"

As Kuzushi froze with the finally removed tube in her hand the blond continued to cough, the absence of the device still leaving traces of the gag reflex in his throat. "Gkkh... Hkk... Hah... Hah... Ahhh..."

"N-Nihan," Shizuka whispered, staring as the blond looked over himself with a frown. "Nihan, you..."

"Katsuya-nii..."

"Stand back," the doctor hissed. "Listen to me Jonouchi; I need you to tell me how you feel," she pressed, reaching out to remove the 'auto pulse', "Understand? You were clinically dead for over half an hour, I need you to-"

"What th'..." Kuzushi paused as Katsuya sat up, beating her to the task she'd attempted to deal with. "Th' hell is this," The blond rasped, pulling the large and now non-functioning 'Auto Pulse' off his chest and carelessly tossing it to the side. The doctor beside him fumbled with the device, looking at her patient first with displeasure and then relief. He was awake now... And the others had realized by this point that he was more or less alright, but...

"J... Jonouchi," the others were shouting, pulling his attention back as the blond stared. "You're alive... You're..." Uh oh... That look in Honda's eyes was... "Come here damn it," Honda snarled, suddenly pulling the teen over by the shoulders to shake him roughly. "Asshole..! You know how worried about you we were," he growled, gripping his friend's shoulders tight as Katsuya stared. "How pissed I am now?"

"EH- Wha-" H-Hey, he just woke up, let him calm down... And...

And... Katsuya blinked, staring as Honda bit his lip. "If you... Even think of getting 'killed' like that again," he warned, dropping his friend as he held his head, "I swear to god I'm gonna drag you back to kill you again myself..." He looked back up, Katsuya continuing to stare almost blankly in response to the severe gaze he was receiving. "Don't EVER do that again, got it? You hear me..?"

"I..." He blinked, before nodding. "...Right." No matter what... While the others fell silent at those words Katsuya merely shook himself, holding his head and grimacing as a wave of pain rushed through it. "Achhh..." Headache... Headac- "Shit," he abruptly shouted, turning to look at the side as he cut the others off before they could speak. "What time..!" What time was it... The doctor said half an hour so...

So what time was it? Too late, that was what time it was he realized with a nervous swallow. Far too late. With little warning other than to look up with wide eyes he pulled at the sensors that had been attached to his body, the doctor and the others quickly panicking as he moved for the bandages as well. "AH- Hold on," Otogi shouted, the sensors clacking against the gurney and floor as he hopped off the side. "Jonouchi," he protested in panic, "Your wound hasn't-"

Healed? The bandages fell to the floor and in there place wasn't even a scar, the others staring in shock as he pulled off the rest of the gauze and tape. Yea... Somehow he knew that was happening. What with it being a duel cut and all... (Exodia... He was just being a prick far as he could tell...) "Forget about me for now," he said quickly, looking toward the window. "Like you guys said... Yugi's duelin' Seto-chan, this ain't th' time!" He looked back to the others for a moment, frowning. "Speakin' of... How come you aren't out there cheerin'?"

...Maybe he shouldn't have said that.

"_C... CHEERING,_" Anzu snarled with a red face, eyes flashing between gold and blue/brown with no sign as to which one within the body was more ticked at the remark. "What were we supposed to do leave you alone? You just woke up from over half an hour of clinical death," 'they' retorted, Katsuya momentarily freezing at the reminder. "Did you _really _think we were going to stay on the field for that!" Eh... He coughed somewhat awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. Well they had a point but...

"ACK, f'rget it," he grumbled, grabbing his dogtags from the side table and bolting out of the room before the others could say a word. "Like hell I'm missing this, come on!"

"W- What," Honda sputtered, turning as the blond ran from the room, "'Come on'..!"

"Nihan," Shizuka protested from behind, "You don't have a shirt-"

"Katsuya-nii, your shoes..!"

As shouts filled the air behind him visions did the same, the blond swallowing as he skidded out of the airship to run on bare and likely to be scratched feet. The duel was happening his mind told him almost in whispers, Red-Eyes was attacking, Blue-Eyes was burning to naught but ash...

And while he still had yet to explain what happened during his own fight and what happened that allowed him to live, it would just have to wait a little longer..!

* * *

On the field they stood upon, it was hard to tell what anything meant any more. At the start of the tournament it had been clear what the point of all of this was. She fought to defeat Yugi, to surpass the darkness that she had succumbed to in the time of Gozaburo... And for the short bit of time after, as well her mind added bitterly. She fought not only to do this but to attain each of the God cards, and to weed out the Ghouls that chased them. To clear them from the streets like the filth they were...

Yugi didn't originally intend to enter however, from what her brother had told her. He entered only because of a stone tablet from a land long lost, a tablet that supposedly held the keys to his 'memories' and a tablet that she stubbornly refused to believe the authenticity of even with the white dragons at her side. The two dragons...

The third was a pile of ash now she reminded herself, jaw clenching as the dust to her side blew in the wind.

Her rival was fighting for apparently lost memories she repeated mentally, eyes narrowing as she looked across the field. Memories tied to the God cards, memories that didn't exist, she snarled in the back of her mind once more. Or did they? Well... It would certainly be easier if they didn't. And the fact was that all the rules of reality pointed to that being the answer.

So for now, she decided, she would stick with that opinion then. When this battle began, they were fighting to pass time. Fighting to decide who would hold Malik off and with luck defeat the monster and leave him at the tower. Yugi didn't know her plan. He didn't know that even with one _single _card, the chances of a win were still only 22%. He didn't know that once that final duel ended, regardless of who won, this tower would have limited time before exploding into flames.

When that happened... She would leave Malik there to die, and she would feel no remorse for it, she told herself. And if it came to it... She would die, so long as it meant her brother escaped with his life and the lives of the others.

As the fight progressed however it seemed pride and hate both rose to change the goal of the match, to change the intent behind those battling on the field The winner of this battle... If she didn't win this battle what did that make her, she asked herself with a mental snarl. If she couldn't be strong enough to defeat him this time... If she couldn't surpass everything that happened before, everything in the past..!

If she couldn't even do that... Then a mere 22% would become...

"It's still my turn," she finally said as the thoughts were cut short, a small smirk on her face as she fingered the other card in her hand. She wouldn't lose, she told herself confidently. She wouldn't lose... No matter what. "You have two monsters on the field," Seto began, confidence rising further in the face of thoughts deemed pathetic. "Two monsters," she repeated, "With my dragons power far superior to your own and leaving you with no other choice than defence..." And that choice, thanks to the cards in her hand... Thanks to this single card, she thought with a somewhat maddened grin, that choice wouldn't be a choice at all. "I play two face down cards," she announced 'calmly', setting the last cards of her hand down with narrowed eyes and watching as the holograms rose to her front. "End turn!"

"Then it's my turn," her opponent responded almost stiffly, drawing his next card with a swallow. Like she herself had moments before, there were only two cards in Yugi's hand... And like she had done following that moment the boy took both and set them on the field, the holograms arising even as he paid them no mind. "I also place two face down cards... Following that," he continued, gesturing to the dragon at his side, "Red Eyes enters defense mode and-"

There. "Hnhnhnhnhnhn..." Not any more..! "Activate permanent trap," Seto roared, a laugh coming through the air with the cry. "FINAL ATTACK ORDERS..! So long as this is here all monsters remain in attack mode... In addition," she chuckled, eyes narrowing with vicious mirth as the monsters across from her seemed to snarl at the spell she'd cast, "Both players must choose three cards to leave in their decks while the rest are sent to the grave!" An odd effect for a battle position trap...

But nonetheless one she would take advantage of, and one that had her opponent's eyes widening in momentary shock. Only three cards...

Three cards, and with those cards she would win this game despite anything that could possible occur in the next few turns! "I don't even need to wait three turns to defeat you," she said confidently, arms crossed as she looked across the field with shadowed eyes. "But I suppose you can place your pitiful hope in the three cards you choose... Right, Yugi..?" There was no answer and she continued to laugh, grin widening as her opponent shakily picked his cards and discarded the remaining chunk to the grave at the dueldisk's side. "Hnhnhnhn... HAHAHAHA..." She won... She _won_. "This time you're finished," she laughed, the dragons giving low growls and nods in response as they turned their heads toward the boy. "So... What will you do now..?"

"Gh..." The boy continued to remain silent, before eventually bowing his head. Of course he had no options remaining. What could there possibly be after all? In the end he looked up, fists clenched as the Dark Magician as well sent a glare across the field. "End turn," he bit out, narrowing his eyes still further as his opponent chuckled. Hnhnhnhnhn...

In that case, it was her move! "My turn then," she announced, taking the first of the three 'shuffled' cards. And if she was right... The first one in her hand would be... "Hnhnhahaha..." Just as expected she thought as she glanced over the card face, putting it on the disk with a grin. "I play the spell Monster Reborn," she announced with wide eyes, green light filling the air as the third monster of hers slowly formed from the ashes that had littered the ground. As wings beat the air and as snow white scales appeared and shimmered in the light, and her opponent's eyes widened still further as she grinned. "You can guess who I've brought back..! More over," the woman continued as she tapped the duel-disk, "I activate the spell I've kept face down, POLYMERIZATION! AND NOW... BEHOLD," Seto roared, a portal appearing behind her to pull the dragons far within as they cried. As the dragons behind her merged, twisting into the enormous and nigh-God-sized dragon that filled her side of the arena completely to snarl in anticipation. "The greatest of monsters... BLUE-EYES, ULTIMATE DRAGON..!" A monster more powerful than even Obelisk... A monster that could never be defeated, never..! A monster that stood at her side now, each head coming down to give her assuring growls despite her mind screaming not to acknowledge such an outlandish sight. What she was going to do to her opponent now... What she was going to do... "Yugi," she sneered. "When I defeat you I want you to realize completely that this was never simply revenge," the woman hissed, narrowing her eyes. The boy stared back, expression somewhat tense and confused as his opponent went on. "Why have I been so fixated with defeating you," she muttered, her gaze dimming somewhat with the words. "Why do I want to fight you... You want to know why that is," Seto asked, raising her voice with a snarl. "You want to know the answer? All you fight for are memories carved on a stone rock," the woman spat, "A past long since blown away... And in the end, what does it _MATTER_," she snarled, unaware that her words were falling on more than just her rival's ears, and on more than just the ears of those who knew this voice. "To me... The memory of the past is nothing more than a crumbling piece of rock," Seto hissed, bringing her arm back and shaking her head. "My past... Is nothing but hate, and anger... Not like your stupid fantasy of Egyptian myth..!" There was never more than anger and hate... Through Gozaburo's control she came to hate him, hate everything around her... Hate all those who couldn't see that _man _for who he was, hate those who couldn't see what she herself was turning into... And when she took control of that company, when that man died, the anger failed to dissipate... The rage of what occurred merely moved on to stronger and undying hatred for the next target and so she pushed forward. There was nothing to the past... Nothing at all, and for that reason... "I care only for the future," she hissed, clenching her fists as she swallowed a now choking breath. "And I _spit_ on the past... And as a creature of the past Yugi, I'll destroy you along with it..! I will cast all of this darkness down," she roared, "And there will be nothing but light left..! NOTHING MORE!" Everything would be gone... Everything...

Everything...

And the light remaining...

In the crowd that they could not see beyond coliseum walls, there were questions. Was everything truly nothing but hate? Weren't there at least _some _happy times? Just a few..? The summers in Germany..? The times with Katsuya and Mokuba..? Hanami, Valentines, even a few choice moments between all of that? And long before Gozaburo, before 'Anne-bachan', before the truck accident..? With their father..?

If any of these thoughts came to mind she hadn't shown it. And the fact was, they didn't occur to her at all, not in the least.

Not when her opponent merely bowed his head and sighed, a small smile on his face as he shook his head. As he shook his head and laughed, at first quietly, and then slowly it became loud enough that those around the entire tower top would have heard. "...I'm surprised you can even _smile,_ let alone _laugh,_" she muttered, narrowing her eyes as a scowl came over her face. "Just what's so 'funny' about my words..?"

"Funny," Yugi repeated, opening his eyes as his laughter cut short. "Absolutely nothing. Kaiba," he began lowly, gaze dimming somewhat as he spoke. "You're one of the few people I recognize as a 'duelist', as someone I can truly fight with and enjoy fighting with. But quite frankly," he continued coldly, "I'm disappointed." What..? 'Disappointed'? He thought she cared about- "Let me put it bluntly," Yugi went on, still frowning. "Hate, anger... No matter how much of this you have, that won't be enough to defeat me, and it never will..! Your mind is just like this tower... Standing tall amid the hate, piling more anger and detest on top of it until you reach the top, but in the end you can't reach victory like this... All you'll do is continue looking for the next thing to hate," he stated coolly, "Searching for the next target to destroy... And all you'll do in the end is destroy yourself and those around them... I... I fight for those who I believe," the boy added with a determined scowl, Seto narrowing her eyes as he went on. "For my friends... For myself... Not just for 'memories' or 'fate'... But to realize exactly who I am, and to become the kind of person that the people I fight for can depend upon..! And I'll show you what I mean," he shouted, waving his hand yet again as a card swung upward. "I reveal my own spell... 'Double Spell'! Copying the spell combo _you_ just pulled," he snarled, Seto's eyes widening in horror as the boy continued. "First, I summon Buster Blader with Monster Reborn... NEXT," Yugi roared, the hologram's green light heralding the seemingly spandex covered swordsman, "Using Polymerization, I fuse the Dark Magician with the Buster Blader...! And as a result," he announced, the hologram that came into view wrapping around 'Mahaad' to form an almost regal armor around the magician while he stared across the field, "I summon the Magic Swordsman, the 'DARK PALADIN'..!" Dark... Paladin...

"_**Prepare yourself Priestess,"**_ 'Mahaad' warned, gripping the spear-like blade he now held in your hand. _**"For we BOTH fight..."**_

"Hit me with all your hatred," the boy's summoner 'taunted', his words almost seeming to be more of a statement than a challenge. "I'll wipe it ALL out!"

* * *

He'd known, of course, that she would want all three of her Blue-Eyes on the field. More than that, he'd guessed that if she were to pick any card to save, it would have been Monster Reborn and Polymerization. She wouldn't need much else after all, to bring out her 'true' ultimate monster. To bring out her 'Queen' so to speak. (He'd have thought it as 'King', but for some reason his thoughts wouldn't let him and...)

...And in the end... Jonouchi was right. This battle... If Kaiba were to win this battle in this state, it would not be the kind of win that would 'help' in any way. It would simply pull her back down to the state she'd been so long before, detesting all in her path, all in her way...

The same path that she herself abhorred. "Tch... So you summoned your own 'ultimate monster'," his opponent snorted from across the field, the woman's eyes nonetheless somewhat wide with cautious fear. "The ultimate dragon has 4500 attack points, and yours has 2900... Even with the special effect," she continued, the Paladin at Yugi's side standing in indifference as they listened, "There are only two dragons here... 3900 attack points is still too few to challenge _ME_..!" For now, Yugi reminded himself. For now. And of course... "Of course, since my monster is a fusion summon," Kaiba added bitterly, "I can't attack... On that note," she finished, "It's your turn..."

"Yes," he responded almost flatly. "It is." He wouldn't deny that without the circumstances present he'd have still done all in his power to win. That would have been a completely ridiculous lie after all..! No matter what, that was the goal in a game; to win. He'd be foolish to claim that his own pride and enjoyment toward the event would allow something like that to be thrown away. But now more than ever, with all that was on the line, he looked across the field to the dragon that stood behind its master. The dragon whose mouths were closed, whose eyes were almost dulled with indecision and sadness as he pushed against his earlier thoughts of giving in. Even the monsters did not wish to fight... Even Blue-Eyes... Even she...

The face down card 'Magic Formula' wouldn't be enough to power-up the Paladin in the face of the Ultimate Dragon Yugi told himself almost grimly, but it would be foolish to think Kaiba wouldn't counter a spell like that regardless. After all; it would take one more turn to defeat him if that were to happen, and in the state she was in now there was no patience whatsoever. It was kill or be killed, destroy and move on, and for once this battle could not continue as the game it was. She wanted it over as fast as possible and to destroy a spell that would prevent that wouldn't matter on the last move. This battle...

There was not just facing Malik on the line to save those in the comas, not for this battle. There was not just pride and memory to deal with... Not this time. And as he drew the second of his 'three cards' he left his arms at the side, giving his opponent a short nod. "I set a card face down," he said clearly, swallowing somewhat nervously as his final 'trump card' was placed on the field in the form of a stone tablet with a blank face at his side. "It's your move."

"Hn!" Shadows hung on the air, but they were shadows not tied to a particular force... And the feeling that this battle brought with it... Making him nauseated, even weak... "I'll play a face down card as well," Kaiba decided after her own draw, the dust on the field rising to form a similarly blank faced tablet as a result. "And now Yugi, prepare yourself," she snarled with a grin. "I'll bury you hear along with the detestable past and you can make peace with yourself..!" Make peace? That...

That was something that _she _needed to do first..! "Kaiba," he said lowly, narrowing his eyes. "What do you think your hate and anger are leaving you with, if you have to rely on _that_ to try and defeat me..? Power," he asked seriously, his opponent merely narrowing her eyes further as he continued. "Did that work before..! You'll never escape if you use it as fuel," Yugi cried, shaking his head. "It'll swallow you completely and it'll leave nothing left..." And as a rival, he didn't want that. He wanted a battle where they could fight for the sake of fighting, not caring who won or lost when it came to the end. A battle that wasn't so much a battle but a 'game', as it always was... But more importantly... He wanted to face her as both a rival...

And as a _friend_... "Say what you want," Kaiba hissed, white flames slowly developing in the back of the dragon head's throats as she snarled. "I'm still going to win..! And this is it! ULTIMATE DRAGON," she announced, the stones at Yugi's side seeming to shiver in anticipation for the move as the dragons gave a wailing cry, "ATTACK... _**ULTIMATE BURST!**_" The fires shot forward...

The plume of flames came closer and closer...

Now! "Reveal face down card," he announced, waving a hand toward the tablet that held the spell. The tablet carved an image across its face, crumbling to a string of runes and symbols that floated through the air... It was strange... Not using the duel disk he meant, but something told him the buttons wouldn't quite work properly if he tired it that way. So why not use his friend's strategy if he was using his friend's 'eyes'? Why not..? With that in mind... The smoke swirled through the air and a smirk came over his face. "Magic Formula!"

And with that cue, the next part of the plan came into being. "I _knew it,_" Kaiba hissed, clicking the duel disk as the tablet on her side crumbled to dust and destroyed his own. "Absorb spell! Taking your spell card's effect," the woman began, the smoke pulled across to her field to stain her monster with its spells and carvings, "And adding it to my own!" Loud and snarling roars hit the air as Kaiba continued to laugh, the dragon's powerful attack becoming more heated even as it struck the second tablet shielding him. "HAHAHA..." Five hundred points of attack power... "HAHAHAHAAAA!" Added to its own... "YOUR SO CALLED SAVIOR THE PALADIN... AND THE GHOST OF A DEFENSE FROM YOUR DRAGON," Kaiba added, expression twisted with rage and anticipatory 'cheer' both, "ALL OF IT WILL BE SHATTERED..! I'VE _WON_," she snarled. "HEAR THAT?"

The woman's response was much quieter than her own shouts, and when those shouts died down it was almost difficult to hear from across the field. "We'll see about that," Yugi responded calmly, the flames already pushing down on the two monsters at his side with the tablet shield crumbling to a carved pillar of dust. "Kaiba... No matter how tall your tower of hate becomes it's still fragile," he announced. "My next face down card," Yugi called out, pointing forward as the smoky pile of dust moved to cloud the white dragon before him. "DE-FUSION..!" And as Kaiba's eyes widened in horror, and as the dragon slowly split from the necks down into a triad... And as all three dragons snarled from across him on the field, Red-Eyes snarling in response... "There are now four dragons on the field," he said clearly, narrowing his eyes as he continued his move. "Bringing the Dark Paladin's power up even more.. And last but not least," the boy continued, the Paladin in question bringing his spear up with a swift nod, "I play this final spell from my hand! Diffusion Wave Motion! It might cost 1000 life points," Yugi continued, the meter on his wrist dropping down as the Magician swung his weapon, "But to attack each of your monsters it'll be worth it! NOW DARK PALADIN," he roared, Kaiba continuing to pale and stare from across him as her game was turned on her once again, "STRIKE THEM DOWN... AND TEAR THROUGH THE DARKNESS! _**FIERCE SLASHING WAVE..!**_"

"_**HHHHAAAAH!**_" The blade swung forward... And though it never connected, the waves of darkness that shot forth from it did.

"_**RAAAOOOOOOOO!**_" The first one's neck was severed cleanly, and as arterial spray shot into the air Yugi's expression fell and his skin went pale.

"_**AOOOOOOOO!**_" The second one was cut through the middle, wings split clean in two and a mix of bone and organ falling to the ground amid the corpse left behind.

"_**ARAAAAAAAAAAAAAOOOOO..!" **_And the final one... Was reduced to just as much a mess as the two before him.

The blade that his monster swung forward released such a wave of darkness that for a moment he couldn't see anything beyond the attack until that moment. All he could hear were the pained screams of the White Dragon's, the monsters final cries hanging through the air as he stared. But for a moment after, with the gore remaining on the field, there was nothing...

And in the end, as the shadows cleared he was left to ponder these 'sights' that his friend was left to see during each battle. The sight of the dragon's torn literally to shreds as blood soaked the field, as eyes grew dead and chunks of muscle and bone littered the ground with organs following in the mess. As Kaiba's white coat was miraculously left clean in the aftermath of the red rain that stained the ground, and as she continued to stare in horror, unable to speak...

Because in the end, to surpass this madness and hate she held...

Her dragons were the sacrifice.

'_We have a winner,_' he dimly heard Isono shout at the side, the arena lowering as the vision cleared from sight. As tablets ground to dust to merge with the ground, as the remaining monsters on the field gave him a low nod and faded from sight in wisps of smoke on the wind... As stone crumbled back into hologram within his sights, the 'ability' fading until all that he saw finally vanished from the field completely. '_Mutou Yugi moves on to the Final Match,_' Isono was announcing clearly. So he did...

So he did...

But for the moment, that was not what was on his mind. Rather, as he looked across the field to his rival he found himself staring almost expectantly at the woman. Hate... It was a dead end, there was no doubt about that.

Now however, the question was...

How persistent would that hate be... And would what happened today ever repeat itself as it apparently had all those years ago..?

* * *

Blood fell to the ground in torrents around her in the face of that move. It fell with such force that a waterfall would have felt no different, despite the downpour lasting only a second or so. The battle was lost... Her tournament that had held so much promise had reduced itself to mere ashes now and she stood atop the pile defeated...

A pile formed of the blood, bone, and flesh of deceased monsters. Her dragons had cried in that blast. The shadows had whipped forward and cut them to shreds, and as she found herself reaching a hand toward the dragons' falling form, toward the bloodied shreds as they fell through the air, it passed between her fingers as a pile of ash. Vanished to the wind.

Gone.

All she ever wanted... All she'd wanted...

Was to defeat this one person... This one boy... At the top of her tower where she would surpass him as the 'king'. Was that so much..?

Was that so much..? '_Well... That's just ridiculous,_' a cruel voice in the back of her mind whispered, the remaining ashes from the dragon gathering in her open palm. '_You can't be the king. You're a woman; only men can be kings. You will always be 'second',_' it continued to taunt, Seto's wide eyes staring almost glassily at the pile of dust she held._ 'The closest thing you can do is be the Queen,'_ the voice hissed,_ 'And that's not an option at all for you now is it? You have nothing now... It's over for you. You have nothing... It's..._'

Over.

It was all over, all of it, and as she looked at the ashes that were slowly blowing off her hand she continued to stand in shock and silence.

She lost.

She _lost_. Again...

At the side she could hear her brother calling out to her, despite the fact that she'd told him to stay on the ship... She could hear him shouting out with tear filled cries at her reaction to the battle, but she couldn't make out the words right now...

Her ultimate deck... Her ultimate monster, her greatest ally and asset in this battle, and it was destroyed. Rendered naught but shreds of flesh and dust on the ground. There was no flaw in her strategy. She'd tested every possible angle her opponent could have taken against her. Her deck was perfect in every way... Perfect... And yet... "I lost..."

"Yes," Yugi 'responded', taking a few steps forward as his opponent continued to stare at the ashes that had fallen to the ground. "I won; you lost," he repeated almost bluntly as he stood before her. "But we have no difference in skill," the boy finished. No difference..? Gh...

Hgh... Her eyes snapped back into focus and with a red face she looked back up to her opponent, fists curling in and jaw clenching tight. "You... Is that supposed to be _PITY,_" she snarled, still not bothering to disguise her voice as a cold wind blew past her. To look down on her like this...

He dared... He _dared _to do such a thing..! "No," he said flatly, expression unchanged. "It's the truth; I'm acknowledging your skill as a duelist," the boy told her, "And I'm acknowledging your power. But let me tell you _this,_" he continued, the woman grinding her teeth as her opponent went on with another of the 'morals' to match his 'end of story' as he always did. "What you lost to... Was the monster called 'Hatred' that dwells within you."

The monster called 'hatred'? _Really_? She was half tempted to ask if he was joking... To send back a snark-filled comment and brush it off as she did before. Yet instead she found herself momentarily staring at her rival in silence, allowing the boy to continue.

"The monsters on our cards are not the only monsters that exist," he began, the wind continuing to blow almost gently against them both. "The fact is," Yugi went on, "They _pale_ in comparison to the demons that we ourselves can create. Despair, Jealousy, Rage... Our worst enemies know us from the inside out and lurk deep within," the boy half-whispered, "Lying in wait... And only when you defeat that," he continued, "Only when you've surpassed those obstacles within yourself, can you truly push this 'darkness' of yours behind and fight as you were meant to. Kaiba," he continued, pulling a card from his disk and holding it up, light gleaming across the shining black cover it held. "I would have lost if I didn't have this dragon in my deck... This card that Jonouchi lent me," Yugi 'explained' calmly. "It's his power that allowed me to defeat you. Not mine. Our 'friendship'... Our power..."

The power of... ...Tch! "The power of _**WHAT**_," she hissed, narrowing her eyes in rage as she regained the stubborn sense of rage that had clung to her side for the duel and a large portion of her life. A fool... Nothing but a fool..! "You're a complete _moron_," she spat, wind blasting about the field and stinging against whatever skin was left to the wind as it began to pick up speed. "I don't want to win if it means depending on others..! I don't need 'friends'- I don't need anyone," she snarled, palms cut once again by the nails of her fingers. "I win on my own terms," Seto growled, "And no one else's..! But I digress," she went on, a card slipped out from her graveyard as she spoke. She'd lost after all... What right did she have now? "Boasting is the privilege of those who win," the woman muttered, eyes not even sparing a glance to the blue-rimmed card she held. "For now I'll keep quiet and step down... And with the ante rule," she continued, tossing the card toward her rival without even looking toward him to see if her rival caught the 'reward', "That makes this card yours..!"

The soldier of the Obelisk, the God 'Sutekh'... "I accept your ante," the boy responded, Seto merely walking off the arena with grit teeth before briefly turning back. 'Accept'... Tch...

"Tch... Yugi," she began, fists slowly going 'flat' again as she spoke. "Now that you've beaten me I won't allow you to lose in the finals, understand," she spat. A curt nod from the boy was all she needed, and with that she walked back toward the stairs, coat furling in the wind behind her as the door opened wide. Even with two God cards... Even with that, he was no match for Ra, she told herself. But then again she always predicted his defeat, didn't she? She'd always predicted his loss against her. So... If he could possibly reverse his chances, then who knew what would occur. He couldn't lose... Not to anyone else..! He couldn't let anyone defeat him because that right was hers and hers alone but for now...

With the final match in ten minutes, there was a destruction sequence to begin for the tower. There was an explosion to time, to watch over. She had to make sure the jet was prepared for take off before the blast, that the blast wouldn't happen too early or too late...

There was lots to do...

But before she could head down the stairs...

It figured she would hear the 'others'. "WHOO! YEA! YUGI!" The woman turned from the stairway entrance, watching as a small crowd appeared from the second stair-well that the tower's top held. That voice... Briefly her eyes widened, the currently shoe-less and shirtless blond pumping a fist in the air with zeal as he shouted. "YUGI! Y' DID IT!"

"J-JONOUCHI!"

"Hahaha! What, y' thought I'd die," he laughed, shaking his head. Almost... She wasn't going to let him obviously but... (The wound was gone, where was the wound...!) "Great job man," Katsuya was laughing, clapping an arm around the boy's shoulders in celebration as he stared. "I knew y'd do it!" Of course he did... Did he have _any _faith in her at all? Any!

Moron. "...You should have stayed on the ship," she found herself muttering as she continued down the stairs, ignorant to the continued shouts on the field as Mokuba joined the crowd and ran toward that same stairwell. He should have never come back to this place... He should have remained on the gurney, ready for the helicopter when it arrived. But it seemed that despite that he was here now. And in the end...

It seemed the 'mutt' didn't need her anyways. Not when 'her' power was still defeated by someone a foot shorter than herself. Not when all her power couldn't stop an invisible blade from striking him down, or explain when the victim recovered. Not when 'his' power appeared atop the field in the form of black scales and burning red-eyes, acting against even the rules of the game to strike her down. He didn't need her. In fact...

It seemed like no one did. Not even 'him'. "Let's go Mokuba," she said flatly, the boy that had come up from behind stiffening from where he'd reached out to tell the woman he was there.

"N-Nee-sama," he muttered in surprise, "How did you- ...Ah, wait, don't you want to see Katsuya-nii," he continued in protest. "He's completely recovered, it's incredible..! You have to see-"

"...There's something I need to do," she said flatly, cutting her brother off as she walked down the stairs with the boy behind her. "We'll deal with him later." Later... Much later...

Her power might not have been enough to defeat Malik if this duel was any sign she thought to herself bitterly, face still burning red with the rage of her loss.

But that didn't mean she couldn't finish this tournament as 'planned' and salvage whatever pathetic ashes remained in this already long lost ruin.

* * *

**AN: **Nooooo, Kaiba~ Don't start beating yourself up over a loss again..! Think of your brother..!

The fact is guys, Kaiba's in a fairly self-depricating mood right now... With the combined trauma and stress of Malik, the tournament going to shit, all the psychological bulshit in the VR world, and her dragons being blown up the way they were (doesn't help that the Gods naturally super-charge her will to fight...), she ends up in a really... Really dark place.

Heck, for all the improvement she's shown, in real life, this sort of recovery has its ups and downs. In fact, there's generally a high chance of having a 'pit moment' where you feel _worse _than you had before the recovery even started. (And it really hurts more when I realize that I'm using a close relative of mine as an example with that fact.)

In any case, this is one of those moments; and it'll take time to get over it. Thankfully however, _she will_...

As to how... Well, she'll start to get out of that pit again in the next chapter. We'll also see Jonouchi's confrontation there, and then the start of Yugi VS Yami Malik if we're lucky enough. It all depends on how long the chapter gets with the confrontation and 'lead up' scenes first.

In other news, we have art again (for both this one, the last one, and the 100th chapter flat-colour surprise), and some more music to shamelessly flaunt. Lots of reviews to answer to, both anonymous and registered, and I received a few more 'story alerts/favorites' as well, which always makes me happy!

For now, THE CONTEST!

I'll be taking entries for the 'create a summary for Skin' contest (255 characters or less) until Canada Day; that's July First, though if I stop receiving entries for two updates and it's already two weeks into June, I might start voting then. The vote time itself will be announced when all the entries are in.

Remember; the prize is a flat coloured request of any kind, with as many as two characters involved.

Now then! There's not much time left for this arc... In fact, if I start the duel next chapter, it's likely that there will only be two chapters left, with one becoming a super chapter to cover the finale. There's a lot of material to cover there...

And after that, there's not much time before the next arc either!

Another news point! I might have a job! Not sure yet... Should hopefully find out within the next week though; if I get it before I update, the next update will likely be delayed by about... two or so days. It depends on _when_ I end up working really.

So, with that in mind...

Review time!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Quite a few; I really can't thank all of you who make this effort enough!

First, imadork! Thank you for the congratulations! I hope you enjoy this chapter and the next as well!

Next, Purpletrees! First, welcome to the fanfic, I hope you enjoy it! (And remember what your review was by the time you get here...) Also...

W-Wow... I never thought of it like that... I mean... I always thought of it as ridiculously long, but I never realized that it was as long as _three of the LOTR trilogy_..!

Wowwwwwww...

And emotional roller coaster just got started Iona! Though I suppose that after the above, the most fun we'll get is from the confrontations and then things should calm down somewhat. Actually, there'll be lots of foreshadowing to future events in this particular finale, so keep your eyes open in case I decide to forego splitting the duel in two and go 'mammoth' with the match.

Poor poor Kaiba... It's going to take a bit before things really solidify in terms of where those two are going, I can bet that a lot of people will be resiting the urge to strangle me as a result! As for what he gets...

He managed to avoid Kaiba amazingly enough, but ironically it's at _her_ expense. She's actually too depressed and sore about the battle to even bother. (Also, she's not in the mood to push through everyone else... Which she would have to do.)

Of course, this doesn't spare him from everyone _else_ as you can see...

Well, expect the next update soon enough, and with that, I'll see you soon!

Three chapters eh Maggiemay? -counts in head- Well... You won't really get anything after three chapters, but you'll definitely get a bit of fluff around the end of the next arc.

And 'Seri' was just Bakura's roommate; largely for the reason that in addition to cheaper rent payment, it helps to have someone keeping tabs on the Millennium Ring; 'Seri' would have been a part of the Monster World crew in the 'dream world'.

I hope you enjoy the next chapter as much as those before it!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's getting stuck everywhere now that there's awkwardness to depict! BUT IT MUST BE DONE!

* * *

And in other news, title time! 'Red Soul' refers to one of the chapter titles in this particular stream of manga chapters; the Red Eyes Black Dragon was more or less considered Jonouchi's spirit (even though he woke up and the dragon was never destroyed... Though he _did _happen to wake up when it attacked.)... In fact, in the original, Kaiba is quite ticked about Blue-Eyes being defeated by a 'ghost'.

Oh, it's also the name of a fairly good song by 'AAA'. But that's irrelevant.

* * *

What, you thought he'd get the kiss? Nope. For more clarification on this 'illusion'... While it doesn't _seem_ like Jou was going to fall for it, he really was coming close...

The fact is, if he'd taken that kiss, he'd have gotten himself stuck. That kiss would have been a sign of him being willing to essentially trade in his 'reality' for his 'dream', no matter how messed up it was.

...And by the way, Kisara's probably quite glad that this kiss never happened, and not just because of illusionary issues.

* * *

Why is Jou being called 'Black One'? You can _probably _guess by the end of this chapter. Also...

* * *

Funny thing; one of the major reasons behind why Ra can appear before Jou is similar to Selket's reason for being in Jonouchi's 'deck'; at the moment, though Ra 'belongs' to Malik, he's somewhat tied to Jou... This will actually help out with what happens next, keep an eye open.

And yes, Jonouchi got to fall from miles and miles above the tower before showing up behind Yugi. Whoops.

* * *

WOAAAH!

WOAAAAAAAHHH! What's this second dream doing here! And why did Blue Eyes attack Set! _What's going on Usagi!_ Well... In the original, the 'duel' that the Priest and Pharaoh ended up having didn't really happen for the most part. Blue Eyes refused to attack; this is what led to the Priest regaining control of himself from Akhnaden.

However, originally, this scene in Battle City (in the manga, according to Takahashi) was supposed to hint at something else. Originally, the Priest was going to sever ties with the palace completely, but go after Akhnaden on his own, due to his hate over what happened to Kisara; he kinda blamed the Pharaoh.

Something tells me that in the end, he didn't blame the Pharaoh. But anyways; that entire storyline was cut thanks to edit pressure unfortunately.

* * *

Of course, what with me knowing exactly what's happening for Ancient Egypt in the fanfic, that means the memory is more accurate. The Pharaoh is visibly despairing over having to fight Set, Set isn't completely there, and Mahaad, who actually knew the priest obviously, is in a similar position to the King.

And of course, its this familiarity that has him speaking to Kaiba, despite it scaring the shit out of her. (You can totally hear his sarcastic emphasis on 'priest' though, hahaha.)

* * *

As for the rest of Yugi's dream... Yea. That was his death. And yea...

Now you know where his few scraps of subconcious memory come from. It's... ... I need to stop making myself weepy I do...

* * *

Bit of clarification on Seto's relapse. Basically, between Noa's VR World, the fact that almost _every loss in this tournament _has ended in coma (Not helping with the 'losing means death' deal that one), and finally the sheer pressure all of this puts on her _while_ the presence of God Cards fuels everyone's drive to fight, she's reverted to her Death-T mindset.

Rather the opinion that if she loses, she's good as dead...

I should correct myself. It's not _completely_ her Death-T mindset... More that it's caused by it. Essentially, if she loses, she isn't powerful enough to stop everything that's going on. She isn't powerful enough to protect her brother and everyone else from the maniac that is Malik, she isn't enough to keep anyone on that airship alive...

Moreover it proves Yugi 'right' when it comes to everything he's saying, something that is already holding neon signs in her face and forcing her mind to come kicking and screaming into realization of that fact. And all of this stress brings up anger at the fact, all the anger brings up hate, and the hate refuses to let any happy memory that she has (which is admittedly 'few' compared to negative ones at the moment) come forward in defense...

Which drives her still forward to simply abandon it and kick it to the curb. She wants, and needs, to get rid of this... But she feels that in order to do so, the best thing is to get as far away from it as possible, rather than confronting it directly and surpassing it that way. It's why she refuses to acknowledge the

'Egypt' and 'Supernatual' fun despite it being right in front of her, and it is, as Yugi says, what keeps her from overcoming this vice that is hate and anger. Until she can realize that not everything that happened before that point was bad, and that without all of that she wouldn't be the person she was (In a sense making the phrase 'Shit happened, but in the end I can learn and be better for it.'), that will continue to happen. She'll keep going after the next thing to hate, and in the end, everyone is miserable because of it.

In summary... She's in a dark place right now. A dark, and very self-deprecating place that is first preceded by an insane and endless _need_ to surpass what lies ahead of her, lest that inability prove that she has a 'weakness'.

If that makes sense. Which I hope it does. Because really guys, Kaiba's actually quite insecure when it comes to this, or at least she and her canon counterpart are like this until a little later. (Recovery takes time neh?) You can all blame Gozaburo and his obsession with perfection for that.

At least she'll get better in the end. (And before the end, thankfully... Though it's obviously a gradual change.)

* * *

And on a scarier note; note that 'of destruction' returned to the end of 'burst stream'. That's pretty much your cue to do all you can to snap Kaiba the fuck out of her relapse.

* * *

OH MAHAAD. MANY YEARS DOES NOT COVER YOU AT ALL. (Though thankfully, he keeps his mouth shut more often than not in battle, so her mind should be spared a little in terms of 'WHAT, NOT REAL' business.)

* * *

Jonouchi's lines of course, were altered heavily to suit his feelings toward Kaiba... But most of his dialogue is still intact. If anything, most of the lines concerning Kaiba were added... And he's being deadly serious here; had Kaiba won, she wouldn't have been in any state to fight Malik, at least not in a shadow game... Her actions made it blatantly obvious that she was being driven by nothing but negativity, which would instantly act as a weakness against her in a shadow related match.

Because... That's kinda how they work.

Not to mention, in regards to the fanfic at least, it's more than apparent that she needs to catch a break from all this crap _really_ fast before she snaps _further._ (And... Kaiba's not the type for 'depressive' relapses, if you haven't noticed from the battle. At least not when it comes to a 'snap'.)

* * *

How did Jonouchi know he could grant Yugi his 'duel' sight for the match? A mix of visionary fun and Ra. Mostly Ra; this 'ability' only lasts for the day, and is more of something to help Yugi out and give them (Jou and Yugi) both something to work with.

* * *

Oh hey! The white ghost's point of view! And...

Oh hey... It... Turned into a monster... (That font for the thing affecting its thoughts was hard to make, eck...) ...Said monster is below, but WARNING! Those are HUGE spoilers, and anyone who has seen the Egypt arc of the anime or manga both will likely 'ruin' the end for them as a result!

That or end up with an incredibly strained and sprained brain. Either one works.

* * *

Importance on names here; I think I've mentioned this before, but in Ancient Egypt, it was believed that your name was what gave you your memory. ...From what I recall at least...

* * *

Kaiba's line in regards to Red-Eyes is partially based off her own rage when someone brings back _her_ Blue-Eyes as _their_ monster. Reverse possessiveness? I suppose you could say its out of respect. Either way, canon Kaiba originally considered it Jonouchi's _ghost,_ and even shouted '_DIE, GHOST OF JONOUCHI_'.

Something tells me, _not sure what_... But the fanfic counterpart isn't about to say that when she just finished saying she'd make sure Jonouchi lived.

* * *

The tube-choking deal was inspired by NCIS... I can't actually tell if a complete tube is used for an AutoPulse, but given that the nose _isn't_ covered, which is ordinarily required in CPR to make sure the air gets to the lungs, I'm assuming there is.

Also I checked with an actual nurse about the tube thing... Which is always good.

* * *

And yes, he gets to run around shirtless and shoeless until the end of the arc. Hehehe. The fact is, for them to have treated the wound, they'd have gotten it off as fast as possible.

This involves cutting it off.

As to how Jou knew where the dog tags are, that's another ability point that he pretty much just considers normal by this point.

But yea. ...So... Everyone gets a nice view of that _huge_ scar on his chest now...

* * *

By the way, Kaiba's skepticism is REALLY hard to re-create; because even in the manga, there are moments where his thoughts are almost hypocritical in regards to how he takes the whole 'Ancient Egypt deal'. Oh well.

* * *

The percentage Kaiba mentions in her head comes from a later conversation with Ishizu; Kaiba mentions that there's one card that could potentially cause Malik's loss, but even with that card, the chances of defeating Ra remain at a mere 22%.

* * *

Blue-Eyes' horrific death certainly doesn't help Kaiba's state of mind by the way. But it _does _help to change the point of negativity it draws upon... ...Sadly, making Kaiba _depressed_ about things just makes things _worse_ in the end...

* * *

Oh; and on another note, dialogue! All manga, as per usual, with minor changes made relating to plot or making overall sense. I'd say it's a nice mix of both really.

* * *

Well, that's all for now... Some art and music below, but until then, expect the next update sometime next week...

Unless I get that job of course.

And don't worry..! She'll deal with Jonouchi... At some point... (She's really not in the mood, _if you haven't guessed_.)

* * *

FanArt and My Art

Take out spaces, paste link! Voila!

We have a few today; typically I do things in the style of one giant sketched upon canvas, which might take a while to load, but quite frankly saves my computer from running out of space believe it or not; I draw smaller with this sort of canvas, so... Yea.

Any ways! Concept art, concept _scenes_, along with reference... And since I never finished my 100 chapter celebration picture, I think I'll hold off until '2,000,000' words. ^

See, this gives me time to make a decent picture. Hohohoh...

SketchSheet: Dreams, Doctors, and Sisters – http : / / i5. Photobucket. Com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Sketch4. jpg - We have Dream!Seto (AKA 'Seri'), and a chibi of Dream!Mokuba as well! Also a great big profile of Doctor Kuzushi... And the scene from Jonouchi's _second_ dream. Hihhhh! Also, we have in the one corner both Sen (Haga's OC sister in case you forgot) and Shizuka with cards. Despite the fact that only one of them can actually duel, and probably won't really bother with much dueling outside of fun with Ryuzaki. And of course, there's the obligatory 'girls are weird' as a result, but whatever.

SPOILERS!SketchSheet: The monsters of the Soul/Dogs/Rao – http : / / i5. Photobucket. Com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ Sketch5. jpg - Hey look it's Kisara! And... Saraph? But why does Saraph look like- ...Well, if you clicked it, and you recognize him, you've probably spoiled a good lot of things for yourself. Of course, to some, this chapter in general did that, so hopefully it won't matter much. ...Hopefully...

Mai's aforementioned dog is there too; its a rottweiler! I _almost_ went with a Chow actually... But in the end, the image of someone going 'so cuuuuute' with a rottweiler was too much to pass up. Because as incredibly vicious as they can be when it comes to guard purposes...

_So cuuuuuuute!_

On the other hand, we have a Season Zero only character named 'Aileen Rao'. Apparently she's Canadian. Needless to say, what with the hockey game on, even though Rao doesn't appear in the fanfic I just _had _to draw her watching the game. I _had _to. (She's in episode 17 of the Toei series for anyone wondering.) ...For some reason, she took over the sheet. And Mai. Mostly the sheet though.

Musical Notes

In which I shamelessly give you music!

First off, from this channel here (The videos are all subbed..!): http : / / www. Youtube. Com/ user/ Turrent# p/ c/ E421E8A1A7A3E07A , we have the covers for 'Pierrot', 'BadBye', 'Love Lost Elegy', and 'Reflect'.

There's also (By vocaloids as usual...) Alluring Secret ~ Black Vow, Panda Hero, Alice, and finally 'From Y to Y'...

Also 'Lacrimosa', which a few of you likely recognise as one of the endings for 'Black Butler'.

Well, that's it for this update... With that in mind, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter! Until next time!


	103. Chapter 102

**Anagnorisis**

* * *

The fact was, they'd made it to the field long before the duel had ended. It only took a few minutes to run up those stairs with the speed they'd been running at, and while they were obviously exhausted by the end of it they still had time to watch the last few moves. To watch as the Dark Magician became the Dark Paladin, his armor smoking over his form and radiating an energy that even those accompanying him seemed to feel. To watch as Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon divided and became the trio of monsters he was so familiar with, the three elegant and white scaled dragons who now snarled and stood protectively before their master.

To watch their bodies fall to the floor, Katsuya visibly grimacing at the sight while the others momentarily paused to stare after having humored his words and watched the battle in silence. After briefly thinking back to all the things they'd noticed over the past number of months, all the little details they were so unsure about...

They were also there long enough to listen. To listen to Yugi's words to a friend and rival as he attempted to put fight on and put sense in his opponent's mind, to listen in distaste as Seto's words echoed across the field, as she pushed the past she so detested away while her brother stared at the ground almost in tears and thought...

"...There were other times weren't there," he whispered. "What about the happy times..?"

They didn't occur to Seto, not at this moment. Certainly not afterward either he noted, the smile he held in regards to Yugi's success fading as he looked to the woman's face. And as she stormed away from the field, cheers sounding around them and filling the air the blond bowed his head. Mokuba could do nothing more than give his friend a saddened look before running toward her, nothing more than that as the woman ignored all else around. He knew that would happen. It was something he only bitterly accepted, but he'd known... "N-Nee-sama," Mokuba cried, eyes wide as he ran toward his sister. None on the field hadn't heard her words, and none on the field didn't know who she was now. There was no need for a mask, no need for the facade... "Nee-sama, wait..! Katsuya-nii's awake, you have to see..! You have to..." But regardless, with such a loss, Seto would want nothing to do with them.

And he already knew that running after her wouldn't do anything right now. He already knew that she wouldn't talk to him, that she didn't _want _to talk to him, not right now.

And besides; Ishizu was already walking after the two with her own expression of set determination, and he wasn't in the mood to interrupt a conversation he was already catching the beginning of. A conversation of Priests and Queens and past lives that Seto was so trying to push from mind to simply calm down and _breathe._ So instead he ran toward his friend, unable to keep a grin from his face. Ran toward the friend he'd greeted from the 'opposite realm' while on the field, and the one who he'd come to watch fight to the end along side the dragon he'd left him with. "Haha... WHOOOO! YEA, YUGI," he shouted, stumbling somewhat on scratched soles as he ran forward. His feet still stung from the stones he'd stepped on, but what did that matter? This fight was over, and the next had yet to come. He and the others all ran with shouts and cheers as their friend stepped off from the arena, the boy turning with wide eyes and a smile of his own while they moved to greet him. "YUGI," he repeated loudly, laughing as he came to a stop before him. "Y' DID IT! HahaHA!"

"J-Jonouchi," the boy responded, quickly finding himself pulled over as his friend clapped a hand on his shoulder. "Y-You're..!"

"What," he laughed, pulling back to brush some hair from his eyes while the wind attempted to blow it right back. "Y' thought I died?" There was no answer to that, but despite this he continued to smirk, merely shaking his head. "Y' did a great job man," he said somewhat quieter, his friend not once looking down at the now visible scar on his chest. "I knew you'd do it..."

Yugi stared back to the blond for a moment, before a small smile came over his own face and that of his lighter counterpart's as well. "Hn... Well... What took you so long," he asked half-humorously, his friend shrugging in response as the 'light' Yugi laughed.

"Eh... You know me... I get distracted," he answered, briefly crossing his arms as he smirked. Of course, being distracted by voices in his head probably wasn't good but...

Well, the voice hadn't come back since he woke up he noticed, so that was all good right?

"We didn't 'just get here' as it is," Otogi added, hands stowed in his pockets as he shrugged and smiled himself. "In fact," the teen went on, "We got here just before Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon appeared... But Jonouchi told us not to interrupt," he continued, glancing at the blond as he again shrugged.

"Hey... 'S an important fight," he said with a small smile, unable to quite hold it as wide as he normally would in response to his friend's win. "Couldn' let them d'srupt you guys... But hey," he added, voice raising in an attempt to lighten the mood. "You all see tha'," Katsuya laughed. "_My _Red-Eyes, dukin' it out on th' field right t' th' end!"

The response from Honda was probably expected. "It's not your card idiot!"

At this he merely snorted, crossing his arms as the dragon in question misted around his friend's shoulder with a yawn. "Heh... Not now," he answered, glancing over at the monster as its tail flicked, "But he will be soon... Mark my words! I've jus' gotta face Yugi in one las' match b'fore I-"

"Is that even safe," 'Anzu' muttered darkly, gold eyes flashing as Malik came forward to speak as well. "What happened on the field... I've been watching for a while," 'he' continued, the others listening in uncomfortable curiosity as the disembodied Egyptian went on. "When I used the Millennium Rod to... Force you into that fight for one," he began uncomfortably, "I wondered a number of things; the apparent control that the item held over you, when you spouted insults across the field... And then the sudden loss as it shattered completely... Following that," Malik told him with a swallow, "Your awareness toward anyone else controlled..."

"Awareness," Honda cut in, shaking himself as he turned to the blond. "Hang on, you mean you _knew_ she was still possessed..!" Gh- That was...

He bowed his head somewhat, keeping silent underneath the snarled retort. Eck... "Ah... I'm over it now," Anzu hurriedly added with a cough, nonetheless turning to face Katsuya again as the blond bit his lip. "There really wasn't anything he could have said. And in any case," the woman went on, "There's still more..." "I can't be the only one who noticed after all," Malik continued, crossing 'his' arms and legs as a cool wind blew past. "It's one thing when all you have is a tattered jacket to go by but-"

"But you were speaking in Egyptian," Otogi finished flatly, turning to Katsuya as the blond remained silent. "Your words mirrored the 'other Malik's completely while on that field," he added. "In addition..."

"Everything you did..." Honda shook his head, disbelief coming over his face as he recalled the duel's events and the small 'habits' he'd been passing off toward the back of his mind. "You never looked at your hand, never touched the buttons on the disk..."

"Never faltered, even under the shadows," Anzu continued, gaze dimming. "Moreover... With each hit... Each spell... Umi soaked you at the aquarium, not the whale's splashing. And when 'Dark Malik's monsters attacked you..." She cut her words short, turning away somewhat as the blond stared.

What she was hesitating to say... That was pretty obvious, wasn't it? "_**Rnnnn...**_" Katsuya blinked, turning as Red-Eyes floated over from Yugi's shoulder to rub against the taller's cheek and perch on his own. "_**Rrrnnnnn...**_" Red-Eyes...

The blond stared, watching as the dragon continued to rub itself along his cheek and neck, black scales rubbing against his skin almost like sandpaper. Huh. If he didn't think it was 'cat-like' before... "...Jonouchi," the other Yugi began, jarring his friend from his thoughts as he turned back. "What you said before on the airship... With the visions... And the 'shadow games'," he added, swallowing almost in unease as Katsuya looked back.

"_I know that you told us at least that much,_" the 'real' Yugi continued, rubbing his arm. _"About seeing those visions, and about what you could see during the shadow games... But... If it's alright with you,_" he whispered, not once turning from the blond's stare.

Silence fell over the air, and as Katsuya looked to the ground once again he found himself loosely clenching and un-clenching his fists. The others... They were looking to him, and waiting for an answer now. Despite best efforts however, they were not simply looking at their face.

And if there was one thing that their eyes were currently drawn to instead of that, it was the scar on his chest. It was messy, leathery, and raw, and the fact was that it hadn't been there when his now destroyed shirt was wet enough to see through somewhat. This was a scar he'd gained recently. They knew that. He knew that.

They just wanted him to tell them himself, rather than force it out of him, and with that in mind the blond gave a resigned sigh and brought his head back up to face the music.

"...You guys... Y' probably hate me righ' now, huh," he finally muttered, hands stowed in his pockets as his eyes grew somewhat shadowed. "Keepin' somethin' like tha' a secret..."

There was a snort from the group, Katsuya unable to even give a wry smile in response. "Hah! 'Something like that' doesn't even cut it," Honda responded, shaking his head as he frowned. "...But that sure as hell doesn't mean we 'hate' you, idiot."

As the scowl he was faced with softened his sister nodded, stepping forward and gripping her arm tight. "We... We're just worried," Shizuka whispered, shaking her head. "When you came in from the field... All the others could say was that somehow, you'd been impaled by something. None of them could even see what it was... They saw a sword come out of a mirror and strike you," she continued, the grip on her arm tightening as her fist clenched, "But it wasn't until after that you reacted..."

"And when that happened," Otogi continued, eyes dimming somewhat at the memory. "After you doubled over, grabbing at something in the air..."

A shudder seemed to pass over the crowd, as though each was waiting for another to speak first. "...It was bad enough that we could see blood suddenly flying through the air," whispered Anzu, an audible swallow following after. "But after you'd already been bleeding from your hands and head, with cards being ripped out of them by nothing at all..." She shook her head, expression fraught with as much worry and fear as all the others. "Jonouchi... This goes beyond an 'Oracle' and 'Seer'," 'Malik' stated, 'his' gaze becoming serious as Anzu's eyes again gleamed gold. "It's one thing to divine the future, even if slightly," the teen explained, having obviously shared a few facts with the others on the airship, "And another to see Shadow Games and other related matters concerning the Millennium Items... But 'Shadow' games only do so much. This..." The 'Egyptian' sighed, shaking 'his' head before continuing. "Even if you _were_ actually tied to an item," he told him with a swallow, "It wouldn't be able to do that to you..."

No... "No... Yer right," he said quietly, looking away somewhat as his gaze was drawn to the field at their side. "It wouldn'..."

"But... Then how," Shizuka finally 'shouted', voice picking up beyond the awkward and quieted tones the others held as they tried to answer that very question. "What's happening... What happened to you there, what's happening to you at all..? What's _happening,_ nihan?" What was happening?

…

Who the fuck knew any more. "I don' know," he muttered, shaking his head as he sighed. "Hell... Y' don' think I'm scared myself," he laughed nervously, the smile on his face visibly strained as he looked back to the others. "Th' firs' thing I got t' tell me something was wrong... Was a giant rottin' dragon at th' Duelist Kingdom. An' ev'n though I had a dream b'fore," he continued, the others growing silent as suspicions were partially explained and proven correct, "It wasn' till later that I found out it was the god damn future! All this," he whispered, holding a hand out and pausing as the dragon clambered from his shoulder to his palm. "Everythin' tha's happenin', everythin' I've been seein' these past weeks an' months... How was I s'pposed t' say anything," he 'laughed', fingers closing in on his palm despite Red-Eyes' somewhat disgruntled cries. "With a duel waitin'," the blond continued to his friend. "With th' everyone goin' on abou' school an' classes an' everything goin' back t' normal while I'm sittin' there wishin' I could honestly say th' same... I mean... I can't control this," Katsuya snorted, shaking his head and opting not to gesture to the 'invisible' dragon on his hand as he continued to rant and release long bottled annoyance. "I'm seein' monsters talkin' t' each other on th' field, tablets comin' out 'f the ground, that ain't normal!" Hell that was never normal, and while the others were trading glances he still had to wonder if they believed a word he said. "So..." So with all of that... "When everything tha' happens turns out t' be real," he whispered, bowing his head once again like some shamed dog before a crowd, "How the hell can I bring tha' kinda thing up, when there's real life t' worry about?"

There was silence for a moment, if only that. Some of those around looked almost guilted by his words, still trading awkward looks of course. But for the most part, only a split second after he'd said those things he-

-_**CRACK!**_-

"OW! FUCK!" The blond stumbled back to the ground and on his back as a fist collided with his face, muffled curses and shouts coming from behind his hand as he hurriedly cupped a now bleeding nose. "Mnnh!" Shit- That hit probably broke his damn nose! He was lucky enough that Seto's hadn't already done that damn it! "What th' hell Honda..!"

The teen snorted, shaking his head as he shook his somewhat bloodied fist. "Moron..! After everything we've done together," he growled, looking directly into his friend's eyes, "You think _this_ is something to clam up about?" As the others stared at Honda a moment the teen continued, face somewhat red with rage. "Come on... How long have we known each other," he continued in 'protest'. "How long have you known the others," he pressed, quite obviously not aiming at superiority so much as he was making a point. "If you can't tell us when something like this happens," Honda went on, narrowing his eyes, "Then do you think we're going to miss it, and pass it off as 'nothing'?" Before his friend could even answer to the accusation Honda held an arm out toward the blond, continuing. "Jonouchi. Even if you turned out to be some kind of weird... Reincarnated monster from another world," he told him seriously, "_I won't care_." He...

Katsuya blinked, bringing his hands back down and staring at his friend as the taller smirked. "H-Honda..."

"I think 'monsters' are a bit of a stretch," Otogi chuckled, before putting a hand out himself and moving to stand within closer reach. "But while I can't say I've known you that long," the teen went on, "And you being able to speak certain dead languages better than me _does_ annoy me somewhat..." He cut himself short, shaking his head as a few of the others gave him a look. "Well," he admitted with a slight shrug. "I can still say that quite honestly, I'll easily push that aside to stay friends with you."

"Hn; if you think _you_ feel bad about him knowing the language better," Malik muttered, before blue/brown eyes came forth with an outstretched arm and a more feminine voice. "Well... Even if they aren't necessarily his memories to use as basis," Anzu chuckled, shaking her head, "We both know you well enough to know you weren't trying to hurt us. If anything," she continued, her momentary possessor taking over as familiar doubled tones returned, "It feels more like you were trying to protect us at the time."

"Of course, that just makes you a bigger 'ahou'," his sister added dryly, wiping somewhat teary eyes and holding out her hand with the others despite a momentary scowl. "But... As long as you never do that again," she continued, teary smile replacing the expression, "Just as long as you promise that..!"

"And I'm sure that my monsters won't attack you, if they didn't in our last match," 'Yugi' continued, holding out his own hand as the others continued to hold firm despite another obvious mention of abilities beyond their understanding. "If that was what you were so afraid of..."

"_Though... That'd be rather silly,_" Yugi chuckled, shaking his head and holding out his own hand for the blond to take. "_After all..._"

'_We're friends aren't we?_' They...

"...Heh..." Of course. What was he thinking..? "Y' guys really know how t' make a guy feel stupid, y' know tha'," he muttered, nonetheless smiling and bringing his arm forward as it was grabbed and pulled back by the others. It wasn't as though they all had to stick their hands out but in the end after one did it, it was hard not to follow really. "Sheesh..." He stumbled back onto his feet, resisting the urge to sniff despite the bloodied mess his nose was in at the moment. "Y' think I'm worried abou' losin' you guys? I know that isn' gonna happen..! I jus'..." The blond sighed, wide smile dimming somewhat. The wind around them was blowing now... He shook himself before he could get to distracted by the fact, looking back to his friends. "You guys... You really gonna be able t' figure out what I'm tryin' t' say... When I try an' explain what's goin' on," he asked, worry becoming more than evident in his expression.

There was a snort, Anzu almost laughing as she shook her head. "Hah! Of course not," she said matter-of-factly. "I don't think that's possible even with Malik's help," she added, eyes briefly flashing gold for the Egyptian to give his own nod as an affirmative.

"And in the end, only 'nihan' understands 'nihan'," his sister added with a slight shrug, still holding her brother's wrist despite the others having let go already. "That's how it is for everyone isn't it?"

"The tricky part," 'Yugi' continued with his own slight smile and wink, "Is understanding just enough to be there when you need it." Eh..?

The blond turned, staring as the 'ghost' on his friend's side also nodded. _"Exactly; that's what it means to be a friend, wouldn't you think,_" he said with a smile, confusion further coming into place on Katsuya's face.

"G... Guys..."

There was a slight pause as the others stared at the empty space their friend was looking to, an awkward cough coming from one of the taller boys. "...Is... Is he talking to..."

"I think," Anzu offered, scratching her cheek while the others shrugged.

Erk- They didn't know about that part yet. "Ah-..." Hahaha, after all that... He sighed, a grin slowly coming over his face. Well, in the end, they got the gist right? So all there was left to do was 'easy', wasn't it? "Heh! I guess y' all win then," he laughed, scratching his head as he sighed. "But 'xactly how'm I s'pposed t' explain everythin' now..."

"Eh?" The others blinked, a few exasperated sighs and wry smiles answering the blond. "Hn! Moron," Anzu muttered in response, crossing her arms. "The point was you not having to explain..!"

"Eh! But there's no way you guys would-"

"We just finished going over this," Otogi sighed as Honda nodded.

"Do I need to punch you in the face again..?"

"AH-" What! "I'll be doin' that t' you first, Honda!"

"Ahhh... Nihan... Really..."

"_At least they're alright," _Yugi offered, his other half merely rubbing his head with a slight grimace.

"Hnnng..."

"Hnhnhnhnhn..."

Small time arguments instantly cut short as deep chuckling pierced the air, Anzu's eyes momentarily glowing golden as the 'woman' turned slowly to look at the source on opposite end of the arena. Just one sound and she was breaking into a sweat, clutching her arm like a safety blanket... Just one sound and her eyes widened, the doubled voice meeting the air one last time before it fled. "..._Him_," Malik forced out with a whisper, before the body shuddered and threw control back to Anzu. "Gh... The 'other' Malik," she added with a swallow, stepping back despite herself as she held her jacket closed around her. This...

"Tch..." This 'demon'... "So yer still here," Katsuya shouted, turning to face the Egyptian across from them with narrowed eyes. Briefly, just briefly the teen before them seemed to growl, eyes widening with something other than perverse and sadistic glee. "...Bastard," he hissed, watching as the expression renewed itself as the maddened grin it usually seemed to be now. Not an insult in the world to describe this piece of work...

"...Be careful," Anzu muttered from the side, eyes shadowed to the point none could tell who was speaking at the moment. Careful... That was right...

It went without saying that the finals were due to begin any moment, didn't it? And as the wind continued to blow over the field their enemy's glaswegian grin grew further. "Still alive are you, 'Oracle'..." 'Malik' stepped forward onto the field, the others merely narrowing their eyes as the 'monster' grinned. 'Oracle'... Not even the right term he thought in the back of his mind, not bothering with the specifics on hows and whys on knowing those things any more. Who the hell knew in the end; all he knew was that the next person who called him 'oracle' instead of at least bothering with seer would get a punch in the face. Provided calling him 'seer' didn't already do that he added idly, a low growl developing from both himself and the dragon that now sat on his shoulder as 'Malik' laughed. "Hnhnhnhn... You're made of strong stuff," he sneered. "I expected nothing less than one who speaks with _Gods_..."

Hn..! "I'll show you 'God'," the blond growled under his breath, fists clenching even tighter. "Hell... Y' look strong now, but you were sure as hell singin' a differen' tune when I attacked y' with Gearfried," he added with a shout, the caped blond tensing at the reminder of his previous match.

"Tch... A pity your attack never made contact then," he snarled, despite the constantly glowing eye on his brow revealing all to well the cut that Gearfried's blade left behind. "Because now you have the pleasure of watching while I inflict the same torment on your friend here..!" That-

"You-" Katsuya's fists tightened further as he leered to the teen across the field, biting his tongue as he turned to the others. If he attacked now it wouldn't end well, his mind warned him. Not at all... "Damn it..." Stay on the sidelines, he told himself. This wasn't his battle. "Tch... Yugi," he said quickly, looking to his friend while Red-Eyes again traded 'partners'. "I hate t' ask this of y' but... In this last match..."

"I'll win," his friend responded flatly, already walking toward the arena to take his place once more. "Don't worry; you found your light," he said with a small smile, the blond swallowing as he nodded in response. "It's my turn to find mine; I'll defeat him... For Mai, for Ryuzaki... And for everyone," he continued determinedly. "And that's a promise..." A promise he would keep no matter what...

No matter _what_. "Khnhnhnhnhn... Strong words from the 'nameless King'," 'Malik' hissed, crossing his arms as the gale on the tower intensified and raged around them. "But it's nothing in the face of _RA_! Your friend might have spared himself through idle conversation," he cackled, Katsuya merely growling from the sides once more, "But I doubt you'll be so lucky..!" Tch...

Bastard... "Y' think tha' matters," Katsuya retorted, those on the arena briefly turning as the floor rose above the crowd. "I ain't th' one talkin' t' th' God cards, moron! Th' Gods c'n decide tha' for th'mselves don't y' think..?" As Yugi stared almost silently in response the others blinked, as though hesitating to ask a question.

"The god cards... Speaking," Shizuka repeated almost quietly, the others merely staring. He'd mentioned monsters speaking after all... But in the end, nothing made sense any more right? And...

"In the end," the real Malik whispered, Anzu's voice doubling as the Egyptian spoke, "He was talking to _someone_ right..?" Yea... He was. But for now...

There were other things to deal with. "YUGI," the blond shouted, a dull cry of the count down to the finals coming from the side where Isono stood. "Show 'm what y'r made 'f..! For you an' me," he continued, expression almost grave as he looked forward, "These finals 're nothin' but a passin' point! SO LET'S SHOW 'M WHAT Y' GOT!"

"Right!"

* * *

Her Battle City was 'over'.

"Nee-sama," Mokuba was saying from behind, voice almost faded despite him being no more than half a foot from her side. "Nee-sama," he called out, having given up on convincing her to see the blond that she had until that point been keeping an oddly persistent eye upon. "Don't you want to watch the final match?" The final match? Hah.

Her battle was over and it was time to bring the last ashes of this tournament to rest. There was no time to bother with pointless battles she knew the result of. There was no time to corner those on the arena with questions of intent, with accusations that she could scarcely even bring to mind in an intelligent manner. There was no time, her tournament was over, and with that it was time to leave it in the dust. "It doesn't matter," she muttered almost flatly, already coming down the short flight of steps that would take them to the tower's own 'true' staircase down. "I already know what the results will be," she muttered, still making her way to the staircase down. "There's no point any more."

Mokuba of course, knew what she meant by that. "You... ...You think he'll lose," her brother shouted, the sound of his footsteps coming to a stop. Perhaps if things had gone differently he wouldn't have reacted as strongly. He'd simply question her and move on, stubbornly denying the loss she'd taken. However... Mokuba was Yugi's 'friend'. So in the end, he acknowledged his power... ...And believed in it. "You..." More than anything, he believed in it. "You think that he won't be able to beat him..?" Possibly more than he believed in her. But for that 'power' to defeat 'Him'... To defeat Malik...

No. She didn't think he would even come close to defeating Malik. Because the fact was, there was no chance of defeating Ra with the deck her 'rival' held now, with the cards he'd faced her with. Because at this moment, there was no hope to be rid of this threat that stood before them, this threat that destroyed all in its path... And had she dealt with it before... Had she simply forgone the pathetic hope that standing by her tournament which she'd so desired to continue on...

Perhaps the casualties formed would never have happened. "So this is what you plan to do now," a calm if not familiarly aggravating voice called out from behind them. The siblings turned, her brother muttering 'ishizu' under his breath as the woman came close with almost narrowed eyes. "...Malik's power has reached its zenith," she whispered almost warningly, eyes unblinking as she looked toward the taller woman that before her. "If he isn't stopped soon," the Egyptian continued, "It could potentially spell the deaths of _millions_." She knew that, she thought with a growl. She knew that..! But besides destroying this tower with him inside, there was nothing she could do about it..! She certainly couldn't face him in a 'duel' at this point- that would be both ridiculous given the maniac's goal and suicidal. And even challenging him physically would end in nothing but hell for those around it seemed... How she knew she wasn't sure but the fact was she would not be tempting these uneasy thoughts of hers. "...Seto," Ishizu asked quietly, her target remaining silent as the woman spoke. "Yugi now holds the power of the Obelisk and of Osiris in his hands... Life and Death, Heaven and Earth," she continued, coming closer and closer until she stood beside the woman's brother. "Do you not believe this power capable enough to defeat Malik's own?"

The answer came without thought. "No." While her brother looked up with an almost shocked frown she continued, eyes narrowed to match her already soured mood. "The probability is... Extremely low, to say the least of things," she continued almost bitterly. "Such is Ra's power..." Such was the power of 'God'. But... "But... As you probably heard me say," the teen growled, turning back to face Ishizu somewhat, "It's no longer my concern. Battle City has ended; win or lose, in two hours I will be setting off explosive charges planted within this tower and sinking it into the seas..."

"And the others then," the woman asked cautiously, despite her expression remaining as calm and composed as it had each time they met. "What of their fates?" Fates...

HN! They were 'lucky', she supposed. "I'm not a murderer," she hissed, looking back toward where she'd prepared to leave down the stairs. "The helicopter will be here within the hour; there will be plenty of room for everyone to escape, but not _him_..." Not the one they wanted dead. Not the one who caused all of this, who killed and almost killed and would do so again with pleasure. Not the one who had almost killed...

Damn it why did she _CARE_..!

Regardless of words it no longer mattered. It was over and done with, she'd given her answer, and she would have plenty of time to think about things that she even cared to bother thinking of when she was leaving this god-forsaken place in her jet. Yet as Ishizu nodded, the two siblings again making their leave, her words forced the taller woman to stop once more. "He needs you," she said plainly, Seto turning back with narrowed eyes. "Your friend; Yugi needs you."

Friend..? Hah! Her eyes narrowed even further, a low and rumbling growl pushed back in lieu of simply getting the destruction of the building over with. "Tch... I know that you aren't using your 'millennium item' to give you revelations any more," she hissed, the bare neck of the Egyptian before her making the fact all too obvious. "If I didn't take your words with a grain of salt before, you can expect no better from this..!" Not that the item cemented any beliefs as it were..! There was no response to the snarled comment however, and with another snort the woman opened the stairwell door in an attempt to continue with what she had planned once again. "Let's go Mokuba," she muttered shortly. "We're going to activate the timer on the bombs and then we're leaving." And that was all, that was-

...What language was this? "..._'I sing this song to the God Osiris,_'" Ishizu abruptly whispered, all footsteps coming to a halt as the words rang through Seto's ears. This ancient and dead language, sounding nothing like Japanese or English... What language was it, she found herself asking, despite her mind already knowing the answer. These words- "_I sing this song that he might guide this soul to peace'..." _Gh... " A prayer to the dead," the woman stated calmly, her target's hand slowly tightening around the stair's rail while Mokuba stared. "The carvings on that tablet I revealed to you... I don't suppose you translated it yet, did you?" That tablet..?

Despite herself the stone immediately came to mind, carvings coming into her vision and her tongue refusing to allow her to speak. Her eyes clouded over, etched words coming into her vision despite all the rage it left her with. Why should that stone, that accursed stone that only served to further irritate this competition more, matter _now_? The battle was over... The battle was over and done, _but who carved that tablet in the first place,_ she found herself asking, bits and pieces of seemingly 'obvious' facts coming to mind as she shook were those on the stone equal, hands toward the other with their monsters at their side? If it was the pharaoh who carved it the enemy would be 'crushed', if it was the Priest it would be the reverse and yet...

And yet..! "The tablet of thousands of years before, discovered in a Mortuary Temple belonging not to the nameless King, but to the Queen who commissioned its construction," Ishizu began, "The Queen known as 'The Mourner', the 'Black One' and more importantly as 'Set'... Those researching this tablet," she explained, "Have often wondered whether it was a battle among equals that was depicted upon its stone, or even a battle at all. Indeed," she went on, "The top of this tablet has been lost to time for many years... Still others," Ishizu continued plainly, "Have wondered what the Queen who succeeded this Pharaoh would have to do with such a battle in the first place. Supposedly," the woman told her, tone almost drawling as Seto looked back with now widening eyes, "It is a dedication and prayer to the late King before her... Signed by the 'true friend' of the King, who never even appeared to be mentioned prior her reign..." Friends of the throne, King's with 'half' of her 'name'...

"And what does this matter," she finally spat, turning on Ishizu with rage while her brother flinched at the side. "So your tablet exists for no reason... What does it matter now, a stone relic from years long past? I have no interest in your stones, and I have no interest in your 'games'," she snarled, gripping the railing tight. "So if I were you I would drop the subject now and wait for your 'lifeboat' to arrive on shore..."

"Is that what you believe," Ishizu 'asked', somehow still holding her calm and certain tone. "Despite the words that prove a lifelong friendship to the world and those who see it? I did not realize the connection between those on the stone for many years," she continued gravely, eyes beginning to narrow as she spoke. "For though my family has passed these secrets down for generation upon generation it is a secret that has been guarded with as much care as the name of the King himself... A fact erased from time completely, never occurring to me... Yet with one 'vision'," the woman whispered, daring to take a step closer as she pointed toward her target. "With one word that I heard across the field... This song makes sense. The Queen carved that stone, but before the Queen there was but one other with her face; and it seems that history has indeed repeated itself... For the 'High Priest' who vanished from history to take up 'her' rival's throne to appear before me now."

Silence reigned over the air as she continued to stare, eyes still wide despite her desire to pass the moment off as nothing and walk away at that very moment. She did not believe in 'fortune telling'. She did not believe in myths and prophecies, in ghosts and dragons, in legendary objects of power, she did not believe in gods... She did not believe in 'reincarnation' and in spirits with promises of thousands of years, in fragmented souls with the power of shadows, she _did. Not. BELIEVE_..!

_Yet have you ever denied the power in the card you once held,_ a voice seemed to ask in the back of her mind, Seto grinding her teeth in annoyance. _Have you ever denied the power and terror inflicted upon you when..._

When... "Exactly what do you think you're implying," she growled lowly, still holding the disguised voice and facade as her brother continued to pale behind her in silence. As nightmares from long ago thrashed in the back of her mind, the woman bringing a hand to her head momentarily despite herself. All of this... Ridiculous! "A 'priest' who became a '_Queen_'," she snarled, the hand coming down to tighten into a fist once more. "There's a limit to accusation Ishizu; you've crossed that line."

"Have I," she asked, eyebrows raising somewhat suggestively. "Your body language, albeit hidden, says otherwise. I have not relied on the powers of the tauk all my life," she continued warningly, voice taking a dangerously severe tone while the very aura around her intensified. "Your brother is now looking to you with worried fear but not of your reaction," the woman began, Seto unable to glance down as she continued. "You yourself have already broken into a cold sweat, if the droplets I see on your face are any sign. I care not what gender of human lies before me," Ishizu warned, her gaze lightening with a sigh. "The fact is, simply hearing you shout to Yugi from the field was enough to shatter this facade; whether or not you decide to acknowledge that is up to you... Because whatever happens," the Egyptian continued, "I will still be required to refer to you as I always have once we reach the mainland of Japan. But regardless of whether you believe in this song, in those words, there is someone on that field who needs your help more than _anything_. The Gods guided you here. But they did not guide you to simply begin a battle; _you _started this," Ishizu told him. "Now _finish_ it; because your battle with the Pharaoh is more than simply age old stones and-"

"THAT'S _ENOUGH_," she roared, the vocal shield dropped as she stared at the woman before her. As a headdress of gold came to her mind's eye, and as a face almost identical to Ishizu's own came to mind and as her rage merely continued to build in the face of hallucinations yet again. "Enough about Pharaoh's and Priests... I don't want to hear another word of it..! I..."

For a split second she thought she was hallucinating again; if anything, the only thing telling her otherwise amid the howl of sand and wind in her ears was the fact that Ishizu's lips were moving to speak. "_In roaring winds the corpse sinks to the ground... The vessel becomes bone, becomes sand, becomes dust... And even the brightest gold and the sharpest sword is subject to the poison in the sheath of time. Woe be to the Pharaoh,_" Ishizu began almost coolly despite her words, Seto growing pale as the long dead language met the air and became acknowledged by memory rather than foresworn by it, "_He who has sacrificed his name for the names of others on the battle field that is time, on the battlefield of souls. As I who hold a name cry this song of battle, as I who have been granted a name cry this song of a friend... And I cry out to the Gods to Guide me to this place once more,_" she finished, not taking her eyes away from the tall woman before her,_ "Where souls may meet on the field still again._" This...

Those words... "N...Nee-sama," Mokuba whispered, his sister motionless as the words pealed about the room in a faded echo. "Nee-sama," he asked quietly, "What was she saying..? I..." Egyptian, her mind answered immediately, the woman herself remaining silent in a mix of shock and even detest. The language was Egyptian, from over three thousand years ago. She'd read it from Ra's card and she'd understood it as it met the air. The cursed language from a past that refused to abandon her, a past that refused to die, a past that...

"Face your heart," Ishizu told her, narrowing her eyes and holding her gaze with her target. "This tower you built, where 'souls meet'... Despite all that might have been put into it throughout its creation," she continued, "It is a sanctuary built by your spirit and your heart alone, a building that represents only as much as you believe it to. Reaching higher and higher into the air..."

"If only for another two hours," Seto countered with a snarl, face reddening somewhat even as her brother flinched behind her under tones he hadn't heard in a number of months. "You call this a sanctuary," she spat, gesturing to the cold steel hall around them. "Then I will sink this '_SANCTUARY_' to the bottom of the seas, never to be seen again! Enough of this," the woman continued, turning as her coat flew behind her and pushing her way into the stair well. "I'm setting the timer for the explosion and leaving. Lets go, Mokuba!" The door to the stair well opened but as she took a few steps downward she found herself looking back. There was only the sound of _her_ footsteps. Mokuba hadn't moved. There was the sound of quiet breathing, and if she listened carefully perhaps a sniff... "...What's wrong," she shouted, momentarily unaware of the tone she was now using toward the boy as the sounds briefly froze before continuing. "We don't have much time to deal with this, come on!"

And still he didn't move, the woman continuing to frown as she stared. "...What you said on the field... Do you really believe all of that," her brother whispered, not looking up from the ground as he held his arms close. He was shaking, he realized. But...

Why was he... "...What..?"

The boy slowly looked up, his sister's expression softening as she caught sight of the tears rolling down his face. "I know... I know you 'hate' them," he cried softly, trying as much as he could to keep the tears and chokes back. "That you 'hate' Yugi, whether a little or more than anything," Mokuba continued. "I know that you don't like his friends... But you know... They're my friends too," he cried, wiping his eyes. "They stand up for me, and I'll stand up for them..! And just because of what happened in our past... Just because of those bad times," Mokuba wept, "We don't have to make them suffer too..! And I know that they'll escape," he cried loudly. "And I know you won't let them die, because no matter what you say you wouldn't do that kind of thing... But Yugi is right," Mokuba wailed through the tears, shaking his head as he screamed. "All this hate, all this fighting... All you're doing is going back to those times you pushed away, to the old you... To the you that you were when Gozaburo was alive..."

This... "Mokuba," she began, trying to find something to say but finding nothing. "...I..."

"I made a wish," he sniffed, bowing his head again as his sister fell silent to listen. "On my birthday... I ran away with the others to go to a festival for Tanabata," he told her, "And I made a wish..." She knew that... She knew he'd left, she'd heard him plan it out, plan to leave for the day and return before his birthday but- "I... I wanted to make my wish come true on my own," Mokuba whispered, turning back to the woman above him with now red and puffy eyes as tears continued to pour. "I thought that no matter what, I'd be able to do it, but in the end I can't do it alone. The you that I've never forgotten... The you that held my hand and played with me in the park, and played chess with me... The you that you were before we met Gozaburo... I want you to promise me," he cried, shaking yet again and attempting to put up a more serious and 'courageous' expression. "Promise me that when this tower blows up," he shouted, "It won't be because you're pushing everything away again... I want you to promise me that when this tower is gone, so will your grudge..! That the hate, and the pain, it'll go away..!" Just like that, she almost asked in her mind. Just like- "Above everything... Nee-sama, more than anything," Mokuba wept, nails digging into his arms, "I just want to see you smile again... Like you did when we were watching those flowers on hanami... Like you did when we were kids... That's all I wished for," he whispered as his voice fell to barely audible ranges. "That's all... I..."

Mokuba... Seto's eyes grew somewhat shadowed, her expression softening as she moved close to the boy. She'd yelled at him... How could she have yelled at him, she... "Mokuba," she whispered, slowly stooping down to bring a hand to the boy's face. "...Stop crying," she said after a few moments, brushing some hair from his eyes. "There's no need to cry... You..."

"Snnf... Hng..." He was still crying... But he was at least trying to stop. Right? ...It certainly didn't make her feel any better in the end. "Just... Promise me," the boy repeated, wiping his eyes and attempting to regain a somewhat serious expression under his sister's gaze. "Nee-sama... Please, just promise me..." Promise...

He said that now, that was true... Yugi said that himself, and when she thought about it what were the chances that Katsuya agreed with that? This hate of hers...

It really did drag her down, didn't it she thought bitterly. As it had pulled her adoptive father to the grave in that virtual world... So was it seemingly doing the same to her now. 'You'll only hurt everyone around you!' She's shouted at her brother... Scared him... And yet even with that knowledge, she asked herself. Even with that...

Would she be able to let that go? Would she be able to keep this promise... Even if this tower sank?

"The battle begins in five more minutes," Ishizu muttered from behind them, the woman crossing her arms and waiting for a response. Five minutes... How did she know- Briefly as she stood again her eyebrows raised, Seto catching a glimpse of a watch gripped in Ishizu's hands. The Egyptian as well blinked somewhat owlishly in response, following the taller woman's stare. "...I borrowed this from Ryuzaki-san before he chased after my brother," she said plainly, fingering the somewhat worn watch somewhat. "I'd thought it would help to know how much time I have to prevent anyone's death." Well...

That explained it she supposed. She snorted lightly, shaking her head. Whatever then... The woman walked back toward the stairs, Ishizu and Mokuba both following behind despite the latter's momentary muttering of 'should you really follow'. "Hn... I don't have time to deal with this anyways," she muttered, quickly coming to a panel on the side of the stairs as the others stood behind her. From this point on there was nothing but an elevator to the jet hangar... And just slightly above that hangar, the room where the main computer sat. Nonetheless, to begin detonation was only a matter of activating one of the 'emergency' buttons, and the closest one was right here. With a calm and swift movement the small metal hammer beside the glass case was grabbed, slammed into the shield before being dropped. The button was pushed...

And beneath it, a timer that read 'Two Hours' began to speed downward, seconds ticking away while '1:59' sat beside those seconds. The detonator was activated... There was nothing more to do here. "Alright... Let's go," she said calmly, looking down to her brother. "We have a plane to catch..."

The boy nodded, pausing a moment as his sister moved toward the lift. "Nee-sama," Mokuba said with a swallow. "You're sure the helicopter will come on time right..?" Of course...

It was due any moment now after all. Give it just a minute or two and the staff would be taking the comatose on board in fact... "They'll be fine," she told him with that in mind, repeating it mentally to prevent the slightest thought of doubt entering it. "Two hours is plenty of time for them to escape after Yugi loses," Seto continued, "And provided _someone_ warns them of this fact, all we'll deal with are the necessary casualties," the woman added, giving Ishizu one last look as the woman shook her head. Hn..?

Now what was that about? "You believe Yugi will fail," Ishizu said flatly, Mokuba as well giving his sister a reproachful look. Believe..?

Hn! It was far more than that! "I _know_ he'll lose," Seto muttered darkly, narrowing her eyes. "With his deck I would say his chances of a win are 3%; provided Ra is never summoned for its one-turn kill," she added, turning away from Ishizu and continuing. "Ra's power... Is fathoms above that of the other Gods; there's one way to stop it one card," the woman explained, expression darkening despite her thoughts, "But while I have it with me now the chances rise by a mere 20%. There _is_ no hope," Seto repeated, eyes still narrowed in their usual 'glare'. "So stop trying to find it. You yourself know your so called 'fate' after all," she continued. "Entering this tournament to 'save' your brother from himself... You wanted to defeat him with your own hands didn't you," she went on, "To the point where you tried to use your occult _toys_ to bring my own defeat... We're not so different," the woman hissed. "But now that he's out of both our hands, with your 'hope' a mere 3% possibility of a win, just what do you plan to do now?"

"...I never entered this tournament with the 100% belief I would succeed," Ishizu whispered, bowing her head. As Seto's frown deepened somewhat with confusion the woman continued, expression never once betraying her words. "My visions never traveled further than perhaps an hour or so ahead in time after all... And in the very end, even as the Pharaoh fights, I am prepared for the absolute worst. If my brother cannot be saved," she continued stonily, "Then I will make sure that our 'curse' dies with us. Rishid will be able to aid the Pharaoh in his goals... As will his friends," the Egyptian added cryptically. "So while they escape I have given myself no other choice than to stay on this island until it sinks, as you eloquently put it, to the depths of the seas..." She-

Narrowed eyes softened as a half-year old memory came to mind, Seto shaking her head just slightly. "How... How can you do that," she found herself muttering, staring almost in disbelief. If her brother could not be saved... If her brother did not break from this second persona he had created for his own protection... Then...

Just as she herself had on the walls of the Duelist Kingdom...

'_I have nothing more to lose,_' she remembered herself whispering._ 'If you hit me again... You win this game._

_And I die.'_

Silence. More silence. Time was ticking away but with a sudden storm of footsteps and renewed energy the woman charged back up the stairs, coat billowing behind her as the others followed behind.

"A-Ah... Nee-sama," Mokuba called out with wide eyes, stumbling somewhat as both he and Ishizu ran up behind the woman. "What about-"

"Just over _1/5_ of a chance to win the match with this card," Seto called out somewhat loudly, pulling the card she'd set aside out from her pocket with an odd and almost non-existent smirk on her face despite all attempts to hide the expression. "A duel like this... How could I _think_ of missing it," she continued stiffly, gripping the card tightly in her fingers. Calls to evacuate were already dully sounding through the halls below, sirens blaring while red lights flashed... Ishizu's eyes widened with surprise but nonetheless her expression calmed, as though in the end she'd expected this reaction from the start.

What was it that Yugi had said she thought to herself as she ran up those stairs. '_I won using __his__ power. I won through __our__ power..._' The power of 'friendship', a ridiculous concept that only worked in children's anime. A power that was never meant to exist anywhere but fictional realms and would always fail in the real world, always shatter naïve hopes of those who dared to trust in it.

And yet that same power in the end, had defeated her hadn't it? That power... The door to the staircase opened and with wide eyes the others on the field turned, some bearing frowns and others simply staring in confusion. This card she held in her hand... This _one card_ that merely raised the chances by a fraction... The card that _had_ to win this fight...

Could he perform a 'miracle', she asked herself, expression naught but impersonal stone as she looked to the now raised arena and stepped toward it. Could he take those chances and, as he had in her fight, turn them in his favor? The boy on the field looked down with wide eyes, and there was nothing but silence over the air as she made her decision. Fine she decided, taking the card in her hand and taking aim. Let his defeat prove him wrong! Let this 'power' she lent him prove that there were no miracles, she thought to herself bitterly, let it prove that there was no '_power_' in the bonds between 'men'! "YUGI," she snarled, tossing the card up to the arena with precision as the boy continued to stare. "TAKE THIS!"

Her rival's reaction was more than apparent as he caught the slip of card; why was she doing this? What did it do? What was the point, was it good or was it bad? He hadn't even looked at it properly yet; he was simply staring, unblinking at the woman below as she returned the gaze.

Hn... The only spell card that would save him in this match. Something that Yugi likely didn't know; a test then. A test of 'powers'; this was _her_ power to give now... A 22% chance of a win, provided he could find out how to use it. If he used it. "It's up to you," she announced clearly. "Use that card in your deck, or leave it out completely... It could help," she continued with a slight shrug and sneer, "Or it could sabotage you completely... This is 'me' after all," she added with a smirk. "I would well just be teaching you not to be so trusting..." Hnhnhnhn...

But then again, it wouldn't be 'Yugi' if he wasn't, now would it? "...Thank you," he responded plainly, slipping the card in the deck as it shuffled without even looking at it. That quick..? Didn't it just figure she spat in her mind, smirk falling somewhat as incredulity came to mind regardless. "I'll believe you," the boy continued determinedly, giving his 'friend' a nod. "More importantly, I'll defeat Malik; understand, Kaiba?"

With those words a gale passed over the arena, and from the other end of the tower the crowd stared. Katsuya with a slight smile that became a confident smirk, her eyes briefly narrowing in annoyance. Besides him, the others were staring with suspicion, surprise... Not that she cared. As for the blond... The idiot wasn't even wearing shoes, he'd managed to get his nose broken somehow, and while he had an excuse for the shirt he could borrow a jacket, or..! ...Or...

…

This was the first time she saw that scar she noted, her face twitching only slightly in response. ...She'd rather not see it, if she didn't have to.

As dim eyes looked across the field Ishizu and Mokuba both came to her side, the silent question of 'why' never meeting the air in the end. The duel would begin in just a minute now... Any minute... "Ishizu," she murmured, arms crossed as she leaned back against the tall railing wall and turned her attention back to the field. "I'll say it again; that stone tablet means nothing to me. Civilizations are built from time and the ashes of countless people," Seto explained, "Remembered by artifacts formed only by the millions of the forgotten dead. Even then," she went on, "They're lost to time, leaving mere guesses at the lives they held. I have no connection," the woman went on, "To someone who lived over three thousand years ago. None."

"Is that so," Ishizu responded quietly. "...I believe you're wrong." Wrong? "Kingdom's rise and fall... Civilizations come and go, that is very true," she continued, the wind blowing her shawl back from her hair as she looked back to the taller woman beside her. "But the human spirit is eternal; it lasts even through this."

Oh really now? "Hn!" Bullshit, she told herself. Complete _bullshit_. 'Reincarnation'... Just something used in romantic series as a plot twist with immortal love interests. None of this was real... And none of it ever would be. "Shadow games and ancient prophecies... Religion and superstitions are built from people wishing that things like eternal spirits were real, with a 'darkness' and a 'light' formed to bring order in that mess. And yet science in all its forms proves time and time again that these things do not exist. Miracles, do not exist. I might have lent him this card," Seto continued, looking back to the woman from the corner of her eye, "But all this will prove in the end is that 68% against 22% needs no time to calculate. One will win, and the other will not. If Yugi loses," she continued, not bothering to think on the fact that she had said 'if' rather than 'when', "If your brother cannot be 'saved'," the woman went on, "What will happen then? You said you would remain behind... So then you realize that your 'hope' is baseless?"

"No," the Egyptian answered plainly, her response coming almost the instant her 'friend' finished speaking. "It's not baseless in anyway. You may doubt any hope that you gain in this battle," she continued almost sympathetically, "But I believe in Yugi completely. I believe that his power will be able to destroy the evil persona controlling his body now." And that was that. Believing that the so-called 'power of friendship' would overcome her brother's 'DID' and complete and obvious insanity...

Ridiculous, she told herself. Completely ridiculous.

And yet as the call for battle to begin occurred, she did nothing but remain silent...

And watch...

Waiting for the moron to prove her wrong as he always did.

* * *

"So..." Sooo...

Here came the interrogation for _real_ this time.

"So," came the repeated statement, Katsuya holding back a sigh in response. "You can _really_ see whatever happens on the field in those shadow games," Honda asked as their friend prepared for his next match, the crowd evidently choosing not to address the long stare he'd aimed toward Seto when the woman arrived.

"Feel too actually," he muttered, before turning with a sigh. The blond bit his lip as he looked over the somewhat expectant expressions his friends had as a result, before shrugging and continuing to explain. "Or somethin' like tha' at least; truth be told," he admitted somewhat darkly, "Feels more like every game's a shadow game from my end..." As the others continued to stare in response he again sighed, scratching his head in a show of exaggerated exasperation while he frowned. "I mean... Th' shadow game I had w's hell," Katsuya muttered admittedly, "But th' only thing tha' happened outside th' ordinary was th' monsters not talkin' or anythin', an' as it was-"

"The monsters can _talk,_" Anzu cut in incredulously, the others briefly looking to her as she frowned. "Hey," Malik cut in, the movement of an accusing point nonetheless coming quite fluidly. "You can't tell me you were just going to take that one."

Shizuka nodded, scratching her cheek somewhat nervously before giving her brother a shrugging respons. "You're right... But even the question alone sounds ridiculous..."

O-Oiii... What was with these faces... "I thought y' guys were gonna hang in an' not think I was insane," he muttered. Seriously, come on...

"We aren't," Otogi quickly told him, the statement feeling a little too swiftly put as he held his hands out in defense. "I mean... The fact is," he added with an uneasy laugh, "The monsters _were_ inspired by carved tablets so..."

The group more or less turned to Anzu, the woman jumping as the stares were suddenly turned on her. "E-Eh..? You want to ask me..!"

"That or Malik," Honda said with a dry shrug, "Doesn't really matter much if you both have the same memory..."

"Hn!" The boys tensed at the snort they received in response, Shizuka more or less just staring blankly as Anzu's eyes flashed gold once again. "It matters plenty," Malik growled, looking away with narrowed eyes. "It isn't as though we can just pull each other's memories at will... We have to focus." "And what's that supposed to mean," Anzu muttered dryly, before the spirit she shared her body with answered. "It means they're better off asking me." Great they were arguing. "Heh?" Of all the times, they picked _now _to argue. "Well it's true isn't it?"

"Awwwwwh... C'mon guys," Katsuya groaned, pulling somewhat at his hair as he rubbed his head. "Every time Malik' switches t' talk I get a double voice comin' over, jus'... Jus' figure out who's talkin' already," he grumbled, continuing to rub his somewhat aching head.

There was a brief pause, before the body coughed and nodded with a response from both 'halves'. "Right... The fact is," Malik began somewhat awkwardly, "We don't know much about 'living' monsters..." "Regardless however," Anzu continued, evidently taking her friend's wince in response to the doubled voice as a cue to take over in the Egyptian's stead, "There's always been a certain power tied to this game... To say that the monsters themselves are alive isn't at all a stretch, and Yugi's said that from the start after all..." Yea! There was that wasn't there?

"If you say so," Honda muttered, before looking up to the field. "Hn... They're about to start," he noted. So they were...

"Two God cards against Ra. ...And you _spoke _with that one," Otogi added questioningly, the blond at the side nodding seriously. There was a time and place for clamming up in embarrassment regarding things that sounded and felt completely insane... But the fact was, this wasn't it.

Although the topic in itself was a little... Strange. "That's right," his sister was muttering. "The others said you were chanting the same summoning ritual that 'Dark Malik' was..." Er... Yea, he didn't really know where he got-

"Probably a 'locked memory'," said Malik, ignoring the wince that came from Katsuya in response to another doubled voice. "The fact is, from what I got watching Kaiba-san and my sister's match, Kaiba-san has been dealing with the same thing." Ah... Really?

"Seto-chan is-"

"You know," Honda cut in with a groan, "I don't think_ any_ of us are going to get over you calling her 'chan'..."

"I don't think I can get over her being a 'her'," Otogi added dryly, only to receive a slight warning glare from Shizuka in response.

"Not now."

Malik merely nodded as the others continued arguing, crossing 'his' arms and explaining further. "Well... Think about it," the Egyptian told him. "The tablet has the High Priest and the Pharaoh both; and I know for a fact that you saw it," he added, gesturing to Katsuya as he nodded.

"Er... Y-Yea," he muttered, eyebrows raised. It did but... "But I didn' think..." He shook his head, looking back to the field. "Whatever..." The tablet didn't matter right now after all; and even if Seto _was _having weird flashbacks, she sure as hell wouldn't tell _him._ So. "Th' fact is," he decided flatly, "If there's anythin' Seto-chan's right abou' it's tha' Ra's one tough guy t' take on. Tha' card... It'll help," Katsuya admitted, "But it ain't gonna be easy..."

The others turned, Otogi in particular seeming to latch onto the comment. "You know what the card is..?"

"Gh-!" C-Come on, were they seriously going to ask about every little thing he said now! "Y... You guys were s'pposed t' make th's weird crap easier on me, not make me think about it more," Katsuya groaned.

They merely shrugged, a number of them shaking their heads in response. "It's not like we can really help it..." Hnnnnggg...

Like hell that was really the point..! On the field the two finalists were caught in banter, challenges and insults called throughout the air. Decks were shuffling within the duel disks and challenges were being issued. The duel was about to begin. "THE FINAL MATCH WILL NOW COMMENCE," Isono announced, raising a hand high from the sidelines. "MUTOU YUGI, VS ISHTAR MALIK... BEGIN!"

With those words cheers hit the air in an instant, leaving little room for the competitors themselves to speak. "KICK HIS ASS," Katsuya roared, throwing a fist into the air. "DON' LET RA INTIMIDATE YAH!"

"GO FOR IT YUGI!"

"FOR MAI-HAN," Shizuka cried out, "AND FOR KEICHI!"

"FOR EVERYONE!"

"_YOU CAN DO IT!_"

Those on the field nodded, and drew the cards of their hand...

"_**DUEL!**_"

And the match began.

And the shadows hit the air.

And just like before... Hell began coming down to earth. "The sky's going black," Shizuka whispered, pulling back from the arena with a swallow. "This feeling..." According to the others it was a dark, suffocating feeling, crushing their lungs, putting pressure on their entire being...

"Shadow game," muttered Otogi, as though that would explain each and every symptom completely. The teen gave a slight shudder, attempting to shake the feeling off before looking back as Katsuya grit his teeth. "Hey... I thought this didn't affect you," he stated with a frown. "Why are you..."

"It doesn'," he answered stiffly, jaw clenching as his headache began to worsen. "But..." But the screams...

'_The Pharaoh... THE PHARAOH,' _they wailed, shades of faceless beings swarming the air and misting in and out of the shadows as they screamed._ 'ACCURSED PRINCE,_' the spirits sneered,_ 'LOOK WHAT YOUR ANCESTORS WROUGHT!' 'Save us... SAVE US,_' the 'nicer' ones cried, fogged hands clawing at their faces as they wept._ 'DELIVER US FROM THIS HELL!' _In the end however, it wasn't as though Yugi could hear them and answer their cries. And so, they continued to scream... _'WHY...'_

_'__**WHY!'**_

As the others stared he shook it off, instead looking toward the field. He couldn't pay attention to these voices; not when he didn't know who they were, and not when he didn't know how to 'help'. "Game hasn' set up yet," he said with a swallow, watching as the shadows continued to furl through the air. If it had, the screams would have silenced to some extent, allowing them to watch... As it was, there were limits to sharing this secret; the voices affected little more than his nightmares, and he'd rather keep those to himself. There was enough he'd shared already without confusing the hell out of his friends. And turning his attentions across from them the millennium items now gleamed with a golden light, and the 'other' Malik chuckled darkly.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... This will be the greatest game to ever come to the world of mortals," 'Malik' sneered, the real one seemingly locked within Anzu's body and giving no response to the cold that filled the air. "Darkness will cover the earth, the gates to hell will open, and our battle rests in its mouth... Hnhnhnhnhn..." The crowd and Yugi both gave a shudder, watching as the 'monster' continued to chuckle. "Can you see it," he hissed, lightning cracking through the air as the clouds converged in the sky. "The sacrificial offering..?" Sacrifice..?

At that moment Yugi's eyes widened considerably, and in the center of the field came a pyramid of glass. An hourglass, he realized soon enough... Two pyramids stacked upon each other, the top half emptied and the other... "Mai," Katsuya whispered as the shadows cleared from around the device, the others frowning as they looked from Yugi to the field to their friend. "M... MAI!"

"No," the boy cried, his own eyes widening with fear as well.

They could both see it. Those a part of the game and Katsuya himself. They both saw it... The insects that had eaten their way into Mai's body from the moment she was entrapped in her penalty, the insects that were now devouring her flesh... Bits of her bone could be seen through the somehow stainless glass, and between skirt and corset was a mess of half eaten organs as the bugs flew in and out of the holes of what was still a living body. The flesh eating insects, each with the accursed eye on their back, scuttled across the bones and muscles eating as they saw fit...

And by this point it was evident that Mai had given up on screaming through the pain. She'd given up hope completely, laborious breathing the only sign of life in her otherwise still and 'sleeping' body as tearstains dried across her face. "Ghn..." Of all that he'd seen on the field... Of all he'd seen up until this point...

Maybe it was because he knew the monsters would come back at the end of the battle. Because he knew that when the duel finished, they'd be healed, and prepared for whatever would come next. Though the pain of what occurred on the field was harsh, he could push through to the end of the duel. Even when it was inflicted upon himself... Whatever happened within the duel would heal in the end, and if not with the end of the fight itself then soon after. But Mai was no monster. She was no being of 'shadows', and more importantly Mai was a friend. And this penalty that Malik's darker half had inflicted...

Whatever 'Malik' had said about the woman as her life faded before his eyes they did not hear; for at that moment, another scream tore through the air. "Oh no..." It didn't start that way of course. "Oh no no no no no..." It was gradual, and simply had them frowning as they slowly looked back to Anzu, the woman slowly pushing back against the walls as her eyes flew across the field, seemingly searching for something that they could not see. And finally, as the mutters reached a half insane and feverish mantra the woman wailed, eyes returning to their original colour as she stared at empty space. "No... NO, He's GONE," she screeched, holding her head with wide and horrified eyes as she shook. "Malik... Malik's gone," Anzu screamed hysterically, the sudden 'tear' leaving far more than just worry in its place. "He... He-"

"Oh hell," Katsuya hissed, swallowing as he looked back to the field. He didn't need a flash to tell him what was going on now, and he sure as hell didn't need 'Malik's words as he proudly announced the presence of another sacrifice...

The screams were more than enough to deal with that. "A-AIBOU," the other Yugi abruptly screamed. "AIBOU!"

"_W... What is this,_" his partner asked in response, voice high with fear and confusion both as the shadows themselves pinned 'light' Yugi against the sky itself. "_What's going on,_" he shouted hurriedly, pulling at the shadows but receiving not even a small bit of freedom in response.

"A-AIBOU..!" Shit...

"Yugi..!" Shit. SHIT.

The others looked from Anzu and back to the field as the woman's screams slowly calmed, following Katsuya's gaze only to see nothing in the air. Between panicked screams and wide eyes however it was obvious something was wrong...

And that 'something' was a something that he and those dueling were the only ones privy to. "What's going on," Honda pressed, grabbing his friend's shoulder and shaking him roughly as Katsuya was pulled from his petrified state. "You can see can't you," he continued fearfully. "You can see what's going on up there right!"

"He..." The blond swallowed shaking his head and continuing to stare at the field as he swallowed. "Th' other Yugi... He's not th' only one there righ' now," he muttered swiftly, "He-"

"We got that," Otogi cut in, "His shouts are telling us as much... But what's going on," he continued.

"Let me get to it," he roared back, those across the tower looking over as their friend turned to face the others with wide and almost rage filled eyes. The gaze calmed and again he shook his head, absently rubbing the shoulder Honda had released before explaining. "Yugi... Th' normal Yugi," Katsuya began. "He... He's bein' held as some kinda tribute he..."

"It's MY turn," 'Malik' cackled, mad laughter filling the air as he spoke. "You know what kind of game this is," asked the Egyptian as he laughed. "You're about to find out! I summon the Vampiric Leech," he snarled with a wide grin, baring almost feral teeth to his opponent. The smoke rose through the air the instant the card was set, and as the tablet rose from the dust a tentacled and bloodied 'slug' made its way from the stone. The monster's tentacles flailed as numbers and abilities came to Katsuya's mind, and with the summoning complete its master continued. "Moreover... Allow me to demonstrate by making the first attack!" The first attack..!

With a cold shudder he realized just what was going on, his thoughts in the last match and the words of his monsters during his battle against Yugi on the pier coming to mind. The rules of play existed true...

But that didn't mean they couldn't be broken."That's illegal," Shizuka was whispering in protest, shaking her head as the order to attack was made. "It's the first move," she continued almost with a shout, "He can't-"

"Normal rules don' apply in th's kinda game," her brother responded, swallowing as the leech squealed in anticipation. "They don-"

As tentacles shot through the air his words were cut drastically short, a scream replacing it. "G-GHHAAAAAAGGHHHH!"

The blond averted his eyes with grit teeth, those beside him continuing to stare at the field in distaste as the monster attacked their friend. They couldn't see what he could, he thought with a nauseated swallow, slowly opening his eyes to stare at the ground. They couldn't see... While it appeared the hologram merely passed through their friend's face, the tentacles bored through flesh as though it were nothing. And though the wounds did not bleed as they would have in reality the shadow game allowed them to exist nonetheless, smearing what little blood was brought to the field across the victim's face. The two tentacles from the ordinarily weak monster had ripped through Yugi's cheeks with almost disgusting ease, and as the tentacles retreated back to the slug's side of the field the boy doubled over to hold his now bloodied and pain filled face. But his screams, Katsuya realized with horror, turning back to the field as an image flashed in his mind.

His screams were not the only ones now filling the air, particularly not when the 'other Yugi's shouts were already coming to a stop. '_Do you like that,_' 'Malik' had taunted, a maddening grin on his face. '_The pain you feel when they attack... You'll notice your wounds are healing,_' he continued almost with a shrug, Yugi's cheeks seeming to repair in a mess of re-growing vessels and flesh while the boy stared. '_But take a look..._

_At your **sacrifice**.'_

'Yugi's screams were not the only ones, but it was certainly Yugi that was shouting. "_H-Hhahhhh... HHAAAAAAHHHHHH! HAAAAHHHHHHH!_" Again screams filled the air but this time it was shadowed and hidden from most of the field, the only sign of cries in the air the shouts given in response, and the look upon the Katsuya and 'Yugi's faces as the crowd stared '_What's happening,_' the others were asking him, blood draining from their friend's face as greedy souls pulled and pried at vulnerable flesh. '_What's happening..!'_

"AIBOU," 'Yugi' screamed.

"What's going on," his friends cried in response.

And 'Malik' continued laughing madly, "NHNHAHAHAHAHA!"

"What do you see," they continued to press.

And the screams continued to fill the air... '_Free us, free us..! GIVE US SOMETHING, ANYTHING..!_'

Nggh... Ngggh... Just... "Stop ASKIN'!" The shouts cut short as the blond held his head, staring at the ground and attempting in vain to calm his breathing. Attempting to do more than just stare at the ground with wide eyes as the screams slowly died, replaced by weak breathing as the shadows around them feasted on whatever fragments of soul they'd managed to steal away. "He... His leg 's gone," he finally said quietly, choking on his words and slowly looking back to the field. "Alrigh'? Th' sacrifices are tied t' their life points an-" And because of that...

"Hold on," one of the others cut in. "If Yugi is his other self's sacrifice," Otogi said with a swallow, "Doesn't that mean... That the other sacrifice is..."

It was only then that he could hear his weakened breathing, Katsuya realized stiffly. "_Gh... Nnnhhhaaa-hahhhhhhhh..._" The sound of slow and pained breaths as they came through the air, and while the others continued to stare at him in confusion Katsuya bit his lip. The force of ripping an already fragmented soul from Anzu's body had rendered Malik almost dead... In fact until now he'd wondered if he _was. _He was already weak enough as it was, using Anzu's body as a mouthpiece, but now that he was back in his own body and overshadowed by his second persona...

"Tha's righ'," he muttered with a swallow. "That's where he went... That's where Malik is," the blond whispered, still holding his head as he ground his teeth and forced himself to ignore dull screams floating around the air. "Yugi's th' 'other Yugi's sacrifice... But th' 'other Malik doesn' need t' care abou' his..."

"So then... If Yugi attacks," his sister said with a swallow, putting the pieces together just as quickly as she paled. "And hits Malik..."

"We already figured that the 'other Malik' was a masochist," Otogi growled, clenching his fists in a quickly growing rage. "If the players feel pain while the 'sacrifices' suffer the actual loss," he continued bitterly, "Then this only works further in his favor..!"

"Gh... This isn't right," Anzu muttered, clutching her head as the others looked back. The woman was still recovering from the sudden shock to her system... Nonetheless, she was recovering much quicker than Katsuya thought most would. "In Malik's memories," she explained, grimacing as she attempted to find what the Egyptian couldn't simply tell her now, "In his memories, the shadow games are supposed to be on equal footing... But when you come down to it this isn't equal at all," the woman continued, "This is just-!"

There was a short bit of silence as their friend cut her words short, those visible to the audience leering at the other in mixed emotion. One with a grin spread across his face far wider than humanly possible, and the other with an obviously fear filled scowl, their friend's opponent laughing as he spoke. "The moment the player's life points hit zero the sacrifice's body will be consumed," he sneered, all too pleased about the 'cost' of the game. "And so too will the player be swallowed in darkness to suffer ultimate _pain_... Hnhnhahahahaha... Victory or defeat," 'Malik' cackled, tongue running along his teeth as the audience involuntarily shuddered, "Pleasure or pain... We now walk the razor thin line between them..."

"Gh... MALIK," 'Yugi' spat, fists clenched as he looked up to his partner in worry. This fight... If he didn't play his moves properly it would be far more than just half of a leg that was missing...

The others grit their teeth with that in mind, trading glances from the field to Katsuya. "...If... Yugi can't attack," one of them began, the blond among them still biting his lip as he looked to the field. "If he can't attack without hurting Yugi-"

"_Don't worry about me,_" Yugi called down, speaking to both his partner and his friends as he heard those words. "_I'll be fine, trust me,"_ he continued, barely forcing the words out through the residual pain he was in._ "...Gh... Other me... Fight him,_" the boy told him, turning to the field with a determined scowl._ "No matter what, we need to save Malik..!_"

"Yes... That's the _spirit,_" 'Malik' taunted, Katsuya suppressing a shudder as his face seemed to stretch and distort with the words. As the other Yugi, having not yet given his response looked to the Egyptian with feelings far surpassing distaste and loathing, almost pulling back at the expression his opponent held. "Writhe in PAIN," the Egyptian howled, "Shout... SCREAM! Every time you do pleasure runs through my entire being..! KhahaHAHA_HAAAA_!" Gh... That laugh...

Rules were simple Katsuya repeated within his mind; the loser died. That was it. But watching from the side as flashes came to mind... As he swallowed back wave after wave of fear and unease... "Trust me," the other Yugi shouted to his partner, the words nonetheless seeming to apply to all those watching from the sides. "I won't lose..!" No... He wouldn't lose... But the fact still remained.

In the battle of the mind... Anything could happen.

* * *

**AN: **DUEL! The next two chapters are super chapters!

Because Malik VS Yugi was REALLY LONG. In fact, it's because of the duel that _this _chapter is so short. I could not, for the life of me, find any other point in the duel that would properly be cut off to join with this chapter. Oh well. Although...

I can't actually say that _both _are super chapters, as the length for the finale will largely be added material required to wrap things up... Or at least wrap them up enough to move onto the next arc. Hurp-durp.

Either way, only two chapters left unless, for some reason, I decide to split the duel in two. (Even then though, I would probably just cut off the end and make it slide into the finale sooooo...)

So! We have some notes for you below, some music... Very few pictures. I've kinda been distracting myself by re-editing the first chunk of chapters, soooo... Not much time to draw. That's okay though; I probably shouldn't be trying to draw anyone shirtless any ways. (Hehehe, Jou...)

Well, now that that's out of the way...

The Contest (Make a new summary for the fanfic within 255 characters) is still on for taking in entries; remember! The winner gets a flat coloured request with up to two characters, no background. (Though I will probably put a flat colour in the background depending on the colour of the characters.)

Moving right along...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Well hey there Imadork! And nope; no kiss. You're quite right about the dream world too. While I _did _have entire plans for what happened in that world, the fact is that this is a fanfic that needs to focus on its own world. So I can't spend too much time there.

Pity; Noa actually bothered searching around for a way to build himself a body in that world. (Mostly because it became quite apparent that he was never ever going to get a hold of the kid that 'replaced' him. Pity that.)

Any ways. Glad you liked the chapter so much; hope this one was enjoyable as well!

Iona~

The ride will never be over! NEVER! Or something. It does look a little like Kaiba's jealous doesn't it... She isn't grant you (just confused as hell), but it still looks a little like that looking back.

Don't even get me started on the past life story though. That thing is going to be huge; there's a reason why I offered to write it out alongside this fanfic. (A vote that won 'dream sequences' by a landslide, which ironically makes it more fun) And yes~ The turtles and onions are explained! But it's a tearjerking explanation... Being given those subtle memories right after losing all the other ones.

And then dying. (-cries-) Well, time to continue the mayhem... Onto the next chapter!

Ooooh, 'badly' doesn't even cut it Maggiemay... Doesn't even come close.

Her stubborn streak makes her both incredibly fun and incredibly difficult to work with you know. And...

Yea, I don't think Jou's going to be going there if he values his life.

You want to enter the contest! Great! But... While your summary is great, it's over 100 characters (letters) over the limit.

See... Fanfiction has a limit of 255 characters for the fanfic summary. So I can't use this one unless I chop it up, and I don't really think that'd be polite, if I just did that without saying anything...

Any ways, I hope you enjoy this chapter! Don't worry about Seto; she really does get better... It's just that we won't see the beginning of that until the finale. (Though I suppose with her at least acknowledging the fact that she's causing herself some INCREDIBLE problems is still something that can be considered a 'beginning'...)

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's almost half way there, half way there..! ...In terms of arc division at least. (Still a long ways until this is over folks!)

* * *

Today's title more or less concerns Jou if you haven't guessed; there's a lot to say about this reveal really, but that's in a note further down. Ohohoh~

In any case, 'Anagnorisis' is what Aristotle used to refer to what is basically 'the reveal' in his poetics. It translates to 'Discovery' or 'Recognition'.

Of course, to you _readers_ this isn't so much a reveal as 'OH LOOK, he FINALLY said something!', but come on, his friends have been worried sick!

Specifically however, anagorisis is the term used for the moment in a play where a critical discovery is made. In its Greek context, it originally meant recognition not only of a person... But of what that person stood for. The Hero's realization and sudden awareness of the situation, of things as they stood, and their relationship with what was often an antagonistic character.

* * *

Oh my, reveal time! Right now it's not so much Jou doesn't want to say anything, it's a matter of how. After all... They saw him bleeding and screaming on the field, but how the hell do you explain that without looking crazy anyways? They certainly can't see it!

* * *

When it's implied Malik explained something, it's not far off the mark though. Malik and Anzu both would have explained what 'oracle' and 'seer' means. From there it's likely they'd have connected the dots... Particularly with Ishizu there.

And you would be very right to believe that Ishizu would have come clean about _that _at the very least. The shadow games would have also been explained...

But that doesn't mean they still don't want to know what's going on!

* * *

As for mentionings of actual duel monsters floating around he'll get to that... Eventually. Right now he's a liiiiiittle overwhelmed.

* * *

Oh! Seto's calmed down! Or has she? While her rage seems to have quieted, you can tell by her out burst that it really hasn't; more like there isn't anything to focus it on and it therefore dyes down somewhat. Like adding fuel to a fire. Of course, overall, a lot of the energy going toward this has also moved to more depressive moods; particularly since she's confused as _hell_. I mean...

Here's where we enter fanfic territory; she's slowly been treating Jonouchi with care that's far beyond what she would normally extend. Her possessive streak is also showing, and quite clearly. However... Much like most people act without thinking... She obviously wasn't aware that she was treating him any differently than she normally would. Obviously she was aware that she didn't necessarily _hate_ him... But thanks to a combination of that kiss and a fairly large shock to her system VIA Jonouchi almost dying, she's extremely conscious of the fact. (Particularly since she's only able to partially tell herself she hates him... As you have all likely guessed.)

In addition... Well... I'm fairly certain that Kaiba, in either incarnation, knows dick all about romance and romantic feelings. So combining this with an already intense rage over her loss and 'inability' to prevent all this crap, not to mention that relapse in general...

Well, while she's warming up to that whole 'abandoning hate thing' (at least to the point where she's wondering if she CAN, which is a _HUGE_ step by the way), she's not so much warming up to the fact that she cares about a certain blond 'mutt's existence.

In fact, while not mentioned above, she's questioning the insult as well; part of the reason she hasn't thought of anything more than 'mutt' is a result of habit. It's a pet name, but the kind you use as an insult. Like when you call someone you're in a relationship a moron really.

(This is actually why Jou doesn't bother getting too ticked about it when she calls him this; he doesn't care any more, because half the time, she's not using it in an insulting situation.)

In the end, they're both idiots. Really, we need a matchmaker or _something_.

* * *

'_Hey Usagi, what happened to 'Pret Keru' or however my manga and anime subbed/pronounced it_?' Well... I couldn't find the words in Egyptian _anywhere_. Which makes me wonder about their accuracy. So I just cut them. The song however, is more or less the same as the manga; it's just a little more refined into song, since... I'm kinda reading a translation here.

I mean... I'm almost certain that it sounds _much _better in Japanese... But hey, as with poor Mokuba in that scene, who knows what the heck they're saying right?

(Poor Mokuba though; he really doesn't have a clue what's going on during this chapter, and everything else isn't really making it easy for him to not get upset. Seto briefly shouting at him just made things worse poor guy, though at least it helped open _her_ eyes...)

* * *

So _this_ was Mokuba's wish then! And it's true too; this is what he more or less told Kaiba in canon; I left the dialogue intact here, anything different was added rather than taken or replaced. And the fact is, we never _did _find out what Mokuba's wish from the Tanabata chapter...

* * *

The 'black queen'? The '_mourning_ queen'? Now what's up with that..? Well... As you might have guessed from the tail end of Noa's arc, we'll be getting a few flashes of what happened _after _the entire Millennium World business as well. Fun stuff!

In any case, there's a _damn_ good reason why Priest Set's reign as Queen, despite being a really prosperous one, gave her the title 'the mourning queen'. A DAMN good reason, which will be revealed in due time.

A pity that it's not helping Kaiba's mood any...

* * *

What's with Kaiba's hidden smirk? She's not actually aware of it. She's _trying _to still be angry, but her subconscious kinda wants Yugi to win. More than anything. In other words, this is a battle between what she wants and what she believes; and Seto isn't the most optimistic person.

Though it does help that these kind of stakes get her in the mood for a battle by the end; it's like watching a sudden turn around in a sports game. (Of course... This is only fun when she's either watching Yugi win, or she's winning herself, because as she so eloquently puts it '[she is] the only one allowed to defeat him'.

I suppose she might get this way about Jonouchi as well though.

* * *

Awww, look she does believe in Yug- Now hang on here, this isn't Prideshipping! (Though pretty much every fight she has with him begs to differ...) Seriously though, this woman's pride gets in the way of everything. Not to mention that wall of fat, ugly denial. STOP BEING SO HEAVILY IN DENIAL KAIBA, IT'S NOT GOOD FOR YOU.

...

(She'll get better?)

* * *

Kaiba-san? Kaiba-_SAN_? '_But Malik doesn't use honorifics Usagi-_' Normally, I would agree... But he's using them with Kaiba, at least for now. This is because he's actually feeling a little awkward about calling a woman by last name only, thanks to all the 'rules' of the language that Anzu's added life experience has slammed in his head...

Which are mixing with the fact that Kaiba herself was previously both the High Priest and the freaking Queen that followed after.

* * *

Glares from Shizuka? This is actually a good sign; means she's more familiar with everyone. Or at least with the fanfic's characterization I suppose. (Something tells me that getting a glare from the real one wouldn't be good, but who knows really.)

* * *

And in other news concerning Jonouchi's 'reveal'... It's still a little rocky between himself and the others on that note. They know _some_ things, but they don't know the specifics. Not only that, but with all the screams and their own worry, they can't help but try and get the answer out, it's only natural.

The problem is however, those screams aren't the only thing Jou is dealing with, and saying you have a horde of other screaming things in your head isn't the best way to put the water under the bridge about all of this. It's hard enough for them to take the fact that the Duel Monsters can speak.

* * *

Anzu's hysteric reaction has to do with not only how long Malik's been sitting around in her body (Which is approaching 24 hours now if you count slight possession before the preliminary matches on the airship), but also because of... Well, the fact that he's been sitting around in her body.

It's similar to what happened in the D-D-D arc, when the puzzle was shattered; a connection that had been made was suddenly just 'gone'. Another thing that would be similar would actually be when Kaiba woke up after the Legendary Heroes, and her arm suddenly regained all its feeling; the sudden absence of an entire presence in her mind is just _that_ jarring.

Of course, Malik was also the only thing helping her to keep track of all the additional things in her head, or at least reminding herself what was hers and what wasn't without having a total meltdown. While she's got a grasp on it _now_, it's hard for Anzu not to mix her thoughts up at the moment, so the rush of emotions from every little thing is obviously not something that's giving her any more to feel calm about. She gets through this by the time Battle City ends thankfully, so don't worry too much about her...

Think of it as the worst headache possible for now.

* * *

Any ways. A hectic chapter despite the short length, that's for sure! And while the note is long, there actually isn't much to put here this week! The last note I can leave you with is on the specifics of the shadow game now under way. As with canon, the duelists feel every lick of pain inflicted, be it on themselves or their monsters. And, as with canon... This makes it completely uneven given that one of them is a sadomasochist. Derp.

In any case, interesting thing; in the manga, the flesh eating slug attacks... But Malik took the first turn. Yugi never got his turn, and yet they aren't called on this. Clearly there was a bit of 'screw the rules of play' going on, but seriously, shadow games operate under the idea that the only thing making the match uneven is the opponent's biggest vice and desire to cheat.

Well, not art for today... But keep your eyes peeled, as either during the next chapter or the following there should be a bit of concept for you!

Until then... Enjoy the chapter! And Kaiba's seriously broken head. (Er... She'll get better?)

* * *

Musical Notes

Time for more shameless music!

The music I listened to this time... REALLY doesn't match the scene. More or less it's the same as last chapter, with the added songs being Sweet Sweet Cendrillon Drug, Melt (Both of which are originally from Miku I believe) and... Luka Luka Night Fever.

I'm serious. _That_ is what I'm listening to as leech tentacles stab Yami Yugi's face.

No word yet on if that's a _bad_ thing...

But in any case, that's all for now! I hope you enjoy the chapter, and with luck the next one will be coming your way in a week's time!

Until then!


	104. Chapter 103

**Sundown**

* * *

He'd be lying if he said he wasn't in pain.

In fact, even admitting he was in pain would be putting it pretty damn lightly, if he said so himself. He didn't see what had clawed at his leg, or what had 'eaten' it and the bone inside. The fact was he thought with a mental and broken laugh, he didn't think he'd be able to.

But if he was right... And Jonouchi's face was any sign...

Then what he couldn't see was quite likely better for him any ways.

'_It's okay,_' he'd told them, barely able to speak through the pain that was searing in the absence of his right knee. He could feel all his toes, he could feel his hip, but anything between and there was simply nothing outside a blinding pain along the edges. '_It's okay,_' he'd shouted to cover his own screams, '_Just keep fighting..! We have to save Malik..!_' They had to... Above anything they had to! Because if they were to buckle now then what point was there in all they'd done? What point in there was promising the others a won battle, the defeat of the one before them, of the one who would and hadn't hesitated to kill and attack them? They knew that it would be hard; they'd have been fools to think it wouldn't, so what other choice did they have?

Shadows were swarming the edges of what should have been bleeding wounds. In the hollows of each end of his leg he could see the now cleanly 'cut' bone, the somehow smoothly torn and unbloodied muscle beneath resembling a cut round of steak almost. The veins, the arteries... If he valued his stomach, he decided, he would look to the field and ignore both the sight of the shadows that were dancing on the edges of his legs and the pain that was searing through it. This was a shadow game after all. There was no time to pay attention to things like this.

If his other self lost, so did he. If he lost, so did his other self.

If the 'other Malik' lost, so did the real one, and they needed to find a way around this. They needed to find a way to break 'their' Malik free... No matter what, he told himself, they would find Malik's 'light' in this battle; they would find and reclaim the thing that would grant him control over his body and this darker half. As the 'other' Malik had told them just now; they were chosen by the items. And for now, that choice was made so he could give his partner the strength to fight on. With that in mind, he could do nothing but force the pained look off of his face as his other self nodded. _'Have faith in me,_' he shouted, lightning cracking across the tower and the sky both as he called out to those watching. '_I won't lose!_'

No matter what.

He wasn't the only one aware of what this match meant, and of what was happening after all. Anzu, who had now recovered from earlier shock was staring up in intense worry, unable to see the duel but knowing from scattered memories what likely occurred. Jonouchi was watching with a mix of worry, determination, and horror both, having been given the 'gift' of being able to see all that now took place on the field. '_Anything goes_' he had told them. And that was exactly how a Shadow Game operated. If the mind could possibly comprehend the pain and the sight then it could happen. If their mind could imagine the possibilities of injury and fear, it _happened._ And this sky that hovered above them now...

Somehow, he knew that if they lost... This sky would never go away. That it would always be dark, wherever they looked.

For now however, there was nothing they could do. After all...

It was still 'his' turn. "Hnhnhnhnhn..." It was still 'that' Malik's turn, and the 'demon' had only just begun with his strike. "The card which just injured you has a special power you know," he sneered, chuckling darkly from across the pair as Yugi shuddered. Though the battle had returned to a holographic state after Kaiba's defeat it seemed that the cards nonetheless held a stony appearance he noticed. That the 'cards' were floating tablets, with the monsters standing upon the ground rather than in the air. It was this sort of card that the vampiric leech now sat before, tentacles writhing in wait as its master spoke. A special power... Something other than a 'Quick Attack' effect then? The boy watched and listened as their opponent explained, discarding a card of sorts while the monster entered defense mode. In the command that had yet to come the leech was sapped back into its card, the stone moving into a 'dormant' state of sorts. Smoke wrapped around hovering stone, a carving etching across the surface... It was strange, Yugi thought to himself. By now, his other self would have said something within his mind, commenting on all that went on and what they could do next.

But with what was happening now, and with the stress of the field, there was nothing to say. Or maybe he'd missed it... Maybe he _had _said something, and he'd just missed it.

It hurt enough for that to happen after all.

...But their opponent hadn't finished yet.

"I put the Vampiric Leech in defense mode," 'Malik' called out, still smiling maliciously as smoke and shadows drifted over the ground. "Following that I play one face down card," he announced clearly, the flat and hovering 'card' resembling a stone just as much as the card beside it. "Turn end." Turn end... Alright then, he thought to himself with a wince. Just a defense mode monster and a possible trap to deal with. But that discarded card...

Could it be, he asked himself. That it was Ra that was discarded? Yugi bit his lip as he turned down somewhat, the look on his other half's face revealing similar suspicions as his other continued to stare across the field. If that was the case... If that card was really waiting in there, sitting within the grave... Then they were vulnerable to whatever attack Ra had inflicted last match upon Jonouchi.

But was that really all they had to fear? From below on the arena, Kaiba's eyes had narrowed with suspicion, as though she'd known something they didn't.

And to strengthen this unease, Jonouchi's had widened with a knowledge that he _could not_ share. A knowledge that, if used to change whatever he'd seen, would simply bring the same misfortune it had last time. A knowledge that beat down on his conscience more than anything else he'd likely ever seen. That much he could be certain of, Yugi told himself. As to how bad his 'visions' were there was no way of knowing but nonetheless whatever Jonouchi had seen had the blond looking to the field in guilt with grinding teeth. No worry though, he decided in the end, flashing the blond a weak but reassuring smile. Nothing to worry about..! After all...

They'd be fighting with the impression that it was Ra in there regardless! "My turn," his other half announced. "Draw!" Again Yugi noted, it was the card exchange. It'd been appearing a lot lately...

Ahhh, but if they'd only had the first turn... Then they could have been rid of Ra altogether..!

Nonetheless there was little they could do about that, with no other choice than to press on. To keep going and face whatever challenge might arise as a result. "I summon this monster," his other half cried, the card he'd played now swinging upward in a tablet of stone. "The Queen's Knight!" And from holographic light the red-armored woman stepped forth, blade in hand and blond hair whipping back in the wind as her summoner continued with his orders. "Attack the leech," he commanded, the monster charging the stone across from her with a cry. "_**QUEEN'S SABRE CRUSH!**_"

The sound of clattering stone met their ears as the blade connected, a high-pitched scream following shortly after. The leech's image drained from the stone and it clattered to the ground in pieces... And as the Queen returned to her side of the field dust flew through the air, 'Malik' merely cracking his neck from across them. "Keh... Too bad for you with the leech in defense mode," he snorted, the stones gradually fading as their Queen leered back in response. Yes... 'Too bad' he thought with a grimace, but it was better this than nothing.

They weren't done, after all. "Now then," his other self decided, moving another pair of cards to the disk as the tablets appeared. "I'll play two face down cards and end my turn!" Two face down cards? Now what were those ones, he wondered dimly? He couldn't see his partner's hand, and for some reason it felt almost as though his link to him was strained, as though there was a block there. The boy's eyes grew shadowed at the thought before he opted to push it from mind and instead look across the field. '_My turn,_' 'Malik' had announced just now, Yugi giving a slight shudder as their opponent continued to make a show of just how inhuman he was. _'I draw.' _For a moment, the Egyptian's eyes were narrowed to the point where they seemed closed.

And then suddenly they were wide enough that he wasn't sure even the body was human any more. "Khnhnhn... HEHEHEHEHE..! HAHAHAHAHA!" Shit. "I drew... A _nice_ card," he laughed, swiping another from his hand as the two before him paled and swallowed. "Before I play this," he continued with an almost taunting tone, "I'll summon another monster," the Egyptian announced. "Juragedo!"

Again a stone-hologram appeared to the field, a mix of Jonouchi's eyes and his own coming into play amid the shadows around them. As a tablet carved forth the image of a monster with eyes at the side of a mouth-less face, acidic smoke filling the ridges as claws slowly pierced the veil of stone. The twisted and mutated monster with nothing but its two legs to call arms snarled as it clawed free the stone, and from across it the Queen's Knight visibly tensed. Juragedo was more powerful than she was- and so, even as she raised her blade to block... '_Obliterate the Queen's Knight,_' he heard 'Malik' roar, the demon charging forward in a flash of light that he found himself unable to completely see.

"OFF WITH HER HEAD!" His other self didn't feel much pain from that attack, thankfully. As their opponent had ordered after all, the monster's attack struck the head, with its claws passing through the Queen's neck cleanly before her body toppled to the side. All his other self felt was a brief sting around his throat where the 'blades' struck; there was nothing more.

"Gh..." That wasn't the case for him though. "NGGGH..!" In fact, he thought he could hear screams as the Red Queen dissolved into dust. "Ngh-!" The boy bit his tongue until blood was leaking into his mouth, but despite his attempts to hold back the scream he could not help but shout once he caught sight of himself. Once he caught sight of his partner looking upward, eyes widening in silent horror. Once he caught sight of the shadows misting around his leg...

As his left shin vanished.

As his left elbow was ripped away, steadily and quickly by unseen shadows and- "Ghhh..." And... "GNN... _GHHHHAAAAAAGGGHHHH_!" And he couldn't help but scream as bits and pieces were ripped away, the only relief coming when the top layers of skin had been torn back by the darkness so that the captors could move to more tender layers. And though all that his partner could see was his body dissolving into smoke and ash he still reacted as he would have if he could see.

"A-AIBOU!" His other self stiffened and stared, unable to move and unable to do more than cry out in fear. "AIBOU!" Gh...

Calm your mind he told himself, still biting his tongue as his head fell limp against his chest. Shuddering breaths sent shivers through his body, and for a moment he let his eyes close over in still ringing pain. Calm yourself, calm yourself he repeated in his mind, he's fighting for _you_! And more importantly Yugi thought, a few more shuddering breaths wracking his form. If he showed weakness... "Gh..." Then it was all over. "I'm fine," he told his partner, slowly looking up to stare across the field. "Trust me, I'm still fine! Don't worry about me," he pressed, swallowing back the still numbing sense of pain over his arm and legs, "Just watch out for that spell card he's about to use!" That card...

He'd made it obvious what he was going to do after all! And as his other self stiffened once more their opponent grinned, holding the card to the field before placing it on the his disk to reveal another stone tablet. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Wise words of warning," he hissed, the stone carving its image in a matter of seconds. "But they won't do you any good..! Yugi," he cackled, the face glowing fiercely as its summoner drew a card. "This is the card that will kill you! LEFT ARM OFFERING... Sending my entire hand to the grave to pick one card from my deck... And the card I want," he continued, grinning madly as his opponents shared a look of fear and unease. "The card I play now is..." Too obvious, Yugi thought with a slight smirk.

Now!

Right before he placed the card..! "MONSTER REBO-"

"ACTIVATE TRAP! EXCHANGE," the other Yugi snarled, holding his hand out for 'Malik' to see. "Pick a card from my hand, any card you like," he spat, the Egyptian's eyes narrowing to mere slits as his grin faded to a dull scowl. "But I'm taking your monster reborn..!" And with that, Ra was locked from the field completely. Cheers were erupting at the side just now, with wide grins and shouts that he could scarcely hear through the shadows. Looking to another point on the tower below however Kaiba's expression was still thick with suspicion, her eyes narrowed as if to say '_it can't possibly be that easy..._'

No... Probably not, he thought almost bitterly.

But as 'Malik' ended his turn there was not time to think about it. It was their turn again... And as his other half looked at the card they'd drawn Yugi had to smile despite the pain he was in. The look on his face told him everything after all, and so did the stone that was already rising to sit above the ground. Heh. This card...

With this card they were even closer to saving Malik; that much was for certain. "I summon the King's Knight," the 'other' Yugi announced, a tablet similar to that of the fallen Queen's now smoking as orange armor made its way forth to reveal the King. "And then, I play the Monster Reborn," he continued as a second tablet appeared, "Bringing back the Queen's Knight... And when the King and Queen are on the field," he went on, eyes narrowing dangerously as the gaze was mirrored by the monsters at his side. "I think you know what happens..." Stone was rising between the two cards just now, far before them on the field. In reality as well a card was released from the deck, his other half setting it on the duel disk with a short nod as the gold armored warrior began to appear from its stone. "We'll see who summons the Gods first," 'Yugi' snarled, the third knight stepping forward. "The Jack's Knight arises..!"

"Hnhnhahahah... We'll just see who 'wins'," 'Malik' sneered. There were more cheers from the side... More shouts, more cries to fight and win. If he listened carefully however, it was more than simply a cheer that was surrounding them now. They were talking about possible moves themselves it seemed, about possible strategies to use and to counter. '_Malik still has some face down cards,_' he could hear Anzu mutter, the woman still breathing heavily from her earlier panic. That was true though, Yugi though. And with that in mind...

'Malik' currently had one card in his hand, the one he'd taken from Exchange, and that was 'De-Fusion'. There were no 'quick play' spells to worry about... Merely traps, namely the one that likely lay before them on the field. And there was no worry on 'Malik's face; if anything he realized with a shudder the Egyptian was smirking rather maliciously, and the longer they waited to move the larger it grew.

"What's the matter," 'Malik' taunted, eyes wide and almost blind with insanity as his body twitched in anticipation. "Go ahead," he cackled, "Attack me, ATTACK ME! KAHAHAHAHAH!" Attack... It would be almost foolish not to do so and yet that was the case with the opposite as well. There was no other choice. '_Turn end,_' he eventually heard his other half call out. And with those words Malik's grin shrank back into its usual demonic smirk, eyes narrowed in patient mirth regarding what he knew would happen. They'd avoided _this _death after all. Now there was the 'next' one. And the look on his face... Yugi suppressed another shudder, holding his gaze on the field. As their opponent drew his next card the Egyptian's grin grew, the blond running his tongue along the card's edge while his opponents held back the previous evening's supper. Disgusting... There were not other words for it but that... "Hnhnhnhn..." Hihhhhhhh... "Yugi... You don't have a God in your hand right now, do you," he 'asked', the boy narrowing his eyes in response. "Well," the Egyptian chuckled, "It's rather _pathetic,_ waiting each turn for you to draw one. And if the card you draw is Osiris, then the cards in your hand will be so minimal it would be nothing more than a joke!" True... But what was he up to? "Here," 'Malik' hissed, slipping the card onto the duel disk as its respective 'tablet' appeared atop the field. "I'll give you a gift, a card that helps us both! Card of Sanctity!" E-Eh..! "Give thanks to _my _God for his blessings as you replenish your hand, Yugi! HnhnhaHAHA!" Gh...

What was going on..? Drawing until they had six cards in hand... Just what was Malik up to? Despite momentary suspicion however they could not deny the advantage this would give them. A smirk came over both of their faces, and as the cards were drawn their opponent continued his move. One monster in defense, one card face down, stone tablets sitting in the air and revealing nothing...

And he was done. It was their turn. "Draw," the 'other' Yugi announced, now holding seven cards in his hand. The storm above them had intensified the moment Osiris came into their grasp; lightning struck the sides of the tower to charge it with electricity, with thunder roaring overhead like a subway through a tunnel. And as he brought the card to the field he could almost hear Jonouchi's chanted and subconscious words on the air, merging with the winds around him. Hear the wail of storm clouds as clouds furled, hear the pounding of wings beating the air as the knights before them crumbled into sand, blowing back behind them on storming winds while roars slowly sounded through the sky... "Noble cards," 'Yugi' announced, placing the card on his disk, "Become my sacrifice... I SUMMON THE DRAGON OF THE SKIES," he announced, hands held outward in gesture as his voice was overpowered by wind. "THE GOD OF LIFE AND DEATH ITSELF... I SUMMON... OSIRIS!"

"_**RRAAAAAAAOOOOOOOO!**_" '_At last_', he thought Malik was saying under the snarls. '_At last_'...

God was summoned. "**And so we FACE your FINAL challenge, LITTLE KING...**" The double mouths of the dragon never moved from where they hovered above and behind him, and yet despite this he felt no need to turn back while the god spoke.** "So,**" Osiris rumbled, the endless coils of his form spiraling the tower. "**Do you find yourself READY**_**?**_" Ready? What other answer could they possibly have for that?

"Of course," the other Yugi muttered, still looking toward the field.

"Of course," he himself answered. Shouts were filling the air with cheers and cries to attack, and Osiris continued to leer at the opponent before them. To anyone watching it would be obvious who the winner was... Osiris' power would end Malik's life quickly, no doubt about that.

Something told him however, that things were not quite as they seemed. Not in the least. "Are you ready," his other half spat to their opponent, fist clenched as white hot flames began to gather in the maw of the God behind them. "Get him, OSIRIS! _**LIGHTNING STORM,**_" they both roared, the fires blasting forward to strike the 'monster' down. "THIS IS IT!"

And still their opponent laughed. "Khehehehehe..." And laughed. "Hehehahaha..." And _laughed..._ "HAHAHAHAHA!" What..?

"**Gh- You DARE laugh in the face of GOD,**" Osiris spat, wings smacking the air down and against them as he snarled. The question had an almost obvious answer.

Dare he? Hah!

He _dared_ alright. "The time is right," 'Malik' cackled, trap swinging upward as the fires Osiris released were somehow diverted by its nearly insignificant appearance. "I'll show you Ra's POWER! Activate TRAP," he roared, hands held out in a clawed gesture to the field. "REVIVAL OF THE DARK..! Allowing me to use one spell from your grave yard," the Egyptian howled, eyes little more than pin pricks, "Namely the MONSTER REBORN... Now... _WATCH," _he hissed, pulling his hands back as shadows whirled around him and smoke rose to the air. "_Watch..._ _Great God over all he travels,_" 'Malik' began, voice lowering to a dark and sinister tone,_ "Who creates all he sees, whose eye is the warrior Sehkmet, whose knowledge is unsurpassed,"_ he went on, gaze lowered to the ground as the smoke continued to furl._ "...Who sails on the evening barge of a million years,_" the Egyptian hissed,_ "Who is accompanied by Command, Perception, and Magic, whose Father is Nun, who passes life and death each day... Who battles with the dark serpent alongside the God of Storms,_" 'Malik' continued to chant, his grin growing wide despite words that were being mirrored from the field at the side against all the self control his friend held. "_I ask that you arise to my side," _he 'sang', raising his head to the sky and scarcely holding back his laughter, "_That you illuminate my path with your LIGHT... __I ask that you __guide me in the form of the great bennu bird,_" he continued, both of his opponents tensing as fires began to rise around the Egyptian, as the tablet from his activated trap began to grind itself into dust only now. As a toothed beak formed from the fires, wings wide-spread and flickering in the air as they surrounded the tower... _"I ask... That you accept this tribute of my very soul and eradicate all those before me... That you cleanse the souls of those who oppose me,_" 'Malik' cried with cackled laughter,_ "And shield me from all harm in these moments... I ask...!"_

"**And once AGAIN,**" he could hear God cry, Osiris releasing a second blast of flames despite himself as the threat before them howled with sadistic glee, "**You are ANSWERED!**" Ra... The fires sent forth did nothing but merge with the flames of the God's body, low snarls greeting the air in response. Ra... Ra...

"Ra," Yugi found himself whispering in fear, the field falling silent as the great and inflamed deity stared his opponent down. The 'king' of the Gods had risen before them...

Which made this next move 'all or nothing' for survival. "Hnhnhnhahaha... HAHAHAHHAHAHA! For the turn he arises the Great God Ra is IMMORTAL," 'Malik' roared, the grin growing to match the gleam in his eyes as he looked upon them across the field. "No attack will pass, no monster will stand before him... I'LL BURN YOU TO CINDERS ALONG WITH YOUR GOD," he snarled, Ra pulling flames into its mouth with those very words. No power could surpass it... No power could defend against it, and the fiery phoenix was staring them down with gleaming red eyes...

"**WE have MUCH to DISCUSS, LITTLE KING,**" Ra rumbled, turning its head toward Osiris momentarily as the dragon seemed to _shrink_ under the gaze, actually pulling back slightly beneath the better of the two. "**I SEE you have OVERCOME the CHALLENGES of my COUSINS... NOT an EASY task,**" the 'dragon' noted,** "I ASSURE you... HOWEVER,**" he continued, rising still further into the air as the God at their side of the battle hissed warningly, "**DO NOT EXPECT MY CHALLENGE TO BE SO SWIFTLY OVERCOME!"** Don't... H-Hah...

As if they ever had..!

There was no need to even mention Osiris' special ability at this moment Yugi realized coldly, both he and his other half swallowing under the pressure inflicted with Ra's words. The 'second blast' which appeared with summoned monsters was that very force of thunderous power that was released without intention, meant to weaken those beneath him.

And _only_ those beneath him, Yugi thought as he shuddered. There was no questioning this after all; for some reason both he and his other self simply _knew_ that to attempt such an attack on Ra would only end in failure, and there was no reason to question the specifics. And now... "Now," 'Malik' sneered, flexing a hand as he closed his eyes over. "It is _my_ turn to attack... With the sacrifice of 1000 lifepoints I now burn both you and your dragon... And it isn't as though the darkness won't appreciate this offering," he laughed, gesturing to the hostage at the side as the hanging spirit failed to give even a twitch in response. "He can't even _scream_ after all," he sneered, the true Malik's head simply hanging limp as his arm dissolved from the wrist up with no reaction. "And now... Great God RA," the Egyptian cackled, looking up to the god above him as it took to the skies. "TAKE THE FORM OF THE PHOENIX AND LET YOUR FLAMES CONSUME THIS LESSER BEING BEFORE YOU!"

"_**KEEEEERRRRR!**_"

"Gh-!" Here it came..! The fires pulled back against Ra's form, gathering heat and intensity as they formed a thick 'sphere' within his throat. This was it... This was it..!

"**THE FIRST OF THE CHALLENGES,**" Ra announced, releasing the fires so that all Yugi could see was yellow and gold as he and his other were completely surrounded.** "FACE the POWER of the RISING SON, LITTLE KING!**" Gh...!

"G-... HHAAAAAAAGGGHHHH!"

"HRAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!"

Even without the loss of lifepoints the pain of Ra's flames was near unbearable. The heat seemed to sear their clothing right into their skin, sending stinging burns across all their body... "**Let me PROTECT you,**" Osiris was saying amid the roar of fire, lowering a great and red-scaled hand downward. "**As ALL I can DO LITTLE KING, let ME protect YOU!**" A massive, clawed hand now covered them both... Hid them within the monster's grip, roasting them alive despite all the protection he tried to offer. Coating them in sweat as they closed their eyes and waited for the pain to pass...

"Ghhhh... GKKK..." The scales were slowly eroding into dust from around them, and the monster was crumbling into ashes... Amid cries to stand and cries to move on they could still hear Malik cackling, demanding their suffering, demanding their pain...

"Hnhnhnhnhn... That's enough now," the Egyptian decided with a sneer, evidently glad that they could both still 'stand' and fight after such an attack. "I need you alive until the end after all... And so Ra returns to the grave," he continued, the rush of flames that filled the field and air seemingly absorbed by the duel disk with the storm following behind it. "And Monster Reborn returns to the grave," he continued lowly, the card somehow having appeared on his disk in the entire mess. Alright... So it was there again, he thought to himself. But...

"Aibou," his other self rasped, turning to his partner as he chocked. "Are you alright..? Are you... Are you okay..?"

The boy bit his lip, looking over his partner's still steaming form before nodding. He was no worse than he after all. No worse... "I'm fine... Worry about yourself," he continued in protest, ignoring the slight burns he had over his body. This wasn't the real one anyways... His pain didn't matter right now, just his other self's! "We need to focus on the duel," he continued, looking back to the field. "We just lost our God card... Unless we get Monster Reborn there's only one left, and even then the card only lasts one turn..."

His 'other' nodded in agreement, only to tense as their opponent chuckled from across them. "Hnhnhnhnhn... _What_," he sneered humerously, gesturing to the field as he clicked one of the dueldisk's buttons. "You think that's it..?" It... It wasn't..? ...Oh no, Yugi realized, blood draining from his face as the two looked forward. Oh _no_. There was no way he had _that_ card- "HAHAHAHAHA!" He did. "BEHOLD," 'Malik' snarled, tablet rising as its carved image glared forward with a blinding light. "My face down card, the Zombie's Jewel! Bringing Monster Reborn back into my hand," he sneered, his eyes narrowing in expectant menace, "And allowing me to special summon Ra _all over again,_" he continued lowly. Again... They were going to face the monster again... "Of course," Malik was saying as Yugi stared blankly across the field with fear, "It's not quite over... The fine print of Zombie's Jewel allows you to draw one card," he chuckled, both boys looking at the deck and swallowing. "So lets see how long _that _keeps you alive..." One card...

Their entire fate depended on that card then, and... And...

A sudden wave of calm washed over them as they grabbed at the deck, if only for a short instant. Even though they had no monster to defend themselves. Even though the threat of Ra hung over them like a mantle, and though Jonouchi had already begun to clutch his head again as the others worriedly asked about whatever he saw, and what now had him turning back to the field with an expression of absolute horror...

They did not get an answer from him this time. "Yugi... Since your time is going to be cut rather... _Short,_" 'Malik' chuckled, reaching beneath his shirt for something as the others glared and snarled in response, "How about I show you something interesting... Haven't you noticed after all," he continued, slight 'jingling' coming over the air as he fished whatever it was he was grabbing for out. "That one of your _friends_ is missing..?"

Gold met their vision as the Egyptian dropped what had been hanging around his neck on old and worn cord, five dangling prongs clacking against each other in the wind. This item... "The Millennium Ring," Yugi hissed with shock, his other half merely staring in shock as the other Malik sneered. "Then..." Then when Bakura had vanished...

"You bastard," Honda snarled from the side, those on the arena acutely aware that there was one amid the usually noisy crowd keeping their voice down. "So Bakura's disappearance really is your fault then..!" They'd suspected of course... But when there had been no body, when there had been no blood...

In the end, there was only one reason why Bakura could possibly be gone... Wasn't there? More chuckling came over the air, followed by low growls from all who disagreed with the actions that had now taken place. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Really... This ring is merely a 'spoils of war'," 'Malik' laughed, fingering the ring in a manner just as disturbing as anything else he'd held in those hands. "As for its _previous_ owner," he continued, a mocking sigh escaping him as he shrugged, "I would imagine he's completely consumed by darkness right now... Khehehehehe..." Bakura...

So then, both body and soul were trapped, locked in wherever they were disappearing to now...

And as per the usual, 'Malik' still laughed. "Hahahahaha... HAHAHAHAHA!" Stop laughing, both boys thought to themselves, almost visualizing the other Bakura vanishing as the 'sacrifices' of the duels were. Stop laughing, they almost hissed aloud, the image of their 'friend' snarling under the flames of Ra coming to mind, the rest of the event remaining as unseen as it had been atop the arena during the night prior. Stop..! "JUST WATCH," 'Malik' roared, cackling cut short only to speak. "I'll show you the same power that sent Bakura to HELL!" Gh... Hell was it..?

Not this time..! Mark his words, not THIS time! "Other me," Yugi found himself saying, gritting his teeth as he fixed a steady glare toward their opponent. "We can't let him get away with this..." With what he did to Mai, Ryuzaki, Jonouchi... To Bakura, and everyone else..! To even Malik himself..!

They couldn't... And they could never forgive him, for what he'd done..! And this card that had given them that wave of calm...

They knew just what it was! "I set a card face down," they both called out, not even looking at the card's face as they closed their eyes and smiled despite the situation. "TURN END!"

In an instant more there was yet another round of chuckling, the pair opening their eyes to stare across the field. "Cowards..." ..Hn! "Both of you, cowards," 'Malik' sneered, not catching the momentary shock that became a grin on Jonouchi's face to the side. "You don't even have the guts to look your defeat in the face," he spat, shaking his head in rage. Oh... Did they now..?

"Hn!" The 'other' Yugi merely snorted, ignoring sounds of shock and sputtered protests of 'illegal face downs' as he looked across the field. Kaiba certainly hadn't complained; the shock on her face had been replaced with an expression that said 'go ahead', and they would do just that. "It's your turn Malik..."

Silence briefly met the air in response, their opponent nonetheless snorting as he drew his next card. "KEH! Alright then," he sneered, a grin soon re-appearing on his face. "Regardless of what your choice is it's my turn... And as surely as the sun rises, your END is NIGH! I play Monster Reborn," 'Malik' called, hands outstretched as God again began to appear in the air, brilliant armor coming forth. "BEHOLD! THE SUN DRAGON RA," he crowed, as gold metal seared into existence and lined itself with fire behind the tower. "AND NOW... With this POWER granted by Ancient Scriptures," he sneered, "_LET THE SUN MEET ITS MID-DAY POINT AND SEAR YOU WITH ALL THE HEAT OF THE DESERT..._" Second challenge, he found himself telling himself. Second challenge...

But what he heard next did not only come from across him on the field. And for the most part, the chanting was the same, but near the end it altered yet again. "_I ask of you, the Great God Ra,_" they were muttering, Jonouchi only given away by the movement of his lips as he gripped his head. As the others attempted to snap him from his stupor, worriedly attempting to shake him out by the shoulder. The chanting went on. _"I ask... That you come to my aid and take my power... That you take my life,_" they whispered,_ "All that I have and use it to empower your own... TO FUEL YOUR FLAMES,_" 'Malik' roared, his body slowly vanishing from the field to appear far above a top Ra's beak, "_TO COAT YOUR ENEMY COMPLETELY IN YOUR WRATH..._"

"**And WE SHALL,**" the monster announced, beak opening wide as its summoner howled with laughter. Attack power was now at _two thousand, nine hundred, and ninety nine._

Malik now had _one life point _left, and nothing more.

And at the side of the field beneath Ra's massive claws as their opponent stood flaming before them, there was little more than an eye for the real Malik to call his own, a tiny closed eye that was trapped in endless and searing pain.

"I'M NOT DONE," 'Malik' roared with a laugh, his opponents shocked stiff as the fires continued to bathe and blind the field around them. "NOT IN THE SLIGHTEST... I sacrifice the monsters on my field," the Egyptian continued, pillars of fire erupting for each one before becoming swallowed by the god on the field. "ABSORBING their attack... Now we're stronger than ever before," he hissed. "And now... YOU STAND NO CHANCE..! HnhnHAHAHA!"

"**Are you PREPARED,**" Ra snarled with those words, all shouts from the sidelines drowned out beneath the God's voice. The monster lowered his head expectantly, beak clacking as flames grew within his mouth. "**Are you READY LITTLE KING, for the NEXT STEP?**" The next step...

They'd passed the 'Sunset'. And technically, they'd even passed sunrise. Now, moving toward the center...

The 'Mid-Day Sun'. "Brace yourself," 'Malik' hissed, grinning manically while his opponents looked up toward him. "I'LL BOIL YOUR BLOOD INTO STEAM! ATTACK, RA!"

Now. The fires were released and began to blossom forward like some strange growing flower at high speed. Now, Yugi thought to himself with a swallow, a few of the sparks already striking their side of the field from above.

Now!

"Reveal Trap," his other half announced almost calmly, the gaping beak that hovered before them clacking shut with a snap with the same click sound of the duel-disk's release button. "DEVIL'S SANCTUARY!"

The field fell into a hush with the words and at his feet a blackened series of runes and patterns began to appear. The ceremonial circle, encompassing almost half of his field from where it sat centered before him. Smoke arose from the center, writhing, taking form... This was the card that Kaiba had entrusted to them he told himself, a metaloid spirit seeming to take form. This was the card that she'd put her power in. And it was with _this_ card, that they would win..!

* * *

Ra's 'second' power, Seto thought to herself as she watched the duel, was likely the most frightening power that Ra held. The 'one turn kill'... The ability to pawn off any number of lifepoints to add to the God's power for one move and one only.

And in addition, or so it seemed, the ability to add the power of any monster sacrificed to its own was included among this- making it possible to continue with the strike even without sufficient lifepoints. It was a power that nothing could stop...

Save one card.

When Yugi had set that card on the field without looking, she'd found herself almost amused despite the situation. Could it possibly have been that card? The chances were minimal after all; impossible, the very reason why the chances of a win were so low! And yet it seemed that he truly _had_ done the impossible. At the moment he needed it most, the Devil's Sanctuary had been played.

So now, as the runes glittered across the field and the metal 'token' took its place in the center she could do nothing but stare in shock as she thought back to her words earlier on. Earlier in the duel, when she had seen this battle shaping up to the worst case scenario. When she'd held her gaze on the field and asked the woman beside her-

"You used your so called 'magic' to see what cards I would play, didn't you?"

Ishizu had jumped somewhat, but after a slight pause nodded. "I did," she responded simply, the first of the pair never moving to turn from the field.

"And I can assume you did the same with Malik, correct," Seto had asked, her arms crossed to match the narrowed gaze she held.

Another pause, and another nod. "...I did."

There was a short span of silence following this, and finally it was Seto who continued the conversation. "Malik has a card that brings spells out from the graveyard, doesn't he?"

For some reason, despite knowing there was an inevitable loss on the field before her, Ishizu's answer gave her a sudden chill. "He does." That was all she needed to hear. Malik had already put his ultimate strategy into play after all. He'd discarded Ra, and he'd gotten the Monster Reborn within reach. And after first pulling it out from Yugi's grave...

He now had a card to do the same from his own, allowing him another shot at victory. The 'One Turn Kill'... The deadly strategy that would be unavoidable, the strategy that spelled Bakura's end the night prior. Any amount of power was possible... All it would take was his life points and the sacrifice of his monsters and he would easily overpower any foe before him. And that single spell...

It was an attack that could be stopped by one card and only one, a fact that reduced any chance of a successful match to little more than one in five, but if there was anyone who could have pulled off the attack...

Of course, she thought almost bitterly, it would be 'him'. Of course it would be her 'rival', the one who had defeated her again, and again, and again... And as the Devil's Sanctuary took effect over the field she didn't bother herself with the sudden, slightly realistic tone filling the arena. The single 'eye' that appeared on the token's face rather than simply a perfect reflection of the opponent. The thunder that constantly rumbled through the air, the breathing coming from each monster summoned, causing gales of wind in the case of the now destroyed 'Osiris'... The fires that lapped the sides of the tower that she stood upon...

She didn't feel quite as 'distracted' by the appearance of Gods now she noted, arms crossed as she looked at the field in apparent indifference. Before she'd found herself briefly unable to focus (much to her distaste)... But now it seemed that if anything their summoning was constantly pulling her attention to the side, with each series of chants an peals of thunder bringing a new string of what should have been gibberish from Katsuya's mouth.

'_I ask of the God of death,_' he began for Osiris, his hands either clenched around his arms or on his head. And in the case of Ra, the God of Sun. With a new string of words and 'song' for alternate forms, with his mouth moving almost against his will if the glazed appearance of his eyes was any sign.

But that was ridiculous, she told herself immediately after. Completely ridiculous, and so she tore her gaze away from the blond and brought it back to the field. It didn't matter. After all; it wasn't real. None of this was.

She just wished that wasn't her only defense. That the monsters above could be attributed to mere hallucination, that the intensity of power and emotion on the air could be attributed to illusion, to excitement, to _anything_. _Anything _other than 'magic' and all the other nonsense these people attributed it to.

Yet in the end she was left staring in silence, eyes widening briefly as the Sanctuary came into place. As the small metal token misted into appearance, hide gleaming beneath the blazing fires of Ra. '_Nee-sama,_' she thought she heard her brother ask from the side. '_Was that your card? The one you gave him..?_' She gave no answer, merely gripping her arms and biting her tongue.

Precognition wasn't possible she told herself. 'Fate' was not something that could be 'seen', and it was, in that regard, completely nonexistent. There was no such thing as 'fate', so much as there was mere luck and chance...

And more importantly there was no such thing as magic and monsters, regardless of the fact that 'Malik' had vanished from the field, now joined with Ra itself as he stared down the Devil's Sanctuary. Regardless of the fact that he cackled from stories above them now, arms spread wide as the fires released from 'God's form struck the ground... As they streaked toward the monster who had taken his lifepoints as its own power, toward the monster whose life was tied not to Yugi's but to the opponent's own, unable to be called off and unable to stop...

Only for the use of 'her' power to be completely shattered. Only for her to watch as the key to defeating the one turn kill was made completely useless, the fires reaching the edges of the metal devil that now represented Malik's remaining lifepoints only to stop in place and lash out in a whirlwind focused only upon its owner. Smoke filled the air and all eyes widened as Ra began to fade... As the fires died down until finally vanishing completely, with Yugi's current opponent reappearing with a leering grin. His lifepoints were a total of 4700, with his field cleared of all monsters...

And in the very center of the arena lay one lone metal devil on the field.

'De-Fusion' was not meant to work in the way Malik had used it. Activating it at the last moment, pulling his lifepoints and himself free from Ra's body... Sending Ra back to the grave and granting himself all of the life from its power as a result. "Tch..." Cheap... How disgustingly cheap she thought with a low growl, the Egyptian on the field still cackling at the turn in events. Ra had returned to the grave and the monster reborn had as well, but there was still one more shot at that card now.

And once he did that the metal devil would be useless. Completely useless... ...Unless, she thought to herself, eyes narrowing in thought. Unless... "...My turn," 'Yugi' hissed almost under his breath, his opponent setting one last card face down as the hologram shimmered into existence. "I'll pay 1000 lifepoints to maintain the Devil's place on the field and draw," he announced, opponent cackling in response.

"One attack point... That's all you have for your defense," the Egyptian howled. "You sacrifice 1000 of your lifepoints for this?" Hn! As if he would have been so stupid!

...No, Seto thought to herself, a smirk coming across her face despite all 'appearances' left to hold. No... Devil's sanctuary had another use in this match, a back up plan..! And if the look on her rival's face was any sign, if the sacrifice of his life was any sign...

Then he would indeed cause some damage. "HERE I GO," Yugi roared, Seto's teeth grinding despite attempts to remain calm and wait for what occurred. "First, I activate my face down card," he called out, the card swinging upward as his 'metal devil' writhed about the field and 'screamed'. "Multiply! Giving me two more copies of the Devil Token," the boy announced. The metalloid creature proceeded to do just that in response, arms splitting from its form before growing into two separate copies to float at its sides. And next... "Next," Yugi continued, those watching growing almost pale in anticipation and shock both as a storm again began to brew in the darkened sky, "Sacrificing the three Metal Devils," he roared, voice mirrored by the storm above, "THE GOD OF STORM AND CHAOS... I SUMMON THE STONE SOLDIER OF THE OBELISK!"

Shouts erupted in an instant and her eyes were drawn upward, ignorant to the faintly chanted words from Jonouchi on the side. From the 'sand' on the field and the dust in the air the almost demonic God formed, stone wings spread wide and fists clenched tight. And with necrotized flesh beneath bone-like armor the demon snarled, knuckles cracking in anticipation. "**I SHALL ANSWER YOUR CALLS LITTLE KING,**" he announced, Seto's eyes growing even wider as his words came through the air. "**And, more IMPORTANTLY,**" the God continued, his voice easily overpowering an order to attack, "**WE SHALL WIN! GO..!**

_**GOD HAND CRUSHER,**_" both he and Yugi snarled, the 'obelisk' pulling a fist back before slamming it as hard as possible into their opponent's chest. The Egyptian had no time to even realize what was happening, a chocked cry cutting through the air at the volume of little more than a mouse.

They could still, however, hear it. "GLLL-K!"

"A direct hit," Yugi announced confidently, cards flying through the air along with blood as Malik slowly and painfully began to pull himself up. "Be glad you still have 'life points'," he continued bitterly. "As I doubt you would still live otherwise..." Tch... He was alive that was true, Seto growled in the back of her mind, but just barely. There were only 700 points left after all... The next attack would destroy him easily.

And yet as he stumbled to his feet, wiping blood from his face, there was nothing but a grin meeting their vision from the side of the field. A leering and demonic grin, made all the more haunting as the Egyptian licked his hand free of what blood he'd smeared off his face. Most of those on the side were cheering, that was true.

But the look on Malik's face...

And the words he muttered...

"_Itain,_" he whispered under his breath, chuckling as he spoke. "_Itain...! It hurts, it hurts, it _**HURTS!** HnhnHAHAHAHAHA! So much PAIN Yugi," he cackled, those watching left to do nothing but pull back in disgust. "I didn't even know you were capable, but don't you remember," he continued, howling in his mirth. "This PAIN means nothing to me... BUT NOT TO HIM!" To him? The woman's eyes narrowed at the words, and for a brief moment she almost heard pained breathing on the air. A whimpering scream, answered by a look of shocked horror and realization as her rival looked toward where Malik gestured.

But there was nothing there, despite the look of horror on Yugi's face. "No," he whispered, only for his voice to be drowned out by laughter. "No-"

"Hnhnhnhnhn... HE'S the one who _really_ feels the pain," Malik snarled, still grinning as both Yugi and Katsuya tensed in rage. "HE'S the one whose body is being devoured by shadows, slowly disappearing to be left with _nothing_... Such a poor _fool_," he hissed, shaking his head. "A poor pathetic tomb guardian whose entire life has been nothing but an insurance policy for a dead man's memories... If not for the fact that I was already laughing," the Egyptian chuckled, "I'd laugh at the sheer irony at it all! Your hatred, the hatred of the Pharaoh he's spent his life living for... FUELING the destruction of his very SOUL! And now I'm going to devour _yours_," he continued lowly, licking his lips with shadowed eyes. "I'll swallow your spirit whole and I'll leave nothing left... I'm going to repay you for this pain," Malik hissed, fingers twitching above his dueldisk, "And I'll return it two-fold, with this very card... I activate this trap," the blond announced, Seto cursing under her breath at the obvious pitfall Yugi had run into. "Take a good look... METAL REFLECT SLIME," he announced, the grin on his face widening. "Creating an exact duplicate of your monster... A living wall with a defense equal to three fourths your own..! MEET THE MONSTER YOU CREATED," Malik cackled, mercury-like metal rising and shifting with his words. "A copy of Obelisk itself, the GOD SLIME!"

* * *

The last thing he could remember before he was pulled from Anzu's body was a clawing sensation. The feeling of dark, twisted and unwanted fingers pulling at his form, at a form that didn't exist. As though his soul itself was being stabbed time and time again by a thousand hooked knives and until he conceded to the pain they would continue...

And despite all the loathing he felt for this feeling he could not resist its power in the end, unable to even give more than a cry of shock as a sudden sense of vertigo overcame him. As cold wind whipped past his body, and as the constant scratch and wail of shadows crawled over his skin after being pulled back in the way one would a fish on a line. As all his energy was torn from his grasp, all of it spent clawing at Anzu's mind, pulling for any form of a hold, any way to possibly stay put...

Anything, but going back to _IT _he cried in his mind, only for it to suddenly go blank.

Everything else following that moment... Was nothing but a daze. He could remember an intense pain eating away at his body. A series of shrieks as something, or something_s_ tore at his suspended form, ripping muscle from bone and bone from body. His legs were gone, his arms were gone, his hands, chest, neck, face..!

Naught but an eye had remained on that field, yet in an instant it was all returned. He was still weak of course. Despite the strength of the sudden intake of air that came with the return of his body he felt as though he were at death's door. But as he swallowed back a wave of nonexistent bile and fear the blond shuddered, shivering breaths meeting with the shadows on the wind as his eyes opened a fraction. He hadn't felt this way for so long, he thought bitterly, unable to so much as move his little finger through the pain. So long... Not since he was young, since he was maybe twelve... No, a little older he decided, eyes closing once more. Thirteen. When...

When his father died...

When he _killed _his father he corrected, when this _thing_...

They'd all lied for him he realized, unable to even cry despite the need to. All of them, they'd all lied. And Rishid, even after all that his father did to him... After all that _he_ did to him..! "..._R... shid..._"

No one could hear him speak. He'd have in surprised if they even saw his lips move.

They certainly didn't when his body filled with pain again, when the shadows began to eat him away. When he tried to scream but found himself unable, when the fragments of himself that were lost to darkness began to drift into oblivion. When something white grabbed at him...

And suddenly the pain was gone. "_This way,_" he heard someone mutter, a light push and pull easing him through the darkness as his vision strained. "_I can only give you so long you fool, so hurry..!_"

He only had one eye in the end. One eye closed to the field and the other slowly opening to shadows and light as he caught a glimpse of the spirit now reaching toward him. But as he looked at the faceless ghost that somehow repelled the shadows, the thing that somehow cast away the things that devoured him he had to bow what was remaining of his head in relief... And simply let that ghost take what had been banished from the game to wherever this spirit intended.

When he opened his left eye, body left without the other, without legs from the knees down and scraps of everything else, he found himself nearly blinded by the contrasting light through the windows. Raising an arm to shield his eyes he soon found himself lowering it in shock- He was in one of the airship rooms. Bakura's, he was sure. But if this was Bakura's room...

Then that would mean... "_Ten minutes,_" he thought he heard the white ghost whisper as it faded into the air behind him. "_I can only give you ten minutes._" Alright. Ten minutes then. He wouldn't question the 'hows' and 'whys' of him being here then, at least for now.

Malik swallowed as he walked toward the bed in the room, a stool from where the doctor had often sat still clearly illuminated by the light from the window. By the blinding afternoon light which so violently contrasted the storm he'd been pulled from, a light that was only marred by the shadows surrounding the tower outside. He wasn't looking at the tower though- just the room. Rishid's dueldisk sat on the table at the side. The two chairs the room came with were scattered in the room from whoever had last sat in them, but in the end the stool was just fine.

Rishid was still sleeping. He found himself wondering if it was his fault. If it was the Gods' way of saying it was 'his turn'. "..._Rishid,_" he called out quietly, sitting on the stool as his eye dimmed. Ten minutes, the ghost had told him. He didn't know how long he'd been staring at the bed, and how long his fragmented and ghosting form had sat there. "..._Rishid, can you hear me..?_" Even if he could, how could he answer he thought bitterly. Rishid was effectively comatose right now, in a state only Gods could spare him from. And while the doctors said only a day or so would be needed to recover...

The Gods were not so merciless.

But he didn't want him to suffer either. He didn't want anyone else to feel this pain, let alone him... So even if he couldn't hear him now... He had to at least say that, right?

Right? "..._Rishid,_" he eventually said, not bothering to pay attention to the almost flickering form he held for the moment. "_...I'll be going into the dark soon. The 'other realm'. ...I'm going to die,_" he added simply, shifting in his seat. "_But before I do... Rishid, I need you to realize this... I need to tell you this, before it's too late alright?_" There was no answer of course; he'd hardly expected one. Even so, being able to at least say this before he was gone left him with a bit of relief.

So he continued._ "...Rishid..._" The blond sighed, bowing his head as he bit his lip._ "I disobeyed the law of my forefathers... And I did a terrible thing. Eternal darkness and eternal pain isn't nearly enough to punish me for what I've done._" For what he did to his family, for what he fooled himself into accusing an ancient spirit and king of... And for all the terror and destruction he wrought as a result.

The body that lay before him merely continued to breathe in response to the words, and so the spirit went on. "_...Rishid... When I went through the ritual of the tomb guardians you endured the same pain I did. You made a choice to live with me in darkness, sharing my sin and my destiny. But you don't have to anymore, understand,_" he whispered, gripping his arm tight and staring at the carvings his friend and brother had inflicted upon himself. No more... No more would he need...

"_I don't know where you're wandering right now,_" Malik whispered, eyes dimming._ "Whether you have been locked in darkness or if you only sleep, but know that there is no need for you to wake up to suffering anymore. When you wake up,_" he continued, somehow unable to choke or cry despite the flurry of emotions running through his mind, "_When you wake up, be it in life or in death there will be people waiting for you. So I want you... To head toward the light this time, not the shadows... Understand_," he asked. One minute left, his mind told him. One minute... He had to leave, but first just this last thought... These last words... "_Rishid... ...For all you've done for me,_" he wept. "_...Thank you..._" Three seconds. Two. One.

Zero.

And the pressuring feeling and the absence of a body struck him once more, leaving him as naught but a single closed eye floating in pain on the field of shadows with scraps of his limbs.

* * *

It was only with bitter satisfaction really, that he could smirk at the sight of the 'other Malik' being thrown across the field by Obelisk's fist. That he could watch the cloak he wore briefly conform over the demon's knuckles before catching its victim on the ground. The fact was, just seconds after the fist collided the feeling was ruined by another damn 'flash'.

As if his 'ability' wasn't already a pain in the ass, he thought with a growl- now it was making fun of him too. He'd already had a hell of a time with the 'summoning chants'; Anzu had thankfully been able to explain those away as another 'locked memory' or whatever, making her somehow more informed on his ability than _he_ was but... Either way, the words he spouted were gaining leery stares and wary glances.

Not that those lasted long. After all... In the end, what happened on the field took priority for the moment. And for the moment, what happened on the field wasn't involving screaming ghosts tearing flesh and bone from sacrificial souls, nor did it involve weak smiles and reassurances of safety and false calm. Malik...

He'd thought he heard him whisper something, before Obelisk's attack. But as the Egyptian was reduced to disembodied limb fragments and a single eye there was no way for him to tell, no visual sign and no way of hearing what he had said. Instead he found himself biting his tongue and watching as, for the second time thanks to precognitive pain in the ass abilities, a wall of reflective and mercuric slime rose around 'Malik' to form a cheap 'idol' copy of Obelisk.

To say that the God wasn't pleased by this would be an understatement needless to say. "**You... DARE,**" he hissed, literally shaking as he stood and towered above the copy with his face. The metalloid being seemed to merely turn upward, giving no other reaction than to stare as its 'original' shook with rage. "**You DARE to STEAL the face of the GODS!**"

"Gh..." If the 'other Yugi' had his own words he wasn't sharing them, but it was evident that he felt similarly ticked about the now arisen challenge. He didn't even know if his friend had heard Obelisk's words... But regardless of 'yes' or 'no', there was not much he could do. He'd made his attack; now he had a move to finish. "I set a card face down," he'd said in the end, the blank tablet coming up just past his head. "End turn!"

And now it was Malik's. And in four turns he thought to himself as numbers again filled his mind, they'd know exactly who won this match. No more... No less. "Mine then," their opponent hissed, chuckling under his breath at whatever unknown plan he had. "Yugi," he sneered, shifting cards around in his hand. "Have you noticed a trend in my deck so far," he 'asked', those watching merely glaring at the Egyptian with bitten tongues. "The theme of 'immortality' so prevalent in my cards? My deck has the power to bring God back time and time again until my enemy is defeated," 'Malik' announced as the storm continued to rumble ahead, "And the God Slime is no different! I now summon this," he shouted, tablet rising from the ground with the card. "Revival Jam, defense mode! Following that," the Egyptian continued, an aqueous glob of white 'water' seeming to stick along the edges of its summoned tablet, "I'll play a face down card, and end my turn!"

Yugi's turn. There was a look in his eyes that said he'd recognized this monster, along with its effects. 'Revival' was certainly accurate from what he could tell actually... But for now, there was no need to target the jam.

Or was there? "Shit," he muttered under his breath again, Otogi grinding his teeth from the side.

"_Please_ tell me," he said quietly, their friend summoning a monster to his defense before continuing his move, "You didn't just see _another _pitfall."

There was no answer, a snarling growl and Yugi's shout cutting him short as Obelisk pulled an enraged fist back. "**HHHHAAAAAAAHHHHH!**"

"ATTACK THE GOD SLIME," their friend roared. "_**GOD HAND CRUSH-**_"

"Reveal face down card," 'Malik' stated coolly. Obelisk's fist tore through the impostor before it, the tablet beneath the fist crumbling into dust. However... Rather than dissolve as it should, the ooze began to reform- globules of watery liquid gathered through the air, joining piece by piece and within seconds the duplicate face of Obelisk stood before them again. The formerly blank tablet beneath it crumbled into dust to join with the beast and as the 'God Slime' stretched and cracked its neck those watching stiffened and stared with baited breaths. "Polymerization!" Poly...

Fuck. "He fused the God Slime with the Revival Jam," Honda repeated incredulously, shaking his head. "That- How can he-"

"They're both slime monsters," Shizuka whispered, her own disbelieving smile cracking as she shook her head. "Of course he can fuse them! And with Revival Jam's ability that leaves him with... With..!"

The girl clutched the railing behind her, her brother finishing the sentence. "A r'generatin' steel wall," Katsuya hissed. "'Immortal God Slime'..!"

"EXACTLY," 'Malik' cackled, eyes briefly glancing over those in the crowd. Oh... So he'd heard him then? Good for him, Katsuya thought darkly. Good for fucking _him_. "KhuhuHAHAHAHA! An unstoppable force with an impenetrable defense... Good luck reaching me now 'King'," he taunted, wide eyes slowly narrowing in a calmer form of his mirth. "Though I suppose that in the end, it's still your turn..!"

"Gh... Not any more," his opponent growled bitterly. With little else to do after all, what other option did he have? He crossed his arms and jerked his head across the field in gesture, jaw clenched in obvious tension. "I end my turn; it's yours now..." Tch. Bastard...

Bastard..! "Fuck... Not good," Honda hissed, eyes glued to the field like everyone elses'. "So long as that thing's there Yugi's not even going to scratch this guy..."

"There has to be some other way," the teen beside him muttered, fist clenched to the point where Katsuya idly wondered if the die grasped in it would be crushed. A few seconds later and his mind told him it wasn't and that Otogi had just now slipped it into his pocket. "Someway," he repeated quietly. "_Some_way..."

Briefly the crowd looked toward Anzu, expressions filled with a desperate hope only for the woman to shake her head. "Malik... ...Our Malik," she continued, turning away awkwardly as she rubbed her head in focus. "He never came up with this strategy... The 'slimes' were only to be used in an 'Osiris' deck," she continued softly, "He never thought of an 'immortal God slime'..." No... No he didn't.

That one was all 'evil Malik' on that one. And even though Yugi had an entire head and chest on him in terms of survival, hands and feet hanging disembodied on the air, it was looking more and more like they were on death's door, waiting for it to open wide and swallow them whole. And now...

'Malik's grin, though unchanged, somehow seemed more haunting than it already was. Three turns left. He just hoped to hell the winner was the one they were rooting for. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Trying to think of a way out," the Egyptian hissed, shaking his head in amusement as his opponent seemed to bow his head in thought. "Don't bother Yugi... All you can do is wait for Darkness to consume you, there's no point in doing otherwise you know..! So are you ready now," he called out, grin widening. "I first play a card face down... And then summon Bowganian in defense mode," 'Malik' continued, the tablet rising from the ground to remain in its dormant state. "And so long as he's here I can whittle your life down bit by bit..." By 300 points, his mind corrected... 300 points each turn, in Yugi's end-phase.

_Turn end,_ he heard following that. He hadn't been paying much attention; from the side of the 'monster' that Yugi now fought, he'd thought he saw what was left of the real Malik move. That his eye, however small, had begun to open. And yet...

In the end it was just a trick of the light he told himself, and from across their opponent Yugi made his move. In the end, it was closed over, looking just as weak as it had from the start. "My turn," Yugi announced, drawing his next card. "I'll also play a card face down," the boy began, blank faced tablet rising up to his side immediately. The stone beside it began to rumble with the motion, and as its summoner switched cards the rumbling increased. "Next... I offer the Big Shield Guardna as sacrifice," Yugi cried, "And summon the Dark Magician Girl!"

The image on the defense monster's tablet washed completely clean as the sacrifice was made, smoke seeping into the air from its surface as it re-carved itself. Intricate runes and seals wove their way over the surface- the lines gleamed with light, and soon enough a young woman's shout pierced the air, the young mage pulling free of the stone with her staff in hand as she turned to give her summoner a polite nod. "_**Let's do this,**_" she shouted determinedly, pumping a fist into the air and taking a stance. Hah... Right..!

Though if Yugi had heard that, his only reaction had been to continue on as though nothing happened. Bowganian had to go if they wanted to keep their lifepoints intact after all. So with that in mind, the next course of action was only obvious. "Dark Magician Girl," Yugi ordered, the young woman spinning her staff in hand with a smirk. "Attack Bowganian!"

"_**Got it! BLACK BURNING,**_" she responded, staff pointed forward as the flames at the end appeared. "_**GO!**_" The fires blossomed forward and for a brief moment his grin had returned. As usual it seemed...

'Brief' didn't cut it, when precognition got involved. And as fires continued to blaze forward without any sign of stopping he had to wince. "Hnhnhnhnhn..." He hated being right. "Not so fast," 'Malik' countered, the blank tablet at his side crumbling into dust within moments. "REVEAL TRAP! JAM DEFENDER!" Katsuya and Anzu both ground their teeth at the shout, all others hissing as the God Slime brought a mighty fist down to block the attack.

"_**W-What...**_" The Dark Magician Girl tensed, backing away with wide eyes before growing red._** "Gh... Of all the cheap tricks..! You-**"_ Fires blasted back from the monster's fist, its attacker's shouts cut short with a scream._** "GHHAAAHH!**_" Covering the field completely the screams filled the air, and while the damage to the Magician's own form was minimal, the same could not be said for the others as burns began to appear across their bodies.

"GH-... Nghh..." The 'physical' one was resisting the urge to grab at his arms, the unprotected skin growing red with irritation.

"_GHHHAAAHHGGG... AAHHG..._" The original on the other hand was still biting his lip, and though the fires passed through him Katsuya could only take staring at half destroyed pieces of his friend's form so long.

Particularly when the shadows and screams had returned once more. "Aibou," the 'other' Yugi cried, turning upward as the fires died into smoke. What was left of his chest was being ripped to shreds before the eyes of those who could see, and though the boy did his best to scream it was taking all Katsuya had not to make himself sick from the sight. As his rips were literally snapped back into shadows, his organs shredded until there was nothing left... As the others, unaware of this sight, merely screamed for their friend to 'hang on'... ...Couldn't they see..?

That he was already proving himself so much stronger than them..! That his suffering, all his suffering would have killed anyone else in his place, that all of this was... Was...

The screams had now died down.

And the monster before them continued to laugh."Hnhnhnhnhahaha! Annoyed," Malik chuckled, narrowing his eyes as the ball of slime that was God's copy hurriedly began to repair from the implosion that had occurred upon impact with the Dark Magician Girl's flames. "I would imagine so," the 'monster' continued. "Caught in an endless cycle of death and re-growth... You can't possibly reach me after all," he sneered, again running his tongue along his teeth. "It's almost de-ja vu, isn't it? Just like our last match... The Jam Defender can't die, nor can my monsters... It looks to me as though your 'God' is the inferior one now..!"

Again the crowd and competitors tensed, Yugi and the Magician Girl even hazarding a look back toward Obelisk in response. His reaction... Was possibly more fearful than if he had shouted in rage. All he was doing was standing in the shadows of the realm, eyes narrowed to haunting slits as he crossed his arms and waited. Waited for when he would destroy the scum before him, for when he would receive his comeuppance...

This wasn't the end though. Not when the tablet at 'Malik's side now glowed with power, a smoking spiral appearing at its center with the sound of a cranking crossbow. "Done your turn," 'Malik' 'asked', laughter dying to the sound of hissing and clicking on the air. "Don't forget Bowganian's power now..." Gh-!

An arrow shot from the tablet across them, and with a start the stricken duelist clutched his chest. "GH-" The arrow vanished from sight... And somehow, Yugi remained on his feet. "Nggh... A-aaah..." Right through the lung- the arrow that had shot forward was a clean and precise hit with the hole visible to him from between his friend's fingers and though the wound had begun to repair already, it nonetheless left Yugi gasping for air as he stumbled.

"_O... Other me,_" the lighter one shouted, ignoring the fact that there was little more of him left than his head, hands and feet as screaming shades ripped and pulled at the remains of his body. "_Other me," _he cried out,_ "Are you-_"

"I'm fine," Yugi choked out, pulling himself upward with still rasping breaths. "I'm fine, I-"

"Bowing before your slayer now," their opponent sneered, his grin widening as he was faced with a rage filled stare. All faces continued to twist in rage as the Egyptian spoke, their opponent neither acknowledging or caring about the reaction."The Pharaoh, the Gods... It matters not who you are," 'Malik' cackled, "All things bow before ME... All things fear their DEATH, and I am the one who BRINGS IT! KHAHAHAHAHAHAHAA! HAHAHAHAHA! _**HAHAHAHA!**_"

"Gh... This monster..."

Katsuya shook where he stood, nodding as Anzu continued to hold her jacket close and mutter curses under her breath. Now that he thought about it... If anyone knew what kind of monster this guy was, it was probably the one who'd gotten a thick dose of Malik's own memories, scary as the thought was. Tch... This monster... "Bastard," the blond hissed, narrowing his eyes further. "There's only so much time left, an' with that slime there..." He froze, tensing as a sudden whisper came over the air. That sound... "...Hey... ...Anyone hear tha'," he muttered, turning to the others in confusion. That sound...

Someone was whispering. "Hear what," Otogi asked with a slight frown, the others more or less mirroring the expression. The group attempted to listen for something, before giving up and shrugging it off. "...It's probably just you," he decided. "You said the monsters spoke didn't you?"

Well... "Yea," he supposed, "But this isn'..." He shook his head, only for his frown to deepen as he looked back to the field. "It's jus' a whisper from nowhere, all faint an'-"

"...Malik," Anzu whispered, the others turning as her eyes grew dim. The woman looked up toward the field, grip on her jacket tightening as 'life' slowly came back into her words and eyes. "That voice," she choked out, shaking somewhat as tears began to develop in reaction to whatever it was she now heard. "...It... It's..."

Malik. "_Yu... Gi..._" Malik's eye was open, if only a little. And his voice was as soft as the wind, "_Y... Yu... Yugi..._"

"He's callin' for..." He was calling for Yugi but Yugi couldn't hear. All he could hear was- "Gh!"

Katsuya stumbled back as Anzu quickly pushed forward, coming near the arena with wide eyes as the winds whipped hair into and off her face. "Yu... Yugi," she shouted, the boy turning with a slight frown. "Yugi, I need you to listen..! What I'm about to say... These are Malik's words, alright," Anzu cried, looking up with a pained and despaired face. "Just listen... Alright?" Ah-

"Malik's words," Honda repeated, shaking himself as the woman continued to hold back tears. "Anzu, what-"

"_Don't hold back..._" The teen was cut off as Anzu bit her lip, before repeating the words with all the knowledge that they came from a dying man. "Don't... Don't hold back Yugi!" _"Crush him..._" "Crush this 'thing'... The 'evil heart' that we brought here," she continued, still shaking where she stood. "_Keep going..._" Keep going... But rather than repeating the words the woman bowed her head, tensing up completely. "I... … I..."

"Anzu," Otogi whispered, hesitantly reaching out toward the woman. "You said... 'We'," he said with an uneasy swallow. "Anzu... Are you al-" The teen was held back as Katsuya brought out an arm, the others falling silent and continuing to listen. Whether Anzu was completely there or not wasn't the issue... Right now...

She was crying. And for Anzu to cry, at least like this, was as rare as the sight of Yugi's rage. "We _swore_," she wept, holding her hand as memories that weren't hers played with her words and thoughts, "We swore after he died, after our father died, to avenge his death. By killing you... That was why the ghouls were formed, that was _why_ we chased you... But we didn't know," the woman choked, shaking her head as she attempted to clear it enough to set the memories and emotions straight. "Malik... He didn't know the truth, he didn't know what killed him... That this _THING_," she roared, turning on Malik's 'other half' with rage. "The thing that killed... That killed his father," Anzu forced out, slowly setting the memories in their proper place while her eyes took a feral tone. "That his murderer was sharing his body the entire time..!"

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." The 'monster's smirk widened in response to the snarls, arms crossed in mild amusement. "Oh... _Me_," the 'other' Malik chuckled in response. "Really... Your determination is impressive mister 'main personality'," the Egyptian chuckled, "But you should have realized this before your body became mine... You can take your guilt to the grave," he continued darkly, turning toward the scraps of his lighter self with a sneer. "I'm not going anywhere..."

"_That's what you think_," the shade hissed in response, somehow able to speak even with only the top left half of his head remaining. "_I'm going to take you with me... No matter what,"_ he snarled, eye widening with an unmatched fury._ "No matter what..! I..._"

"Malik," an additional voice whispered, Ishizu walking over from the side. Both the shard on the field and Anzu turned, the latter turning away with dull eyes as she again pushed foreign memories back to a separate place in her mind.

"...Ishizu," she said quietly, fingers digging into her arm as she turned further away. "...I'm... ...We're sorry... Above anything," she whispered as she shook her head, "Malik is..." A comforting hand was placed on the girl's shoulder, Ishizu shaking her head.

"It's alright," the woman told her, looking close to tears herself as her 'sister' turned. "Go on..."

Anzu nodded, swallowing back another wave of unease. "I... He wants to know... Why you never said anything," she forced out, shaking her head. "Why you didn't tell him who killed your father," she cried, "Why you didn't tell him that it was _him_... Ishizu," the woman continued, taking a deep breath. "You knew, didn't you? That this was ou-... That this was his fate," she corrected through her tears, "The family's fate... For Yugi and Malik to fight... The tauk told you didn't you? After you took it?"

"No... No," Ishizu shouted in protest. "That wasn't it at all! Malik..." She looked back to the field, before turning to Anzu and continuing. "Even if you were obsessed with revenge... Even if you wanted nothing more than to kill the one we were to protect," she whispered honestly, "I wanted you to live more than _anything_! That was the only fate I wanted for you, the only thing I want for you now, and-"

"_I'm not strong enough,_" Anzu wheezed, hands moving to her shoulders as she shuddered. "Okht... To keep that dark side away forever... It's impossible. He..." She tensed, shivering becoming an obvious shake while tears continued to stream down her face. "He says... He won't let it happen again," she wept, the voice that she heard little more than a faint whisper to Katsuya. "That he'll put an end to his entire existence... That... No matter what..."

"Malik... Malik no," Ishizu cried, turning to the field in horror and realization both. "No, you can't- MALIK!"

"YUGI," Anzu screamed, looking toward the boy with tearfilled eyes, face red with despair and fury both. "I know... I know you can defeat his dark side! This is... This is your final test, alright," she screamed. "So no matter what, for Malik's sake... I..."

"Nmnn-..! Malik..!" For his sake...

"_...Kill me._"

In the back of his mind... He thought someone woke up...

* * *

The fact that Anzu was crying was already enough to freeze him in his thoughts. More than enough in fact, to take the attentions of both himself and his lighter half, both of them watching as Ishizu held her head in grief, as Jonouchi and the others attempted to somehow help Anzu to stop her tears, to stop the final words Malik had left her.

The words that Malik's dark half was now spitting upon with laughter and taunts amid screaming shadows and roaring winds. "_You_," he laughed, "Defeat me?" He turned to the sacrifice at his side, still sneering as the shard returned the gaze. "Your wishes are _hopeless_... And the time before your death is feeling all too long for me! SO, Yugi," the Egyptian snarled. "Let's continue this duel! It's my turn after all..! So lets see what I've drawn..!" The card he'd drawn was already in his hands of course; it was his expression that had him on edge however, the grin that 'this' Malik could use to flawlessly hide his intent.

The moment the 'tablet' swung up into the air, that intent was well revealed, with the grin growing to again inhuman width. "Sffh-! That card..!"

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Recognize it," 'Malik' laughed, the card's face wiping clean as another was sent out from the Egyptian's grave. "Spell card 'Magical Stone Excavation'..! Bringing back the Monster Reborn," he continued, his opponent stiffening further. Monster Reborn... One turn left, Malik seemed to chuckle across from them, licking his lips in anticipation. One turn... And then it would be all over "Death's door is now before you," he chuckled, eyes widening further in their madness. The card was still in his hand, waved around in a constant taunt... "Take a good look," he cackled, "Soon enough you'll be pushed inside..! HNHNHAHAHAHAH!" Gh...

Death lay before them, and before the ones they wanted to save... And yet through all this his partner was still the one pushing forward. "_Other me,_" Yugi whispered, his darker half steeling his resolve. "_There has to be a way to save Malik... There has to be..!_" Of course... Of course there did!

And while there was a part of him that doubted this, the rest was being so reassured by his lighter half that he simply couldn't be bothered to acknowledge that doubt he held. This was his last chance, all or nothing. One last gamble... "Let's do this," he said under his breath, his partner nodding. One last turn...

One last turn, and if they screwed this up Hell's gates would open for them all. As long as the God Slime was there, they couldn't harm Malik. That, however, did not matter. The real Malik... 'Their' Malik...

They _would not let him die_..! No matter what! "Hnhnhnhnhn... I play a card face down," 'Malik' was stating from across from them, the hovering stone sending small trails of dust to the ground as it rose up from the field. "Following that I summon the swallowtail spike lizard 'Granadora' in defense mode," he sneered, the double mouthed being snarling from the crouched appearance it appeared within, "Giving me 1000 life points! END TURN!"

From across them, a small bit of Malik's arms had returned... The 'poison' that Granadora had released wrapped itself around 'Malik's dueldisk and with it the faint screams he'd heard around them grudgingly returned what they had stolen. That wasn't enough to wake him however, to shake him from the stupor that he had again fallen into. It wasn't nearly enough. "My... Turn," he grit out, shaking on the spot and willing himself to do no more than that lest he reveal more unease to his opponent. Those below were holding their breaths... They knew the risks, they knew that his attack would spell Malik's end... But there had to be another way. There had to be...

'_Why are you hesitating,_' he thought he heard someone whisper, the boy briefly looking up only for his partner to shake his head. It wasn't him... So then who...

Both pairs of eyes turned across the field, looking toward the single eye that Malik held. It was open. Wide open, with its iris turned directly toward them as it twitched and shivered in confusion. This... "..._Malik,_" Yugi questioned. Could he...

'_Why are you hesitating,_' the Egyptian whispered, both boys unable to respond as tears began to run down the disembodied cheek. '_I tried to kill you... I tried to kill your friends, and I almost succeeded,_' he cried, the eye again shaking as though a head were following._ 'No matter what I've done since then... What I did in that other world... Nothing can make up for what I did to you! So how... Why..! WHY ARE YOU HESITATING,_' he screamed faintly, eye squeezing shut as he cried. '_Why..?_'

Why? Because he wasn't their enemy he wanted to shout out, only to find his tongue unable to move to do so. Because despite what he thought, he'd made it clear just what side he was on, and they wouldn't force him to lose the chance to build that slim trust developing. Not any more. Not now...

But how did they save someone tied to the one they had to kill, no matter what? How... "_...Good question,_" Yugi muttered, biting his lip as he gleaned the question from his partner's thoughts. "_If we attack there won't even be an 'eye-' Ah!_" ...Ah? The boy turned, his partner looking down with a set and determined frown. "_Other me,_" he began, swallowing back growing unease once more as he spoke._ "Maybe there is a way..! Listen... When 'Dark Malik' uses Ra's third ability... When he sacrifices all of his lifepoints to Ra,"_ he continued,_ "He merges with it doesn't he?_" Ah... That was right, but what did that have to do with- "_Even 'God' is a monster in a battle like this,_" Yugi continued, turning back to face their opponent._ "Which means that for a moment, 'Dark Malik' becomes a monster doesn't he? And if he can use something like 'de-fusion' on himself... Then what else might work against him?_" Ah..? Spells and traps? Well... Besides that...

The other Yugi slowly turned back to the arena, realization dawning upon him as he stared across the field. There would be one life point left once 'Malik' formed his 'One Turn Kill'. Just one; but if 'Dark Malik' was destroyed and sent to the grave with Ra... And 'their' Malik was left in his place... "That's it," he muttered under his breath, drawing his card. "That's it..!" There was still a way..! There was still a chance to win, still a chance to save him..! "Aibou... Thank you," he called out, glancing at his card only briefly as he set it on the duel disk. "We won't fail in this battle..! I set a card face down," the boy announced, tablet hovering in place with the familiar carving of what he knew he'd set. "Next, I summon Gazelle, King of the Mythical beasts in defense mode," he called out amid the summoned monster's growl, "And end my-"

"AH-AH-AHHH..." The creaking sound of a loading crossbow took his attention, Yugi stiffening as their opponent again caught his attention. Gh... Shit! "Not so fast," 'Malik' sneered, a wide grin across his face. "Did you forget what this one does on your turn end?" Well...

Almost, he liked to think. That wouldn't spare him though.

"BOWGANIAN," his opponent roared, the tablet before them glowing fiercely as the one-eyed crossbow warrior took aim with his gun. "RELEASE THE BOLT!"

-_ff-t-_

"NGH- GH-HHAAAH!" The steel arrow struck exactly where it had the time before, with his hand reaching for where the bolt would sit as it faded into dust. Beside his heart, and through his left lung, leaving him to grab at a briefly bleeding wound in pain. The sensation however was thrown off quite quickly, when he remembered what would come next. "N... Aibou," he whispered, turning to the side with wide eyes. The shadows were eating at him again... And far off in the distance he could hear wailing and wordless screams, the wisps of darkness seeming to develop claws as they attacked. "A-AIBOU..!"

"_Gh... Don't worry about me, 'Other Me,'_" his partner whispered, forcing a brave smile on his face even as fragments of it were destroyed. His right eye was gone, seemingly pulled out from existence by a great and monstrous hand. His body now was gone save his hands and feet... Along with disembodied shards of his hair, of his cheek, of everything... Nonetheless, he continued to hold the smile. _"You can do it,_" he forced out, the honest words somewhat marred by his own pain._ "...Other Me... Defeat Malik's evil half... Alright..?" _His eyes were closing over now... He'd spent too much energy, and even before the game ended he was close to the end. No.._._

No... "Aibou..." Don't close those eyes, he wanted to shout. Don't close them... Don't..! "AIBOU, DON'T GO," he cried, almost backing away in horror. There was no answer save for the shadowed wind blowing through his partner's hair, the boy's eye closed in 'slumber'. No... NO..! "Hang in there," he choked, shaking his head. "Hang in there, partner... I won't let you die..!" Nor would he let Malik die, he told himself. Nor would Malik...

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Almost gone," his opponent sneered, knuckles cracking as he drew his next card. "And this is it now..! This is my _last turn_, along with your DEATH... The Darkness is my ally until the very end," he howled, teeth bared with all the ferocity of a monster. "And with this card I'll crush you for sure! Are you ready," 'Malik' 'asked', his opponent swallowing as the sound of his heart-beat came through his ears. "With one single sweep of Ra's wings I'll FINISH YOU! REVEAL FACE DOWN CARD," he began as smoke slowly swam across the air. "MONSTER REBORN... SUMMONING THE IMMORTAL PHOENIX, THE GOD OF THE SUN... RA," he commanded, fires erupting from the very ground as Ra again appeared before them in the sky. The flames rose skyward... Shifting changing, forming wings and claws, narrowed eyes and a toothed beak... "BURN HIS GOD TO ASHES," Malik roared, howling with laughter. "HAHAHAHA**HAAAAAAAHH**!" God... The God phoenix now rose before him and as it sent out a piercing cry of rage the God behind him clenched his fists in preperation.

"**The FINAL CHALLENGE is now HERE,**" Obelisk snarled, bracing himself as Ra wordlessly made his attack. "**Are you READY, LITTLE KING?**" Ready?

What choice did he have? Nonetheless, he nodded. "I am," he answered, those at the sides not bothering to question whom he currently spoke to. "FACE DOWN REVEAL," the boy announced, ignoring cries of futility and uselessness from the 'monster' across him. The storm above grew more in ferocity... Red hot fires seared behind him, yet rather than the blue-armored God, Ra's flames instead struck red scales and blackened claws, a double jawed mouth opening to snarl threateningly at the god before it. "Recognize THIS card," he roared, his opponent's expression falling like a stone at the sight before him. "THE MONSTER REBORN... Bringing back Osiris in defense mode, and taking your attack..! I might have lost him as a result," the boy continued lowly, ashen remains of God again falling to the ground following pained snarls while the dying fires faded to smoke, "But with the sacrifice of God's 'shield' I still have my sword... Ra returns to the grave now," he continued, eyes wide with rage to match Ra's spitting growls. "So what now?"

"What now," 'Malik' repeated, laughter grating the air as the fires sank back into his graveyard. The laughter grew harsher as his grin took an even more maddening tone despite the assumed impossibility. "Why... I'm going to use this card... And I'm going to kill you," he told him, twirling the slip of card about in his fingers. Hah...

Of course. Sweat ran down the side of his face, Yugi swallowing as he forced himself not to react. Malik's battle phase was over... Ordinarily he'd be telling himself he was in the clear, that there was nothing else to worry about, but if he had _one card,_ just one...

"So _sorry_ Yugi," Malik sneered, setting the card on the field as a wave of darkness furled behind the Egyptian. "But my turn isn't quite over yet... I play one last spell," he continued sinisterly, "_Surprise attack from the darkness_..! And with THAT," he laughed, eyes widening further, "I BEGIN THE SECOND BATTLE PHASE... GREAT AND POWERFUL GOD RA, _ARISE_," 'Malk' roared, the action mirrored by the yet unseen God as golden flames began to break through the shadows before them. "_Great God of all he travels,_" he chanted, the golden sphere that was 'Ra' seeming to roll into the air before them as it took the form of the sun,_ "Who creates all he sees, whose eye is the warrior Sehkmet, whose knowledge is unsurpassed, who sails on the evening barge of a million years, who is accompanied by Command, Perception, and Magic,_" the Egyptian continued, arms outspread as they began to mist and smoke into the air with the fires around him. The wings of Ra had begun to click and unfold from the 'sun', claws extending forward and flaming red eyes opening to an almost glassy appearance._ "Whose Father is Nun, who passes life and death each day... Who battles with the dark serpent along side the God of Storms,_" he 'commanded, legs already vanished from sight as he continued to stare at his victims insanely, "_I ask of you, the Great God Ra, that you come to my aid and take my power... That you take my life, all that I have and use it to empower your own... TO FUEL YOUR FLAMES,_" he roared with the last of his being, the enormous griffin already standing behind the tower with a flaming mouth._ "TO COAT YOUR ENEMY COMPLETELY IN YOUR WRATH..._"

"_**AND SO WE SHALL,**" _they chorused, Ra's beak breaking open with a loud and piercing eagle's cry as the final joints of wings and limbs unfolded. "**DO YOU SEE,**" 'Malik' roared from atop Ra's brow, the dragon's eyes shadowed by a black film as he laughed. "**I have become ONE with GOD,**" he howled. The Egyptian's body seemed to smoke with the same flames as the being he merged with, his cloak furling in smoke and fire both as he laughed. "**NOTHING WILL STOP ME NOW,**" he roared, voice thundering with all the force of the very storm around them. "**NOTHING! HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAA!**" A single eye was all that remained on the field of the 'monster's original form, and in a similar fashion it was all that remained of Malik's true half. It was now or never he told himself.

Now or never, his partner was shouting, now or never, the others were shouting in the backs of their minds. Either now, or never again would they live to see the sun rise without the aid of this great golden being. Ra was merged with 'Malik'. For this moment and this moment only, it would be the dark side that was vulnerable to attack rather than the 'light'. So with that in mind...!

With that in mind..!

Eyes wide with madness looked down from above, 'Malik's smoking form grinning hysterically as he cackled. "**Yugi... Once I sacrifice all these monsters Ra's attack power will rise to 6899,**" he taunted, arms folded over as he sneered at his 'victim'. **"A power FAR beyond YOUR God... BRACE YOURSELF,**" he warned, preparing to strike as Ra did the same.** "FOR THIS IS THE END..!**"

Hn! "We'll see about that," he countered, crossing his arms as the enormous form of 'God' towered above him.

"**Gh... WHAT,**" the self-proclaimed God roared, Yugi's smirk growing wider.

Hehehehehe... "I've been waiting for this," he said simply, tapping the side of the duel disk as he spoke. "For the moment your evil 'heart' manifests in the form of a beast, rendering it vulnerable to MY attack... ACTIVATE FACE DOWN CARD," the boy announced, tablet swinging upward as it crumbled into dust. As the sands flung forward, kicking up a whirlwind storm in their wake. "SOUL TAKER!"

"**Sou- You... YOU PLAN ON SACRIFICING ME,**" 'Malik' snarled incredulously, pulling back in apparent fear as he shook his head. "**YOU PLAN TO KILL **_**ME**_**, ALONG WITH RA,**" he thundered, the shadows themselves converging around him in his rage. Heh.

Of course not. Not _yet_. "Spells and traps work only one turn against Gods," he stated plainly, one target already in mind and already being sucked away into the raging winds as they moved forward. "You should know exactly what I'm targeting..!" And if not then it would only be his fear that clouded his judgement- To sacrifice 'Ra' would be insane after all, he already knew that much! And for that reason, even as the winged God beat the air and shadows with its wings, even as they clouded the monster from sight, the cyclone seemingly pulling it upward...

Cheers were coming from all sides, but the fact was he wasn't aiming for Ra. So while 1000 life points were being added to Malik's own and to his growing attack power as a result, he had to smirk. "**Sacrifice ME,**" 'Malik' taunted, 'storming' forward as he broke free of the vortex that had been pulling all on the field upward. Rage filled Ra's eyes and the Egyptian continued to cackle, arms outstretched in his apparent superiority. "**Fool... FOOL,**" he roared, thunder clapping with the words.** "That card is NOTHING compared to ME! HAHAHAHHAHA!**" Lightning continued to strike the tower with each laugh, and those at the side bit their lips as 'Malik' continued his attack.** "NOW,**" he thundered,** "Prepare yourself for the KNIFE, YUGI! KnhnHAHAHAHAHA-!**"

"Heh!" Silence suddenly came over the air, the only other sound being that of the storm and his own voice. "Who said I ever intended to attack _you_," he stated clearly, the laughter cutting short. 'Malik' looked down upon the comparatively miniscule duelist and the boy continued, smirk growing wider. "Sacrifice God," Yugi 'asked'. "There was no telling me that would work..! Take a look at your monsters," he continued, eyes narrowing with a feeling of mirth he'd been unable to experience through most of the duel. "Is someone _missing._.?"

"**Missi-**"

'_God slime,_' someone at the side of the field whispered, the remaining drops of slime pulled from a now vanishing vortex of sand before a roar of cheers broke through the air. '_The God Slime is GONE,_' they roared,_ 'It's..!_'

"Hehehehehe... With one card," Yugi chuckled, "I lay claim to the two monsters making it... Revival Jam and Reflect Slime both..!" At those very words the globs of slime that had been ripped from the sands split in two, each shooting toward the God behind him. The 'Jam' toward the left, ghostly face twisted in fear- and the slime to the right, with nothing but a reflection to show its evident horror. "You can thank your own cards for the 'visual effect' of apparently sacrificing _you_," Yugi continued, watching shock continued to develop over his opponent's face, "But I'll be sacrificing these two to activate Obelisk's greatest ability," he thundered, the God behind him cracking his knuckles as he took the two slime-beings in his grip.

"**Hn..! Face your PUNISHMENT, 'young ones',**" Obelisk hissed from behind, crushing the two monsters as they both writhed in fear. The ooze squeezed out between his fingers, seeping between the armor with a slight wail as he pulled both fists back for the final strike. "**SOUL ENERGY MAX,**" he announced, 'eyes' wide as he gathered his power.** "THIS IS THE FINAL STRIKE..!**" Indeed..!

"Prepare yourself, you who would dare to call yourself 'MALIK'... These are YOUR last moments on earth! AN ATTACK OF INFINITE POWER," he snarled, pointing the God forward with a shout. "NOW! _**GOD HAND IMPACT..!**_"

"**RRRRR-OOOOOOOOHHHHHH-!**"

"**NOT SO FAST,**" 'Malik' snarled, the God he'd taken control of bathing itself in flames as the fist rushed forward. "**I sacrifice my MONSTERS, BOWGANIAN and GRANDORA first,**" the demon announced, each one vanishing into pillars of flame to join with the dragon's body. He now held an attack power of '4899' then, he thought to himself. But...

Why would he bother? "It doesn't matter," Honda snarled from the side, initially joined by Jonouchi before the blond abruptly paled and fell silent. "Obelisk has infinite power," the teen shouted, "That's nothing compared to it!" And yet Jonouchi looked as though it was exactly the opposite...

"**Oh **_**REALLY,**_**" **the Egyptian chuckled, still grinning as clawed hands rose with his own to take Obelisk's fist in their grip. "**We'll SEE about THAT... Aaaaaa... **_**HRAAHHH!**_"

"**GH-**"

-_**crack**_-

No... "Impossible," Yugi whispered, watching as Ra pulled at the fist he now gripped in his hand. As blood poured to the ground in a single torrential downpour, 'Obelisk' giving a loud and howling cry as his hand was _torn_ from the wrist, as he was forced to pull it back and actually moan in agonized pain... "Impossible..!"

"**Hnhnhnhnhn... Even GODS know their BETTERS,**" the demon above them sneered. "**And of all THREE Gods, RA is highest in RANK... The powers of SUTEKH, and of the OBELISK are USELESS against ME! So TRY AGAIN,**" he howled, the 'dragon' pulling back to develop a blast of flames in its mouth to counter. "**The ATTACK CONTINUES... And this time you can DIE, you pathetic, dried MUMMY! GOD BLAZE CANNON,**" 'Malik' snarled, eyes growing still wider. "**I **_**WIN**_**..!**_**" **_Shit...

Shit... Shit! Not yet! This was his fight now wasn't it..? His challenge?

Then he would not fail- and as the 'Gods' had said, he would face it without their aid! "Face down reveal," Yugi hurriedly countered, the tablet swinging up even as Obelisk attempted to shield him from Ra's flames with the bleeding stump that was his wrist. "DIMENSION MAGIC! I sacrifice two monsters... Gazelle," he began, the horned lion crumbling into sand in an instant as a cage of sorts appeared before them, "And Obelisk..!" And now...

"**You have done WELL, LITTLE KING,**" Obelisk moaned, slowly collapsing into dust and sand as Ra's flames faded with him. His melting face looked down upon the boy as he briefly turned his head upward, the dust flying forward to form what his trap had summoned forth. "**For the FINAL step... I leave your CHALLENGE to YOU,**" he whispered, before finally falling completely to the ground and shadows.

The final step... Alright then he told himself, biting his lip. Smoke filled the air around them now... Above him he doubted even Ra and 'Malik' would be able to see him, let along the coffin-like device that now hung suspended in the 'cage'. "**What was the POINT,**" 'Malik' taunted, shaking his head, voice somewhat faded amid the smoke that surrounded him now. "**What was the POINT, if it means your last GOD is DEAD?**"

"No one said that I needed _GODS_ to win this fight," he countered, narrowing his eyes. "I have my friends... Trusted partners who fight alongside me through all my duels, all my matches..." Friends that would help him win this challenge now, rather than relying upon divine intervention. "Take a look now," he continued, the Dark Magician Girl floating through the hole in the coffin as its magic activated in full. "Standing alongside each other, the highest level Magician and his apprentice..! I summon the Dark Magician," Yugi announced, the sides splitting open as their former prisoner stepped through. And looking at him now as the coffin crumbled to dust in his wake...

"_**We will not fail you,**_" the Magician said curtly, taking a calm and confident battle stance before turning a narrowed glare to their opponents. "_**Trust me, my king. We will ****not**** fail.**_" Indeed...

And though he couldn't say he knew how this monster saw him as king, as cheers continued to fill the air around him so did his own voice. "The tables have now turned," he snarled, looking up at the 'god' staring them down. "When the master and apprentice join arms they can destroy any one monster... And there's only ONE monster before me right now, _'MALIK_'... SO-!"

So why was 'Malik' _laughing_ again?

"**Gh... Hnhnhnhn... HnhnHAHAHA!**" Why... Why..? "**You can't POSSIBLY think... To kill US,**" the monster 'laughed', seeming almost panicked from where he stood upon his golden 'throne'. "**If you do this... There's only ONE life point remaining! You'll KILL him,**" he cackled, shaking his head. "**You'll leave him in such a BROKEN state that I will take CONTROL **_**FOREVER**_**..! And do you think I'm LYING,**" 'Malik continued, eyes widening further as he caught the fear filled reaction he received in response. Those below traded confused looks at the suggestion, and in horror their eyes were soon drawn back. "**Do you THINK it's worth the RISK? Hnhnhn... Hnhnhnhnhn... HAHAHAHAHAAAA! TRY IT,**" he taunted through his laughs, "**I DARE you..! HAHAHAHAHA!**" Gh..

No... No..! "_Malik,_" his other half whispered, shaking what was left of his head. With one point left... Did that really mean there wouldn't be enough of him there..? "_No,_" Yugi repeated,_ "We can't do this..._" The boy forced back a panicked cry biting his lip and again attempting to think of a plan. "_He doesn't have enough will left to hold on,_" he whispered hopelessly,_ "We need another plan..! We need... We need-_"

"MALIK," a single, pained voice roared, the shard of eye that hovered before them opening in shock. They'd almost forgotten that the real Malik was right there before them... But then again, in a similar manner they'd almost forgotten about the one shouting just now. All eyes turned to the stair-well entrance, the source of the voice stumbling forward with rasping breaths. "Hah... hah... MALIK," he repeated, the eye turning toward the voice, Yugi growing stiff as the last of the smoke cleared from the field. This person...

"Rishid," Ishizu shouted, hesitating as she watched the man stumble yet again. "R... Rishid..!"

He was alive. "Hah... Hahhh..." He was alive, unharmed, and he'd come...

He'd come, for his 'brother'. "**Keh... So YOU'RE still alive,**" 'Malik' sneered, arms crossed from where he stood in flames atop Ra's head. "**You probably came here the moment you WOKE UP too,**" he chuckled, only for his smirk to die into a snarling scowl. "**Too late though,**" he hissed. "**I'm FAR too strong for you to push ME away... My weak side is even more fragile than BEFORE,"** the 'monster' went on,** "He doesn't even have strength to SPEAK... Nor the strength to even LIVE... Your VILE carving won't save HIS sorry hide... You're just wasting your time... Hnhnhnhnhn...**"

Rishid merely continued to stare in silence at those words, attempting to catch his breath while the wind scratched at his face. It was strange... Though most eyes were drawn to the field, where Malik's body stood, Rishid's gaze was turned directly toward the 'eye' that remained of his good half. And though the shard turned away, likely out of fear and possibly embarrassment and guilt, the Egyptian spoke to it. "Malik," he called out clearly, wind blowing the single lock of hair he had back in the air. "The cruel fate of the tomb guardians... This fate is what brought tragedy upon us, brought the hate and resentment which formed this evil heart within you... And you're about to throw yourself into darkness... And into despair," he continued, the darker half of the ghost narrowing his eyes from above. And the words sounded almost accusing with that tone, pitied and confused.

Enough that the darkness above them even felt threatened somehow. "**Shut up,**" he hissed coldly, only for Rishid to continue on. "**Shut...**"

"Malik," he called out, raising his voice. His fists clenched and he stood up straighter, renewing his strength to speak- "No matter what, you MUST KEEP LIVING," Rishid cried. "UNDERSTAND?"

"**Shut UP,**" 'Malik' countered, "**SHUT UP..!**"

"Even if your path leads into DARKNESS," the Egyptian shouted. "Even then... That is not just the fate of tomb guardians," he announced, "It is the fate of ALL humans..!"

"**Nngggh... SHUT UP,**" 'Malik' thundered, face seeming to stretch and rage as the Egyptian gripped and clawed at the hole formed by his missing 'one life point'. "**SHUT UP, SHUT UP!**" What...

"_What's going on,_" Yugi whispered, shaking his head. The 'God' was even flailing with its master's pain... Clawing at its skull, beating its wings against the air... "_He's acting strange... What's going on..?_" Malik...

The other Yugi frowned, eyes shifting from 'Malik', to the eye, to Rishid, back to Malik... "He's fighting," he found himself muttering, eyes widening as the eye he saw now appeared to look to his brother with renewed strength. "He's fighting, he-"

"MALIK," Rishid cried out, "It's not through death that people enter Light... There is only Light in LIFE... The trick to finding it," he continued, holding out a hand as though waiting for his brother and friend to shout with him,. "The secret to reaching that light.."

'_Is pushing past the darkness first,_' they thought they heard someone 'whisper'. And all at once an earsplitting cry filled the air, Malik's body jerking violently and pulling at his hair. "**HHRAAAAAAAAHHHH! URAAAAAAAHHHHHH! HOW,**" he wailed, unable to even touch his right eye as he shuddered and screamed, the patch seemingly filling in with light. "**HOW CAN YOU- GLK- **_**RHHAAAAAAAAHHHHH!**_"

"YUGI," the real Malik called out, his single eye looking forward from the body that had formed atop Ra. The boy's both stared with horror as complete calm washed over the right side of 'Malik's face, the real one staring out at them with adamant determination. "STRIKE ME DOWN, NOW!" That...

'_Malik,_' those at the side shouted in shock, despite the inability to see. '_Malik, it's the 'real' one..! It's-_'

"**Stop that,**" 'Malik' begged, pulling at his skin as he wept. His nails were becoming bloodied, and identical scrapes were appearing on Ra's face as they pulled and pulled and pulled... "**Stop that, STOP THAT STOP THAT.. YOU CAN'T..!**"

"This is where I get my answer," Malik continued to bite out, again cutting his darker half off in his shouts as the clawing briefly froze. "Am I evil? ...Am I a monster..? This is the moment of truth," he cried out, tears still falling from that single eye as Yugi stared. "GIVE ME YOUR ANSWER, YUGI..!"

A monster..? Evil..?

Well he was neither of course, but simply saying that just wouldn't cut it now would it? "Alright," he answered, nodding his head. He would put all his faith in him then. In that one point of life... "HERE I GO MALIK," Yugi announced, pointing a hand forward as both magicians beside him did the same. "Dark Magicians combine your power... AND ATTACK," he roared, runes and black flames growing from the tips of both staves as 'Malik' continued to scream. The fires spread, and grew in one single black sphere, before four voices came through the air in unison-

"_**BLACK BURNING MAGIC..!**_"

And in the resulting crossfire of flames and thunder, of shadows and light nothing but thick smoke filled the air. 'Malik's form vanished from the top of Ra's being, and just briefly as he looked upward he could see its eyes regain the glow they had lost in battle... The fearfilled expression 'Malik' held was lost to fires and the shadows were encompassed completely in a drowning white light from the 'sun'.

"**You have done WELL, young KING,**" Ra cheered, wings spread wide as they bathed the arena in a warm and healing glow to contrast formerly rage filled flames. "**Let the SHADOWS return from whence they CAME,**" he continued, the darkness and the screams doing just that as his partner took a sudden intake of breath with repaired lungs, "**And let FATE decide the REST... You have EARNED my POWER,**" he said clearly, bowing his head in respect. **"But for NOW...**

_**Rest, young Pharaoh, for this is only the BEGINNING...**_" The beginning?

And in the blink of an eye, all sound was returned to the field.

"_GHHHRAAAAAAAAAAHHHH! !_"

Screams were filling the air, as much as black flames and shadowed smoke.

"Malik..!"

Those at the side were calling out in worry, worry for the 'real' Malik, worry for what would happen if they failed.

"MALIK!"

Those that weren't screaming were shouting in shock, be it in response to the teen taking control at the last moment to assure them of his own fate or in response to the attack's violent explosion now filling the air with dust.

"_RHHAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH!"_

And still the screams continued. And still they filled the air. Until finally... While their vision was blurred by smoke, a single shadow began to stand. And as those on the side stared there was only one thing they could think and pray for. That the attack succeeded... That the battle was over... And that the one standing there...

* * *

Was Malik. 'Their' Malik. The 'good' Malik. The _real _Malik. And as the others shouted toward the field, Katsuya could do nothing but grin, the expression slowly coming over his face as the answer came to mind. Sometimes...

It was nice to get spoilers, if only sometimes. The smoke was clearing from the field just now, along with the shadows of the game and the bonds that held Yugi in place. His body had returned, gaps of flesh and bone filling in despite the lack of lifepoints... And breathing haggardly as he struggled to stand it was none other than 'their Malik' that looked forward with a weak and fatigued expression, hair matted where it fell down over his shoulders and on the cloak he wore. The battle was 'won'. Even with one life point left after all...

This was the 'last turn'. They'd won. "Hah... Hah..."

"Is his dark side gone," Honda was asking, those beside him waiting with baited breath. "Is it... Him..?"

Yes. It was. Not that he was saying anything for the moment, Katsuya thought with a grin, the others soon enough finding out themselves as the Egyptian before them stood. He was too busy looking at the 'other' Malik's face. Well...

His 'piece' of face at least. Ra didn't have time to heal the damned after all. "Yugi," Malik said clearly, pulling the cloak from his shoulders and tossing it to the side where it blew off in the wind. "Our duel isn't over yet... I still have one point left," he continued almost blankly, bringing his hand back to his side. That was right, he thought plainly. Just one point...

And didn't the 'other' Malik look a little surprised about that. "_Wh... What is this,_" he hissed, eye widening and turning down toward his former 'sacrifice' in rage. "_How did you... What did he DO, how did I become..-"_ Ragged breathing met the air and the eye continued to shake, his former 'host' ignoring him. "_Master... Master, listen to me, listen,"_ he begged, Katsuya raising an eyebrow at the tone. At the sickeningly sweet tone, the begging the-

This voice...

This was the same damn voice the Millennium Rod had adopted as its own, like how the Tauk sounded like Ishizu, and how the Eye had held the same tones as Pegasus. He'd been listening to the 'other Malik's voice the entire time. Son of a...

"_Master,_" the other Malik cried out, still begging and crying as his end drew nearer. "_We... We're the same right,_" he asked, quaking in his fear._ "You and I, we're the same! I've... I've always thought of us as friends you know, just... Sharing the same body! You can be the main personality again,_" he cried, crazed laughter ringing through the air as a small flame with an eye moved to sit on Malik's shoulder. "_If we have one life point, there's always a chance we can win right? Right!_" It was pathetic, Katsuya thought to himself. Absolutely pathetic...

They'd been afraid of this thing?

The tooth-covered eye seemed to roll in the fires it sat within, before turning away from its former 'vocal sibling' in disgust."**Pffffft. As if,**" the flame on Malik's shoulder snorted, Katsuya idly noting the change in voice that the Rod's form had taken. "**You can deal with it yourself, this is your problem now- My time is over,**" it continued, sounding decidedly calmer now that it sounded like the 'real' Malik.

The 'other Malik' seemed to tense with rage at the continued ignorance to his 'existence', shaking and quivering as his time continued to come closer and closer to its end. "_You... KILL HIM,_" he screamed pathetically, continuing to wail as he faded a little more. "_It was because of him that you wasted your life in a dark cave! Get REVENGE,_" he demanded bitterly,_ "For yourself, for your ancestors..! YOU-_"

"Hn. I created you," Malik stated coldly, not even bothering to spare his darker half a glance. Though the words were in none other than the ancient Egyptian language Katsuya could hear them clearly, even as they resulted in confused stares from most of the others. "The dark side created by my hate and my suffering... You can't control me any more; understand," he ordered, the eye in the air continuing to widen in shock.

"_W... WHAT..!_"

"You heard me," he continued, still not looking back. "I'm going to destroy you, with my own hands."

"_You... … You LIE,_" the shade screamed, the remains of his face contorting with rage. He was still smoking away, stretching from himself as though trying anything to break free of its bonds. "_You LIE! YOU LIE! You'd simply kill us both,_" he screeched,_ "You.. YOU..!_"

"I won't die," Malik countered flatly. "The crimes I've committed will never be forgiven... But I will live," he continued, straightening himself and switching to the Japanese language as those across from him stared. "I will live," Malik told both them and his other 'half', "Bearing my guilt like the carvings on my back... Until the day that I find that light. So... Yugi," he called out, his opponent blinking. "No... Spirit of the Nameless Pharaoh," he shouted, expression calm. "Our duel is done. You have my thanks for saving me," he continued, the shard of darkness at his side still twitching and muttering pitifully under its breath. '_No,_' the shard was screaming. '_No you can't, you're not, don't..! Don't..!_' "Thank you."

_DON'T!_

_'I forfeit._'

With a single hand, the disk was clicked off. Lifepoints dropped to zero and a faded scream hit the air, nothing but dust streaking from the edges of the eye in the air. "Begone, my dark self," Malik said stonily, never raising his voice as he held a hand over his deck. "I renounce you... My body is mine to control... And mine alone!"

'_No... NO, I-_'

"**Bye-bye,~**" the Millennium Rod chuckled.

'_GGHHRAAAAAAAAAA... GHHHAAHHHH..!' _Screams...

Screams... And then...

…

Wind.

The shadows cleared above, and before anyone could react there was only the sound of wind...

And soon after, one single shout pierced the air. '_The Battle City Finals are now OVER,_' Isono announced, his voice seemingly shattering a series of chains that had hung over the crowd atop the tower. '_The winner is... MUTOU YUGI..!_'

As to what any one said next, that was anyone's guess really; it was hard to hear after all, when over half a dozen people were shouting cheers through the air. But regardless of what happened, it didn't matter any more.

The battle was over. And all that was left now...

Was to pick up the pieces left behind.

* * *

**AN: **It's almost OVER! Well, this arc at least. But WUOOAAAAAHHH! Intense duel..! And the last one for... Well, a _short_ bit. Can't say a 'while' compared to the fanfic's standard, but it won't be for a few chapters. The next arc comes rather quickly after all, though after that it's _allll_ fun stuff and breaks from dueling! Not quite the super chapter I expected, but that's again... Malik's dialogue.

He just does _not_ shut up, both of them!

This chapter as a whole was... Very hard to type, to say the least. Deciding who would have revealed thoughts during the duel, deciding how to deal with Malik's lines... I knew what Anzu would do after all, but I never _never_ expected it to end up so emotional.

In the end however, I rather like how much emotion went into it. It reflects how desperate the situation really is; the fact is, the duel is all or nothing, 'now or never', and there was a _lot_ of stress and danger in that match. To write it like 'any other duel'... Well.

I don't think that would be possible!

In other news, Contest is still taking entries guys! Create a new summary, in 255 characters or less, for the fanfic! So far we have three entrants, but four entries; that's right guys! One of the contestants has _two_ entries. However, to keep the playing field balanced, I'm making sure all of you know that multiple entries is acceptable. Lord knows I can never quite decide on what to pick for these things..!. Entries will be accepted until **July 1st**, so keep them coming!

Music notes below as usual, but no art today... I'm actually rushing to create a portfolio at the moment, and sadly, sketch sheets and flat colour fan-art references just don't cut it for that.

If enough people ask, I might link you the 'makeshift portfolio' when it's complete though.

Moving along now..!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

You guys are all amazing, you know that?

As a matter of fact Taffy yes, yes it is. And sorry about not coming online lately..! Lots of stuff going on, mostly the portfolio issue...

I'll come on! ..Eventually. And hang on, I thought you were on chapter ten or something...

Hey there Imadork! Glad you liked the chapter! And you know me... Explanations are good, but I can never give away all the details at once. As for the next chapter, here you go..! More importantly, I've got your summary entry ready and saved on this computer!

Enjoy the chapter!

Hey there MaggieMay! If you thought THAT was intense, check out this one..! And the NEXT one for that matter; the finale of an arc is always a roller coaster of fun and note taking I'll have you know.

Not really sure how we can get this hug in without it ending badly, but I'm sure we can find... _Some_ way... Hehehehehe... (Not too soon though, otherwise it really WILL end like you predicted.) She really does need a life ring or something for the moment though.

Any ways, I've got your entries carefully logged away in a file, and until then, keep your creativity flowing, that fae idea sounds interesting!

Have fun with the chapter now~

Does the above count as 'cursing' Iona?

Glad the chapter was entertaining! Writing Kaiba in these situations is difficult, but in the end it's fun as hell so... When people tell me that I've done a good job, it really makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

Even if I just finished writing a convoluted mess of emotions, ohohohoh...

Well, hopefully there was enough 'take that' before dear 'Melvin' vanished off for good! Until next time...

Enjoy the chapter, everyone!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's still wondering how something made of hate and rage can have a begging side. Oh well!

* * *

Sunset, obviously, is keeping in place with the rest of the 'sun' related chapters thus far. Sunrise being one of course...

Regardless though, 'Sunset' refers more or less to the 'end' of Ra's challenges. And thank GOD! That thing was putting _everyone_ through a ringer!

* * *

Hey! Yugi, what are you doing stealing Kaiba's thoughts?

Well, the minds we get to peek into change quite a lot in the initial chapter of the duel, and it would be rather silly to switch around like that at the start of a super chapter, or at least one of this length.

* * *

No no, really, he says _'off with her head'_! And the best part is, the Queen's Knight comes from a 'poker' themed series, and is dressed in red! THANK YOU ALICE.

* * *

In the original, Malik holds the card in his mouth for a moment. But he's still talking. This would completely ruin the mood I find, as all you'd hear is '_mmgn mmph mmn_', and that's not scary at all. His thing with tongues is far creepier.

(Of course, I'm actually quite put off by tongues so it's all a matter of preference I suppose.)

* * *

Fun fact; when Malik says he'll play a monster in defense mode... The card you see is Juragedo. Weird... (Maybe he was just switching positions..?)

* * *

Why didn't anyone really question Jonouchi on all his chanting? Well he kinda tried to keep his voice down. He's still got to explain it, but even so. Helps that Anzu's there with her stolen Malik memories... (Which she's avoided questioning from due to the sheer trauma involved in obtaining them.)

* * *

Hey hey hey! For the first time freaking EVER (not counting when Yugi summons Osiris AGAINST her), Kaiba doesn't have an insane face in regards to the Gods appearance. In fact, she's quite stony it looks like.

* * *

Originally, Yami Yugi was quite confident that he'd get through with 'Thunder Force'. This is rather silly when you think about it, as Yami Malik just finished telling him Ra couldn't be harmed in his 'one turn-phoenix mode'. In fact, Thunder Force quite literally does nothing but give him another gloat point, which just wastes page space.

* * *

In the original, the chant is divided; there's the half Y-Malik uses to summon Ra, and the half he uses to attack. Since I used both, Ra is simply given orders to attack this time around... At least until the next Monster Reborn run.

* * *

If you haven't guessed, Jonouchi just caught a flash of Yami Bakura's duel. He's also connecting a few dots.

As should you. _AS. SHOULD. YOUUUUUUUUU_...

* * *

Speaking of the face-down card that Isono didn't visibly whine about this time around, the reason it's such a big deal is because it could have been a monster. Which would mean Yugi put a monster in the spell slot.

Which isn't how the duel disk works, _you know_?

* * *

Ordinarily, those at the side were all '_wait, traps don't affect Gods!_' Cue Malik explaining that '_the trap activates when [he] loses life points_'. D'OH.

* * *

Sheesh, that white ghost is everywhere isn't he? Though if you think about where the decks are being held, and the fact that the monsters technically live in the same place that Yami and Yami Malik are currently fighting in, it makes a bit of sense that it was able to buy the real one some time.

* * *

I actually had this take on the 'Malik speaks through Anzu' scene planned for quite a while believe it or not, but now that we're there I find a lot more emotion than originally intended went in. There's a lot of parallels here after all; Anzu's own real father is almost dead because of the 'real' Malik, and after all, who was she sharing her head with for so long in the Noa arc before she found out? Now, the tables are turned, and combined with the fact that these memories are still bouncing around her head, it's easy for her to be swept up in them.

* * *

Originally, Malik tells everyone (through Anzu) that it's a shadow game; and that he's one of the sacrifices on the field. However, since Jonouchi mentioned the sacrifices much much earlier, that would be silly. And besides that, Anzu's speaking on her own terms now... And right now she's kind of a mess.

So's Ishizu, which is another difference from the manga. But the fact is, her brother is about to DIE. So... She's probably a mess.

* * *

Yugi's actual line is '_prepare yourself 'Malik'... Or whatever your name is'_. I made it sound a little less like an insult and more like a threat.

* * *

As a matter of fact _yes,_ the Millennium Rod was using the voice of the 'other Malik'. Makes him even creepier when you think about it, but nonetheless. The way the 'voices' work is that they latch onto either the holder... Or the dominant holder in general. Normally 'dominance' isn't an issue; an item belongs only to one person after all, and those with spirits tied to them don't have a personification. But Malik is a special case...

Also, as crazy and sadistic as the Rod is (it's really not its fault, that item has been through a lot more than just the canon stuff in this fanfic), it's calmed down quite a lot now; like it said after all... It's over now, so what better to do than have a nap? (If it can be called that...)

* * *

Musical Notes

Not much, but I took to listening to the songs 'Hope' and 'Despair'. Originally, they're both by Hatsune Miku, but I was listening to the covers that Piko did, along with the fused cover (Aptly titled... 'Hope and Despair') covered by the same person. The two versions sound a little differently though... Which is interesting to say the least.

Nonetheless...

Hope and Despair! Quite fitting for the above wouldn't you say?

Interesting timing I had by the way, but during the Malik-ghost scene I had Piko's cover of 'Desire' by 'Megurine Luka' playing. (I was listening to a lot of Piko during this chapter if you hadn't guessed.)

Also 'Lunatic Tears' is an oddly fitting song for this chapter. I suppose that makes sense though, in hindsight. (It's one of the songs in 11eyes...) Yet another song I was listening to was Heavenly Blue.

Which doesn't sound as heavenly as it sounds by the way, but that's beside the point.

That's all I can do for now; I'll be trying my best to keep to the weekly schedule, but as with this one it might take a bit longer until I have my portfolio done. Well...

Until then, enjoy the chapter!


	105. Chapter 104

**Dusk and Dawn**

* * *

It was hard really, to remember what happened after the battle was over. The arena had lowered of course- it had to, if any one was going to get off. But even with shouts of safety and patience, the still moving arena was hardly enough to keep them from swarming their friend as he slowly shook himself off, with himself and Honda already scaling the side of the lift with wide grins. The 'light' Yugi had retreated to within the puzzle for a moment to recover from the duel, 'catching his breath' in a sense. The one in control however, the 'other', was turning toward them with an expression that slowly grew from dull shock over what he'd successfully done and into a warm and successful smile. They'd made it through after all. The shadows were gone. The sun, though no longer in the center of the sky, had returned to shine brightly in a blue sky.

They'd won. It was all over.

All of it.

"HahaHAAAA! YEA," he shouted, already running to knock the boy over in a bear hug as the arena locked onto the ground. There was a short choking sound as his friend attempted to respond, soon deciding against it as Katsuya continued to laugh. "HAHA! Y' DID IT! Y' did it," he cried, "Y' did great..!" He pulled back, hands on his friend's shoulder's a moment before the blond moved for the others to come over. "Man... That out there..."

Amazing. It was amazing, it was... "You're the greatest duelist in the world now," Otogi complimented, bowing his head somewhat as he approached with the others. "Congratulations..."

"It's been a long haul," Honda added with a nervous laugh. Hahaha...

Long haul eh? "Tha'... That doesn' even cover it," he responded with a similar tone as he held back a shudder. "Tha'..." He sighed, shaking his head and looking back to his friend. "You alrigh'," he asked a little quieter, worried glances moving toward the boy.

He nodded, smile still in place. "Shaken," he said calmly, a short sigh escaping him. "But otherwise fine; both of us are," he added. "Ah... ...But Anzu," the boy continued with a cough, the woman in question jumping somewhat as he turned to her. "What about you? Now that Malik has his own body-"

"Eh?" Anzu blinked, turning from where Arabic chatter from behind had distracted her. "Oh! Oh, me.. I'm... I'm fine," she said with a slight laugh, rubbing her neck before coughing. "Just fine..!"

"Are you sure," Shizuka asked worriedly. The elder of the girls blinked, and the younger continued. "During the match... I almost thought you'd gone into shock," she warned with a swallow, shaking her head. "Especially after you passed on Malik-han's message. After that you were almost white pale," she said, "So... When you say 'I'm fine'... Are you sure?"

Anzu stared a moment, almost turning to look behind her again before looking to the others and nodding once more. "I am," she said calmly, taking in a deep breath. Her voice didn't waver in any way, despite the attempts to look back again- still, they weren't completely sure... But they again held their tongues."I'm still missing a few memories," she was adding with a light laugh, shaking her head. "Probably from before Malik got in there, during when I was captured but... I'm fine now," the woman repeated. "I..." There was a short sigh, Anzu glancing at the ground for moment. "...I'm more worried about him," she continued, looking back toward where Malik now stood.

The Arabic had stopped Katsuya noticed. Now all there was on the other side of the field was awkward silence, the wind blowing Ishizu's shawl over her shoulders as she hesitantly prevented herself from pulling her younger brother close for a hug. She'd done that once already, that much Katsuya knew- she'd even climbed over the moving arena to do it, the thought of being able to reunite with her brother after so long too much to ignore. It was enough that she'd even allowed herself the freedom of falling tears. And in the back of his mind worried cries in Arabic had filled the air, with a thousand apologies coming between them, with a thousand phrases he shouldn't have understood, one after another after another.

Evidently, his mind liked to fill in the blanks when it came to things like this. '_For thousands of years,_' Ishizu had said, Katsuya idly wondering why he was catching a glimpse of the past rather than the future for once in his recently hectic life, '_Thousands of years... Our family has lived in darkness. Malik... There is no need to apologize any more,_' she whispered honestly, her brother merely staring back in confusion. '_Darkness was our destiny, as was it your destiny to end it. Hate is never eternal- And revenge should never last as long as it has within our line, or for even a single life time,_' she continued, tears still dotting her eyes even after they'd seemingly dried out. '_Perhaps our family was assigned the duty of this guardianship so that we could learn that..._'

'_But... Can our family live like this,_' her brother had asked, staring at the ground again with quivering eyes himself. '_Out of the dark... Can we..._'

'_What kind of question is that,' _she asked him, smiling as she shook her head. Her brother looked back up, and the woman continued. '_The three of us, we are tomb guardians, are we not? No matter where we live, that won't change. We are __family__,_' Ishizu told the two, both Rishid and Malik staring with momentary shock before gaining their own expressions of guilty confusion and grief. '_We will __always__ be family,_' she continued, a few tears appearing in even Rishid's eyes at the words,_ 'And as long as we have that bond anything is possible...'_ Anything was possible...

Anything... "Nihan," Shizuka asked, the blond shaking his head and turning to his sister. Eh? Katsuya blinked, looking toward the others as they turned to stare. "...Nihan," she repeated, "Are you alright? You've been staring off for a few minutes and-"

Ah? He'd spaced out again? He blinked a few times, receiving nothing but a blank look from his sister as a result. Hah. ...Greaaaat... He shook his head, laughing somewhat. "Hah... Yea," Katsuya eventually decided, "I'm fine..! Trus' me, I'm..." ...Fine.

...Family. 'Family' was a damn important thing he thought to himself, looking toward Anzu as she again forced herself not to look over at the others. Thanks to how divided his own had become when his parents split, he knew a hell of a lot about that. It hurt like hell to be excluded from your family but... What did it mean then..?

When you had the memories of a family that you couldn't be a part of?

As it turned out, Malik was wondering the same thing. Which was why soon enough, the awkward silence that came from staring at the family and at Anzu's jacket cloaked back was broken. "...Anzu," he called out, turning from his siblings as the woman in question jumped. The others almost stiffened in a similar response, eyes widening somewhat from where they'd been talking about what happened next, about what this meant for Mai, and for Bakura. Silence came through the air and again the Egyptian spoke, stepping forward somewhat to look at the one he'd shared a body with under an hour before. "Anzu... For what happened during the match..."

She shook her head, smiling. "It was nothing," she told him, cutting him off quickly. Her arm had absently rose up to rub her shoulder, as though nursing a stinging pain and she winced somewhat she continued. "I didn't want your words to go unheard... So I..."

Malik stared at her briefly, as though about to say something else before pushing it from mind. "...Anzu," he instead decided. "On the way back... I want to talk to you, alright," he said, the woman staring in response as her friend smiled. "Until then... For all that happened, please know that no matter what, I-"

"You don't need to apologize," Anzu told him, again cutting the Egyptian off. A small smile came over her face, a few bits of the expression almost seeming to come from someone other than herself as she spoke. "I understand... The fight is over right," she continued, turning from Malik to Yugi as the others came near. "The champion receives the ante, and we... ...And you," she corrected, "You complete the final part of being here..."

The woman turned her gaze to the ground after that. And as Malik nodded the others stared, still silent while they watched the Egyptian carefully pull from his dueldisk the God card that had been promised. "That's right," he said with an almost curt nod. "The time has come. ...The traps and spells cast on your friends have been broken," the teen continued, "And they'll regain consciousness soon... If their body allows it," he added quietly, looking down with considerably guilt at the thought of Ryuzaki's current condition. "For now... This is yours," he said clearly, the ring around his neck seeming to gleam almost deceptively as a card was handed forward. "The Dragon of the Sun... Ra." The 'prize', Katsuya told himself blankly.

'_And mine as well,_' he thought he heard a familiar voice whisper, a faint and faded wisp of smoke shooting through the air. For a moment he thought he caught a glimpse of white mist shooting from the ring around Malik's neck- he almost wondered what it was...

But in the end it vanished so quickly that he shook it off as a strange trick of the light. Nothing, Katsuya told himself as Yugi slowly and quietly took the card. It was nothing, nothing at all and...

"_The three God cards,_" Yugi whispered, misting to his partner's side as the 'darker' half slowly placed it in his hand with the two other's he'd pulled from his deck. "_Hnnn..._" The cards were slowly slipped into the deck holder at his side, before another voice took their attention.

"Osiris of the skies, Sutekh of the earthen Obelisk... And the God of all, Ra," Malik began, the others looking back to him as he pulled his duel disk off. "These three cards hold the key to regaining the Pharaoh's memory... And in addition to that," he continued, hands hesitating only briefly over his shirt. "...The 'King's Memories'," Malik said with a swallow. Briefly, Anzu's grip on her shoulder tightened- her hand twitched somewhat even, as though attempting to do something herself, but in the end she and Malik both traded a look as the latter moved on. "Look closely," he finally said, his siblings both stiffening somewhat as he carefully pulled the black shirt off to leave the Millennium Ring dangling around his neck. "These are the carvings that will guide you to the next step..."

As Malik turned around the crowd immediately froze, a sharp intake of breath heard over the air as thick and cracked scars came into view. "Oh god," Shizuka whispered, a few of the others even looking away from the sight as they gagged. "All those scars..." Carved with cruel precision, left to scab and crack under the years while simultaneously being cared for meticulously lest a single line blur. There had been no mistakes in the carving of memories...

Not that he could read them, he thought almost wryly. "These hieroglyphs," Ishizu began almost with a whisper, "Contain the words of a prophecy passed down from the first tomb guardian, who served under the royal family in the time of the nameless pharaoh. It was her last vision before death," she continued, "And it was following this that, according to records, the Millennium Items were sealed away. '_Come the time far beyond the sun will arrive he with the powers of the Gods in his hands,_'" she began, closing her eyes momentarily._ "'By the Gods you shall know him, and by the Gods he will know you- for he is the one in whom the Pharaoh's soul resides..._' Yugi," Ishizu stated. "The God Cards you hold now are proof of your power. They are proof that the time has come... For the King of Egypt to recover the memories of the past. And within the remainder of this carving," she went on, looking to her brother as the teen shifted somewhat awkwardly, "Lies the instruction on your final steps before the end." The...

The end..? "...You can read the hieroglyphs, can't you," Anzu said somewhat quietly, her friend merely nodding as he stared at Malik's back. The woman stared for a moment, her gaze growing slightly dim as she continued. "...You can understand them then," she asked, again rubbing her shoulder. Well...

Not in the way that _she_ could, if that was what she was getting at. Nonetheless the boy nodded, still staring as his vision seemed to grow clouded. "Yes... ...And no," he said carefully, fingers twitching somewhat as they brushed over the cards at his side. "More like a feeling... A vision of sorts, I..." He shook his head, carefully closing the case at his side as Malik turned back around.

"My duty isn't yet done," the Egyptian said almost stiffly, pulling the cord holding the ring up and over his neck with a swallow. The Millennium Rod was next, the small flame on his shoulder slinking over to the golden staff as it was pulled from the belt-loop it had been stashed in, both objects balanced within his hands and shimmering in the sun. "Here," he continued, holding the items out toward the boy. "The Millennium Rod; like the tauk, our clan has watched over it for generations... And now, as it should be, it is yours. I also leave you with the Millennium Ring," he told him, both items glowing brightly as his friend hesitantly reached out to take them. "No doubt that it's better in your hands..." Yep. That was probably right but-

Wait, the blond thought stiffly, eyes widening for a moment. Why the hell did the ring seem to suddenly be glowing differently..?

Ishizu's voice pulled him from his thoughts, the group watching as Malik replaced his shirt before turning their attentions to the woman. "Yugi," she began, bowing her head somewhat in thanks. "My brother is now free of the darkness that plagued you before... You have my thanks in addition to his own on the matter."

"Breaking the darkness was your own doing," Yugi responded, his smile becoming a smirk. "Not mine... ...But what will you do now," he continued curiously, his lighter half having seemingly whispered the same thing in his ear seconds before. "Now that all of this is over... What will you do?"

"Well... The details of what comes next are a little 'foggy'," answered the woman, seeming to try and make a joke out of the answer. "But whatever we do, it will be on a new path rather than the one that led us here. We will remain here to rebuild what has been broken down in our wake... After all, the 'Ishtar Family' has nothing but light to follow now."

"No doubt that we'll return home at some point though," Malik added somewhat 'cheerily', Anzu catching herself half-way through an agreeing nod as Katsuya stared. "But even before then... If we could speak as friends," he began, only to cut himself short as he caught the uneasy looks from those behind his former enemy. "...I..."

The crowd shared a few looks, before a number of them shook their heads and smiled. Heh. "What're y' talkin' abou," Katsuya said with a smirk, arms crossed. "Aren't we friends already?"

The Egyptian blinked, staring somewhat owlishly. "Ah-"

"He's right," Yugi continued, Malik's eyes widening somewhat as he looked over the group for any traces of the deception that he expected to see. "What you said on the field in our match... That doesn't matter, not now. We were friends the moment we left the 'Virtual World'- understand?"

"It'll take time for the wounds to heal of course," Anzu added from the side, her friend turning to stare in response. "Trust..." She bit her lip, an odd look coming through her face before she shook it off. "...It doesn't heal that easy," the woman forced out, "But in the end... What we have now, what we have here... I think that's a start," she decided. If not 'everything', it was a start.

Now then. "Well," Katsuya said with a stretch, rubbing the back of his neck as the others turned. "I dunno about you guys, but I think I could use a snack 'r somethin'... Not t' mention," he continued with a grin, "When th' others wake up, don't y' wanna see 'm?" A number of the others brightened at the mention, whatever remaining gloom on the air seeming to vanish immediately.

"That's right," Shizuka added, "And the hospital helicopter should be here any minute, that's our ride home isn't it..?"

The blond nodded, each of the others muttering their own affirmatives as he turned to the side. "Hehehe... Yep! Whaddya say we leave this place in the dust, neh Seto-ch-" He froze, looking to where the woman and her brother had been standing moments before. Nothing but empty space... "...Eh..."

"Ah... ...Kaiba's gone," Honda muttered, blinking a few times. "But where..."

A sudden click took Katsuya's attention, the blond turning to where Isono now stood with a radio. Obviously no one would have heard that, he thought in the back of his mind, but what was he talking abou-

"TH-THIRTY MINUTES," Isono abruptly shouted, his panic evident even from behind. Another click from the radio and the crowd jumped, turning to face the man with a somewhat owlish stare. For a moment, he merely stared at the radio in his hands in silence, nervously adjusting the tie around his neck as he tried to breathe. Finally he turned around, another nervous swallow meeting the air as sunglasses were slowly removed and folded over in his hands, eventually finding their way into his breast pocket. "...I... I have just been told to pass the message from Kaiba-sama," he began, taking a stiff gasp of breath, "That with the conclusion of the finals of Battle City... The tournament is officially over. Mutou Yugi takes the title 'King of Duelists'," he went on, the boy in question raising his eyebrow, "And the tower outlives its usefulness... Further more... In... Half an hour," Isono choked out, "The entire structure will be vaporized by high power explosives..." Wh...

What... Shocked silence came in response to the statement, before it was followed by thundering heart-beats and panicked mutterings. "You... Are you completely out of your mind," Honda 'laughed', shaking his head. "Are... You're going to _blow up the TOWER_!"

"Jonouchi," Otogi said rather flatly, "Your girlfriend is completely insane."

Yea, yea she really was and- "Gh-" He stiffened turning on the teen at his side with a snarl. "Otogi...! She ain't my girlfri-" This wasn't the time, it really wasn't. "AUGGGH!" The blond groaned, pulling at his hair a moment in frustration. "Why th' hell did she pick NOW t' be a sore loser..!" Of all the times..! Why NOW! "Gh... An' you," he continued, pointing accusingly at Isono. "Why th' hell didn' y' say anything..!"

The look on Isono's face was, needless to say... Fairly torn. In fact, it almost made him wonder if the man shouldn't have left his sunglasses on for the sake of preventing his own humiliation. "I... N... No... No one told me..." The radio began to shake in his hands, the others staring for a moment in shock. ...Well. That was always... Pleasant. The amount of time they had to complain however was next to nill thanks to Seto's 'incredible' timing- and as the sound of a helicopter came over the distance, there was little else to do other than run for the tower stairs as fast as possible...

And pray that Seto and Mokuba would be waiting for them there in the end.

* * *

She'd left just moments after Malik moved to hand Ra over to her rival rather than staying behind to warn them in the end. Originally she'd thought of saying something. Perhaps reminding the boy just who would defeat him in the end, or simply giving him a grudging title and being done with it. But doing so would remind the blond that she was there.

And she didn't want to do that right now.

Yugi had won after all. Against all odds, as he always had. He had won and yet she was still surprised despite it being 'nothing new'. And walking down the stairs and eventually entering the lift to the basement she found herself caught in a mix of emotions. Most were expected, if not disgustingly familiar. She felt rage... She should have been on that field, beating Malik into the ground. She felt hate... She _hated_ Yugi for defeating her again, _and again_ as he always had, something she wanted to grind back into his face with everything in her power. And then there were the 'other' emotions.

Despair. Hopelessness. She never _would _beat him would she, a small part of her asked before being squashed back down into the back of her mind. Ishizu's words and and endless song were filling her mind, along with all the cries and shouts from the field...

But she had a job to do the woman reminded herself, pushing the thoughts from mind. She had a tower to destroy and a plane to 'catch', and as Mokuba rushed ahead of her she found her gaze drifting over to the windows on the side. "I'll unlock the hangar lift," he told her, looking back with a large smile. "Alright?"

The woman nodded, watching Mokuba do just that before again staring out through the window at the bottom of the tower. There was nothing but rubble outside... Littered with steel and concrete from an older time, piled on top of gathered gravel, steel, soil... Maybe the occasional dandelion even, she noticed dully. Hn!

By the time this island went up in flames it would probably leave a _real_ one behind at this point. Not that it mattered now- What needed to be done would be done though she told herself, arms crossed as she waited for her brother to access the lift. The symbol of all that remained behind them, of the pain under Gozaburo, and of the hate remaining... It would crumble into the seas and nothing would be left behind, save perhaps a lump of burning soil.

This was her last look at this tower.

And she was already sick of it. "Nee-sama," Mokuba was saying from behind her, his sister dully acknowledging the sound. "The password's been put in. There's forty five minutes left until detonation, should we wait for the helicopter to make sure it gets here on time..? We could always re-start detonation time if we had to run an abort code." True... But the helicopter should have arrived by now. Nonetheless she nodded, turning to follow her brother into the lift as she spoke.

"Isono's been given notice to tell me when it lands," she said calmly, not looking to the boy at her side as she watched the floors move past through the elevator glass. "If it hasn't left this island by five-minutes-to then I'll cancel the detonation." She wasn't a murderer after all. Not anymore...

So if it came to it, she would postpone the destruction. Not that it would. After all.

Everything worked out for 'that guy', didn't it? Whether for her rival or for that blond 'mutt' that she'd left at the top of the tower, it all worked out for those two, allowing them to come through any challenge of their relatively unharmed regardless of what happened. They'd 'won' their matches in the end- either officially or unofficially, they'd won.

They had the right to celebrate. They had the right to dance on the top of what would soon be a ruined tower before leaving for their homes as they bragged about whatever it was they had succeeded in. She however, did not.

But what was it that Yugi had said up on that tower she thought to herself, the lift slowly moving downward as he eyes dimmed. Those words... The things he'd spouted instead of announcing her defeat as he normally would have. _'Hatred is a dead end'._ '_All you'll do is bring pain to those around you_.' Those things...

Not ten minutes after her duel she'd proven him right hadn't she, the woman thought to herself dully. Magic and shadow games and the 'power of friendship'... It sounded like the recipe for a children's comic to get people to figuratively kiss and make up instead of going after each others' throats as they instinctively would. The sort of thing Mokuba would watch on a Sunday morning. Heh...

It was almost funny... And yet...

This was the story of their god-damned _life_. All of Yugi's opponents, all of his fights since the moment she'd woken up from that coma... Pegasus with the Millennium Eye, Malik with the Rod, Bakura with the Ring, Ishizu with the Tauk. Millennium Items and Ancient Egyptian ghost stories and despite all the facts pointing to it never being real the facts nonetheless seemed just as insistent on making them impossible to fake. Yugi fought for 'his' memories. He didn't fight for a prize, or for gratification. He simply fought so that at the end of the day he could go back to being a 'normal' kid playing cards in the corner of the classroom with his friends.

She herself had been fighting for _years_. Fighting against the monster that was Gozaburo, until even after death she was still gathering the anger to unleash on whoever crossed her wrong. And like the 'shadow games' that Yugi constantly brought to the field, so too was her own reasoning and hatred doing all it could to destroy her now. Pulling her apart and going so far as to pull ghosts from the past to her mind at each turn she took. Hell... For all she knew it was that very hate that had allowed that 'ghost' to even exist as it had mere moments before, erupting in a pillar of flame that threatened to devour all she knew. She'd destroyed that ghost she reminded herself, fist clenching somewhat. Destroyed it completely...

But how, she wondered, her brother shouting a loud 'come on' as he ran from the now stopped lift into the hangar, had she done that. And more importantly, had she_ really_ done that in the end? 'Defeated' him, the man that seemed to almost embody her 'darker side' even now? Mokuba had asked if she could drop it all just like that and go back to times when she smiled, times when life didn't involve a drive to surpass everything before her, a drive to simply _win_, at _all _costs...

Times when the simplest thing didn't send her off the edge, when she could actually act like a 'normal' person, or at least enough to come across as more than some iron-clad CEO. There were times when that image was needed after all...

But those times weren't needed in her house, when she was with her brother. They weren't needed when she was outside of the office. They weren't needed when she was with...

Him...

Had she really defeated those dark and gnawing feelings inside she wondered, carefully picking up the locket she wore around her neck and clicking it open. All that anger, all that loathing that held her back from her win, the thing that prevented her from understanding the brother that stood before her now. That held her from seeing past her own illusion of a win to find the real way forward, to find...

Her dream.

'_Where do I go from here,_' she asked herself in the back of her mind, eyes moving from a slowly fading photo of her brother from years before. She'd lost this time- so what now? She would leave in the plane with Mokuba, return to work... Yugi would go back to school, and the 'Mutt'...

She'd rather not even touch that subject right now, she thought to herself, closing the locket over in her hand. '_Where do I go,_' she'd wondered back then, on the day they'd entered the orphanage. They'd pulled it off after all- they'd bought her lie and entered her into the system as a young boy, but what was there to do following that? School, games, sleep and hiding. Always hiding, something she'd had to become used to even back then.

Yet somehow she'd brought herself to smile through those days. And on one of those days long ago... The woman continued to stare at her locket, fingers slowly closing over it as her gaze dimmed. That was when she'd decided her 'dream', the childish dream that she'd managed to twist into 'Death-T' in the years that followed. And she could remember its origin clearly now... They'd been building a sand castle to start with that day. In the end though, they'd gotten bored and expanded. Roller coaster tracks rose around the structure, soon enough accompanied by spinning cups and mid-way games... An entire park made of sand soon sat before them. It had taken hours of course- but her brother's smile had been worth it in the end so after all their work was complete she'd sat back and smiled.

'_You know what,_' she'd told her brother that day, dusting grit and sand from her palms as the boy stared. '_When I grow up I'm going to build amusement parks just like this, all over the world!_'

Her brother blinked, face instantly shifting into an expression of surprise. '_Ah..! Really, nii-sama?_' She'd nodded.

'_Yea... But not out of sand,_' she continued, smirking._ 'Real ones. Ones where kids like us, kids who don't have parents can play for free._'

'_So... We can play together then,_' Mokuba asked, eyes wide._ 'We can build them and play together?_'

'_Yea!_' Yes... That...

That was the road to a dream she'd taken back then... A road that now lay buried in the rubble left behind in Gozaburo's wake...

Perhaps then, when this tower crumbled to dust... When this tower, like the 'self' that she'd had before all of this, before that fight with Yugi, was shattered into pieces...

"Nee-sama," Mokuba's faded voice called out, pulling her from her thoughts. "Nee-sama," he repeated almost worriedly, "Are you coming..?" Again she turned, blinking slowly before giving the boy a confident nod.

...Yes. She was. "Hold on a moment," she said quickly, a slight buzz coming over the radio on her coat. "There's something I need to do first." Notice had arrived of the helicopter's descent. It would take approximately twenty minutes for the comatose patients to be loaded and for the vehicle to take off- leaving very little time to do so. For that reason they would not delay in loading the passengers and taking off. "Isono," she began clearly, passing her message onto the man. "I want you to tell Yugi something... Tell him that just for now, I'll let him take the title 'King' this time. I'll re-claim it some other day... He won't be giving anyone else the honor. Until then," Seto continued, "Now that the tournament is over this tower has no use. In exactly thirty minutes," the woman warned, eyes briefly glossing over the timer at the side, "This tower is rigged to set off a series of heavy explosives. Make sure everyone is on the helicopter," she told the man. "And that _no one_ waits... The helicopter leaves within twenty five minutes, understand," Seto demanded. "You have thirty minutes until detonation."

"_Th-Thirty minutes..!_"

"Understand," she repeated loudly, a choking noise coming over the end.

"_Of course... Of course Seto-sama,_" the man said carefully, likely wiping sweat from his brow with the words.

Hn. "Good. Then there is nothing else to talk about. Good bye Isono."

"_AH- But, S-Seto-sa-"_

-_click_-

The radio clicked off, and she again found herself staring away from the jet that would take her and her brother out of the room rather than toward it. Out toward the lift they'd taken downward, and toward the computers that were now feeding live film of the outside to the screens now. "Nee-sama," Mokuba asked again, looking toward his sister worriedly as he stood by the door. "Nee-sama... Are you alright..?"

"I'm fine," she said flatly, the response almost coming too quickly. Perfectly fine. She would put all of this behind her as promised and she wouldn't look back. She wouldn't even glance in that direction.

_'I live, an' we'll go back t' what it was b'fore,_' he'd said. They'd forget about everything that happened and move on with their lives. Well... Not this time, she told herself stiffly. 'Before' might have had its good moments but the fact was there was plenty that wasn't and plenty to be rid of. She would do as she promised- and she would die before she broke that promise a second time. She would not make her brother cry on her behalf again, mark her words...

'Before'... If she was going to 'before' it would have to be long before all of this Seto told herself. Of that, she was certain. For all she knew the 'road' to her dream went both ways even. Behind, to memories of when her brother was happy, to when she started it in the first place. Skipping over all that happened in between, over where she stood now. More importantly than that however, she would have to go ahead. To whatever light was there. To 'victory'. To...

To...

'_More than anything_'

One thing...

'_I really..._'

Just one thing...

'_I love you._'

To that road..- "Nee-sama," her brother asked, the woman shaking off her thoughts once more as she climbed into the jet to take her seat. "Hey..." He paused a moment, allowing his sister to sink into subconscious motion before speaking up again. "Are we still going through with this..?" Ah...

She turned, pausing from where she'd been about to start setting up the switches for the jet. With the 'plan'... "...We are," she finally said, before resuming her set up for take off as turbines roared and an engine began to heat. "We might stay at the hotel in San Fransisco a little longer than planned however," she went on, her brother staring almost curiously from behind. "After my meeting with I2 I plan to go over a few things concerning KaibaLand." A number of things in fact...

"Ah- KaibaLand," Mokuba repeated, Seto nodding in response.

"Yes... But we can decide on that later," she continued. "For now," Seto told the boy, looking back for a moment, "Make sure you're comfortable; we have a long drive."

Again her brother nodded, a smile on his face. "Alright nee-sama. But don't space out like you did coming down," he continued with a laugh, "I don't want us to crash..!" Eh? Space-ou-

"Hn! The only one who 'spaces out' like that is Katsuya," she hissed, only to stiffen as her brother let out a somewhat shocked gasp. ...What. What was it? "...Mokuba?"

"You... You called Katsuya-nii by his..." The boy instantly grinned as he threw the shock from mind, his older sister sighing as she gripped the controls to her jet. Oh _joy_... "Heheheee..! That's never happened before Nee-sama, what's with the sudden change? Tell me, tell me..!"

No. "Gh- I'll explain later." If she wanted to. Which she didn't.

"Please," her brother offered, only for Seto to stiffen further.

"I said _later,_" she forced out, flipping another switch with a bit of extra force. "We don't have time right now!" And by the time she did he had better have forgotten about it!

"Alright," Mokuba decided. "But during the flight..." She said 'forget' damn it! His sister decided to ignore that final comment, instead continuing to flip the switches around her in a subconscious fashion as her mind drifted from the anger buzzing about it at the moment. 'Katsuya'. Not 'Jonouchi' it would seem. 'Katsuya'. If her brother caught that than the use of the term certainly wasn't something she was avoiding very well.

...'_Katsuya_'. First name basis with an idiot duelist like that... Hn! For her to even think of being on those kind of terms with that 'mutt'...

It was pointless. It would only end in misery, just as it had on the field she thought before pushing back the acknowledgment of any concern from mind. She didn't need to think about this Seto reminded herself, flipping yet another switch with a well hidden growl. Not before an important and likely ground breaking meeting with Industrial Illusions. Not before she finalized whatever plans would follow, not before she spent the next few hours flying a jet with her _brother_ in it. Not before she finally managed to get some sleep after this hellish past few days. She would leave... That was all there was on the agenda now. She would leave... And after giving this some _proper_ thought rather than bothering to scramble it in with everything else on her plate she would address it again.

There. That worked. That was what she would do, she assured herself, flipping the final switch with a quiet sigh. That...

"...Hah..." Damn it all. She could almost hear that idiot blond telling her off for 'running away'. And by this point, even if she was moronically considering the idea of changing her mind, it was far too late.

Five minutes until detonation she noticed, her brother already sitting in his 'ready to sleep after an hour of flight' position. Five minutes...

And she still couldn't figure out what to say to that stupid 'mutt'.

* * *

"Damn it damn it damn it damn it _DAMN IT_..!" The first thing they'd noticed in their rush to escape the doomed tower was that the elevator down was out of order- the lights inside weren't working, and the door was effectively welded shut with the lack of power. It wasn't a _fatal_ issue of course; they'd still have time to reach the copter at the base of the island.

It was more his worry about who might not have gotten there by the time they did that was keeping him in a sour mood. "Gh... Damn that 'Kaiba'," Honda was muttering under his breath, skipping every second step as he rushed down the stairs. It'd taken them long enough to climb these things after all; doing in reverse just made it worse. "Can't she show at least a _little_ restraint when it comes to 'getting over' things!"

"Ah- _She_," asked Rishid from behind, only to be drowned out by other, more loudly voiced complaints.

"It's Kaiba," Otogi offered in response, the die-shaped earring swaying with each stair he pushed off. "What did you expect?"

"How about a less childish response," Malik grumbled, before receiving a swat from Anzu. "Ow! Hey..!"

"This isn't the time to complain," she snarled, "Just pick up the pace and get to the chopper!"

"We're going, we're going..!"

"Ah..." Again, Rishid shook himself, looking to the teens ahead of him curiously. "...When did you two meet, Malik?"

"Long story," they both responded, Rishid blinking somewhat owlishly as his sister shrugged and sighed. "Explain later!"

"I'm sure Kaiba-han will want to know herself," Shizuka added from ahead of them, breathing somewhat laboured as they passed the middle of the tower. "Unless," she muttered dryly, "You think she didn't see that chanting, nihan..."

"Ehhhhh..."

"Chanting," Rishid asked.

"Again," a majority of the group called out, the obviously confused Egyptian frowning somewhat in response, "Later!" Thankfully, this was enough to quell further questioning.

Katsuya grit his teeth nonetheless however, hopping down another series of steps as he took the lead for a few moments before falling back yet again. "Gh... Righ' now I'm more worried abou' where th' hell she is," he muttered. "Vanishin' like tha' and givin' us a warnin' from the shadows..!"

"_You... You don't think..._" The blond turned, staring as the floating figure of his friend misted into existence on his side to frown. "_You don't think that she's going to let herself sink with this island... Do you..?_" D... What... That she'd...

Die..? As Katsuya paled the other Yugi shook his head, almost scowling at the question alone. "No," he growled curtly, the others too busy storming toward the now visible exit to pay attention to his words. "She wouldn't do that... No matter what, she wouldn't! Kaiba is the kind of person who believes in moving _forward_," he continued, skipping the last number of steps to jump to the main floor. "She believes in making her own future from whatever comes in her way... Something like this won't stop her. No... She'll live," he insisted.

Somehow.

Ten minutes until lift off he told himself, briefly stopping his charge from the exit to look back at the tower. Ten minutes left and he had a nagging sensation of dread, with a cold and chilling breeze blowing against him despite there not being a breeze at all. '_Jonouchi-kun,_' he thought he heard someone shout, the blond merely staring at the tower with wide eyes. Something was going to happen... Something was already happening and he didn't like it at all... "JONOUCHI!"

"Nyh-" He quickly found himself pulled over by the arm, Honda's eyes wide and almost shocked in appearance. "Honda-"

"Damn it Jonouchi there's five minutes left, let's go!"

Go? "But I-"

"She's probably on the chopper with Mokuba already," he snarled, dragging his friend off to the island 'shore', "Come on!" Mokuba- Right, he thought to himself, pulling his arm from Honda's grip as he ran forward with the teen. There was no way she'd sacrifice her brother for all of this... Of course they'd be waiting! What did he have to worry about..!

And yet even with that, as he entered the large double bladed chopper for now evacuated staff to shut the door behind him...

"...Where's S... Where's Kaiba," he asked flatly, looking about the crowded room in shock. The helicopter was long and almost tube-like in form; most of those on board had already taken seats but as he looked around the number of people there and not there were made more than obvious. And even with two doors on opposite sides closed over, there was no answer. Not even to say 'in another room'. "Where's K-"

"Two minutes until detonation," someone from the front shouted, Katsuya hurriedly turning back to the door. No...

NO! "Seto-sama and Mokuba-sama aren't on board," he could hear one of the staff say in a panic, the others more or less trading looks of fear and indifferent worry. Some weren't affected, being too busy with others that were on board; doctors were busy with a still comatose Ryuzaki in the back room, and Kuzushi and Kyouko were both attempting to console a shell-shocked Mai as they took her in the same direction. Bakura was holding his head on the side, as though getting over an intense headache...

And Isono had just found himself pulled over by the jacket and into Katsuya's grip, the roar of rotating helicopter blades pounding his ears while he slammed the man against the door. "Stop th' detonation," he growled desperately, time ticking down in his mind as all others in the room stared in shock. "Th's thing can be stopped wirelessly can't it? Y' gotta stop it..!"

The man shook his head, one hand gripping the wrist of his captor in an unknown reaction that completely betrayed his panic. "We CAN'T," Isono insisted, the grip holding him considerably loose despite Katsuya's rage. "Only Seto-sama knows how-"

"THEN LET ME FIND I-"

"ONE MINUTE!" ONE!

"Damn it all..!" Before he could even move from throwing Isono to the side he had a number of people holding his arms back, incoherent snarls meeting the air. "LET ME GO," he screamed, reaching for the door that stood before him. "She's gonna die damn it, she's gonna-"

"There's _THIRTY SECONDS_ LEFT," Otogi protested in response, the roar of rotating helicopter blades already joined by the humming engine as the vehicle prepared to take off, "You can't go out there!"

"I CAN DO IT!"

"No you CAN'T," Honda snarled, "If we don't leave now we're all going to DIE!" But he could find a way, he could manage..!

"Twenty seconds!" The helicopter had already risen from the ground, the ticking of a clock sounding through the air.

"Let me go," he wept, one arm pulled free from Otogi's grip as he reached for the door, "LET ME GO!"

"DAMN IT JONOUCHI!"

"You have to give it up," they cried, "They're gone!"

"TEN SECONDS!"

"LET ME GO!" His struggling was weaker and his face felt wet. They couldn't die, they couldn't, they...

"Five..."

"Nghh..." They let go, Katsuya collapsing against the door to look out the window as shudders wracked his body. "Damn it... This..."

"Four..." Why... Why was she doing this, why...

Tears were streaming down his face now and he could barely hear the words of those behind him. "Seto-chan..." _Why_..?

"THREE..." She couldn't die... "TWO..." She couldn't die, he screamed in his mind, fingers gripping the edge of the window as the tower below slowly grew smaller. "ONE..."

Zero.

-_**BROOUMMMM**_-

A cloud of fire and smoke rose up into the air, the top of the tower the first to go as Katsuya tore his eyes away from the sight. A chorus of shocked gasps came from behind him from the most part. A few quiet cries of surprise as well, along with mutterings of the tower sinking to the sea in pieces... Of how horrific it looked, of how there could be nothing left beneath them... Of how everything was simply...

Gone.

The tower was gone he thought to himself as he sank to the floor, platinum dog-tags dangling around his neck as a painful reminder of who had given them to him. She was gone, Mokuba was gone, they were both...

"Wait..." Huh? Yugi's voice slowly pulled him from his stupor, eyes widening as his friend continued from his side. "In the smoke... Is that..."

"_**RAAAAAOOOOOOOOOO!**_" A dragon..?

The blond stood up in a mere instant as the roar screeched through the air, all others deaf to its cry. White scales seemed to be circling the flames that sat on the seas, diving through the wreckage to vanish from sight... "Tha' sound..."

In the smoking ruins of Alcatraz, they could see a shape. A thing with huge and wide-spread wings, a long and 'thin' neck, with white armor...

"L... LOOK," Malik shouted, the Egyptian pointing toward the window. "IT-" A... It really was a dra-

"_HAHAHAHAHAAAA!_" Hang on, was that laughter..?

One of the crew on the side jumped as the radio in their hands sprung to life, voices crackling through it as those on board looked from the device to the oddly shaped jet that was rising from the ashes on the side. "That... That's a _jet_," someone hissed incredulously from behind, the 'someone' soon revealing itself as one of the more loud-mouthed members of Seto's staff. "That..." The woman quickly snatched the radio from the crewman's hand, clicking it on with a red-faced scowl. "KAIBA-SAMA," she snarled, a majority of the others looking back to the window as a jet shaped nearly exactly like the Blue-Eyes White Dragon came into view. "Pardon my language when I ask you what the HELL you think you're doing!" There was a short bit of laughter following this, the guard continuing to seethe in response. Oooooh... Well...

Katsuya coughed somewhat nervously, turning back to the radio as a grinning Mokuba came to mind. "_Ehh..? You guys thought we were dead,_" he asked incredulously, expression briefly that of blank shock._ "I thought someone would have... Oh never mind,_" he snorted,_ "We were focusing on getting out not getting caught in the explosion while we told you where we were..!_" Ahahahahaha...

That was all great but _damn it if they did that again.._. "Gh... Mokuba," he hissed, gripping the window as he shook. "You..."

"Hahhhh... At least they're okay," Anzu grumbled, looking out the window incredulously. "...Some... How..."

Another round of sighs, the incredulous stare joined by most of the others as they gathered at the window. "This is just like hi... Her... It's just like her, seriously..."

"Stop correcting yourself Otogi, we have to act normal in Japan anyways." Hahaha...

Hah... DAMN IT ALL..! What the hell was she playing at..! "Kaiba-sama," the guard at the side was hissing, face more or less hidden by her hair as she trembled. "When you get back here..."

"_Oh, yea, about that," _Mokuba continued with a grin, Katsuya shaking his head and looking back out the window as the jet soared up to level with the helicopter at a safe distance. "_You guys might be heading back, but we're not coming along just yet, okay?_" EH!

"W-WHAT," he choked out, quite easily throwing in the response that 'Hime' had been about to give. "Whaddya mean 'NOT COMIN'..!" There was a bit of laughter from behind the layers of glass and air, his face growing fairly red. "Damn it... STOP LAUGHIN', I THOUGHT Y' BOTH DIED IN THERE!"

There was an awkward silence for a few moments until the boy shrugged, briefly turning as his sister said something before shaking his head. "_Hah... Well, like I said,_" he began with a cough,_ "That wasn't our plan... And anyways, it's exactly what I said Katsuya-nii! We're going to the USA! There's lots of things for us to work on,_" he shouted cheerfully, sister oddly silent for the moment, "_And after this next meeting we have there, we're gonna work on the next KaibaLand..!_" Ah...

"K-KaibaLan-" Oh yea, they'd mentioned that... ...Ah! "Wai'... Jus' how long are you guys gonna be there," he shouted, receiving no response.

"Jonouchi," Honda asked dryly, "Shouldn't you use the radio instead of shouting at the window?"

"ANSWER ME DAMN IT!"

Mokuba again turned to his sister, a rather wry smile coming over his face again. It looked as though Seto had just told him something- but whatever it was, he didn't appear to completely agree, and the fact was he was wondering why she didn't take the radio herself. "_Hnnn... Who knows how long we're staying,_" he finally decided, leaning back on his seat in false indifference. "_But Katsuya-nii,_" he continued, a grin coming over his face, "_Don't think you've completely escaped..!_"

"Eh- Escaped?"

"What the hell is he talking about," Otogi muttered.

"Escaped..?" Yea what was he- The blond stiffened as Seto turned his way from the jet, a somewhat narrowed stare meeting with his own. It wasn't necessarily cold- if anything it seemed almost warm coming from her for once but...

"GH-" SHIT-

SHIT, this was about the kiss..! "_Heheheh! Got it now,_" Mokuba shouted with a laugh, apparently able to see the dread that had come over Katsuya's face. "_As long as you understand I don't have to say anything! So until we get back you're on house arrest, got it?_"

...Eh. "H-HOUSE ARR-"

"Nihan," Shizuka asked blankly, "Did Kaiba-han just 'ground' you?" AH! _NO_! ...

…

...Yes. "GH- How come S- Kaiba can't tell me this on 'is own," he growled in protest, hurriedly correcting himself lest the helicopter's doctors catch on. "I..." Haaaahhhg... "Damn it, give 'm the radio!"

"_Give it to nii-sama..?_" The boy turned back to his sister, the woman appearing to say something before he shrugged. "_Uhhh... No can do,_" he answered somewhat confusedly, "_He's not talking to you at all!_" She wasn'- WHAT? "_Hehehe... You'll have to wait to talk it looks like..!_" C-Come on that wasn't-_ "OH! But Yugi,_" Mokuba added with a grin, still holding the radio headset to his ear as he pointed toward the second person visible in the window. "_Before we leave, I'm going to say one more thing... You keep that new crown of yours nice and shiny got it? Because someday when we're back, nii-sama's gonna win it from you understand,_" he called out with a wink. "_And no one else, okay?_" Ah...

Yugi blinked, staring at the radio a moment before turning back to the window with a somewhat amused nod. "Hnhnhn... Right," he said clearly, the words not making it through the radio but nonetheless taking effect. Their battle wasn't over just yet... But they'd at least put rivalries aside for now. And speaking of 'now'...

"_We gotta turn around now, alright,_" Mokuba told them, his grin becoming a more softened smile. "_I'll give you guys a call sometime soon, okay?_" The pair both nodded, and in response to the radio's shutdown they received a large grin from the younger of the siblings. Good-bye, Katsuya thought with a somewhat wry smile, giving a small salute as the jet prepared to turn around. Good-

At that moment, Seto turned back to the window again, an odd look in her eyes as she stared toward the window. It wasn't 'cold' as it usually was he noticed. If anything, it was...

"A-Ah..."

A smirk came over the woman's face, but it was not the typical expression she'd been known to take. And as she herself brought two fingers from her head in a short salute, it looked more like a smile than a look of superiority. In fact, the blond thought in mild shock, if anything he'd say that what she was saying now, which would ordinarily be lost completely to the glass and wind around them...

'_See you later... 'Mutt'_' Gh... That-

He wasn't a mutt damn it!

Yet somehow he never scowled as the woman turned back and shot forward in that jet. He merely smiled and nodded, watching the white craft tear ahead before doubling back with a loud sonic blast. Heh...

"_It looks like Kaiba-san's started the journey to her new dream now,_" Yugi said from beside him, the blond looking back as the 'lighter' of two ghosts misted to his and the other Yugi's side.

There was a short nod from the ghost's partner, Katsuya doing the same. "...Yea," he eventually said. "Looks like."

"_'KaibaLand USA' huh..._"

"Heh... Can' wait t' see it..!"

"I'd think you were more looking forward to her return," the other 'Yugi' responded, his friend's grin fading somewhat. Ah...

"...Yea..."

"_I'm sure they'll be back soon enough though,_" Yugi continued, giving his friend a supporting nod. "_After all... She might not say anything, but she does care about you._" Did they really think so? ...Well...

He supposed that even if just a little... "Heh..." Maybe they were right. "There's still a lot for us t' do ourselves though neh," he said with a smirk, a number of the others nodding as he moved to take a seat on one of the benches. "Like headin' back home..! We've still got our own 'battle city' t' finish, right Yugi?"

His friend merely smirked at that, a quick nod coming before the two switched out with each other. "_Hn... Of course!_"

"But for now, let's just rest," the real Yugi finished, collapsing somewhat on a bench as he sighed. "Hahhh..." Yea...

Rest...

Closing his eyes over for a bit, he intended to do just that.

* * *

It wasn't until the paramedics had come over from Ryuzaki's still slumbering body in a panic that he'd realized the black bag he'd been leaning against was a corpse, and that he probably had some of the best luck and the shittiest luck all at once. Because while he'd certainly gotten enough shut eye to calm down before the rest of what would be about five hours of flight time, the heart attack that came from sleeping on the corpse of Seto's doctor would probably destroy that anyway.

Though at this point, he was suddenly feeling much better about Seto not being with them on the copter; he had a feeling Malik would have been dead otherwise. Of course... When the paramedics decided to ask just why they _had_ a mutilated corpse...

"It was a stowaway," Anzu had said quickly, Malik freezing from where he'd been about to guiltily step forward. The others briefly stared as the woman held her arm, expression set in stone as she went on. "While on the ship," she 'explained', Malik still looking back in shock, "A stowaway resembling Malik took his place- he was completely insane... He's the reason Ryuzaki is in the condition he's in now." Ah...

Well, speaking in non-magical terms he supposed that was accurate enough but... "A stowaway," one of the doctors asked again, Kuzushi frowning from the side but nonetheless remaining silent when she caught the obvious honesty in Malik's own guilty expression.

Well... If there was any way to describe 'that' Malik... "Tha's righ'," Katsuya responded, nodding his head. "Stow-away."

"And where would-"

"He stayed on the island," Malik rasped, throat notably taking his voice for a hoarser tone with the anxiety he had at the moment. "And got caught in the explosion..." And 'he' was 'dead' long before as well.

The paramedics stared for a moment, as though waiting for the truth to come out on its own. Waiting for Malik to simply breakdown and confess, or possibly even pull out a weapon to deal with them all. Instead however...

"That's right," Honda said from the side, also stepping forward to nod. "At the last minute," he continued, the Egyptian still staring in wide-eyed shock, "The real Malik here managed to come-to and beat him to submission."

"We forgot about him in the chaos to leave," Otogi added helpfully, not bothering to address the mouthed 'beat him to submission' that Malik had rather incredulously given as Anzu stared with a similar look and shrugged. "Though it's probably for the best..."

"That's right," Shizuka decided with a cough. "After all, a madman like that... As... Cruel as it is," she managed to get out, "It's better that he's gone now right..?"

The girl seemed to look back to Malik at that, as though waiting for a response while the Egyptian slowly nodded. "That... That's right," he said with a quick cough, the nod gradually picking up its pace in self-reassurance. "...You'll... You'll have to forgive me," he added, "I'm still in a little bit of shock, I..."

"Would you like one of us to check you over," the paramedic closest offered, receiving a polite and hurried 'I'm fine' in response. "The shock is understandable given this rather intense turn of events..." Hahaha! Yea... Yea it was. And-

"Ah-!" Yugi jumped at the mention of 'shock', as though only just then remembering who else was on board. "That's right... What about the others," he said quickly, the doctor turning back toward him. "One of you mentioned taking Mai to a room in the back..."

A nod. "That's right," the first paramedic, a name-tag identifying him as 'Iriyou', began. "She woke up shortly after transporting Ryuzaki-san, our current priority, to the helicopter's medical room. We had her in here to start," he added, coughing somewhat nervously, "But my partner was worried that the excitement would put her through more shock."

"Ah- More shock," Shizuka asked with a swallow.

There was another nod in response, before Honda and Otogi both looked down toward the hall and continued with the conversation. "Is that where Bakura is as well," the first of the two asked, receiving another nod.

"Ah... Yes actually," Iriyou responded. "We found him wandering around the island. It was... Very _interesting_," he muttered, Yugi and Katsuya both trading odd looks at the word choice. "Any ways, he was a little malnourished despite claiming to have eaten the evening before, so he was taken to the back to be looked over... We have curtains separating patients," he went on, "So Kujaku-san should be relatively alright..."

The two again blinked, before Otogi opted to push the question on most of their minds. "Can we see her?"

The paramedic blinked, looking up from where he'd been staring at the ground in thought. "Ah- _See_ her? I don't think-..."

"We've been waitin' f'r her t' wake up since she passed out," he pressed, the smile from earlier completely vanished as he went on. "An' it's been hell durin' tha' time so... Please?"

Iriyou seemed to stare for a few moments, before sighing in 'defeat'. "I'll check with Hajosha," he finally decided, moving toward the back. "But whatever happened on that airship has left her in a bad way- she's extremely jumpy right now, regardless of what she herself insists." Ah...

Was that..? Was he serious..? The boys again traded looks, Malik in particular growing rather pale before getting a hand from Ishizu and Anzu both on his shoulder. "...Alrigh' then," Katsuya eventually said, biting his lip. He already had a feeling that they'd have to wait for a bit so... "Ah... What abou' Bakura..?"

"Oh- Bakura-san," the paramedic repeated, before gesturing to the back room. "He's right over here... Actually, before we brought him on board he was rather insistent on grabbing something from the airship..." Something..? "He mentioned something about a deck... I believe this is yours," he continued, pulling something out of his pocket and handing it forward. Ah...

"M-My deck," Katsuya choked, taking the cards in his hand. That's right, that would have been taken out of his duel disk...! "But how-"

"Your duel disk is also on board," Kyouko added from the side, having walked back from the other end of the chopper. "Everyone on the ship decided to make sure none of the luggage was left behind- and a good thing too," she continued almost nervously, shaking her head. "It would have gone up in flames..."

Got that right... "Obochama needs to learn to communicate," Hime muttered from the side, the woman summarily ignored. Hahaha... Yeaaaaaaa...

No shit. "Well... We mind as well go see how Bakura's doin' right," he decided, looking to Yugi as the boy nodded.

"Yea! Ah... Iriyou-san," asked Yugi, the paramedic in question somewhat caught off guard by the use of his name. "We're allowed to see Bakura-kun at least, right..?"

"Bakura-san?" He nodded. "Of course- just over here," he continued, leading them back. "Just remember to keep quiet, we don't-"

"-Want t' bug Mai," Katsuya finished, somewhat glad the line was obvious enough not to garner an odd look for finishing it. "Yea... We guessed..."

* * *

The back room of the helicopter was likely about half the size of the copter itself, or at least half the size of the passenger space. The other half was divided into two other sections; the cockpit, where the two pilots were currently discussing things with the 'crew chief' as he was called, and then their own passenger room. Despite this size however, the back of the copter was a fairly cramped location; a large portion of it was reserved for Mai and Ryuzaki at the moment, one taking up the room by means of bed-space and machines while the other was being given space so that she could properly recover from a shock she refused to acknowledge. For this reason, she'd offered to remain behind for the first bit of the flight while a number of the boys took to speaking with Bakura or sleeping on the side.

She needed to talk to Malik anyways. "...So," Rishid, who had been staring somewhat oddly at the woman for the past twenty or so minutes of panic finally began. "You are... Mazaki Anzu correct?" Ah? He knew her na-

Of course he knew her name she told herself, he'd been one of the people in charge of her capture. The woman shook it from her thoughts, merely nodding an affirmative as Malik spoke. "That's right... Anzu is the one my soul hid in while the... 'Other me'," he began slowly, careful to make sure no staff or doctors heard him, "Took control. She's been extremely forgiving," he added, swallowing somewhat nervously as his friend blinked. "And actually..." Ehhhh...

God bless Ishizu she found herself thinking as the conversation sunk further into an 'awkward' zone- if not for her who knew how they would have explained this. "Rishid," the Egyptian woman began, pulling the conversation into Arabic. "During your coma, a number of things occurred that did not directly concern our brother's darker half. It is difficult to explain," she continued somewhat hesitantly, "But..."

As Rishid stared, the expression clearly showing he was ready to take 'anything', Malik sighed. "Hnnn... ... Rishid," he said after a few moments of 'hmm's and 'haah's. "In the middle of the night, the airship was pulled down into an undersea-hangar off the shore of Alcatraz; you saw how the balloon on the airship was missing right?"

The man nodded. "I did- however," he continued somewhat confusedly, "The most that the staff have mentioned so far is that there was a fire..."

"There was," Anzu said flatly, Rishid jumping with the sudden addition of another Arabic speaker. "When the airship left the hangar, a missile had been fired upon it by the computer located inside; but that isn't the point right now," she continued.

Another short span of silence came as Rishid stared, the man nonetheless nodding whilst he waited for them to continue. "Inside the hangar," Malik began somewhat quietly, "There was some sort of computer... Myself, in Anzu's body obviously, along with a number of the others, were forced inside a separate room of this hangar at gun point. While there, we were knocked out by gas and placed in 'VR-pods'. We aren't too sure of the details," he added, wincing somewhat. "But..."

"For some reason," Ishizu explained, "Due to the events that occurred inside the virtual realm, both Mazaki-san and our brother became aware of the other. Moreover," she continued, gaze growing dark and distant as her elder brother frowned, "They became trapped within the other's memories..."

"Trapped-" Rishid stiffened, looking to Malik with wide eyes only to receive a nod. Anzu was now gripping her shoulder again, adjusting the jacket over it. As to the rest of what they were explaining... It almost went unsaid. "Then... Among these memories..."

Almost. "I'm not asking for pity," Anzu quickly told them, a somewhat 'Malik-like' look coming into her eyes as the others stared. "I just wanted to say that before you finished... However," she continued almost depressingly, "I didn't want to cause any trouble because of what Malik might have remembered from my own memories..."

"Hn! I'm more worried about you," the Egyptian responded dryly, arms crossed in apparent annoyance. "Your head might not be _completely_ sunny, but it was certainly brighter than mine..."

"Well... That's true," she said with a quiet laugh, "But it's still-"

"Awkward and 'traumatizing' are two very different things." Eh? Traumatized!

"I'm not-"

"Yes you are," he finished for her, shaking his head. "Whether you admit it or not, you are- that isn't the point though." The Egyptian turned back to his siblings, eyes somewhat hard. "Anzu and I shared a lot of memories, and not by choice... The fact is," he explained, "This includes _all_ of our memories; including the secrets of our clan."

"And thanks to how ingrained the memories became, it makes her the first woman with the 'mark'," Ishizu added, Rishid's 'eyebrows' rising in still more shock as he looked to her.

"The 'mark'? But how-"

"It's a hypertopic scar," she muttered dully, again pulling Rishids eyes toward her. "I think the computer... Triggered something when I..." The woman sighed, moving on and biting her lip. "I haven't said anything to the Pr- ...To the other Yugi yet," she corrected, shaking her head as she tried to deal with the awkwardness of the situation. Ack... And here she thought she'd sorted all of this out... The woman pushed it from mind, instead calming herself with a semi-audible sigh and speaking again. "Again though- that isn't the point. I... Because of what I saw, I know there isn't much time left... And I can accept that. It hurts," Anzu rambled on, "I mean... The other Yugi is my friend... But I can't just sit at the sides and watch with what I know now," she continued. "I..." What she was trying to say...

"You have memories of two families," Ishizu finished for her, Anzu merely flushing and averting her eyes as the stares of the others burned against her. "You're saying as much as you can to avoid it... But you just don't want us to leave... Do you?" There was no answer, and the woman looked to her younger brother. "...Malik... You as well..."

"I'll be the first to say that suddenly having memories of a mother is uncomfortable," he admitted, cutting his sister off somewhat. "But not unwanted."

"I've never had siblings," Anzu continued, grip on her shoulder tightening. "Despite all the pain in these other memories..." Well... As horrific as they were, Malik _had_ still had at least a few happy ones despite living in a hole most of his childhood. So... She trailed off, gaze dimming. "I'm not asking to come with," she eventually said. "Not only would I just be a burden, but I myself wouldn't be able to bear even that- I have too much here, I have my mother, my friends... And Malik," she continued, looking to him for a moment. "Well... He has you," Anzu said with a smile. "He has his 'light'..."

"But... At this point," her friend added with a cough, both turning back to face the others, "Due to the nature of the memories we've split, I don't think cutting ties would be safe, so..." So with that in mind...

With what was still yet unsaid... "Whoever Malik considers his family," Rishid cut in, quickly catching the subject that they were trying to both share and avoid, "Is considered _mine_," he said honestly. The man bowed his head, silence settling for a brief moment before he went on. "Be it as a sister, or as a friend, who am _I_ to judge your place? Our hardships may be different," the man continued wisely, Anzu and Malik both staring in slight shock, "But they are not _that_ different... _Sister._" Eh- Sist-!

The two teens both stared in silence, shock appearing almost identical on both faces. "Ah... That..." They both cut themselves short, bowing their heads in slight embarrassment. D-Damn it... They were still speaking at once..!

"Hnhnhnh... Like husband and wife," Ishizu said with a chuckle, the silence quickly broken as a result.

"AH- Husband and-"

"ECK... That would be _way_ too awkward okht..."

"Like marrying _myself_..."

"Like _doing_ myse-" The Egyptian quickly caught himself, suddenly giving himself a look similar to the one Anzu was giving him now. "...Shit," he muttered, "Do I really sound like that..."

"Yes..."

They both looked back to the others, both of the older siblings staring somewhat owlishly. "Hnnn... I think it's more like twins than a married couple," Rishid eventually decided, Ishizu merely nodding in response. "...Much more like twins." Ah...

She _supposed_, but-

"You guys can stop speaking in Arabic now."

Eh-? The four turned, blinking as Otogi scowled from his position on the nearby bench. That was right, Anzu thought to herself, laughing somewhat nervously. He knew enough Arabic to 'pass as a tourist' right? So while he probably didn't understand most of what they said... Just... Enough to feel out of the loop, ehe...

"Hahahaha... We can keep talking later, right," Malik asked, looking to the others. There were a few nods, Anzu merely shaking her head in agreement and leaning back against the bench.

"...Right," she answered, before nodding again to reassure herself. Right... Well.

She felt a little better at least- and the fact was, she thought Malik felt a bit better as well.

* * *

"Damn Bakura. You're... _Really_ mowing through that food."

What Honda said was probably the only thing they could really say for the situation- and the fact was, it was probably for the best, because the most Bakura could really do was nod and continue powering through the emergency rations that had formerly been packed aboard the helicopter. He'd already devoured what little they'd carried off the airship with ease... And if it came to it, the pilot had even given up his lunch (though Bakura hoped that he wasn't _that_ hungry when it came down to it.). The fact was, they had an idea of why he was so hungry- he would be too after completely vanishing off the face of the earth he figured but...

Still. Watching him eat... All that food...

Was actually making him _nauseous_. "Er... Tha' stuff even taste good," he found himself asking about half-way through the rations, Bakura looking up with an almost naïve stare before glancing at the rations in question.

Chew... Chew... Swallow...

If there was one thing good about him being polite about this, it was not getting a face full of rations. "It's actually not that bad," Bakura admitted, before taking another bite and wolfing it down. "I'm not even sure why I'm so hungry- I just woke up with an empty stomach on the shore of this island actually." Yeaaaa... That was... Well, they weren't going there for now. "Oh- that reminds me," he continued, coughing somewhat awkwardly. "Yugi-kun... Would you happen to have seen my ring at all?" AH-

Th-The ring..! The others quickly turned back to the boy, his second half having appeared behind him to hurriedly shout off about how they couldn't let it back into his hands. "Ahhh... You mean you lost it then," he ended up saying, going somewhat red. Not to say they didn't know why but...

Did they really have to give it back! The albino nodded, biting his lip. "Yes... I somewhat remember having it before I ran into Malik... But I can't really tell, since I wasn't all awake..." He'd say, Bakura was asleep at that time... He shouldn't have been awake to start with! With that in mind however there was a loud sigh, Bakura tossing back the last of the rations with a frown while the wrappers found their way into the trash. "There's something I wanted to find out about that device... That spirit," he continued, Honda biting his lip at the side while the others held their tongues. "The one you mentioned... Given that I somehow wound up in this tournament I suppose it's safe to say it took control again..." A short round of nods, the looks on their faces telling Bakura all too much what they knew of the meaning behind that. He'd put the ring on- and he'd screwed himself over.

Of course, that didn't stop him from trying to redeem himself anyway- that would be ridiculous. Besides, 'don't ask don't tell' right? There was probably _some_ kind of reason. (Though what the hell would justify this..?) "Y' know... Bakura," Katsuya offered, coughing somewhat nervously as his friend stared. "It might be best jus' t' let things lie f'r now..."

"Seeing how this thing got you hospitalized and nearly killed," Honda continued, Bakura wincing in response as he rubbed his arm.

"Hnnn... I know," the albino muttered, still not meeting their eyes. "But before I passed out, when we were on that airship... I think I might have seen him," he said almost confusedly. Er... See-

Katsuya blinked a few times, thinking back until the memory hit him full force. Oh _shit_, that was right..! When they were on the field his last moment was spent staring at his own body, of course he saw 'him'! And that meant...

...Actually, he had no clue what _that _meant. Their friend shook his head again, brows furrowed in thought. "It's strange... I don't know what to make of this spirit actually," he admitted. "First he tries to destroy everyone I know, and suddenly he's saving my life..." Not to mention Yugi. Heh!

What a confusing 'ghost'... "Honestly, th' less we know abou' this guy th' better," Katsuya muttered, rumbling coming from the bag the ring was in. At least for now. (Shit that thing was stubborn though...) He paused a moment, staring at it long enough to make sure that it wouldn't somehow 'magic' itself out of the sack before continuing. "Anyways... Glad yer back though Bakura- we were really worried about y' for a bit there!"

"Ah... You were?"

The others nodded, Honda crossing his arms as he leaned back against the door. "Yea- We're not sure when or how, but the spirit in the ring forced you into a fight against the same guy Yugi just finished dealing with," he explained. "Again... Not sure what happened," he said with a shrug, their friend staring somewhat slack-jawed, "But whatever it was, he lost... After that, you literally vanished from the face of the earth."

Bakura seemed to pale at that, coughing slightly. "Hg... 'Vanished'? I just... Vanished?" Errr... Yep!

"Y' weren't on th' ship," Katsuya told him, nodding in response. "An' we hadn' landed _once_. Not many other options really." And it wasn't like you could argue that...

"H... Hahh..." Bakura bowed his head, eyes widening further as he ran those words through his head. Finding out that you'd been possessed was one thing after all, even when you knew the risks and tried to hide it.

Completely vanishing from the face of the earth was another. "Well... The past is the past right," Honda finally said, giving Bakura a short but obviously friendly nod.

"Ah... Right..."

"For now," he continued with a smirk, "We can probably just relax for the rest of the trip..."

"_Right. Actually, I think I hear Otogi out there,"_ the other Yugi muttered._ "I wonder what's going on..._" What was going on?

'_STOP TALKING IN ARABIC._' ...He was trying to sleep that's what. A smirk came over the blond's face, followed be a rather conspiring grin.

"Alright," Honda muttered, "What's with the look..."

"Hehehe... Nothin'..."

"_Is this one of your 'vision things'..?_"

"Ah- Jonouchi-kun," Yugi asked, "You're not going to start something right..?"

"Maaaaaybe..."

"Eh?" Oh, that one was Bakura. "Jonouchi-kun, what are they talking about?" Ohh...

They'd find out. For now though, time to bug Otogi. Hehehehe...

* * *

The difference in noise levels from front to back in the helicopter was almost jarring if one thought about it. For the most part, she hadn't been paying much attention though. The first thing that had been on her mind after all was panic- fear for herself and the others trying to escape the island, fear for Kaiba and Mokuba, who were both still _on_ the island...

And then they'd escaped.

Panic soon became curiosity. For a short while on the helicopter, she'd allowed her eyes to wander. To flit around the machines and equipment the copter was equipped with, to see the things that a paramedic would likely need to become familiar with. This could be her job one day after all. Her _job_. Flying over the seas to help someone in need. Someone like...

Like...

Keiichi. Shizuka stood at the side of the bed, Kuzushi having been given the right to keep watch over the 'sleeping' boy while the paramedic 'Hajosha' sat with Mai. By all appearances, Mai _looked_ fine from what she saw now. She was pale yes; but otherwise she seemed almost insistent to leave the back of the room, having barely convinced the doctor to move the curtain separating her section from Keiichi's. Evidently, given Shizuka's currently subdued nature and Keiichi's own obvious silence, Hajosha had decided it wouldn't hurt to give Mai at least that much air. It would help after all. To calm down, to steady the racing heart she'd had since the start.

It just made things worse. For the last number of moments Mai had wound up staring at Keiichi's motionless form with quivering eyes, as though unable to connect the annoying 'manservant' from Duelist Kingdom with the nearly mummified form on the bed. Eventually she'd asked what happened, with a deceivingly strong tone while Kuzushi went over her patient's condition with the paramedic. For a moment she'd remained silent... But in the end, nothing made sense with that.

So she'd explained. She'd explained everything- About Malik's dark half, the one that had overpowered the real one. About Noa's world, where the real Malik had manifested and eventually fought at their side. About how it had gone beyond a ruse into friendship, with Malik risking his neck selflessly by the end of it all...

While his dark half half-slaughtered the only thing standing between 'it' and their lives. "He's stronger than he looks," the doctors had said before, standing behind her with a comforting tone. "Any normal person would likely have bled out before they made it here, going into shock. But somehow he managed to get enough strength to get all the way to the ship first. It saved his life..." Barely...

But it saved him. Shizuka wasn't sure how Kuzushi had been convinced to hold her tongue in all of this really. In Kuzushi's eyes, Kyouko's eyes, all the staff's eyes, Malik had been a demon and nothing else. He'd killed one man, tried to kill countless others...

Perhaps it was something in the way he had prepared to confess to those crimes though she realized, silence having filled the room again as she and Mai held their silent vigil. Perhaps it was that willing drive to atone for what he did that changed their mind.

Along with everyone else's desire to cover for it.

Mai didn't understand. But Mai was still silent by the end of it, and though confused she nonetheless kept this to herself. From what she could tell, Mai was used to hiding... Behind this curtain though, there wasn't much reason to hide what she felt concerning the body before them. "Idiot," she finally whispered after what seemed to be hours, the younger of the two half wondering if maybe that wasn't an illusion after all. "He's an idiot... He should never have even been here," she continued, unknowingly repeating the very words Shizuka had screamed hours before.

She decided not to tell her that, instead nodding in agreement. "He shouldn't have," she instead answered. "...But he did..." As Mai turned, apparently about to speak, Shizuka continued with her eyes glued to the bed. "He never listens, Keichi... That's what makes him 'him', you know..?" Without that trait, it just wouldn't be the same. It wouldn't... The girl shook, fingers digging into her knees as she went on. "Keichi... Even though this happened, he 'won' in the end. I wonder what he'll say," she continued, tears falling from her eyes despite vain attempts to wipe them away, "When he wakes up to find out he's got 'dueling scars' from a battle he won..! Gh..."

"Shizuka-chan," Mai whispered, placing a hand on the girl's shoulder. "...I..."

"You know," she found herself saying, "I didn't know what to expect from you... Keichi never said anything good... But Katsuya, he had nothing _but_ good to say. Things like how you helped him in the Duelist Kingdom tournament and the 'Duel Monster's VR game... How you visited them on Valentines and gave him and his friends chocolate... ...Mai-han," she said quietly, turning back up to the woman and wiping her eyes. "...I know you don't live very close... To either of us," she added, shaking her head. "But even so... Even if it's just a phone call, or an e-mail... Don't just vanish, alright?"

"Ah- Vanish," Mai asked almost incredulously, before forcing a small smirk on her face. "Really... What kind of person do you think I am," she laughed, "That I would just-"

"Just don't," Shizuka pressed, cutting the woman off. "You... To me, you make me think of an older sister... Someone I can talk to when I can't go to my mother, or to one of the 'boys', like my brother. I don't want you to just disappear, for me to find out that something terrible has happened... So please..!"

"You..."

"_Please..._"

More tears were falling from her eyes and as she moved to wipe them again Shizuka found herself turning to Mai, the blond having placed a hand on her friend's shoulder. "...Shizuka-chan... I will... _Try_ to keep contact with you and the others if it means that much... But I have other things to do," she continued, a long sigh passing her lips. In summary...

She needed time alone. "I understand," she whispered. "...Where will you go..?"

"Oh... Somewhere," she decided with a half-hearted shrug. "I'm an impatient person you know- I can't just stay here after all. I'll probably call someone in to look after my house and take a trip to the USA... I have a step-father there," the woman went on, "So if it comes down to it I can always ask him for help. I'm sure it won't come to that though..." Or at least, Mai hoped it didn't come to that, Shizuka translated out into her head. The less people she knew that came in her way the better after all. That was how she was thinking right now.

Even so. "You know that Katsuya and I... We'll always be willing to help you if you need it right?"

The woman snorted, crossing her arms. "Hn! Your brother could use more help from me! ...But... I'll keep that in mind. The doctors will probably want me to come with them to the hospital in any case," she continued, giving a slight yawn. "If you want to come with your friend here, you should probably ask now- Hajosha-san mentioned something about dropping everyone else off near the pier after all."

"...Right." Mai wanted to kill the subject, and fast. Alright then. She'd do that, she supposed. "...Mai-han," she said after another few moments, the woman turning back from where she'd been looking for a watch.

"Hn?"

"...Thank you. ...And..."

* * *

"_Good luck._"

That was what everyone had said a short while after Mai had finally been spotted outside the curtained room, having been given enough permission to step out and sit with the others. Whatever they spoke about was mostly small talk to start with. There wasn't much time until landing any ways though, so while it seemed everyone could guess that Mai was avoiding subjects such as Malik, or the tournament, no one could say much of anything.

It wasn't until the helicopter landed that they could. Shizuka wasn't allowed to come with the helicopter in the end it seemed. But as Mai had predicted, she was being pulled away for 'just in case' reasons, with everyone else checking out perfectly fine. It seemed that the woman's still beating heart had 'betrayed' her as she jokingly put it. What could just be a little stress was enough to set alarms for the paramedics though, and so as the door opened there was only one thing to say after their farewells. After promises to keep contact, promises to follow their 'road'.

"Good luck Mai," Katsuya said honestly, a warm smile on his face. "An'... ...We'll see y' some other time, alrigh'," he added, giving the woman a slight salute.

"Of course," she answered somewhat quietly, tone only slightly 'calmer' than it normally would. "...Good-bye Jonouchi, Yugi... Everyone," she added, bowing her head as the door shut. "Later then..."

Yea. Later. Malik and his family had been the first to leave, having called for a taxi from the copter as they came near- it had been waiting for them in the pier parking lot, and after offering Anzu a ride back to the woman's slight surprise, the family had found themselves leaving without her. It wasn't as though they wouldn't see each other again. After all...

They'd be staying until the end of summer while they smoothed things over with pretty much everything in existence. Whatever 'everything' might be.

Otogi left shortly after that- he _tried_ to leave a number with Shizuka before that... But evidently, Shizuka had caught on all too easy to what he was trying to do. "I'll just ask Honda-han for your apartment phone," she told him, laughing lightly as the teen attempted to hide his disappointment. "That way, I can talk to _both_ of you." And not get in dates, he realized shortly after growling at Honda's sudden grin in response.

And if Shizuka wasn't in danger of being pulled around by these two nuts, then he was happy as... Well, anything he supposed, dropping into a short laughing fit with Honda shortly after realizing this half-way through an 'attack'.

Damn good thing he'd caught that though, or Honda would have a broken nose. …Like _he_ probably did, right now. Given that he got punched in the face. Three times.

Oh well. "Looks like everyone's leaving," Yugi had said after a few moments, himself, Anzu, Shizuka and Honda merely standing there with Katsuya in silence.

"They all have their own 'roads' to take," Anzu said with a small smile, Shizuka nodding in agreement.

"Journeys and dreams... Like Kaiba-han is doing right now," she added with a small nod.

"Paths and goals," Honda finished, staring out at what was now a setting sun. "...Makes me almost wonder what we're going to end up doing in the end," he continued with a sad laugh. "After all of this... After school is over..." Hnn...

"Whatever it is, there's still time right," Shizuka told him, the others turning as the girl smiled. "In the end, no matter what might come... The 'path' we take has a way of showing up for us, doesn't it?"

The others stared for a little while more, before nodding. "Right," Honda said calmly. "...Whatever happens..." The teen let out a long sigh, shaking his head. "...It's been a crazy few days, hasn't it," he laughed.

"Hah! Crazy doesn't even cover it," Anzu answered with a smirk. "As it is," she added somewhat nervously, "I have a bit of explaining to do with my mom..."

"Ahhh... I should probably get a place to sleep as well," Shizuka added, Katsuya preparing to say something before Anzu cut him off.

"You know," she said with a smile, "I don't know if Jonouchi has much for you at Kaiba's house... If you like, you could stay at my house for the night." Eh! But he was about to offer-

...Right. Pajamas. And stuff. "Ah- Really..? I..." The girl turned, her brother nodding and grinning in response.

"Heh... Ev'n 'f I said no, y'd still go anyways!" His head told him as much... Damn visions.

Nonetheless he found himself wrapped in a hug, his sister's grin widening as she pulled back. "Alright then, nihan... I'll stop by tomorrow though so we can have a proper visit alright?"

"Right! Ah-" And after that...

"I'll be heading out myself," Honda said with a curt nod, a slight smirk on his face. "It might not be that late, but after all that happened... Hhhaaaaaahhh... I could use some sleep," he forced out with a yawn, stretching somewhat. Tired? After all that?

He was just on edge..! "H-Hah... We'll see you later then," Yugi responded, their friends each waving as they turned to leave.

"Of course," Anzu told them. "Maybe even tomorrow," she added with a wink.

"Make sure you get some sleep," Honda added from what was already a fair distance away, giving another wave as the others laughed.

"Hah!" Too many nerves... "We'll try, how's tha'," Katsuya shouted.

The teen shrugged, shaking his head somewhat. "Guess it's better than nothing..."

There was no answer to that, Yugi merely shaking his head and watching as Anzu led a somewhat excited Shizuka down and away from the pier. The sun had now set in the distance... All that was left in the sky was a brilliant afterglow of reds and violets, staining the sky in a multitude of pastel colours. A 'half-rainbow', streaking across the clouds...

Everyone was gone, Katsuya found himself thinking as he stared out at the sea, his expression dimming somewhat in the silence. Everyone was... Gone. "Heh... ...Damn," he finally whispered after a few moments, Yugi turning from where he'd stood beside him in silence.

"_...Long day, wasn't it,_" the spirit eventually said, his partner giving him a bit of a look as Katsuya snickered.

"Hah! Puttin' it lightly!" Way lightly! Not that they hadn't said it enough... "I think abou' everyone we know jus' got hell tossed at 'm," he continued quietly, shaking his head.

"Some more than others," Yugi added somewhat wisely, before turning up to his friend. "...Jonouchi-kun..."

Hn? The blond turned, before following his friend's gaze. His chest... His... "Ah... ...Yea..." The scar. Maybe not too extreme in how it came, but certainly a lasting reminder of what occurred afterward. About all the injuries, about all the secrets. "Hey... Yug'," he managed to say, swallowing nervously. "About not tellin' you..."

A sudden rush of wind hit his back, low chuckling meeting his ears while the 'real' Yugi's spirit moved to float above the water they stood by. "_It's over isn't it,_" he said with a shrug, wide eyes closed to match his grin. "_After all that happened, you can't expect me to get upset about it..!_"

"...Er." Seriously? "Yes I ca-"

"No you can't," the other Yugi muttered dryly, cutting the blond off. "We won't let you." He paused, before frowning somewhat. "Or at least, he won't let _me_," he added with a smirk, "Which will have us doing the same thing."

"_It does say something though, when we can take this as 'normal'..._"

Katsuya snorted, shaking his head. "HAH! Like hell this 's normal!" Hahaha, this would be normal when Heaven and Hell switched places damn it. "Any ways..." The gaze moved back down to his arm, where he'd put his duel disk for the moment. His deck of cards had been placed back inside, shuffled and ready to go... And now...

The blond put his hands in his pockets, staring at the sky a little longer. Right now... Somewhere over the seas, Seto would be about two thirds out to her destination. Mokuba would be asleep...

And his big sister wouldn't be frowning for once. If anything, he wondered if the expression that he could dimly see in the back of his mind was closer to maybe... A smile. "...Heh..." Almost made him laugh, that. But the fact was... Until she got back...

She probably still hated him for what he did at that tower. Or maybe she didn't. That would be interesting if it were true in fact! Until then though...

"Hey... Yugi," he said with a smirk, the boy having just finished slipping a deck into his dueldisk with a nod. "Y' ready?"

"Of course," he responded, looking toward Yugi. "And we have our 'witness'..."

"_Psh! Like you need a witness,_" the boy laughed, shaking his head as he took a 'seat' in the air. "_Fight with all you have, both of you!"_

"Y' need t' tell us that," Katsuya responded with a grin, nonetheless moving as he and his friend made enough distance for a field. "This is our final 'Battle City' match! We can't half ass this..!"

"You shouldn't he 'half-assing' anything," his opponent added wryly.

The only response was a shrug, disks clacking together as the game prepared for a start. Eh... He knew that. What he didn't know thankfully was how this duel would end. That would be all left to 'chance' this time. "All set," he called down, his opponent nodding.

"Same!" Hahaha!

"Alrigh'! In that case," he continued, holding a hand out as a film seemed to coat the air. "How abou' I open yer eyes..?"

"_DUEL!"_

* * *

**AN:** And that's a WRAP! Battle City is over... And after 'X' number of breather chapters, the next arc will begin! (Which is actually rather quick when you think about it.)

I tell you, of everything here, the ending is the most difficult part. Jou doesn't know when Kaiba's coming back true, but that handy sixth sense of his isn't letting him worry too much about it... But then there's getting it to that duel, the one we never see...

THAT scene is the only way you can end Battle City. It is the ONLY way! And besides all of that, this super chapter was so so SO plot heavy... You might catch foreshadowing, you might catch plot twists, you _should_ catch everything else...

There was a lot to cover here, and I can only hope that I was able to do it right; you guys all have so much faith in the writing thus far, if I killed all that with one chapter... Nnnnnnnnggggghhh... I don't know what I'd do you know? It didn't end up quite as 'super' in terms of word counts though; I'm trying to cut down, as while re-reading I noticed that I had a tendency of repeating myself.

Any ways, portfolio is slowly coming along- 12 pictures done, 2 WIP, and one more to start and finish following that... And I have to do this by the time the next chapter comes out.

SPEAKING of the next chapter!

CONTEST UPDATE: As said, I'll be taking entries until the first of July. We have **5 entries**, from **three people**; _when I post the next update, I'll post all the summaries and begin voting_.

This is kinda because by the time I update the NEXT chapter, it'll have been Canada Day (July 1st) already, hahahaha.

OTHER NEWS... No pictures obviously (no time!), but lots of music for you! So have fun with that!

Until next time, enjoy the chapter!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Sorry if the switching confused you Imadork- And... Sorry again, seeing how this chapter had a number of those as well...

Sometimes, I can get away with keeping the POV's in separate chapters, but when the loose ends are being tied you really can't.

And I DO love when I get all the obscure references. I DO. (Hehehehe.)

Annoying doesn't quite cut it here though I think; though at least poor Jou was able to somewhat hold his tongue enough to keep it to a whisper.

And yep! He finally got what was his Iona!

Suffering is all good, but the fact is, our dear friend 'Melvin' would probably have just enjoyed that; masochist remember? (Best part is, the simpering was cannon, hohoho~)

Fluffy does indeed get a mention! And don't worry about the food, Bakura's got it covered. ...Ewww rations...

Denial denial denial! She'll have a good few weeks to sort THAT out! Anzu's problems have both just begun and ended though; while the one with the mind-confusion has actually settled down for the most part, we'll be seeing a few _other_ issues soon enough...

For the most part though, she's fine now that she knows the rest of the Ishtar's are cool with things. Everything else is just a matter of 'oh, I think I just called you Pharaoh again.' 'Yea, you did.' 'Sorry about that.' 'It's cool.'

If you think THAT was drama... ...

Look, more drama. (Hohohoho~) Hopefully not the overplayed kind, I always wonder about that... Any ways, enjoy!

Spicy chicken and sausage gumbo huh? Sounds good Maggiemay. (I'd have to decline though; I have a sensitive tongue when it comes to spices.)

PB&J eh? ...I will have to agree, hehehe.

Oh! Another entry! Okay Maggie, I'll keep it logged away then!

...

Interesting announcer though, hoh...

Well, in any case, enjoy the chapter everyone!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's raring to start up the next arc! Huzzah!

* * *

'Dusk and Dawn' refers to both the end of this arc and the 'start' of the next one. Or rather, the start of a 'journey', which the others refer to. It also ties into the time they get back, but that's beside the point.

* * *

Things have been moved around here a little, but that's mostly for the sake of keeping it smooth. Rather than Kaiba interrupt what is meant to be a rather powerful scene, I had her come in at the tail end of it...

And the fact is, she has a lot on her mind right now, so she can spare a few silent moments.

* * *

Poor Anzu- she's in the most awkward place possible right now thanks to that mind-merge; she sees the others as her family, but that's only because of Malik's memories. And because she knows they're Malik's memories, she knows she isn't supposed to feel that close to those three. At the same time though, she can't help it-

Malik's got a similar thing going on in terms of friendship with the others actually; most of Yugi's friends trust Malik as far as they can spit (And while that's a fair distance in some cases, that's still not much), so in the end he _feels_ like they should be trusting him, and he feels almost betrayed that they don't... But he also knows that those are _Anzu_'s memories, not _his,_ which means that they have every right.

And yes, Anzu stole Mokuba and Ishizu's line; again, for the sake of fluidity. Also, Anzu's got a clear idea of what's supposed to happen due to the obvious.

* * *

Fun fact; the name of the 'Winged Dragon of Ra' is 'Raa no Yokushinryuu'. Raa being 'Ra' of course, the 'no' links it to 'Yokushinryuu'... 'Sun God Dragon'. While this CAN translate to 'Sun God Dragon of Ra'... It more likely means 'The Sun God Dragon, Ra'...

For simplicitie's sake, I put 'The Dragon of the Sun'.

* * *

Now hang on, Anzu's 'there's not much time left' monologue is gone. Well...

That's because there's at least one more year for them! There's a lot to get through... 'R', 'Doma', 'KC'... But in Canon, these were smushed into a much smaller scale of time!

* * *

Lots of lines were cut... But why? I'm sure that the biggest question is Seto simply vanishing. Well, the fact is, she couldn't very well do this any more; if she had her lines (which would have no doubt been just as hammy as in Canon, albeit coated wit obvious distaste as opposed to rage... What with fanfic Seto already proving herself as someone who has toned down a little more than the canon form at this point.)... Well, the fact is, she'd likely be cornered by the others.

Because while a majority of them still don't like her, Katsuya has at least proven himself as someone who kinda needs her alive. And while the others don't really get this, they'll respect that...

Therefore, they will become even bigger thorns in her side if need be. Most of the reason she left though was simply because she didn't want to even _speak_ to Jou at the moment. She's still confused and such... It's understandable. The fact is, leaving the tower is Kaiba's way of not dealing with the possibility of snapping... Again. Except in a more embarrassing manner.

Because while decking Jou in the face is great in some ways, it kinda attracts unwanted attention. So yea... Lots of cut lines but in the end it was just her saying 'alright Yugi you're king now, by the way the tower blows up in an hour. Have fun everyone.'

Now it's more like she's saying 'I really don't want to talk to you guys, but I'll at least tell you the tower's blowing up in an hour so you don't get in its way.'

She's consciously trying to reign in her anger guys; Mokuba's words dug deep after all.

* * *

Originally, they had an hour. However, to make it a more obvious press for time (Also to prevent a certain someone from killing himself when trying to find Seto), I shortened it.

* * *

Seto's scene was... Really hard, to say the least. Then again, hardly anything involving her isn't hard but regardless of the fact. Other than romantic interests, these lines either come from or are extended from the actual manga. It's actually part of what made it MORE difficult... After all.

Kaiba, in the manga, was never directly part of the arc following this. He very briefly appears on the last page, but that's it. He abandons his grudge completely in Battle City and moves on, while nonetheless silently saying that he would fight Yugi some other day.

In the anime though, there's still a lot more. Not to mention that R, which is considered a canon part of the manga series as it is, includes him rather bluntly telling Yugi that he's the only one who can defeat him.

'_So hang on Usagi, how do you abandon a grudge like that but still end up obsessed with beating the guy_?' Well... You don't. Not really. But that's why it's called character _development._ Because while Seto really WOULD like to say she's dropped it all, she really hasn't...

But she's taken a big step forward nonetheless, and you can bet that she'll be less angry from now on. But then again... So was anime Kaiba, at least in Japanese. (No really; from Doma onward, Kaiba was considerably more civil.)

As for her feelings on Jonouchi... She'll address them. Someday. Eventually. It's all rather confusing for her, and the fact is, she literally _cannot_ think of all of it right now.

(So she does the next best thing and runs away? What, that's not- Actually... It kinda _is_ a Kaiba reaction... After all, when was the last time you saw Kaiba _not_ just walk away from something before anyone could say much to him? At least before they did, and it ended with him leaving in a bitter huff?)

* * *

San Fran? Fun fact, but in the Doma arc of the anime, that's around where I2's building is. Given that it's an American Company, it would make sense... And given how involved I2 is with the next arc, this still makes sense; we just aren't entering Doma this time around.

Besides, you'll find out what they did in San Fransisco _later._ (Most of the fun was Mokuba's fun and not Seto's, sadly.)

* * *

The helicopter being used here is based on the 'Boeing Vertol CH-46 Sea Knight', which is... Or at least was (I'm not sure if the USA is the only one who stopped using them) used in Canada, the US, Saudi Arabia, Sweden, and _Japan_.

It's a tandem rotor transport helicopter, and was used to transport troops, supplies, and equipment. The crew consists of two pilots, a crew chief, and in terms of millitary, two gunners... For the sake of the fanfic, we're going to say those gunners have been replaced with paramedics though. In addition, it has a capacity of 25 troops...

So taking in about three airship pilots, two guards, Isono, Kuzushi, one corpse, one comatose patient, one /formerly/ comatose patient (Mai), along with ten extra people is quite fine. (As that, counting the crew, totals to 25, if you count the corpse as a living person.)

Thankfully, since one of the 25 is a corpse, it makes up for the extra space Ryuzaki's bed takes. Mai, thankfully, woke up just before they went to load her up. (Though she's still pretty much been seated in a corner to calm down. For... Obvious reasons.)

* * *

And if you think THIS was choppy and fast, take a look at the original. It was WORSE... Ish. In the end, there's a lot of emotion here that wasn't obviously there, if you catch my meaning.

* * *

Whaaaat, you thought I'd send Malik to jail or something! No way! Actually, the funny thing is, the idea of pressing charges against him won't likely come to Seto's mind... There's too much of her subconscious that's accepting the fact that there were 'two Malik's, and the one responsible is gone for good.

'Iriyouhajoshya' is the Japanese word for 'Paramedic'. Hence the two taking half of each name; 'Iriyou' and 'Hajosha'. (Interestingly enough, the 'Iriyou' part effectively means doctor, being made up of the kanji 'doctor' and 'cure'. The 'Hajosha' part is made up of the kanji for 'assistant', 'rescue', and 'person'... Though that last one is more the 'someone' kanji, it isn't the 'hito' kanji.)

* * *

Mai's shock isn't just me pushing her scene to the end; it's accuracy. Mai's just escaped a severely crippling trauma that was all in her head. Shock is putting her current condition lightly, and the doctors were doing what's best when they took her to the back room and away from everyone else. Swarming Mai, particularly in that state, would make things worse. There's a time for the 'power of friendship'...

Shock, however, sure as hell isn't it.

* * *

Anzu's scene is another difficult one; both on par, moreso, and less-so than Kaiba's earlier one. Really, there are moments where it seems like each scene is trying to out-do the other. The fact is, Anzu's scene is one which had to be done... Either now, or very soon. You don't just share memories like that and sever all ties- it's destructive, and moreover, thanks to the delicate nature of it all, _actually out of character-_ Anzu wouldn't want to drop it, and now that each one has the equivalent of a mini version of the other for a conscience (Think of it as when you ask yourself what 'so and so' would do- except without asking. It's a second set of instinct essentially.), Malik would be hesitant to do so himself.

At the same time, the entire nature of the scene is _very_ awkward... Therefore, it's awkward to type, therefore, it _sounds_ awkward. (In the end, that's probably what gives the scene its heart though.)

* * *

Bakura's reappearance varies depending on the medium; in the manga, he just... Woke up on the shore of alcatraz. He ended up putting together that rather cruel joke with Mai, where the latter pretended to be... Dead. (AHHH WHY.)

In the anime, he woke up in his bed, feeling hungry. This both does and doesn't make sense; on the one hand, why is he hungry when Yami Bakura freaking ate the evening before? On the other, I _think_ that one of the beliefs concerning those possessed is that they'll be hungry afterward. Since Bakura is never willingly letting his darker half in... Welll...

Any ways, they find him in the kitchen, sitting on the floor, mowing down on EVERYTHING. So here's me referencing that and being silly about it.

Rather silly how no one addressed this issue, though it seems that in the world of anime and manga it's always 'don't ask don't tell'.

* * *

Originally in the manga, Bakura got his ring back around now. This probably happened in the anime, but I'm not particularly sure. Actually, I think the anime had that weird church scene before his next 'major' appearance and that was it. (Weird.)

Bakura WILL get his ring back... But not in the canon way. And the fact is, Bakura isn't due to show for a while so I can postpone it for a short while.

Which is good; I actually have plans for that.

* * *

If the ending seems somewhat rushed, it really isn't. It's just... Well, there's not much to say about the Ishtar's 'leave'. Because the fact is... They'd have said it all on the chopper, and I skipped Mai's 'small talk' to place more emphasis on how quickly that time went.

To tell the truth, everyone left rather quick, and almost sporadically even in the anime. The manga simply skipped from watching Kaiba leave to the start of Yugi and Jonouchi's unseen duel for Red-Eyes.

* * *

Musical Notes

I just realized how damn bizarre my musical tastes during this chapter were, or at least 'compared' to this chapter.

Those songs? Largely covers again, but if you want the originals, I can give you that.

BitCrushe by Kasane Teto and Hatsune Miku, along with Mukuro Attack, Code:Variant, and a song called 'Astronote' (Or is it Astronaut? There's no translation, and katakana can be read differently...)

In any case, I've finally got my portfolio done! So, until next time!


	106. Chapter 105

**The Scorpion and the Butterfly**

* * *

It had been seven days since the event of Battle City.

She wasn't sure how, but it seemed that seven days was all it took for everything to 'blow over' so to speak despite how little time had passed. Maybe it was because of distance between everything; Kaiba was dealing with the repercussions from an entirely separate country after all, so there was only so much that those related to the dead and comatose could do in retaliation to the events. Or perhaps it was because the culprit had 'died' in the end, leaving the vengeance already dealt with.

Regardless of how quickly things had moved on however she was still there in Domino, for at least until later that evening. A fact that left her with considerable time to explore the city. Shizuka sighed as she looked around her former home down, people wandering the streets and going about their daily businesses. Occasionally in the plaza she was at a few kids would try using their own copies of the duel disk. Summoning holographic monsters to clash, flipping cards to their defense... After all that happened however, she could only look at those so long.

They'd brought Keiichi's ruined duel disk with on the helicopter it seemed. It was with him in the hospital now, but when she saw the blood along the sides and the scratch marks caused by clashing blades...

The girl shook her head as the other Malik's haunting cackle came to mind, standing up to move from the bench. She shouldn't be thinking about this she told herself, pulling a bit of hair from her eyes. There'd been a reason why she came down here after all. It was wonderful visiting with her brother, but some time with another person would be nice before she left.

Not to mention she'd left her phone at Anzu's during her first night in town as it seemed. Whoops.

"Hahhh..." Again Shizuka sighed, cracking and rubbing her neck while a few pigeons pecked at the ground. "This would be so much easier," she found herself muttering, "If he wasn't on 'house arrest'..." Supposedly, from what an e-mail that arrived the next day, her brother's unorthodox grounding was 'punishment' for not saying anything about the duels or where the scar came from.

For some reason, she thought there would be more to the reason behind the action despite that being enough reason for the one instilling the punishment. Being able to take direct damage in reality wasn't really 'normal' after all, and in the end Katsuya hadn't said much concerning it-

"Guess who~"

"G-GHHAH!"

Shizuka jumped as a pair of hands grabbed her shoulders, before hurriedly turning back to look accusingly at the source. "A-Anzu-chan..!"

"Hehehehe!" The woman in question merely grinned somewhat, crossing her arms. "Sorry, Shizuka-chan... I couldn't resist- you were drifting off more than even your brother!" Ah- That didn't mean- At the look on her face Anzu merely laughed again, before shaking it off and letting the grin fade to a more appropriate smile. "Sorry I'm late," she began, adjusting the vest she was wearing. "I lost track of time; I got your phone though," she continued, pulling it from her pocket to hand it to her friend.

"Ah-" Shizuka smiled, nodding. "Thanks; was it too hard to find Anzu-chan?"

"Nope." Again a grin came over her face, the woman stepping aside somewhat to allow her friend some room. "It was just on the table. So," she continued as they walked, "What have you been doing until now?"

A shrug. "Not much... Mostly, I've been thinking... It's been a while since I saw this city," she continued, laughing nervously. "I've been here a week, but I still haven't managed to see everything..!"

Anzu chuckled, shaking her head. "I would imagine... Has your stir crazy brother has been keeping you busy?"

At the mention of Katsuya she sighed, nodding her head. 'Busy' put it lightly... "Hahhh... It's horrible," she groaned. "He can't even go in the yard, so he keeps asking me to duel him during his off work hours..!"

More laughter, the pair slowly walking off from the center of the plaza. "Well, if everyone in the building is keeping him inside, I'm not surprised... Did you humor him at all with the dueling?"

"Hnnn..." With the dueling? How to explain that... "I tried..."

"Tried," Anzu repeated somewhat blankly.

Shizuka laughed weakly, the sound quickly dying as she held her arms close. "It's a little hard to look at even a deck of cards now, after..."

The elder of the pair blinked, biting her lip and turning away. "Right... I understand," she said quietly. "...Hey," she decided, putting a smile back on her face. "How about I show you around town today? You're leaving this evening right?"

Ah? She nodded, brightening slightly. "That's right; I was going to take the nine o'clock train actually..." It was going to be a long night with that in mind.

But not a long day. "We have from now until around dinner then right," Anzu asked with a nod. "You want some time to say good-bye to everyone too, don't you?"

Again she nodded. "Yep- Kyouko-han has something set up already actually... I have until five." She looked around Anzu as they came to the end of the park they'd entered from the plaza, continuing on and smiling. "So... Where to first then? I was going to visit the hospital," she began, "But... I think that should be last neh..?" Unless she wanted to end up depressed for the entire day at least...

Don't think about that though, don't think about it, she told herself. Otherwise she'd be depressed anyways, and then Anzu would get depressed and- "Ahhh... Alright then." Anzu crossed her arms, frowning with thought for a moment. "Hnnn... ...Oh! I have an idea," she said with a smirk, the expression looking decidedly unlike herself briefly. "Come on," she continued, the smirk moving into a more typical grin as her friend sighed in relief. "I want to show you something I remembered recently!" Remembered..? Heh..!

"Ah- Anzu-chan, what do you mean remembered? A-Anzu-chan..!"

That was about all she could manage to get out as she was pulled off to who knew where.

* * *

There was something to be said about missing a phone call. Generally, missing one was all it took. The next time it rang, the first missed round would have its owner on high alert so the phone would be picked up at the first ring. Maybe it would be missed one more time depending on location, but regardless. That was generally all it took, and he expected the same from who ever he called.

But no! That didn't happen at all! Five times. He called _five times_ to this phone, and _still _there was no answer! "Grrrhh..." Katsugi, as only a choice few people called him, scowled as he stared at the screen. Five times was only the count for the first day; he'd called at bi-hourly intervals during the daylight hours since then, and he expected a response. With that in mind he pushed the button on his phone to turn it back on and check his messages, only for his sour mood to deepen in response.

No response. Nothing in his inbox.

He was still being ignored.

"Rgggg..." The bespectacled boy continued to scowl, bag still in hand from where he stood outside his apartment. It was probably dumb luck alone that didn't have him on the streets those last few days; dumb luck and the youngest of his sisters at least. '_He'll be gone before school starts_', Sen had told them, both Cho and Kansai merely crossing their arms with mixed expressions of annoyance in response to the pleas she gave. '_Just wait until then! Please!_' It would seem that what little room they had in their heart for himself was more than enough for Sen; her pleas had worked. He was allowed to stay, not that he figured it would be long; Ryuzaki would call soon he told himself. At the time after all, he'd assumed it was just a matter of setting things up.

Not getting an answer for so long however, changed his opinion on the matter considerably. In fact, it sent a cold feeling of dread down his back, a feeling he hadn't had for a while despite what he told himself. It wasn't the same as what happened during a duel. When he'd lost against 'Jonouchi', and against Yugi. That was a different 'dread', mixed more with detest and rage. It could hardly be _called_ dread even.

This was an older feeling. A more 'pure' feeling if one could call it that. Ryuzaki after all, was easily annoyed. Pestering him enough would get a response with ease, that much he knew. And the fact was, while neither could very well stand the other for too long he was the closest thing to a friend that he dared to let near.

Friends, in the 'nice' sense, were hardly reliable after all. Pestering someone into aid was far easier and less likely to backfire as painfully in the end. Or at least, he'd assumed so; by day seven, he was almost wondering if it would have been more of an investment to bother with the whole 'friendship' deal. Maybe then he'd have an idea on what was going on.

The more logical side of him however, decided to just remind him that he was just worried... And that it would do him more good to admit the fact rather than trying to make sense of it all. Which begged an entirely different question to tell the truth.

What in the hell had Ryuzaki out of commission for the week in the first place? His phone had been on for a while; and ignored during that time. Now it seemed that it had either been switched off, or the battery had simply run dry, its signal long gone. So the answer to this question? There was none.

Next question then he thought mentally, staring at the screen of his phone with a frown. If he couldn't find out 'what', then how about _where_? From what the handy little phone tracker he accessed online, Ryuzaki's defenseless phone had apparently _returned_ from Osaka to Domino-Tokyo, left Tokyo to sit over the ocean, paused momentarily there (_hang on what_?), and finally stopped moving around an uninhabited island that had formerly been home to a KaibaCorp warehouse.

Something that had been replaced by, according to Google Earth at least, a tower.

The phone however, had continued to move following a number of moments at that location. It returned, or seemed to be returning at the very least, to Tokyo... By the same route it had taken in fact.

And then it died without warning. So, the answer to this question?

Either Ryuzaki had gone home and never bothered charging his phone or turning it on, which was hardly likely...

Or something had happened- And he was dead, either somewhere in the ocean, or somewhere in Tokyo.

Even he had to admit that 'death' was something to avoid regardless of connections and concerns. The idea that it was _possible_ however... That he _could _be dead, that he could be cursing a ghost's name right now...

That, he decided, was the main source of his dread.

Next question then, his prying subconscious decided stiffly. If something happened to Ryuzaki, he should have been admitted to a hospital somewhere; so which one would he have gone to?

There were quite a few to choose from to say the least- perhaps not as many as say, Shinjuku, but there was certainly more than one. Which was why he was now closing up this cheap phone of his and instead pulling out a map and a marker from the side. The map was laid out before him on the pavement of the apartment lot- and the marker lid was pulled off and momentarily left hanging out between his lips as he ripped it off with his teeth. Alright.

To work then. "The closest hospital to the route he was taking is here," he muttered, marking it off along with the route to its final point. "Located in the south, the General Hospital. Chances of being moved to the Children's hospital," he continued under his breath, drawing a small 'x' across the paper, "Are minimal..." The building was too far away after all. Unless...

He stiffened, a new thought coming to mind. It was too far away... Unless the transport didn't come from rescue by boat along whatever 'trip' his phone had apparently taken. Unless Ryuzaki had been picked up by something else. Unless...

The boy frowned, moving the marker along a second route toward another of the more distant buildings. "...Nearest hospital with _aircraft access_," he hissed, standing up with an almost agitated glare as he stared at the sheet and the answers it left him with.

Domino University Hospital.

* * *

"The museum looks the same as ever," she had muttered, wandering the halls with Anzu at her side. The trip to the building had gone relatively smoothly, if not relatively silent aside from constant questions of where exactly they were going to say the least. When they finally _did_ arrive at where they were going however, there was a bit of silence as she gave her guide a confused stare. It was, after all, Domino Museum.

The _last_ place she'd expect Anzu to go out of her way to visit after all that had happened a week before. After the chaos with Malik. After all the horrific moments spent concerning Egyptian gods and shadow-formed monsters and chants her brother was unable to hold himself from repeating.

After the raised scar that remained from Noa's virtual _hell_, which she'd seen without meaning to after walking into her room with a question the first evening back. The scar that had formed only because the brain had truly believed the body to be in danger.

Yet here they were, regardless. Passing statues of demons and gods, of kings and priests, passing varied tablets and heading for one room in particular.

The room with the 'Tablets of Memory'. "So this is the tablet," she eventually said when they came across it, staring at the enormous slate of stone. Two actually she corrected, glancing at the other well protected slab. Two. "These are..."

_Incredible, _to say nothing more. Anzu nodded, arms folded in front of her as she stared at them almost distantly. "Yep- This is what started everything off. On Marine day," she explained, turning to her friend, "I took the other Yugi out around town to try and cheer him up. Yugi thought he seemed a little depressed," she continued. "He'd asked me to show him around." That was how it started?

Strange beginnings. "Eh..." So then... Continuing on this tangent... "So you went on a date that day," she asked, jumping at the response she received.

Anzu almost instantly tensed, blushing somewhat as she turned to the girl. "AH- It wasn't a date," the woman protested, face heating up. "B-Besides," she added with a cough, still blushing rather furiously, "Now that half my memories see him as some sort of great and mystical King... I... Hah..." She sighed, shaking it off. "I suppose in a way he actually is a 'great and mystical king', but regardless... With those thoughts suddenly there, it's hard to convince yourself otherwise..." She promptly crossed her arms, frowning and muttering under her breath. "I mean... He doesn't act like one most of the time but..." Ah...

...She should probably stop arguing with herself, Shizuka thought almost nervously. "Ehhh... A-Anzu-chan," she called out with a cough. "You were saying?"

The woman turned, blinking. "Eh? Right," she said with a laugh, shaking her self. "As I was saying... For most of the day, he was in a relatively similar mood to what he'd been in recently. It was a bit of a pain to be honest... However, when we came here, that feeling seemed to vanish. These tablets," she explained, sighing yet again at some hidden reasoning her friend was unaware of, "Somehow, they're both related to the other Yugi's memory... Though in the end," Anzu muttered dryly, "They don't reveal much about him at all..!" Oh-

"They don't?" Ah- Hold on then! If she knew that- "A-Anzu-chan! Does that mean you can read... _All_ of this," she asked incredulously, gesturing to the stones before them with wide eyes.

She nodded, the red flush from seconds before fading somewhat despite her immense embarrassment. "Yea... Actually," she continued with a small laugh, hiding a smile behind her fist, "That's what I wanted to show you. The first tablet isn't much," Anzu explained with a slight shrug, gesturing to the stone at the side. "Other than descriptions of the monsters you see on it, the only other writing of interest are the summoning chants for the Gods. ...And I think we've heard enough of those for a lifetime," she added with yet another dry laugh, scratching her head as Shizuka did the same.

"Hahaha... Yea..." And many many more, she added mentally. So if that was _that_ tablet... "...What about the other one then?"

Her friend gained a rather odd expression, Shizuka almost frowning in response. This look didn't seem particularly safe... "Hehehe... Take a look." Take-

She turned, staring at the tablet for a moment. It was exactly as the others described... The Gods at the top, someone with Yugi's hair on the side with the Dark Magician... "I know that this one is supposed to be the 'other Yugi'," she began, frowning as she looked to the fairly noticeable carving. "Ah... This other one though..." The frown deepened somewhat, and she looked back. "It's Kaiba-han right?" After the entire mess concerning genders she really couldn't be sure...

But Anzu again nodded, her well intentioned smirk growing wide with mirth. "Hnhnhnhn..! Right; when we started out, we thought the tablet was depicting a battle between the two," she began, arms still crossed while she explained. "In fact," she muttered almost darkly, "Ishizu seemed to want us to believe that..." Well, if it got them to fight she supposed... "However..." However? Again she chuckled, gesturing to the rest of the tablet. "As it turns out, it's the exact opposite," she explained. "The tablet has them both fighting off great evil together! In fact," she went on, chuckling dying down, "From what I can tell... This tablet is actually a dedication to the Other Yugi's memory, made by the Priest... The 'Queen' I guess," Anzu added somewhat off-handedly. "It almost makes me wonder what their relationship was like..." With a dedication like that...

She supposed it made her wonder as well. "So... Kaiba-han's 'other life' cared a lot more about him than we thought then..." Her friend nodded, and Shizuka smiled. "Hahah..." Really, how interesting... "Well... It's almost like history is repeating itself then isn't it?"

"Ah- Repeating," Anzu asked somewhat incredulously, turning back as her arms dropped to the sides.

Shizuka nodded, looking back to the tablet. "The 'priest' depicted is apparently male... And Kaiba-han pretends to be the same. And, like the Priest," she continued with a quick nod, "It was thought that she hated Yugi! However... From what nihan tells me," she stated, "I don't think that's the case. They might fight," Shizuka went on, shrugging. "And they might have an extremely bitter rivalry... But I think that if it came down to it, Kaiba-han would risk her life for him; both him and nihan both. She might not admit it," she laughed, "But she cares a good deal about her friends!"

Even if she didn't say they were. "Ah- Friends with Kaiba," Anzu muttered, eyes closing somewhat in thought. "... Hn! A few days ago," she said somewhat quietly after a few silent moments, "I'd have said that was impossible. But... A few days ago..." Well...

A few days ago, things had been different, hadn't they?

* * *

"Where are you going?"

He didn't answer the somewhat nasally tone as it floated from behind him, instead busying himself with his continued search of the apartment for what had somehow wound up lost within yet again. "Out," he said somewhat flatly, wishing to say as little as he possibly could.

"Out to _stay_," the woman in the living room questioned, looking up from a series of papers with raised eyebrows.

The boy paused, sunlight bringing a glare against his glasses before he shook his head and turned away from the semi-blinding light. "I don't know," he said flatly, standing up with a spiderweb-patterned wallet in hand. "Stop asking."

"Hard enough for us to pay for the apartment without highschool fees," she drawled, raising her voice a little more as her brother walked stiffly out of the bedroom. He knew that damn it, he _knew_ how tight things were, and he'd offered a way to pay but they'd refused! So stop pushing the subject! Just stop..!

He wanted to shout that right now but before he could...

As Katsugi's eyes met those of his sister's he turned away, Kansai's own gaze far overpowering his own. It didn't matter, he told himself, pushing it from the back of his mind. Not any more. And it wasn't as though he wanted to stay with the same people who believed in all-or-nothing when it came to his 'tuition fund'. "I'll be back later," he instead told her, adjusting his glasses and he slipping his somewhat worn shoes on. "If Sen asks, I'm at the park."

"Like last time," Kansai responded, snorting incredulously. The sound echoed about the small empty apartment with an almost haunting tone, her brother easily able to picture the look of utter distaste on her face. "Hah! As if- you had her running around for hours. You know better than to get her worked up like that," she added darkly, her younger brother again pausing in his leave as he stiffened. "Remember what happened last time..?" Last time...

Tch! "Fine then," he snarled, tone far more similar to his usual 'public' sneer. "Don't tell her! She'll keep asking either way though"

"Then tell her where you're going for once, dumbass!"

"She'll just follow me," he protested.

"Oh, is _that _it again?" Yes it was! It was, now just-

"Just-" The boy grit his teeth, wrenching the door open and slamming it shut behind him before he could hear his sister's response. Screw it, he snarled in the back of his mind, storming down the hall to the staircase. Screw her, screw Chou, screw everything about that place! They'd probably just be having leftover rice anyways, it wasn't as though he wanted any... And Sen was probably busy as it was, so why was he so worried that she'd try and follow?

Another door was opened and thrown shut, his face red and his footsteps as heavy as his feet could possibly bring them to be. Really... If he'd at least made it a fair distance through the tournament he'd have probably held off the complaints until he left but no! He had to lose his top card to some blond scumbag, leaving him unable to even _cheat_ his way through the tournament! The _snake_... Stupid, wretched '_It's your own damn fault', _his conscience sneered and-

"RRGGHH!" A stone was angrily kicked from his path, wallet stowed in his jacket pocket before he finally bothered to to close the sides somewhat. Stupid, he growled to himself, continuing to kick at the stones and trash littering his path, stupid! And watch; Ryuzaki probably managed to break an arm or something while on a boat or... Or...

...Come to think he thought to himself with his ever present scowl, just what brought him back to Tokyo in the first place? The kid he'd 'hired' to steal Jonouchi's deck mentioned someone similar in appearance to him, but this was around the same time that he'd received a mail from him saying he was 'disqualified'. So with that in mind...

...No, he told himself, crossing yet another street on his trek to the hospital he'd decided made the most sense. Ryuzaki played along with him when he mouthed Yugi off. Ryuzaki had been the one to grudgingly thank him for the tip on the latest tournament, giving an honest 'thanks' rather than doing what he himself would have and being smug and closed off about it. There was no way he wouldn't have done the same in regards to the supposed 'King's friend. No way he'd have gone from shouting threats at his side to 'joining the enemy' so to speak.

So then what had he been doing _here_ damn it! _WHY was he here!_ The answer to that question...

With the hospital standing before him, he supposed he was about to finally get one.

* * *

By the time they'd left the museum, the sun's position left little to question on how much time they had left for the day together. The clock of course offered a little more aid in that regard, but it was nonetheless obvious that 'high noon' had passed, given the shadows that no longer sat directly beneath them in the sun.

It was now two o'clock; Anzu was to meet with Yugi around three in the middle of the very plaza that she and Shizuka had met up in according to the woman, and so they decided to head back rather than distract themselves with anything else they could do.

"Sorry about the 'tour'," Anzu ended up saying with a somewhat apologetic laugh. "I'd honestly thought we wouldn't take so long at the museum... I was even going to stop by the aquarium where your brother fought Kajiki," she added, rubbing the back of her neck. Kajiki?

"Oh- The Okinawan champion," she asked, receiving a nod in response. Hnnn... She closed her eyes for a moment, nodding as she pulled up any memory on what she knew of him. "I think Keichi told me about him... The fish duelist right?"

Another nod. "That's right," Anzu said. "Kajiki fights with a fish deck. He's not a bad fisherman either," she added with a smile. The expression quickly twisted into a scowl however, the woman turning away with a rather steamed look. "Of course," she muttered darkly, "The first time we found this out he used it to lure Yugi into a duel..." Er... What? "That's behind us though," the woman decided with a shrug, a smile coming back into place. "In the end everyone is fighting for something after all, however desperately. Kajiki was, and still is, no different than us."

"Right." Of course. Though that mood swing was a little disturbing... Shizuka stared at her friend a short while longer, before shaking herself. "No different... Ah... Anzu-chan," she asked, coughing lightly. "Since that day, has anything been..." She averted her gaze, falling silent as she looked for the word. "Ah... ...Different," she offered. Not quite the word she wanted but... Close enough really.

The woman blinked. "...Different," she repeated, the two stopping in the middle of the small market street. She paused a moment, before realization dawned across her face. "Ah. You mean after everything else," she continued, turning away. There was a short bit of silence, followed by a small shrug in response. "I suppose it's a _little _different," she admitted. "My mom seemed quick to point out a growing temper the other day, but I think she's more surprised by how quick I can throw that off now. It's strange," Anzu went on, brushing a bit of hair from her eyes. "And I'm sure that Malik is dealing with the same thing, but it almost seems like cheating; if I force myself to think of the memories that aren't mine... About all that he went through, all that happened to him... And quickly pull my thoughts back... I realize that there's really little I have a right to get upset about. Moreover, I _can't_ get upset about it- it actually seems to calm me down quicker than anything else," the woman sighed, shaking her head. "Ah... Try not to tell anyone else though," she added quickly, laughing nervously as her friend stared. "It's one thing to be reminded when Egypt is involved, it's another when I'm constantly drawing on it to alter my own emotions..!"

Errr... That was true, but what was she supposed to say to that? How did she even try and share that with anyone, it was completely..- ...Hahhhhh... "Alright," Shizuka answered with a swallow, shaking her head. Moodswings solved by... Moodswings. "I understand." Sort of. Almost.

This was just confusing really... Maybe it would be better if she just left for the hospital no- "Ahh... Okht," a familiar voice protested from a distance, the two blinking and turning toward the source. "You don't want those ones, they're not as good as-"

"_Malik,_" another voice answered, the words more or less left as gibberish in her ears._ "You're speaking in Japanese again._"

"..._Oh,_" the first answered rather lamely, a shock of blond hair now visible amid the crowd.

Ah- That was- "Malik-han," Shizuka called out in surprise, the Egyptian turning at the sound. "And Ishizu-han," the girl added, Malik's sister following his gaze. "...You're... At the market," she asked almost confusedly, the others bearing similar expressions before responding.

"Ah... Yea," Malik eventually said, slowly replacing the look with a smile. "Since we're staying for a little longer than planned," he explained confidently, "We had to make a grocery run. I remembered this place from whe-" He froze, coughing as he hurriedly corrected himself. "Er... I just remembered it. In any case," he continued a little more positively, "We were thinking of trying sukiyaki today, so we're picking out the vegetables-"

"Oh- Sukiyaki," Anzu repeated with bright eyes, cutting in with a smile. "What do you have so far," she pressed, the question gaining an almost tired sigh from Ishizu in response.

"Malik... You're the one who felt like having sukiyaki..." Oh- That was right, Ishizu probably wouldn't press for Japanese food would she...

"Ah- but it's really good," her brother told her, "Trust me!"

"Have you actually _had_ sukiyaki?"

He blinked, smile dropping momentarily. "...Well... No," he coughed, "But it's still good!"

"You realize we won't be able to eat all of this when we get home right?

"All the better to make it while we're here then!"

Another defeated sigh, Anzu and Shizuka still awaiting their response as the elder of the siblings smiled. "We've bought tofu and noodles," she told them. "However, we're still trying to decide which mushrooms to get."

Ah... Mushrooms? Well, this _was_ a produce stand she supposed... "Hnn... You're stuck on mushrooms," Anzu asked, looking to the side. "You're getting shiitake right? Those ones are really the best for this kind of dish, you just need to slice them properly..!"

"AH- That's what I was just saying," Malik added, a muttered '_you got that from her memory_' passing over him completely. "But Ishizu thinks that it'd be better to get enokitake, since we could put some in salad.."

There was a confirming nod from the woman, a slight frown coming over her face. "I'm worried about leftovers..."

"Ach- Okht," he snorted, "Between myself and Rishid you should be more worried about not having enough!"

"I'm still worried..."

"Ahahaha... Well, you could always get both," Anzu offered, rubbing the back of her head as the others turned. "And then, if there _is_ left over," she coughed, "Just use the shiitake in another dish... Such as a soup..."

"Ah... That's a good point," Malik muttered, his sister giving him a somewhat flat look as he turned. "Heh- alright then! Let's do that, I think the enokitake is over here... Thanks Anzu," he added quickly, looking around his sister again as the teen nodded.

"It's fine..! I'm sure you'd have thought of it in the end..!" She waved somewhat as the Egyptian's left, Shizuka finding herself left with a frown.

"...Those two," she ended up saying, her friend turning in slight confusion. "...So Malik-han is slipping up with his memories as well then?" And it seemed a little worse than Anzu's to be honest...

Anzu turned, smile faltering a little as she gave an almost depressed nod. "Yea, he has. I suppose he at least has a better use though- what he learned growing up is all great, but it's hardly applicable to the 'real world'! All this..." She sighed, shaking her head as they continued down the street. "In the end, while the memories remain I'm just glad it's all over. We can enjoy the rest of the summer, and maybe when I go to school, Malik will be doing the same in his own country! It might not be like our class system," she laughed, "But-"

"Is it really all over," Shizuka found herself asking, stopping in place for a moment. A feeling of dread was coming over her. A dark, pressuring feeling like what she'd had during her brother's duel against the 'other' Malik. Again Anzu stopped, this time turning with an expression of confusion as her friend went on, all other sounds on the street seeming to stop in place. "The 'other' Malik is gone, that's true," she said quietly. "But... Doesn't it feel like there's something else coming..?"

Again the silence became pressuring, Anzu's eyes seemingly skipping over the girl in an attempt to find a joke in her words. "...Shizuka-chan..." She forced a confused smile on her face, shaking her head. "Of... Of course not! Something else... Don't say things like that," she laughed, despite the remaining unease. "...Really..." She shook her head, the smile becoming a little more honest. "Nothing bad will happen, alright? There might not be much time left," she added, her friend now becoming the confused one, "But nothing like that will ever happen again... Okay?" Not much time left?

For _what_?

There was a short span of silence between them after that, and though she found herself flashing the woman a smile and a nod to avoid any further awkwardness between them she couldn't help but doubt her words. When she closed her eyes she saw something beyond the darkness typical of the act. Beyond even blindness, beyond the coldest pit of a cave. Something scarier, something... Even _darker_, if that could even be possible. Seeing things like that, and hearing screams when she closed her eyes...

How could she possibly believe what Anzu said? And yet despite that- "Ah! Yugi!" Shizuka's eyes snapped open and to attention once more as she turned to the side, Anzu waving as their friend walked over from the other end of the plaza. "Yugi! Over here!"

"Ah- He's early," Shizuka noted, looking up at the clock in the middle of the place. By almost half an hour in fact. "I take it you're leaving on your date then," she added with a slight smile, her friend chuckling almost nervously.

"Hahaha... It... It's not a date," she protested lightly, "We're just going for a walk..!"

Oh really now? "A walk..?"

"R-Really! It's just a walk!"

'Just' a walk? ...Gh... "Hahahahaha!" She shook her head, deciding to let the topic drop rather than push it further. "Whatever you say Anzu-chan... Listen," she continued, turning with a wave. "I'm going to head off now, alright? Have fun with Yugi-han!"

Anzu nodded, waving after the girl with a smile. "I will! Enjoy the rest of your evening, alright," she continued, moving to meet with her friend.

"Right!" Of course! Of course...

Really, she thought to herself as she left in the opposite direction, a wry smile on her face. How could she think that something was going to go wrong?

* * *

He was really lucky in the end that they'd let him in to see him. Even after buying a card and using the defense that he was delivering it for a friend of his, the doctors had been somewhat reluctant. With that in mind, perhaps he was more lucky that anyone he'd fought with during the last half a year had kept their mouths shut.

It meant the doctors did nothing more than absently wish him luck in the next tournament due to his talent in the nationals, as opposed to cursing his name due to what he'd done to lose those last two tournaments following the event. '_Insector Haga_', they'd asked in surprise, the boy getting straight to the point before letting himself get sucked in by his pride. For once, his own skills didn't matter right now; he had to know. Was a 'Ryuzaki Keiichi' admitted recently? There had been hesitance with the question, along with a number of glances to another at the side. So he'd tried again.

Had '_Dinosaur Ryuzaki_' been admitted recently?

He was lucky that the world thought they were such good 'friends', thanks to those playful interviews around the time of the national final match. He'd been in a good mood... He was confident that he'd grind Ryuzaki in the dust, and in the end he had, something that put him in an even better one. He supposed that after the fact, it was Ryuzaki's own good mood that convinced the world that they weren't 'enemies', with the absolute worst of the labels being 'rivals'.

So he was allowed in. The doctor had given him a few instructions and directed him to the correct room. Clean hands, quiet voice, with a time limit of 'until visiting hours are over' or 'four o'clock'.

And soon enough after a wave of dread and confusion at the instructions that were far from suited to a mere broken arm, he found out why Ryuzaki hadn't answered his phone. It was hard to do anything after all...

When you couldn't even breathe on your own. Katsugi had been tempted to go back and tell the doctor off for pulling a trick on him. For giving him the wrong room, for simply getting _something _wrong and playing a sick prank, but as he stepped into the room and allowed the door to close behind him he couldn't ignore the fact that it was indeed Ryuzaki's backpack sitting at the side. That it was his jacket, and his hat hanging out of the somewhat opened sack.

That his hair, despite having been cut to clear a path to wounds that needed to be surgically treated, was most assuredly that of his 'friend's. "What the hell," he finally whispered, eyes shaking as they looked over the motionless boy. At the numerous wires and sensors hooked up to the body, at the bandages covering his chest, face, and arm, at the machines steadily recording synthetically controlled vitals. "What the hell is this," he repeated, unable to even take a seat in the chair that sat in an almost hidden position near the bed.

The papers at the edge of the bed said this was his condition from a full week prior, with no change and no signs of recovery beyond slowly healing wounds. That this condition had been from before his phone even stopped running, from before...

The card he'd bought in the gift shop to protect the image needed to get in dropped to the floor long ago, and he had yet to bother picking it up. It was a simple 'get well' card. He hadn't even signed it, all he'd done was grab the nearest one with a dinosaur on it so that the idiot wouldn't mouth off at him for picking one with bugs when he came in.

But... It looked as though even if that had happened, he wouldn't have been able to complain about it.

In addition to severe bruising on his back there were lacerations to the chest, arm, face, and neck, the page began. The one on his arm had been irritated by dust and rusted metal, as had the slice across his neck and shoulder. Metal had become embedded in both of these cuts, but thankfully not the face.

He didn't want to think about how much worse the scars on his face could possibly be if they'd become infected, not that the others had the chance to do so or would any more. All that aside however, the hair that had formerly grown far past Ryuzaki's shoulders was now cut short; if they were to pull the metal shards from the injury after all, the surgeons had no choice. "...It doesn't look right," he muttered, narrowing his eyes at the sight. "You with short hair..." Nothing looked right. Not the hair, not the tubes, not the bandages wrapped around each wound.

The slashes across his chest barely avoided causing fatal injury, according to the sheets. One wrong move and his ribs would have been broken in against his lungs, one wrong move and more than just veins and arteries would be struck and severed, bringing a far worse fate than the bruising of the opposite side. If a single sliver of metal had come in to sever his liver...

Well. If what the charts said were true he was lucky he hadn't bled out regardless of hitting something like that. But what did this? Papers wouldn't tell him that. Even the injuries themselves couldn't tell him, so what _did_ this? As Katsugi's eyes lowered down to the ground he found their gaze focusing on a familiarly white device near the side of the bed, resting beside the boy's backpack. A duel disk he realized after a few moments, eyes narrowing in both confusion and distaste. But looking at the sides there were dents and scratches all along the side, and if he took an even closer look...

He pulled his hand back the moment he recognized the stains across it, faded black and maroon leaving little to imagination. It was permanently locked into it's 'ready' position. In the middle where the halves joined was a 'hole' of sorts where a small blade could have fit. And the scratches were each along one side, only one...

Ryuzaki's wounds were all caused by a single, sharp object, with the obvious intent to kill.

"You turned your duel disk... Into a _blade_," he muttered quietly, fighting back a wave of nausea. He remembered those interviews after the championships. Though he'd won, he'd been feeling a little ticked about it being overshadowed to announce a separate tournament. Nonetheless he'd been confident that said tournament would be as easy as the one he now left as champion, and so he'd quickly gotten over the distaste and replaced it with his usual confident cheer in the matter. He and Ryuzaki... They'd been pulled aside for an interview that same day. Admittedly, the attention he was getting made him more than a 'little' happy- it wasn't as though Chou, or Kansai, or any of his classmates looked to him like this. To one he was another mouth to feed, to another he was a pain, and to everyone else he was the kid who kept overshadowing them all in the academic classes while rubbing it in their lazy little faces- if he could do it why the hell couldn't they just shut up and study themselves?

And as for Sen... Well... She was nice enough, but that was his twin sister. It wasn't the same. They were 'supposed' to get along. Not that he cared of course but-...

...Ryuzaki didn't seem to care if he was interviewed or not as he recalled. True, he'd ended up agreeing to the request with a grin and soaking up the praise as much as he could, but...

'_Whaaaat, this guy,_' he remembered him saying that day when asked about what he felt over his loss. '_That was just one time; next time we fight,_' the boy had laughed,_ 'I'll definitely win! Heheheheheee!_' To which he himself had of course responded 'as if', before they moved onto the next question.

'_So, Haga-san, Ryuzaki-san,_' the interviewer had asked, television smile wide and expectant. '_What do you plan to do in the future?_' The answer to that question...

That was easy! He was going to rise to the top in the duelist field; he'd form his very career out of it. He wouldn't be the 'know-it-all' brat who knew too much about bugs- no matter how hard he tried no one was going to listen when he tried to explain the true power behind the insects. Duelists though...

They'd listen to a duelist. And the game... The cards he had... That was as close to 'friends' as he would ever get anyways.

Ryuzaki's answer wasn't the same as his. He instantly grinned, that was true, but unlike himself Ryuzaki did not respond by saying 'I'm going to duel of course!' Instead, he said...

'_Me? Well, I suppose once I finish school,_' he said with an almost careless shrug,_ 'I'm gonna follow after my aunt, digging fossils out for the world to see. That's a long time from now though! I'll just stick with kendo and duel monsters until then, hehehehe!_'

Kendo? Tch. He hadn't thought of Ryuzaki as the school club sort. _He_ certainly didn't bother with that. The closest thing he'd be able to stand was cram school, and what use was that for him? He was even skipping a year! His marks were off the charts! He was the 'greatest'! He...

Imagine his surprise when he found out that Ryuzaki was also the 'greatest' in his school. Next to the same girl he'd contacted before to get that information.

...Kendo and duel monsters...

Katsugi's eyes were shadowed behind his hair and glasses as he stooped down to grab the battered duel disk at the side, staring at if a few moments before stowing it under his arm and fixing his 'friend's body with a narrowed look. This feeling he had right now... Cold, dark, and an old, old, _old_ feeling he didn't want to have return.

Especially not because of this _body_ before him now.

...Duel monsters...

His grip tightened on the dueldisk and he moved to leave the room, decision grudgingly and stubbornly made despite any thoughts he could possibly come up with against the idea. Alright then he decided, not saying a word even as doctors and nurses asked how he was in passing. If they were going to have that fight again to prove who was better, then he would make sure that fight happened properly.

Even if it cost his entire 'winnings' from that last tournament he'd won.

* * *

In all of her planning for that day, there was one glaring fact that she probably shouldn't have avoided before saying 'goodbye' to Anzu.

Until today, one of Katsuya's friends had been the one to accompany her to the hospital to visit Keiichi's bedside, generally from either Anzu's house as had happened on day 1, or from the Kaiba mansion, in the form of Yugi, Honda, or whoever happened to be willing. And while neither took routes she particularly recognized, she'd managed her way around fine at any given moment following this.

It was now coming to her attention however that while recalling a small number of streets to draw a map was one thing, actually following said mental map was a little harder... Not to mention linking each landmark and building to a set location in her mind- it was exceedingly difficult when things had not only become a faded memory from the last time she'd been in the city, but also changed considerably on their own as it was.

She swore that arcade wasn't there eight years ago... And the same with that bar. Nonetheless she sighed, scraps and bits of conversation floating through her ears as she looked for another street sign to use as a basis of location.

'_I wonder what we should order,' _could be heard coming from outside the cafe at her side.

_'Noodle, Noodle, come get your noodles,' _from the small ramen stand being pulled by an over eager young man.

_'Uwaah! The new Kaimen Rider,' _from outside the toy store.

_'Ahh... S-So you'll be able to look after her house then? C-Chou-oneesan would have done it herself,_' a more polite voice muttered shakily,_ 'But she has her work..._' The voice went on, Shizuka frowning as she attempted to locate it._ 'I would myself, but I have to finish middle school, and Kansai-oneesan still has her university classes, so I can't do anything until April and- Ah! You will,_' the voice questioned in surprise._ 'Ah..! T-Thank you very much Rao-san! Bye-bye-_'

"Un-!"

"Ah-!"

Shizuka winced as her shoulder crashed into that of the girl before her, the latter having only just moved from behind a support pillar. "Gh... Ow..." Found the voice...

"A-Ahhh..! S-So sorry," the girl hurriedly said with a slight shout, bowing rather steeply as Shizuka stared. The girl in question appeared to fill just about every possible stereotype of the shy young school girl- her hair was pulled back in a loose braid, her glasses hid her eyes, and a majority of her was hidden beneath modest clothing. Even her general speech pattern suited the 'type' she noted. "I should have looked where I was going," the girl was worriedly exclaiming. "You'll have to forgive me..!" E-Eeeh..?

Shizuka blinked, shaking her head as she got over the shock. "Ah... It's fine," she said quietly, 'public voice' again taking the lead as she coughed. "It's just an accident right..?"

"Ah... R-Right..." The girl, likely around her age, nodded, standing up again with a slight swallow. "A-ano... My name is Haga, Sen... Pleased to meet you!" Again the girl bowed, face flushing somewhat as Shizuka continued to stare. "And again, I'm sorry..!" Hnn... She was fairly nervous wasn't she? And in addition...

She looked rather pale... Was she alright in that poncho with this weather? "Ah... Kawai Shizuka," she said somewhat quickly when the introduction registered. "The same." Another bow, and she continued. "Don't worry about bumping into me alright? Like I said... It's just an accident, isn't it?" There was a short nod, before 'Sen' protested somewhat regardless of apparent agreement.

"A-Ano... That's true... But it's still my fault," she said nervously, "If there's anything I can do..."

W-Why was she so insistent on making amends..? "E-Ehh... It's fine, really," she laughed, shaking her head. Really, no big deal so don't... "Although..." Sen blinked, and the other girl continued. "I'm not from around the area... Normally I take a different route," she explained, "But I'm trying to find the Hospital near here. 'Domino University'- do you know which road I should take?"

"Domino University..." Again the girl blinked, before nodding rather shyly. "Y-Yes... My older sister, she studies there... Shall I show you the way," she asked, her new friend nodding.

"Sure- are you sure it won't take any of your time though?"

"Ah- V-very..! Don't worry," she insisted with nearly wavering tones, "It's no trouble..! It's the least I can do after bumping into you like that...!" Really..! But...

It was just her shoulder... Was it really that bad? In the end Shizuka simply continued to smile, throwing off any confusion and sighing. "Alright... Thank you for this. So," she went on, "Which way..."

"Ah... Y-You want to go this way," Sen said quietly, pointing down toward the other end of the street. "Follow me, I'll show you..." She began walking, Shizuka following close behind as the girl continued. "You're going to the hospital right? There's a short cut through the park then..." Ah?

"Through the park..?" Really? "But isn't that off to the side..?" That couldn't be right at all from what she remembered. She knew things changed, but-

The girl nodded, sunlight playing across her glasses before she adjusted them and smiled. "C-Correct. Ano... It is indeed out of the way... But because of its size, it takes less time to cut through. There are fewer intersections to cross, and less people to walk past so... In the end, it becomes faster..." Ah...

"Hnn..." Taking that into consideration, she supposed she was right actually. "I've never thought of that," she muttered. "But... How do you know such a quick path to the hosp-" Shizuka cut herself off, shaking her head as she remembered Sen's earlier statement. "Right," she laughed. "Your sister... She takes classes there doesn't she..."

Sen again nodded, turning back as they came to the park in question. "A-ahn... That's right..! Kansai-oneesan is working on her bachelors degree in criminology. Although," she added, giving a somewhat nervous shudder, "I'm not actually sure how she's paying for it..." That...

Wasn't that a little backwards if she was reacting like that..! "Er... Y... Your sister sounds... A little..." Even after a few lines she was feeling uneasy... "Just a little..."

"Strange?" As Shizuka hurriedly attempted to deny the phrase Sen smiled, laughing almost mutely before speaking. "It's fine... She's a little odd," the girl admitted, bowing her head. "The fact that so many find her strange isn't surprising. She's really a nice person though..." Ah... If she said so, but- "That reminds me," Sen continued, voice almost a whisper. "At the hospital... Are you visiting a student there, or a doctor perhaps?" Hn?

Neither... If anything, she was doing what most would wasn't she? "Patient," she corrected. "I'm seeing a patient."

Sen blinked, pausing as they came to the end of the park. True to her word, if they looked down the other side of the street the Hospital could be seen. It hadn't taken long at all... Just another block or so and she'd be there in fact. But- "...You have a friend in there," Sen asked, voice rather quiet with worry. "...What happened?"

Ah- That...

…

How to explain that? "...He..." Shizuka swallowed, a frown coming over her face. "...He got in a fight," she said somewhat hesitantly, not completely meeting Sen's gaze. "They have him in critical care now. I don't even think he's woken up yet, I..."

"...N-Nnnh...You should get him something for him," the girl offered, bowing her head again. "Some flowers, or... Or maybe a card..." As Shizuka looked back to the girl she ducked, before continuing on. "A-Ano... I don't think it will make things faster but..."

"It's fine," Shizuka told her. The look in this girl's eyes- They'd just met but she was so worried... Why though? It looked almost as though if she poked her with a stick she would burst into tears right now..! It was almost scary even..! "I'll be able to find my way there from here," she continued, pushing it from mind. She was probably just shy, Shizuka decided. Maybe she had someone close in the hospital herself even- who knew. "You probably have somewhere you should be now, right," she asked.

Another nod. "Right... You're right," the girl repeated as she nodded. "It's going to get dark before I get home if I don't hurry. I still have to pick up a few things... Well... I hope your friend gets better, Kawai-san." She bowed once again, a light smile on her face. "It was nice to meet you..!"

"Ah... You too, Haga-han..." Haga... As Sen turned to leave quietly the girl frowned, narrowing her eyes. Hang on now, she thought to herself, where had she heard- ...Ah! "Nh... Haga-han," she shouted, the girl turning for a moment to blink somewhat owlishly. "I was wondering... ...You mentioned sisters but... Do you have a brother as well?"

"A brother..?" She blinked, before nodding. "Ah... Y-Yes... My little brother... Katsugi," she called out, her friend stiffening somewhat. "Ah... Do you know him," she asked, voice rising somewhat. "He never talks about his friends..! Do you know him then?"

Know him? Blood drained from her face somewhat, smile almost frozen out of habit. 'Haga' was the name of the one that Jonouchi had cursed, the one that her brother had effectively considered scum of the earth since before her surgery. 'Katsugi' however...

It was just now that she remembered her phone conversation earlier the other week. '_Moshi moshi,_' she could remember saying into the phone, her eyes still bandaged at the time. '_Who is this?_'

'_Oh- Haga, Katsugi. I'm a friend of Ryuzaki's, I was just calling to tell you he's on his way back alright..? Gh-hehe... Shouldn't be long, okay?_' That boy...

"No," she eventually said, moving to walk toward the hospital with a hidden and confused frown. "My mistake."

* * *

Re-selling cards was something of an art form that was almost akin to playing the stock market. The only major difference in the comparison really was that while stocks went up and down on an apparent dime, the cards only went on way most of the time.

Up.

After a card was no longer printed, its price began to rise. If it had already been rare, this price could reach mammoth proportions; Blue-Eyes alone for example, reached millions in US dollars after its printing was canceled. That however, was expected; with only four copies, the cards were a rarity already. Some collectors even balked at the idea that their 'dream card' was still in _use_.

Not that the current owner likely cared all that much...

It was somewhat different for more 'common' cards however. After printing stopped with those, the price would slowly increase over time with demand and population. After one year perhaps two people would search for the card. Another and it would be twenty, another and it would be one hundred... Provided it wasn't so common that there was no increase in purchases of the card.

With rare cards however, this was made even easier if not guaranteed. Those cards were already worth enough on their own; some were even worth the price of a booster pack upon release, or even more than that. Give it a few months and they were worth three times their original worth. Just one year more and the amount spent on it could potentially reach thousands of yen..!

Some of the cards he had were a few years old already with that in mind- their value had already jumped. All together, the total of the non-insect cards he'd gathered from tournaments and ante would add up to a fair amount of money. An amount that could have possibly funded his own schooling.

Rather... If he hadn't skipped half-way through the year, he'd have had enough to fund it. As it was, looking at the cards he had now and comparing it to what he could have had and what he needed to win...

The value was half of what it could have been. Not nearly enough for an education in fact. But by the end of everything, it was enough for what he needed to do. And it was worth it.

Of course now that it was said and done he was out of breath, leaning against a pole, and a number of thousands of yen short... Specifically 25 thousand.

Not... That this... Mattered... The more light-hearted side of his mind insisted. Sometimes he really... Hated that tiny little side of him. "Hah... Hah... Hahhhh..." Tired... Katsugi gripped the box under his arm as he stumbled back into the hospital, ignoring the looks from any doctors he passed.

"Um... Sir are you alright," one worried receptionist asked, turning from the desk as he wandered past. He was fine... Trust him... "Sir," she called out as she stood. "Sir..?"

Leave him alone... Elevator doors closed before the woman could continue, and the boy collapsed somewhat on the side of the impossibly empty device. If anyone... _Ever_... Found out he'd done something like this... "Well," he decided, muttering to himself through his still heavy breathing, "Maybe if I'm lucky karma will stop spitting in my face..."

...It probably wouldn't of course, but it wasn't as though that would keep him from trying. It would be nice though, if he could get his sisters off his back though. The light on the side buzzed and Katsugi picked himself up, forcing a look of apparent composure over himself as the door opened. In the end, he hadn't wasted his money on a duel disk for that sort of reason. Losing those matches was a 'fluke'- he would win the next one easy! He just didn't want to risk being unable to fight the very person he was preparing to live with because of something so trivial as this.

And it wasn't as though Ryuzaki would accept the gift if he _knew_ it was him who gave it to him, Katsugi insisted to himself. He'd to the same after all, if he idiotically decided to do something like this to begin with. It wasn't cool to get a gift from a rival, it was _pathetic_. If anything, he himself was being pathetic for giving him a gift at all.

But he wasn't going to duel him if he had a faulty duel disk covered in blood. That...

That was worse. "Don't think this is because we're 'friends' or anything," he muttered under his breath, putting the box neatly beside his friend's backpack with a scowl. There was no answer of course, but he hardly expected one. Miraculous revivals were for soap operas and dramatic films with happy endings. Not for real life. And yet, even though he knew he couldn't hear him, he continued. "You wouldn't want _my_ duel disk," he almost hissed, narrowing his eyes from where he stood. "...Knowing you, you'd say it 'taints' your honor as a duelist." For him, it hurt his pride simply by doing all this- Yet nonetheless he was still there, trying something anyways. "I haven't done more than touch the box," Katsugi muttered. "You don't have that excuse now... ...I..."

Hmph. If he went back now, he'd be worse off than if he went through with it, he decided, standing with his hands in his pockets in silence. Footsteps sounded from outside of the door, the boy not bothering to turn at the sound. Probably another nurse he told himself. Nothing m-

"Ah..." He blinked, looking up as a young girl with somewhat reddish brown hair walked in with a look of surprise. "You..." She frowned somewhat, looking over the boy with a confused gaze while adjusting the flowers in her arms. "…Who are you..?" The answer to that question...

He supposed he'd have to give it to her even if he didn't want to.

* * *

**AN: **HAGA! HAGAAAAAAAA! He's made his first 'POV' appearance! I tell you though, it's hard to write a character who is openly a prick to others without completely flanderizing him into an asshole like the anime and manga did. Then again, when you don't get the background on a prick, what else are you supposed to think? A prick is a prick, if you don't get an excuse for the actions, you're not likely to think anything else.

In any case this chapter, being a breather, is a little shorter than average... But it makes up for it in plot points, side characters and the below! (Also it's more or less dialogue; remember; duels are filled with more description so that no one gets bored to tears by lifepoints. I turn duels into fight scenes more often than not.)Regardless of specifics, you could still argue that we're back to standard size chapters now! I hope you enjoyed this one in particular, because the next chapter covers the next arc...

Yu-Gi-Oh R! (Not to mention, we don't hear of Haga, Ryuzaki, or really anyone in the next arc outside of 'in passing'. Unless they're always living in Domino of course... And since Haga is _moving..._)

Also, it seems that 'the answer to that' has become a bit of a mental catchphrase for Haga. Interesting... I think I like it actually.

Back to business though! The Contest Entries are in! So as to make sure they don't get skimmed over, they're down at the bottom, in their own section! Send in your votes through reviews... Competitors may vote, but not for themselves! Moreover, to try and spread the votes a little more **Each voter votes THREE TIMES; in order of preference! 1, 2, and 3!**

Again, the entries are below, so have fun with that!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

U-UWAH! Sorry Maggiemay! I didn't realize..! -gives great big bear hug- ;;A;;

Ohohohohoh, you should be used to my foreshadowing antics by now! ...I think. Any ways, what's this about a score card? I must have more!

Entries are now all below~ Hope you enjoyed the chapter!

I'm glad you enjoyed the ending Imadork! After all there was, the story needed a bit of humor. (And ooooh, Mokuba's going to get a hell of a lot more than just some mileage on that, hehehe...)

And ahhh? Got the shadowing did you? -mad chuckling- Now you get to wait for it to show up.

Also, thanks for letting me know about that; I was able to fix it before anyone else could read it and go '_Whaaaaaaaat?_'

Hehehe, I don't think they're _all_ angry, though some of them might have some choice words... (coughpantherwarriorcough). Selket is still there, but she'll be dipping out when she wants; she's still a part of Rishid's deck too after all.

Iona! Glad you liked it! Though they're hard to get done, the ending tends to be one of the points of an arc that I enjoy the most after the fact. And she has indeed gained a semi-second family... Though you can probably sense a bit of unease concerning that in this chapter; while there's acceptance, there's also worry about how much of who is in control so to speak- think of it has developing a conscience with a mind of its own... It isn't as extreme in Anzu, but for Malik it's quite persistent as Japan is more or less Anzu's 'domain'.

And aaaah~ AHHHHH, they do reflect some things we'll be seeing soon! In fact, they reflect things that caused the speed at which the next arc occurs; Yugioh R ends with the Kaiba siblings returning from the States.

AND YES? Hahaha, that's pretty much what it translates out to, much to poor Jou's shame. He _does_ have it coming for what he did though. Least it only lasts the entire summer! ...Waaaaait...

Any ways, as always, I hope you enjoy the chapter above! I'll try and get the next one out soon!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that has the sudden urge to draw Haga now...

* * *

H-H-HAGA!

That's right! Haga's point of view! There's a reason for it, but you won't actually see it for quite a while.

Mostly because the next arc is kind of Yu-Gi-Oh R, and following that, he kinda lives in Osaka. Not exactly within range of Jou and the others. I have to say though. There's villain point of view, and then there's _side villain_ point of view. And given that the main goal is to move Haga into relatively neutral territory without skewing the character, it's an interesting experience.

For one, we know he's not above cheating to win. And yet he's obviously a good enough duelist to make it through the championships at the very start of the series, before Duelist Kingdom, on his own. It would seem however, that Haga's mind works like this with initial cheating; Exodia is a threat. It defeated Kaiba, it defeated the most powerful monsters in the game. And, since the game didn't have the tribute rules back then, this was obviously fairly frightening... As in most cases, the most powerful thing couldn't be matched.

So, to cement moving further, get rid of the threat in any way possible. It's a desperate move, and an obvious sign of insecurity. And yet... The sheer _detail_ going behind these insecure methods show considerable intelligence. Moving on. Haga is smart, but as we know he's also bratty. He's selfish, he doesn't care for others, and the fact is he isn't above rigging the game in his favor.

Yet while I say 'cheating', he never actually does. He tosses cards into the ocean, he slips cards into others decks, but _during_ actual matches he _does not cheat_. In fact, during Doma he simply moves onto more psychological methods it seems. Remember what he said during his match against Yami Yugi?

Remember what Yami Yugi did to him because of it?

The fact is, it all comes down to this in my opinion; he's just a kid. He wants to win, and he'll do anything to do that. He wants the spotlight, he wants the praise. And ironically, it seems I've given him a pathetic Freudian excuse for that; besides Sen, his sisters tend to treat him like a little unwanted tumor. And while I'm sure most would do that, to the point where he _expects_ it from people who know him in more than simply passing, it stings just a little when its family.

No wonder he's got a thing against friends in the fanfic.

Of course... Haga is still an absolute prick in this fanfic, and the fact is he just really wants to win above anything. Give him a slight agitated break though, he _is_ 13-14 with a genius complex, not to mention he's dealing with whatever 'trauma' I gave him to have Doma make sense. He'll get better... Eventually.

* * *

Haga's 'friendship' with Ryuzaki is a little confusing. The fact is, while it's the closest thing he has, Haga's lack of trust along with his general unfriendly attitude prevents a solid bond from forming. Despite this however, he knows him _just _enough to worry for his safety, due to the combined need for a place to stay and legitimate fear.

In a sense, Ryuzaki's balancing on a point between 'friend' and 'tool' in Haga's eyes, if only because he refuses to acknowledge the fact that a friend can even benefit him. It's tipping toward friend by the end thanks to the earlier worry though.

* * *

When one thinks of Japanese mushrooms, they tend to think of Shiitake, which are often dried and sold for use in miso soup or other veggie dishes. Enokitake mushrooms are also popular for sukiyaki however, and are reportedly rather crisp, often either canned or used in soups and salads.

* * *

Why didn't Malik think of Anzu's solution? Because they're still different people..! So naturally, whoever would have thought of it first before the 'merge' would still think of it first afterward. Malik tends to be a little more argumentative from what I can tell anyway... (Though there isn't much to go on for post-Battle City Malik unfortunately.)

The main point of this however is that while everything's been accepted there's still an obvious worry of how much the second memories are affecting each person; Anzu's already demonstrated a bit more control. However, it's partially to do with location. Right now they're in Domino; that's her 'domain'. If they were in Egypt, she'd be slipping into Arabic like no tomorrow!

* * *

You might notice that this chapter effectively breezed through the final episode of season three. This is mostly because, despite it being more or less a mash up of flashbacks, it served useful in starting off a breather chapter. So even though it only provided say... A loose 'plot' to the chapter, it was still handy.

* * *

Nooooo, Shizuka does not have the same ability Jou does. She just has a nasty feeling. People get those sometimes you know.

* * *

'_What? They aren't running him through!_' Well, the fact is... Yugi and his friends don't like talking about Duelist Kingdom. So while the world knows Haga didn't make it through Duelist Kingdom _at all_, they don't know that he actually tossed Exodia overboard.

Similarly, Jonouchi isn't going around bragging that he beat a kid who dumped a card in his deck; the fact is, that would probably make him (Jonouchi) feel like an asshole. So while the world again knows that he didn't make the finals...

That's all they see. The national champion of Japan lost in the tournaments, which are considered on a separate league from the nationals as it is. So while our main characters know he's an utter prick...

The rest of the world doesn't. Hence his better treatment.

* * *

'_Wait! Usagi, if Jou and Yugi enjoy duel monsters so much, wouldn't they have seen that interview and known about the kendo and such?_' Well normally yes but... Seeing how the tournament was immediately followed by Pegasus' tape hell, I don't think they'd have caught the interview.

To clarify Haga's 'investment', duel monsters cards are only in print so long- same as in the real world, once the card stops being printed out, it begins to gather more value. So... With whatever rare cards he'd won beforehand (Haga did not fight Jonouchi first after all, and there's still his prize from the Nationals to consider), holding them for a certain amount of time would likely fetch him considerable money.

Of course, he'll never know what 'considerable' could have been thanks to this...

* * *

Alright, so snagging the price of cards took me a bit. For the uncommon cards, they tend to be in the range of 4-6 dollars. Not much _at all_. Rarer ones however, have an increasingly varied range that is partially tied to demand. This can go anywhere from that six dollar range to a whopping THREE HUNDRED! (!)

However, three hundred dollars is pushing it, so we'll just say that the rare cards he had were in the fifty dollar range. As to why Haga didn't just use this toward his schooling, he already knew that it would only cover so much; it'd be a waste of time and money to sell the cards so early otherwise.

In any case, this is how people who have stores that buy cards back can make entire careers out of buying booster-packs, opening a bunch of them, and selling cards back. (My fiance used to do it until we moved actually.)

* * *

Speaking of Haga and Ryuzaki by the way, while this IS covered in passing next chapter, it's short enough that I'll say it now- he'll be waking up just before the school year starts again. In fact, he gets back into classes with no trouble, though he'll be resembling a mummy for the next bit. Actually, there's a bit in the next picture covering that.

And yes, Haga would be going with him to Osaka on that trip. Much to Ryuzaki's distaste. (I seem to have accidentally implied Shrimpshipping while I was at it...)

* * *

**FanArt And My Art Section**

Just one picture today; I felt like drawing Haga in something a little different! Which is good, because I only have one song.

Reference/Concept: Haga & Ryuzaki – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ HagaRyuzaki. Jpg – In which I draw Haga in something a little more casual (though his general wear and habits _will_ be a source of conversation between himself, Shizuka, and Ryuzaki once we get to them again), and Ryuzaki with short hair.

The fact is, doctors tend not to do things like cutting hair if they don't _have_ to, and they probably could have just pulled it back... But sometimes things happen without thinking, and Ryuzaki's condition kinda had them focused on just getting rid of whatever was at the site of the injury.

Sadly this included a _lot_ of his hair, so they just cut the rest to make it neat and tidy. Don't worry though, it grows back..! (Though I have to say, he doesn't look bad... Just 'different'.)

Also Haga's face on the side is mostly me messing around... Though I wouldn't doubt he's made that particular expression before.

Musical Notes

Some more from Piko! Specifically, his cover of 'The Disappearance of Hatsune Miku'. Not exactly fitting at all, but I had my music on shuffle. And it... Just... Kept... Playing...

I was also listening to covers of 'Dog Day Afternoon' (Kagamine Rin) and 'Petenshi ga Warau koro ni'... Or 'When Swindlers Cry Out'. (Also from Miku initially.) And... Also 'Tengaku' and 'End of Solitude'. (Also from Rin!)

Yep! This is another one of those chapters where the music has nothing to do with the text. Or is it? Tengaku seems to have a mood a little _too_ similar to what Haga goes through for pretty much the entire chapter... Not to mention 'For A Sick Boy' (Luka) though that's more by title than anything else.

* * *

**CONTEST ENTRIES!**

Remember; when you vote, vote for THREE ENTRIES, in order of Preference! For example...

'1) Entry 1, 2) Entry 3 3) Entry 2'

Voting will be held for TWO UPDATES; in other words, you have until the update after the next! Good luck to all those competing!

From MaggieMay:

Jounouchi sees Seto NAKED! And that's only the beginning in this fantastically twisted retelling of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Saga. A completely IC Kaiba Seto that is totally different than what you've ever seen before.

The story of Yu-gi-oh! with an X twist. One little letter - X instead of Y - and you have a whole new game. Yugi may still be king but Seto is definitely queen, with Jounouchi as her court (and courting) jester and jack of all trades.

Ever wonder why Seto acts like he has constant PMS? There is an explanation. Jounouchi and the gang learn that gender really doesn't matter. Or does it? Retelling of the Yu-gi-oh! Series – with one little difference that changes everything.

Think you know Yu-gi-oh! and Puppyshipping? Think again. This is the story retold with a small adjustment that changes everything. You don't know Yu-gi-oh! like this. Strap in 'cause it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

From Imadork:

Jounouchi Katsuya will always look out for his friends, no matter how weird things get. That means he will keep on fighting, whether facing maniacs with freaky powers, monsters from a childrens game, or the fact that Kaiba's a girl. Wait, what?

From Jadej.J:

Seto Kaiba has secrets that run skin deep but when Jou gets drawn in all bets are off. Both teens' dark secrets come to the surface & life changing experiences that will take them into dark secrets of Duel Monsters that no one knows.

From Sora Kohaku:

Being a teenager is hard. Especially when your friend may have split personalities and your father is an alcoholic. And, maybe, just maybe you're going crazy.

Being a teenager is hard. There's part-time jobs, school work, friends, first crushes, and of course the possibility of going insane. Oh, that's not suppose to happen? Poor Jonouchi.

After a extra credit project goes almost too well Jonouchi finds himself getting closer to his classmate Kaiba. Too close. Living in the same house too close. For every thing that starts going right for him there's another going wrong.

Who would have thought getting caught breaking and entering would turn out so well? Not Jonouchi for sure. Though for every thing going right for him there's another two or twenty going south.

If there was a certain point that things started changing Jonouchi was pretty sure this was it. This was undeniable proof that it doesn't pay to slack off.

Curiosity couldn't possibly kill him, though Jonouchi doesn't doubt that given the chance Seto Kaiba would. It's just his luck that Mokuba Kaiba likes him so much.

There are secrets...and then are SECRETS. Secrets that can change the very nature of the game. Jonouchi is finding himself in possession of a lot of these as of late. So it's no wonder that he finds himself wondering if he'll survive them all.

Smoking kills, alcohol kills, and even children's card games kill—wait, what! Jonouchi knows his life has never been very normal, but this is insane! Or, quite possibly he's the one that's insane.

Rewards are very fickle business. In comparison to how the universe decides to award Jou, Kaiba is pretty straight forward.

Jonouchi Katsuya was the exception to the 'no jobs' rule at school. Jonouchi Katsuya also happened to be the great exception to the 'normal' rule when it came to children's card games.

Jou had a hunch- just a hunch nothing else- that Seto Kaiba was hiding something. It's just his luck that he was right.

* * *

Now then! A few minor edits have been made for spelling, along with the occasional removed comma to keep the character count where it should be, but otherwise this is it! Let the votes come in, and until then, I'll see you next time!


	107. Chapter 106

**Ri'Shah**

* * *

There was no light in the room that he stood in right now. He'd taken to leaving them off, sitting on his own and simply allowing time to pass by without consideration. His brother had been worried of course- hell everyone had been worried, but they'd worried about the wrong thing entirely in his opinion. After the funeral, their attentions had turned to him.

They should have turned to the cause of the_ funeral_.

He could remember the last time he'd seen him, his mentor and guardian. The one that had taken he and his brother in, despite such a seemingly small gap in age. The morning before the tournament that he had prepared in his agreement with KaibaCorp's board of directors, when they'd sat down for tea after lunch. His brother was gone during that time; dealing with some company matters in Europe as he recalled, and quietly explaining that his 'father' would not be coming. And while he wished that he was asked to do those things more often, he'd welcomed for a moment to sit with his teacher.

'_Duelist Kingdom begins tomorrow, doesn't it,_' he asked, a wide smile on his face. Pegasus had held a card in his hands with an almost distant stare when he said that, his teacup sitting untouched on the table.

'_That's right,_' Pegasus had said quietly, looking to the card with a nostalgic gaze. '_And after that,_' he continued absently,_ 'Kaiba Corporation's technology will be in our hands..._'

'_For Cynthia,_' he responded, smile unwavering.

'_Yes... For Cynthia._' They'd left it at that, his smile slowly vanishing until finally they took their separate ways.

Everything had gone wrong that day. The moment he'd seen the bullet impressions in the hall he'd known. When he'd seen the glass on the floor and the blood that had dried black in the carpet he'd known. When he saw the long, jagged line left by a knife on the wall... When he found Keith Howard's unmoving body at the side, caught somewhere between a coma and death.

And when he'd finally come downstairs to where the arena sat... Only to find himself too late.

'_Pegasus,_' he screamed, hurriedly running to the body that lay slumped in its seat, unmoving. '_Pegasus... PEGASUS!_' Blood had long since pooled around the left side of his face and neck, staining the white shirt he'd worn... His face was frozen in exhaustion and defeat, as though he'd stared death in the face and simply given in. As though he'd had no will to live any more. And to add yet another sting to the pain he felt, the golden Millennium Eye he'd once held in his head was gone, desecrating the body further.

He was dead. He was gone. He was dead. He was... He was...

"...Sempai," he whispered mournfully, holding a card in his hands with a bit lip. In the USA, one of his staff would be delivering an 'apologetic' message to Seto Kaiba detailing his reasons for canceling the meeting between he and his brother. They would then tell him, if only to hold him there for a while longer, that there was at least a local tournament that would eventually lead into another Professor-League match which he'd like them to watch. He doubted that either of the siblings would really _want_ to go, but there was no doubt in his mind that they would at least do so to uphold a bit of civility. Elsewhere in the city, his 'hired help' would be preparing their decks and tasks. They'd be taking their positions, and from there on would wait until needed.

On the television screen before him was the information on one boy, one ordinarily unnoticeable boy despite all appearances. Despite multi-coloured hair, despite leather clothes, despite violet eyes and a golden puzzle chained around his neck. The 'king'. The one who had defeated his 'father'.

The one that he would finally strike down after all these months and weeks spent placing the proper pieces. "It begins at last," the young man hissed, fingering the edges of a card in his hand. "The price he pays will be high Sempai... The one who stole everything from me, and from _you_... We're going to get revenge," he 'told' it, holding the card close. "Just watch... You'll see soon enough," he continued, before a knock came on the door. The teen turned, frowning. "...Who is it," he asked stiffly, pocketing the card.

"We've completed the final preparations," came a voice in return, no other answer or acknowledgment to the earlier question being given. "We're ready when you are." The final step had been taken had it? Well.

Who was he to hold it back then? A sinister grin came over his face, eyes widening as he moved over to a device on the side. This device... This device that he'd spent months developing, researching and snatching at every little thing he could glean from meetings with KaibaCorp's CEO... This device that if released to the world would change communication completely if not for the possible risk to the mind...

The release of the duel disk had been the final step in its creation. And more importantly, the final step before the plan could be set into motion. On the screens of the company he was already located near there were already nothing but 'error' symbols and strings of unmovable code. Shouts of panic filled the rooms of KaibaCorp's building, and shut down codes were being entered in a clear sign of 'worst case scenario' action with as much speed as humanly and perhaps even _in_-humanly possible.

But it was all too late in the end. And as he flipped the switch controlling the machine that now covered most of his head and face, he could almost feel his body vanish despite it never leaving the room. "I... I can't cut it," a panicked technician cried his supervisor just as pale faced as they stared at the screens, the sight of them all appearing clearly before him as he formed the hologram for his mind. "I can't cut the power, something's jammed the system-" Yes...

"That would be _me_," he hissed, leaning by the supervisor's shoulder as he moved his false body behind the man.

"H-HHHAH!"

A dark smirk graced his face as the man jumped, and with expert control he pulled the hologram into the air to look down upon all in the room. "This is a takeover, as I'm sure you can see," he began flatly. "From this moment on, KaibaCorp's main office belongs to me... Along with the entirety of Industrial Illusions' Asian Branch." The center of the company's technology, the home to the database of every single card the dueldisk could read, including duplicates... It was all his, if at least for as long as he required. "I'll have to ask you to clear this building of all personnel for the next twenty four hours," he said darkly, 'walking' toward the computer in admiration. "...Unless you wish to argue," he added.

The looks on the technician's faces told him everything he needed to know, and as a number of them stood to leave the chairs his almost insane smirk grew.

There would be no argument.

* * *

He was used to dreams now. He'd have been surprised not to be after all that happened. He wouldn't lie to himself of course- after Battle City he'd hoped the dreams would stop. It was over wasn't it? The Gods were done with their challenges, and the other Yugi had his next lead to identity. He could go back to being a normal (or at least mostly normal) person who just happened to be able to see monsters from another world or something like that.

But then again, taking that into consideration, it wasn't over. Not really at least. Even the Gods had said this during Yugi's final match with the Other Malik. There would be 'more' sooner or later... There would be other challenges, other obstacles to surpass, and the most they could do was wait and see what they were. He'd hoped that he would get a heads up on what those were granted, particularly once he'd given up on hoping to not have that kind of foresight on things. Maybe a glimpse of a tournament, or a rival's face.

Yet he hadn't had a single premonition of the sort all summer. In fact, the _only_ dream he had was another 'flash' sort of dream, where Ryuzaki finally opened his eyes and regained consciousness. A 'dream' where the tubes, machinery, and bandages had at last been removed, leaving only scars in their place. Scars that would never be able to fade, but were at least easier to look at now that the bandages were gone. Ryuzaki would, with a few slight changes of appearance from all that happened, be going to school with everyone else in his class in Osaka come the first day...

That day hadn't come yet though. He didn't want to say anything for fear he'd somehow alter it in fact; if Shizuka went to see Ryuzaki for the day he woke up, well... Who knew what could occur. 'Fate' certainly decided the last time that it would be best to react harshly whenever he tried it after all, and really, in the end...

The look on his sister's face when Ryuzaki showed up for class at their school would be worth it, even if he didn't recognize the glasses wearing transfer from the shadows he stood in during that flash. The boy that would be greeted somewhat stiffly by his sister and friend, before sitting next to the pair with a similar feeling about him. For a moment, he almost wondered if it was someone he knew...

But given that Shizuka's first day would be spent banding together with this other boy to shout at Ryuzaki for not paying attention in class before spending lunch with the pair, he figured it'd be alright.

This dream was the first one he'd had since then, and where he stood within it was not a room. It was not a desert from what he could tell, as there was no sand beneath his feet. It wasn't even the darkness he'd become so used to floating within during these dreams. Perhaps it was because he was sleeping more often; it wasn't as though there was much else to do other than eat and wander the house when all the exits had been blocked off half the time.

He'd even sat around the library for a bit. And _read _something there. Given the kinds of books sitting around in there, he'd found himself holding his head in slight shock afterward. Yikes.

As these thoughts ran through his head however the fact was, it really didn't matter. Where he stood had no solid ground beneath his feet after all; the ground was below, hidden in darkness at the moment.

It looked almost as though he was watching a shadow play. In fact, in the back of his mind it felt almost like the term 'shadow play' was all too fitting, as he was pretty sure that whatever was making these puppets were actual shadows controlled by actual hands...

But really, that was beside the point. The shadows were being controlled by an old man he realized, the blond slowly coming to rest in an almost ghostly state at the side. An old, white bearded man with almost deceptively kind eyes. He was in the village he'd seen in Noa's world again it seemed- this time however, there were no ruins. In fact, not only was the well completely intact it seemed the entire village was bustling with life despite the late hour. People trading goods moved to and fro from opposite ends of the village, and crowded around the well to watch as the old man controlled shadows in an almost liquid like state with his hands, were numerous children staring in awe.

The fact that he recognized one of the children as some discolored version of himself didn't put as much unease in his mind as he expected though really, and as he stood behind the boy he decided to push it as much from his mind as possible. "_Are you going to tell us a story,_" one of the children asked the old man, the elder chuckling as numerous requests began to fly.

"_Tell us the one about Behemoth,_" the first asked, "_And how the old ones sealed him away._"

"_Or the Three Treasures,_" another asked with a grin. "_Tell us a story!_"

The old one continued to laugh, shaking his head. "_Alright, alright, calm down now,_" the man responded, shadows bending to his will as they set the scene. "_Very well, I will tell you a story... How about-_"

"_Do you know the one about the great serpent,_" the little him asked, the children and elder each turning in confusion as Katsuya looked down.

The elder's shadow froze, melting as it reformed into a small wooden figure of sorts at his side. "_The 'Great Serpent',_" he repeated, tilting his head somewhat in an attempt to hear otherwise.

'Katsuya' nodded, grin never fading. "_Yea. And the 'Nameless' shadow, what about that one? Oh, or maybe the Dragon Warriors,_" he went on, eyes widening with anticipation._ "I really liked that one!_"

The children continued to stare in silence, confused frowns gracing their faces as the elder stood. "_I... Have __never__ told such a tale before child..._" At these words the other children began to pale, muttering fearfully amongst themselves before the old man continued._ "Where did you hear of such things?_"

He blinked, showing no fear, nor any sign of something other than innocent confusion. "_The shadows did,_" he said plainly, almost looking toward the entrance of the catacombs before deciding otherwise. "_I didn't say __you__ told me. I just wanted to know if __you__ knew the same stories. I thought the others would like them."_

Again the elder stiffened, the other children turning for his reaction. It seemed that despite curiosity, they themselves weren't completely sure how safe it would be to ask as well. "_The 'shadows',_" he repeated slowly, expression giving away little in regard to emotion.

"_Yes. The shadows,_" 'Katsuya' explained._ "I met them before, in the desert. They like to tell stories._"

The elder fell silent. And then he laughed. Quietly at first. And then a little louder, with the rest of the children nervously joining in as 'Katsuya' frowned. It didn't feel like a very humorous event, and as he looked to the shadow at the elder's side it put him at even more unease. The wooden monster wasn't like the other shadows, that was what the dragon said. But it wasn't until now that he really noticed. It looked man-made, with odd metal disks in its joints, and eyes that gleamed like jewels rather than real ones.

Glass, the real Katsuya told himself. The monster was made of wood, gears, and glass... A 'robot'.

The laughter died down, and the elder gestured to his staff-wielding shadow as it stood in silence. "_Does my shadow speak,_" he asked with an almost menacing laugh. "_Does it move on it's own, does it laugh? The shadows are the tools of the chosen,_" he pressed, expression becoming stern. "_They are pulled from their souls and used for the purposes of the People! They do not have souls of their own!_"

"_But that's not what Tanniyn said,_" the boy protested, only to be cut off just as quickly as he'd spoken.

"_They do __not__ SPEAK,_" he roared, expression twisting to rage. About now Katsuya realized that the scene had changed. That the children were gone and that the boy and the elder were now alone at the well, with any kindness he'd seen before now absent from the old man's eyes. "_Understand boy? Now come with me,_" he continued, pulling him away by the arm as his shadow melted into the ground. "_We are going to have a little talk about these stories you're 'hearing'..._"

"_Ah- Ow, let go..! I'm telling the truth,_" he screamed, pulling back and scraping his feet across the ground._ "Hey..! Let go! Let go,_" the boy cried,_ "Let-_"

The next thing Katsuya knew he was opening his eyes to the wall and floor of his room, his left arm tangled horribly in his blanket as what looked to be the Little Winguard stood before him. Gold 'eyes' stared back at brown ones, the gold ones eventually being the first to blink. "_**Good morning,**__" _the soldier said somewhat blankly, Katsuya staring back with a similar 'expression' for a moment. It was really hard to tell with the Little Winguard, what with most of the face being hidden behind the armor.

Nonetheless he got up, wincing as he unwrapped his arm from the blanket and rubbed what was going to develop into a fairly painful 'sunburn' in a few hours. "Gh... Ow... Shit. Wh't happened," he muttered, voice somewhat hoarse from whatever he'd done in his sleep.

The Winguard shrugged, standing up a little straighter before speaking. "I'm not really sure," he admitted. "One minute I was sleeping in the other realm... You know, where the other duel monsters live," he added almost as an after thought, "And the next, I was out here. Panther Warrior mentioned that you summoned him in your sleep before Battle City once," the soldier continued with crossed arms, "But I didn't think much of it until now."

Oh. The blond stared a few moments more, blinking as he absorbed the information. Uh... "Y-Yea," he coughed, pulling himself up. "Neither did I..." The blond shook himself, frowning. So he managed to summon the Winguard in his sleep.. Somehow, it seemed _nothing_ was surprising anymore. "Well... Leas' yer more civil abou' it."

At this the Winguard seemed to jump, before shrugging. "I don't know about that... Panther Warrior was stuck in this world for a number of hours- he's not the greatest guy, but even I'd be irritated after that long. But the clock beside your bed said 'seven' when _I _was summoned, so..." Seven? Katsuya looked over to the clock in question, blinking.

"Huh." 7:10. "Ten minutes then..."

The monster nodded. "Yep. I'm going to go back inside now," Winguard continued, giving a slight yawn. "I was supposed to meet with someone today... I mind as well get ready." He gave another wave, eyes shimmering with what was probably cheer. "Bye-bye now Katsuya~!" Before Katsuya could even ask how that sort of thing worked the monster tapped his deck on the table, vanishing in a flurry of smoke and mist. Well.

That was a little anti-climactic, but...

"Shit," he muttered, scratching his head as he collapsed back on the bed. Even the thought of what the 'other realms' even looked like couldn't distract him from _this_ particular bomb... "I didn' even know it w's possible t' summon outta a duel," the blond groaned, staring at the ceiling as he sighed. Heck, he didn't even know if that was something that was controllable.

Though he certainly wouldn't be trying it any time soon.

* * *

The weeks that followed after the start of summer passed by almost unbearably slow for Katsuya, outside of that particular set of dreams he'd had. He supposed a lot of that had to do with being stuck inside the entirety of it... But then again, the other half could have been attributed to having night-shift for the entire month as he paid off his Duel Disk and thereby leaving him either in a deep sleep or completely lethargic. Thinking about Seto seemed to pass time a little quicker granted, but...

Well, thinking about her when he couldn't even call _Mokuba_ just started getting depressing after a while. So he decided not to bother trying to figure out what the rift in communication meant for a bit, if only to somewhat console himself.

If Shizuka was there, she would probably say that Seto needed time for something. If Anzu was there, she'd tell him to leave it be.

Unfortunately, he didn't have those two there, or even much of anyone he actually knew given that Kyouko had taken a vacation and everyone else was simply nowhere to be found. No... He just had his deck, which came with a crowd of monsters all ready to prove how little they actually knew of the real world outside of whatever he'd told them so far.

Which was probably why the first thing he did when the school year started again was rush out the door carrying his bag with a cheer.

"HAHAHAH!" The sun was shining brightly despite the early hour of the morning, and if not for the clock at the side he'd have thought he was late for school. "FINALLLY," he shouted with a grin. "FRESH AIR~! An' people..!"

'_And what's wrong with __**us**__,_' a dull voice from the deck in his bag growled, only to be silenced by the constant jostling of the cards. Absolutely nothing of course he thought to himself, the grin not fading in the slightest as he ran towards his school. But if he heard one more word from Selket about how incredible it was for him to face off against Ra and survive in one piece, he'd probably hang himself.

The scorpion god/lady/_thing_ should probably have been sitting in her _actual_ deck anyways, though he had a nasty feeling that she wouldn't. If anything, she was far more determined to take advantage of her connection with Rishid's own to pass along small messages such as Malik being cleared of all charges concerning the Rare hunters due to 'lack of evidence', or the fact that he'd be heading to school soon enough himself. Regardless of creepy spying scorpions sitting in his bag however, it was good to be out.

Even if it meant he seemed just a _little_ too excitable for his own good when compared to his behavior a few weeks ago. "Ah- Jonouchi-kun," Yugi shouted from the school entrance, his other half misting to his side with a large smile himself.

"_Jonouchi..!_"

"Hahaha! Guys!" _Man_ it was good to be back! High-fives were traded and quickly enough the three were walking into the building, the more ghostly of the two Yugis opting to not bother with pretending to walk. "So, how'd the summer go?"

For the most part, reactions among his friends were relatively the same, not that he really got too many before actually getting in the classroom. "_Boring,_" was the other Yugi's answer, the three boys making their way down the hall and into the room. "_I feel I might have been taking your ability to see and hear me for granted._"

This had received an indignant 'hey!' from Yugi as the boy asked if it was really so bad, before Anzu continued the conversation with a mention of seeing Malik at a marketplace store. For a moment, he found himself unable to visualize that particular thing...

This was very quickly fixed however, and he found himself turning to the woman with an almost blankly confused stare. "...Er..." This image of Malik using a nabe in a boat kitchen... It was a little weird. To say the least. "What w's Malik doin' makin' sukiyaki?"

Their friend shrugged. "I think he managed to trigger some memories of the taste from a year or so ba- Hey wait a minute," Anzu muttered half way through, "How did you know..."

There was a short span of silence at that, Honda eventually shrugging it off and grinning. "We should probably just not even ask," he said with a short laugh. "Pretty sure that by now whatever needs to be filled in just will. But damn it," he added loudly, smacking his friend on the back of the shoulder, "If you get a shot at what's on the next test, you better say something, got it?"

"G-" He snorted, crossing his arms as he laughed. "Pffff, d'pends on how I feel!"

"What!" Katsuya ducked a swipe, laughing and skipping back behind another desk as his friend lunged. "Get back here you!"

"Hey! Honda, Jonouchi," Anzu protested, "Class starts in five minutes! HONDA! JONOUCHI!"

As it turned out from what was muttered or spoken throughout the day, he wasn't the only one with an uneventful summer. Aside from a few trips to the museum, Anzu's was spent with her part-time job selling engraved jewelry, while running the occasional line of Egyptian or Arabic through her head to keep herself from falling asleep from boredom. Honda's was more or less spent moving furniture in and out of an apartment with Otogi, before the both of them essentially collapsed and spent the rest of it wandering the area to figure out decent enough routes to take where-ever. Yugi and his other half visited with their friends occasionally (though the mansion itself had mysteriously given no answer), finding Honda and Otogi in the aforementioned state of lethargy before managing to even run into Malik and his siblings once or twice in the days that followed. It was about there that Katsuya had decided to mention what Selket had told him actually; though he decided to leave it as a 'dream' thing rather than a 'my monsters like to move between decks' thing.

Shortly after this Bakura had come over from whatever he'd been doing to share his own stories. During his summer, Bakura had _apparently_ gone right home after all was said and done. And following that had... Somehow proceeded to forget what he'd spent the summer doing outside of any moments of Monster World Campaigning and model making. There was a part of him that wondered if he'd somehow gotten the ring back, but when the other Yugi had shaken his head and gestured to the bag that his lighter half was keeping with him at all times, they decided to chalk it up to getting distracted by the campaigning that their friend was currently gushing about.

He might have been quiet after all, but that didn't mean Bakura could get just as sucked into something he enjoyed as the rest of them.

As it was, he was probably the only one who'd really done 'something' in the end, even if that 'something' was nothing but games. Especially since the most he could say was that he'd gotten a call half way through summer from his mom asking what had happened at Battle City since, as she put it, '_While I'm grateful that she's taken the bandages off, it seems like there's more than just Ryuzaki-kun's accident causing this silence._' And then later, when Ryuzaki actually _did_ wake up and go home (which came complete with an angered 'why didn't you tell me' once Shizuka guessed what his lack of surprise ment), this message turned into '_are you SURE you don't know what's wrong?_'

Well... He'd... Say something about dueling scars and the like but...

Well as it was, he was having enough issues changing for Gym class without anyone spotting the fairly large one that was over his chest. "You are _so_ lucky," Honda muttered dryly, "That this thing is only visible from the front."

Katsuya threw his shirt back on, sending a somewhat cautious look over his shoulder before patting the fabric down over the scar. "Heh. Yea, tell me about it," the blond responded, scratching his head with a somewhat pained grin. "Least I don' have t' worry about it any more."

"What?" A few of the others turned, blinking. "So you really don't plan on doing any dueling from now on then," Otogi asked, the topic itself coming up around the end of the last period class as they packed up.

The look Katsuya gained seemed almost akin to horror, even with the obviously humored undertone. "AH- S-Stop..!"

Bakura didn't apparently catch it (though he _was_ behind him), instead nodding with worried agreement. "Well... Given the consequences," he began, "It seems to be the smarter solution-"

"Doesn' mean I'm takin' it!" Wait, that came out wrong... Ah well. "Really," he muttered almost incredulously. "Take a hell 'f a lot more than 'this' t' stop me!"

"Didn't 'that' put you in a state of clinical death for half an hour..?"

Katsuya chose not to address Otogi's remark, instead heading back to the classroom with a grin still on his face. "Maybe I c'n duel Yugi after school," he was saying, already certain that the cards in his bag would be rumbling with anticipation. "Didn' bring my duel-disk, but there's always table-top..."

"Erm... Does anyone want to remind him he's supposed to go _home," _Bakura asked nervously.

"Don't bother," came a 'doubled' answer from the other two, Katsuya still ignoring them both.

"Ehhh..." The albino sighed, shaking his head. "Right well... If you do end up dueling, let me know how it turns out alright," he asked, gesturing to the buckets at the side of their door. "Otogi and I have to clean the classroom today."

At this Otogi jumped, having apparently forgotten about this. "Nh- That's right..." He winced, looking back down the hall. "...Our class has the Library and nurses' room as well this week, doesn't it..." Bakura nodded, the others merely snickering in response. Ooooh... Sucked that.

"Hehehe... Too bad Otogi," Katsuya said with a grin. "Looks like yer stuck inside..."

The teen merely smirked at that, recovering from his momentary despair almost immediately. "Hn! For twenty minutes maybe! Not like you, mister 'house-arrest'!"

"GH- THA'-"

"Hey Yugi, you alright in there?"

The boys turned, following Honda's gaze into the classroom. He seemed almost frozen for the moment- he was standing by the window, looking up and out through it with a rather blank stare, as though something in the clouds just happened to be more important than anything else. "Hn..?" Anzu came over from behind the group herself, looking in with the others. "...Isn't that normally your thing Jonouchi..?"

For a brief moment the blond scowled, before looking back in and shaking it off. Oh what the hell, it wasn't like he could well deny it in this case. Not to mention the looks they had seemed to point toward Yugi possibly being stuck in that very same sort of trance. "Ahhh c'mon," Katsuya groaned, "I ain't contagious! Hey Otogi, Bakura," he added, looking back as the two again sent a glance toward the library with an identical sigh. "We'll meet y' at Burger World after, alrigh'?"

"Burger World," Bakura repeated, Otogi frowning at the plan.

"You know, you might not care _now,_" he muttered almost darkly, "But I'm pretty sure that if someone actually bothers giving a call you'll regret it both as a relationship 'victim' and an employee..."

Katsuya chose to ignore that, though a somewhat broken smile had given Otogi enough response that his next words were 'see you then,' as he bolted off with Bakura.

Heh. He had to say, he liked that a hell of a lot more than thinking of what Seto's reaction to _anything_ involving him would be right now. (Don't think about it don't think about it...!) Regardless, Yugi was still looking out the window... And it was starting to worry _him _as well. "Oi! Yugi," he shouted out, the boy jumping as his other half appeared to the side and snapped out of a similar state. Katsuya grinned, waving his friend over toward the door. "Yugi, what're y' doin' man? Class 's over, c'mon, lets head out!"

Yugi nodded, shaking himself was he walked over. "Ah- Right," he laughed, "Coming..!"

"_Hnnn... Hah..._" The spirit at his side stretched, having likely forgotten just momentarily that being behind Yugi didn't shield him from Katsuya's eyes, and therefore from the risk of being laughed at._ "That was a nice sleep," _he muttered with a yawn, before shaking off any further drowsiness. _Nice_- No wonder he complained about staying up all night..! (Wait how the hell did that-)

"So, Burger World right," Anzu asked conversationally, the others turning as she continued. "Alright then," she went on with a smile, "But my shift starts in a few hours so-"

'_Mutou Yugi..._'

The group stiffened, turning back to the classroom as what seemed almost like the sound of wind blew through. "Tha'..." Katsuya frowned, narrowing his eyes. "W's tha' one jus' me..?" A number of shaken heads were his response, and Yugi stared at the desk he'd passed. By all accounts it seemed nothing was wrong but...

Since when did _everyone _hear voices that weren't there? "Who was that," Yugi asked somewhat fearfully, his other half inspecting the desk with a suspicious frown. "Show yourself!"

"H-Hihhh... Tha' really th' best thing t' do w' phantom voices..?" He knew that _he_ could hear weird crap, but things that they could _all _hear could never be good- A head slowly rose through the desk, Katsuya falling backward in shock as a single wide and mad eye looked directly toward him from behind the hair that covered its duplicate. "H-H-HHHHAAHHH!"

"What the hell..!"

The head was quickly followed by shoulders. Followed by a torso, arms, and soon enough a full body, coming to rest atop the table with an expression almost akin to the now lost 'other Malik'. The appearance of the man quite obviously told them otherwise however. If not for the fact that this man was pale skinned with mid-back length hair going anywhere _but_ up, then the way he dressed was already a dead giveaway. No... From the looks of things, whoever this was he was clearly Japanese himself.

As to who he was however, there was still that to answer, particularly since he was currently looking at them all as though they were something he was about to squish under his shoe in sadistic glee. "Hnhnhnhnhn... So this is the 'Duel King'," the 'ghost' applauded, Katsuya swallowing as he pulled himself back up with a bit of help from the 'other Yugi'. "I have to say, I have _very_ much looked forward to this meeting..." Yea because _that_ was always good to hear...

Shuddering was put aside as the group stared, Yugi being the first to speak. "You... Who are you," Yugi asked, before Katsuya's own voice over powered it.

"_What_ are you..!" Hell, looking at this guy now he was pretty much emanating smoke! That or some other black, misty substance that reminded him of his father's cooking. And if everyone could see him... Well.

To his surprise, even with a part of him knowing what the answer was, it caught him completely off guard. In fact...

For once it felt like he hadn't seen what he was supposed to this time. "Who am I," the 'ghost' asked with a smirk, hands still held out and opened before him. "CEO of Industrial Illusions 'Asia'... Tenma Yakou." Ten...

"Tenma," he repeated, stepping back somewhat. Seto mentioned that name in passing once. 'Tenma', that was...

"That... 'Pegasus'," Anzu repeated, shaking her head and frowning. "In English, that would be Pegasus, but..."

"What exactly happened to Pegasus any way," Honda muttered, Katsuya growing pale.

"Errrrr..." That. Yes, well... "He uh..." The blond coughed. "Eh... 'Parently he died," he manged to force out, "So..."

"Wait, Pegasus is DEAD-"

"Not important right now," Anzu hissed, Yugi nodding despite his obvious discomfort.

"_Why would someone from I2 appear before us,_" the other Yugi whispered, partner frowning as he voiced his similar worries.

"What does 'I2' want from me?"

It was probably a testament to how often this kind of thing happened that their only reaction to the chuckling this guy gave in response was to frown. "Hnhnhnhnhn... It's obvious isn't it," the teen chuckled, eyes wide with disturbed cheer. "When a duelist stands before the king, it's the start of a battle. And I am, in all truth, a _duelist. _Fight with me Yugi," he laughed, pulling an arm and duel disk out from the cloak around his shoulders and clicking it into place. "And when you're defeated," he continued, slowly floating up toward the roof, "Accept the punishment of the _Gods_. You cannot avoid me," Tenma sneered as he passed through it, looks of somewhat disgusted confusion being made in response. "I'll be waiting on the rooftop..." Eh...

E-Ehhh... Ghooooooosts..! "_Does... Anyone else wonder what that was,_" 'Yugi' eventually asked, both Katsuya and the lighter Yugi turning toward him as they slowly closed their mouths.

"It... Vanished into the ceiling..."

"Maybe it really was a ghost," Honda muttered, a hurried yelp of 'don't say that' coming from Katsuya.

"N-NHHHHHH! Don' even' mention th' word," he moaned, holding his head. "'S gonna keep me up all night..!"

"Should... Um..." The others blinked, turning as Anzu coughed and pointed toward the door. "Should we at least check the roof you think..?" Ah...

Oh. "T-Tha's righ'," he shouted, running past the others and toward the hall. "If he's waitin' up there, we mind as well check..!"

"Yea," Honda muttered, racing out behind him and up the stairs, "But who the hell IS he?"

"I dunno, someone Seto-chan hates?"

"Your girlfriend hates everyone," he responded flatly.

"SHE AIN'T-"

"_Is there really any point in denying it..?_" There was right now! He still didn't have his answer, and he-

...Don't think about that damn it! The door to the roof was violently flung open, the wide fenced top coming into view. Sure enough Tenma was still standing there, cloak flapping in the wind along with his hair. "You came," he said calmly, holding his hands out with the closest thing they could see as a smile on his face. The teen chuckled, eyes narrowing with expectancy and mirth both. "Good... It's time to duel," he continued, bringing a foot back in a 'welcoming' gesture. It was, but...

"You... You're not really here, are you," Yugi said almost bluntly, a bit of a nervous sweat breaking over his forehead.

"_Ah-_" The other Yugi turned at that, as did Katsuya. "_But that can't be right,_" he muttered, blinking a few times. "_That would mean-_"

"He... It's really a ghost then," Katsuya squeaked out, shuddering somewhat as his face continued to grow white. "Y'... Y' got a dead duelist who wants t' duel w'th y..!"

Despite apparently agreeing with him, even the other Yugi had to give Katsuya a look with the last comment. "_Nn... I don't think it's __**quite**__ like that,_" he coughed, rubbing his head.

"He's probably using solid vision," Yugi continued, biting his lip. "I don't know how but..."

"As one would expect from the King of Duelists," Tenma announced, clapping his hands together. "Quick to see the truth! You're right... This is a hologram, a projection of my real body. But... Should you battle me," he continued nastily, "It will be impossible to hold that title for long... This card I hold here," he continued, the object in question seemingly appearing from thin air in his hand, "Will leave you no chance... Of course," the madman laughed, "If you like, you could back down..!"

The two Yugis immediately tensed at the idea of 'giving in', the more violent of the pair growing somewhat red in the face. "_What-!_"

"WHAT DID YOU JUS' SAY," Katsuya snarled, moving to charge forward. "Y' F- ...Ah-!"

A blast of wind roared against the field, Yugi's arm snapping in front of his friend's as the two spirits switched. "I'm not backing down," the other Yugi snarled, his lighter half momentarily absent from the field from the sudden switch. The boy brought his arm back, eyes narrowed to an almost standardized and battle-ready glare. "I accept your challenge!"

"Hnn..?"

That look... Katsuya swallowed, looking back from the hologram and swallowing. "Yugi... I wish I could tell y' more abou' this guy," he muttered, silently cursing the fact that the dreams didn't listen,"But other than th' obvious..."

"Don't worry," he said calmly, pulling his duel disk from his back and loading the deck. "It'll be fine." Right. Fine. Dreams came for a reason after all... "Alright Tenma," the boy called out, disk clicking into place as he stepped forward. "I'm ready any time... _DUEL_!"

That was about the last thing he saw before the smoke from around Tenma's form decided to almost completely cut off any of the five senses his body had at his disposal.

* * *

He was in the desert again. That much he knew, but when he dreamed it had never been like this. Even the 'flashes' had never been like this.

It felt almost as though his 'dreams' were superimposed over reality. That the dream he was having now was a mere after image, with the duel happening clearly before his eyes and cheers coming from his lips even as sand blew it all from sight and silenced him by way of confusion.

Cards were being drawn were being read, were being played, were becoming stone on a field becoming a wall of rocks shaped almost like dragons. Growing into the walls of a cavern lit through well placed mirrors and lamps, with numerous carvings covering the walls around him. He could hear a voice, the voice of a child...

But as it registered in his mind he realized that it was far more familiar than that. '_I don't understand,_' he could hear 'himself' mutter, rubbing a scrap of rough cloth over a bleeding bruise. One of the other kids had chucked a rock at him- how he knew this was likely another of those 'just because' sorts of things. '_The elders __all__ have shadows,_' 'he' grumbled, crossing his arms in annoyance._ 'But why can't __they__ speak? Why aren't they like you?_'

As usual, most of the shadows in the room didn't answer. They traded odd looks, sinking into the corners of the room to whisper to each other in a language he couldn't quite understand for the moment. The one that did speak, the dragon, merely gave a low and agitated growl. '_The times of shadows have changed young one... It would not surprise me if those with your sight were gone in a matter of years from now,_' he added, lowering his head to the boy's side.

The boy frowned, turning toward it. '_But why?_'

'_Again with the questions,_' the dragon chuckled, shaking its head. '_I will tell you another time. Your __questions to your people's 'elders' have gotten you in a great deal of trouble boy... With both them __and__ the children of your age,_' he added dryly, tail flicking up from the darkness to bring the cloth back to his charge's face.

'Katsuya' shrugged, despite never once moving from his place on the highschool roof or even flinching under the sting of the cloth as the boy of his illusion did. '_Not like it matters,_' he said almost proudly._ 'I can throw off as many of them that come at me! I'd like to see them try and take __me__ down!_'

'_Hahhh...'_ This gained yet another sigh from the dragon, the black monster shaking his head._ 'And just what have I said about fighting little one..._'

'_...Not to?_'

The dragon lowered its face to 'Katsuya', chuckling almost wryly. '_Not completely sure why I bother any more... But for now, how about I tell you another story,_' he continued, the boy at his side perking up considerably. '_Listen close... This is the tale of-_'

The sand vanished in a fierce gale at that moment, a single card picked up from the deck into Yugi's hands. The clouds above had thickened somewhat and with the over all mood in the air it was almost obvious what was about to happen. "Aw hell," he muttered, grimacing as a trio of sacrifices were prepared on the boy's side of the field for the 'next step'. "Not this again..."

"Want me to cover your mouth for you," Anzu offered almost sarcastically, the blond merely grimacing at the thought.

"Nah... I think I-"

"I SACRIFICE THREE MONSTERS," Yugi roared, Katsuya's voice cutting short. His eyes squeezed shut and he bit his lip, waiting for the words to come. Shit. Shit here it came... Here- "SAINT DRAGON OF THE SKIES," he announced, crimson scales breaking through the clouds with a violent roar. "THE GOD OSIRIS!" Wait...

Wait what. "I..." Osiris was there but...

"You... You didn't say anything," Honda muttered, looking to him in apparent shock. After so many other times... Hell, during the fight against the other Malik he counted at least four shots at calling Ra... "But..." But he hadn't said anything this time. "Why..."

The storm above was being hindered as well Katsuya realized, though at least Osiris himself wasn't having troubles with the summoning. The dragon coiled through the sky to rest just above the group, great and seemingly sightless eyes turned down toward them as its twin mouths grinned. "**I GREET you Little KING,**" he announced, low growling almost sounding like chuckles on the air. "**It would seem your NEXT challenge has JUST BEGUN!**"

"_NEXT__ challenge,_" the light Yugi protested, looking up to the dragon as his other frowned. "_But what does that-_"

"Look at Tenma's face," Honda muttered under his breath, Yugi attempting to ignore it for the moment to launch his monster's special ability as his partner paled. "Look at his eye..!" His eye?

Oh. _That _eye. "ATTACK," Yugi was snarling, oblivious to the mad stare he was standing under. "_**THUNDER FORCE!**_"

"**RRRRAAAAAOOOOOOOOO!**"

The smoke and flames that struck the field completely encompassed their opponent, obscuring him from view. Yet despite this Katsuya couldn't help feel that something wasn't right. The ashes had singed the sides of the roof fence, going so far as to leave scorch marks on the ground but something just _wasn't right._ Yet although every single one of them knew this there was nothing they could do.

Nothing except continue to stiffen in unease as Tenma gave another of his frightening smiles, and as a pressuring feeling that had slowly been growing since his arrival continued to push at Katsuya's head. "So _THIS_ is Osiris," the teen laughed, his image slowly becoming clear from behind the fading smoke. His wide eyes seemed to trace the dragon's entire form, Tenma shaking his head slowly as he muttered under his breath. "Amazing...!"

"...Tenma..." The dragon's low growling did nothing to hide comments from those on the roof, the apparent CEO's opponent clenching his free fist. "Stop holding back," Yugi hissed, narrowing his eyes. "Show me your true power..!"

"My **true** power," he asked, a blank tablet slowly appearing to his side with his armored and demonic looking monsters. The hologram chuckled as the monsters did the same, each one appearing to look to their opponent with the same mad incredulity as their master. "Well then... I'll show you **power** alright..." Kay. He said power but... _Not_ his?

Ohhh, he didn't like this feeling...

Not at all...

"My turn," Tenma announced, eyes again widening in crazed excitement. "I activate the magic card Silent Deceased," he began, the tablet that arose now carving itself with the image of the monster that had died just moments before. "The monster you defeated returns to my field to become my third sacrifice," he continued, winged arms breaking free as a leathery black dragon tore from the stone and into the air. UH... _Third_..! But the only time they needed three was when- "And by sacrificing these three monsters, I summon..-"

He could hear words on the air but for once they were not his own. He barely recognized the speaker as it was. '_Long ago when Darkness and Light were young, their battles took less subtle means,_' a dragon whispered, all three of the monsters across him on the field slowly collapsing in a rotted heap as their bodies evaporated into a blackened mush. _'There was no time for temptations and guilt in those days... Nay, those days were filled with blades and bloodshed. And while Light created children she protected,_' the beast went on,_ 'Darkness formed but three beings to further spread his influence. The Behemoth,_' he began,_ \Great in power and horrific in appearance. The Leviathan, the serpent of shadows, the weaver of tongues... More powerful than both of these by far however was the pride and __**joy **__of the darkness__**,'**_ the dragon hissed, the weakness and strain pushing down even further as clouds seemed to converge only where the black muck formed of sacrificed monsters dripped. '_A creature designed to counter Light in all her defenses... The shape-changer,_' he whispered, Katsuya's eyes widening as the black sludge slowly rose. '_He who is the __**dark**__ to all __**lights**__..._'

"THE DEVIL'S AVATAR," Tenma cackled, the ooze floating upward into a perfect sphere. A single and enormous 'sun', blacker than the deepest end of space and smoothed over completely now sat before them. An anti-thesis to 'Ra'... A 'god'. "A GOD that FAR surpasses your own," the teen sneered, as though to correct Katsuya's thoughts.

The monster before them had no voice, and resembled naught but a blackened sphere, a cheap duplicate of the sun. From within however a form could scarcely be seen... A skeletal figure of sorts, with leering eyes and blood stained claws. But just as soon as he'd been able to spot this, the monster's shape began to change. The sphere stretched, pulled forward and loosely took a new shape. '_The Devil's Avatar,_' Tenma was shouting, Katsuya simply wondering how he hadn't lost his lunch yet. '_A counterpart to God, a monster of pure shadows... Now WATCH,_' the teen called out, voice just as distant as the dreams Katsuya was having, '_As the demon changes shape... INTO A BEING THAT SURPASSES OSIRIS COMPLETLY..!_' The third 'child'...

The 'shape changer'. There was no doubt as to what stood before them now he thought with a swallow. Osiris himself drew back with wide eyes as a being matching his form in all but colour appeared, red scales dyed black in a manner matching the air that hung around it. "**What... **_**IS **_**this HERESY,**" the God hissed, 'Avatar' merely grinning as wickedly as its 'master' while further revealing blackened teeth. "**What IS THIS..!**" Even Osiris didn't know? Oh well wasn't that just_ LOVELY._.!

Even so, what they _did _know was still enough to pin them down with yet more fear and anxiety for the situation. "A black Osiris," Anzu was muttering, eyes growing somewhat misted as she looked over the beast. The look was almost similar to what she tended to take when pulling up some of Malik's memories actually... But all the same, with this monster... "This..." With exactly one attack point more than Osiris, barely surpassing it...

"Gh... You trigger Osiris' effect," Yugi announced almost hesitantly, attempting to steel his resolve under the pressure of the second God. "By summoning a new monster to the field," he forced out, "Osiris' first mouth opens..! NOW! _ATTAC_-" Yugi's words were cut short by the thundering force that escaped the God's upper maw, the lightning and electricity merely sinking into Avatar's body as though it were made of the same substance. There was no effect from the attack... Nothing to even show it happened outside the ash on the cement and fence. And as Tenma's grin grew, Yugi muttering curses under his breath, the teen explained.

"Hnhnhnhn.. You know full well there's a 'system' to these things _don't you_," he hissed, all eyes turning to him from the monster with fear. "Among the three Gods a pyramid of power is formed," Tenma sneered, "With the Sun God Ra at the top. The Devil's Avatar is a God with similar ranking," he continued, mad grin widening. "In fact... You could say that he's 'equal' with your 'RA'!" Wh-

"E...Equal with..."

"_The same as RA..?_"

"**Blasphemy... BLASPHAMEY!**" What he said.** "WE DESTROYED YOU,**" Osiris snarled, shaking his head in disbelief. "**SEALED YOU TO THE PITS OF THE ENDS OF TIME!**"

At this it was not merely Tenma who was chuckling. In fact, it seemed that as Katsuya took a step back the 'second Osiris' voice spoke _with_ him, not that anyone else could hear that. "**Hnhnhnhnhn... There ****is NOTHING that surpasses THIS power,**" the monster sneered, eyes narrowing in superior mirth.** "**_**FOOLS**_**... I am the CARRIER of MISFORTUNE, the HERALD of DEATH... Face my ATTACK,**" he cackled,** "You who carry LIGHT'S blood... HHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA!**"

"Darkness..." Dark...

"_**DARKNESS SHOURAIDAN!**_" Shit.

"Y-YUGI," Katsuya shouted, the black flames ahead of them barreling forward as Yugi looked upward. "YU-"

"_**RRRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_"

Through the sounds of the monster's roar the fires seared the roof completely, and for a moment they could see nothing. Like Yugi, and like the other Yugi they found themselves shielding their eyes, arms held above their faces as a shield against the black 'light'. Just what _was_ this card, he wanted to scream, slowly opening his eyes to a field shrouded by the Avatar's power. What was this thing, what was this monster..? The thing in his 'dream' perhaps? If it was a counter to the Gods, that made sense...

But it didn't feel right. And the words it had said... Those words...

"Osiris," Anzu whispered in shock, the wind slowly dying down. The great and red-scaled dragon was gone, all trace of it destroyed. The only visible remains of the ashes were fading away with it... And all that was left was a sneering 'Avatar'. "In one hit," she whispered, eyes wide. "One... And it was destroyed... This monster..." This...

This _GOD._.. The Avatar's black form was again melting they realized with disgust. Melting back into a perfect sphere that caught their attention completely, forming a single black sun once more. The counterpart to Ra, right down to the skeletal 'griffin' inside...

The 'Shape Changer'... The 'Avatar' of the Darkness.

"The 'Ja-Shin'," Tenma sneered, pulling his card free from the duel disk. Immediately thereafter the monster sank into a black puddle again, its ooze seeping into its owner's duel disk. Forfeiture. Tie. Tenma had the advantage but he'd ended the duel regardless- an act that was probably even worse than simply going through to the end. But whatever reason he was doing it for didn't matter right now..! The 'Ja-Shin', the 'Evil Gods'... "The counterparts to the Gods..." This...

"Bastard," Katsuya snarled, the 'field' that had been held vanishing in an instant with fragments of the pressure he'd felt. "Pegasus dies an you decide t' make yer own game breakin' cards!" Mirroring a monster with one extra point? What the hell was that! "THIS IS BULLSHIT," he snarled louder, nonetheless remaining where he stood. "WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU!"

"Oh no... Don't misunderstand," the hologram whispered. He brushed a bit of hair back, before holding the card forward and smirking. "This card was designed long ago... A god formed out of hesitation and fear. You might think the _God Cards_ were his greatest mistake," he went on almost bemusedly. "But Pegasus-sama's image of the Ja-Shin was so fearful that he hesitated to even _touch_ them... That's beside the point," he continued, dread rising still further into the air as his tone darkened. "You've taken everything from me Yugi... My teacher," Tenma whispered, "My family... So I'm going to take something from you..."

What..?

"What..." ...Why did it suddenly feel like things had just gotten worse _again_..? "What is this," Anzu suddenly whispered, the others turning back in horror. She was holding her hand before her with wide eyes, stepping back from the others and looking back to her body as some... _Thing_ began to eat away at it. As her hand slowly burned from the palm out, the burn traveling up her arm...

Smoke. Her body was smoking, misting away...

"Anzu-" Within seconds her arms were gone, the woman looking over herself in panic.

"ANZU!" Her legs had misted into nothing, and as Yugi reached out toward her the woman turned her head back and-

"Yug-"

Smoke. Smoke and air. That was all that was left in a matter of seconds, leaving the three boys frozen on the rooftop with nothing but their friend's horrified face burned into their minds. "She... She vanished," Honda finally said, shaking his head in disbelief. "She... _She..._"

"TENMA," Yugi snarled, his lighter half staring at where his friend had been in shock. "WHAT DID YOU DO WITH HER!"

"HHAHAHAHAHAHAHAAA! It hurts doesn't it," the teen cackled in response, ignoring the screamed threats before him. "To lose something you love..? I've had Mazaki Anzu's body for the last number of hours," he continued with a sneer, "Right where it needs to be for my 'project'..."

"Project," Katsuya repeated incredulously. "What th' hell are you-"

"'R.A.'," Tenma chuckled, seemingly hovering in the air. "That girl is the sacrifice that will set my goal in motion, the penance for your _crimes_... But you know," he continued, the three that had prepared to charge him stopping abruptly, "You want a chance to save her as well, right..?"

"A chance to- Then she's safe," Yugi asked, teeth grinding at the expression their friend's captor had. "She's alright..!"

"Well..." '_Well'_? "For the moment," he 'admitted', giving a subtle careless shrug. "But even right now, before the project is even finished I can't guarantee that..."

"What..." Even _now_..?

It already started..! "The project has just completed PHASE TWO," Tenma announced, gesturing far off to the distant edge of Domino. "With Phase One a complete success; complete control over Kaiba Corporation's main office and systems!" What what wh-

"K- YOU TOOK OVER TH' COMPANY," Katsuya shouted incredulously, only to be cut off by Yugi.

"You kidnapped Anzu," he hissed, eyes shadowed as he stepped forward. "And now you're talking about sacrifice... This... What are you planning," he roared, expression almost desperate. "WHAT ARE YOU-"

"Revenge."

The boys froze yet again, eyes momentarily widening. The tone that Tenma had taken was lucid, and frighteningly so. There were no mad games surrounding this, no desires for some ancient item. Yet the voice did not instil the same fear that the other Malik had. With him it was simple; he existed to kill.

But Tenma's desires... "...R... Revenge," Honda repeated, their target's expression cold as he began to smoke from the air. Revenge for _what_..!

"Mazaki Anzu and myself are currently located in Kaiba Corporation's building," Tenma told them. "Where the third phase of the project has begun. If you wish to save her," he continued with a sneering grin, "Then by all means try... Come, and find me, and try and stop me... I have placed many obstacles in your path," the teen chuckled, seeming to flame as he gave a mocking bow. "But regardless of how many you defeat in the end, you WILL face punishment at the hands of the Ja-Shin... SO," he laughed, crackling from existence with one word. "I'll see you then..." W- No...

No... "Come back here," Katsuya muttered, shaking his head before charging the smoking mess. "GET BACK HERE! TENMA!"

Nothing but smoke met with his fists at those shouts, and with pale skin and wide eyes the trio found themselves standing in silence. "What..." Yugi swallowed, looking back to the other two with an expression of confusion that his friends never expected to see from the former 'Pharaoh'. "...What have we gotten ourselves into now..?"

* * *

**AN: **I don't know Yugi, but holy shit you guys are problem magnets. (And that expression is actually _canon_ too. It's REALY upsetting.)

Poor Anzu though; wake up, get kidnapped, get hooked up to a hologram machine, 'apparently' wake up at your house again to run late for class...

Then you find out that kidnapping wasn't really a dream... Though that'll all be covered in a later chapter really.

In any case, if this chapter seems short, it's because I REALLY underestimated this arc's skill in keeping Duels short. Yu-Gi-Oh R was REALLY good with that... To the point that they didn't even bother showing the entire duel above. WHOOOOPS.

In any case, there's art today! YAYYYYYY. Also, for those wondering what's been sapping my time away, I finally bothered making a separate area to put my portfolio art until I feel like going on something like Deviant Art again. (I think my user page links out to my old one...) It's located here: http : / / s5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ Portfolio/ #!cpZZ1Q QtppZZ20

Anything I didn't put in there that I used in the portfolio was fanart for Skin, hahaha.

SPEAKING of the PORTFOLIO...

**IGOTINIGOTINIGOTINIGOTIN-** I got into the program I applied to! Starting September, I'm a University Student!

. . .

This actually won't likely affect my updating schedule as much as thought, as everyone will stop pestering me to draw outside of class after that, which means I'll be drawing on my own time, which means I'll still be spending just as much/little time on this as before. (Really, depending on the day I can spend HOURS typing or no more than 15 minutes. It all depends on mood, and if I'm not in the mood to write, then I don't bother; it WILL NOT SOUND GOOD otherwise.)

Now then, Contest info! The entries, this time SEPARATED BY A LINE will be at the bottom. **This is because many readers were unable to distinguish the separate entries, and incorrectly assumed a number of them to be from one single 'set' as opposed to being many separate options. **Results will not be posted this week, as we'll be stopping the polls next chapter to enter the next round of the contest!

In any case...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Anzu was coping quite well until this chapter Iona. I'm a bit of a prick when it comes to things like that really. Oh well!

Haga's fate is a little 'ambiguous' at the moment, though he's at least in a less antagonistic light. Heck, Jou catching even a _glimpse _of him cooperating with Shizuka proves this (though we're still going ShizukaxRyuzaki for the fanfic.).

And as a matter of fact, there _was_ some melancholy, but not concerning herself... At least not in regard to any emotional attachments. More about what might have happened... As it's likely that it was the Pharaoh's death which caused the dedication. (And as a matter of fact it was, but Anzu doesn't really know that.)

Any ways, I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Now onto the next one!

And once again Imadork, I thank you for the congratulations! I suppose that my attention to the side characters is an off shoot of my tendency to over think things; actually, this fanfic is one of the few times I've ever been able to run with it without things getting out of hand. It's quite nice.

As to how Jonouchi 'handled it', you can find out now. It's a good thing he never found out how to summon properly though; spending the summer with duel monsters would have made for an interesting return to school to say the least.

In any case, I wouldn't quite say crazy so much as bored. _He actually read a book, how HORRIBLE_. (Ahahahah...) Back to serious business and no, no that's quite alright... I get quite a bit of fun out of it myself sometimes...

By this point though, you should probably assume anything that comes out of my mouth is foreshadowing, unless you're easily disappointed. Then, just assume the opposite, and be pleasantly surprised when it turns out it was foreshadowing rather than be disappointed when it doesn't.

And hahaha, yea, when I was writing that scene I had an image of her in my mind... And quickly realized how well that line would fit.

In any case, your votes have been recorded! Until then, enjoy this chapter, and I'll see you next time!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's still wondering how Anzu never realized she was a hologram. WHAT, WHAT!

* * *

This chapter title comes from that handy Hebrew dictionary I've been using; 'ri'shah' means 'beginning', or rather 'beginning time' or 'early time'. Suits the start of an arc that's going to mess with all of the Egypt memories Jou has... Given that most of whatever 'Past-Jou' says is in _Hebrew_.

* * *

The shadow the elder has, rather, his 'Ka', is based on the monster 'Karakuri Soldier Nisamu'. This is because, to stick with the theme that the elders shadows lack personalities, I'm using robotic types of duel monsters. However, to keep with a village-y theme, I stuck with Karakuri... They're more I dunno... 'Wood-punk'? What would you call that!

* * *

Speaking of the shadow, the reason why people can see it is because the sight isn't completely gone yet. Also, the shadows of the elders are more 'forced'; he's _making_ it visible. There is, however, a reason why kids like Saraph don't know about this later on, and you'll see it soon enough.

* * *

The stories mentioned will all tie in eventually, if you didn't guess from the Dragon's mention of the 'Behemoth'. The 'Three Treasures' in particular are something you'll need to watch for though.

* * *

By the way, 'Tanniyn' is Dragon in Hebrew. Or one of the ways to say it at least. Remember, if I'm wrong, correct me!

* * *

The 'Sempai/Kohai' thing comes from the fact that, well... That's what Tenma is. He and a few members of the Card Professors (mentioned in Rebecca's debut) were taken in by Pegasus a few years prior the fanfic. This is a little weird given that Tenma is the same age as Kaiba though... (16) In any case, they're essentially Pegasus' proteges.

* * *

Oh hey, o-soji! (Big clean!) I think I mentioned this before but the fact is, the students cleaning tend to have more than just their classroom. Also, this gives me a good reason for Otogi and Bakura to not be present during 'R', other than '_well they just happened to have a cold_.'

* * *

A side note on o-soji though, this doesn't mean they don't have janitors there. Actually, they do; it's just that the janitorial staff double as the staff for everything outside of teaching it seems...

It's a good thing they _do_ have janitors though, as a lot of students don't really do a good job/care too much about whether or not they're cleaning properly.

* * *

Jou's inner mantra of 'don't think about it' has returned, but more out of worry than fear. Since he isn't completely sure of Seto's reasoning for most of what concerns him (All he knows is that she left with an honest smile), he's fighting back the nice feeling of dread that comes with asking someone out. Do they like you back? Well... Normally you get a fast answer.

Jou's been waiting over a _month_.

* * *

In the manga, Jonouchi initially says that he's never heard of 'I2'. This is about where Anzu and Honda correct him, allowing for exposition on what the company is.

It's also where we get our first hint at Pegasus' death for the team, outside that one comment from Roba in the original. Of course... All of this is made moot in the fanfic, so it's been changed accordingly.

* * *

There are lots of advantages to being a hologram, but Jonouchi gets bonus points in dealing with it on the opposite end; he gets to see a few things influencing the hologram form of Yakou. Moreover, it's that very influence that's preventing his 'sight' from doing too much of anything...

And you'll see why soon enough.

* * *

Now, Yugi's guess is interesting here, because in the fanfic the solid vision holograms have already proven themselves incapable of doing more than causing a small bit of force. The idea of someone communicating through one, or even dueling AS one is completely out of the question to most.

But there's another reason why Yami Yugi was siding with Jonouchi on the ghost theory; and it's precisely _because_ Yakou runs I2. The idea that Kaiba would lend him the technology to do something this stalkerish is absolutely astounding, even if the idea of wandering around as a hologram was possible.

Of course, Jonouchi's own sense doesn't help things... But that's Jou, not Yami.

* * *

Normally, I'd include the entire duel, but get this! This duel doesn't show you the beginning! It cuts right to summoning Osiris! Even the translator was confused.

* * *

Some of you may wonder why Avatar didn't originally speak. There's a reason for it, but mostly it has to do with Avatar's purpose; he essentially mirrors the most powerful thing on the field. The thing is, he's supposed to mirror their hate as well...

But since Osiris' hate is being reserved for the thing that copied his face at that moment, he's keeping his trap shut at the start, since he's not a very self-deprecating monster.

* * *

In other news, Avatar's mention of 'Light's Blood' ties into the belief among Ancient Egyptians that the Pharaoh was descended from the God Ra.

* * *

'Shouraidan' is the Japanese name for Osiris' attack, 'Thunder Force'. It's just... 'Darkness Thunderforce' doesn't sound nearly as cool.

* * *

Originally, this chapter was only supposed to have manga content in it, with a little bit of introduction. There was just one problem with that.

Thanks to the manga's REALLY compressed duels (Most of them last one chapter... INCLUDING the set up into it!), I had to add a LOT of bonus content. The story the dragon tells is a big one; that was supposed to be much much much more divided across this arc, and while I managed to keep it that way there's still a lot of talking.

Another thing however is the scene with Pegasus and Tenma. It really happened, but only in a flashback... For that reason, I put it wayyyy at the top...

Mostly because this arc is FULL of Jonouchi's ability going haywire, which is going to be around the top of each chapter from here on out... As it is, it's still up there! Just not as haywire. (Don't worry, the haywire-ness will be explained.)

* * *

Musical Notes

Shameless music time!

Got a few new ones going, but here's an interesting change; this time it's all vocaloid originals!

To go along with last chapter's 'For a Sick Boy', there's From a Dead Girl' by Megurine Luka... Though the acoustic with Miku is quite nice as well. There's also THE DYING MESSAGE from Kagamine Rin, along with a few songs that would likely more suit something with Kaiba during the summer weeks... Namely the duo songs 'Error' and 'Reverse' both of which are sung by the vocaloid 'Lily'.

ALSO 'GURIRI'S' COVER OF 'SHURA NO NIWA' (Garden of Berserker) IS AMAZING.

Sadly, I've yet to find a translation.

(Actually, Guriri in general does rather nice covers...)

* * *

**Contest Entries**

Remember; when you vote, vote for THREE ENTRIES, in order of Preference! For example...

'1) Entry 1, 2) Entry 3 3) Entry 2'

Voting will be held for TWO UPDATES; in other words, you have until the update after the next! Good luck to all those competing!

From MaggieMay:

Jounouchi sees Seto NAKED! And that's only the beginning in this fantastically twisted retelling of the Yu-Gi-Oh! Saga. A completely IC Kaiba Seto that is totally different than what you've ever seen before.

* * *

The story of Yu-gi-oh! with an X twist. One little letter - X instead of Y - and you have a whole new game. Yugi may still be king but Seto is definitely queen, with Jounouchi as her court (and courting) jester and jack of all trades.

* * *

Ever wonder why Seto acts like he has constant PMS? There is an explanation. Jounouchi and the gang learn that gender really doesn't matter. Or does it? Retelling of the Yu-gi-oh! Series – with one little difference that changes everything.

* * *

Think you know Yu-gi-oh! and Puppyshipping? Think again. This is the story retold with a small adjustment that changes everything. You don't know Yu-gi-oh! like this. Strap in 'cause it's gonna be a bumpy ride.

From Imadork:

Jounouchi Katsuya will always look out for his friends, no matter how weird things get. That means he will keep on fighting, whether facing maniacs with freaky powers, monsters from a childrens game, or the fact that Kaiba's a girl. Wait, what?

From Jadej.J:

Seto Kaiba has secrets that run skin deep but when Jou gets drawn in all bets are off. Both teens' dark secrets come to the surface & life changing experiences that will take them into dark secrets of Duel Monsters that no one knows.

From Sora Kohaku:

Being a teenager is hard. Especially when your friend may have split personalities and your father is an alcoholic. And, maybe, just maybe you're going crazy.

* * *

Being a teenager is hard. There's part-time jobs, school work, friends, first crushes, and of course the possibility of going insane. Oh, that's not suppose to happen? Poor Jonouchi.

* * *

After a extra credit project goes almost too well Jonouchi finds himself getting closer to his classmate Kaiba. Too close. Living in the same house too close. For every thing that starts going right for him there's another going wrong.

* * *

Who would have thought getting caught breaking and entering would turn out so well? Not Jonouchi for sure. Though for every thing going right for him there's another two or twenty going south.

* * *

If there was a certain point that things started changing Jonouchi was pretty sure this was it. This was undeniable proof that it doesn't pay to slack off.

* * *

Curiosity couldn't possibly kill him, though Jonouchi doesn't doubt that given the chance Seto Kaiba would. It's just his luck that Mokuba Kaiba likes him so much.

* * *

There are secrets...and then are SECRETS. Secrets that can change the very nature of the game. Jonouchi is finding himself in possession of a lot of these as of late. So it's no wonder that he finds himself wondering if he'll survive them all.

* * *

Smoking kills, alcohol kills, and even children's card games kill—wait, what! Jonouchi knows his life has never been very normal, but this is insane! Or, quite possibly he's the one that's insane.

* * *

Rewards are very fickle business. In comparison to how the universe decides to award Jou, Kaiba is pretty straight forward.

* * *

Jonouchi Katsuya was the exception to the 'no jobs' rule at school. Jonouchi Katsuya also happened to be the great exception to the 'normal' rule when it came to children's card games.

* * *

Jou had a hunch- just a hunch nothing else- that Seto Kaiba was hiding something. It's just his luck that he was right.

* * *

In any case, that's all for this week... Enjoy, Vote, and I'll see you soon! Hopefully with some art!


	108. Chapter 107

**Tsel**

* * *

_This is a story from long ago._

_Many many years before, when the earth was but dust in the sky, there was Chaos. An empty existence that simply 'was'. Chaos however, as empty as it was, was not stagnant. It existed, and it grew, until finally it could no longer 'be' as it 'was'. It burst into an explosion of new existence, a creation of magic and power... _

_A creation of two great and ageless beings who remain with us to this day, ever growing, ever changing. The first being was Darkness. An entity of death, and of destruction, even to the things that had yet to be born. It was a being who could not feel true 'delight', save for within the presence of the despair it so caused._

_The second being was Light, a creator, a bringer of life and of growth. A creature whose despair could only be brought by the senseless destruction wrought by her brother, whose tears fell only when her creations were left in pain. For all that Light did, there would be a reaction from Darkness. And in all that Darkness did, there would be an answering force from Light. For together these two beings were locked in a never ending cycle, a spiral of defeat and success, of love and hate, of good and of evil. And between them, there were two realms to call their own..._

_The realm of darkness, an endless void filled with torment and despair. A realm where only the dead could reside, where only the souls of the forgotten, the hopeless, and the lost could remain._

_And the realm of light which we live in now, our realm of secrets and spirits beyond anything man can imagine..._

_It is between these realms that there lay another world however, young Ancient. A third world, a world of balance formed from the scraps and dredges of light and darkness. A domain where the powers of both beings intersect... A world..._

_Of shadows._

_Light and Darkness did not enjoy the presence of the other, if that was not already obvious to you young Ancient. They were constantly locked in competition, never winning, never losing. This struggle brought destruction and creation both, bringing never ending grief of all forms to both sides. And from the wreckage of their battle came a people who would do the same. Beings of light and darkness both, with a desire to endlessly battle in all of their waking moments. Beings who could not die, and yet did so many times with honor. These monsters, variant in size and form, became the shadows you know now..._

_When Light discovered the shadows that lay between her realm and that of her brother's, she became intrigued. Such beings formed without intention... What would happen then, if she formed something herself, formed something with a plan, with an idea of what would be created? And so, using these shadows as basis Light moved to her own realm; she took the soil and elements available to her from the dust, and formed all that you see now. She carved the mountains tall and the deserts vast. She sculpted the reeds of the river and the crocodiles which swim within them. She created man... And all that man was capable of._

_But Darkness did not know of this. He did not know of the people that lay between their realms, and was unaware of this advantage that Light had formed over him. And so, when he did become so aware of all that had passed without his knowledge his rage grew strong... Stronger than it had ever been before. Unable to form life of his own, he told Light that for all she created he himself would destroy. '**This life that you have formed will come to an end,**' he warned. '**If not today then tomorrow, if not tomorrow then the day afterward. I will not be defeated by the likes of ****you****.**' He would plant seeds of himself in all of her children, and when the time was right those seeds would blossom._

_Light would not back down so easy however. She called forth the shadows of the neutral realms, and forged with them a deal. '**On your own, you are unable to enter my world,**' she told them, bathing the monsters in her light without burning them as it normally would. '**However, should you promise to protect all that I have created, I will grant you such passage. I will allow you to breathe the air of my realms, to taste the fruits of my trees.**'_

_The shadows agreed, unable to resist the pleasures of the world of light. And one by one, they bound themselves to the souls of the people of light, taking with them their friends and family under the protection of Light's gaze. And it is from this bond that a new people arose..._

_While the Darkness waited, ever patient, for the moment where his own children could strike..._

* * *

Somehow, the Kaiba Corp building looked a hell of a lot taller now that they stood before it in the last hour or so of the afternoon. It had always been tall granted. If anything the tower resembled most other business buildings, being tall, mirrored and rectangular, with a heli-pad at the top and the company logo somewhere on the building's wall. One key difference of course, was the trio of Blue-Eyes statues around it...

But really, that was probably expected, and if they didn't have time to tell Bakura and Otogi what they were doing then they didn't have time to stop and stare at the giant white stone dragons. "So this is where they took her," Katsuya muttered, swallowing a slight wave of nausea. Just looking up the sides was making him sick now... "Sheesh... F'r a buildin' like this, it attracts some pretty d'sgustin' people..." He blinked, before turning to the side- something had moved in the corner of his eye. Some sort of shadow... This wasn't from a vision, but-. "AH- Yu-"

A card sliced through the air, his friend immediately snatching it as it came toward his face. Briefly, he had a look of shock on his face, the boy staring at the small paper cut that the card had given him. A small line of red slowly made itself visible, an audible hiss coming through the air as a result. Looking at the card however...

Well, why not pay more attention to the one who threw it he decided. "OI! Who's there," Katsuya snarled, Honda turning just as quickly while the two Yugis stared at the 'weapon' in growing horror and shock.

"Don't bother hiding," his friend snarled, his fists clenched tightly. "We know you're up there..!"

Katsuya nodded, "Tha's righ'," he chorused, cracking his knuckles. "SO C'MON OUT! RIGH-"

An almost lazy voice came through the air, accompanied by a relaxed sigh. "_Hold your horses,_" he muttered in English, the words going in one ear and out the other as the boys traded frowns. "I'm coming, I'm coming..." Ah? A tall, wavy haired man stepped forward, chuckling as he adjusted the duel disk on his wrist. For a moment, he almost looked familiar- his eyes, though quite clearly not from Japan, looked like something he'd seen before. The sense of familiarity vanished just as soon as he spotted the dueldisk on his arm however, Katsuya's brief expression of mild surprise vanishing rather quickly. "My my," the man muttered. "You're impatient. Ah, but whatever... Welcome to the 'stairs of conflict'," he announced, cracking his neck with a grin and gesturing to the 'stage' before him. "You're right on time!" Gh...

"Y' talk pretty big," Katsuya muttered, looking toward the man with narrowed eyes. The accent he spoke with certainly seemed foreign to say the least... Maybe American, he thought to himself. He wouldn't be surprised; given the leather riding chaps and the overall look of the guy, he wasn't from 'down town' or anything similar. (Still, why did he seem familiar..?)

Maybe he was related to someone in his class or something. You never knew really. He didn't get the chance to ask however; the others beat him to it. "Are you from Industrial Illusions," Honda called out, stance still ready enough to launch an attack if needed. "Are you working with Tenma..!"

"Tenma, yes," the man said with a smirk. Another low chuckle met the air, and he continued. "Industrial Illusions... _No_." No..? He stepped closer to the center of the building's entrance, cracking his knuckles and blocking the door. "You could say I'm a 'mercenary'," he continued plainly. "Hired by Tenma to block your way. 'Card Professor Deschutes Lew'," he laughed. "One of the thirteen heads from the American League!" The le-

This was- "Hang on a second," Honda muttered, narrowing his eyes. "The 'Card Professors'... Wasn't that the same group Rebecca mentioned when we met her?"

Katsuya nodded. "Yea. Th' league that r'fused her entrance b'cause of her age..." They hadn't found out until much later how much of a gap that was for her actually- Limit was 14 evidently, and it was something she was fairly sore over. "But-"

"_You..._" The teens looked back, watching as Yugi seemed to shake with rage. The look on his face had been mixed with shock for a fair amount of time already; it seemed however that he'd decided to speak only now though. "This card...!" That card..?

The others looked over his shoulder, blood draining from their face the instant they caught the image. A stunned and wide-eyed face behind a set of bars... "Oh hell," Katsuya muttered, stepping back as his eyes glanced over the 'title' of the card. "Anzu... A soul pr'son card w' ANZU!"

"Just like the ones Pegasus used," Honda whispered, before looking back to Deschutes in horror. "_Exactly_ like..."

"Hey," he chuckled with a shrug, a small look of unease visible despite the action. "Don't look at _me_ like that now! I'm just delivering a message; my employer gave that to me while meeting with the rest of the professors at the top of the tower. If you plan to reach him," Deschutes went on in apparent amusement, "Then you'll have to defeat me in a duel first." Duels..?

"Again w' th' duels," Katsuya muttered, only just now remembering his own back in the house. "'S great we ain't usin' fists but who th' hell thought this up..?"

Honda shrugged, and in response to the challenge the other Yugi wordlessly moved forward. The message was clear. '_I'll fight you_', he seemed to say. 'A_nd no matter what, I'll win.._.'

"DUEL START," the two chorused, disks clacking into place as they drew cards.

"Duel start," the others muttered in response, shaking their heads. Fuck this was surreal...

At least things were back to 'normal' though he thought to himself, watching as the dark 'film' came over them to herald the battle's beginning. The 'arena' limits were set into place and insults were being traded as per the usual... Mostly. This time, the insults came only from one side. While Deschutes was busy grinning and talking about how sorry he felt that the other twelve duelists inside wouldn't get their fight, Yugi merely stared across the field with a look of complete ice. Strange...

He'd have thought that stare was tightly fenced into the Kaiba family, not that he blamed the guy for 'borrowing' it. "I'll go first," he spat, stone already rising up from the ground with his words. "First, I set one face down card... And then," he continued, the second tablet carving an image without a single sign of hesitancy, "I summon the Queen's Knight! End turn!"

The red Queen kicked out from the stone before the image could even finish carving itself from existence, sword held high as she came to rest upon the field. As their opponent began to chuckle however, she frowned, fist tightening its grip upon the blade. "**...**_**He finds our battle **__**amusing**__**,**_" she hissed incredulously, the American across from them merely smirking at the expression his opponent held. "_**He **__**dares**_**..?**"

The woman's snarled protests were cut short, their opponent glancing over the field and shaking his head. "Hn... First turn," he said calmly, "And already you're preparing to summon a God Card! Hnhnhahahaha..." He drew his card, setting another on the field as a large stone wall rose up with a carving soon to follow despite the lack of mist. "Don't think I'll let it happen so easily! I summon the Mobile Fortress, Gear Golem," he announced, the stone halting in place to sit dormant. "Defense mode!"

Defens- "D'fense mode," Katsuya shouted. Sheesh... "Tch- Big mouth f'r someone who starts out w' nothin' but defense!"

Deschutes' smirk grew. "Not quite 'nothing but'," he stated clearly, low chuckling bringing a few frowns to those watching. Not qui- Oh, Katsuya found himself thinking as two more tablets appeared to fence their summoner in from the sides. That. "I set two cards face down and end my turn!" That was great- but why the hell did it form a _fortress_ around him? The question was left unsaid, Katsuya opting to listen to his friend's opponent for the moment instead of asking himself things he couldn't answer. "So, 'Duel King'," the man laughed, tapping a few buttons on the duel disk before his grin widened. "Lets see what your 'God' does."

The taunt was feeble; that much was obvious, and it was enough that both Katsuya and Honda were holding their tongues as Yugi snorted. "Tch. It doesn't matter what kind of strategy you're using," Yugi growled, "_WE_ will shatter it! My turn," he continued, pulling the next card from his deck as a tablet rose beside that of the Queen's. "I summon the King's Knight," the boy announced, a third tablet rising between them. The image upon the stone slowly carved itself with wisps of smoke, and gold and orange armor slowly made its way forward. Yet another tablet was rising however; and just as the King began to appear, so did the third warrior. "Now that the King and Queen are on the field," Yugi 'explained', "I bring forth the Jacks Knight... Moreover," he roared, the two blade wielding knights stepping out from the stone with expressions to match their origin, "I equip the Jack's Knight with the Sword of Lightning! ATTACK," he roared, the knight pulling his now sparking blade back to rush forward into a charge. "_**THUNDER BREAK SWORD!**_"

"_**GHH-!**_" The moment the blade made contact with stone the face down tablet to the side crumbled. A vortex of sand and dust arose, and as the Jack's Knight pulled back his summoner paled.

"Trap card activated," Deschutes chuckled, left side left exposed with the vanished stone. "Negate Attack. How dangerous," he sighed, shaking his head as he smirked. "I'm not about to let your attack come through; for this turn all damage dealt to me is 'zero'," the man continued, drawing his next card. "Which brings it to mine! First," he announced, "I sacrifice this monster to summon a new one; the Castle Gate, in defense mode," Deschutes called out, the stone before him growing taller and wider upon the field. Even if points were left from the considerations it was obvious which side had the advantage at the moment; the wall was far too thick and far too wide for the monsters to properly get around, with the 'door' on its front showing no signs of giving in. Which was more or less why he was as pissed as he was. Deschute's reactions helped though he supposed. "HAHAHAHA! An iron wall," the man howled, grin wide. "Not a single thing can get through..."

"Which means Jack's Knight attack won't affect him at all," Honda muttered, eyes widening somewhat as the knight in question sheathed his blade and scowled. "Shit..." If only it were in attack mode, Katsuya thought dryly.

They'd be done by now.

"_But... With a monster that has no attack points there has to be something else right,_" Yugi added, Katsuya's eyes narrowing. "_...Right?_" Well...

Probably, but he was kind of thinking otherwise..! Of course, time and time again it seemed the 'bad guys' so to speak actually had logic on their side, so he probably should have seen that coming. "Don't think you're getting off easy now," their opponent was saying, still tapping the buttons of the duel disk and flipping cards to match the actions. "I'm not done yet!" Oh of _course_ not! "Activate the spell Brain Control," Deschutes called out, withered hands appearing from a dusty tablet with the words. "Giving me the Jack's Knight and allowing me to utilize the Door's ability..!" Ability? The sound of a cannon met his ears, and abruptly Katsuya paled.

The hands already had the Knight completely spell bound... "Shit- YUG-" Too late, he realized quickly enough.

And given Yugi's expression, the duelist had caught on rather quick himself. "MONSTER CANNON," Deschutes roared, the Jack's Knight having been blissfully led away by the spell cards hands before finding himself rudely shoved into the tablet's twin doors. "Inflicting his attack on your life points directly!" The doors swung open instantly in response, and before anyone could comprehend the sight of a cannon appearing between them they were more or less covering their ears.

-_**BRM-**_

"_GHGN-_" Though the cannon ball formed from the remains of the Jack's Knight apparently passed through him Yugi still doubled in pain. The remainder of the Knight's tablet was nothing for defense- it shattered the moment its armor broke through, and continued on to slam against Yugi's stomach. Unable to speak for a moment he clutched his middle, gasping for air and fixing his eyes on the ground as his monsters turned to him in worry. Across from him, Deschutes was laughing of course... '_How does it feel,_' he howled coldly, '_To be hit in the stomach by your own monsters?_' The monsters themselves merely narrowed their eyes, holding their tongues in response...

But the words of their opponent were apparently enough to snap him out of the momentary pain that the cannon left him in. "...My turn," he said lowly, drawing his next card. He looked over his hand with shadowed eyes for the next number of moments, staring at the one he'd drawn before snapping his gaze upward. This move- Katsuya blinked, before finding himself smirking. Only the third move, but this was definitely 'it'. He still couldn't see it as clear as he normally would... But this was definitely the 'last turn'. "I sacrifice the King's Knight and the Queen's Knight," he began, the pair both closing their eyes with similar expressions of calm as they collapsed into a spiral of dust. "And I summon the Dark Magician! From this point on," he snarled, the dust forming one single tablet and being upon the field, "These friends of mine won't allow you to do as you wish..!"

"_**Well put,**__" _the magician responded, stepping onto the ground as the dust blew down to a clear sky again. Hell yea it was 'well put'. ...But...

Why did it feel like there was...

Deschutes stared for a moment, blinking a few times as he looked over the magician. One. Two. And... "Gh... DHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHHA!" W-What the fuck..! "Activate trap," he shouted, scarcely keeping his laughter from cutting the words short. "Overbearing trade! With the sacrifice of my monsters and half of my life points," he shouted, the Magician finding himself rather swiftly pulled to the other side of the field to hang in mid air at the duelist's side as the remaining tablets crumbled out of existence, "I take control of all your monsters! So much for 'your' 'friend'," he laughed, the magician pulling at unseen bonds in the air with a scowl. The chuckling continued, and with crossed arms Deschutes looked over to the monster with a smirk. "Looks like your cute friend here will finish things for me..." Ehehehe... Uh...

What. "...Did... He say cute," Honda repeated, pointing over. Yugi's expression of confidence hadn't yet changed after all; they didn't likely have much to worry about in regards to what the trap had done. But...

"_**. . .Please finish this,**_" the Dark Magician muttered, face pulled into obvious unease from where he hung in mid air. "_**. . . Now.**_"

"Aha... Hah... Y-Yugi... Y' might wanna..." Might wanna listen.

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." The tablet on Yugi's side of the field began to carve itself out, the invisible restraints holding the magician vanishing. "I thought I said that they wouldn't allow you to do as you wish," he chuckled, the magician stalking back over to his side of the field with shadowed eyes and a somewhat put off expression while their opponent paled. "Reveal face down," Yugi called out, "Owner's Mark! The Magician returns to my control," he roared, the Magician taking aim with his staff. "And I enter my battle phase... GO," he ordered. "ATTACK!

"_**BLACK MAGIC!**_" The electricity shot forward instantly, surrounding their opponent completely. Direct hit...

They won. "Gh- EOOOOOOOOO!" Deschutes raised his arm in defense, attempting to block the blinding light from the Magician. Half of 4000 was 2000- an easy destruction for the Dark Magician to take care of really- so with the attack now complete and slowly blowing away, there was nothing more to do.

"_**Hn!**_" The mage twirled his staff, tablets slowly sinking into the ground as he looked back to his summoner. "**_I'll take my leave, my Pharaoh,_**" he said calmly, turning to give his summoner a curt nod. To Katsuya's slight surprise, the boy nodded- So then... He'd heard..?

'_Of course he did,_' came a muffled voice from his own deck, '_He could always see them it was only a matter of time..!_' Er... Really?

Was that really how it worked..? (And how the hell did they manage to speak through his bag...) Honda and Katsuya both walked up the stairs, looking toward the now defeated 'professor' as he stumbled onto his knees against the backlash of the 'holographic' attack. "Hah... Three moves," the man was muttering, slowly reaching into his pocket for something. "Three..." He pulled himself up as the other Yugi approached, shaking his head and holding out a blank, plastic card.

"...And this is," the boy asked, only for Katsuya to stare and blink.

"Ah- Hang on a sec," he muttered, pulling out a similar card from his pocket. Most of the card was white; however, there was also a black band along the side, along with the KaibaCorp logo across the front. "Tha's one of th' buildin's key cards..! How-"

"Each of the others hold a card like this," Deschutes said stiffly, tossing it to his former opponent with a neutral expression in place. The statement alone made it obvious what 'how' meant- with that in mind, they continued to listen. "Beside the fact that they won't be handing them over until you beat them, these cards are keyed into all doors before the following duelist. No other cards will work," he added, sending a humored look to Katsuya as he moved to try his own on the front door. "So don't bother."

The blond cursed, pocketing his card and glaring at the door before them. "Tch. Figures. Damn Tenma..."

As Deschutes rolled his eyes Honda frowned, the other two Yugi's busying themselves with setting the disk right and replacing the cards in their deck. "I don't suppose you could tell us _where_ the 'following' duelist is then," he asked, adjusting his grip on a school-bag that he hadn't bothered to leave behind.

"The next one?" He blinked, jerking his head toward the door. "Head for the staff elevator. I'm assuming you know where that is," he added, looking toward Katsuya. "Given your own card..."

Again the blond blinked, before nodding. "Er... Yea. Jus' past th' lobby..."

"Then you can deal with the rest yourselves," Deschutes said with a yawn, stretching and heading back down the steps. "If the one I think is there, she'll make herself obvious. ...Man..! I never expected to end up out of the running so quick though... 'King of Duelists' indeed," he chuckled, Yugi in question frowning at the remark.

"You..."

"I think I'll do a bit of sight seeing," the man continued absently, slipping into English as the boys stared. "_Find a cafe... Meet someone new... I think I have a cousin here somewhere, hn..._" Um...

He was pretty sure he recognized the word 'cafe' in there, but did anyone else catch whatever the hell he'd just said? Katsuya shook his head, turning as the current 'ghost half' of Yugi tapped him on the shoulder.

"_We don't have time,_" he said plainly, his friend nodding in response. Right.

"Alrigh' then... In we go," Katsuya decided, the other Yugi having already moved beside him with Honda to open the door. "T' th' next duelist," he shouted, walking into the building.

For the most part, a lot of the halls were dark. The lobby was lit only by the light from the immense glass windows and door at the front, leaving the hall at the side completely bathed in shadow. It was almost eerie actually; it reminded him of a haunted house, something that managed to send small shudders down his spine. Entering the 'second lobby' however, which would lead to the elevator brought just as much confusion as it did a dull illumination on said darkness.

"AH- What the hell-" The boys tensed as they turned the corner, faces instantly blasted with a wave of synthetic fog. It took up most of the air in the room- inhaling a nice big chunk of it was _not _making him feel any better either. "Agggh... What is this, obon," Honda hissed, coughing as he waved an arm in his face.

Katsuya shuddered, mirroring the action with a grimace as he attempted to clear himself some air-space. "I dunno, but don' r'mind me of Obon; las' time I saw fog on Obon..." Was horrible.

_Horrible. _"You just about pissed yourself last time there was a fog machine on Obon," his friend chuckled, Katsuya growing red in the face.

"Gh- I told y' not t' mention it!"

"_What are you two even talking about,_" Yugi muttered, his other half merely searching the fogged hall for the next duelist and paying the mist no mind. He watched as his friends quickly entered a scuffle, pushing and pulling at the others fists as they bickered.

"Oh come on," Honda was snickering, a few coughs coming between laughs. "You can't say that it wasn't the most hilarious way for Kimodameshi to fail _ever_," he laughed, pushing his friend back and ducking a swipe.

"It ain' hilarious it's cruel damn it!" So stop talking about it _pleaaaaaase._

Yugi blinked. "_You guys went through kimodameshi..?_" He wasn't going to answer that.

"Keheheheh..." Again Honda ducked a swipe from his friend, laughing. "Gonna have to do better than that..!"

"Gh-! Get back here! I'll show you better," he snarled, lunging at the teen before the other Yugi's voice cut them off.

"Quiet," he hissed, the two immediately freezing. "They're coming..! Can't you hear it?" Hear-

A shadow of a woman came to mind, accompanied by a tall figure that reeked of death. "Th' next card pr'fessor..." His breath stuck in his throat, the blond turning to squint through the fog. There was nothing but a curtain of white. "Where 's she..."

"She," Honda questioned, Katsuya opening his mouth only for someone else to speak first.

"That's right," a calm voice answered, high heels clacking against the tiled floor. A blonde young woman walked forward, already prepared duel disk held forward as she nodded. "I have to say, you know how to keep a woman waiting. Welcome to my battle field," she said calmly, the fog seeming to clear as she smiled. "My name is 'Tilla Mook'... And I will be your next opponent." Ah-

Honda and Katsuya both smirked, Yugi struggling not to do the same despite the fact that Tilla wouldn't see him regardless. "Gh... Hihhh... 'Mook'," he whispered. "Seriously?"

"_Shhhh! This is ser... This is serious,_" Yugi laughed, his other half standing ahead and resisting the urge to roll his eyes.

Honda threw off his own quiet bout of laughter, looking around and whistling. Yugi was right; not the time. (But seriously, 'mook'?) "Damn... You 'professors' like to show off don't you," he said clearly, Tilla modestly bowing her head.

"Hn... It's only fitting," she said rather simply, a shadow seeming to part the fog further. "This field is where my master sleeps, after all." Uh... Kay..?

"M... Master," Katsuya muttered with a swallow, before drawing back as a spirit hovered behind her. Ohhhhh fuck fuck fuck fuck fuck-

"_**Yes,**_" the Vampire behind Tilla sneered, placing a comforting hand on his summoner's shoulder. "**_Master. If you would watch and learn, puny 'ancient'..._**" Again with the ancient..!

_And holy crap why did it have to be a fucking vampire..?_ Any retort he thought of was cut short yet again as Tilla smiled, half-lidded eyes staring toward them in an almost haunting show of anticipation. "My master's identity matters little to _you_," she said calmly, eyes flickering toward Katsuya. "Compared to the Duelist King, with a prize of 10,000 dollars on defeat your 'ten' is worthless. Stand aside and wait for the end," she continued coolly, Katsuya growling under his breath. Ten...

"TEN DOLLARS," he snarled, held back by a sighing Honda and 'light' Yugi as he growled. "Tha's barely 1,000 yen y' prissy vampire bitch!"

She blinked, her opponent as well turning as the blond seethed. "Hn... Quite the mouth. It still doesn't change 'Mr. Tenma's view of your worth however," Tilla chuckled, looking back as the other Yugi took a more battle ready stance.

"WHAT KINDA PRIZE IS TEN BUCKS!"

"Jonouchi, calm down!"

"_J-Jonouchi-kun...!_"

"Plenty," Tilla retorted, her gaze sharpening each moment it was left on the blond. "Now please... I'm trying to prepare for a duel here," she muttered, a growl coming from the vampire at the side as Katsuya deflated.

"_**Cool it, **__**brat**_." Gh-!

"Nyyyhhhhhh..." Ten... O-One thousand yen... And the vampire... And... ...Gh...

Damn that Tenma...!

Yugi clicked his duel disk into place, stepping forward with a curt nod. "Are you ready," he called out, his opponent nodding in response.

"But of course- now... DUEL," she called out, the field scarcely changing under the usual 'film' of the battle. "I'll move first! Set one card face down," Tilla began, the tablet rising with a coating of black ash as the vampire to her side stood from behind to watch. The blackened stone almost seemed to have rounded the corners from the top, and as a small mound of soil followed Katsuya shuddered- a tombstone. "Following that," Tilla continued, a second black grave arising to carve itself out with an almost liquid substance rather than mist, "I summon the 'Blood Sucker' to the field!" Blood sucker? Katsuya grimaced as a rather grotesque mix between human and vampire bat clambered out from the stone, before perching at the top to stretch its wings and hiss. Oh.

That was... Pleasant. (Was it seriously sticking its tongue out at him, or was that just the monster's face?)

"Your move now Yugi," Tilla said with a smile, her opponent scowling.

"Tch... I know," he responded. His card was drawn, expression tight as he stared across the field; most likely, his thoughts and the lighter Yugi's were the same right now. Why summon such a weak monster with no effect? Nonetheless, he continued with his own turn, a tablet already rising from the ground and carving itself an image of a monster. "I summon Beta the Magnet Warrior," he decided, the gold coloured 'robot' leaping from the stone with a nod. "Now... Attack Tilla's monster," he ordered, the monster nodding.

"**Roger-that,**" it exclaimed monotonously. **"H-AH! BETA-MAGNET-PUNCH!**" With one swift blow the stone beneath Blood Sucker's feet crumbled, the monster in question clattering to the ground to follow in a pile of ash. The ground seemed to shudder beneath the body's remains, and eventually it sank from sight completely. As the blow from Beta's fist blew back a few wisps of fog however Yugi's expression of suspicion remained unchanged, just as his opponent's smile. The warrior himself seemed to notice this, pausing and turning back uneasily. "**. . .AH. Boss-?**"

Tilla chuckled, tapping the duel disk as an image began to etch itself into her blank tombstone. Again a blood-like liquid was seeping from the cracks, Katsuya growing rather pale as he looked away. "Your 'Beta's attack has activated my trap," she said calmly, tapping the side of the duel disk. "Reveal face down card... 'Thirst for Blood', allowing me to special summon one Vampire monster to the field. I choose 'Vampire Lady'," she continued, a rather beautiful if not obviously dead woman stepping out from the stone with a calm smile. If not for the blue skin, he'd probably say something actually. As it was...

_Someone finish the duel, __now__._ "Hnnn..." Yugi's eyes narrowed, the boy looking over the field suspiciously before taking two more cards from his hand. The Vampire Lady wasn't much more powerful than Blood Sucker after all; so there was still a question of what was going on. "I set two face down cards," he announced, bringing his arm back as Beta returned to his side as well. "End turn. ...Tilla," he continued, frown still unchanging. "You stated that this was where your 'master' slept..?" Yea, except he wasn't sleeping Katsuya mentally added with a shudder. Probably bored to _tears, _but not sleeping... He shook himself as Yugi chuckled, only to pale further when he noticed that the vampire at Tilla's side had now snapped to attention. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Why don't you show me just who this 'master' of yours is," he challenged, opponent's smile growing in response.

Oh come on, did... Did they really need to- "A challenge," Tilla 'asked' with a chuckle, drawing her next card. (No, it wasn't, please don'-) "Well well... I accept, 'little Yugi'. I find that sort of challenge quite agreeable..." The woman chuckled somewhat, looking over her hand before nodding. "Very well," she announced, waving a hand over the field to switch cards as the Vampire behind her vanished. "I'll show you the master within my deck..! I sacrifice the Vampire Lady to summon him," she continued, the woman's tomb crumbling and erupting into a cloud of dust that surrounded her completely. The spirit at Tilla's side vanished... "ARISE, my Master... CURSE OF VAMPIRE!"

"_**Hnhnhnhnhnhnhn... HnhnHaHAHA..!**_" The dust blew from the spot all at once as a roped figure appeared, fangs revealed in a leering grin. "**_At last,_**" he hissed, licking his lips. "_**A worthy opponent...**_" K-Kay...

Someone keep the vampire from talking _please_... As Yugi stared his opponent merely smirked, pointing her monster forward with a nod. "Now..! GO, my master! Your will is my own! Strike the Magnet Warrior down," she ordered, the monster charging to do just that.

"_**POISON CLAW STRIKE!**_"

For a moment, Katsuya wanted to ask what the hell poison would do to the Magnet Warrior. In fact, as the Vampire's claws sank into the metal of its body, it looked like both monsters were about to ask the same thing. With no blood to carry the poison through his body, all the Vampire had managed to do was wedge his hand into the monster's body. Eventually however, the Vampire sighed. "_**Hah... Hold still for a moment,**_" he decided, grabbing the warrior's head as the duelists stared.

"_Um..._" Alright... If Yugi could see _his_ monsters...

"..." And... Tilla could see hers...

Well wasn't this an interesting image? "**...Are-you-done-yet,**" the Magnet asked, looking awkwardly to the side as the Vampire searched around through its circuitry. "**Because-this-is-all-very-**" Abruptly the robot's eyes grew dim, the Vampire tossing its metal husk to the side and cracking its knuckles while the corresponding tablet crumbled to dust.

"_**Hn! Really... If it isn't one thing it's another,**_" he muttered, walking over to his mistress' side as both duelists stared.

Yugi's eyes appeared to move toward Beta's corpse as the fog shifted around them, before gritting his teeth as his lifepoints finally reacted. He hadn't lost _too_ much... But if he took a direct hit... "Hn... So," he eventually said, looking across at the monster Tilla had summoned. "That monster is your 'master'," he said quietly, his opponent nodding in response.

"That is right," she answered calmly, turning away from the Vampire with a confident nod. "And he will surely defeat you." Errrr... Yea. About this whole 'master' thing...

"Please tell me I ain't th' only one freaked out abou' this," Katsuya muttered, the two at his side merely nodding wordlessly in response.

"_You're not..._"

"If I didn't know about you already," Honda muttered, "I'd say she was off the deep end..."

Ignoring the first remark... "Damn right," the blond hissed under his breath in response, watching as the other Yugi gave his opponent a curt nod.

"Hn! I'm almost curious to find out how he'll do that," Yugi snarled, tapping the duel disk as a blank tablet to his side began to etch an image for itself. "Activate trap," he announced, "Soul Rope! For the price of 1000 lifepoints," he continued, "I summon Gamma the Magnet Warrior! And now for my turn," the boy went on, drawing his next card. "I summon Gazelle, King of Mythical Beasts," he roared, cool and dusty stone rising as the one horned lion broke free. "Following that, I play this... UNION ATTACK!" As another tablet rose to the field the monsters charged, combined strength easily ripping through the vampire's flesh. "All monsters attack at once," Yugi explained, "Striking one monster with their combined strength!"

Easily destroying the vampire, Katsuya finished in his mind, grinning widely. "Heh... ALRIGH' YUGI," he cheered, pumping a fist as he shouted.

"Some 'master'," Honda laughed. "Gone in one hit!"

Suddenly, Katsuya's grin faded, and he found himself swallowing in unease. "Hn!" Tilla merely snorted, closing her eyes momentarily as the others stared. "A waste of energy," she responded. "My master is immortal... Hnhnhnhnhnhn..." Er... Immortal..?

"_**Gh... Tilla,**_" the Vampire hissed, clutching his side and looking toward the woman as she nodded. The bleeding monster had barely pulled himself to his feet, and he looked toward his summoner with dimming eyes. K-Kay... What?

Another nod, and she pulled the hair away from her neck. "I am _yours_, master..." What. The Vampire's grin widened, and he shot toward the woman instantly, wounds forgotten. He bared his fangs, latching onto the woman's neck-

WHAT. "Tha'-"

"Jonouchi," Honda said stiffly, closing his eyes a moment as both of Yugis stared in dumbfounded shock. "...Give it to me straight. Is he really... Is he really sucking..."

Katsuya nodded, choking as the vampire continued to feed off of its master's blood. "Yea. Yea he really..." Oooooh god he was gonna hurl...

"What the hell kind of monster," Honda groaned, "Is programmed to actually feed..."

"Stop talkin' Honda." Stop talking, because thanks to this he was noticing that there were more than just a _few_ scars on that woman's neck...

"Hahh..." Tilla let out a slight moan as the others stared, the Vampire's wounds healing completely as he stepped back onto the field. Bringing a hand to stop her own bleeding she smiled darkly, rubbing the remains from her neck. "Hnhnhnhnhn... When Curse of Vampire is destroyed in battle," she explained, "I can pay 1000 of my life points to bring him back with 500 more in attack. All I do, is for him," she continued, smiling softly. "And now... It's my turn," she stated calmly. Y-Yeaaaa... That... That just... (Someone get him a bucket...) More chuckling filled the air, and the woman drew a card. "I play the continuous spell 'Threat of Demon's Eyes'," Tilla announced, a stone tablet with the spell's image rising up in the shape of yet another tombstone. "Just as my master's will is my own, so is it yours..! Your monsters will no longer stand in his way," she shouted, a pair of ghostly eyes leering from the stone as Yugi's monsters paled. "Now brace yourself... For my Master seeks your life! POISON CLAW STRIKE," she roared, the vampire darting forward.

"_**Face my power,**_" the Vampire hissed, slashing at the boy and tossing him back with a shout. "**_Young KING!_**"

"GGNHG!" The monsters at his side turned, Yugi looking up from the ground with gasping breaths. "Gh..." His monsters had been forced down on their hands and knees... And yet this was not defense mode spell. They couldn't move an inch to do even that... That was beside the point however. While the monsters could only watch, Yugi weakly pulled himself back to his feet, looking across the field with narrowed eyes. In one strike Yugi's life points were almost gone... And from across him, Tilla's smirk only grew.

"Hnhnhn... Your life is at its end," she said almost frankly, closing her eyes and smiling. "Come the next turn, my immortal master will drain you completely of life- with his direct attack, you can do nothing... This is the end..." The end..?

Her opponent snorted, drawing his next card with a smirk. He wouldn't have even needed to do that... With a card that he'd already held he made his move, the mist seeming to swirl violently through the room. "Really now," he 'asked', chuckling under his breath. "So sorry Tilla," he told her. "But I don't agree with you... I sacrifice my two monsters," he announced, both of them finding themselves surrounded by a dusty spiral as their tablets crumbled to dust, "Summoning the monster Buster Blader, in attack mode!"

"_**HM!**_" Black, skintight armor coated the warrior that appeared, an almost face-less being standing before Yugi as the dust collapsed to the ground. His tablet slowly rose up behind him, and as he hoisted his blade over his shoulder the others stared almost incredulously.

"_**W- ...The... The swordsman,**_" the Vampire laughed, his mistress doing the same.

"N... HAH! HaHAH! Yugi... Even if you destroy my Master, he will only come back stronger than ever... This does not change your fate," Tilla insisted, shaking her head.

"No," Yugi responded in agreement. "But _this_ does..." 'This'? "Reveal trap card," he announced, the second of his blank tablets carving an image across its surface. "Magic Transfer!"

"Wha-" Tilla froze, blood draining from her already pale face as the Vampire at her side choked. Magic Transfer... Another 'copy' spell, like his Graverobber...

And it was _perfect _for this situation.

"...What...?"

As though fighting an invisible hand the monster at Tilla's side bowed down. His wings folded against his back, and with a snarling face he managed to look across the field, watching as what was formerly blank stone looked toward him menacingly. "_**You... To steal my EYES,**_" he snarled, Yugi merely chuckling in response.

"Hnhnhnhn... Magic Transfer copies the effect of a continuous spell card on the field," Yugi explained, unable to hear what the Vampire said. "Have a taste of your own medicine," he continued, the tablet at his side now mirroring that of the tomb across it. "Threat of the Demon's Eye activates, and you're left defenseless..!"

If Tilla had heard him, she was obviously still in too much shock to respond. "W... What..?"

"_**Hnhnhnhnhn...**_" The buster blader moved slowly toward his summoner's opponent, Tilla's eyes slowly looking up to where it towered above her. It was quite clear that what she saw was no mere hologram; that the giant and menacing being, faceless and literally covered in shadows, was there in the flesh with a blade that could cut diamonds. "**_Hello there... 'Little Girl'._**" It was quite clear to the woman.

She would not survive if that blade hit her. "N... No... Oh no," she whispered, the monster raising his blade high above him. "No... N..."

"_**HNN!**_"

"There are two kinds of self-sacrifice," Yugi stated with a smirk, watching as his monster switched grip on the handle to prepare his attack. "While I admit yours is powerful... Mine just happens to be more suited for this sort of battle. Buster Blader," he ordered, the blade swinging downward. "_**SWORD SLASH OF DRAGON!**_"

"_**HHHAAAAHH!**_"

"NNN-hh!"

-tpf-

Tilla stiffened completely as the blade crashed down, the force blowing her clothes to the side somewhat as the blade chipped the tiles. With the very swing of the sword the stones began to fade, the fog passing with it as the machines 'mysteriously' stopped functioning. Tablets crumbled to the ground and, pulling his blade back from the ground as the Vampire choked and hissed from its mistress' side, the Buster Blader chuckled.

"_**Hnhnhnhnhn... Really... A Duel Monster being the 'master', since when did that happen,**_" he muttered, ignoring the snarls from the vampire behind him. The monster slowly faded from existence, still laughing as he shook his head. "**_See you later,_**" he continued, evidently not caring whether or not Yugi could actually hear him.

"HahahahhaHAH! Great going," Katsuya cheered, smacking his friend on the back of the shoulder as Yugi chuckled. "Whew!"

"Another 'three move duel'," Honda muttered, shaking his head with a grin. "MAN... We're just going to fly through this aren't we," he said, a somewhat relived undertone on his voice. The boys looked over to Tilla, the woman still somewhat left in shock from the attack.

"_**...Tilla,**_" the Vampire muttered, tapping her on the shoulder a few times. "**_... Tilla..._**" No response. Evidently she was still in shock, not that he could really blame her.

Katsuya sighed, rubbing the back of his head. "Er... Y' think _you_ could get th' card," he asked, the Vampire merely fixing him with a blank stare as his mistress snapped out of it.

"N-" She turned, blinking a few times in surprise. "Ah- You can see-" She covered her mouth as though realizing what she'd been about to say. "You..."

Yugi stepped forward, holding a hand out expectantly. "Perhaps some other time," he offered stiffly, Honda nodding in agreement. "If we could have the key card..?"

Tilla turned, regaining a more serious expression as she nodded. "Of course," she told him, pulling out her card and handing it to him. It was when he caught the gleam on the card that he realized the lights were coming back on- slowly granted, but it was certainly a lot brighter than it had been to start with. "This card will open the door to the next room ahead," Tilla explained, gesturing to the door at the end of the elevator hall. "It's rather large... I believe it might be a foyer of sorts." As Yugi nodded, moving aside to test the card in question she turned back to Katsuya. "And... You..." Him? ...Oh. Right.

Ahhh... He blinked, turning from where he'd been having a 'staring contest' with the Vampire. "Eh- Oh! Ahhhh..." He looked back to the others a moment, before looking toward Tilla. He didn't really want to talk about duel-monster things right now. Speaking of dueling though... "...Hey... C'n I borrow your dueldisk?"

The look he got was expected really. "...What."

The blond laughed, rubbing the back of his head. "Well... I left mine at home an'..."

"_**Hahhh...**_" The pair turned, 'Vampire' shaking his head in apparent incredulity. "**_You mind as well allow him to use it for now,_**" he told the woman, frowning somewhat. "_**I have a feeling he'll need it soon enough...**_" Of course he'd need it, he was gonna-

Why the hell did he have a flash of the basement levels? … _And what was with those glass tubes.._?

Katsuya shook it from mind, merely watching as the Vampire and his mistress had an exchange of sorts. Whatever they were talking about while he'd been busy with that 'flash' it must have done the trick though; Tilla was unloading her deck at that very moment, pocketing it and handing her duel disk to him.

"Make sure you don't lose it," she warned, narrowing her eyes. "I don't know what my Master means by 'Ancients'..." (Again with the Ancients..!) "But I won't allow anyone to lose something like this- I'm doing this only because he trusts you. Understand?" Er...

The blond numbly took the device, looking toward the Vampire in question before nodding. "'F course," he said, clicking it over his arm. "No probl'm... Ah..." He coughed, backing away- the others were already past the opened door... "See y' both later," he decided, turning to run over and join the others. "Thanks f'r th' disk!"

"_**Hn. You can say 'thank you' when you find Coppermine,**_" the Vampire muttered, Katsuya frowning as he joined up with the others. Coppermine..?

He shook it from mind, instead looking over his duel disk with a smirk. "Heh... Oi, Yugi," he called out, both of them turning somewhat as Honda did the same. "Don' worry abou' th' next duel alrigh'? I'll give 'm hell..! Heheheheh..."

"Jonouchi... While winning duels and saving Anzu _is_ our goal," Honda muttered. "...Is it really worth the possibility of becoming more of a hindrance when someone attacks you directly..?" Hindrance! Wha-

Yugi blinked at that, the other half as well seeming to frown. "_Ah- That's right... We don't know what happens when you lose all your life points, do we,_" he asked, turning to the blond in worry. Errrr...

Despite not hearing a word of what he said Honda seemed to be building on that comment, a tight frown in place. "The point of this 'fight' is to get to Anzu... Not to end up with two casualties..." Katsuya coughed, turning away for a moment. Right... That.

"Yea, yea... I know," he responded, frowning as well. "But tha's exactly why I gotta win, got it," he continued, crossing his arms. "So we c'n get t' Anzu faster..! But man," he continued, turning on Honda with a scowl. "What's with y'! I get tha' Yugi's worried, but yer actin' like I'll lose Honda!"

"Er..."

"Y' think I'm gonna lose," he continued, a mocking and accusatory point aimed toward the teen. "Yer beliefs in yer friend goin' down?" If he even thought about losing...

That was the same as thinking about dying..! "J-Jonouchi..?"

The other Yugi smirked, chuckling under his breath. "It's alright, Honda, Aibou," he stated, both looking over as Honda briefly glanced to the 'blank spot' his friends were looking at. "Jonouchi's beaten Ra before after all... No matter what kind of enemy we face, we'll beat them easily, alright?" He held out a hand, mirroring the symbol that they'd formed over a year prior in the 'Death-T' event. The great 'permanent marker face' that Anzu had made.

That Anzu wasn't there to complete.

"We'll get her back," Yugi whispered, eyes narrowing. "Our 'missing piece'..."

Katsuya and the others stared a moment, before nodding sternly. "Right," Honda said, moving through the open room. "In that case, we can only move forward. Now..." He looked around frowning. "Jonouchi..."

"We're in th' stair an' entryway," the blond 'answered', not bothering to wait for a question he'd already 'heard'. "Normally th's place 'd be full," he continued, looking around the empty floor, "But it looks like they cleared 'm out... I think th' room w's more t' show off than anything really..." Then again, this building had been built by Gozaburo first right? So he supposed that if Seto was going to do anything with a great big room containing a sun-roof, putting trees in it was better than nothing. His eyes drifted around the room, before blinking. "...Ah?"

The blond wandered off to the side, the others turning. "_Hn..?_"

"Jonouchi," Honda shouted, "What-"

"It's a card," he called back, picking it up from the ground. "Hang on, I-" He paled, smile freezing as he sound of gears mirrored his move to flip it over.

'Booby Trap', the card read. And nothing else. Oh hell.

-_rrrrmmnnnnnnn..._-

"Ahhh shit," he muttered, the floor dropping from under him as he grabbed at the edge of what had formed a falling ramp. "FUUUUUUUUCK..!"

"_J-JONOUCHI-KUN!_"

"SHIT!"

"JONOUCHI!"

Honda bolted, pushing Yugi back as he dove and skidded down the ramp. "That idiot..!"

"Gh- Honda-"

"Don't follow us," he snarled, looking back with wide eyes. "Got it? We'll catch up later, you go on ahead..!"

"_Other me, Jonouchi's not moving..!_"

The other Yugi stiffened, again moving to reach for his friends. "Gh-"

Honda looked back down the hole, paling as the ramp began to move slowly upward again. "Shit... Go on," he barked out, sliding down as he gave a final thumbs up. "You can do this..!"

"Honda-"

"GO!"

That was the last thing Yugi heard and saw before Honda finally allowed himself to tumble off the ramp before it threatened to crush him.

The last thing that _Katsuya_ saw before he passed out however, was someone entirely different. Someone who could have been younger than he was for all he knew.

"_Man_," someone muttered in English, a clear American accent meeting his ears as an almost cat-like face looked down in worry. "_When he said 'wait for someone to fall', he wasn't kidding..._" Briefly, he'd thought of asking what the hell that was supposed to even _mean-_ Or if they even spoke Japanese...

But really, he was too busy closing his eyes, groaning in pain, and watching as the 'light' Yugi's spirit charged down through the floor in panic...

That and passing out.

Couldn't really forget that one.

* * *

Why was it, he asked himself, that all his dreams as of late started with sand?

He was standing beside 'little him' again. Or 'past him'. Or maybe 'little past him'.

It was all very confusing, and he kinda wished he had his 'other self's' name, since he sure as hell didn't remember it himself. There was nothing to give it away despite this after all- no carvings, no writings, and no one to call it for him. At the moment, he wasn't too worried about that though...

No, he was more worried about blocking the rocks that they were throwing in the kid's- rather his- face.

"_Where's your shadow, liar,_" they screamed, a number of children cornering the boy in a niche between the buildings. The sun hung low in the sky and though the children looked nearly identical in colour of skin and hair he felt that there couldn't be more of a gap between who they were. And while 'Katsuya' rubbed some of the blood from his face, another stone scratched his arm. _"Where is it_," the children jeered, gathering all they could for ammo. _"Where is it, huh? The elders all got one, and you said you have one too! So where is it, liar?_"

"_Go away,_" 'Katsuya' snarled in response, ducking another rock as he attempted to breathe. "_I already told you..! I'm not lying..!_" More stones flew through the air, and still the boy persisted._ "They aren't my shadows,_" he pressed, shaking his head. "_They don't belong to any one, they're 'theirs'..!_"

The children paused a moment, trading looks. For a moment, it seemed they were going to even drop what they held right then and there. Then, as Katsuya had apparently expected, they burst into laughter. "_Gh... Hahahah... HAHAHAHHA!_" While Katsuya stared at the children in rage the tallest sneered, spitting at the ground before him. "_You really are a liar,_" he hissed, shaking his head. "_And here we thought you were 'chosen'!_"

Katsuya frowned, momentarily distancing himself from the 'memory'. Chosen? What the hell? As if being called 'ancient' wasn't enough, now he was...

Chosen? With that thought Katsuya's vision swam, the entire scene blurring and shifting until it was that of the catacombs. The first thing he recognized were the walls; thick stone, carved and stowed underground with tunnels and mirrors to provide light when torches did not suffice. He'd walked down here while in Noa's realm... Well, sort of, he thought to himself. He hadn't really come through _here,_ but he'd seen this room from the other side of the broken wall. The one he'd actually been in was brighter. The second thing he noticed however was not the room, but rather the elder behind him, who had a 'protective' hand on his shoulder.

"_I believe,_" the elder was saying, voice laced with an almost desperate hope, "_That we may not have lost our bloodline as we thought brothers._"

The others of the circle before him stirred, and Katsuya frowned with suspicion. Like the 'past self', and the children from before, they each had darkened skin. Their eyes were a cold grey, and their hair a just as chilling white-silver to contrast this and blend in with dirtied robes that stank of age. Quite unlike himself however, they were each _incredibly_ old... As expected from 'elders' he supposed.

There were eleven before him. Twelve counting the one behind him. A sacred number, a voice whispered in the back of his mind, a number that an additional person would damn, but for now he paid no attention to it. The eleven before him were almost exclusively male; out of the entire group there was perhaps one woman, two others who could have been either-or. Age left them 'unknown', their faces beyond gender specific recognition with shawls and robes covering most of their bodies. All that Katsuya could see of most was their face and hands- nothing more. The only thing that gave the first woman away was the worn head-band around her brow. Even then, he thought idly, it could have still been a man.

With the first elder's words there had been muttering within the circle. The others turned among themselves, whispering and frowning. Finally one of them spoke. "_You claim to hold the answer to our dying bloodline,_" the one with the headband 'asked', voice revealing her as the woman Katsuya suspected her to be._ "We have not had such a thing since those before us gave away our power,_" she warned flatly. "_Not since the people of the Nile stole the three stones!_" Three stones..?

Before Katsuya could ask what the stones were, the elder behind him nodded. "_It is true,_" he announced loudly, as though preparing to give a rousing speech. "_The pieces of Light we so treasured sit in the tombs of the Nile kings... But with __him__,_" the elder insisted, 'Katsuya' looking and feeling rather put off by the suggestion, "_With him, we can __re-claim__ that power..!_"

Again the boy frowned, looking up uneasily. Something told him he wasn't going to fulfill those desires... And as the scene shifted into darkness, Katsuya's suspicions were proven correct. He could hear voices. "_You claim to hear them boy,_" the elders jeered, the sounds of men and women alike merging into one monstrous tone. "_So where is yours?_" He heard his own protest that his shadow hadn't 'woken up yet' only to hear it cut off by more shouts. "_Where is the monster you claim to hear!_" He tried to tell them he didn't hear _his_- that the monsters he saw and heard resided in the shadows of the world, not of their own.

They didn't listen. "_You were supposed to be the key!_" they screamed, a glimpse of their rage filled and torn expressions coming to mind. Like hell he was, his mind spat in response. How was it his fault he didn't steal what they'd given away? "_Where is your shadow!_" Where it should have been- and he wasn't going to split his soul in two trying to force it! If his shadow was going to arise as a monster than it would do so when it was right! He wasn't going to damn himself trying, he wasn't... "_You see ours,_" the elders hissed, their faces shadowed and twisted in disgust._ "And yet, you are without your own?_" See the shadows..! Of course he could see..!

Of course... Of course he could... "_You have no __SOUL_," they screamed, Katsuya's blood growing cold as the elders were joined by adults and children alike. "_You have no SOUL, you cannot summon what isn't there..! You cannot-_" No soul...

With more screams and spittle and stones Katsuya found himself falling back, face covered with his arms. His body was coated with hair line cuts and reddening bruises, his hair stuck to his face by either blood or sweat. The screaming had by this point faded and merged into a collective of voices- A collective that would be impossible to hear through, and impossible to discern a voice from. And yet as he began to sink further...

"_Hey..._"

He could hear a voice.

"_It is not the fault of your soul that your shadow not reveal itself._"

Two voices, in fact.

"_Hey... …_"

One seemed to come from a distant light.

"_There is after all, a time and place._"

The other, darkness.

"_Hey..!_"

Which one...

"_In the same way..._"

Which one did he go toward...

"_Hey!_"

Which...

The dragon was speaking again, though how he knew it was a dragon he wasn't sure. The voice seemed familiar however, even though he'd already started walking toward the light instead.

"_Those of the Nile will someday find the 'Three Treasures' to be more than the stones and artifacts they thought the ancient ones granted them._" Three treasures..? He'd mentioned that at one point hadn't he?

"_HEY..!_" For a moment, Katsuya wanted to ask the more calm of the two voices what these 'three treasures' were. If they had to do with those 'three stones' he'd heard someone mention earlier, and about whether or not they'd been 'stolen' or 'given'.

Waking up however...

He found he almost completely forgot that particular detail of his dream.

"_HEY!_"

* * *

**AN: **_But Usagi, Jou didn't pass out..!_ Shhhh, I wanted to put another vision there. Which... Seeeeeems to have little to do with plot but hey, you know me~ (Not to mention this chapter would be VERY short otherwise. WOWWWWWWW.)

Also, for those wondering what the three new duelists look like, I could do two things. I could show you the manga... Ooooooorrrr I could show you the pictures I drew of them! Yayyyy...

This is just me, having an art block when I should be practicing painting until I can actually speed paint, but WHATEVER.

Remember when I said that Yugioh R's duels were REALLY SHORT?

_I REALLY WASN'T LYING, HOLY CRAP._ Good thing I planned for if I ended up actually being forced to put two duels in one chapter though! (Heck, I probably could have fit THREE here.) Whoo!

In any case, we'll get more story than dueling in the next chapter (hopefully); it all depends on what's going on really... Depending on what's revealed in the _card_ part of the plot, I can reveal what's happening on the more 'shadowy' side. Of course, chapters are still short, but I'm aiming for this word count to be the average... It'll likely spike when we hit anime arcs again, but the fact is, I'm not filling a chapter with more than two duels just to get a big one. That's silly.

Also mean.

AND! **As promised, Contest Results **are down below. **HOWEVER;** this is only **HALF** of the contest!

**From the chosen results below, voters may now pick out their favorite- as in ONE favorite- so that the results are a little more balanced. ** See, when you have like... FIFTEEN options, it's a little hard to get a solid margin. This way, we can clearly see the 'number one choice'.

**Again, that's down below, in the Contest Section; once again, this poll will be held until the update after the next!**

And with all that said and done..!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Reviews this week were short and sweet; most likely because this arc is... Really fast paced, and really doesn't have much to talk about just yet. WHOOPS, MY FAULT.

Honestly, I just like getting reviews period, so it'd be silly to comment on how long reviews are when I've shortened the chapters myself~ So hi again Iona..!~

Yakou knows how to be a prick, that's for sure..! I'm glad you like the start to this arc; hopefully you enjoy the rest of it as well!

And hey there Imadork!

Yea, the PM blocks out 'pissed', and I'm really not sure _why_... Oh well. Hahaha, if you haven't read R then strap in there, this'll be fun! I'm honestly EXTREMELY flattered that you feel you'd prefer this over the manga though- I just hope I can live up to your words!

I would imagine she's VERY tired of it... As to how she never noticed, the fanfic version is going with a twisted mix of hypnosis and VR-Mindscrew ALA what-Noa-did-to-Mokuba... Except not neaaaarly as bad.

Ohhhh, looking forward to visions are you? Let me know how you liked that great big scene up there then, hahaha!

In any case, enjoy the chapter, and I'll see you next time!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's still creeped out by the vampire thing. HIHHHHH!

* * *

Today's chapter title means 'shadows' in Hebrew. However, depending on the context, it also means 'protection' or 'defense'. Rather fitting given that we dealt with a 'wall' deck and a vampire one all at once. (Oh, but tsel is technically pronounced 'tsale' by the way.)

* * *

Oh look a story! The visions at the top will alternate, and are mostly so that you can get _all_ of what Jonouchi's visions accumulate into through this arc without ruining the flow of the story. So hooray for that~

* * *

Originally, Jou makes a comment on how the building has horrible taste. Given that he's actually kinda a fan of Blue-Eyes now (I would be too if I could see it in person.), he's not about to say that. Plus, he hates the people inside more than the building and those running it... A lot more.

* * *

If there's one thing I LOVE about R, it's the expressions (and I think I said this before...). It just feels like there's _more_ of them. Right before the canon is set off, Yami has this look on his face that seems to be a mix of horror and 'oh FUCK' all at once. It's just one of those things that pulls Yugi away from the '_I am an awesome duelist who can NEVER LOSE_' deal, and I _love_ it.

Even if Yami doesn't actually lose through Yugioh R either. OH WELL.

* * *

No lie guys. Deschutes ACTUALLY SAYS THAT about the Dark Magician. IT... It really explains the look on the Magician's face too. Also it makes Deschutes even more amusing than he actually is; the shirt he's wearing might have a neck that'll cover his head if he wants, _but it's still a midriff and those are still leather chaps_.

Any ways, while I'm _sure_ that the line meant something else in kanji... Hopefully...

I just had to keep it. It's one of those lines that... That you just KEEP. If you haven't guessed by the way, while R will be full of the usual trauma and mystery, it's also much much much MUCH lighter in tone as well; the manga had LOTS of well placed humor, and I have to say, I'm glad that Ito got a shot doing this before he moved on to his own thing.

('_USAGI STOP GUSHING ABOUT MANGA YOU LIKE_' '**NO**.')

* * *

Might I say, while I'm on the subject of Deschutes Lew (Who is named after a codename for one of Intel's microprocessors, which was in turn named after the Deschutes county of Oregon and the Deschutes River.), he has a few interesting sounds in his defeat. '_EOOOHHHHHHH!_'

It sounds like a donkey in my head, does that make me a HORRIBLE PERSON?

* * *

More on Deschutes, he looks _uncannily_ similar to what I would imagine Otogi to look like once he's older. They even have the same style of _eyes_; and that's actually a little unique in this manga. (This only makes the 'cute Dark Magician' joke more hilarious for me by the way, thereby making me an even worse person.) Once I realized it however, I found myself scratching my head and thinking... '_What the crap, are they like... Cousins or something?_'

_THIS CAN'T BE UNINTENTIONAL_.

* * *

One thing I both did and didn't like too much about the start of R was how fast it moved _to_ each duel. Right after Deschutes defeat we cut to entering the lobby... Which for some reason looks like a GRAVEYARD... And then start up the second duel.

IT'S A LITTLE WEIRD. However, this isn't actually the fault of the manga; the scan of the chapter is incomplete! (Good thing the last three novels in the series are at my library...) Pity I can't read the RAW... (Even so, even Battle City seemed to have a little more. All of what I typed out for Deschutes was originally in 'flashbacks'.)

Hilariously enough though, you DO see the two boys drop their school bags right before the duel against Tilla in the scan available; they're in the background when they look for her.

I managed to find the summary at least though (I'd have just taken the manga from the library, but someone BEAT ME! -shoot!-); at the beginning of the chapter, there's a short scene with Tenma... However, the scene is so short, and so key to an event that happens _so_ much later that I don't feel too bad about not ad-libbing it in; it'll fit much better where I've moved it.

Also, I managed to take a wild guess on Deschutes reaction after his loss and turned out to be _dead on and correct;_ according to the summary (which is fairly in depth...), he explained the card system and, after one of the boys asked why he was telling them this, told them that it didn't matter any more; Yugi is the 'perfect duel king'. He wishes Yugi luck, and takes off.

* * *

What I _didn't_ put here was a short bit with Jonouchi and Honda; Jou initially starts bragging about how they'll beat the crap out of anyone in their way, which gets him in an argument with Honda about how much of the dueling Jonouchi will actually be doing. Yugi then cuts them off; and _that_ is the page that the scan online begins with. It was replaced here with the 'test of courage' fight though- mostly because Honda's not likely to be questioning if Jou can win so much as if he can survive, and you just _don't_ bring that up on a rescue mission.

Also, Jou doesn't have a duel disk with him. It'd be rather silly to mention dueling when he doesn't have a disk on him.

* * *

Honda and Katsuya are referencing the 'Test of Courage' (Kimodameshi), a game similar to amusement park Haunted Houses. Two teens basically make their way through a course, at night, which is set up to be a scary as possible. Generally, this is done with couples in anime, for the same reason we have couples going to horror flicks...

However, it's seen as a bit of an adolescent rite of passage (Read: 'college initiation in Highschool' rite of passage), and therefore, when combined with Katsuya's horrible fear of the undead, absolutely hilarious.

* * *

Originally, Yugi asks Tilla who her master is, stating that he doubts 'Tenma is sleeping here'. Tilla completely side-steps the question however, going into the prize; she doesn't tell Katsuya his prize net until _after_ he asks though, which gets the expected response...

_After_ he spends a few moments trying to calculate that into yen. Fanfic Jou has a little more of an idea on that however; mostly because of conversations with Rebecca and Mokuba. Also because of that handy ability though; it's like having a calculator at anytime other than a test...

Poor guy...

* * *

Oh- Speaking of Tilla Mook, her name comes from 'Tillamook', another Intel codename. The codename in turn came from Tillamook, Oregon. (As for all these locations that Intel was picking, that's because they're located near the factories. Ohohoh, clever.)

Speaking of 'mooks', you should really already know _exactly_ what was so amusing to the boys about 'mooks'.

* * *

And HOLY CRAP USAGI! Two duels in one chapter! Like I said; most duels in R last ONE manga chapter as opposed to the three or so in the original manga. In addition, they last like... Three moves when that happens. Which means there's... Really not much to fill the chapter with, since the entire point of the duels is to storm the castle so to speak. Oooooooh..~

More ranting on this scan I'm stuck relying on, it's really not... Not a good scan AT ALL for this chapter. At all. Sorry to say to whoever did this, but it's incomplete, and parts of the dialogue are actually _scratched out_ and replaced with 'Whatever, I screwed up' essentially.

It... It's like 'seriously? Seriously..!' The ones making the summary at least bothered to figure it out! (Alright, I'm done with my rant. I just... It really bugs me, things like that. Least the next chapter was complete and up to scanlation-par.)

* * *

That thing with the vampire?

_Actually happens._ You even see the teeth marks. (WHAT.) It's... It's a little... (WHAT-)

* * *

Tilla is a fairly amusing character near the end. At the beginning she's very calm, and through the entire thing _very_ devoted to the Vampire her deck relies on... But she's so _completely_ clueless when her strategy is turned on her that it's almost pitiful.

* * *

It's even more hilarious right afterward though; while Yugi's looking over the key card, Jou actually does go over and ask for her duel disk. The look on her face is eerily similar to one that Jonouchi himself tends to make. (I have to wonder exactly how that exchange went though; we only see him asking.)

* * *

Blond? Sees duel monsters? WHAT IS THIS MADNESS USAGI- _No,_ they are not distantly related or something that would be _ridiculous_...

Tilla just happens to be sensitive to the monsters of her deck. Like... Really sensitive. It's similar to how Mai sees her monsters and how Yugi sees his. Just...

Because of _how_ much she's given into her 'master', she's _kinda_ open to direct attacks. Not in such a way that the Buster Blader would have cleaved her in freaking two, but enough that it'd hurt and he'd bother avoiding it. (This is also my way of justifying the fact that her vampire FREAKING SUCKED HER BLOOD WHEN IT'S A HOLOGRAM.)

* * *

What's this Usagi? Another vision? But what does it meaaaaan!

It means that Egypt-Jou's life sucked, THAT'S WHAT. Any ways, don't worry- all will be revealed in due time! Until then, I suppose you can enjoy the 'elders' hating the crap out of past!Jou.

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

First off, LeonaWriter (Who is way back on chapter forty or so... You can do it Leona!) recently drew two pictures for this fanfic..! We have Jou in a tree (remember that? That was way back in chapter four!), and an adorable kuriboh, all set for battle..!

https :/ leonawriter. deviantart. com/ #/ d3r9lub and https :/ leonawriter. deviantart. com/ #/ d3r9o4x

Next up, my own stuff...

Reference: First Three Professors – http : / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ SketchPage. jpg - The colours come from my own head (or in the case of Tilla, the head of the scanslator...), but the main designs themselves were from the manga, unless you count my silliness in the doodles. (Though the Dark Magician one is more or less an actual occurrence in the manga.) In any case, enjoy!

* * *

Musical Notes

Where I show off whatever I was listening to!

Only one song today; otherwise, I was listening to repeats. (And again, they have... Nothing to do with the chapter! Ahhhhhh...)

I give you the chorus cover of 'Magia'! This time, with a link to the video! Http : / www. youtube. com/ watch? v= 6uG50TkxRy4

Maybe I'll have more songs next time. Add some variety to my playlist. By the way, if you have a recommendation, let me know neh? The music is where half the inspiration comes from! … Well. Maybe not _half..._

* * *

**Contest Section**

Same as last time everyone! Anyone can vote, provided entrants DO NOT VOTE FOR THEMSELVES. Should those who have voted once not choose to vote, fear not; your favorites will stil be considered in the calculations. In fact, depending on the number of voters, the 'top three' system may end up becoming a 'three votes – two votes – one vote' deal for the this final round.

Votes will be accepted until the update after the next; **assume two weeks from now to be the deadline!**

Until then, all 'multi-entries' have been separated with a line! (With two lines to separate the entries from _my _notes to keep people from being confused.)

FROM MAGGIE MAY:

The story of Yu-gi-oh! with an X twist. One little letter - X instead of Y - and you have a whole new game. Yugi may still be king but Seto is definitely queen, with Jounouchi as her court (and courting) jester and jack of all trades.

* * *

Ever wonder why Seto acts like he has constant PMS? There is an explanation. Jounouchi and the gang learn that gender really doesn't matter. Or does it? Retelling of the Yu-gi-oh! Series – with one little difference that changes everything.

FROM IMADORK:

Jounouchi Katsuya will always look out for his friends, no matter how weird things get. That means he will keep on fighting, whether facing maniacs with freaky powers, monsters from a childrens game, or the fact that Kaiba's a girl. Wait, what?

FROM JADEJ.J:

Seto Kaiba has secrets that run skin deep but when Jou gets drawn in all bets are off. Both teens' dark secrets come to the surface & life changing experiences that will take them into dark secrets of Duel Monsters that no one knows.

FROM SORA KOHAKU:

After a extra credit project goes almost too well Jonouchi finds himself getting closer to his classmate Kaiba. Too close. Living in the same house too close. For every thing that starts going right for him there's another going wrong.

* * *

Curiosity couldn't possibly kill him, though Jonouchi doesn't doubt that given the chance Seto Kaiba would. It's just his luck that Mokuba Kaiba likes him so much.

* * *

Jonouchi Katsuya was the exception to the 'no jobs' rule at school. Jonouchi Katsuya also happened to be the great exception to the 'normal' rule when it came to children's card games.

* * *

Jou had a hunch- just a hunch nothing else- that Seto Kaiba was hiding something. It's just his luck that he was right.

* * *

Those are the ones! Now if the winning entry is short enough, I might stick my usual 'genderswap' or 'puppyshipping' warning there. It really depends; if the winner doesn't want me too though, I won't do it.

In any case, that's all for this chapter; I hope you enjoy it!

Until next time!


	109. Chapter 108

**Ze'eb – 'Ariy**

* * *

_A boy sits in the deep chambers of the desert caverns again. It is a rare occurrence, and has been since numerous decades before. But nonetheless the boy comes, as often as he can._

_The boy is worried. He leans against the wall biting his lip, and when he smiles his eyes give him away. Eventually, a pair of red eyes blink out from the shadows he sits in, and at the questioning rumble they give he slouches forward in worry._

"_I had another dream," he tells the shadows, holding his legs close. "I saw Neker's father die in it." The shadows remain silent and as the boy frowns he continues. "...I wanted to say something... But how do you tell someone that their sickness is finally going to kill them?" Again, there is no answer, and his eyes squint in an attempt to stave off tears. "I... ...I'm afraid," he eventually says. "If I say something... If Neker knew that I knew..." The boy shakes himself. "Why do I dream," he asks. "Why do I see these things? I don't have a reason to know when people will die- I don't want to know when people will die," he shouts, a few tears rolling down his cheeks. "The last time I said something... The last time, the elders told me to keep my mouth shut... They called me a liar... If no one is going to believe me," he cried, wiping his eyes, "Then why do I have to dream?"_

_The shadows shift, and red eyes close over in sympathy. "There are always reasons for the gifts that the Great Ones give," the shadow whispers, taking form from the darkness to curl comfortingly around the boy. "It is true that your dreams may hurt at times... And at others, you may see them as an annoyance. But it is still a gift," he tells the boy, "And it is a gift you should not take lightly."_

"_I know." The boy looks to the shadows briefly, eyes looking over ashen scales before turning away. "I just want to know why too. No one else dreams," he mumbles under his breath. "No one else sees the elder's shadows like I do."_

"_Is that so," the shadow asks. This time it is the boy's turn to remain silent, and the shadow sighs. Many moments pass in this silence. The boy stares off, forcing himself to calm from the recent death. He leans back against the dragon and breathes deeply, closing his eyes and eventually turning his attention toward the ceiling._

_More silence settles over the pair. The light in the room dims, and outside the sun begins to set. "...Tanniyn," the boy asks eventually, turning to the dragonic shadow at his side. "...Can you tell me a story?"_

_The dragon is a very old creature. He may be one of the oldest of the shadows in existence, or so the others say when they bother to speak to the boy. Most of the other shadows are afraid. They have seen many things, and fear the people of the village for reasons they will not say. They do not trust the boy before them._

_'Dragon' however, believes otherwise, and listens when the boy speaks. He tells the boy that he reminds him of his 'chick', his 'son', and gives him advice and comfort where his own mother will not. And so when the boy comes down, be it to hide or simply to visit, he keeps him company. He listens to the boy's words, and speaks when needed. And, when the boy needs more than a listener, or an advice giver, he tells him stories... Stories of old times, and stories of ancient times._

_And he teaches him, of the wonders of the world, and of the things man has forgotten. Of the things that exist right beneath his feet and over his head. Sometimes however, these lessons come from the stories themselves, and need not be explained._

_The dragon wonders if this is perhaps one of those times._

_The boy repeats his question, realizing that this silence is not one of refusal but of lost thought. "Do you have another story today Dragon?" The monster blinks, staring out from the shadows. Another story? Well._

"_I suppose I could continue where I left off from last time," the dragon decides with a sigh._

_The boy's formerly depressed expression instantly becomes a grin. "AH- Yeaaaa! Alright!"_

"_Settle down now..." He chuckles, and watches as the boy squirms in an attempt to do so. "I will now continue..._

_The being 'Darkness' could not create, as I have told you before," the dragon begins calmly. "To do so would be against his very nature; the Darkness was meant to destroy after all. But he was a cunning creature... He was clever, and determined to surpass his counterpart in 'Light'. So rather than 'creating', he found a way to split his essence from himself, dividing portions of his power into creatures that could combat the Light. By taking shadows from the neutral realm and fusing them with this power of his, twisting them into the greatest monsters the world has ever known he formed the perfect weapons..._

_Weapons which could traverse even into the world of Light if need be. The first," he explains, "Was the 'Behemoth'. A being of immense size, he was coated in the power of the neutral realms darkest corners, and with the shadows of the very edges of the realm of light, where the shadows begin to fade. But despite this power it was not the Behemoth who was first to fight Light- upon its creation, there was little that the Behemoth could do, for the Behemoth's power was tied to that of the world's hate. And in the realm that Light created, there was not nearly enough of such an emotion to fuel the beast. The world of Light was too peaceful, too calm, for such hatred to develop... So the Darkness formed a second beast._

_The second child as well could not face Light upon its creation. The great serpent 'Leviathan', so powerful that he was, relied too much on the despair of human beings... And so long as Lights power remained in full capacity, there would never be enough to give him an advantage. It was a disadvantage not unlike that of the Behemoth; the world of Light was too 'positive', and could not form the proper amount of despair until something catastrophic occurred. If the power could not be gathered, then catastrophe could not happen... But Darkness was not one to give in; he could see that in due time, these creatures he had formed would prove useful. He knew... They merely needed a spark... Something to start the slew of negativity that would fuel their power. Something that could grow from nothing, which could simply 'be' and grow power as a result. So he created a third monster... And that monster, my dear child..._

_Was 'Ziz'._

* * *

It was all he could do not to pound the floor in rage at this moment. "Honda..!" All he could do not to switch places with his partner now to discern for himself just what had happened one floor below, to ascertain the fates of his friends. "Jonouchi..!" There was nothing but floor where they had once been now. The panel that had dropped so suddenly created a seamless seal between itself and the rest of the floor, leaving no visible sign of the pressure panel that Jonouchi had triggered. At the moment his other half was currently calling up through his mind in fear, shouting up about how Honda and some other person were trying to awaken the blond... How Jonouchi was _twitching,_ how his eyes were moving at high speed beneath their lids.

But as he noticed a shadow looming behind him, he had little time to focus on the words his other was trying to pass through. In fact, he found himself blocking the connection for fear he would lash out in response to the situation at hand. "Well well well," a thickly accented voice chuckled, black army-grade boots thudding across the ground behind him. "'Mutou Yuugi'... It looks like your friends never fail to be there with you when you fight, do they..?" The other Yugi stiffened, turning with narrowed eyes to watch as a young bespectacled man stepped forward from the shadows.

Green military styled clothes with a dueldisk firmly locked over the left sleeve met his eyes and he swallowed. The next 'professor'.

The man before him adjusted his jacket collar, narrowing his eyes in apparent mirth. "You know," he began in a falsely conversational tone, "We of the 'Professor' league heard at one time that your ability to fight reaches its peak when your comrades stand at your side... Quite personally," he said rather dismissively, "I don't fully believe it. Anyone locked in competitions such as these shouldn't rely on such a fragile crutch after all. Nonetheless, if it had been true... Well." He chuckled darkly, gesturing to the floor panel that the 'other' Yugi now sat beside. "I needed to make sure that sort of uncertain element was eliminated as fast as possible... You understand, don't you," he added with a sneer.

Understand..? The boy stiffened, slowly pulling himself to his feet. Oh. He 'understood' alright... And he was damn lucky he was beyond shattering minds with the snap of his fingers now. "You... They could have broken their necks from that fall, both of them..." The only thing holding him back now was the knowledge that they hadn't, that they were both still alive, that they were both...

The man ignored him. "Those friends of yours are easy to fool, ah?" The man continued to talk, as though nothing had happened. "Really, a trap like that... I prepared many others in this room, but to think the first one would catch both- it's fairly pathetic. Nonetheless, allow me to introduce myself," he said somewhat louder, giving the boy a strong but clearly disrespectful salute. "'Kirk Dixon' of the Card Professors... Though I believe we should keep our words short," he went on. "The sooner we start the duel, the better after all don't you agree?" This man...

Yugi remained silent, and after a number of moments 'Kirk' again began to laugh.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... What's wrong?" he laughed, shaking his head. "Can't fight without your friends..?" Shut up... "Feeling _weak_..?"

Shut up..! "...Where did Jonouchi and Honda fall to," he hissed, eyes shadowed as they turned toward the duelist at his side.

Kirk paused at this, before adjusting his glasses and shrugging. "Hn. Well... The fact is, my traps are merely minor upgrades to already present security measures," the man admitted, "So I have no idea where that hole goes. Perhaps the owner of this building does," he continued, chuckling as the boy before him continued to scowl. "I would imagine however, that your 'friends' current location is more than appropriate... Given the trash that follows them beneath this floor." T... Trash..!

Though Kirk's expression had twisted into a feral sneer, Yugi's own expression rivaled it just as much so in rage, and as the man caught sight of this his own face began to weaken in fear. "You... How dare you insult them like that," he snarled, the look darkening still further. Trash? He'd show him trash..! "I'll be sending you much further down than you sent them," he spat, duel disk clicking forward. "We duel- now!"

The man's faltering grin shrank into a smirk, and he nodded. "Alright..!" The deck on his arm snapped into place, the sound of cards shuffling meeting the air. "We'll see how you fare against my Machina deck..!" Machina? The robotic army? He snorted, air still charging with the energy of a fight about to begin.

A military based deck would do just as much as any other kind against the monsters in his own..! "Hn! I move first," he announced, drawing his hand. "First, I set two cards face down," the boy decided, the holograms appearing before him as they normally would. He hadn't expected any stone of course- after the duel he'd had against Jonouchi that 'ability' had vanished completely. His monsters however... "Next... I summon Alpha the Magnet Warrior in defense mode..!"

Perhaps it was to mirror the 'stasis' that the monsters had taken during the battle where he saw everything as stone, but unlike when he had summoned Beta during his previous match the Alpha Warrior before him was completely silent. He hovered before his holographic card with crossed arms, and his magnet shaped helm covered his face almost completely. With the monster's summoning however, there was nothing more to do save stare momentarily at the monster's shadow before continuing on..

"It's your turn," he snarled, tearing his gaze from the monster on the field. "Go!"

"My turn eh..?" Kirk chuckled, eyes almost closing over as he drew his next card. "Very well," he decided, "First I set one face down card... And following that," he went on as the holograms shimmered into being, "I summon the Machina Soldier in attack mode. Moreover," the man continued, a robot with a helm that seemed almost identical to his summoner's hat appearing in holographic form, "I activate the spell 'Bonds of Brothers!'" Hm? Bonds of-

Blood drained from his face as cards began shuffling out from the deck, the hologram clearly revealing its purpose. Oh...

Crap.

"I special summon two more Machina monsters from my deck," Kirk announced, the cards flipped to the field just as quickly as the holographic forms came into being. From the right of the first robot a tall white being with a single gun, the lengthened muzzle aimed directly toward him. From the left, a great and four-legged 'spider' machine hovering almost awkwardly above the field. "Machina Sniper and Machina Defender," the man stated. "End turn." Gh- Three monsters... And that meant...

Yugi shook off what little unease was growing, swallowing as he steadied himself. He'd just summoned two monsters that couldn't attack or be sacrificed, and in addition he'd lost 1000 lifepoints. If he thought he could fight like that he was sorely mistaken- all this did was put Kirk at a disadvantage. Even so... '_You can't defeat my battle formation,_' the milita-nut chuckled, gesturing to his loyal soldiers. The cards and their holograms shimmered in a betrayingly innocent manner, Yugi narrowing his eyes at the sight. '_My turn ends here..._' Well. He'd have to take whatever risks his opponent held in his hand, wouldn't he...

"My turn," Yugi shouted, drawing his next card. There was no telling what was going on at this moment... So just in case, he decided, looking over his hand and at the card he'd just pulled from his desk. Just in case... "First, set one more face down card," he called out, almost speaking to himself as the hologram appeared. "Next... I sacrifice Alpha to summon this," he roared, Alpha's form shattering from existence. "The Dark Magician Girl!"

The arena before him seemed to explode with light as the holographic card met the air, fire and sand bursting forth from the image that replaced Alpha's own. The sand quickly swirled upward to form a body, and as cheerful laughter met the air the Dark Magician's apprentice turned to give a playful salute, staff twirling in her hand like a baton. "_**Hnhnhn! Good to see you again, Pharaoh! It hasn't been the same not talking with you all this time..!**_" Ah- All this time? (And- she knew about his past..!)

He'd have assumed she meant since she was put in the deck, but somehow that didn't feel like the right answer... Somehow, as with the Dark Magician there was something else there. Regardless however, it was time to move! And with that in mind he took his attention from the mage to their opponent. "Dark Magician Girl," he ordered, pointing the girl forward. "Machina Defender has the least power... Attack!"

"_**Right,**_**" **she shouted, flames already growing at the tip of the staff._** "BLACK B-**_" Crap.

"Of course you'd attack," Kirk was muttering, tapping the side of his duel disk as the Magician launched her spell forward. "Trap activate! Yellow Emergency Alarm!" Yellow- ...What! "I special summon another monster to act as a shield," he roared, "The Powered Caterpillar..! Too bad," he chuckled, narrowing his eyes. The flames from the attack rolled harmlessly over the metal spiked tank, and the mage shrank back with a swallow. "Your cute magician girl's existence is short lived... I COUNTER ATTACK," the man roared, the fat 'snake-like' monster aiming its guns forward. "_**BUSTER CANNON!**_" Ku-

"ACTIVATE COUNTER TRAP," Yugi snarled in retaliation, . "SPELLBINDING CIRCLE! Canceling the attack and lowering your monster's power by 700 points!" Of course, since his earlier attack had a separate target... The Dark Magician girl crossed her arms, scowling as the remainder of her flames vanished from existence. "My battle phase is over," he growled, watching as the hologram and the spell both faded from sight. "I have nothing left to do..." Even so...

He had to have _some _reason for protecting the seemingly useless machina so stubbornly. So what- "My turn," his opponent hissed, drawing his card. The moment his eyes flicked across it he grinned, turning his gaze toward Yugi and laughing. "Watch," he laughed, setting the card on the field. "The strongest Machina force formation..! Summon 'Commanding Officer Covington," he announced, a stiff and faceless robot appearing over the field. "And by paying 1000 lifepoints, I activate his effect... Watch- under Covington's command," Kirk cackled, the three machines before him slowly de-constructing and re-constructing, "My Machina take an unstoppable form..! THE MACHINA FORCE," he continued with a howl. "WITH ALL THEIR ATTACK AND DEFENSE ADDED TOGETHER!" Added- Added toge...

_4600..!_

"GO," Kirk roared, pointing the enormous mess of metal forward as his opponents paled. "**MACHINA FORCE**_**... ATTACK!**_"

"_**GH..!**_" The barrels of the guns took aim, gyrating in the beast's arms. Lights flickered, and the Dark Magician Girl cringed and ducked down, the snipers tiny red laser guiding the great beast before her. With nothing to do, she braced for the inevitable and... "_**Ngh... …!**_:"

A clicked button was all it took, and despite his stiff appearance Yugi let out a sigh of relief. The monster before him jerked and tensed, guns freezing as it pulled back and fell to pieces... And the card at his side swung upward, 'Covington' finding itself caught within a single seal across him. "You..." Kirk's face was frozen in shock, the man adjusting his glasses and swallowing. "You stopped the attack..!" His eyes flew over the field, only just realizing what had happened as he spotted the revealed trap. "No... This-"

"Curse of Illusion," Yugi announced clearly, a seal all too similar to the 'Spellbinding Circle' appearing. "Binding your Commanding Officer to negate his effect and lower his attack by 500 points..! But it's not over yet," he continued, nodding to his own monster as she stood back up from the ground. "I activate the spell 'Diffusion Wave Motion'... And I counter attack," he roared, the magician girl's staff glowing with power. "NOW! ATTACK THE MONSTERS ALL AT ONCE...

"_**CHOU MADOU HADOU-DAN,**_" they both cried, fire streaking from the air to strike each of the holographic beasts down. "_**BLACK WAVE BULLET!**_"

"GH- GGHHHAA...!" As the fires pushed Kirk back his cards fell to the ground, the white plastic of a key card clearly visible amid the pile. The man watched as the holograms faded, shaking and stepping back. _"No," _he muttered in English, eyes widening further. "_An... Annihila... ...My combo..."_

"I win," Yugi snarled, stepping closer to the man as he crumbled on himself. "Now... Give me the key card."

"I..." Kirk didn't respond, merely pulling himself to his feet and shaking on the spot. "_Never,_" he was muttering to himself, shaking his head as a defensive grin came over him. "_Never,"_ he cried to himself, "_It's not possible, this..._" By the time he'd stumbled back to the trip panel he'd rigged it was too late. "Heh-"

-_piii!_-

The floor panel he was on flipped upward, the spring tossing him back into the large trash chute at the side. "G-HHHAAAAAAAAAA..!" All that was left was a spinning trash-lid, and a few cards, leaving the fading Dark Magician Girl and Yugi both to stare in silence.

"_**Would you look at that,**_" the magician muttered idly, her body fading in the light as she stared. "_**Caught in his own trap...**_" That was all she was able to say before vanishing- though it looked as though she would have said something else had she had the time.

And speaking of someone else... "_Other me..!_:" Hn..! The other Yugi turned, jumping as his partner floated up through the floor.

"Ah- Aibou," he called out with a start. "...Yugi..." He swallowed, almost turning away as the full force of what he'd been fighting for rendered him silent. "...How are the others...?"

His other half smiled, coming up to 'rest' on the air at his partner's side. "_They're both fine now,_" he said confidently, a clear look of relief on his face. "_The duelist down there is probably going to challenge them before they can move forward," _he went on with a light laugh,_ "But he's been helping to try and wake Jonouchi-kun up._"

"Ah- Wake up," he repeated, the spirit nodding.

"_He's still knocked out right now,_" he explained, partner nodding in response. "_Though he's not shaking any more. Honda-kun's fine as well,_" the boy added._ "Just a sore back._" Ah.. That was it then? Alright... So they just needed Jonouchi to wake up.

…

Somehow, this put him more at ill ease than when it had before the duel._ "Any ways,_" Yugi went on, rubbing the back of his head._ "We don't really know where their path will take them; according to Klamath-kun, the duelist, he had bad luck just by waiting down there... But we know which way we're aiming right,_" he asked, his other half staring somewhat blankly in response. "_And didn't you say it yourself,_" he continued with a smile. "_Jonouchi-kun and Honda-kun will break through whatever stands in their way... So for now, lets just move on positively rather than worry, alright?_" Worry? He wasn-

He sighed. Well. He supposed he was he thought to himself with a smirk, shaking his head. "Hn... You're right," he said after a few moments, walking toward Kirk's fallen pile of cards to grab the key. "Wherever they are now, we'll still end up in the same place eventually..." The place where Tenma was waiting... As his lighter half nodded the boy turned his attention toward the stairs in the room, eyes moving around to look for a door. "...So," Yugi said after a few moments. "...How do we get to the door without triggering another trap?"

For a moment, it looked as though his lighter half planned to say something, even opening his mouth to speak. In the end however, he merely looked back to the room and coughed. "_Erm... Maybe if I go back under I'll see something..._" Hahahaha...

Of course...

* * *

Yugi had been telling the truth when he said that the others would be 'fine'. During the entirety of his other half's duel however, the truth in the statement was coming with considerable difficulty- and it was only moments before that duel finished that Katsuya finally started coming to, the obvious shaking of a well-experienced dream having calmed down only moments prior.

"_Hey,_" an aggravated voice muttered, hands shaking his shoulders as it was joined by the shouts of another. "_Hey, wake up..!_" 'Wake up'? What was that, English..?

"He's not going to understand you..." Yea, tell them Honda!

Wait... "_Well I don't know how to say it in-_"

"'Mezameru'," said Honda, "But I meant that if you keep going in English..."

"_Well-_ It's not my first language," the new voice protested, switching over to a stumbling attempt at Japanese.

"That's obvious," Honda muttered, his friend slowly coming to his senses.

"Hnn... Wh'..." Katsuya opened his eyes, blearily watching as blurs of colours slowly took form. On one side he could clearly make out the blue and white of his friend's uniform and t-shirt, but on the other... Orange... And black... ...And cat? What the hell, did he summon another- The blond's vision slowly continued to focus, and he tossed the thought from mind. No he told himself, this... This was... "Nggh... Sffff..." He hissed, reaching for his forehead in pain. "Ngh... M' head..."

"_Woaaaah, easy th- _Er..." The boy in orange coughed, shaking himself. "Easy there alright," he corrected. "You landed weird..." Easy? Ow ow ow, right...

The blond shook himself, slowly pulling himself up against the wall. "Ngghh... Shit... W' happened," he hissed, wincing as another wave of pain shuddered through his skull.

"Long story short, you fell down a trap hole," Honda answered dryly, frowning somewhat. "And Olser here-"

"Call me Klamath."

"Right... _Klamath_," the teen corrected, rolling his eyes, "Found you on the ground passing out."

'Klamath', the black haired boy, chuckled at that. "Hehehehehe... Never thought anyone would fall down here though," he muttered, Japanese broken and flat as he forced himself to hold the language. "Those were pretty obvious traps..." Ob-

"What was that," he snarled, instantly 'recovering' from the pain.

"AH- H-Hey," the boy laughed, stepping back. "Just saying..! I mean... My lucks' always rotten," he joked. "I drew the straw for the bottom basement floor; what do you think the chances are that I'd end up fighting anyone?" He sighed, shaking his head. "Guess I have some luck left after all... Seeing how you're obviously fine now," he added almost dryly. "...Now." The boy stood, crossing his arms as his expression grew somewhat more severe. "Listen, are you alright now," he asked, worry briefly replacing the semi-proud look on his face. "Because if you plan on getting anywhere, you've still got me to go through- if you're going to collapse half way, I'm not going to start!" Eh- What! Half way through what!

"Wai'..." He blinked, dots and pieces coming together in his head as he stared at the whiskered boy. "_You're_ th' card professor..!"

"I think I said that," Honda muttered, shaking his head at the blank look he received in response. "...I _definitely _said that..." He watched as the blond pulled himself up, rubbing sore shoulders with a frown. "He's been waiting to see if you'd come to so he could fight you know..!"

"Yea yea..." The blond cracked his neck, stepping forward. "I got it..! So. I gotta beat you t' get t' Yugi righ'," he asked, still frowning somewhat. He chuckled, a competitive smirk coming over his face. "Heh! Les' do th's then!"

"Try not to get killed," shouted Honda from behind. Oh hahahahahha...

He tried not to think about how literal that was, instead nodding. "Righ'! _**DUEL!**_"

The familiar violet film of the fight instantly appeared, growing from a point between the two as their dueldisks clicked on. From the center, the film almost resembled a hole of sorts. It spread out like a poison, coating the floor in a manner that almost had him step back in unease. The film grew around the hall... Up the walls and about the ceiling, and as he drew his cards he found himself watching it surround them to the point where there were 'walls' on either side of where they were. Huh... And here he'd thought it was always just 'there'...

"My turn," Klamath began, a small smirk on his face as his opponent's attention snapped back to the battle at hand. "And it looks like my luck's still here- I got a good card..! I summon Arijigoku," he called out, a tablet appearing only for the field to remain empty. "End turn!" End-

"Wh-" He frowned, eyes wide as he looked over the field. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. The tablet hadn't even given off its usual smoke as it carved itself, merely showing the image of a pair of eyes in some sort of 'void'. But the monster wasn't even there, so where was- "What th' hell..! Where'd it go..!" Where-

"Where'd what go," Klamath 'asked', chuckling as his opponent continued to fret. "If you don't get it, then just attack why don't you?" Attack..! He growled, only to tense as the sudden urge to look down came over him. A flash of something crawling in the darkness came to mind, of a pair of eyes in the middle of a deep pit...

...Awwwww _shit_ it was beneath the ground. "Hey... Jonouchi," Honda muttered, looking to him almost suspiciously. "Is this..."

"Tch." He ignored him, instead narrowing his eyes back into focus. "My turn," the blond growled, drawing his card. A monster, his mind told him. Alright then... "I set one trap," he announced, watching the stone rise up to his side with its usual blank face. "An' next... I summon Gearfried, in attack mode..!" From the second tablet at his side the familiar iron-clad warrior stepped forth, metal thumping across the ground as he turned.

"_**Yo,**_" he said somewhat casually, waving a metal blade/arm in greeting._** "I was wondering when we'd be dueling again...**_"

Katsuya merely shrugged, smirking as he looked over the monster's metal covered face. "Heh... Y' can stop wonderin' now.," he said with a grin, ignoring the slight frown from across him in response. "Jus' have fun, y'r target's underground..."

Gearfried seemed to blink, staring in silent shock with the words. "_**Nn... Underground..!**_**"** The monster looked forward, narrowing his eyes and readying his stance. "_**Tch... Alright then...**_"

Yep. "GEARFRIED," Katsuya ordered, pointing the monster forward as he jumped to spear the ground. "ATTA-"

Rumbling met the air in that instant, the ground by Klamath's tablet seeming to crumble. Pinchers the size of large dogs broke through the ground, and as Katsuya stumbled back he cursed. Ignoring the confusion on his opponent's face he shielded his eyes, dirt and concrete flying into the air. "_**Gh- SHIT,**_" he could hear Gearfried shout, his body tossed upward in the resulting explosion._** "Ambush..!**_" Yea no shit..! But more importantly...

"What th' hell kinda hole is this..!" Katsuya roared, squeezing his eyes shut as the others stared. They couldn't hear the sound of the hole he figured. At least not at this level... But regardless of what they saw or heard, it was blinding, painful, and stung his eyes a hell of a lot more than a hologram would. Not to mention he couldn't see dick all. "Gh... Where th' hell is-"

"_**Ressssssssshhhh...!**_" -_**cllk cllk clkk...**_- Aww fuck. That was probably the monster he realized, slowly opening his eyes to look forward and wince. The pinching jaws of what resembled a giant and round bodied ant tore through the ground, snapping at the metal of Gearfried's form with ease. The metal crunched inward with a sickening sound, and as the monster cried in pain Katsuya swallowed. He could see blood dripping from between the bits of metal, even as it sank back into the hole with the oversized ant-lion... And that...

"Hehehehe... Monsters facing against Arijigoku lose 500 attack points," Klamath chuckled, his opponent slowly coming to his feet as the ground evened out again to cover the corpse in concrete and tile. "You attack again," the boy 'warned', "And you'll be in a lot more pain than you already are..!" Huh... Pain eh? Katsuya grimaced, idly rubbing his arm where a particularly solid chunk of tile had hit it. He was already probably in more pain than he thought damn it...

"Hey... Jonouchi," Honda muttered, a loud 'my turn' coming from the other end of the field. "Jonouchi, you alright man..?"

The blond merely nodded, brushing some dust from his disk and swallowing. Tch... This was bad... He didn't have anything else left... "'M fine," Katsuya muttered, not turning back. "Jus' fine... ...What're y' waitin' for," he forced out, watching the giant antlion across from him scratch at the ground it'd formerly sat beneath. Klamath's somewhat worried expression stiffened, and the blond continued. "Your turn ain' it?"

At this his opponent's face shifted into a competitive smirk, Katsuya growing somewhat pale as a result. He had a nasty feeling that this was going to hurt... A lot. "Hehehe... Just waiting for you to pay attention," the boy said with a shrug, easily hiding any other worry about what it was he was or wasn't seeing. "Watch- this is what I drew just now," he 'warned' with a grin, "'Firearms Insect Armor'..!" Fire... Eh! That- The card was set on the field, its tablet appearing only to crumple into dust and form a weapon of sorts upon the monster's back. A large and futuristic canon latched onto the monster's hide, claws digging through the exoskeleton as it glowed with power. A power that his opponent was not needlessly explaining to him. "With this," Klamath announced, "Arijigoku's attack rises to two thousand two hundred... And in addition to that," he continued with a grin, "I summon the worm drake..!" Worm- The tablet rose from the dusty field, and as the image appeared on its form its summoner continued. "Now... Both of you! Attack the player," Klamath shouted, blood draining from the blond's face. Ohhh shit-

From the second monster tablet the worm charged, mouth opening to reveal a single eye at the end of its tongue. The beast hissed, slithering across the ground while the gun from Arijigoku prepared to fire, and in one swift move- "FUCK-" Two direct hits-

"_**RISSSSHHHHH!**_" Ducking behind his arm there was now a single cut, which would thankfully prove little harm as the snake retreated and stared in confusion. Briefly its single eye seemed to widen, before the serpent turned back to 'scream' something to its partner. -_**RSSST-!**_-

The oversized larvae however, decided to ignore it evidently. "Shi-" Sidestepping away as fast as possible his uniform jacket flapped in the back draft of Arijigoku's fired attack, the monster clicking its pincers in slow and obvious questioning 'tones' while the fabric smoked. "Hah... Hah..."

"Oi oi, Jonouchi," Honda shouted almost in panic, "What the hell are you doing..!"

"G... Shut up," he called in response, swallowing. "It's nothin'..!"

Honda narrowed his eyes, but nonetheless he remained silent; Klamath as well seemed suspicious... If not because of the damage, but because of the way he'd reacted. Normal people didn't try and dodge attacks like that after all- it wouldn't change the life-point drop. Regardless of if it hit or not, he only had 200 life points now... And while he had that one face down card, it was worth nothing more than a bluff.

Damn it... He could practically hear the Panther Warrior in the back of his mind; '_don't place useless trap cards idiot..! Not everyone falls for a bluff that obvious!_' Oh whatever... It wasn't useless damn it!

Of course, if he got the right card... "_Heh... This is going easier than I thought_," Klamath was chuckling, shaking his head as he muttered to himself. "_Maybe if my luck holds out,_" he continued in English,_ "I'll even get to claim Yugi Mutou's prize..._" Yugi-

Wait, did he say 'prize' too..! Katsuya's face sank into a nervous scowl, the blond narrowing his eyes. He had no clue what he'd said but... "Tch... Like hell I'm lettin' tha' happen," he growled, drawing his next card. "'S my turn..!" And- He blinked, looking to the card in his hand to double check what his 'sight' had already told him. No way...

And here he thought this kind of luck was only what Yugi had..! He was only on his second turn..! "...Hey..." The blond looked across the field, watching as his opponent sent him a worried frown. "Hey, you're still doing alright... Right?" Eh? Katsuya blinked, watching as Klamath's frown deepened slightly. "...You got pretty quiet there... Sure you didn't get a concussion, or..."

"Heh." He smirked, narrowing his eyes. "I'm jus' fine," Katsuya shouted. "Better than ever! I set one more face down card on th' field," he began, slapping the card down as its tablet rose up beside him. "An next, th' Rocket Warrior in d'fense mode. Tha's it," he continued. "Turn end!"

Klamath nodded, the boy barely visible from behind the stationary tablet his opponent had summoned. "My turn then!" he shouted, setting a card on the field following his next draw. "Sorry about this, 'Jonouchi'... But your shield is nothing compared to this..! Activate the magic card Evolution 2," the boy announced, a fine powder rising from the ground around Arijigoku's equipment. The gun on its back gained a second barrel, its owner stumbling somewhat beneath the weight as Klamath explained. "Arijigoku's equip spell is doubled in power," he laughed, "And with that done, I attack..! GO-" Hahaha, _NO._

"H-p!" The blond smacked his hand across the tablet beside him, stone image carving itself as a spring-loaded 'claw' launched itself forward. "Act'vate face down... Shield arm," he announced, the trap's effect protecting the already shield-like stone before him. "Takin' th' worm drake t' use as a shield..!" Sorry about this, he thought as the arm viced itself around the snake, pulling it from where it had curled around the stone. But nothing personal..! And as the two bullets from Arijigoku blasted forward the tablet crumbled, nothing but charred remains left to fall on the ground as his opponent tensed.

"Gh... _Damn it,_" Klamath muttered, shaking himself and wincing. "_Acting all tough..._"

"Japanese," Honda shouted from behind, Klamath merely scowling in response.

"I got it already..! Sheesh..! I'd like to see you two in the USA..! Try sticking to English then, you... Tch..."

"Hey," Katsuya called out, already holding the next card in his hand. His opponent blinked, looking forward almost dully. "You were talking abou' luck earlier," he asked, the smirk on his face slowly growing larger. "Talkin' abou' what a great streak you were havin'..?" His opponent blinked, and he continued. "Truth is.. I'm pretty lucky too," he bragged, Klamath shaking himself in incredulity.

"L-Lucky," he repeated, laughing at the thought. "Hahahah! Someone with 200 life points shouldn't be saying that sort of thing..!"

"Really now," he asked with a grin, setting the card on the field. "Well then le's see who's luck is greater! I play th' spell card Roulette Spider," he announced, watching as the stone web slowly grew in the center. From the very middle of the black and red coloured stone that rose up from the ground a checkered spider pulled itself forward, launching itself at the ant-lion before it and pulling it toward the middle. The tablet with the Rocket Warrior moved to the side of the stone, the oddly formed wheel slowly coming to hover above the ground.. And from each of their own locations on the field, a triangle was formed. "Hehehehe... Time t' play a game," he shouted, the arrow-like arachnid launching itself into a spin with a high-pitched squeal. "Th' one who gets th' pointer ends up losin'..! An' when it does stop, an when you d'cide it's time t' end..." he continued lowly, narrowing his eyes with a smirk. "It's gonna stop on you."

...Well.

Hopefully, at least.

As Klamath watched the wheel spin after all, they both knew as much about it as the other- there was only a one in three shot of it hitting Klamath. His 'vision' refused to tell him what would happen in regards to who won or lost in his own duels, leaving him at the mercy of chance. And with those kinds of odds... "Nn..." It was almost surprising that his opponent was worried in any way let along more worried than him. "Gh... STOP," Klamath shouted, swallowing his unease as the spider began to slow. "Nh..."

The blurred colours began to take form... Reds and blacks separated out and the arrow on the spider's rear slowly came to a stop. "_**Hihihih**_-" And...

And it was pointing at him. "GH- IT- IT'S ME," he shouted in minute panic, Klamath's eyes widening in relief.

"AH- Hahaha! YES! I knew it," he said with a grin, almost collapsing in surprise. "My luck hasn't run out after a-"

"Ehhh..?" Klamath froze, watching as Katsuya cut him off. "Did you hear me cry abou' losin' yet," he asked, expression of fear fading into a smirk as his opponent did the reverse.

"W-What..."

As the blood again drained from Klamath's face Katsuya grinned, snapping his fingers. From his side the blank 'bluff' tablet was already carving itself out, and as the dust sank from its image the spider again began to spin. "Hehehehe... Trap card..! Chance Alteration- not only do I get another shot," he began with a grin, eyes widening to an eerie extent, "But th' arrow can' hit me this time..! It's 50-50," he announced, pointing forward with a narrow-eyed grin. "So le's see what yer chances are th's time aroun'..."

"Wh... But that... _It's not fair,_" he muttered, shaking his head. "_You changed the odds, it should have..." _The arrow continued to spin, colours blurred and almost nauseating on the field._ "It..."_ The ant-lion in the center was charging its weapon, but the insect itself was barely holding onto the spider._ "Nh... _STOP..!"

Again the arrow slowed... And again, Arijigoku's gun took aim... And this time, Klamath found himself swallowing in defeat, a pair of red-hot canons aimed toward him. "Oh no... It..."

"Hahaha... ALRIGH'..!"

-_**RRRSSH-ck!**_**-**

"I _WIN._"

"W- HHAAAAAHH!" A miniature explosion sounded around the room, Katsuya pumping a fist as the field began to clear. Hehehehehe...

"WHOO!" YEA! Alright! He continued to grin and laugh, ignoring the dust that was flying in his face from the disappearing field. "ALRIGH'!"

"Sheesh..." Eh? "More of a gambler than a duelist," Honda muttered, his friend turning back to blink.

"Nyh? What w's tha'," he asked, looking to the teen almost innocently.

"Nothing..."

There was a small groan from the other side of the hall, Katsuya walking over to watch as Klamath pulled himself up. "Ngghh... _'Five feet' my ass, that had to be at least six..._" Eh? What was that he was talking about?

"Oiii, 'Klamath'," Katsuya asked, disk clicking off and heading to the side as he slipped his cards back in place. "You alrigh' down there?"

The boy looked up, frowning as he caught Katsuya's grin and humored tone. "Hn! As good as I can be..." He grunted, attempting to sit up from the ground with a hiss. "Man... And here I thought my luck was running strong today," he mumbled, pulling out a single plastic card and holding it out.

"Ah- Tha's-"

"The key card," Klamath finished, Honda taking the card as the boy continued. "You earned it... I figure your prize will probably increase by maybe five... Er..." He frowned, scratching his head. "_Five fold... Five fold... Ah... What the hell is-_"

"Five... Times the amount?" Honda offered hesitantly, Katsuya turning to frown.

"Since when did you know English..?" he muttered, Klamath giving Honda a nod of confirmation while the teen shrugged.

"Since I keep getting stuck listening to Otogi and his cousin web-chatting."

Otogi had a cousin? "Wha-"

"_ANYWAYS,_" Klamath 'shouted', pulling their attention back. "Before I go and turn myself in somewhere for losing it..."

"Losin' it?"

"Seeing how I'm seeing my opponents smoke under attack," the boy muttered on.

"Er.."

Honda coughed, shaking his head. "No... Ah..." He coughed again, growing somewhat red-faced. "Don't worry Klamath you're not going crazy..."

The boy blinked. "I'm not?"

Ahhh... Well. "Nah... Nah tha's... Pretty much how all my duels go," the blond admitted, rubbing his head. "Ehhh..."

Klamath frowned, coming to his feet in confusion. "So the speaking to the monster thing," he asked, looking to Honda. "That wasn't him going all... Weird?"

He sputtered, face growing red with incredulity. "W-Weird! Wha-"

"Nah, you're good," Honda answered, ignoring the agitated complaints at his side. "So," he continued, cracking his neck. "Next block is..."

"Just up the stairs," Klamath told them, stepping to the side as he rubbed his arm and gestured toward the open staircase. "Hologram test room. It's a weird one though, just a warning... If it wasn't for the fact that Pete's in there," he continued with a sigh, "I'd say I was lucky not to get it." Hn?

"Pete," Katsuya repeated idly, frowning as a wolf's howl came to mind. Odd... What the hell was that..? He shook himself, stowing his hands in his pockets and looking forward before eventually starting up the steps. "Eh, I'll see in th' end I suppose." Maybe it was the 'Coppermine' guy the Vampire mentioned... "Nice meetin' yah 'Klamath'."

"See you later Olser," Honda added, the two walking past the boy as he tensed.

"AH- I said to use my first name damn it! My first name!" He received no answer, and eventually turned away to scowl and grumble to himself. "_Damn Japanese and their last-name basis, what is this..!_"

What was with him talking behind their back in another language..? Katsuya almost stopped to say that actually- but as he started up the stairs he could hear an almost wailing shout. "Eh- What th'-"

"What the hell is-"

"YyyaaaaaaaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAAA..!" The pair turned, watching owlishly as someone in green plummeted from a chute above and into a larger chute below the staircase.

"Er... What.."

"_Oh shit, Kirk!_"

"Kirk..?"

As Honda turned to look at Katsuya the teen merely shrugged, shaking his head. "Hey man, don' look at me..! I don' get flashes f'r everything..!"

"Yea..."

"'But it'd be nice if I did', righ?"

The look on Honda's face told him quite clearly what he thought about having the words taken out of his mouth. "Oh ha_ha,_" he muttered after recovering from the slight shock, smacking the blond on the back of the head as he ducked and laughed. "That's great. You going to tell me when my next meal is too?"

"I could."

"_Seriously_?"

On demand? "N-" He paused, before snickering as the image came to mind. "Yep."

Honda blinked. "What the _hell_, you get crap like that but not your opponent's next move..!"

"Hey," he mumbled darkly, "I won tha' match..!"

"Yea," Honda responded as they moved up the stairs. "_Barely_."

"Like t' see you do better, 'Sunny'."

Honda paused, the two standing outside the door to whatever room they were heading for. "...You said you wouldn't mention that..."

"Guess I lied," he sniggered, friend scowling at the reminder of prior virtual incidents.

"Bastard."

"Yep!"

The card was slid through the door's key-lock, panels sliding off to the sides as a row of glass cylinders and odd lights met their vision. It was a fairly incredible change after the room before them... But even so they said nothing for the moment, merely steadying themselves and moving. "Looks like we're still underground," Honda muttered behind him, Katsuya slowly walking into the room to look around. Glass tubes, the lights beneath creating test-holograms... "Hey, Jonouchi," Honda called from behind him, pausing to look at one of the odd tubes and the tiger hologram suspended within it. "Don't get yourself caught in anymore traps got it?" T-Traps..!

"Gh- What th' hell kinda person d' you think I am..!" The blond scowled, shaking his head. Sheesh... He crossed his arms, shuddering as he passed another tube and looked at the monster inside. "S-Sheesh... If it weren' f'r th' fact tha' I know better I'd almost say Seto-chan's 'xperimentin' on duel monsters..."

Honda nodded, staring at the dragon that was 'floating' in the tube beside him. "Tell me about it... It already looks like I could feel all of this thing's scales- This solid vision is pretty incredible..."

"Hehehe... Is it," he asked, scratching the side of his head, turning from the next tube. "All I c'n say is tha' it's a little less detail-"

-_tpf_-

"Nh?" A knock on the glass caught his attention and he turned, jumping back with a shout as an eerie and pale faced leer came through the glass. "H-HAAAAAAAHHHH! O-OBAKE!"

"NHAHAHAHAHA!" The glass tube slid upward, a leather-clad young man stepping forward with a grin. "AAAAHH! You should have seen your face..!"

"Gh..." Wait... Human..! He scowled, nonetheless putting as much distance between himself and the teen as possible. "Bastard...!"

The man continued to chuckle, shaking his head. "Whaaat... That scared you? Come on, it couldn't be that bad..." He laughed, cracking his knuckles with a stretch and a yawn. "Hahhh..! I was waiting there for so long, but in the end that was worth it..."

"_Youuuuuu..._"

"This... This must be 'Pete'," Honda muttered helping Katsuya up as the man blinked.

"Hn? Oh? Did one of the others mention me?" He was answered with silence, and decided to pass it off with another laugh. "Well," he decided, smile widening. "How interesting..! But you know," he continued darkly, "For all that I've said, I might just be a 'Solid Vision' of 'Peter Coppermine'... After all," he continued, eyes narrowing almost to slits. "You never realized that one was 'Anzu Mazaki'..."

All humor evaporated from the air, along with fear and unease as the two before Pete narrowed their eyes. That... "What kinda asshole starts a conversation like that," he hissed, fists clenching as their opponent continued to grin. "You... Where's th' duel field," he spat, "I'm gonna beat y' down w'thin two hits, hologram 'r not!"

Pete merely chuckled at the threat, raising a seemingly nonexistent eyebrow. "Ooooh... _Scary, scary,_" he muttered in English, before turning with a nod. "Alright then 'Jonouchi Katsuya'... We'll get to it! The duel field is this way," he told them as he gestured to the side. "But you know," he continued, the field itself just a short distance away from the hologram testing, "Because of your previous success over Klamath, your prize increases ten-fold. Now anyone who beats you gets 100 dollars!" he laughed, expression the closest thing to genuine as one could believe in such a situation. "Not to mention," the man went on, "I just got new orders from above- Anyone who beats you gets to head straight to Yugi, no questions asked! So important... That has to be a motivation increaser, neh..? Your situation isn't so bad..." Not too bad..?

That just put him more at unease, if someone like Tenma decided he would be holding Yugi's fate in his hands. There was silence in response to his opponent's taunts, and as Pete followed the blond's stare his grin seemed to fade... Becoming a more hesitant expression, if not even understanding. Whether or not he could see the small and seemingly anthropomorphic wolf beside him however was left for only him to know- the duel disks clicked into place as they positioned themselves on the field, and as the decks reshuffled he turned his eyes toward his opponent. "Le's jus' duel already," he snarled, narrowing his eyes and ignoring the werewolf standing beside them. "Got it..?"

"Hnhnhn... Alright then..."

"_**GO!**_

"I'll go first," Katsuya shouted, cards flying toward his hand as he held his gaze toward the slowly shifting field around them. "Draw..!" Watch... He'd toss this guy out in three turns... Three turns..! He'd-

"Hey..." Nh? "You better keep a cool head about this," Honda warned from the side. "You barely made it through the last one..."

Had it been any other time, he would have mouthed him off for implying he was going to lose.

That wasn't what Honda was talking about though, and the singe marks on his only school uniform were a pretty good reminder of that. "Got it," he instead responded, setting a card on the field and watching as the blank tablet that resulted immediately merged with the floor and vanished from sight. That was new. But focusing on the duel now... "Set one card face down," he began, before taking the next card to slide it in place. "And summon th' Little Winguard in d'fense mode..!"

Another tablet rose from the ground, this time remaining firmly in place as an image of the familiar warrior came into being. Briefly, the man across him looked to the card in apparent interest, even staring at his opponent's hands... However in the end, he turned his gaze to his own, smiling. "Well then... My turn! I summon the Para Mutant in attack mode," he announced, the spirit at his side vanishing into a mist as the tablet came to the field. As the figure stepped out from the misting stone Katsuya found himself staring, head tilting almost in confusion toward the monster's appearance. He was pale skinned, and emaciated- the shirt and leather clothes he wore were clearly oversized, and around his neck was a thick collar and chain. At the moment, its power was the same as the Little Winguard's defense...

But there was something else here... He wasn't sure why, but the howl that kept sounding in his mind was giving him a fairly uneasy idea.

"Before I end my turn," Pete announced, snapping the blond from his thoughts. "I set one card face down... _**ATTACK,**_" he roared, before switching his battle ready expression to one of calm, "Won't happen just now..."

"Gh- What-" What was that shout just now..! He almost believed it damn it..! "Th' hell is with tha' attitude..!"

Para Mutant shrugged in silence, as if to say he agreed with Katsuya's accusation entirely. With the shrug, he almost thought he even saw Pete look to the monster in disdain... But a closer look told him this wasn't the case, and he tossed it from mind. Whatever...

Probably nothing anyways. "My turn," he grumbled, drawing his next card. Bastard... Casually switching his moves around like that... What was his game..? "Summon th' Panther Warrior," he decided in the end, watching as the tablet arose to his side. "Attack mode!" Hehehe...

Whole 'gang' getting back together again he found himself thinking, the humanoid cat making his way from the stone with a smirk. "_**Hn!**_" The monster cracked his neck, twirling his sword in his hands and making a few more warm-up stretches while the smoke of his tablet swirled about his feet._** "It's been a while now, hasn't it,**_" he chuckled, narrowed cat eyes looking toward the blond.

"Heh... What're y' talkin' abou'," he laughed as he shook his head. "You've been buggin' me all summer..! Alrigh'... Panther Warrior," he ordered, ignoring the muttered and confused English from the other end as the monster nodded and charged. "_**ATTACK..!**_"

"_**HHRRRRAAAAAAAHHH-!**_"

"ACTIVATE TRAP!"

"_**SHIT-**_" The cat skidded to a stop as Pete's blank tablet crumbled from existence, the dust forming a clawed amulet around Para-Mutant's neck.

"Theriomorphic Jewel," Pete announced, the mutant suddenly growing muscles and fur as it increased in size. Claws grew from where nails had been, loose clothing stiffened and stretched under pressure and the Panther Warrior stared in horror. "Paramutant becomes the Lycanthrope," his opponent announced, pointing the beast forward. "And his power," he continued, Panther Warrior's ears pulling back as the formerly waif-like monster towered over him, "Now surpasses yours!" Oh _shit._

"_**RRRROOOOUURRRRRRRROOOOOOOO!**_" And there was the howl he predicted.

FUC- "COUNTER ATTACK," Pete ordered, a loud yowl entering the air as the wolf threw the cat down to the ground. "Crush the Panther Warrior..!" Gh-!

A crack sounded through the air as the weaker monster was slammed further into the arena, the Lycanthrope grabbing the beast by his leg and flinging him violently to the side. "P-PANTHER!" The warrior's corpse lay motionless on the edge of the field, Pete narrowing his eyes as he looked at his opponent. That... Katsuya turned back, swallowing. "Gh... Bastard..."

"You're the one attacking without thinking," Honda shouted from the side, his friend flinching in response. GH-

Saying something like that...! "I ain-"

"You should listen to your friend," Pete said almost flatly, the blond scowling at the tone.

"GH- SHADDUP YOU!" Damn it all..! As if he knew what the hell was going on here..! As if- ...Alright... "Hahhhh..." Calm down, he told himself as he drew a card. Calm down, calm down... This kind of thing happened in every battle, and just because Lycanthrope decided to be particularly violent about it didn't mean... Anything... (Shit, for a moment he thought Panther was still moving at the side there...) "Phewww..." The body faded out of existence, Katsuya shaking himself yet again as he steadied himself. "Alrigh'..." Alright. It was all good. This guy wasn't getting to Yugi, and he wasn't going to lose. It was _alright..._ "I set another trap card," he announced, the tablet rising to his side at the far end of his still present trap hole. "An' I end my turn alrigh'? Bring it on 'Wolfy'!"

Pete raised an eyebrow, nonetheless holding whatever response he had as he drew his next card. "Hn. My turn," he stated, "And just for now... I'll activate a spell card from my hand," he decided, blowing some hair from his eyes as he set the card. "Future Telling Eye!" Future... EH? He blinked, watching as another wave of dust moved from the air to form an eye of sorts above its caster. "This allows me to see your two face down cards," he chuckled, the spell's effect already appearing in the back of his opponent's mind. "So I know exactly what you're doing..!"

ECK- Crap. "You... You c'n see-" He turned to look at his tablet, wincing as it carved its image and settled back into dormancy while revealing itself to the field." Gh... Damn it..."

His double attack card... "Hnhnhnhnhn..." Damn bastard... "Well," Pete observed, chuckling under his breath. "'Rengeki' ah? Attack again if you land a hit on me... In that case," he decided with a shrug, "I suppose that with the monster you have now, I don't have to worry... Of course, your trap hole is a little bit of a problem with Lycanthrope so..." So stop planning out loud already..! "Ah! I've got it," Pete decided with an almost menacing tone, snapping a card into his hands with a grin. The blond across from him continued to scowl, almost growling aloud as the wolf beside Pete's new tablet stood in preparation for 'tribute'. "I'll set one card and, using the Lycanthrope as a sacrifice," Pete announced clearly, "I'll summon this monster..!" Summon what- "Psychokinetic 'Mutant Highbrain'..!" WHA-

The wolf on the field gave a pain-filled howl as dust rose around it, followed by ethereal smoke. Sands and mists obscured it from sight, and within moments Katsuya found himself watching a column of 'white' take form, stretching from the floor to the ceiling above. The material narrowed in the center... Arms took form, stretching out with pale skin as darkened robes revealed themselves around the beast, with pale skin and sightless eyes staring forward in cold silence. And as numbers appeared in his mind Katsuya found himself frowning, even shaking his head in disbelief. Zero... Attack 'zero', what...

"Watch out man... There's probably a pretty good reason why he did that," Honda muttered, his friend merely narrowing his eyes. Of course there was a good reason to do that, but-

"HIGHBRAIN," Pete abruptly ordered, the monster looking over his opponent in silent disdain as he stiffened. "ATTACK..!"

_TELEKINESIS HAND FORCE!_

It was just now that he realized why the smoke had yet to vanish completely, putting the shock of the Highbrain's 'voice' aside. As the shout tore through his mind a pair of hands seemed to form from the smoke and mist, shooting forward and over top of the trap hole with ease. With curled and seamlessly attached claws the hands ripped into the tablet, and as a dull shout met the air Katsuya continued to pale. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Trap hole doesn't work on your own monsters," Pete sneered, eyes wide as the Little Winguard was pulled free and motionless from the tablet, head hung downward in apparent slumber. "With this, I can attack you a different way..! NOW," he ordered, the hands gripping Winguard's arms tightly and drawing the blade. "WINGUARD... ATTACK THE PLAYER!" What-

"Wha-"

"_**Ngg...**_" The blade rushed forward, and despite him moving to the side the blond found himself choking, eyes meeting with the monster's for a moment. The Winguard tensed, eyes widening as he regained consciousness... "_**Nh... K-Katsuya..!**_" The blade clattered to the ground as the hands faded from sight, Winguard stepping back in horror. "_**Katsu..!**_"

"Nngghh..." Shit... Katsuya grit his teeth, stumbling back somewhat as he looked down at his side. The blade didn't meet its target, thank god. He'd barely made it but... A small bit of red was slowly seeping into the white fabric, and as he swallowed uneasily he resisted the urge to cover it with a hand. He'd get blood on his cards... And someone would see, so he couldn't do that, he couldn't...

Pete had been laughing he noticed dully, blinking away the short dizzy spell the attack had left him with. Key word being _had_. The sound had faded when Honda's quick 'Jonou-' had come over the air, and when a small bit of blood trailed down Winguard's blade and to the ground. The monster's blood and weapons were invisible to everyone else, that was true.

His wasn't. And now, it was quite clear that something was wrong "What on earth," Pete muttered with narrowed eyes, before shaking himself off. It was nothing, Katsuya thought to himself as he moved his foot over the slight pool, nothing... Nothing, just pass it off as a trick of the light...

"Jonouchi..."

"_**N-Nnnnh... Katsuya,**_" the Winguard whispered with a swallow,_** "Are you...**_"

"I got this," he muttered stiffly, drawing his next card, "Jus'-" Wait... Just wait. He blinked, pained expression slowly growing into a wide and almost mischievous grin as he looked across the field. Ah- ... "Hehehehehe..." Ohhhh.. "Hehehahaha..." This... "Hnhnahaha..!" This was good..! Highbrain had zero attack; with nothing to protect him now...

'_Is it my turn then,_' he thought he heard someone whisper, the blond looking down at his hand as the grin became a smaller and more subtle smirk. '_Will I get to fight..?_' Hn..? Who was-

He blinked, picking up one of the cards in his hand and looking it over for a moment. White armor met his gaze, with an enormous sword gripped in the warrior's hand. This one eh..? Well. His grin grew, eyes narrowing almost into slits. Why not? "My turn Pete... Yer gonna regret doin' tha'..! First I set one card face down," he shouted, the all too familiar Grave Robber hopping from it's growing stone to wait at the side for further orders. "Next," he continued, giving his monster a steady nod, "I offer Little Winguard as sacrifice, and summon this..!" The winguard was vanishing into dust as he gave a slow and still shaken nod... The card was placed on the field but his eyes remained set forward, even as the sand and light took form at his side, replacing the Winguard's image on the carving with that of a great and powerful swordsman. Now... "Th' brave warrior... DIVINE KNIGHT ISHZARK!"

In an explosion of light the smoke and dust cleared from the air, the Highbrain across from him widening his eyes a moment as his summoner stared. Standing at his side now was a monster garbed in blue-white leather and metal, a blade almost as large as himself in his hand. His helm shielded his eyes from sight, and in a manner almost similar to the Winguard before it there were metal 'wing' decorations along the edges of his wear. Taking a single step forward he looked down, eyes barely visible from the side and from beneath his gear. "_**...You had her worried,**_" he eventually said, Katsuya turning in slight shock as the Knight went on. "_**The Winguard...**_" Eh- The winguard-

Wait what. "Wai', he's a _she_," he muttered, watching as the monster stepped forward again and raised his blade. "O-Oi, what th' hell..!" Answer him damn it! "OI!"

"...Who are you talking to," Pete muttered, following his opponent's gaze with a frown.

"Ignore him," Honda responded.

"What-"

"ATTACK!"

"EH!"

Ishzark was already charging, and as the warrior approached Pete's expression shifted into a humored smirk. The order to attack had never been properly announced really, but in all honesty it never had to be... For as the blade came swinging toward the Highbrain, it faded from sight, leaving the sword to meet nothing but air. "Ny- What th' hell-"

What was- "Nyhahahahaha... Whoops," Pete said with a laugh, the tablet at his side carving into existence. There was nothing but a clock and a grid on its front... Yet as he stared at the stone a moment longer a white smoke faded from it, slowly taking form once again. "Too bad," his opponent sighed. "You triggered my trap." Trap..? Katsuya scowled as the Highbrain took form again, fists clenched tight. Already the details of the spell were coming to mind, the monster before him slowly stepping back into position. "Hehehe... I activated 'Teletemporator'- moving Highbrain forward in time to my Main Phase and out of your sight!" Ishzark's blade dug into the ground as it crashed beneath its weight in the meantime, the monster looking up at Highbrain as the mute being smirked.

_'A pity,_' it murmured within his mind, Ishzark biting back a snarl in response. '_The Winguard's trainer will have to wait his turn again..._' Wait his-

Wait, what was this about trainers and masters and... "_**Bite your tongue Highbrain,**_" the monster growled. "_**You're the one attacking without care...**_"

'_And I was supposed to know I was facing the first true 'sensitive' since years before?' _This again? What?

"_**I swear to the Gods when I get my sword out..!**_" What the hell were they arguing about, what-

"Nn-hn!" Eh? "Are you listening?"

Katsuya jerked his attention back to Pete, the man shaking his head as his opponent coughed. "Er..."

"Hn! Obviously you missed it," he muttered, almost huffing at the fact. "I said your combo is useless; your attack missed, and now it's my turn! You have just as many lifepoints remaining as your monster has attack power... So prepare to fall on your own sword," he laughed, pointing his hand forward with a snap. "It all ends this turn, 'Jonouchi'!" His own sw-

Shit, it'd be 'VS Malik' all over if that connected..! "J-Jou-"

Crap crap crap- "_**ATTACK HIGHBRAIN,**_" he heard Pete roar._** "HAND FORCE!**_" Three...

The tablets were crumbling to dust, and the Graverobber had vanished from sight.

Two...

The blond narrowed his eyes, watching as the hands approached the knight that again stood by his side, Ishzark bracing himself for the worst...

One...

And the hands missed.

"Wh... What," Pete hissed, Katsuya snapping his fingers almost lazily with a smirk.

"Hehehehehe... Thanks f'r th' free escape," he laughed, the Graverobber at the side leaning on his equipment and giggling as he watched the results of his handiwork yet again. "Looks like I got th' upper hand again..."

"Gh- That..." Pete looked over his hand, frantically looking for a counter as he realized what was happening. "Shit..." 'Teletemporlator' skipped to the next main phase. "Shit..!" Which gave him time to attack...

"Hehehehe..." Which meant he won. "It's my turn now," Katsuya shouted, opponent scrambling over his cards. "You know what tha' means..?"

"Th... That..."

"_**My turn,**_" Ishzark snarled, stalking toward the Highbrain as the psychic swallowed.

'_Now now... See here,_' he stammered, backing away. '_I'm sure we can work this out..._'

"Shut up," both Ishzark and Katsuya snarled, the latter pointing forward. "ATTACK... An' watch th' exact thing y' tried t' pr'vent happen righ' now..! Highbrain is destroyed," he spat, Ishzark's blade cleaving through the smoking monster before another word could even be uttered within his mind. "An tha' triggers my trap..! Rengeki... CONNECTED ATTACK," he continued as the blade was pulled up from the ground. Attack twice after dealing damage to lifepoints... "So... Let's go for round two shall we? NOW," he roared, Ishzark swinging the blade forward.

_**BREAK DOWN DISTORTION..!**_"

"GHHAHHGGG-!" Pete jumped back, cards flying from his hands in the force of the blade. "H-Hahhh..." A few chips came from the ground before him where the blade sunk in- as the field began to fade he looked from the ground toward Katsuya, swallowing. "You..." His eyes widened as they met with Katsuya's feet, quickly turning upward. "How did you..."

The blond merely chuckled, giving a shrug. "Heh... What c'n I say... I don' fall f'r illusions 'f defeat."

At this Pete's frown seemed to increase, and as the last remains of the battle vanished he shook his head and tried to stand. "No... No, I mean..."

"Jonouchi," Honda said carefully, the blond turning. "...Tell me that cut isn't as bad as it looks..." Cut..?

Looking down at the floor, Katsuya quickly stumbled back and forced back a choked cry. Oh.

That cut. The one that was still bleeding.

The one that got blood all over his shoe. "Ssffff... Shit," he hissed, the remainder of the field evaporating in his panic. "I forgot about that..!"

"You forgot you were stabbed in the freaking gut..!"

"Well it wasn' like _las' _time, jus'-"

"I'm getting a first aid kit," Pete said flatly, darting off to the side with an almost disturbed frown.

"Firs' aid-" What- "But it isn'-"

Honda grabbed the blond's shoulder, pushing him down to a seated position and shaking his head before stooping down beside him. "Do yourself a favor for once Jonouchi... Take his advice_._"

"..." For a moment, he wanted to knock Honda aside and say to hell with it but...

'_Do it,_' he heard a few monsters in his deck growl, the blond sighing in defeat.

He supposed that was a good idea really.

* * *

**AN:** Yea Jou, amazing what taking advice does for you sometimes!

At least he's not going into a coma though. (So much dialogue..!)

In any case, since we still have another update on the contest entries, you can find the entries to vote on below. Keep in mind that if there's a tie at the end, I'm holding another round..!

See what I mean by _short_? Most of the R chapters will be about the same length, and still have this many duels. I sincerely doubt that, outside the finale, we'll have any less than two-per. So hooray for that?

Actually, this still means there'll be a number of chapters for this arc... And the fact is, it _was_ an entire series...

Now then! There's not much to say this time around, so I suppose the most I can do is jump right into the next section! Some of you will notice that the duels don't follow the order of the manga completely, but that's mostly to keep switching scenes to a minimum; same thing I did for Noa's Virtual World essentially.

So... Without further ado..!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hahaha, glad you like it so far Imadork- lets hope I can keep this up!

Also, thanks for pointing that out for me; thanks to you, I was able to fix it shortly after the update.

This arc in general will probably have more humor in it I find- which is weird, because at its root there's actually just as much shadowy-evilness around the plot as there was in the previous one... At the same time though, I figure it's needed. Too much gloom is never good, and given that Jonouchi can't avoid getting hurt now...

And that's right! More people can see; it's building on a point made in the Duelist Kingdom... Some people can naturally see the monsters they're closest to. It's something I came up with while watching GX actually...

Ohhh, they'll meet again. Not for a while given the 'tower style' that this arc takes, but they definitely meet! Hehehehe...

Oh! You like the visions? I hope you like the next ones as well then- it's something I've been looking forward to for a while, since it's... Well, 'Past!Jou'. I get pretty excited about that, ehehehe...

And OKAY. I'm relieved then.

I've got your first vote recorded; for this round it's only one entry to vote on, but I'll keep the other choices in mind.

Happy you found it interesting Iona! I've got your vote recorded, okay?

In any case, you can be assured that it won't just be Jou's and Yugi's abilities on display here... Hope you enjoy the next round of card professors!

Until next time!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's still over the moon- Three duels one chapter..! WHAT-

* * *

Today's title has everything to do with Jou's duels and nothing to do with Yugi's; the first half (Ze'eb) means Wolf. The second ('Ariy) means 'lion' (What with Klamath looking like a cat and using an antlion and me having a weird thing for puns. Hahaha~).

* * *

Such interesting stories...

Some of you will have caught on and figured out who the Behemoth and Ziz are by now- but I won't blame you if you don't, it's weird.

* * *

And would you look at that, Past!Jou hated his ability too... (But where did it come from? Well, some people are just... _Special_. -lame but spoiler-free excuse-)

* * *

Funny thing about Yugi's duel by the way, but um... You're not supposed to summon monsters face up in defense mode in reality. Ahahahahaha~

_Damn it Yugioh, why do you CHEAT_.

* * *

Strange thing I noticed. While Kirk Dixon is named after another Intel Codename... _So is his trump card_. At least, the 'Covington' part. (In Kirk's case, it's his last name that was a codename.)

* * *

Klamath's name comes from both a codename and the Klamath Falls, in Oregon. Osler... I'm not sure. But you know, there's a place in Saskatchewan called Osler!

* * *

Jou is right to assume that Klamath can't see or hear anything... Same with Honda. However, as you see later, he's still open to believing it; this is actually because besides Tilla, there are in fact others on the team with similar abilities... And while they aren't as strong as Jonouchi's, Klamath can't ignore the dust all over his clothes.

* * *

Arijigoku is Japanese for 'Antlion', rather 'Antlion larvae'. They don't really look like ants, but when you can only see the top, and you're Jonouchi...

They're also known as doodle bugs, since they kinda drag their rear ends around when they walk, leaving trails in the sand. Hahahaha...

_By the way, they don't have an anus in the larvae stage, so their back ends are full of crap._

* * *

Gearfried _bleeds_! It's a reference to another Gearfried card; Gearfried isn't _made_ of metal, he's just completely covered by it. Jonouchi tells a story about him in the Doma Arc of the anime; Gearfried used to be a damn powerful guy... The problem was, he couldn't control his strength- so he sealed himself in a big ol' metal suit so that he couldn't hurt anyone.

And yet he made his arms _swords_... Good going there Gearfried.

* * *

Klamath's issues with Japanese are brought to you by this popular question... '_Why the __hell__ does everyone in anime speak Japanese/__whatever language is doing the dubbing__..!'_ I can stretch it with the Card Professors- in Tilla's case, it's curiosity inspired largely by the greatest duelists being Japanese. Deschutes has relatives (hohohoh~), and Klamath is _taking_ Japanese, but he isn't all the way there... Though he's doing it more or less for the same reason as Tilla.

Kirk's reason makes a little more sense in my head (look at me, trying to make sense of it all...)- he learned it purely for career related reasons. When a majority of the top duelists in the world are in Japan, and you're a duelist, _you learn Japanese damn it._

By the way, Pete's into J-Rock. That's my story and I'm sticking to it. (In other words, he learned it because he's a _nerd_. HAHAHAHAAAA. I'm sorry.)

* * *

Since the tubes in this room are filled with test holograms rather than actual duel monsters, Jonouchi doesn't see any duel monster spirits- which is probably for the best, since they'd be stuck in the glass. In any case, now you can finally figure out how realistic the holograms actually are! They're close... Just not quite there. It's the lighting that _really_ gives them away.

* * *

Obake is basically Japanese for monster, goblin, ghost etc etc... In other words, that's what Jou's screaming. 'Ghost'. I left it as is however, if only because every time I tried to put 'ghost' there I thought of Shaggy from Scooby-Doo.

* * *

'Rengeki' is Japanese for 'connected attack' (Ren being chain or connection, and geki, or 'utsu' meaning 'to attack', or 'to shoot at'.) Sometimes I just don't put the translation in the chapter. (-shrug-)

* * *

Technically, the card was called 'Future Foretelling Eye', but... Well, I stuck with this one.

* * *

'Coppermine' gets his last name from the 'Coppermine River', along with (you guessed it!) another Intel codename.

* * *

As a matter of fact, yes, Jou did just shrug off Winguard's attack. It's more of a graze; it looks bad, but it really isn't... And by the time they get to the end of the duel, it's about as bad as a paper cut. The trick is partially that all the fabric was still _there_- it acted as a weak (_very_ weak) bandage, and combined with the number of points he had left it had little effect.

Poor Winguard though...

* * *

Seriously though! The armor on Ishzark has wings similar to the Winguard... I couldn't help but notice that. Pity Ishzark won't appear too much though... I'll see where I can slip him again, but since he appeared initially in R, anything before R didn't have Ishzark...

This includes any other arc Jou's deck is in, sooooo...

* * *

In the end of the duel you see here, Jou originally had a line worthy of CSI... '_Y_'_ou lost 'cause you were seduced... By the illusion of your victory.'_

I can picture the Miami shades coming on and off, on and off...

* * *

WHAT WHAT WHAT- Ishizark, what did you say?

I see Ishizark and Winguard in a sort of mentor/apprentice relationship now that I see similarities in their armor... Bad habit I guess. They certainly aren't dating/related or something weird... I try to keep that kind of thing out.

_Mostly_ to give Ishizark an excuse to come back. (So really, I'm being a dork again.)

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

Just a reference piece today..! We have the next two duelists (since Klamath was on the last one), and a nice shot of Ishzark and the Winguard!

Reference: Professors and Monsters – http : / / i5. photobucket. com/ albums/ y153/ natasha_unos_1/ YGO% 20Fanfic% 20-% 20Skin/ NewSketch. Jpg – Only the duelists are coloured..! Mostly because it took me AGES to finish Ishzark and his crazy top-heay self. AUGH. Also, guest appearance from the Lycanthrope! Hooray~

* * *

Musical Notes

Where I give you whatever I was listening to while I typed!

Two songs today...

The first is 'Ama no Jaku' or 'A Born Coward'- it's originally sung by Gumi, but I think I've listened to maybe four different covers by now... In any case, I found it suited Jou quite a bit myself, at least in regards to romance. (Some reason, one of the covers make me think of Seto though...)

Arguably, at least _one_ of these covers will sound like Jonouchi's voice actors, so here's to finding it again... (It's on 'Amonderevex's channel.)

The second is actually Calc- rather, the Piano cover. It's a really nice sounding cover... While it's another romance-y one, and does somewhat remind me of Kaiba though, I don't really think it matches the chapter... I just happened to find it. (This is me, being my usual 'ignore the subs a moment' self, hahahah.)

* * *

Contest Section

These are the entries you can vote on, but be warned; **results will be posted within a week, so vote while you can!**

Remember, each one is separated by a line!

FROM MAGGIE MAY:

The story of Yu-gi-oh! with an X twist. One little letter - X instead of Y - and you have a whole new game. Yugi may still be king but Seto is definitely queen, with Jounouchi as her court (and courting) jester and jack of all trades.

* * *

Ever wonder why Seto acts like he has constant PMS? There is an explanation. Jounouchi and the gang learn that gender really doesn't matter. Or does it? Retelling of the Yu-gi-oh! Series – with one little difference that changes everything.

FROM IMADORK:

Jounouchi Katsuya will always look out for his friends, no matter how weird things get. That means he will keep on fighting, whether facing maniacs with freaky powers, monsters from a childrens game, or the fact that Kaiba's a girl. Wait, what?

FROM JADEJ.J:

Seto Kaiba has secrets that run skin deep but when Jou gets drawn in all bets are off. Both teens' dark secrets come to the surface & life changing experiences that will take them into dark secrets of Duel Monsters that no one knows.

FROM SORA KOHAKU:

After a extra credit project goes almost too well Jonouchi finds himself getting closer to his classmate Kaiba. Too close. Living in the same house too close. For every thing that starts going right for him there's another going wrong.

* * *

Curiosity couldn't possibly kill him, though Jonouchi doesn't doubt that given the chance Seto Kaiba would. It's just his luck that Mokuba Kaiba likes him so much.

* * *

Jonouchi Katsuya was the exception to the 'no jobs' rule at school. Jonouchi Katsuya also happened to be the great exception to the 'normal' rule when it came to children's card games.

* * *

Jou had a hunch- just a hunch nothing else- that Seto Kaiba was hiding something. It's just his luck that he was right.

* * *

Annnd that's all for this week everyone! Results will be posted with the next chapter; **Vote while you can!**

Until then, enjoy the chapter..! Bye!


	110. Chapter 109

**Dechal**

* * *

She could remember how she'd gotten here. Somewhat at least. Mostly.

It wasn't until recently that she'd been able to do that after all, so it was rather hard to tell.

Anzu's eyes were closed to the world, her body submerged in what felt like the coldest waters of the sea. Though her clothes were still there from the evening before, right down to the cheap sandals she'd worn to the store, she felt as though she'd been stripped completely bare and tossed in the oceans of the southern poles. '_Where is this,_' she wanted to ask, slowly looking around the darkness and holding herself close. Though her eyes in 'here' were open, there was nothing to see. Even a cleared mind couldn't help this, and so again the question repeated with a slightly altered tone. '..._What is this..? ...How did I..?_' How did she get there, she tried to tell herself. How? Her mind was clear- she could remember it clearly now...

She could remember going home that evening. The day before school, the final day of summer. Evidently a cause for celebration in her mother's eyes, so she'd asked her to decide on something 'special' for dinner. That was how she'd been caught outside she supposed... But what had she been doing again, she asked herself with narrowed eyes. Not just for that day... What had she been doing? For a number of days that summer she'd visited with Yugi, or worked on her summer homework... She'd contacted Shizuka a few times, having visited the hospital in her stead to check up on Ryuzaki as well- and speaking of the hospital...

She'd actually run into _Haga_ of all people while there. That was odd... It was just in the hall on the way to the stairs, so who knew what happened really. He'd ignored her for the most part as well- there was an odd look on his face she had noticed... She couldn't place what it was though. That day however... The last evening...

She'd gone to the market as far as she could recall. Malik's mentions of sukiyaki the few weeks prior had put a little bug in her mind she supposed, and when she checked the fridge for some food to try getting her own cooking done half the ingredients were missing. Between her mother's request for something 'special' and that, she'd decided she mind as well go the extra length for it. So she went out, throwing her bag over her shoulder.

And when she was on her way back...

She could remember the car pulling up beside her, a window rolling down. The car itself was fairly noticeable. A black rolls royce, and though it was obviously rented (or so the 'Malik' in her mind told her), it was just as obviously not for show so much as familiarity. The man inside was asking for directions but try as she might she couldn't recall what he'd even looked like. All she remembered was what he'd said after she'd given the directions to the Kaiba-Corp building... Just a quick 'Thank you very much! By the way...'

_Who's that behind you?'_

Her face had been covered by something before she could even react. A cloth, or at least it felt like one for the moment. And then just as she'd realized that, she saw darkness...

Before she'd woken up with a snap, eyes wide with the same fear she'd felt at that very moment.

"N... Nggg..." Anzu shuddered somewhat, breathing cold and almost forced as she rolled over from her bed. "What..." What was this, she asked herself with a frown. Meeting her gaze at the moment was her bedroom, as it always had been. Her 'half loft' bed above her dresser, blanket somewhat lumped up on the side thanks to the summer heat. Her the desk at the side near the window, lamp still bent over where she'd left it the night before. A few books in the corner from where she'd been doing some 'pet research'- she'd initially wondered why she was doing that before deciding to send an angry e-mail to Malik about his memories getting in the way of things again actually...

She'd very quickly gotten a response saying that he himself was very upset about suddenly _not_ liking snakes, and that she should probably just assume Newton's Third Law on anything that happened from that point on. Namely that if she was doing something 'Malik-ish', he was probably doing something 'Anzu-ish', which meant he was probably feeling just as awkward if not possibly more-so. She supposed he was right- and that he honestly had just as much reason to complain if she decided to whine about it in the end...

But it still annoyed the heck out of her that she couldn't stop looking at that pet store snak-

"Anzu..!" The woman turned, blinking as her mother's voice came over the air. Hn? Mom? "ANZU! Wake up or you'll be late for school!" Late, but it was only-

Her eyes widened as she looked at the alarm clock on her bed, throwing the sheets aside in panic."A-Ah..! I'm up mom..!" She scrambled, half tripping out of her bed as she ran to grab her things. Shoot, shoot... Homework in back, uniform on bathroom door, shower, shower, shower..! (How could she have slept in like that!)

"You better not take too long in there..!"

"I won't mom!" The water was already warming up against her hand, splattering off the sides even. Ten minutes she told herself. No more than ten minutes or she'd be late on the first day back..! Showers tended to last around that time really, at least before school. Get cleaned, get dressed, get breakfast. That was how it worked. Even so, it wasn't long before she found herself simply turning it off anyways- she didn't really need a shower a voice told her, the woman finding herself frowning somewhat at the thought. She wasn't sure why, but it felt almost like it wouldn't do anything... Even with to the sweaty state the night before had left her in. (...Ew...)

"ANZU..!"

She pulled herself from her thoughts, throwing her clothes on and grabbing her backpack with a shout. "Shoot... Coming mom..!" The girl rushed into the kitchen, grabbing the lunch she'd prepared the evening before from the fridge while her mother prepared herself breakfast in the next room. "Ahhh... What time is it..."

"Seven thirty," she said flatly, ignoring the fact that her daughter had supposedly been aware of the time already.

"You didn't wake me up earlier!"

"I thought you were until I realized the shower never came on." The elder woman poked her head around the corner of the room, frowning somewhat. "Come to think," she muttered with narrowed eyes, "That shower didn't seem very long..."

She merely grabbed one of the rice-balls in the fridge at that, slinging the backpack over her shoulder. "No time," she quickly answered, stuffing some of the rice in her mouth and running to the hall to pull her shoes on. "I have to run or I'll be late..!"

"So I see," the woman commented, before catching a glimpse of what her daughter was eating. "AH- Anzu," she barked, "That isn't a proper breakfast!"

"Ittekimasu!"

"_ANZU_!"

It was already sunny out she'd noticed dully, looking up at the sky as she ran for her bus stop. Despite the somewhat early hour of the day, the summer's dying influence still brought an early rise to the sun. She'd laughed to herself at that thought, picking up speed as she ran down the street. She had to stop feeling surprised over these obvious things she told herself- stop letting Malik's memories of darkness underground influence her, stop letting-

"...This place..." She wondered what the chances could have been- that the place where she'd given those directions would be the same location as her bus stop. She had to pass it to get to the store after all... Within such a short distance of her house though, it was almost surprising that she'd 'dreamed' all that went on the evening before. "There's even a market bag there," she laughed, walking toward the stop when it was made obvious that the bus had yet to arrive, "Just like-"

Hers. The blood drained from her face the moment she looked over the bag that lay fallen on the ground, a few eggs cracked and long spoiled on the pavement before it. Vegetables here and there, straps stepped on, meat lapped away by whatever stray dogs or cats were in the area...

A hissing sound pulled her attention from her thoughts, and as the bus doors opened she turned. "A-Ah..." Fumbling, she hurried onto the bus, flipping her pass to the driver before moving to stand on the side. "..." Outside the window, she could see the bags for just a moment longer, before the bus' movement had banished it from sight. The market bag. Her bag.

If it was a dream, it wouldn't have been there. If it wasn't, she wouldn't have woken up in her bed, with her mother none the wiser. So then why, she asked herself, holding her head and grimacing in pain as the darkness surrounded her. Or rather, _how, _she supposed. How could it be possible for one or even the other to happen without her knowing..? How...

Put it from mind, a soft voice seemed to whisper to her at that moment, Anzu quite vividly recalling herself leaning back against the bus window and staring off with dull eyes at those words. Put it from mind, school was more important wasn't it? _But was it really,_ she responded mentally, _this seemed a little serious-_

Put it from mind...

So she had. She'd exited the bus at the school stop, walked in, and joined class with her friends. She'd talked with Yugi about their summer 'date', almost tripped over herself when it turned out it was the 'other' Yugi listening in rather curiously... They had English, Gym, Math and History, and halfway through the day lunch had gone by just as expected. Tests to check up on whether or not they'd bothered studying over the summer were handed out of course ('SHIT', shouted Jonouchi!), and overall she felt...

As though she was only half there. She didn't say anything of course- if anything, she probably acted more chipper than she ordinarily would, joining in the conversations of the day with almost menial things in order to lift the mood. Laughing when one of the 'guys' (Yugi didn't count... Most of the time) did something stupid, making some kind of response when someone said something to her... And then 'Tenma' had appeared...

And try as she might have, she hadn't been able to correct herself that time. She hadn't been able to tell herself that this was just a dream, or that she was hallucinating, or that nothing was wrong. No... By this point she just felt stupid for not even realizing what had happened. "What..." She'd felt half there all day... "What is this..." Now she felt even worse... "What..." She felt sick... She felt... _Dead..._ "...Yu-"

She was vanishing. Within seconds her body was turning into ash and smoke, her senses fading into darkness. All she could see of the rooftop were fading blurs, hear the shouts of the others as they stared, horrified...

"_Yugi,_" she shouted, voice barely a whisper._ "What..._" The entire world had vanished right then, leaving her completely blind...

And when she opened her eyes... She saw nothing but darkness. Nothing but liquid shadows curling over her form, voices and hissed whispers filling the air. And though she wanted to ask who was there, she could barely find it within herself to shiver, instead pulling herself closer and clutching the thin t-shirt she wore. All there was was darkness... Darkness and curious voices, and as she held herself close she found herself almost ready to cry. Where was this? _Darkness, _she thought someone answered_._ How did she get here? _Ask yourself._ When...

When was she going to get out..?

There was no answer to that question, and a few moments later she couldn't even remember asking that. All she could do was close her eyes... And hope.

* * *

-**Error; Incorrect Key.**-

"Hnnn..." The device flashed red as they both stood before it, eyes narrowed with annoyance at their current obstacle.

-_swp_- -_BZZZZZT._-

-**Error; Incorrect Key.**-

Hnnnng, again..! "_I don't think it's working Aibou._"

"Hnnggg..." Yugi frowned, looking over the card in his hands. "Weird," he muttered under his breath. "We haven't run into anyone else so far... If there's no one here, how are we supposed move forward..?" The boy turned, eyes drifting over the almost black hall. So far, they'd come up quite a number of floors with no trouble; already they were on the tenth of twenty, passing closed doors and signs pointing toward staff cafeterias and washrooms. Despite this however, there wasn't a soul in sight- it was as though the entire building had been abandoned for years. "Hn..."

"_Perhaps there's another way,_" his partner offered, crossing his arms in thought. The spirit hovered from the side, gesturing forward. "..._Look,_" he added with a nod. "_There's a light over there; perhaps it's the next 'professor'._" Hnn...

"Perhaps," he muttered, looking toward the dull light and moving toward it somewhat hesitantly. It seemed properly suspicious after all- a single light on a floor that was entirely dark. The room where the light came from was labeled cafeteria oddly enough, and even from outside the large entryway he could see the enormous glass windows letting light into the room, a few potted trees sitting near the side for decoration. It wasn't until he actually made his way in however that he spotted the one who had likely turned the light on.

"_Hn..? 'Obaa',_" his other self questioned, brows furrowing in confusion. Ah- while there was indeed an old woman there...

"_Other me, that's a little rude,_" he muttered, ignoring the '_it's true_!' coming from behind him as he walked toward the old woman his partner had spotted. The woman in question seemed almost right at home in the cafeteria; she'd set herself up with a teapot and a cup in fact, and had only just set it down to turn toward the one interrupting her time. She was Japanese from what he could tell- and settled beneath a blanket in a rather advanced looking wheelchair, hands folded calmly in her lap.

As to what she was doing here, he had a feeling that one of the professors was currently visiting a relative that they refused to leave alone. Or at least something similar to that particular situation. She seemed a little too nice to be caught up in this really. "...Excuse me," he called out, the bespectacled woman turning her full attention to the boy. "...Ah..." Far too nice, he corrected mentally. "Excuse me, obaasan... Could I ask you something?"

"Oh..." She blinked, nodding. "Go right ahead," she responded kindly, a light smile on her face. "Is there something wrong? Are you looking for someone?"

Right on the dot. "I am," he said somewhat confidently. "I was having a few problems with the door you see... So I was wondering..." He lifted his arm, gesturing to the duel-disk latched over it in 'stasis' position. "Have you maybe seen anyone with a device like this," he asked, soon bringing his arm down as the woman stared.

"Hnn... Something like that?" The elder shoo her head, glasses balancing rather precariously on the edge of her nose. "No, I'm afraid I haven't seen anyone pass by here," she admitted, turning her chair to face the boy. "I'm quite sorry..." No one huh...

"Ah... Well, I suppose that's alright," he decided, rubbing his head and turning. So she didn't know... Alright then. "I'll just go somewhere el-"

"Are you looking for someone to duel perhaps," she asked, Yugi blinking in surprise.

"Ah- Duel... Do you know someone who duels then," the boy managed to get out, receiving a chuckle in response.

"Ohh, I should hope so. Despite my old age, I certainly know a thing or two about duel monsters. My grandchildren introduced me," she continued, 'driving' the chair away from the tablet to face him. "They taught me how to play, and in the end I couldn't resist buying myself a few cards of my own. It's quite the addictive game," she chuckled, shaking her head.

"_This... Then she duels,_" his other half muttered in slight surprise, shaking his head. Hah...

"Like Grandpa," he found himself muttering, before shaking it off. He should stop being surprised really... "So... You're a duelist too then," he said somewhat louder, the elderly woman nodding in response.

"Quite right. Though my reasons for dueling are likely a little different from your own..." Hahaha...

"_I doubt anyone's dueling for the same thing we are,_" his partner grumbled, Yugi holding back a response as he bit his tongue.

"That... That's fine," he instead answered, coughing somewhat awkwardly as the spirit continued to mutter under his breath. "Everyone has a reason right..?" Though he should probably be looking for the professor really...

"That's right..." Yes, and not to be rude... "But you see," the woman chuckled, tapping a button on the side of her chair, "My reason is quite specific... My dear boy," she continued, whirring meeting the air as a loud click followed, "My reason is to make sure you move no further than where you stand..!"

With a resounding clack the device that had pieced itself together within the woman's chair flipped forward, a thick and obviously modified form of dueldisk coming forward. "Th-That..." With a wide and welcoming gesture the woman chuckled, turning her chair to properly face the boy as she pulled a deck from in her pocket. Something as sudden as this...

He'd found the next card professor. "Hnhnhn... I have heard many things about you 'Mutou Yugi'," she complimented, bowing her head. "The 'King of Games' and the Champion of Japan... It's quite a feat," she continued with a chuckle. "My name is Katou Maiko- member of the Card Professors of the USA- and unless you don't wish to move on," she warned sternly, "I suggest you prepare for a duel."

"D-Duel _you_," Yugi repeated, still partially in shock.

"Is that a problem then," she asked, slipping the deck into her disk.

"_Problem,_" his other half snarled._ "Is that an insult, 'Old Hag'...!_"

"_It's an old woman other me! And stop being rude,_" he protested,_ "She can't even hear you!_"

"_No matter!_"

"_She's a GRANDMOTHER!_"

"_And Grandpa duels fine as well! I'm FIGHTING,_" he roared, abruptly swapping places with his still semi-shocked partner. "Prepare yourself..! When it comes to the end, I'll be the one to win..!"

"Ohohohoh..." The elder chuckled, spinning her chair to face the boy. "Quite the change in attitude," Maiko observed, moving the wheelchair over and across from her opponent. "Well... We'll just see about that. How about you go first now dear..? We'll play this through and decide at the end..."

"Hn! Very well then," the 'other' Yugi answered, drawing himself a hand of cards. Holograms shot into existence as he set a single card, giving his opponent a curt nod while a stationary monster came to the field. "I set Big Shield Guardna in defense mode," he announced, the enormous shield almost hiding him from sight. "End turn!" 2600 defense points would be more than enough to act as a shield for now... He couldn't afford to rush in on someone after all- he'd work on attack once he had an idea of Maiko's own strategies.

And as to what those were...

The woman across from him adjusted her classes, taking her card with a nod. "My turn then," she said calmly, her own dueldisk resting across her lap like a sort of table. "I'll summon this... Leprechaun in attack mode." The small one-shoed elf appeared in a flash of light, card revealing its tiny amount of power to her opponent. Four hundred attack... Now what could that do he wondered, watching the tiny 'elf' hover before him. "Next," Maiko was saying, Yugi's eyes narrowing suspiciously, "I play the equip spell 'poison bowgun', equipping it to my monster." Poison bow- The crossbow appeared in the monster's hand, taking aim toward its opponent with ease. "...Which allows me to destroy one card on the field! And I choose your shield," the woman continued, her monster's 'gun' clicking as it fired an arrow toward him. With ease the bolt pierced through the shield, Guardna vanishing in a shower of light as its summoner ducked under the force behind his arm. "The Bowgun and the Elf... A simple yet effective strategy to make a 'weakling' a beast..!"

"Gh..." He'd guessed really...

The hologram on the field faded into mist as a new arrow appeared in the bowgun's shaft, Yugi biting his lip. "Hnnn... That was almost too easy," Maiko muttered, clicking her tongue almost reproachfully. "Are you even trying..?" There was no response, and she merely smiled. "Well... I'll set a card before finishing for now..."

"Hn. Not bad..."

"Mmm..?"

The other Yugi smirked, eyes narrowing somewhat as he looked up from where his monster once sat. "I said 'not bad'! You're rather good at this, putting together a strategy that quickly." First move take-overs were difficult for the most part... It was mostly based on a luck of the draw after all, something he'd built his deck to work with. However, it was still hard to do that without sacrificing power...

It looked like this match would be fun. "Oh..? You think so," the elder 'asked', hiding her smile behind one hand. "My my, quite the compliment to me," she laughed. "Coming from the King of Games, that's nothing to take lightly... You'll have to pass the thanks onto my grandchildren," she continued, face somewhat flushed. "It's all thanks to them that I can play now... After I defeat you, I'll be sure to use the prize toward some new things for them..." Defeat..?

Hah! As if! "...Odd," he chuckled, smirk growing wider. "I could have sworn I told you I would win this match..! It's my turn now," he continued, drawing the next card and making the move he'd already decided upon moments before. "I'll set two cards face down... And summon the Jack's Knight!" The card shimmered into the air, as did the familiar yellow armor of the long-haired swordsman. The monster's blade gleamed under the already evening glow outside the window, and with narrowed eyes he too his stance forward. "Now," he announced, the knight standing almost stiff in his usual silent state of 'living' light, "Attack the leprechaun!"

"_**Hnnn..!**_" With a curt nod the monster charged, and just as quickly he found his blade digging into the thick bark of a tree. "_**Gh-**_"

"Not so fast!" With a swift 'tap' a button was clicked on the disk, holographic trees surrounding them in an instant. "Activate my face down spell, the field 'Deep Forest'... A truly deadly combo," she chuckled, her monster suddenly hidden from view by the leaves surrounding them, "You won't be able to find or attack me, but I can still attack you thanks to my equip card!" He already knew that. Damn it... "My move," the woman went on, 'Jack' merely widening his eyes as he attempted to locate his opponent, "I set one card face down, and following that attack! Now Leprechaun," she ordered, the imp appearing from behind one of the trees and cackling. "_**POISON ARROW!**_"

As the bolt fired toward the Jack's knight Yugi found himself smiling despite the monster's destruction. It tore into his monster's chest and in an instant the monster faded from sight, yet with closed eyes he understood. So that was her strategy then? Hide and attack- a guerillas strike. Well...

That was plenty easy for _him_ to counter. "Hn..?" Across from him Maiko raised an eyebrow, the expression on her opponent's face obvious even from a distance. "Such a positive expression you have," she noted. "You should be in the middle of a crisis right now..."

"A crisis," he repeated, tapping his duel-disk with a laugh. "I don't think so- this card certainly doesn't fit the word 'crisis'..! I activate 'Circle of Illusion'," he shouted, the seal abruptly latching onto the still present leprechaun on the field. As the hologram stiffened and locked in place the smirk grew, light already appearing at the side as he made his next move. "You won't be able to hide any more... Moreover," he continued as he drew his card, "It's my turn now!" And the card he drew was...

Ah- Perfect!

"I summon Gazelle, King of the Mythical Beasts," Yugi announced, the lion-like creature shimmering into being with a roar as an alternate card was set upon the field. "Now... Slaughter the leprechaun," he ordered. "_**MYTHIC STRIKE!**_"

"_**GRRRAAAOOOO!**_"

Gazelle's claws tore through the hologram like hot butter, the monster not even needing to move from its place to attack. As the Leprechaun vanished in showering light the bowgun did the same- the cards faded from sight, and in their place was Maiko's face down and the forest she'd brought into existence. And yet, as he watched the remaining light fade away, he could hear something other than Gazelle's growling breathing.

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." What..? The boy took his eyes off Gazelle, the monster in question stalking toward one of the trees with a yawn. "Hahahhaha... Hnnn..." Wh-What..! Was Maiko...

Laughing..? Even Gazelle looked up with a confused growl, a frown almost appearing on the lion-monster's face. "You... How can you possibly laugh?"

"How can I not," she responded, still laughing as her holographic card swung upward. "Can't you hear it? The sad, lonely voice of the forest fae... Coming to avenge the smaller ones..."

"_...Fae,_" Yugi repeated, narrowing his eyes as his other stared. "_As in fairies?_" Wh- Fairies!

"What..?"

-_**dmn...**_- What was that sound... -_**Dmmn..**_- "_What's going on..?_" -_**DMN...-**_

With the sound of rustling leaves the holographic trees shifted and twisted, green-fingered hands pushing past to stand behind the elder who summoned it. On enormous clawed feet the holographic monster stood, light misting off its form from the recent summon as it stared down toward its opponent. This thing... An ogre of incredible size, "What in the world..." Great and tall the monster stood, carrying over its slouched armored shoulders an enormous bat. With a gaping mouth and wild eyes it stared forward, Maiko still laughing as her opponent ground his teeth.

"Meet the Forest Guard, the Green Baboon," she chuckled, gesturing to the hologram at her side. Despite its name, it certainly didn't resemble an actual 'Baboon'. It was green and hulking yes, but it was no ape. "When this card is in my hand I can sacrifice 1000 points to summon it to the field," Maiko explained, "And at any time I so desire. My first strategy might have failed," she stated, clicking her tongue somewhat as she drew a card. "But my next one will assuredly stand for me... And now it is my turn," she laughed, switching her new card for another in her hand. "I'm sure you've noticed by now that your own monster has access to the forest' power... As a beast type, it's only natural. So, since I can't attack Gazelle," Maiko decided, the monster in question looking up at the sound of its name, "I'll play this... The Coloured Chameleon! Allowing my monster to attack either one monster or the player themselves directly during my turn! The Forest Guard will be invisible to your eyes," she warned, narrowing her eyes as the Baboon's hologram faded from sight. "Be on your guard... He could be anywhere..." Any...

Anywhere..? Yugi's heart pounded in his chest, the only thought running through his mind now being panic. True, he wasn't as 'sensitive' as Jonouchi, but at the same time he couldn't take a direct hit- and if he didn't time himself with the proper defense... "_Where did it go,_" his lighter half muttered, looking around almost in fear as synthesized sounds of the forest continued to echo around them. "_Where..?_" Where...?

"_**Grrrrnnnnn...**_" Gazelle's low growls took his attention, the monster pulling itself to his feet to snarl at seemingly empty space. "_**Grrrrooooooouuuu...**_" That... Yugi's attention moved toward the monster, narrowing his eyes in suspicion. Obviously Gazelle had an idea but-

-_**dnm...**_- That sound... -_**dmn...**_- That sound, it was-

"KH-"

"_**FOREST GUIOLTINE,**_" Maiko snapped, her opponent turning just in time to find a holographic bat beating him downward. "The chances are in my favor," she continued, the baboon vanishing just as quickly as it came while Yugi grimaced. "Admit defeat..!" Defeat..?

"Tch..." He winced, rubbing his shoulder as he stood back up while Gazelle growled darkly from his side. "Never," he growled, drawing his card. He seemed to be finding himself in another 'all or nothing draw' he noted darkly. Not good... So... He looked toward the card, before smirking. "...Hn." Perfect, he thought to himself. eyes narrowing as he set it to the field. "You're done for Maiko... This is the end! I'll play this card in attack position," he shouted, cards set on the disk while he spoke, "Using Gazelle as sacrifice..! ARISE," he roared, the monster padding forward as it vanished into a shower of sparks, "The devil himself... THE ARCHFIEND OF GILFER! And following that," Yugi continued, setting still more cards on the disk as Gazelle's remains flamed upward in the form of the great winged demon, "I equip it with this... Hellfire's Flame!" The spell that destroyed field spells... Dealing damage to all other monsters save itself in return. And as the monstrous demon snarled in place the flames were already surrounding its feet. So... "With Hellfire's Flame in effect," he snarled, "I think you know what's next... GET READY," the boy shouted, hand hovering over his duel disk. "NOW-"

"_**DE-SPELL,**_"

"DE-SPELL!"

"What..." Maiko's eyes widened as both player's holograms flipped forward, identical lock-and-key images facing each other from the cards. "This..."

"Hnhnhn... Too bad for you," 'Yugi' chuckled, shaking his head. "My card overrides yours... So I'm afraid this is the end! GO," he roared, pointing the demon forward as it flew above the field. "Activate the equipped spell!

"_**HELLFIRE'S FLAME ATTACK!**_" Wh-

What? Gilfer was speaking- Before Yugi could even think of the sound of yet another monster's voice his vision was filled with red, the boy wincing and ducking behind his arm. The synthesized flames devoured everything in sight- it shrank the Forest Guard to almost half its size, and scattered the trees into 'ashes' on the wind, taking 1000 points of power and life from all but the source. And as the smoke cleared Maiko was left looking around, crossing her arms with a sigh.

"Oh my... It seems there's nothing I can do," she chuckled, shaking her head. "Go ahead boy- you earned this match." Hn!

He'd gladly finish it then! "In that case, time for Gilfer's normal attack," he announced, again pointing the demon forward as it inhaled. "Go... _**DEMONIC BLAZE!**_"

This time the flames that filled the air took everything- the monsters, the cards... Even the 'wind' that was left in its wake was gone, disks clicking back into a stasis while he walked forward. As he'd said, he had won.

And despite this, Maiko still smiled, as did he himself. "That was a good duel young man," she chuckled, pulling a key card from her breast pocket. "Quite fun..." Yes...

"It was," he responded honestly, taking the card in his hands with a slight bow. He'd almost left things with the compliment- but his lighter half decided that would be rude.

And given how much he'd been fretting in the background... "As promised," the woman went on, pulling Yugi from his thoughts, "Your way forward... You'll want to go upstairs," she continued, gesturing to the staircase at the side, "Through the second cafeteria entrance. In addition-"

-_tp. tp. tp.-_

"Hn..?" Clapping entered the air as Maiko spoke, each of them turning to follow the sound. That sound... Where was it coming from-

"_Other me,_" Yugi abruptly cried, eyes widening in horror as his darker half followed his gaze. "_Look..!_" Wha-

Standing on the second level of the cafeteria, near white hair shadowing his eyes... "Gh... _TENMA_," he hissed, stepping back in shock.

"Oh... Now this is interesting," Maiko muttered, turning back to watch her former opponent pale. "...Yugi..?"

"Tch..." The boy bolted from the spot, racing up the stairs toward the man that was currently seated calmly at one of the many tables. "Tenma..!"

"_Other me, calm down..!"_ What? How could he possibly calm down, this was the one who took- "_If he has Anzu's body there's no telling what he'll do,_" Yugi protested from behind him, shaking his head._ "So please..._" ...Right...

He stopped a number of feet away, swallowing back his rage and forcing himself into apparent composure. "Tenma... So you've come down here, have you," he spat, eyes shadowed as he spoke.

The man shrugged, calm smirk over his face. "Well... Technically I wasn't supposed to actually leave the top of this building," he admitted, brushing a bit of hair from his eyes. "But with all these duels going on... I just couldn't help myself... I decided to come down here and watch," he continued, chuckling darkly. "After all, there's still seven more..." Gh... Seven...

"_Jonouchi might run into them,_" Yugi realized with a short intake of breath. "_...I wonder... ...Other me,_" he whispered, his partner merely clenching his fists. "_Other me, I'm going to go check on him alright?_" The boy nodded, and in a few moments his partner had vanished through the floor to leave him alone with Tenma. To business then, he decided.

"...Tenma... Why are you _here_," he asked, body stiff with unease.

For a moment, Tenma was silent, his eyes glazed over in apparent thought from his seat. With Yugi's words however he turned, stare narrowed in a mix of emotions that left the real one unknown. "In our previous battle," the CEO began quietly, "My Devil's Avatar never did finish its move..." He fell completely silent for a moment, standing from the table before continuing. "Moreover, I was fighting with a mere skeleton of a deck... It wasn't at all complete," he admitted, the boy across from him trembling more and more with rage. "But you know," Tenma went on almost crazily, "I'm ready now... So how about a re-match," he shouted, grin widening as he chuckled. "With a new deck, the strongest in existence..! Defeat me and you'll see Mazaki Anzu again, understand," the man offered. "Of course," he continued, ignoring the brief expression of shock and hope on the boy's face, "If you lose, I get something as well... Namely your three God Cards," he murmured darkly. The...

The god cards..? What did he want with the-

"Do you accept," Tenma asked, eyebrows raising in expectancy. Yugi found his scowl deepening with his words yet again. Accept... On the one hand, he would see Anzu again. On the other, there was just something... _Wrong _about this. If there were seven others why fight him now? Why challenge him... It was so obviously a set up, and yet the possibility of what happened in the end-

"...Fine," he spat, clicking his dueldisk into place yet again. For Anzu... For her sake..! "Lets duel..!"

Tenma nodded curtly in response, dark and superior smirk still playing over his face as he turned to the side. "Very well," he answered, moving to the side and pushing past a large door at the far end. "Follow me- we'll be dueling in one of this building's many presentation halls," he explained, walking through the doorway and into a dark auditorium-like room. "On the stage..."

And what a stage it was he noted from the entrance, almost wondering for a moment how many it could even seat. The reminder that this was 'one of many' was almost ringing in his ears for a moment as he followed Tenma down the steps from the seats, eventually hopping onto the stage proper to take his position. From the side, a third man appeared, carrying with him a duel disk. As he handed it to Tenma, it took a moment to recognize him.

In the end however, he made himself all too obvious, even without the large gauze bandage he'd seen him with almost a year before. "The duel will now commence," Crocketts announced, voice sounding almost morose and forced as he moved to the side. "Are the competitors ready?"

Sparing only a minute glance at the old man he nodded, Tenma doing the same from the opposite end of the stage. "I am," Yugi responded, turning his gaze back to his opponent. "Now... Lets go..!"

"_**DUEL!**_"

"I go first," Yugi announced just as quickly as the call to battle, cards pulled into each of their hands with blurring speed. "I set one card face down," he began, hologram shimmering into sight. The card hovered at knee's height before him, and soon enough another card joined it. "Following that the Queen's Knight in defense mode!"

As the stationary red warrior hovered in place his opponent chuckled, shaking his head. "Hnhnhnhnhn... The three God-summoning knights," he whispered, narrowing his eyes in mirth. "An old strategy Yugi... You should try something else for once," he continued, expression widening yet again. "I'll show you the results of a new strategy..! Watch- I summon the Summoner Monk in defense mode," Tenma cried, the long haired and long robed man misting into existence above the ground. "And while I can't use it as a sacrifice," he went on, "I can special summon one level four or lower monster from my deck each turn thanks to his ability! Watch... I summon the Seraphim Saber in attack mode," he shouted, light searing from his side as a blade wielding angel crackled from the projection. "Moreover," Tenma went on, "By his effect, all Angels I have on the field increase either their attack or defense by 200 points... Including himself! I'll leave you with that and set another face down card," he sneered, waving his hand somewhat as the hologram shifted into place on his already filling field. "I end my turn..."

"Right," he responded, drawing his next card. "Here goes..." A new strategy indeed... This was nothing like Tenma had played before Yugi noted, narrowing his eyes. In the place of demons and fiends he had angels and priests... Nonetheless. At the moment Tenma had two monsters on the field- and regardless of what he did through normal methods, there would be one remaining. With that in mind... "I'll set one more face down card," he decided, before setting yet another card on the disk. "Next, I summon Beta the Magnet Warrior in attack mode!" In milliseconds the monster shouted his response, blinding light forming its being as the magnet fisted being. "So... Beta," he ordered, the golden robot nodding in response. "ATTACK THE MONK!"

"_**HNNNNN..."**_ Beta charged the monk before him, curved fist pulled back and ready for a strike. Despite the lack of a mouth the battle cry was just as clear as the words from his monster's mouths before, and it was for that reason that he found himself just as surprised as it was when he heard its shocked grunt. "_**-NH!**_"

The monster stiffened and stumbled as it flew through the hovering Priest, landing at Tenma's feet with a robotic 'oof'. "_**W-WHAT- WHAT...**_" He was beginning to feel like Jonouchi he thought idly, watching as the monster turned to shake itself and look back to his opponent before shrugging. "_**OH-WELL. MAGNET PUNCH,**_" it decided, smacking an ignorant Tenma across the stomach as Yugi stared. "_**THAT-WENT-WELL...**_" Yes, of course it did but...

"How..." Other than the obvious _since when did __all__ the monsters speak,_ how had the Monk...

His eyes widened as they fell on the card far across from him, before narrowing in distaste. "I activated 'Shield of Afterimage," Tenma explained, chuckling even as he stumbled under the attack he'd taken with direct force. "Allowing me to re-direct your attack to me instead of my monster." Well that was all great... But why protect-

He paled, grinding his teeth as Beta returned to his side of the field. Quick summon deck. The monk was the 'summoning' monster in a deck with a purpose similar to his, a deck meant to amass tributes for a God, so of course he'd protect that one..! "Tch... End turn," he grit out, watching as his opponent chuckled. "Your move, Tenma..!"

"Hnhnhnhn... So it is," Tenma laughed, drawing his next card as yet another hologram appeared to the field. "And I'll set yet another face down card before making my move..! First," he announced, light again searing from the projected holograms, "I activate the Summoner Monk's effect- From my deck I pull out the Seraphim Guarder in defense mode," Tenma cried, an angelic mass of metal appearing in a hunched position before the winged swordsman behind it. "Next," their summoner continued, "For my normal summon, this! The Seraphim Gunner..!" Again light appeared from the ground, and again a winged warrior came to the field. With a flowing cloak around its form two white shotguns could be seen in its hand, and with pre-programmed disdain it looked over the field. "Each of their effects are the same," Tenma explained with a laugh. "For each angel the monsters gain 200 attack or defense, and multiplied by 3 that means each monster gains six hundred points depending on their position! So... Prepare yourself," he cackled, pointing the overpowered monsters forward. "Slaughter him... KILL HIM," he roared, the monsters charging forward with blank faces. "Seraphim Saber attacks first... GET THE MAGNET WARRIOR!" Hn!

Not so fast! "Counter," Yugi announced, Beta bracing itself as the angels soared forward to strike. "Spellbinding circle! Locking position and decreasing power by seven hundred points..!" A monster that was now still powerful than Beta, but at least unable to attack, leaving him unharmed. However...

"NEXT," Tenma howled, grin widening even more as his defensive monster stood in blank stasis, "Seraphim Gunner... Kill the Queen's Knight! _**ANGEL SHOT!**_"

Gunfire sounded through the air and he winced, turning away as the hologram exploded in a shower of light beneath the holy bullets. It was hardly 'violent'- just shattering pixels, yet all the same, the fact that the difference between attack and defense gave a voice to those pixels...

It was chilling, to say the least. "Gh..."

"Only one left," Tenma 'warned', chuckling darkly. "Another 'God Summoning' combo down the drain... A God that will soon be _mine_," he hissed, the grin widening beyond its already impossible width. His?

He would die first..! "Tch... You underestimate me," he countered, tapping his duel disk with narrowed eyes. "I've only just begun... I activate the spell Soul Rope," Yugi announced, the card flipping upward to reveal its effect. "By tributing 1000 lifepoints I special summon a monster in the Queen's Knight's place... Alpha the Magnet Warrior," he shouted, the golden robot quickly shimmering in front of him to stand at Beta's side. "And... Now that it's my turn," he went on, narrowing his eyes, "I summon the third of the group.. GAMMA!" As Alpha's shadowed helmet took to the field the monster was quickly joined by his winged counter part, the monsters looking toward each other with nods.

"_**IT'S-TIME...**_" "_**ONE-TWO...**_" "_**GO..!**_"

"Alpha, Beta, Gamma," Yugi called, the monsters before him breaking apart into pieces before his eyes. "Combine! De-construct and reform- By sending the three magnet warriors to the grave," he thundered, pieces clacking and screwing together before his eyes, "I bring about Valkyrion the Magna warrior!" With a blast of light and metal the enormous beast took to the skies, earthen blade gripped tightly in its hands. "While he is only 'one' monster," the boy growled darkly, "He has far more power than you... Go Valkyrion," he ordered, the monster already charging forward with his sword. "Kill the Monk-Priest..!

"_**MAGNA MELEE!**_"

-_**BROOOOUM...!**_-

Lightning seared from the sword to strike the priest down, the hologram in front of them easily dispatched. Regardless of the attack however, Tenma's expression remained unchanged. He faced Yugi with a calm and steady smirk, the three angels hovering at his side in just the position he needed them to be. It was a formation that Yugi was all too familiar with.

A formation meant to summon a God. "I'll play one more trap," he said almost quietly, before moving his hand back from the field. "...End turn." Avatar would copy Valkyrion in power and appearance he reminded himself, looking to the monster at his side for a moment. He would have only one point more in power...

But surely, he told himself, that wouldn't cover the additional power from an equip spell. Surely there was at least that chance, that one hope...

"Back to me," Tenma was saying, the next card coming into his hand. "Draw..." All at once a shudder ran down his spine, breathing caught in his throat the moment the card was pulled. What would happen, he found himself wondering, despite all the confidence he'd held moments before. What would happen if he was wrong? If the Avatar struck Valkyrion down and destroyed him? What would happen... If... If he... "Hnhnhn... Hnhnhhahahahah... Do you feel it," Tenma hissed, sweat already running down the side of Yugi's face. "This foreboding, never ending terror? The presence of a 'Wicked God'..? Do you feel it," he repeated with a shout, his opponent even stepping back from the man before him as fear began to fill his every being. "WATCH... I'll show you now... I sacrifice the three angels to summon this," he cried, each of his monsters blackening and crumbling before his eyes. "_**THE DEVIL'S WARRIOR... DREADROOT!**_"

Without warning a fist shot forth from the darkness, the angels that were sacrificed scarcely out of sight before darkened forms began to take the shape of the monster. "Activate equip spell 'Lighting Blade'," he hurriedly shouted in panic, Valkyrion's sword charging with power as it stood to block the fist, "COUNTE-"

-_**CRK- **_A thick crack appeared in the blade, and silence hung over the field.

No...

Bone claws and knuckles forced the magnetic robot into the ground, pieces scattering against the stage as they faded into dust. In a single instant the remaining shadows took form... Forming ashen skin and yellowed bone armor, with a wicked face beneath a skull shaped helm... So huge was the being that only half of him could remain upright in the room, and with cackling laughter it looked below at the boy before it. "**SO,**_" _it rumbled, wide grin across its face. "**THIS is the one whom my brethren would be sealed by..? THIS is the one who stands before me?**_" _Yugi said nothing as his gaze met that of the demon's, soulless black eyes rendering him petrified in a fear he'd never even known.** "TELL ME BOY,**" the monster thundered, lowering himself to meet Yugi's eyes. "**TELL ME... ..._Are you AFRAID..?_"** He didn't even have to answer that question for the monster to laugh in his face, shark-like and rotting teeth bared before him. He wasn't simply scared anymore.

He was utterly terrified.

* * *

It was amazing what time could do to people- mere moments before fear filled the tower it seemed as though that would be the last thing to reach the air. In fact, as Katsuya looked over his wound and waited for Pete to finish going through the first aid kit, he was almost wondering what the point would be in feeling even somewhat worried about the current situation. True, it hadn't healed over after fixing itself from anything that could have been somewhat dangerous, but it didn't seem to be bleeding either...

"Alright," their 'friend' stated, sorting through the white and red box before him. After all had been said and done about the dueling... 'Fun' so to speak, Pete had taken things fairly well. If anything, Honda was probably the one that took things worst- evidently, the professor had a small fragment of Katsuya's ability himself. Which certainly explained the were-wolf floating around him and helping with the box. "I found antiseptic wipes, gauze... Tape," he added as an after thought, the werewolf beside him having nudged it over with its nose. "Along with- Ah-!"

Pete jumped as the items he was listing were snatched from his grip, Honda quickly tossing it to a still (reluctantly) seated Katsuya. "Catch," he called out, his friend doing just that with a slight scowl.

"'Bout time," he grumbled, pulling his shirt up and opening one of the wipes. "Damn blood's dryin already, it's gonna be a hell t' clean th' uniform by th' end..."

The man at the side frowned, looking up at those words. "Why would you know about-"

As Pete asked this he was quickly cut off, Honda's hand catching his attention first. "If there's one thing you should know about us," he said almost flatly, "Outside the weird duel thing... It's this. 'Don't ask'." He received a fairly unimpressed look in response, and the teen shrugged. "Just trust me on it," he muttered, "You're better off not knowing." A hiss came from the side at that, the others turning to watch as Katsuya tried to clean up the already closing wound on his side. "Jonouchi, are you seriously still flinchy around those things?"

"N-" Shut up! "You try an' sit through it, it stings like hell!" The blond scowled as the took the gauze and bandages, wrapping a square of cotton to the wound before pulling his shirt back on. Not like he could feel a drying bloodstain through the bandage... Stiff as hell though, man... "'Sides," he muttered, pulling himself back to his feet. "It doesn' matter. We gotta get somewhere righ'?"

At these words Honda looked over to Pete, the man giving a somewhat dismissive shrug as he pulled out the card. "Here," he said, tossing it to Honda as the teen nodded, "The door is just outside that staircase," he told them with a gesture. "After that, you'll need to take the hall toward the 'greater' hall... You'll find the next person there."

"Next person," Honda repeated, Katsuya putting his deck back in his pocket as he listened. "And that would be..?"

The 'professor' shrugged. "Not sure- I don't know who's there exactly," he admitted, "But I at least know that they should be in that area roughly." The others gave a short nod, moving toward the door to leave before he continued. "Hey... That cut of yours..."

"I'll be fine," Katsuya told him quickly. "'S nothin', don' worry abou'-"

"If you run into Mendo Cino, give up," Pete continued bluntly, not turning from where he stood. Katsuya froze from where he'd been about to open the door with Honda, both of them turning to look toward the man with a frown.

"What'd you say..?"

"I said don't fight Cino," Pete repeated, stepping down from the arena and toward the room they'd come in from before. "It's one thing with me- your monsters would have been resisting Highbrain's effect, right," he asked, his back still facing the group. Um... Yes?

"What..."

While Honda merely continued frowning confusedly his friend found himself swallowing almost nervously at Pete's question. Not good... He had a nasty feeling about what the warning was for. Nonetheless he answered him, putting the unease out of mind. "Y-Yea," Katsuya found himself saying, shaking himself. "Yea, but..."

"Cino won't hesitate when he's attacking," he went on, turning with narrowed eyes. "That's what affects how much damage you actually take from what I can tell. And while he'll regret it afterward, during a battle all that matters is the power behind the attack. And his monsters won't stop for anything, regardless of what he feels."

"His monsters," Honda repeated almost incredulously, "What do you mean his monsters..? I thought you were the one to-"

Chuckling came from the man as he turned, a mischievous smile on his face. "Don't assume the world only has one 'oddity'- if you're going to spend your time in the company of duelists, you should get used to people like me! I can't speak for Cino, but he certainly has a connection with his deck. At the same time though," he went on, swallowing, "I won't lie- this is the first time I've seen anything at all like this. The closest was when I was dueling Tilla- and even then..." Well... Tilla was Pete shook his head, sighing. "Listen- don't just disregard what I'm saying alright? Cino's monsters are meant to kill and cut- it's one thing against Tilla, or myself, but if your monster's sword did that," he warned, gesturing to the red stain on Katsuya's side, "Then his mantis could well take your head off. Understand?" His... His head..?

While the blond swallowed uneasily Honda merely growled, taking his friend's shoulder and heading out through the next door with stiff steps. "We already knew that," he said almost bitterly, as though wishing this all to simply vanish in a dream. "Worst comes to it I'll pull him out of the duel myself!" Er... Yea...

Um. "AH- Wha-"

"Good luck then," Pete shouted flatly, another nod coming from his friend as they stepped through the door. '_You'll need it._'

Though the last part had come through a 'flash' and was blocked by the sound of the door slamming shut, Katsuya couldn't help but think that it was something even Honda would have imagined the teen saying. It was one of those incredibly obvious things that you just didn't leave without saying, but even then-

"'Not since Tilla'... That was the creepy chick downstairs wasn't she," Honda muttered, the two slowly walking down the hall toward their next destination. "The one with the vampire?"

He nodded, trying not to think of the vampire itself. "Yea... It was..." '_Say that when you meet Coppermine_', the Vampire had said. So obviously he'd referred to someone else talking to monsters but... To run into someone that quick? Someone who actually had a clue how it _worked_? ...Nnnngggggg... "..._Shit _our lives are fucked," the blond moaned, head smacking against his friend's shoulder. "Augh..."

"Tell me about it," Honda groaned. "What's with this world, everything was simple until High School!"

"Beatin' th' crap outta of people..."

"People trying to beat the crap outta us for beating people..."

"Beatin' th' crap outta people trying t' beat th' crap out 'f us f'r beatin' people..."

The two both paused, looking to each other for a moment. "...Now that I think about it," Honda muttered almost dryly, turning to cough to the side. "It sounds like we're safer _now_ than we were then..."

What... Seriously? "Awww... Tha' ain' what y' think," Katsuya snorted, coming toward the staircase as he grinned. "No way it w's tha' dangerous!"

"...Actually... Yea," he responded flatly. "Yea it was."

The blond stared back for a moment, a false pout in place. "...Traitor."

"No offense, but your 'ability' is at least somewhat as helpful as it is a pain in the ass for me," Honda grumbled, patting his friend on the back as he sighed.

"Yea yea... Tell me tha' after th' next-" Abruptly he stumbled, hand flying to the railing at the side for support. "GH..." A wave passed over him, knocking the wind out of him and sending wracking pain through his skull. "Ngh..."

"J- Jonouchi," Honda sputtered, almost stepping back out of fear. "Oi... J-Jonouchi..!"

"Ngh..." Oh god his head... "GNGH..." Oh god oh _god_ HIS _HEAD_..!

"JONOUCHI," Honda shouted, watching as the blond collapsed against the rail in a shuddering fit. His eyes were wide and unseeing, his body stiff, cold, pale... "JONOUCHI... Damn it Jonouchi, what the hell..!"

"Nghh... Nhh..." He couldn't speak... He couldn't... Feel... Anything..! (_Oh god damn it his head..!_)

"Jonouchi..." Gh... "Jonouchi DAMN IT talk to me!" Ngh...

The last thing he saw was Honda's screaming face through the haze of pain, and then...

Sand...

* * *

It was as though he was standing in Obelisk's presence again. The monster's bone helm even resembled the head-piece of the God in some twisted way, the open jaw beneath its chin forming a crude likeness of the pharaonic headress so iconic to the Kings of Egyptian times. And as he stood before the God's presence he could barely listen as Tenma, with almost glazed eyes, explained its power. '_According to the card,_' he was shouting, '_FEAR dominates the field... It halves the attack of all monsters... Easily forging the difference in power!_'

Tenma had set a trap card Yugi noted, sweat still dripping on the side of his face. His eyes, while glazed, were wide with madness, and his entire being seemed to quake and seep with dark power. "Tell me Yugi," he shouted, snarls mirrored by the God above. "TELL ME! Are you trembling with fear yet? Are you ready to taste your DEFEAT!" Not yet, he wanted to shout in response, taking dark and heaving breaths. Tenma's coat was no longer wrapped around his shoulders as it had been on the rooftop, merely buttoned tightly shut and blending with the darkness around him easily. Not yet... He couldn't lose... Not yet!

This wasn't just a monster, he reminded himself. This was a God. But he as well had Gods in his deck, Gods which would match these ones with ease... He had to remember that, the boy told himself. He had to rely on this next draw- lest the demon before him strike him down. He had to have faith in the 'Gods' he had in his hands, lest the one before him crush him completely. "...It's my turn," he managed to shout, swallowing back his fear. "I draw..." And the card in his hands...

Thank the Gods for this card he now had in his hands he told himself, breathing a sigh of relief. "Might I suggest something," Tenma chuckled from across him, eyes briefly gaining clarity as he spoke. His opponent glanced up, frowning, and Tenma continued. "'Defense' would be best... Until you at least run out of cards..." Tch... Bastard...

Deciding to do nothing more than level a glare toward the man he made his move, setting his card on the disk. "I activate this magic card," he announced, the hologram revealing itself clearly. "Card of Sanctity! We'll each draw until we have six cards in hand!"

"Six cards," Tenma repeated, voice almost bearing an undertone of relief. He'd likely imagined it, he told himself; this was, after all, the one who started all this. Not to mention the one with Dreadroot. Nonetheless... "It looks as though you live for another few turns..." He would live for much more than that he assured himself. But just what was Tenma's game...

The cards were pulled into his hand, eyes not turning to them until the very last one was there. Already, he could feel the power of God within his hand, sitting alongside the spirits of his deck- But what was Tenma _doing_? These flashes of expression that were cropping up now that Dreadroot had appeared, these almost _pained_ faces... It was almost as though he was hesitating, and yet his actions showed just the opposite!

...And why was he even concerning himself with this..! "I set two cards face down," Yugi roared, the holograms appearing in an instant. Somehow they felt less 'real' now... More like the fragmented light it was 'meant' to be than ever before. It wasn't as though he could tell from them at this moment however, and so he paid it no mind. "...I discard one card to special summon 'The Tricky' in defense mode," he instead announced, watching as the flickering jester's form appeared to his field.

"The Tricky," his opponent repeated, cutting the boy's words short. "Why don't you quit now," he sneered, an almost 'pleading' expression flashing through the look of distaste. "You should realize now that nothing in your deck can kill the Devil's Dreadroot... So why fight?" Why?

"Because there is still at least one card in this deck that can," he responded clearly, despite the obvious fear he still felt. "And so long as that card exists," he went on, "I will fight... Now! I activate the Monster Reborn," Yugi roared, the card flipping up from the field as a card was sent out from his disk. "Summoning the card I discarded moments ago... _I CALL UPON HIS NAME FOR AID,_" he snarled in another language, the rest of the 'ritual' shortened for speed, "_THE GREAT SUN GOD RA!_ And as a GOD, his power won't change," the boy spat, watching as flames tore forth from his graveyard. "IN FACT-"

Though the flames of a golden phoenix had already taken form, shadows seemed to have erupted from the opposite side of the field. Nearly the entire stage was covered in it... The other half was filled with fire, and despite its attempts it seemed that even Ra was struggling to take form.

"**GH- DARKNESS...**" Yugi paled as the Dragon's pained cry met the air, the flaming gold beast abruptly smoking into dust from what little had been able to take shape within the room. "**Forgive me,**" the God rasped as it vanished, "**I CANNOT aid you, LITTLE KING... Nghh..!**" That... The final dredges of flames sank back to the grave, his eyes following it for a moment before turning to the retreating shadows.

How was that... "Tenma... What-"

"I activated my trap," he sneered, narrowing his eyes. His opponent turned back to look at the card that had swung upward mere moments before, paling even further as he read the effect. "Selection of Arc," Tenma roared, the hologram slowly fading from sight. "Killing any monsters summoned that are the same as my own!" The same- "And that means your gods," Tenma chuckled, "As 'Divine' beings such as my own, are now _useless..._" Completely useless...

But without the gods, defeating the Dreadroot could be..! Could...

"You..." This strategy... "This was your plan from the start wasn't it," he realized coldly, his opponent's sinister grin widening considerably. "To render all of the gods useless in this fight..." There was even clapping at the side, however forced it seemed coming from the man who was doing so. But while clapping and laughter filled the air he had to narrow his eyes. There had to be a way, some way... Dreadroot's attack power was set, it wouldn't change. Even with the effect, there was still that...

So to get around that... To defeat a 'God' in the same way he'd had to face the others... "Yugi," Tenma laughed, taking his turn with a smile. "I have to thank you for playing Card of Sanctity..." Thank him? As the boy looked up his confused scowl deepened, the expression his opponent held growing still larger as he spoke. "It allows me to play this! Watch... I activate EVOLUTION OF GOD," he laughed, the Dreadroot's entire being quaking with power. Shadows melted from the hologram and with a feral roar the Demon-God began to change. His legs melted into blackened and boned scales, lengthening into that of a serpent's body lined in ragged spikes. His claws grew even larger over his hands, and as power radiated from the demon's form Yugi again found himself stepping back, the God's cruel wings surrounding the field completely. It was only 1000 attack points more, he tried to assure himself. Only that...

And yet...

At that moment, Tenma was announcing the card's continual status... For even Gods, setting one seemingly useless trap as his opponent became crushed with fear. He couldn't... He couldn't be defeated like this, he almost wept from his mind, watching as the 'Tricky's hologram stood motionlessly beneath Dreadroot's massive fist. There was nothing... Nothing...

Nothing but this, he reminded himself, shaking hands clicking the button just in time for the monster defending him to fade out of sight. "W... What," Tenma muttered, the light again appearing in his eyes. "You avoided attack... Your monster vanished," he whispered in shock, "It-"

"I activated this card," he rasped, swallowing weakly. His body was still threatening to crumble under the pressure of the ever constant darkness, legs quivering and twitching considerably. He was barely standing even now... And he'd be surprised if he stood for much longer unless he did something. "Soul Cross," the boy explained, weakly closing his eyes. "It allows me to swap the monster on the field with one from the grave... And I picked the Queen's Knight," he continued, a motionless and defensive hologram now hovering beside him for protection. "It nullified your attack... I..." It was a last minute trump...

"Tsk tsk tsk... Yugi," Tenma chuckled, voice grating the boy's every nerve. "You've only prolonged your inevitable defeat by another turn! How can you hope to win!"

"How... How can I win," the boy repeated, hand finally snapping to grip his leg as he threatened to fall to his knees. No matter how afraid he was... No matter what stood before him... "How can I _lose,_" he repeated louder, looking up with wide eyes. "If I lose to you I lose Anzu... And I wouldn't be able to face even my self let alone anyone I know... SO I REFUSE TO STOP HERE," he roared, straightening himself as he threw the wave of fear back. "It's my turn... AND I DRAW!" And the card in his hand now was...

Heh...

Just what he needed, once again. "I set one card," he shouted, eyes trained on his opponent as the hologram shimmered into sight. "Following that, I summon the King's Knight! And when both knights are on the field," Yugi continued, words coming out as little more than a hoarse cry, "The Jack's Knight can join them!"

"The three knights..." Tenma chuckled, shaking his head in incredulity. "Trying to summon a GOD are we..?" Tch...

As if he would... Chances were Tenma had some sort of card to bring back the 'Arc'. Something to stop God in its tracks once again... He wasn't about to take that chance. "Hn. The burden of God is a little too much at this point," he 'decided', a smirk coming over his face as Dreadroot itself narrowed its eyes. "Instead, I'm activating this! Polymerization..!" Light seared from the ground, surrounding the monsters completely. His opponent's eyes were widening with confusion and shock both, and as the pixels scattered through the air he continued. "And with this I fuse all three of the knights, Tenma..! Summoning the Heavenly Warrior... Arcana Knight Joker!" A warrior with the Jack's face... Garbed in the robes and armor of all three knights, with a blade in one hand and a shield bearing from the bottom a similar weapon for the other hand.

Had this been any other time he was sure he would be radiating power... With this however, and with the darkness before them, it was a mere hologram. "That... That may be so," Tenma countered, voice wavering under his own monster's pressure now, "But Dreadroot's effect halves your monster's attack," he shouted, "Making it a pitiful defense against the Evil God! 5000 against 1900... You die, now!"

Would he now? They would just see about that. "I end my turn," he said flatly. "Fusion monsters can't attack the turn they're summoned."

"That... That's your only reason," his opponent repeated, chuckling. "THAT'S your reasoning to 'stop'!" He shook his head, wide eyes filled with terror despite his words. "Leaving your fate to such a weak monster now... What chance do you have!"

"A chance you're obviously afraid of," he countered easily. "The fear emanating from this monster you have at your side... It is not my fear anymore," he spat. "It's yours, Tenma. _So why are you afraid_?"

The former gleam in Tenma's eyes vanished completely with that, the glazed appearance bringing them into a tight glare. "You can ask that after you lie on this floor in defeat," he snarled, evidence of unease vanished yet again. "For now the Dreadroot attacks your Joker! AND WITH HIS FEAR YOU'LL NOT JUST BE ON THE GROUND... YOU'LL BE BURIED UNDER IT! GO!"

"_**DEVIL'S KNOCKDOWN!**_"

"Trap card activate," he shouted in retaliation, the card swinging upward. "Curse of Illusion! Cutting your power by 500 and blocking your monster's effect! With that, the Arcana Knight's power is restored," Yugi continued, the hologram seeming to shimmer to life itself as he braced himself for battle. Light seemed to appear in the Knight's eyes, and its feet now touched the ground beneath it. With both blades hanging at its side the monster turned his gaze directly toward the opposing demon... And like his summoner behind him there was no fear in his eyes.

"An incredible play," Tenma sneered in response, "But I still overpower you..! SMASH HIM," he ordered, the God doing just that as he threw his fist forward. "KILL THEM _ALL_!"

This time, the fist did indeed land a blow, with the wind visibly parting to allow the knuckles to move forward even. Yet it did not work at all as Dreadroot had planned, and as the Joker's blade and shield were held strong against the Demon's fist it balked. "**Impossible,**" it spat, shaking its head and watching as the armor over its knuckles slowly cracked and spiderwebbed over the rest of its body. "**IMPOSSIBLE!**"

"What is this..!"

"I staked all I have in this monster," Yugi wheezed, narrowed eyes fixed on the demon god before him. "The power of 'FEAR' will not win against me!" Dreadroot himself seemed to pale with those words, and the boy moved on with his final play. "I activate another spell," he roared. "Armament Regeneration! I can now equip the Joker with a spell from my graveyard... And I choose the Lightning Sword!" And as sparks flew across the transforming left blade that the Joker held, the fear in Dreadroot's expression increased _considerably._ "Your power is no match for me NOW," Yugi hissed, staring the monster directly in its eyes. "Now Joker... CUT THROUGH THIS 'FEAR'...

_**THUNDER AND LIGHTNING BLADE,**_" they both cried, the blades swinging forth to break through the fist as 'God' gave a piercing scream. The streams of light seared forth from the swords and streaked around the beast, coiling like snakes and tightening on themselves until it was cut to pieces. Rendered nothing but shadows on melted ground they slowly attempted to reach back into the deck from whence they came...

Only for the remnants of the electricity to slowly carve a shield from it. "G-GGNNNAAAAAAGGGHHH! GGHHAAAA!" His opponent screamed from across him- his arms were held in front of his face and by the force of the attack he was thrown to the stage floor, knocked off his feet by over a full meter. And still, his cries met the air. "GGGh... NGH... Ghha... _Hhhaaaahh..._"

And suddenly they stopped. And as Tenma fell to the ground he pointed the rejuvenated Joker forward for one final strike. "Now, Joker," he ordered, snapping his fingers as the knight charged toward their fallen opponent. "DIRECT ATTACK-"

"THAT'S ENOUGH!"

The pair both froze, watching in shock as Crocketts ran to the field to pull his employer from harm's way. Joker's blade sank into the stage floor before fading from sight, and just seconds later the monster himself followed in a trail of pixels and sparks. The duel was over...

But why interfere? "What... Why did you-"

"That is enough," Crocketts repeated, swallowing in unease. "You've already won... To go to a further extent... It would be too far," he whispered weakly. "His will to fight is gone," the suit begged, attempting to help the shaking man before him to at least his knees as Tenma groped around for a card amid the pile on the ground. "Victory is yours, Mutou-san. But I beg of you to not go through with your attack." Not go through?

But the duel field had already cleared! And why would he- "My my..." What... "I must congratulate you Mutou Yugi. The Evil God has been, as I expected, defeated... Impressive." A voice..?

Yugi turned, eyes widening as a video feed opened on the screen along the auditorium's wall. Identical in every way to the one before him now, the face of Yakou Tenma looked upon him from the screen. And just as before the smug smirk remained on his face, eyes narrowed in superior mirth. "This... Is it recorded," he muttered to himself aloud, the man on the screen chuckling in response. There was no other way... No way for him to be in two places at once, and yet-

"Regretfully, this is a recorded image," Tenma admitted, shaking his head with a laugh. "I am where I always have been; at the top of this skyscraper, waiting in one of the many rooms monitoring your actions. But don't feel so confused," he laughed, eyes widening viciously. "The man before you is still real! We both exist..." That... How was that possible, unless...

"Both of you..." ...A disguise maybe? There was no way they could be related, no one could possibly do that to their own bro-

"It's amazing what power can be harnessed through the 'Evil Gods," Tenma sneered, narrowing his eyes and cutting Yugi's thoughts short. "With my will alone his actions were mine to control, right down to the minute! True, he put up quite the fight... But in the end," he chuckled, ignorant to the fumbled attempts to destroy the card at the side, "I owe the success of RA's second phase to my dear older brother... _Tenma, Gekkou..._" T-Tenma...

His own... Brother...

With a ripping sound Yugi's attention was torn from the screen, the sight of fallen shards of a card joined by a large gasp of relief. From what remained of the paper the boy could make out the bare shape of the monster he'd only recently defeated. Coughing, the man before him slowly stood, weak eyes looking toward the screen in betrayal and despair both. "Y... Yakou..."

"Oh...?" The one on the screen raised an eyebrow, smile dimming. "So you've broken my spell..? And my card too," he continued with narrowed eyes, "How upsetting..! No matter then," he chuckled. "It isn't as though that's the only one in existence..." It wasn't..? While Yugi's frown deepened Yakou's laugh grew louder, hair hanging over one of his eyes completely. "Thanks so much for your trouble 'Nii-san'... I really couldn't have done it without you!"

Gekkou's energy seemed to return to him immediately at that, eyes widening in horror. "You... This kind of project... Yakou STOP THIS NOW!"

But the man was ignored, his brother merely stepping to the side with a widening grin. "Hnhnhn... As promised Yugi," he laughed, "You get to see your beloved Anzu..! I can't say she'll answer though," he howled, a tall metal device or sorts visible from behind him. "She's not quite... 'There' at the moment!" Th-

"WHAT?" What did he mean by- His face fell the moment the camera zoomed in, his friend's open-eyed, 'dead' expression clear on the screen even with the glass visor covering her face. Worse than Bakura, worse than Malik's Millennium Rod... It was as though she'd been killed mere moments before, her soul more than simply 'removed' from the body. "Anzu... ANZU," he cried, shaking his head. Dead eyes, staring off at nothing, no light visible at all... "No..."

"Hnhnhnn... Perhaps she was 'Mazaki Anzu' once upon a time," Yakou sighed, "But the power within the cards you hold... Along with the power of the Evil Gods," he added darkly, "It allowed me to stop that in its tracks. You've seen this before right," he chuckled, placing a 'gentle' hand on the woman's head. "The removal of a person's soul... All thanks to _you,_" he hissed. "All of it..." That... That monster...

That... "_Get-your-filthy-hands __**OFF OF HER**_," he roared, stepping toward the screen only to stop cold. Those dead eyes staring toward him... "Anzu..." Why... "ANZU, _LISTEN TO ME_... Wake up, PLEASE," he cried, torn between his rage and his despair both. "Wake up... Wake..."

"Too late..." Shut up... "She's long gone," Tenma sneered. Shut up..! "And now that her body is empty, I'll be using it as the vessel for the one I've wanted to bring back for almost a year now..." Bastard... "My teacher..." Sick... "My 'father'..." Fucking... BASTARD! "Pegasus Crawford..." ...What... "This project is called 'R.A.'," Yakou laughed, eyes again twisting and shifting in his face with madness. "'REBIRTH of AVATAR! I'll summon him back to life once more, and there's nothing you can do about it! AND I'D LIKE TO SEE ALL OF YOU TRY TO STOP ME! So... Good bye," the man cackled, image crackling out from existence as the screen went black. "AND THANKS AGAIN FOR ALL YOUR HELP!" No...

No, no, no! He couldn't, he... He... He... "Anzu," Yugi whispered, a tear dropping from the corner of his eye. "No... I..." Her captor was moving forward with his plans and it was even his fault...

"Yugi... I beg of you to forgive me," 'Gekkou' rasped, hesitantly stepping toward the motionless boy. "Just like Pegasus before us, he wants more than anything to see the one he cares about alive again... And I to... I shared that desire as well," he wept, chocking as the boy's hands flung to his coat to pull him forward.

"Was it now," he hissed, breathing hitched as he looked the man in the eye. This man... Manipulated or not he'd caused this as well, _this man_..! "Is this what you wanted! More than _ANYTHING?_"

"... Not at this cost," Gekkou whispered, the boy's grip slackening with his words. "Not for this sacrifice. I don't know how he came up with this plan... Nor how he amassed the ability to go through with it. All I can remember is attempting to snap him out of this crazed trance he's suddenly become caught in only to succumb to the mercy of his 'Gods'. Can you believe it," he cried, turning away in shame. "A 'card'! All that power in a card... I..." Yugi released the man's coat, stepping back with a bowed head as Gekkou continued. "...That duel..." He swallowed, still turned away. "All I could do was wish for it to stop, to end before it was too late... The entire point of that battle was to generate the power from the monster," Gekkou explained, "To generate the fear and quicken the divide between Mazaki-san's body and soul... But I couldn't stop it," he wept. "And in the end, I watched my brother commit a terrible act... Gods such as these should have no name," Gekkou whispered. "Pegasus himself told us this. He found their carvings on an old ruin near Egypt's capital," he went on, "Not far from the carvings of the Gods, and he drew them from that. And when he finally realized what he'd done he sealed them away, never speaking the name again. It's inexcusable," he continued, shaking his head. "To go against those words. And in the end... Those who were never meant to be involved have been pulled into my Teacher's mistakes... Anzu Mazaki's very heart and soul rest with those of the cards now, if you believe such a thing," he told the boy. "...And... If you believe such a thing," he offered quietly, "Perhaps, there is a _better_ way to see her before we move forward." A better way?

"What do you mean... 'If you believe such things,'" he asked. "I'd hardly expect someone like you to say that," he continued with narrowed eyes. "Someone carelessly creating cards like these..."

Gekkou said nothing in response to that, merely bowing his head as he took the blame. However, it was shortly after that he gestured to the boy's disk, he looking up as he did so. "...The card that Deschutes gave you... Set it on the disk," he told him firmly, Yugi's eyes widening in response.

"Set... Set it on-"

"Trust me," Gekkou pressed. "Try it."

Anzu's card... Yugi slowly pulled it from his pocket, gaze dimming as he looked over the cover. It seemed almost... Heavier now, he thought to himself. Thicker... As though a weight had been sent into it. And as he cleared his disk of other cards, clicking the disk itself back into place he wondered what would be worse- if she didn't appear, still proving that she was tied to her body somehow and quite likely about to die...

Or if she did, and everything that was happening now, everything that was more unbelievable than anything that had come with Battle City, was real... And not some twisted nightmare he had yet to wake himself from. "...Anzu," he whispered again, setting the card on the field. "I... I..."

"_**Aaaaa... hah...**_." When he looked up, the dust from the ground was rising into the air. It was misting around the ground before him and slowly forming the relative shape of his- of his lighter half's- childhood friend. Hair grew, and clothing took shape, forming not the uniform she'd worn at the school but instead a simple pair of shorts and a tank top. Cheap flip flop sandals covered her feet, and in addition a few bruises from whatever had handled her body in reality developed... And with a shuddering breath she opened her eyes, looking forward in shock. "**_Y.. Yugi_**," she whispered, blinking a few times as the last bits of dust took their place. "_**Yugi... Is that..?**_"

It was impossible. Even with all he believed in his deck, with all that Jonouchi told him about the 'monsters in the 'other realm' as they themselves called it, it shouldn't have been possible. And yet, as he reached forward, the woman's face twisting as all the fear and confusion of the day struck her there, she herself running forward as well- "Gh-"

"_**Nh-**_" A mouthful of dust was his answer to the attempt, and as his eyes widened in horror he could see Gekkou grimacing and turning away. The two friends turned back, staring for a moment in horrified silence. And then, as she always had, she'd put a smile on her face. As though nothing had happened, as though everything was just fine... "_**It looks like you're stuck getting me out of trouble again, huh,**_" Anzu 'joked', brushing some hair from her eyes. "**_I can't help but wonder when it'll be reversed, hahahaha!_**" This...

To hold such strength even now... "...Anzu..."

"She's a hologram right now," Gekkou said almost needlessly, Crocketts watching in silence from behind. "You won't be able to touch her. I'm... I'm sorry," he added quietly. "...We're lucky she can speak as it is..."

"_**Lucky,**_" Anzu repeated, her smile fading.

Yes. 'Lucky', he thought bitterly, biting his tongue. A few more moments of silence passed and his head hung downward, fists clenched with determination. "...I _swear_ to you Anzu," he wept, shaking on the spot as his head remained bowed before his friend. "Above all... No matter what happens I will bring you back! Even if it costs me my _soul_, I-"

Anzu's voice cut him off, the boy looking up to see her smile again. "_**Really,**_" she 'laughed', shaking her head. "**_Yugi... Stop feeling so depressed,_**" she chuckled. A brave thumbs up came from the woman, and she brought her hand down toward her friend's shoulder for comfort. "_**Honestly, you're a boy,**_" she snorted,**_ "Boys are supposed to be..._**"

Her hand passed right through him.

"_**Strong...**_" Anzu pulled her hand back in shock, tears welling up in her eyes as she looked away. "**_I... ...Yugi..._**"

It wasn't fair.

"You're so close," he whispered, his own tears already falling to the ground. It wasn't fair at all. "So close," he repeated through shuddering breaths, "But even then... Being unable to even touch your hand..."

"_**Lonely,**_" she murmured. "**_...It's so lonely... ...Isn't it?_**"

* * *

**AN: **Oh my god WHYYYYY. _WHYYYYYYY._

This is... Such a depressing scene in the manga- I can't even tell if I did it justice, I just... Anzu's summoned forth, in a flash of hologram light, and in the end he can't even touch her. It's... WUAAAAAAAAHHH...

And then the mood was killed by the next page, which was made up of Kaiba's AMAZING JET making its appearance, along with the usual 'end of chapter' 'wait for an update' note, which read 'KAIBA'S ENTRANCE!'

GEE, I WONDER WHAT HAPPENED IN THE FOLLOWING CHAPTER, HUH?

In other news, as you've likely guessed, we get to go 'back in time' again next chapter, going to when Dreadroot was summoned and onward to cover what Jou does... And then covering why the heck Kaiba's suddenly in a jet in the first place. But you can probably guess, given that the company has been taken over and all that...

Those who pay attention to people Seto mentions in her mental monologues will have likely seen the above coming, with the crafty twin switch. Not to mention the start of this arc, but given that I never outright said that they were identical freaking twins...

Anyways! AS PROMISED! **The results are in!**

**...But it's a TIE!**

We're tied between Jadej.J's entry and Imadork's entry! **For that reason, we are holding one FINAL round! For the next TWO UPDATES, vote for either of the two choices for the new summary for ****this fanfic!**

**The section is down below; good luck to the final competitors!**

And besides that... No art today! I have a note in the music section as to why though. (Lots of portfolio work, but I'll try to get both references up next update!)

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Imadork, you already voted remember! Regardless, your entry was tallied- in the end, it looks as though you're a finalist! Congratulations!

I'm glad you like the comedy so much- I sometimes wonder how much is too much, and how much is too little... It's a real challenge, putting in just the right amount.

As for people noticing, this will happen... A lot. Mostly because of the increasing number of direct attacks. Uh-oh~

Hey Iona! Glad you're enjoying the flashbacks so far- there's more to come, and while it wasn't this chapter, the next one has its own fair share! I try and keep the duels interesting between all people... But I suppose that in the end, Jou's ability to actually hear them converse brings his dueling to a first-place holder for the interest by a long shot...

Any ways, until next time! Enjoy the chapters everyone!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that would like to sit in this corner, right here, and have a good cry now...

* * *

'Dechal', pronounced 'deh-khal' is Hebrew for 'fear'- specifically, it's a verb. It means _to _fear, or 'to be afraid.'

You can probably guess really fast why I picked this one.

* * *

Now, originally, Yugi just walks in, spots Maiko, and decides 'oh hey, maybe she knows where the next duelist is'.

Despite the fact that there's been no one else so far, and if his grandfather is any sign he should know damn well that old folks can duel too. In Yugi's defense though, it isn't as though he knows the building is cleared of people... And I suppose that a doting grandmother in a chair really _isn't_ an expected opponent.

* * *

When Yami says 'Obaa', he's saying it in a manner as though one would say 'an old lady'. When Yugi says it however, he says 'Obaa-san', which is the proper term to use in Japan with elderly women, at least elderly in comparison to yourself. (Which is why women tend to get all hot and bothered when they don't feel they're old enough for that phrase.)

In other words, the difference between what they said is 'old lady' and 'ma'am'. Quite the jump in manners.

* * *

Funny thing, this originally said '_my reason is to defeat you_', but that somewhat defeats the purpose of the duel in itself. Generally, you're _supposed_ to aim to win, so saying that your reason for dueling is to defeat someone sounds a little odd. Though it could just be how it was phrased I suppose...

* * *

Hey! This name didn't come from a codename! Nope- it came from the 'KatMai' chip. In addition, 'Maico' (Which is what the name was romanized as) and 'Katou' are both names that have to do with motorcycle dealerships.

Which makes sense I suppose, I mean wheelchairs, motorcycles... ...Yeeeeeeaaaaa I'm not following it either. (They both have wheels?)

* * *

Originally, Yugi questions the defense power of Leprechaun. Even though it's in attack mode. What..?

* * *

Strange thing; in the scan, the card effect for Poison Arrow reads 'destroy a monster when you deal damage'. But since Maiko never deals _any_ damage in the duel, the effect is wrong..! For the sake of... Well, making sense, I've changed the effect.

* * *

Fae? FAE..! Well... Maiko said 'Fairy' initially, but not only does it feel just plain _weird_ calling that giant OGRE a fairy, but the proper term for the sneaky and mysterious nasties from which leprechauns and the like belong to is technically 'fae'. Soooo there.

Also, fairy, despite referring to the... Well, nasties and not the butterfly Victorian era things, still conveys... Well. Butterfly Victorian era things!

* * *

What what WHAT THE HECK MANGA. Why is Gilfer level six... And summoned without sacrifice? _Oh, you just forgot to say Yugi tributed Gazelle?_ Well MENTION IT NEXT TIME.

Sometimes, Yugioh R bugs me.

* * *

Why was Yugi fretting? Because the holograms have a possible side-effect on the 'weak of heart'. As in, stick to the usual 'hot tub' warning and keep away from pregnant ladies and those with heart risks. Basically, since the holograms still cause minor amounts of damage, there's a bit of a bar to who can use them.

* * *

Another thing I don't get is... How did Yugi know Tenma was up there? He just... Turned, looked up, and there he was! We didn't even see why he looked up! What, did Tenma say something, did he... Did he randomly trip over something and catch his attention, what is this!

* * *

Originally, the two guys were just all like '_what's that noise..? It sounds like a God card..!_' and then ran off.

_Obviously_, it's a little different right now... Given that we have a seizure-victim-like-Jou now. (He'll get better..?)

* * *

And haha, funny thing... At about this point I just stopped taking notes and read through the duel. There was just... Nothing 'of' note, at least not anything that was covered up in my usual 'end of chapter' freak out.

Also I was a little busy crying. In any case, it's a little weird how many people just take the events in this series and 'roll with it', but think about it- is it _really_ the time to freak out! People are going to die, people are obviously being manipulated by _something_... There's just certain things you don't go about denying at this point.

Of course, once dear 'Seto-chan' makes her entrance you can toss that out the window...

* * *

Oh oh oh- I lied. Gekkou's name? It comes from a chip in the Nintendo Gamecube! Pretty awesome in my opinion.

Specifically, it's the microprocessor chip. (YESSSSS)

* * *

Musical Notes

Shameless promotion has grown to video games now! (WHAT- Wait, I've done that before...)

So what's this? What? No art? No music either!

Heheheheh... Truth be told, outside portfolio work I've been playing Sonic video games all week. (ACK, _LAZY _USAGI!) Guilty pleasure, but I have to say, I love the music. I suppose the only song of note for now would be 'Knight of the Wind' from 'Sonic and the Black Knight'- either instrumental or with lyrics, take your pick.

I like the instrumental better myself...

* * *

**CONTEST SECTION**

You know the drill guys! There are now two entries tied for the winning place; you have until the second chapter updated from this day to vote! Limit one vote per person now...

GO!

FROM IMADORK:

Jounouchi Katsuya will always look out for his friends, no matter how weird things get. That means he will keep on fighting, whether facing maniacs with freaky powers, monsters from a childrens game, or the fact that Kaiba's a girl. Wait, what?

FROM JADEJ.J:

Seto Kaiba has secrets that run skin deep but when Jou gets drawn in all bets are off. Both teens' dark secrets come to the surface & life changing experiences that will take them into dark secrets of Duel Monsters that no one knows.

* * *

And that's all for this week! I hope you enjoy the chapter, and I'll be working hard on the next one!

I'll see you then!


	111. Chapter 110

**Chereb**

* * *

_The stories the dragon tells are almost frightening sometimes. Enough that the most thrilling tales leave him with nightmares in fact. But they have an addictive appeal to them- So while the elders scream and shout at him for not listening to their teachings, and for postponing the sacred ritual of a shadow's reveal, the boy travels through the desert as often as he can, finding any excuse to do so._

_Recently, the elder's grandson 'Neker' was found to be sensitive of sight. He spotted his grandmother's shadow as it helped about the house, despite it being hidden to normal eyes. The elderly woman was elated at this discovery... So she immediately brought him forth as a possible apprentice. And although Neker is not considered ready to reveal his shadow in the elder's eyes, he bears more promise than himself. For Neker listens to the words of the elders-_

_And the boy... He does not. So while the elders dote on Neker, he slips out past the trading tomb raiders refused sale in other lands, and past the thieves freely buying and trading their goods in the market, and he runs into the vast sands beyond. It is there that he finds the 'hole'. The entrance to the cavern below. It is a difficult to locate spot after all, save for those who don't know._

_Perhaps the reason why it is so hard to find is because it is a simple entry. Or because it is mostly buried in sand. It could be both- And the dragon tells him that it is too dangerous to enter in this way when the boy tells him what it looks like. It could very well collapse around him, and he would never breathe again. But the boy ignores those words. The only other entrance is within the halls of the elders, something he knows from the last time he tried to give them proof. The last time he tried to show them the 'Dragon'._

_But the elders are closed minded; though the dragon stood beside him, they saw nothing. Nothing but a mist that 'assured' them he was ready to reveal his shadow. An assurance that made them curse his name when he refused to do so. And so in a way, the only proof he had wasn't proof at all... And had taken him backward._

_So he uses the desert entrance, and he listens to the dragon's stories. He even falls asleep there occasionally- his mother scolds him when he returns, and his elder sister, already married, shakes her head from across him. And he apologizes for his actions, helps with the cleaning, and allows them to shout about how he should be more polite and considerate of his actions..._

_And he returns to the desert for another story, receiving a similar frown from the dragon in regard to not listening to his families words... At least before the shadow sighs and pulls him closer to the wall to sit down. It has been like this for a while. To the point where it is so constant that he no longer hears what the people of his village say, nor sees their disappointed expressions as 'that good for nothing boy' runs out again. He is used to coming here to the one who listens._

_This time however, as he enters the room and greets the dragon he is not answered with the usual 'purr' of greeting. Instead, the dragon's eyes are turned to the space behind him, a low growl developing in the back of his throat._

_And when the boy turns around, he says only one thing._

"_...N... Neker..?"_

_For a moment the second boy, his hair even wilder than his 'predecessor's' own, stares in shock. His eyes move from the boy to the dragon's head, and remain there for some time, as though in disbelief. And slowly, Neker's face breaks into an amazed grin, laughter coming from within him. "Haha... Ahahaha! I don't believe it," he shouts, running forward only for the dragon to growl. Neker stumbles back somewhat, grin faltering- it quickly returns as he looks to the boy's shocked face however, his 'friend' grabbing his shoulders and shaking him with a shout. "You.. You sly little hyena," he laughs, "The elders were certain you were lying..! How on earth could they have missed this thing!"_

"_**This** 'thing' has a voice," the dragon growls immediately, Neker hurriedly bowing in apology._

"_Of course," he says quickly, clearly unwilling to possibly find himself eaten or whatever else he imagines the dragon doing. "Forgive me... If I might ask your name?"_

_Again the dragon growls, though it is less bitter. "Names grant power," he says wisely. "With only a name an entire nation can become cursed- you may call me 'Dragon'... 'Tanniyn'," he tells Neker, the boy nodding. "...Though I have already heard of your own," he mutters calmly._

"_Ah- You have," he asks in surprise._

"_Yes..." The dragon nods. "'Neker'," he begins, "The 'second prospect' of those elders you follow. I do not recall exactly when such a system began, but I must say... I far preferred the older style," he sighs, curling up on the ground and looking to the boys. "Much simpler..."_

_Neker looks to his friend as if to ask what the dragon is talking about- the boy however, merely shrugs; he himself has asked, but he has received no answer that would truly explain 'why'... Outside of a growing inability to 'see' and 'hear'._

_It is the first time that the boy has had someone else with him to talk to the dragon. For quite some time for that day, there are no stories- instead, they talk, about the village, about the ways of life that now exist. And the dragon speaks when he feels it is right, adding advice where it is needed, but for the most part it is the boys doing the speaking. It is the boys who complain of crotchety old elders and their stiff beliefs. It is the boys who complain of parents who keep them in late, and of annoying siblings both older and younger. It is nice the boy supposes, to talk to someone closer to his age about these things- though the dragon is kind he is also an 'adult', and bears the feeling of someone far surpassing him in power._

_It is nice to speak with someone at 'his' level._

_By the end of the day however there is nothing more to talk about in regard to such things. The boys are bored, and tired, and they lean against the well tower that sits in the room. They sit there, almost lethargic, before the boy finally speaks. "...Tanniyn," he asks, the dragon lifting its head from the shadows._

"_Yes?"_

"_...Can you tell us a story? ...Like the one you told me before?"_

_The dragon sits up, great neck too long to stretch upward in the room and stooping down to their level even as it arcs in a perfect curve to graze the ceiling. "Of course," he tells the boys, wise voice rumbling through the room. "Listen carefully... I will continue from whence I left off before. I will tell you of the battle between Ziz, the shape-changer and embodiment of fear," he whispers._

"_And how Light itself became** divided** to defeat it."_

* * *

"_Jonouchi..._" Katsuya grimaced in his 'sleep', shaking somewhat. He didn't know it- but this was in fact the most still he had been since he collapsed almost half an hour ago. Honda had been left to pull him off the stairs after he'd gone down, trying his best to keep him from cracking his skull on the ground- though his eyes were open they were unseeing, moving constantly with a film of 'death' over them both. His body had given constant shudders... It shook and trembled even as his friend tried to keep his head from smacking against something, and even as Yugi's spirit finally caught sight of them both.

But he hadn't been able to hear either of them. And Honda couldn't hear Yugi as he called frantically for him to wake up either. So all in all, when he finally started to come to... "_Jonouchi,_" Katsuya heard, his body having slowly calmed down as the voices grew clearer. It was as though he was floating, this feeling. Floating in that familiar dark place in his mind, but even his eyes wouldn't open... "_Jonouchi-kun..._"

"_Jonouchi..._"

"_Jonouchi-kun..._" Wake up, they called. Wake up, wake up,

_Wake_...

...

The darkness was fading.

"Ngh..." And his eyes were opening.

"_Ah- Jonouchi-kun!_"

"Jonouchi!"

Katsuya winced, slowly pulling himself up to sit as his senses slowly cleared. Those voices... He couldn't see who it was but... "Ngh... Wh' th' hell..."

"Shit... Finally," the first friend muttered, Katsuya blearily opening his eyes to look at the teen.

"Ngh... Honda..?"

"_Jonouchi-kun... Hahh... You had us worried..._" Eh? And Yugi..?

As the blond continued to blink somewhat confusedly, shaking his head. The blurs that were his friends were finally clearing... And as his vision cleared completely he found himself flinching and pulling back on reflex, Honda having raised a hand from the side in a punching motion with a scowl. The punch however, never came, and instead his friend's hand slammed down on his shoulder, eyes filled with anger, worry, warning... "I swear to god Jonouchi," he growled, Katsuya staring almost blankly in response. "If that happens again..."

"If... If wha' happens," he muttered, voice somewhat hoarse as he cleared his throat. "What-"

Yugi swallowed from the side, shaking his head slowly. "_Jonouchi-kun,_" he whispered fearfully._ "It almost looked like you were having a seizure a moment ago. I know you space out a lot for these 'visions',_" he continued with a swallow,_ "But if this happens every time..._"

He choked, turning to look at the spirit in shock. "W-Woah, woah, _woah,_" he sputtered, all senses returned in an instant. "Hang on, _seizures_? What?"

Honda blinked, looking toward the blank space his friend had been shouting at before sighing. "Yugi's been here the entire time hasn't he," he said almost hopelessly.

They both nodded, though it was obviously only Katsuya's answer that was seen.

Another sigh, along with a muttered 'figures'. "Man... Damn it Jonouchi," Honda muttered, pulling himself up with a scowl. "What the hell do we do about this, huh?" He paused, question echoing gravely in the hall. "If I can't stop it, and you can't stop it..."

"_Jonouchi-kun, these 'flashes' of yours are getting dangerous,_" Yugi added, looking away a moment before holding out a hand for his friend. Katsuya slowly took it, Honda watching almost blankly as his friend was pulled up by 'emptiness' while the spirit continued. "_Are... Are you sure that you can... Are you sure that you're..._"

"I'll be fine," he insisted, the others narrowing their eyes. "This w's probably a one time thing righ'..? Cause 'f tha' rumblin' earlier," he added.

"Rumbling..?"

"_You mean... When Gekkou-kun summoned Dreadroot?_" Uh...

What. "Gekkou," he repeated, Honda looking just as confused. Hang on... "...Tenma's got an' older _twin_ brother," he asked incredulously.

Yugi nodded. "_From what I can hear from the other me, the Tenma that he fought wasn't the one who orchestrated all of this. In _fact," he added worriedly, _"From what I can gather he wanted nothing to do with it; Yakou took control of his older brother's mind and made him fight the other me. And even though he won, I... ..._" He bowed his head, biting his lip. "_I can't really tell from just what he says over our link- he's holding back... He's only telling me the bare minimum, but... ...Something bad happened,_" he mumbled. "_Something... It's hard to explain._" Obviously._ "Tenma's project... From what I can tell,_" Yugi whispered hesitantly,_ "It's entered the final phase. But that's all that he's saying. He has Anzu's hologram with him, so we can talk to her but..._" He sighed. "_He's not 'all there'... And I think he's in shock... I have to go up and help, but I- Nnn..._"

Had a point, Katsuya thought to himself grimly. He had a point, but if what he was hearing was right... Then what was happening now had a lot more to it than any of them could figure right now. "...Tha' energy fr'm earlier," he muttered, turning a narrowed stare to the ground. The thing that came before his headache...

"What energy," Honda asked, his own frown deepening. "Jonouchi, what the hell are you talking about?"

The blond shook himself, looking back up. Right. He ah... He hadn't said anything about that before. Whoops. "I dunno," he admitted with a shrug, swallowing. "I dunno, jus'... Somethin' doesn' feel right abou' these... Vision things," he said, briefly wondering exactly what he was supposed to call those 'vision' things. "Like back at th' school," he went on. "When Osiris w's summoned."

"_What happened when Osiris was-_"

"You mean how nothing happened then," Honda asked dryly, unknowingly cutting Yugi short. "That was probably one of the _better_ moments of your 'ability', so try again."

"_Wait, you didn't end up chanting..?_"

Yugi was momentarily ignored yet again as Katsuya nodded, frowning. "Try weirder," he muttered. "I jus' got used t' spittin' out dead languages every time those cards were summoned- it ain' righ' to have it suddenly stop. An' tha' ain' th' point," he continued, shaking his head. "It's more what Osiris said..."

"What Osiris-" His friend groaned, face in his hands. "And you say this not happening is _weird..._ I'll bite Jonouchi," he sighed. "What did the _giant God-Dragon_ say?" He said that so confidently, ahahahahahaaaa..

Ahhhh... Yea, what did he say exactly again? "Somethin' abou' th' 'Evil Gods' not bein' s'pposed t' exist," he offered with a shrug. "Honestly, it makes sense givin' tha' it felt like th' thing was suckin' th' life outta me."

"Okay, you failed to _mention _that part..!" Whoops. He did. Of course...

"Wouldn't you," he asked 'helpfully', Yugi smacking his face in his hands behind him. "Ahhh, whatever... Tha' ain' th' point," he said for the second time. "Way I figure, these 'Evil Gods' have somethin' t' do with th' scary parts 'f this ability- so it'll all be over soon."

"And you figure that how," Honda asked flatly.

There was a short pause, Katsuya turning to what Honda would perceive as 'empty space'. Time to test a theory. "Yugi," he asked. "Y' said tha' th' rumblin' happened when this 'Dreadroot' thing was summoned... Righ'..?"

The boy nodded, Honda still frowning. "I'm going to assume that was a _yes_," he stated when Katsuya's expression failed to change, his friend as well nodding before speaking again.

"Th' rumblin' happened righ' b'fore the headache," he said plainly. "An' th' headache happened b'fore I passed out. As f'r when I woke up..." He looked back to Yugi, the spirit blinking.

"_You stopped seizing just before the other me told me about the duel,_" Yugi explained. A frown came over his face, and he crossed his arms in thought. "_Actually,_" he realized,_ "You woke up __just__ when he finished explaining..._" So the end of the duel then.

Which was probably when he beat Dreadroot. "Then tha' settles it," he decided, Honda merely staring blankly at the half-sided conversation he could hear. "Th' reason why everythin's goin' wonky wi' my vision-y thing is th' 'Ja-Shin'!"

"I really wish you would tell me what the hell you're talking about..."

"So if th' Jashin are the cause 'f this," he continued, "I guess we got an entire extra reason t' stop Tenma now.."

"Oiii, Jonouchi..."

"'F course," he added nervously, "'F tha' happens durin' a duel I'm screwed..."

"Jonouchi..!"

"Eh!" He grinned, Yugi still sighing from behind him as he continued paying everything else no mind. "Figure tha' out when th' time comes!"

"Are you even listening to me!"

Katsuya turned, blinking as he looked toward Honda. "Nhy?" What, listening to him? Naaaaahhh...

Course not, he'd be scared to shit if he was. His friend sighed. "Whatever," Honda decided, turning to move on. "...Lets just get going alright," he said, Katsuya staring almost in confusion. "And try not to have any seizures after the next fight got it?" Seiz- What!

"O-Oii, what the hell do you take me for," he snarled, before a small cough pulled his attention to 'empty space' once again. "Nh?"

"_Ah... Jonouchi-kun,_" Yugi began, scratching his cheek. "_Listen... I'm going to go up and switch with the other me alright,_" he said, Katsuya listening as the boy went on._ "He needs to rest... The last duel was... ..._" The boy sighed, shaking it off._ "Once he recovers, one of us will probably come back to check in on how you're doing and tell you how things are at our end. But if anything happens before then..._"

He smirked. "Heh- no worries Yugi, we'll let y' know! Nothin's gonna happen- promise yah!"

"You know," Honda said loudly from the side, "I remember the days when I could speak with _all _my friends at once..."

Again Honda was ignored, Yugi nodding as he and Katsuya both smiled. "_Right then... I'll see you later,_" he called, before vanishing in what looked to be a thin smoke.

Katsuya jumped somewhat at the abrupt departure, before shaking it off. "Phew... Never gonna get used t' tha'..."

"Used to what," Honda asked with a laugh. "It's gotta be incredible if it's flying over _your_ head..."

"What was thaaaaaat..!" Just what was he trying to say damn it..!

"Hey," he muttered ignorantly, "There's a shadow up there..."

"HONDAAAAAA..!"

"No seriously," the teen snapped, roughly turning his friend to look up at the large and almost auditorium standard stairway before them. "Look!"

He turned, slight frown quickly shifting once he spotted what Honda was talking about. He was right; against the windows of the room above there was a shadow, back turned toward them. Slowly the two walked up the stairs, the shadow revealing itself in the light of the now dusk hour; he had light hair- lighter than his own even, though the top of it was wrapped in what almost seemed to be a turban. To match that particular part of his look was a long, sleeveless cloak that was left hanging open over him, along with a sash around his waist. The rest of him however, was decidedly 'normal'; baggy pants, shoes... And a duel disk on his left arm Katsuya noted, the man turning toward them only to sigh.

"_Jesus,_" he muttered in English, rubbing his head. "_Not you..._" Eh? While he and Honda continued to frown the man again sighed, shaking his head. "_A conspiracy,_" he sighed, the others either unable to understand or unable to understand any more than partially. "It has to be a conspiracy," he repeated, this time in Japanese. "Hahhh..."

"Conspiracy," Katsuya asked with a frown. "Heh?" What?

The man rolled his eyes, explaining. "Word is," he began, "Mutou Yugi has defeated three people now; as the 'gold prize', his defeat nets me 2 _million_ dollars now. As it is," he sighed, "It's bad enough I have to sit around here... But then some cheap guy like you shows up..."

"C-Cheap-!"

"WHAT!"

And still the man continued. "Man... '500 dollars', is a guy like you even worth it?" Five hundred? Well it was better than 100 but... Come on damn it! That was nothing next to Yugi! "Sheesh, it's just pocket change..." Tell him about it! Actually, he could do a lot with five hun- Not the point! "Ahhh..." The American sighed, clicking his tongue. "That's how it is I suppose..." W-What..!

OI! "BASTAAAARD! Don' ignore us," Katsuya snarled, only to be held back by his friend.

"Jonouchi, shut up for a moment!" No! This guy was saying he wasn't even worth a fight damn it..! "Come on..." He looked back to the American before them, continuing as his friend stewed. "It'll be a pain in our ass if he decides to just leave before we can get the card... Just chill out..." Yea yea yea...

"Oh, you think I'm the running type then," the man 'asked', turban-like hat creating a somewhat menacing shade over his eyes. "Now what kind of duelist would I be then _eh_?" Um... A bad one? "You're wasting your time coming up here," he snarled. "I'll defeat you and fight the 'King of Games' afterward! Your prize might not be much," he laughed, "But regardless of what kind of a pain this is it at least gets me closer to the 2 million..!" Closer to Yu- Why... That... Fucking-

"Stop talkin' like y've won already y' PRICK! You c'n brag when it's over!" His dueldisk clicked into place, cards shuffling and muttering curses under their breaths as he stormed forward. "_Duel me_!"

"Hhnnnnn, so arrogant..."

Arrogant? He was third place in all Japan right now! "You _BASTAAAARRR_-"

"You know he's just trying to throw you off right," Honda shouted from behind.

"Shut up! He's pissing me off!"

"Is this because of that headache? Are you getting pissy because of that headache?" No! …

Alright maybe. (It hurt so much...)

"Rrrrhhhggg..."

Chuckling came from across them, and the two looked back with narrowed eyes. "Hnhnhn... What... You think I'm playing around with you? Isn't this the kind of thing your friend deals with all the time, defending his throne?" Shut up...! "Hnhnhahaha... Oh well.. This is a good way to test my deck," the duelist decided. "An easy win..!"

Like hell this guy would even come close... "Bastard..."

"You're telling me..."

"Damn it..." The deck settled into place, Katsuya stepping into his own with a snarl. "I'm gonna break yer damn nose open wi' this deck! Lets do this!"

"_Please tell me that was __figurative__..._" Fig- God damn it, _shut up Panther Warrior_!

He was busy trying to- "HAHAHAHAAAAA! What kind of line is that," his opponent howled, Katsuya scowling. "Is this really what I'm fighting-"

"You... ...Who th' hell do y' think you are..!"

At this the laughter stopped, the duelist's own disk clicking together while his deck shuffled and settled in place. "Me? Card Professor 'Mendo Cino'," he chuckled, either missing or simply ignoring the sudden pale hue that the two before him took. "And now I've got you trapped, 'pocket-money duelist'... SO," he shouted, deck spitting out his hand. "Lets duel..! GO!"

Five cards in each hand, and the deck and Honda were both silent now. It was probably just his grated nerves that kept him from freaking out entirely; just his luck he ran into the guy that was apparently 'high risk' against him according to Pete. Agains the guy that was apparently most likely to cut his head off. Even so...

When he saw _why_... "I'll make the first attack," Mendo began, drawing his sixth card and making his move. "First... I set a card face down," he announced, the tablet arising from the ground with a swirl of dust. Blank. He hated traps damn it, more than anything he hated... "And... Next," he announced, "I summon the Praying Mantis in attack mode!" When Mendo said 'Mantis', he expected something like Haga's bugs to come up. He was even prepared to sigh in relief, the idea of facing something he already knew how to combat taking a huge load off of him. And then the carving on the tablet actually began to appear.

And then the smoke poured out from the stone, and the monster walked forward.

Though it was covered in the exoskeletal armor of an insect, it was far from it, he realized quickly. With almost reptile-like legs it stood on three-clawed toes, an enormous tail formed from what would have likely been the beast's abdomen. The second set of limbs, set in the middle, were the closest thing to 'insect' other than the face, held together as one would expect a person to pray. However, nestled directly below the snapping, thick-necked monster's head were the third pair of limbs... extended far before it, with blades resembling cruel scythes in the place of 'hands' or any sort of clawed limb. And as the monster tilted its head before hissing in challenge he found himself swallowing. '_Turn end,_' Mendo shouted, the blond having completely missed whatever taunts his opponent had given.

His turn then... And he couldn't let that monster attack. That was the first thing on his mind, and it was by far one of the most important things. "Here goes then," he shouted, pulling a card from his deck as he set another on the field. "I'll scatter your mantis all over this room..! Set one face down card," he began, blank-faced tablet already strong and tall at his side. "And following that... The Legendary Fisherman!"

Again the stone carving of a whale-riding man came into being, and again the fisherman was the only one to come out from the tablet's face. "_**This building,**_" he noted immediately, harpoon gripped loosely in his hand. The tanned fisherman turned from the field to look back at his summoner, frowning. "_**Isn't this..?**_" Seto's tower?

A nod was his only answer, before the blond pointed his monster forward. "Fisherman," he ordered, the man turning forward again before nodding. "Go..! Attack the Praying Mantis!" With a nod the man charged harpoon pointed forward for the kill. Just as he came close however...

"Hn! Trap card activate," Mendo countered, the tablet beside him exploding into a bullet of sand that filled the entire arena with dust. "Forceful recall!" The sand blasted the fisherman clean off his feet before either could even react; and within a moment his tablet was cone, card blown off from the duel disk and into his hand. "Your attack is invalidated," Mendo was shouting from across from him, Katsuya's eyes widening as he looked at the card that had returned between the others on his palm. "Your monster is sent from the field and I'm free to counter your attack! Your defense is gone," he chuckled, his opponent stepping back with wide eyes. "So..."

"S...Shit..." Not good..!

"NOW MANTIS," the American snarled, his monster giving a loud screech as it charged. "Direct counter attack... _**HARDEN SABER!"**_ Shit...

Shit...! "Jonouchi..!"

The blades moved almost too fast for his eyes to see, and as he spun and stumbled back from the blades he could see a few strands of his cut hair fall to the ground. The mantis' blades dug into the arena floor behind him, and as it struggled to pull itself out the blond's eyes widened even further. Almost half of his 'life' was gone already. The attack he'd dodged would have impaled him on the spot, with no holding back. And now... "Understand what your up against," Mendo sneered, drawing the card for his next turn. His monster finally succeeded in wrenching its arm free of the tiles, and was now returning to his side. And with the question his opponent asked... "Ready to give in? Or should I continue..!" Katsuya of course gave no answer to that, and with another laugh his opponent took his turn. "Now! I activate the spell 'Labor Pain'," he shouted, the set card rising up behind him in the form of a great glowing stone slab. "This card affects both players," he explained, blood draining even further from Katsuya's face. There was little to no image on the tablet behind his opponent, simply a constant glowing light... With two hairline strands of the glow attached to their shadows... "Whenever we summon a monster," Mendo explained, "We pay 1000 lifepoints... So think carefully when you summon," he added with a grin. "It could be the last thing you do! HAHAHAHAHA!" 1000... 1000 lifepoints... Constantly...

And with no monster on his field...

"Of course, it's only summoned monsters that activate this spell..." Yea. _Of course._ "With this, I can easily bypass it! I play another spell," Mendo called out. "Kamakiri's Ootheca! This guy," he explained, opponent stiffening even more as the tablet that appeared slowly bored a hole to release dust, "Is an egg... An egg that produces a kamakiri token each turn," he continued, the dust slowly rising upward into a round 'nest' of sorts. It certainly wasn't an 'egg' in any case... "As tokens from a spell, these don't count as summons..! I don't pay a single thing... HnhnHAHAHAHAAAAA..." One... One thousand points per summon, special or not...

No points taken for tokens, of which his opponent would soon have an abundance of. Which meant an abundance of sacrifices... Which meant even with the cost it was... It was... "Jonouchi this guy's going to have mantises swarming the field in minutes," Honda hissed, sweat dripping down his friend's brow. "What the hell are you going to do..?" What...

What was he... "Y... You got any ideas," he asked as he looked back, wide eyes half broken as Honda stared.

"Are you fucking serious-"

"Set one card face down and end my turn," Mendo shouted, the others snapping their attention forward. "Go on... Find a way to attack!"

"Gh..." Shit...

"Jonouchi..."

Damn it... "My turn then," he grit out, narrowing his eyes. Labor Pain and Kamakiri Ootheca... If he didn't get rid of both he was screwed. The card he drew just now, his mind told him, was 'Hurricane'. Return all magic and trap cards to the hand.

But even with that...

The fact was he told himself as he took a different card in his hand, he could easily put it _back_ on the field- so if he did that too soon he was just as screwed. Instead, he'd have to do this. "Tch... I pay 1000 lifepoints," he called, tablet rising to his side yet again. "An' once again... Legendary Fisherman; this time in d'fense mode," he added, teeth grinding. He should have attacked. Hell anyone else would!

But the chances that the tablet before him hid another 'Forceful Recall'... He just couldn't take that shot. Not when his gut was pounding at him so much- he knew he never got flashes of duels but... Well this time it just felt too risky. Another tablet rose at his side, blank face staring out in contrast to the unmoving carving on the one in front of him.

"One more card face down," he announced. "End turn."

"Hnhnhnhn... Mine then. And with that," his opponent shouted, skittering sounds coming from the 'egg' at his side, "A baby Kamakiri is born!" The scuttling sound grew louder, and, while it resembled a mantis more than its 'brother' did, the creature that climbed out would still have made someone like Insector Haga scream angrily about how it 'wasn't'. With only four legs its bottom ones mirrored the one beside it, somewhat rounded claws at their toes. Two jagged scythes sat on its upper limbs, and large buggy eyes stared forward on another 'too thick for a mantis' neck. With that however... "I now have two monsters for sacrifice," Mendo chuckled, snapping a card from his hand. "So... I pay 1000 life points," he roared, each of his insects shooting upward in a pillar of dust, before merging into a single thick wall. "Offering the Praying Mantis and the Baby Kamakiri to summon this... The mantis with the scythe of the Shinigami himself," the man announced. "Arise! _**DEATHSCYTHE KILLER!**_"

If the name hadn't been enough then the figure that charged through the sand 'wall' in front of him more than cemented just how screwed he would be if he didn't figure something out _now_. It was almost centaurian in appearance. Below the waist it had the body of an insect, long thorax trailing behind it with six limbs clacking across the ground. Above this however, was a 'man', if it could be called that. Covered in either black and shriveled flesh or bone-like exoskeletal armor the monster stepped forward with an enormous scythe in hand. The metal gleamed dully in what was now naught but moonlight, and though it was clear the beast could not speak its eyes looked toward Katsuya with a challenging, inhuman stare. For the same price that Katsuya had given just now, Mendo had summoned 'death' to the field.

While he had nothing but a tablet of stone...

No offense to the fisherman. "Tear the Legendary Fisherman to pieces," Mendo ordered, his monster not caring that all he would cut was tablet. "Go, Deathscythe Killer!" Ku...

"Activate face down card," he countered immediately, a blur of colour taking the strike from the Killer's blade. The tablet beside him smoked and crumbled, the token goat's two halves falling bloodily to the ground before they crumbled into sand. "Hah... Scapegoat," he shouted to his opponent, Mendo's eyes widening. "An' I got three left..."

"Hn! I'll just be testing the waters then," Mendo chuckled, ignoring the scowl from his opponents. "Whatever... I end my turn..!"

"Right! In tha' case..." He had no choice but to stall for now, he told himself with a swallow. And all he had...

Was this card in his hands now.

"Set one card face down," he said with a swallow. "End turn."

He was answered almost immediately with chuckling. "Hnhnhnhn..." And here he'd thought Pete pissed him off; at least Pete was a decent guy after the end. "You managed to postpone your immediate death," Mendo laughed, "But the next turn it's all over! Watch," he shouted, the egg to his side shaking as a new mantis crawled out. A low keen met the air, and it shook itself before looking up in awestruck fear at the monster beside it. He supposed that, in a way, this was the equivalent of being in the presence of a 'God' for the little guy.

Hahaha... If it only knew...

The humor was quickly ripped from the situation as two more kids leaped out from the stone beside him, the pair just quickly cleaved in two by the combination of a metal and an insect's claw. Wincing as the bodies turned to dust he bit his lip. "Ghahahaha... Only one sheep left," Mendo laughed. "Looks like you don't have anything left after all..! Phswww!" He shook his head, giving a sarcastic whistle. "Have to say... Not bad for a pocket-change duelist... But not enough to raise your score either."

"Really," he countered, drawing his next card. He'd show him pocket change... "Well it's my turn..!" And he knew exactly what to do! With what was in his hand... And what was in his deck... He looked forward with stone eyes, setting the cards and moving them about without even sparing the dueldisk a glance. "I activate from my hand the spell 'Cross Shift'," he started, the magic instantly wiping his scapegoat tablet clean. "It allows me to exchange one monster on the field with one on my hand... This," he continued, tone devoid of nearly any emotion, "Is _not_ a summon... I exchange Scapegoat for the Swordsman of Landstar," Katsuya shouted, the blank stone face replacing itself with a cartoon-built 'alien' in armor. "And now that I have two monsters on the field... I'll pay 1000 lifepoints for my last summon this duel!" It was all he could do after all...

And it was all he needed! "_**Hnnn..!**_" For as the monsters dissolved into dust and rose upward, forming another tablet behind him, the Psycho Shocker was already working his magic. "_**HAH!**_"

"I summon the Cyborg, _Psycho Shocker_," Katsuya announced, fine red lasers shooting forth from the immense stone as the spandex clad monster stepped forward. "And with his effect... Your traps are all destroyed!"

"GH-"

Stone flew through the air as the lasers connected, Psycho Shocker's summoning nonetheless remaining still. The monster was in attack mode; had to be for the effect to work. And though Mendo was snarling at the loss of his trap...

"HAHA! YES! _YES!_ Alright! Great comeback Jonouchi," Honda laughed, a wide grin on his face. "Come on and say it! You're the man! YES!"

"Yea," he muttered, standing stiffly in place. "Seems like it, doesn' it," he said quietly, Honda's expression quickly fading.

"What..."

"Hnhnhnhn..." Mendo's scowl faded as he looked toward the teen, shaking his head. "It's like he said... Take a look, mister 'non duelist'; true, Psycho Shocker's power surpasses the Deathscythe's at the moment," he said with a shrug. "But anyone who can read knows that I can sacrifice one of my other monsters at any time to increase his power by that amount of attack points. And this Baby Kamakiri here... Well," he chuckled, "500 plus 2300 will easily surpass your 2400... The Psycho Shocker simply can't compete," Mendo sighed. "That being said... What are you going to do now..?" Right now..?

"J... Jonouchi," Honda muttered from the side. "Jonouchi, that..."

"Go on," Mendo taunted, eyes wide as he laughed. "Say it! You have nothing left right? So SAY IT!" No.

He didn't.

"...End turn."

"HHAAAAAHAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

* * *

How long had it been now, since she had checked in at the hotel here she wondered idly. One month was a long time to put off returning back for someone like herself- ordinarily business trips lasted little more than a few days, after which she would be heading home to see Mokuba. If, that is, he wasn't with her already. She wasn't one to remain away from home- the fact was, she was hardly the sort to bother with 'vacations'.

It was weird, postponing her return like this. If she were to say the reason aloud, she would say that she was simply there because she wished to oversee a few things while Kaibaland was being built. As it was her current location at the US National Duel tournament was simply a matter of location, invitation, and idle curiosity on her part when Mokuba eagerly brought it up.

Evidently Rebecca Hopkins was defending her national crown at the moment, and Mokuba wanted to watch.

A part of her- the part that wasn't busy holding the image of a CEO- knew damn well that it wasn't the _dueling_ he wanted to watch, and as a now bespectacled Rebecca summoned up her Luster Dragon to the Tournament field below she was probably not the only one to notice that her brother's eyes were on the girl and not the monsters themselves. There was a look on his face, whether he knew it or not she would tell herself.

And then that same part that noticed would realize that the look was far too similar to a certain 'mutt's expression half the time at dinner, and she'd feel somewhat sick to her stomach. 'Like' and 'Dislike' were not things she had time for at the moment. In her position particularly. She was finding it alarmingly difficult to ignore the two warring factions in her head however, which brought up the reason that she had yet to, if ever, voice aloud, even to herself.

The last time she'd seen Katsuya- and spoken to him even- he'd grabbed her and _kissed_ her, before going so far as to _confess_ to her...

And then get himself stabbed in the chest by what should have been a hologram. And even she couldn't deny the fact that the act had shaken her. It'd be one thing to deny concern if she'd held composure but the fact remained that, alone or not...

Her eyes narrowed from her seat in the private viewing room of the stadium, her brother too distracted to notice at the moment. One month. Perhaps telling the blond he was on 'house arrest' was a _little_ extreme, a softer voice in the back of her mind muttered. He'd have probably driven Isono and Kyouko both up the wall by now. And she could hardly continue to run from the fact that at some point, she would have to address what he'd done 'that day'. At the same time...

A duel like the one she was watching now had the power to _kill_ Katsuya. A fact she could not deny despite all of her being screaming about how it wasn't possible, and how she wanted anything but that to ever happen. '_And why do you want him to live so badly,_' the more annoying side of her thoughts would ask. '_You can hardly say it's for your brother now, this goes beyond that._' That was true, she would admit. It was more than Mokuba.

But before she decided on 'why' she would cram that voice back where it came from with a flushed and scowling face, at which point her brother would ask what she was upset about and she would be left coming up with some last minute (but nonetheless... 'Solid'...) excuse.

Perhaps it was time to head back, she found herself thinking, leaning back a moment in her seat. Yugi's words on the duel field... She wanted to take those words to mind. For her brother's sake... For her _own_ sake... 'Abandon your hatred'.

Hah!

Easier said than done; the world was chock full of idiots and things that reminded her of a bitter past. Regardless... Even Mokuba had commented on how much calmer she'd been in the face of such things following Battle City.

Perhaps it was a step in the right direction.

A step that was quickly challenged and possibly torn down again when chuckling began to echo through the air. "...Hn..?"

"Who's that," Mokuba said with a start, turning to look behind from his chair. There was no answer to the question and the boy stood, frowning. "...Hello?" Again, no response. Odd... Now what was-

"An interesting tournament," the voice chuckled, Seto narrowing her eyes as she stood. The room was still empty; but if there was no one there, then how- "Reminds me of one that my teacher held... Of course," the voice continued, source slowly rising from the ground itself with a hate filled stare, "In those days, I was nothing but a shadow of the 'perfect' moon, which took all the light and praise that the 'sun' could offer..." Hold on now...

This voice..! "W-WUAAH!" Mokuba stumbled back as the hologram arose completely, Yakou Tenma's face twisting into a mad and sneering 'smile' if the expression could even be called such. "H-Hah... What is..."

"Hologram," Seto hissed under her breath, quickly replacing the disguise of deeper tones over her voice. "You... Tenma," she addressed with somewhat wide eyes. "Just what are you doing here..?" And... _How_, she knew that Pegasus' stolen

"Hnhnhn... It's been a while hasn't it," he asked with a shrug, chuckling under his breath. "I just thought I'd use my resources to say 'hello'..." A damn complex way to say 'hello', the amount of technology needed to 'hologram' call even with a virtual reality pod was already-

Screams were sounding from on the field now, and with still widening eyes the siblings looked down. "What in the..."

"_What's going on,_" Rebecca's opponent was shouting, shaking his disk with wide eyes. "_My monster isn't summoning..!_"

"_Forget that, the entire field vanished completely,_" she answered, a flash of light skipping over her glasses as she backed away in shock. "_What in the..._"

"Mr. Kaiba..!" The woman looked down over the 'balcony' of the room she stood in, a frown already coming over top the look of confusion as one of the staff below shouted up. The holograms were gone, she noted immediately. All of them were gone other than the one behind her... "Mr. Kaiba," the man repeated, "We just received word from your Solid Vision department that all access to the system is being denied!" What..? "The dueldisks of the competitors here are not the only ones that have lost access to the system," he added. "Aside from a small handful, the entire world just lost connection!" Lost connec- …

. . .

No... "Impossible," she spat, shaking her head. "_ALL_ at once!" It was impossible, completely impossible but... There was nothing but a shaky nod and all at once her body stiffened. Ohhhh. Ohhh_hooooh_ this was not-

Screw 'abandon your hatred' this man was going to pay _dearly._ "_TENMA_," she snarled, switching to Japanese as her fists clenched tight. For the system she designed herself to do such a thing there was only one possible cause... She herself was here. Tenma however... Could be anywhere. "What do you think you're _DOING,_" she snarled warningly, nothing but dark chuckling answering her shouts.

"Huhuhuhuhuh... Realize just what it is I've done," he laughed, coat 'flapping' around him in a nonexistent wind. "For the good of a certain plan I've taken control of the Duel Ring server... Only for a period of 24 hours, I assure you... But I decided that it would be better to let you know before you reacted 'violently'..."

"_VIOLENTLY,_" she roared incredulously, face growing red. "You... The contract between _OUR_ companies does not concern the Duel Ring Server to this extent. Whatever plan _YOU_ have can take a back seat in your closet TENMA, and if you think that _telling me_ will at all lighten whatever strike I intend to give in return then let me tell you this! I will _NEVER_... NEVER forgive you for even _TOUCHING_ my server network!"

By the time she'd said even this she was already stalking toward the hologram, a part of her mind momentarily forgetting that an attack would do no good. In an instant however the figure began to smoke. From the bottom up Tenma began to evaporate, a mocking bow that caused his hair to hide half his face exactly the last thing he did as he vanished. "Hnhnhn... Save your vengeance drive for the end, 'sir'," he laughed, the mist filling the back end of the room. "Okay..?" Ku...

There were still shouts below. '_It's no good,_' they cried, '_Anything we do is blocked; there's a complete cessation on the signal, there's __nothing__!_' Tch... And of course...

'_We can't contact the main office in Japan,_' someone was muttering. '_The most we got was an e-mail from the manager's __home__..._' Though that certainly explained how the message got through...

"Gh... Nee-sama," Mokuba said with a quiet swallow, looking over the edge of the balcony. "If all connections have been cut to the point where we're getting mails from a home-computer..."

"Something's happened in Japan," she muttered darkly, already turning toward the door. Something incredibly bad, if her gut feeling and current thoughts were any sign. Still... She'd known that 'Yakou' was acting oddly, but this!

He was an entirely different person! Persistence was one thing, but the _expression_ on his face...

She swallowed, a small wave of unease passing over her despite the apparent calm she held. It had been like staring down Noa in the other world, during his 'break down' if it could have been called that. And that...

That was never a good sign. "...Mokuba," she said quickly, looking back to the boy. "Let's go. We can have our luggage sent after us."

"Right," he responded, grabbing the woman's briefcase from the side and carrying it as he followed.

Something had happened in Japan, her mind repeated.

And it looked as though her decision on extending or ceasing her stay in the USA had been decided for her.

* * *

With shadowed eyes he looked forward on the field, his expression completely unreadable. Behind him, Honda had been rendered silent in shock. Across from him, his opponent was literally howling with laughter, before drawing a card and starting his turn. And beside him, the Psycho Shocker stood, silent as he usually was...

But unlike usual, he turned to fix his lens covered eyes on the blond at his side. "_**Boy,**_" he said flatly, Katsuya not looking up. "_**You sense the darkness in this place.**_" It was not a question, nor was it even an accusation. The Psycho Shocker wasn't one to do that; he was merely stating a fact, as he always did. However, there was apparently more for him to say. "_**You are lucky you can still see me. ...Or are you,**_" he added almost curiously, confusion flooding his summoner's mind. "_**Your injuries will not heal while darkness sits on them boy. Do not throw your caution to the wind.**_" And again, this was not an insult, or even a warning; it was a statement, and one that banished all confusion of earlier words from mind. The Psycho Shocker knew just as well as he did what he had in his hand and what he had on the field. He knew what would happen this turn.

He just didn't know what would happen after that. And something told him that what the cyborg was talking about had nothing to do with the duel. Regardless.

"It's my turn again," Mendo laughed, eyes still wide as his apparent success came into view. "And a new baby Kamakiri is born!" The skittering insect crawled out from the egg, tumbling onto the ground as its summoner continued to speak. "Playtime's over," he laughed. "For I offer both of the Kamakiri as a sacrifice to give their power to the Deathscythe!" And as the two tiny mantises became a dust to coat the 'Killer'...

"Jonouchi..!" With the blade gleaming beneath the light of the room... "That thing is... Really strong now.. Ahhhh..."

"GO, DEATHSCYTHE," the blond's opponent roared, the insect-beast rearing as it swung the scythe forward. "Mince Psycho Shocker with the Shinigami's scythe!" The blade came closer...

"Activate trap," he shouted, "Shield and Sword!"

"What..!"

The tablet at his side crumbled into dust, Katsuya's expression still unchanged. "Attack and d'fense reverse," he announced, the difference in power switching to a mere 100 in an instant. "So yer attack bonus 's useless!"

"Gh... But Deathscythe Killer's attack power is still higher than yours," Mendo pointed out, monster still charging as the blade came toward them. "Which means he still wins through! GO!_** FISSURE SLICE!**_" Before Psycho Shocker could even move his arms from their typically confident 'crossed' position the blade cut down, cutting him just as cleanly in two as all those before it. It'd been a while, Katsuya realized, since he had to see the insides of his monsters like this... Since he'd seen this sort of detail before the magic of the field could clear it from sight. Looking away as organs turned to sand however he forced himself to continue to hold a mask of indifference. And instead...

Activate the trap that sat beside him now. The trap which had crumbled into dust on the air, smoke filling the area behind him as the sounds of a moving metal 'capsule' came through it.

The trap that he hadn't even realized he still had until a few days ago. "Hnhnhn... Managed to earn yourself extra time it looks like," his opponent laughed, unaware of the trap that was taking form behind the blond. "But what are you going to do now," he continued. "Can you summon a new monster with your remaining lifepoints? Can you defeat the monster you went to such lengths to weaken? Still biding your TIME," he roared, only to pale. "Wh... What..."

As Mendo's eyes fell upon the Time Machine that had evidently appeared behind him in holographic form as well as in reality Katsuya stared back, expression as unchanged as before. "Tha' was a bad move," he told him, "Pickin' th' word 'time'..." The time machine hovered behind him, covered in smoke and steam and ticking as the clock on its door frame spun. As the timer up top shifted the doors opened... And stepping forth from its chambers was a renewed Psycho Shocker, clad in tight leather and cloth and staring forward with sightless lens covered eyes. "Have some peace 'f mind," Katsuya said lowly. "Th's duel's finished... An' you lose! I activated my trap when Psycho Shocker died," he explained, gesturing to the being. "Th' Time Machine! Bringin' him back fr'm one turn ago, back from b'fore I switched his attack with 's defense. 2400 against 1600," he continued, the power coming off the cyborg in waves. "Yer monster doesn' stand a chance! NOW... Psycho Shocker," he ordered. "COUNTER!

"_**CYBER ENERGY SHOT!**_"

With an explosion of flames the Deathscythe was gone. Electricity cracked over its burning husk and the body collapsed into ashes in the air, before even that was nothing but sand on the ground with a destroyed tablet. "Hah... You did it Jonouchi," Honda shouted, a grin coming over his friend's face.

"Hah! YEA!" Fist knocked against fist before he turned back to the field, where it was still Mendo's turn. He'd gotten rid of the main problem after all. So... What now?

"Tch... I summon Mantis Guard in Defense mode," the man grit out, a large and again reptilian 'insect' carving its image across the tablet that appeared. Hehehe...

Hehe... And that way, Labor pain left him with next to no power himself, his lifepoint count about as low as his own. "What's this abou'," he laughed, drawing his next card. "Though' y' weren' bettin' on loosin'!"

"Gh..." No response from Mendo.

Not that it mattered. "My turn," the blond went on, "An' b'fore the Psycho Shocker attacks, I activate this from my hand..! Stop Defense," he announced, the mantis jumping out from its tablet the instant the spell was called. "An' now... The final attack! _**CYBER. ENERGY.**_

"_**SHOT!**_"

"GHHH-!" Again the sparks ripped through the air, and again the scent of fried mantis filled it. With the insect's destruction the field had already begun to smoke away. Dust streamed off to the side and faded from even that... And as Mendo looked forward his eyes widened even more. "You... They said you were worth... 500 dollars... And that's it..!"

Again with the money prizes. "Tch... Listen here Mendo," he growled, stepping forward. "My 'defeat prize' might not be much, but let me tell-"

-_**-!**_-

"What th' FUUUUUUC-"

"Holy shit Jonouchi_ look outside_!"

"Gh- What th' hell are y' sayin'," he shouted back, hands on his ears, "I can' hear a word yer... Say... Sayin'..." A white jet shot past the window, streaks of steam misting around where it once stood. The plane seemed to almost be circling the tower, the sounds of its engines roaring loudly over the air but that wasn't the point. "Tha'..."

"That plane..." With wings of white and a cockpit shaped like a dragon's head, four legs tucked close beneath the body to serve as a landing gear. Pale-blue tinted glass, two figures clearly visible beneath it... "No way," he muttered, eyes widening. "Sh... He flew back..?"

"For some reason," he breathed, before shaking his head and squinting. "Wait a second..." He frowned. "What th' hell's tha' chasin' her..?"

Again the plane spiraled through the air, evasive maneuvers easily witnessed from those at the window. Behind the plane a shadow could be seen... With great reddish wings and a single white horn on its head. And yet, as the jet finally turned to hover, it was only now that they could see what it was, the pursuer having stopped as well. "_No_," Honda said incredulously. "No _way_... They're being chased by a _DRAGON!_"

"That's not just any dragon," Mendo muttered, coming up to stand beside them with narrowed eyes. Evidently this was almost normal for him, as he continued on as though it was an everyday occurrence. "That's a White Horn..."

White... "A 'White Horn'," Honda repeated, the man beside them nodding.

"Yea. That's Willa Mette's dragon."

* * *

When the radar on the sensors hadn't detected anything behind them, she was beginning to wonder if her brother was seeing things. It was a long flight after all; Mokuba had been awake for the entire trip, sitting in the back seat and either playing games or staring out the window. Counting the time difference, he'd been up far longer than he should have.

So really, when he said something was chasing them, she'd been a little skeptical. Nothing on the sensors, nothing behind them... And then they'd caught sight of the shadow beneath them as they circled the KaibaCorp building, and Mokuba was proven right. "What does the radar say now," she asked tensely, the jet doing a barrel roll as her brother gripped the seat and grimaced.

"Same as before," he told her with a swallow. "No heat or radar, it's like it isn't even there!" Well that was all great, but as long as whatever it was blocked their vision, they couldn't land!

"Damn it..." Time to activate the lift fans, she muttered in her mind, flipping a few switches as the jet turned in the air. Time to hover and find out just what the hell was- The woman paled, watching the 'shadow' swoop up in front of them with a roar. "...Th- What the hell..!"

"A _DRAGON,_" Mokuba shouted, the monster snarling from where it stood before the tower. "We're being chased by a DRAGON?" He abruptly choked grabbing at his throat. "Gah- stings..!" Hahahaha... That was his reward for shouting after silence and nothing to drink the entire trip.

"Need some water," she muttered almost humorously, before wincing as the 'White Horn' sent out another roar. "Tch..." How was this thing even there, really...

"Nee-sama, what's a dragon doing in front of the tower," the boy asked, watching skeptically as his sister flipped another switch.

"Being a pain," she hissed. "Tch... TENMA," Seto roared, the cockpit's glass shield opening up as she stood from her seat. "This tower belongs to me and my brother," she spat. "Your worthless excuse for a dragon will NOT disgrace it..! Take a look," she continued, clicking her dueldisk on and setting a card on its field, "At this building's TRUE protector..! _BLUE-EYES..!_"

"_**GRAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_**" **In an explosion of light the white scales filled the air, the living, breathing dragon facing the hologram before it with a snarl. With ease, the attack she launched destroyed the being- shards of light flickered out from existence, and with one swift click the 'duel' if it could be called that was ended. "_**Grrrnnnn...**_" With a low bow the dragon 'sang', fading out of sight just as quickly as she had been summoned... And as the glass began to close over once more Seto took her seat, flipping the 'hover' off and heading toward the tower's landing pad.

"...Woah," Mokuba commented from the back. "...That was _cool_..."

"Hn!" She smirked, moving the plane to land. "It's nothing but pest control..." Nonetheless, the smirk was closer to a smile than anything... But the woman frowned just as quickly as the expression came, the cockpit popping open to reveal a single young man standing by the tower's roof exit. Great. Obstacles. "...Mokuba," she said calmly. "...How about you get us a way in while I deal with this one, hm?"

The boy nodded. "Got it!" He hopped out the side, his sister doing the same from the opposite end before walking forward. The teen before them seemed to be whistling at the moment- shaking his head in surprise and staring at the one who was now crossing the arena/landing pad between the jet and himself. "WOW," he shouted, clear English hitting the air. "So that was the famous Blue-Eyes White Dragon... Impressive." Of course it was she was half tempted to growl, it was _Blue-Eyes._ At least she wasn't stuck listening to Duelist-Sarcasm though, she decided. This one's tone was genuine.

Though on another mental subject she wished she'd worn a little less than what she was now as she'd forgotten to take into consideration the temperature differences in her rush to leave... This coat was almost unbearable now. Regardless.

"I wonder," the American before her asked, holding a deck of cards in his hand as Mokuba slipped unseen toward the controls on the door. "Which one will defeat the other? Your Blue-Eyes... Or my 'White-Horn'..?" Tch..!

Was there even a question..! "Don't even compare my deck to your cheap excuse for a paperweight," she snarled, stepping forward. "Now get out of my way!"

He shook his head, sighing. "Ahhh... Afraid I can't do that," the teen admitted. "Orders from my employer, 'Yakou Tenma' are to keep anyone from entering. To pass," he continued with a slight bow, "You have to beat me, understand? You win, you move on, you lose... You leave," he said after a moment, looking toward the jet and shaking his head. It almost looked as though he'd planned on saying something else for a moment there... "So!" The duelist grinned. "What'll it be..?"

This person... Seto narrowed her eyes, frowning somewhat as she fastened the dueldisk she'd thankfully had with her inside her jet. "You... If I recall correctly you're one of the Card Professors," she noted, the only sound meeting her 'opponent's ears the sound of her disguised voice. "'Willa Mette'."

"Oh..? You know of me," he asked, laughing almost bashfully. "Well! The so-called 'Prince of Cards' knows my name... That's an honor huh!" P-Prince!

...She'd ignore that. ...Just. For now. "I've also heard you're one of the more high ranking professors," she went on, forcing herself not to snarl at her current opponent's responses. "The apparent 'third tier'..."

"Ooooh! I'm a celebrity!" Willa continued to laugh, arms crossed. "Incredible! You know your stuff, 'Prince'!" Again. Again he'd said-

Hm! "Please," Seto snorted, a dark smirk on her face. "We both know you're nothing but Tenma's 'guard dog' right now..."

The teen seemed more or less unaffected, shrugging. "Hey hey... That's a big difference from the truth there," Willa laughed. "I'm not some guy's 'servant'... I'm just here for the prize; he's my financial support you might say..!" Money? So that was his reason then?

Pathetic. "I had a feeling," she muttered coolly. Just another flea-bitten hyena after the next cash-in... "And just what prize might you be after, 'hyena'?"

"Hehehe... That one's new," he chuckled, moving to the side where the controls for the lights around them sat. "The prize for you is 100,000 dollars... And for one duel, that ain't too shabby! Of course," he added, pulling the switch down for a tall arena to rise up from the center of the building behind him, "...We aren't going to be dueling in the dark so..." Willa gestured to the arena as lights filled the air, shrugging while the resulting glare cast his opponent completely in shadow. "Ta-daaah!"

Ahaha... No. This was hardly the time for a duel- the disk would be for hacking the hologram system. Seto rolled her eyes, already walking toward the door with a glare. "Let me be clear," she warned. "I am in no mood to associate myself with this farce you call a blockade- this is my building. My rules- not _Tenma_'s. So either you let me pass _now_, or-"

"I don't think you should finish that sentence," Willa drawled, moving back to stand in front of the door. "It's useless- either you drink to this rule that Tenma's set up, or who knows... Your entire computer could be gone! Brrf," he added with emphasis, gesturing an explosion as Seto paled. "Just like that!" W... Wh...

"_WHAT_."

Again Willa shrugged, shaking his head. "Hey- don't look at _me_ like that now! Guy's a complete nutcase, there's no telling what he'll do." Really now! Tell her something she didn't figure out for herself already..! "Something like that..." Something like _blowing up her entire damn building_! "I really wouldn't put it past the guy," Willa laughed, before giving an almost shocked look to the ground in spite of his words.

"That..." Tenma... That damned bastard of a- "Alright then," she spat, almost forcing the disk into place as her deck was set within it. "You say you'll let me through after this duel? Then I'll hold you to those words, 'hyena'!

_**DUEL!**_"

"Lets go," she continued, already drawing herself a hand as Willa smirked. "I'll be moving first! And I draw!" And... In her hand right now... The woman glanced over her cards, before looking back toward her opponent with steel eyes. Hn. "Set a card face down," she announced, the hologram immediately appearing before her knees. "Following that, I summon the Blade Knight in attack mode!" Another hologram rose, the almost 'fringed' blades of the monster's armor meeting the air. "Turn end," Seto shouted. "Your move!"

"Alright then," Willa laughed, expression scarcely serious in regard to the duel. "I draw! And I think I'll do something a little like you- I set a face down card," he began, before taking another card from his hand, "And following that summon Lancer Dragonewt, in defense mode! End turn!" Hnn?

The armed and anthropomorphic dragon appeared in a flash, nonetheless hovering in place as it came to her turn. "Hnhnhnn... What's the matter," she taunted, drawing her next card. "Not going to attack- prize not worth the effort?"

"Ahhh, what can I say, your actions confuse me," he chuckled, shaking his head. Hn! As if...

He just didn't want to get caught in a trap... "My turn then," she instead decided to shout, setting another card on the field. "Summon the Blood Vorse," Seto announced as the hologram appeared, "And attack! If you won't move then I'll move for you! KILLING YOUR MONSTER _EASILY,_" she added. "Hnhnhnhnhn..." Fragments of holographic light misted on the air in the path of her monster's blade, a dark smile on her face. At this rate, she thought to herself, she'd have to stall to buy Mokuba time in unlocking the doors... All the same- Her expression abruptly fell, a glimmer of confusion visible in her eyes. "...What the..."

The mist hadn't faded.

It simply became _mist_. The entire body of the monster she'd just destroyed was now smoking in the air, the appearance of a ghostly white version of its original form hovering in front of her. "Activate trap," Willa shouted, the woman's eyes snapping to the card and its description as it flipped upward. "Mist body! With this card," he explained, "Dragonewt can't be harmed by normal attacks... And," he added with a grin, "I take no damage!" That-

Immunity to anything outside its 'card type'... "Tch. You..." Alright then. New plan. "I set another trap on the field," she decided, narrowing her eyes. "End turn." Now... 'Come', she thought with a smirk. Come to meet 'doom'. The cards Shrink and Crush Card Virus would destroy him completely, and all he needed to do was attack...

That was all... "My turn," Willa shouted, his own face twisting into a sneering expression of sorts. "Draw!" The teen looked over his card for only a moment, before turning his odd look toward his opponent. "And it looks like you're in for a treat, 'Kaiba'! You set a trap and I'll do the same... I wonder what you're up to," he chuckled, tone taking a dark turn as he set the cards on the field. "Two cards face down," he began. "And in addition, I'll summon this guy! Axe Dragonewt," he announced, the armored and bipedal dragon appearing on the field in a flash. "Now... The Axe attacks, but first I'll play this spell! Card Hexa-Chief!" Hexa-

"Gh- THIS!" A series of holographic chains appeared to pin her cards down in an almost blinding strike of light, Seto's eyes widening. With this her traps couldn't be activated. Nothing would change that- it was as though they'd been removed from play, only without the ability to come back. Her crush card strategy was completely sealed, and with that..!

"Oh my... With that look," Willa noted, his opponent looking up from the cards with narrowed eyes, "I wonder if one of those were important..." He knew damn well it was important, she'd let her 'pokerface' slip... "Well then," the teen shouted with a grin. "No matter..! Now that I've been assured that your traps won't stop me, I can attack! SO! Axe Dragonewt," Willa ordered, monster charging from the mist that formed him. "Get the Blade Knight!"

Shards of glass and metal seemed to fragment before the hologram followed suit, scattering through the air and fading in the light around them. '_End turn,_' her opponent had shouted, a bare minimum of cards left in his hand. So... "Mine then," she spat, almost ripping the card from her deck. For a hyena like this to even scratch her... Hn! An embarrassment- that's what it was!

Worse than even the mu- ...Actually, she wouldn't be surprised if Katsuya put up quite a fight now. Not something near Yugi's level of course but...

Given that he'd stood against Ra...

(Speaking of Ra, a duel against Katsuya was probably the worst possible idea anyone could have given recent circumstance.)

Seto looked over her card, instantly switching it for another pair in her hands. "Set one card face down," she started, a clear hologram appearing near the chained images beside them. "Your loss will not take much longer... I offer the Blood Vorse as a sacrifice," Seto announced as the monster swirled in a pillar of light and pixels, "Summoning this! The Sword Stalker- and using his effect," she continued, the almost completely black monster grinning with a fixed and menacing expression while it crackled into existence, "He gains 20% of the attack power from the monster you destroyed not long ago! The monster's vengeance is nigh," the woman went on. "Go... Attack Axe Dragonewt!"

"Trap activate!" What..! As the blade dug through the light-formed beast deja-vu seemed to set over the field. From the scraps of pixel and light game a mist-like image... And before it shattered to pieces the monster returned to its original position, hologram fogging in place. "Bad luck eh, Kaiba? Running into this again..." 'Again'? Why was mist body on the field again, the card was-

Her eyes instantly fell on the trap that had been activated, teeth grinding. "Tch..."

"Synchronic ability," Willa laughed, hands held out to the field in gesture. "The card that gives the equipped monster the same ability that others of the same type have! In other words... Axe Dragonewt, as the same type as the Lancer, gains the power of Mist Body... Which means that, like Lancer Dragonewt," he continued, "Axe Dragonewt is no longer affected by any attacks! Hnhnhnhnhn..." Well wasn't that _just-_ "Your deck's predictable," Willa sneered, shaking his head. "'Attack Attack _Attack_'... Your monster power is being destroyed and all because of how much you emphasize that ability. Not many monsters in your deck have magic effects... You're going to need a reliable counter other than just attack if you want to beat me, 'Prince of Cards'!" Again with the prince..!

"Hn!" Nonetheless- he'd obviously done his research... Which meant she'd just have to utilize a few new strategies then. Her deck was powerful- but not without cause. "Damn it..."

"My turn now," her opponent shouted, "And I'm gonna keep the spells coming! I activate the spell Union Attack," he called, another card appearing while his opponent held her glare. "Allowing the monsters to combine their attacks into one against a single monster! Your battle damage is 'zero'," Willa added with a shrug, "But then again, so's your monster! Both Dragonewts attack," he shouted, the mist-beasts charging her swordstalker with a snarl, "DOUBLE SLICER!"

"Ksssst...!" The monster shattered in the air, her arms brought up when the backdraft blasted against her. Gh... Damn it all..!

"Swordstalker is crushed!" her opponent laughed, Seto merely gritting her teeth with a scowl. "And your only shield is gone! You can summon as many things in defense as you like," Willa continued, half cackling as his monsters returned to his side of the field, "But your deck doesn't have a single thing to counter this!"

"Hnnn..? And how's that I wonder," she 'asked', looking across the field as calmly as she could in the current situation.

"Hnn?"

She narrowed her eyes, drawing another card before swiping a different one out of her hand. "In the world of Duel Monsters, there is a being that surpasses all others," she warned, narrowing her eyes. "And I'll show you her now... It's my turn! First, I activate the set spell, 'Silence of the Dead'... Bringing back the Blade Knight in defense mode," Seto announced, watching as the crouching knight's hologram instantly appeared before her in the spell card's place. "And... Following that, a spell card from my hand! Cost down! Cutting the levels of monsters in my hand by two during this turn! Watch," she half-sneered. "The flames from this beast's mouth are more than enough 'magic' ability for _this_ deck..."

"You- That monster-"

"RISE," Seto cried, the light of the Blade Knight's hologram shattering into a fine and diamond-like dust in the air. "The supreme being... BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON!"

"_**GRAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_" Mist body only worked against monsters of a different type... So with that...

The light around her began to take solid form, soaring through the air behind her. With a mighty roar it landed before scales had even developed, before its shining blue eyes were clear enough to see, and before its body even held solid form. The dragon lowered its head, and with still narrowed eyes she nodded. "I had your traps in mind when I summoned this dragon," she called out, pointing her monster forward. "You have a defense against almost all cards in existence but dragons are still an exception to the rule! And with this," she went on, "Your Mist Body is finished! GO! _**BURST STREAM!**_"

"_**GRAAAAAAAAAAAAOO!**_"

"ACTIVATE TRAP!" What? "Delayed Summon!" WHAT-!

"To summon a monster that can surpass Blue-Eyes' power," she asked incredulously, reading the description on the trap. Summon a monster of equal level to your opponent's own when a monster is summoned, provided proper tribute is offered. But even so... "There's not a monster that can do that..! It's-"

"Impossible?" her opponent laughed, Blue Eyes' attack nonetheless launching forward. "Normally yes... But _this _one..." The card appeared on the field to before the monster itself could, and instantly Seto tensed. True- Blue-Eyes was the most powerful normal monster... But evidently the Tenma brothers decided her deck was _too_ powerful that way. Monsters had come and gone for quite some time with more or less power than Blue-Eyes, each with their own drawbacks...

But if there was one thing she knew about Willa Mette, it was that _his_ trump card had an effect that would be, as Katsuya would put it, 'a bitch to defeat'. And low and behold, she thought with ground teeth.

There he went, summoning it _right now_. "I sacrifice the two Dragonewts to summon this," Willa announced, the mist-dragons vanishing in a swirl as Blue-Eye's attack vanished into the fog. "The White Horn Dragon!" SHIT. "You know this effect right," the American 'asked', already catching the slight change in his opponent's expression. "White Horn absorbs any attack to add it to its own for one turn... Which means White Horn's power is above yours now," he laughed. "So! Lets see how you feel against your own dragon's fire power... WHITE HORN," Willa ordered, the Blue-Eyes behind his opponent snarling as its flames gathered on the red-scaled monster's horn. "Let's show our opponent what it means to REALLY be prepared..! Lets show him," he continued, Seto's eyes narrowing further, "Just how useless it is to put a 'trophy card' in a professional deck..!" T- Tro...

TROPHY! "That- is- _it,_" she hissed, before raising her voice to a level Willa would more than easily hear. "Enough with the _nonsense_..! My deck is worth far more than the _pennies_ yours is," Seto spat. "And Blue-Eyes is a monster that you obviously know nothing about..!"

"Hnhnhnhn... Even if what I say is nonsense," her opponent countered, "The attack still stands! I might not have been able to counter an attack from you... But he still has your dragon's power this turn! SO," he laughed, "Lets go... White Horn attacks, with the combined power of it and your dragon! _**HORN DRIVE,**_" Willa shouted, the beam of light shooting from his dragon's horn. "Now!"

"ACTIVATE TRAP," she responded with ease, Blue-Eyes rearing on her hind legs to catch and inhale the entirety of the flames that had rebounded against her. "The Mechanical Magic Mirror!"

"The- WHAT?"

As Willa paled she merely continued, explaining the card as she went. "I choose one card in your graveyard," she stated clearly, "And take its ability for this turn... And the card I choose is Synchronic Ability; which means that your White Horn's effect," Seto snarled, "Becomes Blue-Eyes- His 'absorbed' power is taken back and added to my dragon's own... Until the end of _my_ turn," she added, her opponent left with no choice but to let time pass until his own passed over. Fifty two hundred returned to 22...

While that same 5200 was added to Blue-Eyes' own _three thousand_. Her attack power now amounted to eight thousand and two hundred points- More than enough for a one turn kill. "Last turn Willa," she called, her dragon's cheeks almost puffed as her mouth glowed with the stolen power. "Now... Here's the TRUE attack! _**SHINING BURST!**_" The fires were launched forward, and the field was bathed in light...

-_**TSSSSHTT!- **_

_**-BROUMMM-**_

The hologram didn't stand a chance. It shattered into dust and with it Blue-Eyes began to do the same, the duel finally over. Holograms vanished from sight, and with one final look toward her dragon the monster seemed to give a singing cry. "_**Rrrrrroounnnnnnnnn...**_"One low growl...

Before it was gone. "Learn from this," Seto snarled, walking forward as her disk locked and snapped back into a dormant state. "No matter _what_ I face... Blue-Eyes remains the ultimate beast- And so long as the dragon stands, _so do I_." End of story, she thought to herself, continuing her walk as the smoke and sparks from the battle prior continued to fade.

"Heh..." She paused, nonetheless continuing to move past the young man while his attention was on the ground. "Hehehehehe... Strong dragon," Willa laughed, slowly standing as he pulled something out of his back pocket. "Well... Here's the card to the door then," he began, only to jump as the sound of an opening door met the air.

"Nii-sama," Mokuka said cheerily, slate in hand as he looked to his sister. "I got through! We'll have to use the slate at each door that's locked, but the security system surrounding it is at least down now. After you~"

"Hnhnhn... As expected," Seto complimented, stepping forward with a smile. "Good job."

"W-What..." The pair stopped in the doorway, looking back as Willa stared. "Wait... You don't need a key card..?"

Mokuba snorted immediately- and not surprising either, given the question. "Nii-sama and I redesigned the entire security system after Duelist Kingdom," he laughed, shaking his head with an almost mocking smirk. "You think changing the key code can keep us out? I actually had to _wait_ for you guys!" Ah- that was a little far (though he had a point...)...

"What... But then... What was that," the American protested, gesturing back behind him. "What was that duel just now!" Hmmm?

"That?" Seto chuckled, narrowed eyes seeming somewhat less stony as Mokuba walked on ahead. "A 'Warm-Up'. You could say," she added, turning back to walk inside, "That it was even for 'fun'. Now then..."

To find _Tenma_.

* * *

**AN: **First off, sorry about how long it took me to post this; had a bit of a hectic week between a trip out of town, a trip to the vet, me fussing over badly translated manga...

Mostly it was just me being ALLLLL OVER the place, which means I again had to sacrifice art for the sake of a decently timed update. HOWEVER...

I do have it more or less inked, so you get _some_ of it... More on that below.

What with this being the FINALS for the Contest (Entries are below), the current standings will not be posted now. Instead, wait until the next update; the results will be tallied by then, and I'll be ready to ask what the winner wants for a prize. Annnnd in other news...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Actually going to cover that in a bit Imadork!

...But for now, lets just say that Anzu's mom is _NOT PLEASED_ about how she dropped her 'breakfast' on the floor.

Fixed all that you mentioned by the way- And don't feel bad about it, I'm glad you brought those up! It means I can fix it for anyone else reading! (Also, glad you like how I write Beta, ehehe.)

Hnnn... From what I can tell it's a matter of how important the duel is, along with the other one's mindset. Typically, if the duel is particularly life threatening, or if something REALLY important is on the line, Yami insists. Also, note that Battle City was something Yami himself entered to work for; which is likely the main reason Yugi didn't touch any cards during that time... During Duelist Kingdom, it's also a 'Millennium Item' matter. Keep your eyes open though; Yugi does in fact duel during Yugioh R, and you'll see soon enough.

Hahaha, you might not believe it, but that doesn't change the facts about the contest..!

Makes sense Maggiemay. In any case, your vote has been recorded now~ Sorry about how long Kaiba took to get here. You'll have to wait until the end of the arc before she and Jou actually get to interact again though, ehehe... In any case, enjoy!

So close indeed Iona...

And no! Don't do that to yourself! Anyways, I've got your vote now; I hope you enjoy this chapter and the one coming up!

Until then...

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's learning a lot of Hebrew lately...

* * *

'Chereb', pronounced _kheh-reb_, NOT 'cherub' or whatever, means 'blade, or sword. Alternately 'tools for cutting stone', but that's beside the point.

* * *

So why isn't Yugi freaking out NOW? Because it's like he said; all he has is what Yami told him. Yami did indeed tell Yugi that Anzu's soul is in a card, but Yugi already figured this. The Pegasus thing is creey... (-shudder-) ...But Yugi didn't have to see Anzu's corpse/body. If anything, being able to talk to her until they reverse this gives him a hope spot.

Of course, despite that hope spot, he can still feel what his other half feels, and that's on the exact opposite end... But all Yami's really done is mention the card thing, the twin thing, and the fact that R.A. is in its final phase. He didn't mention that the duel was kiiiiinda the one that sealed it- and that is one of the MAJOR reasons why Yami is so gloomy now.

* * *

SPEAKING of Yami's gloom, he really is in shock, and really went into shock in the manga; Yugi can't even speak to him for a short bit! _And quite frankly, that isn't surprising given what happened in the last chapter_.

As to why there isn't more to this scene in all it's awkward glory, Honda pretty much summed it up; Jou can't control this, they can't stop it... The most they can do is pray to god that the seizing STOPS, and that this ability doesn't kill him.

* * *

Upon looking again, Mendo's sash thing doesn't hold his pants up. It's actually around his middle, leaving a small bit of skin between the two. But then I ended up wondering what the heck it was...

So I made it a sash again. Hey, it's AU. I can do this! ...I think.

* * *

'Ootheca' is the scientific term for a Praying Mantis egg. Interesting eh?

* * *

That scene where Katsuya asked for help? Canon. Seems a liiiiittle more serious given the close shave he just got though.

* * *

Nothing says 'I WILL KICK YOUR ASS' like 'DEATHSCYTHE KILLER'.

You know, I bet the name 'Deathscythe Killer' just _sucks _in the monster world. I bet everyone avoids this guy. Poor guy.

* * *

When Yakou makes his... Interesting analogy, he refers to the fact that Pegasus _seemed_ to favor Gekkou over the two twins, as he called him someone who had already reached the level of 'perfection'. Gekkou, by the way, uses the kanji for 'moon'.

* * *

Hey Usagi! Why's everyone using 'Mr.' all of a sudden?

Because they're in the STATES. Everyone's speaking English, there's no 'san' or 'sama' there..! (Not counting Mokuba's 'nee-sama'/'nii-sama' obviously.)

* * *

In the Japanese, Seto opens the cockpit and then STANDS ON A HOVERING JET before doing this. No Seto. _NO_. THAT IS NOT SAFE. And while I'm all for plane dueling (-coughDomacough-), we are NOT THERE YET.

* * *

In the manga, Kaiba's initial appearance (outside the jet thing) involves him wearing this really... Awesome coat. It leads me to believe it's fall or something though... That or Kaiba is in Alaska or something. AHAHAHA. Anyways.

Regardless, he's suddenly back to his iconic Battle City outfit when he shows up at the tower, and I can't help but wonder when he had the time to change, because he seemed REALLY keen on getting back to Japan, _and he's also the pilot_.

Anyways, I decided to stick with the coat wear that she had at this time. Which means she's actually wearing something _very_ similar to what she had during Death-T in regards to what's under the coat; if you look at the collar in fact, it's_ identical_.

* * *

Willa Mette? Comes from 'Willamette', a river and valley in Oregon. Another codename from Intel! Tadaaaah~ (In case you haven't guessed, 'Mendo Cino' came from 'Mendocino, California'... Another codename.)

* * *

You know, it's a good thing Willa didn't say how much _Yugi_ was worth, or Seto would probably_ not_ have taken things so lightly with him...

* * *

Hexa-Chief is a fixative in Japan. OH BRANDNAMES.

* * *

Now, the real 'Mist Body' card affects ALL attacks, but the owner still takes battle damage. But... The manga decided that Blue Eyes would pull a Duelist Kingdom (Certain monsters have physical attacks, others have magic; Mist Body was unaffected by physical.) and barrel through, so I changed it to mean that 'it doesn't apply to monsters of the same type'... Annnnd since they're all dragons...

* * *

Heeeyyyy~ In the real game, White Horn only takes half the attack. ...Still a rip off. But heyyyyyy, manga why you do this..? (Probably because the cards would have been made AFTER the fact for promotional reasons, ohohoh.)

* * *

Now, originally there's this ENTIRE page in the manga, where Seto's all '_WHAT HAPPENS NOW_', and Willa is all '_Well see, I know what's in your deck, so I figured I'd be able to counter with my deck easy. Blue Eyes caught me off guard, BUT OH WELL ISN'T THIS GREAT?'_

Buuuut it was all before the counter attack. Which was before SETO'S counter attack and... Ahhhh, basically I had to paraphrase or else the speed would be off. Because unlike in manga, I DO NOT BELIEVE IN TALKING AS A FREE ACTION. Duel moves go so much faster...

* * *

OH and Synchronic Ability doesn't work like that BUT I GIVE UP DAMNIT. Besides, there are some cards that really do spread effects like that.

* * *

Originally, FFSeto (Can't really speak for canon, he's all over the place...) really_ was_ just stalling for Mokuba and dueling...

Then Willa insulted Blue-Eyes, herself, threatened the company (albeit indirectly...)... AND SHE GOT _PISSED_. For obvious reasons.

* * *

Also, never use a directly translated RAW. There were lots of awkward moments where I had to guess at what the hell anyone was saying.

* * *

Seto's technically still right about her Blue-Eyes line. She's still there so long as the dragon is _standing_. Hard to stand when you've been blown up by Yugi's Magician though. Heheheeee.

* * *

Musical Notes

Because Usagi didn't finish the art... Again! (I'm sorry guys..! -don'thurtme-)

Music? Again there's none? Yes and no.

Switched my gaming spree over to Okami, but that's a little harder to not get into and write at the same time. So instead, I found myself actually playing bits of the soundtrack... For some reason, 'Twin Devils Sorcery' came up. (Which is here: http : / / www. youtube. com/ watch? v=u_v5Kw7vK04& feature= related AND YES, I ACTUALLY HAD TO FIGHT THE BEST THINGS EVERRRR. Holy crap, smarmy monocle steampunk brit. owls. YES. YESSSSS!)

Also 'Ushiwaka's Dance' ( http : / / www. youtube. com/ watch? v=60FJDw9qcFk &feature= related ). Hehehe. Biggest one? 'The Sun Rises' (http : / / www. youtube. com/watch? v=bRGv2_JnyVA &feature= related ). Almost expected for me to be listening to that one!

...In addition, this collection of the Spider Queen (Geisha Spider in the Japanese version)'s pieces. All of them. For whenever Yakou appears.

http : / / www. youtube. com/ watch? v=WmgLu5DQTfg &feature= related

-shuddershuddershudder-

(And look you have _links _this time, aren't I nice?)

* * *

**CONTEST SECTION**

Same as usual guys! There are two entries tied for the winning place; you have until the next update to vote! Limit one vote per person now...

GO!

FROM IMADORK:

Jounouchi Katsuya will always look out for his friends, no matter how weird things get. That means he will keep on fighting, whether facing maniacs with freaky powers, monsters from a childrens game, or the fact that Kaiba's a girl. Wait, what?

FROM JADEJ.J:

Seto Kaiba has secrets that run skin deep but when Jou gets drawn in all bets are off. Both teens' dark secrets come to the surface & life changing experiences that will take them into dark secrets of Duel Monsters that no one knows.

* * *

Well, that's all for now! Until next time everyone... Enjoy the chapter!


	112. Chapter 111

**Milchamah**

* * *

_Listen close dear children to this story I am about to share._

_The creatures of Darkness' design were powerful, but they followed rather roughly a hierarchy of sorts. A chain of command, if you will. The Behemoth would have to strike last, for as powerful as he was, he was vengeance and rage. He was an emotion that could not exist until harm had already been done. The Leviathan however was second for he was despair and grief, the precursor to the war that would follow, and the descendant of whatever misfortune would send all events into motion. But before anything could happen children, there would have to be a trigger. Something that could spawn those emotions regardless of the Light within the world..._

_Enter the being of **FEAR**. The shadowed beast created by darkness last and intended to strike first. **ZIZ**- He who takes a thousand faces, each with the purpose of instilling **terror**!_

_The power Ziz held was rooted in the fear of the people of light. In the beginning you see, Ziz was not at all powerful. Even the tiniest of animals could have destroyed him. But that animal would only lash out in fear, with no more thought than to be rid of the source..._

_So by the time it worked up enough energy to strike, Ziz would be as powerful as a man. And it would swallow the first animal that met it whole, absorbing its image for use in another time, taking its power as his own. For Ziz had no face to call his own, young children. He was trapped, encased in shadows until he resembled nothing more than a sphere. And within that sphere..._

_Deep inside its folds, Ziz reeked of death. The creature Ziz once was had been after all, in his base form, near death when Darkness overtook him. And by the time Ziz could amount power by simply standing in the shadows, that creature had rotted within its own darkness to nothing more than an accursed skeleton... A creature with blanched and brittle bone and not even a name. Not that any could see._

_For indeed, anything that Ziz felt confident enough to encounter while in this weakened form would never see anything else again._

_As a being of Fear, Ziz was an odd creature. While the Behemoth reveled in destruction, and the Leviathan in conflict between despaired pawns, Ziz' presence alone was enough to attain power. He did not need to fight... Nor even speak. He merely copied the forms of those he met, and when the time was right..._

_Allowed their fear to destroy themselves._

_With one small monster, one demon of fragmented power, the entirety of the ancient world from which I come from was sent to ruin. Children were left huddling in their homes as fathers and mothers both went to war. Animals snarled at every turn and corner, the skies darkened to a pitch black... And in the end, all that the people succeeded in was killing each other._

_What was once paradise created with Light in mind was now a hell on earth, slowly becoming a realm meant for Darkness. At this time, not a single warrior could stand before Ziz. Nor the most powerful of beasts, of mages, of even dragons..._

_Light herself was forced to combat Ziz directly, drawing the demon into combat herself- and from the lands below her people watched, their fear unknowingly aiding the demon in overpowering their creator._

_Light took the form of a creature of the seas, hoping to drown the demon in her waters, coiling around her target and gripping the monster with iron claws- Ziz mirrored her form, movements perfectly balanced with her own and tangling around her own form instead._

_So she took the form of a mighty and armored warrior, pounding the earth in her rarely experienced rage and blasting the demon with fires. But with the image of her own power and the power of fear on his side Ziz's identical shape tore right through it. Fearing for the safety of her lands and people, Light finally fled upward into the sky, in the shape of a magnificent winged **God**..._

_Only for Ziz to follow her in every way, the shadowed replication sending still more fear into the hearts of those beneath them. It was clear to Light now... For her to defeat this being she would have to become something that even fear was incapable of mimicking completely, something that no demon could hope to survive-_

_So she split herself into three..._

* * *

The room he sat in was dark, and almost completely so. The only light there was came from the dull screens before him, illuminating his face in almost harsh contrast to the perpetual shadow around him. There was a single card on the desk beside him- 'Avatar'. A card with a single inky black sphere, the faint outline of a skeleton visible inside if one looked close enough. Try as he might, he found himself unable to simply place it in his pocket, or in a drawer for the moment now. It was as though the card was... Compelling him. Reminding him that the final phase had yet to finish, that he _must_ protect the card until then or else-! Yakou stared dully at the screens before him, his mind seemingly elsewhere as he watched over the video feed with these chaotic thoughts on his mind. He didn't hear anything else, moving for nothing...

It was this that seemed to give the shadow behind him the confidence to move forward, unseen by the figure before him. A tall shadow- taller than Yakou at least- wearing a vest and sunglasses despite the darkness. In the silence, the shadow's hand reached forward... Slowly illuminated by the light of the screens, revealed as it extended toward the card-

"Don't touch that," Yakou hissed, voice low as the man was pulled from his daze. Though he didn't move the hand froze, pulling back from whence it came.

"What... Think I'm going to do something 'funny'," the shadow response, chuckling darkly as the two continued speaking to each other in English as opposed to Japanese. "Come on... What's the worst I could do?"

Yakou snorted- those words alone would drive suspicion into anyone's heart, particularly from _this_ person. "Hn! I _know_ your thoughts," he warned, turning to face the shadow that was behind him. "And I know you're quick to take what's in front of you- if I don't stop you quick enough you'll have my cards and a plane ticket before I can blink."

The shadow laughed, a harsh barking howl that seemed more of a coughing sound than anything else. "Hahaha! Know me that well do you," he cackled. "Then again... You brought me back to life, didn't you... It's only natural you know me that well," he continued. "Mister 'Ja-Shin'... That reminds me," he drawled, cracking his neck and grinning. "It looks to me as though you're fighting a losing battle... One, two... _Eight_ duelists, not counting your 'dear brother'... Hnhnhnhnhn... There's only five left... I'm almost sorry for you!"

"Don't lie," Yakou responded coldly. "You could care less what happens here so long as you get your pathetic idea of revenge over with."

"Aw... I wouldn't call it 'pathetic'," the man sneered in response. "Not compared to you... With your _crumbling_ tower..."

"Hardly," Tenma whispered, picking 'Avatar' up from the table as he turned. "I know exactly what I'm doing... And Mutou Yugi and his friends are only walking deeper into my trap..."

The one before him chuckled and Yakou made to walk past, paying him no mind. "Whatever you say," the shadow laughed, fingering the shades beneath his flag-patterned bandanna. "_Whatever you say..._"

* * *

Footsteps clacked along a polished floor as they walked, pausing only to quickly connect Mokuba's slate to whatever door was in their way and move on. So far, there had been no resistance to their efforts other than this. If anything, resistance would have left her in a better mood. At least then there would be more of a target for her (put bluntly and crudely)... 'Rage'.

But with nothing but empty halls, she had nothing to think about but how absolutely _enfuriated_ Tenma's behavior made her. "What the heck is this," Mokuba growled as they walked, disconnecting the slate from the next door while it opened. "Aside from that duelist there's no one here..! I know the building was apparently cleared," he went on, "But there's no sign of him..!"

Him being 'Tenma' obviously... But before Seto could even respond, chuckling came over the air, the familiar sound crackling as a hologram appeared from above. "Hnhnhnhn..." Well well- Speak of the devil. "I thought you'd be here," Tenma sneered, eyes narrowing from where his hologram sat in midair. "'Kaiba Seto'..."

"You..."

"Coward," Mokuba shouted, foot slamming his foot on the ground. "Appearing as a hologram again..!" Her words exactly, but _to the point now..._

"I've returned to this building," Seto hissed with a stiff tone. "And we can 'talk' about how I'm dealing with your actions later... But I'm _ORDERING_ you to leave this building Tenma... And NOW!"

Tenma merely smirked, shaking his head. "I refuse," he said almost cheekily. "You and I both know it's an inexcusable act... But I'm still not leaving," he chuckled, somehow taking the words that even a stubborn child would use and giving it the severe tone of a businessman without losing face. "Besides," he went on, body almost shaking despite the hologram's apparent sturdiness. "The final phase of my R.A. Project is already underway," he sighed, "So why would I stop NOW?"

R.A...? What the hell... "What are you planning Tenma," she barked, fists clenched and at her sides. "What is this so-called project you've stolen _MY_ computer for?"

"Hnhnhn..." And for the love of everything, _stop laughing now._ "Partially personal," he said calmly, before his expression twisted into a mad and wide-eyed grin. "But also to give Mutou Yugi the most humiliating... Crushing... And despairing defeat in the existence of this world..." Yugi..! That-

He'd never even met Tenma, so how-! "What the hell does Yugi have to do with YOU!"

"The same thing he does to you of course," he stated, expression dying to a narrowed glare. "To you and me Mutou Yugi is, and always will be a bitter. Enemy." …

What.

"You know 'Seto'," What- Did he just use her first name..! _WHAT-_ "I _admire _you." Se-Seriously _what_. _What the hell was he talking about!_ "You and I... We both grew up in similar situations." She doubted this. "When I was young, my brother and I lost our parents as well... We were left alone, with nothing to our name. But you overcame that, didn't you," he continued on, voice again sinking into a crazed tone. "You fought... And with time gained riches and honor from _nothing_..." That...

...She would hardly call the process taken to get here 'honorable'...

But self-deprecating thoughts would have to wait- Tenma wasn't done. "There is only one blemish on your seemingly perfect existence now," Tenma announced seriously, looking down with what could even be called dead eyes. "Mutou Yugi... _Someone who did the same to me._" But _how_, he'd have never met- "_As a person of similar circumstance to mine_," Tenma drawled, leaning back on his 'invisible' seat, "I was hoping we could even work together on this-" Bullshit bullshit _bullshit!_

"What the hell do you think you're even saying..! YOU'RE ALREADY OCCUPYING THIS BUILDING!"

"Well then don't interrupt and we'll all be 'square' won't we," he laughed, eyes again gleaming with madness.

She found herself falling silent with those words, something that likely even shocked her brother. Possibly. Maybe. Who knew- she didn't even know herself. But what she did know... "...Are you really him," she asked clearly, expression cold. "'Yakou Tenma'?" Tenma's expression seemed to waver, even growing soft and she continued. "During those meetings and discussions here concerning the Duel-Disk system, I remember you being suspiciously curious about those workings... But even _this_," she continued, "Is unlike the one I saw then. Quiet... Observant... As I recall," she said somewhat louder, "You have a twin brother, Gekkou. Even quieter than you, I almost missed him completely last time we met! I wonder," she hissed, narrowing her eyes, "Just _why_ that was..."

The hologram above her snapped, a choked and strangled cry escaping him. His hands flew toward his head, holding it as his entire body stiffened. "Gekkou's _circumstances_," he forced out with a loud snarl, "Are of no concern to you..!" No concern... And why was that? "Noisy thoughts," he whispered to himself, cradling his head. "So noisy... So..." . . .

"What the h... What's going on," Mokuba whispered uneasily, Seto herself too shocked to speak. "What's happening..!"

Tenma's hologram was beginning to fade... erratically, with no discernible pattern as he fell backward. "Gekkou... Lost to Yugi," he cried to himself, not longer appearing to address those below. "It still worked though, it still... It's no use," he assured himself, "It's all fine..!" 'All fine', what on earth was he talking about..! "And of course," Of course..? "That man will be punished by **him**," he whispered, "By... By..." As Tenma continued to fade, his own smoking form wrapping around his head his eyes widened, sweat covered face looking down in fear. "But I'm the owner," he whispered, almost to himself. "The Ja-shin are mine... I'M the owner, I'll punish him... I'll..." Wait...

Wait- "Get back here," Mokuba shouted, the final shreds of the hologram fading. "HEY! YOU!"

What was going on here... What...

"Nee-sama," her brother called, Seto already turning toward the only room capable of displaying the hologram before them. "Nee-sama, what's going on here..? What are the 'evil gods'..?" As if she knew..!

"We need to find out for ourselves," she forced out, storming forward with still clenched fists. "Before it's too late..!" As to what 'too late' even was, she didn't know...

But something told her that Willa's earlier statements on Yakou's 'sanity' were more accurate than even he had thought.

* * *

"Yakou and I were orphaned at age eight, taken in by Pegasus-sama approximately two years later," Gekkou was explaining, Yugi and Anzu both walking (for the most part) behind him as he led them toward the next card professor's stop. "It seemed to be a habit of his, looking out for kids like that. He'd visit or gather orphaned children and fund whatever dreams in the Duelist world they had, be it in design, in business... Many of them," he went on, walking up one of the many staircases the building had, "Went on as the top of their classes. And a few, such as myself and my brother, were fortunate enough to become his proteges, his 'sons' if you will. However, while I plan on continuing where my 'father' left off," Gekkou continued, "Yakou's idea is far from that. He would have at one time though," he said softly. "Before Pegasus-sama died he was kind, placid... Some even called him weak. But... When he found Pegasus-sama's body he secluded himself in his room for a number of weeks, conducting research."

"...Research," Yugi questioned, large eyes showing curiosity despite the situation they were in. As it had turned out, no one had been able to move until Yugi took his other half's place- the 'Other Yugi' had been completely immobilized by his shock, and still was. "What kind of research..?"

Gekkou frowned, eyes dimming more than they already had. "At one point, I assumed it was 'Fringe' science. Things that seem impossible but, when it comes to the end, are in fact scientifically probable at their very base. But what Yakou is doing would not even be classified as that. You mind as well call it 'Mystic Science'," he snorted. "A modern day study on _magic_... It almost makes me wish I'd paid more attention to it before in fact..." The man sighed, before going on. "At least maybe then I'd have a bigger idea of what was going on... Yakou, from what I can tell, was trying to explain the energies behind the Millennium Items, starting with and focusing on the Millennium Eye," he explained somewhat loudly as he ran up the stairs. "During research he found three 'beta' cards that Pegasus had started but failed to finish having deemed them 'unsafe' despite apparently being nothing but paper..."

The other two traded looks a moment, running or floating behind as Gekkou continued to talk. "Once my brother found those cards he immediately set to work on creating final versions of them. From what I know of them they bear tremendous power, more so than even the Egyptian Gods that Pegasus-sama created and locked away. But as a result they bear with them a curse... A dark curse, that is for sure. The final thing that our teacher warned us about when he locked them away was that they were to never be named. They would, at the most, be 'evil gods'- nothing more nothing less, they were to remain _nameless _and thereby _powerless_. But the cards have changed Yakou," he lamented. "His desires were twisted by those cards and in the end he fueled its power, giving them names... He's become completely devoted to 'their' project, to the revival of-"

"Gekkou-san," Yugi said hesitantly, swallowing back fear. "These 'nameless evil gods'... You speak about them as though they have power without even being summoned, from _within_ the cards... But..." But that couldn't be... It was easy to accept they existed, but even the Gods themselves could do no more than slowly announce their presence from the hand..! "Your brother said they were using Anzu's body to bring back Pegasus," he went on, "But what does that have to do with this, and why would they use _her_ body..!"

Gekkou blinked, turning to the two to pause again. For a moment, he seemed unable to even speak- however, he quickly snapped himself from his daze. "...If it is her life you're worried about there _is_ still time. If we hurry, and we shut down the system, then the project fails- she'll be returned to her body. There's still hope. But..." He looked over Anzu, shaking his head. "While I was under Yakou's control, I might have heard the reasons. 'Three requirements', he said... One, the body must me mentally and physically sound," he began, Anzu muttering something under her breath while the man continued. "Two... They can't be a duelist. Not one with a physical deck anyway- Duelists of this generation have an instinct of sorts... Their souls are stronger, more prepared for attack. The hard-core duelists, those with disks and decks in particular, are the strongest, they're prepared for a challenge from anywhere really... At least," he muttered, "That's what I gathered the reasoning for it to be. But there was one final, one _very_ personal reason," Gekkou warned, "And that was the fact that it needed to be someone close to Yugi. Someone close enough that their disappearance alone would shatter his very soul. And so, Mazaki Anzu, you were elected for the task..." That...

_That _was the reason..? Silence came over the empty stairwell, and while Yugi seemed to fall into a state almost similar to the other half that was sitting within the back of his mind, Anzu was even more visibly affected. "Why... Why does it have to be someone close to YUGI," she shouted, shaking her head. "All of these reasons... My mind... Is _not_ stable," she cried, Yugi biting his lip. "I speak in separate languages that I shouldn't even know, without even _meaning_ it! If I had... _Anyone_ 'diagnose' me..." The woman shook her head, moving on. "And 'not a duelist'... That shouldn't even make a difference! More than anything I _know_ the kinds of things that can happen to a soul, _AND_ the mind, and I will fight until my _last BREATH_ to keep that from happening... ...But _this_..?" Gekkou continued to stare, and the holographic ghost shook her head, expression caught between incredulity and rage both. "This person has _nothing. To do. With __**Yugi**_," she snarled, voice almost seeming to rumble through the hologram much to the unease of the others. "Absolutely _nothing_... So _why..._"

"That's impossible." Yugi and Anzu froze even further, shaking in their places with Gekkou's response. "I don't believe all of it myself... But Yakou... Yakou was told specifically by an _eyewitness_ inside the castle that Mutou Yugi _stole_ Pegasus-sama's Millennium Eye... And in addition," he said gravely, Yugi already growing pale. "_MURDERED_-"

"No..." She shook her head, Yugi's eyes filling with nothing but complete and utter shock. "That's impossible, no... Who would even _SAY_ that," she protested. "Who... How could anyone..."

"The eyewitness' name was Keith Howard," Gekkou told them, walking up the stairs of the open room. "You would know him as 'Bandit Keith', former champion of-"

"-The U-S-A!" A loud shout came from the other end of the staircase, high on the balcony-like floor that oversaw their steps. As the others turned, silent, the man standing there continued to cackle at this fact, before going on. "But don't think I won't be reclaiming that title soon enough... Of course," he went on, taking his shades off with a grin. "It sure as fucking hell took you long enough to get here... And you! Gekkou!" The man tensed, and Keith continued to laugh. "Hehehehehe... Sly way to get ahead there... Got you all the way to me!"

"Th... That..."

"Bandit..."

Though the shirt he wore had longer sleeves than last they'd seen him it was most definitely him... A little gaunter than before but undoubtedly Keith. His messy hair hung over his eyes from where it wasn't covered by his bandana, and with a low chuckle he stared across to the three heading toward him. "It's been a damn long time, _hasn't _it 'Yugi'... Course, I can sympathize with you... With an appearance like that, I'd be hiding my woman too, HAHAHAHAAA!"

"Why you _filthy, SON OF A_-"

"KEITH," Gekkou snarled, cutting Anzu's almost uncharacteristic shouts short. "Why did you lie to Yakou about Pegasus-sama? Why did you tell him that Yugi killed him?"

"What, that?" The blond snorted. "Pah! Didn't say any shit like that, that's different... I wonder, that 'Joey' start those rumors up?" WH- That lying- "Well... What can I say," he laughed, shrugging. "I saw the body, figured out who was in the tournament... And a few hours later I called 'Yakou-chan' before telling him everything was ready!"

"WHAT-"

"Now isn't the time," Yugi managed to shout, running toward the other side of the railing. "Remember? And you," he continued, "Bandit Keith! Are you the Card Professor for this block?"

Before Gekkou could do more than shake his head Keigh again laughed, going so far as to spit at the ground beside him. "Pheh! You're jumping way to fast there shorty..." SHORTY! "The one you're looking for is this guy! The one who is... Possibly... Almost equal to me," he decided, the others only now spotting the second man in the room.

"...Keith," the man growled, face forced into an exasperated 'smile'. "Your lies are complete shit..." He stood, before continuing. "Name's Ted Banias," he growled, voice heavily accented. "The guy with the key for this block. And you," he continued, tone obviously linking his words to the one behind him. "If you're going to stand there, do something useful."

"Well come _on_, I paid my debt unlike someone here," Keith chuckled. "All I have to do is stand guard, I'm free until all of you brats are knocked out! Hehehehehe..."

"Hn. Expected from someone who does nothing but trick people into doing what he wants..."

"OI, what was that..!"

Yugi clenched his fists as he dully watched the scene before him, eyes flicking toward the door on the opposite end of the room. His other-self was still in shock over what had happened to Anzu before- that much was clear. He was silent as the grave his grandfather likely found the puzzle in, and when the boy reached for his presence he was met with cold shivers and grief.

He was tired as well- exhausted he would imagine, going through duel after duel in such a short span on top of everything. On top of Anzu, on top of the news of what was happening to Jonouchi and even the effects of the 'Ja-shin' in general...

The other him wasn't in any condition to fight he decided, clicking the duel-disk into place and reaching into the pocket where his own deck sat. So this one was his! "Alright then," he called out, "I'll-"

A hand snapped in front of him, Gekkou looking down with broken eyes. "...Yugi-san," he asked, bowing his head. "Leave this one to me please... And if I may ask just one thing, allow me to help you to stop my brother's foolish plan."

"W... G-Gekkou-kun... You..."

"You'll do that for..."

"Pffft-haHAHAHA!" They looked back to the front, eyes narrowing darkly as the American before them grinned. "Oii oii.. Gekkou," Keith laughed, the red-head beside him rubbing his head in annoyance. "You're doing this for your _rival_? Come on man, turning against your brother? And YUGI," he howled. "For all you know this guy's about to screw you over, he's your target's big brother!"

"...Yea," Yugi said quietly, looking up at the fairly tall man beside him. "He is... ...But that just makes me believe in him more," he continued with a shout and a nod. "Gekkou-kun..!"

"Thank you," he said quickly, stepping forward. "I won't fail you, believe me..."

"Jesus, You beat the fucker and then hand him the next duel on a silver platter..."

Ted was probably very much used to ignoring the man behind him- he stood up and walked forward, his own duel disk already primed for battle as he took position across from his opponent. "Let's get going then," he called out, Yugi finally identifying the accent he was hearing as an almost stereotypical southern drawl.

"_**LET'S DUEL!**_"

"I'll go first," Ted announced, the cards almost floating into his hand with the speed he drew them with. "I'll set one card face down," he began, setting the card before mimicking the motion on top of the hologram itself, "And summon the Spike Rhinoceros! Turn end," he finished, the thorned armor of the anthro-beast shimmering before them.

Gekkou merely nodded, drawing his next card... And in an instant his quiet demeanor became replaced with something far more severe. "My turn," he announced, voice pealing through the room. "First... Graceful Charity," he began, the card's image glistening on the field. Discard two cards, draw two, Yugi mentally muttered, the spell card's image quickly fading as the effects took hold. It was a fairly basic card... But why use it so soon into the match? Another card appeared before him following the spell's activation, instantly crouched down with a book in her arms. The summoned elf stared forward with glassy eyes, hair trailing down her back as goggles hung over her brow. "Following that," Gekkou had shouted, "I summon the Learning Elf in defense mode! In addition I set two cards face down," he added, the holograms appearing before him with a flash. "That ends my turn!"

"Ffft.. THAT'S your monster," Ted snorted, shaking his head. "An elf like that? GhahahaAA! Oi, Keith," he called out, the blond giving a snort of recognition from the side. "This really the guy that Pegasus favored over Yakou? Really?"

The American nodded. "Heh! Can't say I didn't expect it," he chuckled. "But would you believe what the others were saying? That Pegasus called this guy 'Perfect', what a joke!"

"Perfect? Ghahaha!" Stop laughing already... "That's great! Well... Seeing how you're an obvious amateur, I'll take my turn," Ted decided with a grin. "I'll set another card first... And then summon the Speed Jaguar," he shouted, the curvy leopard warrior appearing with a blade almost similar to the Panther Warrior's own. Idly, Yugi couldn't help but notice the Jaguar's description; double the damage of an attack when damage is inflicted... With an attack power of 1000, direct attack could be devastating...

But the traps Gekkou had set would obviously prevent that much. ...Right?

From across the one who was currently defending their cause Ted was grinning with enough malice to put even Keith to shame. "Lets see what kind of strategy the 'perfect duelist' has forged," he laughed, cackling as he tapped the buttons on his disk. "I enter the battle phase and attack!"

"G- Trap activate," Gekkou countered. "Mirror Barrier- encasing the Learning Elf for three turns and-"

"Not so fast," Ted laughed. "I'm chaining your trap to this! Hand-to-Hand combat! Canceling all traps and spells activated in this phase!" Oh no..! "So! Spike Rhinoceros," he ordered, "Attack the Learning Elf.. ._**SHOULDER PIERCE!**_" The horns gouged the elf easily, and as the rhino retreated the hologram shattered to pieces. Right behind it however, the Jaguar was launching her own attack. "Next up," Ted shouted, "Speed Jaguar... Direct attack! _**DOUBLE SABRE SLASH..!**_"

"NGGGH-"

As Gekkou stumbled under the force of the blow his opponent continued to laugh, shaking the hair from his face while his monsters returned to his side of the field. "HahaHAAA!" Wisps of smoke still hovered over where Gekkou was struck, and Ted continued to howl with laughter. "What's the matter huh? Feeling sore?"

The man said nothing, merely drawing a card. "Learning Elf gives me one card when she's defeated," he said plainly, Ted snorting from across him.

"Pf! That card'll be your defense monster for next time... Count on that!" Still Gekkou ignored his words, merely staring blankly. "I end my turn for now," Ted continued. "Good luck getting out of this..."

"My turn," Gekkou responded quietly, drawing his next card to carefully replace it with another in his hand. "And once again, the spell Graceful Charity."

Wh... What..! Even Keith looked up at that one, sunglasses half falling from his stupefied face while Ted balked. Again..? Gekkou silently did as the card ordered and the others stared, swallowing. "Hey hey hey," Ted muttered, shaking his head with an almost nervous laugh. "What's in your deck there pal, throw-away cards? What's your deal..!" This...

Was he really having so much trouble with his hand that he had to do this? Really..? "Hnhnhn... Man... Yugi," Keith laughed from the side. "This is the guy you're placing your faith in? You don't think it's obvious what he's doing?" Gekkou remained silent, back turned to Yugi and Anzu both as Keith went on. "Such a crappy hand... It's obviously fake! He's losing on _purpose_," he sneered, shaking his head. "So that his little twin brother's plan will make it through no problem... With nothing for you to say about it..."

Still, Gekkou was silent, seemingly frozen a moment before finally taking a few cards from his hand to speak. "...I set another pair of cards face down," he stated flatly, eyes shadowed by his hair. "Next... I summon the Thorough-bred elf in attack mode," he cried, regaining his confident tone. The muscled elf hovered in place, and as another card flipped upward a sword appeared in his hands. "And before I attack, I equip him with my first face down card... The Spirit Slayer! Raising his power to 23-hundred..."

"Oh..." Ted stared a moment, smirk unchanging. "Finally summoned a monster did you..."

His opponent refused to acknowledge the words. "GO," he ordered. "Thorough-bred Elf... Attack the Speed Jaguar!"

"Hehehe... GOTCHA," the red-head laughed. "Activate trap... Curse of Darkness!" As the Elf raised its blade chains shot from invisible points in the sky, wrapping completely around the blade and body. Try as the elf might it could not move, and the hologram for the Jaguar remained untouched. The attack was canceled, something that Ted himself announced just now...

And Keith continued to laugh. "Still sure you want to do this," he sneered, Yugi doing his best to drown the blond's words out. "It's getting more and more suspicious... You still want to believe in this guy..?"

"Stop trying to convince me otherwise," he said curtly, not even looking toward the American. "It's useless- I decided long ago whose words I would believe."

"Ph..." The man paused, only to break his silence with an even louder laugh. "GHAHAHAHAH! You stubborn little bastard..! Gekkou could win or lose, but you won't accept that he's already picked to go down like a little shit! HAHAHAHA!"

"My turn," Ted howled, joining Keith in laughter despite earlier bickering. "And it all ends now! I offer the Jaguar and Rhinoceros as sacrifices," he shouted, setting card after card on the field as an enormous and mutated beast crackled behind him. "Yaku Gui! Giving half the attack and defense of a sacrifice as bonus to my summoned monster, while giving him a bonus effect... And the monster I summon," he roared, the gorilla-like lion snatching both sacrificed monsters from the ground, "IS THE ASSAULT LION!" A snarling and synthesized roar tore through the air, freezing the others in place. "Now... Eat the Speed Jaguar," he ordered, the rhino's hologram snapping out of sight as the other was tossed into the Lion's mouth. "Gaining 500 attack points on top of the effect that'll kill _YOU! _You're about to take sixty-two hundred points in one shot," he laughed, the hologram of his monster standing obediently behind him. "So have fun dodging this!" No... "The finishing blow..." No..! "ASSAULT LION," Ted roared. "ATTACK THE THOROUGH-BRED ELF!" NO!

"Trap activate," Gekkou swiftly announced, card flying upward as the Lion's fist collided with the hologram. "Amulet of Kindness- I take no battle damage this turn!" He said that, but as the monster was divided into shattered light with all but the sole card on his field... "N... Nghh..."

"Ffft... Damn," his opponent chuckled, shaking his head. "You got out of that by the skin of your teeth didn't you..." And thank god for that, Yugi thought to himself with a swallow. He could use the next turn to turn this all around now. But...

With a monster this strong... "My turn," Gekkou said quietly, looking over his hand shortly after Ted's announcement to end his own. And for a number of moments as they looked over the field, he was silent. He stood, looking over his field and at the cards in his hands in silence...

"What's wrong," Ted taunted, smirk twisting into a cheshire worthy grin. "Not summoning a monster..?" Ooogh... And what he wouldn't bet Ted had a stop defense or... Or...

Gekkou was still silent Yugi realized, and with a swallow he found himself pale faced and shuddering with the worst thoughts on his mind. "G... Gekkou-kun," he asked hesitantly, Anzu as well holding her 'breath' if it could be called that. "Gekkou-kun, are you going to..."

"Are you going to summon..."

More silence. The time was ticking down for his turn and finally Gekkou spoke. "Right now in my hand," he said clearly, "There are no monsters." No... No mons...

Again silence prevailed, gobsmacked expressions coming over the crowd before their opponents grinned. "Hahah... HAHAHAHAHAA! Now THAT," Ted howled, Keith doubled over with laughter, "Is some SERIOUS hand trouble..! HAHAHAHAHAAAA!"

"That... That..." No monsters in his hand..? _Nothing_! How was he supposed to... How were they going to... "G-Gekkou-kun..!"

How... "Hnhnhnhn... Exchanging your hand so quick, and you still don't have a monster," Ted chuckled. "Didn't you think to balance out your deck before?"

"Hehehe... Even I didn't think it'd go this far," Keith laughed from the side, holding his head. "But hey... With this, we mind as well have defeated Yugi right," he continued viciously. "Once Gekkou's gone, everyone with him is expelled from the building... HuhuhaHA! And you _really_ think he's gunning for your side, shorty?" Again with 'short'..!

Yugi found himself looking at the ground despite his faith however, before Anzu's presence pulled his attention aside. "Yugi... This duel..." She bit her lip, hesitating. "I- Are you sure-"

"He's like me I think," he whispered, looking back up to stare at Gekkou. Anzu blinked almost confusedly at that, and he continued. "His relationship with Yakou... It's like me and the 'other me', in the Puzzle. Gekkou-kun," he continued, shaking his head. "I don't know how I do, but I know that he's fighting to free his brother from those Ja-shin. Even if he wasn't fighting for me," he continued louder, "Gekkou-kun won't lose..!"

"Pfft... Say what you want," their opponent retorted, "That doesn't change the facts! No shields, no monsters... The only thing you can do is surrender! And are you going to do that," Ted snarled. "Are you going to end this now..?"

"Yes..." What? The others tensed, eyes widening.

"_What_..?"

"This turn is over," Gekkou continued, taking one small step forward as he took a card from his hand. "Because this turn, I _DEFEAT YOU._" It was the card he'd drawn from the Learning Elf Yugi realized. One he'd had almost from the beginning. The card that had been there for almost the entire time... "I activate a spell from my hand," the duelist announced, the hologram shimmering into existence for all to see and read with shock. "ARM'S REINCARNATION!" A...

Arms... The card that brought back Equip spells as monsters, that... "You fucking _idiot_," Keith roared from the side, "_HE'S GOT AT LEAST THREE IN THERE-_"

The field was instantly swarmed with ghostly apparitions, each one with the effects of their cards and a base stat set of 500 over 500. The Spirit Slayer with 1000 attack due to its boost... The Mirror Barrier, who would be immune to attack for three turns regardless... Amulet of Kindness, which wouldn't be damaged regardless, and even two others which had been discarded...

Discarded... "You've been milling equip spells this entire time... Just for this combo," Ted muttered incredulously, Keith as well glowering from the side. "All this time... Gh... Well that's just great," he laughed, before shaking himself. "You have a field full of small fry.. But I'll teach you! You think you have a wall of shields," he snarled, "Well try again! This trap here, on my field now... I'll tell you what it is just to see the look on your face," the man laughed, "...It's stop defense! So it doesn't matter if you have a monster now," Ted cackled nervously. "The Assault Lion will slaughter you anyway... HAHAHAHAHAAAA! HAHAHAAAAA!"

Gekkou remained almost coldly silent, merely tapping the button on his disk. "You won't have until next turn," he said plainly. "Because I told you- it ends _now_. Let me show you _my_ trap," he continued, those across from him growing white. "The set spell 'Power Connection'- for each monster on my field, other monsters gain a 500 point boost in attack... So from this card alone," he continued sternly, voice steadily growing louder despite the calm tone, "Each of my monsters gain 2000 attack points!"

"W-What..! But that's..." He shook his head, tiny holographic tags briefly appearing on the field to visualize the change in attack power. "That's..." It was incredible, Yugi thought to himself with wide eyes. Now within one move, he would be able to destroy him completely, he would...

"GO," Gekkou roared. "I enter the battle phase! And first to attack is the Spirit Slayer," he announced, the blade wielding specter launching forward. "Whose effect brings your Lion's attack down by five hundred!" As its opponent's power fell just barely beneath his own the sword cut cleanly into the hologram, the monster scattering into pieces. And with the shield down, it only took three other monsters to destroy Ted's points completely... Leaving him to do nothing but fall to his knees in shock.

"These..." He swallowed, the weapon-wielding mists fading from sight as Gekkou stared across the field coldly. "These tactics..."

"You've lost now Banias," Gekkou said coldly, turning to speak with his own allies. "Next time, don't be so quick to judge..." H-Hahh...

They could all do to learn that lesson after this..! "Gekkou-kun," Yugi breathed, shaking his head. "Gekkou-kun, you did it..!"

"If only because your persistence allowed me to fight," he told him. "...Yugi-san... If you hadn't voiced your beliefs so loudly I probably would have given in." Wh...

That... "...I see," he found himself saying, a smile coming over his face. If Gekkou were to fight with no support... He wouldn't have had the confidence to make those plays. But with the added hope... "Let's battle together from now on, alright," Yugi told him.

"Alright. Now-"

"You _fucking SCREW UP!_"

"GGFFFMGH-" -_KIIISH!-_

The others jumped and turned to the side as the sound of shattering glass met the air along with a shout. Ted's body crumbled beyond the glass wall that had separated the room from the hallway, and though there were weakened movements that told them he was alive it was obvious that Keith's kick alone had caused intensive damage. "Tch... Fucker can't even do one simple task," the blond snarled, spitting toward where Ted now lay. He stormed forward, pulling the man up by his shirt and continuing. "You... You lost at the KEY FUCKING MOMENT! How the HELL ARE YOU GONNA PAY FOR THIS _HUH?"_ He gave another shake, Ted's head slumped against his chest. "You call yourself a 'Card Professor? Your debt just doubled _IDIOT! _Thanks for fucking NOTHING!"

There was no response from the man and, seemingly in disgust, Keith tossed him back on the ground. Only a groan told them that he was alive... And as Keith turned to them Yugi found himself barely able to focus on moving ahead rather than making sure the man was 'alright'. They had to move on. ...Even if it meant leaving their opponent's behind in despairing condition. "Give us the key," he demanded, hand held outward as the blond turned to them and sneered. "Or do you plan to fight as well?"

"Hn!" Keith snorted, hands stowed in his pockets. "I don't have any damned keys," he spat, the others briefly paling before he continued. "But you can rest your pathetic heads about it," he laughed, "'Cause I know a 'short cut'... Don't worry about a damn thing," he added, gesturing for them to follow with a dark grin. "I'll lead you straight to Yakou's place..." With little else to do, the three looked to each other...

And followed after the one who had just beaten his so-called ally into a 'sleep'.

* * *

It was a little difficult to tell how long they'd been walking really. They'd passed hallway after hallway looking for the next opponent following Mendo, walking up and through stairwell after stairwell...

In fact, they were in a stairwell right now, one locked in completely by walls with a railing down the center. "Man," Katsuya muttered, shaking his head. They'd been quiet for a while- likely because shortly after Seto's jet vanished Mendo had noticed the severed strands of hair stuck to Katsuya's head and started questioning them on it- and had otherwise focused on putting as much distance between them and the last room as possible. "T' think Seto-chan came all th' way here..."

"It_ is_ her company," Honda said with a shrug. "Makes sense she'd come back with all this."

That was a good point but... "Yea... Well. Still weird," he responded, "Seein' her arrive like tha'."

"This because of the dragon," he asked 'hopefully'.

He turned immediately with a scowl. "Wh- NO!"

"Of course not," Honda muttered sarcastically, "Because seeing a giant holographic dragon blocking your girlfriend's entrance is _completely_ normal." Girl- (He didn't have an answer and he probably wouldn't get one damn it..!)

"Damn it Honda, will you lay off!"

-_tlk_- -_clunk_-

The pair froze, looking upwards as a few clicking and thunking noises came through the air. "Hey," Katsuya whispered, slowly continuing his way upstairs. "You don' think..."

"Next card professor," Honda offered, following beside his friend and silencing his footsteps as best he could. "Only one way to find out..."

"Ri- Ah-!" As Katsuya turned the corner he blinked, actually pausing in what was supposed to be a 'duelist assault'- around the middle of the hall, pulling a can from a vending machine and staring at them with wide eyes was a young woman likely around their age. She reminded him of Shizuka in fact, at least during her quiet moments; brown hair, small glasses perched on her nose (though he could hardly say Shizuka had glasses any more), and what looked to be a school uniform even. There was also, however, a duel disk on her arm...

Which was part of the reason why he instantly found himself pointing toward her as his own disk clicked into place, 'assault' continuing. "Aha!" he shouted, Honda running up behind him as the blond grinned. "Found yah! You're this block's Card Professor then?"

She seemed to freeze. "N-Nn..." The girl simply stared, Honda raising an eyebrow.

"...Well... She seems... Nice... ...Quiet..." While the teen continued to look at the girl oddly Katsuya shook his head, smirking.

Who cared if she was quiet, she had their next key. "C'mon," Katsuya laughed, already turning on the deck's shuffle option. "Let's du-"

The moment she moved her foot back, he knew what was going to happen. Annnnd still, he was surprised, if only because of how damn weird it was. "Nh..."

"SHIT!"

"Nh-aah!" The woman bolted, Katsuya instantly taking off as Honda choked.

"Wh- She's running," he asked incredulously, frozen in place.

"C'mon Honda, we gotta catch her!"

"W- Right! HEY, WAIT," he cried, the two both picking up speed as they chased after the girl. "Come on, we just need to duel you..!"

If anything, she'd picked up speed for that, disappearing around the corner. "Nhh..." Hall, hall, hall... By the time they got to the girl they could see her frantically clicking the up button on the elevator in the middle of it, fearfully looking over her shoulder at the two. "Aaaahh..!"

Honda and Katsuya both stopped, somewhat slouched over as they caught their breath. The girl obviously running any further now so... "Hah... H- Damn," Katsuya wheezed, "What th' hell w's that about..?"

"Why did you run away," Honda asked. "I mean... What..."

"I... I'm sorry," the girl hurriedly replied, taking another step back as she bowed. "It... I shouldn't have done that..." Um. Kay, but why- "I'm just... I'm a little afraid of duelists, to tell the truth.."

The two blinked, staring for a moment. "..._Afraid._" Honda repeated, Katsuya tilting his head.

"Ah... Yea, hate t' tell y'," he coughed, "But... Y're kinda a duelist yourself. Unless yer holdin' that dueldisk f'r someone and decided t' try it on," Katsuya went on, laughing weakly at his own joke. He was pretty sure that wasn't the case though...

And as the girl shook her head, that made itself obvious. "No... No you're right," she said shakily, "I am... For the time being, I'm actually the duelist in charge of this block," she continued, swallowing. "I... I told them it was impossible," the girl went on, completely flushed in the face, "But they insisted... They said _'it's only as a last resort Reiko, it'll be complete... Completely fine'_... I..." Again the girl swallowed, both of those before her blinking owlishly in her direction. Was she having a panic attack or... 'Reiko' abruptly gave a small 'pumped' fist, nodding determinedly. "But... But I'll do my best," she continued loudly, forcing a smile over her face. "Believe me, I'll do the best I can!" That was great but...

This girl wasn't giving off a single competitive vibe damn it... "Listen," Honda sighed, stepping forward. "If you don't want to duel we understand- And _believe __**me**__,_" he 'laughed', sending a look to the blond behind him. "We _really_ understand." (Hey what was with _that _expression..! "But if you aren't dueling, how about you hand us the key to the next block then," he went on, looking back to Reiko. "We're in a hurry- you'd be doing us all a favor if you just let us past."

"Ah- Very sorry," Reiko responded, shaking her head. "But while I can't speak for your situation I have to refuse. I promised everyone not to let them pass without a fight... So..." So she said she wouldn't duel, but she turned down the option... ...Honorable, he'd give her that, he decided, finding a nervous and confused blush on his face as the girl gave a 'reassuring' smile.

"H-Hahh..." Though at least he wasn't a _cherry_ like someone beside him... 'Oh look Honda, another shot at a date...' Katsuya was quickly elbowed by his beet-red friend when he caught the frown from the blond, Honda coughing as he jerked his head toward the 'opponent'. "J-Jonouchi..! Come on!"

"Righ'!" Better to just leave it be, throw him a line this time... "Okay then," he shouted, stepping to the side to give plenty of space for the duel. "Let's get th's movin' then! Name's Jonouchi Katsuya," he continued, gesturing to himself with his thumb. "Nice meetin' yah!"

"Ah- Oh! Pleasure to meet you," the girl responded, giving a fairly steep bow much to the others' discomfort. "Kitamori Reiko." This...

This polite attitude was reminding him waaaay too much of Bakura damn it... And she was American? He coughed, nodding as Reiko prepared her own disk. "Okay," he called out. "In tha' case... GO! _LET'S DUEL!_"

"R-Right!" The cards were drawn immediately, and as he looked over the field he found himself frowning. "Erm... Lets see," Reiko was muttering, looking over each card as she drew it. "This one is... ...Ah, and this one can be used to.. ...Oh, I see..." All that muttering...

"...Is she actually reading the text over to herself," Honda asked, blinking in slight surprise. "I- I've never seen any of you guys do that to start, is she... Has she even seen her cards before?"

"Fr'm what I can tell," he muttered, a slight feeling on the answer coming to mind, "No... ...Ah... Oi, 'Reiko-chan'," he called out, the girl snapping up from her cards. "Hey... ...About when did you start playin' Duel Monster's..?"

The girl blinked, and for some reason Katsuya could swear he heard the monsters in his hand take in a sudden and tense breath. "Oh... Erm... I think... Oh, about one month I'm pretty sure," she said calmly, a small smile on her face. Oh, alright then, that was-

"Wai- _ONE MONTH,_" he repeated, choking on his own words.

Reiko immediately jumped, pulling back with a shout. "H-Huaah! I'm sorry!" Sorry! She didn't even do anything, she-

"N-No, it... It's fine," he said with a swallow. "Jus'... How th' hell did you become a Card Professor in one month..."

The girl blinked. "Erm... How... I... I suppose it was an accident really," she admitted. "My grandmother, she had a few people test me after I beat her... Erm..." Y-Yikes...

If she was seriously that good in _one month_...

"Ah... If I could," Reiko asked, Katsuya snapping himself from somewhat fearfilled thoughts. "I'd like a few more moments to read my cards... Please, you take the first move." S-sure lady...

But _what the hell_? "Alrigh'," he decided, pulling a card from his hand. "I'll go then! First, one card face down," the blond announced, blank stone tablet rising up to his side as usual. "An' after tha'... Th' Alligator Sword!" As it always had, the tablet rose, thick lines carving their way over the stone surface. And as it always had smoke filled the cracks, making way for the monster depicted to step forward. And, as always...

"_hey th... tsuya-jun..._" Katsuya froze for a moment, staring at the monster before him. That... Was not a 'typical' entry. It was like a whisper... He'd only heard parts of the alligator's words but-

"Gator..?"

As Reiko continued to look over her cards, having missed Katsuya's words, the Alligator frowned. "_**I said 'hey there, Katsuya-jun! 'S do this!' ...You distracted man?**_"

With the words as clear as they possibly could be once again he hurriedly shook his head. "No... No I'm fine I-" He chocked somewhat, turning back to the field. "End turn," the blond shouted, trying to put the event out of mind. "Go for it, Reiko-chan!"

"Ah- My turn," she repeated, before nodding. "R-Right then... Draw," she first called out, taking the card and carefully looking it over before she placed it in her hand. "I summon this monster," she announced, a short, almost stocky tablet coming up at her side. "The Puppet Pawn in defense mode!" The creature that carved itself into the stone was fairly simple in appearance; nothing but a round shield, a stubby sword, and rounded, simplistic limbs. Nothing the Alligator couldn't easily handle though he decided as the numbers came to mind. "Erm..." ..._Probably_... "And... Set two face down cards," Reiko decided, the blank stone coming up to her side. "T-That will be all, if you please!"

S-Stop being so polite... "N... My turn," he decided, eyeing the blank tablets a moment as he drew his card. Pay it no mind for now he decided. There was a reason Reiko was on the defensive and it probably wasn't to lure him into a trap. "First, I'll summon this one," he announced, a tablet rising with his words as the card was set on the field. "Little Winguard..!"

"_**Hah!**_" The small cape-covered monster charged forth from the stone, turning to tip her hat to her summoner. "_**Glad to see you're...**_ _righ... ...suya!_" S-Say what? Did the Winguard's voice just... Vanish..!

Again Katsuya found himself shaking it off, doing his best to ignore the fact that the voices of his monsters were fading. It was disconcerting, true... But for now, there was a fight to be had. Whatever this was would have to stop right..? As it was he could only hope... "We'll enter th' battle phase right off th' bat," the blond decided, pointing the monsters forward and nodding. "Let's go..! ATTACK!"

"E- Ahh... Trap activate," Reiko countered in panic. "Friendly Fire!" Crap.

Saw that one coming...

The stone instantly carved and crumbled into dust, flying into the monster's eyes before the image could even be seen. Briefly they both stumbled, blindly wiping the dust from their eyes and attempting to find their target again. Soon enough however their blades were turned on the other, and they charged. "_**HHHAAAAAHHH!**_" Aaaaack...

"_**GHHHAAAAHH..!**_" Damn it!

Figured he'd have to use this..! "Counter," Katsuya announced, throwing a hand forward as his own tablet began to glow. "Dr'matic Rescue!" Ropes tore forth from the stone, and just as the Alligator Sword's blade lowered toward the Winguard's the smaller was pulled right back into his hand, the monster itself surrounded by coils and pulled into the rock. "Th' battle phase ends, an' Winguard is sent back t' my hand... And, one more time," he continued, the card remaining where it was as Winguard pulled herself confusedly from her own stone, "Summon th' little Winguard!" Phew! Barely avoided getting them both killed on that one... "Man..." He laughed, shaking his head. "Not bad, 'Reiko-chan'..! It's hard t' believe you started jus' a month ago..!"

"_**Yea,**_" Alligator muttered with a swallow, "_**But her monsters aren't too pleased...**_" What was that..? Wait what?

Why would they...

Reiko giggled somewhat, blushing from behind her hand. "Th-thanks," she managed to 'laugh', looking away. "I... ...Oh!" The girl jumped, hurriedly clicking one of the buttons on her disk. "I almost forgot... I activate my other trap card," she announced, her opponent blinking confusedly. "Battlefield Tradgedy!" W-WHAT- "Erm... It says, 'W_hen a player battles in their turn, they must send five cards from their deck to their graveyard_.'" He knew that! Ah- But since it was this turn...

"S-Shiiiit," he muttered, doing as the now active stone 'ordered' with a wince. "Five cards righ' off th' bat..." There it went then... "Tha's harsh... Well." Katsuya sighed, looking forward again. "Turn end- your move, Reiko-chan."

"R-Right then," the girl responded. "My turn- draw!" She paused a moment as she put the card in her hand, blinking. "Oh... This is... N-hn!" She coughed, before placing the cards on her field. "I'll start with two cards face down on the field," Reiko decided, the tablets coming up to join with her already active trap. "Next, from my hand," the girl went on, "I activate the spell 'Promotion'... And using its effect," she continued, the tablet that appeared instantly coating the defensive pawn's with a 'cleansing dust', "The Puppet Pawn becomes the Puppet Queen!" Queen? Ummmm...

That was the most powerful piece in Chess wasn't it? So... If these were all chess monsters...

Blood drained from his face as numbers came to mind, the image on the defensive tablet instantly gaining a regal staff and sturdy shield as it doubled in height. Nothing he couldn't handle in the end he'd hope but... Well... That would easily cream one of his monsters right now..! And-

"Ummm... I'll end my turn now," Reiko decided, Katsuya sputtering in response.

Wait what? "W- What th' hell, y' aren't attackin'..!"

"_**Weird,**_" Alligator muttered, "_**We're wide open**_.."

"_**She could get us easily,**_" the Winguard added with a swallow, "_**So why...**_"

Reiko blinked, sputtering her own response as well. "Erm... Well... I... Couldn't?" she managed almost questioningly. She shook, biting her lip. "I couldn't go, I..." She'd have to discard five cards if she attacked...

But that couldn't be it right..? Still. "Shiiiiiit," he muttered, taking his turn and drawing his card. "Th's thing's got more d'fense than pretty much anythin' I got..." And in his hand, 'anything he had' was pretty much covering it. Then again...

So long as he didn't attack, and she didn't attack, he could probably stall until the point he got rid of that trap. "_**Let's do this Katsuya-jun,**_" Alligator said with a nod. "_W... ...nish... one t..._" Um... Finish in one turn..? Maybe?

What? A flash of fear and confusion both came over him once again, Psycho Shocker's words coming to mind. '_You're lucky you can still hear me,_' he'd said. '_Or are you?_' Or was he? Hahaha...

_Not funny damn it!_ "I summon Gearfried," Katsuya forced out, tablet carving the armored warrior onto its face as it rose upward. The image carved into existence, smoke coating its form... "Attack mode..." Everything was fine, he told himself. Everything was fine..! "I'll end my turn after tha'," he continued with a wince, the monsters seeming to look to him sympathetically while Gearfried stepped out of the stone.

"Erm- You said 'turn end'?" Reiko asked, her opponent blinking. Um... Yes..? "Well... You activated this trap then," she told him, tapping the disk as the other blank tablets began to carve. _No_... "Rear-Guard Action," Reiko explained, the Little Winguard suddenly finding herself coated in an odd smoke emitted from the stone. "With this card," she went on, "Little Winguard attacks the puppet Queen..!" Wh-

SHIT- "N-No... AH-" The monster was drawing her blade already..! "Winguard," he cried, reaching out as the monster charged forward. "Winguard, don-"

"_**HHHHHAAAAAH-**_" Attack. _Damnit._ "_**GGHH!**_" Though the Winguard's blade clattered against stone it did nothing to phase the monster within. And in retaliation for his seemingly moronic move a wave of dust blasted back at him, the blond forced to duck behind his arm as the Winguard herself was tossed back to her end of the field. "_**NGH-!**_"

"GH-! Shit..!" Lifepoints ticked down by over 1000 points, and as he looked back over his arm he grimaced. "Eh... I don' s'ppose tha' counts as my battle phase," he asked somewhat lamely, the girl across from him nodding.

"Y-Yes, that's right!" Welllll _crap._ "Sorry about this." Just... _Crap_.

"Shiiiit... Five more cards..." He sighed, taking them in his hand and sending them into the graveyard. "In tha' case-"

"Um... No. I'm very sorry about this," Reiko admitted, "But that isn't the case- I activate another trap you see," she continued, an image identical to her first one's now carving on the lone blank stone. "A second Battlefield Tragedy."

"S-S- SECOND!"

"_**Wh- With that kind of mill..!**_"

"_**W-Wuaaah..! I'm sorry Katsuya,**_" Winguard cried, "_**I didn't mean...**_"

"_**...It was a spell, not you,**_" Gearfried muttered.

"_**Sorry, sorry..!**_"

The monsters continued 'bickering', Alligator rubbing his head. "_**Hahhhh...**_"

"Aaaaugh... Ten cards," Katsuya said with a swallow, taking another five and sending them off. "Tha' means..." He balked, almost jumping back as his eyes landed back on the half-discarded deck he had. "Gh- There's only twen'y cards left in there..!"

"Twenty- OII, Jonouchi," Honda shouted from the back, "What the hell are you doing? Did you ease up because she's a girl or something!" What?

_NO. _"GH- Shut up," he retorted. "You wish I'd do somethin' like tha'..!" Shiiiit...

He turned back to the field, biting his lip. Damn... This girl didn't even want to be here and she was creaming him... And all she was doing was sit-

"Ah..." He blinked, eyes falling on the girl's defensive monster a moment before he swallowed. "...Your turn Reiko-chan," he called out. "Go for it." _'But her monsters aren't too pleased'..._

He had a feeling he knew why that was now... "Erm... Summon the Puppet Rook in defense mode," Reiko announced with a stutter, a tablet only slightly smaller than the Queen's own appearing before him. Similar to the queen, the carved image was blocky, checkered... It was topped however, by a castle 'wall', and held no weapons of its own. "And I'll finish my turn there... If you could please make your move, Jonouchi-san." Hn.

Knew it. Defense and deck destruction was definitely this girl's thing. But while that was all good, most people would have been going on and on about how superior their technique was by this point- hell, the guy outside had done as much. What was his name, Lew? Law? Regardless... His wasn't even that great, this one was putting Ishizu to shame! This one though... "_**No wonder the monsters don't like her,**_" Alligator was muttering, rubbing his head with a sigh. "_**I mean, it's a shame, kid seems nice,**_" he went on to himself,_** "But just look man... Those things were made for attack, not defense..! Well... 'Cept maybe the rook,**_" he coughed, "_**But even then man...!**_"

"_**Explains what the ruckus in the other realm was about,**_" Gearfried muttered. Ruckuvs? As Katsuya turned the monster continued. "_**There's an entire board of chess pieces in there kid- and they're ****itching**** for a fight.**_" Well that figured...

But all the same. That kind of expectation was bound to be setting _someone _off..! "...Hey... Reiko-chan," he called out, frowning somewhat. The girl blinked, looking up with an almost hesitant nod. "...Dueling... It's fun, right," he asked, his opponent staring before bowing her head almost in flushed shame. "F'r me... Man it's great! Drawin' th' next card get's me all fired up f'r th' next move, an when th' monsters an' I fight... My heart jus' pounds man! It's great, ev'n when there's things at stake!" Like his life. But shhhh, enough about that... He quieted for a moment, Honda as well listening as the blond eventually continued. "...You... Yer nervous abou' these duels, aren't yah," he asked, Reiko still bowing her head. "Ev'n though y' got th's theme goin on w' yer deck, you wound up using th' only thing tha' w's risk free, d'fense righ'? I ain' sayin' yer cowardly," he quickly added, "Nah... You don' strike me as a coward. But a duel's called a duel for a reason," Katsuya announced. "And a duel without a fight... Ain' a duel at all!"

As Reiko's eyes widened in silent shock the blond continued, drawing his next card and making his move while it still sat in his hand. A monster, his mind had told him. This card was a monster, so... "My turn," Katsuya called out. "An' I offer th' Little Winguard as sacrifice..!" The Winguard nodded as her tablet exploded into dust, the winds of the field blowing it around her in a tall vortex that disintegrated her completely. "An' I do that," he continued as a new figure took form within it, "T' summon this... Giltia, th' Dark Knight!" Robes and jeweled armor came into being, and the warrior readied his spear-like staff with a nod. "Reiko-chan," Katsuya called out, Giltia looking on in silence. "'F you only d'fend an' win without attackin'... Then you've never 'crossed souls'- you've never actually fought these duels, only watched from the sidelines..! An' that... That's why yer afraid," he continued, pointing Giltia forward despite the traps in play. "NOW! Dark Knight Giltia's attack... Destroy the Puppet Rook," he shouted, the monster pointing his spear forward as a concentrated blast of flames shot from the tip.

"_**SOUL SPEAR!**_"

Annnnnd... "E-Erm..." Reiko coughed from across him, apparently snapping herself free from her stupor. "By the effect of Battlefield Tragedy," she said almost quietly, "Please remove another ten cards from your deck..." Urk..!

And there was always that..! "J-Jonouchi..!" Yea yea yea, _shut up_..!

The cards were drawn, discarded... "Glh... There's only ten left," he found himself muttering to himself, the 'deck' resembling little more than a 'full hand' now. Shit... He'd known that would happen but...

_Shit_. "Um... Once you have no cards left, you won't have lost," Reiko told him suddenly, bowing her head again. Katsuya looked up, blinking as the unspoken yet obvious question was asked. He wouldn't? Weird but- "It isn't until you can no longer draw a card in your draw phase that you lose." A-

AHHHHHHH shit! He was still in the same position! "Ngh... Set two cards face down," he hurriedly called out, the tablets shuddering in the ground before they rose up behind him. "End turn..!"

"...My... My turn," his opponent stuttered in response, swallowing as she drew her card. This time however, she did not look at the card. In fact, to Katsuya's surprise, she didn't even glance at it as she set it on the field. "One card face down," she said quietly, the blond before her blinking as he realized that the girl had never said 'draw'. "I... …I didn't even think of attacking until now," she said with a whisper, looking over the tablet. "I... ...Go," she called out, flipping her card into attack mode. "Battle Phase!" Oh-!

He honestly hadn't expected that..! "Haha... Brace yerself," he warned the other monsters, Alligator in particular taking a defensive stance. "C'mon, Reiko-chan..!"

"Right," she shouted, pointing her monster forward as it stepped, blank faced, out from the stone. With black and white checkered armor the Queen raised her staff, nodding. "Puppet Queen attacks the Alligator Sword... "_**CHECKMATE FLUSH!**_"

"_**. . .!**_"

Evidently Katsuya thought, wincing as he ducked under the semi-contained explosion that had quite literally disintegrated his monster on the spot, the Queen couldn't speak. Though I _didn't _have a face so...

Despite this, it seemed quite pleased as she blasted her opponent's monster to oblivion- in fact, it had just bowed her head toward Reiko, the girl even jumping in response. Ah-

Now hold on, did that mean... Katsuya winced as the slight burn from the explosion singed what bare skin it touched, points dropping somewhat before he looked forward. "Hn..." Reiko was now looking over the field hesitantly, as though waiting for the reaction of the others. As he brought his arm down even the monsters were turned, the silent message of '_WELL?_' quite obviously there. Finally, he smiled. An expression that soon became a grin, the blond laughing loudly as Reiko stared. "Hnhn... HaHAHAHA! Alrigh'," he laughed, nodding as his opponent broke out into a relieved smile. "Strong! Fr'm now on, it's a serious duel," he continued, the monsters and Honda both looking at him incredulously.

"Jonouchi," Honda began, Gearfried nodding in unison as his words were effectively taken out of his mouth. "You've been serious the whole time haven't you..."

"Ahe..." Yes, but shut up damn it.

"Um... Lets see," his opponent muttered, pulling cards from her deck as the Queen stood proudly at her summoner's side. "I send the top ten cards to the graveyard now..."

Honda shook his head from behind the battle, swallowing. "Y' know Jonouchi," he whispered, "This is great for your 'Spirit of the Duelist' thing- it really is. I'm... Really not surprised you live by it so much," he added, still speaking as sarcastically as he tended to be when it came to the whole 'ability' deal. "But could that spirit maybe help you win now..?"

Yea yea... "Honda," he said calmly. "I know how bad th's looks... Believe me. But don' you think I've givin' up when we're fighting to save Anzu. The will t' fight," he continued, looking back. "'S long as Reiko-chan doesn' have it, she won' understand. Unless you've got somethin' t' fight for," he continued louder, steadying his stance as Reiko stared, "You can't call yerself a duelist!"

"Well that's great," Honda countered, "But you've got a bigger problem right now! You even try attacking you'll lose all your cards and end up knocked out!"

GH- He knew that he was right but he was kind of trying to ignore that..! "Jus'... Jus' shut it Honda, I need t' think!"

"Then why don't you shut up and strategize!" Hahahaha...

He knew damn it, he knew! Just stuff it! "Erm... Okay then," Reiko coughed from across the two, Katsuya looking back. "It... It's your move..."

"Yea!" Draw..! Right now in his hand there was nothing to gum up the Battlefield Tragedy- it was like Honda said. If he attacked, he was screwed. There was really nothing much he could do with that in mind so... "I'll set a card face down," he called out, still another blank tablet coming behind him. "End turn!"

Time to rely on his opponent's moves! "My turn," Reiko began, drawing her next card and again moving before she looked it over. "I'll sacrifice the Puppet Queen..!" Th- The Queen? The monster before him surrounded itself in tablet dust, a new image carving clearly across the face of the stone. As the smoke cleared to reveal a caped and almost regal looking figure of black and white however, Katsuya found himself grinning almost darkly.

"Hehe... Alrigh' then Reiko," he called out, the girl across him swallowing at his expression. "Tha's my cue..! By summonin' Puppet King," the blond explained, "You give me a shot at activatin' a card... An I'm usin' this," he continued, his two monsters nodding as they braced themselves for what was next. "POLYMERIZATION! Fuse t'gether t'summon th' thing that'll end it all," he went on, pillars of smoke and dust merging their tablets into one. "_**GilTI-GEARFRIED!**_"

It was as though Giltia's armor was accented completely with Gearfried's, the body doing nothing but seemingly growing with the change of power. Though the face, while now 'goggled' was still the same however the spear that he had held had changed completely. An enormous blade resembling Gearfried's former arms rested on the pole, joined to the monster's real one by a shield-like gauntlet. "Th's is th' strongest monster I have," Katsuya shouted with a nod, watching his opponent's eyes fly over the field. "So bring it on!" She wouldn't dare attack..!

Would she, he thought for a moment. There was a spark in her eyes now, something that again reminded him of his sister... But not when she was calm.

Oh far from that... This spark... _This_ was the look of a duelist. This was the look of someone who was willing to put up a fight. "Puppet King," Reiko ordered, her opponent's eyes widening. "Attack! With _**MAJESTIC CHECK!**_" Gh-

Shit, she really _did_ attack! "Act'vate Extra Boost," he hurriedly called, the tablet behind Gilt-Gearfried instantly crumbling and coating the monster's blade just as the attack connected. Smoke filled the air, obscuring the monsters from sight, the flames and sparks from the King's staff coating everything... But even so Katsuya could see Reiko's wide eyed smile, an expression that quickly began to fade with the smoke as Honda looked on.

"E-Erm... W-what," she asked with a whisper.

"Extra Boost," Katsuya explained, crossing his arms with a grin. "Gilt-Gearfried gains half 'is defense points f'r this turn... Which means Gilt-Gearfried counters," he announced, the silent monster charging with his blade as the marble giant before it tensed. "ATTACK!

_**SPEAR SLASHER!**_"

"_**. . . ..!**_" It was a little awkward, hearing but 'not hearing' the King... But as the marble stone clattered to the ground in halves it was more awkward to realize that the pieces had yet to fade. So while Reiko stiffened, ducking under the attack before looking back...

It took a moment to pull himself back into the duel. Reiko's expression told him 'counter'... And that meant- "Activate trap," the girl cried, stone slowly carving as she swallowed. "Rope of Life... Reviving the Puppet King," she continued, the pieces snapping back together in an instant before the monster returned to Reiko's side. Hn! Well...

And to think, he'd gotten a heads up on that just before he attacked... No way for him to cheat, but he still knew... "Tha' w's a good move," he complimented, giving his opponent a steady nod. The girl seemed to frown somewhat, and his Knight narrowed his eyes at the sight. "But ev'n so... My skills," he announced, "Still trump yours! Watch," Katsuya shouted, his final tablet crumpling to the ground. "My final trap- Rengeki! I have 'till th' end 'f this turn b'fore Gilt-Gearfried has t' go t' the grave thanks t' Extra Boost... An' that's just enough time f'r th's card's effect..!" When a monster deals damage...

Attack again directly..! "A-Ahh...!"

"Let's do th's," he shouted, pointing his monster forward. "Second attack..!"

"_**Hnnnnnn- HAHHHHH!**_" Though the blade never came in contact with Reiko, the wind it caused did. Who knew if she was sensitive enough to feel the attack- there was no way of knowing without it being too late. But even the motions of an attack could do this, and with the monster's impressive power Reiko's lifepoints were gone in one go. The field dissolved around them... And as it happened he could see Reiko's eyes fluttering around to look where each tablet was standing almost curiously, as though she'd seen it herself.

"Heh... We did it," Katsuya cheered, pumping a fist as his monster smirked and faded. "We won..!"

"Hahahaha..." The blond turned, looking to where Reiko was sighing almost in relief and exhaustion. "Well... I guess you beat me," the girl laughed, bowing her head. "That... That was a very exciting duel," she went on honestly, "Really..!" Heh...

"Yea! It was- An' it looks like y' got over yer fear too," he continued, the girl again nodding politely.

"I, I suppose..."

"Yeaaaaa... About that," Honda muttered from behind. "You know... If she just defended, you'd have _lost_. You kinda forced her to attack, don't you think that's a little..." O-Oi oi, that wasn't-

"W-What'd you jus' say..!" That wasn't what he was doing at all damn it!

"_**Got a point man...**_" G-Gator?

"_**Hn! The Chess Pieces might appreciate it, but it was still cheap.**_" F-Flame swordsman too..! A chorus of grumbles followed with, and the blond found himself sorely outnumbered in opinions. S-Seriously..?

_All of them_? "Well, either way, you won," Honda admitted with a sigh. "So... How about that key then," he asked, holding a hand out to Reiko.

There was a short silence, and Katsuya instantly paled. Reiko's earlier words of 'last resort' were coming to mind... Along with a pair of lines, paths... "...W-Well," she stuttered, "Actually..."

"You don' have th' key, do yah," Katsuya muttered, the grl nodding in response. "Well then... What abou' th' other duelists," he tried, swallowing. "Th' other exits, there's gotta be another professor around here..!"

"A-Ah!" Reiko cringed, pulling back. "I'm sorry," she admitted, "But I was told to keep you here in this room... There aren't any more professors here," she said with a swallow. "And all other exits are sealed off, I..."

"So there's no other way out," Honda shouted, Katsuya shaking from beside him.

"I'm sorry," the girl repeated, now trembling before them in fear. "I really am... But I was just following orders, I truly have almost no idea what's going on here... I- AH!"

"DAMN IT!" A thundering 'clang' came over the air, the others both jumping as a small 'dent' appeared on the elevator door beneath Katsuya's fist. "How... How'm I supposed t' help Yugi," he cried, fist slowly dropping as his head fell on the door in its place with a dull thud. "How'm I supposed t' help save Anzu..? Damn it..." He slowly stood from the door, face red and body tense as he snarled. "HHHHAAAAAAH! Stop playing games with me TENMA! Ngh-!"

Just as another punch was thrown the doors opened, a familiar black haired boy instantly pulling back while the others froze. "Ah-"

"K-Katsuya-nii... Honda," Mokuba muttered in surprise, taking the headset he was wearing down from his head. "You..."

"M-Mokuba," Katsuya murmured, before suddenly wincing and gripping his leg as the boy kicked it. "OW, FU- What th' hell!"

Evidently someone hadn't appreciated almost breaking his nose..! (_Ow_!) "What were you doing punching nee-sama's elevators," he snarled, Reiko still standing at the side and out of sight with wide eyes. "You almost beaned me in the head too, what's wrong with you!"

"I was pissed..!"

"That doesn't mean you start punching the elevators, idiot! That-" The boy blinked, frowning. "Wait," he muttered, "Why are you two here..!"

Honda immediately began explaining in the place of a still cursing Katsuya. "We're chasing after a guy named Tenma," he began, Katsuya nodding as he continued.

"The guy kidnapped Anzu..! Me an' Honda are tryin' t' catch up with Yugi so we c'n all find im'! ...Well... We were at least," he added, coughing as Reiko shrunk back guiltily. "We-"

"S-Slow down a minute, you're after _Tenma?_"

The pair nodded. "Tha's what we said..." He was surprised?

"Reiko here says it's a dead end here though," Honda continued, grimacing. "We've been going through the Card Professors to gather keys for a bit now but-"

"But enough talkin'," Katsuya finished. "We need t' find Tenma!" They both turned expectantly to the boy, who shrugged.

"Great idea," he offered, "But I'm not going after Tenma." Ahhh... What?

"Er..."

"Y' aren't?"

The boy shook his head. "Nii-sama's doing that," he told them, having stepped out from the elevator to spot a shrinking Reiko on the side. "I'm just trying to regain control of the building."

"...You c'n do tha'," Katsuya asked lamely, finding himself met with a dry look from his friend.

Mokuba was honestly used to it by now... "Of course! The problem is that I can't access anything _major_ from here," he told them, fiddling with his slate as he started off down one of the halls. "The outside exits are thankfully unlocked now," the boy muttered as he walked, Reiko silently debating following from behind. "But thanks to Tenma, I have to create new security codes for each door as I go- Not to mention," he growled, sounding eerily like his sister, "He completely trashed any direct access port outside the one by the system itself..! There's no way to access this part of the system wirelessly," he rambled, the others trading looks. "I need to go straight to the source, the main computer. If he's using the system, he'll need at least one access point. We can follow... This path," he continued, gesturing to his slate, "And get there but-" Mokuba blinked, looking back to the others with a frown. "Do you guys even know what I'm talking about..?"

"...It means we c'n stop Tenma righ'," Katsuya answered. "So tha's all that matters! Oi, Reiko," he shouted back, the girl jumping.

"A-Ahh... Y-yes?"

"Good game..! Now, let's go," he continued, jogging after a now running Mokuba while the girl behind them blinked confusedly. "I'm comin' along with you!"

"And me too," Honda added. "Gotta ask though, where's your sister..?"

"Nee-sama," Mokuba repeated, looking to the others. He quickly turned back to face the hall, answering them. "...Nee-sama's already figured out where Tenma himself is," he explained.

'_She's going to deal with him in person._'

As those last words were said, Katsuya had a brief and minute flash of the woman stalking toward a set of doors with clenched fists...

And then, as the vision faded... Nothing but darkness and dull shouts could come to his attention.

* * *

**AN:** Whoooo! Again, this one's a little late, but there's actually a _good_ reason this time- I started a difference scene before the Reiko duel and decided to move it... That scene was moved to the _next chapter,_ this one was originally quite a bit longer! Regardless LOTS going on in life... It's a beautiful summer for one, so I am hitting the beach!

I mean, it's literally a fifteen minute walk, why the hell did I ever leave BC before...

I should probably stop promising art. It's silly to do that and not deliver... However, there IS a link below, as one Leona-Writer has been drawing quite a bit for the story! (And I love me some fanart, I really do...)

OTHER NEWS! The results are in!

**IMADORK:** 3

**JADEJ.J** 2

It was a close call, but WE HAVE A WINNER! Imadork, please let me know what you want drawn for your prize- that picture will be my top priority until it's done, so don't worry, I WILL finish it! If you look now, your summary is also the new summary for the fanfic.

Congratulations Imadork- and thank-you to everyone who participated!

Now then, with that out of the way...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

WHOO! Congratulations Imadork! Now, back to review... The plot thickens indeed, but it'll thicken a little more! Next chapter's just more of the story, but believe me... Once Dragon's story is done,_ things get real_. (I should not be allowed to say that.)

Poor Honda... He really _can't_ do much about this really, so acceptance is effectively the only thing he can do. As for Seto, I actually had a hard time getting that part! I've said it before and I'll say it again, she's one of the hardest characters to write...

And look out, because Willa's going to get back at her for that in a non-canonical manner... (Unintentionally to boot!)

I figure that when it comes to who goes first, it's a matter of who says it first- or even (possibly) who gets a full hand first. In real life, there's rock paper scissors you see. Or a tossed coin. EHHHHH.

There's a tactical advantage to either; if you go first, you can set your traps first, and possibly lock in your control. However, that also means that your opponent can look over your field and get a basic idea of what to watch for, and defend or counter accordingly. It really depends... Anyways, enjoy the chapter! Now..!

Hehehe, awkwardness _is_ amusing isn't it Iona? And don't worry, she's not going to be a coward about things anymore... Least not by the time the arc is over.

I'm glad you like the points of friendship so much..! While the 'power of friendship' _is_ something I like to lampshade, the fact is, the entire point of that manga was... Well, friendship. It'd be completely hypocritical to forget that, and the fact is, friends aren't something to be ignored, they really do move this story onward.

Anyways, I hope you liked this chapter..!

Hahaha, alright then Sugarfang Phantom, I've got your vote in above, and might I add that it was in fact the _tie breaker_. Happy to hear you're enjoying the visions too- I've been getting lots of positive reaction on that, maybe I should continue using these a little more often.

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that wonders if Jou's speech to Reiko will have a negative effect...

* * *

This chapter is named 'Milchamah' (Mil-khaw-maw), means battle, or war, as well as 'warriors', 'soldiers'... It's a feminine noun, which is partially why I picked it out from the others. In this case though, the word was specifically picked because _hey silly,_ why the heck would there be a direct translation for 'duelist' in that language?

* * *

WOAH-

WOAH! Keith! KEITH! But he_ died_ Usagi!

Well evidently _someone _brought him back! Which proves that something wicked is definitely afoot here, hmmm...

* * *

At the moment of Seto's constant flat-what silences, she's sort of... In a weird place in her mind, where her rage is slowly building, but at the same time, the sheer_ audacity_ that Tenma's shown and is still showing is... REALLY so shocking that she can't speak. At all. She's left standing there, slowly adding more heat before she explodes...

* * *

It's funny what I can twist out from what's probably just a translation error. _'And of course, the one punishing him will be the owner of the ja-shin... That is, me...'_

To which I said '_Why did you have to phrase it like that..?_ =-='' '

* * *

And as Ted's southern drawl comes into play, I will remind you all that the only reason why I ever bring a point to those things is when it's either relevant, or specifically appearance based, or something I absolutely can't _not_ imagine in my head.

* * *

You know what I love about Gekkou? _He kicks complete ass_. Seriously, he's... Probably one of the few people who can make equip spell decks look AMAZING.

* * *

Confused? So am I. How is summoning a defense monster and setting _two cards_ an amateur move? I've killed people in one shot by starting with that!

...Actually, I felt kinda bad for my opponents in those fights...

Regardless, it's likely that they considered it 'amateur' because of such an early use of Graceful Charity. Which is still rather silly, because we had a similar opponent waaaaaaaay back in Battle City, and Yugi was completely on edge as opposed to trashing the move. Granted, this was the Other Yugi, who knew that the guy had defeated Jonouchi already...

* * *

Though you don't see it in _this_ chapter, I've randomly decided that Speed Jaguar and the Panther Warrior know each other somehow. Maybe they have a thing, maybe they're siblings! (Like Shizuka's Lady Panther..!) Who knows... But it gave me enough reason to draw the lady-cat, even if I haven't posted that image in this chapter. (Ahehehe...)

* * *

VERY cool story behind 'Yaku Gui', or 'Medicine Eater'. It represents the winter-time practice of kusuri kui- the eating of things such as boar or deer, in order to ward off colds. Obviously in this case it's 'gaining strength'.

* * *

Fun fact! The term 'by the skin of my teeth' comes from a literal translation of a line in the original Hebrew of the book of Job, book 19 verse 20, which appeared in the Geneva Bible (1560) as 'I haue escaped with the skinne of my tethe'. (Skin of my teeth in other words.)

It most likely refers to the tooth's surface. Like... The plaque, as a tiny tiny measure.

* * *

Gekkou by the way, is the _master_ of the Poker face. Unlike just about every _other_ duelist we've met... Though Jou is pretty good himself.

Seriously though, Kaiba and Yugi, while they have their moments, tend to freak out and ham up their duels juuuuust as much as Jou. In frighteningly stark contrast, Gekkou does a DAMN good job of being straight faced about _everything_. It's actually scary... Because for a moment, it _really_ looks like he's lost, and Yugi is _really_ and _truly_ broken. Like... BROKEN broken. Like... Tiny iris-huge eyes broken.

* * *

While Keith could have been a lot more foul mouthed than he is, you'll notice he stuck with 'shorty' for Yugi. That's because I think Keith tends to just work with whatever ticks people off the most.

* * *

I really owe a lot to Janime for this chapter; since I'm still waiting on the library for the actual copies of the manga, I rely on the scans of the manga for reference here. But some of the scans aren't complete; this duel in particular had a few missing pages, and even one_ RAW_ page- however, Janime does text summaries, similar to what I relied on for the Noa's Arc. So... It's a REALLY invaluable resource!

* * *

Funny thing, Reiko is eerily similar to Shizuka's canon self. Maybe a liiiiittle more confident in herself as time moves on, but initially? They're like identical strangers!

Reiko IS more polite though. And I mean _super_ polite, it actually puts Jou off edge...

I really feel for Reiko though, I really do- while I _do_ go for the ATTACKATTACKSPELL strategy rather than her intense and positively _game breaking_ lock-down, I'm really one of those people who looks a the cards, reads over the cards...

But I guess for a really seasoned duelist, you just 'know' what each card does after a certain point. And Reiko _did_ make her uneasy nature fairly obvious (Likely because of the discomfort in the face of what a duelist would tend to do anyway, which includes a slight poker face at minimum.)

* * *

WHAT- Usagi, why's Jou using 'chan'? WHY? Because he's not the type of person to use 'san' without feeling intensely awkward (Hence why only Tanaka, from waaaay back, and Yugi's dad got it- both were super awkward situations for Jou), and at the same time, Reiko isn't like Anzu. To Jou, Anzu is 'one of the guys', albeit with... Um, breasts. She's a tomboy, and while she might _say_ a lot about '_AH_! _**Men**_,' and etc., when push comes to shove, you put her beside most girls and they will be... VERY girly compared to her.

Especially now that her mind has pretty much been merged with a guy's... She wasn't lying about the mentality, control doesn't necessarily mean total stability! ...Whether or not this makes _Malik's _situation somewhat amusing given the fandom-image of the guy is up to you really...

In any case, Reiko is reminding Jou of his sister, is dressed in an immaculately kept uniform, and speaking in an _extremely_ polite manner. So Jou isn't comfortable enough to simply drop all honorifics to start. So while with Seto it's a matter of familiarity and habit from what was originally an insult, in this case it's... Actually Jou's way of being polite himself.

Because it is honestly weird as hell for him to address her as anything else.

* * *

By the way, while Jou was preaching all of this, Honda was staring at him from behind with a FACE. Actually, in the manga, Honda essentially thinks to himself about how he's 'preaching shit'. OOOOOOO boy. (This is different in the official manga, which I only took out while I was editing ironically enough; instead, Honda merely mutters mentally about the fact that Jou's preaching to a duelist _period_.)

The fact is though, Jonouchi wasn't trying to be cheap with his speech- he was being honest, hiding behind a shield in a duel is... A little disheartening in a duel. Even Deschutes 'attacked' in his own twisted way. And while the Chess monsters _do_ have more defense than power, it's still really even- they're more 'balance' monsters than anything, and given what game those monsters are based on I wouldn't be surprised if they really did want to just fight.

Say what you will on 'Battle Therapy', but Reiko truly did seem to enjoy the duel far more after she took the offensive... Even when she lost!

* * *

More on ff-Reiko though, you'll notice I gave her a dueling sense similar to Jou's... Though hers is more 'the holograms are alive' than 'there are tablets everywhere', and obviously doesn't include any visions. (Though she _does_ have a semi-automatic idea of what's in her hand due to the connection overall.) The cards are still mirroring Jou's vision though- so she would never have seen the smoke or monsters due to a constant defense, and her vision being linked to her own deck in regard to voices and mannerisms.

Of course, that means she only _now_ knows that the Queen's got a mind of her own, and given that none of the Chess monsters have _mouths_...

* * *

Another point to bring up, but Jou could have won regardless of whether Reiko had attacked, so long as he was given opportunity to make that last move. After all- he wouldn't lose until his draw phase, when he had no cards, and his monster was _more_ than powerful enough that all he'd have had to do was this; on his turn following Reiko hypothetically doing nothing (After 'Gilti-Gearfried is summoned mind you), summon another monster. Use Gilti-Gearfried to get rid of the big monster with Extra Boost, get the second attack in with that oh-so handy spell, and attack directly with whatever's left. Since Jou wouldn't lose by 'deck out' until his draw phase, he'd win!

...Yea this doesn't buy him many points with Honda regardless. (We'll be seeing how he does on relationships _eventually_... For now, consider him hopeless and for the heck of it, tell me who you'd want paired up with him in the end if you wanted. Who knows! I _did_ spawn Secretshipping you know...)

* * *

You probably guessed that 'Banias' is another Intel Codename, but what of Kitamori? Well, it's Japanese for 'Northwood'; Kitamori isn't a code, but Northwood certainly is.

* * *

Now this is rather silly- when Mokuba appears Honda and Jou ask why he's there- they say '_you were in the US, with Seto!_'

Even though they saw Seto's jet fly back. Even though they know that Seto would _die _before leaving Mokuba alone. WHOOOOOOPS!

* * *

Hey look, Jou dropped the 'chan'... It's because Reiko's less awkwardly polite. He feels a little more comfortable.

Weirdest thing, once Mokuba appears, Reiko just_ vanishes_. It's like she ran as soon as Jou started screaming...

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

Nothing from me, but go look up 'leonawriter. deviantart. com'. She's drawn quite a bit for this story, and I have to say, I like her dragon...

Musical Notes

Again, nothing but Okami soundtracks! -because I have a horrible attention span-

In particular, 'Yami', 'The Sun Rises', 'Demon Lord Ninetails', and 'Shiranui'! All pretty good pieces... -now I should probably stop playing...-

* * *

That's all for now though! Until next time, I'll see you later..! Enjoy the chapter!


	113. Chapter 112

**Nokriy**

* * *

_Though he should be walking through the halls of a tall building that stretches toward the sky, there is nothing but sand and clay in his vision right now. And shadows, of course._

_Many shadows._

_The boy sits with the dragon, ignorant of the shouts to his older and modern-day counterpart. He cannot hear his friend's cry from where he's standing still, hand on his head whilst he falls and stumbles blindly against the wall. He can only see what is both a vision and a memory from the ancient past._

_He can only listen- and listen closely, for the dragon is telling a story now. A story that is, for reasons even he does not know, an incredibly important tale, be it then and be it now. It is the story of Ziz. The shape-changer who thrived not on destruction initially, but fear. A being who, the dragon tells him, as a coward itself, did no more harm than a spec of dust until it was confident that it could raze villages in one blow. For as Ziz grew, the beast realized that while simply becoming what it faced could inflict fear, and create what fed it..._

_It soon realized that to destroy while in that same form could do so much more, and could feed it still more power. It was capable of many things, horrific things... It was a being who craved the power resulting from these things, things that prompted Light herself to face the monster in battle. But at this point it was already too late for Light to stand against the demon. For by this point Ziz' power was equal to Light's own, possibly even surpassing it... Ziz had done the impossible and brought Light to her very knees..._

_So Light did the one thing that she knew Ziz would be unable to recover from, the one thing that could save her creations. She divided herself into three separate beings of altered power, each one with a different form and a different name, a different power free of the knowledge at Ziz' disposal. And as three Gods instead of merely one, Ziz found himself woefully confused. He duplicated one only to be over taken by another, duplicated two at once and was drowned in the power of the first. So, deciding he had no other choice he followed in Light's footsteps, splitting himself into a triad of creatures..._

_But unlike Light, who had planned her division and moved according to what she felt was the optimum choice, Ziz was unable to control what portions of his power went where. To the golem-like beast with bat wings his power to instil terror was given, but with a power that would not change in the face of it it no longer gained what it could. To the serpentine devil with vapor arms and great clawed hands came the power to take the strength of others, the immunity to the spells of mankind, but any who gained the courage to face it could take it down in but an instant. And to the final creature where most all of Ziz' mind lay..._

_The final great mass of liquid, with nothing to call its own even in name, was in possession of only one thing. It's ability to change form, to mirror any that it faced by just a sliver more of power. In a manner it was stronger. And in another it was weaker._

_Light, however, had **only** become stronger in the face of Ziz. For now that the demons before her people held forms that were unchanging, forms that could no longer mirror her completely, their faith in the Light was returning. And it was this faith that gave the Light strength. This faith that destroyed the power of Ziz's pieces and this strength that allowed her to strike the demons down..!_

_With only one message before she used her power to seal them away. And her words were thus;_

_**'O people of creation, people to whom I have entrusted this realm..! Let it be known that no power can kill what is already beyond death! But fear not, O children of mine- For there is another way..! I will form a seal of my body and power, and leave you with the only key...**_

_**What has a ****NAME****,'**_ _Light warned with her three mouths, shielding her people from the shadow's reach, '**Has ****POWER****- And with my ****NAMES**** I shall seal the creatures who torment you. I shall smite them where they stand and destroy all that threatens the creatures of my creation. But only while those you see remain without power can I protect you- Only while they have no name to call their own will I be able to defend you...**_

_**The evil 'Gods' you witness must remain without a name... Or Darkness will once again be allowed to prevail... I leave you with these words, and pray you heed them for all time.'**_

_The people then watched," the dragon tells him, "As each of Light's portions stretched to far reaches of the land. As stones of immense power appeared in their stead, names and seals sending sparks into the air. And with great power the stones sent streams of light into the air, toward each of Ziz's portions. To the stone of Gold came that of the shape-changer, who dissolved into shadows until it was finally latched beneath the ground where it would never see the sky._

_To the stone of Blue, surrounded by sea, the demon of fear became sealed. His image would forever be drenched by the oceans, overshadowed by the monster it so attempted to duplicate in form._

_And finally, the stone of Red. With reaching arms the demon clung to all in sight, fighting his prison. But the portion of Light that took home in the seas and skies was no longer challenged in power. The monster was without company, without 'allies' to give it strength. With a final howl the Red Stone's power coiled about it, drawing it near... And at the tallest point of the land, with nothing to grasp, the demon's three pieces were completely sealed. And it was only then that the people of light realized their fate. Only then, as the sun returned to the sky and as the Light that had so long accompanied them remained silent, did they realize the cost of the battle._

_Though the Light succeeded, her power as well would now be spent. Her three portions could never amount to their full power- and worse, these same portions would forever be sealed away from their former realm, unable to remain among the people they had created. By locking the power of darkness away, they had become **tainted**_**. **_They had become **shadows**, regardless of intent and power._

_But they had names," the dragon assures him. "If anything, they at least had that. And though these names would change over time dear boy, these stones that held their power would change as well. They would eventually move, carved into alternate shapes... Covered by sand, carried with your people from the Lost Lands to the one you sit in now. The stones would become embedded in something more simple," he explains. "Clay and dirt... Enshrined and protected."_

"_But where are they now," the boy asks. "The elders don't have anything like that."_

"_That's right," Neker adds. "If anything, it sounds as though the three treasures that were stolen were these sto-"_

"_They were not **STOLEN!**" the dragon roars, rearing back and unleashing a howl that freezes the boys in place. "And far from it in fact..! You would do well to remember this..." He calms, lowering his head. "The treasures your elders speak of were given to the lands not far from here many a year ago," he explains. "During your people's time here, they were strangers in a cursed land. Taken from a realm far more powerful and blessed than these, they struggled to survive. During this time," he continues, "Many peoples gave your own aid. Some, such as the nomads of your language, would allow them to settle and grow into their own village... Others, the likes of which have long forgotten their ties to this land, would defend your people from complete and utter destruction. It is for this," the dragon says, "That they would be granted the three stones of power, and the 'Gods' that lay within them. And with the power that these Gods held, the Kings who held them became God-like themselves... But that was then, and this is now," the dragon sighs. "Now it is more likely these treasures are known in name only... It is no surprise that your elders have twisted this tale out of spite themselves," he supposes. "But I find that in the end... It is likely that even **they** would have forgotten with time..."_

_The boys trade uneasy glances as the shadow stares off- when the dragon gains this expression, he reminisces and ponders what could have been a large amount. Moreover, he gets rather depressed it appears... And when the dragon is depressed, it becomes incredibly awkward to speak. So quickly, they decide to change the subject before it is too late._

"_Dragon," they ask, snapping the shadow from his reverie. "Those pieces of 'Ziz'... The nameless ones? Could they come back," they fearfully question, curiosity evident in their eyes._

_The dragon is silent for a moment, and as the boy's vision fades and he remembers that he is beyond that age already, that he does not live in a land of sand, that there are others calling him... That this is not real- this is a dream, possibly even an ancient memory, but nonetheless long before his time. But as he begins to realize this he hears the shadow's final words..._

"_Only if they were to find a single vessel," he warns, voice echoing ominously upon the air. "Only then, through the power that joins them as one yet again, could they return."_

* * *

In the darkness of the room, no light penetrated beyond the level of a low computerized glow. The only windows there were black with darkness, and a normal human being would be unable to look through them to what lay below in the next room. Yakou Tenma evidently, was not some 'normal' human being however. And as he sat in the dark, he was perfectly content with leaving it that way and staring at the subject of his slowly succeeding plan.

Seto however, was not one for humoring those against her to say the least of things. And it was with that in mind that the doors had been forced open, the light from the hall casting a long dark shadow into the room. "Tenma," she snarled, fists clenched and held to her sides as the man before her slowly turned. "This is as far as your project goes..!"

Tenma continued to stare, completely silent for a few moments. "Seto Kaiba," he finally sighed, shaking his head. "I told you _not_ to disturb me, and yet..." The man sighed again, looking away as his 'former business partner' began steadily walking toward him. "Really," he muttered, "I-"

-_CRACK!_-

"GHU-" The force of her fist sent Tenma across the room, his body slamming against the machines on the corner. With a weak cough he attempted to pull himself back up, only to give in with a pained grunt. "N-Ngh..."

"I don't care what _you_ want," Seto hissed, coming toward the body as a slowly trickling line of blood began to appear from Tenma's face. "And I believe I made that quite _clear _over six hours ago. You have no right to do this- so I'm settling it _now_. Control of the building returns to ME," she snarled. "Now LEAVE!" Silence.

And then laughter of all things. "Hnhnhnhnhn..." Mocking, crazed laughter... "Hnhnhahahahaaaa..." The man slowly lifted his head, blood still trailing down the side of his chin. "My vengeance program has already started 'Seto'... You're wasting your time. It can't be stopped... Not now, not ever... Hnhnhnhnhn..." 'Se-'

_SETO! _"You disgusting piece of _filth_," the woman growled,pulling the man up by his collar. "Either you pack up and leave _NOW,_ or-"

"Soon," he whispered, tone almost reassuring. "It'll all be over soon... Soon..." What? The woman froze for a moment in confusion, grip momentarily loosening. "The duel ring server stores all the worlds card data from Pegasus-sama's creation," he rambled to himself, captor narrowing her eyes even further "Once heterogeneous data is switched to homogenous data, it'll all be ready, soon..."

"What the hell are you talking about," Seto roared, grip restored. "Get out of my bui-" The woman froze, lights having turned on in the room opposite to catch her eye. It was the server house, something she'd known of course- the room where the enormous computer was kept running and well watched, well conditioned... Storing all the data for each and every card signal in existence.

But the computer itself was not what caught her eye. It was what was attached to it, plugged into every available port with additional ones where required. A machine almost similar to the Virtual Reality pods still under testing and development, with portions of the frame even wrapping around her own computer. She could not properly see out the window as dark as it was despite the lights however. There was just a dim shadow, illuminated by the numerous screens below. But with a single button pushed on the side the window was made wider and clearer. The lights around turned on completely, and the room was revealed in every way, the sight taking her very breath away.

With eyes closed over as though in a deep sleep, the body within the device was quite clearly and obviously that of Anzu Mazaki. Given the state of her clothes she'd been taken in the evening hours of the day, likely right of the streets and unaware until it was all too late. That however, wasn't the point. The machine before her was clicking and whirring and with every sound it made dread began to rise within her. Why was Anzu here..? Why was she hooked up to a device that was so clearly focusing on her mind, and why was she almost dead in appearance? What was the machine doing? What was it doing _here_, connected to _her_ server..! WHY-

"Rebirth... Of the Avatar," Tenma whispered, standing from where he'd been dropped and almost forgotten. "Anzu Mazaki is the key to reviving Pegasus-sama's soul," he explained, receiving a mixed look of incredulous unease and confusion both. "In order to refine and extract the fragments of soul Pegasus-sama sealed in his creations... I'm taking all of the data and refining it into a single type. And after that," he continued, neck cracking as he came to stand straight, "It'll all be poured into the substitute vessel... The soul will always seek a body," he whispered, slowly beginning to laugh as he spoke. "And once it's refined in the vessel he'll be back... Pegasus-sama..."

This... "_Personality_," she growled, eyes still as wide as they'd been once the man began spouting nonsense. "_SOUL_? That's _ENOUGH,_ Tenma! The only thing in that server is DATA! Zeroes and ones! This machine doesn't hold even a _bit_ of what can be called a 'soul'," she continued lowly. "Now get... OUT!"

And of course she found herself noting, he refused to listen, instead sighing almost 'morosely'. "Seto, Seto, Seto," he sighed, ignoring the cracked knuckles he heard in response. "You should know full well that I'm not talking about the machine... I'm talking about the 'cards'," he whispered, eyebrows raising just a moment. He went on. "You're one of a bare minimum of duelists in the world who have experienced it after all..! The spirits of the cards, the living duel monsters..."

Blue Eyes. "What are you implying," she snarled, momentarily stiffening. If there was anything she would no longer deny... Anything at all...

"In the Battle City preliminary matches," Tenma began coolly, "Something triggered an idea during your match against Ishizu Ishtar. Rather than do what most would, and summon 'Obelisk', you summoned 'Blue Eyes White Dragon'... And for a similar reason," he continued, the woman before him growing white as things that had never met the eyes or ears of the rest of the world came from Tenma's mouth, "The match between yourself and Yugi Mutou ended up with both Gods destroying each other... A moment during which you both shared a 'vision'. Though you can correct me if I'm wrong," he added, giving a subtle and mocking bow as he sneered. "It isn't as though I was _there_..." No. No, he sure as hell was _not_ there at the time...

But those words were dangerously close to what happened despite that final match never being recorded beyond text on a screen..! She'd gone into that fight with nothing hidden outside typical clothing, the entire match was left un-filmed as a result. But to know about the _visions_ even, the hallucinations that a small part of her mind still argued as real..!

"Pegasus-sama put a small bit of his soul in all the cards he created," Tenma whispered, eyes narrowed dangerously. "If you were to look at all the cards he created at once," he continued, "Then you would find it... You could bring him back in a new form..." That...

That was completely... "That's enough," she barked, colour returning to her face. Bring a man back from the dead... Now THAT was impossible!"This is nonsense..! Everything you're saying is impossible, you can't 'revive' a dead man with-"

"With a deck of cards?" Tenma finished, walking toward one of the keyboards at the side. "I can see why you would be hesitant to believe... But I am not lying," he told her darkly. "In fact there's already a successful case, and he's standing in this building now..." Success... _Successful_..? The woman stood, silent with disbelief as the man went on. "He was a competitor, if not illegally, during the Duelist Kingdom tournament," Tenma began. "His mind and soul were shattered as a punishment by Pegasus-sama, through a 'penalty game' if you recognize the term..." And the very phrasing and expression he used told her that he _knew_ she would, Seto thought with a mental shudder. The very mention of that term...

...Ghh...

'Penalty'...

The fact that there was someone in _this_ state of mind throwing the term about so easily had her blood both boiling and freezing all at once. "The penalty game," Tenma was explaining as he tapped a few keys from across the woman, "Was simple. He thought he shot himself in the head- by all clinical terms he was dead- completely brain dead... But his soul... That was still there. He was, after all, a duelist," he told her. "His deck was still there- and the deck, after all, is a duelist's sword. It's something that is refined by the soul, that _grows_ with the soul..! And in the same way Pegasus-sama put his soul into all the cards he created, this duelist did so with his deck! So I experimented," he announced. "I refined the data of those cards, merged the single similarities of the soul, until I had pieced it back together again! I forced it back into the body... And in the end, it was a success..."

"Impossible..!" It was the most she could say- there was no way for it to happen, no way at all and yet-

"See for yourself," Tenma sneered, clicking one final button as the screen before them flickered. "The man that came back from the _dead._.."

It was a security feed that Tenma had pulled onto the screen. That much was obvious given the quality of the image. But Tenma's gesture easily pointed out the vest wearing figure on the screen despite this. The gaunt, somewhat slouched American, hair unkempt and face unshaven, sunglasses covering what were likely bloodshot eyes was walking steadily down the hall with his gaze determinedly focused ahead.

Bandit Keith. The 'has-been' duelist of the USA, former champion and eventual joke among most of the dueling world.

And a nightmarish source of paranoia for those willing to pursue the game as a career, an 'example' of the worst case scenario. It was not however, Keith who held her attention for long. Nor was it the figure of Gekkou, who was quite clearly eying Keith with considerable suspicion and _not _working with his brother (thankfully).

It was the short one. With impossible hair. That one was the one who stood out the most.

_Yugi_ was in the building. And as she stared at the figure, eyes slowly gluing themselves to the holographic woman that was somehow beside him, Tenma continued to speak behind her. "Yugi Mutou has been driving away the card professors I've dispatched about this tower with incredible progress," he chuckled, eyes narrowing almost to slits. The woman looked back, her own expression growing stony again whilst she listened. "He's coming close to this place," the man murmured, "But by the time he does it'll all be too late. The more he fights the more charged his soul becomes. The more charge develops the more the fragments in the machine resonate and focus with one another, joining similarity to similarity and forming a single consciousness..! Just as planned," he laughed, Seto's eyes widening in horror as she looked from Tenma back to the screen, "Yugi is doing all he can to get here... And because of that, my plan will be successful in any way..!" This...

This monster... Whether it was true or not, with all that was happening at this moment..!

As she stepped to the side to face Tenma there was only one thought on her mind.

Get rid of Tenma by _any_ means- or 'impossibilities' would be the least of her concern.

* * *

They'd been walking for a while it seemed, the four of them. Anzu wasn't walking in reality of course, what with her being more of a synthesized ghost now, but she'd been at least attempting to look like she was for a while early on. She'd soon given up however- it seemed that she had to focus to do it, so in the end simply floating along with Yugi's duel-disk was a better option.

As it was, the walk was passing with an almost odd level of silence. A number of feet ahead Keith was still acting as their guide- they themselves kept in close quarters while watching with a wary eye.

Perhaps that was why they didn't seem as surprised when a pair of duelists appeared from behind the staircase beside them. "_Oi oi,_" the taller of the two shouted, a thick fur-lined jacket wrapped around and pinned beneath his disk. "_Getting a little lost there aren't you Keith?_"

Yugi frowned, heat tilting somewhat as the white-haired man shouted down in English. "Did he just say... Is he talking to Keith," he muttered to the others. Gekkou nodded, Anzu doing the same.

"Yea... I think he said something about 'lost'," she murmured, "But..."

Well evidently _someone _knew them. "_Tch- You..? And what the fuck do you bastards want,_" Keith snarled back, Yugi blinking almost owlishly at the conversation he could only partially understand.

"He's asking what they're doing here," Gekkou whispered upon catching the look, swallowing before he continued. "But these two..."

Again Yugi blinked. "You know them, Gekkou-kun?"

"I do," he whispered, the two in question walking down and toward them from the stairs. One was only a little taller than himself- wearing simple black jeans with a partially buttoned shirt. The one with the coat however wasn't wearing a 'coat' necessarily- the bottom cut off around the end of the chest, leaving nothing but a black shirt and a pair of cargo pants beneath. All in all, they looked about as different as night and day... Something that had him wondering if they intended to bring that image forth. "Like me," Gekkou explained in regard to the duelists, "They were considered Pegasus' proteges... These two in particular spent a lot of time in our home in fact, as 'chouji' one could even say." Eh?

"Cho- Chouji!" F-Favored children..! Yugi choked, looking back to the one beside him. "Then... These two are pretty much your brothers aren't they..!"

Gekkou merely nodded, swallowing as the taller gave a wave toward them. "_Heeeeyyyy, Gekkou! Been a while hasn't it?_" Um...

He was asking how he was feeling right..? Before he could think about it more he watched Gekkou turn, the man appearing to ignore the two for a moment to instead continue his conversation with Yugi. "Listen carefully," he hurriedly told him, his 'friends' muttering or staring in response. "These two are the highest ranking of the Card Professors, and the black disk on Richie's arm proves this- he," Gekkou went on, Yugi eying the disk on the tallest of the duelists with a swallow, "Is the absolute Champion in the league, and like all the other heads is exempt from the standard tournament line. The second ranking duelist is beside him," Gekkou warned, the stone-eyed young teen in black seeming to send a piercing stare toward them at that moment, "His name is Scott Depre. Now..." He swallowed, straightening himself as he looked toward 'Richie'. "..._Richie,_" he began. "_...I see my brother gave you enough incentive to seek us out then._"

Richie merely shrugged, snorting. "Phaaaaah, Yakou had nothing to do with this part... We just came down to say 'hello', isn't that right Scott?" He grinned, looking toward Scott and receiving no change in reaction as a result. With briefly raised eyebrows and an exasperated sigh. Richie apparently accepted this as normal- the man shrugged, before turning back. "Eh, ignore the look... He's just as excited you know..!"

If Scott's face was any sign, then no. No he really wasn't.

Regardless, Richie was speaking again. "Now... So this is 'Mutou Yugi'," he called out, Japanese coming surprisingly fluent from the man. "You're quite the catch kid- should be proud of that. Name's 'Merced'... Nice to meet the 'King' of duels."

"Eh..." He... Wasn't really sure how to react to that... …Particularly since it was his other half who got the title, and more or less as a side effect of whatever was going on... ...Well... "...Thanks?"

The man laughed, nodding his head. "Pleasure's mine! But you know," Richie continued with a somewhat betraying grin, "You lot are lucky we came to find you- because you're going the wrong way!"

Anzu choked. "W-Wrong wa-!"

Richie blinked, looking over the hologram that was Anzu a moment as the grin faded slightly. He somehow managed to get over it in the end however, instead nodding and turning toward Keith. "That's right... And I think the guide oughta fess up, don't you Scott?" There was again no answer, but Scott's endless glare seemed to instantly turn to Keith, the blond in question tensing completely beneath it. "I mean... This is the opposite direction," he continued, the 'cheery' tone almost frighteningly cold despite itself. "You're heading _down_ if you keep going this way..."

"_DOWN,_" Anzu repeated with a snarl, only for Keith to interrupt himself.

"_You assholes... What the fuck are you trying to do,_" he snarled, "_You picking a fight? HUH?_"

The taller of the duelists snorted, walking toward the group as he grinned. "What... A fight with someone like you Ossan," Richie laughed, bringing a hand down on Keith's shoulder. "Now why the _fuck would I do THAT!_"

"G-FF-" The blond stumbled back as his gut was slammed solidly with Richie's fist, the grin they'd seen since his appearance instantly replaced with a scowl.

"_What the fuck do you think you're doing,_" he roared, ignoring the curse and attempt to punch back from his 'victim'. Keith's wrist was snatched with ease, and the American was pulled forward into his attacker's knee as Richie continued on with the beating. "_You trying to bait out that underdog duelist you asshole? Making me wait for your sorry face!_"

"Ng-gh... Hah..." A few gagging choke sounds came through the air, slowly turning into hoarse laughter as the others stared. "Hahhhh... Hahahahaha... _Bastard,_" Keith retorted, shakily pulling himself up as sweat began to bead on the side of his face. "_You plan on knocking me out yourself then..?_ _HUH_?-Gh-" Another crack came through the air with the others wincing, sunglasses hanging off of Keith's face as he was knocked to the floor by another punch. "GGGhnnn..."

"_Don't make me LAUGH," _Richie hissed, steadily walking toward his victim. "_You used to be the 'All American Champion'. The greatest 'Tournament Bandit'! That time's long gone though,_" he continued. "_And if you think your glory days are enough to coast on for the rest of your life then allow me to make it clear to you,_" he snarled,_ "I-_"

"_S-Stop!_" As Keith groaned from the ground Richie froze, bringing his foot to the ground from where he'd been about to kick. There wasn't much that Yugi knew in English of course- his marks weren't that far off from Jonouchi's in fact. But he knew at least that word, and would use it if he had to. As the boy stood in front of Keith's coughing form the others stared, shocked into silence. "This... This is enough," Yugi forced out, shaking his head and holding his arms out protectively. "That's enough..."

"... ...Get out of the way," Richie warned, narrowing his eyes.

Yugi swallowed, but stood firm. "...No!"

His response was a snort and a sarcastic grin, the man shaking his head. "You want to defend this guy," Richie asked. "You want to defend a drunk old _shit_, who'd just as much give you flowers as do this for you in return?" When Yugi gave no answer the scowl seemed to deepen, Scott merely watching with curious and narrowed eyes. "What the hell makes you think I'm going to do what _you_ say, huh?"

"The fact that your target isn't _Keith_," Gekkou answered, his friend's attention turning back to him. "Unless my brother told you otherwise..."

"Gh... _Gekkou_..."

"..._Gekkou,_" Scott finally asked, the others jumping when they realized who almost monotonous voice over the air belonged to, "_...Why are you... On their side..?_" As the others turned Scott continued to speak, even gesturing toward them in apparent 'confusion'. "_In Pegasus' place, you and your brother were to take over I2... Together... Both of you,_" he continued in English, Yugi again silently trying to understand. "_But why... Why aren't you with Yakou,_" he asked. "_Why are you siding with... Him,_" he sneered, eyes briefly flickering to where the boy stood.

Gekkou stared with shadowed eyes at those words, his head bowed. Briefly, just briefly, his gaze began to drift in Anzu's direction. But only briefly, and he very quickly turned his head away to face the others. "_We can't do this,_" he whispered, clearing his voice to speak louder. "_Bring back someone who's already dead... It was bad enough to bring in someone we thought was responsible but now a number of innocent people and an entire company have been dragged into this mess... We can't do this,_" Gekkou repeated lowly, Richie's growl slowly picking up volume as he spoke. "_It isn't right..._"

"_And standing on the sidelines is!_" he retorted, looking to the 'CEO' with rage. "_What do you think you're playing at..! We were pretty much raised by Pegasus... He looked after us, he made sure that we could have LIVES! Without this plan,_" he continued, voice sinking down into a desperate whisper, "_It would be like spitting on his grave..._" Gekkou didn't even flinch at the words- and Richie noticed. With a sour look of distaste on his face he drew back, shaking his head. "_Screw it,_" he decided. "_Just screw it. You knew the 'rules',_" Richie spat. "_You obviously know what you're doing..! But I won't forgive you. I will never forgive you for what you're doing right now..._"

"_And Yugi Mutou,_" Scott continued, the boy in question swallowing as the English continued to poke at his brain. "_Revenge against you is the same as reviving our teacher- understand. Pegasus' revival... Will only bring good to this world... And as you defeated him, it's only fitting that we rid him of one last pest before his arrival..._" U-Umm...

What..! "Um..." Yugi swallowed. "I can't... I can't understand-"

"He's repeating what the other's said," Anzu whispered, choosing not to specify too much on what Scott had said. "About how he has to beat you to bring Pegasus back in... In my…" She shuddered. "I'd rather not think about that anymore, okay..?" U-Understandable..!

Regardless, it seemed Scott didn't care- that, or he himself couldn't understand him either. "_After your duel, Pegasus' soul... It shattered,_" he growled, Yugi only able to tell that whatever he was hearing wasn't meant to be good. "_You scattered it into pieces and then let him die... I don't care if you placed the final blow,_" he continued, voice growing even louder. "_As far as I'm concerned you killed him- and while his soul lies in wait I will do all I can to bring him back..!_"

"A-Ahhhh..."

"_In that case,_" Gekkou barked, "_It's the same for us- we won't let any more lives be given for this..!_"

"_I think Mutou can speak for himself,_" Richie responded.

"_I think if you all spoke his language rather than using English on a Japanese **student,**_" he retorted_ "You'd have better luck with that!_"

"_Will you all just SHUT UP!_"

The group jumped turning to Anzu's hologram as she flickered from between them. "A-Anzu..."

"Yugi," She asked stonily. "'Scott' would like you to know that despite everything he still feels as though you killed Pegasus, and will thereby do anything he can to bring him back! So!" She turned, and her friend immediately nodded determinedly.

"If that's the case," he shouted, "Then we'll be doing the same for Anzu!"

Gekkou smiled almost coldly at the shout, nodding and looking back to the others. "_You heard him Richie,_" he said flatly. "_He'll fight just as hard for our own side to oppose yours._"

"_So it seems,_" Scott muttered. "_Good. Follow me,_" he decided, turning down the hall and back up the stairs. "_The battle field is this way._"

As they slowly walked away, leaving Keith's motionless and beaten form none noticed the twitch it gave... Nor the shadows that seemed to reach out from his deck before the man himself stood and smirked...

And then continued on the path he'd planned on taking to begin with.

* * *

If there were any words to describe the arena that Scott and Richie had led them to, Yugi was fairly certain they would all by synonyms for 'big'. was obviously _meant_ for dueling, unlike the halls and rooms they'd traveled through. A testing hall most likely. And on one end, beside the door their opponent's stood, staring down those who 'could not pass'. "This is it," Richie shouted to them. "The final field... You have tenacity kid, I'll give you that. You've already reached the last to Professors in the building- everyone else is gone!" Gone? Then that meant...

"If you're the last two," Yugi asked, "Does that mean Jonouchi-kun has already reached the top?"

There was a pause, Richie's smile seemingly frozen on his face. It soon began to grow however, sending a chilled feeling down his spine as it reached horror-movie proportions. "The _top_," Richie repeated, breaking into laughter. "HahahahHA! As if! Too bad about that though," he continued with a shaking head. "But the route those morons are on is a dead-end! No way out!"

"D-Dead..."

"They can't get to Yakou's level," the duelist shouted, still laughing as the others stiffened and paled. "And by this point they're probably wandering around trying to find an exit! H-hAHAHAAAA!"

"Gh..." And if all but the doors 'forward' were locked, there wouldn't even be one...

"Yugi-san," Gekkou said quietly. "We need to get to Yakou for more than just Anzu now, and quickly," he muttered, the boy nodding in agreement.

"I know... I-"

"Hn!" Yugi looked toward the duelists again, swallowing as Richie spoke. "Don't think you'll be getting anywhere so soon... The arrangements are almost complete," he laughed, gesturing to the door behind him. "So until Pegasus is back, it'll be you against me- So! Shall we d-"

"..._Richie..._" The others turned, tallest of the group dropping his grin a moment to frown.

"Eh? What is it Scott?"

A few moments of silence passed, with nothing but a constant stare from Scott to fill the time. "_...I'll fight,_" he said blandly, clicking his duel disk into place and stepping forward with narrowed eyes. "_I'll get rid of them first... Yugi Mutou,_" he continued, raising his voice to a shout with almost narrowed eyes, "_I'll fight you..!_" Eh! "_And I will __bury__ Pegasus' scar of defeat..!_" E-Ehh! What was he even saying..!

Would it be Scott fighting then? He couldn't even tell, couldn't someone say something? "N..." Anything..? "Nnnnn..." Well, the holograms would be in Japanese at least, right..? "Alright then," he began, swallowing. "I..."

"_Aibou..._" AH-!

"_Other me,_" he called to the back of his mind, eyes widening as he froze in place. The spirit seemed to chuckle at his partner's surprise, and the boy sighed in relief. "_You're alright..!_"

"_I am,_" he said almost simply, appearing to the side with a nod. "_...This duel... I'm ready again,_" he told the other, only for his partner to shake his head. "_...Aibou?_"

"_Just leave this to me,_" Yugi told the spirit, seemingly nodding to mid air. "_Alright?_"

His other half blinked almost owlishly in response, before gaining a somewhat worried expression. "_Ah- ...If... If it's me you're worried about, I'm alright now,_" he hurriedly choked,_ "...Really..!_"

"_That's not it,_" he responded, shaking his head. "_...But to you and me... For both of us, Anzu, Jonouchi-kun, and Honda-kun, they're all people to fight for. And I don't want to just watch,_" he went on, pulling out the deck that he'd been prepared to use moments ago. "_So with this deck... It's my turn, alright?_"

The spirit seemed to smile the moment he'd said that, nodding calmly. "_Hn. It's my turn to 'follow' you then,_" he decided, crossing his arms. "_In that case, I'll make sure Jonouchi and the others are alright. But Aibou,_" the other Yugi continued, still smiling, "_Remember- despite the location, I'm always with __you when you fight... Just as you are for me!_"

"_Other me..._"

"_I leave this to you,_" he called out, a reassuring grip on his shoulder before the ghost turned. "_You can do this..!_"

"_Right..!_" In that case...

The cards of his deck shuffled, Yugi's eyes clearing just in time for Gekkou to lean over somewhat from behind with another whispered warning. "...Yugi-san," he said quietly, eyes trained on the one across from them. "By your country's ranking method, Depre is ranked just under the first seat of the Professor's guild. He is not 'Second' without reason," he added warningly. "And there is an _extremely_ large gap between himself and those beneath him in rank. Be _careful_," Gekkou told him, the boy merely nodding confidently as he stepped forward.

"I will- don't worry, Gekkou-kun."

He continued forward a few more steps, Anzu hovering behind him as they both looked across to where Scott stood. It would be strange, playing against someone he didn't understand... But even so... "...Yugi," Anzu said from behind, the boy turning as his friend rubbed her arm. A silence drifted between the pair, and each one looked nervously away from each other. "...I guess I can't really stay and watch with the duel disk... Can I," she said somewhat awkwardly, eyes drifting down to the 'soul card' on the disk. "...I mean... You might need that spot so..."

"Just a little longer... Only a little, I promise... Okay Anzu," he told her with a whisper. There were tears dotting his eyes again, not that he noticed. Anzu herself was staring at them, her strong smile breaking at the sight. Yugi's smile had faded but it was still there in a way, if only for support. That was probably the only reason that Anzu's was still there. "No matter what, I promise..."

"...Right," she responded, nodding as the card was pulled off the disk. Her body instantly began to fade, her last words hovering on the wind. "_..._I believe in you, Yugi..." Anzu...

...Only a little longer... Just a little, he told himself again. Just... "... I'm ready," he called out, Anzu's card safely tucked away in the now empty deck holder on his side. "Let's start, Scott..!"

Scott, almost eerily enough, merely 'smiled' at that. He couldn't really tell if it was a smile or _not_ actually- though the expression was close it seemed almost as though his face had forgotten how to do it properly, instead spitting out something from a horror movie. He was shaking as well, a low chuckle over the air...

Something that actually had Richie stiffen and step back with a pale and shocked expression on his face. "_Let's go,_" he shouted, the common English phrase thankfully used enough in media just about everywhere for his opponent to know what he'd said. "_**DUEL!**_"

"I'll go first," Yugi announced, hand already prepared before his opponent could even speak. "And I summon the Toy Soldier!" The holographic monster appeared in a flash, though as Yugi looked over the card that had appeared behind it he blinked. The letters were unfamiliar, if only for a moment. He quickly realized their origin however. "...English..?"

"So that your opponent knows what you've played," Gekkou explained from behind, his friend turning to look back and listen. "The disk automatically detects the regional settings of the opponent's disk before compensating," he went on. "Scott's cards should read in Japanese to you."

Which meant they wouldn't have to understand each other's announced moves beyond standard phases... "Right..." That worked out he supposed... "I'll set one card face down and end my turn then," he decided, the hologram shimmering just behind the puppet-like soldier he had on the field. "Ah... '_Your move'_..!"

"_My turn,_" his opponent muttered, drawing his card almost as slow as he spoke. "_...I set one card face down,_" Scott began, the combined mix of known phrases an appearing holograms 'translating' for his opponent. "_Following that, Ibva Abductor!_" E-Ehh! As quickly as he could read the card Yugi's opponent explained the effect, the boy swallowing as his holographic soldier began marching to the other end of the field. "_By discarding one hand, I activate his special effect... __Abduction__." _Abduct..? His eyes hurriedly skimmed the rest of the card, and he paled. Aaaaaaahh...-

Crap! "T-Toy Soldier," he found himself shouting, reaching out only to flinch as the monster raised his cork gun upward from the opponent's end. Oh shoot...

"_The Soldier will do whatever IBVA does..._" Scott explained, the words rendered somewhat redundant with the sight of the field. "_...So... Let's go,_" he announced. "_...Direct attack the player..!_" Tch!

The monsters began to charge and even without the cue he realized what Scott had shouted. "Activate face down card," he announced, clicking the button on the disk as a wall of sand rose up between himself and the monsters. "The Field Spell 'Fortress of Sand'; allowing me to invalidate up to 3000 points of damage!" The two attacks tore enormous chunks from the fortress, both creatures returning to the opposite side of the field while Yugi peered through the castle's wall. Only 500 points were left after the strike...

He'd barely made it. "_So the damage was passed to the field card... Very shrewd..._" Scott muttered, his opponent attempting to pay the half-misunderstood words no mind for the moment. "_...Hmm... ...Turn __end..._"

There... He'd said it! "My turn..!" The card he drew was looked over only a moment before he nodded to himself, grabbing two others from his hand. "I set two cards face down," he began, before taking the newest on he'd drawn. As the holograms appeared so to did a robed and armed 'child', an oversized sword sitting on his shoulder as he peered out from between a crack in his helm. "I then summon the Silent Swordsman Level 0! Turn end!"

His opponent nodded, eyes trained on the swordsman and on the card just behind it. At the moment, Scott would likely have realized the potential power the swordsman had- with the power he gained each standby phase, the swordsman would very soon become a threat after all. Scott would make his move in just a moment, he was sure... And with a chilled shiver he had a feeling that the cards he'd set would very soon come to use themselves. "_Set another face down card on the field..._" he began, the card appearing just as spirals of light began to surround the other monsters. "_And I tribute both my monsters..._" he continued, setting the next card as a fearsome grey creature rose up at his side, "_Summoning this... The invader from the beyond... ZETA RELUCTANT!_" Zeta-!

The card swung up but his eyes were trained on the monster itself, its holographic but nonetheless sharp teeth towering above him. The 'king of invaders'...

500 points of power would be invalidated from a direct attack, but that wouldn't be near enough with a battle from this thing..! "_Scorch the Silent Swordsman,_" Scott snarled, the glow from Zeta's mouth telling him quite clearly what 'scorch' was. "_Zeta Reluctant... ATTACK..! __**PLASMA BLASTER!**_"

From Zeta's jaws came a heated and glowing ray, charging forth with all the power of the sun. It came toward the swordsman, who hovered behind his sword, bracing himself... "Gh... Activate face down," he called, "Turn Jump!" Swirling light surrounded the swordsman in an instant, and with an enormous blade he cut through the attack with ease. By the effect of the spell they were three turns ahead now... Three levels and 1500 attack points..! "The Silent Swordsman levels up," Yugi continued with a swallow, blinking as the light in the room seemed to dim from around them. "And he _counters_..! Cut through the alien," he ordered, the monster charging with a nod. "And counter attack with the Silent Blade..!"

"_Trap activate!_" Ackkk..! The targeted monster vanished in a blast of light just as the blade threatened to strike, a metal device twinkling innocently behind it. In the resulting glare and immediate fade he found his vision filled with spots... Filled with nothing but darkness while he tried to make sense of his opponent's words. "_Inter-dimensional Matter Transporter!_" The blade slammed directly into the ground, sword digging a notch into it as Zeta reappeared to the side. Scott's eyes fell directly over the monster's face, and Yugi wondered just briefly if their eyes had actually met. But that couldn't be right, could it, he asked himself as Scott muttered something in English. To see the monsters as they were was rare enough... But to see more than your own..?

On the next turn he told himself, his swordsman jumping to his side of the field, Silent Swordsman would gain another level and another dose of power.

But something told him Scott had prepared for that. Yugi again swallowed as he stared ahead, eyes straining in the psychological darkness the blasts had forced on him. It was strange... By now his vision should have been clear, and he should have been able to see perfectly..! So what... "..._Don't worry..._" Scott murmured, cold eyes staring forward. His opponent looked up, and the teen continued. "_...Look __around..._" W-What? Look around? (That was what he'd said, right?) Yugi stiffened as his attention was drawn to the room itself, his eyes having adjusted while distracted. Dark, he realized coldly. It was... "_It's not an electrical failure,_" Scott continued, the only real word Yugi recognized being 'electric'. "_The lights are going out... But don't worry..._" his opponent assured him, streams of stardust and hovering planets beginning to appear around them. "_Your eyes will get used to it..._" Yugi again swallowed, bringing his eyes back as they fell on a card Scott now gestured to. 'Cosmic Space', it read. Field spell. So then... This was the void of space..! The boy's eyes widened as they read over the description, Scott's barely understood words sending a wave of fear over him. "_Just before you activated your Turn Jump..._" he explained stonily, "_Cosmic Space activated... It overrode Fortress of Sand,_" he continued, Yugi just now noticing the vanished wall that had sat by his feet, "_And each monster on the field was given a 'Life Star' for each level._" The cards words, not that Yugi realized it, were effectively identical to what Scott was saying now. And as he looked toward his monster's card, a single star shining on the cover from its former four, he paled, immediately catching onto what the card and Scott both were telling him now.

"_Our monsters lost three stars thanks to turn jump... And they lose one each time the opponent's turn ends. You won't survive long in the void of space,_" Scott sneered, his opponent slowly beginning to shake. "_Once all stars are gone the monster is destroyed... Say 'Goodbye',_" he taunted. "'_Turn... End..._" The star on the Swordsman's card faded, and with wide eyes the monster turned back. His hologram began to smoke and fade away, and though he never spoke...

'_Sorry..._' Swordsman... He was completely obliterated, this... This was...

"_When you took Pegasus from us you left me with nothing... Allow me to do the same to you..._" He didn't need to know English to catch the gist of that statement.

This battle, while he knew would be difficult, had just become much more challenging.

* * *

As distant sands finally faded from the back of his mind, Katsuya could hear voices.

"_Wake up..._" And now that he could hear these voices, he had a nasty feeling of dread developing in the back of his mind. Not because of what he necessarily felt for the moment (Oh god his _HEAD_!), but more what he was hearing specifically. "_Jonouchi, wake up..._"

"_Wake up..._"

"_Get up..._"

"_Katsuya-nii..._"

"_Wake up..._"

Like distant spirits the voices were faint, barely audible to his subconscious mind. They were far off and calling, reaching, pulling him forward, and the louder they grew the greater his dread became. This did not change the fact that they existed however, and the fact was that the _last_ time he'd heard this...

Well, it hadn't been good. "Nggg..." Shit, he thought to himself, slowly fumbling and pulling himself up from where he'd managed to dizzily collapse upon the ground. "Crap..." It happened again.

"_Ah, you're awake..!_" Right down to Yugi being there to see damn it.

Katsuya's eyes blearily opened for the second time that day, hands either on the wall or on his head as he tried to stand up. "Damn... Th' hell hit me," he muttered wearily, only to blink when he spotted Yugi. Or rather, he noticed almost dully, the 'other' one. "...Ahhhh... Weren' you sittin' in th' back 'f th' puzzle or somethin'," he asked confusedly, the spirit merely shrugging in response.

The others blinked, the shortest of them frowning. "...Katsuya-nii..?"

Honda sighed, his friend briefly looking over to where Mokuba was eying Yugi's 'empty space' in narrow-eyed confusion. "We probably shouldn't ask," he muttered. "...Seems like a good idea to me at least..."

The look Honda received for his efforts was more or less expected really, given who he was talking to. "Errr..." Katsuya coughed, watching as the look, along with a fairly nervous one from Honda, were turned on him. Even the other Yugi seemed a little blank-faced actually- if only because he had that wide-eyed 'what's going to happen next' expression that was made even better by the fact that no one else could see him. "H-Hey Mokuba," Katsuya managed to wheeze out. "Ah... ...Abou' th' thing... Um..."

"The 'collapsing' thing," Honda quickly choked, giving his friend one last look before continuing on. "Probably just hungry, happens all the time!"

The others turned. "...What..." So... No seizures then? Just collapsing?

He again found himself coughing as Honda elbowed him, eyes narrowed. "Unless you want him worrying _more,_" he hissed. Uh... That was a good point actually...

That was a _very_ good point actually, ahh... "You still haven't told me why you collapsed..! And the elbow thing was pretty obvious," he grumbled, crossing his arms with a scowl.

Actually yea, it was. Errrrr... "Like Honda said," he told the boy, rubbing his head with a laugh. "Jus' a dizzy spell, y' know? Been duelin' all ev'ning!"

Mokuba seemed to jump at that, eyebrows shooting upward. "Oh yea, I was going to ask about that..." He quickly scowled, looking toward the dueldisk. "That's not your dueldisk," the boy began, Katsuya briefly wondering if that point was really relevant right now. "And should you really be doing this against card professors after what happened in Battle City? I mean..." He closed his mouth, gaining a fairly uncomfortable look of unease at the thought of the event.

"Tha'..." Well... It was a close call with the mantises, but... Hey, whatever right! "I'll be fine," he laughed, waving a hand. "Honest!"

"But... It's not a game any more!" he protested, a thick scowl set into his face. What... The others stared, false grins and comforting smiles fading with the growing silence. "Katsuya-nii... Nee-sama's really worried about you," he continued weakly, shaking his head. "Why do you think she even left to begin with?" Wh..

"What..."

"_...What?_" Damn it Yugi, not now.

The boy sighed, turning as he looked toward the next door. "Well... I don't really know what she thinks completely but... She used your first name you know," he whispered, the eyes of those listening widening even more.

She... She used... "_WHAT-_" Honda exclaimed, only for a hand to cover his mouth. "MNM!"

"Shh," Katsuya hissed, before turning back to Mokuba. "...She... She used m' firs' name?"

Perhaps it was the sheer shock in his voice, but Mokuba's unease seemed to completely vanish with the question. "Heheheee..." He grinned. "Yep! She keeps slipping with it and correcting herself when people notice! It's hilarious! But even so," he went on with a frown. "I'm not the only one who wants you to stay alive, got it..? ...So tell me why you really collapsed!" Why he really- AAAAAAGH-

Looks like he hadn't forgotten about that one, crap! Katsuya grimaced, briefly turning to meet the gaze of a more spiritual friend. "_...Well,_" he asked 'expectantly', gesturing to Mokuba. "_Go on then, I'd like to know too you know._"

"Yea, but I almos' wonder who want's t' know more," he muttered, ignoring the sputtered 'OI!' from behind. Katsuya sighed, looking back to his friend. How to start... Well... "...Mokuba... Abou' th' duelin' stuff..."

"If it's not exhaustion," the boy cut in, biting his lip, "At least tell me why you won't say... Please?"

More awkward silence came as a result"...Because this won' happen again," Katsuya responded. "I promise yah on m' life, it won' happen again."

"_...That doesn't tell me anything,_" Yugi muttered with a scowl.

"Nope," he answered with a whispered smirk, expression quickly replaced with the serious one yet again as Honda turned.

"...Jonouchi," he whispered, taking considerable care to keep out of earshot of Mokuba this time.. "Hate to say it, but... How the hell can you promise that to him," he asked.

There was no response for the moment, Katsuya's eyes resting on Mokuba as the boy stared back. The lack of conversation didn't matter in this case- it was trust that was key. Trust, faith... And while Mokuba seemed to narrow his eyes, studying the expression on the blond's face he eventually sighed. "...Alright," he said quietly, looking to the ground and taking a deep breath. "Okay. But... Katsuya-nii," he added with a stern frown. "If you do anything stupid that makes nee-sama upset-"

"More than usual y' mean," he cut in with a grin.

The boy huffed. "Mnnnn... You know what I mean!" he growled, ignoring the awkward cough from the side. "Just don't do it..!"

"I won't, I won't," he laughed, moving on to walk toward the next door. "Wasn' plannin' on it ev'n without th' warning!"

"I don't think anyone would..."

"_That would certainly be the wiser option._" Hahahaha...

What the hell were they trying to say dammit. "_ANY_ways," he shouted, cutting any other mumbles of obvious 'rules', "There's somewhere we're s'pposed t' be righ'?"

"_Right... Actually, about that,_" the other Yugi coughed, only briefly taking Katsuya's attention. "_You see, apparently you can't get to the top floor from here, and..._"

"Eh, we weren' headin' up," he told the ghost, Mokuba raising an eyebrow.

"Um... What was that," he asked, the answer filled in before Katsuya could even open his mouth.

"Yea... Did we mention that the 'other Yugi' can apparently float around now, unseen to many unsuspecting innocents," Honda asked sarcastically. The somewhat upset 'smirk' faded, and he shrugged. "He's talking to him now- that or 'our' Yugi," he added, the spirit in question giving his friend an unseen look.

"_Unsuspecting innocents..?_"

"Awwwww, he's just sore cause he can't see 'm," Katsuya laughed, throwing an arm around Honda's shoulders.

"You're talking to thin air," he protested through a groan. "That's not 'sore' that's creeped out, idiot!"

"_Why are we going downstairs in the first place,_" asked the 'other' Yugi, a slight frown on his face. "_Aibou is fighting as we speak... Why would you stop before you even knew where the door was..?"_

For a moment Katsuya paused, simply turning to the spirit with a smirk that managed to freeze a look of confusion on his fading friend's face. "B'cause," he responded. "...Tha's where Anzu'll be."

How he knew, none of the others asked- by this point... It was almost expected that Katsuya simply 'knew' about certain things. But those words alone were enough for the ghost to nod and vanish from sight completely evidently, and when the blond looked back the spirit was gone. There was nothing to worry about _here_ for him after all.

It was time to focus on what happened above.

* * *

Space.

A vast and expansive vacuum that held more death than it likely did life, and yet it was filled with wondrous visions such as distant stars and galaxies, planets of variant size and form, all glittering or glowing far off in the distant if they were visible at all...

And 'space' was what would destroy him if he didn't find a solution soon. Across from him, Scott was chuckling, muttering something in English. He had a feeling he could guess at what he was saying though, despite never really paying attention in class. Probably mentioning how he had no monsters...

How it was his turn, and how he was 'waiting'... "Gh..." Even if he summoned a high-level monster, he wouldn't be able to remove the limited time it would have on the field... The battle's favor had changed completely- where he'd held the advantage, it was almost completely gone. So in that case... "One card face down," he decided, the hologram flashing beside his previously set card. "Next, the Toy Magician in Defense Mode!" Similarly modeled to the soldier the magician arose, block-like puppet limbs gripping a staff tightly in his hand. With a clacking noise the monster looked back to its summoner, before nodding- evidently, though it could not speak, it was more than willing to pass along its own form of greeting.

"_Hmph._" Across from him Scott snorted, expression yet unchanged. _"So all you can do is... Summon small fry monsters..._" All he recognized was 'small' and 'monsters' in that sentence...

...Somehow, he could still guess at what his opponent said regardless though, and all it did was make him feel even more uneasy. "...End turn," he managed to announce, swallowing as he fixed a competitive glare toward his opponent. "Your move."

His opponent merely nodded, drawing his next card. "_Hn. ...Summon another monster..._" he decided, the form of an almost cloth like creature framed in bone coming into Yugi's sight. It's skull head sat upon the very center, and four stars swirled upon the curtain. "_Lyra the Giver... His special effect,_" Scott explained, his opponent reading his very words from the card on the field, "_Is to give another monster his lifestars..._" Give the other monster... Oh no..! "_I'm going,_" Scott announced, Yugi taking in a deep breath. Zeta only had two stars left, but if Scott gave him all of Lyra's..! "_Zeta attacks..._" the teen called out, a blast of light heading directly toward the Magician on the field. "_**PLASMA BLASTER!**_"

"Trap activate," he countered in panic, "Toy Box!" As Scott's face twisted just slightly in confusion he sighed, watching as the Magician he had on the field vanished into the box that came in his place. "He's safe for now," he continued, almost partially to himself. The blast of plasma rolled over the box completely while the face on its side grimaced. And in the aftermath the most that happened was his Magician propping the lid open to pull a few faces at his opponent's monster, blowing wooden, blocky raspberries at them from afar. "No attacks can reach the monsters in the Toy Box," Yugi shouted clearly, narrowing his eyes. "Nor can the effects of your spell..! I'll place one more monster in the toy box for now," he continued, slipping a facedown card beneath the spell. "So what will you do now?"

As Scott stared in silence the boy found his gaze drifting down toward what was in his hand, an uneasy chill again passing over him. The only thing he had in his hand now was Polymerization. There were no monsters at all let alone high level ones available to him right now, and in 'space' this could mean death. And if he didn't get anything now, he could very well be left defenseless, wasting the other monsters in the box. So... "_My turn ends..._" his opponent decided, free arm limp at his side. "_...Draw your card..._" Tch...

Alright then! "My turn," he called out, pulling his next card. And it was... … "Nnh..." It was a high-level monster, true. But not powerful enough to combat Zeta. Even so... "I return one monster from the Toy Box to the field," he announced, the small tank he'd moved there from his hand appearing on the field. "Next... I offer this monster as sacrifice to summon this! The Dark-Red Enchanter!"

The monster appeared in a swirl of red, helm shadowing his eyes as he looked forward. Across from him however, his opponent merely laughed; though whatever he said went misunderstood after all, it was obvious that he'd only done this with need for a shield. The Enchanter was just barely under the power of Zeta...

So with a bit lip, he continued. "The Enchanter enters defense mode," he called out, switching the card and watching as the monster braced itself for attack. He had a card that could add power but this wasn't the time- Lyra would still be there and Zeta's effect would summon two tokens primed for sacrifice- he couldn't risk it. "End turn..!"

And with that, Zeta had no life-stars left... While his opponent seemed to quake with _rage. "...You... Hesitated..._" he hissed, fist clenching as the monster behind him smoked from existence and into two separate monsters. "_You didn't attack... ...So this is all that 'this' Yugi is capable of then..?_" he snarled, the boy merely flinching under the combined force of Scott's glare and his harsh and foreign comments. "_I'll summon something different... Something better than your half-assed monster..._" he continued, moving the cards as the just summoned tokens began to fade again. "_Watch... I sacrifice my two tokens to summon this.. The monster whose greed becomes his life-blood,_" Scott sneered. "_GREED QUASAR!_"

The monster that appeared looked almost like a skull, an enormous triangular skull with a pointed horn- its true head- poking from the top. Bone-like arms hung from beneath the top points of the triangle, and in the very center a row of razor sharp teeth sat beneath the 'eyes' of the beast. And as Scott now explained, the card doing the same, Quasar's power was not predetermined. It was calculated by the number of lifestars in its possession, multiplied by 300. Currently, he had 2100 points of power. But now...

"_...Activate Lyra's effect..._" Scott called, a shower of stars soaring from the black curtain and around Quasar's body. "_Giving two of Lyra's stars to Quasar..._" Which meant that Lyra had two turns left... And Quasar had six hundred more attack points..! "_Lets go... Greed Quasar's attack,_" he roared, clawed hands flexing in the air as power grew around them. "_**DEVOUR HIM!**_" Devour-

Wait, what! The hologram's hands shot forward, and with wide and horrified eyes Yugi watched as they coiled around his now struggling enchanter. As though electrified by some hidden power the formerly invisible details of the attacking monster could be seen. The yellowed hue of the bone that formed it, the faded and nauseating colour of stretching sinews forming its arms... With a sickening crack the Quasar's jaw opened, Yugi only able to stiffen and pale with shock and fear both. The monster's 'eyes' now glowed with power, and from the back of its throat could be seen a deep abyss...

But Quasar didn't wait to swallow the monster whole. Instead, with an echoing crunch it bit down on the midsection and shoulders of the trapped Enchanter... Tossing the remaining limbs into his mouth as Yugi's eyes somehow widened further than they already had. "Eaten," he managed to whisper. "He was... E... Eaten..." And what was worse...

If what the card said was right... "_Greed Quasar's effect activates,_" Scott announced, his monster snarling before it reverted to it's 'dead' appearance. "_He absorbs the lifestars of all he defeats... He now has 14 stars,_" he continued, his opponent literally shaking in his shoes. "_His attack power... ...Is 4200...!_" F-Forty... Two hundred... "_It doesn't matter what trash you summon..." _Scott spat._ "Your servants will all fall into the Quasar's maw..._" He...

He didn't even know what he was saying, just stop..! "This isn't good," Gekkou muttered, his own eyes wide with horror as well. "Even if it decreases each turn, the power is still more than enough to blast through a shield... And by absorbing the stars of those shields..."

Space... Space wasn't a place meant for monsters like this, he found himself thinking, unaware of how similar the thought was to his opponent's words at that moment. It just wasn't possible, to win in this situation..! Scott cackled from in front of him, expression almost as demonic as his monster's own. He'd only done this because Anzu was there, because he _had_ to fight for her, he had to...

"_Are you going to call him,_" Scott asked, his opponent looking up in confusion. "_...The other Yugi?_" 'Oth-' Other? He was asking about the other him..? The boy swallowed, and Scott continued. "_I heard... That in Pegasus' Duelist Kingdom finals... You fought with another personality... Another Yugi,_" he continued, Yugi himself only barely piecing together what he heard. "_**Switch,**_" he ordered, shaking his head in disgust. "_I know your level and I'm done with you... Switch out, now- at least then... I'll have my vengeance for Pegasus..._" That... That...

He looked down, closing his eyes. 'Switch'. Scott knew of the spirit in the puzzle and now he wanted him to switch out. He was losing- and Scott wanted to test himself against a bigger challenge. And as it seemed, just as he'd silently wondered during the tournaments in the past, he really _wasn't_ of 'competitive' level. It was all...

It was all... "_Aibou,_" he heard someone call, head snapping up to attention before sinking down in a daze. "_Aibou,_" his other self repeated, appearing before him and blocking sight of the opponent across the field. "_...Are you alright,_" the other Yugi asked, his lighter half unable to meet his gaze for long.

"..._Other me,_" he mentally whispered, head bowed yet again. "_I..._"

His other-self stared, before nodding and placing a strong hand on the boy's shoulder. "_It's alright,_" he told him, the sensation of displacement coming over Yugi as his body was occupied by the spirit of the puzzle. "_I understand._" Under-

Ah..! "_Other me,_" he protested nervously, appearing at the side in a haze. "_I... It... I'm not... I just..._"

"_Hnhnhnhn..._" He shook his head, eying the boy with a smile. "_Don't worry... Just watch,_" he whispered, turning back to the field. Scott had, for a moment, done nothing but taunt them in English. Unlike the lighter half of the pair, he would have to focus on more than just lessons to glean what he was saying.

But Yugi's memories were enough for his other to know what had to be done. "So," he called out, the smile on his face becoming a dark and challenging smirk. "You think my partner and I are weak, do you?" As Scott's face momentarily fell, the smirk grew. "Listen close, understand? My partner is a thousand times more the duelist you will ever be... And he doesn't need my help to destroy you!"

"_What was __**that**__...!_" While Scott tensed the spirit of Yugi's lighter half stared, turning to his partner with wide eyes.

"_O-Other me..!_"

The boy ignored him, merely watching as Scott continued. "_I can only guess that you're 'angry',_" he muttered, expression unchanging. "_Coming out all this way... To find your other half's spirit is already broken... He's lost his will to fight..._" he spat bitterly, "_And it's obvious... You, the 'other' Yugi, should fight me instead..._" 'Other'?

As the other Yugi gleaned his partner's mind he realized immediately what their opponent was talking about and chuckled. "Hnhnhn... Is that so," he murmured, shaking his head before pointing forward with a smirk. "I already told you- he doesn't need my help! He has a partner in this duel, but it isn't me this time... Prepare yourself," he continued, forcing himself back out of control with a challenging grin. "You haven't seen anything yet..!"

"_What..!_"

Meeting Scott's momentarily confused gaze were not the eyes of the 'other Yugi' now- instead, with courage renewed and wide eyes set with determination, it was again the one Scott had started the duel against.

"_So,_" he muttered with narrowed eyes. "_I'm stuck with you then..._" If what Scott had said was concerning the fact that he wouldn't fight the other Yugi then he was right- he wouldn't.

Because he had told the other Yugi, told Gekkou, told everyone that he would fight. That he would fight in order to save Anzu and stop Yakou's plan- and if he turned back now, then it would be as though he never even tried. No matter what, he assured himself. No matter what, he had to fight..!

And Scott, who was now making his move, seemed to realize this. "_If that's the case,_" he was snarling, mannerisms almost reminding his opponent of the Battle City match with Kaiba, "_This is where you lose..! I play one card face down,_" Scott announced as the hologram flashed into being, "_And then end my turn... After I'm done with you,_" he continued, narrowing his eyes, "_I'll drag your 'other self' out myself... And I'll destroy you both..! Now..!_"

"My turn," Yugi cried, drawing his next card as he attempted to pay the half-understood words no mind. His other self was still behind him, watching... '_You put that deck together on your own,_' he was telling him. '_These monsters are yours, and only yours. They, and the cards you built this deck with, will be your partner for this duel!_' Right... And now, as he looked over the card in his hand... He had a way to finish this. "I play one card face down, and then end my turn," he announced, swallowing uneasily. He knew that with what he had now he could win...

But the moves that would be made to do so would do more than just hurt 'a little'. "_One card face down on an empty field..._" Scott observed, narrowing his eyes. "_Not even a high level monster to defend yourself... Pathetic..._" Gh... He had to get the opponent that couldn't speak Japanese didn't he? "_My turn,_" the teen went on, drawing his next card. Again, the teen was muttering under his breath, Yugi left with nothing but wild guesses as to what he was saying. Scott's eyes seemed to flicker over his traps only briefly- likely to contemplate what possible issues could arise from the cards across him, but just as quickly he moved on. "_Let's finish this,_" he growled, pointing the enormous monster behind him forward. "_I summon Eva Epsilon in attack mode,_" he began, an odd triangular creature with almost lobster-like claws coming to the field. "_And now... ...I begin my battle phase! GREED QUASAR,_" Scott roared, his opponent bracing himself with the monster's name. "_Attack,_" he cried,_ "With __**PROMINENCE NAPALM!**_"

Here it came...! The alien demon's mouth cracked open yet again, and despite its holographic form he could see the fires gathering in its mouth. They shot across the field with all the force of the very name behind it, and as he stumbled back beneath it he choked and coughed on the 'solid' light that had blown through to his lungs. "GGGH- ...Hhaaaah... Ahhh..." Four hundred points was all he had left now, but even as he fell shakily to one knee it was worth it. His eyes seemed almost dead to the field with the shock his body was in- as though the game itself was berating him for how stupid it was to take such a direct hit.

"Y-Yugi-san," Gekkou called out, taking a step forward before stopping himself in his tracks. The boy was breathing raggedly, body even seeming to steam in the face of the incredible attack. "Yugi-san..!"

And amid it all, his opponent simply laughed. "_Hnhnhn... HnhnHAHAHAAA! I don't believe it,_" he howled, eyes wide with cruel and even frightening mirth. "_You took the attack dead on..! HnhnHAAAA!_" The laughter slowly died off, and with a look of triumphant rage Yugi's opponent continued with his play._ "This... This is it...!_" Scott roared, pointing his final monster forward just as Yugi tapped a key on his duel disk. "_Eva Epsilon attacks as well..! GO-_"

Now...

-_clack_-

As the boy slowly rose to his feet the Toy Box on the field smoked and faded from sight, replaced by the glowing Toy Magician. The staff blocked Epsilon's clawed 'hand' with ease- and after getting over his initial shock, Scott's mild disgust was more than evident. "_So,_" he muttered, eyes filled with distaste. "_The Toy Magician finally comes out from his hiding place..._" Yes...

He did. And, standing up with shaking legs, Yugi pointed his monster forward to continue with his move. "Hah... The Toy Magician counters," he shouted weakly, the mage in question swinging Epsilon's claw from his staff before taking aim with the same device. "Now... _**BLOCK DEMOLITION!**_"

Lines began to appear over Epsilon's body from the point where Toy Magician's staff connected with his skull. They began to crack, click... And in a single burst the monster broke into puzzle pieces, each one smoking away as Scott's points dropped by an almost minimal amount. "_Gh..._" With the attack finished Yugi told himself, the other card could now activate. These were the final moments... Whatever words Scott shouted now were useless- He heard the name of his monster, along with the name of Greed Quasar but it was all useless, and as Scott's eyes fell on the Magician who was now well equipped for battle he frowned. "_...What's he doing,_" he muttered, watching as the magician clenched his fists and began to shake and glow. "_Shaking... You're not going to tell me he's shaking with anger... Because I wounded his master are you..?_" He couldn't answer that question unfortunately- he didn't even know what he'd said.

But that didn't mean he couldn't speak at all, and with narrowed eyes and a cold tone he steadied himself for what was next. "I activated my face down card," he announced, gesturing to the hologram as Scott paled.

"_That... But that card is..!_"

"The Trap Equip card, 'Fit of Rage'," Yugi unknowingly finished, his Magician gripping his staff and taking aim. "With the effects of this card, the Toy Magician gains as many attack points as I lost in life points this turn... Giving him a total of 5200!" he continued, his own fists clenched as his opponent stared. "We'll stop you," he shouted determinedly, voice echoing through the room. "Even if you burn us to nothing but ashes, even if you kill us now, we WILL save Anzu!"

"_Will you now,"_ Scott asked, evidently able to understand his opponent perfectly despite not speaking a word of it the entire time. "_...That equip card is nothing..._" he continued with narrowed eyes. "_When I end this turn... The Toy Magician's added attack will drop by half... Leaving him with a mere 3400 points... And to contrast,_" he continued, opponent's eyes drawn to the holographic card on the field, "_The defeated Eva Epsilon's effect now activates... Leaving Greed Quasar with 14 lifestars. Even at the end of this turn, with only 13,_" Scott laughed, "_He'll still have 3900 attack points... Your puny monster's rage isn't worth a thing,_" he sneered. "_And there is nothing that can save you now..._"

Who knew what Scott had just told him- even if he understood, he wasn't listening. Instead, he could hear his other half's voice in the back of his mind, the spirit having almost painfully been blown away by the previous attack. "_Aibou,_" he called out, a confident and assuring stare 'visible' even from behind. The spirit had not yet reappeared from the puzzle's depths, but his voice was more than clear enough for him to hear. "_Your monster's rage... It hasn't been completely spent just yet!_"

He nodded. "_Exactly..!_" "Now," he called aloud, activating the final trap. "Activate trap... Strike Back! This card," he announced, watching as Scott's expression went white with horror, "Allows me to conduct my battle phase during your turn..! The Toy Magician is still enraged," Yugi shouted almost coldly. "And he's going to attack with all 5200 points of that anger! NOW," he ordered, the monster's staff glowing as he charged forward, "_**BLOCK DEMOLITION!**_"

As the Greed Quasar crumbled to pieces Scott was rendered silent in shock. He didn't move, even to blink, and before anyone could speak the time for his turn had passed. The enormous 'demon' of space had fallen...

With plenty of 'lifestars' to spare for the finisher. "It's my turn now," Yugi announced in regard to that, his opponent still completely motionless. "And the Toy Magician attacks directly... Go!" he ordered, the monster's attack point drop still more than enough to finish off the game. There was no need to announce an attack this time- all the Magician did was bring his staff down upon Scott's brow, an eerie after image of a separating and block-like hologram snapping over the teen's form before leaving the real body to crumble onto the ground at his knees. The duel was over. It was...

It...

It was as though a wave of shock washed over him at that moment. As the 'space' field faded to bring back the nearly blinding light of the room, and the remaining cards vanished with the Toy Magician, he found himself in shock. He knew during the match he would win. He had to, for Anzu's sake after all..! But now...

As a grin slowly broke over his face, Yugi's other half smiled from behind him. "_Congratulations Aibou,_" he said clearly, moving to stand at his side. "_You did it!_" Yea... He had...

And this time, it wasn't a carpet duel in his house, or a desk-top battle with Jonouchi. This was a tournament level fight. And rather than watch from the sidelines while his partner fought with all he had...

He'd done it himself.

* * *

**AN: **Alright, before I go nuts, a BIG sorry about timing... I seem to be apologizing about that a lot, so I'm going to just say that I won't likely hold the regular 'once a week' update schedule. I mean... School hasn't even started yet.

As to the reason however, it's actually kind of pathetic... But I'm at the point where there aren't really any Yugioh R chapters online- this means I'm using the ones I took out from the library for my reference, which unfortunately means I type the duels _really slowly_, since I have to basically type out the script, and _then_ type out the chapter with that and the RAW pages available for reference. Sooooo yea, lots of slow-ness!

Also I give up on making excuses on the lack of art damn it. (Stupid freaking blocks...)

Any ways, if you haven't guessed, this is one of the chapters I had to do the double reference for- and that was only for the last of _four chapters _in the duel. Gives you an idea on just how long that takes... Of course... Now that I'm back in BC at my family's house I actually have to have a life of sorts... (Actually went on a day long hike the other day to Cruickshanks Canyon. Ab. Solutely. _Gorgeous_.)

But this is fanfiction! No place for things like that! (Or is it?) Final note before we move on, but another thing slowing me down is that I fiiiiinally got a solid idea on my _novel_ plot, so I'll be working on that a lot. Now... This idea (admittedly) spawned from something fan related, SO! After going over it with a friend of mine, I'll be typing out the fanfiction rendition first.

This will not be put online until I am certain that I can either continue typing both it and this fanfic at a steady pace, or this fanfic is done and I can still type the story at a steady pace.

Of course, as with all my plans you never know; I could just end up posting that one on the side when I have the time. (Skin will still hold total focus when it comes to things not involving Real Life.)

NOW THEN! Before I ramble even MORE off topic...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Baaahaha! Short festivities there Imadork!

And... I don't know, but it really feels like it. For all I know, it's because the best duelists are all connected to their decks, and this makes them crazy or something. Who knows!

And it really does... When you get to the serious side it also tells you what they're used to/where they came from, but still. Very amusing that scene was.

Concerning Keith, I'm going to go on a limb and say yes; Keith either managed to trick his brain into thinking it got shot in the head, or he _actually did it_. The fact is... I'm pretty sure there's _blood _in that panel of the manga.

Regardless, the least that would have happened would have involved brain death sooooo...

-cough- Anyways! It's not so much vague as now I'm wondering how far I'll go on it... The contest prize is a flat colour after all. Regardless, I _am_ doing my best to get my ideas going on it, so sit tight for now! It WILL get done!

I know you miss it Maggiemay, but I have to pace it right you know! (It makes it that much more sweeter when I get there though, doesn't it?)

But soon indeed; it'll most assuredly pick up a bit of pace after this arc ends. (I say end because, as Jou has likely made obvious already... He and Seto won't be crossing paths until Tenma's defeat.)

And hey, if it's work that's in the way then don't sweat it- reviews are great, but work is important, and much more so!

I hope you found this next chapter a nice read too, hehe~

He really does, doesn't he Iona...

And yet again, a good point. Reiko isn't actually odd so much as just a very nervous girl really. And I think everyone would want a kid-brother Mokuba. _Everyone_.

In any case, enjoy the update, and I'll see you next chapter!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that suddenly realized it should _probably_ start planning the Holidays/Breather arc instead of planning the one after it.

* * *

Today's chapter is titled 'Nokriy', which means 'Alien'... But obviously not in the 'extra terrestrial' sense. After all, 'Alien' is also a term for 'Foreigners'... So really, it's a double meaning chapter today!

* * *

In the manga, Seto actually slammed Yakou in the face with the briefcase. But... FFSeto didn't _have_ the briefcase with her. So hence the incredible use of a fist, which I'm sure Kaiba would have done in the event that there wasn't a briefcase anyway.

* * *

If you haven't guessed, Seto REALLY doesn't like when people use her first name without permission guys! I do believe Yakou has crossed the line not once but three times...

* * *

By the way, a bit of a hint... If people are speaking with the surname last, that's a pretty good hint that they're all speaking English. However, if it's the reverse, we're using our standard Japanese. Italics on the otherhand, typically mean a language that only a few can understand- so it's used not only for 'spirit speak' but also when a language other than Japanese is being used... A lot.

Like it was here.

* * *

No seriously guys, how the _fuck_ did Tenma know all that stuff! That was _canon_. That was in the _manga_, and it's _creeping me out._.!

* * *

If you haven't guessed, 'Chouji' (Or 'Great Child') is... Well, favoured child. Quite literally the favored kid. Gekkou's basically getting at the fact that not everyone Pegasus looked out for got equal treatment...

* * *

Ossan is actually a Japanese term for uncle or grandpa depending on the pronunciation, but in many cases it's also used the same way 'old man' would be... In regard to insults.

...I'm not... Completely sure why Richie used it, but it was probably to catch _everyone_ off guard. (In other words, I didn't want to cut it, but at the same time...)

Ohhhh, and if you haven't guessed, there's lots of beating the crap out of people in this arc for once. More than the non-VR related arcs before it at least...

* * *

And I should think 'underdog duelist' is an obvious title for someeeeee_oneeeeeeeeee_... (Given that Jou made fourth/third place _without_ a God card...)

* * *

Scott (Depre and Merced are the codes now if you didn't guess) has a really weird manner of speech in the manga... He seems to have a really slow voice, or... Something. Because seriously, if you thought _I_ went crazy with the '...' fun...

WOW. THIS GUY.

Any ways, despite the fact that it's actually quite likely that Scott knows Japanese (and is far more likely to out of... EVERYONE ELSE), I have him speaking English the entire time... This is partially because I should at least _once _before we hit say... The Doma arc, address the language gap, and also because Scott's actually using it as an intimidation ploy. Sure he's still saying things that make sense (partially because it gets a visible response from anyone who _can _understand, thereby making Yugi even more uneasy...), but because Yugi doesn't have a clue _what_ those things are, it's actually a _very_ effective psychological ploy.

(I'll admit that I miiiight have gotten carried away with it though.)

Ironically, there was actually another duel entirely in English earlier; Kaiba VS Willa was spoken completely in that language.

* * *

If you notice in the scene with Jou, it both is and isn't as awkward as the last time. Now this is in part because it wasn't nearly as violent; Jonouchi didn't collapse into a seizure, he pretty much just took a step, trembled, groped for the wall, and fell. In other words, he did the same thing any of _you _would if you did nothing more than stand up too fast! So really, it seems only semi-serious.

Also, while Honda is a little more worried (Partially because he _really_ knows what kind of messes Jou's been through, so other than the typical worried friend fun, he's also scared shitless in the face of something that worries Jonouchi when even crowds of gang mooks _didn't_.), Mokuba is exibting a little thing called 'trust'.

He trusts that whatever this is Jou isn't detailing that he'll take care of it. That Jou will tell him if it's something that he needs help with- and that he'll know what to say and what not to say when it comes to his sister.

* * *

And speaking of Honda, it seems that Fanfic!Honda has gained the trait of getting incredibly sarcastic and snarky when he's nervous or afraid... Though really, this is only a notch higher than during the Noa arc, and we really haven't had too much interaction between these two since... Wow. _Ages_.

* * *

When Gekkou says 'by your country' he refers, of course, to the 'seat method'. Not exactly a 'non-Japan' deal, you know? Typically, the top is the 'first seat'... In fact, anyone who watches Bleach will notice that the one directly below the 'Vice-Captain' is the _Third_ seat. Captain = First, Vice = Second after all.

* * *

Speaking of languages, there are obviously lots of phrases in the Duel Monster's game that use English regardless of the language... So really... With the holograms in mind, bilingual duels are quite possible in this realm.

* * *

There's an interesting panel in this duel when the Swordsman attacks Scott- they actually give each other quite the challenging look..! Which has me... Really wondering about things myself...

* * *

No really- Scott snubs Yugi for not attacking _when his monster was weaker_. Whaaaaat..?

* * *

And speaking of characters knowing what they shouldn't...

How does Scott know about _the other Yugi_? (What is this madness..!)

* * *

If you haven't guessed, Yugi's sight for his own monsters 'jumped' as a result of the physical contact. Not that anyone enjoyed that...

* * *

Also, Scott seems to call monsters 'servants' and I'm not really sure why...

* * *

There's a lot to be said for this ending I believe. Yugi never really has, after all, dueled in the tournaments save a few moments against Pegasus. In the manga, the only other time he takes part in a completely plot related duel is during the Millennium World against Bakura, and then the Ceremonial Battle. His one other shot comes from the anime- Doma, and that one wasn't 'really' him anyway!

So for Yugi, this is pretty much the first time he goes in there 'guns blazing' so to speak. It's his first time fighting someone other than a friend, the first time he's dueling for a purpose other than to practice or have fun. And these sorts of things don't strike you until after the fact... It's a very heavy/light feeling all at once- like you've just been drained.

As it is, this is a huge step toward Yugi gaining his 'true' confidence so to speak... The thing that proves, when the time comes, that the other Yugi can move on without any regrets. After all- the spirit of the puzzle appeared, initially, only when Yugi himself felt considerably threatened.

I'll just leave you all with that- hopefully, I can get my manga from the library and have the next chapter up soon..! Until then...

Enjoy the chapter!


	114. Chapter 113

**Taraph**

* * *

_In the darkness of the cavern, the boy feels fear. It is the first time such a thing has ever happened within these walls, and the fact only serves to intensify this feeling. Though he has become good friends with the apprentice Neker, his friend's words now worry him. He tells him that he should try and prove himself again. That he should show them the dragon again, and that he will stand at his side and strengthen his argument._

_But the boy protests- the Elders cannot see the Dragon. If they cannot see it, they will only assume that the two are both taking them for fools, and it will not just be the boy who receives punishment as a result. The dragon as well, had agreed with this standpoint... And with that, it seemed Neker had realized his fault._

_Neker however did not have a look of honesty in his eyes when he said this... A fact that the boy and the dragon both realized._

_And so, late in the evening while the village sleeps, the boy has wandered back through the desert he now knows well and hidden away where no one will look for the moment. The dragon is surprised by his arrival of course- and as he always does in times like this, he tells the boy that he should be in his own home, and in his own bed. But as always, the dragon is quick to give in, eventually allowing the boy to remain at his side._

_This time however, there are no stories. The boy is too frightened for that, this much the dragon knows. Instead he sits in silence, offering a comfort that no words can give while the moon sits in the sky._

_So they sit in the sand, with nothing but pale moonlight trickling down through long forgotten mirrors in the ground. Mirrors that have only recently received care from the room's visitors, and have only been polished with what was available. Rough cloth, and spittle._

_The silence lasts a long time. It is long past the middle of the evening by the time the boy's mouth opens. When it does open however the dragon is there, and ready to listen. "Dragon," he asks quietly, scarcely able to see in the darkness around them. "...That story... About the 'nameless' things... You said that if they found the same vessel, they could come back," he whispers worriedly. "That they could become one thing again. ...Dragon," he asks, looking up at the shadowed creature sitting with him and continuing to press a curiosity that has been striking him for a number of days now. "When that happens... The Light will stop it again right? Just like it did last time... Right?"_

_The dragon gives a low rumble, adjusting his position as he bows his head. "...Sadly child, I must answer no. The stones of light will not be enough when the time comes," he warns, shaking his head. "If anything, they will be **powerless** before it..."_

"_P... Powerless," he repeats with a whisper._

"_Indeed... For if they were to combine again,_" _the dragon explains calmly, "They would regain their names. And I fear child, that in this time the true name of the Light has long since been forgotten... Even by the** shadows**... That the difference in power would be unimaginable."_

_The boy swallows, and though he does not realize it a later version of himself shudders from behind those he walks with. "How is that possible," the boy whispers with horror, wide eyes bloodshot and filled with betrayed and nervous tears. "You said the Light was strong... The strongest there ever was, that nothing-"_

"_I said that Light was strong... When she was whole," the Dragon responds, cutting the boy's words short. "When her name was known to thousands, and when it could be spoken and the sun would rise. But in these sorry times it has been forgotten," he laments, "And her power is as the dust..." But that..._

_It can't be possible. The boy simply **cannot** believe it is possible, and yet there is nothing but truth in the Dragon's eyes. And because of this, the boy falls silent, eyes filled with nothing but fear in the light of what could be. "How can a name... Hold such power," he eventually asks in whispered tones, looking back to the dragon. "How can a **name**... Decide so much..? How..!"_

"_You must never underestimate the importance of a name," the Dragon warns, curling a protective wing about his charge. "The mere utterance can give great power... The power to curse its bearer, the power to protect... With a name alone all of your memories could be locked away... Or even awoken after a millennia of time and rebirth. Without a name, you are not who you are meant to be," the shadow continues. "You are someone else... Perhaps even 'no one'. That is why the nameless must remain nameless," he tells the boy, his charge so entrapped by the conversation that neither can hear the approaching steps that come from outside the chamber's true door. "Because without names they are without power. ...But with names..."_

_They surpass the darkness itself... The boy realizes this of his own accord, and bows his head. "To think," he says quietly, "Of something like that happening... I can't..." He doesn't want such a thing to transpire. He couldn't bear it if it happened, if the light from the sky was torn from existence and replaced with black._

_The dragon knows this though, and reassures him in the odd manner he typically does so with. "What does your heart tell you child?" The boy blinks, but despite his confusion listens as the dragon repeats the question. "Have you listened to it as you used to," he asks knowingly. "Or have you been blinded by your fear? Your heart will always guide you," he continues, looking into the boy's eyes. "But only if you listen. If will warn you of what is yet to come, but only if you keep your eyes and ears open."_

"_...Like the dreams..?" he whispers in response._

"_Exactly like the 'dreams'. You have been given a gift," the dragon rumbles, lowering his head and neck to curl about the boy. "A power that was once available to all those with eyes and ears... That you still hear and see is not something to be taken lightly," he continues. "For there is always a reason for these things..."_

_You just need to find it..._

* * *

"Ng... Nnhnn..." As the lights came back on in the room, there was still an obstacle standing in their way. An easy to by pass obstacle for most, he was sure. But as the spirit of the puzzle stared he found himself just as silent as all the others in the room, unsure of how to deal with what was in their way. "Nhhhnhn... Nhahahaaaa... Sff... Nhh..." Though they'd won the battle, neither had moved- they'd merely watched the one across from them tremble and fall to his knees, hands on the ground as he shook and shivered. Strange sounds were coming from the teen's body... And if his eyes were not mistaking him, something fell from Scott's face. But that couldn't be right, could it..? That their opponent was...

Crying..?

"Game over," Gekkou finally said after a moment, the others unable to look away. "We've won this match."

"_Iyah_..." What was that..? "_Iyah, Iyah, IYAH_...!" Iy- Wait, he could speak Japanese this entire time..! As the other Yugi tensed Scott continued to shake his head, wide and bloodshot eyes overflowing with tears as he looked up. "I was supposed to win," he cried, fumbling with his arm and continuing to curl in on himself. "I can't lose, not to you," he screamed. "I... We... Pegasus-sama is all we have," he wept, lowering his head once more as a shadow-eyed Richie came from behind. "He's all we have left... It's all your fault..!" Yugi stiffened along with his partner this time, and the teen before them cried on. "If you didn't fight him," he wept, "If it wasn't for you he'd have never left! He'd still be here! He... I... I just wanted..." A loud sniff broke the slight silence on the air, followed by a number of choked sobs. "I just wanted to see him," Scott whispered. "Just one more time... Just... One... Nghh.. Hn... Aaaaaaah... HaaaaaAAaaaahh..."

"_C'mon Scott_," Richie whispered, helping his friend to his feet with a depressed sigh. His friend merely collapsed against the arm with grief, wracked cries silenced only by the coat sleeve his face fell onto. "_Come on, lets... ...Hah... ...HEY,_" he called back, looking to the hall behind him. To Yugi's surprise two suited men instantly ran in, eyes widening behind their sunglasses as they spotted their apparent employer. "_Hey,_" Richie continued in English, the men briefly distracted by the sight of Scott's current state. "_Little help here?_"

The men hurriedly bowed their heads with a nod. _"Yes Mr. Merced."_

"_Sorry for the delay, Mr. Merced_."

"Yea yea," the man muttered in response, the suits already helping to support the weight of a teen who refused to move. As the pair began carrying him off Richie sighed. "_Just look after him while I deal with these guys..._"

The doors closed tightly behind Scott and the suits both, and all three tensed as soon as Richie's gaze was turned back on them. "Well," the American eventually said, switching back to Japanese tongue. "'Mutou Yugi'... The rumours don't lie," he decided. "I think that's the first time I've seen you fight as 'you' and not some other version I caught a glimpse of online." Though he tensed regardless, the other Yugi almost wondered if he should have be glad to not receive a dry look for the reference to their ID image on Kaiba's duelist database once he realized what Richie was talking about. In the end he supposed the moment was far too tense for that really- Richie was in there way, therefore, it was time to fight. Yet as he prepared to step in he held himself back- Yugi's expression was now shifting back into a stony look of determination, his deck shuffling within the disk as he stepped forward.

"I beat Depre," he said slowly, speaking both to his partner and the one before them. "And I won't lose to anyone else either- not until we save Anzu!" the boy almost snarled, eliciting a snort from his soon to be opponent.

"Yea yea... _Where have I heard that..._" As both Yugis frowned at the English muttering Richie as well narrowed his eyes, pulling a deck from his side and slipping it into the duel disk. "That's how Scott thought too you know," he said bitterly. "To him... No, to all of those that Pegasus-sama raised," he corrected, "That man was something like the sun. Without him, we can't survive, understand? All he wanted," the man hissed, shaking his head. "All he wanted was to see him again... That's all!"

But the dead were _dead_, the spirit found himself thinking distantly, suddenly far more aware of his own status of being. They didn't return to the world of the living...

Not without a price. "...I'm fighting you next then?" Yugi asked, hand hovering over his duel disk to start. To their slight amazement Richie snorted, shaking his head almost in disgust.

"If I were fighting for Scott then sure- why not," he shouted in response. "But I'm not fighting for Scott." Um. He wasn't? "I'm fighting for something else," Richie went on, clenching his fist. "Sure, he's a friend of mine, and about as close to a brother as I'll ever get," the man explained. "But I'm not putting my neck on the line for vengeance- not my style," he told them. "We're card professors- if we don't live together then the only time we meet is for battle; we can win, and we can lose, but that's it. Shit happens," he said, "It's our life. But YOU," he snarled, eyes snapping toward Gekkou as he tensed. "You... _You're_ the one I want to fight," the man spat, disk already in place on his arm. "You're a traitor... You betrayed all of those who Pegasus-sama raised, and THAT is something that I WILL fight for! Come forward!"

The trio swallowed, Gekkou looking to the corporal of the Yugis before looking back. This was their only obstacle; and as it was, they could hardly expect to take down someone who could send Keith Howard to the ground if that sort of thing had even registered in their minds. "Gekkou-kun," the boy started, only to watch as his friend stepped forward and switched his own duel disk on.

"I'll handle this Yugi-san," he said curtly. "It doesn't look like we have much choice."

"_Not much is right_," the other Yugi murmured under his breath, arms crossed. "_I wish him luck._"

Not that Gekkou would hear that. The young man took Yugi's place on the field, his cards shuffling on his arm while he spoke. "Richie... I know how you feel about Pegasus-sama. Believe me... I understand your feelings more than anything," he continued clearly, "But we cannot drag others into this! Not Yugi-san, not Mazaki-san... Nor the company whose building we stand in now. This is something that should be dealt with ourselves," Gekkou pressed, fist clenched tight with his words. "But instead Yakou had to involve everyone else in this..! And we can't let that go on!"

"Che! And what do we care who we use, or whose things we take," Richie responded callously. "We LIVE for Pegasus-sama... No one else matters if we can get him back!"

"But Pegasus-sama wouldn't have allowed this!"

For a moment Richie fell silent at Gekkou's words, but given the stone cold expression on his face it was clear that he wasn't reconsidering his choices. "Really?" he 'asked', eyes narrowed with adamant resolve. "Well why don't we ask him when he comes back then?" the man sneered. "Just try and stop us Gekkou... Just try. If we're going to fight," he continued, disk arm held outward, "Then we'd mind as well get this over with..."

Across from him Gekkou bowed his head, and in the end nodded in resignation. "Very well," he said lowly. "We duel."

With a single nod it began. "GO!"

Awful 'nice' of Richie, the other Yugi noted, to continue speaking in Japanese despite his opponent being American himself. Before he could voice this however the hands of cards were already set, with Gekkou making the first move. "My turn," he called out, a pair of holograms appearing as he spoke. "First, two cards face down... Following that," he announced, a young cloaked elf with a book in her arms shimmering into being, "The Learning Elf in defense mode!"

The elf again the spirit noted, watching as the somewhat life-like hologram hovered in place. Strange... It seemed that when he wasn't using Yugi's body, he could 'see' clearer, but how...

It was almost like it had been when fighting against the ja-shin... "Turn end," Gekkou called out, cutting the boy's thought's short. "Your move, Richie!"

"Hm! And I see that you've managed to almost waste yours," the man laughed. "You call that a monster Gekkou? Try clearing out your deck! I draw," he went on, slipping the cards onto his disk while the field glowed. "Same as you, two cards face down... And following that," Richie shouted, "I summon this. Twin Gun Fighter!" he announced, the somewhat puppet like gunman appearing in a flash. "This is a real monster Gekkou... Watch! I attack, with _**Double Shot!**_"

"Activate trap," the other countered in response, his words almost expected from the two watching him now. "Reflector!" Inflict damage equal to half the attacking monster to the opponent and negate the attack, the other Yugi read, before snapping his eyes back to the field. A new... Rather, a different equip spell. And... "Equip to the Learning Elf," Gekkou ordered, his 'audience' watching the mosaic mirror appear before the woman to send both fired bullets back from whence they came, "Try again Richie!"

"I think I'll do just that," he responded darkly, tapping the duel disk's button as the bullets approached. "Counter!" As the card swung upward the bullets impacted, seeming to pass through Richie's body in a spiral of wind and light. The others froze at the sight in shock, but despite the after image of the man literally exploding into nothing but fragmented mist it quickly became obvious what happened. The bullet had seemingly passed right through him... But only because of the activated card! "Mirage," Richie announced with a grin, the card beside him showing a rather cliched image of a desert 'oasis'. "Spells, traps and attack targets won't apply to me as long as this card is on the field."

"_Tch... Which means he's safe no matter what,_" the spirit behind them all muttered, only to frown. "_Hold on..._"

The two both turned to Gekkou, frowns deepening with confusion at their friend's expression. "What's wrong?" Yugi asked, the elder of the group not responding. "Gekkou-kun..."

"I wasn't hit but my lifepoints just dropped by sixteen hundred," he muttered, before looking to Richie's monster with wide eyes. "That's the Gunfighter's attack power, which means-"

"Guessed it already," Richie called out, arms crossed. "Twin Gunfighter inflicts damage to the opposing duelist equal to his power when he attacks," he explained, chuckling darkly. "I might have taken the 'hit', but you're the one who took the damage Gekkou- and the Gunfighter will always have a gun aimed at your chest... Too bad really," he added with a sigh. "You used to be good. A 'perfect duelist' according to Pegasus-sama! Hell... Back then I couldn't beat you if I tried," Richie went on in slight disgust, "But you know what, here I am! I've fought my way to the top through countless duelists as Card Professor- I earned this black disk Gekkou and this time the tables are turned! You may have been perfect once," he hissed, a growing and darkening grin on his face, "But that's ancient history! And I'll prove it to you... And this time... This time, Pegasus-sama will call me 'the Perfect Duelist'!"

"Gh..."

"'_Perfect duelist'... Even __**adopted**__ this family has problems,_" the other Yugi grumbled to himself, his partner unable to do anything other than nod in agreement. Still... If Gekkou was attacked during the coming turns it could spell loss. Not good. Gekkou was fighting for them- if he lost, so did they, and so did Anzu. And for Gekkou himself it would spell far more than guilt. To lose his brother after all, would be... Well.

The spirit steeled his resolve, and with similar thoughts Yugi cupped his hands to give their friend a shout. "You have to do this Gekkou-kun," he cried, the man nodding in response. "For Anzu... And for your brother!"

"Hm! My turn," Gekkou responded, looking to the card he'd pulled out and setting it upon the field. "I set one card face down," he began, "And next, I summon the Wonderbeat Elf in attack mode!" With two hooked blades in hand the monster appeared with a crouch, hovering just inches above the ground. His sightless eyes stared forward and as Gekkou pointed the newly summoned monster forward he continued. "Wonderbeat can attack an additional time for each elf on the field," he began, "And he attacks now!" And with the Learning Elf there... "GO! _**Dual Blade**_!"

"Tch... Activate trap," the opponent countered, card flying upward with the click of a button. "Robbing Whip! Stealing your Equip card," Richie explained, the glow of the card sending stars in their eyes, "And equipping it to my monster!" he finished as the card did just that. The whip coiled around the Learning Elf's mirror and tore it from her grasp, sending the first of Wonderbeat's blades crashing into Gekkou as he winced. But as the man looked up, his opponent was far from finished. "Hehehe... It must be my lucky day," Richie sneered. "Thanks to your elf's ability, he still has to attack me... Which means you take half the damage from this reflector!" No...

No! Again the blades clashed, and again Gekkou gave a shout, ducking behind his arm where the hologram struck. Wonderbeat's ability backfired completely... Now Gekkou had less than 1000 life points while Richie was at full power..! "_This.._" He couldn't even speak. "_This is not..._"

As both Yugis swallowed Richie merely continued to chuckle, shaking his head. "Looks like the gap is even wider than I thought," he laughed, shrugging from his place on the field. "It's interesting too... From what I can tell," the man noted, "Your deck is built on effect monsters. Low power, low defense... But devastating abilities. It just so happens my deck was built along the same lines!" he added with a smirk. "...But look... Just a couple of turns in, and already the gap is telling its own story. Seven hundred... To Four Thousand," Richie hissed, the others narrowing their eyes as the man spoke still more. "And you can see it as luck or skill, up to you Gekkou... But personally," he went on, "I'm placing my bets on skill."

"...You could be right about that," Gekkou admitted, the ghostly form behind him taking in a sudden 'breath' in shock. No... No he couldn't be..! If he didn't win then they would- "After we lost Pegasus-sama," Gekkou explained, unaware of the panic behind him, "There was no one left to take control of the company. It was utter chaos... So I stepped in and took his place, rebuilding I2 as he would have wanted," he continued. "But you Richie... You travelled, joined the Professor's league... You devoted yourself to dueling entirely, thinking nothing more than the defeat of Yugi-san."

Something they already knew, right? "So what if I did?" his friend retorted, evidently feeling the same way. "'You were too busy to practice', is that your excuse?"

Gekkou shook his head. "No. Richie," he began quietly, "Can't you see..! You owe all of this... All your success to Pegasus-sama's death. Your determination was a direct result of that," he protested, watching as the man across him grew more and more red-faced, "Pegasus-sama brought each of us up, that's true... But now that he's gone we've all learned to stand on our own and live our our lives to their fullest as he would have wanted. And now you're trying to bring him back," he murmured, "At the cost of a young woman's life... Just so you can depend on him for everything like you did before..."

"You..._ SHUT YOUR MOUTH_!" Richie snarled, the English roar echoing through the now eerily silent room. "Are you trying to say it's good that he's gone," he shouted bitterly. "That it's better he's dead!"

Dead silence was the brief response, Gekkou now returning the earlier dead stare. "You know full well that isn't what I'm saying," Gekkou answered with a dangerous tone. "I'm saying we aren't kids anymore..! We can't be his 'children' forever!"

"Oh yea," the other 'asked'. "Well you're wrong!" Gh-! Not really proving him wrong there either though..! "A world without Pegasus-sama isn't worth living in," Richie hissed with detest. "We lost someone important to us... So we're going to do anything we can to bring him back! That's all there is to it!"

Even at the cost of Anzu's life, they wanted to say, bitter eyes staring the man down from a distance. "Richie..."

"...Gekkou," the man said quietly, an almost wistful tone coming into his voice before it vanished. "You've changed. You're not like the rest of us any more," he continued, "Not at all... So sorry about this Gekkou," he continued bitterly, "But I have to defeat you NOW! MY TURN," Richie roared, pulling the next card free with considerable force before taking a different one from his hand. A glass-faced 'western-belle' appeared in a shower of light, and as the gloved maiden cocked her shotgun Richie announced her name clearly for the field to hear. "Take this..! I summon Pierce Musketeer," he called out, all eyes instantly flickering to mentally note her 'piercing' effect. "AND NOW, GEKKOU... I attack..!"

-BRAM!-

"H-Hahh..! Gekkou-kun!" Yugi cried, all three guns taking aim and firing in an instant.

"_Shit..!_"

"Activate face down!" With a flash of light all fired bullets halted movement, the monsters on both sides freezing in place in the light of the activated card. "Holy Sacrifice! Both attacks target only one monster," he explained, the bullets instantly charging back toward the Learning Elf, "And I take no damage from either attack!"

"Tch..." With a rumbling 'explosion' the Elf was struck down, her hologram misting and fading into sparks where the bullets hit. '_I draw one card_,' Yugi could hear Gekkou say quietly, the effect of the fallen elf coming into play. From across the field Richie could do no more than stare in disgruntled annoyance, brow visibly ticking with the emotion. "Fine, be like that... I play one card face down and end my turn," he announced, "But come next turn you won't be so lucky!" Hmp!

They would see about that... After all. He'd escaped this turn the other Yugi thought to himself, so it was quite likely they'd make the rest of the duel turn back around as well! In fact... "My turn," Gekkou shouted, drawing his next card and giving it only a glance before setting it on the field. "And I activate the spell 'Owner's Mark', returning all spells to their owners! The Reflector equips to Wonderbeat Elf," he continued on, the equipment fading from sight before it reappeared over his monster's arm. Again Richie seemed to stiffen in distaste, an action that was hardly missed by his opponent. "... Richie," Gekkou began, lowering his hand somewhat as he looked over the field. "I'll say again that I know how it feels... We had no family!" he shouted. "We had nothing, no relatives... To us, Pegasus-sama was more than a teacher. He was a father, our family... And after losing him, how can we even think to cause someone else the same pain? I know how it hurts... You certainly do as well," Gekkou continued, "So _why_..."

When he received no answer the young man's gaze hardened, and he bowed his head.

"...This is the end," he said clearly, taking another card from his hand. "Sorry, Richie. But I activate this spell," he cried out, "Sacrifice goods- the equipped Reflector acts as a tribute monster for this turn, and along with him, I'm sacrificing Wonderbeat Elf! NOW," the man announced, his monster and its shield both bursting upward in a shower of light as the card was played, "And I'm summoning this..! ANGEL 07!"

AH- "_A-Angel 07_?" he repeated with a start, only to fall silent as the light continued to fill the room. As metal took form with bladed wings, a shadowed half of face appearing before a now shocked and notably terrified Richie Merced. The Angel 07 was a very recent card... But it was a coveted one. It negated the effects of all monsters on the field regardless of spells and traps. To a deck such as Richie's it was murder- it would shut down every one of his monsters and render them nothing more than sacrifice fodder to a deck with no high-level monsters.

And Angel 07 was not 'high level' for nothing. The power of the others on the field could not hope to match it. "It's my turn to strike," the duelist started lowly. "Now... Angel 07 attacks," he cried out, "And with his ability, your Mirage takes no effect!" Which meant all damage would be made, all of it...

Something that Richie knew full well. "NGH-!" The attack blasted right through his Twin Gun Fighter, scattering it into light and smoke while Richie ducked behind his disk arm. It wasn't much of course- less than 1000 points of damage. But it was a damn good start and with a growing grin the other Yugi shared a look with his partner, the boy's own expression growing as he looked to Gekkou with a laugh.

"Hah... Hahahaa..! Great!" he cried out, unaware of the fact that Gekkou's cold expression had yet to change. "You're turning it around..! This is great..!" It was..! It was incredible!

But why did something feel off..? "I'll set one more card face down before I end my turn," Gekkou decided, slipping the card into its slot before giving Richie a nod. "Turn end."

"Then I draw," his opponent responded, teeth grinding as he looked toward Gekkou. Time to tend this, the other Yugi thought to himself. Time to wrap this up and move on... Yet even as Richie made his move he couldn't get rid of the nagging feeling that something was about to happen. "I set a card face down," Richie began, the hologram appearing at knee level beside him. "Next, summon Grenadier," the mand decided, a monocle wearing old 'puppet' with an oversized gun in hand hobbling in place on the field. "Pierce Musketeer also enters defense mode," Richie announced as the southern belle took a more crouched position, "And following that I end my turn." With his words the recently rendered useless 'Mirage' card faded away from the side, all eyes briefly captured by the movement before flicking back to the field. It was Gekkou's turn now...

This would be it! "Alright then..! Draw," the man announced. "And following that, summon the Boomerang Elf!" In a bright flash of light a monster appeared to stand on the floor directly, the short and boyish elf in the light hoisting an enormous boomerang above him before looking forward. "Both monsters move to attack," Gekkou continued, "Now!"

Synthesized battle cries filled the air, and while the Grenadier erupted into flames caused by Angel 07's single beam of light the Musketeer's own arms were severed from her body by a boomerang's blade before the rest of her followed suit. Both monsters faded into light and dust, and standing behind the fading 'smoke' Richie did nothing but glare darkly. It was a no damage turn true, but this move was just what they needed to turn things around- now they could attack directly..! Now..!

"Richie... It's your turn now," Gekkou said calmly, his monsters hovering motionlessly at his side.

Silence... And with Richie's response the spirit at Yugi's side went white. "I'm not doing a thing this turn," the man said clearly. "Pass." Not even a draw... Not a single move, not even a draw, not-

"_No_," the other Yugi shouted, eyes widening as he looked to Gekkou. "_NO! It's a trap, he can't-!_"

"It's over Richie," Gekkou announced coldly and tonelessly. "Let's go... Both monsters attack!"

"Heh."

"_No... NO, GEKKOU!_"

"Wh-" "_What... Other me,_" his partner whispered mentally,_ "What do you mean 'no', what-_"

A blinding flash of light filled the air...

And the moment it cleared, with Gekkou left clutching his stomach in pain and shock, both of the boys were left to stare. Lifepoints, Zero.

They'd lost. "No," Yugi whispered quietly, his partner shaking in place before slowly fading from sight in his shock. "No, that can't..." It was a trap, the other Yugi wanted to scream. It was all a trap, and Gekkou had fallen for it..! But in the end, with what was on the line...

Wouldn't he have done the same..?

"GEKKOU-KUN!"

* * *

In the world of the duelist, there was winning, and there was losing.

It was a fact of life. It happened. And sometimes, Richie thought to himself darkly, the stakes and fates both were simply against them. As with now. As it was while Gekkou fell to his knees, head bowed and unable to turn to look at the one behind him. The one whose face was completely flushed, white as the clear field and on the verge of a melt down. The traitor lost...

And he knew exactly how. "I win, Gekkou!" he shouted clearly, moving to stand over his fallen opponent. As the man beneath him levelled a shaking glare Richie continued. "You were in too much of hurry to win," he continued on. "It's over."

That was likely when Gekkou realized what happened. Realized what his subconscious picked up in the blinding light that had appeared when he'd attacked, when his opponent activated a single card... 'Bewitching Light'. Sending the monsters attacking into a blind strike on each other.

Gekkou hadn't missed that one though. No, he'd go so far as say he was insulted if that had been the case. He'd prepared- Amulet of Kindness appeared around the weaker of the monster's necks, and Boomerang Elf braced himself for Angel 07's harsh laser.

But the laser never connected.

It hit_ Richie_. And it seemed that as Gekkou looked up and spotted the card on his friend's disk in horror he realized it far far too late- 'Skimming Bullet' could only be activated in the opponent's battle phase. It inflicted the damage of an attacking monster to both sides. He knew Gekkou wasn't stupid- so he'd planned ahead.

And now, the skill of both sides was obvious. He could take a hit from Angel 07 on its own.

But Gekkou? Even with Boomerang Elf intercepting, he sure as hell couldn't. "G-Gekkou-kun," Yugi was saying hesitantly, approaching his friend with a nervous swallow. "Ge..."

"Gekkou!" Richie shouted, watching his former opponent's head sag to face the ground in defeat. The man before him scarcely moved, and the action only cemented his resolve further. "If you were even half the duelist you used to be, you'd have had a counter for that move," he told him. "If you were dueling as you used to," he went on, "You wouldn't have lost! … ...But you're not like the rest of us," the man explained with a cold, quiet tone. "You still have family. You still have _Yakou_... And your drive to finish this and save him as soon as you could made you act without thinking."

"That... That's not true," Yugi protested, shaking his head. "You're saying he lost because he fought for his brother? Because he cared?" he added with an angered and desperate shout. "How is that any different from you?" he asked with wide eyes. "You're fighting for Pegasus!"

True... But this was different. "Yea, I fight for Pegasus," he admitted flatly, eyeing the boy before him only briefly. "But not with the same desperate need to 'protect'... Not like Gekkou. When I was a kid, I was nothing," Richie went on. "My world was dirt and trash, and if you were asked to tell the difference between me and the pile of slime me you wouldn't be able to find it. And then I met him," he told them. "Pegasus-sama. He pulled me out of that hell hole and taught me how to live. As a person... And as a duelist. Pegasus-sama gave me a second chance when no one else would," Richie spat. "He gave me his life- so I'm fighting to give him his. I'm not _afraid_ to lose!" he continued fiercely. "I'm not some spoiled kid_ flinching _at every threat in my face! This was a battle of will," the man finished as he turned, "And mine came out on top..!"

With that he left the pair staring at his back, opening the door with his card only to pause. "W... Wait..!" Yugi cried out, his eyes moving from Richie to the door. The man looked back with a stern glare, eyes narrowing slightly before he spoke.

"Mutou," he began stiffly, the reason for the boy's outcry obvious. "You know the rules- you agreed to have Gekkou fight for you... And he lost," he went on, mumbled and grieved apologies mixed with sobs coming from far behind both. "You swore on those rules when you entered this building- this... Is as far as you go."

"Wait..." The doors closed behind the man slowly, and Yugi's cries continued to pierce the air. "WAIT! WAIT!"

With a resounding thud they closed behind the man, and staring at the wall across from him a moment he listened. Listened as footsteps pounded the ground behind him, as fists began slamming against the doors in desperation, with screams and cries filling the air- _'Please... PLEASE,_' Yugi screamed, voice faded and muffled by the metal between them. '_Please open the door..! Please, you have to open it!_`They began to fade only slightly, but as the sounds were accompanied by pounding fists on a door it became even more difficult to hear._ 'PLEASE,_' he wailed desperately._ 'I'm begging you, open it! Open it..! We have to... We have to save Anzu... We have... Ahhh... UAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH..!'_

He turned his head from the door and walked briskly down the hall, waiting for the screams to fade. There wasn't time for all of this, he told himself. He'd wasted a lot of time back there- for now, he needed to find out what was going on. In fact...

As he turned the corner his eyes met with the figure of one of I2's suits, the man bowing instantly. "Well played sir," he began in English, his 'employer' merely continuing down the hall.

"Yea..." Well played indeed. Duel was a damn waste of time that's what it was. "...What's our current situation," he asked, the suit behind him picking up his pace to keep up.

"According to Mr. Tenma, the final phase of the project is now underway," the man began in response. "We need only wait for the three final pieces, or so he told me." The three final pieces...

So the three Ja-Shin would need to be summoned then, right? That was what Yakou had said last he checked... "That sounds good," he said almost immediately. "I suppose I'll be returning to the top floor then..."

"Actually," the suit coughed, Richie looking back with a frown, "As it would seem, we've developed a small problem." Hm...?

"Problem," he repeated, the suit nodding uneasily.

"Our men downstairs are being taken down by force," he explained. "From what we've been able to tell, the culprits consist of Katsuya Jonouchi, Mokuba Kaiba, and another unidentified young man. The more important issue at hand however is where they are heading," he continued. "Their current path is taking them dangerously close to the server room, and while Yakou doubts they can do anything it is still possible that the Kaiba boy can find a way to sever our connection to the device." WHAT-

"Tch..." Well wasn't that just great, the dueling really was pointless then! Richie scowled, stopping in his tracks. "Great... And your men can't stop them?" he snarled, the suit bowing his head in embarrassment and shame both. "Are you all useless?"

"F-Forgive me..." Hahhhh...

Couldn't rely on anyone here damn it... "Fine... I'll take care of them," he growled, walking past a nearby stairway and balcony. "Just tell me which way they are, I'll-" A loud whistle ripped through the air, both tensing instantly at the sound that came from above and behind.

"Hey FUCK HEAD!" a familiar voice snarled, Richie turning just in time to find himself knocked back by the force of a 'falling' punch. "TAKE THIS!"

A sickening crack came with the sudden blow, Richie unable to even pull together some time to counter. "MGN-"

"M-Mr. Merced..!"

"Hihihihihi... Pay back!" Keith cackled, Richie wiping a small bit of blood from a now bleeding lip as he fixed the laughing man with a low glare. "Thanks for nothing 'Rich', you sorry son of a bitch!"

"Kh... Keith..." he growled, pulling himself off the ground somewhat. "You just had to go and do that didn't you 'old man'!" Without another warning he swung a kick toward Keith's legs, the man jumping back with alarming ease and still more laughter. "You think you've got what it takes to take me on!" he snarled, the leather-clad American sounding more and more like a hyena with each laugh. "You're a damn ungrateful guinea pig, you know that!" he added bitterly. "We go and bring you back to life and you go around causing hell instead? Plan on going back to being a corpse?" the man went on, pulling himself up to uneasy feet.

Keith merely snorted, adding a flippant shrug to his response. "Keh! Fuck that! You think I give a damn about your experiments?" His humoured grin quickly twisted into a scowl, and with clenched and shaking fists he continued on. "The reason I'm alive dumbass, has nothing to do with you! The only reason I'm alive now," Keith hissed, brushing some hair from over his nose, "Is to take out the guy who made a fool of me last time... And now that one's down, there's only one more to go... If you think you're going to be the one fighting dear 'Joey', you've got another thing coming," he sneered, bracing himself only to throw a locked and ready duel disk forward. "I'm not giving him up for anyone, you hear! But you know," he added idly as the others stared, "I just got back to this world... Not quite used to this duel-disk crap... So how about it Richie Merced? Let's duel! This time, you can be the guinea pig!"

* * *

Stalling was and had always been one of the less desired of distractions in situations such as this Seto decided, face twisting into a scowl as the doors on-screen locked for Yugi and his defeated 'friend'. She'd had a nasty suspicion that Yugi's naive trust would get him in this mess... But she hadn't expected that suspicion to be correct _this _time.

One would have hoped that the 'other' Yugi would have stopped it, but no! Now they were stuck there, which meant that instead of waiting for him to get up here and provide enough distraction for her to actually do something, she would have to do something else. Something she really... Really... Didn't want to do.

Though she supposed Mokuba would get some fun out of it. "Well," she muttered dryly, pulling Tenma's attention away from the screens. "I can't say much for your 'second place' Card Professor... If the 'normal' Yugi is a match for him," she went on, the man merely snorting in response.

"Please," he chuckled, stepping away from the computer. "Are you telling me that you would fare any better against him?"

The woman momentarily stiffened, before choosing her words semi-carefully while a fairly prideful voice in the back of her mind growled angrily. "There is only one person in this world who will ever defeat him," she told the man flatly, "And that's _me_. If it were you in that room," Seto added with a dark scowl, "You would have lost just as quickly, _Tenma._"

More chuckling was her answer, and the man before her moved to stand as he pulled something from his sleeve. "Hm! As though that matters behind closed doors," he sneered, fingering the card that he'd hidden away. "I only have one problem now and that problem is standing right before me '_Kaiba_'..." Yes... That was true...

And she'd be giving him as much hell as she could until he left, regardless of how he saw that, she thought with a mental smirk. "Hn! Why not make this easier for both of us," she hissed 'warningly', despite knowing full well it would be ignored. "And leave the building now? Maybe then you'll stand a chance of escaping with a hair more than your own neck." Preferably severed, but regardless...

The answer was, of course, no. If anything Tenma was chuckling, a reaction that had the hairs on the back of her neck inexplicably rising up on end. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Hnhnhahaha... Hahahaaa! Dear 'Seto'," he sighed, ignoring the sudden hiss at the familiar use of names, "My project will enter its final phase in moments! I hold the key to success in my very hands, do you really think your threats mean _anything_ to the 'Ja-shin'?" Ahhhh... She'd guessed that he would say something like that, but-

...Ja-shin..? "...Evil _Gods_?" she asked incredulously, eyes narrowing as she spotted the face of the card that was spinning in Tenma's hand. 'The Devil's Avatar', it read, the very words it held for title sending shivers down her spine despite her mind berating herself with the words 'it's only paper'. The card's power was listed as a mere pair of question marks, and the description was blacked out completely. It looked like a single smooth black sphere, a black 'sun' even... And as she made that connection she very quickly guessed what Tenma was rambling on about. "...You... You expect me to believe_ this_?" she barked, gesturing to the card that the young man held. "There are only THREE God Cards in this world, and each of them are in Yugi's possession!"

"And yet," Tenma calmly countered, "The ja-shin are very much real." His gaze drew still more severe, and as though possessed he continued to speak before the again silent woman. "They are the cards that Pegasus himself disavowed... Cards that were never meant to exist," he 'whispered', "Cards that were never even meant to have a name..." Names..? Just why would the name matter to her she wondered, narrowing her eyes. Why..? Continuing to stare in obvious rage she grudgingly continued to listen, face continuing to pale as an unexplainable sense of unease continued to grow. "Pegasus may have created the God cards only to seal their power in Egypt but there were still other powers to consider," Tenma explained, the woman before him clenching her fists but still listening nonetheless. "While the Egyptian god cards are powerful enough to_ be _Gods themselves," he continued, "The Ja-Shin were created with only one purpose. And that was, in the event that his inability to destroy what he created, to stop the possible rampage of the gods. To keep the gods in check," Tenma went on, gauging Seto's reaction. "To _control_ the power that could not be controlled..."

Something that could keep something like those in 'check'? The cards whose 'holograms' were at one point larger than the destroyed 'Duel Tower' itself..! "Are you trying to tell me that these Ja-shin of yours are more powerful than the Egyptian Gods?" she hissed, not bothering to correct the fact that she forgot to refer to them as the cards they were. "You think that these 'cheap copies' of yours can come even _close _to matching them?" Assuming there were three of course, but-

"Of course," the madman chuckled 'amusingly', the speed of the response throwing Seto off momentarily. "Why would I lie about that? I've no reason...! Though I... Truly... Wonder," he went on, speech as choppy as it was refined, "Why it was that Pegasus never finished developing them... It's a shame really," Tenma decided with a sigh, the woman across him merely wondering what kind of power could possibly frighten Pegasus more than the Egyptian Gods, "But I think I understand now... He left these Gods for someone to continue in his stead. So that someone... So that_ I_ could carry out his will," he corrected madly, "And transfer it into these 'Ja-Shin'! And this **God**," the man laughed, the noise coming out almost as a feral snarl, "Will be the God who brings judgement onto Yugi Mutou for his actions..!"

Tch! She'd heard quite enough bullshit for one evening she decided. Hell... This was so ridiculous she could laugh- Was, laughing, to a slight extent. "Hnhnhnhnhn..." 'Pegasus' will'... "Hnhnhahaha..!" Honestly... "Ridiculous," she sneered, mouth twitching with a slight smirk. "I've already told you once before- Your cards won't stand against Yugi's! They might not be the trash I typically see people carrying around, but you wouldn't last five minutes... Even your brother stands more of a chance!" she added with a dark grin, only for it to almost freeze and collapse at the response she received.

This wasn't laughter any more. It was breathing. As though a switch had been flipped over Tenma seemed to shake, hair hanging over his eyes while one briefly widened with an insane gleam. "My brother," he repeated airily, mouth twisting up into a 'smile'. "I surpassed my brother the moment I received these cards... Don't stress yourself 'Seto'... I_ will _beat Yugi. Even if 'no one else' can, I will, with the power of these Gods... Unless," Tenma added with a sneer, eyes closing back into near slits yet again, "You think you can take me out first..."

A chill almost identical to what would have been felt outside came over the room, the sensation of a breeze passing over them. Seto's eyes narrowed just moments before she made her decision, and as all plans to 'hold back' were thrown from mind the so-called wind increased. "HN! Why not," she 'asked' with a still darkening grin that was almost reminiscent of older times. "I'll take you on Tenma... I'll defeat you and deal with your so called 'Gods' myself..!"

"Well then," Tenma sneered. "Where shall we duel..?" Hn! There was only one 'real' option for that, she thought to herself.

"This way," she responded. "On the roof- we'll duel on the Apex Arena!"

* * *

The radios were crackling and shouts were filling the air and yet around them now it was completely silent. In another language that was only 'translated' by his mind a suited guard was wheezing warning to Saruwatari in panic over a radio, eventually collapsing as the man shouted angry demands of what was going on in response. '_I can't hear you,_' the guard was snarling back to the weakened and beaten man, Katsuya only grimly amused by the panic that the former employee of the mansion was in. '_Speak louder! Speak-_'

At this moment Saruwatari turned, the others of his team looking toward the elevator with wide eyes. "_What is it,_" he barked in English, unsure gaze hidden by sunglasses. "_What are you all doing_?"

"_It's the elevator sir_," one of the men responded nervously. "_Someone's using it..._"

Saruwatari's scowl deepened with confusion, and he walked toward the door with his radio in hand. "_That's impossible,_" the guard hissed in response, "_It's lock-_"

"Our cue," Katsuya said with a grin, the elevator slowing to a stop as he pulled a fist back. Not bothering to ask what he'd seen while 'spaced out' Honda did the same, Mokuba giving a wide, vicious grin combined with a thumbs up from behind. "Three... Two... One..!"

-dng-

"OOOOORRRRIIYYAAAAAA!"

A loud crack came over the air as the guards closest to the elevator were knocked away, Katsuya's shoe quickly rising to meet with a third face as the men stumbled and collapsed backward on each other. "YOU!" Saruwatari snarled as the teens fought their way forward, Mokuba blowing a quick raspberry as the two in front of him knocked down the men who were trying and failing to catch him now. "Jonouchi..! AND-" The guard paused, before settling with a scowling growl. "And YOU!" Um. Hadn't he said that already?

"Hahhh... No one knows my name anymore," Honda said with a sarcastic sigh, grinning as he elbowed a guard in the face. "It's almost pathetic..!"

"Ahhh, it's probably good news," his friend laughed in response, "Means that they can't call you out like some corny kamen rider show!"

Another guard fell beneath a swift roundhouse that was followed by a straight 'low' punch, before a guard making the mistake of attempting 'sneak attack' was thrown to the ground as well. "I like those shows," the teen said flatly, turning to Katsuya with a perfect expression of honesty. "Those are my favourite shows."

The blond briefly stopped, silent. "Wha- ... _Seriously_..?"

As the fallen guards stumbled back up the pair turned, Honda merely rolling his eyes to give in and follow after the third member of their party while his friend cracked his knuckles. "Heheheee... You dumb suits gonna get in our way too?" he asked with a grin, a few of them turning to each other briefly.

"_...But... Isn't this one of Kaiba's guards?_" Okay he caught the name 'Kaiba', and his weird head thing translated everything else so...

"You..." A second crack as the blond brought his foot down on the guard, grin twitching somewhat as he moved. "THERE'S A DIFFERENCE DAMN IT!"

"A-AAAHH!"

"_UNCLE! UNCLE!_"

"Take that!" One more punch in the face of the one who said that. "An' tha' an' tha' an 'tha!" Punch, punch, punch- (Damn it he was getting thirsty here...)

"Hey JONOUCHI," Honda called back, the teen already half way down the other hall. "Mokuba's already heading toward the server room, what the hell are you still doing!"

Katsuya blinked, looking up only briefly before tensing. "AH- You guys tell me this now!" he cried, jumping up to run after the two while the remaining guards gathered to chase them from behind. "C'mon, now everyone knows damn it!"

"Your fault!"

"No it ain't..!" He 'huffed', turning back briefly to send a kick toward his pursuers. "Haaahh... AH!"

"GOH-" The unlucky victim of the strike instantly grabbed at his gut, the rest of him flying against the pursuing guards to send them to the ground.

"Hehehehe..." Ooooh yea! "Try getting' outta tha' one morons!" With one last laugh the blond picked up speed, Saruwatari and the others groaning and struggling to untangle themselves from far behind.

"Gh... _Damn it..! WE CAN'T LET THEM GET TO THE SERVER_," he cried out from beneath the pile, "_AFTER THEM_!"

"_Just... A second... Boss..!_"

"Aaaaaagh...!"

Still laughing Katsuya grinned, skidding against the floor somewhat as he regained pace with the others. "Shit," he muttered to himself with a laugh. "Been so long since I fought someone with somethin' other than cards I was worried abou' gettin' rusty..."

"What was that," Honda asked as he turned back.

The blond shook it off. "Nothin', nothin'," his friend responded, still laughing quietly as he tried to catch his breath. Not the time to joke around, he warned himself, the pair following close behind Mokuba as the boy searched for a clear path to the server. After all... While they fought, Yugi was still somewhere in the building doing the same right? And Seto...

She was probably fighting too..!

* * *

"Man... What a nice view..." Willa Mette let out a long and relaxed sigh as he stared up at the cloudless sky above, unable to keep from smiling at the sight. "Hard to believe it's nothing but hell beneath right now," he muttered, adjusting his hands from beneath his head. He'd been up there for quite a while- only a few moments after the Kaiba brothers went inside actually. The stair-well house had a ramped side after all, so he'd figured 'why not'? The fence around the roof was certainly high enough for him not to accidentally fall off of, and while his own house back home was admittedly cool (in his opinion), the fact was that he could never see the stars this clearly from his own roof.

Which really said something given that he lived outside the city, but regardless. The sky above him was only slightly marred by the city lights and the lights of the arena just beside and beneath him, and from his position on top of the stairwell roof he was honestly wondering if he was going to fall asleep.

And then the door opened, and out stormed Seto Kaiba with Yakou Tenma in tow, the first looking as though he was caught between excitement and rage while the other was eerily calm. "W-Woah... Woah...!" He muttered swiftly, barely keeping himself from rolling (ironically) on top of the pair in shock. "What on earth..!"

The pair turned briefly, Kaiba being the one to stop as Tenma headed for the arena with a smirk. "Hn! So you're still here then?" she asked with a slight snarl, eyebrow raised as the teen shrugged.

"Well, hate to break it to you 'Mr. Kaiba', but... You locked me out." As Willa gave a somewhat false smile to go with this he watched the famed duelist snort once again, before turning to face Tenma whilst walking onto the arena.

"Tenma," he growled, teeth grinding half to dust while Willa shrugged from behind. "I can't believe this... You have your 'men' climbing this tower like tiny, useless ants..!"

Ants! Oh come on! "Hey! I don't completely agree with that there, pal!"

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Well wasn't that great. Evidently his boss_ did_. Though at least there was no response from Kaiba on the 'pal' remark.

At the moment in fact, Kaiba had turned back to his opponent to click his dueldisk into place, slipping a deck of cards in with clearly rage-filled eyes. "Lets get this match over with," the man hissed, Willa eventually shrugging and moving to a cross-legged observation position. "You've already pushed my temper far, _far_ enough for one lifetime..!"

Still more chuckling entered the air, the observer's own words coming back to mind as he watched almost boredly. "Hnhnhnhn... And what a _temper_," Yakou commented, the corners of his mouth twitching in amusement. "As you stand before me in your 'rage', my project comes closer and closer to its completion... Why... I don't know why you're even bothering to fight," he laughed, his opponent visibly stiffening with a growing anger. "As a duelist of your calibre, you should understand completely the meaning of 'power'... And as someone of your level of power," he added darkly, "You don't even have a fraction of what it takes to stop what now comes to a close here."

Oooooh... That was probably not the best thing to- "Are you saying I'll _lose,_" Kaiba hissed. "To _YOU_!" Yeeep. Yep, and there was the silently known, world-wide based 'Kaiba-Temper' Willa thought to himself with a wince, covering one ear as Kaiba continued. "Tenma... Your 'Ja-shin' have bloated your ego if you think even a scrap of your words are close to the truth," the CEO 'chuckled', the action clearly a hair away from incredulous rage. "If your 'Ja-Shin' are truly 'Gods' to rival Yugi's own then prove it to me now! Show me those cards..! I'll tear you apart and make you and your so-called 'ja-shin' kneel at my FEET!" he roared. "I'll reduce your project to nothing but ashes Tenma... START THE DUEL!" Oooooh, harsh, the 'audience' decided with a wince.

But nonetheless expected, he decided. Never, ever imply a power-gap outside a duel to Seto Kaiba's face. Especially when the guy was in a mood. Neeeeeever... It was one thing when, as he himself had been able to spot on the CEO's arrival, he was in a _somewhat_ irritated mood, and they had been dueling. That sort of thing came with the job as it were... So at least then all that happened was the guy getting ticked off and setting a nasty combo on his ass. But this was like setting off a bomb.

A really, really BIG bomb. An absolutely fucking HUUUUUGE-

It was about now that Willa realized the first move was about to be had, the cards pulled into each player's hand and the first to play decided. It was also about then that Willa realized he was going to see nothing but the backs of each monster's head at this rate. "Weeeeell shit," he muttered to himself, turning to the ramp he'd used to get up. "How the hell do I get down..." Lets see... Right foot first, hand on the roof...

"My turn first!" Kaiba announced, the shout just about causing Willa to lose footing. "I set a card face down, and summon the Material Bat in defense mode! End turn!" Material Bat? Managing to slip down to the roof floor Willa blinked, watching as a seemingly robotic and stereotypically designed 'Vampire Bat' flapped its wings on the field. Hoh... So these were those new 'material' monsters then...

Well, they supposedly had a lot behind them so... "I set two cards face down," Yakou began in response, fixing his opponent with a darkening glare. "End turn."

"En-" END! Two face downs and he was ending his turn? "What the hell," Willa hissed to himself from the side of the roof, Kaiba as well staring with wide and even cautious eyes. "Is that hand trouble or what..!" Did he have a crappy draw, did he just want to lay a trap..?

And what foot went where, he was going to fall at this rate... "Tch... My turn!" Kaiba announced in the end, drawing his next card and switching it with another from his hand. "And I summon the Material Lion in attack mode! Now... LION," he ordered, Willa narrowing his eyes at the side while the lion 'paced' in the air. "ATTACK DIRECTLY!"

With a synthetic snarl the lion bounded across the field, 'leaping' into the air above Yakou and spreading wide, razor sharp claws. And as Yakou allowed the claws to connect, wincing and pulling back to hold where the hologram struck, the field stared in shock. "Kts..." No way...

"What..." No WAY...

No way he'd just taken that entire strike directly! "You... You didn't activate a trap when I summoned a monster or even attacked," Kaiba chuckled almost hesitantly, expression caught between a confused frown and success. "Your two face down cards are nothing but bluffs, aren't they?"

"We'll see," Yakou responded coolly, his opponent instantly losing the tense smile.

"Tch..." The apparent soon-to-be winner of the match drew his next card, glancing at it only briefly before setting it on the field. "I set a card face down and end my turn," the teen announced, before moving to cross his arms. "Turn end." Alright...

Kaiba still had the advantage, Willa told himself. Now if they could just figure out what Yakou's strategy was. It was really starting to bug him now that his spell and trap row was filling up..! Yakou quite calmly ignored this slowly growing curiosity however, merely drawing and setting another card face down. There were three on the field now... And as he looked forward, he allowed his hand to rest near his side. One card face down... "Turn end," he said flatly, opponent looking more and more as though someone had just spat in his face.

Quite honestly, watching Kaiba level that glare across the field, Willa wasn't surprised. 'Spells & Traps' was one of the hardest decks to play in the game. A deck made of nothing but traps and spells with not a monster to be found, relying either on spell card damage to whittle the lifepoints away or on Trap-Monsters to swarm the field. In the right hands, it could be a hell of a challenge. But not to a professional duelist.

And _certainly_ not to Seto Kaiba. The very idea was likely insulting even- and as the teen took his next turn his 'audience' had a fairly good feeling as to what was going to happen next. Yakou...

Was going down.

_Hard_. "My turn..!" Kaiba snarled loudly, slapping a card onto the disk as a ribbed and robotic looking scorpion appeared to the field. "And I summon the Mosaic Scorpion! Watch closely Tenma," the duelist continued to growl, all three of the mosaic monsters separating and reforming in the air behind him. "I won't need my strongest monster to defeat you... I'm going to finish you off in this turn!"

* * *

The pieces behind her shuffled and clicked just as programmed and the wind about them howled viciously whilst they did so. On the side Willa Mette watched as though they were in a completely separate world but quite frankly she could care less about him, and had more or less forgotten he was even there. Instead, her attentions were turned on her opponent. To think... That this scum... This filth would dare to try using such a ridiculous deck against her in a match...

She was tired of this bullshit. She was tired of Tenma and anything associated with him- and mark her words she would finish this NOW. "Behold," she roared, the pieces all connected in a thundering crash of metal and stone, "The Mosaic Manticore- the Chimera!" As though to mirror her rage the holographic monster howled loudly, humanoid face staring forward with sightless eyes whilst bat wings spread far behind it. Her expression however, quickly turned back to shock.

Across her on the field an identical roar could be heard, a howl that came with the image of a monster identical to her own. The enormous manticore, with a scorpion's tail and the face of a man, eyes white and wings spread almost like hands behind it...

The same monster she'd just summoned was on her opponent's field..! "Hnhnhnhnhn..." Seto's eyes snapped to Tenma, the woman's fists clenched and stiff. "I activated one of my _'bluffs_'," the American laughed, only for his laughter to snap back into a snarling scowl. "'Chronic Deja-Vu! I don't think you know this one," he continued, Seto merely ignoring the CEO in lieu of reading the card's printing itself. "With this card I duplicate the monster you summoned just now... So try and break through to my lifepoints with that." That...

Summoning an _exact _duplicate gave him that sort of comfort! "K... Khnhnhn... Hahahahaaa... HAHAHAHAHAAAA!" If she attacked now, there was no doubt about it. The manticore would both kill each other, and they would both be left with cleared fields. But there was a draw-back to this plan so obvious that it made her wonder how her opponent could ever have been a threat. How this opponent of hers could ever pose a danger as he already was... Perhaps, she should have kept that in mind- but she didn't, and couldn't, and the chuckling died down only to allow her the time to speak. "Did you think," she asked with a sinister grin, "That these half-baked tactics of you would work on me? Try again Tenma," she laughed, clicking the button on her duel disk as a card swung upward. "I activate the trap card Alpha Wave Radiation!" The card swung upward in an instant, and as it did so it seemed to release a pulse of light. The field became coated in a thin layer of dust, and the cards depicting the monster's power instantly dropping by three-hundred points.

Something that Tenma, as co-owner of the company that created the card, already knew would happen. "Why bother?" he asked confusedly, watching as his opponent's smirk slowly grew. "That card affects your monster just as much as it does mine, they're still-"

Hnhnhnhnhn... "I haven't finished my turn," she said with a dark grin, Tenma almost flinching from across her while his expression dropped. A single card was placed on the field and instantly her own manticore's attack reverted to normal, triumph clearly visible on its summoner's face while the card's face revealed itself to the field. "The spell card 'Vaccine Inoculation' leaves my monster immune to the virus... Which makes the true manticore more powerful than yours! NOW, MANTICORE," she roared, a blast of flames growing within the mechanical beast's mouth. "ATTACK- _**BLAST BURN**_!" In a roar of flames all that could be seen was a grimacing Tenma, the field cleared of the manticore and replaced with a lion and bat identical to what she herself had sent to the grave to summon her own monster. Narrowed eyes were looking over the monsters in silence and with a superior smirk Seto held her arms crossed. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Be thankful," she told her opponent. "Manticore's effect has left you with two useless materials for another chimera. If you had a third one you could stand a chance at bringing it back, but as worthless clones this is all you have..." Nothing but to monsters and crushed hope, no doubt... And as she was answered with silence Seto quickly regained focus, gaze growing cold yet again. A blast of wind blew about them almost in anger, and with an impatient frown she adjusted her stance just slightly. "I'm done with this turn," she said plainly. "Now... Draw your next card!"

"Very well," her opponent hissed, drawing and setting a single card in almost the same motion. "In that case allow me to use these two materials you left me; I sacrifice both monsters to tribute summon the Angel of evil," Tenma announced, both mechanoids exploding into pillars of pixelated light to form robes of black and violet in its place. "The Marquis of Darkness," he called out further, "Belial! And Belial," he explained smugly, shadowed eyes taking form beneath the black winged angel as it stood across Seto on the field, "Cannot be attacked by a creature of less than seven levels in power..." Seven levels...

Another pathetic shield then, looking at Belial's 'power' if it could be called that in this case. "Hmph. So that's your 'plan' then," she noted, closing her eyes for just a moment as she briefly reigned in her current reaction to the idea. "Block a level four monster from attack with your so-called 'angel of darkness'... ...I see now," Seto continued, opening cold eyes back to her opponent and watching as the teen stiffened. "This is all you're worth as a duelist... You have nothing left that can convince me of anything else." And the more she spoke the more a low growl developed in the back of her throat, the more she could hear the roar of the dragon she held in her hands. She had told herself that she would not need to use Blue-Eyes to wipe this scum from the face of the earth... But tonight, she would have to back down on those words. "It's _MY_ turn now," she snarled, drawing her next card and switching it with the dragon in her hands. "And the card I need to crush you is already in my hand... I activate the Manticore's effect and revert it to its materials," Seto announced, a slowly growing and possibly crazed smile coming over her face, "And using two of those materials as tribute, I summon the most powerful of monsters... RISE," she ordered, the light from the destroyed sacrifices swirling into the wind. "AND DESTROY THIS FIEND BEFORE US... BLUE EYES WHITE DRAGON!"

"_GRAAAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOO_!" Pearly white wings broke free from the light that had yet to form, tearing through the air and through the sky itself. "_**RAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOO**_!" With a single wing-beat the air moved back from the arena, and with a blood-curdling roar the dragon landed to her side, scales shimmering beneath the moonlit sky and glowing a pale silver. Snarls did not fade from the air- blue eyes turned and faced only their opponent, as though the dragon itself knew what sort of a threat and annoyance the man brought.

And with nothing but a nod, the dragon fired up a growing blast of light from within its jaws, scarcely waiting for the command to strike. "Attack," Seto snarled, the lightning already shooting forward from close at her side. "_**BURST STREAM**_!"

This time her opponent was pushed back more than just slightly by the force of the blast, Tenma's arm held stiffly before his face. The ashes, completely synthetic in form blew over on the wind, and as Tenma looked forward Seto's eyes continued to narrow with rage. Compared to all fights before her... None had even compared to this in the level of _pointlessness_ she saw. _None_.

A fact that had her loathing, more and more, the fact that she was standing on this arena to begin with. "You aren't worthy of any form of '_god_'," she hissed, face twisting in disgust as she stared her opponent down. "Yakou Tenma... Leave your Gods and get off of my property!"

"..." Tenma's response... Was almost expected, the woman admitted to herself mentally. Silence. Endless silence with shadowed eyes, hair hanging in front of it like a tattered curtain. If this had been anyone else, she would have expected a look of defeat. In fact, for a brief moment as she looked over the field she thought she could see that very emotion hovering over him now.

But he instead continued to stand in silence, and as the wind blew around them the woman took a card from her hand to continue on... If only to get this over with through more 'bearable' means. "I set a card face down," she stated clearly. "And I end my turn... But for now, your fighting is futile," she sneered, mouth twisting into a competitive grin despite herself. "And by this point, you should just admit defeat and surrender. You can fight all you want if you like... All it proves is that you're just as pathetic a duelist as I expected, if not more so..."

Her words had begun to have an effect. She _knew_ they were beginning to have an effect, and the very sight was leaving only a growing smirk on her face. This game as hers as it always had been... It was hers and Yakou knew it, his hand rising toward his deck in a motion to surrender. Hovering above it, his body shaking and trembling on the spot...

And suddenly, with a wide and crazed eye he snapped that hand to draw a card, an audible crack entering the air as his head turned to face her. Tenma wasn't surrendering, she realized in a dull instant, the fallen smirk replaced with a determined scowl on her face. Well. That was just fine with her! If Tenma wanted to keep fighting then she would make sure he left this field entering the jaws of the ultimate monster... But first.

To see what Tenma spat out next... The insane gleam in his eyes had been replaced with nought but cold severity, and a stone desire to continue to fight. Taking the card he held in his hand he set it upon the field, his confident and almost relaxed posture restored once more. "I summon Agathion in defense mode," the man announced simply, a small flaming demon of sorts coming to the field in a crouch. "End turn."

...This... "Gh... Hahaha..." This one turn, and Tenma's counter was _this_... "Hahahahaha..! That... What's that supposed to be," she snarled, amusement swiftly turning to hate as she pointed toward the monster. "Even for a duelist postponing the inevitable this is pathetic! It's as though you're asking me to overlook it completely..! As though you're just throwing this duel away and wasting even _MORE _of my time!" the woman went on, her voiced rage leaving no effect what so ever on her opponent. Well then... "My turn," she spat, drawing her next card. A single glance told her all she needed about the card she'd been waiting for, and that same card was set on the field instantly. "First," Seto began, "I play the spell Cross-Shift! Replacing the Material Lion with the Lord of Dragon!" As the cards arose so did strands of synthetic light, the pixels forming the lion shifting and transforming as a card was ejected from the deck to replace the Lion's own. In moments the bone armed dragon Lord stood upon the field, and without even waiting for the light to settle the duelist continued on. "Next, I activate my face down card, Dragon Awakening Melody," she called out, a large and almost scaled lute appearing in the Dragon Lord's hands. "By discarding one monster, I'm adding two other dragons to my hand... And... Following that," the woman shouted, voice growing louder and louder as her strategy unfolded, "A spell from my hand... Flute of Summoning Dragon! And with this..."

"_**RAAAAAA-AAAAAOOOOOOO-OOOOOOO!**_"

"I summon from my hand the two other Blue-Eye's White Dragons! But don't worry Yakou," Seto chuckled, the roars and snarls of the now triad of dragons filling the air from behind her, the two magnificent beasts having appeared in a literal flash of light despite the usual slow mist that would do so. "Despite everything, these dragons didn't inherit the Manticore's vaccine; they can't attack you now... But the other dragon can! GO, BLUE-EYES," she ordered, the immune dragon giving a roaring battle cry as the flames burned in her throat. "ATTACK, WITH _**BURST STREAM!**_"

"_**AAA-RRRAAAAOOOOOOO!**_"

This time, though the attack was just as powerful as before, Tenma stood unflinchingly in the flames. He merely held his eyes closed in calm, hand at his side as he slowly opened them to look forward. Silence settled over the field for a few moments- Tenma stared and through those moments Seto continued to let her rage grow. "My turn is over," she said after a few impatient moments. "Make your move!"

"Pass."

Again both herself and Willa at the side stared in silence, nothing but shock on their faces before the expression began to change into a twisted grin in order to 'cope'. "Well..." the woman hissed, eyes shadowed somewhat in her hair. "Here I had hoped to catch a glimpse of your 'Wicked God'," she chuckled, "But here you are giving in..." This duel that she was wasting her time with... This duel that wouldn't seem to end for anything... "I was right to call you pathetic," she spat darkly. "You're even less so- a worm could defeat you with ease..! It's my turn now," Seto roared. "And," she continued, sparing the card she drew a mere glance before staring her opponent down with an expression that could have rivalled one of her opponent's own, "It looks as though my deck wants to settle this now..! With the most powerful monster in existence..! I activate the spell Polymerization from my hand," Seto announced. "Fusing the three Blue-Eyes White Dragons into the ultimate beast..!"

"_**RAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**_" A vortex of incredible size appeared behind her, and with momentarily closed eyes she began to laugh. The dragons were pulled back and into the funnel behind her, a spiral of energy that coalesced to the ground and air behind her...

Clawed feet gripped the arena and the roof-top both. Three magnificent dragon's heads rested atop a body of immense size, and enormous white wings blanketed the sky as they stretched back. The scales seemed to emit a light of their own, not even marred by the small black crests on their brow. But as she opened her eyes, that as not what she saw.

"No..."

It was something else.

"Hnhnhnhnhn..."

More snarls met the air, whilst her opponent laughed, and the blood drained from her face. "Impossible..!"

"HnhnHAHAHAA!"

Standing across her... Three... Three Blue-Eyes...

_HER _three Blue-Eyes..! "Take a look at my trap," Tenma cackled insanely, the three beasts crouching almost morosely from across the field. "The Junk Dealer! I've been waiting for you to summon that dragon," he sneered, the cards in his hand seeming to smoke as he grinned, "And you certainly know how to deliver... Thanks to you, I now have three monsters on my side of the field, three monsters you threw away for your so-called 'Ultimate Monster.'..!" No...

The three dragons were going to... "Impossible," she repeated yet again, unable to believe what she saw. "Impossible..."

"Hnhnhahaha... Hnhnhahahahaha... It's plenty possible, 'Seto'... Just watch! You can't do anything else now... So watch and wait," Tenma thundered, the formerly clear sky beginning to darken as the snarls of the Ultimate dragon behind her began to die down. "As your beloved pets become your NIGHTMARE! The God which will destroy you sits in my very hand, and now," he howled as the growing storm around them intensified, "My Ja-Shin will descend upon me, and with him I bring absolute destruction! WATCH," Tenma roared, the white dragon's seeming to melt and emulsify before her wide and quivering eyes. "Let me show you!" he screamed, the rotted black 'shadow' rising up to the sky above while the sacrificed monsters cried and collapsed in on their own decaying flesh. "I summon..._** THE DEVIL'S AVATAR**_!"

If fear had been what filled her before the monster appeared then fear of a new kind was what she felt now. Stricken stiff and pale at the sight of a 'black sun' she stood, sweat dripping down the side of her face. Her entire being went cold, unable to move. Even the dragon behind her fell silent, and with horrific realization the woman managed to take a single step back from the evil god before her.

And as though to spit in the face of her fear, the great sphere began to change shape, sprouting wings and limbs before her very eyes. "The Devil's Avatar will now take form," Tenma said with a leering grin. "Watch," he hissed, three snarling dragon's heads forming as the shadows stretched forward. As a tail that could level cities grew, and as claws the size of a very person sharpened and took form. As what should have been white scale and beautiful blue eyes...

Were dyed black...

"Sink into the deepest _darkness_, Seto Kaiba..."

"**RAAAAAA-AAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOOOO-OOOOOOO!**"

Black eyes stared her down, and immediately her sense of control, despite all she knew and was, began to fade. Fear began to sink into the air, fear and a pounding darkness unlike anything she'd felt in years... This...

Was a 'Ja-Shin'.

A monster with the power to mimic her dragon in size and shape, but while the colour seemed to be the only thing 'off' there as more. This was no mere 'copy'. It was not just a 'dragon', a creature of immense power... And the sensation of dread that was filling every fibre of her being now was something she wanted more than anything to disappear as her opponent laughed.

"Hnhnhnhnhn... The Devil's Avatar lacks a body of its own," she could hear through the blood that rushed in her ears, "But don't let its new shape fool you," Tenma hissed, right eye wide with madness and his left narrowed in cruel mirth. "The ultimate dragon gave it this shape, but that isn't all that has changed... The Avatar's power is the same as your ultimate dragon's own... Plus _one_." One... Point... As her face continued to fall in shock Tenma's grin widened further, his laughter reaching a fever pitch with his words. "How does it feel!" he cackled. "With a mere point difference as a gap... But a gap which is nonetheless impossible to surpass! It's a decisive difference isn't it," Tenma sneered, the wide eye only narrowing slightly as Seto swallowed. "But one that highlights a difference in skill nonetheless..." A single... Point...

The ultimate dragon had more power than even the Obelisk. It had the potential to defeat the Egyptian Gods that Yugi held, it was the monster she would have used against him... But even that power... Even that was being surpassed she realized, unable to hear the voice at the back of her mind that screamed for her to realize it wasn't merely that. That screamed for her to realize there was something else, that the monster before her was more than a hologram, it was doing something it _had_ done something, Blue-Eyes was no longer as she normally was and this _thing_ had caused it..!

The virus did not affect a god, no matter how malevolent in intent. A god was a god- that was all. '_Attack,_' she heard through the air, eyes widening as they turned from her opponent to the central mouth of the dragon above. '_Attack..._'

"**BURST STREAM OF DESTRUCTION!**"

"_**RAAAAAOOOOOOOOOOO!**_" It was incredible...

All the power in the air, all that was pushing against herself and her dragon's very being and she could still hear it roar... She could see it rear back even as its now almost holographic form moved in front of her, open mouths wide and snarling before becoming nothing but ashes on the wind. It was only one point... Just one, not even a scratch...

And yet there she was struggling to stand. Watching as the form of the black dragon melted and collapsed into a single sphere before changing yet again. Changing to a monster that could have easily been defeated by the dragon it had just destroyed. "...Bastard," she managed to rasp, eyes narrowing in bitter rage. "So now you're copying the dragon lord then..?"

"The Dragon Lord with an extra point of power," Tenma sneered, chuckling under his breath almost hysterically. At the side of the field and from across the CEO both, there was nothing but silence on the air. A stiff and horrified silence that mixed with whatever feeling of negativity was the most prevalent. Rage... Loathing... "I put a card face down and end my turn," the American stated plainly.

Then it was hers... "Gh..." No matter how powerful her monsters were, they had no chance to counter the Avatar's attack. So long as it duplicated the highest number she was-

Wait...

The Avatar took the stats of the highest monster of its position she 'reminded' herself, running the facts through her mind almost in desperation. If it was attack it mirrored the highest attack, defense the highest defense. So long as the opposite stat still opposed it in power, there was a chance. Tenma was no fool- he wouldn't put something as powerful as a Ja-Shin in defense mode; not when, no matter what, it could out class her attack. However...

"Dragon lord enters defense mode, and I summon the Material Armadillo," Seto announced, a robotic creature almost similar to something she'd seen once before appearing to the field and curling into a ball as her other monster crouched down. "Also defense mode!" And the Ja-shin couldn't possibly beat that, she thought to herself. It would be 901 against 2000- an easy win.

Almost. "Hnhnhn... HAHAHAHA!" Tenma still laughed.

And that was never a good sign.

"So..." Never. A good sign. "You think you can stave off the end with_ this_, do you," he cried, arm seeming to blur as he moved it over his duel disk to mirror words from earlier in the duel. "Hnhnhahahaaaaa... You can't escape the darkness so easily... Activate the trap Comparable Level! At the cost of half my lifepoints," Tenma explained, "I can summon as many monsters as it takes for their power to equate to your own!" As many as three levels..? But-

With widening eyes the woman watched as the holograms swarmed the field, her body locking completely into place. Level one, 'Angel 01'.

Level one, 'Angel 01'.

Level _one_, 'Hourglass of Time'...

Three monsters. Three useless monsters in ordinary circumstances, and yet as she stared it was impossible to shake the growing fear she felt. She never even called for her turn to end... Merely stared, frozen, watching... Watching as the time slipped away through her grasp...

"_No one can stop the power of the Ja-shin,_" Tenma hissed, eyes narrowing as he drew his next card. "Now... Tremble in fear, Seto Kaiba... The Darkness is coming _now_. I must thank you," he continued, grinning madly. "You've allowed me to summon another God... A god whose power is that of fear itself..! I sacrifice three monsters," he announced, the three miniscule monsters scattering and exploding into ash on the wind. "And I summon the second of the Ja-shin... ARISE! THE DEVIL'S DREADROOT!"

The ashes from the monsters swirled into a massive vortex as the Avatar itself did the same. Legs were the first to form, along with yellowed bone armor on pitch black skin. Wings lined in ivory stretched back from the monster's form, the Avatar creating his own to do the same... And as the monster appeared her heart quickened in pace. Any blood remaining in her face drained from it completely and for a moment it was as though she couldn't breathe. She could no longer hear the wind, nor Tenma's words. She could no longer feel the cold sweat she'd broken into, nor the sensation of the cards in her hand. She could only look forward as two mammoth sized demons clad in an armor almost ironically similar to that of the Obelisk's on clenched their fists, Tenma's final words finally breaking past the deafening fear that pressed down on her.

"Don't worry," he chuckled, "About the third of these Evil Gods... There's no need for you to meet this one. After all," he laughed, hands held to his side with a howling, cackling cry, "This is where you die..! ATTACK," he thundered, a card swinging upward on his field. "With the trap power break, the Dreadroot first destroys all your monsters," Tenma roared, the woman across him getting only an instant's notice to duck behind her arm as the holograms exploded in her face. "And next," he hissed, staring forth with a single widening eye as his opponent forced herself to stand before the blackened demon about to attack. "_Avatar..._" Gh... "Thank you again for your assistance," Tenma sneered, the Avatar pulling a fist back and taking aim. "Because of this match, the R.A. Project has entered its final phase of completion... Now fly into darkness!" he cackled, a fist slamming into her and throwing her back against the edge of the arena without warning. "_**FEAR KNOCKDOWN!**_"

"GH-HHH... ...GHHA-GH-"

The air from her lungs rushed out with enough force that she momentarily pondered if being hit by a truck would have hurt less. But despite the force behind the blow it was her own feet which carried her to the edge of the arena. Her wide eyes could do nothing but stare through the pain at the ground, chest heaving as she struggled to breathe and struggled to completely comprehend what had just happened.

Until this point, only Yugi and Pegasus had ever beaten her- and the latter did it through cheap tactics and mind-games. But it was the jashin which stood before her now, even as the playing field 'vanished' which had done so now.

With a direct attack of four thousand and one points.

Still struggling to breathe she began to collapse, knees striking the metal arena floor as she brought a hand to her chest. She'd lost. Her building... Was about to fall into the hands of some crazed upstart, some twisted, disgusting..!

_'Kaiba..._' she could remember Yugi telling her in their last match. '_You saw what I did, didn't you?_' he had asked. '_Pharaoh or Priest... Enemies or even friends_,' he'd gone on, _'It doesn't matter who they were or how they came to that field. What was carved in that stone were their spirits as duelists and warriors, carrying with them the battle itself..! And that battle,_" Yugi had gone on, the words now pounding against her skull as she continued to force herself to breathe, '_Has been passed through the years to us now...!_' That battle...

Was one that was destined...

She'd built this arena to fight Yugi properly. She'd re-built this tower as part of a promise and a dream, shared with her brother. This was the tower where everything came together, where so many things were meant to happen, where her brother was already rushing to save alongside those he'd found in this building. And now... Those dreams and promises were sinking down into the shadow at her feet, twisting swirling, falling out of her grasp... Falling...

With horror filled eyes she moved back on one foot, watching as a black sludge not unlike the Avatar rose up from the ground to change form. Morphing from the ooze and snarling as it formed a neck and jaw, gnashing teeth like razors and flexing wings blacker than the pits of the seas. And a blue eyes white dragon, with all the ferocity of the world and not a scrap of familiarity opened up its maw, lunging toward her- "Hah..."

_She wasn't there, Yugi's 'penalty' was over, she wasn't there..._

The dragon continued to take form, cries mirroring the creatures of nightmares long past, teeth coming toward her face-!

_She wasn't there, she'd come out of that, the nightmares were gone-_

With black flames in its throat, and an ear splitting roar-

"HHHAA... AAAAAAA-AAAAAAAAHH!-"

It was gone in a flash, nothing but a puddle sinking into the ground remaining where the dragon stood. But despite that her eyes stared at nothing but the space where the monster had risen from, her hand clenching the fabric of her coat even tighter as she attempted to regain her breath. Across from her the Dreadroot had finally started to vanish. The fear began to evaporate from the air, and though it was a slow to fade emotion it was fading nonetheless.

But while the Dreadroot faded, the Avatar remained. As formless and black as a devoured sun, perfectly smooth and perfectly round it hovered above the field, watching, waiting... As its servant gave a cunning and dark 'smile', walking steadily toward his fallen opponent. "You know Seto," he began, ignoring the laboured breathing and the slowly tensing grip on the arena's smooth floor from at his feet, "I'm really quite glad that we had this duel..! Yugi's path came to an end after all," he continued with an almost halting laugh, "And I was in a spot..!" He briefly knelt down to put a hand on the woman's shoulder, confident that despite the woman's resulting expression she would be too weak to even thro the gesture off. "...You see this duel was more than a gathering of power," Tenma whispered, shaking his head as crazed chuckling came from within his words. "It as more than just a clash of Gods..! Of all the duels in this building the cards have never resonated so strongly... And NOW," he roared triumphantly, standing back up to turn and face the enormous 'god' before him, "As the last test subject summons the third God, this project will meet its end! NOW," Tenma laughed triumphantly, "With the final Ja-shin... The light of all the cards in the world will bring a man back to life! KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN," he screamed insanely, a pillar of energy that none could even recognize or describe now rising up from before the man, "And WATCH! Listen... FEEL the energy in the air," Tenma howled, ignorant to the grinding teeth and steady, murderous glare that now looked to him from behind strands of brown hair. "This is the beautiful burning of a soul... The beginning of new life..! And right here... Right now... THE REBIRTH OF AVATAR IS COMPLETE!" Complete..?

Despite all her pain and despite all her rage Seto's mind managed to clear in that moment and that moment only, her eyes following the crackling pillar of light as it shot from the centre of the field and into the sphere that was 'Avatar'. She'd told herself what she would do after all. She _knew_ what she came here to do..! And this 'LOSS'...

Would not stop her now..! "...Mokuba," she whispered under her breath, the hand on her chest silently and discretely pressing down the button for the radio clipped there. "Listen very carefully... To what I'm about to say. I need you to enter in this code... Exactly when I say so."

* * *

Far below Seto Kaiba and possibly even Jonouchi and those with him, the room that Richie had left behind had grown dark and cold, with nothing but a faint and pleading voice audible within it. "Please," the voice cried softly, repeating himself over and over. "Open the door..."

Tiny, weak, and pounding 'thuds' were being made upon the door between the arena room and the halls outside it right now. Unknown to the boy that was weakly slamming a fist against the metal, still crying and whispering for someone to let him out, the situation was now much more dire than it had been. In one room a computer sparked and screamed, all those within frantically searching for the cause while one lone person clutched his head and forced back a loud and agonized cry. In another a fist collided with the shocked and weakened face of another, the victor of a bloodied and vengeance driven match ripping the duel disk from his victim's arms before stalking down the halls after his goal. Behind him, Gekkou was still bowed, his head almost resting on the ground in a state not unlike Yugi. The 'other' Yugi had floated ahead... Desperately searching for any of the others, if only to find a way to open the way forward. Because for all the doors that lead into this room, there are none that lead out.

And they were, without a doubt... Trapped.

"Please," he whispered desperately, head thumping against the door as he slowly collapsed against it in exhaustion. "Please, please just let us out... _Please_..."

'_Yugi..._'

The boy blinked, head snapping back up with a jolt as a faint voice met his ears. As though wind had blown through the room something had sounded around him, blowing gently against his face and hair. It couldn't be right, he found himself thinking. What he'd heard had been scarcely above the sound of a whisper, yet spoken with the force of a panicked cry. As he looked around now though, there was no source to the voice... If anything, it seemed as though he was hearing things.

'_Yugi... Help..._'

And yet, there it was again. Yugi frowned, struggling to hear the faint cry that seemingly came from nowhere. The voice he was hearing sounded almost familiar, but he just couldn't place it... So what...

As he looked around he felt something warm from the deck holster at his side, along with a pressuring sense of foreboding at the back of his skull. With a slight swallow he looked down at the case in question, slowly opening it only to pale.

The voice was louder now.

_'Yu... Gi... Help... Me...' _No...

Anzu...

With shaking hands he pulled out the card with his friend's face on it, staring at it with horror filled eyes for only a moment before hurriedly slipping it onto his duel disk and turning it on. "A... Anzu," he called out, the holographic image of the woman appearing before him with deathly pale countenance. Even at a number of feet away the hologram's image was crystal clear, and it was all he could not to shout more than he did. Her hair was almost tattered in appearance; frazzled and dull, with thick bags hanging beneath her eyes. And her eyes seemed even more dull in comparison to all this, barely able to gather the strength to look toward the one who summoned her as she curled in on herself. "Anzu," the boy repeated, eyes tearing up at the very sight of his clearly dying friend. "Anzu..!"

"_Yu... Gi..._" She rasped, voice grating the air like nails to chalkboard. "_Help... Help..._" she pleaded, forcing a deep 'breath' of air into her lungs. "_I'm... Scared..._" she forced herself to say, reaching out with a shaking and even smoking hand. "_Something... Something's coming,_" Anzu cried, her voice fading as Yugi stared in shock. "_Something's rushing through... It's... Pushing me away..._" she wept, now flat and almost colourless hair sticking to her clammy face. Her hand stretched closer... The woman attempted to take a step, Yugi himself attempting to will himself to move as well. "_It's rushing into... Into..._" All at once her eyes widened, and just as the one before her reached forward she pulled back, trembling in horror. "_Yugi... Am I... Dead..?_" Dead..? No...

No she wasn't, she wasn't... Why was she asking..! "Anzu..?"

"_Am I... Going... Am I... Dead..._" she repeated, water dotting her eyes as she began to smoke and crumble. Yugi's eyes continued to fill with tears, the boy shaking his head with desperation and disbelief at the sight.

"No," he whispered, his head slowly shaking more and more strongly as he ran toward the hologram that had appeared a few feet ahead of him in the air. "No... NO..! ANZU!"

"_Yugi..._" Her body was turning to ash, growing black, fading away... "_Yu..._" She was vanishing, smoking, misting out from existence, fading from reality for all time..! "_I... I l..._"

'_Yu... Gi..._'

No... His eyes shook, moving from side to side as bits of smoke hung through the air, his body frozen in place and his hand petrified before him. No..! The final pieces fell to the ground only to smoke and fade on contact... The lights in the room seemed to fade even more than they already had, and the normally comforting presence of his other self was only serving to enhance the horror in the room at this moment with the growing sensation of rage and despair from the spirit that had no returned to the millennium puzzle's confines. No..!

NO!

"_ANZU!_"

* * *

**AN: **OH GOD FRUIT AND VEGETABLES FROM THE SKY! -ducks the rain of rotten vegetation- AHHH! AHHHHH, I swear this'll be fixed next chapter, oh god!

First things first! NO. I am not DEAD. That would be _horrible_. Though it would explain absences...

Regardless. Numerous excuses that I will toss to you before saying 'actually it's my fault lol', but really, the biggest one is just all the excuses combined getting in the way. First off, the above chapter covers... Preeeeeetty much the entire fourth manga.

YEA. That is an ENTIRE MANGA up there, save a few little bits of chapter 31, along with chapter 32. Unfortunately, that is where the biggest roadblock was- I get Yu-Gi-Oh R through my local Library. However, each time I went, the fourth volume was taken out. So... I finally placed a hold, and, using the database that my library connects to, had them send a copy over.

This took a little over a week, which means it took a little over a week before I had a clear idea of what would happen this chapter. BUT!

Do not despair! I wasn't just sitting around! In addition to preparing for University (Something I am now attending; more on that below), I decided to take advantage of the fact that I had the _fifth_ volume with me. Sooooo, while I'm still relying on a fairly unorthodox manner of reference for this arc, I at least have all I need written out from that for easy transfer to a chapter format.

ALSO, I typed out all the Past!Jou scenes, along with anything else that wasn't at least slightly manga reliant. Which cuts off a fair amount of typing time, as those scenes typically take the longest to think of. So yay! Things should be... Faster?

Don't count on that; it's quite likely that one and a half to two weeks will be the average for the next bit with schooling... Though I'll know more on that as the time comes and goes. Whatever the case though, I am still working on this! So don't worry if the chapter takes a it to appear!

Now then... Art will continue to be missing (Sorry Imadork!) due to the fact that, well... I'm in the art program. No fan-art tolerated! If anyone's reaaaaally curious I'll link them to any pictures of what I can take pictures of in that class though, but I'm not sure what you'd want with my sketch book...

Lots of music will be had though!

Now then...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

O- Oh! Thank you so much, Imadork..! I actually hadn't realized until the review that it's been a year..! (An entire year, _holy CRAP..._) In any case... On to your FIRST review...

The fact that you're laughing is actually not that surprising really... I know that when the full implications of what would happen if all this worked (If you haven't guessed yet, Tenma isn't summoning Pegasus despite what he thinks...), I end up in either giggles, or pulling a look of uneasy squick. JUST A LITTLE AWKWARD THERE...

And most would have been in the USA, but the Tenma brothers actually _were_ in the castle at this time..! However, they were fairly far off, and Pegasus had specifically told them not to come to that wing until a certain time...

Which of course meant they were too late. Actually, one of the scrapped scenes for that arc involved Jou running into and then past an at that time_ very_ shy Yakou Tenma.

I... I really can't stop thanking you and everyone else for telling me things like this... (-weeping tears of joy in a corner-)

...Of course now, I feel like I just pulled a dick move, handing you all such a nasty cliffhanger right after saying that...

OH MAGGIEMAY.

Trust me, once it comes it won't stop for a while. The next arc is 'filler', and goes from September to _April_. There WILL be shipping/interaction! (Though I can tell you now that it will still be just as slow going as everything else, for accuracy's sake. But in a good way. I can guarantee you'll still enjoy it! ...Partially because I know what it's like to be on the other end of the fanfic.)

In any case, try and keep bugging to a minimum nonetheless, or I might end up distracted by it; and that just means more delay. (...Also... THREE JOBS! Holy SHI-)

Ooooh yea. I think that 'Matchmaker' is his destined career Iona.

Yeeesssss, I think this narcolepsy could do a little more than startle them though. And actually... I would not be at all surprised if that was her reaction.

Actually, I would not be surprised if she sent him to a doctor. (AAAAAHAHAHAAAA!) The sleep-fits stop once the Ja-shin are dealt with though, so that won't have to happen... Which is good, you really have to limit things like that...

In any case, I hope you liked the chapter! Here's to the next one!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that is still bowing in apology... ...While sketching for FIN 110...

* * *

Tod'ay's chapter is 'Taraph', and I picked it for accuracy this time...

'Taraph', you see, means 'Tears'.

* * *

Truth be told, I have... Really mixed feelings about Scott. I mean, the guy was STONE COLD, and then suddenly at the end...

He was _crying_. I get _why_ he was crying but... Holy shit, it's just so JARRING to see that happen..!

And then of course everything else goes to shit, which means everyone else is crying _but that is not the point damn it._

* * *

Anywho, there's a small bit of scene bouncing here, as the bit with Kaiba was meant to come directly after the last bit we had from her. Ahaaaa...

But as explained above, I didn't have access to that, and while it's one thing when your entire chapter hinges on it, it's another when it's a few lines. So, they were moved! And we got a crying Scottie instead.

* * *

IYAH? WUT- Well, it's one of the common pronunciations of 'Iie' (Often slurred up as 'Iyeh'), which means no.

* * *

And yes Scott can speak Japanese! Heck, as mentioned last chapter, he's got more reason than half the people in the building; Scott and Richie would have both had to learn if they were staying with Pegasus, given that he'd likely imply lots of involvement with Japan in the future.

Of course, when it comes to the _next_ duel, Richie is using Japanese because Gekkou refuses to speak anything else for Yugi's sake; it's no fun when your conversations are going bilingual on you, and it's harder to focus too!

* * *

Seriously, everyone but Gekkou seems to have a parental attention complex with Pegasus. The irony? _When Pegasus says you're 'perfect', that's not actually a good thing_. It might not make much sense right now, but trust me..! Come the conclusion of the arc (Which is coming FAST, holy crap!), it'll all be explained!

* * *

'_PSH. Usagi, __everyone__ uses effect monsters now, it's almost impossible not to!_' True, true, unless you bother looking for the ollllld cards, you're not likely to find any decks with Alligator Sword and the like... And I hardly think a deck centred on Blue-Eyes and Red-Eyes counts, as those ones are generally loaded with effect monsters too. BUT...

Remember, this came before all that! So while effects crop up a lot more following this, the fact is, _not many people actually really had them at this point_. It's like things such as Synchro monsters; you wouldn't see them in GX or Duel Monsters because _they didn't exist yet. _But in our _real _world, they're everywhere! So at this time in the series, the typical goal was simply OBTAIN BIG STICK, or CENTER ON SINGLE EFFECT CARD. This is our first REAL visit to the world of Archetypes.

No, not _types_, like 'Fish' or 'Dragon'... Archetypes! As in Lightsworns, Genex... That sort of thing. This point in the manga is preeeeetty much where it really started off in regard to timeline, though if you look back you can sort of see it already with Rishid's Trap Card deck; that counts as an archetype.

* * *

'Piercing' is when a monster attacks another in Defense mode and inflicts damage in the same way you would have if it was in attack. Now... Given Learning Elf's stats of 1400/1500, and the Musketeer's ATK of 1700, I went out on a limb and figured that there was no battle damage this turn.

Cause... Um... Gekkou didn't take damage.

* * *

Before I get any weird comments on '_UM, Pegasus was like 26 wasn't he?_', I'll say that age doesn't really matter so much in this situation; it's action. Even if Pegasus took them all in when Duel Monsters was created, (He'd have been 18 then) the others were still at least below the adult age. So even if the age gap was small, a father figure is still a father figure, and he was there for a good number of years!

* * *

This scene... Was heart-wrenching to type. It was difficult, and it was enough so that it took until almost a day later for it to come to 'paper' despite all the resources and thoughts and plans being there. The utter _despair_ in the room after the light clears is.. Incredible. And as a note, there's a reason that scene is from Richie's point of view. One, it preserves the shock after the light clears; in the manga, both sides knew what happened, but the ending of the previous chapter gives the feeling that they didn't.

For another point however, it's the other Yugi's reaction. Shell shocked, enraged... Silent? 'Little' Yugi is in tears, Gekkou is _broken,_ and _no one else cares_. And frankly, the other Yugi is probably just as immobilized. He's likely in an even worse situation than the others, sitting in the puzzle in shock until later. That's not something that needs to be seen though- moreover, we _do_ need to see what happens on the other side of that door, hence the Richie POV.

But before you all think '_DAMN what an ASSHOLE_', think of it this way- If the situation was reversed, and Yugi lost Anzu... And had a way to bring her back,_ what would he do_? The other Yugi would likely _kill_ to get _any_ of those he considers friends. Wouldn't be nearly as icky (OH GOD _pegasusinanzusbody_), but... Both sides are willing to die for their cause. It's not _completely_ mirrored...

But it's close.

* * *

Had to actually laugh at Richie's story- he originally says '_he taught me how to live... How to live as a duelist._' ...And then you see this picture of Pegasus being all 'finger gesture that way, hand out in offer' sort of thing... With a really raggy looking Richie holding a deck of cards like it's gold.

Much as I find Pegasus AWESOME for what he did, that picture just cracks me up with all its cliches and 'OMGITSHEAVEN'-ness.

* * *

Oh hey, Honda was mentioned! ...Sort of.

Because poor Honda, _no one knows who the hell he is._

* * *

OHHHH for those wondering why Kaiba almost literally spent the last hour standing around instead of beating the shit out of Tenma, Yakou was kinda standing/sitting at the computer the entire time.

Which meant he'd smash something if he landed on it. Worse, he could simply push something else and screw the others in the building over.

Including Mokuba. Who's kinda busy running off to fix the server. So she needs to stall for time, but at the same time she needs him_ gone_ damn it- so if dueling him keeps him from tapping the key that could blow things sky high she'll do it!

* * *

_Usagi, where'd the 'sama' go_! They're speaking in English, that's where.

* * *

Hang on a second, why is Kaiba suddenly referred to as male..? Well, it's Willa's POV... And for those who got used to people knowing Seto was a woman,_ HAAAAAAAAH_. Now we have MORE characters who are unaware!

Though as to whether or not Yakou knows, given all his knowledge of _everything else_... Well. You shall SEE.

* * *

Yes, Kaiba built an arena on her roof. We're not going there. And if you haven't guessed already, the Ja-Shin kinda bring a more negative emotion around... Everything. Not actually the best for Kaiba's self control, though she's still got a semi-straight head, which is better than some (-coughGekkoucough-) can say... Basically...

Other than the obvious 'hey, maybe I can use these gods for myself!', she's pretty much planning on just shutting Tenma down by slamming holograms in his face... Something that _does_ have a purpose actually!

For now, compare it to... The ring of power, in the Lord of the Rings. (Yes, I went there.) How many people were tempted by it in the initial name of what was right? (Got Boromir killed that... Anywho.) It's a _similar_ issue here... Though at least she has a clear enough head to continue with the main reason she started dueling in the first place. (Note that she wasn't asking to take the Gods initially, just 'test' them.)

* * *

Seriously, how long has it been since Jou beat someone with his fists again..?

* * *

Originally in the manga, Willa's still in front of the door (albeit in the same laid down position), and only gets up because the arena is rising from the ground.

However, as I had the arena rise up before (only to be ignored haha), I had Willa take a more daring option and actually climb up on the stair entrance. And believe it or not, he likely _can_ see the stars better from there than he can at his home. Partially for reasons that will actually be revealed later on should he appear again (if he doesn't I'll tell you), and partially because the difficulty in seeing the stars is due to light pollution.

Sure, Tokyo is BLINDING at night, but that tower is the tallest thing in Domino! I'd say he's still got quite the view, even with the light pollution!

* * *

'_Why... It's a different POV_!' Mostly because Willa will _actually prove important_ soon... Even later in storyline as opposed to simply in this arc. A few of the other professors will have similar reappearances as well actually, but I won't say who.

* * *

By the way, the monster is neither a true manticore nor a chimera, unless you count the scientific definition of it being a mix of animals; the original chimera was made up of goat, snake, and lion. The Manticore was a lion with a man's face and ten rows of teeth, along with a barbed tail that contained poison. (Lions.. Actually have a barb in there by the way. Not _poisonous_, but it hurts like hell, as that 'barb' is actually the Lion's last few tail vertebrae fused into a single shard of bone.)

* * *

Some might recall that the actual attack of Mosaic Manticore is 'Blaze Fire'. I ask you- which sounds better? Because... Yea.

* * *

In the manga, Kaiba originally questions the fact that there's more than one Ja-shin. But the fact that Kaiba was told that they mirrored and opposed the Egyptian God cards should have done that for her...

* * *

Seto's thoughts of a 'devoured sun' actually refer to Ancient Egyptian's explanation for the solar eclipse; those were days when, despite the typical success, Apep succeeded in _swallowing_ Ra.

Of course, Ra would always cut himself out...

* * *

By the way, that shoulder thing IS canon... I had actually contemplated cutting it though. Then I remembered that even without the shoulder, Kaiba would likely have punched Tenma in the face by now if the strength was there, so really...

What the heck, lets make the creepy guy even MORE creepy! (Not like you wouldn't expect that from me...)

* * *

In these final scenes, the manga originally had Jou doing a fair bit more... But it all happened during RA's complete activation.

Which would obviously happen after the Jashin were summoned. Which... We already know does NOT sit well with Jou. At all.

* * *

Nothing can compare to the utter _chaos_ in this manga. _Nothing_. RA is complete, Yugi's stuck in another room, the server is over heating (Not that we saw THAT one...), _KAIBA LOST_... Anzu's soul pretty much EXPLODED in Yugi's FACE..!

NOTHING. COMPARES.

And that is where I_ left you_. So all I can say is...

ACK! HOLD THE TOMATOES, HOLD THEM!

* * *

Musical Notes

In which I tell you what I listened to whilst typing.

First off, lots of techno this time; from AVTechNO for the most part, and that is why these are NOT covers; they're vocaloids.

Because... That realllly works with techno!

So first off, we had 'Darkness Six' (Kagamine Len), which was used a fair bit for Seto's duel. Some of the lyrics make sense for it. Most of them don't.

But that's expected. 'Acid Nel', with Miku, has NOTHING to do with the fanfic..! But for some reason, choice portions of the tune made the final scene with Anzu even more teary for me... That scene was one of the longer ones too, which meant I got 'SOU – Music Box version' (Used Miku in it) playing as well... And again, if you listen to the original, the lyrics have nothing to do with it, but the tune for the music box version... Well, 'SOU's 'Musicbox' take in particular had me feeling fairly depressed during that scene, so if you're down hear looking for music to listen to as you read, keep that one handy for it.

Actually the normal version of 'SOU' is also fairly good... (Though I believe that one is actually a different song; called 'Sou Core')

In any case, final music bits to mention include 'NEL' (Acid Nel is a remix of that song), which probably suits gloom _slightly_ more than Acid Nel depending on your opinion, along with ANOTHER Miku song..! Namely 'Blue World'.

And with that out of the way...

* * *

I just have one last thing to say. If you look at the top, you'll probably notice something- this fanfic has been running for over a year, coming in at almost two million words.

Guys... We aren't even half way yet. I look at this fanfic and I find myself utterly _speechless_ at how far it's come, how much more there is to do, and moreover... How much it's improved my writing, and even my ability to _research_, which is an invaluable skill now.

I couldn't have gotten this far without you, and I wouldn't be able to continue without you either! Each of your reviews, your favorites, your alerts... With everyone I get I feel encouraged to keep typing..! Here's to another year of crossdressing and duel monsters guys!

Enjoy the chapter!


	115. Chapter 114

**Tsalmaveth**

* * *

In the darkness around her, she could no longer breathe. Torn from her body, torn even from the world it was all Anzu could do not to scream despite this lack of air. Scream in frustration, in rage at Tenma and his 'plan', at the duelists who had come in their way, at all the obstacles in their way, at everything that happened and targeted them simply as an offshoot of an event they'd been forced into..!

And to scream in grief... If she could cry she would cry until there was nothing left right now... Not even a soul...

There was only one 'companion' with her right now, and it was nothing to be called companion at all. Shuddering in fear she held her legs close, with shadows coiling around her as they waited... Waited for the moment when all would be complete, waited for the moment when three would become _one_... It was an almost liquid creature that surrounded her now, dark and oily in form and devoid of all temperature to the touch. After all- even the cold required a bit of life to exist.

And this creature had no life.

"Who..." Her voice was hoarse, but she could see a face before her, skeletal in form and covered with darkness. She could no longer feel any fear... She could scarcely feel anything in fact, and perhaps that was why she could do nothing but stare as the enormous monster loomed over her. "_Who_... Who are you..?"

To her surprise the creature answered, dull voice scratching over the air as waves of shadow continued to envelope the small area around her. "_Zzzzzzuuuuuuuuuuu..._" Zu..? As she thought the name the creature spoke again, as though to correct her. "_Zizzzzzzzzz..._" Ziz then, she asked herself hesitantly. But what was...

It spoke again.

'_**Annnnnnzuuuuuuuuuu**_...' An...

_Anzu_..?

Such a pity, her clouded and careless mind found itself wondering with that word, her eyes dull and glazed with coming death as the monster simply stared. Malik's memories were right...

You could do... Anything with a name...

By a mere coincidence of events they'd been challenged. That was what she believed, what she'd told herself to believe. But perhaps... There was more. Energy was building around them. Harsh and cool as the void, electrifying her body and strengthening the monster that was around her completely rather than above or beside. She could not scream, nor feel the pain... Yet the pain was all about her and she was screaming until lungs burst all at once.

And it was strange. Despite him not being there, despite her hoping to anything that felt willing to listen that he wasn't there, she could feel Yugi's presence amid this power... This power that was destroying her, this power that was pulling her further and further away...

It was ironic. But between the power available, the power that would be driven to recover her at all costs, and her own _name_...

They were losing. All in Tenma's path had fallen, and the monster before her gained power by latching onto a name granted to it through ancient history, a name pronounced as her own. A name that had been screamed and cried with such passion that destruction of the beast was nigh impossible. They were losing... And even Tenma had yet to realize what was about to be unleashed on the world. _Yugi_, she wanted to call, slowly closing her eyes back over again to 'sleep'. She would hold on... She would hold on for as long as she could...

But if he didn't come before then...

'_...Help..._'

* * *

When they arrived at the server room, the first thing that had come to mind was _wow. _Resembling almost ironically an obelisk of sorts in the center of the room, the computer's server towered high above them, with support cables stretching from carefully located bracers at all sides. It glowed, quite literally, with electricity, and while Katsuya had been staring at the device in awe Mokuba had immediately begun speaking with those who had been forced to remain behind and keep the device running.

But the next thing he noticed was how cold it was- something that Mokuba had stated to be not just unusual, but _bad_.

It should have been the first thing they noticed, the cold temperature. Ordinarily, anyone inside would have been wearing jackets, or even coats. But the server was beginning to overheat, and with the way things were going they wouldn't be able to prevent the device's inevitable crash.

The heating started when Tenma input the card data for the Ja-Shin. The machine began flying through calculation after calculation, desperately searching for reason in the program and casting away everything else. But as Mokuba began snarling curses to Tenma's name, something began to push against his skull. A clouded feeling, a darkening feeling...

He could only dimly hear what was going on now. Mokuba was being told about his sister's location... About how she was fighting, at that moment, atop the Apex Arena...

'_Pull up a camera feed, quick!_'

And that was when the room grew silent, Katsuya's mind absolutely flooding with pain as he bit down on his lip to keep from screaming. That was when the others watched as a black _monster_ punched its way through Seto's form, Mokuba giving a loud and wailing cry at the sight. That was... Was...

"Ssss-FF!" Katsuya collapsed to his knees, fingers digging through knotted blond hair as he struggled to keep silent. If only to keep the others from worrying. If only to keep the plate somewhat empty of fear. If only... Only...

There was a power filling up the air and he could feel it. Clutching his skull and forcing his eyes open he and everyone else could only watch as the server in the center began to spark, entire waves of blinding light crackling over the surface. Scorching the server's casing, filling the air with heat and smoke, making it impossible not to stare, and then...

With a snap a vision came to mind. Pushing its way past the barrier of the evil gods, tearing his mind from the 'darkness's hold. A single large room, darkening slowly as it was forgotten more and more...

"Yugi." The headache needed to take second seat, he forced himself to think. The headache, the ja-shin... None of that mattered until they could make sure they knew where _EVERYONE _was, what _EVERYONE_ was doing. If all this was happening now... If Tenma's plan was coming this far... The blond's eyes widened with realization, and despite the protests of any who he pushed aside he rushed for the computer that Mokuba was struggling to fix. "Mokuba!" he shouted hurriedly, the boy jumping from where he was staring at the screen. "Mokuba, I need..." He caught his breath, Mokuba staring at him with still teary eyes. "Mokuba, we need to find Yugi," he said clearly, the servers howling loud enough to almost drown out their voices. "He was trying to stop all of this, if this is happening now..!"

"No way," Honda muttered from behind the two. "You don't think he actually..."

Without even waiting for what mind as well have been the 'forbidden word' Mokuba's hands flew to the keyboard, reddened eyes sharpening with resolve. "I'll start looking through the arena rooms," he hurriedly told them, "But not all of them have surveillance; you'll need to get him to answer the com-"

"YUGI! OIII, YU-"

-_smack!_-

"OW! What th' hell!" he protested as he looked to Mokuba.

"After I turn the coms on," Mokuba growled, going back to the computer. "He won't hear you at any time before then, Katsuya-nii!"

"Owww... When did y' get so abusive..."

The boy ignored the half-hearted complaint, instead tapping multiple keys before gesturing to the others. "I've hooked us up to the nearest arena," Mokuba began. "All the other ones are in the lower testing floor, and there's only one on the upper levels other than the Apex Arena," he explained. "Now..."

The screen crackled for the video portion of the communicator, and to their pleasant surprise it was a shock of black and red hair that met their gaze. "Ah-! Found him!" Katsuya laughed, leaning over to shout into the mike. "OI! YUGI! YUGI, PICK UP TH' COM!"

The hair twitched somewhat, before turning to reveal Yugi's tear-stained face as the boy stood up to look at the com. "Jonouchi-kun..?" He blinked, wiping his eyes a little before nodding slowly. "I... I'm here..." If only half, given the look...

Oh no... The others paled somewhat, Katsuya pressing on with a swallow. "Yugi! 'M I glad to see you... Honda an' I are with Mokuba in th' server room... Yugi, we gotta-"

"Jonouchi-kun," Yugi interrupted, sniffs and chocked sobs cutting in and out of his words. "I... Anzu just... Anzu is... G... G..." Cold realization began to fill the room as they drew back shortly, the unspoken words left unneeded. Oh _HELL... "_Nh... She's de-" No! Not yet!

"Don't you dare start cryin'!" he snarled, his friend jumping back in surprise as the blond continued. "Yugi... Don' even start, got it!"

"J-Jonouchi-kun..."

"An' if th' other Yugi's mopin' around you get him back up too," Katsuya added fiercely, a slight surprised flash in the boy's eyes telling him his guess was on the dot. "This isn' th' time for cryin', you got that?" he growled. "Yakou's started his project- an' you aren't th' only one in a mess, y' hear?"

"That's right!" Honda added from the side, nodding. "The server here is going completely crazy... And Kaiba just lost to Tenma!"

Yugi's eyes grew with shock, his tears momentarily halted with surprise. "Kaiba-san lo..."

"Yugi," Katsuya cut in. "We've almost got control 'f this tower back, but there's still more t' deal with..! Mokuba's codes can' get in any further, so we can't do more just yet," he muttered somewhat bitterly. "BUT! That doesn' mean we just give in..! We've still got a chance," he roared, fists clenching as his friend stared back. "We're gonna find Anzu... An' we're gonna get her outta here! But you need to deal with Tenma, got it?"

"Mokuba-sama!" The group turned momentarily, Yugi as well turning a moment before shaking himself and looking back to the screen. One of the few employees in the building rushed over, gesturing to the side. "Mokuba-sama, we've traced the flow of data... Tenma's program is diverting all files from the server into the system he installed on his arrival in one single, concentrated download- look," he continued, pulling a few things on the screen next to Yugi's own. "It's right in the room above-"

"Oh _FUCKING _hell," Honda hissed, video feed of the very room patching onto the screen with the employee's touch of a button. The others as well paled, Yugi himself growing eerily white with fear. "What the hell_ is_ that machine..!"

"I don't know, but if I had to guess," Mokuba decided with a swallow, "I'd say that Anzu is..."

Anzu was the 'end point' of the download. And while he doubted the others could see it, there was nothing but darkness around the subconsciously screaming body, the body that emitted no sound from a machine that only barely gave them a view of the woman in question. With a hurriedly covered look of horror Katsuya turned back to Yugi, eyes narrowed and filled with grit determination. "Listen up Yugi," he started seriously, the boy swallowing in response. "Anzu's pretty close t' where we are; it'll be easy f'r us t' get there. But we can't do shit until Tenma's been dealt with. Mokuba's got the codes for the door," he went on, the boy in question hurriedly tapping away at a few keys with the blatant hint, "So don't you worry abou' anythin' in yer way... No more 'card key' crap, got it?" he shouted. "There's no time t' waste... So get goin'! You get up there, an' you guys kick Tenma's ass!"

With wide eyes the tears were stopped, and as they narrowed in determination it seemed that both Yugis were nodding despite only one being on the screen. Standing straighter they wiped their eyes, and then nodded yet again. "Right," they both shouted, clicking the screen off. Time to go...

With a nod of his own Katsuya turned to Mokuba, the boy looking up somewhat hesitantly. "So," the blond asked. "...What's the fastest way upstairs?"

* * *

Now that he was actually aware of things, it seemed the room had gotten a lot darker than it had been to start. "I guess we didn't pay much attention to that," Yugi muttered to himself quietly. "The power's being diverted upstairs I think..."

"_There were more important things at hand,_" his other half responded quietly, before appearing at his side. "_...But Jonouchi is right. We need to move._"

"Nn!" Again Yugi nodded, running back to the center of the room until he spotted Gekkou's still unmoving form. "Gh..." He was still there..!

"_Tch... Don't tell me he's gone into shock..!_" his other muttered under his breath.

"Haven't you done that before yourself," the boy found himself murmuring almost nervously, his partner going somewhat red at the comment. Well... He supposed that wasn't the point in the end he told himself, walking over to where Gekkou still sat. Hah... "Gekkou-kun," he called out, the man not moving from his place. "...Gekkou-kun... Come on, the door's open," he told him, gesturing to the large door before them now. "Gekkou-kun, we need to leave!"

Silence was again his answer, Gekkou slowly and deliberately shaking his head. "I've already lost," he said quietly, his voice rasping with an almost haunted tone. "I can't go any further..."

"Gekkou-kun..." Yugi stared for a few moments, looking over the obviously broken man before him. One loss, and he was like this. One... "Don't say that!" he insisted, worried eyes shifting into a frown. "There's a path before us right now... And you promised yourself that you would fight for your brother! You told me that when you promised to help me," he continued, "And one loss shouldn't affect that! If you still feel you want to save your brother then come with me!" Yugi shouted. "There's more than one way to stop this..!"

"More..." After lowering his head even more he began to stand, slowly and shakily pulling himself up to his feet. "...What am I doing," he murmured, berating himself with an almost disgusted frown. "Sulking like this... I've let those cards completely affect my thinking," Gekkou muttered. "Rather than thinking as I should... You're right," he continued, looking to Yugi with a more renewed expression. "This was never about if I was strong enough in a _card game_. I just hope we aren't too late to get rid of those ja-shin..."

"Gekkou-kun..." The 'curse' of the Ja-shin... Could it be... That it affected them even when they weren't a part of the duel? Even when they couldn't see it?

Looking toward the door, the pair gave each other one short nod before taking off with a run. "Let's go," Gekkou shouted, disk clacking back into a de-activated position on his arm. "For Yakou... And for your friends..!"

"Right!" Now then... "Which way to the roof," he called to the man, only to blink as his other half floated beside him.

"_I found out that answer earlier,_" he responded clearly. "_Follow me!_"

"Um..." Well, he'd just finished asking Gekkou but he supposed...

"Yugi-san, if we take these stairs-"

"Um, nevermind..." he coughed, walking after his partner.

"What?" Gekkou blinked, watching as his friend ran up in the same direction he'd been about to suggest. "..._What_?"

"I'll explain later," he shouted down, "Just, um..." He froze in place, stumbling to a halt as a shadow moved from ahead. If they looked now, they could make out a dueldisk... But...

"_...How many people have we fought now?_" his other half asked idly, partner blinking as he thought of the answer.

"Um... Not counting Gekkou-kun, six..."

The spirit nodded. "_There are thirteen professors right?_"

"...Yea..."

At this moment Gekkou came up the stairs, before groaning somewhat. "Great," he muttered, "Cedar."

"Cedar?" Yugi repeated with a raised eyebrow, only to turn as 'Cedar' moved from out of the shadows to smirk. It was a little hard to tell exactly how old Cedar was... He could have been anywhere from 18 to 25, with messy brown hair and a fairly slight goatee just beginning to grow on his chin. His overall appearance said 'lazy' in all honesty; but evidently, as he clicked his duel disk on, he wasn't so lazy as to ignore them.

"_DAMN,_" he laughed in English, arms somewhat crossed as he rubbed his chin. "_I can't believe you losers made it up this floor... I don't remember a thing from Richie about giving you guys second chances..! But,_" he lamented, ignoring the fact that the two before him were now looking to the other and paying his words no mind, "_I can't just let you pass..._"

Rggggh... Regardless of how much of that they understood, the prospect of another road block was just... "_...Aibou_," the other Yugi decided with a tense tone. _"If I may_?"

The boy did nothing but nod, before moving to run forward despite the confusion of the others. "Ah- He's not moving," Gekkou shouted in protest, taking a few steps and reaching out only to frown as Yugi continued at full tilt toward the man. "...Yugi?"

"_EH?_"

"Forgive me Aibou," the other Yugi growled aloud, "I might bruise our knuckles..! Now... _GET OUT OF OUR WAY!_"

-_**CRACK-**_

It was all Cedar could do to stumble back with wide eyes at the one-sided statement before the statement itself was quickly justified. Tall as he was, it was nothing after all, if Yugi _jumped_. And he did jump.

And with a fairly echoing 'crack', Cedar was falling back under the combined force of Yugi's landing weight and his own fist while the boy continued running forward. They weren't stopping for anything, they told themselves, the two both switching positions once more despite never skipping a beat in their run. '_Ah... Sorry Cedar!'_ they could hear Gekkou shouting to the cursing man behind them. '_But we don't have time..!_' If anything, their time was spent... But regardless of timing, they were coming- and they WOULD reach Yakou..!

* * *

In the room where Anzu's body sat, any watching would have been forced to turn away. Whether from the blinding light that now filled the room, the electricity rolling and pulsing impossibly from the device as energies far more powerful than mere 'card data' entered the mind of its captor, or from the state that the body in question was now in.

Locked into the device Anzu's body, formerly almost serene in appearance, screamed. She screamed a silent and endless cry of pain, eyes locked shut in a contrasting 'peace' as her body attempted to pull away from the bonds that held it. Cuts began to come on her wrists and ankles where she pulled against the device, her forehead locked too tightly in place to allow it such 'freedom'. And if most looked now that would be all that they saw...

But there were also shadows, if they could even be called that. Pure black in form, dripping from the very top of the tower the oily, oozing substance that formed the 'Avatar's being began to flow. Down, down along the sides of the server's tower, down and over the coiling cables that connected the device to it... It flowed and forced its way into the cuts on Anzu's form, and into the pores of her very skin. Bypassing fabric and metal alike the substance moved...

And above on the tower itself, Willa could do nothing but stare in horror as the man who had hired him as a 'guard' laughed hysterically. "AT LAST!" he cried, somehow still able to breathe through his laughter. "AT LAST! The energies have gathered! The gods have SPOKEN," he thundered, pulling a single card from his pocket. "And the time... Has come! Now that the chaos within the soul has a body to attach itself to, it can again take form! It can take life yet again, and I will _make it so_! With this card," Tenma continued to laugh, holding his deck out with a malicious grin. "With this last piece, _**he will ARISE...**_ **BEHOLD**!" the roared, setting the card to the field as a booming clap of thunder came over the air. "THE FRUIT OF THE R.A. PROJECT... I summon... PEGASUS!" P...

Pegasus..!

The air seemed to pull from around them in that very instant, with all the energies of the tower swirling with it. The 'avatar', despite all its blackness began to glow, shining as though it were the sun itself in the black and clouded sky. And then, as he stepped back in terror, the great sphere began to _really_ change... And, if it were even possible, he could swear he heard a voice...

"_Your... **Payment...**_"

Long, thin tendrils of black 'liquid' began to drop from the sphere before Tenma, pooling on the ground in a small puddle of sorts. From the puddle arose flames and oil alike, completely black and rising up ever so slowly to create one single being from its power. Shoes were the first to come, followed by the 'white' pants if it could be called that in the darkness. But from within the clothing arose such things as bones and nerves, vessels of blood and the meat that would become muscle, all wrapped in skin. The cloth moved up faster soon enough however, only beaten by areas that were never covered to begin with, and as the hands developed they slowly moved to clench tight upon themselves. The orb that was avatar glowed brighter... Stronger, more powerful, and the form began to take shape even more quickly-..!

And then it stopped. "Huh...?" Willa moved around the arena as Tenma himself began to shake his head, silently muttering things under his breath as the Avatar seemed to freeze and shake. As the form of Pegasus, complete save for the only real eye that they themselves had ever known, stood before them in wax-like form. "Why did it stop," he muttered, wide eyes unable to turn away. "Why..."

With a sudden shock-wave of wind the power dissipated from the field. The Avatar suctioned in on itself, becoming a black-hole of sorts as a howling wail came over the air. Smoke and dust was all that remained of the creature as it burned away, falling into nothing... With horror filled eyes Tenma shook. Frozen in place he shook, looking to the still frozen figure of his deceased teacher in desperation. "P... Pegasus? Pegasus..!"

-_clk... crck-clk... crk..._-

All eyes turned to Kaiba, the man still slumped over in exhaustion. Though his arms were at his side something had crackled from where he sat, something small... And with a slow, deliberate and shaking hand the teen managed to force himself to grasp the radio that was clasped upon his coat collar. "Status... ...M... Mokuba..."

"You... YOUUUUUUU!" In a fit of rage Tenma flew toward the teen, grabbing him by the coat to pull him forward with alarming ease. "What did you DO," he wailed, eyes red and filled with desperate insanity. "What did you DO! You did something..! WHAT IS IT!"

The radio answered for them. "_We got it, nee-sama!_" a voice called out in Japanese, the only one with the ability to comprehend the meaning of the familiar term too far gone to think anything of it. "_It took a bit, and Katsuya-nii and Honda probably got to the other room by the time it did... But the code took affect!_" Did that radio say 'code'?

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Hnhnhahaha..." Despite all his weakness Kaiba managed to look Tenma straight in the eye with a twisted and triumphant smirk, sweat still dripping down the man's face as he laughed. "Haven't you guessed," he wheezed out, shaking with both laughter and fatigue in Tenma's grip. "You may have created that twisted program... But I just put an end to it..!"

"But that's impossible!" Tenma snarled in desperation, shaking the man violently with almost every word. "IMPOSSIBLE! How... HOW!"

"Hnhnhnhnhn... Just one card..." he responded weakly, the blood draining from Tenma's face as grip slowly loosened to lower the weakened teen. "Someone's still fighting... You said your 'guinea pig' summoned your God," he continued, smirk widening despite the situation. "Well... You can thank them for putting a wrench in your plans... Because they obviously didn't _win_ with it..!"

"No..."

As Tenma shook with disbelief Kaiba continued to speak, his 'grin' small and forced at best with the obvious pain he felt. "The code I made needed only a single card of data to piggy back on into your server... And it looks like," he added, voice somehow growing louder, "This 'virus' meant to restore the server destroyed your precious 'God' as well..!"

"No... No, no, NO!" Tenma snarled, grip tightening as he threw Kaiba away. "YOU... _YOU_..! RRRHHAAAAAAAAGHHHH!"

"Gh-!"

As Kaiba fell back Willa could see his heel catch the edge of the ground. His foot collapsed beneath his weight and his body continued to fall back, Willa's eyes widening in alarm. "Wooaaaahhh CRAP... WOAH-!" With no time to lose he jumped beneath the falling teen's form, arms wrapping around him before he himself was thrown back by the weight. "Ghnn... Shit," he wheezed, moving his arms up somewhat in attempt to push the man off of him. "You might not look it but you weigh a t-" He froze, flexing his hand a moment while the one in his arms as well tensed. "Woah..." He frowned, tilting his head. "_WOOOOOOOO-AH_..." The teen looked toward Kaiba, the CEO in question growing fairly red-faced and enraged as their eyes met. "Those are DEFINITELY-"

"Let go, and_ bite your TONGUE_," the 'man' snarled warningly, "Before I find something that can do it_ FOR YOU_."

He did as he was told very, _very _quickly. "Aaaaaa-hahahaaaaa..." Shiiiiiiiiiiit...

"Pegasus..." The two teens both looked toward the arena, Willa managing to pull himself out from the... Person (Were those _BOOBS_ he felt?) with minor difficulty. Somehow, despite the Avatar being long gone, 'Pegasus' was still there... But he was motionless, and even stone-like in appearance. "Pegasus," Tenma repeated desperately, his face hidden from those below. "Pegasus.. Please, open your eye... Open your eye," he begged as the hologram smoked, voice wavering. "Please, please..." The hologram continued to mist...

And then it smoked. It burst into flames and vanished with the wind, Tenma unable to do more than back away in horror. "No... No, no no," he cried, clawing at his head as the figure faded completely. "NO... NO! PEGASUS! _PEGASUS_!"

"Holy shit..." Willa stared with wide eyes as Tenma collapsed, Kaiba merely leaning against the safety rail with a look of caution in 'his' eyes. "They both disappeared," he finally said. "The R.A. project failed..." It was over... It was all...

"Still fighting," Tenma suddenly said aloud, slowly standing to turn toward them with wide and horrific looking eyes. "You said someone was still fighting," he repeated, moth slowly cracking into a grin. "Hnhnhn... Hnhnhahahahaha... HAHAHAHAHAAAA!" As the others pulled back and stared Tenma continued to laugh, hands held to the skies as the clouds continued to converge. "The project CONTINUES!" he cried in triumph. "Now I can revive Pegasus with even more power than BEFORE! HAHAHAHAHAAAAA!"

Ohhhh shit... "So..." Willa coughed out at a whisper. "You think of something for your buddies in there in the event that this guy keep going..? Because I'm not so sure about his mentality any more." As he looked back to receive a dark glare for his efforts he sighed, instantly turning back to the field. "Yea," he muttered under his breath. "Didn't think so..."

* * *

-_CLNK_-

"Ow-!_ FUCK_-" Katsuya hissed, freezing in place to rub his nose. "Damn it Honda, you kicked me in the face!"

From slightly ahead his friend shrugged, or at least attempted to. At the moment both were slowly making their way through the largest ducts in the building's ventilation, in what was probably the most cramped position they would ever be in for the rest of time. It was noisy as hell, and just as dark, but while the guards would obviously hear them they also weren't properly armed as the earlier brawls had proven. So it was either they alert the guards to their presence through the ventilation and listen as they attempted to find a way to catch them, or allow the crowd outside the server room entry to the inside as they left.

Mokuba had very kindly handed them a coin before pointing them to the grate at the side when he explained that. Which made a fair bit of sense he supposed.

But still. "My bad," Honda called back. "Felt like you were spacing out behind me."

"How th' hell can it 'feel' like I'm spacing out!"

The answer came a little quicker than he preferred. "You stop moving."

It was dryer than preferred too. "Asshole..!"

Another shrug. "Hey, if it keeps you from collapsing in _here_..." Alright. He supposed he had a point but...

"You have t' kick me in the face for that..!"

"Yep." AAAAAGH- "Now come on, we need to move," his friend reminded him.

"Yea yea..." Sheesh... "'S too damn tight in here," he muttered under his breath, slowly inching forward 'seal-style' on the ground. "An' dark..."

"Yea, well deal with it," Honda whispered in response. "It was this or nothing; you're lucky I still had paper on me for a map," he added, holding the paper 'up' behind him. "We'd be screwed otherwise."

"How the hell are y' even readin' tha'," he groaned, holding his head in his hands. "I can' even see my own hands..."

"That's because I'm blocking your light, dumbass." Oh was _that _it.

"Great... Glad t' know I'm in safe hands then," he muttered, before reeling back as something collided with his face again. "OW! HONDA, YOU ASSHOLE!"

"My bad..."

Rgg... "Show you 'my bad'," he grumbled to himself, slowly crawling up behind Honda. "I..." Woah... He froze in place, squinting as he looked ahead. "Hey Honda," he asked warily, swallowing back a wave of unease as he waited for an answer.

"Yea," his friend responded from directly in front of him. "What now?"

"You... You c'n still see th' outline 'f yer own hand in th's kinda light right? Even when it's darker," he asked with a swallow.

"You could see yourself in even pitch black," Honda said with a shrug. "Far as I know at least. ...Why?" he added cautiously.

"...No reason," he said with a swallow, forcing himself to move again despite the locking sensation that came over his limbs. "None at all..." But he hoped to hell that this blindness was as far as whatever 'darkness' from his dreams went...

Because this was the last place he wanted to start seizing he thought as he grabbed at his head, the last of his thoughts fading as he collapsed.

* * *

_The Elders are outside the door now._

_The boy knows this not because of any sound they may have made, nor any word they may have given, but because of his own 'heart'. For his heart, the dragon tells him, has roots in the soul. And the soul, so guarded by the creature which protects him from Darkness' hold as others do for their own partners, has roots in shadow. And as such, his heart cries to him in the form of a vision, warning him of what is yet to come. That is how the Dragon explains his ability, and the boy trusts the dragon's word._

_The elders have been waiting outside the room for quite some time though. Typically by now they would have pulled him by the ear and berated him for entering the chamber, but instead they stand behind them. They are waiting, he has realized. Waiting either for the time to strike, or for their prey to walk unwittingly into their fingers._

_Neither of these two will happen._

"_They're here," he says simply, not yet turning to face those who slowly move close from behind. Those who move with the grace of thieves, a grace he has never learned to master. "They're in the room," the boy tells his friend, "And they're here. Dragon..."_

_The dragon gives a low sigh, rubbing his face against the boy's cheek. "Fear not child," he tells the boy, the heat from his nostrils sending sparks above the boy's head. "Listen to your heart and soul and it will give you protection. Listen..." They boy closes his eyes and nods- but it is not his heart he hears next._

"_Hey! There you are..!" Neker pushes past the elders, but the boy can see this without even turning around. In fact, as Neker stumbles forward in the cloak he's worn over the years, the boy feels something is out of place..._

"_Neker," the boy realizes almost dully. "Your sash is coming undone."_

_The elders tense, and turn to Neker for proof of this. And Neker himself pauses, smile fading as he looks down before laughing. "Hahaha! Right again..!" he cries, hurriedly fastening it into place. "Incredible..! That's-"_

"_Truly a blessing," one of the elders mutter, staff clomping against the ground as he steps forward. "Truly a blessing, to see around instead of merely forward," he adds greedily. "Tell us Neker, what is it that your friend speaks to?"_

_As the boy slowly turns his head to look at the side the dragon growls and Neker, ever oblivious, explains with cheer. "It's the dragon..! The dragon of the shadows..!" he laughs, unaware of the ill intent that sits on the air. "He's the one that we both sit with when we have the time, he tells the best stories..!" He looks to the dragon with those words, but again his smile falters. For the dragon has nothing but anger and fear in his eyes when he looks to Neker... He growls from behind the boy, the sound kept as silent as possible but with furls of smoke from his nostrils giving his ever growing rage away._

"_Child," he growls lowly, "Why have you brought them here..."_

_Neker again falters, and swallows. "Because... It's not fair," he says clearly, bowing his head whilst elders listen curiously. "He deserves more than me... He's better than me, he..."_

_As Neker falls silent the boy turns very slowly to face the crowd, trembling in place and breathing irregularly. He wishes that they could see the dragon. Truly, he does. But they are blind- they will never see. And nothing can change that now. The only thing they see is a scared boy who now clings unconsciously to the dragon's scaled foreleg, wide eyes filled with terror. And the elders..._

_Have made their decision. "Bring him to the chamber," the eldest of the twelve order. "We will reveal this shadow of his whether he wants it or not!" No..._

_Strong arms grab him and the dragon roars,only to be held back by the shadows of the elders. Neker cries in shock as he's knocked back, and he can only follow behind the crowd as his friend is dragged away, and as chaos arises from what was meant to be peace. "NO," the boy screams, kicking at the dirt and sand and flailing as he attempts to grab at a foot hold. "No NO, you can't..! You can't!"_

"_SILENCE," they snarl. "You owe us this much!" No..! No, this isn't right..! This isn't..!_

"_**NO**!"_

* * *

"JONOUCHI!"

Katsuya's eyes snapped open and almost immediately he drew back, raising his arm as much as possible as a shield. In the distance of the tunnel he could make out Honda's form, which was backing up down the vent crossing their own. The light around him was coming from a grate... More proof that his 'blindness' hadn't been normal in any way, and with a low groan he looked back to his friend. "Gh..."

"Jonouchi," Honda repeated, voice echoing off the walls. "Hey! What the heck are you doing back here?" he asked, his friend ignoring him a moment as he shook off the rest of his drowsiness. "Oi..! Jonouchi!"

'_...Perhaps this way is better..._' '_You seemed to know your way around rather well before._' '_…_' Was that...

Hey, those voices were coming from outside weren't they..?

Katsuya held a hand up for Honda to stop, his friend frowning as the blond looked through the grate. "Hold on a sec'," he said quietly, "I think I c'n hear..."

Footsteps came down the hall and soon enough a familiar head of red, black and gold came into view. The second in the group was partially unseen. With the angle of the grate, he couldn't see the man's head, but from what he could tell Yugi (the other Yugi if he was right) was talking to him about directi- "Sff-!" The blond froze, cutting all thoughts short as the head of the other person came into view. Shifting his weight the grate beside him was kicked open, those below immediately looking up and to the side as it clattered to the ground.

"What-" The blond tumbled out to land on his feet, Yugi frowning somewhat while the one beside him stared. "Jonouchi..!"

"Outta th' way Yugi!" he said swiftly, charging the pair with darkening eyes. "HHAH-"

"AH- Jonouchi, hold on-!"

"Eh?"

-_CRACK_-

"MMMNPHHH!" While Katsuya hopped somewhat in place to pull his fist back for another blow 'Tenma' gave a muffled cry, falling back to the ground and cupping a now bleeding nose. "MMMgggghh..!"

"J-JONOUCHI!"

"Take that, TENMA," Katsuya spat, knuckles cracking as 'Tenma' looked up in mild confusion. "An' get up! I got plen'y more where tha' came from!"

"AH- Jono-"

"Hold on a sec' Yugi, this'll only take a second-"

"JONOUCHI!"

He groaned. "C'mon Yugi, I've been itchin' t' show th's guy f'r earlier an' y' know it..!"

"Jonouchi!" The blond sighed, looking to his friend and frowning. Hang on, what was with the look of exasperation... As the boy shook his head and moved to help the other up from the ground he looked back, watching as Katsuya tilted a head in confusion. "This," he explained, "Is _Gekkou_- the one _helping_ us. This isn't 'Yakou Tenma'." Oh. Um...

"...What." He blinked a few times, watching as 'Gekkou' stood and wiped some blood from his nose before bowing his head.

"Pleased to meet you," he said somewhat dizzily, voice a little clogged sounding from the blocked nose.

Katsuya blinked. "...Wait, this is..."

Yugi gave a wry smile, shaking his head. "You didn't honestly think I wouldn't have done that to 'Yakou' Tenma myself did you..?" Noooo, he'd have thought he'd get a penalty game or whatever but...

His eyes widened with realization as he looked over Gekkou, face paling and voice cutting in and out as he tried to speak. "Ooooooh _shiiiiit_," he cried out with a wince, "An' I totally decked y' there too..! Aww... _Shit_," he repeated, shuffling awkwardly and turning away from Gekkou's still confused stare. "You've got the same face but... ...Damn, Yugi ev'n mentioned workin' his way up with a twin," he muttered, Gekkou merely watching with a still confused, if not slightly bemused smile.

He probably had no idea how Yugi had told him about that... Ehehe. "It's... Fine," he managed, giving a slight sniff before wincing and continuing on. "Really, I probably deserved that..." Erm... Not likely actually...

"Yea, try not t' sniff 'r anything... Ah... Not th' best thing w' tha' nose," he muttered, a loud 'thump' behind him telling him that Honda had gotten tired of waiting.

Honda for his part stayed a fair distance away, taking in the sight of his friends both tending to 'Tenma's nose with narrow-eyed confusion. "What in the..." He tilted his head, unsure of whether or not he should move. "...This gets weirder and weirder..." Yea well deal with it.

The blond abruptly froze as yet another voice came to mind however, hurriedly passing it off as 'contemplating the nose' while he frowned. Someone was laughing in the back of his mind... And if he was right, that 'someone' was _not_ someone who should have been alive... "So..." And he'd be damned if he let that distract the _others_... "You guy's 're abou' t' say somethin' about Yakou bein' good at some point righ'," he asked conversationally, putting his 'ability' to slight use as he tried to pay attention to the dull muttering far behind him.

"Um... Yes actually," Gekkou answered, blinking in surprise. "How did you..."

'_Well look who came outta hiding..._' Crap, looked like he was right about the 'dead voice'. It was a hell of a lot closer than he thought.

"Er, Jonouchi," Honda hissed, having apparently spotted said 'dead voice', "Might wanna look behind you..."

"Hold on," he said dismissively. "Alrigh'... So th' same things causin' me a headache did this then, those evil 'gods'," he 'asked' with quotations, "'M I righ'?"

Again Gekkou nodded, looking completely taken back by what the blond was telling him. "Again, exactly right... ...They're causing you _headaches_," he asked worriedly, only to blink as he was literally waved off by teen.

"_Jonouchi,_" his friend again whispered, "Seriously, you _might _want to see this..!"

The blond continued to ignore him, crossing his arms in 'thought'. "Hmmm... So you're figurin' tha' if y' get rid 'f th' cards, he'll go back t' normal then..."

"You're oddly open with your 'visions' today," Yugi muttered dryly, his lighter half even appearing at the side to stare owlishly. "Are you alright..?"

".._.Visions_?" Gekkou hissed. "He's _psychic_?"

'_Kehehe... I haven't felt this good since I first woke up..!_' Damn it shut up voice.

"Explain later!" Katsuya cheerfully decided, grabbing both Yugi and Gekkou by the shoulders before lightly steering them toward the door he 'somehow' knew they would have to take. "Go on, go on, you guys gotta get movin'!" he laughed, the 'light' Yugi still staring as he nonetheless followed along.

"_Umm... Jonouchi-kun..?_"

"Erm- What are you-"

"Jonouchi, what's going on..?"

"O-Oiii, Jonouchi..!"

"Shut up Honda and get y'r ass in gear, Anzu needs savin'!"

"My a- What the hell!" he barked, momentarily forgetting to warn the group about the coming 'threat'.

And still, the blond ignored the confused or annoyed comments, even as the 'voice' became clomping footsteps against the floor behind him. "C'mon, c'mon," he urged them, continuing to 'herd' them toward the door as the one behind him began to shake with rage. "Le's g-"

"_You little __**shit**_..."

The group froze, Honda going so far as to smack his head as the group looked toward what he'd been talking about before tensing. With the very same black leather boots as the Duelist Kingdom, shades hiding bloodshot eyes, Keith Howard stood directly before them...

And he was _not_ pleased. "God damn it Jonouchi..! What the hell do you think you're doing, ignoring me when I'm trying to talk to you!"

Honda sighed, holding his head in one hand. "Annnnd here comes another kick to what I deem 'reality'..." Heh. Try being _him_. Katsuya continued to ignore the American to the side as he stormed forward, the blond well aware that Keith was red with rage and well prepared for a fight.

"HEY! Turn around and face me," he snarled, knuckles cracking as his face continued to contort with fury, "BEFORE I PUT A HOLE BETWEEN YOUR EYES!"

This time Honda's face was as well filled with shock, the wide eyes of the others slowly turning as the sound of their friend laughing met the air. "J... Jonouchi," Yugi asked somewhat hesitantly, still blinking rather owlishly at everything.

"Hahhhh..." The blond moved his hands from the others shoulders, giving a loud and obvious sigh. "Man..! Speak of the _DEVIL_," he laughed, turning to face Keith with an almost nasty smirk. "These 'bit-players' jus' won' shut up..! How's it hangin' Keith?" he asked with a grin. "Haven' seen you since y' decided t' take a visit from the stone age!"

"You... Khehehehehehehe..." While the others decided to look uncomfortable in the face of crazed laughter the blond swallowed, watching the American with wary eyes. "_Jo... Nou... Chi..._" Keith hissed, flexing and clenching his hands as he continued forward. "I'm back from the grave to fight you you know," he chuckled darkly, not at all missing the slight swallow of unease his target had at the fact. "I came back here... To destroy you..!" he roared, wide and unstable grin covering his face completely. Tch...

Well didn't that just figure... The blond abruptly tensed, eyes taking in the form that stood before him with a sudden growing fear. As though the devil himself stood before him... As though hell came with Keith when he returned from the grave, shadows were covering him in a wraith-like and translucent manner... The prospect of fighting a 'zombie' had already been putting him on edge not that he planned to show it.

But now... "...Yugi, you move on ahead," Katsuya said quietly, cheerful expression swiftly replaced immediately with a look of dread and severity. "I'll handle this guy, alrigh'?"

Yugi frowned, shaking his head. He'd caught his friend's expression- and he wasn't stupid. "Jonouchi-"

"Hey!" The boy closed his mouth, and Katsuya went on. "I said I'd handle it, alrigh'? Jus' trust me on this an' deal w' Tenma, kay? Sides," he added with a smirk, turning to look toward his decided opponent. "I've beat th's guy once... I know 'xactly how th's match is gonna go, far 's I can w' out actually seein' it, hehehe!"

"Jonouchi... ...Heh." Giving in his friend smiled, shaking his head before flashing the blond a grin. "Alright! Go for it, Jonouchi!"

"'F course..!" he laughed, "What else! Now go on!" Katsuya shouted, the other two nodding and taking off. "...An' you too Honda," he added quietly.

The teen balked. "Wha- What the hell do you mean, 'me too', we're supposed to be getting Anzu!"

"Yeaaaa," he 'laughed' in response, "An' y' wan' someone like _Keith_ followin' us there?" Katsuya warned quietly. His friend responded with silence. "Trus' me," the blond muttered, eyes drifting over what looked to be a jet-black duel disk on the American's arm. "This ain' goin' away."

Honda stared for a moment, the two sharing looks before he gave in. "Hah... Fine," he decided, turning to head in the direction the vents had been leading him. "But you better move got it? Anzu's heavy you know," he said with a wink. "Can't move her on my own!"

"...Honda..." He pulled a small, impish smirk, as though wondering whether to smile or not. "I'm gonna tell her you said that..."

The teen rolled his eyes, deciding not to respond. "Yea whatever... Just hurry up and get here alright," he called back, running past Keith with an edgy glance over his shoulder. Keith could careless what Honda did after all- he didn't care about the 'R.A.' project, and his current disk was testament to that. So with one final shout Honda kept running, soon vanishing around another corner with a wave."Don't you dare lose! And try not to pass out!" ACK-

He had to say that out loud..! "Khehehehehe..." Katsuya suppressed a slight shudder at the sound of Keith's laugh, instead facing the man with a cold glare. That black duel-disk... Belonged to the strongest of the Card Professors. He knew that not only because of what his 'gut' told him, but because of the magazines and articles that Yugi occasionally collected from the store front of the Kame Game. It belonged to Richie Merced...

A duelist with a history in street and _gang _fighting. Which meant that if Keith had taken him out, it hadn't been an easy task...

Which meant, despite all his lip, this would be one hell of a fight he told himself, swallowing as Keith moved to speak. "SO!" he laughed, wolfish grin refusing to die. "Long time no see, 'Joey'..." Tch.

Again with the 'Joey', what was with that... "Real long," Katsuya responded with a smirk. "Seein' how yer f'rgettin' my name... But what's this," he continued, drawing out the taunting as long as he could. "You used t' be all big, fightin' in Duelist Kingdom with a band 'f mooks! Since when did _you_ become a mook y'self Keith? Owe Tenma a favor now," the blond added with a laugh, his opponent merely snorting as he spat to the side.

"Keh! As if I give a rat's ass about what that horse-fucker thinks! Tenma's got nothing to do with this! But then again," Keith went on with a laugh, a slightly shadowed feeling coming over Katsuya as the man spoke, "I guess I owe the guy in a way... Seeing how I got my brains blown out by Pegasus' penalty game, and he went and brought me back with no questions asked..." Gh... And here he'd thought the death deals weren't literal, he was getting it from the horse's mouth..! Again Katsuya swallowed, and in front of him Keith continued on. "Don't figure you give a flying fuck about what happened in the Kingdom though," he sneered, moving into a 'duelist's stance' as he spoke. "Nah... What matters now is that I'm alive and I'm here... Can't get back at Pegasus," he snarled insanely, grin growing forced before contorting into a scowl. "But you know what, that's the thing about grudges..! They give you a reason to live, a reason to keep coming back from the grave... Hehehehehe... And while Pegasus is gone, there's still one person left who I want nothing more than to see dead at my FEET," Keith spat. "You and Pegasus ruined me!" he roared. "You sent me down to the grave..!"

"So y' come back from th' grave t' get payback then," Katsuya responded shortly. "Pretty p'thetic if y' ask me... Should've stayed dead in my opinion!"

More laughter met the air, and despite the shades Katsuya could almost make out Keith's eyes beneath the tinted glass. "HAH! That what you think then 'brat'? Well try this on for size... Wasn't easy to get here you know..! Only reason I could is because of the fact I died! Ironic don't you think," he leered, relishing in his opponent's unease. "Cause you know what... When I came out, Tenma was starved for information... So when I told him that I spotted Pegasus on the other side-"

"WH- You met Pegasus!" Keith seemed to stop in genuine confusion as the blond across him balked, the American seeming to almost wonder if his opponent was being honest or not. "Are... Are you serious..! You met Pegasus' gh... Ghost..!" H-Hihhhhh...! Scary, scary, sca-

"GHAHAHAHAHAAA! What the fuck kind of moron are you!" Keith howled, holding his head as he doubled over in laughter. "Of course not! I don't remember dick all from when I was dead!" ...Oh. Well. ...That was somewhat upsetting. But wait... "Hnhnhnhnhn... Course Tenma didn't know that," Keith was laughing, still grinning enough to put the cheshire cat to shame. "In fact, I think he'd have believed me no matter what I said! So you know," he continued crazily, "I figured what the hell..! This was my shot at fighting you again.! So who was the last person to see Pegasus that was connected to you?" Oh no... "Well... That was Yugi Mutou of course," Keith laughed, ignorant to the growing rage from across him. "Hnhnhahaha... And when I told him that Pegasus was murdered by Yugi Mutou, champion of the Duel Monster's game, you and your buddies were instantly short-listed as sacrifices to the R.A. project... Hnhnhnhnhn... HAHAHAHAHAHAAAA! And now you're here," Keith laughed almost incredulously. "Just as I figured, you're-"

"So that's how th's all started," Katsuya said quietly, the man across from him cutting himself short at the 'unusual' tone. "You wanted to duel me... So you dragged in my friends. You named Yugi as a murderer," he began, "Allowed S... Kaiba's company to fall into Tenma's hands... And you put Anzu in line for d'monic possession!" he roared, Keith's laughter slowing somewhat as he listened. "You... F'r all tha', you almos' killed her... For nothin' but a duel, somethin' y' could'a just called me up about, you put all my friends in DANGER! I'm fightin' you alrigh' Keith..! I'm gonna give yah all I've got," he snarled, fists clenching until they shook. "An' when you find yerself at Hell's gates again, they won' even recognize your face..! NOW," the blond snarled, disk clicking into place with one swift movement before the deck within it shuffled for use. "LETS DUEL!"

"HehehahaHAAAA!"

Cards were drawn and hands were decided, and as he usually did he had no need to look down. With nothing to do other than glare however, he found his gaze half-hearted despite all the intent behind it.

The shadows around Keith were thickening. Coiled around his legs, flowing and flaming about him like some liquid flame... Tearing his mind from those thoughts however he drew his sixth card, putting it on the field almost immediately. "I put a card face down," the blond cried, "An' I summon th' Little Winguard in defense mode!" The field reacted to the card's touch and Katsuya became silent for a moment as he watched tall desert stone rise up from behind. Though it was typical for the newly risen stone of the defensive to remain dormant however, he found a nagging feeling of dread pushing against him when he looked to the tablet. It seemed _more_ dead somehow. Grey... Lifeless... "End turn," he managed to call out in the end. "Your move, _asshole_!"

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." These shadows that swirled around him couldn't be anything good... "Alright then... One card face down," he shouted, opponent briefly wondering why seeing more Japanese-typed cards brought surprise to mind, "And Motor Shell in defense mode!" Motor shell?

The tablet rose up as Keith announced the end of his turn, numbers coming to mind before a smirk followed. "Gh- HaHAHA! Seriously? That's all y' got," he laughed, gesturing to the 'shell' in the stone. "For someone who talks big, you sure don' deliver too well, Keith!"

"Tch! Bite it!" Keith retorted, scowling only briefly. "I've been waiting a long time to deal with you... Far too long to just finish you off and be done with it..! Hnhnheheheee..." Tch...

Damn creeper. As if he wasn't bad enough _before_ all this... If he hadn't been over the edge then, he was sure as hell over it now! "My turn," he snarled, drawing his next card. For now, he'd leave Winguard in defense, just in case... But with a target like this sitting before him... "I summon th' Panther Warrior!" Katsuya called, stone rising from the ground as the familiar black-furred swordsman charged forward from it. "Go get 'm Panther," he continued, the American before them slowly beginning to shake with rage. "ATTACK-"

"Trap activate," Keith snarled, tablet at his side suddenly spitting multiple imp like creatures carrying enormous mechanic's tools above their heads. "Engine Tuner! Motor Shell gains half his defense points in power," he laughed, grin widening as his opponent scowled. The scowl however quickly vanished as the imps went to work, tools flying over the Motor Shell's parts. What were once wheel-like devices mashed together to form a large ball on a chain, and as the Panther Warrior skidded to a halt, Katsuya realized something important at an all too late moment.

The Panther hadn't said a word since his summoning. And as he turned around, opening his mouth to say something while Keith's monster smashed through him with the ball and chain... No words passed into the air.

Katsuya stared, eyes widening as the Panther attempted to repeat his words, but in the end he could only swallow. He couldn't hear... Why couldn't he hear-

He couldn't hear his monster as it sank, not into dust, nor even smoke or sand, but into a thick black sludge that joined with the shadows at Keith's feet.

"HehehaHAHA! What's the matter Joey?" his opponent cackled, not at all ignorant to the blond's growing horror. "Having doubts? You really are an amateur, you know that," he hissed, both Katsuya and the Panther turning on him with narrowed eyes. Hn!

"Amateur?" he repeated with a snarl. "Las' I checked, this 'amateur' beat yah almost a year ago! It's been ages since then," the blond continued fiercely. "You can't call me amateur any more... I'm gonna place one card face down an' then end my turn," he continued with a swallow. "...Yer move..."

"Hehehehehe... Back to me then," Keith sneered, drawing and moving cards with a grace that far betrayed the rest of his actions. "First... Another card face down," he decided, 'smile' growing into a dark grin. "Next! The Motor Shell attacks," he roared. "_**CANNON BALL!**_"

The rapidly flying ball launched forward in nothing but a blur but Katsuya could see it clear as day. "Act'vate trap!" he countered, gesturing toward the Winguard's tablet with a nod. "Fairy Box!" As opposed to the typical box that would appear however, the tablet with the spell instead grew around Winguard's stone- "H- Hihh!" The blond hurriedly dodged to the side as the ball came his way, watching as Motor Shell's metal 'cannon-ball' barreled forward to shatter the tablet to nothing but dust on the air. The tablet had been destroyed, true- but the Winguard's stone was still intact, leaving a scowling Keith and a grinning Katsuya in its wake.

"What..." Keith's eyes widened behind his sunglasses, a growl developing in the back of his throat. "What the fuck kind of card was that!" he snarled, pointing to where he likely saw the hologram. "What the hell was that!"

"Tha's called strategy!" the blond countered with a grin. "Now... My turn! An' I know jus' what I need t' beat th's thing," he continued, grin growing wider as he drew his next card. The monster was sitting in his very hand... And as he set it to the field, the Winguard's tablet instantly wiped itself clean of engraving. "I tribute th' Little Winguard t' summon my newest monster," he announced proudly, dust swirling as it formed the white and blue armor of the smaller monster's mentor. "Th' Divine Knight Ishzark! Now," he went on, the Knight in question stepping from his tablet with a nod and another bout of silence that his summoner struggled to ignore, "Attack! _**BREAK DOWN DISTORTION!"**_

"Ch-!" Keith stumbled back, but not from any damage done on the field. Ishzark's blade had easily cut through the monster before him, but the attack itself hadn't reached the monster's summoner.

Regardless, it was some damage... And for that, he was feeling a little more grateful than he likely would have ordinarily. "Heh! So how does tha' feel," the blond laughed, only to frown as he looked to where the monster had once sat. There was now a pile of spare parts on the field...

Identical to the ones the Engine Tuners had been carrying... "Kehehehehe... Whoops!" Keith chuckled, hands tucked somewhat in his vest pocket. "Guess amateurs can't read, eh, Joey? Anything equipped with Engine Tuner leaves behind the spare parts as a token... Not to mention, I can equip it to any other machine I summon on my turn! Khehehehehe... So..." Rrrrg...

He knew it would happen, but damn it, if he hadn't have attacked what good would it have done him anyway..! "I'll put another card face down," he spat, gaze moving from the Motor Part to Keith as he attempted to ignore the silent monster at his side. "Turn end!"

"Hehehehehehe..." Keith continued to chuckle as he drew his next card, scarcely giving it a glance as he leered at his opponent. "Well _damn_," he laughed as he made his move. "Looks like your attack left me something good..!" Heh? As the fragmented pile of scrap began to sink into sludge his opponent continued, seemingly ignorant to the fact that he was being ignored. "Check it out," the American cried. "I sacrifice the Motor Part to summon this..! Motor Violence! A monster who," he continued, Katsuya watching the beast rise up from the black pool beneath it, "Thanks to this 'Engine Tuner', is as powerful as a seven star monster..! HAHAHAHAHA!" Ahhhhhh _SHIT_. The engine tuner's 'imps' didn't need to move a muscle for the card's magic to work it seemed- already the mechanical beast was armed and armored, aiming triple barrel guns directly at Ishzark's skull. "Get ready," Keith roared, needlessly pointing the monster forward. "ATTACK! _**MOTOR CANNON**_!"

Not a sound was made as the bullets shot forward, and it was all Katsuya could do to duck behind his arm as he was pushed back against one of his tablets by the shock-wave. Despite being unable to hear the other, Ishzark had gotten the message he'd attempted to give him- a relief, if anything, but there was still a cold feeling of dread watching the monster melt away. There wasn't much time though, he forced himself to remember. Not much at all, and with nothing but will he forced the tablet behind him to activate. The same one he'd used to win against this guy the last time...

Trap card- 'Time Machine'!

"What the fuck..." As smoke rose from the sludge that had pooled beneath Katsuya's feet his opponent stared, going so far as to step back as the shadows that had been prepared to meet darkness began to mist and smoke into another form. "What the hell-" Metal rose behind the blond's back, spiraling and smoking and shaking as it appeared. Details began to form across a door, a window of glass clearing in the mist. With an ominous creak the door of the floating device opened, and as the smoke around it revealed the enormous steel device Keith realized just what it was. "You... That's _my CARD_!" he roared, face growing red the more Katsuya's own grin grew. "You FUCKING SON OF A-"

"What, this thing here," Katsuya laughed, shrugging the curses off with ease. "Were you lookin' for it then?" he asked, grin widening. "Well... Not like you were using it any more," the blond continued with a smirk. "After all... After our fight in th' Duelist Kingdom, you went an' left all th' cards in a rage-quit 'r somethin' along th' lines! I figured you didn't care," he went on as he shrugged, "So what th' hell? I found yer card in my deck, but I didn' see th' point in lettin' it just go t' waste either..." Of course, graverobber was the one who had put it there, but as though he was saying that aloud...

And oooooh, he was pissed. "You god damned brat... You...!" The more Keith seethed the more the shadows rose Katsuya suddenly realized, his grin falling as his opponent again began to chuckle. "Well... Big deal," he snarled, gesturing to the monster he had on the field. "You think you're so great? All you did was bring the Knight back to life..! All I need to do is take him out again and it'll all be over for you... Man," the American snorted, shaking his head. "You can't even use the card properly," he spat. "What a pathetic-"

Heh. "That what y' think," he asked, a small and triumphant grin appearing on his face. "Tha' I can' use even a single card properly," he continued, a blade far different from Ishzark's appearing as the doors of the time machine began to open. "Think again," Katsuya announced as thunder pealed, the shadows almost shrinking back as strong armored arms lined not in white but in gold began to pull out from the machine. "I act'vated one other card Keith..! TAKE OVER! By sendin' Ishzark to th' grave when he came back w' this thing," he explained, "I was able t' summon a differen' warrior in his place... Meet one 'f my strongest cards," the blond laughed almost darkly, the man in tattered cloth and golden armor stalking forward with a look of stern decision on his face. "GILFORD TH' LIGHTNIN'!"

"_**HN!**_" Though he did not hear what Gilford said when he spoke, he could at least hear any other sounds he made. Raising the blade high over his shoulders the warrior awaited his summoner's command, an order that Katsuya was more than willing to give.

"Take this Keith," he laughed, "Gilford attacks yer monster..!

"_**LIGHTNING CRASH SWORD!**_"

The blade cut through the metal as though it were nothing but soft and melted butter, the pieces of the Motor Violence falling to the ground before collapsing and dissolving into the shadows at Keith's feet. It was disconcerting, what was happening before him... But there was likely nothing he could do about it save fight on. "Well now Keith," he laughed, a rather nasty grin staring the American down. "I sure hope yer prepared t' offer somethin' up by th' end of this, if you're gonna go down so fast!"

"You little shit..."

"Maybe another card," Katsuya 'offered' with a shrug. "Maybe not... ...Nahhh, I don' think I want anythin' outta _your_ deck," the blond decided, watching his opponent's rage as it grew. "But what's that?" he laughed, pointing toward the black disk that Keith wore. "Like th' new accessories there... A 'Black Duel Disk'! That thing proves who's th' top in the USA, doesn' it," the blond added 'carefully'. "I'm thinkin' you don't really deserve somethin' _that _fancy, now do y' Keith..."

Keith merely continued to growl, eyes narrowing behind his shades. "Tch... Laugh while you can," he hissed, fists clenching in rage. "I'll get you in just a few seconds..."

"Oh will you," the blond countered loudly. "Back in th' Duelist Kingdom, I didn't have any tactics y' know..! Hell, two weeks b'fore tha', I'd been fighting 'monsters only'! I was an amateur then, that's true," he went on, "But you've been dead a hell 'f a lot longer than a couple weeks Keith..! An' I've fought all kinds' 'f people since then... I beat you las' time," Katsuya snarled, "An' after how much better I've gotten since then you can be sure tha' I'm gonna beat 'y here too! You've got another part now," he went on, smirking. "But they're both prime targets for Gilford now... Count y'r turns," the blond warned, "Cause they'll be yer last..."

"Really now," Keith sneered, rubbing his wrist in his unease. "You think you're gonna beat me with these half-baked tactics of yours..! Think AGAIN," he roared, drawing his next card. "What I have in my hand will finish you off in-"

-_**BRRREEEEEP-BREEP-BREE-BREE-BREE-BREE-BREE-BREE-**_ What th-

"What th' hell..?"

"NGH!" As the American moved to play his face-down card a blaring alarm began to sound, the source more than easily pinpointed to the black disk itself. "What the fuck..!" Keith snarled, pulling the card out and grimacing as the alarm slowly died. "What the hell was that..!" Yea, he'd like to k-

Wait. A. Second.

The _wrist..!_ "You... You were abou' t' cheat, weren't yah," Katsuya muttered incredulously, his opponent tensing in response. "Yea... Yea, you were, weren't you y' jackass! Man! Must be gettin' pretty nervous t' be pulling somethin' like tha'," he growled, Gilford and Katsuya both looking forward in accusation. "Too bad it isn' gonna work! GILFORD," the blond called out, the monster giving a steady nod and charging forward with his blade. "ATTACK TH' FIRST MACHINE PART!"

"_**HNNNN-HAH!**_" The tiny pile of scraps stood no chance against the force of Gilford's blade, and the backlash of the wind almost cut into Keith's being. Motor Parts had no power, and no defense... Taking all the damage from that turn left Keith with 1000 points even, while he himself was close to unscathed. Heh...

"Hehehahaha! Whoo! An' here I w's feelin' worried," the blond crowed, taking two other cards from his hand before slipping them onto the disk. "Well! I'm gonna set two more cards face down b'fore I call it I think! Heheheheeee... Mind as well surrender now," Katsuya laughed, crossing his arms to watch for the next turn. "Seein' how y've got no chances left..." Seeing how he had to go and try cheating already... Hah!

It was almost impossible to feel negative now, he thought to himself behind a grin. Impossible! Time Wizard and Probability Chance both sat encased in stone behind him, waiting to strike- if it was a bad spin then he would spin again, if not, then he won! The next thing to come to the field would be nothing but scrap metal... Nothing...

...But why wasn't Keith moving?

"Oiiii... KEITH!" he called out, giving the American a wave. "What's takin' yah! You seem quiet f'r some reason!" Little too quiet, a voice in the back of his mind decided, and now that he was bothering to listen to it, he'd have to agree... Keith was... Way too quiet. Way, way, way-

"Hehehe..." Ohhhh fuck his life. "HeheHAHAHA..." Just... Just end it now damn it... "HAHAHAHAHHA!" Agghhhhh, _what the hell was with him and fighting crazy people!_ "You... You think I'm going to surrender to YOU," Keith laughed, wide and incredulous grin spreading over his face. "You think I... Hahah... HAHAHAHAHA! You... Your win at the Duelist Kingdom was a FLUKE!" he roared, shaking in rage as the shadows around him began to build. "But it looks like it blew you full of hot air regardless! You think that you have the right to tell _ME_ to give up?" he spat viciously. "That you have any say in where this duel is going? HAH! You can shut your trap before I do it for you," the American snarled. "Because you're about to find your place, '_Joey_'... It's my turn," he hissed, "I sacrifice the remaining Machine Part to summon a new monster! Motor Kaiser!" Keith announced. "I'll set another card face down and then end my turn with that!" Eh!

Seriously? Despite the slight dread that had started growing with the shadows Katsuya found himself chuckling, looking over the field with almost incredulous eyes. The monster was only slightly more powerful than the last 'Motor' that had come to the field- all in all, it was nothing special. Hah... Hahahahaha... Really... That... "Tha'... You got all d'rmatic over tha' little thing?" he laughed, holding his head as he looked away from the blocky robot that had come to the field. "Gilford'll eat that guy for breakfast," the blond shouted, "You didn' succeed 'n anythin'! HAH! Alrigh' Gilford," he decided, pointing the swordsman toward the monster that was, even with his 'tune-up' from the Engine Tuner, still less powerful than he. "GO! An' while I do that," he continued with a grin, "I'll act'vate-"

"MY trap," Keith snarled over his words, "Card Hexachief!" Hexchief? Wasn't that a fix-

Oh crap. Chains launched from the ground at his feet, the blond hurriedly ducking behind his arms as tile and concrete flew up from the air. Wrapping around the tablets behind him the chains gave a light shudder, glowing just briefly with power before settling into place. "Shit," he muttered, before turning back. Alright then... Deal with this the hard way! "Alrigh' y' prick," he growled, not even bothering to let Keith explain a card that was already 'gleefully' explaining itself in the back of his mind. "You might've chained th' cards down, but tha' won' stop the attack! Now Gilford," he ordered, the monster charging with a loud cry.

"_**LIGHTNING CRASH SWORD!**_"

Again the scent of burning metal met the air and again the sight of it melting into shadows met his eyes. Despite his apparent victory he couldn't help but feel a pressuring sense of dread rising again, the shadows at Keith's feet almost flaming with expectation. Anyone else would say this was a pointless move- why bother chaining his cards down? But as the fear rose, so did thought, along with questions of paranoia...

Why _did_ Keith chain his cards to the field only to let an attack in..? "Khehehehehe..." Why was he _laughing_, when he was so clearly about to lose? Why..? "I _win_, 'Joey'." What..?

"Heh..!"

Still the American laughed, and as he looked forward the blond could just barely make out blood-shot and crazed eyes behind the sunglasses facing him. "I said, I _win_," he chuckled darkly, acting as though anything out of his mouth made sense. "You just signed your death warrant kid!" What..!

"What th' hell are you talking about," he asked incredulously, nonetheless unable to shake the growing dread he felt as Gilford as well frowned. "Yer field is empty..! Can't you see properly w' those shades?"

"Can't you see at all, you dumb shit!" EH! Keith's grin had yet to fade, and as the tablet at his side began to carve and crumble from its blank slate he could see why. He'd said it once... And he'd say it again.

Oh how he_** hated**_ traps.

"'Scrap Garage'," Keith announced nastily, his laughter echoing about the room in time with the shadow's flares. "When a Motor monster is sent to the grave... I can bring them all back as tokens!" Ahuh... But... But...

"But these things don' even have any power," he protested with a swallow, watching as one by one they rose from the darkness at Keith's feet. "They're even in attack mode, what w's th' point in tha'..!" The point... He knew the point, somehow. But it couldn't be that... He didn't want it to be that, it couldn't, just couldn't be..!

"Hehehe... Understand what this means," his opponent hissed, crazed grin cracking still more. "Do you know what I'm about to do," he continued, the time ticking away into Keith's turn as Katsuya swallowed. "Watch," the man sneered, the room itself seeming to darken as he brought a single card to the field. As shadows whipped up from the very ground, thrashing uncontrollably through the air. "I'm going to show you something _good_... I'm going to show you a REAL God... A Ja-shin..!" No... "I sacrifice these three monsters..." No..! "AND SUMMON THIS! RISE," Keith howled, a roaring and thundering rush of noise piercing his opponents very mind and soul as the shadows took form. He couldn't do this, he couldn't he couldn't, he couldn't-

"N-namonaki...!" Nameless...

But not any more..! "_**DEVIL'S ERASER!**_" Keith thundered, the ear-splitting wail that surrounded it forcing Katsuya to cover his ears in pain. The great, serpent like demon stood before him with an almost draconic helm covering a human's face, mounted on a long and shadowed neck. Its arms were naught but 'panels', topped claws and joined to the body by a set of armor that almost resembled a human's rib-cage. Long, flat wings spread behind it, matching razor-thin and razor sharp horns from the helm... This was a Ja-Shin, his mind told him, hands slowly coming down from his ears as he stared. This was what his 'dreams' had once warned against. And this...

_'K... su... a... ..!_'

"_**DIGESTIVE BREATH!**_" Was the reason why he couldn't hear right now.

With wide and uncomprehending eyes the blond watched as Keith laughed and shouted, spouting words that met no one's ears as the God itself spoke instead. As the demon opened its gaping, 'porcelain' mouth, revealing a tube... "**You who bear the face of those who dared to SEAL such POWER. You who would DARE to stand in the way of our GLORIOUS REVIVAL..!**" it snarled, impassive expression accompanied by an endless darkness that continued to fill the room. **"Become the nutrients that satisfy the hunger that is DARKNESS!**" Hah... Haahhhhh..!

Acidic ooze gushed forward, and dully, he watched Gilford jump in the attack's path. He watched as rather than dissolving into bone and flesh, dust and sand, or even fragments of a hologram the monster collapsed into the same oil as everything else... Joining with the shadows that formed the demon before him. Gilford was gone, just like that, he realized dully. Gone... Gone...

Keith was still talking, but it didn't matter. He already knew, if not barely, why his cards were pinned in place. The nameless who took the form of the serpent, who gained power from the number of those who faced it... In the same way, the Eraser gained power for each card on his side of the field. He could barely hear Keith over the roar that was on the air, over the drowning rush of pain and darkness that was beating him, screaming for him to simply allow himself to sink into darkness and forget everything and-

He swallowed, looking up toward the beast's betrayingly calm face. He... Couldn't stop here, he told himself. He couldn't...

With a shaking hand he drew his next card, and with his mind made up he forced a determined and pained grin onto his face. "He... Hahahahaha... Looks like my luck's really paying off," he laughed, holding out the card he'd pulled at that moment. "Sorry Keith... Looks like I've got what I need to finish off your God already! Spell card Hurricane!" he announced breathlessly, setting it on the field as stone rose and crumbled simultaneously behind him. "All spells and traps are returned to the hand," the blond roared, "And-" And as the chains rattled his grin began to fade, words cut short with a single barked order from his opponent.

"Counter!" he snarled, almost pounding the duel disk to reveal the last face down he'd played. "DE-SPELL!" De... De-spell...

"No..." The hurricane that had begun to rise up in the sands instantly funneled toward the center, slowly pulling itself into the ground from whence it came. "NO!" The tablet that had spawned it faced a similar fate, spiraling down to the ground to leave the air completely clear. "AAAAAHHHH!" Shit! SHIT! _SHIT!_ Slowly the blond's eyes turned back up toward the Eraser, the 'nameless' god his opponent controlled. This wasn't good... Eraser's power still sat at two thousand points now, and he didn't have any monsters in his hand that could counter that just now. He didn't...

Keith's voice entered the air, and with horrified eyes he looked toward an attack that he could not block. "_**DIGESTIVE BREATH,**_" he snarled, the Eraser's laughter piercing the air. "HAHAHAHAHAAAAA!" Oh no... Oh no no no no no-

TABLET. With nothing to grab but the chains from the hexachief he barely pulled himself back and behind the tablet he'd left 'face down', the blond wincing as the very heat of the acidic juices burned against his shield. Keith's own vengeance and madness left him watching the actions without even batting an eye... The smoke that rose from the field was quite likely something only Katsuya himself could see, and as he looked back to the monster who had launched the attack he had to swallow. These shadows... That were filling the air now...

These shadows surrounding Keith... Katsuya's eyes moved from the monster to the man behind it, the man who now faced him with a demonic and sinister grin. Keith sought him out, that much he knew. From hate, for vengeance... He had a grudge and he was here to exact it. But this feeling in the air, mixed with the fear he felt... It wasn't just that, he found himself telling himself, forcing himself to breathe lest he collapse as he had all the other times the 'Gods' were summoned. It wasn't just that, and if he wanted to move forward he needed to figure out what the hell that was..!

"My... TURN," he rasped, drawing his next card and swallowing. "I set this face down," he decided, a single card remaining in his hand. "And I end my turn..!"

"Ehhh..!" Keith's eyes widened, and his monstrous expression grew even more. "That's it..! HAH! Thank's so much, _JOEY!_ Now the Eraser has THREE THOUSAND attack points..! I don't know how much stupider you could possibly get," he laughed hysterically, "You've only buried yourself even more..! You outta know that traps don't work on the Gods," he roared, "But I guess that goes to show how much an amateur you really are..! ERASER," Keith ordered, the 'God' preparing his attack once again as Katsuya prepared for the hit. "ATTACK!

_**DIGESTIVE BREATH-**_"

"ACT'VATE TRAP! GRAVEROBBER!" The blank stone he'd pulled into existence crumbled immediately, the 'card of choice' already carving on its face as its token 'imp' grinned from behind it. "An' th' card I've taken is yer Motor Violence!"

"WHA-" A loud crackling explosion filled the air as the machine that appeared melted under Eraser's attack, nothing but scraps falling to the ground in its place. From behind his arm Katsuya grimaced, but despite the bits of singed cloth he had he managed to look forward with a weak and triumphant smirk. And hey... Keith was pissed right? "You... You stole my card again you son-of-a-bitch!" he roared, the teen across from him merely grinning. "YOU FILTHY FUCKING-"

"Ohhh..? Th's is interestin'," Katsuya muttered blankly, paying Keith no mind as he rotated his shoulder and looked over his life-points. "Thought I'd take a bigger hit... ...Ahhhhhh..." He grinned, looking forward as he spotted the tablet from near the start of the duel. "Engine Tuner, tha's right... Heh! Explains these things," he laughed, crossing his arms as he looked over the two 'tokens' he now had. "Man did I luck out! Looks like you even left me with the sacrifices I need f'r a monster," he chuckled weakly, shaking his head and turning back to Keith.

Keith for his part, was not surprisingly unamused. "So you can get a big fish on the field then," he snorted, evidently wanting this over and done with. "Big whoop! Like I give a rat's ass what you summon, you said it yourself! Gilford was one of your best- you telling me you have something better?" Better?

"What, another guy like him? Nahhh," he muttered almost absently. "Gilford's one of a kind... Hell I don' have a monster in my hand let alone someone like Gilford," he laughed. "But... Who knows," the blond continued darkly, wind seeming to rise and blow back the shadows of the Eraser as he set the next card. "Maybe you do! I cast th' spell Summon Capture," Katsuya roared, his mind filling in the blanks of the rising tablet's power. "An' that means I c'n summon somethin' from your hand..! Yer a pretty power hungry guy," he continued with a grin, eyes narrowing as the one across from him swallowed. "An' you've got jus' what I need in there... I'm summonin' th' card furthest left in your hand," the blond announced, tablet rising despite the card never appearing in his hand. "SO," he continued, walking forward with an expectant hand for the final piece of the summon. "Fork it over!"

"Che..." With no choice the American held his hand out, shaking in rage while Katsuya snatched his prize. "Damned rat... Get the fuck out of my sight!" he snarled as the blond hopped back, narrowly avoiding a kick.

"Hih! Well, someone knows they're screwed," the blond snorted, chuckling under his breath as he made it back. "But whatever... Wi' this card, along with YOUR power-up," he announced, the tablet already standing tall behind him with the carved image of a robotic monster, "Your 'namonaki' doesn' stand a chance..! NOW... Les' see what yer monsters are like w'out th' shadows," he roared, metal breaking free from stone with an earth-shattering rumble. "I sacrifice th' two metal parts t' summon this... TH' DEMONIC MOTOR, OMEGA!" And as black-green metal crashed into existence, the shadows briefly pulled back, heralding the monster's summon with a bang.

"_**RRRRRRNNNNNNNN-NNNNN-HAAAAAAAHHHHH! At LAST..!**_" W-Wh-What..! As Katsuya jumped back the machine at his side blew off clouds of steam from its shoulders, gear-jointed tail swishing almost in agitation while it cracked its 'neck'. "_**Finally,**_" the monster growled, 'stretching' and 'flexing' in place. "_**Out of that shadowed hell hole..!**_" Um.

What. "...Th' _hell,_" he muttered under his breath, only for Keith's words to snap him back to the duel.

"You... CHEH! Whatever then," the American muttered with a scowl. "I was already thinking of how boring it would be to win with this thing..."

"Yeaaa, 'f course y' were," he muttered dryly, only to flinch when Omega tapped his shoulder with a blade-tipped finger. "Eh..?"

"_**Oi.**_" Um. Yes? He was listening. Never thought he'd be talking to a robot with a notably American accent but... He was listening. "_**Brat. This guy's been stuck with me and my buddies for a while, got it- might not be the brightest bulb on the shelf,**_" he added with a shrug,_** "But he's family to me and my buddies, got it?**_" UHHHHHH... "_**You watch how you finish him, understand,**_" the robot growled. "_**We can either end up dealing with this again, or **__**fixing**__** it this time. Got it, brat?**_" Um... Um...

He nodded somewhat weakly, head soon picking up speed with the action as he became more sure. "Ah... Right," he muttered to himself, swallowing. "Got it..! It's gonna end righ' here," he said even louder, narrowing his eyes as he attempted to comprehend a 'better' Keith in the meantime. "LET'S DO THIS! ATTACK! _**JONOUCHI CRUSHER!**_"

"_**MECHANIC'S SCYTHE!**_" Oh, _that_ was what it was called? With a rush of steam and fires the monster shot forward, Eraser doing nothing but rearing back with perfect neutrality on its face. With a 'snicker-snack' sound the blade cut clean through Eraser's neck- it's head toppled to the ground with a dull thud, porcelain face cracked and its summoner's life depleted to 100.

Eraser was dead. "Hah..." Dead and gone... "HahaHA! WHOOOO! YEA," he screamed, laughing almost to the point of tears in relief. "YEA! Did it!"

"_Did you_?"

Katsuya looked back down from his skyward celebration, face growing white as Keith's words echoed around the room. A feeling of cold, of dread, and of endless despair was already beginning to fill him, and the room began to grow darker than it had even before. Blood was falling from the gaping wound on the Eraser's corpse, the corpse that had yet to vanish as it should. Thick, black, oil like blood, rising from the ground to surround the entire 'arena', dripping from above and slowly filling the area around them... "What th' hell," he croaked, unable to speak as the sound of creaking gears and clanking chains met his ears. "What th' hell is this..! What..!"

"_**Ngh... Eraser's ability..!**_" Ability..!

"Khnhnhnhnhn..." The blood continued to rise, and as it did he could feel himself sinking... Omega himself was already drowning in the dark, never to be seen, while his 'face down tablets' were doing the same... It was all he could do to stay awake, all he could-

'_KRREEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!_'

"Ngh..!" Screaming... Screaming was filling the air, from no where, from everywhere...

"Did I forget to tell you," he could barely hear, the blond covering his ears and breathing laboriously in an attempt to hold off the sheer pressure of darkness around him, "Did I forget to mention that Eraser destroys everything on the field when he dies..?" Ngh... Gh...!

"One card face down," he rasped, slipping the card onto his duel disk lest he drop it. He could feel a tablet rise behind him, save from the power of the Eraser, but even then the blood was falling, Keith was laughing, the sludge was leaping from the ground, encompassing them both..!

Darkness... _He couldn't see, get him out, get him out..!_

Nothing but darkness... "Fhihihihi..." Keith was laughing somehow, he could still hear him... "This is just as good... As winning...!" Damn it, was Keith even willing to die here..!

Darkness... His sight was gone. His hearing, that was gone too... He was losing his scent, his touch... And as he held his arms close he shook with fear, scarcely able to breathe. '_It's the feeling of being dead,_' someone was laughing, cackling in the darkness around him. '_Now it's your turn to go to hell 'Joey'... Now it's your turn..._

_To die._'

"_HnhnHAHAHAHAHA!"_

Darkness. _Darkness..._

_Help..._

_The darkness is here..._

_And the circle is complete._

_The elders stand around it, the design traced into the ground with goat fats and ashes. And as the candles burn, he can hear himself speak._

"_Please," he cries, struggling to escape the arms that hold him in the center, others moving to fasten ropes around his arms and wrists. "Please... This number will bring nothing good," he warns, watching as the 'perfect' number before him seems to fade into ashes. "My shadow isn't ready," he continues in desperation, "Please..!" The twelve elders stand around him after tying his arms down to stone. He pulls and tugs, unable to reach the cords with his teeth and unable to slip his hands through the knots as he usually could, and in the end he is left sitting in a stiff and forcefully built position in tears. "Please," he weeps, the candle light flickering on the side with haunting effects. "Please don't do this, please..."_

"_We gather here today in the presence of our ancestors..." The chanting has started, and the ashes on the ground seem to rise and smoke with unseen power._

_The boy tries again. "Please, please, please... Please don't... My heart... My soul... I can **see** it," he screams, Neker standing in the corner in fear as he listens to his friends words. "Please, you'll kill us all," he wails pitifully, "Everyone will die if you do this, I **BEG** you..! GHH-"_

_An echoed slap choruses around the chamber, with nothing but the candles around the circle to illuminate the source. The elder who brought him here, the elder who did nothing but tell playful stories with shadows at his hands holds the very staff he used to twist the darkness for the scene. Blood now drips from the end, just as it does the side of the boy's face. And the boy, with his eyes watering and overflowing completely, can do nothing but choke on his misery._

"_**Silence**, boy!" the elder snarls, gripping his staff and pulling it back in a single swift movement. "This is for your own good! Today we put an end to your ridiculous stories," he continues, turning to leave the intricate circle without making a single mark upon it, "And to these 'gut feelings' of yours-"_

"_They aren't like that!" he screeches, pulling at the ropes with renewed strength. "The shadows told me... The heart is the soul is the shadow who **knows**, please! Please I beg you, please, I don't want you to die..! I don't want..! I- I..."_

"_Do not speak as though these demons you've found know the workings of the world," the elder snarls in response, leaving the boy to choke on his tears. "Be silent and allow the **ritual** to complete itself..!" But the ritual is not meant to be. It is not meant..._

"_I can't..." His voice quiets and the chanting surrounds him, his strength wasted on futile struggles against his bonds and his voice hoarse from his begging and pleading. His struggling dies and his vision seems to slow, and the boy looks about the room with terror filling his entire being as he feels himself slipping away. "I can't... I... ...Neker," he whispers, the boy he speaks to stepping back and looking to his grandmother for advice. But his grandmother is one of the elders, and she merely says-_

_'_It is for his own good._'_

"_I can't..." He can't see..._

_'I reach into the pits of darkness to pull forth light...'_

"_I can't..." He can't feel..._

_'I wield it as my own, as my weapon as my shield...'_

"_...please..."_

_'I TAKE FATE INTO MY OWN HANDS AND OUT OF THOSE OF THE GODS..!'_

_And the hands rise from the circle, before the true ceremony begins._

"**!**_"_

_As he screams in the room of the tower in the east, he screams in the chambers of the deepest pits of the desert. He holds his head in one world, fingers digging against the skin of his skull, and in the other he throws his head back, pulling at his binds and seeing nothing but white with his wide, dying eyes. "KKKRRHAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHH!" He hears nothing but the hums and screams of the shadows that pull, of the taunting hands that force their way into the depths of his soul. "rrrRRRAAA**AAAAAAHHH**!" He feels nothing but the pain of their touch, of their hold, of their force, and sees absolutely nothing at all._

_The boy screams until his throat is dry, until his lips are stretched and bleeding. As energies of all kinds rise from the circle to join the hands, illuminating it to a level that stands brighter than even the candles in the room the elders speak falsely comforting words. '_It is for your own good,_' they repeat betrayingly. '_It will all be over soon.'_ "NNNGGGAAAAAHHHHHH!" '_We will tear your soul free from the shadows-' _they tell him soothingly, as though their voices will calm the screams._ 'No more will you be tormented by these gut feelings of yours!_' "HHHRAAAAAAAHHHHH!"_

_Tears are running down his face, and with pleading eyes he looks over the crowd, somehow able to see through the veil that has coated his eyes. He cannot hear Neker's screams as the boy asks what is wrong. He cannot hear what he says as he turns to the elders, pulling on his grandmother's arm in desperation before being thrown to the ground by the annoyed old ones. He cannot hear his own name as it is called over the air. He cannot hear..._

_He cannot hear..._

_The shadows **roar.** Liquid darkness rises from the circle at his feet, and an intense pain, surpassing all that has come thus far, begins to rise within him as the hands pull out their prize. The glow of the circle is unbearable. The elders chants are coming short, and they step back with wide and fear filled eyes as the boy in the center continues to scream and thrash at his bonds despite all their magic and traditions. And finally the ropes snap. Finally, the shadows that coalesced begin to gather within the grip of the darkened hands from the ashes. They take form, and as he reaches out with a hand so does the small black creature that has risen from the depths of his soul. So does the creature with eyes as red as the evening sun, and scales as black as the shadows of the desert. But as he reaches out, an ebony claw doing the same..._

"_**Bri... Kri... KRIIIIIIIII!**" It falls to ashes at his very finger tips, and the pain returns. A searing flame across his chest, his hands flying toward it in pain as it threatens to break his very being, as it tears at his soul and mind and spirit all at once, as it shatters what little he has left-!_

"_NGH..." The elders are running toward him, and the boy rolls back onto his side. "NNGH..." The pain never ends, never stops... It feels as though his body is empty, as though he's dead, as though he'll never move again, and this pain..! "NNGHAAAAAAAAAGHH! **GHHAAAAAAAAAAA!**" This pain... "_**GHHHHAAAAAAAAGGHHHHHHH!**_" This PAIN!_

snap out of it.

_Someone..._

'Snap out of it.'

_Stop..._

"Wake up..."

_STOP!_

"_**DAMN IT KATSUYA!**_"

A punch knocks him back in the darkness, and despite the inability to see he brings his hand to his face in pain. "Ngh-!"

"_**It's about damn time!**_" a familiar voice growled, the blond looking forward with a grimace.

"Gh... Panther..?"

Katsuya blinked and the cat continued to growl, the duelist's eyes slowly widening as he looks around. Everyone... Every...

All of his monsters, standing with him in the darkness...

"N-NGH-" The darkness began to push again, but just as quick to react, a scaled hand smacked him in the face.

"_**Ohhh no you don't Katsuya-jun!**_"

"OW- What-?" What the hell! Alligator did that!

"_**YEA! Wake up!**_" chimed the Little Winguard, her summoner grimacing and letting out a yelp as he grabs at the shin she just kicked.

"_**We're not letting something like DARKNESS take the first one to speak with us in a few thousand years,**_" the Flame Swordsman growled in agreement, pounding Katsuya on the back as the others crowd for their own two cents.

The next to come came from a nodding Ishzark, but it seemed all their voices now chorused on the air. "_**THE NAMELESS MUST NOT RETURN!**_" they roared, bodies almost flickering in the darkness.

"_**Right!**_"

"_**RIGHT!**_"

"_**RIGH-**_"

"OKAY, I'M UP, I'M UP!" Katsuya cried out, arms held above him in defense. "I'm up," he repeats, opening his eyes to look at the blood soaked room around him, the shadows of the monsters now long gone. "I'm... ...H-Hah... HAHHHHH-!"

His eyes widen as the blades of the Motor Omega meet his gaze, each one raised and prepared to strike. 'Nikoichi' was used, his mind tells him as he panics, allowing Keith to summon it from the graveyard and- "_Time to die, Joey...~_"

Shit-! "Act'vate trap," he hurriedly cried, jumping to the side as the blades splashed and cut into the bloodied darkness, "Skull dice!" From above the blood soaked ground the tablet for the card spat out a rolling die, the imp within too terrified to even move. Splattering blood all about it as it fell however, the number was clear. "Hah... Four..! NGH-" Too late to dodge Katsuya found himself raising his arms above him for defense, a flailing, blood-soaked Omega forced to return to its side of the field as it scratched the blond's arm. "Hahgh..." He shook himself, oily sludge slipping off his hair and out of his eyes. "Hahh..." His arm bled, but it bled slowly, and as he blinked he found his vision clearing up just enough to see around the black arena. This place...

The 'nameless god's influence was powerful indeed he found himself thinking uneasily, flexing his hand out of habit. And even now, while he was awake, he felt as though he was sinking into darkness... But this feeling...

He looked across the field to his opponent, steeling his gaze as the Motor Omega hovered at its master's side. Keith was an asshole, but something told him that there was more to it... A reason for the Omega to say so- And now... Now that he stood there, looking toward the broken and blood-soaked man... "Why," Keith rasped, shaking his head in a growing sensation of horror that had turned against him so quickly. "Why... Why won't you just _DIE_," he wailed, cries met with nothing but a stony glare. "I'm dead... You're alive, it... I can't..!" The man grabbed at his head, clenching his teeth as naught but whimpered moans came from his lungs. "Ng... Unnn Uaaaaa... Am I... Again..?" What..? "Am I going to vanish... Again," he asked himself aloud, shaking his head and growing even stiffer as his breathing began to race. "To the pit... Of darkness... _To the pit,_" he repeated with a dangerous tone, "Of DARKNESS... Here... Right here Jonouchi," Keith whispered, expression glazed and possessed as Katsuya watched grimly from afar. "I'm gonna drag you... To the depths of hell," he wheezed, stumbling and taking a step forward despite the thick, knee-high sludge. "I'm gonna... Kill you... I'm..."

"...My turn," Katsuya managed to say, drawing a card and looking across to Keith in silence. "...Keith... You c'n stop yer mutterin' now," he said quietly. "This time, I ain' pushin' you back there. I summon th' Iron Knight Gearfried!" the blond announced, a tablet pushing free of the bloodied ground as steel limbs and armor managed to force their way forward, "In attack mode!" Despite all the blood the monster's metal gleamed brilliantly from the glow of his own power, and with a knowing nod the monster began its charge forward. This was it... "This is th' hit that'll wake you up Keith!" Katsuya announced, Gearfried's blade rising above his head to come forward with the same motions of a downward punch. "NOW!"

"YOUUUUUUUUU!"

"_**HHHHHRAAAAAAHHHH!**_"

"Gh-k-" As though blown away by a fan, the blood dissipated. Gearfried's blade cut through the monster that had risen from the sludge, pushing directly through Keith's chest, and as the American fell back in almost comatose defeat the light came back to the room. Tablets crumbled and sank to the ground... Any remains of the Eraser were long gone, Katsuya and Gearfried as well walking over to where their opponent had fallen.

One look was all it took- there was nothing for the monsters to say now... But with his hands stowed in his pockets he found himself looking over Keith with pity despite what he knew of the man. "..." Damn... To think, after all this... "...Keith," he said almost quietly, the man at his feet struggling to recover from the shadows of the Eraser's blood. "...It's over. ...I know you can' feel th' pain from a monster's hit th' way I can," he continued, looking away somewhat with a swallow, "But a Duelist oughta know what their monsters are feelin'!" the blond shouted. "It's proof that you're alive," he went on, "That you're a duelist, tha' you're-"

-_click_-

Katsuya stared as Keith fumbled with the black disk on his arm, ripping it off and pelting it toward the shocked teen before him. "Not... Done," he growled, insane grin appearing on his face. The Eraser was gripped tightly in his finger-tips, and as it shook he continued to speak. "We aren't done yet... Jonouchi... Duel me," he demanded lowly. "You can wear the black disk... Go on... Wear it... Wear..!" The teen looked down at Keith numbly before saying one thing.

"I can't."

"Gnnhhhghh... Damn it..!" he roared weakly, fist clenching and reddening whilst he shook. "DAMN IT..! Ngh..!" The fist fell to the ground in exhaustion, and with a tight jaw the American's head fell forward. "You... You..."

"...I can't duel you like this," Katsuya said quietly, eyes looking over the man with an almost dead glaze over the cold pity he felt. "Righ' now... Looks like you've let yerself turn into a demon 'f r'venge... ...An' I think tha' if you didn' have tha' card yer holdin' now, things'd be differen'. I know tha' I'm not th' only one t' believe tha'," he continued. "If anythin', the ones tha' really care are th' only ones who'd know. ...I know... Tha' there w's a time where you dueled for fun," Katsuya whispered lowly, pulling a card out from his graveyard as he went on. "Hard t' imagine what tha' was like," he laughed shortly, "But tha's b'side th' point. This card 's yours," he said with a whisper, tossing the 'Time Machine' to Keith's feet. "I'm givin' it back. Use it t' go back t' tha' time, alrigh'," he added, turning to leave. "An' when you come back as a duelist instead 'f some demon 'f r'venge... We'll have tha' fight."

Keith didn't respond, but even with his back turned to the man he had a feeling that it would be the last time they met- if at least 'like this'. The Eraser fell to the floor- and a hand moved to pick up the Time Machine card in silence. It was a relief, in a bizarre way. Enough that he was even feeling dizzy, hands gripping the black disk as he took the other one off. Enough that-

"Ngh...!" Both disks clattered to the ground and dully he realized someone would have heard that but a majority of him didn't care. His hands flew to his head as his body locked, collapsing to the ground in a fit of blurred senses. His vision went black, his hearing dim, his feeling dulled...

To any one passing, it would seem he'd collapsed in exhaustion. But as his arms move to cover the wounds sustained under the Eraser's acidic breath, there could be a few in the world, even the building, that could see...

"Gh... Ngh..." The darkness is still upon them. It's eating away, pulling him in... "Sff... Gh..!" Pulling... Pulling...

Pull-

_He's still in the circle, and his body lies limp and prone upon the ground, staring out at nothing._

_But despite this chaos that has occurred, the elders continue to approach. 'Continue the ritual,' they call confidently. 'With the demon exorcised there is limited time to form the shadow!' As he realizes what they thought had been a demon, Neker's eyes are wide with horror... But it is not to the elders that he looks, and the gaze fills ever more with fear. The elder who gave the order now turns back from where he faced the others, instead looking behind the boy in terror as darkness pushes back from the ashes and the hands on the ground. The boy does not know what is going on... He does not feel anything, merely disconnection and pain, a blinding pain..._

_And then as the shadows rise up behind him his eyes widen, a single voice cutting through the dim chaos like a blade through water. "**GET AWAY FROM MY**_** SON**_**!**_**" **_The roar rumbles through the air and shakes the very foundations of the cavern, and as the elder takes a single step forward with his staff and shadow the true chaos begins._

_Snarls of rage meet the air, and screams do the same as the fight blazes through the room amid candle light. The dragon has never been seen in such a furious state, and the boys did well to avoid it. They tread with caution when it looked as though their friend could possibly reach that sort of emotional plane, but now the Elders have overstepped their bounds. And they will now pay dearly._

_For the dragon feels close to the boys- he sees them as his own, and will protect and scold when necessary. The time to scold Neker has passed- Neker already realizes, with great horror, what he has done. He already realizes, and laments, what his actions have wrought. And so the time to protect arises in its place. Flames fill the chamber and reduce the first two cloaked ones to ashes, with Neker huddling and ducking beneath the blast. The next two are swallowed whole, with another pair snapped in half._

_Blood and death is filling the room, and the steady crunch of bone can be heard. Neker runs to the boy while the dragon fights... He runs and stumbles as the elders attempt to flee and escape the dragon's wrath. He begs forgiveness, but the boy cannot hear. He feels numb, watching everything with disconnected eyes. Without a soul, without feeling... He's melting into nothing, fading away, fading away and then..._

"_I'm sorry," Neker cries, pulling and shaking him in an attempt to wake his friend. "I'm sorry," he screams, holding his friend close as the boy's dead eyes stare up at the ceiling. "I'm sorry, -!"_

_He cannot hear his friend, nor feel his touch._

_He is already past the veil of death._

"_I'm sorry..."_

* * *

**AN: **NOOOOOO PAST JOUUUUUUUU!

And yes, I'm going to hold his name back for a while. Because trust me, it's a very important name. Regardless, you've probably guessed that length is the source of the delay for this chapter... I actually got this done at a nice speed, I'm surprised! Went to Vancouver too, and in fact...

My friend filmed a few bits of us being total nerds! So if you want the chance to hear my actual voice or see what I look like... Or if you just like watching nerds in a car, go! (I'm the one in RED by the way. With glasses. In the backseat.) ...UM. I'll give you the link when it's posted, hahaha...

We're only two chapters from the end- this one used to be two, but I decided it would be better as a super chapter.

Hence the over-flow of past-jou. In any case, not much to say here outside the fact that this update was a _fast_ one- I will not likely be this fast..! (Homework, homework...) So there's your warning...

…

I wonder now, how many people read this... Like really REALY read it, because I think FF counts the people who just skim the prologue and say 'meh, no' as well. I must check...

And in the meantime...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

So you too then Imadork? It was WEIRD. So so SO weird...

And oddly enough, Yugi's expression was actually kinda... Passive. Which was also weird, as I figure fanfic Yugi's expression was described by YOU spot-on. Well, aside from the rage...

I think the other Yugi got all the rage...

And hahaha, I was just typing and I was like 'you know what, I'm actually surprised they know who he is.' And then I decided...

HAH, lets make them NOT KNOW WHO HE IS.

Too bad about cliffhangers though, because HERE'S ANOTHER ONE~

And... I've never heard that term before Iona, but thinking it over I would have to agree.

Conflict is fun~ And I'm glad you think I'm pulling it off! (Fun as it is, it is also very hard to figure out how someone will act AFTER the conflict. Heck, just look at Willa Mette! You think he's staying a 'one-appearance only' character after this?)

In any case, enjoy the update! See you next chapter!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that wants a past!Jou plushie...

* * *

Today's title draws from death, but it doesn't simply mean 'death'- it means 'shadow of death'.

* * *

Hey, remember how I mentioned that Ziz and Zu were sort of related to the other in regard to myth? And how Zu is also VERY commonly known as 'Anzu'?

TA-DAAAAAAAAHHHH. _Creepy_ isn't it?

As to why fanfic Ziz jumps religions, it's because fanfic Ziz never really belonged to one; different cultures spotted his giant feathery form in the writings from the original and thought of different things to call him since he was unnamed.

WHOOPS.

* * *

Okay! THIS SCENE. It was REAAAALLY hard to piece. Not because of any particular mood, but just...

Well, it was split up. A lot. So those pages needed to be pulled together, Jou's headache considered... It was a little challenging build wise.

* * *

Originally, not only did Mokuba randomly make this search half way through Jou and Yugi's 'conversation', but they got the feed of Anzu _BEFORE_ figuring out what room she was in... An act that involved many keystrokes.

I find this utterly hilarious, because in all actuality, they'd have to have the label of the room there before Anzu's feed showed up due to a handy thing called 'file names' and camera programming.

Honda MAYYYYY have stolen some of Jou's lines (not to mention random employee stealing Mokuba's to make up for his other lines vanishing), if only to make up for the fact that he essentially has none.

* * *

Somehow in the manga, it looks as though the room has... Changed. Originally, it looked like a bridge above nothing. But in chapter thirty one, we see Yugi walking back and forth on a floor _beside_ the arena.

Lol WUT.

* * *

HAY GUESS WHAT GAIS. We got another codename~! Cedar Mill, located in Oregon, is another Intel codename. Ta-daaaaah~

Now, in the manga, he pretty much shows up before Yugi says 'screw it' and BLASTS HIM IN THE FACE WITH OSIRIS. You never even see Cedar's deck; all you get is a splash page with one of his monsters saying he uses a 'high-tech marionette deck'. (So lady robots basically. Because that is what they looked like.)

YUGI YOU SHOUTED ENGLISH _imsoproud_. -coughs- In any case, I figured the punch made more sense than summoning Osiris, what with each one being an 'anti-cheat'...

* * *

It's Willa's turn for a language barrier! He'd likely only recognize 'code', as that word is often used in English rather than Japanese while in the Japanese language. Maybe it sounds cool..?

* * *

Hahaha, and here is where Ventilation Escapes make sense! It isn't so much they're escaping as using an alternate route; if they open the doors, the brawl potentially destroys the computer. But if they're going room to room in ventilation, and the destination is _locked_, then this is actually the quicker way.

It just means it's cramped, dark, and loud as hell.

* * *

There's an actual term for the kind of crawling those two are doing, but I've forgotten it, it seems. Basically, they're pulling their legs behind them by their fore-arms. So I suppose the closest you can say is... Worm-crawl? I used seal, but a 'seal crawl' is where you pull your legs using your hands, and those legs are being supported by toes as opposed to dead weight on the ground...

* * *

Funny thing guys! The chapter was supposed to END here! That's right; the second half was a chapter all on its own! That's why there's so much 'past-Jou' in this chapter; they were originally meant to act as 'book ends' for these chapters. (By the way, if the other chapters stay separate, there's only two more for this arc..!)

* * *

Wanna know something awesome? Jou acted as though he didn't know Keith was there in the manga too. You know... Where he really ISN'T psychic?

However, I managed to still work it into the scene without making it seem like Jou's less competent than manga Jou in that regard; in the manga, we got parts of Yugi and Gekkou filling Jou in, by way of Jou repeating what was told.

Here, Jou's not even letting them speak. He's just regurgitating what he's getting a flash of... By the way, when it comes to those sorts of flashes, if you haven't noticed, I don't really highlight them much.

They just sort of 'happen'... Because that's pretty much how it happens in fanfic. It just 'does', without any warning or prediction.

* * *

Originally, Gekkou hung around long enough (despite him clearly running off in the last chapter) to explain the black duel disk to Jou. To keep with the ending of the last manga chapter however, Jou's plot-muffin- Erm, I mean, ability, means he gets to see that rather than need someone to explain it.

* * *

For those who missed the ah... 'Joke' in Keith's cursing (I'm being quite creative with him, can you tell?), 'Tenma' uses the kanji for heaven (Ten) and horse (ma, from 'Uma'). So... Yea.

'Horse'.

* * *

Because COME ON GUYS, of course Keith was going to try cheating like he did in the Duelist Kingdom... (Though this time, Ring of Destruction really WOULD have destroyed Jou.)

I do love this though. The black disk has this intense 'anti-cheat' system in it. As soon as you play a card that wasn't pulled from the deck, it actually starts buzzing and wailing and getting angry at you, hahaha.

* * *

'Namonaki' is used in this very series! It's the 'nameless' part of 'nameless pharaoh' in the Japanese. The 'namona' comes from nameless, but what is the ki..?

Well, when the kanji at the end, 'na', is on its own, it's often followed by 'ki'..! Those two symbols make up the suffix 'less'. (In other words, the 'namo' part is 'name' and the 'naki' is 'less', in a rare show of literal translation!)

* * *

Technically, the Eraser's helm is an entire dragon head sitting ABOVE the human face, but I find it a heck of a lot creepier to pull a 'Bayonetta'.

(If you don't get my meaning... Here. One of the boss fights. Probably NSFW due to the game's copious amounts of fanservice, but conveys what I'm putting in with the 'porcelain'. http : / / www. youtube. com/watch? v= HYUKk6emp_E Just wait until late in, where she's beating the crap out of faces. YIKES!)

* * *

If you're wondering why Jou's so surprised about Omega, there are a few reasons. One, he didn't realize that the Eraser's 'dead' effect went even FURTHER on the monsters within its own deck- so none of the summoned machines could really do much. They were all rather lethargic.

Two, he hasn't been able to really hear his own monsters the entire duel- oddly enough, this reasoning is actually _because_ Omega is mechanical- now that he's out of the shadows, it takes longer for the Eraser to effect him, as while Omega has a soul, he isn't particularly 'alive' per-say... He's a machine.

The last reason though is that he did _not_ expect Keith's monster to warm up to him_ immediately_. At all. And for good reason too.

* * *

Today's 'JONOUCHI CALLS HIS OWN DAMN ATTACKS' name is brought to you by Demonic Motor Omega- who can name his own attacks,_ thankyouverymuch_ Jou! (In reality, you never see Omega's real attack... Huh.

* * *

'Nikoichi' is the act of taking two cars and welding them into one. Which suits the card, seeing how all other motor's in the grave end up removed from play... By the way, Niko is one of the terms for two of an object (Can't recall which ones; there are different counters for different objects, and 'ko' is only one of them.), and Ichi is... Well, One.

* * *

And what, you thought it was over for poor Jou? ...Actually you probably didn't, otherwise you'd be left with that nasty cliffhanger... Regardless! We still have Yakou to deal with!

* * *

Musical Notes

There's only two this week, because I was listening to it with my usual techno mix- the two existing pieces of the trilogy 'Synchronicity', sung by Len, Rin, and occasionally Miku. The first is called 'Looking for you in the Sky'. The second is called 'Paradise of Light and Shadow'. Neither seem to have anything to do with this... But they're very nice pieces, I have to say.

* * *

Until next time though, that's all there is- enjoy the chapter!


	116. Chapter 115

**Cabab**

* * *

_He remembers hearing the voice of Neker. "Save him," he begs the dragon, the enormous shadow having coated the room in blood and flesh alike. "I beg you, please save him..!" He stands on his knees, before falling face first to the ground in tears. "If there is anything at all, even if it costs my life..!"_

_The dragon growls at this, turning toward Neker with narrowed eyes. "You claim to help him," he retorts, "And yet it is your doing that has brought this upon him!"_

"_I didn't know," he whimpers, his voice scarcely more than a strained whisper. "I didn't know, I swear I didn't know... I'll do anything, anything I swear..."_

_Neker repeats these words. Again, and again, and still again he weeps, with the shell of his friend breathing behind him. And as he cries his pleas eventually become nothing more than quiet rasping words, with no sound but breathing behind them. And the dragon nods, bringing a clawed hand down to lift Neker up. "There has been enough pain this evening," he growls lowly, wiping the tears from Neker's eyes. "I will save him... How could I not," the dragon adds mournfully, "But you will swear to me this. When the time comes," he says sternly, "You will save him as I am doing now. You will take his place in death, and you will make sure, with all your power, that he lives to see his elder years. Do you swear this," he asks, watching Neker nod furiously. "Do you **SWEAR**?"_

"_I do," he says quickly, wiping his face. "I swear it, upon my very soul I swear..! But Dragon," he weeps, looking to his friend. "What have I done..? What have I done to him..!"_

"_It is not what you have done directly that you must fear," he hisses, crawling toward the boy on the ground and reaching toward him. As black claws pick up the body there is nothing but a slight shiver, with dust blowing away from around them. Otherwise, the boy is still, a fact that brings tears to the great dragon's eyes. "The soul," he whispers, "Is never to be separated in this manner... What your elders do is unforgivable," he goes on, "But never did I know to the extent of their crimes. They have separated shadow from light," the dragon mourns. "They have taken his very soul and shattered it with the intent of reforming it for their own designs... And it is not upon you that this blame falls," he continues, holding the boy close as Neker continues to weep with the growing realization. The dragon takes in a deep and shuddering breath, his own tears continuing to fall. "But mine. I should have realized that blindness was not without its dangers. That the inability to hear would bring confusion and pain... So I will give myself the greatest punishment," he whispers, placing the boy as Neker's feet. "And I ask that you make sure he understands..."_

"_Understands what," Neker weeps, supporting the boy's head and looking from it to the dragon's own. "What are you going to do?"_

"_I will do as my kind have done since the dawn of time," the dragon answers, a dull shine slowly coming over the beast. "At the cost of my will I shall become his own. At the cost of my spirit, my soul shall replace his. It is now his own... My shadow is his. I bind myself to his spirit for as long as it exists."_

"_The cost of your will... But dragon!" Neker protests, his grip on the boy tightening as he watches the monster slowly sink into his friend's shadow. "There must be another way... There has to be..!"_

"_There is not," he tells him. "A shadow must replace the shadow removed... There is no time. Remember my words," the Dragon finishes through his tears. "Heed them as though they were your own..."_

_**This is the last you will hear of my voice... So remember them child- I will always be by your side...**_

* * *

For once, he thought to himself, waking up wasn't so painful today. With the sudden rush of visions and 'memories' throughout the evening the bruises from falling in place were beginning to really hurt- he wouldn't be surprised if he got back home and found himself blue and black under the uniform.

"Ngh.." Katsuya grimaced, pulling himself up with a groan. Weird, he noted dully, looking around the hall almost blankly. The hall was different from the last one he'd been in. It was closer to the room Anzu was in, that much he knew subconsciously- but it was definitely not the one he had blacked out in. So where...

The blond froze as he brought an arm up to scratch his head, thick metal and plastic smacking lightly against it. A duel disk, he noted immediately, bringing his arm out to stare in bewilderment. The _black_ duel disk. But he'd never put that one on Katsuya realized abruptly. In fact, he hadn't been wearing a duel disk at all, so-

He blinked, frowning as he pulled out a card that was wedged within the disk's mechanism. It took a moment admittedly, to realize what it was. When he did however, he almost dropped it-

'_The Honor of the King's Right_'.

"No way," he muttered to himself, looking around once again. Twice he flipped it over, blinking and looking over the card in its entirety as if it would change in his very fingers. "No _way..._" This... This was the card Keith had stolen from _him_. The one he'd somehow managed to snatch from his room the night before the Duelist Kingdom semi-finals, the one that Mai had graciously replaced. This was a card he'd long since forgotten...

Evidently, Keith hadn't.

Pocketing the card after a few more moments the blond looked back, a dull look in his eyes. Just what did that mean, he wondered. That he'd listened to what he'd said? That he was already going to leave and re-think himself? (That he was actually going to _do _that?)

After a few more moments of staring he turned back, focusing on the task at hand. Honda would be wondering where he was now after all- he needed to get to the server's 'upper' room, where Anzu was. The room couldn't be that hard to find though he figured, walking along the halls with a neutral expression. After all, the door would probably be op-

"Gh..." Katsuya tensed as he spotted the door on the far side of the hall, blood draining from his face. Shadows filled the air- lapping at the sides of the frame like some frenzied storm. It wasn't affecting him like before, thank god- he didn't feel sore, or even dizzy outside the bruises. Just... Unnerved as hell.

He took a step forward, slowly forcing himself to move. Honda was in there, that much he knew after all. And so was Anzu he reminded himself. So was she...

Trapped as she was in a cocoon of melting shadows, screaming before his very eyes as he came to enter the room.

"...Anzu..."

"Jonouchi..!" The blond turned, blinking as Honda moved over from the side. He had a pretty good idea of what his friend could and couldn't see at the moment, he had to say... Both of them would normally be having shivers by this point, and he had a feeling that the only reason why he wasn't was because of how much what he saw now paled when compared to the corpse of the Eraser.

Hihhhh... Creepy. Katsuya forced a smile onto his face nonetheless though, giving a wave with his duel arm. "Oii, Honda!" The smile grew somewhat as his friend came over, looking somewhat breathless.

"So... You won then," he asked, eyes slowly drawn to the black disk in curiosity as his friend nodded.

"'Course I did," Katsuya snorted, the other momentarily ignoring him to go over the disk.

"Wasn't this Keith's?" he muttered, looking back to the blond with a frown.

Well. Yes. Yes it was. His grin grew, the blond going somewhat red with pride. "As a matter 'f fact, it was," he responded with a grin. "An' this black duel disk proves that I'm th' best duelist in th' Professor League!" ...Even though he wasn't a part of the league proper.

Honda merely stared, shaking his head in slow incredulity. "Man," he murmured, "They're handing those things out to everyone now..." What, what!

"O-Oiii, I worked hard," Katsuya grumbled, crossing his arms in a huff. "An' anyway, tha' ain' th' point! What's Anzu still doin' inside tha' machine? Don' tell me she w's really 'too heavy'," he added, turning to Honda with a frown.

"Oh _as IF_-"

"Y' know, those Ja-shin really got their roots in her, huh..."

Honda blinked, following the blond's gaze to what he saw as nothing more than a machine. "What... The connections?" he asked, a frown coming over his face. "How did you-" He shook himself, realizing what he'd been about to say. "Right. Nevermind. ...It's bullshit though," the teen growled, collapsing in a chair at the side. "We're right here, but thanks to Tenma's damn program we can't even touch her."

"...Yea," he managed to say, fists clenching. Tenma... "Thanks t' those namonaki..."

His friend jumped. "N- Nameless," he repeated. "What?"

The blond didn't respond, but as they watched the machine before them continue to spark and crack and burn he didn't need to. Regardless of the hows and whys, regardless of any names those monsters had, there was only one thing they needed to know. Anzu's spirit was, as Mokuba had found out and told Honda moment's before, displaced. Her body was directly linked to the server in a manner not unlike the Virtual World, and to disconnect her now would leave her mindless. There was only one thing to do, one way to shut the program down.

Someone had to send the other two Jashin into the grave...

And as they stood and stared, that someone finally reached his destination.

* * *

The wind howled on the top of the field and landing pad, and the clouds above swirled brilliantly. In the wake of the Ja-Shin's slight failure, they had begun to part somewhat in an attempt to return to the clear skies that had been there. Faded, smoke-like in the sky, but black to the core. If one looked in the distance, they could see the first rays of light from a still distant sun...

But the other Yugi didn't care for that right now. As the door to the roof-top opened he and Gekkou strode out and did only one thing. "TENMA!" Yugi snarled, the 'CEO' currently sitting almost impatiently upon the arena's edge. Walking still forward they watched as Yakou turned to the shout and sneered, corners of his mouth pulling up in a smirk of sorts. He'd known they would come and he'd been waiting...

And the last one to face him was, even now, at the side in pain. "...Kaiba," Yugi began, walking toward the woman as she looked up from her own somewhat collapsed position against the rail. "...Are you alright?"

The woman snorted at that, despite obvious discomfort. "Ch... I must really be losing my touch," she rasped, not bothering with disguises thanks to the nearly whispered tone. "If you're that worried about me..."

Yugi stared for a moment as Kaiba said this, tilting his head when he noticed something- he'd realized there was something 'off' about her but... "...Kaiba," he realized, eyes widening, "Is your binding-"

If Gekkou heard that, he didn't show it. Nor did he voice the fact that, to support what Willa had discovered in the darkness before hand, the binding around Kaiba's chest had loosened just enough to reveal what certainly set her apart as 'not male'. "It's nothing," she bit out, standing straight and crossing her arms despite a slight wince. "The holograms of the Ja-shin are a little more 'solid' than one would expect... It's nothing but the poison of the so-called 'evil gods'... That's all. Now..." As she looked over the arena her gaze snapped back to Yugi, eyes narrowing. "The fact that you're here means none of the others could stop you... Though that's hardly a surprise," she chuckled almost bitterly, the boy beside her not at all missing the slight step backward she'd taken in attitude. "After all... I'm the only one who can defeat you..!" Eh?

"Kaiba..." That... He said nothing more, eyes dulling somewhat as he took in the stiffness of his 'rival'. It was probably best not to speak right now... If she wasn't bothering with disguise, that meant she assumed everyone on the roof knew. Which meant that the one beside her, who was still eying her with obvious unease and confusion...

Beside them, Gekkou moved toward his brother, swallowing and watching as the twin gave almost little to no acknowledgment for his efforts. "...Yakou," the one in black began, the other slowly looking up with eyes of loathing.

"...Gekkou," the man hissed, white jacket hanging almost awkwardly on his slumped frame. "...What do you think you're doing here..?"

The calmer of the pair didn't so much as flinch in the face of his brother's obvious hatred, instead continuing on as he'd intended. "The R.A. Project is finished," he warned him clearly. "And right now, you have no where to go. For your sake Yakou... We should end this now."

"_End_ this?" The man stood, hair hanging messily over his eyes. "Who do you think you're talking to..? Finished?" he roared, "Of COURSE it's FINISHED! Because of those two," Yakou snarled, "Because..! ...Hehehehe... Because they did what you couldn't," he suddenly laughed, looking down at his brother in superiority. "You hear me Gekkou..? _THEY_ stopped me..! Not you! All you did was what I ordered," he chuckled insanely. "Possessed by the great Jashin, unable to even blink without my say so..."

"That's right." Yakou's laughter halted immediately, and with obvious incredulity he stared. "You're right Yakou," his brother again admitted. "I lost- and I'm powerless. But _they_ are still here," he added with narrowed eyes. "Yugi is still here... And he can still fight you."

"Then you've... You've given up!" the 'CEO' laughed. "HahahaHAAA! Well! How the mighty 'perfect duelist' has fallen indeed," he sneered, only to have his smile again fade as he caught the expression on his brother's face.

"Perfect..." Gekkou repeated quietly. "Yes... That's what Pegasus-sama called me, wasn't it. And at the time," he continued, "It made me so proud... But then I noticed something," the man said clearly. "I realized over the course of many duels that Pegasus-sama had never meant that I was to be the 'Perfect Duelist'... When we were with Pegasus-sama," he went on coldly, "I won against you and many others, but it was always by a small margin. And each time we dueled, that margin diminished in size. And I couldn't help but notice," he said calmly, "That my opponents were getting _stronger_. I am 'perfected'," Gekkou announced clearly. "I will never grow. I believe that he must have seen, with his Millennium Eye, just what that meant... That my power as a duelist," he continued, "Was as high as it would ever be."

"You..." His brother shook, shaking with a growing shock and rage. "What are you talking about..!"

"I'm saying that the one who Pegasus-sama really saw the potential in was never me to begin with," he shouted back, his stern glare never shifting. "I'm saying that the one whom he saw promise in, the one he thought would become a 'perfect' duelist... Was you, Yakou!"

Yakou shook his head, trembling in the spot. "Don't say that," he hissed, fists clenching and digging into his palms. "Don't you DARE SAY THAT! You... Do you have any idea," he roared, "Any idea at all..! You're the MOON!" he cried, "Just like your name..! Pegasus-sama was the sun, and you were the reflection of his light! And I... I was left to crawl in the darkness..." His voice faded as he spoke, head bowed. "Do you have any idea... How that makes me feel when you say that..? Telling me this... While I search for the light in this darkness... You..." With a snap Yakou looked back up, fists clenched with renewed rage. "I'll get my light.. The RA Project isn't through just yet! I still have a vessel... And I still have the one I hate, standing right before me!" he roared, gaze snapping to Yugi. "You hounded Pegasus-sama until he drew his last breath... And when I crush you, nothing ill stand in the way of his resurrection, nothing!"

"But Yakou, he's innocent!" his brother protested. "What Keith told you was a lie, Yugi never brought any harm to Pegasus-sama!"

"No... He brought harm alright," the man sneered. "He defeated him in a match and shattered his will to live... If he hadn't have fought you," he snarled, pointing toward Yugi, "Then he would have still been alive today..! No one as powerful as he would have died without wanting to..! So it doesn't matter who killed him directly," Yakou roared, "So long as I defeat the one who allowed it to pass..!"

"EVEN SO," Yugi snarled, having quite enough of the younger Tenma's demands and claims. "The battle between Pegasus and myself had been prearranged from his own side- it was a fair match and a fight between duelists! Our fight has nothing to do with Anzu," he continued, "So let her go!"

"Let her go?" Yakou's sneer grew still more chilling, the expression widening into a grin. "I'm afraid I can't do that _Yugi..._" The others stiffened even further, and with a hacking laugh the man continued. "Mazaki Anzu is now a part of the Ja-Shin..! To remove her now would mean her death! You can consider it your divine punishment," he snarled, the grin refusing to fade, "And the price of your actions..."

A snort came from behind Yugi, Seto stepping forward to growl. "Just duel him and be over with," she snarled, looking to Yakou but speaking to the one beside her. "Obviously your only hope of fixing this is smashing his 'gods' to pieces..!"

"Yes... But..."

Gekkou finished for him. "If Yugi looses it's likely that Yakou will have just enough power to fuel his project again..."

"Who cares about the risk," the woman snarled back. "Just use that power to crush him first! I've fought you before Yugi," she continued with narrowed eyes. "And I acknowledge your strength... Like _hell_ will I watch you accept defeat at the hands of something like _this..._"

The boy turned, looking at Kaiba a moment with a swallow. If he didn't know better, he'd have been marveling at the fact that she could still hold onto rivalry right now... But thinking those words over, he found himself responding with an almost worried, but understanding smile. Well then... "...Tenma," he barked, turning back with a shout. "Prepare yourself..! This is the end of your 'Project'..!"

"We'll just see," the man sneered, stepping back to take his place on the arena whilst Yugi did so himself. "I somehow doubt you'll last very long this time..! Now! COME AT ME, YUGI!"

"You asked for it..! _**DUEL!**_" they both chorused, disks locking into position as decks of cards shuffled into place. And on both sides cards were drawn, neither of the opponents willing to back down- both fought to bring someone back. Both fought for who they cared about.

Who it was that would return however, was another matter entirely.

"Here I go Yakou," he shouted clearly, "I go first..! I play Alpha the Magnet Warrior in defense mode," he began, the crouching magnet appearing in a flash. "In addition, one card face down before I end my turn!"

"My turn then," his opponent announced, "And I draw..!" From across the field Yakou chuckled darkly under his breath, hiding it quickly as he made his play. "One card face down," he started off, before taking another card to the field. "And next, I summon this- Barbaros, King of the Sacred Beasts..!"

With a mighty digitized roar the monster appeared- the body and head of a lion with the torso and arms of a man between them came to the field, with a lance in one and a shield in the other. But as the armored creature arose Yugi stiffened.

Eight stars... This was an eight star monster, and yet- "Surprised?" Yakou asked in obvious amusement. "Barbaros is the greatest of the Demi-Gods, servants to the Gods themselves... An eight star monster that can be summoned without sacrifice!" he roared, the monster giving a similar cry. "Of course," the duelist admitted almost carelessly, "Without sacrifices, the attack power is lowered to 1900 points... But no matter," he laughed, pointing the beast forward. It's more than enough for your monster, Yugi..! Now Barbaros..! ATTACK! _**TORNADO SHAVER!**_"

The leonine beast snarled, lance spinning in his hand as charged- and with ease the magnetic warrior before him was shaven through the middle, scraps of metal and plastic floating through the air a moment before vanishing on the wind. "Gh..." He grimaced as the lion stared him down, before tapping the side of his duel disk to activate the card he'd set. "Activate trap!" he announced, card swinging upward from the field. "Soul Rope! At the cost of 1000 life points," he continued, the meter dipping down as a card was spat from the deck, "I can special summon any level four or lower monster from the deck... And with that in mind," he continued, pulling the card free and setting it on the field, "Arise... King's Knight!"

"Hn... Alright then," Yakou sneered, still holding a dark smile across his face. "I'll end my turn..."

"Very well!" In that case, the next part of his strategy. "First, I summon the Queen's Knight in attack mode," he announced, setting the card on the field and watching as the armored Queen stepped forth. "Next... By the effects of the Queen and King, I special summon the Jack's Knight from my deck- also in attack mode..! Finally," he continues. "One card, face down..."

"What speed..." Though he didn't look to the side Yugi could hear as those watching murmured to each other, Gekkou's voice at the moment standing out most. "He already has the three sacrifices needed for a god..." Yes. That was one way...

But as those standing by Gekkou narrowed their eyes, Yugi did the same. And Yakou merely laughed. "King, Jack and Queen... The three face card summons to call down a God," he sneered. "But not if my beast kills them first..! If even one of your swordsmen are lost, you can't summon a god on your next turn..!" he continued with a laugh. "Now... BARBAROS! Attack!"

"Hn!" As the lion charged Yugi merely smirked. "Don't fear the GODS, Yakou..! I activate my face down card... Polymerization..!"

"Nh-?"

With a widening grin the vortex appeared. The card swung upward and the pixels that formed the knights began to scatter, swirling through the air to form one single being. And as shadows seemed to swirl through the air a single sound cut through it, and along with it the holographic lion charging them now. The knights had fused- and now, upon the field; "Behold... The Arcana Knight, Joker!"

"CH-!" Dust and smoke flew back against Yakou's face, throwing the man's hair behind him and whipping across his face. From the field, Gekkou was shouting cheers- about how he was in the lead now...

But at the same time, Yugi's eyes couldn't help but be drawn to the tight expression on Kaiba's face instead; they both knew after all, what Yakou's deck was capable of. It was designed to summon the Jashin at high speed, Avatar in particular. So how much time did he have with this..? And...

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Shit. "Yugi," Yakou chuckled, shaking his head as he recovered from the hit. "I believe it was you who said 'Don't fear the Gods'..?" As his opponent stiffened further the air seemed to thicken. Yakou's lips quirked up in the start of a psychotic grin and with one small tap his face down card swung upward. "It is you who should be afraid," he warned. "Now... Tremble before the pulse of the Ja-shin... I activate 'Level Resist Wall'; allowing me to summon two or more monsters whose combined level are equal to Barbaros' own! Watch... Angel 01," he called, the first 'level one' monster arising to the field. "Caacrinolas," he continued, a third level, demonic hound arising next. "And finally," he laughed, as a cloaked bowman followed behind, "Leraje, the lord of archery!" Level four. Three monsters, summoned in an instant... "And since I still have one summon left..." Shit... "Here. Botis, in defense mode," he chuckled, the sword wielding 'naga' coming to a defensive crouch among all the others. "And I'll end my turn." Gh...

Shit. Four monsters, which meant that since he only had one on the field... Yugi drew his next card, teeth grinding as he looked it and the others in his hand over. "My turn," he managed, eyes narrowing. There were no monsters in his hand...

Which meant he had only one choice.

"Arcana Knight Joker!" he ordered, the monster already nodding as it rushed forward. "Attack Botis!"

In a flash the blade cleaved forward, scattered remains of the demonic warrior misting through the air as Yakou chuckled. "Is that all you've got?" he taunted, the remainder of his monsters hovering with strangely similar expressions. "I still have three monsters..." Tch.

"I..." As he'd planned of course... Yugi's fists clenched but in the end he merely steadied himself and took a card from his hand. "...I set a card face down," he announced. "And then I end my turn." And now...

Yakou still had three monsters. So, if he had a God in his hand...

"Hnhnhnhnhn..." Shit. "HnhnHAHAHAAA!" Shit..! "In that case Yugi... Prepare yourself, and feel the TERROR of the Jashin..! Come... Accept the blood of the demigods... Consume the sacrifice, and become FLESH," he howled, the three monsters streaking upwards in the form of an oily slime. The tendrils combined... Twisted and formed, with a porcelain mask forming the center of it all... "Summon forth... THE DEVIL'S ERASER!"

A piercing, screeching wail came through the air, and it was all he could do not to cover his ears and turn away. From the shadows of the ground and air both the elongated and serpentine demon appeared, and looking toward its blank face Yugi swallowed. So this... Was the third of the Jashin brought into being through Yakou's soul... The Devil's Eraser... With four thousand attack with the cards left on the field for Arcana's summoning total, there was no question of what came next.

This was it. "NOW, Eraser," Yakou laughed, pointing forward. "ATTACK THE KNIGHT with _**DIGESTIVE BREATH!**_ I need only _BREATHE_ to destroy you...! NhnhnHAHAHAHAHAAAAA!"

As Yakou's laughter reached fever pitch Yugi threw his arms in front of him, his own monster unable to completely keep the heat and stench of Eraser's attack from affecting him. The acid rendered his monster naught but sludge- and as he looked over his singed arms with a squint he found himself quickly staring in shock. Though the rest of the monsters that had been on the field had looked almost ridiculously 'false' the being before him was more than real...

How ironic. The least self-sufficient of the Gods and he was already feeling the pain of its attack. 'It's nothing more than a false god', he thought he heard Kaiba spit. That was all. But as Yakou set a single card face down he found himself battling his own fear again. "Gh... My turn," he managed to say as he drew his next card. At the moment he had only one card on the field- one monster would give Eraser two thousand points, which meant he only had one option here.

Defense!

"I summon the Big Shield Guardna in defense mode!" he announced, the hologram in question hanging statically before him. As expected the Eraser's attack jumped another thousand- the power hanging on the air seemed to increase, but with six hundred more than that in defense he was safe... For now. "End turn..!"

"Hnhnhnhnh..." ...So why was Yakou... "Hnhnhahaha..!" Why... "So pleased with yourself," Yakou sighed, his opponent stiffening with confusion. "Stopping a _God_ with a monster like that... Do you really think it'll work?"

"What..."

The laughter increased and the oils at Eraser's base seemed to swirl and twist. The darkness increased, pointing upward, and with a vicious laugh Yakou brought another card to the field. "The Devil's Eraser is a being that cleans everything... Destroys everything, obliterates even other gods..! And with this, I'll erase your arrogance..." What..!

"My _ARROGANCE?_"

"It's my turn now isn't it?" Yakou asked with a grin. "Well then... WATCH THIS! I offer the Eraser as TRIBUTE!" Tri-tri...

"He's offering a GOD-!"

Before Kaiba's shout could be responded to, the darkness swirled and howled. The clouds above converged into a vortex, the winds whipping against his face and arms as the monsters on the field began to melt. Eraser was first, entering the vortex piece by piece, until finally his entire being had literally vanished with the wind.

And with it, both Guardna and the card he had placed followed... All that was on the field seemingly replaced by one thing. A six star monster whose attack was now unmatched- "Gaap- God of War!" Yakou cried. "A monster whose attack increases for each 'God' in my hand... And at the moment," he continued, grinning as he turned a card forward, "This is the only one I have..."

The... "The Devil's..." The Devil's Avatar.

He had Avatar in his hand. And now... "I'll place one card face down," Yakou decided, the hologram shimmering into being at Gaap's side. "And now... My god will guide Gaap straight to you- and his aim is unerring! HERE I COME YUGI... Now! GAAP!" The insect armored demon gave a curt nod, charging with claws the size of his arms. "ATTACK..!"

"NGHHAHHHG-!" Razor sharp claws left no visible effect on his body but as he attempted to defend himself the pain was all too real. The monster before him hovered there a moment...

But as he struggled to breathe he managed to take one card from his hand, shaking fingers gripping it and setting it to the field. And as the image of another card appeared, Yakou shook. "What... You... But the Eraser destroyed all your cards..! How could you-"

"Cross Counter Trap," Yugi grit out, shaking and attempting to stand. "On the turn this trap is sent to the grave by an effect, I can activate a card from my hand- your attack," he continued, the image of 'Cross Counter' slowly fading out to be replaced by another, "Allowed me to activate that trap..! Now!" he continued, "Activate the 'Stairs to Hell'! When I take a direct attack," he roared, shadows rising from the field as cards were ejected from the deck, "I can summon two of Hell's envoys from the deck! And I choose these two!" he continued, the shadows rising to take the form of black armor and pale skin. "Envoy of Hell – Gorz," he began, a blindfolded and bladed warrior rising to the field. "And... The Envoy Kaien!" Similar armor rose up at Gorz' side, a tall helm and narrowed eyes meeting the field. Kaien's blade was gripped tight in her hand, and despite the dress-like garb she was more than ready for battle.

And from across, Yakou showed fear for but a brief moment. "Two..." Two level seven monsters, summoned in an instant. "This..." As he looked over the monsters he quickly regained his composure, eyes filling with darkness and his face contorting with rage. Once again, he had somehow gained the lead...

But the odds were still against him- Yakou's Avatar was still in his hand, and the chance that three sacrifices would appear was too high! Even so... "It's my turn now Yakou..! I'll set one face down card... And following that," he continued with a snarl, "I attack Gaap with Gorz..! _**HELL'S CROSS!**_" A resounding clang met the air as the blade met Gaap's armor, before easily cleaving the being in half. Yakou grimaced against the resulting backdraft of wind, his lifepoints depleting.

In the aftermath however, came a trap. "Activate!" Yakou cried, "Yellow Alert!" Ngh- Yellow? "Special summon one monster from my hand for the turn! And," he continued, opponent preparing for the worst, "I summon Tellus in defense mode!" Tellus?

If he'd summoned Avatar he could have easily destroyed Gorz but... "Very well... KAIEN!" he ordered, the woman charging with her sword at the small rounded 'angel'. "Attack..! _**HELL'S BLADE!**_"

Another ring of clashing metal, and Tellus was easily cut in two. But as the monster returned he froze- Something had been left behind... Just one small...

"A wing..?"

"When Tellus is destroyed," Yakou laughed, Yugi's turn timing out in the silence, "He leaves behind a wing... Moreover, now that it's my turn," he cried, "I can do this..! Spell card, MULTIPLY!" he laughed, the wings quickly doing just that to fill two more monster places upon the field. "And you know what that means..." Three...

He had three tributes and one summon left, and with the Avatar in his hand..!

"The pulse of the Jashihn is getting louder," Yakou whispered, eyes widening to an impossible extent as the white wings began to grow dark. "Can you hear it Yugi..? Another Jashin will manifest itself before you now, just watch! LOOK, and DESPAIR!" he roared, the wings melting in the air as a vicious cyclone began to tear at the sky, "AS I SUMMON THE **DEVIL'S AVATAR..!**"

"**GRROOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!**"

As the clouds tore and lighting struck the sound of thunder pealed through the air despite not a drop of rain falling from above. Within the KaibaCorp building the server tower began to spark. Anzu's body screamed in silent protest, Jonouchi collapsed, hands gripping his head in a fruitless effort to fight the waves of pain now suddenly wracking him and throughout it all the others could only watch... With their eyes trained either on the events within, or on the field above.

"Do you see now?" Yakou cried, eyes wide and almost satanic grin wider. "See the form of my other self..! This is the Devil's Avatar... THIS IS THE GOD THAT WILL CRUSH YOU..!" A jet black sun, the antithesis of the God Ra... A complete and total eclipse, as though the serpent 'apep' had come from the shadows and devoured him completely...

Yugi watched as the shadows twisted and converted, melting and writhing as they attempted to decide on a form to mirror. And with a blackened hand it 'reached'... With wide sightless eyes it stared, mouth gaping, hair limp...

'_Yu... gi..._'

"Gnh- Anzu..!" As quickly as he saw her she was gone, vanished into the shadows above- and as his eyes followed the path that Yugi's took, Yakou smirked. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Well... It looks as though your precious friend is already being absorbed by the Jashin," he sneered, eyes narrowing as they turned to face his opponent.

"What..." _Absorbed_..?

"Exactly," Yakou hissed, voice tinged with an almost possessed form of adoration. "Absorbed and replaced, allowing Pegasus-sama into this world... She will be drunk up, every last _drop,_" he sneered, "Unless you can topple this Jashin..! This Avatar who transcends everything on the field to reign eternal..! NOW AVATAR," he ordered, not even waiting for his opponent to shout a response. "Take your new form..! For this is the JUDGEMENT of the Jashin," he snarled, the black shadows twisting and furling into the more powerful of the two envoys on the field. "DEATH to you and all the ones you love..! AVATAR!" Yakou ordered as the duplicate of Gorz sneered. "FINISH HIM NOW!" This...

The shadow charged and with its blades cut Kaien in half easily, fragmented pixels scattering the air and melting to join the pool. The oils burned the air and burned his arms and feet, and as he looked toward it he growled. This monster...!

There were shouts at the side again, he realized. Shouts of worry from Gekkou, shouts of alarm from the 'Card Professor' with them. Kaiba was silent. His other half as well, was silent, merely watching with wide eyes from the back of his mind. His lifepoints... Had now dropped to a mere 99 in that turn. The Avatar's power was unspeakable... Taking the power of the most powerful on the field to surpass it only by one. The only thing it needed.

And now, he was standing here, about to be crushed by it. "What's wrong Yugi?" the duelist taunted, mad grin leering from the end of the field. "It's your turn you know..! For every moment you deliberate, more of Anzu's soul is absorbed... Better hurry...!"

"Gh... Bastard..." But he was right. He had no other choice... Drawing his next card he swallowed, before making his play. "I discard one card to the graveyard," he began, "Allowing me to special summon 'The Tricky'..!" he continued, the cards shifting to their places as the faceless jester rose to the field.

"Oh... Turning to defense," Yakou cackled, shaking in his mirth. "You'll never save your friend that way..."

"I'm not defending this turn. In fact," Yugi countered, his opponent stiffening, "I'll attack the Jashin..!"

"What..?"

"Watch! I activate the spell 'Union Attack'," he announced, card swinging upward. "And, using it's effect," he continued, "Both of my monsters will attack with their combined power..! And since the Avatar's is based on Gorz _alone_," he spat, pointing them forward, "It far surpasses yours..! So... Tricky, Gorz! ATTACK! _**MAGIC SWORD RUSH!**_"

With a blur of light the monsters charged; Tricky with his fists and Gorz with his blade. Gorz would be the one to strike though, bringing his gauntlets down through the avatars form with ease- however...

"Wh-..!" The Avatar quickly retaliated. "Gorz... Gorz was defeated...?"

"Hnhnhnhnha..." Wisps of smoke faded on the air, and as the Avatar's form shifted and twisted into the only remaining monster on the field Yakou grinned. "I activated 'Disappearance of Power'... Rendering your 'Tricky's lifepoints 'zero' and blocking him from attack..." he sneered, the Tricky seeming to 'shrink' on the field. "I saw every one of your duels in this building," the man laughed, shaking his head. "And I had plenty of time to look over the contents of that deck... The only card in your deck capable of conquering the Jashin is Union Attack..!" he continued, his opponent paling more and more. "And now that I've gotten rid of that card the Jashin's reign is unstoppable..! HnhnhahahaHAHAAA!"

"Ngh..." Damn it all... There was nothing else he could do but this then. "One card face down," he announced, gritting his teeth. "End turn..!"

"Indeed it is..." As Yugi continued to stare at his opponent in rage the man laughed, dark grin shrinking into a smile. "So close that I feel like something _different_..." Different..? "It's my turn!" Yakou laughed, drawing his next card and playing another in the same instant. "And now Yugi! We're going to put a little spin on things!"

"What?" And just what could he possibly do to make this-

"I activate this!" Yakou announced clearly. "The card Fiend's Sanctuary!" Fiend...

Fiend's sanct...

At Yakou's feet came the familiar symbols that had appeared earlier that summer beneath his own. The hex circles and charmed writing, each letter and charm giving off enough light to almost illuminate the entire half of the field. And then yet another circle appeared... Somewhat smaller, directly before them, and immediately to the side of the Avatar's current form. From the circle came a black mist that somehow paled in comparison to the Avatar's darkness... Molded from metal, staring forward until its 'face' locked onto Yugi's own.

He could see his reflection, he realized with a swallow, already aware of the fact that the monster had now gained attack equal to his own remaining life. He could see his reflection, clear as day...

With horror he watched as the Avatar changed to match the 'new' power on the field. As, rather than crude metal limbs it began to swirl, forming a perfect silhouette of something else. First was hands and feet... Legs and arms, initially resembling any other human being, someone with a jacket hanging open over themselves.

And then the puzzle formed. A black chain and a black puzzle, followed by a face of equal darkness. There were no 'eyes'- merely voids on the form that had come into being, and as he paled even more those watching from the side were struck silent with shock. The Avatar's new form was not at all the Mirror Token that Yakou was calling into play.

The Avatar had taken the form of the original Yugi.

* * *

He had won.

He was certain of this fact- more than certain in fact, Yakou had told himself. He had won and there was nothing his opponent could even claim against it. "Fiend's Sanctuary," he had announced clearly, unable to stop himself from grinning maliciously toward his opponent. The card created a pentagram...

And from the pentagram came a metal fiend... And that fiend took the power of the opponent's life...

"...Ai...Bou..."

Therefore, two monsters reflected what stood before him. "Have you had a long enough look, Yugi?" His opponent was silent, mouth somewhat open in shock as he stared in horror at the 'blackened' Yugi before him. "Have you seen enough, YUGI? The Avatar has taken the form of your other self... A form he'll use to destroy you on this turn..! And how does it feel, I wonder?" he asked, triumph filling him completely. "To know defeat and despair at that other self's hand?"

While his opponent's expression twisted into a look of pure and unrelenting hate Yakou's grin merely grew still wider. Proof of all he was fighting for stood at his side now... Proof of the words that had filled his dreams, of the words that he had been so assured were true now stood with him...

And no matter the front that 'Yugi'... The 'Other Yugi' tried to put up to appear as anything but terrified he _knew_...

The Avatar was a God after all. Those before it could show nothing else. And as the Avatar's current form leered and scowled at their opponent he had to chuckle- the flinch and hesitation were obvious...

And as he pointed the monster forward, the other Yugi's terror was revealed in full. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Succumb to your SUPERIOR," Yakou howled, the Avatar giving an audible growl as he moved with open hands to grab at his target. "Succumb you fool without memories, you who don't even know their own FACE! AVATAR! NOW!"

The Avatar drew close... Its eyes, though black, were wide with feral rage and though it needn't touch the ground it seemed to even run across it to strike the other Yugi down.

And finally, when it was but two feet from him- "S... STOP!"

Light filled the air, and a piercing screech followed as the Avatar was forced back. One, two, three...

Blades of light toppled to the ground, almost burning the Avatar and blinding those around it. The Swords of Revealing Light..! "Tch... Of course," he hissed, turning a narrowed glare about the field as he re-evaluated his options. "As a field encompassing spell the swords aren't affected by the God's power of negation... You've bought yourself a shield," he spat, the other Yugi breathing haggardly across him. "Well...We'll see how long you have then," the man snarled. "I'll set two cards face down and end my turn instead! But Yugi," he continued darkly. "You can't run forever..."

From across him, 'Yugi' swallowed. And despite his unease, managed to swallow and continue on- "My turn then," he rasped, drawing his next card. With a single glance it was hurriedly placed on the field, cards in his deck shuffling as he removed the lone monster he had remaining. "I play the spell Monster Recovery!" the boy called out, drawing a new set of cards. "By returning all monsters from my hand and field to the deck, I can draw five cards!" Oh really now..?

"Hn." So he made a miracle draw... Well then, he thought to himself as his opponent continued. Fighting until the bitter end...

"I set two cards face down and end my turn!" his opponent cried. "Your move..!" Ahh...

"Not even a shield," he chuckled, narrowing his eyes in amusement as he drew his next card. A single look told him all he needed to know, and the grin widened. "Do these swords make you feel safe..?" Well then. "Hnhnhnhnhn... I pay the 1000 lifepoint cost to keep the Metal Devil on the field," he decided, lifepoints shifting from 1900 to 900. And while his opponent stared in shock he grinned. "I'm not about to wait three turns for your little spell to fade... I play De-Spell!" he announced, the blades of light shattering completely. "Deactivating them now! Which means that it's time," he laughed as he pointed the shadow forward. "For the Jashin... No... 'Yugi Mutou'... The one whose very face and life you've stolen, to bring about your end! PREPARE TO FACE HIS TRUE FEELINGS! NOW-"

"True feelings," his opponent repeated dully, Yakou's grin merely twitching as he chuckled. "You think my partner... _Hates_ me..?"

"You live in his body do you not," he sneered, grin falling as he growled. "You wear his face and live his life, do you not..!" As 'Yugi' stiffened Yakou continued, his own past memories flooding his mind as he snarled. Of the words his adoptive father had given... Of the words all those who had seen them both had said...

The 'other' Tenma... The 'failed copy'...

'_It would be better,_' they had said, '_If he didn't exist..._' Surely...

Surely, the real Yugi, in the back of this one's mind felt the same way toward...

"Gh... You may have his form but you aren't the same!" he roared. "Which one of you dominated the Battle City Tournament, earning the 'Championship' title? Which one of you defeated Pegasus-sama in the Duelist Kingdom, claiming the name of 'Duel King'..! WAS IT HIM?" he asked, opponent standing stiff. "NO! It was YOU who won all those titles..! And ONLY you..! The real Yugi did nothing, and you STOLE his chances of doing so..!"

"That's not..." 'Yugi' shook his head, eyes widening even further. "You're wrong... That isn't..."

"Even Anzu Mazaki," he snarled, the blood draining even further from his opponent's face. "You plan on taking her as well, don't you!"

"You..."

"You can't even come up with a single word in your defense," Yakou growled. "Pathetic..! Really... Could anyone blame him for his anger..!"

"YAKOU! THAT IS ENOUGH!"

As the words cracked over the air Yakou stiffened, eyes widening. "You," he whispered, staring in shock. "The real..."

Yugi narrowed his eyes in stubborn rage, somehow able to hold an appearance of calm despite things. In an instant, even with that, he seemed to calm further- And it was in that instant that he spoke. "You're wrong Yakou," he stated clearly, voice echoing throughout the sky. "I'm not angry at all... And I never have been angry with my other self- not in the way that you're describing."

"What..." That...

That was impossible, he couldn't possibly be... "The other me broadens my horizons," Yugi continued calmly. "To say that I haven't gained anything... That the other me has replaced me... Is nothing but a lie! I've gained all sorts of things, things I consider far more important than a 'title' in a game! Jonouchi-kun... Honda-kun... Kaiba-san, and everyone else- All those people I've met, all of the people I consider my precious friends- if it wasn't for my other self, I would never have met them, no matter how hard I wished! Yakou," he continued coldly. "This is not 'my' rage you're attacking with... It's yours and nothing but..!" That...

"You..." His rage..?

ONLY his rage? They were in the same position..! Overshadowed by another with their face, overshadowed by 'perfect' duelists... He thought...

Of anyone... '_in the end you are alone..._' How right... "You really are too dense," he hissed, looking toward Yugi with a stone gaze. "I'm almost jealous..."

The boy blinked, looking almost betrayed. Hah! Betrayed of all things... And at the same time, with that same face, his brother from the side... "Yakou..."

How _dare_ he... "I suppose you're right," Yakou snarled bitterly, the darkness seeming to writhe and twist with his very hate. "Physically there's only one of you! You don't have a living, _breathing_ reminder of your failures and weaknesses like I do!" The ground and sky both rumbled and as all those before him stared in silence his tightened fist began to cut into skin. "One person or two... I'll defeat you together..! So then, Yugi! TREMBLE before the Jashin, the personification of my WRATH! Give into his power and let him kill you swiftly!"

"Tch... If that's the case," Yugi responded, voice seeming to shift as hair grew wild and eyes sharp, "Then allow us to destroy that wrath and free you now! BRING IT ON!"

* * *

An inferiority complex, he thought he heard Kaiba say from the ground. This all started because of one brother's sense of inferiority compared to the other, fed and grown by the darkness of the Jashin.

'_Should you be happy..?_' Kaiba was asking Gekkou now, eyes cold. '_Or sad about that, I wonder..?_'

Gekkou was silent for a number of moments. And in the end he couldn't say anything.

Because the answer, as he looked to his little brother on the field, was obvious.

"Jashin-Yugi!" Yakou ordered in that moment, the shadowed figure snarling in rage. "ATTACK DIRECTLY!"

The demon charged in that instant, charging in a manner almost similar to how he would float...

But Yugi stood by his side at that moment- the real one.

And so he would continue. "It's still too early for the end Yakou!" he cried. "And I activate this trap! 'Shadow Guardmen'!" The card swung upward just as two misty beings of light swooped into the opposing Avatar's face, the shadow again screeching as the light settled into a pair of armored tokens. "By the effects of the trap two shadow guardmen tokens are summoned in defense mode!" he explained, "Which means no damage will come to me now!"

"Nonsense!" Yakou countered as the Avatar briefly faltered in his attack. "You won't stop me with that... Activate the trap Berserker Mode!" Bersek-

"Gh-" With a clang of metal the guardsmen shifted their position, shields lowered and bladed arms at the ready.

"Hnhnhnhnh..." His opponent chuckled. "Thought you could avoid this..? And don't think another trap will save your guardsmen from attack..!" Save them..?

Yugi merely grinned. "Well... Of course I'll go through with the battle phase," he said calmly, those at the side stiffening.

"You..." Kaiba caught on immediately. "I see what you're doing," she realized, a small smirk slowly coming into place over her face. "GOOD! It's about time... STOP THAT GOD WITH A TASTE OF REAL POWER, the power I gave you in Battle City!"

"I will!" he responded, tapping the disk as yet another card swung upward. "Here I come Yakou... Spellcard! MONSTER REBORN!" From the side he could almost see Kaiba's grin. "And the monster I bring back," he continued, a great shadow rising up behind him as the sky rumbled, "Is noneother than this... THE GOD OF STORM... SUTEKH OF THE OBELISK!"

"**Almost young KING,**" the great being rumbled as his wide wings came into being. "**One TIME, and you will know my TRUE name and POWER!**" One day...

The God towered over the Avatar and yet the Avatar showed little reaction but apparent apathy toward the being that had appeared. And in the same manner, the brief shock that Yakou had in reaction to the armored God's appearance was naught but a smirk. "Hmnp. So _what,_" he hissed, narrowed eyes watching as the the shadows of the Avatar abandoned the form of his opponent. "Even the Gods aren't immune to the powers of the Avatar after all..! See?" he continued, the real Obelisk watching as a somewhat larger version of itself came to loom from behind Yakou. "BEHOLD, he who surmounts your God... JASHIN-OBELISK!"

"Ahhh... No..." Gekkou swallowed from the side, eyes widening. "Don't do it Yugi... Don't! Even if you have Obelisk's power..!"

"Don't underestimate a God," Kaiba snorted, the pair's comments easily heard over the field. "Obelisk' true power can arise at _any_ moment..." Yes...

The highest ability at the God's disposal... One he could use now that there were two others on his side of the field... "Exactly..!" he shouted. "Obelisk's special ability activates!" Yugi cried, the two guardsmen tokens snatched up and crushed within the God's clawed hands, "Sacrificing the two tokens on the field to make his power infinite..! _**SOUL ENERGY- MAX!**_" he continued, the Avatar as well crackling with power. "UNDERSTAND, Yakou? A value that cannot be added OR subtracted..!"

"So you still don't understand then," his opponent snarled, paying no heed to the forbidding shadows that the gods now formed over them. The shadows seemed to mist and play around his very body of all things, and if he forgot to look properly he could swear his very eyes had grown black. "Your God and my 'God' stand on completely different places of ranking..! Anything beneath his rule will be negated, plain and simple..! HNHNAHAHAHAHAHA!"

"Yugi-san..." The boy turned, catching Gekkou's crestfallen expression and staring back in silence.

"...Gekkou." As the man stared, Yugi merely returned the gaze with a confidence he had almost lost throughout the duel as the morning hour approached. "I'm going to defeat Yakou. Understand?"

Again, there was more silence... But it seemed that, as Gekkou answered, the clouds began to slowly depart to make way for dawn's light. "I beg of you to do so then," he responded clearly.

"Hn! Defeat me!" Yakou snarled, voice seeming to cause as much of a rumble as the gods themselves. "I've already explained why it won't work... Now... AVATAR! SMASH THE OBELISK!" The shadowed hand balled into a fist, and with a feral cry that did not at all suit the beast it flung it toward his opponent's monster.

And Yugi merely smiled, already seeing the outcome of this match. "Yakou... You claimed that the gods both sat on completely different tiers of power, did you not?" he asked, opponent faltering with shock. "Well... Obelisk' 'rank' as God... Is about to be upgraded by noneother than your brother's power!" he announced. "Watch! I activate my third trap!"

"What..!"

"GOD EVOLUTION! And with THIS," Yugi roared, the wings of Obelisk stretching and cracking with feathered designs, "I bestow upon my God the Highest level of rank," he cried, legs fusing into a long and serpentine tail that brought the Obelisk' form a number of feet taller. Armor gleamed with light and power... What was an ocean blue grew gold and scarlet, giving off as much light as the sun itself. With his fists clenched, Yugi pointed the new god forward with a snarl. "Here- Behold the true form of the God of the Obelisk... The God of SANDS, STORMS, and _**CHAOS**_..! **SUTEKH!**"

"**HnhnHAHAHAHA! SOONER THAN WE THOUGHT,"** the God laughed, almost canine helm doing nothing to hide a vicious and mummified grin. "**WELL NOW, LITTLE KING... YOU HOLD SURPRISES YET TO BE DISCOVERED IT WOULD SEEM..!**"

The clouds split from the point where Sutekh stood. They blew back, unable to cloak the world in darkness as the sun and the light of the Gods bled over them, and as the power that surpassed their own walked the earth again. And as Yakou stuttered, darkened eyes wide and unresponsive, Yugi pointed the God forward. "Yakou," he called. "Here I go..! I ATTACK!" he roared, both monsters slamming their fists toward the other with a snarl,

"_**GOD HAND IMPACT!**_"

"_**RRRSSS-SSSSSSEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE-**_"

"**HHRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHH!**"

-_dOUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUU-_

Across the air a shockwave like no other rattled the sky. Light, blinding light formed of darkness as well blinded all those who heard and felt it, and especially those who watched. And as the air visibly rippled beneath that light, and as both opponents shielded their eyes behind their arms both sides couldn't help but wonder the results. Would the Upgrade truly have allowed Obelisk- Sutekh- to surpass the Jashin..?

Or would the Jashin, slippery as it was, find a way around even that..? Inside the server began to scream in protest; sparks flew and those before it were forced to duck behind walls and pray for it to pass. Above it, Anzu and her connections began to scream for real, with one in her presence watching in horror and the other clutching his head in agony as the shadows themselves seemed to attack- The light began to fade...

But with it, the sun could be seen rising on the horizon. And the clouds from the night before finally cleared, leaving the air to be dyed a pale gold and rose. And the gods...

Crumbled. Their bodies flaked and fell as dust, blowing in two separate directions on the wind. The darkness was gone...

For a moment, both duelists could hear a voice. '_You stand on your own,_' they could hear, a shade seeming to appear with his back toward the shocked Yakou, '_Because you do not need me any longer..._'

Like the gods, the shade as well began to crumble...

And Yakou screamed. "No... Pegasus-sama..!" he cried, the ghost of red and white misting into nothing as colour returned to the young man's eyes and body. "PEGASUS-SAMA! WHY! Why did you leave me..! PEGASUS..!"

The man wept...

But Yugi was distracted by another on the field, who, in the still blinding light that surrounded the duelists, stood and smiled before him. "...Anzu," he whispered, the woman giving him a warm smile. She seemed different somehow... But he couldn't figure out why.

"_Hey,_" she laughed, the light seeming to pass through her in that moment. "_We should head back to the others... Shouldn't we?_"

The spirit began to mist, but this time he merely smiled and nodded. "Yea. We should." The light cleared in full...

And while Yugi stood upon the field, looking toward the weeping Yakou, those on the side stared in shock. "Obelisk... And the Jashin both," Gekkou whispered, the others unable to speak. "They're both gone..."

The shadows had passed...

But inside, there was still more to come, regardless of the fact that Anzu was now at last waking up...

* * *

_...For the story was not over just yet._

_Though the darkness had passed and he knows this, there is the recovery to deal with after all._

_After what happens in the chamber after all, Neker stays at his side for hours. Longer than it takes for a curious mother to the boy to come down, longer than it takes for a scarcely alive elder to wheeze out the boy's name as culprit. He stays at his side and listens as the village argues the boy's fate, and as a demand for death rings clear among the core of Elna'am._

_He stays as the boy's sister begs an alternative, and as the mother watches on with cold eyes in silence. He listens... And slips away with the boy on his back. He hides the boy among the rocks in the desert, beneath an old and unused stable hut, before returning to the village by way of shadows, just as they have taught him. Some money here and there... Some food, preserved in jars, and some water. It is rude to steal from the dead this is true, but a number of their citizens among the outer ring and even the inner core do so anyway- they have taught Neker well, and it is with those teachings that the Elders homes are slightly emptier as he leaves them one by one. He does not pause to hear the verdict of his friend's sentence. He does, however, catch a few words-_

_For they have discovered the boy's absence._

_'If that demon returns he should be killed on sight..!' _

_'Let him be run- he'll be killed mercilessly by the desert anyway, even stoning would be pity!' _

_'He has destroyed our culture, our people..!'_

_...The words echo._

_Neker flees the village with a heavy heart, and as he takes the water he has stolen to the boy's lips he whispers for his friend to wake up. "Come on," he pleads, water splashing in and around the boy's mouth. "Wake up please, wake up..."_

_The boy does not respond, and as Neker bows his head he wonders if it has all been for naught. If his friend is already past the point of no return, and if the dragon's sacrifice has been wasted. Suddenly however, coughing meets the air. The boy's face twists into a grimace and he moves, rolling over to cough up what water fell to his lungs. "Kh- GHAH!"_

"_Y-You're awake..!" The boy turns to Neker only to find himself wrapped in a hug, the boy caught in it looking around in confusion. "I thought you'd died," he whispers fearfully, unable to move. "I thought it was all for nothing that it was all to late, I-"_

_Before he can say more and before the boy can speak there are shouts from the distance, accompanied by lantern lights. Neker learned well, but not well enough to cover his tracks in the sand with perfection. They are coming... And they will not have mercy when they realize that they are still nearby. While the boy looks on confused he finds his arms full of what Neker has stolen, before being pulled up by the shoulders. "N-Neker," the boy asks, shaking his head. "Neker... What's going on?"_

"_You need to run," Neker tells him, swallowing fearfully, "And fast... Far! They won't have horses, and you have the desert right?" The boy continues to stare, words and sights filling his mind with confusion. "Listen," he continues, biting his lip. "The dragon... He's in your shadow now, he'll always be there. He brought you back to life," Neker weeps, "And I'm not letting that go to waste. There's water and food in this back, it should last until the capital... There's also some gold, so you can trade for something, anything, I don't... I don't know, I..."_

_The boy watches as his best friend rambles, and slowly his mind connects the jumbled spray of words. Slowly his eyes widen in horrified realization, and clutching the pack of things tears begin to run down his face. "Neker," he whispers. "Everyone is..."_

"_You need to **run**," Neker repeats, grip tightening on his shoulders briefly before he turns to face the approaching lamp lights. "I'll hold them off as long as you can but you need to run understand?" The boy stares, confused, and his friend continues. "Run," Neker tells him, the boy taking no more than a hesitant step back. With a start he's pushed back, his friend's eyes wide and angry. "**RUN**!"_

_The boy stumbles. But with fearful eyes he realizes he has no choice. He darts off into the desert sands while his friend waits to distract the villagers. He runs with the rising sun coming up from the side of him, and he runs until his feet are cracked and bleeding, until sand coats his sweating skin and until tears and salted ground cannot be told apart from the other. He trips..._

_He falls... The gold he's to sell scatters before his arms and glitters where the sun hits it, merely glowing dully in locations his shadow sits. And the boy stares at his shadow, for one minute, two... He stares..._

_And with a mourning wail he finally cries, holding himself close and wishing the dragon was there beside him instead of lost to the depths of his own shadow. With a weeping cry he holds himself close, wishing that a single voice..._

"jonouchi"

_Just one voice..._

"Jonouchi..."

_He could hear-_

"JONOUCHI WAKE UP!"

"NYH!" The blond opened his eyes with a jolt, choking as he attempted to get his bearings straight. This wasn't a desert, this wasn't sand, this wasn't... Wherever. It was the 'upper' server room. With the machine. The machine that Anzu had been-

"Really," Anzu sighed, arms crossed as she looked worriedly at the teen. "It's bad enough you had to help me, don't add another to the list..." Ah..

"A-Anzu..!"

Honda nodded. "Yep. She woke up half way through the server storm a few moments ago. Of course," he added with a frown, while your 'seizure' stopped at the same time, that didn't mean you woke up..."

The blond flushed, and a third voice joined in. "You're lucky I'm not telling neesama about this too," Mokuba said with a frown, the boy standing there with crossed arms and a scowl. "The only reason I'm not is because those 'jashin' are probably gone; which means it should stop." Errr...

He coughed. "Eh... R-Righ'..." He stumbled to his feet, rubbing his head. "Ow... What'd I hit anyway..."

"The machine, the floor, my face when I tried to keep you from flailing..."

Anzu shrugged. "You'd stopped by the time I was out, so I wouldn't know really." Ehhh...

"Yea tha' figures..." He sighed, before blinking in sudden confusion. Hey wait a second... "O-Oi... Yugi's still fightin' up there isn' he?"

"Nh?" While the others as well blinked, Mokuba frowned.

"I can check... But..."

"If the jashin are gone," Honda asked, "Then the duel should be over right..?"

Anzu shrugged. "Maybe. But Malik's duel wasn't over when Ra was defeated right? So there's a chance..."

"Ah! You're right Katsuya-nii..!" The three turned to where Mokuba was, the boy holding up his slate. "Their duel disks are still running- 900 points for Tenma, and 99 for Yugi..." He bit his lip. "It's not looking good..."

Heh. "But it's good enough." The others turned, and Katsuya grinned. "Hey, Anzu... You can walk alright, righ'?"

The woman stared, expression growing rather incredulous. "...I'm more worried about you..."

"Good!" He quickly grabbed his friend's shoulders, turning to Mokuba with a laugh. "Then what're we waitin' for? Time t' go cheer 'm on!"

"Katsuya-nii, I think the match is about to _end_..."

"Let's go, let's go!"

"J-Jonouchi..."

"Jonouchi!"

"Goooooo...!"

In the end, they decided to simply let the blond do as he wished, unsurprisingly...

And up above, the moves they would miss played around in his mind.

* * *

It was morning now. At the side Kaiba was receiving notice from her brother that the server had returned to normal, with all data of the Jashin eradicated. And above, as Kaiba explained things to Gekkou...

'_Now that its influence is gone from the server... I'm sure it's vanished from your brother as well._'

Indeed, the shadows seemed to dissipate with Kaiba's words... With ashes of former cards blowing back on the wind and off the side of the building.

Yugi stared as the man before him clutched his head, shakily trying in vain to stand. "...Yakou," he called, unable to see his face even as the man brought his hands down to his sides. "The Jashin are gone- they've left with the clouds and the night. ...I think it's about time," he continued, "That the desires brought up with them fade as well."

Again, Yakou fell to his knees, tear filled eyes staring at the ground. "He said... 'I don't need him'," he whispered, drops of water falling to the ground. Yugi stared, watching as Yakou wiped his eyes and turned his gaze skyward. "...Without so much as turning his head... It's over..."

"No." The man turned, quivering eyes widening as Gekkou shouted to him. "No Yakou... The fight isn't over yet!" Yakou continued to stare, and his brother went on. "Before this battle started... You said that I was a moon reflecting light from the sun, like my name... And you're right. Without the light... Without Pegasus-sama, I would never have been able to stand here. But Yakou! That isn't you!" he cried, the expression on his brother's face moving to despair to mere confusion. "Even in the thickest darkness, you can still move forward..! The reason Pegasus-sama hid the Jashin away was because you don't need them to succeed..! So rather than Pegasus-sama being at the end of this battle," he continued, "Find your true self... The self that Pegasus saw with his eye..!"

Still Yakou was silent, eyes widening somewhat. But despite the silence, it seemed he finally understood- turning back to the front, he shakily rose to his feet... And he nodded. "...Yugi-san," he began, voice still quiet and soft spoken even in comparison to Gekkou's own. "...Let's continue this duel to the end."

His opponent merely smiled. "Hn. Alright then..! It's still your turn Yakou!"

Yakou nodded. "Right..! Then in that case, I activate the spell Level Award," he started off, the mood of the match changing entirely as the card appeared over the field. "Using its effect," he continued, "I change the level of the Metal Devil token to eight stars..!"

A warm wind blew over the field, and as Yugi watched he continued. This was the real Yakou now- a clear mind, and a clear head...

A quiet voice and a desire to be acknowledged as himself. So... Through this duel, they would finally see who Yakou really was! "Next, I activate my trap..!" Another card swung upward on the field, and the duelist explained. "Star Level Shuffle! Which allows me to switch out my level eight 'Metal Devil' for the identically leveled monster in my grave... Return to the field!" he called, the devil and its cursed circles sinking into the ground as pixels formed the paws of a greater beast before him. "The Divine King of Beasts, Barbaros!" A digitized roar heralded the monster's summoning, and as he held his lance and shield high Yakou continued still on. "With this special summon, his attack power isn't as restricted as before... I can't attack now," he continued, ignoring the scowl from Kaiba at the side. "But I'll show you the kind of duelist I am..! I end my turn!"

"I hope to see that," he responded honestly. "Now that the Gods are gone, and the grudge is gone... This is a 'real' duel now!" Yugi announced. "It's my turn..! And I'm not through yet either! But we can hardly expect to make the most of this duel with what we have now... So I'll play this- Card of Sanctity!" he went on, drawing as required for the spell. "We'll both draw until we have six cards!"

His opponent nodded doing the same as the crowd stared. 'Even when Barbaros has 3000 attack points,' Gekkou was saying, watching in wonder. 'Even then...'

"Next, one card face down... And then, I summon Beta the Magnet Warrior in defense mode!" he cried, the small golden monster shimmering into existence with a shout. With a short salute he looked back to the duelist, before taking a crouched position on the field- the monsters were back...

And he was ready.

"Come at me!" Yugi announced with a grin. "With all your heart and soul, make your move..! I end my turn!"

His opponent nodded. "My turn," he began, looking to the single trap hesitantly. Just one trap was there, but it was daunting nonetheless- the Jashin had been finished by three mere face downs...

And yet, rather than exercise caution, his mind refused. This was his fight...

And he wanted to do just as Yugi had said- to attack with all he had..! "Barbaros," Yakou began, before pointing his monster forward. "ATTACK! _**TORNADO SHAVER!**_"

"Hn! So you haven't died as a duelist after all then!" Yugi congratulated. "In that case, activate the trap Soul Barrier!" he cried as the lance came in contact with Beta, the monster in question vanishing from sight immediately. "Switching Beta with Alpha from the grave and dodging your attack!"

The leonine warrior paused, as the warriors did this, Alpha entering a crouch just as quickly and bringing his shield up in defense. This was not the monster he had been ordered to attack...

So, rather than continue, Barbaros returned back to Yakou's side of the field. Yakou blinked, and nodded almost gravely in response. "...I set two cards face down then, and end my turn," he decided. "Your move."

"Very well," he began, drawing his next card and giving it a short look. "I play a card face down," he began, setting it upon the field and watching the holograms respond. "Next, I summon Blockman in defense mode!" The lego warrior did not seem to say nor do anything as he appeared, merely taking a defensive position as ordered- in response, he brought his arms to the side and looked across to his opponent. "I end my turn!"

The shields were amassing... And in moments, a clash would appear. "Alright then," Yakou started, realizing this just as quickly as Yugi and those in the crowd. "Here I go! I summon the Machine King Ur!" he started, setting his next card to the field. From glimmering red and gold the robotic creature assembled itself, floating legless above the air with arms that resembled shields. "Next," he continued, "A spell card from my hand... Polymerization!" Poly-

Yugi's eyes widened as the metal cracked off from Ur's form, latching and clicking over top the armor of Barbaros' own. Some pieces were lost... Others merged together in elegant gold. But as the swirling winds that surrounded the monsters faded, Yakou pointed his new monster, armed with shield-like lances, toward the defenses Yugi had amassed. "Now! Divine Beast Machine King... Barbaros-Ur! Barbaros-Ur," he explained, "Is the closest monster to the Gods... Absorbing the ability of the fellow demigod Machine King Ur; for each level it has, he can attack another monster. Moreover," he cried, activating another spell, "The card quick attack! Allowing him to attack now! So! Barbaros-Ur," he ordered, the monster's lances opening to reveal a set of futuristic looking guns. "Attack, with _**CRAG SHOT!**_"

The shots fired forth and in an instant Yugi made his counter. "Trap activate!" he called out. "Negate Attack!" And with those words the oncoming bullets were abruptly surrounded in winds, the harsh gale scattering pixels into the wind before allowing the duelists a moment of silence.

"98..." Yakou seemed to be muttering. "I can't even touch..." That mere 98 point drop...

"It's my turn," Yugi announced, Yakou merely staring. Both were sure now... Who would win this match. Both knew that Barbaros-Ur's power would be surpassed in just a moment...

And as Yugi placed the cards for his next move, the final turn was revealed.

"I sacrifice Alpha to summon this," he started, pixels rising in a column of light as a familiar blond haired magician came to the field. "The Dark Magician Girl..!" The girl said nothing for this match however, merely giving a nod and preparing for the next step. "And now... Here I go! First, I activate Blockman's special ability- splitting it into two separate monsters..! Following that," he continued, the Magician Girl floating back to the side to make way for what would come, "I activate this spell from my hand- Dimension Magic..! I sacrifice the two block monsters," he began, the scattered tributes forming a coffin of immense size, chained and bound, "Now... ARISE! DARK MAGICIAN!"

The coffin divided with the wave of the Magician Girl's staff, and from within it walked the Magician himself. With a single nod he turned to smile toward Yugi- "**It is good to see you again, my King.**" He turned to face Barbaros-Ur. "**Now then... I think it is time to be rid of this obstacle before us.**"

Quickly shaking off the shock, the duelist nodded. "Nm. With the Dark Magician and Dark Magician Girl on the field at once, he called out, "I can destroy one monster..! SO!" he cried, both magicians charging the dark magic atop their staffs. "Barbaros-Ur is destroyed..!"

"_**BLACK BURNING MAGIC..!**_"

From the staffs shot forth a thundering flame, encompassing the opponent's monster entirely. It was eradicated in mere seconds- and as the Magicians returned to Yugi's side Yakou staring almost in shock, he smiled. "Yakou," he said calmly, as the Dark Magician Girl raised her staff again to prepare for attack. "You were a worthy opponent..!"

And with that, while Yakou continued to stare in silence... "Now... Dark Magician Girl attacks!"

"_**Hnhnhn!~**_" With the twirl of the staff she pointed it forward, doing just that-

"_**BLACK BURNING!**_"

The light filled Yakou's end of the field, but he remained silent, even as the blast's radius blew a shockwave of wind back against him. In fact...

He smiled. '_Yugi-san's strength... Is indeed great,_' he decided to himself. The stage lowered... And in the bright morning light, Kaiba walked over with crossed arms, Gekkou instantly rushing toward his brother.

"Yugi," she started, a ghost of a smile playing on her face. "You returned the Kaiba Corporation building to me," she said plainly, looking down toward him. "I have to give you my thanks."

"Ah..." Thanks..? Well. It seemed she had come back for the better after all. "It was nothing."

"Hn!"

The two turned, watching as Gekkou approached his brother. "Yakou," he started, eyes still filled with worry.

The younger of the two merely smiled. "...Gekkou. Thank you, for making me continue that duel. If I'd stopped then," he continued, gaze briefly turning to the ground, "I probably would have regretted it... ...I think now that it's over..."

A card sat in his hands- one that the others had not seen, one that seemed 'incomplete'. And as Gekkou glanced at it for a moment, the 'nameless' card his brother held, it was just as quickly torn.

And at the same moment, the doors opened, four others running forward with a shout. "OI!" the loudest one called. "YUGI! Congrats..!"

"YUGI!"

"Oiii Yugi..! Someone's here for you..!"

As the others turned, Yugi's eyes widened- and as she walked over, still too exhausted to run, Anzu smiled. "Yugi! Hey..!"

"Anzu..." He looked over the others, smile growing larger. "Everyone..!"

"Neesama..!"

"Nm-!" While Mokuba effectively tackled his sister around the middle, Yugi ran toward the rest, the Tenma brothers merely watching it all with smiles.

"So this is the source of their strength," Yakou said quietly, looking over them as each group was lost in their own set of conversation.

"Yea," Gekkou said with a nod. "It is."

"Hah. I'm glad then," Yakou continued. "...That I didn't take their smiles like planned..."

Gekkou said nothing more to that- there was nothing more that needed to be said.

* * *

When the excitement of the field had calmed, a number of events wound up happening in the end. First, there was an awkward bit of threat exchanging when a majority of them realized what had happened between Willa Mette and Seto earlier- starting with a harsh '_ONE WORD..._' and ending with a panicked '_Nothing. I saw... NOTHING._'

She was apparently pleased with that, and promptly went to reclaim her coat and fix the binding that had come loose, leaving everyone else to deal with emptying the building of the others involved.

The fact was though, most had already left- Reiko was helping her grandmother Maiko out in the wheelchair, and gave a wave to the others as they made their way to the parking lot. While Pete and Klamath as well gave a nod when they spotted Katsuya, Kirk gave a steady salute in Yugi's direction... Ted Banias and Richie Merced had to be woken up- and have helped called for- but aside from him, it seemed that people like Cedar, Keith, or Mendo, simply left as soon as the duelists were out of sight.

Tilla, however, was still there when they were gathered outside the exit. And, when Katsuya handed over the black duel disk, she was fairly elated- "Oh... Oh my, this is..."

"_**Hn! Perhaps not such a bad duelist then...**_" Well, at least the vampire approved then.

In the end, Tilla Mook took her leave as well though... And as the morning sun put a glow on everything around them, Katsuya looked up toward the top of the building. "So... Guess th's means I get t' go back t' waitin' now... Huh."

Yugi turned, Anzu and Honda as well trading short glances. They knew that the Tenma brothers were already gone now... But as the jet up above began to take off, the three gave their own looks of sympathy to their friend. "...Jonouchi-kun..."

"Why are you still standing in front of the door, Mutt."

The blond jumped, all four of them jumping as they spotted who had just spoken. "S...Seto-chan-"

"I've said something about calling me that as I recall." Though despite the tone, the look didn't seem quite as harsh. As it was, she walked past, Mokuba following behind with a grin. "Now hurry up, the car should be around soon."

"Er..." He looked back toward the others, blinking. "But..."

While Honda shrugged and Yugi laughed, the other Yugi seemed to be giving some form of thumbs up from behind the boy and Anzu as practically mouthing 'GET MOVING'.

"Come on Katsuya-nii..!" Well, that answered his question.

"Alrigh', alrigh'..!" he shouted, running after the boy as the car did just as Seto had predicted. Doors were opened, seats were taken and belts buckled...

The car drove off in silence, with Mokuba sitting in the front and Seto somehow managing to sit at the window opposite Katsuya's own.

More silence on the air. Fiddling with his thumbs he managed to distract himself with the window for all of five minutes before it was already killing him. The silence... The words left unsaid... "So... How w's th' states...?" he eventually said with a grin.

"I was forced to cancel the American Nationals because of this fiasco- it's likely I missed it as soon as the server went back online." Ehhhh... As Katsuya pulled a face however, she went on. "It was fine, otherwise."

...Oh. That was a new response. The car continued on its path, and he turned. "Righ'..." Right. More silence. And another five awkward minutes before he found himself unable to avoid a topic he'd been dying to know about for some time. "...Seto-chan... ..Tha' kiss..."

"'If I live, we can forget all about it'. That's what you said isn't it?"

He coughed, looking away. "Y-Yea... I..."

"Tch. Moron." Katsuya blinked, turning to the woman in mild surprise. "As though you'd forget something like that..."

"Ehehe..." Oh shit... "W... Well..."

"Let me be _very_ clear on this, _Katsuya_." Oh shit that was his first name, why didn't this make him happy any more- "I am not some school girl or passing woman you can develop a crush on. Don't expect me to respond to any ridiculous hormonal urges of yours. ...Understand?"

"... ….Ehhhh!"

A smirk. "Hn! Good. We're clear then."

"Wh- I don' even-"

The car came to a stop, and just as quickly she was opening the door to leave. "That's all I'm saying on the subject, Mutt- take it or leave it." Uh.

"R-Right, well..." He stumbled out, Mokuba already making his way to the door and the car driving off on its own. "I..."

The woman sighed. "Make it quick, Katsuya... I still need to deal with the paperwork involved with flying back into the country without proper 'barrier' crossing." Oh yea that.

Er... "I... I was wonderin'... When yer don' with tha'... You wanna duel later? Like in th' backyard 'r somethin'..?"

For a moment, he thought she wasn't going to say anything. That she was just going to walk inside and things would eventually go back to as normal as things could be now.

Instead...

"Alright then. ...Later."

Walking inside, he couldn't help but look forward to that.

* * *

**AN:** OHGOD.

OHGOD IT CAN'T. IT CAN'T BE.

_Usagi updated._

Yeeeeaaaaaa...

Guys I cannot begin to apologize for how ridiculously long it took for me to update this chapter- I underestimated my workload, and more importantly _over_estimated my patience.

This chapter stands out from the others you see- due to the resources I had to use for the YuGiOh-R section of this fanfic you see, there was lots of information bouncing. But in addition to that, the final duel takes up almost the _entire_ final volume; which is _thicker_ than the norm.

In any case- I hardly expect to be at all quick to update here on out given that school starts again _tomorrow_ (IE, Jan. 3rd), but it'll definitely be quicker than the wait it was this time; now that I'm in 'original' territory concerning what happens next, it shouldn't take that long unless I hit an art block.

In any case, I want to thank everyone for all the reviews, and all the favorites, and more importantly, for sticking with me for the next update..! I can only hope it was worth the wait..!

AND IN OTHER NEWS...

While it would NEVER be updated NEARLY as quick... I've finished the first chapter of 'ReiYoku', the 'original' fanfic based in the YuGiOh world. The story will follow college student 'Yume' and grudging partner 'Reynard' in a world where the card game has been replaced by pitting one's ka against the other in a 'safe' environment. If anyone wants me to put it up here, let me know; just _PROMISE_ you won't ask when I'll update it..! (There's Promo Art for it below by the way, as I used the one of Yume's costumes as the subject for my final painting critique/exam/project.)

ALSO. Some of you may have noticed I have a tumblr. Some of you may also have noticed that I have been Rping a LOT on LiveJournal during my fifteen minute breaks to keep the writer's muse up.

IF YOU HAVE ENOUNTERED A CHARACTER FROM THIS FANFIC IN RP, DO NOT MENTION IT HERE. Because... Spoilers yo.

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Dahaaaa... So late...

First! Bemavajyi... Oh- You disabled Pms... (Though there's an account, I can't respond through the site...)

Okay then! I'll just respond here! First off, this is partially why the response is so late (I AM SO SORRY ABOUT THAT)- though I technically swore not to say 'boo' until I was ready to update. Probably not the best idea given that I immediately realized what being an art student meant shortly after. ECK-

In any case, to answer your second review I most certainly intend to finish this fanfic properly- I'm glad you enjoy it so much so far, and I'm absolutely flattered that you've been recommending it..! I can only hope that future chapters impress as well- because believe me when I say, there is much, MUCH more to come..!

Kakamashi what are you doing in the anon, what-

AND AAAH. AHHHH LOOK- LOOK HE'S ALIVE SEE? HE LIVES FOR A WHILE LONGER I SWEAR-

There was LOTS of tears in that chapter huh... One giant let down that. And there was no art because SCHOOL ATE IT.

Actually, that technically happened here too, though in the case of anything I drew in December, it was 'my sketchbook and RP muses ate it'. Erk. I DO have some past Jou (He's called 'Mimir' in the RP to avoid name awkwardness) below though...

Iona! You have your answers after so long- thank you for patiently waiting..!

And to answer your 'dead jou' question, I will point above. So don't worry, it's all good!

And HAHAHAHA, I don't think Kaiba quite agrees... (As for FALCONPUNCH!Yugi, you would be surprised. :|a )

Hey Imadork! Glad you like the reaction~ I had a lot of fun planning that...

And hehehe, I was waiting for the psychic term too actually.

Anyways, speaking of milestones... ...You haven't seen anything yet~ :'D (I should stop saying that, how will I top myself all the time ahhhhh-)

I think getting the wrong name is going to be a running gag. I'm not sure it depends on if Jou steals enough monsters down the road. But yea, I was just dying to write that duel- pretty much the opposite of this one, and I'm really dreading the fact that it could possibly show. :/

OH! And yes, that was Devil's Eraser that caused deafness; the Jashin naturally put a block on those sorts of things.

As for Keith, most of that is canon strangely enough- though I DID throw a bit of spinning at it, and will later on...

A past Jou plushie? Probably like a Jou plush with the Thief King's coloration and cloak. :|a

And now! From chapter 30, hey there 'yugio-girl'! (along with numbers.)

I think it's a little early to ask for another chapter at the time of this review, but with my luck you've reached this chapter already... SOOOOO I just hope that you still think it's the best damn story that kicks ass!~ (Also, when you say 'everyone', do you mean that you're reading this with friends? Cool!~)

Lastly... 'Blah'.

Hahahaha, give it a chance, you're on chapter one- if you get here to see the review response, tell me what you think of the rest of the fic so far~ (And yes, perhaps so. :|a )

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Section**

The section that got inspiration from her new 3Ds Zelda combo to finish this thing somehow. Apparently irrelevancy counts.

* * *

'Cabab' is another Hebrew word, meaning 'circle around'; in a sense, things coming 'full circle.

As another note, the language 'past Jou' speaks _ technically_ isn't Hebrew; the language proper didn't exist yet. It becomes it though, which is why I'm using Hebrew vocabulary when needed.

* * *

Originally, Jou went straight to work trying to break Anzu out before Honda stopped him, explaining that Anzu was still linked to the Ja-Shin.

Fanfic Jou is going no where near those shadows. He knows that it'll hurt! (Also yes; namonaki means 'nameless')

* * *

Two? But there are three!

Ahhh, but Jou's duel happened _AFTER_ the Gods were 'reset'; which means that the Eraser is already down for the count!

And a good thing too, that thing was a pain in the- (Oh look, it shows up in Yugi's duel anyway, what-)

* * *

Funny thing, this was originally going to end before Yugi's duel.

YEA.

Then I realized that my notes were just long enough to trick me, and this became the FINALE! DA-DA-DAAA!

* * *

WHAT WHAT- But Usagi you said the two had to be defeated, and the Dreadroot wasn't there!

Well that was Jou's THEORY. In reality, it makes sense if you think about it; Dreadroot was defeated by Yugi at one point earlier on after all. So he only needed to defeat the Eraser and the Avatar.

Also I have no clue how there can be two Eraser cards. Really. We're going with magic here. It's... Somewhat likely now.

* * *

I just referenced Star Fox AND I FEEL NO SHAME. -coolshades-

* * *

This is about where I wound up putting all focus on school work lest I do horrible and fail and never ever work off the student loan.

However, I did a lot of quick roleplay on the side, so that my writing style didn't get rusty. This means my style (of course) changed somewhat so...

CAN YAH TELL? Oh boy...

* * *

Now, a lot of the dialogue in these chapters came from the peanut gallery so to speak, but unfortunately, it's Yugi's point of view; this means lots of what is being said can't be heard. However, Kaiba and Yugi would create relatively similar strategies against Yakou, at least in base thoughts that were being stated.

* * *

Interesting note, but this section of the series doesn't send fusion materials to the grave; instead, the materials remain on the field, which is why there are 'four cards' here for Eraser to take power from. In the real game, there would only be two.

….

Xyz summon anyone?

* * *

No really, _he actually says that_. 'I'll erase your arrogance!' '...WHAT.' Even Yugi's response was canon, he was so confused...

* * *

...I've been trying to design the 'Black Queen' too long, Kaien looks too much like Kaiba...

The fact that you get a very brief panty shot from her DOES NOT HELP ME AT ALL. ('_what, Usagi what does that have to do with-' 'EVERYTHING_.')

...No I don't have the art for that- it's in my sketch book, and that's being marked...

* * *

Most of the thoughts Kaiba had throughout this duel went to Yugi just as the comments in the 'audience'; again... This is because it's either Yugi or Yakou's point of view for almost the ENTIRE chapter.

And yes, Yakou did just use Yugi as a medium to rant out all the reasons he hates his brother in a sense. I actually wouldn't be surprised if he assumed this to be happening with a girlfriend only to lose her as a result. It would not surprise me EVER.

I am a horrible person, shhhhhh...

* * *

I almost said that Yugi's 'never been angry' toward the other Yugi at all, and then realized that would be ridiculous.

It's okay for friends to get ticked at the other when one say... Decides to see if he can run into your psychic friend and winds up leaving you with a splitting headache. No one will blame you. (What me, describe scenes I've never actually shown you? NOW WHY WOULD I DO THAT.)

* * *

No really- as soon as Kaiba realizes what Yugi's doing, he gets all 'AH- YES SHOW HIM REAL POWER!' and then... When Obelisk appears you just see Gekkou's shock and Kaiba SMILING. It's like '_Ha_. I gave him that.' (Yeeessss, Kaiba would be pleased that her former god card won over Avatar...)

* * *

'_Gold and rose' Usagi? Really?_' I'M AN ARTIST I CAN USE FANCY COLOUR TERMS DAMN IT. (You can tell I stayed up to do this, whoops-)

* * *

Hnn, those lines to Gekkou? Why yes that_ does_ mean Kaiba accepted what was going on right in front of her, it's right in front of her after all. Kaiba actually says this line in the manga too, so hooray for that eh?

* * *

Yakou's lines concerning Pegasus are slightly different, and that's because, to make up for the fact that I never managed to get his flashback to mesh in (and was therefore forced to cut it entirely), we can still hear Pegasus' real thoughts on things.

* * *

Okay.

How many of you 5Ds/Zexal fans out there were like '_WTF, IS HE GONNA SYNCHRO/XYZ_' as soon as he played a level change card?

Seriously, I... I can't look at level changing spells the same anymore, I can't-

* * *

All of the lines Kaiba says immediately following Yugi's win are canon. _All of them._

That is all.

* * *

And yesssss, Jonouchi DID give that duel disk back! But since he didn't have Tilla's original one, she got the black one.

I wonder if Richie made her give it back later...

* * *

That promised duel? A nod to the anime-only 'battle for Third Place', and will happen a little later than you think- it's going to appear in an upcoming chapter in fact.

* * *

Musical Notes

Now, due to the time gap, I can't really say what inspired all the past!Jou scenes, or the first half- and in fact, I was bouncing around a lot of songs trying to get back into the writing mood once I had the time.

Irony?

All of the songs I listened to near the end are by Owl City; namely Fireflies, To The Sky...

In a sense I was just Youtube hopping for this chapter really...

**FanArt and Art**

From the tablet to you! Remove the spaces for your links.

Now, again, time means that there's a fairly large difference in QUALITY here... I've sorted it by date for that reason. It's not fanfic specific though; aside from some 'promo-art' of sorts for ReiYoku in fact, it's all from RP using 'past!Jou', or Anzu (yesss, I play Anzu there too.).

Of course, that means there's some interesting differences thanks to roleplay interaction, but heyyyy, it's art time! (And there isn't much sadly...)

Chibis/RP – RPAnzu, Past!Jou – http : /i5. photobucket. com/albums/y153/natasha_unos_1/THESETWO. Jpg – Some more from the RP; you can now see 'PastJou', or Mimir as he's known there (From the Norse seer) in colour... And you can see Anzu in clothes that she will probably never even go near in this fanfic. (Un... Unless you want that I guess..?)

Costume!Malik + Anzu clothing – http : / i5. photobucket. com/albums/y153/natasha_unos_1/AnzuClothes. jpg – From the RP! Anzu of course did NOT look like this to start in the RP; however, she's in a 'Dressing Room' there, which means lots of alternate versions of characters... And she's the only Anzu among a fair number of Maliks.

So the line between which 'mindset' to follow while clothes shopping shifts a little. In any case, I thought you'd be interested in seeing the result- it was fun to make!

Promo! - 'The Doctor of Okuda' – http : /i5. photobucket. com/albums/y153/natasha_unos_1/Yume-FinalPaintCrit-1 .jpg – 'Doctors', by the way, do not refer to either aliens or medical folk when it's capitalized like that in this world; the character you see here is Yume, whilst inside someone's mind... Which in this case is a blend of the Soul Room and the Realm of Duel Monster's itself. Hope you like- this was my final project for colour theory.

* * *

And that's all for this update..! I hope it was worth the wait- I'll be trying to get the next chapter out as soon as possible, but while it takes priority over other fanfic related shenanigans, school comes first... And as an artist, that can take a LOT out of you.


	117. Chapter 116

**Burning Loose Threads**

* * *

In the scheme of things he supposed that things 'settling down' was never a very accurate way to describe their life. It tended to simply move onto the next 'major thing' really, with little to no break in between.

And in fact, he could practically _hear_ the cackling of the 'other Bakura' when Yugi frantically called him the next morning to ask if he had his backpack, having spent most of the day collapsed on a bed in exhaustion and blissfully unaware of everything. "I grabbed Bakura-kun's!" he shouted in panic, Katsuya biting his lip and attempting to separate one voice from the other in his head. "What happens if he has-"

"Errr..." He coughed. Calm down... Calm down, it wasn't as though the thought of cackling evil-Bakura meant for sure the worst had already happened... As it was he shook his head, regardless of the action being invisible to his friend. "Yea... Sorry Yugi, but I've still got mine..." There was a sharp intake of breath on the other end, and he hurriedly continued. "Ah- but hey, Bakura's polite righ'? An' even' then, Otogi might 've grabbed it in the end so..."

There was a shout from outside the kitchen, a fairly amused Kyouko making her presence. "Not that it concerns me, but you have school in..." She pointed to the clock. "Twenty minutes."

He choked. "Awww shit- Listen, Yugi- we'll figure th's out at th' school alright?"

There was a nod on the other end. "Right!"

Fifteen minutes of panicked running and fence hopping, a few scared cats, and one barely avoided car crash later and...

"...Th' hell?" And someone was at the gates that they had never seen standing there before.

Yugi ran up from the road, gasping for breath and stopping with a similarly confused expression as he came into the school yard. "Ah..?"

For the most part, 'everyone' was there at the moment. Anzu (despite protests that she should rest), Honda, Otogi...

Otogi was first to speak. "Oh great, now you can all meet him.." It was fairly clear that that comment was intended to be sarcastic. "Right. Well! Jonouchi, Yugi... Say hi to my cousin," he began, "Who has..." Cough. "'Decided' that now would be a great time to drop by after over ten years or so of nothing."

The group looked over at Deschutes, the man having laughed a little nervously at the mention of 'over ten years'. "Nahhhh..." No way... Hell he saw the resemblance but... "Yer kiddin' me, this guy's yer cousin!" There was a look that said _'I wish he __**wasn't**__'_ in response to that, and Katsuya snorted. "Heh! So tha's what y' meant when y' said 'sight-seein'..!"

"Jonouchi..." Otogi sighed. "Please hold off on 'psychic visions' while he's here..." Uh.

The others stared. "...But tha' wasn't a vision."

"That's right," Yugi added with a nod, "We met him the day before, in a duel..."

As still others nodded, Otogi blinked. "Oh." It sounded like he was trying not to sound like he'd just killed something, why-

Dechutes had a face. A face that was not unlike the one he got during his duel with Yugi when he had the Dark Magicia- ..._Oh_.

That was why. "Psychic...?" he asked with a strange grin, chuckling. "Well doesn't _that_ sound interesting..?" Oh shit.

The others coughed, Katsuya himself suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. "It's... A long story..?"

"Well I'm not going to judge...!" Really now. "Just ask a few questions..." Fuuuuuuuu-

"Deschutes, is this really the time-"

"Hey, the kid says he's psychic-"

"_I_ said he was psychic. And I'm beginning to _regret it_," Otogi muttered under his breath.

Deschutes merely shrugged. "Well, then all the more reason to ask a few things to make sure that he's really-"

-**_BRRRIII_**-

The bell! Not a moment too soon! "Y' know, I'd love t' answer them but... Really can't!"

The others nodded. "Y-Yea... Sorry Deschutes-san..."

"See you later Deschutes..."

The man blinked. "Right... Later, _I have a plane though..._" he muttered off in English, Otogi merely heading for the school with the others.

"Exactly." Oof, he wanted him gone too! Oh, was that it..?

"Waiiiiit..!" As the group entered the building someone else barreled past Deschutes, white hair flying out behind him as he held out a back. "Hah... Hah... Hah... Yugi-kun...!"

"Eh?" They turned, Yugi almost conveniently at the tail end of the group at the moment. "...Bakura-kun..?"

The teen gasped for air, slumped over somewhat as he held out a bag. "Hah... Hah, you forgot your bag... So I wanted to make sure you got it..."

"Ah!" He jumped, hurriedly trading it for the one he had. "Right- I grabbed yours too actually, here it is..."

"Thanks..!" As the two continued their panicked exchange Katsuya sighed, laughing quietly as he did so. Man... Somethings just never-

"Pst- Jonouchi." The blond turned, watching as Otogi nodded to the side.

"Eh..?" What, something private..? As the teen moved further into the hall he shrugged, following behind. "Otogi?"

The teen frowned. "I'd have told Yugi earlier but I can't do it in front of Bakura..." Oh make things sound better why not. Otogi easily caught the expression that said that as well, his frown growing a little more sarcastic. "Don't say you didn't see it coming Jonouchi, you don't have to be psychic to connect the dots here."

Tch! "Oi oi, lay off on the psychic crap..."

"Then listen," he hissed. "Bakura _insisted_ on being the one to return that bag. Please tell me that Yugi wasn't stupid enough to start carrying around all the items in it."

"W- All of them?" He snorted, shaking his head. "They wouldn' even all fit in there!" he hissed.

Otogi narrowed his eyes. "At least _one_ of them would," he warned, "And you know what one it is." Yea.

Yeaaaaa he did. "There's no way," he muttered back with emphasis, "Tha' Yugi would've been carryin' somethin' like that..."

"Ah, Jonouchi-kun, Otogi-kun."

"Nyh-!"

"Ah, Bakura..." Otogi was much better at playing 'cool' than he was, Katsuya noted stiffly.

As it was. The blond turned to Bakura, blinking. "Er... B'kura..! Heyyyy..." ...Yea this wasn't working.

Their friend sighed, shaking his head. "I would have said something earlier, but it looked like whatever you were talking about was important... But if we don't get in the classroom soon, you'll probably get in a fair bit of trouble for your efforts..." Eh.

"S-Shit-!"

"Ah- Thanks Bakura...!" Though the thanks were a little strained, they watched as the teen nodded.

"Eh... Not a problem..."

Hahhh... "Right," Otogi coughed, shaking his head. "See you in class..."

"Yea yea yea," he muttered, "I'm righ' b'hind-"

-_**rrnnnnnnrnnnnnnn...**_-

The blond froze, a shiver running down his back as he took a step. No, he thought to himself coldly, attempting to shake the feeling as fast as possible. No way...

-_rrmmmmmrnmmmmmmm..._-

Rumbling echoed through the air, bouncing between loud and faint. And as he stood in the hall, it took a fair bit not to punch the wall beside him. Yugi had definitely put the ring in that bag.

And as the rest of the day would prove, despite Bakura never once acting as though it were the case, the ring was most certainly back in his hands.

Perhaps because he hadn't necessarily done anything, but they never did corner Bakura on the ring. Perhaps it was instead because of how awkward it would be- '_hey Bakura, sorry about everything, but we'd kinda hoped you wouldn't realize we lied about having the ring. You're kind of scary when you have it_.' Or perhaps it was even the fact that, despite the ring being there...

He was sure that it was 'their' Bakura there. Not the spirit of the ring, not an act... It was really Bakura.

Which was what made the fact that he politely vanished from the classroom at the end of the day without a word to them so upsetting, he supposed.

* * *

As it was, he couldn't do anything about it right now. He didn't have Bakura's number- actually, he wasn't really sure if most of them did, and who knew why that was.

Still- he had work, and Bakura was gone for the moment. Yugi would probably try and talk to him in the end- work off some guilt by offering a trip to Burger World, something like that...

There wasn't much time to worry about it though, as he came into the kitchen dining room to see none other than Seto on the phone.

A very annoyed Seto, he added mentally. "Uhhhh..."

"Over here," Mokuba sighed, head resting on one hand from where he sat at the island. "This could take a while..."

"A while..?" He walked over, turning as Seto seemingly ignored them both and continued a heated conversation on the phone...

...In a language he didn't even understand. "_Yakou, put your brother on the phone._"

...Annnnd he was catching the other half and he _still_ didn't understand it dammit. "_...No._"

"_NOW._"

"_He's busy._"

"_Bullshit he is, now how did you get this number?_"

A bit of silence, and then... "_Wouldn't you love to know...~_"

"_Yakou if you don't put your brother on the phone __right now_ _I'm going to do whatever it takes to get you institutionalized..._" Errr...

"...What's goin' on," he finally asked cautiously, unable to look away from the one sided conversation before them.

Mokuba again sighed, crossing his arms. "We had Yakou and Gekkou fly the jet back to the hangar for us."

PF- what. "You actually let th'm-"

"It's not like they could steal it- it's kinda hard to hide that thing."

He blinked. "... Point. Alrigh', so then what's-"

"They used it to trace our home phone." …

What. "...Kay... How..." He... Probably shouldn't ask, it's probably obvious from their view but-

Again, Mokuba sighed. "Calls from the jet automatically go through the home phone first, since its more secure than the work phone. Yakou found out, and now he's threatening to trace it again if it's changed." Uhhh...

"Threatn'n her with what, I thought we were past-"

"They want to make a birthday call since they know they wouldn't be allowed in on the day of."

"...Wh-" For a moment, he was fairly confused. A birthday call? That was it? That was all?

Then he remembered who this was.

And then, looking back to a somewhat red-faced Seto ('_How in the hell did you get my birthday in the first place..!_' ...Oh so this was the PAST he was hearing in his head.), he quickly stood. "Yea... Yea I think I'm gonna head t' work early t'day..."

Mokuba snorted, but nodded nonetheless. "I'll make note of it Katsuya-nii..!" And with that he turned his eyes back to the table, Katsuya hurriedly making his escape- and not a moment too soon either.

'_NO, you will NOT call my office if I'm unreachable here, and you know EXACTLY why!_'

Ooooooh... Not too soon at ALL.

* * *

. . .

_He was dreaming again. At first he thought it was just a game- a board game with players in the guise of figurines, playing out the whims of others._

_But he was standing on stone with bare feet, and dressed in naught but a simple and worn tunic._

_And rather than a slash through his middle, there was a blade in his stomach. And shouts... Shouts of rage for both himself and for he with the blade. Shouts of horror, and outcry..._

_And the sound of air rushing past him he noticed as the blade was torn out. Rushing through his middle, and from around his sides as he fell back... Back..._

_Into darkness..._

_He could hear a whistling in his ears..._

_'Jonouchi...'_

_A whistling that seemed to increase, twisting and changing its pitch._

_'Jonouchi...'_

_And for a split second as he approached the ground-_

-_bnnnnnggggg! Bnnnnnnlllgggggg..!_-

"NHY!" Katsuya jumped as the sound of the ringing phone met his ears, the blond coughing almost hoarsely as he looked around. "Hah... Hah... Wh..."

There was someone standing in front of his bed he realized dully- someone tossing something at hi- "_**Here. Catch.**_"

"Wh-" -_crack_- "OW- FU..."

"_**Pick up the PHONE.**_" Owwwww who threw-

His head cleared, and with somewhat bleary eyes he stared. "...What." It looked to be a mix of some kind of... Machine and the Alligator sword. Actually, it looked to be a very _poor_ mix of a robot and the Alligator Sword, enough that he almost forgot about the phone.

The monster's mouthed 'PICK IT UP' was enough to remind him, and fumbling with it for a moment he answered it. "ER... Moshi moshi..?"

"_Ahhh! Katsuya-nihan! I finally got through!_"

"S-Shizuka..!" He looked over to the clock almost immediately, eyes just about bulging in their sockets. T-Two PM..! "AH- When did-"

"_Aha... I just thought I'd check in to see how you were... Are you alright nihan..?_"

The blond blinked, looking over to the monster that was still standing in his room and slowly trying to find the right words. "Ahhhhh... Yea. Yeaaaa... I'm... Fine..." What.

"_**Just pay attention to your call, I'm not going anywhere...**_" THAT DID NOT HELP.

...Not that his sister had guessed of course. "_Aha... Well, I was wondering if you could pass a message for me- I know that Mokuba-kun mentioned it was Seto-k... Um... Seto-san's birthday in October..._" Eh? This was about Seto's birthday...? "_Could you pass along a 'happy birthday' from me nihan? I have a feeling that none of my calls will get through if I wait until the day of... Or even the week before actually..._" Ahahahah...

"Hahaha... Y-Yea, tha's... That's probably a good call," he coughed, shaking his head. Right. "I'll pass th' message along."

"_Ah! Thanks!_" There was a pause. "_Oh- Before I forget..._" Eh? Before she forgot...?

He blinked, frowning as a brief flash of ice came to mind. Alright that was weird, but what did-

"_Nihan, would you like to come and spend the holidays with mom and I..? If you're not going to be busy around then..?_" EHEEEEE!

"Ah- Y-You want me t' come over for Christmas..!"

Shizuka laughed somewhat on the other end, shaking her head. "_If you can't, that's okay... I just wanted to ask while I had the chance; I wanted to tell you, Keichi-kun woke up earlier this week... We couldn't call you until now though..._" Eh-

"Ah- Ryuzaki's up? An' he's alright..?" No... Creepiness? No weirdness..?

"_Yep!_" AH, yes! "_The doctors held him for a few days to check on his eyes though..._" His... His eyes...?

"Er... Why..?"

His sister paused, shrugging. "_It's not much, don't worry..! They just-_"

"Turned gold..?" Yea that's weird-

"_Nihan..._" ...Oops. "_Nihan, please don't finish my sentences..._" EEEH-

"AH- S-Sorry, Shizuka..! I didn't-"

Laughter came from the other end, and the blond groaned. "_Ahahahah- it's fine..! Anyways, I have to go... I hope to see you at Christmas! Maybe if you're lucky you can meet Katsugi-kun!_" EH-

"K-Katsugi-?"

-_click_-

The phone was dropped, loud cursing meeting the air instantly. "AAAAAAAHHHH- Not anoth'r one..!"

"_**If it's any consolation,**_" the monster beside him started, "_**I don't have a clue what you're talking about.**_" Yeaaaa, well-

AH- He abruptly turned, giving an almost accusatory glare to the monster beside him. "Ah- tha's righ'..! Who are y' anyway, I didn' put you in my deck..!"

The monster shrugged. "_**'S cause you haven't opened the booster pack yet- been sitting in your drawer long enough though, so I figured I'd drop by.**_" He paused. "_**Didn't think I'd get stuck though...**_" Ahahahahaha... Yea... Well then.

"Righ'... An' you're...?"

"_**Cyber-Tech Alligator at your service,**_" he said with a casual salute. "_**Think you could send me back now..?**_" Eh?

There was a bit of an awkward silence between the two, ending with Katsuya looking back to the side table and slowly looking inside the open drawer where the unopened booster pack was. "Eh... Sure," he found himself saying in the end. "...Sure thing."

* * *

"Wait you said what-!"

Mokuba's reaction to his agreement with Shizuka was...

Unexpected really, though in hindsight he probably should have seen it coming. Literally. "Er... She... Is kinda my sister Mokuba... I mean, spendin' some time with 'r in th' summer was great, but th's Christmas...! I haven't been able t' do tha' in..." He leaned back against his chair, whistling. "Phew... _Years_..."

The boy frowned at this, sighing. "Nnnn... I know but..." There was a pause, before he crossed his arms in defeat. "I was kinda hoping you'd spend it with us again..." Ohhhhh no no no no no-

"O-Oi, don' gimme tha' face..."

"Katsuya-niiiiiii..."

"Oi! You'd do th' same f'r yours wouldn' you..!"

At that Mokuba blinked, looking away rather guiltily. He was right after all- if anything in fact, he'd been caught in the act, and as he realized that he sighed. "Mmnnnn..."

"...Y' know, it's only f'r a week..."

"I know!" The boy scowled, before abruptly trading the expression for an almost devilish smirk. "But you know, if that's the case, then you definitely can't skip out on Neesama's birthday, got it!"

EHHH? "AH- I wasn' even plannin' to!" he protested, only to get cut off.

"You have to make sure it's the greatest birthday ever, got it? I'll even set things up- you have to spend as much time as possible with her though!"

"Wh- What are yah, some kinda match maker..?"

The boy frowned. "What makes you say that..." Erk-

"N-Nothin! I wasn' sayin-"

"Saying what, 'mutt'." Oh shi-

Katsuya swallowed, slowly turning around as Seto stood in the hall. "Errr... Hiiii Seto-chan...~"

The woman narrowed her eyes, Katsuya choking. "Do I _really _have to say 'stop calling me that' _again_, or should I just stitch your mouth shut so you can't?"

More coughing, and he looked away. "'M good, m' good..." S-Sheeeeesh, the Tenma brothers really had her in a mood didn't they..!

Seto said nothing more on that, merely walking past to look at Mokuba. "What are you planning?"

The boy smiled. "I don't have a clue what you're talking about neesama..~ I was just talking to Katsuya-nii about how he was going to visit Shizuka-chan for Christmas..~"

She turned, narrowing her eyes at the blond and opening her mouth to speak before he cut her off. "I jus' found out! Iw's gonna tell yah, I swear!"

Seto seemed to continue glaring for a moment... Only to quickly smirk and turn back to her brother. "Oh I know you would... Unless you wanted to lose your job of course..."

"AH- I wouldn-"

"Exactly." She turned her focus back to Mokuba. "Mokuba... What are you planning..."

"Exactly what I said before," he responded innocently. "Nothing~!"

"Mokuba..."

The boy grinned, and before his sister could say anything more he ran out of the room. "You'll find out later neesama..!~"

"Ah- Mokuba..!" The woman turned, Katsuya instantly ducking and hopping off his chair to flee.

"Katsuya..."

"See y' on th' 25th Seto-chan!"

"The twen-" Back to where Mokuba vanished now- "MOKUBA..!"

"AAAAAHAHAHAHAHAH~"

It really was a wonder that he was able to do anything at all that week, but at least the two seemed to have 'solved' things before it was time to eat later that evening.

* * *

"Maaaaannnn... 'F there's one thing I hate about getting' presents..."

A number of days after the 'deal' had been made with Mokuba had now brought Katsuya to a somewhat familiar position. As usual, he was attempting to think of a present for Seto... As usual he was stuck on what present to buy...

And as usual it felt a little like he was visiting his Dad as some sort of escape to that. Well at least he'd be on parole in a few months...

Though really, walking toward the prison center in the middle of autumn after school wasn't exactly something he'd have pictured himself doing two years ago. (Damn, things had changed...)

Nonetheless, with his hands stowed in his jacket pockets he continued on his way, ignoring the cool wind that was blowing for the moment and sighing. "Aaaaaaghhhh be so much easier if she w'sn't a damn billionaire..."

"_Mm? What, Kaiba?_"

"NHY-!" The blond jumped, coughing as the floating form of the 'Other Yugi' abruptly appeared beside him. "What th-" He looked around for the normal one, eyes wide. "How th' hell..?"

The spirit grinned. "_Hn! We've been practicing- at the moment, I can be at the exact opposite end of the city without trouble!_" Errr...

"Th- The other end..." He chocked, staring at his friend a moment. "Is tha' ev'n safe..?"

"_Of course it is, why wouldn't it be?_" Errr...

Reasons? He shook his head. "N-Nevermind... An' anyway how long 'f you been followin' me?"

'Yugi' shrugged. "_Not long really- I was just wondering why you were going this way. ...Decided it would be better to wait until there was no one in the area to talk though,_" he added with a chuckle, Katsuya's face heating up somewhat in response.

"Gee... Thanks..." Way to remind him that _no one could see the guy._ "It's nothin' you'd be interested in, in any case," he continued with a shrug. "'M jus' visitin' my dad."

"_Mm? Your father?_" Damn it 'Yugi', who called dads 'father' these days? He looked away for a moment, before grinning in the typical 'odd' manner he had. "_Well then- this could be interesting couldn't it._"

"AH- O-Oii," he laughed as he rubbed his head, "Y' don' have t' follow f'r somethin' like tha'... We... We don' talk about much..."

"_Maybe, but I've never actually seen your father Jonouchi- I'm curious. I won't say anything if it makes it better, but I'd really like to see him..._" Yea... Probably to figure out how he could see past the bottle throwing...

Ahhhhhh what the hell. "Alrigh'... Not a word though yea? Already hard 'nough t' explain away finishin' his sentences..."

"_You have to do that often then?_"

"Er..." Yeaaa...

Decided not to answer that. The spirit took his silence as enough of a response as it was in the end, shrugging and floating along with him as they came to the detention house. Perhaps he was just too distracted with other thoughts to realize this wasn't the best idea of course...

In the end though, as the blond took his seat on the one side of the glass with his father on the other, it hit him about as hard as a ton of bricks.

"Katsuyaaaaaaa!"

Suddenly all of the conversations that were typical of dear old dad were coming to his mind, and the fact that an invisible version of one of his best friends was there was not in any way comforting.

Nonetheless, shaking himself as the other Yugi stared, he grinned. "Hey! How's it goin' dad?"

"As wonderful as it can be in a jail cell!" the man responded, grinning and laughing despite things. The comment was obviously meant in good humor- though despite it, Katsuya was still subject to watching Yugi's mild shock over the blunt statement. His dad sighed, smile softening. "I can't wait to get out... Get back to living right, ah? And seeing you, and maybe seeing Shizuka..!"

"Heh- Well, only a few more months righ'?"

The pair both laughed, and the elder grinned. "Right! Ohhh, but Katsuya..." Oh shit. "Katsuyaaaa, you need to tell me what's happened since you came in! It's been so long..!"

"Ahh... W-Well, it hasn' really..."

"It's been months! Of course it has..!"

"_Months?_"

The spirit quickly got a look that said 'shh', hurriedly covered by a nervous laugh. "Aha... W-Well tha's true... But nothin' big's happened, honest!"

"_...Battle City? The R.A. project..?_"

"Well... I mean, I made th' semi-finals 'f th' Battle City tournament, but tha's about it..."

"_...Wouldn't everything else count as well..?_"

As Katsuya continued to ignore the spirit, his father grinned. "Ahhhh..! Semi finals..! So close! One of the others, they were talking about that... Couldn't watch those matches, but..." The grin grew, and he continued in an almost sing-song voice. "I got to see the other battles...~"

EH- He choked, eyes widening. "Wh- Y' watched me duel..!" What what-

"Of course I did..!" D-Dad, why- "You thought your old man wouldn't want to see?" The man pouted falsely, crossing his arms for good measure as Yugi watched in what was likely amusement. "What kind of father wouldn't..!"

"Err... It- It ain't that, really..! I jus' didn' expect..."

"Next time, you should definitely win Katsuya..! Make your old man proud..!"

He coughed again, laughing. "Dad, how much abou' duelin' do y' even know...?"

". . ." Katsuya's dad stared, looking up in apparent thought before answering. "...You play... ...With cards."

"_Wh- But there's so much more..!"_ Not now Yugi.

Katsuya sighed, shaking his head. "Errr... Tha's one way t' put it..."

"Mm." More false pouting, and the old man shrugged. "Well, in that case, you should fight for your girlfriend then..!"

"GH-" He sputtered, ignoring the sudden look of stupefied amusement from his friend to attempt speaking. "D-Dad!"

"Well you obviously haven't gotten close enough to her yet! You need to work on your charms son..! Take her out for a nice date, and rent out a room-"

"DAD-!"

"Ohhh, Katsuya, you're completely red-faced, why..?"

Stiffled laughter was coming from the 'empty' space beside him, and it took all he could not to simply turn and growl at his friend. "Gh- There's a cop righ' there..!"

"It's not illegal!"

"Tha' ain't th' point..!"

"Hnhahahahah! Ahhh Katsuya..." His dad rubbed his forehead, attempting to calm himself before speaking again. "Ahhh.. You should at least do something special for her..! Get her a nice dinner, or a present..."

"Er... W-Well, I guess her birthday 's comin' up..."

"_Ehhh? Kaiba's?_"

Before any looks could be given in response to that, Katsuya's dad jumped. "Ohh! Is it? What are you going to do? Something _special_..?"

"Eeeehhhh-"

"Have you considered chocolate?"

"EEEEHHHH..." W-Well-

"Sir," a stern voice spoke, both 'Jonouchis' turning to the source. The policeman gestured to the clock, nodding his head. "Visiting hours are over sir- I need to ask you to leave now."

"Ah- Tha' soon..?" At Katsuya's words the cop merely nodded, his dad giving a somewhat resigned sigh.

"Ahhhh... Well, even if it wasn't very long, it was good to see you..."

"Oi oi, I'm comin' back next chance I get got it..!"

"Sir, the time..."

Father and son shared one last smile and glance despite that- and with a nod, Katsuya turned. "Yea yea, I heard yah..! Oi! Old man...!" His dad grinned from behind the glass. "Till next time!"

"Aha! Yes! Until next time!"

That was the last thing he heard before the distance and doors made it impossible to hear, and his own 'sight' decided to cop out- he figured that was alright though.

"_So_," 'Yugi' said after a moment, grinning from beside him. "_Is 'chocolate' on the list of ideas then?_"

"AAAAAAAAGH."

The other Yugi was probably extremely wise to 'smoke away' at that moment, as rather than Katsuya's fists coming in contact with his face, it wound up being his fists on thin air.

He'd just have to get him back later, he supposed.

* * *

Some people probably figured it was somehow 'funny', the way time seemed to pass more quickly the closer a nerve-wracking day came. And the fact was, that was what it felt like. It wasn't so much that he didn't want the day to come, just that it was... Well.

Really, _really_ making him uneasy thinking about it.

But lo, there it was-

Seto's birthday.

Granted, since it was thursday he was in school for most of it, but still. While Mokuba convinced his sister to take a day off to spend the event with him, his classmates were busy noticing.

While he more or less scowled depending on what the hell they were saying.

"Awwww come on Jonouchi!" Honda was laughing later at lunch. "It's the least you deserve after leaving me hanging last week!"

"I told you I'd have arcade time tomorrow...!"

"Still deserve it."

"G-Guys.."

While Bakura (fruitlessly) attempted to calm the situation growing between the two friends, Yugi sighed. "Hahhhh..."

"I almost wonder if she did it on purpose..."

"Eh?" The others still distracted, Yugi turned to look beside him at Anzu. "What do you mean..."

Anzu shrugged somewhat, neatly placing her chopsticks on a now empty bento box and setting it on the ground. "Normally, Kaiba-san has a fairly strict schedule for things like work hours right? I almost wonder if she purposefully changed them when Jonouchi mentioned it to her..."

The woman's only response to that was a stare really- but as Yugi opened his mouth to add something to that stare, Otogi beat him to it.

"I wouldn't put it past her," he commented idly, briefly pausing to sigh at the antics that the others were getting into now. It involved a headlock, a flip, a panicked Bakura... He looked back to what was looking to be the only sane ones on the roof for the moment. "You saw how she was with him last time after all."

"Er... Last time?" Yugi asked, blinking a few times.

Anzu's look could have dried the oceans, most likely. "Yes... You'll have to clarify- between the soul-stealing demon cards and the coma, I'm not really sure which 'time' you're talking about."

"Hahaha..." Otogi sighed, explaining. "Not quite what I meant. It's a little more subtle than that, but I'll put it this way... When someone like Seto Kaiba begins using excuses like 'don't touch my employees' within Jonouchi's vicinity but not anyone else in the building, there's a pretty obvious difference in treatment."

Oh. The others shared glances a moment, blinking. Come to think of it, even when Honda and Jonouchi were animatedly recounting the events of 'R.A' to Otogi and Bakura, that hadn't occurred... But...

"I think that interfering with things like that is a bit far for Kaiba-san, isn't it?" Yugi asked nervously, laughing a little.

The tallest of the three merely shrugged, the bell for class ringing in the background as he headed for the door. "Kaiba is 'Kaiba'," he responded. "Nothing is too far for her."

* * *

Sitting on the edge of the bed, he was wondering if this was going to actually work out well at all. It was, after all, as he'd overheard on the roof. Kaiba was Kaiba, Seto was Seto. Nothing was going to change her attitude in things. In a sense, he woudn't have had it any other way, but...

He sighed, looking at the deck he was holding in his hands. "Nyhhhhh... Should have just tried messin' with th' silver wire..."

At that thought he turned to the desk at the side where the silver wire in question sat, half bent into a series of shapes and occasionally dotted a rusty red. Yeaaa...

Maybe on Christmas.

"Hey, Katsuya-nii..!"

Dammit. The blond shook his head, grabbing his duel disk from the side and fastening it on his arm before answering the door. "Yea, I'm comin'..! Where's Seto-chan?"

Mokuba held his hands behind his head, jerking it slightly to the side. "She's in her study already..." he grumbled, huffing. "I'll make sure she gets out though, don't worry..! You just get to the yard okay?"

He nodded. "Righ'." There were probably plenty of other rooms with space for this (actually, he KNEW there were rooms with enough space), but somehow it seemed like it'd be more fun outside... "She's got 'er duel disk..?"

The boy snorted. "What made you think she goes anywhere without it..?"

Hahahaha... "Point," he responded under his breath, laughing. "Alrigh' then..! Don' make me wait long..!" he called out, the two heading their separate ways as Mokuba nodded.

"I could say the same to you Katsuya-nii..!"

"EH?" What-

What did that even mean, what-!

He didn't even catch a glimpse of what it meant, in the end. Certainly not before he got to the backyard, and not before he began wandering the relatively clear space between the mansion and the line of trees that came before the horse's field. Which was alright for him, really. He wasn't about to fret over it for now, and so instead he stood around with his hands in his pockets to wait. Duel disk on, deck in place... A breeze of wind blew toward his back as he stood, and with it a few fallen leaves to catch his eye.

..Shit. He knew it was Seto's birthday but... Was it really the middle of fall already? It was just one of those things that hadn't occurred; something he hadn't bothered paying attention to between screwing around with the others and sitting around for his job.

...Also dreams, he supposed, but ehhhhhhhhhhh-

"Are you _serious_."

He jumped, turning at the sound of Seto's unimpressed voice. True to Mokuba's word, she was there with her duel disk. Didn't look _happy_ about it of course, but she was there.

Katsuya grinned. "Hehe... What! Y' said you'd duel me sometime, didn't yah?"

The woman merely stared, light glare unchanging. "I hardly expected you to take advantage of that moment _today_," she growled, crossing her arms. "Particularly out here."

He shrugged. "Whaaat, y' have a better idea f'r a location?"

"Inside the ball room, one of the basement rooms... To list a very small few of many options," Seto answered dryly.

"Eh." Another shrug. "Here works jus' as well righ'? B'sides, th' leaves look great righ'? Lot more colourful than a plain green!"

The frown persisted, but in the end she snorted. "Tch. You're lucky I have nothing better to do then, 'Mutt'... I think I might just humor your challenge. Perhaps knock you down a rung or too after the ego boost you received from the tournament."

Hahaha... Oi oi, they were technically tied for third in Battle City weren't they..?

Eh. Whatever. "Yea yea... It ain't a challenge, jus' a duel you know..!"

"Hn." Oiiiiii... "Lets just get this over with then," she decided, holding out her duel disk. "You want a duel? Then you'll have one..! I'm not about to turn this down..." she leered, eyes sparking with an almost threatening gleam.

He just about shuddered at that really. C-Casual though, it was just casual..! (Did the word exist in her dictionary?) In the end he didn't bother asking, instead nodding and grinning as his own disk clicked on. "Yea!" Decks shuffled, and cards were drawn-

Of course, since Seto had long since activated her disk she went first. And he figured that was only fair, with her birthday and all. He'd... Probably not win in the end.

Just a gut feeling really. "Well- yer move, birthday girl!"

...He probably shouldn't have said that. Immediately Seto stiffened, a light frown becoming a thick scowl. "Oh just wait," she snarled. "You're about to learn exactly what a real duel is..!" Awwwww shit he really shouldn't have said- "I summon Ryu-Kishin Powered!" she announced, slapping the card to the disk as a tablet of stone arose from the ground; crafted almost from the ground that was truly there it seemed, the stone that appeared was coated with a layer of moss and grass along the top. The monster that thundered through however did not appear to pay it any mind, merely shaking his head with a roar as he prepared for battle. "I then set two cards and end my turn!"

The second set of tablets rose to a similar guise behind the Ryu-Kishin, and as he looked over the blank faces he smirked. Heh. This beat a table top match any day..! "Alrigh'... Y'r gonna have t' do better than tha' though!" he laughed, slipping his first card to the disk. "I summon Gearfried in attack mode!" As the tablet rose his grin grew, the iron knight cracking his knuckles in anticipation. "Too bad f'r you," he added with a laugh. "Those traps ain't gonna work on Gearfried..!" Not if they were her usual at least..! So!

"_**Ready when you are...**_"

"Gearfried!" Katsuya announced- "Attack!"

"Hnhnhnhn.." As the monster charged his summoner froze, watching as his opponent smirked. "Really... The cards aren't intended to effect _your_monster... Activate trap!" she announced, the first of blank tablets crumbling into a lens that forced the light around Ryu-Kishin to shrink and distort. "Shrink! Ryu-Kishin's life points are halved," she announced, Gearfried's bladed arms easily skewering the beast as a noxious gas slowly erupted from the resulting wound. "And with his destruction, the Crush Card Virus is activated..!"

"_**NGH-**_" The gas filled the field and immediately Katsuya brought his arm to his face, coughing as the wind blew it over the field. Wheezing, the Iron Knight on his side of the field collapsed in a fit, and the blond moaned as his tablet crumbled as well.

"Awwwwww..." Nooooooooo... He looked to the other cards in his hand, sighing as their images appeared to blacken. At the same moment, other cards were being spat from his deck... And with yet another resigned sigh he started sending them to the grave. "Sorry ev'ryone..."

Across from him his opponent merely snorted, still smirking. "'Sorry'..? I would think a weak duelist would have plenty of weak monsters; this just enforces that!" she laughed.

"Bah! I still got plenty 'f strategies t' combat y' Seto-chan..!"

"Katsuyaaaaaaa..." Okay maybe he should just not use her name for most of this match, urk-

"Go on!" he called out, cutting off whatever scathing remark she was prepared to make. "Make yer move!"

"Hn..." The woman rolled her eyes, sighing. "Such a boring duel... Very well! I draw!" she announced, doing just that. While Seto looked over her hand, Katsuya had to swallow. Okay so he SAID he had something but...

Well.

He was still defenseless dammit..! "I summon La Jinn!" Seto called, a new tablet rising as the ethereal deity materialized from the stone. "Attack him directly!" Awwwww craaaaap...

"Khu- Kah...!" Still coughing from the virus he grimaced, watching as the jinn nodded and charged. With a fist raised it prepared his attack, expression impassive and-

Dust met his face, and as his coughing fit increased the jinn snorted and crossed his arms. "_**Mmn! Pathetic,**_" the monster decided, Katsuya's points dropping by 1800 as it shifted back to his place. "_**I merely blew upon you!**_"

Oh be quiet man, he was too busy dealing with potential lung infection. "Planning on discarding a few internal organs with those coughs?" While the blond frowned, she continued. "Really... Didn't you know fools can't catch colds?"

"Yea yea... Imagine if it really was a cold..!" The woman seemed to stiffen briefly at that, and in the pause resulting he drew his next card. "Whatever- 's my turn!" And with the cards in his hand now, he mentally crossed his fingers. "First, I summon th' Swordsman of Landstar," he announced, tablet rising before the card could even be placed. "An' next..." Please work please work please work... "Graceful dice!"

As the tablet rose and the angelic imp floated forth from newly carved stone, Seto rolled her eyes from across them. "Hn... You can't win everything with luck, Mutt..!"

"Heh... I c'n still try can't I?" ...Okay not the best comeback but- "Watch!" he shouted, the die falling from the imp's hands. "Th's roll's gonna set things right..!" Bounce... Bounce...

Four!

The swordsman's blade glowed with power, and Katsuya pumped a fist in cheer. "WHOO! Alrigh'! Landstar! Attack th' Jinn!" he ordered, the swordsman's increased power more than enough to cut down the beast before them to inflict a little more damage to already cut down points.

His opponent merely scowled. "Hn... Don't get so excited yet," she drawled, drawing her card as it came to turn end for Katsuya. "The duel isn't over..." Briefly she looked over her hand, eyes snapping up as she prepared to make her move. "If anything, we've just begun!" As she spoke yet another tablet appeared, again rising from the earth around them before crumbling away to reveal the image of what lay within. "I summon the Blade Knight," Seto cried, the armored man stepping out with a loud crunch of leaves beneath his feet. "And I attack the Swordsman of Landstar!"

"Ngh-" Bracing himself for the backdraft he averted his gaze, the mute soldier giving a single sharp cry as the opponent cut through.

"**HN!**" The knight snorted, giving one swish of his blade before replacing it in his sheath. "**Bring out a real opponent next time, Ancient..!**" Tch. Ancient this ancient that...

...Was everything in Seto's deck like this..! Across from him another tablet arose, his opponent calmly setting another card. "One card face down," she stated, apparently calming slightly with the move in her favor. She fixed a triumphant smirk Katsuya's way, arms crossed once more. "End turn!"

"Heh." Despite the severe blow to his lifepoints he had to grin, a fact that had his opponent's own expression freeze just slightly. What... Surprised to see him in this kind of mood?

She had a lot to learn, didn't she?

"My turn then," he announced with a laugh. "Y' might 've cut me down, but I'm jus' getting' warmed up here..!"

"Warmed up with nearly a quarter of your life points remaining?" she responded dryly, a somewhat cruel smirk joining her words.

He stiffened somewhat at that, but shook it off. "Oi oi... Jus' watch..! I summon th' Little Winguard in attack mode," he called out, tablet rising as Seto frowned.

"...Is this some moronic attempt at strategy, Mutt?" Even the Winguard seemed to take one look across the field before giving a loud 'eep!' at her chances, looking back with wide eyes.

"_**Please say yes, please say yes..!**_**!**"

Ahahaha... Oi oi, what did she take him for..? "Maybe," he said instead, taking another card from his hand as he winked at his monster. "Why not see f'r yerself? I play th' magic card Legendary Sword!" he began, his monster jumping as her own blade began to glow. "An' with tha', I att-"

"Activate set card 'Absorb Spell'!" Seto countered loudly, Katsuya's smile locking in place as it 'cracked' in a sense. "Diverting your 'power up' to the Knight!" she finished with a grin, the glow fading from Winguard's sword as it transferred to the Blade Knight instead. "Hnhnhnhnhn... Nice try 'Mutt'... But not quite..." BAHHHHH.

Like that was going to get him! "Mannnnn... You f'rget my name again? Mutt this mutt that..." he joked, shaking his head as he took another card, "Maybe I oughtta think 'f somethin' f'r you!"

"..._Try it_," she snarled almost immediately, her opponent stiffening. "And you'll see what happens."

"AHEHEHEEee... I set one card," he decided to say in the end, coughing a little uneasily as the Winguard in front of him swallowed. "End turn!"

"_**Um. I hope you have a good idea Katsuya,**_" the Winguard said with a swallow, "_**Because I could have at least gone into defense...**_" Ahahaha...

Yea... Well, he'd hope that there wouldn't be an attack but...

He swallowed, watching Seto draw her next card. Looked like he got his wish. "Hnhnhnh... Not afraid of an attack are you?" she chuckled, looking across as he stiffened.

"Nyhhhh... Jus' a little..!"

The woman's smirk grew. "Too bad..! I can do much worse after all- I pay 1000 lifepoints to play this," she announced, a new tablet rising at the side where her now destroyed spells once stood. "Enemy Controller!" Shit. "I take control of the Little Winguard," she continued with a grin, "And while I_could_ sacrifice both of these monsters," the woman went on, Katsuya grimacing as the large device appeared from the earthenwork to seemingly 'zap' his monster into a drone like state, "I think I'll play this..."

...Dammit.

"Cost down!" As the next tablet rose and crumbled the dust seemed to shoot toward Winguard, covering her completely as the monster slowly walked toward Seto's side of the field. "And with that done, I only need one sacrifice for this..! WATCH!" she cried, "This is a real monster! I summon the Blue Eyes White Dragon..!"

In an instant the Little Winguard crumbled into the ground, vanishing into nothing but a rising flow of dust to form a new, larger tablet. Despite the darkened soil and moss however, the dragon which broke through the stonework was as white as its name, and completely untarnished by the ground. She stepped forth with a loud, song-like roar that had both Katsuya and Seto herself looking toward her magnificence, before the great white dragon took her position at her master's side.

The look on Seto's face made it relatively obvious what she was about to do. "Hnhnhn... It seems our duel didn't last too long!" she laughed, pointing her dragon forward. "Exactly as I expected...! Now.. Blue Eyes!" she called, the dragon taking a deep breath as she looked toward Katsuya. "_**BURST STREAM..!**_"

"HAH-!" A resounding slap entered the air as he activated the tablet at his side, palm stinging just slightly as a pair of small lambs tumbled out from the once blank stone. "Act'vate th' set spell... Scapegoat!" The first leaped directly before him, taking the hit directly and becoming naught but ashes in an instant. The second however, gave a loud bleat before curling up near his feet, the blond giving it a brief look before turning back to his opponent with an expression of grit determination.

"Hn! Of course you would have that," the woman sighed in response, as though this new development was only barely delaying some other plan. Fingering her one card for a mere moment she pointed her other monster forward, the scapegoat at Katsuya's feet standing with a jolt. "Blade Knight gains 400 attack points due to his effect," she announced, the monster's blade seeming to glow with still more power from the barely existing hand of cards in Seto's grip. "NOW! ATTACK!"

"**HnnnnHAH-!**" As the monster charged the scapecoat leaped into his path, cleaved easily in two as another lamb came to take his place. Speaking not another word the knight moved to take his position again, Katsuya swallowing. Alright... No monsters with more than 1500 attack points in his deck, annnnd...

...Blue Eyes right across from him. Shit. Not good he thought to himself, drawing the 'Battle Warrior' and preparing his next move with a sigh. "Hahhh... Set one card," he announced as it came to his turn, a blank tablet coming to his side as another rose almost directly in front of him. "An' after tha', Battle Warrior in defense mode- End turn!"

"Really, your delays are getting worse the longer this goes," his opponent 'scolded', triumphant smirk still fixed in place.

"Tch!" He snorted. "As if..! You jus' wait an' see what I've got in store," he added, his own smirk coming into existence. Maybe he didn't have any strong monsters, but he had a plan...

He just hoped to hell it worked..! "My turn," Seto called out, drawing her next card and giving it one look before placing it on the field. "I play the spell Card of Demise!" she announced, Katsuya staring with somewhat wide eyes from across her. She'd be able to draw until she had five cards his mind told him, watching as Seto did just that. ...Provided she discard it all in five more turns... "I'll be sure to destroy you before this card's effect comes in full force," the woman stated, as though realizing just what was on her opponent's mind. "Until then... I summon the Kaiser Seahorse!" she announced, tablet rising and crumbling almost as quickly as she made the summon. Covered in violet and sea blue armor the almost coral-like knight stepped forward, giving nothing more than a scoff at what lay across him on the field. "And then I attack! GO!" she ordered, the knights charging forward as the last of the scapegoat bleated in defense. While both were cleaved in two their tablet shattered entirely, before that of the Battle Warrior's followed beneath the fires of Blue Eyes herself. "If you intend to prove me wrong Katsuya, you'd best do so quickly," she laughed, apparently not catching her slip as the blond before her briefly stared in surprise. "Because it looks as though your next turn will be your last..! Unless of course," she added almost idly, "You intend to give up..."

His grin could probably have rivaled a few of Seto's really. "Hehehehe... As if, Seto-chan..!" Drawing his next card he set it on the duel disk immediately, tablet rising from the ground only to buckle and spin as it formed an ever familiar grinning faced pot. "I play Pot of Greed!" he announced, drawing his next two cards as the pot in question crumbled into two more tablets. "An I've got jus' what I need... Firs' though, I'm activatin' my trap!" the blond shouted, hooded imp leaping from the tablet to begin digging at the ground in an instant. "Graverobber! I pay 1000 lifepoints t' activate th' effect of yer very own 'Enemy Controller," he continued, his opponent going white. "DESTROYIN' BLUE EYES!"

...This was probably not a good idea. "WHAT..!" As the controller took effect the dragon roared, clutching her head immediately- in but an instant however, there was no head to grab. Instead the dragon dissolved, just as the Little Winguard before, vanishing into a wash of dust on the ground. "Blue Eyes... YOU..."

"I ain' finished yet," Katsuya continued, catching his breath as the lifepoint train took effect. "I play th' spell Monster Reborn..! Bringin' Blue Eyes White Dragon t' MY side of th' field..!"

The roar that met his ears was incredible, and for a brief moment it drowned out the snarl from across him. The tablet of the dragon rose tall behind him as the ankh of the spell appeared, drowning the field in a brilliant teal light. With a singing roar the dragon launched forth from her tablet, soaring through the air before landing protectively at his side. Once more, the dragon roared... But it seemed calming almost, and perhaps even reassuring. And as Katsuya stared the dragon briefly rubbed her head against his, before batting his hand with it.

"Ah- Alrigh, Alrigh'," he muttered, giving the beast a slight pat on the head. "Er..."

"Get your hands of my DRAGON," his opponent roared, the blond swallowing somewhat uneasily. Okay, this really could have gone a little better but...

"She ain't yours righ' now!" he instead countered, pointing the dragon forward. "An' b'sides tha', she doesn' seem t' have any problems with fair play..!"

"YOU..." OKAY HE SHOULD PROBABLY SHUT UP NOW.

"ATTACK TH' BLADE KNIGHT!" he called out, the dragon rearing as she prepared to send a blast of flame forward. "_**BURST STREAM!**_"

"_**Ugh.**_" As the fires flew across the field, the Blade Knight seemed to almost sigh in resignation. "_**At least you got the damn attack name right...**_" O-Oi oi...

It wasn't like he did that for EVERYTHING he attacked with right..?

As the fires cleared he tried not to pay too much attention to the livid expression on Seto's face, instead placing one more card on the field. "I summon th' Hayabusa Knight in d'fense mode," he stated clearly, the smaller tablet rising up with the carving of the bird headed knight at his side. "End turn! Maybe y' shouldn' assume th' end of a duel so quick!" he added, smirking again as Seto continued to glare. "Anythin' can happen..!"

"Ahh..." Oh shit. As Seto clenched her fists and looked across the field he felt himself pale again, before the woman settled with drawing her next card. "You're right... 'Anything' can happen..." Why did that not sound like an agreement. "You made one very... VERY... Big mistake though," she continued lowly, Katsuya silently cursing under his breath as Blue Eyes seemed to look down at him in mild (and potentially amused) worry. "You. DO NOT. TOUCH. BLUE EYES..! I still have Kaiser Seahorse," she roared, pulling it from the disk and sending it to the grave as she made her move. "And he accounts for two sacrifices for any Light monster..! SO WATCH," the woman snarled, another tablet rising in song as the Kaiser Seahorse crumbled. "I sacrifice the Kaiser Seahorse to summon my second Blue Eyes... AND NOW, MUTT," she continued in rage, "I'M SENDING YOU TO HELL!"

"S-Sheeesh..! C-Calm down," he laughed uneasily, the other dragon roaring just as threateningly. "'S not tha' big a deal..!"

"Oh it is..! ATTACK!" she ordered, the first of the dragons immediately charging a blast in retaliation as the second launched their flames. "_**BURST... STREAM!"**_

Ducking under his arms the white flames encompassed the entirety of the field, blinding him just long enough that by the time he looked up with spots in his eyes the field was cleared of both the dragons. "Holy shit," he groaned, holding his head. "I get tha' they mean a lot t' yah but..."

"But nothing," she spat, setting another card to the field. "I play the Monster Reborn, bringing Blue Eyes back to the field!" As the tablet that had been destroyed so often again returned Seto narrowed her eyes, her dragon soon appearing to her side with an apparently similar outlook on the match. "There's only one place for Blue Eyes," she continued, almost spitting on the ground as she roared. "UNDERSTAND?"

"I GET IT..!"

"And the next time you even THINK of dueling-"

"We hav'n even finished this one yet..!"

"Blue Eyes should never even be anywhere NEAR your HAND-"

"AAAAAUGH-"

"_**Aouuuuuuuunnnnnn...**_"

The pair jumped, turning as the white dragon on the side yawned.

"Eh... W's tha'..."

Seto said nothing, merely staring at her dragon with an expression that almost resembled embarrassment before turning back to the field with a stiff frown. "Tch. This duel is going to be over with in just one move more," she hissed, crossing her arms. "My turn is over..! Lets see what 'defense' you come up with now..."

"Hahhhhh..." Saved. He was just saved by a yawning dragon, really... What the hell had his life come to... Nonetheless he swallowed, drawing his next card. Baby Dragon... Well, he needed to get something on the field right? "Baby Dragon in d'fense mode!" he announced, one more tablet rising in front of him for a shield. "End turn!"

"Is that all?" The blond merely stared across the field in silence, and Seto snorted. "Blue Eyes will swallow those two whole..! But first," she laughed, taking the card she'd drawn and giving it a minute glance, "Stop Defense!" Awww hell. As the monsters were forced from their tablets the Hayabusa knight shook himself, a light screech escaping him before he drew his sword. He couldn't speak, as it seemed- but he looked back to his summoner with a single look and nodded, as though already knowing what was planned. Across from them, Blue Eyes prepared for attack... And Katsuya prepared to counter. "GO BLUE EYES," Seto ordered. "_**BURST STREAM!**_"

As the fires blasted the ground his side of the field was briefly obscured from view, the blond barely able to grope around for his blank tablet to activate it. But as the smoke cleared, it was plain to see what had been activated- and Seto's scowl increased. "Hah... Nutrient Z!" he laughed, grinning despite the bizarre shock to his system the tablet had just given him. "I migh' not have much points left r'gardless, but it's more then what you've got!

"Tch..." The woman merely narrowed her eyes, slipping another card into the disk. "I set one card and end my turn," she then decided, expression otherwise unchanging. "Your _move._" Ahahahah

Good god she could make anything menacing, couldn't she...

He drew his next card, a wry smile on his face as he realized what it was. Time Wizard... This was his chance then..! A long shot, but it was his chance! "I play th' TIME WIZARD!" he roared, tablet rising the instant its name was called. And as the wizard hopped forward, staff held toward the sky he continued. "Let's work some magic..!" The dial spun.

The hand of the wheel blurred and the symbols with it as the arrow passed over it, Katsuya swallowing as he watched for the result. Red... Black... Red... Black... It was a fifty fifty shot, and if it could land in his favor...

...Crown. "YEAAAAAA!" The Baby Dragon before him immediately began to grow- bones cracking and skin hardening as it slouched over, a beard growing as the beast quickly dwarfed much of the field. "An' because of th' effect," Katsuya laughed, looking across the field, "Blue Eyes is-" His grin fell, watching as a smirk came over Seto's own face.

Another trap. Interdimensional Matter Transporter. "Recognize this card?" she 'asked', the Blue Eyes White Dragon shimmering back into existence with a snarl. "You'll never defeat me with a gambling deck..! And now that it's my turn this is the end!" As still more tablets rose from the ground the Thousand Year Dragon moaned, narrowing blind eyes in confusion. "First- I discard the Thunder Dragon, adding two more to my hand!" the woman announced. "Next, I play this- Polymerization! Fusing the thunder dragons in my hand to summon the Twin-Headed Thunder Dragon!"

As she spoke a portal appeared behind her, and from within it the sounds of snarling could be heard. Crawling out from its depths and coming to her side the red-scaled beast came, double mouths open and screeching as lightning sparked from its back. "And in addition to that," Seto continued, her opponent swallowing, "I play this- QUICK ATTACK! THIS IS THE END," she roared, pointing the monsters forward in that instant. "TWIN-HEADED THUNDER DRAGON ATTACKS THOUSAND DRAGON... AND BLUE EYES ATTACKS DIRECTLY! GO!" she announced, unable to hear or see what her opponent was now doing as the white fires again filled the air while joined by sparks and the sound of thunder. "ATTACK! WITH_**BURST STREAM!**_"

"Hahaha..." The fires and sparks both blasted against the now thousand year old dragon and in seconds it was ash, most of the field leveling itself at the same moment. "HahaHAHAAA!" And as the flames of Blue Eyes' attack slammed against him he felt his body launch backward in the force, laughter faltering only when he finally landed. "HnhnHAHAHAHA- G-OH!" OW.

That hurt...

Still laughing he rubbed his head, standing with a grin. "Hahahah... AHAHAHAHA!"

"What the hell are you laughing about," Seto snarled, disk clacking back into its inactive mode as the last remaining portions on the field faded away. "...HEY! Katsuya..!"

"Hahahah... AHHHHH..."

"SNAP OUT OF IT!"

Sheeeesssssh she was ticked... "Man," he laughed, replacing his deck and pocketing it. "You really got me there..!"

...That comment managed to actually surprise the woman, apparently. "...What."

"I said y' got me!" he laughed again, shaking his head with a grin as he walked toward her. "It was a good match! Light'n up already..! It's yer birthday..! Th' duel was f'r fun, r'member!" He spun, as though to 'help' the subject along. "Righ'? FUN!"

Seto merely stared, as though unable to decide if she was disgusted or confused. Or perhaps both.

The remaining anger from the whole 'got yer dragon' thing probably wasn't helping. "...You're an IDIOT. I don't have-"

"Finish tha' sentence an' I'm tellin' yer brother."

"WHAT?" While Seto barked out the incredulous remark Katsuya merely laughed, grin widening beyond normal limits as the two slowly made their way back to the house. "Tch... Duels are not about... Just take your loss like a normal human being..!"

"Already did! Nothin' wrong with enjoyin' a good match against a strong opponent!"

"That isn't normal in anyway..!"

"Hehehehehe..!"

"Tch..." She apparently gave up, storming ahead to grab the door and go back instead. "Never mind... A mutt like you can't possibly understand..!"

"Hahhhhh... I think it's you not understandin'..."

Oh. Oh maybe he shouldn't have said that, because now she was glaring at him and...

"Uhhhhhh..."

"Go on," she growled. "What am I not 'understanding'..?"

"Erk- Well... 'S just fun, y' know."

"You said that already."

"I know, I know!" he protested, taking his shoes off as they got inside. "Jus'... What other reason would there be t' duel?"

"To win!" she snapped back, as though the answer were obvious. "What kind of question is that!"

"Really?"

Seto paused at that- really paused, as though hesitating not only on if it would be best to answer with her same stubborn remark but also on something else. In the end she merely began to make her way down the hall, Katsuya behind her. "...The duel is over," she stated flatly. "Just drop it."

He sighed at that, but decided to humor her nonetheless. If that was how she was going to be...

"Aha! Not yet, not yet!"

"Eh?" As the pair turned the corner Mokuba seemed to bolt out from nowhere, instantly doing his best to herd the duo toward an opposite room. Given his size compared to them, it was actually a little amusing but...

"Wh- Mokuba! What are you doing?"

"The Tenma brothers are still on the phone! Don't give me a reason for me to hand you the phone!"

"EHH? Why don' y' jus' say she's not here then?"

While Seto settled for a somewhat disbelieving glare, Mokuba snorted. "Yea, because they'll believe THAT! It was hard enough giving them the excuse I just gave them now..!"

"And that excuse is?"

There was no answer, the two suddenly shoved rather bodily into another room before the doors shut. "AH-!"

"Oi..! Mokuba..!"

"Hey hey, Mokuba! Let 's out!"

"No way!" came the muffled response from outside the door. "I gotta distract these guys. You two can watch a movie or something, there's popcorn waiting!"

...Okay what. He knew Mokuba'd planned everything but...

...What.

The two traded a brief glance, before looking toward the couch in the dim lit room. The room was, strangely enough, lit by a TV screen in fact. And as Katsuya walked over to stare at the screen before taking a seat, Seto snorted. "Aha... No."

"Whaaaaat." He smirked, resting an arm on the side of the couch. "Don' like movies?"

She merely fixed him with a glare, standing near the door a few more moments. "I have better things to do than sit in front of a tv screen for three hours."

Katsuya shrugged, grabbing the DVD case that was left on the counter. "Looks like Mokuba put in... Ooh! Thor!" HEEEEEY! He hadn't seen that one yet! ...And with luck his visions would butt out of it too.

And still, Seto stared, evidently more than unimpressed.

He tried another option. "...Y' know... If yer gonna be stuck in here as long 's Mokuba figures... Y' mind as well right?"

For a moment, Seto said nothing in response to that.

In the end however, she did indeed take her seat, and though they were initially sitting at far opposite ends of the couch the question of 'who has the popcorn bowl' would eventually drive them to at least sit with the bowl sitting directly between the two. Perhaps it wasn't the most 'romantic' of evenings...

Actually, watching the would be antagonist of their film arguably go through something in a similar vein to what Seto had wasn't romantic at all but...

Well in the end, he decided later that evening, it was a start.

...He did wish Mokuba had at least given them more popcorn though.

* * *

**AN:** LOOK IN THE SKY-

IT'S A BIRD.

IT'S A PLANE.

NO IT'S USAGI FINALLY UPDATING AHHH-

By this point though guys, I'm not making any more update promises. I have to just face the facts- when I started the fanfic, I was pretttttty much just sitting inside all day because UNEMPLOYMENT. Right now, between helping around my mom's house and actually having school and things, updates aren't ever going to be as fast as they used to be. And I think accepting that has helped me a lot, to be honest.

Regardless!

**In light of the current fiasco with 's purge, I'm preparing to begin uploading this fanfic on AO3.** You'll find me under the same Username as here, and while I'm not moving quiet yet, if for some reason this fanfic is purged I DO have a hard copy of all the chapters to post. For now though, I intend to give a loose edit through each one as I go, as well as throw in some BONUS material...

You can post images with these documents as I recall.

On another note- I haven't forgotten the contest prize! Don't worry, I **AM** working on a potential book cover image; the issue is deciding what it looks like! There's a LOT in this story, picking a small moment to describe it is HARD...

I might have to go minimalistic on it actually; but even then...

In any case, moving right along..!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Imadork~

I'm always here. ALWAYS.

In any case, here's an update~ I hope you enjoy it!

Hehehee. Omg Chocopeep you have the image in my head too now-!

Glad to inspire spur-of-the-moment reviews! I hope you enjoyed this chapter just as much!

No Iona.

I AM LATE IN RESPONDING. And in any case, I do hope you enjoyed this update!

PFFFFFF I'M PRETTY SURE SHE'S NOT AN ANGLER FISH- regardless, there is indeed a storm in her thoughts... With time however, it will clear. -u-

Oh no Mana...

It'll be some time before you get to this response, but goodness that is a mean DM!

In any case, I hope you've enjoyed the fanfic thus far..! I'll try to update soon~

In regards to chapter 45/44, the reason she summoned blue eyes then was because points didn't nessecarilly factor in by that point. The ninja was acting more as an NPC than a monster- he had other things at his disposal. More importantly, she'd taken down the dinosaur prior- this gave her as many life points as the monster had attack points, since she hadn't used a monster to fight it, which meant she could spare the cost to summon Blue Eyes if it meant avoiding an obvious glitch.

Oh! And... I can't recall if it was you or someone else, as unfortunately the review was lost..! However, while the monster keeping Seto hostage in that same arc did indeed realize her gender, the program didn't care. Seto was entered in under the guise of a male traveller according to remaining programming; this meant that the program continued as planned, targetting the Princess... While the side along bits that should have kept her locked firmly in the room FAILED HORRIBLY.

As it was, the attack was already underway at that time, technically. :/

IN ANY CASE!

**Usagi's Manga and Japan Guide/Section**

The section that will be on time for once! NO REALLY-

* * *

Why didn't Yugi notice the bag wasn't his to start? Because he and Jonouchi barely if ever touch their homework, and after the events of 'R', they pretty much just collapsed on their beds until the following morning.

* * *

Speaking of the bag, the ring was initially returned differently in the manga; it was sitting on Yugi's table, and while the group looked for Kaiba, Bakura spotted it. He then said 'oh there it is!' put it on, and commented on how it was rather mean of Yugi to not tell him he'd found it.

But. Given that it would be silly to do things like that (Yugi, don't leave your items in the open!) it made more sense for it to happen like this; and Bakura will not be quite so close to the others anymore because of this- it's one thing if it's over the course of one day; then Yugi could have the excuse that Bakura was comatose most of the time, and that it slipped his mind after.

Now? It's plainly obvious that they just _did not trust him with it_. And that stings his trust- a LOT.

* * *

'Detention House', if you haven't guessed, refers to the jail. ...Cause. That's what it's called guys.

* * *

No really guys, what do these kids tell their parents?

'Yea sorry I'm late mom, I was saving the world.'

'Oh, I didn't come home last night? Yea I slept with a friend. Totally didn't come anywhere near becoming the vessel of one of the embodiments of evil. Nope, nope...'

* * *

Hey. The finals might have ended up with non-live film you know... (Kaiba voiced them over and edited certain comatose states out actually- in the end, not including the film of the finals was silly, but at the same time, it's hardly a good idea to have a bleeding dying Jou on screen.) ...But still.

* * *

If you haven't guessed, you probably know now! This duel is based on the anime only Kaiba vs Jou for Third Place of Battle City! Of course, since it's happening MONTHS after the fact, the start of it isn't even remotely similar. Particularly the speech Jou gives about how important friends are. And really, it'd be a little silly to do that right now when Seto's probably made more progress than she would have in CANON at this point... As it is though, he brings up a VERY good point; he asks Mokuba how the feelings Jou and the others have for their friends is any different from Mokuba's feelings toward Kaiba.

Course, this additionally means there's no one there to watch, so any other scenes tied to it are gone as well...

* * *

Seto's line is based on an actual one that I'm not entirely certain I understand from the japanese anime; after Jonouchi successfully defeats La Jinn, he tells him 'fools can't catch colds'. ...Hmmm... ...This line comes back later in the following episode with 'you can't cure a fool until he's dead'. OWCH HARSH-

In any case as you can see, it's hard to remember just what affects Jou during a duel when you never actually duel him..!

* * *

Through most of this chapter's 'source episode', Kaiba is of course calling Jonouchi a 'bonkotsu' the entire time. However, again, Seto is a fair bit beyond that- in fact, she's not actually trying to insult him so much as avoid slipping into 'Katsuya'... Which, is not something she's ready to do just yet of course.

And Jonouchi is totally guessing that this is the reason and being a dork about it, as you can see.

* * *

The Little Winguard has an effect- at the end of the turn, you can switch it to defense mode. This is what Winguard is referring to when she tells Katsuya that.

* * *

What's this? Is Seto having... FUN? -GASP-

She is! She's not at the point where she'll admit it though; sort of like getting a kid to admit they like broccoli really. Basically, while she's able to get lost in the duel for REAL now... In the same way that you're kinda supposed to (that is, by enjoying it), she's not going to admit it, and she's still going to act the way she normally does before and after, as you can plainly see.

* * *

What you thought I was ending this with the duel?

LOLNOPE. ENJOY YOUR MOVIE NIGHT.

* * *

Musical Notes

Due to the timing of things, there's again a scattered series of music but...

Go to 'homestuck . bandcamp . com' without spaces, and you'll find a lot of the music I've been listening to as of late! In particular, anything from the album 'The Felt', 'Strife!', 'Medium', 'SBurb' and 'Colours and Mayhem' It's good music guys!

I have also, as per usual, been listening to a few choruses...

In particular, these songs;

www. youtube watch? v=yOhNlTt5lzo - 'Witch Hunt'; it's a male duet, and still subtitled..!

www. youtube watch? v=CJSBnlhTDkY - 'Magenta'; this one is actually in English... And still subtitled, amazingly enough. Also, very relevant lyrics...

www. youtube watch? v=EpHW5WjUZRw - 'Kiseki no Umi'. For the subtitled version, go here; ( www. youtube watch? v=E1QMlBwjIDE ) it's sung live, not by vocaloid, so the subtitled one is also very good!

Lastly...

www. youtube watch? v=gg6RHb5Ml10 - 'Code: Altered'. There were actually three different choruses of this that I was listening to. (Searching 'Code: Altered Gumi English' will get you subtitles by the way) This version is the one with both women and men singing!

* * *

In any case, that's all for this chapter!

I hope you enjoyed it! I'll try and get the next one out as soon as I can! Until then, thank you very much for reading!


	118. Chapter 117

**Hatsuyume**

* * *

Maybe he hadn't been entirely honest about how the movie night with Seto had gone. To start, yea, they'd sat at opposite ends of the couch. In the middle, yea, they'd wound up sharing the middle for the sole reason of a popcorn bowl being in reach, Seto herself only able to go so long through a movie without eating as it turned out.

For the most part, her reaction was almost unreadable. He himself got excited over fight scenes, laughed when Thor got tased, so on, so on (well, at least until Seto told him to shut up and watch the movie...)...

She seemed fairly set on leaving, when they got to the end. As Loki screamed to Thor about what he was doing, why he was doing it, with a few nasty parallels being drawn either out of paranoia or out of a stupid mental ability called foresight in his case. As they fell over the side, caught by Odin and...

DAMN that was a terrible father wasn't it. Credits began to roll, and the door to the living room was still shut- so in the end they opted to wait for the after credits scene in silence. It wasn't an awkward silence, in a sense- she was quiet because she wanted to be, and he himself simply didn't have anything to say. ...Annnnd then he was quiet because suddenly the reason she was quiet was a hell of a lot more serious.

"Ahhhh..." Sleeping. She'd fallen asleep and-

And oh hey, the after credits scene was on and now he didn't even care. Carefully and quietly, he'd somehow managed to slip away from the couch. One wrong move and she'd have likely wound up on his shoulder so...

Appealing as that was he'd played it very carefully before fleeing to the door and picking his way out. Yea, okay, maybe he'd wind up reamed out by someone for slipping out 'early' but come on!

How long was Tenma going to take?

. . .

Evidently a while, as the next morning would tell. But the fact was, Seto left for work early and he still had school... So he never did really find out what happened after he left the room. Seto sure as hell wasn't saying. And... He wasn't seeing anything on top of what he knew!

So as the days drew closer to December, the events of the birthday faded off. Time at school passed relatively normally, with most planning for a nice _quiet_ Christmas for once given the activity through the rest of the year. Well.

Mostly.

"Tell ussssss."

"NYH-" Sometimes, despite being the most 'normal' of the group, Honda could be so damn creepy-! Katsuya snapped himself out of whatever thoughts he'd been caught in for the final stretch of the school day, looking to the teen standing over his desk. "Th' hell- I already told y' I wasn' sayin'..!"

Honda groaned, shaking his head. "I'm already spending Christmas with this guy," he moaned, ignoring the indignant 'HEY!' from where Otogi was. "You could at least tell me what you're doing...!"

"I already told y', I wasn'," he growled in response, a slightly pained smile on his face. "So you c'n jus' f'rget about getting' an answer until new years..!"

"No way! C'monnnnnn!"

"H-Honda-kun..." While Honda continued to grumble Bakura sighed, shaking his head. "Don't you think there might be a reason why he's not saying..?"

"Heh?"

"Ohhhhh..." While a few of the others idly looked up from whatever they were doing (Yugi was making some sort of plan with Anzu, Otogi muttering off about Honda, annnd... Other Yugi watching.), Honda blinked. "...Hang on..." Aw hell.

"Honda..."

"It's about your sister isn't it?"

God dammit. "Hondaaaaaa..."

"You're spending Christmas over there! You could give her something for me-"

"OR," Otogi interrupted, conveniently coming to the desk himself, "Something from me..."

"OIIIIII..." Oh no way in hell..! "I am defin'tly not actin' as yer own Christmas delivery!"

"Wait so you really are-"

"HONDAAAAAA-"

"H-Hey, g-guys... Calm down, I'm sure..."

"So... If you're in Osaka this Christmas, what's happening at Kaiba-san's?"

Suddenly, there was silence over the now empty class-room, and everyone immediately looked over to Yugi.

"Errrr..."

"_Hnn. That's a good question..._" God dammit 'Yugi'.

While he was plenty glad the conversation was successfully steered from the topic of Osaka (and his sister), it didn't help when suddenly Honda had _that_ look again. "Don't tell me you didn't get her something for Christmas..."

"WH- OI, what the hell's that s'pposed t' mean?" he snarled from his seat.

Honda shrugged. "Oh... Nothing- but while I don't have much to do in the way of gift giving..."

"And what does THAT mean?" Anzu asked, an odd smile coming over her face.

...Damn she could get intimidating. Honda immediately clammed up, laughing almost uneasily. "Ahahahah- Hey, just joking around here!"

"He does bring up a good point though," Bakura admitted with a sigh. "But... Are you talking about Kyoko? Or is there someone else at Kaiba-kun's..?" OH SHIT-

Suddenly there was awkward coughing from Honda, rolled eyes from Otogi...

"Something like that," the latter said, smoothly covering for his loose-tongued and otherwise momentarily terrified friends. "You could say it's a secret everyone knows," he added, Bakura nodding in apparent understanding.

"Ahhhhh... So we know there's someone but not the name..." He seemed to drift into thought at that, Katsuya mentally laughing in the back of his mind. Ahahaha... Yeaaaaaaa, that was it... It seemed to him that half of the others were feeling the same really, the other Yugi even rubbing the back of his head in some sort of moment of awkward exasperation.

"_Hah... If we could just tell him..._"

There was a look from Yugi that said 'NO.', and that froze him in place rather quickly. Even with that however...

Bakura seemed set to channel his dad, and it was not helping. "If you're not going to be in the area for Christmas, I have to agree with Honda-kun," he began with a shrug. "You should at least get them something..." BAWWWWWWWW...

He knew that dammit, but he was still stuck..! "Ehhh... I'm goin', don' worry!"

"Going now, or later?" Anzu asked with a smirk. "This was the last day of school- _how_ long are you going to be in Osaka exactly..?"

"Nyh-!" He ducked under the figurative pressure, laughing nervously. He'd been set to take a train, but his mom went and bought him a damn plane ticket... "...I leave t'morrow..."

"T-Tomorrow..!"

"Sheeeesh, Jonouchi, when in the hell were you going to tell us THAT?"

"Nyhhhhh- I'd have said somethin'..!"

"...Um..."

The group turned, watching as a pair of students stared from the doorway with wide eyes. "Eh-"

"Um..." The taller of the two coughed. "We're supposed to clean in here..."

"Oh-!" Bakura jumped, the others moving to grab their bags. "Right- Sorry about that..!"

"It's fine..?" While the two shared confused looks, the rest began to move past with their own 'apologies'.

"Sorry 'bout th' wait!"

"Have fun with mopping~"

"Honda..!"

"GH- I'm sorry I'm sorry!"

"Hahhhh... Really, what am I supposed to do with you..."

"OW, ANZU I SAID I WAS SORRY DAMMIT-"

"So..." By the time they got to the shoe lockers the majority of them had scattered in an odd sense- Bakura's locker was on one end of the room, and the others were a little closer together than that; 'ba' wasn't exactly as close as say... 'Ma', 'Mu', 'Ho' or anything.

As it was, while he and Yugi started chatting, Anzu grabbed her shoes and headed out, the others heading their own way with quick 'later!'s or 'see you at Burger World!' depending. Anzu had work, Bakura probably had something himself...

The Other Yugi took this as his chance to join in the conversation himself. "_SO._" he continued from where his partner had started. "_Perhaps you can use the chocolate this time?_"

"Choc- OIIIIIII..." While Katsuya leveled a dark glare at a now laughing spirit, Yugi sighed.

"Erm... I don't think that's the best idea other me..."

"_Hnn. Well, you could always try silver,_" he decided with an alarmingly straight face. "_You can never go wrong with silver!_"

As the spirit grinned Katsuya groaned, somehow unable to keep from smiling despite that. "MANNNN... I've got somethin' ready, I swear..! Jus' somethin' missin'..."

The others stared. "Missing?" Yugi asked.

"Yea." He nodded, pulling his shoes on while he went. "Made somethin' outta wire, but it feels like it needs somethin' else y' know?"

"_...Wire?_" The other Yugi seemed to frown, muttering to himself while Yugi continued.

"Mmm... Well, if it's what I think, maybe you could use a stone..?"

"_Did he make jewelry? ...A bracelet..?_" Oii oiiii...

"Errr... I guess I could look around f'r somethin'... Can't really buy anythin' like tha' though..."

"_What would Kaiba even do with jewelry..._" OIIIII, it wasn't jewelry dammit...

"You could probably get something that looks nice from a craft store though right? It wouldn't be a real stone, but it would at least look like it."

"_Would she even want it..?_"

God dammit-! "IT AIN' A BRACELET..!"

As the spirit jumped his partner laughed shaking his head. "Aha... Other me, you can make a lot more than just accessories with wire..!"

"_Ah... Of course..._"

"Hahhh... I guess I could check one 'f th' stores b'fore headin' back..." the blond decided in the meantime. "Not like I've got much else t' do righ' now..."

"_Nn? You don't have work?_"

He shook his head. "Nah... Plane t'morrow r'member? Was gonna call you guys b'fore I caught it."

"Hnn... Well, that's good at least!" Yugi said with a smile. "Hnnn... I'd come with, but I told Grandpa I'd help with the store..."

"_It is fairly busy right now..._" That's because it's Christmas.

Ahhh... "Eeeh, tha's fine," he said with a shrug, cutting the other Yugi short before he could even say another word. "I'll figure it out..."

"_I could always come along as well-_"

"Other me, you said you would stay while I was helping Grandpa..."

"_Ahhhhh..._"

Oh boy. "Er- I think I'll go now..."

"_Ah- But I could tell you which stones mean-_"

"Other me..."

He had a 'feeling' that in a few seconds the spirit would concede for some reason or other (probably guilt) in the end really. And that was fine- he didn't think he'd ever get this done if he spent too long picking a stone anyways. Not if he wanted to eat something before getting to bed. And before packing.

...He probably should have packed a while ago actually.

…

Shit.

* * *

The present, in the end, was carefully wrapped and slipped to Kyoko before he left later that day. He got a drive to the airport of course- he would have walked, but hahaha, apparently someone wouldn't have it...

Even from the other end of the world, as it seemed. "Sheesh Jonouchi, did you really think we wouldn't see you off?"

He smirked from where they sat in the waiting area of the airport, friends taking their own seats while Yugi kept his eye on the clock. "Eh- figured you'd all be busy actually..."

Honda merely shrugged at that. Though Bakura and Anzu were indeed missing from the crowd, Otogi had also made it at least, and was now shaking his head. "Not really- there's not much to do when school is out, to be honest." Oh really.

"I would have thought Mokuba or Kaiba would be here though," Honda added with an odd frown. "How the hell are you getting the present to them if they aren't even in Japan?"

It was Katsuya's turn to shrug, the blond still smiling nonetheless. "Eh... Supposedly they come back from some sorta business trip in a few days..."

Otogi nodded. "Makes sense... Most won't be holding meetings on the holiday itself..."

"Well, at least it means Kaiba-san won't miss it then," Yugi added in with a light smile. "I know that Mokuba won't let that happen at least."

"Hahaha! I'd be more worried abou' him figuring out what I got th'm both!"

"Eh? You got something for him too?"

The other Yugi blinked from above the group, peering down with wide eyes. "_I did not hear about this..._" ...You didn't ask.

Either way. "Course I did..! What, y' thought I'd only get somethin' f'r Se-" He coughed, catching a number of panicked looks from his friends toward those milling around them, "F'r Kaiba?"

"Um... I would have thought you'd get something for the others myself..." Yugi admitted, his other merely raising an eyebrow.

"_I thought it was because..._" He seemed to pause, apparently getting a short message from his lighter half before coughing. "_...Nevermind, that makes sense."_

Hahahaha... Learning a little everyday huh? A ping came from the speakers overhead, the group glancing upward as the next flight announced it was ready to board. "Huh. Well, guess tha's my cue..."

"Yea, guess so... Hey!" Honda added, shouting after the blond as he headed toward the gate, "Make sure you tell your sister I said hi!"

"So did I..!" Otogi added, Katsuya shouting his own retort back.

"Tha's about all they're getting' fr'm ya too!"

"J-Jonouchi..."

"So mean..."

"_...I wonder how far on the plane I could get before-_"

The look on Yugi's face was about all he caught as he made the gate, but in the end he had a feeling he knew how that sentence ended.

* * *

"Katsuya-nihan..!"

The moment he left the plane to get through a crowd of people he was met with a tackle, stumbling just slightly as he laughed. "HAHAAH! Shizuka!~"

The girl released her hug, grinning. "I'm so glad you made it..! I can't wait to show you everything and-"

"Settle down Shizuka...!" Chuckling came from behind the girl, and Katsuya's grin warmed into a calmer smile as his mother stepped forward to give him her own hug. "It's good to see you again, Katsuya... I've been so worried since Shizuka got back..."

"Eh?" he asked from the hug, "Worried?"

Despite not looking he knew that Shizuka was giving a somewhat awkward shrug, apparently both aware and unaware of why that was.

His mom answered for him, at any rate. "Of course..! I might not know what happened, but with that Ryuzaki boy in the condition he was..." Oh.

Right. He coughed, rubbing the back of his head as his mom stepped back. "Awww... Y- Y know I'm alrigh', I mean... Y' even got me a plane ticket..."

"It's still important," she insisted, frowning briefly. She knelt down somewhat, taking her son's bag despite his protests as she continued. "And it was worth the money to see you sooner."

"I'd still 've been here..."

"One more day is one day worth it... Now, how about we all get home?" she asked, Shizuka nodding while her brother merely shook his head and agreed. "I have lunch waiting, and maybe you can meet Shizuka's friends while you're at it, she's been looking forward to this..."

Her friends? "Ah, well, Katsugi-kun might not..." Good, there was still a 'kun' there. "But I can definitely phone Keichi!" Kei-

...There was supposed to be a 'kun' there, a 'kun'... "Well, whatever you feel is best..."

Katsuya rubbed his head as they left the airport, shrugging. "Er... Yea. ...I don' mind if I don' see Haga..."

"Oh, have you boys already met then?"

The siblings traded a brief glance, and in the end Katsuya merely shrugged. "Yea. …Yea I guess y' could say tha'..."

* * *

"Gh- YOU'RE here?" In the end, Haga had been amazingly insistent on joining Ryuzaki along for the visit when the latter had insisted on his friend staying at home. Despite typically being somewhat warmer than Tokyo, there was already snow dusting the ground of Asahi- thin snowpants and warm boots were coming out of everyone's wardrobes, and the sight of either of them garbed in winter clothes was mildly shocking to say the least.

As it was. "Yea... Got a probl'm with it Haga?"

"Nihan..."

Haga merely scowled at the blond's barb, crossing his arm as his friend shook his head. "Tch. You KNEW about this," he accused the boy, Ryuzaki's expression quite clearly stating 'no SHIT' in response.

"You don't say!" he exclaimed as he rolled his eyes. "Why the hell do you think I wanted you to stay home?"

"You could have merely said what the reason was," he protested under his breath, Katsuya rubbing his forehead as he caught the snippets of conversation through his usual 'alternate method'.

Ryuzaki snorted. "Yea. And you'd have listened?"

"I would have prepa-"

"Katsugi-kun..! Keichi..!" The two jumped turning as Shizuka frowned. "Please... I didn't ask you to come here to fight..!" Briefly, Haga seemed to mutter something in response before being elbowed by the other. "Hey..!" Hahhhh...

"Look," he cut in, the others turning. "You don' like me, I'm cool w' tha'- I don't exactly see y' as 'one 'f th' guys' myself," he added, Haga merely sneering at the comment as he ignored another look from Shizuka. "But if y' don' wanna be here then you c'n scram, got it?"

"Nihan..!"

"Actually, he has a point..."

"Keichi...!"

Again Haga snorted, rolling his eyes. "Oh whatever," he spat almost bitterly. "I hardly have anything better to do today..." There was some muttering in the back of his mind in response to that which sounded somewhat familiar- but Katsuya decided to squash it back down instead, smirking.

"Good! So... Shizuka! What'd y' have in mind f'r us?"

As the boys turned to her she blinked, eyes briefly widening as she was put on the spot. "Ah... Hnnn..." She frowned a little, snow blowing lightly in the meantime. "Well, Christmas isn't until tuesday, so I thought that since we'd be inside most of that time..."

"Could go to the river," Ryuzaki offered with a shrug, scratching the back of his hood-covered neck. "See if it's frozen."

"Ah- In this weather..?"

Katsuya shrugged, grinning. "Hey, better than nothin' righ'?" There was a mutter from the side that sounded suspiciously like 'idiot' and he growled. "Oiiiii, what was that bug boy..."

"NIHAN..!"

"OW-!" The blond ducked as his sister took a swipe at his head, wincing. "Shit, tha' hurts..."

"What did I say about getting along...!"

"Alrigh', I'm listenin', I'm listenin'..."

"Have either of you even briefly considered what you'll be doing if the ice ISN'T frozen...?"

Katsuya (and evidently Ryuzaki as well) were briefly considering ignoring the possibility entirely to be honest, before Shizuka seemed to take the comment to heart herself. "Ah... I didn't think of that..."

"I guess we could grab the sled from my house..." Ryuzaki muttered in response, Haga seeming to give him an incredulous look before shaking it off. Whatever worked, simply 'worked' in the end he figured, staring at the two with a mix of amusement and confusion. Yea.

Whatever worked. "Righ' you guys knock yerselves out figurin' out what t' do, I'm grabbing somethin' fr'm my bag..."

"Eh, your bag?"

"Nihan, what would you even need..."

"If he grabs his disk..."

"AH- NIHAN DON'T YOU DARE!"

"I AIN' GRABBIN' TH' DISK!"

"I'm warning you nihan...!"

"If he's getting his duel disk, I'm getting mine..! I'll show him the true power of insects..."

"Haga we're going to the fucking RIVER-"

"KATSUGI-KUN..."

The fact that they even got started on the trek to the river was a miracle in itself really, but at least he made it out with his deck and their nice waterproof case in the end.

* * *

"Aw man... I'm fucking s... S... HA-CH!"

Haga hissed as he ducked under a sneezing Ryuzaki, the group taking refuge in the boy's home for the moment after the trip to the river turned out to be a flop. "Honestly," he grumbled from behind his book, barely hiding a smirk that said 'I told you so'. "Anyone with eyes could have seen that the ice wasn't going to hold..."

Before Ryuzaki could retort Shizuka sighed, turning to her friend and jerking a head toward the kitchen. "Katsugi-kun, could you get me a hot water bottle?"

The boy blinked, but otherwise nodded, vanishing off while Katsuya rubbed the back of his neck. "Errr... Sorry 'bou th' ice Ryuzaki... That w's pretty..."

"It's fine," he said between shivers, Shizuka grimacing as the boy huddled in his pile of blankets. "Not like you'd have ah... ah..."

"Kleenex-!"

"ACH-" The others ducked, and Ryuzaki gave a short grimace to Shizuka. "Sorry..."

"Mnn... Right before Christmas too..." The girl sighed, shaking her head and taking a seat on the couch in the room. "I guess there's no helping it..."

"Haga could've done somethin' other th'n laugh..."

"N-Nihan..!" Shizuka protested, before a snort from Ryuzaki cut them off.

"Tch. Maybe. But at least he fucking laughed..." Eh.

Katsuya frowned, sitting up from the couch a moment. "Th' hell's that supposed t' mean..."

Ryuzaki sniffed, coughing from his blanket nest a moment before shaking still eerily short (albeit wet) hair. "I mean he's been the most depressing room-mate since ever," he muttered, "I mean come on... You telling me you didn't notice?"

He opened his mouth to answer that, before frowning. Come to think... "...Well 's usual banter wasn' as narcissistic..."

"You actually know what narcissistic means."

"Gh- Oiiii, what's tha' s'pposed t' mean..!"

"N-Nihan! Keichi..!" There was a sound from the kitchen, Shizuka standing up and pausing a moment before moving to leave the living room. "Mn... Hang on, I think Katsugi-kun might be stuck..."

As she left the room the others stared, before looking back. "You're right," Ryuzaki admitted with a yawn. "That's one thing."

"Annnnnn'... Th' other thing?"

The boy snorted, rolling his eyes. Now that he could see him in proper lighting without the hood and coat and everything, he had to admit that the differences between 'this' Ryuzaki and the one from Battle City were a little alarming. The scars were fairly obvious for one- the ones he could see on his face, at least, and the hair, despite having had a few months to grow, still had yet to really come closer than an inch or so above his shoulders. A drastic change compared to the length it had been formerly. And his eyes...

Gold eyes stared off at the ceiling a moment, and Ryuzaki sighed. "Man... I don't know, maybe it's because he's homesick or something..."

Oh yea, he'd wanted to ask about that. "Yea... What's Haga doin' here again..?"

Ryuzaki raised an eyebrow. "What... Shizka didn't tell you?" At the look he received in response he snorted. "Huh. Weird, feels like she tells you everything..."

"Wh- Th' hell does tha' mean?"

"I don't know! You just... It's creepy. You know things and..." He frowned. "If I didn't know any better I'd be asking where the shiny gold item was..." There was an odd, distant look in his eyes as he said that, and Katsuya swallowed. "...Hell, the duels were weird enough..."

"Y-Yea... 'Bou' th' duels..." He grimaced. "'D rather not go int' tha' just now... Christmas an' all..."

As Ryuzaki snorted a cold feeling grew in his chest, the boy shaking his head. "Yea. That's it. Whatever, I'll deal with it..."

"Oi..." Hey now, he didn't want to talk about it alright..!

"I'll explain Haga to you, alright. Not really my _place,_" he added almost darkly, the blond across from him narrowing his eyes, "But I mind as well..." Why, because he'd figure it out? Come on... "Shizka said you met his sister during Battle City right? Black hair, poncho?" Ponc-

Oh! "Yea! ...Twin righ'?"

He nodded. "Yea. She's the first of three sisters." WH-

"Haga's got _three_?" he hissed, a few distant and garbled mutterings in the back of his mind telling him they wouldn't have much longer to talk.

"Yep. All older than him technically- and the other two..." He breathed, shaking his head. "I don't know what's going on... All I know is they wanted Haga out, so he asked for a place to stay." What.

That- What. "His sisters boot'd 'm outta his place... Seriously?" WHAAAAT. "He's yer age though', why th' hell."

Ryuzaki snorted. "Try a _year_ younger Jonouchi, he skipped a year."

PFFFF what- "HE WH-"

"Nihan?" The two turned, watching as Shizuka poked her head in with narrowed eyes. "What are you talking about..."

"Errr... Nothin' big..."

"Just cards and stuff. It's alright Shizka." Ohoh, someone was good at a cover story when he needed to be...

Well, enough that Shizuka's eyes narrowed a little further before she shook it off at least. "Mnnn..." She sighed. "Well, I called kaa-chan okay?" she explained, looking to her brother. "Keichi's mom is away for vacation, so I started making lunch here~"

"AH- S-Shizka..."

"Eh? We're eating here..?"

"Well, I don't think either of them can cook," she muttered, looking to Ryuzaki with that comment.

"Hey! I can-"

"...Right _now_," the girl added stubbornly, a second series of sneezes meeting the air.

"It's not that bad..."

Haga appeared in the doorway himself, a dry smirk on his face. "Say that without sneezing."

"It's not that baA- Ahhh..." Oh boy.

A loud sneeze came over the air as Katsuya rubbed his head, laughing under his breath.

Evidently someone heard him. "Oi oi, like to see you deal with this..."

"Haha- No thanks." He was perfectly cool with staying dry- and healthy for that matter.

* * *

Between leaving Ryuzaki in a pile of blankets Saturday evening to head back to Shizuka's house and the fact that Haga was about as social as a stinkbug, they didn't see much of the two on Sunday and Monday. Most of the two days instead were spent looking around the rest of Asahi, with only a short visit at Shizuka's insistence to see how Ryuzaki was faring. He had the jarring feeling that there was something else as well, but seeing how he wasn't getting anything more on that in any way shape or form he reluctantly let it drop.

As it was, Tuesday had finally come and he had better things to do. He wasn't entirely sure where the decision to have all the Christmas fun on the evening of the 25th came about, but he figured it was alright in the end- More time to get Shizuka's present wrapped up, even if it meant still having no clue what Shizuka was planning.

...And she was _definitely_ planning something...

Sitting on the couch in the middle of Christmas Day however, while his sister vanished off to get something, did not leave him with much else to think of after all. "_Maybe you should just ignore it..._" the uneasy tone of Little Winguard offered, the blond holding his deck almost absently as the image of the group nodding in agreement came to mind.

Hahaha... "Yea easier said th'n done," he muttered under his breath as he looked toward the tree in the corner of the room. "I feel like someone's breath'n down my neck..."

"_Are you sure that isn't paranoia, mnnnn...?~"_

"NYHHH-!"

"AH-!" There was a slight clatter from the kitchen, Katsuya's mother quick to poke her head in the room. "What happened..!"

ERK- He hurriedly straightened himself on the couch, coughing. "Er- Nothin'! Jus' a... ...saw somethin..."

"Something?" Akie blinked, apparently only made more worried. "What did you see?" Uhhhh...

His eyes darted around the room somewhat, mind drawing a blank on what to use as an excuse. Eventually, with another cough he rubbed the back of his head. "Uh... ...spider..." he decided lamely, his mother's expression immediately falling flat.

"A spider."

"..._And what is that supposed to mean, little imago...?_" UH-

"_My my~_" added Selket,_ "Have a thing against arachnids, my 'dear'...?_" WHY BOTH OF THEM-

"Er... Y-Yea!" he pressed on, laughing awkwardly and not meeting his mom's stare. "Somethin' like tha'..."

"_Kid, you had better not try summoning the Queen any time in the near future..._" AAWWWWWW come on! What else was he supposed to say!

As it was that seemed to be enough for his mother, the woman shaking her head and sighing. "If you say so... I need to go check on the chicken anyways." Heh.

"We're havin'... Home-cooked fried chicken..?" Um. Just them? He got that he ate a lot but... Wasn't that a bit pricey with the plane and...

...Oh hell no. "How did you know I was cooking fried chicken?" his mom asked somewhat suspiciously, Katsuya growing pale in the meantime.

"Uh- Jus' th' smell!"

"Oh- It's really that strong..?" she muttered in response, jumping as her son suddenly bolted down the hall to the basement stairs. "AH- Katsuya, what are you doing?"

"JUS' R'MEMBERED SOMETHIN' 'S ALL!"

"Eh?"

"'S nothin'," he continued, "I'll be up in a sec!"

"K-Katsuya!"

While his mother was busy pondering the fact that she would likely never fully understand her son's mind Katsuya skidded down the steps of the basement, a series of boxes meeting his gaze as he came into the room. "_So..._" The gruff voice of the Panther Warrior met his ears, and while the blond began tearing into boxes he snorted. "_Exactly what is it that you're looking for again..?_"

"Sparklers," he responded vaguely, re-sealing a box and moving it to the side. "They're somewhere 'n th's side 'f th' room."

"_...Sparklers..?_"

"_Not to but in, but what exactly are sparklers..?"_ Wh- What kind of question-

Oh. Right. "Er... They're sticks y' set on fire t' give off sparks. They don' ever end up in flames though," he added, answering Gearfried's question.

"_...Ahh._"

"_Oh hey- those were the things you used on that cake then weren't they Katsuya-jun..._" Yeup!

Before he could answer however he jumped, head smacking against the wall behind him and causing him to immediately grab at it with a hiss. "_OH!_" shouted the Little Winguard, apparently just recalling the event herself. "_I remember that..! We don't have those here, they were cool..!_" Ahahahhaah..

"sffff... Glad y' think so..."

"_You alright kid?_" Ugh...

"Jus'... Fine..." Thank you, Flame Swordsman, for caring...

"_I was under the impression that these 'sparklers' were meant for birthday events, were they not..?_" muttered the Fisherman in the meantime, the others nodding in the back of his mind.

"Eh... More an 'all celebrations' thing," he answered as he returned to searching the boxes. "I figure Christmas counts."

"_...Then this really isn't something that normally happens..._" Hey hey hey now Ishzark, what the hell was that supposed to mean...

...Oh hey sparklers! "Aha! This oughta light'n th' mood..."

"_...was that a joke..._" There was nothing wrong with that joke Gilford. Nothing.

Nothing nothing nothing (he was really getting too defensive over this)- "_Hnnn... Just what brought about this sudden decision in the first place... I'm accustomed to your 'last moment' decisions boy... But this seems a little too quick..._"

"Eh, saw somethin', nothin' much..."

"_You saw the otherrrrr imago...? Howwwwwww innnnterestingggg, hmmmm..._" WH-

He choked, almost dropping the sparklers as he stopped before the stairs back up. "Gh- Y' KNEW?" he hissed, turning around to mid air only to remember that the voice 'behind' him was not coming from anywhere on the physical plane.

The Insect Queen merely chuckled. "_Do not presummmmme that my presenceeee in your deck means I abannnnndon my children, little imagooooo... Just as your commmpaniiiion travelssss between, so do I..._" Errr...

"...So... Th's entire time..." he began, paling as the dots began to connect in his head. "...Y've been visitin' Haga's deck..."

"_Of courseeeee. Jussst because he cannot hearrrrrrr my voiceeeee, does not meannnnn I abandonnnn himmmm..._" Errrr...

"R-Righ'..."

"_Just what does him coming for dinner even have to do with this Katsuya-jun?_"

"_Is there some sort of Christmas tradition we were not made aware of last this occurred..?_"

"_Oh! Oh! Tell us! Your holidays are really interesting you know..!_" Ahahahaha WINGUARD STOP-

He rubbed his head, shrugging. "Eh... Jus' th' gloom getting on my nerves 's all."

"_Gloom?_" Panther Warrior repeated dully.

"_Exactly how will sparklers rectify that..._" muttered Ishzark in agreement.

"Wh- It's gotta! Ev'ryone loves sparklers!"

There was a silence from the deck, and he tensed. "O-Oii... What's w' th' silence..!"

"_Nothing, nothing,_" Gilford decided with a shrug. "_It's something we will have to observe for ourselves in the end..._"

"How th' hell do you guys ev'n see all th's..."

"_Well, if you can see it,_" Gearfried began.

"N'vermind..." A knock on the door came to mind at that moment, and he headed up the stairs. "I gotta get up there anyway. Talk t' you all lat'r..!"

"_Awww, I was going to ask about-_"

"_Perhaps another time, Winguard._"

Exactly what Ishzark meant by 'another time' he wasn't sure, but he figured he'd find out later anyways really. As it was...

-_kots kots kots_-

...The guests had arrived. "Ahh! Katsuya, can you get that?" his mom asked, shouting at who she assumed was still in the basement. "I need to deal with this chicken..."

"Yea, sure!" He smirked for a moment, before going to the door. Hehehe, they probably thought he'd be surprised... The door opened, and he briefly held the grin. "Merry Chris'maaaaaa- GAH-"

A solid 'thwack' came on his head, and as he held it in pain once again Shizuka frowned. "I had a feeling you'd do that," she sighed, the two behind her sharing confused glances.

"Gh... Shizuka..."

"Errr... Anything we should know..?" Ryuzaki asked somewhat idly, still looking somewhat under the weather despite the few days of recovery.

A look in the back of his mind from Shizuka was all he really needed for the response to that. "...Nah... 'S nothin'..."

Ryuzaki didn't appear to really believe him on that- if anything, Haga looked about three times as suspicious in fact. Despite this however neither of the two said anything, merely coming inside. In a sense, he was fairly relieved about that...

But looking back on it later, he would wonder if perhaps the evening would have gone a little better if they had.

* * *

Dinner went about as well as expected, to be honest. Though some would accuse him of thinking otherwise (Haga was at his table, using 'CHAN' with his sister's name and DAMMIT-), the fact was that in the end the 'worst' was something that was never likely to happen. Not when his mom was there, and not when his sister was there.

And as much as he hated to think of it, the fact remained that Haga and Ryuzaki had been in Shizuka's class since the start of the fall term. Which was exactly why he wound up in a heated mental battle against himself to keep from starting an argument in front of his mother and put the remaining power of his mouth into devouring anything on his plate. Haga kept his mouth shut himself- and, he noted as the meal came to a close, barely touched his food really. Ryuzaki at least ate something, but-

"Oh... Katsugi-kun, are you not feeling well..?" Apparently Shizuka noticed.

The boy shrugged, almost immediately putting up a well noticed mask of 'I am perfectly fine'. "Hn! Of course!" he responded, voice at least partially devoid of the usual callousness used in a duel. "Probably just caught whatever Ryuzaki has..."

"You mean a cold..?" he asked in response to that, Haga merely fixing his friend with a dry look.

"Yes..."

"Well, if everyone is done their food for now," Akie decided in the end, "You may leave the table- Desert should be ready soon enough, and then we can exchange gifts alright..?"

Katsuya stood almost immediately, the attention of the other three instantly shifting toward him. "Yea! Tha' sounds like an' idea..."

"Ehh... Nihan, what are you doing..."

The blond merely grinned, moving toward the door. "Nothin'~ Jus' goin' outside f'r some fresh air~"

The others looked toward each other as he left, silent for a moment. It took until he was already outside that they did move, or so he 'saw', and as that happened he grinned. Hehehe... Alright! That made things even better he told himself, pulling out the sparklers he'd set aside in the hall along with a lighter he'd snatched from the kitchen while grabbing cutlery.

One sparkler... Two... Three... (damn balancing these between his fingers was hard) and..!

"Nihan, what are you doing out here..?"

"Oiii, Jonouchi, you don't even have a coat..."

He stood with his back to the three as they stepped out, still grinning happily as the door shut behind them. "...Nihan..?"

"Ta-daaah!~" He laughed, turning with the sparklers as he spun them around his fingers; swirls of light met the air, and he held them out. "Figured we c'ld use somethin' like th's t' celebrate! 'S Chris'mas after all, ri... ...gh..?"

As he opened his eyes to look at their reactions the sparklers froze in his grip, the crackling continuing as the nearly invisible flame continued down its path on the wire. Haga, who had briefly looked nothing more than surprised in the back of his mind, now had a frozen expression of confusion and horror threatening to break his mask, the boy looking to his friend. Shizuka was a little more obvious- shock clearly evident on her face as she immediately began shaking her friend's shoulder. And Ryuzaki...

Ryuzaki merely stood, gold eyes fixed on the sparks with a distant gaze, frozen and glazed. As though he was suddenly not there, as though he were in another place entirely...

The sparklers fell from his grip and into the snow, wet down from existence immediately. "Shi'... Th' hell jus' happened..! Wh-"

Abruptly the boy before him blinked, before frowning. "Eh- O-oii, Shizka, what..."

The girl brought her hand back from his shoulder with a snap, staring. "...K-Keichi, you just froze..."

"Ehh? Froze..?" He frowned, before looking at the others. "And what are you guys looking at..!"

Katsuya found himself mysteriously unable to speak, mouth opening and closing without a word before Haga did it instead.

"...Please!" he snorted, turning to go inside. "Your eyes are playing tricks on you, fossil-brain."

"Fossil brain! THE HELL?"

As Haga disappeared inside Katsuya swallowed, eyes briefly glancing at the sparklers in the snow before moving back up. "Er- S'nothin' Ryuzaki," he found himself saying, Shizuka uneasily looking away herself. "...You alrigh'..?"

"Course I am..!" he retorted, apparently entirely unaware of the 'freeze' he'd experienced. "You're the one who ran out here for some reason!"

"Er... Hahaha, yea, jus' need'd some fresh air really...!"

Ryuzaki's scowl deepened in annoyance, before a shout came from inside. "Kids, desert is ready..!" AH-

"Oh- We should head inside," Shizuka decided, lightly tugging at Ryuzaki's arm. "Let's go!"

The boy paused, as though still wondering if he should say anything else before nodding. "...Yea, alright..." he said in the end, turning as Katsuya and Shizuka both followed. "Wonder what's up with Haga though..."

The pair shared two uneasy looks with one another, but in the end said nothing. Maybe it was just easier before, when Shizuka had been questioning her brother- and in his case, when he wasn't the one asking questions. But the fact remained that in the back of his mind he could see the expressions Haga had made between the light shock and the horror at the end.

And Haga had definitely caught what happened before Ryuzaki spotted the sparklers.

* * *

There was no question as to whether or not Christmas had passed awkwardly after that. Haga had reverted to his 'quiet' state, only briefly expressing more than apparent depressed boredom when he opened Shizuka's present (a booster pack and some kind of vest with bugs on it) and Ryuzaki's (more booster packs, and a book on entomology surprisingly enough). The only thing more than that was a slight bit of expectancy when the others opened what he got _them_ (Shizuka got a stuffed butterfly with some booster packs for her own deck needs, and Ryuzaki was given some sort of mechanical dino thing to his surprise). Otherwise, nothing.

"Ahhhh... Thank you so much!" Shizuka nonetheless told him, placing the butterfly beside Ryuzaki's gift of a few dvds for some show in English he didn't know of. "It's adorable..!"

Though Haga said nothing, he did seem to _almost_ smile... At least until Katsuya coughed and handed her his own.

"Ah- Here, Shizuka..! I got y' somethin' too."

She turned, smiling. He himself had already opened his present from her- a pack of cards, and a rather warm scarf. As she opened it up however, she stared briefly before chuckling. "Gh- Really..?"

"Eh, what'd he get you..?" Ryuzaki asked, leaning over from where he'd been flipping through the cards he'd gotten from Shizuka. (He'd also gotten a pair of gloves, or at least would, not that Katsuya wanted to consider why Shizuka was going to wait until he was gone to give these to the boy.)

Shizuka smiled, holding up the hat and scarf he'd spotted a few days prior. It hadn't cost too much, and the fact was, he'd been a little stuck on what to get since the events of the summer proved he didn't know as much about her as he thought...

But the smile was enough to tell him he'd done well. "It's so cute! Thank you Nihan..!~"

"Heh! 'S nothin'!" he laughed in response, leaning back from where he was sitting.

"I'm going to wear this all winter," she was saying in the meantime as she tried the hat on. "It's so warm..~" Hah! Success then.

...Or at least for the next few days, he told himself. Not a clue if she'd end up having to wear them all winter really...

As it was. Christmas packed up rather quickly after the presents; Haga and Ryuzaki needed to get home, and Haga himself didn't seem to want to be there much longer anyways. They packed up their things, Shizuka saying goodbye to them outside (and out of his sight in all ways and forms much to his distaste), and soon enough it was time to clean up and sleep.

"...Er..." About half-way through cleaning their mother went to tidy the rest of the kitchen, the blond coughing. "...Shizuka... Abou' earlier..."

She looked up, blinking a moment before realizing what her brother was referring to. "...It's fine, Katsuya-nihan."

"..'S it?" he asked, pausing from where he'd gathered the last of the wrapping paper.

His sister merely stared, looking down a moment before nodding. "...Yea. It wasn't on purpose right? I'll just talk to him about it, later... I didn't think..."

"...Chrismas righ'?"

She nodded. "...E-Exactly..." the girl responded, her brother pulling her close for a hug as she began to shake somewhat. "...Christmas..."

* * *

New Years couldn't have come any faster really.

Shizuka, in the end, seemed to decide that she would speak to Ryuzaki about what happened with the sparklers after the holiday break was over really. She didn't want things to get any more awkward than they already were, and if he had to guess, he'd say Haga was feeling the same way- the dino-guy certainly didn't seem to show that he'd been cornered on the subject after all, and the fact was, he wasn't going to press the matter.

He'd done something along those lines for almost six months really; be kinda hypocritical if he pushed to learn more on the matter right away. Mind...

At the moment he was pretty tempted... "So... What's this about a girlfriend?" the boy asked with a grin, Shizuka appearing to mentally smack herself in the face for asking what her brother had gotten for 'her'.

At lease she hadn't mentioned Seto by name, he told himself, but either way. "Non 'f yer business Dino-boy," he growled, the comment merely resulting in a somewhat larger grin.

"Hehehe... Touchy...?"

"Keichi..."

The boy laughed, leaning back in his seat. "Okay, okay! I'll take it easy!"

"Five minutes," Haga added in from his own chair, barely sparing a glance at his watch from where he was already flipping through a severely book-marked book.

"We'll keep it in mind," his friend remarked idly, stretching somewhat. "Anyways, thanks for having us over again Shizka."

"Hahaha... Well, it is new years..!" she laughed in response, before turning to her brother. "Ah- that reminds me... Nihan, could you grab the rest of the osechi from the kitchen?"

"Eh?" He blinked, before standing with a shrug. "Yea, sure." The term 'rest' implied there wasn't much left to be honest though he told himself, heading to the kitchen to grab the plate. The fact was, he hadn't been feeling quite as hungry as usual most of the day. Exactly what killed his appetite was unclear but...

He grabbed the tiers of food, stacking them up and grabbing them from the bottom as he moved back to the hall. Hell, maybe he was just paranoid. Sure, being paranoid tended to come with good reason for him, but hell! It was new years, what-

The sound of clattering trays against hardwood floor would meet the sounds of the others ears but by that point his senses were focused on another time and realm entirely.

_He was standing on stone stairs again and dimly he could hear the sounds of shouts from outside. He was talking... _

_And then he was marching. Shuffling. Led along a line of people who were not at all subtle about their distaste for him. Ramming him against the shoulder, forcing him to smack against the tunnel walls whilst somehow still moving..._

_In the end he was pulled forward first for these very reasons. "How interesting!" the men with blades laugh, he himself allowed to fall face forward to the ground. "Spat upon by even the scum of your own kind, just why would that be..?"_

_As he pushes himself up from the ground they respond. "He is a demon!" they cry fiercely. "A monster who claims to speak with creatures that lurk in the shadows..!" "A foul swine who dares presume he speaks with GODS!" "Blasphemer, speaking words of so called 'PROPHECY'!"_

_Stumbling to his feet he finds himself pulled roughly upward by the back of his tunic, the Egyptian man gripping him and turning him round with a vicious grin. "You fancy yourself a seer then, an oracle eh?" he asks venomously, the young man in his grip holding an impassive frown._

"_I call myself nothing," he responds coolly, the Egyptians laughing in response._

"_HAHAHA, a seer with humor!" the man, a priest his mind tells him, laughs. High Priest and brother to the Pharaoh, how far the man has fallen... The priest turns back to him and narrows his eyes. "If that is the case, seer, then read for me my future," he demands, grip upon the 'seer's wrist tightening._

_There is a hole behind him. He is certain he will fall there regardless of his response. As it is, he sees no future for this man, so how is he to..._

**Ten.**_ Someone calls, a flicker of worried others standing before him as he frowns. And with a sudden flash the room vanishes and is instead replaced with spattered blood and the sound of clashing metal across a ruined temple floor._

**Nine.**_ Briefly he can see someone's face, before an entirely different one replaces it. An expression of rage covered in gold and fabric, familiar and yet not all at once._

**Eight.**_ The sounds continue and the sky above is dark and red. As the one in gold is thrown viciously back by someone cloaked in shadows their cape furls back around them. The teen does not back down however, instead standing with continued resolve and charging once more._

**Seven.**_ Sparks fly and metal blade clashes on metal blade. And as the shadowed being is thrown to the ground the teen stands triumphant, face finally recognizable as he- no, she- speaks. _

"_I am NO MAN, _**_FATHER!_**_"_

**Six.**_ He smiles despite himself, though not in 'reality' as others see it. _

**Five. **_Looking back from the ground to the Priest, he speaks something..._

**Four. **_And the Priest's expression shifts with rage._

**Three.**_ The shouts in the background begin to dull..._

**Two.**_ ...Before the sick sound of cutting flesh meets the air, the Priest's blade sinking deep into his middle before being violently torn back._

**ONE.**_ With a stumble back, he's tumbling into the pit..._

_And he smiles..._

**HAPPY NEW YEAR!**

"KATSUYA-NIHAN!"

Someone's hand is on his shoulder he realized with a jolt, eyes snapping back into focus as he took a rasping breath. Someone...

As he took in the food scattered on the floor and the worried stares of his sister and her friends he paled, only just barely glad that his mother had been unable to stay awake before. He knew he'd just had a 'vision' after all. And Shizuka knew as well.

...So what was he going to tell these guys?

* * *

**AN: **Annnnd that's a wrap for this chapter! Only one more before the next major arc, I hope you're all ready..!

Many thanks to LeonaWriter for acting as Beta once again for this chapter- I'll probably ask this more often, it seems to prevent a large number of grammar issues that the other chapters are guilty of.

In any case, again, no promises for updates, I have no idea how long they will take. Skin is still not set up on AO3, mostly because I've been working on an image for each chapter and don't intend to start uploading until I have a decent set ready enough to hold a semi-steady update schedule.

But that's beside the point!

There's very little news for today, and even fewer in the line of anonymous reviews. There were a few however! So, without further ado...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Our only anon review for this update, Crazikido2! You may be way back on chapter 4 right now, but even so! I'm glad you're enjoying the story thus far, and hope you enjoy all that comes between that chapter and this one here!

For all others reading, I wish the same to you! And many thanks for your likes and your favorites- I would never get so far without them!

* * *

**Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner**

The section that's finally back in the feel of things! Whoo!

* * *

Today's chapter is titled 'Hatsuyume'- It refers to the tradition in Japan concerning the first dream of the new year (Hatsu meaning First, Yume meaning Dream.), and the idea is that whatever you dream will lean toward your fate for the year. Dreaming of Eggplants, Mt. Fuji, and Falcons is supposedly very lucky on Hatsuyume, but if you can't remember the dream then you didn't have one..!

* * *

Whaaat you thought I'd leave the movie THAT open ended? HAH!

Nahhh it just wasn't something that was letting itself expand beyond exposition really.

* * *

Honda by this point is a fairly interesting character, I have to say. He might not have any of the 'interesting' points in his skill set compared to the others any more, but that's exactly WHY. The only thing is, he doesn't seem to realize it himself (part of who he is)- to Honda, moments of normallcy are a dying dream, and one that he unfortunately tries a little too hard to cling to by this point. He'll get over it though, don't worry! But when you're afraid of some sort of maniac stealing souls or whatever and not being able to do anything about it, it's pretty rough.

Otogi knows what's up though.

* * *

And oh? Did you forget?

Bakura doesn't know that Seto's a woman! He's actually the only one of the main domino group who doesn't at that- _even the other Bakura knows_.

* * *

Conversational chapter bits like these often turn out to be the hardest and the easiest to do all at once I find. At a certain point they more or less write themselves, but sometimes it's difficult to make sure people know who's saying what..!

* * *

I don't actually know how shoe lockers are arranged in most high schools in Japan, but I'd assume a sort of alphabetical order. Seeing how we have... 'Ba' from Bakura, followed by... Honda, Jonouchi, Mazaki, Mutou, and Otogi... You can see how they end up on a fairly distant end from the poor guy.

* * *

Get used to conversations guys. I tend to actually draw from experience for these actually- conversations from the alcove area of my highschool where I'd hang out for lunch... OH GOD THE SHENANIGANS. Those are the kind of people that Jou and Yugi's group strike me as. The people who talk about the WEIRDEST CRAP at times, and get into some bizarre shenanigans that pull in even the most sane of people despite things, with the one at the side occasionally speaking up, but that guy's one of the group too... Those were my people! And sometimes it looks like we're beating the _SHIT_ out of each other, but we're really not- it's just fun.

Hell I used to half murder my eventual husband in an attempt to steal the cookies he had for lunch.

And that is it for Usagi's personal snippets in her notes, oho-

* * *

Of course his mother was worried you guys, what were they gonna say when Ryuzaki came back the way he did? When they couldn't even call to say how Shizuka was, like they probably should have? Jou's mom already feels bad for cutting him out of their lives the way she did (but the fact was, she was terrified of going back, willing to admit it or not), she's not going to lose her eldest baby again..!

* * *

OH HAGA... Writing him is quite interesting; particularly since he's not normally an ass unless he's either trying to prove himself or if he's talking to someone he hates.

Jou unfortunately fits the bill on the latter. As it is, Jou's got a waterproof case for his deck now- mostly because he's carrying the cards everywhere, even when he can't bring the duel disk... What with having conversations with the cards occasionally.

* * *

Interestingly enough, the events of the Christmas half of the chapter moved BACKWARDS, due to the date issues. The Japanese holidays start as close to Christmas as possible- because of that, when I'd planned things, I had initially had it set up that Christmas dinner would be first, and then they'd go to the river to deal with Haga's depressiveness there.

However, Christmas falls on a Tuesday this year, which means that Jou would have at least THREE DAYS before that happened. Because of that, the river happened first, 'for the heck of it', while Jou attempted to play a bit nicer around Christmas.

I think it worked, though Haga still doesn't really like Jou much at all.

* * *

Ryuzaki still doesn't know the details on what's going on with Jou- it's ironic, because he caught on the quickest compared to the others...! The fact is though, Shizuka feels it's not her place to say... ...And in the meantime, Ryuzaki just doesn't want Jou bugging him about anything else.

* * *

Now, Jou really did have a cool idea with those sparklers! And lets face it, Jou doesn't always get that his idea of fun isn't going to be someone's idea of fun.

But what happened to Ryuzaki..! A little something that you can guess at until later my friends- because believe me when I say Shizuka WILL corner Haga on that... ...Because Haga very obviously knew what it was.

* * *

CHRISTMAAAAAS. For those wondering, Akie (Jou's mom) got Shizuka a new coat with a pair of booster packs slipped in the pockets, and for her son, a thick pair of gloves, a pair of fingerless gloves, and some booster packs! (The middle because she thought it was something he'd find cool, and the latter because the fact is, her daughter and son both duel. She's caught on to the fact that booster packs - amazing.)

Kaiba's present will be discussed next chapter, eheheheheehe.

* * *

Osechi are traditional Japanese new year foods, typically recognized by their special boxes, called 'juubako'. Things like datemaki (a sweet rolled omelette), among others (from lobsters to specifically prepared eggs to deserts) are in these boxes, and each food represents something else in the new year. You can get them at convenience stores ready prepared in Japan nowadays though.

* * *

...And in light of Jonouchi's latest vision, I will now hide under a rock and wait for any coming flames to strike.

* * *

**FanArt and My Art Section**

Recent FF developments remove the 'com' part however, so where there would ordinarily be a dot-com, there is now '**dot-com'**! In addition to removing spaces, replace it with the obvious correct form to get your link!

Only one today, a doodle-sheet with me playing around with a different drawing style! Focuses on the costumes of the VR arc for the doodles really.

'Avatar' Style Attempt - i5. photobucket dot-com / albums / y153 / natasha_unos_1 / AvatarStyle. jpg

Chibi! RP Muse Ryuzaki - i5. photobucket dot-com / albums / y153 / natasha_unos_1 / CHIBISRyuuzaki. jpg - What Ryuzaki looks like when I play him in an RP game known as 'United One'; however, aside from clothing, this is accurate to what he looks like in the fanfic right now.

Music Corner

This week we have a few more songs...

Egomama (Ego-Selfish) – www . youtube dot-com / watch? v= n0l0iLUgyPQ – Overall an interesting song in my opinion. Also catchy!

Genomimikuronikuru – www . youtube dot-com / watch? v= sDj6NrPSaTc – Unfortunately there are no subs for this one anywhere! As it is, does it sound familiar? That's the tune from 'Mozaik Role'..! It's a duet between Kou Shibasaki and Deco 27, who also sang Egomama.

* * *

At any rate, that's all for now! Until the next update, I wish you all the best!


	119. Chapter 118

**Peacetime**

* * *

On Christmas Day, a box was placed on Jonouchi Katsuya's bed. It was not the bed he was sleeping in at the time; in fact at that time, the closest thing he had to a bed was the couch in his sister and mother's living room. It wasn't like they had a spare bedroom after all, and while they did at one point, it was currently full of boxes and shelves and very much devoid of a bed.

And yet, despite this, there was a box there. A box which had no warning, or label, or anything to give the slightest clue of its origin.

Which was why, after an eventful return filled with a tackle from Mokuba and a drive back from the airport to the house, he found himself staring at this box with narrowed eyes.

"...Mokuba...?" he called out from where he stood, not really moving from the spot while he stared at the box. "...Did you guys get me somethin'..?"

The answer he got was a 'no', strangely enough. Seto herself had actually hidden her gift inside Mokuba's in fact, though the boys were both quiet about it when Katsuya had opened that particular present on the drive back to find Mokuba's rather amazing scale model Red-Eyes to find a fairly expensive looking watch.

They figured it was better to take things as it was than to ask her about it really; she seemed to prefer that.

As it was, THIS box came from neither of them.

Which was why, when the spirit of the Other Yugi floated up through the floor behind his friend, Katsuya was still staring at it while sitting in his desk chair. "Hey Yug'."

"_AH- You saw me coming_!"

"Ehhh... Sorta," he admitted with a shrug, looking back a moment. "More heard t' be honest."

"_...Oh_." he somewhat lamely said in response. "_...I see_." He floated over, looking from Katsuya to the box. "_...I would have thought you'd have opened all your Christmas presents by now_," he added, raising an eyebrow. "_It's January already._"

Hahahahaha... He simply laughed. "Aha... Yea well... I don' really know who it came fr'm..."

_"...How is this stopping you._" WH-

"I- IT AIN' STOPPIN' ME!"

"_If you grabbed a chair to sit on, then yes it is._"

"No it ain'!"

"_It is,_" he continued with a blank face, his friend merely standing to point an accusing finger in it.

"No it ain', an' I'm gonna prove it..!"

"_Are you_?" he asked, smiling rather innocently in response.

Katsuya froze, looking back to the similarly 'innocent' box before sighing. "Ahhhhhhghhh... Alrigh'..." He walked over to the bed, snatching the box off of it as he took a seat. "Le's see what's inside!" he muttered under his breath, putting a hand up to half-heartedly push his privacy invading friend to the side. "D' you do this t' Yugi too?"

"._..Yes_?"

The blond stared at him a moment, before grinning with a snort. "Ffft- Someone's gotta teach y' a thing abou' personal space..!"

"_It's not hard to ignore when no one sees you._"

"'XCEPT I C'N STILL SEE YOU Y' WISEASS-"

'Yugi' grinned at that, arms crossed as he sat mid air. "_So you can. Box?_"

Fffffttt he was going dammit! "Alrigh'!" Dammit, he was more than a little nervous about this okay?

...Opening the box... And-

"...Oh_ fuck_."

_"Nnn?_"

Another half-push to the side as the boy leaned over to look, Katsuya briefly scowling. "SPACE."

"_What is it though..?_"

"It..." What he pulled out of the box had the Other Yugi silent as well, and within good reason. To most, the shoes would seem like nothing special. Though cleaned of any loose dirt and easily removed scuffs they were clearly worn, even with the shoelaces replaced. Well used soles and well rubbed sides, they were arguably in worse condition than the shoes he had now. There was even a hole in the front of one of them.

A hole that had been caused by a small dagger a year and a bit ago. "_Those are..._"

"M' air muscles..." The box fell to the floor, Katsuya holding the shoes a moment and slowly moving them over in his hands. "But... But these w're left at Pegasus' castle," he whispered, 'Yugi' merely staring and listening as he spoke. "Firs' one fell off when I w's runnin' fr'm 's goons," the blond continued, recalling how the badly worn shoelace had done him in. "..An I had t' leave th' other one t' 'scape 'nother..."

_"...If you left them there, that would mean there's only two people who could have given these back,_" his friend murmured, watching Katsuya smile somewhat and slip the shoes off.

"Heh... Still fit p'rfectly," he muttered, shaking his head. He didn't look back up, simply nodding. "...But... ...F'r th' Tenma brothers t' even bother keepin' these after all tha'..."

"_The fact that they returned them to you even,_" 'Yugi' added, shaking his head.

"Heh." The blond merely leaned back on the bed in the end, toes wiggling somewhat in the shoes as his smile grew. "Shit... Who th' hell knows what's going on anymore," he laughed, shaking his head. "Nothin' ever makes sense..."

* * *

'Yugi' didn't say much after that for a bit to be honest- when he did it was to get them on a different subject, which wound up switching between what happened for whom during the Christmas holidays (apparently, 'Yugi' had no problem in spying on a few friends occasionally, though he insisted it was accidental.), and... ...A dream.

If there was one thing that tipped him off to the fact that something was wrong, it was the fact that the 'original' of the two Yugi's appeared at the mansion less than a week later. It was the first day back for school- a day Katsuya would normally expect to spend sitting around in class, bored out of his skull as teachers went on about the importance of coming exams in late March. It was ALSO a day that he didn't expect to see the Other Yugi in control of the body... At least not until the end of the day.

...And yet...

"fFPTTTT-" Cereal and milk went flying as the seemingly solid, yet definitely ethereal form of his friend floated through the wall across from him, the boy blinking rapidly in response as it flew through him and over the counter.

"_...Bad time..?_" he offered with a laugh, the blond across from him choking down what was still in his mouth.

"S'n'f a..." Okay self, breathe... BREATHE... "G-Give a guy warnin' man, what's goin' on..!"

The spirit continued to laugh somewhat awkwardly, rubbing the back of his head. "_Erm... S-Sorry! I just didn't think it'd be something to talk about at school and..._" He looked to the side rather sheepishly. "_I didn't want the other-me to know..._"

...What. He shook his head, frowning. That... Sounded curiously similar to the request that the other Yugi had made... ...A few days ago...

Even so he nodded, spoon resting in the bowl as he sat back. "Well 'f it's tha' bad..."

His friend gave what seemed to be a sigh of relief, floating somewhat above a chair before speaking. "_Hah... Thanks, Jonouchi-kun. I just... I didn't want to worry him with this, and when we're this far apart it makes it easier to say things without him picking up on them..._" ...What so visiting him on the other end of town meant no beans spilled? Again the boy sighed, continuing. _"There's another reason I'm asking you of course... You have weird dreams a lot, right?_" he asked almost hesitantly, watching as Katsuya nodded. "_Well... For the past few nights, I've been having one myself. I tried to ignore it,_" Yugi admitted, swallowing. "_But recently, something changed in it_."

"Er..." What. "Changed?" Changed... How..?

"_It's not much,_" Yugi told him. "_The dream, I mean. I'm walking through a temple I think, wearing armor... At first, I thought it was just a dream of the Monster World, or the Virtual World,_" he went on, _"But then.._." He sighed, looking down. "_I thought I heard a voice... Calling for me, or the other me even. I thought I saw a hand reaching at the same time even, and I.._." Woahhhhhh...

Okay it was pretty much identical until he got to THAT part. "A... A hand..?" As Yugi nodded his friend swallowed, standing from his seat and grabbing his cereal bowl. "I mean... Shit, I don't have a clue what tha's about but..."

_"I didn't think you would,_" Yugi admitted uneasily. _"But I didn't want to ask the Other Me, since he'd probably end up worrying..._" Oh didn't he just know it.

Still, he'd promised not to say anything to Yugi... ...Damn this was awkward. Maybe it'd be better for them to figure it out themselves? He sighed, nodding. "I guess... Doesn' change th' fact that I don' know what it means though," he muttered, downing the milk in his cereal bowl before taking it into the kitchen. "I mean... If I could help s'mehow, y' know I would! But..." He looked to Yugi, sighing again. "Mannn... ...'F 's any cons'lation... I haven' had any weird dreams myself, so..." ...Or at least nothing... Even remotely related to that...

Yugi didn't need to know about the one he had over the holidays after the mess on new years to be honest. As it was, he seemed to find the fact that there weren't any dreams (that he knew of) relieving. "_Phew... Well, that at least helps,_" he decided. _"If Jonouchi-kun can't see it after all, it's probably not too bad._" UHHHHHH don't take his word on that! "_Anyways. I'm going to go now,_" the boy continued, turning with a wave. "_I'll see you in class, neh_?"

Katsuya nodded. "Aah, definitely!" Only a moment after he said this the boy vanished on the spot, likely returning to his own body. The blond sighed, moving back to the other room and grabbing his bag from the ground. Maaaaaan...

He really hoped Yugi was right to figure things wouldn't get worse.

* * *

As it turned out, Yugi was both right and wrong about the dreams foretelling darker things to come, though to be honest that depended on the perspective of things. On the one hand, school passed without trouble that day, along with the day following. And the next, and the next... Classes happened as they typically did, and in fact, it seemed things were looking up; from the first day on, Bakura seemed to be over the awkward silence he had with the group since the issues with the Tenma brothers, and was overall his apparently cheery self again.

The key word being apparently, he found himself figuring, as the fact was he had the nasty feeling the smile was being dropped when they weren't looking... Worse, it occasionally felt more like he was being watched.

Not a comfortable feeling from a guy who shared bodies with an actor and thief to be honest.

While the reality of things hadn't been dark however, the dreams apparently were- and while his own occasional visions were perfectly content to either relive what he'd already seen in another one or give heads up of his next dinner, Yugi's dreams apparently weren't.

Which was exactly why he was sitting on the couch of the game room, pretending to play something on his ages-old handheld while having a partially whispered conversation with the 'normal' Yugi. Mokuba at least, was a little understanding about it when he caught snippets, quirking a brow the first time before deciphering the blond's awkward hand gestures and excuses with a slow nod. At the moment in fact, he was off to the side with Seto, the pair catching a rare moment of time together. Aside from their own mutterings as well, the air was filled with the occasional crunch- supposedly Kyouko had brought in a large bag of roasted and seasoned soybeans for a snack, and after some convincing sacrificed a bowl of them for the younger of the Kaiba siblings.

The beans, he'd admit, weren't too bad. He'd tried a few earlier. However, that wasn't quite the point at the moment, and as he briefly spared the two across the room a glance he continued his conversation with Yugi.

"So... Darkness, voices, a hand... An' now y' got red eyes glowin' an' a bunch 'f monsters tha' don' exist on cards?" he asked, looking back up to the spirit that was floating above.

Yugi nodded, resting his elbows on crossed legs and his head on his hands. "_U-un... It's gradual_," he continued, "_But the dreams are definitely getting worse..._"

"Man..." He rubbed his head, groaning under his breath. "Th's cannot be good..."

Again his friend nodded, sighing. _"I know... And there's not really anything we can do about it but... Well, it helps to talk about it, right?_" he asked, Katsuya blinking in response. _"I mean... When I think about before, when you started having those dreams and such... And then about how you were around that time..."_

Hohhhh... "Ahh... Yea... I w's pretty tense then huh..."

Another nod. "_Exactly. I don't want either of us to end up like that again right?_" There was some weak laughter, and he shook his head. "_Anyways.. Other Me agreed to help Grandpa with the shop today, so I took the chance to come over. I expected Mokuba to be busy with something else,_" he added, "_But I didn't think I'd come in on him playing chess with Kaiba-san..."_

As Katsuya turned to glance over at the duo again (before hurriedly turning back to his own game when he realized Seto was about to look up herself) he shrugged. "Ah... You'd be surprised," he told his friend. "It's been happenin' a lot more lately."

"_Ehhh? Really?_"

"Yep. Still stays at work way too long," he added with a quiet snort, "But she's home on th' weekends at least, an' she seems t' try spending at least some of it w' Mokuba..."

Yugi smiled. "_Ahhh. That's great! ...Neh..._" He looked back down, blinking. "_Speaking of Kaiba-san... ...You know, Valentines day is coming up..._"

"SFN-gH-" The sound that wheezed it's way out of Katsuya's throat was odd to say the least, and had the others in the room looking over rather blankly for a moment.

"Uh... Katsuya-nii..?"

"..." Seto frowned. "Katsuya..."

While Yugi took the moment to gape, Katsuya himself merely looked over and attempted to stop choking on his own words. "Gh- Ah... Y-Yea?"

Mokuba was the one to answer that, Seto merely fixing him with an odd narrow-eyed stare. "...What are you doing..?"

"Uhhhhh... Nothing?"

Seto's turn to speak, her stare growing more unimpressed by the second. "...And the choking..?"

"...Soybeans," he weakly offered in excuse, attempting to do anything other than make eye contact with the pair.

"...Soybeans."

"Uh, yea... Cause it's Setsubun righ'?" he laughed, sitting up to rub the back of his head. "Yer s'pposed t' eat as many as y' are old an... I... Tried t' eat 'm all at once, aha..."

The taller of the siblings continued to stare. "...Your lies are more transparent than clean water, mutt." AHAHAHAHA go away.

"Wh- Well..." He shrugged, again trying to cover for himself. "What, you saying you don' do Setsubun?"

The pair raised eyebrows at that. "Well we didn't do it last year..." Mokuba said with a shrug, Seto herself merely continuing her stare.

It was honestly getting kinda creepy, stop stop stop... "Weeeeeell... Do y'... Want to?" he offered with the same weak tone, flinching somewhat as the woman shifted. Idly, he noticed that her hand was still curled up, like she was holding...

The siblings traded looks, before looking back.

Uh-oh.

"NYH-" The blond abruptly fled over the couch, which was suddenly being pelted with beans. "NOT WHAT I MEANT-!"

"THE ANSWER IS NO."

"THEN WHY'RE Y' THROWIN' BEANS!"

"You asked for it, Katsuya-nii!"

"Ahhh..."

Needless to say, by the time he escaped the room, he was fairly salt covered... And Yugi for his part, confused to no end.

* * *

"Dude... Is that a _bean_ in your hair..?"

Honda's question the next morning in first period elicited a groan from Katsuya and an awkward laugh from the shorter teen beside him. As it was, the blond started searching around for it shortly after, tossing it aside as his friend snorted.

"Pfff... Didn't figure the Kaiba's were the holiday type," he laughed, shaking his head. "Don't tell me you got the oni mask too!"

The teen was fixed with a fairly unimpressed frown, Katsuya swapping his shoes for slippers and heading to class with the others. "It wasn' even setsubun..." he moaned. "They jus' start'd tossin' beans..."

"Ahaaa..." As Yugi watched, Honda laughed again, his friend growling.

"An' what's so funny abou' tha'...?"

"Nothing?"

"Y' know I could tell ev'ryone abou' yer adventures wi' the nephew..!"

An amused chuckle came from behind, the others turning. "Not before I could," Otogi stated, Honda taking in a sharp breath as the teen walked past.

"But you won't," Honda warned, his roommate unphased.

"Oh... For now."

"WHAT-"

"Hehehehe, an' don' think I'm holdin' back either..!"

"JONOUCHI-"

"Ehhh..." Yugi watched uneasily at the chaos brewing before him, pointing to the classroom door. "Shouldn't we just go inside..?"

The boys looked back to their friend, and then toward the hall clock. "Ah..."

"Hn. 5 to," Otogi noted, slipping under what was almost a headlock from Honda and into the classroom. "Thank you, Yugi..."

"Erm... You're welcome..?"

"Don' think I'm gonna f'rget th' Setsubun thing," Katsuya added with a smirk, Honda swiping the back of his head as he ducked.

"Man just drop it, or I swear I'll find a shit ton more dirt on you in return...!"

"I'll jus' do th' same!"

"BRING IT."

"DON' MAKE ME-!"

As Yugi slammed a hand against his forehead the others in the classroom sighed, watching as the mild scuffle began between the two only to very abruptly be separated by a meter stick. "A-hem!"

"Eh?"

A cough came from the other end of the device, both teens hurriedly breaking it up to look to their home room teacher. "If you could both take your seats," he 'offered', eyebrows raised, "Before I take the 'dirt' that I've found and use it to give the both of you a detention..."

"Y-Y'sir!"

"You got it sensei!"

The man shook his head, watching the pair scurry to their seats before moving to the front. Admittedly, their homeroom teacher was used to this sort of thing. Scuffles like that were just things that Katsuya and Honda did; and they always made up afterward, typically with a no-harm-done sort of thing going between them.

As it were. The blond slumped in his seat as homeroom started, moving to yawn only to flinch as a ball of paper came his way. The ball itself was caught with ease- and then looked at with mild skepticism as Honda gave a thumbs up in the back of his mind before turning to the front. The note in question...

'Ten days...' God fucking-

The note was soon sent back when the teacher's back was turned, a curious spirit of the puzzle poking out from beside Yugi to watch what happened. 'I could say the same to you,' Katsuya had written back, Honda briefly gaining a mildly awkward frown before writing his own response.

The other Yugi ducked as the note sailed above his head, the few students between them merely rolling their eyes (Otogi) or holding their heads (Bakura...). 'Alright,' the note read this time. 'So my chances with Miho have once again failed spectacularly...' The blond sniggered under his breath, before briefly stowing the note between pages of his notebook as the teacher moved to look back. As he was so thankfully recalling/foreseeing/whatever however... '...That doesn't mean you're off the hook! The other guys, they're set.' it read, Katsuya briefly frowning to himself as the words came to mind.

"Hnnnn..." The Other Yugi floated near, and as the teacher looked back the note was pulled out again, Katsuya not particularly caring if it was read by another friend. Yugi himself seemed curious- but turned back to his work in the end, not willing to risk the gap between desks to get them both caught.

_"...Ah..."_ Ohoho, someone was just as confused weren't they! "_...What does he mean, 'there's still you'..?_"

The response was a faded laugh, and a frown in Honda's direction.

"I c'n guess."

* * *

His guess was right on the mark and then some.

"Alright," Honda started at lunch, a few of the others watching from the side in amusement. "Now hear me out. I have... No clue what you see in her for personality," he stated, his friend's expression falling to a flat and unimpressed deadpan stare, "But I figure if there's one thing Valentines is for, it's..." He paused for a moment, as though looking for the right word.

"Hondaaaaaa..."

"YEA. Not coming!" he decided, Otogi snorting at the side as Bakura merely watched on with a frozen expression of amusement. It was just their luck actually, that Yugi and Anzu were having their own lunch relatively alone- potentially for the very reason that Honda was talking to him. As it were, the other Yugi looked notably out of place, staring with wide, blank eyes, and occasionally moving to speak before deciding against it with a second thought.

"'S there ev'n a point t' this...?" he muttered, before his friend continued on.

"Look. I'm resigned to a dateless future. I've accepted it. BUT YOU!" Wat. "There is no way I am letting you screw yourself over."

"WA-" Before he could get angry about that, he had to laugh to be honest. "PFFFFF... Man, y' can' be serious..!" Honda merely stared. "Gh- Yer worse at this stuff th'n I am!"

"WHAT- I am not!"

"Y' jus' finished sayin' yer future in dates were hopeless!"

"With Miho!"

"Y' didn' say tha'!"

"But I meant it!" he insisted, "I meant it!"

The three in the background merely shook their heads, 'Yugi' continuing to stare owlishly whilst Bakura looked to Otogi. "...Does this happen often?" he asked, the taller of the pair raising his eyebrows.

"Do you want to know?"

"I'm tellin' yah Honda, y' gotta drop Miho!"

"I guess I could see how long it takes to ship to Osaka..."

"WHAT-"

The others winced, and while 'Yugi' stared the other two followed suit. "...Well then." Otogi coughed after a moment, before clapping Bakura on the shoulder and turning to leave. "To Valentines Day."

"...R-Right..."

As the two left the Other Yugi merely continued to stare at his two arguing friends, floating form tilting in space to follow the various bizarre locks and holds the duo were placing on themselves. "_...This is by far the strangest holiday..._" he decided in the end. "_...By far..._"

His only response, as it were, was a mental chuckle from the original Yugi and a rather loud '_YOU STAY TH' HELL AWAY FR'M MY SISTER_!' from Katsuya to Honda.

* * *

It happened in class.

"Seven days man..."

"Haha, DROP IT."

It happened at Burger World.

"Dude you have like... Three days before Valentines now, you thought of something to do right?"

"D' you have... ANY IDEA... 'F who yer talkin' abou'?"

Honda paused.

"...Yes."

"HONDA-"

...It even happened at the god damned arcade.

"Alrigh' one, two, left, an-"

"IT'S VALENTINES TOMORROW, WHAT ARE YOU DOING-"

"S'N'VA-" The blond stumbled, scrambling for the bar as the 'NNR' screen flashed a rather brilliant 'LOSE' across it. "HONDA WHAT TH' HELL?"

The teen shrugged. "Payback for last week."

…Okay yea he had that coming. Nonetheless he scowled, pulling himself up and rubbing a now very sore neck. "Ghaaaaaaa... Couldn' think 'f a better time f'r tha'...?"

"Well, you shot down every other time..."

He turned, frowning. "Only 'cause y' can' seem t' grasp th' fact tha' 'she' doesn' do holidays."

"You got chocolate last year."

"Yea but-" He turned, pointing at his friend accusingly. "Oh you'd better not be askin' abou' my chocolate-!"

The point was responded with another point. "AHA! See, you know she's going to do it again!"

Katsuya stared, frowning in response. "...An' yer point."

"Well... You've got to do something man, I mean..." He looked around, as though expecting to suddenly be spotted by one of the others as they walked out of the arcade. "This has never happened before." As Honda said this with a tone far more flat and severe than anything he'd been saying on the topic all week, Katsuya stared. "Just... Never happened Jonouchi. ...I don't want to see you screw this up," he went on in that same tone. "And... Well, I guess... ...I know it's weird, but I've never seen you happier man."

"What..." The blond shook himself, looking at Honda oddly. "Th' hell are you..."

He shrugged. "Okay, so I've seen you 'crazy' happy," he admitted. "During duels and such but... It's... Just a different kind, alright? Let me put it in perspective," the teen went on, snatching his friend's attention for the first time in a number of days. "When you win a duel you shout right? You jump, youscream... HAPPY," he reiterated, Katsuya listening in mild confusion. "But then there's other things. When you realized that she was still alive after Battle City," Honda began, "The relief you had on your face was... Intense. But after that... Yeaaa, you smiled a bit, but you just weren't the same. Then that shit with Tenma happened," the teen explained. "She came back. And you had... This look on your face. This bizarre, beaming smile and- and it felt like whatever stones were dragging you down were suddenly gone alright? Just... The mood you had around you..."

Katsuya continued to stare in silence, Honda looking away for a moment and sighing.

"Look... The fact is... It's like I said. I don't get what you see but... Whatever the hell it is, I don't want to watch you lose it. So just... Don't screw up," he repeated, looking back to the blond. "Alright? Don't fuck this up man..."

"Honda... ...C'mon, I ain'-"

"I'm serious," he stated flatly, "One day, the weird shit will be over, and you will still have whatever the hell you call it okay."

The blond snorted, the pair making their way down the sidewalk. "I got it man- I won't screw up."

"Damn right. And when she finally figures it out herself you're gonna tell me how the night goes."

Another snort, followed by a playful knock to the shoulder. "Yea, an' you'll hook up wi' yer own girlfriend when tha' happens righ'?"

"Hey! ...You admitted she was your girlfriend."

"Wh- DAMMIT-"

"HaHAAAA YES!" His friend laughed, tearing off as Katsuya chased after.

"Get th' hell back here y' asshat!"

"Gonna have to catch me first!"

"DAMMIT-!"

One had to admit, their friendship was fucking bizarre...

But hell if it wasn't a good one.

Not that it saved Honda from what awaited him the morning, of course.

* * *

Girls swarmed two desks in particular that day and as they stood to the side and safely away from the chaos, the Other Yugi floating amid them as Yugi himself stood not too far with Anzu, they had only one thing to say.

"...Valentines." Honda muttered, looking over the crowd with an expression not unlike a stunned deer in the headlights. "...You have no idea how happy I am that this isn't any of you," he added, the others turning with raised eyebrows.

"Which one, the mob of fangirls or the subject of their affections?" Anzu asked dryly.

The response was almost instant, a shock of white only briefly appearing in the middle of the crowd before Bakura was again swamped in girls attempting to hand him a box. "Both."

"Erm... Well if it means anything I think someone left a box on your desk at least..."

Honda snapped toward Yugi, expression immediately shifting from 'deer' to 'pointer'. "Are you serious?"

The blank stare in response more or less said '...yes?', and without another word Honda charged through the empty sections of classroom toward his.

"Yesyesyesyesyes-"

"Erm... Who does he think put it there..?" Yugi uneasily asked, the group wincing as a few desks dampened the trek for their friend.

"I think the better question is 'will he be disappointed'," Anzu responded, Katsuya merely staring with wide eyes.

He opened his mouth to answer, only to abruptly shut it and look in the other direction. ". . ."

"_...Jonouchi..._" As the other Yugi turned to look at the blond the others followed, Yugi himself first and Anzu shortly after.

"...Did you just see..."

"...Jonouchi-kun..?"

The blond merely rubbed the back of his head, shrugging and shaking his head. "Not sayin," he eventually said, the others trading looks. "Not a word..."

"J-Jonouchi-kun, it can't be that bad..."

"IT'S ANONYMOUS..!" The trio (plus one) turned, blinking as Honda stumbled back with the box in hand. "There's no name," he repeated with a grin, "Just chocolate!" They continued to stare, Honda almost expectantly holding the grin before continuing. "...I don't have to do anything for white day!"

Anzu smacked her face and groaned, the others laughing somewhat awkwardly. "Ah... T-That's great Honda-kun! Good for you!"

Katsuya wisely remained silent- partially in amusement- as Honda continued to grin. "Hehe... Yep! This is probably the best Valentines I've ever had..."

"'S th' first one y've gotten chocolate on, tha's f'r sure," he snorted, his friend immediately turning on him.

"WHY YOU-"

"GhAHAHAHA-!"

It was probably for the best that the rest of lunch was spent dealing with either the brawl or the aftermath thereof- the less Honda suspected of him the better really.

Particularly since he was almost certain that the one who delivered that chocolate didn't attend their school.

* * *

"MeheheheheehaAHAHAHHAAHA..."

Watching Mokuba laugh in a manner strangely similar to that of his elder sister during the 'death t' period as it could be called, was not typically something anyone would want to see.

Watching Mokuba laugh in this manner while staring at a pile of chocolate that potentially rivaled the size of the fish-tank at the side of his bedroom...

Well that was fucking hilarious. "It's mineeeeee~" he laughed, Katsuya merely staring with the same amusement he had for Honda's 'no white day' reaction. "ALL MINEEEEE!"

Katsuya snorted as he leaned against the wall near the fish tank, shaking his head. "Yea, an how long y' expect t' hide it fr'm yer sister?"

The boy scowled. "This time I'm going to make sure she doesn't find it..! And besides, I could have... Just not gotten chocolate this year!"

There was a span of silence, the amused expression failing to vanish.

"...Oh come on Katsuya-nii..! I'll even share!"

"Ah- Like hell I'm gettin' involved in th's, I know a losin' situation!"

"But Katsuya-nii... Chocolate..."

He shook his head. "Sorry! But y' know, I didn' say I'd tell..."

There was a grin in response to that in an instant, the boy again cackling. "Hahaahah! YESSSSSSSSS! It's all-"

"There you are..."

Mokuba froze, Katsuya as well jumping as the door opened to reveal Seto herself. Sparing but a glance at the blond and the fish beside him, she looked toward the horde of chocolate Mokuba had on his bed, frowning. "Ahaaa... N-Nee-sama!" he laughed, the woman seeming to stare boredly at the boy trying and failing to hide the pile. "How was your day?"

She continued to stare. "I sincerely hope you planned to tell me about this," she stated flatly, colour draining from Mokuba's still 'smiling' face.

"Ahahahahahaaaaa..."

Seto snorted, moving back toward the door. "The chocolate goes to the kitchen within an hour," she warned, before looking back to Katsuya. "And you."

"EH-" He pointed to himself, amusement dropped for shock. "...Me?"

"Follow me, we're watching the Avengers."

"HEHHHH?"

He'd followed of course, in the end. It... Probably wouldn't have ended well if he followed actually! He'd have said the movie choice was interesting to be honest, but after Thor, it was one of the natural choices when he thought about it. Really, he was probably more surprised by the fact that she dragged him off for a movie than anything.

Or at least, surprised that the movie didn't start with them on exact opposite ends of the couch, even though the bowl of popcorn still sat between them as the title credits rose.

* * *

Surprisingly enough, the movie experience wasn't too different from what it was during the latter minutes of 'Thor' a few months prior. He supposed it figured in the end- Seto was the one who had the idea really, and really, more power to her for that anyways. He honestly hadn't expected it.

He supposed even with all the joking around at school actually, he hadn't expected the box he found on the bed either- and even though it would mean hell on white day, and already meant attempting to push a spirity Other Yugi out of the room when he showed up from being booted from the puzzle until Yugi's date was over ('Wait, Yugi's on a date w' Anzu? YES!')...

Well, chocolate was chocolate, and this was really good chocolate aaaaah-

Not that it... Stopped the other Yugi from asking how his own 'date' went... ('It wasn' a date!' '...Yes. Yes it was.')

But regardless of what happened in the aftermath of Valentines, if there was one place they were all guaranteed to find themselves later on it was the department store.

In the candy section.

Staring at white chocolate on the afternoon of the thirteenth. "Nnnnn..."

"Aaaahh..."

"Why is it so expensive..."

The boys turned as Bakura lamented his chocolate bill, Honda shaking his head from where he'd been watching. "Man... I'm telling you, just take a page from Otogi's book and skip the fourteenth!"

"But I can't miss a class..!"

"Err... Hate t' break it t' yah Bakura but y' have b'fore..."

"But I was sick!" he protested, "It didn't count..!"

"Hnn, not all the time..."

Yugi appeared to call for his other self to 'shush', looking back to Bakura and shaking his head. "Erm... Didn't you just use the bulk store last time Bakura-kun..?"

"Yea, an it'd be cheaper righ'..?" Katsuya added, finally settling on his own choice of white day 'payment'.

The somewhat distraught teen merely fell silent at that, hand on his chin in thought. "...I suppose..." Ahahahah...

Abruptly he stiffened, turning around to look toward the end of the aisle. "Nyh-"

"Eh?" The others turned. "Oii, Jonouchi... You spot something?" Honda asked, the word 'spot' just barely emphasized as his friend continued to stare off in confusion.

"Er..." He scratched the back of his head, looking back. "Maybe..? I don' see anythin' so..."

"_Perhaps it is nothing then_," the other Yugi decided, the others falling silent as the blond turned to what was now assumed to be occupied space. "_Typically you see something clearly correct_?"

He nodded. "Yea, I s'ppose..." Huhhhh...

"Well, in any case, I have what I came for," Yugi decided, holding a small box with a smile.

Behind them Bakura nodded, also smiling despite the obvious nervous feeling behind it. "I think I'll try the bulk store myself..."

"Gonna need any help for tha'?"

Honda spoke before the other could answer, shrugging. "Eh, if he does I'll handle it." he decided. "Not like I have any shopping to do," the teen added with a grin.

"Hahaha... Tha's real great Honda, so what'd the girl who gave you yer chocolate look like again?"

"WHY YOU-!"

"Ah... Sh-Shouldn't we just buy the chocolate now..?"

While the other Yugi awkwardly shrugged to the side, the brawl merely continued on. And hey... It wasn't like they'd be running late for anything right?

* * *

How in the hell had he forgotten dinner.

"Aaaaaaaaa..."

"You're late Katsuya-nii..!" Mokuba muttered with a huff, looking up from the table as an out of breath Katsuya came in. "I've been sitting here alone the entire time..!"

"Hah.. hahhhhh... Sorry... Jus'-" Wait. Alone? He frowned. "...Where's Seto-chan..?"

The boy shrugged. "Nee-sama had to work late today," he explained, continuing at the pointed look he gained from Katsuya in response. "I say 'had' because apparently she got a call from someone so..."

Huhhh... "Right..." He shook his head. "Well, guess tha' makes this easier!"

"Eh? 'This'?"

"..." He looked to Mokuba, as though gauging his chances if he said anything. "...Jus' chocolate..."

Mokuba grinned. "...White chocolate..?" he asked, sitting up in his seat.

"...Maybe..."

"And how much..?"

Katsuya began backing away toward the door, frowning. "Y' know, I don' think I wanna say..."

"Heh? But how come, it's just chocolate right?"

As Mokuba moved from his seat, he bolted. "Y' know damn well why not..!"

"Awww come on Katsuya-nii, just tell me!"

"NO!" he shouted back, charging up the stairs as the boy followed. "Y' can ask yer sister if y' wanna know that bad!"

"But she'll never tell me..!"

"AN' THA'S TH' POINT!"

Personally he was lucky the box was so slim, he'd slid it under her office door already and was still running.

Just... A few more rounds and he'd stop...!

"Katsuya-nii...! It's my sister..!"

"Th' point still stands!"

"Nnnnnngggg-!"

"B'sides," he added as he slowed to a stop. "I don' have th' box w' me anymore."

"HEHHHH?" Mokuba balked. "What, you don't..?"

The blond laughed, arms crossed. "Hehehe, nope!"

"But when-" The boy shook his head. "Where..!"

"Eh... You'll have t' ask yer sister tha'! Won' you?"

"AAAAAAGH."

* * *

'Aaagh' was probably an accurate way to describe the mood Seto was in when she got home. In fact, it accurately described the mood she had while talking to a few maids, and when going to bed. It even accurately covered how she more or less felt the next morning, to the point that she never actually went into her office between moment 'a' and moment 'b'.

That however, was alright for the moment. It was Thursday that was the 14th after all, not the day before. In fact, it turned out that Seto would be working from home for a span of time for the day, right until after school was out in fact! So there was no way she'd miss it right?

A quick peek under the door crack of the office told him yes, yes she had, and after a quick look around in the hall he opened the door to grab it. Ahhhhh...

To be honest, he'd had a 'feeling' it was like that... "Where th' heck is she anyways," he muttered to himself, shutting the door behind him. He half expected to get an answer to that. However, there was instead silence- and so, scratching his head he wandered down the hall. Had to be around here somewhere right..?

And if she wasn't in her office... "Hnnn..." He found himself staring at the ground in thought, frowning. Nope.

Noth-

"Ah-" He blinked, spotting a bit of light from under one of the doors. Kinda weird for Seto to be hanging around one of the meeting halls but... He grinned, heading to the door immediately. "Oiii, Seto-ch-"

Maybe it was fate's way of kicking him in the face. Or maybe, it just figured 'well, you've had a plenty long break since the last bout of crazy shit', or some other reason he couldn't think of.

But as Seto looked up from where she'd been scowling at the table, a vision hit him.

And truth be told, he'd have appreciated knowing what Seto and the Tenma brothers were talking about before he came through the door.

"...Katsuya?"

"Er... Hey?"

If at least not at all. From the table, the Tenma brothers in question had differing responses, though neither seemed particularly disturbed. Aside from Katsuya himself, Seto and the two were the only ones in the room in fact- though the vision of Yakou idly pointing out that it would be easier and less awkward to hold a meeting where there were no attempts to hide known secrets before being told to stuff it by way of a comment on how strangely chatty he was... Well, it told him that they probably wouldn't have minded either way.

As it was, while Yakou was mildly amused, Gekkou seemed content to hold his head and mutter apologies under his breath at that time, before spotting Katsuya himself. "Ah. Jonouchi-kun," he started, turning toward him. "Is there something we can help you with?"

"Uhhhhhh..."

As Katsuya swallowed, Yakou chuckled, hiding a small grin behind a hand. "Spfff- Something tells me you didn't even know we were in here. Also, 'Katsuya'?" he added, Seto bristling at the comment.

"Tenma..."

"Which one, me or him?"

"You're already trying my patience...!"

Again Katsuya swallowed, idly tumbling the box around in his hands as he breathed. "Uh... Y-Y' know, it c'n probably wait-"

"Heyyyy, no big deal, come join us~"

The others turned to stare oddly at Yakou, his brother sparing but a brief glance before sighing under his breath. "...Yakou we're here for business, not for a chat..."

Seto nodded. "Exactly. I hardly feel that he needs to sit in on a business meeting," she added, Katsuya merely thanking whatever was watching over everything that the tone wasn't directed his way.

As it was, Yakou seemed relatively unaffected, and Katsuya was beginning to see what Seto meant in his vision when she'd said that he was 'strangely talkative for someone who keeps to himself'.

Yakou in the vision had merely shrugged at that. "I don't know... We're talking about the next step in dueling, and, last I checked, he himself was a duelist..."

"Er... I don'..."

"How about we stay on topic," Seto growled, apparently not caring if the blond in the doorway left or not. "Gekkou," she began, the teen in question nodding. "You wanted to know if the duel disk would eventually gain more than just the tracker device. Why?"

Again Gekkou nodded, and he opened a small folder before him. "I thought it would be useful to take advantage of the duelist's attachment to the device. If there were perhaps additional uses- e-mail, clock..."

Err.. He didn't see much for that...

Apparently neither did Seto. "I highly doubt anyone is going to be interested in moving from their palm-sized phone to the arm-length duel disk for their internet connection."

"That or you wouldn't." At the look Yakou got in response he shrugged, smiling. "However, better to hear it from you. As it is, customizing the disk itself would be an interesting add on eh?" Hohhh...

They were pretty basic... "Hnn.. Possibly..." ...And it was on Seto's mind too! Yes! "...I would have thought you'd be asking about something a little 'bigger' to be honest..."

While Gekkou shook his head, Yakou merely laughed. "Like what, duel disks on motorcycles?"

...What.

Seto merely snorted. "Hn! I wouldn't actually put that past you!"

"It would be fun," he idly responded, twin looking up from his folder with incredulity.

"...What? But the focus you would need- That ALONE-"

Yakou for his part did a fairly good job at doing nothing but smiling, shrugging, and leaning back against his seat with a grin. "I'm sure I'd make it work..."

"Not while I'm in charge..." Seto muttered, Katsuya stiffling a snort from where he was. "I really hope that isn't everything however," she continued. "Because I can name a lot of other projects I could have been working on..."

"Like the Solid Vision realism?" Yakou offered, the woman blinking in response.

Before she could answer, Gekkou continued. "We had a few things concerning that actually. Before that however, we have a large number of fusion type monsters in the works that we need to discus for initial animations, as well as a potential new rule for fusion summons..." Alright this was about to get boring, maybe just putting the box in Seto's room or something would be- "Also," Gekkou added, Katsuya finding himself looking back. "We've been getting... Complaints."

That got raised eyebrows. "...Complaints."

Yakou nodded. "Apparently, parents don't like it when their kids are dueling instead of studying..."

As Katsuya paled in the background, there was a cough from Gekkou. "The fact that the two top duelists still attending classes are both bottom of their year doesn't help..."

At this Seto turned, Katsuya uneasily laughing. "Ahaaa..."

"...We'll talk later." OHHHHHH why didn't he like the sound of that..?

"Nyh..."

Seto looked back to the others, hands folded and expression cool. "It's absolutely none of my responsibility if parents can't keep their own children focused on classes. They can find someone else to complain to."

"You sure you want to say that?" Yakou asked, apparently entirely calm about the topic. At the raised eyebrow in response, he continued. "I mean... Parents are typically the ones purchasing the cards, the disk and anything duel monsters related for their children sooooo..."

"So it should still not be my responsibility to make sure someone's ten year old pays attention in math..!" She leaned back in her seat, shaking her head. "It's hardly my fault that they aren't."

"That's wonderful, now explain that to the general public."

"Yakou," Gekkou began, only for Seto to cut him off.

"Allow me to reiterate- their incompetence is NOT my-"

"If y' think they're so incompetent why don' y' give 'm a reason t' pay attention in th' firs' place? Like put a lock on th' thing 'r somethin'."

The others turned, and though he balked somewhat under the sudden attention he continued.

"Er- I mean... Par'nt's c'n put blocks on computers an' such righ'? Why not disks?"

"Because it would make the idea of dueling wherever, whenever fall flat," Yakou offered, only to jump as Seto raised a hand.

"Quite for a minute," she muttered, looking back to Katsuya. "That's not what you said to start. You said 'give them a reason'."

"Er... Y-Yea," he coughed. "I dunno what would work though, I... I mean 's like y' said, y're not about t' teach 'm yerself..!"

For a moment, it looked as though Seto was about to scowl. To his surprise however she smoothly took the box he still had in his hands, briefly grabbing his shoulder to turn him back out the door instead. "No... That's fine," she instead said, a fairly calculating look in her eye as the others straightened in their seats. "I think I have an idea..."

As to what the idea was, Katsuya didn't know.

But despite the fact that he was met with a shut door, he found himself deciding that simply having the box he'd planned to deliver successfully handed over without question was fine enough.

* * *

**AN: **Da-da-daaaaah! Update time! It's a shorter chapter than the norm, yes, but the fact remains it's the last 'filler' before a major arc; I can't... Put too much in it because there really ISN'T much. In fact a lot of the end was meant to go at the start of the first Arc chapter. And you know what?

WE'RE STARTING THE NEXT ARC IN THE COMING CHAPTER~ That's right, filler arc is over again! However, in addition, there's a new contest out!

See for the arc following whatever may come between the next filler and the coming arc, a fair chunk of the cast will be travelling across the USA from San Francisco California, through some desert-area, and then by any route following to the opposite side of the country.

However, I do not have a set route..! All I know is that they need to get to the east coast in an area where the States can send as many ships out as possible for attack- for reasons which will become evident, believe me.

This is where the contest comes in! **I need you to put together what you feel would be the best route for these guys to take**! They won't have any accommodation worries- a trailer or an RV will be fixing that. Simply give me a basic line from point A (San Fran) to point B (location of choice on the east coast)!

(And if you're worried about never getting a prize, I DO have that prize for the last one coming along, believe me; it's just that seeing a book cover for this is something I can't well limit to the basic character request format like it was supposed to, so I'm kinda putting a lot into it...)

And with that settled, it's time for...

**Anonymous Review Responses**

...There are none!

Moving right along then!

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner

The section that's watching AAAAALLL the hero-movies..!

* * *

The title of this chapter goes relatively without saying- 'Peacetime'. That's what this is in the fanfic after all.

..._For now..._

* * *

What's in the box? YOU'LL JUST HAVE TO WAIT UNTIL A FEW PARAGRAPHS LATER.

As to how it got there, it's not as hard as you think. All it took was Yakou trying and failing to get through the Kaiba Mansion door before finally tossing a shoe at one of the still working people. The maid very kindly took the shoes and the box they came in and then beat the man over the head before doing what was asked.

* * *

In Japan, the winter holiday lasts from December 23 to January 7, rather similar to North America. ...Or at least to Canada. I dunno about the states.

* * *

THE AIR MUSCLES ARE BAAAACK!

Did you know they're based on a real shoe? The 'Air Max 95', from Nike in fact. The Air Max was based, visually, on the human anatomy, with the spine of the shoe resembling the human one and materials representing skin.

Amusingly enough, it was found in a UK forensic study that this shoe was, in 2007 at least, the number one shoe choice among criminals hahaha.

* * *

Yugi's dream should seem familiar to those who braved through all twelve episodes of Capmon- and yet not. There's also a few changes. Yami Yugi didn't have this dream in canon as I recall; but I thought... hey. Lets do it.

* * *

Setsubun is a Japanese holiday that takes place on the third of February, and while it's not a day off work, there are still traditions tied to it. The largest of them is throwing beans either out the door, or at some member of the family pretending to be a demon, while shouting 'oni wa soto, fuku wa uchi' or some variant thereof. The standard chant translates to 'Demons out! Luck, in!', and essentially means to bring in the coming year with good things while banishing misfortune and bad health. It's typically customary to eat roasted soybeans as well, one for each year of one's life, and in some cases one more to bring in a year of luck.

Nowadays, while Soybeans are the standard (and roasted soybeans ARE a good snack, which is why Seto was eating some in the first place!), some people use peanuts instead.

* * *

And here I go flip-flopping on Honda's personality again... It's like I said before, he can be a bit left out. Now, as experience shows, he's the sane man for most. He's got his feet grounded, he's 'normal'...

But lets face it this is the guy who grew up with Jonouchi. Yes, Honda has his serious moments... But he has his damned ridiculous moments too. It all depends on his mood- or rather... What he wants to show from his mood.

Because for that scene in the fanfic, he winds up spilling something he didn't want to flat out tell Jonouchi. And not because he doesn't like thinking about it; but because conversations like that just aren't the sorts of things people bring up out of the blue. Because it's something he's legitimately afraid about. This is his best friend, plain and simple. He will always be his best friend, and the fact is, while Yugi catches things that lots won't about Jonouchi, Honda catches things that even Yugi won't see.

But Yugi is more _open_ about those things, and that is where it becomes even more important. Honda... He'll keep his mouth shut, and respect the fact that Jonouchi doesn't want to talk about it unless he thinks it's a damn serious thing. Or, as you can see, if there's no other way out. Because that's what friends do.

That's what Honda does.

* * *

Oh and in case you didn't guess Honda was definitely demanding that Jou one day share stories of Kaiba-sex. And in case you didn't guess further on that, I will not be typing any. (Ohohohoh.)

* * *

That last scene? I just referenced not two, but _THREE_ series of Yu-Gi-Oh there. See if you can guess how and where.

Also yes I believe the Duel Academy was created to boost the incentive to work on your grades. I really do.

* * *

**Fan Art and My Art Section**

Admittedly there's not much here, but you know, I thought you might like to see the progress on a costume re-draw at least~

As with always, remove the spaces for the link!

WIP- Costume- 'Monster World' - : / / i. imgur dk8GI. Jpg

Costume- 'Monster World: Kai' -  : / / i. imgur tLc9z. jpg

Comic Redraw! -  : / / i. imgur OfZl2. jpg

* * *

Musical Notes

Nothing much to say other than LOTS OF HOMESTUCK

However, I DID listen to a bit of Panic! At the Disco as well; specifically, the Ballad of Mona Lisa.

Now go, fly my pretties FLYYYYYYY-

* * *

That's all for this chapter!

I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you continue to enjoy what follows!


	120. Chapter 119

**Thicker Than Water**

* * *

-_fwWWRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!_-

Sounds of trains coming and going from the station filled the air, drowned out by the chatter of passersby and screeching sirens heralding arrival and departure. For some people, they were visiting family. For others, simply coming in for work.

In the case of himself and Yugi however, it was just a vacation. The week long break between year two and year three of classes had finally arrived; and while Seto and Mokuba were in the USA for business reasons, he and his friend would be visiting Shizuka and the others in Osaka. "I'll be back in a few days," Yugi was telling Anzu for the moment, Katsuya looking around the station as he stood by the open train door. "We'll still be going to that one place right?"

Anzu giggled a little, nodding and giving her friend a hug. "Yep! Be sure to take pictures though, I've never seen Osaka! Also," she continued, "There's something I need to tell you, so-"

The boy nodded, as Anzu spoke, before another loud siren like noise belted through the air. "AH-" He turned. "Sorry Anzu! You'll have to tell me later!" Despite the obvious disappointment in response to that, he headed for the train. "I'll email you!"

"Right..."

"Yugi! Hurry up, we'll miss it!"

"Ah- Y-YEA!"

Doors soon closed and from the window Yugi could see Anzu waving, apparently having troubles abandoning the discomfort of not being able to share what it was she'd hoped to share for the sake of a proper good bye. As it was, it wasn't long before the train pulled out of the station... And soon enough Yugi was walking down the hall to where Katsuya sat. "Hahhhh... I almos' thought y' didn' make it!"

Yugi laughed, taking the second of three seats. "It wasn't that bad!"

"Ahh, well, we got four hours now. What was it tha' Anzu was going to say anyway, felt like somethin' important..."

The boy turned, blinking. "Eh? You think so?"

He stared off a moment, shrugging in the end. "Well, it can't be anything that won't go in an email right?"

"Right!"

"Well, we got good seats at least," Katsuya decided, leaning against the seat. "We should get a shot 'f Fuji fr'm here, an' the train route through Kyoto's not too bad either..."

"Ah, is it?" Yugi leaned over, peering around his friend briefly before leaning back himself. "I'll have to show the Other Me later, when he comes back."

What- "Eh? Comes back?"

He nodded. "Y-yea," he admitted somewhat uneasily. "We decided- rather, the Other Me decided, to test our distance limit..."

"...An' tha' means?"

"He's still at the station."

"WHA-" The blond hurriedly choked down his shouts as people around began to look over, waiting for them to turn back before speaking. "Th' hell's he doing at th' station still?!"

"We figured that it would be the quickest way to test it," Yugi explained. "The bullet train won't take too long to reach our limit I would think."

"Th' hell's gonna happen 'f it stretches all th' way t' Osaka..."

Errrr... The boy's face went rather blank despite the smile, and he laughed. "Hahaha_aaaa_. I- I suppose a 'switch' would bring us back to the same spot."

AH.

Would that even work? "So- So I guess we'll find out in abou' an' hour huh..." There was a bit of uneasy nodding at that, before the boy pulled out his deck.

"Y-Yea... Hey, you want to duel while we wait?"

"Heh! Sure!"

For the week of free time between one term and the next, there were a fair number of travel plans underway. Aside from Yugi and Katsuya, the Kaiba siblings were currently plane-bound to the United States for matters concerning business. Bakura was spending some time with his father- as was Otogi. Honda had little more than a walk however, same as Anzu.

And in the end, regardless of who was going where, there was a silence for a fair span of time. After about an hour of travel duels were stopped for the sake of other things. Mount Fuji was indeed spotted- the two briefly stared at the window at the sight, but being who they were found themselves quickly bored again. Food was also pulled out before the two hour mark; simple lunches of rice and canned drinks, and in the end they were back to what one normally did when all options were exhausted for boredom.

Sit, and stare off in silence. For Yugi, this meant sorting through his deck. Cards were soon sitting on the sidearm between himself and his friend, a few others in his hands. For Katsuya himself, he simply stared out the window, watching as sights switched between fields of rice to the occasional tree and eventually sights of a city.

'Now approaching station,' a voice chimed from above, Yugi briefly looking up as a sound Katsuya had long forseen echoed through the air. 'We repeat- now approaching station. Any who intend to disembark,' it continued, Yugi's cards slowly placed back to the side as he listened, 'Please gather your things in an orderly manner and await a full and complete stop.'

"Ahh, Kyoto already," Yugi started. "And still no-" He froze, Katsuya blinking as his friend's expression began to twist and contort.

"...Yug'?"

"Sgggg..." The boy curled up, grabbing at his head. "Shhaaa_aaaaaaaaaaaaa..._"

"...Yugi?"

"_'te 'te 'te 'te 'te,_" he muttered to himself, his friend unable to keep from looking mildly amused. "My head," he hissed, standing from his seat and moving to head toward the train's washroom. "Aa_aaaah.._."

"Ah- Y-Yugi, you alright?"

There was no response, but in the end he sat back down, shrugging as he waited for his friend to return. Well. Guess they knew the limits of Yugi and his other half's 'connection' now.

"A-An- Ano..." Katsuya blinked, watching as someone else came from the opposite end of the hall. "I-If you don't mind... Is the third seat here available?" Ahhh?

The blond stared for a moment. "Ah- You're tha' girl fr'm Battle City!" he realized, the girl in question jumping somewhat.

"Mn- I-If you don't want me to sit here, th-h-that's fine..."

Shiiiit. For Haga's sister, this girl was- "It's fine! What w's yer name again, Haga..." First name first name, he wasn't gonna feel right using Haga all day-!

"S-Sen! H-Haga Sen!" She bowed, moving to take the seat closest to the aisle. "Th-Thank you very much!"

"Don' mention it!"

"Eh?" At that moment Yugi appeared, hair mussed up in the typical fashion that came with the presence of the 'darker' side. "Someone's sitting here?"

Sen appeared to shrink somewhat, Katsuya nodding in the meantime. "Yea! She's th' girl I ran int' a Battle City; Haga's sister!"

This resulted in a fairly owlish stare as the girl continued to shrink against her seat. "..._Haga's_ sister?"

"H-H... Hello! I- M-My name is S-Sen! Pleased to meet you!" Err...

There was a little more staring, before the boy slipped past to take his seat. "I didn't realize Haga had a younger sister."

"Ah- A-Actually, I'm o-older than him... I-It's only by a m-minute or so, admittedly, bu-but..."

Once again there was a bout of staring, Katsuya scratching his cheek a moment. "Righ' well at any rate-" Wait. "...Hang on, th's the Kyoto stop."

Yugi blinked, before quickly realizing what his friend meant by that. "Aah- if you're Haga's sister, wouldn't that mean you live in Tokyo?"

Sen nodded. "T-that's right... However, a few days ago I moved to Kyoto... My oldest sister was supposed to house-sit for a friend there, but I offered to go in her place... Th-That way, I wouldn't have to worry about rent while I go to school!" she added, the others briefly raising their eyebrows at the statement.

"Nn. If you just moved," Yugi began, "Why are you on the train to Osaka?"

"A-Ah, th-that is..."

"...Yer visitin' Haga righ'?" The 'right' was more of an add on really- he knew exactly what the reason was. However, the less who looked at him oddly, the better.

At any rate, the girl nodded, clutching the bag she'd brought on the train close. "Y-Yes!" She smiled, continuing. "K-Katsugi moved to Osaka with his friend... I wanted to visit, s-so I've been saving up some money for the trip!" The smile dimmed, and she looked down. "A-And.. I know that my sisters wouldn't want to... S-So, I want to see how he is at least..."

Mnnn...

The boys shared a look, silent. It felt like they were missing a fair bit of what was going on to be honest. Even so.

"Um..." They looked back, Yugi staring as Sen awkwardly held a small note pad out. "S-Sorry but... You're 'Mutou Yuugi', r-right?" He nodded, and Sen's smile grew. "Aaah... I heard that you're considered 'best in Japan' right now, r-right? I was wondering..." Eyes turned back to the notepad. "If you could s-sign..."

"Ah-" He stared, an awkward silence falling over the three. "...Very well."

The train trip from that point on wasn't quite as awkward as the meeting, thankfully.

Katsuya however couldn't help but grin inwardly at the idea of one of Haga's relatives going to Yugi for an autograph- even if she didn't ask the blond for one as well.

* * *

"Tch. What's _**he**_ doing here?"

"Hahahah_aaaaa_. I could ask the same."

The situation at the station was tense, though thankfully not as much as it could have been. As Ryuzaki groaned quite audibly, smacking his face with his hand, the girls both watched in silence- one with a broken smile, the other looking quite uncomfortable.

As it was, it would have been one thing if it was just himself and Haga- but Haga hadn't been talking about the blond, and having the 'Other Yugi' here instead of the 'normal' one wasn't going to help matters at all.

'Yugi' snorted. "Ohh? I can't visit friends?"

It looked as though Ryuzaki was going to make a response to that first, but quite sadly, it was Haga who opened his mouth first. "Hmph! As though you'd associate with anyone within my circle," he spat, 'Yugi' merely shrugging as he smirked.

"I wasn't aware you even had a circle, let alone one that overlapped."

"Hey, you know, we went through this at Christmas," Ryuzaki grumbled from behind his hand, only for Haga's ego to again squash whatever hopes of peace there were.

"I don't know that it _does_ overlap!"

"Are you saying these aren't your friends then?"

"I'm saying they're not yours!"

While Ryuzaki merely groaned and rubbed his head, Shizuka glared at her brother, hissing. "Nihan," she warned, her brother merely glancing back.

"Mn?"

"Nihan. Do something." she insisted, her brother shrugging at the request.

"Like what?" he whispered back as he looked to the crowd. The girl from the train- Haga's sister- was currently and unsuccessfully muttering 'please stop fighting' in an attempt to quell things, but the lack of confidence she had next to the others drowned her out quite entirely. Katsuya gestured to Ryuzaki, snapping the boy from his quiet groaning. "And how come he can't do anythin', he's the one who knows the guy!"

"Yea I know him enough to deal with when you're here," Ryuzaki countered, "But you decided to bring YUGI _FUCKING_ MOTOU with you!"

"I said I w's bringin' a friend!"

"I figured it was one of the guys who showed up over the summer, not the fucking champion!"

"He's my best friend and you thought I'd let championship stop tha'?"

"Nihan..."

"No I figured Haga's past experiences would, it's fucking school break, not summer vacation!"

"KEICHI..."

"P-P-Please stop fighting!" Sen reiterated, again lost in the sea of bickers as Shizuka found herself struggling to mediate. "A-Aaaaah..." Her unease led her to wander around the group, panic set in her face as she wiped her brow. "P-Please... Um-" She cut herself short, eyes drawn to the side of the station where a small raffle could be seen. "N-Neh, wh- why not try that over there? That's- Um..."

Shizuka as well turned, and catching what the girl was attempting to do, looked back to the group and spoke clearer. "Katsuya-nihan!" she started with a somewhat sugared tone, "Look, a raffle draw!"

"A_ raffle_?" Ryuzaki repeated, only to find himself half blown over as the blond looked around him. "G-OH-"

"Oh sweet, free raffle draw!"

"OW WHAT THE FUCK-"

"Mn? Jonouchi?" 'Yugi' asked in the meantime, looking back from his own argument.

"Hey-! Don't ignore me, bastard!"

"Oiii, Jonouchi, what is it!" the duelist instead called out, running after.

"WHAT- I said don't ignore me!"

"N-Neh, O-Otouto-"

Haga's words quieted as his sister approached, and after a bit of grumbling he wound up following with the others to watch as Katsuya rolled his sleeves for the draw. "Tch, these things are always rigged," he muttered, rolling his eyes. "Who could possibly get worked up about this?"

"K-Katsugi, it's still f-f-un right?"

A dismissive snort was the response, and for the most part aside from an amused glance from Shizuka, and rolled eyes from Ryuzaki, it was ignored. "Heheheeee... Time to show you just what happens to rigged games when I play 'm then!" Katsuya laughed as he glanced back, the others responding with their own flat stares.

"Wasn't the last time when I..." As 'Yugi' began to trail off, a loud disembodied '_shh_!' followed, the teen quite suddenly growing white as Katsuya turned back.

"Time when you what?" Haga asked somewhat suspiciously, Ryuzaki muttering something along the lines of 'not asking' while the bespectacled boy narrowed his gaze.

"Doesn't matter!" Katsuya decided, shoving his arm into the raffle bucket with a grin. "Just watch! I'll prove ya wrong!"

More rolled eyes, this time from Haga as he grumbled about something he could have been doing other than this, and in the meantime the others merely waited. The papers lay piled and scattered along the bottom, and yet for the size of the barrel it seemed to Katsuya that he was reaching into nothingness. That what he should have easily grazed the bottom of was far out of reach, his arm groping through the darkness at nothing as he attempted to grasp a single ticket.

"Ah-" Then at last they managed to connect with something. A single folded piece was pulled out, and as he unfolded it he froze. "I-"

"Tch! I told you didn't I?" Haga snorted, turning on the spot.

"I can'-"

There was something in the tone of Katsuya's voice that had Haga glance back, eyes narrowed as the others stared. "Hey, what is it, it's just a blank ticket right?"

The ticket was turned around, and from its unfolded envelope they could see taped to its paper a brilliantly coloured travel brochure, Katsuya still half choking on his words. "Gran' prize..."

"H-Hehhhh!?" Shizuka sputtered, slowly developing a grin in the place of her shocked expression. "Tha- That's great nihan! I mean, the chances of that!"

"You didn't think you'd win did you," Ryuzaki laughed lowly, Katsuya growling at the jibe.

"Sh- SHADDUP!" he roared, 'Yugi' coming over to take the paper and look it over.

"A trip to 'India'?" he started, looking back to his friend. "Whe-"

"India?" Shizuka cut in, unknowingly sparing the other Yugi an awkward issue of explaining how he had never heard of the place. "That's an odd thing for a raffle prize," she murmured, the other Yugi quite swiftly making it seem as though he knew exactly what she was talking about.

"It says 'all expenses paid for'," he stated.

The others stared, and as Ryuzaki leaned over to look he choked. "WH- It says six people for this WEEK!"

"I won a free pass for six of us to take a vacation th's week!?" Katsuya shouted, the others merely gawking.

"This week?" Haga remarked incredulously. "It can't be real if it's this week-"

"S-Six people means that w-w... We could all go, r-right Otouto?"

"Why would I want to go at all!?"

"It- It sounds like fun, we're a-all packed too-"

"Yes Haga, why so quick to turn it down? Afraid of a little charity?"'Yugi' quipped slyly, the boy seething in response.

"_Other me, that was a bit of a low blow..._"

"Mn?" The spirit merely frowned, an unspoken 'what!' merely coming in response as Yugi sighed.

"Aw man th's the greatest timing," Katsuya was cheering in the meantime, "Six 'f us, free vacation, an' we'd still get back 'n time!"

"Nihan," Shizuka warned, "Katsugi-kun still has a point about this."

From beside her, Ryuzaki nodded. "Yea. Hate to break it to you, but it's probably a scam."

"Scam?" Katsuya snorted. "Th' heck would they be getting', me?" He grinned, adjusting the bag he'd brought with for the week. "We're all packed, an' there's a plane trip with our name on it! C'mon Shizukaaaaaaa!"

"Nihan..."

"If it's a scam, it won't be any trouble," 'Yugi' added, his partner fixing him with a disbelieving expression as the others stared.

"What are you going to do," Haga 'asked', "Duel him into submission."

"Better than you."

"WHAT-"

"We'll jus' ask mom if it's alrigh' Shizuka, c'monnnnnn!"

His sister frowned, and he persisted.

"Please?" he tried. "...Pleasepleaseplease?"

"He's not gonna stop," Ryuzaki added with a yawn, his friend merely crossing her arms with a frown.

"Mmmmmm..."

"C'mon what do I have t' do t' get yah to agree!?"

"Well you're certainly going to need another two people regardless!" Haga scoffed from the side, only for his sister to turn to him with a torn expression.

"A-Aah... B-B-But it's free, and h-he said we could come..."

'Yugi' blinked. "Did we say that?" he asked quietly, his other half merely looking to him with a frozen stare.

"_Other me, we're talking later._"

"Ah-"

The fact that the two switched in that moment likely told a few of the others that something was going on between them, but it was with perhaps a little more relief than typical that Katsuya was able to confidently tell himself that Haga wouldn't be asking why Yugi suddenly seemed to have neater hair than typical.

Though in hindsight it was entirely likely that Haga just didn't want to see the bizarre shift in attitude that was typically reserved for duel tournaments as anything but a two-faced facade.

* * *

It wasn't a scam in the end.

Perhaps that had been his mother's assumption nonetheless; after finally relenting in giving Shizuka permission to go herself, and making sure she was getting a call every day they were there, it seemed somehow that she didn't expect it to be real.

Yet it was, and so there they were on the plane.

It was a small plane; nice enough, but small, and private. Probably associated with whatever made the prize in the end, that was the theory at least. There had been a bit of argument before they left; not a very audible one mind, given that it had been between Yugi and his other, evidently still curious self, on the topic of 'how far can we drift before snapping'. Any questioning from Haga (not to mention his horribly confused sister) was cut short by the pilot's own arrival- they were loaded onto the plane, luggage included, and after a short briefing on the safety exit and life vests they were off and in the air.

And slowly, conversation arose.

"Keichi's great aunt is in India right now too isn't she?" Shizuka asked idly as they flew, Haga looking out the window with a sour frown as his sister turned to nervously join the conversation.

"Ah- she is?" she asked quietly. "D-Do you think we'll s-s-ee her?"

Ryuzaki snorted, Yugi and Katsuya briefly looking from their short duel to listen in. "Tamae-ba? Hah! Not likely," he laughed. "She's supposed to be off looking at some ruins with a collegue; something about fossils being where they shouldn't," he added.

"Where they sh-shouldn't?"

To their surprise it was Haga who continued the conversation, as opposed to the others. "What is it, an ancient museum?" he asked somewhat sarcastically.

Shizuka shrugged. "It's happened before," she noted. "They found a palace full of artifacts from all sorts of different eras didn't they?"

Another shrug. "Eh, whatever it is, not what we're dealing with," Ryuzaki decided, turning as a loud sigh came from Yugi's spot.

"Hmmm... At least you know roughly where she is," he lamented. "Grandpa didn't even tell me where _he _was going."

"Your grandpa?"

A nod from the two of them, and as the duel had come to its end they packed their decks back into the holsters on their sides. "Grandpa used to do a lot of traveling when I was little," Yugi explained calmly, "And even more before I was born. My mom said that he was a bit of a game hunter actually," he laughed, rubbing his head uneasily. There seemed to be a twitch of recognition from the Haga twins in the back, but both remained silent with a mix of dislike and unease holding their mouths shut. In the end, lest things become too awkward between the group, Shizuka decided to change the subject.

"Ahh... Sen-chan?" she asked curiously. "I was wondering- if Katsugi-kun came from Tokyo, why did the ticket on your bag say Kyoto?"

"Ah-Ah... Y-Yes well," she started, her brother merely turning back to the window, "A friend of my o-oldest sister asked... I- I was supposed to look after a h-h-house there until she was done in the u-u US... A-Apparently another friend of theirs is ou-out of the country..."

"Oh?" Shizuka commented, those already aware of the story more or less drowning it out. "A friend in the states... Well, I suppose it worked out at least!" she decided with a smile.

"Y-Yes!" The girl beamed. "I've e-even got a place in a s-school there!" she added, her brother jumping somewhat in response. Though Sen didn't question the reaction, she did briefly turn to him curiously, only for her brother to resume his stare through the window. It was harder to pull his haughty defense when among 'friends', or so it seemed to Katsuya. Whatever connection he had to Shizuka and Ryuzaki was certainly different than whatever he was used to, or so it seemed- it was probably to be expected, but Haga's current friendship with the two was probably the first friendship he'd ever had.

If at least for a long while.

Dueling was a good way to pass the time while they traveled over the sea, but in the end they were soon flying over Asian land once again. "Ahh, nihan!" Shizuka shouted once they were, "Come see! It's so different from Japan!"

"Eh? Is it?" he asked without thinking, Yugi laughing quietly from the side.

"It's a different country so..."

"_MN- There's... There's so much green!_"

"Ah-" Him too!?

That seemed to be about what Yugi was protesting back to his other half, but to no avail, and soon enough they found themselves subject to the curious spirit's questioning of how different other countries were. "_I thought China was supposed to be full of people and cities!_"

"Yea but China's a heck 'f a lot bigger th'n Japan," Katsuya answered with a slight yawn, leaning back in his seat. "They've got fields, an' farms, an'-"

"Nihan, so does Japan."

"Well yea, but not tha' much-"

"Who are you even _talking_ to!?" came a sudden snapping shout, Katsuya fumbling in shock from his seat while the others turned.

Haga's annoyance was more than clear, and while his sister ducked under the shout to cringe, he paid it no mind. "_That's right, not everyone here-"_

"Other me," Yugi warned quietly, Ryuzaki letting out a long breath as he slowly looked away. "Stop."

This failed to help the situation much, and Haga merely continued to glower. "Are you just _crazy_?" he snapped. "Is this some kind of _joke_!?"

"O-Otouto-"

"Because I'm sick of it!" he snarled. "Maybe I can put up a face," the boy went on lowly, "But at least I'm not stupid enough to just play nice right after I drop it!"

"Oi!" Katsuya growled in response, standing from his seat. "If you think Yugi an' th' Other Yugi are some kinda game, then I got one _hell_ 'f a less'n for yah," he warned, Haga briefly flinching before holding his ground.

"Nihan!" Shizuka shouted in protest, Yugi as well standing to come between the boys.

"Jonouchi-kun!" he started, "It's not like it's the first thing-"

"Not the first-" Haga faltered, shaking his head. "What are you _TALKING ABOUT_!?"

"Yugi's got an ancient gold artifact with a dead king stuck in it and they've been switching bodies since probably before Duelist Kingdom," came the bored response from the front, those who already knew turning to him with dry frowns as the others gawked. Ryuzaki blinked, looking up from the book he'd taken along with him and shrugging. "What."

"How th' hell did y' manage t' sum it all up like tha'," Katsuya muttered, Ryuzaki raising an eyebrow.

"Wait I got the Duelist Kingdom thing right? Sweet," he muttered to himself, moving to go back to his book as Haga shook himself.

"It's a 'magic puzzle'?" the boy scoffed, shaking his head. "Really? That's what you're going with?!"

Before Katsuya could do more than growl and glare at him again, Ryuzaki's words again came over the air. "Didn't see you complain when we told you Jonouchi got future visions did we?"

Silence fell, with Sen looking uneasily from Katsuya to Yugi, as though they were both from a separate world entirely. Haga's face burned with embarrassment, but he remained silent, and in the meantime the other Yugi took the moment to hover near Katsuya with raised eyebrows. "_...He knows you get visions?_"

"I kinda had one in th' middle of th' hall on New Years," he admitted grudgingly, his friend staring blankly at the confession.

"On... New years?" Yugi repeated blankly, Haga flashing a rather vicious smirk.

"Oh? He didn't tell you?" he laughed. "Dropped five trays of food and stared blankly at the wall for a full four minutes!" While the others, Katsuya included, merely looked to him with a slight glare, the boy continued. "Of course if it's the future then it's obviously not going to be much!" he sneered. "Seeing how I heard him say-"

"Hold on!" Katsuya roared, turning on the boy as he stiffened. "You w're eavesdroppin!?"

"Ngh-!"

"Katsugi-kun!" Shizuka protested, simultaneously sparing her friend from a potential beating. "That was supposed to be a private conversation, why would you _do_ that!?"

"How abou' because he was bein' a rat!?"

"A rat? Don't compare me to the likes of rodents!" Haga hissed. "And no matter what I am, it's still better than a stupid, idiot dog-"

"_**DOG**_!?" Quite suddenly Yugi and the Other Yugi both, the latter finding it quite fortunate that he could even get a grip on his friend's arm, found themselves holding the blond back as he roared. "Y' prick! F'rget a duel, _I'm gonna throw you off th' plane_!"

"Oh please, as if-"

"TRY ME!"

"Nihan, calm down!"

"You'd actually throw me out of a plane? We're thousands of miles in the air, and you'd risk _everyone's_ lives?"

"I swear to fucking god _if y'r alive by th' end of th's plane trip_-"

"You're the one who invited me along!" he laughed, the sound reverberating as it was joined by another.

"L-L... Loud," came a quiet, squeaking sound in the seats, cutting Haga's laughter quite abruptly short. "It's t-to-too loud," Sen wept, her voice scarecely more than a whisper. "Ple-pl... Please don't... Please don't fight," she managed to force out, shaking herself as Haga looked back. "Please. D-Don't..."

"S-Sen..."

While Haga looked back, Katsuya relaxed, his friends releasing their grip while the other two on the plane watched. "Tch." The blond glowered, before moving toward the back of the plane where the restroom was. "Y' should be glad we're in a plane," he snarled, "'F it was anyone else, y' pro'ly wouldn' even be here!"

He vanished into the restroom and in the silence that settled Haga looked back to those on the plane, mixed expressions being his response. A cool frown from Yugi that seemed mixed with a disappointment that put a spark of anger in his chest, enough that he prepared to snap a defensive remark against the one who was now returning to his seat. Ryuzaki had no expression- he was already reading again, albeit likely muttering incredulous curses under his breath. And as for Shizuka-

She looked to him with a somewhat betrayed expression, and it was this which doused the flame and froze it solid. In silence, he went back to his seat beside Sen, staring out through the window as China's fields and settlements passed beneath them. He would not speak for the next number of hours.

Perhaps that was for the best.

* * *

When he returned to his seat he did not even spare Haga a glance, instead taking one of the few empty rows and looking out through the windows himself. They were still flying over China at the time- the plane trip was to be over eight hours in the end, and that was hardly something that could be called 'quick'. Laying back in his seat, the plane was still eerily silent, the Other Yugi back inside the puzzle somewhere, and the others either busying themselves with quieter hobbies, or, in the case of Yugi himself, and the girls as well, merely sleeping.

That wasn't a bad idea in the end, he figured. It was night (or at least seemed to be), and he was tired; whether the earlier argument was the cause of that, who knew. Regardless, he was tired, and sleep was more than welcome to him.

Perhaps he should have known to suspect that welcome feeling.

It was a repeat dream, in a sense. Back in the tunnels beneath the village 'he' called home, the village locked away behind stone cliffs the size of mountains, rocks with dragons hide that was worn by the sands and winds of time, steps carved and guarded by tall walls and vicious watchers above.

For there was none who wished for the village to lose what safety it bore.

_None._

_In the doorway of the home he stood, speaking to a woman with greying hair and greyer eyes. "What do you want?" she demanded, the goat herd before her folding his arms behind his back. "You've had your year with my son," she continued. "Do you not know now if he will live or not?"_

_He merely bowed his head. "I have not come to bargain this time," he said quietly, and before him the woman snarled._

"_And why should we?" she spat. "It is bad enough that you come here- but this?! Not a day after you left we suffered a raid," the woman growled._

"_I know."_

"_Do you then!? And do you know who died?"_

"_There were none who died in the raid," he answered confusedly._

"_No," the woman laughed bitterly. "Not that you should have known anyway! This isn't normal," she warned, "This is a curse! And you've spread it to this village with your feet! Or did you not realize," the woman snapped, "That there is one less child playing near the well?!"_

_He did not speak, merely looking to her in silence._

"_How many more must die?" she wept, shaking her head as she broke down. "How many more must die!? **TELL ME**!"_

_Was he crying? His face felt wet but he could not tell but as he looked to the woman he shook his head, breath ragged as he moved to speak. "Everyone," he answered, and it was then that shouts began to enter the air. It was then that the watchers above the rocks were shot down by unknown forces formerly locked away from mortal hands, as an army of King's Soldiers swarmed the streets in droves far unlike the pathetically small parties which would occasionally attempt to bring 'justice' to the village's sacred grounds._

_These were his last words to her as he was snatched from behind, forced into a line as the woman screamed in terror. They were his last words as he heard the men behind him shout to gather 'only those with unnatural hair and eyes!'_

_'Kill the rest.'_

_The blood stained the ground and their clothes both, without argument he was led down to be remet with a vision he'd already seen (oh but had he?), had already experienced (Now now, he couldn't have possibly), had already-_

_(He couldn't have possibly died twice after all.)_

"_GH... Lk..."_

_The blade tore through his middle (this already happened though), and it was pulled out just as quick._

"_HhhaaaaAHHH-"_

_His insides were severed and bleeding and the blood was staining his already filthy tunic and the ground below- he stumbled back, and he tumbled into the fresh dug pit beneath him, as screams above met his ears and as visions of more victims-_

But wait.

His eyes flashed and instead of the people of the village who had been singled out for slaughter he now saw fire. Fire blazing and water twisted, metal screaming and crunching beneath the force of the merciless earth. Engines cutting short, a man skinned and impaled by glass-

"MN-gH!"

Katsuya jolted awake and in his panic immediately grabbed for the life preserver beneath his seat. "Mn- Nihan?" came a groggy voice from the side, the blond's panic slowly rousing the others.

"Get up!" he shouted seemingly without reason, hurriedly throwing the vest over himself as he ran to get Yugi awake. "C'mon get up, grab a vest, go!"

"Ngh-" As Yugi blearily opened his eyes the others followed, staring confusedly. "What-"

"Jus' get a vest an' get f'r th' door!" he shouted, grabbing one of the others and roughly forcing it on his friend's being as the boy was jolted awake by the force. The others seemed to only slowly move and he continued to grow pale, running to grab his sister. "Don' jus' stand there, c'mon! We're gonna-"

Sirens blared and without warning water splashed up against the sides of the plane, knocking him from his feet and down the hall. The screeching sound of metal and screams again filled his mind as stars filled his vision, and in the crushing force of steel, and earth, the stagnant and sickening taste of bloodied water came into his being, the darkened slate of the lake blinding his eyes.

They blinded his eyes and filled his lungs, and for an instant he watched the others experience the same, all but one-

And for an instant in his dazed confusion he thought for sure he was mistaken, as glittering gold and glass met with his gaze before reaching to pull him toward the door of the plane and away from the roof his life vest carried him up against, and as a pale hand wrapped around his wrist.

For an instant that was what he saw.

And in an instant more, there was naught but darkness. Darkness, sinking steel, spiraling waters and the burning need for air, air, _**AIR**_ his lungs screamed but his dazed mind could not move his body and so it was only the weak pull of a younger boy and the floating nature of the vest which did so for him.

His mind did not clear when he broke the water, even as he gasped for air and choked on what water and blood had entered his throat. It did not clear as he was dragged onto shore, and as the others gathered, huddled and cold and wondering what had occurred.

When it did however- when his vision finally ceased to blur and spin, he was met with fire once again. Fire warm and bright and alluring, his sister laying with Ryuzaki not far from the side, and Yugi- both spiritual and not- sitting with him.

"Ah- You're up!" Yugi whispered in relief, his other half visibly relaxing in the same way.

Katsuya merely groaned, holding his head as he sat up. "Ugh... Y-Yea... We all get out?" he added, both Ryuzaki and Shizuka turning their heads from where they were as the Other Yugi shook his head.

"_All but the pilot_," he stated curtly, though his tone gave away his distaste. "_...Dead on impact,_" he added, having likely floated down through the water itself to check.

The blond nodded, looking to the fire a bit. "...Well at leas' we all got out," he murmured, only to frown. "Wai'..." His last memory was of being slammed back by the force of gravity, of metal clashing against his skull and knocking him into a half-witted daze. So then- "How did I-"

"Haga," Yugi responded, voice quiet as they looked across the fire pit that had been made, to where the boy was holding his sister close. "I hit my head on the plane," he admitted, "So while the others got out, Ryuzaki helped me get through the door. But I didn't see Jonouchi-kun," he went on, swallowing. "Not until Haga went back..."

The silence that followed was almost stiffening. Stiffening, and all at once chilled in a strange sense. Rather than break the silence however, he found himself slowly leaning back against the chair he'd been propped against, looking away. There were a few things he could foresee, and a few things he could come to expect.

To have been rescued by Haga, when only 6 hours ago he had threatened to end his very life, was very far from one of those things. And as the fire burned, small portions of their luggage recovered from the wreckage, they one by one fell into an uncomfortable sleep...

Never once realizing, as they drifted to the comfort of their minds, that they were not as alone as they thought.

* * *

**AN: **I'm alive! I'm alive I swear to god I'm alive-!

Just got stuck on a scene here and wound up dragging my way through school and other stories- (OTHER STORIES? _USAGI..._)

Oh, I was made the head mod of a Dreamwidth game too, fun stuff.

At any rate, you've probably guessed by now that there's no real set schedule on updating, but just a reminder: _**I will never, EVER, put this on Hiatus, Discontinue it, or simply Delete it.**_ NEVER.

So you know.

I wonder how many of you are screeching and screaming now that you know for sure what this arc is, HMMMM... I guarantee you'll enjoy what twists I've pulled with this (particularly given how long it took to make the plot even remotely tolerable...), so sit back and enjoy the ride!

I'll be trying to update a bit faster at least ahhaha...

Speaking of updates and fanfiction however! How many of you like 5Ds (or zexal)? And... How many of you have a tumblr?

You can find my account on the latter with the same username as usual; 'usagisquared'. You'll also find all the ficlets and aus I've been typing at in the downtime there, and while not as super-long as Skin by far, it's certainly worth looking at!

Also worthy of mention, is the **contest**!

During the coming Doma Arc, it's been decided that the main cast will need to travel from San Francisco to some unknown destination on the East Coast, **preferably one within close range of a Navy Base**. Or at least docks with navy boats on 'm. You'll find out why in the end. I'll be gathering entries with the next update, but right now I have to dig through to find a fair number of them...

Speaking of digging!

**Anonymous Review Responses**

Hello, Fsdfsdfsd! Alas, I can't help but feel anxious about things like purges and such... So I always end up taking a paranoid precaution ahahaha!

Maggiemay! It's good to see you again! I'm so glad you enjoy the fillers- they're really quite a joy to type once they get going (if not a bit of a point for paranoia before it's posted). At any rate, I've got your entry for a potential route, and eheheheh yesssss Disney... KaibaLand US certainly WOULD fit in around there wouldn't it?

Oh, another new one- Pleased to meet you Somebody! I'm so glad you enjoyed the fanfic thus far, and I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well despite the delay- thanks so much for reviewing as quick as you did! (Given the rush for the phone I mean, ahahah)

And just following that, Guest! WAIT YOU RE-READ-

someone make a trophy for this anon, ah-

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! And aaaaah I'm so glad you enjoy the art! (Perhaps I should find a way to incorporate it more into my class work...)

* * *

Usagi's Manga & Japan Guide/Corner

The section that's not entirely sure why her plane suddenly lacks a pilot. UH.

* * *

Thicker Than Water! What a wonderful title, but what does it have to do with-

_Oh._

* * *

How odd, what was Anzu going to say...

You'll have to wait until the vacation's over I suppose ehehehe. Or at least until she shows up again.

* * *

Side note, recently I looked into a rough timeline of DM-GX-5Ds. Dangerous, I know.

However using Ushio's rough age (45 is about what I'd say), and the fact that if you look at certain adverts in the 5Ds series, the number '2021' can be seen (YEA IT'S NOT THAT FAR), we can do this!

Zero Reverse in the series happens 17 years prior episode one, making Ushio about 27-28. Now recall that GX is ten years after DM; in otherwords, about when Ushio himself should be perhaps in grade 11-12. Assuming he's roughly 16-17 during that series, we can actually say that GX ends within the very _year_ Zero Reverse occurs.

In other words, Juudai leaves, Domino goes boom. YAY.

Regardless. Assuming the adverts are right, going back 17 years from there would take us to 2004. Not bad, seeing how I'm pretty sure GX was supposed to take part in the early 2000s.

Even better? Going back 13 years from 2004 (Because GX takes place over 3 years, the standard for highschool in Japan), we're at 1991! Yu-Gi-Oh DM was first published in 1995, so that's not actually an unbelievable date!

Back on topic, think about where technology sat in the early 1990s. Now look at everything the series gave us. WOW.

The only issue with this theory is that according to GX itself, Juudai enrolled in 2004. With that in mind, it would boost DM's date up to, go figure... **_1995_**. So at least those guys were accurate. In hindsight, it's entirely likely the adverts for '2021' seen in 5Ds were referring to some sort of engine thing. Who knows! Regardless; we're not that far off on 5Ds even with this knowledge. If we kept on going with the theory that Zero Reverse happens soon after Juudai leaves, we can safely say that Yuusei takes off for Neo Domino in 2024. ...Twenty... More years... After the last series.

Either way- makes for an interesting contrast to Skin, which is currently actually in the year 2013.

* * *

There are actually really great reasons why these two are experimenting with distance (potentially involving battles with giant snakes), but until then enjoy Yugi with a headache.

* * *

Sen returns! Get used to her face, she's going to be all over this arc you guys. As for her decision to get an autograph, it wasn't on screen, but she actually assumed that Haga would want a top duelist autograph!

Haga's probably going to sell it when he gets home.

* * *

HAGA MEET YAMI YUGI. YAMI YUGI MEET HAGA.

PLAY NICE. This coversation took AGES to write; it's actually what held up the chapter for so long! In the end it came however, and we're all good now...

Poor Sen.

* * *

The Other Yugi doesn't know about India?! Usagi what are you doing!?

Guys.

Think back to the time our dear Pharaonic spirit is from. Think back to how much of the world outside the capital he likely saw (And recall that this is about 5000 years ago). And more importantly, realize this: the main reason India is the focus of Capmon, most likely, is because of Alexander the Great's failure there. He invaded in 326BC, and was eventually forced to turn back at the demand of his troops; soon after he died in Babylon and the empire fell apart, but regardless! The point is, the LEAST number of years following Atem's reign that this could possibly take place, is 700; because 3000 years from now brings us to around 1000BCE. (And it's here that I remind you I always say '3000 BCE in approximation' in the fanfic, which is, fun fact... 5000 years ago! Dub got it right for once.)

So yea enjoy that bit of headcanon.

* * *

Who is that friend of Haga's eldest sister? Who knows! As for the third friend? Well that's up to you to figure out isn't it.

* * *

On a more serious note, hello Haga, take a step into your character development box shall we?

I just had so much fun with his defensive attitude toward Yugi, ridiculous as it was. And when you look at it, it shows a strange bit of improvement too; it's really, really not easy for Haga to trust anyone, let alone openly admit something like a bond. The fact that he's 'claimed' Shizuka and Ryuzaki both as his friends is actually rather astounding. And of course most wouldn't give it much thought in that way, because most wouldn't... Have that issue with friends, one would think.

But Haga does, and likely always has, and overall there's going to be lots of Haga development in this arc.

* * *

Speaking of Haga! It was fairly interesting getting everyone on the same boat here; it was already likely obvious that the 'Osaka three' (Shizuka, Ryuzaki, Haga) knew something about Jou's mind-thing. Shizuka would likely be the only one to get the entire thing though, and lets face it, it was_ jarring_. He literally experienced death in that vision. Maybe he'd have kept quiet if no one saw him in the hall, but even so. He'd be questioned, and likely stick to telling only his sister.

Meanwhile of course, does Haga know of the puzzle? Hell no he doesn't. But you can bet that Ryuzaki has, since possibly the first duel on the Airship. So yea, fun with secrets and the lack thereof.

Enjoy Ryuzaki and his lines of snark.

* * *

Oh yea have I mentioned that 'Four' is the number of death in Japan due to the whole 'Shi' (four) and 'Shi(-ne)' (Die) thing?

FOUR MINUTES. Hahahaha yes.

* * *

Oh hello trust issues. Jou's already having a bit of an issue trusting Haga- key words,_ he doesn't_. But he trusts his_ sister_, and he actually does, for fanfic-obvious reasons, trust Ryuzaki. So he actually _did not think_ that Haga would have been listening. He just _didn't_. So it's one hell of a blow for that to come out (hence the rage), and for the others? Well, just see how Haga reacts. These are his first friends after all.

_He doesn't want to lose those_.

* * *

Where the fuck is the pilot in all this!?

He actually can't hear them. On another note, one would wonder how the ticket got to them regardless... But hey, answers for later.

* * *

Oh look drowning.

Oh look HAGA?! What's Haga doing, saving the day? (Also how did he pull JONOUCHI out?)

Well, think of it this way. Once upon a time, your friendly author Usagi qualified as a lifeguard (this has expired though, so I can now go to pools without fear). Lifting someone UP in the water is hell. I can say that without issue after the brick tests. Technically, pushing and pulling is the same, however if you have enough momentum behind you, it's not AS difficult. That's where Haga has the advantage; he could have been kicking off plane seats as he went. Hard, but it works.

And then of course he has the advantage of the lifevest and it's immediate pull upward, hahaha.

* * *

Oh and Jou bit his tongue, if you were wondering why there was blood in his mouth. No internal bleeding here!

Hey look, more relevance to the title... OR IS IT?

Alas, I'm too much of a jerk to say just yet...

* * *

**Fan Art and My Art Section**

Sadly I didn't get to actually make much art for Skin this time, partially because the artistic drive was spent on either classes or other writings...

Or on me crying over my inability to write the scene I was stuck on in this chapter HAHAHHAAaaaaaa.

At any rate, to keep the jar from being completely empty, I've linked to you the (occasionally used) art tag on my tumblr.

Sadly I have a bad habit of not tagging things...

Oh well!

Side note, but the very start of the url has been giving me issues for sticking on in spaces here, so sorry about that! The page should load without it though. It's been giving issues with lots of things to be honest; hence the brackets and words and such.

Usagi's Art Tag Which Doesn't Actually Have All Her Art (sorry) – usagisquared. (tumblr) . com (slash) tagged / Usagi's %20Adventures %20in %20Art

* * *

Musical Notes

None this time around! ...Mostly.

While hardly integral to the chapter's typing, I absolutely must recommend you visit this page here: terriblefate . com

Very good music, and VERY FREE!

* * *

Until then, that was this chapter! I hope you enjoyed it, and I hope you continue to enjoy what's yet to come!


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